A/N: Hey guys. Man, I am on a roll this week with updating chapters. Sadly this particular one is a bit on the short side. I hope to make the next one longer.
Everyone gasped at Strea's sudden arrival. It took Ren and the others a moment to recover from their shock and realize that she had been stabbed by Alberich's special weapon, the one that would slowly bring a player's HP down to zero with just a single hit.
Kirito couldn't believe what he was witnessing right now. "S-Strea…?"
"What?! Who the hell are you?!" Alberich growled. He tried to pull his weapon out, but Strea locked her hand firmly on Alberich's arm.
"This ends now." Strea told him. She put her other hand on Alberich's avatar. A bright veil surrounded Alberich's body and soon shattered.
"Wh-What the hell did you do?! Alberich glared. He tried to open the menu of his admin account, but nothing was happening. "I-Impossible! Why isn't it working?!"
"Because I took it from you." Strea said with a weak grin. The effects of her life slowly draining away was beginning to take a toll on her. "Your admin account, it's special privileges, it's all gone.
"No… This can't be…" Alberich gasped. He finally managed to shove Strea off him. The dagger he was holding vanished into dust, but he still had the sword at his waist which he unsheathed. "You'll pay for this! Die you worm!"
Alberich's didn't even get a chance to swing his sword as Kirito finally managed to move his body freely and attack Alberich. The strike from his sword sent Alberich flying back into the wall.
"Don't worry. He's harmless now." Strea said weakly. "He can't you all anymore."
Before Alberich could get up, he found Helios's boot placed firmly on his chest. He had a tight grip on his axe as he glared menacingly down at Alberich. "I hope you're ready to pay for what you've done you piece of shit."
"N-No! Please!" Alberich begged.
"Wait Helios." Asuna said. "We're not killing him."
Helios turned back to Asuna. "Hold on. We're NOT killing him?! What the hell are you talking about?! We all know this bastard deserves it! You of all people should want him dead!"
"I've got a better idea." Kirito said. He walked up to Alberich and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt while Helios backed away.
"Wh-What are you gonna do?" Alberich asked, trembling in fear.
"You listen hear, you son of a bitch." Kirito glared. "We're sending you and your friends to the prison area. You'll all remain there for the rest of this game. Your friends can be buddies in cells together, but not you. We're putting you in the deepest darkest area of the prison and throwing away the key. You can stay there all alone where no one can hear you scream, and suffer while we clear this game. And maybe, just MAYBE, we'll decide not to come pay you a visit right before we clear the game and kill you."
After another couple of minutes, more members of the assault team showed up. Kirito and the others gave them the brief rundown of what had happened. They dragged Alberich away, while he seemed too scared to utter a word.
"Wow, Kirito." Helios said in surprise. "Remind me not to piss you off anytime soon."
The sound of a thump brought everyone back to reality as they saw Strea collapse on the floor.
"Strea!" Asuna exclaimed as she quickly rushed over and held Strea in her arms. "Strea, are you alright?! Speak to us!"
"A…su…na. Ki… ri…to. Every…one." Strea muttered. "Did I… help…?"
"You didn't just help us Strea. You saved our lives." Kirito said.
Strea shook her head. "No… I know you guys would have beaten him anyway."
A tear fell from Kirito's eye. "Why? Why did you take that attack for me?!"
Strea gave a weak smile at the group. "I told you all this before I believe. I'm a Mental Health Counseling Program. When Floor 75 was cleared, the errors in me became too severe and I somehow ended up in Aincrad with no memory of who I was or how I had ended up here. Over time, my memory slowly came back to me, until I remembered my original purpose."
"Your original purpose?" Alice questioned.
"Yes." Strea nodded. "My purpose is… to prevent this world from being destroyed."
"So that means… stopping us from clearing Aincrad." Ren realized.
"That's right. But in the end I couldn't do it. And I'm… glad I couldn't." Suddenly a black aura enveloped Strea. "I'm sorry everyone. I won't be able to adventure with you anymore."
"Strea!" Yui cried, throwing herself on her. "You can't go!"
"Yui…" Strea smiled as she patted her head. "We're both programs, so is it ok if… I call you my sister?"
Tears fell from Yui's eyes as she nodded. "Yes! You're my sister Strea! So please don't leave us!"
"I'm sorry… I can't."
The black aura around Strea spiked and pushed everyone back. Asuna held Yui like a cocoon and took the brunt of the blow for her. Everyone gasped as Strea levitated into the air and the Hollow Avatar began to envelop her.
"What's happening?!" Mai gasped.
Soon Strea became completely engulfed by the Hollow Avatar. The final boss disappeared from the room, leaving them all alone and Strea gone without a trace.
No one seemed to have an explanation as to what had just occurred. They just stood there in silence as they tried to process what had happened.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Alberich and all of his men were apprehended and thrown into the prison area. They were all harmless without the advantages of their admin accounts, but guards were posted outside just to be safe. All of the missing players were brought back safely.
It would have been a time for celebration if it hadn't been for what happened to Strea.
Based on what Yui was able to gather from what she saw, the system saw that Strea was in danger of being deleted. As a result, it stepped in and saved her in the form of the Hollow Avatar. It absorbed Strea's data, protecting her HP from going any lower than it already had. In other words, Strea was safe but at the same time she was being held prisoner on Floor 100.
After Yui finished explaining Strea's current situation to everyone back at Agil's bar in Arc Sophia, the group was at a loss over what to do. They had to get to Floor 100 and clear the game, but what would happen then? Would they be able to save Strea if she was now a part of the final boss of the game?
After a long silence, Helios finally spoke up. "Sitting around here isn't gonna do us any good. The only thing we can do is get to Floor 100 and figure out something when the final battle comes."
The sudden outburst caught everyone's attention. A few seconds passed by before Liz chuckled to herself. "Of course that's the plan you'd come up with."
"Yeah, but he's right." Ren sighed as he got up from his seat. "We won't accomplish anything by doing nothing. We just have to hope for the best when we get to the final floor."
Everyone nodded in agreement and suddenly the room was filled with a sense of determination. They were going to get their friend back and nothing was going to stop them.
"Alright so the first thing we have to do is find the boss room for Floor 96!" Alice cheered. "Time to do some clearing!"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The next couple of weeks were busy for the assault team. Everyone was more determined than ever to reach Floor 100 and clear the game. They only had a little further to go before they would be back in the real world.
Each floor boss fight brought its fair share of challenges. It was the last few floors though, so that was to be expected. Even the field bosses had been giving the lead group some trouble from time to time. Luckily the floors were becoming increasingly smaller in area since they were so close to the top of Aincrad.
The front lines had made it to Floor 98 after a little more than two weeks after they had defeated Alberich and the Messiah Knights. There were only a couple dungeons on the floor so the boss room had been discovered within a day or two. Once a team and a formation had been set up, the assault team moved out.
The boss fight for Floor 98 had been going on for a full hour. The boss this time was a giant armored knight that was wrapped in crimson red armor and stood tall at about seven meters. A large two-handed broadsword was grasped in its hands as the boss swung it down at the raid part.
Ren jumped to the side, barely avoiding the slash. He dashed forward and attacked with a sword skill, jumping back just in time to avoid the boss's counterattack. "Damn. This thing's tough." He looked over toward the rest of his guild. All of their HP was still in the green and yellow zones, but the exhaustion was clearly starting to take its toll on them.
Kirito ran past Ren and charged towards the boss. "I'll block its attack! You guys finish it off once I do!"
"Leave it to us!" Ren nodded.
Kirito looked as the boss raised its massive sword and prepared to swing it down. Dealing with it would be no easy task on his own. Suddenly he saw Helios and Agil at his side.
"You don't really think we'd leave this to just you, do you?" Helios said with a smirk. "No way are we letting you our job for us."
"If we did, we'd be a disgrace as tank players." Agil added.
Kirito smiled to himself at the extra support. "Thanks guys. Now let's show this bastard what we can do!"
"You got it!" Agil and Helios replied together.
There was no more time for talk as the boss finally swung its blade down at them. Helios and Agil both activated sword skills simultaneously and swung their axes up with all their might. Kirito positioned his two swords in a X position. Once the sword crashed down upon them, the three players felt like they were trying to lift a train off the ground.
"Hurry up you guys!" Helios yelled to the others. "We can't hold this thing back for long!"
"Leave it to us!" Ren said as he and the rest of the party rushed the boss. Dozens of weapons lit up in a collective glow of various colors. A unified battle cry was uttered by all of the players as they attacked the boss with a relentless assault. The collective attacks sapped away what was left of the boss's HP. It let out a cry of pain as it stumbled back, taking the weight of its sword off Kirito, Helios, and Agil.
The 'Congratulations' sign appeared in front of the raid party as the boss shattered into hundreds of fragments. Everyone collapsed from the exhaustion of the difficult battle. Kirito and Asuna sat against each other back to back. Ren sat on the ground while Alice laid her head on his lap. As she did, Ren checked how many players they had lost in the raid. After counting everyone up, he calculated that two of them had died in the fight. He silently mourned their deaths, and it fueled his desire to beat the game for good. To make sure their deaths weren't in vain and to make Kayaba pay.
After a few minutes of rest, everyone got to their feet and walked up the stairs to the next floor. When they reached Floor 99, the group couldn't help but notice how small the town was. There were no exits to the town, just the outside sky of Aincrad. A large tower stood in the center of the town that stretched up to the next floor. Ren and the others could only assume that the tower was the boss dungeon.
One more floor boss. That was the only thing standing between them and the final floor that they had fought for so long to reach.
A/N: I know there wasn't much in this chapter, but what did you guys think? As I'm sure you can all guess, this story is slowly reaching its end. There are only about 3-4 chapters left. I hope everyone has enjoyed it so far and will continue to enjoy it for the last few chapters it has left. Please review and tell me what you guys have thought about this story so far.