Author's Note: Our long awaited meeting has come at last...Kirito and Asuna vs the Game Maker. I had to study a lot of fights in the Star Wars franchise to write this one, but based on the chapter title you can probably guess which one I followed the most.

Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.


Chapter Thirty-Nine - Duel of the Fates


Kirito had not been in this specific tower, with its vanilla white walls and polished black floors. He could see the reflection of himself and Asuna with every step that they took inside. But he knew it was similar to a place he had been before. With Kayaba, during his escape from this same strange corner of the world at the beginning of his adventure.

They were riding in an elevator. A small, dim yellow light shone on them from above, and the circular chrome wall around the room was so polished that it mimicked an image of not metal, but glass. It was a three-hundred and sixty-five-degree mirror that allowed the two balanced heroes to look at themselves on last time before reaching the top.

Both of them were patient. No words were spoken between them for the last hour or so ever since they discovered the tower looming on the horizon. They each looked forward at their own reflection, and it was finally Asuna who broke the silence first.

"Have you been here before?" She asked, looking at his eyes through the mirror.

He chose not to look back, only forward. "No, but I can feel him."

Silence again. Asuna broke it once more. "He knows you're here. I wonder if he knows I'm with you...I wonder if I'll be of any help at all."

"Asuna..." Kirito kept his eyes facing front, but grabbed her hand with his. "I'll need all the help I can get. He's the most powerful player in the game...I almost feel disgusted calling him a player at all...more like a living God."

This would not be the first human creator Kirito has faced to deem themselves as divine royalty. Even though all those past opponents had ridiculous power backing their every move, he still knew their type pretty well by now.

He also knew the power of his beloved partner. He could feel the strength in her veins, and the weakness.

"How are you feeling?" His eyes finally found hers in the glassy wall. He gave her a smile through a reflection, and held her hand tighter. "Your face looks fine after removing that breathing stuff, but are your lungs...?"

Asuna was not ready to admit her own nervous thoughts as a similar question passed through her mind ever since she defeated Lucas. She accepted his tightly gripping hand, and without another moment of hesitation, she smiled back through their reflection.

"I'll be fine. I have you to watch my back!"

The elevator stopped, and the polished doors slid open with ease as an alert noise made way for their presence. The two heroes stepped out of the pod, and looked all around them with the same awe that took their eyes in the caves of Ilum.

Unlike Ilum, however, the starry sky that they each greeted hovering above their heads was real. Or, at least as real as a night-time sky could get in the virtual world. It was still daylight on Mortis, but their elevator ride had traveled so high above the clouds and sky, that the tower they were currently in was actually touching the edge of space with its immense height.

Kirito and Asuna let go of each other's hands, and slowly charged forward onto a large metal bridge that overlooked more glass windows looking back down at the cloudy planet surface. Kirito had no idea how all of this could fit inside that small red contraption in the outer reaches of the planet, but he had played enough video games in his life to just assume master coding was responsible.

Dim yellow lights help illuminate their way down the long, expansive bridge that stretched under the great skylight of stars and glass above. Several spokes and support beams came in from the outer walls to help hold the bridge where it was, but below was a large void that ended with the bottom end of the glass sphere protecting them from the outer dangers of space. Eight guards, four on each side, stood as sentinels of the walkway, and just at the end of the path stood an ornate golden throne, similar in stature to the Imperial Throne of the Sith planet of Dromund Kaas, but equipped with a far better view of awe and grandeur.

There he stood. The man with a short head of grey hair, and an enveloping beard surrounding his entire lower face did not sit in his own throne. He was standing behind it, off to the side that looked away from the planet's curve and into the endless unknown. He never turned around, until Kirito and Asuna crossed the halfway point on the bridge, and stopped to look up at the pious ruler.

"Kazuto Kiriguya. I've been expecting you."

Kirito looked right at the golden eyes of Peter Mathis, as they towered over him from the plinth of the ominous throne. The guards around them all ignited white saber-staffs with only one blade and elongated handles, and each member of the chamber pointed their weapons at the not-so welcomed guests.

Asuna raised a hand, and sent a cloud of Sith lightning around her body and Kirito's. It surged with power as it traveled outward, and forced all eight guards to slide off the bridge, and plummet their deaths from the fall. Their bodies never reached the glassy window below before disappearing into a cloud of pixels.

The red cloud of electric energy traveled for the throne and Mathis, but dissipated as soon as it hit his space. He was not fazed by anything that just occurred, but his small smile grew larger as he turned to step in front of his golden chair.

"And you are his friend, Asuna Yuuki. I remember when you arrived in my Tokyo offices with Kirito. I must say you being here with my former apprentice is quite the surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one."

"Kirito?" Asuna's eyes grew as she turned to her right. "You trained with him?"

"No." Kirito admitted as his eyes narrowed even more. "He tried to explain the game to me, but I wasn't having any of it."

"And look how far you have come without it. I'll have to admit another factual error in my logic and say I never expected you to retain your balanced nature. The grey faction. Leaning both toward the Light, and the Dark, but never choosing a side." He then looked at Asuna. "And then to find you, the one so entangled in my son's lust for power. You were stolen by the Dark Side, and found your way to the Light all the same. I've watched this galactic game play out over the entire time, and now, I am quite happy to find you both still standing to be here."

"We didn't come here to talk." Kirito admitted with anger in his words as he grabbed his two lightsaber handles. They were left off while he continued. "We came to log our friends out of this game, and end this nonsense once and for all."

Mathis nodded, but stayed standing perfectly still as he drew his hands together. "You did come here to end this. You came to end my legacy and life. Then the two of you...together...will become the new owners of all this."

"You have children!" Asuna declared with the same level of anger that Kirito found a second ago. "Why try and give us a company when they fought so hard to win it, themselves!?"

Mathis sighed, and put his hands back behind him. "I do have children. Children who were bested by the two Heroes of Aincrad. The Lightning Flash, Asuna. Grand Officer and Second-in-Command of the top guild in Sword Art Online...and The Black Swordsman, Kirito. The one who defeated Akihiko Kayaba and Sugou Nobuyuki at their own games, and stopped a mass murdering lunatic, Death Gun, from rampaging through the virtual and real worlds."

He turned to look back out at the endless bay window, with all the stars surrounding their view. "I wasn't only looking for someone to find me, or for someone who could end the war, or for someone to defeat my two children and lead developers. I needed someone to bring balance to the world I created...I needed someone who could bring balance to the very Force itself. This had to happen for my one goal, the one achievement that has eluded me my entire life...I needed this Force System to help me discover the secrets of the mind and soul as they Full-Dive into a new world."

"Well, I hate to let you down, Sir." Kirito held the two handles firmly in his hands as Asuna drew hers beside him. He continued in his rant. "But Asuna and I won't be the ones to take you down. Your children came with us...and their efforts to train us into being the tool to destroy Peter Mathis will not be wasted any time soon!"

The Grey Jedi turned on his weapons. They were, in fact, still the fallen weapons from Jedi Master Amun-din, and the Dark Lord of the Sith, Emperor Lusac. The soft green blade of Amanda Mathis, and the daunting black saber of Luke Mathis, would be Kirito's weapons in the fight to overthrow the father of their former masters.

Asuna stood by his side, and turned on her soft magenta curved lightsaber. She stepped up to meet Kirito's position, and both heroes looked up to see what the grand designer would do next in his over-arching plan.

Peter Mathis smiled with a gentle movement on his face. He waved a hand, and summoned a polished silver double-ended saber staff. The two gold lightsaber blades that emitted from both ends lit up in a similar color to the rest of the glowing lights in the room.

The Game Maker nodded, and held his weapon down with both hands. "Very well. I'll let you make the first move."

"AGh!"

Lady Asuna was the first to move. The Dark Side energy she now learned to master was starting to swell faster than Kirito's, and projected her into the fight and up the steps of the throne room's pinnacle. Kirito followed closely behind, and just as both swordsmen drew closer, Asuna pulled her arm back, and sent the point of her weapon in to jab at Mathis's chest.

Kirito flipped over both their heads, and landed at Peter's back. The two were both met with rapid defensive deflections as the Game Maker's twin yellow lightsaber timed itself perfectly to defend from the joint assault.

Mathis kept every rather defensive, but any time he made his own direct attack, he always kept his eyes on Asuna, and tried to strike her first. His follow-throughs, or the attacks that went over the former Sith Lord's head, were the ones that he saved for Kirito.

Meanwhile, while Mathis was playing as the defensive one with his arms, his legs were rather active. They started to walk forward, and forced Asuna to back-pedal around the perimeter of the throne area as she held her off hand high, and continued jabbing with her right. Magenta flairs met in a song of battle with golden blades, each attack being accented by greens and blacks soon after. The three warriors danced with tremendous force as they each tried to keep their spirits level during the fight beneath the stars. Despite his older age, the version of Peter Mathis within this game was spry, energetic, and tenacious with each of his attacks.

He held the two young masters at bay, and suddenly flipped backwards toward his royal chair. Asuna and Kirito stumbled forward, and spontaneously blocked each other's assaults as neither succeeded in hitting Mathis during his ascent. Meanwhile, the GM of the Old Republic Online propelled himself from the back of his throne, and shot toward the two fighters like a missile trimmed in golden light.

His lightsaber flew around his body like a whirlwind of speed, but failed to strike flesh as both Kirito and Asuna blocked his flurry of attacks, and let him pass by to the stairs. Mathis landed, then launched himself slightly in the air with golden Sith lightning shooting from his feet. As he came between the two allies, the golden sparks shot across the field, and nearly blinded them both before Asuna blocked Peter's direct assault for her waist.

Kirito felt insulted that he was not the direct target on that attack, and smiled slightly as he pursued Mathis from the other side. He ran at the two of them, and swung both swords from the right to the left, but the master of the game swung the back end of his saber staff up to swipe at Asuna's head, then kept it flying past her, and used it to knock Kirito away on the return swing. Kirito barely kept ahold of his swords, and let the air take him across the stand, and nearly off the edge of the platform.

Mathis continued by holding the saber staff in one hand, and let it reach out in a circular swing to try and hit Asuna with its full force, but the former Lady of the Sith parried it easily, and then came around for another slash at his center. Peter caught his weapon, and deflected her attack. The two met in the middle, but were swiftly interrupted as Kirito jumped in with both lightsabers held high above his head.

Peter used the back end of his blade to push Asuna's weapon down once again, then twirled around to create energy, instantly releasing it into Kirito's chest to send him flying all the way across the room and down to the middle of the bridge. Mathis powered off his saber to conduct enough Force power for his attack, but then turned it back on to stop Asuna from taking his life.

Mathis smiled, and held her still with a blocking maneuver. "It's quite the small world. You know I've met your father before, on multiple occasions? I helped my son get a job with his company, RECT. That's where he learned to love the virtual world."

"Yea? A little too much if you ask me..." Both warriors put an equal amount of strength into their weapons, but Mathis talked with no effort, while Asuna's arms were growing more and more tense with each second that passed. "He tried to take people's minds over with his boss!"

"A truth, indeed." Mathis took the conversation once again. "He brought that technology into this game. I had no way of interpreting it, but his sister shut it down in the Republic, and made sure to let her faction fight with free will. He holds passion, but she holds kindness. It really created quite the interesting dynamic with users of the Holocron units."

Asuna pulled her blade away, and swung to hit low on Mathis's body, but the old man blocked it with the back swing from the left side of his staff. He caught her again with a defensive hold.

"You know, Asuna, you are the main reason behind the boy's success. I failed to remind myself of that going into this project, I even went as far as to ignore you when you arrived in my building. I was hunting Kirito to be my replacement, but I forgot that with every victory he's earned along the way in the virtual world, you were behind him in almost every aspect and fashion."

"You are really wasting your time, here!" Asuna gathered more of her strength, but tried to conserve it for a strong hit next time around. "Kirito's never had any interest in this game during his entire journey. He was trying to get me and the others out of this game alive. He wants to see this world fail!"

"And you honestly believe all of that!?" Mathis shouted with amusement and slight laughter. "The boy who cares more about the virtual world than most, would rather see this world broken or in the hands of a tyrant than in the care of someone with his passion and charisma. He is the combined aspects of my son and daughter! He is the only one who can preserve this project and move it along to its final phase!"

"Final phase...?" Asuna's arms lowered, and the two blades in the middle settled a bit to allow both warriors to look at one another more closely. "What's the final phase?"

Mathis grinned, but not in a sinister way. His eyes held wonder, but stayed in the moment long enough to relay what he had to share. "I wish to connect the human subconscious so closely with the virtual world, then study the behaviors of the mind in order to try and..."

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

Both Asuna and Mathis heard a slashing noise hit steel, and saw a large metal chandelier falling from the ceiling after getting broken by Kirito's twirling lightsaber. He caught his weapon, and sent the great monstrous lighting fixture through the glass ceiling, and broke the entire dome around the bridge to expose the throne room the dangerous void of space.

Asuna had jumped away from Mathis and back down on the bridge to meet Kirito, but suddenly the two men shut off their weapons, and outstretched their arms. A large bubble shield formed around both of them, and while Kirito's was only big enough to support his body and Asuna's, Peter Mathis had expanded his to cover the exact same size and location that the former glass sphere had taken before it broke.

The room remained preserved in peace just like before the window broke, but all three warriors stayed quiet. Kirito breathed heavily trying to hold up his Force shield for two, while Mathis held no struggle as he projected his barrier across the entire room. He even smiled down at the lovely couple as they struggled to deal with the current situation.

Asuna channeled memories from her dark Sith past, and immediately began to mediate in a bizarre fashion by pacing back and force. Kirito's bubble overlapped with Asuna's and both edges of the circles created a small pocket that blocked Asuna from the other two men. Her eyes started to glow with fire, and her fists clenched with red in her veins as she stared up at the top of the small steps to look at the confident Mathis peering at them down below.

Finally, Mathis moved first, and shot his arms up to lock the Force bulb in place, replacing the missing glass windows with pure Force energy to protect them for their continued fight. Kirito released his in normal fashion, which allowed Asuna to sprint forward and jump up for a second strike mimicking her first from the beginning of the fight.

Mathis met her pink blade with a song from his yellow, as both ends powered on to guard her, and Kirito as he rushed in with a flurry of green and black attacks. He twirled around in a circle to mimic a golden tornado, and hit the two opponents several times in high and low places.

Suddenly, Mathis's body split into two figures, and while the one that remained was quickly destroyed by Kirito and Asuna in joint fashion, the real Mathis slid in front of the golden throne and smiled down at his enemies.

"I've watched you both become Masters of the Force in your own right, now let's see if you truly know what it takes to wield power in this galaxy!"

He shot out pure white lightning that encompassed the width of the bridge down below. Kirito crossed his two sabers together to block the violent attack, while Asuna held up both her hands, and continued to hold her curved handle as she blocked the assault with red lightning flares of her own.

The swelling power between Mathis's feet was growing larger and larger, more and more with each second that he held his power on. Kirito and Asuna only grew weaker together, but suddenly, at the same time, Kirito swung his swords together in a scissor motion to cut away the immense attack, while Asuna shot out a large electric pulse from her hand to distort Mathis's lightning altogether.

Both warriors jumped high in the air, and raised their sabers to strike down their mighty opponent, but suddenly Mathis grabbed them both by the neck in the middle of their jump, and used his Force hold on their windpipes to propel them in into different locations.

Asuna shot down into the dead center of the bridge below, while Kirito shot all the way across the entire throne room, and slammed into the glassy elevator that led them into the lofty hall at the beginning. Mathis smiled, and flicked his left hand to shut the door, and watched it lower back down to the far away ground below.

"ASUNAAAA!" Kirito yelled with fear as the doors shut, and quickly met silence as Asuna and Mathis were now all alone in the expansive throne room settled underneath the heavens.

The room grew quiet, and while Asuna tried catching her breath down below Mathis stood with intimidation on his side in front of the royal throne to his back.

"Ahaaah...Ahhaaah..." Asuna still held on to her curved-hilt magenta lightsaber in her off left hand, but her right was now empty as she pulled her fingers together in a fist. She said nothing, and continued to stare at Mathis as the yellow faded from her eyes.

Meanwhile, his own golden eyes felt an eyebrow raise up as he looked on to his very interesting opponent. "The way you've learned how to turn off the Dark Side swells within your body. It's all quite impressive."

Asuna caught her breath, and swung her blade outward. "I gave up being a Sith Lord the moment I heard the voice of my daughter. Even if I don't remember her voice, or her face, or the moment we first met, I still knew that connection with her and my friends would be the one to set me free from my curse."

"You were right." Mathis stood up straight, and held his ignited saber-staff down in his right hand. "I'm quite thankful that Lucas managed to wipe all memories from you and the others, and then took half the free will from the entire Dark Side. If I had the strength of Kirito matched with the power of his entire friend group, I may have never lived to see him alone."

"And you won't...AGH!" Asuna drew in a deep breath, and unleashed a powerful cone of red Sith lightning from her dominant, right hand as she launched it straight for Mathis's face. He raised his left, and met her in the middle with powerful strands of white lightning that met the red in a horrible jolt of mangled sounds.

Sparks flew as high as the invisible ceiling, and the two Force masters stood at a great distance from one another to build up as much power as they could. Before the growing swell could erupt on the face of the bridge, however, Mathis tossed his lightsaber like a boomerang at Asuna to try and take out her arms. She stopped the attack, and drew up her red blade to hit the traveling saber away, sending it right back to the hands of its owner.

Then, they ran together, and fought up and down the length of the small set of stairs. Asuna had switched hands, and kept her right hand up high to strike at Mathis's face. Peter used the front end of his saber-staff for defense, and flicked her jabs away every time with little effort, choosing once in a while to try and hit her with the back off his sword, but failing every time as her speed was still too great to catch off guard.

Her breath was growing weaker, but Mathis gave her the benefit of the doubt and held his attack still this time to draw her in closer. "Personally, I'd like to see him fall once he makes it back up here. Maybe my son was on to something...the fire, the rage within you. What would happen if I took Kirito down before your eyes? Maybe the daughter of the wealthy Shouzou Yuuki is a more suited heir to my virtual Empire...?"

The elevator doors opened, and Kirito came running through. "ASUNA! GET AWAY AND LET'S BEAT HIM TOGETHER!"

Asuna held it out with Peter Mathis, but as the last few words from the GM's lips hit her ears, a small smile crossed over her face for the first time in a fight, and left her with eyes filled of hope instead of fear.

Mathis caught this, and pulled back the attack, kicking her in the chest. He sent her flying to the middle of the bridge, then tossed his spinning duel yellow lightsaber over the length of the throne room to hit Kirito in the chest.

Kirito's eyes grew bright, and his swords turned on at a very late instant, but before the glowing yellow sabers could pierce his flesh and end his virtual existence, the weapon flying through mid-air stopped, and pulled itself back to stab Asuna right in the heart, sending her to her knees. The last of her strength was used to pull the weapon out of her chest, and cut the yellow staff in two to fall by her side..

"NOOOOO!" Kirito's eyes shot with tears quickly turned red as he tossed his weapons aside and caught her falling body. His knees were settled beneath her weakening back, and a few spurts of breath came from her failing lungs to exhale out of her trembling lips.

"Kirito..." Her hand cupped his left cheek with the last bit of warmth in her veins as a smile graced her mouth, and tears slowly filled up her eyes. "Thank you, again...for saving me from m-myself...you're our only hope...n-now..."

"Asuna..." Kirito held her as tightly as possible, and shook with fear of losing her as he did back in the great floating castle of Aincrad. "Not again...I can't lose you like this again...I just can't...!"

She was gone. Asuna's body disappeared within the virtual realm of the Force System. Her former grey robes, dormant curved lightsaber hilt, and Kirito's fallen tears were the only things that remained in her place now.

The girl who struggled with her fate against the Dark and the Light, had finally become one with the Force.


For the final fight I wanted somewhere grandiose from the Old Republic specifically. Zakuul was my first choice, but the way I used Mortis in the first arc made me go back to it. But yes the throne room is 100% like Zakuul, and our dear Peter Mathis is mainly based on...well you probably know. It was sort of a combination of Emperor Valkorion and the Father from the Clone Wars. As far as his motivations? We'll have to keep reading...

And finally there's Asuna. Sweet, naive, stupid Asuna. (bonus points if you get that reference.) She wad born into this world a villain, but died to be her loved one's hero.

More tomorrow, until then!