Part 3: The Floor-Clearing Demon
Chapter 1 – Nightmare on the twentieth-fifth floor
Lunch was ashen in Alice's mouth. It was actually a new invention that she could eat. It was apparently not easy to implement an artificial system that could take complex food and break it down into energy.
However, it was not poor calibration of her taste buds that made the food bad, it was the museum. She was getting the stories that she had always wanted, but they were too… real. She had wanted to believe that Kirito had not faced so many real challenges before the underworld. That he had breezed through life and only in the underworld had his true potential finally shone.
It was that belief that she was now realizing was patently untrue. He had endured hardship after hardship, losing people that were important to him even as those around him did not appreciate his efforts. Even Asuna had ended up leaving him in the aftermath of losing Kizmel.
"Why…?" Yui whispered hoarsely from the other side of the table. Her meal of chicken fingers sat mostly untouched. "Why did they split up?"
Alice shrugged, opening her mouth to voice her mutual confusion. Pausing before doing so, she changed her words. "I do not think Asuna had come to grips with the world she was in yet. You know that saying, right person, wrong time."
"Right person, wrong time…" Yui suddenly looked up with sharp eyes, seeming to penetrate into Alice's soul. "That is how you feel, is it not?"
The noise of the cafeteria, made worse after the quiet of the museum, faded into the background. Unable to lie, she simply nodded. "Yes, I would gather that is how many of us feel."
Yui cupped her palms over her eyes hiding her face. After a dozen seconds or so, she lowered her hands and stood up. "I am done eating. Are you ready to continue?"
Alice agreed with a sigh dropping her half-eaten burger. It was a waste to see so much food go into the garbage but with the cold fusion technology running her body, she could literally power the entirety of Tokyo by herself. Food was wasted on her.
As she went to throw out both of the meals, Alice listened to the words around her. "Whoa, did you see him fight? What a boss!" "I can't wait to see him draw the second sword! Apparently, it is unreal to witness." "Shame about Lightning Flash though. I thought she was made of tougher stuff than that." "Well, war is the domain of men after all. Lightning Flash was just a sex symbol." Opinions and thoughts on what they had seen flooded through the cafeteria. Alice was not surprised by most of them, in fact she had thought much the same as many.
It was Yui beside her with clenched fists and a grimace that Alice worried about. She thought the girl would snap at the young man that had insulted her mother. This experience can be hard. Alice had gone through this very early in her life. Every child had to confront the fact that their parents were not perfect nor were they some sort of supernatural force. It was only coming later for Yui than it did for most children.
Dumping the food, Alice grabbed Yui's arm and led her on. The museum continued on the third floor. It was the most varied of the museum floors so far as it did not contain only a few locals. From the guide signs, Alice knew that this singular floor of the museum contained most of the game.
The first section seemed a direct counter to Kirito's rise in prominence on the floor below. Here was a white background with the image of a sword in red in the background. The acronym K.O.B. splayed along the bottom in bold capital letters. The knights of the blood oath, the guild that Asuna had belonged to. Leaders and champions of progress.
Heathcliff's rise to prominence
Among the players, no one appeared as suddenly nor rose to power as swiftly as Kayaba Akikiko's character Heathcliff did. Recruiting mainly solo players on the fringes of the clearing group he started a guild that he intended to forge into a group capable of clearing the game—or at least reaching the one hundredth floor.
Only found recently were notes from Kayaba where he admitted to the game being 'harder and more demanding' than he had initially thought it would be. Unable to conquer the game fairly, Akihiko designed and gave himself the unique skill Divine Sword. Of the ten unique skills, Divine Sword is by far the most powerful.
The moment Heathcliff revealed himself to the frontline players was the twenty-fifth boss battle. Influenced by a mixture of Laughing Coffin false information and their slipping relative power, the ALS attempted to solo the major milestone boss, the fourth hardest fight in all of Sword Art online.
The rest of the raid group arrived when the ALS was on the verge of annihilation, and Heathcliff ended up tanking the boss solo for nearly half an hour as people slowly chipped away the formidable foe. Join the viewing and witness a period of the fight when it was only him and the Black Swordsman fighting against it.
"Kayaba Akihiko…" It was an infamous name. Sometimes referred to as Heathcliff. Alice had witnessed his statement at the beginning of the game, but that had been the god Kayaba, not the swordsman Heathcliff. Alice had heard about Kirito's legendary fight with him but reading this paragraph was not exactly inspiring…
"Ah," Yui agreed. "Shall we watch?"
"Yes."
Maybe because of the lunch rush there was no line and they got seats immediately. As Alice entered another virtual show, she considered how odd of an experience this museum was turning out to be. She physically walked through it with Yui, but she had to witness the most important moments by herself.
Once again, Alice found herself in a boss chamber. This one, however, was completely different from any of the others that she had seen before. It had the large double doors standing open at one side but the chamber was not the standard rectangle, but a circle. Not just a circle, but a massive circle. The boss chamber was easily double to triple the size of the others that she had been shown. Lining the outer wall were thirteen support pillars.
From them, twelve monsters spawned, each one slightly different. They bore different shaped weapons and had helmets with patterns of white dots. Alice had no idea what was happening but was informed by the narrator. Each of the twelve monsters bore the constellation of a zodiac. The humanoid-like monsters had glowing eyes and rushed for the raid group. Each one was physically powerful and had unique sword skills that inflicted status effects dependent upon which sign they are.
All of the previous twelve from the first Health bar had not been killed sending the mob number up to eighteen. Each one as strong as an elite monster. Under the assault of fresh monsters, the raid group buckled. Parties raised shields and backed away, struggling to just survive.
With all resources wrapped up in simply staying alive against the mooks, there was none left to deal with the boss. Standing in the center of the room was a humanoid figure with pitch-black skin and six arms. In each set of arms was a different two-handed weapon. A greatsword, a battleaxe, and a katana.
Over its head were six health bars with only one and a half or so empty and the ominous name of 'The Destroyer of Worlds'. It was less of a name than a title. Still, it fit. The katana was held to the right, the battleaxe to the left and the greatsword above its head.
Then all three weapons glowed.
Alice gaped at the impossible sword skill. The three weapons flowed in concert. It was a deadly dance where the strikes passed by each other with milliseconds to spare. The sword skill had at least twelve hits, each weapon executing its own four-hit arc.
Each strike landed solidly on the center of a shield. A tall gray man reacted perfectly to the dance of death and looked unfazed as his arm moved robotically from spot to spot to block each attack. In all, he only lost about a meter of ground and five percent health. He was at least a head taller than Alice and wore a faded red robe over glistening metal armour. His longsword and shield had clearly been enhanced as they shone with that characteristic sparkle.
However, there were two of the twelve zodiac monsters approaching. One had an odd double-bladed weapon with around forty centimeters of wood joining two straight, narrow swords. The other wielded a giant curved sword that would need to be swung with two hands.
As powerful as the man was, he frowned knowing that the three would maul him from every side. Then Kirito appeared. Dashing in front of the two monsters, Kirito nicked them with his blade just enough to do damage and grab aggro.
Instantly, the monsters reacted with the speed of high-level units. It was one way that could tell the difficulty of an event or fight, how fast the monsters reacted. These moved with the speed of humans or even higher. That meant that a two-on-one was almost certain death.
Holding her breath, Alice did not understand the tense feeling in her stomach. She knew Kirito survived. She knew they won the fight. But it was still dramatic and well done. The one with the lighter double-bladed weapon approached Kirito quicker, sticking out one-point in front of it. Then, it executed a complex pattern of movements following small jerky lines before changing direction and then swinging forward the other end to repeat it. The whole sequence took about two seconds upon which the weapon began to glow.
"That was… an activation sequence?" Alice had never seen anything like it. This whole boss fight was a nightmare for the players as it featured a whole slew of unique sword skills. Unique skills that the players had no experience identifying or fighting against.
The monster's sword skill went off with a swirl of whirling blades as it assaulted Kirito with an unorthodox skill. Alice has no idea what he saw, but his movements looked premeditated, dodging the first two strikes with minimal motion. Then Kirito raised his sword and stepped sideways managing to deflect a vertical barrage with minimal motion as he ended beside the monster only a little worse for wear.
Not bothering with his sword, Kirito swung his left foot backwards in a high arc catching the monster on the back of its armoured head and carrying through to hit the sword of the second monster that came flying in.
The sword skill did not end there, however. Its wrists turned, rotating the blade that came shooting back up at Kirito who had to use his blade to deflect it, taking more damage. The final horizontal slash was ducked.
Kirito responded immediately unleashing a horizontal. The direction of his swing knocking the monster into the double-bladed one. In doing so, Kirito could not be punished in his post-motion freeze. It was a heroic attempt from Kirito, fighting two elite monsters. It was, predictably, completely doomed. He had fought perfectly and came off worse in the fight. The difference in health was monumental.
"Klein!" He yelled. "I need you to deal with these two!"
"Two!?" The Katana-user shouted back, having upgraded from just a curved sword. His party was huddling near a wall, helping another group with one of the monsters.
"Do it or the boss will break through!" Kirito shouted.
Alice narrowed her eyes feeling a rush of anger in her. Yes, Kirito would think that. After all, it should be impossible to tank the boss by yourself. However, as an invincible player with system assistance, Kayaba Akihiko could not lose the fight.
"Ah, fine! Let's go everybody." Showing remarkable resolve and bravery in the face of a nightmare fight, Klein disengaged his party and led them over to Kirito who suffered in the face of another barrage of sword skills from the two monsters that had split up and begun flanking him.
Only a few meters away, Heathcliff stood tall against the boss weathering its attacks. He had still lost close to a quarter of his health and if he was a normal person would die eventually.
Kirito took a massive attack from the curved greatsword and was sent flying backwards. Rotating once in the air, he managed to regain his footing, a gap between him and the monsters that Furin'Kazen was able to rush into.
Kirito with less than fifty percent beelined to the boss. Taking a stance beside Heathcliff he growled a question. "Are its attacks as crazily powerful as they look?"
"That's right," Healthcliff agreed. "Don't bother trying to block without a shield. You should go help the others, I am fine."
"Clearly not," Kirito growled. "You'll last another minute tops unless you get a potion in you."
"Ah, yes, I suppose so." Heathcliff reluctantly agreed. To Alice his words seemed forced. He was an unpracticed liar and had likely never had to work with someone as an equal.
Ignoring Kirito who had no hate built, it charged Heathcliff with another supercharged swrod skill. Its fluid near unblockable swings made Alice reminisce about the sword golem. They had nothing in common except that feeling of completely dominating a room. Of course, the man who knew exactly what was coming and had no reason to plan deftly blocked the powerful attack.
As the final swing was coming to an end, Kirito darted in, unleashed a horizontal on its side and darted past. For the first time in a long time, the boss had taken damage again. With Kayaba not using any hate generating abilities, and not dealing any damage, it turned to glare at Kirito.
"This is why you can't—"
"Drink a potion!" Kirito yelled at the man. "Don't play the hero."
Heathcliff looked affronted at being interrupted but took Kirito's advice to drink a potion. That health bar which had been drifting to the edge of the yellow zone began to climb once more.
Kirito, however, was the one in trouble. Already in the yellow zone he would die from one sword skill combo if it scored deep, direct hits. Despite that, he remained focused as he raised his sword high and focused on the boss. Oddly, to Alice's eyes he did not seem to be going all out. He was fighting well, but nothing to the extreme level he had shown previously.
Obliging, the boss started up another one of its three-part sword skills. First came the greatsword slashing along the diagonal from its upper left to bottom-right. When it got to the bottom, the sword reversed direction and flung itself back up along the same diagonal.
Kirito stepped into the Monster's left dodging both of those strikes. As the reverse strike passed the battleaxe fired along a wide horizontal arc. Kirito's hair fluttered in its passing as he ducked just in time. The rapid movements completely destroying his center of balance as he struggled to stay upright.
That is of course when the Katana attack started. It traced the diagonal opposite the Greatsword leaving a bloody X of red light hanging in the air from the passing of the sword skill. It was the lightest weapon of the three meaning that Kirito's guard was effective, but his health still slid down another ten percent.
Unable to reply, Kirito scrambled to regain his posture as the boss advanced on him, red eyes glowing from the pit of swirling darkness. Heathcliff looked both mildly concerned and mildly interested as he watched the boss advance. He seemed to be vetting out Kirito with keen interest.
The boss attacked again, launching into a combo with even more hits. It activated the sword skill from so far away though that Kirito was able to run and jump backwards to avoid all of the swings. Once again though, Kirito had lost a large amount of ground and was near the wall.
"It knows…" Alice whispered with awe. The monster AI was smart enough to drive Kirito into a corner so it can finish him with a devastating sword skill.
Her theory was confirmed when Heathcliff approached from behind and drove a rage spike into the boss's back. It ticked down maybe one percent of the health bar, and the boss did not even flinch. It merely continued to pin Kirito in with a thorough determination.
Oddly, Kirito's face had lost the blur from previous visions. Alice could stare into those dark eyes. At that moment, he glanced from side-to-side and then his eyes widened. Kirito, realizing that he would likely die in the next five minutes smiled softly. There was no fear on his face… In fact, there was a kind of relief in his features. His shoulders relaxed and he smiled. As if he had reached the end of a hard journey and would finally get to relax.
"NO! You can't… Alice raged at no one. "You of all people can't give up…"
Her words of course did nothing. Well, nothing besides bringing up a prompt asking her if she would like to exit the vision and return to the real world.
Kirito, moving with that expression shuffled along the wall patiently. He did not embrace death, but nor did he fight against getting pressed in. Likely to him he had done everything possible, buying enough time to get the mobs under control while their best tank recovered health.
"I was not planning on showing this but…" Kayaba muttered. Alice wondered if she only heard it because she was so close or if it would be carried to her regardless. Then the tall man assumed a sword skill posture that she did not recognize. Sword straight up, it began to glow with a golden light that he pulled back into a lunging position. After a brief pause, he shot forward trailing a golden column of light.
The sword sunk deeply into the boss which roared. Its health bar dropped, and then kept going. The attack had taken close to 6 percent of a health bar. For a single hit lunging skill that did not score a critical or a weak point hit.
"W-What ridiculous power…" It was clearly not the sword but the skill that was so poorly balanced. For the man had attacked with a similar one-handed skill that she knew. This must be the unique skill, Divine sword. Offense and defense. An implacable wall that stood above all other players in the game.
Despite that, the boss did no more than shoot Heathcliff a glare with one red eye as its weapons glowed with light once more. As before, Alice had no idea what would happen. These skills were impossible to identify.
Kirito, however, gaped at the boss, revelation clear in his eyes. Stepping forward, he did not even raise his sword. The Greatsword came down behind him as did the Axe. Kirito hit the floor and the Katana came across at waist level missing him. Kirito with a push of his feet slid through the boss's legs as all three weapons tracked parallel vertical paths.
"That was lucky, swordsman," Heathcliff warned stepping between Kirito who stumbled to his feet and the boss. "Fall back and heal, you have done enough here."
"Hah!" Kirito laughed, swigging a potion while still affected by the status. "And leave after you just saved me with that overpowered skill? I don't think so."
Heathcliff did not seem to appreciate Kirito's words. Nodding towards Furin'Kazen who were struggling, Heathcliff tried again. "I recognize your skill. Please help kill the spawning signs. I believe if they all die the boss will be stunned or weakened."
"How do… Fine." Kirito backed up leaving the boss as its attention finally settled back on Heathcliff. "Don't die… Also, if you are starting a guild, I know someone you should invite."
The vision began to end as Kirito rushed off to help Klein's guild and Heathcliff smiled slightly as he stared down the imposing boss with no fear.
Chapter 2: Tragedy Continues
Later, Alice stood outside with Yui reading more about the fight.
The fight on the twenty-fifth floor turned into the deadliest fight in SAO with thirty-two casualties. Twenty-five of these deaths were from the ALS raid group of forty-eight that started the fight by themselves. The other seven were all from the DDA, some of which were prominent members in the guild.
"This was quite the tragedy," Alice commented idly.
Yui only grunted. "I don't like Kayaba. You can tell how condescending he is."
"True. We have the advantage of perspective, but he was far from a good actor."
On the first meeting of the twenty-sixth floor, the Knights of the Blood Oath debuted on April 1st, 2023. This marked the beginning of the next stage of Sword Art Online, the dominance of the K.O.B. With the power trough that emerged, the K.O.B. were in competition with the DDA for the strongest guild in Aincrad.
From player reports, the thing that allowed the KOB to overtake DDA, the far larger guild at the time with more members, were the legends surrounding their leaders. Hathcliff the commander had made a name for himself on the twenty-fifth floor by soloing the boss for a long period of time. More notably, the most popular player in the game, Lightning Flash, took the position of Vice-commander in the KOB.
Ditching her cloak, she arrived wearing a red miniskirt and light chest plate with her face bared to the world. As the only female player in the frontlines her presence was extremely notable and quickly became the person responsible for organizing all boss raids.
Furthermore, this period marked the disappearance of The Black swordsman from the front lines. Events around this time are more uncertain, but in the second week of April, the Black Swordsman joined a guild composed of far weaker players.
"The moonlit Black Cats," Yui said sorrowfully.
"Do you know why he joined?" Alice asked. It was a point that she was not certain on. Surely it was not because there was a female in the guild.
"I am unsure but given the scene we just watched… I would guess that he was tired."
"He needed a break," Alice agreed with the hypothesis. She watched a silent AR video of a miniature boss meeting where Asuna is presented for the first time to the raid group as Vice commander of the KOB. Her face was hard, and her eyes looked dead. Yes, she was certainly beautiful enough to command the attention of men who rarely even saw a woman, but it was a cold beauty. That of a distant star that was unreachable and did not care about your suffering.
Walking slowly along the displays, Alice learned more about the KOB members, their expansion, hierarchy, and even symbolism of their guild crest. It was a little extensive, but most museums were. There was always more information than one could hope to remember. Anyone but Yui anyway.
There was a new section starting here. Common lives and emerging villains
Along here were small dioramas of the various floors. Alice and Yui could walk past them and read small excerpts about the notable towns and features, the boss and the date the floor was cleared. These had existed for the lower floors as well, but this was the most compressed area for them. It started with the twenty-fifth floor and continued to the fortieth. A stretch of more than half a year of game time lasting from the end of march through to October 18th.
Prominently displayed in the center of the room was a large mural of semi-abstract nature. Displayed directly in the center was a man with a hidden face and a sharp smile, darkness seemed to flow and gather around him. Behind and surrounding the center man which must be PoH were other members of laughing coffin. Each one had a sadistic smile and glowing eyes. It was not just laughing coffin though, there were monsters near the edge, mixing in with laughing coffin.
The Terrors of SAO, Was the name of the painting. A description informed Alice that this was actually painted inside SAO by one of the players. It was a rather obvious depiction of the fear that the artist felt each day when they went outside the safety zone in a party to earn some gold and experience.
Lastly, there was an excerpt from an interview by the artist about the inspiration of the painting.
I could never see the message telling me that I had exited the safety zone without shivering in fear. Even the disaster on the twenty-fifth floor was only a blip to us average players. Frontliners died, that was a reality, and we were grateful for their sacrifice but… it was distant. The floors kept getting cleared so we did not care.
Did not care until they came for us. We had grown complacent, but the murderers had not. We were not their main prey, merely bugs for them to torture. Laughing coffin levelled just behind the front lines using dangerous dungeons, or so I've heard. As such, they were too strong for an average middle floor player, and they were better at fighting people.
We petitioned the front liners to protect us. We begged as our friends died. They were killed in monster trains, massacred in sadistic games, or simply robbed and left deep in a dungeon. From the frontline guilds, we heard only one word, How?
I do not blame them. They could do nothing but march on and continue attempting to clear the game. In that moment to me they seemed less like heroes, or soldiers sacrificing themselves on the frontlines and more as a train only able to move along the rails that it had been set upon.
In this manner, a rift that was more than psychological developed between us and the front liners. They stopped representing people and started to become guild names. They became collective forces that struggled for power and influence.
Looking back on those days, I can't help but wish that someone had reached out. That someone had tried to bridge us, to unite us. The Lightning Flash only cared about clearing floors, Heathcliff was a name whose deeds were whispered about in pubs but was rarely if ever seen. Who else was there? The Black Swordsman had all but vanished, his name slipping into infamy and was slowly forgotten about.
"Wow…" Alice murmured. It was a moving testimony and brought the mural into a new perspective to Alice. It was a vision of everything that they fought again. Not only monsters, but themselves. The people that killed because they did not belief that someone could die in a game, and those that got kicks from abusing others.
"So much fear… I-I remember that." Yui whispered. "There were so many emotions, but only a few people managed to remove that existential dread from their everyday life."
"I am not sure I fully agree with them though." Alice frowned, reading the text again. "He claims that the front line was like a different world to him, but still adventured outside of the wall to fight, why?"
Yui pointed. "I think that exhibit covers it."
Moving over, Alice blinked in surprise at the bold title: I killed my friends.
…We did not go outside the safe zone for money. We did not go outside because we wanted to farm materials to aid the front line. We went outside because we were bored. We went outside because we wanted to live.
Unlike the delusional players, we did fantasize or joke about which of us Lightning Flash would fall for. We did not contemplate which of us would be the hero of heroes that ended up conquering Aincrad. I do not think any of us had aspirations of joining the front line. We joked about the slow pace of clearing, but none of us actually wanted to join the clearers.
That is because we knew deep down that we were not skilled enough to be one of them.
We fought because SAO is a game.
We fought for fun.
We fought and only I survived.
It was relatively short and blunt, but Alice nodded. The quote from Kayaba floated through her mind once again. Sword Art Online is a game, but it is not something you play.
These people had not listened, and they were punished. Perhaps they acted foolishly but Alice did not blame them. She would have fought as well. She could not imagine living life cooped up inside of artificial walls in towns filled with mindless NPCs.
She could not really focus on it as she caught the title of a nearby display out of the corner of her eye. Standing on her tiptoes to read around the masses, Alice tried to read about the return of the Black Swordsman.
After missing multiple boss fights, The Black swordsman returned for the fight against the thirtieth-floor boss. This event coincided with the total decimation of his guild on June 22nd. Reports indicate that he was even more distant and moody, nearly refusing to interact with the other players.
People would find him farming at all hours. In the following months, The Black Swordsman generated a level lead over all other players in the game* and would never be caught again.
He refused to comment on his mental state during this period. Location data indicates that he had been spending his nights sleeping in the same room as the female member of his guild. It is uncertain what their exact relationship was, but unconfirmed rumours agree that losing another female companion influenced the Black Swordsman to seek death.
"Rumours, speculation." Alice growled. "You would think they would get either official confirmation or not publish it."
Yet those words, the same room, stuck in her mind. So, had Kirito moved on from Asuna after their party broke up? That was not the behavior of simple friends…
"Hey, what is that asterisk about?" Yui asked, interrupting Alice's thoughts. Having forgotten about it, Alice peered over a shoulder again and found it at the bottom. "That Heathcliff's level always matched Kirito's. He appeared to have a program activated that would always keep his level the same as the strongest player."
"Cheater." Yui growled. "Didn't even play the world he created."
Alice nodded in agreement but could not think about that. Her mind was still wrapped up thinking about Kirito's past and relationships. It had been such a long time since then and yet… he was still himself. He was too vulnerable, too emotional.
"Ready to keep moving?"
"Yes, Yes I am."
Chapter 3: The Legend of Lightning Flash
There is no player better known in SAO than The Lightning Flash. By the time SAO ended, all players that were questioned had heard about her.
Among the craftsmen, middle line players, and commoners, The Lightning Flash was a hero. She developed a following for herself that deified her as a goddess. This worship continues to this day as players continue to testify that she was a goddess who had descended into Sword Art Online to save them from Akihiko Kayaba. They insist that there is no other way that the game could have ended on the seventy-fifth floor.
"Creepy…" Alice commented but she was not surprised. She did not know if her following was quite as devote, but she had a fanbase as well that she had garnered a decade ago upon entering the real world.
Among the front liners though, she is known for completely different reasons. They called her a "Floor-clearing Demon", a monster that dictated the rate that the floors were cleared at. The Lightning Flash forced and bullied players to increase farming, leveling, and boss clears.
After the twenty-fifth boss fight, many of the guilds felt that clearing bosses had become riskier than it was worth. Some have claimed that it was only because Lightning Flash strong-armed guilds into sending parties and members to killing bosses, not just clearing fights and farming at the best spots.
Alice struggled to restrain her laugh. Asuna… bullying people? What in the world happened to this girl? Whoever she had been at this point, Alice had never met her. The entrance panel finished with an anonymous quote.
"I can honestly not say if The Lightning Flash was a boon with her tactics and leadership, or a mass murderer that forced dozens of unprepared players to their deaths against floor bosses."
"That person… Is wrong." Yui muttered.
"Everyone can have their opinion." Alice rebutted.
"No! Mom kept them together! She inspired everyone, she…"
Alice almost groaned as people turned to look at them. They did initial glances and then that double take. Knowledge blossomimg in their gazes. Honestly Alice was surprised that it had taken this long.
"You… You are Alice, the fluctlight ambassador. Whoa!"
"Wait, but this girl… she must be Kirigaya's AI daughter? The special one from SAO!?"
Alice immediately felt her face alter to her diplomatic smile. These people were only curious, the interaction polite. "Yes, that is correct. Please do not let me distract you from your museum visit."
"Ah, yeah…" The man scratched his chin. "This place is a little more upbeat than I expected honestly. Thought it would be solely on the victims and the trauma that they incurred."
"Good things happened there as well." Yui butted-in, her eyes flashing dangerously.
Placing a hand on her shoulder, Alice followed up on that. "The front liners were common people that displayed great bravery in an attempt to free everyone. That, in isolation, is a positive story."
"Oh… Yeah, it sounds like one of those anime when you phrase it that way!" The man laughed.
Alice did not want to mention that they were actually in the midst of making an anime about the events in SAO. It had caused Kirito almost as many headaches as this museum had. Still, she managed to distract the man and move on from the group that had recognized them.
Unfortunately, as Alice looked around, the whole section was on Asuna. One part on her cult and their continued existence, one on her tactical abilities and boss planning skills. The largest section however had to do with the effect Asuna had on the front-line players and dynamic. Through all of it, Alice saw no mention of what she thought was the most obvious thing to discuss: the reason that she became this way.
Yui, of course, threw herself into the writings, pictures, and recreations. Alice, however, could not engage with a lot of it. It was not that she did not care, Alice did not want more sympathy for Asuna. She did not want to hear about the months and months she spent as the primary force pushing for freedom for the trapped players.
Because of that, Alice found herself drifting over to the complaints section. More specifically, it was labelled The Lightning Flash's oversteps. Not much better.
Compared to the rate that the floors like the fifth and sixth were cleared at, this section of the game was much slower. However, this slowdown has to do with a lack of buffer between player level and floor level. Even at this rate, only a few players managed to grind enough to keep themselves ahead of the expected level.
As such, during the boss fights, weaker guilds that were bullied into the rotation had both limited experience fighting floor bosses but lower levels and gear that tended to be on the cusp of what is required.
During the Thirty-fifth boss floor fight, The Lightning Flash commanded two new guilds—Raging Fire and Elf Supremacy—to supply parties for the fight. During the boss battle, the boss summoned a number of shades equal to the number of players present in the raid.
Faced with a number of monsters that most had never faced, the lines broke and fled. Of the near sixty adventurers that had shown up for the fight, more than twenty left. That left the remaining adventurers outnumbered by the mobs with a boss to deal with.
The entire raid was on the verge of collapse and was mostly saved by The Black Swordsman. While in his dark period, he waded into hordes of the spawned shades and fought half a dozen of the creatures at the same time. While skill helped, this was mostly facilitated by his level advantage and incredible gear created from long hours of farming materials.
Alice smirked at that. Still, was this really Asuna's fault? Alice supposed that she had thrown in parties that were not ready.
By the time the boss died, six adventurers had perished. That makes this fight one of the deadliest of the seventy-five boss fights in Sword Art Online.
Alice walked over to the second mistake.
…On the fortieth floor, many guilds were hesitant to explore the floor due to the difficulty of floors that are multiples of tens. Lightning Flash made verdicts insisting on clear dates for certain sections and tried to impose leveling quotas. While some bigger guilds had the ability to basically ignore her, the smaller frontline guilds could not afford to alienate her and the KOB.
As such, large guilds like the DDA took it easy and farmed lucrative spots on the thirty-ninth and thirty-eighth, the small guilds had to sacrifice themselves to clear a challenging floor. These guilds lost nearly members between them mapping the path from the first city to the boss room. One guild in particular, FAK, lost too many players and had to retreat from the front lines.
However, this floor was also the last floor where the Lightning Flash was extremely heavy-handed with smaller guilds. Rumors say that the Lightning Flash and the Black Swordsman spent time together during this period, watching a player play music (Likely to be Shigemura Yuuna discussed nearby).
Alice rolled her eyes. "Who wrote this garbage?" Unable to stomach it, she moved over to a half-sized status of a girl in a wide-brimmed hat with a lute held to her neck as she played.
Shigemura Yuuna, late daughter of Dr. Shigemura, inventor of the Aguma, perished on the day that the fortieth floor was cleared. Although she was not known by name, many players knew about her through her performances in squares at random times on random floors.
She ended up dying trying to save players stuck deep in a dungeon by drawing aggro of a large group of monsters allowing the players to disable the trap and exit. This heroic act is well recorded, and many players testify that it was this self-sacrifice that saved dozens of people.
Shigemura Yuuna is better known today as the idol Yuna, mascot of the AR game Ordinal Scale. Dr. Shigemura reportedly based the AI on the girl to help deal with his grief. However, there are conflicting reports that in the weeks leading up to the Concert incident many previous SAO players experienced memory loss and rumors continue to circulate about more sinister plots.
Alice whistled. It was bold putting those words in writing. Dr. Shigemura could probably sue them for slander, although it is careful to avoid mentioning his name… Still, Alice believed that the people writing this knew exactly what Dr. Shigemura was planning and his goal of reviving his daughter.
Finished with the section Alice walked over to a life-sized replica of Asuna wearing a striking red-and-white uniform and waited for Yui to finish. Alice could not resist and snapped a picture. They frowned upon the use of phones and forbid the use of flash, but as everyone could simply record their vision nowadays, those restrictions were becoming impossible. She wanted to double-check later if the outfit was accurate.
This Lightning Flash with auburn hair and the striking red-and-white outfit was one Alice had never met. She had met Stacia the goddess, and the undine healer, but not the girl pictured here, eyes focused on a distant objective. She did not brood, but neither did she live in her successes. Alice had met only a few people like this. Ones who told themselves that they would be happy when they had finished so-and-so task, or gotten so much money, or achieved x.
That was when Yui finished and stepped up beside Alice. "They captured her mood well, I think."
Alice blinked in surprise to hear her thoughts echoed. "Yes, do you think they had an insider describe her?"
It was meant as a joke, but Yui actually cocked her head and considered the possibility. "The character retrieval."
"…What?" Alice did not understand.
"Sword Art Online was cleared in November 2024. Dad rescued Mom from ALO captivity in January. That was when he obtained the seed from Kayaba. That was released and then began to save VR technology. In the following months, the developers of ALO put effort into allowing the SAO players to port their characters in ALO. When this happened to my Dad by accident, he had his items but deleted them. I believe that things like photos may have been salvageable. So actually…"
It was an overly descriptive answer. Sometimes Yui did that, sounding more like a verbose webpage than a person. "So… you think that the curators of the museum got photos from inside Sword Art Online to base some of this on?"
"For people, yes." Yui nodded. "Although character data clearly existed that they could have just ripped and 3D-printed. The scenes from boss fights have the real-time data stored which make them the easiest to restore."
"They do?" Alice was shocked. "Is that true for the ALO ones as well?" Of course the bosses of the Aincrad in Alfheim were long since cleared. So long that the creators had begun spawning them in again and again with other changes to aid in player retention. It was actually props to their willingness to innovate and expand that kept the game going for nearly a dozen years at this point.
"Yes." Yui nodded. "For the original 100 anyway. The server stores all location information and damage parameters from the time the boss spawns until its death. If the boss resets without being killed, then the data is wiped so there are no duplicates or failed attempts."
"Hmm," thinking it over, Alice realized that this was really the only way they could have gotten some of those details from the fight on the twenty-fifth floor for example. Only Kirito or Kayaba could have provided them, and neither were likely to talk. One was dead and the other was too modest—and his memory too bad.
"I never knew how bad she had it…" Yui finally said, bringing up what she really wanted to talk about.
"No harder than anyone else." Alice countered.
"If you take someone with a broken leg and a professional runner and force them both to run a single mile, the results will be very different."
"…I see your point," Alice conceded slowly, "but I do not buy in that Asuna had 'a broken leg', to use your analogy. There were people like Agil who left their wife and business behind. Asuna had no real friends and a rocky relationship with her family. If anything, I would have expected her to be one of the ones relishing in her newfound freedom, respect, and power."
"She could have," Yui agreed, "but she did not feel that way. Mom felt like all of the effort she had put in in the real world had gone to waste due to this mistake. She lost everything, her point of living."
Alice did not argue, repressing the urge to shake her head. Asuna did not know anything about losing everything. Who had been taken away, hanging from a dragon at the age of ten? Who had had their mind ripped open and identity stolen from them? Who had been saved by a kind man that had set Alice's feet on a new path only to leave her behind not once, but twice? No, Alice did not have pity for Asuna.
"We should continue, time grows late."
Chapter 4: The half-way point
…On January 6th, 2024 the raid group challenging the 50th floor boss was assembled. For the last time ever, a full two raid groups totaling 96 players formed. This is the hardest boss that was defeated in SAO and had the second highest number of fatalities after the disaster on the twenty-fifth fight. So many people died in this fight that progress of the entire game slowed drastically due to a lack of front-line players.
Join a party and attempt to stall the fiftieth-floor boss. If you can endure its attacks for five minutes without getting annihilated, you win!
"I think we may struggle with this one," Alice spoke drily to Yui. Whole groups of people were leaving the seating area dejectedly. Furthermore, Alice had been around when the fiftieth floor of new Aincrad was unlocked. The fight was hyped up be the developers and did not disappoint. Even with all the magic and powerful skills, the fight was incredibly challenging. It was one of the only times Alice had seen Kirito use his legendary weapon Excalibur.
"Yes," Yui sighed. "I do want to see the boss but really, you think they would have an option to get some NPCs just to fill in party space."
"Well, I can't say that we are as skilled as NPCs, but if you would like some bodies to fill up your party, we would be honoured to join you."
Alice turned to look at the man and his companions who had recognized Yui and her before. She gave them another onceover. Nothing about them raised red flags, so she turned to Yui for the girl's thoughts.
"Umm…" Yui looked to Alice.
"We will gladly accept." Alice agreed. She sent them a party request and got in line. The density of the crowds was starting to decrease, but it seemed like people who had skipped the visions and games earlier were coming back to attempt them when they thought they would be emptier. As such, Alice was stuck waiting with the strangers that immediately struck up a conversation.
"This place has been kind of crazy. Lots of stuff in here that was not released publicly."
"Absolutely!" A second one added. "I mean, I follow all of the forums and I had no idea about the Black Swordsman and the Lightning Flash's early relationship… But I guess you two know about everything in here?"
"Of course not." Alice replied stoically. Yui sort of hid behind Alice, looking nervous. "Everyone has secrets. I am honestly surprised how many they managed to dig up and put in here."
"That's a museum's job," the first laughed, talking easily. "It wouldn't be much of one if the curators did not dig up every morsel of information that they could find on the subject."
Alice nodded slowly. She was guiltily grateful to the museum. It had provided her with much of the information that she had been searching for. "Do you think this museum will change public perception about the incident? About the player's that were trapped?"
"Meh," the guy shrugged. "I don't think so. They can recreate the boss fights for you, but it's like watching a war movie, you know? Watching artificial images 'die' is never going to be as impactful as actually having your friends die around you."
"That is all they got though…" Yui muttered, barely audible as their party got a row of recently vacated chairs.
Fake deaths that were real. Yes, that would be hard to accept.
Sitting down, wondering what awaited her, Alice initiated the transition with the sacred line, "link start."
Her vision faded and then… didn't come back? Narrowing her eyes, Alice waited as the gamma level of the surroundings slowly increased. The room was suspiciously dark. As if there was an obscuring mist of darkness that prevented her from properly seeing the ground.
After a few more seconds, Alice could make her party slowly spawning in around her. Light effects only blinding her as they resolved one by one. A few moments later, Alice saw a seventh shadow. One too big to be a person, at least three meters tall.
Alice narrowed her eyes at it, trying to resolve details as she drew her sword, but it was not necessary, the boss entered into the light. The cursor that appeared over its head was black as pitch, seven health bars appearing one after another. Above it hung a name in bold letters: Bodhisattva, the corrupted.
The boss smiled from a face that looked forged from gold. Then, the eyes opened. Two pits of glowing red light that sent Alice stumbling back a step. Growing from it were a dozen arms. Behind it was an odd circle of a similar material as to what the boss was made of. Only as it stalked closer did Alice finally recognize them as more hands.
"There's no way…"
"Well, let's try this!" One of her new party members laughed happily. "Shit's creepy as hell, let's smash its face!"
Alice stuck out a hand but said nothing as he charged up a lunging heavy lance skill. There were very few sword skills with as much reach as this one. It was a top of line skill of a similar rank to the rapier skill Flashing Penetrator. This man was no newbie to virtual games with sword skills.
With a flash of bright blue light, the man leapt forward three meters, his lance and its light effect reaching another seven. As he had said, it crashed into the boss' face, dealing damage.
A pittance of damage, but still damage.
Then, it responded.
Four of its six right arms coated themselves in blood-red light and punched forward. Due to the reach of the lance-skill, the boss was still half a dozen meters away. The man just stood there looking confused. Right until the moment that red light slammed into his body.
Sending him flying three meters back, there was a suspicious cracking noise as well. Alice watched as the man lost almost a third of his health. Not the most damage she had seen, but still extraordinarily high for such a long-range attack.
"What the hell," The man swore as he pulled himself to his feet. His heavy armour was cracked straight down the middle.
"Hits like the pugilists," Alice muttered, remembering the elite forces from the underworld that Sheyta had fought in her place. She had returned with ruined armour as well.
"It has high armour breaking damage?" Yui guessed.
Alice nodded, moving forward to engage it. "Hang back and watch its skills. I'll distract it."
The others accepted readily taking a step back, and then stopping. Based on their confused stumbling, Alice deduced they ran into a wall. Taking another look, Alice caught a faint purple glow in a circle around them. That would be the arena that they were forced to stay in. It was only fair that they did not get the entire boss room.
Focusing back on the boss, Alice watched its eyes. The eyes were the windows to the soul. They betrayed a person's intentions before they even began to move. In those red slits though, Alice found nothing but an overpowering malice.
Yes, this boss was even stronger than the beast on the twenty-fifth floor. A corrupted god with near infinite power. It stopped four meters away from Alice and pulled back its lowest four arms to its sides, the appendages pulsing with eerie light.
Alice responded with a skill that she had learned from Kirito. Sticking out her sword she started one of the only purely defensive sword skills, spinning shield. It was meant to counter breath weapons but could work as a decent replacement as a shield from attacks coming straight on.
Thwum! A gigantic force crashed into Alice's blade almost breaking the sword skill. Thwom! A second hit. Gritting her teeth against it, Alice knew what would happen.
THWUM!
The third punch sent her arm flying back, her fingers barely keeping a grip on her hilt. Of the four arms that had been coated with light, only one had yet to go off. As it struck forward, Alice covered herself with her left arm.
Crack! The impact spun her around. Her vambrace had broken from the hit. Each punch had incredible power to it. Even worse, these felt like basic attacks that the boss would use at the beginning of the fight. It likely got even more insane the more bars you emptied.
"I'll help, Aunt Alice!" Yui rushed it, stabbing the construct with her rapier. It made a metallic ringing noise. Alice did not think that the attack had done damage. It would take a powerful sword skill to begin to chip into its health.
The boss smiled as it turned its golden face to gaze down at Yui. The girl barely reached its waist. Similar to its first attack, the four arms on the left side began to glow. She would be destroyed for sure from this range.
"RUN!" Alice cried at her. Yui, however, glared defiantly up at it. Then, at the moment all four firsts punched out in tandem aiming down at the girl, Yui darted forward. She passed right between its legs, coming out on the other side of those hundreds of artificial arms.
"That… worked?" Alice wondered. Sharing a look with the other men, they shrugged. Their goal was to stay alive, not beat it. Currently, they were on pace to win this challenge. Alice watched concerned as it started up the second skill against Yui. This one had four distinct attacks and would be harder to dodge by dashing between legs.
Yui had an answer for this as well. Getting a better view of what had happened than Alice, she jumped aside past the first attack, then the opposite direction for the second. Back again for the third. On the fourth, Yui was too slow. The pace of the attacks faster than her dodges. Getting caught in the side, she went down in a heap, losing about 20 percent of her health.
"Yui!" Alice ran for the girl, helping her to her feet. At that moment, a small ding announced that a minute had drained from the timer. The boss' face contorted in pain and two of its seven health bars emptied.
Lifting its head back, it roared loudly, the gold skin getting a red tinge. From the circle of arms, two more pairs activated and came to life bringing it to eight a side. Some of the statue-like stiffness had faded as well.
Alice, instincts honed through hundreds of battles threw Yui towards to the men and herself backwards. A moment later, the boss was there, six glowing fists pounding the ground, sending out a giant rippling shockwave.
"HaYooo!" One of the men yelled, slamming a sword and shield together at the same time. It was not just a battle-cry, but a skill. Alice could feel the faint magic pulse on her skin. One of the men that had said hardly anything walked away from the others, shield raised to defend against the boss.
The Corrupted one, with almost no post-motion freeze took the challenge gladly. Six more of its fists glowed, four right and two left as it surged forward. They turned into mere blurs of light as they streaked forward one after another. It looked like a swarm of fists trying to break the man.
Grunting from the impacts, he took it well. Sliding back only a meter, the man endured the sword? skill.
So, it can be blocked… Alice nodded, that made sense. Afterall, Kayaba would not want to make a boss that he cannot—Crack! Before her disbelieving eyes, the shield on the man's arm crumbled. Pieces of it falling to the floor in slow motion before freezing and shattering into nothingness.
"No… No way…" He stood staring wide-eyed at the boss. He did not raise a hand to defend himself as the sword skill came in again, pounding him into the ground. After a short moment to allow his health to drain, he followed his shield into nothingness.
Their party was down to five.
"Stay sharp!" Alice called, now absorbed completely with the challenge. Even so, a part of her was growing more and more curious. How did they beat this thing? How did parties tank it without losing people or gear?
None of them went to grab aggro. Instead, they split up and formed a loose circle around it. They weren't surrounding it; they were playing one of those perverted games that only real worlders would think of: Russian roulette. It would hunt them down one by one while everyone else watched.
Alice held her sword loosely to her side. It had taken a large hit to its durability during Spinning Shield. The sword was essentially not useful against this boss. Kirito would find a way to use it. Alice growled at her own thoughts.
Kirito, Kirito, Kirito.
It always comes back to Kirito for her. The boy had blazed into her life like the sun itself and now refused to leave. Every time Alice began to despair and lose her way, he returned, bright as ever. He was quite literally the center of her world, and yet completely out of reach.
Fueling her frustration was the undeniable fact that he found some way to stall this boss. There was a secret here that she was missing. The boss selected another of the men to rush. Closing distance even as it primed one of its skills with six fists.
Alice wracked her brains for an answer. Some way to counter those deadly fists that began to rip into the man. He had dodged four but the fifth one had grazed him inflicting the stumble condition. So as the man fell to the ground, the sixth fist hit him directly in his face dealing a critical hit. Just from that short exchange he lost half his health.
Then, another minute finished passing. With two of five down, the boss flinched as another two of its health bars emptied leaving it with three of its original seven. The boss roared in agony, another two pairs of arms joining the fray bringing it to a total of 20 arms to punch people with. Its skin as well changed from a slightly heated gold to a near molten complexion.
This… This was getting stupid.
Alice shook her head as the boss exploded forward. Its speed continued to increase with every stage. Each time it got more attacks and faster. The half-injured man tried to run away but it was pointless. A normal run was no match for the burst of speed that it generated from a sword skill. Eight arms struck in two groups. Before he landed on the ground from the massive impact his armour had shattered. A few moments later, he did as well.
Four people left.
"Dodge!" Alice ordered. The boss barely paused after its sword skill. It had whirled around and immediately pursued the last man that still had full health. Actually… Is it targeting based on current health? It could be a coincidence, but Alice could not remember a single moment this fight that it did not choose the person with more health when it had an option.
The man lifted his greatsword in a defensive posture as he stumbled quickly backwards. The second hit of the fists knocked his weapon out of his hands. Only two of the remaining six reached his body but they did massive damage.
Great, its damage increased as well.
Curious, Alice wanted to see something before they all died. Sprinting forward, she assumed the stance for Vorpal Blade, just slightly off from activating it. She could feel the system pulling on her, wondering if she would fall into the correct stance.
The boss had unlocked and pursued the man who just picked his weapon off the ground. He turned around with terror on his face to stare up at the lurking boss. It pressed its twenty palms together, and then retracted its arms into an odd configuration, selecting eight seemingly at random that it brought back into a punching position.
Alice abused the slower activation sequence to get her attack off. The strongest singe-hit sword skill that exists for the one-handed longsword. "Raagh!" Without thinking about it, Alice roared as she increased its speed to the maximum, her body and blue light nimbus blurring as she tore into the neck of the colossal monster.
Momentum carrying her forward, Alice crashed into the statue-like boss. Alice braced herself for a jolting collision and was surprised when it felt like hitting a person. There was give as the two of them tumbled to the ground together.
Instincts kept her moving as Alice's mind froze, completely flabbergasted as to what she had managed to do. Dancing to her feet, Alice skipped backwards just in time to avoid a swipe from the boss as it lurched back to its feet. Perhaps most astonishing was the boss' health bar. Alice's single attack had taken close to five percent of the current bar. It was an obscene amount of damage for a single hit against a boss.
As Alice had expected though, she drew aggro. Based on that rage in those red eyes, she did not think her having the highest health now made a difference.
Ding! At that moment, the timer ticked down to two minutes remaining. Once more, the boss transformed. Losing only one health bar, the same phenomenon occurred: its skin got redder, less metallic, and more arms appeared.
So, its defense decreases as well… Alice realized. That must be the pay-off for its ridiculous power. Still, as far as Alice could tell, the only viable strategy here was to use as many heavy lances as possible to surround it and try to burst it down without interfering with each other. There were guaranteed deaths, but was there any other way?
Twelve arms glowed.
Alice blinked. "Oops." She primed Deadly sins. It was all she had time for. The seven hit sword skill was the best one she could think of for countering the boss.
Her sword met glowing fist with a horrible clanging sound. Again and again, it endured against the awesome power even as her health drained with each contact. The seventh and final slash was countered easily by a fist leaving Alice standing defenseless against the oncoming barrage that would easily sap her remaining health.
"Oh no you don't!"
The man she had saved returned the favor with a diving lunge. Inserting himself flawlessly into the gap that Alice's final strike had left behind he shoved her frozen body to the ground. The statue's fists crashed mercilessly into his back. He bounced off the ground to a height of almost two meters from the awesome power.
Laughing wildly, the man shattered into polygons.
Three of them left, and 100 seconds to kill. Furthermore, the boss would assume its final phase at the one-minute point. When that happened, she doubted that they would even be able to slow it anymore.
This was, by far, the stupidest boss Alice had ever seen. Worse even than that conditional sudoku cube on the sixth floor.
Staggering to her feet and away from the boss, Alice knew that it would not help. The boss was now far faster than her. With twelve arms a side, its damage output was incredible. Worse, she probably only survived two hits. Any more would end her.
As it stalked towards her, it suddenly stumbled from a blue light that exploded against the back of its head. The boss whirled around to face the last of the men that still lived and had joined up with Yui and Alice. He shot Alice a resigned shrug before turning and sprinting for the far wall.
"Yui, go to that corner!" Alice commanded, pointing to her left as she angled slightly right. Unfortunately, she only got a dozen meters before hitting an edge. Turning around, Alice was just in time to see the boss kill the man that had formed the third point of their equilateral triangle.
As he disappeared into polygons, the boss slowly looked between Alice and Yui. In her gut, Alice knew what its decision would be. It went for Yui. The girl now had the most HP.
Alice debated standing still and doing nothing. After its delay and their split up, Yui would die right around the one-minute mark. That meant Alice would have a chance to dance with the final form.
Sighing, she rubbed her face with her gloved left hand and darted forward. "Run along the wall!" She screamed at Yui.
"Y-Yeah!" Listening for once, Yui bounded along with slightly unsteady steps. The boss course corrected, never even glancing at Alice.
It has the single-mindedness of a berserker…
There was something here. Alice knew that there was. A possibility for an advantage. She keenly felt the loss of Kirito and his crafty mind. Her style was straightforward. She swung with more strength and speed than her opponents and used that to overpower them. This was not the world that she had learned in, this was Kirito's forging ground.
Coming in low at its legs, Alice charged up the powerful four-hit skill Horizontal square. Her blade coated in that familiar blue light, Alice leapt, flowing into the motions. So familiar, and yet slightly rusty. She did not fight with a sword often anymore.
"Gragh!" Roaring, it stumbled as her blade cut deeply into its flesh, the boss turning angrily to face her.
Deep in her skill, Alice had no choice but to finish the last three strikes. It did incredible damage to the boss whose defenses were little more than paper now. It did not stop the boss from smacking her directly in the face with a normal fist.
Senses disoriented at she was sent tumbling head over heels; Alice still kept an eye on her health that stayed stable in her upper-left vision. Only ten percent lost. Better than she had any right to expect.
Jumping up, Alice prepared to dodge but there was no need. The boss was moaning in pain again as the time hit one minute. The final stage of the fight.
As she had predicted, the boss entered its final health bar and with it, the gold skin coating it exploded outwards. Underneath she could see muscles with blood spurting out. A black rot touched its body. Infected cyst looking things that burst, leaking a tar-like liquid. It was revolting.
She was not a spoiled socialite, she had ran with boys, muddying her clothes. Alice had fought with her all might against the forces of darkness. Still, she did not think that she had ever encountered something that she would feel bad for her sword to stick it inside of something.
Not caring about that, Alice once more queued up Vorpal Blade, a last-ditch hope that she could stumble it enough for Yui to win. Alice blinked once as she started the skill motion. In that time, the boss had closed the gap between them. It possessed a baffling speed.
Oddly, Alice just noticed that its health bar had decreased when its fist hit her face, again, as her skill activated. Somehow, as the force was transferred through her, the Vorpal Blade motion dragged her the other direction. The effect was Alice getting suspended horizontal in the air as her body jerked forward, blade impaling itself in the exposed gut.
With a small burst of light, they separated, Alice getting sent spinning against the edge of the arena, a soft purple light catching her body. She laid there staring at her declining health. Ten percent, five, one… It stopped falling.
Shooting up to her feet, Alice found the boss. She had survived with one health. It was a miracle that happened rarely enough to be celebrated each time it happened. The boss was down to nearly fifty percent of its final bar as well. Raging and stomping in the middle of the arena, it appeared to be in too much pain to attack either her or Yui.
Holding her breath, Alice shook her head at Yui who watched her with wide eyes. Thirty seconds, twenty-five… Did they do it? Every other second, the boss would blur with speed, inflicting more damage upon itself. If this worked, then the final stage of the boss was funnily enough, the easiest. Stand around and watch as… "Yui!"
Alice's scream was simply too slow. The boss' eyes like two red searchlights had fallen upon Yui. It closed the twelve-meter gap in a second, one of its fists pounded into her gut.
Yui, however, did not fall. Her face scrunched up with concentration and she grabbed onto one of the seemingly infinite arms with her off-hand and let herself get pulled against that disgusting black and red mess.
Bringing back her right arm, she thrust her blade into the boss.
"YUI!" Alice screamed, feet scrambling to race over. It did not matter. In the following seconds, Yui's health ran out and she exploded into polygons. That left only the boss.
Brow scrunching with fury, Alice forgot everything. The museum, her worries about Kirito, the revelations of today. She merely focused that anger at losing someone she loved and unleashed the final sword skill in the one-handed sword category: Nova Ascension.
Alice's blade became a blur. It was a barrage of azure blue light that descended upon the boss. It responded with supernatural reactions. Sword met fist again and again in an infinite cacophony. A concerto of light and shadow splayed about their faces.
"DIEEE!" Roaring, Alice broke through. Her tenth strike deflected a fist to the side and sank deeply into the boss' chest. A moment later, that same fist completely tore her left arm off.
I'm dead…
Closing her eyes, Alice sighed at her failure. Both her and the boss exploded into polygons. The timer stopped. One second remained.
A loud fanfare shocked Alice. Eyes opening wide, she glanced around looking for the commotion. The darkness from earlier was completely dispelled. The boss was nowhere to be seen and the word CONGRATULIONS! Hung in large letters in the air.
Around her was her party. All five stared at her with an awed expression.
"That… was so cool, Aunt!" Yui exploded first rushing over and pulling Alice into a deep hug. "I always knew you were strong but… whoa! That was Papa levels of awesomeness."
"Wait… we… won?" Alice stared shocked at a menu that appeared before her. It was a leaderboard, and the number one spot was flashing. Not only that, there was a stamp on it that said SUPER CLEAR!. "What is a super clear?"
"Click on it," the spear user recommended stepping over to her. "As the AI says, that was amazing. I've never seen reaction speeds quite like. I can't believe I considered myself an expert at fighting in the virtual world."
"You are good…" Alice said. She could not tell the man that what he lacked was simply real experience fighting in life-and-death battles. That was something no one should collect. She was distracted by the explanation of the super clear showing up. "It says… Awarded to those that did not merely survive."
"So we killed it first," the man fist-pumped the air. "Whew-hoo! Drinks on me later everyone."
"Hell, yeah!"
"But what…" Turning to Yui, the only person listening, Alice asked the important question, "what do we name ourselves?"
Yui laughed loudly. "How about Revenge of the AI? Or maybe, the AI Strikes Back?"
"Really?" Alice wondered, moving to type it in.
"DO it," Yui confirmed with an impish smile. "Dad will love it when we tell him later."
Alice, not understanding why, filled in the name and sighed with exhaustion as the world faded around them.