"Wait, so...if Kirito beats Heathcliff in a life or death duel, we can all get out?"

Klein stared dumbfounded at Asuna and Yuuna who had gathered the rest of the progression group.

Kirito was training and telling Ela about the situation after having told the rest of the guild about the situation. Of course she didn't tell them not to tell anyone, so they deemed it necessary to tell everyone they could think of who would try and stop Kirito from going through with a life or death duel.

"The thing we're worried about, is whether Heathcliff-san will cheat again like last time."

Klein sighed and looked around at the rest of the massive crowd that had gathered. It wasn't just the progression group, but friends of as well, and friends of friends. Alt's figureheads were standing in front of them telling them that they could bank everything on either Kirito getting them out in a few hours, or continuing as normal through Aincrad.

If Kirito went through with the duel and lost, then they had no chance in getting out through the normal path.

"I think we just need to really support Kirito in this, and make sure Heathcliff doesn't cheat!"

Klein's enthusiasm was lost right away in the crowd. The situation was rather grim. They knew that regardless, Kirito was going to choose to do the duel. If Kirito won even with the potential cheating from Heathcliff, then they would be free and the journey would be over. Win all around. If Kirito made a mistake, lost the duel and her life, not only would everyone be devastated and mourn her loss, but nobody could replace her ability to lead and bring everyone together. They would never clear the game. They would die inside of Aincrad never making it past floor 71.

Klein stood up and faced the crowd.

"Be honest with me here. What kind of a chance does Kirito have here? She defeated Heathcliff even when he cheated back when they dueled last. She could do it again in my opinion, and she could do it even better than she did last time, beat the heck out of him and make him regret trapping us here. Stop being so down about the situation. We have to have faith in Kirito and support her! Even Heathcliff called her the hero here. It's the truth! We all look up to her as the hero carrying us through this death game! We need to have faith in her and support her when she needs us most. Yeah this isn't some fantasy where the power of friendship conquers all odds. This is a situation where our hero can use all the confidence she can get, all the support she can get. She's just another person like us, just a little more special because of how hard she works. She's another person special to us who needs us to be there for her when she's ready to put her life on the line to save us all. Emotional support is our win factor! Let's believe in her!"

Klein's speech roused some smiles from the crowd and some cheers from his Fuurinkazan friends, but the rest just looked with determination.

"You know what? You're right Klein. Thank you. You put it better than we could have. I don't know where my lack in confidence came from. The thought of losing her and our hope of getting out just...it felt like the end of the world to me. Let's support Kirito in every way we can! Everyone here can send private messages to her, so send her private messages of words of encouragement. Cheer for her at the duel. Do whatever you can do cheer her on."

Asuna's happy expression betrayed the tears flowing down her face. She buried her face in her hands, crouched down and hugged her knees to her chest. She didn't know why, but it felt like she was sending Kirito to her death and telling everyone to support it.

Asuna had long ago fell in love with Kirito whether she was male or female, inside or out. The personality of the shy but hard working and talented person she knew as the person who saved her at first, taught her of their prison having good food, then taught her that she could still live her own life. A part of her just kept on imagining that the fight was going to end with Kirito having a sword plunged through her chest. She didn't believe it would end that way, but she feared the possibility.

The crowd began to disperse and she absently whispered a teleport.

"Port to cottage home."

She felt the soothing breeze of the familiar environment on her back, and Asuna unfolded herself from the protective shell she had formed. She heard the shout and the rapid clashing sound of a familiar fighter. The rapid clashing was much more rapid than she recalled though, so she moved to where she heard the sound coming from. She got within sight of the back of the house only to see Kirito's dual wielded one-handed swords rapidly chunking away some of the best loose gear she had made recently all piled onto a striking dummy. The excessively fast movements Kirito had were so shocking to Asuna she dropped to her knees as she stared on. She had been fast with her sabers and rapiers, but the speed at which Kirito moved with the glistening black Elucidator and the deep purple Confidence made her feel she had a long way to go with her own abilities.

Kirito was still going at a combo and had not even a second between her smooth slashes, slices, stabs and she even had the perception to continue while acknowledging Asuna's presence.

"Oh, how is everyone doing? About ready to watch the match at the arena?"

Kirito's spirited voice coming through the panting as she continued her combo was a little unnerving for Asuna. However, she was still confident in Kirito.

"You should check your private messages. Turns out Klein is a bit of a leader type and can say good things."

Kirito stopped, sat down and gave Asuna a brilliant smile.

"You're joking right? In all seriousness though, it doesn't surprise me that much. Klein is very much a relatable person. If he failed the speech he gave, he might be crying right now. What kind of speech did he give?"

Asuna walked up beside Kirito, sat down and rested her head on Kirito's lap.

"Klein gave a speech telling all of us that we have nothing to worry about. That we need to believe in you and support you with everything we have. Because you're a person just like the rest of us. Special to all of us in that you really are a hero to us. Something about this not being the power of friendship guiding you, but lending you emotional support because you need us to also be confident in you right now if we're ever going to get out of Aincrad."

Kirito gave Asuna a gentle smile and asked her a devastating follow up question.

"How do you feel about the fight?"

Asuna's mind repeated the image of Kirito being stabbed through with a sword and she couldn't hold back the tears.

"It's okay to be afraid for me too. Honestly, I've been having nightmares for months regarding another possible life where I had been here as a short haired, much more anti-social and more masculine version of myself. I lost a lot of people then, and in those nightmares, they ended with Heathcliff killing you before me and him killed each other. That scene kills me inside every time I have that nightmare. Now is the chance to break that nightmare. I'm far stronger now than I was in those nightmares. I always had a version of myself to work on being better than. The sixteen hit fixed combo guided by the system is nothing compared to the...hundred and eighty seven hit combo I finished a little early. My goal was two hundred, but that's maybe a little overkill."

Asuna wasn't even surprised, just taking it in that Kirito was only a little short of hitting a ridiculous goal. She closed her eyes and hugged Kirito's waist.

"I believe in you Kirito. I believe that you'll break this terrible vision I've been having. I know you're strong and fast enough to break it. I know there's no way you'll lose a fight."

Kirito patted Asuna's hair gently and the swift and deadly training she had been doing vanished from Asuna's mind. She took Kirito's hand in hers and cupped her cheeks in those hands she knew were strong enough to carry her back home, to their real bodies.

Asuna's mind was filled with other visions finally. Of a life where they were experiencing normal, everyday life together. Going to school, returning home, working part time jobs, spending time with friends. Virtual reality had little part in the future those visions gave her.

"I'll believe in the good visions I have, and tell you something that I've been holding back for both our sake. I love you. It's not just as friends. It's not like family. It's love that I want to be the romantic interest in your heart. I want to be special to you. The very thought that I might lose you today is hurting my heart so much, I desperately want to stop you and continue progressing normally to the end. I am afraid that reaching floor 100 and defeating the boss of that floor is just going to have you fight him anyway and then I would just lose you at the end of this. It would give me more time with you though and a greedy part of me wants you to clear floor 100 together."

Kirito smiled again and returned Asuna's hug.

"I...am going to hold onto my response until after I beat Heathcliff. I'm going to take your confession to me seriously, and tell you everything I've been holding back. For now though, please keep believing in me."

Kirito closed her menu and brought the both of them to their feet and ported to the floor where [KoB]'s castle resided. Kirito held Asuna's hand tightly and they walked in silence toward the stadium entrance. As they arrived, Asuna begrudgingly let go of Kirito's hand when she walked into the field. Kirito had both her swords sheathed on her back, not hiding one in her inventory. With a loud cheer thundering through the stadium, an announcing voice trembled as they stated the stakes of the fight.

"Today's major ticket fight is between our hero, the black haired swordswoman Kirito versus the illustrious guild master of the Knights of the Blood Oath, Heathcliff! This fight to the death is not one of the player versus player fights where hit points stop at the halfway point. This fight ends when one of the fighters...disappears in a death animation. These stakes are because the illustrious Heathcliff is really Akihiko Kayaba-san, the director and creator of this game of death we are trapped in. Will we have one last death here, the end of the life who took away nearly two years of our lives? Or will we lose our hero and only hope to return to our normal lives?!"

The crowd went from thundering cheers on seeing Kirito, to dead silent as they listened to the horrifying proclaimation that Heathcliff was in fact the person who trapped them and that Kirito was fighting a person who had the ability to cheat if he felt the need.

"Do I still have any say in the conditions of the fight? Or are we going by your rules?"

Kirito's words echoed through the stadium and Heathcliff responded quickly after.

"We will both use everything available to us...except for system commands. This is a fair fight Kirito-san. Let's make this final battle enjoyable to the viewers?"

Kirito wanted to end it the moment she found an opening, which she still intended. She was fighting another broken fighting style however. As long as he moved his shield fast enough, her swords wouldn't scratch him. She had to rely on her well built stamina and speed to be able to wear him down and break him.

The fight to the death duel notification popped up in front of her and she immediately accepted before dashing in as fast as her nimble feet could carry her to Heathcliff.

The gap between them closed, the whole of the giant stadium roared as Kirito's blade knocked Heathcliff's shield back. The immense pressure from the clash sent Heathcliff screeching back on the heels of his feet, and he pushed back as hard as he could. The true fight had begun. After the Elucidator had rang out the first powerfully resounding blow, the Confidence sliced clean passed Heathcliff's opening as he pushed back against Kirito. The graze of Confidence against Heathcliff's cheek and the tick on the giant display showing Heathcliff's hit points drain slightly, as well as the bleed status which quickly healed. An unfortunate effect of having sold Heathcliff some of Kirito's finest work. The hit points didn't regenerate, but status ailments wouldn't last long.

Kirito hopped around a little, trying to create an opening in Heathcliff's concentration. The moment she noticed his concentration lapse, she dashed up to him, slicing clean at his hands. The closer hand to her lopped off easily, and Heathcliff dropped the giant shield. He quickly summoned a replacement back and slammed it down on Kirito. She crashed to the ground and Heathcliff slashed his blade toward Kirito's neck. She however had the strength to push back on the shield and roll out of the way of the incoming blade. The sword pierced into the ground, Kirito used the moment of having the blade stuck to sweep Heathcliff's legs.

Heathcliff toppled to the ground and the breath left him. Kirito leapt back to gain her bearings and quickly closed the gap again to slash the Elucidator at Heathcliff's head. Another shield was summoned over his head and the rebound of the Elucidator sent Kirito tumbling forward as she maintained control of herself. The swift catching of herself made her summon her bow and after quickly placing her swords down to ready and fire an arrow then return the bow to her inventory before picking them up again, it was all too much for Heathcliff to keep up with. Heathcliff barely blocked the arrow that closed in on his face as he was standing up, then Kirito cut off the opposite arm Heathcliff was wielding the shields with in a clean measured slice. She stood behind him, steadied her swords across Heathcliff's neck and the arm and shield crashed to the ground.

Heathcliff's hit points bled down quickly to less than fifty percent and he was experiencing a coughing fit which resulted in him cutting himself on Kirito's blades. She turned around, and surrounded Heathcliff with her swords so he knew he had lost the fight. She wanted one last statement from him before ending their fight.

"Can you tell us all the real reason for trapping us here? With your real face and voice?"

Heathcliff's appearance once again shrunk down to the familiar man who led the virtual reality market, and in the peak of health. He took the opening to stab at Kirito with a familiar dagger. Kirito leapt back with a minimal tick of damage to herself.

"You have one last chance to tell us the real reason for trapping us here. Regardless, you gave yourself a death sentence. When choosing whether I free everyone you trapped here now or forfeiting and continuing up to floor 100 and fighting you again, I'm ending this now so we can return to our normal lives and start recovering. You made the condition your death. Even if you were allowed to live, the amount of people who died in here would give you life in prison or death outside. Don't we deserve to know why you trapped us here? The real reason?"

Kayaba sighed and dropped the dagger. It was going to be useless against Kirito who had sheathed her swords again and aimed another arrow at him.

"The real reason? Our world is rather dismal, don't you think? Countries are still fighting each other for no significant reason. People still harbor hate for things not even remotely tied to their current generation. People aren't worried about the future. Wouldn't you want one chance to immerse yourself in a false world in which you can save? Instead, you're ending this world. But that's not entirely true. This version of this world will die after you cut me down."

Heathcliff's words left the stadium silent. Kirito glared with a fine focused rage.

"You killed hundreds...over a thousand people because you wanted a realistic fantasy in which we could ignore the reality around us...I now understand why Ela-san said you were hopeless. Goodbye, Kayaba Akihiko-san. And thank you for what little good came of this world."

Kirito loosed the arrow and as it pierced through Kayaba Akihiko's head she also saw the avatar Heathcliff shatter. Then the space around her shattered. Slowly, the world of Aincrad blew up, shattering in breaking animations.

Congratulations

You Have Cleared Sword Art Online

Kirito found herself a moment later with Kayaba and Alt, looking on at the floating castle in the sky. The world called Aincrad. The entire thing was falling to pieces.

"Don't worry, I've logged everyone else out."

"Did I really kill you?"

"Yes. The version of me you speak to right now is information my creator left behind. He informed me that there was more to the deal. That the person who defeated him and beat Sword Art Online should receive the seed. The source code that would allow the Cardinal system and everything that world was, be used to create new worlds and servers. New games. I was created before my creator trapped himself here with you."

Kirito looked around at their direct surroundings and found them standing on an invisible barrier. The clouds around them, the giant castle crumbling and telling her the underground section was a lie. The many enjoyable adventures, the hardships they encountered. Asuna grabbed Kirito's hand and she was reminded of the promise she made not long ago.

"I have conveyed what was left for me. Enjoy the show until the automatic shut down logs you off in five minutes."

The data version of Kayaba disappeared into the clouds and the guild looked on.

"It was a pretty great journey in the end, wasn't it?"

Lisbeth tried to brighten up the mood.

"It was a great journey. We had a lot of fun and did some pretty amazing things."

The response left Lisbeth a little grumpy.

"Hey, how about we share our irl names so we can keep in contact outside?"

The suggestion from Silica got everyone excited to share their names. They had fun, and finally everyone but Kirito and Asuna decided they would leave before the automatic shut down would log them out. It felt surreal. They were waiting on the other side. Kirito took a deep breath and looked Asuna in the eyes and mustered up all her courage to respond to Asuna's confession before.

"I love you too Asuna. I love you in the romantic way you love me. I want to grow old together, experience many amazing things together, see the good of the world together and maybe make a change to what Kayaba-san thought was impossible to change."

Asuna just gave Kirito a big wide smile before planting a kiss on her lips. That contact of their lips meeting also cut their connection through Aincrad. Kirito felt herself reaching a weak arm up to embrace the air above her and noticed the dark visor inhibiting her vision a little. That frail hand which had little exercise in a little under two years was something she would need to deal with, she thought. Then she remembered what everyone had said in the last minutes together. Their real names. Kirito took all her strength and pushed herself up into a sitting position, then gathered the will to stand. She was a little sad to not find anyone in the room with her, but she wouldn't be far from someone familiar. Ela had informed her that Suguha and Shino were nearby in the same hospital. Kirito tapped at the AR device that was still on her head and remembered how Ela taught her to trigger it with her mind.

The AR device flickered to life and she reached out to Ela.

"Hello? Oh right, this line is reserved for my favourite trapped person. How are you doing Kirito-chan?"

"Ela-san, I won."

There was a brief silence and as Kirito found a door which read Shino and Suguha's names, she pushed it open only to find out that they were still trapped.

"Unfortunately, someone else had the source code for Sword Art Online and had over 80 percent of people logged in, transferred to a currently unknown location. I've been searching since the duel ended, but haven't found enough clues to figure out where they are. Do you have any information for me?"

Kirito stared blankly at the still unconscious faces of Suguha and Shino.

"I have a lot of information, but how about this one type at a time? I just woke up and though my mind is ready, my body is very weak right now."

Ela hummed in response and asked how the final battle with Kayaba went. Kirito explained the thrilling fight, but then remembered that Ela had been watching the fight.

"...you are being cruel, Ela-san."

She chuckled a little before continuing the conversation.

"Alright, your final battle was amazing. You are truly a fantastic fighter. You spared that fool no mercy. A perfect response to the cruel act he made in ending the lives of so many innocents. As for a real first question on information...the real names you acquired at the end?"

Kirito listed off everyone's names from those she knew outside, to those in a broken order from when she met them inside of Aincrad. Shino Asada, Suguha Kirigaya, Asuna Yuuki, then it was Klein's name, and so on. Everyone's face inside Aincrad showed up in Kirito's mind from the moments she met them. She truly appreciated the memories they had made. Finally after what felt like hours but was only a little over a minute, someone from the reception desk of the floor found Kirito sitting in the door frame of the room where Suguha and Shino were.

"S-someone is awake! One of the patients is awake!"

"You were discovered, how unlike the agent of stealth Kirito."

Kirito shook her head and looked up at the ceiling, waiting for Ela to provide a bit of information regarding the names Kirito provided.

"Of the forty people you listed off, thirty nine are still trapped. The only other person out is Agil. Oh and I suppose we can also get Yui out whenever we're ready since Yui is an advanced AI branch of Cardinal."

Kirito nodded and sighed in dismay. Her journey wasn't over yet. Not until she truly saved everyone. She thought hard. Where could they have been trapped next? It would have to be somewhere linked to Aincrad. It would have to be someone Akihiko was at least acquainted with. Maybe with bad intents.

"Found them. Their place of captivity is now in another VRMMO called ALfheim Online. Unfortunately..."

"It's going to take you a long while to pry them out. At least now you can join me in freeing them from that one. Ela, thanks for supporting us so far..."

Kirito felt the physical exhaustion creep up on her, she knew she had a very little limit currently to her physical exertions. She likely already exceeded it and accepted that she needed to retrain her physical body's stamina.

"Can this AR device connect to me in my sleep?"

"Yes, but why-? Oh...?"

Kirito passed out, and felt her mind being prodded into a semi-awake status.

"There we go~ I hope this isn't too disorienting, but you have a little more power here than your real body. It'll be the you you perceive yourself as most which for the last two years would be what you would default to."

The battle ready attire and the strong figure was much more comfortable than the weakened body she knew was hers. She reminded herself again she would need to train her physical body a lot, and there would need to be some other changes. At least being trapped within Aincrad preserved her physical youth a little by limiting the male hormones her body would be producing with the lack of activity. She was still mostly feminine.

"Oh right, do you want me to recommend your attending doctor to have a tiny dose of blockers? That way you can go about training yourself up a little more freely. As for the direction of getting you into ALO, I'll load the game onto your AR device. By the way, feel free to keep that one you have. It's already a bit outdated since I've made some design upgrades."

Kirito sighed and gave a barely percepted response.

"I thought you were blind. How did you upgrade the design?"

"You don't know the half of it. It takes me weeks to consult the right people to do the design work I want, so instead I refine the designs in a program I've made to tell me every tiny detail I make. It takes far too long. Working with reliable eyes is far easier and all my eye users are busy with normal lives. Anyhow, we have more important things to talk about. Now that you're out, I'm going to start teaching you what you need to know as far as the basics in the AR device and you can rebound some of my ideas."

Kirito sighed and nodded.

"Ah, while we're at that, is it possible that we can bring Yui's data to the AR device and let her move in my perceptive environment? For now at least."

Ela paused for a second in her speaking and suddenly Kirito's mental environment morphed into a space where she and Ela were "physically" and Yui entered the space with the porting animation from Aincrad.

"Pretty cool huh? That's about what you inspired me with right now. This isn't a dream environment or in your head by the way, it's in a sleep core which is inside your AR device. Your body experiences full sleep, while you dream here. Your mind is connecting into the device while your body rests. Very convenient if you want to do more work than your physical body will allow."

It was appealing in a sense, but Kirito desired a proper sleep and though she had a very little amount of time "awake" for the day, she intensely desired sleep.

"This is very cool. Hi Yui-chan. Sorry about not getting to give you another goodbye in Aincrad before it was over..."

Yui rushed up to Kirito and hugged her around the waist.

"It's okay mama. You worked really hard and freed a lot of people. I'm proud of my hard working mama. Mama has some more work though because the rest of our family is still trapped."

Yui totally understood. She wasn't just a child after all, and the youthful ignorance was mostly gone already. She maintained the desire in her functions to serve as a daughter to Kirito and to be cute and youthful. The ignorance was all that went as she was allowed to flex her capabilities as being an AI.

"That's right Yui. Are you going to help me save everyone from their new trapped place?"

Yui nodded her head hugging Kirito tight. It was a surreal experience. It wasn't quite perfectly real, but it was a step closer by being within the next closest thing to reality. At least that was the thought.

"I'll do everything I can to help mama."

With that, Yui and Ela were decided on helping Kirito with continuing the journey to save the rest of their family. Kirito was sent diving right into ALfheim. With a little surprise, Kirito was faced with a character creator upon arriving in, as well as an opening sequence betraying the anti magic setting of Sword Art Online. Playing as types of fae which flew with a flight program, and an interesting story of the fae fighting amongst each other to promote pvp.

Kirito at first wanted to choose her favourite colour which was purple, but the deceptive illusion magic was more enticing. Purple wasn't really tied to a single race within ALfheim, but was more significant to the illusion magic users called the spriggans. Begrudging to pick them due to her past with the colour black, she loaded in and what she thought was going to be a swift spawn into a hub town for the spriggan race was instead her loading into a sunset environment having her fall through the air.

"Yui, by chance can you teach me the basics of flight before I hit the ground? I'm a little worried about a force respawn..."

Yui began frantically explaining flight mechanics and Kirito moved herself through the air until she could control her fall, immediately on catching herself, the idea of wishing she had wings to catch her fall made her find out she was suddenly not falling anymore while Yui struggled to read off the basic tutorial for flight.

"Mama worries too much. Of course you would be a natural at flying."

Yui was excited to see Kirito flying with ease...more like floating. She also realized she was floating along with her.

Translucent wings beat like those of insects loosely attached to their backs and Kirito began to understand the system quite easily. If going by instinct, then she just needed to think about how animals with flight moved while flying, imagining herself with a set of extra muscles to move the new wings. That imagination however, made Kirito's wings a little more than just a set of insect like wings. They expanded out and beat against the air strongly, sending loose feathers floating gracefully through the air. The silky black feathers likely matched her hair colour, which was a plus. She took a quick glance at herself and appreciated that the armour she spawned with was her usual purple equipment from SAO.

The relief didn't last long as she heard shouting approach at high speed and her mind kicked into high gear.