AN: Final Chapter! It's been a LONG journey, and I thank all of you reading this for supporting me. I know I enter and exit hiatus a lot, but I would never leave this site without finishing the current story.
Not that I'm leaving.
I have a sequel planned, but I wouldn't be releasing it immediately after this is done.
Again, I hope you enjoyed this, I put more than at least 3 times more words into this than my last fanfic.
Thanks again! You guys are seriously awesome!
Chapter 17: The Last Day
Floor 74 Outskirts
Lisbeth opened the manor door, seeing the team.
"You guys got a lot of good materials!"she smiled cheerfully, but all she got in return were depressed faces, and weak smiles.
"Good job," Dynamm patted her on the shoulders, before flopping on the couch, along with Issin and Dale. Silica sat cross-legged, brought Pina to her lap, and just petted her absentmindedly. And everyone else went up to the second floor, claiming rooms.
"You guys seriously cannot be this depressing." Lisbeth said, and
went towards the living room. "I found a workshop, and you guys found a lot of materials. I made some new equipment."
No reaction besides a few glances and nods.
"Okay, what's the problem?" Lisbeth leaned against a wall.
"We saw an entire party of players, die." Issin answered. "We didn't really know them, but, well, it's still pretty bad." Silica added.
"Alright, you know what, come with me." Lisbeth declared, heading to the basement stairs.
"Why?" Dynamm questioned, but Lisbeth didn't stop.
"Just come."
Silica shrugged, and tossed Pina to the air, the dragon starting to hover at eye level.
"Might as well," Dynamm expressed, gesturing to Dale and Issin to get up. They followed Lisbeth to the basement, a dark place lit by lanterns, fully stocked with crafting stations.
"I still have a lot of raw stuff, because I didn't know exactly what weapons you guys used. I know for a fact though," Lisbeth said while picking up a longsword from a weapon rack. "That you Dynamm, use a longsword." She threw the sword to him, the scabbard still on. Dynamm caught it, and laid it on a nearby table, and accessed the information.
"Bonescythe," Dynamm muttered. "Eight hundred and fifty damage. Nice," Dynamm was suitably impressed, and unsheathed it, revealing a grey blade, with a black crosspiece with a red, gleaming, spider eye in the middle.
"Seriously nice job," he grinned, and equipped it.
"I'm sorry, but where is my sword?" Dale joked.
"Coming right up!" Lisbeth laughed, putting a lump of rock and metal to a furnace.
Asuna laid down on a bed, in a mostly empty room, with two side tables, and a lamp. Her armor was replaced with clothes. Her thoughts wandered around, wondering about what she saw in the 75th boss room.
The doors shut behind you, and it was extremely dark. It was unlike anything she ever saw.
Like that time when Sachi died...
She quickly composed herself.
They have to relay that information tomorrow.
Her thoughts were broken, when she heard something in the next room. Asuna took the bedroom besides Kirito, mostly because Kirito was someone she admired.
The sound repeated. Sniffling.
She slowly went out, and silently walked towards Kirito's door.
"Come in," Kirito called out, detecting Asuna. She was startled, but went in anyways.
"Hey, are you okay?" She asked gently. Kirito was sitting on his bed, his back against the wall, and was rubbing his eyes profusely before facing Asuna.
"Everything's okay," he said, but Asuna gave him a prying look. "No it's not. When you go seclude yourself like this, you're hiding something. It's really obvious, actually."
No reply. Asuna sat down in his bed.
"How long did you stay with Kotaru?"
"A month. I needed to join someone to survive frontline dungeons, but I couldn't really bring myself to face you guys either." Kirito admitted, making her sit down with him.
"So you were friends to… the people trapped there." She inferred. Kirito nodded.
"Yeah. They helped me get that coat you made Klein destroy."
"Oh, wow! Um, sorry about that," Asuna realized and blushed, but Kirito didn't mind.
"It's okay."
"I understand that losing a friend is very painful. Trust me, I know. But secluding yourself doesn't really help." Asuna looked at him for a response.
Kirito stayed silent, and wiped his face even more.
"Are you.. Are you crying?" Asuna accused, trying to look at him more clearly.
"Um, no."
"Right," she scooted closer.
"Yes." Kirito changed his answer reluctantly.
"Want a hug?" Asuna suggested, almost shocking him.
But, there was after we defeated Nicholas the Renegade…
"Yeah," he answered, hugging her a bit tightly.
"It's just that, there's just so many deaths, and the stuff we went through. I mean, I killed someone! I.. contributed!" he poured out his feelings, tearing up on Asuna's shoulder. "How do you deal with that?!"
"I just keep going. Dwelling in the past does not do anything, really." She answered.
The door burst open, revealing Harry Two.
"Hey guys! Lisbeth's making cool crap!" he blurted out, then he saw them.
Hugging.
"Okay, I understand. Use protection, 'kay!" Harry Two responded quickly before running away, laughing. They both noticeably scooted away from each other. .
"Anyway, thanks for cheering me up. You're a really good friend to me." Kirito said sincerely, making Asuna turn away blushing.
"That's what friends are for, right?"
Floor 75- Clearer Meeting
"Thinker's message said that the meeting place is here," Kirito said, entering a tavern. They seemed to be first, as there wasn't any players.
Except the top DDA leaders.
"Oh, great." Recon muttered.
"Fūrin Kazan. You know, this is a meeting for Clearers. Not criminals!" The DDA vanguard leader bellowed.
"Remember the last time we met?" Asuna responded. "You were going to ambush me! Unless you want to forget about that."
That only seemed to have infuriated him further.
"Except we aren't related to Laughing-"
"Enough!" Thinker shouted. He was backed by ALF Sub Leaders. "They fought alongside you for two years! Are you really going to forget that?"
Their conversation was interrupted when KoB leaders entered the tavern, behind them smaller guilds, including Fuumaningun.
"Let's get this started." A KoB leader with brown hair, and grey eyes, started off the meeting.
"My guild's scouting party found the boss room, but they all died." A man named Isuke said solemnly, as he was Kotaru's replacement to the guild.
"They died because they were trapped in the room," Kirito announced, looking sympathetically at Isuke, "The doors close behind you, and the boss, I couldn't make out the stats, but it drops from the ceiling." Issin finished.
"Wait, if the doors closed, how did you know what the boss does?" the DDA leader asked.
"I wedged a sword between the gap. The sword broke, but it bought us time." Dynamm automatically said.
"No point on closing the doors though; we can just teleport-" a KoB Sub Leader said, before Isuke interfered.
"If THAT worked, the scouting party would still be here. Once we go in, we can't go out." Isuke said, sounding strained. The rebuked man nodded, rethinking his strategy.
"…Well, we'll just carry extra healing items then." He answered hesitantly. Doubts filled the tavern. At least, until Keita showed.
The Moonlit Black Cats bust into the tavern.
"Sorry we're late! What's the game plan?" Keita asked a bit too loudly.
"So, to clarify," Thinker said, "We're just charging in?"
"Well, yes." The leader responded. "That's it. We follow the same formations as the 73rd boss. We're meeting at the plaza at Corinth after two hours. Agreed?"
All the guild leaders nodded.
"Okay."
Various guilds started to leave after that.
"I expected a bit more than that," Keita admitted, seeing the players move past them.
"Well, we don't have a lot of info. And we couldn't really get more than what we know." Kirito answered back. Keita shrugged.
"All right then. Come on, guys," he called towards the rest of the Black Cats, and they set off.
Manor Basement
The guild went down the stairs, and into the workshop, where Lisbeth was reading from a piece of paper.
"Oh, hey! The rest of you finally came down here! Now, Kirito, did Klein give you the sword yet?" Lisbeth said. Kirito nodded.
"Yeah, actually. I wanted to give Blinkstrike back-"
"Yeah, that sword's crap, throw it in the furnace." She responded nonchalantly. Kirito threw the blue-hilted silvery sword to a basket marked 'SCRAP'.
"First masterpiece, now crap," Kirito muttered.
"Asuna, that rapier of yours, Lambent Light, I need it." Lisbeth held out an open hand, and Asuna gave her the blue and white rapier.
She immediately threw it to the furnace.
"Um, just right there? The quality you can only achieve every three months?" Asuna weakly pointed to the furnace.
"I got better, Asuna." She replied again in that 'just let me do my job' tone. "I'm making a new one. Klein! New katana's on the desk."
"Cool!" He tossed Heartless Reaver to the scrap box, and equipped the red curved scabbard.
She quickly took a ingot out of a furnace, a silver ingot with blue slivers on the surface, and tossed Blinkstrike in.
"Now Lambent Light's ingot and Blinkstrike's ingot when combined forms a really good speed type ingot, hopefully." Lisbeth rambled while transferring from station to station, her mind multitasking efficiently.
"Right, here goes…" She placed two ingots on top of each other, and took out a hammer. She smashed the top ingot into the bottom one, and a glow bathed it. Once it faded, she looked at the product in awe.
A near transparent ingot with a bluish hue.
[Lightning Glass]
"S Class. Speed type." She muttered, checking the stats. "I hope you don't mind me splurging on high level equipment when you were gone." She said to Kirito. He had a look of calm fury on his face, but quickly calmed down.
Lisbeth got a hammer, and started boosting her Luck stat, while Asuna watched in awe.
"Okay. Here goes," She smacked the ingot once, and it already took form. "Yes! I got it on the first try! It's going to be a good one!" She squealed. Asuna saw it form.
[Lightning Shard]
It had a thin white and blue blade, a white, clear blade, with dark blue forming a opaque middle, separating both sides of the blade. The hilt was circular, and was navy blue. She took it, and thrusted, the tip of the blade forming sparks seemingly from friction from the air.
"It's very good," Asuna grinned, and sheathed it. Lisbeth smiled, and faced Kirito.
"Let's get started on yours."
Floor 75 Main City- Corinth Plaza
Kirito walked to the Clearer gathering, the guild outfitted and ready, for what was going to be the final time, his dark red coat attracting attention.
"I'll join you guys in boss battles sometime," Lisbeth said.
"We're predicting that to be in the final ten floors." Klein responded, eliciting a eye roll from her.
"Holy crap. Agil." Harry zone said, surprising everyone from his normally calm demeanour.
"Oh hey! The Elementals!" The tall man said.
"Don't call us that," Dynamm groaned.
"It's been a long time," Asuna continued the conversation, "Why are you here, anyway?"
"Not missing the 75th mark! We're three quarters in!"
Agil heard Lisbeth sigh.
"I haven't seen you before, who's she?" he asked Kirito.
"She's Lisbeth-"
"She replaced you as our weapons source," Kunimittz said bluntly, causing her to slink out from embarrassment.
"Dude-" Klein elbowed him, but was interrupted by the Knights of the Blood Oath entering.
Heathcliff led a group of heavily armoured warriors through, the players clearing a path. When Heathcliff passed Kirito, they stared at each other, with contempt.
"Well, I have some friends to meet up with. Bye!" Agil left.
Heathcliff took out a Corridor Crystal, surprising players around them with the rarity of the object, and he broke it, forming a huge portal.
"Follow me!" He yelled, and walked in the portal, the Clearers following behind. They finally ended up on the dark room, with the boss room.
"Let's do this," Kirito muttered, unsheathing twin swords. The smaller guilds seemed to rally behind them, despite the past events.
"The Knights of the Blood Oath will tank damage. Divine Dragon Alliance will be backup for the forwards. Fūrin Kazan," Heathcliff called, surprising Kirito with the specific command.
"Lead the guilds in damage dealing. Now, let's go!" He pushed open the doors, and charged into the darkened space, leading the Clearers forward.
The doors closed shut behind them.
"Above us!"
Kirito stared at the inky black above, trying to make something out. The monster came from above, but he didn't know where from the ceiling.
Four red dots sparked to life in the darkness, and the monster dropped down, disintegrating anyone below. A reddish light filled the room, revealing it.
A skeletal creature, with bony legs like a caterpillar, and a single spine, rising to a elongated skull with four glowing red eyes, with two limbs with sharpened bone.
[The Skull Reaper]
"Oh, god," a nearby player shook with fear, before the reaper rushed, and stabbed it with it's appendages, disintegrating him instantly.
"To the sides!"
Everyone rushed to the borders of the circular arena. The boss rushed again to another player, it's numerous bony legs scuttling about.
A sharpened arm was headed to a player's body, before it was intercepted.
By Heathcliff. The attack was blocked effectively by the indestructible shield, and the boss started to take interest to the knight. He blocked, then countered it's attack, slashing at the head.
"Everyone! Attack the sides!" Heathcliff shouted, snapping Kirito from his frozen state, and into action.
"Everyone with shields! Block the attacks!" The twins came in directly beside Heathcliff, holding their tower shields forward. They overlapped their shields with one another, a trick from the 74th boss battle. They repulsed the attacks.
"Everyone else, attack!" Kirito led the group into attacking the skeleton, activating Starburst Stream. Streaks of light were everywhere, lighting the room up, with random colours.
"You're tougher than I thought!" Harry Two muttered, blocking and smashing the mace to the bones.
Harry One kept blocking, though the strain was setting in. The white monster was relentless, never faltering.
Though something unexpected happened. The arm blades of the Skull Reaper glowed purple. The boss seemed to pause, and everyone knew there was some kind of power attack, and kept their shields up. The boss struck, in a swipe so powerful, it knocked people away, and disintegrated any weapons or shields it struck, except Heathcliff's. However, it knocked him away.
Unfortunately, the attack disintegrated the twin's shields, and left them laying on the ground, helpless. The arm blade stabbed Harry Two's chest, making him disintegrate, before a backup forward covered him.
"You don't have a shield! Go to the sides!" The forward said, warding off attacks. Harry One stared at his brother's location, before heading to Kirito.
Kirito kept slashing like there's no tomorrow, the glowing twin blades always whirling forward. Sometimes the legs would kick against players from the sides, but it didn't stop him.
"Kirito! Harry Two's dead!" Harry One's voice broke, and the dark-red clad teenager paused.
"Crap!" He exclaimed. He looked at Harry One, the brown haired person looking at him for instructions.
"Join me!" Kirito commanded, and resumed attacking the boss' sides. Harry One took a deep breath, and smashed the skeleton.
While the boss was relentless, the players were relentless too. The Skull Reaper's HP went down in a steady rate.
The boss let out one final roar, before disintegrating into air. Braziers lit around them, signalling the completion.
But the victory was bittersweet.
"We lost Harry Two," Kirito spread around Fūrin Kazan.
"Shit," Dynamm reacted. Everyone was tired, beyond fatigue, everyone has taken enormous amounts of damage, all in the red zone. Except Heathcliff, still in the green zone.
"Heathcliff was in the front the whole time. He was even hit with a move that destroys equipment. But he's still…" Harry One said to Kirito. Harry One kept himself in check, not losing his temper, knowing it might worsen the situation. Unfortunately, Kirito, is no such person. He stood up, staring angrily at the red knight.
"You trap us here, for two years, and you have the balls to fight with us?!" Kirito yelled at him, while getting closer. Everyone looked at Kirito, shocked. Some KoB members stand up, intent on protecting Heathcliff. Kirito quickly cleared the distance between him and the Templar, striking him.
[Immortal Object]
"So you let us die, but not you? Even if you're so powerful?" Kirito quivered.
That action proved everyone of Kayaba's presence. The master stood up.
"Fine. I am Akihiko Kayaba. Of course, you knew that already," Kirito hardened, and stayed silent.
"I was going to reveal my identity later on, in the final ten floors, but I guess this time's good as any," he mused, and the DDA leader stood up.
"You sentenced us here! I'm going to make you pay!" the player cried, and charged, hitting the immortal object shield over and over again, fruitlessly. Kayaba sighed, and instantly killed him, with one sword thrust.
The players watched the total lack of emotion from the kill.
"See you on the top floor," Kayaba announced, and started to leave, opening the menu, however Kirito tackled him, making the menu disappear from Kayaba's hand.
He retaliated, by pushing Kirito away powerfully.
Kayaba picked himself up, and ended up face to face with Klein.
They wrestled with each other for a while, before kicking him away, and finally paralyzing everyone around him.
"I'm not going to let you leave!" Kirito yelled, trying to crawl forwards, before giving up from fatigue.
Kayaba noticed, and walked towards the limp body, with a change of mind.
I'm going to die in the end anyway, he thought.
"Kirito. You know, I gave you Dual Blades, because you had the fastest reaction time. I thought of you as my counterpart," he confessed, and Kirito was confused with the sudden revelation.
"I was going to be defeated at the end anyway, at the Ruby Palace. But your guild found out early. Perhaps you should receive a reward,"
"What reward?" Kirito seethed.
"A chance for freedom,"Kayaba said, thinking of a epic battle between champion and god. "A duel to the death. I die, you earn your freedom." Kayaba picked Kirito up, curing his paralysis.
"Deal?"
"Kirito, don't!" Asuna impulsively shouted. Kirito bowed his head.
"Sorry, but this is a chance I have to take." Kirito started to look over his guild. "Guys, thanks for watching my back for two years." They stayed silent, knowing they cannot change his decision.
"Kirito… Be careful, okay?" Klein told him, his voice filled with worry. He nodded silently in return.
He accepted the duel request. Kayaba deactivated his immortality.
"If I die, all of you can go free. But if I win, I will continue to rule over everybody."
They dashed at each other, shield clashing with a flurry of sword slashes, Kirito hacking away.
No Sword Skills, he can predict them, Kirito thought, it has to be my own strikes. Kayaba slammed his shield to Kirito, sending him back a considerable distance. Kirito rushed back in the fray, staring to aim downward, hitting the legs, making little gashes. Heathcliff again, pushed him back, and Kirito started to prod around him, trying above, below, but that indestructible shield got in the way.
His swords glowed blue. He accidentally activated Pre-Motion, unleashing a whirlwhind of attacks, which Kayaba easily blocked. Once it was over, he smashed one of Kirito's weapons away, and lunged, but his opponent twisted sideways, and managed to stab his side, before falling over.
Kirito, with only the sword made out of his old coat, picked himself up. Kayaba was charging, and the red coated player jumped over him, and rushed to Dynamm.
"Kirito! Get my sword!" he shouted quickly. Kirito scrambled down, and grabbed the bone sword's handle, before immediately turning around, and parrying Kayaba's attack, kicking him away.
Kirito scrambled up, and analyzed Kayaba again.
"Eliminate the shield," he whispered, and attacked him once more, parrying Kayaba's sword with Kirito's left sword, and waiting for Kayaba to try and bash him out again. He stepped back, the shield arcing right in front of him, and when it was outstretched, Kirito decapitated the arm holding the shield. Unfortunately, he didn't pay attention to the sword that was holding Kayaba's in check before it was too late. Kayaba's sword wrestled away from the parry, and stabbed Kirito outright for a few seconds, before he leaped away. Kirito landed on his back, and quickly recovered, a sliver of health remaining.
Kayaba only had one sword left, with a look of acceptance in his face. Kirito rushed, and impaled him.
Kayaba closed his eyes, letting himself disintegrate.
Kirito stood quietly, while the players around him started to stand up.
A prompt started to pop up in front of players.
[Log Out Function, enabled]
Everyone left and right started accessing menus, disappearing from the world. Kirito looked at his guild again.
They were all in their menus.
Kirito couldn't blame them, and started accessing his own.
"Hey guys," Fūrin Kazan looked to their leader.
"See you on the other side," Kirito finished, and the all nodded.
"Got it!"
They all logged out, save for Asuna and Kirito.
Kirito pressed the log out button, but in the moments before he left, Asuna, looking around, and seeing no one, ran and kissed him, a bit awkwardly. Kirito looked at her in shock, before leaving.
"I'll find you," she whispered, blushing, and logged out as well.
Kirito opened his crusty, tired eyes, blinded by white light, from two years of inactivity. It was cold, and he felt weak, but he felt his heart beating, for the first time in two years. He took off the NerveGear, but it felt heavy, from weak fingers. Tufts of hair were freed. He sat up, and he heard several doctors and nurses scream. On his left, was another bed, and his sister slowly took off the NerveGear, gasping, as she consiously inhaled air for the first time in two years.
"You're out! They're out!" Kirito heard the various voices repeat that line.
They were truly free.