"Well? You can't move, can you? This is Gravity magic, coming out in the next patch. Maybe it's a little overpowered?"
As Sugou's foot put pressure on the black haired youth's head, he heard asuna call behind him.
"Stop it! Stop it, you coward!"
The man showed no sign to have heard her, but he did remove his foot, and kneeled near the downed black swordsman, as he asked him.
"That said, Kirigaya-kun… Or do you prefer Kirito-kun? How did you get here? I saw a strange program running. "
"I flew with those wings… "
Spriggan wings appeared on his back.
"It doesn't matter." Sugou said, twirling a sword in his hand, "I can just ask your mind directly".
"What?"
"You didn't really think that I set this entire thing up for fun, did you? Three hundred former SAO players… Thanks to their cooperation, the fundamental technology for emotion and thought control is already eighty percent complete. I'll achive what no one has ever done, control of the human soul! The power of a god! And soon, this power will be mine! Three cheers for virtual reality! Hehehehe hahahahhaha."
"Sugou-" "You will never get away with that!" the two downed SAO veterans completed each other's sentence.
"And is going to stop me? there is no god in virtual reality, except for me! Now, before I begin altering your souls, let's have a fun party!"
With a click of his fingers, from somewhere withing the all-encompassing blackness around them, chains appeared, and dropped near Asuna. Sugou then crouched, and locked their monocles into her arms. He then turned towards Kirito with a creepy smirk, and with a finger pointing upwards, the chains started rising, holding Asuna upright.
As he called, a gravitic pulse tugged her downward.
"Great! I love it! NPC women can't make that face…"
'NPC women? Did he just insinuate that he… 'forced' NPC women in the VR?'
As he sniffed at Asuna's hair, praising its smell and confessed to replicating her scent from the real world, Kirito felt his creepiness meter spike.
Kirito couldn't take it anymore.
"Stop it. Sugou…"
'just a little push.'
With great effort he raised himself to a crouch, and Sugou turned his attention back on him.
'Away from Asuna, turn away from Asuna.'
"My, my… You need to stay on the ground… writhing!"
With the last word shouted, the unhindered Sugou kicked his would be challenger in the face. And as Kirito dropped again, a sword stabbed into his lower back.
"Kirito-kun!"
"System command, pain absorber. Change pain absorber from level 10 to level 8. Kirito felt the sword he was run through with moving, and a pain short through him, greater than before.
He was too surprised to try holding back the scream.
As he heard Asuna struggle and call for him, the grinning bastard spoke.
"I'l gradually let the pain increase, so you have something to look forward to. Of course, below level 3, it will start to affect your physical body."
With those parting words, Kirito was forced to watch, as the pain increased, as The Bastard walked to Asuna, and started touching her, laughing.
"Stop it, Sugou…"
"I'm okay, Kirito-kun. This won't hurt me."
The laughing would be king of this world laughed.
"That's what I hoped you'd say… how long will you maintain your pride? Thirty minutes? An hour? Try to hold on it as long as you can!"
Kirito heard a fabric tearing and Asuna's surprised cry.
Soon he found a ribbon-her ribbon, from her dress, if that piece of clothing, more suited to sleeping in and looking like a negligee, drop near his face.
It tore at him worse than the physical pain of the sword stuck in his back.
As he tried to reach it, the ribbon broke into pixels, which soon disappeared.
And the voice of That Bastard still ringed, laughing.
"Shall I tell you what I'm thinking? Once I've had my fun here, I'll go to your hospital room, I'll play a recording of today on a big monitor and we can enjoy ourselves. With your real body."
Kirito felt his heart skip a bit at the panicked cry Asuna couldn't hold back entirely.
As he heard Asuna's criy, and His Deranged laughter, as he continued to molest Asuna, Kirito couldn't take it anymore. He had to act, to call upon any power he had…
"Arrgh…"
He tried to reach for her, for Asuna, for anything he could.
'Is that the punishment for my arrogance? For thinking I was the game's strongest hero? That I could save Asuna alone?'
'alone?'
'Even though… I have no power at all…'
'No power? Then what am I, Sushi?'
'wha…?'
'Did you forget so soon? You have awakened? You are no longer a sleeper confined by the observed reality. Your will is stronger! You beat Kayaba-went against his very Game System, fought and struck and stood victorious when you should have died! There are greater wonders out there…'
A Majestic beauty, a princess from ancient era of Japan, unrivaled even today, and under the archaic tones a familiarity. The sunset on the beach on the 24th floor in Aincard…
'And greater monsters…'
Soldiers shooting at him in a back alley. The Shark like monstrosity of teeth and claws, where a moment before was a friend. Tearing through armed soldiers like he did at Asuna's cooking.
'Kayaba was a grander foe, and we defeated him.'
A fight against a master Tank. These last moments on a floating platform, just the three of them, when Heathcliff took his real form of Kayaba in a lab coat.
Kirito closed his eyes, and for a moment he found himself face to face with the familiar feminine mirror image of himself.
"This is not how it usually goes, but you really shouldn't have forgotten your new power."
"Will you stand with me?" he asked.
She nodded her agreement, and a growl sounded from above them.
That was enough.
For a moment He though he heard a familiar voice, his own and yet feminine…
'Stand up, Kirito-kun!'
As more tearing sounds came from the direction of Asuna, Kirito found his body lightening, and with difficulty, standing up, just as he willed it to.
Soon the gravity field disappeared.
As he stood, he pulled the sword from his back and dropped it into the floor.
"I guess some odd bugs are still left."
And was about to strike the black knight with a fist.
Only this time the strike was caught, as a black gloved hand grabbed at his wrist.
Kirito felt System around him, there was no other words to describe the sudden connection he had to it, even without any visible console. He knew, that his commands will be received, his will be done.
And so he commanded.
"System command. Enable administrator privileges. Set ID Oberon to level 1."
"Your ID outranks mine? That's impossible! I am the ruler! The creator! King of this world. It's God!"
"No, you're not! You stole this world… and its people. You're a king of thieves. Alone upon a stolen throne!"
"You stupid kid… How dare you talk to me like that?! System command Object ID generate Excalibur! Listen to me! You piece of crap!"
The system did not listen to him.
"Those… Those are God's orders!"
Kirito paid him less mind, as he addressed Asuna.
"Just wait a little, longer, Okay? This won't last long."
She nodded a tiny bit, undressed with most of her clothing torn of as it was and Kirito would have reddened, if not for the distracting sound of the chains holding her.
"System command. Generate object ID Excalibur!"
At his words a beautiful sword appeared from thin air in a stream of pixels in front of him, and he took its hilt.
"So, a single command its all it takes to summon a legendary weapon?"
He then threw it towards the shocked would be king and God of this virtual world.
He then flipped the sword on the ground-his own sword and the one he was stabbed in the back moments before with his foot, and as it flew, caught it with his right hand.
"It's time to finish this fight, between the king of thieves and the gilded hero. System command, set pain absorber to level 0."
"W-what?"
"Don't run away. He never did, no matter what happened! Not Kayaba Akihiko!"
As the Black Swordsman shouted that last sentence, he saw something snap within the gaze of his enemy.
"K-kayaba… Kayaba! I see…He was always in the way! Thinking he knew everything! Taking everything I wanted!"
His voice turned hysteric at that point.
Still Kirito called him to their fight.
Parrying every single strike of 'Oberon' was easy and when he nicked the cheek of the would be god of this world, the man cried.
"It hurts!"
"Painful, isn't it?" Kirito calmly asked.
But you've hurt Asuna… Far more!
And his next strike cut the arm holding the legendary sword at the elbow. The cut glowing red a moment, before the arm disappeared, and the best sword in the game fell to the floor.
As sugou held his stump, yelling in pain about his hand, kirito got within arm distance unopposed, and with a swift strike, bisected him at the belt line.
As the man fell, his lower half gone in pixels, the boy approached him, and pulled at his hair.
After staring at the sobbing face of that…man… The emotionless mask of Kirito turned into rage, as he tossed the upper half Oberon upwards, with his sword poised as its landing spot, and the 'King' screamed, until the raised blade pierced his head through the face in a shower of virtual blood that disappeared immediately, before that last remain poofed out of existence as well.
The beater of no longer only SAO swung his greatsword once, twice, and then cut at the chains holding the girl he loved, dropping the sword afterwards to hold her.
He hugged her tightly, before crying into her shoulder.
"Let's now hurry home, before He returns?"
Surprised, kirito turned to look at her face.
"Sugou is unlikely to return."
There was panic in her face when Asuna shook her head, making her look more scared then in the confrontation with her would be Fiancé…
"Not Sugou, There was another… Creature… I don't want to meet. Let's hurry please."
"Okay."
With a slight projection of will, Kirito had a menu of locked players appear.
"It's probably night at home, but I will go to your room soon."
"I'll be waiting. You're the first person I want to see. It's finally over, isn't it? We can finally return to the real world."
Kirito logged out all players and GM's from the game.
The two held to each other with all their strength, until both disappeared from the Virtual world of ALO.
Author Notes: As promised the update came swiftly. This chapter is mostly transcribed from the Anime episode 24, with little change, but it was needed in that way for what is to come-and this story is not nearly over.
Soon the focus will go into the other half of the crossover.