I don't own Sword Art Online or Mataras the Red Swordsman. Sword Art Online is owned by Reki Kawahara. Mataras the Red Swordsman is owned by Mataras the Author. The Wyvern's Inferno guild is owned by TheSib. I only own my OCs.

Chapter 16: The truth of Heathcliff! Glitch in SAO!

The fight was unlike anything The Moonlit Black Cats, or in fact, anyone from the assault team had ever faced. The boss changed its fighting style and appearance, overtime its HP went down by a whole bar. This caused Yui, to re-examine its attacks and weaknesses, It had done so already after reaching the yellow zone.

The creature had changed from having two arms to four, and had a long tail with a blade at the end. However, the creature continued to fight, and eventually started sagging as it reached the last of its HP which was now in the red zone. Heathcliff saw this, and gave a command, "Everyone! Rush it, Now!" Ten gave out battle tactics, while Blizzardwing, Litrosh, and the players struck hard and fast at the boss. They didn't let up for a second and continued to strike at the boss.

It went for an hour until the boss let out its last hiss, and bursted into pixels.

No one cheered, instead, they all collapsed from fatigue, and exhaustion. Akira, and Megumi leaned against each other back to back.

Litrosh, and Blizzardwing landed on the ground, with Yui dismounting form the Fire dragon and rushing over to her parents. The Red Swordsman gave his familiar an exhausted smile as he petted him. "Well done, Litrosh. Well fought."

"How many did we lose?" asked Ren. The response was now going to be good.

Kirito checked his menu, and started counting all of the dots in the room, he sighed as he made the report. "Fourteen. Fourteen of us are dead."

Needless to say, everyone was shocked to hear the news, "Aw man. We haven't lost that many players since the Army nearly got wiped out on Floor 25 against The Hydra Orochi." quietly said Akira.

"Yeah. This is nuts." nodded Helios.

"We still got twenty-five more floors to go." added Klein.

"Can we even make it?" wondered Agil.

Kirito was with Asuna, and Yui recovering while the others watched their breaths.

Akira looked around and saw only one players was still standing, and in the green zone. It was Heathcliff, and he had a neutral look on his face. Akira cringed in thought, Man, all of that and he's still standing, almost like a…

Akira soon had a flashback to what robed man, revealing himself as Kayaba once said, 'As of this moment, I am in control of this world.' Then instantly remembering the moment before the duels, 'If you lose, you must incorporate The Moonlit Black Cats into The Knights of The Blood Oath.' Then he figured to put to two together, leading only to one thing.

Megumi turned to see Akira go a full in blazing fire, as he went in and attacked Heathcliff. Using a sword skill, Akira struck at Heathcliff, surprising him with Akira's new appearance, and the blade about to hit him, or would've.

Megumi was wondering what he did, "Akira! What are you…" her question was cut off when she saw a purple hexagon above Heathcliff, as two words appeared overhead.

IMMORTAL OBJECT.

"Commander, what is going on here?" asked a concerned Asuna.

"It's you! It was you this whole entire time!" cried Akira, he turned away, but then turned around and looked at Heathcliff.

"Something always bothered me, and my brothers-in-arms." he started.

With his own theory confirmed, Kirito stood up, "Where is he? While we were suffering, where is watching us?"

"But then we all remembered on very crucial factor." added Mataras.

"Why watch someone play in an RPG." said Diabel.

"When you can be a part of it, and play yourself." finished Akira. "Isn't that right…?"

"Akihiko Kayaba?" finished all four.

Heathcliff didn't seem to deny the claim and asked, "For the sake of my curiosity, how did you figure it out?"

"For me, it was during our duel. The move you made out their was way too fast, despite all that armor your wearing." stated Kirito.

"Yes that was a terrible error on my part. You were so strong, and fast that I had to use my system assists function." said Heathcliff, with his eyes shut.

"While I noticed your armor, and weapons never seemed to be maintained, and looked well prepared for anything." added Diabel.

"And I believe Mataras, and I can agree on one other thing. You need to work on your acting skills. You were never tired or exhausted." Akira included.

"And enough though your appearance is different, you should've also filtered your voice. It was the same as it was when the game first started." finished Mataras.

"All of these are very good points. I guess I can't deny it. Yes, I am Akihiko Kayaba, and now that I have been revealed, it's no surprise that I also happen to be the final boss of Sword Art Online." Heathcliff revealed.

Everyone was in an uproar of shock, an horror. Asuna leaned on Kirito slightly, while Mataras held Sachi to keep her from fainting. "The strongest player builds all this up, then betrays us for the final battle." said Kirito

"That's a bit cliché don't you think?" asked Akira.

"Actually, I kind of like that angle. In the end I pictured you three to be ones to face me." said Kayaba, looking straight at Kirito, "Duel-Wielding was given to the player with the fastest reaction time." He turned to Mataras, "Dragon Blood was given out at random, but I never expected it to be seen, and used like you did." He finally turned over to Akira, "And you got Azure Flame. Though to be honest, it wasn't one of the ten Unique skills I made for the game. I would have to congratulate you though, you are the first player in Sword Art Online to make history, and create an Original Sword Skill." This caused everyone, even Akira to gasp in knowing his skill was a move he made all on his own.

One thing remained however, "So, now that we know the truth, do you plan on paralyzing us, and kill us off instantly?" asked Akira. "Planing on covering this all up?"

Heathcliff smirked as he unleashed a series of commands, and all but Akira, Mataras, and Kirito were paralyzed.

"Oh no. That would simply be unfair. I plan to head up to the Ruby Palace on the 100th floor. It's a shame though, I really enjoyed watching you grow in strength. No matter." sighed Heathcliff.

"You call that unfair? How about being invincible for 75 death floors!" growled Mataras, standing next to an immobile Sachi and Liz.

"Before I go, I need to reward you for rooting me out, which is why… I'm going to give one of you a chance." said Kayaba, slamming his shield, and stood with ease. "Kirito, Akira, and Mataras, I am giving you a chance to have a one-on-one duel against me. I will naturally remove my Immortality Status."

Akira, and Mataras, both gritted their, cause they both wanted to get at him. Until Kirito spoke, "I have one request."

"What's that?" asked Kayaba.

"I don't plan on fighting you alone. So, I ask that Mataras, and Akira fight alongside with me. You made this game, and who knows what tricks you got up your sleeve." requested Kirito.

Kayaba gave his dry smile, and nodded in response, allowing the two other standing warriors to join. He opened his menu and inputed one last command, and a red hexagon appeared that said 'Changed to Mortal Object.'

"Be careful, Kirito." Prayed Asuna.

Kirito, Akira, and Mataras stood in a triangle around Heathcliff, with Kirito in the front, Mataras, and Akira on the sides, with weapons drawn.

"Come, brothers of Aincrad." said Kayaba.

Akira charged out first, and used a skill to try and hit Kayaba, only to be blocked by his shield. He continues to try and hit him, only to be deflected. "Mataras, Switch!" cried Akira.

Mataras then charged in with his Dragon Blood active, striking like a warrior with unique fighting skills, but was deflected as well. "Switch! Kirito!" called out Mataras.

Kirito lunges out and strikes but is blocked, and gets a scratch by Heathcliff, but Kirito doesn't give in, unleashes the Eclipse. As Kirito continues to hit Heathcliff, he leaps into the air, and when Heathcliff sees the opening, he prepares to strike.

Just when Heathcliff was about to attack, something starts to happen and the whole starts to get a problem, The Cardinal must've been having a problem, cause the game started to have a glitch.

Kirito continued his assault, and got stronger and faster, as Kayaba continued to glitch. Just as Kirito got both the red paladin's weapons away, and just to strike the player. The glitch's cause everything to glow, and in a flash, Kayaba had disappeared, only leaving the three brothers standing. "Is it,… over?" asked an exhausted Kirito.

Before anyone could answer, Asuna, ran up to Kirito with Yui, and hugged him crying tears, knowing he was alright. "Daddy!" cried Yui.

"Kirito!" cried Asuna.

"Asuna…" replied Kirito.

"You big idiot! That was really reckless! I so glad your okay! Kirito! Kirito!" said Asuna, crying into shoulder, happy he was alive.

Kirito return the embrace, as he hugged both Asuna and Yui, knowing that he made them both worried. "I'm sorry you two. But I'm okay. All of us are." he said calming the two down.

Akira, and Mataras nodded in agreement, but wondered what happened to Kayaba after the battle. No one knew the answer.

Klein spoke up, and congratulated the trio as they waited for anything to happen, so they could leave. Sadly, no such luck. The players were still trapped in Sword Art Online.

Agil then called out, "Hey, I see the door to the next floor."

Everyone decided to head up and check out the area. When they arrived, the team ended up in a town called Arc Sophia. This was when strange things began to happen, skills disappeared, items and skills were corrupted, and players could no longer go to the lower floors after floor 75.

"Now we're basically stuck up these upper floors." said a player sadly.

"Can we even reach the top?" asked another.

More and more players began to lose hope, including some of the guild mates of The Moonlit Black Cats.

"We can't give up now." stated Akira, which got everyone's attention. "We made it this far. I know Kayaba said if we beat him we can go home, so I believe he's waiting at the top and we can finish it properly."

"True." nodded Klein.

"I agree with Akira, I plan to have see if he's so powerful after being at the tip of my sword." stated Mataras.

The party soon realized that this chat was helping them.

"Everyone! Listen to me!" cried out Kirito.

The entire raid team stopped chattering and listened.

"There's no point in us waiting around in town, and game's starting to get unstable. We can't even return to the lower floors." he started, "However, I think we should as much progress as we can before another fatal error happens."

Asuna nodded, "Yeah, you're right. We made it this far, and our goal is to clear SAO, and return to the real world." she turned to thread party, "Come on, everyone! Let's clear this game!"

This in turn brought everyone spirits back up. The entire assault team was now more determined than ever to clear SAO. All of the players in town remembering when they started on Floor 1, and now were on Floor 76.

"The Assault Team's goal is to clear this game! So… let's push on to the 100th Floor!" Mataras called out.

The entire party calling out in cheers of hope, and determination.

"For our day of Liberation!" finished Akira in a war cry.

The entire team cried out in support, now more ready than ever to clear the game.

The coming days however were mid-level players coming onto the higher floors. However, with help from Ren, of Wyvern's Inferno, it eventually died down. One of the players, Yolko, was their as well.

When the days of mid-level players and messages to the lower floors finally died down, all the current players rented rooms and crashed for the night.

Akira looked out of his window, Mom, he said to himself, We made it to the 76th Floor, we made this far but still have a long way to go. I hope you've been doing alright, and I miss you. Akira then went to into bed with his "adopted" sister Silica, climbed into bed, and fell fast asleep.

Akira: Well, that's was crazy.

Kirito: Yeah. So what do we do now.

Akira: I guess we'll find out soon.

Mataras: Pretty soon, I imagine.

Asuna: What do you mean?

?: So, can I make an appearance yet.

Akira: Yes, actually.

Sachi: Hey, who is she?

Akira: You'll see.

Author: Next time on The Azure Swordsman: The Lost Fragment. Chapter 17: Leafa, Sinon, and The Hollow Area.

All: LINK START!