A/N: Here it is, the second part of the original fifth chapter. Enjoy.
Once upon a time in Aincrad
Of course the help of one person alone didn't fasten the clearing in any way. However, the maid-events did help to boost the morale of the clearers and they even managed to lure some new people to the front. In the weeks that followed the first maid-event Heathcliff, Asuna and Silber became a formidable team. Through the many hours they fought side by side they got to know the fighting style of the others up to a point where they could almost predict what each other was going to do, just from a simple glance at how they moved. The abilities to keep calm in most situations and to fight even completely armored opponents with just his bare hands without so much as a tiny freckle of fear quickly resulted in Silber being treated with the same respect as a seasoned veteran.
That and the lunchboxes his café started selling after the first maid-event.
All of that made some of the players even refer to them as The dynamic Trio, as they rarely had any openings in their attacks since they always covered the openings of the other by either defending them or following the attack with one of theirs.
~ October 18th 2024
48th floor Lindus
"Do you really have to go and fight in the labyrinth today?" Lizbeth asked while hugging Kirito fiercely.
Kirito stroked her back to calm her down somewhat.
"I can't stay away from the frontlines forever." He stated.
Having stayed away from the dungeon on the 74th floor on her wishes, he felt the need to get back to the frontlines in order to get back into the fight to finish the game.
"I somehow have a bad feeling about you going there today..." Lizbeth trailed away as she soaked in the warmth emanating from her boyfriend.
"I'll be fine…" Kirito said as he pulled away from his girlfriend, "...since I've got you to come back to."
"Don't do anything reckless, you hear me?" Lizbeth yelled after the figure of Kirito, who walked towards the rising sun.
30th floor Aquaria
After equipping his combat gear, Silber took a minute to look at the pictures pinned to the pin board in his bed room. Especially one picture drew his attention this morning.
It was not the one with him being surrounded by three beautiful girls in maid costumes, but the one of him and another guy with a reddish wolf sitting right between them. The other guy had really bright blonde hair and an equally bright grin on his face at the time this picture was taken. He and the wolf had died the very next day in an attack of Laughing Coffin.
"I hope that you are doing well, wherever it is you are right now..." Silber mumbled as he placed his right fist right over his heart.
Standing like this for a few moments in silence, he then checked his gear again and walked out the door.
Closing the door to his café behind him and locking it he made his way to the Teleport Gate.
74th floor dungeon
Heathcliff, Asuna and Silber had been exploring the labyrinth for the better part of the day until now and were heading towards the next safe area to take a rest and get some food into their empty stomachs.
As they approached the safe area they could hear some people shouting. They obviously hadn't been the only ones to explore this floor of the dungeon.
"Do you know how hard it is to map out an area?!"
"We divide resources and information equally to all…" the leader of a party of The Army, most of them sitting around with labored breathing, stated forcefully, "…and fight to free everyone still alive in this world as soon as possible!"
It was clear that he was the leader. Not only was he the one doing the talking but he also had more decorations on his armor than the others.
"Yeah, we all heard what a marvelous job…" the leader of the opposition, a guy with reddish hair, a red bandana with two yellow stripes that held back his spiky hair wearing samurai-style armor, complete with a katana, going by the name of Klein, started.
However he was interrupted by Kirito.
"Stop it…" He said, waving his right hand to open the menu.
"I planned to distribute it anyway after I got back to town." He said as a trade window appeared before the leader of the squad.
"Thank you for your cooperation." The guy said after he accepted the trade.
"Men, we are leaving the area!"
With groans of disapproval they marched deeper into the dungeon, not knowing what would await them at the end of their path.
"With The Army being back at the frontlines the upcoming boss battles should be much easier." Heathcliff said after the last of them disappeared around the next corner.
"But that attitude…" Klein said as he turned towards him and fell silent as he saw Asuna.
"Hello?" Silber asked a little bit confused.
"I-It's so nice to see you out here today, Miss Asuna." He bowed towards her as he said that.
"It's nice to see you as well." Asuna answered with a smile.
~ 5 minutes later
After Klein had calmed down and stopped his praising about how Asuna made that dungeon look ever the friendlier, they all sat down to have something to eat and talk.
"These lunchboxes are delicious!" Klein almost celebrated each bite he took.
"You should have started selling those much sooner."
"I'm glad you like it but it is not me alone whom you should give credit to." Silber said with a smirk.
"It was your favorite maid here who started this whole thing."
"Although it's just a limited offer I'm glad that you like my cooking." Asuna added.
"You want to discredit me?" Silber asked with a sigh.
Klein was now genuinely confused.
"Wait a second..." He said in between bites, "... if you both made them, who of you has the higher cooking skill?"
"We both have that skill maxed out." Asuna answered again.
Klein was now basically shoveling the food into his mouth to get as much of the flavor at once as possible.
Kirito just shook his head at the sight.
"I just hope those guys won't do anything stupid with the map data I gave them…" Kirito said looking into the same direction as the people in question had set out to.
"And why is that?" Heathcliff asked.
"You're worrying too much Kirito." Klein interrupted.
"Their leader may be arrogant but I doubt that he will challenge the boss with his men in that condition."
"You already found the boss-room?" Heathcliff asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Just an hour ago." Kirito answered while he finished his sandwich.
"I say that we check out the boss." Klein said with a smile.
"We've got enough people around to be on the safe side after all."
He knew fully well that Kirito wanted to go after those players and prevent them from walking straight into their grave.
Heathcliff just nodded in affirmation while Asuna was already packing up her lunchbox and got ready to move out.
"And while we're at it we can check on these worn out bunch as well." Silber added right before he gulped down the remainder of his drink.
Klein just gave Kirito a thumbs-up as he and his guild got ready to move out as well. The boy in question just shook his head with a sigh.
Not a minute later The dynamic Trio, The black Swordsman and the Fuurinkazan were on their way to chase after the obviously tired squad of The Army.
It took them about an hour of fighting against monsters and marching to get to the last corner before the boss-room. Just as they had finished off the last group of monsters they heard a panicked scream coming from around the corner.
"Oh crap…" Silber sighed as he charged towards the source of the scream.
Kirito followed suit with Heathcliff and Asuna right behind him.
"Hey!" Klein exclaimed just as some of the monsters respawned.
It looked like he and his friends had to fight off the monsters first before they could join up with the others.
As they rounded the corner they saw that the gates were wide open and the players of The Army were being slaughtered left and right.
"Use your crystals!" Kirito yelled at the player nearest to him.
"They won't work in here!" the addressed player answered, clutching the crystal as if it was going to work if he just squeezed tight enough.
At that moment the boss, a massive demon-like monster with dark blue skin, a tail resembling a cobra and horns like a mountain goat, swung his monstrously huge sword at the last ones standing. The three players were whisked away like they were ragdolls. Two of the players died still airborne while the last one hit the ground right in front of Kirito.
The helmet shattered and the leader of the squad just looked at him with a mixture of terror and guilt in his eyes before he burst into polygon shards, disappearing from Aincrad and the real world forever.
"Damn it!" Kirito growled through gritted teeth.
Silber clenched his fists as he got ready to charge right at the boss.
The Gleam Eyes. Its appearance was already frightening enough but now that it had turned around they could see where the name came from. Its glowing, red, demonic eyes.
Following another scream filled with pure terror the dust cloud cleared away and gave way to a terrifying scenery. The whole of the squad, or at least what was left of it, was lying on the floor, their HP already in the red zone and unable to move or even make a sound.
Klein and his guild arrived just as Asuna decided to charge at The Gleam Eyes.
"Get those people out of there! We'll keep that thing occupied as long as possible." Heathcliff ordered them before following Asuna.
Kirito and Silber followed suit without making any comments.
Asuna landed the initial hit with a three hit sword skill, effectively drawing the attention away from The Army and onto herself. Turning around the beast brought its sword down on Asuna with a growl as its eyes flashed with something akin to joy. Were it not for Heathcliff and his shield Asuna would have been crushed by the pure weight of sword alone, likely resulting in her death. With the blade brought to a halt by Heathcliff's shield, it made the perfect runway for Silber to get to the boss' head.
Jumping towards The Gleam Eyes's head he activated a roundhouse kick skill and hit it square in the face. With the boss distracted Kirito used the opportunity to get around it and use his dual bladed sword skill Starburst Stream to inflict as much damage as possible.
While all that was going on Klein and his guild members were carrying the injured members of The Army out of the boss-room.
Grabbing the horn Silber swung himself onto the head of the monster and started to pummel it with all the skills and moves at his disposal. Meanwhile, Asuna was switching to hit and run tactics to inflict as much damage as possible and stay out of the way of the blur that was Kirito. Heathcliff was keeping the beast's sword and fist away from the others and at the same time was watching out that none of the attacks would accidently hit one of the rescuers.
The Gleam Eyes didn't let Silber have his way and grabbed him, an action that Heathcliff couldn't prevent, and threw him against the next wall. Stunned from the impact he could do nothing but watch as the boss swatted away the other three, one after another, and made its way towards him. As its blade hit Heathcliff, whose HP were barely above the yellow zone, he could see a system message hovering above his head.
After having jumped over to where he was lying, the beast grabbed its monstrous sword in a reverse grip, ready to stab him and reduce his HP to zero. The sword came down on him and he closed his eyes. Unable to do anything to prevent his fate, he could do nothing but accept it.
'Looks like I'm going to join you sooner than I thought…' Silber thought as he felt the giant blade pierce his body.
"You promised to live out my share as well, right?" A male voice echoed through the room.
Instead of his body bursting into polygon shards the sword burst into said and a shockwave pushed The Gleam Eyes back by a few meters. The beast looked… bewildered. As did everyone else.
Standing up slowly a system message appeared above his head.
Suspicious program detected
"It seems like someone won't let me die just yet..." He sighed heavily as he focused his gaze on the boss.
"Let's beat this beast, Kirito!"
Charging ahead, Silber attacked The Gleam Eyes again and made it focus on him instead of the others.
Heathcliff just decided to watch the battle unfold. With Asuna still on the ground and Klein and his guild still preoccupied with stabilizing the rescued there was no one else to help them.
While Silber distracted the boss Kirito managed to land the final blows and The Gleam Eyes burst into polygon shards with a scream of anger. After the last shard had vanished the obligatory Congratulations message appeared in the air, along with all the individual windows as to what each player had obtained.
After each of them had checked their results, the first one to raise his voice again was Silber.
"Would you mind telling us why your HP didn't drop at all after the last hit you took?" He asked straight out.
The smug expression on the face of the KoB leader shocked everyone watching this happening.
"It's quite simple…" Kirito began as he moved to stand besides Silber, his swords still drawn.
"...this man is Kayaba Akihiko."
That statement shocked them even more. But the answer of the person in question was even more terrifying.
"Yes, I am." Heathcliff answered.
"Would you mind telling me how you figured it out?"
"There is nothing that is more boring than watching someone else play an RPG." Kirito answered the question with a statement that everybody of them knew all too well.
"And so, I always wondered from where Kayaba Akihiko was watching this world."
Kirito looked at Silber.
"Don't look at me! I didn't know who he really was." Silber said as he took a step back.
"But the fact that he personally showed up at the exact right moment in that church in the Starting City was too much of a coincidence to have just been the work of some players watching The Army." Kirito continued.
"I see…" this time it was Heathcliff who sighed heavily.
"It seems like I was a bit too careless."
"Yes. I am Kayaba Akihiko, the inventor of Sword Art Online and also the final boss of this game."
Everyone present, except Kirito and Silber, gasped in realization. The man who had imprisoned them and had killed thousands of innocents had been hiding amongst them for all this time.
Trembling Asuna stood up and roared as loud as she could.
"So all our loyalty and commitment was for nothing?!"
Heathcliff just stood there with a bored expression and didn't react at all to her outburst.
"YOU BASTARD!" Asuna charged at the man responsible for this whole death-game, her eyes displaying pure, uncontrolled fury.
Manipulating his menu at an amazing speed Heathcliff had inflicted the status ailment Paralysis on Asuna, making her drop to the ground like a stone. Shortly after that he had inflicted anyone else but Kirito and Silber with the same ailment.
"I believe Cardinal will remove you shortly, so there's no point in holding you down." Heathcliff said dryly.
Wordlessly Silber charged at Heathcliff but he just sidestepped him and turned around to face him.
And true enough, static filled the area around Silber a moment later. With the increasing static his body became transparent.
Removal of suspicious program in progress
Fighting it the best he could, Silber made his way towards Heathcliff with heavy steps. Just before he reached him he collapsed on his knees and looked into the eyes of the KoB leader for one last time.
"Kirito… don't… -ow… -ear me!" His last words were obscured by the static but what was left of his voice carried over to Kirito.
A moment later he burst into polygon shards and left everyone who knew him personally to wonder how it could be so easy to kill someone with a character as strong as he had.
A system message floated above the place Silber had just occupied moments ago.
Suspicious program removed
"It is a shame that I have to leave so soon after all the time I put into developing the players at the frontlines." Heathcliff said nonchalantly, not even acknowledging the death of the person he had fought side by side with for the last month.
"You..." Kirito growled.
"As a reward for figuring out my true identity I'll let you fight me, without my immortality of course." Heathcliff said while manipulating his menu.
Changed into mortal object appeared above his head to signal that he was now mortal like any other player out there.
"If you manage to defeat me, the game will end."
"Kirito!" Klein cried from where he had collapsed.
"I'm sorry for leaving you behind when this all started." Kirito said with a saddened look as he turned to look in the redhead's direction.
"I won't forgive you until you treat me to dinner in the real world!" Klein yelled, tears welling up in his eyes.
"Sure… I'll see you on the other side." Kirito replied, his voice sounding somewhat empty.
"Kirito!"
Klein was unable to watch his friend face what he thought to be the impersonation of evil.
"I have one final request." Kirito said as he locked eyes with Heathcliff again.
"I don't plan to die here..." he began as he got into his fighting position, "…but if I do, please make sure that Lizbeth can't hurt herself for some time."
Heathcliff just nodded in affirmation.
Manipulating his menu again he set both of their HP to an equal level, a level barely above the red zone. This meant that one clear hit could end the battle.
Drawing his own sword Heathcliff got ready for battle as well.
A second later they were trading blows at a rapid speed. Being aware that his opponent had created every single skill in SAO, Kirito knew that he couldn't use any sword skill. If he did, his fate would be sealed. He had to rely on his pure skill to win this battle, the most important battle of all.
"You know, I always knew that it would be you who would stand before me in the end." Heathcliff said as he blocked one sword with his shield while he directed the other away from him by using his own.
"I designed the Dual Blades skill to be given to the player with the highest reaction speed, who would then play the part of the hero who fought against the demon king."
Heathcliff started his own attack, but Kirito managed to avoid the shield-thrust and just barely parried the sword-stab so that it only graced his cheek.
Infuriated by his opponent's words, and the fact that he had just received a wound that made his HP drop into the red zone, made him lose his cool for just a moment. A moment in which he activated a sword skill. His Starburst Stream may be a powerful skill, but put against the very creator of this world, it was utterly useless.
Blocking every blow with his shield, Heathcliff allowed a small smile to hush over his face. He had won this duel.
Then something happened that made him gasp.
The last hit of the sword skill started glowing red instead of blue and the Dark Repulser pierced through his shield and continued straight towards his virtual heart. Accepting the fact that Kirito was apparently able to perform a feat like and win a seemingly already lost battle, he closed his eyes and awaited the end.
Kirito, having put all his willpower into that one final strike in a last attempt to overcome his enemy, had succeeded in what all of Aincrad thought was impossible. He had punched a hole right through the middle of the strongest defense known to the players.
After Heathcliff's body shattered into polygon shards, a sterile, female voice echoed through the world.
~ 48th floor Lindus
"As of 16:37 on October 18th, the game has been cleared."
Lizbeth had just stepped outside her shop as she heard that voice echo through the entire city. Looking upwards she couldn't help but scream out her love for her boyfriend.
"Kirito! I'll find you on the other side, since I love you with all my heart!"
Yes, in her heart there was no doubt that it was Kirito who had accomplished such a feat. Noone else was crazy enough to beat a game with a hundred levels while they had only completed seventy-four.
Yui however looked kind of sad. As Lizbeth kneeled down in front of her, the little girl was crying.
"We'll find you again in the real world and then we can play and have fun together once more." Lizbeth tried to reassure the little girl.
"No…" Yui started crying as she hugged Lizbeth with all the strength her petite body could muster, "…I am a resident of this world and therefore cannot see you ever again."
"What?!" Lizbeth exclaimed in shock as she heard her say that.
"But all your emotions and everything we did together! You can't be created by this world."
"I am the Mental Health Counseling Programm 001 with the codename Yui." The girl said with a croaking voice.
"No, you can't be!"
"That is the reason why Cardinal was able to speak through me down in the Starting City." Yui stated, pulling away from Lizbeth a little bit.
"Then we'll just log in again to play with you!" Now it was Lizbeth's turn to start crying.
"You can't…"
"Why not?!"
"Because Sword Art Online as a whole will be deleted…" Yui tried to wipe away her tears, but it was useless since they just kept pouring out, "… this is goodbye."
Yui was still trying to keep her composure even though she was about to be separated from the ones she loved forever.
Her feelings overtook her and she jumped into Lizbeth's arms again.
"I want to be with mama and papa forever!"
"There must be a way to safe you..." Lizbeth tried to find a way to safe her adoptive daughter, but couldn't come up with anything.
For a few moments they stayed just in their embrace.
"If I could access the system…" Yui started but Lizbeth could hear nothing more as she was whisked away from Aincrad forcefully as the system logged out any remaining players.
Fighting with every ounce of willpower she had, Lizbeth tried to hold on to Yui but was ultimately overpowered by the white light.
The last thing she saw was Yui trying desperately to grab her fading form.