A/N: I know it has taken me a long time to make this chapter and I am really sorry for that. I finally managed to find time to make it, but not only for me being disappointed with it not being finished but most because of you guys, the readers. Even with it being along time since I posted the last chapter, I sill get a lot of people following the story and sending me messages saying how they like this story and they cant wait until it continues. I never could have dreamed to have this much support on a story that I ever would make, let alone it being my first story and I want to thank you all for that. You guys are the greatest. By the time this chapter will be up, I will have written a few more and because of that I want to let you know I decided that I most likely will continue it after SAO is cleared and that will be a new story. It will be with ALO and maybe even GGO but not following the Anime or novels. But since I am not sure about how to make it interesting I am still thinking about it and more will be known shortly. So again thank you all for the support and I hope you will like this chapter. Feel free to review and like the story or send me messages with questions or opinions about it.

Chapter 17

As I was drinking my potion I started hearing the people around me asking questions and I knew the one question would come up. That one question that I didn't wanted to be answered.

It didn't take long before I could hear Klein's voice asking it.

"How many did we lose?" asked a broken Klein.

My heart rate increased to the maximum. I have seen a lot of people breaking into infinity amount of polygons and disappears completely and I was only on the front side of the Skull Reaper so I didn't know what had happened near its tail.

"Fourteen died." Responded a shocked Kirito and the room followed after him.

I turned my head and looked at Heathcliff and found him looking at me. What was he thinking, letting all these people die while he is a GM? That was the only thing that went through my mind. There are still 25 more floors, how will we be able to get there if players keep dying because of the bosses?

As he looked away from me, I spotted a slight movement in the corner of my left vision. As I looked I found Kirito slowly grabbing the handle of his Elucidator. Before I could think why he was doing that, he kicked the floor and rushed towards Heathcliff with an amazing speed. Using a One-handed Trust sword skill, the gap was closed before Heathcliff understood what was happening and quickly raised his shield.

As I expected, Heathcliff wasn't fast enough and Kirito's sword went aside it and was aimed towards the chest. But instead of hitting Heathcliff, the sword stopped a centimeter after it went past the shield. At first I thought it was because Kirito had stopped the skill but on a closer look I saw a little Purple square at the tip of the sword. It looked like that little square had blocked the hit and I instantly knew what that box was. I knew since I had seen them before.

The same boxes came up when you hit buildings and decorations in the city's, and where always followed by a little bit of a bigger box with the text: Immortal Object.

As soon as I thought that, the box appeared next to Heathcliff's head and Kirito jumped back.

I jumped up and with me everybody in the room.

I was too shocked to hear anything, but the last word Asuna said opened up my ears and I started listening the moment Kirito started.

"The game ensures that his HP will never fall into the yellow zone. Something has always bothered me, ever since I arrived here. Where does he hide while watches us and adjust the world? But I'd forgotten a simple piece of psychology. Something any kid knows. There's nothing as boring as watching someone else play an RPG. Isn't that right, Kayaba Akihiko?"

A new wave of shock went through the room at the moment Kirito finished. Even I was too shocked to react in any way.

The only thing that went through my mind was everything coming together. The only reason Heathcliff could have known all the details about the questions I had about monsters, swords and he being backed up by the system all made sense now. How could I have overlooked the only reason why he would know all this stuff. He wasn't a GM, no he was THE GM! The person who had made the Nerve Gear and Sword Art Online and locked us all in here.

After a small time of silence, Heathcliff responded to Kirito.

"Would you be so kind as to tell me how you figured it out?" was the only thing he said.

"The first time I felt something was wrong was during the dual. In that last instant, you were far too fast." Kirito responded.

A small smile appeared on Heathcliff face.

"I suspected as much. That was an unfortunate mistake. You overpowered me to the point that I needed to engage the system's over-assist mode."

Again a shock went through the room and he looked around and right at me before he said the words that fuelled my rage.

"Yes, I am Kayaba Akihiko. And if I may add, I am the game's final boss, who would have awaited you at the top floor."

My rage was at its limit and the only thing I could think of was attacking him. The reason I didn't had so far is because I didn't know how. My biggest trump card was taken away, and I couldn't attack him because the system will block it.

Kirito started talking again but I didn't listen. Them talking was meaning that I had more time to think how to attack. What broke the storm of thoughts in my head wasn't what they said, but what I saw in the corner of my eyes.

A high placed member of the KoB jumped and was about to attack Heathcliff, no Kayaba from the back. This can give me an idea of what might be possible, I thought. But what happened betrayed my imagination.

Kayaba quickly opened the menu and pressed a button. The moment he pressed it, the attacked stopped moving and fell onto the floor. A small yellow icon showed why that happened. It was the symbol for paralysis. Shortly after it was appearing above all players in the room, including mine and we all fell to the floor. All but one, Kirito was still standing as he was holding Asuna.

I small fear started to creep its way upwards on my back. Why would he do this? Was he going to kill us all? And why wasn't Kirito affected by it? I heard them talking about how Kayaba was going to the top floor and wait for Kirito to reach it, but I wasn't paying attention. That was until Kayaba slammed his shield onto the floor.

"Kirito-kun, I must reward you for deducing my identity. I shall give you a change. The change to fight me one-on-one. Naturally, I'll deactivate my immortal status. Defeat me, and you beat the game. And all the players will be able to log out. How about it?"

The fear I felt was growing larger. I needed to undo the paralysis quick because I knew Kirito wouldn't walk away. I knew this for sure because I wouldn't walk away. We are both fighting for the people we love in this game. Fighting to make sure they will survive and return to the other side as soon as possible and we wouldn't stop for nothing. And not only for them, but also for the thousands of people who have died. Friends, players we haven't met but even our enemy's. So getting a change like this, could mean a large shortcut, too large to let it pass.

As I expected, he slowly lowered Asuna and got up. During walking the few steps towards Kayaba he unsheathed both his swords at once.

Klein and Agil both started screaming but Kirito ignored it. Instead he responded with thanking them for their support and friendship. The last thing he said surprised me.

"I'm sorry, but I have a request. I don't plan on losing. But if I die here, I want you to make sure that Asuna can't kill herself, just for a little while." He said slowly.

What didn't surprise me was Kayaba agreeing to it, since a player like him would want Kirito to fight with everything he has.

Even if I could, should I intervene? Should I disrespect in there one-on-one dual as swordsman just so the change of beating the game early will be bigger? I couldn't answer the question. Even looking from the other perspective didn't help. If it was me standing there, would I want to have Kirito intervene even if the reasons are the beating the game?

All I could was thinking about it while seeing Kirito launch his attack. Going full for the attack he was swinging his swords with everything he had, but that shield of Kayaba wasn't an easy thing to beat, even without the over-assist mode.