I do not own Sword Art Online or any of the characters.
Death's Dungeon
Michael walked down the street in silence. He had progressed to level eighty five, but it had taken a long time. In fact, it had taken months. It had been nearly two years since the release of SAO. Michael had also gotten a better sword. It was about four feet long and completely silver. According to Klein, it was among the best ten in the game.
Michael stopped at the mouth of an alley when he heard Kirito's voice. Kirito was talking to someone about a dungeon below the Town of Beginnings where they currently were.
"Of course we'll help," Kirito was saying. "Lead the way."
Kirito and Asuna left the alleyway, following a woman with green hair and Aincrad Liberation Army armor. The thing that confused Michael the most was the young girl with Asuna and Kirito. Michael had heard the news that the Lightning Flash, Asuna, and Kirito had been married but that didn't explain the child. She didn't have a curser like a player, and child birth wasn't possible in the game, not to mention the child was roughly eight years old at most.
Michael followed them, and soon they found themselves at a secret door in the end of an alleyway and went inside. Michael caught up with them inside and they greeted him happily, Asuna introducing Yui, their unofficial adoptive daughter who they had found wandering in the woods near their home.
"It's very nice to meet you Yui," Michael smiled.
Yui simply smiled and hugged Asuna's arm. They all continued deeper into the dungeon, not a single monster leaping out at them. As they walked, Kirito and Asuna explained that they were there to rescue the leader of the Aincrad Liberation Army who had been trapped in the deepest recesses of the dungeon by the new unofficial leader who had been about to be exiled. Their guide, Yulier, the leader's in-game and real life wife, was the only person to believe he was still alive and had asked Asuna and Kirito for their help because they were two of the best three characters in the game, behind only Heathcliff, who had been unreachable at the time.
"Do we know anything at all about this dungeon?" Michael asked.
"Only that more of it was unlocked as the floors were cleared," Yulier stated. "The end of the dungeon, or at least, what we think is the end, was unlocked after the last boss was defeated and an alert was sent to the head of every guild announcing it's existence. The Aincrad Liberation Army had already known about it and in the beginning had explored the it the first few times it was expanded but gave up and decided to wait until it was fully open to explore fully. The alert was assumed to mean that it was, and it was how my husband was tricked into it so easily."
"I see," Michael nodded as they reached a long hallway with dozens of braziers along the walls, all unlit, leaving the hallway dark.
On the far end, they could see a doorway with a safe zone on the other side, judging by the words, "SAFE ZONE" floating in the middle of the doorway.
"Why is there a safe zone inside a dungeon?" Michael asked. "We haven't met a single enemy."
Just as he said this, a man appeared in the doorway, panic stricken.
"Run!" the man shouted. You have to get away!"
"Thinker!" Yulier cried out happily, stepping forward then freezing as all of the braziers blazed to life. "What's going on?"
"We're about to see the reason for the safe zone," Michael guessed.
Sure enough, all of the shadows in the room, excluding their own, stretched to a single spot on the ceiling, forming he silhouette of an unrecognizable, writhing thing. Then, the silhouette began to extend from the ceiling, growing into a tattered black cloak. Once it separated from the ceiling, a pair of skeletal hands and a skull extended from the cloak, the creature cackling as it did. a massive scythe with a bone shaft ending in a point on one end and an excessively long blade on the other formed in its hand and it pulled it back instantly. It slashed at them and Michael, Kirito and Asuna all leapt at it, attempting to block it only to be blasted away.
"Get to the safe zone!" Michael snarled, pushing himself up, his sword shattering as he did. "Damnit. I just bought that!"
He equipped his Queen's Knightsword once again and readied himself as Kirito and Asuna stood, Yulier sprinting for the safe zone with Yui kicking and screaming in her arms.
"What is this thing?" Michael growled.
"My detection skill can't identify it," Kirito stated, clearly worried. "It could be as strong as anything from level ninety up."
"I see," Michael nodded glancing at his health bar. "I'm half dead."
"Same," Kirito and Asuna both stated.
"My Elucidator isn't going to take another hit from that scythe," Kirito stated. "Cover me while I repair it."
"Same," Asuna growled.
Michael nodded and sprinted forward, rolling sideways as the scythe crashed down where he had been. He leapt into the air, spinning and using his drill ability to blast the Reaper in the face. Unfortunately, after about three seconds of spinning against its skull, he was launched backward, the attack having had no effect on the Reaper and dropping Michael's health to a quarter. Michael crashed down beside Kirito who instantly used a healing crystal on him before equipping a second, blue sword and drawing it.
"So you can dual wield," Michael grunted standing and readying himself again. "I'm jealous."
"What do we do?" Kirito asked.
"I want that thing's drop," Michael grinned. "It's probably amazing. Shame we can't hurt the bastard."
"No doubt," Kirito nodded.
The Reaper roared, slashing at them again and they all avoided it, charging and attacking it all at once, Asuna and Kirito using standard one slash abilities and Michael not bothering. The attacks all hit the reaper and their weapons bounced off, throwing them away. The Reaper turned on Kirito and Asuna and raised its scythe. As the scythe fell, Michael stepped between them, using his shield thrust ability to deflect the scythe successfully, but suffering his entire arm and shield shattering and dropping his health to critical.
"Michael!" Asuna cried out.
Michael looked up to see the Reaper slashing again but Yui appeared in front of him, the scythe stopping short of hitting her and the words, "IMMORTAL OBJECT" appearing over her. The Reaper recoiled and Yui flew into the air, a massive flaming red sword forming in her hand. The reaper shrieked and raised its scythe but Yui slashed at it. The sword stopped against the Reaper's skull but the Reaper still shrieked in pain, eyes rolling around in its sockets. Then, it exploded. Yui landed in front of them all and held her hand out, Michael's health regenerating and his arm being restored, along with his shield.
"Yui, how..." Asuna trailed off and Michael sighed.
"She's an AI," Michael stated.
"That's right," Yui nodded. "I was programmed to monitor player's mental states and help them, but the master control program removed my ability to help. All I could do was watch as players went through pain and suffering and fear. I watched so much death, and loss, and pain, that it became too much. I forgot who I was, whatI was. I left, and began wandering in the forest where you found me Mommy, Daddy. I was so happy with you two, and I made you happy too. In the end, that's how I remembered what I am. I couldn't let that thing kill you. So I used my Administrator access to delete it."
"Amazing," Kirito smiled. "Since that thing's gone now, we can go home."
"Sorry Daddy," Yui said sadly, shaking her head. "But I can't go home now. Because I interfered, I'm going to be deleted."
"What?" Asuna gasped. "No, you can't!"
Yui smiled sadly as she began to turn transparent. Michael glanced at the safe zone and his eyes widened.
"There's an administrator access terminal in there," Michael gaped.
Kirito spun, instantly sprinting to the terminal, which appeared and asked for identification. He began to hack in instantly. As he did, Yui turned to Michael.
"Thank you for saving Mommy and Daddy," Yui smiled. "Here. Take this as a thank you gift. It's the reward for defeating that creature."
An alert appeared in front of Michael telling him he had received a boss drop bonus. He read the item's name and then simply stared at it. She had just given him the one item he had wanted more than anything else in the game. He accepted it and smiled. Just as he did, Yui shattered.
"Yui!" Asuna screamed.
Instead of fading, her remains all shot over to Kirito and solidified into a teardrop. Kirito sighed in relief and walked over to Asuna, holding the item out.
"I was able to save her data as a monster item," Kirito stated. "Yui's Heart. We'll be able to save her now. But not yet. I need a computer to turn her data back into Yui, so first we'll have to clear the game and go home."
Asuna stared between him and Yui's remains then closed her hand around it and flung her arms around Kirito, sobbing in a mixture of grief and relief.
"We should go," Michael stated. "This place has nothing left for us. We should head back into town where we at least know we're safe."
Kirito nodded and they headed back as Kirito combined Yui's Heart with several other random items that most people would simply throw away. When it was done, it proved to be a necklace, which he gave to Asuna. Asuna smiled and put it on instantly. Then, they left the dungeon behind, hoping to never need to bother to return.
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