Author's Note: Well, it took me a lot longer than I thought, but we've finally come to the last chapter of this story. I hope that everyone enjoys the show that's to come.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

Chapter 22: Queen of the Fairies

"You know it would be much more pleasant for all of you if you would just give in." Nyarlathotep told Asuna and the others. "The four of us could create some very powerful offspring together. With my power and your strength, they would likely become the strongest gods of this world."

"To think I was ever in love with that thing." A disgusted Leafa remarked.

"Let's just take it down so we can get out of here." Kirito told the others.

Suddenly Nyarlathotep breathed out a stream of green flames from her mouth down at the trio. Asuna quickly chanted a spell and created a blue bubble-like barrier around herself, Kirito and Leafa. The barrier popped as soon as Nyarlathotep's attack ended.

"Know any other spells like that from that book you won from Cthulhu?" Leafa asked.

"That one and that spell with the coral are the only ones I've had time to learn so far, and I haven't exactly mastered either one yet." Asuna answered.

"The only way out of this is for us to charge in and attack that thing." Kirito told Asuna. "Sugu, you hang back and heal us when we need it. Asuna and I are the only ones with weapons that can do significant damage to Nyarlathotep."

"You can count on me." Leafa told them.

With that, Asuna and Kirito charged towards the giant insect woman. As the duo came close, Nyarlathotep attempted to strike Asuna with one of her claws. The blunette turned to the side of the attack and continued to charge in. When she finally got close enough, Asuna struck Nyarlathotep's front right leg, while Kirito began to hack away with both swords at the left. Nyarlathotep screamed as her body flashed to negative colors. Unfortunately, her first HP gauge went down by about fifteen percent.

After those first few attacks, Nyarlathotep merely kicked Kirito and Asuna away from her. Upon hitting the ground, Asuna and Kirito both lost close to half their HP. As the couple got to their feet, Leafa quickly cast a healing spell on them both and restored their HP to almost a hundred percent.

"That one attack really did a number on us." Asuna remarked. "I'm not sure if just the three of us alone can beat this thing."

"In the last battle with Nyarlathotep, Odin had boosted your HP and MP to give you more of an edge." Yui added. "With out that advantage, the likelihood of defeating a boss of this level is very low."

"Yeah, but it's not like we have a choice." Kirito pointed out.

"It really doesn't have to be like this, you know." Nyarlathotep told the trio. "If you'd all just give into me, I can make this a very pleasurable experience for all of us."

"Get this through that twisted head of yours, none of use are interested!" Kirito declared.

"Are you sure Kirito? I could take the form of any woman you like." Nyarlathotep told him. Suddenly her head transformed to look like Asuna's. "I could become something familiar to you." Her head then morphed again to look like Leafa's. "Or I could become a forbidden fantasy that you've always secretly desired."

In response, Kirito used his wings to fly up and cut off Nyarlathotep's head using his swords like a pair of scissors. The insect woman's head shattered into blue polygons before hitting the ground. Despite taking such a lethal blow though, Nyarlathotep's first HP gauge only went down to just over half its original amount. In seconds, Nyarlathotep's original Nytokris head grew back from the stump of her neck.

Nyarlathotep sighed. "Oh well. I guess we'll just have to do things the hard way."

With that, Nyarlathotep breathed out another stream of green flames, forcing Kirito to fly to the side of the attack to avoid it. The flames kept on going towards Asuna and Leafa, but at the last moment Asuna erected another barrier and blocked the attack. Kirito then resumed his attack and began cutting into Nyarlathotep's chest with his two blades. Meanwhile, Asuna took to the air and went around behind the insect woman to attack her from the back while Kirito kept her busy from the front. During her assault, Asuna had to evade the flailing tendrils on Nyarlathotep's back but managed to make several hits. After several more minutes, Asuna and Kirito got Nyarlathotep's first HP gauge to drop to zero. Soon after though, Nyarlathotep managed to grab Kirito with one of her claws while snaring Asuna with her tentacles and hurled them both away into the ground towards Leafa.

As Asuna and Kirito got back to their feet, Nyarlatotep let out a horrid shriek that echoed through the air and forced the trio of fairies to cover their ears. Right after the wretched noise ended, several green fireballs burst to life in front of Kirito and the others and became an emerald inferno that blocked Nyarlathotep from view. When the fire finally died away, standing before the trio was a small army of creatures that was too horrible to describe in great detail. They were humanoid – or at least mostly so – with dark-grey skin that seemed almost scaly. The larger creatures, which appeared to be male, were all incredibly tall and muscular with potbellies. Their faces consisted of large mouths with flat yellow teeth and one to six round yellow insect-like eyes. Many of these more masculine creatures wore pieces of black armor along with tattered pieces of black cloth around their waist, and the weapons they wielded ranged from large two-sides axes to long jagged swords.

The more feminine-looking creatures meanwhile were much smaller and wore off-white stone masks resembling the faces of beautiful-looking women. The parts of their heads that showed were totally bald, and some of the things had one or even two extra arms. They were clothed and armored like their larger male counterparts and carried up to two to four sabers depending on the number of arms they had. As soon as the small army of abominations appeared, two to three HP gauges appeared next to each of their heads.

"What… what the hell are these things?" a horrified Leafa asked.

"These are some of the children I've already given birth to." Nyarlathotep explained. "They matured quite fast. Unfortunately the poor darlings aren't very bright and have only a fraction of the power I hoped that they would, but they still make a powerful army."

"And you're saying you gave birth to all of these things?" a disgusted Asuna asked.

"Why yes. All of these children are the product of the little 'after party' I held after the raid against Shub-Niggurath." Nyarlathotep revealed. "It's a pity you didn't join in on that fun, dear Leafa."

"So… all of these things are…" Leafa began as she started to turn very pale. "Are the children of all those players?"

"Indeed they are. And there are many more where these fine specimens came from." Nyarlathotep revealed. She then pointed a claw at the black ring resembling a goat-headed serpent that was still adorning her upper right arm. "Remember this little drop item that I received after defeating Shub-Niggurath, Leafa? It's actually a little fertility charm that's extremely powerful. With its help, I've been able to produce triple the number of children that I would have been able to on my own."

"Leafa, just what happened during this little 'after party' that thing is talking about?" Asuna asked.

"Trust me, you do not want to know." Leafa answered. "All I'll say is that I left before it was over."

"Well Yui? What do you think?" Kirito asked.

"I don't know how these monsters were created, but they're definitely NPCs." Yui answered. "The trouble is that their stats are incredibly high, enough to match the power of a monster from the final ten levels of SAO."

"Seriously? We can't take on this many monsters like that on our own!" Asuna exclaimed.

"And on top of that, we've still got a long way to go to beat Nyarlathotep." Kirito added. "This battle just keep getting worse and worse for us."

"I'm sorry that it's had to come to this, but you brought this upon yourselves." Nyarlathotep told them. "Attack them, my children! Subdue them so that I may have my way these three and bring forth the new age of chaos that we shall usher in!"

The hoard of abominations began to charge towards Asuna and the others. In moments, Asuna took off into the air and began to stab her rapier at one of the larger male creatures. Though the entity was stunned, his first HP gauge had gone down to only a quarter. The muscular giant then took a swing at Asuna with his axe, but the blunette managed to dodge the attack. Meanwhile on the ground, Kirito had become locked in battle with one of the four-armed female spawn of Nyarlathotep. It was taking everything Kirito had to parry all four of the creature's swords, and while he was defending himself another one of the masked horrors came over and slashed him across the back. The sneak attack had caused the black swordsman's HP to go down to just below half its original amount.

Nyarlathotep began to laugh. "Struggle all you like, but it will do you no good! In the end you will have no choice but to submit to me!"

Suddenly a crash of thunder echoed over the mountains, causing Nyarlathotep's spawn to stop and look up. Suddenly a gigantic gold hammer came down from above and struck Nyarlathotep in the chest, taking a small chunk off her second HP gauge. A giant bolt of lightning came down and struck the area a few feet behind where Leafa was standing. Standing in that spot when the light faded was a rugged muscular giant resembling a man in his forties. He had long golden-brown hair and a beard, and hanging from his back was a golden-yellow cape. The giant outstretched his right arm and the hammer that had struck Nyarlathotep flew into his hand.

"Thor!" Kirito identified. "What's he doing here?"

"You have no place here, Elder God!" Nyarlathotep told Thor. "How dare you intrude in my domain?"

"The Allfather sent me here to help slay you, wretched intruder!" Thor responded. "Did you really think that your actions would go unnoticed?"

"The reign of your kind is soon to come to an end!" Nyarlathotep declared. "My children and I will lay waste to your kingdom!"

"That will never happen, foul one!" Thor told her. "Noble fairies, please allow me to join you in your battle. Together we can slay this loathsome creature once and for all!"

Suddenly a holographic screen appeared before Kirito with a request from Thor to join his party. Kirito didn't hesitate for a moment to hit the accept button. Soon after, Thor raised his hammer into the air and fired a bolt of gold lightning into the sky. The HP and MP gauges of Kirito, Asuna and Leafa then increased beyond their normal limits.

"Even with Thor helping us, how are we supposed to take on all these monsters?" Leafa asked.

"Do not despair, little fairy. I came here with aide!" Thor revealed.

Thor slammed his hammer into the ground, causing the sound of thunder to ring through the sky once more. Suddenly several white lights flew down from the twilight sky above and turned into an army of Valkyries armed with swords and shields. The army was twice the size of Nyarlathotep's army of spawn.

"Let the Valkyries handle the invader's demon children." Thor told Kirito and Asuna. "We shall deal with the invader itself."

With that, the army of Valkyries charged in and began to do battle with Nyarlathotep's spawn. A few of the Valkyries hung back with Leafa to help with her healing duties. Meanwhile, Thor charged at Nyarlathotep from the front and began to bash her with his hammer while Kirito and Asuna attacked the insect woman from the sides. Early in the battle Nyarlathotep breathed out a stream of flames that managed to strike Thor in the shoulder, taking off some of his HP. Thor quickly recovered though and continued his assault.

The battle continued on for several more minutes. The Valkyries managed to take out most of Nyarlathotep's spawn, but the insect woman had called forth a few replacement troops. Meanwhile, Kirito and Asuna had managed to do some major damage to Nyarlathotep due to her focusing most of her attacks on Thor. The god of thunder had taken quite a bit of damage, but Nyarlathotep had been reduced to her last HP gauge thanks to Kirito and Asuna's efforts.

"You're putting up more of a fight than I thought, Elder God." Nyarlathotep remarked. "But your efforts will do no good. In the end, I will still triumph."

"You truly are quite arrogant, invader." Thor responded after striking her in the gut with his hammer. "Your demon spawn have mostly been slain, and your own wounds will soon prove fatal. This battle belongs to us!"

Nyarlathotep chuckled. "How short-sighted you are. Even if you do defeat me, it is inevitable that this world will be swallowed by madness. As it is, my comrades the Old Ones all lie sleeping throughout this world. Even if by some miracle you manage to destroy me, eventually the Old Ones will awaken and bring forth the very same era of madness that I seek to begin."

"Even if these comrades of yours do awaken, my brethren and I will to put an end to them as well!" Thor declared. "This era of madness you seek to create will never be!"

Thor slammed his hammer in Nyarlathotep's chest again, taking another chunk off of her HP. At the same time, Kirito and Asuna continued their assault from the sides, being very careful not to get kicked by the insect woman's powerful legs. The battle raged on for at least another half an hour. During that time, the army of Valkyries had taken out much of Nyarlathotep's horrid spawn, though they had taken quite a few casualties as well. Meanwhile, Nyarlathotep's HP had finally fallen into the red zone, though Thor's HP had also fallen into the red as well. It seemed like neither god could really afford to take any more hits.

"You should've stayed out of this, Elder God." Nyarlathotep told Thor. "You would've lived just a bit longer that way. Because you interfered where you didn't belong, you shall be the first if your fellow gods to die!"

"Even if I parish here today, my brethren will keep on fighting until you are finished once and for all!" Thor declared. "Until then, I shall keep fighting until my last breath!"

Thor then slammed his hammer into the side of Nyarlathotep's head, knocking her off balance and taking off a little bit more of her HP. Nyarlathotep quickly recovered though and breathed out a stream of flames that hit the god of thunder in the chest, reducing his HP to a red sliver. Just as the insect woman was about to deliver the finishing blow with one of her claws, Asuna flew in and struck Nyarlathotep in the chest six times. Nyarlathotep screamed, as her HP became only a red sliver.

"Thanks for your help Thor, but this is still my fight." Asuna told the thunder deity. "I'm going to finish it."

"You ungrateful little imp." Nyarlathotep cursed. "You should feel honored that I chose you to become the mother of one of my children, but instead you continue to defy me!"

"You're a monster who shouldn't even exist in this world, and I'm going to finish you right now!" Asuna declared.

Just as Nyarlathotep was about to launch a counterattack, Asuna hit the wicked god with a Mother's Rosario attack the chest. Nyarlathotep's HP went to zero and she screamed before her body shattered into blue polygons. Soon after, the insect woman's remaining spawn suddenly shattered into blue polygons as well.

Kirito breathed a sigh of relief. "Guess those monsters still needed Nyarlathotep to exist."

"This was still a boss battle." Yui pointed out. "And like all boss battles, the mobs vanish when the boss controlling them is defeated."

Just as Asuna and the others were about to sheath their weapons, a green mist formed in the spot where Nyarlathotep had been standing. In seconds the mist took the form of a sylph player who greatly resembled Kirito, only he had long blonde hair, emerald eyes, and wore green armor. The Kirito lookalike was breathing heavily and clutching his chest.

"Donis!" a surprised Leafa identified.

"You may have defeated my Chaos Mother avatar… but I am far from done." The Kirito lookalike spoke in an English accent. "One way or another, I will plunge this world into madness."

"This has gone far enough!" a booming voice suddenly declared.

A massive beam of golden light then shot down from the sky and the twilight sky became covered by a glorious aurora. When the light cleared, Odin was standing before the group holding his spear. As soon as the bearded giant arrived, Thor and all of the remaining Valkyries fell to one knee.

"So another Elder God has decided to intrude." Donis observed. "When are you going to realize that your struggles are pointless?"

"Not pointless against me. Remember that I was the one who did away with that thing you called a father." Odin reminded him. "Now I have come to finish the job with you. Prepare yourself!"

Odin aimed the palm of his left hand down at Donis and fired a beam of gold light down at him. When the light cleared, the false Kirito was bound in glistening white chains. As Donis struggled to break free, Odin threw his spear at him. The moment the head of Odin's giant spear struck its target, there was an explosion of green light and a horrible chorus of voices making a noise that sounded like a scream of agony. The sound finally died away after a few seconds, and when the light cleared Odin's spear was sticking out of a patch of scorched earth. The bearded god walked over and pulled his spear out of the ground.

"Young fairies, I thank you for your help with unmasking the Crawling Chaos." Odin told Asuna and the others.

"Is this why you gave me the Valkyrie's Rose?" Asuna asked. "You knew this was going to happen?"

"It was one of many possible futures I foresaw, though I was not certain that this would be the true outcome." Odin answered. "Even with my ability to see the future, I was uncertain if the warrior you clashed with was indeed the mask that the Crawling Chaos was using. His powers of disguise were even greater than that of Loki. It is thanks to you that we were able to draw him out and destroy him once and for all."

"So you're saying Nyarlathotep really won't come back?" Kirito asked.

"Even if some part of him did survive, he has been forever banished from this world." Odin assured him. "His madness will never plague us again."

"We are grateful for your help, noble fairies." Thor added. "If it weren't for you, I may have very well perished in that battle."

"And now I shall send you all home." Odin decided. "I believe one of you has just won a great contest that's been going on for the last few days. It would be unfair of me to keep you from receiving the honors you've earned."

With that, Odin waved his spear and Asuna and the others became surrounded by a golden light. In moments the four felt themselves being lifted up into the air and beamed to another location. When the light finally faded, Asuna and the others arrived in the crystalline throne room that Kirito and Leafa had seen over the stream at the tavern. A few feet in front of them, the group saw what appeared to be some sort of camera crew.

"What… where are we?" Asuna asked as she looked around.

"This was where you were supposed to have ended up after winning the tournament." Kirito explained.

"There you are!" an angry Lydia spoke as she suddenly stormed over to where Asuna was standing. "Where the hell have you been? Do you know how much of an idiot you've made me look by not showing up? I have an image to protect, you know!"

"Ms. Lydia? We're on in five." A member of the camera crew spoke.

"Oh, never mind!" Lydia spoke as she grabbed Asuna's arm and dragged her over to the throne. "Just sit your ass down and try not to make me look any more foolish."

After a bewildered Asuna sat in the crystal throne, Lydia sat down in a small glass chair that had been placed to the right of it and put on her best smile. A member of the crew counted down to zero and a red light on the camera in the room came on.

"And we're back! We're terribly sorry for the delay." Lydia spoke to the camera. "With me now is the winner of ALO's first ever Clash of Queens tournament, Asuna. So Asuna, how does it feel to be our first ever champion?"

"Well…" Asuna began. "Now that it's all done, it feels pretty good. It was a long and difficult road getting here, but I knew I could do it."

"Terrific. Well, I'm afraid we're about out of time because of our little technical delay, so I'm just going to skip the rest of my interview and get to why we're here." Lydia continued. She then accessed her menu and a small tan scroll appeared in her hands. "For defeating every other warrior who stood against, I hereby declare Asuna the Berserk Healer to be our first Queen of the Fairies!"

With that, a golden crown resembling a wreath of flowers appeared atop Asuna's head with a blue flash, and bouquet of flowers appeared in her arms. Asuna then heard the recording of a cheering crowd start to play. Shrugging, Asuna smiled and waved at the camera.

Right after Asuna's coronation as the tournament champion, Kirito had contacted his government contact, Kikuoka Seijiro and told him about Nyarlathotep's return. Kikuoka had immediately launched an investigation into the matter to make sure the wicked NPC had truly been deleted, and that no actual harm had come to any of the players who had been in intimate contact with Nyarlathotep in-game. Meanwhile, Asuna had gotten a little bit more than she had bargained for after being crowned Queen of the Fairies. She had wound up doing a few interviews with reporters from the more popular VRMMO magazines, which she didn't mind all that much. What Asuna did mind though were the photo shoots for those magazines that she had gotten roped into doing in the game for those articles. Much of the photos were all quite tasteful, though a few of them involved outfits were a bit risqué by Asuna's standards. The photo that was most popular was the one of Asuna's ALO avatar wearing a golden bikini styled to look as though it were made out of leafs, along with her new crown.

A week and a half had gone by since the end of the tournament, and Asuna along with Kirito had decided to put together another raid against Cthulhu. The High Priest of the Old Ones had since re-spawned, and Kirito was quite interested in trying his strength against Cthulhu. All of the members of the original raiding party agreed to help the couple, along with Nikita, Lurga and a few others. When the day of the raid arrived, Kirito and Asuna arrived with Yui at the little inn where the main members of the team had agreed to meet. The trio arrived about an hour before the agreed meeting time to find Leafa waiting in the lobby.

"Hey guys." Leafa greeted as she came over.

"Looks like we're not the only ones who decided to come early." Kirito observed.

"Are we the only ones here?" Asuna asked.

"Actually I saw Sinon and Nikita when I got here, but they checked in and went back to one of the rooms before I could say hi to them." Leafa revealed.

"Maybe we should go find them and let them know we're here." Kirito suggested.

"Do you remember the last time we went back to one of the inn rooms that our friends were staying in?" Asuna asked, recalling the time they walked in on Klein and Siune.

"Oh come on, this is just Sinon and her friend. It's not like that sort of thing would happen with them." Kirito pointed out.

"Good point." Asuna admitted. "Okay, we'll let them know we're here."

"I'll wait out here in case any of the others show up." Leafa told them.

With that, Asuna and Kirito headed down the hall to Sinon and Nikita's room. As they traveled down the corridor, they passed a few people who instantly recognized Asuna and asked for her autograph.

"If I had known I was going to get this kind of attention for winning the tournament, I probably would've stayed out of it." Asuna remarked.

"Yeah, but if you hadn't, who knows what Nyarlathotep would've done." Kirito pointed out. "Besides, you couldn't just let what that thing said about Yuuki pass."

"I know. At least all these new fans of mine aren't as bad as those photos I had to do." Asuna responded.

"Those photos were great." Kirito told her. "I especially like the one with you in that gold bikini."

Asuna smirked. "You know maybe after this raid, we can go back to the cabin and I can show that outfit off for you."

Kirito blushed upon hearing this. "Can you wear the crown too?"

"Depends on how well you do during the raid." Asuna playfully answered.

Within a few more moments, Kirito and Asuna reached the room with Yui. Rather than knock, Kirito simply opened. What the couple and Yui saw within the room was Sinon and Nikita making out on the bed. Both girls were only down to their bras and panties and Sinon was on top. The jaws of Asuna and Kirito dropped open as their faces turned bright red at the sight, while Yui simply cocked her head in confusion.

When the two ladies in the room finally broke for air, Sinon looked up and noticed the other couple standing in the doorway and gawking. "Um, do you guys mind?"

"We're sorry!" Asuna frantically responded before slamming the door shut.

"Okay… I did not see that coming." Kirito spoke.

"From now on whenever we meet at one of these inns before a quest, we are not going back to any of their rooms!" Asuna declared.

"Good idea." Kirito agreed. "Let's just go back to the lobby."

"On the bright side, at least Ms. Sinon seems to have gotten over her relationship with Donis." Yui remarked.

Within moments, the three arrived back in the lobby and found Leafa sitting in a chair and reading something from her menu screen.

"Where are Nikita and Sinon?" Leafa asked.

"They're um… busy." Kirito answered as he and Asuna sat down on a purple couch that was right across from Leafa's chair.

"Okay." Leafa replied with a raised eyebrow. "By the way, I just got PMs from Liz and Silica. They should be here in a few minutes."

"Good. Hopefully this battle against Cthulhu will be a little smoother than the last one." Asuna responded.

"It certainly won't be as intense as our fight with Nyarlathotep a few weeks ago." Leafa remarked. "That form it took still freaks me out. Could that thing really impregnate other players like it claimed to?"

"I'm not even sure how that would've worked." Asuna spoke. "Of course I'm glad that I'll never really know."

"Kikuoka did manage to contact most of the players who he thinks all got it on with Nytokris." Kirito revealed. "Of course he didn't really tell me much about what happened to them, but it seemed like they weren't really damaged psychologically. Then again, a lot of those players were ones who are kind of on the edge of being banned from the game for inappropriate behavior. They were probably a little warped to begin with."

"Still, if some of those women players actually did end up giving birth to monsters in this game… I can't imagine what that must've been like." Leafa remarked with a bit of a shudder.

"Well, it's all over now." Kirito assured them. "The programmers did a thorough scan of all the game's servers and didn't find a trace of Nyarlathotep's program. Odin's attack must've completely purged it from the system."

"But are they really sure Nyarlathotep has been deleted?" Asuna asked. "I mean we all made that mistake before."

"True, but this time Nyarlathotep was eliminated by Odin and not an attack from a player." Yui pointed out. "If Odin really is an incarnation of the Cardinal System or at least it's security program, then he would have the power to delete an unauthorized NPC like Nyarlathotep."

"But if Odin really is a security program of some kind, how come he didn't detect and delete Nyarlathotep much earlier?" Leafa asked.

"I suspect that Nyarlathotep's program had some kind of ability to camouflage itself from detection." Yui theorized.

"So Odin decided to use me to try and draw Nyarlathotep so he could finally delete him." Asuna realized.

"Well, the important thing is that Nyarlathotep is finally gone." Kirito pointed out. "Now that he is, things in ALO should be pretty peaceful from now on."

Within another hour, the rest of the main raiding party arrived at the in and Sinon and Nikita had finally emerged from their room. With everyone assembled, the team headed off towards Innsmouth. Several minutes later they arrived at the distorted stone city of R'lyeh.

"Boy, you weren't kidding about how twisted this place is." Kirito remarked the team walked through the dead metropolis towards Cthulhu's door.

"Yo Nikita, you sure you're up for this battle?" Agil asked the spriggan woman. "This battle might be a little much for a rookie player like you."

"I think I'll manage." Nikita answered. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous, but Sinon helped me relax a bit while we were at the inn."

"And just how did Sinon help you relax?" Silica asked with a suspicious look.

"Hey, I'm not to proud to admit that I'm a little nervous about this fight too." Lurga admitted. "From what I've heard, Cthulhu is supposed to be one of the strongest of the Great Old Ones."

"I helped fight the thing once before, and what you've heard is pretty much true." Lisbeth confirmed. "It took out everyone in our party except for Asuna."

"I'd like to know where the heck our backup for this fight is." Klein spoke. "If it's just us going against this thing, we'll get creamed like we did before."

"I'm sure they'll be here soon." Siune assured him. "Asuna did tell them that the raid was today, right Asuna?"

"Hello there!" a familiar voice called from above. Asuna and the others looked up to see Sakuya hovering in the air along with Alicia Rue and an army of sylph and cait sithe players. "Sorry we're a tab late. Hope you weren't planning to start without us."

"Not at all. You're right on time." Asuna told them.

Sakuya and Alicia joined Asuna and Kirito's team on the ground while their troops remained airborne. Within a few more moments, the massive raiding party reached the massive doors to Cthulhu's chamber. When they arrived, the doors swung open and Cthulhu rose out of his putrid abyss with a horrid cry.

"Oh wow! That thing is uglier than I was expecting." Nikita declared.

"Don't worry. I've got you covered." Sinon assured her.

Kirito meanwhile looked up at Cthulhu and smirked as he drew his swords. "You ready Asuna?"

"With you, always?" Asuna replied as she drew her own sword.

With that, Kirito and Asuna charged headlong towards Cthulhu with most of the others following close behind. A long and epic battle was about to begin.

FIN

Afterward: I hope this final chapter was a satisfying ending for everyone. This story ended up taking me much longer to finish than I thought. These past couple of months I've been going through a lot of adjustments with a new job, so that's kind of been an obstacle with my writing. I'm glad that this story is finally finished, though I did have some fun writing it. I hope everyone reading enjoyed this story as well.

Please review and let me know what you think.