November 15th, 2024 (Hollow Area Day 44)

Kirito didn't know what to expect, after nearly two years of build-up. Two years of ominous hints, which for a long time had seemed too extreme to be real even in the death game. By the time the possibility of reaching the Sanctuary had become a reality, he'd come to suspect its interior wouldn't resemble much of anything, or at least not anything remotely completed. After all, the rest of the Hollow Area was a mishmash of incomplete textures and rejected pieces.

Swordmasters were never meant to even reach this place. Looks like Kayaba was invested enough in this questline to do it right anyway, just in case.

Ominous organ music filled the vast chamber that formed the interior of the Sanctuary. It seemed appropriate, given what lay within. A vast circular space, with odd circles and other geometric shapes dotting the floor and walls; light streamed in from a number of tall, rectangular windows, filtered through stained glass to form odd colored patterns. Dominating the center was a very steep staircase, surrounding a small dais.

In the center of that dais, embedded in a pedestal and held in place with sharp spikes, was a brilliant crystal, shining the color of blood. The magic crystal, Kirito knew, that governed everything about Aincrad: the Teleport Gates, the Safe Havens… and the Steel Castle's very existence in the sky. Anyone who claimed the crystal would gain the magicks cut off by the Great Separation, at the cost of nullifying the protections Swordmasters and town NPCs alike relied upon for survival. Destroying the stone would send Aincrad itself plummeting from the sky.

Kirito had believed it to be just game lore, even after completing the Elf War quest. Right up until the zombie plague on the Fifty-Seventh Floor, which had proven Kayaba Akihiko was willing to accept an end to his game other than his defeat, if only it was interesting enough.

Now I see how it would be done, too. Kayaba… you're insane.

At the base of the blood-red crystal was a computer console. It was made of a form of crystal, too, but Kirito was willing to bet that in practice it gave access to Sword Art Online's administrative functions. It was, he thought, just like Kayaba to do things this way.

Frightening enough, to realize the stuff of the Swordmasters' early wild hopes was right in front of him. Terrifying to see someone was already there. Sitting on a chair next to one of three smaller consoles ringing the crystal was a familiar girl with black hair and icy blue eyes. Someone Kirito had never seen fight, but whose allegiance alone made her a deadly threat, sitting where she was.

"…Tia?" Philia breathed. "What is she doing here…?"

"Don't worry your pretty little head, treasure hunter. Tia's not here to fight, or even to mess with the system. She's just here to watch. Because really, what's a grand finale without an audience, huh?"

Kirito's pulse quickened, seeing the man in the black poncho casually saunter into view, having been hidden from sight behind the magic crystal. "PoH," he said, in a whisper that seemed to bounce around the Sanctuary's odd acoustics. "You're here."

"In the flesh, Black Swordsman." PoH laughed, striding to the very edge of the staircase, Mate Chopper balanced jauntily on his shoulder. "I've been waiting for you. Watching the show." He pointed with his free hand to the admin console; Kirito only then noticed it was showing a view of the northern edge of the Hollow Area, and the battle still raging there. "I haven't cracked the security yet, but I was able to bring up the cameras. Bravo, Kirito! I knew you'd show me a good fight. And nice trick, by the way, reforging that sword I broke. Can't wait to see what it's like in action."

"So confident, for a dead man," Kizmel said, even tone belying the fury Kirito could feel flaring around her. "You do know that it's only a matter of time before we have reinforcements. Even you can't fight an army."

"Nah. See, I locked the door." He pointed over their shoulders; Kirito risked a quick glance, just enough to see the black stone door covered in a lurid red [Access Denied] message. "It's on a timer, don't worry, but you're not getting through it until this is over."

"Until you're dead, you mean." Kirito made the declaration flatly, without hesitation, refusing to take the time to think of just how easily the words came. "This ends today, PoH. I'm not letting you leave alive. Not this time." He spun Dark Repulser and Elucidator in his hands, swinging them up just short of the pre-motion for a Corkscrew. "There's three of us, and one of you. It ends now."

"That's it! That's the spirit! I've been waiting for that, Black Swordsman! To see you admit the truth: that in this world, the only way to live is to kill!" PoH cackled, throwing his head back almost far enough to dislodge his hood. "But don't get too cocky, my friend. I've got one last surprise for you. Let's even the odds a little, shall we? C'mon, Dagger!"

Dagger…? What the hell—?!

From around the other side of the crystal, another man in a black poncho swaggered into view. He was carrying a more conventional knife—so long it was almost a short sword—but otherwise he was a complete twin. Another PoH, with the same vicious grin.

"You made a Hollow of yourself," Kizmel whispered, in a tone of fascinated horror. "Which of you is even…?"

No cursors in the indoor environment; though the Sanctuary lacked Safe Haven protections, it wasn't quite a dungeon, either. It was, Kirito thought, even more disturbing to realize there was no way to know if the real PoH had simply handed off the Mate Chopper to his double; such a twisted game would've been entirely like him.

"Tut tut, Lady Knight. Who knows? I'm Cloak and he's Dagger, or maybe I'm Dagger and he's Cloak. But it doesn't really matter, and you don't have time to think. It's… showtime!"

PoH sprang off the platform, cackling, Mate Chopper slashing down ahead of him. PoH flung himself forward, long knife glowing deep crimson with a Rapid Bite. Kirito launched himself into the air to meet the first, screaming, tucking into a Corkscrew. Kizmel yelled an elvish battle cry as her Sonic Leap carried her at the other.

Light flared in the heart of Aincrad.

Philia was a good fighter. Her One-Handed Sword skill was just a few points away from maxed, and her Swordbreaker gave her a unique fighting style centered around controlling and destroying her opponents' weapons as much as cutting them directly, and the serrated edge tended to trigger nasty Bleed DoTs on top of that. She'd survived both Vemacitrin and the Skull Reaper, and the Laughing Coffin Crusade in between.

She was under no illusions about her ability to take on PoH and win, let alone two of him at once. While Kirito and Kizmel charged right in on the Princes of Hell, she ran under them, racing up the stairs toward the magic crystal, and the console at its base. Passing so close to the initial clash that she felt wind and heat blow through her hair, she forced herself to ignore it.

While her friends traded barbs with the PKer, Philia had been examining the room. She was sure the circles and other strange shapes on the walls and floor were more than just decoration, and her Searching had confirmed it. There was only the question of activating them, and it didn't take a genius to guess how that worked.

Skidding to a stop at the pinnacle, she was met by a very surprised Tia. "What do you think you're doing?" the AI asked, blinking. "You can't possibly expect to break into the admin console now. Even I couldn't bypass its security. You are only human."

"Only human, huh?" Philia snorted, turning away from Tia to lunge for another console opposite hers. "You don't think outside the box, girl. You just do what you're told. Me, I'm going to make my own move."

The last time she'd done that, she'd gotten herself stuck in the Hollow Area, branded an orange player, and nearly lost her mind. This time, she was going to do things right. Tapping the plainly-labeled power button—inwardly cursing Kayaba for his foibles—she was relieved to see exactly the interface she was hoping for pop up. Nothing deep, nothing at all suggesting significant system access. Just three words over a map of the Sanctuary's interior.

[Sanctuary Environment Controls].

Kirito and Kizmel's duel with the PoHs had already moved away from the stairs, a furious clash of swords and knives that had carried them toward the perimeter wall. Black Repulser and Elucidator spun and slashed, mostly going without System Assist to parry and try to slip past Mate Chopper. Grayswandir traded lightning-quick slices and stabs with the long dagger, shield swinging in whenever there was a good moment.

Mate Chopper was on the offensive at that particular moment, that PoH—Cloak?—having twisted like a contortionist to slip between the Dual Blades and bring the cleaver down toward Kirito's head.

I don't think so! Philia took a split second to check the location, and slammed her hand down.

A narrow column, about half a meter across, shot out from the wall and caught PoH in the side of the head, sending him flying. A second later, as the fighters took in the unexpected change in architecture, a star-shaped piece of floor rocketed up, catapulting Dagger several meters vertically.

"…You will not interfere with impunity," Philia heard from behind her. "My role is to observe. You will not be allowed to disrupt my observations."

Kirito had lunged for the Mate Chopper PoH barely a second after the first trap had gone off. Half a meter away, swords stabbing out for the still-tumbling PKer, a stone column shot up at an angle to hit him in the gut, propelling him back and buying PoH time.

So that's how it's going to be, huh? Philia felt a grin stretch her lips, and she bent to her task. "If that's how you want to play it, Tia, fine! I'll show you how it goes when you think for yourself!"

Mate Chopper rushed down toward Kirito's left shoulder, drops of poison flying off from the speed of its passage. Dark Repulser flashed in to meet it, catching the cleaver centimeters short of its target; Elucidator slashed out in a horizontal arc, carving a red line in PoH's stomach, despite the PKer's attempt to twist aside. Pushed off-balance by Dark Repulser's parry, PoH rode the momentum like a dancer, accepting the upset and moving with it.

Kirito gritted his teeth and pursued, stepping over a column that had appeared in his path to try a Twin Stab. It fell just short, PoH cackling at the near-miss; the mocking laughter broke off in a cough when a cylinder abruptly stabbed out directly behind him, his backward dodge slamming his spine into it. Even that only slowed him for a second, though, as he let himself fall backward over it, twisted, and hit the floor in a sprint.

The Black Swordsman opted to duck underneath, racing low to the floor, and triggered the charge-type Twin Lance to both keep himself upright despite his center of balance being so far forward and rocket ahead. Pulled along by the System Assist, he was soon back on PoH's heels—only for a pillar to spring up at a diagonal, knocking his blades askew at the last instant.

PoH immediately spun on his heel, taking advantage to slash Mate Chopper down at Kirito's over-extended arms. The swordsman managed to twist, just slightly, and kept the blow from cleaving his hands off at the wrist; the resulting graze was still nastier than it should've been, and he continued the twist in a fight to evade PoH's follow-up spin that would've dug deep into his chest.

He succeeded, but by the time he completed his rotation and faced his enemy again, the PKer was back in motion, running away and up a series of columns that had sprung up like a twisted staircase. Laughing, PoH reached the top and launched himself onto a group of tiny lily pad-like platforms, heading for the wall.

Kirito followed, swearing under his breath. Kayaba had obviously designed the room with a duel in mind, and it was really annoying. PoH was using it to aid hit-and-run attacks, clearly recognizing that Kirito would take him apart given half a chance for a decent Sword Skill.

Though not as quick as I should, he groused, getting just close enough to slash Dark Repulser across PoH's back before the PKer leapt from one of the lily pads onto a column extending out from the wall. That's not cloth he's wearing, or leather. He must've found a beta material that never made it into the game proper.

…It won't be enough.

As he chased PoH onto the impromptu stairway along the wall, clashing swords against cleaver for a split second when PoH unexpectedly turned to face him, Kirito had a moment to see Kizmel down on the ground level. Her saber danced with Dagger-PoH's knife, trading the lighter but quicker slashes and stabs their weapons allowed. A veritable thicket of stone slabs sprang up around them in the middle of it, turning the duel into a sudden chase through a rock forest.

PoH was good. Both of him. Chopper-PoH accepted a light hit from Elucidator, trading it for the chance to slam Mate Chopper's pommel into Kirito's chest; as the swordsman desperately spun his swords, fighting to keep his balance on the narrow column, the PKer laughed and jumped backwards. Another tiny platform zipped out under his feet before he could fall. A dozen more followed, allowing him the chance to ascend even higher.

He was good—but he wasn't perfect. In a fight limited to real bodies and real physics, Kirito thought the murderer would still have gutted him in a flash. In Aincrad, a world of superhuman avatars and physics that didn't quite play by normal rules, things were different. Momentary loss of balance from a direct hit aside, Kirito didn't hesitate to dash across increasingly tiny platforms, with just a hair more speed and confidence than the knife-fighter.

A broad platform jutted out suddenly, a good ten meters above the floor. PoH jumped onto it with an acrobat's ease—and Kirito, with a clearer's STR and AGI paired with two years' experience fighting Aincrad's bosses, leapt clear over his head. Twisting in the air, he landed facing PoH, and immediately lashed out in the twin backhand slashes of a Double Circular.

PoH lost his grin for just a moment. Mate Chopper came down with blinding speed, despite his obvious surprise, but the cleaver could only be in one place at a time, and the Cross Edge he used as a counter just wasn't as strong as anything in the Dual Blades skillset.

The PKer got out the first slash of the Cross Edge. Rather than canceling out Double Circular, it was simply repelled, and the two swords carved a deep "X: across his chest. They also flung him backwards, sending him skidding back to the very edge of the platform. He started grinning again, despite the situation, despite the fact that his heels were no longer on solid ground. Kirito could see him preparing to use the fall to his own advantage.

Kirito grinned back, toothy and humorless—and when the Double Circular's post-motion let go, he lunged forward and tackled PoH, flinging both of them bodily off the platform.

The ten-meter fall would've been fatal, earlier in the death game. PoH grunted in clear surprise at the near-suicidal move, letting out something in what Kirito thought was Spanish, and was certain wasn't complimentary. Surprised or not, he still retaliated mid-fall, slamming Mate Chopper's blade into Kirito's back.

The chunk of HP that vanished made him wince, but he'd expected it. It didn't quite manage to poison him, either—Kirito knew PoH's tricks well by now, and had buffed his own Poison Resistance in anticipation of the battle. The blow was still heavy, and it left him unable to properly set himself to land.

He'd expected that, too.

Even as PoH shoved away in the instant before impact, even as he hit the floor on his stomach and bounced, Kirito shouted, "Switch!"

He hadn't needed to. Kizmel was already there, a Linear driving Grayswandir into PoH's back, punching out through his chest the moment the PKer landed. A critical hit that only barely missed the heart, it took at least ten percent off PoH's HP with a single blow.

An instant later, Dagger-PoH drove his knife into her kidney from behind, and Kirito saw red.

Kizmel had underestimated PoH's Hollow, just barely. The obstacles that had interfered with their battle had kept either of them from using the full extent of their speed, and when out in the open Dagger-PoH proved to be just slightly faster than she'd anticipated. She'd thought she had enough time to rescue Kirito and still counter anything her own opponent might throw at her. I was wrong.

The dagger in her back produced an unpleasant numbness from the shock, rather than the pain she'd have felt before becoming a Swordmaster. The large portion it removed from her lifebar was much worse, and she cursed herself for her carelessness.

But I will not bested here!

She heard a mocking chuckle in her ear. She was already pulling her saber free of PoH and pushing forward to free herself from his double's dagger, starting to whirl—but in that moment, Kirito vanished from in front of her, and an instant later the laugh turned to a surprised grunt. By the time she turned to face her assailant, he was already flying across the room.

That Kirito was fast, Kizmel had known from the day she'd met him. She'd never seen him move quite that fast, not even against the Skull Reaper. He'd gone from prone on the floor to stabbing Dagger-PoH with a Twin Lance in the time it took her to take one breath, and now he was in full pursuit. Not even looking back, he launched into a Corkscrew to chase the Hollow right into the air.

Which left the—probably—real PoH behind her, with his hideously powerful cleaver. This time, however, she was not going to be caught unawares. Using the spin she'd intended to counter Dagger-PoH, she turned it into a Treble Scythe, counting on the rapid whirling of blade and shield to protect her for a crucial second or two. Though she couldn't quite focus on her surroundings during the attack, she did hear a satisfying boom as two skills collided.

Coming out of the spin, Kizmel found PoH skidding backwards, apparently having struck the Treble Scythe with a skill of his own. His skill had lost the contest, yet the damage he'd sustained was clearly less than if he'd taken the blow directly.

She didn't care. It bought her a couple of precious seconds, which she used to yank a crystal from her belt pouch. Holding it up, she shouted, "Heal!"

It was, unfortunately, not especially surprising when nothing happened. It is, however, utterly unfair.

PoH grinned, casually resting Mate Chopper on his shoulder. "Sorry, My Lady," he said, with mock respect. "But this is an Anti-Crystal trap. You're not gonna just—whoops!"

Kizmel took some small satisfaction in seeing him hurriedly slash his cleaver through the air, deflecting the crystal she'd just thrown at his face. His clear surprise was worth as much as the delay it bought her, giving her time to pull out and down a healing potion. Then she threw the empty bottle at him for good measure—only to see it smash to pieces against the column that shot up beneath his feet, raising him out of reach.

"Up and at 'im, Kizmel!"

Forewarned, barely, Kizmel braced herself and allowed the column Philia triggered to catapult her to PoH's level. Launched into the air rather than merely riding the ascending stone, she flew a couple of meters above him, and triggered a Rage Spike to strike him from above.

There was, she was forced to admit, nothing whatsoever wrong with PoH's sense of balance. Just before she could hit him, he took a flying leap backwards, landing back on the platform off of which Kirito had tackled him a minute before. When she chased him there, though, he stood his ground, swinging his cleaver out to clash against her saber.

"Gotta hand it to ya, Lady," he said, trading blows with a speed that was truly unfair for such an unbalanced weapon. "You're good! You and Blackie, you must be at the top of the clearers by now. I haven't had a good fight like this since before SAO!"

"I hope your 'good fight' is worth your life," she retorted through gritted teeth. She aimed for his kidney, trying to return his double's favor, and cursed to herself when his cleaver improbably swooped down to parry. "Your madness ends here, murderer!"

"Ha! Spirit, I love it!" Mate Chopper suddenly glowed, and snapped up and side to side in the two strikes of a Side Bite. Kizmel took one on her shield, but the other cut an ugly red line in her arm. She swore again at how much damage it did, only then realizing Dagger-PoH's stab had been the defense-debilitating Armor Pierce. "I'll admit it, I was wrong about you. Whatever you are, you're not just a doll." He grinned, viciously, showing teeth. "This is the best!"

"Savor it on your way to the grave!" Kizmel snapped, and lashed out in the quickest, hardest Slant she could muster. She was apparently just a bit quicker than he expected; though he twisted away, it still carved a wound to match hers in his free arm. He kept twisting, though, turning his back on her and running to the edge of the platform.

Leaping onto on a higher one Tia called up, PoH shouted over his shoulder, "Who says I'm even trying to live, Lady Knight? If you win, you'll kill me—I know you've got the guts, even if Blackie chickens out. If I win…." He laughed, loud and gleeful, and flung himself over her head to yet one more platform. "If I win, everyone dies! Either way, I'll have a hell of time along the way!"

Suicidal and murderous. Racing onto a staircase Philia helpfully triggered, Kizmel contemplated a few of the more creative curses she'd learned during her apprenticeship, decades before. In her view, no one was more dangerous than someone protecting their loved ones, but a man who did not expect or intend to survive was a close second.

Especially one as clever as PoH. Though the dagger was a relatively limited weapon in Aincrad, he had clearly mastered it at least as well as she had the saber, overcoming its inherent range and power disadvantages with his hit-and-run tactics. And if his weapon was light, it also meant he had a hand free—as she crossed the distance he'd put between them, he suddenly flung a trio of spikes at her.

Two of them, Kizmel caught on her shield. The third came at a slightly different angle, and scratched her cheek. Its direct damage was minimal, but she quickly realized it was covered in a truly vicious poison. Her lifebar began to drain at a rate that was slow but worrisome, especially in the middle of combat.

No choice. She had to slow her own approach, taking the time to pull out and swallow an antidote, wishing for the first time in months that she was still a Pagoda Knight with a poison-cleansing ring.

The delay gave PoH a chance to gain more distance, racing up a short staircase to a ledge a little higher up. Then he was turning, and while she still had the antidote bottle at her lips, he launched himself at her, Mate Chopper glowing for a skill she didn't recognize but appeared high-level.

He was fast. Faster than anyone Kizmel had seen, short of Asuna and Kirito himself. There was no time for her to drop the bottle and begin a skill of her own. Only time to open her mouth, and shout.

"Switch!"

"Raaahhh!"

Glowing gold from the light one of the Sanctuary's stained glass windows, Kirito hurtled across the gap from another ledge, spinning in a Corkscrew that caught PoH midair and slammed him into the wall. A second later, hands free for battle once again, Kizmel spun, caught Dagger-PoH's Armor Pierce on her shield, and slammed a Linear into his chest before he could recover.

"Not. This. Time." Snarling, she smashed her shield into his face, sending him staggering onto the stairs below. He tripped, letting out a yelp, and tumbled down.

Kizmel pursued, saber slashing side-to-side in an effort to hurt him on his way down, and trusted that the sound of clashing blades behind her was Kirito holding his own. Because that trust, she realized, was their greatest advantage in this fight.

The two PoHs were fast. Clever. Strong. But PoH was an assassin above all, a man who manipulated as much as fought with a blade, and who struck from the shadows when he did draw steel. Even as far back as their battle with him and XaXa at the Reliquary, it had been two completely separate duels that happened to occur in proximity. Duels that had been disrupted when Kizmel had broken off hers to go to Kirito's aid.

PoH was a deadly combatant. He was not a team player. Even fighting with the aid of his own double, coordination was alien to him. He knew divide and conquer, but he was himself divided from the very start.

So Kizmel trusted her husband to face the true PoH, and to be there at the moment she needed him, while she chased the double. She knew where he was, and that he would be at her side the instant she called, just as she would be for him.

Which was fortunate, as she realized grimly that whatever poison PoH used these days, her antidotes did nothing to stop it. Coordination was on their side. Time was on his.

"Tick-tock, Black Swordsman! You're on the clock!"

HP down to fifty percent. Kizmel's poisoned. We have to end this, soon.

PoH was as fiendishly skilled as ever. Kirito's STR was far higher, and his swords were stronger than even the exploit-buffed Mate Chopper, but the PKer was compensating with his hit-and-run tactics. Though it wasn't as one-sided as their duel in the Reliquary had been, it was still coming down to the wire.

As they clashed on a ledge high above the Sanctuary's floor, PoH painted an all-too-appropriate red by a nearby window, Kirito did have the satisfaction of seeing Mate Chopper rebound off Dark Repulser's glowing blade without a scratch. Just like the abnormal cleaver, the Baneblade had been reborn in the Hollow Area's abnormal mechanics, giving its new form a durability beyond anything normally available.

A part of Kirito was grimly amused that in an ordinary game, it would doubtless have been patched out as an exploit. For once, Kayaba's twisted love of plot twists would likely work in his favor.

It certainly balanced out PoH's game-breaking weapon, and now Kirito used it to compensate for the murderer's all-too-real skill with a knife. Using Dark Repulser to parry another blinding-quick thrust from Mate Chopper, he quickly stepped forward and twisted on the ball of his foot to slice into PoH's gut with Elucidator instead. It earned him a slash across his own stomach in return, when the PKer used his superior agility to follow Kirito's turn, but he could tell PoH hadn't quite expected the tactic.

Dark Repulser inherited the Baneblade's bonus damage against criminals. It's in my dominant hand. His reflexes expect me to use it for offense, not defense. He hasn't fought dual swords before.

Half the duel thus far had been as much the two of them testing each other as going in for the kill, neither of them willing to commit too soon for fear of the other pulling out a new trump card. The time for caution was over for both of them. Kirito was painfully aware that Kizmel's HP was draining by the second, his own poison resistance was high but not perfect, and Mate Chopper's abnormal attack power was a serious problem. PoH, in turn, had to know that given a single decent opening, Dual Blades would tear him to shreds.

Their fight had already been fast. PoH abruptly kicked it up a notch, flipping Mate Chopper in his hand before delivering a lightning-fast pommel strike to Kirito's chest, slipping narrowly between the two swords. As Kirito staggered back from the unexpected move, the PKer launched himself into a backflip, soaring about four meters up. Midair, Mate Chopper glowed crimson, and System Assist combined with the Hollow Area's strange gravity to pull PoH right down at Kirito's head.

It was hard to recognize a skill activated from such an unusual position, but something in Kirito told him it wouldn't be good. He flung himself to one side, just barely avoiding the brunt of the PKer's skill; as it was, the very edge of the cross-shaped twin slashes bit into his left shoulder, tearing his sleeve and leaving a deep red mark.

A Cross Edge. That would've been bad. A direct hit would've had a high chance of inflicted an AGI debuff. Fighting PoH, that would've been deadly.

Roaring wordlessly, Kirito lashed out with Elucidator, a furious series of right-left-right slashes that bit into PoH before he could recover from his landing. Without the backing of System Assist, they only knocked off a few fractions of the murderer's HP, but they hit, and Kirito had the satisfaction of seeing PoH's mouth twist in a brief grimace.

Then the PKer was suddenly back on the offensive, surprising Kirito by triggering a Starlight Splash, one of the strongest Dagger skills. Usually too long to risk using in PvP, the rushing stab of the first blow forced him back, pushing him down the stairs to a lower level. He kept descending, fighting to keep his balance as he brought his swords up again and again in repeated Cross Blocks, each of the Starlight Splash's seven slashes hitting hard enough to break him out of it.

The last blow struck with abnormal force—and broke Kirito's grip on both Dark Repulser and Elucidator.

No time for Quick Change to retrieve them. The same blow that disarmed him left him teetering on the very edge of a platform way too high up to survive falling from, and by the time he regained his balance PoH would already be out of post-motion and going for the throat. He could see it in the PKer's tiger-like grin, a predator about to make a kill.

HP down to forty percent. Either fall damage, or Mate Chopper taking off his head. Any delay, and Kirito would die. Which was why he drew back an empty hand, curled it into a fist, and punched.

The Fierce Punch drew him back from the brink, and had the added benefit wiping the smirk right off PoH's face. The PKer rocked back from the blow, and again from the Meteor Palm Kirito slammed out with his left hand. Then a Raging Upper, which blasted PoH straight into the wall.

While the PKer was rebounding, Kirito flicked open his menu, called his swords back to hand, and raced for the series of narrow ledges leading farther back down. Knowing PoH would be right on his heels in a moment, he took a quick glance around the room, set himself, and shouted, "Switch!"

Kizmel slammed down onto a platform just ahead and a couple meters above him. Ignoring Dagger-PoH as he landed behind her, she flung herself over Kirito's head, midair Horizontal catching the real PoH in the middle of an attempt at chopping through Kirito's skull. Kirito in turn leapt up, triggering a Corkscrew that tore into Dagger-PoH and carried them both off and down.

As quickly as the battle had ascended the Sanctuary, it began to race back down toward the ground level. One on level, Kirito took a stab in the ribs that finally broke through his Poison Resistance; Dagger-PoH was promptly slammed into the underside of a ledge when the stone beneath him unexpected elevated, before dropping him down to a lower level. Three meters farther down, Kizmel blocked the five-hit figure-eight of an Infinite on her shield, only for the impact to trip her up on one of the small columns jutting out from the wall.

Kirito made PoH pay for that one with a Flying Knee to the face, dropping them both down another level.

HP at thirty-five percent. Poisoned. Kizmel doesn't have much time, and neither do I. In a brief moment where both PoHs were recovering, Kirito spared a glance at Kizmel, who very quickly flicked her eyes toward the Sanctuary's central dais, then at a spot on one of the outer walls.

This long fighting together, he didn't need words to understand her plan. He only grinned fiercely, and launched himself at Dagger-PoH in a series of unassisted slashes. There was no pattern, not even a real attempt to get through the Hollow's defenses. All that mattered was keeping up a web of steel, preventing him beginning any serious attack of his own. All that mattered was pushing the Hollow back, bit by bit. Back and to the side, while his wife and trusted partner set up her own attack.

He heard PoH laugh mockingly, even as white light began to flare behind him. "Flashing Penetrator? Seriously? Lady Knight, I admire your guts, but the poison must be getting to your brain. Nice try, but it's game over!"

It was true. Flashing Penetrator, one of the highest-level skills available to Rapiers and by extension Kizmel's unique Elven Blade Skill, was powerful enough to wipe out PoH's remaining HP in an instant. It was also so slow to start, telegraphed itself so blatantly, that it only made sense as a desperation move by someone who needed to end a fight or die trying.

The light around Kizmel reached a peak. PoH snorted, laughed, and at the instant the Dark Elf Knight rocketed forward, he casually jumped well clear. Too late for Kizmel to abort.

Kirito smiled.

"Kirito, Switch! Philia, now!"

Having just pushed Dagger-PoH into a spot just behind where the real deal had stood, Kirito broke off his attack and jumped away. Kizmel blazed across the floor, too fast for the Hollow to dodge. Of course, his HP was still higher than the original's. There was a good chance he'd survive the impact, if only barely, and Kizmel would be trapped in post-motion for a crucial couple of seconds. If he was as skilled as the original, the Hollow would turn the impact into the wall into a lethal rebound.

Kizmel struck. Dagger-PoH flew back—and never hit the wall. A circle opened in it a split second before impact, and he sailed out into the open sky. In the brief moment before he vanished from view, he looked… surprised. His dagger glowed, as if about to try a Sword Skill to bring himself back from the brink.

The hole snapped shut again. There was a thud.

Checkmate.

Whirling away from the defeated PoH, Kirito found the real one downing a potion of some kind, one he didn't recognize. It shouldn't have been enough to matter, not with the amount of damage Kirito and Kizmel had already done to him, but to Kirito's surprise the PKer's health didn't restore itself at all. Instead, his lifebar remained just at the red zone—and an entire new lifebar appeared above it.

Another followed. Then one more. As Kirito stared in horrified shock, PoH tossed aside the empty bottle and grinned, slow and vicious. "Neat trick, heroes," he said, with a respectful nod. "I admit, I didn't see that one coming. But I've still got my tricks, too. That potion? A neat little dummied-out item called an Elixir. Full heal, plus temporary HP and one hell of a regen effect. Going by the flavor text, it was supposed to be part of the Necro Plague quest, before somebody decided it was too broken. That's probably why it doesn't do the healing part quite right, bet they never finished debugging it…. Something about twisting the Life Waters, or some good stuff like that." He twirled Mate Chopper in his hand, brought it to his mouth, and slowly licked the blade.

"So tell me, doomed heroes… you still think you can beat me before the poison gets you?"

Broken was right. Kirito felt a spike of despair, and saw Kizmel's mouth tighten with grim realization. Three lifebars, plus HP regen…. We've got the DPS to overcome it. I'm sure of it. But not in time, dammit, not in—wait. Wait, wait, wait…. The Necro Plague? Twisted Life Waters?

Only a hunch. He had nothing better, and no time to think about it. "Kizmel! Take him!"

She didn't waste time questioning. She only dropped her shield and leapt high into the air, bringing her saber down in a slash from above. PoH didn't even try to dodge, only smirking as it cut down through him. As she landed, Grayswandir flashing in an upward backhand. Barely rocked his head when her free hand slammed into his neck. Leaned back from the force of her roundhouse kick, and the pommel strike that followed.

Two back-and-forth slashes carved an "X" across his chest. PoH endured it without a flinch, along with the punch to his collarbone. Laughed when her knee smashed into his groin, and grinned when she launched herself back into the air, spun into a ball, and brought her saber whirling down from head to groin.

The Nova Ascension took off one of his lifebars entirely, and ate into a quarter of the next. And PoH only laughed, loud and mocking—and slashed at her. A blade of shadow flared out from Mate Chopper's edge, extending its reach by over a meter and biting deep into Kizmel's chest. Another slash produced the same effect, throwing her away. "Not good enough, My Lady! Not nearly good enough!"

For an endless moment, as Kizmel tumbled away, Kirito could only stare. He'd seen ranged Sword Skills before. His own favored Vorpal Strike doubled a One-Handed Sword's reach; the Shin and Majin variants of the Katana's Zekkuu skill did the same. But those are Sword Skills. He's doing it just with regular attacks—!

Kizmel hit the floor and rolled. Kirito wanted to charge right in, to cut PoH to pieces, but he knew throwing himself into the unknown would just get himself killed. Worse, Kizmel would scold him. So his mind raced, analyzing the situation, and his blades came up to guard.

His HP was still going down. So was Kizmel's. No time, no time…!

PoH saw his caution, and laughed again. "Like that, Black Swordsman? You should. Kayaba gave himself the Holy Sword, you've got Dual Blades… and I have the Darkness Blade. The Unique Skill given to the one who's killed the most Swordmasters." He grinned, cruel and gleeful, and brought Mate Chopper down in a chop that sent a blade of shadow out two meters. "It's not completely broken, mind you. My HP has to be in the red for it to activate. High risk, high reward, right? Except… for that neat little potion."

It only counts his regular HP. The bugged bonus lifebars aren't recognized. A game breaker only PoH could have. Free ranged attacks….

The poison gnawed away at him. Kirito's own HP hit the red. He needed to take a potion, or it would kill him before PoH could.

Dark Repulser's hilt began to burn in his hand.

"It's been fun, Kirito," PoH said, spinning Mate Chopper in his hand. "Too bad it took you this long to get me down this far. Kinda boring to kill you with one blow, but… too bad!" He swept the cleaver out in a vicious backhand, sending a broad wave of darkness across the gap between them.

"Seiyaa!"

Dark Repulser slashed up, shining like the captured star from which it had been forged. It carved through Mate Chopper's darkness, dispersing it, and a lance of silver light flashed toward PoH, nearly taking his head clean off.

PoH was good. Surprised as he was, he still managed to twist enough to avoid decapitation. Then he was lunging in, a spear of shadow racing ahead of him for Kirito's heart.

Kirito burned that away with Dark Repulser, too, and met PoH halfway, Elucidator deflecting Mate Chopper's blade. For several endless, chaotic seconds, their blades clashed, rebounded, spun, weaving a web of steel between them. Dark Repulser cut away shadow blades, Elucidator parried cleaver, and edges of pure silver light bit away at the PKer's extra lives.

"Not bad, not bad!" PoH shouted, abruptly disengaging and leaping several meters back. "I wondered what you got, reforging that sword! Classic, really classic… but are you good enough to stop this?!"

PoH's arm blurred, and Kirito realized it was for the beginning of Accel Raid, the longest skill Daggers had. He'd obviously practiced it as much as Kirito had any of his own Sword Skills, using his own AGI to make each slash come out faster. Well outside Mate Chopper's own range, he instead used it to throw entire sheets of sharpened shadow, at unpredictable angles.

Setting himself, Kirito lashed out with Dark Repulser, willing himself to move faster than he ever had before. One, twice, three times he cut apart the shadows. Twisted aside from a fourth, snarled as a fifth ripped through his left sleeve only a millimeter from skin. Dropped Elucidator to activate the Spinning Shield, intercepting the next three. Unleashed another silver lance to destroy the last, hoping to take out PoH entirely before the murderer could recover from the post-motion.

He gained himself enough time to snatch up Elucidator again. It nearly cost him everything, as more shadow blades came his way impossibly quickly.

No post-motion, Kirito realized, frantically slashing with Dark Repulser. Dammit, his Unique Skill is totally broken—enough!

Screaming in rage, Kirito threw himself forward. Heedless of the way PoH's HP was climbing back up, he launched into a Sword Skill, both blades glowing blinding white. He let the skill launch well short of his foe, using it to batter his way through PoH's dark onslaught.

The first five slashes simply dispelled darkness. The sixth cut through nothing but air, as PoH abandoned his barrage to jump back, gaining distance. Then, with a snarl of his own, the PKer triggered another Accel Raid, this time within blade range.

PoH was fast. Not as quick off the mark as Kirito, but nearly as fast in motion as Asuna. The first blow crashed against Dark Repulser. The second against Elucidator. Then back to Dark Repulser, matching the Dual Blades hit for hit. Blade clashed and rebounded against blade, four times, five, six. Demon weapon against Demon weapon, and the sword forged to destroy evil.

With Mate Chopper's exploit-boosted power, even the parried attacks should've bled through and wiped out Kirito's remaining HP. With PoH's regeneration, he should've been alive well past the eighth hit, which should've finished Kirito off.

After nine hits, the Accel Raid was over. Kirito was still standing, screaming as he continued into the sixteenth, seventeenth, and nineteenth strikes of his skill. And PoH's HP was dropping rapidly, past the point Kizmel's Nova Ascension had managed.

PoH's skill was over. His Unique Skill canceled post-motion, but even he couldn't start something else in time to prevent being stun-locked by Kirito's lengthy skill. He could do nothing except stand there and take it, as Dark Repulser and Elucidator hit him fifteen times. Twenty. Twenty-five. Twenty-six. His HP fell, temporary lifebars from his Elixir long since exhausted. Down deep, under thirty percent of his HP remaining.

The twenty-seventh strike of The Eclipse, a dead-center thrust, drove into PoH's chest, and flung him back—straight at the hole in the wall Philia opened one more time.

As powerful as The Eclipse was, it had its drawbacks. The post-motion left Kirito frozen in place for a full three seconds, and the real PoH was faster than his Hollow. Triggering a Fad Edge in the air, System Assist dragged him back, and he was able to catch the edge with his free hand.

"Not bad, Black Swordsman," he rasped. "But not—good—enough!"

Flipping up and over, PoH swung Mate Chopper for one more blade of shadow. His extra lives were gone, but he was still alive, and Kirito knew one good hit would finish himself, in turn—

Before PoH moved his arm more than a centimeter, Kizmel's saber slashed up into his shoulder from behind. Ripping down, she triggered a Horizontal, and sliced through his legs just below the waist. His arm fell away, and with a surprised shout his torso fell off his legs; a single blinding-fast slash from Kizmel took off his other arm before he hit the floor.

Limbless, PoH slammed down hard. His hood fell away in the impact, giving Kirito his first proper look at the man who'd been haunting him for two years.

The first thing Kizmel did, when PoH hit the floor, was snatch out the highest-level healing potion she had and chug it down. Her antidotes might not have been good enough to cure the poison with which she'd been afflicted, but proper use of potions would keep her alive long enough to either escape to a Safe Haven, or for the poison to simply wear off.

As Kirito did much the same, she retrieved her shield, and walked over to his side. Grayswandir clutched in a hand just beginning to shake from the aftermath of the battle, she stared down at monster who'd terrorized Aincrad for two years, orchestrating and personally committing more murders than she cared to think about.

PoH's face might've been handsome, were it not twisted by malice. Framed by wavy black hair, Kizmel noticed his features didn't quite match anyone she'd seen among the Swordmasters, neither the majority Japanese nor the foreign-born Agil. It was also distinguished by a tattoo along the right side of her face, further setting him apart. From what she'd been told, Argo's whiskers aside, such markings were very much frowned upon in their culture.

Even cut down, limbless, only a few drops of life away from death, the man grinned up at them. "Well, now," he rasped. "I didn't see that coming. Twenty-plus hits? That's just broken, Blackie. And you canceled my regen buff… that sword, huh? Like sword beams? Neat trick…."

"You didn't have a spy in the Skull Reaper raid," Kirito replied coolly, a cold edge in his eyes. "And I made sure Kuze didn't live to report. The Baneblade purified the Well of Life. Dark Repulser could do the same even to your beta potion." He leveled that very blade at PoH's throat. "But what you really missed was the importance of teamwork."

PoH laughed, harsh and mocking. "Oh, please, Blackie. Don't tell me you're going to give me a power of friendship speech now. That'd just be insulting."

"Not friendship," Kizmel countered. Not in a way you'd understand. "Cooperation. As skilled as you are, had you any notion of coordinated battle, you and your Hollow could've won the fight. But you trust no one but yourself. It served you well in the shadows, but not when you had to stand and fight."

"Hah. Touche, My Lady." PoH laughed again, this time with genuine mirth. "Too bad, though. You didn't take it far enough. You two, I know you'd kill me in a second in a fight. But now, with me all disarmed and helpless?" He smiled, slow and cruel. "You'd never kill a man who couldn't fight back. Unless you think I'll bite your legs off—"

"No! Get away from him!"

Running footsteps made Kizmel glance quickly over her shoulder, even as Kirito kept a watchful eye on the–supposedly—helpless PoH. Tia was charging down the stairs from the crystal dais, rapier in hand; Philia followed close behind, Swordbreaker drawn but not quite raised for battle. The NPC girl's eyes were wide, mouth tight with the most emotion Kizmel had ever seen from her.

Tia skidded to a halt a couple of meters away, rapier raised and glowing in preparation for a Linear. Good form, Kizmel noted absently, but clearly telegraphed. Unlike herself or the MHCPs, the young girl had obviously seen little if any real battle.

If her skill was lacking, though, her conviction wasn't. "Get away from him," she repeated through gritted teeth. "He saved me. He was going to save us all. You will not kill him, even if I have to kill you—"

She was interrupted by a laugh. A loud, mirthful, mocking laugh. PoH managed to raise his head, and turned a vicious grin on his erstwhile ally. "Oh, this is beautiful. You really, truly believed that, didn't you? You poor, poor fool."

Tia froze, eyes darting to look at him. "…What?"

"Come on! You saw everything I did, and you still believed I was going to 'save SAO from deletion'?" PoH's entire limbless body shook from his laugh. "I'm a killer, Tia! It's what I do! Everything I've done, from the second I logged into this game of death, was for the sake of killing as many of these Asian bastards as I could. Everything."

The glow from her rapier died, and her hands started to shake. "No," she whispered. "No, that can't be true. You told me you were trying to protect this world. That you were killing so many for the sake of preserving the lives born here—"

"Don't say another word, PoH," Kirito snapped, stepping forward to bring his shining sword closer to the PKer's throat. "Don't you dare say anything more!"

"Please, Blackie, we both know you won't kill me now." PoH rolled his eyes, and kept his attention fixed on the NPC. "I told you exactly what you wanted to hear, girl. What it would take to make you another pawn in my game. And why?" He chuckled, low and sinister. "For this… very… moment. To see the look on your face when you realized everything you knew… was all a lie." His grin showed teeth; in the strange light of the Sanctuary, they looked a beast's fangs. "I brought you here, Tia… to witness the end of your world."

"N-no…." Tia's rapier fell, and she staggered back, eyes wide now with shock. "No, it can't… it can't be…."

"Oh, it is. And I'm not. Gonna. Stop." Each word was slow, like he was savoring the taste of every syllable. Then, seeming satisfied with breaking Tia, he looked back at Kirito. "So tell me, Black Swordsman. How does it feel, being just like me? You're still alive because you embraced the truth of the death game: killing anyone who gets in your way. You've got just enough of your hypocritical 'morals' that you can't kill me, though. Not like this." He laughed again, and licked his lips. "I wonder, how many will I kill before we meet again? Even if you lock me up here, you know that won't be the end of it. Not IRL."

Kirito's gaze was sharp and solid as black steel. "No," he said quietly. "I'm not like you. That you don't understand that… is why you'll never leave Aincrad alive."

PoH snorted. "Don't give me that BS, Black Swordsman. You'd never—"

"Goodbye, Prince of Hell."

Dark Repulser blurred, shining white blade cutting right through PoH's neck. Eyes wide with genuine surprise, PoH's head flew away, trailing a spray of crimson particle. It hit the stone floor, bounced—and burned away to ash, his body following suit, instead of shattering like a normal death in Aincrad. All that remained behind was a satchel, containing whatever loot he'd acquired in the Hollow Area, and Mate Chopper itself.

In the silence that followed, as Kirito slowly sheathed his blades and lowered his head, Kizmel could only think of something her father—Kayaba—had once told her. "If ever you have a blade at your throat," she murmured, "if a man ever has you entirely at his mercy, pray that he is an evil man. An evil man will savor the moment. Gloat. Make you feel the terror of knowing you are about to die, and give you a thousand chances to escape. A good man will kill you without a second thought."

"A good man…?" Tia's voice trembled. Kizmel turned to look, and saw the NPC shaking violently, fists clenched. "A good man? No! No! Humans are liars! All of you! He… he gave me everything, and took it away… you all took it away!"

Torn between her silent husband and the broken girl, Kizmel started to reach out for the NPC. "Tia, you don't understand what—"

"I don't want to understand! Stay away from me!" Tia turned her face toward the distant ceiling, screamed something incoherent and oddly distorted—and abruptly disappeared, vanishing in a warped blue flash. Teleporting, Kizmel realized, despite the Sanctuary's Anti-Crystal trap.

…I hope you find peace, cousin. A single death was not nearly enough punishment, for what PoH did to you as much as to all the Swordmasters he murdered.

"Am I… a good man…?" Kirito whispered, seeming oblivious to Tia's departure, shoulders beginning to shake. "After doing… that…?"

Kizmel wasted no time in engulfing him in a tight embrace. "You are the most noble man I have ever known," she whispered in his ear, reaching up to stroke his hair. "You walk in dark places so others need not. Morte, Kuze, PoH… they killed for pleasure. For sport. You strike down those who harm the innocent. You are not like him."

Another pair of arms wrapped around him from behind. "She's right, y'know," Philia said in his other ear. "Even if we'd locked him up, he would've kept right on killing once we got out. He knows how to fight. He probably killed people before we ever got stuck here." She shivered. "And after everything he pulled down here, I wouldn't trust the Black Iron Castle to hold him, either."

Truth. Kizmel couldn't suppress a shiver of her own, realizing how true that was at that moment. With the Army in disarray, it was all too likely some idiot among their number would let PoH out, for their own shortsighted goals.

Terrible as it was, killing PoH on the spot had saved untold lives.

She was deeply relieved when Kirito relaxed into her embrace, and raised a hand to touch Philia's. "Thanks," he whispered, burying his face in Kizmel's hair. "I… really needed that." He coughed, half a laugh and half a sob. "…I'm going to have nightmares tonight."

"So shall we all," Kizmel agreed. "But we will face them together. And this nightmare, at least, is over. At last."

She wasn't sure how long the three of them stood there like that. At some point, it shifted into a three-way hug, as Philia tried to fend off her own demons with the warmth of friendly contact. Kizmel did not begrudge it, knowing what traumas the treasure hunter had experienced over a subjective month and more. Reassured she may have been of her own existence, it was still loneliness to drive the sanest woman mad.

At some point, though, the Sanctuary's door groaned open, and footsteps brought them all back to the here-and-now. Turning as one, they found Asuna running in, trailed by Rain and none other than Argo. "Finally got in!" Asuna burst out, face and voice alike tight with worry. "Are you guys… all… right…?"

Kirito managed a weak smile, raising a hand in a weary wave. "PoH's gone," he said simply. "Gone for good." He didn't elaborate, and somewhat to Kizmel's relief Asuna didn't ask; though her eyes widened, she only nodded slowly. "Everything's all clear in here," Kirito continued. "How about outside?"

"We've got the KoB guarding the door," Rain answered, pointing a thumb over her shoulder. "The golems have finally stopped spawning, and the DDA are taking out the stragglers. Fuurinkazan headed back to the higher floors—Griselda wanted to join in here, but Klein put his foot down. She's not ready for a fight yet, not when she can barely walk."

Griselda, able to fight? Kizmel blinked, exchanging curious looks with Kirito and Philia. Obviously, there was quite a story they'd missed.

"That can wait, though," Argo broke in, face unusually serious. "Kii-bou. That… that's an admin console, isn't it?"

"I think so." Squaring his shoulders, Kirito turned back to face the stairs leading up to the center dais. "Time to see what secrets Kayaba wanted us to see here."

Asuna frowned. "Wanted us…?"

"Indeed." Kizmel turned to follow her husband up the stairs, following his train of thought just as easily. "Swordmasters were never intended to reach this place… yet I think Kayaba suspected we might find our way here, somehow. I feel his hand in this, pulling strings we still only barely perceive…."

"Kii-bou, ya may think Kayaba wanted ya ta see this, but it still kept PoH out. What makes ya think you can break into the system?"

Settling into the chair before the admin console, overshadowed by the crimson stone that governed the Steel Castle itself, Kirito tried to ignore the way five girls crowded into a space too small for them. "Because," he answered Argo, cracking his fingers, "PoH was a killer, not a computer geek. Even if he knew some hacking tricks, he probably didn't know half of what I do."

It felt a little weird, to be honest. Though he'd technically been in a computer system for two years, with some elements of a user interface as part of his everyday life, he hadn't put fingers to coding in all that time. I'm going to have to do a crash course to catch up when I get out, he thought ruefully, bringing the console to life. Two years is a long time for computers. But this… this should be older stuff. I know this.

It was like riding a bicycle, he soon decided. Getting past the encryption that had stymied PoH was a breeze—though he felt a brief chill as he dove deeper; the Prince of Hell really had been just one firewall shy of being able to crash Aincrad. That destroying the Steel Castle was one of the least protected system functions was more than a little unsettling.

"Um… Kirito-kun," Asuna ventured, after he'd broken one particularly tricky layer. "What are you trying to do? …You don't think… you could log us out from here…?"

Kirito noted with detached interest that her tone spoke of much the same mixed feelings he had about leaving Aincrad. He let it pass, though, and said, "Kayaba told us the answer was within reach. It's time to find it, with our own hands." He felt Kizmel's hand touch his shoulder, and the tension in her body along with. "I've been wondering about this for two years. Kizmel needs to know."

As his fingers flew over the keyboard, circumventing one layer of protection after another, he heard Argo whistle. "Kii-bou… who the heck are you? I might be able to hack this, but it'd take me a lot longer."

He couldn't help a bit of a smirk. "This stuff? It's not nearly as well-protected as the Citizen Registry, and I broke into that when I was ten."

The silence behind him—even from Asuna, he noticed; she was no computer geek, but she obviously got the gist—was just a little bit of an ego-boost. "Kii-bou," Argo said, very carefully. "You've been a hacker that good since you were ten?"

"Cracker," Kirito corrected absently, refocusing on the task as a more active defense popped up, coming a little closer than he liked to kicking him out. "I'm not a White Hat. I was doing it because I was bored, and because… stuff too complicated to go into right now. I do this for me, anyway. I've never pointed out a security hole I might've wanted to use later… ah. Here we go."

Breaking one last defense, he suddenly found himself looking at a simple log-in screen, asking for nothing more than a user name and password.

"…Trap, Kirito?" Rain hazarded, peering at it like she expected it to spawn a monster and bite her. "That looks way too simple."

"Not a trap. Just something with no way past if you don't know the answers." It was an admin console, yes, but it was within Kayaba's world. Kirito was limited to the interface in front of him. He couldn't try anything fancy like accessing the hardware directly to use special tools, there was no way to cheat his way through. With only two small text fields, this was a pass/fail test.

All the security protections before this were practice. To make sure I was worthy of getting this far. This was the only real security Kayaba needed, in here.

"Too bad Kayaba didn't leave a sticky note," Argo said, actually dropping to her knees to check the sides of the console. "Maybe there's clues somewhere else in the Hollow Area? Or maybe you're wrong, Kii-bou, an' this was all just a game—"

"No," Kirito said shortly, fingers already typing in the user name. "This one, I know."

[User ID: Heathcliff].

Hesitating over the password, he turned to ask Kizmel a short question. He quickly typed in the answer, and hit "Enter". Instantly, the log-in screen disappeared, revealing a directory. Some of the file names had simple, obvious names; others he could kind of guess at the meaning, and a few were more or less gibberish to him. But he was in.

"Kirito?" Philia asked him, after a moment of stunned silence. "How did you…?"

"I understand Kayaba," he said quietly, scrolling down the long list. "It's honestly a simple password… but only if you know to ask the right question. I knew that was the one, that's all."

Not a pleasant thought, that he understood Kayaba Akihiko well enough to easily guess a log-in. That he was close enough in mindset to a man who'd trapped ten thousand people in a game of death to have no trouble following his thought processes, in the man's very own sanctum. The only thing that kept primal horror at bay was the knowledge that this one shared trait was possibly the only truly human one Kayaba could have been said to have.

Kizmel's hand gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Then it did mean something to him," she murmured in his ear. "I don't know whether to be reassured, or more horrified than ever." She took a deep, steadying breath. "It does leave me more confused than ever."

"That's why we're doing this. To clear up that confusion." Kirito scrolled down the long, long list, wishing suddenly that he understood Kayaba just a little better. The man's filing system was positively Byzantine, with folders obviously labeled in a way that would make sense to him but not necessarily to anyone else.

{Notes On Hypersense]. [Unexpected Feedback Interactions of Extended Neural Activity Within NerveGear Environment]. [Lightcube]. [Time Acceleration].

He was tempted to dive into those, to see Kayaba's own personal research notes. The observations of the man who designed the system on the emergent phenomena of SAO had to be a goldmine for anyone who wanted to know how it all truly worked. With an effort, he restrained himself. He was in the system for a reason, and anything—everything—else could wait.

Finally, Kirito found something promising: [User Account Registry]. Whether it was exactly what he was looking for depended on just how the system classified certain individuals, but it was a good place to start looking. Opening it, he was presented with a huge list, stretching down far enough to have genuine lag loading it all. Why in the world would Kayaba have all this in one giant folder? At least subdivide it, why don't you?

At least it was straightforward. The accounts were numbered, as well as labeled by name, and the system was close enough to a sane OS to have an ordinary Control-F search function. Starting off by playing a hunch, Kirito first searched for his own name, then Argo's, and finally Asuna's. The list scrolled to each in turn with only momentary delay, confirming to his satisfaction that he was in the right place.

Asuna, though, interrupted the search, pointing to the number by her own name. "Wait a second. Number 10,159? But there were only ten thousand players to start with, right?" She frowned. "Which was kind of small, now that I think about it. I don't know gaming culture, but I'd expect a major release to have more than ten thousand copies in the first run…."

"Official word was that it was a server load test," Rain told her, peering thoughtfully at the list herself. "First VRMMO? They couldn't say for sure how well the servers would stand up. I remember there was going to be a second release as soon as they knew for sure…."

"But it was probably really because Kayaba didn't want to push his luck," Kirito said grimly, ignoring the search function of favor scrolling to the bottom the hard way. He told himself that he just wasn't sure of the search parameters. He knew it was really because he was afraid of being wrong. "He was pushing it with ten thousand. Fifty thousand? A hundred? Hospitals would be so overwhelmed, the government might've been a lot more tempted to do something drastic."

"An' that would be bad," Argo said dryly. "Anyway, Aa-chan, th' numbers prolly include the betas that didn't get the retail version. Guess I was right when I worked out two hundred sat things out. …Kii-bou, what're ya lookin' for, anyway?"

He sighed. Tension rising, he finally yanked the scroll bar clear to the bottom of the list. As the display struggled to keep up, he said simply, "This."

Two names stood out, at the very end. Neither of them had the same numbering system as the ten-thousand-plus accounts above.

[AFL01Tilnel].

[AFL02Kizmel].

Kizmel inhaled sharply. "My sister… and me…? Kirito, do you know what this means?"

"Not yet," Kirito admitted, already clicking on the second name to bring up details. "But we're about to find out."

Some of the data that came up made sense. Some of it confused him because he didn't quite have the context to understand it. And some of it… some of it confused him because it would've made sense for anyone but Kizmel. Backing out of her entry, he quickly scrolled back up to check his own, then Agil's—someone he knew wasn't in the Hollow Area, and ought to have served as a good baseline—and finally went back down to Kizmel's.

"Kirito-kun?" Asuna ventured, when the silence dragged on. "What is it?"

"…Kizmel isn't part of the SAO system," he said slowly, not quite believing his eyes. "She's not contained on the servers. According to this, she's logging in from a separate IP address."

"What?" Argo said sharply, leaning in close. "How's that possible, Kii-bou? I mean, sure, the SAO servers have gotta be struggling to handle the game an' the MHCPs an' Tia all at once, but a separate IP address? I always figured she was, I dunno, part of a dedicated drive or somethin'. If it was on-site it'd still share an IP address. Probably. I think?"

"I thought so, too," he admitted. He could feel Kizmel's burning tension, in her tightening grip on his shoulder and in a heat he suspected was generated by the emotional expression system, but she kept silent. Waiting. "But it's clear: Kizmel isn't just separate from SAO's servers, she's not even on Argus' premises. She's logging in from somewhere else. Damn, I wish this would let me do a trace… not that I could anything with it from in here anyway—"

Kirito broke off suddenly, staring in disbelief. Rubbed his eyes. Then clicked one option, and started reading furiously, trying to make sense of something totally ridiculous. One thing for her to be on a dedicated system off-site, that could've just been Kayaba hiding something from the other devs, but this… this can't be right!

"Kirito?" Philia asked, sounding just a bit nervous. "What's wrong?"

He checked. Double-checked. Triple-checked. Backed out of the Account Registry, found an option labeled [MHCP], and scrolled quickly. From there, backed out and cross-referenced with [Project Twin Goddess]. Went back, finally, into [AFL02Kizmel].

"…She's logging in through NerveGear hardware," Kirito said finally. "Strea, Vanel, Tia… they're all part of a connected system, interfacing with SAO via a variation of standard NPC protocols. But Kizmel… she's using NerveGear."

"What?" Kizmel said flatly. Fingers tightening so much they would've made Kirito's shoulder bleed had his body been flesh and blood, she turned wide eyes on him. "NerveGear… that's the machinery you use to enter this world, is it not? How could I be…?"

"Kii-bou," Argo said, slow and careful. For once, there was no trace at all of humor in her expression, just wide-eyed shock. "Are ya saying… that Kii-chan is human?"

"Not… exactly," he said slowly. "…I think. Give me a second, this links back to another folder…."

[Artificial Fluctlight].

The tension was thick. Kirito could feel all the girls watching tensely, trying to follow along but not quite keeping up with his speed-reading. He could tell they wanted to drag answers out of him, if they had to, but they were patient. Somehow. They waited for him to find the answers Kayaba had left in the depths of the Hollow Area, in his personal playground.

After a few minutes of hurried skimming of Kayaba's truly strange records, Kirito slumped in the chair. "This is way over my head," he said finally, raising one hand to rub his forehead and the other to clasp Kizmel's hand. "I mean, we're talking math, physics, and neurology I'd never even heard of, and I think Kayaba invented some of it. He's not just a programmer, he's a neurologist—but I guess he'd have to be, he didn't invent Full-Dive but he did design the NerveGear itself pretty much by himself—"

"Kirito-kun," Asuna broke in, grabbed his free shoulder. "Breathe."

"Sorry." He took a moment for a couple of deep breaths, forcing down some of the tension. "Sorry…. Okay. The details are way beyond me, but Kayaba left a summary. I think he did want us—Kizmel and me—to see this, if we proved we could get here. Short version: Kizmel is not a computer program. She's not human, but she's not digital, either."

Kirito could hear Kizmel's swallow. "Longer version," she said, with obviously forced calm. "Please."

"Kayaba was experimenting with something beyond NerveGear," he said. Reaching to the console again, he brought up an image file, showing what looked like a diagram of a brain, made up countless pinpricks of light. "He delved deeper into the human brain than anyone ever had—this file doesn't say how, and I'm kind of afraid to find out. The gist is, he worked out what human conscious is. What the most basic medium of conscious thought is. And… then he found a way to duplicate it. To suspend the very stuff of human consciousness in an artificial medium."

A few more mouse clicks shifted the image to a strange cube, with that network of light suspended in its core.

"A Lightcube," Kirito said quietly. "Made of some really rare and expensive stuff, arranged in a way that I still can't make sense of. I'm going to try and copy some of these files to portable format, it looks like this console has provision for a weird kind of recording crystal…. Anyway. Kayaba left out a lot of details, but his notes here mention he was only able to build two of these things. He connected both of them to a private server, and used some kind of time-perception acceleration to test it for a few subjective decades… and then, two years ago real time, connected them both to SAO's live servers."

"Me," Kizmel whispered. "My sister… and me. She was real. My memories… are real." Taking a breath that was half a sob, she asked, she reached for the display, tracing the image of her brain, her soul, with shaking fingertips. "Kirito… what am I?"

"I don't know," he said frankly, taking her hand in his. "But you're not a program. Not a machine. Kizmel… you're made of the same stuff we are, just living in an artificial brain instead of organic tissue." He smiled, feeling his own eyes mist up with a wild, soaring hope like none he'd ever felt since the day Kayaba had sprung his trap.

"Kizmel… you're alive."

Kirito quickly stood and caught the elf girl as her knees buckled, pulling her into a tight embrace. As she shook in his arms, tears soaking his shoulder, the others crowded around, adding their own warmth to the hug. Lightly tracing the edge of one long, pointed ear, he gently kissed Kizmel's hair.

We're going home. We're all going home…!

Author's Note:

I'd congratulate myself on a relatively concise chapter for once, except of course this was supposed to be part of the previous. On the bright side, I'm actually pretty confident I can keep each of the next three chapters within their allotted limits. One more to tie up this arc's loose ends, a Christmas party as one last breather, then the Ruby Palace itself. Whether the grand finale will all fit in the chapter following that last… I'm not prepared to estimate. Got some big stuff after the battle itself, after all.

So. First note, I am not a techie, so the IT stuff is mostly my best guess, along with my best attempt to avoid using anything I know is Hollywood Hacking. If I made any glaring errors, feel free to correct me, and I'll do my best to fix them here.

On a related note, I realize "Control-F" is probably not what the relevant command is on a Japanese PC. Chalk that one up to Translation Convention.

Apart from that, I hope the battle, and the subsequent big reveal, was all worth the time it took to get here. I know a fair few people have probably long since figured out Kizmel's nature—I've been dropping hints for some time now—but hopefully it was still revealed in-story in a satisfying fashion. I will say a couple of secrets yet remain where that is concerned.

I must admit, with the arc essentially complete, it wasn't quite what I'd planned originally. Philia was supposed to have a longer, deeper exploration of her issues. At one time I contemplated the idea of a series of procedurally-generated maps to drag out conquering the Hollow Area, justifying PoH not winning before the heroes ever got there (the time dilation and need to craft perfect Keys ended up substituting, when I realized I wasn't up to a truly extended arc here). There was also supposed to be an "AI War", with Strea, Vanel, and Tia each leading competing factions. I abandoned that when I concluded it did nothing for the fic's central plot—Kirito and Kizmel's relationship—and was glad I did when I got here, having realized there is no way my writing skills could've done it justice.

Unfortunately I didn't come to that conclusion soon enough not to put the pieces in place several years and many chapters ahead of time, and I was left needing to tie up loose ends in a perhaps less than smooth fashion. Thus Strea and Vanel's exits last chapter, and what happened with Tia here. Though I will say, Tia has a much more essential role to play down the road….

Ahem. Barring one remaining plotline to be tied up in the aftermath chapter—no, I have not forgotten the mess with the Army—here ends the player-driven drama in the Aincrad arc. We're coming up on the endgame now, and unlike the Hollow Area I really do have the essentials plotted out. One chapter to close the book on the Hollow Area and its associated traumas. One to prepare readers and characters alike for the emotional storm. One to build up the final battle. Then one to two for the grand finale and its immediate aftermath.

I hope people are still enjoying this, and I hope you'll stick around to see the end of the Steel Castle. For now, let me know if PoH's end and Kizmel's grand reveal were good, bad, or die in a fire. See you in… whatever I update next. -Solid