Aincrad, Hundredth Floor, Pantheon Arena.
The battle between Aomori and Kayaba Akihiko was reaching a fever pitch just as the fight between Kirito and PoH concluded.
Aomori, with Thunder Breathing Second Form activated, suffered a setback for the first time in a direct confrontation, because his opponent, Kayaba Akihiko, was truly cheating.
Invincibility, HP Lock, Hyper Speed, Critical Hit.
Stacked with every possible buff, Kayaba Akihiko was undeniably the god of this world.
"I admit I was very curious about you. I initially thought you were genuinely a high-ranking government agent who somehow acquired a max-level account through a backdoor. But upon verification, I found you have no data source whatsoever, as if you simply materialized here out of thin air."
Kayaba held up his man-sized shield, allowing Aomori to attack while casually engaging in conversation.
"Perhaps I've just covered my tracks well."
"Impossible. I am Kayaba Akihiko. It's one thing not to know, but once I became aware of your existence, there's no way I wouldn't be able to trace you." Kayaba's words dripped with an arrogance of being unmatched.
"Unless that source simply doesn't exist."
Aomori chuckled lightly. "Heh, if you want to know, come and defeat me first."
"Still not giving up? Your attacks are unique and powerful, but they will never breach my absolute defense." To this point, Kayaba's HP remained completely full.
"It's too early to say that." Aomori still looked entirely confident.
"Very well, I shall wait and see."
Even while speaking, Aomori's assault did not stop.
Thunder Breathing: Thunder Wound!
Thunder Breathing: Lion's Song!
Thunder Breathing: Nine-Headed Dragon Flash!
...
Light Breathing: Light of the Undying World
Light Breathing: Eight-Hand Mirror!
Light Breathing: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!
...
Aomori seemed to be using every trick in the book, unleashing all manner of skills without reservation, yet none could penetrate that defense. Kirito and the others watched, mesmerized, yet chilled to the bone.
"That's cheating!"
"We can't even scratch him without GM privileges!"
Kirito also felt a sense of despair. He couldn't think of any way to resolve this predicament.
Time slowly passed. Kayaba Akihiko suddenly felt that something was wrong. He called up the previous battle recording and compared the footage, realizing that Aomori's Sword Skills were becoming more practiced and more perfected.
"You bastard, are you using me as a whetstone?" Kayaba realized with a start, growing increasingly convinced that Aomori was a maniac.
"Ah, you caught on. My apologies, my apologies. Seeing such a perfect punching bag, I simply couldn't help myself." Aomori rarely made a joke.
"Stop wasting time. Aomori, give it your all. Let me see how you truly break the system's restraints!" Kayaba was no longer calm and composed.
"I'm surprised you brought up the system so suddenly."
"Then, as you wish." Aomori sheathed his left-hand sword and suddenly called out, "Kirito!"
"Huh?" Kirito was a little confused.
"Watch closely. The limits of humanity will never be bound by mere data!"
"Ittou Shura!"
BOOM!
Kirito watched as the world changed.
Everything centered around Aomori was distorted into black and white. Kirito felt like an insect trapped in amber, the world too viscous to move through.
"This energy... the system can't analyze it." Kayaba was immensely excited. "Yes, this feeling! This is a genuine, living Skill! But at this level, the outcome is still undecided!"
"Is that so?" Aomori raised Ryuko high, aimed at a spot, and simply swung forward. A three-person-high thunder-light Sword Ki, with irresistible momentum, cleaved everything in its path in two, blasting open the outer wall of the floating castle Aincrad and soaring off into the unknown distance.
Starting from the gap torn open by the Sword Ki, like a domino effect, Aincrad began to slowly disintegrate.
"So you were searching for the structural nodes of Aincrad all along. I have lost this battle."
As the entire system began to collapse, his absolute defense became a joke, so Kayaba Akihiko simply conceded.
"Thank you for the match." Aomori sheathed Ryuko, his energy starting to wane.
"Wait!" The still-motionless Kirito desperately yelled, "Kayaba Akihiko, what will happen to the surviving players?"
"Don't worry. I have already backed up your data. The surviving players, barring accidents, will soon awaken," Kayaba replied.
The collapse accelerated. Agil and Nautilus vanished one after another.
"Thank goodness." Relieved, Kirito looked toward Asuna with the corner of his eye and spoke his final words before disappearing: "Your name!"
The last image in his consciousness was Asuna's opening lips, yet Kirito could no longer hear her answer.
All players had vanished. Only Aomori and Kayaba Akihiko remained in the entire world.
"According to the wager, you are now mine." Aomori stated.
"Yes. Although I truly want to honor the wager, I don't even know if I can survive." Kayaba Akihiko reverted to his original appearance.
Medium build, ordinary looks, wearing a white lab coat—the standard image of a researcher.
"Are you planning to upload your consciousness to the network?"
"You know that too? Yes, there is only a minimal chance of success."
"Then, can this thing increase your chance of survival?" Aomori pulled out an item as if by magic.
"This is..." Kayaba Akihiko froze.
…
Rumble, rumble!
The floating castle Aincrad continuously broke apart and collapsed. SAO, which had carried the joys, sorrows, excitement, and pain of ten thousand players, finally drew its curtain today.
Aomori stood atop the clouds, watching alone until the blinding light of the end purified everything.
"Rest in peace."
…
"...Sachi! Asuna!"
Kirito jolted awake. He struggled to open his heavy eyelids, and the blurry scene before him gradually came into focus.
A white ceiling, white curtains, a white bed cover, and two beautiful women—one older, one younger.
"Kazuto! You're finally awake, w-w-w..."
Kirito, whose real name was Kirigaya Kazuto, looked at his mother in name, but actually his aunt, and managed a tired smile. "Mom, I'm back."
"Yes, welcome home." Kazuto's mother wiped the corner of her eye and said, "I'll go get the doctor. Suguha, you watch your brother."
"Okay."
Kazuto's mother left the room, leaving the two alone.
"Welcome home, onii-chan," said Suguha, his cousin in reality, his sister in name, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Yeah. Suguha, you've grown up," Kirito said with a warm smile.
"It's only been three months. How much could I have possibly grown?"
"Only three months... I felt like three years had passed."
"..."
"By the way, onii-chan. Who is Sachi? You called out that name 125 times while you were unconscious."
"125 times?! Really?" Kirito's face felt hot. "Well, she was a good friend, I guess."
"And Asuna? That name came up 786 times."
"W-W-What?!" Kirito's face turned beet red.
"And there's Argo, Lisbeth, Silica... they all sound like girls' names," Suguha said kindly, ticking them off on her fingers.
"I... I don't know!" Steam practically poured from Kirito's head.
He never expected his first day of waking up to bring about such social embarrassment.
Truly, games are much more fun.
————
You can read the ahead chapter on Patr if you're interested: p-atre-on.c-om/Overgod [Just remove the hyphen to access normally]