Chapter 86: Kayaba Akihiko

"What did just happen?"

Only bewilderment can be seen on every player's faces as they saw what happened in the span of less than 15 seconds. Kayaba getting ganged up by 9 players is something they surely didn't expect.

This feeling is soon replaced by happiness after realizing that they actually won against him.

"We... It's over..?"

"It's f*cking over! This game is..."

Soon, a single announcement rang through the entire game. In the city, in the field, in the dungeons... Ever single player heard it.

[The game has been cleared — The game has been cleared —The game...]

While the others are pre-occupied with the announcement, Shiro took off half of his mask and mouthed some words to his acquaintances. This time, he's back to normal.

Of course, this caused the players' brains to short-circuit as they saw the visage of his peerless appearance. Just seeing the lower half of his face is enough for them to imagine how handsome/beautiful his appearance is.

"What did sensei say?" Eiji, who only paid attention now, asked Yuna.

"I think... It's 'Nervegear. Box. Farewell.' What does he mean..."

They musings are cut short as they were engulfed in a bright white light, forcibly logging them out of the game. The others also has something to say to him, but they didn't have the chance to do so.

[QUEST cleared!]

[You have obtained 10,000 Points.]

[You have obtained 2 Random Reward Tickets.]

[You have obtained 100% synchronization from your in-game Template!]

[Begin synchronizing?]

A barrage of messages appeared in front of Shiro. Their golden outline and transparent black background made it stand out more, but he didn't mind them.

Instead, he said his farewells toward the chat group members.

"See y'all next time."

"Same goes to you."

"I'll be waiting for your visit."

"Goodbye, Shiro."

Roman, Kouzuki, and Touka were among the ones that left first due to their responsibilities. They didn't have to wait for the others to log out as there's simply a [Return] option once the mission ended.

"Send my regards to Sakura. Take care of yourselves and try not to get involved in your grail war." Shiro said to Shinji, acting like a true mentor.

Just like others, he also grew in the span of more than a year. He got time to organize his thoughts, which made him more neutral than before.

"I understand." Shinji replied with his normal face. Though, there's some sadness hidden within it as he parted with his first ever friend.

Seeing this, Shiro could only smile and said, "Don't be too sad, you can still meet. Also..."

His face became serious as he continued, "Don't be too harsh on yourself."

"...Okay. Thanks, aniki."

With another flash of light, he left.

"Ugh..."

"Still not confident with your disguise?"

"Well... Slightly."

Right now, Kuroneko has a troubled look on her face.

Now that they're going back, she faced her biggest trouble yet - her appearance. It is completely unlike before, thus her friends and relatives would only wonder what did happen for her to grow that much in a single night.

This is not some isekai manga whereas there's a very convenient excuse for their appearance changes!

That's why she practiced her [Dark Magic]. With the [Sensory Distortion], [Shapeshifting], and [Disguise], she is able to revert back to her former appearance.

Though, she still has some doubts to it.

"If it doesn't work, what should I do?!"

Her flustered face is completely different from her smug face before. There's a certain level of cuteness to it, more so her appearance is more mature.

Patting her shoulder, Shiro joked, "If it doesn't work, I'll help you settle in another world if you want. I'm crazy rich!"

"...You and your tonnes of gold." Kuroneko replied.

"It can't be helped that I got lucky and found the resting place of a rich empress, right?"

With the pure gold and other antiques that he found back in Terra, it'll be enough to live a luxurious life, build a company, and even collapse their economy itself!

After all, the gold that he found is enormous, something that can't be seen in the modern age Terra.

"Don't worry, I can also do some investing." He paused for a while before saying, "Seriously, I'll help if you ask."

While Kuroneko blushed upon seeing his serious face, Kal'tsit deadpanned at the sight of this. Strange enough, she felt slightly irked by it.

If her past self prior to the Chat Group hears about this, she'll definitely won't believe it.

She, a ten millenia-old doctor, paying attention to things other than saving the world? There's no way in hell, heaven, and in any other paths for her to do so!

"...Later."

She left after saying a brief farewell.

After Kuroneko left, Shiro was about to say something to Shino when he felt that he'll be sent away from here.

"I'll visit your world later. Someone's calling me, take care for now."

"Alright." Shino replied as she saw Shiro being engulfed with the same white light that logged players out.

She didn't plan to remain in this boss room, though he looked at it for a while and sighed.

"What an exciting adventure I had..."

*****

Upon opening his eyes, Shiro saw that he's floating in the sky. In the distance is the true appearance of Aincrad, albeit most of it is nothing but codes now.

Unbothered by it, he started looking around him before seeing Kayaba in his white white lab coat.

Swooosh-!

Winds blew in this place, making the ends of his light armor flutter.

"You really thought of making this realistic, huh."

"That's my thoughts... at first." He replied with his usual calm tone, but it sounded more humane than before.

"What are your thoughts about human soul?"

The moment Shiro asked this, Kayaba showed a rare emotion of surprise. His eyes widened for a moment before returning to stillness.

"It seems like you're aware of my final research, too. Even Rinko doesn't know of this... Are you a spy?"

"Guess."

Hearing his playful answer, Kayaba chose to not delve deeper with it. Instead, he answered Shiro's question truthfully.

"Human soul... Many books that I've read depicted its complexity. However, the truth is they simply don't know more about it."

"Good answer. But, don't you know just how big of an accomplishment did you do? Copying a person's consciousness and stuff..?"

"I know."

"If you know, why did you choose to commit suicide?"

Silence.

The moment Kayaba had created SAO, it's a round-about way of committing suicide. Since he designated himself as the final boss, there's no way that he wouldn't be defeated.

As the game creator, each and every aspect of this game is designed by him to be clearable.

The only reason as to why he tried to Duel Kirito is due to his interest. He's the one who revealed his identity, after all. Only, he didn't knew that the biggest variable is not Kirito, but the person besides him.

"I lost my purpose the moment I finished the prototype for the Fluctlight experiment. At that time, we're only in the middle phases of SAO. Since then, I only wished to fulfill this childhood dream of mine as my final goal."

"Why didn't you continue your fluctlight research, then?"

"I saw many talented people in the world." He paused for a while, thinking about his peers. "I know they can finish it within a year or two after I release The Seed."

He's completely right on the mark. In 2026, Underworld would be made by the JSDF. His fluctlight research would play a big role for it, which will lead in the creation of Alice Synthesis Thirty, or Alice Zuberg.

He also has a former girlfriend, Koujiro Rinko. She's the one that helped Kayaba hide during the SAO incident. Of course, Kayaba made it look like she was forced to help by putting a fake micro-bomb on her sternum; it's the only gift that Kayaba gave her, thus it's a normal and sentimental item.

"So... what now? What are you planning to do?"

"I-no, my true self is already dead. I'm only a remnant of my consciousness, so there's no 'then' for me."

"Alright. How about that consciousness transfer of yours?"

For the second time, Kayaba was caught off guard. Surprisingly, he laughed lightly, something that he didn't do so since the past few years.

"Hah. If only I met you before... things would surely be more interesting."

Shrugging, Shiro replied, "Maybe. Maybe not."

Kayaba then proceeded to explain more about his question earlier.

"I lived without any sense of purpose. Even the goals that I set back then are easily accomplished by me. The only remarkable challenges that I've faced are the creation of VRMMO and the Fluctlights."

He then looked at Shiro before saying, "Until we clashed. The topic of human willpower interests me greatly, so there's a change of plans"

After that, they only looked at the crumbling steel castle from the distance. Suddenly, Shiro took out three metallic cubes from his [Dimensional Storage].

Under Kayaba's interested gaze, he called out, "Kids, it's time to go home."

*****

Fact #43: Did you know? The creation of world's first VRMMO (SAO and Nervegear) took 10 years to make, with Kayaba spear-heading it all? Meaning, it certainly posed a problem to one of the greatest genius in the world of Sword Art Online. Also, his consciousness upload in the internet was successful, as shown in the Alfheim Online Arc where he gave Kirito his administrator ID (It worked since its an ID for The Seed, thus it's universal). He's only a copy of his consciousness at that time. This is the reason why I connected Kayaba and Fluctlights together. In a sense, Kayaba copied his own 'consciousness' (fluctlight) and uploaded it in the internet 2 years in advance (copying fluctlights are only done in the Alicization Arc)...