40 End of Sao

The impromptu concert ended in a rather somber way. There was still joy in the air but everyone knew that they needed to be completely serious by this point. Even the bundle of joyful energy that Yuna was, had a serious look on her face. These people have come to this place with the threat of death being a very real possibility.

It was only the greater cause that held up their spirits. To sacrifice is the greatest form of love and these people have shown it for thousands. I could respect one thing about Kayaba. He managed to drag out the true will of these fragile lives. No one expected that when the chips came down this crowd of people would have stood up.

The desperate, the confused, the hopeless. Society deemed them less desirable because of their ardent hopeless thirst for the unreal. They sacrificed real world connections and conversations to drown themselves in the fantastical worlds others created. They might have other titles but society deemed them hopeless weirdos who knew no shame. Yet, they managed to gather the courage to do what many would find impossible.

Kirito was a prime example of this. He was a lonely anti-social boy who pursued gaming to escape. From the revelations about his own family. From the world that he thought to be true crumbling around him. Gaming was an easy escape for him. His reaction speeds meant he could strive and dominate his competition. He did not have to put the blood, sweat, and tears he would have to if he continued kendo.

With the unreal world in his hands, Kirito did not have to face the truth he did not want to accept. That the happy moment and memories with his family was not his to own. That the tradition of practicing kendo was never really his. He ran from his issues and there will not be a day that he did not regret that.

The boy missed his family. They may not be his blood parents but those memories were not false. The love and care that they showed him were very real. A false reality can be just as sweet to the ignorant. When you took out the emotional teenage high that child could see that his worries were not that bad. Yet, now he stood here fighting to return to the things he ran from.

Those were the type of people Kayaba dragged into this mess. The changes this world had inflicted upon them would create legends. The type of people who will not back down no matter the obstacle in their way. They would rather tear down all the walls in front of them instead of succumbing to outside forces. The creation of that will is the only thing that I could respect Kayaba for.

His motives and ideals will remain a mystery to me and I would honestly rather not know. The lives he sacrificed for this scene were not his to take. Nor did any of these people want those lives on their shoulders. Yet, our choices are often irrelevant in the face of some grand order. So the tide moved and the people suffered.

Just as Kayaba was so callous with the lives of these people. I shall return the same care to him. His time is ticking and the beautiful dream he sought shall crumble before him. I would do that because of the respect I formed for these embers.

It was a weird concept to stand on the morally right side. My actions seemed to be very tame in comparison to his callous disregard. I was more than willing to kill my enemies and laugh in the face of their suffering. I was the type of person who would sacrifice many if I had the opportunity to get what I wanted. So the differences between me and him were not really that large. I just did not have a stage to showcase my cruelty.

Could I stand by that ideal now that I saw what it did? The lives that were shattered due to his whims were a very real thing to me now. Could I put others through something similar if it meant I was to gain something? I would like to say no but I knew my self well enough. The selfish desire that laid in the confines of my chest was not something I could let go of.

I wanted to tower over those that I considered lesser. I wanted my voice to echo across the world and have every one trapped in my words. I desired all that the world could provide for me. I desperately wished that I could burn just as brightly as those I see here. I wanted to be better. Better than the shell that no one wanted.

So no matter what I had to do to get that I would do it. I would take every step I could imagine to avoid doing something monstrous, but I would do it if I had to. It was a pathetic showing. I wanted to be better yet I would take actions that would only make me worse. So I would no longer find my self below any other.

A flawed wounded creature. This thing that I was may never shine as brightly as these desperate souls but that was fine. I would rather be a slumbering titan than a match in the wind.

Diabel finished his speech and the world moved on. The time for doubts and regrets is gone. I will return to what made me who I was. Maybe better than I was or maybe worse. That was for the future to decide.

I had other things to do like face another beast.

We all opened the door and were greeted with a sight that sent chills throughout the crowd. It was a graveyard, filled with countless tombstones.  There was a fog that seemed to ferment around the room masking the sight of the names on the tombstones.

The image was not the only thing that sent a chill down our spines. The temperature of the room was near freezing as our breath seemed to add to the fog.

This place looked less like a room and more like an underground world. It was dark and hard to see anything here but there seemed to be moonlight in this space. Despite that being impossible as outside it was still very much day time. Not to mention we were in a deep underground crevice at the moment.

Yet the only light that shone here was our torches and the brilliant silver moonlight.

The crowd looked around for any sight of the beast that we were to do battle with. Most of the time it was fairly obvious what we were to face by now but we could not see it yet. That was rather strange as the boss usually was some giant beast that we had to slay.

Yet we stood in the center of this graveyard with not a hint of the boss. I heard a gasp from Yuna and I looked over at the all too important girl. Her face was pale and she looked completely shocked. That was strange as she had been through enough battles to not show her nerves here.

One look at what she was looking at put those thoughts to rest.

The beast that was clinging to the ceiling of this underground world was a disturbing sight. We have faced countless foes on our journey to this floor. Beasts of monstrous size, Demons that seemed to embody sin itself, crippled and grotesque examples of humanity's champions. Yet the thing I was now looking at was beyond that.

To call it large would be an understatement beyond any other. That thing towered over the entire catacomb we found ourselves in. If it was let loose in the city then we would have to find a new city to inhabit. The sheer size of the thing was a threat all by it self.

That thing clung to the ceiling like some sort of massive insect. It was made of bones that seemed to be cobbled together from millions of humans. It was long and resembled some sort of nightmare fueled embodiment of a centipede.  The massive skull stared down at us with an empty look. It might as well be dead for the emotions it was displaying. Yet, it seemed to project an aura of hunger at us. I could even swear the thing was drooling despite it just being pure bone.

It looked like a god that descended to the world to take care of the human populace. Not for any other reason other than it wanted to devour us. The bright silver light that I thought was coming from the moon was something far worse. The light was emanating from this towering god. 

With that thought the slumbering old god roared at us. It was an unsettling thing to hear guttural yet coming out like a screech. Something that could only come out from something like that.

The boss dropped from the ceiling like a meteor. It was sending waves of wind at us from the sheer amount of space being displaced. An end that wished to swallow us whole.

"Everyone retreat but stay in formation!" Diabel shouted out as the crowd obeyed him subconsciously. With the reflexes we had built we managed to avoid the giant's attack for the most part. The only ones still hit were those that had tanking roles.

There was a sense of fear building in the crowd as this thing was something else. This was less a boss and more of a raid that could only be taken down with time. 

"Yuna start buffing! Team A release taunts! Team B be prepared to rotate quickly! Team C to F deal as much damage as you can!" Diabel shouted out snapping everyone from their daze. This may not be what we were expecting but we would not back down. Not here and not ever.

Yuna started to sing some sort of sorrowful melody that boosted everyone's Health and Defence. We were going to have to outlast this thing. That was the best choice to make sure everyone survived.

Its giant empty sockets seemed to focus on Yuna disregarding the closest Players to it. It was preparing to do something but team A released their taunts just in time. It was something they had long since practiced down to the millisecond.

The beast raised its body and released another unholy screech on the gathering tanks. I could now see how this thing was supposed to attack. Its uncountable limbs were filed down into thousands of blades. It used many of those limbs to attack the tanks.

I could only be glad that the unwieldy size of this thing meant it could not use all of those limbs all at once. If it could then this thing could decimate our tanks in seconds. Even now their health was depleting at a rate that was far too quick.

The tanks just had to worry about surviving the many many strikes of this thing. The rest of us started to charge the god. Skill after skill was unleashed on this thing showering it in various flashes of lights.

Kirito seemed to have dropped any semblance of trying to hide his new skill as he charged in with his duel blades. He was able to link sword skill after sword skill together ignoring the freezing by milliseconds. That skill really was born for the kid. Still, even if he was avoiding freezing he would eventually run out of sword skills to use.

When that happened Asuna started to unleash her own arsenal of skills. Giving Kirito just enough time to not be skewered by twenty retaliating blows. The girl's blows were just as fast as anything I could produce. Which was shocking as I had some very unfair advantages on that front.

The two of them cycled like that dealing as much damage as they could while maintaining their health.

Ashley and I joined the fray on another section of this thing. Ashley's unique skill meant that she could unleash all of her spear skills like Kirito. She may not have had the same ridiculous reaction speed that the kid had but she made up for it with pure skill. Swipes, slashes, stabs, and parries were all performed in a manner that was more like a dance. It was a beautiful thing to watch.

I could not see her face behind that helmet but I was sure that she was grinning savagely. There were really only a certain amount of things that got her blood pumping. Dancing on the tip of a blade was certainly one of those things.

I did not have to worry about her too much. With her skill, she no longer had that freezing moment with her spear skills. Infinite Spear was truly broken in the hands of a skilled wielder. It was a better skill in my opinion in comparison to Duel Wielding. Sure Kirito had his stats buffed by two swords but the zero stun locks were well worth that trade off.

It meant I could concentrate more on dealing massive amounts of damage to this beast. I could not do any of those fancy combos that Kirito and Ashley could do. Still, I was still on top of them in sheer damage output because I was a broken character.

All of my normal attacks crit and were massively boosted in damage. Coupled that with my frankly ridiculous attack speed and I was at the top of the damage output. I unleashed strike after strike into this giant monstrosity. I seemed to gather far more attention from the beast than the others but that was expected.

That meant I had to deal with hundreds of this thing's limbs striking randomly at me. One moment I would step into a narrow gap between twenty limbs and the next I would parry a limb from striking my eye.

It was a dance that was just as exciting as Ashley's yet no where as showy. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time to deal the most damage I could do.

For the most part, dealing damage was the easy part of this battle. The problem was we had to deal with an unknown attack pattern. Who knows what this thing was capable of after all? So if it even hinted at doing something different we had to retreat.

That caution was well deserved as the beast shuddered lightly causing everyone to retreat. Its eyes were no longer empty but filled with a red ominous glow. It then started to attack in all directions around it with thousands of sword lights launching from it.

Even with the space we had from the thing some of us still got hit here. The tanks finally had to rotate at that. Its giant AOE move seemed to finally be finished so everyone charged at the thing.

The battle from this point was rather easy to get through. Attack, retreat, and keep our morale up. It would throw a tricky move every once and a while. Like a giant laser from its mouth or it rolling over in some sort of tantrum. Our tactics of retreating and recognizing what was happening were all too important in times like that.

Still, it was only a matter of time before the thing fell from our persistent efforts. Kayaba may be an asshole of the highest degree but he made this world a game. Which meant it was meant to be cleared with effort and the all too important loot factor.

Its berserker state was not even enough to tip the scales. It just meant that we had to rotate quicker than before. As long as no one did something stupid everything would be fine.

I took a moment to contemplate that thought as it was clearly a flag but I stomped it. Not even a raised flag would be able to take this away from us.

I was right and the boss soon fell to Kirito dealing yet another massive combo. I would bemoan the fact that he got to show off but he deserved it. The Clearer's have long since recognized the effort the kid put in.

Everyone started to cheer and laugh in relief. I had no idea if any one died in this fight but no one was thinking such dire thoughts now. This was the time to celebrate another step to freedom. Yuna started to sing another song for the crowd and the cheering intensified.

I looked over at these people and clenched my fist. It was time for this all to come to an end. Kayaba may not be here but this world was coming to an end all the same. The screen in front of me could tell me that.

[Congratulations! You have beaten floor Seventy Five! The mission has been completed! I hope you had fun playing around in this brand new world!]

[Rewards issued: Twenty thousand points, Multiversal Gacha ticket.]

[You will return to your own world in five minutes or you can return now.]

[Select who you would like to invite to the chat group.]

I looked at Kirito as he celebrated cheerfully with all those around him singing him praises. The boy was smiling tiredly as he put everything he had in to this fight. Yet, the bright light in his eyes could not be buried by that fatigue. He was thriving and would continue to thrive.

There was no need for some grand goodbye to this boy. He would grow in to a man that this world needed. The effect of my own actions might dye him in my own colors but he would stand proudly all the same. 

Asuna was hugging him and cheerfully saying something. She would have to be the guiding light for that boy. The bright affectionate smiles those two shared told me that they were bound together. The game was done and it was time for things to be put back in their proper place.

I walked towards the one person that was feeling similar to me. Ashley was standing alone taking deep breaths. She had not taken a step from her place for a long while. The celebrating crowd could not move her. She was far too dazed for anything to affect her.

Her daze allowed me to remove her helmet in an all too familiar gesture. I had taken it off of her thousands of times by this point. Some times I would be greeted with a teasing smile. Or a bright excited grin that consumed her face. Or a serious contemplating look. All of those things she wore so easily on her face.

The dazed lost look on her face was far too familiar to me. It was the same look she showed me on the very first day we met. The world was turning for the two of us but we both ended up being this lost thing.

Neither of us wanted this dream to end just yet. The world that waited for us was not nearly as precious in that regard. Yet, the choice was not in our hands.

I grabbed her chin and made her look at me. The dazed confused look faded and the bright fascination remained. Time may be turning but I could hold onto this moment for at least a little while.

I kissed her with the same familiar searing intensity. We had a thousand shots at being moody. At bemoaning the fate that is at our doors. For now, all I wanted was to enjoy this last kiss. So even if things fall apart I could remember this moment and be happy.

The kiss consumed us as we got more and more heated. Seconds turned to minutes and we soon parted panting. I could hear whispers and strange comments but it was irrelevant.

The look of burning light in her eyes was what I wanted to remember. Not the opinion of those I have grown to know. They might not approve of what we were doing but they did not have all the facts.

Even if they were right about us I could care less. The taste of her lips was far too tempting in that regard. The warmth of her body was a soft comforting thing. The lust that burned between us was far too consuming to give up.

I moved so my forehead was touching hers. The kiss was over and now it was time to just connect for these last moments.

It was tense but tender. A sweet treat to finish off this memory. Something that I could hold on to in the dreary night. Something I was bound to never forget.

"I won't say goodbye." I muttered lowly to her. To say that implied we would never meet again. That was not a sentiment that I wanted to impart. Not here at least.

"Don't" Her voice was just as low as mine. It was a single word that seemed to encapsulate everything she wanted to say. The thing that both of us wanted to say.

I basked in this moment for as long as I could. I could feel the seconds seemed to drag on for longer than I thought. Still, no matter how long the time felt it was not enough.

I chose Argo as our choice and just clutched on to Ashley for just another second.

Then this world came to an end.