Duel against Heathcliff. Hope you like it, writing a good fight-scene is harder than you think

"Yami, I challenge you to a duel."

"*Meow*"

Yami was currently inside the Knights of the Blood Oath headquarters, in front of Heathcliff. There were also some unimportant other commanders sitting next to him as well as Don Fluffels.

"And why should I accept?"

Although Yami was a bit preoccupied with thinking what to do about Don Fluffels, he looked at Heathcliff with a smile.

"I know that you are the leader of one of the best parties in the game and you seem to be the only player with connections to the Shadow Foxes, thus I want to ask you to join the Front Lines. But because I know that you are going to refuse that offer, I challenge you to a duel. If I win you will have to agree to my conditions. However, you already asked a good question; what do you want if you win?"

Yami could already guess where this was going. This was probably God's doing.

"Well, if I win you will have to agree to two of my conditions. What you are asking for is not only my own power, but the power of my party and my connections. I think that two are totally justified."

Heathcliff took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"Very well. We will be fighting in the arena on the newly opened 75th Floor. Congratulations by the way. You and the Shadow Foxes have been clearing floor after floor with great speed and efficiency. Not even five and a half months after the start of the game and 3/4 of the game have already been cleared. The Shadow Foxes did most of the work and you did a lot as well. Our Front Lines are looking rather old in comparison to you. Even the last boss, The Gleaming Eyes, was nothing in front of you. I must commend you for your efforts."

"Well, Kirito and his party had helped a lot in the fight. And most of the credit goes to the girls from the Shadow Foxes and my party members, not me."

Heathcliff put his hands together and looked deep into Yami's eyes.

"Ah, yes, your party members. Have they been doing well? It seemed to me that their appearance had changed somewhat after you cleared the 57th Floor. Did something happen?"

"Whatever you might be talking about. The flowers just bloomed with all their glory. Now then, I will need to attend the discussion about the assault on the Boss of the 75 floor. The bosses on every 25th Floor are especially hard, so can I count on your cooperation?"

"*Meow*"

"It seems that you agree. Then, good day to you gentleman."

Heathcliff looked at the back of Yami and then over to the cat sitting to his left.

"I'm sorry, can he actually speak cat or is he just messing with us?"

- - -

Within a day, all the tickets to the fight were sold out. Of course all the girls from Paradise had seats in the first row.

The duel was hyped since both of these players had played major roles in defeating the floor bosses.

"Hello everyone. It's a beautiful sunny day here on the 75th Floor in the wonderful town of Collinia. You couldn't pick a better setting for today's match between-

"THE TWO GREATEST COMPETITORS EVER TO GRACE THE ELEGANT ART OF STABBING THE SHIT OUT OF EACH OTHER!!! HEATHCLIFF: THE BLOOD TYPHOON! VERSUS! THE WHITE SPECTRE OF DEATH HIMSELF: YAMI!"

"Are... A-Are those nicknames official? I'm- I'm not seeing anything in my notes..."

"HONESTLY, I DON'T KNOW WHO TO GIVE THE EDGE TO, SAMMIE! ON THE ONE HAND, YOU GOT HEATHCLIFF: MASTER OF THE DIVINE BLADE, WITH A DEFENSE SO IMPREGNABLE, IT HAS EARNED HIM THE DISTINGUISHED TITLE OF "CHEATING HAXOR FAGGOT"!"

"Distinguished?"

"BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, THERE'S THE WHITE SWORD SAINT, YAMI! I MEAN, JUST LOOK AT HIM, SAMMIE! HE'S GOT THIS BADASS WHITE CAPE AND THOSE INTIMIDATING RED EYES!"

Yami just did a bit of warm up while waiting for the whole duel to begin. His enemy was Kayaba, the creator and administrator of this game. His shield was a big problem and he could probably even buff himself with the system. Yami needed to take this seriously!

"I think there isn't a need for much talk. As the commentator has put it so wisely; We came here to stab the shit out of each other."

"Very well. I don't like just standing around either."

Heathcliff raised his sword and shield. Yami put his sword in front of himself, while holding it with two hands.

At moment the duel started, both of them rushed at each other. Heathcliff slashed at Yami's head while blocking his slash with the shield.

In response, Yami retreated two steps and then rushed at him again. This time he went for Heathcliff's feet, but he responded by jumping back as well.

Just from this short exchange Yami knew that he wouldn't be able to break through this defense with just normally attacking him.

"Yeah, I should probably get serious."

{𝆕𝆕 A warning to the people the good and the evil. This is war...𝆕𝆕}

Yami took out a second sword, now he was dual wielding. Heathcliff's eyes widened at that, but he didn't have a lot of time to be amazed since Yami shot towards him again.

He put his shield in front of himself while preparing for a counter attack. Yami ran at Heathcliff and as he got into range, Heathcliff stabbed at Yami while keeping his defense up. However, his sword only hit the air. The commander quickly raised his shield and blocked the strike from Yami, who had jumped over him.

However, the slash from the second sword still hit him as he didn't have much time to react.

Without delay Heathcliff shot forward with the shield in front of his body and sword ready and attacked Yami.. Yami took a step back and avoided the slash by not even a centimeter. And stabbed at Heathcliff, but he blocked with his shield.

Both of them separated for a moment and then stepped forward at the same time. Heathcliff slashed at Yami's left arm. In response Yami slashed at the sword coming at him. The two blades collided and Yami used this moment to stab at Kayaba's right arm which was holding the sword, since that was the only place that couldn't be defended by the shield.

Heathcliff didn't retreat at all but pressed his attack. He swung up the sword again, at that moment he activated a system boost and his movement got faster. Yami wasn't able to react in time and only managed to twist his body so that the blade didn't slash too deeply.

Yami frowned. He took a defensive stance and waited for Kayaba to come. If Kayaba could boost himself, Yami was at a big disadvantage. Attack wasn't the best option at the moment.

Both of them started into each other's eyes again. Seeing that his enemy wouldn't make a move, Heathcliff slowly advanced towards him, ready to receive any attacks. His shield in front of his body and his sword above his head, ready to stab. Both of them were primarily focused on defense. However, in defense, the one with a shield always had a big big big advantage.

The two were now only three meters apart. Suddenly, something unexpected happened; Yami threw his swords at Kayaba. Although he was momentarily stunned, he barely managed to avoid being pierced through by these arrows like swords, one aiming for his head, the other aiming for his feet. He raised his shield in front of his head and raised one of his feet to avoid the other sword.

Suddenly, his shield was impacted very heavily, because it was totally unexpected and he was only on one leg too, he lost his balance. Because the raised shield blocked his vision he couldn't get a grasp on what happened, but that was the problem at the moment. He stumbled backwards, trying to regain his balance.

However, Yami had already moved behind him after smashing into his shield with a greatsword.

He took out a katana and stabbed through Heathcliff's unprotected back.

Heathcliff managed to regain his balance and spun around with movement boosted by the system. With the speed and momentum he hit Yami with his shield and the white swordsman was sent flying a few meters by the heavy impact.

Yami managed to spin around in mid-air and landed on his feet. But Heathcliff was already rushing towards his landing spot and instantly attacked again, not giving Yami any time to breathe. He slashed at Yami from above.

Since he didn't have much time, Yami summoned two daggers and barely managed to raise them up in time to receive the attack. However with his other hand, Kayaba once again smashed his shield into Yami's body.

Contrary to his expectations however, Yami withstood the impact and used the opportunity. Since his shield was used to attack, there was nothing left to defend Heathcliff's body. He used one of his daggers to slash downwards, now holding Kayaba's sword in place with just one dagger.

The dagger wasn't a problem for Heathcliff, but his eyes contracted the next moment, seeing that the dagger changed into a hammer mid-air.

The impact of getting a hammer smashed onto him brought Heathcliff to his knees for a moment. Yami used his opportunity to withdraw both his weapons and step right in front of Kayaba. Making two swords appear in his hands, he stabbed them through Kayaba's body.

"Hasta la vista, baby."

Kayaba's health dropped little by little, approaching the red zone. The duel would be over once one of the players HP dropped into the red. However, it stopped just one bit before it entered the red zone.

(What is this! The system cheat shouldn't work on me! Or is this… Damn it! You are not the main character! You shouldn't have plot-armor!!!)

Yami instantly retreated. If he had plot-armor, the boost he was going to get from almost dying would be the next dumb clichee that came for a main-character.

Heathcliff suddenly shot towards Yami with unbelievable speed.

(Usain Bolt is that you?)

Was the only thing Yami could think before he needed to jump to his right to avoid the sword coming at him.

However, the blade still pierced into his arm since Kayaba's attack was just too fast to dodge completely.

"Here's Johnny!"

Kayaba quoted as he appeared right behind Yami.

Yami quickly summoned two daggers while simultaneously ducking, making the slash only slice off a few hairs on his head.

He used his legs to try and sweep Heathcliff off his feet, but he just retreated one step before stabbing downwards towards Yami. He did a flick flack to avoid the sword coming at him. Kayaba was hot on his heels and Yami was barely able to redirect his stab with his two daggers. And immediately jumped back to avoid getting hit by the shield a third time.

Yami's eyes squinted as he thought about what to do. Kayaba on the other hand was really enjoying this fight. And did what he liked most; quoting movies.

"Why - so - serious?"

With these words he once again advanced towards Yami.

Yami looked at his HP which had dropped to almost red as well. The next move was going to decide everything!

{𝆕The moment to fight, the moment to fight, to fight, to fight, to FIGHT!𝆕}

He put a sword in his right hand and a shield in his left, copying Heathcliff.

{𝆕To the right!𝆕}

Yami slashed at Heathcliff's upper side of the shield with his sword in his right hand, trying to push the shield down to create an opening.

{𝆕To the left!𝆕}

Heathcliff did three consecutive strikes to Yami's legs, head and arm, but all of them were blocked by Yami's shield. His skill with the shield wasn't lacking at all. Quite on the contrary, seeing Heathcliff's fighting had improved his abilities even more. He was imitating Heathcliff and even Kayaba himself had to admit that he was almost as good as himself. Even though Yami didn't even focus on shield combat, the exchange just now had helped him attain even greater heights, rivaling the impenetrable defense of Kayaba who focused on defensive combat

{𝆕We will fight! To the death!𝆕}

Both of them started running around, clashing with each other, blocking and slashing. Their fight was hard to follow with the human eye. Yami's abilities had already transcended human limitations and Kayaba was using the system to strengthen himself.

Yami and Heathcliff were crossing blades, Yami pushed his shield forward, Kayaba did the same. Both of them were locked in a contest of strength. But each of them knew that the moment they were hit, they would lose. They were trying to fend off each attack while looking for an opportunity to strike by speeding the fight up more and more. At this moment, they were mostly fighting with their honed battle-senses and reflexes and not their eyes since they were trying to get the other to expose flaws by going faster and faster.

{𝆕To the edge! Of the earth!𝆕}

Blocking a stab to his left. Slashing at Kayaba's head. Jumping back after being blocked. Running at him once again. Pressing forward with the shield. Pursuing the retreating Kayaba. Evading a slash to the head. Clashing bother blades against each other. Tilting the sword, letting Kayaba's sword miss, stabbing at Kayaba. Getting blocked by his shield. Pressing the attack. Getting pushed back again.

{𝆕It's a brave new world!𝆕}

Their intense clashes continued, none of them giving the other any ground or time to breathe. And none of them letting the other have even one chance to strike. This was swordsmanship on a whole different level. Even with his cheats, Kayaba was very hard pressed to keep up with Yami.

{𝆕From the last to the first!𝆕}

Yami suddenly changed his shield for a second sword. He was going to end this!

{𝆕To the right! To the left!𝆕

Yami shot towards Kayaba like a loosened arrow, and swung at him from both sides. Kayaba needed to use both his sword and shield to block both the swords.

{𝆕We will fight! To the death!𝆕}

Right now Yami's front was wide open since he had both his weapons stuck on each side of Heathcliff. This was the opening that Kayaba had been waiting for!

{𝆕To the edge! Of the earth!𝆕}

But before he could use this opportunity, his stomach was kicked by Yami's foot. He was catched completely off guard since Yami was simultaneously pressing his attack from both sides and even then he was able to attack with his other body parts. Because of the impact, his defense collapsed.

{𝆕𝆕It's a brave new world, it's a brave new world, It's a brave new world!}

Both of Yami's blades instantly slipped past Kayaba's defenses. However, Kayaba let go of his weapons and grabbed Yami's hands, keeping them from advancing. All this was only possible because he used the system to cheat.

{𝆕𝆕A Brave New World!!𝆕𝆕}

The two's eyes were interlocked. That moment, Yami pulled his head back and smashed it against Kayaba's head. The instant his forehead smashed into Heathcliff's face, Yami pushed both his swords towards the neck with all his power.

{𝆕𝆕The War is won!!𝆕𝆕}

"It's game - over."

Kayaba fell to the ground. His HP were slowly but surely draining into the red. But it didn't stop, it continued to go down more and more. He closed his eyes. Maybe things were better this way. He himself didn't know what to do from now. And this wasn't a bad way to die, was it? He closed his eyes with a content smile.

"Hah, guess I'll die now."

{𝆕𝆕A Brave New World!!𝆕𝆕}

"Heal."

Kayaba could hear the sound of a crystal shattering. He opened his eyes only for Yami to look down at him.

"Hey, if you are planning to die, do it after you have completed my conditions."

At this moment, the commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath, creator of SAO, the genius Akihiko Kayaba, was being dragged along the ground by Yami. Both of them got out of the visible area of the arena and Yami brought them to a secluded room somewhere within the stadium. He wanted to get his conditions straight as soon as possible since his intuition told him that something troublesome was going to happen soon.

"So, what are your conditions?"

Kayaba just sighed. Even his last ditch attempt had ended up in failure. He was really on his last straw.

"Easy. First I want you to end this death-game. Or rather, release the trapped players."

"But…"

"You are Kayaba. The creator and admin of this game. So, can you do it or not?"

"..."

Kayaba looked Yami deep in the eyes. His eyes told him that he was 100% sure that he knew who he truly was.

"How did you find out about it?"

He really didn't know how Yami managed to draw this connection.

"I will tell you once you have accepted my conditions. Is that enough for you?"

Kayaba just sighed again. All of this really was too much for him.

"Oh how I wish I could smoke right now."

Yami smiled at that. He could very well understand that he was just fed up. Kayaba had to watch all his dreams go wild and the mental toll of being responsible for several thousand deaths wasn't something that will let you sleep. And now he was asked to end the game, the dream he had worked on for all his life.

"You know, I can give you a cigarette. That brings me to my second condition, which is rather an offer that you can't refuse. You want to know what all this was about right? I can make you "vanish" for the authorities. I can let you continue your dream. I can let you go to a new place where you can live a good life. A Paradise. And you can even smoke there. Aincrad will be there as well once you kick everyone out as well. The only thing you need to do is work for me. So, how about it?"

Kayaba just closed his eyes.

"I can smoke there, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, cut me in. Can you give me a cigarette and a lighter?"

Yami opened a gate in front of Kayaba's eyes and benocked him to go through.

"And what exactly is this?"

Even then, Kayaba's interest was piqued by the portal. But Yami had said that he was going to get all his information later. Thus he just went through.

"Welcome to Paradise. This is my own little world. I will let Sachi explain everything to you later. However, she is free to do anything to you except for killing you since she had suffered a lot because of your game."

The game creators whole both tensed at these words and for a moment he wondered if he had done the right thing. Luckily Yami held a cigarette in front of him which he took and Yami lit it for him.

"Now then. Do you accept my proposal?"

The genius looked into the beautiful sky above Paradise. He was thinking about the dream of a floating castle in the sky he had in his youth.

"I don't think I have any other choice do I? It was an offer I can't refuse after all. And after coming here, I don't think you will just let me go anyways. And now that I finally had a cigarette again, I think I have come to terms with things. Just one question, do you have movies here?"

Yami smiled while creating a TV and multiple DCs with his energy.

"I think I even have some good ones that don't exist in your world. Do you know the Avengers?"

"No, what is that?"

"Ohhh, my son, you can look forward to a movie marathon after you end the game. I will let you watch the first Iron Man movie first while that we can talk a bit."

Kayaba was interested in this movie that Yami talked about. Yami's mansion even had a cinema room. The demi-humans had used this big screen for other uses before; A Yami picture collection!

The two sat down, Yami created popcorn and cola and then they watched the movie together.

They chatted with each other about the movie. And as the credits started to roll, Kayaba was very hyped for the other movies.

"You know what I told you. First you will have to release all the players trapped inside SAO, after that everything will be perfect. And as I said, Aincrad will appear within the skies above Paradise. If you wonder how or why, I will tell you about it once you held up your part of the deal."

Kayaba finished his cola and then lit another cigarette.

"I don't think it will be that easy. Although I am the creator of this game, there is a second person who is currently running most of the game while I'm having my fun. Her name is Quinella, she is the administrator of SAO."

Yami just put a small smile on his face. Now he knew what trouble was going to come.

"Oh well, I think I will be able to take care of that. If she wanted to stop me, she would have to face me and kill me in battle, since she can't do anything else to be since I'm immune to the system."

Akihiko looked at him. He finally had the chance to ask the person in question what had given him headaches ever since he noticed Yami's strangeness.

"On that note, why Are you actually immune to the system? Well, nevermind, you told me that once the game ended I was going to get my answers. You will need to defeat Quinella, after that I can end the game. You can actually kill her since the system protection doesn't work against you. However, I hope that you won't destroy my creations. Although I know she schemed behind my back, I understand that child's will for freedom…"

He was their creator and thus there was a special feeling he had towards them.

"Don't worry father in law."

Kayaba choked on his smoke at that moment. But it was true, the other AI's he created, Alice, Strea and Yui all had a deep relationship to him.

"My son in law is my boss. Now this is an unexpected development."

Yami stood up from the comfortable cinema seats and Kayaba did the same.

"Speaking of development and boss, Kayaba, I hope that you will continue your research and work in Paradise as well. I'm quite literally able to create anything you need for that so just ask me and I will support you in any way I can. My current goal for you is a VR fighting simulation to train different types of combat. Can you do it?"

Akihiko just nodded. He could continue the work he loved and maybe with the help of Yami, he could make something even greater than SAO, his current masterpiece.

"Now then, I have asked the Shadow Foxes to build a house for you, but you can ask me or them to change it to your liking. Then, I will go back to SAO now and prepare for the boss fight on the 75. Floor. I think that will be the final battle before Quinella will make her move. I have a good feeling about that."

Yami extended his hand towards Kayaba.

"To a good partnership."

Kayaba took one last drag on his cigar and grabbed Yami's hand.

"To a good partnership."

After that handshake Yami left the mansion and teleported back to SAO and Kayaba went to his new home.

(Eve. Give the Shadow Foxes the order to kill Don Fluffels. Even his cat-lives won't save him from the cat-girls… Loose ends can be pretty dangerous after all.)