chapter 43

The players were stunned speechless by the scene that played out right before their very eyes, it was too much information for all of them to take in.

The first was that the leader of the guild Knight of the Blood Oath, Heathcliff- was none other than Akihiko Kayaba himself.

This information hit the players from that guild the hardest because most of them felt like they were betrayed by the man that they had put their hope into.

The second piece of information that shocked them the most was Leonard himself, the man who hailed as the strongest player in the game of Sword Art Online, seem to know the special identity of Heathcliff- or in this case Akihiko Kayaba already, but he did not tell them of that- now he demanded a reward for defeating the creator of the game himself.

"Commander…why! WHY DID YOU BETRAYED US?!" A shieldbearer from the Knight of the Blood Oath shouted out for Kayaba who was currently sitting on a chair in the V.I.P box, that gives him a clear view down below.

"I-" Kayaba smirked and was about to start another great speech of his, but Leonard once again- being a douchebag that he always was, interrupted him.

"You probably had some sick idea of wanting to train up the players into the greatest fighting force the game has to offer and turned yourself into the final boss at the end to backstab all of them- so you can relish in that feeling...right?" Leonard asked him while having an amused expression on his face.

"...how...did...you know that?" Kayaba asked him while having quite a surprise look on his face- as Leonard pointed out his entire plan to all the people that had gathered there.

"Oh please...you might be a super genius in the field of Virtual reality- but I can smell...and taste that sadistic side of you, it might be easier for you to understand it if I were to put it this way-" Leonard create a dramatic pause.

"It's easier for Sadist to understand one another," Leonard told him while having a serious expression plastered on his face.

"What…? Did I miss out on something important?" Klein, who watched the whole event was confused, at first Klein thought that this was a dramatic and heroic confrontation between the boss of the final floor and that of their party, but somehow this had turned into a conversation about the topic on sadism.

"Nah...I'm just as confused as you are Ballsy," Kirito added.

"...same…" Asuna also agreed.

Kayaba now had a blank face as he looked at Leonard.

"...how did you know that I was a sadist?" Kayaba asked him.

"That's easy, first- who the hell would want to trap 10,000 players into a Virtual Reality online game where death- literally mean death, for over a year- while pretending to be a hero leading them toward the path of freedom only to backstab them at the door of freedom itself? Tell me, isn't that quite sadistic?" Leonard answered.

"...that's true...now that you said it, it sounds quite sadistic." Diavel who stood next to Leonard nodded as he comprehends the pieces of information that came out of Leonard's mouth.

"Another question, how did you know that I was Akihiko Kayaba? And not just a random player name Heathcliff?" Kayaba asked him.

"That's is even easier to answer- remember that duel? I had a suspicion when I noticed that the system seemingly trying to protect you by turning you into an immortal object near the end where I unleashed my ultimate skill- but another is, I know that you were watching us- the player from somewhere...I have to say- what a nice view one would have if they were near the very top of the player base...right?" Leonard smirk as he looked at the genius that trapped 10,000 people into a death game.

"You are indeed right…" Kayaba chuckled as he thought about the plans that he had laid out for the players and for himself, only to be deciphered by a single person.

"So...where is that reward that you mentioned a while back after our duel?... I already destroyed that Grim Reaper you placed at your front door, the only thing special that I got from that one is a gray cloak that granted stealth…" Leonard reminded him.

"...you don't like the fight that I've given you?... I thought you would love something like that." Kayaba jokingly told him.

"...why do I have an urge to pummel you right at this very moment? That- I do not know." Leonard began cracking his knuckle while having an extremely ugly face glaring at Kayaba.

"I'm just joking! Here you can have this!" Kayaba freaked out as he quickly pulled up his user interface and did some tweaking.

[An Item has been deposit into your inventory] that was the Multiverse system message informing him instead of the Cardinal system.

"Oh? So you do know a bit about who I am huh?" Leonard was surprised.

"Oh please, I created this world- inside it, I am a god! So, of course, I know about your identity after I did a bit of digging!" Kayaba proclaimed loudly as he spread his arm wide open.

Leonard just glanced at him before pulling up his inventory to check out what Kayaba had giving him, his eyes popped wide open as he saw it, a small blue tear like crystal.

[0001- Core Data]- identification- a copy of an A.I(code name YUI) data.

"So...you do know about her after all…" Leonard held the crystallized tear in his palm as he looked back at Kayaba.

"You be glad that I did that for you, that way her data will not be destroyed even if this game were to collapse in on itself," Kayaba told him.

"What is he talking about Leonard? Who's the "she" that he's talking about?" Kirito asked Leonard as he was confused about the conversation between the two.

But without saying a word, Leonard just tossed the crystallized tear toward Kirito.

Moment upon catching the item and reviewing it through the interface Kirito was stunned.

"What is it Kirito…?" Asuna asked him out of worry as she saw the expression on his face, it was that of pure shock.

"So what now Kayaba?...are you going to set everyone free? Since you I already defeated you and all the floor boss monster." Leonard focuses his attention at Kayaba.

However, the sadistic genius just gave him a smile.

"No...there is one more obstacle of which you must face before that can happen," he told Leonard.

"...let me guess...fight you again?" Leonard let out a long sigh as he muttered those words out from the crack of his teeth.

"You shitty bastard! I already defeated all one hundred bosses! What more do you want!!! YOU're INCLUDED in that mix! I even destroy you when you cheated!" Leonard inner chibi cried out in pure rage and frustration, while his outside displayed a cold yet uninterested face.

"Something like that...but instead of a full party raid fight, I shall be fighting you one on one like the last time- however I shall have the status of the floor one hundred boss," he told Leonard as his formed changed into that of a giant humanoid creature with ten full health bar when he leaped out of the VIP box, when he landed onto the arena floor, the entire level 100 floor shook violently and all the players- other than Leonard were teleported to the stadium seating area above with a paralysis effect.

"NOW! FIGHT ME WITH EVERYTHING THAT YOU HAD."

He roared.