Part 27 (1/2)

Perhaps it was the price of my insolent resistance, as an unbelievable pain was coursing throughout my body. But I gritted my teeth and kept on moving. The distance of merely tens of centimeters felt unbelievably far away. My body felt like it was frozen. Only my left arm had any feelings left, yet the coldness was quickly enveloping that part as well. My entire body was like an icy statue with shards of it continuously breaking off.

But at last, the silver rapier reached the center of Kayaba's chest. Kayaba didn't move. His expression of surprise had already disappeared- a soft, peaceful smile had taken its place.

My arm covered the remaining distance, half propelled by my determination, and half moving by some inexplicable force. Kayaba closed his eyes and received the blow as the rapier pierced his body soundlessly. His HP bar had also vanished.

For a moment, we simply stood there, with swords that penetrated each others' bodies. I used the last of my strength to force my head up and look at the sky.

Is this-enough...?

Although I couldn't hear her answer, I could feel a slight warmth wrap itself around my left hand. Finally, I released my body, which was about to shatter completely.

As my mind sank deeper into the darkness, I could feel my body and Kayaba's body breaking into thousands of pieces at the same time. The familiar sound of two objects being destroyed rang out and overlapped one another. As everything pulled further and further away at an incredible speed, I could hear faint voices calling my name. I figured those must be the voices of Klein and Agil. Then, at this moment, the emotionless voice of the system announced- The game has been cleared-the game has been cleared-the game...

Chapter 24.

When I regained consciousness, I found myself in an otherworldly place.

Here, the sunset made the entire sky seem as if it was burning.

I was standing on a thick crystal floor. The orange clouds rolled past slowly beneath the transparent tiles. When I raised my head, I could see a sky dyed by the sunset reach as far as the horizon. As it spread outwards, the endless skies faded from bright orange, to a b.l.o.o.d.y red, then to a shade of purple. I could also faintly hear the wind blowing.

It was a small, round disk of crystal which floated amongst the clouds in the empty skies; here I stood on its edge.

...What is this place? My body should have disappeared after shattering. Was I still in SAO... or did I arrive in the afterlife?

I examined my own body. The leather coat, long gloves, and all my other equipment were the same as before I had died, except that everything had become somewhat transparent. It wasn't just my equipment either, as even the exposed sections of my body s.h.i.+ned with the sunset colors as if it was made of semi-transparent gla.s.s.

I raised my right hand and waved a finger about. A window appeared with the familiar sound effect. So, this place was still inside SAO.

But the window contained neither an avatar nor a menu list. The blank screen showed only the message [Executing the Final Phase, 54% completed]. As I stared at it, the number went up to 55%. I had originally thought that my mind would die alongside the destruction of my body, but what was going on here?

As I shrugged and closed the window, I suddenly heard a voice behind me.

”Kirito-kun...”

It was like a voice from heaven. Shock coursed through my body.

Please don't let this be my imagination-I begged as I slowly turned around.

She stood there with the burning sky behind her.

Her long hair was drifting softly in the wind. But even though her gentle, smiling face was within my arms' reach, I could not move the slightest.

It felt as if she would disappear if my gaze left her even for a second- so I simply kept staring at her in silence. She was also semi-transparent, and was the most beautiful thing in the world as she stood there, s.h.i.+ning in the light of the setting sun.

I forcibly held back my tears and managed to form a smile. In an almost-whispered voice, I said: ”Sorry. I died as well...”

”...Idiot.”

Tears ran down her face as she said this with a smile. I spread my arms wide open and gently called out her name: ”Asuna...”

I held her tightly as she flew into my arms and cried. I swore that I wouldn't let go again. No matter what happened, I would never ever let go again.

After a long kiss, we finally managed to pull our faces apart to look at each other. There were so many things about the final battle that I wanted to talk to her about, that I wanted to apologize to her about. But I felt like there was no longer any need for words. Instead, I s.h.i.+fted my gaze towards the endless skies and opened my mouth: ”This... just what is this place?”

Asuna silently turned her gaze downwards and pointed with her fingers. I looked in that direction.

Far below where we were- something floated in the skies. It was shaped like a cone with the tip cut off. It was made from numerous floors overlapping one another. As I focused my eyes, I could even see the small mountains, forests, lakes, and cities.

”Aincrad...”

Asuna nodded as I muttered this. There was no mistaking it. It was Aincrad. The huge floating castle drifted amongst the endless skies. We had spent two years fighting within that world of swords and battles, yet now it was below us.

I had seen the outside of Aincrad before I came to this world in some information about SAO. But this was the first time that I saw its outside with my own two eyes. I held my breath as an awe-inspiring feeling overcame me.

The steel castle-was being destroyed.

Even as we watched silently, a section of the lowest floor scattered into countless shards. As I focused my ears to listen, I could still hear the thunderous noise dispersing amongst the winds.

”Ah...”

Asuna exclaimed softly. A large portion of the lower floors broke off, and the countless buildings, trees, and rivers all fell off and disappeared into the sea of clouds. Our house was somewhere in that area. I felt a bittersweet sorrow pierce my chest each time a floor of the castle that held two years' worth of memories disappeared.

I sat down at the edge of the platform with Asuna in my arms.

I was feeling unusually calm. Even though I didn't know what had happened to us or what was going to happen now, I didn't feel the slightest bit of anxiety. I had accomplished what I had to do, and for that I lost my virtual life and was now watching the end of this world with the girl I loved. This was enough- my heart was content.

Asuna must have felt the same way. Within my arms, she watched Aincrad collapse with her eyes half open. I softly stroked her hair.

”An impressive sight.”

Suddenly I could hear a voice beside us. When Asuna and I turned to the right, we saw a man standing there.

It was Kayaba Akihiko.

He appeared not as the red paladin Heathcliff, but in his real form as the developer of SAO. He wore a white s.h.i.+rt with a necktie and white overalls on top. Only the two metallic eyes on his sharp face felt exactly the same. But those two eyes were filled with a gentle light as they looked upon the disappearing castle. His body was also semi-transparent like ours.

Even though I had fought to the death with this man just minutes prior, my calmness continued to persist after seeing him. Maybe we had left behind all of our anger and hate in Aincrad before we came to this place. I turned my gaze away from Kayaba and back onto the castle.

”What exactly is going on?”

”Perhaps you can call it... a metaphorical rendering.”

Kayaba's voice was also quite peaceful.

”Currently, the SAO mainframe that's stationed in the fifth bas.e.m.e.nt floor of Argus headquarters is in the midst of erasing all data from its memory banks. In another ten minutes, this world will be completely erased.”