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"Amy!" I rushed to her side and took out a healing crystal. I wasn't feeling to great myself but Amy's HP was falling fast. I fell beside her.

Amy grabbed my hand before I had the chance to use the crystal. "Use it on yourself, Lillyin."

"Hell no!" I shook my head tears falling from my eyes. "Fuck that! I'm a shit-ton of a lot stronger than you, Amy. I'll survive." I touched the crystal to her head.

"No! Lillyin don't-"

"Heal!" The crystal in my hand glowed pink. I wrapped my arms around her as Amy's health bar raised back into the low green and mine fell slowly and steadily into the middle red.

"Why the fuck would you do that, Dragon?" Amy was really angry at me. "Your health is dropping a hell of a lot faster than mine was and yet you'd heal me! Wasn't that your last crystal?"

I sighed. "Yeah it was." My HP stopped declining at a very low red. A single fall would take me out for good.

"Then why the fuck would you do that?!"

"Remember what I told you?"

Drako sat beside us, HP in the high yellow zone. "What do you mean? You tell us a lot of things."

"I mean what I've told you every fucking night. I said I won't let you die. I've never stopped telling either of you that have I?" I wrapped my arms around both of them. "I love you both too much to lose you. I promised you I'd get you both back to the real fucking world. So like hell I'd let you die."

Drako hugged me tightly. "But it's not worth losing you for us to get the crap out of here!"

I kissed Drako's forehead. "I'm still here. The fight is over. After today, I promise, we'll leave the front lines. For good. We'll go back to our cabin and never have to fight this shit-ass game again."

"You really mean that!?" Amy wrapped her arms around me, nearly knocking me over and draining the tiniest bit more of my low HP in the process. "Thank you, Lillyin!"

"Hey, careful now or you'll squeeze the last of my HP right out of me." I smiled at my friend. She let go of me quickly. "Kidding. So, how many did we lose?"

Drako pulled up his menu. "Fourteen."

"Fuck..." I set my hand to my mouth. " There's still twenty five more shitty floors... How the hell will they make it that far?

Asuna interrupted us with a yell in the direction of Commander Heathcliff, whose health was the only one still completely green and near full. "Commander Heathcliff, wh-what's going on?"

Kirito answered for him. "I think I got the answer to that. The reason why the commander's HP never hits yellow is 'cause he's protected by the system. You know, ever since day one, something's always bugging me about this whole thing. I was always wondering 'Where is he hiding while he watches us and controls everything in this world?' Well, the answer's pretty simple. It's basic psychology. In fact, it's so simple, every kid knows it. There's nothing more boring than watching someone else playing RPG... is there, Akihiko Kayaba?"

Heathcliff smiled. "Just for my curiosity's sake, would you mind telling me how you figured it out?"

Kirito smiled again. "The first time I knew something was up was during the duel. Remember when you turned the tables on me, that move was way too fast."

"Yes, I thought so." Heathcliff shook his head. "It was a mistake to think that it would go unnoticed by you. But you were so strong and so fast, the only choice I had was to engage the system's assist mode. Yes, I am Akihiko Kayaba. And now that my identity's been revealed, it should come with no surprise that I'm the final boss on the top floor."

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