"Why?!"
Iku slapped me on the face...three times.......
"I thought we were done keeping secrets! What in Aincrad was that?!"
"Ehh....Yujin? Orochi? Guys? Wanna back me up here?"
Orochi grabbed me by the collar and held me, about ready to punch me a few times....
"Man what was that?! And why do you keep keeping stuff from us?!"
"S-seriously guys, I forgot about that skill! I thought you guys knew about everything but I forgot! Really!"
"I don't believe that for a second!! Ohhh I swear when we get back to town, I'm going to beat you until you can't feel anymore!! Ugh!"
I chuckled nervously.....I'm serious though...I really forgot about that skill......I just barely remembered it now.....Orochi let go and Yujin looked at me with his arms crossed, disappointed....
"C-c'mon guys I didn--"
"Shut up!"
They all yelled at me in sync.....they all huddled up and started whispering to each other....man I really, REALLY messed up this time.......I looked at all of the players leaving the room, and saw Heathcliff leaving last......
"O-oh hey Commander!"
"No! He isn't gonna help you Hiku!"
"It isn't about that!"
Heathcliff stopped, and turned to me....
"Can I talk to you for a second?"
"Hey Hikaru, all of this is on you, I'm sorry I can't help you."
"Commander, it isn't about that.....I just need to talk about something else...."
"Alright. Well I'll stick around in here until you've sorted everything out with your friends."
"Thank you commander."
I walked back to where I was and sat down on the ground. I sighed....
"Alright Hiku."
Everyone walked to me. I could tell Haruna was uncomfortable...as she was behind everyone else, with her hands together....
"Is there anything else you're hiding from us? Err, skill or equipment-wise....."
Yujin asked me....
"No..."
"Anything you aren't forgetting?!"
Iku snapped at me...again.....
"Iku....."
Orochi calmed her down and she sighed....
"Well...guys come close I gotta whisper for this......."
"Ugh. If you're gonna try something I have my sword ready!"
Iku is really giving me a hard time about this.......they all leaned in close....I noticed Heathcliff had his back turned to all of us......
"Guys. There's really something off about Heathcliff...."
I whispered....
"What do you mean, Hikaru?"
Haruna whispered to me...
"Well.....notice how he's very over-confident about things? And how he never seems stressed?"
"Hmm...yes, I have noticed that Hikaru.....but I don't see what the problem is...."
"Well...I have a theory....and if you guys could get off my back for just a second....."
They backed away, wondering what I was gonna do....I climbed up the side of the wall, and climbed up just above Heathcliff....he didn't seem to notice, as he was messing around with his inventory......I dropped down, and with my sword and attempted to slash Heathcliff down his back. I was knocked back instantly with a message popping up on Heathcliff.....
'Immortal Object'
"W-what? 'Immortal Object'? Why did that pop up?"
I heard Yujin talking behind me...
"I knew it.....so why did you do all of this?"
I stood up with my sword in hand, as Heathcliff looked at me, sighing....
"...Akihiko Kayaba......."
"Hmm. Good job. But let me ask, how did you figure it out?"
"Well, I've been watching you lately, Kayaba. You've been acting strange. Like you don't care about all this. I also noticed how your health during the boss fight never went under green, despite all of the attack the boss landed on everyone."
"Very good. I guess I was getting carried away."
"So Kayaba, tell me, why? Why did you do all of this?"
"Well, I'm sure you probably understand this too, there's nothing more boring than watching another person play a video game. Might as well either turn it off, or join them."
I grinned.
"Yeah I can understand that."
"Well, you are fully correct. I am Kayaba. And now that you know who I am, I might as well tell you everything. Yes, I was going to be the final boss on floor 100. Now, the reason why I created SAO, and made it this death game, I cannot tell you. Now I'll be honest, I never expected that skill you used. I don't ever remember it being in the game, and I for sure never made it....so tell me, how'd you get it? Did you cheat somehow?"
"No. I really don't know how I got it. Me and my friends were fighting a boss, and I was gonna use a normal skill, but that came out instead...."
"So are you able to control everything? Or is it like one of those skills that controls you, while you watch?"
"I control everything. The order of the weapons, everything. Sometimes I used to go out at night when everyone was asleep and practice everything. Took me a long time to master that Katana thing though....."
"Well, I'll give you an offer Hikaru. A one-time offer. A fight. A duel. Your friends can join if they want. I'll turn off my immortality. Either one of us can die. But if you beat me, I'll force-log out all players. But if u beat you and your friends, then that's that. So what do you say, Hikaru the Legend?"
The grip on my sword got tighter as I put my Hood on, and I saw my friends walk up beside me, with their weapons out, and hoods similar to mine on. Heathcliff turned off his Immortality.
"So because my friends are joining in, we can't actually do an actual, in-game duel, because those are only one-on-one's."
"Yeah. In this boss room, all players can lose HP, even if it's from another player."
"So this is gonna work. Everyone got their HP up?"
Everyone, including Heathcliff nodded their heads. Heathcliff took out his sword, and held his shield.....I looked at my friends.
"Guys, whatever happens....I love you all. And Iku, I've always loved you, and more than a friend....if we make it in the real world, I promise I'll make all this up to you, got it?"
"Don't talk like that Hiku...we're getting out of this..."
Heathcliff started to run at as with his sword. All is us ran together with our weapons ready we all got ready to attack. This is life or death.....