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Hey, Familia of the Closet! How was the last chapter? Did the cliffhanger surprise you? I hope so. As I said, I wanted some big event before they duke it out. So here we go. Hope you enjoy. Love ya!<3
-Seijirou
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(Kazuto)
"Sachi..." I managed to mutter. In walked the shy girl I once knew. But something seemed off. Although she walked as if she watched her dog get killed, she looked to be more confident, more intense, more hateful. I reached out to her, hoping that she does the same. But instead, she unsheathed the sword on her hip with celestial speed. She was faster than Asuna. The sword was a unique rapier only found by farming a boss. But since the bosses were only able to be defeated once, no one ever got it. The hilt of the blade was extravagant. The twisted metal rods coiled around the blade. And in the blink of an eye, the tip of her blade was to my throat.
"You let me die. You could've saved us. But you let us die. You monster. You murderer. Those enemies didn't kill us, you did. You killed us. It's all your fault." Sachi whispered. Her small lips seemed to quiver with each word. I was right. She was much more confident. And extremely hateful.
"No. You knew that it was a trap. You knew, didn't you? That's why you seemed hesitant to enter. But you knew that your teammates would just call you a chicken and continue looting the chest. You knew exactly what would happen the moment the door opened. Admit it." I said. I have to confess, I didn't know whether she knew or not. I was just stalling, hoping that we get another visitor. Sachi had loosened her grip on her sword, looking at the floor.
"No one ever listened to me. They just made decisions and assumed I'd be okay with it, even if it were to get us killed. But now, I'll never make that mistake again. I'll be stronger and make my own decisions. And in fact, I'll start by killing you." Sachi said, pulling her rapier back, preparing a skill. By the color of the glow, I could tell that the skill was called 'Star Splash.' I know because there's only a handful of rapier sword skills, each with different colors. She activated the skill, pushing the blade forward. Suddenly, a loud squelching sound radiated throughout the palace. Sachi turned around, facing the door. There was a familiar arrow in her back.
"Get away from him!" Sinon shouted, releasing 3 more arrows. 2 out of the 3 hit, causing Sachi to flinch.
"Oh, now this, this is interesting! I thought a reunion of past lovers was going to be a hoot. But this is way more than what I asked for!" Kayaba laughed. Sachi jumped out of the way of the flying arrows. I told Sinon to hold fire. I turned to Sachi.
"Look, I'm sorry for what I did. I should've done something, but I was too selfish to say anything. I admit that it was my fault you all died. But just know that you don't have to be vengeful to get your point across. I know what you mean. And honestly, I know how you feel. But trying to kill me, it won't get you anywhere. So join us, help us kick this dickhead's ass. We could use another person." I held my hand out. "He locked everyone in here, including you. So why help the man that intentionally tried to kill you, when you can help the man who accidentally got you killed." Sachi looked at my hand as if it were a feast. She wanted to take it but was afraid of the consequences. After a minute, she let out a sigh of exhaustion and took my hand. I grinned and let go of her hand, turning to Kayaba.
"What a turn of events! This job really feeds your deepest thrills, doesn't it? I guess you gotta expect the unexpected with you, Kirito." Kayaba spoke in an excited tone. Sinon stood next to us, facing the final boss. I held my sword in front of me, powering up a skill. Sinon nocked a set of 3 arrows. Sachi pulled back her sword, powering up the same skill she was going to use on me. l couldn't help but grin. "Well, here we go." The countdown to the star began. 3... 2... 1... FIGHT! I charged, holding my sword above my head, slashing downwards onto his shield, causing an earthquake to erupt.
"Switch!" I shouted but remembered that Sachi had never done this before. But she seemed to get it. She ran, activating her skill. She struck the shield 8 times, causing a small sonic boom with each thrust.
"Switch!" She called. I ran in, preparing a horizontal slash. Kayaba blocked it.
"You know what, this battle isn't going anywhere fun. Let's change it up." He said maniacally. He tossed his shield to the ground, now holding his sword with two hands. I growled at his ignorance.
"Big mistake," I said.
"Was it?" He twisted my mind. He knew exactly what to say. He knew how to break me, put me back together, then break me again. Right now, he's at the third stage. I swear to god, today is the day. No more suffering. This murderer will be laid to rest, 4 years late, but who's counting? I jumped backward next to Sinon. I looked at her with determination in my eyes. She immediately knew what I was thinking and nodded. I closed my eyes and held my sword above my head. Sinon held her bow in front of her. I could read Sinon's thoughts as if we had a telepathic connection.
"On three," She thought.
"One..."
"Two..."
"Three!"
We opened our eyes, a blinding yellow light radiated throughout the palace. In the reflection of the floor, I noticed our eyes were yellow. I looked at Kayaba.
"Carbon Thunder."
"Carbon Lightning."
The 100 .50 cal bullets surrounded by lighting formed in the air. Kayaba gasped.
"I did not put this in the game," He said in awe. I was shocked, I was using a player-made skill? Cool. Scary. But cool. I turned to Sinon and nodded. I lowered my sword, and Sinon let go of the bowstring. The 100 bullets launched in Kayaba's direction, they all pierced his skin, a small, lightning-based explosion with each impact. After the skill had finished, we looked at Kayaba's health. He had 3 health bars left. Perfect.
"Stay here," I said. The two girls nodded and took a couple of steps back. I walked in Kayaba's direction, stopping about 5 feet in front of him. He was on one knee, holding his stomach in pain. I unequipped my Greatsword, equipping my Elucidator and Dark Repulsor. I walked towards him and stopped about 3 meters away. He lifted his head and looked at me, specifically, he looked at my expression. "You've spent years torturing innocent people. You've killed innocent people. You've pushed people to kill others. And for what? For popularity? What is your real reason for all of this? I need to know."
"You still don't know, huh?" Kayaba spat out blood. "I wanted to have a world of which I was the creator. I wanted to feel what it was like to be God. It was all just a pipe dream back in college. But when Rinko came to me, I felt like I had a chance. And on the day of the release, I was so excited. I couldn't wait to see the world that I had created. But once I logged in, I noticed a defect in the system. The logout button was missing. After moments of using my moderator abilities to attempt fixing it, I concluded that I was stuck in here. I was stuck in here with 10,000 other people. I needed a way to play it off, to make it seem that this was intentional. Only because of the small problem of having your brain fried if the NerveGear was ever taken off. So I took on the role of Heathcliff, Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath. And from there, I guided the players of SAO all the way to floor 75. You know the rest. I got exactly what I wanted, plus a little more. The subjects didn't have a choice, and that was perfect. You see, I didn't want to kill thousands. Although, it did work out in my favor." He explained. I stood there, shocked and appalled. He killed thousands, only because he needed to play off a bug in the system. My body began to tense up. I was filling with rage, hatred. I hated him. I wanted him gone. Wiped from the face of the earth. 6 feet deep where no one could find him. And with my thoughts, the room began filling with a vibrant purple glow.
"You. You killed them. You killed them all. Tetsuo. Sasamaru. Ducker. Keita. S-Sachi. They died. And it's all your fault." I cried. Using this skill once was enough to burn it into my memory. I closed my eyes, cutting off the flow of tears. Through my eyelids, I could see the purple light pulsating. I moved my sword above my head, then allowed my Elucidator to fall, pointing towards Kayaba. His eyes seemed to grow.
"I've only ever seen this skill happen once." He muttered.
"You'll see it again," I whispered. A giant wave of purple energy flowed into my Dark Repulsor, causing it to glow even brighter. Then, I felt the energy even out into each blade. I thought back to the first time I used this. On Gleam Eyes. The adrenaline rush was enough to get me going, felt like I was in super focus. Like I was on some PCP type shit. And at that exact moment, I opened my eyes. My body moved on its own, slashing at Kayaba. Hit after hit, strike after strike, chunk by chunk, his health dipped from green to yellow. Then my attacks stopped. I began to move, floating 5 feet away from Kayaba. I put my blades together and looked at his face. He looked so miserable. Like he was filled with regret. Serves him right for killing thousands. "The Eclipse!" A giant beam of purple energy blasted out of my swords, striking Kayaba. Once the beam stopped, the hole left in his chest began to swirl with a shadow-like glow. Suddenly, a black hole formed behind him, sucking his motionless corpse into the abyss. Then the black hole dispersed. I floated to the ground, planting my feet firmly on the ruby-colored granite. My swords seemed to adapt to the skill, seeing as they aren't blazing hot like last time. I turned around, looking at Sachi and Sinon. Their eyes, both filled with sadness and shock. I walked over to Sachi and patted her shoulder softly. Then I walked over to Sinon. She placed her cold hand on my cheek.
"Kazuto." She whispered. I took my hand, still shaking from the powerful flow of energy, and placed it behind her neck. I pulled her close and placed a firm, passionate kiss on her lips. I backed away and smiled. "Is it over?" Suddenly, a large alert popped up in the middle of the room reading, "CONGRATULATIONS."
"Yeah, it's over," I said. Sachi walked over to us, but a large bang stopped her in her tracks. We all looked over and noticed that the main door had swung open, revealing Asuna, Enki, Lisbeth, Silica, and Leafa. They were all crying. I began walking in their direction, but Leafa ran at me, jumping in my arms. She cried, but couldn't seem to get a word out. I looked at the others, but they were all speechless as well. I stroked the back of Leafa's head as she began stuttering on the letter 'G'. "What is it, Sugu?"
"G-G-G-G-Gone."
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Hey, Familia of the Closet! Did you like the battle? I know it's not as action-packed as the anime, manga, or other fanfics. But I just wanted to have a scenario where Kazuto could be both overpowered and emotional. Sorry if I disappointed you. But aside from that, there are only a few chapters to go. So, hope you enjoyed. Love you!<3
-Seijirou
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