SAO: Roleplay

"There's nothing to plan!" One of the KoB's sub-leaders snapped, "But these bastards are intent on demanding the last attack bonus!"
"Like I said," The DDA member replied, "Either we get promised the last attack bonus, or we walk away from the raid."

I narrowed my eyes at the DDA speaker, and immediately slugged them in their smug face. "Are you kidding me?" I growled. "People are dead because of whatever's in there. This is the 75th floor boss, and we all know that every twenty-five floors the bosses are at their most difficult. We need our heads focused on taking it down, hard, and you're worried about who gets the last attack bonus?"

The DDA member scowled at Tavi,
"You'll regret that," He said, straightening up. "DDA! Move out!" The DDA members marched down into the dungeon.

Soon enough, everyone had moved in, with my party being the support group for the tanks and other DPS.

"Ass," I muttered. "Alright everyone, show's over so let's get a plan together," I said. It felt wrong, giving that sort of general order to everyone. It belonged to my own guild, not the others, who should be commanded by their own leaders.

"How exactly are we going to plan?" A KoB member said, striding to the front, "We've got no idea what this boss is. Our only option is to go in there."

"You're right, we don't have any idea what the boss is," I said. "So our strategy is to play defensive once the fighting goes down, take no risks and examine it, watch how it moves and when or why it attacks. Learn it's pattern fast and strike when it's exposed, that is our best shot."

With that, we rushed into the boss room, the giant stone door slamming behind us. It was dark, and empty. Everyone scanned the room tentatively, looking for the boss, which was nowhere to be found. Then, a clicking sound came from above us, as the centipede-like Skull Reaper crawled down to face us.

"A bone-centipede with a giant skull for its face," I muttered as the boss came down on the floor with a crash. "All my nightmares pooled together......fuck! Tight formation, now! Tanks up front!"

I heard a shout as one of the tanks shattered into red pixels, the skull reaper swinging one of it's scythe-arms, killing him instantly. This was bad.

I jumped back as another scythe slammed into the area we had been standing in, all of us avoided it though. It hadn't taken much damage, but we had to wait until some of the true DPS teams were too injured.

It took out two more people with on hit kills, and targeted another guy who was on their own. Dammit, but I couldn't let someone else die, so I blurred forward to block the attack, both swords coming together in an x shape to catch the scythe......and holy fuck was it strong, enough to force me to my knees and start digging into my shoulder. "Help!" I screamed, and my guild moved forward. Takashi got there first, hitting the blade with his own to knock it up, creating a switch moment for Eduardo to hit the Reaper's body with his battleaxe while the loner and myself moved back.

We charged forwards, changing the Reaper's target away from the tanks. The pause that we caused gave us just enough time to move out of the way of the next attack, and probably saved the lives of a few of the tanks.

"Tanks, work together to distract that thing, while everyone else flank and hit its body!" I shouted, moving to attack. Eduardo and the other tanks in our guild moved to distract, blocking the scythes as they came while Artemis, Takashi and I, along with the other fast players, moved to strike at the body of the Reaper.

I struck at the Reaper with my most powerful skills, slowly chipping down its health with the rest of the raid. The Reaper turned slightly, tilting one of its scythes.
"AoE!" I shouted, trying to move out of the way.

As the Reaper swung, the attack was blocked.....by the commander of the Knights of the Blood, Heathcliff. His shield stood between him and the scythe, an explosion at their contact and a gong like sound ringing throughout the area. Heathcliff stood unharmed, and shouted "Switch!" My party and I darted forward, dealing damage to the spine on the Reaper. As we moved though.....I thought I saw something. Something odd about the Commander. But it was minuscule in comparison to the larger battle at hand.

It took us time, but we eventually brought the boss down to its last quarter-bar, losing a total of eight people along the way. Then, the attack pattern changed, and the boss stayed on the walls, out of reach of all of our weapons. People started to panic, shouting out in despair.
"Lionelle," I shouted, "Tilt your shield." He nodded, too exhausted to speak and placed his shield at an angle, crouching behind it. "Someone get its attention!"

"How do we do that?" Artemis demanded, standing close by. I was at a loss myself, not like we had taunting abilities.

Someone has to let it hit them. I thought to myself, even if I didn't say it. That was a death sentence.
"Don't worry, As," Ricx said, putting his hand on my shoulder, "I've got this one." I tried to object, but he was already running into the boss's attack range. He used rage spike, not even being able to hit the boss, but enough to mark him as the closest enemy. As he did, I planted my foot on Lionelle's shield, jumping as high as I could, with Lionelle throwing me from his shield.

I was above the Reaper, and it wasn't looking at me. Meaning that I could use my best skill; "Assassinate". It was single hit, with a high amount of damage, but the best part was the modifier, namely, if the attack was on an enemy that couldn't see you, it scored a massive critical hit. My weapons glowed, and I went through the boss, crashing into the floor and taking a large amount of fall damage, dropping my HP into the low orange. It worked, though, and the boss exploded above me, the pixels floating down like snow. I glanced at the party interface. Ricx was dead.

"Astra!" Someone shouted, and my HP began to fill as they tipped a potion down my throat.

"Astra?" I said, looking over to where the white haired girl had landed. Oh why was I not surprised? As. Astra. Come on Tavi, get your head in the game dammit....but I wasn't angry, surprisingly. Really I was more relieved, since at least she was alive. The message came up, signaling the end of the end of the boss room and a collective cheer went up from the players gathered there.

I sat up, drinking the rest of the potion myself and quit the raid group, taking my party with me. As usual, we went for the stairs, only without any of the jokes.

Relaxing my stance a bit, I looked around at the cheering players, basking in that celebratory mood.....until my gaze went to Heathcliff. And I noted something strange. His health bar was unchanged, still at max HP. Any defense, no matter how good in SAO, doesn't cancel the damage outright that gets dealt in an attack, only mitigate it. His HP should have gone down, even if it was just a little, from that attack.

So why not from this?

A sudden cold, terrifying thought hit me, a sinking sensation in my stomach......and in an instant, I made my choice. Dashing forward, sword at the ready, I charged Heathcliff, catching him off guard as my sword went for his heart.....and deflected off a purple tile that spawned over his chest, the text <<Immortal Object>> clear as day on the surface. God help me....I was right.

I saw the flash of purple, the "Immortal Object" sign, and hid myself from view. Something was definitely up, and I'd rather know about it before anything happened.

"Tavi!" Artemis cried, running to join me, Eduardo and Takashi behind her. They saw the tile and froze though, and someone asked "What's going on?" Straightening myself, I stared at Heathcliff, who looked somewhere between shocked and amused. "Since we started playing this game," I said, "I always wondered what our jailer was doing. Where was he watching us from as we fought and died here? But you know, the answer is kinda obvious when you think about it. We all know the answer, since it's always boring watching other people play a game."

My lips peeled back in a snarl as I growled "Isn't that right, Kayaba Akihiko?" A hushed silence surrounded us, while Heathcliff, or rather Kayaba, smiled and said "You are certainly right Tavi, I am Kayaba."

I kept quiet, and kept my distance while my party mates also hid, though their hide skill wasn't anywhere near as high as mine.

"What gave me away?" he asked, as casually as if asking me to pass a napkin. "After the fight, I noticed how your HP never dropped, even by the slightest. When you blocked the Reaper's attacks, you still should have lost some health, but your bar didn't so much as flicker." He grinned, and said "I see, well my compliments to your observation skills. And I suppose it should also come as no surprise that I am the final boss of this game." A shocked gasp went out around the players, and Takashi said "That's a bit unfair. The strongest player in the game turns into the final boss?" Kayaba shrugged and said "I thought it a bit intriguing, the Demon King hidden among the masses and shows his face at the end. Strange how you saw through my disguise Tavi.....maybe even fated. After all, I figured you'd be the one to fight me in the end."

"Trying to flatter me?" I growled. "I'm not looking to be the hero." Chuckling, Kayaba said "No, but the Duel Wielding skill is awarded to the player with the highest reaction time and in this story, the Duelist is the one who duels the Demon King." A player made a choking sound, readying their sword as they said "We trusted you.....all our hopes for escape, we put them with you.....and you betrayed us like this!" He yelled in anger, rushing Kayaba and meaning to hit him.

But Kayaba's hand was faster, the menu screen coming up and hitting a tab I never recognized.....and soon every player in the room was paralyzed, falling to the ground as their bodies froze. Everyone, save me for some reason.

I stepped forwards, throwing my last poisoned pick with practiced precision as I did, my hide skill deactivating. The pick hit exactly where I'd wanted it to go, Tavi's chest.
"We're first," I said, my teammates standing behind me, "I'm gonna kill you, Akihiko."

Kayaba's eyes narrowed, and he tapped another button out, getting Astra and her party with the paralysis as well. "It's rude to interrupt," he said, turning to me. "If you think I'm going to kill you all to cover this up, rest assured, I'm not. I have spent too much time nurturing the Knights of the Blood to kill them, so instead I'm going to let you go, and await you all on the hundredth floor. That said..." Planting his shield on the ground, he looked me in the eyes and said "I feel I must reward you Tavi for unmasking me. So I offer you this: a duel, here and now. If you win, you will have cleared the game, and every player will be released. What say you?"

"Akihiko, you're a fucking coward." I shouted, struggling to prop myself up on my elbows, "Scared to fight a real PKer?"

"No, but you weren't the one who found out my secret," he said calmly. "Nor do you have the Duel Blades skill. This reward goes to Tavi and Tavi alone," Kayaba said. "Again I ask....what say you?"

If I fought him, I could win it all and free everyone......or I could lose, and die like that. He was the game creator after all, he made the duel blade skill. But in the end.....it was worth it, worth the risk to fight him, when I thought of everyone who had died already. People that died, fighting to escape the game. To not take this chance to honor their deaths, would be a disservice to them all. "What are the terms of the duel?" I asked. He smiled, and said "One on one to the death, and I'll even disable my system assist controls." Nodding, I was about to make myself ready....but said "First thing's first, just in case I die. Let me say goodbye." He was a bit surprised, but nodded. Turning around to face my guild, I breathed and said my goodbyes. Eduardo and Takashi were encouraging, giving the circumstances. Artemis had something to tell me actually....though told me to survive. Hey, she was always the optimist. "Astra," I said to her, as she kept trying to stand. "I know we didn't always get along.....but you are always gonna be my best friend."

Yeah that's right, the guy friendzoned the girl this time.

"You are incredibly annoying." I said, giving up on trying to get up. "If you don't kill him, I will."

Last words said and done, I faced Kayaba down. He sent the duel request my way, which I accepted, and the counter began ticking down. Both swords were in my hands and he had his sword and shield ready. The counter hit zero....and we both sprang into action, Kayaba on the defense as my blades clashed against his shield. Speed was my best weapon here, since he could only block from one side, so I tried to flank him. His sword followed me in response, deflecting my attack and moving to strike, only to be countered by my other sword. I was hesitant to activate any duel blade skills, or hell any skills really. He designed the game, or at least the duel skills, so he'd know how to counter. It had to be done on my own power.

Clashing again and again, we both landed glancing blows, HP slowly dropping. I had my battle healing skill, but the truth was that it replenished only a small amount of my overall larger health bar, and even glancing blows from Kayaba's sword drained enough of my health to make that skill very little help. I kept looking for an opening, and saw one when I was able to deflect his sword, much like one would a monster's weapon for a switch maneuver. My second blade came up and slashed at his exposed side, going through in a stab. It wasn't close to his center, but by god I landed a hit and his HP went down. He grimaced, a pained expression on his face before he renewed his attack, slashing at me only for my swords to block his attacks.

"Well, this is interesting." Niko said, standing in the shadows. "Tavi, you'd better win. For all of us."

I thought I had an opening, and took it only to realize too late.....it was a feint. My attacks hit air, and he lunged, sword piercing my chest. My HP plummeted, dropping down into the red. It was over....I lost. I was going to die.....but if I was gonna go down then at least....at least.... "At least you're coming with me," I whispered, looking Kayaba in the eyes. My sword went up, taking advantage of the opening he made by standing there, his sword still stuck in my chest.

The blade pierced through, even as for some reason he grinned at me. And we both exploded into a shower of pixels. Blackness consumed my vision.

I saw Tavi and Akihiko die. I got up and Rissezz shouted something and...
Black
Then I was in what looked like a hospital room, my Nerve Gear on my head.

Darkness turned to light, and I thought for a moment I was in heaven. Lots of clouds, the sun on the horizon, and I was standing in the air. But then, the castle of Aincrad in the sky before me put off any hope that I was free of the game. It was crumbling, floor by floor, chunks of it falling to the earth below. Aincrad.....our gilded death trap of a cage, was being destroyed. But then where was I? Why was I still in the game?

The sound of footsteps, soon made me realize the answer was coming. Turning, I saw Kayaba Akihiko, in his real world appearance and attire, walking to stand a few feet away, next to me as we both stood on what I realized was a platform, clear as glass. "Kayaba," I said. He didn't look at me, hands in his pockets as he stared out at Aincrad's ruin. "Quite a view," he said. "What's going on?" I asked. Still cool as ever, he said "The SAO mainframe, within the fifth level basement at my corporate headquarters, is deleting all data on its storage devices....... In about ten minutes, everything in the world of Sword Art Online, will vanish."

"And the players?" I asked him. "What about the others? My guild, my friends?" Kayaba turned to face me then, and said "You don't need to worry, Tavi. Before we met just now, the remaining players were all logged out safely. Right about now, they should all be waking up." Silence, save for wind gusting by, filled the air. "What about the other players," I asked, "that died?" He looked down, not ashamed so much as....pensive. "Dead, I'm afraid. In any world, whether it's SAO or the real world, if your mind is destroyed, you die. And there is no way to bring them back."

"Why?" I asked him. "Building SAO to trap us all here, making it a life or death situation......why would you do this to us?" He smiled, faintly and said "Even before I had the dream for the FullDive technology.....as a boy, I always dreamed of Aincrad. The floating castle, and taking people there to explore its wonders." Smiling again, he said "Even if it was virtual.....I still believe that castle was real in all its splendor. Don't you?" For a moment, I wanted to scream and say it was not. To call him a madman and decry his creation.....but that wasn't the truth. "Yeah," I said in a whisper. "I think for these past two years, it was a real place.....one that I did love living in." That seemed to bring some sense of closure to Kayaba, his posture more relaxed. "Well then.....all that is left for me, is to say Congratulations, Tavi, on completing the game." And just like that, he vanished. And once more, darkness consumed me.

The first thing I felt, was weak. My whole body felt weak and frail. As my eyes cracked open the light that came in hurt, and I could fel the weight of the NerveGear around my head. I was awake, and free. After two years, I was free.