"Well? What do you think of this magic? I was planning to add it to the game in the next update, you know. It looks like the effect is a little too strong, don't you think?"
The voice was dripping with open mockery. Kirito knew who it belonged to the instant he heard it. It was the man who had laughed at him in front of Asuna's sleeping body.
"Sugou!!"
Kirito forced himself up with everything he had and shouted.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Please don't call me that in this world. If you address me, you must use the name of a king. His Majesty Oberon, Fairy King. That is what you should call me!"
The end of his sentence suddenly rose into a shrill scream, and at the same time, something struck Kirito hard in the head.
His head would not move. At some point, a man had appeared nearby. A leg wrapped in white tights, wearing a boot embroidered with chaotic patterns, was planted on Kirito's head, grinding it back and forth.
Kirito dragged his gaze upward.
The man's body was covered in a glaring green robe. Above it sat a face so beautiful it looked handcrafted.
No. It was fake.
That pretty face, built from smooth polygon modeling, had none of the life a human face should have. If anything, that made it uglier. Red lips split open and twisted to one side in the same sick grin Kirito had seen before.
Even with a different appearance, there was no mistaking him.
This man was Sugou.
The man who had stolen Asuna's soul and locked her here. The man Kirito could never hate enough.
"Oberon--no, Sugou!"
Asuna, almost flat against the floor, lifted her face and shouted with a fierce expression.
"I saw everything you were doing! Those horrible things... I will never allow them. Never!"
"Hmm? Who says you won't allow it? You? Him? Or do you mean God? I'm sorry, but there is no god in this world. Except me. Ha. Ha!"
His words mixed with a grating laugh. Sugou stomped harder on Kirito's head, and Kirito, unable to withstand the crushing gravity, was forced flat against the floor.
"Stop it, you coward!"
At Asuna's words, Sugou bent down and pulled Kirito's sword from his back. He stood the huge blade upright on his extended index finger and spun it vertically, again and again.
"That reminds me, Kirigaya-kun. No... I suppose Kirito is better. I never imagined you would actually make it here. Was it courage, or stupidity? Well, defeating you now would be easy enough, so I'll leave that for later. Heh. I heard my little bird had escaped her cage, so I hurried back to give her a proper lesson. Imagine my surprise when I looked inside and found a cockroach crawling around in there. And speaking of which, there was that strange little program running..."
Sugou stopped speaking and waved his left hand to open a menu window. He looked at the blue-glowing screen with his mouth twisted, then snorted and closed it.
"...I have no idea how you escaped. What exactly happened there? And how did you climb all the way up here?"
"I flew. With these wings."
"Hmph. Fine. I'll just ask your brain directly."
"...What?"
"Did you think I was doing all this because I was bored?"
Sugou kept tossing the sword up with one finger. A venomous smile spread across his face.
"Thanks to the devoted cooperation of former SAO players, the foundations of my research into thought and memory manipulation are nearly eighty percent complete. A divine skill no one has ever mastered before--direct control over the human soul--will soon belong to me! And today I've gained a new test subject. Ah, what a wonderful day! Peeking into your memories, rewriting your emotions... just thinking about it is thrilling!"
"You think... I'll let you do that...?"
Kirito spoke in shock at Sugou's horrifying words. Sugou planted his right foot on Kirito's head again and ground it back and forth, exactly as before.
"You really never learn, do you? Still using a NerveGear to go online? Then I'll make you the same as the other test subjects. You really are a fool. A child. Even a dog remembers after it's been kicked once."
"I will never allow that, Sugou!"
Asuna shouted, her face pale.
"If you lay a hand on Kirito, I'll never forgive you!"
"Little bird, the day is almost here when all that hatred of yours will vanish with the flip of a switch, and you will obey me completely."
He spoke with a look of rapture. One hand held Kirito's sword, while the fingers of his left hand stroked the smooth blade.
"Now then! Before your souls are rewritten, let's enjoy a little party! Ahh... at last. The moment everyone has been waiting for. And the finest guest has arrived too. Waiting this long was worth it!"
Sugou turned away and spread both arms wide.
"Everything that happens in this space is being recorded! So please, give me some beautiful expressions!"
"..."
Asuna bit her lip and stared at Kirito. Then she spoke quickly.
"Kirito, log out. Hurry. Expose Sugou's crimes in the real world. I'll be fine."
"Asuna...!"
For one instant, it felt as if Kirito's body were being torn apart by vines.
But he nodded at once and moved his left hand. With what they knew now, they had enough evidence to bring in a rescue team. If they could stop RECT Progress Inc.'s ALO servers, everything would come to light.
But the window did not appear.
"Ahahahahahaha!!"
Sugou bent over, clutching his stomach as he laughed.
"Didn't I tell you? This is my world. No one can escape from here!"
Heh. Heh.
Sugou's body moved around them almost like he was dancing. Then he suddenly raised his left hand. With a snap of his fingers, two chains dropped from the endless darkness above, rattling as they fell.
At the ends of the chains were wide metal cuffs, their surfaces shining dully. Sugou picked up one end, came in front of Kirito, and snapped it around Asuna's right wrist as she lay on the floor. Then he lightly tugged the chain stretching up into the darkness.
"Ah!"
The chain suddenly reeled upward, lifting Asuna's right hand into the air. It stopped only when the tips of her toes had just left the ground.
"You... What are you doing...?"
Kirito shouted, but Sugou ignored him completely. He only hummed to himself while holding the cuff ring in one hand.
"I've prepared all kinds of little toys. Well, let's start with this."
As he spoke, he fastened the other cuff around Asuna's left wrist. It locked shut. Then that chain also reeled upward, pulling both her arms high and suspending her in the air. Under the crushing gravity, her beautiful brows twisted in pain.
Sugou folded his arms in front of Asuna and gave a vulgar whistle.
"Very nice. That face really isn't like an NPC girl's at all."
"...!"
Asuna glared at Sugou, then lowered her head and closed her eyes.
A low, unpleasant chuckle rose from Sugou's throat. He slowly walked behind her, gathered a long lock of her hair in his hands, and inhaled deeply.
"Mm. Such a good smell. Recreating Asuna's real-world scent was not easy. I really should praise the analyzer sitting in her hospital room for all its hard work."
"Stop it... Sugou!!"
Rage Kirito could no longer hold back spread through his whole body. Red fire raced along his nerves. For one instant, he forced the gravity pressing down on him aside.
"Ngh... oh..."
He braced himself with his right hand and slowly pushed off the floor. Down on one knee, he poured every last bit of strength into his leg and started to rise.
Sugou struck a theatrical pose, left hand on his hip, shaking his head from side to side. He walked over to Kirito and twisted his mouth.
"My, my. An audience member should stay nice and quiet... on the floor!"
Something swept Kirito's legs out from under him. With his support gone, he crashed back down.
"Gah!"
The impact struck his lungs so hard it felt as if the air had been crushed out of him. He cried out despite himself. Planting both hands on the floor again, he lifted his head.
Sugou's lips curled into a poisonous smile.
Then, with Kirito's sword in his right hand, he drove it into Kirito's back.
"Ah...!"
The sensation of thick metal piercing his body snuffed out the rage burning through him. The sword passed through the center of his chest and sank deep into the floor. There was no pain, but a powerful, sickening discomfort washed over him.
"Ki... Kirito!!"
Asuna screamed. Kirito tried to tell her he was all right.
Sugou was faster. He looked up into the darkness overhead and said,
"System command. Pain Absorber, set to Level 8."
The moment he finished speaking, pure pain stabbed into Kirito's spine and spread through his entire back at terrifying speed.
"...Guh..."
Kirito groaned. Sugou laughed happily.
"Heh, heh, heh. I still have two more side dishes to go with the wine. The higher the level, the stronger the pain, so do your best to entertain me. If it's below Level 3, those marvelous symptoms may even linger after logout."
Then he clapped his hands and returned behind Asuna.
"Let... let Kirito go right now, Sugou!"
Asuna shouted. Sugou, naturally, acted as if he had not heard her.
"I hate children like him the most. No talent, no background, nothing at all--just a bug whose mouth happens to be a little better than the rest. Heh. Pinned there like an insect in a specimen box, unable to move. And you, my little bird? In your current position, you still have room to worry about him?"
Sugou reached from behind her and traced Asuna's cheek with his index finger. Asuna twisted her head away, trying to avoid him, but the heavy gravity would not let her move.
His fingers continued crawling over her face, then suddenly slid down to her neck. Asuna's expression twisted with disgust.
"Stop... Sugou!"
Kirito shouted as he desperately tried to push himself up. But Asuna showed him a brave smile, her voice trembling.
"I'm all right, Kirito. This won't hurt me."
Sugou let out another grating chuckle.
"This won't hurt you? You always do cling to that pride of yours. How long can you keep it up? Thirty minutes? An hour? A full day? Please, last as long as you can. Make this fun for me!"
As he shouted, Sugou's right hand grabbed the red ribbon at the chest of Asuna's dress. He tore it down together with the fabric. The blood-red ribbon drifted silently through the air and fell powerlessly in front of Kirito.
Through the torn opening of the damaged dress, pale skin was visible. Asuna's face bent in humiliation, and the corners of her tightly shut eyes trembled slightly.
Sugou tilted his head, reached his right hand toward Asuna's exposed skin, and grinned. His lips split like a crescent moon, and a blood-red tongue slid out. With a wet sound, he licked Asuna's cheek.
"Heh. Heh. Do you want me to tell you what I'm thinking right now?"
Tongue still out, Sugou whispered in Asuna's ear in a feverish voice.
"After I've had my fun here, I'll go to your hospital room. Lock the door, turn off the camera, and then that room will be sealed. Just you and me. I'll set up a huge monitor there, play today's recording, and enjoy you again. Your real body this time. First I'll take the purity of your heart, and then I'll violate your chastity! Doesn't that sound wonderful? A truly unique experience, don't you think?"
Sugou, his true nature fully exposed, let out a shrill laugh that filled the darkness and dissolved into it.
Asuna opened her eyes for an instant, then pressed her lips tightly shut, still refusing to break.
But the fear she could not suppress became two clear tears that slipped from her long lashes. Sugou licked them from her face.
White-hot rage, hot enough to burn his whole body away, flashed through Kirito's mind like lightning. Sparks filled his eyes.
If he could have the strength to stand now, he would pay any price.
His life. His soul. All of it.
He could become a ghost. A demon. Anything.
As long as he could cut that man down and send Asuna back where she belonged.
The image of Asuna flashed before his eyes, and his thoughts went gray, burned to ash. Rage and despair devoured him. Every thread of reason turned to cinders. He became dry, solid, emptied of thought.
With a sword, anything is possible.
That fantasy world was only a game, made by a company after market research. Yet some people treated it like reality, fooling themselves into believing that if they grew stronger there, their real selves would grow stronger too.
After being freed--or cast out--from SAO and returning to the real world, had he ever felt disappointed by his own weak physical body?
Deep down, had he not still wanted to stay there and keep being a hero?
So when he learned Asuna was trapped in a fantasy world, had he thought his power finally had a use again? That his dream could come true one more time?
Instead of relying on the adults with power in the real world, he had come here recklessly.
That overwhelming fantasy power, stronger than other players--wasn't he only trying to satisfy his own ugly ego?
Then this result was only natural.
Karma.
Wasn't it?
You were just a naive child, drunk on power given to you by someone you never even understood. One ID with system privileges was enough to beat you.
Now all you have left is regret.
If it disgusts you, then stop thinking.
"Do you want to escape from here?"
--No. I've finally accepted the real world.
"You refuse to submit? To the system power you once rejected?"
--What choice do I have? I'm a player. He's a GM.
"Those words insult every battle. From the battles fought by those who stood in the realm of gods and mortals, I learned that human will is far stronger than system authority, and filled with far greater possibilities."
--Battle? None of it means anything. It's just numbers going up and down.
"That is not true. You were once on that list too. Stand. Stand up. Grip your sword. Do not give up. Never give up. Use your flesh and blood. Spend your thoughts. Wring out your will. No matter how hopeless the situation before you, keep thinking of a way through it. If you do, you can reach it too."
"In that uncharted realm where others have already stepped, where the air is thick with blood sprayed from the clash of only two swords, dig into every possibility of your soul. Then use that power to deny everything. Stand up, Kirito!!"
...
Satoru knelt on the ground, breathing like a dying fish washed ashore.
He clung to the wall as if it were the last thing left in the world, dragging together the final scraps of strength he needed to keep his fading consciousness from slipping away.
"Satoru... you still haven't stopped that state?" Rinko asked in disbelief, sensing something was wrong.
"To be honest, I wasn't sure it could be stopped, Rinko-san. You said it yourself, didn't you? This isn't something a human can control."
Satoru forced a weak smile and struggled to raise his head.
"But... can I keep going?"
"No. I'm already searching every piece of data on the server. You don't need to--"
"There are some things a system search can't find. In that world, I ran into more than enough inexplicable feelings like this. Just like now. Rinko-san, stop working for a moment. Are you ready? This is a reunion after a very long time."
Satoru spoke softly.
"What...?" Rinko asked, confused.
"You're here, aren't you, Kayaba?"
Satoru spoke into the empty air, and the words made Rinko's whole body tremble.
"For some reason, I just felt it. This really takes me back."
His voice echoed faintly down the hallway.
No one answered. In the other world, Rinko held her breath.
A long silence followed.
"It has been a long time, Satoru. But to me, that day feels as if it happened yesterday."
A hoarse voice came from nowhere.
The smile on Satoru's face deepened, and Rinko trembled at the sound of that ghostlike voice.
"Akihiko...?"
She swallowed down the emotions rising from deep inside her and murmured unsteadily.
Satoru fell silent at exactly the right moment.
"Rinko, are you the one who established this additional connection?"
The scholar's calm voice sounded again.
"Yes. It's me. It's me! Akihiko, are you there?!"
Rinko's voice rose sharply. The intellect and composure that usually defined her were gone. All that remained was a frenzy almost like the state Satoru had been in earlier.
Faced with Rinko's sobs, the silence stretched for a long time before the answer came.
"I am only a resonance of Kayaba's consciousness. Nothing more than a residual image."
The voice was emotionless, but a faint melancholy clung to it.
"The man called Kayaba performed a powerful scan of his own brain at the moment before his death. The result was this 'me.' I am something that can only awaken when the programs stored in fragments by the system are combined."
Something.
That was how he referred to himself.
Dead...?
Rinko Koujiro froze in front of the computer, staring silently at the black screen. For her, the only thing connecting her to that world was his voice. And now, a new gulf had opened between them: the world of the living and the world of the dead.
"Not thought itself, not consciousness itself. Only something vague. And yet, in this state, I was detected by people of Fluctlight, who can sense the faintest and most delicate nuances... When ordinary searches could not find me, mere humans still did. It is rather..."
He gave a wry smile.
Satoru remained silent.
If possible, he wanted that voice to speak more with Rinko, not with him.
"So it has come to this. These days, even Makoto Kaizuka's true adaptability may not surpass yours."
"Is that supposed to be something to be proud of? To me, none of this has any meaning."
Satoru closed his eyes tightly, offering his final respect to the strongest creator he had ever met.
"What I want is for you to tell me where Sheeta is."
"A support program...?" the distant voice murmured. "The man called Kayaba never interfered with it in any way. The memories I possess go no further than that."
"..."
Satoru laughed bitterly.
"But if I am going to search for her, it can only be somewhere in this infinitely expanded virtual world. Just as you can sense me, you should be able to sense her. That program is no longer just code and numbers. It is something far more radiant than this meaningless self of mine."
"In the realm of gods and mortals, both humans and artificial intelligence are seeds. If that is true, then fate must exist as well."
"Satoru, in that case, I will give you the key. This too is Kayaba's will."
As he finished speaking, something silver and bright fell from the distant darkness.
Satoru reached out with difficulty and watched the shining crystal hover in his palm.
"What is this...?"
"The seed of the world. The cornerstone of infinity. How it sprouts, however, is up to you."
The voice paused, just for a moment.
"For Kayaba, it was no more than a childish fantasy of his own. Yet in the end, by chance, it grew into something even he could not have predicted. Something of a higher dimension."
"The human world really is... unpredictable."
The voice gradually faded, as if it were leaving.
Only then did Rinko snap out of her daze, her voice full of grief.
"Akihiko, wait! Kayaba--! You bastard! Wait!"
No voice answered her.
Satoru struggled to his feet and stared at the window that had appeared before him.
"The top-ranked account... Heathcliff?"
He watched the man stagger into view. Those elegant, noble features were now warped by fury. Even the most luxurious avatar could not hide the venom in his heart.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Why?! Why?! Why did you break free?! I am supposed to be the god of this world!!"
He roared.
I leave this judgment to you as well.
That hoarse voice echoed in Satoru's ears alone.
Immediately afterward, some information seemed to pour into him. His golden eyes flared again.
"Who are you...? How did you get into the Central Region?"
The noble Light Elf looked at Satoru standing there alone and asked in confusion.
"Are you... Nobuyuki Sugou?"
The Salamander asked quietly, golden eyes fixed on him.
"You know?"
The man froze for a second, then seemed to decide he understood.
"Oh, so you're another piece of trash who snuck in? Fine. Perfect. I'm in a terrible mood right now, but I don't have time for you. Become a new test subject for me. After I log out and deal with that damn brat, I'll make sure to squeeze every bit of value out of all of you!"
The Salamander said nothing. He only watched him.
Then he opened a menu window and began entering commands one by one, explaining each as he went.
"Sword Skill Calibration System, activate."
"Avatar Adaptability Optimization, activate."
"FullDive Resources, set to maximum."
"Limit Acceleration Assist, raise from Level 3 to Level 8."
"Neural Read Extraction Stimulus, change from Safe to Dangerous."
"Automatic Mental Care System, deactivate."
"Pain threshold, set to Level 10."
"You... What are you doing?"
"Don't worry. This isn't for me. It's a gift for you. Kayaba once relied on these to barely enter that realm. It is considered the strongest state in a virtual world, and I am giving it to you without holding anything back, Fairy King."
The Salamander's voice reached him faintly. He sounded utterly exhausted.
But his words, and that gaze, filled Sugou with unease.
As the commands took effect, Sugou felt every sensation in his body begin to change. No--not change. Become pain. His nerves seemed to curl in on themselves, and his whole body began to tremble.
"W-what... is this?!"
His face twisted.
"It will hurt. A great deal. I've gotten used to it, though. Numb to it, even," the Salamander said flatly. "When both sides are Fluctlights, the damage they inflict on each other cuts deeper into the soul. Since that rule exists, I'm telling you in advance, in the interest of fairness. Also, I set the pain threshold to the highest level."
"Under these conditions, if someone drives a sword straight through the heart, I honestly don't know whether that person would die."
Sugou's eyes widened as he fought against the sudden discomfort and the stabbing pain in his brain.
"You... you... What are you trying to do?!"
"Why are you surprised? I'm taking the same risk you are. If you stab me through the heart, that would end it, wouldn't it?"
The Salamander gave him a calm smile.
"I'll give you a reward. Holy Sword Excalibur, manifest."
The golden holy sword appeared directly in front of Sugou.
"Then let's begin."
The Salamander slowly stepped forward.
"Wait! Wait...!"
"This is the price. If you want to manipulate the swordsmen of that world, then you need strength worthy of that desire. As for whether you have the right--I, the Terminator of Aincrad, will judge you."
The smile vanished from the Salamander's face.
"You toyed with the world where she once existed. To me, that is already a capital offense."
Sugou had no time to react.
Satoru had already stabbed him through the heart.
In his soul, his mind, his muscles, his nerves, and his avatar, a doubled agony exploded through him-merciless, brutal, and absolute.