Chapter 22: SAO 4

Kibaou scowled as he stomped down the road. He was not having a good day. That damned couple snuck another kid out of his control last night. Didn't those bastards understand that they need to contribute to the cause if they want to get out of this damned game?

But no, they keep undermining his authority. Just like those damned assholes, Rondo, Diabel, and Lind. And now there was another guild leader, Heathcliff. But he's found the solution to his problem now. It's just a matter of time before the psychos of Laughing Coffin take them all out.

Kibaou didn't consider himself a bad person, so he wouldn't do that kind of thing personally. But if he can find someone to take care of problems so he can get the work done he knows needs to be done so they can get out of this damned game? Then he's going to take that opportunity.

His day started out bad with news of that damned couple. And now he had gotten news that a couple groups lost control of the hunting grounds they were in charge of. Several groups of people were able to spend all day killing mobs without paying the tax.

Kibaou snorted. They tried to tell him some cock n' bull story of being haunted. Idiots, there were no ghosts in the freaking game. So now he had to make a trip to the hunting ground to set those idiots straight, and make sure they got paid appropriately for the hard work they did in taking charge in this death game and making sure everything was regulated. Making sure every player is safe was an important job. And it took a lot of capital to run, so it's only fair for the players to pay him for their own safety.

Kibaou had just crossed a bridge when something whacked him in the back, causing him to stumble off the trail, tumbling down a ravine.

"Who the hell was that?!" Kibaou angrily exclaimed, looking for who hit him. Looking up the ravine he fell down, Kibaou saw that there was a fallen tree across the path that hit him in the back. "What the hell?"

Kibaou then started hearing whispers in the shadows of the forest. Nervously looking around, he scanned the area for the players he knew had to be hiding there. "Who's there?" He shouted. "Come on out in the open!"

Getting no response, but hearing someone moving in the forest, Kibaou nervously unsheathed his sword. Whoever this was doing this was in trouble! He wasn't going to stand for this nonsense.

Kibaou then began climbing up the small ravine back to the trail. He heard a noise behind him that startled him, and he started to spin around to see what it was, when he lost his footing and started to fall. Flailing with the hand that didn't hold a sword, he caught something to steady himself while feeling his sword hit something.

Only after taking a moment to breathe in relief did Kibaou realize that the thing he'd grabbed to steady himself was leather. He looked up. There was a black clad man wearing a Noh mask so he couldn't see who it was. He was looking down.

Kibaou followed his gaze down and saw that his sword was impaled in the man's leg.

"Oops." The dark clad man said.

Kibaou looked back up at the man, and saw he was now looking above Kibaou's head. Glancing up, Kibaou noticed the green diamond above the Noh masked man's head, before seeing his own diamond had turned orange.

The last thing Kibaou saw was a blur as the black clad man in a Noh mask attacked.

Carl looked down at the bag of loot representing the end of Kibaou's life in disgust. "The moment you started hiring killers to murder people who were inconvenient, is the moment you turned into a monster Kibaou. Hopefully you'll be a better person in your next life."

Carl picked up the bag and stuffed it in his inventory. No sense in leaving it to go to waste. He made his way back to town. Hopefully with the ringleader and instigator gone, cleaning up the mess left by Kibaou would be a bit easier.

Over the next couple of weeks, Carl worked hard to ensure the players that were being taken advantage of in the starter town had a start on getting independent from the protection racket.

Carl spent time meeting with the couple that kept sneaking the young 8-12 year olds away from Kibaou's control. He brought the kids out with him to low level hunting grounds, and taught them how to fight as a group. That way even the kids could be self sufficient by hunting low level mobs. The kids probably wouldn't ever get to the point they were helping them clear the floor bosses, but enabling them to survive on their own efforts instead of slaving away for tyrants allowed them to eat better, and be happier.

When Carl was checking out the starter town, he also discovered that an enterprising group of players had set up a brothel. Carl spent some time investigating how it was organized. If the women employed in the brothel made the decision to live that life instead of risking their deaths by hunting, Carl wouldn't care. But if they were being forced into it by higher level players that didn't let them hunt, and it was the only way to stay fed, then Carl had some issues with that.

After some discrete investigations, and questioning, Carl discovered that only about 1/5th of the girls working there actually professed to enjoying the lifestyle. Carl wasn't sure if they truly felt that way, or were avoiding angering the people who locked them up. But the rest of the girls had definitely been forced into it so the pimps could have enough girls on tap to make their money.

Carl pondered how he was going to do this. He couldn't just go in, sword swinging because the pimps were still green. They hadn't used any direct violence against the girls, just put them in situations that the only way to stay fed and alive was to give in to their demands.

So attacking and killing the pimps, while it would be satisfying, would turn him orange permanently, which he wanted to avoid. Despite the evilness of what they were doing, the guards and pimps had mostly intimidated and used fear tactics to keep the young girls in line, rather than violence. So Carl had to figure out a way to bring the girls that didn't want to be there out without initiating the violence.

After thinking for a moment, Carl realized he could take some inspiration from Jackie Chan. Make use of the environment. Every chair, bucket, and ladder would be his tool to trip up the guards and ensure they couldn't intervene and block the girls in.

First things first, though. Unless the girls were clued in to what was happening, they would probably put up as much of a fight as the guards did. So Carl tested something he'd been reluctant to do while in the simulation. Use magic.

Kayaba, that mad man, had set up the world of Aincrad to be one of swords and fighting, not magic. So Carl wasn't sure if using magic here would alert the AI Cardinal or not. But for this unobtrusive action, Carl decided he would test it. The AI had obviously not noticed his Warehouse so far, so that meant the AI wasn't perfect.

But would his own portal magic also fly under the radar? That, Carl wasn't sure of, because the magic of the Warehouse was much better than his portals. But would Kayaba actually program the AI to check for magic when magic wasn't programmed in to the simulation and humans of this world didn't use magic? Carl thought he would probably be alright, as the idea that Kayaba could anticipate someone who he trapped in the game being able to use real magic was quite a stretch.

He opened up a small portal to transfer a small pouch from one side of town to the other. He deposited the empty pouch in an out of the way place. And then he waited for several hours.

Several hours of tense but boredom inducing time spent, and nothing happened. No notices by the AI, nothing came to investigate him or attack him for being unnatural. Carl decided he was in the clear, as long as he did subtle things and not anything too flashy.

So early the next day, when the brothel was in its downtime, Carl started opening portals to each of the girl's rooms and dropped a small package to each of them that they would notice upon waking up.

Each package had a note explaining how he would jail break them if they wanted him to. The notes were enchanted to make sure they couldn't share the information with anyone who didn't get the note. And only the girls could read the note.

If they wanted to be free of the brothel, they had to be ready the next morning. If they wanted out, they should hang the little door hanger decoration on their rooms door knob. Carl would take care of the rest.

Carl decided to use magic to inform the girls of the jail break, but he would be using mundane methods to enact the actual jail break. The AI might ignore a few packages being delivered by magic in a low priority area. But he didn't think the AI would ignore the strange goings on caused by magic if there was a lot of excitement around many players, and players started teleporting around without teleport crystals. It would be obligated to investigate more deeply then.

Carl suddenly stopped, and hit himself in the forehead.

"Change of plans…" Carl muttered to himself. "Just because I never use them, I can't believe I forgot about teleport crystals. Idiot!"

He hurriedly went and consulted with the Yamato couple that were so ardent in their attempts to help the young orphan kids. When he got their agreement to help, he purchased enough teleport crystals for each girl in the brothel, and set them to teleport them to the building the orphans were at.

He then hurriedly made up new care packages for the girls and exchanged them with his first, too complicated, attempt.

He realized that the girls might be too wary of falling into a worse trap than they were already in, so he included in his note an urging for any of the girls that escaped via the teleport crystal to contact the other girls to let them know if it was safe or not. He also included recordings from the Yamatos telling the girls to take the chance to escape. He was sure many of the girls would have heard the gossip about the Yamatos from the players that visited.

He also included an alarm clock in the second package. Why wait for them to wake up later in the day and have the possibility of their guards doing something rash, when he can control when they wake up and ensure they were all on the same page at the same time?

That afternoon, Carl saw that about half of the girls teleported out of the brothel. They were welcomed by the Yamato couple, and the few other adults that spent their time and energy making sure the orphan kids, as they were called, were taken care of.

Once the girls were sure that it wasn't a trap, they contacted their friends that were still in the brothel. All the rest of the girls showed up after that. Carl had been right, no girl truly wants to be forced into prostitution, they were just mouthing the words to survive.

Carl watched as the three groups, the adults, the kids, and the girls, warily interacted at first. Their past year had taught them to be wary of outsiders and anything that sounded too good to be true. But soon enough, the ice was broken and they started getting along.

Carl stayed with the group for a couple more weeks to help the groups get up to speed on combat and hunting mobs for their dinner. The girls especially took to the lessons with zeal. They didn't want to ever be helpless again and be trapped into selling their bodies.

Carl had found out that there were a couple girls that stayed behind in the brothel for whatever reason. The brothel owners were quite angry and some of them resorted to violence on the girls to express that anger. When Carl discovered that some of them turned orange temporarily, he struck before they could turn back to green.

With the majority of their girls teleporting out whenever they managed to capture another one, and with some of their fellow pimps dying, the rest of the low life scum reformed real quick and treated the few girls that remained with kids gloves.

When Carl had thought about the girls that remained in the brothels, he decided against any more intervention. If the girls weren't even willing to extend the effort needed to activate their teleport crystal and take a chance on a better life, then that was their call. There was only so much he could do to help others out of their own situation. If they weren't willing to put forth effort to change their circumstances, then Carl wasn't going to waste any more time on the situation.

He had already spent enough time cleaning up the mess caused by low life scum. He had been away from the front lines for nearly a month. He had to get back there or he would be left behind.

He bid farewell to the orphan kids, the ex-brothel girls, and the adults that watched over them to return to the grind. He had been interacting with them in his Rondo personality. His Grutter identity was a ninja, so he wouldn't be hanging around all the time. Ninja's weren't to be seen!

For the rest of his time in Aincrad, Carl would travel back to spend time with the group every few weeks to check up on them and make sure they were still doing good. It always raised Carl's mood to see how well the group was doing now that they were independent and able to protect themselves.

Over time, as their levels rose from hunting mobs to keep fed, the ragtag group began moving up floors to hunt more mobs, get better crafting drops, and better food. Carl was happy to see they were doing good. And spending a couple days with them every few weeks was a good way to unwind.

When Carl returned to the front lines, he found that the clearing raids were about to clear the 41st floor. By this point, the average level of the players was 209. Carl was relieved that he had been far enough ahead from his grinding that he hadn't actually slipped behind, but the gap was narrowed, because he hadn't been hunting high level mobs.

Carl was level 223, so aside from missing out on the crafting materials and items from level 38 to 41, he was still quite prepared to re-join the boss hunting.

The giant Rose Bush boss on the 41st floor was a bit different from the regular bosses, but it had some nasty abilities. Shooting thorns, pollen bombs, and bee summons kept the players on their toes. But they managed to prevail in the end with no casualties.

The raid groups continued their swift and, as safe as they could make it, clearing schedule of a floor a week. The pace for most of the players was brutal. Nearly every waking moment was taken up by the driven need to grind. Grind out levels and skills, in preparation for the boss fights.

But despite the brutal, relentless, pace, there was almost no one who complained. At least not where anyone else could hear. The clearing groups had a sense of purpose. They knew their quest was noble. They were the ones giving hope to every other player that one day they could escape this death trap and return home.

Even the players that weren't directly involved in the boss fights, like the crafters, knew in their hearts that they were a vital part of the effort. They kept the front line fighters supplied, geared, and ready to fight. Everyone had a sense of purpose that was difficult to find back in the real world.

Carl wondered if this situation, this community effort, this sense of everyone in concert, was the real reason Kayaba created this world and trapped everyone in it. "Man is a social animal." Carl remembered clearly those words from Spere 037. Kayaba could have ruled a world of digital persons in his own creation all on his own. But he apparently felt that he just couldn't enjoy it on his own. He had to have other people there to experience it with.

"…so all reports say everyone is ready. We'll meet up tomorrow at 10 a.m. as usual to attack the boss, unless there are any objections?" Heathcliff said as he prepared to end the meeting for the 49th floor boss fight.

Carl stood up. "I don't really have an objection to the plan, so much as an observation." Carl commented. He was usually hit and miss on the meetings. He didn't really care what the plan was for fighting the boss. He would follow along with what the guild leaders came up with, since they knew their men best.

Heathcliff stared at him for a moment. "Yes, Rondo? What is it?"

Carl briefly smiled. He knew the guild leaders were mildly uncomfortable about not being in charge of him, but he'd proven too useful in the past to leave him completely out of the loop.

"Well, my observation has to do with the fighters. I think it would be good to slow down the pace a bit for the next couple of weeks after this boss. Everyone is enthusiastic, and working hard. But even back in the regular world, people took vacations and breaks to de-stress from work. We're in a much more stressful environment, so I think throwing a couple of parties to let people unwind would benefit everyone in the long run." Carl suggested.

Heathcliff and Diabel got thoughtful looks on their faces. They looked to their seconds and advisors to see their opinion on the matter.

"He's got a point." One craggy faced old man in charge of the crafters finally admitted. "People aren't robots, able to go nonstop for so long. Our people have been amazing in what they've pulled off, but it would be a good idea to give them a bit more rest for a bit. Re-energize the battery, so to speak."

"Okay. After this boss fight, we'll stretch the next two into two weeks, instead of pushing for one. We'll have a party after the fight to relax, and take it easy for a week." Heathcliff announced after consulting with Diabel.

The meeting adjourned, and Carl left to meet with Agil, Kirito, and Asuna for an evening meal.

"Hey guys, how are you?" Carl asked as he sat down at the table the group had reserved for them.

"Doing good, my man. Business is booming." Agil responded.

"Good, good." Carl responded. He noticed that Asuna was blushing and nudging Kirito, while Kirito looked happy but embarrassed.

"We've got an announcement." Kirito finally said at Asuna's insistence. "Asuna and I are going to get married." He proudly stated.

"Congratulations!" Carl and Agil both said.

"A toast, for the lovely couple." Agil raised his glass.

"Cheers! To the lovely, and deadly, duo!" Carl followed Agil in raising his glass. He could see Asuna's happiness rise at their response.

"So we were thinking of taking a break after this boss for a couple weeks for a honeymoon…" Asuna started explaining their plans as their food arrived.

Carl enjoyed their evening meal, having a good time chatting with his friends. Kirito had really changed over the past year with the help of Asuna. He was no longer the socially awkward teenager. The two were among the best fighters in the raid groups, and their synergy was such that they were known as the Deadly Duo.

Their long time being such a stable part of the raids as members of the Kights of the Blood had done wonders for the two, bringing them out of their shells. They were looked up to and admired by their fellow guild members for their incredible skills. And Kirito had finally settled down into being a part of the guild, and was much more comfortable in social settings.

Asuna had bloomed from the shy thing she'd been back on the first floor. She had almost no hope then of surviving, but she was determined to die trying. Kirito had brought joy and enjoyment of the little things back into her life, giving her a new determination to stay alive to live. She in turn helped him out of his anti-social rut.

Agil over the past year had grown his business shop. He had last set up a store on the 35th level. He was going to be opening another branch up on the 50th level when they got there. Part of the reason he was so successful was because he wasn't money driven. He would always work deals out with the players to get them the best gear he could. He wanted the players to be well equipped to have the best chance at survival. And people recognized what he did for them, so he had many repeat customers.

Carl meanwhile regaled his friends with stories of what the orphans and girls had been up to. Carl's two groups of friends had bonded strongly once they got together a few weeks back.

The orphans had been introduced to the dirty side of human greed that wanted to turn them into little money makers, with not a care for their welfare. So when they met people who genuinely cared for them, they recognized it and reciprocated.

The former brother girls had been as far down in the dumps as they could, with no hope or end of the bad times in sight. When they finally got free, they were determined with a fiery passion to remain free. And they adopted all the orphan kids as their own siblings. There were fiercely determined that the young kids wouldn't have to experience any more of the darkness that human nature brings.

The two groups together would often explode on other adventurers when someone would say a wrong word or joke at their expense causing a big fight over anything from seating at a restaurant, to who had the rights to a hunting ground. Carl had taught them well, and they hadn't lost a fight yet, which amused the hell out of him.

The next day the boss fight went according to plan, the boss went down smoothly without any casualties. When the guild leaders of KoB and DKB announced the party that afternoon and the several day vacation, there was much cheering.

After two weeks off, the group came back with a fire in their bellies, recharged and ready to kick butt. The two week vacation had come at a perfect time, allowing Kirito and Asuna to have their honeymoon without slacking on their responsibilities.

A week later, they had finished off the floor 50 boss, which was a six armed metallic Buddha statue. After downing the boss, Carl helped Agil establish his new shop in the town on the 50th floor.

After which the raids continued their weekly schedule, with every month they would have an extra three days off to take a break. The guild leaders had decided that a regular holiday type break for a party and relaxation would keep everyone in their peak condition. And it worked.

They followed that schedule until they got to the 75th level boss, where the raids encountered a set back. Four people died in the initial attempt at the boss fight. The raid managed to pull back with minimal casualties, but the set back caused them to take the time to have a memorial for the fallen.

The leadership realized that the floor bosses coming up might be more difficult, the higher they rose. At floor 75 the boss was level 375. They had been trying to take it on with the average player level of 380. They made the decision that they would grind up to an average player level of 385 before taking on the boss again.

After taking three weeks to get up to the appropriate level, the information gathering players spent a lot more time looking for good hunting grounds to level the players. The better the grounds, the quicker the raid could level, and the quicker they could kill the boss.

The average time the raid spent on each level dropped down to two weeks. They were determined to avoid any more deaths, and if that meant they spent an extra week grinding levels, then that's what they would do.

The slowed down pace actually let their numbers swell greatly, as the players who were below them started having time to catch up and join the efforts to help the main raid group.

After the 76th floor, a player showed up asking for help revenging his friends who had been killed by a player killer guild named Titan's Hand. Some green players had lured his group out with tales of a promising hunting ground, where the orange players of Titan's Hand had killed them. He had barely escaped them, and came looking for help among the higher level Raid members.

Carl took on the job, following the player down to the 47th floor. After doing some hunting for the player killers, he came across a short beast tamer girl who was being targeted by the PK guild. The guild leader, a pretty girl named Rosalia, would party up with and lure groups of players into an ambush while her orange colored members would kill the group to loot them.

Carl had no mercy for murderers, especially ones who organize the whole murder. So he used his control over the environment to cause the orange players to continually trip and slash the green members of the Titan's Hand PK guild. Once they started fighting each other in earnest, and he helped the orange members finish off the green members from the shadows, he took out the remaining orange members.

He then helped the pitiful beat tamer girl Silica revive her poor dead feathered dragon, Pina. Seeing how the girl Silica had no one to hunt with, and didn't have a lot of time to spare either, he brought her to join The O'nG guild. It was what the orphans and former brothel girls named their guild. With Rondo's recommendation, they were happy to take in Silica into their hunting parties. Especially when they saw the cute little rare dragon that she had, which became the group's mascot.

Carl rejoined the floor clearing operations, where the raid group continued to clear a floor every two weeks. They had cleared the 79th floor the day before the two year anniversary of their being stuck in Aincrad. It was a solemn date for everyone, but their progress in the past two years gave everyone hope that they would be able to win their freedom soon.

The tough pace continued, clearing a floor every two weeks until they reached the 90th floor, where the boss difficulty level raised once more. It took them 21 days until they were ready to defeat the giant 6 meter tall crab boss.

The 91st Wolf boss also took 21 days to prepare for. The boss was level 455, and by now the players needed an average of 15 levels above the boss before they could defeat him.

The average players who weren't involved in the clearing of bosses at first still felt hope that they would get out soon. But as each floor took nearly a month, they resigned themselves to waiting it out for however long. It was already May. How much longer would they be stuck there?

The raid group finished off the 92nd floor boss, the giant house cat boss, on May 27th, 2025. Despite being cute, the battle had been deadly. Hair ball bombs, shrieking sound attacks, it had been a harrowing fight.

The 93rd level boss, a giant praying mantis, had been almost easy in comparison to the cat, since everyone expected a 5 meter tall insect to be tough, but they had been lulled into complacency by the cute exterior of the cat.

The less said about the hippy centaur boss of the 94th level the better.

The giant turtle of the 95th level stymied the group for 25 days. They needed certain items from quests to expose the turtle's vulnerabilities, so they held off fighting him until they had enough hammers to last the fight.

The 95th level boss fight set a theme for the following boss fights. Up until then, they could defeat the boss through their own efforts. But now there were certain quests they needed to complete to gain the items needed to defeat the boss.

They took 25 days to prepare for the giant eagle boss of the 96th level, which required eggs gathered from the quests to fool it into landing so they could attack. Every time they took a quarter of its health off, it flew off again. Which required more eggs to lure it down.

The 97th level boss was a giant puppy that took 26 days to get ready for. They needed a variety of sticks to play fetch to distract him from his charge attack. They needed treats to get him to let players go when he glomped on them. Some people were starting to get pissed at Kayaba for coming up with such ridiculous boss fights.

The 98th boss fight was a griffin that took 28 days to prepare for. After the ferocity of the griffin fight, the players almost wished they could have a nice puppy fight again.

They commemorated the anniversary of their third year trapped in the death game on the 99th level. This year the anniversary of the day they were trapped didn't bother them as much, because they were almost there. Two more bosses, and they would be free.

It was difficult to put into words just how much everyone's feelings swelled with expectation and hope. They only had a couple more bosses and they would be free. Free to go back to their normal lives. Free to see their families again. Free.

Carl took his friends Agil, Kirito, and Asuna to join the O'nG guild for the day's commemoration. He had long since introduced the groups to each other, and everyone got along well. Argo even showed up, somehow she got "intelligence" that it was the place to be on that day.

Carl simply laughed at her joke since he was the "source" of her "intelligence". The group had a picnic barbecue, set off fireworks, and just generally enjoyed each other's company. While everyone was of the opinion that they would have preferred not to be stuck in a death game, they couldn't think of finer people to share it with since they were stuck.

After that, Carl and the other floor clearers returned to their grind.

The 99th level boss took 29 days to prepare for. It was a giant medusa, so everyone needed their own copy of the sunglasses that would protect their vision. Four people's glasses slipped off in that fight, killing them. It had been a while since they had any deaths. The raid worked so well together, they only had 2 deaths since the 75th level. But despite the deaths, no one wanted to pause their pace.

But what really set people back, is that Heathcliff, the leader of KoB had disappeared after the fight. No one could find him. He hadn't died, or his loot bag would have been left behind. He simply, wasn't there anymore.

The members of KoB felt a little lost without their leader. He had been their rock for nearly three years. Kirito and Asuna stepped up to fill the co-leader role. They were the strongest members of KoB and had been leaders for a long time.

And the other thing that caused much consternation amongst the raid members, was that there was no information about the upcoming boss. No one knew what to expect. No matter what quests they completed, they couldn't find any information about the boss.

So they delayed a few more days, and leveled up a bit more. But it was already December 20th. The players couldn't wait anymore. They wanted to chance the boss for the possibility to escape the game before Christmas.

So on the 23rd of December 2025, they entered the boss room. Everyone in the raid, except Carl, was shocked to see Heathcliff standing there, waiting for them.

Heathcliff gave a sort of sad smile. "Welcome everyone. I am the final boss. Defeat me, and you go free."

Carl gave respectful nod. "Kayaba." He greeted the man. If Carl hadn't figured out who he was from his Probing Eye perk before, his knowledge from the jump document that Kayaba was going to be the 100th floor boss would have told him.

Heathcliff raised one eyebrow. "Oh? You don't seem to be surprised at who I am, Rondo." He half asked, half stated.

Both Kayaba and Carl ignored all the shouts of exclamation and squawks of outrage from the other players.

"My real name is Carl." Carl introduced himself. "I suspected a while ago who you were. But since you were helping us so much, I didn't want to out you. I mean, you saw what a mess that dumbass Kibaou made of things when he was in charge. You were an infinitely better leader."

"Is that why you never joined my guild? You knew who I was?" He inquired.

"Nah, it had nothing to do with it. I just didn't want to be restricted. I like helping, but I don't like people order me around." Carl shrugged. "The world you built is pretty amazing. And what's a world without people? You did a good job of building the guild too." Carl complimented.

By now the shock had worn off the raid and they were watching the exchange between the two men, shocked that they were simply exchanging pleasantries, instead of Carl cursing out Kayaba.

Heathcliff/Kayaba gave a pleased smile at the compliment. "Indeed. It has been everything I hoped it would be. But there is only one thing left to do. Defeat me, and everyone will go free." Heathcliff/Kayaba armed himself with his sword and shield. "And no holding back anymore. I want to finally see what you're capable of."

Carl grinned at Heathcliff/Kayaba. "Okay. For a man such as you, I can fulfill your last request." He drew his sword. "Stand back everyone. It's about to get…" And Carl charged.

As he promised, he didn't hold back, he moved and attacked at his fastest speed. The sword light from Carl's slashes looked like one long bright flash to everyone else in the room.

He came to a pause in front of Heathcliff/Kayaba, sword point lowered and pointed at the floor. Carl looked deep into Kayaba's eyes.

"So beautiful..." Kayaba trailed off as the wounds Carl inflicted on him began showing up. His health bar emptied, Kayaba started dissolving into motes of light with a smile on his face.

A system message then flashed in front of every player.

[The level boss of the 100th level defeated. Congratulations players. Simulation ending.]

A moment later, the world dissolved before everyone's eyes.

When Carl opened his eyes again, he saw he was in a private room in a hospital. He sat up after removing his NerveGear from his head. Looking around and seeing no people around, he opened a small portal to place his helmet and one passenger inside his Warehouse. That helmet allowed him to astrally project himself into the virtual world, he's keeping it safe.

Carl looked down at his body, and saw he was a bit skinnier than he was before. Taking in his food intravenously didn't seem to agree with him. But he didn't feel too weak. He noticed a little red blinking light on the nearby monitoring equipment. Carl figured it must be an alarm when his door opened abruptly and a doctor and nurse walked in.

They went through the usual procedures for patients that had been in comas for 3 years. They notified his grandfather, they did their tests, and they scheduled his rehab.

His meeting with his grandpa in this world was touching, and a bit concerning. His grandpa looked like he'd aged a decade or two while Carl had been stuck in Aincrad. Carl did what he could to reassure him that he was fine.

The following couple of weeks were tedious. With so many people watching his every move, he was stuck following their rehab schedule during the day. Even during the night he could only slip into his warehouse for short bursts, because the night nurses kept dropping by to check on him.

Finally, he finished the in-patient rehab and checked all the boxes and was finally allowed to outprocess.

During the time he was in the hospital his grandpa refused all his requests for information on the other players, or other things. He forced Carl to only focus on his rehab. So when he finally got home and got access to his three year old computer, he immediately joined the online group for SAO veterans who wanted to connect with each other.

There he reconnected with all the people he met and cared for in the game. Agil was Andrew Mills, and he had reconnected with his wife who had barely manage to save their café while he'd been under. Carl determined he would just do what he had been doing in the game and help his business prosper. It would at least give him a decent café to hang out at.

Kirito was Kirigaya Kazuto, and he reunited with Asuna, who was Yuuki Asuna. Carl heard the story about how some dude named Sugou Nobuyuki had been trying to pressure Asuna's father into agreeing to a betrothal while she was stuck in the world of Aincrad. Talk about creepy. Luckily, Asuna's father had rejected the offer, holding out hope that she would one day awaken. After Asuna woke up, her father had tentatively brought up the proposed betrothal and she violently rejected it. Her dad went along with her wishes, not wanting to upset her anymore.

It took some time and effort, but Carl finally contacted all the members of the O'nG guild and arranged a meet up at Agil's café.

When everyone finally met in real life, there was a lot of crying, laughing, and joking.

The young orphans had been stuck at the age they entered the game for the three years they were in the game. So suddenly dealing with a body three years older was a huge shock for them. They were all now between the ages of 10-16.

At one point Silica, who was Ayano Keiko in real life and was now 15, sighed deeply in depression at her table.

"What's wrong Silica?" Asked Carl. It would take a while before anyone was used to using their real names.

"I miss Pina. I wish I could have brought her out with me." Keiko sighed.

Carl hummed in thought. He had prepared for this contingency. Looking around the Café, he saw that everyone present were from his friends from the game. No outsiders were present. He felt they were trustworthy. He beckoned Agil, Andrew, over.

"Hey, can you close and lock up early tonight? I've got something to show everyone here."

Seeing the seriousness in his face, Agil nodded and closed up shop.

He gathered everyone up. "Okay, I've got a secret that if I share with you, I need you all to keep it super ultra secret. Not a word to anyone else. Can everyone keep my secret?" Carl trusted them, but he was in the midst of casting a spell that would ensure they kept the secret. It just required their active agreement to keep the secret for the spell to take effect and ensure they couldn't talk about it to anyone else.

"Okay, the big secret is, I've got magic." Carl paused as some of them voiced their disbelief while just grinning. "And to show you I've got magic. Come on out, Pina!" Carl enlarged the portal to his Warehouse that he always kept open, and Pina popped out into the Café.

When he had woken up in the hospital, his warehouse had closed on him due to the transition between Aincrad and the real world. Carl had kidnapped Pina just before the fight with Kayaba in order to bring her into the real world for Keiko, after ensuring his farms would be able to produce more feather dragons. So he had quickly stashed Pina and his helmet into this Warehouse when no one was around after waking up in the hospital.

The squeals of delight from Silica and the other kids hurt his ears, but he just grinned and bore it. Carl was pleased at the joy and disbelief on everyone's face.

Then the barrage of questions came. Yes, he had access to his magic in Aincrad. No, he was very constrained in what he could do, he had no way to get them out from the virtual world aside from following Kayaba's rule of defeating the 100th floor boss. Yes, they can take a tour of his magical Warehouse, dojo, and farms. Yes, he can now raise feather dragons, and everyone can have one if they want. Yes, he can use magic to disguise them so no one realizes what they are and try to take them away.

From that night on, Carl was busy with the O'nG guild and his friends. He used his headquarters that followed him from world to world as a location to hire the members of his guild while they got their lives back in order and their education back on track. He began teaching everyone the martial arts he had learned from the HSDK world so they could defend themselves in real life.

He occasionally joined Kirito and Asuna on their adventures in some of the virtual reality games they eventual joined. First was a fantasy game called Alfheim Online, where magic was a part of the game, and the guild was introduced to Kirito's cousin, Kirigaya Suguha.

The next game they participated in was a shooter game called Gun Gale Online, where the guild participated in a tournament, and took first place.

He attended Kirito and Asuna's wedding, pleased that everything worked out nicely for the couple.

He invested in Agil's café, and supplied many food stuffs and drinks that one couldn't get normally. Especially the Aincrad recipes brought in plenty of business that they had to move to a bigger venue and hire more staff.

He helped his grandfather build his dream of doctors using the next iteration of the NerveGear to get practical experience in surgery so they had less chances of making simple mistakes that cost people lives.

And he just generally enjoyed the next seven years being busy with his friends.