Showdown, July 7th, 2026 AD / November 7th, 380 HE Part 2

Sheer omnipotence.

Gabriel laughed a third time at the fabulous power that rippled through his

very being.

So this was what imagination—or what the elder swordsman had called

Incarnation—could accomplish in this place.

Now he had the same level of power as the swordsman who cut backward in

time or the dark general who transformed into a whirlwind giant—even more

power, in fact. Gabriel had assumed their abilities were the effect of some

system command he didn't know about, but that wasn't true. They simply knew

exactly how strong they were. And it was because this black-haired boy had

exhibited all his little tricks that Gabriel understood how it really worked.

I shall give you one more minute as a sign of my appreciation.

Gabriel spread his six wings and raised his sword of darkness.

Within the next minute, he would carve up this boy's flesh, extract his soul,

and devour it—to gain even greater power.

With dark-purple sparks shrouding his form, Gabriel went into a charge.

I looked up at an enemy that was no longer even human.

There was nothing I could imagine now that he would fear and consider a

threat. Even the right arm that Sinon had blown off was perfectly regenerated,

a sure sign that even bullets would no longer harm him.

In the end, I just didn't have the willpower.

I hadn't underestimated Gabriel Miller. His eerie, alien nature deserved the

highest level of caution. But in a sense, perhaps I had given up on winning this

fight before it even started for that very reason. I was thinking only of buying

time, extending the fight until Alice and Asuna could escape, so that both he

and I would be trapped in Hell for two hundred years, never to return to reality.

Oh…that's it.

Maybe…I wanted this to happen?

A true other reality, something greater than even Aincrad. The utopia that

Akihiko Kayaba wanted and tried to create. Wasn't that what the Underworld

really was?

In the two years I'd spent trapped in SAO, I'd constantly asked myself whether

I really wanted to escape. The reason that I was a hesitant member of the

frontier group that pushed to clear the game was because I felt a vague

premonition that there was a hard time limit on how long I could live there.

With my body stuck in a hospital bed and living off only fluids, it was just a

matter of time before I wasted away physically.

But in the accelerated time flow of the Underworld, that wasn't a concern.

With five million seconds passing here for each one second in reality, there was

no need to think about my physical body. I would remain in this world until the

life span of my soul reached its end. Could I really claim that I wasn't

entertaining that thought, even if only in my subconscious?

And for what result? I wasn't thinking about them.

Suguha, Mom, Dad.

Yui, Klein, Agil, Liz, Silica…all the many other people who'd saved me.

And Alice.

Asuna.

All those people who would mourn my loss and shed tears of grief.

In the end, I was a person who was incapable of truly knowing another

person's mind.

Nothing about me had changed from the time I'd abandoned that friend in

need during middle school…

You're wrong, Kirito.

A familiar voice.

A faint warmth in my frozen left hand.

If you don't want to leave this world, then it's not for your own sake. It's

because you love the people you met here.

Selka, Tiese, Ronie, Miss Liena, the people in Rulid, the people you met in

Centoria and at the academy, the Integrity Knights and men-at-arms…and

Cardinal, and maybe even Administrator…and probably me.

Your love is huge and wide and deep. Enough to bear the weight of the entire

world.

But the same can't be said of your opponent.

That man is the one who doesn't know others. He cannot understand them.

That's why he seeks. And tries to steal. And tries to destroy. It's because…

He fears us.

Gabriel Miller saw the delicate tears trickle down the boy's cheeks. His swordbearing hands curled inward toward his chest in fright.

He had succumbed to fear at last.

The fear and despair of death was the one emotion that Gabriel actually

shared with other people.

From the day that he'd taken Alicia Clingerman into the woods behind his

house to kill her, Gabriel had ended the lives of many people, seeking the

shining brilliance of the soul. But he never again saw the cloud of light that he'd

witnessed emerging from Alicia's forehead. Instead, he slaked his thirst by

tasting the fear of his victims.

What flavor would he taste in the fear of this boy, who was so endlessly

confident in himself? The old hunger and thirst roared up from the foundation

of his being. Gabriel licked his lips and held his outstretched fingers high.

Little black orbs appeared and buzzed like flies. He lowered his fingers, and

the orbs surged with very fine lasers that jabbed into the boy's body from all

angles. Moments later, blood sprayed from him in a red mist.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!" bellowed Gabriel, rushing downward with his empty

sword at the ready.

He easily thrust it through the boy's stomach.

The torso covered in a black shirt and coat was ripped apart by the howling,

hungering void and split effortlessly in two.

Blood and flesh, bone and organ, all went flying.

Gabriel thrust his left hand into the midst of that precious ruby-red splatter.

He grabbed the largest pulsating jewel of all—the heart hanging from the boy's

chest—and tore it free.

In his palm, the bloody mass continued beating in resistance. Gabriel lifted it

to his mouth and, with no expression whatsoever on his face, whispered to the

dying boy.

"I will now devour your feelings, your memories, your mind and soul…your

everything," said the Angel of Death. I could barely keep my eyelids open to

see.

Gabriel Miller's colorless lips opened wide, and as if biting into a ripe apple,

his sharp teeth touched the heart he'd stolen from me.

…Creshk.

It made a horrible, bloodcurdling sound.

His mouth gaped and gushed with blood. It wasn't my blood, however.

And there could be no faulting him for his reaction. He'd bitten down on

countless tiny razors that I'd generated with steel elements inside my heart.

"Urgh," Gabriel grunted, bringing a hand to his mouth and backing away.

Ragged, I said, "As if you would find…the mind or memory…in there. The body

is just…a vessel. Memories…are always…"

…in here. Blended together with my consciousness, fused into one, never to be

separated.

The pain of having my heart torn out was so great that I couldn't even call it

pain anymore. But this one moment was going to be my last and greatest

chance. I would not get another one.

Even Eugeo had continued fighting with his body split in two. I spread my

swords to either side, my blood spraying everywhere, and shouted, "Release

Recollection!!"

Pure white and pitch-black exploded together.

The Blue Rose Sword, pointed straight ahead, emitted many vines of ice,

which wrapped themselves dozens of times around Gabriel's body.

And the Night-Sky Blade, pointed straight up, formed a great pillar of darkness

that stretched to the heavens.

The beam of black light extended with a tremendous roar, splitting the

bloodred sky to go even beyond it, as if colliding with the sun itself, and spread

in every direction.

The sky was covered.

That bloodred color was painted over with stunning speed, and the light of

day was drowned out.

The darkness soon reached the horizon, then spread even farther beyond it.

But this was not the darkness of emptiness. It had a smooth texture and a

faint warmth to it.

Infinite night.

At the base of the eerie, looming rocks that dotted the empty wasteland,

Sinon lay alone, quietly waiting for the last of her HP to run out.

The wounds where her legs had been blown off itched and stung endlessly,

clouding her thoughts. She clutched the chain around her neck as though it

were her lifeline, but she could tell that her arm was going steadily more numb.

As her thoughts faded, she began to wonder whether this was a sign of her

log-out approaching or whether she was approaching actual unconsciousness—

and that was when the color of the sky changed.

At noon, the eerie bloodred sky began to turn totally black with astonishing

speed, starting in the south. The light of the sun was blotted out, the gray

clouds vanished—and in a blink, the darkness enveloped Sinon.

But in fact, this was not total blackness.

There was a faint, ever-present source of light trickling onto the rocks

overhead, the barren tree trunks, and even the chain around her neck. A gentle

breeze blew past, rustling her bangs.

It was night. The curtain of night, gently embracing the world to heal it.

Suddenly, Sinon found herself recalling a scene from her distant past.

It was a desert night in a different world. Racked with the pain of an incident

that had happened to her as a child, Sinon had hurled her agony at Kirito and

bawled. The strength and tenderness he'd shown her by hugging and accepting

her seemed to fill the starry sky above them.

That's it. This night…it's Kirito's heart.

He wasn't the blazing sun. He wasn't the sort to stand above everyone else

and lead them with his radiance. But he would support you from behind when

times were tough. He would ease your sadness and dry your tears. Like the

stars that shone delicately but constantly. Like the night.

Kirito was engaging in combat with Subtilizer—Emperor Vecta—to protect

this world and all the lives within it. He would be fighting back against a vast

enemy, fighting and fighting and wringing every last ounce of strength he

possessed.

Then please—let my heart reach him, too, Sinon prayed, gazing up at the night

sky with teary eyes.

Directly overhead, a single pale-blue star flickered.

Leafa lay amid the throng of orcs and pugilists, also awaiting the end.

She no longer had the strength to stomp her foot and make use of Terraria's

healing power. Her body, lacerated and pierced by countless blades, was as cold

as ice. She couldn't move a finger.

"Leafa…don't die! Yoh not supposed ta die!!" howled Lilpilin, the chief of the

orcs, who knelt at her side. Tears filled his beady eyes.

She gazed at him with a little smile and whispered, "Don't…cry. I know…I will

come…back."

When he responded to this by hunching over further, shoulders trembling,

Leafa thought, I couldn't save Big Brother directly, but this was still for the best. I

fulfilled my role. Didn't I…?

That very moment, as if in response to the voice of her heart, the color

vanished from the sky.

The red atmosphere of the Dark Territory suddenly plunged into darkness.

Cries of shock and alarm arose from the orcs and pugilists. Even Lilpilin lifted his

soggy face to stare in disbelief.

But Leafa was neither shocked nor afraid. She could sense the scent of her

brother in the gentle night breeze from the south that followed the darkness

and caressed her cheek.

"Big Brother…," she murmured, taking a deep breath.

Kirito was the person Suguha was closest to in her life—and also the most

distant.

Before he discovered the truth on his own, he must have subconsciously

sensed that all was not as it seemed—that his mother and father weren't his

real parents. From the moment Suguha was old enough to understand, Kirito

was plagued by a shadow of loneliness and isolation. He didn't try to form close

ties with anyone else, and the moment it seemed like friendship was about to

bloom, he destroyed it himself.

That tendency led him into an online-game obsession, and the fact that his

obsession gave him the role of "the hero who saved SAO" didn't seem like an

ironic coincidence to Suguha. She didn't think it was preordained salvation for

him, either.

It was a path that her brother chose for himself. One that he would not run

away from, but strive to bear as best he could. That was the strength Kirito

possessed.

This night sky was nothing less than proof that Kirito chose to shoulder the

burden of the world and everyone who lived in it. And that was because…

Big Brother's far more of a swordsman than I could ever be.

With the last of her strength, Leafa reached out her unfeeling arms and made

a kendo grip above her chest.

Then she prayed, Let the strength of my heart reach his sword.

High overhead, a single green star flickered to life.

Lisbeth clutched Silica's hand, staring at the sunless sky.

The stunning sight of the red color turning into blackberry darkness reminded

her of another unforgettable day.

The afternoon in early winter when SAO had been running for two whole

years.

Lisbeth had rushed out of her shop to see the message plastered across the

bottom of the floor above announcing that the deadly game had been

defeated. Instantly, she knew it had been Kirito. Kirito beat the final boss with

the sword I forged.

After they got back to the real world, Kirito once told Lisbeth, The truth is I

actually lost. Heathcliff's sword went through my chest, and my HP went to

zero. But for some reason, my avatar didn't vanish right away. For just a few

seconds, I could still use my right hand, and I managed to score a dual kill. I

think it was you and Asuna and Silica and Klein and Agil who helped give me

that extra moment. So in a way, it wasn't I who beat SAO. All you guys are the

real heroes.

At the time, she had just laughed it off and slapped him on the back, asking

why he was being modest. But that was probably exactly how he felt. What he

really wanted to say was that true power was found in the connections

between people.

"…Hey, Silica," she murmured to her friend nearby, taking her eyes off the

stars. "I think…I really do love Kirito."

Silica grinned and said, "So do I."

They returned to gazing up at the softly shining night sky.

Before she closed her eyes, she could see Klein in the distance, raising a fist,

and Agil muttering to himself with his hands on his hips.

Lisbeth listened to the voices of all the Japanese players, who were praying

and hoping in their own way.

We're diving into this world through our AmuSpheres…but I know you can

hear us anyway, Kirito. Our hearts are connected.

Up above stretched a carpet of hundreds of stars.

Renly the Integrity Knight placed one hand on the neck of his dragon, Kazenui,

as he held Tiese's hand with his other. He gazed up at the abrupt night

overhead, nearly forgetting to breathe.

Changing the day into night was a frightful feat not found in any of the

Church's records. But Renly was not afraid.

When he had been run through with two spears and had accepted his

imminent death, light had rained down from the sky and healed his fatal

wounds without a trace. This night contained the same nurturing warmth that

the healing rain had.

As the weakest of the Integrity Knights, Renly found it very curious, and also

unforgivable, that he had survived all the way to the end. He believed that

dying bravely in battle, like Dakira and Eldrie had, was the only way to bring

redemption to the late friend whose name he could no longer remember.

But as the rain of light had healed him, Renly had been able to feel something

different. The black-haired swordsman who couldn't get up from his wheelchair

had lost his only friend, too. He had closed off his heart in the pain and anguish

of blaming himself for that death.

However, that swordsman had risen to his feet again. And like Renly's DoubleWinged Blades, the weapon he used was a memento of his lost friend, and he

sent the thousands of enemy soldiers back to their outside world with

incredible skill. The sight of his back taught Renly something.

To live. To live, fight, and connect hearts and lives. That, and only that…

"…Only that is the proof of strength," Renly muttered, squeezing Tiese's hand

a bit harder. The redheaded girl's other hand held Ronie's, and Sortiliena was

on Ronie's other side. Tiese looked up at Renly. Even in the darkness, the deep

red-brown of her eyes was visible. Those eyes softened, and she bobbed her

head.

The four of them gazed at the black sky overhead and offered up their

prayers.

Four powerful lights formed a constellation in the midst of hundreds of other

stars.

Iskahn the champion pugilist watched from a short distance as the girl in

green armor was caught in the throes of death, surrounded by kneeling orcs

and pugilists. He was filled with an indescribable emotion.

There was a ferocity in the way she fought that went beyond even words like

demonic. Iskahn felt like he understood now why the orcs had disobeyed the

emperor's orders and rushed to the pugilists' aid. Chief Lilpilin and his three

thousand troops had judged her to be more powerful.

But that wasn't true.

There was only one reason the orcs obeyed her—gave her their allegiance—

and that was because she had told them they were human, according to what

Lilpilin had said. When he'd proudly revealed that to Iskahn, his one eye had

shone with a stunning purity, completely devoid of the hatred of humanity that

had twisted it so much.

"Hey, woman…I mean, Sheyta," said Iskahn to the gray knight standing beside

him. "What is power…? What does it mean to be strong…?"

Sheyta, now a knight without a sword, tilted her head with curiosity, causing

her long ponytail to sway. Her cool eyes looked at the dragon behind them,

then at Dampa, the stout warrior with both shoulders bandaged, and then to

Iskahn. Her lips curled into a little smile.

"You already know the answer. You know there is a power greater than anger

and hatred."

In that instant, the familiar bloodred sky of the Dark Territory was plunged

into darkness.

Iskahn gasped and looked upward, where he saw a single green star twinkling

silently.

Sheyta reached up and pointed at it. "That…that is true strength. True light."

"…Yeah…yeah…that's it," Iskahn murmured. Something entered his good eye,

causing the green light to blur.

For the first time in his life, he squeezed his wounded fist not to punch, and

he prayed for something other than victory.

In the green star's proximity, a deep-red one appeared, burning like a flame.

Right beside it was a gray light.

Within moments, the surviving pugilists began to chant one of their war songs

as a chorus, and a carpet of hundreds of stars came into view.

Three thousand orcs gazed into the night in the same way and added their

own prayers. So did the dark knights in their close-knit group in the back. Some

of them had joined the orcs in protecting the pugilists from the mystery army.

Soon the number of stars was over a thousand, and then ten thousand.

The members of the main force of the Human Guardian Army at the Eastern

Gate—the Integrity Knights Fanatio and Deusolbert, the apprentice knights Linel

and Fizel, and a number of the lower knights—were all speechless, looking up at

the untimely night sky.

The thoughts each cradled to his or her breast were different, but the

strength in their prayers and wishes was equal.

Fanatio prayed for the world that the late Commander Bercouli had loved and

the world in which the new life within her would live.

Deusolbert clenched the tiny ring that matched the one he wore on his left

hand, and he prayed for the world in which he'd lived with the person whose

finger he'd placed it on.

Linel and Fizel prayed that they would once again meet the swordsman who'd

shown them what true strength was.

The other knights and men-at-arms prayed that peace would return to their

beloved home and last forevermore.

In the mountainous region of the northeastern Dark Territory, the mountain

goblins prayed, and in the wasteland to the west, the flatland goblins prayed.

In the central wetlands, the orcs waiting for the return of their husbands and

fathers prayed, and in the highlands to the southwest, the giants prayed.

The dark-skinned humans in the city outside the Imperial Palace of Obsidia

closed their eyes to pray, as did the ogres in the southeastern grasslands.

The blanket of night crossed the End Mountains, too, and instantly covered

the Human Empire.

At the church in Rulid, a remote village at the northern end of the Norlangarth

Empire, Selka the apprentice nun paused in the act of drawing water at the well

for clothes washing and was stunned to see the pure-blue sky transitioning to

blackness, starting in the southeast and heading in the opposite direction. The

rope slipped from her palms, and the wooden bucket slapped back down into

the water, but she didn't hear it.

Her voice escaped in a tremulous whisper.

"Sister…! Kirito...!"

On the night breeze, Selka could sense that, at this very moment, the two

people she loved more than anyone else in the world were fighting for their

lives.

That meant Kirito had opened his eyes again. He had recovered from his

despair over the loss of Eugeo and stood on his own two feet once more.

Selka knelt in the short grass, crossed her hands over her chest, closed her

eyes, and murmured, "Eugeo. Please…please protect my sister and Kirito."

When she looked up again, a little blue star flickered to life above her head. A

number of colored stars sparked up around it within moments. She realized

that all the children who had been playing in the church courtyard were now

kneeling on the ground in silence, clutching their hands together in prayer.

So were the traders and housewives in the clearing in front of the church.

And the farmers in the pastures and barley fields.

Alice's father, Gasfut, prayed in his office. Old Man Garitta prayed at the edge

of the forest. Not a single soul quaked in fear at this phenomenon.

The sky over Rulid was blanketed in sparkling stars.

In the same way, stardust covered the sky over the larger town of Zakkaria to

the south. At Walde Farm on the outskirts of town, the farmer and his wife and

their twin daughters, Teline and Telure, prayed at the windows.

All the people in the villages and towns across the four empires offered silent

prayers.

So did the residents of the massive city of Centoria in the middle of the

human realm. Including the students at Swordcraft Academy and the teachers.

The many monks and bishops of the Axiom Church were no exception.

The girl who operated the levitating platform that connected the fiftieth to

eightieth floors of Central Cathedral did something for the first time in her long,

long life. While on duty, she removed her hands from the tube for generating

wind elements and clasped them together as she gazed up at the endless starry

sky beyond the windows.

She knew nothing of the world outside the cathedral. The death of the

pontifex and the invasion of the Dark Army had effected no change in her life.

So she prayed for just one thing.

I pray that I might see those two young swordsmen again.

The midday night that covered the entirety of the vast Underworld glittered

with well over ten thousand stars of every color.

With a chorus of sound like bells ringing, they began to shoot across the sky

toward a single point, starting from the most remote location and moving

inward.

That point was at the southern tip of the world…

…at the end of the pitch-black sword raised on high near a little floating island

called the World's End Altar.

Alice was finally seeing the end of the staircase up ahead as she ran—but

then she noticed that her own shadow on the white stone underfoot suddenly

melted into a much larger shadow.

She looked up on the run and witnessed a sight that beggared belief.

An enemy with six black wings, wielding a sword of emptiness without clear

form.

Ice vines binding the man dozens of times over.

Clutching the shining white longsword that was the source of the ice, a

swordsman in black with dragon wings.

The swordsman's body was missing below the chest. His life should have

instantly been obliterated, but unfathomable willpower kept him fighting.

The real miracle, however, was in the sky above them.

From the black longsword held high in the swordsman's other hand, a surge

of darkness shot straight upward into the sky and from there blanketed the

entire world.

But it was not utter void.

Countless little lights sparkled in the sky to the north, swarms of stars

twinkling in every color, painting the sky…the night.

And suddenly—they began to move.

With pure, delicate melodies like bells or harp strings, the stars gathered

toward the very southern end of the world. They trailed lines of white, blue,

red, green, and yellow, forming a vast rainbow across the night sky.

With a burst of intuition, Alice knew that these stars represented the hearts

and minds of all the people living in this world.

The lightlanders.

The darklanders.

The humans.

The demi-humans.

All were joined as one in prayer.

"Kirito!!!" called out Alice, throwing her hand into the air.

Take my heart, too. I may have a heart of scant months and years, in this

artificial life as a knight, but this feeling I have—the emotion that surges from

my chest—must be real.

A brilliant golden star was hurled from her fingertips and flew straight for

Kirito's sword.

Asuna did not turn back.

The one way that she could live up to Kirito's battle to the death was to not

waste a single second of the time she had and to head directly for the system

console.

So Asuna pulled Alice by the hand and expended every ounce of her

concentration on running up the staircase.

Still, she could not stop the burning feeling that filled her lungs. That emotion

turned into two droplets that slid down her eyelashes and cheeks before

dripping off. The drops were borne on the night breeze and melted into one,

becoming a star that sparkled in every color.

For just an instant, Asuna looked up at the star, which left an aurora trail

behind it, then she refocused on the ascent. She held on to faith.

Gabriel Miller was in disbelief that he could be bound by mere ice.

A moment earlier, he had rebuffed magic attacks of every kind, and he had

even nullified a slash attack from a sword.

Yes, the dozens of razors that the boy had implanted in his own heart had

damaged him. But that was only because his mental image of chewing had

given him a solid, physical mouth. At this point, his entire being was covered in

a thick layer of defensive darkness.

I am the one who reaps. The one who steals all heat, all life, all existence.

I am the abyss.

"NULLLLLLL!!" he growled, but it was not so much a word as it was an

inhuman sound that tore through his suggestion of a throat.

The three pairs of black wings on his back all transformed into blades of

emptiness, just like the one in his right hand. They beat violently, tearing the

space around them. The pale vines of ice were severed, giving him freedom of

movement again.

"LLLLLLL!!" he howled, an openmouthed discordance, arranging his seven

empty swords—hand and wings—in every direction.

He thrust his one empty hand before him to release wires of darkness that

would bind the boy instead so he could see how it felt.

It was only then that Gabriel noticed the red color was gone from the sky—

and that thousands of shooting stars were soaring just over his head.

In the moment that I released the memory of the Night-Sky Blade, I was

actually unable to summon a concrete image.

All that I held was the distant echo of what Eugeo had said when the sword

that I'd referred to as "the black one" for so very long was finally given a name.

In fact, I think your black sword should be called the Night-Sky Blade. What do

you say?

Envelop...this…little world…as gently…as the night...sky...

The darkness that surged from the sword turned day into night and created

the very night sky it was named for.

When the thousands of stars came from the north and flowed into the sword

in a rainbow cascade, I could sense what had happened.

The power of the Night-Sky Blade was to absorb resources from a vast range

of space. And the greatest resource in this world was not the sacred spatial

resource that the system itself designated, like the sun and the earth. It was the

power of the human heart. The power of prayer, of wishes, of hope.

Finally, the last of the seemingly endless waterfall of stars shot into my sword.

When two additional lights came up from the surface, golden and iridescent,

and melted into the weapon, too, the Night-Sky Blade shone multicolored with

the wishes of all humanity.

The light flowed from the hilt into my arm, filling my body. The bottom half of

my body, which Gabriel had destroyed, instantly regrew itself with the warming

glow of the brilliance.

The starlight gathered in my left arm, too, causing the Blue Rose Sword there

to shine as well.

"Yaaaaaah!!" I bellowed, pulling back the swords.

"NULLLLLLL!!" screeched Gabriel, who bore down on me, free from his icy

prison.

There was nothing human about him now. His form shone and gleamed like

some eerie liquid metal, coated in a black aura, while violet-blue light like the

fires of Hell licked from his eye sockets.

The mammoth sword of pure void in his hand pulled back, and the similar

blades coming from the ends of his wings stretched toward me from all

directions. A second later, his other hand sent out a tangle of dense black wires

that leaped at me.

"…Haaah!!" I shouted, deploying a wall of light to deflect them.

The wing-flap ends of my coat beat hard. With my left sword held before me

and my right sword behind me, I leaped off the empty air.

There was hardly any distance between us, so a full-speed charge would take

less than a second. But I felt a ripple in time, like the moment was being

extended indefinitely.

On my right, a figure appeared.

It was a knight in black armor, with a mustache and an enormous sword. His

arm hugged a tan-skinned female knight close to him. He said to me, "Young

man, cast aside your urge to kill. His empty soul cannot be cut with an

Incarnation of murder."

To his left appeared a powerful man with short hair. A steel longsword hung

from his casual blue clothes. A broad grin creased his hearty features: Integrity

Knight Commander Bercouli.

"Don't give in to fear, boy. The weight of the world itself rests upon your

sword."

To Bercouli's side was a girl with perfect white skin and long silver hair.

Administrator's mirror eyes and enigmatic smile were followed by a whispered

message. "Show me now. Exhibit all the holy power that you received from me."

Lastly, right in front of me appeared a young girl wearing a robe and a

scholar's cap. On her shoulder, next to the hanging brown curls of her hair, was

a small spider. It was the other pontifex, Cardinal.

"Kirito, you must believe. Believe in the hearts of all the people you loved and

who love you."

Behind her tiny spectacles, her dark-brown eyes glinted kindly.

Then all of them disappeared—and my last and greatest foe, Gabriel Miller,

entered sword range.

With more power in my arms than I'd ever possessed before, I executed the

Dual Blades sword skill that I had practiced more, and relied upon more, than

any other in my repertoire.

Starburst Stream. A sixteen-part combination attack.

"Raaaaaaaah!!"

Swords brimming with starlight left behind stunning trails in the air.

Gabriel's six wings and one blade roared toward me from all directions.

With each clash of light and emptiness, giant flashes and explosions shook the

world itself.

Faster.

No, faster.

"Raaaaaaah!!" I howled, speeding up my body, fusing it with my

consciousness, accelerating the swords.

"NULLLLL!!" screamed Gabriel, striking back with seven swords.

Ten strikes.

Eleven.

With each clash, the energy released dispersed outward into space, crackling

off in search of equilibrium as bolts of lightning.

Twelve.

Thirteen.

There was no anger, no hatred, no murder in my heart anymore. Only the

endless strength of countless prayers was fueling me now.

It's time for you…

Fourteen.

…to feel the brilliance…

Fifteen.

…of all the hearts in this world, Gabriel!!

The sixteenth and final swing was a full overhead slash from the left,

delivered after climactic pause.

Gabriel narrowed his inhuman eyes, certain of his victory. An instant faster

than my devastating final blow, the black wing from the enemy's right shoulder

severed my left arm at the root.

The arm brimming with light burst, leaving behind only the Blue Rose Sword

in the air.

"LLLLLLLLL!!" crowed Gabriel as the empty sword in his right hand came

crackling downward, wreathed in black lightning.

Fwap.

With a reassuring sound, two hands that did not belong to me grabbed the

hilt of the Blue Rose Sword.

Bursts of white and black flashed with a tremendous cracking sound.

The Blue Rose Sword stopped the empty blade firmly in place.

Eugeo turned to me, his flaxen hair swaying. "Now's the moment, Kirito!!"

"Thank you, Eugeo!!" I shouted back. "Raaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"

I drove another slash from the right, the seventeenth in the sequence, directly

onto the top of Gabriel's left shoulder with all my strength. That black liquid

metal sprayed as the sword dug in deep and came to a stop right where his

heart should be.

And then…

All the starlight that filled Eugeo and me, the Night-Sky Blade and Blue Rose

Sword, flowed into Gabriel's heart as a rainbow surge.

Gabriel Miller could feel a deluge of unlimited color and energy pouring into

the empty abyss within himself. His vision was covered with every shade of

color, and a chaotic chorus of voices passed through his hearing.

Dear God, please…

Let him be safe…

End the war…

I love you…

The world…

Please…

Please save the world!

"…Hah, hah, hah."

Despite the boy's sword through his heart, Gabriel spread his arms and wings

wide and laughed.

"Ha-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!"

It is pointless.

You cannot fulfill my hunger, my endless emptiness, with mere light.

It would be as pointless and arrogant as attempting to warm the universe

itself with human hands.

"I will drink every last drop and devour every last morsel!!" shouted Gabriel,

black lightning shooting from his eyes and mouth.

"You can't! Not when the only thing you feel about the strength of the heart

is fear!!" the boy shouted back, a golden surge pouring from his being.

His sword blazed even brighter, sending infinite heat and light into the

enemy's frozen heart.

Gabriel's vision turned sizzling white, and his ears were saturated with sound.

But it did nothing to stop his gales of laughter.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, haaaaa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!"

I had no fear.

The void that filled my enemy was nothing short of a black hole, but I had

swirling galaxies born of a multitude of prayers within me.

The hue of the dark-purple lightning shooting from Gabriel's eyes and mouth

gradually began to shift.

From purple to red. To orange. To yellow—and then to white.

Crack, went a faint noise, and a tiny fissure ran through the liquid-metal body

surrounding the Night-Sky Blade.

Then another. And another.

More white light poured from the cracks. The base of the six wings extending

from his back began to glow with fire. Where his mouth opened wide with

laughter, it began to crumble and lose definition. Holes appeared in his

shoulders and chest.

Beams and curtains of light were shooting out of every crack running all over

Gabriel's body, and still he did not stop laughing.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…"

His voice grew higher and higher pitched until it was nothing more than a

metallic whirring vanishing from hearing range.

The great dark angel's form was entirely covered with white cracks—and in a

single instant, it compressed, imploded…

And released.

An explosion of light on a gargantuan scale formed a spiral that shot upward

to the heavens.

"—Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!"

Gabriel Miller sprang upright, laughing uproariously. The first thing that he

saw was a wall of gray metal panels. Warning labels written in Japanese

corresponded to cables and ducts all over its surface.

"Ha-ha-ha, hah, hah..."

As his laughter subsided, replaced by heavy breathing, Gabriel blinked and

blinked. When his breathing normalized, he looked to the sides. He was in STL

Room One on the Ocean Turtle. Apparently, some unforeseen factor had

booted him out of the simulation.

What…a disappointing conclusion! He was just about to gobble up the

entirety of that vast flood of light and finish the job of devouring the boy's

heart.

Perhaps there was still time to dive back in. Gabriel grimaced and turned

around to check.

Resting on the seat of the STL was a tall white man with his eyes closed.

…Who is that? he thought momentarily. Is there a member like this on the

assault team? And what is he doing on my machine anyway?

But then he realized something.

That's my face.

Chief technical officer of Glowgen Defense Systems, Gabriel Miller.

Then who am I, looking down at me?

Gabriel lifted his hands to examine them. All he saw was a hazy translucent

light instead.

What is this? What happened?

And then he heard a quiet voice over his shoulder.

"…You've finally come to this side, Gabe."

He spun around. Standing there in a white blouse and a dark-blue pleated

skirt was a young girl. Her face was downcast, so he couldn't see it past her airy

golden hair. But Gabriel knew at once who this girl was.

"…Alicia," he said, for the first time in nearly twenty years. His face broke into

a smile. "So this is where you've been, Allie."

Alicia Clingerman. The childhood friend of Gabriel Miller, and the very first

person he'd killed on his noble quest in search of the human soul.

The fact that he had failed to capture Alicia's soul despite seeing it so clearly

was an extremely sore spot for Gabriel for years. But apparently, he hadn't

completely lost her. She had stayed with him after all.

Gabriel momentarily forgot the bizarre situation he was in and reached out to

her. Alicia's hand snapped forward in a blur of movement and snatched his,

hard.

She was cold. Cold as ice. A freezing sensation prickled his flesh through the

skin like needles. Gabriel instinctually tried to pull away. But Alicia's tiny hand

was as firm as a vise. His smile vanished.

"…It's cold. Let go of me, Allie," he murmured.

Her golden hair shook back and forth. "I won't, Gabe. We're going to be

together forever. Come—let's go."

"Go…? Go where? I can't—I still have things to do," Gabriel protested, pulling

back with all his might. But he did not move. In fact, he was slowly being pulled

down toward her.

"Let go. Let go of me, Alicia," he said, more sternly this time.

Just then, she lifted her head. And the moment he saw her face below those

neatly trimmed bangs, Gabriel felt his heart shrinking in his chest.

His guts surged upward. His breathing grew faster. Goose bumps rose on his

skin.

What is this? What is this sensation, this feeling?

"A…a-a-ah…," he croaked, shaking his head in disbelief. "Let go. Stop. Let go."

He lifted his other hand to push Alicia away, but she grabbed that one just as

fast. Fingers as cold and hard as metal dug into his skin.

Alicia giggled at him. "That's fear, Gabe. That's the real emotion you wanted

to understand, right there. Isn't it lovely?"

Fear.

The source of the expressions he'd seen on all those people in their final

moments when he'd killed them for his experiments, to satisfy his curiosity.

But now that he was experiencing it himself for the very first time, it was not

a pleasant feeling. In fact, it was tremendously unpleasant. He didn't want to

know this thing. He wanted it to be over.

But…

"You can't leave, Gabe. It's going to continue forever and ever. You are going

to feel nothing but terror for the rest of eternity."

Her little shoes sank into the metal floor. So did Gabriel's feet.

"Ah…n…no. Let go…stop," he murmured absentmindedly, but the sinking

sensation did not stop.

Suddenly, a white arm emerged from the floor and clung to Gabriel's leg.

Then another. And another. And even more.

Gabriel could sense that these were the hands of people he had preyed upon.

His fear escalated higher and higher. His heart was hammering at an incredible

speed, and sweat beaded thick on his forehead.

"Stop…stop, stop-stop-stop-stop-stoppppp!!" screamed Gabriel. "Critter, get

in here! Wake up, Vassago!! Hans!! Brigg!!"

But his subordinates did not burst in. The door to the main control room

remained cold and silent. And Vassago, who was in the STL next to him, was not

getting up.

By now, his translucent body had sunk into the floor to the waist. Alicia was

visible only from the shoulders up as she dragged him down. Before her face

disappeared entirely, it smiled with glee.

"Ah…aaah…Aaaaaaaaaaaah!!" wailed Gabriel. Over and over.

White hands grabbed his shoulders, his neck, his face.

"Aaaaa…aaaa...a...…"

With a tiny splashing sound, he saw nothing but darkness.

Gabriel Miller understood the fate that awaited him, and he unleashed a

scream that would last for eternity.

The flow of time in the Underworld began to accelerate again.

The moment that time was no longer perfectly synchronized, the hundreds of

Japanese players connected to the Underworld with AmuSpheres were kicked

off, returned to their bedrooms or Internet-café booths, and left with nothing

but whatever they'd been feeling moments before.

None of them spoke in the immediate aftermath. They all reflected on what

they'd experienced in that strange world, committing it to their innermost

memories. When any tears they'd shed had been wiped away, they went to

their smartphones and AmuSpheres. They had to tell the friends who had

logged out first exactly what had happened.

Just before the reacceleration began, Sinon and Leafa left the Underworld

due to loss of life. The two woke up in Rath's Roppongi office, feeling the last

traces of their pain fading away. They looked into each other's eyes and bobbed

their heads.

Neither Shino nor Suguha had any doubt that Kirito had returned to life, had

defeated the final enemy, had saved the world, and would return before long.

And the next time they saw him, they would express how they felt in words—

whether he was capable of hearing them or not.

Each sensed this determination in the other girl, and they shared a secret

little smile.

However…

With the safety limiter off on the Fluctlight Acceleration function, the pulse of

time in the Underworld sped toward a level it had never before reached.

Over a thousand times as fast. Over five thousand.

Heading toward the far side of the chronometric wall, five million times as

fast as time in the real world: the maximum-acceleration phase.

When the light of the stars vanished, so did the energy that was filling my

being, and I floated in an exhausted state, face up to the sky.

The left arm that had been cut off and disintegrated was back on my

shoulder. I squeezed the Blue Rose Sword in that hand with whatever strength I

had left, and I fought back the tears that threatened to fall.

When Eugeo's soul had infused the Blue Rose Sword, saving me and pushing

me onward yet one more time, I could sense intuitively that his act of stopping

Gabriel's sword had consumed him at last.

In the real world and in the Underworld, the dead did not rise to life.

That's what made memories so precious and beautiful.

"…Isn't that right, Eugeo…?" I murmured.

There was no answer.

I lifted the two swords and slowly slid them into the sheaths affixed to my

back. Within moments, the night sky overhead began to fade. The darkness

melted away, returning the atmosphere to its normal color.

...Blue.

This time, for some reason, the sky over the Dark Territory was not its usual

bloodred color. There was just pure crystal blue as far as the eye could see.

Was it the effect of the maximum-acceleration phase underway, or was a

miracle caused by the prayers of tens of thousands of people at once?

There was no definite answer, but whatever the reason, the clear-azure color

was so beautiful it made me want to cry. Longing and sentimentality threatened

to tear me apart, so I simply let a lungful of the beautiful blue into my body.

Afterward, I closed my eyes, let out a long breath, and slowly turned.

When I opened my eyes again, I was looking at the white staircase far below,

which was crumbling without a sound. I beat my wings and slowly descended

along the collapsing staircase. My target was the little island in the sky.

The round floating island was covered with a wild bloom of flowers in all

colors. A white stone path ran through the field and into a templelike building

at the center of the island. I landed in the middle of that path, returned my coat

from its current winged state to its usual hem, and looked around me.

A sweet, gentle scent like honey tickled my nose. A number of little lapis-blue

butterflies fluttered about, and songbirds trilled from the branches of the few

trees growing in the area. The clear-blue sky and soft sunlight made me feel as

if I were in the midst of a pastoral painting.

The island was devoid of human presence.

I did not see anyone on the path or in the temple with its circular pillars,

either.

"…Oh, good. They made it in time," I murmured.

After Gabriel had been sucked into the spiral of light and had vanished, I could

feel the FLA function kicking in. The timing was such that I couldn't be sure

whether Asuna and Alice had safely escaped to the real world through the

console. Now I knew that they'd crossed the lengthy staircase and reached their

goal in time.

Alice—the very reason this world was created, a soul like no other, the knight

whose fluctlight broke through its boundaries—had traveled to the real world

at last.

There would be many tribulations awaiting her after this. A world with

completely different laws and common understanding, a limited mechanical

body, and a fight against the forces who wanted to use true artificial

intelligence for military purposes.

But Alice would be capable of handling it. She was the most powerful Integrity

Knight in existence.

"...Hang in there...," I prayed, thinking of the golden knight I would never

see again and looking up at the blue sky.

Yes, now that the maximum-acceleration phase had begun, I had completely

lost the ability to voluntarily log out from within the Underworld. All three

system consoles had stopped functioning, and even if I lost all my life now, I

would have to wait in darkness without sensation for the phase to finish.

In the outside world, Kikuoka and the Rath team would be trying desperately

to shut down my STL, but that would take at least twenty minutes. And in that

time, two hundred years would pass in this world.

Would I lose consciousness with the end of my soul's life span first, or would

the acceleration rate of five million times prove to be unbearable over a long

period, causing me to disintegrate sooner?

All I knew for certain was that I could not return to the real world again.

My parents. Suguha. Sinon. Klein, Agil, Liz, Silica.

My friends at school and in ALO.

Alice.

And Asuna.

I would never again see the people I loved.

I fell to my knees on the white stones.

My hands flew forward to keep me from toppling face-first.

My vision blurred. Light sparkled and wavered, then fell and burst against the

marble paving stone. Again and again. Over and over.

This time, at least, I knew I had the right to cry.

I cried for the precious things that I had lost and would never regain. Sobs

leaked through my gritted teeth, and a stream of liquid dripped down my

cheeks.

Drip, drip-drip.

The only sound was the droplets hitting the stone.

Drip.

Drip.

…Tek.

Tek, tek.

Suddenly, another sound overlaid it, a sound of a different density.

Tek, tek. It was coming closer. I could feel the vibrations through my

fingertips.

The air rustled. There was something faint and familiar amid the rich scent of

the flowers.

Tek.

…Tek.

The sound came to a stop just before me.

Then someone called my name.