Chapter 23

The Dagger landed a critical hit as I pulled it out and slammed it again into his chest multiple times. After 15 times of stabbing him I slammed the dagger into his chest for the 16th time. His health bar immediately dropped to zero after that as he began glowing blue.

He chuckled as I looked at him with anger, he then said "I'm...not dying alone..." as I felt the fatigue and exertion backlash. The fatigue and adrenaline were taking its toll as my health dropped quickly. Kayaba shattered first as my health dropped to zero, my hud disappearing as a hexagon appeared on my hud saying "You are dead".

I looked over towards Toru as I began to glow blue, smiling at her as her tears ran down her face. I sat up on my knees looking at her with a smile, saying lightly "See...you later..." as I shattered into polygons.

"KIRINNN!!!!"

She cried out as the announcer's voice was announcing the game's end as it said "As of November 7th, 2024, Sword Art Online has been beaten, As of November 7th, 2024, Sword Art Online has been beaten, now logging out all players".

I woke up laying on the floor, feeling the cool breeze and to an outside view of Aincrad. I sat up and looked off in the distance, seeing the castle above the clouds and the sun setting. I looked around and vaguely saw Kirito and Asuna off nearby. "Beautiful...isn't it..." A voice said as I turned around to see who it was. It was Kayaba again, but not Heathcliff this time, but himself.

"Kayaba..?"

I said as he nodded saying "you're a very good player Kirin, I never thought you'd overpower an administrator..." as I looked at him. I had many questions to ask as I said to him, "So.. What happens now?" I asked as Kayaba responds with a sigh. "Now, everyone leaves..." He said vaguely as he opened his menu and clicked an extra menu and clicked players.

He then tapped "Logout all" as I stood there and asked him "So why did you just keep us here..?" as Kayaba then explained,

"Well, I just wanted people to live in a fantasy outside of the real world, a world where they don't have to fear taxes, government, and world wars... I just wanted my little world to be an escape from reality...".

I looked to see the castle crumbling as I asked him "What about the logout button?" as he quickly replied "That...that was never supposed to happen...I was quickly rushed due to deadlines and having a amateur programmer somehow fuck up the simplest logout system.", I looked at him and said "Why didn't you do-" as he cut me off saying "I was at a meeting with the publishers!".

He sighed saying "Sorry...for yelling...and...everything Kirin..." as he added on "I didn't mean to antagonize myself or anyone, I...I was also scared of the concept of death once I realized that the game wasn't finished...".

He sounded very genuine as he put his hand out saying "This is goodbye...for real this time man.." as I looked up and shook his hand, saying "You're not bad of a player yourself..." as he chuckled. "I used to play world of warcraft a lot." as we let go. Kayaba would wave to me one last time as he walked off, fading out.

I turned to look at the collapsing castle as I stood up. Taking one final revision of myself,

"Mom...Dad...I'm...I'm sorry for doubting you both... Now that I realize what it means to fight for something...and live for...something...I now finally understand what you both mean...I...I miss you both...I...I wish I could take back everything...Everything I said...I'm sorry..."

I sighed as the light began to engulf everything around me. During those last few seconds, I clutched the necklace Toru had given to me, holding it dear close to my heart. "Toru...I'm sorry...So...So...Sorry..." I smiled, accepting my fate as the light engulfed my avatar, erasing it from SAO.