Chapter Text
2013: The Second American Revolution occurs and President Obama and the systems of corrupt corporates and government officials are overthrown.
2014: America forces Iran to cease production in the nuclear programs. The fallout of the treaty lay the foundations of the United Islamic Republics in the future.
2016: The Second Korean War occurs and ended with the defeat and collapse of the North Korean government and later annexed by South Korea, renamed the United Korean Republic.
2020: The Second Pacific War began with China attempting to annex Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines and lasted for over a year.
2022: The Sword Art Online incident began when 20,000 players are trapped in the game via NerveGear and the incident lasted until late 2024:
The year is 2025, two months after the Sword Art Online incident ended when the game was cleared and the survivors managed to get out of the game. Kazuto Kirigaya, known as Kirito is one of the survivors. However, 400 people are still in the NerveGear even after the game was cleared. Including Asuna Yuuki, his girlfriend.
In January, Kazuto finds out that Sugou Nobuyuki was planning to marry her in a week and it seemed that all hope is lost for him. But his little sister, Suguha, managed to convince him not to give up no matter how hopeless it seemed. He hears about the VR game called ALfheim Online, a fantasy adventure game. Then he sees what appears to be Asuna in the picture taken by one of the players, and he goes into the game. After being reunited with their AI daughter Yui, he learns that Asuna is located at the top of the big tree and he goes through the levels and sought to rescue the love of his life.
However, the events of the SAO incident have triggered controversy around the world, especially in America. But Kazuto won’t be the only one who would unravel the incident, but two people who work for Sugou after seeking jobs to receive money. And the events of what happens after he finds her and what the two employees have done will continue to trigger events that'll change the lives after the incident and affect the world’s reaction to the events.
January 22nd, 2025: 7:30 pm:
Fuji nervously walked throughout his office, holding a set of files; Fuji Yamane, age 22, took the job to work in Sugou’s department after facing finical crises when his older brother got laid off from Argus Company. He was only nineteen years old when the Sword Art Online incident began, Akihiko Kayaba, the man who designed the NerveGear helmet. It was designed to send out microwave signals to the user’s brain, redirecting their consciousness through their brain and body, sending its waves to stimulate the five senses. This renders the players unconscious and lets their mind control their avatars; this is done so that the players won’t injure themselves or other people while they play the games.
It was the first step of Virtual Reality gaming as well as the Second-Generation of the FullDive technology. After the large-scale amusement park machine was released to the public to show the entire world the wonders of Virtual Reality. It was released with the game called “Sword Art Online” and many players were selected as beta testers of the game until it was shut down before the SAO game release.
The SAO game and the NerveGear gained popularity in Japan as well as in several nations overseas…..Or so they thought. After several players were killed in the NerveGear helmets, the game turned out to be a trap and has trapped around 20,000 players throughout nations. But Japan suffered the worst casualties of them all in the past two years.
After the incident began and the last months of the SAO incident before the remaining players managed to escape the death game, everyone sued Argus, and the lawsuits as well as paying off very large sums of money for the damages was the kiss of death for the company and shut down later. The cardinal system of what SAO was created merged with another popular company, RECT Progress Inc. The building itself that Fuji and the others are working in was the former headquarters of the very company, and like the cardinal system, the building itself merged with RECT and served as a branch building of the company to hire more employees.
The company also created the AmuSpheres in response to the NerveGear helmets; the new devices changed the microwave transmitter to a low frequency one. The AmuSphere's design incorporates various sensors that continually monitor blood pressure and brain waves and provoke a safety logout feature in case the person's status becomes abnormal. Also, the AmuSphere does not completely block out signals from the body, as NerveGear did, so some players may pay extra for specialized rooms designed to make the experience in the virtual world more real by excluding the sounds and sensations from the outside.
Over a month has passed after taking the job for RECT, and has been doing good. However, he isn't sure how he could continue working with Sugou Nobuyuki, after becoming suspicious of what he is planning to do with the experiments. No matter how hard he tried to block it out of his mind. He is also sure that he’s not the only one who is having the same feeling; half of everyone who was hired by him was kept in the dark about his plans. After the building and the cardinal system were merged with the company, Sugou himself claimed that he was trying to find a way to rescue the remaining 400 players who were still trapped in the NerveGear helmets despite having the game cleared two months ago.
However, he didn't show his expression to the others as he is convinced that the other half, which is made up of security guards, really doesn't care how many lives he's willing to take. And it is best to not draw their attention for a time being.
As he set the files on his desk, a hand pats Fuji's back. Revealing to be a middle-aged man, with an eyepatch and raven-black hair.
“Fuji, what’s up?” the middle-aged man asked.
Fuji was startled when he felt the hand pat his back. But when he turned around and saw it was only Yuki Tsutano and mentally sighed. Yuki Tsutano himself is one of the security guards hired to protect the systems from saboteurs. He is also the only guard that Fuji knows that isn’t like the cold-hearted security guards that ran the facility. His parents moved from the country of Vietnam and settled in Japan. However, their migration to the new country made it difficult due to Japan’s strict immigration laws. But they’ve jumped through some hoops and made their new alliance to Japan, which finally lets them settle. Yuki was born sometime after his family settled in and was declared a Japanese citizen with Vietnamese in his blood.
He has known him for a while when he started working and the only friend he's got; he often cracks jokes whenever he could to get him to smile.
"Oh, hi Yuki," Fuji said with a slight smile.
“Whatcha doing here this late?” he asked.
“Oh, just going on some reports I've overlooked," Fuji said.
"Damn, overtime huh?" He sighed.
“Indeed.”
Yuki sighed for a bit, "so, uhm......How long do you plan to stay here? My nightshift isn't gonna last forever."
"It won't be too long. Maybe ten, fifteen minutes tops." The young man reassured him while he fixed his glasses.
"So... What with the incident about SAO?" Yuki asked, scratching his chin. He only heard about it on the news, but the main cause of it was unknown to him. Fuji explained about the SAO incident began when Akihiko Kayaba designed the NerveGear to entrap many people into the game and according to the survivors; the only way to get out was to clear all 100 levels and the boss.
"Damn. That's twisted ain't it?" Yuki commented.
"Sure is,” Fuji agreed and he estimated that 20,000 players were trapped. 10,000 players from Japan alone, 6,000 from America, 1,000 from the United Kingdom, 2,000 players from Australia, and 1,000 players from Brazil. Roughly around 9,000 players perished in the game while the 11,000 players escaped when the game cleared.
“That’s good to hear,” Yuki remarked. He continued that the rest of the Coalition of Allied Nations halted the NerveGear sales in the wake of the incident. And later on, replaced them with the AmuSpheres that were safer than their predecessor.
“Indeed, but it still doesn't explain why the other four hundred haven't come back yet." Fuji added. Yuki nodded in agreement. He takes a chair and sat down on it in front of his desk.
"Yeah, I’m no scientist here; my niece is also trapped in there. My brother hasn't left her side once...."
"Sugou's always here at long hours, right?" Fuji asked. Everyone knew that Sugou had often worked inside his office for long hours. And his office was heavily guarded too, which was very odd.
"Yes, why?" He asked after nodding in agreement.
"I'm starting to think he may be up to something."
"Do you know who you're talking about; he's always up to something." Yuki pointed out. There were times that after the game cleared. Sugou is one of the highly respected CEOs of RECT and vowed to help out with the 400 players. Claiming that he needs all the help he could muster. However, he’s been acting strange lately with his late hours in just his office alone.
Fuji concluded that Sugou may have something to do with the 400 people still trapped. However, he needs further proof before jumping the gun. They had to make sure since people like him would try to cover his tracks and erase whatever he is doing.
"Ya think so?.... I can try to get us in there...." Yuki scratched his chin.
"Okay. All the records of the experiments should be in the mainframe." Fuji adjusted his glasses again before wiping away the small beads of sweat that were starting to form on his forehead.
“You know. If the guards see us in there, we'll be out flat on our asses and shot in the head. Right?" Yuki said. Sweat dropped from his forehead. Both of them knew the security guards were trained to keep certain areas secret.
"I know. But it's the risk we must take." Fuji gulped. It was then Yuki got an idea. Yuki suggested that he finds a way to distract the guards that are guarding the computer systems. And when they go to investigate, the room entrance will be unguarded. Giving Fuji the chance to sneak in and find out what’s been going on.
"I probably maybe cause an accident within the lab, and lead them outside to the parking lot.” Yuki added.
"Okay,” The young man patted Yuki on the shoulder. “Be careful Yuki. There’s no telling what would happen if they catch you.”
“Don’t worry.” Yuki laughed softly. “This is nothing compared to my time in Iraq.”
The two sneaked through the hallways, they made sure they were not making any noises.
“Be ready.” Yuki said as he heads for the exit door. Fuji prepared himself. He had the USB flash drive stick designed to hold almost twenty terabytes. It was the next generation of flash drive sticks that were ever made. And he had a few zip-lock bags just in case.
A gunshot rang outside as the power went out. The emergency generator kicked in the second the main power went out. The guards were thrown into confusion by the chaos.
"Move it, we have a robber!" one of the guards shouted.
Fuji saw the guards leaving to check the noise.
'This is my chance.’ He thought, and he headed to the database mainframe. It was a success. He hooked the flash drive into the port and managed to hack into the mainframe. He browsed through several files and found the folder that read 'Experiments' and he clicked onto it. Much to his horror, his instincts were right. Sugou Nobuyuki had managed to kidnap the 400 players from the SAO game as it was cleared and was now using them for control of the human body, mind, and soul.
‘This is madness!’ He thought to himself, but he had to stay focused. He started downloading them into the flash drive. However, he had to be careful as the download could be monitored. Fortunately, Fuji was very skilled at hacking and managed to freeze the download monitoring for a short time. But he had to hurry.
Also, Sugou's office had a special modem that was closed from the outside world. But this wasn't too difficult a task and he managed to get into the modem from the mainframe. He then found files made by Sugou himself about how close he was getting, and started downloading them too. Including video logs as well. He then spotted what appeared to be recordings of phone calls. However, they were encrypted and wouldn't play. He'd have to decrypt them later and download them as well.
Then a tiny flash on the bottom left of the screen was shown. He clicked on it, and it was live footage of inside the game. It showed Sugou, in his King Oberon avatar, with two other players, a boy and a girl whose names are Kirito and Asuna.
The chains suddenly fell from the infinite darkness that had golden shackles on the end. They landed right in front of Asuna. He gave the chain a tug, which extended up into the darkness and retracted. Asuna's arms was hauled up by Sugou’s right hand and stopped at the exact point where the tips of her fingers could touch his face. He took them and started snapping one of the shackles on Asuna's right wrist.
"What are you doing!?" Kirito demanded. But Sugou ignored him as he reached for the other shackle.
"Don't worry Kirigaya, I've got plenty of props ready for you. This will do for now." He finished snapping the other shackle on Asuna's left wrist. The chains rattled upward, and Asuna was left dangling in midair by her arms. With the gravity spell still in effect, the sudden pain surged through her body, giving out a facial expression of agony.
Sugou laughed and bragged that he couldn't get any of the female NPCs to make that facial expression. He even gloated about getting the details of Asuna correct, even sneaking in an odor analyzer into Asuna's room to get her body aroma. He proceeded to rub her cheeks while the girl winced in disgust.
Fuji stared in shock. Was this Sugou's plan all along? To control people as if they were his toys? Then Sugou taunted Kirito, before taking his sword and stabbing it through his back. The blade exited through his chest and wedged deeply through the floor.
“Kirito!” Asuna screamed.
Then he set the pain absorber down to eight, which caused the pain to go through his body while saying it’ll damage the body if it is set to three or zero. Then he turned to the girl and rubbed his hands upon her cheek. The girl tried to move, but the powerful gravity prevents her from moving. His fingertips ran all over Asuna’s face before sliding down her neck. Her face twisted with disgust. Kirito shouted to him to stop, which he ignored.
“It’s all right, Kirito. I won’t let this hurt me.” She said, while managing a brave, trembling face. Sugou laughed.
“That’s what I like to hear. How long will you be able to maintain that pride–thirty seconds? An hour? An entire day? Do your best to prolong my pleasure, dear!” As he spoke, he grabbed the top of her outfit and ripped it completely off of her, leaving her bare-chested in front of him. The girl shut her eyes tightly as she was shamefully exposed to the madman.
Fuji’s stomach began to turn as he watched in horror, as Sugou stared at her with lust in his eyes and licking his lips. Then he moved behind her with the wicked, wide crescent.
“Heh-heh! Want to know what I’m thinking about right now?” He said as his tongue continued to extend towards her neck. “Once I have my fun with you here, I’ll visit your hospital room. I can lock the door, turn off the security cameras, and it will be our little paradise, just you and me. I’ll set up a nice big monitor, play the footage of today’s recording, and enjoy it all over again with your real body."
Asuna’s eyes went wide, but she bravely knotted her lips for a moment.
Then he continued. "First, I steal the purity of your heart–and then I ruin the chastity of your body! How Fascinating! What a unique form of entertainment, don’t you think?” He cackled when he finished.
The girl was terrified at the thought of her body being violated in the real world. It was too much for her to handle as two clear drops lingered on her eyelashes, and started to stream down her face. Then Sugou flicked his tongue to taste them.
“Ahh… Sweet, so sweet! Go on, give me more tears!” He said, as he lustfully licked the tears from her face and gropes her breasts. Kiito shouts at him to stop, which again, are ignored. The man turned to him and laughed while he continued to assault the girl, who remained helpless in his grasp, unable to move and unable to defend herself.
Fuji couldn’t take it anymore; he became violently ill and turned away from the screen while covering his mouth. He headed to the dark corner and vomited. He came back with disbelief and horror on his face.
"This isn't what I signed up for." He said to himself. He just witnessed the true colors of Sugou; not only he was power crazy, but a sexual monster. The bastard was gonna pay for those horrible acts. He then wiped away the bile off his chin and headed back to the screen. The feed was recorded while it was playing and he took the recorded video. He downloaded it into the flash drive and he managed to download everything he needed and took the stick out before he hid it.
Fuji shut off the monitor and headed to the door. He checked his SIG-Sauer P226R pistol he managed to sneak in. He knew he'd need it in case he got backed into a corner. But he needed to keep his nerves controlled, and not go on a rampage after watching the disturbing footage.
He cracked the door open and didn't see or hear anyone through the cracks. He slowly opened the door and looked around.
No one was there. But he had to move quickly and exit the facility to get this info to the public. He darted out of the room and hid in corners to avoid being seen. He managed to get through the doors and exit the facility. It was beginning to snow outside. However, he had to remain alert to the guards.
‘Okay, the parking area, all I have to do is to get to my car and I'll be in the clear.' Fuji thought. But he hoped Yuki would get out and meet him there.
Yelling from outside the building and gunshots rang out. Yuki, still unknown to the guards, was hiding from the attackers. Yuki panted as he was out of breath.
"Damn.. These guys are trying to kill me..." He gripped his shoulder in pain.
'He should be done... I think...' Yuki thought. He then ran toward the outskirt of the parking area. “Damn, this hurts. Worse than Iraq."
Hiding behind the cars, he reloaded a clip into the chamber. Yuki spotted Fuji.
"Well, that was quick." Yuki cautiously made his way over to him and signaled him to stay low. Flashlights slowly started to shine over the cars, searching out the 'robber'.
"Fan out!" Said the guard, they nodded and started to scatter. Not noticing Fuji or Yuki.
Fuji crouched down behind the parked cars and waited until the guards vanished out of sight.
The guards' lights still had yet to spot the two friends.
"He probably ran off. Return to your positions, I have a call to make!" The leader yelled. The guards followed the order and cautiously returned to the building. The leader took out his phone and started to dial.
Yuki smiled despite his shoulder wound. "Hey, buddy. You good for the exfill?" He was putting more pressure on his wound, and the pain made him wince.
"I did..." Fuji replied, but a pale look was written on his face. "...I even saw Sugou's true self."
Yuki patted his best friend to comfort him. "Fuji. Did something happen?" The guard asked
"He..." Fuji stuttered. "I saw the footage inside the game." And he finally told Yuki what he saw and what Sugou has said and done in the game.
Yuki was speechless. The shock was present on his face. ".....We need to do something! I can't let my niece or anyone suffer that!" His face showed anger for the first time in Fuji's life.
"We're gonna do just that. We'll release these documents to the public and expose him!" Fuji said determinedly. Before they can do anything, one of the guards spotted them.
"Who the hell are you?" The guard asked. His face showed no expression of suspicion.
Yuki quickly hid his bullet wound behind Fuji. "Nothing, sir. Just patrolling my route."
His face showed hints of pain. Fuji nodded in agreement.
The guard was skeptical at his excuse but decided to brush it aside, and return to his call to Sugou. "Whatever, your shift has passed already. Go home you Vietnamese shit..."
Yuki felt a ping of anger at the comment on his race. "Yes sir."
"Okay, this is our chance to get out of here."
Yuki nodded. "Yeah. Maybe after this...We should go to a hospital... Unless you have a medical degree..." He proceeded to Fuji's car.
"Don't worry, we'll get you some medical attention." They headed toward Fuji's 2023 Toyota Corolla.
"Yeah. It'd be nice to see my niece before I bleed to death..." He joked, as he entered shotgun.
Fuji started the car up and he shifted into drive. The Toyota drove down the parking area and the road, to a security checkpoint.
The tired checkpoint guard didn't bother with checking. "Go on ahead..." The bar rose for the car to pass.
"Ugh... You know, I wouldn't have done something that crazy if I knew you were gonna take that long." He joked to get his friend to laugh. Fuji chuckled lightly and the bar rose. He headed through the checkpoint and was soon out of range.
Sugou Nobuyuki had just gotten out of the NerveGear and shouted in pain as he felt the stinging in his right eye. He looked into the mirror and saw veins around his right eye; he couldn't see through that eye anymore, which meant the stab in the game rendered him half-blind.
"That little bastard!" He cursed under his breath. “He’s going to pay for what he did to me!”
However, he could still get to the hospital Asuna was in and waited for him in the parking lot. Then he heard the phone ringing and he picked it up.
"Sir, There's been a break-in at the office." The guard stated. From the guard’s end, he was sweating and holding his breath as he prayed for his boss to not yell at him.
"A break-in? How!?" Sugou asked. The pain was getting into him, but managed to hold his temper.
"The burglar shot out the power system and now the building's out. They didn't steal anything though."
"Hmmm.." Sugou pondered. But then he got up and headed for the door.
"I'm going out to do some personal business; you keep guard until I get back." He ordered the guard.
"Yes, sir." The guard hung up the phone and sighed in relief.
Sugou headed to his car, and he took off out of the facility, towards Tokyo. Despite being half-blind, he managed to get through traffic without trouble. But he had to be extra careful not to crash his car into anything, even with the snow outside.
He made it to the parking lot of the hospital where Asuna was at. He figured this would be where Kazuto would head to as soon as she woke up from ALO. He looked into the rear-view mirror to inspect his right eye.
It was damaged beyond healing since the pain-absorber was set to zero. He still couldn't believe that black-hair brat beat him by hijacking the Cardinal System and setting the pain-absorber on his avatar to zero. Then he proceeded to hack him into pieces before driving the sword into his right eye. The pain, however, was somewhat unbearable, but he wasn't too worried as he was well supplied with drugs he obtained through illegal means. He popped a couple of them into his mouth and swallowed them. The pain would settle down in good time, he thought to himself before opening the glove compartment and inspecting the KA-BAR combat knife.
‘He’ll never know what hit him.’ He thought to himself. He would wait out in the parking for Kazuto and when he saw him, he’d get the upper hand and kill the brat himself. His plans for mind control may have failed, but it was only temporary, as he and his staff would flee Japan before the authorities would get the chance to apprehend them.
He considered either the People’s Republic of China, Canada, or the European Union. The EU may have been on the verge of collapse, but at least the United Nations, especially the Canadian government, will give him full protection from the Coalition of Allied Nations.
However, there wasn’t any time to think of which country to flee to at the moment, as all he could think of was taking Kazuto down for good. And maybe, have fun with Asuna. Even though she is out of the NerveGear, she is still too weak to try to fight him herself. Which gave him the opportunity of a lifetime.
He stepped out of the car with the knife hidden away in his coat and waited for the kid to come. But of course, just as lucky as he was, he spotted him running towards him. He got his knife out, ready to attack the unsuspecting kid. But just as he made his move, a voice shouted out.
“Kid, Watch out!!!” a voice called out.
‘Damn.’ He mentally cursed. But didn’t have time to figure out who shouted, as Kazuto turned to see who it was. He made a haymaker slash and the knife’s blade made contact with his right arm.
Inside Tokyo, Fuji and Yuki were inside the city limits. The streets were deserted due to the snow, making it seem like a ghost town.
Yuki shivered, "Should've brought my jacket." He looked outside toward the buildings.
Fuji looked through the windshield towards buildings as they continue down the street.
"So, where are we gonna bring the evidence? Police?" he asked.
"Yes. They'll be interested." Fuji knew going to the police was the best way to show them the evidence and expose the true colors of Sugou.
"Okay... Great..... Shit....... I can walk to the hospital if we don't have time to spare...." He suggested.
"The hospital can't be very far. Think you can handle it from here?" Fuji was concerned about his injury.
"Don't worry about it. I still got my gun." He smiled.
"Okay. Be careful." He smiled back as they parted ways and went in different directions. He headed to the police station while Yuki started to walk on the path to the hospital.
"I gotta get a new shirt..." He mumbled to himself. He had been injured a few times during the War in Iraq. It was where he lost his eye during the sweeping in Baghdad.
As Yuki arrived at the hospital’s parking lot, he spotted Sugou stepping out of his car. And then Kirito, who was running into the partially blinded man armed with a knife.
"Kid, watch out!!!" He shouted towards the teenage boy, who turned to see where the shouting came from. Then he spotted Sugou holding what appeared to be a knife. He tried to dodge as Sugou swung at him.
However, the knife hit him in the right arm. Kirito checked and saw that blood was drawn as it ran down his right hand. This made Yuki furious. Not only had he captured four hundred people through the NerveGear for his twisted experiments, but for attacking a teenager. Yuki charged at the man.
"Attacking kids now, Boss?" He scolded as he grabbed for the knife. Sugou wrestled against Yuki for the knife.
"Run kid!" He ordered, as he twisted the knife out of Suguo's hands and reached for his handgun. Sugou yelped in pain as his wrist was twisted, but managed to grab Yuki's hand that was holding the gun. He tried to wrestle it away. Despite the numbing pain in his right arm, Kirito began to run.
The gun was discharged and it hit Kirito in the right leg as he started to run. He fell to the ground clutching his leg.
The gun dropped to the ground and was kicked away during the scuffle. The gun landed near Kirito. But Sugou knocked Yuki down, and kicked the gun away from him. He then proceeded to kick him in the stomach three times. He saw the bullet wound on his leg and pressed on it with his foot with a sneer on his face. Kirito screamed as the sharp pain from his leg flared up.
"You have caused enough trouble for me Kazuto!" Sugou growled as he dug his foot into Kirito's leg. "I'll deal with you, and then Asuna." He picked up the knife again and made a stab down on him. But he missed and nicked his right cheek.
“Damn. A little foggy in the mind, no thanks to you.” Sugou muttered before raising his knife at him.
“You have no power in this world. And I’ll make sure you’ll pay for what you did!” Sugou yelled as he prepared for another stab. But Yuki managed to grab Sugou from behind and wrestled him away from him.
"You're more trouble than that brat!" Sugou roared as he struggled with Yuki. "I'll deal with you first!" Yuki wrestled the knife away as it dropped to the ground, kicked it away, and tackled Sugou. Smashing him into a van and knocking off his glasses.
"I knew you were creepy with that happy-go-lucky smile!" He exclaimed as he wrestled with him on the snow-covered ground. Sugou notices Yuki's gunshot wound and squeezed it with his free hand. Causing Yuki to yelp in pain, and he pushed him off and got on top.
"Looks like your usefulness has run its course..." he said and began slamming his fist into Yuki's face.
"ARGH! That was a cheap shot, you shit!" He blocked his face from being smashed while helpless. But also landed punches whenever given the chance.
Kirito, or Kazuto Kirigaya, lay on the ground, clutching his leg. But he saw Sugou's knife a few feet away from him. He dragged himself to it, despite the pain in his leg and arm. Hoping he'd get it in time.
Kirito managed to reach the knife and grabbed hold of it. Good thing Sugou' was distracted. He carefully held the blade in his hand.
He recollected everything the bastard did while in the ALO game, including what he did to him and Asuna. Feeling the pain in his chest after Sugou stabbed him with his sword and molesting Asuna while he lay helpless and was forced to watch. He contemplated of having him captured by the police and having him put away. Then again, he heard that corrupted people who get caught always go free no matter how much evidence there is. He didn't want to risk that chance and allowed him to walk away scot-free. He also didn't want to risk of being arrested either.
This was a hard decision to make and he have to choose fast as the older man who attacked Sugou was in deep trouble and he had to save him quickly. He decided to chance it.
"Sugou!" Kirito shouted.
Sugou stopped and looked up. Then Kirito, with all of his strength, threw the knife as hard as he could. The knife’s blade hit Sugou in the right eye and drove itself deep into his brain. Then he fell right on his back. He was dead before he hit the ground.
'It's all over now,' he thought to himself. Sugou's been brought down for good.
Yuki was motionless in the snow as he was beaten to a pulp. The snow slowly built upon his body. He saw the child resting in the snow, reminding him of how he used to play with his niece before she was trapped in the game. He coughed blood and was bleeding profusely.
He saw the kid getting up and limping towards him and he stopped in front of him.
"Child... How is... Your leg...?" He asked with genuine concern growing in his voice. The pain was rampant in his shoulder and temples. Snow continued to pile up on the older man. Just then, several medics came out to attend to both Kirito and Yuki, along with several security guards who heard the gunshots. They lifted Yuki on the stretcher.
"It only... went through me... But it hurts," Kirito said. They lifted Yuki on the stretcher as he and Kirito were brought into the hospital while the others checked Sugou's dead body.
"I... Guess there's the point.... in... evidence......." He sighed.
After thirty minutes, Kirito's injuries were attended to and bandaged. He was informed that the bullet grazed his leg and was very fortunate it didn’t hit his femur. But he was instructed to use a crutch for a while until it healed. Yuki was not as fortunate and was confined to bed rest and an arm cast. At least his condition was moderate. Kirito was allowed to visit him.
"Hey, kid. Never caught your name?" he asked. His voice was raspy though.
"It's Kazuto, Kazuto Kirigaya," he answered.
“KiriaGAMA got it!" he joked.
Kazuto chuckled before asking. "And your name?"
Yuki rubbed his neck. "It's Yuki Tsutano."
"I'd like to thank you for helping me stop Sugou."
"Yeah yeah yeah, kid, don’t sweat it." He lightly smacked the kid's arm. "My friend and I were gonna get him arrested though, kid. Didn't think about hitting him right between the eyes with the knife. By the way, good shot."
"Thanks."
"I've seen kids kill before. Seeing you kill that guy was no different." Kazuto nodded before he remembered that Asuna is waiting for him.
"Listen, Yuki, I have to go. Someone is waiting for me." Kazuto explained that his girl Asuna Yuuki was recently released from the NerveGear prison. And she was probably wondering where he was. Yuki smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, sure. Go to your princess, Prince Charming. " He thanked Yuki and he left the room. Yuki picked up his phone to call Fuji. "...."
"Yes?" Fuji answered.
"We may not need the evidence for a dead man.", Yuki joked.
"He's dead?" Fuji asked with surprise in his tone.
"Yeah. The kid hit him between the eyes with the knife."
"Damn," Fuji said. "Well, the bastard had it coming."
Then Yuki sighed. "Bad news is: He may suffer murder charges," Yuki said grimly. He knew this, despite the attack being done in self-defense.
"We'll back him up for it. Was he attacked by Sugou?"
"Yeah, I saved his ass, he saved mine. He packed a big punch."
"Good. I've given all the info to the police. It'll be released to the public tomorrow. Although I've found a few phone call recordings that are encrypted and it'll take some time."
"Yeah.... What about the players?"
"Just got word that the US government issued the Navy SEALs on the mission. And will raid the facility and the players will be released. They've already ordered SEAL Team Six to execute the plan right now and asked me to come along."
This was a surprise for Yuki. Was the US government aware of the incident that Sugou's planning? Then again, 100 of the players were Americans. So it wouldn't be a surprise that they would get involved.
"Alright, keep me in touch."
"I will friend." Yuki smiled and hung up before the phone dropped to the floor. ".....crap..." he cursed as he stayed in bed.
The nurse guided Kazuto to Asuna's room. The curtains were closed and no lights were on. He couldn't move, continue, or speak. He hesitated for a moment, unsure what will happen if he enters the room.
"Go on. She's waiting for you." the nurse whispered into his ear. It was enough to get him moving again. He gently rolled the curtains aside like a breeze over the field.
"...Ahh." The sound escaped from his throat. She was sitting upright on the bed, wearing a thin white hospital gown that almost looked like a dress. She faced the dark window and the quiet glow from the fallen snow shone in her long, lustrous hair. Her thin arms rested in her lap. her NerveGear helmet was set aside. She was beautiful in real life just as she was in SAO. What had happened back in ALO was now fading into a forgotten memory. She was back in the real world and he could reunite with her at last.
"Asuna!" He said happily. She was started for a second, but she turned to face him with a smile on her face. Her hazelnut eyes and matching hair shined from the glowing snow from outside.
"Kirito," she replied weakly. Her voice touched deep into his soul. Two months Kazuto waited for this moment, for her to wake up and introduce each other for real. Slowly, he approached her. She raised her left hand from her lap and reached out. As he approached her, their hands touched and fingers entwined. He sat next to her when his strength left and embraced.
Asuna gasped softly when she saw Kazuto's injuries.
"It's okay now... It's over," He reassured her. "The final… The true final battle has been won. It's all over."
Then he shed tears as he sobbed softly. They dripped down his cheeks and onto her fingers.
Then Asuna placed her hand on his face where the knife slash wound was bandaged.
"I'm sorry, but I cannot hear properly right now," She said, rubbing his cheek with care. "But I think I know what you're saying, what you meant. That it's really over. And finally, finally, I can get to meet you." She shed tears of joy as they streamed down her cheeks and dripped off her chin. They broke the hug and gazed into each other's eyes with love.
“So anyway, I’m Asuna Yuuki." She reintroduced herself and smiled. "And I’m finally back, Kirito.”
He held in a sob and wiped away the tears off his face. “I’m Kazuto Kirigaya..." He smiled. "...Welcome home, Asuna.”
They both leaned towards each other until their lips met in a passionate kiss, first lightly, then harder. Kazuto put his arms around Asuna's fragile body and held her gently. Tears flowed down their cheeks and their hands still entwined with one another.
The nurse smiled and left them to enjoy their moment together. As they silently sobbed, through his tear-blurred eyes, he saw what appear to be their SAO avatars through the window of her hospital room. The two avatars smiled at them before turning around and walking off into the distance, holding hands.
They parted and just rest their foreheads together, gazing at each other in their eyes, tear-blurred but filled with happiness. After the long journey and fight through ALfheim Online to save the love of his life and free her from Sugou’s grasp, they were finally home and together at last.
This was the moment he had been waiting for, and it was all the more special as he had done what no one else had done. He hugged her and went in for a second kiss, embracing her with all the love he could give her, but mindful of her condition. His very heart was beating double-time as he lay beside her, and they both enjoyed every moment of it...