Kayaba stopped what he was doing and let the menu fade away on its own.
"So this is how it ends after all?"
He looked directly at Satoru and spoke calmly.
"But all of this depends on whether you can defeat me. Are you really that confident?"
Satoru gently let go of Sheeta. Then, in front of Kayaba, he walked step by step to every corner of the floor, picking up the weapons that had fallen earlier. One after another, he gathered them in his hands before slowly returning to stand before him.
Golden fire burned silently in his eyes as he leaned forward slightly.
She was part of this battle too.
"I have no reason to lose."
He spat each word into Kayaba's face, arrogant to the extreme.
"Understand?"
Kayaba stared into those eyes so close to his own, and the corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
Satoru turned and walked back, exposing his back without the slightest concern. Only after he had slowly reached a distance advantageous to both of them did he stop.
Then, a clear tearing sound split open viciously beside his feet.
The Blade of the Ancient Scroll, Sakura Fang, Queen of the Night, Himester's Plunder, Sange and Yasha.
Two unique swords and three treasures fell one after another, plunging straight down and standing proudly upright upon the obsidian mirror floor that should have been utterly indestructible. The black mirror reflected the sharp edges of the five weapons, and the blades hummed beneath his fingertips.
The restriction of that system-protected Immortal Object seemed never to have existed beneath his blades.
Around him stood thorns of swordlight, clustered around the man known as the sword saint.
Then Satoru opened the menu, tapped the dull gray one-piece outfit he had always worn, the Glimmering Cloak, and disabled its built-in concealment and color-shifting effects.
The dusty hooded outfit, as ragged as a scrap of discarded cloth, began to transform from the collar. A small flame ignited at the starting point.
The rags, torn patches, and loose threads clinging to it were gradually swallowed by the drifting flame and burned away into nothing.
As if some unknown power had stripped off that outer layer of dust, its true form was finally revealed. A deep black like a cloudless night sky reflected faint, shifting light. The hem fluttered without wind, and the night garment seemed to hide dim stars within it, as though it were itself the curtain of night covering the heavens.
The ugly leather gloves changed as well. A ferocious demon face was carved into the thin armor on the backs of his hands.
The belt shimmered with dark golden flowing light.
His boots burned too, transforming into black greaves that extended over his calves and thighs.
On the lining of the night garment, across the chest of that plain white shirt, flames traced the patterns of the Heart of Tarrasque and the Eye of Skadi. Black-red and deep blue overlapped in a striking sight, the marks flickering together as if breathing, like the powerful beat of his own heart.
He looked as if he were being reborn in fire.
From a dusty, down-and-out man, he became someone worthy of the unique swords around him, worthy of the heroic presence he now carried.
The deep blue flames released by the Glimmering Cloak's disguise burned out behind him, leaving flakes of fire drifting down at his back.
He took out that pack of cigarettes, pulled out the last one, and placed it between his lips. Then he lit it with the final thread of flame fading from his collar.
The cigarette tip flared bright, and he took a deep drag.
Then he exhaled smoke.
"Let's begin, Kayaba."
His golden eyes pierced through the thin layers of smoke and struck straight at the paladin's heart. Though the man opposite him was the creator who ruled this world, Satoru's attitude in that moment made it seem as though he were the one granting Kayaba the chance to fight.
His voice cut through every gaze.
The people around them remained silent, pouring all their focus into the two of them.
Behind him, Sheeta watched him peel away that layer of protection.
So cool.
She stood up, thinking.
"Although every item here was created by me, watching these artifact-level things appear before my eyes one after another from nothing is truly quite impressive."
Kayaba operated the menu with his left hand. Then the message [Changed into Mortal Object] appeared over his body.
His Immortal Object status had been removed.
Satoru stood in place. He did not touch any of the swords at his side, merely staring at him.
Kayaba raised his shield and advanced with a defense that left almost no openings.
The only sound in the air was the nerve-raking scrape of his footsteps against the floor.
Tension poured out between them, rising, spreading, and finally exploding outward until it infected everyone.
Satoru let go, and the cigarette dropped weakly.
But before it could touch the floor and vanish into shards, the tearing sound of a Sword Skill activating erupted.
Yet it was neither crisp nor swift. It was an ugly sound, like tangled electric current, as if it had surpassed the sound simulation system and torn it apart.
Satoru was no longer where he had stood. He was moving so fast that his entire virtual body stretched into a distorted long shadow.
The two unique swords that had stood clustered around him on the ground were gone as well.
A black blade and a cherry-colored blade sliced through the air, cutting the cigarette in midair.
Kayaba's rigid expression changed abruptly, and he spun around.
Boom!!
Everyone felt a shock as if their hearts had been struck by a heavy blow. They fought to prop themselves up, refusing even to blink, desperate to sear this decisive battle—this fight tied to the fate of six thousand people—into their eyes.
Kayaba braced himself and blocked the gusting flash of an attack. But when his gaze shot past the edge of his red shield, his pupils contracted sharply.
Only the Blade of the Ancient Scroll.
The only thing he had blocked was that black blade.
The only thing on his shield was Cantusa.
Where was he…?!
"Severing Blade."
A voice murmured from behind him like ice breaking open, carrying killing intent that allowed not the slightest wavering. It was close. So close it was practically a whisper.
Kayaba understood the meaning of those two words.
Infinite Sword was something he had written bit by bit himself. There was no way he would not understand.
This was the true essence of that Unique Skill.
Aside from unlocking additional Sword Skills for the weapon types already possessed at the moment it was obtained, what remained was only this single time-limited active status skill.
This status itself could even be called the Unique Skill in its entirety.
As long as the user activated any additional Sword Skill and spoke its name, the system would trigger it automatically. The user would enter the Severing Blade state for five minutes. While in this state, any owned weapon category no longer had equipment requirements. Attack speed increased by 30%, plus equipment attribute corrections, while startup and recovery delay were reduced by 50%, plus equipment attribute corrections.
The Severing Blade Sword Skill series would also unlock.
Infinite Sword was by no means the strongest Unique Skill, but its possibilities could not be measured. In the final five minutes when this killing state was activated, its upper limit equaled the user's own upper limit.
And the cost was that once the duration ended, the entire Infinite Sword skill would become unusable. Even the additional Sword Skills of other weapon types that had been passively unlocked would be sealed.
A final gamble.
A dying counterattack in the final battle.
That was its role, at least according to Kayaba, its creator.
In their previous fight, Satoru had not activated it from the start.
This time, he had used it immediately…?
If so…
I know every attack you will make from here on.
Kayaba turned and slashed with his longsword.
The Sword Skill he used for that opening charge at inhuman speed was the lower-tier Severing Blade Sword Skill, Crescent Moon Plunder.
The two of them clashed face-to-face at extreme range, burning golden eyes and dead-water black eyes colliding without either side giving an inch.
Sakura Fang was held level at Satoru's right hip, and Kayaba's eyes widened.
No mistake.
It was the lower-tier Severing Blade Sword Skill, Full Moon Night Slash, a directional slash that covered a full 360-degree plane.
His longsword moved to block the target of the attack he predicted.
Clang!!
Defense successful.
But Sakura Fang returned at least twice as fast as his own sword.
Raised high, then brought down in a crushing slash.
The mid-tier Severing Blade Sword Skill, Sunrise, Sunset.
The shield finally managed to return in time. He raised it upward in advance and withstood the heavy strike.
Blazing Sun.
Dark Moon.
Chasing Cloud.
Sixfold Arms.
Azure Abyss Ascension.
Sixteenfold Pursuit.
...
Kayaba continuously filtered through every Sword Skill in his mind.
These were powerful moves he had designed with meticulous care. He knew their openings, trajectories, impact points, and damage judgments perfectly. Even if he recombined every Sword Skill in his head over and over, there was no chain capable of breaking through his Holy Sword.
Except one.
A finishing move meant for the final moment of Severing Blade's time limit. To bring out its greatest power, it had to be used in the very last second.
Metal crashed against metal.
The battle between the two moved so fast that only chaotic shadows remained, chasing and colliding with one another. Around Satoru's night garment flashed the streaming afterimages of his golden eyes. Yet Kayaba's blood-red figure remained unmoved beneath that frenzied barrage, sparks igniting and bursting apart from every direction.
It was impossible to follow properly with the naked eye.
At that inhuman speed, both of their virtual bodies had begun showing faint signs of breaking down. Their models overlapped, stretched, and tore.
The sounds of their Sword Skills pierced the eardrums.
The clean, ringing clash of blades had been wrong from the start.
Now, it no longer resembled the pleasing ring of a famed sword leaving its sheath. It had become the teeth-grating, nauseating screech of a chainsaw cutting into iron.
Without seeing it firsthand, it would be hard to imagine that a battle capable of making people feel such a gap in level could erupt in this virtual world.
And it was not only speed.
The force of their collisions was the same.
This was no friendly spar, no joking scuffle. Both of them fully intended to drive their swords into the other's body, even to viciously tear apart the other's organs. The broken sounds of sword and shield were their roars. Their icy stares and rapidly racing thoughts were their answer.
Even the bystanders could clearly feel that skin-crawling killing intent.
Aincrad's focus refinement system allowed them to observe the two more accurately, but the closer they watched, the less they could see, because even the system was gradually becoming unable to calculate it.
In a fight like that, everything changed every second.
They could not even tell who held the advantage anymore.
Too fast.
Kayaba had developed the NerveGear itself. It would not be surprising if, during that process, he had optimized its compatibility with himself. It was certainly not the same as the mass-produced product the rest of them had bought.
But Satoru…
This invited outsider now carried an arrogance even greater than that of the creator himself.
He was making Kayaba chase him.
Just like…
Kirito clenched his fists tightly.
Just like when Kayaba had told him to try to catch up.
...
This was a slaughter between rational minds.
One was the game's creator.
The other was the player who understood the game better than anyone else.
Neither relied on talent.
Both fought through information.
Measurement. Judgment. Prediction.
Targeting. Countering.
Every move had its answer.
Every formation was met by another.
But I know every move you have, Satoru!
I had more pieces than you from the very beginning!
Didos was the Dragon King, a piece of overwhelming power. Wherever he struck, nothing could stand against him.
You are the Dragon Horse, cutting in from the diagonals, striking only at weak points and blind spots.
But I am the King General—the final piece waiting at the end of the board.
You fought with everything you had, gnawing away my pieces one by one. But when you finally reached me…
You no longer had enough left to take even one more step!
"This is the last Sword Skill of Severing Blade, Satoru!!"
Kayaba blocked Sakura Fang's most ferocious twenty-six-hit Sword Skill.
Upper-tier Sword Skill, Moonlit Mountain Crossing.
"There's still one more."
Right in front of him, Satoru casually flung Sakura Fang aside, forcing Kayaba to spend more time knocking it away.
Then, like a phantom of the night, he grasped the hilt of the Blade of the Ancient Scroll with both hands.
His expressionless face released a devouring cruelty.
"One Blade, Certain Death…"
He uttered the words, and the dark, profound Blade of the Ancient Scroll was covered in a layer of destructive blood-red flame.
Kayaba shook.
That finishing move was supposed to unleash its greatest power only in the final second.
He quickly recalled what he had written.
After the normal Sword Skill damage, it forcibly dealt additional damage to the target equal to the remaining durability value of the equipped weapon divided by the final number of the current Severing Blade state. After use, Severing Blade would also be forcibly ended at once.
He looked at the black blade as cracks began to form across it.
Satoru had been using Sakura Fang all this time, so Cantusa's durability should still hold a considerable value. But even so, Severing Blade should still have more than three minutes remaining.
Divided by three hundred sixty seconds…
The damage would be almost negligible.
Was he really going to waste three minutes of Severing Blade to use this final, painless finishing move?
Kayaba's gaze darkened.
He must have another intention.
This was only a feint.
He was the kind of man who would push anything to its limit before throwing it away.
That was exactly why…
Infinite Sword had chosen him.
Kayaba burned Satoru's entire figure into his eyes, searching only for the hidden killing move.
But.
"One Blade… Heart Eater."
Satoru spoke the final words, and the Sword Skill's irreversible activation completed.
"Wha…? Do you really think this finishing move can kill me?!"
The black blade began to wail, as if crying out for its final moment in this world.
Satoru gripped it tightly.
This was the weapon he had used ever since the boss on the 36th Floor. The weapon he had obtained by joining forces with the dying Didos. The witness to that death match.
Cracks spread.
The sign of collapse.
Just as on that day, when he had pierced Azure Gap Halberd, he drove the blade deep into the shield.
The black blade began to shatter inch by inch from the tip. Its pitch-black body disintegrated into shards before they could even fall. Activating this Sword Skill would inevitably destroy one weapon. There was no way to stop it. That was an iron rule set by this world.
Satoru's hand continued forward without mercy.
The Blade of the Ancient Scroll vanished section by section.
It was only a weapon.
He had never believed in such things, nor had he ever felt attachment to them. Just like when he first watched Nezha forge, seeing several weapons turn into ultramarine flames and vanish before his eyes, he had felt nothing.
After all, they were only data.
But now, he looked down at the dying black blade.
Its wail still echoed beside his ears.
"You worked hard."
In his heart, he watched this unique sword's final moment.
"Please."
Pierce it.
If it's you.
The corpse of the black blade continued advancing against the shield, spending all its flesh as a sword, all its limbs and bones as a blade. With its own destruction as the price, it gnawed at the strongest defense in the game—the one that had been called unbreakable.
Kayaba pushed against the shield with everything he had. He could feel its durability plummeting.
He wants not only to kill me, but to destroy Holy Sword as well…?
Satoru took another step forward.
Almost nothing remained of the black blade but its hilt.
A little more.
Just a little more.
Just a little more is enough!
"If you broke my halberd but can't break his shield, I'm going to laugh at you."
A voice drifted in from behind him, distant and faint.
It was nothing like the fierce, thunderous roar Didos had once let out in Aincrad. It sounded more like the person behind that avatar—the thin, frail boy lying in a hospital bed, forcing out a weak smile as he mocked him one last time.
Satoru pressed closer to the shield.
"I don't need your concern."
He did not even realize he was smiling as he answered the empty air.
"Kaizuka."
One final crack.
The Blade of the Ancient Scroll vanished completely.
He had no weapon left in his hand.
But.
At the place where One Blade, Heart Eater had struck, a shocking crack appeared on the shield.
And it was still spreading.
Like a flood breaking through a levee.
It exploded.
Behind that shield, Kayaba's stunned face was revealed.
"The myth of Holy Sword ends today."
Satoru stared at him coldly. Rather than speaking to Kayaba alone, it sounded more like he was announcing it to every player present.
"Heathcliff is dead."
Then, as casually as if strolling through a garden, he bent down and picked up Sakura Fang.
"Next, it's Kayaba Akihiko's turn."