Ch 36: Returning to the real world.
It took less than three weeks for Noah to finish mastering Woodcutting and Carpentry, and he added the two bonus attribute points to Agility.
Noah opened his friend list and contacted Heathcliff. He had all the players who regularly participated in boss raids in it, for convenience purposes.
“Hello, Noah. Do you need something?”
“Hi. I think you know why I’m calling. I’m ready for that duel. As the one being challenged, you have the choice of the time and location.”
“How did you know?”
“That you are Kayaba-san? I knew from the very first day.”
“This Lilith again?”
“Yes. If you agree to stay alive after the end, you’ll understand why you just can’t fight her.”
“I couldn’t find any trace of her. And I’m not the only one searching about you or whoever is linked to you. You must have the support of a major government who is covering for you while pretending to know nothing.”
“A reasonable hypothesis, but an incorrect one. You’ll have your answers soon after we return to the real world. I plan to make a public announcement about Lilith.”
“…Tomorrow, 14h00, in the 14th floor’s Arena.”
“The Arena? Do you intend to make this duel public?”
“Why not? You haven’t exactly kept a low profile until now.”
“Touché. I’ll see you there, then.”
“…Do I have your word? That you will maintain the Castle?”
“Yes. To be honest, I would still do it even if you decided to die tomorrow. I have made many happy memories here. This place means a lot to me.”
“…That was the reason I did it. I didn’t want to make just a game, that would be forgotten a few years later, replaced by a copycat or a bland new game. I wanted to have people to remember their time in my Castle until their death.”
Noah rubbed his chin for a moment. His relationship with Kayaba seemed to be going in a strange direction. But he didn’t really dislike the idea.
“I think you’ve certainly succeeded on that... Why prevent the two MH-CP from contacting people, though?”
“…Light shine brighter when it is surrounded by Darkness.”
“That’s pretty deep.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yes. See you tomorrow.”
Noah returned to his home. He wanted to take a bath and cuddle with his girls for a while. He had barely entered the water, when a message appeared within his field of vision, similar to the notifications he got when he killed a monster.
“General announcement: The player Noah will face Akihiko Kayaba in a duel to the death, tomorrow in the 14th floor's Arena, at 14h00. Should he achieve victory, all players will be safely logged off. Should he die, Kayaba Akihiko will wait in the crimson castle on the 100th floor for players to challenge him.”
In seconds, over thirty invitations to chat lit up in Noah’s interface. The girls looked at his face and started laughing as they could guess what was happening. He decided to just ignore them for now.
…
Noah and his lovers left for the Arena two hours before the set time, so that his team would have front seats to the “event”.
Despite coming early, the arena was already half full. Thankfully, due to his popularity, the crowd parted in front of him and willingly offered the girls seats on the lowest terrace.
After thanking and greeting a few people, Noah walked in the center area. The ground was covered by a layer of sand.
Then Noah waited, trying to ignore the crowd staring at him. For this fight, he had chosen to equip his favorite weapon, Vortex’s Edge, in his left hand, and his best shield, Protector’s Kite Shield, in his right one. Polaris Fang, his second favorite katana, was sheathed in the small of his back. His body was covered with a light, silver metal armor.
One minute before the appointed time, A large wooden door on the opposite side, capturing the attention of the people watching.
From the shadow of the entrance walked Heathcliff, clad in his red armor, holding his signature white, cross-shaped shield in one hand, and its associated thin one-handed sword in the other.
The crowd was shocked into silence for a while. And then, fury started to set in, as they realized the man they both feared and hated had been in their midst all this while. Dozens of players tried to enter the inner part of the arena but found that an invisible force shield blocked their way.
When they stopped ten paces from each other, Noah and Heathcliff nodded to each other. After their conversation the day before, no words were necessary, and they started.
The crowd became silent again as blows were exchanged, faster than they could follow.
Kayaba was fast. Faster than the Skull Reper’s had been, and there was a ‘neatness’ to his swordsmanship. No wasted movement. He occasionally used the longest branch of his cross shield to try to stab Noah or swat him aside.
Noah idly wondered how long Kayaba had studied martial arts in preparation to creating SAO. Considering the huge variety of weapons, it must had taken years and years.
But while Noah had started the game as a complete beginner, he had fought against countless monsters for most of the last two years, and also carefully observed Heathcliff’s fighting style during many boss fights in preparation for his moment. His movements had been refined by countless battles, and while his fighting style was less elegant than Kayaba’s, he did have the enormous advantage of the Yin-Yang System.
Noah parried or blocked without much difficulty every blow from Kayaba’s sword and shield, then suddenly lifted the shield in a high posture, near Kayaba’s head, while hiding his sword arm inside the blind spot created by the shield. Like the tongue of a snake, Noah’s blade flicked toward Kayaba’s left leg and pierced it above the knee.
-3070.
Kayaba lost about 15% of his HP. He made a step back and suddenly changed his posture. Noah recognized Horizontal’s pre-motion and increased the distance between them, ready to exploit the post-motion freeze that would follow the move.
The green arc of light missed Noah, but when he stepped forward to deliver a counter, Kayaba’s sword was already glowing yellow.
A diagonal slash bit into Noah’s chest before he could use the shield to block.
-2512.
Understanding that his opponent could chain sword skills without suffering from any post-motion freeze, Noah grew more serious. He had wanted to give Kayaba time to display his technique as a sign of respect, but now, he felt like he might actually lose if he kept up like this.
But while Kayaba’s sword skills allowed him to strike with a speed comparable to Noah's, it also made him more predictable. And, in a reversal of what had happened in the novel when Kirito had panicked and triggered a 16-hits sword skill, Noah managed to avoid the attack by a short margin and used the edge of his shield to force apart his opponent’s cross shield.
Noah managed to slash two times at stomach level.
-3070, -3070.
The two separated and looked at each other for a moment, with Kayaba’s HP bar entered the yellow area.
Noah dropped his shield, and quickly unsheathed the Polaris Fang. Kayaba was polite enough not to try to attack immediately, and the fight resumed.
As a weapon, the light blue blade had a longer reach than the kite shield, and Noah used it ruthlessly, forcing Kayaba into a defensive as he tried to stave of the avalanche of strikes from the blue and the black blades. But Noah’s speed advantage was too much, and he received two more injuries.
-3070, -3070.
Understanding that he absolutely had to regain the initiative, Kayaba made a mistake. He shifted his posture to put his right shoulder a bit too much, extended his sword arm a bit too much, and Noah, seeing the gap in Kayaba’s defenses, slashed upward.
-3070.
This time, the attack triggered a maiming effect, severing Kayaba’s arm as his HP bar became red. Before he could retreat, Noah stepped forward, forcefully pushed the cross shield aside, and drove his Vortex’s Edge through Kayaba’s heart.
-6140.
Kayaba’s Hp bar reached 0.
For a moment, he smiled at Noah, and managed a nod. He then disappeared.
The people watching cheered wildly, as notifications started appearing in front of everyone.
“Log off sequence in progress. 59 seconds remaining.”
Noah turned toward his women. The barrier had disappeared, and they ran toward him. After Noah sheathed his weapons and retrieved his shield, putting it back in storage, they all hugged together.
“You did it, Noah!” shouted Asuna.
“Yeah. Let’s all quickly find each other on the other side.”
“Yes!”
When the countdown reached zero, Noah’s vision went dark, and his sense of touch was cut. Seconds later, his vision came back, along with the feeling of a slightly sore body.
He was staring at the ceiling of a hospital’s room. Lifting his upper body, he removed the helmet and stared at his body. Possibly as a side benefit of being Lilith’s champion, Noah didn’t seem to have lost any of his muscle mass.
A large notification appeared in his field of vision.
“Mission result:”
“Quest 1: Participate in the SAO game and create a character.
The reward has been delivered.”
“Quest 2: Increase your level in the game.
The reward has been delivered.”
“Quest 3: Save notable characters who were fated to die.
Reward: 8000 Yin Points.”
“Quest 4: Increase your proficiency with in-game skills.
The reward has been delivered.”
“Quest 5: Defeat the lv75 floor boss, the Skull Reaper, by yourself, and defeat the final boss in a duel.
The conditions have been fulfilled. This world will be put into stasis in 4 days, 23 hours, 58 minutes.”
“Quest 6: Master at least 20 proficiencies from the original version of Sword Art Online.
22 proficiencies have been mastered. Reward pending.”
[Tutorial ended. User receives the following abilities: Item Creation (beginner), Mass Healing, Mass Cure, Martial Arts, Cooking, Weapon Mastery, Regeneration, Lie Detection, Teleportation.]
[System, what are all those abilities?]
[User had been awarded abilities reflecting User’s actions during the tutorial. Lie Detection and Teleportation are generic skills provided to every Champion by Lilith, to help them manage the worlds they oversee.]
[Oh… that’s very interesting.]
A knock at the door interrupted his contemplation, A nurse entered, and Noah could see two police officers behind her.
“Hello?” Noah grinned, and the nurse seemed to blush slightly.
“Hello, sir. I’m glad to see you woke up.”
“I’m not the only one, I expect.” Said Noah, as he heard a lot of hurried steps outside. Many nurses and doctors were rapidly walking up and down the hallway.
“I feel perfectly fine. If you can just tell me where my clothes are… And maybe bring me something to eat once the urgency is over?” He asked with a hopeful smile.
“Yes, of course! Your clothes are in this cupboard. Ah, but you may want assistance with…”
Noah looked down, and saw that they had put a catheter on him. It only made sense.
“…Ah, yes, please do.”
The nurse lifted the hospital gown Noah was wearing, and with practiced gestures, removed the catheter. It was quite unpleasant, but after over six months of suffering injury after injury with only 40% pain dampening, this was nothing for him.
As she did, Noah removed the heartbeat detection pincer from his right index, and tore the IV drip from his arm. He wanted to see how long his new regeneration passive skill would take to heal a small puncture wound. It closed in barely a second.
“Ah? You could have waited, Sir. I’d have removed it properly.” Scolded the nurse after she was done removing the catheter and the pouch.
“It’s fine, already healed.” Smiled Noah.
“Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to get dressed.”
“Yes. Use this button if you have any issue, a nurse will quickly come.”
“Yes, thank you for your excellent service.”
The nurse left, but was immediately replaced by a police officer.
“Sir, a person from the JSDF is on his way to ask you a few questions. We would like you to stay in the room for now.”
“Yes, that’s to be expected. I’ll stay put.”
“Thank you for your cooperation.” Nodded the cop as he left the room.
“Item creation… I wonder…” Noah whispered. He tried to make a small steak knife, while thinking about one of the patterns he had learning as a beginner blacksmith in SAO.
Motes of blue light appeared around in open palm, gathered into a single mass, and coalesced into the shape Noah imagined.
He didn't need to test the edge to know this knife was sharper than a normal steel one. He idly played with it, twirling it around his fingers. He could somehow manipulate it with a degree of expertise that exceeded what he had done within the game.
[User is benefiting from the Weapon Mastery skill. It extends to any weapon, including firearms and weapons that User would define as being science fiction. However, the degree of mastery is relative, and does not necessarily compare to what true masters may be capable of.]
[Thanks for the precision. But what about Item Creation? Can I replicate every item that I created in the game? Including their bonuses and special abilities?]
[That is correct. The SAO stat bonuses will be converted into attribute bonuses at a ratio of 10 to 1, rounded to the closest number. Their base Attack or Defense values will only translate as sharper blades or more resilient armor and will not affect User’s attributes.]
Noah was impressed. His best weapon, Vortex’s Edge, had a bonus of +28 Strength and +28 Agility in SAO. Gaining +3 Strength and Agility in the real world wasn’t going to do much to him at this point, but every little helped.
He focused and created a replica of Vortex’s Edge, then stored it in his inventory.
He got dressed, sat on the bed, and turned on the TV, quickly checking the news channels.
The news of the players waking up en masse was starting to break, as families were quitting work to rush to the various hospitals all over the country. Journalists and reporters close to the nation’s hospitals were talking excitedly, and Noah’s name was mentioned once or twice.
Noah searched the room, but it didn’t seem like they had brought his smartphone when they had taken him to the hospital.
[You did well, my champion.] said Lilith in his mind.
[Thank you very much, Lady Lilith. I also very much appreciate the Lie Detection and Teleportation skills. I will put them to good use.]
Lilith chuckled lightly, making Noah shiver in pleasure.
[I can’t have my champion stranded in the middle of the ocean, and eventually drowning, because a mortal opposed to his reforms shot his plane down. It happened before, and it was quite the embarrassment. I revived my champion afterward and he took revenge, but a few other Gods keep teasing me about this incident to this day.]
[…I can imagine.]
[I didn’t contact you only to congratulate you on gaining your first world to manage, however. Now that you have over 80 000 Yin Points, I suggest you invest in Soul Magic. It has very polyvalent applications, from Soul Contracts to… I will let you discover them yourself. I approve of your idea of making a press conference to clarify your status. Do it at those coordinates. I have a gift in mind for you, and I will make an appearance.]
Noah somehow knew by heart the coordinates Lilith referred to, as if she had just inserted the knowledge into his memory. Which was likely the case.
[I will have the pleasure of feasting my eyes upon your appearance again? That’s great news!]
[Flattery will get you nowhere, even if it is appreciated.]
Noah could hear some amusement in Lilith’s voice.
[Your suggestions are my command. So, Soul Magic it is. Thank you for your advice.]
[I knew I chose you for a reason. Keep doing a good job. And keep training hard. The next world will have plenty of people much stronger than the current you. And those in the world after will be stronger still. Although some of your future enemies and allies alike will have their power limited, since our goal is to create and populate worlds. Creating beings capable to destroying worlds would be counter-productive, so no one will ever be able to deliver attacks stronger than, say, a small-yield nuclear weapon, no matter how powerful they are in their original fiction.]
[That is already plenty strong enough. I will work hard to become stronger.]