This chapter will be split up into multiple parts. The reason for this is so that the story can get better reception on Webnovel, which favors shorter chapters posted at quick rate, rather than longer chapters at a slower rate like the ones I write. If this is too much a bother to read in this format, feel free to read the chapter over on Fanfiction.
Please enjoy and if you do, use your Power Stones to help the story.
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Kirito watched as who he believed to be Kayaba refract and dissipate out of existence. Truthfully, he couldn't have been one hundred percent sure that was in fact Akihiko Kayaba in disguise.
That player could have been anyone who worked for Argus and held a high position in the company, or Kayaba's secret right hand man who was helping him behind the scenes. Having access to admin commands didn't directly confirm anything. For all he knew, Kayaba was just the fall guy for some big scheme. Kirito had no idea what kind of crazy shenanigans were happening in the real world. All he could do was speculate.
However, he was inclined to believe it was him.
He didn't know Kayaba personally by any means, but Kirito got a fair enough grasp of the creator from his first impression back on floor one. The guy didn't strike him as the type to sit back and let others do the work, nor did he seem like the fall guy for some massive company. All of the interviews Kirito had watched of him on the internet and read in magazines also painted him as a guy who knew exactly what he was doing.
There was no way he would trap ten thousand people in a death game and let admin accounts walk around freely.
It had to have been him. He was as certain as he could be.
Sheathing his sword, Kirito walked back to pick up his discarded trident and the col he'd forced Kayaba, or rather Hero, to drop after he slashed his arm off. They couldn't sit there for too long, but he had more than enough time. Items that didn't naturally deteriorate would break and despawn within thirty minutes.
The «Golden Trident» lay flat on the ground and he picked it up first. It would be a great gift for Sinon, making up for that lame choker. Unlike that, this one would actually help keep her alive. Kirito stuffed it back in his inventory, contemplating which upgrades he should put on it before picking up the col.
Col: 1000000
There it was, one million col. Kayaba hadn't been lying about it. A wave of accomplishment washed over Kirito and he smiled.
He was making out like a bandit.
Under different circumstances, Kirito may have jumped for joy. However, the ramifications for his actions may be huge. There was a chance that Kayaba was in fact dead, that he hadn't backed up his life and had somewhat played by the rules.
That kind of outcome was an unrealistic wish. Kirito was inclined to believe otherwise. A man who would heal himself to full every time he risked death wouldn't be so careless.
The command he used to heal was vocal. That meant that Kayaba couldn't make those commands around other people, or else he'd give himself away. Maybe there was also one in his administrator menu too, but that didn't matter. If he did that, players would inevitably catch and notice he was healing to full health mid boss fight without drinking a potion or some other healing item.
Like Kirito himself, Kayaba didn't want to reveal his true identity, so he wouldn't use them. If he wouldn't use them then there was a chance that he could be slain in battle.
Would someone like Kayaba, who relied on admin commands to fight important battles for him, as well as the creator of SAO, really take a risk at dying in his own game?
Kirito wasn't optimistic enough to believe it. The man had likely dived inside SAO without any risk and could log out whenever he wanted. Assuming the worst and that Kayaba was in fact alive, the possibility of Kirito having a ticking time bomb over his head was real. If Kayaba felt like it, he could execute him whenever he wanted with a single command outside of the game. Something he would have no defense over.
The very idea of that made Kirito want to hurl.
It was those kinds of ramifications that unnerved him. He honestly hadn't thought about that before picking a fight. As soon as Kayaba used that vocal command, Kirito was dead set on killing him. He was just wanted to gather more reasons to go through with it. If he had considered the repercussions, he would have dipped way before the fight against Wiron was over. It wasn't worth dying a bullshit death to some cheater.
There wasn't anything he could do about it now. He just had to hope Kayaba was truly dead, that the man wasn't petty enough, or that some other external force would prevent it from happening.
Knowing that Kayaba would go as far as trying to use his admin commands during their fight, as well as getting offended when he talked trash about the system, Kirito believed Kayaba was more petty than he let on.
Any second now and Kirito's days could be numbered. His hopes of surviving weren't very high.
'No, that won't happen.' Kirito rejected strongly, his fists tightening in defiance. 'I'm not dying in this world, not even to some game command.' He hadn't once believed he would actually die and he refused to do so now. None of his judgement calls had ever led him into a predicament he couldn't get out of. This was just like all the other times.
Kayaba could use all the commands he wanted. He wasn't going anywhere.
Without spending another second thinking about it, Kirito turned to walk away from the foggy lake. As he was, the tiniest shine had caught the corner of his eye. The boy turned to look at what it was and his heart skipped a beat.
The golden sword Kayaba had been using stood tall, lodged midway into the ground underneath. It hadn't disappeared with Kayaba's avatar.
Rushing over to the blade, Kirito confirmed it was the very same sword he fought against. Its luster couldn't be forgotten so easily. The fact that it was left behind was a rare occurence.
On death, if your weapon had been knocked out of your hands and discarded, it would stay behind as a spoil of battle while you respawned at the «Room of Resurrection» in the «Town of Beginnings». It was one of the only ways a player could actually be rewarded for being a player killer, as they didn't get anything else from the people they killed. That's why when players killed in the beta, they specifically tried to knock weapons out of their opponents hands. It was the same for shields as well.
He didn't expect the sword to be there. During their fight, Kirito hadn't knocked the weapon out of Kayaba's hand. The man must have let go of it after being slashed in half.
Using both hands, Kirito pulled the blade out from the dirt. It felt heavy, even for him. The sword glowed brightly without falter, not a single bit of grime on it. It was in perfect condition. His fingers raced to inspect it.
Reading over the text, Kirito couldn't help but let out a wry chuckle. It was just as he expected.
The sword was busted. Not in the same way rare items were. This weapon was on another level entirely, likely because the blade was a cheat weapon spawned into the game.
Simply put, an item like this was impossible.
It couldn't exist without foul play. Not even the rarest materials with the lowest spawn rates on the highest floors would make a sword like this.
The first impossibility it held was that it couldn't break. Its life had infinite durability. Nothing outside of an admin command could destroy this weapon. Secondly, it was a weapon that scaled to the user.
Alone, that fact may not have been impossible. Although no one had found anything like it, there could potentially be an item that could level up with whoever wielded it. That said, if a weapon like that existed, the scaling for this sword would completely blow past it.
Not only did it change its stats depending on the user's level, the stats of the blade were so high that it made any other weapon of the same level laughably low.
Kirito was level 27. While holding the sword, its stats would scale up to a sword around level 40. If this sword were in the hands of someone like Sinon, she would be able to one-tap any monster on the current floor outside of bosses and mini-bosses. Heck, even an average player might be able to do it.
That, of course, didn't include the special abilities that would unlock once a level requirement was reached. Level twenty was a blinding effect. Level forty was a durability-decay effect. Level sixty had a projectile effect. Level eighty had a healing effect, and level one hundred had a blast effect.
'Why does this sword even exist?' Kirito couldn't help wondering. Sure, Kayaba was a big fat cheater, but this was too much. There was no way he truly believed no one would ask questions.
Just how careless was he? Did he just lack common sense?
'Even though he thought no one was around, he was still ballsy enough to use admin commands out in the open.'
Kayaba may have been a smart man who conducted himself carefully and secretly enough to make SAO a death game, but he sure was an awful gamer.
'Maybe it comes with age?' Kirito thought, unconsciously taking a dig at the man. Whatever the case, it was a weapon he would never be able to use. He was already powerful enough at his current stage. Wielding it in battle might actually allow him to down a boss within a few hits. While trying that out once did sound appealing, going through the whole game like that could be risky.
A short fantasy of Kirito attempting to speedrun SAO played in his head, slaying everything in his path with the cheat weapon. All the commotion he would create would lead to him getting found out by the other players at some point. Then after getting roughly halfway through the game, he would indiscriminately get perma-banned off the server.
...Well, that might not happen, but Kirito didn't think any long-lasting good would come from such a scenario.
A better reason why he shouldn't wield it was because it was a weapon that belonged to a now dead player. A player that was quite famous for being the leader of the top guild and wearing flashy equipment.
His old guildmates would soon notice him disappear from their friend list, if they hadn't already. One of them would go down to the «Town of Beginnings» to check the list of dead players to confirm his demise, leading towards the news spreading like a virus.
If they, or rather anyone in SAO really, saw him running around with Hero's sword after the guy up and died randomly... disaster would be putting it mildly.
"In the inventory you go..." Kirito robotically moved to store the weapon away as he forced himself to smile. He truly admired the sword. It was a beautiful weapon unmatched by any other. Kayaba had chosen it himself and likely put in extra work to make it so eye catching. Kirito felt leagues stronger just by holding it out in front of him.
Holding it a single time was enough for him to know he would never wield a better sword. Banishing it to the back of his inventory felt wrong... but it had to be done. With one last input, the sword was placed all the way at the bottom. His eyes scanned over the name one last time.
Holy Sword Excalibur
Kirito slumped with a heavy sigh. Maybe there would come a day he could use it, but not today. He briefly considered running out and finding a mob spawn to annihilate with it, but he could already do that without it. For now, the holy sword was a piece of clutter in his inventory.
Finding the willpower to finally move, Kirito began walking towards the trees surrounding «Lake Talpha» the same way he had entered. As he approached a large bushel of jungle, he abruptly stopped. "Come out, now."