"Roar—!"
With a resounding dragon roar, a massive Golden Dragon spiraled out from around Seiya and wrapped itself directly around one of Akihiko Kayaba's arms.
Over ten meters long, the Golden Dragon was already a colossal creature in the eyes of ordinary players. Yet before Akihiko Kayaba, who had transformed into the Grim Reaper and stood dozens of meters tall, it was barely the size of his arm.
Looking at the suddenly appearing Golden Dragon, Akihiko Kayaba did not immediately attack. Instead, he carefully examined the flying dragon coiled around his arm, curiosity appearing on his face.
Just moments ago, he had used his administrator privileges to search SAO's vast database, yet he truly could not find even the slightest data or information related to the Golden Dragon.
In other words, this golden Eastern dragon before him had indeed never existed in SAO's data before.
Back when he had been developing SAO, Akihiko Kayaba had made every possible effort to fulfill his dream of turning this world into another real world.
For the world itself to grow, rigid computer programs and fixed modules were clearly insufficient.
Thus, to make up for SAO world's lack of growth potential in that regard, Akihiko Kayaba ultimately made a mad decision: he would abandon his own body and use his brain and soul to replace the computer AI.
A computer AI could not grow, but he, as a human, could. If he had to put it into words, he had now become something akin to an "electronic spirit," forever "living" within the network.
It was also because of Akihiko Kayaba's mad act that SAO itself possessed greater potential and tolerance.
The power Seiya used was data that had never existed in SAO world itself, yet the world was now evolving and accepting it, like