The commotion in the Ruby Palace suddenly ceased.
Kayaba Akihiko.
The name reminds everyone of the Town of Beginnings two years ago, and also of the reason they are trapped here.
Klein and charged forward, but Kayaba only raised one finger.
An invisible force swept across the hall. Klein froze in place, Asuna's hand, reaching for the sword hilt, also stopped in mid-air. All the players were locked into bodies from which they could not resist.
They can still see and hear, but they can't even move a finger.
Only Kayaba, Kirito, and Lin Yuan are still able to move.
Lin Yuan glanced down at his hands. The power had swept over his body, but it hadn't found an object to whom he could exert commands. He didn't have a player account, nor did he possess any character data that could be locked by the system.
The restraints on Kirito disappeared on their own the next moment.
"What you just defeated was indeed the floor boss that Aincrad originally set for the 100th floor," Kayaba said calmly. "Its death is undeniable; according to the public rules, you have completed the 100th floor raid."
"But before the game started, I left one last condition for completing it."
He raised his cross shield, and fine data patterns appeared on his red armor.
"Defeat me, the creator of the game."
The silence was heavier than before.
Kayaba's gaze fell on the two swords at Kirito's waist.
"The unique skill ' Dual Blades ' will be granted to the player with the fastest reaction speed among all players. It's never just a reward."
"In the original design, the wielder of Dual Blades would become a hero in the eyes of all players. Upon reaching the top, he would reveal the identity of the strongest guild leader and complete the final battle."
Countless gazes within the Ruby Palace then fell upon Kirito.
Black Swordsman.
The fastest reaction speed, a level ahead of almost everyone, and the dual swords capable of changing the course of the battle. That was the position Kayaba had already marked.
Originally, the person standing in front of me could only be you.
Kayaba looked at Lin Yuan.
"But an unexpected variable has appeared in Aincrad."
Without an account or panel, and unable to use the system's sword skills, he still reached the 100th floor with his real body and even killed the floor boss twice on his own.
"Therefore, I grant you both the right to choose."
A red window opened above the hall.
The challenger wins, and all surviving players are immediately logged out.
The challenger was defeated, Aincrad terminated, and all players still connected died together.
Thousands of lives were on their minds at that moment.
Kirito's hand rested on the hilt of his sword, but he hesitated to draw it.
His lips moved slightly.
There was no sound.
Facing the floor boss, he could be the first to charge into attack range, and he could risk his life to save someone. But now, behind him are every survivor in Aincrad waiting to go home.
He was ultimately just a student. It was precisely because he understood what death was that he couldn't easily take on the responsibility of everyone's lives.
Kirito's knuckles turned white little by little, but his throat felt like it was being choked by something heavier than system paralysis, and he couldn't utter a single word.
Lin Yuan turned his head and saw his eyes.
The next moment, he walked past Kirito.
"I'll do it."
Kirito suddenly looked up.
Lin Yuan didn't stop. Ever since the day he left Fairy Tail, he had found himself in a place where there was no turning back.
"The position of hero was merely prepared for him by you." Lin Yuan looked at Kayaba, his right hand pressing on the " Nameless " scroll. "But this battle, I will take it upon myself."
Kayaba stared at him for a moment, then slowly brought his cross shield to his front.
"Option established."
The red patterns on the ground spread outwards, and all the immobilized players were pushed to the edge of the hall. Only Kirito remained nearby, but his body was locked again, and he could only watch as Lin Yuan walked alone into the empty battlefield.
Lin Yuan drew out the " Nameless ".
Starting from the 90th floor, he memorized Heathcliff's angle of raising his shield, stride, and counterattack habits every time, and deliberately repeated those observable and recordable starting moves in subsequent battles.
One instance of prematurely withdrawing the shield is not enough to be considered evidence, but it is enough for him to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
Strengthening " Nameless ", repeatedly calculating the deflection direction of the Holy Sword, and then hiding the continuously usable " Mountain Severance " until the very end—everything Lin Yuan did was for this moment.
The stone slab shattered beneath Lin Yuan's feet.
The first strike, " Mountain Severance," came down head-on, but Kayaba's cross shield tilted ahead of time, deflecting the sword's edge and force to the side at a near-perfect angle.
The moment " Nameless " was deflected, Lin Yuan turned around using the momentum.
There was no pause, no gathering of strength, and no sound of weapons on the verge of breaking apart.
The second strike, " Mountain Severance," came crashing down from the opposite direction.
The cross-shaped shield spun around abruptly, once again blocking the sword's edge.
The roar shook the Ruby Palace, and the stone slabs at the foot of the Kayaba cracked inch by inch, but he himself did not retreat even a step.
For the first time, Lin Yuan's expression changed.
Kayaba is not surprising.
"You started observing me from the ninetieth floor, so I suppose you already suspected me back then. Unfortunately, I also started observing you from that time."
Kayaba firmly held its ground against " Nameless ".
"I don't have data on your body, but this sword belongs to Aincrad. I know better than you what materials it was made of, how many times it was strengthened, and how many of those strikes it can withstand."
Lin Yuan did not answer, and drew his sword to strike again.
The third strike, " Mountain Severance," was even faster than the previous two, but Kayaba stepped inside before the sword's edge could fall. The cross shield slammed upwards, preemptively cutting off the force, while the longsword hidden behind the shield thrust out simultaneously.
Lin Yuan dodged to the side, avoiding the sword's edge, but it still grazed his shoulder.
Fresh blood fell onto the white stone slab.
Kayaba his sword and shield, adopting a stance truly suited for offense for the first time.
"Is your preparation over?"