SAO S1 E14

## Plot

The boss is finally killed. They lost 14 players, and everyone is exhausted. They wonder if they can even clear the next 25 floors. Kirito notices everyone but Heathcliff is tired and sitting down. He remembers his duel with him. He picks up his sword and attacks Heathcliff. The notification "Immortal Object" appears, just like with Yui. That's why his HP never goes into the yellow zone. Kirito always wondered where Kayaba was hiding while he watched them and controlled everything. He was always among them. Heathcliff is Akihiko Kayaba. He admits this willingly, asking Kirito how he figured it out. During their duel, one of his moves was too fast to be possible. He engaged the system's assist mode to win the duel. He's the final floor's boss. He paralyzes all the players except Kirito. He gives Kirito a chance to fight him now instead of going to the final floor. If he wins, all the players will be logged out. Kirito has a flashback to all the deaths he's witnessed since starting the game, and agrees to fight him one on one. Kayaba deactivates his immortality. Kirito shares what may be his last words with Asuna, Agil, and Klein. He fights Kayaba and uses his dual wielding skill. Since Kayaba made the game, he knows all the sword skills and how to block them, so Kirito can't use them. He becomes desperate to land a hit though, and uses them. Dark Repulsor breaks against Kayaba's shield, and he strikes the final blow. However, Asuna takes the hit, lowering her HP to zero. This should be impossible, since she was under paralysis, but power of love/will I guess. Kirito is devastated, and loses the will to fight. He weakly swings his sword once before Kayaba disarms him. Kayaba runs his sword through him, putting Kirito out of his misery. Just before his avatar disappears though, Kirito overrides the death system, and uses Asuna's rapier to stab Kayaba, bringing his own HP down to zero and killing them both. The crystals they left behind fly over Aincrad, and everyone sees them, including Lis, Silica, Yolko, Kains, Sasha, Thinker, Yulier, and the children from the church. On November 7th, 2024 at 2:55 pm, just over two years after the game was launched, SAO has been cleared. Somewhere in the clouds, Asuna and Kirito reunite. They're above Aincrad, which is falling to pieces. Akihiko Kayaba, with no disguise, is also there. The remaining 6,100 or so players have been logged out. In ARGUS HQ, the SAO server is deleting all the data. It's been so long Kayaba doesn't even remember why he did it. Simple, you're an insane psychopath. He congratulates them on clearing the game and disappears. Before they go, Asuna and Kirito tell each other their real names. His is Kazuto Kirigaya and hers is Asuna Yukki. He turned 16 last month and she's 17. So *he is* younger than her. Don't worry, she's okay with it. Everything disappears. Kirito wakes up in a hospital from his two year long coma. Despite being physically weak, he immediately tries to find Asuna as the credits roll and the end credits song plays. In reality, this would be impossible in real life, but whatever.

## Review

This was a good way to end the first arc. Of course, it's not the end of the season. The first story arc was called Aincrad, and the second is called Fairy Dance. There are still 11 more episodes to go in the first season. As for the ass pull that is Kirito and Asuna both surviving, it's possible that Klein used the resurrection item on one of them, and given what we learn about what happened to Asuna immediately after this, it's possible that her mind was saved thanks to another company using SAO's servers.