Asuna was crying too. Her sparkling tears rolled down endlessly like small jewels before evaporating.

"I was really happy. The time I met Kazuto-kun, and lived together, was the most enjoyable time in my entire life. Thank you... I love you..."

The end of the world was right in front of us. The steel castle and the endless sea of clouds had all been erased by the bright light, leaving only the two of us behind.

Asuna and I hugged each other tightly, waiting for the final moment.

It felt as if our emotions were being purified by the light. All that remained inside of me was my love for Asuna. I continued to call out her name even as everything was being unraveled and scattered.

Light filled my vision. Everything was being covered by the pure white veil and disappeared after becoming tiny particles of light. Asuna's smile mixed in with the overflowing light that engulfed this world.

-I love you... I love you- Her voice rang out like the sweet chiming of a bell as the last of my consciousness disappeared.

The final line that separated us disappeared and we became one.

Our souls seeped into each other, combined, and then scattered.

Finally, we disappeared.

Chapter 25.

The air was a mixture of numerous odors.

The fact that I was still alive shocked me.

The air that flowed into my nose was bringing in an abundance of information. First came the stinging smell of disinfectant. Then came the smell of sun-dried cloth, the sweet aroma of fruits, and the odor of my own body.

I slowly opened my eyes. For a moment, it felt like two powerful white beams of light pierced deeply into my mind, so I quickly shut my eyes again.

Sometime later, I hesitantly tried to open my eyes again. A myriad of colors danced across my pupils. It was only then that I noticed that there was a large amount of liquid covering my eyes.

I blinked in an attempt to get rid of them. But the liquid kept flowing out. They were actually tears.

I was crying. Why? There was a fierce but deep feeling of pain and loss within my heart. Voices continued to echo within my ears, as if someone was calling my name.

I squinted my eyes against the strong light and finally managed to get rid of the tears.

It felt like I was lying on something soft. I could see something akin to ceiling tiles above me. There were rows of smooth, beige colored panels, several of which shined softly as if there were lights behind them. From the edge of my vision, I could see a metallic vent, where air was being blown out with a low sound.

An air conditioner... in other words, a machine. How could something like that be here? No smith could make a machine no matter how high their skill stats were. If what I saw was really a machine- then this place wasn't- It wasn't Aincrad.

I opened my eyes widely. My mind was fully awoken from just that one thought. I hurried to raise my body- But my body wouldn't listen at all. I couldn't apply any strength. Although my right shoulder went up by a couple of centimeters, it immediately fell back down.

Only my right hand managed to move. I raised it onto my body and then brought it in front of my eyes.

For a moment I couldn't believe that this emaciated arm was mine. There was no way I would be able to hold a sword with this. When I inspected the sickly white skin more closely, I could see countless tufts of body hair covering it. I could see the blue veins below the skin and the wrinkles at the joints. Everything felt frightening; it was so realistic, so biological that it felt abnormal.

On the inside of my wrist, a piece of tape held a needle in place, which had a long cord connected to it like it was used to inject something. My eyes followed the cord and came upon a transparent package that was held up by a silver stand. The pack was still two-thirds full with some orange liquid, which dripped away at a steady pace.

I moved my left hand and tried to grasp my sense of touch. It seemed that my entire body was naked and lying on top of a bed made of some high density gel material. Because its temperature was slightly lower than my body's, I could feel its coldness slowly creep up to me. Suddenly, a memory surfaced in my mind; I once saw on a news broadcast that this type of bed had been developed for patients who couldn't move. It had the ability to prevent infections to the skin and break down disposed bodily wastes.

I looked around at my surroundings. It was a small room. The wall was of the same plain white color as the ceiling. There was an extraordinarily large window to my right with white curtains drawn over it. I couldn't see the scenery outside, but I could see the yellow sunlight shine straight through the fabric. A four-wheeled metal trolley parked to the far left of the gel bed, and a rattan basket laid on top of it. A bouquet of plain-looking flowers was inside the basket, which seemed to be the source of the sweet aroma. Past the trolley was a closed, rectangular door.

Based on all of this information, this place should be a hospital ward, and I was the only one here.

I returned my gaze to my raised right hand and suddenly thought of something. I waved my right hand with my index finger and thumb pressed together.

Nothing happened. There was neither a sound effect nor a menu screen. I waved again with a bit more strength, then again. The outcome was the same each time.

So, this really wasn't SAO. Then was it some other virtual reality?

But the information flooding through my five senses already shouted to me that there was another possibility. This- was the real world. It was the world I had left two years ago and never expected to see again.

The real world- It took me a long time to understand the meaning behind these simple words. For me, the world of swords and battles had been my only reality for a long time. I still couldn't believe that the other world was no longer there, that I was no longer in that world.

Then, have I returned?

-Even when I thought of that, I didn't really feel happy or anything. All I felt was a bit of confusion and a sense of loss.

Was this the reward that Kayaba had mentioned for clearing the game? I had clearly died within that world and my body had been completely erased. I had accepted that. I even felt content about it.

Yeah-it would have been fine if I had just disappeared like that. In that bright light, dissolving, scattering, and then melting away with the rest of the world, together with her- "Ah..."

I subconsciously made a noise. A strong pain pierced the throat that hadn't been used in two years. But I didn't care about that in the slightest. I opened my eyes widely and said one word, the one name that appeared in my mind.

"A...su...na..."

Asuna. The pain that was etched onto my heart flared up once again. Asuna, my beloved wife, who watched the end of the world together with me...

Had it all been a dream...? A beautiful illusion that I saw in a virtual world...? These confused thoughts suddenly appeared in my mind.

No, she did exist. There was no way that all those days we had spent laughing, crying, and sleeping together had been a dream.

Kayaba had said-"Congratulations on clearing the game Kirito-kun, Asuna-kun." He had definitely said that. If he had included me in the list of survivors, then Asuna should have came back to this world as well.

As soon as I thought this, my love and my yearning for her overflowed inside me. I wanted to meet her. I wanted to touch her hair. I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to hear her voice calling my name.

I strained all the muscles in my body and tried to get up. Only then did I realize that my head was strapped down. I fumbled around with my fingers before finding a belt clasp below my chin and undoing it. There was something heavy on my head. I used both my hands and barely managed to take it off.

I sat up and stared at the thing in my hands. It was a smooth, deep blue helmet. A wire of the same color stretched out of a long pad at the back and went all the way down to the floor. It was- Nerve Gear. I had been stuck in that world for two years because of this. Its power had been turned off. My last memory of it had been that of a shining helmet; but now the color had faded. Bits of it had come off and you could see the metal alloy that it was made of.

All my memories of the other world were held within this- I was suddenly seized by this thought and caressed the surface of the helmet.

I suppose I would never be putting this on again. But it fulfilled its purpose really well...

I muttered in my mind before placing the helmet on the bed. The days when I fought together with it were already a thing of the past. There was something else I needed to do in this world now.

I was suddenly aware of the noises outside. When I strained my ears, I could hear various sounds, as if they were telling me that my hearing had finally returned to normal.

I definitely heard the voices of people talking and shouting. I also heard the sounds of hurried footsteps and the wheels of beds as they were moved.

There was no way to know if Asuna was in this hospital. SAO players came from all across j.a.pan, so the chances of her being here were low. But I would begin my search here. No matter how long it took, I would definitely find her.

I pulled the blanket off of me. There were numerous cords spread across my weak body. Maybe they were electrodes placed to slow down the degeneration of my muscles. I managed to pull all of them off. An orange LED flickered on the panel at the edge of my bed and a loud alarm went off, but I ignored all of this.

I pulled the IV drip needle out and finally freed my body. Then I placed my feet on the floor and slowly applied my strength in an attempt to stand up. My body rose bit by bit, but it felt like my knees would give way any minute and this made me smile bitterly; my superhuman strength stat was nowhere to be found.

I grabbed onto the IV drip stand for support and finally managed to stand up. Looking around the room, I found a folded hospital gown on the same tray as the basket of flowers and put it on.

After completing these simple movements, my breath was already ragged. The muscles that I hadn't used for two years were already protesting with pain. But I can't complain so easily.

Quickly, quickly, I could hear a voice urging me to keep going. My whole being longed for her. My fight wasn't over until I had Asuna-Yuuki Asuna in my arms.

With a tight grip on the stand instead of a sword, I leaned my body against it and took my first step towards the door.

([Sword Art Online] 1 The End).

Author's Notes.

I wrote Sword Art Online for the Dengeki Light Novel Award[1] seven years ago in 2002, and it was the first novel I ever wrote.

But when I somehow managed to complete it, the ma.n.u.script was far longer than 120 pages, which was the cutline back then. Since I had neither the skill nor the will to trim this down to fit the cutline, I kneeled facing the wall and muttered "I don't care anymore..."

But because of my weak personality, I couldn't erase the whole ma.n.u.script and simply thought "why don't I post this up on the internet then?"; I made a website that fall. Luckily I was able to receive good responses from a lot of people. With this as my motivation, I kept on going with the series; I wrote a sequel, a side-story, and then another sequel. I carried on like this and before I knew it, six years had already pa.s.sed.

It was 2008 when I decided to try again. I wrote another story (which was once again far longer than the cutline, but I barely managed to trim it down to 120 pages) and then entered it to the Dengeki Light Novel Award. Thanks to some overwhelming good luck, I managed to receive the grand prize. But my luck didn't just end there. I still can't forget the happiness and excitement I felt when my editor read the "SAO" that I kept stacking up thoughtlessly.

It was true that I felt a little anxious as well. That was because there were so many problems with this story that I can't even begin to list them here. The biggest reason was my hesitation about "is it really alright to take everything I wrote up and just publish them?"

But the reason I managed to reach the decision to publish this was because the timing was so good: I had just finished writing, society had just started to become publicly aware of online games, and most of all thanks to Miki "his lover is work" Kazuma-san (I was shocked by how he managed to get through my ma.n.u.script even with his busy schedule). I would never have been able to get this story published if it wasn't for these reasons. But if I didn't seize this lucky chain of events I would never be a gamer...I mean author! That was the conclusion I reached and I was finally able to get "Sword Art Online 1: Aincrad" published on paper.

This story was the starting point for me, who kept writing with the theme "isn't an online game also another reality?" I hope I would be able to reach the end of this road with all of you readers.

I offer my sincere thanks to Abec-san, who managed to color this story with countless great designs and draw the characters who fought here so vividly despite the difficult setting of 'a near-future virtual reality fantasy game', and also to my editor Miki-san, who thoroughly read my problem-ridden draft and managed to give a new life to this story.

Also, I would like to thank all the people who urged me on for so long while reading "Sword Art Online" on my site. If it wasn't for your encouragement, "Kawahara Reki" would never have been able to come out into this world, let alone this book.

And finally, I offer my greatest thanks to everyone who read this book until the end!

January 28th 2009, Kawahara Reki.

end.