FATAL ERROR: SYSTEM REBOOT

Final Chapter: Caught in a Lie

A/N:

Okay, if you didn't guess by the chapter name, this is the last chapter for FATAL ERROR: SYSTEM REBOOT. Fear not, however, for this plotline is not dead. I'll explain in the bottom author's note, so read on to find the answers that you seek!

Well, that's about it! Have a good read!

I'll see you at the bottom!

The beast cried in agony, the sickening sound tearing through the room. Then, all was silent for five seconds, before—

The «Alpha War Wolf» shattered into countless polygons of all shapes and sizes, ending the battle. I just stood there, my vision growing hazy.

"It's… done…"

With those words, I slipped into unconsciousness.

When I awoke, I saw four worried faces all looking down at me. Two of them I recognized as Lisbeth and Silica, though I had no idea who the other two were.

I slowly sat up, holding my head with my right hand in an attempt to ward off the oncoming headache. "So… I guess I lived," I said sheepishly.

"You idiot!" Lisbeth shouted, enveloping me into a tight embrace. I just sat there, stunned.

When I finally came to my senses, I found myself saying, "You know, you might squeeze the last of my HP out of you keep hugging me so tightly…"

After all, that chest shot it landed was a critical hit, and it made me go into the red.

She released me from her embrace, and that's when I saw them. She had tears in her eyes. Tears that I caused.

"I'm sorry, Liz…" I whispered, looking down. I truly felt horrible for making her worry so much. Then, I realized something important. "Hey, I have a favor I need to ask of everyone here."

Silica looked at me curiously from where she stood. "What is it, Kirito-san?"

"Please, don't tell anyone what happened here," I said, meeting the eyes of everyone in the room. "If word of this gets to the rest of my guild, the mobs and bosses will be the least of my worries."

Though what I said was true to some extent, it was merely a cover for my real reason. After all, «ShockBlades» was made to have no skills attached. The only reason I had skills for it was because of «Skill Create», and…

The rest of the players would get really jealous if they learned about it. They would swarm the area where I got the skill, each of them basically throwing their lives away trying to get it. That quest is too hard for any one normal player, or even a full party of normal players, to complete. Wait a second—

At my newest revelation, my eyes went wide, my mind beginning to race. How the hell did Heathcliff get the skill?! Fighting so many mini-bosses by himself… he would've needed whatever passive he gained from «Skill Create» before he took on the quest to be able to beat it! And then there's—

It was then that I remembered that he first displayed his unnatural speed during the raid on Yami's guild headquarters, which was—

«Skill Create» was a quest reward on the seventh floor, but the raid happened before the seventh floor was reached!

I got up slowly, processing everything I had just realized. Then, all the pieces started falling into place. At this point, I knew of only one thing to do.

I have to find him! I have to find Heathcliff!

"Guys, I have to go somewhere," I said, looking at Silica and Lisbeth with a pleading look. "Something urgent just came up, and I have to meet up with someone alone. Do you think you can get back to town safely?"

Though I got a Suspicious look from Lisbeth, I still heard her say, "Yeah, but who are you going to see?"

"A friend of mine named Egil," I replied, thinking of the first name that came to mind. "Anyway, I've gotta go."

I immediately went into my menu, going into the party window and hitting disband. When it asked for confirmation, I hit yes, then got up to leave. Before I did, however…

"I don't know what it's about, but please be careful," Lisbeth said, grabbing my arm. "You know how much you mean to all your friends, right?"

My eyes widened, and then a smile appeared on my face. "Yeah…"

With that, we parted ways.

As I sprinted through the plains of the eighth floor, I continued trying to figure out what was going on.

He was definitely lying when he talked about using «Skill Create» to make a passive skill to increase his speed, but that doesn't change the fact that he's unnaturally fast with his switching between offense and defense. He's even faster than the game's mechanics would allow! What's he trying to hide?

Then, all of the sudden, what seemed like a voice recording player through my head.

"No one's ever seen Heathcliff's health dip into the yellow before. His invincibility is way beyond the normal game balance!"

"What the heck was that?" I queried once I snapped out of it. Then, a look of horror dawned on my face. "What if… no, I can't be sure yet. I'll have to make sure when I meet him."

I opened my menu as I sprinted, going into my friends list. I friended him during the raid so we could PM each other with status updates. I opened up a PM window, typing out a message.

"Heathcliff, I need your help. I found a small group of PKers in the «Cavern of Repose», and I want your help getting them to the jail on the first floor. Please come to the cave entrance alone, as I don't want people to freak out after hearing about another PK group.

-Kirito"

I hit send, and I began sprinting once more. Of course, my message was entirely made up. I just needed an excuse to meet him alone.

Once I finally reached the «Cavern of Repose», I began panting, incredibly tired from abusing my «Sprinting Skill».

This cave was mapped out about three days ago by Argo's network of scouts, and it apparently had no mobs in it. It's the perfect place for me to choose as a fake base for fake PKers.

"You didn't really expect me to fall for such an obvious lie, did you?"

When I heard that voice, I turned around swiftly, drawing my sword in a flash. I stared the man before me down with an icy glare.

"Heathcliff."

At the sight of my intense glare, Heathcliff's eyes widened in surprise for the faintest of moments. Then, his usual impassive expression returned. However, my glare lingered.

"Maybe not, but it still got you out here, didn't it?" I said. "Besides, it's not like I'm the only one who lied here."

"I'm afraid I don't follow," Heathcliff said, feigning confusion.

"You know exactly what I mean. I can tell," I growled, my glare intensified. "You lied about your speed. It didn't come from a passive created by «Skill Create». You had that speed during the raid on Yami's guild HQ, before the seventh floor was even unlocked!

"At first I didn't get it," I continued. "Why would you hide whatever power you had from me, or any of the players, for that matter? But then, I figured it out. You have something that no other player has. Something that you shouldn't have. You have a «Unique Skill»! And there's only one way you could have one…

"You had to have some kind of influence over the system to be able to get something like that. And I remember something said at the beginning of the game by its creator. He said, "as of right now, I am the sole person in control of this world.' That implies that there are no other GMs besides the creator himself.

"Or did I mishear you on that day, Kayaba Akihiko?"

The look of shock on his face said it all. I was right; the man standing before me really was the demented creator of the game. He really was Kayaba Akihiko. Then, just as I was tensing my muscles to charge at the demon before me, he smiled.

"You really are a wild card, Kirito. It was a careless mistake to tell you about «Skill Create» in the fashion I did. But at the same time, I'm somewhat glad it came to this," Heathcliff – no, Kayaba Akihiko, the demon who created this game – said, a smirk appearing on his face.

"What do you mean?" I queried, my anger fading, only to be replaced with fear. "What are you going to do?"

"Well, I can't exactly let you go around telling this to everyone, so I'm glad you confronted me alone first," he said, going through his menu. "But I don't plan to kill you. You're too valuable a player for me to just kill you off. After all, you're destined to be the wielder of a «Unique Skill» as well."

Right after he said those words, I felt my body go limp. I knew exactly what he did. He paralyzed me with some sort of system command.

Kayaba, you bastard! I thought furiously, knowing that my mouth wouldn't work.

"No, I have a far better idea than killing you," he continued. "I'm going to make sure you never tell anyone without killing you. It'll be as simple as tapping an option from my admin menu."

At last, I realized what he was going to do. My eyes widened in horror at what I knew was about to come.

(Lisbeth)

When I got back to the guild house, I found a tall, muscular, dark-skinned man clad in green leather with a silver breastplate talking with Asuna. I walked over to them, a curious expression on my face.

"Hey, Asuna, who's your friend?" I asked her, looking from her to the man.

"Oh, this is a friend of Kirito's that stopped by to ask him about something," Asuna replied, turning to me.

"The name's Egil," the dark-skinned man said, giving me a smile. "What's your n—"

"Wait, your name is Egil?!" I shouted, my eyes wide with disbelief. "But that means…"

"What's wrong, Liz?" Asuna queried, looking at me with a concerned expression.

"Kirito said he was coming to meet up with you, Egil," I said, my expression turning fearful. "And that was several hours ago."

"Wait, I never heard anything about this!" Egil said, eyes wide with surprise.

I immediately went into my friends menu, finding Kirito's name and hitting the trace button.

"He's just outside the «Cavern of Repose»!" I shouted. "Asuna, let's go!"

"Right!"

Just like that, we ran towards the «Cavern of Repose», leaving Egil in the dust.

When we arrived at the «Cavern of Repose», we found Kirito asleep on the ground just outside the entrance. I heaved a sigh of relief, walking up to him with Asuna right behind me.

When we arrived within three meters of him, Asuna ran over and sat down beside him. She then began to shake him lightly. He slowly opened his eyes, a look of confusion coming across his features.

Wait, something's wrong!

"You idiot!" Asuna shouted, enveloping him in a tight embrace. "I was so worried, and it turns out you were asleep?! Why did you lie to Liz just for that?!"

"What are you talking about?" Kirito queried with an irritated tone, pushing Asuna away. "Wait… where am I?"

Something's really wrong! Wait, don't tell me he—

"And for that matter…" Kirito started.

What he said next confirmed all my suspicions and fears. He looked at both of us inquisitively.

"Who are you?"

A/N:

And so ends arc one of FATAL ERROR: SYSTEM REBOOT! It's been a fun ride, hasn't it?

I know, this was a total dick move, but I've been thinking about this for a while, and I decided to just go for it. Whether you liked it or not, this is how the first arc ends. Sorry to those of you whom I just pissed off, but that's the way it goes.

That said, this story is going to be marked as complete now. I'm going to start a new story called, FATAL ERROR: SYSTEM REBOOT — Shattered Memories, which will be the second arc of this story. Sorry, but I've been getting tired of writing on a story that's such a wreck at the beginning. Thus, I'm going to pick up where I left off in the next arc, and I'll make sure to have much better quality! Count on that!

I guess this is the last time I'll be disclaiming this story! It almost makes me want to cry! :'(

I don't own the Sword Art Online light novel series or any of its adaptations! (Though I will soon own a digital copy of Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment for the PS Vita. It's going to be so freaking awesome!)

See you in the next arc!