Chapter 24
When I regained consciousness, I found myself in an otherworldly place.
Here, the sunset made the entire sky seem as if it was burning.
I was standing on a thick crystal floor. The orange clouds rolled past slowly beneath the transparent tiles. When I raised my head, I could see a sky dyed by the sunset reach as far as the horizon. As it spread outwards, the endless skies faded from bright orange, to a bloody red, then to a shade of purple. I could also faintly hear the wind blowing.
It was a small, round disk of crystal which floated amongst the clouds in the empty skies; here I stood on its edge.
...What is this place? My body should have disappeared after shattering. Was I still in SAO... or did I arrive in the afterlife?
I examined my own body. The leather coat, long gloves, and all my other equipment were the same as before I had died, except that everything had become somewhat transparent. It wasn't just my equipment either, as even the exposed sections of my body shined with the sunset colors as if it was made of semi-transparent glass.
I raised my right hand and waved a finger about. A window appeared with the familiar sound effect. So, this place was still inside SAO.
But the window contained neither an avatar nor a menu list. The blank screen showed only the message [Executing the Final Phase, 54% completed]. As I stared at it, the number went up to 55%. I had originally thought that my mind would die alongside the destruction of my body, but what was going on here?
As I shrugged and closed the window, I suddenly heard a voice behind me.
“Kirito-kun...”
It was like a voice from heaven. Shock coursed through my body.
Please don't let this be my imagination— I begged as I slowly turned around.
She stood there with the burning sky behind her.
Her long hair was drifting softly in the wind. But even though her gentle, smiling face was within my arms' reach, I could not move the slightest.
It felt as if she would disappear if my gaze left her even for a second— so I simply kept staring at her in silence. She was also semi-transparent, and was the most beautiful thing in the world as she stood there, shining in the light of the setting sun.
I forcibly held back my tears and managed to form a smile. In an almost-whispered voice, I said:
“Sorry. I died as well...”
“...Idiot.”
Tears ran down her face as she said this with a smile. I spread my arms wide open and gently called out her name:
“Asuna...”
I held her tightly as she flew into my arms and cried. I swore that I wouldn't let go again. No matter what happened, I would never ever let go again.
After a long kiss, we finally managed to pull our faces apart to look at each other. There were so many things about the final battle that I wanted to talk to her about, that I wanted to apologize to her about. But I felt like there was no longer any need for words. Instead, I shifted my gaze towards the endless skies and opened my mouth:
“This... Just what is this place?”
Asuna silently turned her gaze downwards and pointed with her fingers. I looked in that direction.
Far below where we were— something floated in the skies. It was shaped like a cone with the tip cut off. It was made from numerous floors overlapping one another. As I focused my eyes, I could even see the small mountains, forests, lakes, and cities.
