Fatal Bullet Aftermath

Final Battle

March 19, 2028

"FALL BACK!" one of the raiders yelled.

I pressed myself up against a stone pillar. I glanced over to my right and I found Sinon crouched behind a broken wall.

"Go! I'll cover you!" I shouted at her.

I pulled out my MCX and inserted a new magazine.

"Everything's going south," I breathed.

I peered out of cover and took a couple shots at the head. I looked at the numerous swordsman caught in the melee. I gazed upwards and I saw the roof starting to cave in. The debris started to rain down and a rock landed on Kirito's arm, pinning him to the floor.

"Kirito!" I yelled.

I made a beeline to Kirito in an attempt to save him.

"Wait! Kaito!" Asuna warned.

Before I knew it, something launched me off of the ground and pinned me to the wall. I recovered from the attack and noticed that it was the boss. I struggled with my right hand to pull out a weapon from my back.

"Damn it!" I berated myself, "I can't reach it!"

"Look out!" Sinon shouted.

=====Few Hours Earlier=====

"You actually mean they actually found the last boss?" I asked Kirito.

"Yeah, it's been found," he responded.

I took a good look at the website on my laptop. I would go on scouting missions by myself but my journeys to find the boss room have turned up fruitless.

"Are you planning to join the raiding party?" I asked while reading the article.

"We're all planning to go to the boss raid," he responded.

"I'll see you at the log cabin in five."

"See you there."

I ended the call and removed the Augma from my head.

"You're going on the boss raid aren't you," Kureha questioned me.

"Yeah, I am," I sighed.

"Why though? Why don't you just hang back and let Kirito them fight it?"

"I-It's not fair for them if I just sat around in their log cabin doing nothing. I'd rather die for a cause I support than sitting around and waiting."

I got up from my office chair and grabbed my Amusphere. I could tell Kureha was worried about me. I walked over and sat next to her.

"Don't worry, I'll be back in GGO before you know it," I comforted her.

I leaned over and embraced her. She went along with it and hugged me back. I let go and I moved over to my bed.

"I'll tell you all about it when I see you again," I said before placing the  Amusphere over my head.

I lied down on my bed and looked up for a brief moment.

"I promise," I thought, "I promise that I'll come back to you."

"Link Start," I whispered.

My vision was quickly replaced and I woke up back in the log cabin. I had most of my gear mounted on a wall. I ambled over and suited up with everything I had. I walked outside to find everyone standing there.

"So I'm last?" I asked jokingly.

"Yeah," Kirito responded.

We still had the two horses from the castle. I don't know when but Asuna and Alice apparently found more horses.

"Two people per horse," Kirito said before mounting on his.

I bounded over to my horse and mounted it. Everyone mounted onto a horse and I had to escort Sinon.

"Come on, we have to get to the meeting," I advised.

I snapped at the reins and the horse started to march forward along the path. We passed by everything we've been seeing for the past year. Now, we end it it all and go back to the true worlds we know and love.

We reached the meeting point and the leader of the raiding party stood on top of a wooden platform.

"I know all of you are scared. If you say you aren't scared, you must be lying to yourself. I know what we're doing is going to require a lot of heroic action from each and every one of you," he addressed, "This is an extremely risky play by us but we owe it to the people who have already lost everything to this world."

Everyone knew he was right. Over 500 accounts were lost to Unital Ring. With the raiding party of 150 people, we had to try and take out this boss.

"We're going with the attack in 60 minutes," the leader stated.

Everyone in our group sat around a campfire. Lisbeth, Yui, Silica, Alice, Kirito, Asuna, Sinon, Leafa, and I were the people in our friend group stuck in this game. We ate one last serving of bear stew from Asuna before heading out to the boss room.

We reached the boss room and the doors opened to expose the final boss. A large, black mass hovered in the middle of the room. Numerous torches dimly lit the arena. Everyone stepped into the room and looked up at the mass.

"What is that?" someone commented.

I shouldered my MCX and aimed the crosshairs center-mass. All melee weapon wielders marched towards the mass while gun wielders like me and Sinon hanged back. I watched the black mass slowly morph into a large beast resembling the floor 100 boss of Aincrad.

"What the..." I thought while aiming at the head.

All of a sudden, the light level shot up rapidly disorientating most of the players. Everyone shielded their eyes which gave the boss an ample amount of time to take out the first few players.

"Weapons Free!" the leader ordered.

The whole room bursted with shouts and gunfire. The boss had 10 health bars. Slowly and surely the health went down. When it reached 50 percent, the whole raid suddenly turned south. Movements and attacks became less predictable and our 187 raiding party spiraled down to 75 in a matter of minutes.

"FALL BACK!"