A Renegade of Reality

Chapter 16: Noble Sacrifice

Asuna's POV

"Asuna..."

I heard my name being called by a familiar voice. It was a voice I knew very well of, but something was off about it. It sounded slightly deeper than I'm used to. 'No, that's not possible! Higa-san couldn't have...' I shook my head as I inwardly denied the possibility. I heard footsteps behind me moving around before the lights in the room lit up with a soft glow, giving off a warm and inviting atmosphere to the room. The footsteps then came closer behind me and stopped about a meter away.

"Asuna, could you please turn around and look at me?" The voice called out to me in a soft tone.

I slowly turn around and reluctantly brought my down-casted eyes up along the masculine figure. My heart stopped and I let out an alarmed gasp, covering my mouth with both hands when I saw his face. Thar raven hair, those night sky orbs with gentle light in them shining like stars and that warm and soothing aura around him. It was undoubtedly the love of my life standing before me. It was Kirigaya Kazuto or rather, a copy of his fluctlight.

I scanned him from top to bottom. The only difference was that this person standing before me looked a few years older than the Kirito-kun I knew. Judging from his slightly mature features, he looked like he was in his late twenties. His face was slightly sharper than usual with his forelocks combed slightly to his right, showing maturity. He was a few inches taller with a well-toned muscular yet slender body clothed in slim fitted dark clothing. He had a black long sleeve undershirt and dark grey trousers with an unbuttoned long dark overcoat with gold lining detailing over the white parts. A belt wrapped around his waist with no sight of the Night Sky Sword, leaving him unarmed.

This man before me was not the Kirigaya Kazuto I knew, he was the one known as Star King Kirito. We've seen pictures and heard about him during the Unital Ring events, but never did I thought I would actually meet him in person and at such a close distance. As I was eyeing him from top to bottom, I noticed he was doing the same, silently taking in every inch of my appearance which made me feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Asuna...my Queen...I missed you so much...It's been so long..." He said while moving towards me with arms wide open, ready to embrace me. I unconsciously backed away in discomfort as this person before me wasn't my Kirito-kun. He was taken aback by my actions, before slumping his shoulders and flashing me a bitter smile.

"I'm sorry. It's only natural you'd react that way. After all, you're not exactly the queen I knew and I'm no longer the Kirito you knew. I'm just a copy." When he spouted those last words, I couldn't help but feel guilty.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..." I didn't know what to say and he just gave me a small smile.

"It's fine. You don't have to apologize. It's just...It's been so long since I last saw 'her'. I guess I just wished that I could see her and hold her in my arms once more." He said bitterly.

"This is just...all too shocking for me...I thought both of our 200 years memories were supposed to be deleted. I never thought Higa-san would have secretly made copies of us. And according to the people of the current Underworld, both the Star King and Star Queen had departed the world for three decades, believing that they had already passed on. Since when did all of this happen?" I spouted everything that was going through my mind.

"To be precise, your fluctlight was never copied, only I alone was copied. When the two of you left Underworld after 200 years, Higa-san had managed to copy my fluctlight right under the nose of Kikuoka-san but had to delete yours as it was too risky. After that, I was initiated and informed of the truth that I was just a copy and that you were no longer with me. I accepted my fate and chose to protect Underworld for the following 30 years until the fluctlight acceleration was changed to real-time. It was then you guys had entered Underworld once more. All those years, I remained hidden while observing the world, secretly protecting the people with just the use of the system commands." He explained to me.