"Everybody, attack! If we kill Kayaba Akihiko, we might be able to return to the real world!"
"That's right! This bastard is the one who trapped us here for two years! There's no honor in this! Let's all attack him at once!"
Heathcliff, the leader of the Knights of the Blood, had been a highly respected and popular figure among the players. But now that his true identity was revealed, he had become a villain. However, facing a crowd of high-level SAO players, Kayaba Akihiko, who was now exposed, remained calm. He looked at Seiya with a puzzled expression.
"When did you start to suspect me? The Mirror of Truth can reveal a person's real appearance, but it has to be touched by the person to activate. You couldn't have made every player touch the mirror to test them, right?"
Kayaba was baffled. His disguise should have been perfect. But judging from Seiya's action of giving him the mirror, he seemed to have known Kayaba's true identity all along.
"I can't say I was certain from the start. I was just suspicious. Compared to other players, many of your actions were too strange. As the main developer of SAO, you, Kayaba Akihiko, are more like a researcher than a player. We've been on many boss raids together, haven't we? In every raid, I could feel the emotions of other players—the joy of a successful raid, the sadness of losing a friend, the surprise of facing the unknown, and the fear of death. But there was one exception: you, the guild leader of the Knights of the Blood, Heathcliff. Your strength might give you confidence, but you were too confident. I couldn't see any fear of death or surprise at the unknown in your eyes. It was as if everything was under your control. When we raided the 50th-floor boss, which was the hardest one we'd faced so far, you held the front line for ten minutes, and your HP never dropped below 50%. That's because you locked your HP, right? But even with all these suspicions, I had no proof, so I could only stay in the suspicious stage."
Kayaba gave a wry smile and clapped his hands. "So, you were suspicious of me, and you used the Mirror of Truth that I gave you during the beta to test me? No wonder Asuna said you didn't think I was a simple character. You've been suspicious of me all along."
Seiya wanted to say that everything he had just said was made up and that he only knew the truth because he was a transmigrator. But no one would believe him, so he just said, "The Mirror of Truth is a useless item. It's not a loss to use it to confirm my guess. And as for why I still have it, it's because I entered the game with my real appearance, so it didn't activate for me."
Kayaba never thought that his disguise would be exposed by the difference between a player and a game developer. It was true. Players played games for emotional value, while he, as the administrator, was there to collect data.
"It's a shame. I wanted to stay as Heathcliff and play with you until the 100th floor because I'm the final boss there. But now that my identity is exposed, this game can't continue. Let's meet again in the room on the 100th floor."
Facing the crowd of players surrounding him, Kayaba was not fazed. In the world of SAO, he was invincible if he wanted to be. He could kill everyone here, but that would be boring and would go against his original intention. As the exposed Kayaba was about to return to the 100th floor to be the boss, Seiya suddenly stopped him.
"Are you running away from the duel you initiated? If you run away, I guess that means I win, right?"
Kayaba, who was about to leave, was stunned. He asked, with a hint of surprise, "You know my true identity, and you still want to duel me?"
To be honest, Kayaba was very curious about Seiya's Unique Skill. He had searched the vast SAO database but couldn't find any information about "Shikigami Blade." This result surprised and delighted him. His original dream was to make SAO as real as the real world, a world with infinite possibilities, not just confined to fixed data. In Seiya, Kayaba saw something beyond the game's settings, which was why he was so interested in him. He had wanted to learn more about Seiya through the duel, but now that his identity was exposed, the plan was off. He would have to wait until Seiya reached the 100th floor to observe him.
Seiya had always been worried that his uniqueness would cause Kayaba to erase him because, in the world of SAO, Kayaba was a god. But his worry was unnecessary. Even if all the other players died, Kayaba would not let anything happen to Seiya. Seiya's uniqueness had brought some unknown possibilities to the fixed data of SAO. Kayaba could copy Seiya's data and then erase him, but that would be killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Unlike fixed computer data, humans were constantly evolving creatures. Seiya had already brought possibilities beyond the data to SAO. What about him in the future?
"If you want to continue the duel, I won't refuse. But if you lose, you don't have to join the Knights of the Blood. You just have to tell me who you really are."
Kayaba had wanted Seiya to join the Knights of the Blood to collect his data more easily. But now that his identity was exposed, that was no longer necessary.