Kayaba Akihiko, in the form of the red-robed Grim Reaper, stood at a towering ten meters tall, floating in mid-air. Unlike his first appearance, this time he wielded a massive, scarlet scythe. Since this was a duel that would decide the fate of all SAO players, Kayaba had the battle projected on every floor so that the players could witness it.
When the players saw the monstrous form of Kayaba, they were shocked. But when they saw the HP bar next to his name, the entire Assault Team was in an uproar. The final boss, Kayaba, had ten HP bars! For comparison, regular floor bosses had three HP bars, and special floors like the 50th and 75th had a maximum of five. No one had expected the final boss to have ten HP bars.
"That bastard, Kayaba Akihiko! Is he cheating and secretly boosting his stats again because he's the admin?! Ten HP bars! It would take the entire Assault Team half a day to take him down. How can Seiya possibly fight that monster alone?! This isn't a fair PvP duel. That bastard Kayaba has no shame just to win!"
Klein wasn't the only one cursing. Many others were as well. A player going solo against a boss-level monster was already incredibly difficult. But Seiya was challenging the final boss, a battle against a much higher-leveled opponent. The huge gap in level and stats meant that a single hit from Kayaba would be a guaranteed death for Seiya. And with ten HP bars, it would take a player of the same level half a day to take him down. In short, this "fair" PvP duel was anything but. Seiya had no room for error. Unless he had a rare item that could save him, he wouldn't survive a second hit from Kayaba's boss form. On the other hand, Kayaba's absurdly high HP gave him plenty of room for error. Kayaba could make many mistakes, but Seiya could only make one.
Due to the massive gap in stats, every one of Kayaba's attacks was a guaranteed one-hit kill, even without the "Instant Death" buff. So, while he appeared to have made concessions, he hadn't really given up much.
At the top of the floating tower, the duel began. As Kayaba swung his scythe, Seiya dodged with a side roll, then dashed toward him. Seiya knew that one hit would be the end of him. So, the key was to not get hit! In the past, he might not have been so confident, but with the abilities he had from multiple worlds, his physical abilities and reflexes were not a joke.
"Wenren Sword Style, Type Two—Never-Ending Cut!"
His single-handed sword, "Dawnbringer," forged from quartz and dragon scales, glowed with a blue light as he unleashed a powerful, consecutive attack that exploded in an "X" shape on Kayaba's body. However, despite taking the full force of Seiya's attack, Kayaba's ten HP bars remained completely unaffected. Just as Seiya was about to pull back, he felt a strong sense of danger and ducked just as a red blur from Kayaba's scythe flew past him.
Watching the dangerous scene, Asuna and the others at the Dragon's Nest held their breath.
"That's Seiya for you. If that was me, that attack would have killed me," Klein said in admiration. But then he noticed that Kirito, who was standing next to him, didn't look relieved. Instead, he had a worried expression on his face.
"Kirito, what's wrong? Was there something wrong with Seiya's move?"
At Klein's question, everyone noticed Kirito's serious expression. He slowly said, "Seiya's technique and timing were perfect. But I think we're missing a very important question: Is Seiya fighting Kayaba Akihiko or a normal computer AI? You must have noticed, too. If this were a regular floor boss, it wouldn't have counterattacked so quickly after being hit."
With Kirito's reminder, Asuna and the others realized that Seiya's attack had landed at the exact moment when players would "switch" during a team fight. If it were a normal boss, it would have been briefly stunned after being interrupted during its attack. But Kayaba's Grim Reaper boss form wasn't stunned. He reacted just like a player would.
Everyone now understood what Kirito was trying to say. The other floor bosses in Aincrad, no matter how strong, were still controlled by a computer AI, which meant they weren't as smart as a player. But Kayaba was using the boss's stats and panel while fighting with a player's tactics. This wasn't just a hellish difficulty; it was a true abyss difficulty! The difficulty of beating him was infinitely higher than a regular boss.
"Shikigami Summon: Azure Dragon—Kujira!"
Kirito and the others weren't the only ones who noticed. When Kayaba counterattacked, Seiya also realized what he was up against. Kayaba was using a boss's stats with a player's fighting style. But what could he do? In this world, Kayaba was the boss. If Seiya wanted to go back to the real world, he had to play by Kayaba's rules. And even though Kayaba was cheating, Seiya was not a normal player either.