After hearing that the penalty for his defeat would be so trivial, Seiya felt no pressure. He immediately nodded and said, "Then I won't hide anything. If I win, you must agree to one condition: that all the trapped SAO players return to the real world."
Even with his cheat-like abilities, Seiya was tired of being in a world where his life was in someone else's hands. His one and only condition for Kayaba Akihiko had always been to free everyone.
"No problem. I am the 100th-floor boss of Aincrad. Even if you don't ask for it, I will still keep our original promise after you defeat me on the 100th floor."
Kayaba didn't hesitate to agree. Just as Seiya had said, Kayaba was cold-blooded but a man of his word. Even if Seiya hadn't exposed him, he would have let everyone go after they defeated him on the 100th floor.
"Furthermore, since this is a PvP duel, you can't openly cheat, even if you are the GM, right? You should lift the immortal attribute of your GM account. Otherwise, even a god couldn't kill you in this world."
As the GM, Kayaba's account had an immortal attribute. As long as it was active, Kayaba would be invincible in SAO. As Seiya said this, he deliberately glanced at the players surrounding Kayaba, as if to tell them that numbers were meaningless against him. If Kayaba's immortal attribute was active, even ten times the number of players couldn't defeat him, so it would be a useless effort to attack him as a group.
"Of course. Since it's a PvP duel, I won't be shameless enough to use that. However, I will keep my level and stats as the 100th-floor boss. Do you still want to duel me?"
When Seiya heard Kayaba's condition, his mouth twitched. This wasn't how the original story went. If Seiya remembered correctly, when Kirito exposed Kayaba's identity, Kayaba gave him a chance to duel and removed his immortal attribute. But in that duel, Kayaba used his level and stats as Heathcliff, not as the 100th-floor boss. If he had, Kirito, no matter how good his "Dual Blades" skill was, wouldn't have been able to defeat the 100th-floor boss on the 75th floor, not even with a power boost.
What the heck? So, when Kirito fights you, you use your low-level Heathcliff account. But when I fight you, you use your high-level 100th-floor boss account? Are you saying I'm so weak that you have to go all out, or am I so strong that you can't beat me with your regular account?
"It's okay if you want to refuse. I'll wait for you in the 100th-floor room."
To be honest, even Kayaba felt a little embarrassed when he said that. With Seiya's current level and stats, using his 100th-floor boss stats would be a bit of an overkill. Kayaba had thought about using Heathcliff's stats, but he didn't feel confident that he could defeat Seiya with just that. He knew about Kirito's "Dual Blades," but he knew nothing about Seiya's "Shikigami Blade," so he didn't dare to be too careless.
"I, as the final boss, am the final obstacle you all must overcome. Of course, as compensation for your one-on-one duel, I can seal some of my skills and abilities as the final boss. These include 'Resurrection,' 'Regeneration,' and 'Instant Death' abilities."
As the final boss of the 100th floor, Kayaba's other persona was the "Grim Reaper." In this form, he had the highest level in SAO and a series of cheat-like skills and abilities. His regeneration ability was self-explanatory. If he didn't take enough damage, his HP would regenerate at an extremely fast rate. As the Grim Reaper, all his attacks had a chance of "instant death." If triggered, the target would die regardless of their defense or remaining HP. Even more ridiculously, Kayaba, in his Grim Reaper form, had a one-time full resurrection upon death. This meant that the players would have to kill the boss twice, and the first time was already deadly enough. With the "Regeneration" and "Instant Death" skills, if too many players died and the DPS wasn't enough, the resurrected Kayaba would be almost unkillable.
The high-level players in the crowd immediately knew how difficult it would be to clear the 100th floor just from hearing Kayaba's explanation. The terrifying skills and mechanics were enough to shatter their morale, let alone try to defeat them.
"I accept your terms. Let's duel!"
Even though things weren't going as planned and were much worse than the original story, Seiya had no choice. It would be difficult to challenge a max-level boss, but with Kayaba sealing most of his skills, Seiya felt he had a chance. And even if he lost, he would be fine and would have gathered some intel on the final boss. So, he had no reason to refuse.
As soon as Seiya agreed to the duel, he and Kayaba disappeared in a flash of white light. When they reappeared, they were in a massive, open-air palace. The palace was empty, and its simple, rustic architecture made it look more like a huge dueling arena. The roof was open to the sky, and you could see the stars above.
"This is the 100th floor of Aincrad, the very top of the floating fortress, the closest place to the sky. I think this is a perfect place for our final duel."
As Kayaba's voice faded, his human form began to change, swelling and growing into a giant Grim Reaper in a red cloak, holding a scythe.