Watching Seiya's figure close in on him, Kayaba tried to use words to make Seiya waver. Not everyone had the selflessness or the courage to face death. Even a moment of hesitation from Seiya would be his chance.
Unfortunately, Seiya's gaze was unwavering, and Kayaba's words did not faze him in the slightest. As his brief stun ended and Seiya was almost on him, Kayaba knew there was no way to change the outcome. So he swung his scythe at Seiya.
"Wenren Sword Style, Type Four—Morning Star!"
Seiya's body, which was already charging at high speed, became faster and faster until he and his sword became a brilliant star, piercing directly through Kayaba's head. At the same time, Kayaba's final scythe swing pierced through Seiya's chest. Both of their HP bars dropped to zero.
However, according to the PvP rules, the winner was Seiya. Although both of their HP bars were empty, Kayaba's had hit zero first. The Dawnbringer in Seiya's hand had pierced Kayaba's head before his scythe had pierced Seiya's chest. Although the time between the two events was almost nothing, the final damage calculation had decided the winner.
The moment Seiya and Kayaba traded blows and fell, a blinding white light instantly enveloped them. It spread outward from the duel, quickly covering all of Aincrad.
In the vast, white space, Seiya saw Kayaba again, but this time he was not in the form of Heathcliff or the Grim Reaper. He was a human in a white lab coat.
"I can't believe I lost even after cheating. According to our agreement, I've already sent the other SAO players back to the real world. I only kept you behind to talk to you and entrust you with something."
Seiya wasn't surprised to see Kayaba. He remembered a similar scene after Kirito defeated Kayaba. But Seiya wasn't Kirito; he had no interest or time to talk about dreams with a mad scientist. If he remembered correctly, after Kayaba was defeated, everyone's consciousness had returned to their bodies. However, a guy named Sugou Nobuyuki had imprisoned the consciousnesses of 300 players, including Asuna, in another virtual game called ALO to conduct illegal and inhumane brain experiments.
"If you want to talk about dreams, I suggest you find Kirito. I think you two will find a lot in common. But unfortunately, in my eyes, nothing you've done can be justified, no matter what excuses you use. A dream? To help humanity advance? Those are just high-sounding excuses. What reason do the players trapped and killed in this game have to pay for your so-called dream? Now, there's another madman, crazier than you, who has trapped the consciousnesses of many players and is preparing to use them for brain experiments. So I don't have time to waste with you!"
If he weren't in a game space, Seiya would have slapped Kayaba and left. But as long as he wasn't back in the real world, this place was still Kayaba's domain.
Kayaba was stunned by Seiya's words. After using his admin privileges to search the network, he found that what Seiya said was true. Most of the trapped SAO players had woken up in hospitals, but a small number of them, including Asuna, were still in comas. Kayaba was certain he had released everyone's consciousness, so where did the comatose players' minds go? What's more, Kayaba was even more surprised by how Seiya knew this. Kayaba himself was like an AI and could access outside information through the network, but Seiya's consciousness was still in the game. How could he know what was happening in the outside world?
"Who are you? How could you, someone with no access to the outside world, know that some players' consciousnesses are still trapped?" Kayaba was genuinely surprised. He no longer cared about his dreams because he suddenly found Seiya to be a complete mystery, someone he couldn't understand.
"You seem quite surprised. So what if I told you that I have the ability to foresee the future? Would you believe me?"
"Foresight? That's impossible..."
"Don't be so quick to deny it, Mr. Kayaba Akihiko. Don't you know that the end of science is the supernatural? There are many things in this world that science cannot explain. Just because you don't understand them doesn't mean they don't exist. You've always wanted the virtual world to replace the real world, to allow Fluctlights to live alongside regular humans. Do you think people from a few decades ago would have considered that a form of mysticism?"
Seiya interrupted Kayaba. Kayaba understood what Seiya was trying to say: human perception is limited by their knowledge. Was his inability to understand Seiya simply due to his lack of foresight?
Seiya's origins were a mystery, and his information could just be made up. But regardless of where Seiya came from, his description of the world was something Kayaba longed for. To merge the virtual and real worlds, to have Fluctlights and humans live as one—wasn't that his dream?
After being "mind-gamed" by Seiya, Kayaba suddenly felt he had no right to act superior. He pulled out a glowing orb and handed it to Seiya.
"I don't know who you are, but I feel that entrusting this to you is the best choice. This is the Virtual World Seed, the culmination of all my research. If it fell into the hands of greedy people, it would only be used for profit and power. I originally wanted to entrust it to a player who truly loved virtual games, like Kirito. But after meeting you, I've changed my mind. Your very existence seems to have a greater potential to advance the evolution of the virtual world."