Awesome chapter. I'm so hyped for the final battle! This story, which can take on the official likes of progressive and the light novels any day, has come so far. Excellent job creating this masterpiece.

And so it begins... :D So hyped for the final showdown.

With the way the second paragraph is structured, Cortain sounds like a new character at first before we realize it's the name of Kizmel's sword. Maybe italicize it or something, or just restructure the sentence. It's not a huge deal, but it did cause some pause.

A single throw away reference and I immediately want to know what Kayaba did with Artorias' lore. XD

Kayaba's "fairness" is a little overemphasized at the begging. I get that it's an important and relevant point, but it comes up way more than it needs to and feels like we're being beaten over the head with the idea.

I have no idea if this was intentional or not, but to me, Kayaba saying for them to use every skill item and resource at their disposal was a subtle hint not to forget they had access to the Guild Flag.

By now I'm just going to let you assume that I love any scene that Kizmel and Lind share unless I say otherwise. XD

Kizmel's speech was great. Slightly overdramatic, but most great speeches are; and it fit her character beautifully.

HA HA HA! XD As soon as you mentioned them coming up with a new guild, I knew where that was going.

So... when Kizmel "died" against Kayaba, did the figures on both sides of her shed three tears? One of water and two of blood? ;p

Lastly, and I know this is for pacing reasons and you did a decent job of justifying it, but as a veteran MMO player and one time new content frontrunner, it still irks me a little. I don't think the rush to fight Kayaba was the correct call. I think good arguments were made on both sides, but that they made the wrong call (not that characters can't make the wrong call sometimes, but I feel like there needed to be more to justify this one.)
- Level Cap: This is the end, and even though Kirito and Kizmel have reached the level cap and the last five had more diminishing returns, every point can matter. Also with the number of gear upgrades available to items found on the last few floors, there will be plenty of items that the clearers would be using that could likely still be optimized.
- What's on Floor 100?: The impression is that it's just the final fight, but it's never directly stated. You also mention that there were no NPC's at night, but there could be some during the day, but then we never find out if that is the case. All the other floors had some kind of boss hint to them if you explored the current floor to some extent. There's no reason to believe this one would be different, and for the final fight, any hint would be huge.
- The Fatality: While someone has now been confirmed dead form being in SAO too long, they do also know that they had a pre-existing medical condition. Their time is short, but it has not yet expired. If they fail, there may not be enough time to assemble a second attempt which means the death of everyone. As hard as it would be, the smart call is to take a few days, get everyone as maxed out as possible, learn everything you can, and go in with the best chance of winning.

Don't get me wrong, I get why you made the call from a story perspective. The big final fight is what we want to see and Kirito and Kizmel have been the first to max out so there's not much left for them to do. A detour for a chapter to say go help Rain with something or other might have been more realistic, but not served the pacing of the story as well.

Anyhow, excellent work as always. We're coming to the end of an era.

Wow, okay. Straight to the top it is.
Seems like quite a bit got off screened to come and haunt them later, thinking of the mess around artificial intelligences that dropped off the map earlier. Which they may just have, but they haven't fallen either so... guess there were no similar upsets up to here since the last action. Makes sense.
Now it's time for one final match, the grande finale. Asuna is spot on for her former guild master.

I tend to forgot in what ways the last floor is different to all of them.
You captured that breathless moment, the ancient feeling of looking up at a cloudless night sky far from any lights polluting the view. All the more enhanced for those that lived metaphorically inside, underground, all their lives. Reflecting this with those deprived for two years was an inspired choice.

Now for Kayaba to make this announcement is both fitting of his previous statement of balance, an annoucement for what is to come, and strangely unusual with the directness, almost a break of immersion.
But it is your Kayaba, for whom the story reigns supreme, so I have the sneaking suspicion this is a hint of itself. A declaration that where before they were bosses, guardians to best and putsmart to advance, here they're facing a straight up fight against the master of the dungeon. With every trick in the book yes, but quite literally a foe that doesn't simply guard the door but defends the castle itself. No second tries, no deceptions for later. Simply everything seen and encountered before used all at once and unified in the game's most dangerous unit. A sword master.

It's quite a bit of fun to see most of the clearers, rather than a bore it could have been to show off such a large group even while only implying the presence of those usually not involved in boss fights but very much still part of pushing the frontline.
Also find it nice to see that the commanders have grown significantly in the time clearing up to here. Prepared enough to keep their composure for the occasion after Kayaba told them it was enough milling about. Which was somewhat abstract no matter how good of a job you did with evoking his presence. Adding that people are starting to die outside really ratchets up the tension. I'd like to say it's pnly natural consequences, it's that kind of sociey, but it will be on everyone's mind.

This chapter just flowed from there and it didn't have a slow start like some of the others in the first place! The energy came out just right.
The end of the world is in fact worth every second, every tick of the clock until it occurred.
The final enemy resting in his throne is hard to pull off and this was done masterful with someone like Heathcliff in that search in my opinion.

That's all. Leading into it through last conversations, no particular drama but significant tension as everything has already been settled beforehand ensured there would be no distractions in the end.
The focus and attention befitting the moment.

So Kizmel is an Anla'Shok?

But it was good chapter. You have nothing to worry about.

Take your time and be healthy.

First, allow me to apologize, this review will be shorter than it ought to be.

I fear real life makes matters a bit tense right now, but this chapter was so good that waiting on giving you at least a little feedback feels wrong. It is an excellent set-up chapter and I liked it a lot.

Seeing Lind's growth in action, his clear continued respect for Kizmel in action was very much welcome, and I think that will be a good thing to have more people than this closely knit group of friends aknowledge her as a person rather than just an artifical being.

I also very much appreciated when Kizmel and Kirito saw the nightsky, and how Kizmel used that brief time to give us hints at far more and as such make the world feel far, far more alive. I also believe there was a King Arthur reference there as well.

Kizmel's speech to unite people was pretty damn good, there is no denying that even if I wanted to, and I sure as hell don't want to. Planting the Flag of Valor to boot sure as hell helped to sell her point even better.

Her words to Kirito about making it count actually reminded me of Halo: Reach and Jorge, so that was only one more reason for this whole thing to hit me right in the heart. Well done, I like the way it hurts.

Also, while they were with Lisbeth and got their new equipment which seems very much tailormade for them, I can't help but feel that this is very much by Kayaba's design. He wants to make this world feel real, but at the same time he wants to tell a compelling story, he wants... drama, though that feels like an inaccurate word for it. Either way, I believe he wants the clearers at their very best they can be when they face him to make the final fight suitably climatic.

He is no doubt aware that one way or another things are coming to a close. If they win he dies and the end of SAO is nigh, if he wins the clearers get wiped out and it is unlikely that anyone will have the courage or time to rise up in their place and try to beat him before things come to a close from the other side.

Of course that alone is just chilling to think about. As horrific as SAO no doubt is for those trapped within, there they can at least fight. You can beat at the monster trying to end you, you may still die, but you can do something, if someone decides to pull the plug? There is nothing you can do, and that is terrifying in a whole different way.

Still, do not worry about the delay on this. I am just glad that you are doing, well seems to be too strong a word, better at the very least. Take your time, I never once thought that a chapter of yours was not worth the wait. They have always been excellent, and that you continue this, and continuine it excellently at that, despite these problems is nothing short of admirable.

Thank you very much for the chapter.

Thank you for a grand journey. I will continue to pray for your health. Very nice to see all this come together and I'm looking forward to this story achieving one of the legendary status as Completed.

Great chapter, wonderful build up, wouldn't be surprised if there were multiple people listed as wasted away in another world.

This chapter was amazing as always. It looks like we are about to get started. And you included the boss from ordinal scale with a plus. Also it looks like they are going to fight 3 bosses. Cause after the radius and Fafnir are defeated they are going to fight Kayaba next. Oh boy I am exited!

Also hope you will get better soon! Been praying for you.

all in all a damn good setup for the final fight can't wait for it!

I found the Song of Mourning to be very appropriate here. PSO2:NGS is still coming into itself, but it is getting there. Whether it will fully match Base PSO2 is up for debate, though Heathcliff would make a definite case for being a male expy for Shiva in terms of his role in the story.

Though the battle specifically against him... hoo boy, I can think of a few to play in my head while reading it or playing. Fighting Fate from Final Fantasy XIII was what I imagined when I reached the battle against him in my own fic's penultimate chapter of the Aincrad Arc, but that was also done back in 2016 before I even touched PSO2 or found some other ones that would be appropriate from the SAO Games. The theme for the raid bosses, as well as the two DLC bosses, from Alicization Lycoris would fit. Especially with the heroic fantasy vibes this gives.

Anyway, this chapter was great. A perfect leadup for the conclusion and don't worry about not settling Rain's character arc. If you manage a conclusion that is to your satisfaction later on, that's fine. If not? Well, that happens.

I can feel the end in sight, so excited for the next few chapters. :D

While Klein makes a valid point, I think that Kirito would also (fairly) point out that it's all 20/20 hindsight. Yeah, him leaving Klein behind and becoming the Black Swordsman did have a net positive effect overall, BUT he had no way of knowing that at the time. He made a selfish choice that by sheer fluke happened to work out the best for everyone. While he does need to forgive himself, he also shouldn't be let of the hook quite that easily. I think it should be more about the realization that making a bad call in the heat of the moment shouldn't have to follow you forever. Nobody is perfect, this is one of the few times that Kirito doesn't just do the best thing (in cannon) and should be seen as such.

Damn, I've been waiting for that scene between Kizmel and Lind for ages. I'm not sure if I'm the only one who is such a fan of their dynamic, but it was all just great. The subplots are slowly tying up one by one.

I really liked the decision to split Kirito and Kizmel up for the majority of this chapter. We always see them together, so it was great to see them interact with pretty much the entire supporting cast on their own.

I really liked how you compared Kizmel/Kirito and Griselda/Grimlock in the way of the maturity of their relationships being the inverse of their ages. I never really thought about it like that, but it was well put and a good realization for Griselda.

Not sure if it was a typo or if I'm just blanking, but who is Ashley?

"But if I have people who think that I am is good enough... then it's good enough." Small bit of mis-phrasing. You could just drop the "is" and it would work, but I imagine this was probably two sperate sentences at one point that just didn't get edited together all the way.

So, overall, I have to disagree with your assessment; I think this was one of the best breather chapters, and maybe even one of my favourite chapters. Yeah, I get that a lot of it was people talking up Kirito, but there are two caveats to that. One, it was interspersed with Kizeml on her own, which broke up the chance of it getting monotonous, and second, Kirito is constantly way too hard on himself. A character like that does often need their friends to remind them of the good they are actually doing.

While it was nothing world-shattering and most of these things were known, or at least suspected, it tied up a lot of things that had been built up over the last while. Also, the little bits of the side characters here and there in the background really made the world fell more alive, like it's not just the main cast doing their thing.

Overall, Duet is not just my favourite fan fiction, but one of my favourite stories, just in general. If I could have a printed copy to put on my bookshelf, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I know some chapters come out feeling better or worse than others, but don't get yourself down; much like Kirito, you're far better than you give yourself credit for. ;p

Lastly, a small recommendation that if you haven't already considered, I think is worth keeping in the back of your mind. This story has IMHO, has eclipsed it's source material in almost every conceivable way... except for one. One of my biggest gripes about the original, and what was partially a victim of it's own short original run time, was that in this game of death where everyone's lives are on the line, no one important ever actually dies. While you've killed off a couple of minor characters here and there, it's just not the same, over time, with stakes like this always being overcome with minimal or no losses, you start to loose the tension in the life or death scenes. I personally think that in the final fight, a main or key supporting character should be killed.

From context of what you have already, there's clearly plans for Kirito, Kizmel, Asuna, Argo, Klein, and Griselda post Aincrad, so they're obviously off the table. That leaves Philia, Rain, and Sachi and there are arguments to be made for each.

Philia while a main member of the cast hasn't ever really had her own time to shine, but is still a beloved member of the party. If you're not sure what to do with her character going forward, this could be the right place to send her off, in a big impactful moment, rather than fading into the background.

For Rain, she's the upcoming champion, getting stronger by the day behind the scenes. We expect something big from her at some point, but getting her moment mid-boss fight and it costing her life would be a rug pull I don't think anyone would see coming. Biggest meta shock value.

And then there's Sachi. If you want to go for maximum emotional damage, you go for Sachi. The girl that we all know, never should have survived this long. The girl who finally, after all this time, thinks she might actually survive; only to die against the final boss. It's a tragically fitting way to end her story, especially if she goes out saving everyone else. I think she was always that kind of person deep down, but your story has really allowed her to be in the place to make that kind of choice.

Okay, so I said those three, but there kinda is a fourth. While I don't think this would be as impactful as the other three, you could also have Lind give his life in the final fight. His small arc came to an end this chapter with him and Kizmel making peace and him resolving to be a better person. It would also mirror his idol Diavel in a poetic way. However, I'm not sure if I'm the only one so invested in his character that it would be a tragic moment and not just the loss of someone on the fence between side character and supporting cast, so I'm trying to stay impartial.

(Also, if you are already planning to kill someone off, please don't spoil me. XD)

Anyhow, those were my many thoughts as this amazing story starts to wrap up. As always, looking forward to the next chapter. :D

I've had this story in my library for years and never got around to it till now and holy shit this is hands down the best sao fic out there its been a long time since a fanfic has sucked me in like this to where i was putting off sleep bc i needed to see what happened next thank you for this wonderful story and i hope you return to it one day

But... what if we want yuri?

Dear Author Solid... or Solid Author,
#jokes

Its been a few days since I finished chapter 39 and during my "circle back around the metaphorical end table of books to drop off finished stuff and pick up new material" organization Monochrome Duet caught my eye again. Its.. Just... I had so much fun reading this. Monochrome gets sorted to the pile of books that the "to be reread later when I'm too lazy to fishing for something new and I want something nice... like a piece of candy or my favorite cheat soda drink" stack.

Suffice to say. Thank you for all your hard work. I'm hooked. I want to see what comes next and I'm supremely happy that I found the Monochrome during the Chapter 39 update because its a good stopping point to put down the story and wait out updates until the end. I don't want the good times to end but I'm excited because it was such a fun ride.

Fingers and toes crossed that writers block, stress, and health get better for you! For whatever its worth, you have my thanks for pressing through and continuing to write and being all the more awesome for it.

-Happy reader and looking forward to future updates whenever they may happen
-Hyjinks

Incredible work, as always!

I hope you get better soon!

Hey Solid! Could I contact you through your Discord? I was wanting to chat about Monochrome Duet?