I had been entertaining the idea that my OC would have tried that (not necessarily with the JSDF), but it IS something Kayaba would be unlikely to overlook. Any advice on how I could make it happen believably (maybe not with the JSDF, but they wouldn't be headstrong enough to impulsively dive in on their own)?

I always wondered about the details. If my SAO fic ever gets off the ground, may I use some of them? I would put a clear disclaimer that you came up with the ideas. I'd only really use the technical details, I think; I still haven't figured out how I'm writing Kayaba.

Reading about the mathematical perfect and the sheer complexity of the rain simulation instilled a sense of beauty.

Math is beautiful, so is your fanfiction for it captured the beauty of precision and deep thoughts without trying to instill hard feelings in the readers.

Reading this in 2019 is great and sad at the same time. You see that almost no-one got close to your standards in about 8 years.

I love this! The whole idea, as well as the execution, is amazing, and I was particularly wowed by the technical aspects you detail. The mechanics feel real, Kayaba's concerns and countermeasures as well, and damn, that ending... My heart. I was struck by how he thinks of Aincrad as the real world, but it makes a lot of sense, and I can definitely see where he's coming from. The whole story was full of pleasant surprises, although, had I glanced at the author name before reading, I would've known to expect the kind of quality I'd find. Thanks for writing this, giving us a little glimpse into Kayaba's thoughts!

This was amazing. I just finished Red Valkarie and, Wow.
Have you written any original stories? Cause you DEFINITELY have the talent.
Also, I PMed you earlier about using some events from your SAO fics in mine? (I'm currently on mobile and can't log in for some reason)

Ah, Kayaba. Probably my favorite character in the entire SAO-verse. (though, I've not been able to read any of the later LNs, on account of only the first 3 being translated, so my experience with non-anime characters is rather limited.)
I loved his motive, his goals, and his resolve to defend those goals by any means necessary. Sucks to be Kojiro, I guess. Poor bastard shouldn't have tried to interfere.

This is a really fascinating idea! Looking forward to the next update (:

you're other long-running SAO story (FDD) brought me here. im still halfway through that, but this is no less amazing. incredible job.

This is freaking brilliant.

I LOVE these Kayaba POVs. They're so perfect, so in-character, and so completely believable. And they are sure as hell executed a hundred times better than Kawahara could ever manage. More please!

I can see Kayaba doing exactly that with anyone who could overcome his initial precautions, after all if there is hope that the players can get outside support then no one would play the game and they would wait for the JSDF to get them out.

Despite his sense of fair play in the end Kayaba Akihito is a real monster.

Damn...That's all I can say to this chapter. Its heavy and left me speechless.

Nice to see a short from you, Catsy!

I really like this dissection of Kayaba's character. He always seemed like a person devoted to this fantasy he created, and the plot really shows this. It was interesting to see how far he would go to keep the "integrity of this closed world."

One thing I noticed was that when Kayaba asked Cardinal about the sixth connection, there is nothing in the text that tells the reader that there were six connections in the first place. It might have more of an impact on the reader if they are able to see the discrepancy themselves before the character in the story points it out.

Great chapter, as always!
-EV

Only thing I didn't like about it wsa the ending; it seemed slightly more dickish then Kayaba in canon. Honestly, I expected him to give the player the same or a similar opportunity as Kirito if only out of a sense of fair play.

Ouch.

Yeah, that... that sounds about right, sadly.

Though you could make an argument that letting it get to the player base that "the JSSDF tried, and got their team microwaved for their troubles" would actually be more effective, but this way is just cleaner.