Long Live Money in Anime Crossover

Author's Note:

PS: Thank you Sachiko Shinozaki for the 100-point donation, and thank you Tucao Dadi for the 100-point donation!

121 Your biggest mistake

On the first floor of Aincrad, in the plaza of the City of Beginnings, Asuna stood at the center of everyone's attention, holding up an image crystal that was playing a series of images.

More and more people came to watch, and the number had exceeded five thousand, which was almost 60% of the people in the entire Aincrad.

The image within the crystal, starting with a person named PoH opening the crystal and uttering a few arrogant monologues, has caused countless people to gasp in astonishment.

The battles between the players, the great victory of the red-named players, the deaths of the players, and then Kayaba Akihiko's appearance, who instantly killed all the players and, under PoH's inducement, revealed the truth, all took place in front of everyone.

Yes, witness.

This image crystal is not playing a recording, but a live broadcast.

The reason is simple: someone used their trading power to separate the playback function from one image crystal and put it on another image crystal.

Therefore, while one image crystal is recording, another image crystal can also open the playback function of the previous image crystal.

Therefore, from the very beginning, Momo's plan was not what Kayaba Akihiko imagined—to use a crystal containing a recorded truth to turn the tables—but rather a trap that had been set up long ago.

If Kayaba Akihiko dares to step forward during the entire process, he is destined to be defeated, and the truth of the entire game will be revealed by him to all the players.

Momo was indeed unable to reveal the truth of the game. PoH noticed something fishy about it by guessing Kayaba Akihiko's and Momo's words and actions. The easiest way to let everyone know the truth of the game was to let Kayaba Akihiko reveal the truth himself.

In this way, without any proof, everyone will believe it.

Currently, more than 5,000 players have already believed it.

Momo is innocent. Heathcliff is Kayaba Akihiko, who will face all players on the 100th floor as the final boss. Moreover, it seems that this game was never intended to be completed from the very beginning.

All the players present were mere playthings in Kayaba Akihiko's hands. In order for the game to continue according to his wishes, he did not hesitate to frame Mo Mo and to ruin all the strongest players at present—whether they were the experts who went with him to wipe out the Smiling Coffin or every red-named player in the Smiling Coffin.

Everything was a conspiracy by Kayaba Akihiko.

This plot shocked every viewer. They hated Kayaba Akihiko, cursed Kayaba Akihiko, felt sorry for the front-line players who had already left the game, and even reduced their animosity towards the red-named guild, Smiling Coffin, by 90%.

Although the motives of the red-named guild Smiling Coffin are still unclear, there is no doubt that these red-named executioners, like all other players, stood on the front against Kayaba Akihiko, and were therefore wiped out by Kayaba Akihiko.

Regardless of what they did in the past, at least for this moment, all players can mourn for the red-named players who have already left the game.

However, now was not the time for them all to express their emotions. Everyone watched the confrontation between Momo and Kayaba Akihiko with tension.

They were proud of Momo's tall and straight figure in front of Kayaba Akihiko, and when they saw Kayaba Akihiko's hesitant and indecisive appearance, they cheered for Momo in their hearts and mouths.

The first team has disappeared.

The smiling coffin has disappeared.

All the leaders, except for Klein and Asuna, who were standing before him, died in this battle.

Right now, only Momo is left.

Momo, you have to win! You absolutely must win!

In their hearts, everyone was cheering for Momo, but at that moment, Momo issued the order to "destroy the items".

"Snapped--"

With a soft sound, the image crystal held by Asuna went dark, and everyone was stunned by this sudden change. They didn't understand why Momo would do this.

A bad feeling welled up in his heart. Could it be that even Mo Mo couldn't fight against Kayaba Akihiko? Was the reason Mo Mo cut off the live broadcast because he was afraid that his failure would make everyone despair?

In the end what happened!

"President!"

Yuriel quickly approached Asuna, wanting to ask what was wrong. Before her outstretched hand even touched Asuna's shoulder, she seemed to feel Asuna trembling.

"Mo Mo...why did you do this...is there...any danger?"

Asuna abruptly threw away the crystal, placed her finger on her wedding ring, and shouted, "Teleport!"

Upon receiving the order, the wedding ring flashed with light and activated its fixed-point teleportation function, which can only be used once a day.

However, the light came and went quickly. Asuna saw the words "Skill activation failed" and the light of the wedding ring dimmed, entering the cooldown period.

"President... what Kayaba Akihiko just said, that place should be forbidden from having the attribute of wedding rings, so..."

Yuriel looked at Asuna's pale face and wanted to say something to persuade her, but found that the fear on Asuna's face was growing stronger.

“Yuriel”.

"I'm here!"

"I'm leaving the rest to you. I need to... go see Momo... no matter what happened. My mission is over, I need to see Momo!"

As she spoke, Asuna took out a teleportation crystal. Upon seeing this, Yuriel rushed forward and cried out, "Guild Master, you can't go! You're our only leader now, you can't abandon us!"

However, her hands grasped nothing but empty air, leaving only Asuna's last words and a serene smile.

“I’m sorry… Yuriel, for me, Momo is the most important person in the end… I’m sorry…”

Asuna used the teleportation crystal to instantly arrive at the 22nd floor street. Without pausing, she sprinted outwards at full speed, heading towards the Misty Forest.

The tears she had held back finally streamed down her face. She murmured, as if in a plea, "Mo Mo, please, please don't get hurt. You've done so much, you wouldn't risk your life to uncover the truth, would you? Don't be so foolish!"

"Argo, Argo, where are you! You promised me you'd live and die with Momo. If Momo dies, I'll laugh at you forever! So please, Argo, go be with Momo... even just a little longer is good!"

Asuna ran alone through the empty streets, her chestnut hair fluttering in the wind. No matter what, she had to get to Momo's side. No matter what happened, no matter the outcome, she just wanted to be by Momo's side.

……

Argo, whom Asuna spoke of, was currently in the camp inside the Smiling Coffin, where she was the only one left.

She stood beside her and Momo's tent, humming a little tune, looking up recipes to prepare lunch for the day.

However, her trembling fingers and the occasional off-key singing revealed her current mood.

The cheerful tune echoed in the empty camp, which seemed eerie and highlighted her unease.

She seemed to sense something, and abruptly turned her head to the side, looking through the thick fog into the distance, where the battle should be taking place.

She took a step and threw away the ingredients in her hand.

She stepped back and picked up the ingredients from the ground.

“Momo said…we should believe him, right? I am Argo, a great and strong woman. How could a woman like me not believe Momo?”

"He said... he would come back, and he definitely will!"

Argo reached into her pocket and pulled out a glittering, teardrop-shaped gem. She placed the gem on her forehead and whispered, "You think so too, don't you, Yui? We should believe him, shouldn't we?"

The gemstone shimmered with light, as if responding to Argo.

"Alright! You're such a good daughter, hehe. Well then, we'll wait for your father to come back, wait for my good man to come back. Hmm, what should we make today? Hehe... How about some nourishing dishes? I wonder if these things are useful in SAO..."

"...Come back quickly, Momo...My patience is running out..."

……

Heathcliff stared in disbelief at the light swirling in the image crystals, completely bewildered.

What is Momo going to do?

He doesn't understand.

I don't understand at all.

I don't understand at all!

What kind of enemy is the most terrifying?

An enemy too powerful to be fought against? No, at worst, we'll just die in battle. Such an enemy shouldn't inspire fear, but rather terror.

The most terrifying enemy is the one who, even though he has laid everything out in front of you, you still can't keep up with his train of thought.

What are you going to do?

These were Heathcliff's inner thoughts, but he couldn't bring himself to ask them. Otherwise, he felt that even as the strongest Boss at LV100, he wouldn't be able to face Momo, an ordinary player at only LV35.

"Kayaba Akihiko, do you know where you went wrong? Since you're not making a move now, I'll assume you want to hear it."

Heathcliff dared not answer, yet dared not lower his sword. He stood frozen in place like a petrified statue, unable to advance or retreat.

Momo still didn't draw his sword. Faced with Heathcliff's power and attacks, it seemed that all he needed was his mouth.

Do you know what your biggest mistake was?

"A blunder?"

Heathcliff finally couldn't hold back any longer and responded. He felt a sudden jolt in his heart; he knew that he had been drawn into Momo's mind and was now in his rhythm.

Mo Mo smiled slightly, wagged her finger, and said, "Ever since you abandoned your advantages and tried to play dirty tricks on me, you've already lost. Especially..."

Mo Mo's eyes sharpened, and he said, "Especially when you started using Yui, using a completely unsuspecting little girl, and making her your pawn, you had already lost."

“Kayaba Akihiko, everything needs to have a bottom line. As a scientist, it’s one thing for you to not abide by the bottom line of morality and law, but at this point I can still call you a crazy scientist.”

"But when you start to lose sight of the bottom line of humanity, Kayaba Akihiko, at that point you are nothing more than a beast."

"So what if you wield immense power and control the entire Aincrad? You've lost your true self. From that moment on, you've already lost."

"You're finished, Kayaba Akihiko."

How could a beast possibly defeat a human?

A few words struck at Heathcliff's heart. He didn't know what tricks Momo had up his sleeve, but strangely, he believed Momo's words and thought he had already lost.

Rage surged within him, and the greatsword above Heathcliff's head transformed into a fierce sword technique, crashing down with Heathcliff's roar.

"Isn't all of this your fault?!"

Author's Note:

P.S.: Thank you so much to the generous donor Pure Shadow 1500 for the donation and 2 monthly tickets! Hugs to the generous donor! (●′ω｀●)

122 The War of the Power Dogs

The ferocious sword techniques mercilessly struck Momo, the light of the sword techniques rapidly reducing Momo's health. Originally, one sword technique would have been enough to kill Momo, but Heathcliff seemed unsatisfied and kept bombarding Momo with all sorts of sword techniques.

Countless sword techniques and beams of light completely obscured Mo Mo's figure, making it impossible to see his body clearly, but Heathcliff still showed no sign of stopping.