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Sword Art Online

SAO • ソードアート・オンライン • 刀剑神域
In the year 2022, gamers rejoice as Sword Art Online-a VRMMORPG

(Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) like
no other-opens its virtual doors, allowing players to take full
advantage of the ultimate in gaming technology: NerveGear, a
system that allows users to completely immerse themselves in the
game world by manipulating their brain waves to create a wholly
realistic gaming experience.
But when the game goes live, the elation of the players quickly
turns to horror as they discover that, for all its amazing features, SAO
is missing one of the most basic functions of any MMORPG-a log-out
button.
Now trapped in the virtual world of Aincrad, their bodies held

captive by NerveGear in the real world, users are issued a chilling
ultimatum: conquer all one hundred floors of Aincrad to regain your
freedom. But in the warped world of SAO, “game over” means certain
death-both virtual and real…
Author(s): Reki Kawahara

Artist(s): Abec
Year: 2009
Country: Japan
Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Sci-
fi, Shounen
Tags: Adapted to Anime, Adapted to Manga, Adopted Protagonist,
Androgynous Characters, Average-looking Protagonist, Beautiful
Female Lead, Cheats, Clever Protagonist, Cute Children, Doting
Parents, Dragons, Fairies, Fantasy Creatures, Firearms, Friendship,
Male Protagonist, MMORPG, Overpowered Protagonist, Power Couple,
Protagonist Loyal to Love Interest, R-15, Strong Love Interests,
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Survival Game, Sword And Magic, Sword Wielder, Tsundere, Virtual

Reality
Source: defan’s..., Dreadful Decoding, tap-trans
ASIANOVEL VERSION: 3.10

PDF VERSION: 1.4
UUID: 34600e60-cf0c-11e9-9fd0-c11618dc2db0
USER: potpot91121OoO
DATE CREATED: 2019-09-04
LANGUAGE: English
More info and chapters:

https://www.asianovel.com/series/sword-art-online
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Chapter 0 - Prologue
Source: defan’s...
Can’t. Freaking. WAIT for the next part! Even though the version of
the rest of the volume 18 translation I (attempted to) read was
ridiculously hard to decipher, I was able to finish it with a general
understanding of what the ending of the Alicization Arc is. In which
case, I (almost) perfectly understood this chapter. So far, as usual
per Kawahara-san, it’s incredible and I’m excited beyond words to
read the full arc.
PLEASE keep up the amazing work that you do here! I am most

assuredly a fan for life.
On a side note, I can’t remember what site I found it on, but I was
able to read the first (and maybe second…? Crap, I can’t remember
now) part of Moon Cradle. The translations weren’t as good as they
are here, obviously, but they are definitely readable. Just wanted to
let everyone know that there is a version out there that you can read.
And, as usual, the story is incredible! (…I already said that, huh? :p)
LikeLike
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Chapter 2
Source: Dreadful Decoding
Pryun has told me that he won't have time to make any progress
on editing this week, so I doubt that we'll be able to publish an
update on the GGO spinoff this week. However, seeing as I'm done
with the initial translation of the remainder of the GGO spinoff
volume, I figured that I'd finish up with some old projects while I have
some spare time. This is a bit more refined version (some clunkiness
and translation errors fixed, and the number of notes reduced) of the
Rainbow Bridge part 2 translation
Bold text was emphasised in the raw with boutens (dots placed
alongside text, serving as emphasis). Italic text is Engrish (English
written in katakana), Comic Sans font is for Japanese words written in
katakana.
Feel free to point out any errors, give suggestions or just talk about
the story itself in the comments.
Credits
Raw: Takazuki
Translation: Gsimenas
Editing: Pryun, Dennis, 1caiser
Part 1
Index
Part 3
Rainbow Bridge Part 2
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“…………Haruhohohee……”
I muttered this in an unintelligible voice, while chewing my chewy

udon.(1)
At that moment, Suguha, sitting on the opposite side of the dining

table, looked at me with upturned eyes.
“That’s bad manners, Onii-chan.”
It’s true that holding chopsticks in my right hand and a tablet

terminal in my left while eating a meal probably wasn’t appropriate.
However, after swallowing the udon in my mouth with a gulp,
"I'm certain that I can eat bukkake udon while using my tablet.”
“……Then, what about karē udon?”
“No way.”
“……How about kitsune udon?”
“That’s fine.”
“……And what about nabeyaki udon?”
“No way.”
“I don’t get your standards at all……”
Sighed Suguha, who then slurped a mouthful of the chilled bukkake

udon (with hot spring eggs(2), steamed chicken, boiled shrimp, okra,
thick wakame leaves, shiso and shredded nori as toppings).
We logged out from ALO about fifteen minutes ago. As usual, our
mother has yet to return home, thus the two of us made a late
dinner, but lately, I feel as if we’ve been favouring the ≪quick to
make and simple to clean≫ route too much.
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Let’s make at least three meals for tomorrow—— while secretly
deciding this, I once again heard the voice from across the table.
“So, what was with that ‘I see’?”
It took me a second to realise that the question was about the

‘haruhoho’(3) I uttered a while ago.
“……I can’t believe you recognised that it was ‘I see’…… Eh,

I mean, it was about the story regarding the Æsir.”
“Oh, so you investigated that right away .”
“You can say that, though I’ve only read a rough outline.”
I presented the tablet, where the corresponding article of an online

encyclopedia was displayed, to Suguha, and considered whether I
should break the remaining hot spring eggs open and mix them in
with the udon, or simply eat them whole. However, before I could
come up with a solution, Suguha laughed boldly and scornfully.
“……What is it?”
“It’s completely useless, Onii-chan. And here you said “I

see” with just this. Only the highlights are written here.”
“I-is that so?”
“Yeah. If you really want to know, it did not begin with the
head god Odin’s father, the giant Borr, nor Borr’s father, the
first god Búri…… Ehm, firstly, in Norse mythology, the
beginning of the world started with a large rift, called
Ginnungagap……”
“S-stop stop. Let’s save the beginning of the world till

later, when we have time for you to tell me about it without
haste. Hey, we’d better eat quickly or the udon will grow
stale.”
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At my interruption, Suguha made a displeased face, but obediently
put down the tablet and picked up her chopsticks again. Without
hesitation, she opened the hot spring eggs and mixed the egg yolk
that flowed out with the noodles. Notwithstanding the beautiful
golden radiance, I followed suit and then slurped it down.
Although I thought that interrupting the earnest lecture was

inexcusable, I currently did not need such detailed knowledge.
Because, my current concern was not the realm of the Æsir
that——possibly exists in ALO, but whether the ≪Deep Sea
Plunderers≫ quest had a continuation.
Leviathan told us 『I am going to move it to a new

Mimuro(4)』as he took away the ≪The Child’s Egg≫, which we had
unintendedly stolen from the Underwater Temple after being
completely fooled by Kraken. However, we had a feeling that this
wouldn’t end with ‘thus the issue was resolved and they all lived
happily ever after’. What the heck is that Child or whatever——it’s
not a human, as it was going to be born from an egg——but I have
no idea. Kraken also seemed as if he hadn’t lost yet and, in the first
place, that huge octopus’s thirst for revenge wasn’t satisfied.
This did have a few of my personal feelings mixed in, but wasn’t
that actually the beginning of a #serial story#(campaign)quest,
rather than being just a standalone quest?
In ordinary campaign quests, if one of the quests is cleared, the

player can receive the following quest and the new destination will
be specified via markers. However, there are rare cases in which the
players themselves must guess which place they should go to and
what they should do based on the information that they had received
up to that point.
Assuming that this campaign is of that type, there should be hints

to the location where the next quest could be accepted in the
conversation between Kraken and Leviathan……but……
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“……-chan, come on, Onii-chan, geez.”
Suguha called me several times while I pondered, before I finally

came to my senses and raised my head.
“Eh, wh-what is it?”
“I hope you haven’t forgotten that we’re doing a major

cleanup of the dojo tomorrow morning. Don’t stay up late
tonight; we have to go to bed soon.”
Of course I had forgotten about it, but without saying a word, I

nodded.
“I get it I ge~et it, I’ll go to sleep in one… make that two

hours, I promise.”
I avoided my little sister’s gaze of suspicion, and escaped to the

kitchen with the now empty plate.
In my room, I rolled in bed and looked up at the alarm clock on my

headboard while upside down
It was 23:30. At around this time in the old Aincrad, I would be in

the midst of my ≪night phase≫, secluding myself in a high-efficiency
hunting ground and continuing to swing my sword.
Of course, leveling is indispensable even in ALfheim (although ALO

doesn’t have levels). There were times when I worked vigorously on
hard farming in order to catch up with Asuna and the rest, especially
since I had reset my stats inherited from SAO.
But of course, there was no chance of experiencing the trepidation

from back then——that throbbing motivation to level up in order to
live on.
Needless to say, that’s a fortunate thing. I did not, by any means,

have any desire return to that world or anything.
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However, somewhere in my heart, I may be continuing to hope. For
something that is a game, but not a game…… for something in the
miniature garden of the virtual world that could invoke a
breathtaking ≪reality≫.
I felt a sign of that ≪something≫ the moment Leviathan’s trident

came down in the nick of time, when we were about to be wiped out,
after being driven to a near-death state by Kraken’s blow. Could it be
that this seemingly predictable(5) event was actually an accidental
development not written in any plot…………?
“……No, well, it would just be interesting if that were the

case…...”
I muttered that monologue to hide my embarrassment and, in

order to prepare for tomorrow’s major clean up and go to bed early, I
turned off the lights in my room.
After about ten seconds had passed, I fumblingly grasped the

AmuSphere and mounted it on my head, and then recited the voice
command in a whisper.
“Link Start.”
Part 1
Index
Part 3
Notes
1. ^ Udon is a type of thick wheat noodle of Japanese cuisine. The

following few lines mentions several types of udon. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udon for more information about the
different types of udon.
2. ^ Eggs slow-boiled so that the yolk is hard but the white is still
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soft. Traditionally, such an egg was cooked in a hot spring, hence the
name.
3. ^ Haruhoho is a slur of “naruhodo” (なるほど), which means “I

see”, “that’s right”, “indeed” etc., while the “hee” part is
probably a slur of “nee” or some other ending particle.
4. ^ The word Mimuro (御室) means "home of a nobleman".

However, it's treated as some proper noun in this story. For
reference, Daisuki subs for the Extra Edition translated the word as
"resting place", while Crunchyroll translated the word as "home".
5. ^ In the original text, the expression 予定調和 (yotei chouwa, lit.

pre-established harmony) was used. It can refer to philosophical
theory by Leibniz, but in Japanese society, it can also be used to refer
to something (e.g. the plot of a movie/book/etc.) being predictable.
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Chapter ME 28
So, as of now, the 24th episode of the Alicization anime has

finished airing in Japan, bringing an end to the first half of the
Alicization anime... as well as killing off the best boi of the series. To
commemorate this milestone and rub a load of salt in those oh so
fresh wounds, here's an alternative universe where Eugeo and Kirito
never cut down Raios and Humbert (as the two asses were
conveniently bitten by poisonous crabs) and thus continued with
their academy life without breaking the Taboo Index, getting into the
Central Cathedral the conventional way. Basically, a version of the
story where Eugeo doesn't get bisected...hopefully... just to make the
canon tragic ending feel even more heart-wrenching.
I had intentionally planned to do Distant Journey part 2 for this

occasion, but then I realised that this might be even more evil (and
possibly involve slightly less work, making it easier to get it done on
time), so I decided to do ME28 first. For those wondering what a
material edition is, these are basically short stories that Kawahara
Reki, the author of SAO, self-publishes during a doujin convention
called COMITIA. Anyway, now that I'm done with this, I'll probably get
back to working on Distant Journey for the next release.
Italic font marks Engrish (English written in katakana) where it's

important to point out that the characters aren't using actual
Japanese in the instance.
Any feedback is appreciated. No, seriously, if you spot some errors,

please let me know. I was kinda rushing to get this done for episode
24's release, so I haven't really proofread it yet and could have easily
overlooked some mistakes.
-Gsimenas
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Credits
Sugary Days 14
Index
N/A
"Wha…… Raios and Humbert were bitten by a crab and are

now critically ill?"
When I responded with my question, Eugeo nodded with a serious

look.
"Yeah, they're currently hospitalised at the North Centoria

Imperial Hospital, as far as I've heard."
"Hospitalised……"
This raised so many questions that I didn't even know where to

start. For starters, to calm down, I gulped down the cofil tea that
Eugeo had just made for me.
"Youch!"
"Oh geez, how many times are you going to do that."
Gulping down some cold water that Eugeo poured me from a jug
with a stunned expression, I cooled down my throat. Outside the
window, a bird that I didn't even know the name of seemed be
mocking me with its cry.
Over a year had already passed since Eugeo and I became pupils
at the North Centoria Imperial Swordcraft Academy.
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Our Primary Trainee days, devoted entirely to practicing sword
arts, studying Sacred Arts, as well as our routine duties as valets,
passed by in a flash; afterwards, Eugeo and I were selected as one of
but twelve Elite Disciples and gained valets of our own: I got Ronye,
while Eugeo got Tiese; just when I thought we had to work harder
and harder to prepare for the Four Empire Unification Tournament
next spring, we encountered a slight issue. Two high-ranked nobles,
named Raios Antinous and Humbert Zizek, who had been meddling
with us one way or another since our Primary Trainee days had been
stepping up on the frequency and extent of their harassment lately.
Just when I was beginning to think, "At this rate, either Eugeo or I
might eventually lose it and shed some blood within the scope of the
academy's regulations!', I heard the aforementioned shocking news.
After another sip of cofil tea, carefully this time, I voiced the
greatest question I had.
"Ehm, for starters, what do you mean they were bitten by a

crab……?"
Once I did, Eugeo blinked in surprise, before tilting his head.
"Kirito, do you know what a crab is?"
"……You mean, those eight-legged things with pincers for

hands……"
Once I formed V signs with my hands to imitate the snipping

action, Eugeo smiled, seemingly relieved.
"Yeah, those are the ones. I just had a thought that there
might not have been any crabs in your hometown, Kirito."
"We did have some…… but the crabs I know of don't go

around biting people, y'know……?"
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"The Norlangarth crabs are basically all like that. They live
in clean rivers and lakes and they're delicious when you eat
them boiled, but…… one species of them is pretty
dangerous."
"Dangerous……?"
"Yeah, it's called the Great Fanged Crab. It's around this
big……"
Eugeo spread his hands apart, indicating a size that was about
equivalent to an adult shiba(1) dog.
"It has a thorny shell, jagged pincers, and large fangs in its
mouth. It lurks within still, dirty water, attacking and eating
rabbits and foxes that approach the water. Though, while it is
rare for them to do so, they do sometimes attack people
too…… If you get bitten by those fangs, a poison will run
through your body, which could lead to your death if not
treated in time."
"A Great Fanged Crab……"
For some reason, I could hear a "Wut ya heck!"(2) shout echoing

in my mind, but I ignored it and asked my following question.
"……Though, there aren't any dangerous crabs like that

within the Swordcraft Academy, right?"
"Of course not. I hear Raios and Humbert went over to

Ladino family's domain for a visit during the rest day the
previous day, where they approached the waterside. But
since Ladino's family just throws away all the trash that
builds up through cooking and cleaning into their lake,
instead of burning it in a kiln to turn it into sacred power, a
Great Fanged Crab apparently began lurking where the water
began stagnating."
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"……Why would those guys even approach that lake?
They're not the kind of guys to enjoy playing in the water,
are they?"
"Seems like they were planning to throw out their trash."
"……I see."
Littering along the highway outside the wall, let alone inside
Centoria itself, was prohibited by the Imperial Fundamental Law;
however, this did not apply to the personal domains of nobles. So,
Raios and Humbert decided to throw away their trash into the lake,
as they figured it was dirty anyway, and ended up being bitten one
heck of a crab as karmic retribution. That's getting one's just
desserts—— though a rather extreme form of it.
"Are those guys alright?"
When I asked that question as a formality, Eugeo gave a nod.
"They just barely made it in time with the counter-poison

rite, so they did narrowly make it out with their lives.
Though, their legs bitten by the crab were paralysed and it
will apparently take around a year till they are able to stand."
"Oh, that so."
'So, everything's fine', drawing this cold-hearted conclusion, I

drank up the cofil tea in my cup.
Honestly, now was not the time to be concerned with their well
being. Seeing as they won't be able to return to the school for an
entire year, the first-seat Raios and second-seat Humbert are
practically guaranteed to repeat the school year; meanwhile, Eugeo
being fifth-ranked and me being sixth-ranked myself, we will need
surpass two more people if we are to become the academy's
representative swordsmen.
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"……Well, it is an unfortunate turn of events for those guys,
but this means we'll now be able to focus on our sword
practice…… Let's put in some effort to move up at least by
one rank during the summer examination first."
When I mentioned that, Eugeo finally gave a relieved smile.
"You're right. In that case, let's head out to the training

grounds right away. I'd like to work on improving my jump for
《Sonic Leap》."
"Eeeh～……Let's do that after dinner."
Before I could finish that, my nape was grabbed from behind.
"Oh no you don't, you've got your Sacred Arts studies

waiting for you after your meal! Come on, stand up, stand
up!"
"Yeah yeah."
Standing up with an "alley-oop" and getting a push at my back

from my partner, I left the trainee dormitory room.
Ten months later.
Eugeo and I graduated from the academy as first- and second-

ranked students respectively, won the Norlangarth Swordsmanship
Tournament as representatives of the academy, and then pulled off a
draw in the finals of the grandest tournament in the Human Empire -
the Four Empire Unification Tournament, thus earning the right to
enter the Central Cathedral.
"Kirito and Eugeo…… is it. Hmm, so these boys are this

year's winners?"
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As a beautiful-to-an-extreme-degree silver-haired and silver-eyed
woman stared down at us with a listless expression, I felt an
unprecedented—— to be precise, about as much tension as I had felt
in Asuna's flat in Selmburg, the main town of the Sixty-First Floor of
the nostalgic Floating Castle Aincrad, when she told me, "Kirito-kun,
hurry up and take your clothes off too", as I gave the following
response to the woman's question.
"Yes, that is correct."
"Why are there two of you, exactly?"
When asked that question, I glimpsed beside me, but it seemed

that Eugeo had even lost his ability to speak due to the excessive
tension. That's not all that surprising——after all, we were dealing
with the supreme priest of the Axiom Church, the ruler of the entirety
of the Human Empire that surpassed even the emperors of the four
empires in authority. Her name was 《Administrator》——a name
that was familiar to me yet one I had never heard of in this world;
however, I lacked the composure to be concerned about that now.
Kneeling on the marble floor of the 《Grand Corridor of Spiritual

Light》 on the fiftieth floor of the Central Cathedral, I once again
opened my mouth.
"That would be because our battle in the finals resulted in

a draw."
"A draw～? Chudelkin, did that thing even have a time limit,
again?"
Administrator's gaze fell upon a small man, wearing a clown-like

outfit and headgear, dyed in garish blue and red. Based on the fact
that the man had named himself as 《Chief Elder Chudelkin》 to us a
while ago, he seemed to be a substantially distinguished personage
even within the Axiom Church, but you would definitely not get that
impression from the way he looked.
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"Hahah…… As I recall, the finals should have had no time
limit whatsoever……"
When the short but plump as a balloon clown answered in a shrill

voice, Administrator gave a slight nod.
"So it is…… You guys, you're both from the North Centoria
Swordcraft Academy, as I understand? You wouldn't happen
to have orchestrated that draw, now, would you～?"
That very moment, Eugeo beside me tensed up even more, sweat

forming on his forehead. This reaction wasn't surprising either;
Administrator's suspicion was, after all, a one hundred percent
unembellished truth.
The reason why Eugeo and I had set off from Rulid Village,
overcoming trials and tribulations to become Integrity Knights, was to
find a girl named Alice Zuberg, Eugeo's childhood friend who had
been apprehended by an Integrity Knight nine years ago, and for all
three of us to return to Rulid. In order to accomplish such a goal, so
grand that we couldn't possibly achieve without both of us assisting
each other, we could not allow either of us dropping out of the Four
Empire Unification Tournament.
Hence, Eugeo and I had held practice after practice in secret

before the tournament to work out a sword fight sequence so intense
that no one would catch on, and so long that everyone in the
audience, including the nobles and the imperial families, would be
satisfied with it; that is, we staged the entire fight. For the climax, we
acted out a charge at each other with a Sword Skill, blowing away
each other's sword and causing both of us to collapse, unable to
stand back up; the umpires, apparently having no doubts about the
outcome whatsoever, declared a draw and mutual victory——and
that's how we ended up here.
But of course, we could not allow her to acknowledge that our fight
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was staged.
"Why heavens no, Supreme Priest-sama. I……I mean, my

humble self(3) and Eugeo fought with all we had; however,
we were unable to determine which of us was superior to the
other. If this outcome is displeasing, we would be honored to
hold a continuation of the finals right here and now."
When I refuted her claim in an unaccustomedly polite manner, the

Supreme Priest gave a minuscule smile.
"Oh, that does sound interesting…….. Though, I can't have

the survivor turning useless on me if one of you ends up
killing the other…… So, for this year, I shall acknowledge
both of you."
'Whe～～～～w', as I heaved a sigh of relief in my mind, the

Supreme Priest approached us, seemingly sliding several centimetres
on the floor.
"Now then, I shall appoint you as swordsmen apprentices.

Let's see, w-h-i-c-h s-h-o-u-l-d I c-h-o-o-s-e…… Eugeo, you'll
be number thirty-two; Kirito will be number thirty-three.
From now on, you shall call yourselves Eugeo Synthesis
Thirty-two and Kirito Synthesis Thirty-three."
"……Understood."
As Eugeo finally spoke up, I followed suit with a "We are

honoured!" in a raised voice. I thought that I may have overdone it,
but Administrator just slightly extended her smile, before nodding.
"Do your best…… So that those names one day come true."
Leaving us with those enigmatic words, the Supreme Priest turned

around and departed towards the grand doors deeper in the hall.
Chief Elder Chudelkin approached us, acting as arrogantly as
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possible.
"Hohihi……I put number twelve in charge of your tutelage.

That one has just awakened, so this is a perfect opportunity
for some warm up."
"U…… Understood."
As I stared blankly, unable to understand what he meant by the

words 'just awakened', an enormous grin found its way on his
enormous mouth for some reason.
"No need to fret about the minor details. Your rooms are on
the twenty-eighth floor, so take your tiiime resting there for
today…… Starting tomorrow, you'll having a fuuuun practice
waiting for you, after all, hoho hohho……"
After letting out a high-and-mighty laugh, Chudelkin also turned

around. However, after spinning around once without stopping, he
once again looked down upon us.
"Ah, I forgot to mention, but if you happen to encounter

any knights other than the one in charge of your tutelage
within the tower, you are not to start a conversation with
them without permission. All the knights are veeeery busy
people, understand?"
With that proclamation, the Chief Elder once again turned around
and hopped away. Once the doors in the distance opened and then
closed, we were the only ones left in the hall.
Our audience somehow ended without a hitch, thus I heaved a

drawn-out sigh audibly this time. Having stood on one knee this
entire time, I now relaxed my legs, sitting down cross-legged atop
the marble.
"I'm so so beat…… So that's the Supreme Priest, huh, sure
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is as intimidating as you could expect from one……"
Following my remark, Eugeo also hugged his knees and

repositioned himself, before a wry smile appeared on his face.
"Sure is, huh, considering that you remained so composed

even in front of Norlangarth's emperor, I didn't think that
there was anyone other that Azurica-sensei who could make
you flinch, Kirito."
"I-it's not like I flinched or anything. In the first place,

weren't you yourself incapable of even speaking back there?"
"That's because I figured I'd leave everything up to you

from the very start, Kirito."
"Why you!"
After ruffling Eugeo's hair with my right hand, I turned my gaze

overhead.
On the absurdly high ceiling, there was a beautiful piece of art,

probably based on the creation of the world myth; this once again
made me aware of the fact that this was the inside of the Central
Cathedral——a white tower that was visible everywhere in the
central capital but could never be approached. Eugeo and I were still
wearing our Elite Disciple uniforms, thus we felt incredibly out of
place. Though, I'd have to refuse an outfit like the one the clown was
wearing.
Placing my hands on my knees, 'Alley-oop', I stood up, before

giving my right hand to my partner.
"So then, how's about we go over to that twenty-eighth

floor or something for now, Eugeo Synthesis Thirty-two-kun."
Grabbing my hand, my partner responded with a displeased

expression.
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"I'm not going to use that naming. Feels like I'd eventually
bite my tongue."
"《Synthesis》 is sure damn hard to pronounce. Though I

have no idea what it means."
As we held such a conversation, I began walking towards the door

opposite to the one that the Supreme Priest and the Chief Elder had
gone through—— and instantly stopped.
"……? What's up, Kirito?"
"Wait…… could this be our chance…… I mean, a perfect

opportunity? Starting tomorrow, Number Twelve-san or
something will become our teacher, right; today might be our
only chance to freely move about within the tower by
ourselves."
"Eeeeh…………"
That very moment, Eugeo took on his 《expression exclusively

used for when I propose something dicey》 as he was about to make
some sort of retort, but then he just closed his mouth. After
maintaining silence for several seconds with a pensive look on his
face, he gave a very slight nod.
"……The monk who led us to the fiftieth floor here told us

something. That up to the forty-ninth floor of the Central
Cathedral is where the lower-ranked monks and nuns, as well
as servants and apprentices live, while the high-ranked
priests, Sacred Arts users, as well as the Integrity Knights
live above the fifty-first floor. I have no idea what Alice is
currently up to……but if she's become a Sacred Arts user,
running into her within the tower as apprentices is……"
"Unlikely, huh. Nevertheless, it's not like we can just go

about asking everyone we meet if they know where we can
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find Alice……"
Once I responded as such, Eugeo suddenly grimaced.
"…………Truth be told……"
Head greatly drooping and fists squeezed tight——
"Truth be told, I had intended to say it to the Supreme

Priest. 'Please allow me to meet Alice' ……'The Axiom Church
was in the wrong when it apprehended a mere eleven year-
old girl as a criminal nine years ago.' But I couldn't bring
myself to say any of it. The moment I caught sight of the
Supreme Priest's silver eyes……my body froze up like a chunk
of ice……"
Eugeo suddenly raised his right hand, pressing it against his right
eye. As my partner's head drooped down even further, I strongly
embraced his shoulders.
"Don't blame yourself, Eugeo. I myself had to give it my all

merely to answer what was asked of me. Besides…… If you
had said something that defied the Axiom Church back there,
our rights as apprentices would've likely been revoked and
we'd have been thrown into jail."
"…………You… have a point."
Pressed against my shoulder, his head gave a nod and Eugeo took
a step back. A smile still burdened by pain yet having regained some
of its usual firmness found its way on his face.
"……Some day, when I become a true Integrity Knight

rather than just an apprentice, I will be sure to tell the
Supreme Priest what must be said at that time."
"Yeah, sure. Though I would like to find Alice before then."
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Having responded with a grin, I sent my gaze towards the door that
the Supreme Priest and Chief Elder had used to leave the room.
"You know what, let's pay a little visit over there. Seeing as
we've only just arrived at the Cathedral today, the 'we got
lost' excuse might just well work for us."
"……I'm kinda getting the feeling that we're eventually

going to end up in that jail after all."
Despite answering as such, Eugeo stood beside me and we began

walking towards the northern, rather than southern, door.
When the enormous door was opened, with great effort taken to
make as little noise as possible, we found a grand passage extending
straight ahead beyond it. As far as I could see, no people to be found.
As we timidly pressed on, we soon reached a dead end. Though

instead of a staircase leading to the upper floors, we found
something strange. A tube made of transparent glass that could very
well be three metres-wide.
'Whuzzat', as I gazed attentively at it, a strange sound came from

the upper part of the tube. 'Pssh', came a sound that seemed like air
gushing out…… no, that's exactly what it was. A huge disk, with
shiny green air gushing out out from its bottom, slowly came down.
Eventually, the disk stopped atop the floor before us. The bottom
part of the glass tube opened like a door and a person riding on the
disk—— a girl wearing a simple one-piece dress with an apron gave
a bow.
"Excuse me for the wait. Which floor would you like to

travel to?"
——'Ain' it an elevator!' came to my mind, but I didn't let it slip my
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mouth. Eugeo seemed to be taken aback just as well, but eventually
he timidly called out to the girl.
"Ehm…… So you could take us to the upper floors?"
"Indeed, my sir."
"……We are apprentice knights that have just come to the

Central Cathedral today; is it okay for apprentices like
ourselves to ride it?"
"The order given to me is solely to operate this elevating

disk, my sir."
"I see. In that case, we'd gladly take up your offer for a
ride; to the topmost floor, please."
When I jumped on the disk with these words, Eugeo followed suit
with an expression of having resigned to his fate. The aperture of the
glass tube closed shut and the girl placed her hands on the glass
tube sticking out from the centre of the disk.
"In that case, I shall take you to the eightieth floor, the
《Cloudtop Garden》. System call, generate aerial element."
The air elements generated by the rite numbered ten. The upper
limit of what could be generated at a given time. When the girl made
three of them burst, air fired out of the hole at the bottom of the disk,
causing it to begin its ascent.
Its speed was a bit slow, but during that time the girl told us some
astounding things. That this year would be her one hundred and
eighth year working on this job. That she had already forgotten her
own name. That her favourite food was a bun filled to the brim with
sweet, boiled beans, as well as well-cooled milk——
Eventually, the disk slowly came to a stop and the glass tube door
once again opened up. Once we gave our thanks and got off the disk,
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the girl gave a bow and descended without a sound.
Exchanging a glance with Eugeo, I muttered.
"……She did say a hundred and eight years, right?"
"……She did, yes. Though, I can't bring to see her as older

than us……"
"Meaning, Sacred Arts were used on her Life to……"
I couldn't bring myself put the rest to words. Deep down, I had
considered the possibility of needing to resort to violence within the
Cathedral in order to take back Alice, but if Supreme Priest
Administrator possessed the kind of power…… that even allowed her
to halt the natural degradation of Life, we might get turned into pill
bugs or something just for thinking of opposing the church.
——Regardless, we can't just stop now though.
Once I told myself that, I once again looked around our

surroundings.
As before, no people in sight. A passage like the one on the fiftieth

floor extended to the south, another door standing at its end, of
course. I had specified the topmost floor, but this didn't appear to be
the actual highest floor of the Cathedral.
"She called it the 《 Cloudtop Garden 》 , but it sure looks

nothing like a garden…… For now, how's about going beyond
it."
"……Yeah."
When Eugeo gave a nod, I stood shoulder-to-shoulder beside him

as we walked through the passage. Stopping in front of the door, I
tried knocking on it just in case, but it barely made any sound,
perhaps because the door was just too huge. Naturally, we didn't get
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any response either.
After making eye contact with my partner, I placed my hand on the

left door while Eugeo placed his hand on the right. Once we put some
force on it, the door began moving unexpectedly smoothly.
Golden rays of sunlight flooded us from inside, bombarding our

eyes.
After several blinks, we peered inside. That very moment a

"Wooow……" escaped our mouths. This was indeed a garden. The
room, as wide as the fiftieth floor, was brimming with greenery;
multi-coloured flowers bloomed in profusion and small butterflies
fluttered about. The centre was taken up by a small hill whose
summit I couldn't see.
"……No one here either, it seems."
When I muttered this, Eugeo also tilted his head.
"True…… The Central Cathedral is surprisingly sparsely

populated, I guess……"
"Well, the fact that you're number thirty-two and I'm

number thirty-three adds up to only slightly over thirty
Integrity Knights in total, after all. Though I have no idea how
many priests and Sacred Arts users are around here……"
After giving matching hmms as we lost ourselves in thought, we

looked up at the same time. We can't just stop now after coming this
far. 'It's all Chief Elder Chudelkin's fault for not appointing a guide on
our return trip from the fiftieth floor!', shifting the blame onto
someone else, I stepped into the Cloudtop Garden.
Walking along a stone-paved path, crossing a clear streamlet, we

headed towards the central hill. We climbed the gentle slope with
caution. The peak covered in short grass was——empty. Not even a
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single tree grew here.
Exchanging glances with Eugeo, we descended the slope. There

was a large door on the opposite wall; upon leaving the room through
it, we were met with a set of large stairs this time. It seems we'd
need to climb up with our own feet, rather than use an elevator, this
time.
Resolving myself to go as far as we could now that it's come to

this, I began climbing up the stairs. Once we reached the eighty-first
floor, I peered in the passageway, but there was no one there either.
Same went for the eighty-second and eighty-third floors.
In the end, we climbed all the way up the grand stairs to the
ninetieth floor. We were told by the monk that served as our guide
that the Central Cathedral had a hundred floors in total, as far as I
recalled, thus we were practically near the very top floor by now.
Rather than a passageway, we found yet another grand door

blocking our on the ninetieth floor. If this were an RPG, this would
sure be right about the time we encountered a locked door, huh, let's
just be good boys and head back if it's locked…… as such weak-
minded thoughts came to my mind, I put my hand on the door.
However, it wasn't locked. 'Gogo'……giving off a loud noise, the

door moved, white smoke creeping out from inside this time.
'Something's on fire!?', I thought for a moment, but it didn't smell

like something was burning. Apparently, this wasn't smoke, but
rather water vapour——or steam, it seemed. 'If that's the case, the
what for', as such a thought came to my mind, I carefully walked in.
So spacious. Just like the fiftieth and eightieth floors, the entire
floor was taken up by a single room, it seemed. The walls on the left
and right were all just huge windows, thus there was ample
afternoon light pouring in and being reflected off the shiny,
amorphous floor. That floor…… wasn't a floor. It was water. To be
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precise, hot water. This was a bath.
A stone-paved path ran down the centre of the spacious room,

huge pool-like bathtubs on either side. Hot water streamed down
with great force from the mouths of several statues, producing a load
of steam. Because of that, I couldn't see far inside.
"……And here I thought that the bath in the Elite Disciple

dormitory was big……"
Eugeo's whisper prompted my agreement.
"This sure is incredible…….You think anyone would mind if

we made use of it ourselves?"
"What are you talking about, now's not the time for that."
"I mean, when are we ever gonna have a chance to come

here again……"
Exchanging whispers, we slowly walked along the pathway. A

cluster of steam lingered in the air before disappearing, and
appeared again after disappearing.
Suddenly——
"Is that you, Fanatio-dono and…… Scheta-dono?"
Hearing a voice from the front, we suddenly put ourselves on

guard.
*Splash*. Someone apparently got out of the bathtub and came up

to the pathway. Because of the steam, I could only make out the
person's silhouette, but——oh shit. After all, the voice clearly
belonged to a young woman.
Shouting 'we're so————rry!' as we ran away… was an urge that

I considered seriously. However, Eugeo beside me wouldn't budge.
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He stood there stock still and dumbfounded, as if his spirit had
already left his body.
A figure was approaching us from within(4) the steam. Little by

little, the colour and contours of her body became clear. As the last
steam dissolved into the air——
There stood a woman with long, dripping-wet, golden hair, and a

beauty on the level of the Supreme Priest. A white towel was hanging
down in front of her body, but in this world, it was as good as
nonexistent. Her lapis lazuli-blue eyes were wide open, first tinged
with surprise, then it gradually morphed to anger.
Pressing down on her towel with her right hand, the woman
suddenly extended her left hand to the side. Following that, a strange
thing took place. From a basket at the edge of the pathway, a golden
longsword gently rose up, flew through the air, and found its way to
the woman's left hand.
Pointing the long sword, still in its scabbard, straight at us, the
golden-haired woman shouted.
"Do you ruffians know that I am the third-ranked Integrity

Knight, Alice Synthesis Thirty!"
(To be continued)
Afterword
This is an 《What if Kirito and Eugeo hadn't slashed down Raios

and Humbert and instead continued to graduate from the academy》
IF story!
While watching the 3rd season of the anime, I grew and urge to
write one and did end up writing it, but now that we've finally
reached the part where Alice comes up, it ends on a 'to be
continued'…… I am unsure how this story will turn out, but I of
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course do intend to write a continuation of it, thus I hope you all will
keep me company on this drivel story for awhile! Thank you very
much!
Colophon
Sword Art Online Material Edition 28
Publisher: WordGear
Date of publishing: 2019-2-17
Supervisor: Kunori Fumio
Printing: Ryokuyou
Sugary Days 14
Index
N/A
Notes
1. ^ A shiba dog (柴犬), or a Japanese Brushwood Dog, is a dog

breed native to Japan. Adult male dogs of the breed are usually about
35 to 43 cm long.
2. ^ This shout is in Kansai dialect. Kirito's probably recalling

Kibaou from SAO.
3. ^ Kirito began speaking with his default pronoun: "ore" (俺), a

very masculine and assertive first person pronoun that doesn't mesh
well with polite speech, but then he corrected himself to "jibun" (自
分), a pronoun used when speaking to one's superior, as it sounds
more respectful.
4. ^ Kawahara seemingly made a typo here. He wrote 億 (hundred

million) instead of 奥 (inside, within), both of which are pronounced
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as "oku".
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Chapter ME 29
It took me a bit longer than I had originally anticipated, but here's

the continuation of the "What if Raios and Humbert were bitten
by poisonous crabs and never stopped Eugeo and Kirito from
graduating from the academy" what-if story from ME28. The
content of this and the previous one will apparently be collected into
the Alicization BD v8 bonus novel, along with a continuation (and
supposed conclusion) of this storyline. Since I've already translated
half of it, guess I'll finish it up when the BD comes out in 2 days (and I
actually get raws from someone, of course). As the latter might take
awhile, I might translate this year's choukansha short next while
waiting for the raws.
The story here picks off where ME28 ended. The first portion of the
text still belongs to part 3 from ME28, apparently, so there is no
separate heading for it, while the next portion is titled as "4". The
new named character in this ME was named コルシェ, which is
awfully similar to Porsche (ポルシェ), so I decided to run with
"Corsche" as the translation. There is also a fruit named カーシャ
(read as "kāsha") introduced in this ME; the first syllable sounded
like "car", so I went with "carsha" (I totally didn't pick this spelling
to complement the Porsche reference...). The "Corsche" character I
mentioned before speaks in humble (kenjougo) tone, so I tried
making her sound excessively formal and polite, while the other new
character speaks in old-man style, so I tried to make his language
sound more colloquial with various non-standard spelling variants
and colloquial abbreviations. The "H'llo" instance accounts for the
fact that Kirito shortened "こんにちは" to "こんちは" (not sure if this
is intentional, or Kawahara just made an oppsie here). I hope this
covers all the technical stuff for this ME.
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Now, I did give this story a once-over before publishing it, but I'm
only one man and could have easily missed some blatant fuckups, so
if anyone notices anything wrong, be sure to inform me. Feel free to
drop any other suggestions or impressions in the comments below as
well.
On a side note, we might get an OS release soonish, since the

initial typesetting for c7 is done. Also, we revised the "MAID iN
AINCRAD" comic anthology story with better raws (and slightly
refined translation + typesetting), so feel free to give it another look
if you want.
Markup explanation:
Itallics mark text that was written in katakana English (I only

highlighted the cases where the author uses both English and actual
Japanese equivalents for the same thing). In some instances, the
author decided to use both English and Japanese equivalents for the
exact same word one after the other; in such cases, I marked the
English variant in itallics, while the Japanese variant will be
emphasised with furigana like this: #Translation into
English#(Japanese word) (e.g. #long hair#(chouhatsu) - "long hair"
here is a translation of the Japanese word, while "chouhatsu" is a
romanisation of the Japanese word in the original text to emphasise
that this specific word is in Japanese). I hope this explanation will
help avoid any confusion this time (*looks at a certain Cel*).
-Gsimenas
Credits
Raws: Takazuki
Sword Art Online Gaiden X3 [32/33]
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Index
N/A
Sword Art Online Gaiden X3 [32/33] ②
——Alice!
The moment I heard that name, the around ten different apology
phrasing variants I had come up with on the spur of the moment
were all blown away from my head.
Alice. That was the name of Eugeo's childhood friend, who had
been taken away from Rulid Village by an Integrity Knight nine years
ago.
While it's not like people can't have identical first names even in
Underworld, the actual incidence of that would probably be
considerably lower than in the real world. I don't know how many
people are living in the Central Cathedral, but wouldn't the possibility
of a second person with the same name living here be rather low?
Though, the woman, who was hiding her bare body with a white
bath towel while thrusting her golden sword towards us, had
mentioned something that I couldn't ignore when she gave us her
name. The third-ranked Integrity Knight—— that's definitely what
she said. Meaning, not only is she one of the Integrity Knights, who
are the strongest swordsmen as well as arts users in the Human
Empire, she's also in the top three among them…… wait, that's not
the issue here. As I recall, Eugeo's childhood friend Alice Zuberg was
supposed to have broken the《trespassing into the Dark Territory》
taboo and thus taken away to the central capital as a criminal. And
they made Alice into an Integrity Knight, one of the guardians of the
law, after all that? So there had been such a hidden route to
becoming an Integrity Knight, aside from winning the Four Empire
Unification Tournament? While I did expect a scenario where she was
forgiven for her crime and became a Sacred Arts user, I didn't even
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consider the possibility of her becoming an Integrity Knight.
Although the mystery only keeps intensifying, Eugeo should at

least be able to confirm whether or not the female knight before us is
Alice. Even if it's their first meeting in nine years, he should be able
to tell if she looks like her.
Arriving at this conclusion in those two seconds of deliberation, I

whispered to my partner beside me.
"Hey, Eugeo."
However, no reaction from him. When I glanced at him for a

moment, I noticed that his eyes beneath the flaxen curls were both
stuck in a wide open state. Witnessing a woman clad in but a single
bath towel…… was likely not the cause here.
"I said, hey, Eu……"
"It seems you have no reasonable justification for this, I

see."
My attempt to call out to Eugeo was interrupted by 《Alice's》 firm

voice. Holding down her towel with her left hand, she brandished the
sword in her right hand. Although it still had its sheath on, I was
certain that it'd take away eighty… make that ninety percent of my
Life if she were to strike me with it using all of her strength.
"……H…… hold it hold it, we do, we do have a justification!"
Seeing as it didn't seem Eugeo would be rebooting anytime soon, I

took a step forward and fervently employed my mouth. The female
knight's sapphire-like eyes faintly squinted.
"Go ahead and try then."
"Um, well you see…… This guy and I were appointed as

Integrity Knight apprentices just thirty or so minutes ago and
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while we were exploring…… I mean, looking around the
Cathedral, we happened to come into this room. I swear to
Goddess Stacia that we had not a single milise of an intention
of peeping on milady knight's bathing!"
To be precise, we didn't come up to the ninetieth floor for

sightseeing; rather, we were looking for Alice, but I couldn't just tell
that to——……
Wait, hold on. Even if the reason why Eugeo froze up like that was
because we ended up finding Alice this easily, how come Alice herself
doesn't recognise Eugeo? As kids, the two played together every day
and, even when Eugeo was given the calling of 《Gigas Cedar Cutter》,
Alice would bring him a boxed lunch every single day, as far as I've
heard. Even if their appearance changed considerably over nine
years, you'd think she'd at least have some sort of reaction to him.
If it's come to this, guess we have no choice but to give her our
names…… just as I had that idea, Alice had the perfect timing to ask
us to identify ourselves.
"Knight apprentices…… you say? You two, what're your

names and numbers?"
"Y-yes, ma'am! I am Kirito Synthesis Thirty-three and this

guy…… is Eugeo Synthesis Thirty-two!"
I uttered my partner's name with as clear a pronunciation as I

possibly could.
However, the knight‘s expression showed no reaction to it.
"Hah…… to think that the bath switches from a men's bath

to a women's bath and vice versa every two hours… even
though it's so huge that you could just build a wall down the
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middle to separate it into two…… and only the senior knights
can use it in the first place, what discrimination……"
Grumbling with complaints, I dropped down onto the sofa with a

thud. The cloth-covered sofa unsurprisingly seemed to be high-
quality, as the cushions easily took in my weight with their high
elasticity.
The room prepared for me and Eugeo on the twenty-eighth floor of

the Central Cathedral was, coincidentally or not, structured just like
our rooms at the Elite Disciple dormitory at the Swordcraft Academy.
When we went through the door marked with a 【２８０８】 plate,
we found ourselves in a shared living room that was about twenty
jou(1) in size, with doors on the left and right walls, each leading to a
personal bedroom about twelve jou in size. The entire room was
greatly bigger and had more luxurious furniture than our room at the
academy dormitory, but it seems it won't take long to get used to it.
Yet my partner didn't bother looking around the room and instead
continued standing bolt upright in the middle of the living room. He
seemed like a sleepwalker even when we were climbing down to this
room from the ninetieth floor; seems like he still hasn't recovered
from the shock.
Can't say I blame him. After all, he suddenly encountered the

woman that he's been worried sick about and hoping to see again for
the past nine years straight; what's more, she turns out to be an
Integrity Knight, as beautiful as a goddess and in the middle of
bathing——and to top it all off, seeing Eugeo and hearing his name
didn't help her recognise him as her old friend.
"…………"
I stood up after a brief sigh, walked around to my partner's back

and placed my hands on his shoulders. Then I pushed him to the
sofa, turned his body ninety degrees and sat him down. As I noticed a
simple kitchen beside the left wall while looking around the room, I
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used my unpolished tea-brewing skills to pour in some strongish cofil
tea, which I then brought over to the low table in front of the sofa.
After blowing on the cup as it gave off steam to cool it down a bit, I

placed it in front of Eugeo, who then reached out to it with his left
hand and picked up the handle seemingly under semi-autopilot
mode. He then brought the cup to his mouth and sipped on it a bit,
before muttering, "How bitter……" At that point, he seemingly
regained his consciousness, as he looked at me after blinking a few
times.
Not wanting to waste this opportunity, I peered into my partner's

eyes, before asking him a question.
"Eugeo. That Integrity Knight we met…… was your Alice,

right?"
It took about a full seven seconds before I got an answer from him.
"……No doubt about it…… There's no way I'd mix her up

with anyone. That knight is Alice. That golden hair that
reminds you of a wheat field in autumn, and those eyes,
more blue than even Lake Ruhr…… just a glimpse from those
eyes caused by head to go so numb that I was unable to think
about anything……"
"Perhaps you would have been better off getting a good 'ol

smack from that sword of hers."
When I cracked a joke, a sulky expression finally replaced his

unreadable expression.
"Kirito, you'd be keeping me company in that case, you

hear me. Though, Alice isn't one to do anything like that…… is
what I'd like to say……"
"That knight doesn't seem to have recognised you as
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Eugeo, after all, huh……"
When I nervously mentioned that, Eugeo bit down on his lip a bit,
before nodding. At that point, I placed my left hand on his head
before it could droop down and began playing with his curls.
"Have you ever noticeably changed your appearance or

something since you were a child? Like, changing your
hairstyle or something like that……"
As I got started on that idea, I suddenly realised something. Does

hair grow naturally for Underworlders like it does for people in the
real world? ——Wait, I haven't cut my hair even a single time
throughout those three years since I awoke in this world; the same
probably applies to Eugeo. On that note, I've never even cut my
nails, nor have I seen any nail clippers here.
While it is only for natural hair and nails not to grow in a virtual
world, it makes me wonder what happens when they get cut or
burned in some unforeseen accident. There is no avatar
customisation option on the Stacia Window, after all.
My question received a knuckleball(2) of an answer from Eugeo.
"No, I've never used any carsha fruit on me, after all."
"A carsha…… fruit."
As I muttered the term back like a parrot, Eugeo gave me a

puzzled look.
"Kirito, you did have carsha fruit in your hometown, right?

Bottles of concentrated juice were being sold at general
stores in the Central Capital, after all……"
Guessing what the effects of the carsha fruit thingie were from his
words, I answered.
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"O-oh yeah, we did…… I think. You apply some juice you get
from a fruit on your head and your hair grows, right?"
'If I got that horribly wrong, I'm just going to pretend I was joking
and laugh it off', I thought for a moment, but, luckily, Eugeo nodded.
"Yeah. It's a valuable plant, so if the people at Rulid Village

were to find any at a forest, they'd normally sell it to a
pedlar; barely anyone would actually use it on themselves."
"So you're saying Raios's long…… I mean, #long

hair#(chouhatsu) was the result of using carsha juice on
himself……"
"If you wanted to grow your hair that long, even an entire
bottle of concentrated juice wouldn't be enough for the job, I
believe."
"Hahaa…… so that's why long hair is so common among

men of the nobility."
"It seems some of them are born with hair that tends to
grow long, though. My hair and yours, Kirito, would be
considered pretty long."
After he pulled on my forelocks, as if getting back at me, Eugeo's

gaze returned to the front.
"……Anyway, my hairstyle hasn't changed since childhood.

As for my face…… I can't really tell without an outside
opinion, but it shouldn't have changed so drastically that I no
longer have any likeness to my child self……"
As Eugeo seemed to be about sink back into his gloom, I pulled him
out of it with my deliberately loud voice.
"Then there's no room for doubt! Alice has lost her
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memories of her life at Rulid."
"……Her memories……!?"
Seeing my partner's face jolt up at that, I gave him a deep nod.
"That's the only explanation I can think of. What's more,

the one responsible for that, most likely, isn't the God of
Darkness Vector, but rather the Axiom Church."
"The Church……"
Muttering this as his face went pale, Eugeo looked up to the

tapestry adorning the wall with the Axiom Church's crest; at that
point, I strongly grabbed him by the shoulders.
"Get it together, Eugeo, if it were God Vector's handiwork,

there'd be nothing we could do, but it stands to reason that
there should be a way to undo something that a human has
done, right? We're going to get Alice's memories back."
"Bu…… but, how do you plan on doing that……"
"Our only option is to put in our best effort to investigate

the matter. Don't worry, we're already Integrity Knights,
even if only apprentices. We should have considerable
authority even inside the Cathedral…… We no longer have
any need to be scared of any teachers or dorm managers as
we did in our academy days."
"You were the only one scared of them, though, Kirito."
With that rebuttal, Eugeo finally showed a faint smile as my hands

gripping his shoulders were met by his hands.
"You're right…… We've managed to claim victories in the

Swordcraft Academy Graduation Examination, Norlangarth
Swordsmanship Tournament, and even the Four Empire
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Unification Tournament. If we break down here, all the effort
we've put in so far will have been for naught."
After uttering these confidence-radiating words, he lowered his

hands. Then he reclined on the soft sofa and closed his eyes.
"……Besides, Alice is safe…… and doing well. I have to be

glad…… most of all……"
Even when his whispers turned to calm sleeping breaths, I did not
try to wake my partner up. It was still only just past three in the
afternoon, but a lot has happened today ever since morning and
there's no need to comply with academy regulations anymore. Even
if today isn't a rest day, he's free to sleep if he wants to……
probably.
After three minutes of waiting, Eugeo's breathing stabilised and I

slowly stood up. Deciding to assign the left side bedroom to my
partner just like at the Elite Disciple dorm, I opened the door to it.
Then I returned to the sofa, gently picked up Eugeo's body, and laid
him down on the large bed in his bedroom. I then took off his shoes
and placed them on the floor, before covering his body with a thin
blanket and then taking a breather.
I didn't tell Eugeo, but the one responsible for sealing Alice's
memories was most likely the Supreme Priest of the Axiom Church,
Administrator. If she is capable of halting the natural decline of Life
with her arts, meaning that she has obtained de facto perpetual
youth and longevity, it would come as no surprise that she is also
capable of manipulating memories as well.
If my conjecture is correct, reclaiming Alice's memories will,

unfortunately, not be that easy of an ordeal. It doesn't sound likely
that the silver-haired and silver-eyed ruler with astounding beauty
and giving off such an intimidating presence would be so eager to
listen to a request from mere inexperienced apprentice knights. For
the time being, we'll have to obediently put in our best efforts with
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that practice or whatever while we gather information in the
meantime. Why did the Supreme Priest sealed Alice's memories——
what on earth happened to her when she was brought to the tower
as a criminal?
"Just a little more to go, let's keep at it."
Muttering to Eugeo's innocently sleeping face, I took a step back.

Scheming to one day get my hands on that concentrated carsha fruit
juice and apply it to my partner's hair while he's sleeping to cause
him to have long hair, I silently left the room.
Once I had finished organising the baggage in my own bedroom

and had changed into a shirt and trousers of simple design yet high-
grade texture that had been left for me in the wardrobe, I returned to
the living room.
Taking care not to cause any loud noises, I cleaned up the cup and
pot, before thinking, 'What to do now…' As it seemed that the
practice with that Number Twelve-san or whatever that Chief Elder
Chudelkin had mentioned would only begin tomorrow, I guess I'm
free to consider the remainder of today to be my leisure time, but
when I recall that unexpected encounter with Knight Alice, I feel the
temptation to idly wander about the tower.
At the Swordcraft Academy, there were heaps of 'you can't do this'

and 'this is bad' regulations, resulting in me leading a very
suffocating student's life, but now that I'm left alone to my devices in
an environment without such regulations, I ended up at a loss at
what to do. Though of course, even the Cathedral probably has a
variety of rules around——such as the fact that the large bath
switches from a men‘s bath to a women‘s bath and vice versa every
two hours ——but at the very least, no one left a list of regulations in
this room.
However, thinking from a different perspective, this means I could

make use of the "It's not my fault that nobody told me about
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it!" excuse to get out of trouble. Even Alice, who ended up giving us
a bath scene, simply let us off with a "I guess nothing can be
done if you weren't aware of that" in the end. Though, she did
seem really reluctant to do so.
I bet we'll be informed about heaps of regulations either orally or in

written form tomorrow, so today will be the final day I can use my
blissful ignorance to go around the place freely. For starters, my
hunger meter has been been going up quite a bit for awhile now, yet
aside from a variety of tea leaves, there's not a single cookie left for
us in the simple kitchen, so that leaves me with no choice but to
wander around in search of food in order to prevent the decrease of
my Life.
Upon reaching that conclusion, I took the notepad——as paper in

this world is a valuable commodity, this too is quite a luxurious
item——that had been left for us on the low table and wrote down:
『I'm going out to look for food for a bit; be back by the fifth
hour bell.』, onto it; after some hesitation, I decided to leave the
room without my beloved sword.
Just like when I had first come here, the twenty-eighth floor hallway
was completely deserted.
As I recall, the Cathedral‘s floors twenty-one through forty-nine

were supposed to be the dedicated living area for the monks, nuns,
servants, and apprentice knights, so why is there such a lack of signs
of people living here. I've started feeling the urge to open up all the
doors I kept seeing on the left and right side of the hallway, starting
from doors number 2807 and 2806, but this would definitely be
considered a breach of rules—— or even more fundamentally, a
breach of basic manners.
At this rate, I guess my only choice is to return to the grand stairs

and climb down till I catch the scent of food…… with that thought in
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mind, I was walking along the hallway with a red carpet laid on the
floor, when...
From around the corner ahead of me, I heard something that

sounded like scraping. If this were a dungeon, I would be preparing
for a fight against monsters, but #monsters#(kaibutsu) wouldn't be
walking around the Cathedral hallways and, in the first place, I didn't
bring my weapon along. Yet I still erased my footsteps as I
approached the corner and promptly checked on what lay ahead with
my back against the wall.
Naturally, it wasn't a monster.
A young woman with a gray skirt and ivory apron was sweeping
the hallway with a long broom. Each time she swept her broom with
a skillful motion, fine dust particles fluttered from the carpet and
dissolved into the air, before disappearing.
The 《spontaneous filth》 in this word was mostly just a visual

effect of sorts, so a sweep from a broom or a duster was enough to
get rid of it, thus there was no need to collect all of it in a dustpan;
nonetheless, it probably still takes quite a bit of work to clean up
such huge hallways. An 'I'd hate to get in her way' thought passed
through my mind, but I couldn't just pass by her ignoring her
existence whatsoever, so I made up my mind and went around the
corner, before calling out to her from the back.
"……H-H'llo~"
At that, her hands stopped sweeping the broom, after which her
slender body turned around.
Once the woman turned around, I saw that she indeed appeared to
be in her late teens, her bright brown hair tied into two and dangling
in front of her. Given the hairband with white frills on her head and
her puffy-sleeved apron-dress, the term 《maid-san》 passed
through my mind, though I had to assume that my Sacred Tongue
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would probably not be understood.
The woman examined my entire body with a look of wonder, before

giving a slight tilt of her head. Her eyes of a darker brown than her
hair blinked once, before I heard her weakly-intoned voice.
"Who would you be?"
"Ah……s-sorry. I'm Kirito…… An Integrity Knight apprentice

that arrived here just today."
At that, the woman blinked once more, before giving a deep bow.
"Please forgive my rudeness. I would be Corsche, the

cleaner. I have heard that new Honored Knights would be
gracing us with their presence at room 2808…… though, if I
am not mistaken, I was told that there would be two of you."
Hearing Corsche's tone that sounded awfully familiar for some

reason, I tilted my head in my mind as I answered.
"Yeah…… there's another one named Eugeo, he's currently

sleeping in his room. Also…… ehm, there are some things I'd
like to ask you……"
"If it is something within my capability to answer, please go

right ahead."
Hearing her answer with that serious look of hers, I quickly sorted
through the various questions whirling in my mind, before posing my
first question.
"Ehm…… for starters, why's this place so deserted? As I've

heard, this group of floors should be inhabited by monks and
nuns……"
"There would be two reasons for that. The first is that the
rooms for the monks and nuns are located above floor thirty-
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one, hence you would normally be unable to chance upon
them on this floor. The other reason would be that, at this
time of day, the monks and nuns would be found studying
Sacred Arts at the training grounds and studies below the
twentieth floor."
"……Studies……"
'Don't tell me they're gonna force us to study there too…', I

muttered with that thought in mind. Putting that worry aside, I voiced
a new question that was prompted by her answer.
"In that case, who does live on the twenty-eighth floor

here?"
"The twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth floors would be where

Honored Knight Apprentices have their residences."
"Eeh…… There are other apprentice knights aside from

us……?"
Come to think of it, the Four Empire Unification Tournament is held

annually, so it wouldn't be surprising for there to be ten or twenty
apprentices other than us here. So that means that we will have to
compete with them in order to become knights proper, and the
majority of them are bound to be high-class nobles; wouldn't that
mean that the only thing waiting for us is a repeat of our days at the
Swordcraft Academy…… just as I was being dejected by such a
thought…
"Yes, currently, there are two other Honored Apprentice

Knights residing on the twenty-ninth floor."
"……T-two of them? Just a mere two of them?"
Just as I felt as if the wind was taken out of my sails, Corsche gave
a nod.
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"Yes. Hence, the only people living on the twenty-eighth
floor here would be Kirito-sama and Eugeo-sama."
"…………"
——In that case, give us our own separate rooms! Also, why
weren't we given room 2801 then!
…Was what I felt the urge to shout out, but Corsche wasn't the one
who decided room assignments, of course. Anyway, at least I learnt
why there didn't seem to be anyone on this floor. It's just that all
rooms other than the one Eugeo and I were given are unused.
In that case, where did the winners of the annual Four Empire
Unification Tournament go off to? They finished their studies in a
single year and moved on to become knights proper…… is what I'd
like to think, but then the numbers don't add up. The Unification
Tournament has been held for over a hundred years now, yet Eugeo
is number thirty-two, while I am number thirty-three.
As I was seized with a bad foreboding about things, Corsche gave

another blink.
"Would that be all with your questions?"
"Oh…… I feel bad that I'm interrupting your cleaning, sorry, just
one more…… actually, make that two. Ehm, it's not like I think we're
better than the monks by any means, but why are the apprentice
knight rooms located on the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth floors,
while monk rooms are found above the thirty-first……?
"That is because the Dragon Landing Field is located on the

thirtieth floor and the Honored Apprentice Knights have their
dragon mounting practices there."
"…………Dragons……"
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Oh that's right, the Axiom Church's Integrity Knights double as
dragon knights. During my Swordcraft Academy days, I've seen huge
dragons flying far above in the skies of Centoria numerous times. I've
always thought of them as beings of a different world, like the stars
shining in the night sky, but becoming a knight proper would also
mean getting to ride on those dragons.
In that case, I'll have to get them to let me take the entrance exam
for the Cait Sith dragoon squad back in ALO…… with that thought in
mind, I opened my mouth once more.
"This will be my final question…… my stomach is so empty

that I might die, you see; is there a place where I can get
some food?"
'Being apprentice knights, you can come to the Grand

Dining Room on the tenth floor to have a meal whenever you
want.'
When Corsche informed me of this, I'm sure that it was only my

imagination that I felt her giving me a faint look of shock.
While quickly descending the grand stairs, I finally recalled where

I've heard Corsche's polite——or put another way, inhuman tone.
The Elevating Operator girl that took Eugeo and me from the fiftieth
floor to the eightieth just a mere hour ago. The girl who had even
ended up forgetting her own name had a speaking style very similar
to Corsche's.
So does that mean that Corsche also had her natural decline of Life
frozen? And that like the Elevating Operator, she has spent tens of
years continuously sweeping the hallways of the Cathedral with a
broom……?
Once again made aware of my deep awe and slight opposition

towards the Axiom Church and the Supreme Priest Administrator, I
continued descending the stairs. In the morning, it didn't seem like a
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big deal when we were guided up the grand stairs all the way to the
fiftieth floor, perhaps because of the tension I felt at the time, but
now a measly eighteen floors felt like a horribly long distance. Just
when my thoughts that the Cathedral's lower half should have an
elevator too were about to burst out of my ears, I finally arrived to
the tenth floor.
There were two huge doors further down the wide stair landing;
while there was no information plate for it, I could definitely feel a
faint but nice aroma coming from beyond them. Having approached
them with unsteady steps, I placed my hands on one of the doors,
and pushed it.
Beyond the open door——.
"……Wow……"
I found a room so vast that I couldn't keep myself from expressing

my impression. Inside this banquet hall that was close to the level of
the 《Grand Corridor of Spiritual Light》 on the fiftieth floor and the
grand bath on the ninetieth floor in size, there were multiple rows of
dreadfully long tables and chairs with a backrest. There was a similar
hall in a fantasy movie set in a wizard school that Suguha loved, but
this was probably even bigger than that.
On the long table covered by a white cloth, there were numerous

candlesticks, silverware, and water jugs among other things, but no
sign of any food. 'Then where is this nice aroma coming from', as I
looked around the hall with that thought in mind, I noticed that there
was a counter in front of the inner wall and heard bustling activity
and energetic voices coming from beyond it. It seems that the hall
was the Grand Dining Room, while the Grand Kitchen was beyond the
counter——it appears.
Draw in by the aromatic fragrance of roasted meat, I passed

between the long tables with unsteady steps and approached the
counter. Inside the bright kitchen, more than ten cooks in white
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clothes were chopping something with kitchen knives, or stirring
huge pots, or gazing into ovens.
I don't know how many monks and nuns this place has, but it
seems like they will all be coming to the Grand Dining Room at the
same time for a meal and the kitchen staff was currently in the midst
of preparing a large quantity of food for them. I hesitated interrupting
them when I thought of that, but my stomach was just about to reach
my back and I don't even know if I'm supposed to have my meal
alongside the monks as an apprentice knight.
'Chudelkin, you bastard, you should have told us about stuff like
that!', I thought, but the Chief Elder wasn't here. As my empty
stomach continued to grumble, I took a further ten steps forward and
leaned over the polished wooden counter as I called out.
"U…… um, excuse me……"
However, nobody would look at me… or more like nobody could

hear me over the clamour in the kitchen. I had no choice but to try
again.
"EXCUSE ME! CAN I HAVE A MOMENT!"
"Haaah!?"
The impactful groan came from a sturdy-looking cook who was

slicing a huge mass of meat on the front kitchen table. When he
turned around, the face I saw easily fell in the top three among the
《scary old dudes》 that I've encountered in Underworld. By the way,
the other two were Sadore, the metalworker who had fashioned me a
sword out of the Gigas Cedar branch I had brought to him, and the
officer of Zakkaria's garrison, who had written a recommendation
letter that I needed in order to take part in the Swordcraft Academy's
entrance exam, for me.
The cook, who, just like the other two men, I was all but certain
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could make all the kids he passed by cry if he were to go for a walk
on North Centoria's main street, stroked his white beard that looked
like an upside-down broccoli with his left hand as he glared sharply at
me.
"Whatcha want, young'un."
"Eh…… ehm…… I was wondering if I could get something to

eat……"
"HAAAAAH!?"
Came another imposing groan. The meat chopper in his left hand
that was so huge that you could basically classify it as a weapon at
this rate gleamed sharply at me.
"Ye know that dinner starts at six, doncha!? If the priests

find out that one of ye monks sneaked out of your studies for
a snack, ya'll be tossed in'ta the dungeon!"
"U-uh no, I am not a monk, you see…… I am… a knight……"
"HAAAHH!? A KNIGHT!?"
When the aged cook stuck his head out, the cylindrical, about fifty
centimetre-long hat atop his head tilted to the side. After pushing it
back into place with his left hand, he let out an even deeper voice.
"If yer a knight, doncha have yer exclusive dining room on

the ninety-fourth floor! If ye ask Hana there, she'll fix ye up
with as much of that fancy noble cuisine as ye can eat!"
It was unclear who this Hana was, but I no longer had the energy
to climb all the way to the ninety-fourth floor from the tenth floor,
and in the first place, it appears that the floors above the fiftieth
were basically all restricted to apprentice knights.
"Um no, I don't really want any fancy food….. besides, as an
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apprentice knight, I probably can't enter the exclusive dining
room for knights proper……"
"Oh, so yer an apprentice, eh! Why din'cha say so first!"
Having shouted that out, the cook approached the counter and
stared fixedly at my face.
"So that means ya lad are the next apprentice knight after
Alice-jouchan and Eldrie, eh."
Colophon
Sword Art Online Material Edition 29
Publisher: WordGear
Date of publishing: 2019-5-2
Supervisor: Kunori Fumio
Printing: Ryokuyou
Sword Art Online Gaiden X3 [32/33]
Index
N/A
Notes
1. ^ A jou (畳) is a traditional Japanese unit used for measuring the

size of a room. It is equal to 1.653 square metres (the size of a
Nagoya tatami mat).
2. ^ The original text used the phrase " 予想外のボール " (an
unexpected ball). This was a vague reference to baseball, but not any
official pitch name. So, (after a Google search) I chose "knuckleball"
as it's a pitch that results in unpredictable motion to keep the
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baseball reference while maintaining some sense. Disclaimer: I know
nothing about baseball, so please excuse me if there was a better
way of phrasing this.
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Chapter esteemed sub-leader

Source: tap-trans
Translation of Sword Art Online ME 17, The Much-Talked-About

Esteemed Sub-leader.
“Clearing group players popularity poll…?”
I replied half-heartedly with the same words and the katana

wielder with a red bandana confirmed with a stern look.
“That’s right. There are apparently ballot boxes set at the

teleport gate plazas for a bunch of towns from today
onwards.”
“Ohh…”
“And so, I hear a newspaper today comes attached with a

ballot paper.”
“Uh-huh…”
“The results will be announced next week, in that newspaper, on

30th September.
“Hmm…”
Staring hard into my face as I repeated those interjections, the

katana wielder turned the fork in his right hand towards me.
“Hey, Kiritard, you may think it’s someone else’s problem,

but that’s not how it’ll go. You’re one of the nominees too!”
At that, I finally refocused the seventy percent or so of my
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attention from the cheesecake plate to our conversation thus far, and
blinked thrice before putting on an utterly grim look.
“…Huh? N-Nominees… you mean, don’t tell me, people can

vote for me too?”
“That goes without saying, «The Black Swordsman»-san.”
The grinning katana wielder—Klein, the leader of the guild,

«Fuurinkazan», and someone who had been around me since right
after the death game began—quickly went through his menu window
and materialized folded pieces of paper. I reluctantly picked it up
after he plunked it onto the table.
The document’s name, «Aincrad Shuuhou (Weekly)», lined the

upper end of the front page on the «newspaper», two stiff pieces of
thin A3-sized paper folded in two. My brows drew close together once
more before I muttered, “So it’s this newspaper…”
Currently, in September 2024, there were three media outlets in

Aincrad in the form of newspapers.
The first was «Weekly Argo», the strategy guide paper published by
the distinguished information dealer, Argo the «Rat».
The second was «Shuukan (Weekly) Stories», specializing in

literature, with columns and short stories.
And the third was the youngest «Aincrad Shuuhou», boasting the
most content as a general-interest newspaper.
Though each and every one of them was published weekly, there
was a number of players reading all three since «Weekly» released
on Wednesdays, «Stories» on Fridays, and «Shuuhou» on Mondays.
Regularly-provisioned textual media were precious in Aincrad with its
lack of entertainment.
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However, of course, the players publishing each newspaper were
not doing it out of volunteerism. Printing a large quantity of
newspapers required either commissioning a NPC printing shop or
preparing a personal printing machine (in which case, there would be
the cost of paper and ink), and money was needed to pay the
royalties for those who write their articles as well. And considering
profit margins too, their prices had to be set to a reasonable level; at
the current moment, «Weekly» was 200 cor, «Stories» was 300 cor,
and «Shuuhou» was 500 cor.
It wasn’t much to those on the front lines, normally earning over

several thousand or even ten thousand each day, but it was quite an
expense for those players in the middle zone, and those waiting in
Starting City would find it difficult to even purchase either regularly.
That was why the phenomenon of lending out or reselling developed:
out of necessity.
In Aincrad, almost every item aside from equipment would not be

dirtied or break regardless of how much it was touched unless
someone consciously attempted to break it. Newspapers and
magazines would be rather worn-out in the real world when passed
through five or six people, but it would be practically new here even
if a hundred people read and passed it on.
The number of readers who did not buy them directly was
estimated to be five to ten times the newspapers’ sales, and that was
apparently a source of worry for the publishers. That said, Argo,
making her main income as an information dealer without any need
for profit through the newspaper, laughed with an “I’m glad the
clearing information can spread even without effort from mE,
nyahahaha”.
At any rate, «Aincrad Shuuhou» which had the most pages and
highest price among the three papers, leading to the highest risk
when it came to finance, was definitely up to something by planning
this popularity poll that would drive their costs even higher—I
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opened up the newspaper handed over from Klein with that
suspicion.
I then saw that the center spread was used for it, with summaries
on dozens of the clearing group’s players listed. That included not
just their names, but even photos, likely via photography crystals.
“Woah, seriously…?”
I moaned while reluctantly searching for my name. The temptation

to throw the entire newspaper overhand surged over me for an
instant upon finding “Kirito” easily enough under K in the
alphabetically-sorted listing, along with an alias of “The Black
Swordsman” which I certainly had never referred to myself as.
But fortunately, that impulse abated at the photo above my name:

a blurred back view of me, cropped from a distant shot of the
clearing meeting of some floor. Shifting my focus, I nearly slipped off
my chair when I saw “Klein (Leader of Fuurinkazen)” two places
away and a photo of him showing a brilliant smile straight at the
camera with a thumbs-up.
“……Hey, Klein, this photo……”
“Oh? Ooh, det wan!”
The katana wielder nonchalantly replied after gulping down a large

mille-feuille.
“Some girl who said she’s a reporter from «Shuuhou» came

the other day and mentioned I’d been nominated for the
popularity poll, so I let her take one.”
“O-Ohh…”
Even if you are the leader of a clearing group guild, how about
putting up more of a guard…? I stuffed a piece of cheesecake into
my mouth, stifling those words, and kept it shut.
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The PK guild, «Laughing Coffin», which ran rampant in Aincrad’s
darkness and brought about many tragedies and much chaos was
vanquished after a large-scale subjugation operation last month.
Though it bothered me how PoH, the leader, was still at large, I
doubted any PK would be after any of the clearing group’s players
now.
Laying down my fork, I brought the glass of iced coffee to my lips

and looked towards the eastern skies.
The three hours of tea and information exchanging Klein and I

shared took place at an open cafe on the outskirts of the seventy-
second floor’s main town, «Ozmalt». As it was the front-most line as
of now, 23rd September, the vaguely visible labyrinth tower in the
distance had yet to be explored. It would be a few more days at least
before the clearing group reached the tower and discovered its boss
room.
The clearing group’s pace had clearly fallen in recent days, so just
what would the sub-leader of that one top guild think upon hearing of
this project making use of them…? I lowered my head, turning my
eyes towards the paper atop the table once more.
That particular esteemed sub-leader was noted on the top-right of

the still-open double-page spread with the lengthy caption of
“Asuna (The Flash) (Sub-leader of Knights of the Blood)”. Her
photo appeared to have been taken from a distance without her
knowing, like mine, but her beautiful features lost no luster despite
the moderate amount of noise.
I looked up and spoke to Klein, grimacing from his spicy ginger ale.
“Hey, isn’t this popularity poll rigged from the beginning?”
“Oh, really?”
The katana wielder flicked his fringe held up by his bandana and
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put on an abrupt impassive (or so he must think) smile.
“Well, unlike that shot of your back view from some hidden
camera, Kiritard, they came right out and asked for mine.
Looks like it’s about time for me to think up of some cool
alias for myself too, huh? Hmm… If you’re the black
swordsman, then I’ll be the Red Master Swordsman… no,
Grandmaster Swordsman…”
“Yeah, sure, name yourself whatever you like.”
Putting aside Klein, playing the fool with all he had, with a smile, I
pointed at the top-right corner of the list of nominees.
“Unfortunately for you, The Red Grandmaster Swordsman,

first place’s definitely going to this person here.”
The katana wielder grinned at that and prodded at my leg with his
foot under the table.
“Oh, my, how rare hearing you putting her up on a

pedestal.”
I almost fell off my chair yet again at that and quickly refuted.
“E-Everyone would say the same! That was nothing but an

objective conjecture!”
“C’mon now, don’t worry, it’s okay being honest with

yourself every now and then, young one.”
Nodding away with those ludicrous words, Klein downed what was
left of his ginger ale and stood up with a flourish.
“‘Ight then, guess I’ll try keeping it up even at night to get

into the top 3, then. Just stand back and watch while I hit this
floor’s labyrinth before you!”
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“Yeah, sure, don’t overdo it, though. The black nepents
appearing beyond Agarla Village can grab you from afar, so
watch out.”
“What, you’ve already gotten that far…?”
Expressing his gratitude by lifting his right hand into a rough salute
even as he muttered away, the katana wielder then staggered out of
the store.
I let out a breath and began reading the Aincrad Shuuhou Klein left
behind from the first page.
The first headline addressed the progress of the seventy-second

floor’s conquest. It reported on the clearing group reaching Agarla
Village at the floor’s center and the dense forest beyond it taking up
their time.
I flipped through the pages; the second and third pages were filled
with information on happenings and quests on the middle floors, the
fourth and fifth were for the aforementioned list of nominees for the
popularity poll, the sixth had columns, the seventh had estimates for
item prices, and the eighth page at the end had a ballot paper at the
bottom to be cut out, though that was likely limited to this time.
It put quite a bit of work into its layout, living up to its claim as a
general-interest paper, but there were still issues. In particular,
sparse mistakes scattered around the clearing-related articles on the
first three pages. Or the names of important NPCs or locations
needed on the quest walkthrough articles, or the discrepancies in the
reports on incidents and events. It occurred even on the front page
article: «DDA» was made to be the guild who first reached Agarla
Village despite Knights of the Blood actually arriving several hours
earlier.
It was their level of fact gathering, inferior to the «Weekly Argo»,

that caused those mistakes. Something unavoidable when they
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simply put mere rumors spreading within safe haven straight into
articles. Their intent of providing a general-interest newspaper to
Aincrad, lacking leisure activities, was applaudable, though it
appeared they were still in lack of that actual capability.
I focused my eyes near the masthead, wondering who were the

players producing it, and found no more than the words, “Published
by: Aincrad Shuuhou Editorial Staff”. Though the answer would
be revealed in an instant if I asked Argo, my desire to know hardly
justified the price.
“…Well, even if it’s by a little, I’ll just hope they improve at

collecting data…”
“At what?”
“Like I said, this newspaper needs to…… w-whaaa?!”
I jumped for real this time, thirty centimeters up despite

maintaining my seated posture, at the face belonging to the person
who abruptly interjected from the back-right and fell towards my left.
A hand quickly shot out, however, and grabbed my right shoulder,
bringing me back.
“What’s with you, screaming right after seeing someone

else’s face?”
This frowning player was precisely that esteemed sub-leader of the

guild, Knights of the Blood, whom I had predicted would win the
popularity poll. The radiance given off by her bodice based in white
and red, the mithril breastplate atop it, and the silver rapier hanging
off her waist blinded me for a moment before I replied to Asuna, «The
Flash».
“Nah… nah, I was just thinking this newspaper had too

many mistakes as always…”
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Asuna glanced at the Shuuhou in my hand and put on a sour look,
but simply quietly sat down on the chair Klein vacated.
Ordering a banana tart and nuts milk tea from the NPC waiter who
immediately approached, she swept her long chestnut hair back with
both hands and let out a short breath. I gazed upon that visage for
several moments before beginning my interrogation.
“…Why did you know I was here?”
“It’s easy enough to predict what someone as simple as

you would do, Kirito-kun.”
Showing a defiant smile, «The Flash» pointed with her right index
finger.
“While the hunting areas are crowded, you would return to

town for maintenance, resupplying, and tea. The stores near
the teleport gate are crowded, so you would avoid them and
choose one on the outskirts, especially one with good
desserts. When it comes to Ozmalt, where else would you be
but here?”
“…How much of a sweet tooth do you think I have…?”
“But you would go for some tasty cake as a snack at three,

wouldn’t you?”
It was as she said; or rather, I could hardly object when that served
as my motivation for my «daytime». I smothered my words and sank
into silence as Asuna giggled with a lightened expression.
“…You were the same back then.”
“……”
I immediately knew when «back then» referred to.
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Back then, when we formed a duo soon after the first floor boss
conquest. After finishing our exploration for the afternoon and
returning to town, we would have tea with sweets without fail. Bread
with cream; shortcakes; berry tarts; cake rolls… I could still recall the
hues, shapes, and even taste of the many desserts I ate with Asuna
then.
But those days came to an end when Asuna joined the new guild,
Knights of the Blood, as I recommended.
More than a year passed since. Before I knew it, my level of 10 or

20 back then was now 90, and my main weapons were replaced, one
after another. The front lines approached the three-quarter point, the
seventy-fifth floor, and our objective of clearing the game would
come within sight as we crossed that.
We had certainly come a long way… I chewed over that thought as

I questioned my former partner.
“…So, what is it?”
“That. That.”
Bringing the cup of tea that had arrived in no time to her lips,
Asuna pointed to the tabletop with her left hand. To where the folded
copy of Aincrad Shuuhou was, left behind by Klein.
“Something’s up with the newspaper?”
“You saw it, didn’t you? That… popularity poll for the
clearing group players.”
“Yeah…”
I shifted my focus from the newspaper to Asuna’s face and

grinned.
“What’s there to worry about, the great sub-leader of the
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KoB’s sure to win the top spot if we’re considering this
roster…”
“That’s not what I’m worrying over!”
Asuna let out a sigh she had been holding onto with a complicated
look after that muffled bellow.
“…It’s the opposite, the exact opposite that I’m worrying

over.”
“What?”
“Erm… keep in mind that this all relies on me not wanting

to be first place. …You’ve heard of my guild recruiting with
renewed vigor lately, haven’t you?”
“Um… well, yes.”
Stumped at the sudden change in topic, I shook my head.
Knights of the Blood, to which Asuna belonged, was the guild that
made up most of the clearing group’s might and was led by the
toughest and strongest tank in Aincrad: Heathcliff, «The Holy Knight».
Even if they lost by far in terms of numbers to the largest guild, those
divine dragons, they were entrusted with commanding the battles
against the floor bosses, serving as an example of the phrase, few
but mighty.
Still, not even they were entirely spared from causalities in SAO, a
death game without respawning. Especially these days, with the
oddly refined AI the normal monsters had; it seemed practically as
though more fatalities appeared in the field than during the boss
battles where everyone prepared with utmost caution. That, too, was
a reason why KoB, which had strictly evaluated all applicants until
now, started scouting for players with potential. I personally had
Heathcliff, the leader, drop a casual hint that I join, but the desire to
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do so still eluded me.
“Come to think of it, another person joined lately, right?

Erm, the name’s, if I recall, Nautilus… isn’t it? Wasn’t half
bad too.”
I let out the name of that rookie I saw at an effective hunting spot
near the front-most lines, and Asuna frowned as she assumed the air
of a sub-leader.
“Hmm… that is true, and it went smoothly enough even

when hunting for experience points in groups. But those
movements turned sluggish during the field boss battle… it
doesn’t look like the floor boss raids are getting a new
member for a while.”
“I see…”
Being capable of fighting common monsters yet shirking from the

bosses is a phenomenon suffered by most players who catch up to
the top groups from the median zone. After all, they had had few
opportunities for boss fights. Floor bosses would never respawn after
the clearing group defeated them and there was no reason to fight
field bosses that respawn with the teleport gate to upper floors
available. One could conquer the fear of bosses, with their gigantic
frames and ruthless attacks that coerce the impression of «death»,
only through the accumulation of such experiences.
“Well, that’s the one thing others can’t help with, after
all…”
Sipping my iced coffee, I pulled the topic back.
“So, what does the KoB’s new recruit have to do with

anything?”
“Aah, erm… that’s, well…”
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Starting off awkwardly once more, Asuna began her speech,
interspersed with sighs.
“…The guild has someone called Daizen in charge of

accounting and someone called Havok in charge of resources,
you see.”
“Right.”
“They handle their jobs well and we feel safe with KoB’s
finances with them in charge, but how do I phrase this, their
spirit as merchants is a little too strong…”
“Uh-huh.”
“Upon finding out about that popularity poll, that pair

spoke out about utilizing it to boost the guild’s reputation.”
“Oh?”
“To be exact…… they……”
Getting stuck again there, the sub-leader of KoB showed a truly

complex look expressing anger, embarrassment, and dejection as
she got to the core of the matter in a soft tone.
“……They started talking about how in order to get me first

place, they would collaborate with the Aincrad Shuuhou to
publish a photo book of me as advertising if I won.”
“……P-Photo book?”
Repeating absentmindedly, I stared hard at my former partner

blushing slightly and looking downwards, from her head to her torso.
For Aincrad, a fantasy world so to speak, the technology for

publishing was technically beyond its era. The property window for
the printing press (of course, a wooden installation operated
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manually rather than powered by electricity) had features at the level
of DTP software, and not only could text be directly input, pictures
taken by photo crystals could be pasted in as well.
In other words, by taking a bunch of Asuna’s photos with crystals

and laying them out neatly, it would be feasible to publish what
would be recognized as an idol photo book. And there was no
difficulty in imagining the multitude of players wanting such an item.
They would rake in the votes if they announced, “We’ll publish a
book if she gets 1st!” and well, that could lead to an increase in
applicants to KoB.
“So that’s it… KoB comes up with some interesting ideas,

huh…?”
I expressed how impressed I was and Asuna breathed in long and

deep before converting that pent-up energy into an earsplitting
shout.
“This… is no laughing matter!!”
After several instances of panting hard, she glared sharply towards

me.
“I am in charge of KoB’s battle strategies, not its

advertising strategies. …I can’t say I’ve had many chances to
see women photo books in the real world, but it’s like that,
isn’t it…? They aren’t in the same outfit each time, are they?”
“Well, sure they aren’t. Aside from battle gear, there could
be some normal, cute, personal clothes…”
“Cu…”
“Or maybe school uniforms…”
“Sch…”
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“And maybe, there are always swimsuits…”
“Swimm…”
Deciding it would be pitiful bullying the esteemed sub-leader,

stumbling over her words from overwhelming shock, any further, I
offered the countermeasure that had immediately come to mind.
“Still, well, if you’re that against it, why not just refuse it
straight out, or maybe even run away while you’re at it?”
“Huh……?”
Switching her expression over to a serious look as though caught

with her guard down from the astonishment mere seconds before,
Asuna blinked time and time again. Her unaffected look gave off a
surprisingly childish atmosphere, and I turned a similarly genuine
smile towards my former partner as I continued my words.
“Asuna, you’ve always been supporting SAO’s conquest

from the front as KoB’s sub-leader. Everyone recognizes how
hard you worked and no one would criticize you for saying
what you want every now and then. If Daizen and the rest
make things difficult for you when you say that you won’t do
it and refuse, you just have to threaten them by saying you’ll
leave the guild.”
Asuna must have had some inherent sense of responsibility that

made her unable to refuse when told it was for the guild. However,
the players from the clearing group were here to clear this death
game, not to expand the influence of their guilds. It was a pity, losing
the opportunity to see a photo book of Asuna—no, it was preferable
to having some unspecified number of players being able to see it.
Not that I could voice that out.
Asuna frowned as she appeared to consider my suggestion, but

eventually looked at me with a refreshed expression, rare in recent
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days, before her lips formed a teasing smile.
“I’ll be making use of that suggestion. …But you better

assume responsibility if I end up leaving the guild for real,
Kirito-kun.”
“Eh? …H-How would I?”
“Naturally, by forming a duo with me again.”
Replying without hesitation, Asuna stood and placed her right hand
on my shoulder without waiting for my response.
“Thanks, it helped having you hear me out. Mind if I intrude

on you again when I need to vent?”
“Of… of course, feel free whenever.”
I somehow got that reply out, and the KoB sub-leader flashed
another smile before exiting the shop with a hop in her step.
Letting out a breath, I gave myself to the chair’s backrest. My

vision caught sight of the Aincrad Shuuhou still on the table.
Not even the higher-ups of KoB would force through publishing it

when her leaving the guild was on the table, but still, it was doubtful
Asuna could avoid snatching the top place on this popularity poll. If
one were to ask who they liked with a glance through the
nominees—not even I would have any difficulty deciding.
I turned the newspaper about and tapped the ballot paper printed
at the bottom of the last page, choosing to cut it out from the
appearing window. I muttered an apology, “Klein, sorry”, to my
friend while writing down my former partner’s name on the
automatically-cut ballot with a feather pen I had on hand.
It would be time to head out for the night after submitting this at
the teleport gate at Ozmalt. I hoped to pass through the tough
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wetlands tonight to reach the final village.
“—go!”
Casually raising my spirit as I stood up, I started walking at a quick

pace as the golden sunlight fell at my back.
Yet, still—
The clearing group players popularity poll underwent a

development no one expected: not me, not Klein, not even those who
organized it, the Aincrad Shuuhou’s publishers.
The humongous clearing guild, previously known «Aincrad

Liberation Squad» and now renamed to «Aincrad Liberation Force»,
thought up of an idea similar to Daizen’s from KoB.
Monopolizing many newspapers with ballot papers through the

reach and numbers of their organization, the ALF sent in a mountain
of ballots for that one nominee who got in for being a clearing player
of the technically largest guild and took first place from Asuna by a
narrow margin. Staring at that result on the following week’s
Shuuhou with Klein, the photo of a nostalgic spiky-headed individual
grandly placed on the front page sent us both into momentary shock
before we shouted out in sync.
“——Ya gotta be kiddin’!!”
(end)
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Chapter short story:...

Source: tap-trans
Translation of the short story written by Kawahara Reki, of Sword

Art Online, from the extras in the limited edition DVD/BD sets for the
anime’s second season, volume 9.
Prototype number one was a misshapen machine that comprised of

the already commercialized gel bed and a headgear; tens of cables in
a variety of colors drooped onto the floor from it and there were an
extensive array of monitoring equipment around it. Not even its
official codename was decided upon yet and it was called «MFT1», an
acronym obtained from «Medical Full-dive Tester One».
Perhaps due to the «SAO Incident» that occurred three months ago
and was still unresolved, she felt slight fear as she lay down on the
bed. But thanks to Aiko, her elder sister, holding onto her hand
beside her and the promise, “It’s definitely safe and it won’t
hurt either,” from Doctor Kurahashi, she awaited that instant while
enduring her unease.
The machine that looked like a large helmet lowered, passed over
her head, and covered her entire face. Shutting her eyelids, she
gripped her elder sister’s hand tight.
[It will be okay, Yuu.]
She heard her soft voice and felt her firmly returning the grip
through her left hand. A strange humming noise grew louder; the
sensation of her elder sister’s hand and the tension of the gel bed
went off into the distance. Eventually, a rainbow-colored light spread
out before her eyes despite her shut eyelids—that was when Konno
Yuuki descended into her new body in that alternate world, the VR
world.
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That was a year and three months after she was infected with AIDS
by multidrug-resistant HIV—nine months after she turned twelve *.
“Eh…!”
Yuuki, dozing off on the hill’s slope, leapt up in surprise at the

sudden scream from Ran (Aiko).
“What happened, nee-chan?”
“Ah… sorry for waking you up, Yuu. The article on this news
site was a just a little surprising and…”
What her elder sister was holding in her left hand was a
translucent, thin panel that seemed embedded in a silver frame
carved from crystal. It was an information terminal object for
browsing the external internet from the VR hospice, «Serene
Garden», we dived in.
“What, what is it, what article?”
Despite the slight hesitation Ran displayed, she still offered the
crystal panel to Yuuki who reached her body over.
The moment she read the headlines for the top news, dated 11th
May 2024, Yuuki, too, shouted out an “eehh” in surprise. The large
words written there were, “National Police Agency, Considering
Simultaneous Rescue of SAO Incident Victims”.
It had been a quick year and a half since that major incident, the
first and likely the last on that scale, where approximately ten
thousand game players were imprisoned in a virtual world. Though
the higher-ups in the government considered various rescue methods
via software, they were forced to watch on passively without any
answer to when they could disable the myriad of traps set by the
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mastermind—or so she thought.
“But rescuing them all at the same time…?”
Yuuki read on through the article’s text as she murmured. Though

she was not enrolled into middle school, the newspaper article
proved to be of no trouble as she did continue her studies in the
virtual world and liked books in the first place.
“Let’s see… the National Police Agency appear to be

investigating into physically breaking the Nerve Gears worn
by the seven thousand survivors of the SAO incident…?”
After dictating to that point, she let out another “eeh”.
Shifting her sight from the crystal panel to her elder sister, Yuuki
asked.
“But didn’t the criminal say he would release the electricity

if any attempts were made to break the Nerve Gear?”
“Not electricity, but radio waves.”
Gloom clouded Ran’s features after she corrected in a tone similar

to that of a teacher.
“From what I gather in this article, if the battery were to be

destroyed in an instant from the outside, there won’t be
radio waves strong enough to damage the wearer’s brain… or
so it seems, but…”
“Hmm…”
Yuuki stared hard at the reference photo of a Nerve Gear

accompanying the article. The unrefined headgear used in the
Medicuboid’s prototype number one was modelled on the Nerve
Gear, so there was a close resemblance.
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Despite how prototype number two, the one she now worn, no, was
in, differed significantly in both shape and size, she still felt a chill at
the «destruction of the VR headgear while worn on the user’s head»
as she voiced out another question.
“…I wonder how they would actually destroy it in an

instant. They couldn’t possibly blow it up or smash it with a
hammer, right?”
“True… I guess they would probably open a hole in the

shell with a precise drill and sever the wiring on the cathode?
Though with that man as the mastermind, it’s not out of the
question there may be some sort of backup circuit secretly
created in there.”
“O-Ohh…”
“Besides, there was a line in the criminal’s statement

about how he could not ensure the other players’ safety if
there were any attempts at breaking the Nerve Gear to free
the players if I recall correctly. In other words, to realize this
strategy, all seven thousand Nerve Gear units would need to
have their circuits severed without even a second’s
difference. I wonder if that’s possible?”
“…T-That sounds hard.”
Despite managing that reply, her elder sister’s words had long
exceeded Yuuki’s realm of understanding.
That would have been where she stop thinking and conclude that
her elder sister was amazing usually, but Yuuki dropped her sight
back onto the crystal panel. It seemed there were several victims
from the SAO incident admitted to the hospital where the two were,
denying her from turning a blind eye to it.
“…Ran nee-chan, just why did that man called Kayaba do
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all that?”
Rather than giving an immediate reply, Ran looked in front at

Yuuki’s murmurs. Yuuki raised her face as well and gazed towards
the blue, hazy mountain ridges in the distance.
The area the pair sat side-by-side in is named, «Teal Hills», and
extends throughout the eastern sector of the vast Serene Garden.
The knolls, topped with green, leading to one another with gentle
slopes along with the blue lakes and small villages dotted between
them created a sight of such beauty that one could gaze on forever.
Published in September 2023, Serene Garden is a VR hospice, or a

VR world meant for palliative care of the terminally ill in other words,
that focuses most of its development resources on the «beauty of the
world». Unlike the titles launched for the AmuSphere in June that
year, mainly classified as adventure or FPS, Serene Garden had
absolutely no combat aspect but allowed one to experience a
multitude of landscapes with minute differences. On the vast world
map, there were green hills in the eastern part, snow fields in the
north, towering mountains in the west, deep forests in the west, and
the central assigned to the capital, streets with a European feel to
them; a sightseeing trip around the world on foot would likely take a
whole week.
Yuuki and Ran’s parents passed away in succession at the end of

the previous year. Though the direct cause for their deaths was
pneumonia, they suffered from various other opportunistic infections
and were rendered asleep throughout the day near the end of
autumn due to the strong painkillers prescribed to mitigate their
pain.
There was once when their parents visited Serene Garden via the
AmuSphere.
They spent only a single hour together as the AmuSphere’s ability

to cancel bodily sensations could not completely erase the pain from
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their illnesses. Still, the time they spent slowly strolling through the
town plaza and the meadows on the outskirts was engraved into
Yuuki’s and Ran’s chests as irreplaceable memories. Their father
mentioned time after time about how delicious the boxed lunch they
had made was as he ate and their mother sang many of the nursery
rhymes and hymns the sisters loved while teary-eyed at the beauty
of the scenery.
It would have never been possible without full-dive technology and

VR worlds.
And the one who independently developed most of that technology

was the man, Kayaba Akihiko, as known as the culprit behind the
SAO incident.
It was not just those memories with their parents. Though the
Medicuboid prototype Yuuki connected to as a test subject was
mainly developed under the supervision of a medical equipment
manufacturer, Ran dived into Serene Garden with a Nerve Gear with
the modifications of a smaller battery capacity and a limiter inserted.
Hence, it was thanks to that worst criminal of the century that the
pair were able to touch each other in the virtual world.
As though to relieve those complicated emotions from Yuuki, Ran

raised her left hand and gently rubbed Yuuki’s back.
“I don’t understand that either. But there’s no need for you

to worry about that, Yuu. You are only helping out in the
Medicuboid’s development as a tester for the sake of the
many patients it’ll help out someday.”
“……Yeah…”
Nodding, Yuuki lightly leaned against her elder sister’s shoulder.
Though she was older, Ran—Aiko—was Yuuki’s twin sister, born on

the same day. Still, as far as she could remember, Yuuki had always
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been relying on and doted on by her as the little sister, and Ran
tenderly shielded and protected her as the elder sister.
Yuuki only got to become a tester for the Medicuboid, too, thanks
to her strong insistence for it.
The Medicuboid prototype, a delicate precision equipment, was

placed in the biological cleanroom of Yokohama General Hospital
Kouhoku where the two were hospitalized. The level of bacteria and
viruses inside was far lower than outside. In other words, that meant
there was a great drop in the risk of opportunistic infections, what
AIDS patients feared most.
If she entered the cleanroom as a tester, it would prolong her

length of life. Despite understanding that, Ran conceded the chance
to Yuuki. At the current moment, a year and three months since that
day, though it was only a little worse, Ran who occupied a normal
private ward experienced a quicker deterioration in her medical
condition. The Nerve Gear could not possibly erase the fear Ran must
be feeling now.
Though she could have told Doctor Kurahashi, “I’m okay, let my
older sister in,” when he suggested entering the cleanroom as a
Medicuboid tester, Yuuki did not. However, Ran spoke out for her
without even a moment of hesitation. “Let Yuu do it,” she said.
Ran abruptly jumped up just as Yuuki chewed hard on her lips.
She stretched vigorously as her long hair fluttered in the breeze.

The pair’s avatars were automatically generated by the system
based on their photos, but Ran’s avatar was astonishingly close to
her real appearance and really suited the girlish shirt dress on her.
With a smile and a hand extended towards Yuuki, she cheerfully

spoke.
“Here, Yuu, let’s go pick some herbs. I get the feeling we’ll
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find some of those super rare ones today.”
“……Yeah!”
Nodding, Yuuki firmly caught onto her elder sister’s hand.
Though it lacked any combat elements, there is more to do in

Serene Garden besides sightseeing.
The most advanced game element is «housing». The users are

given plots of land of a fixed size in the world’s capital, «Serenity»,
where they can build a house to their liking. That said, only various
tints of bricks that suit the townscape are allowed for the exterior
walls, so the main entertainment in building the house comes from
the interior.
Materials and furniture or interior design can be bought off the

shelf or ordered from the NPC shops in the streets, but points named,
«curren», are necessary for that. Though it seems to be short for
currency, it cannot be transferred to others and the only way to save
it up is to «harvest». By gathering harvestable plants and minerals,
catching insects, all which spawn in various locations on the world
map, and bringing them to the shops in the streets, they can be
exchanged for curren according to their rarities. There are
surprisingly many options aside from that, like creating all sorts of
items straight from materials or participating in the tournament,
«Bug Battle», with the insects one caught and raised.
Yuuki and Ran shared a house on the higher parts of Serenity and
despite customizing it over the half year, it was still far from
complete. Though they were currently saving up points for a large
Russian stove to be placed in the living room, it took them long
enough to even reach the seventy percent mark they were at.
But then again, it was no real trouble as harvesting was
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surprisingly fun. An hour or two or picking herbs would pass in an
instant while engrossed in the view of the beautiful fields. The
harvesting feature was popular with the users of Serene Garden as it
granted them a good, long reprieve from the dread of battling
against the stress of wondering «how long they had to live» which
they all suffered from, without exception. Even somebody like that
grandmother who was close to Yuuki could run all about the world
map for the entire day, gathering a mountain load of materials to
build up her four-story mansion in the most affluent district of
Serenity Town.
Though they would not go to such lengths, their dear wish to roast
sweet potatoes with that stove would only be granted if they kept at
it without slacking off for even a single day.
Having moved to their secret gathering spot by the side of a small

pond from the sloping hill where they were basking in the sun, Yuuki
was absorbed in picking herbs with a basket in her hand—
“…Ah.”
—before she raised her face at her elder sister’s voice.
“What is it, nee-chan?”
She asked her elder sister who was a short distance away and shut
her mouth after seeing her gesture to “stay quiet”. Though she
traced the line of sight, starting from Ran who was frozen in a half-
rising posture, she could not be sure of what she had spotted.
Leaving behind the basket and proceeding on stealthily on tiptoes,

Yuuki cautiously moved to her elder sister’s side and focused her
eyes beyond the clumps of grass—
“…Ah.”
—before she unconsciously let out a soft voice as well.
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A stag beetle with a profound blue luster stayed still on the aged
broadleaf tree’s trunk by the pond. It likely measured close to ten
centimeters. Yuuki recognized those two magnificent jaws in addition
to that long horn extending from behind its head from the Serene
Garden Insect Encyclopedia.
“Don’t you think that stag beetle looks pretty rare?”
And towards her elder sister’s words—
“It’s not just rare. That’s the Royal Triton Stag Beetle.”
—she immediately answered and a voice, filled with mostly

agitation and just a little aversion, replied.
“I didn’t think you would remember even its name.”
“But you see, it’s the strongest among the stag beetles if
you raise it well!”
“…You had an interest in Bug Battle, Yuu?”
“A-Actually, I like it quite a lot.”
The blue stag beetle slowly climbed up the old tree’s trunk even as
they exchanged whispers. Golden sap oozed out ahead in its path, its
presumed aim.
“Nee-chan, you got a net?”
“I didn’t think we would be doing anything but picking

herbs, so no, I don’t.”
“Me too…”
The inventory prepared for Serene Garden’s users was relatively

small and the need to bring back raw material items gathered over
several hours meant anything unnecessary should not be brought
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along. And to add to that, as Yuuki and Ran specialized in harvesting
plants, they would go for insects only when they spot some
exceedingly rare one.
But it must be said that the Royal Triton Stag Beetle a mere five or
six meters away topped the list of rarities and trading it in for points
at the bug shop would pay for the large Russian stove with change to
boot. They could not possibly let the chance slip.
“Nee-chan, I’ll try catching it with my hands.”
She whispered and Ran caught her breath, shocked.
“Yuu… you can touch that barehanded?”
“……”
—Now that I think about it, nee-chan’s completely useless against

bugs in the real world, just like mama. They were both screaming
while running everywhere that time I caught and brought back that
grasshopper from the garden, weren’t they?
She quickly replied with nostalgia from those young memories.
“It’s perfectly fine, the bugs in this world don’t bite, sting,
or spit out any weird fluid. Wait here, okay?”
She lightly pat Ran’s shoulder, slipped her sandals off, and began
her advance while stooped over.
Though she kept it a secret from Ran, she actually went hunting for
bugs quite a bit on her own. The first ironclad rule when aiming for a
rare insect is to be patient. The second is to approach from its back.
The third is to make no strange noises.
She could not avoid making noise, scrapping against the grass, due
to moving through the grass higher than her knees. She slowly made
her way forward while mixing those sounds into the swaying of the
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grass in the wind.
The super rare stag beetle climbing the trunk stopped once it
reached where the golden sap oozed from. Though its feeding time
was the best chance for capture, Yuuki’s experience told her that
period of time was exceeding short for rare insects. It would spread
its wings in roughly fifteen seconds and shoot off.
There were three meters until the tree. She would never make it by
continuing to move with the wind. That said, running recklessly would
create a great noise and definitely make the stag beetle flee.
—What now? I’ll need to move without touching the grass

somehow…
Something caught Yuuki’s eyes after she swung her sight left and
right. Wooden posts spaced roughly a meter from each other beside
the pond on her immediate right. They were taller than the clumps of
grass at their tip and she might be able to move without making any
noise atop them.
The problem was that the posts measured no more than five
centimeters at their diameters. If she were to lose her balance the
slightest bit, she would fall head first into the grassy clump on the
left or the pond on the right. Not to mention how she had no time to
cautiously take each step, maintaining her balance.
“…No two ways about it!”
Telling herself so in her mouth, she moved to her side timed with
the next breeze. She stood up with opportune timing and threw
herself onto one of the narrow posts.
—Ready, set!
Gathering her strength without letting out her voice, she silently
jumped from post to post. The moment she reached the post closest
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to the tree without tumbling off somehow, the stag beetle’s
forewings with its gem-like luster spread out along with its hindwings
as it finished feeding.
Bunn! She turned her eyes towards the buzz made by the stag
beetle as it took off.
“Toryaa!”
Hiding her voice no longer, Yuuki put all of her strength into a
jump. The fingertips of her right hand, stretched out as far as they
could, cleanly clutched onto the stag beetle’s long top horn.
A powerful, large rhinoceros beetle in the real world would not give
up with simply its back caught, but this was a virtual world that
focused on usability. The rousing sound effect when a rare insect was
caught rang out and stag beetle kept its wings and calmed down.
She landed onto the grassy clumps with a rustle—
“Alrightttt—! I got the Royal Triton Stag Beetle!”
—and her left fist shot up before Ran approached with a face filled
eighty percent with surprise and the rest with fear.
“…T-that was amazing, Yuu. I can’t believe you really

caught it with your bare hands.”
“Nihihi, I’m surprised too. Here, want to try holding it, nee-
chan?”
Ran shook her head with a serious expression while backing off the
instant she held out the giant stag beetle in her right hand.
“I-I will refrain. But really, congratulations, Yuuki. What will

you do with that stag beetle? Are you going to sell it? Or
raise it?”
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“Nn… nnn~~~~”
She brought the docile blue stag beetle she continued gripping by
the horn before her eyes while groaning. Though she thought only of
exchanging it for points when she was aiming for it, it was her first
time obtaining an item this rare over the half year she spent
harvesting in Serene Garden. Not to mention how she found those
big and round black compound eyes all the more adorable the closer
she looked into its face.
Nevertheless, raising an insect in this world incurred various

expenses as well, such as for its feed. It would pay for its own food at
least if it won in the Bug Battle tournament, but no matter how much
she loved watching it, she would have to face various obstacles to
take part in it herself.
“What should I do…”
With her face still facing the stag beetle whose jaw was wriggling,
Yuuki briefly pondered. It was then that—
“Aaaaah——!”
A deafening scream surged in from her left, knocking her over

towards the right.
“W-What!?”
Turning to her left with Ran who shouted, she saw a girl had
apparently closed in without either of them noticing. Of course, it was
an avatar, but as Serene Garden did not allow for gender changes
and one’s appearance was generated from one’s actual photo, it
could be thought to resemble the player in the real world.
Sporting long green hair done up in a ponytail (quite naturally,

one’s hairstyle and color could be freely customized), a tawny camo
patterned T-shirt, and cargo pants with many pockets, the girl who
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was the very image of a bug hunter shook the long bug catching net
in her left hand while thrusting her right index finger straight at
Yuuki.
“That! That Royton! That’s the one I was chasing this whole
hour!”
After taking three seconds to figure out that «Royton» referred to

neither dishes made from pork nor those floating bits in soup * but
the Royal Triton Stag Beetle, Yuuki hid the stag beetle in her right
hand behind herself while retorting.
“I-I was the one who caught it.”
By Serene Garden’s rules, harvest items belonged to the one who

first got it, be it grass, rocks, or bugs, and claims like, “this spot is
mine,” or “I saw that first,” were futile. The camo shirt girl who
likely knew that too turned silent with her lips pursed for a moment,
but opened her mouth to speak again right after.
“But you don’t look like you’re a bug hunter? You don’t
even have a cage, how are you going to bring it back?”
Yuuki became the one at a loss for words this time.
True enough, caught insects could not be stored in one’s inventory

without putting them into a specialized cage like the one fixed on the
girl’s waist. Having said that, they would gradually grow weaker if
simply held in one’s hands. They would soon recover when placed in
a cage and given food and water, but it would take twenty minutes to
get to the nearest village from here even if they hurried. She did not
know how many life points the stag beetle would lose in the process
and there would be no end to her regrets on the off chance she got it
killed. The greatest reason why Yuuki did not participated in Bug
Battle was due to her fear of losing a cherished insect in some
unexpected accident.
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Ran gently placed her hand onto the silenced Yuuki’s left shoulder.
As she spoke.
“…Yuu.”
Yuuki understood what her elder sister wanted to say with just
that. Moving the Royal Triton Stag Beetle she was hiding behind back
in front of her face, she bid it farewell in her heart and extended it
out towards the bug hunter girl.
“Okay. I’ll let you have it.”
The ponytailed girl’s eyes turned round with surprise then.
“Eh… I-I can have it?”
“Weren’t you the one who wanted that?”
She stepped forward with a bitter smile, but the girl looked down at
herself, more flustered than before.
“B-But I don’t have anything worth enough to trade for that

Royton …”
Players cannot trade among themselves in Serene Garden through

curren. Though bartering was possible with materialized items, there
was likely no one walking around with enough on hand for an insect
of the rarest grade.
Yuuki showed a smile as she spoke.
“Not as a trade. This child would be better off raised by

someone hunting bugs seriously like you too.”
“……”
However, the girl made no attempt to speak, looking so dejected

that her earlier vigor seemed like a lie. She probably wanted to let
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out her frustration at how the stag beetle she chased after was
caught by another, but never really hoped that it would be conceded
to her.
Despite guessing that much, Yuuki had no idea what to say to her,
and Ran threw out a proposal in a calming voice.
“Then, how about we call it a trade and let Yuu name that
child?”
The girl immediately beamed and nodded endlessly.
“Y-Yeah, of course, sure! You name it!”
“Eh… me?”
She panicked inside while responding. Honestly, she had

absolutely no confidence in her naming sense. Her avatar name in
Serene Garden, too, was «Yuuki», exactly how her real name was
pronounced, unlike her sister who chose an alternate reading of ai,
«Ran».
Still, she would be making a real mess out of everything if she

gave up here, so she put her all into thinking. The name she came up
with after over ten whole seconds was—
“…Erm… then, how about «Roy»…?”
—You didn’t change a thing!
Despite how she braced herself for that retort, the ponytailed girl
nodded with a broad smile.
“That sounds good, I like simple names like that too! I’ll
register this child as «Roy», then!”
“Yeah!”
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Nodding, Yuuki bid farewell in her heart to the stag beetle with a
“stay healthy” and held it out to the girl once more.
Cupping it with both hands, the girl seemed overcome with

emotion and gazed at the royal blue luster for a while, but eventually
transferred it to the insect cage on her waist with careful motions.
Following that, she opened a window and stored the cage into her
inventory. The stag beetle’s life points should be maintained with
that.
Upon picking up the bug catching net left on the ground and
placing it into her inventory as well, the girl straightened her posture
and bowed down deeply.
“—Thank you very much for letting me have it! I had been
looking for that bug ever since I came here, so I’m really,
really happy!”
Noticing the word, «here», referred not to Teal Hills but to Serene
Garden, this VR hospice, Yuuki carelessly asked.
“How long has it been since you came here?”
“I’ve been here since right after it was released, so I guess

it’s already been eight months… ah, I’m sorry, I haven’t
introduced myself, have I? How do you do, I’m Merida. Nice
to meet you!”
Yuuki gave her name as well while shaking hands with Merida who
extended her right hand with a bright smile.
“I’m Yuuki! Nice to meet you!”
Following that, Ran grasped Merida’s hand too.
“I’m Ran, Yuuki’s older sister. Nice to meet you, Merida-

san.”
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“You can just call me Merida. I’m probably only a little
older than the two of you. I’m glad I met the both of you,
let’s be good friends… from……”
Merida’s voice trembled and cut off without warning.
The green ponytail wavered as her body gradually slumped over

and was frantically propped up by Yuuki with both hands.
Merida soon recovered after shifting her to the tree where the
stag beetle, now «Roy», had stopped and sitting her down on the
grass under its shade.
She blinked several times before noticing Yuuki and Ran peeking at
her with concern and lowered her head, seemingly abashed.
“…I apologize, it looks like I got a little too excited over you
letting me have Roy.”
Though Yuuki smiled, going along with Merida who laughed with a
tehehe, she could not help but worry.
The users in Serene Garden are never officially called «players»

and the users tend to avoid saying that word among themselves.
After all, none of them were in this world simply for the sake of
playing.
The purpose of a VR hospice is palliative care—to ease the pain

and suffering from illness and provide an improvement in one’s
quality of life—and its users all suffer from severe illnesses without
exception. In the first place, it is impossible to even register an
account without being admitted to some medical facility serving as
an intermediary. In other words, Merida had to be diving into this
world from some hospital in Japan.
She did not know what Merida suffered from. However, her avatar
collapsing in the VR world indicated that it was no mere giddiness or
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anemia but some condition related to her brain that the AmuSphere
was connected to.
Of course, the AmuSphere would automatically disconnect and her

avatar would vanish if the situation turned critical. As she regained
consciousness soon after like this, it should be as Merida said: a state
that did not require immediate attention. But on the other hand,
Merida’s calmness made Yuuki’s worries grow. She was used to this
happening… that was to say, this occurred frequently.
As though she sensed Yuuki’s inner thoughts through the hand

supporting her back, Merida laughed once again.
“Aha, really, I’m fine. I’ll recover right away if I stay still for
a little… see, I’m totally fine now.”
Lifting her upper body with vigor, she hopped to her feet with the
momentum. Her smooth movements could be said to be only natural
for a player who started at the very beginning. However, on that train
of thought, if she participated in Serene Garden since it was first out,
that was also an indication that her condition required palliative care
for that long.
Yuuki stood as well while concerned over Merida’s condition. When

she did, Merida took a step back and concentrated her gaze on her
once again.
“What… what is it?”
Though Yuuki lowered her head, thinking about how the cute one
piece dress she wore, matching her sister’s, did look wrong on her
after all, Merida spoke with a carefree smile.
“My bad, I apologize for staring like that. Though that one
piece’s really cute, it doesn’t suit bug hunting at all, so I was
wondering how you actually caught a Royal Triton Stag
Beetle. That stag beetle would have fled if it heard any
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footsteps, how did you move through the grass with it on?”
“Erm…”
Yuuki tilted her head, trying to recall, before Ran answered with a
giggle.
“Yuu didn’t move through the grass, but jumped across

those posts at the side of the pond. She was bouncing from
one to another.”
“Ah, so that was how.”
Yuuki laughed, embarrassed over forgetting what she had done

just tens of minutes ago, but on the hand, Merida wiped her smile off
and shouted out an “eeh”.
“On top of those narrow posts!? You can do that, Yuuki-

chan!?”
“Y-Yeah, well. Also, go ahead and call me Yuuki!”
“T-Then, Yuuki… can you try standing on one leg?”
“Eh? Okay…”
Unsure of Merida’s aim, Yuuki blankly bent her left leg as told and
stood only on her right leg. She talked to Merida while maintaining
her balance with lightly outspread arms.
“There isn’t anything like muscles tiring out in this world,

so I can stay on a single leg forever. You too, right, Nee-
chan?”
“I-I wonder… I’ve never really tried, so…”
Ran, too, stood up on a single leg despite her expression showing

her lack of confidence. Though she wobbled slightly at the start, her
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body stabilized soon enough.
Before they were forced to transfer in their fourth year of

elementary school, both Yuuki and Ran attended physical education
classes in school as one normally would. Their growth were similar as
expected of twins, but Ran was always slightly ahead, be it in
running, ball games, or even test results for that matter, and Yuuki
secretly felt vexed over that.
I’ll show you I’m better at standing on one leg in the virtual world
at least! Yuuki steeled her determination in her mind as she
maintained her balance, but Merida suddenly started clapping and
called out just after a mere minute passed.
“You are both amazing, Yuuki, Ran! This is the first time I
saw anyone stand on one leg for this long over here!”
The both of them gave vacant looks at those words that seemed
somewhat exaggerated and Merida clasped her hands together with
some bitterness.
“You could have been one super bug hunter with a FC score
that high! Hey, it’s not too late, wouldn’t you switch class to
become a hunter now!? I’ll teach you everything about being
one!”
Still on one leg, Ran raised both hands with a “calm down”
towards Merida, who droned on and on, and asked meekly.
“Merida, in the first place, what is FC?”
“I’ve never heard of it either.”
Before the pair tilting their heads in sync, Merida took a long, deep
breath as though calming herself down before beginning her
explanation.
“I’m sorry, I got ahead of myself… it’s a habit. Erm, FC
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refers to Full-dive Conformation… or in other words, the
compatibility with virtual worlds, and the easiest test for it is
to stand on one leg. There are subtle differences in the sense
of balance and weight of gravity over here, so balancing on
one leg for long periods of time is difficult without being able
to adjust to that. My dive time should be on the longer side,
but forty seconds or so is still my limit, I guess?”
“S-So that was it…”
Somewhat shocked at how much Merida knew regarding full-dive

technology, Yuuki looked down at her right foot on the ground. She
certainly recalled being disorientated at the difference in sensations
compared to the real world from when she first used prototype
number one, but got used to it straight away after jumping and
bouncing around the vivid virtual world in her excitement. She did
not remember Ran mentioning anything around a difference in
sensations either.
“…That means FC depends on the individual?”
Yuuki offhandedly asked and Merida nodded with a somber

expression.
“That’s right. It’s rare, but I heard there were some judged
as FNC… Full-dive Not Conformed on the initial connection
test. It must have been a shock to be told that after buying
that expensive Ner… AmuSphere, don’t you think? Well, there
are more shops nowadays that allow testing before purchase,
though.”
“Hmm…”
Yuuki felt a tinge of guilt even while relieved that neither her elder
sister nor herself were FNC. Ran’s modified Nerve Gear and naturally,
the Medicuboid prototype number two she now used were prepared
by the hospital. Though Doctor Kurahashi had said that this was
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nothing in light of how the two of them had contracted their diseases,
she could not help but ponder whenever she interacted with other
players in Serene Garden. About how they would have never been
able to get here if they had to buy two of those expensive
AmuSpheres.
Yes—her elder sister had her good reflexes, but she believed that
she was able to stand on a leg for minutes like this only thanks to the
Medicuboid and its significantly higher specifications than the
AmuSphere.
Yuuki felt pain at how she was competing with Ran the moment
that thought popped into her head and lowered her left foot down
towards the ground.
But right before she could—
“Aah, no more!”
—Ran grabbed onto her from the right with that shout and she was
forced to kneel onto the grass.
“Wah, what was that for, nee-chan!”
“You were the one who hit the ground first, Yuu, so I won
our standing on one leg contest!”
“Ugh, that’s not fair! I wasn’t anywhere near done!”
Cheerful laughter came from Merida as she forgot her hesitance

from seconds ago and retorted.
“Ahaha, the two of you sure are close. It must be nice, wish
I had an older or younger sister too…”
Her smile quickly slid off after she got to that point and sank into
silence. She must have thought about what it meant for both sisters
to participate in a VR hospice.
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Taking over from Yuuki who could not immediately get out the
words telling her to not worry, Ran spoke in a cheerful tone.
“I’m sure you would have been a great older sister, Merida.
You’re cool and even so knowledgeable too.”
Standing up, she continued while pulling Yuuki up.
“It sounds like you know a lot about full-dive games, but do
you play other games aside from Serene Garden too?”
“Nn, I’m mainly on SereGa now, I guess. I’m busy enough

just hunting and raising bugs.”
She replied with her smile back on, but it appeared slightly gloomy.
“I was on another game before SereGa… But my illness was

detected right before the official release, you see, and I
couldn’t make it for that.”
“Ooh, what game?”
Yuuki asked with keen interest, not knowing about other VR worlds,
and Merida showed a smile that appeared enshrouded in sadness
while replying with a different question.
“Do the two of you have anything on from now?”
“Erm…”
She glanced over to the time display at the bottom-right of her

vision and saw it was three-thirty. There was still a while until dinner
at six and neither of them had any appointments arranged for
inspection or consultation today.
“We should be okay for another two hours or so.”
Yuuki replied and the bug hunter girl gave a curt nod.
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“Then how about we continue this over tea in the village?”
Aside from the capital, Serenity, each region in the four cardinal
points of the world of Serene Garden has their respective town or
village. A teleport gate is set up in the middle of the village, «Roite»,
at the eastern region, Teal Hills, and it allows instantaneous
transportation to the capital.
Merida spun around the moment she passed through the village
gate ahead of Yuuki and Ran.
“Which do the both of you like more, crepes or ice cream?”
Calls of “Crepes!” immediately flew back in perfect

synchronization, making Merida widen her eyes.
“T-That was quick.”
“Ehehe.”
She exchanged glances with her elder sister as she replied. Their
deceased mother especially excelled at making crepes among all her
snacks. They loved her crepes so much, they could eat them every
day, whether it was the crêpes sucrées with that light brown, mildly
burnt batter filled with cream and fruits, the salty crêpes salées
wrapped around cheese and ham, or even the crêpes Suzette with its
batter folded and drench in a warm, orange-flavored sauce.
She did get to eat those reasonably tasty, though not up to her
mother’s standard, crepes from the hospital’s cafeteria for a while
even after she was admitted, but she was torn from those, too, ever
since she entered the cleanroom.
Ran, on the other hand, ate normal hospital fare and could go to
the cafeteria. However, she seemed to have decided to have crepes
only in the virtual world when with Yuuki. She once told her to not
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mind her and to go ahead and eat them in the real world too, to
which she replied with, “they don’t taste good on my own”.
Merida might have felt something despite absolutely oblivious to

those circumstances as she firmly nodded before thumping her chest
covered in that camo patterned shirt.
“Alright, I’ll bring you to a shop with the best crepes you’ll
ever find!”
“Eh… there was a shop like that in this village aside from
the restaurant at the plaza?”
Merida simply grinned at Ran’s question and walked off.
Roite Village was built atop low hills. Gazing at the brick houses
creating a vague resemblance to those mountain villages in the Alps,
they climbed the stone paved main street. Serene Garden has
approximately a thousand concurrent users connecting at any one
time at most and considering the number of patients in hospices
across the country is over thirty thousand, there was not much hope
for it to gain in popularity, but as there were only five towns or
villages for the entire world, there were surprisingly many players
passing through the main street.
However, Merida left the main street where many shops gather
and stepped into the labyrinthine back streets before continuing
down turns, towards both the right and left, with brisk steps.
Walking through those without getting lost in Serene Garden,

which did not have a detailed map function, required not just a
complete understanding of the intricate landscape that made up
Roite Village but also a familiarity with virtual worlds. She walked on
even while her curiosity over the game Merida had played before
Serene Garden grew once more, and just as she lost track of where
exactly they were, the view suddenly opened up before her eyes.
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A small semicircular terrace jutted out on the western slope of a
hill and an entire strip of grassland could be seen gleaming brightly
in the afternoon sunlight. The light blue stretching out into the
distance was a coastline in the form of a fjord: the end of the world.
A single table with a parasol mounted on it was placed on the

terrace and a sweet fragrance drifted in from the modest cafe further
in.
“Lucky us, the table outside’s free!”
Turning back with a smile, Merida circled around the pair, pushed
them forward, and had them sit on the chairs that offered a view of
the grasslands. Sitting on the opposite side herself, she pushed the
menu atop the table towards them.
“This is my favorite shop in Roite Village. It’s my treat

today, so order whatever you want!”
Yuuki and Ran, who both had their sight stuck on the scenery
before their eyes, turned back simultaneously and shook their heads.
“We couldn’t possibly, how can we let you treat us after

introducing us to such a lovely shop…?”
Merida stopped Ran who got up to her feet in a fluster with a single
hand gesture.
“What are you on about, the crepes here won’t even begin
to cover what that Royal Triton Stag Beetle is worth. Let me
do that much at least!”
“…Then, if you insist.”
Yuuki had already focused her sight towards the menu made from
cork by the time Ran sat back down.
There was naturally no limit to the refrigerator’s capacity in a
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virtual world, but still, the number of lines of text was ridiculous.
According to the ordering instructions, they were apparently free to
choose from five variants of batter, ten variants of creams, twenty
variants of fruits, thirty variants of sauces, and fifty variants of
toppings. In other words, there was practically no limit to the number
of combinations too.
“Amazing… but I can’t decide if there are this many…”
Yuuki let out that miserable cry immediately before Ran cheerfully
recited on and on.
“Then I’ll have the «Juicy Honey» batter, «Milky Whip»

cream, «Ruby Strawberry» and «Refreshing Mandarin» for the
fruits, «Syrupy Chocolate» for the sauce, and «Fresh
Pistachio» with «Caramel Crunch» for the toppings!”
“……”
She gazed at her elder sister who tapped on the touchpad menu
time after time in a daze. Merida, too, widened her eyes on the
opposite side. She was no match for her elder sister in many things,
but that proved especially so in terms of decisiveness. Yuuki rarely
ever witnessed Ran brooding over anything.
Having finished her choices, Ran raised her face and spoke.
“What about you, Yuu?”
“…I’ll match yours, nee-chan.”
Upon raising the white flag and jumping on the bandwagon, Merida
continued with a “then me too!” as well.
Nodding, Ran inputted 3 in the quantity.
“Then we’ll be glad to take you up on your offer.”
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And she handed the menu over. Receiving it, Merida pressed the
order button and paid the curren needed for three before a NPC
waitress carried over three plates out from the shop a mere ten
seconds later.
The crepes atop of them were in that same, familiar, triangular

form, but much larger than expected. Cream and fruits extravagantly
burst out from the pale-yellow batter as the sauce and toppings
glittered.
“Woah, it looks so good!”
Shouting so, Yuuki held her hands before her chest and recited a
simplified prayer before lifting the crepe up with both hands. It would
have been next to impossible to eat something like that in the real
world without it breaking apart, but the cream and fruits spilling out
and plopping onto her clothes… would not happen here as long as
she did not intentionally let it drop from her hands.
“Thanks for the food!”
Speaking in chorus with Ran, she opened up her mouth as large as

it could go and bit in. The moist, thin crepe tore apart satisfyingly
while the fluffy, airy cream and chunks of strawberries leapt from
within.
She had experienced unease towards eating food composed from

data back when she just arrived in this world, but got used to that
before long as well. Though there was a certain knack needed before
she could bite and taste like in the real world, as long as she shut her
eyes and bit down with a certain amount of strength while keeping
her tongue mostly fixed in place, she would not feel much of a
«difference in sensation».
Yuuki felt the batter, cream, and strawberries melting together in

her mouth, slipping through her throat, and disappearing before she
shouted out as her eyes flashed open.
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“Merida, this crepe is suuu… per tasty! It’s completely
different from the shop at the teleport gate plaza!”
Her newly-made friend reacted with a delighted smile from the

bottom of her heart.
“I know, right?! I think they must have placed this here

where there aren’t many around because the amount of data
needed’s larger. It was a real pain learning how to come here
without getting lost after I first found this shop, you know?
…What about you, Ran? You like it?”
Faced with that question, Ran raised her face from the crepe she
had already taken three mouthfuls from and gave a deep nod.
“I’ve decided. I will come back here until I’ve conquered

every crepe possible.”
“Ah-haha, that sounds tough, but go for it! I haven’t even

managed to try half of them after frequenting this place for a
whole half year.”
“We’ll count on you to tell us which combinations are the

best next time, then.”
Yuuki continued munching away at her large crepe as well while

listening to the pair’s conversation.
The crepe was, unfortunately, delicious but not to the level of

those her mother had cooked. Those crepes could never be found
anywhere on Earth. Still, she felt eating together with this girl who
they had just encountered by coincidence and befriended must have
amplified the taste data by several times.
Back before the symptoms of her illness appeared—when she was

still attending elementary school—she had many close friends. Day
after day, she would wait impatiently for lunch time where they
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would stick their desks together in the classroom and raise a ruckus
while eating their identical meals.
However, that joy vanished the moment a rumor spread out about
Yuuki being a HIV carrier. Those classmates who would stick their
desks to hers were gone and Yuuki could only spend each day eating
her lonely school lunch in a corner of the classroom. None of her
favorites tasted any good then, be it pork curry, vermicelli soup, or
even milk pudding.
Now that she thought about it, this was the first time she ate with a
«friend» ever since she was hospitalized. Even if the crepe she held
in her two hands was virtual, even if she did not know her real name
or face, even if this was an open-air cafe in another world—the
suffocating warmth constricting Yuuki’s chest now was real.
“……Yuuki.”
It was when Yuuki opened her eyes upon her name suddenly called
by Merida that she noticed the tears coming from them as she ate
the crepe. Returning what was left onto the plate in a hurry, she
wiped her eyes with both hands. But there was just no end to those
tears. Ran had told her before that emotions seemed somewhat
exaggerated in the virtual world, raising the difficulty of holding back
tears.
“I-I’m alright, I’m just… just a little……”
Yuuki rubbed at her eyes even throughout her murmurs and Ran
gently pat her on her back from the side. Perhaps all those times
being comforted so from when she was still young had conditioned it
into a reflex, but she finally managed to stifle her tears with that.
“…Sorry, Merida, for crying all of a sudden like that. The

crepe was just too delicious, and I was also really enjoying
myself, so…”
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She pulled together a smile somehow and Merida, too, showed a
smile that seemed like it was keeping something at bay. Throwing
the last piece of the crepe into her mouth, she swallowed it and let
out a sigh.
“……I often cried to myself until just a little while ago too.
No… I still become really depressed whenever I remember. I
would feel sad, frustrated, and helpless, and all I would want
is to cry and scream like a baby.”
Merida pointed her gaze towards the grassy plains in the distance
as she quietly spoke. The sun’s intensity had grown without their
notice and made the vast plains gleam golden.
“…By remember, you mean the game you played before

coming to Serene Garden…?”
The deep green ponytail fluttered at Ran’s question.
“Yeah. I could only play for a month… not to mention it

wasn’t the official release, but the beta test, you see. It was
August 2022, so that’s over a year before SereGa officially
began, I guess? I was wearing the Nerve Gear rather than the
AmuSphere and became a player in the world’s first VRMMO-
RPG…”
A brief moment passed before those words pricked Yuuki’s

consciousness.
The news article Ran showed her before they started picking herbs
surfaced at the back of her mind. She softly, coarsely murmured that
name.
“…Sword Art Online…?”
Merida had a weak smile on as she nodded faintly but surely.
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“Yes. I was in a medium-sized guild in SAO’s beta test. It
was really fun… The one month test ended in the blink of an
eye and everyone vowed to meet again for sure in the official
release in November. But they found a tumor in my brain
right after that, see. My Nerve Gear got confiscated since I
really shouldn’t have been playing any games in that state.”
“……But, then…”
She must have guessed what Ran’s short mutter implied as Merida
nodded once more.
“Yeah. Thanks to the tumor, I was spared from being

imprisoned in that death game. My parents and the doctors
said that I would recover in no time for sure, that the tumor
was here to save my life. …But the world isn’t that kind, is it?
My brain tumor’s unreachable through surgery and although
I’m still continuing chemotherapy and radiation therapy, it
just wouldn’t go away. We’ve been together for a year and a
half now.”
Merida laughed and traced her fingertips around the temple of her
head as though searching inside of it.
Merida had collapsed near the tree where the stag beetle was
caught due to a brain illness, after all. That illness, a malignant tumor
or more simply, cancer, was no stranger to Yuuki and Ran. The risk of
lymphocytes in the blood undergoing a cancerous change increases
with the decline in immunity from an AIDS outbreak. Yuuki’s and
Ran’s regular checkups found no tumors as of yet, but not even
being contained in a cleanroom was sufficient for defending against
cells developing into tumors.
With her hand lowered, Merida leaned against the chair’s back and
looked up at the skies, a blur of blue and light yellow, as she
continued.
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“…I could never tell my parents, but I’ve been thinking
about this a little lately. About how if I’m going to die to this
tumor, I might as well be shut away in SAO… in Aincrad,
fighting along with everyone in the guild…”
“……!”
That took both Yuuki’s and Ran’s breaths away.
If she recalled correctly, «Aincrad» was where Sword Art Online

took place, the name of a gigantic castle floating in the sky. Roughly
ten thousand players were imprisoned there at the official launch
with the rules, «players cannot log out and their HP reaching zero will
cause them to die for real», imposed onto them. The number of
casualties had already exceeded three thousand in the year and a
half since. The death count was likely Japan’s, no, the world’s highest
when it came to incidents caused by a single individual.
Why do you wish for such a horrifying game of your own will—she
could not pose that question to Merida.
The survival rate for malignant brain tumors should be around

thirty percent on average. That meant roughly seventy percent of
those diagnosed would pass away within five years. A figure that far
exceeded SAO’s casualty rate of thirty percent.
“…That’s true.”
Ran murmured. Turning in surprise, she saw her elder sister’s

profile with its usual calmness, though with a light slightly stronger
than usual in her dark blue eyes.
“I might have thought the same as you if I had experienced

Sword Art Online’s beta test, Merida. Illness can only be
defended against, but monsters can be fought against with
our own strength.”
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Hearing that, Merida widened her two eyes with some
bewilderment before dropping her sight towards the empty plate on
the table. The plate shone pure white as though the crepe full of
cream that was on it was nothing but a lie.
“……Yeah. If I am to quietly die on a hospital bed like this…

I would rather choose to jump into SAO and die while fighting
for someone else’s sake if given the chance this very
moment. With that… maybe I’ll find a purpose to live…… I
figured……”
Translucent tears fell feebly onto the white plate, drop by drop.
They glittered beautifully in the sinking sun’s light and vanished after
their transient lives.
A purpose to live.
Those words tore deep into Yuuki’s heart.
She had never told her deceased parents or her elder sister, but
she had been constantly pondering over that same subject for a long
time now. Why did she live? What meaning was there in her life,
bringing anguish to her father and mother, and stress to her teachers
and friends in school; a life that would pass away before it matures
into an adult.
She still had no answer to that question. She might not find one
even in her final moments. However, Yuuki could not nod along to
Merida’s words. She took in breath after breath, willing the emotions
welling up from deep in her chest into words, before Ran’s hand
gently caressed her back. A shout burst from her mouth in that
instant.
“You mustn’t… you mustn’t, Merida! You can’t meet your

mother or father anymore if you do that. You mustn’t make
them sad… I mean… since…”
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You can meet them whenever you want. Unlike us.
It seemed those words that did not escape her mouth reached
Merida. Lifting her face damp with tears, she stared hard at Yuuki
with her big eyes and nodded with her lips forming a faint smile.
“…Nn… that’s right. Sorry for saying something so weird,

Yuuki, Ran.”
She rubbed her eyes several times with both hands like Yuuki
earlier and wiped her tears off. She showed a full, toothy smile and
continued in a lively voice.
“Don’t worry about it! I have the goal of carefully raising

Roy to become the champion of the next Bug Battle Ultimate
Tournament! Besides… it’s not like I can actually go to
Aincrad, realistically, anyway. SAO doesn’t work without a
Nerve Gear and connection access is restricted to the IPs the
current players use.”
Now that she mentioned it, after the Nerve Gears used by
everyone aside from the victims of the incident were forcibly
confiscated, she had never heard of anyone logging into SAO of their
own free will. Loosening the tension in her shoulders, Yuuki smiled
along.
“I’ll cheer you on at the tournament too. You have to win!”
“Leave it to me!”
Thumping her chest, Merida stretched vigorously and said

something that seemed to have just come to her mind.
“That’s right, Yuuki, Ran, do you play other VR games?”
Ran replied for Yuuki who had just put what remained of the crepe
into her mouth.
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“No, we started here and never went anywhere else.”
“Eeh, that’s such a waste, you can stand on one leg for so
long! I’m sure you will do great in practically any game in the
action genre…”
She met her elder sister’s glance at those words.
She knew there were VR games releasing one after another for the
AmuSphere in this one year. The MMORPG, «ALfheim Online», that
officially started at nearly the same time as Serene Garden seemed
quite popular with its concept of flying in the skies as a fairy, and
there were numerous others from the usual genres, such as a horror
shooting game where you fought against zombies or an action
adventure game where you explored ruins.
However, the thought of trying another game had never come up

with her elder sister, not even in their conversations. That was likely
due to that guilt from using the Medicuboid to «just play around».
Ran, who used a modified Nerve Gear provided free of charge,
probably felt likewise.
She mulled over how to explain that to Merida and Ran spoke with
a smile.
“We’re glad you would say so, but aren’t games for the
AmuSphere pretty expensive? We wouldn’t be able to afford
them with our allowances.”
That was technically the truth. Some time after their parents
passed away, the pair decided to reduce their allowances after
discussion. They intended to donate as much of the inheritance their
parents left behind to a NPO supporting children with terminal
diseases. They were hardly enticed to purchase some game costing
almost ten thousand yen.
However, Merida winked once and firmly shook her head.
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“Ah, that’s okay! There are now games out with free clients
that charge for items.”
“Eh… you mean, the game itself is free…!?”
A firm nod came this time as a reply to her startled questioning.
“YES! You only have to download and install the software

to play. It’ll cost money to buy support items or cool
equipment, but it’s not like I top-up either.”
“Ooh… what game is that?”
Ran asked in a surprisingly curious tone. Merida showed herself

gripping something at her left waist before swinging her right hand
onto the table with a whoosh.
“It’s been a while, but it’s a Japanese style MMO called,

«Asuka Empire». You become and fight as a samurai, a ninja,
or a miko. It’s nice with the scenery completely different
from SereGa… like ridiculously huge castles or super pretty
shrines.”
“…Fight…”
Yuuki unwittingly muttered.
It was only natural to fight in a game. However, she felt hesitation

towards fighting another player in a virtual world with swords, guns,
or other such weapons. Unlike some character displayed on a
monitor… the opponent was an avatar and at the same time, a real
person. She doubted she could seriously cut, shoot, or hit such an
opponent while knowing that.
However, Ran then voiced out more words that crossed her
expectations.
“That sounds fun, truly.”
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“Doesn’t it?!”
Merida leaned across the table with her eyes glittering.
“Hey, if you’re willing, how about taking a peek at Asuka?

I’ll bring you around!”
“I wonder…”
“I’ll take photos of you two dressed as miko and samurai!

I’m sure they’ll look great on both of you!”
“Let’s see…”
“Also, you can eat all the anmitsu, sweet red bean soup,
and warabimochi you want!”
“……!!”
Yuuki did not miss how Ran’s shoulders jerked. Her elder sister
loved red bean soup with mochi the most after their mother’s
homemade crepes and she could not have it not just in Serene
Garden but the hospital’s cafeteria as well.
In order to give a helping hand to her elder sister, torn between the
guilt of playing games, the longing for an unknown world, and the
temptation of red bean paste, Yuuki steeled her determination and
shouted.
“Let’s go, nee-chan, Merida’s even inviting us! I’m sure we

can get permission!”
With that, Ran looked at Yuuki, somewhat surprised, before

showing a rare pure smile and nodding.
“That’s right… let’s give it a try!”
“Yay!”
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Merida clapped her hands together loudly and glanced up at the
sky.
“Today… wouldn’t be possible, huh. I’ll mail instructions on

installing Asuka Empire to your SereGa account, so how
about one o’clock, tomorrow afternoon?”
“Yes, sure.”
Upon Ran’s nodding, she stood up energetically as her ponytail

bounced and extended her hands, both left and right.
“Yuuki, Ran, I’m really happy becoming friends with the

both of you. Let’s have fun together from now on!”
Blinded by that forthright gaze and those words, Yuuki stood up

along with her elder sister and firmly shook the hand of her first
friend in quite some time.
The next day, 12th May, was a Sunday.
The entire hospital felt a little quieter with the outpatient services
taking a break. That said, she felt that only when she was outside the
Medicuboid, undergoing an inspection or bathing.
As Yuuki could not utilize the shared bathrooms for the wards with
their high risk of infection, a special bathing unit in the form of a pod
was installed in the adjacent sterilized room. The bathtub portion was
insanely confined and it seemed more like being washed than
bathing, but still, it honestly felt good being able to wash her body
and head with hot water.
Though there was a super large bathhouse in Serene Garden, or

rather, something closer to a spa resort, the sensation of the hot
water differed from the real world as expected and besides, she was
reluctant to bare her body in front of others, even if it was limited to
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her avatar. That always made Ran tease her with a “you’re
thinking too much”, however.
Refreshed after her Sunday morning bathtime, Yuuki sterilized

herself fully before wearing a scrub in place of pajamas, returned to
the cleanroom, and then lay down on the Medicuboid prototype
number two’s high-density . Compared to prototype number one,
«MFT1», prototype number two, with its official name a cross
between “medical” and “cuboid”, was mainly in the form of a large
box as its name suggests. It seemed prototype number three, still in
development, would be even bigger, but Yuuki had no idea if she
would have the chance to see it.
Those thoughts came to her as she lay on the bed in a daze before
a faint voice surfaced from the depths of her mind.
—With that, maybe I’ll find a purpose to live…
A purpose to live.
Despite most of the elderly players participating in Serene Garden

becoming astonishingly active once they jump into a VR world of
their own will, she still hear pessimistic words from them at times.
—There is no cure, so I’m better off dead.
—Nothing good will happen, so what use is there in living?
Ran would encourage and cheer on such elderly whenever she met
with any. However, Yuuki found it hard to follow in her steps. After
all, a similar lack of meaning resided within herself.
Up until half a year ago, she could try her very best solely for the
purpose of not making her mother and father sad. No matter how
much it hurt, she would always stay cheerful before them. She
thought she could do anything if it could bring a smile to her papa
and mama whom she loved. However, they were no longer around.
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Her most-cherished elder sister still stayed by her side now. She
would never say or do anything to upset Ran. But—if, in the one-in-a-
million chance that Ran ended up where their parents were, leaving
Yuuki behind. She truly doubted she could find any purpose to live on
beyond that.
No, Ran would never leave Yuuki on her own. Ran would never die
as long as Yuuki lived, and likewise for the other way round.
The client for the VRMMO game, «Asuka Empire», was already
installed with Doctor Kurahashi’s permission—though he emphasized
on how her position as a Medicuboid tester had to be kept
secret—and she was done creating her avatar too. After confirming
the time, she laid her head down onto the headrest and manually
lowered the headgear portion.
Shutting her eyelids while listening to the faint whirl of the

machine, she recited the full-dive initialization command, the one
and only aspect shared with the Nerve Gear and AmuSphere.
“…Link start!”
Yuuki chose the newly added Asuka Empire icon from the
application startup launcher instead of the usual Serene Garden and
her consciousness began falling into a digital darkness.
A ring of light approached from where her feet pointed and upon
passing under it, light expanded within her vision.
She blinked once right as her two feet touched the ground. Elegant
shades of color sprang into her eyes after she raised her face.
Red, yellow, vermillion, with orange. Countless trees, their leaves

tinted in vivid hues and swaying in the breeze, surrounded her in the
rectangular space.
The sky was a transparent blue. White gravel covered the ground
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and made light creaks as she moved her feet. A shrine gate rose
ahead, dyed in red far deeper than the leaves, and the gravel road
reached out beyond it.
“…This certainly is quite a change from Serene Garden.”
She glanced towards her side at that voice and saw a girl standing
there dressed in a kimono with a plain but cute design. Though her
facial features differed subtly from both the real world and Serene
Garden, she knew it was Ran straight away from her hairstyle and
the quality of her voice. No other player could be seen around.
Yuuki nodded while confirming that the kimono she wore was of
the same design in a different color.
“It’s kind of like a ‘now this is Japan!’ feeling, huh?”
“Indeed. Your elder sister here is getting her hopes up

pretty high.”
“For the sweet red bean soup, you mean?”
“Naturally!”
They heard swift, light footsteps coming from the shrine gate’s
direction after their lighthearted conversation. The one who ran over,
mostly inclined forward, was a girl with a fluttering long ponytail.
Jumping up high after passing under the shrine gate, she

completed consecutive somersaults in the air and landed before the
pair’s eyes.
“Ooh!”
Yuuki and Ran clapped and the girl, settling down in her bright
green costume that seemed exactly like what a ninja would wear,
bowed as though she had just concluded a play. The character name,
[Merida], hovered above her head after staring at her for a bit. It
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was a function unavailable in Serene Garden.
“Sorry for the wait! Welcome to Asuka Empire!”
Raising her head, Merida lightly leaned back, as though impressed

by their avatars which were a little more dashing than yesterday’s,
the moment she saw them both.
“Yuuki, Ran, you’re both great at creating avatars! They

look so cute and it resembles your avatars in SereGa too.”
“O-Oh really… I only played around a little with the default

set, though…”
Answering so, Yuuki finally noticed something unfamiliar floating at

the top-left of her view.
Long, narrow bars in blue and green were lined up with one above
the other, and her name, [Yuuki], was displayed below them. As she
focused harder, the texts, [LP 350/350] and [SP 100/100], floated
within the blue and green bars respectively.
Likely guessing at what she saw from where she looked at, Merida
pointed with her index finger and spoke.
“If you haven’t played anything but SereGa, this must be

the first time you’re seeing those, huh? The green’s life
points, how much you can survive for. And the blue’s soul
points, it decreases when you use arts or skills. You’re still
«Novices», so both of you have the same values, but either of
those will shoot up after you do the initiation quest in the
town and decide on a class.”
“Hmm… What’s your class, Merida? Well, I can imagine

from your appearance, though.”
Ran asked and Merida grinned with her two hands forming
complex shapes one after another. Probably the so-called seals.
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“Hah!”
It ended with a yell. Merida’s body was enveloped in faint blue

smoke in that moment and vanished. Despite scanning around with
Ran, they found no trace of her. The sound of feet on gravel quietly
echoed out and Yuuki sensed a presence behind—just as she was
hugged tightly from behind.
“Caught you, Yuuki!”
Smoke rose once again with that voice and the two arms
embracing Yuuki appeared.
“Wah, I’m no stag beetle!”
She wriggled and Merida loosened her arms with a bright smile,
returning to where she had stood. Ran who had watched on amused
nodded while speaking.
“That is to say, you’re a ninja, aren’t you, Merida?”
“You got it! To be accurate, ninja’s the advanced class for

the thief, though. All new players are initiated as either a
«swordsman», a «thief», or an «spell user», classing up into
samurai, bowmaster, ninja, miko, or warrior monk, among
others.”
“Oooh… I wonder what should I be?”
“Such worries are what make MMOs fun!”
Grinning, Merida pointed towards the shrine gate.
“Now, let’s go! Asuka’s capital is that way!”
In the supposed setting for the game, Asuka Empire, the Yamato
dynasty that flourished in ancient Kinki had continued its rule for
over a thousand years.
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The capital, Kiyomihara, was an extensive castle town arranged in
a grid and it roughly covered three times as much area as Serene
Garden’s capital, Serenity.
Likewise, the maximum number of concurrent users connecting at

any one time was second after the most popular VRMMO, ALfheim
Online, and the capital on a Sunday afternoon was flooded with
players clad in Japanese clothing. Witnessing that many players
gathered together in a virtual world for the first time, Yuuki and Ran
silently stood still after passing under the large southern gate.
It was not purely due to their numbers. The energy filling the
virtual streets, its liveliness, or perhaps, chaos, was utterly different
from Serene Garden. The main streets which were no less than thirty
meters wide had groups in a bustling conversation or hostile
squabbles, as well as those with street stalls by the road’s sides.
“Fwah… there are so many people…”
Yuuki muttered and Merida tossed in an assenting “I know,

right?!”.
She continued, softer, while urging the sisters to start walking.
“Right after the SAO incident happened, everyone was

afraid of VR games and there were all of those regulations
formed regarding the full-dive technology… but I guess this
world has a certain «something» absent from those old
games, doesn’t it? Something that prevents you from ever
returning to a monitor and controller after experiencing it…”
Yuuki, too, understood what Merida was saying.
Though she did not know if she would continue to play Asuka
Empire from now on as well, her days would become much duller
should she be denied from entering Serene Garden. Chatting, eating
snacks, searching for harvestable items, and studying together with
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Ran… she reflected each day on her fortune in being able to
experience such times.
Thousands of players in Asuka Empire must regard it similarly

despite their different worlds. Not as a time sink for boredom, nor as
escapism from the real world. And the same must be true for Merida
too. It was because she found something here that she could push
herself to become a ninja, an advanced class.
However, Merida implied that she wished to return to Sword Art

Online at the crepe shop in Roite Village yesterday. She said she
might find a purpose to live if she did while her tears fell. Did that
mean Merida could not find what she truly sought here, in Asuka
Empire? In that case, what was different between Asuka Empire and
Sword Art Online, both which were similarly VRMMO games…?
“Look, there’s the «Initiation Point»!”
Yuuki woke up from her thoughts at Merida’s lively voice. She

looked and saw a noticeably larger, towering building with three
entrances.
“Yuuki, Ran, which do you want to become, swordsman,

thief, or spell user?”
“How are those three different?”
Merida politely answered Ran who was not very familiar with
games.
“Swordsmen go in front, fight with weapons or hand-to-

hand, and take on enemies’ attacks. Thieves move nimbly,
create disorder, and take care of other miscellaneous tasks.
Spell users attack and support with magic from the back… I
guess?”
“Hmm-hmm, I see.”
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Tilting her head in the direction Ran did, Yuuki, too, decided after a
mere five seconds of thought.
“Then I’ll be a swordsman!”
“I will go with a spell user.”
Merida giggled and smiled the moment she heard the pair’s
replies.
“I knew it’ll end up like that. Well then, go get the quest
from inside, Yuuki, you enter from the middle, and Ran, you
from the right. I’ll help out, so let’s get the initiation quest
over with quick!”
“Yeaah!”
Shouting with their right hands raised, Yuuki began running after
exchanging a nod with Ran.
The experience of fighting with a realistic monster by swinging a

weapon held in her own hands was quite something.
Though she ran away screaming whenever the rat the size of a
large dog charged at her at first, she grew to fight without getting
scared after realizing it did not hurt when she got bitten—aside from
mild discomfort—and no blood spilt when she slashed it—aside from
a spray of red light instead. Ran did exterminate the large rats with
practically no concern from the beginning instead, however.
Thanks to Merida’s cooperation as a proficient ninja, they finished

the whole five stages of the initiation quest in two hours, and Yuuki
and Ran successfully became a swordsman and spell user. When she
invited them for some food to celebrate, Ran’s immediate request
was, naturally enough, sweet red bean soup.
“Fwaaah…”
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Ran expressed her impression with an odd sound the moment the
lacquered soup bowls, vapor rising from them, were brought over.
“Amazing, it’s flawless, Merida. The charred mochi, the

granularity of the red bean paste, the accompanying salted
kombu, even the store’s atmosphere, it’s all absolutely
perfect.”
“…I-I’m glad you like it.”
“If only I knew there was such delicious sweet red bean
soup here, I would have been here ages ago…”
Muttering the thoughts true to her heart, she brought her two
hands together in prayer and picked up the lacquered chopsticks.
Yuuki waited for her elder sister to take a mouthful before bringing
the soup to her own mouth. A gentle sweetness and the azuki paste’s
flavor welled up, followed by the mochi’s aroma. Though her
fondness of it faltered behind her elder sister’s, it certainly tasted
good.
The trio finished their food with barely any conversation before
simultaneously letting out a sigh.
Ran lowered her chopsticks and sipped some tea before speaking.
“… It was really delicious. Thank you for bringing us here,

Merida.”
“I’m just as glad, hearing you say that.”
“Still… this Kiyomihara town is set where Asuka is in the

real world, isn’t it?”
“That’s right, why?”
Ran pointed towards the menu on the table at Merida tilting her
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head.
“«Sweet red bean soup» is called
mainly in the Kantou region.
It’s mainly in the Kantou region where the one using coarse red
bean paste is called «oshiruko». In Kansai, the one using coarse red
bean paste is called «zenzai» and the one using strained red bean
paste is called «oshiruko».”
“Ooh?! Then the one using strained bean paste is «zenzai»

in Kantou?”
“Regarding that, both of them are called «oshiruko» in

Kantou and «zenzai» refers to the coarse red bean paste
without any sap placed on mochi or shiratama.”
“Oooh! I’m from Tokyo, but I didn’t know. So, that means
this shop is Kantou-styled since they delivered coarse red
bean paste when ordering oshiruko…?”
Ran solemnly shook her head towards Merida who appeared

impressed.
“No, that is still unconfirmed. It may be the reverse as you

have said, Merida, and…”
Struck with inspiration there, Yuuki peeked into her elder sister’s
face while shouting.
“Ah, I get it! You’re saying all that, but actually, you just
want to order zenzai here as well, don’t you!”
“Ehehe, you realized, huh?”
Merida smiled happily upon seeing Ran stick out her tongue.
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Though the additional order of «zenzai» was neither strained red
bean paste nor without sap but coarse red bean paste with chestnut,
the trio unanimously found it delicious and gobbled it up, exiting the
shop only after the sun had went down quite a bit.
“Aah, I wonder if I can eat dinner after finishing off two

bowls of sweet red bean soup at this late…”
Merida grumbled while rubbing her stomach.
“It’s strange, isn’t it, how you really become full despite it
just being food in a virtual world.”
“No kidding…” Yuuki nodded deeply and spoke.
“I hear that it’s because the full-dive machine stimulates

mastication center a whole lot when eating that it causes the
linked satiety center to get tricked.”
“Ooh… wait, I’ve been getting impressed over and over

again since earlier! You’re way more knowledgeable than me,
aren’t you, Yuuki, Ran?”
“Nah, I’m just repeating what I was taught.”
Merida showed a face like waking from a dream for a brief instant
upon seeing Yuuki narrow her shoulders. She must have noticed that
the one who «taught» Yuuki was not a teacher in a school but the
physician attending to her in the hospital.
Leaving the cafe for traditional Japanese sweets, in an obscure

spot like the crepe shop yesterday, the trio walked side-by-side
through the deserted back streets. The clogs of plain wood Ran wore
clip-clopped over the stone paving, producing a forlorn noise.
Merida spoke in a slightly lower voice after a short while.
“I see… Your doctor recognizes full-dive, huh, Yuuki?”
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“Yeah…”
Rather than just recognizing it, Doctor Kurahashi was the one who
recommended Yuuki to become a tester for the Medicuboid she now
used. It appeared he, who was still a young man, held big hopes for
the full-dive technology in regards to end-of-life care. However, Yuuki
could not talk with Merida regarding that due to her current
obligation for confidentiality.
“…What about yours, Merida?”
She asked back and those shoulders covered in an ash green ninja
outfit shriveled a little.
“Mine… isn’t too receptive, I guess? I had to ask over and

over again to register an account for SereGa too… It looks
like he doesn’t believe in any connection between palliative
care through VR and the improvement of QoL.”
QoL was an abbreviation for quality of life and palliative care aims
to soften one’s societal worries, both in a physical and mental sense,
to improve one’s QoL. AmuSphere possess the ability to cancel bodily
sensations and can intercept a certain level of suffering from illness,
so there were loud voices pushing for it as a replacement for
painkillers which cause side effects or dependency.
However, on the other hand, patients in a full-dive state appeared

no different from someone bedridden from the outside, so there a
firmly rooted opinion questioning whether that could be considered
an improvement to one’s quality of life. Merida’s attending physician
must be of that mind.
Yuuki still did not know who was correct. Serene Garden and Asuka
Empire were both captivating worlds and she thought the time spent
there with Ran to be extremely precious, but she had practically no
chance left to come into contact with Aiko in the real world. She
might had been happier, staying with her elder sister physically
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throughout the day, entering neither virtual worlds nor the
cleanroom… that thought did occur to her once in a blue moon.
Ran opened her mouth in place of Yuuki who looked downwards,

stuck in her thoughts.
“…I believe it is unavoidable that the full-dive technology

has a bad reputation now with the SAO incident still
unresolved. But… I wish to believe in the potential this world
holds. We only met you, Merida, because Serene Garden was
there and I’m sure we will meet many more people from now
on too. Even if we are only connected through virtual
worlds… I believe our feelings are real.”
“Nn…… that is, true.”
Merida placed her had on her own chest and nodded.
“I’m happy I got to meet you two too, Yuuki, Ran. I will
always remember the time spent with you both in my heart…
not in my avatar, but in the real me.”
Despite Merida’s bright tone, the word, remember, left an

oppressive, depressing echo in the alley at sunset.
She said she had continued treatment for her brain tumor for a
whole year. She must have been pondering on how much time she
had left since then. That was exactly why Merida was seeking a
purpose to her life in virtual worlds.
“…I’m glad too.”
Muttering so, Yuuki raised her right hand and gently grasped
Merida’s left hand as they walked beside each other.
“I have distanced myself from everyone but nee-chan in

Serene Garden ever since I started. I was scared of hurting
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others or getting hurt… –But yesterday, Merida, you went
ahead and came crashing straight at us. That was why we
became friends so quickly, wasn’t it?”
Merida widened her eyes for a moment there before showing a full
smile and firmly gripping Yuuki’s hand back.
“Thanks, Yuuki! I’m really happy you said that! …But

yesterday might have been just because my mind was filled
with thoughts about the stag beetle…”
“That’s no different from us, Yuuki and I had our minds

filled with thoughts about crepes or sweet red bean soup
too.”
Ran spoke while holding onto Merida’s right hand, throwing all
three into loud laughter. Yuuki felt a comforting breeze blow through
her chest as they laughed on and on.
It did not matter whether they were in the real world or a virtual
one if they could laugh like this.
She wanted to laugh much, much more, as much as she could,

with the time she had left. She wanted to be able to crash into
someone else again by her own impulse like what Merida had done
for her.
Yuuki made that strong wish for the first time since she was
hospitalized–no, since she transferred in elementary school.
“Now that I think about it, it’s almost your birthday, isn’t
it?”
As Doctor Kurahashi removed the stethoscope and suddenly said

so, Yuuki unconsciously shifted her sight towards the bottom-right.
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However, there was no time display window in the real world and
there could not have been a calendar hung on the cleanroom’s walls,
so she asked with upturned eyes.
“Erm… what day in May was it today?”
Kurahashi smiled beyond the cleanroom suit’s thick mask at that.
“It’s the sixteenth. Both of you, Konno Yuuki-kun and Aiko-

kun, were born on the twenty-third, weren’t you?”
“Yes, we were.”
Yuuki secured the buttons on the scrub made from anti-dust

material while nodding and Kurahashi spoke in a contemplative tone
after a short pause.
“So you’re turning fourteen too, aren’t you, Konno Yuuki-

kun… You sure have grown…”
“Eh… personally, I wish I grew a little taller.”
“Hahaha, don’t worry, you still have more to go.”
After laughing kindly, Kurahashi pat Yuuki’s head, stroked it, and
stood up.
“Then, I’ll see you again next week.”
“Yes, see you, doctor.”
Accompanying Kurahashi until the door to the sterilized room

closed, she lay down on the gel bed.
She was admitted to General Hospital Kouhoku immediately after

her birthday the year before last, so this made it two years. Yuuki
spent over half of that time in this cleanroom.
Until a little while ago, she had the desire to chase after Doctor
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Kurahashi after their weekly consultation and leap out to confirm if
the real world still existed as it did–she was driven by that impulse.
However, she seemed to have become barely conscious of herself
being shut away in this off-white locked room these days.
That must be because she came into contact with so many players
in the new world she jumped into on Merida’s invitation five days
ago. Despite them only close enough to exchange niceties and a
word or two in the streets or fields, she could still sense their
enthusiasm. Even with the SAO incident, there were still many
enjoying VR games in the world, giving birth to new adventures and
stories each day.
She shifted her head onto the headrest while lying on the gel bed.
She lowered the headgear, determined to make this the day she
class changed into an advanced class, and shut her eyelids.
“Jaruooon!”
A demon-type monster, likely over three meters tall, swung its

brusque war sword with a strange roar. A bluish-black light effect
emitted from the two horns extending through its stiff, disheveled
hair and enveloped the massive blade.
“Yuu, skill incoming!”
Shouting back—
“Leave it to me, nee-chan!”
—to Ran, Yuuki raised her own katana straight, above her head.
The last boss of the advancement quest, «Akuro Ou» *, was a

tough opponent with a wide variety of five area-of-effect offensive
skills in the tachi line. They would suffer the splash damage
spreading out afterwards if they simply avoided its attacks and be
incapable of shifting to counterattacking.
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As the «tank», the swordsman’s role is to take on as many attacks
as possible rather than dodge them. For Yuuki, whose stats were still
low as she was still in the initial class, she could only match them by
launching her own skills rather than simply defending against them
with her weapon.
She had to time it within the split second between Akuro Ou first
swinging its war sword down and the moment that skill causes
damage.
Widely opening her two eyes, she held her breath, and glared at
the enemy’s tachi. Along with what sounded like a shrill buzzing, the
enemy’s movement slowed down bit by bit. She slipped into this
state at times recently when she focused as hard as she could. It was
in that instant when the gigantic war sword finished «charging» and
began moving.
——Now!!
Shouting out in her mind, Yuuki stomped her left foot onto the
ground.
In Asuka Empire, a system called «Ground Circle» was used to

activate skills or spirit spells. By stepping down hard with one’s
weapon at ready, icons for usable skills or spells would be displayed
at one’s feet in a ring and those would activate after being chosen
with a second step.
At the start, she had to temporarily drop her gaze to the ground
and confirm it visually if she wanted to step on the desired icon, but
lately, she became capable of selecting them without looking.
“Yaaaaahh!”
Letting out a yell that finally sounded good after all those other
times, she stepped on the icon with her right foot and simultaneously
jumped with all her might. The katana gleamed orange as the anti-air
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type skill, «Himukai», activated.
“Jajaaah!!”
Akuro Ou let out its second roar. However, Yuuki’s anti-air skill had
already made a fierce blow on the war sword by then. The orange
glint tore at the bluish-black effect and dispersed it. With its war
sword solidly repelled, Akuro Ou’s huge frame leaned backwards.
“Now, nee-chan, Merida!”
The moment Yuuki cried out while falling, white strips of

paper—Ran’s «charms»—flew forth and stuck onto Akuro Ou’s brow.
The charms shone and deployed a complex, three-dimensional magic
circle, inducing huge explosions.
Three silhouettes ran about the feet of the boss monster, groaning
as it staggered, at breakneck speed and ninja swords carved in
countless gashes. It was Merida’s body shadow offensive skill. The
boss’s LP bar fell like a flash with several pixels remaining.
There, Akuro Ou recovered from the delay it suffered from having

its skill interrupted and at the same time, Yuuki’s cooldown time
ended. Setting the katana at her left waist, she stepped down once
more. The very moment she sensed the Ground Circle appearing, she
stomped straight down on the icon placed in front with her right foot.
“Haaaa——!”
The long range of the iai-type skill, «Suminagi», struck the boss’s
weak point, the horns on its brow, and slashed them off. With its LP
bar finally reaching zero, Akuro Ou scattered into all directions as
blue flames.
The trio’s cheers blended together with the victory music

announcing the end of the battle that had continued for over twenty
minutes.
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Having reported the quest completion to a NPC at Kiyomihara and
class changed with joy to a «samurai» and a «miko», Yuuki and Ran
gazed at each other’s entirely changed outfits upon exiting the
building. Those were flashy clothes that suited a RPG well,
completely different from the plain ones they normally wore in
Serene Garden, and they laughed together with a nihihihi out of both
happiness and embarrassment before a familiar voice descended
from above.
“Yuuki, Ran, congratulations on your class change!”
They looked up and there Merida was, waving her hand while
sitting on the building’s extensive eaves. Nimbly jumping down with
a single somersault in the air, she landed before the pair.
“Good work, both of you. Reaching an advanced class in

five days is pretty fast!”
“It’s because you helped us out for hours every day,

Merida. Thank you.”
With Ran replying so with a smile, Yuuki added on a “Thanks!” as

well. Merida shook her head, embarrassed.
“No, I’m the one who invited you to Asuka, so I should be

doing that much at least… I mean, I had lots of fun too. I
rarely play in a party.”
As her knowledge on Asuka Empire had increased by quite a bit

over these five days, Yuuki already knew Merida’s class, ninja, was
said to be the most geared towards solo play even among all of the
advanced classes. And she could imagine the reason for that choice
too.
By registering those you meet through playing in a party as friends

or taking a step further and entering a guild would likely increase the
chance of conversations shifting beyond the game. Having the
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subject ending up as life in the real world would be equivalent to
being forced into a difficult choice for Yuuki, Ran, and Merida. They
could explain the facts, that they were hospitalized with severe
illness and played VR games as a part of palliative care or they could
dodge the question. Others would treat them differently if they went
clean and lying was just as distressing.
Five days ago, Yuuki wished to become capable of crashing

straight into someone else like Merida did. But that was no simple
task. Even Merida herself must be fighting against the wall in her
heart that she built up herself.
Ran lightly pat Yuuki’s back that had slumped over without her
notice.
“Let’s go, Yuu, Merida wanted to celebrate our class

change.”
“Eh, ah… yeah! Then I’ll vote for that shop from the other
time!”
“Okay! There are still lots more tasty dishes there!”
Merida showed a full grin, stood up, and led them.
Yuuki, Ran, and Merida finished the cream anmitsu, kuzumochi,

and green tea parfait they respectively ordered while exchanging
morsels, sipped their hot tea, and sighed deeply as one.
“Ah, what bliss… Japanese sweets and green tea, no other

combination could be any better…”
Yuuki mutely nodded, agreeing with Ran who had murmured with
both eyes closed. Though crepe went well with coffee, black tea, and
milk, they were no match for the pairing of sweets made with red
bean paste and green tea.
“Speaking of great combinations, you sisters are amazing,
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Ran, Yuuki. Your breathing during battle are totally in sync, I
can’t believe you’re supposed to be newbies at VRMMOs.”
As Merida suddenly said that, she exchanged glances with her

elder sister and they both shrugged at the same time.
“I-I’m just swinging my katana in front, it’s nee-chan who’s

matching my timing, so…”
Or so Yuuki uttered—
“I am only using my spells from behind, so I can watch how

Yuu moves and…”
—at the exact time Ran did, making Merida burst into laughter
upon hearing them.
“Look, you’re way too in sync! Well, that’s not the only
thing amazing, though. Both of you can use skills without
looking at your feet, right? It took around a month before I
could do that!”
“That’s, well… this Asuka Empire is our first VRMMO. As

you have experience from other games before this, Merida, it
was tough switching over, wasn’t it? Or do all VRMMOs share
the same battle system?”
Ran asked and Merida first nodded her head with a smile before
shaking it.
“Ah, there was that, maybe… The battle system was

completely different.”
Glancing around, she confirmed the cafe for traditional Japanese

sweets was devoid of other players, and then continued softly.
“There was no magic and you could fight only with

weapons in Sword Art Online as its name suggest, but the
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skills… the «sword skills» would activate just by getting in the
right posture and unlike Asuka, the skills aren’t only one-
hit.”
“Not just one-hit…?”
She tilted her head, unable to imagine the meaning of those words,
and Merida held the long and narrow spoon for the parfait in her right
hand and agilely moved it vertically twice and horizontally once.
“Yep. In other words, they’re «consecutive hit skills». You

can keep swinging your katana with normal, non-skill attacks
in Asuka too, but the weight in SAO was totally different. By
putting your weapon in the right pose and activating the
sword skill, your body would partially move on its own, you
see… your sword would fly everywhere and swing three, four
times at an absurd speed. You have to ready your katana,
step down to open the circle, and step down again on the
icon before you can finally let out a one-hit skill when
fighting in Asuka, so it might have felt sluggish at the start…
half of the reason for changing into a ninja might had been
because I got to move around faster with a lighter body
whenever I felt like that.”
Neither Yuuki nor Ran could ask Merida, “What was the other
half?”, after she spoke with a bright smile. Instead, they laughed
alongside her.
“Ahaha, you certainly can’t stay still at all, Merida. I would

see you somewhere there and a second later, you would end
up here.”
Merida replied Ran’s comment with a “‘Twere naught but the

fundamentals of a ninja!” before her expression settled down. She
slowly blinked as though recalling the boss battle and opened her
mouth once more.
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“…You see, what I really think is amazing, Yuuki, Ran, is
your foresight. Especially so for Yuuki today… you completely
saw through the «pattern» for Akuro Ou’s area of effect skill
at the end, didn’t you? There are barely any even among the
top players who can thwart a boss’s stronger skills for over
ten times straight. It was no coincidence you managed to
catch that Royal Triton Stag Beetle in Serene Garden, was
it?”
Yuuki’s mouth hung open upon being told those unexpected words.
It had always been her elder sister who got the praises at these
times. Ran always won, be it at marks on a test, skill at drawing, or
foot races. That should have been no different in virtual worlds. Yuuki
could think of only one possibility why she appeared more amazing
than Ran in Merida’s eyes. The difference in specifications between
the Nerve Gear her elder sister used and the Medicuboid prototype
number two she used.
“N… no, you’re wrong, Merida.”
Shaking her head in a daze, Yuuki spoke out.
“Actually, I hadn’t been using an AmuSphere…”
But she choked there.
Doctor Kurahashi had told her to keep quiet about being a tester
for the Medicuboid when she was going to Asuka Empire.
Yuuki could say nothing to Merida who awaited the continuation

with an astonished expression and the one who saved her out of that
silence was, as usual, Ran.
She began with a calm, gentle “You see…”.
“…Merida. Forgive us for keeping quiet about it until now.
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As Yuu mentioned, we are not using AmuSpheres. We use
modified Nerve Gears prepared by our doctor in the
hospital.”
Yuuki knew she could only explain so. But that was half falsehood.
Prototype number one was still fine, but number two that Yuuki now
used could hardly be called a modified Nerve Gear.
Yuuki strongly regretted making her elder sister lie due to her own
careless prattle. She gripped her hands tight atop her lap and her
elder sister’s fingertips gently caressed those fists. As though
insisting it was fine.
Merida showed no sign of noticing the exchange between the

sisters under the table. Her eyes grew large and she murmured in a
barely audible voice.
“Nerve Gear…”
After blinking numerous times, she continued in a voice still rough.
“By modified, you mean it’s safe…?”
“Yes… or so I have heard. The battery’s capacity was

reduced, a limiter was inserted, and it can’t release any
dangerous radio waves, they said. As the hospital decided to
assertively adopt VR for palliative care, they prepared them
for Yuu and me.”
“I… see…”
Perhaps finally sobering from her surprise, Merida nodded twice or

thrice before speaking.
“…True, I also felt the response rate of the AmuSphere to

be a little slower than the Nerve Gear when I first used it and
the sensations didn’t seem as clear too… but you can’t fight
like that thanks to the machine’s specifications alone. Yuuki,
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Ran, both of you really are amazing.”
No one could argue any further against her grin.
Merida showed an even larger smile upon seeing the sisters

silenced with complicated expressions on.
“Anyway, once again, congratulations on changing classes!

If you still have time, let’s go take some photos at the
imperial palace. The advanced gear looks super good on both
of you!”
“Yeah, you are right, let’s go!”
Ran energetically nodded in her miko outfit and Yuuki finally got
back her smile.
That day, they had a photo shoot at the entrance to the gorgeous
palace where «Mikado» lived, taking commemorative
screenshots—though the concept of «screens» was absent from VR
worlds—before dispersing.
Yuuki, Ran, and Merida continued having fun, playing in Asuka

Empire from then on. At times, they returned to Serene Garden to
watch over the stag beetle’s growth and to eat crepes at that secret-
ish cafe. Though Merida had around two more vertigo attacks, she
never lost her usual bright smile.
The fulfilling times passed all too quickly and it became evening on
the twenty-first of May, two days before Yuuki’s and Ran’s fourteenth
birthdays.
The pair was approached with an utterly unexpected proposal from

Merida.
“Mundane as usual, isn’t it? You should at least configure
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walls or a ceiling.”
Appearing in Yuuki’s «room», her private VR space, Ran looked

around before speaking in an exasperated tone.
The only ones allowed within this room constructed in the

Medicuboid prototype number two’s main memory were currently
Yuuki and Ran. That was if it could even be called a room, however,
with no fixed objects aside from a bleak bed and several windows
haphazardly floating about the surrounding darkness.
Half of the windows showed the various status information

regarding the Medicuboid and the remaining displayed random
television and news websites. The largest window in front reflected
the interior of the cleanroom as seen by the cameras equipped on
number two in real-time and served as a peeking window for the real
world from the virtual world.
Lying down on the hard floor in pajamas, Yuuki looked up at Ran,

similarly clothed, as she replied.
“This is fine! If I customize this place all realistic like our

house in Serene Garden, I think I’ll lose track of whether I’m
in reality or a virtual world!”
Patting the space beside herself with her palm, she continued with
what she thought more important.
“Nee-chan, how about singing that for the first time in a

while?”
“Yeah, yeah, you are one spoiled child, aren’t you, Yuu.”
Ran was sitting with proper posture as she smiled and Yuuki placed
her head on her lap, shutting her eyes. Just as she loosened the
strength throughout her body, a tender hand caressed her head as a
hushed voice sang on.
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It was a lullaby by Mother Goose named “Hush, Little Baby”.
One their mother often sang for them. Though the strange lyrics
involved buying all sorts of queer items for a baby, like a mirror, a
billy goat, or a horse and cart, she loved that about them.
Though her avatar’s voice was synthesized using samples from the
real world like her face, it hardly sounded off. The gentle voice’s song
spread out like ripples and filled the space lacking walls or a ceiling.
So hush little baby, don’t you cry,
Daddy loves you and so do I.
Daddy loves you and so do I. *
Concluding the lullaby with that repeated final verse, Ran

continued stroking her head for a bit.
With how the time was passing ten o’clock as well, Yuuki wavered
between wakefulness and slumber, and Ran flicked a finger at her
forehead.
“Come on, Yuu, don’t fall asleep. We still have yet to

discuss our main topic.”
“Snore… ah, that’s right…”
Putting her all into lifting her dropping eyelids, she lifted herself up
with an oof. Sitting opposite her elder sister, she murmured with her
arms crossed.
“Yeaah…… —What shall we do, nee-chan?”
Not even Ran with her usual lightning-quick decisiveness had an

immediate answer this time.
The suggestion Merida suddenly gave that evening. Her desire to

visit Yuuki and Ran two days later, on the twenty-third, and to
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celebrate their birthdays. Of course, not in a virtual world, but at
Yokohama General Hospital Kouhoku in the real world.
Merida was admitted to a hospital in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward, so it

would not even take an hour by car. Her family would naturally be
accompanying her and there was no real issue for Merida.
However, Yuuki and Ran could not immediately say that they
would warmly welcome her. After all, even if she bothered to come,
Yuuki could not meet with Merida in person due to the Medicuboid’s
confidentiality and neither could she explain why.
She was extremely happy Merida would come to the hospital even
if she could not meet with her directly. Even if only Ran could meet
with her, it would be pure bliss hearing about it later on.
But what if Merida could not accept it when told “you cannot
meet with Yuuki”…? What if it meant her losing her first friend
made in such a long time…?
“……Let’s believe in Merida.”
Ran broke the long silence so.
“Nee-chan… but…”
“If it’s Merida, I’m sure she will understand even if we tell
her that she cannot meet with you due to your
circumstances, Yuu. I don’t believe she definitely won’t
become angry due to that. Besides… if Merida brings along
her AmuSphere and dives in with me from my hospital room,
she can come here, can’t she?”
“Eh, y-you’re calling her hereee!?”
She unwittingly shouted out and Ran nodded with a mischievous

look.
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“I’m sure Merida will be glad, too, if we have a birthday
party in your room, Yuu.”
“Y-Yeah… guess I’ll customize it to be a bit more girly…”
Yuuki scanned through the dark space that practically screamed

virtual reality as she murmured and Ran pat her shoulder before
standing up.
“You better hurry, then. You only have until the day after
tomorrow. —Not that I will be helping, though.”
“Eeeeh~~”
“You simply have to do as you like, Yuu, I am sure Merida

will prefer that. Well, I should be getting back about now.
Shall I tell Merida that she’s welcomed?”
“…Yeah!”
Yuuki stood up as well and nodded with force. Rather than

shrinking away due to her fear over hurting or getting hurt, she
would crash straight into it. Merida herself taught her to do so.
Ran left after bidding good night and Yuuki took yet another look
around her own virtual room. A birthday party would need a few
more tables and chairs. And more importantly, walls and a ceiling.
Even if it would be reset in a single day, she would still put her
heart into the remodeling, to make her precious friend feel welcome.
Deciding so, Yuuki turned towards the configuration window that had
been exposed all this while.
Thursday, 23rd May, 2 PM.
Merida arrived at Yokohama General Hospital Kouhoku in a car

driven by her mother.
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Merida was on a wheelchair as her legs were paralyzed from the
brain tumor’s effects, but apparently, she had her mother wait in the
hospital’s cafe and moved to Ran’s private room on the eighth floor
on her own. The large tote bag she brought along contained two
packages, their birthday presents, and an AmuSphere, and the plan
was for her to dive into Yuuki’s private VR room with Ran from her
bed.
But—
Neither Yuuki nor Ran noticed what Merida kept deep in her heart.
Settling her business in the toilet before the dive, Ran return to her
private room to see a handwritten letter on her bed and Merida who
was already in full-dive beside it. On her head, suffering from hair
loss as a side effect from the anticancer drugs, was not the
AmuSphere she brought along, but Ran’s Nerve Gear.
The letter that started with a sincere apology to Ran and Yuuki and
noted down Merida’s true feelings and that the game card for
“Sword Art Online” was inserted into the Nerve Gear’s slot.
“Eh……!”
Informed of the course of events by Ran who appeared at the

cutely customized VR room alone, Yuuki needed several seconds
before she understood the situation.
Merida was not using the AmuSphere she brought along but Ran’s
Nerve Gear. That was because—she could not run “SAO” on an
AmuSphere. In other words, Merida’s diving was done not on impulse
but premeditated from the very beginning as she had brought the
card for SAO. She had leapt into that virtual world, a true death
game, by her own will.
Ran’s Nerve Gear was modified with safety measures such as a

battery of a smaller capacity or a limiter. But the Nerve Gear
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normally used a power cable. The socket in the wall provided
sufficient power to destroy the wearer’s brain when the player’s HP
hits zero in SAO. They very well could not test on Merida if the limiter
could do its job.
“Hey… nee-chan! We have to hurry and take Merida’s

Nerve Gear off!”
Yuuki felt as though the virtual temperature had taken a steep dive
while she shouted and Ran quickly shook her head in return.
“We can’t… we can’t take the risk removing it by force from

the outside.”
“Why!? Your Nerve Gear’s battery was made smaller,

wasn’t it, if we plug it out from the source, there shouldn’t
be any dangerous radio waves…”
“Merida has a tumor in her brain. There may be adverse

effects if it’s exposed to abnormal levels of radio waves for
even an instant. We cannot remove it by force by our own
judgement alone.”
“Then, let’s hurry and call for a doctor…!”
Throwing a childish tantrum towards her elder sister who remained

cool despite the situation, Yuuki shouted with all she had.
However, Ran still would not concede. Instead, she placed her
hands on Yuuki’s two shoulders and whispered as though to calm her
down.
“I believe we should do so too. But give me some time

before that, just five… no, three minutes will be enough.”
“Three minutes… for what?”
Yuuki asked back and Ran replied while staring hard into her eyes.
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“We should still make it in time. Come with me, Yuu.”
Summoning a door that doubled as an application launcher to the

VR room, Yuuki stepped through with Ran and narrowed her eyes at
the flood of bright sunlight.
Eastern part of Serene Garden, Roite Village. Now in a green one

piece dress, Ran wildly ran through the central plaza while a small
NPC band played a tranquil BGM and players sitting on benches
conversed harmoniously. Yuuki, too, followed in a hurry.
She could not even guess where her elder sister was headed or
why they came to Serene Garden in the first place. Wasn’t Merida
already on the floating castle, Aincrad, where Sword Art Online took
place? There could not possibly be a gate to SAO from Serene
Garden.
However, Ran continued running without hesitation and passed

under the village’s gate before exiting into the verdant hills that
unfolded, the fields of Teal Hills. Though she ran on the brick paved
path for a bit, she eventually left towards the left and charged
straight through the green grasslands.
Yuuki only realized where her elder sister was headed and the
reason for that after crossing numerous knolls and seeing a small
glistening surface of blue water ahead.
Posts surrounded the pond of twenty meters across with a single

tree standing by its side.
This was where Yuuki caught that Royal Triton Stag Beetle.
And where they first met Merida.
Yuuki’s two eyes opened wide and caught sight of a petite

silhouette squatting at the tree’s roots. The green ponytail shook in
the wind and glittered in the light.
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Running past her elder sister towards the pond’s bank in a daze,
Yuuki cried out a name just as the silhouette stood up.
“——Merida!!”
Shock ran through her friend’s expression as she turned about

before that crumbled into one that seemed conflicted between crying
and smiling. The voice that called out both of their names
reverberated more feebly than any she had heard before.
“……Yuuki. …Ran.”
Yuuki gradually slowed down and stood still a short way from
Merida. Ran reached her side before long.
Why had Merida dived into Serene Garden despite wearing the
Nerve Gear in an attempt to head towards SAO? The reason lay at
Merida’s feet.
An insect cage with its lid left open and an azure blue stag beetle
stopped atop that. Raised several times larger than when they first
saw it, the stag beetle slowly moved its antenna as if questioning its
owner.
Following Yuuki’s gaze downwards, Merida spoke with a smile that

would belong on a child holding back tears.
“……Roy just wouldn’t fly away, you see. I originally wanted

to return it to you, Yuuki, but insects can’t be given to others
after their owner was decided… so I thought you might catch
it again someday if I let it go here……”
Something hot felt stuck in Yuuki’s chest the moment she noticed
the big drops collecting in Merida’s eyes while saying that in her
hoarse voice. Ran replied from her side, sounding as though she was
holding tears back as well.
“Roy won’t run away. You took such good care of it, day
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after day, Merida. It’ll definitely win the tournament for you,
too. So… let’s go back together with Roy, Merida. No one else
knows about this yet, it’s just Yuu and me.”
She finally understood why her elder sister did not inform Doctor
Kurahashi of the situation after hearing those words.
Even if the Nerve Gear was taken off from Merida’s head by

Kurahashi’s judgement, as a doctor, he had to let her mother know.
That would mean a stop to her receiving VR palliative care through
the AmuSphere and she would never be able to dive into Serene
Garden or Asuka Empire again. Ran had bet on the possibility of
persuading Merida here to avoid that end.
After taking in a deep breath, Yuuki hurled words filled with all her
emotions at her close friend.
“…Please, Merida, don’t go to SAO. I want to adventure

more with you, Merida. I want to travel more, to visit more
with you. So… so…!”
Nevertheless, Merida slowly lowered her eyes and forced her words
out, one after another.
“…I’m sorry, Yuuki. I’m sorry, Ran. I know it’s your

birthdays, but I’m still being a huge bother… I’m really sorry.
I won’t ask for you to forgive me. But… I… I still have to……”
Her two shoulders under her shirt quivered as they filled with
strength. Her strained voice, transient as fragile glass, stream across
the grassy plains at afternoon.
“…I saw it on the news a while back. The police are

planning to forcibly remove the Nerve Gears from the SAO
incident’s victims country-wide. But I don’t think force will
work. There will definitely be many sacrifices…”
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It was a little more than ten days ago when her elder sister showed
her that article on that knoll near here. Ran had spoken of that same
concern Merida voiced out then.
“…I mentioned, didn’t I, that in SAO, there were several

members of the guild I was in during the beta test. I should
have been in the official release too. I, alone, was saved
because they spotted my disease… but actually, that had
always, always hurt me. If… if I could enter Aincrad, even
now, I could use what life I had left for everyone’s sake; I’ve
always thought so. If I could… I may have been able to leave
behind a purpose that I lived for……”
“……Merida…”
Yuuki took a step forward as she called her name. However, Merida
violently shook her head while retreating. Her scattered tear drops
gleamed golden as the sunlight reflected off them.
“…Please, Yuuki, Ran. Let me go to Aincrad. There are SAO

victims in this hospital as well, so I can pass the IP address
filter. My parents may become sad, but I think they will
understand. I… I want to find one. A purpose for being born
into this world…!”
Her fervent monologue suffused into the breeze crossing the

grassy plains and dispersed into the virtual atmosphere.
Merida said the same on the day they first met. And once again,
Yuuki could find no words in return. She wanted to find a purpose for
her life—Yuuki, too, hid that wish within herself.
Yuuki stood still and Ran advanced from her side without a sound.
She slowly crouched down and gently scooped Roy up from the
insect cage with her left hand. Softly caressing the glossy forewings
of the stag beetle that stayed meekly on her palm, she calmly spoke
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up.
“There are many, many reasons for you to live on here in

Serene Garden, in Asuka Empire, and in the real world too.
You were the one who raised Roy up so splendidly, and you
were the one who brought Yuu and me to that new world. I
know you will find many more in the future as well.”
“………”
Merida stared hard at Ran and the stag beetle on her palm with her
two eyes brimming with large tears.
Her mouth formed a faint smile before soon—and the slightly older
girl spoke.
“It would make me very happy if the both of you felt like
you’ve gotten anything from me. But… what I truly want
cannot be found here, in Asuka, or even in the real world. I…
want to fight. I don’t want to just wait for my end on a
hospital bed… I want to fight against something bigger than
illness… like fate, or the world, and have my life burn out at
the end of that. So… please, Ran. Let me go.”
“………Merida……”
Yuuki knew upon hearing her elder sister’s whisper.
Ran… Aiko possessed an «empathy» far stronger than Yuuki did.

She had the strength to accompany them through their suffering and
anguish, to understand them, and to accept them—
As such, Ran could sympathize even with Merida’s current

sentiments. She would be swayed into wanting to grant her wishes.
But.
——But.
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If she let Merida go here, Ran would most certainly suffer far worse
afterwards. She would regret her words, her choices, and be forced
to continue shouldering an unredeemable sin.
So, Yuuki had to open her mouth now. She could not leave
everything to her elder sister like always; she had to make Merida
give up with her own words and intent.
Gripping her two hands tightly enough to shake her very core,
Yuuki shouted.
“……Merida!!”
Firmly catching onto those two emerald eyes that blinked in shock
at her sudden cry, she shouted once more.
“Then I’ll find it for you! I’ll find a purpose for you to burn
your life out on! So… so, don’t go, Merida!!”
Hearing those words, Merida blinked again and showed a hazy

smile.
“……How will you find that for me, Yuuki?”
Yuuki did not understand why she replied so to that quiet question.
But those words had the power to sway even her own fate.
“Fight me in Asuka Empire, Merida. You will surely

understand after that.”
There was no assurance Merida, returning the insect cage with Roy
inside to her inventory and logging out from Serene Garden for the
moment, would dive into Asuka Empire instead of Sword Art Online
as Yuuki wanted.
Still, Yuuki believed in her and continued waiting at their meeting
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place, the towering, large cedar on the outskirts of the capital,
Kiyomihara.
The surrounding grasslands appeared vaguely like Teal Hills.

However, zebra grass, absent from Serene Garden, grew everywhere
just a short distance away and stirred in the cold wind.
Yuuki turned around upon hearing the light pattering she had
grown used to after several minutes passed.
The ninja was clad in that familiar bright green outfit but unlike
always, she wore a mask concealing most of her face from the very
beginning. Lowering her running speed, she stood around five meters
from Yuuki and Ran before turning a silent gaze at them.
“……Merida…”
Thank you for coming; those words never left Yuuki despite her
desire to say them. The pointed, keen air emanating from all of
Merida descended upon her as an unseen pressure.
Yuuki still had no experience in so-called «Duels». She naturally

knew such a system existed and watched the duels on amicable
terms between fellow guild members throughout town, but she had a
strong sense of aversion towards seriously fighting a player, the
embodiment of a human of flesh and blood.
But this duel was requested by Yuuki herself.
Merida had tried going to SAO in pursuit of something worthy of

burning her life away for. That was likely something that existed for
real despite found in virtual worlds. A truth in virtual worlds that
allowed her to move like other players despite her body burdened
with grave illness.
In SAO which had turned into a death game, many players fought
between the boundaries of true life and death. Yuuki could somewhat
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understand Merida’s desire to fight for her old comrades… or
perhaps all of the survivors even if it meant her self-imposed
imprisonment in that death game after experiencing the beta test.
But simultaneously, she felt that awfully flawed. Was it not

Merida’s fate to be saved from SAO with her illness spotted?
She must have more she could do here, too, in this world. Though
Yuuki did not know what those could be, she knew they existed. She
would deliver her thoughts not by words but by fighting.
Taking the time to expel the air gathered in her lungs, Yuuki
sucked in the cold wind of the virtual world and opened the menu
with a wave of her right hand.
She touched the «Duel» button for the very first time. A list of
players within range for her to challenge came out, so she selected
Merida’s name and pressed the OK button.
Merida, who was watching Yuuki in silence up until now, turned her
sight downwards. Lifting her right arm, she touched the window she
alone could see. The message, [Your duel invitation has been
accepted.], scrolled into Yuuki’s window and disappeared along with
it.
A countdown of thirty seconds started in the halfway point

between the pair. Yuuki drew the katana on her left waist with her
sweaty right hand. Named «Suminagashi (Ink Flow)», categorized as
an «uchigatana». A black Damascus pattern surfaced on the easy-to-
use blade that was not all too rare.
Merida drew her cherished katana a moment slower. Named

«Akezuki (Scarlet Moon)», categorized as a «shinobi katana». Though
the rare weapon with a dark scarlet straight blade was considerably
smaller than Yuuki’s katana, it won in terms of overall specifications.
Yuuki felt something compress deep in her chest the moment that
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shinobi katana’s sharp point was directed at her.
She could not possibly avoid all of Merida’s attacks as a nimble

ninja. That weapon would thrust into Yuuki’s body before long and
tear it apart. And Yuuki, too, had to cut her precious friend, Merida,
with her own katana. They would feel no pain in this virtual world and
all that hung on the balance were trifling lives determined by
numerals, but still, this was a true «fight».
Could she do it? Could she fight against Merida properly in her first
ever duel against another?
“………”
With her body shivering against her will, Yuuki’s back fell behind—
And was gently pushed back with Ran’s voice as she watched on
several meters away.
—It will be okay.
—Your feelings will reach her. Yuu, you only need to face her
earnestly.
“……Nee-chan…”
Her shivering settled down the instant she muttered in her mouth.
The chances of Ran winning this duel were higher than Yuuki if she
participated. As a miko capable of both manipulating a variety of
precise charm arts and close range combat via a striking weapon,
«oonusa», as well, Ran’s prowess in battle was clearly above Yuuki’s.
Though Merida’s character level was naturally higher than Ran’s,
status points did not increase by much in accordance to one’s level in
Asuka Empire.
Still, even if she relied on her elder sister like always and won this
duel now, Merida would never receive Yuuki’s thoughts.
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Yes—she would receive them. All of the emotions and thoughts
residing within Yuuki.
Yuuki stared straight towards the countdown’s numerical display,

counting down the remaining five seconds as it glowed bright; four,
three, two, one.
Zero scattered as a ring of light and vanished.
“Ii… yaaaaahh!!”
Yelling her spirit out, Yuuki kicked off the ground.
Though the quickness of a samurai’s motions lost to that of a ninja,

they excelled solely in the force they put into charging in for their
slashes. Closing in the five meters gap with a single leap, she swung
her katana down from its raised position at Merida who stood
straight.
But.
Her two arms unconsciously turned rigid the moment she saw
those same green eyes from Serene Garden beyond the mask. The
ink black blade shook the slightest bit and tilted her trajectory
towards the right. That deviation would have been no issue on a
monster, but a seasoned player like Merida would never miss it.
The air hissed and Merida dodged to the left at a speed close to
teleportation. Yuuki’s slash cut no more than empty air and its pale
light effect dispersed.
A violent shock assailed her left shoulder immediately after. Yuuki

was helplessly blown away and rolled across the ground. Catching
sight of her LP bar reducing by nearly ten percent in a corner of her
vision, she continued rolling with the momentum instead of resisting
it and stood up after gaining some distance.
What Yuuki saw after readying her sword once more was Merida
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with her left palm thrust out instead of the shinobi katana in her right
hand.
Ninja were capable of martial arts skills, but Yuuki’s breath stopped
nonetheless upon understanding that single attack had taken ten
percent of her bar despite it being barehanded and passing through
the spaulder guarding her shoulder.
She knew beforehand, but she certainly was—strong.
No, she only thought she knew. Merida had always focused on
supporting Yuuki and Ran thus far when they played. By personally
dealing as little damage as possible to monsters, she would let the
pair earn a bigger portion of the experience points distribution.
She had seen only a mere fragment of Merida’s real power. While
frozen at that fact, unable to pull off another attack, a quiet voice
reached Yuuki.
“…I was like that at first too.”
The mouth below the mask showed a slight smile.
“The first time I dueled a player during the SAO beta test,
my arms would shrink away and my attacks wouldn’t hit at
all. It’s not like attacking a character on a monitor, after all.
Even if your mind understands that’s not a real human body
but just an avatar, your body wouldn’t go along with it… It
took two weeks before I could handle duels properly because
of that.”
“…How were you able to fight?”
Yuuki unwittingly asked the ninja she faced off. Merida looked up
towards the cloud skies at that while she murmured.
“…This was what that fellow one-handed sword user told

me when we fought. Duels aren’t just attempts to kill each
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other; something can be conveyed by crossing swords. That
was no different in the old online games, in VRMMOs, or even
in sports events in the real world… apparently. So, I was
actually a little surprised when you told me to ‘fight’ earlier.”
Yes—Yuuki did have something to convey to Merida. Something

she could not deliver as fluent words, an emotion churning hot in the
pit of her chest. She requested a duel with Merida only because she
thought she could convey it through their swords.
She would convey nothing if her arms remained drawn away from
the beginning. She had to surpass her fear and hesitation, and step
forth. Advance, forward, stopping for nothing… until she neared
Merida’s heart.
“…She won’t get anything unless I crash into her, will she?”
As though she heard what Yuuki softly said to herself, Merida

nodded as well. Twirling the shinobi katana in her right hand into a
reverse grip, she readied it slanted before her body. In return, Yuuki
raised her uchigatana yet again.
Merida moved first this time.
She leaned low, forward, and the bright green gust charged in from
the front. She likely stopped holding back. That ultra-fast attack slash
with the shinobi katana had to be guarded against or avoided
somehow, and that had to follow into a counterattack. It happened
then, when her gaze fell upon the scarlet blade dimly reflecting the
sunlight.
—Watch all of Merida, not just her katana, Yuu!
Yuuki felt like she heard that from behind. Her eyes grew wide in
that moment and expanded her focused vision.
Merida’s right hand wielded the shinobi katana before herself.
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Though it was difficult to watch her left hand, hidden in the katana’s
shadow, there was certainly a glint from something held in that fist.
—The katana’s a distraction. Her first strike will be from her left
hand… a shuriken!
In the very instant Merida’s left hand blurred, Yuuki turned her
eyes towards that glint she briefly caught and swung down the sword
she held with both hands.
Kiin! A shrill, metallic noise echoed and sparks scattered. The

cross-shaped shuriken repelled by Yuuki’s katana spun as it sprung
back towards Merida. That was the effect of the skill unique to
samurai, «Return Blow».
“…!”
The ninja let a short breath leak and the shuriken was deflected
again with the shinobi katana in her right hand. Taking her attention
off the glint that disappeared upwards, towards the right, Yuuki
stepped in with all she had towards Merida whose guard was down.
The distance was fine. She would hesitate no longer.
She did not cut down for victory, hatred, or bloodlust. She swung
her sword to show Merida the technique she had forged into her…
and what laid beyond that.
“Uu… ryaaahh!!”
She turned her wrist, slashing up from below with a scream. The
black edge was sucked towards Merida’s bosom as she tried to gain
some distance by jumping backwards despite her loss of balance.
Zashuu!! A heavy sense of resistance ran through her with that

sound effect. A shaft of crimson light rose up high into the sky from
Yuuki’s katana, swung up high. The LP bar displayed above Merida’s
head dropped by roughly fifteen percent.
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This would be the timing to open up the Ground Circle and activate
a skill when up against a monster, to deal heavy damage. However,
Merida would probably not show that much of an opening from
receiving a single hit. The attack to follow up with would be a normal
one—but with all of her might behind it.
She raised her precious katana up for the third time.
On the other hand, Merida utilized her position after taking an

upward slash and somersaulted backwards.
Yuuki kicked off the ground with all her heart in order to make it in
time for that instant of vulnerability that would be conceived when
she lands.
“Haaa——!!”
Letting out a fervent roar, she dealt a strike with all her might.
Dann! The air rumbled.
Curled up in the air, Merida looked straight down at Yuuki and

kicked off the empty air with her two feet. The skill unique to ninja,
«Double Jump».
“Cheaahh!”
Merida charged in, fired up for the first time in this battle. The
shinobi katana in her right hand drew towards Yuuki’s throat as a
flash of vermillion light.
Though Merida won in terms of slashing speed as a ninja, Yuuki

was the first to move. Neither of the pair currently held an advantage
of speed. However, if Yuuki were to lose herself to her fear and falter
for the slightest moment, she would be countered with a heavy blow.
Yuuki had something to convey to Merida.
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She would show her that she could become much stronger.
The world extended forever outside the confined death game, SAO.
Both the virtual and real worlds still held many encounters,
discoveries, and tales.
——I’ll bring you to the end of the world.
——I’ll find a new fate for you, Merida.
——So……!
“……——aaaaaaaaahh——!!”
A white light radiated out within Yuuki’s vision. Glittering particles

scattered like tiny stars from all over the avatar. The resistance put
up by the air, compressed by the edge, heightened to its limit and
the sensation of breaking through that came forth—
Yuuki’s katana became a streaking flash of light and swung down

within the absolute silence.
Merida’s shinobi katana passed through behind while grazing the

left side of her neck a tick later.
Yuuki stayed still with her katana still lowered. Right after sound
returned to the world, a crimson damage effect spurt from the gash
in her neck and her LP bar reduced, yet again, by over twenty
percent.
She staggered as she turned about and there Merida was, petrified
with her shinobi katana still swung out.
The ninja outfit abrupt tore from the left shoulder to the back and a
vivid flood of light gushed from there. The remaining eighty-five
percent of Merida’s LP bar began to rapidly fall and stopped just as it
went a little below fifty percent.
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Dodon! Without warning, the sound of a drum rang out while a
window announcing the end of the duel was displayed, causing Yuuki
to let out a surprised “eeh”. Her two widened eyes blinked multiple
times, but the window undeniably wrote [Winner: Yuuki] in large
letters.
“W-Why… it’s not…”
She panicked and Merida, slowly getting up and turning about,

returned the shinobi katana to its sheath on her waist as she spoke
with a smile.
“In Asuka Empire, aside from the «Bout» mode, a fight to

the death, there’s also a «Match» mode that ends upon falling
below half LP. I chose Match as the challenger, so the victory
of this duel belongs all to you, Yuuki. …Congratulations, you
were really strong. I was shocked.”
“…E-Erm…”
With the issue sidestepped despite her just getting started, Yuuki
stood frozen in a daze.
It appeared she won the duel. But she did not know if Merida got
her thoughts from just that. Merida’s standing figure with her gentle
smile on still seemed volatile enough to dissolve away under the
sunlight any moment now and Yuuki unconsciously opened her
mouth, forgetting to even keep her katana.
“…If I really was strong, that’s thanks to you, Merida. It’s

because you taught me so much that I got strong. I said I
would find something to burn your life out on, didn’t I,
Merida? I still don’t know what that could be… but I promise.
I will become stronger and bring you along any and
everywhere… no matter how far……”
Though she managed to put what she felt during the battle into
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words, her voice cut off there. Turning towards Yuuki who was still
searching for the correct words, taking in breath after breath—
Merida lowered the mask on her face and showed a grin. That
smile was exactly the same as when they first met in Serene Garden.
“I got it, Yuuki.”
“Eh……”
“Your feelings reached me through our swords, Yuuki. It

wasn’t just your feelings regarding me… but a whole, whole
lot more than that too. Erm… I’m not all that smart, so I’m
not sure how to say this. Yuuki, your strength… no, that’s not
all, erm…”
This time, Merida mumbled as she searched for the correct words.
“…Potential.”
Both Merida and Yuuki turned their sight at that quiet voice.
The voice belonged to Ran who had watched the pair’s duel from
under the large cedar tree. Showing her usual gentle smile, the miko
glided closer to the pair and stated once more.
“Her potential, isn’t it, Merida?”
“Right, that!”
Snapping her fingers, Merida nodded time after time.
“There are lots and lots packed in you, Yuuki. Your

strength during the duel was just one part of that… Yuuki,
you’ll become more and more strong and impressive from
now on. So much that someday, everyone in all kinds of
worlds would know of your name.”
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“……No way… I couldn’t possibly…”
Yuuki stared fixedly at Merida’s face even as she mumbled.
Her brooding expression was no longer there. However, the

fragility seemed to remain.
Did Merida give up on going to SAO, or did her determination

remain? It happened then, when Yuuki resolved herself to ask.
Ran who stood on her immediate right placed her face on Yuuki’s
shoulder as she verbalized something unexpected.
“Merida, Yuuki. I’ve been thinking lately.”
“…About what, Ran?”
“You see, I want to start a guild with the three of us. And
then, I want us to make more comrades… more friends, bit by
bit, and expand this small circle of ours.”
Saying so, Ran held Yuuki’s right hand with her left. Following that,
she turned to Merida who stood a distance away and extended her
right hand straight out.
Unconsciously, Yuuki also offered her left hand towards Merida.
Looking down at the two hands, Merida replied with slight

hesitance on her face.
“But, Ran… we…”
Yes. That was Yuuki’s concern as well.
The trio who met at a VR hospice shared the common trait of

fighting against severe illness. Even if they created a guild in Asuka
Empire and new members joined, they could not possibly keep their
sickness under wraps forever. They would have to explain it
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someday. Or perhaps, before that—they could be torn apart by force.
The closer they become as guild members, the more painful it

would be on both sides. It would be perfectly plausible for the guild to
split based on that. Ran, too, should understand that.
“……It would be nice if this circle could expand out without

limit someday, overcoming our illnesses… I do think that,
but……”
Ran’s voice started at almost a whisper, but then continued on

with strength.
“I was thinking of first inviting those in situations similar to

us. I believe there are still many more like us in Serene
Garden who want to see the worlds outside, to go farther. I
want to invite them into the guild and together, we will go as
far as the virtual world reaches. Like what you did, Merida,
when you held Yuu and my hands, and pulled us along.”
Still her right hand still stretched out without the slightest quiver,
Ran finished her words.
Merida widened her eyes from slight surprise and silently stared at
Ran.
A wind blew and the countless leaves on the giant cedar rustled.
No trace remained of the duel on the grass. Scattered, wispy cloud
quietly flowed through the sky of a slightly different shade of blue
from Serene Garden. A falcon smoothly circled somewhere far above.
It seemed Asuka Empire’s world map, centered on the Kinki region,

currently ended at Mount Fuji in the east and the Kanmon Straits in
the west—though their in-game names were naturally different.
However, there were rumors that the next update would add the
Kanto and Kyushu regions. This world would continue expanding, and
so would other VRMMOs such as ALfheim Online.
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—We will find it for sure, Merida.
—The places we should go. The people we should meet. And, a

fate worthy to burn your life out on.
Stretching out her left hand to its full length, Yuuki spoke earnestly
in her heart.
Eventually—
Merida’s emerald eyes quivered like on water. Pristine light turned

into drops and streamed down her cheeks.
Her tears, which alone had the exact same hue as its counterpart
in Serene Garden, silently spilled and Merida replied hoarsely.
“……I give up, already…… if you were to tell me all that……

how could I possibly leave you two behind……”
Her right foot, covered in a tabi, stomped on the ground numerous

times before she stepped forward with her mind apparently made up.
One step, two, three… Merida reached the pair with slow but
resolved steps and lifted her hands before holding Ran’s right hand
and Yuuki’s left hand. Strongly and firmly.
“…This really is a small circle, isn’t it?”
Yuuki put as much strength as she could into the hand holding
Merida’s in return after she said so with a face on the boundary
between shedding tears and smiling.
“But it’s much, much larger than one made by nee-chan

and me alone.”
Tears flowed from Yuuki’s eyes the moment she showed a smile.
She could not use either hand even if she wanted to wipe them away,
so she could only let her tears fall in drops like some child; even in
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her vision, warped iridescent, she could recognize the smile on
Merida growing larger.
“Aha… Yuuki, that’s one amazing face. If you cry that

much, you’ll end up crying in the real world too.”
“Who cares. I’m just that happy.”
She desperately tried to shake off the virtual tears by blinking

alone and Ran let go of Yuuki’s hand for a moment and wiped her
face with the sleeve of her miko outfit.
“You’re the same old crybaby even after growing so strong,

aren’t you, Yuu?”
Something glistened on her elder sister’s cheeks, too, while she

spoke. Upon grasping Ran’s hand once more, Yuuki looked up
towards the skies.
The falcon earlier had already flown off elsewhere, but the sky was
as beautiful as ever. It seemed connected to both Serene Garden and
the real world too.
They would go. Hand-in-hand, no matter how far. For the worlds
they would someday arrive at, for those they would someday meet.
Yuuki felt the door, closed ever since she was forced to transfer
school in her fourth year of elementary school against her will,
gradually open.
She did not know how much time she had left. But if her life was to
be shorter than others, she would only need to run on accordingly, at
a faster rate, with a larger stride. She could only lie down on a bed in
the real world, but the virtual world stretched out without
boundaries.
“…We should return soon.”
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Merida was the one who spoke. As though to dispel Yuuki and
Ran’s anxiety, she tightened her grip once more at the end before
releasing it.
“I told mama that I would be back at the cafe by two.

……Yuuki, Ran, I am truly sorry for making you go through
such horrible things on your birthdays.”
Merida bowed her head down deeply and Ran firmly held onto her
shoulder.
“You don’t have to apologize, Merida. It was a very, very

lovely birthday. I mean, you even came to visit us, Merida.”
Yuuki shouted just as she heard those words.
“I… I was also really happy! So… so, Merida, meet me on

the other side too!”
Nodding at Ran who turned about in surprise, she continued

speaking.
“Erm, you see, I’m in a cleanroom due to some

circumstances, but we can meet through the glass from the
adjacent monitoring room, so… we can’t hold hands, but still,
I want to meet you, Merida.”
She did not know if Doctor Kurahashi would approve of the

meeting, even if it was through the glass, due to the confidentiality
issues related to the Medicuboid. But she had the feeling he would
not say no. After all, it was her fourteenth birthday.
“……Right! I’ll go meet you right after getting back, Yuuki!”
By the time Merida nodded vigorously, the fragility was already

gone from her face without a trace.
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[Yuuki-kun, are you ready?]
Upon replying “Go ahead!” to Doctor Kurahashi’s voice from the

speakers, the switchable glass isolating the cleanroom and
monitoring room took no time at all to transit to transparency.
In the room practically as narrow as a corridor, Doctor Kurahashi

was there wearing a white coat instead of the usual cleanroom suit
along with Ran in her pajamas and a girl sitting on a wheelchair who
appeared slightly older.
“…Happy birthday, Yuuki!”
Merida’s voice, which she heard for the first time in the real world,
was a little more hoarse than in the virtual world. Her face was thin
under her light green knit cap and her skin was bluish too. Still, a
strong, gleaming light resided in her large eyes.
“Thanks… thanks, Merida.”
Though she was forbade from touching the glass, Yuuki

approached as close as she could while replying. Merida, too, moved
the wheelchair several tens of centimeters forward at that and smiled
with her face practically touching the thick switchable glass.
[Ran, Yuuki, you both really resemble yourselves on the

other side. …I’m sorry, I wanted to bring along flowers for
both of you, but I was told that I can’t go in there.]
A bouquet certainly sat on Merida’s lap as she mentioned.
“It’s fine, it’s fine, seeing it like this is enough for me! It’s
really beautiful… thank you very much, Merida!”
[Erm… Yuuki, and you too, Ran. Instead of a present, I’ll

promise the both of you something. That’ll be the last time…
I ever say I want to go to that world. This is proof of that.]
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Merida, who lifted her left hand, pinched something thin and
rectangular in her right hand—a memory card.
Yuuki’s eyes clearly saw the logo noted on the label in letters
smaller than rice grains.
Sword Art Online.
Merida’s lips moved slightly as her eyes shut. Though the

microphone did not pick it up, Yuuki’s ears caught a distinct “good
bye”.
Merida put strength into her fingers and they twitched—the

memory card broke into two with a quiet noise before long.
The forced removal of the victims’ Nerve Gears in the SAO

incident drafted by the National Police Agency was left unexecuted in
the end. Before preparations for the plan were in order, the game
was cleared and the approximately six thousand survivors returned
to the real world.
Yuuki’s and Ran’s fourteenth birthdays were roughly half a year

before that. And so was the creation date of the guild, «Sleeping
Knights».
(End)
“…three months after SAO…” + “nine months after she

turned twelve, nine months” – The initial is Feb 2023, while the
latter is Feb 2024. The latter is probably the correct one, so she
should be twelve here and thirteen later.
“Royton” – The ton as in “Royton” is the same reading as

“pork” in Japanese. Floating bits in soup probably refers to croutons.
“Akuro Ou” – Refers to the head of the Emishi at the start of the
Heian period. They are usually akin to the bosses of robbers or made
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into oni in literature.
“Hush, Little Baby” – The verse was corrected from the original
text below:
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Chapter ss:...
Monochromatic Colors, a continuation of the short story Chromatic

Colors that was released back in 2016 as Material Edition 20, has
been translated. There are no illustrations in the raw this time.
Click here to read it. I recommend reading Chromatic Colors first if

you haven’t already.
As always, comments are appreciated. Please let me know if

anything is wrong. You can follow me on Twitter for more frequent
status updates.
Translation Credits:
Translation – defan752
Proofreading – defan752
Raws – ZeHaffen
This world really is quite fascinating.
Kokoro Connect Volume 6: In progress
F-Rank no Boukun Volume 1: In progress
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Chapter ss: The Beginning...

Adfly:
Prologue
Translated and Edited by: TheNo1Fan
“I’m sorry Hyeon Su. If only this father of yours was more
capable……”
“……Ee. Please forgive this unworthy mother of yours.”
“I’m sorry. Brother. Because of me……”
Kim Hyeon Su affiliated with the Hunter Training Institution.
Growth Potential A.
Dropped out due to personal reasons.
Approved.
If you want to support poor old me with an extra 0.6 cents click
here pls:P
Adfly:
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Chapter ss: chromatic colors

Adfly:
Prologue
capable……”
Growth Potential A.
Approved.
here pls:P
Adfly:
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Chapter ss: defense

Source: tap-trans
Translation of the (really, really, really) short story with the theme
of “swimsuit” written by Kawahara Reki, of Sword Art Online,
printed behind the stickers given with certain purchases during
Dengeki Bunko’s fair for breaking through 3000 titles.
Accompanying Image
Asuna spoke, looking down at the white bikini she wore.
“This swimsuit has a defense rating quite a bit higher than

low ranking metal armor, but just how does that work?”
“E-Erm……”
My speech came to an immediate halt. Despite the strong desire to

give her with a «divine protection through magic» answer, as
modelled on the so-called theory behind bikini armor, magic did not
exist here on Aincrad. As the thin fabric covered no more than
approximately a tenth of Asuna’s skin, there certainly should be no
argument available to explain its high defense rating—or so it
seemed.
“Hmm… maybe it has a physical enhancement effect akin to

the martial arts skill or…”
Reaching out with my left hand, I poked at Asuna’s exposed belly—
“Kyaa, wait… what was that for, all of a sudden!”
The swift slap that came flying knocked me down into the lake in
front. Her attack rating increased as well, it appeared.
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abec’s comment on the illustration The theme was body paint
with swimsuits and I was at a loss at where to draw the numbers, but
I thought to draw it somewhere Asuna wouldn’t emphasize too much,
so I placed it on her thighs. She’s almost always in outfits with a
trusty zettai ryouiki, so it is emphasized in a sense, though!
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Chapter sugary days 5

Source: tap-trans
Translation of Sword Art Online ME 14, Sword Art Online Sugary

Days 5.
Preface
As the numbers had run out in the «home in the forest» series that
had continued from “Sword Art Online 16.6” to “16.9”, I have
officially given it a title from this time onwards. The story is a proper
sequel, so please do treat the prior four chapters as “Sugary Days
1 ~ 4”.
“…Three, two, one…”
Asuna began a sudden, unexplained countdown while looking at

the main menu’s time display.
“Zero!”
I ducked with a jerk at that, but nothing happened even after a

five-second wait. The mellow atmosphere permeating the log house
built near the edge of the twenty-second floor lingered as its always
had. It seemed this was no prank with the sofa Asuna and I sitting
upon suddenly springing upwards or the house itself blowing up.
“…W-What’s with that zero?”
I nervously asked and Asuna wiped away the window with a smile.
“It has just passed into five-nineteen p.m.”
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That time was neither here nor there to point out as a time that
has just passed. I pondered upon what it signified before realizing.
“Ah… so that’s it. A day just passed since we married…”
“Correct! Though it hasn’t been a year, it has been a day.”
With a crooked smile, I drew closer to Asuna who said so happily.
“I suppose we’ll have to celebrate, then.”
As I swept away the long hair covering her cheek with my

fingertips, Asuna lowered her eyelids as her face grew red. I placed
my mouth over her petite lips.
Our long kiss ended and Asuna asked in a small voice.
“Is it still a day… or already a day?”
It seemed she was asking whether the twenty-four hours we had

spent in this house felt far too short or long.
I answered after some thought.
“Both, I guess… The day felt so complete, spending it and

talking so much with you, Asuna… but I do feel like that one
day passed too quick as well.”
That thought must have been from my feeling that our days at this
log house could not continue for long.
Asuna and I had left the clearing guild, «Knights of the Blood»,
announced our temporary withdrawal from the front lines, and
descended down to the twenty-second floor here.
Of course, the frontliners would, by no means, pause the clearing

simply because the two of us left. They must be still fighting, aiming
for the seventy-fifth floor’s labyrinth even now: the KoB, led by
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Heathcliff the invincible swordsman, the «Divine Dragon Alliance»,
the largest guild among them, the «Fuurinkazan», where Klein, my
old friend, served as leader… and the many other players outside of
them.
The frontliners were certainly not monolithic, but if I were to state

what joined them together, it would be a common
understanding—that they had all put their lives on the line, fighting
on while shouldering the risk of death.
SAO lacks magic. As such, there are no healers or buff-based

classes to be protected more than the others like in other games.
Though there are roles assigned such as tanks, damage dealers, and
scouts, each and every player among the frontliners had to stand
before the monsters and fight while suppressing their fear.
That was exactly why players like Heathcliff, who exuded an

absolute sense of ease, and Asuna, who could cut down monsters
with overwhelming power, could garner a level of respect akin to
worship.
However, turning that around, that meant those who do not fight
lose their place among the frontliners.
Though few, there were cases of players among them who fell
victim to their fear and lost their ability to stand before monsters.
Though it did not matter much in battles against weaklings, those
who ignore orders to switch when clearing the floor boss could bring
about the collapse of a party… or even the raid group. Hence, it was
normal for those players to signal their withdrawal from the
frontliners through their speech or behavior and disappear without
much notice.
Asuna’s and my withdrawal was basically not much difference from

that either. There must be some with bitter emotions over our
sudden withdrawal among those players fighting on the seventy-fifth
floor—especially those in the guild, KoB. This momentary respite
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would likely only last until the seventy-fifth floor was cleared at most.
No… the seventy-fifth floor, in particular, would be the third

quarter in Aincrad. There was a chance the floor boss would be
strengthened to a dire extent, similar to the twenty-fifth and fiftieth
floors. If that turned out to be true, they might request for us to
return upon discovering the boss room.
“…It’s already been a day, huh.”
I muttered once more and hugged Asuna’s slender frame closer.
If we returned to the front lines, we would have fewer opportunities

for contact like this too. Or rather, that would be an understatement
with Asuna being reinstated as KoB’s sub-leader; it might be tough
for us to even meet.
As though sensing my unease, Asuna whispered at my ear.
“It’s okay, it has only been a day.”
“……Yeah.”
“Besides, the day isn’t over yet. There’s still much more
stuff we can do, isn’t there?”
“……Y-Yeah.”
My avatar twitched at those alluring words. Asuna blinked in that

instant before her entire body became dyed in crimson.
“T-That’s not it, I didn’t mean that when I said that.”
I placed my lips on her nape as she quickly spoke. Tasting the

sensation of her warm skin, smooth as silk, I recall what Asuna had
asked in the afternoon.
She said she liked power lines as a child. That she felt fascinated
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by the data incessantly transmitted through the power lines.
Asuna’s shudders and panting that I now sense were sent from her
brain as she laid down in a place far away in the real world, making
their way to my NerveGear through the massive web of fiber cables
and the SAO server. I felt that fact to be both a precious miracle and
a vexing obstacle.
“…Asuna…”
I mumbled as I hugged my beloved tight.
“If……”
However, I could speak no further. After all, that future felt far too
distant, too precarious. I still lacked the courage to wonder what lay
beyond the completion of this death game.
Even Asuna with her astute, telepathy-like ability to read my

thoughts chose to keep her silence this time. Instead, her two hands
firmly returned my embrace.
Eventually, she vocalized a single word: my name.
“Kirito-kun.”
Her voice seemed as though soothing a young child, saying that

everything would turn out okay.
The menu for dinner was savory fish and bread, baked in the oven,
potato potage, and green salad.
As expected of a maxed out cooking skill, the white fish’s skin was
exquisitely charred and I stuffed it into my mouth with a herb sauce,
chewing and swallowing it before making an inquiry of the chef.
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“Is the fish the one we bought at the village earlier?”
“That’s right. …Is it not to your taste?”
“N-No, it’s super good, really!”
After shaking my head in a fluster, I added on.
“It’s just, since there’s that soy sauce you spent so effort
on, Asuna, I thought making it sashimi could have been great
too.”
“Aah, sashimi does sound good…”
Asuna stared off into the distance in a daze, imagining that dish

that would never be served in an NPC restaurant in Aincrad, but
immediately showed a somewhat bitter smile.
“But you see, though I may be overthinking this… there

aren’t any refrigerators in this world, are there?”
“T-There aren’t, are there?”
“And the fishmonger puts them on display in a case at

room temperature, right… there’s just, this hesitance to eat
the fish raw after buying it in that manner.”
“R-Right.”
Technically, in this world, even if you were to drop the fish onto the
ground and leave it there, as long as it existed as an object—that is
to say, as long as its durability remained, there would be no
difference in its quality (and of course, taste). Though it would get a
dirtied effect three seconds after dropped, that would fade after it’s
washed in water.
Still, on the other hand, I did understand Asuna’s hesitance. When

it comes to sashimi, freshly fished ingredients would definitely make
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for a better tasting dish, or feel that way.
“Then, maybe we should raid the fishmonger right after it

opens in the morning and dash back… no, we still wouldn’t
know when the fish is from, huh… —ah, that’s it.”
With a thought coming to me, I opened the skill tab on the main
menu.
I possessed 12 skill slots at my current level of 96. The skills set

there are «One-Handed Sword», «Dual Blades», «Two-Handed
Sword», «Martial Arts», «Blade Throwing», «Parry», «Battle Healing»,
«Searching», «Hiding», «Sprint», «Extended Weight Limit», and «First
Aid».
Among those, the one with the lowest proficiency and usage was
unmistakably Two-Handed Sword. Though I had taken it up, thinking
to try equipping a somewhat rare two-handed sword I obtained long
ago, I ended up barely making use of it in the end.
Then again, looking into the Two-Handed Sword skill played its role
in duels against two-handed sword users in the future, so it wasn’t a
waste—but there was no purpose in letting it remain in my slots.
“Don’t tell me you’re thinking of changing your skills?”
Asuna who stood behind me without my notice peeked into the

window I displayed and spoke. I gave a deep nod and answered.
“Yeah… I’m thinking of discarding Two-Handed Sword and

becoming a fisherman.”
“Eeh?”
“I know what you want to say, but don’t stop me, Asuna!
This is for the sake of having fresh sashimi!”
Asuna returned to the other side of the table and nodded without
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hesitation at that.
“It’s not like I’ll stop you, though.”
“Oh… r-really?”
“I mean, with you having Dual Blades, it’s not like you’ll
ever use two-handed swords now. Besides, I’ve always
thought it would be good for you to have at least one Life-
type skill.”
“R-Really?”
“Also, I want to have some tasty sashimi too. Do your best

with the skill levelling!”
All I could do against such encouragement was to thump my chest

with a “Y-Yeah, leave it to me!”.
After clearing the dining table together, we sat on the rocking

chairs in front of the fireplace while drinking coffee before Asuna
suddenly spoke.
“That’s right… this came to me after you mentioned about

Life-type skills, but we went to look at furniture in Coral
Village in the afternoon, didn’t we?”
“Yep.”
“There was that simply lovely table in the shop, wasn’t

there?”
“Ye… yep.”
That slight mumbling was due to the slim chance of her suggesting
we buy that seven hundred thousand col table. However, Asuna
smiled as though to deny that and continued her words.
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“I wonder, can we find that wood crafter named, «Mahokl»,
who made that table?”
“Eh… hmm, I wonder? I guess we could stake out that NPC

shop… it should be quick if we count on Argo instead. Why?”
“You see…”
Asuna’s cheeks redden for some reason then.
“I was thinking about ordering a custom rocking chair.”
“Huh?”
I could only blink. After all, we currently were sitting on matching

rocking chairs in this moment. It was something ready-made from
the NPCs, but it wasn’t bad in terms of comfort.
“W-Why that out of the blue?”
“You see…”
Placing her coffee cup onto the side table before standing up,
Asuna tottered to me and sat down on my lap without warning. I put
my cup down as well in a panic and supported Asuna from behind
with my right hand.
“Look, if we were to sit on this chair together, I’ll be

completely on top of you, Kirito-kun, won’t I?”
“…Y-Yeah, you would.”
“With a little more sitting space, we would be able to sit

side-by-side, won’t we?”
“Y-Yeah, we would.”
“Also, I was thinking it would be nice if the backrest angle
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was a little more gentle and all.”
“Y-Yeah, it might.”
My left hand moved along onwards even as I answered, but Asuna

pointed a slight glare of disapproval at me before standing up.
Returning to her own chair, she brightly opened up a window.
“Then, I’ll send a message to Argo-san. If she finds Mahokl-

san, let’s head there together tomorrow?”
“…Let’s.”
A thought came to me as I nodded. Wood crafters should be able

to make fishing rods too. It would be all «a good angler never blames
his rod» for fishing in the real world, but the quality of tools affects
the results in Aincrad. Raising the fishing skill was considered a
chore, so being able to fish some would make it more enjoyable too.
I thought while gazing upon Asuna’s earnest profile as she tapped

away at the holo-keyboard.
True, there were still many more fun events to come. Instead of
thinking about how this would end in a few more days, I should live
each day to its fullest. That was no different from the days on the
front lines.
Turning my eyes towards the window that was still open, I touched
the slot the Two-handed Sword skill was set in with my fingertip.
From the submenu that popped up, I chose to erase the skill. While
reading the warning text about how my proficiency would fall to zero
if I did so, I murmured in my heart.
—Sorry for not making use of you much.
After pressing the OK button, the slot turned empty with a

somewhat forlorn sound effect.
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3
25th October, 2024, was bright.
Having eaten breakfast, Asuna and I passed through the teleport

gate at twenty-second floor’s main town and descended even farther
down, to Aincrad’s third floor.
The main town, Zumfut, was a town constructed by hollowing out

three monstrously gigantic baobab trees. Upon exiting the teleport
gate, Asuna looked up towards the short and stout giant trees and
whispered with her eyes narrowed.
“…It’s been a while, huh?”
“Yeah…”
We immersed ourselves in those memories from long ago as we

stood side by side.
The one who first spoke was, once again, Asuna.
“Now, let’s go. Mahokl’s workshop is in… this tree, huh?”
Our hands hooked up despite neither in particular initiating it and

we headed towards the south-eastern baobab.
The information dealer, Argo, had hounded down where the wood
crafter, Mahokl, stayed in just a single night. I had thought the shop
would be opened on some floor far above, considering that
craftsmanship with a maxed out skill level, so it came as a surprise it
hear it was on the third floor.
Still, it seems understandable after actually visiting like this.
What a wood crafter needs, most of all, would be high-quality

lumber. Aincrad’s third floor is a «forest» floor and its surface area
was wide too with it being among the lower floors. In addition, few
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players would pass by now of all times, so it would be uncommon for
any disputes over rare materials with those in the same trade to
occur.
Crossing through the quiet—or rather, utterly devoid of other

players—teleport gate plaza, we entered the baobab building and
climbed to its third floor. The workshop was beyond the circular path.
A small signboard hung beside a small door. [Mahokl’s atelier]

was written on it.
“…No one would be able to tell what kind of shop this is

from that alone…”
Asuna nodded to my opinion as well, but it appeared we were at

the right place, judging from the name.
I approached and knocked, but with the lack of response, I gently

pushed the door open. A loud gikogikogiko blared out right after and I
unconsciously leaned back.
The atelier spanned much larger inside than it appeared

outside—that said, huge logs, square lumber, and planks were piled
up anywhere possible, so it turned out like a maze with only parts of
the room visible. The gikogiko noise seemed to be coming from the
center of the room.
Navigating through the lumber, turning left and right, we somehow

reached it—a log almost a meter in diameter and three meters long
being cut along its length into two with an extremely large saw
manned by a truly petite player.
That height was likely two or three centimeters shorter than Argo
the «Rat». The sight of that avatar who looked practically like a child,
possibly smaller than the deftly handled huge saw, cutting the log
which was over two times as tall into two looked as if it was some
sort of artistic performance.
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The saw, where the earlier noise came from, cut a straight line
through the gigantic log without pause and flashed brilliantly in the
instant it touched the floor.
Within the light, the log transformed into numerous planks. Come
to think of it, this would be my first time watching a wood crafter’s
technique in person.
After they turned into objects, Asuna and I gave a synchronized

round of applause.
The player with a small frame spun about towards us with that saw
against her right shoulder and spoke in an adorable voice while her
round glasses, adorned with a texture resemblant of classic manga,
gleamed.
“—What business do you have with me?”
(To be continued)
Afterword
Kunori here! Thank you very much for buying and reading this! The
deadline’s really, really closing in, so I’ll keep short!
The “16.x” series, or rather, the “Sugary Days” series finally

feels like it has started moving. This will be leading to some sort of
adventure from now on with the new wood crafter character, Mahokl,
mixed in. It seems to be becoming an unexpectedly long series, but
I’ll be glad if you accompany me from now on too!
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Source: tap-trans

Days 6.
“—What business do you have with me?”
Suddenly interrogated by the petite female player with swirly

glasses and hair in braids, in a manner of speech familiar to period
dramas, I was momentarily at a loss as to how to reply.
The meaningless thought about how I could answer with the

hackneyed “I am no one strange!” had she only gone and asked
“Name yourself!” went through my head before Asuna showed off
her usual communication skills, answering in a crisp voice.
“We apologize for interrupting your work, but you are the
wood crafter, Mahokl-san, aren’t you? I am Asuna and this is
Kirito. We have visited today with a request for crafting
furniture.”
“Hmm, customers, huh?”
Mahokl plopped the extremely large saw, which had just split that
gigantic log into two, straight onto a rack before approaching with
her plain work shoes shuffling against the floor.
Even after she came right before our eyes, the swirly texture of her
round glasses obstructed her eyes from being seen. Her braided hair
was a bright brown, she wore a blue denim apron, and thick leather
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gloves covered her two hands. Unlike the maid-like apron dress
Lisbeth, Asuna’s and my blacksmith friend, usually wore, her
appearance was the very image of a craftsman-class.
Having examined us in detail through her swirly glasses, Mahokl

placed her hands at her waist and voiced out a second question.
“How did you find this shop?”
“We had an information dealer search on our behalf.”
Asuna answered truthfully and, apparently realizing where the

information passed through from that alone, Mahokl snorted with a
hmph.
“That «Rat», huh?”
“…Yes, we do apologize if that has offended you.”
The wood crafter lightly waved her hand as Asuna tried to lower
her head.
“That’s not quite it. There is a signboard out and all. It’s
simply… nn, who have you heard my name from in the first
place?”
“We hadn’t heard of you from anyone, but we saw a table

you made in a shop, Mahokl-san. It was really exquisite, so
we thought about putting in an order with the craftsman who
made it.”
“A table?”
Having heard Asuna’s answer, Mahokl’s eyebrows drew together

above her glasses.
“That is odd, I did think I recalled all of the products I

consigned… where was that shop?”
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“It’s in Coral Village on the 22nd floor.”
“Coral……… ah, aah.”
Mahokl nodded, hitting her right fist onto her left palm.
“There was that, wasn’t there, there was a village like that.
Come to think of it, I did entrust some with the NPC furniture
shop there… I had completely forgotten about it.”
I substituted Asuna, who finally let out a question mark above her
head, at that moment and spoke of the doubts I had after following
the conversation.
“…Erm, from what I’ve heard so far, it seems you’ve been

trying to hide yourself… but is it just my imagination?”
“It is not.”
The wood crafter casually shrugged before bringing up her right

hand, still in the glove, and raising a finger.
“I suppose I will ask this at least, but what did you want
made here?”
Asuna answered that question.
“A rocking chair!”
“…I see.”
Mahokl lowered that index finger and turned towards the depths of
the atelier.
“Well, that makes the both of you customers, then. I can

serve some tea at least, so this way.”
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A table in a strange shape, resembling the letter «Z», and four
chairs with armrests were placed farther in the atelier. Sitting down
beside Asuna, I was shocked by how the surface felt so soft despite
being an unfinished wood plank.
Putting three mugs, made from wood as well, on the table side by
side, Mahokl picked up a kettle—made from metal, naturally—from a
nearby stove before gradually pouring hot water into those cups.
“Go on.”
…Even if you say so, this isn’t tea but plain hot water; I politely
kept that thought to myself and accepted it.
And upon bringing up my own cup while Asuna did too, we took a
sip. In that instant, a richly sweet, aromatic, and refreshing flavor
unfolded to my surprise and I could not help but to exchange looks
with Asuna.
Grinning as her swirly glasses gleamed, Mahokl brought her own

mouth to her cup as well and spoke.
“These mugs are made from S-ranked fragrant wood and

you get tea just by pouring hot water into them.”
“Ooohh~ there’s more to the Woodcraft skill than I

thought, huh…”
While I was overwhelmed with admiration, Asuna continued as she

rubbed the table’s surface.
“Did you make this table and these chairs too, Mahokl-
san?”
“Of course.”
“The comfort, feel, and appearance are top-class. …Why are you in
hiding despite being able to make products of this quality…?
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Asuna asked, and Mahokl gulped down another mouthful of tea
before answering the question with another.
“…Asuna-chan and Kirito-kun, was it? Are the both of you

among those who stay only within the area? Or those who go
outside of it?”
We exchanged looks once more at the question we were hardly

ever asked. She would know at a glance that we belonged to the
latter if we were fully equipped, but both Asuna and I were in casual
wear at the moment, without even a bit of metal. Scratching my
head, I replied curtly.
“For what it’s worth, we do go outside of it, I guess…”
“Well, of course you do. You are here with an order, after
all, even after seeing the price of that table.”
Though Mahokl lifted the corners of her mouth in a grin, that smile
soon vanished with wrinkles forming on her brow above her glasses.
She groaned with a “hmmm” with some sort of hesitation but
eventually spoke out a new question at a lowered volume.
“Then, do you know of «Composition»?”
I blinked at the unexpected query before nodding.
“Yes, well…”
Composition, or composite effect, was a term in SAO that referred

to the «combined effect» produced with multiple skills. For example,
among those I learned, after the One-handed Sword and Martial Arts
skills reached certain values, the requirements to use the sword skill,
«Meteor Break», would be cleared. It was not limited to combat skills:
there were numerous composite effects among the Life-type skills,
like how raising the «Polearm Weapon Creation Skill» and «One-
handed Weapon Creation Skill» would allow the creation of weapons
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like the «Halberd» with both piercing and slashing attributes, or how
raising the «Cooking» and «Mixing» skills would allow the creation of
food mixed with medicine or laced with poison.
At the start of the death game, many players would search out
those compositions and keep those they found under wraps, but with
the nearly two years that passed since the beginning, all sorts of
compositions were discovered and such listings could be bought from
information dealers too. In other words, there was no need to keep
them a secret nowadays, so I held on to a sense of uneasiness at the
wood crafter’s solemn behavior while waiting for her to continue.
It took a while before Mahokl, stirring the tea in her mug, talked.
“It’s precisely because of composition that I had my entire

shop go into hiding.”
“…What do you mean by…?”
“Nn~~……”
Mahokl groaned once more, perhaps wondering if she should

expose more information or not. Looking up, she stared hard at
Asuna and me through those swirly lenses before nodding as though
to convince herself at last.
“…I will put my trust in your expression of appreciation for

my tables. …Last month, I discovered a new composition.”
“Ooh!”
Honestly surprised, I could not help but raise my voice.
“I have always thought they were already all found.”
“There aren’t many wood crafters, you see. At the current

moment, I believe there are only around five players who
have completed the «Woodcraft» skill.”
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“Hm-hmm.”
“Among those five, aside from me, there is only one who
has the «Sewing» skill at a decent level in addition to
«Woodcraft».”
“Hm-hmm.”
“And I am the only one who raised «Polearm Weapon

Creation» as well.”
“Hm-hmm.”
Swapping in for me, who could only nod in awe, Asuna put her
quick-wittedness on display.
“In other words, the new composition Mahokl-san found is

a three-skills composite from «Woodcraft», «Sewing», and
«Polearm Weapon Creation»… is that how it is?”
“That it is!”
Her two hands, still in their leather gloves, softly hit together and
Mahokl leaned against the back of her chair.
“…Polearm weapons often make use of wood in their

materials, so I raised it thinking to make effective use of the
offcuts resulting from making furniture. I consigned the
weapons I made to NPC weapon shops and made some money
off them, but I had no intention of living mainly off that.
Furniture’s what I like, after all.”
That was understandable, seeing as she had completed the

Woodcraft skill. Unlike combat skills that naturally level up while
fighting against monsters, Life-type skills have to be accumulated
through plain, earnest training. They were not something that could
be reluctantly completed.
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“As for the Sewing skill, I raised it because it was
necessary when making beds or sofas. …I noticed the new
composition displayed in the production window after my
Sewing skill level was over 900 and my Polearm Weapon
Creation was over 800.”
I let out a soft whistle. Despite how tough it was to master even a
single Life-type skill, to have the skill levels for three separate types
at 1000, 900, and 800 was rather amazing. It would be only
understandable for Mahokl to be the only one who reached it.
If that was how it was, she certainly had my interest in finding out
exactly what composition she had discovered now. There were
various composite products from Woodcraft and Sewing, but just
what would result from adding Polearm Weapon creation to them? A
mop? Or a carp streamer?
I asked while leaning across the table.
“…So, what was that composition…?”
Mahokl’s answer struck both Asuna and I dumbfounded.
“A ballista.”
“Eh? …S-Some sort of coffee machine?”
“In Japanese, it would be «dohou (ballista)».”
“Balli… wait…… e-eeeeehh?!”
Asuna tugged on my right sleeve as I bent back in shock.
“Hey, Kirito-kun, what’s a ballista?”
“A b-ballista is, well, to make it short… it’s a stationary,

gigantic crossbow. Like a cannon that doesn’t use
gunpowder.”
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“……E-Eeeeehh?!”
And Asuna was the one to shout this time.
The bell signaling midday rang just as we exited the teleport gate
on the 22nd floor.
Coral Village’s central plaza was quiet as always with no other

player in sight. There were no players at the plaza at Zumfut on the
3rd floor too, but there were barely any NPCs walking around here
either. Few would imagine this to be the main town representative of
the floor.
“…Aah, I did gather some lumber from here, didn’t I. That

would be almost a year ago, though.”
Stepping onto the plaza’s stone paving after Asuna and me,
Mahokl spoke in a small voice. She continued in a nostalgic tone
even as she diligently checked through the surroundings.
“I had gathered a large amount of good quality wood, with

my inventory almost bursting, so I borrowed a corner in the
NPC shop and made a table. Since I consigned it there and
then, I forgot to register it in my account book.”
“…So that means you could make a table of that quality a

year ago?”
Asuna asked, apparently surprised, and the craftsman with swirly

glasses grinned.
“Well, it would, but to put it in another way, it took nearly

a year to complete the skill from there. Now, let us head to
the shop.”
The three of us moved to the furniture shop and the table in
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question, its top made from a single walnut plank and with a net
price of seven hundred thousand cor, was still exuding a massive
presence in the depths of the shop just like the day before, naturally
enough.
Briskly stepping over to her creation, its maker removed the glove
from her right hand and gently caressed the table’s top. Muttering
“It wasn’t too badly done.”, she tapped the table’s surface.
The window accessible only to the one who consigned the product
appeared and just as Mahokl was about to press the «End
Consignment» button, I quickly stopped her.
“Erm, h-hold on!”
“…What is it?”
“Are you going to stop selling that table?”
“I am, you should know why, after what I have mentioned

earlier.”
“T-That’s true…”
What we had heard from Mahokl at her atelier in Zumfut was

certainly reason enough for her seclusion. It would be best for her to
put her business on hold and go into hiding for the time being when
considering her safety. Asuna and I had tracked her down precisely
from this table alone—even if it was through the staggering
investigative abilities of the «Rat», Argo.
Still, I could hardly find it in myself to give up easily when recalling

the expression Asuna had worn when we found this table yesterday.
Nonetheless, unfortunately, I did not have the means to casually drop
seven hundred thousand cor for furniture.
Feeling as though my «reliability as a husband» was being tested
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on the third day of our marriage, I growled and Asuna giggled before
gently patting my shoulder.
Drawing her face closer to my ear, she whispered.
“Thank you, Kirito-kun. But the thought is enough.”
“Y-Yeaah, still…”
“We can still go back and buy it once we’ve saved up

enough money.”
“N-Nnnn……”
Mahokl watched over our exchange through her thick lenses and
grinned once more.
“The both of you.”
“Y… yes?”
“I would not mind taking ninety percent off this table.”
“Oh… nine… ——eh, ehh?! Ninety percent off?!”
Mahokl thrust a finger on her right hand forward as I nearly hopped

up.
“Of course, I will make that rocking chair you wanted to

order too. However, there is a condition attached.”
“…T-That’s only natural… …What is it…?”
“You will have to gather all of the material items I ask for!”
Temporarily withdrawing the table that was effectively sold now,

Asuna and I accompanied Mahokl back to the teleport gate as she
returned to the 3rd floor and looked down upon the small parchment
handed to us by the wood crafter.
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Five types of material items were listed there. Each was relatively
rare, but the problem laid beyond that.
“…These are likely the materials for the ballista, aren’t

they…?”
I curtly nodded to Asuna’s whispers.
“Yeah, they must be. But I wonder why… She should have
vacated her last atelier and hid on the 3rd floor because she
didn’t want to make it…”
“Hmm… —Well, for the time being, let’s go back and have
some food?”
With my forgotten empty stomach reawakened by my wife’s

words, I briskly answered with a “Yeah!”.
Purchasing the ingredients in the village, we walked along the

lake shore path and returned to the log house. It was just after five in
the afternoon on the twenty-fourth of October that Asuna and I
married in front of this house, and since it was now one on the
twenty-sixth, it had actually not even been two whole days yet.
Nonetheless, the moment I saw that roof and the unadorned

chimney on it beyond the hill, nostalgia squeezed tightly deep in my
chest. Perhaps feeling similarly, Asuna put more strength into our
linked hands.
“…It’s nice having a home, isn’t it?”
I hugged Asuna’s shoulders as she murmured and replied with our

heads against each other.
“Yeah. I feel like I’ve finally understood the significance

behind the term, «Player Home».”
“Yes… It is our home, isn’t it?”
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The serene expression, veiling what seemed like a strong longing,
Asuna showed to me as she said so forced my left hand onto her
cheek as I laid my lips over hers. Asuna’s lips conveyed an aphonic “I
love you” as our long kiss continued.
We went out together in the morning, passed through various

places, and came home together. I felt nothing else could be more
joyful, fun, and precious than even just those now.
“I love you… I really do, Kirito-kun…”
I hugged Asuna’s slender frame close with all my strength as she

whispered in a quivering voice.
After polishing off a breakfast of prosciutto crudo, cheese, and

lettuce generously placed between rye bread along with croque-
madame with the sunny-side-up fried eggs atop, I took out a memo
written on parchment from my shirt’s breast pocket.
Reading from the top of the listed material items, we had:
● Solidite Ingot 30 ● Acutite Ingot 20 ● Aged Teak Log 10 ●

Greatrock Dragon Tendon 8 ● Legendary Bear Fats 8
The top two were rare metal ingots, the middle was wood, likely
just as rare, the fourth was a material gathered from ground dragons,
and the fifth—was an item of a truly nostalgic name.
Bringing cups of steaming hot coffee over in her two hands, Asuna
sat by my side and peeked at my hand.
“…The last one’s that, isn’t it… on the 4th floor…”
“It should be. To think we’ll be fighting that fire-breathing

bear again, huh…?”
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Distant memories came back to me for a moment as I sipped the
coffee.
The «Legendary Bear Fats» was a rare material necessary when

constructing the gondola for moving across the 4th floor, the floor of
lakes and waterways. The gigantic bear that breathed fire
everywhere, «Magnatherium», dropped it, but it was a disaster when
we challenged it on our first encounter.
Still, our levels were now over 90 contrast to nearly two years ago
when we were about level 15. Even the terribly frightening
Magnatherium from back then would probably be go down in a fight
with a single sword skill now.
We could simply hold back on the fire-breathing bear fighting and

obtain it from players… that thought occurred to me before Asuna
gave a quiet “hmm”.
“Hmm… —I am happy over getting ninety percent off that

table too… but it is really okay for us to gather these
materials…?”
“Hmm.”
Or so I went this time.
There was a strange contradiction in Mahokl’s actions. After all, she

vacated her atelier from that floor high above and moved to Zumfut
on the lower floors because she did not want to construct that
composition weapon, the «ballista», that she personally discovered,
or so she had explained.
A major premise of SAO was the lack of «projectile weapons».

Through that principle, not only was magic, something basic to the
usual fantasy RPG, missing but also bows and arrows.
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The reason was to abolish any shooting aspect from the game and
have players experience combat as intimately as possible or so the
game design went, but there was a reason behind that setting in this
world as well.
That was— A long, long time ago, the humans, elves, and dwarves
established and lived in their respective nations on the great earth.
However, at one point, the catastrophe called «The Great
Separation» broke out and many towns and villages, including all of
the nations’ capitals, were cut away from the earth in circles and
stacked up as they floated into the sky, forming a humongous castle.
All magical powers were lost since then and arrows shot from bows
lost their ability to fly straight.
I opened my mouth while sentimentally recalling the dark elf

knight who taught us of that legend.
“…It’ll be earth-shattering if the ballista’s real and usable,

huh. We don’t know if we can bring it to the labyrinth’s boss
room, but at the very least, I believe it’ll change the face of
field boss clearing and such. I can understand Mahokl’s
unease based on that alone… if those divine dragon people
from the frontliners or the Aincrad Liberation Force were to
find out that she’s the only one capable of creating the
ballista, they would never leave her alone.”
“True… they are the type to go ‘anything to clear this

death game is okay aside from PK’, so they may even confine
her at worst.”
Asuna, somewhat assuming the air of the Knight of the Blood’s

sub-leader, nodded solemnly.
To Mahokl, who put that much passion into making high-quality

furniture, being forced to make nothing but ballistas, a weapon, no,
weaponry would hardly be bearable. No one could blame her for
choosing to hide herself before any uproar occurred.
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Still, why had she told us about the ballista, then?
Also, why had she gave us this condition to gather the rare
materials likely for the ballista…?
“……What should we do, Kirito-kun?”
I considered for another ten second before letting out a breath and
answering when questioned by Asuna.
“Let’s do it. Not because of the table, but… I’m sure Mahokl
has something in mind. If things get dangerous, we’ll just
have to put a stop to it.”
“…Nn, I understand. Then, let’s get ready.”
Nodding and standing up, Asuna waved her right hand and brought
out a window.
After briefly fiddling with her equipment figure, her plain sweater
and skirt were replaced with a bodice for knights, pure white with a
red accent.
Despite it being a mere two days since I last saw it, her beauty,
grace, and charm overwhelmed my ability to speak.
The hem of her skirt fluttered gently as she spun about.
“Kirito-kun, you should hurry and…”
Asuna got that far before my two hands reached out and drew her
closer.
“Ah, wait, you can’t, we’re going to gather those items,

so…”
Slowly tracing my lips over the fencer’s nape as her face reddened,
I whispered.
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“It’s fine, we can gather those easily enough in three
hours.”
“Geez, what do you mean that it’s fine… nn……”
A warmth slowly crept into Asuna’s breaths as her body

shuddered—
(To be continued)
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Source: tap-trans

Days 7. It may be good to read up to SAO Progressive v3 before this.
Aincrad’s 4th floor, main town, Rovia.
The «capital of water», with an elegant townscape resemblant of

Southern Europe and waterways boasting of clear water, had stayed
as the most popular sightseeing spot for some time after the opening
of its teleport gate. Visitors would form long lines at the docks for
gondolas handled by NPC gondoliers, and there would even be
congestion in the main canal on days with clear skies.
However, that was a thing of the past—
Barely any players were at the teleport gate plaza Asuna and I
descended to. Even if it might be now known as no more than a town
difficult to get around in, with its catchphrase as the Town of Water
stolen by the main town of the 61st floor, Selmburg, this fall in
population felt rather bleak. Though the 3rd floor’s Zumfut, where we
visited in the morning, felt desolate as well, that paled in comparison,
strangely enough.
“…It’s a little cold, isn’t it?”
I held Asuna’s hand tightly after she offered it with those words. It
was 26th October, 2024, and despite how it should have been colder
on 21st December, 2022, when Asuna and I activated this town’s
teleport gate, I could not recall it being so. In the first place, we came
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to this town by swimming through the river with just a swimming ring
from where that staircase led. And yet, for it to be so chilly when it
was still the latter half of October, it might have been due to Aincrad
turning colder over these two years, the scenery supporting that
thought—or that one sorrowful memory that still remained in my
chest.
I turned and scanned through the plaza once more with our hands
still linked. However, my hopes were dashed.
“There’s not even a single player stall, huh…”
I muttered and Asuna nodded along.
“And there were lines of stalls selling the materials for

gondolas back then too, weren’t there?”
“If only we could move the gondolas to the floors above,

that stubborn old shipwright would still be making a killing
too, though…”
At my comment, Asuna looked towards the north-western block of

the town. She must have been thinking about paying another visit to
the workshop of that old shipwright, Romolo. But she soon shook her
head lightly and looked into my face.
“If there aren’t any stalls, it looks we’ll have to get the
drops on our own.”
“Aah… that’s true, let’s pay that fire-breathing bear a visit

for the first time in a while.”
Exchanging nods, we began our walk towards the wharf on the

western side of the plaza.
Asuna and I came all the way down to this 4th floor on a request
from the grandmaster wood-crafter, Mahokl, to gather various
materials. The list included eight «Legendary Bear Fats» which also
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served as materials for gondolas, but without any players to
purchase them from, we would have to go for it on our own as Asuna
mentioned.
Wharfs were built in all four cardinal directions from the square
teleport gate plaza: the north and south were for shared gondolas
with NPC gondoliers while the east and west were exclusively for
those owned by players. During the 4th floor’s clearing, the east and
west wharfs would have been mostly occupied by the large ships
constructed by the two large guilds—come to think of it, the term,
«clearing group», hadn’t yet been established then—of that time, but
all that were there now were numerous small boats wavering on the
ripples.
Asuna and I came to a stop before a gondola for two, quietly

moored on the northern end of the east wharf.
Its hull, painted ivory-white and forest-green, was still as beautiful

as a gem despite the damage it had previously received from surface
combat. Its name, “Tilnel”, was marked upon its side, gleaming in
the lambent light glancing off the water’s surface. Our beloved boat
that we had the old Romolo construct after frantically gathering its
materials roughly two years ago, Tilnel.
We had it in the custody of the dark elves’ fortress, «Yofel Castle»,

built on the southern side of the 4th floor’s lake, but that exquisite
castle was now an uninhabited ruin. My memories, from when we
sailed aboard Tilnel with the castle’s children on the lake, surfaced
and provoked a terrible, squeezing ache in my chest.
“………”
Standing by my side, Asuna suddenly turned around and buried

her face into my shoulder. I softly drew closer the fencer whose
shoulders slightly quivered as she gripped tightly upon the fabric of
my undershirt with her two petite hands.
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A hushed voice echoed close to my ears before long.
“…I’m sorry… I thought I would be fine… but it, still,

hurts…”
“Aah… —I’m sorry, too, for not thinking about your

feelings. Maybe we shouldn’t have come here after all…”
I whispered back, and Asuna shook her head slightly, side to side,
still sunken in my shoulder.
“No… I am somewhat glad, too, that this pain still remains

with me… —Still… if only… if only we could, have another……”
Asuna closed her mouth there, but my heart had received her
words loud and clear.
Asuna and I had met on the first floor’s labyrinth, and though it
was due to a series of coincidences after that, we did team up as a
combination for a not-too-short period of time. What left the most
vivid impression from the early days of the death game was the «Elf
War Campaign Quest», spread throughout the lower floors, that we
took on as a pair. Tilnel’s blemishes were suffered during those
quests as well.
Back then, even if we held special feelings for each other, our
obstinacy would not allow us to show that openly. As a combination
that could be said to be on both good and bad terms, we often
squabbled with me pulling various pranks on Asuna and her hurling
various objects at me, but still, those days were lovely. However,
irrevocable regret and melancholy accompanied the end of the Elf
War quest—and that contributed to us walking our separate paths in
the end: Asuna, towards that of the «Knights of the Blood», and I,
back down that of an independent solo player.
—If only, if only we could have another chance at that campaign

quest.
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Asuna was likely about to say that and I thought the same too.
However, if we were granted the authority to turn back time, we
should return to the beginning of this death game and put our all into
reducing the number of casualties among the players to zero… in the
first place, we would be able to prevent this major incident from even
happening. Even if it meant Asuna and I would have never met.
“……If we return to the front lines, let’s put our all into
clearing the game. I am sure that, too, is what Kizmel wishes
for…”
Asuna nodded, strongly, at my words despite her soft sobs.
The gondola for two, Tilnel, glided through the waterway with that
same agility from before. Exiting the town from the southern water
gate, we went through the large river for some time before landing at
the forest area where the fire-breathing bear, the named monster,
«Magnatherium», lived.
Though less so than the 3rd floor, the forest of aged trees was
splendid and gleamed a pale hue of gold in the afternoon light
filtered through. Most of the trees were gnarly and broad-leaved,
exhibiting a charm different from that of the 22nd floor’s coniferous
trees.
“Now then, the bear’s…”
I turned about, taking a look around, while leisurely walking across

the mossy ground. There were neither the bloodthirsty atmosphere
from the Magnatherium scramble from back then nor the sign of any
players aside from us. As long as we found the bear, it would be fine
carrying out the hunt at our own pace.
—Or so I thought.
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“Hey, Kirito-kun… did you hear someone speak…?”
Asuna, having regained her mood after sailing for the first time in a
while, placed her hands behind her ears. That gesture, which seemed
to possess no more than a psychological effect in reality, actually had
a hearing bonus effect in SAO. I did so too, and focused my ears on
the sounds around.
It was several seconds after that when an extremely soft sound,

like the tail-end of a player calling out, provoked my hearing.
“—This way!”
Nodding along with Asuna, we ran towards the north-eastern side

of the forest.
Numerous springs dotted the ground and we had to detour around

them whenever we encountered any before, but a single jump now
could get us over them. It took a mere thirty seconds, dashing
through the cluster of trees like ninjas, landing on tree trunks at
times.
An enormous silhouette could be seen before us, charging from the

right towards the left. That was unmistakably our target,
Magnatherium, even without hearing its “zugyarooon!!” roar that
hardly sounded like a mammal.
However, that was not all we found.
Two players desperately ran on, practically a hairbreadth from the

tip of the fire-breathing bear’s nose. Upon focusing my sight, the
faintly red cursor appeared for the bear with green ones for the
players. The HPs displayed were at ninety-percent for the bear and
fifty-percent for each of them. I wouldn’t know their levels, but for
them to lose that much against a fourth-floor monster, even if it was
against the named Magnatherium, they must be around 10 to 15?
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“They look like they’re in trouble, huh…”
Asuna replied my words with a short “They do”. Confirming her

intentions as our eyes met, we accelerated.
To assure the fleeing pair that this was not a PK, I shouted out
“We’re backing you up!!” before they noticed and ran into the
charging Magnatherium’s path.
The bear roared at that same moment.
“Gyazgooaaahh!!”
It came to an abrupt stop using its four burly limbs and lifted its
upper body all at once. The bear that measured over eight meters
tall raised the horn protruding from its head up high and bared its
gigantic jaw before wildly sucking in air like a vacuum cleaner. The
red light shimmering in the depths of its throat quivered. The
indicator for its fire breath.
To avoid this breath two years ago, we had to jump into the many
springs in the forest. However, this time, I drew my beloved
«Elucidator +45» from my back at last and stood straight with it
brandished.
Flames burning crimson breathed out fiercely from the boar’s

throat. I rapidly spun my sword in that moment and activated the
sword skill, «Spinning Shield». Though its activation was difficult,
entering the motion only after dexterously using my five fingers and
spinning the sword twice, like twirling, it was a useful skill capable of
blocking flame and ice breaths (though unfortunately ineffective
against lightning and poison).
Elucidator’s blade, rapidly spinning within my hand, blew away the

bear’s flame breath as a shield gleaming white. I called out to my
bride some distance away while keeping up the skill.
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“Asuna, counting on you for the counter.”
“Okay, I’ve got you.”
Asuna drew her rapier, «Lambent Light +32», from her waist with a
refreshing shing. Deftly stepping into the bear’s side, she activated a
four-hit «Quadruple Pain» the instant its breath attack ended.
The four thrusts, faster than the eye could follow, carved a red
cross into the bear’s flank. Its giant frame gleamed blue as it swelled
out and I watched it explode into countless scattered particles as I
slightly twisted my neck.
With Asuna’s current attack power, it should be possible for a

single basic, one-hit «Linear» to down the bear. Hence, why would
she go for an overkill, using that four-hit skill—?
That doubt cleared away upon hearing the players who were
fleeing from the bear.
“Th… thank you very much!”
After returning my sword into the sheath on my back as I turned

around, I saw the ones standing there were a man and a woman, a
combination like us. Both had the orthodox one-handed sword and
shield, and the man was equipped with light metal armor while the
woman was equipped with reinforced leather armor. They certainly
were around level 15, judging from the grades of those. Though that
was within the safety margin for fighting on the fourth floor, there
were no absolutes in combat in SAO. All the more so with a named
mob as an opponent.
“Hey there, we’re sorry too, for deciding to cut in on our

own.”
The pair started head-shaking exercises with complete

synchronization at my reply.
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“No, no, really, don’t be, it really helped us out~~”
The female player replied this time round with a cute voice. Asuna
walked to us from my back and the pair deeply bowed to her as well.
The male player sprung back up and let out an enthusiastic voice
towards Asuna.
“But still, that was amazing! Bringing down that tough

Magnatherium with a single four-hit sword skill!”
Yes, Asuna must have wanted the pair to think that «a four-hit
attack was necessary». If she downed the bear with a single Linear,
they might recognize us as from the clearing group and if rumors of
that reached the front lines, our break might just get canceled with a
“You call bullying the weak monsters around the fourth floor
resting?!” from someone like the prim and proper Heathcliff.
That said, it was clear finishing it off with a four-hit skill meant we

weren’t at the proper level for this floor, so Asuna gave a modest
reply.
“No, its HP was reduced by a little beforehand, so…”
“That really was just a little! Besides, that skill to block its
breath was amazing too… so there are sword skills like that
too, huh…”
The emotional male player looked to be around twenty years old

from the appearance of his avatar. He had brown hair, tinged red and
curled backwards, with a rather manly face. On the other hand, the
female player had almost-white platinum gold hair in a billowy
ponytail with somewhat soft facial features. She seemed younger
than her partner too.
Deciding it was best to avoid dragging this talk about ourselves on

any further, I threw out a question for the pair.
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“And you are on the «Shipwright of Yore» quest?”
The pair replied with a “Yes!” in concert and I could only grin as I
spoke.
“Must be tough dealing with that stubbornness of old

Romolo.”
“Yes, it sure is~~ We had to go through so much before he

would even accept our request~~”
The female player vigorously nodded and Asuna giggled. It

appeared we had found out why they were battling with the fire-
breathing bear for now, but that brought up a new doubt in itself.
“Err… judging from your equipment, the two of you aren’t

crafters but fighters, aren’t you? If your aim is to level up,
instead of clearing that bothersome quest… or rather, why
not skip this troublesome floor? I personally think it’s more
effective, in terms of both cor and experience points, if you
ignored this place and farmed at the 5th floor’s underground
burial grounds…”
When we first came to the 4th floor, we had no choice but to clear
the labyrinth and defeat the floor boss before heading up to the 5th
floor by the stairs. As such, we need our own gondola for moving
throughout the floor, but with the teleport gate now unlocked, it’s
possible, or rather, standard, for players to level up solely at the
«best farming spots» if they were aiming to head up.
The pair exchanged looks at my question before the man displayed

an embarrassed smile and answered.
“No, well, actually, we’re on the Elf War campaign…”
It seemed only I could hear Asuna softly catching her breath. The
man continued on, his expression unflinching.
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“We initially planned to stop after receiving the quest
rewards on the 3rd floor. The walkthrough book did write
that the 4th floor’s event quest was rather tough too.”
“But you see~ it really bothered us wondering how the

story was going to go~”
The female player followed up while beaming.
“We’re on it from the dark elves’ side~ and we really,

really wanted to take a look at the queen’s castle on the 9th
floor~ So, we thought to do what we could~ And still, we fell
flat on the very first step on the 4th floor~”
The woman laughed with a tehehe and the man opened his mouth
once again.
“—We hunted down boars and worms around the borders

of Starting City until just recently, earning enough to cover
the cost of the inn and food. But after keeping that up for
over a year, we got above level 10… and when the «Army»
found out, they told us to enlist. We wanted none of that,
so…”
“That’s why we left Starting City~ And so, we figured, why

don’t we get stronger for real~? I guess you must be
thinking, like~ why now~ being so strong already and us
focusing so much on the elf quest is totally what some casual
would do too~…”
Asuna yelled out the moment the female player giggled once
more.
“That’s not true at all!”
Taking a step forward, she stared at the two swordsmen with an

earnest look.
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“Trying your best, aiming for some goal… I believe that is
all that’s truly important in this world. It doesn’t matter
when or why… I believe all of the players are doing their part
against this game, be it someone who left the city wanting to
grow stronger like the both of you, or someone who trained
their Life skills… or even someone who simply lived on, day
after day, in Starting City.”
The pair widened their eyes at Asuna’s words for a moment but
eventually nodded gently as though understanding.
As six «Legendary Bear Fats» dropped from the Magnatherium

Asuna defeated, we gave them the four needed for the ship building
quest, conveyed warnings regarding the fallen elves they would
encounter from now on as a side note, and parted with the two
players at the forest’s entrance.
Asuna and I waited for the fire-breathing bear’s respawn and

defeated it again—finishing it off with a single «Vertical» from me
this round—and returned to Rovia by gondola.
Anchoring Tilnel on the west wharf once again, we went up the

stairs towards the teleport plaza. We took a look around just in case,
but the pair were nowhere to be seen. They must be awaiting the
gondola’s completion in the old Romolo’s workshop by now.
Asuna muttered as we walked towards the gate.
“Those two… I wonder if they saved that dark elven knight

at the start…”
That must be impossible, I thought to myself. I had looked into it

afterwards, but it was confirmed that even after reaching level 50
and becoming strong enough to defeat the enemy elite knight
normally, both knights would die without fail at the opening quest for
the campaign. All aside from that one irregularity Asuna and I
encountered.
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However, I gripped Asuna’s hand while I answered.
“They might have, huh? Seeing as they’re on the elf quest

now of all times.”
“Nn… that’s true.”
Looking at each other, we both laughed softly.
Our hands remained connected as I opened our inventory window

with my spare hand and withdrew two plain, grey, hooded mantles.
Passing one to Asuna, we both put them on. We pulled the hoods
down deep and stepped into the teleport gate, flickering blue. Taking
in a deep breath, we called out as one.
“Teleport, Algade!”
50th floor, main town, Algade.
The town I made my home until Asuna and I purchased the log
house on the 22nd floor and began our life together. I still kept up
the rent for the room I called my sleeping place, but I wouldn’t be
returning ever again—or so I hoped.
Algade was the largest city in Aincrad even now, nearly ten months
after the 50th floor was cleared, and there was an absurd number of
shops around, whether they were set up by players or NPCs.
Naturally, it was not uncommon for even the top players to come
shopping, too, hence the reason for hiding our faces with the hoods.
We walked through the squalid streets, strangely enough nostalgic

despite being less than a week since I moved, for a bit and slipped
into a certain player shop.
It could not be more chaotic inside the shop with its weapons,
armor, materials, potions, and various other goods of various
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categories; and fortunately, while it was filled with numerous
customers, there were none who turned their attention away from
the goods. Approaching the counter further inside the shop, I quietly
greeted the shop owner who had a window open and a difficult
expression on.
“Yo, I’m here.”
The skinhead giant looked up at that, and his mouth bent along
with his beard as he let out a groan.
“What do you mean, I’m here?! At least contact me an hour

in advance!”
The giant’s name was Agil. The manager for this general store and
a cunning businessman, as well as a two-handed axe veteran among
the clearing group. Asuna and I had known him ever since the floor
boss clearing battle on the first floor.
Grinning from within the hood, I rapped his burly arm.
“Well, that’s just how much trust I have in your

capabilities, see.”
“How am I supposed to fulfill an order that demanding on

such short notice…?”
Looking at Agil complaining away, Asuna giggled from my side.
“We are sorry, Agil-san. Sorry for requesting something so

difficult out of the blue.”
“No, well, it’s not like that matters. It’s my motto to stock
up everything from potions to full plates and to offer them at
a fair price.”
The effects of a beauty’s smile were immediate; the wrinkles on

the shop owner’s brow vanished and he voiced out his shady slogan
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as he scrolled through a window. He tilted his head even while deftly
getting together the items for a trade with me.
“Thirty solidite ingots, twenty acutite ingots, ten aged teak

logs, eight greatrock dragon tendons… exactly what are
these materials for? As far as I know, there’s no such recipe
like this, though.”
—There should have been eight legendary bear fats added in there
too, I thought to myself as I interrupted with a shrug of my shoulders.
Among the five material items requested by the wood-crafter,

Mahokl, I had requested the four that were in frequent-enough
circulation, though costly, from Agil. I hadn’t asked for the bear fats
because I had predicted no player would be selling the material
needed exclusively for the ship-building quest on the 4th floor in their
shops now of all times, and I had no desire to expose the entire
recipe to any outsider. It wasn’t like I didn’t trust Agil, but at any
rate, it was best to have some insurance, considering what would be
made from these materials.
Checking the contents of the trade window from Agil with care, I
confirmed the items’ names and quantities before nodding.
“Okay, no problem here. How much are they?”
“It would go for several times the market rate if it was a

one-time customer, but… well, eighteen thousand col will
do.”
This would be where our unscrupulous haggling war would start if

this was our usual barter, but out of respect for Agil in gathering
these rare materials within just two hours, I decided to yield to his
price. Entering the digits into the window, we both pressed the OK
button and the window disappeared with the successful trade sound
effect.
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“Thanks, Agil.”
“Thank you, Agil-san.”
Asuna and I expressed our gratitude in unison and the big man
answered with a “Thanks!” before grinning.
“That’s that, and now to the both of you, how’s the

newlywed life going…”
“Aah, oh, right, how’s the 75th floor’s clearing going?”
Forcing that question in and shutting down Agil’s probe, I heard out
his reply of “That would be about half done.” before beating a
retreat from the shop with a “Right, then, see you around!”.
We went through the teleport gate once again, this time moving to
Zumfut on the 3rd floor. Exiting onto the silent plaza, an utter change
from the hustle and bustle of Algade, we removed our hooded
mantles at the same time.
“…Agil-san has become completely at home as a merchant,

hasn’t he?”
“No kidding… I couldn’t even have imagined him buying his

own shop back when I gave up the «Vendor’s Carpet» to
him…”
We turned our sight towards the gigantic tree towers after some
brief laughter.
“…Now then, it’s about time.”
(to be continued)
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Source: tap-trans

Days 8.
“Thirty solidite ingots, twenty acutite ingots… ten aged

teak logs, along with eight greatrock dragon tendons, and
eight legendary bear fats. Here are all of the materials you
specified.”
Upon stacking up the materialized items one after another in an

empty corner of the atelier, Mahokl, the wood crafter, jumped back in
surprise with her petite frame and sighed.
“Whew~ To think you could gather it all in just half a

day…”
Her swirly glasses fell to the tip of her nose as her surprisingly
adorable eyes peeked out, but I chose to neglect that and simply
shrugged my shoulders.
“That said, the legendary bear fats are the only ones we
collected on our own, with the rest ordered from a merchant
we know… —Ah, j-just to confirm, but there wasn’t some rule
like «no buying them», was there?”
“There wasn’t, naturally. Establishing good relationships

with capable merchants reflects a player’s ability, too, after
all.”
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Agil’s cocky look surfaced in my mind in that moment she said so,
but I scrubbed that away and kept the conversation going.
“I see, that’s good to hear. Then, as promised, tell us what

these materials are…”
I got that far before Asuna tugged on my coat from behind,

interjecting from my left.
“Hold on, Kirito-kun, who and what manipulated your

memories? What Mahokl-san offered for the material items
wasn’t their use, but…”
“Yes, yes, here it is.”
Opening a window as she spoke, the wood craft materialized a

huge table beside the nearby wall and rapped its thick surface. The
repairs on my memories finally completed upon seeing that.
“Ah… aah, right. You were going to let us have ninety

percent off that table, weren’t you?”
“And the rocking chair, made to order.”
I nodded in confirmation and Asuna took several small steps

towards the table before sliding both hands over the intricate wood
grain on its top with heart marks glowing in her eyes.
“…No matter how many times I see, this is such a lovely

table… This was made from a single walnut log, wasn’t it?”
“Oh my, you’re well acquainted, Asuna-san.”
Pushing up her swirly glasses, Mahokl grinned.
“That’s correct, it’s one of Aincrad’s five precious types of

wood, so to speak.”
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“Five? So there are four others?”
Mahokl thrust out her right hand covered in that sturdy leather
glove at my question and bent her fingers with each tree name she
recited.
“Of course there are. Walnut, mahogany, teak, ebony,

rosewood; those would be the so-called S-ranked timber.
There are other aromatic trees at S rank too, but those are
exclusively for small articles, not furniture.”
“Oooh… there’s a lot to the world of woodcraft, too, huh?”
I took it in, impressed, and Asuna added on with a haughty look for
some reason.
“Those materials are S rank, but that’s not all to it. You
won’t find a log of this size unless it’s from some of the
oldest trees among the walnuts which are already rare
enough. …Did you cut it yourself, Mahokl-san?”
“Nope, as you may expect, I don’t have the skill slots to

afford that.”
“Aah, that’s true… to cut down large trees…”
I cut off Asuna’s words with a snap of my fingers.
“Oh, I know that. There’s that the power enhancement mod

for cutting trees on the two-handed axe skill, right?”
“I see you’re knowledgeable as always when it comes to

combat-related topics.”
Despite the exasperated face Asuna had on as she interjected, I

filed it away as a compliment.
Despite its erratic performance as a weapon and lack of popularity
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as a main skill, the two-handed axe skill enjoyed a low-key following
among players aiming to become both warriors and merchants. The
reason lay in how it increased not just your proficiency in combat but
in harvesting trees as well (its poor effectiveness aside), and how
rare timber fetched quite a price.
“In that case, you mean… the board for this huge table was
harvested by some master class axeman…?”
I rubbed the splendid, thick tabletop as I muttered and Mahokl

spoke in a slightly modulated tone.
“Yes… it was. It was before I moved to this atelier that…”
However, the mysterious wood crafter shut her mouth there and
the rapped the table.
“Well, it’s in the past. …Now, let us get to business. Asuna-

san, how would you like the rocking chair?”
With its minutiae decided upon by Asuna, from its color, shape, to
even comfort, Mahokl showed her prowess and gave shape to it in an
instant.
Upon paying by cash the total of eighty thousand cor—or nearly a

hundred thousand, which would still be an absurd bargain, when also
factoring in the eighteen thousand cor paid to Agil for the material
items—for the completed rocking chair and the table, off by ninety
percent, Asuna and I parted from the atelier after thanking her over
and over again. We teleported from the third floor’s main town,
Zumfut, frequented by few players as always despite it approaching
dinnertime, to the twenty-second floor’s, Coral, populated by even
fewer.
We purchased ingredients for dinner from the village’s NPC shops
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and returned to our lakeside home, at which Asuna immediately
cleared away the table we just bought yesterday and materialized
the table crafted from a single rare log by Mahokl.
Though the superdreadnought-class table seemed somewhat too

large, likely able to seat four along each length and one along each
width, for us dining alone, Asuna seemed unbothered. Seeing her
blissfully setting down chairs facing each other on both ends and
arranging the candlesticks and placemats, I started wondering if she
was from a family with tables of that class in the real world… though
it did no good fretting over that now.
“Look, it fits the living room perfectly! It can seat plenty,

let’s call some guests over and have a party next time!”
Asuna spoke while beaming, having finished her arrangements,

and I could not hide a smile when I answered.
“That’s true. Guess we’ll have to call Mahokl over, then,

since she made it.”
“And the axe user who harvested the log too. …Now then,
let’s have some food.”
Our meal turned out comfy thanks to the table’s flawless stability
and pleasant warmth despite my initial apprehension over its size,
and I assisted Asuna with the clean up before we headed out onto
the porch.
The sun had set without our notice, and the lake before our eyes
gleamed blue under the moonlight from the circumference. The wind
on this late-autumn night was chilly on the skin and I could not help
but shiver slightly, prompting Asuna to stick closer.
“…Come to think of it, where should we place the rocking

chair we had made?”
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I asked, with that popping into my mind, and the young bride
spoke somewhat falteringly.
“Hmm… I thought this porch would be nice with the sun

shining in the afternoon, but it would be pleasant in front of
the fireplace at night too, wouldn’t it?”
“Haha, it would. Then how about we get another one made

and have both?”
“Huh, would that be okay?”
“Ten thousand cor or so is just a bit of a hunt, after all.”
Asuna tilted her head slightly at my reply.
“Nn, honestly, I don’t think she would turn a profit if that

chair went for ten thousand cor. Though not quite at the level
of S-ranked timber, it is made from high-quality maple… she
likely took part of its cost off along with the table as thanks
for that errand quest.”
“I-I see… Then, I guess we’ll have to pick that quest up

again.”
“Hey, Mahokl-san isn’t an NPC, you know?”
Sticking a finger onto my back, she laid her head on my shoulder.
“……Still, I must say I don’t quite understand…”
I nodded in agreement to her murmur.
“Yeah, I know, right? What did Mahokl have us gather

those materials for…?”
“Wouldn’t it be to build something?”
“I-I know that much. The issue lies in how that something is
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probably the ballista…”
“…Listen, in the first place, what exactly is the ballista? I

know you did say it’s some stationary, gigantic crossbow,
Kirito-kun.”
“Let’s see…”
I twirled my right hand, drawing lines in midair, and wondered

where I should begin. However, a particularly cold wind brushed
against my neck before I could speak and I let out a huge sneeze.
Giggling, Asuna tugged on my left arm as she spoke.
“Let’s talk more inside.”
Lighting a fire in the fireplace installed on the west wall of the

living room and setting the precious rocking chair before it, Asuna
indicated towards the chair with a “nn” just as I thought she was
about to sit in it.
“Eh… you don’t mind if I take a seat first?”
“Nn.”
“O-Okay, I’ll go ahead…”
Reaching out towards the armrest, faintly lit by the fireplace, I

cautiously sat down. As I put my weight down, it split with a
snap—naturally, nothing of that sort happened and the cushioning
leather seat gently enveloped me as the backrest quivered
comfortably atop its exquisitely curved legs. In addition, I could smell
a whiff of sweet maple syrup, perhaps due to the material used.
“Ooh… it does feel a bit big, but this coziness is just…”
I started on my thoughts, but Asuna interrupted with a “nn~~”

purr as she got atop me. Squirming into place, she shifted my arms
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and legs before settling into the most comfy position for her and a
“nnn~~~~” resonated from her throat once more.
“……I see, so it fits just right when we both sit in it…”
Nodding with a “nn” at me, slowly digesting that thought, she

then went “nn” in a questioning tone. Realizing that was a request
for the topic from earlier, I cleared my throat before resuming the
explanation.
“Ermm, ballistas were first used in Ancient Greece or

Rome, they’re a siege weapon designed by enlarging the
crossbow. There’s the term ballistic curve in English even
now, and that’s what the term is derived from.”
“Huh… If it’s a bow, it fires arrows?”
I returned a partial nod to the question that put an end to her

purrs.
“Well, basically. I think it’s closer to the size of a spear

than an arrow, though… aside from that, they seemed to
have shot rocks, metal balls, or firebombs too.”
“I see…”
Curling about atop me and looking up towards the ceiling, Asuna

spoke in a somewhat solemn tone.
“—But don’t you think it would be a contradiction?”
“Huh? Of what?”
“That. —The «Forfeiture».”
“………Aah!”
My upper body sprang up before my thinking could catch up and
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softly lifted Asuna ten centimeters before we fell back.
«Loss of miracles (Forfeiture)» was a term referring to the

phenomenon from ancient times that lifted Aincrad’s many floors
from the earth and abolished magic. Barely any among the clearing
group players would call it that as it appeared only near the end of
the Elf War campaign quest, but Asuna and I had naturally heard of it
directly from the elves.
Magic was technically not the only loss as a consequence of the

Forfeiture. The production means and technologies for long-ranged
projectiles—or bows in other words—were lost for eternity as well. As
such, Aincrad lacked skills like Bowcraft or Archery. Or so I had
believed to this day—
“…True, ballistas can be considered a sort of bow… Then

the means of reproducing or using them should’ve been lost
during the Forfeiture too. But Mahokl definitely said she
found a skill composition for ballista creation and even ended
up hiding her whole atelier for it…”
“Not to mention how she requested for us to gather those

materials likely for a ballista. I doubt Mahokl-san was lying
when those materials were enough to discount a seven
hundred thousand cor table down to seventy thousand.”
I nodded at what Asuna pointed out. Her every motion swept

across me, tempting my two hands to act, but I urged my mind to
remain on the topic instead.
“…Then let’s say for now that the ballista was unaffected
by the «Forfeiture», and can be produced as well as utilized.
Why would Mahokl have us gather its materials, then…?
Judging from what she said at first, it did sound like she went
into hiding because she didn’t want to make the ballista…”
Asuna kept her silence for some time even after I spoke.
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She was probably giving it her all, thinking through it earnestly;
she had the habit of brushing the ends of her right fingers against the
tip of her slender chin at those times. Her glossy lips would tremble
faintly each time and add to my wicked thoughts meter yet again.
However, Asuna fortunately opened her mouth before my

restraints broke.
“……This is nothing more than a hunch… but I feel that the

person who harvested the log for that table is connected to
Mahokl’s request this time… no, perhaps even to why she
moved her atelier to Zumfut. To be comfortable with taking
requests for harvesting and processing such rare lumber, she
must have been a regular customer… or even more; they may
have been some sort of duo…”
The huge table planted in the middle of the living room entered my
eyes when I traced Asuna’s line of sight which turned towards the
side as she spoke. Supposedly made from a single walnut log, the
bark on its sides retained its protrusions, bringing to mind the great
tree that once stood toweringly somewhere in Aincrad.
“…Well, that two-handed axe wielder must have had some

skill to harvest one that massive… Not even the clearing
group has that many master-class axemen……”
My words unnaturally faded out there.
The close-up of a certain player’s face popped into my mind.
As though the image got transmitted from my mind, Asuna

reverted to mewling out an “……unn”. Exchanging glances as our
faces almost met, we murmured out a phrase with one voice.
“”Don’t tell me…””
Losing the staring contest we had as we urged each other to go
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first, I shaped that confounding speculation into words.
“……Don’t tell me Mahokl’s old partner is that rip-off axe

merchant… it’s not him, is it……?”
“An axe merchant would be one who deals in axes, Kirito-

kun.”
“Then, let’s just call him a merchant axe… no, but still,
seriously……?”
“Nn~ come to think of it, Agil-san did seem bothered over

what sort of recipe those ingots or dragon tendons were for
when we ordered them… Even if he didn’t know they were for
a ballista, he might have noticed something was up.”
“Hm~~~~mm…”
I moaned for a bit, sticking my hands behind my head. I plunked

down an image of that skinhead giant beside one of that spiral
glasses girl in my mind, but the sense of mismatch was palpable.
However, the same could be said about me, a stray beater, and
Asuna, the clearing group’s idol. Putting the sense of mismatch aside,
I pondered where and what they could have had connected over.
—That said.
“……Actually, you know, I’m not sure why Agil got serious
as a merchant…”
“Eh, wasn’t it that, Kirito-kun? Back then, when you pushed

the «Vendor’s Carpet» on Agil-san.”
“Aah, well, that may have started it all… but Agil remained
mainly as an axe warrior for some time even after getting the
carpet, and it felt like he opened the roadside stall as an
effective way of disposing of items. —I ended up keeping my
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distance from Agil after all that happened afterward back
then…”
My body stiffened up for a moment as painful memories sprang up

through my own words, and as though fully aware of that, Asuna
shifted her face from atop my chest towards my face.
The silence between us continued as our cheeks touched. My pain

melted away against her cool, soft skin.
I took a deep breath before whispering.
“…Thanks, Asuna.”
“……Nn.”
Showing a faint smile and touching our lips together for an instant,
Asuna then slid herself back down. Curling my hand behind her back,
I set the rocking chair into a slow swing as I resumed my thoughts.
“It does seem something major happened that made Agil

go from a bona fide member of the clearing group, until the
twentieth floor or so, to a proper merchant with a storefront
on Algade’s main street. …Maybe we’re thinking too much,
linking it to Mahokl’s ballista recipe…”
“Nn, nnn~~”
Asuna replied with her adorable purrs while on top of me.
“…Even though he showed interest in the list of materials

we ordered, Agil-san didn’t know they were for a ballista, so
the possibility that Mahokl-san actually made a ballista with
him long ago, leading to some incident… can be eliminated, I
believe.”
“True… In the first place, if the actual ballista had the

range and firepower of a cannon, Agil’s not the type to hide
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it from the clearing group, right?”
“He wouldn’t. In that case…… hmm, this is as far as we can

go on pure guesses……”
Asuna let loose all of her strength along with a breath. I hugged
her avatar, tangible and warm yet far from heavy, tight into my arms
as I muttered.
“We can go straight up to Agil and ask…”
Asuna immediately shook her head within my arms.
“W-We can’t. If Mahokl-san is hiding out of her own

volition, even if it’s to someone like Agil-san, we shouldn’t be
exposing her name as easily as that.”
“R-Right.”
—That said, Argo the information dealer tracked down Mahokl’s

atelier in a single night on our request, so anyone with the will would
find her easily enough, be it Agil or whoever else.
In that case, sticking our heads in any further would only invite
trouble, but tossing the consequences aside since we had already
gotten a table and rocking chair for cheap out of it… was not such a
clear-cut decision to take. As one from the clearing group, I wanted
to confirm if the ballista truly existed, and Mahokl’s intention for
those materials gathered did bother me.
“……All we can do is to ask those who may already know of

the situation, huh.”
“Eh, who…?”
I shot a grin towards the blinking Asuna.
“You’ll know when we meet.”
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3
Sunny, 27th October, 10 AM.
The man popping out from the teleport gate at Coral Village raised
a bottle of sake, probably a present, upon catching sight of me.
“Yoo—oo, I’m here~”
“Yo. Sorry about calling you here out of the blue.”
“Don’t be, what’s something like that between us…?”
The visitor—Klein, a katana wielder who led the clearing guild

«Fuurinkazan»—got that far before his words stopped dead upon
seeing Asuna who stepped out from behind me.
“Good afternoon, Klein-san.”
“G… gooo……”
Stiffening up all at once, he quickly slid to my side before slinging

his arm around my neck and dragging me several meters away.
“O… oi, Kiritard, what the heck is this!? Why are you with
that Asuna-san from that KoB while on your R&R break!?”
“Aah… erm, that’s, well…”
It was then, when I stumbled over my words, lost at how to get the
situation across.
Stepping around, and in before us, was Asuna who spoke with a
bright smile.
“My apologies for the late notice, Klein-san. Kirito-kun and

I got married three days ago.”
“…………”
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Klein froze up for a good five seconds.
“Wuuuuuuuuttt!?”
The scream roared through the teleport gate plaza.
(to be continued)
Afterword
Kunori here, thank you very much for buying “SAO: ME18”.
“I’ll definitely put out a book that could be said to be one

next time…”; I continued writing these, which end up so short as
always, even with that thought in mind, and before I knew it, here we
are at the 18th Material Edition. With the “Sugary Days” series that
started in “ME10” reaching its 8th chapter, too, I suppose everyone
must be fretting over “just when will this end…?”, but it should
end in just another two chapters… Maybe! Or so I think! No, wait,
maybe three…
It was all about Kirito and Asuna being lovey-dovey at the start…
that’s the concept for the chapters, but it looks like they got caught
up in something sometime, somewhere, so it’ll probably finish off
with some battle at the end. At any rate, I hope for your kind support
until everything wraps up! I sure hope to publish a compilation when
it’s all over…
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Source: tap-trans

Days 9.
“«Marriage», huh…? To think SAO had such a system… I’d

forgotten after all those many battles… ya know…?”
The katana wielder muttered while staring off into the distance,

and I scrutinized the ripostes I could pick from before speaking.
“Don’t sweat the small stuff.”
“Small stuff, you say?!”
“I get it, I get it, I’ll explain properly the next time we go
for drinks or whatever.”
I patted his back, covered in Japanese-style armor, and Klein

winced as he nodded with a “no helping it, then”. Sitting across
the table, Asuna let out a giggle at our exchange.
This was Aincrad’s 22nd floor, in a corner of the teleport plaza in

the main town, Coral. The refreshing morning light shone upon the
simply decorated open-air cafe. Aincrad’s NPC eateries generally
allowed outside food and drinks, and the bottle of brandy Klein
brought over as a gift adorned the table, but as we were in no mood
for heavy liquor under this morning sun—even if we would not get
drunk—we instead ordered the lindera umbellata (kuromoji) tea this
store seemed famous for.
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When I first saw the name on the menu, I wondered if that meant it
was black (kuroi)moji, and what exactly could moji refer to, but there
was apparently a shrub by that name, according to Asuna. As
expected of its supposed reputation as an ingredient for top-quality
essential oils and material for toothpicks, the tea gave off a
refreshing fragrance.
Its price was nothing to scoff at either, and I sipped it before

opening my mouth once again.
“Come to think of it…”
Then realizing it would be unnatural diving straight into the main

topic, I instead engaged in some gossip first.
“…We heard from Agil, but it looks like the 75th floor’s
conquest is quite a tough one, huh?”
“Aah, yeahh…”
Gulping down the rather expensive tea, Klein nodded.
“We started clearing the 75th floor, erm… it’s been a week
already? And it took all the way ’til yesterday before we
finally broke through the last field boss. It’ll be tomorrow at
least before we reach the labyrinth, and from the way things
are going, it’ll be another week before the boss room.”
“I see…”
“Nah, we may not even get through the labyrinth with just
a week. I mean, it looks like that one guy great at mapping
just went off and took a break for his honeymoon~~”
Leaning back into my chair to dodge the deliberate side-glances he

shot at me as he spoke, I put on a nonchalant face as I advanced the
conversation.
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“It’s not all that bad, the boss for the 75th floor will be
pretty strong since it’s the quarter-point. Taking some time
to level up in the labyrinth and digging up those rare items
won’t be a waste.”
“Ooh, look at the amazing Unikie talking all relaxed.”
“…What’s that Unikie supposed to be……?”
“Like I have to explain. It’s short for Unique Skiller.

Christened by a great man: me.”
“Hey, don’t you dare spread that around!”
“Heh, too late! I’ll make you Unikie-sensei instead of

Blackie-sensei by the 80th floor!”
“Seriously, don’t! In the first place, does the word skiller

even exist?!”
Our conversation developed, just a little bereft of intelligence.
It was then that Asuna burst out into laughter in a rare, unguarded
manner, reaching her limit after apparently having held it in until
now.
“Ahaha…… geez, the two of you never change, do you?”
Klein and I shifted our hands behind our heads at once and curtly
bowed.
“S-Sorry.”
“There’s no need to apologize.”
“Nah, that was a conditional reflex from you flaring up at

all of the clearing meetings…”
“It’s not like I wanted to, either.”
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With her laughter dying down, Asuna slightly puffed out her cheeks
before turning a somewhat sober expression towards Klein.
“…If reaching the labyrinth is taking over a week, the field

bosses and normal monsters must have been strengthened
as well?”
“Aah, well, there’s no mistaking that. Feels like a step up

like the 25th and 50th floors, maybe even worse.”
“I… see…”
A faint shadow of gloom crept over Asuna’s face as she nodded.

She must have felt guilty after supporting the clearing group for so
long.
I quietly reached out under the table and touched Asuna’s right
hand with my left. Klein, too, shook his head in exaggerated motions
while speaking.
“No, really, you don’t hafta worry. His Excellency, the

leader of your place, is leading the 75th floor’s conquest
himself, so…”
Neither Asuna nor I could hold back our surprise upon hearing that.
The leader of Knights of the Blood, «Holy Sword» Heathcliff, had

basically never participated in anything aside from floor boss clearing
battles ever since KoB became known as the strongest guild, and him
not showing up unless necessary was only par for the course.
Taking part in the field conquest from the very beginning ought to
be to make up for the absence of the sub-leader, Asuna, but that
hardly seemed to be all to it. No, that might be my prejudice talking
after suffering a magnificent loss in a duel against him before a
grand audience.
I took another sip of the lindera umbellata tea in my left hand,
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parted from Asuna’s hand, and then spoke.
“That’s sure a surprise… Then yesterday’s field boss battle

too?”
“Of ‘cos.”
Klein nodded and raised the menu board on the table like a shield
as he rattled on.
“No, seriously, I mean, I knew, but he’s rock-hard. He

tanked the boss solo and not one time did he have to swap
out for pots or even to call for a switch. And it didn’t feel like
he was depending on his armor’s specs, ya know? He had
godlike reflexes against those super-subtle pre-motions and
held back every last one of those skills the boss attacked
with.”
“……Yeaah?”
Memories of the other day’s duel where my flurry of strikes was

stopped, one after another, came back vividly as I listened to the
katana wielder’s explanation, and my face winched into a bitter
expression. Seeing that, Klein grinned while hiking up the intensity of
his retelling of the leader’s valiant deeds, so I had to interject in a
hurry.
“Nah, let’s keep it at that. Well, if that’s that, the great

leader’ll do his magic in the floor boss battle too, so I guess
extending our break should…”
“I knew you would say that.”
As Asuna was the one to interrupt this time, I turned towards her
before the young wife prodded at my left shoulder with an
admonishing look.
“We can’t, Kirito-kun. If a request for our help for the floor
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boss battle comes, we have to join in. Regardless of how
we’re on a break or how we’ve left the guild, we are still part
of the clearing group.”
“I-I get itt.”
My childish reply was greeted by Asuna’s brilliant smile and Klein

draining his tea while making tremendous noise.
Not letting that pause get away, I cleared my throat before

diverting the topic towards the main one.
“By the way… Klein, when did you first meet Agil again?”
“Nnh? What’s with that all of a sudden?
Filling up the katana wielder’s emptied cup with lindera umbellata

tea once more as he showed a distrusting look, I dodged the question
with a “no, well, just wondering”.
Though still curious as ever, Klein turned his eyes upwards and let
out a short groan.
“Uh~nn, right… it was right after Fuurinkazan caught up to

the front lines, so that’s pretty long ago. He was a great help
with restocking consumables and trading off drops… the
prices he bought and sold at were so extreme that I had to
wonder how he was profiting back then, but I can’t help but
think he’s just ripping us off lately…”
I was of the exact same mind, but both Klein and I knew that was
because Agil was no mere merchant. He would pull off strategic
trades with the higher levels in his main store on Algade, the 50th
floor, while returning those profits to those players starting off or in
the middle via his branch stores on the lower floors. That knowledge
was why many with high levels continued business with Agil despite
their verbal complaints. All the more so with him unaware that he
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had been exposed.
However, the issue laid with when Agil, that gung-ho axe warrior at
the start of the death game, awakened to the path of merchantry…
and whether there was a link to Mahokl, that mysterious grandmaster
wood crafter.
“…Erm, Klein, you knew Agil better than me for some time,
didn’t you? That’s why I’m asking, but any inkling why he
went all-out into business?”
The «for some time» referred to July 2023, when the guild «Moonlit
Black Cats» was destroyed, until Christmas that same year. Realizing
that, Klein’s brows twitched under his bandana as Asuna caught her
breath softly at my side.
The brief silence was yet again shattered by the katana wielder’s
groan.
“Nn, nnn~ ……Doesn’t feel like there’re any lightbulbs

going off in particular or anything… Didn’t he just gradually
find business more fun while doubling as an axe warrior and
merchant? Besides…”
His eyebrows started squirming there, and he turned an intrigued

look at me.
“…Why are you asking me? Why not just go up to him and
dig out the answer for something like this straight?”
“Nah, I mean, I know I should… but there are reasons…”
With Mahokl making the effort to hide herself, I could hardly throw
her name out here, let alone launch a direct assault on Agil. That was
exactly why I requested Klein’s presence.
Despite showing no sign of accepting my answer, Klein gave only a
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soft snort before advancing the conversation.
“…There oughta be something that made him go for being a

merchant, yeah. Look, axe warriors raise their logging skill too, so
ain’t their builds most suited for becoming merchants?
“Though that may be true, I do believe the opposite applies

instead, normally.”
Klein and I turned to look upon Asuna’s first words in a while.
Re-manifesting just partly the presence of her esteemed-sub-

leader-ness, the young bride expressed her reasoned opinion in a
fitting tone.
“I would understand if merchant players select the axe skill

when they decide to pick up a weapon skill for self-defense.
They can increase their proficiency without entering combat,
and they can put up the logs they accumulate for sale.
However, that in no way implies that players who were
previously axe warriors would aim to become merchants,
would it? Fighting normally would be much more efficient for
increasing their level of proficiency.”
“Besides, it would be more profitable aiming for monster

drops rather than collecting logs.”
Asuna curtly nodded at my words.
Emptying his second cup of lindera umbellata tea, Klein let out a
dull “fnmmm…” with his arms crossed, but vaguely retorted once
again after some time passed.
“But still… I definitely do recall him putting his all into

lumberjacking back then. Whenever the clearing activities
ended in the afternoon, he would be off chopping after taking
a break. That’s right, pretty sure he said that was for
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levelling up the skill and gathering funds for opening a store
when I asked.”
“Agil… logging?”
I muttered as I exchanged looks with Asuna.
Halfway through 2023, Agil was still serving as the leader of that
exceptionally muscular guild commonly known as «Bro Corps (aniki
gundan)». If he were adventuring with them on the front lines in the
afternoon and saving up funds for a store alone at night, it was not
unthinkable for him to pick logging for cor, relatively safe among solo
activities.
That said, it still felt out of place. Logging was fundamentally done
while dedicated to some specific part of some forest. One would
research the locations of rare trees, the timings for them to
regenerate after being gathered, and chop on without breaks after
determining the most efficient path. He would hardly be able to
afford the funds for a shop otherwise. There was no need to collect
«all sorts of logs» in «some random forest».
Agil would have never missed that with his lengthy history as an
axe warrior, so there must be some reason for those actions beyond
levelling his proficiency and gathering funds.
Asuna nodded slightly in agreement with me, and I spoke after

turning to Klein.
“Thanks, Klein. You were a great help.”
“Huh? T-That’s it?! No, I mean, I do have to get back up

soon or later, but… d-don’t leave me hanging! Just what are
the two of you looking into?!”
While that reaction was only natural after being called to the 22nd
floor, only to be asked about how he got closer to Agil, I dropped a
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hand onto my old friend’s shoulder and spoke with a smile.
“I’ll tell you what I can when it’s all over, okay?”
On the other hand, Asuna bowed with an understandably

apologetic expression.
“I am very sorry, Klein-san, but to be honest, we hardly

know what we are getting into ourselves. It just so happened
that something on our minds cropped up…”
Not even Klein could remain stubborn in the face of an apology

from the former «conquest demon», and he nodded with a truly
complicated expression.
“W-Well, if you say so, Asuna-san… —That aside, once

again, con… congratulations on your marriage.”
“Thank you very much.”
Asuna’s smile, like the blooming of splendid flowers, held might

equivalent to that of unique skills and melted away the katana
wielder’s expression in an instant.
“No, really, how do I put this, all the best.”
“We do plan on inviting everyone who had lent us help

once we clear the 75th floor, so we do hope you will come as
well then, Klein-san.”
“O-Of course I will! I’ll be there even if I have to rush over

from the ends of the world!”
While listening to Klein’s nahahaha laughter, I could only shiver

with an “Eh… a party? Who else are we calling over?”.
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“…Listen, Kirito-kun.”
Asuna whispered, barely audibly, while sitting alongside me on the

rocking chair set before the log house’s fireplace.
Assailed by the sandman after lunch, I lifted my heavy eyelids

before replying in a whisper as well.
“Nn…?”
“You see… I was wondering… if we should stop looking any

further into it…”
Turning herself around a-hundred-and-twenty degrees from

leaning against the right armrest, Asuna laid her face on me before
continuing, her fingertips toying with a tuft of her chestnut hair.
“…If Agil-san’s nightly logging had anything to do with

Mahokl-san… that would mean Agil-san kept it from even
Klein-san despite how well they got along. There must have
been some deep reason… so I was thinking we had no reason
to uncover it now of all times…”
“Nn… that may be true… But…”
Nodding, I lowered back down my eyelids before speaking, feeling

the warmth, softness, and palpable weight of the avatar in close
contact.
“…Mahokl said she had to hide her entire store and herself
on the 3rd floor because she found the ballista recipe. But
she had us gather those materials, probably for the ballista,
as the condition for making this rocking chair… That’s clearly
a contradiction, and she may be mixed up in some sort of
trouble. In the worst case, if Mahokl makes the ballista and
tries something silly… if she truly ends up in any danger…”
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“It would be our fault as the ones who had gathered the
materials, wouldn’t it…?”
Asuna finished in a quiet voice, trailing off in a sigh.
All technologies related to bow weapons were lost through the

«loss of miracles (Forfeiture)»—no production or combat skills for
them existed due to that setting in SAO. Thus, it seemed only proper
that the ballista, effectively the big boss of all bows, would be
impossible to produce or use, but the game system and
administrators for SAO were, in no way, flawless or infallible, and
there were occurrences of infinite respawning of ore, quests with
stories filled with holes, and numerous other legends passed down.
Hence the possibility that the ballista was overlooked by accident

could not be discounted. Of course, the administrators would patch it
immediately when they noticed, but Mahokl could get herself into a
lot of trouble before that… the risk was definitely there.
“…Before gathering the requested materials, I did say, ‘If

Mahokl does anything dangerous, we’ll just have to put a
stop to it when we find out’, after all. I can’t allow those
words to become a lie. I thought it would’ve been for the best
to look into it before asking her directly, but that doesn’t
seem possible… about all we can do now is to go back to
Mahokl’s atelier in Zumfut and actually ask her. Whether she
intends to create the ballista, and why.”
“True…”
Asuna lightly nodded her head, still atop my chest, yet switched to
shaking it softly immediately after.
“…But in my experience, players capable of completing

production skills tend to be rather stubborn. They hardly
ever change their mind after deciding on anything… Let alone
someone like Mahokl, who not only completed Woodcrafting
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but even advanced Sewing and Polearm Weapon Creation to
master class as well.”
“…I see…”
I gently stroked the long hair flowing down Asuna’s back as I

nodded. Though it appeared she had forgotten, she, too, had
persevered until the completion of her Cooking skill. And that she,
too, would obstinately accomplish anything she set her heart on.
“…True, Mahokl may not heed our words, having met us for
the first time just yesterday. If only we knew who her partner
in the past was, that axe warrior… —I would bet fifty cor that
it’s Agil, but asking him straight up’s just…”
“Though I wouldn’t mind putting down seventy-five cor

myself, we can hardly drop Mahokl-san’s name anywhere
unless we know why is she secluding herself on the 3rd
floor.”
“If only we had some evidence of Agil being the axe warrior
in question…”
Muttering that, I collapsed backward onto the rocking chair. The

exquisite length and arc of its legs easily supported our combined
weight and it rocked gently like a see-saw. The huge table made
from a single slab, set in the middle of the living room, entered my
sight as the chair inclined back. When looking at its sides, which still
remained as rough bark, I could practically see how splendid it must
have once been as an imposing figure in the forest…
“……Ah!”
I stopped the chair’s rocking with an abrupt, subdued shout. Asuna

shot a questioning gaze over from atop my chest.
“No, well… Mahokl did say the raw wood for that table was
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gathered from here, the 22nd floor, didn’t she?”
“She did.”
“Alright…!”
I nodded and leapt to my feet from the rocking chair. And caught
hold of Asuna, who was lying on my chest, with my two arms.
“Kyaa… h-hold on, what is it?!”
“I’ll explain soon!”
I dashed towards the pantry in the kitchen with Asuna tucked

under my arm. Though this was a one-story log house, there was a
ladder with roof access in the pantry. Coming to a stop before that, I
lifted Asuna from my arms and made her hold onto the ladder.
“First, get on the roof!”
“Geez… fine, I get it.”
Sighing, Asuna began climbing the ladder. Restraining myself from

staring at her fluttering skirt, I charged up myself only after hearing
an “I’m out” from her.
I exited through the double-paned window onto the shingled roof,

and despite that, Asuna was missing. I slowly edged across the roof,
slanted at a rather precarious angle, while harboring skeptical doubts
of her actually having fallen.
“Wahh!!”
The foot my weight laid upon slipped five centimeters due to that
explosive shout from behind.
“Nwaaaahh!!”
My two arms spun about as I desperately attempted to regain my
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balance, but my torso continued leaning away from the roof little by
little. Naturally, my health would likely suffer no damage with a fall
from the second story with my level over 90 now, but my pride was a
different issue.
“Fnnnnn!!”
Accelerating the rotational velocity of my arms as I grunted, I

achieved victory in the arduous battle for my balance through the
gyro effect—or whatever it was called—and panted hard before
turning behind.
“N-Now you’ve done it!”
“Ahaha, as expected of your agility, to not fall from that!”
Molded into the embodiment of vengeance, I approached Asuna,

guffawing while holding her stomach, at a deliberate pace.
“Agility isn’t all I have… how about I show you my strength

too?!”
Bending down as I yelled, I pulled Asuna’s legs into a tight hug.
“Kyaaaaa?!”
Not heeding the young bride’s shriek and her incessant flaps at my
head, I lifted her up vertically with a “Here we go!”, spun her
about, and firmly sat her two pale and slender legs onto my
shoulders. Her skirt fluttered onto my head.
Asuna’s screams carried on even after her posture stabilized.
“W-What, what are you doing?!”
“Why, I’m just giving you a ride on my shoulders.”
“I can see that! I’m asking you why!”
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“That would be because it’s necessary.”
I replied firmly and dashed up the roof’s slope, standing still on the
ridge at its top.
Though the log house had only one story, it was rather high on a
hill from the lake shore, the base level for the 22nd floor, and one
could enjoy a pretty good view at its height. All the more so for
Asuna, sitting on my shoulders.
That was perhaps why Asuna had finally calmed down, and I
directed a question towards her.
“Hey, you said the raw wood for that table was from some
ancient walnut, didn’t you?”
“…I did, but?”
“That means it’s from a broadleaf tree, right?”
“…Sure, it is?”
“Then, those ought to be quite eye-catching on this floor

basically filled with needleleaf trees. Look around the field
from there and see if you can find any like that!”
“……That’s all fine and dandy…”
Asuna’s legs strangled my neck after that reply.
“Gueh…”
“…But after trying something like this out of the blue, you
are prepared to let me ride on your shoulders wherever I ask,
aren’t you?”
“Wh… wherever?”
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Grip.
“Un… understood.”
(To be continued)
Afterword
Kunori here. Thank you very much for reading ME19!
I wrote “ending in another two” in 18’s afterword, so that would

make the next, 20, the last chapter… but h-hmm, maybe?! No, I
mean, I’ll put in my all to make it happen!
It was fun writing Klein for the first time in a while. Heh, back at
this time, Klein still used polite speech when talking to Asuna, didn’t
he? I believe I’ll be able to eventually write about him catching up to
the front lines in the Dengeki Bunko “Progressive” series, so look
forward to that, too!
Now then, let’s meet again in the next book!
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Chapter the end of the...

Those who have read our recent SAOP4.1 translation will probably
know this already, but Dengeki Bunko hosts an annual gratitude
event called the Dengeki Choukansha (great gratitude) Fair, during
which people can receive various bonuses for buying select Dengeki
Bunko LNs marked with a special band. These bonuses include things
like keychains, and leaflets with 4 page short stories for popular
Dengeki series. This year's fair began just a week ago and, as you
may have guessed, SAO is one of the series that got a short story
(AGGO got one too, but that's a topic for another time). And, as you
may have also guessed, I got the raws for the story (thanks to
https://twitter.com/Takargo!) and have decided to translate this
short, seeing as we had taken a bit of a break at the beginning of the
month. This year's theme for the shorts appears to be swimsuits, so
we've got a bikini Alice for the cover illustration.
This story is set in-between Alicization and Unital Ring, so you may
want to be caught up with Defan's Alicization translations before
reading this story, though it doesn't really spoil much (assuming you
already know about Alice). As the cover should imply, the story will
be about swimsuits, but don't expect actual swimsuit scenes here
just because of that.
On a side note, is it just me, or is this story hinting that Eiji will
become relevant again in Unital Ring... Hmm...
Ｆｕｌｌ－ｗｉｄｔｈ text emphasises that actual English words

were used in that instance.
Any feedback is appreciated.
Credits
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Raws: Takazuki
N/A
Index
N/A
The End of the Summer and the Straw Hat
"I would like to see this thing you call the sea at least once.
We only had rivers and lakes in Underworld, after all."
One day at around nine thirty in the morning in the final days of
August, Alice brought up such a topic while my sister Suguha and I
were watching a travelling programme on TV with her in the living
room.
I haven't been able to go to the seaside even once this summer

either——come to think of it, I haven't had the chance to go to any
mountains, rivers, or pools either, but I'm not exactly an outdoor
person and it's too late to do anything this year, so I figured I'd just
do better next year. On the other hand, despite having grown into a
fine VRMMO player, Suguha still loved spending her time outside, so
the moment she heard Alice's words, her eyes sparkled as she cried
out.
"I wanna go the seaside too! I wanna go I wanna go I wanna

go~~oo!
After exchanging glances and pleasant smiles with each other, the
two girls unanimously directed their gazes my way. Retreating to the
edge of the sofa, I attempted putting up some meagre resistance.
"Though, Sugu…… what about your summer homework?"
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"I took care of that little ol' thing an entire week before you
did, Onii-chan! C'mon, let's～～go～～already～～"
Despite her shaking me by the shoulders, as her older brother, I

couldn't just bluntly refuse my little sister's request after forcing her
to worry so much about me during this summer.
"Okay, okay. But, you see, my bike can only hold two
people…… I'll try asking Klein if he could give us a ride, but if
he says no, you'll just have to give up on that idea."
"Yippie!"
"Thanks, Kirito."
Responding with an awkward smile to the two pleased girls, I

grabbed my handheld.
Although I did expect as much to some extent, Klein didn't even

take ten seconds to reply with an 'ＯＫ'; when I also tried inviting
Asuna, Liz, Silica, and Sinon to join us, all of them miraculously
responded that they'd be available tomorrow. Seeing as we'd have a
two-to-five gender ratio, maybe I should invite Nochizawa-kun as
well…… or so I considered for a single moment; however, figuring
that he wasn't quite mentally ready to hang out unreservedly with
us, especially with Klein, I decided to pass on that idea. Writing down
'achieve a proper reconciliation with the guy someday' onto the Ｔｏ
Ｄｏ list in my mind, I informed the two girls of the following.
"Klein, as well as Asuna and the other girls, have all said
that they're free tomorrow."
"Woohoo!"
Having let out a not-so-ladylike cry, Suguha extended her hand to

Alice.
"Now that that's settled, Alice-san, let's go shopping for
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swimsuits! You can find some rather cute ones on sale even
in a place as remote as Kawagoe if we head to the station!"
"W…… whaa!?"
That shout did not come from Alice, but from me instead. Looking
at the blue summer one-piece dress-wearing Alice, who had just been
pulled up by Suguha's hand, I asked the following question in a
fluster.
"A……Alice, you're planning to go into the sea?"
"What are you talking about; water fun without stepping

into the water is like only practicing katas in kenjutsu."(1)
As she told me this in a stunned expression, I guess accepting the

situation…… was out of the question.
"B-but the sea has salt water. Umm…… w-wouldn't it cause

rusting or something……"
"You sure are making light of Rath's technological prowess,

aren't you? This machine body is waterproof in up to twenty
atmospheric pressure conditions."
"S-seriously……"
'Higa-san, why did you have to go so far……', muttering this in my

mind, I stood up as well.
"Sugu, if you're going to the station, you two can make it

alone, right? Just in case, get Alice a hat……"
"What are you talking about, Onii-chan, you're going too!

I'll help you pick out your own swimsuit."
"Wha…… I still have that one from my rehab though……"
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"Like you can let Asuna-san see you in something so
completely utilitarian! C'mon, hurry up and get ready!"
'What's wrong with a functional design', muttering this, I changed

to a different outfit in my room and went outside with the girls.
Despite Alice's large straw hat, her golden hair and pure white skin
were quite eye-catching; though, at least people wouldn't be able to
identify her if she had some sunglasses on.
Chasing after the two girls as they walked to the bus stop, I
subconsciously looked up to the sky. The end-of-August sun was still
very much brimming with energy, thus its pure white light
mercilessly burned my retina.
'While salt water is a concern too, will she really be okay with the
heat and ultraviolet rays……', in contrast to such worries of mine, 'I
wonder what kind of swimsuit Alice will pick out', I also felt a little bit
expectant of what was to come.
N/A
Index
N/A
Notes
1. ^ A kata (型) is basically a scripted movement/posture in martial

arts. In kendo specifically, a kata refers to a non-contact exercise
where two participants act out scripted scenarios with wooden
swords.
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Vol.13 Chapter 9
Source: tap-trans
Translation of Sword Art Online’s volume 13, chapter 9.
Creak.
Creakk.
My heart flinched slightly each time that faint noise rang out.
The noise came from the tip of the «black sword» yet to be named.
Somehow buried a cen into a tiny gap among the white marble
blocks that built up the outer wall of the Axiom Church’s Central
Cathedral.
My right hand that grasped the black sword’s grip was damp with
sweat, with my elbow and shoulder joints unable to bear the weight,
and threatening to let go even now. That was only natural—the
weight of two humans, one longsword with super-high priority, and
one set of armor were hanging off my right arm that couldn’t even be
considered muscular.
There weren’t any handholds on the wall, as smooth as a mirror,

and I couldn’t stab the sword in any further. Below my body was
nothing more than the never-ending empty sky. Moreover, my right
hand, gripping onto the sword, wasn’t all that was reaching its limit;
the same went for my left hand that had a female knight clad in
heavy golden armor hanging off it.
Physical fatigue in the alternate world, «Underworld», differed a

little from its equivalent in the real world. Like reality, walking long
distances, running with all your might, undergoing intense practice,
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or carrying heavy objects would tire one out, but the problem laid in
how that fatigue was treated the same as injuries, reducing
«Life»—the lives of Underworld dwellers, rendered into numerical
values, essentially their hit points.
Dying from exhaustion probably hardly happened in the real world.

Normally, one would be unable to keep up the activity that caused
the fatigue before it could inflict any severe damage to the body.
However, willpower breaks through physical limits at times in this
world. To state an extreme example, even continuing to run while
enduring fatigue and pain until one’s Life hits zero, then collapsing
and dying instantly in that moment would be possible.
I am currently supporting a ridiculous weight with nothing but my

own body. Thus, my Life value must be reducing at a steady rate.
Even if I continue tightly gripping my right and left hands with spirit
and guts, my Life will eventually become zero and I will die. In all
likelihood, this female knight will crash down onto the ground
another few hundred meters below and die when my right hand
leaves this sword in that instant.
In addition, I am not the only one receiving damage. My beloved

sword, too, was supporting an enormous load beyond its limit with its
tip alone. And that was after activating the extremely Life-draining
«armament full control art» a whole two times in the battles thus far.
I can’t open up the Stacia window and check the value in this
situation, but it wouldn’t be strange at all for it to reach zero within
several minutes. The sword would then break and couldn’t be
repaired simply by storing it in its sheath.
The sword would be too pitiful, breaking without its name even
decided, and besides, I would have fallen onto the ground and died
already. As such, I had to do something about this situation as soon
as possible, but hanging on alone took up all of my strength and in
addition to that—
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“That’s enough, release your hand!”
The woman dangling below me—the golden integrity knight

holding onto the sacred tool, «Fragrant Olive Sword», Alice Synthesis
Thirty, shouted out yet again.
“I have no intention of having my life saved by a major

criminal like yourself and live in dishonor!”
While swaying her entire body in an attempt to extricate her

gripped right hand. Damp with sweat in my hand, the gauntlet grew
a little slippery.
“…Uooh… you…”
I somehow suppressed the swaying while incomprehensible sounds

escaped from me. However, the tip of the black sword, dug into the
wall, got drawn out by a mil by the shaking. I desperately regained a
stable posture before glancing down and screaming out loud.
“Don’t move, idiot! If you’re supposed to be an integrity

knight, then realize that nothing will be solved if you just
give yourself up to despair here, idiot!”
“Wha…”
The white face that peeked out from under my feet quickly blushed
red.
“And… and you dare to make a mockery of myself again!

Retract that this instant, criminal!”
“Shut up! I’m calling you an idiot because you’re an idiot,

idiot! Idiooot!”
Unaware of whether I wanted to draw her into negotiations through

provocation or if blood was just rushing up to my head, I cried out
loud once more.
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“Got it!? If you fall and die all by yourself here, Eugeo
who’s still left in the tower will go straight to the highest
minister, you know! And yet, it’s supposed to be your duty to
prevent that! Then shouldn’t it be most important for you to
stay alive by all means now, as an integrity knight?! It’s
because you’re an idiot who can’t understand such a
rationale; that’s why I’m calling you an idiot!!”
“Kuh… s-so you even dare to voice out that humiliating

insult eight times, don’t you…”
Likely never been called an idiot ever since she woke up as an

integrity knight, Alice’s cheeks blushed and the corners of her eyes
lifted in rage. The glistening Fragrant Olive Sword in her left hand
lifted up a little and a chill ran through me, afraid that she might be
thinking about cutting me and causing both of our deaths, but it
seemed her reason scarcely surpassed her impulse, as the sword
hung down powerlessly once again.
“…I see, your words do make sense. However…”
The integrity knight’s teeth, much like pearl beads, gnashed firmly
together and she rebutted.
“Then why will you not release that hand!? If the reason is
not pity, against which I would find death more tolerable,
how could you possibly prove it!?”
Pity—wasn’t the reason. After all, the act of rescuing Alice itself
was precisely half of the reason why Eugeo and I set this Central
Cathedral as our aim.
However, I didn’t have anywhere near enough time to leisurely

explain that from the start. And before everything else, the one
Eugeo wanted to help was technically not Integrity Knight Alice
Synthesis Thirty, but his childhood friend who got kidnapped form
Rulid Village eight years ago, Alice Schuberg.
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I tried my hardest to rack my brain, almost overheating from the
excess load, searching for any excuse at all that could satisfy Alice.
But there was no way I could come up with such a thing on the spot.
With things at this point, I had no choice but to state a part of the
truth.
“I… Eugeo and I didn’t climb the cathedral all this way
because we wanted to destroy the Axiom Church.”
Looking straight down at Alice’s blue eyes, exuding an intense

light, I frantically forced my words out.
“We’re the same too, in how we want to protect the Human

World from the Dark Territory’s invasion. We even fought
with a group of goblins in the mountain range at the edge
two years ago… even if I say so, I guess you wouldn’t believe
me. That’s why we can’t have you, known as one of the
strongest even among the integrity knights, die here. Your
strength’s essential.”
It must have been outside of her expectations as Alice knitted her

brows in silence, but immediately gave a barbed reply.
“Then for what reason have you swung that sword at

another human and broke the worst taboo of making another
shed blood?!”
The sentiment of genuine righteousness—even if that had been

warped by the highest minister to suit her purposes—flared up and
burnt in her two eyes as Alice shouted.
“For what reason have you hurt all of those knights,

starting from Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-one?!!”
There were unfortunately no words within myself to refute the

girl’s enquiry. In the end, though the lines I spoke to Alice about
wanting to protect the Human World were my true feelings, they
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were also a great deceit at the same time.
If I reach the highest floor of the cathedral, then fight and win
against the highest minister, Administrator, the hermit, Cardinal,
would recover all of her authority. And it was likely that girl would try
to reset the Underworld to its original state in order to prevent that
disaster soon to come. I have absolutely no idea on how to avert the
end where everything returns to null at the present moment.
However. If Alice and I were to both crash and die here, the
tragedy befalling the world would be on an even larger scale.
With Cardinal still deprived from her authority, the «final load
experiment phase»—the invasion from the Dark Territory in other
words, will begin and the integrity knights Eugeo and I fought and
injured would likely be crushed along with Administrator, with the
humans massacred amidst their agony and sorrow without a single
person remaining.
What I couldn’t bear most was the fact that I would simply awaken
inside a «Soul TransLator» somewhere in the real world even if I lost
my life in this world. The Underworld people would die at the end of
their hellish anguish while I return to the real world alone without a
single injury— No matter what, I definitely cannot accept such a
development.
“…I…”
I wonder what could I impart to the current Alice, a guardian of the

church and order, even with all of this insignificant time I had left.
But even if those words do not reach her, I have no means left aside
from talking about that with all my heart.
“Eugeo and I slashed Raios Antinous and Humbert Zizek

because the Axiom Church and the Taboo Index are flawed.
Don’t you understand that just as well deep down? The Taboo
Index doesn’t forbid it, so the upper class nobles can do as
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they please with girls that didn’t even commit a single crime,
like Ronye and Tiezé… do you honestly believe that’s
forgivable?!”
The scene I caught sight of two days ago in a room of the elite
swordsmen-in-training dormitory—of Tiezé and Ronye who had their
entire bodies mercilessly bound up, their cheeks damp with tears,
came back to me in a flashback and my whole body shook violently.
The sword point thrust into the wall creaked once again, but I
shouted with hardly any care for that.
“What do you think! Answer me, integrity knight!!”
My raging emotions became a single tear that fell from the corner
of my eye, hit Alice’s forehead as she dangled below, and scattered.
The golden knight drew in a sharp breath and opened her two eyes
wide.
The voice that soon leaked out from her slightly trembling lips
seemed to have lost much of its earlier rigidity.
“…The law, is the law… and crimes, are crimes. How could
order be maintained if the masses are permitted to
arbitrarily decide on them?”
“Exactly who’s to decide whether the one who made those

laws, the highest minister, Administrator, is just or not? The
gods of the Celestial World!? Then why haven’t I incurred
divine punishment, getting hit by lightning and burnt to
death right this moment!?”
“The gods—Stacia-sama’s plans are naturally made clear

through the actions taken by us, her attendants!”
“Eugeo and I climbed all this way in order to make that

clear! To defeat Administrator and prove that it is a mistake!
And for that exact, same reason…”
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I glanced upwards and confirmed that my beloved sword wedged
in the wall was finally reaching its limit. The tip would break or slip
the next time Alice moves, no, the next time the wind decides to
send a gust this way and we will likely crash down together.
“…I can’t have you dying here!!”
Taking in a deep breath and putting it all into my abdomen, I

gathered all of the energy I had left.
“—Uoooh!!”
All of my spirit surging out, I hauled up Alice who dangled off my

left hand. A violent pain ran through the joints at my arms and
shoulders, but I somehow brought Alice up to the same height, then
shouted out with the rest of my strength.
“Get your sword through that seam…! I can’t hold on

anymore, please!”
I stared hard at Alice’s much distorted face right beside me with a

frantic look.
After an instant of silence, Alice moved her left arm and the
Fragrant Olive Sword deeply stabbed its point into the gap between
the marble with a sharp noise.
The black sword drew out from the stone wall’s seam at nearly the
same time and my left hand separated itself from Alice’s hand as
well, having lost its grip.
Amidst the panic shooting through me from head to toe, I fell down
a long, long distance and «Death» approached me in the end within
my mind for an instant.
However, what I actually felt were only a moment of

weightlessness and a sudden shock. Alice’s right hand that flashed
like lightning seized my coat’s collar from the back.
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After affirming that Alice’s sword and arms were firmly supporting
both of our weight, I let out a deep breath. My heart, beating at the
rate of an alarm clock, gradually slowed down and I finally felt at
ease.
“……”
I looked up at the one with whom I had traded places with, both
physically and mentally, in a mere one second in silence.
Appearing as though she was being tortured by the entire variety

of contradictory emotions, the golden integrity knight had her teeth
clenched together hard. Signs of the clenched hand holding me by
the scruff of my neck slackening and tightening repeated over and
over again right behind my neck.
I didn’t know of anyone from the Underworld capable of hesitating

in such a perilous situation aside from Eugeo. The rest of the
humans—the artificial fluctlights were blindly loyal to their standards
for good and evil, unfaltering over important choices. To say it in
another manner, their important decisions were constantly made by
something else, or someone else.
In other words, I could understand that a «humanity» exceeding

many others from the Underworld hid itself in Integrity Knight Alice’s
psyche from this single incident. Especially so, considering the
alterations the highest minister, Administrator, had committed on her
soul.
I couldn’t judge how much conflict there must be in Alice’s mind.

However, after several extremely long seconds, my body was easily
pulled up to my previous height.
Unlike the girl, I had no need to hesitate. I immediately thrust the

black sword into the marble’s seam, even after all it had been
through, and let out yet another deep breath.
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The moment my stance stabilized, Alice drew back her right hand
and even averted her face in a huff. Her voice, delivered by the wind,
was feeble unlike its tone.
“…I wasn’t helping you, I was merely returning the favor…

besides, I have yet to reach the conclusion with your
swords.”
“I see… We’re equals with this now, then.”
Taking caution with my words, I moved my mouth.
“And so, I do have a proposal… as things stand, we have to

return back into the tower at any cost. So, wouldn’t you
consider a truce for the time being?”
“…A truce?”
I could sense a really suspicious look directed at me from her face,

slightly inclined towards me.
“Yes. It’s no longer possible to break the cathedral’s outer

wall and it’s no easy task to climb it either. Our survival rate
should increase if the two of us work together, rather than
going through it alone. Of course, things would be different if
you have a convenient method to return inside.”
“……”
Alice chewed on her lips in chagrin but immediately replied in a

murmur.
“…I would had used it already if I had such a method.”
“That’s true. So, can I consider you agreeable to the truce

and cooperation?”
“Before that… you mentioned cooperation, but what
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exactly does that refer to?”
“Helping out each other if the other seems to be falling,

just that. We could hold on better if we had a rope or
something, but I suppose that’s asking for too much.”
Not looking at me any longer, the integrity knight sank into another
long silence, but eventually nodded slightly in a nearly imperceptible
motion.
“It is a reasonable proposal… I have to admit. There’s no

helping it…”
As a replacement, Alice continued while giving me one final glare.
“I will cut you the instant we return into the tower. Be

certain not to forget that one point.”
“…I’ll keep that in mind.”
Nodding once more to my reply, Alice cleared her throat as though

to shift her thoughts.
“Well then… you required a rope? Are you not holding on to

any unnecessary cloth?”
“Cloth…”
I looked down at my body, but thinking about it, I didn’t even have
a single handkerchief in my pockets. I could have taken out piles of
spare clothes or mantles from my storage if this was the Alfheim I
dearly missed, unfortunately, that convenient function didn’t exist in
the Underworld.
“…Even if you ask, there’s nothing more than this shirt and
these trousers. I’ll strip if I need to, though.”
When I shrugged only my left shoulder as I replied, Alice made her
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most profound grimace yet and shouted.
“We will not stoop to that! …Goodness, it’s shocking how

you thought to go into battle with merely a sword on you.”
“Hey, hey, the one who rounded up Eugeo and me from the
Sword Mastery Academy with only the clothes on our back
was you, wasn’t it?”
“And you broke into the cathedral’s armory after that,

haven’t you. There should have been bundles of high quality
rope over… aah, that’s it, this is a waste of time.”
Alice flicked her head away with a hmph and raised her right arm
clad in a golden gauntlet. But she apparently realized she couldn’t
take her left hand off her sword’s grip there, as she scowled. Jerking
her arm in front of me, she ordered.
“Unfasten my gauntlet with your free hand.”
“Hah?”
“And pay extra attention to not touch my skin. Hurry up!”
“……”
According to Eugeo’s recollections, Alice was apparently a cheerful

and energetic girl, more gentle than anyone else, when she lived in
Rulid. If that was the case, where exactly did her current personality
that seemed the polar opposite sprout out from?
While thinking about such things, I brought up my left hand that

finally regained its sense of touch, then unfastened the gauntlet’s
clasp. Alice, who made me hold onto the gauntlet, quickly pulled out
her right hand and brandished her pale, slender fingers while
shouting out.
“System call!”
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Following the opening phrase for sacred arts, she rapidly chanted
an unfamiliar, complex art. The gauntlet in my hand let out a
dazzling light and its shape began to change at a noticeable rate.
Within mere seconds, my left hand held a neatly bundled golden
chain.
“Uooh… transmutation…?”
“Were you not listening? Or perhaps those aren’t ears on

the side of your face, but holes infested with insects? That
was merely transformation of its form, arts capable of
changing the properties of its material cannot be used by
anyone aside from the esteemed highest minister.”
Upon apologizing with a “sorry” to Alice, who apparently had no

intention to change her sharp tongue even after consenting to the
cease-fire agreement, I tested the chain’s toughness. My teeth felt
like they were going to fall out when I held its end in my mouth and
pulled, so I relaxed my mouth in a fluster. I had no qualms, since it
seemed to be tough enough despite being thinner than a little finger
and even had sturdy-looking clasps at both ends to boot.
Firmly fastening one end to my belt, I offered the other end and
Alice took it with a tug and kept it into her sword belt’s metal fittings.
The length of the dangling chain was about five meters. For the time
being, we should be more or less safe even if our hands slip, unless
we both fall.
“Now then…”
Scanning the surrounding again, I confirmed the situation we were

in.
Judging from the direction of the sun, we were dangling on the

Central Cathedral’s west wall. The sky overhead was in the midst of
turning from blue to violet with the sun coming from behind dying
the tower’s white wall a bright orange. Guess the current time was
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around three in the afternoon.
Hesitantly gazing downwards towards my feet, I could see pale,

hovering clouds passing by, the miniature-like garden, the stone
walls encompassing that, and even the streets of Central Centoria
split into four by the «immortal walls», making me ascertain just how
ridiculously tall the cathedral was once again.
Each floor of the tower should be around six meters, inclusive of

the floor’s thickness, so the eightieth floor, «Cloudtop Garden»,
where I fought with Alice would be at a relative height of four
hundred and eighty meters—no, adding on fiftieth floor, «Grand
Cloister of Spiritual Light», with its abnormally high ceiling, about five
hundred meters, huh. Our Lives would definitely vanish in an instant
if we fall. In addition, this body would turn into fine dirt without even
leaving a corpse behind, probably. The wind was calm now, but I
didn’t know how long that would last.
My back shuddered before I gripped my sword again with my right

hand and wiped the sweat running over my left palm on my trousers.
“Ermm… just checking, but…”
Alice, also peeking at her feet beside me, raised her face when I
called out. It might just be my imagination how her complexion
seemed worse than earlier, but her tone was curt as always.
“What?”
“No, well… I thought a grand knight like yourself, capable

of using advanced sacred arts like changing the form of
objects would know some art for flight… or not, huh, sorry.”
Despite my prompt apology at her sharply raising eyebrows, Alice

berated me without mercy.
“Just what did you learn in the academy? Even the
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youngest ascetic apprentice would know that the only person
capable of flight arts in the vast Human World is the
esteemed highest minister!”
“That’s why I said ‘just checking’, right?! You don’t have to

get that angry!”
“It’s due to that strangely insulting way you put it!”
It gradually appeared clear that this Integrity Knight Alice’s

personality had a conclusively horrible affinity with me, without even
considering our respective standpoints, but I continued my questions
while restraining the urge to retort.
“…Then, I’m just checking this time too, but… how about
calling for that huge flying dragon I hung off all the way
here?”
“Your suggestions are becoming increasingly foolish.

Approaching any flying dragons is only permitted on the
thirtieth floor’s landing platform. No ridden dragon will go
close to any higher, not even oji-sama… no, not even the
Knight Commander’s.”
“Th-There’s no way I would know of an arrangement like

that, right?!”
“You should have realized it when you knew the flying

dragon landing platform was built on the thirtieth floor!”
I had no idea how many times had we done so already, but we

glared at each other for another three whole seconds before I
swallowed down the anger directed at the great integrity knight’s
irrational remark and turned my head back, speaking.
“…Then there goes the path of escaping by flying… I

guess.”
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Alice, on the other hand, seemed to have taken another two
seconds before she regained her cool, but her blue eyes glanced this
way and she nodded.
“Not even birds approach the upper floors of the cathedral.

I do not know the specifics, but I have heard a unique art
wrought by the highest minister’s hand is at work.”
“So that’s it… that’s meticulous.”
I surveyed the surrounding again, then saw that although there

were bird-like silhouettes extremely far away, they certainly showed
no sign of approaching. This could be said to be the embodiment of
the transcendental magic ability and unhealthy wariness of the most
influential being, Administrator. On that line of thought, the abnormal
height of this tower, too, seemed to be a symbol of her authority
while being an expression of fear towards unseen enemies.
“In that case, there are three choices remaining… to

descend, to ascend, or to break through the wall again, huh.”
“The third will likely be difficult. Like the «immortal walls»,

the cathedral’s outer walls should endowed with practically
infinite Life and the nature to repair themselves. The same
applies to the glass on the lower floors.”
“Then, that makes descending to the windows pointless

too, huh…”
When I muttered so, Alice lightly nodded before she spoke.
“…In the first place, I find it hard to believe a hole could

have opened up in the wall from within the tower earlier…
there is no way to think about it aside from it being an one-
in-a-million stroke of misfortune caused by that abnormal
power released when our armament full control arts
combined. My goodness, what a meaningless deed you’ve
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done.”
“……”
We would get into a spiral of quarrels if I retort here, I thought as I

held it in, getting it to settle down after merely heavy breathing,
before I asked.
“…But in that case, wouldn’t it be logical for the wall to

break if we bring about that same phenomenon again?”
“The probability is not a complete zero, but… it would be

difficult to return inside in the few seconds before the hole
automatically repairs and there’s one more thing to note,
that I have already used this child’s… this «Fragrant Olive
Sword»’s full control art twice. I cannot use the art unless I
allow it to bask in plenty of sunlight or let it rest in its
scabbard.”
“That’s true, it’s the same for me. I’ll have to put it in my
sheath… or rather, there’s quite a lot of stress being placed
on it just by dangling like this, right? It’s best to get a move
on soon, regardless of whether we’re descending or
ascending.”
I tried feeling over the marble wall with my left hand as I spoke,
but the number of bumps and dips was a hopeless nil. Blocks, with
sides of roughly two meters at least, piled on forever neatly, without
even a window visible on this west side. Breaking it apparently
wouldn’t be possible either, even if there was one, according to Alice.
As for a method for moving across the wall, there probably weren’t
any aside from preparing something like a piton* used in rock
climbing and driving that into the seams between the marble. There
wasn’t any great difference in effort between ascending or
descending, so I would rather set the floors above as my goal, but
the problem with that would be that—
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I stared at Alice on my left with the most serious expression I could
muster and asked, resigned to the low chance of getting a reply.
“If we were to head upwards… is there somewhere we can

return into the tower from?”
Alice showed a hesitating expression as expected and chewed on

her lips at that. If we could enter the tower by climbing, that would
indeed be extremely close to the highest floor where Administrator
resides. Guiding an enemy of the church to such a place would be
nearly the same as committing a taboo as an integrity knight, a
guardian.
However—
Alice drew in a deep breath, then put strength into her gaze and
nodded.
“There is. On the ninety-fifth floor, a place called the

«Morning Star Lookout», should be entirely see-through, with
only pillars for its four walls. We should be able to easily
return inside if we could climb up there. …However.”
A remarkably strong gleam resided in her two blue eyes.
“Even if we reach the ninety-fifth floor, I will cut you there

without fail.”
Taking on the integrity knight’s gaze, filled with enough resolve to

cause a prickly numbness on my nape, head-on, I nodded in return.
“That’s our agreement from the start, after all.

Well—you’re okay with climbing the wall, then?”
“…Very well. It is more pragmatic than descending to the

ground from here. However… despite how assuredly you said
it, how do you intend on climbing this vertical wall?”
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“Well, obviously, we’re going to run vertically… no, that’s a
joke.”
After clearing my throat in a bid to escape Alice’s glance that had

rapidly froze down to below absolute zero, I swapped my sword to my
left hand, held out my right palm, and chanted an art.
“System call! Generate metallic element!“
A metallic element, shining like mercury, was instantly created, so

I altered its form with a supplement art and the power of my
imagination. Pulling it out to a length of around fifty centimeters and
sharpening its point to the shape of a thin blade, I made an
impromptu large piton which I firmly held onto.
Looking up at the stone seam my black sword was thrust into

overhead, I swung my right hand with force.
“Hmph!”
Upon driving in the piton with as much strength as I could muster,

fortunately, the blade portion stabbed into the narrow gap without
breaking. I tried to pry it out, upwards and downwards, but it seemed
like it would stay fixed without issue even if my body weight hung off
it.
The Lives of objects created through sacred arts were exceedingly

low, vanishing in a few hours even when left alone. Hence, the lifeline
connecting Alice and myself wasn’t used in the end, but it would
suffice if it was strong enough to support us as we climbed the wall.
While sensing Alice’s usual suspicious look, I firmly gripped the

piton with my right hand and drew my black sword that had been
abused to its limit with my left. I stored that into the sheath on my
waist, then dangled off the piton extruding around forty centimeters
from the wall with both hands and treated it as a horizontal bar as I
did a kip*.
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Although my physical ability in the Underworld didn’t reach mine at
the end of the SAO period that would make a B movie’s ninja
ashamed, it still far more nimble, yet brawny, when compared to the
real world. Placing my right foot on the bar, I steadily placed my left
hand onto the wall while lifting my body up in a single stroke and
succeeded in standing atop the thin, metallic rod.
“Are… are you all right?”
After lowering my sight at that hoarse voice, I saw Alice gripping

tightly onto the golden chain with her free hand and looking up at me
with a somewhat pale face. That expression gave off an
unexpectedly childish impression and made me want to pretend I
was falling against my better judgement, but killed that thought,
knowing this wasn’t the place for it.
“I’m fine… I think.”
Casually giving a signal with my right hand, I chanted the art again
and brought forth a new piton. Driving it into the next gap I could see
overhead with plenty of strength, I climbed up with the same process
as earlier. While embracing a modest sense of accomplishment over
finally advancing, though it was merely two meters, I called out to
Alice below.
“Alright, looks like it works! Like what I did, come up that

first piton… no, that metal rod.”
However, the integrity knight remained still while looking up at me.

Her lips made a small movement before long and a faint voice
reached me.
“…an’t.”
“Hah? What did you say?”
“…I can’t, that’s what!”
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“No… no, you can. With that strength of yours, pulling your
own body up would be…”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Alice strongly shook her head and repelled the encouragement I

crudely gave her.
“…As it is my first time stuck in such a situation… i-it might

be a disgrace, but it’s already taking everything I have to
hang off like this. An unspeakable act like climbing onto that
thin foothold would simply…”
I was briefly rendered speechless at Alice’s fragile voice that again

seemed as though it would vanish.
In general, the people of the Underworld tended to react poorly

towards situation beyond their expectations or common sense. Their
adaptability towards «originally impossible circumstances» was
especially low, with extreme cases like the elite swordsman-in-
training, Raios, whose two arms were severed by my sword, getting
his fluctlight crumbling away his Life extinguished—or so I
conjectured.
I suppose not even an integrity knight should be capable of dealing

with this situation of getting hurled out into the empty skies from a
huge hole opened up in the tower’s wall, that should have been
unbreakable, and stuck dangling from a super high area without a
single foothold where even flying dragons did not trespass. Or
possibly—Alice Synthesis Thirty, who boasts of boundless skill with
the sword, was just a single girl at heart too.
Whichever it was, hearing this proud integrity knight plea for help
would probably be strictly restricted to a situation like right now.
Having judged that, I shouted.
“Got it! I’ll pull you up to the foothold with the chain,
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then!”
Alice chewed on her lips with a look that appeared like she was
weighing her pride against her fear when I did, but apparently had no
intention of reversing her previous order of priorities as she gripped
the golden chain with a very mild nod.
“…I’ll be in your hands.”
While enduring the impulsive urge to tease her incensed by her

nearly mute voice, I caught hold of the chain as well.
“Right, I’ll lift you up slowly, then. Here I go.”
I cautiously pulled up the chain after that single line. My foothold,

the piton, creaked softly, but it seemed it could bear the weight of
two if it was for a short time. Taking care not to jolt it, I lifted the
great golden knight a meter before holding the chain still for the
moment.
“…Alright, you can pull your sword out now.”
Alice nodded and delicately extracted her Fragrant Olive Sword

from the stone wall it had been thrust into. The chain weighed down
anew in that instant, but I kept it under control somehow.
Upon confirming she had sheathed her sword, I continued pulling

up. I called out once more after Alice’s boots got onto the first piton.
“Hold onto the wall with both hands… yeah, alright, I’ll be
letting the chain go.”
I couldn’t see her expression from this angle, but Alice desperately
tried to stick onto the wall and haphazardly shook her head. While
imagining her expression likely present below her golden hair,
fluttering in the wind, I gently lowered my right arm. The knight
ended up reeling a little atop the thin piton, but immediately
regained her balance.
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“Whew…”
I let a deep breath escape.
I had no idea how many meters away was that «Morning Star
Lookout» place, said to be on the ninety-fifth floor, but anyway, we
should eventually reach there if I repeated this process. The problem
would be how it would likely turn night before we got there, at the
rate we climbed a single block, so we should get mentally prepared
to settle down for the night while dangling off the wall.
“I’ll be climbing up another, then.”
After I declared downwards, Alice glanced up with a rigid face and

replied with a barely audible whisper mostly swept into the noise
from the wind.
“…Please be careful.”
“Got it.”
I made a distinct thumbs-up with my right hand—though that

gesture wasn’t used in the Underworld—then chanted the system
command to create a third piton.
Despite how Centoria should have been closing in to midsummer,

the sun mercilessly sank quicker and quicker once it got started.
The white wall glowing with the setting sun’s orange shifted
through a fiery vermillion, then violet, before it settled on indigo, and
I could see the mountain range at the edge cutting a lonely
horizontal line far-away in the west when I swept through with a
glance.
A multitude of stars had already been flickering into existence

overhead, but our climbing progress was by no means fast. An
unforeseen limit in the system had been tormenting us since an hour
ago or so.
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Scaling up had been simple indeed. Creating a single piton with
sacred arts, securing that in the gap between the marble blocks, and
clambering atop it. Followed by pulling Alice up by the chain and
placing her onto the piton I stood on earlier; that was all to it. Each
set was reduced to below three minutes after repeating it over ten
times.
However, the problem laid with creating that crucial piton.
This world had no equivalent for that parameter called ‘mana

points’ in ALO. Any variant of the magic here, named ‘sacred arts’,
could be repeatedly used without cease, as long as the user’s system
access authority qualified for it.
However, that didn’t mean that it could be used infinitely,

anywhere and anytime. The rule of this world, that each and every
act of creation required resources, applied just as strictly to sacred
arts. Usage of the arts must consume precious catalysts, the Lives for
living beings, even humans, or the «space resources» stored around
the user.
This space resources thing had no numerical value to go by and

was truly a troublesome matter to deal with. Basically, it was
supplied through the sunlight or the fertility in soil. A place with
fertile soil and basking in sufficient sunlight would be rich in sources,
enough for even continuous casts of advanced sacred arts, but on
the other hand, space resources would be rapidly depleted in the
room the sun cannot reach, of a building made from stone, requiring
a long period of time before the resources would be recharged.
And abiding by the rule, Alice’s and my present

circumstances—stuck five hundred meters above the ground and the
sun sinking into the horizon, were close to the worst possible
conditions. To sum it up, the surrounding resources would be
exhausted by the sacred arts I had repeatedly chanted and we would
fail in creating those indispensable pitons for scaling the wall.
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“System call! Generate metallic element!”
Atop my palm, stretched out straight and seeking the dim

afterglow remaining, drifted desolate beads of silver light which
vanished in a puff of smoke.
I sighed and Alice spoke in a voice just as worn-out from two

meters below.
“…Creation of those apparatus must have greatly drained

the sacred power in the area… We could even consider
ourselves lucky if we could create one every hour after Solus
sets… —How much have we climbed thus far?”
“Erm… I’m pretty sure we’re almost done with the eighty-
fifth floor.”
“It is still far until the ninety-fifth floor, isn’t it.”
I stubbornly gazed at the vanishing shade of violet in the skies,

then nodded.
“Yeah… one way or another, it’ll be too dangerous to climb

when it’s completely dark. Still… we can’t exactly rest in this
situation even if we were to settle down for the night…”
If worst comes to worst, we would have to rest while dangling off

the chain, but with how we couldn’t make any pitons and how they
vanish after tens of minutes, we could only resort to our swords
again as the support. But it was questionable if our swords’ Lives
could even hold until morning.
In hope that I could find something to hang the chain upon, like
some protrusion, I glared at the wall overhead, unwilling to give up.
And—
“Ah…”
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There were elaborate silhouettes sticking out from the wall, spaced
out regularly, just around eight meters above, weren’t there. It
appeared the mist coiling around the tower disappeared upon sunset
and revealed the hidden objects’ visages.
“Hey, over there… do you see something?”
After I shouted out while pointing, Alice, near my feet, raised her
face as well. Her blue eyes squinted and she answered.
“I do… could those be statues or something similar? That

said, why would they be at such a high… There wouldn’t be
anyone around to look at them.”
“It doesn’t matter what they are as long as we can sit on

them and rest. Still, there are still eight met… eight mel
before reaching there. I could climb up there, but I guess I’ll
need another three metal rods…”
“Three… I see.”
Alice could be seen pondering for a moment before she

immediately nodded.
“Understood. I had planned to save this until it truly came

in necessary, but… it appears now would be the time.”
She leaned against the wall the moment she said thusly and
removed the gauntlet equipped on her left hand. Staring at the armor
that radiated a faint, golden light even in this shadowy darkness, she
chanted the starting phrase for sacred arts.
A fleeting flash of light shot out as the chant, done several times
more fluent than I could have, ended—the gauntlet had already
changed its form into three pitons before I could process that.
Perhaps Alice’s form transformation art had been more cost-effective
than element generation arts, for it bore fruit even in our
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surroundings’ scantiness of resources.
“Do use these.”
Alice fully extended her right hand, gripping onto the pitons,
towards me who was two meters higher. I leaned my body over the
foothold and received those precious tools with caution.
“Thanks, those’ll help.”
“Should the need arise, I do have some armor remaining,

but…”
I gave the gorgeous breastplate covering Alice’s upper half a

glance and shook my head.
“No… let’s keep that in reserve until the very end. Never
know when we might need it…”
Slowly standing up, I stuck two among the three pitons Alice made
for me into my belt and firmly gripped the last one.
“Uryaa!”
The golden stake I drove in with a shout pierced deep into the gap
with an entirely different level of tenacity compared to the ones
made from metallic elements as expected. Climbing atop it via the
horizontal bar exercise I’d gotten rather used to, I pulled Alice up
with the lifeline.
Repeating that process yet another time, I could clearly recognize

that mysterious object even in the dim light upon getting within four
meters of it.
It really was a stone statue. A narrow terrace stretched out left and
right, as if surrounding the cathedral’s outer walls, and several quite
large statues lined up atop that.
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However, those were no divine figures like the goddesses and
angels I’d seen countless times within the tower.
They were shaped like humans, but their posture, with their legs
crooked in a squat and their arms folded onto their laps, had no
association with chasteness. Rugged, boorish muscles bulged on
their limbs and wings, sharp as knives, extended from their backs.
And the statues’ heads could be described as nothing other than

grotesque. A rounded mouth was carved into its front at the end of a
long arc. Their heads alone bore a close resemblance to weevils or
something similar.
“Ugh… that’s one gross design.
I muttered;
“Eh…!? Th-Those are… the Dark Territory’s…!”
and Alice let a surprised voice escape before that moment.
The crouching stone statue directly above me swayed its head left
and right, and its circular mouth, that brought lampreys to mind,
opened and shut bit by bit. It was no mere ornament carved from
stone. That was—living.
If this was a quest set up in a VRMMO game in the real world, this
was naturally the scene of an assault.
However, in this case, the scenario writer must have had quite a
sadistic streak or was a complete novice. After all, we, the players,
were on top of pitons that extruded less than even a mere forty
centimeters from this perpendicular wall and couldn’t take a single
step.
An unwinnable event—those useless words scrolled through my

mind, but immediately shook them off. I had absolutely no hope for
the development of some person dashingly saving us even if we were
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to fall. We would have to rack our brains and avert this crisis with our
own strength. Otherwise, both Alice and I would die.
As I steeled my resolve, the winged stone statue began to change

the tint of its entire body while trembling. Its skin, originally grayish-
white like the wall, started changing into a viscous coal color from its
tip.
Basaa! Without waiting for its black wings that caused that loud
noise as they stretched out, I drew my sword from my waist. With my
sight trained onto the winged monster, formerly a stone statue, I
called out to Alice two meters below.
“Looks like we’ll have to fight here. Prioritize not falling

over everything else!”
However, I didn’t hear any immediate reply from the integrity

knight. Upon taking a brief glance below, I saw nothing show up on
Alice’s pale face, standing out in the twilight, except astonishment.
How could it be, why are those—that murmur reached my ears via
the updraft.
Why was the integrity knight, who should have known everything
about the Axiom Church, this shocked? I knew nothing more than
hearsay, but the highest minister, Administrator, apparently had a
predisposition towards vigilance to an eccentric extent. It wouldn’t
very much of a surprise for her to deploy guardians to repel intruders
forcibly climbing the walls, not gaining enough calm of mind by
simply setting the upper portion of the tower as an area beyond
flight.
That guardian—a monster that resembled the «gargoyles» that

frequently appeared in games of the real world, if ignoring its head,
grasped the terrace’s edge with its clawed hands, then expelled air
from its circular mouth with a loud “bushuu”. I noticed the
gargoyles on the left and right of the first one that began moving
were changing in body color as well, making me shiver. If those were
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to be stationed across all four sides of the cathedral’s outer walls, it
wouldn’t be strange if their total numbers exceed a hundred.
“Dammit…!”
After turning my body while cursing, I brandished my sword with

my back leaned onto the wall, which already made me lose much of
my balance. Well, my foothold was only a single, thin metal rod. I had
no experience of fighting in such conditions, even when considering
my old SAO days.
What do we do—I heard the flapping noise of wings without even

given the time to ponder on that thought. I looked up and there the
gargoyle hovering with the dark blue skies as its backdrop was,
glaring at me with the round eyeballs attached to the sides of its long
and narrow head.
The monster was large beyond expectations, likely close to two

meters, from head to toe. In addition, its tail with a length close to its
body was languidly stretching out from behind its waist.
“Bushaa!!”
I stared fixedly at the gargoyle that let out a bizarre voice like
steam escaping a valve and closed in with a backwards nose dive.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem to possess long range attack potential, so
its attack should be any of its four clawed limbs. Right, left, up, or
down—
“—Uoohh!?”
What soared this way while growling like a whip was its tail with
the tip sharpened to a knife-like point. Caught completely unguarded,
I screamed while twisting my head. The sharp pointed end made a
shallow tear in my cheek, but I somehow avoided a direct hit.
However, with my balance lost from that excessive motion, my
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body lurched atop the piton.
Targeting me, desperately trying to brace myself, the gargoyle still

hovering before my eyes thrust its tail forth continuously.
I supported my body with my left hand and guarded the tail attacks
with the sword in my right, but it took my all just to raise it as a
shield’s substitute. I didn’t have the composure to swing my sword
and sever the tail at all.
“Kuh…”
I concluded this was no situation to hesitate and took my left hand

off the wall, then pulled out one of the pitons stuffed in my belt.
While making a mental image of the throwing skill’s motion I trained
back in SAO, I threw it with the gargoyle’s core as my target.
I hadn’t put that much strength into it, but it appeared the piton
made from Alice’s gauntlet possessed quite a high priority as the
short javelin drew a golden arc in the dim light, stabbing deep into
the gargoyle’s abdomen.
“Bushii!”
Dusky blood spewed out from its round mouth and scattered, and
the monster unsteadily flapped its wings, taking a higher position. It
seems to have dealt a moderate amount of damage, but
unfortunately, that was not enough to make it retreat. A hint of rage
mixed into its pitch-black simple eyes, heavily resembling those of
insects, and the gargoyle glared at me.
I understood this wasn’t the time for it, but the thought
unconsciously came to me at a corner of my mind. Was it a program
manipulating that grotesque monster? Or perhaps, that, too, was an
artificial fluctlight like the people of the Underworld…?
“Bushuuuu!!”
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The new, strange cry threw my thoughts into disarray. Two new
gargoyles leapt off the terrace and were flying around in circles as
though they were awaiting a gap in my guard.
“Alice! Draw your sword, those monsters are going for you
too!”
I glanced straight down while crying out, but the knight apparently
had yet to recover from her distress of unknown origin. She would
either be skewered on a tail or fall off the piton if she were to get
attacked as she was now.
Should I climb up to the terrace four meters above while the

gargoyles observe the situation? However, there was only one piton
left in my belt. It would probably be impossible to ask that enraged
gargoyle to return the one stabbed in its stomach.
Perhaps the three monstrosities trying to intimidate me with their

strange spewing noises had finally decided to resume their offensive,
but noticeably shrill screams surged out from them.
Now that it had come to this, I could only remove the lifeline and
jump at any enemies targeting Alice.
Thinking thusly, I searched for the chain connected to my waist

with my left hand. And my two eyes opened wide with realization.
The chain was approximately five meters long. The terrace

overhead was four meters—
“Alice… Alice!!”
While sheathing my sword, I shouted as loud as I could.
The integrity knight’s body trembled with a start and those blue
eyes finally looked in this direction.
“Grip onto the chain tightly!!”
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Just what are you thinking; Alice frowned as I grasped the chain
attached to her sword belt with both hands. I pulled it hard and
Alice’s body floated off the foothold. Catching hold of the chain in a
fluster, the knight let a hoarse voice escape.
“…Don’t tell me you…”
“I’ll apologize as much as you want if we both live through

this!!”
Inhaling a deep breath, I mustered all my strength and pulled up

the chain, that the magnificent knight was dangling off, with it—no, I
flung it straight up. Her golden, long hair and pure white skirt
fluttering, Alice soared while following the trajectory of a semi-circle.
“Kyaaaaa!!”
A surprisingly girlish shriek rang out as the integrity knight passed

in between the gargoyles and landed on the terrace four meters
above. To put it more accurately, perhaps I should instead say that
she crashed. Maybe I should take it as if I hadn’t heard that
“mugyuu”, unappropriate for a cultivated female knight, that came
before the shriek ended.
My body was thrown off the piton, my foothold, by the recoil from

the overly drastic throw. If Alice didn’t support me from the terrace
above, we would both be diving down to the ground far below.
As expected, my courage froze over immediately after falling, but

the integrity knight responded to my hope, getting up on the narrow
terrace and holding the chain with both hands. Her two legs stood
firmly and stopped my descent before
“You… uuuuu!!”
She pulled on the chain with all her strength while shouting out in a
voice filled with anger.
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Soaring through the air like Alice did earlier, I had the air knocked
out of me the moment my back crashed into the marble wall, but
nothing felt more reliable than this terrace I groveled upon now. I
wanted to throw myself down on this nostalgic horizontal surface
forever, but Alice kicked my flank and I reluctantly lifted my body.
“Wha… what were you thinking, you great fool!!”
“It’s not like I could help it, I could only… no, leave the
talking for later, they’re coming!”
I drew my sword again and pointed its end at the three gargoyles
in their sharp ascent.
Making use of the meager time before launching into battle to

check the surrounding terrain, I briefly swept my sight left and right.
The terrace we clambered onto through a circus-like stunt had a

width of roughly one meter. It lacked decorative features, being
nothing more than a simple marble platform jutting out vertically
from the tower’s outer walls. No, it probably wasn’t anything more or
less than a shelf. It was something solely meant for the practical use
of setting the gargoyles on it.
Alice didn’t know about the existence of this terrace, so I held a

minor hope that a door or window might be set in the outer wall
behind us, but unfortunately, there wasn’t a single opening. All I
could see was the view of the silhouettes of the monstrosities yet to
come alive lined up in a row until the far-away corner. Knowledge of
their numbers from the repeated affirmation inspired fear, but
fortunately, the only ones moving seemed to be the three that could
be seen flying high.
Perhaps she finally got a hold of herself after securing a reliable

foothold, but Alice, too, slipped her Fragrant Olive Sword out from its
scabbard with a “shing”. However, the doubts in her heart
apparently hadn’t been resolved yet as a hoarse murmur reached my
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ears.
“…There is no mistaking it… Why… would they be in…”
The gargoyles that ascended to the same altitude as the terrace

might have been wary towards the two brandished swords, as they
showed no sign of swooping in immediately. While gazing at the
monsters, lazily swaying in midair, I asked Alice a question.
“Something’s been bothering me since earlier. You know

about those monsters?”
“…Yes, I do.”
Surprisingly enough, Alice immediately replied in the affirmative.
“Those are made by the darkness arts magicians of the

Dark Territory, the wicked demons they employ. Following
their example, we call them «minions». I believe that is
Sacred Tongue for «underlings» or «subordinates».”
“Minions… I can agree that they’re from the Dark Territory,

judging from their appearance, but why would something like
those be lined up along the entire wall of the most sacred
place in the Human World?”
“That is what I would like to know!”
Screaming that as though she was wringing the words out, Alice
tightly bit on her lips.
“…I understand this would never happen without you

telling me. I can hardly imagine that minions could slip
through the integrity knights’ observation and cross the
mountain range at the edge, trespassing all the way to the
capital… and to such a high location on the Central Cathedral
too. Let alone…”
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“Let alone someone of high authority in the church
intentionally setting them here… an act that would be
definitely impossible…?”
Alice scowled at me, half-consciously filling in the words cut short,

but made no attempt to rebut. Returning my sight to the three
gargoyles, the minions, who were still hovering, I questioned once
again.
“Tell me one more thing. Do those minions possess

intelligence? Do they talk like humans?”
Alice, who returned her sight to the front as well, appeared to have
shaken her head quickly.
“That would be truly impossible. Unlike the goblins and

orcs living in the land of darkness, the minions are not alive.
They are soulless familiars created from lumps of earth by
the magicians serving the god of darkness, Vector… they only
understand some simple orders from their masters.”
“…I see.”
I hid a soft, relieved breath from Alice.
I was well enough aware that this was nothing more than
postponing the problem at hand, but I still feel a strong hesitation
against killing existences possessing the same fluctlights as humans,
even now.
Babies in this world are born between only male-female couples

who became married with recognition from the Axiom Church—a
system command exclusive for that likely exists—or so the recluse,
Cardinal, had said. Those who dwell in the Dark Territory were no
exception. In that case, minions created by the not-sacred-arts
darkness arts would not possess fluctlights, but programmed code
like wild animals.
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Looking at it from that perspective, the hostility emitting from the
minions‘ insect-like simple eyes had the distinct digital stench
common to the mobs of monsters I fought back in SAO. Their status
might have switched from «watch on» to «attack», as the three beat
their wings strongly simultaneously and soared up high.
“—They’re coming!”
I shouted and brandished my beloved sword once again. The one

who flew in straight away was the one with a golden piton still
stabbed into its abdomen, perhaps due to the hate earned earlier.
This time, the claws on its two arms made a consecutive assault
instead of its tail. It couldn’t be said to be fast, but I had difficulty
getting the right timing, being in a fight against monsters for the first
time in a while. Devoting myself to repelling the claws with my
sword, I awaited an opportunity, then saw a fleeting image of the
unhurt pair rapidly descending onto Alice on my left in a corner of my
vision.
“Pay attention, there’re two of them!”
Despite my warning, made in genuine worry for the female knight,

the voice that came back was utterly indifferent.
“Who exactly do you think I am?”
Nimbly lowering her waist, she brandished her Fragrant Olive

Sword flat on her left.
Dobaa! With that tremendously hefty slashing sound, the golden

shimmer from her sword flash brightly enough to blind even in the
dim light.
A single, mere middle slash without feints or linked techniques—it

was what would be called a basic technique in the «Aincrad style»,
«Horizontal». However, its speed and weight were enough to make
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cold sweat gush out from me just by gazing at it from the side. What
cornered me without difficulty in that battle on the eightieth floor was
the overwhelming degree of completeness in that single strike that
forgave neither evasion nor defense. It was a might that easily
pulverized my belief in the excellence of consecutive hit skills that I
held throughout my long years of living in VRMMOs.
Before Alice, still after having swung her sword, the four arms of
the two minions fell. Following that, despite how they should have
been beyond her reach, their torsos split apart around their chests
without a sound.
Dusky blood heartily spewed out from the monsters that crashed
without letting out a single scream. Naturally, not a single drop came
into contact with Alice.
The integrity knight who roused her body as though nothing had
actually happened turned to me, still stuck in a one-sided defensive
battle, and spoke in a vaguely sarcastic tone.
“Would you require any assistance?”
“…N-No thank you.”
After politely refuting her proposal with the minimal of obstinacy, I

evaded the consecutive attacks from the minion‘s two arms, two
legs, plus its tail, that I finally saw the pattern for, with a step.
Turning towards the enemy that tried to regain its distance, I
released the consecutive hit skill ingrained into my body.
I had thought for a long time that it was strange the same sword
skills as the world of SAO would exist in the Underworld. I went
through multiple conjectures over these two years, but had yet to
reach a perfect answer. An engineer at Rath might have made use of
the «The Seed» package to construct the virtual world, but as far as I
knew, the sword skill system hadn’t been included in The Seed. If it
had, I should have been able to activate sword skills in Gun Gale
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Online back when I converted.
There was a possibility that the wise sage who stayed hidden in the
Great Library Room, Cardinal, would know the truth, but I hesitated in
asking the girl for it. Cardinal was aware that all of the Underworld’s
inhabitants, including herself, were existences brought to life for an
experiment by a corporation in the real world, Rath, and felt agony
over her own fate. I couldn’t bear to thrust a question that implied
this world was in any way fictional without the girl’s assent. In the
first place, with things progressed this far, the reason behind the
existence of sword skill was certainly not important. If it served its
purpose and granted me combat potential, that would suffice.
The sword in my right hand was tinged with a blue gleam and I
initiated the horizontal four hits skill, «Horizontal Square».
“Uo… ryaaa!”
The slash released with a somewhat uncouth shout wasn’t meant

to oppose Alice, but it slashed away the minion‘s two arms and tail,
smoothly severing its torso horizontally in the end. Bracing myself to
not leap off the terrace with the excess momentum, I looked on at
the remains of the monster, now in pieces, as they fell and sank into
the sea of clouds far below.
If those lumps didn’t vanish in midair and fell before some ascetic
or anyone else taking a walk around the cathedral’s inner court,
there would be a huge uproar… while thinking about such things;
“…Heh.”
Alice briefly muttered with a tone like that of a mentor looking onto
a disciple’s skills.
Sweeping the black sword left and right to clear it, I put it back into
the sheath at the left of my waist—I actually wanted to equip it on
my back, but there weren’t any sword belts of the shoulder harness
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type in the armory—as I looked at the knight from the side.
“…What?”
“No, I was merely thinking that you use strange skills. About how it
might draw some guests if you were to perform it at a theater during
the midsummer festivities.
“Well, thanks.”
After making a wry smile at the grand knight, using sarcasm on

every single little thing, I looked at Alice’s face from the front. I
voiced out the question that suddenly surfaced in my mind.
“…Have you ever seen Centoria’s midsummer festival? If I

had to describe it, I would have to say it was mainly a festival
for the masses, with barely any of the students born as upper
class nobles in the Sword Mastery Academy going for it…”
Of course, there were exceptions, like Sortiliena-senpai, who I

served as a valet for, looking forward to it each year. Those nostalgic
thoughts came to me before Alice snorted.
“Please don’t associate me with those upper class nobles

who put on airs. Of course I’ve… went……”
Those scornful words gradually slowed down and eventually cut

off.
The knight frowned with her lips still slightly opened and cast her
eyes down as though she was searching for something. Bring up her
left hand that lost its gauntlet, she pressed her finger tips against her
smooth brow. Alice shook her head countless times in that manner
and slowly raised her face, then murmured in a tone that seemed
somewhat vague.
“No… I heard of that festival… from some ascetic. Integrity
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knights are… forbidden from mingling with townspeople
aside from during duty, so…”
“……”
That was only natural. The integrity knights believe themselves to

have been existences summoned from the Celestial World by the
highest minister, Administrator, but that was actually false.
Administrator had taken humans of exceptional wisdom and might
from the Human World to the cathedral, then built them up to be
knights with their previous memories sealed away with the
«Synthesis Ritual». Hence, it would be terrible if those knights visit
the lesser world more than necessary and unexpectedly meet with
their former family.
Alice’s number was thirty, which meant she was the «newest»
knight after Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-one who just became an integrity
knight this spring. She was likely synthesized within a year from now
and the girl was taken from Rulid Village eight years ago, so she
actually had a blank span of over seven years.
How exactly did Alice spend those days in the cathedral… I didn’t
know she learnt the sacred arts as a sister, or perhaps spent it
«frozen» by Administrator. However, maybe she had visited
Centoria’s midsummer festival before she became a knight? Could it
be that the memory, that should have been sealed, revived for an
instant due to the earlier conversation—?
In that case, if I were to continue asking about the midsummer

festival now, the «piety module» sealing Alice’s memories could be
removed like what happened when I fought against Eldrie, couldn’t
it?
Having thought of that, I started to open my mouth once again.

However, I clenched my teeth tight after taking in a breath.
Cardinal had said it. That to turn Knight Alice to Alice Schuberg,
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Eugeo’s childhood friend, taking the piety module out wouldn’t be
enough. That the «most important memory fragment» stolen from
Alice by the highest minister was definitely necessary. Hence, if
Alice’s module were to be removed now, the girl should lose her
consciousness in that instant and become immobile. I would rather
avoid that in the present circumstances where we didn’t know when
our next enemy would appear.
First and foremost, Alice showed no sign of distress at all when she
saw Eugeo whom she had got on well with for several years back in
Rulid. In other words, that was how strong the seal on Alice’s
memories was. The chance of removing the module with a topic like
the midsummer festival was slim and on the other hand, it might
even cause her wariness towards me to increase.
Alice suspiciously gazed at my face as I went through those

thoughts in silence, but soon scowled as though she had noticed
something again.
“The minions‘ blood bring about illness. Clean it off

properly.”
“Nn? Aah…”
I noticed for the first time that several drops of the blood spurted
out from the demon had showered onto my left cheek Alice pointed it
out. In the moment I tried to wipe the pungent fluid away with my
shirt’s sleeve, a stinging reprimand came flying.
“Hey!”
It must have been years since someone got angry at me in that

manner… Alice glared at me, who was dumbfounded, with a truly
frustrated expression.
“Aah, that’s enough, just why are men so… Do you not
carry around even a single handkerchief?”
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I fumbled around my trousers’ pockets, but the right was empty
and the left had something that wasn’t a handkerchief stuffed in it. I
answered softly with my head lowered.
“I-I don’t…”
“…Alright, fine, use this.”
Alice pulled out a handkerchief from her long skirt that was just as
pure white, then held it out to me with a look that showed
abhorrence coming from the depths of her heart.
The thought of lifting up the grand knight’s skirt and rubbing my

cheek on it, if she was going to treat me like a kid in primary school,
flashed through my mind, but I stopped as it would simply end in my
death.
Borrowing the handkerchief with intricate hems that didn’t have a

single stain on it with thanks, when I wiped my cheek with it
abashedly, the minion‘s blood was practically absorbed into it,
cleaning it up completely, as though some art to clean up stains had
been cast on it.
“Thank you very much.”
Sensei; I held back the urge to add that while trying to return the
handkerchief, but the grand knight quickly averted her face and said
a single line—
“Wash it and return it before you get slashed by me.”
The future looked grim indeed. How could I persuade this

grandiose knight to avoid the battle after we return into the tower
and to meet up with Eugeo?
An image of my partner, who was probably climbing up the stairs

in the tower about now, went through my mind as I looked around,
and noticed the afterglow in the sky had completely disappeared
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without my notice and several stars were already blinking away. We
managed to drive away the minions somehow, but the moon had
risen and an extremely slight bit of space resources had been
restocked, but that was unlikely enough to make new pitons with.
I thrust Alice’s handkerchief into my right pocket and scanned the

narrow terrace from left to right this time round. The petrified
minions lined up in a row from a few meters away to the wall’s corner
seemed like they wouldn’t come alive if we didn’t get any closer. It
might be possible to crush them before their petrification was lifted if
we dash in and slash at their vitals with our swords, but I couldn’t
think of any merit in testing that risk.
As a result, we could only meekly wait here for a few hours until
the moon rose.
Honestly, I would warmly entertain the thought of sitting down and

resting now, but Alice would likely be offended greatly throughout
that whole time. I held back a sigh while thinking about how I should
initiate a talk with the integrity knight who had her face turned away.
Piton – Pitons are metal spikes used in climbing stuff, by driving

them into holes or gaps. However, the original word used here was
“haken”, a German word commonly used in Japanese to refer to
that, rather than an English word. Kip – A manoeuvre used in
gymnastics.
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Vol.13 Chapter 10
Source: tap-trans
I hadn’t felt this isolated for a long time.
Eugeo murmured in his heart as he climbed the long staircases on

his own.
Eugeo had passed his days immersed in swinging that axe in the
forest, his eyes, ears, and heart shut away, ever since that summer
eight years ago when he could do nothing more than look on as Alice
was bound onto a flying dragon’s foot and taken away. Not a single
person in the village, including his family, brought up this major
incident of the village chief’s daughter getting taken away by an
integrity knight with him, practically treating that very act as a taboo
in itself—or rather, it could have been as they avoided Eugeo who
was a close friend of Alice.
However, much like the villagers, Eugeo also kept them, as well as
his memories of the incident, at a distance. Not acknowledging his
own weakness and cowardice, he tried to turn his eyes away from
the past and future by sinking deep into a muddy bog by the name of
resignation. —But.
That one boy, who wandered in without a single belonging to his

name in the spring two years ago, tugged Eugeo out from that
bottomless swamp with all his might. They repelled a group of
goblins and felled the Gigas Cedar together; he bestowed confidence
and a goal to Eugeo once more.
He was always by his side when they rushed out from Rulid Village,
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when they advanced onto the capital through Zakkaria City, and
when they trained day after day at the Sword Mastery
Academy—Kirito was there. Though it was awry from their initial
plans, their success in infiltrating their final goal, the Axiom Church’s
Central Cathedral, and surpassing numerous obstacles to arrive at
this high position was unmistakably thanks to his black-haired
partner guiding him and cheering him on.
And yet, despite how the highest floor was a mere distance away,
Kirito had vanished from Eugeo’s sight. Amidst the fierce battle
against Integrity Knight Alice Synthesis Thirty, created from his
childhood friend, Alice Schuberg, with false, implanted memories,
Kirito’s full armament control art mingled with the knight’s and
brought forth an abnormal power and bored a huge hole through the
cathedral’s wall.
The pair were sucked out from the tower in the blink of an eye and
the huge hole returned to the wall it originally was immediately
thereafter. The marble wall showed not the slightest sign of budging
even when slashed at with the Blue Rose Sword or hit with the
greatest thermal elemental offensive arts he possessed.
In all likelihood, the cathedral’s outer walls had a permanent self-

repair art performed upon them. A sacred art so ridiculously
advanced that Eugeo couldn’t even imagine the first line for it to the
extent of his knowledge. Hence, even if he moved the stone wall by a
mere cen after all his desperate effort, it would probably be restored
to how it was. Opening up a hole in the wall, even for a moment,
must have been because Kirito and Knight Alice’s full control arts
concealed a power that exceeded what the art user who casted that
self-repair art on the tower’s outer walls had expected.
To put that another way, they couldn’t have died from simply
getting thrown out if they possessed such power. Especially Kirito,
who definitely had more capability in reacting to unexpected
situations even when compared to the higher ranked integrity
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knights. He must have resisted the fall somehow and had already
started on an ascent from outside the tower. And that likely applied
to Knight Alice too.
The current Alice was a guardian of the absolute Axiom Church, so

he couldn’t imagine her cooperating with Kirito, but at the very least,
she should chase after him if he were to climb the wall. An
opportunity to use the short sword granted by Cardinal should
present itself again if he could reunite with them somewhere on the
higher floors.
Believing thusly, Eugeo opened the door on the southern end of

the eightieth floor, «Cloudtop Garden», and started on the grand
staircase up on his own. All while shaking off the sense of forlornness
and helplessness that seemed to have crept up his back ever since
he became alone.
It wouldn’t be strange to be dragged into a new assault at any

time, so he ceased running and advanced with caution, but he didn’t
feel any human presence even after passing the eighty-first and
eighty-second floors.
They had driven away «Frost Scale Whip» Eldrie, «Conflagrant

Flame Bow» Deusolbert, the apprentice knights, Fizel and Linel,
«Heaven Piercing Sword» Fanatio and her subordinates, «Four
Oscillation Blades»; that brought the count to nine integrity knights in
total, but those called «Knight Commander» and «Chief Elder» were
still in the tower, and of course, the highest minister, Administrator,
lay in wait as well.
He could hardly imagine the most eminent being in the Axiom

Church, and thus, the world, would suddenly appear, but the Knight
Commander and Chief Elder couldn’t possibly let him pass through to
the highest floor without resistance. As such, he strained his senses
to their limits and cautiously ascended the staircase with his hand on
his Blue Rose Sword, but his mind couldn’t help but to get invaded by
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superfluous thoughts.
How are Kirito and Knight Alice doing at the moment?
Is Alice chasing Kirito as he climbs the tower’s outer walls? Or

maybe their battle is continues even now while dangling off the
tower’s walls? Or perhaps… the mysterious charm from that human
known as Kirito had made even Alice, as aloof as she was, draw back
her sword…?
Eugeo sensed an unfamiliar feeling well up in his chest the

moment he thought that. That acted as a stimulant, the discord he
felt when he swung his sword towards the fallen Integrity Knight
Deusolbert several hours ago prickling yet again.
Aware that Deusolbert was the one who took away Alice from Rulid
Village eight years ago, anger and hatred urged Eugeo into action as
he tried to thrust an end to the knight. However, in that moment
Kirito held him back, Eugeo felt a strong sense of inferiority towards
his close friend.
You wouldn’t have just watched on like me back then. You would
have thrown care to the wind and attacked the integrity knight in an
attempt to save Alice; he thought.
That strength and kindness of Kirito might reach even the heart of
the integrity knight, Alice. Of course, Alice as she was now, was a so-
called fake with her memories stolen by the highest minister. But… if
it was that Kirito, who tried to help Deusolbert and even Deputy
Knight Commander Fanatio, who brought him to the verge of death…
perhaps……
“——That’s not possible.”
Muttering so, Eugeo forced his stream of thoughts to a stop.
There was no purpose in thinking any further. Upon regaining the
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«memory fragment» safe kept on the highest floor of the cathedral
and returning it to Integrity Knight Alice’s soul, the current Alice
would vanish along with all of her memories. And the real Alice, the
person most important to Eugeo, would return.
I will embrace the awakened girl tightly and definitely say it this
time. That I will protect you… I will protect you forever. That moment
will arrive tomorrow, or this night if circumstances allow it.
Hence, there was no need for idle thoughts now, it was the time to
do nothing but to advance forth.
Just as the seven o’clock bell rang out in the evening from
somewhere in the cathedral, the staircase came to a stop.
That made the count he kept, of the floors passing by, reach a
round ten. In other words, this was the ninetieth floor. He had set
foot onto the crucial section of the Axiom Church at long last.
No stairs further up could be seen anywhere in the broad hall.

There was only a single grand door at the northern wall. There was
no mistake that a vast area utilizing the entire floor, like the fiftieth
and eightieth floors, lay ahead.
And with that, an enemy stronger than any before must be lying in
wait.
—Can I win? All by myself?
Standing still at the end of the hall, Eugeo asked himself. Just how
could he fight against someone stronger than Fanatio, who drove
Kirito half the way to his death, and Alice, who they were no match
for, even as a pair.
However, now that he thought about it, Kirito had took on all of the
enemies’ attacks by himself in the battles thus far. Eugeo had hidden
behind his partner’s back and merely activated his full control art.
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Kirito had said that it was the natural strategy considering the
natures of their skills, but with him away, Eugeo had no choice but to
fight from the start to the end.
Gently caressing the Blue Rose Sword at the left of his waist, he
ascertained the sensations of its grip and guard. He could probably
use the full control art just one more time, but he couldn’t capture
the enemy with the ice tendrils by activating it blindly. He had to first
drive the enemy into a corner with pure swordsmanship and create
an opening.
“…It’s time.”
With that whisper to his beloved sword, Eugeo brought up his right
hand and strongly pushed open the white door.
What immediately closed in were bright lighting, a dense, white

smoke, and a dull, unceasing sound.
—Offensive sacred arts!?
Thinking so instinctively, Eugeo tried to jump aside, but noticed the

white mist streaming out was not smoke, but steam. His hands and
sleeves merely got wet upon contact, there was no pain. He assessed
the state of the interior across the swirling heat.
As expected, it was a vast space that expended the entire area of

a single cathedral floor. The ceiling countless lamps were fitted onto
was high as well, so it likely had a name resembling the «Cloister of
Spiritual Light» or «Sky Garden»*, but he didn’t have the means to
find it out right now. The floor surface couldn’t be seen through the
obstructing steam, but there seemed to be no human presence.
Eugeo took only a few steps into the space and tried to find the
source of the steam. When he did, he noticed with his ears, rather
than his eyes, the splish-splashing sound of water. There was no
mistake that the roaring was of a large quantity of water falling onto
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water, coming from somewhere far.
That was when cold air flowed in from the still-opened door and
swept aside the surrounding steam.
A marble path with a breadth of roughly five mel extended deeper

into the space from Eugeo’s position. The sides of the path dipped
down with steps and filled there, to the brim, was clear water—no,
hot water. It seemed to have a depth of over one mel, and Eugeo
couldn’t even begin to imagine how many lil of hot water would it
total up to if that filled the entire room.
“…Just, what is this room…”
Eugeo’s hoarse voice leaked out upon the far too unexpected
scene.
The temperature of the water was too hot as a pond for rearing fish
or other animals and the humidity wasn’t pleasant enough for it be a
garden for admiration. It would even be more comfortable to strip
down and jump into the hot—
“Ah…… do-don’t tell me…”
After murmuring once again, he knelt down by the side of the

pathway and thrust his right hand into the hot water. It was neither
hot nor warm, it was at a temperature that Kirito would comment as
“a nice water temperature” if he was here.
In other words, this was a gigantic bath.
“………”
Without any further words coming from him, Eugeo deeply sighed
while kneeling.
His home until two years ago used a rather large tub as a bathtub
and by the time Eugeo got into it as the last person, only half of the
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hot water would have been left. Hence, he got struck dumbfounded
the first time he saw the large bath in the academy’s dormitories and
wondered how could such a large quantity of hot water be boiled.
However, this bath was on an entirely different level. There would

still be space even if all of the apprentices in the Sword Mastery
Academy were to get into together. No, of course, the male students
couldn’t possibly enter a bath together with the female students,
though.
After taking another sigh, Eugeo took the opportunity to wash his
two hands in the hot water and stood up, holding back the urge to
wash his face too. He started on the marble path likely heading
deeper into the space, towards the staircase to the upper floors. No
matter how things were, getting assaulted in a bath would simply be
too—
Or so he thought before he noticed belatedly.
The path expanded into a circle in the middle of the large space,
the large bath. When he approached, Eugeo finally sensed
someone’s silhouette beyond the steam hanging over the water
surface in front, on the right.
“—!?”
Instinctively jumping back, he placed his hand onto his sword’s

grip.
He couldn’t see too well with the steam obstructing, but the other
party had a pretty large build. Short hair and unfeminine. Submerged
up to his shoulders in the hot water, he was stretching out all four
limbs.
The man appeared to be simply bathing rather than lying in wait,

but he couldn’t let down his guard. Regardless of the circumstances,
that was unmistakably an enemy, so perhaps he should be attempt a
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preemptive attack while the opponent was still in the water.
It happened when Eugeo quietly slid his beloved sword out from its
sheath.
“Sorry, but could ya wait for a bit? I mean, I just got to the
capital a moment ago, so my whole body’s stiff from all the
flying dragon riding.”
The voice was low and worn-out, but had substance. The speech
that was more crude than anyone he encountered in the cathedral
unwittingly left him silent. The lack of grandstanding reminded him of
the peasants of his home town rather than of a knight.
While Eugeo stayed undecided over his reaction, splashing noises

rang out and the steam concealing the gigantic bathtub parted to the
left and right.
The owner of the voice had drops of water pouring off his entire
body like a waterfall while he got up. With his back to Eugeo, he
placed his two hands on his waist and rotated his neck, letting out a
sluggish groan. He appeared full of openings, but Eugeo didn’t take a
single step with his hand still on his sword.
What a tremendous body. The part below his knees was still under
the hot water, but still, it was clear the man measured close to two
mel. His iron-gray hair, tinged blue, was trimmed short and exposed
his shockingly thick neck. Furthermore, the shoulders it connected to
were abnormally broad yet again. His forearm, on the level of a log,
must be able to wave swords around with ease, regardless of how
heavy they might be.
What drew his eyes the most was his back, covered in layers of
muscles. Gorgolosso Baltoh, whom Eugeo served as a valet, could
boast of a tempered body as well, but the man in the bath reached
new heights of bulkiness. Despite the unlikeness of him being young,
there was no slackening around his hips whatsoever.
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As his sight was stolen by the man’s standing posture, like the very
image of an ancient god of war, Eugeo failed to immediately notice
the countless old wounds running across his entire body. Observing
properly, he saw that they were all wounds from arrows and blades.
Scars, even from severe wounds, shouldn’t remain if treated quickly
with high ranking sacred arts, so that meant he must have always
been fighting on battlefields which rendered even that act
impossible, for long stretches of time.
The man in the bath was, in all likelihood, the one called the Knight
Commander.
In other words, the mightiest expert among all of the integrity

knights. The greatest hurdle thwarting Eugeo’s path to the top of the
Cathedral—
In that case, it would be best to slash and defeat the man while he
held no weapon and armor. Kirito would definitely have done that.
Even while his mind thought so, Eugeo stayed still.
He couldn’t judge whether the man’s back was full of openings or

flawlessly brimming with preparation. He could even imagine the
man was luring him into an attack.
Paying no heed to Eugeo’s hesitation, the man finished loosening

his body, then began walking north as he parted the hot water. A
basket had been placed a little way ahead on the path that seemed
to have his clothes in it.
Having taken the steps up and straddled over the edge, the man
took undershorts out from the basket and passed them through his
legs. , he spread open clothes of thin make and wore them. It
seemed to be clothes made in the north empire and while wrapping a
wide cloth that came with the previous, the man finally turned his
face to Eugeo.
“Yo, sorry for the wait.”
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He had a firm look that matched the deep, worn-out voice well.
The wrinkle engraved near his mouth likely showed the man was
over forty years old when he became an integrity knight, but his
cheeks split by his high nose bridge were not slackened in any way.
However, what left a deeper impression was the light in his eyes
released from beneath his prominent eyebrows.
Despite the lack of what could be constituted as blood-thirst in

those pale, light blue eyes, he felt an intense pressure just from
facing him from over fifteen mel away. His gaze likely contained only
pure interest in the opponent he would now cross swords against,
and the rapture of battle itself? The only ones who could look upon
an enemy with such eyes have had to possess an absolute
confidence in their own swordsmanship. In other words, this man
resembled Kirito somehow.
Having finished tying the sash in front of his body, the man turned
his right hand to the clothes basket. With that, a longsword gently
came out from the bottom of the basket, settling into his burly hand.
Carrying it on his shoulder, he began walking on the marble with his
wet, bare feet.
Standing still after closing until a mere eight mel or so away from
Eugeo, the man rubbed his sturdy chin that had a short beard
growing from it and spoke.
“There. Could ya tell me something before we fight?”
“Well, that’d be… did the deputy knight commander… did

Fanatio die?”
That curt tone, as if asking about the menu for dinner, made Eugeo
feel like retorting with a “Aren’t you talking about your
deputy?” However, he immediately noticed an awkwardly
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constructed guise on the man’s expression as he averted his gaze to
the side. Despite being truly anxious about it, he seemed averse to
revealing that. That, too, brought to mind the partner who wasn’t
present.
“…She’s alive. She’s receiving treatment right now… I

believe.”
Having heard Eugeo’s reply, the man brazenly let out a sharp
breath and nodded.
“I see. I won’t be taking your life then.”
“Wha……”
Once again, he was at a loss of words. It was a conceit so immense

that it had no room for suspicion over it being a bluff. Self-confidence
was a great weapon in its own right, or so Kirito had said, but even
he wouldn’t show this much composure in front of a strong enemy.
The source of the rock-hard pride belonging to the giant of a man
before his eyes was probably impossible for both Kirito and Eugeo to
obtain—the experiences of winning through countless fierce battles,
enough for every single one of those wounds all over his body.
However, even the count is significantly lower than his, Eugeo had
also driven away integrity knights, just like this man, on more than
one occasion on the way up here. Showing weakness before they
cross swords would be inexcusable to the defeated integrity knights,
to Gorgolosso and the academy’s instructors who trained Eugeo, and
of course, to his black-haired partner.
Mustering all the fighting spirit he had, Eugeo stared at the man
head-on. He spoke with strength to his stomach, for his voice to not
quiver.
“I don’t like it.”
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“Oh?”
With his hand still in the bosom of his oriental clothes, the man let
out an amused voice.
“What don’t you, boy?”
“Fanatio-san isn’t the only one of your subordinates, is

she? There are Eldrie-san and the «Four Oscillation Blades»…
and do you not care whether Alice is dead or alive either?”
“Aah… that’s what you were getting at”
The man looked up and scraped the side of his head with the
longsword’s grip held in his left hand.
“I guess it’s like this… Eldrie’s lil’ Alice’s disciple and the
Four Oscillation Blades, Dakira, Jeis, Hobren, and Giro, are
Fanatio’s disciples. So, that makes Fanatio mine, you see?
I’m not one for holding grudges, but at the very least, I’ll
take revenge if my disciple gets killed; that’s all to it.”
He broadly grinned, then added on as if it just occurred to him.
“…Well, lil’ Alice might think of me as a mentor, though…

honestly now, I don’t know who’d be stronger now in a real
fight. It wasn’t that hard six years ago when the lil’ miss just
became a knight apprentice, though.”
“Six years ago… a knight apprentice…?”
Forgetting about his retort towards the man for the moment,
Eugeo murmured.
Six years ago would mean two years after she was taken away
from Rulid. Kirito had taught him that the integrity knights’ names
included a «number» in Sacred Tongue as they climbed the stairs and
it seemed Alice was thirty, Eldrie was thirty-one, and Deusolbert was
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seven. It shouldn’t have been that long ago when Alice became a
knight, judging from the newness of her number, but—
“…But Alice is thirty… the thirtieth integrity knight, right?”
The man lightly tilted his head at Eugeo’s question, but

immediately let out an “aah”.
“Generally, we aren’t in the habit of giving numbers to

apprentices. The lil’ miss became thirty last year when she
was formally commissioned as a knight. She was more than
qualified as one with her capabilities even six years ago, but
she was too young and all…”
“But… Fizel and Linel possessed numbers despite being

apprentices.”
The instant he heard those names, the man’s mouth distorted as

though he just bit down on a bitterbug.
“…It just turned out that way with those pipsqueaks

becoming knights. They’re exceptions, getting numbers while
still apprentices. —Did you fight those two? Living through
that’s surprising in a whole different way from defeating
Fanatio.”
“We did get paralyzed by «Ruberyl’s poison steel» and

almost got beheaded, though.”
Eugeo considered further while replying.
The man knew Alice when she was a knight apprentice. Hence,
Alice had her memories sealed through the «Synthesis Ritual» a
whole six years ago… when she was thirteen, it seems. Thereafter,
Alice believed herself to be an existence summoned from the
Celestial World in order to become an integrity knight and continued
living in the cathedral…?
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Gazing at Eugeo who sank into silence, the giant man shrugged his
shoulders.
“Well, I don’t plan on losing to ya, so I doubt the lil’ miss

who’s as strong as me got cut by you. From what I heard
from that Chief Elder bastard, you had a partner, huh? If that
guy isn’t that, he’s probably going at it with the lil’ miss
somewhere, eh?”
“…That’s essentially it.”
After finding himself nodding, Eugeo restored the tight grip on his
sword. He couldn’t help but to have his animosity chipped away by
the man’s speech, but this was no situation to lose his focus.
Concentrating his two eyes further, he cried out a taunt.
“By the way, who will be the next to exact vengeance on

me after I cut you?”
“Hehe, don’t worry. There’s no master of mine around.”
He grinned and gently drew the longsword from his shoulder with
his right hand. He carelessly stuck the scabbard left over into his
sash with his left hand.
The slightly blackened, bulky blade was meticulously polished, but

the infinite amount of old blemishes faintly remaining over its entire
length glittered in the illumination shining in from the ceiling. The
guard and grip appeared to be made from the same quality of metal
as the blade, but unlike the sacred tools wield by the integrity
knights he had fought thus far, not even a single splendid decoration
adorned them.
That said, it was clear that was no weapon to look down upon,
even from afar. It must have taken a considerable amount of blood
over an endless period of time, with a sort of presence coiling about
the dark-gray blade.
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Eugeo, too, drew his beloved sword out from the sheath at the left
of his waist while taking in a sharp, thin breath. It wasn’t in its full
control state, but its pale-blue blade let out a faint chill, perhaps
responding to its owner’s tension, forming flickering crystals of ice in
the surrounding steam.
In a gallant motion that suited that fine body, the man pulled back
his right leg while holding the sword in his right hand near vertical
and visibly lowered his waist. It resembled the stance for the Norkia-
style’s secret move, «Lightning Flash Slash», but differed slightly.
Setting the sword that straight would result in a need for excessive
movement in order to activate that skill.
Eugeo took the stance for the Aincrad-style’s secret move, «Sonic
Leap», with that consideration.
As far as Eugeo knew, the mysterious Aincrad style, with its own
practitioner, his partner, Kirito, had skill names in Sacred Tongue for
all of its secret moves. The Sacred Tongue was a holy language
passed down onto the Axiom Church’s originator by the three
goddesses during the creation of the world, with no dictionary for it in
the Sword Mastery Academy’s library—or even the castles the four
emperors resided within, according to what he had heard from the
instructors.
Knowledge on the meaning behind its vocabulary was restricted to

those used in sacred art rituals. Hence, even Eugeo, who studied
diligently in the academy, knew only the meaning for words like
«element» or «generate» from the limited vocabulary.
However, despite how he lost all of his previous memories before

appearing in Rulid Forest two years ago, Kirito seemed to have
known of bits of Sacred Tongue that Eugeo didn’t. The vocabulary
used in the secret moves’ names were no exception; he said Sonic
Leap had the meaning of «jumping at the speed of sound». He didn’t
know exactly how fast sound travelled, but it was a mighty skill that
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lived up to its name, shooting forth or back a long distance of ten mel
with ridiculous vigor. A preemptive attack was effectively secured if it
was activated when the enemy took the first step to shorten the gap.
A fresh vertical wrinkle engraved itself upon the man’s brows when
he saw Eugeo, tension released from his body and his sword placed
on his right shoulder.
“Now that’s one uncommon stance, boy. …You don’t

happen to practice the Continual Sword, do you?”
“……!”
The moment he heard that subdued question, Eugeo drew a sharp

breath.
To be specific, the Sonic Leap Eugeo was going to execute was a

single-hit secret move. However, it was the same as the consecutive
hit skills at the core of the Aincrad style, in terms of how they did not
exist in the styles passed down in the Human World. As expected,
this man was no average person, to see through that from a single
stance.
However, even if he had guessed that Eugeo used consecutive hit

skills, he shouldn’t be able to perceive the boundaries of the Aincrad
style. As long as the man hadn’t fought Kirito before he had lost his
memory.
“…How does it matter even if I use the consecutive hit

skills?”
Upon replying in a low voice, the man snorted.
“Nah, there were just some among those darkness knights

in the Dark Territory who use the Continual Sword too, and I
fought them loads of times. Those aren’t really good
memories… after all, those of us on this side can’t use any of
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those fancy fluid skills at all, ya know?”
“…Are you asking me to fight with a traditional style?”
“No, no, whether it’s the Continual Sword or whatever else,

I don’t care what it is, go ahead. I’m not saying this is to
compensate for that or anything, but I’ll be starting with my
trump card too.”
After twisting one side of his lips into a grin, the man thrust up the
longsword, wielded straight in his right hand, even higher.
Eugeo’s breath was taken away once more immediately after. The
weathered grey blade vibrated like a heat haze. He thought it was
due to the steam flowing through the large bath, but no matter how
hard he squinted, he could only perceive it as the longsword itself
losing its solidity.
—Could it be that that sword is already in its full control state?
He frantically pondered while in the stance for the secret move.
He might had only been taught the «armament full control art» by
the mysterious sage, Cardinal, recently, but he had already gained a
relatively good understanding over this secret art through the
multiple cases of actual combat.
It resemble secret moves in how it granted the sword a stronger

strength, but in the end, the full control art was a sacred art, so that
made an incantation necessary. As such, that permitted momentarily
maintaining a standby state in between chanting the main body of
the art and activating it with the ending line, “enhance armament“,
like normal sacred arts.
The amount of time the activation standby state for sacred arts
can be maintained was influenced by the user’s character and
experience. Eugeo could maintain it for several minutes if he closed
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his mouth and focused his mind, but Kirito had shown he could hold
the art while conversing with that astounding concentration he had
at times like this.
He still had no idea what sort of skill the full control art of the giant
man before him was, but it was evident he was quite an expert,
simply judging from how he could hold a long conversation during
the activation standby state. In comparison, Eugeo had no time to
start chanting the art now and one way or another, the ice roses art
could not exhibit its true abilities in this space filled with hot water.
In that case, he had only one path. He could only hit the man with
Sonic Leap in the gap created by him executing a secret move—or
activating his full control art, and conclude the battle. The opponent
should be expecting Eugeo’s attack to be a consecutive hit skill, so it
was unlikely he could react to a leaping attack at extremely high
speed.
Determined, Eugeo put all of his focus into his two eyes and
observed the entirely of the man.
The distance was approximately eight mel.
The Norkia style, as well as the school above it, the High Norkia
style, had no skill that could reach from this range. So, if the man
intended to swing his sword from the position he stood at without
moving, the «trump card» he mentioned must be a armament full
control art along the lines of extending his slash’s reach. He would
have to evade that somehow and end this with a single
counterattack.
As Eugeo envisioned, the man continued standing in that spot and

slowly held the sword, kept vertical with his right arm, aloft. His
mouth lost its smile and released a roar that shook the entire large
bath.
“I am the commander of the integrity knights—Bercouli
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Synthesis One!!”
Where have I heard of that name—that thought flashed through

his mind for an instant, but Eugeo discarded his idle thoughts and
focused entirely on discerning the enemy’s skill.
A heavy thud roared out, the man who named himself as the
knight commander stamped his left foot onto the marble pavement.
The surrounding steam scattered away at once.
Those burly waist, chest, shoulders, and arms turned in a dreadful

and rapid, yet composed movement. The sword raised straight first
fell to the right, then swung horizontally. Eugeo felt it to be the
ultimate form of the sword skills passed down among the traditional
styles. A motion that could only be realized through training over an
extensive stretch of time, both formless and perfected.
However, all traditional sword skills possessed a common

weakness. As a consequence of the «form» being far too grand, the
attack’s trajectory becomes predictable. By the time the knight
commander’s sword began to slice apart the white vapor
horizontally, Eugeo had already jumped forth, towards the left. That
should be enough to narrowly evade any offense the sword had
launched in its full control state, whatever it could have been.
The air quivered near his right ear. But he felt neither pain nor
impact.
—I dodged it!
Assured of that, Eugeo activated the secret move, Sonic Leap, on

his next step.
“O… oooh!”
His sword wore a green radiance tinged with yellow at his shout.
His entire self accelerated, pushed by an unseen force, and Eugeo
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became a gust of wind, charging towards the knight commander who
had swung his sword.
Behind him, the air pressure from the sword that he previously
dodged hit the door to the large bath and let out a loud—
No.
Nothing rang out. He couldn’t sense the slightest vibration.
Was the slash that the knight commander should have launched
really that fast? Or perhaps it vanished before reaching the door
behind?
Impossible. If that was true, the armament full control art of the
knight commander, the man who should be stronger than Deusolbert
and Fanatio, would be inferior to even Eldrie’s full control art, despite
how he had only became a knight a mere one month ago. Eldrie’s
«Frost Scale Whip» attack was as quick as lightning, reaching as far
as several ten mel.
That couldn’t be possible. In that case, was the knight

commander’s skill not a far-range type of attack? But in actual fact,
Eugeo hadn’t received a single bit of damage.
If that was the case, the man had only executed a practice swing?
A display of form, no different from what the students performed
during the Sword Mastery Academy’s examinations.
—Is he making a fool out of me?
—Or perhaps he thought he could scare off some kid who’s still

attending school with just a single practice swing?
The core of his head burned up the instant he felt that.
He was slow to notice, as a result.
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There was something directly in front of the man who just swung
his sword, in Eugeo’s path as he rushed forward while leaving behind
a line of light from the secret move. A transparent fluctuation
horizontally cut through the air. Much like the heat haze that
enveloped the man’s sword right before he began that slash.
—That spot’s… where his practice swing cut through earlier…
A profound chill ran down his back. Although he instinctively

attempted to interrupt his charge, a secret move couldn’t be stopped
that easily once activated. He drew back his sword and scrapped his
right foot against the floor, but his speed merely fell slightly and—
Eugeo’s body immediately came into contact with the heat haze
that remained in midair.
A scorching hot impact surged through his left breast to his right
armpit. Eugeo was blown away like an old rag flapping in a squall,
swung around several times as he fluttered in the air. A large
quantity of blood drew a spiral as they flowed out from the deep
injury carved in his chest.
He fell back-first into the bath on the left of the pathway. A water
sprout rose high and the surroundings were dyed in crimson the
moment that settled down.
“Gu… haa…!”
He spewed out the hot water that made their way into his throat
and that spray, too, was tinged red. It appeared part of his injuries
had reached his lungs. If he hadn’t killed some of that momentum,
despite the slight amount it had been, immediately before crashing
into that heat haze, it wouldn’t be strange even for his body to be
slashed into two now.
“System… call. Generate… luminous element…”
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His body floating in the bath, he chanted a healing art in
disconnected streams. Fortunately, he was surrounded by a large
quantity of warm water. They should possess an amount of sacred
power significantly more than what cold water had. That said, Eugeo
couldn’t completely treat a wound that severe in a such short period
of time with his capabilities, though.
The knight commander standing on the pathway calmly looked

down upon Eugeo as he somehow succeeded in stopping the flow of
blood and roused his body in his lightheadedness. He had already
slipped his sword into the scabbard on the left of his waist and thrust
his right arm into the breast of his clothes.
“That was pretty dangerous, I mean, I didn’t think you

were going to rush in at a speed like that. Sorry ’bout that,
almost killed you there.”
Those words lacked urgency even now, but Eugeo couldn’t find the
strength to rebut any longer and forced out a hoarse voice from his
hurting lungs.
“Wh… what was that… skill…”
“I did say I’d be using my trump card. I didn’t just slash the
air with some practice swing, yeah? In a sense… I slashed the
future of a little later.”
It took a little while for him to realize any tangible meaning from
the knight commander’s words. The wound that throbbed, as though
ice was pushed purely against the spot despite the surrounding hot
water, robbed him of his thoughts.
—The future… was slashed?
That certainly was a valid description for that phenomenon.
There was no mistake that Eugeo activated Sonic Leap after the
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knight commander had swung his sword. However, as if the sword
had assaulted him from the past, Eugeo suffered from a deep gash
the moment he touched the trajectory of that slash.
No— To put it more accurately, it should said that the force behind
that sword slash remained in midair. Eugeo did see something like a
heat haze wavering in the air before he was blown away.
The «right place» and the «right time» were necessary for a sword
slash to hit. The sword would miss the enemy if either the place or
time were off.
In all likelihood, the knight commander’s full control art extended

the latter of those conditions, time. Power remained within the
trajectory even after the sword had been swung. To say it in another
way—it slashed the enemy in that position of the future.
It was the most plain, appearance-wise, among the armament full

control arts the knights he had faced thus far commanded, but still,
this was a horrifying ability. Anywhere that sword passed through
would be converted into a lethal domain. The «extent» of which
would far exceed the duration of continuous slashes that consecutive
hit skills boasted of. Close combat of sword versus sword would be
practically impossible.
—Then I’ll have to bring this into a far range battle?
Even if the knight commander’s full control art could extend time,
it couldn’t lengthen the slashes’ range. In comparison, the range of
the «ice tendrils» brought forth by Eugeo’s full control art exceeded
thirty mel.
The question was whether the Blue Rose Sword could exhibit its
original potential in this place with much hot water. At the very least,
he would have to be prepared for a little delay on its effect after
activation. In other words, he would need to draw the enemy in to a
range such that it wouldn’t be possible to escape beyond the range
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of the ice tendrils art even if its nature was seen through.
It would be tough, but there was no choice.
Steeling himself for the sink-or-swim bout, Eugeo touched his

breast with his left hand. A shocking, sharp pain ran through, but it
seemed the wound wouldn’t open even if he moved for a bit. Of
course, it was far from fully healed and his Life likely reduced by over
thirty percent, but he could still stand and even swing his sword.
“System call.”
Merging his voice into the roaring noises of water coming from the
spouts installed in the four corners of the bath, Eugeo began
chanting the art. An expert like the knight commander couldn’t
possibly miss that, but rather than obstructing the chant, he even
dared to continue chatting leisurely on the pathway with his arms
folded, as though granting Eugeo the time.
“The first time I saw the darkness knights’ Continual Sword

was practically right after I got my duties as an integrity
knight, ya know? I got hit so hard at first I couldn’t even
make a sound. I ran back in panic, then thought about why I
lost with this crappy brain of mine for quite some time.”
The scar on his chin the knight commander rubbed with his
fingertips was from that time, perhaps.
“Well, it’s not too hard when you think about it. Main point
is, compared to the swordsmanship my body had been
immersed in, going one-mindedly after the might of a single
strike, the Continual Sword goes for the obvious path of
blocking the enemy’s hits and succeeding in one’s own, that
was all to it. I don’t have to point out which is more practical.
No matter how powerful a strike it is, it’s just like a little
breeze blew back if it doesn’t hit, yeah…”
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The ends of his lips twisted and he took a short, audible breath.
“—But even if I figured out that much, I’m not so good that
I could just start learning the Continual Sword right away,
you see. Man, if the highest minister was summoning an
integrity knight, she should have picked some guy with a
little more flexibility.”
Eugeo frowned at those words as he continued chanting.
As expected, the man who named himself the knight commander

had the memories before he became an integrity knight erased as
well. However, even if he himself were to lose those memories, would
it be possible for every single person in the world, without exception,
to forget about someone with such proficiency with the greatsword?
Ever since the man stated his name so grandly earlier, Eugeo himself
had felt an itch in a corner of his mind, as though it reminded him of
someone.
Bercouli Synthesis One. That should have been what the man
called himself.
He had definitely heard of that name somewhere. A champion of

the Four Empire Unity Tournament, or perhaps some general of the
imperial knight orders.
Behaving as though Eugeo’s fixed gaze on his face and the art he
composed in a whisper didn’t bother him in the slightest, the knight
commander continued talking, detached from the situation.
“And so, I racked my poor brain and thought about how I

could hit the enemy with my sword. And this guy’s the
answer.”
He made a metallic sound with the crude sword that was entirely
steel blue, still in its scabbard.
“This sword was originally part of a sacred tool called a

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«clock» that was mounted on the Central Cathedral’s wall,
see. The «Time-telling Bell» in the same place now tells the
time through sound, but that clock-thing had a huge needle
pointing at numbers arranged in a round long ago, ya know. I
mean, it was something that existed since the world was
created… the highest minister called it the «System Clock»…
or something strange like that, I think.”
It might have been Sacred Tongue, but those words rang no bell to
Eugeo. The same went for that «clock» that seemed to have been in
Common Tongue. Knight Commander Bercouli’s eyes narrowed as
though he was peeking into the past long ago and moved his mouth
once again.
“Quoting the minister, ‘The clock does not merely display

the time, it creates it.’… she said. I had practically no idea
what that meant, though. Anyway, this guy’s from forging
that clock’s needle into a sword. In contrast with lil’ Alice’s
«Fragrant Olive Sword» cutting through space horizontally,
this guy pierces through time vertically. Its name is «Time
Piercing Sword»… the sword that pierces through time.”
He found it difficult to form a tangible image of the tool called the

clock, but Eugeo somehow understood what the knight commander
tried to convey. The force brought forth the instant the sword was
swung apparently did possess the ability to bypass time and maintain
itself, in actual fact. If that was possible, there was absolutely no
need to link multiple slashes together like in the Aincrad style. When
asking for the reason why consecutive hit skills use consecutive hits,
that would be no other than to stretch out the duration of the
slashes. If Bercouli’s Time Piercing Sword combined the offensive
ability of single-hit skills and the accuracy of consecutive hit skills,
that sword style would be peerless. As long as it was within range,
that is.
As aptly put by Bercouli himself, there was only one method to
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counter it. He could only fight, utilizing the extent of space, rather
than time.
And the same moment Eugeo thought so, the knight commander
grinned.
“So you’ll have to attack from a distance, that’s what you

thought, right? The same went for those who saw my skill,
every single one of them.”
He was startled by his thoughts being read, but he couldn’t very

well cease his chanting now. He might have predicted that Eugeo
would commence a far-range attack, but he should have had no
means to ascertain the skill’s nature. Whether he understood what
Eugeo thought in his mind or not, the knight commander lightly
shrugged his shoulders.
“Including Fanatio and Alice, those integrity knights

summoned after myself tended to choose full control arts
with long range because they saw my skill… there were
definitely some who did it because of that. But I’ll say this
first; I’ve never lost a single match against those guys.
Anyone who defeats me would be as good as the new knight
commander from then now, after all. Well, lil’ Alice might do
me in sooner or later, though. Anyway, I’m looking forward to
it too. I wonder just what is that skill of yours that drove off
those guys one after another.”
“…Relaxed, aren’t you.”
Having finished chanting the art several seconds ago, Eugeo

muttered so without thinking. However, perhaps because of his
tension, the full control art remained on standby within Eugeo
without getting annulled.
It seemed Bercouli really did give that long-winded speech in order

to grant Eugeo the time to chant his full control art. He likely had the
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confidence to crush it on his first encounter, whatever skill it was.
And although he hated to admit it, even if the ice roses art were to
capture Bercouli, he had absolutely no confidence he could shave his
Life away like this. In the first place, it was an art specialized in
stopping the opponent’s movement. No, even that would not succeed
for sure with that man as the target. He could probably rob him of his
freedom for several seconds at most. The way he used that time
would decide the flow of the battle.
With drops of water trickling down his whole body, Eugeo got up
from the bath. Climbing the mere three marble steps at the side was
enough to make the chest wound throb. Suffering another attack of
the same level would likely leave him without even the strength to
heal.
“Heh-heh, you coming, boy? Let me say this first, I won’t be

holding back anymore.”
Firmly gripping the metal handle of the Time Piercing Sword worn
in his clothes’ sash, the knight commander smiled broadly.
Atop the pathway, twenty mel apart, Eugeo also held his Blue Rose
Sword forward. The blade in its standby state was already mildly clad
in ice, forming ice crystals in the drifting steam around it.
Kirito would likely retort with some comment in such a situation,

but his mouth was parched and seemed hardly capable of moving
fluidly. Taking in a deep breadth, Eugeo cautiously muttered the
concluding phrase of the armament full control art.
“Enhance… armament.”
Byuu! A cold wave swirled around his feet and swept out in all
directions. Eugeo thrust his beloved sword he held with a reverse
grip into the stone floor with all he had.
The moisture that made the marble’s smooth surface wet froze
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over like a mirror in an instant. Making noises like cracking wood, the
icy wave plunged forward towards Bercouli at the front.
Despite the pathway having a breath of approximately five mel,

the freezing wave brought forth by the Blue Rose Sword stretched
close to ten mel. Layers of ice extended out over the pools filled with
hot water at the sides as well, but as expected, their advance was
sluggish due to the heat. However, this was no longer any time for
excuses.
Shifting all of his mental focus on his right hand, Eugeo gripped the
sword tighter than ever. With a solid roar, countless rose thorns,
rather than tendrils, reached out from the frosty floor.
Those changed to thick icicles in the blink of an eye and their sharp
ends gleamed all over the pathway while rushing towards Bercouli,
gliding across the ground. However, the knight commander’s mouth
merely stiffened up slightly, moving no more after lowering his waist
in that same position. It appeared he hadn’t the slightest intention of
escaping into the baths at the sides.
Eugeo steeled his resolve upon seeing that standing figure, like a
guarded fortress. He wasn’t an opponent that one could defeat
without putting one’s life on the line.
Pulling the Blue Rose Sword from the ground, he began chasing
after the ranks of ice spears. His aim was the instant of vulnerability
that the tens of spears might create as Bercouli intercept them.
He likely spotted the dashing Eugeo as well, but the knight

commander didn’t show the slightest speck of distress. He opened
his legs wide apart and sent strength into the sword held at the left
of his waist.
“Nuuhn!!”
Accompanying the deep yell was a single, brutal slice. The ranks of
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spears had yet to reach and the blade slashed horizontally through
the empty air, but the Time Piercing Sword severs the future.
Half a second later, the numerous icicles all shattered

simultaneously with loud, shrill screams of “gashaan”. Not a single
one made its way through the slash Bercouli left behind a moment
ago. The knight commander returned his sword into an upper stance
with a hateful nonchalance and prepared for Eugeo’s follow-up.
However, Eugeo had finally gotten within reach of the enemy and
brandished the weapon in his right hand up high. The many floating,
miniscule shards of ice reflected the light from the ceiling, but the
same went for his opponent.
“Seaaa!!”
“Ouhh!!”
The two screams rang out together.
The light-blue trajectory Eugeo’s sword drew confronted the dark-

gray one drawn by Bercouli’s sword.
In the next moment.
The sword Eugeo held shattered with a fleeting shriek.
Bercouli’s two eyes widened slightly. He must have been shocked

at the lack of resistance. Eugeo’s right hand, too, felt nearly none of
the impact when the sword smashed into pieces.
That was only natural. Eugeo had thrown away the Blue Rose
Sword he held towards the right immediately before he began
rushing in, breaking of an icicle to serve as a replacement sword.
Bercouli’s downwards slash had been one for repelling Eugeo’s

sword. He would have been overpowered and pushed backwards if
the sword hadn’t been made from ice. However, the icicle held in his
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right hand shattered with no resistance at all and Eugeo kept the
momentum from his charge and slipped past the enemy’s sword,
plunging towards his chest.
“Ooohh!”
Rotating his body with that second yell, he rammed hard into the
knight commander’s abdomen with his left shoulder. It was a secret
move named Meteor Break, from the Aincrad style’s «martial arts».
The skill’s meaning was a «crushing meteor». It didn’t fully activate
due to the lack of a sword, but with center of gravity unsettled by the
unexpected strike and his massive frame fluttered into the air.
This would have normally continued with a horizontal slash towards

the right, but Eugeo spread out his two arms and joined them around
the knight commander’s waist instead.
“Nuhh…”
Even the huge man couldn’t help but to have his stance broken by
the twofold plan that threw his upper torso greatly off balance. This
was the first and final chance.
“Uoooohh!!”
Erasing the pain from his wound with that roar, Eugeo wrung every
bit of strength from his entire body and threw himself into the bath
on the right with the knight commander. Bercouli tried to brace
himself with his left foot, but his bare foot slid atop the frosted floor.
Following the floating sensation his body felt, the impact from
landing on water shook through to the injury on his chest.
However, that was a trifling affair compared to the blinding chill

that enveloped his whole body.
“What…!?”
While Eugeo maintained his hold, a third cry of surprise escaped
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from Bercouli. The boiling hot water in the bath just several minutes
ago had turned into cold water on the verge of freezing without his
notice. His amazement was only natural.
While holding down the giant, who tried to stand, with his left
hand, Eugeo searched the bottom of the bath with his right. I should
have thrown it around—
Aided by half by his accurate calculations and half by good fortune,

his fingertips touched the grip of his familiar, beloved sword.
Immediate after, Bercouli tried to stand, shaking Eugeo off with all

his might.
And a sheer moment before that, Eugeo stabbed the Blue Rose
Sword into the bottom of the bath and shouted.
“Fre… eeeeeeze!!”
This was what would decide the battle.
All that the Blue Rose Sword cooled down was a mere portion of
the hot water filling the gigantic bath. There were still much hot
water around them. It would likely take tens of minutes for ten
sacred arts users to freeze it all, even if they generate cryogenic
elements continuously. But he had no choice.
The armament full control art was an art that awakened a mighty
power that was originally impossible by releasing the sword’s
memories.
The mysterious sage, Cardinal, was the one who said so. In order
to compose the full control art for the Blue Rose Sword and the black
sword, she had Eugeo and Kirito pursue the memories of their
respective swords.
The sacred tool Eugeo possessed, the Blue Rose Sword, was
originally a mass of ice enshrined at the top of the tallest mountain in
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the northern mountain range. It was cold there even during the peak
of summer and the ice had never thawed throughout the year, but at
the same time, not a single living being approached. The eternal
mass of ice spent tens of years in isolation.
However, in a certain spring, the wind blowing through the

mountain range dropped off a little seed right next to the eternal
mass of ice. The ice melted itself day after day, trickling the meager
water it created onto the seed. The seed eventually budded and a
flower bud swelled out, enduring the intense cold, with that modest,
yet beautiful flower blooming with the onset of summer. It was bluer
than the skies of the north, a single rose.
Delighted that it finally had a friend, the eternal mass of ice spent
each and every day conversing with the rose. But on a day after even
autumn passed by, the blue rose spoke thusly. I cannot endure the
cold of winter. So, it will soon be our time to part, it said.
The ice lamented. Its tears ran at the sorrow of losing its first friend
and its body diminished. Looking upon the ice in that state, the blue
rose spoke again. Wouldn’t you shut me away within you before I
wither away unseemly? Even if I were to lose my life then, my form
will forever remain.
The eternal mass of ice granted the blue rose’s wish. Spending its
all to move into the puddle of water its tears made, it nestled close to
the blue rose, then prayed. Freeze, freeze, freeze for all of eternity, it
prayed. That prayer was strong, so strong that even the ice had its
heart frozen solid.
By the time the blue rose laid down its life within the ice, the ice,
too, spoke or thought no more. All that remained on the intensely
cold summit was the ice, whittled narrow like a sword as all of its
tears flowed, and a single blue rose shut away within it.
That might have been the dream Eugeo saw in the Great Library
Room. He had absolutely no idea how crudely shaped ice could turn
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into an actual sword or how it moved to the underground cave from
the summit and got protected by the white dragon, and in the first
place, he doubted some mere mass of ice or rose could possess
hearts.
However, even if it was a dream, the ice’s plea remained vividly

within Eugeo. To freeze everything; the sorrow; the pain; even their
lives and time—it prayed.
…Grant me power, Blue Rose Sword!
A new cry came from Eugeo’s mouth the moment he strongly

wished for that.
“—Release… recollection!!”
The second stage of the armament full control art. The ceremonial
phrase to release all of the strength slumbering within the sword, the
command to «release its memories». Cardinal had said it was too
early for Eugeo to use it, but now—it would work now and only now.
The sword in his right hand shook violently.
Immediately after, numerous rigid cracking noises reverberated

throughout the whole of the huge bath like countless panes of glass
shattering. With Eugeo’s right hand as the nexus, a bluish-white
circle of light expanded at high speed. Any hot water that came in
contact with that instantaneously froze, remaining in the form of a
ripple.
Despite how the whole of the vast bath had been frozen pure
white, it had merely been several seconds. Eugeo gasped at the
absurd chill engulfing his entire body that was now rendered utterly
immobile. It wouldn’t be this cold even if he stood stark naked in
Rulid Forest in the dead of winter. He wouldn’t even be able to tell if
it was ice on his skin, or scorching iron, if he were to close his eyes.
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He wanted to wipe away the white frost clinging to his eyebrows,
but he held down Bercouli with his left hand deep in the bath and
kept his reverse grip on the Blue Rose Sword with his right, both
firmly stuck where they were. Reluctantly blinking with all he had and
shaking off the ice crystals, Eugeo confirmed the enemy’s state
through the dense mist.
Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli had half of his neck sunk

within the ice. Due to his attempt to get up a moment ago, both his
left hand and his right hand, that should had been holding onto the
Time Piercing Sword, were deep in the bath, near the bottom. With
that, he could move no longer, just like Eugeo.
Brittle chimes ringing out from the small icicles hanging off his
eyebrows and hair, the knight commander groaned.
“I didn’t think there would actually be a swordsman who

would throw his sword away in front of an enemy… You’re the
one who came up with this fighting style?”
“…No. My partner taught it to me. That everything in a

battlefield can be used as a weapon or a trap.”
Eugeo somehow replied with his mouth stiffened from the excess
cold. Bercouli momentarily closed his eyes and mouth as though he
was thinking about something, but soon showed a brazen grin. Loose
fragments of ice fell from his mouth.
“Hmm, I get it. Using what’s there, huh… Well, I’ll admit
you got one up on me, but I can’t just lose like this.”
He took in a breath and held it.
What could he be planning at a time like this; that weighed down

on Eugeo’s mind. He would have to immediately prepare a counter in
the off-chance of him starting a chant for a sacred art.
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Bercouli’s light blue eyes flashed open. From the space between
his teeth, bared like a beast, a ear-piercing shout rang out.
“Nuuuuuuuhn!!”
Numerous thick blood vessels surfaced upon the knight

commander’s brow at once. Several bunches of muscles stood out on
his slightly exposed neck, dying his skin bright red.
“Wha…”
Eugeo couldn’t help but to let out that surprised cry. Bercouli was
recklessly attempting to break through the thick ice with the strength
of his muscles alone.
That couldn’t be possible. Even with unrestricted movement and

sufficient space, a mass of ice of such thickness should be difficult to
shatter with bare hands. Let alone with the knight commander’s
current condition, stuck in place without even a hair’s breadth to
move.
Those clenched white teeth grinded together, producing a noise

like creaking steel. Those blue eyes wore an intense brilliance, as
though they radiated light themselves.
Despite engulfed in a chill below freezing point, a shiver beyond

that stroked along Eugeo’s spine.
Right after which a faint, yet decisive noise rang out.
A crack was produced in the ice separating the pair. Another

diverged from that. And continuing on, yet another.
Eugeo was once again forced to understand that the giant man
before his eyes was no mere human. He was one who stood on the
summit beyond the valiant group of integrity knights picked from the
best swordsmen among the four empires—the strongest man of the
Human World. He had probably spent a hundred or two years’ worth
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of time in the midst of battle; a living legend.
A battle against such a foe did not allow for even an instant of
negligence. Eugeo had never really believed the battle could end just
by freezing the enemy and himself in ice, from the very beginning.
His true aim lay beyond—to force it into a mutual struggle for Life.
Firmly holding his beloved sword by its grip below the ice, with it
still in its recollection released state now, Eugeo sharpened his
senses.
If the memory Eugeo had seen proved true, the Blue Rose Sword
possessed a slightly different origin when compared to Kirito’s black
sword, the knight commander’s Time Piercing Sword, or Fanatio’s
Heaven Piercing Sword. That would be how there were two
existences who served as the roots for the sword. The eternal mass
of ice and the single rose shut away within it.
The mass of ice’s ability froze everything and anything. And the
rose’s ability—made life blossom.
“Bloom—Blue Rose!!”
Responding to Eugeo’s scream, countless flower buds came to life

on the ice surface. They opened apart while rotating, spreading out
blue, razorlike petals that were faintly translucent.
Led by a single rose, blooming with a chime resembling that of a

bell, countless—beyond several hundreds—roses bloomed one after
another. It was an extraordinarily beautiful, yet ruthless sight. After
all, these enormous roses were only fully bloomed by absorbing
Eugeo’s and Bercouli’s Lives.
Energy left his limbs and even his vision began to darken. He no
longer had any tactile sensation from the ice on his skin, let alone the
chill. He could only allow the paralyzing numbness engulf his entire
body.
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Powerful as he was, even Bercouli would now have had the
strength needed to smash the ice prison sapped away from the root;
his red-hot skin visibly turning white, its color draining away. The
composure vanished from his manly facial features for the first time
since the battle began.
“You rascal… don’t tell me you’ve been aiming for a draw…

since the start, boy?”
“Don’t… get me wrong.”
Giving his all to lift his increasingly heavy eyelids, Eugeo forced out
a hoarse voice.
“There is only one thing I have a hope of winning you in… That is…
our amounts of Life. Fanatio-san sustained nearly the same amount
of injuries as my partner and they collapsed at the same time… in
other words, even if you integrity knights don’t die from old age, your
amount of Life is no different from ours… am I right…?
Even as his mouth moved, sparkling beads of light flowed out from
the ice roses that continued blooming. The fact that he hadn’t been
hearing the thunderous roar of hot water pouring down for a while
now must have been proof that even those spouts were frozen.
Thick ice had already encased both Bercouli and Eugeo without
anyone’s notice, leaving alone only the center of their faces. If their
Stacia Windows were to be opened, one should be able to witness
their Lives reducing at a terrifying rate. Enduring the growing
impulse to sleep, Eugeo desperately continued speaking.
“…Based on your appearances, you must have been over

forty when you became an integrity knight… naturally, your
maximum Life must have went down. In comparison, my Life
have been approaching its maximum… even if I suffered a
single sword blow, I should still have more. That was what I
bet on.”
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Bercouli’s two eyes flashed open hardly any time after Eugeo
finished speaking. His whole face distorted severely, breaking the
icicles hanging from his brow and nose all at once.
“Boy… what was that just now?”
Despite how difficult it must be to continue maintaining his

consciousness in such a situation, an intense light surfaced in the
knight commander’s eyes.
“Became an integrity knight… you said…? Why are ya

mouthing off like ya know what we were like in our last
lives?”
Eugeo blinked once before scraping together what strength he had

left and replied.
“That’s… what I can’t forgive about the lot of you.”
The strong emotions swelling from the depths of his mind made
him forget about the despair his whole body was in, even if it was for
a mere instant.
“Forgetting all about who you were… dedicating your

sword to the Axiom Church without even knowing its true
form… putting on that facade that insists that you’re justice,
that you’re the one who enforces the law. …You aren’t some
holy knight summoned from the Celestial World by the
highest minister. Your mother gave birth to you and gave you
the name, Bercouli, you’re a human just like me!”
It happened then, in the particular moment when he shouted that

out—
Eugeo finally recalled «who» was the giant man in front of his eyes.
The overwhelming surprise squeezed a short gasp from him.
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Bercouli… that was the name of that individual who appeared in that
old story he heard from his grandfather when he was young. The
renowned swordsman who founded Rulid Village three hundred years
ago and became the first guard leader. The hero who went exploring
the cave at the mountain range at the edge and tried to steal a
precious sword from the sleeping white dragon’s side… the Blue
Rose Sword Eugeo was holding onto right now.
He pondered if this was a descendant of the original Bercouli,

bearing the same name, but refuted that instantly. The integrity
knights, who have had their natural reduction of Life frozen, would
not age. In other words, this was the man himself. The main
character of that fairy tale, “Bercouli and the White Dragon of
the North”, he loved as a child… and one that he could recall no
longer than that summer Alice was taken away, was now before
Eugeo’s eyes. With his memories of his time in Rulid lost, and as an
integrity knight.
Recovering, somehow, from the ephemeral yet immense shock,

Eugeo spoke in faltering words.
“…Bercouli. You… should remember seeing my sword

somewhere.”
The Blue Rose Sword, now with all the strength it held awakened,
continued shining a cold light roughly ten cen beneath the ice
surface.
The commander of the integrity knights, also the main character of

that fairy tale from three hundred years ago, lowered his gaze to
glance into the ice. His burly chin went rigid and he forced out a
hoarse voice from between his clench teeth. However, Bercouli’s
words betrayed Eugeo’s expectations.
“…That’s right… somewhere… —Back then… that time…”
His once-closed eyelids gently raised and the integrity knight
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commander spoke.
“—A sword like that was in the nest when I killed the
guardian dragon of the north…”
Assault by another wave of shock, he blurted out his words, the

thought of the chill freezing over his entire body momentarily leaving
him.
“You killed… it…?”
The scene Alice and him witnessed when they explored the
northern cave together eight years ago resurfaced in his mind.
Those countless, giant bones stacked up in that spacious area at

the heart of the cave. Sharp wounds were carved into them from all
angles. Injuries caused by neither the tusk nor nails of beasts, but by
a sword swung by human hands.
“Those dragon bones… You’re the one who did that…?

You… even killed the… dragon who appeared in your own
story…?”
Not restraining the feverish emotions welling up in his chest

despite the cold cutting through his whole body, Eugeo viciously
shook his head. Something ran from his two eyes as well, blurring his
vision.
“So you’ve truly forgotten… anything and everything…

Bercouli, you’re a hero who everybody knew about in the
village I grew up in, Rulid, whether they’re old or young. You
made the long and harsh journey to the north from the
central and founded a village in the wild lands, you’re our
ancestor. The highest minister captured you, sealed away
your memories, and made you the first integrity knight. You
aren’t the only one, Fanatio-san’s the same, Eldrie-san too,
and even Alice… it happened to everyone. Before they were
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made into integrity knights, everyone were the same as us…
every one of them was human…”
“Sealed away… my memories, you say…?”
Bercouli’s eyes, that had proved utterly unwavering throughout the

battle, lost their focus as though they were looking towards
somewhere far away. A soft voice, barely audible, streamed out from
his mouth that lost its strength.
“……I can’t quite believe in your story so easily… But… I

also thought… the story about me being summoned from the
Celestial World as a knight of the gods… didn’t cut it for a
long time…”
All of Bercouli’s strength had already left him since some time ago.
Frost settled in layers over his manly features once again. The tears
flowing down Eugeo’s cheeks, too, froze before long and they were
absorbed into the layer of ice encroaching over his face, vanishing.
The fairy tale he had heard countless times since he was young, of
Bercouli and the white dragon. The reality that the hero who served
as its lead had killed the dragon who served as the other main
character brought an indescribable sense of loss and futility to
Eugeo.
The highest minister, Administrator, had strength far beyond what

he could imagine. After all, she could manipulate even some great
swordsmen with ease, turning them into her loyal knights. She might
not have been an existence two mere swordsmen-in-training could
have hoped to deal with in the first place. The highest minister… and
the Axiom Church too.
Eugeo sensed, somewhere in his head, that barely any of his Life
that the ice roses continued absorbing remained within himself.
Bercouli was the same. Those half-open, bluish-gray eyes beyond the
frost had nearly all of its light vanquished.
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—It’s a tie?
The moment he thought so, a minor spark flickered to life in the

depths of his chest, the desire to not fall here and now. But he
couldn’t even move a finger. The strength began to gently leave his
right hand, gripping onto the Blue Rose Sword under the ice…
It was then.
“Ho-hooo, sublime, simply sublime.”
A grating voice, like scratching a fork across a metal plate with

strength, rang widely throughout the large bath.
Eugeo moved his hazy eyes and saw a queerly formed silhouette
swaying along the pathway as it approached.
It should be a human, but excessively round for one. Its torso, that
swelled out in a perfect circle, had comically short limbs attached to
it. Its neck was absolutely out of sight and a head, round as well, sat
directly atop it. It appeared just like those snow figures kids built in
winter.
However, the clothes it wore were so richly colored, it hurt to look

at them. Clad in a lustrous costume that was deep red on the right
and deep blue on the left, its lavish stomach had golden buttons that
could hardly hold on. Likewise, its trousers were differently colored
on the left and right and that attention to detail stayed the same for
even its shoes.
There wasn’t a single strand of hair on its round head and a golden
angular hat sat on the smooth top. Its shape resembled the hat that
Cardinal, the sage from the Great Library Room, wore, but was far
worse taste. And to add on, its height was no more than a little over
a mel.
A similarly dressed jester balancing on a ball was among the
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troupes of performers that showed off various acrobatics in
Centoria’s sixth district’s plaza during the midsummer festival.
However, it was evident enough from his facial features that the
small man had no such smoothing qualities at all.
He couldn’t put a figure on the man’s age. His skin was bizarrely
white, his nose was round, his cheeks were loose, and his
unreasonably red lips split into a split in a wide smirk. His eyes were
long and narrow in a crescent shape, arching upwards as though they
were laughing, but the glint in those eyes peeking from those slits
were abnormally cold.
The jester clad in red and blue skipped as he crossed the marble
path, then jumped down onto the frozen bath with vigor. His shoes,
pointed at their ends, crushed two ice roses with a splintering noise.
“Ho, hoo! Hoo, hoo, hoo!”
Apparently having found something hilarious, the small man

clapped his hands and laughed a squeaky laugh for a while, then
began kicking about the roses around, turning them into specks of
glass one after another. Making a ruckus as he continued scattering
those specks, he approached Eugeo and Bercouli who were captured
within the ice.
Standing still several mel away, the small man kicked one last rose
to pieces before finally turning his face towards them. Those red lips
opened widely and that unsettling voice reverberated yet again.
“Oho… unacceptable, this is simply unacceptable, Sir

Knight Commander. I don’t suppose you thought you could
just kick the bucket like that? That would be clear treachery,
you know, towards Her Eminence, the resplendent highest
minister. I’m sure she’ll be outraged when she awakes, you
know?”
To that, with his consciousness seemingly on the verge of fading,
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Bercouli’s lips quivered and a low and hoarse voice flowed out.
“Chief Elder… Chudelkin… Don’t get involved in a battle

between swordsmen… you snob…”
“Hoo, hohoo!”
Upon hearing Bercouli’s words, the small jester skipped three steps
while loudly clapping his hands.
“Swordsmen! Battle! You make me laugh, hoohoohooo!”
That shrill laughter that didn’t seem like that of a human spread
out.
“You sure can speak, after even so generously going easy

against a filthy traitor! Sir Knight Commander, you haven’t
used the «other side» of your Time Piercing Sword yet, have
you? You could have killed that brat before he could get a
word out if you felt like it! That’s what I meant by treachery
towards the highest minister in the first place!!”
“Shaddup… I had… fought with all I got… Besides, you lied

to me, didn’t you… This rascal… isn’t some assassin from the
Dark Territory… He’s way better than some ugly lump of
meat like you…”
“Shuuuut your moouth! Or I’ll pull out your haaaair!!”
His two eyes peeled open widely all of a sudden and the small man
hopped up and down like some ball, then stomped hard on Bercouli’s
head with his short legs. Swaying left and right atop the knight
commander’s head, he continued screaming in his shrill voice.
“In the first place, it’s because you shitty knights do such a
shitty job that it ended up this troublesome. You made me
laugh so hard when you guys got beaten up by just two kids
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that my stomach’s splitting. Once Her Eminence awakes, I’m
sure every single one of the knights… or at least, both you
and the deputy knight commander will be reprocessed!”
“What… you, just… what did you…”
“Ah, geez, shut up, shut up. That’s already out of you, go
to sleep.”
The small man stuck out his little finger on his right hand out in an
exaggerated gesture while riding on Bercouli’s head. Licking his lips
with his deep red tongue, he began a sacred art chant at a piercing
pitch.
“System caaaaall! Deep freeee—eeze! Integrator unit, ID

zero zero oneeeee!”
It was a sacred art he had never heard before. The art itself was
unusually short and even if it was an offensive art, it wouldn’t have
any great effect—or so he thought.
“Guh…”
Bercouli moaned weakly. Immediate after, his body—his hair, his

skin, even the clothes he wore, began increasingly dyed in a dim,
gray color. Rather than being frozen, it appeared like he was turning
to stone.
Light completely vanished from his two eyes and his body, bound
by ice, changed to a mud-like color from its edges, before the small
man—the jester called Chief Elder Chudelkin—finally jumped off
Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli’s head with vigor.
“Hoh, hohi, hohihi… actually I have no need of some geezer

like you anymore, you know, number one. I mean, I’ve found
a pawn who seems like he’d be pretty useful… haven’t I?”
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The jester muttered so as his pinhole, small eyes glared fixedly at
Eugeo. Fear, colder than the ice surrounding him, ran down his spine.
However, Eugeo reached his limit then. He desperately stared at

those red and blue shoes approaching as they trampled on the ice
roses, but that scene immediately faded out into a dim darkness.
—Kirito.
——Alice…
Eugeo’s consciousness was severed as he called out their two

names in the depths of his chest.
“Sky Garden” – It’s written as “Sky Garden”, rather than

“Cloudtop Garden” here. Might be a typo?
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Vol.13 Chapter 11
Source: tap-trans
My two eyes flashed open upon the onslaught of a sudden, violent

shudder.
I had only planned on shutting my eyelids with my back against the

wall, but I suppose I must have fallen asleep sometime. I had
forgotten any details of that scary nightmare I saw the moment it
rattled me awake… or so the lingering fear and unease clinging on in
my head seemed to imply.
I briefly checked out the surroundings while rousing my upper

body, but there appeared to be no difference from before.
I was atop a narrow terrace created on the outer walls of the

Central Cathedral, probably around the eighty-eighth floor. The sun
had sunk beyond the horizon in front for quite some time and the
darkness covered the skies as though ink had been smeared over it.
However, no matter how much I scanned through, I could see only
multiple stars through the gaps in the clouds, lacking of the moon I
impatiently awaited. I seemed to have heard the night’s eight o’clock
bell a while ago, but it appeared it would still take more time before
the moon goddess would begin resupplying the meager space
resources she could.
Integrity Knight Alice, having agreed to a truce, might be

expressing her wariness of me through physical distance as she sat,
hugging her knees with her eyelids shut, at a position on the verge of
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entering a new gargoyle’s… no, «minion»’s reaction range if she
went any further to the right. I personally hoped to grab hold of a
clue to avoid that approaching battle, even by a little bit, through
conversation in this lull, but it appeared she had no intention of being
receptive to idle chatter. The problem would have been settled by
simply pricking Alice with the dagger carefully produced by Cardinal
and held by Eugeo if only he was here, though.
And just what was he doing about now—?
Now that I thought about it, in these two years ever since I met
him in the forest south of Rulid, this might be the first time we had
fallen into such a situation that we were barred from meeting each
other regardless of our wills. We lined up on the grass or complained
as we equally shared a narrow bed in some cheap inn during the long
journey until we reached the capital and were always in the same
room in the dormitory even after we enrolled in the Sword Mastery
Academy. We spent time together as though it was a natural thing to
do and I hadn’t been deliberately conscious of his presence, but
being separated was strangely irritating.
No— It was beyond what a simple word like that could describe, I
know for sure.
In this ultimate virtual world called the Underworld, I gained

someone of the same gender whom I could call a close friend for
what was likely the first time in my life. It was certainly embarrassing
to state it out, but I couldn’t help but to admit it.
Before getting imprisoned within the death game, SAO, I had

considered the male students of my school childish and had always
kept them at a distance as mere associates.
That incurable tendency of mine didn’t change much even when

imprisoned in that floating castle in a virtual world. Fortunately
enough, I managed to befriend several extremely matured adults
such as Klein or Agil, but still, I doubt we had reached a level of
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intimacy where I could expose the depths of my being. Even despite
my deep intimacy with Asuna, the only time I could expose my inner
weaknesses was right before Aincrad crumbled away, when both of
our consciousness were on the verge of disappearing.
It wasn’t like I thought that I possessed some special ability unlike

others or anything of that sort. In actual fact, there was nothing I
could boast of in school, both athletically and academically.
Due to how I was able to count my rank among the top few
percent, comprising of the clearing players, when taken captive in
SAO, I must have been fascinated by the pleasure that came with
excelling. The primary factors that boosted me among the top
players were my «familiarity» from continual indulgence in VR worlds
since fulldive-type games were developed and my «knowledge»
accumulated from my time in SAO’s beta test, things utterly
unrelated to my personal capabilities.
However, even after getting released from SAO, I couldn’t maintain

myself, my persona, without continuing to prove my «strength in VR
worlds». I was imprisoned by the complex those around me had, of
recognizing me more as the hero, Kirito, who cleared the death
game, instead of the flesh-and-blood, feeble Kirigaya Kazuto; or
rather, I couldn’t even deny I might have been leading them on to do
so myself. Despite how I knew in the depths of my heart, that
perpetuating such bravado would put me further away from what
truly mattered.
Hence, when I met Eugeo in this world and realized that I could
comfortably stand before him without any pretension, as my real self,
I was surprised and pondered on the reason.
Because Eugeo was an artificial fluct light unlike myself? Because

he didn’t know the hero of SAO, Kirito? No, that wasn’t it. The
greatest reason was definitely—because Eugeo possessed far more
ability than myself in this Underworld, a world both real and virtual in
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a certain sense.
His natural talent with the sword was simply tremendous. No

matter what was compared, be it our perception, our judgement, or
our reaction speed, he would leave me, who had been through harsh
battles in VR worlds, in the dust. If the circuit for combat mounted on
my fluct light was said to be a silicon CPU from bygone days, Eugeo’s
would be the latest diamond CPU. I might still look like the mentor at
the current moment, but that was merely because I had a larger
wealth of experience and knowledge; nothing more than that. If
Eugeo continued to improve at his current pace, the day our roles
reverse wouldn’t be too far off.
The extensive experience with combat burnt into my body ended

up with that grand name, «Aincrad style», but I couldn’t help but to
feel a mysterious happiness and profound satisfaction when Eugeo
absorbed it like water on sand. The «swordsmanship» that formed
the foundations of my ego for a long time, despite me thinking it
really wasn’t anything more than a technique for games, seemed
truly tangible for the first time only after it was refined and
blossomed within Eugeo—I could even claim to feel that way.
If I could successfully solve all of the problems surrounding the

Underworld and bring Eugeo’s fluct light over into the real world, I
would have him dive into ALfheim Online—the interface for light
cubes was almost certain to be compatible with VR worlds based on
The Seed—and introduce him to Asuna, Leafa, Klein, and the rest. As
my first apprentice who had inherited my skill with the sword, and a
close friend.
I couldn’t wait until that moment. I believe that moment would be

the first time when those many people who had supported and
helped out would be truly……
“Why are you grinning away?”
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A voice suddenly came from the right and I blinked my eyes,
putting a stop to my daydreaming.
Turning my face that way, I saw Alice gazing at me with a

somewhat disgusted expression. I roughly wiped my mouth with the
back of my right hand and spoke.
“No, I was just… thinking a little about things from now

on…”
“You must be quite an optimist to make that sloppy smile

from that, or perhaps just a fool. When even escaping from
this stone ledge seems doubtful.”
As usual, a bitter tone. I didn’t know Knight Alice’s former

personality, the Alice from Rulid, but if her character stayed this way
even after her memories returned, I could easily imagine her locking
horns with those like Sinon or Lisbeth if she escaped to the real world
with Eugeo and I introduced them to my comrades.
There certainly was a mountain of problems to get through before

that ultimate good ending from my daydreams could occur. The one
with utmost priority would be to escape from this terrace filled with
rows of those repulsive minion statues, but along with the deficiency
of the space resources needed to create pitons and all, my willpower-
and-stamina resources… or to be specific, the hunger tormenting my
empty stomach, was nearly at its limit.
Inconspicuously pressing down on my belly with my right hand, I

replied with the most serious face I could muster.
“I believe we should be able to continue climbing the wall

when the moon rises. It’s not that hard as long as we can
create pi… those wedges. And it doesn’t look like there are
any more minions set up above…. It’s just that, putting aside
the problem regarding sacred power, thinking about climbing
this steep wall for another few tens of mel alone is making
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me feel so hungry, I’m getting dizzy…”
“…That’s exactly what I find irresponsible about you. It’s

merely skipping a meal or two, what are you, a child?”
“Yeah, yeah, well, I’m a kid after all, I mean, I’m still barely
considered as a growing child, you know? Unlike you amazing
integrity knights, my Life will fall like a brick if I don’t eat.”
“I will state this first, but us integrity knights, too, get

hungry and have our Lives reduced if we don’t eat!”
The corners of her eyes coldly raised and Alice declared so.
In that moment, a cute noise came from around the girl’s stomach
and I couldn’t contain an unintentional, stifled laugh.
The esteemed knight’s face instantaneously turned red and upon

seeing her right hand swiftly grab hold of her sword’s grip next, I
retreated around fifty centimeters in panic.
“Wah, wait, I’m sorry! I guess that makes sense, you’re still
living even if you’re an integrity knight. It’s only natural to
get hungry if you’re living.”
Shrinking while lining together those artless words, I noticed the

sensation of something being squeezed in the left pocket of my
trousers. Thrusting my hand in, wondering what it could be, I recalled
what it was upon my fingers making contact and gave thanks to my
own wisdom and greed.
“Ooh, it’s assistance from up above. Look, I found

something good.”
What I pulled out were two steaming meat buns. Those I stuffed
into my two pockets when I left Cardinal’s Great Library Room. Half
were shared with Eugeo and eaten for lunch, but I totally forgot
about those left over. They were more or less squashed after those
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numerous fierce battles, but I couldn’t very well ask for the world in a
situation like this.
“…Why do you have those in your pocket?”
Alice had an expression like she was stunned from the depths of
her heart and took her hand off her sword.
“I hit my pocket and there were two meat buns.”
Using that phrase that Alice definitely didn’t understand* as a

smokescreen, I quickly displayed the «window» of the meat buns and
confirmed that they still had much of their Life remaining. They
looked shabby, but as they were created from those precious,
ancient book objects by Cardinal, their durability were shockingly
high.
That said, chewing on these now cold and tough meat buns as they
were wouldn’t bring out any taste. After some thought, I stretched
out my left hand and chanted a command.
“System call. Generate thermal element.”
Even if it wasn’t enough for piton creation, there was apparently

enough space resources for creating a small thermal element as a
unreliable, flickering, orange point of light appeared atop my palm.
Bring the two meat buns held in my hands closer to the thermal
element, I started on the next command.
“Bur…”
–st; before I could continue, a hand reaching out from my side like
a flash of lightning pinned down my mouth.
“Mghh!?”
“What are you, a moron?! They would be charred black in

an instant if you do that!”
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After scolding me with eyes filled equally with anger, stupefaction,
and contempt, Alice snatched the meat buns from my right hand.
Aah; the moment I let out that miserable cry, the thermal element in
my left hand, too, vanished as though it dissolved into the air. The
knight didn’t look at me any longer and brandished open her lithe left
hand as she voiced out a melodious sacred art.
“Generate thermal element… aqueous element… aerial

element.”
On three of her fingertips, from her thumb to her middle finger,

appeared points of light, orange, blue, and green in color. I tilted my
head in bewilderment over Alice’s intentions before she continued
processing the three elements in a complex manner with additional
sacred arts and her fingers’ movement. She first made a spherical
swirl with the aerial element and made the two meat buns hover in
there. , she threw the thermal and aqueous elements in too and the
moment she touched them, she burst them.
Shuu! That sound rang out as the wind barrier immediately

became blotted out in pure white. Though it appeared calm on the
outside, scalding steam must be swirling within that barrier. I see, so
this would cause the same effect as when using a steamer.
After around thirty seconds, the three elements finished their part
and vanished as they scattered. The two meat buns falling onto
Alice’s hands from midair had swelled in a perfectly round shape as
though they were just made, with warm steam rising from them.
“L-Lemme have one already… wait, a-aaaah!?”
Upon spotting Alice trying to down both of the meat buns held in
her two hands as I reached my hand out, I let out a pathetic cry. But
fortunately, the great integrity knight stopped right before it reached
her mouth and muttered “I’m joking” with a rigid face before
presenting one to me. Snatching it while feeling relieved, I blew on it
before taking a big bite into it.
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Every existence in the Underworld was like a dream, relived from
one’s extensive memories—my mind understood that, but the
texture of steaming bun’s tender skin and juicy meat filling still
momentarily invited me into paradise. The precious food ended up in
my stomach—or to be accurate, a part in my fluct light’s memories in
merely three bites, and I let out a deep sigh while tasting both a
sense of satisfaction and a sense of dissatisfaction at the same time.
By my side, Alice, too, downed her meat bun in four bites and a
doleful sigh escaped from her just like me. While feeling a profound
emotion over how this amazing integrity knight who was like an
avatar of battles had a somewhat girlish side to her too, I
nonchalantly spoke.
“I see… I didn’t think it would be possible to steam a meat

bun with just elements and no other tools. I guess that’s just
as expected of the big sister of that Selka and her skill at
cooking, don’t you…”
It happened in the moment I said that aloud.
The hand reached out at a ferocious speed once more and strongly
gripped my nape. However, this time, Alice’s face expressed neither
bewilderment nor contempt.
An intense light surfaced in her blue eyes like fireworks, her cheeks
tinted pale-white, and her lips trembled slightly. Practically lifting me
up with her right hand alone, the knight let out a hoarse voice.
“You, what did you just say?”
Here, I finally realized what a horrible slip of the tongue I had

made, far too late.
There was nearly no mistake that the golden integrity knight

glaring at me from twenty centimeters away was Alice Schuberg,
Eugeo’s childhood friend and the elder sister of that sister apprentice
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from Rulid, Selka, but the person herself had no recollection of that.
The moment she was taken away to Central Centoria eight years ago
and made into an integrity knight through the «Synthesis Ritual», she
would have had an important fragment of her memories stolen away
and a «piety module» inserted in its place, becoming unable to recall
anything from before the ceremony.
The current Alice believed herself to be summoned from the

Celestial World to maintain the peace and order of the world, and to
battle the invasion of darkness—no, she was made to believe so. To
the girl, the authority of the Axiom Church and its highest minister,
Administrator, was absolute, and there was probably no chance she
would accept some story about Administrator kidnapping humans of
high caliber from all over the world solely for the sake of satisfying
her own desire to dominate.
In the first place, it was due to the expectation that Alice wouldn’t
be swayed no matter how hard we tried, that Eugeo and I decided on
the plan of using the daggers bestowed upon us by Cardinal to send
Alice into a temporary frozen state. The current situation was in no
way expected, but still, there was probably only one thing for me to
do—avoid the battle against Alice while re-uniting with Eugeo, and
creating an opportunity to use the dagger he held.
Agitated over how I had destroyed that entire plan with a single
line, I desperately racked my brain. It was clear upon seeing Alice’s
expression that this wasn’t a situation I could play off by saying that I
messed up on my words.
No matter how I thought, there were no more than two choices.

Whether to fight with Alice here and now, and make her faint without
landing a fatal blow, then carrying her up to the ninety-fifth floor—or
to gather my resolve and tell her everything.
The choice I would pick would depend on what Alice could believe.
A fight if I believed her skill with the sword to be inferior to mine. Or a
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conversation if I believed her intelligence to exceed mine.
Upon thinking hard for several seconds, I decided. Taking Alice’s

gaze, burning like a blue flame, head-on, I opened my mouth.
“You have a little sister, that’s what I said. I’ll tell you… I
don’t know if you will accept any of it, but I’ll tell you
everything of what I believe to be the truth.”
Perhaps sensing a certain something behind my brief words, Alice

was the one who hesitated this time, before abruptly opening up her
right hand after several seconds had passed.
The knight continued kneeling on both knees as she fixed her stare
down on me who fell onto the terrace on my backside. I suppose this
act of listening to my words in such a situation alone would already
be straying from the proper conduct of an integrity knight. Her
reason, recommending that she end my life with a single slash, must
be going through a bitter battle against her desire to gain new
knowledge within herself.
Perhaps having steeled her mind, Alice eventually lowered her

waist slowly and spoke after assuming what resembled a formal
sitting posture.
“…Talk. But take note… if I judge your words to be any sort

of deception, I will cut you there and then.”
Hearing that low and stifled voice coming from Alice, I took in a
deep breath and gathered strength in my core before curtly nodding.
“…Go ahead. If that judgement to cut me was truly made by

your own self, that is. If you want to ask for the reason why I
phrased it so… it would be because you have a instruction
within yourself, passed down by someone else, yet hidden
from your consciousness.”
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“…Are you talking about the duty of the integrity knights?”
“That’s it.”
The moment I nodded, Alice’s eyes narrowed with hostility.

However, at the same time, I spotted a faint wavering of emotion in
the depths of those eyes. That was definitely Alice’s true spirit. With
the intent of directing my words towards there, I continued.
“The integrity knights are existences summoned by the

goddesses’ messenger, the highest minister of the Axiom
Church, Administrator, from the Celestial World to preserve
order and justice… that’s what all of you identify as, I
believe. However, the only ones who believe so are those
within the Central Cathedral. The thousands of people living
in the Human World don’t think that the slightest bit.”
“What… drivel are you spouting?”
“You can just go ahead and ask anyone at all, go down into
the world and ask those living in the capital this. Ask them
what’s bestowed upon the champions of the Four Empires
Unity Tournament held annually. They will answer with this.
The honor of being appointed as an integrity knight of the
church.”
“Appointed as… an integrity knight…? That couldn’t

possibly be true, that is simply ridiculous. I have been
acquainted with a great many integrity knights, but not a
single one had claimed to be once human.”
“It’s the other way round. There wasn’t a single one who
hadn’t been once human.”
I straightened my back and peered into the knight’s eyes. I

desperately cried out towards Alice’s human spirit that definitely laid
in their depths.
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“Alice. I believe you have no memories of who gave birth to
you in that Celestial World place or where you grew up. Your
first memory is probably the scene of Administrator looking
towards you and telling you that you’re a sacred knight sent
from there or something like that, isn’t it?”
“……”
It seemed I had hit the bulls-eye as Alice raised her upper body
slightly while biting her lips.
“…That’s… because integrity knights have their memories

of the Celestial World sealed away by the goddess, Stacia,
upon descending to this land and… can one day return to the
sacred land once more after we carry out our duties as
knights and obliterate all of those wicked beings of the Dark
Territory… regaining our memories regarding our parents and
siblings… that’s what the highest minister… had said……”
The golden knight’s resolute voice trailed off and vanished.
I understood in that instant. Integrity Knight Alice strongly sought

memories of her family from the depths of her heart, even if she
wasn’t self-conscious of it. That explained her sharp reaction towards
Selka’s name earlier.
Picking my words with care, I continued the explanation.
“Administrator’s words were true on one count. The knights’

memories really are sealed away. But the one who did it wasn’t
Goddess Stacia, but the highest minister herself. And it wasn’t the
memories of the Celestial World that were sealed, but the memories
of being born and raised among this world of humans. The same
goes for the other integrity knights too, like Eldrie for example. He
was born in a high class aristocratic family in Norlangarth North
Empire, achieved victory in the Unity Tournament this year, and
attained the honor of becoming an integrity knight.
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“Those are… lies! How could have my disciple, Knight
Thirty-one, possibly been born in one of those depraved
upper class noble…”
“Listen here, Eldrie didn’t collapse during our battle

because he got cut. There weren’t any severe wounds on his
body, were there? It’s because my partner remembered his
original name, Eldrie Woolsburg, and ended up stimulating
the sealed memories of his mother. Eldrie tried to remember
his mother. But he couldn’t no matter how hard he tried. That
was only natural; those memories had been extracted from
his soul by Administrator and kept safe on the top floor of
the cathedral.”
“…Memories… of his mother…?”
Alice’s lips shivered slightly. Her two eyes drifted off my face and
wandered through the air.
“Eldrie has… a human… a noble mother…?”
“It’s not just him. Probably half of the integrity knights

were experts with the sword who won the Unity Tournament
and most of those should be noble children specially
educated with swordsmanship since they were young. In
exchange for entrusting their children to the Axiom Church,
the nobles attain a generous amount of money, goods, and
land. That arrangement had already been in place for over a
hundred years.”
“…I can’t believe it… that story of yours is much too

preposterous.”
The golden knight, who had likely believed in a unblemished

sanctity of the Axiom Church and integrity knights without the
slightest misgiving, shook her head left and right like a child to reject
the notion.
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“The upper class nobles of the four empires… I cannot
claim all of the aristocracy to be the same, but they are
addicted to their languid, extravagant manner of living. That
is the meaning behind our existences, we integrity knights
are here to protect the Human World. And despite that… you
claim Eldrie and the other knights were born out of those
upper class nobles sunk in utmost depravity… that is
impossible. I cannot possibly believe that.”
“The depravity of the upper class nobles was caused by the

high social position and the numerous privileges granted to
them by the Axiom Church. But that’s the exact reason why
noble children can receive education in swordsmanship and
sacred arts from childhood. In the remote regions, sacred
tasks are bestowed upon child merely ten of year and they
can’t afford the luxury of time to practice something like
swordsmanship… And the most talented ones among those
noble children participate in the Four Empires Unity
Tournament and the sole victor is summoned to the Central
Cathedral. …Alice, have you ever met any of those champions
in the cathedral?”
Alice averted her eyes in slight unease at my question and softly

shook her head.
“No… —But many ascetics and their apprentices live on the

lower floors of the cathedral, so… couldn’t the champion of
the Unity Tournament be striving in daily studies as one of
their numbers…”
No, they aren’t. Immediately, I thought to deny it with that, but I

closed my somewhat open mouth right away.
Eugeo and I had went through fifty floors without any

detour—though we were dragged through twenty of those floors by
the child knights, Fizel and Linel, paralyzed by their venomous
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swords—after taking back our beloved swords from the third floor of
the cathedral without encountering any ascetics. However, I did have
a guess on where their birthplace could be.
Most of those ascetics, likely on the lower floors of the cathedral

only to toil away for the Axiom Church, were probably not adopted
from outside the church, but were born and raised within it. Like Fizel
and Linel. It would be like producing functional units within the tower
from Administrator’s point of view, wouldn’t it?
Alice was definitely utterly unaware of the church’s darkness.

There was no need to broach that topic now and place an
unnecessary burden on her.
“…No, you have met with them, with the champions of the
Unity Tournament. You just weren’t aware of it. You integrity
knights should have your memories modified by
Administrator’s hand not just during the «Synthesis Ritual»…
but also after becoming knights.”
“Ridiculous!”
Alice clearly shouted with her face turned up.
“Impossible! The esteemed highest minister couldn’t

possibly commit an act like fiddling with our…”
“She did!”
I cried out in return.
“After all, not only do all of you not have any memories of
the tournament champions… but also of those criminals you
have taken in!”
“Cri-Criminals…?”
Frowning, Alice closed her mouth once again. Turning my gaze
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straight towards her face appearing pale under the starlight, I sped
on in earnest.
“That’s right. You brought my partner and I here to the

church from the Sword Mastery Academy by flying dragon. I
suppose you do remember that much, right?”
“…I couldn’t possibly forget that. The two of you were the
first criminals I was ever commanded to bring in.”
“But Integrity Knight Deusolbert Synthesis Seven didn’t

remember about you. Eight years ago…”
After pausing for a short while, I gathered my resolve and stated

«that name».
“…He brought someone here with his own hands from Rulid
Village in the northern outskirts; he brought here the young
Alice.”
Alice’s face turned whiter than the marble wall after she heard my
words. Her lips, lacking in color, trembled and a parched murmur
escaped from them.
“Rulid Village… I was born there…? Deusolbert-dono

brought me from there as a criminal…? In other words, I had
once committed a taboo… that is what you claim…?”
I gently nodded at her faltering voice.
“That’s right. I said half of the integrity knights were

champions of the Unity Tournament earlier, didn’t I? The
remaining half were humans brought to the cathedral as
criminals. Those who possess a will firm enough to oppose
the Taboo Index would manifest unmatched power after they
became knights. It must be killing two birds with one stone
for Administrator, being able to give those humans, capable
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of swaying the influence of the church, another life as her
mighty pawns. …Let’s talk about you.”
Alice could accept my words or reject them. This was the critical
moment.
I stared hard at the integrity knight with as much strength as I

could in my gaze. Sitting onto the stone terrace with a plop and
contracting her shoulders forlornly, Alice looked back at me with half-
shut eyes as though awaiting some sort of judgement to be passed
down onto her.
“Your real name is Alice Schuberg. Born and raised in a

small village called Rulid in the remote northern regions,
practically at the foot of the mountain range at the edge.
You’re the same age as Eugeo… my partner, so you should be
nineteen this year. You were taken to the church eight years
ago, so that means the incident happened when you were
eleven. You went to explore the cave going through the
mountain range at the edge with Eugeo… and after exiting it,
you ended up going beyond it a little, over the border
between the Human World and the Dark Territory. In other
words, the taboo you committed was «Trespassing into the
Dark Territory». You didn’t steal anything or hurt anyone…
no, rather, you tried to help a darkness knight on the verge
of death back then…”
There and then, my mouth fell shut.
Had I heard Eugeo describe Alice in such detail…?
Of course he had. There wasn’t any way I could had known exactly
what happened a whole six years ago when I only woke up in the
Underworld a mere two years ago. But despite that, I could vividly
see the black knight falling while drawing a trail of blood and Alice
running off there in my mind, as though I had witnessed the scene
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myself. It seemed I could even recreate the gritty noise of Alice’s
hands making contact with the pitch-black ground of the Dark
Territory in the depths of my ears.
The scene I conceived from Eugeo’s story must have mixed in with
some memories of reality without my notice. I raised my face,
convincing myself so, but it appeared Alice hadn’t the composure to
mind that unnatural pause in my words. Her bluish cheeks trembled
faintly and a feeble voice flowed out from her, barely audible.
“Alice Schuberg… That is, my name…? Rulid… the mountain

range at the edge… I can’t remember, anything…”
“Don’t force yourself to remember, you’ll end up like

Eldrie.”
I cut into Alice’s words in a fluster. It would be chaos if something

happened like Alice’s «piety module» becoming unstable and
rendering her immobile like in Eldrie’s case, inciting the other knights
to come retrieve her upon sensing the abnormality. However, Alice
glared at me with eyes that seemed to have regained some of their
strength and spoke firmly even if her voice did tremble.
“What are you saying even after revealing so much. I…

want to know everything. I have yet to believe your story…
but I will make my decision only after you’ve spoken all that
you have to say.”
“…Got it. That said, it’s not like I know that much about the
old you. Your father’s the village chief of Rulid and his
name’s Gasupht Schuberg. Unfortunately, I don’t know your
mother’s name, but like I said earlier, you have a little sister.
Her name’s Selka and she should still be serving as a sister
apprentice in the church in Rulid, even now. I chatted with
Selka when I was under the church’s care two years ago. She
was a good kid who thought highly of her elder sister… you
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remained on her mind after you were taken away to the
church. Apparently, you were also a sister apprentice when
you lived in Rulid and you were called a genius in sacred arts.
She was putting her all to follow in the footsteps of her elder
sister, to become a splendid sister.”
Alice showed no response even after I had spoken out all I knew
and shut my mouth.
Her trembling from earlier ceased and her porcelain-white face

didn’t make the slightest movement. In all likelihood, she was trying
to recall the numerous proper nouns I had voiced out from the
bottom of her memories, but it seemed there was no chance for
success there.
—So it was hopeless…
I muttered in my heart. I figured that it might be possible to

awaken some memories, even with her «memory fragment» stolen, if
I slowly gave her the information while she was in a calm state—but
apparently, the seal Administrator applied possessed power beyond
my expectations.
I guess the only one who could return Alice to her original self
would be Cardinal with her supervisor authority. And that came
attached with the catch of retrieving Alice’s memory fragment that
was being safeguarded by Administrator somewhere.
It happened then. Alice’s lips moved, letting out a brief sound.
“Selka.”
And following that, once more.
“Selka…”
This time, those eyes that appeared dark blue lifted towards the
starry skies up above.
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“…I can’t remember. Neither her face nor her voice. But…
this isn’t the first time I called out this name. My mouth, my
throat… my heart, they remember.”
“…Alice.”
I swallowed my breath and called out, but as though my existence

wasn’t reflected in Alice’s eyes any longer, she continued whispering,
quietly.
“They had called it out countless times. Day after day,

night after night… Selka… lka……”
My gaze was fixed upon Alice in incredulity as clear liquid, forming

into beads, occupied her long eyelashes and spilled over, glittering as
they caught the starlight. Her tears flowed on without stop, softly
falling onto the marble between Alice and me.
“It’s true, isn’t it… I have a family… A father and a mother…

and a sister related by blood… somewhere under these night
skies…”
That faltering voice eventually turned into a feeble sob.
I instinctively reached out with my right hand and was brushed off

by Alice with the back of hers.
“Look away!”
Shouting that out with a teary voice, Alice harshly drove her right
hand into my chest and wiped her eyes time after time with her left
hand. But those tears made no attempt to stop and the knight
eventually hugged her knees with both hands, pressed her face into
them and her shoulders began to tremble violently.
“Uu…. ughh… uuu…”
Before I realized, something blotted out my two eyes as well,
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watching the integrity knight sobbing away in a stifled voice.
I will—
I will defeat Administrator and bring Alice back to her hometown.
Gathering my resolve once more, I finally realized the reason

behind the tears surfacing in my own eyes, belated as it might have
been.
Even if everything went according to plan, the one meeting with

Selka at Rulid Village would not be this crying golden integrity knight
before my eyes. The moment she regained her sealed memories,
Alice would recall those days she spent with Eugeo and Selka in
Rulid, and in all likelihood, forget the months and years she served as
an integrity knight for the church.
In other words, this personality, Alice as an integrity knight, would

simply vanish.
It would return to how things were meant to be. Though I tried to

convince myself so, I couldn’t stop myself from pitying the knight
sobbing away with her back curled up like a child.
A hopeless pity for Alice Synthesis Thirty who must have

continuously longed from the depths of her heart for the warmth of a
family, lost and beyond her reach, during the many years she lived in
this cathedral.
It took quite a while for those violent sobs to gradually diminish in

volume and turn into a quiet weeping.
I, on the other hand, had successfully stiffened my slackened tear

glands two or three minutes ago and switched my thoughts on our
plans from now on.
The most ideal outcome I could think of now would be as follows.
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We would resume climbing the wall upon the rise of the moon and
return into the tower from the ninety-fifth floor. Somewhat avoiding
the planned battle against Alice there, we would join up with Eugeo.
Whether we use the dagger he held, meticulously made by Cardinal,
on Alice would depend on the situation.
After that, we would either have to defeat our greatest hurdle,

Integrity Knight Bercouli Synthesis One, or convince him—it would be
a great help if Eugeo had driven him away, but I suppose holding that
hope would be too much—then charging into the highest floor of the
cathedral, where our ultimate enemy, Administrator, sleeps.
We would render the highest minister powerless while she

continued sleeping, take Alice’s «memory fragment» that should be
secured somewhere in the room, and return the girl’s memories and
personality.
Finally, I would establish contact with Rath’s staff in the real world
via the system console and get them to acknowledge the
preservation of the current Underworld and the stop the incoming
«load experiment phase»—in other words, the major invasion from
the land of darkness…
It was a string of missions of extreme difficulty that made me feel

faint just thinking about it. I couldn’t help but think how every one of
those goals had less than fifty, no, thirty percent chance of
succeeding.
However, I couldn’t stand not taking action any longer. That long,
long period of time, this two years spent in the Underworld, no,
perhaps ever since that day I logged in to the death game, SAO,
instead, might have been all for me to meet with these new humans
like Eugeo, and to gain a reason to protect them.
Kayaba Akihiko said this while gazing upon the collapsing Aincrad
in the crimson sunset skies. That he wanted to create a true
alternate world. I had no plans for succeeding that man’s purpose,
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but what could be labeled a «true alternate world» was taking place
right before my eyes.
«The Seed», passed down to me by the copy of Kayaba’s

personality made countless VR worlds germinate and bloom in the
real world. And be it coincidence or inevitable, the light cubes storing
the souls of Eugeo and the other inhabitants of the Underworld were
compatible with the nexus of The Seed. If I sought some sort of
significance from the SAO incident, beyond what Kayaba had been
trying to achieve—I would definitely find it here, in this Underworld;
that was what I felt.
I no longer had a path of return. After all, I had already come this
close to the final goal, the highest floor of the Central Cathedral,
spending a whole two years since I woke up in the forest south of
Rulid.
However, if I had to bring up a pressing concern that I couldn’t

ignore any longer, however insignificant it might be.
That would be the doubt if I truly desired to clear those many

objectives from the depths of my heart; that would be my one and
only question…
“…You’ve said this some time ago, haven’t you?”
Hugging her knees with her eyes turned down, Alice suddenly
muttered so.
I put a temporary stop to those complicated, entangled thoughts

and lifted my face. A frail voice that still sounded blubbery came at
me.
“After the tower’s wall broke and we were thrown outside…

you said that you had planned this revolt to correct the
esteemed highest minister’s mistakes and to protect the
Human World.”
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“Yeah… I did.”
I nodded towards the golden hair flowing down Alice’s back.

Several more seconds were spent in silence after that, before the
knight slowly moved her lips.
“…I have yet to believe in everything you had said.

However… it does seem to be the truth that minions from the
land of darkness have been positioned on the outer walls of
the tower… and that the integrity knights were not from the
Celestial World, but gathered from the Human World with
their memories sealed away. That is to say… I cannot deny
that the esteemed highest minister have been deceiving us,
her loyal servants, any longer…”
My breath stopped and I listened intently to Alice’s words.
Integrity knights, with their memories removed and a piety module

inserted into their fluct lights, should compelled into an absolute
loyalty towards Administrator. Fact was, no matter how hard Eugeo
and I tried to persuade them, none of the integrity knights we had
met thus far could verbally express doubts towards the church.
With that consideration in mind, it was a real shock Alice could

voice out what she just did. Did the girl truly possess something
other artificial fluct lights lacked? I stared on without a sound, looking
on as the golden knight continued talking in a whisper while holding
onto her two upright legs.
“But on the other hand, it is true that the primary order

given to us integrity knights by the esteemed highest
minister was to defend against the invasion from the Dark
Territory. Over ten knights are battling at the mountain
range at the edge atop their flying dragons even now. If the
esteemed highest minister hadn’t formed the Integrity
Knight Order, the Human World would have already been
assaulted by the forces of darkness.”
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“That…”
—That, however, isn’t how the world was supposed to be.
The resources for growth monopolized by the integrity knight, or to

put it in plain words, the experience points, were originally meant to
be given to many of the commoners. Like what Eugeo and I had done
in the northern cave, the villagers of the world should have picked up
swords on their own accord and fought with the invading goblin
soldiers, becoming stronger. However, Administrator had robbed
them of that potential.
But she wouldn’t understand even if I said that now. Turning

towards me who was at a loss for words, Alice sent forth a soft yet
grave voice.
“You had said the village named Rulid, where I was born
and raised… and where my parents and little sister still lives
in even now, was at the northern boundary, at the foot of the
mountain range at the edge. In other words, it will be
devastated straight away if an invasion from the Dark
Territory starts. Who exactly will defend all of the remote
regions, including Rulid, even if the two of you defeat all of
the integrity knights and put a knife to the highest minister’s
throat? Don’t tell me the two of you plan on destroying the
forces of darkness on your own?”
The tears from her two eyes hadn’t dried yet, but Alice’s voice had
a genuine resoluteness in it and I couldn’t give an immediate answer.
Compared to Alice’s barefaced determination to protect the Human
World, there was far too much I kept hidden.
Enduring the impulse to confess everything here—including how

this world was actually artificial, I opened my mouth.
“Then let me ask in return… do you truly believe that the

Integrity Knight Order, fully prepared for an assault, can
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repel a combined attack from the forces of the Dark Territory
without the slightest doubt?”
“………”
Alice was the one at a loss for words this time. I returned my sight
to the night sky in front and continued speaking while reaching out
for a memory from two years ago.
“I said that my partner and I had fought with a squad of

goblins that trespassed from the Dark Territory, hadn’t I?
Even against goblins, the weakest troops of the forces of
darkness, their swordsmanship and brute strength were to
be feared. There are loads of them in the Dark Territory and
on top of that, it’s filled with those darkness knights who
ride on flying dragons like all of you and darkness arts users
with their minions, right? If all of them attack as a whole,
even if all of the integrity knights head out, with the highest
minister herself following behind, there’s no way you would
be able to defend completely with such a small army.”
Ninety percent of those were handed down by Cardinal, but it

appeared Alice was of the same mind as she didn’t reply immediately
as she always had. A short while was spent in silence before an
anguished voice was wrung out, her face turned downwards.
“…True, even oji-sama*… even Knight Commander Bercouli

seemed to have buried that same worry in the depths of his
heart. The elite troops of the Dark Territory already number
in the tens of thousands, and if they were to all march
through the «Great East Gate», the Knight Order alone would
probably not be able to hold them back, he said… —But even
so, it’s true as well, that the Human World does not have
anyone with laudable combat ability aside from us. You
mentioned that children from the upper class nobles were
educated in the sword and sacred arts earlier, but they
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pursue the beauty of a single strike which would hardly hold
up in an actual battle. In the end, there is no choice but for
us integrity knights to battle on our few flying dragons,
trusting in divine protection from the three goddesses. I
believe you do understand the situation, don’t you?”
“It’s as you say… the Human World as it is now probably

doesn’t have a power capable of fighting against the forces
of darkness aside from the integrity knights.”
I carefully answered, still looking forward.
“But that’s a situation brought forth by Administrator from

her desires. The highest minister fears a power beyond her
absolute control sprouting up in the Human World. That’s
exactly why she’s gathered the champions of the Unity
Tournament and offenders of the Taboo Index, sealed away
their memories, and turned them into loyal knights. To put it
in another way, Administrator doesn’t trust the humans of
this world, not the slightest bit.”
“……!”
It seemed Alice sucked in a sharp breath. But she didn’t

immediately rebut like always. Praying that my words had reached
the girl’s heart, I continued piling them on.
“If the highest minister believes in the humans living in the

Human World and form a well-equipped army, letting them
have sufficient training, a force comparable to the Dark
Territory’s should exist in the Human World about now.
However, the highest minister didn’t. She allowed the upper
class nobles, who should have been the first to pick up their
swords when the time came to fight, to live their idle,
indulgent lives, which then cause their souls to stagnate…
Like those two Eugeo and I swung our swords at in the Sword
Mastery Academy.”
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The incident where Raios Antinous and Humbert Zizek brought
disgrace to Tizei and Ronie’s modesty was a mere two days ago. If
the load experiment phase had arrived without any change to the
situation, and the Human World was exposed to a combined attack
from the Dark Territory, countless of such tragedies would unfold.
“But… not everything is lost yet. There’s still time until the
Dark Territory’s forces push in, though I don’t know if it’s a
year or two… if the Human World tries its best to build up a
large army by then…”
“Such a thing could never be possible!”
Alice finally shouted then.
“Haven’t you just said so yourself? About how corrupted

the nobles of this world are?! Even when commanded to take
up their swords because a war is starting, the four imperial
families and the upper class nobles are sure to merely
pretend to obey while guarding their own lives and assets!”
“Yeah, sure, most of the upper class nobles probably don’t have
the guts to fight with the forces of darkness. But a part of the high
class aristocratic families still retain their pride as nobles and there
are plenty among the lower class nobles and the commonfolk who
possess the will to protect their families and towns… and this world,
at all cost. If the extensive amount of equipment amassed in this
tower were to be all distributed among them and the integrity
knights teach them their polished, real swordsmanship and sacred
arts, it wouldn’t be impossible to build up a grand army within a year.
“Common… folks…?
I nodded deeply towards Alice, muttering in amazement.
“That’s right. Even if you don’t force them to enlist and

recruit only volunteers, I’m sure you could gather quite a
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number. I mean, there are already guard corps in the towns
and villages here and there. But… if things continue as they
are, this has no chance of being realized.”
“……The esteemed highest minister… would never forgive

it…”
“Yeah. It would probably be impossible to talk her around

too. After all, an army that Administrator can’t force into
devotion towards her would be just as scary as the forces of
darkness to her. To sum it up, it leads to one conclusion. We
can only destroy the absolute control of the highest minister,
Administrator, and make full use of the meager remaining
time to build up a defense capable of going up against the
incoming invasion.”
Telling Alice so from her side, I couldn’t help but feel a great
cynicism.
The organization that created the Underworld and conducted this

majestic experiment, «Rath», apparently seemed to be intimately
connected to Kikuoka Seijirou, an active member of the Self-Defense
Forces. In that case, the experiment’s goal was unmistakably closely
related to national defense in the real world. I could even imagine
them making use of the artificial fluct lights themselves, like Eugeo
and Alice, to control weaponry, for example.
Despite how I couldn’t accept such a thing at all, I was currently

proposing that we should train tens of thousands of the humans in
the Human World into soldiers.
Not knowing a single bit of my ashamed inner thoughts, Alice had

her mouth closed, likely for a reason separate from mine.
The girl must be weighing between her loyalty towards the Axiom
Church carved into her soul with the words of an intruder whom she
had arrested with her own hands. Despite her disciplined expression,
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she must be going through conflicts and distress beyond what I could
imagine in her heart.
Before long—
A short line reached me, riding atop the night wind.
“…Can I meet them?”
“Eh…?”
“If I cooperate with you… and retrieve my sealed memories,

can I meet with Selka… my sister again?”
I strongly bit down on my back teeth in that instant.
Meet. Meeting her wouldn’t be a problem at all. But…
I was at a loss whether to tell Alice of my earlier prediction or not.

However, I definitely didn’t have to patch the situation up with some
irresponsible words. Steeling my resolve, I first nodded.
“…You can. If you get on a flying dragon, it would just be a

day or two to Rulid. But… please, I want you to listen to this
carefully.”
I stared hard at Alice’s face as she sat around a meter and a half
away on my right, and voiced out the continuation to my words.
“The one reuniting Selka will be you, but not you. The
instant you regain your memories, you will turn back to Alice
Schuberg, before you underwent the Synthesis Ritual, and
Integrity Knight Alice Synthesis Thirty will vanish with that.
Your current personality will disappear along with your
memories when you lived as an integrity knight and you’ll
surrender that body to your original personality… This is
cruel, but… you’re currently «Another Alice», created by
Administrator’s hands.”
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Alice’s shoulders jerked several times upon hearing my words.
However, she didn’t fall into sobs. A few seconds later, a hoarse
voice rang out, as though she was trying her best to restrain her
emotions.
“…Ever since I heard that about integrity knights being

created by the esteemed highest minister… I’ve been
thinking it would be something like that. I had stolen this
body away from that girl by the name of Alice Schuberg and
unjustly inhabited it for six years… that’s how it is, isn’t it?”
I could no longer find any suitable replies. Despite the tempest that
must be raging within her heart, Alice still showed a stout smile.
“What was stolen must be returned. That… should be what

Selka, my parents, your friend… and you, yourself too, are
hoping for.”
“……Alice…”
“I just… have a single request, just one.”
“That is…?”
“Before this body is restored to the original personality of

Alice… could you bring me to Rulid Village? And even if it’s
while hiding… a single look is enough. I want to see what
Selka… my sister looks like, and my family too. If you could
grant me that much, that would be enough.”
Cutting off her words, Alice slowly turned towards me and looked

straight at me.
In that moment, the moon that had risen into the eastern sky
without my notice suddenly sent down a single streak of light
through the clouds. Alice’s two eyes softened, red and puffy from
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crying like a child’s, and smiled once more as her entire body was
surrounded by specks of gold. I couldn’t bear to look at that face any
longer and turned my sight towards the moon overhead.
To return Alice her memories. That was the one and only desire of
my unparalleled partner, Eugeo. In other words, going with that, it
should also be my desire.
However, that would be the equivalent to the death of this integrity

knight… no, this girl forlornly hugging her knees at my side. An
unavoidable victim and an inescapable order of priorities. There were
no more routes left to me.
“Yeah… I’ll promise you. I’ll swear on it.”
While looking up at the night sky, I told her so.
“I’ll definitely bring you to Rulid before your memories are

restored.”
“…Make sure that you do.”
Turning my sight back towards Alice who underscored her request,

I gave a clear nod.
The knight replied with a curt nod as well, before she took in a
deep breath, put on an assertive expression, and spoke.
“Understood. Well, then… as of now, in order to protect the

Human World and its residents, I, Alice Synthesis Thirty, will
discard my mission as an integrity kni… gh… ah…!!”
The bold proclamation turned into a piercing scream all of a

sudden. Her body, clad in that golden armor, bent backwards and her
right hand pressed against her right eye. Was her ordered face being
warped by some enormous, intense pain right now?
Despite my surprise, I instinctively recalled the scene I saw two
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days ago as I got up onto my feet.
Eugeo who sliced off the second-ranked elite swordsman-in-

training, Humbert Zizek, in order to save Ronie and Tizei. By the time
I ran in, his right eye had already blown off without a trace, the
gushing fresh blood flowing down his cheek as crimson tears.
That night, Eugeo talked about it bit by bit in the academy’s

disciplinary chamber. The moment he tried to cut Humbert, his right
hand froze as though it wasn’t his own and his right eye burned with
pain, he said. And before his eyes, unfamiliar sacred letters
appeared, glowing deep red—
That same phenomenon Eugeo talked about might be assailing

Alice right now. It was likely some sort of psychological block. Its
trigger would be the act of opposing a regulation carved upon one’s
soul.
“Don’t think about anything! Freeze your thoughts!”
I shouted so while approaching Alice and held onto her armored

left shoulder with my right hand. And my left hand caught the
tormented knight’s right wrist, gently pulling it away from her right
eye.
“……!?”
On Alice’s eye that should have been sapphire-blue, I saw a

flickering red light and swallowed my breath. I peered closer in order
to ascertain the true form of that light.
Upon the perfectly circular blue iris in Alice’s widely opened right
eye.
Delicate lines were lined up in a radial pattern on the outside,

glowing red while they slowly rotated. There was no fixed pattern to
the lines’ thickness and the way they were ordered, too, was random.
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As though—it was a bar code.
I had guessed that the one who inserted this psychological block
into the Underworld people was the highest minister, Administrator,
ever since I heard the story from Eugeo. However, I had absolutely
no memory of spotting anything resembling bar codes in these two
years.
—It wasn’t done by Administrator…? But in that case, just who…?
It was then, when I let out a short gasp.
The circular bar code ceased its rotation and drew a horizontal list
of strange symbols atop Alice’s contracted pupil. The string of
characters that surfaced, glowing deep crimson, appeared to be
[SYSTEM ALERT].
I was momentarily confused about what it signified, but

immediately noticed.
It was mirrored text. Alice’s eye, directly under the line of text,
should be seeing it in a horizontally flipped form. In other words, it
said [SYSTEM ALERT].
System alert. To me, it was a familiar, unpleasant warning that

popped out every now and then when utilizing a PC, but it should be
a nonsensical phrase to those in the Underworld, like Alice. In this
world, only the «Common Tongue»—which would be Japanese, was
used in daily life, while English, «Sacred Tongue», was treated by
most of the inhabitants as something that impossible and pointless to
understand.
If one studied the sacred arts, though one would be able to chant
various English vocabulary, starting from the initial «system call», I
doubt that person would be too aware of the exact meaning the
words held. I had taught Eugeo some of the meanings behind the
names of skills for the secret moves of the Aincrad style, the sword
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skills, but he always found it strange how I possessed knowledge of
the Sacred Tongue.
In short, this string of characters, SYSTEM ALERT, would hardly

make any sense to the people of the Underworld. In other words, the
one who inserted this psychological block into Alice, Eugeo, and the
rest was no Administrator, but humans from the real world—namely,
someone within Rath’s staff; I suppose that would be how it was…
My rapidly whirling thoughts were interrupted by Alice’s weak

scream from point-blank range.
“Aaah… my right eye is, it’s burning…! And… these are…

letters…!?”
“Don’t think about anything! Empty your mind!!”
Crying out in a fluster, I held Alice’s petite face between my hands.
“What’s happening to you is probably similar to a

psychological barrier activated when you tried to oppose the
church. It should be trying to urge you into absolute
obedience by causing pain to your right eye… your eyeball
will burst out if you continue thinking!”
It only took a moment to explain that, but in this case, persistently

insisting might bring about a reverse effect instead. No human could
be disciplined enough to stop their thoughts when told to do so.
Upon hearing my voice, Alice shut her two eyes tightly. But the red
words projected onto her eyes probably wouldn’t disappear from just
that. The knight’s hands fumbled in the air and gripped onto my
shoulders the moment they found them. My muscles grated from the
force her monstrously strong hands put upon them each time a faint
scream escaped her, but it was nothing compared to the pain Alice
must be feeling.
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Figuring it would help if I could calm down her thoughts, I shifted
half of my thoughts to thinking up of any possible methods even as I
firmly held Alice’s face between my two palms.
Alice and several other integrity knights had already broken the
Taboo Index once. After all, they were taken away by the Axiom
Church and underwent the Synthesis Ritual because of that.
However, Alice, in particular, shouldn’t have had her right eye

burst off when she committed the taboo of «Trespassing into the
Dark Territory» eight years ago. I hadn’t heard anything of that sort
from Eugeo. According to his explanation, the young Alice had
apparently tottered over the boundary line without thinking. In other
words, that would mean that a clear intent to commit a taboo wasn’t
in Alice’s mind at that time.
The psychological barrier currently assailing Alice likely reacted to

a proactive intent to violate a rule she was given. The moment one
held such intent, the right eye would first hurt and the red SYSTEM
ALERT would then throw the target’s mind into disarray, planting a
deeper awe for the taboo once again. Conducting a psychological
barrier like this that could only be considered a work of god on the
inhabitants of the Underworld who basically didn’t break laws would
likely cement their obedience to no end.
But if this psychological had been handed down by Rath’s staff, it

would bring up a huge contradiction.
After all, the goal of the experiment being conducted in this

Underworld was likely the creation of artificial fluct lights capable of
judging between the right and wrong of a rule they were given. Even
after the people of the Underworld had tried so hard for a
breakthrough, forcefully driving them back with such a slipshod,
violent psychological block could only be considered as a mix-up in
their priorities.
In other words, those who had inserted this system alert were
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purposefully impeding the success of this experiment—could that be
it?
In that case, who exactly is that person and for what goal?
Heathcliff… Kayaba Akihiko’s duplicated consciousness came to

mind for an instant, but I immediately rejected that notion. He and
his desire to create a true alternate world would not hinder the
progress of artificial fluct lights. In the first place, such a heavy-
handed method was not to that man’s style. I suppose this had to be
some influence or personal sabotage against that organization, Rath.
I could envision the existence of various hostile forces if the one

directing Rath was the Self-Defense Forces member, Kikuoka Seijirou.
For example, a group with internal opposition towards Kikuoka with
in the Self-Defense Forces, a large company monopolizing the
domestic defense industry, or if I let my imagination run wild, even a
foreign arms manufacturer or intelligence agency wouldn’t be out of
the question.
However, if those humongous influences had planned to hinder

Rath, would they take such an intricate measure? If they possessed
enough authority to insert an interference program into the artificial
fluct lights, couldn’t they merely deal with it with haste and destroy
the Light Cube Cluster, the true body of the Underworld?
In other words, that would mean that someone was intentionally

delaying the experiment without the desire to completely wipe it out.
Could that person be waiting for something by slowing down the
experiment? Something on a large scale that required much
preparation—for example…
The theft of the experiment’s results, including the Light Cube

Cluster itself.
As I reached that conclusion, horrified, Alice’s weak voice suddenly

came from between my hands.
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“…Horrible…”
Startled back, I looked down at the integrity knight’s face.
Her eyebrows that had always maintained a graceful line were

pressed together tight, drops of water resided in the corners of her
eyes, and she had bitten down on her lips hard enough to draw
blood.
Those pallid lips trembled and let out disconnected words once
more.
“This is… horrible… To have not just my memories, but my

consciousness, too… be manipulated by… someone else…”
Gripping my shoulders, Alice two hands strongly shook with grief,

or perhaps anger.
“The one… who burned these red sacred letters into my

eyes… was it… the highest minister…?”
“No… I don’t think so.”
I unconsciously shook my head.
“It’s an existence that created this world and observes it

from the outside… one among the «gods» that had not made
an appearance in the lore behind the creation of the world.”
“…Gods…”
Clear drops flowed down from Alice’s eyes without a sound.
“So the gods would not trust us… even after we, the
integrity knights, spent these countless days fighting without
end to protect this world they had wrought. Taking my
memories of my family, and my sister, and on top of that,
performing such a seal upon me … forcing me into
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obedience…”
I couldn’t begin to imagine how much shock, confusion, and

despair Alice who had lived as a knight of the gods must be feeling
now. Alice’s eyelids suddenly flashed open as I looked on without
saying a word, unable to breathe.
The mirrored, horizontal words on the blue iris of her right eye
shone vividly even now. However, Alice appeared to pay it no heed,
merely staring at the skies in front—at the bluish-white moon floating
among the black clouds.
“I am not your puppet!”
However hoarse it might have been, Alice still shouted with dignity.
“Certainly, I might be an existence created by someone’s

hand. But I have my own consciousness too! I want to protect
this world… I want to protect the many people living in this
world. I want to protect my family and my little sister. That is
the one and only mission I will strive for!!”
The glow of the text in her right eye increased in intensity while
letting out a piercing, metallic noise. The bar code etched onto the
outside of her iris, too, began to rotate rapidly.
“Alice…!”
Expecting that phenomenon to happen any time now, I cried out.
Without turning her eyes towards me, Alice whispered in a stifled

voice.
“Kirito… hold me tight.”
“……Sure.”
I couldn’t do anything but nod. Taking my hands off Alice’s face, I
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moved them to the armor on her shoulders. Strongly holding down
the knight’s body trembling in small jolts beyond that golden armor.
Alice shrugged her long, golden hair once, before proudly gazing
up towards the skies and took in a deep breath.
“The highest minister, Administrator… and you nameless

gods!! For the goals I must achieve… I will fight against
you!!”
An unbounded proclamation that had a refined echo.
The moment it faded off, a deep crimson shaft of light left Alice’s
right eye.
A warm splash of blood stained my cheeks.
Eugeo.
Eugeo…
What happened?
Did you have a nightmare…?
An orange light ignited within the lamp with a soft sound.
Standing in the hallway, Eugeo had the lower half of his face buried
in the pillow his two arms wrapped around and peered into the room
through the slightly opened door as though he was hiding away his
body.
There were two plain, wooden beds in the room that certainly
couldn’t claim to be spacious. The right one was vacant, with a
freshly-washed bedspread laid folded there.
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And a single, slender silhouette was upon the left bed, looking at
Eugeo with her upper body raised. Her face couldn’t be seen too well
due to the light from the lamp her right hand carried. From her
glossy, pure white sleepwear, a somewhat opened dress with a low-
cut neckline, peeked her bare skin that appeared even paler. Her
long hair flowing onto the bed seemed as soft as silk.
Those glossy lips, just noticeable beyond the orange light, showed
a gentle smile.
It’s cold there, isn’t it? Come, come closer, Eugeo.
That softly lifted bedspread seemed filled with a viscous, warm

darkness, making him all the more conscious of the freezing chill
streaming through the hallway. His foot stepped across the doorway
before he knew it and Eugeo headed towards the bed with uncertain
steps.
The lamp strangely dimmed as he approached, concealing the face

of the woman sprawled over the bed with a creeping darkness. But
Eugeo’s thoughts were simply filled with the desire to snuggle into
that warm darkness and hungrily moved his feet. His steps became
gradually wider as his viewpoint became gradually lower, but he
didn’t feel it to be strange.
The bed he finally arrived at was absurdly tall and Eugeo threw
down the pillow he held onto, stepping onto it in an attempt to climb
up.
In that moment, a soft cloth fluttered over him from the top and
sunk his vision in darkness. As though urging on his craving, Eugeo
crept deeper and deeper into that darkness.
His extended fingers came into contact with warm and supple skin.
Eugeo embraced it in a daze and buried his face into it. The silky
skin gently squirmed, as though it was enveloping Eugeo.
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Led around by that enthralling sense of satisfaction and a longing
several times as potent, Eugeo fervently clung on. Feeling a smooth
arm hugging his back and another rubbing his head, Eugeo asked in
his small voice.
“Mother…? Is that you, mother?”
The reply instantly came.
Yes… I am your mother, Eugeo.
“Mother… My mother…”
Sinking ever deeper into the warm and damp darkness, Eugeo
murmured.
A doubt floated up like a bubble, from a corner of the bog that was
his mostly numbed mind, and popped.
Was my mother… ever this slender and soft? Why do these two
hands that should have been working in the fields day after day not
have a single scrape on them? And… have my father who should
have been sleeping in the bed on the right went somewhere? Where
are my brothers who always got in the sleep whenever I tried to get
mother to pamper me…?
“Is it really… you, mother?”
Yes, Eugeo. It’s your one and only mother.
“But… where is father? Where are my brothers?”
Hehe.
What a strange child.
Everyone
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have already been killed by you, haven’t they?
Suddenly, his fingers felt clammy.
Eugeo spread open his left and right hands, lifted before his eyes.
Despite the lack of illumination, he could clearly see the deep red
blood stickily dripping off his ten fingers.
“…Aaaaaaah!”
Eugeo jumped up with that scream.
He was engrossed in scrubbing his two sticky hands against his

shirt. Only after wiping them countless times while screaming out,
did he notice the moisture on his hands was not blood, but merely
sweat.
Was that a dream—even after arriving at that conclusion, he still

took some time before he thought to restrain his heart, beating like
an alarm bell, and the cold sweat seeping out from himself. The
lingering memory of that absurdly terrifying nightmare clung to his
back with no sign of fading.
—Mother and father… I hadn’t even thought of them much since I

left the village.
Muttering so in his heart, Eugeo closed his two eyes tightly and
kept his breathing shallow.
When he was a young boy in Rulid, his mother worked on the

fields, tended to the sheep, and even did the housework on top of
that, hardly cuddling gently with Eugeo. They had slept in different
beds even before he even achieved maturity and Eugeo had no
recollections of being unsatisfied over that.
—So why did I see such a dream after all that…
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Eugeo strongly shook his head and stopped his trail of thoughts.
Dreams were up to the caprice of the moon goddess, Lunaria. This
nightmare surely held no significance.
After his breathing had calmed down a little, the doubt over his
current location bubbled up. He softly lifted his eyelids while still
crouching.
What first entered his vision was a deep crimson carpet with an
astonishing amount of density and an intricate pattern weaved into
it. The carpet that he couldn’t estimate the value of, if bought at the
textile shop in the fifth district of North Centoria, stretched on and on
in his vision no matter how he tried to find its end.
He finally saw the far away wall only after he looked straight
ahead.
Even if it was a wall, it was made from neither wood nor stone.
Golden pillars in the shape of gigantic swords stood at regular
intervals with glass panes inserted between them. As such, it could
actually be considered as a line of windows rather than a wall, but a
room where valuable glass was used this freely couldn’t be found
even in the castles of the four emperors, could it?
Numerous clouds, dyed blue by the moonlight, were floating

beyond the wallentirely composed of glass. This room was apparently
higher than even the clouds.
He saw a bluish-white full moon floating in a corner of the night sky

when he brought his sight up higher. An astonishing multitude of
stars were silently flickering away around it. The light pouring down
from the sky richly filled with stars was far too bright; he took a while
before noticing it was the middle of the night. Judging from the
height of the moon, it should be a little after twelve. The date had
apparently turned while he slept and it was the twenty-fifth of the
fifth month now.
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Finally, Eugeo looked straight up. The ceiling drew a perfect circle
far above and he couldn’t spot any stairs to proceed to the next floor.
That could mean that this room was the highest floor of the Central
Cathedral.
The wide ceiling vividly depicted a splendid piece of art. Knights

glittering with light, monsters being driven away, and a mountain
range splitting the earth… it seemed to illustrate the story of
creation. Each place even had crystals embedded there, sparkling
like the stars.
But for some reason, the presence of what should have definitely
been essential for the subject of the painting, Stacia, the goddess of
creation, was not in the middle as she should have been. That
section had been painted out pure white and what would be like a
void ruled over the entire painting.
Eugeo frowned for a short while before turning back. Raising his
upper body from his posture of crawling on fours, his back came into
contact with something and he looked behind in a fluster.
“……!?”
Eugeo was at a loss for words, with his body still twisted. Right
behind him was the side of an astonishingly humongous bed.
The bed, circular in shape like the room, seemed to measure close
to ten mel. Four golden posts propped up the canopy, golden as well,
and flimsy, violet drapes dangled off that, creasing over each other.
A pure white sheet, resembling silk from the east empire, covered
the bed and faintly gleamed with the starlight streaming in from the
windows.
And—a single silhouette lay down in the middle of the bed. He

couldn’t see much more than vague contours, obstructed by the
translucent, flimsy cloth hanging from the canopy.
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Eugeo swallowed his breath and his body jerked up. He couldn’t
believe that he didn’t notice someone else’s presence, despite being
so close by for these few minutes. No, before even considering that,
he had apparently been sound asleep for hours, leaning against this
bed. Just how did it end up this—
Getting to that point in his thoughts, Eugeo finally recalled the final
scene remaining in his broken memories.
—That’s right… I was fighting with that hero of that old story…
with Knight Commander Bercouli.
—I was stuck to the knight commander by ice due to the Blue Rose
Sword’s «memory release art»… then that small man wearing those
gaudy jester clothes appeared before our Lives ran out… apparently
called Chief Elder Chudelkin, who said those weird things. Then he
stamped over the ice roses with his shoes as he came closer… and
after that…
It seemed his memories stopped there. That jester might have

carried him here, but he didn’t know why. He instinctively felt around
his waist, but the Blue Rose Sword had disappeared away
somewhere.
Bearing the sense of helplessness that assailed him in that

moment, Eugeo focused his eyes towards the silhouette on the bed.
Was it an enemy, or an ally… no, this was unmistakably the Central
Cathedral, and likely the highest floor at all. Anyone in such a place
couldn’t possibly be an ally.
He figured it best to escape the room while muffling his footsteps

now, but his desire to know the identity of the sleeping silhouette
won out. However, no matter how high he stretched out, he couldn’t
see the face hidden behind the flimsy cloth dangling at the center of
the bed.
Silencing his breath, he softly placed his right knee onto the bed.
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Sinking deeply into the white silk sheet as though it was snow,
Eugeo extended his arms in panic. Those hands, too, ended up
sinking into the smooth fabric.
The terrifying nightmare from earlier vividly came back to Eugeo

as he felt himself swallowed by the bed and his back involuntarily
trembled before he quietly lifted his left leg onto the bed as well.
Getting onto fours like that, he slowly, slowly headed towards the
middle.
Cautiously crawling across the unbelievably massive bed, Eugeo

couldn’t help but imagine how much down of the highest grade had
been tucked in, under the sheets. It took a whole half year to produce
a single, thin futon after slowly gathering the feathers that came off
the domestic duck reared in his family’s rear garden back in Rulid
Village, day after day.
Stopping his advance in front of the flimsy cloth dangling from the
canopy for the moment, Eugeo shifted his attention to his ears.
Though extremely faint, he could hear the regular sound of
breathing. It seemed the other party still remained asleep.
Timidly, he reached out with his right hand. Sticking his finger
under the flimsy cloth, he gently, gently lifted it up.
The moment the bluish-white light reached the middle of the bed,
Eugeo opened up his two eyes.
A single female laid there.
Clad in light clothes in a shade of pale violet—the exact same color

as the «Stacia Window»—and hemmed with silver thread, she had
her pale, slender hands crossed over her body. Her arms and fingers
were slim like a doll, but the two mounds propping up the flimsy
fabric immediately above them were bountiful and he turned his
sight away in panic. Her breasts, peeking out from her unreservedly
opened neckline, too, shone white.
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At last, Eugeo looked at the female’s sleeping face.
A sensation like his soul being sucked out descended upon him in
that moment and everything else left his vision.
How could it be so perfect? He thought it beyond the limits of

humans. Integrity Knight Alice, whom he fought on the eightieth
floor, had faultless good looks as well, but her beauty still remained
within the realm of humans. That was only natural; Alice was human,
after all.
However, this existence sleeping a mere mel away was—
Could the greatest carver in the capital even bring forth such
artistry after an entire lifetime of effort? Eugeo couldn’t find the
words to describe even a sheer fraction of her beauty. Even if he
tried to liken her lips to flowers, a flower with curves so lovely
couldn’t be found anywhere in the Human World.
Both those eyebrows framing her shut eyelids and her long hair
flowing onto the sheets looked as though they had been casted in
pure silver. They gave off a cold gleam, reflecting blue from the
dimness and white from the moonlight.
Before he knew it, Eugeo had his rationality stolen, like a fly

captivated by sweet honey.
Only the desire to touch these hands, this hair, these cheeks filled
his emptied head.
When he languidly drew closer on his knees, a fragrance he had

never smelled before softly drifted in the air.
The fingers on his stretched out right hand would reach in just a
little… reach that smooth skin in a little bit…
You mustn’t, Eugeo.
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Run!
He heard someone shout from somewhere far away.
Small fireworks went off at the core of his mind and swept away
some of the thick fog enveloping his consciousness. Eugeo opened
his two eyes and instinctively drew back his right hand.
—This voice… where have I heard it before…
As he wondered so in a daze, his ability to think slowly returned to

him.
—What… had happened to me…? What was I doing here…?
He lowered his gaze to the woman before his eyes to confirm the
situation he was in and what resembled a viscous, deep drowsiness
crept in his head once more. Averting his eyes in panic, he strongly
shook his head in opposition.
—Think. Think.
—I should know this person. Someone sleeping alone on a lavish

bed on the highest floor of the Central Cathedral. In other words, the
one who holds the highest authority in the Axiom Church—not to
mention the one who rules over everything in the Human World…
In other words, the highest minister, Administrator.
Eugeo repeated the name he finally recalled countless in his mind.
The instigator behind taking Alice away, stealing her memories,

and turning her into an integrity knight. The mightiest sacred arts
user who even the sage possessing immeasurable power, Cardinal,
was no match for. The ultimate enemy of Kirito and Eugeo.
And that Administrator was sleeping before his eyes.
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—Can I win… right now…?
He moved his trembling left hand towards his waist without

thinking, but the Blue Rose Sword wasn’t there. It was either stolen
by the chief elder, Chudelkin, or perhaps still under the ice still
covering all of that large bath. Even if the opponent was asleep,
without a weapon, he couldn’t…
No.
He still had one. A sword that was small yet mightier than sacred
tools in a certain sense.
Eugeo moved his left hand from his waist to his chest and softly
pressed down on his shirt’s fabric. The distinct sensation of a hard
cross made itself known to his palm. The final trump card bestowed
by Cardinal.
If this dagger was stabbed into Administrator’s body, she should be

incinerated dead in an instant from the offensive art Cardinal would
send in, bypassing space.
“……gh…”
But Eugeo let out a distraught sigh while gripping onto the dagger
through the fabric.
This dagger should have been used on Integrity Knight Alice. Of

course, not to burn her to death, but to put her to sleep through
Cardinal’s arts and to restore her memories, turning her back into the
old Alice. If that couldn’t be done, Administrator’s defeat would serve
no meaning to Eugeo. It might be possible to turn Alice to her old self
without using the dagger if the highest minister was eliminated, but
he had no assurance it would.
Seized by the doubt that lacked an answer, Eugeo heard the

mysterious voice yet again while biting on his lips, and noticed.
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Eugeo… run……
But before that voice that seemed far too distant could make its
way to his consciousness—
The sleeping woman’s silver eyebrows softly shook.
Those white eyelids slowly, slowly rose as Eugeo stared on in blank

amazement. His vision was frozen in place, let alone his left hand,
still holding onto the dagger. His ability to think, once restored,
dispersed yet again and faded to nothing.
The woman closed her faintly opened eyelids for a moment, then
gently blinked several times, as though to rouse Eugeo into action.
And on the third time, those eyelids finally opened up completely.
“Ah……”
That sigh escaped from Eugeo’s mouth without him realizing it.
The now-exposed eyes were pure silver, a color he had never

noticed in any human’s eyes before. Those mirror-like irises were
tinted faintly in the brilliance of the seven prismatic colors, wavering
as though on a water surface. A divine radiance that could make any
rare gem in this world appear dull in comparison.
Before Eugeo’s eyes as he stayed frozen like a statue while still on

his knees on the bed, the awoken woman swayed upright with wispy
movements. Upon rising as though pulled up by some invisible force
with her two arms still left under her breasts, her long, silver hair also
softly flittered despite the lack of wind and streamed tidily down her
back as a whole.
The woman—or girl, who appeared slightly more youthful with her
eyes now open lifted her right hand to her mouth as though paying
Eugeo no heed and let out a small yawn.
Her legs that were stretched out straight turned towards the right
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together. The balance of her slender body lurched and her left hand
struck the sheets to support herself.
The girl turned her face to the left at last, looking straight at Eugeo
while maintaining that bewitching posture.
Her pure silver eyes, fringed by a rainbow radiance. He could

hardly think of them belonging to a human, due to the lack of pupils
residing within them. They were unbearably beautiful, but prevented
all access deeper into her heart as they reflected all light like a
mirror.
Upon gazing at his own dumbfounded expression projected on

those two small mirrors, the girl’s glossy, pearl grey lips made a
slight movement. Her voice, sweet as honey and pure as crystal, with
a hint of enticement, spoke.
“What a pitiful child.”
It took some time for him to understand what was spoken.

However, without becoming aware of the languor in his thoughts,
Eugeo replied in a daze.
“Eh…? Pitiful…?”
“Yes. How very pitiful.”
Throwing the hearts of any who hears it into disarray, it was filled
equally with both an unsullied purity and the tone of a femme fatale.
Her glossy, pearl grey lips showed a faint smile as her honeyed
voice flowed on.
“You are much like a withered potted flower. No matter

how far into the soil you spread your roots, no matter how
high you reach your leaves into the wind, you could not come
into contact with a single drop of water.”
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“…A potted… flower…”
Eugeo frowned and tried to understand the significance behind

those mysterious words. His mind was still enveloped in haze, but the
girl’s eyes summoned a stinging pain from somewhere within his
heart.
“You understand. Exactly how much you thirst, how much

you hunger.”
“…For what…?”
His mouth moved without his acknowledgement and questioned

in a dry, hoarse voice.
The girl stared at Eugeo with her reflective eyes and replied with
the smile still on her face.
“Love.”
Love… she said?
That’s like… saying that I… don’t know what is love…
“Indeed. You are a pitiful child who has never had the
experience of being loved.”
That couldn’t be true.
My mother… loved me. Whenever I had a nightmare and couldn’t

sleep… she would hug me and sing lullabies for me.
“Did that love truly belong to you alone? It didn’t, did it?
It was actually what was left over after your brothers have
taken their share, wasn’t it…?”
She’s lying. Mother… loved me, only me…
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“You wanted her to love only you. But she didn’t. That
was why you hated them. Those who took away your
mother’s love, like your father. And your brothers.”
Lies. I… I don’t hate my father or brothers.
“Really now…? After all, haven’t you sliced him up?”
……
Who…?
“The one who had loved you and only you for the first
time; that red-haired girl… You had cut that man who tried to
steal her by force and sully her. Because you hated him.
Because he had stolen away what had belonged solely to
you.”
No… that wasn’t why I pointed my sword towards Humbert.
“But it was no panacea for your thirst. No one would love

you. Everyone had forgotten about you. You have been cast
aside, no longer needed.”
No… no. I… I haven’t been cast aside or…
That’s right… she’s wrong. I have Alice.
The moment he recalled that name, the viscous haze shrouding

his consciousness felt as though it had cleared up a little and Eugeo
shut his eyes tight. It wouldn’t be good being swept into this flow, he
had to get moving now; the sense of danger filling his mind
whispered thus.
However, before he could move for real, the beguiling voice

slipped into his mind from his two ears once more.
“I wonder if that really is true…? Does that child truly love
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you and only you…?”
That reverberation hid faint laughter under its compassion.
“You have forgotten. I’ll let you recall them. Your true
memories, buried deep within the depths of your heart.”
Eugeo’s vision lurched in that instant.
The luxuriously downy bed faded and he fell into a dark, deep hole
without end.
The scent of fresh, green grass pricked his nose all of a sudden.
Verdant light filtered through trees flickered in a corner of his sight

while the chirping of small birds overlaid the sound of footsteps over
the undergrowth.
Eugeo was walking deep in a forest when he became aware of his

situation.
His line of sight was awfully low and his steps were short. His legs
stretching out from his shorts made from fiber were those of a child,
slender and weak, when he took a look downwards. But the sense of
unease immediately vanished, overwhelming irritation and loneliness
filling his chest in its place.
For some reason, he hadn’t seen Alice at all since the day started.
Upon finishing his morning work, tending to the cows and weeding
the vegetable garden, Eugeo rushed as fast as he could towards the
usual gathering spot—underneath an old tree outside the village.
However, Alice didn’t come no matter how long he waited. In
addition, neither did his other childhood friend, that black-haired boy.
After waiting for the pair until the sun climbed up to its highest
place in the sky, Eugeo tottered to Alice’s home while feeling an
indescribable emotion. She must have been found out after playing
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some prank and got stopped from going out to play. That was what
he had thought, but her mother who greeted him there said thusly
with her head tilt in confusion.
That’s strange, she went off rather early today. Kiri-bou came for
her, so I was sure she would have been with you too, Eu-bou.
Mumbling his thanks and leaving the village chief’s residence,

Eugeo felt his unease turn into impatience and searched around the
village. However, though the central plaza occupied by the guard
chief’s son, Jink, and his henchmen was a given, he couldn’t find
Kirito and Alice at any other playing area or hiding place.
Only one other place came to mind. A perfectly round grass patch
they had recently found deep in the eastern forest that the other
children didn’t approach. It was a secret place for the three of them,
called the «fairy ring» by the adults and filled with various flowers
and sweet berries.
Eugeo desperately ran towards there, halfway on the verge of

tears. His body set into motion by his loneliness, doubts, and one
more emotion, one he couldn’t fit a name to.
After running through the winding, small path, and reaching the
secret, empty land surrounded by remarkably thick, old trees, a
dazzling, golden light swayed in between the tree trunks in his path
and Eugeo’s feet jerked to a stop.
That was unmistakably the radiance from Alice’s familiar golden

hair. He instinctively silenced his breathing for some reason and
pricked up his ears. Fragments of whispers, quietly exchanged, were
conveyed to him on the wind.
Why… why?
With nothing but those words set on repeat in his mind, Eugeo
walked closer to the vacant land with subdued steps. His heavy
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melancholy threatening to crush him, he hid himself behind the
mossy trunk and peeked into the secret place flooded with light from
Solus.
Alice was sitting in the center of the multicolored blooming flowers

with her back to him. He couldn’t see her face, but there was no way
he could mistake her flowing, straight, golden hair, her deep blue
dress, and her white apron.
And by her side was a head covered in prickly black hair. His one
and only best friend, Kirito.
His clenched hands were soaked in damp and chilly sweat.
The fickle wind sent Kirito’s voice to Eugeo’s ears as he stood still.
“Hey… we should go back soon. He’ll find out.”
And replying to him was Alice’s voice.
“We’re still safe. Just a little more… just a bit more, okay?”
No.
I don’t want to hear anymore.
But Eugeo’s legs refused to budge as though the tree’s roots had
entwined around them.
In his sight he couldn’t turn away, Alice’s face softly approached

Kirito.
He caught a shred of her quiet whispering.
The pair, snuggling together in the middle of flowers in full bloom,

under the bright sunlight; it appeared just like a painting.
No.
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Lies. These are all, lies.
Eugeo shouted out in the darkness. But no matter how he tried to

deny it, his conviction that this scene was one dragged out from the
depths of his own memories gushed up and streamed into his chest
like cold water.
“You see… don’t you?”
Sniff.
The whisper with a tinge with laughter wiped away the forest
scene.
Returning to the gigantic bed in the highest minister’s room on the

top floor of the Central Cathedral, that golden radiance burnt into
Eugeo’s eyes remained even with his eyelids shut. Along with Alice
and Kirito’s whispering voices, echoing deep in his ears.
His voice of reason, that said he should have only met Kirito in that
forest two years ago, long after Alice had been taken away to the
church, failed to quench the dark emotions filling his chest. The girl
with silver hair right next to Eugeo turned towards him with an
expression filled with compassion as he opened his two eyes and let
out ragged breaths.
“Now you understand, don’t you…? Even that child’s love

did not belong to you alone. No… was there even any for you
in the first place?”
The sweet voice sleekly slid into Eugeo, violently stirring up his
thoughts each time. The boundless hunger and desolation clearly
rising up within himself. The sensation of cracks rapidly spreading
over his heart, flaking off and plunging down.
“But I am different, Eugeo.”
Her most seductive voice thus far seeped into his ears, like the
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drifting fragrance from a fruit filled with copious nectar.
“I will love you. I will give all of my love to you, and you
alone.”
In Eugeo’s vision as he opened his half-clouded eyes in a daze,

was the girl—Administrator, the highest minister of the Axiom
Church, with her glossy silver hair and eyes gleaming away, showing
a bewitching smile.
Moving her legs that had sunk into the soft sheets, she
straightened her upper body.
Slowly bringing up her hands, she appeared to fiddle around with

the ribbon keeping her breasts in place on her light purple silk
sleepwear.
Her flexible fingertips gripped the ends of the ribbon made from
silver thread and pulled slowly, gently.
With more than half of her wide neckline exposed now, the
graceful, white skin quivered as they lured him in.
“Now, come, Eugeo.”
That whisper seemed both like the voice of his mother he had
heard in the midst of that dream, and the voice of Alice that reached
his ears in that illusion.
With his impeded consciousness, Eugeo stared at the thin, purple

fabric fluttering down like flower petals around her dreadfully slender
waist.
She was truly a flower—a large, devilish one that tempted and
captured bugs and small birds with its ardent aroma and dripping
nectar.
Although a part of Eugeo still felt that way, the allure of that
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flower, oozing from its pure white heart gingerly lingering amidst its
violet petals, was far too intense and Eugeo’s thoughts, smashed into
pieces from the earlier illusion, were wholly drawn into the viscid
fluid.
You have never been loved before; that was why you could truly
feel satisfied with what you have.
Administrator had said so. And Eugeo had gradually begun to

acknowledge an aspect of that as fact.
Eugeo himself could frankly say that he loved his parents, brothers,
and friends in his childhood. Looking at his mother being pleased at
the flower he plucked and watching his father and brothers
enthusiastically eating the fish he caught made him happy. He would
even gather herbs in the forest and send them to the Jink and his
circle, nasty as they were, if he heard that they caught a cold.
But what have they done for you? What exactly have they done
for you in return for your love?
Right… he couldn’t think of any.
Before his eyes, Administrator’s smile readily bent once again and
a scene from his past came back to him.
It was the year he turned ten, in the spring… the day he was
bestowed his «sacred task» along with a crowd of children by the
village chief in the plaza. The sacred task, «Gigas Cedar’s
Woodcutter», spoken out by Gasupht, the village chief, as he looked
down upon the nervous him from the platform, went contrary to his
expectations.
But still, there were cries of envy here and there among some of
the children. The woodcutter was an honorable sacred task passed
down since the Rulid Village was founded and though it wasn’t a
sword, he would still be presented with a real axe. Even Eugeo
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himself hadn’t felt dissatisfaction over it back then.
Grasping the parchment wrapped with a red ribbon, the proof of

his appointment, tightly, Eugeo had ran back to his home on the
outskirts of town and announced his sacred task to his family
somewhat proudly.
Following a short silence, the first reaction came from the younger
one among his brothers. He curtly clicked his tongue and cursed,
saying that he thought it would be his last day handling the cleanup
for the cows’ shit. The older one told his father that it would throw
the planting plans for the year into disarray and his father, too, asked
Eugeo when his job would end and whether he could help out in the
fields then, in a groan. As though afraid of the men’s sullenness, his
mother disappeared into the kitchen without saying a word.
Eugeo felt constantly ashamed in his home for the next eight
years. And despite that, Eugeo’s wages as a woodcutter were
controlled by his father and before he noticed, the number of goats
had multiplied and the farm tools were swapped with new ones.
Despite how, Jink, appointed as a guard apprentice, spent all of his
wages on himself and ate white bread stuffed full of meat for lunch,
and showed off his studded boots and a sword kept in a lustrous
sheath. Despite how, Eugeo had to walk on in his worn out shoes and
a jute sack filled with nothing more than the left over hard bread on
his back before Jink’s presence.
“You see? Have any of those you loved done anything for
you, even once? On the contrary, they took pleasure in your
wretchedness and even sneered at you, haven’t they?”
Yes… that was exactly it.
Jink had said this to Eugeo after around two years after that
summer of his eleventh year, when Alice was taken away by the
integrity knight. There aren’t any women left to care for you any
longer, with that girl of the village chief gone now, he said.
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Jink’s eyes back then told him that he deserved it. The fact that
Eugeo lost the privilege of being the one closest to the cutest girl in
the village and a genius at sacred arts, Alice, brought joy to him.
In the end, not a single person in Rulid returned Eugeo’s feelings.

Although he had earned the right to gain something equivalent to
what he had given, it had been robbed from him without rhyme or
reason.
“Then, couldn’t you simply return that despair and

frustration to them? You wish to, don’t you? It would feel so
good… imagine becoming an integrity knight and making a
triumphant return to your home village atop a silver flying
dragon. Imagine having all who have made a fool out of you
crawl on the ground and pressing down on their heads with
your shiny boots. With that, you could finally take back
everything they have stolen from you thus far. And that’s not
all…”
The beautiful, silver-haired girl slowly, gently let the two arms
supporting her breasts fall, as though drawing him in. Those two
mounds bounced like ripened fruits upon losing their support.
The highest minister reached her two arms straight towards Eugeo
and whispered with while showing an enthralling smile.
“You can enjoy being loved for the first time as much as
you want. A real, numbing sense of satisfaction from head to
toe. I am different from those who have taken away from you
without giving anything in return. If you could give me your
love, you will have just as much in return. I will let you
experience incomparable pleasure, beyond what you could
possibly imagine now, if only you could grant me your
deepest love.”
Even the final trickle of Eugeo’s ability to think was about to be

drawn into that devilish flower. But still, a fragment of reason left in
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the depths of his heart put up a quiet resistance.
—What exactly… is love?
—Is it nothing more than something that could be assigned a

value… like money…?
It’s not, Eugeo-senpai!
His sight turned towards the voice he heard and saw a red-haired
girl clad in a grey uniform, desperately reaching out with her hand in
the darkness on the other side.
But before Eugeo’s hand could stretch out, the thick, pitch black
curtains descended upon the red-haired girl and she vanished,
leaving behind only the shade of grief in her eyes.
And this time, a voice from someone else came from the opposite
direction.
It’s not, Eugeo. Love is definitely not just something to be repaid.
Turning around, he found a small grassy space parting the

darkness and a golden-haired girl wearing a blue dress standing in it.
The girl’s blue eyes dazzlingly glittered as though they were the one
and only exit to this bottomless swap and Eugeo roused his weary
legs in an attempt to crawl towards her.
However, the black curtains fell down with a thud once more and
the verdant field was erased. Eugeo was at a loss with the light’s
departure and remained crouching where he was. He could hardly
bear this searing thirst any longer. Upon recalling the continuous,
unjust oppression, exploitation, and thief of what should have
belonged to him from his childhood, his anguish and chagrin
transformed into concentrated brine, scorching his throat.
At last, Eugeo began to steadily worm himself forth with his head
hung down. Towards the flow of nectar emitting a fragrance of
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cloying sweetness.
Pushing through the smooth silk sheets, his fingertips extended

forward and came into contact with refreshingly cool skin. When he
brought his face up, the silver-haired girl with looks on par with a
goddess showed a transcendental smile as she took Eugeo’s hand.
With his right hand gently pulled forward, he pitched forward

without resistance. The unclothed body received Eugeo and
enveloped him into a mesmerizing softness.
A voice whispered into his ear with sweet breaths.
“You want it, don’t you, Eugeo? To forget all of your grief,
to indulge in all I have to offer? But no, not yet. I have
already said this, first, you will have to give me your love.
Now, repeat after me. Trust only in me and offer all you have.
Well… first, start a sacred art.”
All that Eugeo was aware of now, were the layers of sweet-scented
softness wrapping around him.
He faintly heard his own mouth move, spilling out a hoarse voice.
“System… call.”
“Yes… go on… «remove core protection».”
The highest minister’s voice lightly shook, carrying a certain

emotion for the first time.
Eugeo chanted the first word of the unfamiliar art in a mumble.
“Remove…”
Entrusting his body with the command he had been given, his
existence felt increasingly light and dim. The hunger and thirst that
had tormented Eugeo for a long, long time faded into the sweet
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nectar. At the same time, a precious emotion that he had always held
in the core of his heart crumbled, lost its shape, and vanished.
—Is this really for the best…?
The question he asked himself in his diminishing chest lit a humble

flame, but the next word spilled from his mouth before he found the
answer.
“Core…”
—Well, I really don’t want to experience anymore sadness,

anymore sorrow.
Love in this world could never be made certain. Even if… even if
Alice were to regain her memories, what if she had no eyes for
Eugeo? What if Alice ended up filled with fear and loathing for Eugeo,
who had offended the Taboo Index by cutting Humbert and turned
his sword against many knights in opposition to the Axiom Church…?
If things could end up that way, it might be better to simply stop

right here.
Eugeo vaguely understood his journey over these two years would
come to a complete halt the moment he chanted the third word.
However, he could forget his painful, dismal past by doing so—he
could immerse himself in the love granted by this silver-haired girl;
that reasoning certainly contributed to his choice as well.
“Yes… now, come to me, Eugeo, come into me.”
A whisper, filled with an unparalleled sweetness, flowed into his

ear.
“Welcome, to my eternal stasis…”
A single tear drop flowed as Eugeo murmured that final word. 3
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“There… we… goooo!”
With that desperate cry, I pulled my body up for the umpteen time,
hooked my right leg onto the marble edge and clambered over it
before falling flat down onto the smooth floor.
My joints and muscles, abused beyond their limits, throbbed as

though they were sizzling in a fire. Large drops of sweat poured
endlessly down my forehead and neck and I could only let out my
coarse breathing, not even having enough strength to wipe them
away with my fingertips. The realism of this hefty fatigue was
practically enough to dispel my belief of the basis that this world was
a virtual world generated by the STL.
I had finally reached the ninety-fifth floor of the Central Cathedral

at the end of roughly two agonizing hours after awaiting the moon’s
ascent and resuming the wall climbing, but I no longer had the
energy to gaze around. Throwing out my limbs, I closed my eyes and
waited for even the slightest amount of my Life to recover.
The objective, the ninety-fifth floor, was merely seven floors from
that terrace set up with «minions», but the reason for spending this
much time and effort to cross that distance was this golden knight
strapped onto my back with thin chains.
Several hours ago, Knight Alice Synthesis Thirty did manage to

surpass that which was likely set on everyone in the Underworld,
«the seal of the right eye»—that mysterious system alert, by her own
will, but the price she paid was heavy indeed.
Her right eye, bearing a resemblance to jasper, blew off without a

trace and the pain from that shock rendered Alice unconscious.
I am uncertain if it was due to their souls being stored in an

artificial storage medium, the light cube, but those of the Underworld
were relatively susceptible to psychological shocks. When afflicted by
excessive grief, fear, or perhaps anger and such—those emotions
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were rare due to the lack of crime in the world, however—they end
up losing their sense of reason for a period of time, likely to protect
their fluct lights from a fatal error. Like what had occurred to Selka,
Alice’s little sister, when she was captured by a squad of goblins at
the northern mountain range cave two years ago.
I conjectured that Alice, too, had only lost consciousness to

mitigate the shock from breaking that seal and would eventually
awaken. She should have died on the spot like the head elite
swordsman-in-training, Raios Antinous, if her fluct light had threw a
fatal error.
On that line of thought, it was a real surprise that Eugeo, having

experienced the same phenomenon as Alice in Raios’s room two
days ago, managed to draw his sword without losing consciousness.
As expected, he wasn’t in an excellent state of mind after we were
thrown into the discipline chamber together, but he could still give a
proper reply when spoken to.
I had yet to form a concrete idea on the reasoning behind their

emotional vulnerability and their absolute obedience towards orders,
but at the very least, it wasn’t impossible for the people of the
Underworld to transcend those. Eugeo and Alice were tangible proof.
The people of the Underworld were intelligence created by man—AI,
but the strength of their souls was no different from the humans of
the real world…
Thinking through such things, I awaited Alice’s recovery on the

minions’ terrace, but the esteemed knight wouldn’t wake up even
after an hour had passed. I did stanch the blood flow from her right
eye with sacred arts, but I lacked both adequate space resources and
the competency as an art user to cure it completely. The moon rose
as I stayed on standby and the space resources began to be
replenished, but that had to be reserved for creating the pitons
necessary for climbing. I tore the hem of my shirt off and made an
impromptu bandage, winding it around Alice’s face in consolation,
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before making up my mind to climb the tower with the unconscious
integrity knight on my back.
Upon undoing the chain that connected both of our bodies and
carrying Alice’s slender, yet unbearably heavy body, I seriously
considered leaving behind the golden armor and the Fragrant Olive
Sword that made up most of the weight. But seeing as Alice was
resolved to fight on our side, it would be inane to discard that
equipment.
Resigning myself to my fate once again, I firmly fixed the knight I

carried in place and began climbing the sheer wall towards my goal,
the upper portion of the cathedral that had sank into the night sky.
When I saw a new terrace at the end of an excruciating two hours,
the strength that escaped me from the relief I felt even caused me to
drop a piton. I could only pray that no one was standing on the
ground straight below.
Anyway, I ought to be forgiven for lying down for a nap after

climbing over ninety meters of this vertical, straight wall to reach the
goal, this ninety-fifth floor. Not that I’d move for another three
minutes even I weren’t.
I gathered my determination to do so and focused my all into

relaxing my entire body, sinking into bliss, but a hindrance sprang
forth from behind me; it was a soft voice.
“U… uhm…”
The knight’s breath tickled my nape as she stirred awake.
“…Where… I’m… how…”
Those murmurs escaped from Alice before she tried to get up, but
the chain immediately tensed up and the weight that momentarily
left my back returned.
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“These chains… Kirito… don’t tell me you carried me… all the way
here…?
That’s right, be a little more grateful about it. That mutter to

myself lasted a brief moment.
“Get away from me, you’re soaked in sweat! It’s seeping

into my clothes! Quick, get off me!”
And upon sending a jab to the back of my head alongside that

scream, my brow smashed into the marble floor with all of her
strength back it.
“You’re horrible… that was too much…”
Having undone the chain in a hurry and lowered down the baggage
on my back, I leaned against a nearby circular pillar as I sighed.
However, as for the esteemed knight, she took no notice of my

hard labor and dusted off her white skirt with a scowl. Just as I
thought she was done, wrinkles settled in her brow as she pinched
the sleeve that had stayed in constant contact with my neck while I
carried her. I couldn’t help but to give a light rebuke at least, after
seeing such conduct.
“If it’s annoying you that much, why don’t you just get in a
bath or something, oh great knight?”
It was meant as a jab towards Alice’s fussiness, but as the recipient

began tilted her head in actual consideration, I had to continue on in
a fluster.
“No, that’s a joke! Let’s not even joke about going all the
way back down to the floors in the middle.”
“No, there’s no need to go that far, a mere five floors

below… on the ninetieth floor, there is a large bath meant for
the integrity knights’ use.”
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“Wha…”
I was the one who trembled this time round. It would be a lie if I
said that I didn’t want to clean up my clothes and body, smeared
with dust and sweat due to the consecutive, fierce battles after
escaping the underground jail, along with that unexpected wall
climbing.
It didn’t have to be a bath, even a single pool of water close by

would—I pondered while scanning through our surroundings once
again.
The ninety-fifth floor of the cathedral, «(Morning Star Lookout)»,

appeared to have been built as a humongous viewing deck as its
name implied. The circumference of the perfectly rectangular floor
had no walls—that was the reason why we set this place as our
target, after all—and circular columns supported the ceiling in
intervals of roughly three meters all by themselves. I couldn’t help
but give a nod of agreement to Administrator’s decision to station
minions on the wall a little below in the slight chance of intruders,
after seeing how openly this was constructed.
The outermost circumference, where Alice and I were, was a

terrace encircling the floor with short steps stretching inwards from
various positions. Several marble sculptures and verdant shrubs were
placed in the slightly higher interior, along with tables and chairs of
magnificent design. Sitting in those chairs in the afternoon, rather
than the middle of the night like now, would likely allow a lovely
bird’s eye view of the Underworld, extending on infinitely.
The grand staircase leading up and down seemed to have been

built on the northern side. Belated as it might be, there were no sign
of anyone aside from us on the floor now.
Now then, had Eugeo passed through this ninety-fifth floor yet?
Over seven hours had passed since we were separated on the
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eightieth floor. Considering it rationally, Eugeo should have reached
this place far faster than us who went through great struggles to
climb up the outer wall.
But the problem would be the mighty opponent standing in

Eugeo’s way, stronger than the minions we had fought—Integrity
Knight Commander Bercouli Synthesis One himself. The hero of the
legend, supposedly stronger than both Deputy Integrity Knight
Commander Fanatio who fiercely fought me to a close draw and Alice
who dealt with me without difficulty.
Of course, Eugeo wasn’t weak. He might have even surpassed me

in terms of skill with the sword. However, technique alone could not
defeat the upper ranks of the integrity knights who were effectively
superhuman. That made striking the opponent unaware and making
use of the entire situation necessary, a so-called strategy of
«anything goes». Was the diligent Eugeo actually capable of that…?
Having taken a look around as well, Alice called out to me as I

worried.
“Of course, this has nothing to do with the bath, but… that
partner of yours called Eugeo hasn’t gotten this high yet, has
he?”
“Eh? Why?”
“After all, this ninety-fifth floor is the one and only place
where we could return back into the cathedral after getting
thrown outside. That much should be obvious on first sight…
in other words, if he had reached here before us, he would
have been waiting here for you.”
“…I see, that’s true…”
I nodded with my arms crossed. Now that she brought it up, if

Eugeo had already passed this floor before us, he would have likely
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been captured—or turned into a corpse. Though it went against my
earlier conjecture, I would like to believe that Eugeo wasn’t one to be
captured or killed that easily.
“Besides, if Eugeo…”
Alice murmured with a pensive expression, with his name rolling

off her tongue truly naturally, though the person in question probably
hadn’t noticed so herself.
“…had climbed the grand staircase beyond the Cloudtop

Garden, he would have encountered the strongest opponent
before he reached here, the Morning Star Lookout. He would
have come into contact with oji-sama… His Excellency, Knight
Commander Bercouli.”
Putting aside how she called him oji-sama for now, I decided to
enquire about something that caught my attention.
“So he really is strong? His Excellency, the Knight

Commander.”
Alice’s face promptly turned into a smile with the improvised

bandage still wrapped around it as she nodded.
“I, too, have never achieved victory in a match against him.

Hence, both you, who lost against me, and Eugeo, possessing
as much skill as you, couldn’t possibly hope to defeat him.”
“…Sure, that stands to reason. But as for whether I would

have lost or not had we continued fighting…”
Ignoring my sore grumbling, the golden knight spoke on.
“Certainly, oji-sama’s expertise with the sword is beyond

top class, but his armament full control art could even be
said to be a technique on the level of the gods. The sacred
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instrument he holds, the «Time Piercing Sword», possesses
the power to cleave through time as its name suggests. To be
specific, the might behind oji-sama’s slashes remain in the
air for a period of time… do you understand the implication of
that? Even if one were to dodge those slashes one after
another, it would only take a mere moment to get imprisoned
within a cage of those invisible blades. Their limbs would be
severed on touch, perhaps even their necks if they were
down on their luck, and that said, they would meet their end
even if they stayed still. All who have fought oji-sama had
ended up taking on a single fatal hit in the end, like some
wooden dummy.”
“…The slashes remain…”
It was tough imagining the reality through those words alone, but I
suppose that essentially meant that the slashes had their durations
stretched into the future. If that was the case, it truly was a
frightening ability. It easily nullified the essence of the Aincrad
consecutive hits sword skills, which disregarded the power behind
each hit in order to lengthen the attacks in terms of distance and
time, that Eugeo and I excelled in.
Exactly how did Eugeo fare against such an opponent? Though I

am convinced that he had not died, cold, ominous premonitions crept
their way up my back.
I guess it really would be best to head downstairs in search of my

partner. But what if the worst case had already occurred and he was
apprehended and taken away upstairs… to the top of the cathedral,
where Administrator lived? What if the highest minister, intimate with
every command, was conducting some sort of dangerous art upon
him this very moment…?
Putting my strength into my two legs that had finally shook off

some of their fatigue, I staggered as I stood up. Glaring at the grand
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staircase on the northern side of the floor, I chewed my lips.
The thought that this was the perfect time to use sacred arts to
search for Eugeo’s current position came to me, but as a general
rule, sacred arts could not be targeted on «humans not in this area».
Administrator and Cardinal’s death match would have been settled
long ago if that had been possible. Targeting an object instead of a
human would still be possible, but…
I finally noticed the existence of a simple solution upon getting to

that point in my thoughts and muttered.
“I see… that’s right.”
After unconcernedly nodding at Alice who turned to me with a

suspicious look, I raised my right hand and shouted out at a
restrained volume.
“System call!”
The space resources drained by the wall climbing had apparently

been recovering as my extended fingers faintly glowed violet.
Holding back the impulse to rush, I carefully chanted out the length
of the command.
“Generate umbra element. Adhere possession. Object ID,

WLSS703. Discharge.”
That all came from memory. Though it was nothing more than a
guess, the string, «WLSS», in the first half of the ID might be short for
«Double-edged, Long Sword, Single-hand»* while the numbers in the
latter half could be the serial number for swords in that category. My
black sword’s ID was «WLSS102382», so there might mean that only
several hundreds of single-handed longswords existed back when the
Blue Rose Sword was generated and that particular number had went
beyond a hundred thousand two years ago…
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Even as I brooded over such things, an umbra element bead
separated from my finger tip as it breezily floated downwards and
burst apart, vanishing with a sparkly noise the moment it touched
the floor a short distance away.
“…Downstairs, huh.”
“It would appear so.”
I exchanged a curt conversation with Alice who now had a look of

comprehension on.
I gripped and opened my lowered right hand several times; it

seems that my Life, reduced from fatigue, had already recovered
somewhat, but the injuries Alice had suffered should be far deeper
than my own. Taking another look at the knight, I briefly enquired.
“How’s your right eye, any chance it could be healed…?”
Alice gently pressed against her right eye, covered by a bandage

that was originally my shirt, with her finger tips at that and replied
with a question.
“You were the one… who applied this?”
“Yeah… I got the blood to stop somehow, that’s the limits

of my sacred arts. But you might be…”
“Well, of course, your art usage authority couldn’t possibly

compare to mine, but…”
Voicing out her usual harsh words without hesitation as usual, she
turned her lone left eye towards the skies and stared at the bluish-
white full moon.
“The current amount of sacred power in the air isn’t

sufficient to generate the number of luminous elements
necessary to regenerate my lost eye at all. It will likely
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remain impossible until Solus rises.”
“Then, if you convert some sort of high priority ob– no,

item on you into sacred power… like that armor, perhaps…”
“The art to return equipment into sacred power itself, too,

requires no small amount of sacred power. Have you not
learnt that in the academy?”
Alice put on a mildly exasperated face before hardening her

expression and speaking.
“It still hurts and my right field of vision is slightly

deprived, but neither would serve much obstacle in combat. I
do not mind staying in this state for the time being.”
“B-But…”
“—And I wish to hold onto this sensation for a little longer.

This pain; this proof of my resolve to do battle with the Axiom
Church I had trusted in for these many years…”
I could do naught but nod with her saying that. Knight Alice would
have to cut open a path to obtain a fate chosen by her own hand in
the battles happening from now on.
“…Got it. I’ll have your right if we have to fight.”
Replying thus, I shifted my sight towards the grand staircase.
“Well, sorry to rush you, but let’s get going. Eugeo seems
to be quite a few floors below judging from the umbra
element earlier.”
To be accurate, I had searched for the Blue Rose Sword’s current

position, rather than Eugeo’s, but he wouldn’t let his beloved sword
out from his grasp until something major had happened. Upon
hearing my words, Alice, too, looked towards the stairs and nodded.
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“Allow me to lead the way, I am familiar with the way…
though I suppose we are only heading down the stairs.”
Without granting me a chance to slip a word after her

proclamation, she began walking with her boots making a clicking
sound. I hurriedly followed behind.
Nothing more than a chilly draft blew from the grand staircase
heading downwards at the northern end of the floor, the presence of
humans was utterly lacking beyond the darkness. Signs of life from
the inhabitants of the Central Cathedral was already boundlessly
faint even on the lower floors, but this place near the top brimming
with viscid dreariness could practically get it classified as a beautiful
ruin. One could hardly believe this was the pivotal organization
reigning over the whole of the Human World.
If I recall right, the top of the Axiom Church should have a bunch of
people called elders, aside from the Integrity Knight Order, but I
wonder why haven’t we caught sight of any of them even after
coming this high.
Positioning myself on Alice’s right after she started descending the

stairs in advance, I softly voiced my misgiving. The knight quickly
frowned when I did and replied in a whisper as well.
“To be perfectly honest… not even us, the integrity

knights, have been briefed on the full picture behind the
elders. We have heard of a department named the Chamber
of Elders on the floors above, from the ninety-sixth, but the
knights were barred from entering and…”
“Huh… —In the first place, what do those elders’ work

involve?”
“……The Taboo Index.”
Alice’s voice became increasingly grave.
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“Confirming and inspecting the Human World’s inhabitants’
compliance to the Taboo Index… that’s the elders’ work. And
the integrity knights are dispatched to deal with the situation
whenever one who breaks a taboo appears. The order for me
to head towards the Sword Mastery Academy in North
Centoria to arrest Eugeo and you, too, was one from the
elders.”
“…I see… So, in other words, the Chamber of Elders does

the highest minister’s work in her place, huh? But it’s pretty
amazing that cautious Administrator granted them such a
high authority. Or maybe the elders have their memories
suppressed like the integrity knights as well…”
Alice scowled while shaking her head at my words.
“Please don’t mention anything concerning memories. I

would be troubled if my left eye started hurting this time
round.”
“S-Sorry. But I think it’s okay now… Nothing really

happened to Eugeo after he broke through the seal once
too…”
“…I hope so too.”
I looked at Alice softly caress the eye patch over where her right
eye was while recalling what had happened on the terrace outside.
Despite trembling time after time before she made up her mind to
revolt against the church and fight against the highest minister, the
«piety module» that should have been inserted into her fluct light
through that process hadn’t turned unstable in the slightest. I had
guessed that the «memory fragment» stolen from Alice by
Administrator was of her little sister, Selka, or her childhood friend,
Eugeo, but unlike with Eldrie, that purple prism showed no sign of
leaving her forehead, both when she met with Eugeo at the Sword
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Mastery Academy and when she heard Selka’s name.
In that case, what exactly are the contents of the memories stolen
from Alice and in Administrator’s possession?
There wasn’t any point in bothering with that now. After all, if we
get Cardinal to conduct a so-called «reverse synthesis», Alice would
regain her former memories and her integrity knight persona walking
at my side right now would vanish…
My feet moved automatically as I became aware of a soft throbbing

in my chest. Our footsteps were all that reverberated in the grand
staircase, silent as a cemetery, in the middle of the night.
Upon passing a landing covered in red carpeting for the fifth time,
the stairs downward cut off and a gigantic door took their place. We
did ignore the floors from ninety-fourth to ninety-first, but there
weren’t any traces of battle left on the floor and walls thus far.
I gave a look that asked, “Here?”, to Alice who stopped in her

tracks.
“Yes… The ninetieth floor’s large bath is just ahead. Oji-

sama certainly wouldn’t have chosen such a place to
intercept him… or so I would think, but that man is simply…”
Gulping down the rest of her words, Alice raised her right hand and
placed it against the double doors. The thick marble slab easily
turned without making any noise.
White mist surged forth as a whole from inside in that instant and I
instinctively averted my face.
“Woah… this is some amazing steam. Just how huge is this

bath, I practically can’t see anything in front of me.”
That wasn’t entirely true of course, but it would be so nice to strip

my sweat-soaked clothes and jump into the warm water… with those
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thoughts in my mind, I took a step in. There, I finally noticed the
white mist sticking to my whole body wasn’t anything like steam
rising from hot water, but a cold wave caused by extremely low
temperatures.
It appeared this was beyond Alice’s expectations as well, seeing as

she let out a small sneeze—while I let a huge one rip. I highly doubt
it was pushed aside by my breath, but the white veil smoothly
diverged left and right. The now-exposed, panoramic view of the
large bath struck me into standing still.
It must have used up the entire cathedral floor, with the wall on
the other end so far away it appeared white and hazy. The bath took
up nearly all of the floor area and was halved by the path stretching
straight out from where Alice and I stood, but each of them were a
pool with a size of fifty meters, or so they appeared to me.
However, what was truly frightening was how the left side, which
should have been brimming with hot water, was now frozen pure
white.
Even the water flowing from a spout installed at the corner of the
bath, made in the resemblance of a beast’s head, had turned into a
curved icicle, an indication that it froze over in an instant. This was,
of course, no natural phenomenon and should be acknowledged as a
result brought about by some large-scale sacred art.
However, it was no simple task to freeze over this quantity of hot

water in an instant. If the usual freezing arts done through cryogenic
elements were used, it would require ten high ranking users at the
very least, wouldn’t it?
I went forward towards the left and down the stairs that served as
the edge of the bath, then placed my foot upon the white and
hardened ice surface. The ice didn’t even creak with my entire
weight upon it while my black sword was still on me. The depths
must have been frozen all the way through to the bottom.
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“…Just who and why…”
I muttered, dumbfounded, as I pushed through the lingering mist,

my feet taking several steps forward before they treaded onto
something hard. A fleeting noise rang out from that before breaking
apart in that instant. Frowning and taking a look downwards, I saw
that there appeared to be numerous more round lumps scattered on
the ice surface. Reaching my hand out, I broke one off and brought it
before my face.
It—had several blue, translucent petals in bloom, a rose made

from ice.
“……!!”
I had caught sight of this several times before. When I fought

against Deputy Knight Commander Fanatio Synthesis Two on the
fiftieth floor of the cathedral, «Grand Cloister of Spiritual Light»—or
when I fought with Integrity Knight Alice Synthesis Thirty on the
eightieth floor, «Cloudtop Garden». Eugeo’s armament complete
control art, used to stop their movement, gave birth to ice flowers
like these.
In other words, what froze over the whole of this gigantic bath was
not a sacred art, but…
“……Eugeo…”
A chime rang out as Alice came down beside me as I muttered. She

murmured hoarsely with her left eye opened wide in shock.
“Goodness… Eugeo was the one who did this…?”
“Yeah, no mistake about that. It’s his Blue Rose Sword’s

armament complete control art. …Honestly, I never imagined
it could be this powerful…”
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Eugeo mentioned that his armament full control art was meant for
restricting movement, but this was ridiculous. A person would have
all of his or her Life drained in an instant just by getting caught up in
this icy hell.
He might have truly driven away the knight of legend, Bercouli… I

pondered while anxiously scanning around. The umbra element
searching for the Blue Rose Sword had certainly indicated
somewhere around here, thus Eugeo should be near this sword as
well.
That then happened. Alice let out a soft “Ah” by my side.
“……!”
I sharply drew in a breath in the next moment. Around twenty

meters away, following the knight’s sight, was a visibly large
silhouette. That was unmistakably the contour of a human’s
shoulders and head. Someone was buried within the ice.
After exchanging glances with Alice, we both kicked through the

ice roses at our feet as we started running. But I immediately
realized that the silhouette buried in the ice clearly wasn’t Eugeo.
Both his shoulder breadth and his neck thickness were several times
as burly as Eugeo’s.
I slackened my speed from disappointment and wariness, but on

the other hand, Alice cried out shrilly and ran even quicker.
“Oji-sama…!”
She rushed over to the frozen silhouette without restrain.
—That’s Knight Commander Bercouli!? Then where had Eugeo

went…!?
I sped up once again even in my discomposure. By the time I got

there several seconds later, Alice was already kneeling before the
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giant half-buried in ice, her two hands grasped together tightly as
she wringed out a half-scream.
“Oji-sama…! Your Excellency, Knight Commander! What

had happened that you were…!?”
Shouldn’t Alice have already known of the Blue Rose Sword’s

ability after experiencing Eugeo’s armament full control art firsthand
on the eightieth-floor? My doubts were cleared immediately.
The large man sunk chest-deep within the thick ice was not merely
frozen. His shoulders, bulging with muscles, his neck, thick as a log,
and his masculine facial features with the edge of a war sword were
all dyed in an inanimated grey.
“…This… isn’t Eugeo’s armament full control art…”
Still kneeling down, Alice gently nodded when I muttered in a daze.
“…I believe so as well. I have heard about this from oji-

sama a long time ago. That the chief elder is granted the
authority to turn each and every human to stone… and that
includes even the integrity knights. I believe that art was
named… «Deep Freeze», if I recall right.”
“Deep… freeze. But why… Shouldn’t he be a vital source of

combat might for suppressing us intruders right now?”
“…Oji-sama seemed to hold faint distrust against the

instructions handed down by the Chamber of Elders…
However, he believed peace without the Axiom Church’s rule
was impossible like I once did and continued fighting through
the endless days. Regardless of the authority the chief elder
may possess, this… this treatment is definitely unwarranted,
whatever the circumstances might have been!!”
Tears overflowing from Alice’s left eye trickled to her knees as she
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cried out with her head hung down. Without even attempting to wipe
her cheeks, Alice reached out with both hands and clung to the
petrified Bercouli. The drops of tears falling through the air landed
onto the knight commander’s cheeks and scattered as light particles.
That was when it happened.
Bishii! That noise hammered my ears.
Alice sprang to her feet and fixed her eyes upon Bercouli’s neck. As
though the meager heat from Alice’s tears were dissolving through
the petrification, thin cracks formed upon him. The cracks instantly
multiplied and miniscule fragments burst off.
The ashen stone sculpture crackled on its own and its neck slowly,
sluggishly turned as Alice and I looked on in amazement.
Before long, the stone figure, with its head finally turned upwards,
started developing cracks near its mouth this time round. Those
broken pieces that must have been living flesh and blood a few hours
ago continued falling off without stop.
Judging from the name, deep freeze, it seemed probable that

command completely froze not just the Underworld inhabitants’
physical bodies, but their minds as well. It was different from being
painted over with plaster in the real world. They would be denied
from all possible motions as instructed by their absolute god, the
system. And this man was smashing through that with the might of
his will.
“Oji-sama… stop, stop it! Your body will shatter, oji-

sama!!”
Alice shouted out in a voice streaked with tears. However, Knight

Commander Bercouli ceaselessly struggled against god and his
eyelids finally lifted up as remarkably loud breaking noises rang out.
His eyes were dyed in the same grey as his skin, but his irises
quivered like the surface of water and slightly regained a shade of
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pale, bluish grey. I could vividly feel the strength of will coming from
the man’s two eyes.
His mouth formed a broad grin as fragments endlessly flaked off

him and a terribly hoarse—yet stout voice streamed out from there.
“…Hey, lil’ miss. You don’t hafta cry that hard… it’s ruining
your beauty.”
“Oji-sama…!!”
“Stop worrying already… It’s not like I would kick the

bucket from a single art like this, right? Instead…”
Bercouli stopped his words for a moment and stared at Alice’s

crying face right before him, along with the impromptu bandage
covering its right, before showing a fuzzy smile filled with what
seemed like a father’s love.
“So that’s it… lil’ miss, you’ve finally… crossed that wall,
huh… The seal I’ve… spent three hundred years without
breaking it… in the right eye…”
“O-Ojisama…… I… I…”
“Don’t make… that face… I’m… glad… Now… there’s

nothing more… I can teach you, lil’ miss…”
“That’s not… that’s not true!! There are still many, many
things that I want you to teach me, Oji-sama…!!”
Making no attempt to hold back her childish weeping, Alice hugged

the knight commander’s neck with both arms once more. A gentle
smile still on his face, Bercouli whispered into Alice’s ear.
“You can definitely do it, lil’ miss… The Axiom Church’s

mistakes… amend them and guide this… twisted world to
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how… it should be……”
I realized that voice was rapidly fading away. The astounding

willpower brought forth by the knight commander’s fluct light was
nearly at its end.
Bercouli’s eyes, losing their light and returning to rock-grey,

suddenly pointed straight towards me. From his unmoving lips, a
grave, hoarse voice poured out.
“Hey, rascal… I’ll leave lil’ Alice… in your… hands.”
“…Right.”
I nodded with just that and the hero of olden times nodded back as
new cracks were carved into his neck. What would likely be his last
words reached my ears on the white, cold air.
“Your… partner was… taken by… the chief elder,

Chudelkin… Probably… to the highest minister’s room…
Hurry… before that kid’s misled… by his muddle of
memories…”
Knight Commander Bercouli turned into a mute stone statue once

more the instant his voice was cut off.
With a dense, white mist covering up to his chest, the countless

cracks carved upon from his neck to his eyes seemed to further
emphasize his valor, fitting of a hero of old.
“……Oji-sama…”
The heartrending voice Alice forced out while clinging to the knight
commander’s shoulders reached my ears as I thought hard over the
meaning behind the words he left.
The person known as Chief Elder Chudelkin had performed the

«Deep Freeze» command upon Knight Commander Bercouli and took
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Eugeo away from this place. Those would be the facts. Taking a look
around, I noticed a perfectly square hole in the ice that seemed as
though it was cut out by a power saw, down to the bottom of the
bath, a short distance away from Bercouli froze.
Eugeo must have definitely activated his ice roses art with the
resolution to bring it into a stalemate. And the chief elder who barged
in had cut Eugeo out with the ice, then took him up towards
Administrator’s room. However, those words the knight commander
left behind bothered me, about some muddle of memories. I’m not
one to believe that Eugeo would yield to brainwashing that easily
with what I knew about him, but I couldn’t even begin to imagine
what trickery Administrator could resort to, with her ability to alter
fluct lights directly.
Staring at the shaft as I pondered, I noticed something glittering as

it caught the light deep within the smoothly carved out portion.
Stepping up towards the hole, I stared hard into it and saw a single
long sword stabbed into the bath’s base. I couldn’t possible mistake
its elegant shape even through those few centimeters of ice. It was
Eugeo’s beloved sword, the Blue Rose Sword.
My unease heightened all the more upon seeing that beautiful

sacred instrument that could practically be called part of Eugeo’s self
left alone at the bottom of the ice. I took a glance at Alice still
clinging onto Bercouli, then drew my black sword from the left of my
waist and lightly stuck its point straight down, right above the Blue
Rose Sword buried in ice. I put strength into the handle I held with an
underhand grip for an instant.
Pikii! That loud noise rang out as the ice was smashed vertically
down, crumbling into the shaft at its side. Kneeling down on the ice, I
covered the mostly exposed Blue Rose Sword’s handle with my left
hand and slowly pulled on it despite needing to endure its relentless
chill, of some negative Celcius degree, stabbing into my skin. The
sword put up a little resistance, but was soon drawn out without any
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noise as miniscule shards of ice fell off it.
When I stood up with the black sword in my right hand and the
Blue Rose Sword in my left, various joints of mine creaked in protest
at their weight. It was only natural, holding onto two sacred
instruments with high priorities, but I couldn’t simply give up here.
After all, our valet trainees, Ronye and Tieze, had bloodied their
hands to bring these swords to us while we were being taken away to
the cathedral.
I’m the one in charge of getting this Blue Rose Sword to Eugeo this
time.
Taking yet another look around me, I saw a familiar white leather
sheath left on the frosty ice surface. Putting the black sword back to
the left of my waist, I picked up that fallen sheath and stored the
Blue Rose Sword into it. After a bit of thought, I hung the second
sword on the right side of my belt, somehow attaining the balance to
move around.
I took a deep breath as I turned around and found Alice standing

before me, apparently gotten there without my notice. She wiped
away the tears from her left eye with her sleeve and spoke in a
slightly blunt tone, perhaps to hide her embarrassment.
“…The only ones who would hold two swords are those
eccentric upper class nobles capable only of grandstanding…
but it fits you well enough, strangely.”
“Hm? Oh really…”
I couldn’t help but give a wry smile. Certainly, I lived on as a solo

player fighting with two swords equipped in my SAO days, but maybe
due to the long while I spent hiding my skills, having someone look at
me with dual blades brought a sense of unease.
No—that might not be all to it; I might be holding some fear for
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that grandiose other existence of mine, that Kirito who cleared the
death game SAO with dual blades, somewhere in my heart… or
perhaps repugnance. No matter how anyone would try to convince
me, I would gladly pass on taking up that role for a second time.
“…Even so, swinging two swords at the same time would be

simply impossible.”
Alice candidly nodded in agreement when I said so while shrugging

my shoulders.
“Wielding two swords would render you unable to use the

important secret skills, after all. Even if we ignored that fact,
there is clearly no benefit in equipping two swords. In any
case… if that sword was left behind, I suppose Eugeo must
have already been taken away to the esteemed highest
minister… It would serve us best to hurry, that person’s
actions are beyond what human could think up of…”
“…Have you talked to her before? Have you talked to

Administrator?”
“Only once.”
Alice’s facial expression went rigid as she nodded at my question.
“That would be six years ago now… but when I woke up

with all of my past memories lost as an integrity knight
apprentice, I met the esteemed highest minister, «the one
who summoned me» and the mouthpiece of the gods in the
Human World. She was a slender and beautiful person who
appeared to have never held anything of considerable
weight, let alone swords… but her eyes…”
She continued murmuring while hugging herself with her two arms.
“Those silver eyes were like mirrors, reflecting all light…
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Yes, I understand now. I must have been stricken with dread.
What drove me to never go against her, to trust in all of her
words, and to give all of myself to her was an overwhelming
sense of fear… I am sure of that now.”
“Alice…”
Feeling slight unease, I stared at the knight’s crestfallen face.
However, as though she had read my mind, Alice took in a deep

breath, then raised her line of vision and nodded.
“I am fine. I have already decided. To do what I believe to

be right, for my little sister living in the faraway north… the
family I have never met, as well as the general populace.
—Oji-sama knew of the seal placed on our right eyes. In other
words, the one who managed the integrity knights, Bercouli
Synthesis One, had definitely not blindly believed the Axiom
Church’s rule to be benevolent. Coming down to this floor
hadn’t been any help in regards to saving your partner, but I
am glad I could meet with oji-sama… I will not let my heart
waver any longer.”
Alice lowered her waist and gently stroked the petrified Bercouli’s
cheeks. But that only lasted a brief moment and she turned back,
firmly stepping on the ice as she began walking back towards where
we came from.
“Now, let’s hurry. The chief elder might stand in our way
before we can face off the esteemed highest minister.”
“H… hey, is it okay leaving the knight commander like

that?”
I asked after getting beside her in a half-run and Integrity Knight

Alice casually spoke with a keen light in her left eye.
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“That would be settled if we string up the chief elder,
Chudelkin, and get him to release the art… or perhaps if we
cut him down.”
The thought that I definitely didn’t want this knight back as my

enemy crossed my mind as I walked on, enduring the weight of the
two swords.
Alice and I stopped upon returning to the ninety-fifth floor,

«Morning Star Lookout», after running through another five floors
worth of stairs, though against gravity this time round.
Unlike me, breathing hard due to the Blue Rose Sword hanging off
the right of my waist, the great integrity knight had that unchanging
tranquil expression on despite how there shouldn’t be much
difference between the weight of our equipment. I could practically
feel a chill from her snow white skin and blue eye, filled with resolute
determination, as she looked up towards the stairs continuing to the
next floor.
“…Listen to me while you catch your breath. The elders

shouldn’t be much different from the common folk in terms of
close-range combat with weapons, but their sacred arts
usage authority exceeds even ours, the integrity knights’.
Even if the air barely has any sacred power like now, they
would likely use catalyst crystals gathered from the rose
garden and launch an unending barrage of long-range arts at
us.”
“For opponents like that… bringing it into close-range, with a

sneak attack, would be the norm… huh.
Alice curtly nodded at me when I cut into the conversation while

puffing and panting.
“This is no time to worry about how we fight. It will be best

if we managed to approach without their notice, but there is
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no guarantee we could. If we were to fail in our surprise
attack, I’ll have you charge in while I guard against their
sacred arts with my sword’s full control art.”
“…So I’m the one attacking, huh…”
With me showing a depressed look at the prospect of fighting

against the magic-type enemies that I disliked, Alice’s left eyebrow
jerked up and she let loose with that usual sarcasm she had a gift for.
“I won’t mind reversing the roles. But in that case, I’ll have
to ask you to defend against those sacred arts.”
“Yeah, got it, I’ll do it.”
Certainly, my black sword was currently recovering its Life and I

wasn’t sure if it could even use its full control art. If possible, I would
honestly like to preserve it until the battle against the highest
minister. In the first place, my special skill, summoning that huge,
umbra-elemental spear that originated from the Gigas Cedar, was
lacking in type of functionality the «flower storm» from Alice’s sword
had, even if it might have the destructive might to turn a situation
around.
Alice solemnly spoke as I nodded away.
“I might cast a healing art from the back if I get in the

mood. Go berserk all you like, but leave the chief elder,
Chudelkin, alive. If he is as I recall, he should be a small man
dressed in a jester costume in shades of vivid blue and red.”
“…That’s one… outfit that throws all sense of dignity to the

wind.”
“That may be so, but don’t make light of him. Aside from
that terrible «Deep Freeze» art, he should have many quick
and powerful arts under his control… he does have the most
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capability in the arts in the church, behind the highest
minister, after all.”
“Yeah, I know. Those who look like runts at first glance

always turn out to be the most troublesome in quests.”
Alice spared only a brief moment to make a wary expression at my

words before she turned her pointed gaze towards the ascending
stairs and spoke out a “well, then” with strength.
“—Let’s get going.”
What awaited us, upon running up a floor on the grand staircase,

silencing our footsteps as much as we could in our hurry, was a
particularly narrow, dimly-lit passage and a black door that shut off
the rest of it.
The breadth of the passage illuminated by an eerie green lamp

was a meter and a half at most. Narrow enough that two would have
to take care when passing by each other. The single door further in,
too, was small. Alice and I were barely able to pass through without
hitting our heads against it, but well-built men the likes of Knight
Commander Bercouli would have to bend over quite a bit, wouldn’t
they?
This sight simply didn’t feel right. Normally, the stronghold of the
strongest enemy—the «last dungeon» in short, would get
increasingly extravagant and gaudy in layout and furnishing the
further one explored, wouldn’t it? The floors really had been
generous with their decorations and floor area usage up until the
«Morning Star Lookout» just a floor below.
So what was with this cramp space after we had gotten a hair’s
breadth away from the highest floor?
“…This is the «Chamber of Elders» that you mentioned

earlier… right?”
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“I do believe so, but… —We will know after entering.”
She stepped into the passage, her golden hair aflutter, as though
to shrug away her doubts.
Having begun to think that there might be traps set in this narrow
space, I instinctively tried to pull her back, but immediately
reconsidered and ran after her. They couldn’t possibly have set traps
in anticipation of intruders in an area this far inside the Axiom
Church. Even if there were any, they would probably be proudly
displayed like the minions lining the outer wall.
The narrow path of roughly twenty meters let its intruders pass
without incident and we reached the small door.
Exchanging glances, we both nodded before I, in the offensive role,

reached out and held the doorknob, which was small as well, with my
right hand. The door was unlocked; the knob turned far too easily
with a click and it smoothly opened when pulled.
I could distinctly feel a sort of presence in the chilly air blew out
from the dim interior—to use an analogy, it was like that desolation I
felt whenever I opened the boss rooms’ doors in Aincrad’s labyrinths,
inducing goose bumps over my back.
That said, I couldn’t very well tell Alice to swap in as the vanguard
now. Firmly pulling open the door, I stooped slightly as I looked in.
The narrow path continued a little more and expanded into a

barely illuminated, dark space. A faint violet light seemed to be
flickering away, but I couldn’t see where it came from.
It was in that moment I timidly passed through the door that what
sounded like grouchy curses reached my eyes. Stopping in my steps,
I pricked up my ears. It wasn’t a single person’s voice. There were
several—perhaps even several tens of people muttering over each
other. Alice whispered, “Those are sacred arts”, from behind and I
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replied in agreement, holding my breath.
I braced myself, expecting multiple attacks aimed at us, but that

was apparently not the case. The word, «generate», crucial for
offensive arts line, was absent from the fragments of commands I
could hear.
I inclined my head, pondering what sort of art it could be, and Alice
urged me on with whispers.
“Let us rush in. If the elders are casting some great art
unrelated to us, that would actually be in our favor. We might
even be able to get within sword fighting range if we slip
among their voices in this darkness.”
“…Yeah, that’s right. Like we planned, I’ll be the first to go.

My back’s yours.”
Whispering back, I slowly drew my black sword from the left of my

waist. I did think that the Blue Rose Sword at the right of my waist
might become a burden in combat, but that wasn’t enough to make
me leave it in a place like this. Confirming that Alice had drawn her
Fragrant Olive Sword, I stepped forth once more.
Upon closing in to the shadowy space, I noticed a sort of

unpleasant stench mixed into the cold air. It was unlike the stench of
beasts or blood, similar to rotting food. Shrugging my thoughts off
that, I pressed my back against the passage’s wall while peeking into
the dim area known as the «Chamber of Elders».
It was spacious—or rather, it was tall.
The floor was circular with a diameter of roughly twenty meters.

The winding wall stretched up high, probably three floors worth of
the cathedral, the ceiling sinking into the darkness. In terms of its
structure, it bore a slight resemblance to the Great Library Room
Cardinal lived in.
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There weren’t any sort of lamps; the only sources of light were
several blinking, faint, violet lights around the walls. Aside from that,
there were round objects arranged uniformly with the same short
gaps, but I couldn’t recognize them.
A new light then came to life rather close to us. A rectangular

plane shimmering pale purple—a «Stacia Window». And those
spheres further in were……
The heads of humans.
So that meant every one of those round things lined up in this

cylindrical hall—
“…De-Decapitated heads…?”
A hoarse voice escaped me and Alice, behind me, let out a whisper
at the lowest possible volume from my left.
“No, they seem to be attached to bodies, but… they appear

to be growing from the wall…”
I desperately focused my eyes at her words. Certainly, a neck and

shoulders were below those round heads, but those were all I could
see. After all, their bodies were cleanly withdrawn in the rectangular
boxes mounted on the wall.
Judging from the modest sizes of the boxes, their limbs must have
been folded as far as they could be bent inside. I could hardly think
that environment was pleasant, but the boxed humans seemed
entirely unconscious of the situation they were in. After all, their
faces thrust out from the boxes completely lacked any sort of
emotion.
They grew no hair, not on their head, their face, lacking even
eyebrows; the two glassy eyeballs sunk in their pallid faces gazed
upon the Stacia Window floating right before them in a daze. The
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windows displayed flowing lines of text in a minute font and at each
pause, the boxed humans voiced out monotonously from their
colorless lips.
“System call… display rebelling index…”
My whole body stiffened the moment I heard that voice unfitting

for one among the living.
“They… they are… from back then…!?”
“Do you know of them!?”
Alice rapidly responded to my groan. Taking glances at the knight’s

face, I faintly nodded.
“Yeah… Two days ago, right after we fought against Raios

and Humbert at the Sword Mastery Academy, something like
a window appeared in a corner of the room. The white face
that looked at Eugeo and I from in there… was definitely
those guys…”
Alice pricked her ears towards the boxed humans’ voices once
again at my words, then spoke with a scowl.
“The art they’re chanting… I have no memory of it

whatsoever, but they seem to be dividing the Human World
into small divisions and displaying some sort of value. I don’t
know what that value represents, though.”
“A value…”
The moment I parroted those words, a voice flashed back in my

mind.
—And within those hidden parameters, there exists one called

«Transgression Quotient».
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—Administrator quickly noticed this transgression quotient
parameter could be used to reveal the humans skeptical of the Taboo
Index she established….
The young sage in the Great Library Room, Cardinal, was the one
who told me that. There was no more room for doubts. The sacred
words, «Rebelling Index», voiced out by those boxed humans must
be the transgression quotient* Cardinal spoke of, which in other
words, meant that the tens of boxed humans in this space were
currently checking through the transgression quotients of every
single person living in the Human World.
If they were to detect an abnormal value, the boxed humans would

peek into that location, identify the one who committed the taboo,
and report it. The person who received the report would then instruct
the integrity knights to arrest the criminal. This was how Eugeo and I,
and Alice as well, were taken away to the cathedral…
I was standing still in mute surprise when a buzzer-like beeping

suddenly rang out. Alice and I both instinctively steeled our grips on
our swords, but apparently, we hadn’t been discovered. After all, the
boxed humans who stopped chanting those commands en masse,
were looking straight up, rather than down.
I hadn’t noticed until now, but something resembling a faucet

stuck up straight above their heads. The boxed humans all opened
their mouths and a gooey, brown fluid suddenly flowed out from the
faucets. They caught that with their mouths and drank it down
mechanically. Some of the fluid spilled from their mouths, staining
their necks and chests. That was likely where the stench of rot came
from.
The buzzer rang again before long and the supply of liquid food
ceased. The boxed humans rotated their head back forward and
resumed chanting the commands. System call… system call…
—This couldn’t be considered any way to treat humans any longer.
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No, I couldn’t permit such terrible treatment, even towards cows
and sheep.
I grinded my teeth, holding back the indignation welling from deep

inside, just as Alice uttered out in a deep, tense voice.
“And these… are supposed to be the elders, of the Axiom

Church, governing the Human World?”
I shifted my vision and saw the integrity knight glaring into the
space, her single, blue eye ablaze with light. It didn’t come to mind
until she mentioned it, but that certainly would be the conclusion.
These tens of boxed humans were the elders, the higher civil
servants of the Axiom Church.
“And the one who brought forth such a sight, too… was the
highest minister, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah… that’s likely.”
I nodded slightly at Alice’s words.
“They must have been humans excelling at the sacred arts,

though with poor combat potential, kidnapped from all over
the Human World who had their emotions and thoughts
sealed away and reformed into these observation
instruments called elders…”
Yes, they were nothing more than mere instruments here.

Instruments to overlook the maintenance of the flawless peace… or
perhaps, stasis, of the entire Human World under the reign of the
Axiom Church. The wretchedness of these elders’ fates eclipsed even
the that of the integrity knights who lost the memories of those
precious to them. Administrator’s rule had continued on for several
hundreds of years on the backs of these victims.
Alice’s face slowly slipped down and her lightly fallen golden hair
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hid her expression.
“…I can’t forgive her.”
Perhaps projecting its master’s rage, the Fragrant Olive Sword

gripped in her right hand let out a soft chime.
“No matter what crime they had committed, were they not
still given life as humans? To… deprive them of human
intelligence and emotion, not stopping at simply robbing
them of their memories like the knights were, and shutting
them away in small boxes with meals inferior to even that of
beasts… there is neither honor nor justice in this place.”
Alice boldly raised her face the moment her words ended and she
stepped into the hall without faltering. I chased after her in panic.
The elders’ vision stayed firmly on the Stacia Windows despite the
arrival of this female knight, glittering beautifully even in the depths
of darkness. Alice moved to the left and stood before a single box. I
stared at the elder’s pallid face from diagonally behind.
I couldn’t tell its age, or even its gender from up close. Were its
human characteristics robbed from their essence in the endless
months and years since getting bound in this lightless hall, no,
prison?
Alice then smoothly brought the Fragrant Olive Sword in her right
hand up. I thought she intented to break the box, but its golden edge
was neatly placed where the elder’s heart should be. Swallowing my
breath, I sounded out a short whisper.
“Alice…!”
“Do you not believe that severing its life… would be an act
of mercy?”
I had no immediate answer for that question.
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From the circumstances, even if they were to reunite with their
«memory fragment»—if there was even one preserved—they might
not return to how they were… the elders’ fluct lights were broken
beyond salvage, rendering repair impossible; I couldn’t help but to
think that.
However, Cardinal, or maybe Administrator could still grant them a

hope that was an improvement over death at the very least. With
that in my mind, I thought to place my hand on Alice’s golden
epaulet to restrain her.
However, a queer noise reverberated through the hall a moment

sooner and frozen both Alice and I in our tracks.
“Aah… aah—!”
It was a person’s screeching, shrill cry.
“Aah, no way, aah, that is such a waste, oh, highest

minister, aah, you mustn’t, aah, ooh—!!”
Alice and I exchanged expressions of doubt at that list of senseless

interjections.
I have no memory of that tone of voice. It didn’t seem to be from

someone young, but still, I doubt it was from someone elderly. All I
could be sure of, was that the owner of that voice was so excited that
he or she had lost all sense of reason.
As though cold water had been thrown on her fury, Alice withdrew
her blade and stared towards where the voice came from. I, too,
turned my sight in that direction.
Further into the cylindrical hall was a widely opened passage like
the one we entered from. The shrill voice carried out from inside
intermittently.
“……”
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Let’s go; Alice seemed to imply as she pointed towards the
passage with her sword. Replying with a nod, we began moving with
our footsteps silenced.
The hall lacked any pillars or furnishing that we could hide

ourselves behind and it took a little courage to cross straight through
the middle of the floor, but the tens of humans stationed on the walls
had no eyes for us which implied that the liquid food coming out from
the faucets were all that existed in their worlds. I couldn’t help but
pity the underground jailer or the girl in charge of the elevator when I
found out about their circumstances, but saying that the elders were
tragic was an outright understatement.
At the same time, I could only say that I could make no sense of
that person letting out that loud, writhing voice so close to this
horrifying place. At the very least, I was sure it couldn’t be an ally.
Alice apparently thought the same as a pronounced shade of anger

different from earlier appeared on her pale profile. Cutting a straight
line through the hall with her footsteps suppressed, Alice peeked in
from the entrance to the inner passage. I, too, examined the state of
affairs from right behind her.
Beyond the passage, just as strangely narrow as its entrance, was

a sizable room, though smaller than the hall. Though modest, it was
illuminated, allowing us to see the interior without trouble.
My first impression was that of a extremely bizarre room.
Every single piece of furniture glittered with a crass golden color.

From the large ones, like the drawers and bed, to the small, round
table and storage boxes; they all gleamed dazzlingly as they
reflected the lighting, stabbing into my eyes even from this distance.
And what jutted out from those golden furniture or laid atop them,
were countless toys of various types, both big and small.
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Most were stuffed toys in loud primary colors. From human dolls,
with buttons for eyes and yarn for hair, to animals like dogs and cats,
horses and cattle, even some monsters I couldn’t identify, in their
repulsive forms; they were here, there, and everywhere on the floor
and bed, piled up into heaps. There were also building bricks,
wooden horses, musical instruments, and such aside from those, as if
the toy shop from Centoria’s fifth district had been carted here.
And the owner of that voice sat half-buried in there, back facing us.
“Hoooooh!! Hoooooooh!!”
Similarly, the being that had degenerated into hurling out

meaningless exclamations, one after another, could be described
only as bizarre.
Round. A round head rode atop a nearly spherical torso just like a
snowman. But it wasn’t white; it was clad in a jester outfit, colored
red on the right and blue on the left. The sleeves covering its stumpy
arms had vertical stripes of red and blue as well; a sight that seemed
like it would hurt if stared at too hard.
The round head was pure white and utterly bald like the elders
behind, but unlike them, its surface was glossy with grease. A hat in
the same boorish shade of gold as the furniture sat on that head.
I put my mouth closer to Alice’s ear as she stood in front and asked
as softly as I could.
“That’s the chief elder…?”
“Yes, that’s Chudelkin.”
The knight’s answer was extremely soft as well, but it came out
with undeniable disgust. I gazed once more at that back covered by
the jester costume.
If he was the chief elder, he should be on equal footing as Knight
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Commander Bercouli as the highest ranking sacred arts user, one
among the Axiom Church’s most important people. But despite that,
the word, “defenseless”, was practically written on his back. His
mind appeared to be completely taken in by something he carried in
his two hands.
I couldn’t see it well due to his round back blocking, but it seemed
that thing Chudelkin was absorbed in looking into was a large glass
ball. His outstretched, short legs wiggled each time colors flickered
within it, along with his exclamations of “hah” or “hoh”.
I figured for sure there would be a tense introduction before a

great battle began, like the fights against Deusolbert and Fanatio,
but just how should I deal with this situation? When I struggled to
think up of a follow-up, Alice suddenly made her move, apparently
unable to hold herself back any longer. With a wholehearted dash
and no attempt to hide her footsteps, to boot.
That said, she only really needed to kick off the ground five times.
Easily leaving me behind as I frantically tried to catch up to the
golden squall that raided the room, Alice had already gotten a tight
grip on the fluttering collar of Chudelkin’s jester outfit and lifted him
up by the time his round neck thought to turn around.
“Hoooooaah!?”
Alice vigorously pulled that round thing, from which a hysterical

voice escaped, out from the sea of stuffed toys and lifted him up
high. Finally caught up there, I first scanned through the entire room.
Of course, I was looking for Eugeo who had been taken away from
the large bathe by Chudelkin, but I couldn’t spot him anywhere.
When I looked towards the middle of the room again in dejection, the
glass ball Chudelkin had been absorbed in caught my eye.
A swirl of light dyed the insides of the glass ball, probably

measuring fifty centimeters from side-to-side at least, showing an
image with depth. A slovenly sitting girl with both legs folded to the
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side atop luxurious sheets. Her face was hidden from view by long
silver hair, but her body was completely unclothed.
It was when my gusto drained away upon realizing this was the
reason behind Chudelkin’s odd squeals that I noticed what appeared
like another person in front of the sitting. I leaned my face in for a
closer look, but perhaps because the art was interrupted off then, the
image flashed white and faded.
Alice, on the other hand, showed no interest in the image from the
very beginning, thrusting the tip of her sword straight towards the
suspended jester’s mouth as she spoke.
“I’ll slice your tongue off from its base the instant it tries
to start the chant for an art.”
The small man’s mouth that was about to scream something aptly
closed after that cold-hearted warning.
Going by the fundamental rule of the Underworld, where all sacred

arts need to be preceded by a «System Call», an art user opponent
would have already lost any advantage upon being forced into such a
posture. But still, I kept my attention on those two short arms while I
gazed at the face of this man—Chief Elder Chudelkin.
Inexplicable; there weren’t many others whose appearance suited

that figure of speech. Bright red lips occupied the bottom half of his
perfectly circular face, a pug nose protruded above that, and his eyes
and eyebrows drew an arc that resembled a smiley.
However, those narrow eyes were now opened as wide as they

managed, their small, black pupils quivering as they stared at Alice.
Those thick lips pursed like a trumpet before long and a voice like
the creaking of rusted metal leaked out from Chudelkin.
“You… number thirty… why are you in a place like thiss?
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You should’ve fallen out of the tower to your death with one
of the traitorss.”
“Don’t call me by a number! My name is Alice. And I’ve no

longer a thirty.”
Chudelkin’s greasy face convulsed at Alice’s reply that had been

tinged with a biting cold and he turned his eyes towards me for the
first time. His two crescent eyes opened into half-moons and heavy
breaths spilled out from his throat.
“Y-Youu, why, how!? Thir… Knight Alice, why do you not cut
down this rascal heree!? He is a rebel against the church…
have I not told you that he was a pawn of the Dark
Territoryy!!”
“Certainly, he is a traitor. But he is no vanguard for the

land of darkness. Just like I am now.”
“Wh… Wha…”
Chudelkin’s short limbs flapped about as though they were one of

the toys the room was filled with.
“S-Soo you plan to betray the church, huuuh, you shitty

excuse for a knighttttt!!”
Perhaps the held sword no longer registered in his vision, but

Chudelkin’s pure white face was dyed bright red in an instant and his
roars of anger reverberated around the room in a voice even more
screechy than his usual.
“You useless integrity knights are always like thiss!! And

you’re mere puppetss!! Just dolls that have to move
according to my commandsss!! How could you do this to Her
Eminencee!! How could you betray the highest minister,
Administratorrr!!”
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Having avoided the saliva scattering from Chudelkin’s mouth by
averting her face, Alice coldly replied without even twitching her
eyebrows at the scorn.
“Was it not the Axiom Church who had turned us into dolls?
After all, you have sealed our memories through the
«Synthesis Ritual», forcibly instilled loyalty inside us, and
made us believe in the deception that we are knights
summoned from the Celestial World.”
“Wha……”
Chudelkin’s face changed, once again, from red to white and his
large mouth flapped.
“Why do you know about…”
“It seems we do have some memories left behind despite

the sealing, faint as they may be. I saw this scene for a
moment when I stepped into the adjacent Chamber of
Elders… a frightened girl, filled with anxiety and fear and
bound in the middle of that hall, who had the walls to her
heart wrenched open by the elders’ many, many arts over a
course of three days and three nights. That is the truth
behind the Synthesis Ritual… My tears of grief and despair
must have once stained the stone floor in that hall when I
was still that little girl.”
Despite Alice’s attempt at controlling herself, Chudelkin’s face

bewilderingly swapped between red and white as he heard her words
that possessed an edge as sharp as a steel blade.
But in the end, Chudelkin, probably the only human who still
retained his own sense of self among the Chamber of Elders, showed
a vulgar, defiant grin.
“Yes… it is just as you’ve saidd. I can still recall it like it
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just happened yesterday, you knoww? The young, untainted,
and oh-so-lovely you, your tears trickling down as you kept
on begging and begging… ‘Please, don’t make me forget…
don’t make me forget about those precious to me…’,
hohoho.”
Looking at Chudelkin imitating a girl’s tone of voice in a repulsive

falsetto, Alice’s eye carried a glow reminiscent of a fervid flame. But
Chudelkin continued with his provocations, resuming his tasteless
monologue.
“Oho, ohoo, of course I remember it! The pleasure I get

from using that sight can still last me an entire night even
now! After brought here from some shitty place in the sticks,
you were first raised as a sister apprentice for two years. You
were such a tomboy, finding a loophole in the daily regimen
and sightseeing at Centoria’s midsummer festival, but still,
you put your all into studying, believing that you would be
able to return back to your hometown one day if you worked
hard enoughh. But you see, that was all nonsense! Right
after your sacred arts usage authority got fattened up
enough, the forced synthesis came! That tear-stained face
you had when you found out you would never return home
was justt… I even thought about turning you to stone like
that, so that I could leave you in my room as a decoration
forever and everr! Hoh, hoh, hoh!!”
I couldn’t stop my right arm, holding onto my sword, from

quivering either upon hearing Chudelkin’s utterly vicious spiel. The
grinding of Alice’s clenched teeth rang out again, but she questioned
the chief elder without losing her self-control.
“There was something strange in what you’ve just said.

Forced synthesis, was it? Wouldn’t that imply there were
some who went through the Synthesis Ritual on their own
free will?”
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The chief elder narrowed his two eyes to lines at that and briefly
laughed.
“Ho-ho, what good ears you have. There are, you know? Six
years ago, you refused to chant that secret art needed for
the usual synthesis so stubbornlyy. ‘My sacred task is still in
my real village, I have no need to listen to your orders!’ and
the like; and you said it with such contemptt!”
It seemed exactly like what Alice would say as a child—I utterly

agreed though I didn’t know the girl back then at all. Perhaps
remembering that as well, the chief elder spat out with his lips curled
in annoyance.
“You were such a shitty, impertinent brat back thenn. I

even thought about asking Her Eminence, the highest
minister, to awakenn, but I couldn’t very well do that before
finishing the preparations for the ritual, you seee. Thus, I had
no choice at all, but to withdraw the automated elders from
their duties for the time being to yank open those walls that
protected all of those that were oh-so-very precious to youu.
Well, I did get my fill of amusement thanks to that show you
put up, thoughh! Hohii, hoh-ho—!”
His shrill guffaws ceased the moment the Fragrant Olive Sword’s
tip got within a centimeter close. However, a grin remained in his
eyes and lips.
The glib words spilling from Chudelkin included several valuable

pieces of information. I did want to hear his answers on various
issues if only Alice could restrain herself, but still, this felt off. Why
had this jester been talking about the secrets so vital to the church
without restraint? He should have cut down on provocations towards
Alice if he wanted his life spared and it didn’t seem like he was
waiting for a chance to counterattack either.
I gathered my thoughts in silence; as though I didn’t register in his
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eyes at all, Chudelkin resumed his reminiscing.
“The first phase of the forced synthesis ended and you

were carried to Her Eminence, the highest minister, by no
other by me, as I will proudly admitt. Regrettably, I couldn’t
watch what happened nextt, but in the end, the ritual
completed and you awoke as an integrity knight, convinced
that you were a herald of the gods, sent down from the
Celestial World, you knoww? Just like every single one of the
other knightss. I almost tore open my stomach, laughing
when I heard you silly knights go on and on about the
Celestial World…”
I noticed Chudelkin’s eyes swaying as he quickly spoke without

stop, suspended in the air. As though he was waiting for something.
In other words, this guy’s long story was just to buy time by binding
us in this room…?
I tried to call out to Alice to tell her so, but the knight opened her
mouth a moment earlier. Her voice, colder than the cold air filling
that large bath, streamed into the gilded room.
“Chief Elder Chudelkin, I thought you might have been a

poor jester who had his life toyed with by the highest
minister, Administrator; a victim like the integrity knights.
But even if that was true, it appears you had your fill of fun
from your own circumstances. I suppose you have no
lingering regrets, then. These stories are starting to bore
me.”
The tip of the Fragrant Olive Sword shifted and pressed against the
middle of the round, bulging jester costume—right on the heart. The
glittering material showed some final resistance as it slightly sank in.
Chudelkin should reveal some new information now if his aim was
to buy time. Perhaps even Eugeo’s location.
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My predictions were easily betrayed a second later.
The golden blade dug deep into the chief elder’s chest as he
stayed silent, his mouth left open in the midst of his words. His
narrow eyes opened wide and his jester costume of red and blue
strained as it swelled. Perhaps to avoid the spurting blood, Alice
swung her face away; it then happened.
Baan! That tremendous explosive noise roared out and Chudelkin’s

perfectly round body shot off like a balloon. A flood of blood dyed
Alice’s armor crimson—not.
“What…”
“Eh…!?”
Both Alice and I let out cries of surprise. What spurted out wasn’t
liquid but gas—fumes colored bright red. It soon spread into the
surroundings, shrouding the entire room of toys.
There were monsters with this special ability in Aincrad too. Their
skin swelled over their whole bodies and whenever they were hit by
anything aside from a blunt-type attack, they would burst open and
spew out a lot of smoke, their real selves escaping somewhere in
that opening.
Having refreshed my memories from back then, I instinctively

swung the sword in my right hand the moment I noticed a long, thin
shadow nimbly crossing past at a corner of my sight. I felt a little
resistance, but all that rolled to my feet from the smoke was a
familiar golden hat.
I stepped forward in pursuit, but the poisonous-looking fumes

assailed my throat with a pricky pain the moment I breathed it in and
drove me into a coughing fit.
“Chudelkin…!!”
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Alice cried out with her left hand covering her mouth and leapt out
in pursuit of the shadow. Chudelkin had escaped not towards the
door connecting to the Chamber of Elders, but deeper into the room.
Thinking about how there shouldn’t be an exit there, I held my breath
and dashed forth as well, with a lowered stance.
However, what we saw beyond the smokescreen was the golden

drawers slid to the right and a hidden passage open behind it. We
peeked in, just in time to see a shadow of a round head atop with a
ridiculously lean body and limbs escaping with agility.
“Hohii!! Hohi—hii-hii-hii-hii—!!:
The piercing laughter reached my ears as I continued coughing.
“Arts aren’t all to a performance, you idiots! Ii—diots!! Go

ahead and come after mee, I’ll put my all into entertaining
you next timee, hoh—hoh, hoh——!!”
The laughter continued like a broken toy’s, alongside short, quick

footsteps.
Alice and I had stopped for a mere five seconds.
We exchanged glances and I took the lead, plunging into the

narrow passage. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be anything
poison in the red fumes I inhaled a little of—though that was based
on the reasoning that Chudelkin wouldn’t have done too well with
poison in his clothes—and the coughing settled down in time too.
The hidden passage fitted Chudelkin and we would knock our

heads on the ceiling if we didn’t stoop. The scratching sounds coming
from behind every now and then must be the sound of Alice’s
shoulder armor scrapping the walls. I, too, continued to run in a rigid
posture while the sheath of the Blue Rose Sword hanging off the right
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of my waist banged into the wall.
Ascending stairs came into sight at the front before long, so we

stood still for a moment before jumping on after confirming there
weren’t any signs of an ambush. Chudelkin’s footsteps had already
vanished and nothing but cold air flowed from our gloomy path.
The stairs were far longer than expected, taking up practically

three of the cathedral’s floors. Judging from the height of the ceiling,
I believe the Chamber of Elders, where those who Chudelkin
described as «automated elders» were housed, made up floors
ninety-six to ninety-eight, so the ninety-ninth floor would likely be at
the end of these stairs.
The battle against the Axiom Church that started from the
underground jail—along with the two-year journey Eugeo and I went
on that started from Rulid Village would end in another two floors. My
partner wasn’t by my side right now, but I should be able to reunite
with him in the highest minister’s room if Knight Commander
Bercouli’s words prove true. I will return his Blue Rose Sword to him
and the three of us, including Alice, will defeat Chudelkin and the
highest minister. And after that……
I lightly shook my head and focused on the faint lighting visible at

the end of the stairs. I had all the time to think about what would
happen next after everything was over. Now was the time to
concentrate on the final battle.
It was when I focused my mind, almost slipping away to the past

and future, back to the present, that I faintly heard the chief elder’s
shrill voice from our path.
“System caaaaall! Generaaate…”
A chant for an elemental art. My wariness spiked, but we couldn’t

stop here. The illumination from in front rapidly closed in.
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“…We’re nearly at the end of the stairs!”
I curtly replied when Alice cried out a warning from behind.
“Watch out for an ambush by sacred arts!”
“Got it!”
Nodding, I braced my black sword in front as I ran. Magic was

handy for surprise attacks in this world where elements could be
prepared and maintained. By generating a thermal element and
changing its form, then standing by, it could be discharged like a
firearm the moment the enemy got within sight.
However, on the other hand, the firepower of arts was determined

solely by the number of elements consumed. A single element used
would basically result in the same firepower, whether it was a
student who just started studying the sacred arts or a top-ranking art
user who had trained for a long time. Many elements could be
manipulated with adequate training, but each element required a
finger to maintain, so the limit at a single time was ten. My black
sword with its nature of absorbing energy could even guard against a
concentrated attack of ten thermal or cryogenic elements.
If Chudelkin was aiming for a surprise attack, it would be less risky

to burst out from the stairs than to cautiously reveal myself. Having
decided that, I sped up and dashed through the few remaining
meters, jumping up high after kicking off the final step.
However, there were neither floods of flames nor downpours of

icicles. Spinning around horizontally in midair, I looked around three
hundred and sixty degrees, but neither Chudelkin nor anyone else
was here. Landing on the marble floor, I pricked up my ears while
down on one knee. All I could hear was Alice’s footsteps chasing after
me.
Alice showed herself the moment I brought my body up. The knight
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scanned through our surroundings like I did, then spoke with a frown.
“I believe I heard chanting, but there isn’t anyone here, is

there… Did Chudelkin give up on a surprise attack and ran
away above… to the hundredth floor…?”
Following Alice’s lead in glancing towards the ceiling, I muttered.
“But there’s just the highest minister’s room up there,

right? Even with his status, the chief elder can’t just enter
without permission, can he?”
“I doubt he can, but… in the first place, where are the

stairs leading up?”
I took another look around the circular room that was probably the
ninety-ninth floor as prompted.
Spacious. The diameter likely measured around thirty meters. The

floor, ceiling, and curving wall were all made from that same marble I
now felt used to, but there were surprisingly little decorative
features. There were just the large lamps curling around the wall at
most, but only four were lit at the moment, so it was dim. Though
that only made sense since the room was pure white all over and
would become blinding if they were all lit.
The stairs connected to Chudelkin’s room where we climbed up

from was wide open at the floor bordering the wall. It had a marble
flip-up door attached and would likely blend in perfectly with the floor
when closed.
In that case, there might be a pull-down door hiding the stairs up

somewhere in the ceiling. I tried searching for any cords or handles
with that in mind, but I couldn’t seem to see anything of that sort.
Guess I might as well hit the ceiling with a sword skill now; that then
happened while I was hardening my grip on the sword in my right
hand.
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“……This room…”
Alice murmured all of a sudden. Turning around, I saw the knight’s

blue left eye opened slightly.
“What is it?”
“……I know this room. This is… where I woke up as an

integrity knight apprentice six years ago……”
“Eeh… you sure!?”
“Yes… All of the wall lamps were lit then… the room shone
radiantly with light… The esteemed highest minister stood in
the middle and talked to me as I laid down. Awaken, child of
the gods… she said…”
Alice must have realized how her speech had gained a respectful
tone too. With a slight grimace, she continued with more strength.
“…The esteemed highest minister gave me, who had lost

my previous memories, a false past and my mission as a
knight, then entrusted me to oji-sama… Knight Commander
Bercouli. There was a depression somewhere on the floor,
like the elevating disk constructed at the middle floors, that
brought oji-sama and me to the ninety-fifth floor back then. I
have never been here again since then.”
“A depression on the floor…?”
Inclining my head, I tried stomping on the marble floor with the

sole of my boots. But I only felt the firmness of thick stone. It would
be silly searching this vast room for a hidden elevator and in the first
place, we had no need for a method to go downstairs.
“Alice, do you remember how Administrator returned to her

room at that time?”
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The knight pondered over my question with a finger from her left
hand on her lips.
“I believe… that immediately before the elevating disk oji-

sama and I rode sank into the floor… the esteemed highest
minister look up at the ceiling… and a small elevating disk
came from above…”
“That’s it!”
Shouting so, I stared a hole into the pure white ceiling once more.
Rather than a pull-down door, there was an elevator hidden
somewhere there. However, I couldn’t find anything like a switch
even with another sweep. There wasn’t anyone in charge unlike the
elevator connecting the fiftieth and eightieth floors, so there must be
some mechanism that automatically raises or lowers it. And that
something…
“Ah… maybe the chief elder’s chant earlier was…”
Alice also had a response for my murmuring.
“It wasn’t an offensive art for a surprise attack, but to

move an elevating disk…? In that case, Kirito, do you recall
what Chudelkin had recited after «generate»?”
“E-Erm…”
Feeling that I couldn’t give “I didn’t hear it” as an answer here, I

frantically replayed my memories from several minutes ago. If I recall
right, following the generate command, the chief elder’s squeaky
voice continued with—
“Lu… Lu-something, I think…”
Alice emitted a freezing cold gaze at me as I agonized to recall the

rest.
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“That much is enough. The only one starting with ‘lu’ would
be the luminous element.”
Not sparing me any further attention as I nodded in agreement,

Alice first returned the drawn sword in her right hand to its scabbard,
then held her ten lithe fingers up towards the ceiling.
“System call! Generate luminous element!”
Amazingly, the number of luminous elements generated was the

theoretical limit of ten. Alice released the white points of light
wandering about her fingertips in a radial pattern without
modification. The luminous elements struck against various spots on
the ceiling, one after another, without making a sound. One among
them all let out a stronger radiance—a circle of light with a diameter
of around one meter appeared on the ceiling while that thought
crossed my mind. Its position wasn’t in the middle, but rather close
to the wall.
I moved beside Alice who had lowered her hands and warily
watched over the phenomenon. The circle of light immediately faded
but didn’t vanish, and eventually, outlined by the boundary, a part of
the marble ceiling smoothly protruded out and gently descended.
The slate with a thickness of over fifty centimeters must be absurdly
heavy, but it moved without any hint of that. The luminous element
must have only served as a switch and the slate used some other
source of energy for its movement, I couldn’t tell how it had been
constructed. It was practically parallel to the various miracles the
sage, Cardinal, displayed in the Great Library Room… no, it must
have been so. What powered this elevator must be just a mere part
of the unfathomable capabilities the highest minister, Administrator,
possessed.
The elevator—or elevating disk, as Alice called it, barely jolted as

landed upon the floor. Its surface was laid over with bright red
carpeting rather than bare marble, mildly gleaming as bluish white
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light rained down from the circular hole in the ceiling.
And the path to the top floor of the Central Cathedral was now
open.
The greatest and last battle will finally begin when Alice and I step
onto that elevating disk and arrive at the hundredth floor.
The initial plan was to stab Administrator with our secret weapon,
that dagger, while she slept and to leave the rest to Cardinal.
However, the highest minister must have awoken with Chudelkin
fleeing to the hundredth floor and in the first place, I had already
used up my dagger to save Deputy Knight Commander Fanatio.
But fortunately, though I wonder if I could consider it so, Knight

Alice had consented to return her personality to the original Alice.
Hence, there was no longer any need for the dagger Eugeo held to be
used on Alice. We would first rescue Eugeo who had been taken to
the hundredth floor before us and was likely still frozen, then stab
Administrator with the dagger while she still had her guard down. We
likely had no chance at winning with any other strategy.
It appeared Alice had steeled own her will as well in the meantime.
Exchanging looks, we nodded once, and spoke.
“…Let’s go.”
“Let us move.”
Thus, Integrity Knight Alice Synthesis Thirty and I, the expert

swordsman-in-training, Kirito, took a step towards the elevating disk
fifteen meters away.
One step, two, three—and it happened.
The pale blue light that was probably moonlight pouring down from
the hole in the ceiling abruptly darkened.
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Glaring beams of bright light shone into my eyes as I stood still and
looked up at the hole. It was the moonlight reflected from an
elegantly designed metal armor. A long mantle fluttered as someone
slowly descended from the hole in the ceiling, six meters high,
covered from head to toe in heavy armor.
Judging from the height, it couldn’t possibly be Chudelkin. I

wondered if the highest minister herself had bothered to come down
to the ninety-ninth floor, but that was a man’s physique. With his
face concealed due to the backlight.
“There was still another integrity knight…?”
I muttered—
“That armor should… no, but still…”
And Alice whispered; the new knight landed upon the elevating
disk with a graceful metallic sound in the next moment. Absorbing
the impact by bending his knees, he gently stood up.
The armor was silver with traces of blue. The surface that seemed
somewhat translucent gleamed brilliantly as it took in the moonlight.
The mantle was a rich blue and as far as I could see, there weren’t
any swords on his waist. His lowered face was hidden by a large
gorget, but his wavy hair was… a mellow flaxen.
A shudder tore through my entire body like a bolt of lightning in

that instant.
That hair color. The color that always accompanied me throughout

these two years I spent in the Underworld.
No way. But still. Why?
In my vision, the knight finally raised his face as I stood still,

assailed by extreme confusion. Green eyes stared straight back from
beyond those somewhat downcast eyelids. I couldn’t deny it any
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longer. The boy who wore the integrity knight armor was……
“………Eugeo……”
I called out his name in a barely audible gasp.
I couldn’t possibly mistake him, of all people, for anyone else. The
peerless friend and partner always with me ever since we met in the
forest south of Rulid. I could have only gotten this far thanks to
Eugeo’s presence by my side. There was absolutely no chance I could
mistake his face for anyone else.
However, the expression Eugeo’s eyes and mouth made as he

silently stood still was unfamiliar. No, that couldn’t be considered as
an expression. It was as inhuman as ice, colder than what Alice had
on when we first encountered her in the Sword Mastery Academy’s
large auditorium.
“Eugeo.”
I called out to him once again, at a reasonable volume this time,

somehow. However, the cold light that filled his two eyes didn’t even
waver slightly. Not that he ignored me. He was currently sizing me
up. Possibly… as an enemy to cut down.
“…It couldn’t be… it’s too fast.”
Alice abruptly murmured by my side and I asked imploringly in

return.
“What is… too fast…?”
“The completion of the ritual.”
Sparing me a glance, the golden knight showed slight hesitation

before speaking out with resolve.
“Your partner… Eugeo had already went through
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synthesis.”
Synthesis—the ritual. Direct manipulation of the fluct light only

Administrator was capable of. Robbing one of one’s memories and
incorporating loyalty… to prepare one as an integrity knight.
“…No way, that’s… but it took three days and three nights
for you…”
Alice calmly replied as I dismissing that thought, childishly shaking

my head.
“The chief elder had said that was because I refused to

recite the art necessary for it. In other words, the three-day
ritual wouldn’t be needed if one recited that art… But still,
this is far too fast. Only mere hours should have passed since
Eugeo fought against oji-sama…”
“That’s right… it’s not real, Eugeo couldn’t have just, so

easily…… This must be some sort of illusionary art or……”
My body haphazardly tried to walk forward, not even conscious of

what I was saying.
But Alice’s left hand firmly gripped my loosely hanging right arm
without warning. Accompanied by a voice at my ear.
“Get a hold of yourself! You won’t be able to salvage

anything by breaking down now!”
“Sal… salvage…?”
“Yes! You said this yourself, that there is a way to give an

integrity knight back their original memories! By that logic,
you can return Eugeo back to normal too! We will have to get
through this situation somehow to do that!!”
A feverish strength of will flowed into me from the wrist touching
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Alice’s palm as she continued her fierce rebukes, breathing life into
my chilly, numb body. I firmly renewed the grip on my black sword
that had apparently almost slipped from my hand.
Yes—Alice was right. Eugeo’s memories and personality definitely

weren’t gone. They were simply denied from surfacing due to an
operation performed on a part of his fluct light.
By taking back the «memory fragment» Administrator had stolen

from him and getting Cardinal to recombine them, Eugeo would
return to the gentle and easygoing swordsman I knew. And for that, I
needed to converse and to gather information. To persuade the
personality currently manipulating Eugeo and to open a path… it
might not even be impossible to gain his cooperation. I got through
to Knight Alice with words in the end, despite how unapproachable
she was.
“…Please leave this to me.”
When I whispered so to Alice, still holding onto my right hand, the

knight showed a little hesitation before she nodded. Releasing her
hand, she quickly spoke while taking a step back.
“Understood. However, do not let your guard down. That

knight… is not the Eugeo you knew any longer.”
“Yeah.”
Alice silently widened our distance after I replied.
To be honest, no matter how strong Eugeo got after turning into an

integrity knight, rendering him powerless would likely be easy with
Alice’s armament full control art—transforming the Fragrant Olive
Sword into countless petals and enveloping the enemy in a lethal
storm. That was how overwhelming Alice’s technique was. However, I
would prefer that as the last resort of last resorts, one used after all
other means were exhausted. I didn’t wish for harm to come to
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Eugeo’s body and making two childhood friends, both with their
memories sealed away, fight each other would be too cruel.
I took a step forward and stared straight into Eugeo’s eyes, the
same old icy light still within them.
“Eugeo.”
My third call was neither jittery nor hoarse.
“Do you recognize me? I’m Kirito… your partner. We’ve

always been together since we left Rulid two years ago,
right?”
The boy wrapped in bluish silver armor kept his silence for another
few seconds, then finally opened his mouth.
“…I apologize, I don’t know you.”
Those were the first words from Knight Eugeo. The mellow tone of
voice was exactly as I recalled, but it was tinged with an icy texture
like his facial expression.
It appeared his memories before synthesis really were sealed

away, but there shouldn’t had been enough time to implant the usual
«summoned from the Celestial World» sort of false memories. There
was a huge blank in Eugeo’s self-awareness. If I press that issue…
“But thanks.”
My eyes opened wide when Eugeo betrayed my expections and

continued. I asked, with more hope than sensible, in reply to the
sudden cordial words.
“…For what?”
However, Eugeo’s reply—
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“For bringing my sword back to me.”
“Eh……”
After spending a short while dumbfounded, I looked down at the

right of my waist. The sacred instrument, the Blue Rose Sword, hung
off there in its sheath of white leather. Looking up, I asked again.
“What do you… plan to do with this sword?”
Those green eyes blinked and Eugeo spoke as though it was only
natural.
“To fight the two of you. That is what that person had
wished for.”
“………”
As expected—he had came down to this room to drive Alice and

me away. On instructions from «that person», the highest minister,
Administrator.
I stood my ground even as I felt my modest hopes going off in the

distance.
“Eugeo. do you plan on following someone’s instructions…

those of a person who you don’t even know, and fighting
without a proper reason? We aren’t your enemies. You’ve
came all this way to fight against the highest minister and
rescue your precious childhood…”
“I don’t care for a reason to fight.”
Something akin to emotion emerged on Eugeo’s face for the first

time when he interrupted my words, disappearing immediately after.
“That person had given me what I wanted. That is enough

for me.”
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“What you wanted…? Is that more important than Alice?”
It seemed his pale face quivered with a trace of emotion the

instant he heard the name that should hold more significance to him
than anything else. However, that, too, was shrouded away by cold
ice.
“I don’t know. I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know

about you… or anyone else. I had enough already…… is
just……”
After muttering in a voice so faint I couldn’t catch it, Eugeo slowly

got off the elevating disk and held out his right hand towards me.
“I have nothing more to say to you. Let us fight… isn’t that

why the two of you are here?”
“……We aren’t here to fight with you, Eugeo. That’s why I

won’t return this sword.”
Saying so in a stifled voice, I switched my black sword to my left

hand and removed the Blue Rose Sword from my sword belt with my
right. With my sight fixed on Eugeo, I entrusted it to Alice, standing
behind, by—
“You don’t have to hand it over.”
The white sheath was snatched away from my right hand the
moment I heard those words. Not by Alice. The sword glided through
the air like pulled by invisible strings and moved towards Eugeo’s
hands as he stood over ten meters away.
—Sacred arts!? Did I miss him chanting it…!?
I heard a crisp whispered from behind upon swallowing my breath.
“The incarnation arm…!”
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“What’s that supposed to…”
I asked with my sight kept forward and Alice quickly explained.
“It’s a secret art handed by the integrity knights of old. To

move an object by neither sacred arts nor full control arts,
but by the power of one’s will… I heard there were only a few
people among the knights who could use it, aside from oji-
sama.”
“So, that means you can’t use it either, Alice?”
“…I had practiced, but I can’t even move a pebble, let alone
a sacred instrument. It shouldn’t be the sort of art Eugeo
could acquire immediately after becoming a knight…”
The Blue Rose Sword was delivered to Eugeo’s right hand even
while Alice and I exchanged words, and he hung the sheath off his
armor, on the left of his waist. He then gripped its handle and drew it
out without hesitation in the same motion. A chill rose from its faintly
translucent blade as white mist.
I had no choice but to switch my black sword back and to hold it

before myself.
Eugeo and I had faced off in this manner countlessly over these

two years. However, our hands had always held the wooden swords
for practice; the black sword and the Blue Rose Sword never had a
chance to confront each other.
Nevertheless—
So the time had finally come; such strong emotions surged into my
mind. Yes, I had the suspicion that this moment would arrive since
that day we set out from Rulid.
However, that comprised solely of our swords clashing in our place.
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The conclusion of the said battle had yet to be decided. I had no
intention of letting anyone else determine the result—not even the
highest minister herself.
“Eugeo.”
I spoke out the last words I had for him.
“I guess you don’t remember, but I’m the one who taught
you how to fight with a sword. There’s no way I’m going to
lose to my pupil just yet.”
But Eugeo’s mouth remained closed. Instead, the Blue Rose Sword
smoothly raised overhead and he shifted into a sword skill activation
stance. One-handed straight sword charging skill, «Sonic Leap».
Feeling a little glad that he hadn’t forgotten his Aincrad-style

swordsmanship even if he had forgotten my name, I took up the
same stance.
The two swords released a vivid, light green glow.
And a second passed.
Both Eugeo and I kicked off the marble floor as one.
“hit my pocket” – From a Japanese song for children, called

“Fushigi na Poketto“.
“oji-sama” – Uncle. Doesn’t have to be a real, blood-related

uncle. It’s just a lot less awkward than using “uncle”.
“WLSS” – Double-edged, Long Sword, Single-hand (written in

katakana). “W” represents “Double”.
“Rebelling Index” – Written in katakana, compared to
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“transgression quotient” which is translated from kanji.
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Vol.13 Chapter afterword

Source: tap-trans
Afterword (v13)
Translation of Sword Art Online’s volume 13, afterword.
Afterword
Kawahara here. Thank you very much for taking the time to read
“Sword Art Onine 13 Alicization Dividing”.
The Alicization that started from the 9th volume had already sped
on to its fifth volume, but with a boss-like person finally making an
appearance, I can breathe a… no, I suppose it’s not time to relax yet,
huh… Continuing on from the previous volume, this 13th volume is
basically about climbing up too. The kanji used are “climbing up”
for walls and “going up” for stairs; a real strain for proofreading as
the author! And my apologies for the additional trouble, proofreader!
I digress. In any case, it’s not quite the last boss battle yet, but
Alice Synthesis Thirty-san, also the reason for the subtitle, is finally
featured as the third protagonist in this volume. Just how would the
girl confront the system that binds her and open a path up to her fate
of her choice… that would be the main theme in the text, so I would
be glad if you could cheer on both Kirito and Eugeo.
And Eugeo-shi there had ended up class changing into an

advanced job right before the end… Whether Kirito would have a
chance at victory while he remains a swordsman, or if he would have
to undergo a class change as well; it just had to get pushed onto the
next volume after things got to that point, so despite how often as
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this happens, I’m very sorry! Volume 14 would truly be the fight
against the last boss, Administrator-san, so please have a little more
patience!
…Or so I wrote, but I’m truly sorry to say that the next SAO is
planned to be the 2nd volume of Progressive. Kirito and Asuna, left
separated in the real world and Underworld in the Alicization arc,
would be joining together to clear Aincrad’s third floor, so I hope for
your support on that end as well.
And a little advertising here. I believe it would be mentioned on the

wrapper for this book as well, but a special program for the television
anime edition of SAO will be broadcasted at the end of this year
(2013). It would basically be a summary of the Aincrad and Fairy
Dance arcs televised in 2012, but there should be a short, new
segment as well. Kirito and the rest would be moving on television
screens again after a whole year, so please, take a look.
To the illustrator, abec-san, the supervisor, Miki-san and Tsuchiya-

san, and everyone who had read this far, I apologize for troubling you
with the delays in my schedule which are practically the norm now,
and thank you very much. Let’s meet again in the next book!
A Certain Day in June, 2013 Kawahara Reki
Credits
Translation – Tap
Afterword (v13) was last modified: April 14th, 2014 by Tap
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Vol.13 Chapter interlute iv

Source: tap-trans
Translation of Sword Art Online’s volume 13, interlude 4.
There were twelve decks on the self-propelled mega-float that

boasted an overall length of four hundred meters and a width of two
hundred and fifty meters, the «Ocean Turtle».
Considering how Oasis of the Seas, the world’s biggest cruise

ship—though smaller than the Ocean Turtle, of course—could hold
eighteen decks, it appeared to be a slightly extravagant use of
space. However, it was not constructed for cruises, but for
oceanographic research, and apparently needed specifications
capable of fitting all sorts of observation and analysis machinery.
Naturally, not even Asuna had any dissatisfaction over the ceiling’s
height.
The first floor from the waterline was the floating deck, the engine
room took the second floor, while the third to eighth floors comprised
of all kinds of research facilities, such as marine biology, deep-sea
resources, and plate tectonics. The ninth and tenth floors held the
cabins, the eleventh floor was the recreation deck with the lounge,
gym, pool, and such, and aside from the radar and antenna installed
on the final floor, the twelfth floor, it had an observation platform as
well.
The ship belonged to the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science

and Technology, that was merely half of the truth.
Aside from the link in utilizing a domestic pressurized water

reactor, its construction was carried out in cooperation with the self-
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defense forces and its members were constantly aboard, actively
guarding it even after its completion.
That wasn’t all. The composite titanium pillar—nicknamed the

«main shaft», stabbed through the hull’s core was left completely
under the self-defense forces’ management and a top-secret
research with absolutely no relation to the ocean was being carried
out there. One that duplicated a newborn baby’s soul, brought up a
virtual world, and seemed to have given birth to the world’s first
bottom-up artificial intelligence—named the «Alicization Project».
6th July 2026, Monday, 7:45 AM.
Having paid a visit to Kirito—Kirigaya Kazuto, undergoing

treatment in the upper half of the main shaft, called the «upper
shaft», Yuuki Asuna had her breakfast at the eleventh deck’s lounge
with Koujiro Rinko, a researcher of fulldive technology.
She figured she had no room for complaints, seeing as she was no
guest on some luxurious passenger ship—or rather, she would have
been escorted to the detention barracks (though she didn’t know if
one existed) if not for the decision of Lieutenant Colonel Kikuoka
Seijirou, who supervised the project, but she had no choice but to
admit the buffet-style meal was fairly splendidly done.
Rinko, who inserted a knife into a battered white fish on the other
side of the table, spoke as she stared hard at the cross-section.
“I wonder if this fish was caught from the Ocean Turtle?”
“Wh-Who knows…”
Having taken the same onto her dish, Asuna timidly brought a
small piece to her mouth. The tender white flesh shredded easily yet
kept its mellow texture when chewed. She had no doubt it was
reasonably fresh, but she had no idea if fish could actually be caught
by throwing a rod into these open seas.
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Putting down the knife in her right hand, Asuna turned her eyes
towards the window on the left of the table while bringing up her
glass of iced tea. The calm ocean surface was pitch-black, without a
single fishing boat in sight, let alone fishes.
Now that she thought about it, Asuna hadn’t heard anything about
the Ocean Turtle’s current location, aside from it being in the «sea
near the Izu islands». Even if it was around the Izu islands, that was a
long distance from north to south. If she recalled right, even
Hachijyou Island near the middle was almost three hundred
kilometers from Tokyo.
She could just start up a location application and display her

current location on the portable terminal she brought from Tokyo if
she could use it, but unfortunately, she didn’t have permission to
connect to the shipboard Wi-Fi due to security or something. She
could play the music files and such stored in the local memory, so
she felt lucky enough that it didn’t get confiscated, but frustration
certainly did accumulate when stuck in a situation incapable of doing
an «instant search whenever a thought struck her». She didn’t feel
this disgruntled back in SAO, where she couldn’t even get a single
piece of news from the real world, let alone perform a search,
though.
Gulping down her sigh along with the iced tea, Asuna thought to
refresh her mood.
She only got this irritated at not being able to use the internet due
to that lingering sensation that she wasn’t kept in the loop enough.
Was the «project» Kikuoka Seijirou, Higa Takeru, and the rest
worked on truly limited to those details they explained yesterday?
Were there not still many concealed secrets hidden in the
experimental world, «Underworld»? Also—would Kazuto, receiving
treatment on the Soul TransLator number 4, awaken when tomorrow
comes as Nurse Aki Natsuki had said…?
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No, putting the first two aside, she had to cast off her doubts over
the third. She could only believe entirely in it now. When
tomorrow—7th July comes, Kazuto’s damaged neural network will
have been regenerated and he will regain consciousness. Asuna had
no choice but to return to Tokyo via the helicopter departing from the
Ocean Turtle on the seventh’s evening, but there should be enough
time to exchange some words. And the time for Asuna to firmly
embrace the body that protected her.
Having regained some of her spirit by imagining that moment,

Asuna continued eating while asking Rinko on the opposite side.
“Rinko-san, do you have any details on this ship’s current location?

I haven’t heard anything more than it being in the sea near the Izu
islands.
“…Now that you bring it up, I think I know as much as

you…”
Having finished the battered fish, Rinko lightly tilted her head and
put her hand into the pocket of her white robe. She appeared to be
retrieving her portable terminal, but apparently recalled that she
couldn’t connect to the internet immediately after and faintly
frowned.
“Erm, I believe Higa-kun mentioned that we were a

hundred kilometers or two west of Mikura Island… or wait,
was it Miyake Island…”
While voicing out those vague information, Rinko turned her eyes
towards the window that was large for a ship. Asuna, too, gazed upon
the blue-black sea surface once again.
The morning sun shone in from the opposite window, so the

direction their two faces turned towards should be west. If the Ocean
Turtle truly was west of the Izu islands presently, neither Mikura
Island nor Miyako Island would be visible, much less Honshuu…
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A soft “Ah” escaped from Asuna who gazed at the ocean from
right to left with those thoughts in mind. She didn’t notice it when
she looked at the window earlier, but it was shining white in the light
from the morning sun. Something slender and man-made, floating in
the distant sea—a ship. Grasping its scale was difficult without
anything to compare it to, but it appeared rather large.
“Rinko-san, over there.”
Asuna placed the knife before pointing, making Rinko squint her
eyes and nod.
“Oh, that’s a ship, isn’t it. Maybe the fishing vessel that
caught the fishes earlier…… or not, it seems…”
“Eh, it’s not?”
It’s much too large for a fishing vessel and its color is plain too…
besides, that’s an awfully lot of antennas.
Rinko left her seat and walked towards the window, so Asuna went
to her side. Her eyesight couldn’t be said to be bad, but the faraway
ship slowly swayed, blurring its details, perhaps due to the vapor
spraying off the sea surface. However, there certainly was a great
number of circular antennas installed on the mast towering at the
ship’s center. Very much similar to the large antenna mast standing
at the top of the Ocean Turtle, which would be right above this
lounge. The ship’s frame had a linear design as well, so rather than a
fishing vessel, it would be closer to a transport ship, no, instead…
“A warship…?”
The moment Asuna muttered so, a somber voice rang out from
behind.
“That’s a Japanese vessel. Japan doesn’t own any

warships.”
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She turned back in sync with Rinko. The one who stood there
holding onto breakfast with both hands was a man in a pure white
uniform with short sleeves—Lieutenant Nakanishi.
“Morning, Nakanishi-san.”
“Good morning.”
When the pair greeted him, the tall Nakanishi conscientiously

placed his tray on a nearby table before bowing his upper body and
returning the greeting.
“Good morning, Professor Koujiro, Yuuki-san.”
“A chance like this is rare, so wouldn’t you have your meal

at our table?”
He considered Rinko’s invitation for a little while before nodding

with a “I’ll take you up on your offer, then”. Waiting until
Nakanishi moved his tray, Asuna and Rinko then sat back at their
original seats. Taking a look at the self-defense forces member’s
breakfast portion, it was large as expected, with eggs, bacon, and
salad heaped onto a large plate.
“How does the taste compare to meals at the self-defense

forces?”
Nakanishi let out a slight strained laughter at Rinko’s considerably

difficult question and spoke as he picked up his fork.
“Honestly speaking, the Ocean Turtle’s a little better, I

suppose. And these tomatoes and cucumbers were even
grown aboard the ship.”
“Wah, there’s a vegetable garden?”
The self-defense forces member showed a somewhat proud smile

this time at Asuna who had her eyes opened wide.
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“Yes, at the back of the eighth deck. I believe it was an
experiment for large-scale agriculture on the sea, however.”
“I wonder if that’s what gave the tomatoes that slightly

salty taste.”
And at that joke from Rinko,
“Really?”
Looking at Nakanishi, chewing the tomato wedges with a grave

expression, Asuna and Rinko broke into laughter. Just as she took up
her fork and knife to resume her interrupted meal, Asuna recalled
Nakanishi’s first line from earlier and tilted her head.
Japan didn’t own any warships, he said, but that shouldn’t be the
case. Wouldn’t his original workplace as a member of the maritime
self-defense forces be on a warship… no, the self-defense forces
weren’t an army, so the ships they owned wouldn’t be warships, or
so logic would dictate, huh. In other words, the ship visible on the
other side of the window would be…
Asuna turned her eyes towards the window once again and stared
hard at the linear silhouette of the large ship as she spoke.
“Then, that’s… not a warship, but erm, a Japan defense

ship…?”
“That’s close. Vessels belonging to the maritime self-

defense forces are termed escort ships.”
Nakanishi gave a toothed smile, then turned his own eyes towards
the faraway ship and continued.
“That ship is a newly manufactured destroyer, DD-127

«Nagato»*. As for why it cruises around this sea region,
unfortunately, I am not at liberty to…… hmm…?”
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His clear words cut off unnaturally and Asuna looked at Nakanishi’s
face before she returned her sight to the sea.
When she did, the grey warship—no, escort ship just happened to
start changing its direction. Turning its stern towards the Ocean
Turtle in less than ten seconds, it continued off into the distance.
Having seen that, Nakanishi stood up without warning and turned

his back to Asuna and Rinko, taking out a nondescript portable
terminal from his pocket. Putting it to his ear in a nimble motion, he
began speaking in a soft voice.
“Lieutenant Colonel Kikuoka, I apologize for disturbing

your rest, this is Nakanishi. However, regarding «Nagato»,
was it not supposed to be escorting this ship until 1200 the
day after tomorrow… no, it changed course towards the west
just a… yes, I’ll be immediately there.”
Finished with his phone call, he turned quickly around with the
terminal held in his face. An abrupt rigid expression had plastered
itself upon the self-defense forces member’s face.
“Professor, Yuuki-san, I apologize, but I’ll be excusing

myself here.”
“Good luck with that. I’ll clear up the utensils for you.”
“I’ll accept your kind offer, then. Excuse me.”
Immediately after bowing in his upright posture at Rinko’s words,

Nakanishi left the lounge at a speed close to running.
“…I wonder what was the matter?”
“Who knows…”
Tilting her head slightly, she took another look beyond the window.
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Feeling a baseless, faint uneasiness while witnessing the escort
ship disappear beyond the morning mist, Asuna gently clenched her
left hand.
DD-127 in the real world is Isoyuki, a Hatsuyuki-class destroyer.

However, the real question is why DD-128 wasn’t used instead…
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Vol.14 Chapter 0 - Prologue

Source: tap-trans
Translation of Sword Art Online’s volume 14, untitled segment that

would probably be classified as a prologue, a summary, or a recap.
Possessing exquisite swordsmanship and sacred arts of the highest

order, they were the mightiest masters capable of utilizing the
«armament full control art» as they wished.
Despite having protected the Human World’s law and order, and
with such, the Axiom Church’s rule, for three hundred long years, the
entire size of the knight brigade was astonishingly small. As the
name of Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-one, appointed to the position barely
a month ago, indicates, they numbered merely thirty one in total.
However, that fact only served to underline the integrity knights’

strength and the fright they inspire, not undermining it in the
slightest. Even in numbers that pale when compared to even a full
raid group in SAO or ALO, they continued repelling intruders from the
vast Dark Territory encircling the Human World.
I—Kirito, once called names like the «Beater» or the «Black

Swordsman», now an elite swordsman-in-training studying at the
North Centoria Sword Mastery Academy, stood up in challenge
against these integrity knights, the strength of each rivalling many
men, with just a single long sword at my waist and my bosom friend
as my partner. The battle broke out through unexpected
developments involving being arrested, imprisoned, and breaking
out, rather than having initiated it on my own, but now that I’d
turned my sword on the Axiom Church, the organization
unequivocally accepted as the rulers, the only path left was simply to
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advance.
The «Frost Scale Whip», Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-one.
The «Conflagrant Flame Bow», Deusolbert Synthesis Seven.
The «Heaven Piercing Sword», Fanatio Synthesis Two, and her

subordinates, the «Four Oscillation Blades».
The «Fragrant Olive», Alice Synthesis Thirty.
Driving away the integrity knights with their mighty weapons,

known as divine instruments, by the breadth of a hair, I had single-
mindedly continued climbing up the grand staircases of the Axiom
Church Central Cathedral, but naturally, that path would have been
impossible with my own strength alone.
The black sword carved out of a branch of the «demonic tree», the
Gigas Cedar, over an entire year by Sadore, a craftsman in Central
Centoria.
Cardinal, the sage who granted me respite with a place to rest,

food, as well as extensive information regarding this world and the
armament full control art in order to oppose the knights.
And of course, Eugeo, my bosom friend who had always stayed

beside me throughout these two years or so since we set out on a
journey from Rulid Village—
I had taught him various sword skills for one-handed straight

swords, what was now known as the «Aincrad-style Swordsmanship»,
but that pales in comparison to what I had received. After thrown into
the Underworld from the real world without warning, I had only
managed to survive in this alternate world where I couldn’t make
head or tails of anything, thanks to his assistance, encouragement,
and guidance.
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I was torn away from this peerless partner on the eightieth floor of
the Central Cathedral. Only Integrity Knight Alice and I were hurled
out from the tower through a large hole that opened up in the wall in
the midst of our fierce battle.
Earnestly persuading Alice to sheath her sword and spending a

night to climb that vertical outer wall, we somehow returned into the
tower at the ninety-fifth floor. Climbing the stairs in pursuit of Eugeo
who should have arrived first, we chased after a peculiar man who
called himself the Chief Elder Chudelkin and reached the ninety-ninth
floor—a floor away from the room of the highest minister,
Administrator.
In that space occupied by nothing aside from the stairs proceeding

onto the Chamber of Elders and the elevating disk rising towards the
hundredth floor, I finally reunited with my partner.
But he was no longer the unassuming youth born in the outskirts

who I knew.
He was the newest integrity knight, covered in armor of silvery

blue, Eugeo Synthesis Thirty-two.
That was my bosom friend’s new name.
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Vol.14 Chapter 12
Source: tap-trans
The Blue Rose Sword Eugeo held and the black sword I held drew
out vivid streaks of pale-green in the dimly-lit space.
The trajectories were utterly symmetrical. Identical first steps and

techniques—that might have been only natural as we had both
invoked the dashing-type sword skill, «Sonic Leap», but our timing
were completely identical: the time the sword points passed through
the peak of their trajectories, the time the gleam grew strongest to
signal that the strength was at its maximum, and the time the silver
and jet-black blades rushed into each other.
I wasn’t mindlessly using the skill. The methology in kicking-off, the

orientation of my body, and the motion of my arm accelerated the
sword skill threefold.
Despite that, Eugeo’s «Sonic Leap» didn’t lag behind mine by even
a tenth of a second. In other words, he had accelerated the skill to its
limits as well. And I hadn’t even taught him everything about the
technique yet.
Eugeo must have been steadily and stubbornly swinging his sword
without my notice. Hundreds and hundreds of times, day after day.
Until he could hear the «voice» of his beloved sword.
“……How.”
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I forced a low voice out as the crossed swords struggled fiercely.
“How could you lose to something like the «Synthesis

Ritual». Wasn’t all that sword training… didn’t you set out
from Rulid and target Central Centoria to take back your
precious childhood friend, Alice?”
“………”
Receiving my sword without surrendering even a single step back,

Eugeo kept to his previous words, “I have nothing more to say to
you”, making no attempt to move his sealed lips. I thought I saw a
faint, lambent light deep in his green eyes the moment he heard
Alice’s name, but a dense darkness instantly consumed it. Or
perhaps that, too, was an illusion brought forth by the pale-green
glint the two blades continued exuding.
If this balanced situation continued, a super-high speed battle at

close range would probably begin upon the end of «Sonic Leap» in
several seconds. There would be no further allowance to be lost in
thought. I had to put my all into thinking with the meager time I had
left.
Integrity knights are created through what is known as the

«Synthesis Ritual», effectively the direct manipulation of a soul. To be
specific, the fragment of memories most important to the target
would be extracted and a «piety module», a false loyalty, would be
buried in its place.
Integrity Knight Eldrie had his mental state disturbed the instant he
heard his mother’s name and the piety module in question almost fell
out from his brow. That essentially meant that the highest minister,
Administrator, had stolen the memories concerning his mother to
make him an integrity knight.
The other integrity knights should have had their important

memories robbed in the same manner.
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It was probably memories of his wife in the past for Deusolbert. I
had nothing to base a guess on for Deputy Commander Fanatio and
Knight Commander Bercouli, but I suppose the chances of it being
family or a loved one were high.
In that case, who was in the memories stolen from Alice… the
golden integrity knight watching over the one-to-one combat
between Eugeo and myself?
The most likely seemed to be her actual little sister, Selka, who
should be now living in Rulid Village. Alice showed an intense
reaction the instant a mention of Selka slipped out from me during
our intermission on the terrace built against the cathedral’s outer
walls. Her tears fell when she found out about her little sister and
that even led to her determination in opposing the Axiom Church.
However, Alice’s piety module showed no sign of unrest even when

she heard Selka’s name. I still lacked the information to know
whether that was due to her six years of being an integrity knight or
if those stolen memories weren’t of Selka.
Anyway, supposing all of those conjectures were true.
Who was in those memories the highest minister, Administrator,

stole from Eugeo?
The circular elevating disk, used by Chief Elder Chudelkin to

escape above and called back down by me, stayed immobile a short
distance from us as we crossed swords. That left a hole of one meter
straight above in the ceiling. I believe the highest minister’s room
should be beyond that, but I couldn’t see through the pitch-black
darkness blocking it off. Even if Administrator were to lie beyond that
hole, I couldn’t sense her presence.
However, Eugeo was «synthesized» by the highest minister just an

hour ago there—in other words, he had the memories of the one
most precious to him stolen. Who was in there?
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Only one answer came to mind. It couldn’t be any other than the
girl taken away by Knight Deusolbert before him, whose traces he
had always been chasing after since eight years ago, Alice
Schuberg—now known as Alice Synthesis Thirty.
But in that case, why would Knight Eugeo, engaged in a sword fight
with me this instant, not show any reaction at all even after seeing
Alice a mere ten meters away?
Eldrie had his piety module nearly removed from simply hearing
his mother’s name. If that instability arose from the shortness of time
he had spent as a knight, it wouldn’t had been strange if Eugeo, for
whom it had only been an hour since, exhibited more severe
«symptoms» than Eldrie had, at the sight of Alice.
And yet, Eugeo’s heart remained completely shut away before my

eyes. If it wasn’t the memories of Alice that were pilfered, just who or
what had Administrator removed from his—
The sword skills’ luster vanished from the two crossed swords the
moment I thought that far.
Losing the momentum from the system assist, the white and black
blades firmly rebounded from the recoil.
Both Eugeo, with his facial expression still static, and I, with my
teeth clenched tight, raised our swords high while the orange sparks
still lingered.
“Ooohh!”
“…!”
Our battle cries, both loud and silent, surged forth as we swung our
swords diagonally down from the right in an utterly identical motion.
Clashing, the repelled blades were next drawn into horizontal slashes
from the right. Sliding the blade away when they entwined, I swung it
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diagonally down from the left. This, too, was met with firm
resistance.
Surprise overwhelmed me yet again even as we proceeded onto

our second confrontation.
The swords were of the same grade, but the wielders weren’t of
the same condition. In contrast to the light clothing I wore, top and
bottom, Eugeo was in thick plate armor. Despite being clad in
equipment weighing several times mine, his slashes weren’t even a
tenth of a second slower. Did becoming an integrity knight improve
his strength or was it that «incarnation» thing at work, that which
Alice spoke of right before the fight?
I am aware a system, unexplainable by the logic within the

numerous VRMMO worlds I had experienced thus far, exists in this
world. The power of incarnation, the power to image; that unseen
power could even bring about phenomena beyond the capabilities of
high ranking sacred arts (system commands) at times.
Despite how Eugeo should have his memories and emotions

completely sealed away upon becoming an integrity knight, his
willpower had been sharpened to an icy edge. That much was clear
with how he had moved the Blue Rose Sword I carried into his own
hands at the start of the battle, with what seemed like
telekinesis—though Alice had called that an «incarnation arm».
What remained within Eugeo’s mind now? Was his strong

determination to retrieve Alice from the church the driving force
behind him becoming an integrity knight, but in turn, caused some
sort of will to lodge itself within the humongous void left behind after
those memories were stolen?
I don’t believe that was a loyalty towards the Axiom Church and
the highest minister who forcibly overwrote his soul, neither do I
want to believe so. The Blue Rose Sword receiving my black sword
without even the slightest quiver couldn’t possibly be supported by
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such a false will.
In his eyes, frigid as ice, there was still something burning fiercely
on. I believe so.
And speaking of methods to awaken that, there would be only

one—
“…Eugeo.”
Pushing the sword back with all the strength I could muster, I
whispered.
“You might not recall as you are right now… but we hadn’t
ever had a serious fight yet, have we?”
“……”
His eyes that once shone a brilliant green appeared navy blue
without a light residing in them. Focusing hard into their depths, I
continued.
“I thought about it many, many times while we travelled to

Centoria from Rulid or even after we entered the capital’s
academy. If we were to cross swords for real, who would win?
…Honestly speaking, you’ll surpass me in time, that’s what I
thought.”
Eugeo took my gaze on without blinking even once—no, he was

shutting me off. In his eyes right now, I was nothing more than an
intruder he had to get rid of. He would cut me the instant he spots
the slightest opening. However, I believed my words would reach his
shut heart, even if only a single fragment that made the trip, and I
pitched the end of my words.
“…But it’s not time yet. You can’t beat me as you are now,
after forgetting about me, about Alice, about Tieze and
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Ronye, and about Cardinal too. I’ll prove that to you right
now.”
I held my breath the moment my words finished and set the

strength gathered from over my entire body onto my sword.
Faint wrinkles settled in Eugeo’s brow as he attempted to repel my

sword.
I immediately pulled my sword back in a single motion then.
Gyarin! The blades slid and gave birth to a streak of sparks in the
dim darkness. I was pushed backwards while Eugeo pitched forward.
If I held my ground here, Eugeo would get a strike in after a short

pause to recover his posture. I fell over onto the ground, back first,
without fighting the momentum. I saw Knight Alice’s right arm reach
towards her left waist in the corner of my vision. I guess she must
have judged that I had lost and intended to draw her Fragrant Olive
Sword, interrupting the duel.
But that verdict was roughly three seconds too early. The result
will be decided by the outcome of my scheme—or by Eugeo’s level of
familiarity with the Aincrad style.
I sharply raised my right foot right before my back slammed into

the ground. A dazzling radiance shone from the tip of my boot and
illuminated Eugeo’s face from below.
“Ooohh!”
Letting out a short roar, I drew my body in as I spun. Aincrad-style

«Martial Arts», the backflip kick technique, «Gengetsu (Crescent
Moon)».
This skill that could be activated even while falling backwards had
saved my life on numerous occasions in the old SAO days. Though I
hadn’t used it at all after being inserted into the Underworld, be it for
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actual fights or practice, the motion was ingrained in my body. And
most importantly, Eugeo hadn’t seen this skill before.
But on the other hand, I had taught him «martial arts» involving
the fists and shoulders. Eugeo had shown talent in those as well,
being able to achieve even the third hit of the advanced «Meteor
Break» skill that included tackles and slashing attacks, let alone the
simple thrusting skill, «Senda (Flash Hit)».
My «Gengetsu» would probably be dodged if he had found out

about kicking techniques through his own research or if he had
guessed that they might exist. And the opening left after this kicking
technique was tremendous if dodged. I couldn’t avoid getting cut if I
missed.
—It’s on, Eugeo!
Yelling internally, I swung my right foot towards my partner’s

gorget.
Eugeo’s two eyes remained filled with a torrid chill even in this
situation. Twisting his upper body with that unchanging expression,
he tried to dodge my kick. However, he was still falling forward from
our previous clash. His unguarded lower jaw drew in the tip of my
boot, enveloped in a light effect.
“-h…!”
A sharp cry came from Eugeo’s mouth.
The Blue Rose Sword gripped in his right arm growled as it moved
sideways. But no slash could hope to rival my kick’s speed. If I just
ignore that and focus on my……
No.
Eugeo wasn’t aiming to counterattack. He wanted to intercept my
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right foot, not my body, with the sword’s pommel rather than its
blade.
Hitting with the grip, backhanded. A practical technique that

shouldn’t exist in the Underworld where swordsmanship emphasized
beauty and gallantry. Even in my old SAO days, only those used to
fighting humans would use this technique.
«Gengetsu» would have its trajectory diverted if he hit my kicking

foot from the side.
So, what should I attempt?
“——!”
Grinding my teeth, I desperately tried to draw back my right foot

as it shot out. But the skill would be fumbled if I pulled back too far
here. Slowing it down by what felt like half of a half-second, I let
Eugeo’s right hand take the lead.
——Now!
Gashiin!!
A booming impact roared out.
Rather than its initial target, Eugeo’s throat, «Gengetsu» got the
back of his right hand that held onto the sword. I couldn’t hope for
much damage to his fist when it was equipped with a gauntlet as
tough as the other integrity knights’. However, that impact sufficed
for my plan.
Eugeo’s right hand shot up and the Blue Rose Sword in his hand
was went flying as well, revolving as it soared, stabbing itself into the
marble ceiling.
Catching that sight in the corner of my darting vision, I tightened

the grip on my black sword in preparation for pursuit upon landing
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from the backflip.
My right sole, with traces of the light effect still trailing after it,
touched down onto the floor. Bending my knees, I absorbed the
impact and kicked off with all I had, without any concern for restoring
my posture. Digging my left foot in with all my might, I targeted the
unarmed Eugeo’s breastplate, letting out a «Slant», a one-hit sword
skill that cuts up towards the right from the left—
“——!?”
What I saw, when I tried to recover my posture on the verge of

falling forward while activating a sword skill, was Eugeo’s left hand
thrust out towards me and the points of green light gleaming on
those five fingers.
It happened immediately before my sword dug into that glittering

breastplate.
“Burst element.”
The quiet invocation left Eugeo’s lips. The points of light—the five
«aerial elements» detonated simultaneously, bringing about an
explosive gale that swallowed me. The wind pressure released
caused no damage on its own, but I completely lost my footing, flung
away like a rag.
“Guohh…!”
Groaning, I spread my arms wide and desperately tried to regain

my stance. Slamming my head into the wall at this momentum would
probably take over a tenth of my Life. Somehow stopping my body
from spinning as I was tossed about by the tempest, I turned my two
feet towards the imminent wall.
A brutal shock shot up through me the instant I landed, piercing

through the top of my head, and I withstood the numbness in my
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entire body as I momentarily stayed glued onto the wall before falling
on the floor. Upon jerking my face up, I saw Eugeo had been also
pushed close to the opposite wall by the wind, expected as it was,
but it appeared the weight of his armor might have been what
allowed him to stay on the ground. Calmly standing upright from a
squat, his face still maintained that maddening lack of emotion.
A soft voice reached me from the right upon getting up after him.
“…Is that truly Eugeo, your partner?”
The one who asked was Alice who watched over the battle from
the wall at my request. I glanced at the female knight clad in gold for
a moment, then replied in a whisper as well.
“What do you mean? Weren’t you the one who said he was
synthesized?”
“That certainly is true… I can’t find the correct words,

but…”
What Alice said after that rare mumble betrayed my expectations.
“That person is far too used to battles for one that just
made it as, no, for one that was just made into an integrity
knight. Even if we were to put aside the display of that
«incarnation arm» before the battle and that aerial elemental
art he had just used, I can hardly believe he is a novice.”
“…You don’t just get skills like that by becoming an

integrity knight?”
I only wanted to confirm, but a harsh rebuke immediately flew over

from the side as expected, and instinctively made me cower despite
the current situation.
“The skills of a knight are not so easily acquired! We

grasped the key to secret moves and sacred arts only
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through a lengthy period of self-improvement, let alone the
incarnation techniques and the armament full control art!”
“R-Right. …But, then, what was that earlier…? Eugeo

shouldn’t have been able to generate five elements on a
single hand yet at his…”
“That is why I had turned the question to you. Is that truly

Eugeo?”
“……”
I pursed my lips and stared at the knight of bluish-silver who had

started casually walking towards me.
Living on the hundredth floor of the Central Cathedral straight

above this one, the highest minister, Administrator, was a
preeminent sacred arts user on par with Cardinal, the sage in the
Great Library Room. Someone capable of those terrifying arts to
manipulate human memories like her might even be able to prepare
an imposter utterly identical to the original in looks. But—
“…He’s Eugeo.”
I muttered hoarsely.
Even without the light in his eyes, even without the blood coursing
through his cheeks, even without that smile on his lips, that integrity
knight was definitely my partner and bosom friend, Eugeo of Rulid. I
had made many mistakes since arriving in this world, but I could say
that with confidence.
I did not understand how he could use techniques that surprised

even Alice, the one ranked third in terms of ability, immediately after
being made into a knight. And in the first place, I didn’t even know
why did the forced synthesis that should have taken three days and
night end in less than an hour.
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But regardless of how peculiar the situation was, I have only one
task to do now that it had come to pass.
To stake all of myself onto my sword and attack. That was all.
Taking in a deep breath and expelling it, I tightened the grip on my

black sword. Perhaps he sensed my fighting spirit, but Eugeo stood
still in the middle of the hall and silently raised his right hand. The
unseen «incarnation arm» drew out the long sword stabbed in the
ceiling and returned it to its owner’s grasp.
Yes—that proud Blue Rose Sword would never submit to an

imposter.
Eugeo spun the extremely heavy sacred tool without much effort,
and then settled into a proper middle-level posture. Upon seeing his
posture, lacking any sort of opening, Alice whispered softly.
“Shall I serve as his opponent?”
“Don’t be silly.”
After an immediate rejection, I held my beloved sword forward as

well. Even if they had both lost their memories of one another, Eugeo
and Alice were still childhood friends raised in Rulid Village. I couldn’t
possibly let those two fight, and more importantly, waking Eugeo up
was my role.
Despite how she had gotten so incensed over me calling her an

“idiot” while we hung off the cathedral’s outer wall, Alice simply
took a step back in silence this time and folded her arms before her
chest. In reply to this display of knightly consideration, to not act
even at the risk of me getting slashed, I spoke.
“…Thanks.”
I shifted my thoughts after that short muttered response.
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Forget everything unnecessary for this battle. Become one with the
sword and go forth, expending all of your abilities. You couldn’t
possibly defeat Integrity Knight Eugeo otherwise, neither could you
reach your best friend’s heart beyond that thick armor.
The point of my black sword quivered audibly. It was as if the

traces of that thunder roaring in the far-off skies on the day we set
off two years ago had crossed time to arrive at this moment.
—I’m counting on you, partner.
—I’ll be sure to give you a name when the battles are all over… so
lend me your strength.
Praying to my beloved sword in my right hand, I took in another

deep breath and jolted to a stop.
The noise, the environment, and even the heat and cold
disappeared off in the distance. Nothing existed in this world aside
from my black sword and me, the Blue Rose Sword and Eugeo. I had
dreaded, and awaited this instant in the depths of my heart since two
years before.
—Let’s go, Eugeo!!
I violently kicked off the ground, screaming without a sound.
Eugeo kept still with his middle-level posture and awaited my

assault.
Petty tricks wouldn’t work on Eugeo as he was now, capable of

freely bending the Aincrad-style swordsmanship and high ranking
sacred arts to his will.
Dashing fifteen meters in an instant, I let loose an downwards

slash from the right with the momentum from all of the speed in my
charge.
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In turn, Eugeo let out an upwards slash from the right with both
hands after a step forward that very nearly cracked the floor.
The blades of black and silver clashed, emitting a dazzling flash in

return. Judging that it wouldn’t turn into a match between sword
skills at this range, I shifted my left hand onto the pommel as well.
Giving myself to the heavy sword’s moment of inertia, I took the
shortest path to draw it into an overhead stance.
“Ooohh!”
I swung down, expelling what remained of my breath into a yell.
If the swords’ specifications and the swordsmen’s capabilities were

on the same level, a fully powered vertical slash couldn’t be
completely parried with a side or diagonal slash. He could only
choose from two possible options: to strike it back with the same
technique, or to escape from the sword’s reach.
However, Eugeo’s sword had veered right from the earlier strike
and couldn’t be raised yet. In addition, his body’s weight was inclined
towards the right, so he couldn’t leap back immediately. This time, I’ll
be sure to—!
Abandoning all hesitation that could dull the deed, I swung my

sword.
The black sword tip took the top of Eugeo’s shoulder, protected by
the bluish-silver armor.
No matter how high a priority they possessed, the integrity

knights’ armor weren’t tough enough to repel a strike from a divine
instrument without damage.
The sword ate into the armor with a shrill, metallic noise, swinging
straight down, leaving behind only a moment of resistance. Light
streaked straight through Eugeo, from his left shoulder to his chest.
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A crash, like glass shattering, echoed out immediately after and
the thick armor broke apart.
The small metal pieces scattered through the air were

accompanied by a crimson mist. It didn’t feel deep judging from the
resistance, but my sword had cut into Eugeo’s body at last.
I felt like I had been cut myself, in the same spot, the instant I
realized that I had hurt my friend. My face warped, wanting to avert
my sight, but I couldn’t possibly stay my hand here. Flipping my wrist
the moment the vertical slash reached the floor, I used the elastic
energy from my entire body to follow up with an upward slash—
The black sword was flicked straight towards the side with a dull
clunk.
Eugeo had kicked away my sword with his right greave, with nary a
wince from the pain inflicted by that fresh injury from his left
shoulder to his chest.
Realizing that motion would lead into a counterattack, I

desperately leaned away my shuddering body. While the Blue Rose
Sword whizzed closer from the left.
I staked everything on avoiding a direct hit on my neck, but it still

tore straight through my left shoulder. Feeling a frigid chill rather
than pain, my right foot kicked off the floor with all of my strength
and I tackled Eugeo who had just swung his sword with my injured
left shoulder.
The blinding, vicious pain that was previously absent surged

through me this time as a spray of fresh blood whirled into the air.
Eugeo stood firm on his left foot beyond the red mist, refusing to
fall.
An immediate counterattack would be impossible from that

posture. I raised my beloved sword towards the right with a one-
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handed grip once again. A vivid radiance of pale blue enveloped the
black blade.
Sword skill, single diagonal slash, «Slant». If this landed a hit on his
right shoulder, Eugeo wouldn’t be able to swing his sword, like he
had thus far, with both shoulders hurt.
“Ra… aahh!”
It happened when I yelled as the attack initialized.
A scarlet flash shone from beyond Eugeo.
It was the light from a sword skill. But there weren’t any in the
Aincrad style that could hit while his right shoulder and back were
open to me.
Even with my eyes opened wide with fright, I activated «Slant», no

longer able to stop my sword.
Eugeo’s body savagely spun anticlockwise a moment later. A

horizontal slash approached from the left, leaving a red light in its
track.
This sword skill… is a one-hit technique for two-handed swords,

«Back Rush». A countering technique to spin around when an
opponent had your back.
But I had never taught Eugeo such a technique.
The heavy impact blew those thoughts away in pieces. Eugeo’s

Back Rush and my Slant clashed and our swords were flung back
once more.
The fresh blood from our left shoulders drew intermittent lines as
Eugeo and I swung our swords straight up in the exact same motion
as though we were drawn there together.
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Deep blue light ran through the two blades.
The one-hit overhead vertical slash, «Vertical».
That said, the skill wasn’t that strictly vertical. Vertical would
usually incline by around ten degrees depending on the master
hand’s orientation and as such, the trajectories of the two facing off
would cross if they activated it simultaneously, pushing both of them
away upon clashing.
That occurred this time as well, but only half of it. The black sword
and the Blue Rose Sword collided at around a third from their ends
and let out dazzling sparks.
However, unlike back in SAO, there were occasions when that

rebound didn’t happen when sword skills clashed in the Underworld.
It was likely due to the will to fight from both of us—what could be
said to be the ability to image; incarnation—restraining the repulsive
force.
The two swords, crossed as though they were devouring each

other, let out countless orange sparks and blue beams of light. Eugeo
and I started our third struggle, our swords and right arms creaking
as we tried to complete our respective sword skills while facing
towards each other at close range.
Staring into Eugeo’s eyes beyond the scattered sparks, I asked

through my clenched teeth.
“…Does that skill earlier have a name?”
Eugeo muttered with his facial expression calm, like a frozen water
surface.
“…Baltoh style, «Head Sea».”
I couldn’t immediately recall where have I heard of that style. I

frowned, then finally realized.
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The Baltoh style. That was the style belonging to the elite
swordsman-in-training, Gorgolosso Baltoh, who Eugeo had served
under as a valet trainee until the third month of this year at North
Centoria Sword Mastery Academy.
The students of high class noble birth looked down on it as it was

an uncouth skill structure without aesthetic sense, like the Serlut
style of Sortiliena-senpai who I served, when compared to the Norkia
and High Norkia styles.
But turning that around, that could mean it was practical in actual
combat. Eugeo must have learnt the basic skills from Gorgolosso-
senpai in the one year he served as his valet.
If that was the case, that revealed yet another conspicuous

mystery.
“Eugeo… do you remember who taught you that skill?”
I asked again even while mustering all of my strength into the

intercepted sword.
The expected reply came after a short pause.
“I don’t know, and I don’t care either.”
Despite how he should have been expending all of his power on it

as well, both his voice and expression stayed frozen and barren.
“I don’t need to know anyone aside from that person. I hold

my sword for that person, and I live on only to eliminate that
person’s enemies…”
“………”
As expected, it seemed he had forgotten about not just Alice and

me, but Gorgolosso-senpai as well. On the other hand, he
remembered the skill’s name and how to use it.
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If those turning into integrity knights were to have all of their
memories reset, they would lose all of the sword skills they had
trained, along with the sacred arts they had learnt. Hence, the
highest minister, Administrator, developed that complicated method
of handling it, the «Synthesis Ritual».
To block the target’s stream of memories, rather than erasing

them all. I am unsure of the specific logic behind it, but it could be
said to resemble retrograde amnesia, that so-called loss of memory,
in the real world, where one loses memories of oneself and of the
other people around, but maintains the aptitude for language and
day-to-day life.
What served as the obstacle that cut off the stream of memories

would be the piety module inserted into Eugeo’s soul—his fluct light.
Who previously occupied the space that the module was now stuck
in? If only I knew that, I might actually have a chance at pulling
Eugeo’s eyes open……
No.
Words alone would definitely not suffice to break Administrator’s

sorcery.
I had conversed with many people through our crossed swords

since the day I became trapped in the floating castle of steel,
Aincrad. Asuna, Suguha, Sinon, Absolute Sword. Even after coming to
this world, there were Sortiliena-senpai, Head Elite Swordsman-in-
training Uolo, and the knights, Eldrie, Deusolbert, and Fanatio. And
Alice who looked on at this battle from behind.
Swords in virtual worlds possessed more meaning than being mere

polygon objects. As one’s life rested on the sword, what resided
within the blade had what it took to reach the opponent’s spirit. A
sword free from hatred could transmit feelings exceeding what words
could convey at times. I believe that.
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The virtual blue light covering the two intersecting swords dimmed
as it begun to lapse.
I had to muster every last drop of my remaining strength here and

now.
To project all of myself to my friend’s heart.
“Eu… geo———!!”
I swung my sword with a scream the instant the sword skill ended.
A strike with all my might. Repelled. Eugeo’s slash. Repel it with

the sword’s base. Our feet stayed still as we continued swinging our
swords at the shortest range possible. The sword fight gave birth to a
continuous stream of clashes and sparks, filling our surroundings
with noise and light.
“O…oooo——!!”
I roared.
“Se… aaaa——!!”
Eugeo, too, let out a cry for the first time.
Quicker. Accelerate quicker.
Eugeo accompanied me in the unceasing, instinctual exchange of

attacks, lacking all style, all skill, all tactics, without missing a beat.
I could feel an unseen shell breaking apart each time we crossed

swords.
My lips formed into a rough smile without my notice. Yes, Eugeo

and I must have fought, no, played with swords in a reckless way like
this, long ago. It wasn’t in the training arena at the Sword Mastery
Academy. It wasn’t during the trip towards the capital either. Right, it
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was at the grasslands and forests near Rulid Village… with
homemade wooden swords that had what looked like fur growing on
them as our toys… where we single-mindedly attacked each other,
calling it sword-fighting practice, like children would…
Had Eugeo and I done such a thing after our first encounter slightly
more than a couple of years ago?
What was breaking apart… was my memories……?
Gakii——inn! An intense metallic noise rang out and broke me out

of my momentary trance.
Meeting at a miraculous angle, the black sword and the Blue Rose
Sword repressed each other’s might and quietened down as they
crossed against each other yet again.
“……Eugeo…?”
In response to the whisper that escaped my mouth.
Eugeo’s lips replied with the faintest motion.
I couldn’t hear his voice, but I understood. The integrity knight with
green eyes had murmured my name.
Defined wrinkles were carved into his white, smooth brow. His
teeth clenched tight beyond his barely opened mouth, grains of faint
light blinked in those eyes sunk in darkness.
Those eyes caught sight of Knight Alice standing by the wall behind
me from over my shoulder.
His lips quivered once again. Uttering Alice’s name soundlessly.
“Eugeo… do you remember now, Eugeo!?”
I cried out in a daze. My sword slipped from the momentum and I
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was pushed backwards, unable to hold up against the Blue Rose
Sword’s pressure.
I should have been full of openings as I tried to regain my footing

to avoid falling over, with my posture mostly crumbled. But Eugeo
stood still with his sword raised midway instead of pursuing me.
Finally coming to a stop after retreating near Alice, I took in a deep

breath of air and called out my close friend’s name as loud as I could.
“Eugeo—!!”
The knight shook with a startle and slowly lifted his face that was
turned down.
His complexion was unchangingly pallid, but it certainly possessed

what qualified as emotion. Confusion, unease, regret, and longing…
a faint smile, like the multitude of emotions frozen by the art had
made the thick shell of ice quiver by even the slightest bit.
“……Kirito.”
After a short pause.
“Alice……”
My ears couldn’t have been lying this time. Eugeo’s voice had
called out our names.
It reached. My sword had reached his heart.
“Eugeo……”
I called out again and the color in his lips that formed that smile
deepened.
He spun the Blue Rose Sword held in his right hand into a
backhand grip. Lowering his arm, he stabbed its tip into the marble
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floor. The bluish-white blade wrapped in a faint mist sank around two
centimeters into the floor with a distinct clink.
Taking that as a proclamation to end the battle, I lowered my black

sword as well. Letting out the breath stuck in my throat, I took a step
forward with my right foot.
However.
A series of unexpected incidents happened in next moment.
“Kiritoo!”
Alice was the one who screeched out my name from behind. I
didn’t know when she got so close, but she wrapped her left arm
around me from behind and lifted my body up high.
More words flowed out from Eugeo’s mouth in that same instant.
“…«Release recollection».
That incantation.
The true essence behind the Underworld’s mightiest combat

technique, the «Armament Full Control Art» that could awaken a
weapon’s memories and reveal its paranormal power—«releasing its
memories».
The Blue Rose Sword emitted dazzling flashes of blue and white
light.
I could neither dodge nor defend. The absolute chill spreading out
with the sword as its epicenter instantaneously plunged the entire
wide hall in ice. The opening to the stairs going down in the corner of
the floor and the elevating disk that could ascend to the hundredth
floor were covered in thick ice along with Alice and I both, up to our
chests, rendering us utterly immobile. If it wasn’t for Alice bringing
my body up, my head would have likely been devoured by the ice as
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well.
We had encountered Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli

Synthesis One frozen up to his neck like this at the large bath on the
ninety-fifth floor of the cathedral.
I didn’t look down on Eugeo’s Release Recollection art after it froze

that bath, humongous enough to be mistaken as a pool, filled with
hot water at a speed that even the strongest and oldest knight
couldn’t escape from. But there was no water at all to freeze here on
the ninety-ninth floor. I could still understand if there were numerous
cryogenic elements around, but just where was all of this ice from?
No, that wasn’t what I should be surprised at.
Why would Eugeo do this? He should have regained his memories,

so why would he have to bind Alice and I in ice?
Enduring the chill coursing through my whole body, I desperately

forced my voice out.
“Eugeo… why……”
Slowly picking himself up around fifteen meters away, Eugeo

shortly whispered with a melancholic smile on.
“…Sorry, Kirito… and Alice. Please, don’t come after me…”
And the young man who was my closest friend and Alice’s
childhood friend drew the Blue Rose Sword from the floor and walked
towards the elevating disk in the middle of the hall.
The marble disk was thickly covered in ice like the stairs going
down and us, but it began its ascent, spilling fragments of ice as it
went, after the knight atop lightly nudged it with the tip of his sword.
The smile formed by Eugeo’s lips, seemingly repressing many

things, remained until the hole that opened in the ceiling swallowed
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it up.
“……Eu… geo—!!”
My desperate call was drowned out by the dull noise made as the
elevating disk was assimilated into the ceiling.
Remove core protection.
Eugeo understood in that moment he finished reciting that

incantation he had never heard of before, consisting of merely three
words. He understood that he had unlocked a door that should have
never been opened.
It was an hour before that confrontation with Kirito, one he could

have never even thought of.
Upon bringing the fight against the integrity knight commander,

Bercouli, and his terrifying ability to «sever the future» to a hard-
fought draw by freezing them both with the Blue Rose Sword’s
Release Recollection art, the unconscious Eugeo was brought to the
Central Cathedral’s hundredth floor by the small, eerie man who
called himself the chief elder, Chudelkin.
There, Eugeo met a girl possessing hair and eyes of pure silver,
and a beauty beyond the potential of humans—the highest minister,
Administrator. The girl spoke to Eugeo whose consciousness
remained hazy.
—You are a potted flower, deprived from the water of love from
one and all.
—But I am different. I will grant you my love, all of it for you.
—All you have to do, is to love me in turn.
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The girl’s words bound his mind as well as an art would. Absorbed,
Eugeo voiced out those three spell words as requested.
That was likely the forbidden art to unseal the door guarding what
truly mattered to humans… one’s memories, thoughts, and soul.
With a pure smile, Administrator stared into and groped about

Eugeo’s mind, deeply thrusting in «something» chillier than even ice.
And once again, his consciousness cut.
Eugeo then regained his sight, his eyes opening as though dragged
out from a pit of darkness by the cries from someone far away.
There were dazzling sparks and a silver blade. And a young man
with black hair engaged in a fierce sword fight with himself.
Eugeo understood in that instant. He understood that he, clad in an

integrity knight’s armor, was pointing his sword towards the
companion he trusted over all other and the childhood friend he
cared for over all other.
Even then, the frigid thorn stabbed into the core of his mind did not
disappear. That thorn relentlessly demanded that he cut down the
enemy before his eyes for the esteemed Highest Minister and
shackled his thoughts.
Unwillingly, Eugeo activated the Blue Rose Sword’s Recollection

Release art and confined the pair precious to him in ice. That was all
he could do to bring the battle to a close as he struggled against the
thorn.
…I had lost to Administrator’s temptations and broke down what

should have never been broken.
…But there is still something I can do… something I have to do.
“…Sorry, Kirito… and Alice.”
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After giving his all to force those words out, Eugeo stepped upon
the automatic elevating disk. To return to Administrator’s room on
the cathedral’s hundredth floor.
The elevating disk came to a solemn silence as the moonlight

from a gigantic window shone against Eugeo’s armor and the sword
in his right hand, scattering specks of dim, white light.
It was roughly two o’clock, after midnight, on the twenty-fifth day

of the fifth month.
Up until three days ago, he would have been long asleep at such a
time in his bed in the expert swordsmen-in-training’s dormitory. He
would have been deep in slumber from the classes and training of
each day, impossible to wake until the bell to rise from bed rang.
Come to think of it, he was in the academy’s discipline chamber for

the twenty-second’s night and the church’s underground jail on the
twenty-third; hardly conducive for a good night’s sleep. Despite how
he should have reached his limit with the fatigue accumulated from
the consecutive battles after escaping from the jail on the twenty-
fourth’s morning, and how the mere thought of that weighted down
on his body, the icy thorn still stuck in his mind throbbed as it kept
away his drowsiness as much as he would have liked to embrace it.
Present all of yourself to the esteemed Highest Minister. Fight to

protect the Axiom Church.
The order conveyed each time the thorn—likely the same as the
violet crystal prism stuck in Eldrie’s forehead—throbbed was as strict
as a steel whip and as sweet as the finest honey. It would probably
be impossible to retrieve his sense of self after tasting a lick of that
honey once more.
The only reason he could remain himself now must be thanks to

being wakened up by Kirito’s desperate cries and that sword fight he
fought with all his might.
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And he could only return to this room without suffering any great
injury thanks to how Alice had watched over their battle without
interrupting.
Integrity Knight Alice’s swordsmanship and her armament full

control art that could change her sacred instrument, the Fragrant
Olive Sword, into a storm of golden flowers still concealed enough
might to suppress Eugeo in his current state. If Alice had drawn her
blade and fought alongside Kirito, Eugeo would have probably been
cut down without given the time to regain his sense of self.
He did not understand the exact reason why Alice had decided to
oppose the Axiom Church despite being a knight. Kirito’s persuasion
might have succeeded like he imagined while climbing the
cathedral’s stairs, or perhaps something even more dramatic had
happened.
Alice’s right eye was wrapped by a bandage that seemed to have

been made from cloth torn from Kirito’s clothes. The same as what
had happened to Eugeo when he pointed his sword towards Humbert
Zizek at the Sword Mastery Academy must have occurred. Her right
eye must have ruptured upon being burdened by the serious crime of
opposing the church. The one who gave Alice, who appeared utterly
aloof when she arrested them at the academy and faced them again
on the eightieth floor’s «Cloudtop Garden», that determination was
not Eugeo, but Kirito…
—But I have no right to speak about that now.
—After all, I had lost myself in Administrator’s sweet words and

thrown open the door to my mind. That was an act of betrayal
towards Kirito and Alice. It was an act of betrayal towards Tieze,
Ronye, Frenica, Gorgolosso-senpai and Sortiliena-senpai, Azurika-
sensei the dormitory supervisor, Sadore-san the craftsman, everyone
from Wolde farm, Selka, Garitta-san, and Chief Gasupht from Rulid,
and the small sage from the Great Library Room, Cardinal, too.
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Tightly grasping the sword grip in his right hand, Eugeo endured
the icy throbbing as it gradually grew.
There should not be much time left for him to remain truly
conscious. He had to amend for his crimes before he disappeared.
There was no other way.
Raising his face, Eugeo slowly looked around.
Perhaps the ninety-ninth and hundredth floor had their center at

different positions, but the elevating disk Eugeo was aboard ceased
movement at the south end of the floor. Stars filled all of the entire
sky visible beyond the glass windows surrounding the room. The
aligned pillars fitted with huge, decorative swords glittered as the
light from the moon and stars shone upon them.
And—
Eugeo turned his gaze up as though someone had called out to

him.
The illustrated story of the gods was depicted on the pure white
ceiling over ten mel above just as before. Small crystals were inlaid
on the gods, gigantic dragons, and humans, unblemished as they
emitted light.
…What called out to me were those lights…?
It was when Eugeo focused on one of those crystals.
An actual voice came from a different direction this time. He

quickly turned his face towards the front.
A circular bed, likely above ten mel in diameter, was set in the
middle of the wide room. Its insides could not be seen through the
hanging curtains thoroughly surrounding it. But he could hear a faint
voice passing through the thin, pure white fabric. Its saccharine
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reverberations seemed to be of song or murmur.
It was Administrator’s voice, the highest minister’s.
It seemed she was chanting an art, but it lacked the vicious rhythm
of an offensive art. If that was one needed as a sort of scheduled
ritual, this would be a good chance.
Sheathing the Blue Rose Sword in its scabbard, Eugeo laid it on the
ground, then took off the silver armor broken during the battle with
Kirito. Upon stripping off the gauntlets, body armor, and mantle, he
returned to his previous shirt-and-trousers outfit and softly touched
his chest, affirming its presence.
He took a step towards the curtains, and then another.
A small shadow tottered out from the bed with unsteady steps.
Accompanied by an unpleasant laughter.
“Hohi, hohihi… I thought you did a good job, scraping

through for five or ten minutes, but to think you would return
alivee. Looks like I have a winner on my hands heree.”
Eugeo’s breath stopped the moment he saw the person whom the
moonlight fell upon. He desperately held his expression back from
stiffening.
Ill-fitted clothes, deep red on his right and deep blue on his left.
With the middle of his chest, swelling out like a balloon, misshapenly
patched together.
Eyes as thin as thread and a mouth pulled into a great smile on a

round, pale, and blank face. His bald head lacked that golden hat, but
there was no mistaking this bizarre appearance.
The chief elder, Chudelkin. The man who appeared just as the
battle between Eugeo and Knight Commander Bercouli was about to
conclude, the one who turned the knight commander into a lump of
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stone with that «Deep Freeze» art and likely brought Eugeo up to the
hundredth floor here after he lost consciousness.
Despite his short and comical appearance, he was likely the arts
user possessing power second to only the highest minister among all
in the Axiom Church, the one who presides over trials with utmost
cruelty. Finding out about his memories returning, even if it was only
temporary, would likely prompt him to instantly use that terrifying
petrification art. He could only struggle through this without drawing
suspicion if he were to fulfil his final role.
Chudelkin gave the armor Eugeo had taken off, lined up on the
floor, a glance before exaggeratedly raising his two eyebrows
consisting only of mere strands.
“Oh myy, you sure have done a number on this armor Her
Eminence had bestowed upon youu. You… haven’t just ran
back here after getting beaten to a pulp by those traitors,
have you, number thirty twoo?”
Her Eminence likely refer to Administrator, and the traitors would

be Kirito and Alice, while that number thirty two would be Eugeo’s
«number» as an integrity knight. Anything he said in this situation
would only serve to increase his suspicion, but he had no choice but
to answer when asked.
Steeling his determination, Eugeo opened his mouth, giving his all
to keep his expression still.
“I had confined the two traitors in ice, Your Excellency,

Chief Elder.”
In response, Chudelkin’s entire face lit up with a smile while the

tiny pupils within his two arching eyes emitted a cold light with
absolutely no aura of mirth.
“Oh, really. Confined them in ice…? That’s all very nice, but
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you have finished them off, have you not, number thirty
two?”
“……”
He floundered for an adequate answer in that instant of silence.
Of course, he had not finished Kirito and Alice off. The Blue Rose
Sword’s armament full control art was one constructed with the aim
of sealing an enemy’s movement without harm. Even when sealed in
thick ice, their Life would hardly fall as long as they kept their heads
out.
Would it best to reply with an affirmative, rather than revealing the

truth? But that lie would be immediately exposed if he went to check
the floor below. If Kirito was here, he would definitely ad-lib an
appropriate reply with his innate intuition and pluck.
—I had always been hiding behind Kirito. Depending on my partner

upon encountering trouble, leaving the important decisions to others.
—But I can only think and decide for myself now. It’s not like Kirito
got through all those problems with his intuition alone. He only got
me this far after thinking very hard to arrive at the right choices.
—Think. Like how he would.
Forgetting even the frigid throbbing still in his mind for the
moment, Eugeo thought. And his mouth opened and replied at the
lowest volume he could muster.
“No, I had not finished them off, Chief Elder. I was

instructed to detain the traitors by the esteemed Highest
Minister’s command.”
He did not know if he actually had received such an instruction

from Administrator.
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However, as far as he could fuzzily recall, the chief elder was
absent when he first woke up in this room. If he had not been present
when Eugeo was turned into an integrity knight, Chudelkin should not
be capable of judging the contents of the command, and not to
mention how he could not possibly overturn the highest minister’s
words.
Of course, it would be all over if the person herself, in the bed

around ten mel away, heard this conversation. However, the girl
seemed to be reciting some sort of art beyond those layers of
curtains that could very likely muffle a whisper.
Still restraining his inner worries from showing on his face, he

awaited Chudelkin’s response and—
The fat lips of the small man in the jester outfit greatly distorted as
they let out a voice that rang of anger.
“No good, that’s no goood, number thirty two.”
The index finger on his right hand shot out before Eugeo’s face—
“Make sure you call me Your Excellency, Chief Elder, when

you’re addressing me. Your Excellency, you hear? Guess
who’s becoming a horsey as punishment the next time he
forgets to add Your Excellencyy? I’ll be on your back with you
down on the ground, going yee-haw, yee-haw, hohihihii.”
Shrill laughter spilled from him before he quickly pressed his two
hands to his mouth and peeked towards the bed. After confirming the
highest minister’s art was continuing without pause, he patted his
chest in an exaggerated motion and sneered once again.
“…Now I must get going to my own orders from Her

Eminencee. I’ll have to deep freeze all the rotten knights
defying the church at once as Her Eminence’s grand will
decreees. Oh, and you shall await further orders there,
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number thirty two. I can’t enjoy myself to the fullest with a
burden weighing me down, you seee, ho, hohoho.”
Forcing down the revulsion welling up from his chest, Eugeo

nodded.
Chudelkin danced towards the elevating disk on the southern

corner with an unsteady gait. He must be planning to humiliate Kirito
and Alice before turning them to stone like what he had done to the
knight commander, Bercouli.
However, there was no need to worry about the two—probably.

After all, the «ice jail» brought forth by the Blue Rose Sword was
utterly useless before Knight Alice’s armament full control art.
Eugeo had trapped all of Alice in ice on the eightieth floor, the
«Cloudtop Garden». However, the Fragrant Olive Sword she held split
into countless small blades and swept out, immediately shaving
through the ice.
They might have already escaped from the ice by now, and even if
they had not, Alice had no need for mercy in using the might of her
sword in response to Chudelkin’s arrival.
Chudelkin leapt onto the elevating disk, breathing hard with that
odd laughter, and headed down. Eugeo awaited with his breath
silenced and an empty elevating disk soon returned, assimilating
with the floor like before. The chief elder must have made the disk
ascend with plans to enjoy himself in that shut space. That denied
him the means of ascertaining the situation on the ninety-ninth floor.
—That’s fine. Those two would never be done in by the chief elder.
Stifling his unease with a deep breath, Eugeo returned his sight
towards the middle of the room.
Raising his left hand, he pressed it down onto his chest from above
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his shirt once more.
—I have my own role to play.
He rallied his spirits, picked up his sword, and began walking

forward. He approached the bed, three mel, two mel, one mel; it
happened then.
The art incantation that had continued unceasingly thus far

stopped and vanished as though it had been drained elsewhere. His
instincts froze his feet and Eugeo pondered.
Was the art completed or did she stop upon noticing Eugeo’s
approach? In the first place, what sort of art was the highest minister
chanting?
He quickly scanned through the surroundings, but the room stayed

as it was. Likely measuring over forty mel across, the circular room
was a size wider than the ninety-ninth floor, but the furnishings were
limited to the large bed, the carpet spread over the floor, and the
ten-odd pillars shaped after greatswords supporting the surrounding
glass windows. The golden pillars merely glittered quietly as they
went against the moonlight, with no sign of anything else making an
appearance.
Abandoning his investigation, Eugeo turned back towards the bed.

The core of his mind throbbed sharply in that instant.
The cold pain was gradually intensifying. There must be not much
time left for him to retain his own consciousness. He had to do what
he had to do before he became an integrity knight in both body and
soul.
The bed was within his arm’s reach after a few more steps forward
and he softly laid down the Blue Rose Sword gripped in his right hand
after a brief hesitation. His unease and forlornness heightened the
moment his beloved sword left his hand, but he could not have
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Administrator bear the slightest distrust towards him.
After lifting himself and taking another deep breath, he called out
with a prayer for his voice to not tremble.
“…Esteemed Highest Minister.”
A silence of a few seconds, which felt like several times that,

lapsed and that voice replied.
“…Welcome back, Eugeo. It appears you have taken care of

that errand, haven’t you.”
“…Yes.”
He replied in a monotonous murmur. Acting was never his forte,

but he had lived in Rulid Village for years while stifling his emotions.
He simply had to return to back then. To the self from back then,
before he met that mysterious black-haired youth.
“Good boy. You deserve a reward, Eugeo. Come closer onto

the bed.”
An appeal, syrupy with tenderness, came from beyond the

curtains.
Touching his chest once more with his left hand, he gently pulled
apart the seam between the curtains surrounding the bed. He could
not see far beyond there, engulfed in a violet darkness, but a
familiar, cloying scent drifted as though it was drawing him closer.
He climbed onto the smooth sheets of white silk, then crawled

forward, bit by bit. It should be only five mel until the center of the
bed, even if it was on the large side, but he could not see anything
no matter how much he moved his limbs, neither did his fingertips
came into contact with anything.
However, she would notice his cognizance if he became flustered
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and raised his voice here. Focusing entirely on the texture of the
sheets, he advanced.
Suddenly—
A pale light came into existence without a sound from somewhere

slightly above.
The pure white radiance was neither that of a candle nor a lamp. It
was a luminous element generated by an art though he hardly
caught its incantation. Drifting breezily, the light orb kept away
nothing more than a little of the murky darkness.
Having lowered his gaze, Eugeo found a smile from «that person»
two mel ahead and opened his eyes wide for an instant. Erasing his
expression in the next, he gave a low bow with both hands still down.
A girl draped in a thin violet fabric with her long, silver hair
streaming over that. The one who ruled over the Human World, the
one who possessed transcendental beauty with eyes, like opaque
mirrors, that denied access to her heart.
The highest minister, Administrator.
Slovenly sitting atop the sheets, the girl whispered while her eyes
stared into Eugeo, gleaming silver from the element’s light.
“Now, come closer, Eugeo. I will give you what you seek as
we have promised. A «love» devoted to you and only you.”
“……Yes.”
Responding extremely quietly, Eugeo gradually sidled towards to

the girl with his body still bowed low.
He would lunge at the girl upon getting one mel away, preventing
her mouth from chanting arts with his left hand and drawing «that»
out from his chest to stab into her with his right hand. Everything
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would end in less than two seconds, but even that seemed far too
long when up against Administrator.
A pain, sharper than before, ran from his forehead to the core of
his mind the moment he affirmed his opposition against the highest
minister once more. However, he could not show concern over that.
Loosening as much strength from his entire body as he could, he
slowly, slowly approached—
“…But before that…”
Administrator whispered all of a sudden with Eugeo a mere ten cen

away, bringing him to a rapid stop.
“…Please let me take a good look at your face once more,

Eugeo.”
Did she feel his malice? But if she had, there would be no use
pouncing onto her. He could only follow her words for now.
Eugeo gently lifted his body with his expression still frigid and
looked into the girl’s face.
He thought to not let their eyes meet at least, but those two
specular eyes had an irresistible allure that drew Eugeo in. The eyes
that did not betray what lay beyond them, yet peered deep into all
who looked into them, glimmered bewitchingly under the sacred art’s
light.
The girl moved her petite lips at the end of several seconds that
felt like an eternity.
“…I did insert the module into the gap in your memories
that was previously there because it was most ideal, but I
suppose sloth might not have been the best idea…”
Eugeo could not immediately understand the true purpose behind

her murmur, partly directed towards herself.
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ly there—in other words, that meant Eugeo had a part of his
memories missing before he was brought to this room? However,
Eugeo was utterly unaware of any such blanks in his own past. He
might precisely not notice it himself as it was a «gap in his
memories», but the sage, Cardinal, certainly did mention this.
The fragment of the target’s most precious memories must be

removed in order to embed the piety module. That would usually
correspond to memories of the person most beloved to the target.
Recalling that brief moment in the hidden Great Library Room that
seemed ages ago, Eugeo muttered in his heart.
……The person most beloved to me. That’s Alice Schuberg, taken

away by an integrity knight before my eyes on that day eight years
ago. I have never forgotten about Alice even once. I can remember
her golden hair glittering under the sun, her azure eyes, more so
than the skies in the heart of summer, and her sparkling smile just by
closing my eyes.
……And it is different from love, but I have a partner just as

important as Alice now. The mysterious youth I met in the forest
south of Rulid two years, two months ago. The «lost child of Vector»
with black hair and black eyes like those from the east. My closest
friend, Kirito, who dragged me from the village and guided me to the
Central Cathedral. I can still vividly visualize his impish smile.
……Alice and Kirito. I might never be able to see their smiles

again. But even if I were to lose my life here, I will never forget those
two until my final moment.
……I wanted to return to Rulid Village with them after Alice had
taken back her memories… but I no longer have the right to wish for
that. I, who had lost myself to Administrator’s temptations and
directed my sword towards those two, more precious than any other.
As his thoughts drifted there once more, Eugeo’s eyes quivered
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ever so slightly.
He did not know how had Administrator interpreted that

expression, but she inclined her head lightly and spoke.
“So it is a little unstable after all. I suppose there is no

helping it, I will have to synthesize you once again. You can
have your reward after that, Eugeo.”
And she carelessly reached out with her right hand.
It might have been a good opportunity to act, but the instant her
slender fingertip pointed towards his forehand, an unforeseen
phenomenon assailed Eugeo. His entire body went numb with even
his mouth paralyzed, let alone his limbs.
And in the next moment—
A strange sensation went through his head, from his forehead to

the back.
The source of that cold throbbing, the icy thorn embedded deep in
his head, was dragged out slowly but forcibly. Pain was absent, but
his sight flashed white each time the thorn moved, granting him
vision of a hazy scene.
Verdant branches rustling in the wind. Labile sunlight filtering

through the trees.
Running through under those with smiles all around.
Golden hair glittering in the light a short distance beyond.
And jet-black hair frisking about energetically by his side.
The young Eugeo ran as he turned his sight towards the right. But
his other childhood friend’s smile lurked deep within a white glare—
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A pronounced, intense shock dragged Eugeo back onto the dim
bed.
A strange object rose from Eugeo’s forehead as his numbed body

greatly bent backwards. A transparent triangular prism illuminated in
purple.
Integrity Knight Eldrie, too, had acted strange as a similar

triangular prism protruded out from his forehead the instant he heard
his mother’s name in the battle in the rose garden. However, the
prism from Eugeo’s forehead appeared to be larger, carved in a more
intricate pattern, and emitted a stronger glow.
Assailed by the astonishment behind how such a huge foreign

object was embedded in his own head and the fear of Administrator’s
sacred arts capable of such a feat, Eugeo simply watched on in
silence.
“Yes… you simply have to stay still like that…”
The silver-haired girl gently whispered and stretched her right

hand further, slowly drawing out the violet triangular prism from
Eugeo’s head. His thoughts went white the instant the foreign object
left and Eugeo slumped onto the bed as his strength left him too.
The highest minister lovingly gave the triangular prism, supported

by her fingers of both hands, a glance as she spoke.
“This module is an improved variant completed just

recently. I tried to include not only loyalty towards the
church and me, but the circuits to strengthen your
imagination too. You will immediately be able to use the
power of incarnation the moment you are synthesized with
this, even without that ineffective training. That is still
restricted to the basic techniques for now, but…”
Eugeo could not understand more than half of Administrator’s
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words.
However, one thing stood clear. That triangular prism, the «piety
module», had taken over Eugeo’s thoughts, turned him into an
integrity knight, and made him point his sword at Kirito and Alice. Of
course, he was the one who chose that path, but he could now play
his final role without interference from that false loyalty with the
module removed. Now that he thought about it, the throbbing that
remained in the core of his mind and was cold as ice had vanished as
well.
However. The numbness throughout his body, that had assailed

him the instant Administrator pointed her finger at him, showed no
sign of fading even with the module removed. He was still unable to
move his body as he desired.
If only I could move my right hand. I could grab that from my chest
and swing it down on Administrator, if only I could do that—
As Eugeo desperately mustered together his strength, looking

downwards with his back arched, that white right hand reached out
once again.
He stared with upturned eyes and the highest minister, with her
left hand holding the module, came closer until their knees almost
touched. The girl pulled his head towards herself with a gentle smile
and Eugeo pitched forward, unable to resist even that meager
strength.
Having placed Eugeo’s head, turned sideways, on her two bent

legs, Administrator caressed near the borders of his hair with her
fingers as she whispered.
“Let me have another look at your memories. I will

definitely embed this in the place you treasure most this
time. Your head will no longer hurt after that. And that is not
the end… you will be forever freed from those needless
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distress and agony, along with your hunger and thirst too.”
The slender, pale fingers left his forehead and slowly fell lightly
onto his lips. The numbness faded from his mouth alone.
Her fingers left and the girl showed a charming smile as she
commanded.
“Now, recite that art I taught you earlier.”
“………”
Eugeo’s lips slightly trembled as they, and they alone, regained the
ability to move.
The haze in his memories included not only the exchange of

swords with Kirito as an integrity knight but the moments directly
before that too, but the three words he had recited alone stood out
vividly in his memories.
He could not even begin to imagine what these unfamiliar sacred

words meant, but he was convinced of one thing at least. That short
phrase would throw open what kept a human’s heart safe, the door
bestowed upon each person at their birth.
That was why Administrator could freely peek through Eugeo’s

memories and insert the piety module into a pre-existing gap.
However, in Administrator’s words, the «synthesizing» was unstable,
so she intended to repeat that.
Eugeo could maintain his own consciousness at the current

moment, regardless of the risks, so that door to his heart must have
been closed again. He did not know whether it closed by itself as
time passed, or if Administrator had shut it for some sort of reason.
However, Administrator needed Eugeo to recite those three words
again in order to repeat the synthesizing.
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If he recited them, Eugeo’s body and heart, too, would likely turn
into those of an integrity knight this time, denying him his final wish
of retrieving Alice’s memories.
However, if he did not, Administrator would notice Eugeo’s

insubordination.
At this very moment. This moment with the highest minister

revealing her defenseless, bare skin might be his final and greatest
opportunity. He had to somehow move his right hand and stab that
thing into her.
The highest minister had numbed Eugeo by merely pointing at him

with her right hand. That was not all to it. He also did not hear her
voice chanting the art when the luminous element floating above the
bed was generated.
Eugeo had caught sight of a similar invisible power being used

without reciting any words a short while ago, though of different
type. Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli Synthesis One who he
fought at the large bath downstairs. From Eugeo’s point of view, the
hero from ancient times, a founder of Rulid Village and his ancestor
from far in the past, had drawn a sword left a distance away towards
himself simply by holding out his hand.
That was not all. Now that he thought back upon it, the sage of the
Great Library Room, Cardinal, had shut away the passage, brought
forth a table, and accomplished other such acts with a single wave of
her staff, hadn’t she? Masters like them must be capable of
exhibiting power equivalent to sacred arts simply by visualizing it in
their minds.
Of course, for Eugeo who was still studying sacred arts at the
academy mere days ago, he could not even match the ascetic
apprentices serving the Axiom Church as an arts user, let alone
Administrator and Cardinal.
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He had to break through the numbness binding his body with the
power of his mind.
Kirito had once said this. That what truly mattered in this world
was putting something in one’s sword. That could only imply how
power born of one’s mind could reside in one’s sword, strengthening
its attacks.
If the mind could strengthen one’s sword, it could be applied to

sacred arts… no, to any one of a human’s actions as well.
——Move.
Separating his lips and gently taking in a breath, Eugeo wished.
——Move, please, my right hand.
——I had made many mistakes thus far in my life. I couldn’t help
Alice when she was taken away by that integrity knight, I didn’t go
and help her for countless years after that, and I lost sight of my path
after I finally arrived at the final destination of my journey; I have to
atone for my weaknesses.
“……Mm…”
A hoarse, low voice spilled from Eugeo’s mouth.
“…Mm… ov…”
Administrator’s smile faded as she looked on from straight above.

Her two silver eyes narrowed as they considered Eugeo’s intentions.
There was no turning back. The power gathered from all about his
mind concentrated upon his right hand.
However, the numbness refused to leave. Countless invisible

needles pierced everywhere over his fingers and palm as through
preventing him from further movement. This right hand could break
apart for all he cared if only it could move for this instant. It would be
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fine even if he could never swing a sword again. So, just once more—
“…M, ov, e…!”
It was when he cried out in that strained voice.
A faint glow enveloped Eugeo’s right hand, thrown upon the

sheets. A warm, gentle radiance capable of dissolving any and all
pain and anguish. It took only an instant for the ice needles stabbed
into his bones and flesh to thaw.
“…You…?”
Administrator muttered and drew back.
However, Eugeo’s right hand had already been freed from its
numbness by then and slipped into his shirt, taking out something
that dangled off a narrow chain.
A tiny dagger that gleamed in a deep shade of copper.
Held in a backhanded grip, it swung down into Administrator’s pure

white skin peeking out from the dipping neckline at the bosom of her
flimsy garment.
It could not miss. The blade measured a mere five cen on the
dagger, but a target that was practically within arm’s reach could not
possibly be out of its range.
However, in the very moment before its needle-like point truly

pierced into Administrator’s flesh, a phenomenon beyond his wildest
imagination occurred.
Gagaan!! An impact resembling thunder roared out and concentric

circles formed by membranes of violet light appeared with the
dagger at their heart.
What made up those shining ripples were verses of sacred letters
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of an extremely small size. The thin membranes that seemed far too
frail thwarted the sharp point of the dagger.
“Gu… uhh!!”
A powerful repelling force opposed Eugeo as he gritted his teeth

and strained with all his will.
The dagger he held in his right hand was one of a pair given to
them by the sage, Cardinal, with one entrusted to each of them.
Though the dagger itself possessed nearly no offensive ability,
Cardinal could send her sacred arts from the isolated library room to
the one stabbed by it.
Eugeo’s dagger was for putting Integrity Knight Alice to sleep.
And Kirito’s dagger was given to him for defeating the highest
minister, Administrator. However, he ended up using his dagger on
Deputy Knight Commander Fanatio Synthesis Two to save her life
after their battle on the fiftieth floor of the cathedral.
Cardinal’s voice, conveyed through space, mentioned this at that

time. [The possibility of Administrator still in her unawakened
state is high at the present moment. If you reach the highest
floor before that woman awakens, you could deal with her
without using the dagger.] she said.
However, they were too late. With her now awake, there were no
means of defeating the highest minister who possessed power
equivalent to Cardinal’s aside from the dagger Eugeo held.
He would retrieve Alice’s memories and return to Rulid Village with

her. That was Eugeo’s only wish for the longest time. However, he
felt he no longer had the right to hold on to that hope now that he
had been deluded by the highest minister’s words, put on an
integrity knight’s armor, and turned his sword upon Kirito—and Alice,
too—even if it was only temporarily.
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The means of redeeming for his error numbered only one.
That would be to abandon himself—to sacrifice himself for a

greater good, rather than his personal desires; that was all.
At the tender age of eleven, Alice was taken from her home town
and trained as a knight with her memories sealed.
Despite their unsullied records, Tieze and Ronye were humiliated

through the privileges granted to nobles.
He would expend the rest of his strength to crush that twisted

political system. Even if it took his death here to defeat the highest
minister, the days he spent travelling to the central capital from the
village and studying at the academy were not vain.
The dagger swung down with such determination, but it was still
hindered by those purple membranes and failed to reach
Administrator’s skin. Meanwhile, the highest minister, too, had
apparently failed to predict Eugeo’s actions and threw her upper
body back as a sharp breath escaped from her.
A light harboring indignation resided in her two silver eyes, opened

wide.
Taking on that gaze, Eugeo placed his left hand against his right
and tried to force in the dagger with what strength he had left.
“U… o-ooh!”
The fine, needle-like point pierced just a single millice into the
intensely glowing barriers—when it happened.
The numerous sacred letters making up the barriers exuded pure

white light as they exploded, blowing Eugeo and the highest minister
away.
“…!!”
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Even while he rapidly flew through the air, thrown off the bed in an
instant, as though mowed down by a giant’s palm, Eugeo still
succeeded in two tasks.
He barely regained his grip on the chain with the dagger after it
was flicked away from his right hand and grasped the Blue Rose
Sword’s scabbard, lying right beside him after his back was thrown
against the floor, with his left hand.
Embracing his heavy, cherished sword had zero effect on reducing

his momentum and he tumbled across the floor, coming to a stop
only after slamming his back against the large window far away.
“Guhh……”
A short groan escaped from Eugeo even as he desperately brought

up his face and stared towards the center of the room.
The flimsy pieces of cloth dangling from the high ceiling were all
blown open, revealing the circular bed. Beyond them laid a human
silhouette, silent and upright. Despite blown away by the exploding
barriers like Eugeo, her long hair merely rippled gently, with no sign
of injury left on her. The glimmer of the triangular prism extracted
from Eugeo was visible in her left hand.
The violet, sheer fabric apparently failed to endure the blast and
disintegrated as they were torn away, but Administrator lifted her
right hand and fixed her ruffled, long, silver hair as though she found
no need to pay any attention to her utterly unclothed body.
She softly sat down next, as if an invisible chair was present in the
air, and crossed her slender legs. She silently moved through the air
in that posture, stopping roughly ten mel away from Eugeo, on his
hands and knees at the southern edge of the spacious room.
The highest minister placed a finger on her right hand on her chin
atop the unseen throne as she stared hard at Eugeo. He stayed
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capable of neither movement nor speech and eventually, the silver-
eyed girl showed a fleeting smile and spoke.
“I was wondering just where were you keeping such a

trinket… but that is simply a ploy from that kid in the library
room, isn’t it? To think she would filter it out from my
perception; so she had thought up of a thing or two in the
short while she stayed out of my sight.”
She let out an unrestrained, quiet giggle.
“But what a pity. I haven’t been sleeping this entire time

either. That kid blundered when she thought to make that
toy metallic. No metal object can hurt this skin of mine now,
without exception. Be it that brutish blade of the ogres, or a
marking pin from the sewing shops.”
“Wh……”
Still prostrate on the floor, Eugeo weakly moaned.
She was invulnerable to metallic weapons.
If that proved to be true, would it not render attacks from all sorts
of weapons, including the dagger from Cardinal, powerless? The
violet membranes that prevented the dagger’s point earlier was
likely that defensive art, but Eugeo did not have the slightest idea of
what sacred art could cancel it and he doubt he even possessed the
capability for it.
Administrator gently whispered to Eugeo who was able to do

naught more than desperately gripping the weapon small enough to
be hidden in his right hand and looking up at the nude girl sitting in
mid-air.
“What a pitiful child.”
“………”
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“And I even promised you so. If you had given all of
yourself to me, I would have granted you just as much love in
turn. That eternal love, that eternal servitude you sought for
so long would have been yours in just a little longer.”
“………Eternal love…”
Eugeo unconsciously repeated after her in a parched voice.
“Eternal…… servitude……”
The highest minister nodded, fiddling with the piety module she
had just extracted from Eugeo’s forehead with her left hand.
“Yes, Eugeo. Entrust all of yourself to me and that thirst

torturing you so will be immediately quenched. You will be
freed from the relentless embrace of unease and fear. …This
is your final chance, Eugeo. Crush the toy in your right hand
with the sword in your left hand. I will pardon you from your
sins with my boundless love then.”
“………”
Laid prone, Eugeo stared at the Blue Rose Sword gripped in his left
hand and the reddish-copper dagger held in his right.
“Love is to dominate and to be dominated… —You’re the

pitiful one here, being only able to speak of it in such a
manner.”
“………”
The highest minister’s lips then shut.
With a single wave of that slender right hand, extremely highly

ranked sacred arts would rain down and instantly erase his Life.
Eugeo continued his words, still, aware of that fact.
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“…I’m sure you were the same. You starved for love and
sought it out… but no one offered you any.”
He murmured in the depths of his chest as he spoke on.
—I might have been a child unloved by even his own parents.
—But even so, I had definitely loved many people.
Old Garitta-san, the previous generation’s woodcutter. Sister

Azariya from the church. Selka the sister apprentice.
My grandfather who had told me many old tales. My sister, Sulinea-

san, who used to look after me when I was still a child.
Banou-san and Toriza-san from Wolde farm. Telin and Telulu, their
twins.
Gorgolosso-senpai who trained me. Azurika-sensei from the

dormitory.
Tieze who granted me her smile everyday as my valet, short as it

lasted. Ronye who looked after my partner.
And Kirito.
Alice.
“You’re wrong, pitiful one.”
Eugeo stared into Administrator’s eyes, exuding a mysterious

iridescent light, and deliberated on each word as he spoke them out.
“Love is not to dominate. It’s not to seek for something in

return, it’s not something you can receive in exchange. It’s
something to be given out freely, like watering a flower…
that is definitely what love truly is.”
A faint smile appeared on Administrator’s lips once again when she
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heard those words.
However, it lacked that saccharine sweetness from earlier.
“……What a pity. To think my bid to pardon this boy, this

great sinner who rebelled against the Axiom Church, and
save his soul would end with such words spoken to me.”
Eugeo looked up, his breath taken away, as the silver-haired girl
floating in mid-air transformed from a «human» to a «god» in an
instant.
Nothing changed on the outside. However, an unfathomable

intimidating presence—what felt like divinity, so to
speak—enveloped her pale, almost transparent, skin. A
manifestation of overwhelming might that seemed as though she
could tear apart the most adept swordsman or arts user into fine
pieces with a single wave of a finger.
“Eugeo… could you possibly be thinking… that I actually

have a need for you? That I will hesitate to take your life
because I desired you as a knight… or anything of that sort?”
The girl’s subdued smile expressed no emotion whatsoever. He

could do nothing more than to keep a stiff, tight grip on the dagger in
his right hand and to endure the sense of intimidation pressing down
on him.
“Ufufu… I have no more need for a dull child like yourself. I

will drain you of your Life, and perhaps grant you the honor
of having your corpse converted into a tiny jewel, to be put
away in a box. I could derive a meager bit of emotion
whenever I see that, even after organizing my memories from
today.”
Administrator spoke, her speech intermingled with laughter, and

gently adjusted her legs while atop the invisible chair.
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That was no empty threat. The highest minister probably could put
her words into action without hesitation if she wanted to.
He could not escape now and besides, he had already lost all and
any avenue of escape. It would be too late if he tried moving to the
elevating disk to head downstairs. Even if he broke the glass behind
him somehow, all that laid beyond that were the hundreds of mel of
empty skies extending up from ground level.
Besides, Eugeo had chosen his own fate the moment he used the
Blue Rose Sword’s armament full control art on Kirito and Alice on
the ninety-ninth floor. He would stab the highest minister with
Cardinal’s dagger even at the cost of his life.
The highest minister was protected by a barrier that prevented all

metallic weapons. However, Eugeo felt that barrier was not as
almighty as the girl had claimed. The barrier appeared to have self-
destructed when he recklessly tried to force the dagger in earlier. He
doubted that was the end of the art, but it presented the possibility
that the dagger could reach her immediately after the explosion.
“My… are you not quite done yet?”
Looking down at Eugeo who crawled on all fours, Administrator

whispered.
“What a gallant boy, willing to indulge me yet again in your

final moment. …I wonder, would killing you and turning you
into a jewel be too dull a choice? It might take some time, but
perhaps it’s better to synthesize you by force like that
child…?”
Despite the precarious situation, a part of the highest minister’s

speech still caught Eugeo’s ear and he unconsciously repeated in
reply.
“…That child…?”
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The silver-haired girl grinned broadly at that and nodded.
“Indeed. The one you were so infatuated with, Thirty-chan.

That child hated reciting that art too, so I had the automated
elders system spend several days to eliminate that
protection by force. I didn’t witness it because I was asleep,
but it must have been truly excruciating. …How about it? How
about having a taste of it yourself…?”
“……Thirty… …Alice…”
Eugeo called out that name in a hardly discernible manner.
As usual, he could not understand over half of the words from the
highest minister’s mouth. However, he understood this clearly.
The young Alice struck with a rope and taken to the Central
Cathedral eight years ago had undergone atrocious treatment in the
process of becoming an integrity knight. She had firmly refused to
voice out the «remove core protection» verse, the one Eugeo had
recited when he yielded to Administrator’s temptations, and had the
door to her heart forced open as a result. The pain of the injuries
Eugeo received through his battles thus far must have paled in
comparison to the suffering she had gone through.
He really could not possibly flee here.
He would not forgive himself if he fell before landing even a single

blow on Administrator in return.
“………”
Firmly gritting down on his teeth, Eugeo lifted himself up with his
trembling arms and wobbled as he stood up.
Staring back at the highest minister, whose eyes showed less

amusement than before, he wrapped the dagger’s chain around his
right wrist and gripped the Blue Rose Sword’s handle with that hand.
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Affirming the texture of the white leather that seemed to stick to
him, he drew it out in a single motion and tossed the sheath onto the
floor.
The blade gleamed bluish-silver against the moonlight flowing in

from the window behind.
The girl sitting in mid-air ten mel ahead narrowed her eyes as
though wary of that light and spoke in a voice colder than ever.
“I see, so that’s your answer, boy. Very well… I shall spare

you some mercy and kill you without any further suffering.”
Raising her right hand, she pointed nothing more than her index
finger towards Eugeo.
The highest minister seemed to have no need for words in her

usage of sacred arts. However, there should still be two requirements
to clear before she could carry out any offensive art.
Those would be element generation and processing. Be it thermal,

cryogenic, or some other element, even a master would need two
seconds to generate and shape them.
As such, Eugeo had already set up a stance with his cherished

sword at his right shoulder by the time the highest minister began
moving her right hand.
The Blue Rose Sword’s blade was enveloped in a yellow-green

glow.
Light blue points of light were created on Administrator’s

fingertips.
“O… ohh!”
This was his last sword. His last secret technique.
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Eugeo kicked off the ground, perfectly aware of that.
Aincrad-style charging technique, «Sonic Leap».
Kirito’s voice replayed deep in his ears.
—Listen here, Eugeo, secret techniques move our bodies for us.
But we can’t just let it move us as it likes.
—You have to become one with the secret technique and speed it
up with how your feet and arms move. Your sword will reach the
enemy faster than the wind if you do.
How many times had he practiced? How many times had he failed
and plunged face first into a clump of bushes?
And how many times have he heard Kirito’s voice laughing

happily—?
Eugeo’s sword gleamed verdant-green as it soared into the air,

passing by even the sound of the wind being cut.
The smile vanished from the highest minister’s lips and she
extended her right hand.
The cryogenic elements, on the verge of being launched as ice

needles, burst apart upon contact with the Blue Rose Sword. And
immediately after, the secret technique with all of Eugeo’s strength
behind it crashed into Administrator’s palm—no, the violet
membranes that expanded five cen from her hand.
An impact and noise far beyond earlier assailed Eugeo.
The violet barrier, capable of obstructing all metallic weapons,

caught the accelerated Sonic Leap, too, but ripples spread outwards
on several of the thin layers of miniscule sacred letters as they
trembled violently.
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The barrier should explode like a few minutes ago if he continued
driving it in with all his might. He would resist that pressure somehow
and stab the dagger dangling from his right wrist into Administrator
for sure this time. He did not mind even if his body was torn into
pieces as long as that succeeded.
“B… brr… eakk!!”
Eugeo yelled out as he put as much strength as he could muster

onto the Blue Rose Sword that still retained its glow from the secret
technique.
“………!”
The highest minister remained silent, but her lips showed no sign
of cheer. Iridescent light swirled deep in her narrowed eyes as she
grimly bent the five fingers on her extended right hand.
She must not be attacking with her left hand because it held the
piety module. The reason why she held onto it despite saying she
would kill Eugeo must be either because she still desired to turn him
into a knight or because she had some other method of using it.
However, there was no use pondering over that. He had to succeed

in this final attack—even if it took all of his remaining vitality and
strength to do so—there was nothing more.
“U… ooooohh——!!”
It was when Eugeo strained out one last scream from the bottom of
his abdomen.
An unforeseen phenomenon occurred before his eyes yet again.
The Blue Rose Sword slowly began to sink into the violet barrier.
The barrier had yet to disappear. Despite that, the point of his
beloved sword certainly did tear into those sacred letters that should
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obstruct all metal, little by little—no, it was slipping right through.
It was no illusion. The highest minister and her widening eyes

served as evidence.
The state of affairs accelerated suddenly.
Having taken on Eugeo’s sword in mid-air, Administrator strongly

sprang back without warning.
The barrier swiftly retreated as well and losing its support, the Blue
Rose Sword swung straight down with a sharp noise as its blade
sliced through the air. Several mel of the thick carpet were cut apart
in a straight line the moment the blade touched down.
He understood something had happened. All he knew for sure was

that he would suffer from the highest minister’s offensive arts if he
stayed still. His limbs felt heavy, perhaps due to all that strength he
had expended earlier, but Eugeo immediately kicked off the floor to
follow up with an attack.
However, his enemy proved faster this round. The highest minister
generated elements anew even while retreating and shot them
towards Eugeo. The green points of light were already right before
his eyes by the time he entered the stance for a secret technique.
Eugeo instinctively dropped the stance and guarded himself with

the Blue Rose Sword. The aerial elements blew up with a green flash
immediately after and the extreme gales they brought forth blew
Eugeo to the southern wall once again.
It was likely fortunate that the highest minister had omitted the
process of converting the elements. If she had used them as wind
blades and the like, instead of unleashing them as pure elements,
they might have even severed a limb or two.
However, he could not be said to be entirely lucky either. Instead

of a flat glass window like earlier, his back slammed into the gigantic
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pillar connecting two such windows this time.
A decorative greatsword was fitted onto the pillar and Eugeo

crashed into its body before rolling onto the floor. If the imitation
sword had its blade, rather than its flank, pointed towards him
instead, he might have suffered a severe wound even if it was only
an ornament. Thus, he could also actually be said to be lucky in that
sense, but he was in no condition to stand up straight away with the
pain threatening to deny him from breathing.
—I have to move. A real sacred art will be coming for me next.
Speaking to himself, Eugeo desperately tried to raise his upper

body.
The highest minister had apparently retreated beyond the bed and
he could see no more than the glimmer of her silver hair within the
dark shadows. Even Sonic Leap would not reach at that
distance—but naturally, it was of no difficulty for sacred arts.
Crawling on all fours like he was now would guarantee his death.
“U… ghh…”
He moaned as he managed to prop up his right knee somehow.

However, he still lacked the strength to use that leg. It disobeyed his
commands, doing nothing more than tremble no matter how hard he
tried to stand.
—Not yet. It’s not over yet. If I give up now, just what have I
returned to this room for?
—No. Just what have I lived until this moment for?
“Gu… o-ohh…!”
Eugeo leaned his back against the golden imitation sword as he

somehow pulled his body up, propping himself up with the Blue Rose
Sword. It seemed he suffered not only bruises but gashes as well
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from the collision and his blood dripped ceaselessly onto the floor.
It must have taken over five seconds for him to stand up from his
fall, but the highest minister had not followed up with an attack for
one reason or another. Still floating about the darkness twenty mel
ahead, she kept her silence.
Eventually, a quiet murmur drifted through the room; one audible

only in the room filled with its absolute silence.
“……That sword… hmm, so that’s it…”
Still confused over the meaning of her words, Eugeo glanced down
at his right hand.
The Blue Rose Sword thrust into the floor. The reddish-copper
dagger hanging off his wrist. Which was “that sword” Administrator
spoke of?
His intuition whispered to him that this was of utmost importance,

but before he arrived at an answer—
The silence that filled the highest floor of the Central Cathedral
was shattered by an odd cry from neither Eugeo nor Administrator.
“Eek, eek eeeeeeeekkk!!”
He looked towards its source and saw a circle in the floor sinking
four or five mel away. That was the elevating disk connected to the
lower floor. A voice, louder still, rang out once again from the black
gap surrounded by the carpet.
“H-Hel-Heeelp meeee, Your Eminenceee, Highest

Ministeeeeer!!”
That ear-piercing shriek could only belong to Chief Elder Chudelkin

who descended towards the ninety-ninth floor slightly earlier.
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Upon hearing his yells, interspersed with shrieks, Administrator
stepped forward from the shadows without a sound, landing at the
end of the bed, and muttered to herself.
“…How does he turn more infantile as the years pass by? I

suppose it might be about time for a reset.”
Eugeo slowly retreated towards the western side of the room,

building distance from the elevating disk, despite the watchful eyes
of the highest minister who was shaking her head gently.
The disk’s sinking, but it’s hardly fast. It should take tens of
seconds before it reaches the lower floor and brings Chudelkin back
once again.
—Or so he thought, but two pale hands gripped onto the edge of
that hole just as the gap between the floor and disk became a mere
twenty cen.
“Hoooooohh!!”
The strange voice echoed out for the third time, followed by a
round head appearing from the gap. With his bald head dyed bright
red, without even a single strand of hair, the chief elder forced his
body through and tumbled onto the floor with a pop.
His clothes appeared no different from what he wore when he went

down after gloating over his authority to Eugeo earlier. However, his
red and blue jester costume that swelled up into a circle was torn
everywhere and shriveled up.
With a glance at Chudelkin who had flopped onto the floor in a

sitting posture, breathing heavily with that unique laughter.
“…What is that manner of dress?”
Administrator spoke, with a chilly voice.
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On the other hand, Eugeo also felt a sort of shock. The chief elder’s
limbs and torso peeking through the tattered jester outfit were as
slender as withered branches. With his head swelled round despite
that, he looked like a stickman from a child’s scribbles.
So what exactly was with his jester outfit that was inflated so much
when he first saw him at the large bath? While Eugeo was engrossed
in that question, Chudelkin lifted himself up without even noticing
Eugeo who stood mere mel away, stood at attention, and began his
defense.
“I-I must apologize for the distress I must be causing you

by exposing my insignificant self in such an unseemly state
before Your presence, Your Eminence, Highest Minister, but
this is simply an unfortunate consequence of the fierce battle
I went through in my bid to slay the traitors and protect the
honorable Axiom Churchh!”
Chudelkin streamed on and on before stopping at that point and

his eyes went wide, from the shape of a crescent moon to that of a
full moon, possibly having noticed the highest minister’s stark naked
appearance. His two hands snapped over his face right after and his
entire round head went red as he shouted out shrilly.
“Hauu!! Ohooouu!! Your humble servant is unworthy of

beholding Your presence, Your Eminence, I shall have to
smash my eyees and turn myself into stoneeee!!”
Even while talking on and on about how terribly undeserving he

was, the gaps between his fingers widened as the two eyeballs
beyond them gleamed brightly. It seemed even the highest minister
found a need to respond to Chudelkin’s reaction as she covered her
breasts with her left hand. Her voice, carried on frigid air, shot
towards the jester.
“State your business now, or I really will turn you into

stone.”
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“Hooohh!! Hoaaa… aa… a-aahh…”
In the process of twisting his long and thin body while letting out
that bizarre voice, Chudelkin froze still upon hearing the highest
minister’s words. His head, flushed red, turned increasingly pale.
Turning about without warning, the chief elder hopped like a frog
towards the hole in the floor he had just exited. The elevating disk
was still down on the ninety-ninth floor and yet to return.
“W-We will have to seal this up at oncee! That pair, those

demons aree-!!”
“…Were you not supposed to get rid of the rebels?”
Administrator asked and a jolt ran down Chudelkin’s back.
“Y- Yo- Yo-Your humble servant had undergone an epic

battle of valor and courage, resulting in this unseemly
appearance, but as the traitors were far too accustomed with
the ways of cowardice, trickery, and craftinesss…”
Eugeo listened to the chief elder’s screechy screams and devoted

the other half of his consciousness to thinking.
The «traitors» Chudelkin referred to were, of course, Kirito and

Alice who Eugeo had encased in ice on the ninety-ninth floor. Though
the chief elder was the second best sacred arts user in the church
and their movements were restricted by the ice, he doubted they
even had a chance of losing and as expected, Chudelkin had fled
back after receiving a fierce counterattack.
However—that would essentially mean.
Eugeo unconsciously took a step or two away from the hole for the
elevating disk.
Perhaps having heard the sound of his rustling clothes, Chudelkin
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switched from speaking of his incessant excuses to a glance in his
direction.
His thin, drooping eyes opened wide once again. Thrusting a finger
on his left hand at Eugeo, the chief elder gave a domineering shout
as though he had forgotten about his own disgraceful sight.
“Hoaaa! Y-You, number thirty twoo! What are you standing

around there foor! T- T-To think you could draw your blade in
this «divine space» before Her Eminence’s presence, how
could you, how could youu! Down, on your hands and knees,
nooooooowww!”
“………”
But Chudelkin’s words hardly registered in Eugeo’s mind any

longer.
What his two ears caught were the quiet vibrations coming from
downstairs. The sounds the thick elevating disk made as it ascended
with the power of arts.
Even the chief elder, entirely focused on showering him with

curses, soon noticed those noises and firmly shut his mouth.
Spinning about, he got on all fours and quietly peeked into the hole
in the floor.
“Hoaaaa——!!”
With his greatest shriek yet, he looked at Eugeo once more.
“N- N-Now, number thirty two! What are you waiting foor,
hurry and head dooown! It’s all your fault in the first place,
for not giving them a proper beatiing, none of this is my
fault, Your Eminence, please, I plea you understand that fact
at……”
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Chudelkin’s intense, rapid speech streamed on as his right foot
moved forward in a bid to return to the bed while on all fours—
But not before a hand extended from the hole in the floor and got a
strong grip on it.
“Hohiiieeee——!!”
Screaming with his eyes wide open, Chudelkin swung about his
right foot. The jester shoe with its pointy tip came off with that and
his small frame tumbled away with the remaining momentum.
Immediately getting onto his feet, the chief elder rushed towards the
bed, turned over the dangling sheets, and snuck into the darkness in
between them and the bed.
The highest minister standing on the other side of the bed silently
looked down at the hole in the floor with a big smile instead, perhaps
having lost her interest in the chief elder’s idiocy. Eugeo felt he had
to immediately slash at her if she shown any intention to attack, but
for the time being, she seemed to be welcoming the new guests to
her room without a word.
Upon confirming that, Eugeo returned his sight to the elevating

disk.
The hand holding onto Chudelkin’s shoe remained extended

upright. The black sleeve slipped down, revealing an arm with
muscles slender yet firm.
Just how many times had that arm pulled Eugeo up?
No, that hand had always been pulling him along until this day, this
very moment. Even more so now, after Eugeo diverged from the path
and pointed his sword towards the one that arm belonged to.
The elevating disk continued its ascent.
What appeared next was jet-black hair still ruffled from combat.
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Following that were two eyes, darker than the night sky visible
beyond the glass and exuding a light stronger than those stars. And
at last, lips showing a fearless grin—
“……Kirito…”
Eugeo’s voice quivered as he murmured his friend’s name. It

should not have been loud enough to hear from over ten mel away,
but as though it was only natural, his bosom friend still turned his
eyes towards Eugeo, beside the wall, and nodded with that same, old
smile.
It was warm, strong, and exactly the same as when they first met.
The elevating disk made a dull, heavy noise as it came to a stop
immediately after.
—Kirito… You are…
An emotion throbbed deep in his chest, one that he had no name

for.
However, that ache was certainly not unpleasant. At the very least,
it was a pain far more tender, doleful, and precious compared to the
agony he felt in his head when the piety module was still in it.
With his eyes fixed on Eugeo who stood stock still, the youth
clothed in black, who was his partner and mentor in swordsmanship,
showed a cocky grin and spoke.
“Hey, Eugeo.”
“…..And I told you not to come, too.”
He somehow managed to reply with those words and his partner

threw Chudelkin’s shoe, still in his right hand, far away with a
growing smile.
“Have I ever listened to your instructions like a good boy?”
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“……That’s true. You’re always…… always going with……”
His remaining words faded away.
He wanted to atone for his sin of turning his sword at a friend with
his life. He was prepared to stab the last hope, Cardinal’s dagger,
into Administrator even if it resulted in his body being torn apart. But
he ended up reuniting with Kirito before he accomplished that
mission in the end.
No, that was wrong. Kirito arrived here of his own will.
He had smashed through Eugeo’s full control art, repelled Chief

Elder Chudelkin, and came to the hundredth floor while Eugeo was
still alive.
—That’s right, I’m still alive. And the dagger is still hanging off my
right hand. So it’s time to fight. That’s all I need to do now.
Eugeo moved his sight off his partner and looked towards the
middle of the room.
The highest minister, Administrator, showed a broad, mysterious

smile as she quietly stood still beyond the gigantic bed. Her two
specular eyes hid her inner emotions flawlessly as they always did,
the bluish-white moonlight wavering within them. All he could tell
was that cogs were turning in her mind while she looked downwards
upon any new visitor.
He had to tell Kirito before the battle resumed. That the highest
minister’s flesh was protected by a barrier that hindered all things
metallic—and that it was unlikely invincible.
With his eyes on the highest minister, Eugeo slowly began to move
towards his partner.
And suddenly.
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He heard a light, metallic clank from there. He turned his eyes
towards the right.
Another person walked out from the murky shadow cast by the
pillar behind, by Kirito’s right.
Golden hair and armor enveloped in an exceedingly noble radiance

upon receiving the bluish-white moonlight. The Fragrant Olive Sword,
a sacred instrument with a guard modelled after a flower, at the left
of her waist. A white skirt fluttering gently.
It was the integrity knight, Alice Synthesis Thirty.
Eugeo’s eyes reflected Alice, who had already been cooperating

with Kirito on the ninety-ninth floor. However, the ache in his chest
grew even stronger upon seeing the pair standing side by side. His
foot that yearned to be by Kirito’s side stopped at its own discretion.
Knight Alice first looked at the highest minister, then at Eugeo.
The black bandage was still wrapped around the right of her face.
She should be capable of healing it instantly, as an integrity knight
with skills equivalent to those of high ranking arts users; but she left
it alone, perhaps to come to terms with that pain.
Eugeo stared into Alice’s left eye, dyed in a deep indigo blue and
coursing with various emotions. One that strongly exuded her inner
thoughts as a human, unlike the ones filled with cold apathy when
they met again in the garden on the eightieth floor.
Despite how she had yet to regain her memories as Alice

Schuberg, Knight Alice’s inner world had changed greatly in this short
time. And the one who had brought about that was unmistakably the
black-haired knight standing by her side. Kirito’s words had reached
that frozen heart of Knight Alice that seemed like it could never melt.
If—
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If he returned that «memory fragment» Cardinal spoke of, stored
somewhere in this room by the highest minister, to Alice’s mind.
Knight Alice would instantly return to Alice Schuberg, Eugeo’s

childhood friend.
At the same time, Alice’s personality as a knight, the personality

that likely conversed with Kirito, sheathed her sword, endured the
pain from losing her right eye, and firmly decided to fight against the
Axiom Church with him, would probably disappear.
That was Eugeo’s greatest hope and the reason he continued to

fight. But how would Alice react to that fact? And did Kirito… truly
hope for Knight Alice’s annihilation despite saving Deputy Knight
Commander Fanatio’s life even after a struggle to the death with
her…?
Taking in a deep breath and breathing it out, Eugeo forced those

thoughts back.
He had to focus on this final battle now. He had the opportunity to

consider various matters because Administrator had been watching
over the situation in silence, but it would not be odd for her attacks
to resume any time.
Taking his sight off Alice, Eugeo gazed further into the room once
again and continued moving. Stepping onto the moonlight shining in
from the windows behind, he carefully walked sideways and finally
arrived at Kirito’s side.
Kirito whispered to Eugeo, who leaned his weight upon his drawn
Blue Rose Sword after thrusting it into the floor once more.
“You’re hurt. They aren’t… from me, right?”
“………”
In response to the words his partner spoke—willingly spoke to
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bring the battle downstairs to an end, Eugeo’s mouth unconsciously
slackened as he replied.
“Your sword didn’t hit even once. I just slammed my back

into that pillar a little.”
“Then you should have waited for us to get here.”
“…Hey, Kirito, I’m the one who stopped the both of you,
you know?”
“As if we’re weak enough to be stopped by just that.”
Their whispered quarrel continued on and he felt as though they

had returned to how they were before they were separated on the
eightieth floor… when they still lived together in the Sword Mastery
Academy’s dormitory; the aching in his chest dulled by just a little.
However, there was no taking back what had already happened.

His sins of losing himself to the highest minister’s temptations and
pointing his sword at his bosom friend were not minor enough to be
wiped away by words alone.
Eugeo pursed his lips and tightly gripped his beloved sword’s
handle.
Kirito, too, gazed further into the spacious room for a while in
silence, then muttered in a tense voice.
“So that’s… the highest minister, Administrator, huh.”
The one who answered was the knight standing on Kirito’s other
side, Alice.
“Yes. …She is exactly as she was, six years ago…”
Perhaps hearing the pair’s exchange, the highest minister finally

broke her long silence.
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“My, my… it must be the first time I had so many visitors in
this room. Goodness, Chudelkin, were you not the one who
said you would handle Alice-chan and the irregular boy?”
The hanging sheets beside the bed were pushed up from inside at
that, and out shot a large head and nothing more than that. Facing
the wrong direction, Chief Elder Chudelkin scratched his forehead as
he shrilly screamed.
“Hoh, hohiii!! Y-Your humble servant was reduced to this

unseemly state after an epic battle of valor and courage
and…”
“I’ve already heard that one.”
“Hoaaaa! I-It was not my faaaauuult! It’s because number

thirty two went easy and covered less than even half of the
traitors in ice, that’s why… besides, number thirty, that
crude, gaudy knight even went and used that Release
Recollection art on meee! Of course, I am certainly not one
that could get even a single scratch from that glittery girl’s
secret technique, hohihihii!”
“…That man is the only one I will definitely…”
Alice murmured in a voice filled with a cold thirst for blood. Paying
absolutely no attention to that, Chudelkin spun about and looked up
at Administrator, standing atop the bed, as his screechy voice droned
on.
“In the first place, even number one and two were beaten
downn! Their stupidity must infected number thirty too, yes,
I am sure of ittt!”
“Hmm. …Stay quiet for now.”
Chudelkin shut his mouth the instant Administrator said so and
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stayed still prostrate on the floor. But it appeared his two eyes were
wide open, taking in the view of the stark naked highest minister
without any sense of decency.
Despite saying she had no interest in the chief elder’s deeds,

Administrator stared at Alice with her silver eyes and inclined her
head slightly.
“It was about time to reset Bercouli and Fanatio, but…

Alice-chan, I hadn’t used you for even six years yet, had I? I
don’t see any sign of error in your logic circuits either… I
wonder, was it really the influence of that irregular boy, after
all? How fascinating.”
Eugeo understood nearly none of the words the highest minister

spoke. However, the tone used by the silver-haired girl caused chills
to run through him—as though speaking of domesticated sheep, or
even of a tool.
“Hey, Alice-chan. You have something you want to tell me,

don’t you? I won’t get angry, so go on, tell me.”
Administrator took a silent step forward atop the bed with a faint
smile.
As though pushed back by an invisible wall, Alice took a step back.
Eugeo took a glance at her and saw the knight’s side profile turn
paler than the bluish-white moonlight as her blood flow slowed down,
her lips weakly pursed together. However, Alice’s feet moved no
further back and she had apparently took her golden gauntlet off,
unnoticed, with the fingers on her left hand softly touching the
bandage over her right eye. As though the crude piece of glove had
granted her strength, her withdrawn right foot stepped forth once
more.
Clang.
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Her footstep rang out sharply as though the thick carpet was never
there. Instead of kneeling down, the golden knight threw her chest
out proudly towards her lord and her cold voice reverberated.
“Esteemed Highest Minister. Today marks the end of the

noble Order of the Integrity Knights. We were felled by the
swords held by the mere two rebels standing by my side.
…Along with that bottomless obsession and deceit you had
built up together with this tower!!”
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Vol.14 Chapter 13
Source: tap-trans
—Ooh, nice one.
I muttered my somewhat lighthearted opinion of Alice’s grand

speech in my heart while listening to it.
I would have lost against this pressure that threatened to freeze

me solid and ended up stepping back if I didn’t.
The hundredth floor of the Central Cathedral that I finally reached

was a circular, spacious room, probably forty meters across. A bed,
gigantic and circular as well, was placed in the middle of the room
and that appeared to be the only furniture around.
And standing still atop that bed was a stark naked, absurdly
beautiful girl.
There was no doubt she was the supreme ruler of the Axiom
Church—thus effectively, the Human World—the highest minister,
Administrator. The overwhelming presence she exuded just by
standing there instantly blew away my recognition of this world,
Underworld, as a virtual world and how its inhabitants, including her,
were AI, or «artificial fluct lights», stored on storage media made by
man.
No. It was before I laid my sight on her magnificent silver hair and
specular silver eyes; my two hands were already damp with sweat,
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the murky fear raising goose bumps down my back, by the time I
boarded the elevating disk on the ninety-ninth floor to get here.
After all, the cold «presence of death» lingering at the dim hole
that opened up straight above the elevating disk was heavier than
every single one of the boss rooms I had experienced back in the
Floating Castle Aincrad.
My physical body, Kirigaya Kazuto in the real world rather than

Kirito the expert swordsman-in-training, would not die in the Soul
Translator even if I lost my all of my Life in this Underworld. However,
this girl who called herself the highest minister, Administrator,
possessed the power to put me through torture worse than an actual
death.
That’s right, the sage, Cardinal, said it, didn’t she? That
Administrator was not bound by the Taboo Index she created herself,
but she was still incapable of murder due to the concept of taboos
taught to her when she was young.
However, that restriction was precisely why the highest minister

could make me suffer a horrible fate—for example, forcing me into a
situation much like those machinelike elders, connected to tubes, for
all eternity.
That said—
My fear, originating from my broad knowledge, could never match

that of Alice or Eugeo.
It appeared Eugeo had his «piety module» removed by

Administrator, but Alice’s was still embedded in her fluct light. I
couldn’t even begin to imagine the terror she had to endure,
standing face to face with the supreme ruler like this.
But still, the golden knight firmly threw out her chest and
continued her speech in a clear voice to the very end.
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“Our ultimate mission is not to protect the Axiom Church! It
is to protect the peaceful lives and tranquil rest of the tens of
thousands of the people without might! On the other hand,
Esteemed Highest Minister, your deeds serve only as a
detriment to the public peace for the many living in the
Human World!!”
Standing a step in front, Alice’s golden hair shone even brighter, as

though radiating with the light of conviction. Her strong and clear
voice cut into the cold air the wide room was submerged in and
swept it aside.
However, the ruler standing still a distance away showed

absolutely no sign of anger at Alice’s blatant admonitions, the edges
of her lips even turning up slightly as if to express her amusement.
Screaming out in a shrill voice that scraped at my eardrums in her

stead, was the chief elder, Chudelkin, who was hiding under the bed
for some reason.
“Sh- Shh-Shut upppppppp!!”
Bouncing out from beyond the hanging sheets with vigor, he rolled
forward before standing up. Perhaps that made him dizzy as he
tottered about for a bit before regaining his footing and threw his
head back, trying to look as impressive as he could with his small
stature, in between the highest minister and us.
His red and blue jester costume was torn to shreds and his
replenished poison gas was let out again because he was swallowed
up by the Fragrant Olive Sword’s armament full control art that Alice
invoked downstairs.
Alice had used that incredible technique that split the sword’s
blade into hundreds of small edges, bringing forth a golden storm of
flowers, to escape from Eugeo’s parting gift, that ice jail, but she
mercilessly included Chudelkin after he descended from above with
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his odd laughter, hopping into the middle of the room.
While his clothes were shredded, he managed to escape without

suffering any heavy injuries by exhibiting once again his one and only
forte, running away, but there was nowhere else to run here on the
highest floor.
But perhaps influenced by Administrator who stood behind him,

Chudelkin raised his hands up high, then quickly thrust his two index
fingers at Alice.
“A broken knight puppet like yoouuuu!? Mission!? Protect!?

You make me laugh, hoo—hoh, hoh, hoh, hoh——!!”
He spun around while laughing shrilly, flashing his underpants with

red and blue vertical stripes as his tattered jester outfit fluttered
about. Putting both hands onto his waist, he pointed the toes on his
left foot at Alice this time and continued yelling.
“The whole lot of you knights!! You’re nothing more than

wooden puppets that live on to follow my commands to the
letterr!! You will lick this foot if I tell you to, and you will
become a horsey if I tell you tooo!! Appreeeciaaaate that
mission bestowed upon you integrity knights, hooooohh!!”
He lost his balance then, with his body nearly falling backwards
and his huge head leading the way, but he narrowly avoided that by
flapping his two hands at his sides.
“In the first placee! How could the Order be destroyed,

that’s just ridicuuuu—louss! There aren’t even ten of you out
of order, including that trashy number one and twoo! So I
still have over twenty pawns at my fingertipss! The church’s
rule won’t tremble even one bit from your lonely prattle, you
gaudy, golden girl!!”
Though meant as cynicism, it appeared the clown’s petty curses
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took some tension off Alice. Regaining her characteristic calmness
and harshness, the knight lightly shook her head and responded in
an icy voice.
“You are the fool here, scarecrow. Do you have straw and
rags in replace of a brain in that round head of yours?”
“Wha… whaaaatt!!”
More blood rushed up to his already-red head, but before he could

yell out anything, Alice continued her words with the slickness of ice
towards the now-purple Chudelkin.
“Ten among the twenty knights remaining are immobile

due to that «reset» the Esteemed Highest Minister spoke of…
the alteration of their memories through arts. And the other
half are riding astride flying dragons even now, engaged in
combat at the mountain range at the edge. You can’t
possibly recall them. The moment you do, the Axiom Church’s
rule will collapse as the forces of darkness march into the
Human World through the caves north, west, and south of
the mountain range, and through the «Large East Gate» too.”
“Guh… mghghh…”
Alice cast her final words to finish off Chudelkin whose face

surpassed purple and turned pitch-black as he groaned.
“No—that is already collapsing. Those ten knights and

those flying dragons can’t fight on forever. However, there is
no one capable of taking their places left here at the
cathedral. Or perhaps you will proceed to the Dark Territory
in person and have a bout against those darkness knights
renowned for their bravery, Chudelkin?”
I couldn’t help but to cast my eyes down a little as I kept still

behind Alice when she pointed that out. Eugeo and I were the ones
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who sent the substitute knights, essentially Eldrie, Deusolbert, and
the «Four Oscillation Blades», to the hospital.
However, before I could look downwards, the pressure in

Chudelkin’s head crossed its limit.
“Mmhooooo!! H- Ho-How impertineeeentt!! Don’t think

you’ve won that one yet, girlll!!”
Exhaling air that seemed practically as intense as steam through

his nose, the clown floundered as he stamped on the floor.
“This is your punishment for such rudeness towards mee!!

I’ll have you at the mountain range for three years after a
reset for youuuuu!! No, I’ll have you do this and that as my
toy before thaaaatt!!”
Following that, the chief elder who began yelling out his plans for
Alice in a screechy voice was instantly silenced by a short utterance
from Administrator behind him.
“…Hmm.”
Completely ignoring Chudelkin whose face returned to white all at

once and stood at attention in silence, the highest minister turned to
Alice and lightly tilted her face.
“It doesn’t seem like an error in your logic circuits, after

all. And the piety module is still active… In that case, was the
«Code 871» applied by that person voluntarily released…?
Rather than through an unanticipated emotion…?”
—Just what was she talking about? That person…? Code, eight,
seven, one…?
I frowned, unable to grasp the meaning behind Administrator’s

words.
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The silver-haired girl divulged no further information and tossed
the hair flowing over her shoulder behind with her right hand as she
switched her tone.
“Well, I won’t make any progress on my understanding

without further analysis. …Now then, Chudelkin. I shall be
magnanimous and grant you an opportunity to restore your
worth after how you had fled. Try your best to freeze those
three with your arts. As for their Lives, well, anything above
two-tenth would be fine.”
She carelessly waved her right hand’s index finger after she spoke.
With that, the gigantic bed stationed at the highest minister’s feet
immediately began spinning with a dull noise as my eyes widened.
The bed, measuring ten meters across and fixed with a canopy,
sank into the floor like an enormous screw. Chief Elder, Chudelkin,
who was acting haughty at its immediate side, jumped aside with a
“hohii”.
With the entire bed now neatly stored under the floor, its canopy,
too, spun about as it fitted under the floor, leaving nothing more than
a circular pattern lined by the carpet. After a short pause, the highest
minister landed onto the floor without any sound whatsoever.
A thought came to mind and I looked towards my feet, seeing a

similar pattern on the floor bounding the elevating disk that had
brought Alice and I here. It seemed this room was contrived to have
things rising from and sinking into the floor, and I looked around, but
the only other pattern I spotted was a small one against the wall far
away. I had no guess for what could come out from there.
The highest floor felt astonishingly wide with the bed gone.
The curved wall was completely sided by glass lacking even a

single smirch while golden pillars supported the domed canopy. The
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canopy was adorned with an intricate piece of art that appeared to
be based on the creation myth, with the crystals embedded all over it
flickering like stars.
The somewhat surprising bit was how mock golden swords

decorated every one of those pillars. Even the smallest ones were a
meter long, while the largest ones were over three meters long, so it
seemed utterly impossible to pull them from the pillars to wield them
as weapons, with their absurdly tiny grips. Their blades hardly
seemed sharp either.
At any rate, the hundredth floor of the cathedral had absolutely no

cover, a space greatly disadvantageous when fighting against a
sacred arts user. Having judged that for the moment, I figured it
would be best to charge forward before Chudelkin had the chance to
chant his arts and shifted my balanced onto my right foot.
But even before I could move for real, I saw Alice shake her head
slightly.
“It will be dangerous rushing in unprepared. The Esteemed

Highest Minister should possess the arts needed to capture
us alive with a simple touch. She must be targeting that
opening by sending Chudelkin to challenge us first.”
“That reminds me…”
Here, Eugeo, who had stayed quite so far, whispered in a tense

voice.
“It felt like the highest minister didn’t kill me despite

having the chance. In addition, the chief elder intentionally
got on… no, touched Bercouli-san when turning him into
stone.”
“I see, a «direct contact rule», huh.”
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I nodded along while muttering. Aside from the ranged offensive
arts, such as flames or ice blades, one would generally need to touch
the target with one’s hands—though feet should work just as
well—for there to be any effect. It was a fundamental rule of sacred
arts that even novice trainees of the academy knew.
In other words, there was no worry of suffering from that terrible

petrification art as long as we restrain from direct contact with
Chudelkin and Administrator. But at the same time, that would put
our swords out of range.
Thus, our situation remained disadvantageous. Alice’s skill with

sacred arts was far from Eugeo’s and my reach and if it turned out as
an exchange of ranged arts, Chudelkin could likely drive all three of
us back on his own as the chief elder.
Eugeo continued talking about something while I bit my lips and

continued thinking.
“Besides… the highest minister’s whole body is…”
But before he could, Chudelkin who had fallen onto his rear jumped
to his feet like clockworks.
“Hohohohh!”
He showed us, bracing ourselves in a hurry, a revulsive smile

entirely different from before as he buttered up to the ruler behind
himself.
“…Your Eminence, what magnanimity, to go out of your

way and bestow upon me this pleasure when you could have
crushed those three damned bugs with a single prod from
your little finger! Your humble subject is in tears! He is truly
in tearss!! Hgh, hghghgh…”
We could only feel dumbfounded as viscous tears fell from the
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corners of his eyes in drops just like he had said.
Perhaps Administrator was tired of dealing with him too, but she
moved back five meters with a curt remark.
“…Well, just go for it.”
“Y-Yess! Your humble subject will fight tooth and nail to

meet your expectatiiooooonnss!!”
Chudelkin pressed his two thumbs onto his temple and his tears
came to a sudden stop, as though there was a switch there; the small
jester grinned broadly as he glared at us.
“Now, now, now… the lot of you won’t be getting out of this
with a simple apologyyy. I’ll shave at least eight-tenth of
your Lives away, bit by bit, before you grovel in tears on the
ground, so how about you prepare yourselvess?”
“…I had enough of your foolish words. Like I had said

downstairs, I will slice your dirty tongue off from its base, so
stop your yapping and come.”
Unwilling to even give an inch in the battle of words, Alice replied,

then gripped her beloved sword’s handle with her right hand and
strengthened her center of gravity.
Once again, Chudelkin crossed his arms before his chest in a

bizarre pose roughly five meters away.
“Nnnnnn, unforgivableeee!! If you desire to be licked by my

beautiful tongue so much, I’ll lick you all you likeee!! After
you’re frozen stifff!! …Hoaaah—!!”
Chudelkin jumped up high with that cry and launched himself

behind into the air, landing with a thump after one a half flips and a
twist. Not on his feet or his hands, but on the top of his head.
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“………”
Eugeo and I weren’t the only ones rendered speechless; the same
went for Alice. Sure, the chief elder might be more stable upside
down due to that super huge round head on his stick-like torso, but
just what was he thinking, cutting off his movement?
But the person in question, Chudelkin, had an exceedingly serious

face on—hard as it was to recognize, with him upside down—as all of
his four limbs shot out, before he screamed out the start to a sacred
art in his ear-piercing voice.
“System… caaaaall—!!”
In response, Alice drew her sword with a shrill noise. Despite being
at a loss for an appropriate response, Eugeo and I braced ourselves
with our swords too.
“Generate cryogenic elementt!!”
Chudelkin shouted out the generation art for cryogenic elements

awfully quick.
The power and scale of ranged offensive arts could be mostly

predicted from the number of elements generated at the start. I
squinted in order to not miss the points of light appearing on the
chief elder’s hands.
Paan!! Chudelkin slapped his two hands together while doing a

headstand and spread them wide. Blue flecks of light were brought
forth on the fingers of both hands with a faint, audible pulse—ten of
them.
“Damn, the max, huh.”
I cursed without thinking much, but it wasn’t like I didn’t expect

that. Even a beginner like me who knew nothing more than the
basics could generate five on a hand if I focused. Chudelkin was the
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Axiom Church’s strongest arts user, if excluding Administrator, and it
would be only natural, instead, for him to generate ten on two hands.
Alice stayed still, but I took a step to the right and held out my left
hand to create thermal elements, the opposing element. Eugeo, too,
adopted the exact same posture. If we managed five elements each
somehow, we might be able to defend against Chudelkin’s cryogenic
elements—
However, that happened when I was about to start my shout.
Paan!! The noise from a slap rang out once more.
That was the noise made by Chudelkin, on his head, when he deftly
slapped his two bare feet together. His two legs part next and
extended out into a straight line like his two hands. Immediately, all
ten tips of his toes, too, had cryogenic elements generated on them
with a noise like falling frost.
The phrase Eugeo hoarsely muttered on my left was one I fully

agreed with.
“…No way…”
While maintaining a total of twenty blue elements on his hands and

feet, Chudelkin showed a huge smile with his inverted mouth.
“Ohoh, ohohohoho… Quaking in your boots, peeing in your

trouserss? I can’t very well have you lump me up with those
trashy arts user, you know?”
In the Underworld, control over sacred arts, or to put it plainly,

magic, was done through voice commands and the user’s
imagination. Taking healing arts as an example, holding animosity in
your heart towards the target would have a sharp decline in its effect
while praying for someone to recover with all your effort could bring
about a heal beyond one’s authority.
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The same applied to offensive arts that manipulated elements.
Reshaping the generated elements and firing them required more

than the voice commands, or the words of the art. A conductor for
the user’s imagination, linked to the consciousness, was absolutely
essential.
That was, in short, one’s fingers. One had to retain the image of an
element connected to one finger for the entire duration of the art
incantation.
In other words, no matter how high ranking an arts user was, it was
normal to manipulate a maximum of only ten elements through both
hands. To break that restriction and use the toes on one’s feet as
imagination circuits, one would have to continuously hover in the
sky—or do a headstand with only one’s head. Like Chief Elder
Chudelkin.
“Ohh, hohohoo…!”
Continuing his shrill cries, Chudelkin chanted the command to

shape the elements at an exceedingly quick pace and swung his right
and left hands towards us, who were standing still, one after another
with hardly a pause between them.
“Dischaaaar—geee!!”
Whoosh!!
Cutting through the air, five icicles released a swirl of cold air while
they shot forth. Another five chased after.
Even if we wanted to dodge, the two layers of ice spears, shot out
high and low, revealed no blind spots as they spread out in a fan
shape while flying here. Figuring I could only knock down the icicles
likely to hit myself, I firmed up the grip on my cherished sword in my
right hand and looked at—
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A golden sparkle obscuring my sight.
With a horizontal sweep, Alice’s Fragrant Olive Sword divided into

countless small edges, starting from its tip, and fluttered as they
dispersed into a whirl.
It wasn’t my first time seeing Alice’s armament full control art, but
both Eugeo and I had our breaths taken away by its frightening
beauty.
Only the bluish white moonlight shining in from the glass windows
to the south illuminated the cathedral’s highest floor. But still, the
golden petals drew traces in a bright shade of golden yellow as if
they emitted their own light, soaring as a dense meteor shower.
“Hahh!”
Alice swung down the grip left in her hand with a sharp cry.
The storm of flowers fluttering in the air followed her movement’s

lead and engulfed the ten icicles, producing the rigid noises of
something being shaved away. Like tossing ice cubes into a high
speed blender, the ice spears shot by Chudelkin quickly turned into
harmless sherbet and melted, their resources futilely scattering into
the air.
“…Nhn… gngngnngnnn…”
With that sacred arts fired so proudly easily rendered powerless,

Chudelkin bit tightly and grinded his upper and lower jaws against
each other while roaring out in an upset voice.
“…Don’t think you’ve won yet with a crude grater like

thatt! How about this thenn! Hooooohh!!”
He swung his two legs, lowered horizontally with the ten elements
still on them, up from his sides with force.
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The cryogenic elements that flew up high, drawing parallel blue
streaks, coalesced into one near the ceiling and produced a
rectangular lump of ice.
The ice continued enlarging while heavy, dull thumps

reverberated, growing into a cube with each side probably measuring
at least two meters long. The transformation didn’t stop there and
fiendishly sharp spikes thrust out all across it in a dense formation.
If the laws of physics in the Underworld conformed to those in the

real world, the ice die in the air would be totalled up to a mass of
over seven tons. Quickly coming to the conclusion that taking
something like that on with a sword would be impossible, I
unconsciously took a step back.
“Hohihii… how about thatt, how’s the taste of my greatest

and finest artt!! Now, it’s time to flatten all of youuuu—!!”
While upside down, Chudelkin dropped his two legs that were
extended straight up. The spiky die began falling with a roar.
Eugeo and I lost our wits and jumped to the sides. But once again,
Knight Alice didn’t take a single step back. She firmly grasped the
gigantic object, looming ever closer to crush her, in her sight while
standing upright—
“Ha… aaaaah——!!”
Letting out a roar more ferocious than any of those in the battles
thus far, she raised the handle of her beloved sword in her right hand
up high.
The small golden blades floating about gathered with a crisp,

metallic noise and created a cone probably around three meters
long. The drill with countless barbs lined up across its surface
growled and spun as it intercepted the falling ice cube.
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A tremendously loud noise and dazzling flash was produced the
moment the two objects met, causing the room to tremble violently.
“Kuhnnuhooooohh… c-cru-crush… iitttt!”
“……Break it… O, flowers…!!”
The features of the chief elder and integrity knight leaned the
same amount on the scale of beauty, though towards different ends,
as they wrung out desperate cries.
When skills of this scale collide, their numerical priorities would

naturally play a part, but the most important factor for victory would
be one’s willpower and potential for imagination.
The blue block of ice and the gold spiral struggled for seconds with
a point that glowed white with incandescence between them, but it
didn’t take long before they gradually began breaking into it. The
glaring flash and ear-splitting noise of the impact made it impossible
to know whether the cube was crushing the drill with its weight or if
the drill was piercing through the cube as it rotated.
The result of the match was clear only when the two objects were
practically laid over each other.
Crack; the sharp noise of something shattering rang out and cracks
ran over the entirety of the ice cube.
Immediately after, the block of ice that could have fitted a small
hut dispersed into enormous fragments as they scattered in all
direction. The surrounding air was instantly dyed white and I guarded
the incoming wave of cold air with my left arm.
“Hyaaa!?”
The panicked shriek came from Chief Elder Chudelkin.
Still on his head, his stick-like limbs quivered all over.
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“No… no way, of all the ridiculous… H-How could the
transcendentally beautiful and extraordinarily cool art Her
Eminence had bestowed upon me…”
The mocking smile finally vanished from his lips, so red they
appeared venomous, but still, Alice wasn’t left unhurt though she
splendidly succeeded in shattering the huge block of ice. The small
edges that formed that cone returned to their original longsword
appearance with a wave of her right arm and the knight valiantly
stayed on her feet, despite her posture falling in complete disarray.
She must have been hit by several fragments of the ice block that
broken apart at point-blank range from her.
“Alice…!”
Holding me back with her left hand when I ran towards her, Alice
flicked the tip of her beloved sword towards the distant Chudelkin.
“Chudelkin, your faithless techniques are nothing more

than a paper balloon blown up with air! Just like your own
body!!”
“Wh… w-what did…”
Chudelkin’s curses and swears stopped at last upon receiving

Alice’s rebuke, as sharp as any of her slash. His round head distorted
to its limit and trembled violently, as his sweat flowed in the reverse
direction like a waterfall.
It was then—
When the highest minister, Administrator, who had been watching

the battle from the back of the room finally spoke with words that
bordered on expressing her boredom.
“Honestly, you certainly stay a fool no matter how many

years pass, don’t you, Chudelkin?”
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The chief elder’s limbs instantly shrunk in.
In contrast to Chudelkin who had contracted to the size of a child,

the highest minister tilted her body in a graceful motion and lay
down in mid-air, on what seemed exactly like an invisible sofa.
Lightly floating upwards in that posture, she then crossed her slender
legs as she continued.
“The Fragrant Olive Sword Alice has possesses a physical

priority that is considered top class even among all of the
divine objects in existence. And the girl firmly believes in
that fact too. To think you would try a physical-type offensive
art on an opponent like that, have you even forgotten the
basics of sacred arts?”
“Hah… hohohohii….”
Tears suddenly fell from Chudelkin’s two eyes while his high-
pitched voice leaked out. He was upside down, so the large drops
flowed down his forehead one after another, creating a stain on the
carpet as they reached the tip of his head.
“Ohoohh… what a waste, what an honor, what an

inspiration!! For Her Eminence to confer her teachings onto
her undeserving subject directly…?! Your expectations shall
not be in vain, this Chudelkin will ensure your kindness will
be repaaaaaaaaiiidd!!”
It appeared Administrator’s voice had more effect than healing arts

on Chudelkin. The chief elder’s fear from earlier was swept away in
an instant and he gave Alice a bizarre glare that was filled with what
was probably his own unique form of determination.
“Number thirtyy!! You said it, didn’t youu, that I was a

paper balloon with no substance!!”
“…And you believe you can refute that?”
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“I doo——!! I do, I do, I do, I dooo!!”
Red flames audibly flared up within Chudelkin’s two eyes—or so it

seemed.
“Even I have something I believe in!! And that very thing is

lovee!! My love that lacks all falsehood towards Her
Eminence, our sacred and beautiful Highest
Ministeeeeerr—!!”
I would have never guessed those words originated from anywhere

aside from some third-rate drama, but the current time and situation
allowed them to resound through the room, powerfully, with a tinge
of tragedy. Even if it was a half-naked clown, upside-down on his
gigantic head, who spoke them.
Chudelkin glared at Alice with fiery eyes and spread his limbs out
wide while wringing out shrill words directed at Administrator behind
himself.
“Y- Yo-Your Eminence, Highest Ministerr!!”
“What is it? Chudelkin.”
“Your Eminence, your humble subject, the chief elder, Chudelkin,

begs for you to grant his insolent request, the first in his many years
of service under youu!! Your subject shall now stake his life to
exterminate the rebelss! In the event that he succeeeds, will Your
Eminencee! W-Will Your Eminenceee grant the allowance for these
hands and lips to come into contact with your noble being, and to s-
share a single night’s dream with it, I beg of you, I beg of you, I beg
of you, pleaseeeeeee!!?
—That’s one mighty direct request towards the absolute ruler of

the Human World.
But I had no doubt whatsoever those screams were his true
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feelings, emotions expressed from the depths of the spirit that
belonged to this man named Chudelkin.
Listening to the monologue that went beyond being tragic and

could even be considered heroic, Eugeo, Alice, and I were all frozen
in place at a loss for words.
On the other hand, the highest minister, Administrator, heard

Chudelkin’s wish as she floated at the far end of the room and—
Her pearl grey lips sharply twisted up as though she found him
unbearably comical.
Shades of scorn and ridicule quivered in her mirror-like eyes that

rejected all light. Administrator’s right hand covered her mouth as
she spoke in a voice, filled with affection, contrary to that expression.
“…Certainly, Chudelkin.”
Or so she whispered.
“I will swear it on Stacia, the Goddess of Creation. You

shall have every last nook of this body for a night the
moment you accomplish your task.”
I knew there was no truth to those words as a human of the real

world which was likewise immersed in lies and deception.
The humans of this world, likely caused by the architecture of

artificial fluct lights, are incapable of disobeying laws and regulations
ranked above them. Those laws include the local ones in villages and
cities, the Empire Fundamental Law, the Taboo Index, and any
personal vows to the goddesses.
The number of laws binding each individual lessened as one

climbed the ranks in the ruling structure, but that rule applied to the
supervisors with the highest standing, Cardinal and Administrator, all
the same. The code of behavior passed down by their parent still
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lived on, with Cardinal unable to place a tea cup on a table and
Administrator unable to kill a human.
But these eyes of mine had just witnessed how Administrator was
not bound by her vows to the goddesses a moment ago. In other
words, she did not hold even a scrap of faith towards the three
goddesses: Stacia the Creation Goddess, Solus the Sun Goddess, and
Terraria the Land Goddess, who granted the Axiom Church its
authority.
But of course, Chudelkin did not discern his master’s lies.
Upon hearing the words Administrator spoke while restraining her

snickers, large drops of tears overflowed anew from Chudelkin’s two
eyes.
“Ohh… ohhh…… your humble subject is now… engulfed in

happiness incomparable to any otheerr…… my… my will to
fight is swelling up a hundred times over and my spirit is
overflowing, to put it into words, your subject is now truly
invincibleeeee!!”
His tears audibly vaporized—
A brilliance suddenly enveloped all of Chudelkin, like flames.
“Syss! Temm! Caaaaall!! Generateee thermaaal

elemeee——ntttt!!”
His hands and feet cut through the air and points of light, burning
red, formed on his limbs, currently extended straight to his fingertips
or toes. The fact that this was Chudelkin’s final and greatest attack
was made clear to even me who stood behind Alice.
Like the cryogenic elements earlier, the number of thermal

elements generated, gleaming like rubies, totalled up to twenty.
Chudelkin’s two feet were freed from their role of supporting his
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body as he stood on his head. But that said, individually imaging
each toe among the ten on his feet would not be possible without
amassing a tremendous amount of practice.
I was totally focused on his bizarre appearance and personality,

but with his years of experience, Chudelkin was a formidable
opponent not to be taken lightly just like the senior integrity
knights—perhaps even surpassing them with his number of years.
Maybe he sensed my shudders, but Chudelkin’s eyes narrowed

with triumph, then widened as much as they could next. His tiny
pupils emitted a crimson light and my fear turned to shock. I
wondered if his willpower had turned into flames and shifted to his
eyes like some hot-blooded protagonist, but then realized that was
off.
The light burning right before Chudelkin’s two eyes were large
thermal elements. That guy had used even his own two eyes as
terminals and generated his twenty-first and twenty-second
elements.
Elements radiate resources with properties conforming to their

type before they were fired, though dim. It would feel just a little
warm when thermal elements were brought forth several centimeters
from your fingers, but he would never get out unscathed when
maintaining ones that large right before his eyeballs. The skin around
his eyes started sizzling at once.
But the chief elder appeared utterly unconcerned over both the
heat and pain. Chudelkin smirked with his whole face, changing from
looking strange to evil with his eye sockets blackened, then
screamed out at a pitch higher than before.
“Behoooooooldd, this is my greatest and strongest

sacreeed aaaarttt…! Come forth, demonn!! Incinerate the
rebels to charss!!”
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His once withdrawn limbs swung out faster than the eye could
follow. Instead of transforming immediately, the twenty elements
fired organized themselves into five horizontal rows in the air as they
flew about in between Chudelkin and us at a ferocious speed.
Their trajectories gleamed red and reproduced the shape of a

gigantic human as a whole while I watched on, speechless.
Short legs. A fat belly that swelled out. Curiously long arms. And a
head wearing a crown with numerous horns extending from it. It was
just like Chudelkin before he released the smoke screen from his
clothes, magnified several times, a giant clown.
The elements that created the blazing, five meters tall clown drew
vertical stripes in the shade of deep crimson that dyed jester
costumes before vanishing.
Though modeled after Chudelkin’s face, the clown’s face, present

so high above that I had to look up, appeared several times more
vicious. A tongue of flames flickered in and out from the gap between
its thick lips and a frigid chill radiated from the crevices that made up
its narrow, long, slanted eyes despite how it was a flaming giant.
Chudelkin swung his hands and feet around as he constructed the

clown with thermal elements and to finish things off, he shut his eyes
where the last two elements resided with enough force to make a
noise. With that, the thermal elements moved towards the clown’s
dark eye sockets and resided within them as eyes, flaming red.
As though possessed by Chudelkin’s own spirit, the gigantic clown

stared down at us with a murderous gaze. It brought up its right foot
that wore a pointed shoe and stepped down hard on the floor slightly
in front. A heavy tremor accompanied the inferno swirling up from
the giant’s foot as heat wavered in its surroundings.
Eugeo and I were in no state of mind to do anything but stand still,

dumbfounded, but a murmur from Alice standing before us prompted
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us to grip our swords in a fluster.
“…I did not know he was capable of arts on this level

either.”
Alice’s words remained calm even in such a situation, but they

ended off on a hoarse note, perhaps reflecting the unrest in her
heart.
“It appears I have underestimated Chudelkin.

Unfortunately, my flowers are incapable of destroying that
intangible giant of flames. Even if I focus on defense, it is
unlikely I could hold for long.”
“…In other words, we can only attack Chudelkin directly in

that time, huh…”
Alice let out some crisp instructions for me as I muttered in a rasp.
“Exactly. I will do everything I can to defend for ten

seconds. Kirito, Eugeo, defeat Chudelkin in that time.
However, you must not approach close enough to fight with
your sword. There’s what the Esteemed Highest Minister is
waiting for.”
“Ten…”
“…Seconds.”
Eugeo and I groaned simultaneously and exchanged looks.
He had overwhelmed me with the composure of ice when we

crossed swords downstairs, but it seems Eugeo had regained his
emotions when freed from his knighthood. While feeling glad, despite
the situation we were in, over the fear and panic showing up on my
partner’s face, I racked my brain.
If Alice wanted me to charge in while she’s dealing with the flaming
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clown, I would happily do it. I played that role when clearing the
bosses back in the old Aincrad and besides, Chudelkin should be
completely vulnerable while he controlled the clown.
But she was correct in how we had no guarantee that

Administrator would stay quiet as we advanced. As such, we had to
attack Chudelkin without approaching him, but as we were in the
swordsman class, Eugeo and I had only two methods for far range
attacks.
The first would be to use sacred arts like he did. But with the level
of arts Eugeo and I were able to use, I doubt we could penetrate the
defenses of a high ranking arts user like Chudelkin to cut away his
Life.
The other would be to the secret move I had been saving up—or in
other words, the armament full control art; but that came with its
own problems. Activating it required reciting that lengthy art Cardinal
had composed. That would definitely be impossible in ten seconds.
Eugeo managed to use his full control art without the chant when he
was turned into an integrity knight, but he probably couldn’t repeat
that as he was now. Of course, neither could I.
“………”
As though sneering at me while I bit my lips, the blazing clown

swayed its enormous body from side to side as it slowly began its
advance. Its movements were hardly nimble, but it was big, after all.
Each step brought it over a meter closer.
It was right after the flaming clown drew close enough for us to
feel the heat it radiated on our skin when Alice finally took action.
She raised the Fragrant Olive Sword held in her right hand
overhead. Her left arm, extended straight behind, and her legs,
parted towards the front and back, were as tense as a bow’s string.
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A gale like a tornado suddenly rose from Alice’s feet, violently
setting her white long skirt and golden long hair aflutter. The
Fragrant Olive Sword’s blade split into hundreds of petals enveloped
in golden light and began to slide through the air in rows.
“——Spin, flowers!!”
A shout that seemed impossible with a body as slender as hers

shook the air.
At the same time, the golden petals whirled at such extreme

speeds that they appeared merged into a single mass, growing into a
huge tornado all of a sudden.
They densely grouped together and produced a cone to break the

ice cube earlier, but they did the reverse this time. They spread out
like a funnel, diagonally pointing up towards the sky from Alice’s
hand, with a diameter close to five meters even at its narrow end.
The golden storm sucked up the surrounding air, becoming a gale

that blew without form or structure, rocking Eugeo and me.
Just reaching out alone would cover the distance left between us;
the flaming clown jumped up high with its unvanishing sneer, almost
reaching the ceiling, then fearlessly descended into Alice’s tornado.
Dobaaa! The roar resembling a blazing furnace erased all other

noise.
The golden tornado extended almost straight up and swallowed

the flaming clown’s feet within itself. The flames were torn into by
the edges rotating at high speeds and scattered like grand fireworks,
scorching the air.
However, the clown retained its gigantic size and showed a broad
sneer across its entire face as it slowly, slowly stomped onto the
tornado. Alice’s feet quivered faintly as she supported it from straight
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below and the glimpse of her side profile I had showed a grim visage.
As though unable to endure the clown’s heat, the petals that made
up the tornado became visibly redder. Alice and the Fragrant Olive
Sword she held must have steadily losing their Lives even in this very
moment.
There were—eight seconds left.
It would be impossible to defeat Chudelkin with sacred arts. There

weren’t enough time for the full control art either. The only method
left to me was the black sword in my right hand and the techniques I
had immersed myself in.
During the two years I spent in the Underworld, I had practiced the
many sword skills I knew from the past in order to teach Eugeo the
«Aincrad style». Through that, I noticed sword skills in this world
occasionally demonstrated power far exceeding what they possessed
back in the world of SAO.
After all, most of the motions that lead to the result are determined
not by the system’s control but the user’s willpower, their
imagination. The small spider that watched over me for so long,
Charlotte, and Knight Alice had called that power, «incarnation».
Thus. The power and range of sword skills that were strictly
restricted by the system back in the old Aincrad could be amplified
through the power of incarnation—probably.
But when considering it from the other end, fear, panic, hesitation,
and such negative notions will weaken one’s techniques as well.
Inside of myself, the desire to dissociate from and to forget who I

was in the old SAO days—that avatar given the two names, «The
Black Swordsman» and «The Dual Blades»—had spread its roots
deep.
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Even I couldn’t provide an accurate analysis of where that emotion
originated from. Though it might be due to the aversion to being
treated as a hero, or the guilt over those I failed to save or those who
died, it was just as possible those reasons were utterly wrong.
However, I could say this for certain. As much as I loathed it, «The
Black Swordsman» was definitely a part of myself and gave form to
me, granting me power, even now.
Yes, «he», who fought in that world, was now here—no, that should
be «I» instead.
Seven seconds left.
Feeling, on my cheek, the heat from the giant stomping on Alice’s

tornado, I stretched out my body much towards the right and lowered
my waist.
Bringing the black sword in my right hand up to the level of my

shoulders, I wielded it horizontal and pulled it far back.
I put my left hand on the sword’s tip like an aircraft catapult.
This skill was one that I had never tried using up until this point,
whether it was to teach Eugeo or to simply reproduce. I knew why.
This was the sword skill «The Black Swordsman» understood the
most, the skill he used the most. You could even say it was symbolic
of him.
I could see Chief Elder Chudelkin, on his head, at a point fifteen

meters straight from the end of the slightly translucent black blade.
His eyes, with their blackened borders, were closed, but I had no
doubt he had linked his sight to that of the flaming clown through
some sort of technique. In other words, he should have already
noticed my actions.
I had one chance to attack and I couldn’t possibly have it defended
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or evaded. In that sense, this distance of fifteen meters felt
unbearably far. Chudelkin was likely incapable of nimble movements
while supporting himself with his head, but I had already witnessed
his tenacity at times that mattered more than I needed to. Even half
of a half-second would be enough; I had to get Chudelkin’s attention
off myself.
Six seconds left. I whispered to my partner with words as fast as I

could muster.
“His eyes.”
“Got it.”
I gave him a glance at his near-immediate reply and saw an ice

arrow, glowing blue, held in Eugeo’s right hand, though I had no idea
when he made it. It wasn’t all that large, but its dazzling radiance
served as proof of its high priority. Even I didn’t notice it while
standing beside him, but he must have converted the cold air
resources released during the exchange earlier between Alice and
Chudelkin into elements.
Five seconds left. Eugeo’s hands moved as though they drew an

invisible longbow tight and the nocked ice arrow let out a blue flash.
“Discharge!!”
The ice arrow was shot with that short command, but not straight
towards Chudelkin.
Eugeo’s left hand guided it first around the flaming clown’s right,
then towards its left in a large curve as it soared upwards. The blue
streak drawn by the ice arrow in the room dyed red by flames
glittered brightly from their severe contrast. The clown’s burning
eyes, too, revolved as they chased the arrow.
Four seconds left. Just before the ice arrow reached the ceiling of
the room, Eugeo gripped his left hand tightly. With that as the signal,
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the arrow swooped down in a straight line at several times its
previous speed. The keen arrowhead’s aim—
Was not Chief Elder Chudelkin.
It was the one slovenly lying sprawled in mid-air far behind him,
the highest minister, Administrator.
Three seconds left.
The silver-haired girl showed absolutely no sign of panic even as

she watched the rapid decline of the ice arrow brought about by
Eugeo’s full might. She gave it a miffed glance, then pursed her pearl
grey lips and let out a light sigh.
That alone sufficed to shatter the ice arrow with it still over a meter
from the highest minister.
However, the true target of Eugeo’s attack was not Administrator

herself—it was Chudelkin’s abnormal attachment for her.
The moment the arrow went behind him, Chudelkin’s actual two
eyes opened and his head spun around with his entire body as he
cried out.
“Your Eminencee, take careeeee!”
Two seconds left.
My body began its motions before Chudelkin’s scream reached me.
I pulled back my right arm as much as I could while it held my

sword at shoulder-level. Detecting the pre-motion, the blade
assumed a light as red as blood.
The system assist began moving my body. Simultaneously, I kicked

off the floor with my two feet, opened widely, front and back.
Changing the acceleration into torque, I sent it into my right shoulder
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through my back. Switching that torque back into a linear force, I
drove forth the black sword that had fused with my right arm.
The metallic roar of a jet engine rang out alongside a crimson flash
more vivid than flames; the sword lunged straight forth.
One-handed straight sword, single hit technique, «Vorpal Strike».
The reason for my frequent usage of this skill in the old SAO was
its might that allowed it to decide a battle in a single strike and its
long range uncommon to one-handed straight swords. The deep
crimson light effect would pierce through the air a distance of two
blade-lengths away. Its maximum reach, with one’s right arm
completely extended, boasted a range that surpassed even long
spears at times.
However, my target, Chief Elder Chudelkin, was fifteen meters

away. The normal Vorpal Strike would never reach.
I had to extend the range of this skill that I was unleashing for the
first time in the Underworld by over five times through the power of
imagination… of incarnation.
It wouldn’t be easy.
But I doubt it would be impossible. I know.
Knight Alice’s faith in me had allowed her to throw her beloved

sword and herself into that conflagration. Eugeo, my close friend, had
mustered all of his willpower and wisdom in firing that sacred art to
provide this opening for my attack.
I had no right to call myself a swordsman if I failed to match their

determination here.
Yes, before all else, I am the swordsman, Kirito.
“U… oooohh——!!”
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I released a war cry from the depths of myself with all my might.
A black, fingerless glove oozed out from mid-air and covered my

right hand.
Following that, black leather appeared above my ragged sleeve

and continued on towards my shoulders from that arm, before finally
reaching out for my torso. That shortly transformed into a long coat
and its studded hem ruffled violently.
The intensity of the light effect engulfing the sword grew as though
it had exploded. A radiance of deep crimson expanded far enough to
negate the scarlet scattered by the flaming clown and concentrated
upon the sword’s point.
“Ooohh!!”
I unshackled the last of my strength with a savage yell.
One second, left.
—What was that sound!?
Eugeo’s eyes opened wide at the peculiar noise booming out right
beside him.
All secret moves produce strong light and sound. However, this
was different from all of those he had heard thus far. It was deep,
heavy, firm, and sharp; it was as though the sword itself had
screamed out in anger—
The source of that roar was the black sword held in Kirito’s right
hand. Its blade with its black crystalline radiance had its sharp edge
quivering violently while letting out that ear-piercing howl. Its actions
were not merely auditory. A profound red shine enveloped the entire
sword.
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—It’s a secret move. But I had never seen one like this.
Eugeo held his breath. The phenomenon that truly surprised him,
however, only happened immediately after.
A sudden, glaring light engulfed his partner who held onto the
sword and he transformed into an utterly different outfit from before.
Kirito should have been clad in a black shirt and trousers of the
same color, frayed from the many fierce battles. However, the wave
of light shifted from his right arm, towards his torso and feet, with an
overcoat of black leather with a high neck and long sleeves
spontaneously appearing as it did and his trousers, too, instantly
converted to one made from thin leather.
The process ended quicker than the blink of an eye, but the
phenomenon did not end there. Distinct changes occurred on Kirito’s
own body as well, though on a smaller scale than those clothes.
First, his black hair grew slightly and concealed half of his side
profile.
, the black eyes peeking from the gaps in his swinging fringe
exuded a light he had never seen before. A light more keen than
when he fought against the goblin group in the Northern Cave, or
when he sliced off Raios Antinuous’s arm, or when he crossed swords
with Deusolbert, Fanatio, and the rest. It was as if Kirito himself had
merged with the sword, becoming a keen edge.
A cry overflowing with savagery burst forth from beyond his bared
teeth right after.
“U… ooooohh——!!”
The metallic roar and crimson light from the sword heightened in
intensity and immediately following that, Kirito’s right hand shot forth
so swiftly, it simply disappeared. The cuff of his long coat flapped
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fiercely like the wings of a demon.
It was an Aincrad-style secret move; it certainly was.
But still—what an astounding thrusting skill. It was a mighty single-

hit skill different from those Kirito had taught him thus far, one that
seemed closer to the High Norkia style, if he had to choose, but it
was stripped entirely of the traditional styles’ focus on the beauty of
the style, a single strike devoted to piercing through the enemy—
“………!”
With his breath held, Eugeo somehow chased after the crimson
glow with his eyes.
Kirito’s aim was, of course, Chief Elder Chudelkin who controlled

the fiery clown. However, there was fifteen mel to where the enemy
stationed himself. No secret move could possibly reach him as long
as one still used a sword.
Chudelkin did not look towards them the moment Kirito released
his thrusting skill. His eyes were pointed towards the back end of the
hall where the ice arrow shot by Eugeo had passed by mere seconds
ago.
He had poured all of his knowledge and inspiration into that art,
but it was ineffective on Administrator as expected, shattering upon
a single breath from her. However, Chudelkin had turned back and
warned in his shrill voice instead of ignoring the attack targeted at
the ruler as Eugeo predicted, so he should have fulfilled Kirito’s
request to divert his attention.
Perhaps at ease after the ice arrow died out without any difficulty,
but Chudelkin turned his face back while still on his head.
His narrow eyes widened as much as they could in that instant as

they filled with a hectic jumble of emotions.
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The first was shock, towards the flash and roar let out by Kirito’s
sword as it thrust forth in that very moment.
The next was relief, towards how it was a mere thrusting skill that
could not possibly reach him.
The last was fear, towards the blade of crimson light extending
incessantly before his eyes as it lavishly let out that metallic roar.
He forgot to breathe as surprise overtook him; the same went for

Eugeo. The light in the shade of blood passed by Alice’s left as she
guarded against the flaming clown in front of Kirito, dashing through
a distance of fifteen mel in an instant—
Easily stabbing through the exact middle of Chudelkin’s torso, thin

as a pole, while he stood on his head.
The gleaming blade reached out for almost another two mel before
it disintegrated into crimson specks that drifted into the air. The
copious spray of actual blood followed immediately after. The source
was the injury in the center of Chudelkin’s chest, large enough to
practically split him apart.
“Ohoooooohhhhh……”
That deflated voice, devoid of strength, flowed on for a long time.
The body that stood on its head slowly lost its balance and
splashed into the pool of fresh blood it had personally created.
As more blood than seemed possible from his meager body

steadily flowed out, Chudelkin lifted his trembling right arm and
extended it towards Administrator who hovered in mid-air.
“……Aah… mine, my…… Emi… nence……”
The man’s expression, as he let out that frail voice, was out of
Eugeo’s sight from his position. His right hand fell onto the carpet
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with a damp noise and there, Chief Elder Chudelkin ceased to move.
With that, the flaming clown that was on the verge of stomping the
golden tornado above Knight Alice out of existence, too, was
extinguished as its rotund belly turned into a mass of white fumes
and its grin melted into the air. The tiny golden edges manipulated
by Alice decelerated slowly and drifted in the air as though they lost
their purpose with their enemy’s annihilation.
Eugeo’s ears thought they were numbed with the sudden,

complete silence that settled in while he slowly returned his view
towards the right.
Kirito had stopped all motions with his waist still much lowered and
his right arm extended as far as it could go.
The light remaining on the black sword’s surface swiftly vanished

and the cuff of his overcoat fluttered one last time before it hung
down. Eugeo watched on with his breath held as his partner’s
appearance blurred and returned to what it was, starting from one
end.
Even after returning to that simple black shirt and trousers, Kirito
remained still for a while. His right arm eventually gently swung
down and the tip of the black sword struck the carpet with a thump.
Eugeo was once again left wondering if he should call out to his
partner whose head hung down.
Kirito, who had helped even the deputy knight commander,

Fanatio, likely felt no joy over depriving Chief Elder Chudelkin of his
Life, even if he was an enemy. His side profile visible through the
gaps in his fringe, now at its original length, showed absolutely no
residue of that icy cool-headedness he briefly had during that attack.
The one to break those several seconds of silence was Alice as the
swarm of small edges returned to her sword with a sharp, metallic
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noise. Feeling tension from the knight’s back, Eugeo turned his eyes
further into the hall once more.
Drifting in the air, Administrator reached her slender left hand

towards the chief elder as he lay prostrate on the floor.
Chudelkin was obviously at the end of his rope, but did she intend
to apply a healing art on him? Or will the highest minister call his Life
back from the grave—?
It happened when Eugeo sharply drew in a breath.
Without leaking even a shred of emotion, the highest minister’s

voice leisurely streamed on.
“At least put him away, how unsightly.”
A casual wave of her left hand blew Chudelkin’s corpse away as

though it was as light as a paper doll and he crashed into the window
on the far east side before falling onto the floor below and coiling up
small.
“…What have you…”
Alice muttered in a hushed voice upon seeing the highest

minister’s deed.
The girl’s personality might have been modified into that of a

collected integrity knight, but Eugeo, too, understood that
overwhelming desire to comment. He had no respect whatsoever for
Chudelkin, but at the very least, he had lost his life in a fight where
he expended all of himself for his master. At the bare minimum, his
corpse deserved a civil burial.
However, Administrator did not even spare another look at

Chudelkin’s abandoned corpse; on the contrary, she appeared to
have wiped all traces of the chief elder’s existence from her memory
as she showed that mysterious smile exactly like before and spoke.
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“…Well, that may have been a boring show, but I did gather
that small bit of useful data from it.”
The highest minister entered a monologue mingled with sacred

tongue in that unblemished, beautiful voice. Still lying upon that
invisible sofa, she softly glided five mel through the air and moved to
the middle of the round hall.
Sweeping away a strand of that silver hair blowing in the wind,

Administrator smoothly narrowed her eyes, wavering with prismatic
light, and looked towards Eugeo’s side with her magnetic
gaze—focusing upon Kirito who still had his head down.
“Irregular boy. I could not access your properties in detail,

but I thought that was as you were an unregistered unit born
from an irregular marriage… that was incorrect. You are from
there, aren’t you? A human from «the other side»… aren’t
you?”
Eugeo barely comprehended any of those words pitched out in a

whisper.
—There? The other side…?
Kirito, his black-haired partner, had appeared in the forest south of

Rulid two and a half years ago with his memories gone as a «lost
child of Vector».
The elders of the village had told Eugeo that such phenomenona of
humans appearing every once in a while were acts of mischief
committed by Vector, the god of darkness, reaching out with his long
arm from beyond the mountain range at the edge and erasing those
people’s memories, but Eugeo only truly believed in that when he
was still a child.
There are times when people face a situation so painful and dismal
that they let go of those memories of their own wills, even taking
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their own lives at times. The one who taught Eugeo that was the old
Garitta, the previous generation’s woodcutter. Long ago, he had lost
his wife to a drowning incident and his excess lamentations back
then had apparently robbed him of over half of his memories
regarding his wife. The old man had laughed then, claiming it to be
an act of both benevolence and chastisement from the goddess who
governed lives, Stacia.
As such, Eugeo guessed Kirito was in a similar situation and thus,

kept that to himself even now. He figured something distressing and
sorrowful must have happened to him in his home town, likely in the
eastern or southern regions when judging from his hair and the color
of his eyes, finally reaching Rulid’s forest after wandering for a long
time with his memories lost.
That was one of the reasons he did not ask Kirito about his past
during their journey to the central capital and those days in the
academy. Of course, he could not deny the fear that he might return
to his home town upon regaining his memories might have led to
that as well.
However.
The highest minister who possessed the capability to look over the
entire Human World had referred to Kirito’s birthplace with strange
words.
The other side. In other words, she meant beyond the mountain
range at the edge—the Dark Territory, the land of darkness? Was the
one and only clue he had to Kirito’s birth, the Aincrad style with its
consecutive sword techniques, taken from the land of darkness?
No. The highest minister should possess detailed information on

even the Dark Territory. The integrity knights under her command
passed through the mountain range freely and crossed swords with
the darkness knights. Thus, he doubted Administrator who ruled over
them would not know of the countries and cities in the Dark Territory,
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along with those who lived in them. She had no need to express it in
vague words like calling it the other side.
Following that line of thought—
What Administrator’s words referred to was the outside of this

world, a place where even her eyes could not reach…? Beyond even
the land of darkness… perhaps even farther than that, in a place that
could be said to be another world…?
Such a notion felt far too abstract for Eugeo and he could not even
find the right words to express his own thoughts. However, his
intuition told him he was on the verge of discovering something
tremendously important, what could be considered a secret behind
this world. Tormented by that burning desire, Eugeo shifted his sight
and gazed at the night sky extending out beyond the gigantic
windows.
The stardust ocean flowed on in the rifts between the streaming

black clouds.
Beyond that sky… was Kirito born in a land there? What sort of
place was it? And had Kirito regained his memories of it…?
The one who broke the seconds of silence was his black-haired
partner who slowly got up.
“That’s right.”
Kirito replied in the affirmation to the highest minister’s question

with a single short yet heavy line.
Practically numbed with shock, Eugeo looked at his partner’s

profile. So Kirito really had regained his memories.
No— Perhaps from the very beginning, he had already…?
Kirito’s eyes gave Eugeo a fleeting glance. The strongest among
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the various emotions visible in those black eyes was a light that
appeared to Eugeo as a plea for his trust.
His look immediately returned to Administrator who stood before

him. Despite his stern expression, Kirito lightly spread his hands out
with a somewhat bitter smile.
“…That said, the level of authority granted to me is

equivalent to that of the people of this world, hardly
anywhere near to yours, Administrator… no, Quinella-san.”
The moment he called out that name that had an odd ring to it, the
smile on the highest minister’s beautiful face waned slightly.
However, that lasted only a moment as a smile, larger than before,

rested upon Administrator’s glossy, pearl grey lips.
“So that shorty in the library room had been running her
mouth off with those dull stories. …And? What exactly have
you dropped into my world for, boy? And without any
supervisor authorities too?”
“I do have some knowledge even if I lack those

authorities.”
“Oh? For example? I have no interest in those meaningless

tales of the past.”
“Then how about one from the future?”
Kirito faced the highest minister with his two hands placed upon
the black sword thrust in the floor. The grave expression returned,
straining the area near his cheeks, as a keen light shone in his black
eyes.
“Quinella-san, you will destroy your world in the near

future.”
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The smile showed on Administrator’s lips only deepened even after
she heard those impactful words.
“…I will? Not you who had brought so much suffering upon
my adorable dolls, boy, but me?”
“Yes. After all, your mistake was in establishing the Order

of the Integrity Knights for opposing all intrusions from the
Dark Territory… no, its establishment was a mistake in
itself.”
“Fufu. Ufufufu.”
Likely having her mistakes pointed out for the first time ever since
she became the ruler, the highest minister’s finger touched her lips
while her shoulders shook as though holding back strong laughter.
“Fufufu. That certainly sounds like what that shorty would

say. It seems that shorty had learned some new tricks, to
think she managed to ensnare a boy with such an
appearance. How pitiful… both that child who had chased
after me so and this boy who got caught up in that in his
carelessness.”
The highest minister’s laughter continued through her slender

throat.
Kirito’s mouth opened to speak further, but the austere

reverberations of a sharp voice rang out a moment quicker.
“If I may have a word, Esteemed Highest Minister.”
The one who took a step forward with her armor clanging was
Integrity Knight Alice who had kept her silence thus far. Her long
golden hair gleamed beautifully in the moonlight as though opposing
Administrator’s glossy silver hair.
“The consideration regarding the inability of the current
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Order of the Integrity Knights to perfectly handle the
combined invasion from the forces of darkness expected to
soon arrive is one likewise shared by his Excellency, Knight
Commander Bercouli, as well as Deputy Commander Fanatio-
dono. And… I, too, am of agreement. Naturally, we, the Order
of the Integrity Knights, are prepared to fight to our last
knight, but Esteemed Highest Minister, do you possess the
means of protecting the innocent common folk after our
demise? I highly doubt even you believe yourself to be
capable of exterminating the extensive forces of that land by
your own hand alone!”
Knight Alice’s forceful yet beautiful voice blew across the hall like a
refreshing breeze, swaying Administrator’s hair. With her smile
slipping away, the highest minister stared down at the golden knight
with an expression containing mere traces of surprise.
And Alice’s words were a shock to Eugeo in a different way.
Integrity Knight Alice Synthesis Thirty. A provisional personality

residing in the body of his precious childhood friend, Alice Schuberg.
The girl should have been a cold-headed enforcer of the law as

shown when she landed that nasty hit on Eugeo’s cheek at the
academy’s grand hall several days ago. Knight Alice should
completely lack those many emotions that Alice once had:
gentleness, innocence, and above all else, affection.
However, Knight Alice’s previous words seemed exactly like what

Alice would have said, had she stayed as she was and grew into an
integrity knight.
Showing no sign she noticed the look from Eugeo who was
swallowing his breath, the integrity knight stabbed the Fragrant Olive
Sword into the floor with a shrill clang and argued further.
“Esteemed Highest Minister, I have mentioned that your
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obsession and deceit had led the Order of the Integrity
Knights to ruins earlier. Obsession refers to your thief of all
weapons and power from the inhabitants of the Human
World, while deceit refers to how severely you had deceived
us integrity knights! You had us part from our parents… our
wives and husbands, our siblings, and sealed our memories
away while planting false memories about how we were
summoned from some imaginary Celestial World…”
Alice seemed to have hung her head down for an instant there.
However, the knight immediately straightened her back and
continued in a voice more resolute than before.
“…I would not have blamed you if it was necessary to

protect this world and its inhabitants. However, why do you
doubt our loyalty and respect towards the Axiom Church and
you, Esteemed Highest Minister?! Why have you performed
that corrupted ceremony on our souls to force us to submit to
you?!!”
Eugeo looked on as several small drops fell from the smoothly

curved contours that made up Alice’s cheeks while she asked as
though pouring out her heart.
Tears.
The integrity knight that had practically lost all emotions, Alice,
was crying.
Eugeo swallowed his breath from the shock; before his eyes, the
knight boldly threw her chest forward as she looked up towards the
ruler without wiping her cheeks.
Despite pelted with words sharper than swords, Administrator

showed a faint, cold smile as though she had felt nothing from them,
treating them as beneath the level of a breath of air.
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“My, my, Alice-chan. It seems you have grasped some
pretty difficult ideas in your mind. It had only been five… or
six years? That was all that had passed… since you were
created.”
The voice lacked solemnity, as it should, with it missing all

emotion. However, its resonance was polished, resemblant of pure
silver. Even the slightest warmth was absent from it.
“…I lacked trust in you integrator units, you say? That is a

little disconcerting. I had placed so much trust on all of you…
you are my adorable dolls, clicking into your positions like
clockworks ever so gallantly, after all. Haven’t you, too,
polished your precious sword so meticulously for it to not
rust, Alice-chan? It’s the same. The present I had given all of
you, those piety modules serve as the proof of my love. So
that you dolls will remain beautiful for all eternity. So that
you will not be bothered by those trivial worries and
suffering the masses are prone to.”
Administrator brought up her left hand with an aloof smile and

spun the triangular prism in it with her fingertips. It was the
upgraded piety module extracted from Eugeo’s forehead.
Looking down upon Alice through the violet light, she gently
whispered.
“Pitiful Alice-chan. Your beautiful face has gotten so

disheveled. Are you feeling sad? Or perhaps angry? …If only
you had stayed my doll, you would have been spared from
those meaningless emotions for all eternity.”
The soft sound the tears dripping down Alice’s cheeks made as
they fell onto her golden armor was accompanied by another: a rigid
clink.
The Fragrant Olive Sword thrust at the knight’s feet had pierced
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through the thick carpet and was sinking through even the marble
flooring.
While putting in enough strength in her two hands to even damage

the materials that made up the indestructible Central Cathedral, Alice
forced out a quivering voice.
“…Uncle… his Excellency, Knight Commander Bercouli, have

never worried nor suffered in the slightest throughout the
never-ending days of the three hundred years he had lived as
an integrity knight; are you of that opinion, Esteemed
Highest Minister? Are you asserting that you are unaware of
the grief that he, who had devoted the deepest loyalty to
you, had continuously carried in his heart?”
A noticeably sharper twinge rang out from beneath the sword.

Alice shouted at the same time with an intensity that exceeded that.
“His Excellency, Bercouli, had always been suffering

throughout his mission to safeguard the loyalty towards the
Axiom Church and the masses! You must have known that his
Excellency had plead with the Chamber of Elders to bolster
the imperial chivalric orders of the four empires, that are of
no practical use, countless times! His Excellency… uncle was
even aware of the seal carved into our right eyes. That is
plainly evidence that he was the one who had suffered most,
is it not?!!”
The questions stained with tears were practically asked with much
pain—
However, even so, Administrator responded with a cool smile on

her pale, beautiful features.
“…How disheartening. To think my love could be mistaken

as one so shallow. I knew of those, naturally.”
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A tinge of cruelty peeked through her lovely smile—or so it
seemed.
“I will tell you this, pitiful Alice-chan. It is not the first time
number one… Bercouli had fretted over those worthless
issues. In truth, that child had uttered those same thoughts
around a hundred years before. Thus, I fixed him up.”
A giggly chirp spilled from her.
“I had peeked into Bercouli’s memories and erased aaaall

of those worries crammed in there troubling him so. Not just
him… the same goes for all of those knights that lasted for
over a hundred years. I allowed them to forget all of those
painful memories. Don’t worry, Alice-chan. I won’t get angry
over this petty mischief from you. I will be sure to erase
those memories causing that sorrowful face of yours. I will be
sure to return you to a doll that has no need to think.”
Administrator’s suppressed laughter was all that shook within the

leaden, cold silence.
That was no longer human.
As his shuddering surged anew and covered his body with goose
bumps, Eugeo verified that fact.
The ability to erase and perhaps overwrite a human’s memories as

one wished. Eugeo had experienced that horror with his own body.
Administrator had sealed his memories and turned him into an
integrity knight who turned his sword towards Kirito and Alice after
he recited that art consisting of merely three words.
If Administrator had conducted the Synthesis Ritual with the proper

procedure, he would have likely never been able to regain his
consciousness like so. She had used a gap already present in Eugeo’s
memories—though he did not understand why it was there—which
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resulted in his salvation.
However, he had yet to redeem himself for his sins. Eugeo could do
nothing more than distract Chudelkin with an art during that battle.
He could not forgive himself with merely that. He felt himself
unworthy to even stand by Kirito’s side now, shoulder to shoulder, to
be perfectly honest…
He tightened his grip on the Blue Rose Sword hanging down from
his right hand, then felt Kirito’s gaze on his right cheek. However,
Alice’s low voice murmured before he had a chance to return the
look.
“…Certainly, I feel enough torment and anguish to tear my

chest apart in this moment. It is strange enough I could even
stay on my feet.”
Her voice quivered, but slowly regained its strength.
“…However, I do not wish for this pain… this emotion I am

feeling for the first time to be erased. After all, this pain is
what truly taught me that I am not a knight doll, but a single
human. —Esteemed Highest Minister, I do not wish for your
love. I have no need for your ministrations.”
“…A doll that stopped being a doll.”
Upon hearing Alice’s words of parting, Administrator spoke in a

tune.
“That is no human, Alice-chan. That is no more than a

broken doll. Unfortunately, your thoughts are of no
consequence. As long as I synthesize you again, every last bit
of your emotions this moment will be erased, after all.”
It was when the highest minister let out those horrid words with a
gentle smile.
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“Like what you’ve done to yourself—right, Quinella-san?”
Kirito, who had kept silent thus far, called to Administrator with
that odd name once again.
Like earlier, the girl’s smile dimmed upon hearing that.
“Now, boy, haven’t I told you to put an end to those old

stories?”
“Would the truth be erased if I do? Not even you could

modify the past as you want. You could never erase the fact
that you, too, was born as a human child, a single human
being… isn’t that so?”
I see; Eugeo agreed in his heart. Kirito must have heard about the
stories regarding Administrator’s true name and birth from the sage
of the Great Library Room, Cardinal.
“Human… human, you say?”
The smile immediately returned to Administrator and she muttered

in a tone different from before, somewhat filled with cynicism.
“When it’s you who say those words, boy from «the other
side», it has a rather complicated ring to it. In other words,
boy, are you claiming yourself to be superior? That those of
the Underworld are simply impertinent… is that what you
wish to express?”
“No, no, nothing of that sort.”
Kirito shrugged his shoulders and rejected the highest minister’s

words.
“On the contrary, those of this world are superior to the

humans of the other side in many aspects. But they are both
human at the base, possessing that same soul. You are no
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exception. No matter how many hundreds of years pass, a
human could never possibly become a god, right?”
“…And what about it? Are you suggesting that we sit down
for a cup of tea as fellow humans?”
“I’m all for that. …But what I meant was that as a human,
you’re not some perfect existence; that’s what. Humans
make mistakes. And yours is beyond repair. With the Order of
the Integrity Knights partly destroyed, the Human World will
be crushed if the combined invasion from the Dark Territory
starts this moment.”
Kirito then took a glance towards Eugeo and continued in a hushed

voice.
“…Two years ago, Eugeo and I had fought a group of

goblins that trespassed from the opposite entrance deep in
the cave going through the mountain range at the edge. The
integrity knight in charge of that area must have overlooked
them. And such incidents will occur more frequently from
now. Eventually, that trespassing will turn into invading and
this world you had worked so hard to preserve… or to keep in
stasis will be exposed to merciless destruction and violence.
Of course, I believe you have no desire for that either?”
“Big words for the one who went about breaking those
knights, boy. Nonetheless, very well. And?”
“If you only wish for yourself to survive, you only have to
restart after that… sure, you might be thinking that.”
Kirito spoke in a more forceful tone and shifted his right foot half a
step forward.
“To bind the masses of darkness flowing into the Human

World and the remaining humans with law, then making a
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new organization to rule over there… a Darkness Church,
maybe? I doubt that will be beyond your ability, but still, that
won’t be happening. There are people who truly hold
absolute authority over this world on «the other side». This is
what they will think… this time was a failure, let’s redo it
from the start. And with a single press of a button, this entire
world will be gone. The mountains, the rivers, the cities… and
all of the humans, including you, will be wiped away in an
instant.”
Kirito’s words had already exceeded Eugeo’s understanding.
The same probably went for Alice. She turned her face towards the
black-haired swordsman with a questioning look, her eyes red at
their edges.
However, it seemed the highest minister alone had perfectly

understood what Kirito had said. The smile had nearly completely
vanished from her lips and a frigid light flickered in her narrowed
silver eyes.
“…I will admit that is unpleasant. To have someone tell me

so clearly… that this world is a miniature garden that can be
manipulated by some unknown being.”
The supple fingers on her two hands interlocked and hid the
bottom of her beautiful face. The voice uttered by her unseen lips
had lost most of the playfulness it had when talking to Alice.
“However, in that case, what about you… those from «the

other side»? Are you constantly aware of the possibility that
your own world was created by some higher being and
endeavor to please it with your progress?”
It appeared that question was beyond Kirito’s expectations too.
Looking down at the swordsman who bit his lips and kept silent
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from above, Administrator softly brought herself up from that
invisible chair and spread her hands out towards her sides. Her long
legs, too, extended forward as though she was putting them on
display. Her bare body possessed beauty that exceeded that of
statues of the goddesses and lightly gleamed as it bathed in the
moonlight, spreading an overwhelming sense of divinity into the hall.
“…Of course you don’t. Your caprice had led to the creation
of a world and the lives it has, and you will erase it the
moment it lost its necessity. And you, boy of such a world, do
you have the right to challenge my choices?”
The highest minister turned her eyes towards the ceiling… no,
towards the distant night sky beyond the marble canopy and
declared loudly.
“I would rather not. Flattering those playing as divine

beings of creation and begging them for the continuation of
one’s existence are simply wretched. You should have known
if you had heard those old tales from that shorty, boy… my
sole reason to exist is to rule. That desire alone moves me
and keeps me alive. These two legs are for walking forward
and definitely not for bending down onto my knees to yield to
another!!”
The air swirled with that roar and her pure silver hair ruffled
greatly.
Overwhelmed by her intensity that allowed no reply, Eugeo

unconsciously drew his right foot back. Administrator was the one
who had overwritten Alice’s memories, the enemy that neglected the
nobles’ depravity, but still, Eugeo had to admit once again that she
was the mightiest ruler of the world—the absolute being, a demigod,
that one without a family name like himself would never gain an
audience with.
Eugeo’s black-haired partner who had led him all this way, too,
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appeared overwhelmed with his upper body trembling, but he took a
step forward instead of back. He stabbed the black sword in his right
hand hard into the floor as though to give himself courage.
“—Then!!”
His speech was loud enough to shake the glass window behind.
“Then—do you intend to look away as the Human World is

trampled upon and sit on a make-believe throne, as the ruler
of a nation without citizens, while awaiting your own, lonely
destruction?!!”
The instant she heard those words, the girlish part of

Administrator’s beautiful face vanished, replaced by pure fury from
the eternity she had lived through. However, that expression faded
soon after and a whimsical smile adorned her pearl grey lips once
again.
“Regarding that combined invasion business you

mentioned, boy, it would truly be a disappointment if you had
thought that I have nothing planned. I had an abundance of
time to think… time alone is my ally, unlike for the people of
the other side.”
“…So, you claim you have the means to prevent that end?”
“You may call them the means, and the goal too. I exist
only to rule… there is no end to the limits of that.”
“What…? What do you mean?”
Administrator did not give an immediate reply to Kirito’s voice that

sounded puzzled.
Instead, an enigmatic aura accompanied the smile on her lips

before she lightly clapped her two hands together as if to declare the
conversation over.
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“I will let you hear the rest after you have become one of
my dolls, boy. Of course, you too, Alice-chan, Eugeo. If I am
to add one last thing… I have no intention to stay quiet in
regards to not only the reset for the Underworld, but the
«final load experiment» as well. The art for that purpose has
already been completed. …Rejoice, I will grant you the
opportunity to see it before anyone else.”
“……An art…?”
Kirito replied stiffly.
“You’re relying on the system commands that are filled

with restrictions? Are you planning on exterminating all of
the forces of darkness with some command only you can use?
Despite how you can’t even handle the three of us right
now?”
“Oh, really now?”
“Sure it is. You no longer have any chance at victory. Alice

can stop any long-range offensive arts in several seconds
while Eugeo and I will slice into you in the meantime. If
you’re thinking of paralyzing us with a command that
requires you to touch us, I will cut you with the skill I
defeated Chudelkin with earlier. —I don’t want to say this
now either, but a single art practitioner unprotected by any
vanguards cannot win against multiple swordsmen. That
should be an absolute rule even in this world.”
“Single… single, you say?”
Administrator giggled in her throat.
“It’s nice how you pointed that out. Yes, the numbers are
the issue in the end. My control is limited when there are too
many pawns. Or at the very least, the final load experiment
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would be too much. I had added to the Order of the Integrity
Knights while maintaining that balance, but…”
The mightiest ruler who should had no more than herself remaining
after losing her loyal subject, Chudelkin, displayed boundless
composure before the three rebels as she spoke to herself.
“To be honest, the chivalric order was merely the means to

an end. The military might I truly desire need not think, let
alone possess memories or emotions. It only needs to be an
existence devoted to slaughtering the enemies before its
eyes without end. In other words… there is no need for it to
be human.”
“…What are you…”
Ignoring Kirito’s words, Administrator raised her left hand up high.

Gripped within was a triangular prism, glistening with a bewitching
violet—it was the piety module extracted from Eugeo’s forehead.
“He might have been a foolish clown, but even Chudelkin

did have his use. He did grant me the time to assemble every
last segment of this lengthy art, after all. Now… awaken, my
faithful servant! The soulless executioner!!”
Eugeo understood upon hearing those words.
It was the art that resounded quietly from the depths of the bed
when he returned to this room after regaining his senses. An
absurdly long sacred art that was considered to be most advanced
even by the highest minister’s standards, with an incantation that
she could not shorten using the power of her mind. That very art was
about to be released in this moment.
What the silver-haired girl loudly sang out next were two words
that were far too short to interrupt yet possessed a trepidation that
exceeded all other phrases.
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“Release recollection!!”
The core of the armament full control art. The secret art to release
a weapon’s memories and draw out power beyond all sacred arts—
However, the nude Administrator had absolutely nothing on

herself, not even a small knife. Could it be the piety module she held
in her left hand? However, that triangular prism should have no
memories that could be released.
A quiet yet definite sound pricked Eugeo’s ears as he looked up

towards the highest minister on the other side in shock.
Clink, clink; the shrill noises of metal came from behind… no, he
heard from the right and left.
Eugeo quickly turned about and a sharp gasp came out from him
due to an overwhelming surprise.
There were countless pillars encircling the broad hall that

measured forty mel across. The imitation swords, gleaming golden
and made in various sizes, attached to them trembled slightly.
“What… what is…!?”
Eugeo’s quivering voice was accompanied by a single

“Impossible…!” from Alice.
The largest among the imitation swords reached a length of three

mel. Not even Administrator could wave such a thing around easily.
In the first place, the sword Eugeo looked at was not the only one
that was vibrating. That same phenomenon had occurred on every
one of the pillars positioned around the hall. The number of imitation
swords likely amounted up to thirty.
The recollection release art could not be used unless a weapon was
on such a degree of familiarity that it was practically a part of
yourself—or it should. The cherished sword’s memories could only be
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first accessed after it was connected with its wielder by deep bonds.
The highest minister who thought of her subordinates as mere

tools could not possibly form such bonds with all thirty of those
imitation swords. Thus, what exactly were those memories she
released, and what was the sword—?
Before the three who stood still, an extraordinarily intense

reverberation roared out and the gigantic swords left their pillars as
they floated upwards.
With one grazing Eugeo’s hair as he stooped over in a fluster, the

swords spun violently as they soared up and gathered in the air
directly above the highest minister, in the middle of the hall. A
phenomenon that was even more astonishing than before occurred
without delay.
The thirty swords of various sizes let out metallic clanks as they
connected and assembled into a gigantic mass. Eugeo immediately
noticed that appeared somewhat similar to a human’s silhouette.
A thick backbone stabbed through its core while its long arms
extended towards its sides. Legs sprouted from its underside: four of
them, twice that of humans.
Turning towards the swords that swiftly transformed into a bizarre

giant, no, monster, Administrator held out the piety module gripped
in her left hand.
—That triangular prism is the keystone to the highest minister’s

recollection release art.
Just as Eugeo thought so, Kirito shouted out from his side.
“Discharge!!”
He took a look and saw birds made from flames dwelling on the
tips of his spread-out right hand. Kirito alone had chanted an art
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while Eugeo and perhaps Alice, too, were watching the swords
uniting in shock.
The flaming birds shot out soared with the triangular prism
Administrator held as their target. There were many variants of
offensive arts using thermal elements, but the «bird shape» art Kirito
used had the property to automatically home in on its destination. In
addition, the highest minister’s eyes were concentrated on the sword
giant above her and did not notice Kirito’s movement. It should hit—!
Eugeo was confident.
The sword giant extended out one of its leg while afloat and
intercepted the flaming birds. Unable to dodge, the birds crashed
into it and instantly scattered into crimson drops. The gleaming,
golden sword’s surface was merely covered in a faint layer of soot; it
showed no sign of damage.
As for Administrator, she had completely ignored that single act

and softly released the triangular prism in her left hand. Rather than
her throwing it, the triangular prism rose on its own, drawn towards
its interior beyond the three swords that made up the giant’s back.
The violet light slowly ascended, coming to a stop where the

giant’s heart would have been, had it been a living creature, and
then let out a significantly stronger glow.
That radiance diffused through the giant’s entire body and the
countless swords, once with rounded, ornamental blades, gained
sharp edges as a metallic noise rang out. In that instant, Eugeo
understood, instinctively, that the highest minister’s art had been
completed.
Administrator smiled with her eyes narrowed.
The sword giant spread its four legs out and soared through the
air—positioning itself directly in between the highest minister and
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the trio, and landed with rumble of a dull tremor.
Eugeo looked up in silence at the strange, gigantic mass, likely

over five mel in height.
Its spine and ribcage, and even its two arms and four legs were all
assembled by golden, imitation—no, actual—swords. Like a toy
made by a child from whittled wood branches… or perhaps a bone
monster inhabiting the farthest reaches of the land of darkness.
“…Impossible…”
That murmur that sounded somewhat like a moan came from

Knight Alice.
“Using a full control art of such a grand scale on multiple…

let alone thirty weapons would be inconsistent with the
principles behind that act. Even for you, Esteemed Highest
Minister, violating the fundamental principle of sacred arts
should not be possible… what exactly have you…”
Alice’s voice had likely reached Administrator’s ears as well, but

the girl floating behind the sword giant ignored her question and
displayed a satisfied, muffled laugh instead.
“Ufufu… fufu, fufufu. This is truly the power I desired. Pure

might capable of fighting on for all eternity. A name… yes, I
suppose calling it a «sword golem» will do fine.”
Despite the situation as it was, Eugeo still guessed at the meaning

behind the unfamiliar Sacred Tongue term.
He knew «sword» was a word that referred to swords. However,

«golem» had never appeared in any of the textbooks used in the
academy. Even Alice who should be far more proficient in the Sacred
Tongue than Eugeo appeared to be at a loss.
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The short silence was punctured by Kirito’s hoarse muttering.
“A sword… automaton.”
That translation into Common Tongue appeared to be accurate

somehow. Administrator’s smile broadened and she lightly clapped
her hands together.
“I knew you would be proficient in the Sacred Tongue… no,

in English. How about becoming my secretary instead, if you
prefer that over being a knight? I would need you to drop
your sword, apologize for your insolence, and pledge eternal
allegiance towards me this very moment, however.”
“Unfortunately, I doubt you would believe an oath from me.

Besides… I hadn’t admitted my loss just yet.”
“I have nothing against that strong spirit, but I certainly

cannot accept such a fool. Perhaps you actually believe you
can defeat my golem… or anything of that sort? This doll
made from swords possessing priorities on the level of a
sacred tool? The mightiest weaponry that I had devoted
every last sector of my precious memory space to
complete…?”
Weaponry; he had heard of that term once.
It should have been mentioned in Deputy Knight Commander

Fanatio’s speech. When the highest minister tried to focus Solus’s
light onto a single point with a thousand panes of mirrors, so as to
cause a flame of extreme heat without the usage of sacred arts, long
ago in the past. The highest minister had called that trial, a
«weaponry experiment»—
So weaponry was effectively a tool that exhibited sufficient power

to exceed sacred arts? And the sword golem standing beyond their
eyes now was the completed form of that weaponry… was that it?
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Perhaps having caught sight of the expressions the trio had on as
they stood still, Administrator showed a cold smile as she slowly
swung her right hand.
“Now… fight, golem. Crush your enemies.”
As if it had been awaiting that command all that while—
The heart of the sword giant shone brilliantly with violet light.
The four-legged monster immediately charged forth with a metallic

roar.
The size of the sword golem could not match the flaming clown
created by Chief Elder Chudelkin earlier. However, the looming
monstrosity with its countless clinking joints inspired frigid fear in
Eugeo’s heart.
The first to respond to the golem whose two arms, each made from
three swords, swung up high was Knight Alice who had been looking
on in a daze until now. Slower by merely half a second, the knight
resolutely met the monster’s assault from the front.
“Yaaaaahh!!”
Her loud battle cry overwhelmed the metallic noises from the
golem. Alice’s two hands gripped onto the Fragrant Olive Sword and
she bent her body to its limit before swinging it down.
Kirito, too, began moving then. Leaping forth towards its left, he
circled about the golem’s flank.
Despite engulfed in fear and frozen still, Eugeo still managed to

guess at Kirito and Alice’s aim.
Both of them had judged that the joint between the golem’s spine
and four legs, the part where a human’s pelvis would be, could be a
potential weakness if it even had one to begin with. However, it
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would be far too hazardous to target its pelvis with a frontal attack.
Hence, Alice would be the bait and draw the golem’s attention—if it
even had one, however—while Kirito would cut apart the enemy’s
vital point from the flank. A strategy fundamentally the same as the
one they had defeated Chudelkin with.
Eugeo watched on, feeling both deep amazement and mild

torment over how the pair could immediately begin a combination
attack without any prior discussion.
Alice’s sword rushed down an arc, leaving behind traces

resembling the light of Solus.
The monster’s right arm, too, swung down with a thundering roar.
An impact great enough to sway the entire cathedral blew outwards
the moment the large and small gleaming, golden blades clashed,
slamming against Eugeo as a gust.
Two seconds had passed since the pair’s assault.
And then, any and all conflict that could actually be considered a
“battle” ended in that instant.
Alice’s Fragrant Olive Sword—a best among the best of the

sacred tools, one possessing an «eternal immortality» property—was
easily flicked away by the Golem’s right arm.
Unable to pull back the sword surging backwards, the knight was
slightly lifted off the floor with her balance destroyed.
Targeting Alice as she desperately tried to stay on her feet without

falling over, the golem’s left sword thrust forth at a speed faster than
eyes could follow.
A dull noise resounded, one far too plain when compared to the
earlier clash. But at the same time, that was the sound that had
concluded the battle.
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The tip of the brutally gigantic sword appeared from Alice’s slender
back and splattered drops of deep crimson. Her long, beautiful
golden hair gently flowed while doused in fresh blood.
Her golden breastplate, split into two, instantly lost its Life and
both sides shattered into pieces. The Fragrant Olive Sword fell from
the knight’s right hand and tumbled onto the floor.
And finally, the golem’s left sword nonchalantly pulled out, leaving
the integrity knight to fall forward.
“U… aaaah!!”
A shout that sounded like a scream.
It had surged out from Kirito. The black-haired swordsman who was
circling towards the giant’s right savagely charged in with a queer
light in his two eyes.
The black sword released a vivid blue glow. It was the secret move,
«Vertical».
The golem would likely stop if the piety module stored in its back
was broken, but the thick blades protecting it and the difference in
altitude denied the secret move from reaching. Hence, Kirito’s aim
was the joint between the golem’s spine and legs. Certainly, the
giant would be rendered immobile if that exposed part was broken.
The golem, having just swung down its two arms, should lack all
means of guarding.
However, immediately after Kirito’s sword moved.
The top half of the giant rotated with intense fervor using its spine
as an axis. The giant’s left arm, turning about horizontally in a
movement impossible for humans, slashed at Kirito from his side.
A dull clink from the clash. Kirito had diverted the trajectory of his
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secret move with superhuman reflexes and met the golem’s assault.
However, the scene Eugeo saw a moment ago repeated itself in his
sight.
Unable to endure the impact, Kirito floated upwards. Without delay,

the golem’s left rear leg lunged out, drawn towards his unarmored
chest.
The dull noise resounded once more. Blown away from the side,
Kirito crashed into the window in the east. A horrifying amount of
fresh blood dyed the glass before the black-clothed swordsman slid
off and crumbled onto the floor.
Unable to make even a single sound, Eugeo stared on as a puddle

of blood spread out from beneath his partner who had collapsed
facing down.
His legs and arms felt absolutely nothing. It felt like his body
belonged to someone else; he could do nothing to restrain its
trembling.
All he could move was his face and Eugeo slowly turned it up,
towards the sword golem in his path a mere five or six mel away. The
monster, too, looked straight down at Eugeo. The sword hilts at the
peak of its spine appeared just like a face. The jewels inset on the
two aligned guards blinked irregularly like eyes.
Capable of neither movement nor speech, Eugeo merely repeated

a single word within his paralyzed mind.
—These are all lies.
—Lies. This is all one big lie.
Knight Alice and Kirito could be said to be the strongest experts in

the Human World now. Even with some strange monster or some sort
of «weaponry» as their opponent, the pair should not be losing like
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this. They will stand right back up this very moment and ready their
swords once……
Hehe. Hehehe.
Quiet laughter streamed on, accompanying the solemn, metallic

noises constantly let out by the golem.
His sight moved and saw the highest minister, Administrator,

floating behind and merrily looking down at the tragedy. Her specular
eyes reflected nothing but the red from the blood flowing from Kirito
and Alice. Not a single tinge of compassion resided within them.
The bizarre giant began moving once more to execute its master’s
commands.
Bringing up its right front foot, it took a long step, and thrust that
down into the floor with a metallic clunk. Followed by its left front
foot.
Red drops dyed the looming giant’s left arm. Eugeo decided that,
at the very least, he would die from a slash by that arm. His fear was
no more and the world was silent, far too silent—
Without warning, a voice burst in his mind like a bubble; it took a

moment before he realized it was real.
[Use the dagger, Eugeo!]
It was a female voice with a somewhat deep yet charming

reverberation.
The voice was too unfamiliar for a hallucination on the verge of

death. Taking a glance down towards his right, Eugeo saw—
Something atop the collapsed Kirito’s right shoulder at the mere

size of the tip of one’s nail, a pitch-black spider.
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It was impossible for such a tiny bug to talk. However, something
in that voice urged Eugeo to believe. All doubts over the owner of
that voice were dispelled from his paralyzed consciousness while the
small creature brought up its right front leg as if berating him.
“It… it won’t work. That dagger won’t reach

Administrator.”
He answered in a small voice and the spider violently waved its

raised feet.
[No! A passage! Stab it into the elevating disk on the

floor!!]
“Eh…”
Eugeo opened his eyes wide, dumbfounded. The black spider

focused its four eyes, glistening like rubies, on Eugeo and continued.
[I will buy you time! Hurry!!]
The spider, crying out while the adorable fangs peeking out from
its mouth shifted about, glanced at Kirito’s pallid cheek and softly
touched it with its right foot, before leaping towards the floor.
By the time it soundlessly touched down onto the floor, the

miniscule spider—
Turned towards the sword golem, likely tens of thousands times its
size, and ran straight.
I thought I hadconquered enduring physical pain to some extent.
Slightly more than two years ago, I crossed swords with goblins
that intruded from the Dark Territory at the cave north of Rulid
Village. During the battle, I got my left shoulder cut by the machete
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belonging to the leader of the goblins and despite how it was far from
lethal, the overwhelming pain—or to be accurate, the fear of
suffering pain—made me cower, nervous, and rendered me
immobile.
That experience exposed my weak point in the Underworld.

Perhaps due to the long time I spent fighting in worlds lacking pain,
thanks to the pain absorber function installed in the Nerve Gear and
AmuSphere, I had lost my resistance towards it.
Since then, I had controlled myself to not shrink back any longer
when attacked by wooden swords during practice with Eugeo or the
academy’s matches and perhaps as a result, the injuries I suffered in
my fights with the integrity knights had not left me frozen in fright, at
the very least. After all, in the Underworld, you could fully recover
even with your hands and feet sliced off as long your Life did not
reach zero.
But—
Right before the very end of this long journey, I was taught the
bitter lesson that I had never actually managed to conquer myself at
all.
«Sword golem», the military weaponry created by the highest

minister, Administrator, possessed extraordinary power and speed. It
had transcendental performance that deviated from even the rules of
this world. It was already a miracle that I managed to block that first
attack from its left arm; the second using its left rear leg was faster
than my eyes could even follow.
The sword that served as the golem’s leg seemed to have torn
through my internal organs, from my right to my left. I was aware of
an icy chill caressing my stomach at the time of that heavy blow, but
what I felt as I flew through the air, crashed into the window, and
tumbled onto the floor was a pain rushing through my entire body as
if I was being immolated. None of my fingers could move while the
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lower half of my body had no sensation at all. It wouldn’t be strange
even if my body had actually been split into two with only a single
layer of skin joining them.
It was a real mystery how I retained my ability to think.
Or perhaps that was because the pain was far exceeded by my

despair.
My Life should be falling at a rate faster than ever before. I must

have no more than a few minutes left before it touches zero.
And Integrity Knight Alice probably had even less time remaining.
The golden knight, collapsed on the floor a distance away, was
stabbed through her chest by the sword golem’s sword. It appeared
she avoided a direct hit to her heart, but her blood must be spilling
out at an alarming rate. The chance that not even healing arts of the
highest grade could stop that was high. That miraculous fluct light
that broke through the «seal of the right eye» applied on all
Underworld inhabitants with its will alone was being extinguished
before my eyes.
The life of my irreplaceable bosom friend, Eugeo, who stood

outside my field of vision was like a candle in the wind too. His
strength had already surpassed mine, but that was no enemy that
swordsmanship could stand up to.
My hazy vision showed the sword golem advancing, causing

tremors as it did.
Even when I tried to call for him to flee, only a weak breath spilled
out from my mouth.
No, even if I could call out to him, Eugeo would not run. He would
grip his Blue Rose Sword and stand up against this overwhelming
enemy to save Alice and me.
This worst disaster could only be attributed to my

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miscomprehension—the foolish assumption that Administrator would
not murder.
In the Great Library Room, the sage, Cardinal, had explained the
essence of what made up the «taboos» in this world with a tea cup.
What she had wanted to convey was that all taboos had their own
loopholes. Administrator had probably broke through the restriction
on herself by creating an automatic weapon to slaughter her enemies
instead of doing it with her own hands.
The pain that seemed to rage like flames was gradually turning
into a dull numbness.
My Life will soon be zero. I would probably be kicked out from this
world in that instant, wake up in the STL, and staff from Rath will fill
me in. About the deletion of the Underworld in its current
state—along with every fluct light, including Alice and Eugeo, without
exception.
If my Life held just as much meaning as Eugeo and the rest.
If only I could meet a true death with this pair here.
How could I apologize to them with anything less than that?
The four advancing legs of the sword golem and the radiance of
the collapsed Alice’s golden hair flickered and quivered in my slowly
darkening vision.
Even that light, too, steadily abandoned me.
That was when that soft, yet substantial, voice burst into my ears.
[Use the dagger, Eugeo!]
It had a velvety ring that I seemed to have heard from somewhere.

I continued listening to the exchange between the mezzo-soprano’s
voice and Eugeo with my mind blank.
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The owner of that voice gave several short instructions before
declaring that she would buy him time and moving to my ear. It felt
like something warm had touched my right cheek for an instant.
That warmth brought back a speck of sensation to my body and I

desperately lifted my half-fallen eyelids.
Before my eyes, the one who leapt down onto the carpet stained
with my blood without a sound—
Was one extremely, extremely small spider gleaming with a

lustrous black.
That could be no other. Charlotte. The familiar of the sage,

Cardinal, who lurked about my vicinity for two years to collect
information.
But why was she here now? This small spider should have been
released from her duty by her master in the Great Library Room and
disappeared into the gaps between those bookshelves.
Pain and fear left my mind for a moment from the overwhelming
surprise; the creature that was far too small began her charge
towards the gigantic golem before my eyes.
Her four slender legs wildly kicked off the carpet. However, the
distance crossed by the spider in a step was no match for that of the
golem. Just how did she plan to buy time with the golem lunging at
Eugeo?
Or so I wondered before a weak gasp leaked out from me, assailed

by an even great shock.
The black spider had become a size larger.
Each time her pointed legs thrust onto the floor, the size of the
spider rapidly multiplied. She became bigger than a mouse, a cat,
soon a dog, and continued growing larger even then. Before I knew
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it, my cheek that touched the floor could feel the heavy tremors from
Charlotte’s legs kicking off the carpet.
“—Gigii!”
Letting out a grinding, metallic noise, the sword golem finally took
notice of Charlotte. The two gems at its face flickered as though
appraising its enemy.
“Shaaaa!”
Emitting a shrill, intimidating cry, the black spider whose overall

length had crossed two meters, too, had its four individual eyes shine
with a keen light.
Though her height failed to reach even half of the golem’s, the
enlarged Charlotte had her body covered by a tough-looking
carapace in contrast to her enemy formed solely from slender, long
swords. The jet-black shell gleamed like the Rasta colors tinged with
gold in the light and the claws growing on her eight legs, too, were
like black crystals.
Two of her legs were visibly larger, serving as her arms, and their
claws were long enough to bear a resemblance to swords as well.
Raising that right leg up high, Charlotte threw it down at the golem’s
left leg.
A heavy, metallic impact, like a clash between greatswords,

echoed throughout the room. The orange sparks created illuminated
the murky hall with dazzling light.
That flash of light brought to attention Eugeo’s figure that had

started running without my notice.
Not towards the golem. Nor was it towards Alice or me.
He dashed towards the circular pattern on the southern wall to

carry out Charlotte’s instructions to stab the dagger into the
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elevating disk.
Behind Eugeo, though that single strike from Charlotte had broken
the sword golem’s stance slightly, it effortlessly stood its ground and
was just about to raise its right arm up high.
The golem seemed to have completely identified the sudden,

gigantic black spider as its enemy and its two bluish-white eyes
shone sharply as it swung down its right arm with a roar.
Charlotte met that attack with her left arm.
The sword of gold and claw of black crystal crashed in mid-air and
brought forth a fierce shockwave once more. The tremor travelling
through the floor shook through my body as well.
That single strike from the sword golem that easily blew away both
Alice and me was taken on by the large spider as she deeply lowered
the six legs at her rear.
The pair continued that same ferocious struggle in an attempt to

force the other down. The tough carapace on Charlotte’s legs warped
as she supported that massive weight while the three swords forming
the golem’s right arm creaked at their joints as well.
The competition ended in a mere three seconds.
The one to break with a dull noise was Charlotte’s left front leg.
Milky white fluid gushed from the intersection, dyeing her black
carapace.
However, the spider did not even take a step back and lunged forth
with her remaining right front leg. Her aim was the gap between the
three huge swords making up the sword golem’s back. The violet
light gleaming within it—the piety module.
Her claw that reached out like a black flash of lightning stabbed
through the prism, the golem’s greatest weakness—that moment I
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saw that, the numerous swords lined up on the left and right of its
spine as its ribcage moved as one.
Jakiiin!! A metallic noise like a paper cutting machine rang out. The
four blades on each side had intersected. Held within them,
Charlotte’s right leg was helplessly severed and a flood of bodily fluid
spurted out once more.
The golem’s ribcage opened slowly and the torn half of her leg fell
from inside. Perhaps convinced of its victory, the golem’s two eyes
faintly flickered with what looked practically like ridicule.
Charlotte retained her gallantry even with her two front legs lost.
Letting out a shrill cry once again, she leapt forth to bite with the
thick, short fangs growing from her mouth.
However, her attack did not reach. The golem’s leg kicked up
faster than my eyes could follow, slicing off another two of
Charlotte’s left legs, and the giant spider fell onto the floor with a
thud, its balance destroyed.
That’s enough—run.
I tried to shout.
I had never conversed directly with that black spider named

Charlotte.
But she had always been watching over me. She even told me the
zephyria flowers I grew in the dormitory’s flower beds could still be
saved after Raios and Humbert tore them apart. Despite how her
mission from Cardinal had only been to observe me.
Yes—she should not be dying in such a hopeless battle for nothing

more than to buy some time.
Run; I tried shouting once again, but it failed to make any sound.
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Getting up somehow with her four remaining legs, Charlotte
lowered herself to launch yet another reckless charge.
But the golem’s left arm that came from straight above an instant
quicker pierced deep into the black spider’s torso after tracing an
elegant arc.
“……Ah…”
A noise, far too weak to be considered a scream, spilled out from

my throat.
—That happened then.
A sudden violet flash blotted out my vision.
It was a radiance I had only seen once before. The bands of light
sweeping through the hall were all sets of miniscule letters. This
same light had come forth when I used the dagger Cardinal gave me
to help Deputy Knight Commander Fanatio.
Eugeo must have reached the elevating disk and stabbed in the
dagger he had. I was not sure what result that would lead to, but
Eugeo had not wasted the time Charlotte bought with that assault
she carried out at the risk of her life.
Bathed in the gradually fading light, the jet-black spider pawed at

the floor with her remaining legs, as though she wanted to stand
even with her body stabbed all over. However, her gigantic body
powerlessly sank in a puddle of white blood after the golem withdrew
its arms with a damp noise.
The four individual eyes lined up on her face had lost most of that
vivid scarlet that resembled rubies. Having confirmed the state of the
elevating disk with those eyes, Charlotte murmured with a weak
voice as blood spilled from even the gaps between her fangs.
[Thank goodness… I made it.]
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Her right legs shook and altered the direction she faced. Her four
eyes stared gently at me.
[I am glad… I could, fight… with you… in the……]
Her words ceased as though they had dissolved in mid-air. The

crimson light in her glossy, round eyes flickered and vanished.
As my sight gently blotted out, I realized my tears could still flow

now even while I approached death myself. The giant black spider
shrank silently. The white puddle, too, swiftly evaporated, leaving
behind nothing but a corpse the size of my fingertip, facing upwards
with its four legs drew in.
The sword golem turned about as though it had instantly lost all
concern for that life it had severed while its two shining eyes caught
sight of Eugeo.
The giant form turned by ninety degrees and heavily stabbed the
tip of its extended foot onto the floor. The ribbons of violet light
continued wavering where it advanced towards.
I strained with all my strength to move my neck by several

centimeters and the source of the light came into sight.
A ring of light pulsated on the floor at the southern side of the

circular hall, a short distance from the glass window. It was the
elevating disk Alice and I had used to get to this hundredth floor.
Something like an extremely small cross was stabbed in the middle

of that ring. It was Eugeo’s share of the reddish-copper daggers
Cardinal had entrusted us with. Those daggers were created from the
resources taken from the pigtails that she grew for two hundred
years and could open a channel that transcended space between
Cardinal and whatever it was stabbed into.
Eugeo had stabbed the final resort against Administrator into the
elevating disk in the floor as instructed by Charlotte, the black spider.
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The elevating disk was already completely shining with violet light.
High frequency waves like many tuning forks resonating with each
other swelled out as the dagger itself came apart at last, connecting
the elevating disk and the canopy with a narrow beam of light.
Eugeo who stood still beside it covered his face with his left arm,
unable to bear its radiance. The sword golem advancing towards him,
too, had its joints creak to a stop as though hesitating over the
unexplainable phenomenon.
The beam of light gradually grew in width. A glossy, dark brown

surface—a board—appeared from within it. No, that was no normal
board. Rimmed by a rectangular frame, it had a silver knob
protruding from one side; it was a door.
Just as I realized that, the radiance gave an intense flash, then

vanished. The high frequency waves receded as well and silence
returned to the hall.
Both Eugeo and I looked towards the thick door with a familiar
design and color in silence.
Perhaps its program resumed after the abnormality had settled

down, but the sword golem took a step forward with its right leg.
In that moment—
A small, stiff noise shook the air gently, but surely.
The silver knob slowly rotated. The stiff sound soon echoed out
once more, followed by the door opening quietly.
The door stood upon the floor by itself, so there should be no more
than the same hall beyond it. But on the contrary, no moonlight
filtered through the gap between the wooden frame and door. Its
depths were submerged in absolute darkness.
The door continuing swinging open and stopped upon opening a
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gap of around fifty centimeters. Its contents remained hidden from
view. The sword golem continued its advance, ignoring the door. Its
huge swords would be within range to cut Eugeo within three steps…
two—
Without warning, an astounding intensity of light flooded out from

the darkness beyond the door.
A pure white flash of lightning horizontally surged forth.
Gagaan!! Its impact made a noise that assailed my ears beyond

any other sacred arts I had ever witnessed. The lightning that landed
directly on the sword golem squirmed like a living being and turned
its giant form into a black silhouette.
The lightning attack raged for several seconds before finally

receding and the golem, which seemed to boast of a durability close
to invulnerability, came to a stop as its upper body swayed. Faint
white smoke rose from the tens of swords and its two eyes flickered
haphazardly.
The monster that tenaciously tried to continue moving was struck

hard once again by another lightning bolt emitted from the door. It
was an unbelievable rate of fire for a sacred art of such power which
should require an incantation consisting of tens of lines. With various
parts charred black, the golem let out a shrill groan as it took a step
back, but was chased down a mere half-second later.
A peal of thunder more intense than before roared out and a third
bolt of lightning dashed forth. Struck by the white light, thicker than
the two before, the five meters tall military weaponry was easily
blown away like a paper model. Whirling about in mid-air, it passed
through the immediate right of the hovering Administrator and
crashed down onto the floor at the far end of the hall. I felt the
Central Cathedral itself quivering from the impact of its fall.
The upturned golem finally ceased movement, but the tips of its
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sword limbs still trembled in small motions showing that its Life had
yet to be depleted. But still, it seemed unlikely for it to get to its feet
any time soon.
I shifted my sight back and watched the darkness beyond the door
once more.
I already knew for sure who would be appearing from there. No one
in this world was capable of rapid-firing such immense sacred arts
aside from the highest minister, Administrator, and one other.
What first appeared from beyond the darkness were a narrow staff
and the petite hand that held it. Following those was a loose sleeve
upon a slender wrist. Several layers draped onto a black velvet robe.
An angular hat decorated with a tuft. The flat shoes peeking out from
the cuff of her robes took a step forward and stepped noiselessly
onto the carpet.
The moonlight illuminated that soft-looking chestnut curly hair and

those small silver-rimmed glasses. Her large eyes where youth and
boundless wisdom coexisted sparkled beyond those lenses.
The sage, Cardinal, who possessed a level of authority equivalent

to the highest minister, Administrator, as her other self and lived in
the Great Library Room that was isolated for what was practically an
eternality, calmly walked out into the bluish-white moonlight, and
then stilled her feet. The door behind her closed on its own
immediately after.
How could Cardinal reach this hall from that isolated library room?
The key was, of course, the reddish-copper dagger Eugeo held. The
dagger stabbed into the elevating disk by Charlotte’s instructions
had connected that to Cardinal. In that case, using an art to change
the destination linked to the elevating disk to the library room should
be an easy task for the girl.
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The petite sage scanned through the top floor of the cathedral that
she was likely seeing for the first time with a stern expression like
that of a teacher.
, she turned her eyes to Eugeo who stood at the side and gave a
curt nod. She also stared hard at Knight Alice who laid prostrate a
distance away. Shifting those eyes to me who was in a similar
posture, she showed a slight smile as though to reassure me and
nodded once again.
And finally—
Cardinal resolutely straightened up her small body and gazed at

Administrator who continued hovering further in the hall in silence.
The sage’s side profile gave no hints of any intense emotions she
might be holding in this confrontation against her ultimate enemy
after two hundred years.
Having confirmed the situation, Cardinal softly raised the staff in

her right hand. Her small frame instantly floated up and she glided
through the air to where Alice and I had fallen.
Descending onto the floor, she first gave Alice’s back a soft touch
with the head of the staff. Gleaming particles of light fluttered and
whirled about when she did, sinking into the knight’s body.
, she knocked the slender staff against my shoulder. That warm

light came forth once more and enveloped my body that had lost all
sensation.
The cold sense of emptiness I felt, like I had ceased to exist, first
vanished before a searing pain returned to my abdomen that had
received a direct hit from the golem. I forced down the urge to
scream and the pain was soon thawed by a wave of warmth. My
bodily sensations returned just as the pain settled down and I tried
flexing my stiff right hand countless times before feeling for the
injury on my stomach with apprehension.
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My touch revealed that though a stinging scar remained, the deep
wound that nearly severed my body had been completely sealed up; I
couldn’t help but to be surprised. If I wanted to accomplish the same
effect with healing arts, I would have to chant continuously for hours
in a forest filled with sunlight.
I’m saved—such simpleminded happiness seemed even

inappropriate for an art so miraculous, but naturally, compensation of
equal value must have been needed. Not to mention the one to pay
the price would not be me, but the sage, Cardinal. After all, the
highest minister, Administrator, would never let—
As though utterly unconcerned over my spine-chilling imagination,

Cardinal gently floated up once again.
The place she landed after a short while was before a small black
corpse lying on the carpet.
The staff thrust onto the floor with a soft thud. Even as its owner’s
hand separated, the staff stayed upright without a smidgen of
movement.
Cardinal quietly stooped over and gently scooped up the meager

remains from the floor with both hands. Pressing the hands
enveloping the black spider, Charlotte, to her breast, the girl hung
her head deep down, then whispered in a voice so soft I couldn’t
catch it.
“You… stubborn thing. Have I not relived you of your duty,

thanked you for your efforts, and asked you to live on as you
wished in the nook of any bookshelf of your liking?”
Her long eyelashes fluttered twice, thrice, beyond her round

glasses.
I gripped my black sword that had tumbled to my side with my

right hand that could finally move properly, and then used that as a
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prop to stand. After wobbling closer to Cardinal, I shelved away those
words I should be saying and instead, first asked.
“Cardinal… was that Charlotte’s… true form…?”
The sage whose curly hair swayed as she lifted her face looked at
me with moist eyes and replied with a tone that seemed even
nostalgic.
“…Many magical beasts and oddities dwelled in the forest

and wildlands even in this Human World in times of old. You
should already be familiar with such beings.”
“…Named monsters… But… Charlotte was capable of human

speech and she even had emotions… Did she possess a fluct light…?
“Nay… In the words of your world, she would be equivalent

to an NPC. Granted a modest pseudo-intelligence engine in a
nook of the Main Visualizer, rather than a light cube, she was
a part of the system, so to speak. Numerous large beasts,
ancient trees, giant rocks, and such able to respond in the
Common Tongue were positioned in the Human World too.
However… they are all gone now. Half were exterminated by
the integrity knights while the other half were used as object
resources by that Administrator.”
“I see… So like the guardian dragon that had turned to

bones in the cave at the northern mountain edge…”
“Aye. I had thought that a pity and took in as many of

those newly created AIs as I could. Though many of those
familiars I employ are small units without intelligence
engines, there are some AIs in my care that I put to work like
Charlotte. After all, they would not suffer much damage even
after shrinking their outward appearance thanks to their high
stats. She had stayed unharmed despite how much of a
racket you caused while hidden in your clothes due to that.”
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“B-But… but still…”
I stared hard on Charlotte’s corpse lying atop Cardinal’s palm and

continued my questions while holding back the tears that threaten to
spill yet again.
“Charlotte’s words and actions were in no way that of some

false AI. She saved me. She sacrificed herself for me… Why…
how could…”
“I believe I said this before, but this child had already lived for fifty
years. She had continuously conversed with myself and watched over
many humans in that time. Brief as it was, two years has already
passed since she had clung to you… With that much time spent
together, even without a fluct light, she—
Cardinal’s tone suddenly increased in vigor and she finished her

remaining words, decisively.
“Even if the true nature of that intelligence is naught more

than input and output data, a true heart could still reside
there. Aye, at times, even love. —Even an eternity would not
suffice for you to understand that, however… Administrator,
you empty vessel!!”
Calling out with an austere voice, the childlike sage finally turned
her two eyes straight towards her bitter enemy of two hundred years.
Floating a distance away and watching over the situation in

silence, the highest minister gave no immediate reply.
Her clasped hands covered her mouth, showing no more than a

mysterious light in her specular eyes.
According to the story Cardinal told me in the library room, when

Administrator merged with the former Cardinal System, she
manipulated her fluct light and eliminated most of her emotions in
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order to prevent any revolt from the self-repair sub-process—the
second personality that made up the base of the current Cardinal.
The danger of the sub-process possessing her body had passed

after they separated into two unique humans, but still, she should
have found emotions useless and have no need to revive them.
Hence, the image I had of the existence known as Administrator

was a human being that processed tasks like a machine, one exactly
like a computer program. But the highest minister I encountered on
the top floor of this cathedral differed greatly from my imagination. I
could sense nothing false about the smile she had as she held
Chudelkin in contempt and toyed around with us.
And even now—
Silvery laughter burst out from the mouth the silver-haired, silver-
eyed girl hid with both hands as her two eyes narrowed to slits.
Hehe. Hehe, hehe.
Treating Cardinal’s words, said with utmost severity, as though

they were less significant than even a breeze, her slender shoulders
shook as she continued laughing.
Before long, she added a short line between her laughter—one

that brought to life my earlier dread.
“I thought you would come.”
Hehe, hehehehehehe.
“I thought you would come out from that moldy cellar if I

teased these boys enough. That’s your limit, shorty. Sending
your pieces to deal with me, yet not abandoning them like
pawns should be. Humans certainly are beyond all help.”
As I had—
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As I had feared, Administrator’s real aim was to lure Cardinal out
from the isolated Great Library Room by pushing us to our limits. In
other words, the highest minister still had some trump card capable
of securing her victory in this situation.
But the sword golem, what should have been her ultimate weapon,
was nearly destroyed by Cardinal and both Eugeo and I were capable
of fighting somehow. A glance confirmed Alice should have regained
her consciousness as well as she was trying to get up with her hand
pressed against the floor.
Like the two sides of the same coin, Cardinal and Administrator
would definitely end up in a draw if they fought each other one-on-
one, so we should hold an overwhelming advantage with the
situation as it was.
In other words, Administrator should have stopped spectating and

begun an attack with all her might the moment the door connecting
to the library room had opened. But why had she not opposed the
destruction of the sword golem, Alice’s and my recovery, and not to
mention that conversation between Cardinal and I that was in no way
short?
Naturally, Cardinal should have the same misgivings as me.

However, her side profile revealed only an adamant grimness.
“Hmm. It appears you, too, have gotten rather competent

with that human mimicry of yours. Have you spent the whole
of the last two hundred years honing that laughter before a
mirror?”
Administrator sidestepped the harsh words once again with her

laughter.
“My, the same goes to you, shorty, what were you thinking
with that style of speech? You were shaking ever so
miserably when you were brought before me two hundred
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years ago. Weren’t you, Lyceris-chan?”
“Do not call me by that name, Quinella! My name is

Cardinal, a program that exists solely to delete you!”
“Ufufu, so you were. And I am Administrator, the one who

manages all programs. I apologize for the late greeting,
shorty. It took a little time to prepare the art for welcoming
you.”
Finishing off with a smile, Administrator gently raised her right

hand.
The outspread fingers bent as though they were crushing

something invisible. Her cheeks that had remained pure white until
now became faintly flushed and a fierce light entered her silver eyes.
Cold shudders ran down my back upon realizing the highest minister
was seriously focusing for the first time.
But there was no time to do anything. An instant was all it took for
Administrator to grip her right hand tight.
With that—
Gasshaaan!! A multitude of shattering noises clamored out from all

about the hall. I thought the gigantic glass walls encircling it had all
shattered.
However, that was wrong.
What broke was beyond the windows—the murky, snaking sea of

clouds, the star-filled skies, the full moon shining clearly with bluish-
white light: the whole of the night skies.
I looked on, dumbfounded, as the skies became countless thin

fragments, whirled about, and dispersed, falling and breaking into
ever small pieces as they crashed into other another. What appeared
after the fragments that displayed the starry skies crumbled was a
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scene that could only be expressed as «nothingness».
The black and violet space that conveyed no depth made up a

marbling pattern that wriggled viscously. An utterly blank world that
would suck in anyone’s mind if stared upon for too long.
It differed entirely in hue and beauty, but still, I felt it resembled

the scene from then. The veil of white light I had once seen engulfing
the sunset skies as the floating castle, Aincrad, crumbled.
The Underworld couldn’t possibly be crumbling away and

vanishing, could it? The Human World, the Dark Territory, the villages
and cities… along with everyone living within them; everything?
What drew me back from my descent into panic was Cardinal’s

voice, firm and steadfast, though not entirely immune from shock.
“You… disconnected the address, haven’t you?”
—What did she mean…?
I looked on, unable to tear my sight away from Administrator even

in my confusion, and the silver-haired girl gently lowered her right
hand as she replied in a whisper.
“….I certainly was the one at blame two hundred years ago
when you escaped on the brink of death, shorty. That moldy
cellar was personally set as a disconnected address by
myself, wasn’t it? Hence, I decided to learn from that
mistake. To lock you in on this side the next time I lured you
out. A cage for a rat to be hunted down by a cat.”
Closing her mouth, the highest minister snapped her fingers with
her left hand this time, as though to put on the finishing touches.
A breaking noise, rather modest when compared to earlier,

immediately sounded out as the brown door towering behind
shattered. Its fragments broke off into even smaller fragments while
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in mid-air, eventually disappearing. In addition, the circular pattern
marking the elevating disk’s position vanished from the floor as well.
Eugeo who stood beside it extended his right foot in shock and
stomped on the carpet numerous times. Before lifting his face and
giving a small shake of his head as he looked at me.
In other words, this was how it went.
What Administrator broke was not the world beyond the windows,
but the actual connections between the world and the highest floor of
the cathedral here.
Even if we somehow broke the surrounding glass windows, we

couldn’t go beyond it. Because there was nowhere to go to. As a
method to shut away someone in a virtual space, it was far too
perfect, truly one only permitted to those who held the authority of a
supervisor. Compared to this, the jail area located in the Black Iron
Castle on the first floor of the old Aincrad could be even considered
naive.
Administrator didn’t waste the few minutes since Cardinal’s

appearance, but used them to prepare for this grand art—that was it.
But.
If the connections between the spaces were completely severed.
“I believe that metaphor is lacking, however.”
Apparently having easily reached the same conclusion as me,

Cardinal rebutted in a low voice.
“Even if it takes only few minutes to disconnect them, re-

connecting them is no easy task. Thus, you, too, are
completely trapped in this place. And I believe it is hardly
clear which faction would be the cat or rat in this situation.
After all, we are four and you are one. You would be making a
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heavy mistake if you underestimate these younglings,
Quinella.”
Yes, that’s right.
With things as they were, Administrator shouldn’t be able to

escape from this space easily herself. And both Cardinal and she
were spell-users possessing the exact same capabilities. We could
end the fight by slashing at her while Cardinal canceled out the
sacred arts directed at us—that was what it summed up to.
But even after Cardinal explicitly pointed it out, the highest

minister retained her faint smile.
“Four to one? …No, your calculations are just a little off. To

be accurate… it would be four to three hundred. Even without
including me, that is.”
The honeyed voice cut off just as the overturned clump of

metal—the sword golem that should have been nearly
destroyed—behind the highest minister resounded with ear-piercing
dissonance.
“What…”
Cardinal shouted in a deep tone. She must have judged it

completely nullified after being struck by the three consecutive bolts
of lightning she shot with all her might. I had no problem believing in
that either.
But the light in the golem’s two eyes that had definitely vanished
just seconds ago now gleamed brilliantly like two stars. Directing that
murderous light at us, the giant lifted itself up with its two arms as
though it had recovered from its damage in an instant before
thrusting its four legs onto the floor and standing straight with a
thunderous roar from its abdomen.
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A closer look showed that the set of swords that should have been
charred at various spots from Cardinal’s lightning attacks had
regained a fresh sheen without my notice.
It was true that weapons of high priority were furnished with the
ability to regenerate their Life in this world, but that was only when
they were properly maintained and sheathed. Still, recovering half of
its health would take a whole day and in the first place, the swords
forming the golem’s body were ornamental pieces attached to the
pillars.
Even if all of its parts possessed priority levels equivalent to those

of sacred tools like Administrator mentioned, that was no reason for
them to recover from damage this quick.
But the sword giant towering behind the highest minister was
enveloped in an aura exactly the same as—no, more overwhelming
than what I had felt before it took on those lightning attacks. If this
golem could be mass-produced, that might really be sufficient to
fight back the combined invasion from the Dark Territory; its strength
made even that seem plausible.
The young sage’s sonorous voice reached my ears as I stood still at

a loss for words.
“Kirito, Alice, Eugeo, behind me! You must not move from
behind me!”
Upon listening her instructions, the other two who weren’t already
behind Cardinal from the start dashed over. It appeared the damage
Alice suffered from getting the right of her chest pierced had almost
fully recovered as well. She had lost her golden breastplate and a
blue bodice, her clothes as a knight, underneath was badly torn, but
her movements showed no traces of any wound.
Standing stoutly with her Fragrant Olive Sword, Alice softly

whispered to me.
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“Kirito… exactly who is this…?”
“Her name’s Cardinal. Another highest minister who fought

with Administrator and got exiled two hundred years ago.”
And—in contrast to the one who manages (administrator), she was

the one who resets (formatter). The one who shall return the world to
a merciful null.
But naturally, I kept that to myself for now. I continued my

explanation to Alice who had a doubtful expression on.
“It’s fine, she’s on our side. She’s the one who helped out
Eugeo and me and guided us here. She loves and grieves for
this world from the bottom of her heart.”
At the very least, that was a definite truth. Alice seemed to be

unable to cast aside all doubt and hesitation, but she still gently
pushed her left hand against the right of her chest—the place healed
by Cardinal’s miraculous power—and nodded deeply.
“…Understood. High ranking sacred arts reflect the heart of

its user… I shall believe in the warmth of this person’s power
that had healed my wound.”
That’s totally it; I nodded in return, deeply moved.
Even if it was the weakest healing art consisting of only one line,
its effect would vary greatly depending on whether it was performed
on someone carelessly or with sincere prayers.
Cardinal’s healing art was filled with a true tenderness that melted
away all suffering with its warmth. That was exactly why I still clung
to hope and believed that her determination to return the entire
Underworld to null was up to discussion—but that, too, could only
happen if we won this fight.
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What contrivances did the sword golem possess to instantly
recover completely after losing all of its power and how should that
be dealt with; we had to find the answers to those mysteries first.
With its entire body glinting with a gold tinged with black, the
golem nonchalantly began its advance.
Cardinal braced her staff, prepared to confront it, but she couldn’t
quite use powerful sacred arts for a preemptive strike like several
minutes ago. Administrator must be aiming for an opportunity to
attack: the moment Cardinal uses any art.
—Think. That was all I could do now.
The sword golem’s auto-healing ability was probably granted by

the recollection release art. In that case, the «something» that the
thirty swords forming the golem’s huge body originated from should
possess some property that allowed that.
What first came to mind upon hearing about the automatic

regeneration of Life was the giant tree that was the source of the
black sword held in my right hand, the Gigas Cedar, but that amazing
recovery ability was only due to the abundant space resources
supplied by the sunlight and the earth.
But the only source of resources in this hall was the moonlight
pouring in from the southern windows. I highly doubted there was
enough accumulated for that giant frame to instantly recover. In
other words, the sword golem did not originate from an object of
nature like the Gigas Cedar.
Thus, the remaining possibility was a living creature type of object

that possessed a recovery ability unreliant on space resources? But
Cardinal had definitely said that the enormous named monsters that
once inhabited this world were extinct. Meanwhile, normal animal
units like bears and cows did not have a priority level capable of that
absurd offensive potential. Even if ten thousands of them were
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concurrently transmuted into a sword, the result would probably be
far from reaching the sacred tools of the integrity knights. That was
just how low a beast’s Life was. Priority and durability were
proportional, so creating thirty of those incredible weapons would
need thousands or tens of thousands of those large animal units—
Wait.
Didn’t Administrator say something strange earlier?
Four to three hundred.
The units used to create that sword golem were not moving objects
like animals. They were human units, the human beings living in this
world. Not to mention—it took three hundred of them. A number that
would require an entire small village to be wiped out to fulfill.
I was convinced I reached the correct conclusion after a moment of

thought so fast that it felt as though my mind was on fire. But that
granted no reprieve. Instead, what assailed me was an overwhelming
terror. Goose bumps rapidly rose all over my skin, from head to toe.
The people of the Underworld were not simply objects capable of

movement. They possessed fluct lights, souls, like us, people from
the real world. And even when transmuted into swords, their fluct
light would not cease activity as they still existed in a corporeal form.
In other words, those turned into parts for that golem might still
retain their consciousness within that metal, even if they had no
eyes, ears, or mouths.
Apparently having arrived at the same conclusion before myself,

Cardinal’s petite frame faintly trembled. Her small hand turned pure
white with how tightly it gripped the staff it held up.
“……You abomination.”
The words she let out were fragmented with such fury that it
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overshadowed her cherubic voice.
“You… how… how inhumane could you be?! You are their
ruler! Were those that you turned into that sword puppet not
the people you should have been protecting originally?!!”
Two moans came from my left in that instant.
“People…? People, you mean, human… beings?”
Eugeo took a giddy step back as he murmured.
“People, you say… that monstrosity…?”
Alice placed her left hand against her chest again as she groaned
as well.
A cold, tense silence engulfed the hall.
Before long, Administrator replied with a smile as though she had

appreciated the taste of our fright, dread, and anger.
“That’s, right. So you fi—nally realize. At the rate we were

going, I was afraid everyone would die off before I revealed
it.”
With an innocent, cherry voice as though she was glad from the
bottom of her heart, the absolute ruler clapped her hands together
and continued with a “But still”.
“I’m a little disappointed in you, shorty. Despite peeking at

me for these two hundred years from that cellar, you have
still yet to understand me, haven’t you? And I’m supposed to
be your mother in a sense.”
“…Nonsense! I am more than well aware of that depraved

personality of yours!”
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“Then what was with those worthless words? Like, the
people I should have been protecting and such. Why would I
be bothered by such trivial matters?”
Her smile stayed as it always had been, but the air around
Administrator seemed to be rapidly approaching freezing point.
Words flowed like grains of ice from her lips that showed a smile at
absolute zero.
“I am the ruler. I need nothing more than for those under

my rule to continue their existence in this world according to
my will. Be them humans or swords, that is of no great
concern.”
“You… monster…”
Cardinal’s voice dried up and stopped.
I couldn’t find the words to speak either.
The mental state of this female, no, existence named Administrator

had already exceeded the scope of my understanding. True to her
name, she was the system’s administrator and recognized the
masses of the Human World as no more than data files to be
overwritten. An analogy would be like internet addicts of the real
world who continued to download enormous files merely for the sake
of collecting and arranging them, maybe? With barely any concern
for what was in those files.
During the conversation in the Great Library Room, Cardinal had

said that the behavioral principle burnt into Administrator’s soul was
the «preservation of the world». That was probably correct, but its
reality was far more complex.
Did the first generation Cardinal System, that soulless

management program, from the old world of SAO truly acknowledge
us players as humans… as intelligent living beings?
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The answer was a no.
We were no more than data to be managed, sorted, and deleted.
The girl, Quinella, from an age long ago might have not committed
murder.
However, human beings were no longer human to the current

Administrator.
“My, what is the matter, losing your voices all together?”
Looking down at us from high above, the administrator adorably

tilted her head.
“You couldn’t possibly be that shocked by the

transmutation of merely three hundred units, could you?”
“Merely… you say?”
The highest minister replied with a composed nod to Cardinal’s

nearly inaudible question.
“Merely, only, just nothing more than that, shorty. How

many fluct lights did you think collapsed before this doll was
completed? In the first place, this is simply a prototype, you
know? Mass producing enough of the perfected version to
deal with that detestable load experiment would take roughly
half of them, I suppose.”
“Half… you…”
“Half’s half. Half of the approximately eighty thousands

human units in the Human World… forty thousand units. I
guess that much should do fine. To fight off the invasion from
the Dark Territory and invade that side, that is.”
After voicing out such horrifying words without the slightest
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excitement, Administrator turned her silver eyes towards the knight
standing on my left.
“Now, are you satisfied, Alice-chan? Your precious Human

World will certainly be safe, won’t it?”
Alice did nothing more than listen to her teasing giggles in silence.
I noticed her hand quivering slightly as it held the Fragrant Olive

Sword’s grip, but I had no idea at that time whether that was due to
fear or anger.
Soon, what came from her was a single question with as much
restraint as she could muster.
“…Esteemed Highest Minister. The words of human no

longer reach you. Hence, I shall enquire as a practitioner of
sacred arts. The thirty swords forming that doll… who exactly
are their owners?”
I hesitated for a moment. The one who performed the release of

recollections on those thirty swords and assembled them into the
golem was Administrator herself. Hence, I had always thought the
highest minister would be the owner though that went against that
basic rule.
But Alice’s next words negated my conjecture.
“Esteemed Highest Minister, you cannot possibly be their

owner. Even if you can contravene the rule of having only one
sword to fully control, you cannot contravene the next rule.
Releasing their recollections require the sword and its owner
to be linked by steadfast bonds. As shown by my Fragrant
Olive Sword and myself, the other knights and their sacred
tools, or even Kirito and Eugeo and their swords. The owner
has to love the sword and be loved in return. Esteemed
Minister, if the origins of those swords that give that doll its
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form are the innocent masses as you say—you cannot
possibly be loved by those swords!!”
Alice declared with a dignified reverberation.
What broke that silence was Administrator’s suppressed laughter,

inscrutable to the very end.
“Ufufufu… I wonder what fuels the vibrancy such souls,

young and foolish, have. What bittersweet sentimentalism
like a freshly-picked apple… You’re giving me the urge to
crush that this very moment, to drink up every last drop of
its juice.”
Her specular eyes wore a rainbow glint as though reflecting the

excitement in her chest.
“But it is too early. It is not time yet. Alice-chan, what you

mean to say, is that I am incapable of exhibiting the
imagination needed to overwrite these swords, isn’t it? You
are correct. My memory domain no longer holds the
allowance to record this many swords in high fidelity.”
On the other end of where the highest minister gracefully pointed

was the sword golem constructed from thirty swords, still advancing
bit by bit.
As far as I understood, the armament full control art required the

owner to memorize the weapon’s information, such as its
appearance, texture, and weight, and combined that with assistance
from the command, to produce that technique capable of
transforming the weapon with the power of one’s imagination.
In other words, the necessary condition to activate the art would

be for the owner to store all information of that sword into his or her
own memory.
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For example, if I wanted to use my black sword’s armament full
control art, there must be not even the slightest, miniscule difference
between A, the information of the sword in the shared memory
storage in the middle of the Light Cube Cluster, the Main Visualizer,
and B, the information of the sword in my fluct light. That would then
lead to me transforming B with my imagination and overwriting A
with that, which meant that transformation would be shared with
everyone else. This logic was likely similar to the «transformation
phenomenon» that happened to my body earlier.
On the other hand, Administrator’s light cube’s capacity should be

packed full with memories from her life over three hundred years.
Remembering the information of thirty swords in exact detail hardly
seemed possible for her. Alice had probably pointed it out from her
personal beliefs, but still, it was an accurate gauge of the system.
Thus— The swords constructing that golem should have their own
unique owners. Each with a soul holding onto a sword’s memory
within their light cube and in possession of such wicked, destructive
desires.
But where? This space was now isolated from the outside world in
all sense and meaning. Hence, unless the owners were in this hall as
well, the logic wouldn’t work out…
“The answer is before your eyes.”
Administrator suddenly looked straight at me and said so.
Continuing on, she turned her sight towards the left.
“Eugeo should have understood already.”
“……!?”
Breathless, I looked towards Eugeo who stood on the opposite side

of Alice.
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My flaxen-haired partner was staring at the highest minister
without the slightest movement as his blood left his face.
His brown pupils were expressionless to a frightening extent as

they trembled slightly and turned right up towards the ceiling.
Following his lead, I looked up as well. A miniature with the

creation myth as its theme was depicted on the slightly domed
canopy and the crystals set in various spots flickered gently.
I had thought of both the art and the crystals on the ceiling as
nothing more than ornaments thus far. But Eugeo’s face was blank
aside from his two eyes that shone with a bizarre light as they stared
a hole into the ceiling.
Before long, my partner forced out a parched voice through his

lips.
“I see… so it was like that?”
“Eugeo… you found out something!?”
Eugeo slowly turned to me when I asked and muttered with a look

filled with profound fear.
“Kirito… Those crystals set in that ceiling. Those are… not

merely decorations. Those are definitely… the «memory
fragments» stolen from the integrity knights.”
“Wha…”
Cardinal and Alice, too, let out astonished voices while I was at a
loss for words.
The integrity knights’ memory fragments.
That referred to the most precious memories extracted from the

humans turned into knights through the «Synthesis Ritual». Those
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memories were surely of their most beloved ones in most cases. For
Eldrie, his mother. For Deusolbert, his wife.
If that was true—those crystals were the owners of the swords that
formed that sword golem?
No. The crystals should be no more than fragmented information

saved in fluct light. They were no replacement for complete souls
capable of independent thought. I could hardly imagine them being
able to link with the swords and activate the full control art.
No— There was something prickling at my thoughts.
If those crystals were memory fragments from all of the integrity

knights, then they should include Knight Alice’s memories which
were stolen through that synthesis six years ago.
And this was the Central Cathedral’s highest floor.
Two years ago, Eugeo suffered a severe wound after getting in a

fight with a squad of goblins in the cave north of Rulid. I had certainly
heard that mysterious voice while tending to that wound.
The voice, resembling that of a young girl, had told me she was
waiting for Eugeo and me at the highest floor of the cathedral. And
with that, sacred energy flooded into us and healed Eugeo.
What if that voice belonged to Alice’s memory fragment? In other

words, wouldn’t that mean the memories stolen from knights
possessed independent thought?
However, there was still the rule of being in contact with the target
for all sacred arts. Not even Administrator could send her voice and
healing power from this Central Cathedral to Rulid, a distant seven
hundred and fifty kilometers away.
Such a miracle could only be brought about by the same

«phenomenon overwriting» principle as the armament full control art.
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Hence, the memories saved in Alice’s memory fragment were
effective—effectively…
Cardinal’s shout, raging like flames, interrupted my rapidly whirling

thoughts.
“I see… so that was it! Damn you, Quinella… how far do you
intend to toy with mankind, you monster?!!”
I came back to my senses and saw the silver-haired ruler smiling

calmly before me.
“My, as expected of you… I suppose I should give you that

much credit, shorty? It seems you discovered it earlier than I
thought you would, you hypocritical advocate for
benevolence. Now then, let me ask again, what is your
answer?”
“The pattern shared by all fluct lights. Is that not so?!”
Cardinal swept the black staff in her right hand towards

Administrator.
“By inserting the piece of memory extracted via the

Synthesis Ritual into a mental model loaded in a new light
cube, it could be treated as an imitation human unit. Still, its
intelligence would be exceedingly limited… the existence
would possess nearly nothing more than its instincts, so it is
inconceivable that it could execute a command as advanced
as the armament full control art.”
I desperately tried to understand the meaning behind her

perplexing words.
Cardinal should have said this in the Great Library Room. That the
babies in this world were born by assembling together a fluct light
prototype, loaded in a new light cube, with a part of the parents’
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external characteristics, thought patterns, and tendencies. It should
be fundamentally the same as that. With the memory fragment from
the knight embedded instead of the information inherited from the
two parents.
In other words, the crystals gleaming at the ceiling were babies

given the memories of who they most loved… was that it? But if it
was, how could «Alice» talk to me two years ago? A newborn could
hardly speak in such a manner.
New words from Cardinal reached my ears while I was tossed

about by my endless doubts.
“…However, that limit, too, has a loophole. That would be

when the piece of memory inserted into the fluct light
prototype and the linked weapon’s structural information
possess a pattern common to both with negligible
differences. To be specific…”
The sage’s words paused once there before she loudly knocked the
staff’s base against the floor and shouted.
“—Those recorded on the memories stolen from the

integrity knights, those that they loved most, were used as
resources to create the swords. Is that not it,
Administrator?!!”
An overwhelming sense of dread and disgust froze my entire being

the instant my short-lived confusion was dissolved.
The owners of the swords were the integrity knights’ stolen

memories of their loved ones.
And the swords were created with those loved ones used as the
raw materials… Eldrie’s mother, Deusolbert’s wife, and in all
likelihood, those closely related to them as well.
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That was what Cardinal meant.
Eugeo and Alice likely understood that a moment slower as

alarmed lamentations simultaneously escaped from them.
Certainly, if that was true, the recollection release phenomenon

might be logically possible. After all, A and B, the information in the
Main Visualizer and the fluct light, would have been derived from the
same existence. If the newly-born fluct light given the memory
fragment held some sort of strong emotion for the linked sword, that
phenomenon could potentially occur.
The problem was what sort was that «some sort». What sort of
urge or emotion from the memory fragments, which should have no
more than a newborn’s level of intelligence, fueled the gigantic sword
golem…?
“Greed.”
As though she had seen through my doubt, Administrator spoke

that word without delay.
“The desire to touch. To embrace. To make another its

own. That unsightly greed moves this sword doll.”
Fufu. Ufufu. Her silver eyes narrowed and the girl softly sniggered.
“The artificial individuals with the knights’ memory

fragments inserted desire only one thing—to make that one
person they remember their own, that’s all. They sense the
presence of that person close by while they lay stuck on that
ceiling. But they can’t touch them. They can’t make contact.
All they see in their maddening hunger and thirst are
enemies who stand in their path. If they hack through those
enemies, the one they desire will be theirs. Hence, they fight.
No matter what wounds they suffer, no matter how many
times they fall, they rise up and fight for all eternity. …How is
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it? Wouldn’t you say it’s a lovely design? Marvelous… the
power of greed is truly marvelous!”
Administrator’s shrill voice reverberated as the two eyes on the

sword golem nearby flickered violently.
Metallic, brutal resonance emitted from its entire frame—to me,

that sounded like screams of sorrow and despair.
That giant was no automatic weaponry that desired carnage.
To once again meet with the one it remembers; such thoughts

congregated in this miserable, lost child and moved it.
Administrator expressed what fueled it as greed. However, that

was—
“……Wrong!!”
The shout that coincided with my thoughts came from Cardinal.
“Wanting to meet with another once again, to touch them

with their own hands, such desires are only defiled with that
word! That—that is genuine love!! The greatest power
humans possess and their final miracle… that is no toy for
you to trifle with!!”
“They are the same, you foolish shorty.”
Administrator extended her two palms towards the sword golem as

her lips warped with joy.
“Love is to dominate… love is greed! And its actual form is

no more than an output of signals from a fluct light! I am
simply making good use of the signals with the strongest
intensity. In a format far, far smarter than the means you
employ!!”
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The ruler’s voice rang high as though convinced of her triumph.
“What you have done amounts to nothing more than

cajoling two or three powerless children. But I am different.
The doll I created overflows with the energy of greed from
over three hundred units after including those in the memory
fragments! And most importantly…”
The words let loose after that flash of silence brought to mind a
lethal sting.
“…Now that you are aware of that, you can never destroy
this doll. After all, though their forms may have changed,
these manipulated swords are still living human beings!!”
Administrator’s proclamation echoed for a long while before a

gradual demise.
I stared in stupefaction as Cardinal’s staff, raised towards the

sword golem, gently fell.
The voice that came from Cardinal next was abnormally mellow.
“Aah… that is certainly true. I cannot murder. That is the

one constraint I definitely cannot break. …I had spent two
hundred years to refine my arts in order to kill you and your
body which deviated from humanity… but it appears that had
been in vain.”
I listened, dazed, to those words that admitted her defeat in a

manner that was far too benign.
But if the swords of the sword golem were really humans, Cardinal
could not put an end to those lives… no, she would not. Even if there
was a method to bypass the restriction on her actions like for the
case of the tea cup and soup cup.
Kuku. Kukukuku.
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Administrator’s lips swung as high up as they could and torn into
the strained atmosphere with a throaty sound, like she was
suppressing raucous laughter.
“How foolish… how comical…”
Ku-ku-ku-ku.
“You should already know well enough. The true form of

this world. What constitutes as the lives in that thing are no
more than an amalgamation of data to be overwritten. And
yet you still recognize that data as human beings and
continue to be bound by that restriction on murder… there
should be a limit to foolishness…”
“Nay, they are human, Quinella.”
Cardinal rebutted in what seemed like an admonishing tone.
“Each and every person living in the Underworld possesses

true emotions, those that we have lost. A heart to laugh, to
grieve, to rejoice, to love. What else is needed for a human to
be human? Whether the vessel for their soul is a light cube or
an organic brain, that poses no actual problem. I believe so.
Hence—I shall accept it with pride, my defeat, that is.”
The last few words she murmured dug deep into the core of my
chest. But what inflicted a sharp pain that truly hurt were the words
that followed those.
“However, on one condition. You may have my life… and on

account of that, spare those of these younglings.”
“……!!”
I tried to take a step forward, my breath gone. Eugeo and Alice

both went tense as well.
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But the aura of her firm resolve exuding from Cardinal’s small back
brought our movement to a halt.
Administrator’s eyes narrowed like a cat with its prey hanging off

its nails and tilted her head slightly.
“Oh my… what merit would accepting such a condition

bring me with the circumstances as they are?”
“I said it earlier, did I not, that I had devoted myself to

refining my arts. If you wish for a battle, I will whittle off half
of your Life even while sealing that pitiable doll’s
movements. Wouldn’t that excess burden expose your
already unreliable memory capacity to even greater danger?”
“N-Nn…”
Putting on a smile to the very end, Administrator placed the index

finger on her right hand against her chin and acted as though she
was mulling over it.
“I doubt a battle with a pre-determined victor would be

much of a threat, but well, it would be a bother. …Send them
out from this closed-off space to somewhere in this world
would be enough to «let them go», wouldn’t it? I shall have to
decline if that includes not laying my hands on them ever
again.”
“Nay, it would be enough to have them withdraw this one

time. They would definitely…”
Cardinal left the rest unspoken. Instead, the hem of her robe
fluttered as she turned to us and looked upon us with a gentle light
filling her eyes.
I wanted to shout for her to stop with her jokes. My provisional life
couldn’t possibly match Cardinal’s real one in value. I seriously
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considered if I should slash at Administrator this very instant and buy
time for Cardinal to flee.
But I couldn’t. That would end up waging Eugeo and Alice’s lives as
well in that high-risk gamble.
My right hand gripped my sword’s handle so tightly that it hurt and

my right foot stepped on the floor so hard that it creaked.
Administrator’s voice reached my ears while the struggle between
impulse and reason continued in me.
“Oh, very well.”
Showing a cherubic grin, the smiling girl magnanimously nodded.
“I’m all for leaving the fun bits for later too, you know? …I
shall swear it on the goddess, Stacia, then. I will…”
“No, swear it not on the goddess, but on that which is most

precious to you… your own fluct light.
Cardinal interrupted curtly and Administrator conceded once more,

with her smile turning slightly more cynical.
“Oh, sure, well, I shall swear it on my fluct light and the

precious data accumulated in it. After killing you, shorty, I
will let the three behind you go unhurt. I won’t be able to
break this vow… for the time being, at least.”
“Very well.”
Having agreed, Cardinal turned her sight to Eugeo and Alice, who
stood still, for several seconds each, then finally looked at me once
again. A gentle smile rested on her youthful face and her dark brown
eyes reflected nothing but light filled with tenderness; emotions
overflowed from my heart and fell as liquid, blurring my vision
without any means to hold them back.
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Cardinal’s lips moved and whispered, mute, “Sorry”.
On the far end, Administrator announced, clear and acute,

“Farewell, shorty”.
With a light wave of the highest minister’s right hand, the sword
golem that had reached the heart of the room came to a neat stop.
Leaving her hand raised high, she closed her palm as though
gripping something and light particles practically seeped out from
thin air, fluttering and gathering into a narrow, long form.
The object that appeared was a silver rapier. It was the same color
as a mirror: the blade, narrow like a needle, the elegant guard, and
everything else. Its form was slender like an ornament, but merely
looking at the overwhelming priority it exuded as an aura choked my
breathing even from this distance.
Administrator’s personal sacred instrument, on par with Cardinal’s

black staff—it must be the greatest source of the resources needed
to support her arts.
The silver rapier rang like a chime as it moved and pointed straight
at Cardinal.
Looking forward, the sage began walking with firm steps without
showing the slightest sign of fear towards the sacred sword.
Alice and Eugeo leaned forward as though they wanted to chase

after her. But I brought up my left hand and held them back.
I honestly wanted to raise my sword and slash at Administrator.

But lunging forth on impulse would serve only to waste Cardinal’s
determination and dedication. Thus, I did no more than to continue
holding back my tears, gritting my teeth, and standing at that point.
A rainbow of ecstatic elation swirled in Administrator’s eyes as she

looked down upon her other self.
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Immediately after, an immense flash of lightning emitted from the
end of the keen blade, dyeing the entire hall white, and pierced
through Cardinal’s petite frame.
In the middle of my sight that blurred as it underwent halation, a

small silhouette bent backwards harshly as though it got flicked
away.
The energy from the gigantic lightning attack scorched even the
air as they dispersed and I fought against the pressure, desperately
keeping my eyes open even as I stepped back.
The young sage still stood. Even as her body leaned against the
long staff, her two feet stepped firmly onto the floor and her face
looked up at her bitter enemy with resolve.
But the traces of damage were painful to look at. The jet-black hat
and robes were burnt in spots, with smoke rising from those, and a
part of her curly brown hair was now charred black from its previous
glossy condition.
A mere five meters before us, who stood still in silence, Cardinal
slowly brought her left hand up and casually brushed her burnt hair.
Though hoarse, her voice still firmly filled the air.
“Wh… ew, is that all… your arts can do? No matter, how
many… of those, you shoot…”
Gagaaan!!
The world shook once more with that blaring roar.
A lightning attack greater than before broke out from

Administrator’s rapier and mercilessly stabbed into Cardinal’s body.
Her rectangular hat blew off and was annihilated as it scattered

into tiny pieces. Her small body convulsed pitifully and swayed
towards the right, but managed to place her knee on the floor right
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as she was about to fall on her side.
“I was holding back of course, shorty.”
Administrator’s whisper rattled the scorched air as though she had

somehow restrained her overflowing, wild joy.
“It would be so dull if it ended in an instant. I mean, I did

wait two hundred years for this moment… didn’t I!!”
Gagaa!!
A third lightning attack.
It drew an arc and struck Cardinal from above like a whip and she
was thrown down upon the floor with tremendous force. The
silhouette that bounced up high crashed down once more with a dry
noise and laid sideways, powerless.
Most of her velvet robe had been burnt away with numerous burn
holes opened up in the white blouse and black knickers she worn
inside. Burns crawled over the snow-like skin on her hands and feet
like black snakes.
She pushed the end of those arms against the floor and tried to lift
her body slightly.
As though ridiculing her desperate attempt to muster her strength,

a new flash of lightning swiped in from the side. The adolescent
figure was helplessly blown away and tumbled across the floor for
several meters.
“Fu… ufufu. Fufufufu.”
In the air a distance away, Administrator apparently failed to

suppress her laughter any longer.
“Fufu, aha. Ahahaha.”
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The boundary between the iris and white of those specular eyes
faded as a dazzling prism radiance swirled within them.
“Ahahaha! Hahahahahaha!!”
From the tip of that rapier she held up during that shrill laughter—
Shot out countless bolts of lightning in rapid succession, stubbornly

stabbing in the already unmoving Cardinal. Each time her small
frame bounced like a ball, everything burnt away: her clothes, her
skin, her hair, every bit of her existence.
“Hahahahaha!! Ahahahahahahaha!!”
The burst of laughter from Administrator barely entered my ears;

her body twisted in demonic joy and her silver hair became
disheveled.
The uncontainable tears flowing from my eyes and contorting my

vision blurry were definitely not due to the incessant flashes burning
my eyes. The emotions raging in my chest had no other means of
exit.
Lamentation at the loss of Cardinal’s life before my eyes; fury at

Administrator for enjoying this merciless execution; and most
importantly, anger at my powerless self for watching on without
doing a thing.
I could neither raise my sword nor take any steps forward. Even it
would incur the worst outcome—with Cardinal’s self-sacrifice going
to waste—a voice incessantly told me to slash at Administrator with
the sword in my right hand, but my body remained still as though it
was petrified.
And I even knew the reason for that.
If the power of incarnation was what allowed me to break the limits
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with that long range Vorpal Strike that pierced Chief Elder Chudelkin,
then that, too, was what turned me into a wooden doll now.
Minutes ago, I suffered a severe wound without even managing to

land a hit on the sword golem with my sword when I tried. The cold
sensation of the blade tearing deep into my torso had branded a
strong image of defeat onto me. Fear coiled about my limbs and
denied me from recalling once again the image of «The Black
Swordsman» in this place.
I had no chance of victory in my current state against any integrity

knight, no, even against any trainee from the Sword Mastery
Academy. Let alone slashing the highest minister; there was no way I
could accomplish that.
“…Kuh… ugh……”
A pathetic whimper escaped from my quivering throat and reached

my own ears.
Cardinal understood she had lost and accepted it, but still gallantly
continued to stand; intense self-loathing filled me for accepting the
loss of her life with resignation, without any attempt to save her
despite it happening before my eyes.
Alice gritted her teeth on my left and Eugeo’s body trembled

slightly as tears quietly flowed when I thought to check. I knew not
what they felt in their hearts, but at the very least, it was evident
that they were also bearing with their own lack of power.
Even if we could escape from here, just what could we accomplish

with this scar carved into our hearts—?
Administrator held the rapier with the final and likely strongest bolt
of lightning coursing through its blade aloft, high up, as we looked
on, paralyzed.
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“Now… I suppose it’s about time to put an end to this. To
our game of hide-and-seek of two hundred years. Farewell,
Lyceris. Farewell, my daughter… and my other self.”
With words that rang of sentimentalism exiting those lips curled

with ecstasy, the highest minister swung the rapier down.
The final attack, emitted as thousands of streaks of lightning, shot

at Cardinal’s body, lying on the floor, incinerating and destroying it.
The sage drifted high into the air and fell at my feet, all while her
charred right leg turned into countless fragments starting from her
knee. A dry noise rang out with barely any weight behind it. Black
soot scattered from all over her body and dissolved in the air.
“Ufufu… ahaha… ahahahahaha! Aah-hahahahahaha!!”
Loud laughter once again poured from Administrator while she

spun the sword in her right hand and twisted her body as though she
was dancing.
“I see it… I see it, I see your Life flowing away, little by
little!! Aah, how beautiful… each and every one of those
drops dripping down looks like the finest jewels… Now, let us
witness the final act. I will even allow you the time for some
parting words.”
My knees crumbled and I reached my hands out towards Cardinal’s

body as though obediently following those words.
The girl’s face was charred black on the right and her left eyelid
was shut. However, a hint of the warmth of life, on the verge of
vanishing, made itself known to my fingertips as they touched her
cheek.
My two hands unconsciously carried Cardinal up and held her to

my chest. My unstoppable tears trickled down onto the horrible
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burns, one after another.
Her eyelashes that had escaped from being burnt quivered slightly
and rose. Even on the verge of death, a light of boundless
compassion still filled Cardinal’s dark brown pupils.
[Don’t cry, Kirito.]
Those words echoed in my consciousness through thoughts rather

than sound.
[This isn’t all that bad an end. I would have never

believed… that I could die in this manner… in the arms of
someone my heart could connect to…]
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”
The words spilling from my lips hardly did any more than to stir the
air. Hearing that, Cardinal showed a faint smile with her miraculously
unhurt lips.
[What need… do you have… to apologize. You still… have a

mission… don’t you. You, with Eugeo, and… Alice too… the
three of you… for this, beautiful, world… please…]
Cardinal’s voice rapidly faded away as her body became

increasingly light yet again.
Alice who knelt by my side suddenly reached out with both hands
and wrapped them around Cardinal’s right hand.
“We will… we will.”
Both her voice and her cheeks were utterly drenched with flowing
tears.
“This life you had bestowed upon me… you may rest
assured, it shall definitely serve your will.”
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This time, Eugeo’s hands reached out from the other side.
“…Me too.”
The voice from Eugeo was filled with firm determination for the
usual reserved and gentle partner I knew him as.
“I, too, have finally understood what I was needed for to

achieve.”
But—
Neither Alice nor I expected the words that followed; Cardinal was
likely the same.
“And it’s the time now, too. I will not run. I… have a duty I
must fulfill at all cost.”
—Powerless.
—Why do I lack power so?
Eugeo was immersed in those thoughts alone while the highest

minister, Administrator, burnt the sage, Cardinal, with monstrous
bolts of lightning.
The sword golem he thought as some grand demon from the land
of darkness was originally human like Eugeo… certainly, he was
aghast upon hearing that and shuddered at the terror that was the
highest minister for thinking up of and carrying out that task.
However, what struck Eugeo the most was the despair from his
complete inability.
There was a reason why they, Kirito, Knight Alice, the black spider,
Charlotte, the sage, Cardinal, and himself had ended up in a fight
against the highest minister on the highest floor of this cathedral.
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That would be Eugeo’s wish to rescue his childhood friend, Alice
Schuberg, from the Axiom Church. Eugeo was the one who pulled the
rest into this danger. That was why he must be the one to fight on
the front lines the most, the one to be hurt the most.
—And yet, I.
Ended up succumbing to Administrator’s temptations, pointing a

sword towards Kirito as an integrity knight, memories sealed away.
Returned to the highest floor after trapping Kirito and Alice in ice with
the intention to take down the highest minister without anyone else’s
help, which went up in smoke instead. Blinded Chief Elder Chudelkin
with an art during that fight yet ended up doing no more than watch
as the sword golem cut down Charlotte, Kirito, and Alice.
—Was I this powerless?
—Alice’s memory fragment was only a mere ten mel away…

somewhere in the miniature covering the canopy. Would I have my
life saved by Cardinal’s self-sacrifice and be chased out from the
cathedral without taking that back? Would that be how my journey
ends?
The highest minister would definitely expel Eugeo, Kirito, and Alice
to multiple far apart locations. They might even be blown away
outside of the Norlangarth North Empire. In the worst case, he might
neither meet Kirito nor return to Rulid ever again. He might end up
alone in an unfamiliar, foreign land, with the fear of pursuers from
the Axiom Church… regretting his own foolishness and
powerlessness…
At the very least, he should keep his eyes from closing; that
thought first went through his mind as he solemnly glared at the
dazzling lightning hammering Cardinal.
Eugeo then noticed at last. That resigning himself to the fate of

being sent away to a foreign land… would be the most disgraceful
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choice he could make.
The highest minister had said so. That she would transform forty
thousand humans, half of those inhabiting the Human World, into
swords. That she would produce that terrifying yet miserable monster
in huge numbers and fight the forces from the land of darkness.
That meant all families and loved ones would be pulled apart from
each other. Like Eldrie and his mother. Like Deusolbert and his
partner. Like Alice and the Schubergs.
And they would all turn into hideous, horrifying weaponry.
Such injustice was unforgivable, utterly unforgivable.
—Stopping that tragedy would be the final mission handed to me. I

am here, now, for that reason. I have neither the swordsmanship of
Kirito or Alice, nor the arts proficiency of Cardinal… however, there
was definitely still something I could do. If I had the time to lament
about my lack of power, I should be using that time to search for a
way to fight.
Eugeo desperately pondered as he stood still.
Though the Blue Rose Sword could possibly break the barrier that
deterred all metal as it was half ice, a reckless charge to slash at the
highest minister would only result in burning to death by lightning or
cut apart by the sword golem. The recollection release art would only
stop the highest minister’s movement for a moment at best.
Even with an attempt to destroy the sword golem first, the attacks
would not reach its only weakness, the piety module in its chest.
Even if they did, it would need an accurate strike through the one
cen gap between the three greatswords forming its back. Not to
mention the need to slip through the attack from its ribcage’s blades.
That would require the ability to soar through the air like the highest
minister and armor capable of repelling sharp blades.
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It might be better to just turn into hard ice and fuse with the sword
like what happened in that glimpse, at the Great Library Room, of the
blue rose and eternal ice’s memories.
In that instant.
Eugeo’s two eyes opened wide.
There was a method to grant that wish. There should be.
However, even if it was realized, there was something else

necessary. The same power that fueled the sword golem. The
miraculous power that could bring forth the recollection release art.
Then suddenly, Eugeo heard his name called out—or so he

thought.
As though something had drawn him there, he looked up at the

hall’s canopy.
Art depicting the creation myth era was drawn upon all of the
extensive canopy aside from the part in its middle.
The goddesses who created the skies and lands of the Human
World. The ancient humans granted the opportunity to live there.
Eventually, the goddesses chose a medium to guide the humans in
their place. And the Axiom Church was born, with a tower of white
marble built in the heart of the central capital, Centoria.
Just like the description of the creation myth Eugeo was immersed
in reading at a nook of the Great Library Room. However, those were
likely all fabricated. A story made up by the highest minister,
Administrator, to control the masses.
The miniature of a small bird resided on a corner of the canopy

filled with such lies. It was flying earnestly with an ear of wheat in its
beak. Art of a small blue bird dying as it brought wheat, strictly
controlled by the upper nobility, to the remote regions from the
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capital. It was the one and only story that he still believed might
have been the truth.
The crystal set in that small bird’s eye flickered blue.
A radiance always by Eugeo’s side since long ago. A light that

twinkled vividly in the eyes of a girl with blonde hair of the same
age—
And thus, Eugeo finally understood the mission entrusted to him.
Eugeo… just what do you have in mind?
I shifted my vision with that thought.
The flaxen-haired young man, my sole closest friend, Eugeo the

Aincrad-style swordsman, met my eyes for a moment and nodded
with a smile. He immediately returned his eyes towards Cardinal and
voiced out those words.
“Cardinal-san. With what power you have left, please turn

me—this body of mine—into a sword. Just like that doll.”
Perhaps those words tugged her consciousness back—
Cardinal’s eyes, that had almost lost all light, opened weakly.
[Eugeo… you…]
“If we run from here now… Administrator will turn half of

the humans in the world into that horrifying monster. We
definitely can’t allow that. Any last hope we have in
preventing that tragedy should lie within this art…”
Showing a clear smile as though he understood everything, Eugeo

wrapped Cardinal’s left hand with both of his and recited in a
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whisper.
“System call. …Remove core protection.”
I had never heard of such an art.
Eugeo’s eyelids gently shut after he recited those words.
Complex patterns resembling electric circuits were drawn upon his

smooth forehead in lines of violet light. They extended from his
cheeks to his neck as I looked on, then reached his shoulders, his
arms, and his fingertips.
The shining circuits even encroached a little onto Cardinal’s left

hand, gripped by Eugeo’s two hands, and sparkled at its end as its
arrival was expected.
Judging from the meaning of the phrase, Eugeo must have granted
Cardinal unrestrained modification authority to his own fluct light. I
didn’t understand why he knew of such an art, but at the very least,
those three words were filled to the brim with Eugeo’s strong
determination and resolve.
The sage who received that command on the verge of death

opened both her unhurt left eye and burnt right eye as her lips
trembled. Her shuddering thoughts made themselves known through
our touching skin.
[Are you certain… Eugeo? There is no guarantee… you can

return… to how you were.]
With circuits of light surfaced on his brow and cheeks, Eugeo

nodded deeply with both eyes still shut.
“It’s fine. This is my duty…the reason why I am here now.

That’s right, there was one thing that I have to say first.
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Cardinal-san… and the both of you too, Kirito, Alice. Metallic
weapons will not reach the highest minister. That’s why I
couldn’t stab her with that dagger you gave me.”
“……!”
Alice and I drew sharp breaths at Eugeo’s whispers.
But Cardinal simply blinked and nodded without showing any

surprise—or perhaps she lacked even the energy needed for that.
With another slight shake of his head, Eugeo continued his words.
“Well then… please. Before Administrator notices.”
“……No, stop it, Eugeo.”
I moved my parched mouth and somehow forced those words out.
“I mean, if you don’t return back to normal… you… your

dream……”
If we managed to win this battle and Eugeo could not return to a

human form. The wish he held in his chest for eight years… his hope
to take Alice back and return to Rulid Village with her would remain
unfulfilled.
Only two in this world could use that ridiculously advanced sacred
art capable of transmuting human flesh and blood into weapons:
Administrator and Cardinal. One was our ultimate enemy and the
other’s life was fading away. In other words, even if we could
overturn this predicament, there might be no arts practitioner
capable of turning him back to human.
Shrouded in violet light, Eugeo turned his eyes towards the ceiling
before giving me a firm nod as I tried to continue speaking.
“It’s fine, Kirito. I have to do this.”
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“………!”
I had no words to rebut my bosom friend’s strong determination.
Really now, what could I say?
As one shaken to the core, capable of neither swinging a sword nor

stepping forward, after merely a single defeat.
I gave an imploring look towards Alice at my side.
Distress and respect filled the knight’s blue eyes in equal parts.
Alice lowered her head deep down in the next instant. Towards the
criminal she had struck with no visible emotion at the academy’s
large auditorium just two days ago.
Cardinal nodded slightly, her eyelids still raised, from within my

arms; blood spread from my lips as I silently chewed on them.
[Very well, Eugeo. I shall offer my life’s final art… to that

determination of yours.]
Her voice regained its strength for a moment, like a candle nearly
snuffed, and resounded in the core of my head.
A violet gleam resided in the middle of her opened brown eyes.
The light circuits connecting Eugeo to Cardinal through their hands

glowed with intensity. That radiance raced up Eugeo’s body in an
instant and slipped out upon reaching the patterns on his forehead,
forming a pillar of light that stretched up into the ceiling.
“What…?!”
The voice belonged to Administrator who appeared intoxicated on

the other end. The ruler firmly shouted as the aftertaste of victory
immediately vanished from her face and her silver eyes flared with
anger.
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“What do you think you are doing, after escaping from
death?!!”
The rapier in her right hand turned to Eugeo and me, and as a
result, Cardinal. Pure white sparks coiled about its blade.
“I will not let you!!”
Integrity Knight Alice shouted in return.
Jyaa; the blade of the Fragrant Olive Sword that should have been
reaching its limit in terms of Life split apart loudly and whirled
through the air as chains of gold. An ear-piercing boom roared out at
nearly the same time, let loose a gigantic bolt of lightning.
The tip of the chains came into contact with the pure white
lightning. The torrent of energy transmitted straight through the
chains in that instant, drawing closer to Alice.
But by then, the golden chains had already stretched itself towards
the back and stabbed the small edge at its end into the floor. Unable
to flee from the improvised earth wire, all of the immense energy
flowed into the tower’s structure and was extinguished, causing
explosive roars and white smoke.
Alice pointed her left index finger at Administrator and declared.
“Lightning will not work on me!!”
“How cheeky… for a mere knight doll!!”
Spitting that out as her lips warped, the ruler showed that savage
smile once again before raising her rapier of white silver up high.
“Then… how about this!?”
Bobobohh!! The air trembled and countless red points of light

appeared about the blade. They obviously numbered beyond thirty.
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Supposing those were all thermal elements, it would then be a
number easily exceeding the human limit of controlling twenty
elements.
The fact that the Fragrant Olive Sword’s full control art was weak
against intangible fire attacks was evident from the earlier battle
against Chudelkin. But the golden knight showed no sign of backing
off and even took a firm step forward with her right foot, a noise
ringing out from the heel of her boots. As though understanding its
master’s determination, the small blades that made up the chain,
too, split apart with a distinct metallic ring, arranging themselves into
a grid pattern.
The violet light engulfing Eugeo grew endlessly in intensity even

while the pair faced off.
Eugeo’s body then lurched as it lost strength without warning. But

instead of falling, the reverse happened with him gently floating into
the air.
The clothes disappeared from Eugeo’s body as though they had

evaporated while he floated horizontally with his eyelids lowered.
The column of light rising from his brow had reached the ceiling.
With that, a crystal set in the drawn miniature—one embedded in the
eye of a small bird sailing through the ancient skies—gleamed
brilliantly as though it was called out and responded in kind.
The approximately thirty crystals, memory fragments robbed from

the integrity knights, set in the canopy should have all been
activated as the «owners» of the sword golem. Despite that, the
crystal in the small bird left the canopy as its radiance pulsed,
descending through the light column.
That crystal—
That was possibly, no, unmistakably Knight Alice’s memory
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fragment.
I had guessed those memories stolen from Alice through the

Synthesis Ritual might have been related to her sister, Selka. But if
that was true, Selka would have already been kidnapped from Rulid’s
church and turned into a sword in this room before two years ago.
If it wasn’t Selka… just who was in the memories saved in that

crystal?
Without giving me any answers to the doubts swirling inside me,

the crystal in the form of a hexagonal prism, pointed at its two ends,
quietly fell closer. The Blue Rose Sword lying on the floor rose as well
and spun before stopping with its tip pointing at Eugeo’s heart.
Eugeo’s muscled body, the Blue Rose Sword’s clear blade, and the
translucent crystal prism aligned.
At the same time, Administrator swung down her rapier with a

scream at the other end.
“Burn, all of you!!”
The thirty thermal elements drifting about the rapier coalesced and
shot off as an enormous fire ball.
“I said… I will not let you!!”
Replying with a dignified shout, Alice turned her right hand towards
the swirling flames.
The small cross-shaped blades aligned in the air immediately

clumped together and formed a gigantic shield. Leaning her body
into that shield, the knight kicked off the floor, and thrust into the
conflagrant fire ball.
A clash.
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Brief silence.
The following explosion shook the entirety of the isolated space.

Rampaging heat and light filled the wide room alongside shock
waves, with most of the carpet spread across the floor burnt to
nothing. Even the giant form of the sword golem which had ceased
movement a distance away violently shook while Administrator who
was farther behind shielded her face with her left arm.
But I only had my breath taken away by the heat wave, thanks to
the protection Alice’s shield granted. Both Cardinal, who I held in my
arms, and the floating Eugeo appeared unaffected by the explosion.
The swirl of flames vanished from the hall in seconds like it had
been all a lie—
Alice fell from the heart of the explosion with a thud. Shortly after,
the Fragrant Olive Sword, back in its original form, stood straight by
its master’s side as though it had lost its strength.
Smoke rose from the various places charred on Alice’s white and
blue knight uniform. There were burns all over the skin on her limbs
too, making it evident her Life had fallen greatly. It seemed the
knight had lost consciousness as she stayed collapsed; the precious
seconds she had earned were not in waste, however, Cardinal’s final
art was mere moments from completion.
Enveloped by the column of violet light, Eugeo’s body lost its

solidity and quietly turned transparent. The Blue Rose Sword at the
center of his chest did likewise as it fused with him as though being
drawn into him.
Yet another intense flash of light.
Eugeo’s body unraveled into countless ribbons of light above as I

involuntarily squinted. Those gathered once more as they swirled
about and mingled.
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What hovered there was no longer a human body.
An enormous sword with a blade so utterly white it appeared blue

and a crossed guard.
The length of the blade was as long and broad as Eugeo’s body
was. The beautiful lines that shaped it extended out from the base
and converged on its keen tip. The floating crystal prism drew close
to the small groove hollowed in the middle and joined with it after a
soft click.
Cardinal’s left arm lost its strength and plopped onto the floor.
The sage’s lips quivered slightly and her final words flowed out as
a gentle breeze.
[Release… recollection.]
Kiiiin!! The hexagonal prism that was pointed at its two

ends—Alice’s memory fragment—shone brilliantly with a distinct
resonant sound. Eugeo’s sword, too, chimed refreshingly as though in
response while it soared ever higher.
The pure white greatsword was now independently operating on

the exact same logic as the sword golem. Or in other words, through
a sword forged from human flesh, a memory fragment as its owner,
and the feelings joining the pair—the power of love.
But the sword golem had a component Eugeo’s sword lacked.
The violet triangular prism Administrator buried in the golem’s

heart. A piety module. That was exactly what warped the power of
love fueling the golem, urging it to slaughter.
“Curse you, Lyceris… to make me go so out of my way…!!”
Turning her face away with what appeared like disgust for the
radiance exuded by the greatsword, Administrator shouted.
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“You may try to imitate the art… but one flimsy sword
could never hope to stand up to my weapon of destruction!
I’ll snap it in a single strike!!”
Administrator prompted with a wave of her left hand and the eyes
of the sword golem that had stayed silent thus far gleamed bluish-
white once more. Giiin; the gigantic form vigorously began its
advance with an ear-piercing metallic screech.
Eugeo’s sword spun its blade horizontally without any noise and
pointed its tip straight towards the five mel tall giant.
Its white blade intensified in luminosity even further while

scattered light particles whirled about it.
Immediately after, the greatsword took flight with a sound that

brought to mind the tinkles of bells. Its pure white radiance drew a
long streak in the air like a comet.
[…Beautiful…]
Cardinal let out faint thoughts from within my arms.
[Human… love. And the light, from their, will… How…

beauti, ful…]
“Yes… it certainly is.”
Tears fell from my eyes once again as I murmured in reply.
[Kirito… I leave the, rest to you… Protect this… world and…

its people… please…]
Moving her face with the remaining vestiges of her strength,

Cardinal stared into me with her clear eyes and gave a gentle smile.
Upon confirming my wordless assent, the world’s greatest sage,

this young girl, slowly shut her eyes and let out a weak
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breath—never to breathe ever again.
The meager weight my two arms felt swiftly faded while I held back
my sobs.
In my vision, tinted iridescent, the pure white greatsword that had

inherited Cardinal’s will flapped its wings of light as it soared straight.
Meeting its assault, the giant soldier spread its two greatsword
hands and the smaller swords that served as its rib wide. The aura of
darkness coiling about the countless blades which shone as they
turned into jaws of evil.
Purely in terms of priority values, the greatsword formed solely

from Eugeo’s body and the Blue Rose Sword couldn’t possibly match
up to the golem converted from three hundred humans.
And yet, Eugeo’s sword accelerated even quicker, charging into the
waiting swarm of blades.
It aimed towards the core of the golem’s torso—beyond even the

spine formed from three swords at its center. A violet light spilling
from the gaps between swords.
The piety module.
Gold and pure white collided a moment later. White and black light
intertwined, swirled, and flared up.
A multitude of metallic noises, resembling the roars of beasts, were

released as the blades forming the golem’s arms and ribcage crossed
in an instant.
But right before that. The white sword plunged deep through the
gap opened in the golem’s spine.
The quiet breaking noise didn’t escape my ears. The violet light
spilling from its spine scattered into countless fragments.
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An unclouded radiance enveloped the thirty enormous swords that
were joined by a viscous darkness thus far, spreading from where the
white greatsword pierced through.
It seemed like the love between Eugeo and Alice was practically
easing the sorrow of the separated lovers.
Giiii! The discordant death throes were tuned into pellucid

rhythmic tones in the blink of an eye, resounding beautifully as they
dispersed.
A moment later. All of the swords that formed the weapon of

destruction that drove us to the verge of death separated and flew
off in all directions.
The swords, spinning as they fluttered up high, traced out thirty

parabolae and simultaneously stabbed into the outer circumference
of the hall with a deafening noise.
An enormous edge towered right behind me as well, like the mark

for a grave. There was no mistake that was the golem’s left leg that
split my torso, but the dark aura that twined about it had already
vanished and it was now no more than cold metal.
The crystals on the canopy that moved the golem, too, had their
irregular flickering grow dim and eventually fell into silence. There
was no understanding what had happened to «their» consciousness,
but at the very least, Administrator’s full control art that used them
as an energy source was destroyed and a second cast of that
seemed unlikely.
The white greatsword that dismantled the sword golem with a

single strike still lay horizontal in the air, scattering particles of
gleaming light.
Alice’s memory fragment glittered at the core of the blade. The

knowledge of what was saved within came to me like a sudden
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epiphany.
The integrity knights numbered thirty-one. The sword golem’s

swords numbered thirty. The one unused memory fragment belonged
to Alice, that was evident from how it fused with Eugeo’s sword.
Then why did Administrator not create a sword to pair up with

Alice’s memories?
Alice’s memories… the love sealed within them must have

definitely been too great. The young Alice loved Eugeo, Selka, her
parents, every one of those living in the village, Rulid Village itself,
along with the time she spent with those beloved to her and the time
which had yet to come.
Not even the highest minister could transmute time and space.
Hence, Administrator did not create a sword to be linked to Alice.
And that would be the true reason why the sword brought forth by
Alice and Eugeo shone this beautifully.
“Aah… It’s beautiful, indeed.”
I hugged Cardinal’s corpse tight and whispered to the girl’s soul

which had set out on a journey far beyond both the Underworld and
the real world.
No voice responded, but I felt a faint luminance envelop the petite

form in my two arms. Purity of the same variant as the miraculous
light released by the white sword filled this radiance.
That was irrefutable evidence Cardinal, or the girl named Lyceris,

was a human with true emotions and love, rather than some program
like what she had made herself out to be time and time again.
Slight warmth accompanied the luminance, soaking into my chilled

body while the presence of her corpse rapidly faded. Dimming into
translucency, it gently unraveled and vanished as pure white
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resplendence.
Illuminating all of the isolated space, the waves of light that

seemed to purify—
Were sliced apart by the edge of a voice that seemed hell-bent on

opposing them to the very end.
“Such dull, futile struggling on the verge of death, shorty.

Did you really need to besmirch a delightful memory like
this?”
Administrator showed a cold smile, arrogant even with her final

trump card destroyed.
“—But well, I guess breaking a single prototype‘s the limit

for you. I am creating hundreds or thousands of those from
now on, after all.”
Her fingertips on her left hand traced over the pure silver rapier as
she bragged, appearing utterly mechanical as though truly devoid of
all emotion despite how she should be a copy of Cardinal. Miasma-
like, pitch-black waves lazily coiled about her body that had white,
porcelain skin that seemed to shine and that lustrous silver hair.
The chilly snake named fear raised its head from the bottom of my
body once again. I tightly gripped my arms, now empty, together
without thinking.
The sword golem I thought invincible was destroyed, but the cost
was far too great. We had lost the one and only sage in this world
with abilities on par with Administrator’s extraordinary powers.
Contrasting me, who simply looked up at the highest minister,

unable to get even a single word out—
Still hovering, Eugeo’s sword let out a clear ring and pointed its tip
straight at its worst and final enemy.
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“Oh my.”
Narrowing her specular eyes, Administrator murmured.
“Still up for more, boy? Feeling brave now after breaking

my doll by poking through that gap?”
I did not know if those words reached Eugeo now that he had
turned into a greatsword. But its pure white blade did not quiver in
the slightest, maintaining its sharp tip at the highest minister. The
radiance surrounding its blade intensified once more while the
reverberations, going kiin, kiin, from it heightened in pitch as well.
“…Stop it, Eugeo.”
I wrung out a hoarse voice while extending my left hand towards

the gleaming sword.
“Don’t… don’t go on your own.”
Pricked into action by a seething irritation, I shuffled my knees over

the burnt floor with legs that lacked any strength. One of the light
particles scattered from the sword came into contact with my
desperately extended fingers, bounced off, and vanished.
An instant later.
Wings of light spread out once more from the greatsword’s handle.
Flapping those mighty wings, the white greatsword charged straight
towards Administrator.
A vicious smile appeared on the ruler’s pearl grey lips. The mirror-
like rapier swung down with a grating noise and retaliated by
emitting lightning, the same or stronger than those that burnt
Cardinal to death.
The sword’s tip touched the lightning.
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Shock waves exceeding those when the sword golem was
destroyed swept out, slamming into my whole body as I knelt far
away.
I opened my eyes as wide as I could even while I drew my body in

and watched as Administrator’s lightning was shredded into
numerous thin lines.
Vaaaaa!! The sparks that flew all around with a roar caused small
explosions throughout the hall. The sword soared on despite breaking
through the torrent of immense energy head-on. Miniscule pieces
chipped off the surface of its white blade, scattering one after
another. And each of those should be a part of Eugeo’s body, his life.
“Eugeo!!”
The raging tempest erased my shout.
“Brat…!!”
The smile vanished from Administrator’s lips.
At the source of the lightning at last, the white greatsword’s tip

landed a certain, fierce hit upon the rapier’s needlelike end.
The resulting resonance shook the isolated space with its

extremely high frequencies. The silver rapier, a source of resources
for supporting Administrator’s divine strength, and the white
greatsword, fused from Eugeo and the Blue Rose Sword, continued
their struggle for several moments. They appeared to be in an
absolute deadlock, but all of my skin told me that was a premonition
for the destruction yet to come.
The phenomenon that eventually occurred seemed to drag out

forever, like it was in slow-motion.
Administrator’s rapier shattered into countless miniscule shards.
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The white greatsword snapped in half as it emitted particles of
light.
The blade, its first half, spun as it was blown away and sliced
Administrator’s right arm off from the top of her shoulder without a
sound.
The sounds and tremors soon caught up to the scene burnt onto
my retinae.
The tremendous amount of resources pouring out from the

shattered rapier induced a grand, iridescent explosion that swallowed
up the hall.
“Eugeo————!!”
My scream was yet again buried in the howls of raging

electromagnetic noise this time. The surging shock waves crashed
into me and sent me flying to the south window.
Riding out the shock waves behind a sword stabbed in the floor, a
part of the sword golem until a few minutes ago, I staggered to my
feet and looked—
At Administrator who stood on the floor with her own two feet,
pressing down on the wound at her right shoulder with her left hand.
And two large, broken pieces lying at her feet.
A dim, white radiance was still resided on Eugeo’s broken sword.
But it pulsed, just like the beating of a heart, as its brilliance faded
away to nothing, all while I stared at it in a daze.
The white sword fragments lost their substance as one and

gradually began returning to a human form.
The fragment from the heart of the blade to where it tapered off
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became the lower half of a body.
And the fragment including the crossed guard became the upper
half of a body.
Eugeo had his eyelids shut while his right hand, atop his breast,
held a crystal prism. It happened then, when his flaxen hair and milky
skin regained the tangibility of a human.
A terrifying amount of blood gushed out from both severed parts of

his body, immediately soaking Administrator’s bare feet.
“Ah…… ah……”
The squeaky voice wrung out from my own throat seemed to come
from far away.
The world lost nearly all color; smell and sound, too, were watered
down until almost entirely stifled.
The widening red of blood alone appeared shudderingly vivid at the

heart of this anesthetized world. Something glistened as it swooped
towards Eugeo’s side as he lay in the middle of the crimson sea.
It thrust into the puddle of blood, producing a gentle ripple with a

tap; it was a slender long sword of bluish-silver—the Blue Rose
Sword. It appeared unharmed, or so I thought for an instant before
the bottom half of the its blade abruptly cracked into crystals of ice
with a quiet shattering noise.
Losing its support, the top half of the sword slowly slanted and fell
over by Eugeo’s face. Splattered drops struck Eugeo’s cheeks and
dripped down.
I took two, three unsteady steps forward before my knees hit the
floor.
My arms wrapped around my body as though clinging onto what
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was left of Cardinal’s warmth while my empty eyes stayed open.
However, the faint heat could not fill up the desolation spreading
within myself. Everything seemed hollow: my consciousness, my
flesh, even my soul.
Let it end here.
That thought floated up from the depths of nothingness like a

bubble and popped.
We, no, I had lost in every way imaginable.
The only reason I am now here was to release Eugeo’s soul to the
real world, was it not? Despite that, I was actually protected by
Eugeo’s sacrifice and now cowered like so, helplessly. I, who would
be simply logged out to the other side even if I were to lose my life.
—Now I just need to fade-out from this world, to vanish.
—I want to see no more. I want to hear no more.
I desired solely for my own swift annihilation.
However.
The Underworld, too, was a reality in its own right and its ruler was
no program that would stop upon reaching the Bad End screen.
A hint of emotion showed upon Administrator’s beautiful, white,

and now expressionless features before disappearing immediately.
The lovely voice streaming from her lips shook the silence in the hall.
“This must be the first time I suffered an injury of this

degree since that battle with Lyceris two hundred years
ago.”
That murmur seemed to include a trace of praise.
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“The sword transmuted from Eugeo’s body… it couldn’t
possibly have matched up to my «Silvery Eternity» in terms of
priority, but what an unforeseen turn of events. Also, it was
my mistake to assume swords would be metallic.”
Drops of blood dripped from the wound at her right shoulder, one
after another, rippling the red water surface at her feet.
Administrator caught those drops onto her left palm, turned them
into numerous luminous elements, and touched the wound. The cut
sealed in an instant, covered by smooth skin.
“Now…”
Done with her first-aid, the ruler fluttered her long eyelashes and
turned her specular eyes towards me.
“It is somewhat surprising for you to be the last one

remaining, boy from the other side. I am just a little curious
why you’ve come here without any supervisor authorities…
but I’m bored and sleepy now. I’ll leave the question for «that
person» on the terminal later, let’s put an end to this battle
with your blood and screams, boy.”
Administrator closed her mouth and began walking elegantly,

showing absolutely no sign of being affected by the heavy injury of
losing her arm. Striding over Eugeo’s sundered body, she left
footprints of fresh blood on the marble floor while approaching me.
The girl stretched her left hand straight out to her side as she
walked. Something white fluttered to her from behind with that. That
was a slender right arm—the part of her that Eugeo’s sword had
sliced off.
I thought she would reattach it to her shoulder, but Administrator

lifted her own arm before her face by its wrist and lightly breathed
onto it. Violet light immediately took the arm and its composition was
transmuted as a metallic throb resounded.
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What appeared was a silver long sword of simple design, yet with a
graceful blade and grip.
It was not polished to a perfect mirror surface like the destroyed

rapier, but as expected of one made from the resources of the arm
belonging to the human possessing the world’s greatest priority, the
power it concealed seemed sufficient to detach my neck with a single
strike.
Death approached with faint footsteps. I awaited it on my knees.
Dazzlingly beautiful even with an arm lost, Administrator advanced

to right before my eyes in mere seconds and looked down at me.
My upturned gaze clashed with the iridescent light from her

specular eyes.
With her two eyes tinged with faint, mild delight, the girl whispered
gently.
“Farewell, boy. Let us meet again on the other side

someday.”
The long sword rose, gleaming as it reflected the moonlight.
The blade drew a blue arc in the air with its razor-sharp edge as it
drew closer to my neck.
In an instant.
A silhouette forced itself into my vision.
Long hair fluttered through the air.
The female knight covered in wounds spread her arms wide;

dumbfounded, I stared on at her back.
This wasn’t
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the first time I saw this.
How many times
am I
going to——
——repeat this mistake?!!
That thought sped like a flash and time ceased its motions for an
instant.
Numerous occurrences lined up in this monochrome world that had

lost its sound and color.
A small hand gently touched my right arm, dangling powerlessly.
The warm palm thawed the cold dread and resignation filling my
whole body slightly.
The image of loss did not disappear.
But it was fine acknowledging that weakness, the owner of that

hand whispered to me.
—You have no need to win every time. Even if you fall, even if you
lose, it is of no issue as long as your heart, your will is kept alive by
another.
—All of those who had spent the slightest time with you should be
of that belief, youngling. Naturally, the same applies to me.
—Thus, you, too, can still stand.
—If you wish to protect those beloved to you.
I realized the subdued warmth from deep in my body, or perhaps

my consciousness, had extended a circuit of light towards my frozen
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fluct light.
From the core of my chest, pass my right shoulder, through my

arm, ending at my fingertips.
Blazing heat engulfed the five stiff digits.
Flashing out faster than ever before, my right hand firmly grasped
the grip for my black sword that had tumbled right beside me.
And time moved once more.
Administrator’s sword descended, targeting Knight Alice’s left

shoulder as she stood and spread her arms wide in her attempt to
protect me.
It happened exactly as the keen blade tore through the scorched

knight uniform’s sleeve to dig into her pale skin.
The tip of my blade sword, swung hard diagonally upwards while I

got to my feet, barely intercepted the silver sword, letting out a
fierce burst of sparks.
The impact put Administrator a distance away from Alice and me,
driving us behind.
Holding onto Alice in my left hand as she fell onto her chest, I was
blown away to the window once again and braced my legs to prevent
crashing into the windowpane. Leaning her head against my right
shoulder, Alice turned her head slightly towards the left and looked
at me with her blue eye.
“Just look at you…”
Smiling with those cheeks still raw with burns after defending
against Administrator’s flames, the knight gave a hoarse murmur.
“So you can move… can’t you.”
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“…Yeah.”
I scraped together what could barely pass as a smile in return.
“Leave the rest to me.”
“I shall… do just that.”
Upon finishing those brief words, Alice lost her consciousness once
more as her knees collapsed.
Lowering the knight onto the floor as I supported her with my left
arm, I leaned her back against the glass and took a deep breath
while I got back up.
—Leave what’s left to me and have a good rest, please.
—This life Charlotte, Cardinal, and Eugeo entrusted me with… I

shall connect it to yours.
Even if Alice alone was my limit, I had to evacuate her from this
isolated space by all means necessary. For that, I must fight
Administrator and make it a draw if not a win. Even with my limbs all
sliced off, even with my heart pierced through, even with my neck
decapitated.
Hardening my resolve, I shifted my sight upwards and gazed at my

enemy.
The smile had all but faded from Administrator and she was looking
at the sword she held in her left hand. Maybe the impact from earlier
had hurt it as a part of her soft-looking hand was grazed red.
“…Not even I can reel in my irritation forever.”
Her sigh trickled out icily.
The specular eyes aimed at me froze over as if a layer of frost had
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descended upon them.
“What are the lot of you? Why do you struggle so unseemly

against idleness? The result of this battle was clear from the
start. What meaning is there in the process to a
predetermined end?”
“That process is what really matters. Whether to grovel

and die or to die with my sword in my hand. This is why we…
are human.”
While replying so, I lowered my eyelids and summoned a strong

image of who I once was.
My image of «Kirito the Black Swordsman» that I had always kept

locked away for so long. My other self that could never lose—one like
a curse that would leave me nowhere to go upon defeat, or so I
feared from the depths of my heart.
But I could no longer be bound by that anxiety and obsession.
My long fringe cast over my eyes when I lifted them open. After
combing it up with my left hand, covered in a fingerless glove, and
spreading out my long black leather coat, I braced myself with the
long sword in my right hand.
Standing a short distance away, Administrator knitted her brows

slightly before showing a cruel smile close to what she had on when
she stole Cardinal’s life.
“That pitch-black appearance… it’s just like that of a

darkness knight from the Dark Territory. …Very well. If you
wish to suffer to the bitter end, I will grant you an extremely,
extremely drawn out and merciless fate. One that will make
you fervently plead for a rapid end to your life.”
“That’s not enough… I can’t redeem my foolishness with
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just that.”
With my waist lowered after that murmur, I watched the silver long
sword held in the highest minister’s left hand.
Administrator had flaunted her sacred arts’ devastating might

countless times, but now that the pure silver rapier, seemingly
named «Silvery Eternity», that served as her source of resources was
destroyed, she would likely be unable to rapidly fire high priority arts
in succession. That was why she had transformed her own arm into a
new sword.
I was all for a fight between swords, but I had no information at all
on the opponent’s competency. She probably used a style like the
knights, mainly focusing on single heavy blows, but my battle with
Knight Alice on the cathedral’s eightieth floor had clearly shown that
was nothing to look down on.
My weapon’s priority value was probably worse, so the little Life

left in the black sword would be spent after continuous clashes. I had
no choice but to get within range and seize victory with consecutive
hits skills which she should not know about.
Firming my resolve, I lowered my center of gravity farther in

preparation to charge. My right and left feet were planted on the
floor in the front and back respectively.
My opponent, Administrator, stood calmly as she raised the sword

in her left hand up high towards the back. As expected, it was a
stance from the High Norkia style, a traditional school. The absurd
speed and weight behind that attack would probably kill in a single
hit and be impossible to parry. I had to dodge that somehow and slip
in closer.
“…………”
I took in a deep breath and gathered strength in my abdomen.
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The moment Administrator’s sword made the slightest movement,
I kicked off the floor with all I had and advanced.
The enemy’s long sword was tinged in a blue radiance.

Recognizing the unleashed secret move, no, sword skill as «Vertical»,
I stomped down with my left foot and shifted my charge towards the
right. As Vertical was a single vertical slash, it would be tough to
chase an enemy that fled beyond its range.
Tracing a blue streak, the silver long sword drove in with terrifying
speed. With my body opened up towards the left and I desperately
tried to slip pass the sword’s tip. The straight line tore through the
hem of my long coat as it flapped strongly.
—Dodged it!
This time, I stepped hard on the floor with my right foot and
restored the direction of my charge while raising the sword in my
right hand—
But.
The brilliance on Administrator’s sword did not fade.
“……!?”
I gasped in surprise as the sword that had nearly swung all the way
down to my feet bounced back up at a speed that ignored inertia.
This was no time to dodge. Withdrawing the sword I was raising, I
somehow managed to cut it into the slash’s path.
Gaiiiin! A massive metallic noise was let loose with enormous

sparks. Though my defense succeeded somehow, I had to jump back
to avoid having my stance destroyed and falling over from the
pressure that was heavy enough to make the bones at my right hand
creak. Dodging the enemy’s upwards slash with a step, I immediately
went for a counterattack—
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But Administrator’s skill with the sword exceeded my expectations
yet again.
The sword returned overhead after tracing out the shape of a V

and roared again as it swung down. With my balance shifted forward,
I could not evade the third attack and it made a shallow cut at the
left of my chest. It was a graze, but what ran through my body were
fear and shock rather than pain.
If the sword skill Administrator executed was the one I knew.
It will slash through me if I tried dodging or a blocking half-

heartedly here.
“O… oohh!!”
Hurling off my fear with a shout, I activated a sword skill from a

rather unreasonable posture. The single-hit slash, «Slant».
My expectation struck home at last this time and Administrator’s

sword returned overhead so quickly it seemed like it had teleported
before unleashing its fourth attack with all its might.
I met the blade of white silver approaching from straight above

with my black sword. Explosive light effects unique to when sword
skills clashed against each other came forth and lit up both the
highest minister’s and my faces.
The fourth attack of that four-hit skill could not be fully absorbed
by a basic single-hit skill normally. But it was lucky how Administrator
currently lacked her right arm. That had disturbed her balance and
caused the slash to slide diagonally down, leftwards.
Gyariin! The two swords separated with a metallic ring and I

jumped back, hard, for real this time, leaving her range.
Faint red tainted my fingers after touching the wound on my chest

with my left hand. There was no need to heal damage of this degree
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with arts, but rather than the flesh wound, it was the fresh slit on the
leather coat with a far higher priority value than it seemed—though
actualized from my image—that made me shudder.
I could not speak; in my stead, Administrator leisurely straightened

herself up while she spoke.
“—One-handed straight sword, four-hit sword skill,

«Vertical Square»… wasn’t it?”
There was a slight lag before the voice that reached my ears
turned into meaningful words.
The skill’s name was as I had expected. But—
Sword skill.
Did Administrator just say that?
Certainly, the Underworld had the same groups of sword skills as

the old world of SAO. But they were called «secret moves» and
recognized as power residing in the swords after lengthy training
rather than system assist.
Not to mention how the secret moves used of those of the Human
World were limited to single-hit skills like «Lightning Flash Slash
(Vertical)», «Whirl Current (Cyclone)», and «Heavenly Mountain
Rending Wave (Avalanche)». That was the main reason why I could
win through the many matches, practice and real, with the «Aincrad-
style consecutive hits skills» and I thought that would have been my
only chance at victory in this final battle as well.
But if Administrator could use sword skills, and the mighty skills of
over four hits to boot, that advantage would cease to exist.
Eugeo’s figure, fallen from that fatal wound, entered my slowly

retreating vision while confusion and unease assailed me. Blood still
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spread from where he was split. Just how many minutes remained
until his Life runs out?
I thought as anxiety consumed me further.
Eugeo had his memory temporarily sealed and fought against me

as an integrity knight. That meant his memories were scanned
through the Synthesis Ritual. That meant there was the possibility
that the highest minister had scooped out the name and motion for
Vertical Square from Eugeo’s memories.
If this guess proved accurate, Administrator should be able to use

no more than the intermediate skills for one-handed straight swords.
After all, I had never shown my partner any of the advanced skills.
Thus, I would have a chance at victory if I performed a skill with

over four hits.
The best of the one-handed straight sword skills certainly did go up

to ten hits. This was no longer any time to hold back.
Administrator let out a giggle as she looked upon me quickly

separating my feet and fixing the grip on my black sword.
“My… your eyes can still stay so defiant? Very good,

entertain me more, boy.”
Though a large chunk of her Life should have been lost along with
her arm, the highest minister still said so with the utmost composure.
I spoke no more in return, taking in a deep breath and holding it in.
I vividly recalled the image of that sword skill carved into both my
body and my memories. A look revealed a faint bluish-white light
effect already beginning to cover the sword in my right hand.
My sword drew an arc as I swung it from the right to straight

overhead—
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“—Haahh!!”
I let out a sharp war cry while activating the most advanced sword
skill for one-handed straight swords, «Nova Ascension».
Backed by an unseen force, my body soared into the air at an

extreme speed. The first hit was a rapid downwards slash that bested
almost all other sword skills in terms of speed. There was no skill that
exceeded this speed for one-handed straight swords.
The slash had half a second before it would dig into Administrator’s
left shoulder.
My sensations accelerated and in that time, where all seemed

heavy like immersed in jelly—
The silver long sword turned its end straight towards me.
A steel silver flash traced out a cross-shaped brilliance.
Dokakakakakaa!! Six thrusts stabbed at divine speed first

vertically, then horizontally on my body.
“Gah…”
Fresh blood scattered from my mouth.
My ten-hit skill, interrupted on its initial hit, halted with its ice-blue
glow futilely dispersing.
I could not even register what had conspired in my mind, let alone
make any guesses at the cause. Overwhelmed by pain and fear, I
stared at Administrator’s sword, drawn from my stomach, as I
staggered away.
Six consecutive hits consisting entirely of thrusts.
No such sword skill existed under the one-handed straight sword
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category.
Fresh blood gushed freely from the small wounds bored into my
shoulders, chest, throat, and stomach. I slumped down, strength
leaving my knees, and thrust my sword into the floor as I desperately
struggled against collapsing.
Having kept a distance away as if to avoid the spurting blood,

Administrator hid her mouth with the sword with a blade which
appeared to have become narrower than before.
“Ufufufu… what a pity, boy.”
With the upturned corners of her lips slightly visible beyond the
sharp edge, the exquisite ruler announced in a sneer.
“Rapier, six-hit skill, «Crucifixion».”
——No way.
I hadn’t shown Eugeo that skill. In the first place, I couldn’t use that
skill. I had only seen it time after time, long ago, in Aincrad.
The world seemed to lurch. No, I was the one lurching. I frantically
sought an answer for the inexplicable development thrust at me.
—Was it my memories she peeked into?
—She stole that skill from my fluct light…? Even so, could the
highest minister perfectly pull off a skill that I had all but forgotten…?
“No way…”
A murmur leaked out from my mouth, one so strained that I could

hardly believe it was my own voice.
“Impossible… that’s impossible…”
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My clenched teeth gnashed. Perhaps wanting to drown out an
unexplainable anger and a fear that refused to leave my back, I
roughly drew my sword from the floor, stood my unsteady feet firmly
on the floor, and made no attempt to conceal my stance.
The left hand out and the right hand drawn in. The posture for the
one-hit certain kill skill that defeated Chudelkin, Vorpal Strike.
The gap between us was roughly five meters. That was perfectly
enough.
“U… aaaah!!”
I screamed out from deep in my abdomen, forcibly wringing out my

wilting power of imagination. The sword notched atop my shoulder
gleamed a ferocious crimson red. Was that the color of blood—or a
naked intent to murder?
Administrator, in response—
Spread her feet front and back and lowered her waist like me,
before turning the rapier in her left hand to the right of her waist in a
smooth motion and stopping still there.
Proving my impression few seconds ago was no hallucination, the

blade that had turned into a narrow rapier changed its form once
more.
A blade, thicker with an increased width, had a gentle curve. A

single-edged, narrowed curved sword. That appeared just like.
No, this is no longer the time to think. This rage was all I needed.
“——Uoaaahh!!”
My sword shot forth with my beastly roar.
“——Shii!!”
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A cry came from Administrator’s lips too, subdued yet sharp.
The sword at the right of her waist gleamed blindingly silver.
Tracing out a faster, more beautiful curved trajectory than the

straight line my Vorpal Strike plunged in as.
The flash that combined a drawing motion with a slash in the same
stroke torn into my chest.
Its impact blew me away slightly after like a punch from a giant.
Much of my remaining Life scattered into the air as crimson fluid
while I flew up.
The words coming from Administrator with her left hand swung out
dimly reached my ears.
“Katana, single-hit skill, «Absolute Void (Zekkuu)».”
A sword skill beyond my knowledge.
Assailed by what seemed like the world crumbling about me, far
more intense than simple fear, I fell onto the floor. Damp noises
reverberated as fresh blood scattered all about me.
But that blood was not shed by me. I had fallen into the horrifyingly
large pool of blood that flowed out from Eugeo’s severed body.
I froze entirely; only my eyes could move. I earnestly directed them

towards Eugeo… the upper section of his body lying immediately at
my side.
My partner of two years had his pallid face inclined towards me

with his eyelids closed. Blood still ran, slowly, from his severe wound
and I could not tell whether his Life had already ran out, or if there
was still a little left, but I doubted his consciousness would ever
return.
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There was only one thing that I was certain of.
I had wasted the life that he had saved.
I could not win against Administrator.
A battle of sacred arts would be a foregone conclusion, and the

highest minister surpassed me even in a battle between swords.
I no longer had any means of finding out exactly how she had
learnt her variety of sword skills. At the very least, it was definitely
from neither Eugeo’s nor my memories.
Sword skills were not included in the general purpose package,

«The Seed», used as the architecture for the Underworld. ALfheim
Online, which inherited the old SAO server, was the only one with
that installed. But the engineers from Rath who constructed the
Underworld shouldn’t have stolen the sword skill system from the
ALO server, let alone Administrator herself.
It was pointless pondering without action any further. Even if I

were to discover the truth, the fact that I had nothing left was
already set in stone.
Charlotte’s devotion, Eugeo’s determination, Alice’s resolve… and

Cardinal’s will; I had—
“—What a lovely face.”
The voice caressed my nape like an ice-cold blade as I lay fallen.
Administrator’s bare feet stepped across the marble floor as I

sensed her presence gracefully drawing closer.
“Is it thanks to the display of emotions being different for

humans of the other side, after all, I wonder? I wish I could
keep that weeping face of yours as an ornament for all of
eternity.”
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Melodious stifled laughter.
“Still, I had always thought sword fights as bothersome

and nothing more, but this does have its own charm to it. It’s
lovely feeling your opponent’s suffering directly. I hardly
come across this chance, boy, so could I have you hold on for
a little? Let me enjoy hacking off your limbs from their ends.”
“…Do as you like.”
I answered in an inaudible voice.
“Hurt me as much as you want, then kill me…”
I should suffer tens of times of what Eugeo and Cardinal had

experienced before I disappeared from this world, at least.
With my strength to speak gone, the strength in my right hand,

stuck to my black sword’s grip, too, left—
It was then.
Someone whispered into my ear.
“It isn’t… like you. To… give up.”
Disconnected, and on the verge of vanishing.
Yet distinct enough to identify its owner without doubt.
I could think of nothing as my sight shifted once more.
Those nostalgic green eyes that almost drew out my tears looked
at me from beyond those barely raised eyelids.
“Eu… geo.”
Turning towards me as I hoarsely called out his name, my partner

showed a mild smile.
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I was forced immobile from pain and fear after the sword golem’s
attack had cut through my stomach. But that could not compare to
the wound Eugeo had suffered. His bones, his internal organs were
thoroughly sliced through. That pain should have been enough to
even destroy his fluct light—
“Kirito.”
Eugeo spoke once more in a somewhat stronger voice.
“Back then, I… did not do a thing when Alice was taken

away… Despite how you… the young you had… so bravely,
stood up against, the integrity knight…”
“…Eugeo…”
I immediately understood he was referring to his memories of Alice

being taken away from Rulid eight years ago.
But I wasn’t there. I wondered if he had confused it with another

scene for a moment, but the clear light resting in his green eyes
convinced me, without the slightest doubt, that he was telling the
truth.
“…So… it’s my turn… to nudge you forward. Now, Kirito…

you can still, stand back up. No matter, how many times it
takes, you can… still stand…”
Eugeo’s right hand jerked.
I watched through my flowing tears as those fingers picked up

something metallic, gleaming bluish-silver, from the pool of
blood—the Blue Rose Sword by its grip.
Gripping his cherished sword that had lost half of its blade within
the blood pouring from himself, Eugeo shut his eyes.
A sudden, warm scarlet light engulfed us. The red sea pulsed with
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light below us.
“What are….!?”
Administrator shouted out in a voice filled with anger. But the

almighty ruler shielded her face with her left hand, as though
terrified by the scarlet light, and stepped back.
The brilliance of the sea of blood intensified without end and at

last, turned into countless dots of light as they floated up as one.
After fluttering about in the air for a moment, the beads of light
whirled as they descended once more, drawn in by the Blue Rose
Sword Eugeo held.
A new blade grew from where the sword split.
Transmutation.
My breath stopped as the miracle, only the two supervisors of this

world were supposed to be capable of, was performed before my
eyes. Overwhelming emotions swirled up from my chest and trickled
out as fresh tears.
Upon regaining its original length after an instant, the Blue Rose
Sword then had its detailed carving of a rose, its namesake, turn
crimson. Its blade, its guard, its grip were all being dyed a vivid red.
Eugeo offered the beautiful weapon, what should now be renamed

«Red Rose Sword», to me with a trembling arm.
Despite how it lacked all sensation a moment ago, my left hand

moved and held the sword’s handle along with Eugeo’s hand as
though drawn in by it.
Immediately, energy flowed into the deepest, furthest parts of my

body.
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This was no art.
This was definitely the power born of Eugeo’s will. A power,

incarnation, brought forth solely from his mind.
I surely felt the resonance of our souls, crossing the worlds from
Eugeo’s fluct light to mine.
Strength left Eugeo’s hand and it fell, feebly, upon entrusting the
sword to me. Brief words travelled from his lips that put on another
smile; no, they travelled from his consciousness to mine.
[Now, stand, Kirito. My closest friend… My… hero……]
The pain from the wounds pierced into my whole body vanished.
The cold emptiness deep in my chest evaporated within a flaring

heat.
I stared firmly at Eugeo’s profile, his eyelids shut again, and

whispered.
“Yeah… I will. I’ll get back up no matter how many times it

takes, for you.”
Holding my two arms that felt nothing until seconds ago up high, I
stabbed the black and red swords my hands gripped into the floor
and stood up as I gritted my teeth.
My body held nearly no regard for my orders. My legs trembled in

small jerks and my arms weighed down like lead. But still, I
staggered a step forward, two.
Administrator slowly turned her averted face back towards us,

white flames of anger in her eyes as they focused on me.
“——Why.”
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The voice that came out was deep, distorted, with a metallic ring.
“Why do you oppose your fate so foolishly?”
“…That is the only…”
I replied in a low, dry voice.
“Opposing you is the only reason I am here for.”
My feet continued even then, advancing earnestly even as they

threatened to fold time after time.
The two swords I held in my hands felt incredibly heavy.
But it was their tangible presences that granted me strength,

moving my two legs forward.
I had entered battle with two swords in my hands and my life on

the line like this countless times a long, long time ago, in a different
world. This was my… «Dual Blades» Kirito’s true form.
Upon invoking the overwriting phenomenon with my imagination

again, my long coat regenerated the tears it had in various spots in
an instant. Though the damage I had suffered remained, there was
no use bothering with how much Life I had left. I could still fight as
long as I was capable of moving my limbs and swinging a sword.
With an expression filled with rage directed at me, Administrator

took a slow step back.
Perhaps noticing how she had retreated a second later, her pale,
beautiful features showed a look of indignation like that of a crazed
god.
“…Unforgivable.”
Her mouth wavered beyond the transparent flames formed from
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the words uttered without her lips moving.
“This is my world. I cannot possibly forgive such conduct

from an uninvited intruder. Genuflect. Offer me your head.
—Swear your allegiance!!”
The highest minister’s roar stirred the air and an aura of bluish-
black darkness rose from her feet, swirling about repeatedly. Having
returned to a one-handed straight sword from a katana, the sword
turned straight towards me while darkness coiled around it.
“…No.”
Stopping my feet right before entering the range of sword skills, I

voiced out my last words.
“You merely usurped it. One who does not love this world…
and the people living in it has no right to be its ruler!!”
I took up a stance the moment I ended my words. The Red Rose

Sword in my left hand in the front; the black sword in my right hand
in the rear.
Drew back my right foot. Lowered my waist.
Administrator, too, slowly swung the silver sword in her left hand
up and held it aloft. The words her pearl grey lips repeated endlessly
carried an unparalleled sense of intimidation.
“Love is to dominate. I love all. I dominate over all!!”
The silver sword grew as it exuded a heavy darkness. Vivid red

mingled with the dark aura of the blade that had instantly grew to
the size of a two-handed sword. The massive blade immediately fell
like a raging sea. High Norkia-style secret move, «Heavenly Mountain
Rending Wave»—also known as the two-handed sword, single-hit
skill, «Avalanche».
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I firmly received, with my two crossed swords, the very symbol of
the aristocracy in the Underworld and the skill that had always
tormented Eugeo and me so. Dual blades, weapon defending skill,
«Cross Block».
“Ooohh!”
I gathered all of my strength with a roar and repelled the enemy’s

sword. Faint shock ran through the highest minister’s eyes.
“Such impertinence!”
The shouting highest minister jumped back far as she lifted the
silver long sword, now back to its original one-handed sword form, to
the height of her left shoulder.
I, too, drew the black sword in my right hand back to the opposite
position.
The same reverberations resembling those of an external

combustion engine came from both swords, resounding loud in sync.
The black and silver swords let out crimson radiance.
Administrator and I kicked off the floor simultaneously and

unleashed the exact same sword skill—Vorpal Strike.
Forming a perfect mirror image of each other, the two swords were
drawn to their limits like arrows and their light effects burst after an
instant of charging up, shooting forth.
Each sword advanced on the same line and their tips grazed
against each other slightly as they passed.
A heavy impact sliced off my right arm from below my shoulder.
But my sword, too, severed Administrator’s left arm from its base.
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The two arms still holding onto their swords whirled high up as
they traced out beams of deep crimson light.
“Damn youuuuuuu!!”
Having lost both arms, Administrator’s eyes flared up with

iridescent flames.
Her long silver hair stood up on ends as though alive and formed
countless squirming thorns. Those innumerable pointed ends became
sharp needles as they rushed in to pierce through me.
“Not yeeeeeett!!”
The Red Rose Sword I held in my left hand emitted a new crimson
flash with my scream.
The second hit of the dual blades Vorpal Strike, impossible in

Aincrad, broke through the swirl of raging silver hair—
And stabbed deep into the middle of Administrator’s chest.
Absurdly rigid and tangible resistance soaked deep through my

palm. A sensation so vivid, it wiped my mind of the pain from when
the rapier pierced through me, from being slashed into by the
katana, and from having my right arm severed by the straight sword.
I was painfully conscious of the sword tip tearing into

Administrator’s smooth skin, breaking her sternum, and blowing her
heart within away—of taking a human’s life, in other words. An act I
had always dreaded deep in my heart since I realized the humans of
this world possessed real fluct lights. The fear did not disappear even
when I unleashed that sword skill on the chief elder, Chudelkin.
But there wasn’t a shred of hesitation in this one strike. Wavering

here would definitely be unforgivable for the future Cardinal had
entrusted to us.
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And the same probably went for the prideful ruler, Administrator.
Such thoughts flashed through my mind for a mere instant.
The Red Rose Sword, stabbed through the middle of the highest
minister’s chest, let out an intense brilliance that easily surpassed
the light effects of sword skills.
The blade regenerated from the resources of Eugeo’s blood shone

dazzlingly, like a fragment from a star—
In the next moment, the resources all burst; that was to say, an
enormous explosion occurred.
Administrator’s two eyes opened up to their limits and a silent

scream escaped her lips.
Slender lines of light poured out from all over the world’s most
beautiful bare body, spreading out in a radial pattern.
And an explosion of pure energy swallowed all as it swelled out.
Blown away like discarded cotton, I crashed into the south glass
window. I felt blood gushing out from the wound on my right shoulder
the moment I bounced off and slammed onto the floor.
It seemed even strange I still had this much blood left after all of
those cuts. I wondered if my Life had finally reached zero for a
moment, but my task wasn’t over yet. I had to live for a little longer.
A look at the sword in my left hand showed that its blade had
returned to half of its length and the rose carving, too, turned back to
blue. Gently placing the sword on the floor, I gripped my right
shoulder hard with all five fingers.
Curiously enough, white light poured from my palm even without

me reciting any arts and warmly soaked into my wound. I released
my hand the moment I felt the blood cease. I shouldn’t use too much
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of the space resources that should have almost been depleted.
Thrusting my left hand, the light gone from it, onto the floor, I lifted
myself up.
And let out a sharp gasp.
Beyond the beads of light, the remains of the explosion, slowly

drifting through the air—
The silver-haired girl who should have been blown away without a
trace stood on her two unsteady feet.
She could hardly be termed human by this point. Her two arms
were gone, a huge hole had opened up in the core of her chest, and
cracks, like ceramics on the verge of breaking, spread out all over
her body.
What flowed out from those countless wounds was not blood.
What resembled sparks of silver and violet fizzled as they gushed

out hard and scattered throughout the air. Upon witnessing the
scene, I couldn’t help but think Administrator, too, did not have a
body of flesh and blood any longer like those turned into swords.
The long hair that was once like molten platinum lost its light as
well and hung down in disarray. Her mouth moved in the darkness
beneath and the moans leaking out reached my ears.
“…To think… there would be, two swords… that aren’t,

metallic… Fufu, fu…”
The ruler’s shoulders shook jerkily like a broken doll as she let out
a brief laugh despite the circumstances.
“Unexpected… what an, unexpected, outcome…”
I couldn’t help but imagine a nightmare where Administrator
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healed her injuries in an instant and wrung out a thin breath stuck in
my throat.
With one foot in the grave, the ruler slowly turned her near-
destroyed body. Sparks spilled from her various wounds while she
started taking awkward steps like a toy with its battery cut.
Her destination was the north of the hall. There wasn’t a single
object there, but there must be something. I had to finish her off
before she reached.
I got onto my feet after frantic efforts and stared at her frame,
which seemed diminished from before, from behind. I gave chase,
dragging my legs in a manner more awkward than even the highest
minister.
Administrator who had gotten twenty meters in front seemed to be

heading towards a certain point. But the girl should not have any
means of escaping from this isolated space deprived of resources.
After all, Cardinal had said that it would be no easy task to re-
connect it even with a few minutes and Administrator had not denied
that.
There really wasn’t anything where the highest minister came to a

stop several tens of seconds later.
But after turning her bare body covered in injuries, the girl looked
at me chasing behind and gave a deep laugh.
“Fu, fu… With things, as they are, I have… no choice. It would be,
quite a bit earlier, than I had planned… but I suppose I shall go, a
step quicker.
“Wh… what are…”
-you saying; it happened before I could ask.
Administrator lifted her right leg covered in cracks and stepped
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down audibly.
A mysterious circular pattern was on the charred remains of the

carpet under her feet. A pattern exceedingly similar to the one
denoting the elevating platform behind me, yet somehow different.
From the circle with a diameter of fifty centimeters came a violet

light—that familiar color of this world’s systems in general.
It drew up from within the glowing circle with mild vibrations.
A white marble pillar.
Atop it was a single notebook computer.
“Wha……”
My feet tangled together from the overwhelming surprise and I fell

onto my knees there.
It wasn’t exactly like those notebook PCs of the real world. Its
casing was translucent, much like crystal, and the same went for its
light purple screen. It bore an extremely large resemblance to the
system console in virtual worlds I saw just once back in Aincrad.
In other words, that was it. The «communication device to the

outside world» I had been seeking for these two years.
Pushed on by an impulse that practically hurt, I pawed at the floor

with my left hand and crawled forward. But my progress was
despairingly slow and the spot where Administrator stood seemed
hopelessly far away.
With both arms lost, the ruler had a lock of her silver hair lift up
like a living being and swiftly typed on the keyboard with its tip. A
small window opened up on the holo-screen and some sort of
indicator began counting down.
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A pillar of violet light immediately appeared at Administrator’s
feet—
Her hurt body lifted up in silence.
Here, the girl finally raised her face and looked straight at me.
Her features that boasted of perfection were in a tragic state.

Large cracks had developed on its left and opaque darkness filled
where the eye should be. Her lips that sparkled pearl grey, too, were
now like paper, but the smile appearing there carried the chill of the
extreme north like always.
Her unharmed right eye curtly narrowed and Administrator gave a

short laugh once more.
“Fu, fu… see you, boy. Let’s… meet again. This time, in
your world.”
I finally realized Administrator’s intentions upon hearing those

words.
The girl was trying to escape to the real world.
She planned to slip out from this Underworld with its absolute limit
termed Life and maintain her fluct light. Like what I was going to do
for Eugeo’s and Alice’s souls.
“Wa…. wait!!”
I shouted as I crawled on in desperation.
If I was her, I would destroy that terminal on the verge of my

escape. Every single one of my hopes would crumble if that
happened.
Administrator’s bare body slowly but steadily rose on the ladder of

light.
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Her broadly smiling lips mouthed out a soundless farewell.
Go- od-
by-
e…
It was right before she finished forming that last syllable.
A shriek rang out from someone who had crept up to the base of
the console with neither Administrator nor I noticing.
“Your Eminenceeee…… bring me, along, toooooo……”
Chief Elder Chudelkin.
The clown, whose body should have been pierced through by my

sword skill and disposed of by Administrator, showed a bizarre
expression on his round colorless face and extended his two hands
towards the skies, his fingers bent like claws.
His small frame exuded scorching flames.
Was it an art or maybe the power of incarnation—? Having turned

his very own self into a flaming clown, Chudelkin flew into a spiral.
Not even Administrator was unaffected as her face, too, showed

surprise and what was likely fear.
Even as the highest minister was trying to reach the gateway for
the passage of light, her two feet were caught by Chudelkin’s two
fiery hands.
Stretched long, the clown’s body continued creeping towards the

Administrator’s bare body in circle and wrapped around her like a
snake. Blazing crimson flames engulfed the pair.
Administrator’s hair flared up from the ends as though melting.
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Her lips warped and emitted a shout that was almost a scream.
“Let go…! Release me, you boor!!”
But a smile of supreme bliss appeared on Chudelkin’s utterly round

face as though his master’s words were like a love confession.
“Aaaah… at last… at last, we can become one, Your

Eminence…”
His two stumpy arms hugged Administrator’s body tight. The

cracks on the girl’s skin turned red hot and small flakes broke off one
after another.
“To a hideous clown… like you… I’m…!”
Those words were nearly screamed out. The silver sparks spurting
from the highest minister’s body interweaved with Chudelkin’s
flames and illuminated the hall with glaring light.
Chudelkin’s body had lost its form before I knew it and became a
clump of flames. His ecstatic expression alone remained at the core
and boomed out his final words.
“Aah… Your Eminence… my… Administrator… sa… ma…”
And Administrator’s body, too, began bursting into flames from its
end.
Fear and anger vanished from the ruler’s face, engulfed in flames,
as those silver eyes looked up at the skies. The highest minister
retained her sublime beauty even now despite being completely
broken.
“……A world…… of my own…… I……”
I couldn’t catch anything beyond that.
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The raging inferno rapidly subsided.
It was let loose as a flash of silver.
Rather than an explosion, it seemed more like all had been

reduced to light, filling the space. Nothing roared out or shook; a
thought simply spread out, crossing even the walls of the isolated
space: the soul that had lived the longest in the Underworld had been
extinguished.
The silver light’s luminance quietly stayed on for so long, it seemed

as though the world might never ever be the same again.
But eventually, it began to fade and color returned to my sight.
I blinked my two eyes, tears flowing from them perhaps due to

being burnt by the light, while desperately fixing them at the heart of
the explosion.
There wasn’t even a single trace that the girl and clown existed
now as far as I could see. The pillar of light had vanished as well,
leaving behind only the marble pillar and crystal virtual console
sticking out from the floor.
I understood, both rationally and instinctively, that the highest

minister, Administrator, or the woman named Quinella had been
completely annihilated at last. Her Life had turned zero and light
cube storing that fluct light was reset.
Probably in the same manner as the light cube likely lined up

beside hers, Cardinal’s.
“…..It’s over… isn’t it……?”
I muttered without thinking with my knees still on the floor.
“……Was that good enough… Cardinal…?”
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There was no reply.
But I felt a mild breeze from my memories brush against my

cheeks.
A breeze suffused with the scent when our bodies touched at the
bottom of the Great Library Room, Cardinal’s fragrance—of aged
books, candles, and sweet confectionary.
I wiped away my tears with my left arm. Noticing only now that the
sleeve had returned to the black shirt from the leather long coat, I
turned and crawled towards Eugeo who lay close to the room’s heart.
Blood still continued dripping from my partner’s brutally severed

body, with long pauses between each drop. There weren’t even
minutes before his Life ran out.
Having reached Eugeo’s side after my frantic advance, I first

carried his lower half that had tumbled a distance away and perfectly
joined them where they were severed to stop the blood.
And holding my left hand out to the wound, I visualized the image
of a healing light.
The white light produced under my palm was faint to the point
where it couldn’t be seen unless one strained their eyes. But still, I
earnestly pushed the light on and tried to seal the wound.
But—
The red fluid, Eugeo’s life, continued running from the severance
and showed no sign of stopping. The priority level of the healing art
was despairingly insufficient for the extent of the wound. My mind
understood that; yet my hands moved relentlessly and I shouted.
“Stop… stop! Why!!”
Imagination determined all in the Underworld. Any miracle could
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be brought about if one wished hard enough. Wasn’t that how it was?
I wrung out all my soul had and prayed, hoped, and wished.
But Eugeo’s blood still fell, a drop followed by another.
Overwriting by imagination was limited to objects’ positions and

outward appearances; it could not change numerical stats like
priority level and durability—
That logic crossed a corner of my consciousness, but I refused to

acknowledge it.
“Eugeo… come back to me! Eugeo!!”
I shouted once more, then held my left wrist in my mouth in

preparation to bite through it. I knew that wouldn’t possibly be
enough, but still, I had to pour in all the resources I could create now.
Even if that ended up in both of our Lives turning to zero.
It was exactly when I sunk my canines into my skin to tear it off

with my flesh.
A near inaudible whisper called out my name.
“……Kirito.”
My face twitched up.
Eugeo lifted his eyelids the slightest bit and smiled.
His face was bluish-white, more so than even moonlight, and color
was completely absent from his lips. It was evident his Life was still
dropping on, unchangingly. But his green eyes were the same as
when we first met, staring at me while filled with a gentle glint.
“Eugeo…!”
I shouted hoarsely.
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“Just wait, I’ll heal you right away! I won’t let you die… I
definitely won’t let you die!”
I tried to chew through my wrist once again.
But a moment quicker. A right hand, cold like ice yet warm like
bathed in sunlight, covered my left wrist and gently squeezed.
“Eu…”
I saw Eugeo hold me back while smiling at me. The password

between us exchanged countless times back at the academy rolled
off those lips.
“Stay cool… Kirito.”
“……!”
A deep breath was drawn into my trembling chest.
I taught Eugeo this phrase as one for farewells. But I didn’t teach
him that to hear it like this… in a place like this. I was sure about
that.
Eugeo’s whispers entered my ears again while I shook my head

endlessly.
“It’s… okay. This is… okay, Kirito.”
“What are you saying! Of course it isn’t!!”
Eugeo’s smile that somewhat seemed fulfilled remained even after

hearing my shouts that were practically screams.
“…I… had accomplished, what I, needed to… Here is

where… our paths, separate…”
“No they won’t! I won’t accept something like destiny!!
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There is no way I will accept it!!”
As though admonishing me who argued on vehemently like a child,

with weeps mixed between my words, Eugeo slowly shook his head.
Even those small motions must have taken tremendous effort, but
my partner showed no sign of wincing at all and continued speaking.
“…If it didn’t, end up like this… you and I, would likely

have, to fight… for Alice in, our own ways. I… to restore
Alice’s memories… and you, to protect, Integrity Knight
Alice’s, soul…”
My breath choked in that instant.
That was the exact future I feared deep in my heart yet chose to
continue averting my awareness from. After all of the battles ended,
would I truly be able to go with the act of returning Alice Schuberg’s
«memory fragment» to Knight Alice’s fluct light—that was the doubt.
I had no answer for that, even now.
I shoved that doubt into Eugeo with my tears.
“Then… we’ll fight!! We’ll heal up all of our injuries and

then fight!! You’re already stronger than me!! So, fight with
me… for your Alice…!”
But Eugeo’s distinct smile remained.
“My… sword has already… been broken. Besides… my

weaknesses… have led the highest minister to dominate my
heart… and turn my sword on you, Kirito. I have to… redeem
myself… for that sin…”
“That’s no sin! You wouldn’t commit any!!”
Grabbing Eugeo’s right hand instead with my left, I squeezed out

my weeping voice.
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“You have always fought splendidly! If you weren’t there,
we wouldn’t have beaten Chudelkin, or the sword golem, or
Administrator! So, please, you don’t have to blame yourself
anymore, Eugeo!!”
“……Really, now… That would… be nice……”
Large teardrops welled up from Eugeo’s eyes after his murmurs

and gently flowed away in silence.
“…Kirito. I had always… envied you. You, stronger than

anyone else… loved by everyone… I thought… that even Alice
would… That frightened me… But… I understand now. Love…
is not something to, seek out… it is something, to give.
Alice… taught me… that…”
Eugeo cut off his words and lifted his left hand.
His palm, hurt and worn-out from the fierce battles, held a small
crystal. A transparent hexagonal prism pointed at its two ends.
Alice’s memory fragment.
The transparent prism flickered faintly as it came into contact with

my left hand.
White light swallowed the world.
It all vanished, be it the rigid floor or the pain from my severed

right arm. A gentle stream carried my soul somewhere far away.
Even the immense grief consuming my chest gently thawed within
the warm light.
And then—
Vivid greenery flickered into my vision, swaying high above.
Sunlight passed through the trees.
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As though extolling the spring sunlight finally here, the budding
trees reached out with all their small forms had, rustling in the
breeze. Small, unknown birds flew from one glossy, black branch to
another as they chased after each other.
“Come on, get those hands moving, Kirito.”
Suddenly called by name, I turned my sight back from the treetop.
The golden hair of the girl sitting by my side glittered brilliantly in

the sunlight filtered through the trees. After blinking several times, I
shrugged my shoulders and replied.
“Weren’t you looking at that family of cotton rabbits with

your mouth wide open yourself, Alice?”
“My mouth wasn’t wide open!”
Averting her face with a humph, the girl in a dress and pinafore of
blue and white—Alice Schuberg—lifted what was in her hands before
holding it up to the sunlight.
A carefully sewn leather sheath for a small sword. Its surface

sparkled after polished with oil and cloth, and it had a dragon
embroidered on with pure white thread. The dragon that somehow
seemed friendly had only its tail cut off halfway, with a threaded
needle dangling from its tip.
“Look, I’ll be done in just a bit more. How about you?”
I lowered my eyes to my lap as instructed.
In my hands was a small sword carved from a branch of platinum

oak, the second hardest variant found in these woods. With the
method of processing it from uncle Garitta who knew this forest best,
I had gave this wood, tough as steel, shape after spending two
months on it. Its blade was already completed and I only needed to
touch up its handle.
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“I’m way quicker. This is all that’s left.”
Alice spoke with a bright grin after my reply.
“Then keep at it for a little longer and finish it up.”
“Okay.”
A look up through the tree branches once more showed that Solus
had already passed beyond the center of the sky. We had worked
since morning in this secret spot, so I guess it really might be best to
get back to the village soon.
“Hey… we should go back soon. He’ll find out.”
I said so while shaking my head and Alice pouted her lips like a
small kid.
“We’re still safe. Just a little more… just a bit more, okay?”
“Guess there’s no helping it. Just a bit more, you got that?”
We exchanged nods and immersed ourselves in our individual work

for several minutes.
“I’m done!”
“It’s over!”
Our two coincident voices were accompanied by the rustling sound

of stepping on grass coming from behind.
I swung around while hiding what was in my hands behind my back

in a panic.
Standing there with a blank look was a boy with fluffy-looking

flaxen hair in a frizzy short cut—Eugeo.
Eugeo’s distinct green eyes blinked and he spoke out in a voice
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filled with suspicion.
“I was wondering where the both of you were since this

morning, but you were both in a place like this, huh. Just
what were you up to?”
Alice and I cowered, our heads lowered, as we exchanged looks.
“The cat’s out of the bag, isn’t it?”
“That’s why I told you so. Now it’s all ruined, geez.”
Alice snatched the just-finished wooden sword from my hands and

deftly stuck it into the leather sheath with her hands hidden behind.
And with a hop towards Eugeo, she shouted out with a smile as
brilliant as the sun.
“There are still three days to go… But Eugeo, happy

birthday!!”
Eugeo’s large eyes turned round upon seeing the small sword of
platinum oak kept in the sheath with a white dragon embroidery
hurriedly presented to him.
“Eh… this, for me…? Something so amazing….?”
With the good parts snatched away by Alice, I explained with a

crooked smile.
“Eugeo, you said that you broke the wooden sword your
father bought for you, right? So… well, it might lose to a real
one like the one your big brother has, but this one’s way
better than any of those wooden swords the general store
sells!”
Upon receiving the small sword with his outstretched, trembling

hands, Eugeo bended over as though surprised by its weight and
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next, showed a huge smile that wouldn’t lose to Alice.
“You’re right… this is even heavier than my brother’s

sword! Wow… I…. I’ll cherish it. Thank you, both of you. I’m
so happy… it’s the first time a birthday present made me so
happy…”
“H… hey, don’t cry!”
I shouted out in a fluster, spotting something small shining at the

corners of Eugeo’s eyes.
I’m not crying; Eugeo swiped at his face and looked straight at me.
And smiled yet again.
That smile suddenly plunged into iridescent light.
An abrupt, suffocating pain in my chest. Intense nostalgia and loss

beyond what I could handle. My tears flowed uncontrollably and
streamed over my cheeks.
Alice and Eugeo who stood side-by-side, too, cried with their smiles
still on—
We spoke, all together.
“We… the three of us had definitely lived through the same

times.”
“We might part here… but still, these memories will remain
forever.”
“They will… live on forever inside you. So, look—”
And the scene blanketed with sunlight streamed through the

trees vanished and I was once again brought back to the top floor of
the Central Cathedral.
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“So, look—don’t cry, Kirito.”
Strength left Eugeo’s hands after his whisper; his right hand fell on
the floor and his left, on his chest. The prism in his palm had also
ceased its flickering as well.
The scene I relived through the screen in my mind was

unmistakably one from my memories. I could recall no more than
that one moment, but still, the fact that Alice, Eugeo, and I had grew
up from young together and were bosom friends, connected by
unshakable bonds, filled my body with warmth and eased the pain of
loss just a little.
“Yeah… those memories are right here.”
I pressed the fingers on my left hand against my chest and

whispered with a sob.
“They will remain here forever.”
“That’s right… so, we are, best friends, forever. Where are

you… Kirito, where did you go…”
The light in his eyes faded as they wandered and Eugeo called out
my name with that smile still on his face.
I leaned myself forward and encircled Eugeo’s head with my left

hand. My spilled tears trickled onto Eugeo, one after another.
“I’m here, right here.”
“Yeah…”
Gazing somewhere far away, Eugeo showed a contented smile.
“I see you… Shining brightly, in this darkness… Just like a

star… a star in, the night sky… like I had, seen every night,
on my own… under the Gigas Cedar… Shining just like… your
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sword…… Kirito……”
Gradually losing its luster, Eugeo’s voice gently shook my soul.
“That’s it… Kirito, your black sword…… «Night Sky

Sword»…… would be a good name. What do you think……?”
“Yeah… sounds great. Thanks, Eugeo.”
I hugged my friend tight as he steadily grew lighter. His final words

rippled through our connected minds like a drop falling onto a
surface of water.
“Wrap this…… tiny world up…… gently… like the…… night

sky……”
The clear teardrops built up at his eyelashes vanished as beads of

light.
With his slight weight resting on my arm, Eugeo’s eyelids gently

shut.
Eugeo stood in a dark corridor unknown to him.
However, he was not alone.
Gripping firmly onto his left hand was Alice, smiling, in a blue
dress.
With just a little strength in his grip, Eugeo talked to his female
childhood friend.
“This is… all for the best, isn’t it?”
The large ribbon binding Alice’s blonde hair shook and she gave a
resolute nod.
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“Yes. Let’s leave the rest to those two. I’m sure they will
lead this world to how it should be.”
“I guess you’re right. Well… shall we go?”
“Let’s.”
Though he didn’t know when it happened, Eugeo had turned young

as well. With his hand strongly holding and held by that of a girl at
the same age and height, Eugeo began walking towards a white light
visible on the far end of the corridor.
In that moment—
The durability of the human unit assigned the ID, NND7-6361,

became zero.
Receiving that signal, the programs controlling the Light Cube

Cluster issued a command to the light cube storing the
corresponding fluct light.
Accepting the command, the interface diligently reset the linked

praseodymium crystal structure.
The hundred and tens of millions of photon qubits stored within left
behind one final sparkle and diffused—
The soul named Eugeo that had not even lived a subjective twenty
years was eternally deallocated from the small cube.
At nearly the same time.
Another cube, stored quite a distance away from Eugeo’s light

cube, performed the same operation.
The fluct light, in possesssion of the memories separated from a

soul named Alice Schuberg, produced through irregular methods was
also deallocated from its crystal cage.
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No one yet knew where the collection of photons that formed the
two souls would go.
I stayed there, on my knees, until Eugeo’s body and Alice’s

memory fragment resting on his chest turned into grains of light and
vanished like Cardinal’s corpse.
How long had it been?
The isolated space undulating beyond the glass windows was gone
by the time I noticed and the sky filled with stars had returned. A
faint violet dawn approached from the far-away mountain range at
the edge stretching across the eastern horizon.
Deprived of nearly all ability to think, I unsteadily picked myself up

and draw closer to Knight Alice who lay down a distance away.
Alice’s injuries were terrible too. But luckily, most of the damage
was burns with barely any bleeding, so any continuous drop in Life
should have ceased. I lifted her up with my left hand and she did not
regain her consciousness, but her eyebrows moved slightly while a
thin breath left her lips.
Carrying Alice, I slowly, slowly walked towards the north end of the
hall.
The crystal system terminal was all that remained undamaged now
and it let out a mechanical flicker as it greeted me.
Gently laying Alice onto the floor, I tapped a single translucent key
with a finger on my left hand. The monitor lit up, displaying a
complex administration screen.
The user interface was mainly in the Sacred Tongue, no, English,
but I eventually found what I sought after touching the screen
several times.
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External observer call.
I stared at the tab given that name for a while.
Observer. Those who made this world, set it into motion, and
watched over it.
They, the staff members of the venture company, Rath, in other

words, had told me only a single lie—but it was one that was far too
heavy.
June, 2026, in the real world felt so long ago. Then, I had
participated as a tester for an extended continuous operation
experiment for the next-generation full-dive machine, the «Soul
TransLator», developed by Rath.
The test took place over three consecutive days. Through the STL’s
Fluct Light Acceleration functionality, I had spent ten days, roughly
3.3 times what had passed in the real world, in a VR world for that
test and had my memories blocked to ensure confidentiality. That
was how those from Rath had explained it to me.
But that was a lie. Where I had dived into during that test was not
exclusively for that test, but this Underworld where I was in right
now. And ten days hardly matched up to how long I had spent in
there. It was probably over three hundred times… likely over ten
years’ worth of time.
Yes. In those three days of the test, I had experienced childhood

for the second time until eleven years old in a small village at the
northern edge of the Human World. Playing until my childhood
friends, that flaxen-haired boy and that blonde-haired girl, and I were
covered in mud and returning to the village through the riverside
path when it became evening, walking side-by-side, every single day.
That evening scene I saw at the river in the forest right after
waking up in this world two years ago. The sense that Eugeo and I
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had messed around with swords as fellow children when I fought
Eugeo. And the one act involving the platinum oak sword that came
to me just a moment ago when Eugeo was on the verge of losing his
life; that was no hallucination.
A fragment of memory I had surely experienced, erased. I had

grown up in Rulid Village with Eugeo, and Alice as well, and I had
forgotten about that until today.
Likewise, Eugeo and Alice lived on with the memories of us

growing up erased. That might have been the reason why the pair
did not completely lose their sense of self like the other integrity
knights when synthesized.
I did not care why did Rath mix me, an outsider, into this
civilization simulation now that it was all in the past. But there was
something I couldn’t possibly overlook.
There, when the young Alice was being taken away by Integrity
Knight Deusolbert.
Eugeo had continued blaming himself for that long period of time.
He continued lamenting how he could not save Alice. Originally, I
should have borne half of that regret. But I had to go and forget
about the past… not noticing the depth of Eugeo’s suffering until the
moment he sacrificed his own life……
“U… ug… gh…!”
A queer noise leaked out from my throat. My back molars violently

grinded against each other with as much strength as I could muster.
Lifting my stiff left hand, I touched the button to call the observer
with a trembling finger.
A dialog in Japanese was displayed with a warning tone when I did.
[When this operation is executed, the Fluct Light
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Acceleration rate will be fixed at 1.0. Are you sure?]
I pressed the OK button without any hesitation.
It felt like the air turned more viscous all of a sudden.
Sound, light, and everything else stretched out into the distance
before giving chase and returning. A strange sensation assailed me
for an instant, like my own movement and even thoughts were in
extreme slow motion, and faded before I could react.
A single black window opened up in the middle of the screen. A

sound level meter was displayed in the middle with the words,
“SOUND ONLY”, blinking above it.
The rainbow-colored meter jolted up.
Followed by a steep increase. Mechanical noise reached my ears at

that same time.
A sound from the real world, I thought.
The world of «the other side» with its repeating peaceful days with
absolutely no relation to the state of the Underworld. The real world
with blood, pain, and death being nothing more than a rare
occurrence.
With the tempest of intense emotions deep in myself that I had

somehow kept in check welling up, I trembled.
Drawing my face closer to the terminal, I shouted out the name of

the man who had brought me to the Underworld as loud as I could.
“Kikuoka… can you hear me, Kikuoka?!!”
If this hand of mine could reach Kikuoka Seijirou or any of the other
administrators right now, I might actually strangle that person to
death.
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Slamming my left fist trembling with no target for my rage into the
marble table, I shouted once again.
“Kikuokaaaa!!!”
Immediately—some sort of sound streamed out from the screen.
It wasn’t one from a human. Katatata, katatatata; crisp plosive

sounds.
What came to mind straight away was the sound of a submachine

gun on rapid-fire I heard in a VRMMO game called Gun Gale Online,
something from years ago. But on the other side of this screen
should have been a research facility of a small venture company.
Why would there be such a sound?
I stood still and my ears caught human’s voices this time… a tense
exchange of yells.
[—gative, the intruders occupied path A6! We’re

retreating!!]
[A7, return fire somehow! Stall them until we lock down the
system!!]
Once again, the sound of gunfire. Along with sporadic explosions

mixed in.
What—is this?
A movie…? Did it pick up the audio from some streamed movie the
staff members were watching in the research room?
But then, the unfamiliar voice called out a name I knew.
[Lieutenant Colonel Kikuoka, we’re at our limit! We have to

abandon the main-con and shut the pressure-resistant
barrier!!]
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A pointed, rusty voice answered.
[Sorry, hold on for another two minutes! We can’t let them

take this place now!!]
Kikuoka—Seijirou, The man who brought me into this world.
I had never heard his voice this strained. What exactly was
happening beyond the screen?
—Could they be under attack? Rath? But why…?
And once again, Kikuoka’s voice came.
[Higa-kun, isn’t it locked down yet!?]
I recalled the voice replying too. Higa Takeru, a researcher in Rath

who was present at my test dive.
[‘nother eight… no, seven secs… —Aa…… aaaahh!?]
Higa’s voice screeched as though shocked at something.
[Kiku-sann!! Someone’s calling from inside! No, from inside

Underworld!! This… aaahh, it’s him, it’s Kirigaya-kunn!!]
[Wha… whaat!?]
Footsteps running in. The mic jerked as someone grabbed it.
[Kirito-kun, you there!? Are you there!?]
This was definitely Kikuoka Seijirou. Pushing aside my hesitation, I

shouted.
“That’s right! Listen here, Kikuoka… you… you damned…!”
[I’ll take on all the criticism you got later! Listen to me

now!!]
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I couldn’t help but to shut my mouth at this desperation that didn’t
suit him at all.
[Listen… Kirito-kun, search for a girl called Alice! And

then…]
“Search for… she’s right here!”
I shouted back and Kikuoka instantly turned silent this time round.
Following, he sounded agitated as—
[I-I can’t believe it… it’s a miracle! Ri… right, the moment
this transmission cuts off, I’ll return the FLA to one thousand
times, so take Alice and head for the «World End Altar»! The
internal console you’re using now is linked to this main
console, but this place’s going down!]
“Going down… wait, just what…”
[Sorry, no time to explain! Listen, the Altar is straight

south after you exit the eastern large gate…]
At that time, the first voice I heard echoed out from point-blank
range.
[Lieutenant Colonel, we shut down A7’s barrier, but a few

minutes’ our… no, aah, damn it! It looks like they’re starting
to cut off the main electric wiring!!]
[Eeehh, they can’t, that’ll be real bad!!]
The reply wasn’t Kikuoka’s, but a shrill scream from Higa.
[Kiku-sann, cutting off the main electric wiring now will

cause a surge! The Light cube Cluster’s safe… but there’ll be
a spike at the sub-con where Kirigaya-kun’s STL is… it’ll fry
his fluct light!!]
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[What… that’s ridiculous, there are tons of safety limiters
on the STL…]
[We cut off all of those! He’s undergoing treatment right

now!!]
What exactly were they saying?
What would happen to my fluct light if the electricity died?
The one who broke the fraction of a second of silence was Kikuoka
once again.
[I’ll lock this place down! Higa-kun, you get Professor

Koujiro and Asuna-kun, retreat to the upper shaft, and keep
Kirito-kun safe!!]
[B-But what about Alice!?]
[I’ll up the FLA rate to its limit!! We’ll think about the rest
later, his safety’s the…]
I barely caught any of the continuing exchange of shouts.
A single name in Kikuoka’s words pounded against my

consciousness and shook it like a storm.
—Asu… na?
—Asuna’s there? In Rath…? But why would she?
My face drew closer to the terminal to ask Kikuoka that question.
But it happened a moment before my voice came out. The owner

of the first voice I heard screamed out in anguish.
[No… the power’s cut!! The propeller’s stopping, all hands,

brace for impact!!]
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And—
I saw something strange.
Pillars of white light silently soaring down from the skies far above,
stabbing through the cathedral’s canopy.
There was no pain, no impact, no sensation whatsoever.
But even so, I knew that I had received damage so serious I

couldn’t recover from it. The light pierced straight through my soul
itself, rather than my flesh… it seemed like that.
Something that defined my existence, something precious, was

torn to shreds and began to disappear.
Time, space, and even my memories dissolved into a hollow, blank

whiteness.
I—
Made no sense of even those words.
I heard a voice from somewhere, somewhere far away, a moment

before I was robbed of my ability to think.
[Kirito-kun… Kirito-kun!!]
It had a ring so nostalgic, it made me want to cry; a ring so dear I

almost went mad.
That was——
——Whose voice, I wonder…?
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Source: tap-trans
Hello, everyone. Thank you very much for reading “Sword Art
Online 14 Alicization Uniting”.
The Alicization arc that had continued from “Beginning” →

“Running” → “Turning” → “Rising” → “Dividing” ends a chapter
in the tale with this volume.
In a meeting about SAO’s publication with the editor-in-charge

around the end of 2009, I recall us saying “Let’s set publishing
the Alicization arc as our goal”. It didn’t feel real back then since
it was so far ahead, but by the time I noticed, we’ve already gotten
to the end of the Human World chapter, so time (and the number of
volumes) certainly do pile up really fast…
[Warning: The text ahead will touch on content crucial to

the story in this volume!]
Well. Eugeo who had stayed as Kirito’s partner and close friend as
well as the other main character from the ninth to this fourteenth
volume has parted from the stage of this story at last. He’s rare in
this series: a main character that doesn’t assert his own presence
much; he leaves the impression that he was chasing after Kirito
throughout the entire long adventure, where he left his home village,
entered the capital’s academy only to get arrested, before escaping
from there and climbing the tower.
Actually, while revising the web edition for the paperback edition, I
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seriously considered altering Eugeo’s fate. Eugeo withdrew from the
stage while stifling himself the entire time in the web edition, so I
thought it would be fine if he got hold of a new fate since I was given
this chance to rewrite it.
However, it didn’t happen in the end. When I reached «that scene»

in my revision, I just couldn’t overwrite the original story. It was as if
Eugeo himself was denying any change to his fate. Or perhaps that
was his final and greatest assertion after holding himself back the
rest of the time.
I did write «Human World chapter» earlier; the Alicization arc will
still continue for a little more, extending its stage farther. The
familiar characters from the reality side will be reappearing one after
another, so I hope for your support from now on too!
I think it will be already announced by the time this book is

stacked in the stores, but the broadcast for the television animated
series, “Sword Art Online II”, will finally begin in July. Please take a
look at that too! And my delay with the manuscript had caused many
problems for the illustrator, abec-san, and the one in charge, Miki-
san, this time as well. I’ll try my best… next volume…!
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Vol.15 Chapter 14
Source: tap-trans
Subtilizer June ~ July AD 2026
A sniper with light blue hair.
The slender frame of the girl formed a strange harmony with the
gigantic fifty caliber rifle.
I could not see her face as she laid in the prone position with her
back to me. However, it must be as imposing as a lynx, adorned with
beautiful features.
Her concentration was worthy of praise, aiming below without the

slightest quiver, her right eye pressed against the scope and her
index finger touching the trigger. I would love to continue gazing
upon her from behind for a little more, but I had little time left too.
Leaving my concealed shelter, I began walking across the ruined

building’s floor. Cautiously avoiding the pebbles, wood chips, and
metal scraps, those small objects scattered about my feet, I drew
near the girl’s back in perfect silence.
The girl’s back abruptly jerked.
Did she sense something that made neither noise nor vibration?
That intuition was marvelous, but unfortunately, it was too late.
My extended right arm twisted around her slender neck as my left

hand pinned her head down from the back.
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They constricted her with quiet yet clear intent.
The «Army Combative» skill showed its results; the girl’s visible
life–her HP bar–began falling rapidly. The sniper squirmed
desperately, but in this VRMMO game, «Gun Gale Online», it was near
impossible to escape from a successful rear choke, while barehanded
without a significant difference in STR. That was no different from the
real world, however.
I had predicted that this sniper with light blue hair, whom I had
most looked forward to fighting… no, hunting down among the
twenty-nine participants of this tournament named «Bullet of
Bullets», would try sniping from above in this five-story building.
The problem was, the main street on this map was within range
from both the fourth and fifth floors. I needed to swiftly decide which
floor to ambush her on.
Logically, she would choose the fourth floor where she could
prepare to snipe quicker. However, my intuition and judgement
whispered to me the moment I saw the library on the fourth floor. My
intuition told me that sniper was likely still a young student in the
real world. My judgement told me a student might avoid a library that
would bring up memories of real life.
That prediction was spot-on. The sniper with light blue hair wasted
tens of seconds needlessly ascending that one floor and showed
herself on the fifth floor’s warehouse.
And now, her transient life would dissolve like that of a butterfly
that went astray into a spider’s web.
Aah, if only this was not a mere reduction of binary data in the
virtual world, but the deprivation of an actual life and soul.
If only it was a live body squirming in my arm instead of an avatar.
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«That moment» would truly be ever so sweet.
The sniper’s HP shown at the top-right of my vision cut through the

five percent mark. But the girl continued struggling in desperation to
escape from the choke.
Even as her enemy, I felt her stance precious, trying her best
despite her certain defeat, neither letting out useless utterances nor
turning limp in resignation.
While I embraced the girl tight, like a loved one, my mouth drew
closer to her ear from behind and whispered.
–Your soul will be so sweet.
He slowly raised his eyelids.
It seemed he had fallen asleep unaware. The sofa of Italian make

he brought in last week was apparently too soft. With his body still
engulfed in the supple leather, he glanced at the smartwatch on his
left wrist.
Morning, two-twelve.
Getting up, he gently straightened up his back while walking closer

to the glass wall in the south. As its entire surface was switchable
glass and presently transparent, it permitted an unbroken view of the
waterfront from this executive room on the forty-third floor.
The harbor quietly glittered in the illumination from the

neighboring skyscrapers. Numerous large ships were moored at the
long wharf.
These intimidating silhouettes with their sharp edges were not of

luxurious cruisers. They were the warships of the Third Fleet under
the United States Pacific Fleet.
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San Diego, California’s second city, had long been its base. The
economy circled around the gigantic naval base where over twenty-
five thousand affiliated to the military resided.
However, new industry sectors experienced a boom in recent

years. High-tech industries dealing with information, communication,
bio-technology, and such.
And there were those corporations who fused military affairs with
high technology as well. Primarily entrusted with security services
and training by the military, large companies, and other related
sectors, these so-called private military companies even deploy
manpower to fight directly on the front lines.
Gabriel Miller, the chief technology officer of «Glowgen Defense

Systems» that had its headquarters in Downtown San Diego, gazed
down upon the port’s night view and revealed an unconscious smile.
The dream he saw in his short nap earlier was invigorating,

however slight.
A dream of a full-dive game’s event that he had participated in

days ago in this executive room.
Gabriel rarely dreamed, but whenever he did, it would be a

detailed recount of some scene in his past.
The exhilarating sensations of that light blue haired sniper’s

desperate struggle still remained in his arms. As if it was no dream,
but reality…
No, that was off. That battle happened not in reality, but in the
virtual world.
Full-dive technology was a marvelous invention. Praises to its

inventor, Akihiko Kayaba. He would have been headhunted if he was
still alive, even if it took millions of dollars. Even if he was the worst
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criminal of the century—no, precisely because he was such a person.
However, while the experiences brought about by the AmuSphere

became increasingly lifelike, the inadequacy felt from the realization
that they were fake became all that stronger. Like how one’s thirst
could not be satiated with salt water, no matter how much one drank.
As the youngest among Glowgen DS’s staff and a major

stockholder, Gabriel led his life without worries over his material
needs. However, money could not fulfill that craving he held deep in
his heart.
“…Your soul will be so sweet…”
He voiced out the words uttered in his dreams once more.
He wanted to whisper that in Japanese which he had been studying

since three years ago. But they must have thought him American
with that US tag on his HP bar and he had to avoid leaving them an
impression stronger than necessary. There would be opportunities to
speak at length eventually. He would leave his many questions for
then.
Wiping off the faint smile that emerged on his lips without his
notice, Gabriel touched the various touch sensors embedded on the
window and increased its opacity. Upon which the darkened glass
projected himself.
His loose, blonde hair was swept back, with his eyes blue. His 6
feet, 1 inch body was covered by a white dress shirt and dark grey
slacks. His shoes were cordovan, custom-made. It was almost the
very image of the white establishment, embarrassingly enough, but
Gabriel saw no more reason for his appearance than a means for
others to identify him. At the end of the day, the flesh is nothing
more than a hull for the soul.
The soul.
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Almost all religions adopted some notion of the soul. Of course,
Christianity advocated that the soul would be sent to heaven or hell
upon death dependent on one’s actions in life. However, it was
neither due to Protestantism nor Catholicism that Gabriel believed in
the existence of the soul and sought it out.
It was a fact. One personally witnessed, visually.
That cluster of light, beautiful beyond compare, soaring from the

girl’s forehead the moment she met her demise in his arms.
Gabriel Miller was born in the district of Pacific Palisades in the

suburbs of Los Angeles, California, in March, 1998.
He had no siblings and he grew up engulfed in love from his

affluent parents, both emotionally and financially. The mansion he
lived in was grand and there was no end to his playgrounds, but what
the young Gabriel loved most was his father’s collection storage.
His father, the owner and manager of Glowgen Securities, the

predecessor of Glowgen Defense Systems, had the hobby of
collecting insect specimens and countless glass cases lined the vast
storage. Gabriel would seclude himself in there when he found time,
viewing the multicolored insects with a magnifying glass in a hand
and immersing himself in absentminded fantasies as he sat on the
sofa in the middle of the room.
Curious, deep emotions assailed the young Gabriel at times when

he was alone in that dim room with its high ceiling, surrounded by
tens of thousands of mute insects.
Every one of these insects lived up until a certain moment. In the

grasslands of Africa, the deserts of the Middle East, the jungles of
South America, they energetically made their nests and hunted for
food.
However, they were caught by a harvester at some point, treated
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with chemicals, and exchanged hands numerous times through
commerce before neatly arranged in these glass cases at the Millers.
In other words, while this room was a collection room of insect
specimens, it was also a gigantic cemetery filled with tens of
thousands of massacred corpses…
Gabriel lowered his eyelids and imagined what would happen if the
insects around suddenly came back to life.
Their six legs would desperately scrape the air, their haptic
perception and wings quivering. The myriad buzzes overlapping and
surging towards Gabriel as parched ripples.
Buzz, buzz.
His eyelids flashed open. The legs of the green rhinoceros beetle
fixed in the corner of the case before him seemed to move; he leapt
off the sofa. He rushed over to the case, absorbed in the sight, but
the insect was a lifeless specimen once more by the time he reached.
Its carapace, legs with sharp thorns growing over them, and
compound eyes that resembled a miniscule mesh were emerald
green and as glossy as metal. Gabriel pondered on exactly what once
powered that delicate body, granting it mobility.
His father told him that insects lacked a brain like that of humans.
He asked, how did they think then, and his father showed him a
certain video.
It captured praying mantises in the act of mating. The small male

had held down the plump female from her back, their reproductive
organs joined. The female remained motionless for a moment, but
then abruptly grasped the male’s upper body with her two scythes,
crunched down on his head, and began feeding without any prior
warning. The male persisted in his mating even while Gabriel
watched on in shock, finally withdrawing his reproductive organ once
his head had been utterly devoured. The female then shook her
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scythes and fled at once, as fast as she could.
Despite the complete lack of its head, the male praying mantis
walked along the grass blade, up a branch, and mechanically
continued its escape. His father spoke while pointing at the clip.
The nerves spread over the entire bodies of insects, including

praying mantises, served a purpose similar to a brain. Hence, they
could live for some time even after they lost their head which was no
more than a sensory organ.
Gabriel spent the several days after he watched that video

wondering exactly where praying mantises had their souls then. If
they could live on even with their heads eaten, losing all of their legs
should be of no particular issue. Then perhaps their abdomen? Or
their chest? But even with their soft abdomen crushed or their chests
pierced through by a pin, insects would continue struggling for a
time, their legs squirming vigorously.
If they did not die immediately no matter which part of their body
they lost, could it be that the praying mantis’s soul was faintly spread
out through its entire body? Eight or nine years old then, Gabriel
concluded so after numerous experiments conducted on the insects
he caught around his home.
The soul, that mysterious power that moved these partially

mechanical beings known as insects, stubbornly remained within
them no matter which part of their body was demolished. But it
would consider it a lost cause and surrender after a certain point,
deserting its vessel.
Gabriel fervently desired to see that fleeing soul, and to capture it

if possible. However, he couldn’t even see «that something» slipping
out from the insects’ bodies, let alone capture it, no matter how hard
he stared into the magnifying glass, no matter how carefully he
carried out his experiments. His modest wish showed no results even
after spending much time and zeal in the secret laboratory he made
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deep in the dense forest behind his mansion.
The young Gabriel instinctively knew his wish would not be

agreeable to his parents. That was why he made no further questions
in a similar vein to his father after that one praying mantis incident
and made sure to divulge nothing about his experiments. But his
desires seemed to heighten with his attempts to keep them under
wrap.
Gabriel had a friend of the same age with whom he was on

extremely good terms back then.
The girl was named Alicia Klingerman and the only daughter of the
entrepreneurs living in the mansion erected on the adjacent plot of
land. They attended the same elementary school and got along well,
as did their families. She was shy and obedient, preferring to read
books or watch videos at home than to play until muddy outside.
Naturally, Gabriel hid his secret experiments from Alicia and spoke
nothing of insects and souls.
Nevertheless, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Gabriel’s

imagination pondered, time after time, where Alicia’s soul could be
as he quietly peered into her face from the side while she smiled like
an angel, absorbed in reading her novels.
Insects were different from humans. Humans could not live on

without their heads. Thus, a human’s soul should be in their head…
in their brain.
But Gabriel had already learnt that brain damage did not lead
directly to loss of life via the internet on his father’s computer. There
was a construction laborer who survived with a thick iron pipe
piercing in from the chin and out the head; there was a doctor who
tried to cure mental illness by ablating a portion of a patient’s brain.
So, was it somewhere in the brain? Gabriel wondered so as he
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looked at Alicia’s brow, fringed by her fluffy blonde hair. Alicia’s soul
lay hidden beyond that smooth skin, beyond that hard skull, and
beyond even those soft brain tissues.
He would definitely end up marrying Alicia, or so the Gabriel

childishly envisioned. Then he might get the chance to see Alicia’s
soul with his own eyes one day. Words couldn’t possibly describe
how beautiful the soul of the angelic Alicia was.
Half of Gabriel’s wish was granted, sooner than he ever expected.
In September 2008, widespread bank failures pulled the trigger to

the Global Financial Crisis.
The waves of recession swallowed even Pacific Palisades on the

suburbs of Los Angeles. A great number of stately mansions were
offered for sale and the number of high class automobiles driving
down the streets visibly fell.
It was fortunate Glowgen Securities had solid administration and

managed to restrain the effects to a minimum, but the corporation
managed by the neighbors, the Klingermans, fell under heavy debt
as their investments were in real estate. With their fortunes,
including the mansion, gone by April the next year, they decided to
depend on their kin who worked in agriculture and move to Kansas
City far in the Midwest.
It saddened Gabriel. Intelligent beyond his years as a child aged

ten, he understood he could not help Alicia as a ten-year-old child
and could clearly imagine what severe circumstances she would face
from now on.
A mansion guarded by flawless security, a skilled cook to prepare

each day’s meals, and a school filled with affluent white children;
these privileges would vanish from Alicia’s life forever, replaced by
poverty and manual labor. And what Gabriel couldn’t stand most,
was how Alicia’s soul, which should have been his one day, would be
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hurt by some unknown person and lose its brilliance.
So, he thought to kill her.
On the day Alicia said her farewells at school, Gabriel invited her
to the forest behind his home after she got off the school bus home.
Deftly dodging every security camera set up along the road and
fences, he ensured no one was looking while he entered the forest
and walked over fallen leaves to avoid leaving any tracks, guiding
Alicia to his «secret laboratory» surrounded by thick scrubs.
Utterly unaware of the countless insects that had died there, Alicia
immediately returned the gesture when Gabriel wrapped his arms
around her slender form. With soft sobs, Alicia mentioned how she
didn’t want to go anywhere else, how she wanted to live on in this
district with Gabe forever.
Whispering that he would grant her that wish in his heart, Gabriel
stuck his right hand into his shirt pocket and took out the tool he
prepared in advance. What his father had used to deal with the
insects: a four inch needle made from steel with a wooden grip.
Gently inserting the sharp point into Alicia’s left ear, he first held
her right ear with his left hand before penetrating through to its base
without the slightest hesitation.
Alicia blinked her two eyes, not comprehending what had

happened, before her body underwent violent convulsions. Her open
blue eyes abruptly lost their focus seconds later, and—
Gabriel saw that.
Something like a small cloud, glittering brightly, appeared from the

middle of Alicia’s smooth forehead. That drifted, airily, as it
approached Gabriel’s brow and entered, just like that, without any
resistance whatsoever.
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The fine sunlight of that spring afternoon that had engulfed his
surroundings disappeared. It seemed as though rays of white light
had descended through the branches of those tall trees; he could
hear even faint chimes.
Tears poured from Gabriel’s eyes from the inexpressible exaltation.

He was now looking upon Alicia’s soul… that was not all, he could
see even what Alicia’s soul could, that was what Gabriel’s instincts
told him.
The small, glittering cloud passed through Gabriel’s head in several

seconds that felt like an eternity and continued on its ascent, as
though guided by the light from the skies, before vanishing at last.
The spring sunshine and the chirps from small birds returned to his
surroundings.
Hugging onto Alicia’s body, with both its life and soul now absent,
Gabriel pondered on whether that earlier experience was reality or a
hallucination brought about by overwhelming stimulation. And knew
that no matter which it was, he would spend the rest of his life in
pursuit of what he had just seen.
He threw Alicia’s corpse into a deep pit that opened up at the roots
of a giant oak spotted earlier. , after a careful inspection of his own
body, he pinched up two strands of blonde hair stuck on himself and
tossed those into the hole as well. The needle was washed clean
before returned to his father’s toolbox.
Not even the local police’s earnest investigation found any clue to
the Alicia Klingerman Disappearance Incident and the case
eventually went cold.
Having awoken from his short and deep recollection, the twenty-
eight years old Gabriel Miller took his sight off himself, reflected in
the mirrored glass, and walked to his work desk by the wall in the
west. The moment he sat on reclining chair made in Norway, a phone
icon lit up on the thirty inch display panel embedded on the desk’s
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glass surface.
With a tap, it showed his female secretary’s face while her voice
flowed out.
[Mister Miller, I apologize for disturbing your rest. COO

Ferguson had requested for you to accompany him for dinner
tomorrow. How shall I reply?]
“Tell him I have prior plans.”
Gabriel immediately replied and his usually collected secretary

showed a somewhat troubled expression. The COO was the executive
vice-president after all, the second-in-command at Glowgen DS. As
one among the over ten officers, Gabriel could hardly afford to turn
down this invitation for a meal—normally.
However, his secretary’s bewildered expression vanished before a

second passed and her calm voice continued.
[Understood. I will do as you say.]
The call ended, and Gabriel sank deep into the chair with his legs
crossed.
He could guess at what Ferguson wanted. It must have been to

stop Gabriel from participating in that particular «operation» he had
already scheduled.
But the COO must think otherwise inside. That old fox must be
wishing for him to nonchalantly set off to some dangerous place to
earn a spot on the KIA list. After all, Gabriel was the previous
president’s own child and the majority shareholder.
Of course, Gabriel himself was aware of how foolish it would be for

an officer to participate in an operation where live bullets flew about.
Even if he did have prior experience, a CTO’s job was to plan out the
entire operation from the safety of the main office without any need
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to expose himself to the dangers of the battlefield.
However, no matter the costs, he had to participate in this

operation that had to be kept under complete and utter secrecy.
After all, it was an issue related to what Gabriel had staked his life to
seek out ever since that day he saw Alicia’s soul.
The operation’s client was not the Department of Defense

regardless how they would benefit. It was the National Security
Agency—the NSA—with whom they had few prior dealings with.
The two NSA agents who visited this room a month ago managed
to surprise Gabriel, who could hardly claim to be emotional,
numerous times.
Firstly, the operation was completely unlawful. After all, a combat

team from Glowgen would board a navy submarine and launch an
assault on a warship belonging to Japan, an allied nation. There was
no need to concern themselves over any fatal casualties of that
ship’s crew either.
And the objective of the operation was to steal a certain

technology.
Upon hearing the details, Gabriel’s voice leaked out slightly,

overwhelmed by surprise—or perhaps delight. It was fortunate the
agents did not notice, however.
«Soul TransLation technology». A wondrous machine capable of

deciphering humans’ souls developed by a small organization called
«Rath» in the JSDF.
Gabriel had held a strong interest in the full-dive technology born

in Japan for some time now in his pursuit of souls. That was why he
fought with the players from Japan in Gun Gale Online and studied
Japanese. He even obtained a set of the «demonic device», the Nerve
Gear, that should have been disposed of without a single one
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remaining by spending several tens of thousands of dollars—of
course, he didn’t intend to use it himself, however.
Gabriel expected development on full-dive technology to wane due

to the commotion caused by that death game. However, they had
quietly continued their research and finally drew near the secrets of
the human soul.
The request from NSA felt like destiny to Gabriel.
Glowgen DS might be one of the larger private military companies

around, but that was all they were; they could hardly decline the NSA
who now held even more power than the CIA in the first place. The
vote for the contract was passed with a lead of two in the emergency
board meeting. To prevent information from leaking, it was decided
that the combat team would consist of contract employees
specializing in wet work with their own dark histories to cover up—
Gabriel volunteered himself as the operation commander.
Naturally, the fact that Gabriel was an officer in Glowgen was

hidden from the combat team. Those people would likely betray the
company at the drop of a hat if they knew, abducting Gabriel for a
ransom.
Gabriel had to go even with such risks.
The NSA agents mentioned. That Rath had succeeded in not just
deciphering the human soul, but also cloning it through STL
technology. That if that artificial soul given the codename «A.L.I.C.E.»
was completed and loaded onto Japanese unmanned weapons, it
would destroy the military balance in East Asia.
He didn’t care if disputes arose in the Far East—or anywhere else

in the world. But Gabriel was convinced the moment he heard the
name Alice.
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He would make that his own.
He would procure that small media storage device, known as the

light cube, with that soul on board at all costs.
“Alice…… Alicia……”
Leaning against the chair with its back down, he softly murmured
the two names. A faint smile appeared on his lips without his notice.
The name of the company established by Gabriel’s father,

Glowgen, was coined together with the meaning of «bringing forth
light». It seemed his father had the light of happiness in mind, but
what came to mind for Gabriel, his successor, was no other than that
golden brilliance drifting out from the dying Alicia’s brow.
Bringing forth light. Or the soul, in other words.
It was fate, all of it.
Gabriel and the eleven in the combat team would fly to Guam a

week later and invade Japanese waters on a nuclear submarine from
a naval base there. Before the operation began, they would switch to
a small submarine onboard and carry out an assault on the objective,
the giant ocean research mother ship, «Ocean Turtle».
They might occupy it without shedding blood, or with casualties

resulting on either side—or perhaps both, even. Still, Gabriel’s beliefs
were unshaken. He knew he would get his hands on «Alice» and the
STL technology. He just needed a simple copy of the light cube and
documents from the NSA.
A little longer… it was just a little longer. He would grasp the true
essence of the soul that eluded him despite his multiple experiments
on other humans, since Alicia, in just a little longer.
He would be able to see that beautiful, gleaming cloud once again.
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“……Your soul… will be so sweet……”
Gabriel whispered once more, this time in Japanese, and shut his
eyelids.
Captain Dario Giuliani who commanded the Seawolf-class nuclear

submarine, Jimmy Carter, was a submariner down to his bones, rising
to his current position from cleaning the torpedo tubes. The first he
rode was an antique Barbel-class diesel vessel where the stench of
oil and noise followed along no matter where one went in her
stiflingly cramp space.
In comparison, the Seawolf-class that cost more than any other

submarine in the world was practically a Rolls-Royce. Giuliani had
showered the ship and her crew with love ever since he was
appointed as her captain in 2020. Through tough training, the high
yield strength steel hull, her S6W reactor, and the hundred and forty
crew members were bonded like a single being, capable of swimming
as she liked in any ocean as long as it had the depth.
Jimmy Carter was practically Giuliani’s daughter. It was a pity he

had to step down from active duty soon, forced to either work on
land or an early retirement, but the successor he recommended, the
executive officer, Guthrie, would definitely command the ship
brilliantly.
Nonetheless—
As though to disgrace Giuliani’s last years, a single, curiously

perilous order was handed down a mere ten days ago.
Jimmy Carter was a ship planned for support on special operations

and possessed a variety of methods to cooperate with the SEALs. The
midget submarine (ASDS) carried on its afterdeck was one among
those.
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There were countless times she cruised deep in foreign waters with
those from the SEALs aboard. But the objective was always for
keeping the peace of the states or the world and those men on board
definitely felt the same sense of duty as Giuliani’s subordinates as
they went into the jaws of death.
However, as for that bunch who boarded from Guam two days
ago—
Giuliani went to see the faces of his guests at the rear section only
once, but that was enough for him to get on the verge of ordering his
subordinates to kick them out into the deep sea. The tens of men lay
down on the floor without any sense of order, some blared noise from
their headphones while others made merry, gambling over card
games; not to mention the empty cans of beer scattered everywhere.
There were no proper seamen in that bunch. It was doubtful they
were even from the military.
There was only one who seemed to have some notion of courtesy,
that tall commanding officer who apologized to Giuliani for their
disturbance in order.
However, that man with those shockingly blue eyes—
While holding the right hand he offered and meeting his eyes,
Giuliani tasted a sensation he had forgotten for a long time.
That was from, yes, long before he entered the navy. He was
swimming in the ocean at Miami, his homeland, when a giant great
white raced straight past his side. He was fortunately unharmed, but
Giuliani saw that shark’s eyes right before him. Those eyes devoured
all light like a bottomless pit.
That same hollowness extended out deep within that man’s eyes…
“Captain, a reading from the bow sonar!”
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The sudden noise from the sonar technician pulled Giuliani out
from his thoughts.
“It’s the turbine from a reactor, we’re matching now… it

matches, it’s definitely the target mega-float. Fifteen miles.”
Bringing his mind back, he quickly gave instructions from the

combat command post, the captain’s seat.
“Right, keep this depth and drop her speed to fifteen

knots.”
The order was echoed and he felt an instant of deceleration.
“Where’s that Aegis-equipped escort ship?”
“There’s a gas turbine sound confirmed three miles west-

southwest of the target… matching done, it’s the JMSDF’s Nagato.
Giuliani stared hard at the two light points shown on the large
display in front.
Putting aside from the Aegis-equipped warship, he heard the

mega-float was an oceanic research ship without any arms. And the
order this time was to let those armed thugs invade that. Not to
mention how it was a ship from Japan, an allied nation. It hardly
seemed like a legitimate operation with the approval of the President
and Secretary of Defense.
The words from those men in black suits who brought the directive
directly from the Pentagon resurfaced in Giuliani’s mind.
—Japan is conducting research on that mega-float for reigniting

war on the states. There is no choice but to bury that research in
order to maintain the friendship between our two countries.
Giuliani was no youngling capable of eating up their words at face

value.
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Still, he was already old enough to understand he had no choice
but to obey those orders.
“Are our guests prepared?”
The executive officer standing at his side confirmed in a deep

voice.
“They are standing by in the ASDS.”
“Alright… maintain this speed and bring her up to a

hundred feet!”
Compressed air pushed the ocean water out from the ballast tank
and the produced buoyancy lifted Jimmy Carter’s gigantic frame. The
distance from the light points gently yet surely decreased.
Would there be casualties among the Japanese researchers? That

seemed likely. He would probably carry the memory of cooperating in
such an operation until his deathbed.
“Five miles to the objective!”
Shaking off his hesitation, Giuliani commanded with resolution.
“Release the ASDS!”
The faint vibrations his body felt conveyed the release of their
baggage from the afterdeck.
“Release complete… ASDS self-propulsion initiated.”
The submarine with a pack of stray dogs and a single shark aboard
accelerated in the blink of an eye and charged straight into the belly
of that giant ocean turtle floating atop the ocean.
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Vol.15 Chapter 15
Source: tap-trans
In Northern Lands 10th Month of Human Empire Calendar 380
Placing the dishes she finished washing on the dish drainer, Alice
Synthesis Thirty wiped her hands on the hem of her apron as she
flicked her face up.
The treetops visible beyond the small glass window had lost quite a
number of leaves, dyed in red and yellow, to the chill of recent days.
The arrival of winter was indeed earlier when compared to Central
Capital Centoria.
Still, the rays of Solus pouring down from the skies, blue for the
first time in a while, seemed warm. A pair of Treeclimbing Rabbits
huddled together on a thick branch of the tree straight ahead,
apparently enjoying their sunbath.
Alice smiled as she gazed at them for a while before she turned
about and spoke.
“Hey, we seem to be having fine weather today, so how

about we have lunch all the way at the eastern hills?”
No one replied.
The log cabin had only two rooms, and this one served as the living
room, dining room, and kitchen with a plain wood table placed right
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in its middle.
Seated on one of the chairs, similarly plain, was a black-haired

youth. Not even raising his head at Alice’s call, his vacant stare
stayed upon a single spot atop the table.
He never did have much meat on him, but still, he was obviously
more slender than even Alice now. His bony frame was visible even
with the loose robe he had on. The empty right sleeve hanging down
languidly from the tip of his shoulders only made him look all the
more tragic.
Light was absent from his eyes, jet-black like his hair. Those two
eyes reflected no more than his locked heart.
Suppressing the pain in her chest that she could never ever get
used to, Alice continued in a cheerful voice.
“It might be a little windy, so it might be best to dress up

thick. One moment, I shall prepare them at once.”
After removing her apron and hanging it off the hook beside the
sink, she turned towards the bedroom next door.
Bundling her long, blonde hair behind, she wrapped a cotton scarf
around herself. Along with a faded black patch around her right eye
that still lacked light. She first put on one of the woollen overcoats
arranged on the wall, then returned to the living room with the other
under her arm.
The black-haired youth made no movement at all. After prompting

him on by placing her hands on his skinny back, he eventually stood
from the chair in an awkward motion.
However, that was all the youth was capable of; he could not walk
even a single mel. Putting the overcoat on from behind him, she went
around to his front and tied the leather strap near his neck tight.
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“You can do it, keep them up for a little longer.”
Saying so, she ran over to the corner of the room.
A tough chair made from bright light brown wood was left there.
Instead of four legs, it had two pairs of iron wheels attached, one
large and one small. It was crafted by an elderly man by the name of
Garitta who lived deep in the forest in solitude.
Holding onto the grips attached to the back of that wheelchair, she
rolled it over to behind the youth. Sitting him down on the leather
seat as his body swayed perilously, she then tightly covered his two
legs with a thick lap blanket.
“There! Shall we make a move, then?”
She patted the youth’s shoulders, grasped the grips, and was
about to wheel the wheelchair towards the door located south of the
room.
The youth abruptly turned his face and reached his quivering left
hand towards the eastern wall.
“Aah… aah.”
That deep, coarse voice was unintelligible. However, Alice

immediately guessed what the youth desired.
“Ah, I’m sorry. I will fetch them right away.”
Three swords sat on sturdy metal fittings on the wall the youth
stretched his hand towards.
On the right was Alice’s «Fragrant Olive Sword».
On the left was the jet-black long sword the youth once carried on
his waist, the «Night Sky Sword».
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And in the middle was a pure-white long sword that lacked a
master to call its own, the «Blue Rose Sword».
Alice first removed the Night Sky Sword, almost as heavy as the
Fragrant Olive Sword, from the wall and held it under her left arm.
, she lifted the Blue Rose Sword as well. Its weight reached only
half or so of the black sword’s. After all, it had lost more than half of
the blade in its sheath.
And the owner of this sword, that flaxen-haired youth who was this
youth’s best friend, too, was no longer around…
She shut her eye for a moment and held onto both swords as she
returned to the wheelchair. Upon gently laying them onto his lap, the
youth placed his left hand on them before his face fell once more. He
could express his own intentions through voice and motion only when
seeking out those black and white swords.
“Be sure to keep a firm hold on them or they will drop.”
Alice told him while holding back the ache in her chest that had not
lessened despite the months that passed. Pushing the now heavier
wheelchair, they went out through the door.
A thick plank lay across the distance from the porch to the ground
in the place of steps. Upon descending into the garden from there, a
soft, cool breeze and the gentle sunlight enveloped the pair.
The log cabin was built deep within the thick forest, in a wide
meadow. Alice personally cut, stripped, and assembled the wood it
used. It was not much to look at, but its structure was sturdy as only
trees with high priorities were used. She had to put up with the
countless comments from the elderly Garitta, who taught her the
method from scratch, about how he had never seen a girl with such
strength, however.
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This meadow was apparently where Alice and Eugeo had their
secret playground when they were still children. Unfortunately, she
had no memories of that time whatsoever. All memories from before
she became an integrity knight were plundered through the
«Synthesis Ritual».
She told the elderly Garitta and the villagers that she lost all of her
past memories, but offered no reason. But in truth, her current
self—Integrity Knight Alice Synthesis Thirty—was no more than a
temporary personality dwelling in the body of the one born and
raised on this land, Alice Schuberg. She felt obligated to return it if
she could, but the memories of the original Alice had departed from
this world alongside Eugeo.
“…Now, let us go.”
Alice let out her voice to shake off that moment of contemplation

and moved the wheelchair on, out from the front of the residence.
Nearly all of the meadow, circular with a diameter of thirty mel,

was covered in cushy undergrowth, but an abundance of withered
grass lay stacked up in a section in its east. It appeared like the nest
of a gigantic creature—or rather, it truly was—but the master of that
nest was absent. She gave it a glance and pondered where it could
have went to play today while exiting from the small path heading
northwest from the meadow into the forest.
The road split into the east and west fifty mel ahead. A village
named Rulid was in the west, but she had no desire to visit without
purpose. Entering the eastern path, she set out while stepping
through the filtered sunlight sparkling on the ground.
She slowly continued through the forest progressing from the

season of autumn leaves to that of fallen leaves with the tenth month
soon meeting its end.
“Are you cold?”
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She called out to the youth but received no reply. He would say
nothing even if plunged into a blizzard of intense cold. She looked
over his shoulder and confirmed the overcoat’s collar was closed
tightly.
Of course, warming themselves would be easy if she generated a

thermal element or two. However, there were villagers who viewed
them with suspicion, so she preferred to refrain from having rumors
about her abuse of sacred arts spread.
After walking for about fifteen minutes while carving furrows into
the beaten path anew, the path ahead brightened up. A slightly
elevated hill showed up in front after leaving the grove of trees. The
road gradually became uphill, but still, Alice pushed the wheelchair
on without difficulty.
The view instantly opened up after reaching the top of the hill.
Straight to the east was the blue surface of Lake Ruhr. And the
extensive marshes deep within it. The forest continued indefinitely to
the south.
A look to the north revealed the «mountain range at the edge»,

covered in pure white snow, towering as though to pierce through
the sky. The days she easily flew over those peaks astride her flying
dragon seemed like a distant dream now.
She did long to look upon the beautiful landscape with both eyes.
The abundant energy in the earth and sun here should be capable of
healing the right eye she lost on the outer wall of the Central
Cathedral. However, she had no desire yet to eliminate only her own
injury through sacred arts.
After all, the youth’s hollow eyes could only continue their vacant
stare towards mid-air even with the late-autumn scenery endlessly
spreading out before him.
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Sitting down by the wheelchair, Alice leaned against the large
wheel.
“How beautiful. More so than any of those art pieces hung

on the cathedral’s walls.”
She called out the youth’s name with a smile.
“…This is the world you protected, Kirito.”
A single white water bird made ripples on the lake’s surface as it

glided and soared away.
How long had it been since she sat down?
Solus’s ascent had progressed quite a bit when she finally noticed.
It was about time to return to the cabin and prepare for lunch. In his
current state, Kirito barely ate anything each time, so even a single
missed meal would lead to a decline in his maximum Life.
“It is getting late, let us make our way back.”
It was when she stood up and grasped the wheelchair’s grips while
saying so.
Noticing light footsteps treading over grass and climbing the hill,
Alice turned about.
The one who approached was a young girl dressed in a black habit.
Her lovely face that still retained vestiges of childishness showed a
gleaming smile while she energetically waved her right hand.
“Nee-samaa!”
The gentle breeze brought her lively voice over and Alice smiled as
well while she gave a slight wave back.
Practically skipping over the last ten mel up, the girl took several
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seconds to catch her breath after her feet came to a stop, and spoke
once more in a bright voice.
“Good morning, Alice-neesama!”
Springing to the side, she gave a vigorous greeting to Kirito sitting

on the wheelchair as well.
“Good morning to you too, Kirito!”
Her broad grin that showed no worry over his lack of response was
infused with faint sorrow the moment she turned towards the two
swords on Kirito’s lap.
“…Good morning, Eugeo.”
Reaching out with her right hand as she whispered, she softly
brushed against the Blue Rose Sword’s sheath with her fingertips. If
someone unknown were to do that, Kirito would show a somewhat
defensive response, but he now let her do as she pleased.
Having greeted her two friends, the girl straightened up and turned
back to Alice again.
Alice replied while conscious of a mysterious tenderness deep in

her chest.
“Good morning, Selka. How did you ever know we were

here?”
It took over a month for her to stop calling her Selka-san.
She had earnestly longed to meet her little sister ever since she
found out about her existence from Kirito’s words at the Central
Cathedral half a year ago. However, now that that wish was granted,
the more precious she found Selka, the stronger this question grew
within her: if she—an ex-integrity knight by the name of Alice
Synthesis Thirty, rather than Alice Schuberg—had the right to be her
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elder sister.
Selka might, or might not have noticed Alice’s unending conflict,

but nonetheless, she spoke on with a smile free from concern over
that issue.
“I didn’t search with sacred arts or anything of that sort.

You were out when I visited, so I thought you could have
come here since today’s weather is so fine. I left fresh milk
as well as an apple and cheese pie baked just this morning on
the table, so be sure to have them for lunch.”
“Thank you, that’s of great help. I was at a loss thinking of

what to make.”
“Well, Kirito might end up running away someday due to

the food you make, after all, nee-sama!”
Selka laughed and Alice replied while smiling as well.
“Now you’ve said it! You know, I am capable of cooking

pancakes without burning any now, at least!”
“I wonder if that’s really true, you did turn them into

cinders when you tried cooking them with thermal elements
at first and all.”
Alice tried to berate her with a poke to her forehead with her
finger, but Selka nimbly dodged it and jumped into Alice’s bosom.
She gently hugged her little sister’s back closer as she nudged her
face into her breast.
It was only at such times when she strongly wished she could flee
from the intense pressure weighing on her heart.
What a relief it would be if she could forget the guilt from turning
her back to the duties of an integrity knight and spending her days,
quietly, deep in this remote forest. Still, Alice knew at the same time
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that she should never forget that. The end was approaching from
beyond the mountain range at the edge, moment by moment, even
while she embraced her little sister.
At the very end of the fierce battle at the Axiom Church Central
Cathedral—
Having suffered enough injuries to drain her Life away, Alice lay on
the marble floor, immobile, vaguely aware of the flow of the battle.
The struggle to death between Administrator the highest minister

and Kirito who wielded two swords.
The highest minister’s annihilation, incinerated in the flames of

Chief Elder Chudelkin’s captivated delusions.
The death of Kirito’s best friend, Eugeo, whose flesh was split apart
alongside his cherished sword.
Kirito who was caring for Eugeo had vehemently cried out to a
mysterious crystal plate that appeared on the north edge of the hall.
At the end of the exchange that Alice hardly understood, Kirito’s
entire body suddenly stiffened up and just as she thought so, he fell
onto the floor—with that, the world sank into silence.
Right as Alice recovered a mere, slight amount of her Life and

became capable of moving, Solus’s dawn shone in from the east
window. With that light as a source of sacred energy, Alice first
healed the fallen Kirito’s wounds. However, his consciousness
remained lost and she reluctantly laid him down, and then attended
to herself with healing arts before inspecting the crystal plate he
spoke to.
However, the surface that had shone pale purple already lost
almost all of its light and there was no reply no matter how many
times she touch or spoke to it.
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At a loss, Alice sat down.
She did trust in Kirito’s words and fought against the absolute
ruler, Administrator, in order to protect the people of the Human
Empire and her little sister living in some remote region, but she
honestly doubted she could survive.
When the strange sword soldier the highest minister called «Sword
Golem» pierced deep into her body.
When she used her own body as a shield against that onslaught of
lightning bolts.
And when she threw all caution to the wind and leapt in just as
Kirito’s life was about to be severed by that blade swung down—
Alice braced herself for death countless times. However, the

sacrifices of Cardinal the sage, Charlotte that mysterious spider, and
Eugeo, along with Kirito’s gallant fighting had held on to her life.
—You saved me, so take responsibility for it!
She endlessly shouted that at Kirito who lay down at the side. But
the black-haired youth’s eyelids remained shut. Think about the path
you should take from now on and choose it yourself… it seemed to
Alice as though he was saying that.
After hugging her knees for tens of minutes, Alice finally stood up.
Perhaps due to the annihilation of the master of that space, the

elevating disk had ceased motion like the crystal plate, so she broke
it with her sword and leapt down to the ninety-ninth floor with Kirito
on her back.
Going down the long staircase from there, she went past the elders
who continued chanting arts, and reached the grand staircase from
where she headed straight towards her master in swordsmanship
who she had left in the large bath—towards where Integrity Knight
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Commander Bercouli Synthesis One was.
The large quantity of hot water frozen by Eugeo’s armament full

control art had mostly thawed and Bercouli’s sprawled body, floating
in the bath, was fortunately freed from Chudelkin’s petrification art.
Upon dragging his large frame onto the aisle and slapping his
cheeks while loudly crying out “oji-sama”, the giant man let out a
grand sneeze before he opened his eyes.
Alice somehow had it in herself to explain the situation to her

master who went and uttered without showing any tension on his
face, “Oh, it’s already morning?” Predictably enough, her words
turned Bercouli’s expression grave and he spoke a single line in an
overpowering voice after hearing it all.
Good work there, lil’ miss.
The knight commander’s consequent actions were prompt. They

gathered the integrity knights to the «Grand Cloister of Spiritual
Light» on the fiftieth floor, beginning with Deputy Knight Commander
Fanatio who was somehow fully healed and asleep in the middle of
the rose garden despite losing to Kirito and Eugeo, and continuing
with the others who were apparently similarly bound by petrification,
such as Deusolbert and Eldrie, then disseminated the facts they
could.
That after a battle with two swordsmen-in-training from North

Centoria Sword Mastery Academy, the highest minister,
Administrator, was defeated and erased.
That the highest minister was working on a horrifying plan to

transform half of the people into monstrous weaponry with bones
made from swords.
That the Chamber of Elders, superior to the Order, was effectively

Chief Elder Chudelkin alone and he, too, had died alongside the
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highest minister.
All they kept hidden was the origin of the integrity knights—no,
their «conception». Bercouli withstood the impact of the truth,
bearing doubts over the words the highest minister used about them
summoned from the Celestial World from the start, but decided it
should only be communicated to the other knight in progressive
steps.
Nonetheless, Eldrie, Fanatio, and the others were visibly shaken.

That was only natural. The highest minister with power comparable
to the gods, the absolute ruler who reigned for hundreds of years,
had died; it should be no easy task to accept that reality.
At the end of that discussion filled with utmost disorder, the

knights chose to follow their commander’s orders for the time being,
thanks to Bercouli’s popularity and ability, as well as perhaps the
unbroken operation of the «piety module». Regardless of any
changes, they were still knights serving the Axiom Church and now
that Administrator and Chudelkin had left the Human Empire, it was
undeniable that Knight Commander Bercouli was at the top of the
church’s chain of command.
And the instant he was entrusted with that right to command,

Bercouli focused all of their effort on carrying out their original duty,
to «protect the Human Empire». He must have felt lost and conflicted
himself. He did find out that there were memories of those whom he
loved, stolen from him, within arm’s reach, after all.
Still, he decided to securely seal the thirty swords that formed the
sword golem and all of the over three hundred crystal prisms on the
hundredth floor of the cathedral, and to temporarily hide the death of
the highest minister from all but the Order. In order to prioritize the
impending, extensive invasion from the Dark Territory over the
recovery of the integrity knights’ memories, including his own.
Bercouli somehow rallied the partially destroyed Order of the
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Integrity Knights, and then set out on the major task of reorganizing
and retraining the Four Empires Imperial Guards of the Human
Empire who were previously no more than an army in name;
naturally, Alice assisted as well. With the impromptu eyepatch made
by Kirito wrapped around her right eye, she flew about to the north
and south of Centoria.
However, her time at the cathedral was limited. The traitor who
turned a sword towards the Axiom Church—the unconscious Kirito, in
other words—should be executed; that view was expressed by quite
a number of integrity knights and even some of the ascetics who
were unaware of the highest minister’s death.
One dawn, when the work necessary had settled down enough for
them to catch a breather, Alice left with Kirito astride a flying dragon.
It was two weeks after those intense, bloody battles.
But predicaments followed them even then. Kirito’s eyes remained

shut throughout even the nights camping out that she was
unaccustomed to and she felt that he needed a proper roof with a
warm bed, but lacked the funds to even stay in the city’s inn, yet
outright refused to exert her authority as an integrity knight for such.
What came to mind then was Rulid, the name of the village Kirito
told her of on the outer wall of the cathedral.
Holding on the ray of hope that its inhabitants might welcome

them despite her lost memories since Eugeo and she were born
there, Alice turned the flying dragon’s reins towards north. She flew
while tending to Kirito’s body, so the trip from the Norlangarth
Empire to the small village at the very foot of the mountain range at
the edge required three whole days.
She descended into the forest a short distance from the village in
order to avoid startling the villagers and ordered the flying dragon to
guard their belongings there, before heading towards the village on
foot with Kirito on her back.
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Upon reaching a path after passing through the forest and a wheat
field, she chanced upon several villagers. However, they all looked
upon them with surprise and suspicion, with not a single one calling
out to them.
It was when they arrived at Rulid Village, built on high ground, and
tried to pass through its wooden gate that a youth of large build leapt
out from the guardhouse constructed at its side. Blood rushed to his
face that still showed vestiges of freckles and he blocked Alice’s
path, going—
—Hold it, outsiders may not enter the village without permission!
The young guard who shouted so with his hand on the sword on his
waist as though flaunting it, before doubt sank into his expression
upon spotting Kirito’s face while he was carried on Alice’s back. He
muttered, “Huh, isn’t this guy,” before staring at Alice again, his
eyes and mouth gradually widening.
—You… could you be.
Alice felt slight relief at those words. She talked to the guard who
seemed to remember her despite the eight years that passed, paying
caution to the words she used.
—I am Alice. Please call for the village chief, Gasupht Schuberg.
It might have been best to name herself as Alice Schuberg, but she
could not find it in herself to do so. Fortunately, it appeared that
name was sufficient as the guard’s face instantly turned blue from
red while his mouth opened and closed repeatedly before rushing
into the village. He did not mention anything about waiting, so Alice
passed through the gate and walked on in the guard’s trail.
The village soon turned riotous, like a disturbed beehive, in that

early afternoon. Tens of villagers filled up the sides of the not-so-
wide road, shouting out in shock upon spotting Alice as she passed
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by.
Almost no face expressed gladness at her homecoming, however.

Rather, they could be said to seem even doubtful, wary, and afraid at
Alice, clad in unfeminine metal armor, and Kirito, still asleep on her
back.
The gently sloping road eventually merged into a round plaza.
A fountain and well lay in its middle with a small church, a ringed
cross on its roof, in the north. When Alice came to a stop at the
entrance to the plaza and the villagers began exchanging whispers
with uneasy looks from a distance.
Minutes later, a single man approached with firm steps, breaking

through the crowd on the east side. Alice immediately recognized the
man in the prime of his life with a neat, grayed moustache as
Gasupht Schuberg, the chief of Rulid Village and once a father to
Alice.
Gasupht halted a distance away, then gazed at Alice and Kirito in

turn without any change in expression at all.
Roughly ten seconds passed before he let out a deep yet resonant
voice.
—Are you Alice?
Alice answered the question with no more than a “yes”. Yet the
village chief neither walked closer nor reached out with his hands,
questioning further in a voice more stern than before.
—Why are you here? Has your crime been pardoned?
She had no immediate reply this time. She herself knew neither
what crime she committed nor whether it was pardoned.
Kirito mentioned the explicit reason why Integrity Knight
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Deusolbert took the young Alice Schuberg to the capital was
«Trespassing into the Dark Territory». That was certainly a
transgression of the Taboo Index. However, as an integrity knight,
Alice was no longer bound by taboos. The highest minister’s orders
were the one and only law to a knight. But that highest minister was
no more. She had no choice but to determine what were crimes and
how to be pardoned from them, what was evil and what was good on
her own…
Alice stared straight back into the village chief’s eyes as she
replied with those thoughts in her mind.
—I have lost all of the memories from when I lived in this village as
punishment for my crime. I do not know if I was pardoned through
that. However, I can now go nowhere but this village.
Those were Alice’s unfeigned, true feelings.
Gasupht’s eyelids shut as deep wrinkles formed themselves at his

mouth and brow. However, the village chief raised his face before
long and what he announced with a keen light in his eyes were grim
words indeed.
—Leave. This village has no place for one who committed a taboo.
Selka’s face rose, perhaps sensing that instant Alice’s body

stiffened up, and inclined her neck slightly.
“Nee-sama…?”
Alice showed a smile as she responded to her little sister’s anxious

whisper.
“It’s nothing, really. Now, it is about time we return.”
“…Okay.”
After nodding and freeing herself from the embrace, Selka spent a
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moment looking up towards Alice, but her bright smile returned
straight away.
“I’ll push until we get to the fork!”
She proclaimed and immediately stood behind the wheelchair

Kirito sat upon and grasped its handles with her small hands. The
wheelchair itself was rather heavy, not to mention how a single
person, though skinny, along with one and a half swords at the rank
of sacred tools weighed it down. That load was too much for one who
was merely fourteen years old and served as a sister apprentice that
did not involve physical labor—or so Alice thought the first time Selka
tried—but she leaned forward with her legs standing firm, the
wheelchair began moving, though slowly.
“Be careful, we are going downhill.”
Selka had never let the wheelchair fall yet, but she still could not
help but to call out in a slightly nervous tone which made Selka reply
with a, “It’s fine, you’re such a worrywart, nee-sama”. It
seemed that when Alice was still living in Rulid, she showed a little
too much concern for her little sister despite going through all those
adventures and experiments with Eugeo.
Was her basic personality preserved even with her memories lost,
or was it a simple coincidence? She pondered while walking beside
Selka who pushed the wheelchair on with a serious expression.
Upon reaching the foot of the hill, the gentle slope turned into a
flat path. Selka earnestly continued despite the wheelchair’s increase
in weight. While staring at her little sister’s profile, Alice’s thoughts
switched back to the past once more.
It was Selka who called, from under a grove of trees’ shade, for
Alice to stop after she left Rulid Village, dejected and crestfallen, on
that day she was denied from returning to the village. If it was not for
Selka’s courage, acting how she did despite aware that her actions
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disagreed with the thoughts of her father, the village chief, and the
good will of the elderly Garitta she introduced Alice to, Alice would
have been still wandering about without a destination even now.
It could not have been an easy story to swallow for Selka either.
Her elder sister who finally returned to her hometown had lost all
of her past memories.
Kirito who left a deep impression on her through their

conversations in mere days two years ago had fallen into a coma.
And Eugeo who was like a brother to her had died—
However, Selka showed her tears only when she found out Eugeo
would never return, with her smile not fading even once in front of
Alice after that. She could not help but feel gratitude and wonder at
the depth of her mental toughness and thoughtfulness anew with
each passing day. She felt that strength was more precious and
mighty than an ascetic’s sacred arts, or even a knight’s sword.
And at the same time, she was reminded daily of how powerless
she was, without the Axiom Church.
Having built the small yet firm cabin just two kilolu away from the
village, deep in the forest, with the help of the elderly Garitta, what
Alice set out doing straight away was an extensive healing art on the
still-unconscious Kirito.
Within the vast forest where Terraria’s grace was most bountiful,
she chose a day without even a single cloud in the skies to obstruct
Solus’s light and coalesced ten luminous elements with the plentiful
sacred energy granted by the earth and sun gods to that space,
converting them into healing energy and pouring it into Kirito’s body.
The healing art Alice devoted all of herself to apply had the
potential to fully heal even the massive amount of Life a flying
dragon had, let alone that of a human. She was confident that
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regardless of how grim Kirito’s injuries were, he would immediately
recover along with his severed right arm and open his eyes as
though nothing had happened.
Yet—
Right after the blinding spiritual light left, Kirito’s eyes did open but
those jet-black eyes lacked any light of reason. Though Alice
repeatedly called his name, shook his shoulders, and even shouted at
him while embracing him, he merely looked up at the sky blankly.
Alice failed to even revive his right arm.
Four months have passed since that day, but there was no sign of
Kirito’s mind returning.
Selka kept supporting her by insisting that Kirito would definitely

recover to his old self some day since she’s putting her all in nursing
him. Still, Alice secretly feared it was impossible for herself.
After all, she was no more than an existence created by the

highest minister, Administrator.
Selka who had been silently pushing the wheelchair so far came to
a stop while saying, “Let’s take… a break”, waking up Alice from
her musing once again.
Her left hand gently touched her little sister’s back while she
panted with sweat glistening on her brow.
“Thank you, Selka, I will push from here on.”
“I wanted to push, all the way, until the fork…”
“You already pushed a hundred mel more than the previous

time, didn’t you? That helped out a lot.”
She found out from the village that situations like this would be
where an elder sister, older by many years, should give her little
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sister some spending money, but unfortunately, she did not have
even a single copper coin in her pockets. Losing even a mere shear
would be horrible in her current financial situation, so she carries
around money only when out to shop.
To make up for that, she brushed Selka’s bright brown hair. Her
little sister smiled with her breathing calmed down, but Alice noticed
faint gloom on her expression and tilted her head.
“What is it, Selka? Is something bothering you?”
She asked while holding the wheelchair’s grips and Selka opened
her mouth after brief hesitation.
“…Erm… there’s another request to deal with the trees at

the cleared land from uncle Barbossa for you, big sister…”
“What, is that all? There is nothing for you to worry about,

thank you for delivering the message.”
Alice replied with a smile, but her sister’s crestfallen expression

lifted with a discontented pout.
“But… those people care only for themselves. Don’t you

think so too, Kirito?”
She questioned Kirito, sitting on the wheelchair, but the youth

looking downwards gave no response, naturally. Still, Selka’s tone
turned increasingly intense as though he was in agreement.
“Neither Barbossa-san nor Redack-san bother trying to let

you stay in the village, so how could they still get you to help
out when they’re in trouble? I know I am the one delivering
the message, but you don’t have to accept it if you don’t
want to, big sister. I will be sure to bring food from home for
you.”
After letting a giggle escape from those words, Alice pacified her
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sulking little sister.
“Though your feelings make me happy, there is really no

need to be bothered over it, Selka. I like the cabin and I feel
blessed enough, staying close to the village. …I will go
immediately after Kirito is done with his lunch. Where is it?”
“…The cleared land in the south, he said.”
Selka softly replied and spent a short while silently walking beside
the wheelchair.
With just a little more to the fork heading towards the log cabin,
she suddenly spoke in a firm tone.
“Sister, my time as a sister apprentice will end next year

and I will receive some wages, even if it’s not that much.
When that time comes, you can stop helping those people,
okay? If it’s for you, big sister, and Kirito, I… I will always…”
Alice gently hugged Selka whose voice came to a stop there.
She felt her tawny hair on her cheeks, a sensation much the same
despite the clearly different color, and whispered.
“Thank you… But I feel blessed enough simply with you

close to me, Selka…”
Seeing off Selka, who waved her hand endlessly in reluctance to

part, Alice returned to the log cabin with Kirito and quickly prepared
lunch.
Though she had become somewhat capable of housework recently,

her skill at cooking alone remained stubbornly lacking. Compared to
the Fragrant Olive Sword, the kitchen knife bought from the village’s
general store seemed as unreliable as a toy and twenty or thirty
minutes would pass in the blink of an eye as she nervously sliced the
ingredients.
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Fortunately, Selka had delivered that freshly baked pie today, so
she cut it into smaller portions and fed Kirito. By bringing the pie to
his mouth with a fork and waiting patiently, his lips would eventually
open slightly, accepting it into his mouth. With that, Kirito would
slowly, slowly chew as though replaying his memories of how he used
to eat.
While Kirito’s mouth moved, she would eat the pie filled with
apples and cheese herself, savoring its taste. It was likely Sadina
Schuberg, the village chief’s wife, who made it. Mother to Selka, and
Alice.
When she still lived at the Central Cathedral, she could freely dine
on the rare delicacies from around the Human Empire squeezed on
the table in the large dining hall. Sadina’s homemade pie both looked
and tasted humble in comparison, but it seemed several times more
delicious. Alice did feel a little peeved that it seemed to get more
reaction out of Kirito than her own cooking, however.
Upon finishing the meal and the cleaning up, she sat Kirito on the
wheelchair once again and placed the two swords on his lap.
The front garden shone golden in the afternoon sunlight as they

left the cabin. The days were growing shorter lately and it would
swiftly turn to dusk should her mind wander. Reaching the southern
fork with a quick pace, she pointed her feet towards the west this
time round.
The forest came to a stop shortly after she walked straight, with
the wheat fields ready to be harvested stretching out. The densely
packed village of Rulid could be seen beyond the heads of grain,
swaying excessively under their weight. The spire shooting
noticeably high up in the middle of the red bricked roofs, erected in
rows, was that of the church where Selka lived.
Neither Selka nor Azariya, the sister entrusted with the church,
knew the Central Cathedral managing the Axiom Church organization
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in the Human Empire’s four empires was now no more than a fanciful
illusion with no master. Still, the small church that served also as an
orphanage stayed in operation without issue.
Even with the cathedral descending into chaos with the death of
the highest minister, there was no apparent impact on the lives of
the masses. The Taboo Index functioned as always, still constraining
the masses’ awareness. Could they truly take up arms and fight to
protect the Human Empire?
They would likely obey if ordered by the Axiom Church or the

emperors. However, that alone could not bring them victory against
the forces of darkness. Knight Commander Bercouli must be aware of
that grave reality at the very least.
What would decide the course of battle in the end was neither the
priority level of weapons nor the usage authority of arts, but the
strength of one’s will. Kirito’s struggles as he upset that hopeless
difference in battle potential, defeating numerous integrity knights,
Chief Elder Chudelkin, and even Highest Minister Administrator,
served as proof for that.
Taking on the looks given by the villagers laboring in the wheat

fields, entwined with vigilance and anxiety, with her chest puffed out,
Alice whispered to her master in swordsmanship in her heart.
—Oji-sama, for the masses living in the Human Empire, peace

might not be something to protect but something granted for all of
eternity.
—And the ones who nurtured that idea must be… the Axiom
Church, the Taboo Index, and us, the Order of the Integrity Knights.
Even at this very moment, Knight Commander Bercouli should be

toiling away, training the forces of the four empires in Central Capital
Centoria and producing their equipment. Or perhaps he was already
mobilizing troops to the «Great East Gate» the frontier of the
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Eastabarieth Empire where the fighting will be fiercest. He must be
wanting for even an additional knight around, both as an assistant
with practical experience and as military capability after war breaks
out.
—That said, I am now…
Going through the wheat fields while sunken in her contemplation,

she exited at the cleared land spreading out towards the south of the
village. Stopping the wheelchair right before the dug black soil, she
scanned through the vast plot of land.
It was said that a massive forest larger than the one in the east,
where Alice and Kirito lived in, stood here until a mere two years ago.
However, thanks to Kirito and Eugeo felling the Gigas Cedar, the
«demonic tree» towering above all else as it ruled over the forest and
endlessly absorbed sacred power, the village’s men could now
engross themselves in expanding the fields, or so Selka had said with
an exasperated look.
A gigantic pitch-black stump remained right in the middle of the

cleared land and to its south, vigorous chopping noises rang out from
the axes of tens of villagers. The potbellied man standing in a corner,
issuing booming instructions all about without an axe in his hands,
was the master of the largest farm in the village, Nygr Barbossa.
Though somewhat reluctant, Alice still pushed the wheelchair over

the narrow, beaten path. Kirito made absolutely no reaction even as
he passed along the stump, the vestiges of the enormous tree he
once fell; his head remained hung down as he held the two swords.
The first to notice the approaching pair were young men from the
Barbossa family, resting atop the trunk of a freshly fallen tree. The
trio, seemingly fifteen or sixteen years old, watched Alice, who had a
scarf wrapped over her blonde hair, without reserve before shifting
their gaze towards Kirito in his wheelchair. Deep jeering could be
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heard as they exchanged words in an undertone.
Upon ignoring them and passing through them, one of the youths
shouted out in a drawl.
“Uncleee, she’s hereee.”
Nygr Barbossa, who was screaming everywhere with his hands on

his waist, vigorously spun around at that and showed a smirk on his
greasy, round face. His large mouth and narrow eyes reminded her of
Chief Elder Chudelkin somewhat.
Still, Alice returned the best smile she could muster and gave a
slight nod.
“Good afternoon, Barbossa-san. I heard you had work for

me, so…”
“Oooh, ooh, if it isn’t Alice, I’m glad you’re here.”
His two hands spread out, approaching haltingly, as his round

tummy quivered; Alice was convinced he desired an embrace, but
after a look at the wheelchair before her, he fortunately gave up on
that.
In exchange, Nygr stood a mere fifty cen on her right before

spinning his huge frame and pointing at a towering, large tree
between the forest and cleared land.
“Look, you can see it, can’t you? We’ve spent all our time
on that frustrating platinum oak since yesterday morning,
but this pathetic amount is how much progress was made
even with ten adult men swinging their axes at it.”
The index finger and thumb on his right hand formed a smallish
semicircle.
The large white and brown tree with a trunk of a mel and a half
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across had spread its roots deep into the earth, stubbornly rejecting
the laborers. Two men swung their large axes in turn even now, but
the notch carved in its trunk was shallow indeed, at less than even
ten cen.
Sweat poured down the men’s bare upper bodies like waterfalls.
Their chests and arm muscles were developed well enough, but their
handling were rather stiff, perhaps due to the lack of need to wield
an axe in their daily activities.
One of the men had his right leg slip as she watched and struck a
wrong spot at an angle. The axe snapped at the middle of its handle
and unrestrained laughter from the man’s co-workers immersed him
as he fell hard on his buttocks.
“Good grief, what are those blockheads doing…”
Nygr moaned and looked at Alice once again.
“At that rate, I have no idea how many more days will it
take for that one tree. And while we were stuck here with
that, Redack’s men have already expanded the land by
twenty mel in every direction!”
After uttering the name of the next most influential farming

household after the Barbossas, Nygr kicked away a pebble at his
feet. His breathing had grown distraught, but all of a sudden, a full
smile appeared on his face as he let out a wheedling voice.
“And that’s how it is, I know our agreement was for once a
month, but could you treat it as an exception just this once
and lend me your strength, Alice? You probably don’t
remember, but I spared… no, treated you to sweets time
after time when you were young. You were such a cute little
miss back then, you see, no, no, of course, that’s not to say
that’s any different now…”
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Alice interrupted Nygr’s words while holding back her sigh.
“I understand, Barbossa-san. I will treat this one particular

time as an exception.”
Getting rid of trees and rocks, like the platinum oak before her eye,
obstructing the land clearing was Alice’s current sacred task—no, her
temporary source of income.
Naturally, it was not work officially assigned to her. There was an

incident about a month into her peaceful life on the outskirts of the
village where a gigantic fallen rock sealed the road towards the
cleared land to the west. The episode of Alice rolling that rock away
on her own as she came across it spread through the village as a
rumor and before she knew it, they depended on her for assistance
on tasks like this.
It was a fact that money was necessary if she were to continue

living with Kirito, so she was thankful for the offers. Still, as Selka was
worried that the men would bother her with an endless stream of
requests if she took on the physical labor without complaint, she
decided to limit her help to once a month for each farming
household.
Nygr should be bound by every single rule laid in the Taboo Index,
the fundamental laws of the Norlangarth Empire, and those of the
village, but it came as no surprise to her that he would send two
requests within the month despite that being a violation of the
agreement. Though he had not broken through the «seal of the right
eye»—what was «Code 871» according to the highest minister’s
words—like Alice or Eugeo, it was likely he simply felt Alice to be
beneath himself. He must felt no need to naively abide by some
agreement made with an ex-convict living in some hut on the
outskirts of the village.
Even with those thoughts in her mind, Alice nodded at Nygr once
again before parting from the wheelchair. She took note of Kirito’s
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status, but he seemed unconcerned by the clamor in the
surroundings. After telling him that she would be right back in her
heart, she walked towards the large platinum oak.
The men who noticed Alice showed smirks or blatantly cluck their
tongues. However, there were now few unaware of Alice’s strength,
so they distanced themselves from the tree without a word en
masse.
Taking their place before the great tree, Alice quickly drew a seal
of sacred letters with a finger on her right hand and brought out its
«Stacia Window». Its quantity of Life was quite a figure, as expected
of one that ten adult men would have trouble against. Using a
borrowed axe as usual would prove ineffective against that priority
level.
Returning to the wheelchair in a jog for the moment, she bent

down and whispered softly.
“I apologize, Kirito. I would like you to lend me your sword

for a little while.”
She gently touched the black leather sheath with her right hand
and felt his left arm tense up slightly as it held the sword.
However, after patiently looking into his blank eyes, the strength
eventually left his arm and a hoarse voice escaped his throat.
“…Aah…”
This was likely a fragment of his memories rather than her feelings
actually getting through to him. What controlled Kirito now were not
his thoughts but the memories resident in his breast.
“Thank you.”
Whispering so, she slowly brought up the black sword from under
his arm. After affirming that Kirito remained docile, she returned back
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to the platinum oak.
But still, this was a splendid tree. Though it could not compare to
the great ancient trees rising around Central Capital Centoria, it must
be over a hundred years old.
Alice gave an apology in her heart before stabilizing her footing.
Her right leg forward and her left leg back. She gently placed her
right hand on the grip wound with black leather of the «Night Sky
Sword» unevenly set on her left hand. She measured the distance to
the tree with her left eye.
“Hey, hey, you think you can break platinum oak with that
thin sword?”
One of the men shouted and the crowd went into an impromptu
frenzy. That sword’s gonna break; the sun’ll set before that; while the
jeers flew in one after another, Nygr Barbossa’s concerned voice
mixed in.
“Aah, Alice, if possible, I would rather you do something

about it within an hour, you know?”
She had fallen over ten trees since she started this job, but
required around thirty minutes almost every time. The reason behind
that slowness was due to her having to keep her strength in check to
avoid breaking the axes she borrowed. But she had no need for that
worry today. The Night Sky Sword was a sacred tool boasting a
priority level equal to Alice’s Fragrant Olive Sword.
“No, I will not require that long.”
Replying with a near-murmur, Alice gripped the sword’s handle.
“…Haah!!”
A short yell. A cloud of dust whirled up from beneath her right foot,
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dug firmly onto the ground, like some sort of explosion.
It had been a while since she swung an actual sword, but

fortunately, she had yet to forget her techniques. The horizontal
slash from the left in the same motion as drawing it from its sheath
ran through the air like black lightning.
The surrounding men appeared to have been unable to follow the

slash itself. Even as Alice rose up from her final posture, with the
sword swung completely to the right in front of her, they continued
scowling questioningly.
There was no more than the meager notch made by the men on
the platinum oak’s smooth bark; it had suffered no other damage—or
so it appeared.
A “Whaat, she missed?” eventually came from somebody and a

number of them laughed. Alice glanced at the person to whom that
voice belonged to and spoke as she sheathed the sword.
“It will be falling that way.”
“Hah? The heck are you…”
The man’s two eyes opened wide with shock upon getting to that
point in his words. He saw the platinum oak’s trunk slowly begin to
tilt. A scream grew from him and those around him as they ran
behind.
The huge tree fell with a terrific tremor where the men were until
three seconds ago.
Alice moved to the front of the stump as she warded off the rising
thick cloud of dust with her right hand. Fine tree rings were clearly
visible on the newly-made cross-section and shone as though it was
polished, but a single section on the edge was slightly frayed.
Perhaps her skills have dulled, or perhaps her unavailable right eye
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was to blame—Alice pondered as she turned herself about.
Her upper body unconsciously straightened up in the next instant.

Nygr Barbossa had a full smile on his face and was rushing towards
her with heavy steps, his arms spread out.
She instinctively lifted the sword in her left hand and Nygr came to
an abrupt stop at the clink made by the guard. Still, his smile
remained and he put his spread out hands together in front of his
body as he shouted.
“B-Bri… brilliant! What skill! Jink, the guard chief, couldn’t

even hope to match that! It’s practically divine!”
He went another mel closer and continued his words with an

expression filled equally with admiration and greed.
“H-H-How about it, Alice, I will double your fee, so let’s not
make it once a month, help us out once a week… no, once a
day!!”
Alice lightly shook her head at Nygr who was rubbing his hands
together fast.
“No, the fee I am currently receiving is plenty.”
If she were to wield the Fragrant Olive Sword and make use of the
armament full control art, it would not be on the scale of one large
tree a day; it would be possible to change this forest to nothing more
than barren land as far the eye could see in mere minutes. But if she
were to do that, their requests would stretch on to tilting the plains,
smashing rocks, and even making it rain.
Nuhnhnhnhnh; Nygr moaned in agony before finally snapping out

of it, blinking, after a “my pay, please” from Alice.
“O-Oh, that’s right, that’s right.”
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Sticking his hand in his pocket, he pinched out the agreed hundred
Shear, a single silver coin, from a leather bag that sounded heavy.
Dropping that onto Alice’s palm, Nygr still stubbornly added some
words.
“How about this, Alice? I will pay another silver coin, so

how about you decline those under Redack this month if they
ask for help…”
It was then, when she held back her sigh and was about to reject
his offer once more.
A heavy clunk reached her ears. Her face sprung up and saw the
wheelchair sprawled on its side with Kirito thrown onto the ground a
distance away.
“…Kirito!”
She gave a hoarse shout and rapidly slipped past Nygr.
She could sense desperation from Kirito as he reached out with his
left arm with his stomach lying on the ground. Ahead of him were the
previously resting young men, two who now supported the long
sword sheathed in white leather on the ground as they cried out in
excitement.
“Uohh, woah, this is heavy as heck!!”
“That’s why even that girl can bring down that platinum
oak in one blow, huh?”
“Shut up and hold onto it properly!”
The third youth shouted and held the Blue Rose Sword’s handle
with both hands so as to draw it.
Alice heard her own teeth gnashing as they grinded together.
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Released next from her throat was a sharp yell.
“You bastards…!!”
The youths’ mouths opened wide upon hearing that as they looked
at Alice.
She ran through the remaining twenty mel in an instant and came
to a stop with the dust whirling up. The three looking at Alice’s face
backed off haltingly.
Somehow restraining the emotions threatening to burst out with a

deep breath, Alice first helped up the fallen Kirito. While sitting him
on the wheelchair once again, she ordered with a stifled voice.
“That sword belongs to this man. Return it now.”
Defiant expressions instantly showed up on the trio’s faces. The

lips of the one with a large build and about to draw the Blue Rose
Sword grew crooked and he pointed at Kirito.
“We did ask that guy if we could borrow the sword, you
know?”
Back on the wheelchair, Kirito’s left arm was still reaching out
towards the pure white sword while his feeble voice leaked out.
One of the youths holding back the sheath warped his lips in
ridicule as he continued.
“And then, he generously lent it to us. With those cries of

aah, aah, you know?”
The last went with the flow and laughed with a “yep, yep”.
Alice could not help but to tighten her right hand’s grip on the
wheelchair’s handle. That hand was unmistakably seeking to draw
the Night Sky Sword hanging off her left hand.
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She would have sliced off those six hands touching the Blue Rose
Sword without even a hint of hesitation half a year ago. Integrity
knights were above the Taboo Index and its prohibition on hurting
others. And in the first place, with the seal on her right eye currently
broken, there were no longer any laws capable of keeping Alice’s
actions in check.
Still—
Alice grinded her teeth so hard it hurt as she fought against the
impulse surging through herself.
These youths were part of the people of the Human Empire that
Kirito and Eugeo sacrificed their lives to protect. She could not hurt
them. Neither of them would wish for that.
Alice remained silent without moving a cen for several seconds.

But she likely failed to conceal the bloodlust emanating from her left
hand. The trio wiped off their smiles and averted their eyes, afraid.
“…Fine, no need for that scary look.”
The larger one eventually spat out with a sulk and took his hands
off the sword’s grip. The remaining pair let go of the sheath with
faces that appeared relieved, probably already at their limits in
supporting it. The Blue Rose Sword laid down heavily where it was.
Alice approached without any additional words, stooped over, and

deliberately used just three fingers on her right hand to lift the white
leather sheath. After a glare at the brats right after turning about,
she returned to the wheelchair.
She wiped the soil that got on the sheath with the cuff of her
overcoat, then placed on Kirito’s lap both the white and black swords
which he firmly hugged before coming to a stop.
She gave Nygr Barbossa a glance, seeing him apparently paying
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that commotion no attention and engrossed in directing the men.
Alice lightly bowed towards his back as he continued his shouting,
and then pushed the wheelchair back north on the narrow path.
The anger raging in her breast for the first time in a while had
turned to a cold sense of futility.
It was not her first time thinking so since she began living in the
forest near Rulid. Most of the villagers avoided even talking to Alice
and as for Kirito who lost his sense of self, they would not even treat
him as a human.
She had no plans to condemn them. Alice was likely still a criminal
who violated the Taboo Index to them, after all. She felt thankful
enough for them giving their silent consent for her to stay close to
the village, and selling her food and daily necessities.
Still, she still pondered in a corner of her mind. —What for?
Exactly what did she suffer so much and fight against the highest
minister, Administrator, for? The other highest minister, Cardinal, the
intelligent black spider, Charlotte, and Eugeo lost their lives; Kirito
lost his speech and emotions; exactly what was protected after all
that?
That line of thought ended up on a question that she could never

utter.
Was there truly a need to protect people like those from the
Barbossas?
That doubt was partly what made Alice abandon her sword and live
in this remote land.
The tremendous military forces of darkness were drawing closer,

moment by moment, beyond the «Great East Gate» at the end of the
Eastabarieth Empire even now. It was dubious if the reborn «Human
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Empire Defense Army» fostered by Knight Commander Bercouli could
even be deployed in time. As Alice was not relieved of her integrity
knight duties—the only one capable of doing so was the deceased
highest minister—perhaps she ought to be rushing towards the Great
Gate to join them as soon as she could.
However, the weight of the Fragrant Olive Sword was now beyond
what Alice could handle.
The Celestial World she believed to be her origin was actually a

deception. The Axiom Church she swore her fealty to was smeared in
lies. Not to mention she now knew the ugliness and vulgarity of the
Human Empire’s inhabitants far too vividly. The time she could swing
her sword without doubts over her own justice and pray to the gods
was of the distant past.
Those Alice now truly wished to protect numbered a mere few. Her
father; her mother; Selka; the elderly Garitta; and Kirito. If nothing
would befall them, what issue would there be turning her back to her
knight duties and continuing her peaceful life in this land—?
Leaving the cleared land, Alice’s feet stopped just as they reached
the path beyond the wheat fields, and she whispered to Kirito.
“Could we go shopping in the village seeing as we are

here? I will not allow some insolent child to harass you this
time.”
There was no reply, but judging the lack of response as consent,

Alice pushed the wheelchair on towards the north.
The skies were dyed in the shades of sunset by the time they
bought a week’s worth of food and essentials with the hundred Shear
silver coin earned and returned to the forest cabin.
She was on the way up the cabin’s porch when she noticed a low
whoosh approaching. Descending slightly with the wheelchair, she
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awaited the origin of that sound near the meadow’s middle.
What made its appearance before long, skimming the treetops,

was a gigantic silver beast with two wings, a long neck, and a tail—a
flying dragon. Alice’s flying dragon who brought the two of here from
the central capital. With the name, Amayori.
The flying dragon circled through the skies above the meadow
twice before gently descending. Tucking in her wings and stretching
out her neck, she first touched Kirito’s chest with the tip of her nose
before rubbing her large head against Alice.
Upon scratching the faintly bluish fuzz under the dragon’s neck, a
low kururu rang out from her throat.
“Amayori, you have gotten a little plump. You have been

eating too many of the lake’s fishes.”
After being scolded with a vague smile, she breathed out from its
nose as though embarrassed, turned her long body about, and
walked towards her bed east of the cabin. She curled up atop her bed
made from thickly laid dry grass, entwining her tail with her head.
Half a year back, Alice undid the leather bridle fixed on Amayori’s
head and released the binding art on the day she decided to build
this cabin in this meadow. And she even went to the extent of telling
her that she was now free and to return to the flying dragon nest in
the west empire, but the flying dragon made no attempt to leave
Alice.
Making a bed with grass she gathered on its own, she plays in the
forest and catches fish in the lake during daytime, but comes back in
the evening without exception. Despite the lack of the sacred art that
restrains the proud, brutal disposition of a dragon and brought her
under a knight’s command, it was a mystery why she did not return
whence she came.
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That said, she was simply glad that Amayori, always together with
her since she became an integrity knight, would remain by her side
through her free will, so she made no actual effort to chase her away.
The villagers spotting her flying over the forest at times seemed to
be one of the causes for Alice’s unsavory reputation among them,
but she felt no point in being bothered over that now.
After telling Amayori good night as she began her low snoring atop
the dry grass, Alice pushed the wheelchair into the cabin.
For dinner, she made a stew from half-moon beans and meatballs.
The beans were just a little hard and the balls were not all that
consistent, but it seemed to have tasted rather decent. Naturally, it
was not like Kirito gave any opinion through his words. He merely
chewed and swallowed, as though from memory, whenever the small
spoon entered his mouth.
She considered how it would be nice if she knew his likes and
dislikes at least, but realized she actually held a proper conversation
with this youth for less than even a full day after thinking about it. It
seemed Selka lived with him in the church for a while two years ago,
but she only remembered him indiscriminately enjoying everything
served. She thought that, too, was just like him.
It happened after she moved Kirito, who managed to finish the

stew after some time, to the small stove’s side along with the chair
and was washing the cutlery in the sink, lining them up in the
drainer.
Amayori who usually slept until dawn suddenly cried out with a low
rururuu outside the window.
Her hands jerked to a stop and she perked up her ears. A noise
unsuited to the season was mixed in the night wind passing through
the forest, like a cold winter wind. A noise like thin, large wings flying
against the wind.
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“……!”
Leaping out of the kitchen, she confirmed Kirito was staying quiet
on the chair before opening the entrance. Straining her ears again,
she judged the wind noise to be approaching, immediately went
down to the front yard, and looked upwards into the night sky.
The black silhouette descending in a spiral against the backdrop of

a sky filled with stars unmistakably belonged to a flying dragon. She
looked towards the east of the meadow just to be sure, but naturally,
Amayori was crouching on her bed as she looked up at the sky.
“Could that…”
The moment she was about to return for her sword, having thought
it could be a dark knight from the Dark Territory who crossed the
mountain range at the edge, she saw the dragon’s scales gleam
silver in the moonlight. She lessened the tension in her shoulders
slightly. The integrity knights of the Axiom Church were the only ones
to ride flying dragons with silver scales even if one were to search
the world over.
That said, it was still too early to be relieved. Exactly who would fly
to a region this remote, and for what reason? Could it be that the
debate regarding the execution of the traitor, Kirito, continued even
throughout this half year and that the cathedral had finally
dispatched someone to do the deed?
Perhaps sensing Alice’s tension, Amayori crept out from her bed
before lifting her head up high and crying out once more. However,
her menacing, deep tone soon faded away, replaced by a coy, high-
pitched kyuun.
Alice, too, knew why straight away.
The flying dragon that landed on the southern part of the meadow
after circling another three times had fuzz in a shade much like
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Amayori’s growing around its neck. That could only be Amayori’s
elder brother, a dragon named Takiguri. In other words, the one
riding on him was—
Alice called out in a stiff tone towards the knight clad in full silver
armor who landed on the ground in an elegant motion.
“…To think you would find out about this place. What
business do you have here, Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-one?”
The one and only integrity knight possessing a number younger

than Alice, who was thirty, did not speak immediately and instead,
first gave a deep bow with his right hand on his chest.
Straightening his body, he slowly removed his helmet. His lustrous

light purple hair fluttered in the night wind and his good looks with a
sense of urban flamboyance were revealed. With his high, smooth
voice, rare for a man—
“It has been a while, my master, Alice-sama. Your beauty

has not faded despite this change in dressing. I could not
help but to make haste to meet with you, master, with a
bottle of alcohol from my cherished collection upon imagining
the bewitching splendor your golden locks would have under
this evening’s glorious moon.”
The left hand held behind his back darted forward and in it was a
bottle of wine.
Alice held back a sigh as she answered the man who apparently
regarded her as his master.
“…I am truly glad your wounds have healed, but I see your
personality is as it had always been. I have only just noticed,
but your manner of speech is slightly similar to Chief Elder
Chudelkin’s.”
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Turning her back to Eldrie who let out a mild ugh, she proceeded
towards the cabin.
“E-Erm, Alice-sama…”
“I will hear you out inside if it is important. If it is not,

down the wine on your own and return to the central
capital.”
Alice gave a glance at the siblings reunited after half a year,

Takiguri and Amayori, who were happily nuzzling each other’s heads,
then returned to the cabin fast.
Eldrie, who docilely followed along, scanned through the narrow

cabin with curious eyes before his gaze fixated on Kirito looking
downwards beside the stove. However, he mentioned nothing about
the rebel with whom he had once crossed swords with and swiftly
slipped to the table and pulled a chair for Alice.
“……”
It seemed ludicrous to thank him, so she sighed instead and sat

straight down. Eldrie sat opposite Alice without asking and placed the
wine bottle on the table. His face clouded over the moment their
gazes met straight on, likely spotting the black bandage still covering
Alice’s right eye. That expression soon vanished, however, with
Eldrie’s nose twitching as he raised his face.
“…There seems to be some aroma here, Alice-sama. On

another note, I have yet to take dinner due to this trip I
undertook in haste.”
“On another note? In the first place, what would spur you
to bring wine instead of rations when flying to this remote
region from the central capital?”
“I swore to the three goddesses that I will never have that
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dried, squirmy thing in this life. If I have to satisfy my
stomach with that, I would rather starve and give my Life
up…”
Alice stood from the chair without listening to Eldrie’s absurd

excuses to the end. Moving to the kitchen, she served the leftover
stew from the metal pot on the stove into a wooden plate and
returned to the table.
Eldrie stared at the bowl placed before his eyes with a mixture of
delight and suspicion.
“……Excuse my abrupt question, but could this possibly

made by your hand, Alice-sama…?”
“Why, yes, it is. What about it?”
“……No. I am merely overjoyed by this day, in which I could

partake in cooking made by my master; more so than being
endowed with some hidden sword stance.”
Holding the spoon with a nervous expression, he brought beans to

his mouth.
Alice asked once again towards Eldrie whose mouth moved as he

chewed.
“And so, how did you find this place? No art could reach
this far from the central capital… and I hardly believe the
Order could dispatch flying dragons to every area in search
of me alone in its current situation.”
Eldrie gave no reply for a moment, murmuring comments such as

“so it’s not that bad, after all” as he energetically moved the
spoon, but eventually raised his face from the now-emptied plate,
then wiped his mouth with a handkerchief he took out from one place
or another before looking straight towards Alice.
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“I came, following the bonds of fate linking us, Alice-sama…
or so I would like to say, but unfortunately, this was an utter
coincidence.”
His right hand flashed open in a pompous gesture.
“Reports that the goblins and orcs were sneaking about of

late came from the knights going about the mountain range
at the edge. The caves in the north, south, and west were all
destroyed under the knight commander’s command, but as
there was still the possibility of them stubbornly digging
through, I came to confirm the issue.”
“…The caves…?”
Alice’s knitted her eyebrows.
Among the four passages passing through the mountain range at

the edge, the caves in the south, the west, and the one exceeding
close to Rulid Village, the north, were rather narrow, denying access
to the orcs and giants who formed the bulk of the darkness forces. As
such, she anticipated the enemy army would gather at the «Great
east Gate», but Knight Commander Bercouli had collapsed those
three caves immediately upon assuming command as insurance.
That was precisely why Alice built this secret home on this land,
but the situation would change if the enemy were to dig through the
cave. Rulid Village would flip from a peaceful remote region to the
front lines where battle would first break out.
“And so… did you confirm the movements of the darkness

forces?”
“Though I flew around the cave for an entire day, I saw not
even a single goblin, let alone an orc.”
Eldrie lightly shrugged and continued.
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“Perhaps they mistook a pack of beasts for military
forces.”
“…Did you check inside the cave?”
“Naturally. I peeked in from the Dark Territory’s side, but it

was buried in rocks up to the ceiling. They would probably
need a large force to dig through that. …Then Takiguri
strangely kicked up a fuss when I pulled on the reins to
return to the central capital. I left the flying to him and he
descended straight towards here. Honestly, I am just as
shocked. It’s a huge coincidence… no, maybe it was the
guiding hand of fate after all.”
Having left his flowery language behind some time ago, Eldrie
showed the resolute face of a knight and continued.
“I am obligated to report that I had come across this

opportunity for an audience with you on this particular
occasion. Alice-sama… please return to the Order! Rather
than the assistance of a thousand men, what we need now is
your sword!!”
Alice slowly turned down her eye as though avoiding the knight’s
forceful gaze.
She knew.
She knew the crackling of the brittle wall shielding the Human
Empire crumbling away. And of the hardships Knight Commander
Bercouli and the newly-formed Defense Army suffer as they propped
it up.
Alice could never repay her debt to the knight commander for his
protection and guidance, and she had yet to lose her sense of unity
with those in the Order of the Integrity Knights, including Eldrie. That
said, that was insufficient to spur her to battle.
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Strength is the might of one’s will. Alice realized that truth through
the battle at the cathedral. If willpower could allow one to overturn a
devastating difference in battle potential, like Kirito back then, then it
could dull the strongest sacred tool too—
“…I cannot.”
Alice softly replied.
Eldrie’s sharp voice rang out at once.
“Why.”
Without waiting for a reply, his sight, keen like a whip, turned to
the young man sitting on the chair next to the stove.
“Is it for that man? Is your heart still led astray, Alice-
sama, by that man who broke out of the cathedral’s jail and
turned his treacherous blade on many knights, the chief
elder, and even the Esteemed Highest Minister? If that is so, I
shall cut off the source of your hesitation for you this very
moment.”
Alice’s one eye glared at Eldrie as he put strength into his right
hand holding onto the table’s end.
“Stop it!”
Though that single line was at a suppressed volume, the knight still
straightened up his upper body with a start upon hearing it.
“He, too, only fought for the justice he believes in.

Otherwise, how could he defeat all of us integrity knights,
who are supposed to be the strongest, and even the knight
deputy commander? You should know the weight behind his
sword as well, having crossed swords firsthand.”
Even as wrinkles came together near his high nose bridge, Eldrie
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slowly released the strength in his shoulders. He lowered his gaze to
the table while murmuring to himself.
“…Certainly, I, too, find it hard to accept Administrator-

sama’s plan of changing half of the people into soulless
soldiers with bones of swords. And without that youth…
Kirito and his friend, Eugeo, it is unlikely anyone would stop
that plan from being realized. Not to mention that if it is as
Bercouli-dono said, that the one who guided that pair truly
stood on a par with Administrator-sama once, as another
highest minister, Cardinal-sama, I would hardly wish to point
out Kirito’s crimes. However… if that is so, I find it even
harder to swallow!!”
As though pouring out what he had always kept suppressed in his

breast, Eldrie shouted.
“If the skills of the rebel, Kirito, overwhelm even those of

us integrity knights as you have mentioned, Alice-sama, why
does he not take up his sword and fight?! Why was he
reduced to such a miserable state and continues to anchor
you down to this remote region?! If he murdered
Administrator-sama in order to protect the masses, then
should he not be rushing to the Great East Gate this very
moment?!!”
Eldrie’s words, as though spewing out fire, showed no sign of

reaching Kirito’s heart either. His half-closed eyes reflected no more
than the light from the wavering embers in the stove.
The heavy, lasting silence that descended was punctured by Alice’s

calm voice.
“…I am sorry, Eldrie. I am incapable of going with you, after

all. It has nothing to do with Kirito’s status… I have merely
lost the strength to wield my sword. I doubt I could even get
a point if I were to cross swords with you now.”
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Eldrie’s two eyes flashed open as though he was taken aback. The
prideful knight’s face contorted like that of a young boy.
That face showed a smile bearing resignation in time.
“…I see. Then I have nothing more to say…”
Slowly stretching out his right hand, he started muttering a sacred

art. The following quick incantation created two crystal elements and
changed their forms into that of extremely thin wine glasses.
Picking the wine bottle up from the table, he flicked the tough cork
off with just his fingertip. He poured a little of the crimson red fluid
into both glasses from the bottle before putting it down.
“…If I had known we would be bidding each other farewell

with this wine, I would have brought along one that was aged
for two hundred years old from the East Empire in my
collection.”
Eldrie lifted one of the glasses, downed it in one go, and then
gently returned it to the table. He took a bow and stood up, his pure
white mantle billowing.
“I bid you farewell here, master. Your guidance on my

sword and arts shall remain unforgotten as long as this Eldrie
lives.”
“…All the best. I pray you stay safe.”
Lightly nodding back towards Alice who managed to get those

words through her mouth somehow, the integrity knight scraped his
boots against the floor as he walked away. Alice could not help but to
avert her eyes from his back filled with unshakable pride.
The door opened and closed. A single shrill cry came from Takiguri
on the front yard, followed by the sound of flapping wings. Amayori’s
voice, nasal from her reluctance to part with her brother, pricked
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Alice’s breast.
Though the strong flapping vanished into the distance before long,
Alice continued sitting without stirring.
Right before the Life of the glasses made from crystal elements
expired, she gently lifted one to her lips with her fingertips. The first
wine she tasted in this half year left an aftertaste more bitter and
sour than sweet on her tongue. The two empty glasses scattered into
pale light as they disintegrated seconds later.
She pushed the cork back into the bottle, yet to be emptied, and
stood up. Moving to the stove, she called out towards Kirito who still
sat in silence.
“…I am sorry, you must be tired. It is long past the usual

bedtime, after all. Now, let us go to bed.”
Gently tapping his shoulders with her hands to make him stand,
she then guided him to the connecting bedroom. She changed his
black robe to his undyed sleepwear before laying him on the bed at
the window.
Even upon bringing up the folded blanket at her feet and covering
him up to his neck with it, Kirito’s eyes remained half-open, still
staring at the ceiling unblinkingly.
The room was filled with a pale blue darkness after she blew out
the lamp on the wall. She sat down beside Kirito and softly caressed
his emaciated chest and bony shoulders for several minutes; his
eyelids fell only then, as though some source of power he had was
cut off.
She waited until the sleeping Kirito’s breathing stabilized before

leaving the bed and changing into white sleepwear herself. Returning
to the living room, she checked on Amayori from the window, then
extinguished the two lamps and went back to the bedroom.
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She lifted the blanket on the bed and slipped in beside Kirito as his
faint warmth enveloped her body.
Though closing her eye would have usually allowed her to flee into
her sleep without delay, her drowsiness seemed mostly absent
today.
The blinding white of the mantle whipping on Eldrie’s back as he

left remained imprinted on the insides of her eyelids, stinging her
eyes.
That same pride should have filled her own back in those days.
That unshakable resolve surging through her body as energy for
protecting the Human Empire, its inhabitants, and the Axiom
Church’s authority with her sword.
However, every last drop of that strength had left her.
She had a question for Eldrie—for her former disciple. Exactly what
do you fight for, now that both the church and the highest minister
have been exposed as falsehoods?
But she could not ask. None of the integrity knights were informed
of the entirety of the highest minister’s horrifying scheme aside from
Bercouli and herself. Not even Eldrie knew the fact that his «memory
fragment» and his «most beloved person», reduced to a part of the
sword golem, remained on the sealed highest floor.
As such, he still believed in the concept of the Axiom Church. He

still waits, expectantly, for the day the three goddesses would send a
new highest minister to the cathedral to bestow their infallible
guidance.
But what should she do, as one aware that the goddesses and the
Celestial World were both great lies?
It was perfectly understandable, but Knight Commander Bercouli
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had to hide half of the truths from the knights to have them prepare
for the incoming war. The hesitation currently in her breast would
certainly infect the other knights if she was in their presence.
Nobody knew if the Defense Army established in haste could repel

the coordinated assault from the darkness forces. If they broke
through the Great East Gate, the monsters thirsting for blood would
march on to this remote village sooner or later. Was there no method
to avoid that disaster—a certain voice replayed within Alice’s mind
every time she pondered that.
The two lines that came from that mysterious crystal plate after
the battle with the highest minister, before Kirito collapsed.
—Head for the World End Altar.
—Straight south after you exit the eastern large gate.
She had no recollection of this name, «World End Altar» in the

Sacred Tongue. However, she knew what could be found upon exiting
the Great East Gate. The wilderness of the Dark Territory: soil
blackened like cinders and skies in the shade of blood reaching out.
Neither advance nor escape was easy once one took a step in.
Even if she surmounted the outrageous difficulties to reach the

altar, what awaited her there? Was there truly someone—or
something—capable of protecting the inhabitants of the Human
Empire from the darkness forces…?
Alice tilted her head atop the pillow and stared at the youth
stretched out on the other side of the bed.
Creeping through the blanket, she moved to Kirito’s side. Reaching

out her hands after slight hesitation, she clung onto him like a child
spooked by a nightmare.
No matter how hard Alice drew his dismally thin body closer, the
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youth who made her heart waver with intensity on a par with flames
showed absolutely no reaction. His pulse continued its sluggish pace;
his lowered eyelashes remained utterly motionless. He… no, that
might no longer be anything more than an empty shell with its soul
utterly burnt out.
If her sword was now in her right hand—
She could bring an end to it all, stabbing their two touching hearts
as one.
That momentary thought overflowed from Alice’s eyes as tears and

fell onto Kirito’s nape.
“Tell me, Kirito… What should I do…”
No answer for her question came.
“What… should I……”
The moonlight pouring in from a gap in the curtains coalesced and

faded within the teardrops ever-increasing.
The twenty-second day of the tenth month that came next was the
coldest it got throughout that autumn.
Calling off the walk, she spent it together with Kirito by the stove.
She intended to make plenty of firewood as the elderly Garitta had
taught her to before winter truly arrived, but it appeared there would
be no need for that.
After taking the entire day to write a mere two letters on

parchment, Alice hesitated for a moment before signing off with
Synthesis Thirty in Sacred Tongue as well below the Schuberg family
name in Common Tongue.
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She neatly folded one, put a wrapper on it, and addressed it to
Selka. She set it on the table beside the other for the elderly Garitta.
The letters expressed farewells and apologies. She could no longer

stay in this house now that Integrity Knight Eldrie knew of it. The next
to come would likely be Knight Commander Bercouli himself, rather
than Eldrie. Alice had no words she could use against her master in
swordsmanship, her benefactor.
Hence, she would leave once more.
A thin, long sigh leaked from Alice before she raised her face and
looked at the black-haired youth sitting on the opposite side of the
table.
“Hey, Kirito. Where do you wish to go? I heard the

highlands in the west are a truly beautiful sight. Or perhaps
the jungles in the south? It would be warm year-long and the
fruits there seem plentiful.”
Despite the bright voice she deliberately used, Kirito showed no

response as always.
His empty eyes stayed glued to the tabletop. Her heart hurt upon
thinking how she had to drag this injured youth from stability again.
Still, even so, she could not possibly leave him in Rulid. Alice could
not force such a task on Selka who was a sister apprentice, neither
did she desire to. Caring for Kirito was the one and only reason Alice
found to continue living.
“…I know, let us leave our destination to Amayori. You

should go to bed soon, we will have to wake early tomorrow.”
Alice changed Kirito, put him to bed, then changed into her own
sleepwear, and extinguished the light before slipping under the
blanket.
Her ears focused on Kirito’s breathing by her side in the darkness.

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She gently shifted herself after he completely fell asleep.
Laying her head on Kirito’s bony chest, steady beating reached her
ear pressing against it.
Kirito’s heart was no longer here. These heart beats, too, were no
more than echoes from the past. Alice came to think so through the
months she spent sleeping aside him each night. However, she still
believed there was something remaining deep within each beat that
echoed out.
If Kirito currently lost only his means of expressing himself yet

retained his ability to think, what could she say to excuse this
behavior of hers? Alice sank into the shallow abyss of sleep as a mild
smile formed as she pondered.
Startling, weak shaking came from the body against hers.
She somehow managed to lift her heavy eyelids. She turned her
left eye towards the window in the east, but the sky visible in the gap
between the curtains was still pitch dark. Her sleep lasted two, three
hours at most by her intuition.
Alice whispered to Kirito whose body stiffly trembled once again.
“It is still night… go to sleep for a little longer…”
She moved her eyelids back down and thought to rub Kirito’s chest
until he went back to sleep. However, Alice finally noticed the youth’s
abnormal behavior as his soft voice reached her ears.
“Ah… aah…”
“Kirito…?”
Kirito, in his current state, possessed no extraneous needs. He

should not awake due to the cold, his thirst, or any such thing. And
yet, the youth’s trembling grew stronger while his legs moved as
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though to leave the bed.
“Is something the matter…?”
Alice quickly brought herself up, wondering if he had, by some

chance, regained his consciousness, and generated a single luminous
element as even the time required to light the lamp seemed too
precious.
She breathed out a disappointed sigh as she saw only that usual
hollow darkness within Kirito’s eyes that showed up in the faint white
light. But, then, what had—
The sound that reached Alice’s ears this time came from outside
the window.
“Kururu, kurururuu!”
Cries came from Amayori who should have been sleeping in a

corner of the vacant land. Sharp, shrill reverberations as though
advising her master to stay vigilant.
Leaping to the floor, Alice ran to the living room from the bedroom
and forced open the entrance door. The cold night air immediately
blew in. A strange smell was mixed into the wind that normally
smelled only of the forest. It seemed to prick into the depths of her
nose; the stench of something burnt—
Alice jumped down onto the front yard still barefooted. She drew a
sharp breath the moment she turned about, scanning through the
night sky.
The skies to the west were aflame.
The ominous vermillion glow was unmistakably reflected from

some humongous inferno. She focused her eye and spotted
numerous trails of black smoke across the starry sky.
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—A bushfire!?
She retracted that thought an instant after it came to her. Aboard

the burnt, pungent wind faintly reaching her was the noise of metallic
clangs—and a clamor of screams.
An enemy assault.
The Dark Territory forces were attacking Rulid Village.
“…Selka!!”
A hoarse cry escaped from Alice and she dashed back to the
house. However, she stood petrified just as she got on the porch.
She had to save her little sister and parents.
But what about the other villagers?
If she tried her best to save everyone, she would need to fight the
forces of darkness head-on. But did the strength to do so still remain
in her current self?
The source of Alice the integrity knight was her almost blind loyalty
for the Axiom Church and the Highest Minister. Now that she lost that
faith along with her right eye, could she truly swing the Fragrant
Olive Sword and use her sacred arts?
Standing frozen, Alice’s ears—
Picked up a gatan, from within the cabin.
Her left eye flashed wide open. A chair fell over in the middle of the
dim living room and beside it was a black-haired youth crawling on
the floor.
“…Kirito…”
Alice moved her paralyzed legs and entered the cabin.
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The light of determination was absent as usual from Kirito’s eyes.
That said, the motive for his sluggish movement was evident. His
one, extended arm reached out straight towards the three swords
hung on the wall.
“Kirito… you…”
Something hot was caught between her chest and throat. It took
some time before she noticed what faintly warped her sight were
tears.
“…Ah… aah…”
Kirito’s frame moved without pause as his hoarse voice escaped,

desperately approaching the swords. Alice swiped at her eyes, then
ran straight to the youth and raised his frail body up from the floor.
“Everything will be fine, I will go. I will save the villagers.

So please settle down and wait for me here.”
Quickly whispering so, Alice drew Kirito into a tight hug.
Thump. Thump. The reverberations of his heart beats reached her

from their touching chests.
A persistent willpower definitely lurked in those beats even with his

heart closed off. Even as indistinct embers, they still transmitted
distinct warmth to Alice’s body.
Alice pressed their cheeks together tightly before gently bringing

him up and sitting him on a chair.
“I will be back immediately after saving them.”
She spoke again, and then first took her armor and sword belt out
from the closet where they were this whole time before equipping
them atop her sleepwear. Rushing over the eastern wall next, she
grasped her beloved sword without hesitation.
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The Fragrant Olive Sword weighed down her two hands as they
held it for the first time in half a year. Attaching its scabbard’s metal
clasp onto her sword belt, she threw an overcoat on while sticking
her feet into boots, then ran down onto the front yard again.
“Amayori!!”
A gigantic silhouette flew out at once, lowering her head, after she
called out towards the bed in the east.
Alice commanded in a keen voice after leaping onto the base of

her long neck.
“Go!!”
Her pair of silver wings beat loudly and the flying dragon lifted
straight off into the night sky after a short ground run.
She could clearly see the catastrophe in Rulid after gaining a little
altitude. The grandly rising flames were mainly from the village’s
north end. The aggressors likely did come from the Dark Territory
through the mountain range at the edge after all.
Eldrie had said that there were no abnormalities at the «North

Cave», blocked on Bercouli’s orders, last night. The numbers required
to be mobilized for removing all that rubble in a single day definitely
exceeded a mere ten or twenty.
It seemed small units had been sneaking in via the three caves
through the mountain range at the edge under the cover of night to
commit evil deeds since times long past. Kirito and Eugeo had
claimed that they fought a group of goblins in the northern cave
before they arrived at the central capital too. However, she had
never heard of an attack this extensive yet bold. The whole of the
land of darkness might truly be thinking that the time is ripe for an
all-out assault on the Human Empire.
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Amayori flew over the dense forest in a single go and arrived at the
skies over the wheat fields at Rulid’s outskirts even as such thoughts
went through Alice’s mind.
She had no reins, but she still conveyed her instructions to hover
by lightly tapping the dragon’s nape.
Alice leaned forward and focused her eye on the village’s state.
The main street crossing from south to north shone red with flames
on its northern end and she could spot the distinct shadows of the
advancing attackers. The nimble goblins dashed as though they were
leaping forward. The large orcs, too, advanced with a short distance
from them.
An impromptu blockade was built from furniture and lumber piled

up immediately north of the central plaza, but the goblin vanguards
had already reached there and their drawn swords flickering in the
light struck as one to pass the obstacle.
The ones fighting back were of the village’s guard corps. However,
they were likely surpassed by even the goblins: be it in numbers, in
equipment, or in experience. At this rate, it would take but a brief
moment before the orc unit, causing tremors as they approached
from behind, pulverized them.
Holding back her desire to dive into the midst of that battle this
very moment, she continued checking the situation.
Flames rose all about the eastern and western sides of the village
as well. It seemed to have yet suffer damage from the plaza to the
south, however. Aside from the guards, the other villagers—including
Selka, of course—must have fled from the south gate and evacuated
to the forest.
Alice focused her eye on the plaza once more with that thought in
mind and could not help but to let out her voice.
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“Why…!?”
There were countless silhouettes sticking close to the central

fountain, surrounding it in the circular plaza before the church. It
escaped her immediate notice as there were far too many of them.
Nearly the whole of Rulid’s inhabitants must have been gathered
there.
Why did they not escape from the village?
The guards would certainly be crushed in no time when the

attackers’ main force reaches the blockade. Unless they begin
moving straight away, it would be too late to evacuate.
Alice tapped the flying dragon’s neck again and shouted out a line
after moving right above the plaza.
“Amayori, standby here until I call!”
And she jumped from the height of several tens of mel without the
slightest hesitation. The hem of her overcoat blew violently as she
fell, slicing through the cold night air.
The villagers, numbering an overwhelming three hundred, who

huddled in a circle might have been prepared to put up a fight as
there were men positioned on the edge carrying farm implements
such as spades and scythes. Alice landed right beside two men who
shot off orders from the side.
The stone paving cracked in a radial pattern with a thunderous

roar. An intense shock ran from the sole of her feet to her head and
her Life probably fell somewhat, but that was as far as it went.
The two men—the wealthy farmer, Nygr Barbossa, and Rulid

Village’s chief, Gasupht—had their words scared out of them by the
silhouette suddenly falling from above.
Though Alice felt her breath momentarily stop upon seeing her
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father’s face, she recovered quick enough to take advantage of the
silence she caused and shouted out.
“You will not be able to hold them back here! Evacuate all
of the villagers through the southern road at once!!”
The shock grew on the men’s faces as they heard Alice’s

instructions.
But what came out from Nygr’s mouth after he came to his senses
was a throaty, harsh voice.
“Don’t be stupid! How can we run away and abandon my

mansion… this village?!!”
Alice refuted the wealthy farmer, veins popping from his brow, in a
sharp tone.
“You can still escape from the goblins’ reach now! What is
more important, your assets or your life?!”
Replacing Nygr who could grunt in reply, Gasupht the village chief
let out his voice, deep and tense.
“Fortifying our defenses in a circular formation was the

instruction from the guards’ chief, Jink. Even I, the village
chief, have to abide by his orders in such a situation. That is
the empire’s law.”
Alice was the one who went speechless this time.
During emergencies, the one who acceded to the sacred task of

the guard chief gains a temporary authority to command all residents
of a village or town in place of its leader. That provision certainly
existed on the empire law of Norlangarth North Empire.
However, the guard chief named Jink was a youngling who only
recently inherited his sacred task from his father. It was doubtful he
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could maintain his composure and assume command under such
abnormal circumstances. The pronounced anxiety on Gasupht’s face
showed that he, too, thought so inside.
That said, the empire’s laws were absolute to the villagers. She
could only have Jink, commanding the defensive line fighting at the
north side of the plaza, pull back and change his orders to start the
evacuation at once, but there was clearly insufficient time.
What? What could she—
The cry of a young yet resolute voice reached Alice’s ears then, as
she stood frozen.
“Let’s do as big sister says, father!!”
Looking back forward with a gasp, she saw a short sister healing
the burnt villagers with sacred arts.
“…Selka!”
Thank goddess, she was fine; Alice took a step forward towards her
beloved little sister, but Selka stood up and weaved through the
crowd to the trio.
After showing a brief smile towards Alice, Selka’s facial expressions

immediately tensed up as she spoke to Gasupht.
“Father, have big sister ever been wrong even once? No,
even I can tell. At this rate, everyone will die!”
“But… but still…”
Gasupht stammered with a bitter expression. His moustache,

stained with white, quivered slightly and his sight wandered futilely
through empty space.
Taking the place of the village chief who went speechless, Nygr
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Barbossa erupted once more in anger.
“This is no place for a child to meddle!! We will protect this

village!!”
His two bloodshot eyes stared at the Barbossas’ mansion built near
the plaza. What was on Nygr’s mind was unmistakably the mass of
wheat just harvested in autumn and the gold coins hoarded over
many years.
Returning his sight towards Alice and Selka, the farmer, naturally
enough, yelled out shrilly.
“Yes… yes, I’ve got it! You are the one who invited those
beasts from the land of darkness to this village, aren’t you,
Alice?!! You were defiled by the darkness’s power when you
crossed the mountain range at the edge in the past!! You
witch… this girl must be a terrible witch!!”
Alice lost her words, jabbed by that fat finger. The clamor from the
villagers, the clashes between weapons resounding from the defense
line, and the war cries from the monsters closing in from the north all
felt far away.
Since she began living in the village’s outskirts, Alice had

countlessly fell the forest’s gigantic trees on Nygr’s request. This
man had practically writhed to thank her each time. And yet, he
could still spew those words as his family’s fortunes occupied his
entire time; how could—
Alice averted her eye from the middle-aged man with an

expression much like the evil countenance of the orcs and murmured
inside.
—How about you deal with it on your own?
—I will simply do as I like. I will take Selka, the elderly Garitta, my
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parents, and Kirito away from this village and search for a new home
somewhere far away.
She grinded her teeth audibly; she lowered her eyelids.
Her stream of thoughts put forth an opposing view.
—But the foolishness Nygr Barbossa and the other villagers

displays was created by the rule by the Axiom Church over hundreds
of years.
The masses were bound by countless principles and laws under the
Taboo Index and while they were granted a tepid peace, something
important was steadily stolen from them.
That would be their ability to think, and to fight.
Where had that imperceptible power, plundered from the masses

over endless years and months, accumulated?
Within the integrity knights who numbered merely thirty-one.
After she took in a deep breath and let it out, the force Alice’s left
eye flashed open with practically made a noise.
Nygr’s face abruptly turned pale, as if from fright, in her sight.
In contrast, Alice felt a mysterious energy overflowing from within.

A power like a flame burning blue-white, quiet yet hotter than all
other. The power that she thought lost at the end of that battle on
the cathedral’s highest floor—one that led Kirito, Eugeo, and Alice to
face off the Human Empire’s mightiest ruler.
Alice took in a deep breath and announced.
“…I will revoke Guard Chief Jink’s order. I shall have every
villager gathered in this plaza retreat to the southern forest
with those bearing arms at in front.”
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Her tone was gentle, but Nygr’s upper body bent back as though
hit by some unseen hand. Nonetheless, one could still say his
courage was admirable with how he still replied in a quivering tone.
“By… by what right can a girl who was drove away-”
“The authority of a knight.”
“Wha… what knight!? This village has no such sacred task!

Even if you can swinging a sword around a little, do you know
what will happen should the esteemed knights in the capital
hear about you just claiming to be one…?”
Alice gave Nygr, frothing as he continued screaming, a firm look as

she gripped her overcoat at her right shoulder with her left hand.
“I am… My name is Alice. Third among the Axiom Church’s

integrity knights, overseeing the Centoria City Region, Alice
Synthesis Thirty!!”
She tore the overcoat from herself as she loudly announced her
name.
The moment the thick cloth her entire frame was clad in was taken
off, her golden armor and Fragrant Olive Sword gleamed brightly as
they reflected the blazing flames.
“Wha… an, an i-integrity knight…!?”
Nygr fell on his rear while looking upwards as a voice, now

completely shrill, leaked from him. Gasupht’s eyes opened wide as
well.
Alice’s proclamation of her name could not have been a lie. After
all, there could not be any in this world who could pass themselves
off as an integrity knight—none who could disobey the authority of
the Axiom Church. Kirito and Alice were probably the only two
capable of doing so, but it was not as if Alice abandoned her sword,
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the proof of her knighthood, even after escaping here from the
central capital.
The villagers making a din around, too, fell silent. The swords
clashing at the defense line in the north as well as the war cries of
the guards and goblins, too, felt far away.
What broke that silence first was a whisper from Selka.
“Big… sister…?”
Turning her left eye towards her little sister who had her two hands
grasped together before her chest, Alice smiled gently.
“I am sorry for keeping it from you all this time, Selka. This
is the real punishment given to me. And—my real duty.”
Tear droplets appeared from Selka’s eyes upon hearing those

words.
“Big sister… I…. I always believed in you. That you were

never a criminal. You are beautiful… so, very…”
The next to act was Gasupht.
Kneeling down on the stone paving with a firm noise, the village
chief shouted with a strained voice while looking downwards.
“Your will shall be done, esteemed integrity knight!!”
Quickly getting up, he turned back to the villagers behind and

issued clear instructions.
“Everyone, stand!! Those bearing arms shall lead the way,

run to the south gate!! Once you are out of the village,
escape to the forest south of the cleared land!!”
An uneasy stir ran through the villagers standing stiffly. But that,
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too, lasted but a brief moment. The villagers had no option to resist
orders from the village chief in the first place; all the more so when it
was the will of an integrity knight.
The muscular peasants fortifying the surrounding stood up and

urged the women, children, and elderly to stand as well. Alice called
to Gasupht who joined in at the head of the pack to stop and spoke in
a hushed voice.
“Father, please take care of everyone… of Selka and

mother.”
Gasupht’s stern expression quavered for a mere instant and he

gave a terse reply.
“……Do take care of yourself too, esteemed knight.”
This father would likely never ever call Alice his daughter again.
That, too, was part of her payment for the power she was granted.
Carving that into her heart, Alice pushed Selka’s back and made her
go along with Gasupht.
“Big sister… don’t work yourself too hard, please.”
Alice smiled as she nodded to her little sister whose eyes were still
watery, and then turned towards the north. The villagers moved off
as one behind her.
“Ah… aah… m-my mansion…”
That pathetic moan came from Nygr Barbossa whose rear was still
on the ground. His gaze flickered between the villagers running off
and his mansion where the flames were closing in towards. Deciding
to leave him alone, she focused on the overall state of the village.
She did succeed in setting the villagers into action, but they still
numbered three hundred. It would take time for them all to escape
from the village. But the defense line was reaching the end of its
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rope and besides, the enemy’s footsteps approached from the east
and west too.
A young man’s shout, much like a scream, rang out from the north
side of the plaza then.
“We can’t hold on any longer! Retreat! Retrea—at!!”
The voice belonged to Guard Chief Jink. Nygr stood up upon

hearing that, as though revitalized, and flared up Alice.
“Look… just look at that! We should have stayed in the

plaza and defended! We will get killed! They will murder all
of uss!!”
Alice shrugged her shoulder and refuted calmly.
“No need to worry; there is all this space. I will hold them
back here.”
“As if you can! You can’t possibly do it, not a chance! Even
if… even if you are really an integrity knight, what can you do
alone against so many of those demons?!!”
Nygr still continued crying out despite the goblins’ horrifying

silhouettes already pressing in from the east and west. Ignoring him
yet again, Alice glanced behind. The last of the villagers were still in
the plaza, though enough of a distance from Alice and the rest in the
center.
Alice gripped Nygr firmly from his nape and pushed him towards
the south. That hand thrust straight into the night sky and she called
her beloved dragon’s name out loud.
“Amayori!”
A mighty roar immediately returned from the skies. Swinging her

raised right hand down from the west to the east, she then shouted.
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“—Burn them to ashes!!”
The noise of flapping wings poured down like a storm and Nygr,
standing still, along with the grotesque demi-humans charging into
the plaza—the goblins—looked straight up at the same time.
The gigantic flying dragon diving through the skies, dyed red by
flames, opened its jaw wide. A bluish-white gleam flickered from
deep in its throat—
Shubaa!!
That resounded as a glaring light came forth. The heat ray that
made contact with the west streets mowed down the east streets as
well, cutting through before Alice and Barbossa’s eyes as they stood
on the southern side of the plaza.
Time stopped briefly.
Terrible flames swelled up along a line and freed themselves into

the night skies. The goblins swallowed up were blasted up high with
shrill screams.
The heat ray that instantaneously slaughtered over twenty of the

aggressors while vaporizing the fountain in the middle of the plaza
and thick white smoke rolled out into the surroundings. Amayori flew
off, skimming atop it, and Alice called out instructions to standby
before glancing her eye behind.
Nygr collapsed back onto the stove paving, perhaps due to the
strength in his waist leaving him, with his two eyes peeled.
“Wha… whaa… a…. a, a d-dragon…!?”
Alice was wondering what happened to the middle-aged man

whose slackened cheeks went into spasm before desperate footsteps
approached from beyond the hanging steam. The ones who
appeared, all clad in leather armor, were the men from Rulid’s guard
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corps. The decision to beat a hasty retreat was a good call as their
condition showed; despite suffering slight wounds, none were hurt
badly among the several tens of guards.
A young man with a large frame who admirably ran at their

end—Guard Chief Jink—noticed the plaza was mostly empty and
shouted with a shocked face.
“W-Where have everyone from the village went!? Didn’t I

tell them to fortify their defenses here!?”
“I had them retreat to the southern forest.”
Alice answered and he blinked as though just noticing her

existence. His sight shifted between her head and feet countless time
as he spoke, dumbfounded.
“You… Alice…? Why are you…?”
“There is no time to explain. Is this all of the guards? Are

there any left behind?”
“Ah… yes, I believe so…”
“Then please escape along with everyone. Aah, and take

Barbossa there with you.”
“B-But… they are right behind……”
Before his words finished—
“Gihii——!!”
A vulgar roar rang through the entire plaza.
“Wheree!! Where did you go, white iumss!!”
The ones who broke through the thick fog as they rushed into the
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plaza were goblins clad in coarse plate armor with long feathers on
their heads, holding machetes similar to lumps of metal in their right
hands. These seemed of a different tribe, having a slightly better
physique when compared to those who appeared from the side
streets earlier and were incinerated by Amayori’s flames.
Alice stared at the demi-humans as she placed her right hand on

her cherished sword’s grip. Flying dragons could not fire their heat
rays in succession. Alice had to face the enemy on her own until
Amayori stockpiled the thermal elements within herself again.
One of the goblins noticed Alice who was clad in golden armor, and
the colors of bloodthirstiness and lust welled up in his eyes shining
golden as he cried out.
“Gihii!! A ium giirl! Kill heer! Kill her and eat heer!!”
Quietly taking on the demi-human who charged straight towards

her while brandishing a machete with his abnormally long arm, Alice
murmured deep in her chest.
—What a terrible power I was given. My very existence is

practically a sin.
This body of an integrity knight.
“Gyaa——!!”
The heavy machete swung down as he leapt and was caught by

Alice who carelessly extended her left hand. Though she felt an
immense impact through her naked palm, it neither broke her bones
nor tore her skin. Gripping the blunt blade with her five fingers, she
crushed it as though it was nothing more than thin ice.
Even before the metallic fragments, broken and scattered far too
easily, fell to the ground, the Fragrant Olive Sword was already
drawn by her right hand and tore a horizontal line through the
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goblin’s torso.
The bright golden air from the sword swept in three goblins
approaching from behind and blew away the cluster of dense vapor
as well in no time at all. The four enemy soldiers’ golden eyeballs
were peeled open, as though unaware of what had occurred, while
their upper body left their lower body before they could let out a
single word, collapsing haphazardly onto the ground.
Avoiding the blood that shot up a moment later, she muttered to

herself within once more.
—Highest Minister Administrator. You were wrong, after all.
—You collected all this power into merely thirty integrity knights
and made them puppets without a will of their own. You thought to
grasp all of the power that should had been split between the masses
of the Human Empire through that. However, this far too ill-
distributed strength served only to delude and mislead both its
owners and those around them. Like how you were swallowed by that
overwhelming might and lost your humanity…
That mistake was now beyond redemption with the loss of the
highest minister.
Thus, at the very least, she had to expend every last drop of this
strength for the masses.
Not as an integrity knight of the Axiom Church, but as a single

swordswoman; she had to think on her own and fight on her own will.
Like how those two brave swordsmen did.
Her left eye was shut throughout that swing; Alice opened it with
resolve.
At the same time, the defense line hastily built at the plaza’s north
was smashed into small pieces from the other side.
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The invaders’ main unit charged in as though to bury the wide
main streets. The goblins numbered over fifty and were
accompanied, though in lesser numbers, by orcs whose giant, plump
frames were covered in thick iron armor, each with a trident in a
hand.
Upon seeing them whose golden eyes gleamed, aflame, and roars
filled with hate and desire, moans of despair leaked from Jink, the
other guards, and Nygr Barbossa.
But Alice’s heart was at ease.
She relied not on the talent for battle she obtained as an integrity
knight. Not even a knight could escape with light wounds if they were
to surround by such numbers and stabbed by their spears.
What gave Alice strength was a new realization.
—I will fight for what I, myself, seek for from now on. I will fight to
protect my little sister and my parents, along with the people of the
Human Empire who Kirito and Eugeo hoped to protect.
Alice vividly felt the remaining doubts about herself and her sense
of futility disappear into a white light deep in her heart. That light
surged through her, finally accumulating at her right eye, covered by
that black patch, and generating an intense heat.
“………!”
She clenched her teeth as she withstood a fierce pain that shot to
her eye socket from the back of her head. But that pain somehow
nostalgic, or heartrending. Alice gripped the bandage across her
head with her left hand and took it off all at once.
Her right eyelid that had been closed since that day nearly half a
year ago opened slowly. A red light expanded from the center of her
dark vision and eventually turned into flicking flames. Visions of
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houses lit aflame overlapped and gradually closed in on each
other—finally finishing as one.
Alice looked at the black cloth held in her left hand with both eyes.
Kirito made the eye patch, discolored from being washed many
times, by tearing it from his clothes. The cloth that protected her for
months ever since her right eye shot away along with that seal might
have finally reached the end of its Life here as it began to disappear
from its edges as melting into the air. Alice came to a realization
while staring at that fleeting, beautiful sight.
She thought she was looking after Kirito who had lost his right arm
and heart through this half-year. However, she was actually the one
protected instead.
“…Thank you, Kirito.”
Pressing the black cloth to her lips immediately before it utterly

vanished, she whispered softly.
“…I am fine now. I will likely still be at a loss, worry, and

lose heart in the future… but I will go on. For us both to
achieve our goal.”
Her head flipped up just as the cloth disintegrated.
Her two eyes gazed at the distinct sight of nearly a hundred

goblins and orcs letting out a multitude of roars as they flooded
forward. The fleeing footsteps from the guards and Nygr Barbossa
echoed from behind.
There was no fear in Alice’s heart as she faced the enemy army on
her own.
Breathing the burnt stench deeply, she yelled.
“—I am a knight of the Human Empire, Alice!! None of the
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blood or slaughter you seek shall happen while I stand here!!
Return to your land through the caves you came from this
instant!!”
As though awed by her refined, distinct shout, the goblins running

at the head slackened slightly. However, a large orc in the middle of
the group, possibly the general, immediately brandished his two-
handed axe with a brutal roar.
“Graaahh!! «Cut-Feet Moricca» here will have that one little

white ium girl on her knees before long!!”
The voice gave strength to the goblins. Alice put a decent amount
of distance between her and the enemy army charging in as a
massive black wave—
“Amayori!”
A huge shadow rapidly dived from the skies the moment she called
out that name. Though the thermal elements accumulated were not
enough for firing the heat ray yet, the flying dragon intimidated the
demi-humans with her body and thunderous call while savagely
skimming past their heads. The anxiety of the astonished enemy
army rose beyond earlier.
Not letting that chance escape, Alice raised the Fragrant Olive
Sword held in her right up high and shouted.
“—Enhance armament!!”
It was half a year since she last chanted those words of the
«armament full control art», not to mention how she shortened the
main body of the art, but Alice’s beloved sword responded to her will.
The golden blade divided into countless small edges with a clear
metallic noise and soared into the night sky while reflecting the fires’
glow.
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“Rage—flowers!”
The golden storm of flowers fell upon the enemy army with
numerous zaas.
The first to be wrapped in a spray of blood was the orc general who
called himself Moricca. His entire body was stabbed through by many
petals, instantly robbing him of his Life, and he fell onto the ground
with a tremor. The orcs around him, too, bent down onto the ground
with screams one after another.
The Fragrant Olive Sword was a sacred tool among sacred tools
with the world’s oldest tree rooted to the core of the Human Empire
before the world began as its source. As its alternate name, «Eternal
Immortality», implied, even when divided into hundreds of flower
petals through its armament full control art, each held a priority on
par with famous swords forged by artisans. Coarse cast iron armor
could not possibly defend against them.
The invaders became restless at losing their main force, including

their general, in an instant. The charge’s momentum weakened
before long and came to a stop around ten mel from the plaza.
Alice sharply swung her right hand that held her sword’s grip at the
goblins lined up at the front, lost at whether to obey their greed or
fear. The hundreds of petals danced through the air with light zaas,
forming dense vertical stripes between Alice and the enemy army.
Alice gave a subdued proclamation while gazing at the demi-

humans through the fence gleaming golden.
“This is the wall dividing the Human Empire and the Land
of Darkness. Even if you dig through the caves, you will not
defile this earth as long as we knights live. Choose—to
advance and fall into a sea of blood, or to retreat and flee
back to the Land of Darkness!!”
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Not even five seconds passed before the goblin vanguards turned
back with great force.
A vibrant ensemble of hammers whirled up into the clear, blue

winter sky.
Alice lifted her hand to her brow and looked at circular Rulid Village
towering beyond the wheat fields.
Today marked a quick one week since the army of darkness’s

assault.
Many of the houses built in the north of the village were burnt
down, but with the village chief’s decision to put nearly every
villager’s sacred task on hold to work on that, the progress of their
reconstruction was rapid. Twenty-one of them had unfortunately
escaped too late and lost their lives, and a joint funeral service was
held for them at the church three days earlier.
After attending the service as she was requested to, Alice rode her
flying dragon to the northern cave to confirm its status.
The long cave that should had been collapsed on Bercouli’s orders
was dug out to such an extent that even the orcs’ giant frames could
easily pass through and the area closest to the Dark Territory showed
signs they camped over many nights.
The attackers did not hollow out the cave in a single night. They
must have repeatedly collapsed the entrance after sending into a
party of combat engineers from the Dark Territory. Thus, there would
have already been a concealed group of goblins within, steadily
working at it, when Integrity Knight Eldrie checked the entrance.
Care and wariness unbelievable from the goblins and orcs of old.
This invasion could be surmised to be no mere reconnaissance, like
those done many times before, by that alone.
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Instead of collapsing the cave once again, Alice dammed the small
river flowing from middle which previously served as a white
dragon’s nest for a time and completely flooded the interior of the
cave. unleashing the countless cryogenic elements she generated
beforehand, she sealed the cave with ice rather than stone.
Now, no one could pass the cave without an art user on par with
Alice generating thermal elements to melt the ice.
Taking her sight off Rulid Village and the white mountain range at
the edge rising beyond it, Alice fastened the last bag of her
belongings to Amayori’s left leg.
“Erm… big sister.”
Selka, who had been helping out with her preparations for
departure with an adamant smile so far, opened her mouth while
looking downwards.
“…Father actually wanted to see you off too. He was all

absent-minded since today morning, you know? …I believe he
must have been glad inside that you came back, big sister. I
want you to believe in that at least.”
“I know, Selka.”
Alice hugged her little sister’s petite body and whispered in return.
“I left this village as a heinous criminal and returned as an

integrity knight. But next time… when I am done with all my
duties, I will be back as simply Alice Schuberg. That would be
when I truly can say this. I am back, father.”
“…Okay. That day will come for sure, right?”
Selka murmured with a watery voice, raised her face, and then
wiped it with the cuff of her apprentice clothes.
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Turning about, she called out to the black-haired young man sitting
on a wheelchair by the side with as cheery a voice as she could
muster.
“You stay well too, Kirito. Hurry up and recover and help
big sister out, you hear me?”
Holding his lowered head with both hands, the sister, young in
terms of age, drew a charm of blessing before she took several steps
back.
Alice approached Kirito, then gently took the two swords from
under his arm and stored them in the bag placed on the saddle on
Amayori. Following that, she lifted Kirito, who had grown thin, easily
and sat him down on the front part of the saddle.
She did ponder leaving Kirito in the village under Selka’s care.
After all, if they were to proceed to the Great East Gate which would
likely become the decisive battlegrounds against the forces of
darkness, Alice would be occupied as a member of the Human
Empire Defense Army and unable to attend to Kirito throughout the
day like what she had been doing.
But still, she decided to bring him along.
Kirito definitely tried to take up his sword and head for the village
on the night of the attack a week ago. The will to fight for another
still remained within Kirito. Thus, the battlegrounds to protect the
Human Empire could be where best to find the means to regain his
former spirit.
Should the need arise, she would protect him even if it required
her to strap him to her back with leather.
Alice gave her little sister whom she held dear one last firm
embrace.
“…I will be going, then, Selka.”
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“Yes. Take care… and be sure to come back, big sister.”
“I promise. …Please give my regards to Garitta-san too.

…Stay well and focus on your studies.”
“I know. I’ll become a fine sister for sure… and one day, I’ll
also…”
Selka trailed off there and showed a disheveled, tearful smile.
Gently stroking her little sister’s head before releasing her, Alice
endured her reluctance to leave as she walked to her beloved dragon
and rode immediately behind where Kirito sat on the saddle.
She nodded to her little sister on the ground and faced the blue
skies.
The reins lightly rang out and the dragon began her ground run
between the wheat fields with strength that showed no sign of the
two humans and three swords weighing her down.
She would definitely return to this village one day.
Even if she were to fall on the battlefield, her spirit would still
return; it surely would.
Alice shook off a drop of tear in her eyelashes and yelled out in a

crisp voice.
“…Hah!”
Softly.
The sensation of floating came as they left the ground.
Having grasped an updraft, Amayori circled as she dashed into the

sky.
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The vast fields and forests; Rulid Village in their middle with a
brand new roof gleaming at its core; Selka waving both hands as she
earnestly ran; she burnt the sight of them all into her eyelids—
Alice had the flying dragon turn its head towards the eastern skies.
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Vol.15 Chapter 16
Source: tap-trans
Ocean Turtle Raid July AD 2026
The many events that conspired in these two hours were beyond
the expectations of even the self-proclaimed genius of the finest
caliber, Higa Takeru.
However, the developments before Higa’s eyes this moment

surprised him far more than any of those earlier.
A delicate girl of approximately eighteen or nineteen held up a

man who had fifteen centimeters on her by the nape of his neck with
her slender right arm. His gaudy-patterned Hawaiian shirt was
strained to the edge of tearing and the heels of his sandals were off
the ground.
Staring at Lieutenant Colonel Kikuoka Seijirou with her two blazing

eyes, Yuuki Asuna shot off words, sharp as blades, from those lovely
lips.
“I will never forgive you if Kirito-kun remains unconscious.”
Higa could not see Kikuoka’s expression beyond his black-rimmed

glasses gleaming from the lights from the ceiling. However, the Self-
Defense Force executive who should have black belts in both judo
and kendo seemed overpowered by Asuna’s words, gulping with his
hands raised to each side of his face in surrender.
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“I understand. I will make it my responsibility to ensure
Kirito’s recovery.”
The dim sub control room was immersed in still silence.
No one could say a word: not Higa sitting on the chair before the
console, or Koujirou Rinko standing beside him, or the various staff
members from Rath still in the room. That was how overwhelming
the aura let out from the girl, the youngest person in this place, was.
I see, she was a «survivor» who returned from a real battlefield,
wasn’t she; Higa thought so in a corner of his mind.
Asuna eventually opened up her right hand without saying

anything. Released, Kikuoka took in a deep breath, almost ready to
collapse onto the floor, while Asuna stumbled backwards. Rinko’s lab
coat fluttered out as she immediately supported her back.
The female physicist, who Higa treated as his senior from that
seminar, held Asuna tight in her chest covered by the lab coat and
whispered in a firm tone.
“Don’t worry. He will be okay. He will come back for sure,

back to your side.”
Asuna’s expression, as tense as it could be, crumpled upon hearing

that.
“……Yes, he will, won’t he? I apologize… for losing myself

there.”
Rinko gently wiped away with her fingers the tears from Asuna’s
eyes that were utterly absent even throughout the assault.
The air that had finally loosened somewhat drew tight once more
with the noise as the sliding door was opened manually. The one who
rushed in was Lieutenant Nakanishi.
With his white dress shirt stained with sweat and dust, and a large
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pistol peeking from his shoulder holster, Nakanishi glanced across
Rinko and the rest before directing his words towards Kikuoka
standing behind.
“Status report! We have confirmed the lockdown of

pressure-resistant barrier walls number one and two as well
as the evacuation of civilians to the bow block!”
Kikuoka straightened his Hawaiian shirt’s collar before stepping

forward and nodded.
“Good work. How long do the barrier walls look like they
will hold?”
“Yes… it depends on their equipment, but it will stand up

to small arms. It will take eight hours at least even with a
tool like a chip saw. Explosives could break through… but it is
doubtful they will resort to those. The central barrier wall is
right next to the…”
“The light cube cluster, huh.”
Ending his words for him, Kikuoka pushed up the bridge of his
spectacles as he sank into a short silence.
He raised his face before long, however, and scanned through the
tight subcon space.
“Right, let’s put things in order. Lieutenant Nakanishi, the

status on our human casualties, please.”
“Yes. Three researchers from the civilian project team with

minor injuries are undergoing treatment in the prow’s
sickbay. Among our combatants, there are two with heavy
injuries and two with light injuries. They are likewise
undergoing treatment, but their injuries appear to be non-
fatal. Including the two with light injuries, we have six able to
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fight.”
“It’s a stroke of luck having no fatalities despite all those

shots fired… , the status on the hull’s damage.”
“The operation room in the dock at the bottom of the ship

is filled with holes. Remote control of its access is likely
impossible. Likewise for the route from the dock to main
control, but these are, well, mere scratches. What matters is
the break in the electrical line… there is a stable supply of
electricity from the auxiliary line, but the propeller will not
spin unless we restart the control system.”
“A sea turtle without its fins, huh. And with a shark

snapping at its belly, at that.”
“Yes. Blocks one to twelve of the lower shaft were all

occupied along with the ship’s bottom dock.”
Vexed, Nakanishi spoke with his brows knitted under his shortcut
on his features that spoke of his fortitude. In contrast, Kikuoka
combed up his fringe with a slight resemblance to that of a teacher
and placed himself on the console by the side before wriggling his
geta with his toes.
“So they took everything: the main control room, the first
STL room, and even the nuclear reactor, huh. …So the silver
lining’s how their aim isn’t to destroy.”
“Hah… it isn’t?”
“They wouldn’t need such a grand operation to break in

with a submarine if they just wanted to sink us; a cruise
missile or torpedo would suffice. So the question here is who
exactly they are, instead… Higa-kun, any thoughts?”
With his name brought up without warning, Higa blinked several
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times, and then somehow restarted his mind still reeling with
lingering shock.
“Aah, right, well.”
Turning back to the console while joining those meaningless

groans, he operated the mouse with his right hand and called out the
recordings from the onboard observation cameras onto the front
large monitor.
The opened video window was dim and blurred, but upon pausing
it at a random spot, he adjusted its brightness and contrast. What
showed up were several silhouettes slouching as they moved through
the passage on-board. They were dressed in entirely black combat
suits with a helmet and multi-purpose goggles worn on the upper half
of their faces and imposing assault rifles in their hands.
“…So, well, as you can see, there aren’t any marks

indicating their nationality on their heads or bodies. Guess
the color and form of those equipment aren’t from any
regular army either. Their rifles look like they’re from Steyr,
but there are plenty of those, so… all I can really say is that
they probably aren’t Asian, judging from their average
figure.”
“In other words, that’s not a special unit belonging to our

nation at least. How delightful.”
Kikuoka scratched his chin and voiced out those disturbing words.
A sharp glint shone in his usually calm and narrowed eyes as they
looked up towards the large monitor.
“And we know one more thing. …These people are aware of

the existence of Project Alicization.”
Higa nodded with that pointed out.
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“Well, guess they would. They did break in from the ship’s
bottom dock and charge straight up to the main control room
without any detours and all. So that would make their aim
probably the theft of the STL technology… no, the true
bottom-up artificial intelligence, «A. L. I. C. E.».”
Which implies a major information leak over a long period of time.

But Higa refrained from voicing that out and held back his urge to
check on the expressions on the staff members of Rath in the sub
control room as he continued in an optimistic tone.
“Luckily, we locked up the main control room in the nick of

time. It’ll be harder to manipulate the Underworld directly
with that lock on than even with the console smashed. They
won’t be fiddling with the simulation or ejecting the light
cube with «Alice»’s fluct light.”
“But the same applies to us, doesn’t it?”
“Yep, yep. There’s no running with admin rights here at

this subcon either. Neither the main nor sub will be able to
eject «Alice»’s light cube externally. …But Kikuoka-san, ain’t
that the same as our win? Those guys won’t be getting
access to the cluster both physically and digitally, so they’re
right where we want when reinforcement from the escort
Aegis ship rushes in here.”
“I fail to see how they are where we want them to be… but
there lies the problem.”
Kikuoka’s stiff expression remained as he questioned Nakanishi.
“How is it, can «Nagato» move?”
“Well… on that issue…”
Nakanishi forced his brawny mouth into giving the answer.
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“Nagato was ordered to stay its position by the fleet
command in Yokosuka. It appears command had judged that
we were taken hostage by the attackers.”
“Wha……”
Higa’s lower jaw dropped.
“What hostages, weren’t all of the crew evacuated to this

side of the pressure-resistant barrier walls!?”
A composed reply came from Kikuoka.
“Those men dressed in black must have a connection to the

ones above the Self-Defense Force. It was eight in the
morning today when Nagato separated from the Ocean
Turtle, a whole six hours before their raid. The order for
Nagato to break in will likely only come after they secure
«Alice»’s light cube. Naturally, they would have a time limit,
but…”
“So that means those guys aren’t just a bunch of terrorists,

huh. This isn’t good… they might notice if they have a
specialist with them. That alternate way of retrieving Alice…”
“Acting from within the Underworld, you mean…? They did

seize the first STL room and it is possible to execute the
ejection procedure from the virtual console set up in the
Underworld too…”
“What will happen if that’s done?”
Higa gestured as he replied to Koujiro Rinko’s query.
“A target cube will be extracted from the light cube cluster

in the exact middle of the main shaft and be brought to
either control room through the air tubes. That’s where the
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exit is when extracting it.”
After pointing at a rectangular hatch located at a corner of the

console desk, he turned his sight towards the door installed deeper in
the room.
A small metal plate was screwed into the door made from
aluminum alloy. The words carved into it were, “Second STL
Room”.
Beyond that door were two STL—«Soul TransLators». A young man

lay in one, watched over by Aki Natsuki, a nurse and a Sergeant first
class. Playing a major role since the start of Project Alicization, he,
Kirigaya Kazuto, now even had the capability to chart its course.
Turning back, Kikuoka spoke in a serious tone with his arms

crossed.
“So our final hope will be in his hands yet again. Higa-kun…
what can you say about it, in what state is Kirito-kun?”
Higa turned to look upon hearing faint breaths and his eyes met
with Yuuki Asuna’s, staring straight towards him while supported by
Rinko.
He was at a loss at how to explain the current situation before the

girl, apparently the girlfriend of Kirito, Kirigaya Kazuto. However, a
scratchy yet firm voice immediately reached Higa’s ears.
“I am fine. Please tell me the truth.”
Higa nodded after taking in a deep breath and letting it out.
“In a nutshell… he’s just a step away from the very worst
he could go, yep… yes.”
Speaking while correcting his tone, Higa moved the mouse once
again.
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Wiping away the photo of the attackers, he opened another
window. What was shown there was a gently wavering three-
dimensional rainbow-colored graph.
“This is a visualization of Kirito-kun’s fluct light.”
The whole room stared silently at the screen.
“He was injected with a muscle relaxant in Tokyo a week

before and fell into cardiopulmonary arrest. Fortunately, he
held on to his life, but a part of his brain was hurt… that was
the fluct light network, to be specific. Though the damage
would be difficult to treat with existing neurology, there was
a chance for recovery by utilizing STL technology. Thus, in
order to stimulate the creation of a new network, we
attempted the usage of the STL without its limiter to activate
Kirito-kun’s fluct light.”
Catching his breath, he picked up a bottle of mineral water and

rehydrated himself, parched from the unfamiliar style of speaking.
“It was crucial for him to dive into the Underworld in order
to carry out this treatment. After all, the treatment will bear
no results unless his fluct light was active like in reality. As
such, like when we had him dive from Rath’s branch office in
Roppongi, we sealed off Kirito’s memories and unloaded him
into a remote region in the Underworld… or at least, we
should have. However, though we still do not know exactly
why, his memories were not sealed off, probably due to the
damage to his fluct light. Kirito-kun was thrown into the
Underworld as the real Kirigaya Kazuto-kun. We only found
out earlier when we received communication from him inside,
but…”
“Wait… wait a moment.”
Rinko was the one who interjected.
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“Then Kirigaya-kun has been spending all that time in the
accelerated Underworld as himself? How many months… have
passed inside…?”
“…Roughly two and a half years.”
Asuna, propped up by Rinko, trembled the moment Higa answered

so. It must have been a shock to her, but he believed in her earlier
words and continued his explanation.
“Kirito-kun went into contact with the artificial fluct lights

of that world for that much time. Probably while knowing
those fluct lights will be erased upon the end of the current
simulation… That must be why he aimed for the
communication console with the real world set up at the
heart of the Underworld where the first village was once
formed. To request that you preserve all of those fluct lights,
Kiku-san.”
Taking a glance to his side, he saw Kikuoka staring at the three-

dimensional graph with the light from the screen reflecting off his
glasses. He turned back to Rinko and Asuna.
“…He must have gone through a lot. The communication

console was taken into the headquarters for the ruling
organization, the «Axiom Church», after all. The fluct lights
belonging to the church have overwhelming statuses and not
at a level Kirito-kun could go against as a normal inhabitant.
He would have normally «died» immediately after trespassing
into the church and been logged out from the Underworld…
—But he made it. I couldn’t confirm the details in the log
since we were under attack, but it seemed he had several
people helping who were of course, artificial fluct lights,
but… in any case, it appeared he had comrades. Most of them
died in the battle against the church and as a result, he was
suffering badly from self-condemnation when he succeeded
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in opening that connection to us. To put it in another way, he
was attacking his own fluct light. It was at precisely that
moment when those guys dressed in black cut the electrical
line and made the STL’s output increase for an instant due to
the electric current surge from that short. In the end, Kirito-
kun’s self-harming urges became reality… and his «sense of
self» went into stasis…”
“His sense of self… went into stasis? What does that

mean?”
Higa turned back to the console at Rinko’s question.
“…Take a look at thiss.”
Nimbly tapping on the keyboard, he expanded the image

displaying Kirigaya Kazuto’s fluct light activity in real time.
In the core of the irregularly wavering rainbow cloud was a small

space of blank darkness, hovering like a dark nebula.
“Unlike the artificial fluct lights in the light cubes, we have

yet to fully analyze a living human’s fluct light, but a good
part of it has been mapped. What should have originally been
in this black hole is what would be the «core»… one’s self-
image.”
“Self-image… you mean one’s perception of oneself?”
“Yes. It appears our decisions are guided through binary

circuits, of yes or no, going, ‘what would I do in this
situation’, in our fluct lights. For example, Rinko-senpai, have
you ever ordered seconds in a beef bowl place?”
“…I haven’t.”
“Even when you really think you still want to and could
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have another?”
“Yes.”
“And that’s the processing result from the self-image

circuits in you, Rinko-senpai. Likewise, most decisions will
not be realized unless they pass through those circuits. In
Kirito-kun’s case, his fluct light is mostly unhurt. However, as
those particular circuits are inactive, he can neither handle
input from outside nor produce output by his own will. All he
can do now… is probably reflexive reactions from his innate
memories. On the scale of eating or sleeping.”
“Then… where does that put his consciousness?”
“…Unfortunately…”
Higa paused his words for a moment and continued with his eyes
turned downwards.
“He wouldn’t know who he is or what he should do, unable

to speak or do anything by his own will… I would believe that
would be his current state…”
Silence reigned over the dim space with its solitary rule yet again
for the third time.
“…Fu…”
The following syllable was erased by the clamor of sturdy combat

boots striking the steel plate on the wall.
It appeared putting two, three dents into the wall was insufficient
in appeasing Vassago Casals, a member of the assault team, as he
stomped with all his strength onto a confectionery pack dropped by
some Rath researcher who was in this control room tens of minutes
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ago before finally ceasing his torrent of expletives.
Combing up his slightly wavy black hair from his Hispanic blood, he
clomped over to the front of the console desk and held the man
standing there by his collar with a single hand.
“Say that one more time, you bastard.”
Hanging from Vassago’s right arm, flexible as a whip, was a young

man who appeared overwhelming skinny in comparison. His blonde
hair was cropped short with his skin morbidly white.
Wearing rustic glasses with a metallic frame atop his scrawny

cheeks, the man was the only non-combatant in the team. His name
was Critter, a hacker consultant from Glowgen Defense Systems’
cyber operations (CYOP) department.
As though he was a network criminal with a record, his name was

not his actual name, but his handle. But the same likely applies to
Vassago. Vassago is one of the seventy-two demons recorded in the
grimoire from the medieval times, “Goetia”, said to be the prince of
hell. Surely no parents would give their son such a name. He was
staff from the CYOP department as well, though his expertise lies in
combat rather than computers—in a full-dive environment, of course.
Though his history was as dubious as Critter’s, the man excelled in
VR battles.
In actual fact—
Aside from Gabriel Miller, the twelve on the Ocean Turtle assault
team were all dogs kept through the exchange of new personal
references for their shady pasts.
And Critter, one of those dogs, showed no sign of fright even when
hoisted by Vassago and audibly chewed on his gum while he replied.
“I will say it as many times as you want. This console is
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locked down harder than dry shit and the laptop we brought
in won’t crack it even after you grow senile and kick the
bucket, geddit?”
“Not that, four-eyes! I’m talking how you said it’s our fault
that it’s locked with how long we took to break in!!”
Exchanging harsh words in turn, Vassago let out curses from his
foul mouth. His wild good looks could land him a career as a model if
he desperately put in the effort, but that was just how menacing he
would appear when enraged.
“Oh c’mon, I’m just pointing out the truth there, ya know?”
“Rich words coming from someone trembling in the back

during the fight, you bastard!”
The other members made no attempt to stop the quarrelling pair

as they watched them while sniggering. Spotting an apt time, Gabriel
snapped his fingers and drew the pair’s attention.
“Okay, that’s enough, the two of you. We don’t have the

time to push the blame. We have to think about our next
course of action.”
With that, Vassago who turned his head to look back pouted his
lips like some child and spoke.
“But bro, if we don’t drill some discipline into this guy…”
Stop it with that «bro»; he held back those words. It seemed

Vassago called Gabriel bro in recognition of his strength during their
one-versus-one VR combat training, but he felt strange discomfort no
matter how many times he heard it. Vague human relationships
grounded on mere emotions, be it friends or comrades, were beyond
his scope of understanding.
At any rate, he would be able to classify all of those human
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emotions in an orderly manner with the information from the color
and form of the «cloud of light» upon obtaining the technology to
extract and preserve souls. With that in mind, Gabriel adopted the
tone of a leader and instructed the two.
“Listen here, Vassago, Critter. I am satisfied by the team’s

work thus far. We did succeed in our first objective,
occupying this control room with no casualties aside from a
scratch on Gary, after all.”
Upon hearing that, Vassago grudgingly release Critter’s collar and

placed his hands on his waist.
“But bro, there’s no point in that with the crucial control

system locked. Our final objective, that light cube cluster
thing, is beyond that steel wall, right?”
“That is precisely why I said we should be thinking about

how to break through that wall.”
“That said, those guys from the JSDF aren’t going to keep
quiet forever, ya know? If the pros from the Aegis ship
escorting this slow turtle were to break in, we’ll be on the
losing side with just us eleven plus that one extra guy.”
As expected as the one Gabriel chose as the vice-commander,

Vassago grasped the situation unlike some mere wild dog. Gabriel
lightly shrugged his shoulders after some thought.
“It appears our client had a deal with the top brass of the
JSDF. The Aegis will not make a move for the twenty-four
hours from the start of the operation.”
“…Ooh.”
The thin whistling came from Critter. His pale-grey eyes narrowed
beyond those goggles-like glasses.
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“That means this operation isn’t some simple robbery… no,
no, I suppose it’ll be wise to keep those words to myself,
huh.”
“I am of the same mind.”
Nodding with a faint smile, Gabriel scanned through the team once
more.
“Right, let’s confirm the situation. It is currently 14:47 JST

with forty minutes passed since we broke in. We are now in
the Ocean Turtle’s main control room. Though we succeeded
in occupying it as per our objective, we failed to secure the
researchers from Rath and the system here is locked down as
well. Our next objective would be to occupy the sub control
room, but… Brig, can we cut through the pressure-resistant
barrier doors?”
The giant he called out to sluggishly stepped out from the group
and answered.
“It’ll be a little tough. It’s using that newest composite

material and the portable cutter we brought in won’t get
through it within twenty-four hours.”
“I see Japan’s going strong financially. Hans, how about

blowing the barrier wall off with C4?”
The tall member with an orderly-maintained moustache was the

one to spread his arms apart without restraint this time round.
“I wouldn’t recommend going down that route at all. The

light cube cluster’s holding room is right behind that wall,
isn’t it? I can’t give any assurance we can blow that door
down without hurting anything inside.”
“Hmm.”
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Gabriel crossed his arms and continued his words after a moment
of thought.
“…The mission handed to us is to locate and extract a

single light cube from all of those and bring it back along
with its interface. We already have the cube’s unique ID. In
other words, if we could operate the console, it should be a
breeze to search through the cubes and eject that one from
the cluster. We should have been on the ship back with a
beer in hand by now.”
“Geez, it’s all because this bespectacled pile of bones can’t

remove one crappy lock despite spouting off lies about
hacking into the Department of Defense’s servers.”
“Oh, now that’s a real shocker. I didn’t expect some gamer

who had never shot a gun made out of anything but polygons
to say that to me.”
Giving just a glare at Vassago and Critter who were about to

restart their quarrel, Gabriel stressed his words.
“Do the lot of you want to return empty-handed and get

jeered at instead of a bonus?”
“No!!”
The group shouted as one.
“Are the lot of you some dimwits outsmarted by a bunch of

half-assed engineers?”
“No!!”
“Then think! Prove that thing on your necks has more than
just oatmeal in it!!”
Furtive thoughts went through Gabriel even while he acted out the
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role of the «tough commander» almost autonomously.
Obtaining the first true artificial intelligence, «Alice», created by

humans was Gabriel’s greatest goal as one who pursued souls along
with the monopolization of the Soul TransLator technology. He
planned to deal with the team with that nerve gas he secretly
brought and first escape to Australia upon obtaining them both.
However, this operation commissioned by the NSA coincided

exactly with Gabriel’s objectives up to that phase. With the
administrator rights system controls locked away, he had to obtain
«Alice»’s light cube through other means.
Alice… «A. L. I. C. E.».
It was the informer (rabbit) within «Rath» who conveyed that

codename to Gabriel’s client, the NSA.
He was not informed of the rabbit’s personal data. However,

assuming a significant sum of money was what lured it into betraying
the organization and leaking that intelligence, it would likely not
expose itself to danger in such a situation.
In other words, he could not expect any further help from the
rabbit on the other side of those pressure-resistant barriers. He had
to achieve the objective with the current intelligence and equipment
within that short time limit.
The time limit—the time limit was the issue.
Gabriel could fully curb those futile emotions, be it impatience or

unease, but he could not help but feel a certain pressure as the time
limit in twenty-three hours loomed closer.
The NSA agents told Gabriel this when they requested this
intelligence theft mission, to be conducted in absolute secrecy.
Rath’s activities could heavily influence the vested interests of

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Japan’s defense industry. As such, the higher-ups within the Self-
Defense Force held little like for Rath’s existence—or rather, some
among those would even assertively hinder them.
The younger Self-Defense Force executives with meager political

influence made up the foundation of Rath. The NSA had targeted that
and arranged a secret arrangement with a certain high official in the
Maritime Self-Defense Force through a member of the CIA in the
embassy. The Aegis ship, «Nagato», escorting Rath’s headquarters,
the Ocean Turtle, would prioritize the safety of the hostages and
make no move for twenty-four hours from the start of the attack.
However, the Aegis would have to act after that standby period in
order to eliminate future issues with the media. If their fully-equipped
soldiers were to charge in, Gabriel and the assault team would be
easily annihilated due to the difference in numbers and equipment.
He planned to escape alone in a small submarine even if it reached

the worst-case scenario. But if he failed to obtain the pivotal light
cube, his valiant pursuit of the human soul would be forced to
regress to an irredeemable degree.
Gabriel had already laid out detailed plans for his life after this
operation.
First, he would escape to Australia with Alice and hide the light
cube and the STL technology in his villa on the Sovereign Islands.
Returning to San Diego via plane, he would report the failure of the
operation to the NSA. Crossing back over to Australia after the heat
died down, he would install a STL machine in the large basement in
his villa and construct a virtual world designed to his whims.
Alice and Gabriel would be the only inhabitants of that world

initially. However, that would be far too lonely. He had to source
more material for the purpose of his research on the soul as well.
He would search for young souls overflowing with vigor around
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Sydney or Cairns, capture them, and extract their souls with the STL
before disposing of their unnecessary shells. Eventually, he hoped to
cross the seas for his motherland, America, or the origin of the full-
dive technology, Japan, as well.
Gabriel possessed a deep fascination with the unique mentality of

those who plays VR games in Japan. Though not all of them, some of
those players seemed to treat them as more real than reality and
held nothing back in exposing their emotions there. Those strong
desires pulsated upon recalling that sniper girl he met in Gun Gale
Online even now.
That likely had a relation to the «real virtual world» that once
existed in that country for a mere two years. Those youths who
experienced a death game endowed with true life and death hacked
in by a developer. They, those «survivors», possessed souls
compatible with virtual worlds beyond any other.
He wanted them all if possible—especially the souls of those

players called the «clearing group (Progressers)». He did not know if
that sniper girl was one of them, but of course, he still wanted her
soul. Light cubes enclosed with them would exude radiance more
precious than any jewel.
That ultimate radiance unobtainable by the world’s filthy rich even

if they laid down bundles of notes, amounting to hundreds of millions
of dollars. He would line them up in his secret room, let his whims
decide which souls to load into his desired worlds, and treat them as
he liked.
That was truly marvelous was how he could freely copy and paste
those souls extracted from humans and sealed into light cubes.
Gabriel could rollback those broken, warped souls and carve them
however he wanted. As though cutting them to exhibit their finest
radiance like with rough gems.
Gabriel’s long journey would have made a full circle back to its
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origin when he arrives at that point.
To the time he witnessed that exquisite gleam Alicia Klingerman’s

soul showed under that large tree in the forest.
Those thoughts lasted a sheer instant, but Gabriel lowered his

eyelids as his back shivered slightly.
His icy-cold cognition had returned by the time his eyes reopened.
If the souls of various countries’ youth were to be the rubies,

sapphires, and emeralds surrounding a crown, «Alice» would be the
gigantic diamond encrusted at its center. Only Alice, the ultimate
soul free from all impurity, sufficed as his eternal partner. He had to
find and obtain the girl’s light cube at all cost.
However, he could not seize it through physicals means without

breaking the pressure-resistant door to the light cube cluster’s
holding room.
Thus, he had no choice but to utilize the system from here. That
said, it appeared not even a first-class cybercriminal like Critter could
do anything about the lock on the main console.
Gabriel’s boots rang out as he stepped behind Critter whose

fingers were running over the keyboard.
“How is it?”
His hands raised up high in reply.
“It’s hopeless logging in with administrator rights. All we

can do is suck on our thumbs while peeking into the fairyland
where those fluct lights in the cluster above live.”
Critter moved his fingers and a window opened on the large screen
on the opposite wall, displaying a curious sight.
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It was far from a «fairyland». A sickly red permeated the air and
the ground was as black as fresh asphalt.
Multiple primitive tents sewed together from leather were stood in

the middle of the image. Beside them gathered roughly ten strange
organisms, short, stout, and bald, who were making a racket for one
reason or another.
Though humanoid, they could hardly be mistaken as humans. Their

backs were horrendously hunched, their arms were long enough to
scrap against the ground, and their bent legs were stumpy in
comparison.
“Goblins…?”
Gabriel murmured and Critter spoke cheerfully after a soft whistle.
“Ooh, well-informed, aren’t you, commander. That’s right,

they don’t seem like orcs or ogres, so they’re probably
goblins.”
“But they look pretty big for those. These must be the hob
kinds, hobgoblins.”
Vassago who came closer from the side added his opinion with his
hands on his waist. As expected as one with VR combat as his
specialization, he apparently had quite some knowledge regarding
fantasy RPGs.
The uproar among the ten or so hobgoblins escalated progressively

as Gabriel and the others watched on.
The two in the center grabbed onto each other and as they started
a rough scuffle, the rest surrounding them raised their hands while
screaming.
“…Critter.”
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With what seemed like an idea on the verge of taking shape,
Gabriel called out to the close-cropped head on the seat.
“Yeah?”
“Are these guys…. these monsters part of the system?”
“Hmm, that seems off. These guys are real humans in a

sense. They’re artificial souls loaded into the light cube
cluster above… they have fluct lights.”
“Seriously!? What the fuck!”
Vassago immediately leaned forward with a hysterical cry.
“These hobgoblins are humans!? You mean they have souls

like us!? Grandma Frisco would keel over this instant if she
heard that!!”
He yelled out again while slapping Critter’s close-cropped hair.
“I can’t believe they would be doing such research without

regard for God. So that’s how it is, everyone’s some goblin or
orc in those light cubes? Even our Alice-chan?”
“Like hell they are.”
Critter corrected Vassago while sweeping away his hand, annoyed.
“Listen, that world those guys from Rath built, the

Underworld, is separated into two areas. A bit west from the
middle’s the «Human Empire» and normal humans live there.
And outside that’s the «Dark Territory» swarming with
monsters like these. Naturally, Alice’s somewhere in the
Human Empire, but that’s ridiculously huge, so there’s no
way we’ll find her while peeking in like this.”
“Then it’s a piece of cake. Our words will get through if
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they’re humans, right? Then we’ll dive into that Human
Empire place and just ask those there, ‘You know some girl
called Alice?’ and we’ll be done”
“Woah, idiot warning. There’s one right here.”
“The fuck was that, you bastard!!”
“Come on, it’s the Japanese who built the Underworld.

Naturally, the words used by «those there» would be
Japanese. And what, you can speak Japanese?”
Critter pointed that out with disdain to which Vassago replied with
a somewhat crooked smile.
“I can’t have you looking down on me now.”
In that instant, everyone stared in amazement, not just Critter.

Vassago’s words were fluent to an extent that shocked even Gabriel.
The Hispanic youth returned to English and continued.
“Communication’s no problem at all, ya know? Any other

problem, four-eyes-kun?”
“There… There is, of course.”
Recovering from his shock, Critter snorted.
“Tens of thousands of people live in the Human Empire. Do

you really think you can go up to and ask each and every one
of them… all alone……”
It appeared his own words served as inspiration as his frame jolted

up upon speaking that far. Though Vassago cursed with that close-
cropped head crashing into his chin, the hacker shouted out without
any concern for him.
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“Wait. Waitwaitwaitwait. Maybe you won’t have to do it on
your own…”
The vague idea in Gabriel’s mind, too, settled into a rough shape
upon hearing that.
“…I see. It’s hardly likely that the accounts for logging into
the Underworld… would all be some level 1 citizen. Is that it,
Critter?”
“Yes. Yess, boss!!”
The keyboard clattered like a percussion instrument and several

lists immediately appear on the large monitor as they were scrolled
through.
“There should be accounts from all sorts of social classes

for Rath’s operators to log into to observe or manage inside.
An army officer… no, general. No, no, a noble, noble… or
maybe we could even get the emperor himself…”
“Ooh, that sounds cool, huh.”
Vassago spoke, rubbing his split chin.
“In short, I’ll just have to log in as some general or

president or bigwig and order everyone as I like, huh. Army,
fall in! Right, face! Go find Alice!! Like that?”
“…That good idea just sounds stupid now after those words
from you.”
Critter continued scrolling at a tempestuous speed even as he

grumbled. However.
The man’s rare complaints came to a stop along with the listing
mere seconds later.
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“Damn, we’re outta luck, huh. They didn’t just put a
password on direct access from here, but to log into the high
level accounts too. Unfortunately, it looks like we can’t dive
into the Human Empire with anything from a normal citizen’s
account.”
“…Hmm…”
The hue of disappointment showed itself clearly on Critter and

Vassago’s faces, but Gabriel’s expression remained still as he lightly
inclined his head.
The time they had left was certainly not very long.
However, that limit applied only to the real world. Time flowed,
compressed to an absurd degree of several hundred times slower
than reality, in that other world extending beyond the screen, Under
World.
To put it in other words, the remaining twenty-three hours of

reprieve they had was equivalent to over a year in the Underworld.
With that much time, it was not necessarily impossible to search and
secure Alice, as well as eject her into the real world from an
information console inside after logging in as a common citizen.
However, that would certainly be tedious. If they had to go to such

lengths, would it not be faster to approach the Human Empire from
outside it?
“Critter. Are there no high level accounts outside the

empire… in the Dark Territory?”
“…Outside? But there’s barely any chance Alice’s out there,

no?”
Critter’s fingers flashed fleetingly even as he voiced that doubt.
Looking up at the newly opened window, Gabriel responded.
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“Well, that is likely. However, it isn’t impossible to pass
through the boundary between the areas, is it? There may be
means of crossing that boundary with the rights given to the
account.”
“Ooh, that’s bro for you! His mind’s on a whole different

level! In other words, it’s that, huh… becoming some boss on
the monsters’ side rather than a human general and going on
an invasion!? I’ll be even more on board with that!!”
Apparently rather fed up, judging from his tone, Critter poured cold
water onto Vassago who was shouting out after a whistle.
“I don’t care how on board you are, but you may have to
become some hobgoblin or orc if you’re logging into the Dark
Territory. Well, it suits you, though… oh, there, there’s one,
look.”
With a loud click from the keys, another two windows appeared.
“Let’s see, there are only two super accounts unlike in the
Empire, but… alright, there’s no password on them! Let’s
take a look… first we have one with the position of a dark
knight. Its priority level is… 70! Now this is usable!”
“Ooh, that sounds good! I’ll take that!!”
Ignoring the noisy Vassago, Critter focused the other window.
“And, the other one. …What’s with this? The position field’s
blank and there’s no level shown. All that’s set is the name,
huh. This guy’s… how is this read? ……«Emperor… Vector»?”
“Woah, if it says emperor, then that’s an emperor, huh. I

guess I’ll take…”
Gabriel softly patted Vassago’s shoulder from behind after he
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started speaking.
“No, I’ll use that.”
“Heh? But bro, you can speak Japanese?”
“Not as well as you, though.”
And Gabriel replied in the Japanese he studied for three years.

Though he gave up on reading and writing from the very beginning,
he had the confidence he could get through daily conversations
without issue.
“As expected, huh. Then bro, I’ll leave you the emperor and
I’ll go with the dark knight. Looks like things are getting fun!
Hey, four-eyes, can we log in yet!?”
Utterly ignoring Vassago, noisy as usual, Critter continued tapping

on the keyboard. His profile appeared serious as he glared at the
information displayed on the monitor one after another and Gabriel
asked softly after walking to his side.
“How does it look, Critter, are there any other issues?”
“……I can’t tell if it’s a problem or it’s just bugging me…

there are some odd terms popping out here and there in the
data. I don’t understand exactly what they mean yet, but…”
“Oh? What terms?”
Critter took in a breath before replying to Gabriel’s enquiry.
“…«Final load test».”
Higa shyly broke the gloomy silence enveloping the sub control
room.
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“Err-erm… right. His body, or rather, the state Kirigaya-kun
is left in here in the real world is like I explained… it’s not
looking optimistic.”
Seeing Yuuki Asuna’s slender frame tremble while Koujiro Rinko

held onto her shoulder, he added on in a fluster.
“B-But, however slight it is, there’s still hope!”
“…Specifically?”
Rinko asked in a voice, sharp yet tinged with faith.
“Kirito-kun is still logged into the Underworld.”
Higa looked up at the monitor relatively smaller than the one in the
hijacked main control room. Switching the display after several clicks
of the mouse, he showed the entire Underworld made up of the
circular Human Empire and the Dark Territory surrounding it.
“In other words, though I said he lost his self-image, his

fluct light itself is still active and receiving all kinds of
stimuli. Thus, it may be possible to treat his soul in the
Underworld even if it’s impossible in the real world. If
someone were to «forgive» him, who hurt his own soul by
blaming himself excessively… it may just…”
Higa was well aware his own words could hardly be considered
scientific.
However, they came straight from his heart.
The Nerve Gear, the Medicuboid, and following that as an evolved

Brain Machine Interface, the Soul TransLator. However, the mysteries
of that quantum incorporeal entity, the «fluct light», owned by
humans and discovered through the machine Higa personally
assisted in developing still overwhelmed what he knew about it.
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Was the fluct light a physical phenomenon?
Or perhaps it was a conceptual phenomenon beyond the

explanations of modern science?
If it was the latter, Kirigaya Kazuto’s hurt and battered soul could
be healed by some power that exceeded science.
For example—a person’s love.
“…I will go.”
It was as if she agreed with Higa’s thoughts.
Her soft yet determined voice reverberated through the sub control
room.
Those in the room caught their breaths as they looked at the one
who said it. Yuuki Asuna nodded towards Koujiro Rinko who was
supporting her shoulders and took a step forward before repeating
those words.
“I will go to the Underworld. I want to tell Kirito-kun on the

other side. You tried your best, didn’t you? Many things must
have happened, both sad and painful, but you did all you
could.”
The visage of Asuna saying those with tears residing in her light
brown eyes was so beautiful, it rendered even Higa who was
prepared to devote his entire life to the academics speechless.
Kikuoka watched Asuna, likely touched as his expression

suggested, but soon hid that behind the lens of his glasses and
turned his sight towards the door to the adjacent room.
“…I do believe we have another unoccupied STL.”
The commander who quietly announced that put on a complex
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expression and continued.
“However, the current Underworld couldn’t be said to be in

a stable state. It will be plunging into the last stage of the
scheduled final load test in a few more hours on this side.”
“Final… load? What will happen?”
Higa gestured with his hands while explaining to the frowning

Rinko.
“Erm… to put it simply, the shell’s breaking. The «Great

East Gate» separating the Human Empire and Dark Territory
for hundreds of years will have its durability reach zero and
an army of monsters will surge into the humans’ world. If the
humans prepared a sufficient defense structure, they should
be able to repel it in the end. However, Kirito-kun destroyed
half of that ruling organization, the Axiom Church, in the
experiment this time, so… I wouldn’t know how it’ll…”
“Come to think of it, the situation might necessitate that

we have someone dive over there regardless.”
Kikuoka muttered with his arms crossed before his chest.
“It’s possible «Alice», somewhere in the Human Empire may

be murdered in the chaos when the invasion begins. We
wouldn’t have had any reason to lock main control to earn
this time if that wasn’t the case… If only we could enter with
a high ranking account and secure Alice while moving her to
the «World End Altar», ejecting her light cube to sub control
here…”
“Aah… you did request that of Kirito-kun, didn’t you,

immediately before the incident.”
Kikuoka nodded regretfully at Rinko’s words.
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“Yes. He would have definitely carried it out if he was safe.
After all, Alice was right next to him back then…”
“Then there is a high possibility they are still together now

even after months have passed on the inside… you mean?”
Higa answered that question.
“…Yes, I believe that is worth considering. Thus, it may be

best to have Asuna be the one to dive… It goes without
saying that she’ll be able to talk with Kirito-kun and securing
Alice will likely require combat ability in the Underworld.
Asuna’s the most used to moving in a virtual world among us
here, I’m totally sure of that.”
“Then it will be best if we use an account with a level as

high as possible, huh.”
Nodding to Kikuoka’s voice, Higa ran his fingers over the keyboard.
“Well, sure, she can take her pick. We have knights,

generals, nobles… all sorts of high ranking accounts
prepared.”
“Hey, hold on for a moment.”
Rinko’s slightly nervous voice barged in.
“Something’s the matter?”
“…Isn’t there the possibility the attackers will think of the

same thing? You mentioned it earlier, didn’t you? That the
loophole to secure Alice is to do it from inside.”
“Aah… yes, those means are available to them too. Main

control below does have two STLs set up. But they shouldn’t
have the time to crack the login password for the high
ranking accounts. All they can use are the level 1 common
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citizens. They won’t be doing anything in the chaos of the
final load test with statuses like those.”
Higa’s explanation sped on—
Even as slight unease suddenly rose to the surface of his

consciousness as though he had forgotten something important.
However, those thoughts were lost before given form upon

spotting something in the account listing he rapidly scrolled through.
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Vol.15 Chapter 17
Source: tap-trans
Dark Territory 11th Month of Human Empire Calendar 380
Dark Knight Lipia Zankale leapt off her flying dragon’s back before
it came to a stop and began running through the elevated walkway
connecting the landing platform and imperial palace at full speed.
Soon finding it stifling, she tore off the helmet covering even face
with her right hand.
Settling her long ashen-blue hair that waved out behind her with
her left hand, Lipia sped up further. Though she would strip off her
heavy armor and mantle if she could, she had no desire to give the
magistrates who filled the imperial palace even a glimpse of her skin.
A gigantic, towering black palace tore into the red skies in the gaps
between round columns lined up on her right after she dashed
through the winding corridor.
Imperial Obsidia Palace was built by excavating the

tallest—ignoring the vexing «mountain range at the edge»—rocky
mountains found in the boundless land of darkness over a hundred
years.
It was said the mountain range at the edge and the humongous
gate carved into its solid rock could be seen just beyond the western
horizon from the throne room at the top floor, though just barely.
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However, no one could verify the truth behind that legend.
The throne of the land of darkness was left vacant ever since the
first emperor, Vector the god of darkness, departed for the darkness
beneath the earth in ancient times. The grand door to the top floor
was sealed with chains of infinite Life and will never open.
Lipia tore her sight off the top of the pitch-black palace and called
out the ogre guards protecting the looming palace gate.
“I am the eleventh among the dark knights, Zankale! Open

the gate!!”
The guards with the head of wolves and the body of men were
rather dull in their heads compared to their brawns and it was only
immediately before Lipia reached the cast iron gate when they began
rotating the handle to open it.
A leaden noise tolled as the gate opened and she slipped sideways
through before it got far.
The palace greeted Lipia for the first time in three months with its
usual chilly air.
The corridors polished by the simple and honest subordinate

kobolds daily were speckless. She ran, her shoes clanging against the
obsidian flooring, and saw a pair of women, voluptuous and clad in
revealing clothing, noiselessly gliding across the floor before her.
The large pointy hats sitting on their glossy, wavy hair indicated
them to be dark arts users. When she attempted to pass them
without making eye contact, one of the women deliberately spoke
out in her shrill voice.
“My, how the earth trembles! I wonder if there are orcs

running somewhere?!”
A reply immediately came from the other accompanied with high-
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pitched laughter.
“That wouldn’t be enough, this tremor must be from the

giants!”
—I would have slit their tongues off if it wasn’t for the restriction

on drawing swords in the palace.
Lipia thought as she ran past with no more than a snort.
Most female humans born in the land of darkness enter the Dark
Arts Users’ Guild after graduating from the preparatory school. The
notoriously hedonic organization was said to teach indulgence in
place of order and those who finished were mostly like that bunch,
holding interest in nothing but dressing up.
Despite all that, they become uncharacteristically fired up when it

came to opposing girls who choose the path of the knight. Lipia, too,
was driven to her wits’ end when she was young and an art user she
was on bad terms with in her class in cadet school shot a poison
curse at her. Though that girl became rather docile after having the
braided hair she was so proud of snipped off.
In the end, those of this land were no more than fools without
concern for the future.
The land of darkness had no future with its organizations and

people at each other’s throat, not knowing any means of settling
conflicts except through strength.
Though the «Ten Lords Assembly» was key to maintaining the

perilous equilibrium now, that will not last long. If any of the ten lords
lose their life in the looming war with the Human Empire—which the
orcs and goblins call the «land of iums»—the balance will collapse
and a warring age where blood is washed away by blood will return.
The one who painted that image of the future to Lipia was one of
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the ten lords, her direct supervisor as the head of the Order of the
Dark Knights as well as the man who was her lover.
And Lipia now held confidential information in her chest that he

eagerly awaited.
In which case, she did not have even a second to spare on the
female art users’ nonsense.
Crossing straight through the empty hall, she ran up the grand
staircase, two steps at a time. Though trained, she was still out of
breath when she finally reached the floor she wanted.
The «Ten Lords Assembly» ruled over the entire land of darkness
through conferences, with five seats going to the human race, two
seats to the goblin race, and the remaining three seats to the heads
of the orc, ogre, and giant races. With something like a treaty tended
after over a hundred long years of civil wars, the result was an
agreement that stipulated none among the five races was superior to
another.
As such, the eighteenth floor near the top floor of Obsidia Palace
had private rooms established for each of the ten lords. Silencing her
footsteps somewhat as she ran through the hallway, Lipia knocked on
the door to one of the rooms further in three times with her armored
right hand.
“Enter.”
A husky voice immediately responded.
After looking to the sides and confirming no one was in the

hallway, Lipia quickly slipped through the door.
While feeling nostalgia from the masculine smell in the room that
maximized utilitarianism in terms of decoration, she placed a knee
onto the floor and lowered her head.
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“Knight Lipia Zankale has now returned under your
service.”
“Good work. Go on, sit.”
She raised her face, aware of the throbbing in her chest in

response to that deep voice.
The man who flumped himself onto one of the sofas surrounding a
round table with his legs crossed up high was the dark knight
commander—with the alias, «Dark General», Viksul Ur Shasta.
A towering stature despite being of the human race. Though

naturally the same could not be said of his girth, he would not lose in
height even against ogres. His deep black hair was trimmed short
and the moustache at his mouth was in order as well.
His plain hemp shirt covered rising burly muscles that threatened
to burst its buttons, but there was absolutely no excess meat around
his waist. Few knew his perfect body hardly thinkable of one who
crossed forty was maintained through his tremendous daily training
that he continued without fail even after ascending to the top among
the knights.
Holding down her desire to jump into the chest of her sweetheart
upon seeing him for the first time in three months, Lipia sat on the
sofa facing Shasta.
With his upper body up, Shasta lifted one of the two crystal cups
prepared on the table to Lipia and broke the seal on what appeared
to be well aged wine.
“I swiped this from the treasury yesterday in thoughts of

having it with you.”
He poured the fragrant scarlet liquid into the glass with an eye
closed. The way that expression brought out his impish side was the
same as it was in the past.
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“Th… thank you very much, Your Excellency.”
“How many times must I tell you to refrain from that when
we’re alone?”
“However, I am still in the midst of my duty.”
Lightly clicking her glass against Shasta’s as he shrugged in

exasperation, she gulped down the mellow wine all at once and felt
the Life exhausted over the long journey slowly recovering.
“…And, so.”
Emptying his own cup and straightening his expression, the knight
commander asked at a slightly softer volume.
“What exactly was that grave affair you sent word of

through your familiar?”
“Yes…”
Lipia ran her sight left and right before leaning forward. Shasta was
an openhearted man, yet prudent at the same time. Multiple layers
of defensive arts have been laid down this room and not even the
chief of the Dark Arts Users’ Guild, that «witch», could eavesdrop. But
despite that knowledge, she could not help but whisper upon
considering the importance of the information she held.
Staring into Shasta’s black eyes, Lipia voiced her brief report.
“The highest minister of the Human Empire’s Axiom

Church… has passed away.”
He was that Dark General, but his eyes still flashed wide open
nonetheless.
A lengthy, deep breath broke the silence.
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“Questioning if that is credible… would be an insult to you,
wouldn’t it. I do not doubt the information, but… still… to
think that immortal being would……”
“Yes… I understand what you mean. I, too, could not

believe the abruptness and spent a week confirming it, but it
truly appeared to be no mistake. I hid «ear bugs» in the
Central Cathedral and collected the evidence.”
“My word, what a reckless act. If they had followed your

art, you would have been torn from limb to limb before you
could escape from the capital.”
“Indeed. But by the fact they could not detect an art on my

level, too, proves the report was true.”
“…Hmm…”
Wetting his tongue on his second cup of wine, Shasta lowered his
hardy face.
“When had that happened? And the cause?”
“Approximately half a year ago and…”
“Half a year. I believe that was about when the guard at

the mountain range slackened for some time.”
“Yes. As for the highest minister’s cause of death… though

it is somewhat hard to believe, it was said she was done in by
a sword…”
“A sword. —Someone capable of cutting down that

immortal being existed, you say?”
“There couldn’t be.”
Lipia shook her head towards the speechless Shasta.
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“Despite what we call her, that immortal being must have
had her Life exhausted. However, in order to immortalize the
divinity of the highest minister, they must have resorted to
such deception to…”
“Hmm… well, let’s leave it at that. But still… she truly is

dead, isn’t she, Highest Minister Administrator…”
Shasta shut his eyes and crossed his arms before leaning his upper
back into the sofa.
A fair bit of silence started then, but eventually, his eyelids flashed
open with short words.
“It’s our chance.”
Lipia lost her breath for an instant before asking in a squeaky

voice.
“For what, exactly?”
The reply was immediate.
“There is no other… but for peace, of course.”
That vocabulary too dangerous to let out from one’s mouth within
this palace permeated into the room’s atmosphere and dissipated.
“Do you believe… that to be possible, Your Excellency?”
Shasta set his eyes on the crimson liquid in his glass and nodded,
slowly but deeply, at Lipia who asked so in a whisper.
“Be it possible or not, we will have to make it succeed no

matter what.”
Gulping down the wine, he continued.
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“The Life of the «Great Gate» that had been separating the
Human Empire and land of darkness since the age of creation
is finally near its end. The armies of the five dark races are
like a huge kettle close to boil with the invasion of the
Human Empire abundant in the grace of the sunlight and
earth before them. The previous Ten Lords Assembly was a
huge mess, deciding how to split the land, treasures, and
slaves of the Human Empire. Good grief… what incorrigible
greed they have.”
Lipia lowered her face at Shasta’s frank, curt speech.
Unlike the Human Empire controlled by that lengthy code of law

called the «Taboo Index», only one law existed in the land of
darkness. In short—to plunder with strength.
In that sense, Shasta would be the odd one out, considering peace
like the Human Empire, when compared to the nine lords whose lust
for conquest burned on even after ascending to the top positions of
power.
However, that peculiarity contributed to Lipia’s boundless

attraction towards this man. Whatever others might say or think,
Lipia was not taken against her will unlike the women waiting on the
other lords. Shasta had knelt down and offered her a bouquet of
flowers, persuading her with sincere words.
Showing no sign he was aware of his lover’s contemplation, Shasta

continued his words in a solemn tone.
“…However, the lords think too lowly of the humans.

Especially of the Order of the Integrity Knights who protected
the Human Empire over three hundred years.”
Lipia nodded while feeling her head cool off gradually upon hearing
that name.
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“Certainly… Their mastery is to be feared.”
“Each of them is literally a match for a thousand. Despite

the countless fatalities suffered by the Order of the Dark
Knights throughout its long history caused by integrity
knights, the opposite had never come about. Their
swordsmanship is exquisite and the sacred tools they wear
are without peer… Not even I had finished a single one of
them off even if I have cornered them before on numerous
occasions. Naturally, the times I had fled overwhelms those,
however.”
“That is… due to that strange art they use to release

flames and light from their swords…”
“The «armament full control art», huh. Our knight order’s

art research division hadn’t arrived at the details to that
even after lengthy research. Not even a hundred goblin
soldiers could stand against a single use of that art.”
“That said… our forces number fifty thousand. Conversely,

there are but thirty or so integrity knights. Could we not
drive them down with numbers…?”
Shasta cynically raised an end of his fine moustache at Lipia’s

words.
“Had I not said each of them is comparable to a thousand?

By those calculations, that will be the end of thirty thousand
of our troops.”
“Well, I never… to think they could take on that many.”
“It’s natural to think so. Though it does not stick well with
me, a strategy with us, the knight order, as the vanguards
supported by the ogres and giants, with ranged arts pouring
down from the dark arts users in the back should exhaust
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even the integrity knights eventually. But I cannot imagine
how many casualties we would suffer before the final knight
falls. I will not claim that it will be thirty thousand, but half of
that is a feasible figure.”
The crystal cup was placed onto the table with a firm clink.
Holding back Lipia with a hand when she tried to pour more liquor,
Shasta leaned his broad back against the sofa.
“…And when all is said and done, an imbalance will

naturally develop among the strength of the five dark races.
The Ten Lords Assembly will lose its purpose and the
agreement of equality among the five races will be naught
but in name. When it comes to that, the «age of blood and
iron» from a hundred years before will return. No, it will be
worse. After all, the gate to the vast ocean of bottomless
nectar, the Human Empire, will be open this time. The wars
to sort out the authorities of rule to each land will not end
even in a hundred years…”
That was what Shasta truly feared, more so than the prior issues,
that worst picture of the future he lectured Lipia about time after
time. And aside from Shasta, the other lords would not think of that
future as the worst—instead, they might even anticipate it.
Lipia lowered her face and stared hard at the jet-black gleam from
the full-body armor she was granted when she was knighted which
was scratched all over yet polished thoroughly.
Lipia would have probably never made it as a knight if it was

during the «age of blood and iron» due to how small she was as a
child. She would have been sold as a slave or abandoned in the
wilderness outside the city, ending that short life.
However, though hardly perfect, it was thanks to that peace treaty

that she could enter a cadet school instead of the slave market and
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discover her late blooming aptitude for the sword, reaching
practically the highest position a human female could hope for.
After she became a knight, she managed an institution similar to a

nursery that cared for infants gathered from remote regions where
slave trafficking was still rampant who were abandoned by their
parents at the expense of most of her monthly wages.
She did not inform Shasta of that fact, let alone her colleagues.
After all, not even she could explain why she undertook such an act
either.
Still—
The instinct that this land was strange somehow for letting the
strength plunder everything was always somewhere in Lipia’s mind.
She lacked the wisdom to put her own uncertainties into clear words
unlike Shasta, but still, she felt there was a more «ideal, correct
form» that would better fit this land—no, the whole of the
Underworld including the Human Empire.
Even Lipia could now recognize that that so-called new world would
only arrive long after that peace Shasta advocated. Along with that,
she desired to become a pillar of strength for the man she loved as a
woman.
But.
“…But Your Excellency, how do you plan on persuading the

other lords? Besides… will the Order of the Integrity Knights
accept peace negotiations in the first place?”
Lipia asked in a subdued manner.
“…Hmm…”
Shasta shut both of his eyes and stroke his glossy moustache with
his right hand. Before long, a somewhat bitter voice softly sounded
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out from him.
“I see potential in the integrity knights. With the highest

minister’s demise, the one who picked up overall command
must be old man Bercouli. Though cunning, words do get
through to him. The problem would be… the Ten Lords
Assembly as expected. For that… though it may be
contradictory…”
Raising his eyelids, his two eyes concealing a dangerous light

gazed at the air.
“—I may have to cut them down. Four of them at the very
least.”
Drawing in a sharp breath, Lipia asked in trepidation.
“Four, you say… I suppose those would be the two goblin

chiefs, the orc chief, and…”
“The head of the Dark Arts Users’ Guild. That woman

harbors ambition to obtain the secret of Administrator’s
immortality and to eventually ascend to the emperor’s
throne. She would never accept any plans for peace.”
“B-But!”
Lipia wrung her rebuttal out.
“That is far too dangerous, Your Excellency! The goblin and

orc chiefs are no match for you… but I cannot even begin to
imagine what tricks that dark arts user would resort to!”
Shasta kept his silence for a short while even after Lipia’s mouth
shut.
The words he suddenly let out, too, were utterly unexpected.
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“Hey, Lipia. How long have you been by my side for?”
“Huh? Yes… e-erm… I was twenty-one… so four years?”
“So that much time had already passed. …I apologize for

keeping you away for so long. How about it… it should be
about time, we, well.”
He scratched his head, his sight wandering, and the dark knight
commander spoke slightly brusquely.
“…Wouldn’t you officially become my bride? Though I must

say sorry for being such an old man.”
“Your… Your Excellency…”
Lipia was rendered speechless with her two eyes wide open—
Some sort of heat slowly spread out from around her heart and she
was about to jump across the table into the chest of the man she
loved.
When a strained, shrill voice rang out from beyond the thick door.
“It’s an emergency!! A real emergency!! Aah, how could

this have happened?!! Come, lords, hurry, hurry!!”
The faintly familiar voice belonged to one of the ten lords, the
Economic Guild’s head.
The croaky screams which did not suit that magnanimous, well-
built man in Lipia’s memories continued still.
“It’s a true emergency!! —T-The throne room! The sealing

chains! They are quiveriiiiing!!”
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Having descended into the throne room as Emperor Vector, Gabriel
Miller gazed upon the artificial fluct lights kneeling at his feet, their
heads lowered, feeling deeply moved with a sort of emotion.
They were quantum information from light confined within light

cubes measuring two inches per side. And yet they were real humans
endowed with intelligence and souls in this world. But then again,
half of the ten lined up in front were monsters with bizarre
appearances.
The ten generals who named themselves as «feudal lords», the

knights and dark arts users, along with the fifty thousand troops
stationed outside the palace were thus the units granted to Gabriel.
He had to move them appropriately, exterminate the Human
Empire’s defense forces, and secure «Alice».
However, unlike a real-time strategy game in the real world, these

units could not be mobilized as he liked with a mouse and keyboard.
He had to lead and command them with his words and behavior.
Gabriel silently stood up from the throne and gazed into a mirror
affixed onto the wall behind after several steps.
Reflected was a view of himself sporting an utterly tasteless look.
His facial features and that blonde hair nearing white were all that
remained of the real world’s Gabriel. However, a crown of black
metal inlaid with a crimson jewel adorned his brow and he wore a
luxurious fur gown, pitch-black like the suede-like shirt and trousers
made from leather below it. A narrow long sword let out a hazy glow
as it hung off his waist and meticulous patterns were embroidered in
silver thread on his boots and gloves. In addition, on his back was a
long cape dyed blood-red.
Shifting his view towards the right, he saw a knight one step down
from the throne, glancing around with his hands joined together
behind his head.
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Inside that full-body armor, gleaming like a deep purple gem, was
Vassago Casals who logged in with Gabriel. Though he warned him to
refrain from getting carried over and mentioning anything
unnecessary until they understood the situation, it appeared his
emotions were practically bursting from his chest to be expressed in
his slang as his toes clattered away.
Lightly shaking his head, Gabriel returned his eyes to himself in the
mirror.
Accustomed to tailor-made suits, his body felt only unease at his

get-up. However, in this «Underworld», Gabriel was no CTO of some
private military company.
He was the emperor who governed the boundless Dark Territory.
And, God.
Gabriel shut both of his eyes, and then slowly took in a breath of
air and let it out.
The switch in his mind to swap the role he played from a tough and
cool commander to a ruthless emperor made a click.
Opening his eyes, Gabriel—the god of darkness, Vector—turned

with his crimson mantle billowing and glared haughtily at the ten
generals as his voice, lacking all sense of humanity, resounded
through the throne room.
“Raise your heads and name yourself. —You, over there,

you start.”
The well-built middle-aged man whose brow was practically

scraping against the floor as he prostrated himself raised his upper
body with unexpected nimbleness before stating his name in fluent
Japanese.
“Y-Yess! My name is Lengyel Gira Sukovo, I serve as the
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leader of the Economic Guild!”
The middle-aged man bowed once more and a something giant,

like a small hill, began moving beside him.
The demi-human, likely over twelve feet if it stood, who had its
massive frame wreathed in crisscrossing chains shining with black
luster and an animal pelt covering its waist jerked up its abnormally
long nose bridge and named itself in a low tone that resembled a
tremor.
“Chief of the giant race, Sigrosig.”
By the time Gabriel internalized the fact that intelligence and a

soul resided within this monster as well, the third let out a hoarse
voice that grated on his ears.
“…Assassins’ Guild head… Fu Za…
The one dressed in a hooded robe had a presence far too frail
when compared to the one from the giant race beside, with no clear
indication of even age or gender.
Though Gabriel mused over giving an order for revealing that face
for an instant, he decided to leave it aside, figuring an assassin like
that would have one principle or another prohibiting it, and shifted
his sight to the next general.
He narrowly held back an immediate urge to frown.
The meticulous embodiment of ugliness sat down with a thud. Its

legs were too short to kneel. Its swollen, round belly shone with a
sheen as though greasy and what appeared like skulls of small
animals dangled from its neck half-sunken into its shoulders.
The head on top was seven part pig, three part human. A flat nose
protruded forward and fangs peeked from its huge mouth, but
intelligence blazed in its beady eyes like a human which made it all
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the more repulsive.
“Chieef of the orc racee, Rirupirin.”
Upon hearing that shrill voice, Gabriel wondered whether this was
actually a male or female, but immediately casted aside that
curiosity this time as well. An orc would be an inferior unit. There
would be no purpose keeping them around after running them
ragged.
The next to bring his head up with a quick bow was young enough
to be still termed a young man. His curly red hair hung down and all
that was wrapped on the top half of his tanned body was a single
leather belt. On the bottom were skin-tight leather trousers and
sandals while rectangular, metal-studded gloves were worn on his
two hands.
“Tenth champion of the Pugilists’ Guild, Iskahn!!”
Looking back at the youth who assertively shouted out, Gabriel

tilted his side in confusion inside. Pugilists were effectively boxers?
Would they be suitable as soldiers despite being barehanded?
He pondered and a loud growl roared out all of a sudden.
The source was a type of demi-human with a physique unlike

humans, though not to the extent of the giants. Long fur engulfed
nearly all of its upper body. He understood it to be real hair rather
than clothing only because its head was completely that of a beast.
It closely resembled a wolf. The protruding nose bridge; those

teeth lined up like a saw; and those triangular ears. A barely
comprehensible voice seeped out from its mouth where its long
tongue hung out.
“Grr… chief of… ogres… Fulgrr… rrr…”
Though he had no confidence whether that was its name or simply
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a growl, Gabriel lightly nodded and looked at the next.
An ear-splitting squeak resounded right after.
“Hagashi, chief of the mountain goblins, at your service!

Your Majesty, do grant the brave warriors of our race the
honor of being your shock troops!!”
It was a type of demi-human, small, with long and narrow ears

stretching out from its bald head, like that of a monkey. Its height
was below that of a human, let alone the giant, orc, or ogre who
named themselves earlier.
According to the lecture he received from Critter’ before diving,

there was only one law in this Dark Territory. In short, the strong
reign. In that case, what strength allowed the goblins who appeared
powerless in every sense to stand on an equal footing with the other
races?
Despite how they were the weakest infantry units beneath the orcs
at any rate, Gabriel peered into the mountain goblin’s face with slight
interest and realized the answer to his question with a hmm. There
was a vehement hunger swirling within the unsightly demi-human’s
beady eyes.
Right after the chief of the mountain goblins finished its

salutations, similar squeaks came from the demi-human sitting
beside who differed only in skin tone.
“Outrageous! We will be ten times as useful compared to

them, Your Majesty! Kubiri, chief of the plains goblins,
humbly at your service!”
“What was you, you bunch of slug-eaters! Have your heads

turned to mush from how sodden your lands are?!!”
“The same goes to you, have your brains dried up with the
sun shining down on them?!!”
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Before the noses of the two who began squabbling—
Shot out blue sparks with a crack and the goblin chiefs jumped
back with shrieks.
“—If I may remind the both of you, you are before His
Majesty the Emperor.”
The one who lowered her raised hand with that bewitching voice
was a young woman clad in revealing clothing. The sparks flew from
her fingertips as they rubbed together like the flint on a lighter.
Swaying up, she bent her hips as though to put her voluptuous
body and captivating looks on display before giving a mannered bow.
Even Gabriel could understand how Vassago felt, whistling softly on
his right.
Her skin, the shade of café au lait and glistening as though oiled,
was covered minimally with black enamel leather. She wore stiletto
boots narrow as needles. A fur mantle shining black and silver was on
her back and her platinum blonde hair flowed down to her waist
above it.
Her eyeshadow and lipstick were light blue, and those blue eyes
that were just as vivid narrowed coquettishly as she named herself.
“I am the head of the Dark Arts Users’ Guild, D.I.L. The

three thousand art users under me and I devote all of our
minds and bodies to you, Your Majesty.”
Though her actions and voice were charming indeed, Gabriel

simply nodded coolly, unaffected by sexual urges as he was.
The witch who called herself D. blinked her eyes and apparently
considered supplementing her words, but gave a silent bow before
returning to kneeling.
Gabriel thought that wise as he shifted his sight to look down upon
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the final general unit.
The man who quietly bowed was in the prime of his life, boasting
an outstanding physique for a human.
The pitch-black armor covering his entire body shone dully with
countless scratches carved into it. A shallow scar could be seen
running from his brow to the bridge of his nose on his lowered face.
The man let out his voice without raising his head in a grating
baritone.
“Dark Knight Commander, Viksul Ur Shasta. Before I

dedicate my sword to you, Your Majesty… I have a question.”
The man finally lifted his face and on it, Gabriel saw a grimness
resembling those rare «true soldiers» he met before.
The knight, Shasta, stared at Gabriel with a sort of conviction in his

eyes absent from the previous nine generals who named themselves
while continuing in an even lower voice.
“Where do Your Majesty’s ambitions lie to return to the

throne in these times?”
I see—this is certainly no mere program.
Internally considering how he ought to always keep that in mind,

Gabriel replied indifferently as the ruthless emperor.
“Bloodshed and terror. Arson and destruction. Death and

screams.”
The generals’ expressions drew tight the moment Gabriel’s voice

streamed out, stiff like machined steel.
Looking at the ten faces in turn, Gabriel then waved his fur mantle
and pointed his right arm, high, towards the western skies.
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Words filled with a false desire for conquest shot from his mouth
nearly autonomously.
“…The «Great Gate» that protects the western lands

brimming with strength of the gods who oust’d me from the
Celestial World crumbles on even now. I have return’d… to
make mine authority known to all who inhabit the lands!”
He received as detailed a lecture as possible from Critter regarding

the «final load test» approaching in a week’s time inside. Following
those details, he continued his speech in that theatrical tone.
“The Human Empire will truly belong to us, the ones of the
darkness, when the Great Gate shatters! I seek only one, she
who appears in those lands then, the «goddesses medium»! I
shall permit slaughter and pillage for all other humans as
thine wills take you! ‘Tis the time the ones of the darkness
have awaited—’tis the promis’d time!!”
The air turned still with silence—
Broken by shrill, savage roars.
“Giiiii!! Killl! White iums, kill them allllll!!”
It was the orc chief who shrieked while its feet wriggled, its beady
eyes seething with lust and resentment. The goblin chiefs followed
with their arms raised in unison immediately after.
“Hooooouu!! War!! War!!”
“Ura——!! War, war——!!”
The war cries spread to the other generals and the officers behind
them before long. The black robes in the Assassins’ Guild swayed
with their bodies as thin as sticks while the women in the Dark Arts
Users’ Guild let out merry cries along with sparks of all colors.
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Within the gigantic hall filled full with primitive, unrefined voices—
That knight named Shasta alone stayed kneeling without a single

movement as Gabriel noticed.
He could not tell from that armored figure, still as a sculpture,

whether it stemmed from militaristic restraint or some sort of
emotion.
“To think you had such a talent, bro! Shouldn’t you have
become an actor instead?”
Gabriel snorted in reply to Vassago who threw a bottle of wine

while smirking.
“I merely did as necessary. It would be best if you learn

how to give a similar speech too. You are a step above them
in the hierarchy, after all.”
Popping the caught bottle’s cork off with his fingertip, he held

some of the ruby-colored fluid in his mouth before considering
whether that counted as drinking on duty.
As for Vassago, he downed what appeared like a top-quality

antique in a manner akin to chugging down beer as though stating
that it would be a waste not to drink it, and then brusquely wiped his
mouth before replying.
“Rather than giving orders or speeches, I would rather lead

the attack. We got this rare chance to dive into this amazing
VR world and all, ya know… I can’t think of this wine or its
bottle as anything but real.”
“In exchange, you’ll hurt when cut and bleed too. There is
no pain absorber at work here, after all.”
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“Ain’t that the good part?”
Shrugging his shoulders at the grinning Vassago, Gabriel returned

the bottle to the table and stood from the sofa.
The emperor’s living quarters on the top floor of Obsidia Palace

was far wider than that executive room in the headquarters of
Glowgen DS and massive windows allowed an unobstructed night
view of the town around the palace. Though the lights and colors
paled in comparison to San Diego, it made up for that with how it was
pulled out from fantasy.
The ten generals who called themselves lords have left the palace
to prepare for war and the flames of the transport troops carrying out
supplies from the warehouses moved through the main street
without pause. The head of the Economic Guild in charge of supplies
was ordered to use up all of the rations and equipment stored in the
palace, so the solders should not suffer from starvation or cold.
Taking his eyes off the countless lights, Gabriel walked towards a

corner of the room and touched the purple crystal pane—the system
console—installed there with his hand.
Deftly running through the menu, he pressed the button to call out
to external observers. The temporal acceleration rate decreased and
following the odd sensation as the rates were matched, Critter’s fast
speech streamed out from the screen.
“Commander!? We’ve only just sent Vassago and you off

and returned to the main control room, Commander!!”
“It’s already the first night here. Though I understand,

temporal acceleration is a strange thing, isn’t it? We will be
proceeding as planned for the time being. The units’
preparation will be completed within a day or two and the
march towards the Human Empire is scheduled to begin in
two days.”
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“Brilliant. Remember, once you secure «Alice» herself,
bring her there and go through the ejection process for the
main control room. «Alice»’s light cube will be ours then.
Also, please drill this into that idiot Vassago.”
It seemed Critter’s voice reached his ears as a short curse could be

heard from behind.
“As we currently have no administrator rights, we cannot

reset accounts. In other words, neither you, Commander, nor
Vassago can use those super accounts again once you die on
that side. You’ll really have to start over as a recruit at that
point, you hear!”
“Aah… understood. I will refrain from heading out to the

front lines at present. Have the JSDF acted?”
“Nothing at the moment. It seems they haven’t noticed

your diving in yet.”
“Good. I will cut communications, then. I will like to set our

next comms to be after securing Alice.”
“Understood, I’ll look forward to that.”
With the communication window closed, the acceleration rate

reverted with that sense of slight disconcertion.
Vassago was still muttering curses while fighting against the

armor’s fasteners, but eventually threw all of the metallic equipment
onto the floor and stood up dressed in a leather shirt and trousers.
“Ermm, bro, if I said I wanted to go play around

downtown… guess it’ll be a no, wouldn’t it.”
“Hold yourself back for the time being. I’ll get you a night
after the operation’s over.”
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“Got it. No killing or women, huh… Then I’ll be a good boy
and get some sleep. I’ll use that room.”
Vassago disappeared into the connecting bedroom with his joints

creaking and Gabriel let out a breath as well and removed the
jeweled crown from his forehead.
Leaving the exaggerated mantle and gown on the sofa too, he

hurled the sword atop them.
In the VR games he played thus far, removing equipment would

return them to the inventory, but it appeared there was no such
convenient feature in this world. Living for even a month in room
would render it to a dismal state at this rate, but they would set out
from this palace in a couple of days and return next only to log out,
after all.
Upon opening the door facing that which Vassago vanished into
while unbuttoning his shirt, Gabriel—narrowed his eyes in surprise.
At the side of the grandiose bed in this bedroom which was just as
enormous was a small prostrating silhouette.
He recalled ordering for no one, not even servants, to go above the

palace’s throne room. How could there be any capable of disobeying
a god’s orders?
Though he considered for a moment to return and take his sword,

Gabriel went ahead and stepped into the bedroom and closed the
door behind him.
“…Who are you.”
He curtly asked for the person’s identity.
The reply was in a slightly husky, feminine voice.
“…I was entrusted as your attendant for tonight.”
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“Oh?”
Raising an eyebrow, he crossed straight through the dim bedroom

towards the bed.
The two hands against the floor belonged to a young woman clad
in flimsy clothing. Her ash-blue hair was bound up high and secured
by an ornate ribbon. The faintly visible lines of her body revealed no
presence of any sort of weapon.
“On whose orders?”
He questioned while sitting onto the glossy silk sheets and the
woman replied in a hushed voice after a momentary pause.
“No… I am merely here bound by such a duty.”
“I see.”
Gabriel turned his eyes away and laid himself down onto the center
of the bed with a thud.
The woman stood seconds later and silently slithered to his right.
“I beg your pardon…”
The whispering woman’s face possessed an exotic beauty that

amazed even Gabriel. Though her skin was dark, there was a nobility
present around her cheekbones typical of Northern Europe.
A sort of emotion came over Gabriel as he looked up at the woman

who was about to gently pull away her sheer clothes and remove the
ribbon binding her hair.
Could an artificial fluct light go this far?
Was even this woman incomplete as a true AI? If that was so, what
heights had Alice reached in her state of completeness?
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What moved Gabriel’s heart was not the woman’s act of giving up
her body.
Rather—
It was that sharp knife raised up high, drawn from within the
woman’s undulating hair, as his foresight told him.
Catching her right arm with ample composure, Gabriel’s other

hand flashed as it nimbly gripped her slender neck and pulled it down
onto the bed.
“Kh…!!”
The woman ground her teeth while continuing her struggle to force
the knife forward. Her strength was more than expected, but still too
little to trouble Gabriel. He sealed her movement, locking her
dominant arm with his right hand and gently digging his right thumb
into her windpipe.
Even as her face warped with intense pain, the determination in

the woman’s ashen eyes remained unfaded. The awkwardness of the
cosmetics on her ferocious expression and the state of her muscles
led to doubts that she was a professional assassin. In that case, the
turncoat was not the one named Fu Za who managed the assassins,
but one of the other nine generals—likely one among the human
generals.
Closing in to the woman’s face, Gabriel asked the same question

as earlier.
“On whose orders?”
The deep, hoarse answer was the same as before.
“By my own… will.”
“Then, who is your superior?”
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“……I have none.”
“Hmm.”
Gabriel pondered like a machine, without any trace of emotion.
The breakthrough «Rath» aimed for, to exceed that boundary of

artificial fluct lights. That referred to the incapability to oppose law,
regulations, and orders from some superior being.
Compared to the inhabitants of the Human Empire, bound by

countless laws, the residents of the Dark Territory appeared to
always exercise their freedom, but in reality, they differed in no way.
It looked like freedom merely because the law passed down onto the
fluct lights on this side numbered only one.
That law was to «plunder with strength». A world of survival of the

fittest where those strong in combat rule over the weak. It seemed
that even without Gabriel’s intervention, Rath planned to have the
Human Empire that believed in order and the land of darkness filled
with chaos clash and use the resulting war as a catalyst for their next
breakthrough had their experiments proceeded.
However, by whatever reason, a fluct light that broke through that

limit was born in the Human Empire before their plans proceeded to
that point. There was no information regarding a similar fluct light
originating from the land of darkness from the insider in Rath.
That was to say, the soul of this woman who planned to

assassinate the emperor with a single knife, too, must be bound by
that absolute law. Despite that, she would not reveal her master’s
name even after Gabriel asked, no, ordered. If that was the case, this
woman was effectively prioritizing her loyalty to her master over the
orders of Gabriel, both emperor and god. In other words, she
believed her master to be stronger than the emperor.
It appeared there was a need for an opportunity to properly display
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his might to the generals and executive units and have them
acknowledge Gabriel—Emperor Vector—as the world’s strongest
existence. However, he could not very well slaughter all of the
generals. How could he go about it?
—No.
Either way, he had to get rid of one among the generals. The one
who inspired the will for assassination in this woman.
How could he smoke that traitor out? Should he contact Critter

again and have him monitor the general units from the outside? No,
that would require the temporal acceleration to be set to the same as
the real world and waste that precious time there.
Now then—
Processing that far in an instant, Gabriel once again stared into

those eyes in the color of steel.
“Why do you seek my life? To amass wealth? A promise of

territory?”
He asked without much concern. However, the immediate reply

was entirely beyond his expectations.
“For justice!”
“Oh…?”
“If a war starts now, we will be set back a hundred, no, two
hundred years! The time where the powerless are oppressed
must not return!!”
Slight surprise came over Gabriel yet again.
Was this woman truly at the stage before that breakthrough? If

that was the case, was it her master who spoke those words?
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Gabriel leaned his face in and stared into her ashen eyes up close.
Determination. Loyalty. And the emotion hidden deep within……
Ah, that makes sense.
He had no further need for this woman, then. To be specific, he

had no further need for this woman’s fluct light.
Gabriel abided by the judgement he passed and nonchalantly

added strength to his left hand, gripping the woman’s neck, so that
she would not let out any more of those meaningless words.
He could hear and feel her neck bones creaking. Silent screams left
her mouth with her two eyes wide open.
Gabriel tasted a different variant of surprise even as he held her

struggling limbs down tight and strangled her neck without mercy.
Was this really a virtual world? The sensation of sinews and

cartilage breaking apart transmitted to his left hand stimulated his
five senses more vividly than in the real world alongside the dread
and pain radiating from her exposed skin.
Trembling unconsciously, he drew his left hand close on reflex.
Crack. The unknown woman’s neck bones crumbled with that dull
noise.
And Gabriel saw it.
From the brow of the woman who closed her eyes tight as she
endured the pain—gushed out a light shining in rainbow colors.
This was unmistakably what he saw then—the moment the young

Alicia’s life ended—that soul cloud.
Gabriel opened his mouth widely in that instant and sucked in the
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woman’s soul without missing any of it.
Bitterness, from fear and pain.
Sourness, of chagrin and sorrow.
Succeeding those two, an indescribable divine nectar engulfed

Gabriel’s tongue.
Hazy scenes flickered behind his shut eyelids.
Young children playing in the front yard of a decrepit two-story

building. There were humans, goblins, and orcs. The children looked
this way and charged in with their hands extended, their faces
gleaming.
As that image disappeared, he then saw a man’s upper body. An

embrace in his broad chest, trained to its limit, warm and firm.
[I love… you… Your Excellency……]
A voice sounded out faintly, echoed, and departed.
Even after everything faded away, Gabriel’s strong grip on the

woman’s husk remained.
Marvelous. What a marvelous experiment.
Though much of his consciousness quivered in ecstasy, Gabriel

inferred the logic behind the phenomenon with some of what sense
he had left over.
The light cube storing the woman’s fluct light and Gabriel’s own
fluct light were connected through the STL. As such, their Life, when
her Life, her hit points, turned to zero, the fragments of her
deallocated quantum data might have went upstream through the
circuit.
However, that theory no longer mattered. He had replicated that

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phenomenon he spent his life seeking at last. He had tasted all of
that final emotion the woman held on the verge of death—love. That
was just like a heavenly nectar sprinkling onto a desolated desert.
More.
He needed more.
He needed to kill more.
Gabriel threw his body back and let loose silent, raucous laughter.
Gabriel gazed over the ten generals and their respective

executives, lined up orderly and bowing low with respect once again,
with satisfaction.
As ordered, they had completed the preparation for marching

within two days. In a sense, these general units might be superior to
those people residing on the directors’ floor in Glowgen DS’s
headquarters.
He thought them fit enough to be considered complete. That ability

to handle work without complaint and that loyalty. What more could
one want for an AI installed on a robot for war?
That said, he had to keep in mind that the generals’ loyalty was
the reason for that issue regarding artificial fluct lights that Rath was
so fixated with. The great law imprinted into their souls, the
strongest shall rule, was what made these ten obey the emperor,
Gabriel, no, Vector. That also meant it would not be unnatural for any
of them to betray the emperor the moment they develop doubt in his
might.
That concern had already been realized.
The female assassin who sneaked into his bedroom two nights ago.
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That woman tried to kill the most powerful, the emperor. There
must have been a master she thought superior to Gabriel in her
heart. That person she called «Your Excellency» in her final words.
And that person was almost certainly among the ten generals lined
up before his eyes.
In her eyes, her own master overpowered Emperor Vector. If that

was the case, there was a high possibility this Your Excellency had
not truly swore fealty to Gabriel. If he went to the battlefield with
such a unit under his command, he might even be assassinated in his
sleep, however slight the chance might be.
Hence, the final mission before setting out for the front lines would
be to smoke out and execute this Your Excellency from among the
ten.
And at the same time, the remaining nine would recognize the
might of the emperor. The balance of power would be forever carved
into their fluct lights.
At this point, Gabriel Miller had not considered in the slightest

being beaten—losing in a one-versus-one fight—by any of the ten
units under his eyes. The beliefs that the Underworld was no more
than a VR world, a direct successor to games, and that the units in it
were all mere NPCs were still entrenched in him.
The words of his master surfaced in Dark Knight Viksul Ur

Shasta’s mind as he knelt with his head lowered. The memory was
from over twenty years in the past, in the Order of the Dark Knights’s
training area.
[—The master of my own died instantly with his head

lopped off. My master had his chest gouged into and fell on
the way back to the palace. I lost an arm, but returned alive
as you can see. Not that it is anything to brag about.]
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Sitting upright on the floor shining with black luster, his master
showed Shasta his right arm, cleanly severed from the elbow, as he
spoke. It hurt simply looking at the wound, wrapped in bandages with
the blood stopped with medicine.
The one who made that wound a mere three days ago was the
longtime enemy of the dark knights and the world’s strongest
swordsman, or perhaps its worst monster—the Integrity Knight
Commander himself, Bercouli Synthesis One.
[Do you understand what this implies, Viksul?]
At roughly twenty back then, Shasta could do nothing but to tilt his
head in confusion. His master returned his severed arm into the
bosom of his clothes, shut his eyes, and murmured.
[I’ve caught up, at long last.]
[Caught up—with him, you mean?]
A tinge of disbelief found itself into the young Shasta’s words. That
was how overwhelming Bercouli’s swordsmanship was. The chill that
struck him in the back like an ice pillar the moment he saw his
master’s right arm trace a line of fresh blood as it flew up high had
not disappeared even after three days.
[I will turn fifty this year. But still, I do not believe I have
yet mastered how to hold the sword, let alone swing it. In all
likelihood, that will remain so in the next five or ten years
before I drop dead.]
His master spoke softly.
[…Our brief lives cannot possibly reach where he got after

living for over two hundred years. I hate to admit it, but I had
given up inside up until the moment I crossed swords with
him. However, now that I had fled back with this unsightly
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loss, I know those were not mistakes. They weren’t for
nothing… My master and the rest of the masters thus far
have not continued challenging that man for nothing.
—Viksul, what is the apex of swordsmanship?]
Shasta instinctively gave an answer to the sudden question.
[The «unconscious blade».]
[Yes. To unite with one’s sword through many years of

training, and cut, draw, and even move without conscious
thought for the sake of one slash; that is the apex of
swordsmanship. I was taught so by my master and I had
taught you so, too. But you see… Viksul, it was wrong. There
is more. I understood that, being cut by that monster.]
A faint hue of excitement ran through his master’s aged features.

Shasta, too, leaned forward without noticing while still sitting upright.
[More… you say?]
[The opposite of unconscious. A resolute conviction. The

power of one’s will, Viksul.]
His master strongly waved his right arm, severed above the elbow,
without warning.
[Look at it. I had cut down from the right at that point. It
was a truly unconscious slash, the fastest my sword had been
in my life. I must have taken the initiative over Bercouli at
the start.]
[Yes… I thought so as well.]
[But, but you see. Originally, he would be on the defensive

with his sword deflected by mine, but instead, he pushed
mine back and cut away this arm. …Can you believe it,
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Viksul? His sword did not even touch mine in that moment!]
Shasta turned speechless and shook his head awkwardly.
[How… how could that…]
[It is the truth. It was almost as if the trajectory of his slash

was averted by some unseen power. That was no art. Neither
was it the armament full control art. I can offer no other
explanation for that phenomenon. My unconscious blade was
defeated by his willpower, trained up over two hundred
years. He pictured the path of his sword so strongly that it
became unchangeable reality!]
Shasta could not immediately trust his master’s words.
It was beyond belief that something intangible like the might of

one’s willpower could repel a heavy, hard sword with its irrefutable
presence.
It appeared Shasta’s master predicted his response. Abruptly

straightening his sitting posture, he quietly ordered atop the
floorboards shining black.
[Viksul, I shall impart upon you the final secret of the

sword. —Cut me.]
[Wha… what are you saying?! You even got through that…]
With your life intact; Shasta could not help but to keep those words
unsaid. There was a sudden, intense glint in his master’s eyes.
[I have to be cut down by you with our lives

interconnected. Now that I have lost to him in a single strike,
you do not consider me to be the strongest any longer. If I
live, you cannot fight against him on equal grounds. You, too,
must cut, no, kill me and stand where he… Bercouli does!!]
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Finishing those words, his master stood and adopting a stance akin
to wielding a sword with that missing right arm.
[Now, stand! Draw your sword, Viksul!!]
Shasta slashed his master and ended that life.
With that, he learned the meaning behind his master’s words with
his body.
Sparks scattered wildly when Shasta’s sword crossed the unseen

blade held in his master’s right arm—that sword named
willpower—and it really did tear into his cheek, leaving behind a gash
that would never disappear.
Though wet with tears and fresh blood, The young Shasta stood at
the first step of the secret surpassing the «unconscious blade», the
«incarnate blade».
And the years flowed on—to five years ago.
Shasta was finally challenged by the bitter enemy of the dark

knights, Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli. At the age of thirty-
seven, he felt his sword reach its limit.
His master returned alive at the cost of an arm, but Shasta had no
intention of returning alive if he lost. After all, Shasta had made no
disciples for the sake of succeeding himself. He had no desire to have
some youth shoulder the fate of cutting down his or her master and
being cut down by his or her disciple. He decided to sever that link
stained with blood at the cost of his life.
The sword laced with all of his determination and resolution, the
«power of incarnation», clashed against Bercouli’s initial strike head-
on without being deflected. But Shasta had already predicted his
defeat by that point. He doubted his capability to execute another
slash of similar weight.
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However, Bercouli laughed openly and whispered with their swords
crossed.
[Your swordsmanship’s great. A sword clotted with the

intent to kill could never take on my sword. Chew on that
thought and come back in another five years, boy.]
And the integrity knight commander widened the distance between

them before calmly taking his leave. For some reason, he could not
bring himself to cut him down from behind despite how his back
appeared so full of openings.
It took a long time before he understand what Bercouli implied. But

now, five years later, he felt like he understood. Shasta would have
likely lost in that clash if his blade was ladened with nothing but
blood thirst and hatred. Though it was merely once, his strike was an
equal match only because of that resolution hidden in his chest,
surpassing even his murderous urges.
In other words—his gratitude towards his predecessors who passed

down techniques at the cost of their lives and his prayers for the
youth succeeding himself.
That was why Shasta decided to begin negotiations for peace

immediately after receiving news of the highest minister’s death. He
had the confidence that Bercouli would definitely accept such a
proposal.
For the same reason—
He had to personally take the head of Emperor Vector who

descended onto Obsidia Palace all of a sudden with that tyrannical
decision to initiate war.
Even as he knelt with his head lowered, Shasta refined the

willpower to be set on the blade certain to take his life.
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The emperor, revived after going missing for hundreds of years,
was a young man with pale skin and blonde hair just like a human of
the Human Empire. Neither his physique nor his features
demonstrated much power either.
However, only those two eyes of the emperor, too vividly blue,
showed him to be no commoner. There was nothing in them. They
were bottomless voids, sucking in all light. This man was hiding some
vile craving.
If the emperor’s void were to absorb his refined power of

incarnation entirely, his sword would not reach.
Dark General Shasta will probably die then. However, his intentions
should be inherited by those succeeding him.
His only lingering regret was that he could not convey his decision
to Lipia as she did not show up at his room last night. Was she
worked to the bone with her duties for the departure, or perhaps
making an appearance at her precious «home»?
If he had revealed his plan to cut the emperor to her, she might
have had insisted on accompanying him. Hence, this might have
been for the best.
Shasta slowly drew in a breath and held it.
Lowering his waist, he softly touched his cherished sword left on

the floor with the fingertips on his left hand.
There were fifteen mel to the throne. Two steps to reach.
None must know of his initial movement. He must draw

unconsciously.
He poured the power of incarnation, sharpened to its limit, into his

sword from his fingers. And he became air.
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His left hand grabbed at the sword’s sheath——
But before he could.
The emperor casually spoke in his hard and smooth voice that
resembled glass.
“Incidentally, a person sneak’d into my bedroom the night

before last. With hair hiding a knife.”
Hushed astonishment rocked the air in the great hall.
Among the nine lords lined up to Shasta’s left, one gulped softly,
another groaned deeply from the throat, and yet another shrank into
that thick robe. Several cries of surprise were raised from the line of
executives held at the back as well.
Shasta, too, was struck by shock. He went through his thoughts in

an instant, his posture still ready to go forth and cut.
Another came to the conclusion that the emperor should be

eliminated. It must have, unfortunately, been a failure judging from
how the emperor was unharmed—but just who among the nine
called for the assassination?
It would not be the five demi-human lords. Even the smaller goblin
races could not possibly sneak past the guards’ eyes into the top
floor, let alone the giants, ogres, and orcs.
If he were to look towards the four human lords, he could first

eliminate the head of the pugilists, the young Iskahn and the
Economic Guild’s head, Lengyel. Iskahn was an impulsive and
straightforward youngster with the sole aim of mastering bare fist
combat techniques and Lengyel would only start a war if it made him
a tidy sum.
Seeing if the culprit had sneaked into that bedroom, the head of
the Assassins’ Guild, Fu Za, would be most fishy and in truth, he
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could not understand what went through that man’s mind, but that
man would never use a knife.
What the Assassins’ Guild researched in earnest at the bottom of

their dark pit was neither arts nor swordsmanship, but a third power:
poison. Those blessed in neither arts usage authority nor weapon
wielding authority banded together to live on, forming Fu Za’s tribe.
They follow a standard methodology with their weapons limited to
needles coated in poison, concealed or shot from blowpipes. Knives
were not included.
By the same reasoning, he also had to exclude the head of the

dark arts users kneeling directly on his left, D.I.L. As ambition
embodied, the woman seemed likely to consider taking the
emperor’s head and climbing straight up to rule over the Dark
Empire, but assassins from D. should use arts instead of knives.
However, that would mean none among the nine lords called for
the assassination.
The one and only remaining was Dark Knight Commander Shasta
himself.
But of course, he had no recollection of doing so. He had decided

to eliminate the emperor only by his own sword, staking his life on it.
Forget ordering his subordinates for an assassination, he had not
talked about his hidden determination even once—
No.
No…
She could not have.
Reaching that point in his thought in the span of a blink after the
emperor spoke of the assassin, Shasta felt his left hand in contact
with his sword’s scabbard turn increasingly chilly.
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His refined power of incarnation transformed in no time at all. To
suspicion. To unease. To dread. And, to an ominous certainty.
At almost the same time, Emperor Vector continued to the latter

half of his words.
“I intend not to flush out the one who sent that assassin. I
applaud that spirit of exercising power to gain more. Thou art
welcome to come at me whenever if thou desire mine head.”
Glaring haughtily over the great hall immersed in a low clamor

once more, the emperor expressed what could be considered
emotion for the first time with that pale face—
“Naturally, I request thou prepare ample compensation for

such a wager. For example… this.”
Pulling his hand from his pitch-black long clothes, he nonchalantly

made a signal.
And with that, the door made in the wall to the east of Shasta,
beside the throne, silently opened and a servant girl slowly walked
in. A large silver tray, carefully held up by her two hands, had
something rectangular placed on it, but the black cloth covering it
obscured its identity.
The servant placed the silver tray before the throne, reverentially
lowered her head to the emperor, and left the room through the door
once more.
In the silence strained thin, Emperor Vector reached out with the
toes of his boots, his lips in a somehow warped smile, and swept off
the cloth covering the silver tray as through trampling on it.
What Shasta, his entire being frozen, saw with his two eyes—
Was a clear ice cube, faintly blue.
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And sealed within it, never to wake again, was the face of the
woman he loved.
“Li… pi…”
-a. Shasta silently mouthed her name.
An endless, dark sensation of nihility filled his chest, erasing even

the chill that engulfed his body.
Shasta knew of the orphanage Dark Knight Lipia Zankale secretly

managed. He thought he saw hope for the future in Lipia’s act of
protecting and raising the children who awaited only a death in the
wilderness, their relatives lost, regardless of their race.
That was why Shasta spoke of his ideals only to Lipia. That
boundless dream where the constant war with the Human Empire
ended and they joined hands for a world shared rather than fought
over.
However, that ended up leading to Lipia’s assassination of the

emperor and the consequential reveal of that tragic form. Though the
emperor was the one who murdered her—Shasta, too, did so. He was
sure of that.
An immense tempest of regret and self-condemnation blew

through Shasta’s hollow chest, concentrated into a brief moment.
It took no time at all for that to transform into a single dark

emotion.
blood thirst.
Kill. He would kill that man sitting on the throne with his legs
crossed, that faint smile on his face, whatever it took.
Even if he had to give up on his life and the future of the Dark
Territory hereafter.
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Now then, which would turn out to be the problem?
With slight interest, Gabriel gazed over the ten leader units
kneeling under his eyes.
The female assassin loved her master from the bottom of her
heart. Having drank in that emotion that resembled some nectar of
the gods, released on her death, Gabriel understood not just her
yearning, but even the nature of the love her master showed
her—though merely as organized data.
Hence, he knew that person she called Your Excellency would

definitely make a move if he displayed her head. He would execute
that traitor unit pointing a blade towards him without mercy and
heighten the remaining units’ loyalties with fear. Like in those
simulation games he played in his spare time in the real world.
What a deplorable and delightful bunch.
Limited in intelligence despite possessing proper souls and on top

of that, infinitely replenishable no matter how many he slaughtered.
The day the Underworld fell into his hands, both its mainframe and
its light cubes, would certainly be when he satiates that hunger
tormenting him since his childhood.
Placing a cheek against the arm he rested on the throne’s armrest,

Gabriel waited, relaxed.
There was a whole fifteen meters from the units. He could face off
an attack from any weapon with the sword equipped on the left of his
waist without issue.
Of course, that was not enough against attacks ranging from

system calls to commands. However, Gabriel’s insecurities were
wiped away before he logged in.
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The super account, «Dark God Vector», was set up for Rath’s staff
to forcibly intervene with the Dark Territory. As such, the HP known
as Life was enormous, the equipped sword was the strongest, and
above all, Vector held the rule-breaking trait of being unselectable for
all sorts of commands from others.
Protected by all of those conditions,
Gabriel understood not, protected by all of those conditions, even

as the knight in pitch-black armor sitting at the left end of the ten
units curled up his back.
He understood not, even as a faint shadow-like aura enveloped

that entire body.
Not even when the knight grabbed the sheathed sword on the floor
with his left hand at the speed of lightning, head leaping up with that,
and showed the two eyes centered among those masculine features
releasing crimson light that would not belong on any human—
Did Gabriel understand at all what was happening.
He did not understand this world, while being a program running

on a physical server, was «grounded in reality» constructed by
quantum bits the same as humans’ fluct lights.
He did not understand that as such, the pure yet intense blood
thirst originating from the dark knight could reach the STL Gabriel
was hooked up to from his light cube, through the main visualizer
and the quantum transmission lines.
Shasta recognized only the emperor in the middle of his sight

soaked in the shade of blood.
His right arm moved faster than it ever had, and drew.
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What was released from the scabbard, was not the familiar grey
blade of the sacred tool inherited from his master, the tachi,
«Oborogasumi». As its name suggested, thick mist resembling night
fog surrounded its extremely long blade and twisted into a swirl.
Though Shasta did not notice that the logic behind the
phenomenon was identical to the integrity knight’s ultimate
technique, the armament full control art, inexplicable even after long
years of research, that no longer mattered to him.
“Kill!!”
Shasta swung his beloved sword, carrying all of his anger, hatred,
and sorrow, with a fleeting scream.
From the northern tip of the Human Empire to the ends of its
eastern region.
This would be the first time Integrity Knight Alice and Amayori,
born in the western empire, visited the eastern empire, Eastabarieth,
a land most mysterious even among the four empires.
Rivers, blue as lapis lazuli, flowed swiftly through the gaps

between jutting, strangely-shaped rocks under her eyes. The towns
and villages near the bank sometimes appeared to be mainly built
from lumber rather than stone like the familiar northern side.
Most of those who looked up into the sky and pointed had black
hair. The recollection that Deputy Knight Commander Fanatio, whom
she simply could not get along with, was born here suddenly sprang
into her mind.
Returning her gaze forward, Alice saw Kirito, blankly gazing at the
sky while leaning against her as she grasped the reins, had pitch-
black hair as well, and considered the possibility that he could have
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been born here and might regain his mind if she descended into town
and let him come into contact with the people; however, she
currently had the need to reach her destination even a second faster.
It was the third day of their rushed journey, camping in remote

places away from the population at night, and having the fish
Amayori caught along with the dried fruits they carried for meals—
In the noon of the eleventh month’s second day, the mountain

range at the edge, whose appearance alone remained unchanged
from its view at the northern side, appeared before them with a
gorge made with vertical cuts so straight it could only be the work of
the gods.
“…You can see it now, Kirito.”
Alice murmured and gently caressed the nape of her cherished

dragon whom she had forced on this long journey while carrying a
heavy load. Though the flying dragons boasted of the highest Life
among all living beings now that most of the magical beasts have
disappeared, it must have still been a major undertaking to fly while
burdened with two humans and three sacred tools. It seemed she
had almost exhausted the energy she stored up by living on a lavish
diet of fish for half a year.
Upon snapping the reins while thinking to, at the very least, feed
her plenty of her favorite boiled mutton once they reached the camp
site, Amayori responded with a voice that revealed no sense of
fatigue and strongly flapped her wings.
Though the gorge appeared like a narrow gap from afar, she
noticed it was nothing that simple as they approached.
The valley likely reached about a hundred mel in width. Wide

enough for a large army of orcs and ogres to march in rank.
At the grasslands that spread out, as though to envelop the whole
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entrance to the valley that pierced right through the mountain,
countless white tents were lined up systematically, forming a large
camp site. Smoke from cooking rose from one place or another while
the soldiers were training on the outskirts. The gleam from the
swords they swung and the spirit they exuded reached even the
skies.
Though morale was not as low as she had worried, the number of
troops was still despairingly low. A brief scan showed the total to be
less than even three thousand. On the other hand, the invading army
from the Dark Territory was no less than fifty thousand. Despite how
only a miniscule percentage became soldiers or guards when
bestowed such sacred tasks in the Human Empire, everyone who
could fight, regardless of age or gender, was made a soldier beyond
the mountain range.
Alice doubted anything about this situation would change with just
the addition of herself. What kinds of strategies for defense did
Knight Commander Bercouli have in mind…?
Alice first flew over the camp site in her contemplation and led her
flying dragon towards the gorge sunken in dim darkness.
“I am sorry, Amayori, please fly on for a little more.”
She called out so and the dragon responded with a kururuu

immediately before the light of Solus was obstructed by the
mountain mass.
A chill that made her shiver enveloped her the moment they
entered the gorge. The walls of rock on the left and right rose so
smoothly, she truly believed the gods must have done it. She saw
absolutely no vegetation, let alone wildlife.
After continuing to fly while decelerating for several minutes—
A ridiculously large structure finally showed itself before the
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lingering mist.
“This is… the «Great East Gate»……?”
The grey gate that rose up vertically likely measured at least three
hundred mel tall. Though lower than the Axiom Church’s Central
Cathedral that reached five hundred mel, it was no less intimidating.
Most shocking was how it was carved from a single slab of stone,
leaving no seam at all between the left and right gates. She thought
such a feat was impossible to produce even by sacred arts, let alone
by human hands. Though the greatest structures the highest
minister, Administrator, brought forth were the «immortal walls»
splitting Central Capital Centoria into four, each of those connecting
walls was far smaller than these doors.
This great gate was placed here by the gods when the world
began. In order to divide the Human Empire and the land of
darkness—and to bring about tragedy three hundred and several
tens of years later.
“Stop, Amayori.”
The flying dragon halted in the air and Alice looked up at the gate
again from up close.
Something was written in sacred script around two hundred mel

above ground where stone slabs forming the left and right gates
joined.
“Destruct… at… the last stage…”
Though she managed to sound out one line among many, she did
not understand its meaning.
It was when she tilted her head. A tremendous shattering noise

suddenly shook the air and shocked both Alice and Amayori. Stroking
the dragon’s nape, she stared hard and saw a thin crack carved into
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the gate, like a flashing of jet-black lightning, which was smooth just
a moment earlier.
The crack which extended for tens of mel stopped at last and
several rocks peeled off from around it, vanishing into the bottom of
the valley far below.
Raising her head, she once again focused on the giant gate. She
then noticed that cracks had run across almost the entire flat stone
slab like stitches.
Lightly swinging the reins, Alice went as close to the gate astride
her dragon as she could.
Delicately stretching out her left hand and quickly drawing Stacia’s
seal in midair, she softly knocked against the gate’s surface.
The Great Eastern Gate’s maximum and current Life were recorded
on the purple «window» that floated out.
The number on the left was the largest even among the many Life
values she had witnessed—an enormous value above three million.
However, the number shown on the right was not even a thousandth
of that at 2985. While staring at that dumbfounded, she saw the
current value decrease by one before her eyes.
Alice counted the time until the number dropped again while sweat
formed on her palm. And she estimated how long it would take for its
Life to fully run out.
“…It couldn’t…”
Unable to believe the answer her own head derived, Alice

muttered.
“…Five days… there are only five days left……?”
The Great Gate that solemnly divided the two worlds for over three
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hundred years would crumble in merely five days—could that
actually happen?
Selka’s brilliant smile, the elderly Garitta’s wrinkled face, and the
sullen face belonging to her father, Gasupht, passed through her
mind one after another. Mere days had passed since she drove away
the goblins assaulting them and sealed the cave with ice. She had
believed Rulid would stay peaceful for the time being with that.
If the Great Gate were to collapse in five days and the defense
army was unable to hold up to the advancing forces of darkness, the
Human Empire will be flooded with monsters thirsting for blood. The
waves would reach the northern region before long and swallow up
Rulid Village.
“I have… I have to do something…”
Alice unconsciously drew the reins closer while muttering

incoherently. Separating from the Great Gate on the verge of
collapsing, Amayori ascended with a slow flap of her wings.
Upon reaching the top of the gate, towering three hundred mel tall,
she hovered once more.
The gorge splitting the mountain range extended straight beyond

the gate just like on the side of the Human Empire. However, it was
not blue skies and verdant grasslands that stretched out there, but
skies dyed in the shade of blood and the Dark Territory’s wastelands
that appeared sprinkled with cinders.
Tearing her eyes from the ominous scene, Alice abruptly squinted.
She saw light flickering on the barely visible blackened earth.
Making Amayori ascend further, she focused her eyes. There were
more than a single light. Though irregularly arranged, they extended
on as far as she could see.
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Those were campfires.
It was a camp site. The vanguards for the forces of darkness were
lying in wait in great numbers right before her eyes. Awaiting that
moment the gate crumbles and opens the path to the Human
Empire.
“Another… five days…”
Alice hoarsely muttered once more.
Her flying dragon turned about immediately after. She thought she
would be swallowed by uneasiness and cut down by a single enemy
line if she continued staring into the legion of camp fires.
Even so, she held confidence she could slaughter one or two
hundred of their infantry if they consisted of goblins or orcs.
However, it would not be as simple if there was a battalion of ogre
archers or dark arts users in the enemy line.
Even if the integrity knights could match a thousand, that power

came solely from each of them. They would not get out unscathed if
ranged attacks were concentrated on them beyond where their
swords and arts could reach and even minor wounds could rob them
of all their Life when accumulated. That was the exact, greatest
weakness of the Order of the Integrity Knights—and consequently,
the defense of the Human Empire—that Knight Commander Bercouli
feared throughout his many years.
The highest minister, Administrator, where all of their war potential

went, was already deceased and the mountain of equipment hoarded
in the cathedral had already been distributed to the defense army.
However, there was far too little time left. If they had at least ten
thousand troops, or a year of preparation—
Shaking away her futile thoughts with a sigh, Alice issued Amayori
instructions to descend.
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The meadow in the middle of the defense army’s camp site was
vastly vacated. Seeing as there was a gigantic tent beside it, that
was unmistakably the landing field for flying dragons.
Descending in an arc, Amayori turned her long neck towards the

tent with her four talons barely touching the green undergrowth and
sounded out a fawning kururuu from her throat.
A slightly deeper voice immediately replied. It must be her brother,

Takiguri. Alice leapt down onto the meadow while carrying Kirito the
moment the dragon came to a stop and detached the heavy luggage
from her two feet. Amayori stampeded towards the tent the moment
she was done and rubbed her head against her brother’s which
peeked out from under the thick cloth.
Though it made Alice smile unwittingly, she noticed footsteps

approaching from behind and straightened her expression in a
fluster. Putting the hem of her plain skirt in order, she swept her hair,
disheveled by the wind, behind her back.
A familiar man’s voice rang through the landing field before she
could turn back.
“Master! My master, Alice-sama!! I believed in you!!”
Slipping around in front of her while sliding over the grass was the
integrity knight she shared a parting drink with just ten days ago,
Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-one. Despite being in a camp, there was not
even a speck on his undulating light purple hair or his silver armor.
“…Looks like you have been well.”
Eldrie was overcome with emotion and about to reply, undaunted

by Alice’s blunt reply, but his lips came to a sudden stop.
He noticed the black-haired young man supported in Alice’s left

arm.
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With a side of his cheek stiffening, the young knight threw his head
back greatly and groaned as though in disbelief.
“You brought him… haven’t you? Why?”
Alice, too, held her head as high as she could and replied.
“Naturally. I swore to protect him.”
“S-Still… we integrity knights must stand as the vanguards

when battle begins. What are your intentions when crossing
swords with the enemies? You could not possibly be thinking
of carrying him while doing so?”
“I shall, should the need arise.”
Alice pulled back her right foot slightly as though hiding Kirito’s
gaunt body, unable to stand on his own, from Eldrie’s eyes. However,
small groups of the resting soldiers and lower ranking integrity
knights around the landing field had gathered before long and turned
gazes of suspicion on Alice and Kirito who stood close together.
Eldrie released a sharp rebuttal, eclipsing the waves of chatter.
“You must not, master! With all due respect, allow me to

state that fighting while ladened with that useless burden
might not only halve your capability with the sword, but also
expose yourself to danger! With regards to the looming
battle, Alice-sama…”
Cutting off his words for a moment, he pointed at the surrounding

soldiers with his dazzling silver gauntlet.
“…Has the responsibility of leading them into battle! You

must be able to display your full might!”
It was sound. However, she could not simply accept it. Alice firmly
grinded her molars and searched for the words to explain how she
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felt them both to be just as important—both fighting for the Human
Empire and protecting Kirito.
At the same time, she felt some surprise at her disciple’s fervent
speech.
He showed clear change since the time before when Alice taught
him the sword in the Central Cathedral. Eldrie then practically
worshipped Alice and would never talk back no matter what she said.
The mysterious «gods of the outside world» had applied a seal in the
right eye of every human in this world and made them utterly unable
to oppose the law or those superior. As far as Alice knew, the only
ones who broke that seal were the now-deceased Blue Rose
swordsman, Eugeo, and she herself. Not even the two who boasted of
authority equal to the gods, the highest minister, Administrator, and
the sage, Cardinal, were able to oppose that seal in the end.
Eldrie must be still under the influence of that seal. Despite that,
he had escaped from his previous blind obedience—though it might
not be too clear if he was truly opposing Alice’s words. He had his
own thoughts and expressed his own opinions.
The one who brought about that change was likely Kirito. And
Eugeo.
Eldrie’s soul must have greatly agitated by those two, the world’s
greatest rebels and proud swordsmen, despite their brief encounter.
Now that she thought about it, her little sister, Selka, who lived in
Rulid showed displeasure for the village’s unchanging laws and the
stubbornness of those who held power. There were also the two
female students who ran out when Alice arrested Kirito and Eugeo
from the North Centoria Sword Mastery Academy. It would have been
usually impossible for such young girls to call for an integrity knight
to halt.
And of course—there was Alice herself.
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Until the time she crossed swords with Kirito and fell to the walls
outside the cathedral with him, she held no doubts at all about the
structure of the world, the rule of the church, and the divinity of the
highest minister.
However, throughout their reluctant cooperation to escape the

crisis, their truce, and their climb up the outer walls, Kirito had
continuously aggravated Alice with his words, his sword, and those
jet-black eyes—finally resulting in her breaking the seal on her right
eye…
Yes, Kirito was like a hammer that swung down onto this world
filled with false harmony. Shaking and jolting the world with the
power concealed in his soul, he finally broke away that ancient nail
embedded in the Human Empire’s heart known as the Axiom Church.
However, his best friend, Eugeo, and the guru, Cardinal, had lost
their lives in return while he lost his mind…
Alice hugged the fragile body supported on her left arm closer. And
she looked straight back towards Eldrie’s two eyes.
She wanted to tell him. You are only as you are now because you
fought with this man. However, he would never understand. To the
Order of the Integrity Knights, Kirito was still no more than an
unforgivable traitor.
With an expression like enduring some dull pain, Eldrie was about
to hurl more words at Alice who stood stock still in silence.
That was when it happened. A part of the surrounding crowd split

apart as though pushed aside by some giant’s hand.
The voice that reached Alice from beyond the crowd was nostalgic
enough to render her to tears yet created a sense of tension that was
almost painful.
“Now, no need for your temper, Eldrie.”
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Taking her sight off the young knight who straightened up in a
hurry, Alice slowly turned about and saw who the voice belonged to.
Those loose clothes in the style of the eastern region which were
folded in front. That wide band tied at a low position. That rustic long
sword crudely stuck in at the left of his waist. That strange footwear
slipped on his feet.
The equipment was far lighter than that of the knights and soldiers
around him. However, the pressure exuding from his body, forged to
the limit, was denser and heavier than any armor.
Roughly stroking the pale blue hair cut short that went well with
his clothes, the owner of the voice formed a grin with his mouth.
“Yo, lil’ miss. Glad you look better than I thought you
would be. Put some on weight around your face?”
“…Esteemed uncle. It has been a while.”
Desperately holding back her tears, Alice bowed to the world’s

oldest and strongest swordsman—Integrity Knight Commander
Bercouli Synthesis One.
In the six years she lived as an integrity knight, he was the one
person Alice had allowed in her heart, respected as a master, and
adored as a father. At the same time, he was the only
swordsman—aside from Kirito—she could never defeat in this world.
Thus, she must not show a face covered in tears now.
If Bercouli denied her from having Kirito here, she had to obey. Of
course, Alice now had the ability to go against his orders. However,
opposing him in front of everyone would shake the order between
the Order and the Defense Army. With the decisive battle looming in
merely five days, she must not put even a hairline crack into
Bercouli’s authority of command.
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As though seeing through Alice’s conflicts, Bercouli slowly
approached while revealing a smile filled with rustic gentleness.
He first stared into Alice’s eyes and nodded strongly.
And after holding back Eldrie, who seemed like he wanted to put in
a word, with a glance, the knight commander turned his look towards
Kirito, held in Alice’s arm.
His lips tensed up. A light resembling bluish-white flames dwelled

in his keen eyes.
Bercouli drew in a long breath. Alice felt the air around freeze up,
bit by bit.
“…Esteemed uncle…”
Alice forced out her inaudible voice.
Bercouli was sharpening his spirit as a swordsman. He was about

to release that «incarnation technique» imparted only the integrity
knights… the secret technique that surpassed the «incarnation arm»,
capable of moving objects with the strength of one’s mind, the
«incarnation blade».
The focused power of incarnation was set onto a sword and

released. That unseen blade could sometimes even repel a tangible
enemy’s blade. The armament full control art of the sacred tool the
knight commander held, the «Time Piercing Sword», only first came
into existence due to his overwhelming power of incarnation.
In other words—Bercouli was trying to cut Kirito.
She could never accept it if he was trying to settle this problem by

literally cutting it into two. If things came to that, she would protect
Kirito even if she had to draw her sword.
Overwhelmed by the knight commander’s intense spirit, the
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surrounding soldiers, Eldrie, and even the flying dragons in the tent
sank into silence. With her breath unsteady in the heavy, condensed
air, Alice desperately tried to move the fingers on her right hand.
However, just before Alice touched her precious sword, Bercouli’s

mouth moved slightly and she heard words that seemed like they
came from his thoughts.
—Relax, lil’ miss.
“…!?”
It happened the instant when Alice caught her breath.
Without moving in the slightest, Bercouli’s two eyes let out a

dreadful light.
At the same time, Kirito’s body shook violently within Alice’s arm.
Kin! A loud noise rang out and a silver flash burst out in the air
between Bercouli and Kirito.
—What was that!?
Though Alice gasped softly from shock, Bercouli had already

broken into a wide smile by then as though that spirit earlier was an
illusion.
“Esteemed… uncle…?”
The knight commander rubbed his chin and spoke to Alice who
murmured in a daze as though some practice had just ended.
“Lil’ miss, did you see that?”
“Ye… yes. Though it was only for a brief instant… there was
the glint from swords…?”
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“Indeed. I fired an incarnation blade, no, dagger at that
young man. If it hit, it would have cut into his skin on a
cheek.”
“If… it hit? You mean…”
“That’s right. He took it on. That young man, with his own
will.”
Alice could not help but peek into Kirito’s face as she supported
him on her left arm.
However, her hopes were immediately dashed. She saw nothing

more than a hollow darkness in his faintly open black eyes. His
expression was completely lacking as usual.
—Still, his body certainly shook earlier.
Alice caressed Kirito’s hair with her right hand while turning to look
at Bercouli. Though he shook his head, the knight commander still
gave his judgment in clear words.
“Looks like his heart isn’t here… But he’s not dead. Listen,
that boy tried to protect you instead of himself just now, lil’
miss. So he’ll be back. I believe so. Probably when you need
him the most.”
Alice struggled even harder than before to hold back her tears that
threatened to flow.
—Yes, he will return for sure.
—After all, Kirito, Kirito truly is the world’s strongest swordsman.

He even defeated her, close to the realm of gods, by swinging those
two swords.
—I won’t… say it is my sake. But please return, for the many

people living in this world…
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Unable to hold herself back any longer, Alice hugged Kirito tight
with both arms. The knight commander’s admonishing voice brushed
softly against her back.
“It’s as you see, Eldrie. Don’t mind something so trivial, we

can look after one young man at least.”
“…But… but still…”
Showing remarkable mettle, Eldrie the newest integrity knight

expressed his thoughts to Bercouli the oldest knight.
“I can understand if he adds to our war potential even in

the slightest, but as he is… besides, even if he regains his
senses, how much can a student’s sword…”
“Oh, c’mon.”
Bercouli’s voice carried a keen edge equivalent to that of some

renowned sword with that gentle smile.
“Have you forgotten? The partner of this boy won against

me. Against Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli Synthesis
One.”
The surroundings instantly fall silent.
“That boy called Eugeo… he was strong, absurdly so. I even

used the Time Piercing Sword’s full control art. And I still
lost. Like you, Deusolbert, and Fanatio did.”
It appeared Eldrie found no words to respond to that. That was only

natural; there could be none among the Order of the Integrity Knights
or those beyond the Great Gate in the Dark Territory capable of
defeating Bercouli in a one-versus-one—or so everyone in the Axiom
Church believed.
However, was that proclamation not too hazardous?
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Knight Commander Bercouli had hurriedly constructed the Defense
Army through the dignity of him being the strongest. If everyone
knew of Eugeo’s existence as a swordsman who defeated him—and
that Kirito held just as much power…
It was when Alice thought that far and looked up.
Bercouli had glanced up towards the skies as though impelled to

do so.
“Esteemed… uncle…?”
The knight commander replied to Alice’s question with words she

never could have expected.
“In a place far, far away, a swordsman’s immense spirit

intensified, and then vanished… Someone I knew is dead…”
The ten lords of the land of darkness’s Ten Lords Assembly bore no
resemblance to each other, be it in nature, personality, or the
ambitions they tucked away inside, but still, they happened to be
perfectly synchronized in one point.
That would be how they understood that one law, «strength rules
over all else», more so than any other.
Rather, it could be said that the law was carved onto their souls
since childhood and it was only due to their constant hard work—be
it training themselves or eliminating any who interfered—that they
stood at nearly the top of this world where blood was washed away
with more blood.
And so.
None among the nine lords lined up with Shasta were genuinely
shocked when the dark knight commander turned to the emperor
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and drew his sword with the fervor behind that scream.
Instead, many sympathized with “You’re doing it now?” or

“How daring”. Even the chiefs of the orcs and ogres whose
linguistic ability, or intelligence, had been degenerating for three
hundred years showed sharp glints in their beastlike eyes in
anticipation of finding out how strong the emperor could be. The
young chief of the pugilists, too, internally cheered Shasta on, to cut
him down now that he had drawn his sword, out of respect for a peer
seeking enlightenment.
Two among them predicted this state of affairs seconds earlier.
One was the head of the Dark Arts Users’ Guild, D.I.L. A fierce
detractor to Shasta, the woman had planned to kidnap the dark
general’s lover and had prior knowledge of Lipia’s face.
Hence, her shock was instead more pronounced when she saw
Lipia’s hewn head frozen in ice. Predicting Shasta might draw his
sword out of rage, she swiftly pondered over how to act if that
occurred.
Though she considered having the emperor owe her a favor by

firing an art into Shasta’s back, she chose the role of a spectator in
the end. All would be well if Shasta lost to the emperor and even in
the strange case he won, that would be when she would roast her
bitter enemy, likely covered in severe wounds, black and hold
supremacy over the land of darkness. Inside, D. chuckled while
licking her lips to conceal her excitement.
And the last who surmised the dark general’s insurgency was yet
another—
This one made a move at once.
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With only that one word, “kill”, in his heart, Shasta swung his
cherished sword down, hard.
The degree of incarnation augmenting his tachi alone certainly

surpassed that time he crossed swords with Integrity Knight
Commander Bercouli. The intensity of his wrath and grief weighed
enough to instantaneously induce the full control phenomenon that
originally required a lengthy incantation.
The tachi Shasta wielded in his hand, «Oborogasumi» was an

object on the class of sacred tools procedurally generated by the
Underworld, a VRMMO package, roughly two hundred years ago. Its
element was «water» and its blade, responding to Shasta’s
overwhelming blood thirst, had lost its substance and transformed
into a mist while keeping its deadly might.
The special quality of Oborogasumi in full control mode was to

bypass the attacking process for all types of swords, «to deal damage
by cutting or piercing the target with the sword». All who came in
contact with the long, extending mist would suffer slashing-type
damage to their Life. In other words, there was no method to defend
against it but to evade.
The emperor, Gabriel Miller, drew the sword on his waist as well
when Shasta did in order to repel the enemy’s strike.
If the situation had proceeded, Shasta’s blade of mist would slip

past Gabriel’s sword and reach him, pouring his concentrated
bloodlust into him.
However, that happened when he stepped forth at the speed of

gods to deliver the critical slash.
Shasta’s movement ceased as though frozen.
A single throwing needle had buried itself deep into a trifling seam
on the left side of the dark general’s armor without notice.
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Swaying onto his feet behind was a man as gaunt as a ghost clad
entirely in a deep grey robe.
Head of the Assassins’ Guild, Fu Za. Bearing hardly any presence

even as one of the ten lords, the inconspicuous man who barely
spoke even in the meetings smoothly moved forward while attracting
more attention than ever before.
Fu Za inferred Shasta’s rebellion in advance only because he was

more of a coward and bundle of nerves than any of the other lords.
The Assassins’ Guild was a mixed gathering of the powerless. It

was a group, made by those born without blessings of strength,
aptitude, assets, or any sort of power yet refused to live exploited as
slaves, to refine their «poison techniques» loathed even in the Dark
Territory.
Venomous objects such as some of the insects, snakes, and plants

in the Underworld were originally placed as part of the load test. As
such, their effectiveness was limited to a level that could be
recovered from if the inhabitants utilized the necessary knowledge.
Conversely, it could never reach the power of arts and
swordsmanship.
However, those who formed the Assassins’ Guild went beyond

Rath’s expectation and worked out the techniques to «concentrate»,
spending many years to produce and strengthen venom. The guild’s
headquarters located underground in the town’s slums had large
kettles concentrating the sap of poisonous fruits, pots of venomous
snakes gathered from various areas cannibalizing each other, and
such prepared over more than a hundred years.
However, the long-awaited completion of the «fatal poison»

brought forth tragedy within the guild with widespread
assassinations. Unlike with swords and arts, identifying the
perpetrator of slow-acting poisons was difficult.
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Naturally, the one leading the guild would never survive without
utmost cowardice. To the extent of lurking into the glances of those
around, no, beyond that, into the meaning for those glances to sense
even the most insignificant budding desire to murder.
To Fu Za, the blood thirst Shasta emitted the moment he saw

Lipia’s head smelled more distinctively than the stench of fresh
blood.
And also to Fu Za, the dark general, Shasta, was a being more
detestable than any other.
He had constructed and abandoned countless assassination plans.

He had the confidence he could kill him. But if the cause of death was
revealed to be poison, all would realize it was the work of the
Assassins’ Guild. The peerless Order of the Dark Knights would
probably charge into the guild’s headquarters and slaughter
everyone an hour after Shasta breathed his last. They had no chance
at a frontal assault.
However, if it was done now, in this instant.
There was a just cause for stabbing a needle covered in

concentrated poison into the body of his sworn enemy. The moment
he drew his sword before the emperor, Shasta was no longer the dark
general or among the ten lords, but a mere traitor.
What Fu Za pulled out and threw from his robe’s pocket was an
assassination tool passed down through the Assassins’ Guild heads.
Known as «Lubellr Venomsteel», it was carved into an extremely thin
needle from a dangerous mineral that secreted paralyzing venom
and could store any sort of venom in its hollowed interior.
Injected into him was the quintessence of the guild as well, a lethal
poison. It was only after mashing fifty thousand leeches, from a rare
breed called «Jigsarvil», then filtering and concentrating the result,
time after time, that just a single drop of venom could be produced.
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As all attempts to cultivate the leeches through breeding had failed,
an absurd amount of effort was necessary to produce a single drop of
this venom.
Fu Za could not have known, but the animals inhabiting the

Underworld’s fields were generated by the system based on specific
values for each area, so aside from exceptions designated as
livestock like sheep and cows, none of them could be artificially bred.
In other words, it would be no exaggeration to say the poison

needle Fu Za let fly was the culmination of the Assassins’ Guild
concentrated onto a single point, be it the needle itself or the venom
within. Simultaneously, it was the crystallization of the oppressed
and weak’s hatred over the hundreds of years.
Shasta had focused his will solely on the sword he held and as a
result, he felt nearly none of the pain from the poison needle
stabbing deep into his body.
However, it was in the instant he tried to leap up high towards the

throne when he felt a tremendous weight, as though his entire body
had turned to lead, and widely opened his eyes.
Strength left his legs and only after slipping down onto a single
knee did he notice the foreign object in the left side of his chest.
—Poison, huh.
Instantly realizing that, he quickly pulled the needle out before an

icy chill paralyzed his left hand. Noticing that the needle, so thin it
hardly seemed a weapon, possessed a vivid green luster, Shasta
understood it was that abominable Lubellr Venomsteel and tried to
chant the art to neutralize it at once.
However, his whole body plunged into the chill, starting from his
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left, at a horrifying speed and including even his mouth. Losing the
sensation of his tongue before he got even the starting system call
completely out, he could do nothing but to endure.
With his left hand numbed as well, the poison needle slipped from
his fist and made a quiet noise on the black marble.
At last, his right arm, still in the midst of swinging his sword, began
to fall sluggishly and with that, the full control mode expired with the
tip of his beloved sword making contact with the floor, having
returned to itself from that grey mist.
A robe of pitch darkness entered Shasta’s vision while he was

suspended in the same posture as before he slashed at the emperor,
thrust onto his left knee with his head lowered.
—Fu Za.
—To think I would be done in by this man.
“…By such a worthless, minor being. …You must be

thinking that, Viksul?”
His chafed voice rustled as it descended from above; Shasta

scowled with the area near his eyes which was all he could still barely
move.
—No one gave you the right to call me with such familiarity…
“You never gave me the right to call you with such

familiarity. You seem to be wanting to say that? But you see,
this isn’t the first time I’m calling you Viksul, you know?”
The face of the assassin who slowly bent his knee and body down
to the same height entered Shasta’s sight. However, his hood was
lowered so far, it obstructed the light and all but his pointed chin
were immersed in the darkness.
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That chin moved as if trembling and a voice hoarser than before
streamed out.
“You… don’t remember, do you. The faces of the children

you knocked down time after time in cadet school. And how
one of them threw himself into the canal out of humiliation
and vanished from school for all eternity.”
—What. What is this man saying? The cadet school?
Born as the son of a novice knight, Shasta was shipped to a cadet

school affiliated with the Order once he grew old enough to hold a
wooden sword. He had no memories of anything but devoting his all
to training in order to survive since then. Attaining victory in one
selection test after another, he was commissioned an officer in the
Order and scouted by his master, the last Knight Commander—that
half of his life sped on by like a swift current, leaving him no time to
reflect on his past.
He could not have remembered. The children who swung wooden

swords beside him over thirty years ago?
“…But you see, I have never forgotten, not even for a

single day. Not one day in the many months and years I
labored as a slave for the assassination guild who picked me
up in the underground culverts where I drifted to. I amassed
knowledge, cultivated many new types of venom, and finally
climbed to head the guild. I lost various things in exchange…
but it was all for vengeance on you, Viksul.”
The hood tipped over just a little when his warped voice came to a
stop, revealing Fu Za’s bare face to Shasta’s eyes.
But still, no memories came to him. No, even if Shasta

remembered his classmates from way back perfectly, his name
would still elude him. After all, Fu Za’s face was left in an abnormal
state that would scare even a horribly disfigured orc, perhaps due to
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the influence of poison.
Two eyes alone shone glaringly from within the hood pulled back
low.
“I developed that poison injected into you for the sake of

killing you, saving it up drop by drop over an overwhelming
length of time. It killed even a large earth dragon with over
three hundred thousand Life after an hour in an experiment.
Your strength and total Life will likely last for another two or
three minutes. Now… I shall pay it all back. All of that hatred
and humiliation you have left in my care.”
—Hatred, huh.
Shasta shifted his sight off Fu Za’s eyes and stared at the poison
needle that tumbled onto the black marble floor.
—Succumbing to anger and hatred, I tried to cut the emperor

down. Fu Za tried to kill me using this needle with that exact same
power. That was why my tachi was stopped. The «will to kill» cannot
defeat the «will for justice». I had forgotten about what I grasped by
crossing swords just once with that man long ago… with Integrity
Knight Commander Bercouli; I had forgotten that secret of the sword
at the very, very end…
Unable to even maintain his kneeling posture, Shasta slumped

down onto the floor, starting with his left shoulder.
In the midst of his hazy, faded vision, beyond the poison needle—
There was a cube of ice placed on a silver platter.
The one out for revenge, Fu Za also once known as Ferius

Zargatis, opened his two eyes widely as if to fully taste the moment
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of bliss that had finally come.
The once glorious dark general, Shasta, now rolled at his own feet.
He was in a fine state; his skin, taut despite his age, turned deathly
pale, the keen light in his eyes had vanished, and his breathing was
feeble too.
What an ugly and miserable way to die.
And Shasta’s death was effectively demonstrated that techniques

to murder by poison were superior to swordsmanship or the dark
arts. Not only would a single prick of the new composite poison
utilizing Lubellr Venomsteel and Jigsarvil drive the enemy into a state
unable to draw a sword or chant an art, it would also bring them a
swift demise.
Emperor Vector, on the throne, must have noticed the value of the
Assassins’ Guild through this act as well. The day the new poison
could be mass produced would be when he had no further need to
read the knights and art users’ expressions. He would reclaim his
original name and perhaps even take over the the Zargatis family
that had abandoned him as its new patriarch…
Shivering with pleasure, Fu Za was utterly unaware that the blade

of Shasta’s sword that had rolled out of his sight was turning into
mist once more.
—Lipia.
Before his Life ran out, Shasta shouted out the name of that one
woman he loved in his heart.
Lipia must have decided to assassinate the emperor due to her

wish to realize the arrival of that new age Shasta spoke of. With the
end of the three hundred years war, the orphans would gain the right
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to live in happiness, without falling to starvation or slavery, with the
introduction of a new law and order; she must have believed in that.
—Hey, Fu Za.
—You say I’d beat you up in cadet school? That you were unable to
bear with the humiliation and threw yourself away?
—But you must have had the opportunity at least. You had parents
who sent you to school, three meals a day, a warm bed, and a roof to
shield you from the rain. How many young lives do you think there
are in this world who were not given even those basic privileges and
faded out, treated like torn rags?
—Lipia had given her life to reform that world. That will cannot be
brought to naught. Your petty, personal grievances——
“…Shall not stand in her way!!”
The moment that terrific bellow roared from Shasta who should
have been completely paralyzed, something that resembled a grey
tornado whirled up high from the dark knight’s right hand.
That was what even bare few among the integrity knights were
capable of, the recollection release phenomenon of sacred tools.
Shasta’s peerless power of incarnation collected all of the
Underworld’s data and began to overwrite the running main
visualizer.
The grey tornado disintegrated all in contact with it, a

manifestation of neutral, pure destructive might. Swallowed by the
tornado without even the time to flee, Fu Za’s thick black robe
scattered like smoke with a dry noise.
The emaciated middle-age man appearing from there brought his

arms up to hide his disfigured face. Immediately after, those arms
were sent flying as countless pieces of meat—followed by his whole
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body, soaring into the air as a dense spray of blood.
The dark arts user, D.I.L., leapt far back, assailed by an ominous
premonition the moment that mysterious tornado swirled up from the
dark general close to death. Generating aerial elements in both
hands, she flew back at maximum speed.
That premonition turned into utmost fright upon seeing everything

under her right knee disappear without trace upon touching the
rapidly growing tornado.
D.’s whole body was protected with tens of defensive arts even
when in the bath or asleep. An impregnable barrier that would repel
all sorts of attacks, be it projectiles, swords, poisons, and naturally,
arts.
Of course, an attack with the full might of any of the ten lords who
held the same level of priority might penetrate the wall and wound
her skin. However, they would never slice her flesh off with a mere
touch as though those protections were not even there. That was a
certainty.
No matter how she denied it in her mind, the tornado of death

whittled away at her right leg as it approached at a velocity
surpassing her retreating at full speed. Though an arts user of D.’s
caliber could restore a severed limb, she still needed her life to do so.
“Eek… aaah…!!”
A shrill shriek came from D.’s mouth at last.
However, her voice was coincidentally lost within screams from the
two goblin chiefs.
The mountain goblin chief, Hagashi, and plains goblin chief, Kubiri,
who were lined up on D.’s left desperately dashed with their stunted
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legs to flee from the tornado. It was impossible, however, for them to
avoid the tornado’s expansion that caught up to even D. flying at her
quickest.
“Kugyaa—!!”
Hagashi’s legs slipped with an unseemly cry and he tumbled onto

the floor. His desperately outstretched left hand caught hold of
Kubiri’s ankle like a vise.
“Higyaaaa!! Let goo—!! Let……”
Squelch.
The two who ruled over the goblin races turned into sprays of
blood all too quickly.
Crunch.
D.’s right leg blew off without a trace from its root.
Right before the eyes of the head of the Dark Arts Users’ Guild, her
beautiful face warped in fear and despair—the tornado’s expansion
came to a miraculous stop.
Shasta’s fallen body was no longer there. The towering funnel-

shaped storm centered there had already grown to a height and
diameter of twenty mel. The six lords with more time to spare had
swiftly retreated to the west wall and the various groups of
executives lined up on the south side of the hall, too, escaped
unharmed from the precarious situation.
Though her mind had descended into utter chaos, D. still realized
why the tornado’s expansion ceased.
It kept them safe. The ten-odd advanced dark knights. In other

words, Shasta had willed that tornado into existence.
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As though endorsing her guess, the top half of the tornado
gradually morphed.
What appeared was the upper body of a man, formed by

translucent mist.
Though absurdly huge, it was clearly a copy of Dark General

Shasta’s body.
Emperor Vector, Gabriel Miller, naturally felt an emotion similar to

surprise as he looked up at the giant form from the tornado, towering
as though flaunting his presence.
The knight on the left drawing his sword upon seeing the female
assassin’s head when he revealed it to them all was still within his
expectation. It was not too shocking that the head of the Assassins’
Guild would paralyze that man slashing at Gabriel with poison or
whatnot either.
Though it skewed his scheme to plant an absolute loyalty within

the remaining nine units by downing the traitor in a single strike, he
thought it fine that they would chose to protect the emperor by their
own will. He watched over the course of events with that in mind,
but—
A grey tornado surged from the fallen rebelling unit without

warning and engulfed by that, the Assassins’ Guild’s head along with
the two goblin generals disintegrated in an instant, leaving even
Gabriel speechless.
The general units should all have roughly the same status. Hence,
a fight between them should not have an immediate end, but result
in a prolonged battle, a cycle of whittling away and recovering HP.
Despite that, three whole units disappeared in mere seconds. Did
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some logic still unknown to both Critter and him exist in this
Underworld—?
It happened after he thought that far. The giant in the tornado

opened his mouth and let out a bellow that shook the world.
Unable to endure the intense pressure, most of the windowpanes

adorning the throne room were blown outside.
The giant gripped its right fist that was as large as an engine
block—
And swung it down at Gabriel with a roar.
Gabriel made his decision, realizing that taking it on with his sword
was useless and that he lacked the time to stand up and dodge.
Spotting his aide, Vassago, nimbly jump forward at the right side of
his eyes, Gabriel quietly awaited the ashen fist atop his throne.
The tornado of death Shasta’s will brought forth on the verge of

his death was a phenomenon that exceeded even the Underworld’s
system.
Rather than robbing Fu Za and the goblins of their Lives with a

numerical attack power, it first destroyed their fluct lights by
hammering the «image of death» directly into their light cubes which
then annihilated their flesh and blood in turn.
As such, his attack on Gabriel was unaffected by Emperor Vector’s

immense Life as well.
However, the blood thirst generated by Shasta’s fluct light

transversed the quantum transmission lines and reached the STL
where Gabriel’s real body lay—
The concentrated will to kill from Dark General Shasta, a
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distinguished knight of the Underworld, made a direct hit on the core
of Gabriel Miller’s fluct light, or in other words, on his «ego».
At that time, Shasta’s conscious mind assimilated with that single

strike that took his all and he felt it intruding into Emperor Vector.
It was clear his original body had exhausted its Life. Shasta
understood this would be the last attack of his lifetime.
It was regrettable he could not fulfill his promise to cross swords

with Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli again. However, that man
would understand. The dark general’s hopes and the reasons for
turning on the emperor.
Aside from Fu Za, the head of the Assassins’ Guild, he had also
defeated the two goblin chiefs who loved war the most among the
lords. It was a pity he let D., the head of the Dark Arts Users’ Guild,
escape, but she would likely not regenerate a wound that deep
anytime soon. If the head of the Order of the Dark Knights were to
die along with Emperor Vector, the remaining lords would definitely
hesitate in fighting against the Human Empire.
If only they could seal a temporary cease-fire agreement with the

citizens of the Human Empire who lost their ruler as well. If only they
could converse with words rather than swords and share in some sort
of agreement.
He prayed—for Lipia’s wish of a peaceful world to be granted

someday.
Assimilated with his will, Shasta pierced through Emperor Vector’s

brow and plunged into the core of his soul within it.
If he broke that, not even the god of darkness could prevent his
own existence from lapsing like Fu Za and the rest.
Shasta’s will crashed into the emperor’s soul with a voiceless
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scream—
And experienced the last shock of his lifetime.
Nothingness.
Only a murky darkness spread out in the middle of his soul that
resembled a cloud of light where the essence of his consciousness
should have been.
Why? Even Fu Za who had forsaken the world held a dazzling,

greedy attachment to his life.
Shasta’s will was absorbed into the darkness that went on forever
within the emperor.
Vanishing. Vaporizing.
—This person, this man…
—Is he unaware of life?
One who knew not the radiance of life, of one’s soul, of love. That
was why he hungered. That was why he sought others’ souls.
A sword formed from the desire to kill would not defeat this man
regardless of how strong one’s will was.
After all, this man’s soul was alive yet dead.
He had to report this. To someone. To whoever would fight against

this monster in the future.
Someone—to someone…
However, there, Shasta’s consciousness was enshrouded by a

bottomless abyss.
……Regret……
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……Lipia……
Dark General Viksul Ur Shasta’s soul fully disintegrated with those

thoughts at his end.
The moment that soul with its all-too-dazzling radiance pierced

into him, Gabriel Miller felt delight rather than fear.
The dark knight’s soul was filled with distinctively richer emotions
than that of the female assassin he devoured two days ago. The love
for her. Along with an inexplicable something that resembled
affection that reached further than that. And the source of them all,
the intense intent to murder.
Love and hate. What in this world could taste more exquisite than
them?
Gabriel was almost fully unconscious of the danger his life was
exposed to at that time. Even after witnessing the dark knight’s
attack render the three units into scattered lumps of meat, Gabriel
wished more to devour the knight’s soul than his own safety.
If Gabriel felt fear from the knight’s attack and wished for his own
survival, Shasta’s intent to kill would have broken his survival
instants through the STL which would blast away his fluct light.
However, Gabriel Miller cared not for life. To him, all lives were
simply automated mechanisms like those insects he slaughtered in
his childhood. Deciphering the secrets behind the soul that powered
that mechanism, that mysterious gleaming cloud, was all Gabriel
wished for.
As such, the destruction signal originating from Shasta’s fluct light

passed through the vast blank in Gabriel’s fluct light in vain and was
lost without colliding with anything.
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Whether Gabriel understood the logic behind it or not, he still fed
on the knight’s soul while recording down two things into his
memory.
Firstly, there was a way to attack in this world aside from weapons
and spells like in a normal VRMMO game.
And that way to attack had no effect on himself.
He had to get Critter to investigate the basis behind the earlier

phenomenon. Gabriel slowly stood from the throne with that in mind.
The six lords still alive—head of the Dark Arts Users’ Guild, D.I.L.,
head of the pugilists, Iskahn, leader of the Economic Guild, Lengyel,
the giant chief, Sigrosig, the orc chief, Rirupirin, and the ogre chief,
Fulgrr—who had their backs against the walls, fell on their rears, or
was in the process of stopping a severe wound from bleeding simply
stared at Emperor Vector.
Fear was all that remained in their chests.
Dark General Shasta’s horrifying assault—turning three generals

into spurts of blood in an instant and blowing off D.’s right leg despite
her being recognized as powerful even among the lords—was taken
on by the emperor without him suffering a single gash.
The strong rule.
It was clear to all that Emperor Vector held power far surpassing
the six lords and the hundred-odd officers behind them combined.
Like ripples, every last one of them bowed deep and expressed
their allegiance to the emperor. Even the Order of the Dark Knights
with their respected knight commander murdered was no exception.
The emperor’s voice eloquently resounded over them.
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“…Those who have lost their general are to have their
second-in-command take up the reins of command at once. In
an hour, we shall march on as planned.”
There were no words of anger or blame regarding the insurgence.

That fact summoned further dread into the troops.
Having stopped the blood flowing from her right leg at last, D.
extended her right hand up high with even her fingertips
straightened and shouted.
“Long live the His Majesty the Emperor!!”
After a momentary pause—
Such calls mingled into a clamor that seemed to shake the entirety
of Obsidia Palace and continued on for many more rounds.
Alice looked around inside the camping tent she was assigned and
let out a light sigh.
The cot was arranged nicely, the sheepskin spread over the floor
was practically new, and the air smelled only of the sun. Though she
was perfectly satisfied with those, it was clear the tent was not laid
out in a hurry for Alice. In other words, Knight Commander Bercouli
had prepared for Alice’s participation in the fight and constructed an
additional tent for knights.
It might be best to take it as a symbol of his faith, but knowing the

knight commander’s nature, she figured he might have seen through
her thoughts and actions entirely.
No—that would be going too far. After all, not even the knight
commander seemed to have predicted Alice bringing Kirito along.
The cot prepared was for one.
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After touching Kirito’s back and leading him to the bed, Alice sat
him down. The young man immediately let out a frail voice as he
reached out with his left hand.
“Yes, I know, I will have them in a moment.”
Running over to the pack left at the entrance, Alice took out the
two long swords of black and white. Returning to the bed, she placed
them on his lap. Kirito embraced the swords in his left arm then, and
went quiet.
She went through her thoughts while sitting beside him and taking
off her boots.
Though she declared that she would shoulder Kirito and fight
should the need arise to Eldrie, that would be rather difficult in
reality. Kirito alone would not be too hard with how thin he was, but
her movement would be constrained if she had to carry the Night Sky
Sword and Blue Rose Sword.
She considered staying astride in Amayori’s saddle, but there

would be times she had to engage in aerial battle with the enemy
dark knights riding flying dragons too. It would be best lowering her
load as much as possible.
Regrettably, having someone, perhaps from the transport unit,

take care of Kirito during the battle would be the most practical
course of action. However, the problem lies in whether she could find
anyone worthy of trust so easily.
Her old friends, the integrity knights, would naturally head out as
the vanguards and she knew none of the common soldiers. That said,
she would rather not rely on Eldrie to introduce her to someone
suitable now.
“Kirito…”
Alice peeked straight into the youth’s face and gently held onto his
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cheeks with both hands.
She had no intention of treating Kirito as a burden. If his mind

recovered, she could definitely rely on him to protect the Human
Empire, more so than with anyone else. She had him accompany her
here to the front lines because she thought he was most likely to
regain his consciousness.
Knight Commander Bercouli mentioned Kirito had deflected his

«incarnation blade». And that he did it to protect Alice.
Could she believe in that?
The law and a criminal when they first met at the Sword Mastery
Academy. The executioner and a rebel when they met again on the
cathedral’s eightieth floor. And even when they exchanged words in
the end on the top floor, they were merely in a truce at best.
—Despite having lost your mind ever since that battle ended, you
still tried to protect me from esteemed uncle’s spirit as a
swordsman?
—What am I… to you?
Those questions rebounded off Kirito’s lightless eyes and onto Alice

herself.
What exactly was this youth to her?
If she expressed what she thought of Kirito in the cathedral in a

word, obnoxious would be most suitable. He would be the one and
only who would call Integrity Knight Alice Synthesis Thirty an “idiot”
all that many times, both now and in the future.
However, in that final battle, what she saw of Kirito from behind as
he stood up against the highest minister, Administrator—
Alice’s heart trembled upon seeing the back of that swordsman
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holding a sword in each hand while the hem of his black overcoat
blew out violently. His figure displayed power; along with a sadness
that tore into her chest.
Those emotions throbbed faintly deep in her chest even now.
However, Alice continued to keep a lid on her own heart, afraid of

recognizing the reasons behind that ache.
—I am a mere artificial being. Nothing more than a puppet for war

that continues to occupy Alice Schuberg’s body. I have no right to
hold any feelings aside from the will to fight.
Still. Perhaps that is why.
Does my voice not reach you because I hold my own heart back?
Will you respond if I were to let loose all of my «will» this instant?
Alice drew a deep breath of air into her chest and held it.
Kirito’s cheeks were cold in her hands. No, it was the heat from her
palms.
His cheeks slowly drew closer. She stared into those black eyes
from up close. Dark, just like the night skies. But she seemed to see
small stars, quietly twinkling far away.
Absorbed in those stars, her face was gradually, gradually drawn

in—
A rhythmical chime abruptly rang out and Alice got up, practically
jumping.
Though she looked around the tent in a fluster, there was naturally
no one. At last, she realized the bell with a pull-string fixed onto the
tent’s entrance had rung.
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A guest. Clearing her throat without reason, Alice put her hair in
order before quickly crossing through the tent.
In all likelihood, it would be Eldrie, here to offer more criticism. She

would tell him that she had no plans of driving away Kirito in no
uncertain terms this time.
Going through the thin cloth that made up the inside of the two
layers of curtains at the entryway, starting with her head first, Alice
swept away the thick pelt on the outside all at once with her left
hand.
And her lips that were about to open came to a sharp stop.
The one standing before her eyes was no integrity knight or even
some normal soldier. Unthinkingly, she stared on.
“E… erm.”
Accompanied by that feeble voice tinged with fright, the short

visitor held out a covered pot with both hands.
“I… I have brought your dinner, Knight-sama.”
“…I see.”
Alice glanced towards the sky. Though she had not noticed, the
vermillion sunset was certainly departing for the western skies.
“Thank you… your efforts are appreciated.”
Receiving the pot with gratitude, Alice gazed over the other party
once again.
A young girl who was still young at around fifteen or sixteen.
The hair that extended slightly below her shoulders was a

magnificent red. Her large eyes went well with their color, that of
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autumn, unique to blood from the northern empire along with that
pale skin and distinctive nose bridge.
Though she wore light armor like the Defense Army, the grey tunic
and skirt appeared like a uniform from some school.
To think such a child would be on the battlefield… Alice bit on her

lips before blinking in realization.
She had seen the girl’s features somewhere. However, as Alice had
spent each day in the Central Cathedral back then, she had nearly no
chance of coming into contact with the common folk.
That was when a second girl timidly showed herself from behind
the red-haired girl where she have been hiding.
“E… erm… there are bread and beverages here.”
Breaking into a smile towards that almost inaudible voice from the
girl with dark brown hair close to black and dark blue eyes, Alice
accepted the basket she offered as well.
“There is no need to be so afraid, no one will be stealing

you away for a snack.”
A memory finally surfaced in Alice’s mind the moment she said

that.
She recalled hearing this exceedingly skittish voice. These two

were from—
“The two of you were… from the North Centoria Sword

Mastery Academy… weren’t you?”
She asked, and for an instant, their cheeks loosened in relief

despite previously being stiff with tension. However, they
straightened up their posture straight after and named themselves
with a tap from the heels of their boots.
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“Y-Yes! I-I… I am from the Human Empire Defense Army,
supply unit, novice trainee, Tiezé Shtolienen!”
“L-Likewise, novice trainee, Ronye Arabel!”
So they were; Alice murmured in her heart while unconsciously

responding in kind.
These were the two who pled for permission to bid Kirito and Eugeo
farewell when she took them away from the academy.
Even if the Defense Army was short-handed, they would not

possibly draft in students. That meant the pair had personally
volunteered and came to these perilous front lines from the familiar
central capital. Why had these girls yet to enter adulthood gone so
far as to…
As Alice’s gaze remained fixed on the pair while holding onto the
pot with her right hand and the basket with her left, the girl with dark
brown hair who named herself Ronye returned to hiding behind the
red-haired girl who called herself Tiezé. Though Tiezé cowered slightly
as well, she opened her mouth before long with an expression that
spoke of her resolution to fight on.
“Er… erm… K-Knight-sama… I am fully aware that this may

be, that is, m-most discourteous on our part…”
While Alice broke into a bitter smile once again at that

exaggerated manner of speech, she tried her best to change that
into a gentle one as she interrupted.
“Excuse me, there is really no need to stand on ceremony

so much. In this camp, I am no more than a single swordsman
here to protect the Human Empire like the rest of them. Do
call me Alice, Tiezé-san and… you too, Ronye-san.”
Both Tiezé and Ronye whose head popped out from behind made
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dumbfounded looks at that.
“…W-What is the matter?”
“N-No… well. We had a different impression when we had

that opportunity to meet at the Sword Mastery Academy,
so…”
“Is that… so?”
She tilted her head in uncertainty. She was not too confident of it
herself, but she might have changed in the half year she lived in
Rulid. Though the knight commander had voiced out his baseless
impressions about her putting on meat around her face.
Now that she thought about it, she could not claim to have never
overeaten in light of how delicious the meals Selka made for her
were… but to think it would show…
Showing another smile with her cheeks that narrowly avoided

tensing up, Alice added to her words.
“And so… did you have business with me?”
“Ah… y-yes.”
With her sense of nervousness faded by just a little, Tiezé chewed

on her lips for a moment before she spoke.
“Erm… we have heard word that a young man with black

hair accompanied Knight-sa… Alice-sama when you arrived on
your flying dragon… and so, we thought that gentleman
might just possibly be somebody we are acquainted with…”
“Ah, aah… I see, that is only natural.”
Alice finally understood the girls’ purpose of visiting and nodded.
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“The both of you were on good terms with Kirito in the
academy, weren’t you…?”
The pair’s faces shone like budding flowers the instant Alice spoke
so. In Ronye’s case, there were even faint tears running from her
blue eyes.
“So it was… Kirito-senpai after all…”
Ronye who spoke in a frail voice had her hand grasped by Tiezé
who shouted in a voice filled with hope as well.
“Then… Eugeo-senpai’s also…!”
Alice drew in a sharp breath right when she heard that name.
These two did not know. Of the fierce fight that unfolded in the
cathedral half a year ago and its conclusion. They could not have.
None knew anything concerning the Highest Minister’s death aside
from the integrity knights.
The pair formed puzzled faces upon looking up at the speechless

Alice. Alice stared at Tiezé’s and Ronye’s eyes in turn, and then
slowly shut her eyes.
She could not deceive them now.
Besides, the pair had the right to know everything. The girls likely
volunteered for the Defense Army and came all this way solely to
meet Kirito as well as Eugeo again…
Hardening her resolve, Alice opened her mouth.
“This may be… too painful for the two of you. Still, I
believe. If you are Kirito and Eugeo’s juniors, I believe you
can accept it.”
And after taking a step back, she lifted the pelt curtain and
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prompted them to enter the tent.
Defying Alice’s covert hopes, Kirito showed absolutely no

response even with Tiezé and Ronye in his sight.
Stifling her disappointment, Alice stood by the tent’s wall and

watched over the tragic scene.
Kneeling before Kirito who sat on the bed, Ronye wrapped the
youth’s left hand in her small ones as tears went down her cheeks.
However, the one to be pitied more was Tiezé who had flopped
down on the fur rug and continued staring at the Blue Rose Sword
placed in front of her eyes. White as paper, her face had expressed
nothing ever since she taught her of Eugeo’s death. Her sight was
pointed down towards the half-broken blade in silence.
As for Alice, she herself had barely any opportunity to exchange

words with that youth named Eugeo personally.
When she took him to the cathedral and threw him into the
underground jail; the time she intercepted them on the eightieth floor
of the tower; and lastly, their alliance during that final clash with
Administrator.
Though she respected Eugeo’s will, his power of incarnation, from

the bottom of her heart for not just gaining victory over that Knight
Commander Bercouli but also transforming himself into a sword to
destroy the sword golem and slice a hand off the Highest Minister,
Selka reminiscing about him made up the bulk of her memories
involving him.
According to Selka, Eugeo was a docile yet prudent boy and was
made to accompany his childhood friend, Alice Schuberg, on their
various adventures. She figured that personality must have had let
him hit it off well with Kirito as well.
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Kirito and Eugeo must have caused all sorts of disturbances in the
Sword Mastery Academy. Tiezé and Ronye were attracted and
influenced greatly by those two. Like Alice herself.
—So, please, hold up to the sorrow. Kirito and Eugeo had fought,
gotten hurt, and lost their heart and life to protect what they truly
treasured.
Alice talked on in her mind while continuing to gaze upon the pair.
When those living in the Human Empire suffer a mental shock,

overwhelming them with terror or grief, there are times when their
hearts fall ill from their incapability to endure it. Even in that attack
on Rulid by the forces of darkness the other day, several villagers
had lain down despite being unharmed.
Tiezé must have loved Eugeo.
It was no easy task to accept the immense shock of a loved one

dying at such a young age.
Sitting, Tiezé gradually reached out towards the Blue Rose Sword
with her right hand in jolting motions before Alice’s eyes.
She watched on under some tension. Though it was half broken,

the Blue Rose Sword was a sacred tool of the highest grade. She
doubted Tiezé could handle it, but overpowering, deep despair and
sorrow could lead to power beyond expectations at times. She could
not predict what would happen.
Stiffly extended, Tiezé’s fingers finally came into contact with the
pale blue blade. She gently traced the smoothly polished flat rather
than its edge.
Then, in that moment—
Driving away the red of the sunset shining in through the hole that
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served as a skylight, the broken blade glittered with a faint yet clear
blue.
Tiezé’s whole body trembled with that.
Ronye turned about as though she felt something and looked at

her friend. In the strained air, transparent drops dwelled in Tiezé’s
eyelashes and quietly fell.
“…Just now……”
A soft voice streamed from her pale lips.
“…I heard… Eugeo-senpai’s voice… Don’t cry, he said…

because he’ll, always be, here… he…”
Her tears continued falling without end and Tiezé finally laid her
face atop the sword before bursting into violent sobs like a young
child. Ronye, too, wept as she pressed her face into Kirito’s knees.
While her eyes grew hot, watching the heartrending and genuine
scene—
Alice still pondered somewhere in her head if that was possible.
Though Alice had not heard Eugeo’s voice, she had certainly
witnessed the sword shining for an instant. Hence, she could not say
for sure that the words Tiezé heard were from her imagination.
Something similar to Eugeo’s soul remained in the Blue Rose

Sword… could that be true?
Alice recalled the feeling of her own thoughts uniting with her
Golden Olive Sword whenever she activated the armament full
control art. Furthermore, Eugeo had actually fused his own body with
the Blue Rose Sword and suffered that fatal wound during then.
Thus, it was well possible the beliefs of the sword’s owner were left
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behind in that remaining fragment.
However, Tiezé mentioned Eugeo had addressed her earlier. If so, it

was not some soulless echo left in the sword but his true
thoughts—or perhaps his will?
Was it a fantasy brought about by the girl’s longing? Or was it…?
How vexing. Kirito would have gotten to the secrets behind this
phenomenon if he was around. He had fallen here from where the
mysterious gods outside this world reside, after all.
A phrase floated up like a small bubble onto the surface on her

swirling thoughts and burst with a pop.
World End Altar.
Apparently, that place she had not heard of before had a door to
the outside of this world.
If she reached there, would all of these mysteries instantly melt

away? Would she be able to take back Kirito’s mind?
However, the Altar was allegedly far off in the south after passing
through the Great East Gate. In other words, some distant remote
region in the Dark Territory where the dark races reigned.
For her to go all the way there, she would first have to defend
against or break through the large enemy army encamped beyond
the Great Gate. No, even if she broke through the enemy lines, she
could not abandon the Great Gate’s defense and head south. As one
of the integrity knights who were bestowed such tremendous power,
Alice had the responsibility to guard the Human Empire.
Rather, if only she could draw the entire enemy army to herself
and set out for the Altar, dragging them away from the Great Gate.
However, to those from the Dark Territory, the invasion of the Human
Empire was their long-cherished wish for these hundreds of years.
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There could be nothing more attractive than that…
As expected, even if she were to aim for the altar at the world’s
end, the forces of darkness must be utterly annihilated beforehand.
Alice involuntarily shut her eyes at the conclusion she reached.
Despite those grand ideas of wiping them out, it would be difficult

enough to even repel the enemy’s advance guard as things currently
stood. Still, she had to do it. In order to protect Tiezé, Ronye, and
Kirito.
Letting out a soft sigh, Alice then put an end to her several
seconds of contemplation and walked towards the two weeping girls.
Despite Solus’s afterglow having vanished off to the far west a

while ago, the Dark Territory’s skies somewhat visible beyond the
Great Gate were still tenaciously dyed in that ominous shade of
blood.
As though denying that sight, a pure white camp curtain was

stretched out in the middle of the Human Empire Defense Army’s
camp site—the meadow used as a landing field for flying dragons in
the day. Below the Axiom Church’s flag that fluttered up high before
it were roughly thirty people with grim looks from the integrity
knights and Defense Army’s commanding officers.
Alice stopped her feet in slight surprise upon noticing the knights
were not separated from the soldiers.
The integrity knights, clad in shining silver armor, and the

commanding officers, wearing steel armor that lost in beauty but
possessed a sufficiently high priority level nonetheless, were
engaged in a heated discussion with each holding a glass of siral
water in hand. Roundabout etiquette seemed completely eliminated
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from their exchange when she pricked up her ears.
“Not bad for a rushed, jumbled gathering, right, lil’ miss?”
A low voice suddenly sounded out from her side and Alice turned to
look in a fluster.
With both hands stuck into the bosom of his eastern styled clothes,
Knight Commander Bercouli interrupted Alice’s bow with a gesture
and continued.
“We aren’t having any of those troublesome niceties in this

Defense Army. Luckily, there’s no line like ‘The masses must
pay plenty of respect to the knights before speaking’ in the
Taboo Index, you see.”
“I-I see… Though I do believe that to be truly splendid, let

us put that aside and…”
Alice turned her sight back towards the war council.
“—Where are the other integrity knights? As far as I can

see, there are only ten or so there.”
“Unfortunately, that’s all of them.”
“Ee… eeh!?”
Holding down her voice that became shrill against her wishes with
her palm, Alice looked up at the knight commander who had put a
slight grimace on.
“That… could not be. Including myself, are there not thirty-
one in the Order?”
That would be what the name given to Eldrie the newest integrity
knight in Sacred Tongue, thirty-one, indicated.
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Well, that’s right; Bercouli replied with a sigh mingled in and
brought his voice down even further.
“You know too, don’t you, lil’ miss? Chief Elder Chudelkin
performed that treatment called «readjustment» on those
knights with potential problems in their memories. When he
died, the seven knights who were undergoing readjustment
in the Chamber of Elders have yet to wake.”
“……!”
She could not help but to widen her eyes. Taking his sight off Alice
then, Bercouli continued in a voice that sound all the more
unpleased.
“The only ones who knew the incantation for readjustment

were Chudelkin and the Highest Minister. Now that both of
them have died, we can only take the time to analyze the art
to awaken those seven, and we don’t have that time now.
There was a knight who was just frozen asleep rather than in
readjustment, and we did succeed there, but…”
Sensing the knight commander’s answer becoming evasive, she

asked.
“Who might that person be?”
“…Scheta the «Silent».”
“……!”
Though they had never met in person and she knew nothing more
than several anecdotes, Alice swallowed her breath at that name.
Those tales were truly horrifying.
Still, Bercouli coughed as though saying to leave that topic for later
and continued his explanation on their war potential.
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“…In other words, that means we have twenty-four
integrity knights awake now. Four are staying back to
manage the cathedral and capital and four are serving as
guards at the mountain range at the edge. Subtracting them,
we have sixteen… that’s the most we can sink into his
absolute line of defense. Of course, that’s with both you and
I, lil’ miss.”
“Sixteen… you say?”
She bit her lips and held back the “just” that she almost added.
Not to mention, after confirming the lineup one by one, over half of
the fourteen present were low ranking knights without sacred
tools—that was, without the armament full control art. They were
stalwart knights capable of slaughtering a hundred or two goblins in
a sword fight, but she could not hope for the explosive power needed
to turn the tides of a battle from them.
Bercouli altered his tone and spoke to Alice who kept silent.
“By the way, about caring for that youngling… if you need
me to, I can ask the rear guard unit to…”
“Ah… no, I will be fine.”
Alice answered, breaking into a smile at the knight commander’s

awkward consideration.
“There are volunteer soldiers who were his valets at the

Sword Mastery Academy, so… I had arranged for him to be
placed under their care after the fighting begins.”
“Oh, that’s good to hear. …So, how was it? Did that black-
haired boy show any response after coming into contact with
those he knew?”
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She wiped off her smile and quietly shook her head.
Bercouli let out a short breath before groaning with an “I see”.
“…Let’s keep this between us. Honestly, I can’t say I hadn’t

been thinking that youngling may be the one to decide how
the coming battle’s going to go…”
Shocked, Alice looked up at the knight commander’s face.
“Sure, he had help from his partner and you, lil’ miss, but
bringing down the Chief Elder and the Highest Minister with a
sword’s plain ridiculous. If we were to compare the strength
of our incarnation alone, I may not even match up to him.”
“…That could not possibly…”
Though she had absolutely no intention of doubting Kirito’s

strength now after all that, Knight Commander Bercouli’s power of
incarnation was polished over more than two hundred years. On the
other hand, Kirito was still a student yet to come of age. Rather,
putting his swordsmanship and movements aside, would it not be
only natural to judge his power of incarnation as weaker than the
knight commander’s at least?
However, Bercouli denied Alice’s words with conviction.
“I know what I felt when we went against each other with

incarnation earlier. That boy had accumulated actual combat
experience equal to or surpassing mine.”
“Actual combat…? What do you mean by that…?”
“Literally that. Struggles with his life at stake.”
She could only reject that possibility. The humans living in the
Human Empire were protected, or rather, restrained by the Taboo
Index and the Empire Fundamental Law. Even if they did have
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matches with wooden swords, it was common for them to live
through their entire lives without actual combat involving one party
cutting down the other’s Life with real swords.
The one exception, integrity knights, did experience actual combat

against goblins and dark knights attempting to invade the mountain
range at the edge. Still that was only once or twice throughout their
long periods of duty, with some not even encountering any; and to
not mention the relatively overwhelming might of the integrity
knights made it hard for those to be truly called struggles for their
lives.
On that line of thought, Bercouli would certainly be the one with

the most battle experience in the Human Empire since he had been
fighting against the forces of darkness long before the Order got to
its current size. As a matter of fact, when he had just became an
integrity knight—however hard it might have been to believe—he
had suffered harshly at the hands of the dark knights in those times
and fled by the skin of his teeth.
Kirito won that Bercouli in terms of pure duration of actual combat?
Even if that was feasible, that experience would not have been
from this world.
The «outside world» from whence he came. Still, that should be the
land where the gods who truly created the Underworld reside. Actual
combat despite that? Exactly who did he struggle for his life
against…?
Unable to reach a satisfactory conclusion, Alice steeled her heart

after brief hesitation.
If need be, she would tell Bercouli everything. About the existence
of the outside world—and the World End Altar where the door
towards there lay.
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“…Esteemed uncle… in fact, during the battle against the
Highest Minister, I…”
It was when she spoke that far, choosing her words with care.
A sharp voice suddenly echoed from behind the knight

commander.
“It is time, Your Excellency.”
She turned to look at who spoke in surprise.
A single integrity knight stood there, entirely covered in light

purple armor that glimmered brilliantly even in the dusk with a silver
rapier at the left of its waist.
The moment Alice saw that full-face helmet with its wings
resembling those of birds of prey, strong emotions surfaced within
her chest—those were, frankly expressed, of distaste.
To Alice, that was likely who she had the worst affinity with in this
world. The deputy knight commander and second among the
integrity knights, Fanatio Synthesis Two.
Making considerable effort to not wear her heart on her sleeve,

Alice involuntarily placed her right fist against the left of her chest,
her left hand on her sword’s grip, and saluted as a knight should.
Facing her, Fanatio performed the same as well as her armor rang
out. However, unlike Alice who stood upright with her legs slightly
apart, Fanatio balanced her weight on her right foot and lowered her
left shoulder into a lithe posture.
This person is simply helpless… or so Alice muttered to herself

inside as she lowered her hand.
Though Fanatio likely thought she was hiding it with her armor and
rigid tone, to one from the same gender, those were not enough to
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erase the scent of Fanatio’s feminine demeanor, distinct as that of
large flowers. And that was a «technique» Alice could never
comprehend since she was brought to the cathedral as a child.
Deputy Knight Commander Fanatio fought Kirito and Eugeo on the

fiftieth floor of the cathedral, and suffered wounds that placed her on
the verge of death after a direct hit from Kirito’s armament full
control art. However, Kirito had performed healing arts on her who he
defeated with much trouble and even teleported her through some
mysterious art, or so Alice had heard from the low ranking knights
who were present there.
Though she thought it was very much like Kirito to do so, she could
still not come to terms with it.
In the first place, despite thinking of the world of Knight

Commander Bercouli, Fanatio had four low ranking knights, who
adored her, placed as her own subordinates. Did she feel no pity for
their futile yearning? She could, at least, show her face instead of
covering it with that helmet all day long.
And right as Alice wandered through those thoughts tinged with

just a little jealousy, Fanatio grasped the sides of her helmet with
both hands, astonishing her.
She unclasped it with clicks and carelessly pulled the light purple
armor off. Her glossy black hair that sprang out gleamed like silk in
the lanterns’ light.
She saw Fanatio’s bare skin in the cathedral only if they met by
coincidence in the large bath. As far as she could recall, this would be
the first time the deputy knight commander had stripped off her
helmet in public.
She stared at her beautiful features that had seemed somewhat

softer compared to previously and understood why. Though pale, her
full lips were tinted with rouge. Cosmetics, on her who tried so hard
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to conceal her femininity—?
Fanatio showed a gentle smile towards Alice who stood speechless.
“It has really been a while, hasn’t it, Alice? I’m so glad to
see you have been in good health.”
“……”
[Really]? [So]?
It took another three seconds before Alice found it in herself to

return the greeting.
“It… it has been a while, deputy commander.”
“I wouldn’t mind you calling me Fanatio. More importantly,

Alice, I happened to overhear a little earlier, but… it appears
you have brought that boy with black hair with you?”
Alice put her astonishment aside at those offhand words and

replaced it with a growing wariness.
Though Kirito and Cardinal, the sage, were the one who healed
Fanatio’s injuries, she might not have known. It would not be odd if
her resentment and hatred towards Kirito who had defeated her had
grown.
“Ye… yes.”
The deputy knight commander showed a sweet smile and nodded

at Alice’s curt answer.
“I see. Then, could I please meet with him for a little while
after the war council?”
“…Why, Fanatio-dono?”
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“There’s no need to frown so. I don’t have any intention of
cutting down that boy after all this time.”
Stifling the bit of bitterness that had snuck into her smile, Fanatio
shrugged her shoulders.
“I simply wanted to say a word of thanks. For tending to

me after I suffered those fatal wounds.”
“…So you knew? Still, I believe there is no need for you to

express your gratitude to Kirito. I had heard the one who had
actually healed you, deputy commander, was the previous
highest minister, a person named Cardinal. And she had…
unfortunately passed away in the battle half a year ago.”
After Alice spoke with a little of her strength slipping from her
shoulders, Fanatio’s eyes slowly turned towards the sky and she
nodded.
“Yes… I do remember faintly. It was the first time I had felt

such warm and powerful healing arts. But it was Kirito who
had sent me to her and besides… I wish to thank him
regarding a different matter.”
“A different matter…?”
“Yes. —For fighting and defeating me, you see.”
…So she did have the intention of cutting Kirito?
Fanatio shook her head with an earnest expression towards Alice

who took half a step back.
“This is how I truly feel. After all, that boy was the only
man to fight me seriously even after realizing I am female in
the many years I had lived as an integrity knight.”
“Huh…? What do you… mean by…”
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“I had fought without this helmet hiding my face in the
past like you do. But I noticed then. That they would turn a
little more timid with their swords against me; not only male
knights who I faced in mock battles, but even dark knights in
fights with our lives at stake. Going easy on me because of
my gender is worse humiliation than being defeated and
made to grovel on the ground.”
Was that not unavoidable, though? There should be barely any

men capable of ignoring Fanatio’s fragrant allure with her face
exposed.
Though she only understood after staying at the outskirts of Rulid,

females hardly ever assumed sacred tasks that required them to hold
a sword in most of the Human Empire. The exceptions were limited
to the children of nobles and feudal lords which meant the common
woman basically had no choice but to marry, take care of the
housework, and give birth to children.
It would be an ironic affair if that aged tradition bound the hearts of

men in a manner similar to the Taboo Index. The prejudice that
women ought to be protected by men must have dulled their swords
before Fanatio’s beautiful looks. The dark knights living in the Dark
Territory must have been no exception either as long as they sought
to marry and raise children. Though the demi-humans such as
goblins or orcs might judge her differently with their completely
different appearances.
However, despite being a female knight as well, Alice had never

paid attention to male knights growing timid or anything of that sort.
She was convinced her strength surpassed her opponents’ whether
they went easy or exerted themselves against her.
—Was that anger not evidence that you were bothered by your
femininity yourself?
Just as Alice thought so, Fanatio muttered the exact same thing.
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“—I had hid my face and voice with this helmet, and learnt
consecutive sword techniques in order to distance myself
from my enemies. But that was because I was bound by my
own gender, wasn’t it? Not only did that boy see through that
immediately, he came slashing at me with all his might. I had
exhausted all of my sword techniques and arts against him,
and lost. When Cardinal-sama salvaged my life and I regained
my consciousness, that meaningless obsession had vanished
from my being… That is, I only had to become strong enough;
strong enough to force my opponents to not go easy on me.
It isn’t all so strange for me to want to say a word of thanks
to that boy who made me notice that simple truth and let me
live, is it?”
After saying so with a serious expression, Fanatio suddenly broke

into a teasing smile.
“Besides… I am a little offended. Over how that boy felt

nothing for me as a female with my helmet off. So, I am
thinking of trying out various means to see if I can wake that
boy up.”
“Wha…”
What nonsense are you suggesting?
If Kirito woke from that, exactly what would that make of all her
effort thus far? And she could not even say with certainty that the
possibility was zero in regards to Kirito.
Without any attempt to conceal how grim the space between her
eyebrows was becoming, Alice replied in a sharp tone.
“I appreciate your words, but he is currently resting in the

tent. I will personally see that your thoughts are conveyed to
him, Fanatio-dono.”
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“Oh dear.”
The area around deputy knight commander’s eyes twitched.
“I will require your permission to meet with the boy? Back

at the cathedral, I believe I hadn’t ever refused your requests
to meet with His Excellency, the knight commander, when he
was at work due to my personal feelings?”
“With regards to that, I believe your permission is not

required either for me to meet with esteemed uncle, Fanatio-
dono. To begin with, now that I think about it, would he not
serve just fine if you desired to be beaten black and blue by a
male knight?”
“Oh my, let’s leave His Excellency out of this. He is the

world’s strongest knight, so it is only natural he goes easy
whoever he faces. After all, he even spared the dark
general.”
“Oh, really now? He was always serious to the point of

becoming drenched in sweat during practice with me,
however?”
“…Your Excellency! Is what she said true!?”
“In the first place, it’s because you always pamper this
person that…!”
Alice and Fanatio turned towards their sides as one.
However, the knight commander was no longer present there.
Only a lump of dried grass tumbled by along where Bercouli had

certainly stood minutes ago.
The war council began at six in the evening with a rather strained
atmosphere due to the spirit exuded from Deputy Knight Commander
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Fanatio Synthesis Two who served as the facilitator and Integrity
Knight Alice Synthesis Thirty who recently joined the battle.
After briefly introducing herself, Alice threw herself onto a chair

prepared on the front row.
“…Alice-sama.”
Snatching the cup of siral water Eldrie who sat beside offered, she
drained the cold, sweet and sour liquid in a single gulp. Taking in a
deep breath, she somehow managed to move on.
—Still.
There truly were few high ranking integrity knights possessing

sacred tools. The only ones she knew the name and face of well were
the knight commander, «Time Piercing Sword» Bercouli, «Heaven
Piercing Sword» Fanatio, «Frost Scale Whip» Eldrie, and «Conflagrant
Flame Bow» Deusolbert.
Them aside, Scheta Synthesis Twelve, with the alias of «Silent»,

and Renri Synthesis Twenty-seven, an extremely young male knight,
both held sacred tools, but it was effectively her first time meeting
them, so she did not even know what their techniques were. At any
rate, those members made up the seven high ranking knights when
included with «Fragrant Olive» Alice.
The remaining nine were the low ranking knights with no sacred
tool, including the «Four Oscillation Blades» under Fanatio. Moreover,
the young female apprentice knights who committed such dreadful
mischief that even Bercouli had trouble dealing with them, Linel
Synthesis Twenty-eight and Fizel Synthesis Twenty-nine, were around
too. They were currently sitting obediently in the corner, but could
they truly be let out on the battlefield?
At any rate, those mere sixteen were all that the Order of the
Integrity Knights could put into this absolute line of defense.
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On the other hand, roughly thirty commanding officers from the
Human Empire Defense Army attended. Though their morale was not
low, the difference between the integrity knights’ prowess with the
sword and theirs was obvious even in a single glance. It went without
saying for the high ranking knights like Alice, but even the low
ranking knights had more than enough strength to defeat the thirty
of them in continuous matches…
“—We have considered numerous plans over these four

months…”
Fanatio’s voice started without Alice knowing and it pulled her

focus back.
“To sum things up, it will be difficult to drive back the

enemy army’s combined offensive with our current fighting
strength and we will lose all chance at victory the moment
they lay siege to us.”
Fanatio knocked against a point on the map set up farther in the

war council with the Heaven Piercing Sword’s narrow and long
scabbard as a replacement for a pointer.
“As you can see, there is nothing but grass and rock for ten
kilol from this side of the mountain range at the edge. If they
push us this far, we will only be surrounded and annihilated
by the enemy army of fifty thousand. As such, we must settle
the battle in this gorge that leads to the Great East Gate,
measuring a hundred mel in width and a thousand mel in
length. We will spread troops in layers, and focus entirely on
engaging them and shaving down their numbers. This will be
the basic principle of our strategy. Does anyone have any
opinions to voice out so far?”
Eldrie was the one whose hand quickly went up. Standing up as his
light purple hair wavered, the young man questioned with his usual
vanity restrained.
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“If the enemy army comprises only the goblins and orcs, we
will cut them down even if there are fifty or a hundred
thousand of them. However, even they are aware of that.
There are powerful groups of ogres equipped with longbows
as well as the Dark Arts Users’ Guild which exceeds them in
danger. What countermeasures do we have against long
range attacks fired from behind their infantry?”
“This may be a risky gamble…”
Fanatio’s lips paused for a moment and she glanced towards Alice.
She listened to the words that continued while unthinkingly
straightening her back.
“…No sunlight reaches the bottom of the gorge even in

midday and no grass grows on its ground. In other words,
there is sparse sacred power in the air. If we thoroughly
exhaust that before the battle begins, it stands to reason
that the enemy army will not be able to launch any powerful
arts.”
The knights and commanding officers stirred at Fanatio’s daring

idea.
“Naturally, the same applies to us. However, we have no

more than a hundred or so sacred arts users in the first
place. In a fight between arts, the enemy’s consumption of
sacred power should be far above us.”
That might certainly be true. Still—there were two problems in

Fanatio’s strategy.
It was the bow user, Deusolbert, who sought permission to speak in

place of the stunned Eldrie. The senior knight calmly asked with his
body clad in reddish-copper armor.
“I understand, your words are quite right, Deputy
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Commander-dono. However, sacred arts are not used solely
for offense. If sacred power dries up, wouldn’t we be unable
to even heal the Life of anyone hurt?”
“That is why I called it a gamble. We have brought as many

of the high grade catalysts and medication as we could from
the cathedral’s treasury to this camp site. If we restrict to
using only healing arts and supplement that with medicine,
the catalysts alone should last two… no, three days.”
The surprised cries this time were louder than before. The Central
Cathedral’s treasury was known for such strict security that that itself
served as the subject for fairy tales. Treasures may be brought in,
but this could well be the first time in history for things to be brought
out.
It rendered even the great knight into silence, a grim expression

tinged with surprise on his face. Waiting as Deusolbert took his seat
with a low groan, Alice then stood up.
“There is still another problem, Fanatio-dono.”
Forgetting the earlier quarrel for the time being, she threw out the
second problem at hand.
“Though you say the blessings of Solus and Terraria are

faint, the gorge is neither devoid of light nor separated from
the earth. I believe a massive amount of sacred power has
accumulated there over the many years. What, exactly, could
fully use up that power in the short period before the
battle?”
Though the chasm through the mountain range was more narrow
than the grasslands spreading out behind the camp site, it still had a
width of a hundred mel and a length of a thousand mel. Exhausting
the sacred power filling that expansive space in an instant would
require hundreds of arts users simultaneously casting high ranking
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arts, but Fanatio herself had mentioned earlier that the Defense
Army lacked that many arts users.
Another possibility would be to exhaust the sacred power by using

a grand large-scale art comparable to natural disasters, but it
seemed the only two possessing such power would be the deceased
Highest Minister Administrator and Sage Cardinal.
However, the deputy knight commander shook her head strongly

while staring at Alice with her golden brown eyes.
“No, we do. We do have one person capable of making that a

reality.
“……One person…?”
Alice scanned through the faces of the Defense Army as she

muttered.
However, the name that came from Fanatio immediately after was
beyond her expectations.
“You, Alice Synthesis Thirty.”
“Eh…!?”
“You may not have noticed, but your current strength

exceeds that of integrity knights. You should be capable of it
as you are now… the true power of the gods, to split the
skies and tear the earth asunder.”
“Are the high ranking integrity knights all that powerful?”
Gabriel Miller asked while shaking atop a large tank—which was

simply a four-wheeled, rectangular vehicle without any cannons or
treads—pulled by a two-headed monster similar to a dinosaur.
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Though not even the couch’s cushioning could erase the tremors
entirely, it was nothing compared to the lethal lack of comfort he
suffered so much from when riding those Bradley infantry fighting
vehicles as a soldier. The tremors only made sloshing noises from the
wine glass on the side table at worst.
Despite it being three days since leaving Obsidia Palace and a

travelling time longer than he had ever experienced in the real world,
he barely felt fatigue. Not that it was thanks to the comfort of the
tank’s seat; though it might be due to it being a virtual world.
The young, beautiful lady slovenly sprawled at Gabriel’s feet on the

thick carpet caressed her bandaged right leg as she nodded.
“They certainly are. Let’s see… in this war that continued

on for three hundred years, our dark arts users and knights
have never killed even a single integrity knight—does that
explain the circumstances? Of course, the reverse has
happened as many times as there are stars in the sky.”
“Hmm…”
Replacing Gabriel who closed his mouth, Vassago, who held onto a
liquor bottle as he sat cross-legged beside the wide cabin’s wall, let
out a doubtful voice.
“But hey, D. sis. If those integrity knights guys are so

strong, why aren’t they invading us?”
The head of the dark arts users, D.I.L., turned towards Vassago
with a smile more coy than before and raised her index finger.
“I’m glad you asked, Vassago-sama. Though each of them

is a mighty warrior that can match a thousand, they still
number only one each in the end. If ten thousand of our
troops surround them in a wide space, we could accumulate
scratches on them, little by little, and drain them of their
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Life, couldn’t we? As such, they would never leave the
mountain range at the edge where there is no risk of being
surrounded regardless of how cowardly that is.”
“Ooh, I get it. So that’s that, huh, no matter how damn

hard a mob is, just poke at it with DoT damage from a safe
spot and it’ll go down sooner or later…”
“Huh…? Mob…?”
Glaring at Vassago who got out an example that D., an artificial

fluct light, never could have understood, Gabriel gave a soft cough
and spoke.
“Let’s set that aside. In short, we only need to lure those

integrity knights into a sufficiently wide battlefield, and we
will be able to surround and eliminate them?”
“We will, in theory. Though the number of goblin and orc

sacrifices will easily exceed ten thousand.”
D. giggled, and then picked a fruit that appeared venomous

judging from its color from a silver cup placed on the floor and
wrapped her lips in the same shade of crimson around it as though
savoring it.
It went without saying that Gabriel had no concern for any loss of
infantry units. Rather, he had no qualms about trading the entire
army of the Dark Territory, including D. before his eyes, if it could
crush the enemy army. In a certain sense, this battle was no different
from the tactical simulations held by the operations research
department in Glowgen Defense Systems on a daily basis.
He would walk across mountains of corpses, reign over the Human

Empire as its new ruler, and give his first and last order to its lands.
Find a girl named Alice and bring her to me. The mission in this
strange world would finish then.
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Arriving that thought, he felt like he would miss even this wine with
its somehow eccentric flavor.
Gabriel lifted the glass and gulped down the deep violet fluid in a
single go.
At this time, the hunter of souls, Gabriel Miller, had unwittingly

assimilated «Alice»’s appearance in the mind with that of his first
victim who had a similar name, Alicia Klingerman: chaste, young, and
slender. He was convinced she lived in a city resembling his old
home of Pacific Palisades; a gentle and beautiful young girl—who was
powerless.
Hence, Gabriel had not noticed that one possibility.
It completely escaped his expectations: that the «Alice» he pursued

could actually be an integrity knight and led the enemy army.
The long files of troops behind the command vehicle flying the
emperor’s flag slowly yet surely continued marching towards the
western boundary.
The mountain ranges, protruding like a saw’s teeth, gradually

came into view beyond the bloodstained skies.
Seventh day of the eleventh month, the fourth day since they
began moving.
The main force of the Dark Territory army had arrived at the base
of a mountain that commanded a view of the Great Gate close to
collapsing. Countless black tents prepared by the advance party lined
up around the vast plateau.
Thump-thump.
Thump-thump.
The low bass that shook the ground came from the war drums the
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giants beat.
From the roof of the command vehicle at the end, Gabriel quietly
watched over the single file of the main force spread out like
countless blood cells urged on by the deafening heartbeats.
The first regiment of the advance guard, a battalion of goblin light

infantry and orc heavy infantry, summed up to a fifteen thousand.
They formed a column that snugly fitted into the gorge piercing
through the mountain range at the edge. The giants’ massive bodies
were set up in various places among the ranks like siege towers and
though they numbered fewer than five hundred, they would likely
serve well as the main tanks supporting the infantry units.
The demi-humans were followed behind by the second regiment:

the five thousand from the Pugilists’ Guild and another, likewise, five
thousand from the Order of the Dark Knights. The young knight who
succeeded as the new dark general pled for the vanguard position to
wipe the disgrace of his predecessor, but Gabriel drove him away.
Expecting the entire knight unit to suffer from low morale, he decided
to eliminate that uncertain element.
The third regiment comprises seven thousand ogre archers and

three thousand women from the Dark Arts Users’ Guild. Their duty
was to charge into the gorge behind the infantry and annihilate the
enemy troops with ranged attacks. According to the head of the arts
users, D., they would be able to defeat the main force of the enemy,
the integrity knights, by concentrating fire on them as long as they
were within sight.
To be perfectly honest, Gabriel had to admit he had the desire to

personally attempt a fight against those knights treated as invincible
and devouring their souls. However, he would lose everything with
this high ranking account if there was some unexpected incident and
he could produce as many of those from the Underworld, the artificial
fluct lights, as he liked later on. His first priority now would be to
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secure «Alice» and escape from the Ocean Turtle.
Eight days inside and nearly fifteen minutes outside had passed
since he logged in. To take over the entire Human Empire and pass
down the order to search out Alice would take roughly ten days. In
that case, it would be best to settle this war as quickly as
possible—to end it in one whole day at most.
“Aah, so I won’t be getting a go?”
Vassago grumbled from his side, holding yet another bottle of

whisky. Glancing over, he remonstrated in a sharp tone.
“I saw that. When that general named Shasta turned into a

tornado, you left me behind and ran straight away, didn’t
you?”
“Hehe, so you did see it after all, commander.”
Vassago broadly grinned without reserve.
“Look, I’ve always been specializing in PvP. I’m no good up

against some monster without a body like that.”
Gabriel did not know how serious his subordinate was with that
excuse and he stared at him briefly before curtly asking.
“Vassago, why did you volunteer for this operation?”
“By operation, you mean diving into the Underworld? Well,

that’s because it looked fun, of course…”
“No, prior to that. The raid on the Ocean Turtle. You do

work for Glowgen DS, but you specialize only in cyber
operations, don’t you? What was your motivation for
participating in an operation that might fill you with bullet
holes? From your age, you are no war dog back from the
Middle East like Hans or Brig either.”
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While that was quite a speech for Gabriel, he naturally did not hold
much interest in the human called Vassago Casals. The question of
what laid under this young man’s frivolous attitude simply popped
into his mind.
Vassago shrugged his shoulders and replied with, “It’s the

same”.
“The answer to that is because it looked fun too, I guess.”
“Oh…?”
“If you’re going on about that, you’re the ridiculous one,

stepping out onto the field despite being some great elite
who graduated from university. Even with your experience in
the army.”
“I prefer to get my hands dirty.”
Answering so, Gabriel muttered in his mind.
Vassago, what do you find fun? Firing guns? Or… murdering and
such?
Just as he pondered on whether to question further or to cut off the

conversation, the tapping of high heels sounded out from the stairs
set up behind the command vehicle and the head of the Dark Arts
Users’ Guild, D.I.L., showed herself.
She gave a respectful bow and licked her lips before reporting.
“Your Majesty, the entire army is in position.”
“Understood.”
Aside from the main force of thirty-five thousand deployed in front,

there were ten thousand reserve troops mainly consisting of goblins
and orcs, and the transport unit of five thousand from the Economic
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Guild waiting on the left and right of the command vehicle.
This army of fifty thousand was all the military force granted to
Gabriel. Hence, if he failed to break through the enemy army’s guard
even after exhausting all of the units, he would be forced to revise
the basis of his plans. The possibility of securing Alice would fall
dramatically as well.
That said, the enemy army numbered three thousand at most

according to the dragon knights’ scouting. In other words, they would
not lose as long as they eliminated the integrity knights as planned.
“Good. How long will it be until the Great Gate crumbles?”
D. answered Gabriel’s question with her face lowered.
“We believe it to be approximately eight hours.”
“Then the first division shall enter the gorge an hour

before it collapses. Set up as close to the Great Gate as
possible and attack as one when it breaks down. If we can
break through their front, send in the second and third
division and decimate the enemy in a single assault.”
“Yes. We shall deliver the enemy generals’ heads before

the day breaks. Though it may been burnt to a crisp by
then.”
Giggling, D. quickly conveyed orders to the messenger arts user

waiting behind and bowed deeply before descending the stairs.
Gabriel looked towards the gigantic rock gate towering in the

distance from the command vehicle’s roof.
Though it must be over two miles away, its weight was palpable as
though crushing him from above. That gate collapsing as a whole
would surely be quite a sight.
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However, that would be when the true banquet begins. The
releasing and disappearing of thousands of souls would certainly be
an extraordinarily beautiful lightshow. The Rath researchers cooped
up in the upper shaft of the Ocean Turtle must regret being unable to
watch this spectacle on the grandest scale that they had scheduled
from inside.
Thump-thump, thump-thump.
Thump, thum. Thump, thum.
The war drums seemed to stir up the hunger and rage emanating
from the forces numbering in the tens of thousands as their tempo
accelerated.
“So… please take care of Kirito in my place.”
Alice stared at the young girls’ faces in turn as she spoke.
They were the novice trainees, no, they were already

swordswomen in their own right; Tiezé Shtolienen and Ronye Arabel
nodded with their backs straight.
“Yes, please leave him to us, Alice-sama.”
“We will be sure to keep Kirito-senpai safe.”
Answering so, Tiezé and Ronye firmly gripped the newly

constructed wheelchair’s handles with their left and right hands
respectively.
The slim chair that gleamed silver grey was transformed from an
extra set of full body armor in the stores tent via Alice’s arts. It was
lighter than the wooden wheelchair used in Rulid and had more
strength too.
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That said, nothing could be done about the weight of the two
swords Kirito firmly hugged onto while seated. Though she was
doubtful inside if the girls could even move it, the pair magnificently
matched their breathing and pushed the wheelchair straight in front
of Alice.
This meant they would not be slowed down even if ordered to

retreat at once. At any rate, they would be driven to retreat from the
gorge only when the whole Defense Army was certain to be
surrounded and decimated.
If she were to state her true feelings, she would rather they flee
west with Kirito the very moment they saw the slightest danger in
the war’s situation. However, that would only stall their fate for
several months—no, several weeks.
If the Defense Army lost, the four knights protecting the mountain
range at the edge should retreat as well and evacuate the
inhabitants of each town and village as they made the walls of
Centoria, the central capital, the final line of defense. However, that
would be futile resistance all the same. The invading army would
trample them down soon enough, and both that beautiful capital and
the white marble Central Cathedral would be burnt down. There was
no escape within the sealed walls of the mountain range at the
edge…
Alice bent her knees and matched her eyes to Kirito’s before
peeking into them.
She had spoken to Kirito, held his hands, and hugged him
whenever she found the time in these five days since she arrived at
the camp site. However, he had not shown any proper response up to
this day.
“Kirito. …This may be our final farewell.”
Forcing her smile to remain, Alice whispered to the black-haired
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youth.
“Esteemed uncle said you would decide how this battle

goes. I believe so, too. You were the one who formed this
Defense Army, after all.”
In fact, if it was not for Kirito and Eugeo, it would be Highest

Minister Administrator and the Order of the Integrity Knights lined up
at the Great East Gate about now along with an army of that
abominable sword golem.
With two or three thousands of those sword golems and their

tremendous fighting strength, the Dark Territory army of fifty
thousand would be nowhere near enough. However, that was
equivalent to the Human Empire’s downfall. Tens of thousands of the
Human Empire’s citizen would have served as materials for the
golems. Kirito and the rest had prevented that tragedy with the
sacrifice of a single life and mind.
Still, if the Human Empire Defense Army led by Bercouli were to

lose as things went, a horrible tragedy would befall the masses
nonetheless even if in a different form.
“…I will be trying my hardest too. I will burn through this

life I received from you without a single drop remaining. So…
if I were to fall and call for you with the strength I have left,
be sure to stand and draw that sword. As long as you wake
up, the number of enemies would not matter, be it thousands
or tens of thousands. A miracle will happen again and save
the Human Empire… everyone. After all, you…”
—Are the strongest swordsman who defeated that Highest

Minister.
Murmuring so in her chest, Alice reached out with both hands and
firmly embraced Kirito’s withered body.
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Releasing him after the embrace that could have lasted anything
from an instant to several minutes long, Alice stood up and noticed
Ronye’s sight, staring hard at her while a complicated light flickered
in her blue eyes. She blinked in uncertainty and immediately
realized.
“Ronye-san. You… love Kirito, don’t you?”
Upon saying so with a smile, the petite girl covered her mouth with
both hands as she turned crimson from her cheeks to around her
ears. Her eyelashes lowered and she answered in a muffled voice.
“N-No, that’s… I couldn’t possibly… I am simply his valet

novice trainee, so…”
You could, certainly. You are the heiress of a family holding

peerage, aren’t you, Ronye-san? I was born in a remote, small village
and I do not even know where Kirito came from…”
Ronye suddenly shook her head violently as she interrupted Alice’s

words.
“That’s not it! I… I…”
Large drops gathered in Ronye’s eyes as her voice broke off and

Tiezé gently supported her with her right hand. Her eyes in the colors
of autumn were wet as well and she began speaking in a quavering
voice.
“Alice-sama… do you know of the taboo Kirito-senpai and

Eugeo-senpai committed?”
“Ye… yes. I heard there was a dispute in the academy… and

that they murdered another student.”
Alice still recalled the significant shock from the arrest order she
received from the Chamber of the Elders half a year ago as an
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ignorant vanguard of the Axiom Church. An unthinkable taboo like
murdering another student in the academy in the capital was
unheard of even in the history books of the church.
Alice nodded and Tiezé continued her questions.
“Then… have you heard about why they had committed

that taboo…?”
“No… I haven’t…”
A single abrupt shout re-emerged from the depths of her ears the
moment she shook her head.
It was immediately after she was thrown out the cathedral’s walls
with Kirito, those words he shouted at Alice when she screamed that
she did not require help from a criminal…
[—The Taboo Index doesn’t forbid it, so the upper class

nobles can do as they please with girls that didn’t even
commit a single crime, like Ronye and Tiezé… do you honestly
believe that’s forgivable?!]
That was it. I heard the names of this pair back then.
The “upper classman” must have referred to the student Kirito

cut down. And as for “do as they please”—
Before Alice who opened her eyes widely, Tiezé’s voice shook as it
began to speak.
“…Elite swordsmen-in-training Raios Antinous and Humbert

Zizek had repeatedly given humiliating orders to our friend,
Novice Trainee Frenica Szeski. We protested against them,
but used words considered insolent in our indignation at that
time. As such, through the nobles’ punishment authority
based on the Empire Fundamental Law…”
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It must be difficult just remembering what occurred after that.
Tiezé’s voice at stuck in her throat and Ronye let out faint sobs with
her head down.
There is no need to speak any further; Alice thought so and was

about to voice it out, but the red-haired girl resumed her story with
resolve.
“…Kirito-senpai and Eugeo-senpai raised their swords to

save us from that difficult punishment. If only I had been a
little wiser, that incident would not have happened. They
would not have fought against the church to reform the law
and no one would have died. We… have committed an
unredeemable crime. So… we have no right to say we love
them even if we had to forfeit our mouths…”
Upon speaking out all that she harbored, tears finally flowed from
Tiezé’s eyes as well. The young girls embraced each other tight and
let out forlorn weeps filled with regrets far too heavy for their age.
Alice grinded her teeth hard as she looked up towards the small
window that supplied light.
She thought she knew the rampant depravity of the four empires’
nobles. Gluttony, hoarding, and debauchery.
Still, Integrity Knight Alice had once thought she would be

contaminated if she knew too much and averted her eyes from the
nobles’ actions. Whatever they did, it was of no concern while it was
no taboo—after all, she was summoned from the Celestial World to
guard the law. She had continued believing in that.
However, turning a deaf ear was sin in itself. What Kirito detested,
what the Taboo Index was unconcerned with, a truly abhorrent sin.
Compared to herself who had done nothing, the two girls before her
eyes had several times as much mettle.
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Alice took in a deep breath and spoke in a forceful tone.
“No, you are wrong. The two of you are not at fault.”
The one who immediately raised her face was Ronye. Despite her
impression of her always hiding in Tiezé’s shadow, the girl cried out
this one time with a strong light in her eyes.
“You would not understand, Alice-sama… you would not

understand as an honorable integrity knight, Alice-sama!
Those men had done as they liked with our bodies and
stained our pride with sin!”
“Your body is no more than where your heart resides.”
She firmly knocked her right fist against the center of her chest as
she replied so.
“The heart… the soul is what truly matters. And you are the
only one to decide how your soul is.”
Alice lowered her eyelids and focused her awareness within

herself.
Roughly two weeks ago, Alice had regained her lost right eye
through the power of her heart—of incarnation, in other
words—during that assault on Rulid Village. She had personally
experienced how a strong, earnest wish could change the flesh
without reliance on arts.
Still, that alone would not suffice now. She had to change not just
her flesh, but the clothing on her body with the power of incarnation.
It should be possible. Had she not seen Kirito do it once before?

When he went up against Highest Minister Administrator with two
swords, he had changed into a long overcoat made from black
leather from some other land utterly unlike his clothes until then.
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Return. To the Alice before she woke up in that unfamiliar pure
white tower and shut away her heart within thick ice to drown out the
unease and desolation of her lost memories.
—I am the same as you, Ronye, Tiezé. I was born as a human,

made many mistakes, shouldered heavy sins, and now stand here.
You can claim Kirito and Eugeo’s murder to be your fault… but if I
had not forgotten about the taboos and not touched the Dark
Territory’s earth, they would not have even aimed for the capital in
the first place.
Yes, that is my sin. Even without those memories, Alice Schuberg is

no stranger, but who I once was. Those days in Rulid had taught me
that.
Even with her eyes shut, she knew the white, warm light had
enveloped her body.
Alice slowly lifted her eyelids.
As her face looked down, what she first saw was the skirt she was
wearing. However, it was not dyed in the pure white of the Axiom
Church, but a clear blue like the autumn skies.
Atop the skirt was a plain apron. The golden armor and gauntlets
were gone. When she touched her head with her hand, her fingertips
brushed against a large ribbon. Her hair seemed a little shorter.
Raising her face, her eyes met with Ronye and Tiezé’s while they
were shocked into silence.
“…See? Your body and appearance depends merely on your

heart.”
Of course, this transformation did not last forever. She would likely
return to her original knight look the moment her mental
concentration faltered. Still, the girls should understand now. How
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Alice, Kirito, and Eugeo thought.
“No one can sully your heart. This is how I should have
grown up, born in that remote village. But when I was eleven,
I was taken to the capital as a criminal and became an
integrity knight with my memories erased by an art. I once
cursed that fate of mine…”
What Alice spoke of was a huge secret known by only Knight

Commander Bercouli aside from herself. However, she believed these
two could handle it and continued her words.
“But… I had things I could do, things that I should do; Kirito
taught me that. That is why I will not waver any longer. I
decided that I will accept myself and move on.”
Raising both hands, Alice gripped Ronye’s and Tiezé’s hands with
strength.
“You are the same. You have a wide, long, straight road
that belongs to you alone.”
Drops of water splashed onto their held hands.
The tears along the girls’ cheeks seemed completely different from
before, gleaming beautifully with iridescent light.
Pulling Kirito who sat on the wheelchair into one last strong
embrace, Alice entrusted him to Ronye and Tiezé, and left the tent.
Eldrie immediately ran towards her as though he had been lying in

wait and sang her praises.
“Oh, what beauty… it is as if Solus’s radiance had focused

onto your being… you are simply at your finest, my master,
Alice-sama…”
“It will be smeared with dirt within an hour of the battle,
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anyway.”
She glanced down at herself while bluntly responding.
The transformation phenomenon earlier was already gone, and her

golden breastplate and pure white skirt dazzled in the sunlight. She
looked up towards the western skies while thinking about adding sky-
blue cloth to it somewhere if she came back alive.
Solus had already begun its descent. It would be roughly three

hours before it vanished over the horizon? The Great East Gate would
have its Life extinguish then. The seal of three hundred years would
unravel at last.
She did what she could.
Alice was added to the Defense Army’s training through these five
days and she thought the soldiers’ skills were polished well in just
this half year. What surprised her was how all of them had learnt the
consecutive sword techniques absent from the traditional styles.
When she asked, it seemed Deputy Knight Commander Fanatio

had generously taught the techniques she had polished over the
many years. Though three hits was apparently their maximum, it
should serve as a reassuring weapon against the goblins and orcs
who wave around machetes according to their instincts.
Of course, the presence of the dark knights with their own

consecutive techniques would be too much for the soldiers. The
integrity knights would have to take over then, including against the
pugilists who possessed even quicker consecutive attacks.
Most crucial would be to hold back the battalions of demi-humans

who would march in after the battle began. would be to endure the
ogres’ longbows and the dark arts users’ ranged offensive arts with
as little casualties as possible.
The outcome of the operation lay entirely on Alice’s shoulders—
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Pulling her sight back down from the skies, she saw the numerous
columns of smoke from the supply unit behind cooking the final meal.
She should soon meet up with Ronye, Tiezé, and Kirito, who they
would bring along, there.
She would protect them. No matter what.
“Alice-sama, it is about time for…”
Nodding at Eldrie’s voice, Alice drew back a foot to turn about.
However, she stopped that foot there and stared at her one and
only disciple.
“…W-What is it?”
Gazing at the young knight blinking with hesitation, Alice relaxed

her pursed lips just a little.
“…You have served me well all this while, Eldrie.”
“Yes… w-what!?”
She gently placed her right hand at his left hand, while he stood
dumbfounded, and continued.
“It has been a relief having you by my side. You requested

guidance from me, without any real achievement to my
name, instead of a senior male knight like Deusolbert… in
consideration for my heart, didn’t you?”
“Not… nothing of that sort, I am above such insolence! I

merely held great admiration for the magnificence of Alice-
sama’s swordsmanship in the innermost depths of my
heart…”
Alice gripped Eldrie’s hand while he vehemently shook his head as

he denied, released it, and smiled again.
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“I had continued down that bleak journey to reach today
only with your support. Thank you, Eldrie.”
Large tear drops welled up all of a sudden in the speechless young

knight’s eyes.
“…..Alice-sama… why… do you speak only of the past?”
His hoarse voice asked.
“Why do you speak as though your journey will end in this

land, Alice-sama? I… I have barely learnt enough from you
yet. I am still nowhere close to your level in both the sword
and arts. You must continue to train and guide me from now
on as well…!”
Right before her quivering, extended right hand reached herself—
Alice switched suddenly into a stern shout.
“Integrity knight, Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-one!”
“Ye… yes!”
The knight stood at attention with his hand frozen in position.
“I shall give you my final command as your master.

Survive. Survive and see peace arrive with your own eyes,
and take them back. Your true life and those you truly love.”
The «memory fragments» belonging to all of the integrity knights

aside from Alice and their «loved ones» were still sealed on the top
floor of the cathedral even now. There must be a method to return
them to how they should be.
Nodding towards Eldrie who still stood straight while silently

shedding tears, Alice rapidly turned about. Her golden hair and pure
white skirt cut through the cold autumn air.
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She saw the vast gorge sunken in dim darkness and the Great East
Gate straight before her eyes.
Alice would now begin chanting an extremely large-scale sacred

art for the first time. She would condense the sacred power filling the
gorge’s air to inflict a hard blow on the enemy army.
If she made a single mistake in the art—no, if her focus strayed for
the slightest bit, the converged sacred art would explode and
probably erase Alice’s existence without a trace.
However, she no longer felt fear. She had spent a fulfilling five
days with Bercouli, Fanatio, and Eldrie as an integrity knight, and
lived with her little sister, Selka, for half a year as Alice of Rulid.
And above all, she had discovered her human emotions—sorrow,

anger, and even love—by meeting Eugeo and Kirito, and crossing
swords sincerely interacting with them.
She hoped for nothing more.
Sharp noises rang out from Alice’s armor as she advanced straight
towards the center of the Defense Army, one step after another,
awaiting the start of the war.
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Vol.15 Chapter 17
NOTE: Parts 5-8 have not been completely paralleled to the

Japanese version yet, but they are very accurate.
Any feedback would be great, we worked pretty hard on this.
Credits:
Translation – defan752, TLM_A
Terminology – Tap, SAO Wiki
Proofreading – DarthMewtwo, CJ, Yuki, Kumquat
Japanese Consulation – CJ
Scans – Tap
Now, since the site is now using a new structure, all individual
volumes will have their own pages. HTML anchors have been added
to the project, so you can jump around it from this page.
I know you all are extremely excited to just start reading, and if
you’re picking up where you left off last time, just click the link
below!
Now, a few words about eBook versions. If you want to help make
an eBook version (EPUB, PDF, MOBI) of this volume, please post a
comment on the project page and know that much of the project is
not edited for absolute accuracy yet. Now, it isn’t necessary to wait,
because this version is already very accurate, but if you’re a
perfectionist like I am, please contact me using the comments and I’ll
let you know an estimate of when the project will be completely
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edited and finalized.
In the meantime, enjoy the rest of Sword Art Online Volume 15!
I translate stuff for you all to read. View all posts by defan752
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Source: tap-trans
Afterword (v15)
Afterword
Good day, I’m Kawahara Reki. I am currently writing this under

tremendous agitation. If you were to ask why, it would be because I
had utterly forgotten that the afterword even exists for quite a
number of days!
Right, let’s try that again, thank you very much for reading
“Sword Art Online 15 Alicization Invading”.
The previous volume, “Uniting”, did end off with a “To be

continued” despite the big boss of the church, Highest Minister
Administrator, defeated and all, so here’s how it continued on from
then… The stage for the story has broken out from the boundaries of
the Human Empire and shifted to the vast, boundless Dark Territory.
Various things have made a suspicious turn: Asuna and co. were
attacked onboard the Ocean Turtle in the real world, Kikuoka-san had
changed into a Hawaiian shirt from a yukata, and so on…
And with all that, The Human Empire Defense Army will begin the
war with the Dark Territory army in the next volume. The Alicization
arc that began in the 9th volume is finally charging into its climax, so
do come along; I’m hoping for your support!
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In regards to recent events, I participated in America’s largest
anime / manga convention, «Anime Expo» with the illustrator, abec-
san, as guests. It was my first time visiting Los Angeles (also, it would
be my second time visiting America), but the streets were huge just
like the event space was! And the enthusiasm of the all-American
anime fans filling the air was incredible!
Naturally, I am glad many SAO fans came over. Coincidentally, it

made me realize yet again that SAO only grew this large, from its
days on the web, to Dengeki Bunko, to its animation and game
adaption, thanks to everyone who rooted for it over these ten plus
years.
I believe the second season of the television animation would have

begun broadcasting when this book is published. The setting has
made a sudden change to the «world of guns» from the first
season’s, but everyone on the staff and cast, starting from the
director, will put all they have into showing how cool gun action is
along with that never-changing element of what makes SAO what it
is, so please cheer the animation on as well.
I guess my time’s almost up, so I’ll keep the thanks and apologies
short! I thank abec-san for drawing the many new characters filled
with charm appearing in this volume one after another, my
supervisor, Miki-san, for coming with us to LA, the next in charge,
Tsuchiya-san, for protecting Japan while we were gone, and everyone
who have read this far, thank you very much!
A Certain Day in July, 2014 Kawahara Reki
Credits
Translation – Tap
Afterword (v15) was last modified: June 22nd, 2015 by Tap
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Vol.15 Chapter illustrations

“…This is the world that you protected, Kirito.”
–Alice Synthesis Thirty: Originally an Integrity Knight under

«Administrator», she broke the Seal of her Right Eye after meeting
Kirito, and awoke as a true artificial intelligence «Alice».
“………………”
–Kirito: A boy who dove into the virtual world Underworld. To

escape, he reached the top floor of the «Central Cathedral», and sank
into a state of loss of consciousness after an intense battle with the
Highest Minister «Administrator».
“Lift your heads, and report your names. –Starting over

there.”
–Emperor Vector: A Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of an American

military corporation who used the super-account «Emperor Vector»
to login to the Underworld on the Dark Territory’s side, and began a
battle to seize the first man-made artificial intelligence «Alice» .
Lilpin: Tribal Chief of the Orcs
Iskahn: Tenth Generation Chair of the Fist Fighter Guild
D.I.L.: Leader of the Dark Sorceress Guild
Shasta: Dark Knight Commander
Siglosig: Tribal Chief of the Giants
Fer Za: Leader of the Assassin Guild
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“Oji-sama. It’s been a long time.”
“Long time no see, Alice.”
–Fanatio Synthesis Two: Vice Commander of the Integrity

Knighthood. Alice’s upperclassman; the two don’t get along very well.
Wields the Luminous Element-controlling Divine Instrument the «Sky
Piercing Sword».
“Hey, little girl. You’re more spirited than I imagined, that

relieves me.”
–Bercouli Synthesis One: Integrity Knight Commander. Alice’s

mentor, and the world’s oldest and strongest swordsman. Wields the
Divine Instrument that can split apart the future, the «Time Piercing
Sword».
“My mentor Alice-sama!! I knew you would return!”
–Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-One: Alice’s apprentice, the youngest

Integrity Knight. Wields the Divine Instrument which can split its tip
into countless ends, the «Frostscale Whip».
Map of the Underworld
The «Underworld» is comprised of the Dark Land «Dark Territory»,

surrounded by the «Human Empire».
The entire structure is modeled after the logo of «Project

Alicization», disguised as everyday corporation «RATH».
This logo references a big and small gear and drive belt, and the
shape of a pig’s nose.
Projecting this design thought process onto the map of the

Underworld metaphorically represents the Imperial City Obsidia as a
driving gear, driving the Human Empire, which is the grinding mortar.
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This chapter is translated by Tap.
On the twenty-second day of the tenth month, the coldest day of

autumn arrived with bright sunshine.
Canceling their walk, Alice and Kirito spent time at the fireside.
Originally before the real cold winter arrived, she had wanted to
prepare a large amount of firewood as the elderly Garitta had taught
her to, but for now there seemed to be no more need.
It had taken her an entire day to write just two pieces of

parchment worth of a letter. After finishing, Alice hesitated for a
while, and wrote down “Schuberg” in the Common Tongue, then
wrote “Synthesis Thirty” in the Sacred Tongue.
She carefully folded the letter, tied them up with two bands, wrote
Selka’s name onto one, then left the other one on the table for the
elderly Garitta.
They were letters of farewell and apologies. Since the home in the
forest had been discovered by Integrity Knight Eldrie, they could no
longer live there. time, it would not be Eldrie but Knight Bercouli who
came. By the time, Alice would not find appropriate words to tell her
mentor in swordsmanship that she was indebted to.
So they could only run.
After letting out a long sigh, Alice raised her head and looked at
the black-haired youth sitting on the other side of the table.
“Hey, Kirito. Where do you want to go? The highlands of

the Western Lands are very beautiful, you know. Or would
the forests of the Southern Lands be better? It’s warm for the
entire year, so maybe we can pick a variety of fruits for
ourselves.”
Although she asked him in a particularly lively voice, Kirito was

completely unresponsive as usual.
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Blank eyes silently looked at the table. The fact that she had to
take this injured youth on a life of vagrancy pained Alice in her chest.
However, she could not leave him behind in Rulid. Not only could
Selka not spare time to take the job as an Apprentice Sister, Alice did
not wish so. Now, taking care of Kirito had almost what Alice lived for.
“…Forget it, let’s leave the destination up to Amayori.

Okay… it’s late, let’s go to bed. We need to get up early
tomorrow.”
After changing clothes for Kirito and laying him down, she changed
into her nightwear, extinguished the lanterns, and climbed into bed.
In the darkness, she listened to Kirito’s breath with full attention.

When Kirito sounded asleep, Alice wriggled her body.
She leaned her head against the youth’s bony chest. Beside her
ear came a slow but steady thumping.
Kirito’s heart was already no longer here. This heartbeat was but a
resonance of the past.
In the months that she had slept alongside him every night, Alice
had thought so. But at the same time, she felt that in this deep yet
steady resonance, there was still — something that remained.
If the Kirito now was in a state of having a normal heart but unable
to express anything, then just how could she explain her current
actions to him? Alice smiled as she thought so, and slowly entered
the world of dreams.
Suddenly, the body beside her trembled slightly.
Alice opened her heavy eyelids with difficulty. She looked towards
the east window with her left eye, but the sky through the gap in the
curtains was still pitch black. Judging by her feeling, she had only
slept two or three hours.
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While Kirito trembled again, Alice whispered:
“It’s still nighttime… let’s sleep some more…”
Closing her eye again, she patted Kirito’s chest to tell him to go
back to sleep. However, the soft voice from the youth finally let Alice
knew that there was something wrong with him.
“Ah… ah…”
“Kirito…?”
The Kirito now did not have wishes of his own. Simple coldness,
hunger or others like that shouldn’t wake him. Even so, the boy
trembled more violently as though he wanted to get off the bed.
“What’s wrong…?”
This was abnormal; had he regained his senses? Alice thought as

she instantly sat up and directly generated a luminous element, as if
lighting a lantern was a waste of time.
The boy’s pupils in his eyes that were faintly lit by white light
showed no change from usual at all and reflected the same blank
darkness; Alice sighed with slight disappointment. But, if so, what
was he—
At that moment, a sharp cry outside the window reached Alice’s

ears.
“Kuruuu, kuruuu!”
It was the cry of Amayori, who was supposed to be asleep in a

corner in the clearing. The sharp cry was sharp and high-pitched as
though she was warning her master.
Alice jumped onto the floor, ran from the bedroom to the living
room and threw open the door. A freezing night wind blew. It should
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only carry the fragrant of the forest, but the wind mixed with a sliver
of strange odor. This smell stung deep in the nose, can only be a
signal of substance being burnt—
She walked barefoot to the vestibule. Looking around the sky, she
could not help gasping.
The sky to the west— was burning.
The ominous red glow was undoubtedly a reflection of an

enormous fire. Squinting, she could see horizontal streaks of black
smoke covering the sky.
A bush fire?!
Although she had thought so for a split second, Alice immediately

dismissed that notion. Through the burnt wind came the tinny sounds
of clashing metal —and screams.
An enemy attack.
An army from the Dark Territory was attacking Rulid Village.
“…Selka!!”
Letting out a hoarse scream, Alice was to immediately run back

inside. However, she stood stock still when she stepped on the porch.
Alice wailed weakly and prepared to immediately run back inside.
Then she stood stock still.
I have to save my sister and parents no matter what.
But… What about the other villagers?
If I were to save everyone, I would have to directly confront the

Dark Army. Do I still possess that power now?
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The source of power for the Integrity Knight Alice of the past was
the fanatic loyalty to the Church and the highest minister. With it
shattered along with my right eye, can I still swing the Fragrant Olive
Sword and use the Sacred Arts?
The frozen Alice heard—
A “thump” from inside the house.
She opened her left eye wide. In the middle of the living room,
there sat an upset chair and the black-haired boy crawling beside it.
“…Kirito…”
Alice hurried back inside with watery legs.
Kirito’s eyes were still devoid of will. But what he meant by his slow
actions was very clear.
He reached out his arm straight towards the three swords hanging
on the wall.
“Kirito… you…”
Alice felt hot lumps rising in her throat and chest. It took her
seconds to discover that her vision was blurry and distorted because
of her own tears.
“…Ah…Ah…”
Letting out hoarse noises, Kirito moved relentlessly towards the

swords. Alice wiped her eyes firmly, ran to the boy, and held his frail
body up.
“Don’t worry, I’ll go. I’ll save everyone. So, stay here, and
relax.”
Whispering quickly, Alice hugged Kirito tightly.
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Thump, thump. Through the chest which Alice was laying on, his
heartbeat reached her.
Even though his heart was closed, deep in the beating hid flames
of will that would never run out. Although they were weak embers,
Alice could certainly recognize the warmth.
After tightly pressing her own cheek to the boy’s, Alice carried the
frail body over to a chair.
“I’ll save them and be back soon.”
Then she took down the armor and belt hanging from the ceiling
and put them on over her nightwear. Without hesitating, she then ran
to the east wall and grabbed her beloved sword.
The Fragrant Olive Sword that she had not held for half a year felt
rigid. Alice fixed the scabbard onto the belt, threw her coat on while
slipping on her boots and ran to the vestibule again.
“Amayori!”
Shouting towards the east, a gigantic shadow hastened over and

lowered its head.
Alice clambered onto its long neck and commanded sharply:
“Go!”
Whoosh! Flapping its silvery wings, the dragon sprinted and soared
into the air.
After gaining some altitude, the pitiful sight of Rulid Village

ruthlessly entered Alice’s sight. The rising red-hot flames generally
came from the northern side of the village. As expected, the invaders
had come from the .
Last night, Eldrie had confirmed that all was normal at the that had
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been blocked under Bercouli’s command, so they must have moved a
large amount of debris in one day. If that was the case, the mobilized
soldiers numbered at least twenty.
Since a long time ago, there had been scouting teams infiltrating
the three caves running through the Mountain Range at the End, and
successfully attacked the Human World. Kirito and Eugeo had said,
before they went to the Central Capital Centoria, they had battled a
group of goblins in the Cave of the North. She, however, had never
heard of such large scale and obvious assault. By the looks of it, the
entire Dark Territory was in the mood to launch an attack against the
Human World.
As Alice was thinking, Amayori flew over the forest at full speed,
reaching the sky above the wheat fields on the outskirts of Rulid.
Without any reins, Alice used her hands to pat the back of the
dragon’s neck as a signal to stop.
Alice stretched over and gazed below. At the north of the main
path stretching south, Alice could clearly see shadows of the invaders
created by the red glow of fire. Those who jumped around as if they
could fly were the dexterous goblins. Not far behind, tall orcs
advanced.
The vanguard had already met the temporary line of defense set
up with furniture and timber on the north side of the Central Square.
The goblins had already reached there, crossing swords over the
blockings. White blades flashed around the barrier.
Confronting the invaders were the village guard. But whether it

was number, equipment or experience, they were no match for the
goblin troops. If this went on, as soon as earthquake-like stomps
came from behind, the gradually approaching wall of gigantic orcs
would arrive and instantly crush the resistance.
Alice fought the urge to immediately rush into battle, instead
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surveying the situation again.
Flames licked the east and west streets, but the Square and the
south side seemed fine. It seemed like the villagers not part of the
guard— of course, that would include Selka — had evacuated
through the south gate into the forest.
Thinking so, Alice gazed once more at the Central Square and
sputtered:
“Why…?!”
In the circular square in front of the Church, there were countless

silhouettes surrounding the fountain. She had not noticed before due
to their overwhelming number. Those should be the entire villager
population of Rulid.
Why were they not evacuating out of the village?
As soon as the invaders’ main force reached the main defense line,
the guards would immediately scatter. It was too late even now to
begin moving.
Patting the neck of the dragon again, Alice flew above the village
square and shouted:
“Amayori, standby until I call you!”
In one breath she jumped from a height of tens of Mel. Her coat
billowing in the wind, she dropped straight down as if she could cut
the icy night air in half.
The circular formation of three hundred villagers were probably

planning to assume a defensive position for the time being; men
wielding hoes and sickles were stationed around the boundary.
Besides the two vigorously commanding men, Alice hit the ground.
With a deafening crash, the stone slabs beneath her shoes cracked
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radially. Although the shockwave of the impact traveled from the
soles of her shoes to the top of her head, decreasing her Life a bit,
Alice attracted more attention to herself.
The two men — rich farmer Nygr Barbossa and the Rulid Village
Chief Gasupht Schuberg — jumped out of their skin in reaction to the
suddenly descending shadow.
Alice looked at her father’s face and felt a sliver of dejection, but
treasured the sudden silence she created and shouted:
“This place is indefensible! Take everyone and evacuate

through the southern road now!”
Hearing her orders, the two men expressed greater surprise.
But a few seconds later, in return came Nygr’s murderous curses:
“What the hell are you saying! For us to leave our homes
behind… leave the village behind and run?!”
To the livid wealthy peasant, Alice retorted bitingly:
“We can still get away before the goblins catch up to us!
Your wealth or your life: which one’s more important?!”
In place of the speechless Nygr, the Village Chief Gasupht said

nervously in a low voice:
“The Guard Chief, Jink, ordered us to form a defensive

circle in the Square. In this situation, even as the Village
Chief, I can only follow the Guard Chief’s orders. That is the
Empire’s law.”
Now it was Alice’s turn to be speechless.
In emergency circumstances, the person with the Sacred Task of

Guard Chief would temporarily assume full command of everyone;
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this was clearly according to a clause inscribed in the Norlangarth
North Empire Basic Law.
However, the Guard Chief called Jink was a young man who had
just inherited his position from his father. In this situation Alice
thought that it was unreasonable to assume that Jink could calmly
make decisions and commands. Gasupht’s face showed strong
anxiety, but this confirmed that the Village Chief was thinking the
same thing.
But no matter what, the Law of the Empire was absolute to the
villagers. To immediately begin evacuation, Jink, who was probably
still leading the battle on the northern defense line, had to be pulled
over and forced to change his command. But no matter how Alice
thought about it, there was no time left for that.
What should she do. What would —
At this time, Alice, who was standing still, heard a young yet
determined shout.
“Do as nee-sama says, Father!”
She turned around in surprise. In the crowd, there was a delicate

young nun using Sacred Arts to treat villagers who appeared to have
been burned.
“…Selka!”
This was wonderful; all was well. Before Alice could step towards
her beloved sister, Selka finished treating the villager, stood up, and
walked through the crowd towards the three.
She smiled at Alice and spoke to Gasupht, her face taut:
“Father, ever since we were young, has nee-sama ever

been wrong? No, and even I know that. At this rate, everyone
will be killed.”
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“But…. but…”
Gasupht fumbled for words with a pained expression. His beard

trembled slightly and his eyes remained wandering in space.
In place of the speechless village chief, Nygr Barbossa exploded

again.
“Children shouldn’t mouth off!! We’re gonna protect our

village!!”
His bloodshot eyes darted towards his own properties not far from
the square. To be precise, he was more looking for his large stash of
newly harvested wheat and gold stores saved over the years.
Looking back at Alice and Selka, the rich farmer yelled in high
pitched voice as expected.
“Damn… so it’s like this, I got it, I got it! The one who drew
the Monsters of Darkness into the village was you, Alice!!
You were corrupted by the Forces of Darkness when you
crossed the Mountain Range at the End, weren’t you!! A
witch… this woman is a terrifying witch!”
Being pointed at with a meaty finger, Alice was at a loss for words.
The noise of the villagers talking amongst themselves, the sound of
crossing swords on the defense line, and the screams of the
monsters advancing from the north all faded out.
Since Alice started living outside the village, she had helped Nygr
fell giant trees numerous times. Every time, this man had thanked
her sycophantically. But, just to protect his own wealth, he could say
something like this, what kind of —
Alice turned her eye from the man’s ugly half-Orcish expression
and muttered softly in her heart.
— Fine, just do as you like.
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— I wouldn’t need to strain myself like this. I’ll just take Selka, the
elderly Garitta, my parents and Kirito and leave the village to find a
new home far away from here.
She clenched her teeth tightly and closed her eye.
But Alice continued to think hard.
— Nygr Barbossa and the other villagers were ignorant, because of

the Axiom Church’s hundreds of years’ worth of rule.
Besides the Taboo Index, they invented countless laws and

regulations to restrict the people, providing peace like warm water
while endlessly taking away what was important.
That was, the ability to think, and the ability to fight.
In that seemingly eternal epoch, where had that amorphous power

been stored?
In just thirty-one Integrity Knights.
Inhaling and exhaling deeply, Alice snapped open her eye like a
breaking string.
As expected, she saw Nygr’s face draining of color as though he

were afraid.
It was the opposite for Alice, whose body filled with tremendous
power. A calm yet scorching blue flame. That was what she thought
she had lost in the battle on the top floor of the Central Cathedral —
the power that had allowed Kirito, Eugeo and Alice to revolt against
the Highest Administrator of the Human World.
After taking a deep breath, Alice declared:
“… Discard Guard Chief Jink’s orders. I command you all,

scatter this formation immediately; the ones with weapons,
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lead the way to evacuate to the southern forest.”
Although that voice was steady, Nygr recoiled as though he were

struck with something. Even so, his gall to retort in a trembling voice
was admirable:
“On…on what authority, can you, an exiled little girl, say

such…”
“A knight’s authority.”
“Kn… What the hell is a knight?! There is no such Sacred

Task in this village! You just know how to swing a sword, and
you arrogantly call yourself a knight, if the knights in the
central capital were to find out, you’ll be sorry…”
Glancing at the sputtering Nygr, Alice lightly grabbed her coat on

the right shoulder with her left hand.
“I am… My name is Alice. I, who oversee the entirety of

Centoria, am the Integrity Knight of the Axiom Church in the
third place, Alice Synthesis Thirty!”
Powerfully declaring her identity, she threw away her coat.
As the thick fabric was removed, her golden armor and Fragrant
Olive Sword instantly reflected the raging flames, shining with
blinding light.
“Wh… I-I-Integrity Knight…?!”
Nygr’s tone of voice changed completely and he fell backwards

onto his bottom. Gasupht’s eyes widened.
Alice’s title was no lie. This was because, in this world, there were
no humans who were able to impersonate Integrity Knights — that is,
to deny the authority of the Axiom Church. The only people who
could were Kirito and Alice, but even if she had escaped from the
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central capital to here, Alice had not give up her sword that
confirmed her status as a knight.
The noisy villagers immediately quieted down. The sounds of

crossing swords on the northern defense line, and the screams of
guards and goblins died down.
The first to break the silence was Selka’s soft voice.
“Nee…sama…?”
Turning her sight towards her sister, who clutched her hands in
front of her chest, Alice smiled kindly.
“Sorry for keeping it from you, Selka. This, is my true

punishment. At the same time, it is — my true duty.”
Tears sprang and trembled in Selka’s eyes.
“Nee-sama… I… I always believed it. Nee-sama would never

be a criminal. It’s… really beautiful…”
The one who moved next was Gasupht.
Dropping to his knees with a thump, the village chief bowed and
cried roughly:
“I obey your command, Integrity Knight-dono!”
Standing up quickly, he turned towards the villagers behind him

and gave instructions.
“Everyone stand!! The ones with weapons, lead the way to

the south gate!! Once you get out of the village, run to the
forest south of the polders!”
Among the sitting crowd, noise of anxiety began to spread. But

that was only for a moment. No villager would disobey the village
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chief’s command, let alone which was based on that of an Integrity
Knight.
Immediately, the tough farmers protecting the boundary stood up

together, and hurried the women, children and elderly inside the
boundary to stand as well. Calling back Gasupht, who was to join the
leading team, Alice told him with a withdrawn voice:
“Father, please take care of the villagers… Selka, and

Mother.”
Gasupht’s tense expression wavered for just a moment, and

replied briefly:
“…Please stay safe as well, Knight-dono.”
This father would now never address Alice as his own daughter.
This was the price of being granted power. As Alice was committing
that to memory, she pushed Selka on her back, prompting her to
move beside Gasupht.
“Nee-sama… please don’t strain yourself.”
Smiling and nodding at her crying sister, Alice turned and looked
north. Behind her, the villagers began to move as a whole.
“Ah…ahhh… My… my house…”
Moaning in a good-for-nothing manner, Nygr Barbossa remained

seated on the ground. His eyes darted between the running villagers
and his house that was about to be engulfed by flames. Deciding to
leave him alone, Alice concentrated on the other villagers.
Although she had finally gotten the villagers moving, there were
about300 people. It would take time for everyone to leave the
village, but the defense line was close to collapse, and the footsteps
of the enemy were approaching from both east and west.
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Suddenly a young man’s scream came from north of the square:
“We won’t make it! Retreat! Retreeeat!”
That was likely to be Guard Chief Jink. Hearing this, Nygr suddenly
blustered at Alice with renewed intensity:
“D…Did you see that?! We should stay here and defend!

We’re gonna die! We’re all gonna get killed!!”
Alice shrugged and calmly refuted:
“It’s fine, since this much space is spared. I will stop

them.”
“Impossible! How can you manage such a thing?! Even…

Even if you’re a real Integrity Knight, the other side has that
many monsters; what the hell can you do alone?!”
The shadows of goblins and orcs attacking from the east and west
were visible now but Nygr was still cursing. Ignoring him again, Alice
spun and looked behind her: even though the line of villagers still
extended back to the square, it was now a considerable distance
from her.
Alice seized Nygr’s collar and pushed him to the south, then
pointed into the night sky and loudly called her beloved dragon:
“Amayori!”
Immediately, an energetic roar came from the sky. Alice’s raised

right arm swept from east to west, and she shouted:
“— Burn everything!”
A storm of wings descended from the sky; Nygr and the abnormal
demihumans — goblins that raced into the square all looked up at
once.
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The gigantic dragon descended by splitting the sky dyed red with
flames, and opened its mouth wide. From the depth of its throat,
bluish white light flashed—
Shuba!
A blinding beam rushed out. From the west road, the beam of heat
sliced through the central square in front of the standing Alice and
the sitting Barbossa, cutting into the east road.
In a split second.
Astonishing flames exploded in a straight line, releasing into the

night sky. The goblins consumed by it were thrown into the air,
shrieking.
The dragon fire that instantly annihilated at least twenty invaders

evaporated the water in the fountain at the center of the square;
white steam permeated the surroundings. Alice signaled for the
passing Amayori to standby again, and checked behind her.
Nygr Barbossa lay on the stone stab as though he was paralyzed;

his eyes were about to burst out of their sockets.
“Wh… wha… A… dra-dr-DR-DRAGON…!?”
As Alice was thinking about what happened to the taut-faced

middle-aged man, from the other side of the steam approached
footsteps of running at full tilt. Showing up were the men of Rulid
guards in leather-armor. The early retreat proved to be a correct
decision, as the guards who numbered roughly ten had suffered
wounds, but there seemed to be no heavy injuries.
The tall youth impressively bringing up the rear, Guard Chief Jink,
saw the empty square and shrieked in astonishment:
“Wh-where did the guys in the village go?! Did I not tell
them to stay here and defend?!”
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“I ordered them to retreat to the southern forest.”
Alice replied. Jink blinked as though he just noticed her and looked
her up and down several times.
“You are… Alice…? Why are you…?”
“No time to explain. Are all of the guards here? Is there

anyone you left behind?”
“Um… No, there shouldn’t be…”
“Good, then leave with everyone else. And yes, please take
Barbossa-san with you as well.”
“B-but… those monsters are right in front…”
Before he even had time to finish—
“Gihiiii!”
A coarse scream filled the square.
“Where the heck are they— ! Where did the white Iums
go— !”
Plunging out of the steam into the square were goblins, clad in
crude sheet metal armor, clutching rough swords that resembled
slabs of metal, and wearing long feathers on their heads. Seemingly
not of the same tribe as the ones who had just been scorched by
Amayori’s fire, their bodies were a little better built.
Alice stared at the demihumans and gripped her sword handle with
her right hand. The dragon could not repeatedly breathe fire. Until
Amayori could gather enough Thermal Elements again, Alice would
have to face the main enemy force on her own.
One of the goblins sighted the shadow of Alice clad in golden
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armor; its eyes flashed yellow with frightening murderous hunger, as
it shouted:
“GIHII!! An Ium woman!! Kill!! Kill and eat it!!”
Alice silently waited for the blade-wielding demihuman, who has

abnormally long arms, to come near, muttering in her heart.
—What a terrifying power. So strong that existing can be

considered a sin.
Existing as myself, an Integrity Knght
“Gihyah—!”
The thick blade that was swung down from high in the air was
easily stopped by Alice’s left hand. Although the heavy impact
traveled down her arm, there were no fractures of skin nor bone. She
effortlessly gripped the blunt blade with her fingers and crushed it as
though it were thin ice.
The pieces of metal fragmented, but before they hit the ground,
the Fragrant Olive Sword was pulled out by Alice’s right hand and
sliced across the goblin’s body.
Glowing in golden yellow, the sword generated a wind that twisted

the three goblins near it into its path and blew away the surrounding
mist. Without even knowing what happened, four of the round yellow-
eyed enemy soldiers were separated at the middle and landed on the
ground.
Alice stepped back to avoid the spray of blood and said to herself
in her heart:
— Highest Minister Administrator. You had been wrong after all.
— You had concentrated such power into the bodies of just thirty
Integrity Knights, sealed their thoughts and raised them as puppets.
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You wanted to use such a method to control the power that was
supposed to be distributed to everyone of the Human World. But
power that is too unbalanced will corrupt and disturb the one using it
and the ones around them. Even someone as yourself was consumed
by overwhelming power and became something inhuman…
With the Highest Administrator dead today, it was no longer

possible to rectify that mistake.
Even so, she at least needed to use every last bit of this power for
the people.
Not as an Integrity Knight of the Axiom Church but a swordswoman

who thought according to her own will and fought according to her
own determination. As the two brave swordsmen had before.
Maintaining her position to swing the sword all the way, Alice
opened her left eye with determination.
At the same time, the temporary defensive line that was

constructed north of the square was completely destroyed.
The wide road was full of the main enemy force. Goblins that
numbered more than fifty, and orcs that were numbered less but
were covered in metal armor and clutching huge tridents.
Seeing their yellow eyes that gave off bright and cold light, their
screaming bodies that reeked of hatred and desire, the guards
behind Jink and Nigel Barbossa let out moans of despair.
But Alice’s heart was very calm.
This was not an Integrity Knight’s strength. If they were surrounded

by such a tremendous number and attacked with spears from all
directions, even a knight would not walk away with minor scratches.
What gave Alice her power was but a new realization.
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— From today on, I will fight for my own desires. I will fight to
protect my sister, to protect my parents, and to protect this world
that Kirito and Eugeo wanted to protect.
Alice clearly felt the self-doubt and powerlessness deep within her
heart slowly evaporate in white light. That white light spread all
around her body, all converging at her right eye that was covered
with a black bandage, generating intense heat.
“…….!”
She clenched her teeth and endured the severe pain that
penetrated her eye socket to the back of her head. But that was a
pain she seemed to have felt before and made her feel slightly sad.
Alice grasped the bandage tied to her head and tore it off.
She slowly opened the eye that had been closed for nearly half a
year from that day. Red light radially flooded her black vision and
became a flickering flame. It created a double image with her left eye
that captured the scene of endless burning homes, which dislocated
and slowly disappeared— finally combining together.
Alice looked with both eyes at the black fabric in her left hand.
This eyepatch that had been repeatedly washed and was slowly
losing color was something Kirito had made by tearing a strip off of
his own clothes. This piece of cloth that had protected the right eye
that had been blown away along with the seal for several months,
had reached the end of its Life; it began to slowly disappear from end
to end as though it were melting in the air. Gazing at that ethereal
yet beautiful sight, Alice realized it.
In this half year, she had originally planned to protect and take
care of Kirito, who had lost his right arm and spirit. But the one
protected was herself.
“…Thank you, Kirito.”
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She said, holding the cloth that was close to disintegrating to her
lips.
“… I’m fine now. I believe, from today on there will be all

kind of confusion, frustration, and mistakes… but I will forge
ahead. For you and for what I desire.”
The moment the cloth disappeared, she raised her head

emphatically.
Her two eyes fixed ahead of her saw nearly a hundred Goblins and
Orcs, screaming and shrieking as one, swarming into the square.
From behind came the sounds of the guards and Nigel Barbossa’s
fleeing footsteps.
Alice, who had to confront the enemy alone, felt not the slightest
bit of fear in her heart.
She inhaled the burnt air and shouted:
“— I am Alice, a Knight of the Human World!! As long as I

am here, the blood and massacre that you desire will not be
realized!! Now return through the cave from whence you
came!”
As though it was an omnipresent pressure, that awe-inspiring

declaration caused the goblin vanguard to slow slightly in their
advance. Immediately after, the tall orc in the middle of the
formation who seemed to be the generals, swung its axe and let out
a savage roar.
“GURAAA! You’re just a small Ium girl, I, the Foot-Cutting

Morikka-sama will smash you to the ground!”
The goblins regained their energy with this shout. Facing the black
wave of enemy forces, Alice waited until they were within range—
“Amayori!”
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By one name call, a gigantic shadow flew down at breakneck
speed. Even though it had not generated enough Thermal Elements
to breathe out, but the mere sight of a flying dragon and a
thunderous roar enough to scare the demihumans flew menacingly
over their heads. The troops, frightened by this, wavered even more
than before.
Not hesitating for a second, Alice raised the Fragrance Olive Sword
high, high into the air and shouted:
“— Enhance Armament!”
Even though she was chanting this after half a year out of practice,
and even though it was an extremely simplified version of the that
had excluded almost the entire verse, Alice’s beloved sword still
reflected her will. With a clear metallic sound, the golden blade split
into countless small blades, dancing in the night sky as they reflected
the fire.
“Engulf this place — flowers!”
With a whoosh, the blizzard of golden flowers poured towards the

enemy.
The first one to be engulfed in a mist of blood was the self-

proclaimed Orc general. His entire body was permeated by several
bursts of flowers, wasting his entire Life away in an instant; he fell
back onto the ground with a trembling crash. The surrounding Orcs
screamed endlessly and keeled over.
The Fragrant Olive Sword was a Divine Instrument crafted from the
wood of the world’s oldest tree in the center of the Human World
from the beginning of the world. With another name of , it could split
into hundreds of flower petals through the Armament Full Control Art,
with each petal having enough power to go against a famous sword
forged by a blacksmith. It was certainly not stoppable by crude cast-
iron armor.
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The main invading force that had lost its general in an instant was
significantly less enthusiastic. The advancing vanguard slowed
immediately and stopped within 10 Mel of the entrance to the
square.
As the goblins at the very front were confused and unable to

decide between desire and fear, Alice fiercely swung the sword hilt in
her right hand. Hundreds of flower petals flew into the air softly and
formed a finely patterned wall between Alice and the enemy.
Gazing at the demihumans through the golden lattice, Alice quietly

declared:
“This is the wall that divides the Human World and the
Land of Darkness. Even if you schemed to clear the cave, as
long as I’m here, you will not pervert this land! Choose— will
you march forward and surrender under a sea of blood, or
will you turn around and run back to the Land of Darkness!”
Within five seconds, the goblin vanguard all suddenly turned

around.
The lively sounds of knocking rose into the clear blue winter sky.
Alice put her hand to her forehead, watching the faraway wheat
fields, besides which rose Rulid Village.
A week had passed since the attack by the Forces of Darkness.
Extending from the northern homes, almost one fifth of the village
had burnt down, but the village chief decided for everyone to
temporarily pause their Sacred Tasks and change to manual labor, so
reconstruction was proceeding very quickly. Unfortunately, twenty
one villagers had lost their lives because they were too slow during
evacuation; a funeral had been held at the Church three days ago.
After Alice was invited to a ceremony, she immediately rode her
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dragon towards the Cave of the North to confirm.
The long tunnel that had been collapsed under Bercouli’s

command had been widened to a width that could even allow tall
Orcs to pass through. Within its depths, at the part nearest to the
Dark Territory, Alice found evidence that there had been a long-term
camp there.
The invaders could not have cleared the cave in one night.
Apparently troops had been sent from the Dark Territory and then
their pathway exploded behind them. When Integrity Knight Eldrie
was checking that entrance, there were already goblins that had
infiltrated the cave and began to clear the path.
Before, neither goblins nor orcs would have scheme such a plan so
thoroughly. Just from this incident it could be determined that this
time, the invasion from the Dark Side was not just a scouting mission
like before.
Once Alice left the cave, she did not immediately collapse the
cave, but temporarily blocked the stream flowing out of the center of
what used to be the White Dragon Nest, flooding the entire cave.
Lastly, she released numerous Cryogenic Elements that she had set
up, and used ice instead of rock to seal the cave.
This way, if neither Alice nor a Thermal Element user of the same
caliber could melt the ice, there would be no way anyone could pass
through that cave again.
Turning her eyes from the white Mountain Range at the End, Alice
tied the last travel bag onto Amayori’s foot straps.
“Right… Nee-sama.”
Selka, who was holding back tears with all her might and helping
with preparations for departure, lowered her head and spoke:
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“…Father originally wanted to come and see you off. I
always felt that he had been preoccupied since this morning.
Father is… really happy that nee-sama has returned. I hope
you can believe this about him…”
“I know, Selka.”
Alice gently hugged her sister’s small body, saying softly:
“I left this village having done a great sin, and came back
as an Integrity Knight. But next time… when I’m finished with
everything, I’ll come back simply as Alice Schuberg. I think,
then, I can definitely say it. ‘I’ve returned, Father’.”
“…Yes. That day will definitely come.”
Selka responded, her words mixed with sobs. She raised her head
and firmly wiped away her tears with the sleeve of her monastic
robes.
Turning to the youth clad in black sunk into the wheelchair besides
them, she spoke jovially:
“Kirito needs to perk up as well, become better again and

help my nee-sama.”
After she had gently hugged the bowed head and said a prayer for
good luck, the young nun backed away several steps.
Alice walked to Kirito’s side and gently took the two swords from
him and secured them to Amayori’s saddle. She then gently carried
the youth’s frail body and sat him onto the front of the saddle.
She had considering leaving Kirito at the village with Selka. If she
had left from the front of east gate, Alice would be busy as the main
force of the Human World Defense Force on the front lines, and
would definitely be unable to stay by Kirito’s side all day like she was
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currently.
But Alice still decided to take him with her.
On the night of the attack one week ago, Kirito had definitely
wanted to take up his sword and enter the village. It was his nature
to fight for others. Then, the only thing that could bring back his
heart was probably the battle to protect the Human World.
If there is a change, even if she had to tie him to her back, she
would protect him to the death.
Alice tightly hugged Selka for the last time.
“…Then, I’m going, Selka.”
“Yeah. Be careful… Definitely come back, Nee-sama.”
“I promise. …Say hello to Garrita-ji for me. …Stay safe and

study hard.”
“I know. I’ll definitely become an outstanding nun… and

then, I will, too, one day…”
She slowly stroked her sister’s head, and after letting go, Alice
slowly and reluctantly walked towards her beloved dragon, sitting
behind Kirito on the dragon’s back.
Nodding deeply to her sister on the ground, she turned her eyes
towards the faraway blue sky.
Gently casting away the rope, the dragon ran with tremendous
force in the wheat field, oblivious to the weight of the two people and
three swords on its back.
There will definitely be a day when she would return to this village.
Even if she wasted away on the battlefield, her heart would remain
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the same.
Alice wiped away a tear on her eyelashes and let out a sharp
shout:
“…HA!”
Gently.
With a floating feeling, they left the ground.
Amayori rode the rising air current, twisting into the sky.
The wide land and forests, with Rulid Village shining in their center,
and the figure of Selka who was running and waving with all her
might; she engraved them deeply into her eyes—
Alice turned the head of the dragon towards the eastern sky.
Even the self-proclaimed super genius Higa Takeru was unable to

predict all that had happened in the past two hours.
But, the current situation could be called extremely startling, and

could only be described as dumbfounding.
Unexpectedly, a delicate young woman of roughly eighteen or

nineteen used her thin right hand to seize and hoist up the collar of a
man fifteen centimeters taller than herself. The tasteless Hawaiian
shirt was gripped so tightly it was nearly torn apart; heels of sandals
floated in the air.
With both eyes, brightly flashing as though they were ablaze,

staring straight at Lieutenant-Colonel Kikuoka Seijirou, Yuuki Asuna
let words sharp as swords out of her cute cherry red lips:
“If Kirito-kun can’t wake up like this, I will absolutely never

forgive you.”
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From Higa’s position, it was impossible to see Kikuoka’s expression
under his black-rimmed glasses reflecting the ceiling light. But the
Self-Defense Cadre who was supposed to be a black belt in both judo
and kendo was seemingly crushed by Asuna’s words; he swallowed,
and slowly raised both hands to his left and right, as though in a
gesture of surrender.
“I understand. I will take responsibility: I will make sure

Kirito-kun recovers.”
Solemn silence flooded the dark Auxiliary Control Room.
No matter if it was Higa, who was sitting in the chair in front of the
console, or Koujiro Rinko, who was standing besides him, or the
numerous «RATH» staff inside the room, no one dared to speak. It
was clear how surprising the the youngest woman’s verve was. As it
was, that young woman deserved the title of a «Survivor» of a true
battlefield. Higa couldn’t help but think this aside.
Finally, Asuna wordlessly released her right hand. Kikuoka, having

been freed, let out a long sigh with an almost dispirited expression.
Asuna stepped back, swaying on the spot. Rinko immediately moved
forward and supported Asuna’s back, her white coat flying.
The female physicist who was a senior to Higa in the research

facility tightly hugged Asuna to her chest, whispered with
determination:
“It’s all right, everything will be fine. He’ll definitely come

back, back to your side.”
Her gentle voice instantly soothed Asuna’s extremely taut face:
“… Yes, you’re right. I’m sorry… for being so panicky.”
Asuna’s eyes leaked tears that had been absent even when
enduring the attack. Rinko gently wiped them away with the tip of
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her finger.
The sound of the sliding door being opened tightened the slightly
relaxed atmosphere again. Running into the room was Lieutenant
Nakanishi.
Nakanishi, whose dusty white shirt was soaked with sweat and
whose shoulder holster revealed a large pistol grip, glanced at Rinko
and Asuna and said loudly to Kikuoka behind:
“Report! Complete sealing of blast doors one and two, plus

completion of evacuating noncombatants are confirmed!”
Kikuoka adjusted the collar of his Hawaiian shirt as he stepped

forward and nodded.
“Good work. How long can the blast doors hold?”
“Yes… That would depend on the attackers’ equipment,

although small firearms are unable to penetrate it. Even
using tip saws or similar tools to cut through it would take at
least eight hours. If explosives are used, it might not hold… I
assume, though, they would not, since near the central blast
door…”
“There is the light cube cluster.”
Kikuoka finished his sentence, pushed his glasses up the bridge of

his nose, and sank into deep thought.
But he immediately raised his head and surveyed the slightly small
Auxiliary Control Room.
“Good, let’s straighten out the situation. Nakanishi, report

of casualties.”
“Yes sir. Civilian research team, three lightly injured, in

treatment at the bow infirmary. Our combatants, two heavily
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injured, two lightly injured, all in treatment with no risk of
death. Ready for combat, six, including two lightly injured.”
“Under that kind of fierce attack, it’s a miracle that there

have been no deaths… Then, report any hull damage.”
“There are rupture points all over the bottom dock control
room. It’s impossible to shut them remotely now. The
passageway from the dock to the Main Control Room is the
same, but these are just negligible damages. The most
severe is, because the main power line has been cut…
although the auxiliary line can supply stable power, if we
don’t restart the control system we can’t turn the
propellers.”
“A sea turtle without fins. And its belly has been bitten by
a shark.”
“Yes, sir. Zones One through Twelve of the Lower Shaft and
the bottom dock have been completely taken.”
The extremely short-haired Nakanishi, whose face represented

strong will itself, unwillingly knitted his brow. Comparatively,
Kikuoka’s teacher-like long hairline twisted up, as he leaned onto the
console while shuffling his clogs with his toes.
“The Main Control Room, STL Room One, and even the
nuclear pile have also fallen into their hands… Most
fortunately, their goal is not to destroy.”
“Is… is that so?”
“If they just wanted to destroy, they wouldn’t use

submarines to carry out such an exaggerated surprise attack.
Striking us with a cruise missile or torpedo would do. That
begs the question: who are they… Higa-kun, what do you
think?”
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At the sudden question, Higa blinked several times, turning his
brain that had not yet fully recovered from the impact.
“Uhh, yes, yeah.”
Mumbling meaninglessly as he turned towards the console, he

manipulated the mouse with his right hand and brought up an in-ship
camera recording on the big monitor.
Although the video window he opened was dark and indistinct, he

paused at a random place and adjusted the brightness and contrast.
What appeared were a number of figures in combat suits, sprinting
forward in a passageway inside the ship. Their faces were half
covered by helmets with multi-function visors, and they wielded
serious-looking assault rifles.
“…So, as you can see, from head to toe, there are no

markings whatsoever, such as flags, that can identify them.
From the color and specifications of their equipment, they
don’t seem to belong to any regular army. Their rifles appear
to be Steyrs, but those are quite common… The only thing we
can say is that, from their average physiques, they’re most
likely not Asian.”
“Which means, at least they aren’t Japanese Special

Forces. How pleasing.”
Kikuoka talked offhandedly about the frightening situation while

scratching his chin. Emitting a sharp aura from his calm eyes usually
squinted, he looked up to the monitor.
“We can confirm one more thing… These people know the
existence of Project Alicization.”
Higa nodded.
“Yeah, that’s right. After their assault from the bottom
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dock, they immediately ran to the Main Control Room. Their
goal is crystal clear: to seize the STL technology… No, the
true bottom-up AI «A.L.I.C.E.».”
In other words, information had severely leaked in long-term work.

But Higa did not directly say it; he resisted the urge to scan the face
of every «RATH» worker in the room for any sudden motions, and
said in an optimistic tone:
“What’s fortunate is, the Main Control Room lock caught

up. It’s securer than physically damaging the console; I’ve
made sure direct commands to the Underworld aren’t
working anymore. Any intervention towards the simulated
experiment, and the ejection of the Fluctlight of «Alice» from
the Light Cube Cluster just can’t be done.”
“But, it’s the same for us, isn’t it?”
“Indeed. Using this auxiliary console, we can’t execute

administrator privilege commands either. No matter if it’s
from the opposite side – the Main Control Room – or this side
– the Auxiliary Control Room – it is impossible to eject
«Alice»’s Fluctlight by way of external commands… But Kiku-
san, doesn’t this equal our victory? See, they can’t access
the Cluster by physical means or informational means, as
long as we wait until our escort Aegis destroyer to dispatch
reinforcements for a counterattack, those guys are a piece of
cake, a piece of cake.”
“I don’t know what kind of cake… but therein lies the

problem.”
Kikuoka’s expression remained solemn as he inquired Nakanishi.
“How about it, has the Nagato moved?”
“Uh… about that…”
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Nakanishi channeled power into his chin in an effort to steady his
voice, and bowed his head slightly.
“The Nagato received orders from the Yokosuka Fleet

Command to maintain its current distance and standby. It
seems that Command has classified us as hostages.”
“Wh…”
Higa’s mouth dropped open.
“Hostages? But, all hands have retreated back here in an

evacuation!”
The one who replied calmly was Kikuoka:
“I’m afraid, those people clad in black have connections

with the higher-ups of the Self Defense Force. The Nagato
pulled away from the Ocean Turtle at eight in the morning,
about six hours before that bunch broke in. By the time
Nagato receives an order to come to rescue, they would have
seized «Alice»’s Light Cube. Of course, there must be a time
limit…”
“That means… those people aren’t just normal terrorists.

This is bad… If there are experts on the other side as well,
they might find out. The hidden way of collecting Alice…”
“Operating from within the Underworld, right?… Now that

they have control over STL Room One, it’s possible to set the
virtual console installed within the Underworld to complete
the ejection command…”
“What will happen if that command is executed?”
Higa turned around and answered Koujiro Rinko’s question:
“The target Light Cube will be retrieved from the Light
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Cube Cluster within the Main Shaft and transported by
vacuum tube to any control room. It’ll exit there.”
He pointed at a square hatch on the side of the console, and

turned his eyes towards the door on the wall inside.
There was a small metal plaque set on the aluminum door, with the
words [STL Room Two].
On the other side of that door there were two STLs – that is, «Soul
Translators». In one of the machines laid a youth currently under the
care of Nurse and Sergeant First Class Aki Natsuki. He, Kirigaya
Kazuto, had been playing an important role since the beginning of
Project Alicization, and drove the direction of the project even more
so today.
Kikuoka turned away and crossed his arms, speaking in a sincere

and solemn tone:
“Our last hope will have to rest on his shoulders again.

Higa-kun… How is Kirito’s condition?”
Hearing the weak breathing, Higa raised his head and directly met
eyes with the intense glare of Asuna, who was being hugged by
Rinko.
He sank into a hesitation over how to convey the current situation

to her, who was Kirito’s, that is, Kirigaya Kazuto’s lover. Immediately,
however, a hoarse but determined voice reached Higa’s ears.
“Don’t worry, I will be fine. Please say it, the true

situation.”
Taking a deep breath, Higa nodded.
“To summarize in one sentence… It’s gonna be… It would

be a condition just shy of the worst possible.”
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Higa said in a newly serious tone, manipulating the mouse again.
The image of the attackers disappeared and another window was

opened. What appeared was an irregularly flashing colorful
stereoscopic image.
“This, is an imaging of Kirito-kun’s Fluctlight.”
Everyone in the room silently stared at the screen.
“A week ago, since he was injected with succinylcholine in

Tokyo, his heart and lungs ceased normal function.
Fortunately, he has managed to stay alive, but a portion of
his brain… Specifically, his Fluctlight network, has been
damaged. Although treatment would be difficult with current
medical methods, there might be a chance of recovery if STL
technology is used. Therefore, to foster the synthesis of new
networks, we attempt to grant new dynamism to Kirito-kun’s
Fluctlight through unrestricted STL.”
Higa sighed, picked up the bottle of water on the console and took
a sip. He was not used at all to this kind of long explanation.
“To proceed with this treatment, it would be necessary for

him to dive into the Underworld. If his Fluctlight cannot move
around as though it were in the real world, the treatment
would have no results. Therefore, same as his Dive at the
Roppongi branch: we concealed Kirito-kun’s memories and let
him land at the border of the Underworld… This is what we
originally planned. But, even today the reason remains
unknown… I’m afraid it is due to the damage to his Fluctlight;
his memories had not been concealed at all. Kirito-kun has
been placed into the Underworld under his current real-world
condition of Kirigaya Kazuto. We just found out from his
contact with his from inside…”
“Wait… wait a minute.”
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Koujiro Rinko interjected.
“Then, has he, in the time-accelerated Underworld, spent

those days as Kirigaya-kun? How many months… inside…?”
“…About two years.”
Hearing Higa’s reply, Asuna’s body that was being hugged by

Rinko trembled slightly. Even though his words were likely to be
extremely shocking to her, Higa continued, trusting in her earlier
promise:
“In that time, Kirito-kun has contacted the artificial

Fluctlights in that world. I’m afraid, he also knows that the
Fluctlights will eventually, due to the end of this current
virtual experiment, all be destroyed… So, his target is
installed in the center of the Underworld, and was once the
contact console connecting the starting village with the real
world. Kiku-san, he was planning to request you to protect all
of the Fluctlights.”
Higa glanced to the side; Kikuoka, whose glasses reflected the light
of the monitor, was still gazing at the stereoscoping image. He
turned back to Rinko and Asuna:
“…This is not something simple, since the contact device is

buried in the stronghold of the ruling power, now called the
«Axiom Church». Since the Fluctlights belonging to the
Church possess absolute status value, Kirito-kun, who was
set as a common person, had no way to fight them.
Originally, shortly after he breaks into the Church, he would
[Die], and log out of the Underworld… But he did it. Being
attacked, we could not confirm detailed information from the
logs, but we assume that he recruited some people, who of
course are artificial Fluctlights… that is, the help of partners.
In the fight against the Church, those partners nearly all
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died, and as a result, when he successfully opened a
connection to here, he felt deep guilt. It can be said that he
attacked his own Fluctlight. In that instant, those black-
clothed people cut the power line, creating a short-circuit
that instantly spiked the STL output. As a result, Kirito-kun’s
impulse of self-destruction has become reality… His [inner
self] has lost activity…”
“Inner self… Lost activity? What do you mean?”
Hearing Rinko’s question, Higa turned back to the console:
“…Please take a look at this.”
He quickly typed on the keyboard and magnified the live feed of

the activity of the Fluctlight labeled as Kirigaya Kazuto.
Near the center of the irregularly flashing spectrum-colored cloud,

a small puff of darkness like a dark nebula was cradled.
“Compared with the artificial Fluctlights in the Light Cubes,

we are still quite far from a full analysis of human organic
Fluctlight structure. The general mapping, however, has been
completed. This black hole, what was originally in here,
simply put, is the [Subject] …Self-Image.”
“Subject …An image of the self determined by the self?”
“Yes. All human choice is determined by a Fluctlight Y/N

path: [Whether or not I will proceed under these conditions.]
By way of example, Rinko-senpai, have you ever ordered a
second bowl in a gyudon restaurant?”
“… Of course not.”
“Not even have the slightest thought of ‘I still want to eat’

or ‘I can have one more’?”
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“No.”
“That is to say, these were the results of Rinko-senpai’s

Self-Image circuit processing. Similarly, virtually no decisions
can be made and no movements can be undertaken if they do
not pass through this circuit. In Kirito’s situation, the
majority of his Fluctlight is unharmed. But, because the vital
circuit has lost its function, no matter if it is processing
external input, or outputting voluntary actions, it cannot be
done. What he is capable of now… I’m afraid, are reflexive
actions ingrained within his memory. For example, eating,
sleeping, and related tasks.”
Rinko bit her lip, as though she were thinking about something.
She eventually whispered:
“Then… then now, how is his state of mind?”
“… Regrettably…”
Higa hesitated, lowered his head, and continued:
“He does not know who he is, or what he wants to do; he

cannot say or do anything… That would likely be his
condition…”
Silence permeated the dark room for the third time.
“… Fu…”
The following part of the syllable was completely drowned out by

the deafening noise of hardened boots kicking away a sheet of metal.
A member of the assault team, Vassago Casals, seemed

unsatisfied with denting the wall two or three times, and forcefully
crushed with his foot an empty candy box that a RATH technician had
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probably left tens of minutes ago, before finally stopping his stream
of profanity.
As proof of the Spanish blood coursing through his veins, he ran a

hand through his slightly wavy black hair, moved briskly to the
console and seized the collar of the bulletproof jacket of his
teammate with one hand.
“You sucker, try saying that again.”
Vassago gripped an exaggeratedly skinny youth, who was as

weakly thin as a whip. His golden hair was trimmed very short, and
his skin was snowy white as though ill.
This man who wore a pair of rough metal-framed glasses was the
only non-combatant in the team. A hacker by the name of Critter,
informally employed by the Glowgen Defense Systems Cyber
Operation Department [CYOP].
A self-proclaimed internet criminal with an arrest record, with an

internet name instead of a real name. But Vassago was the same.
Vassago was one of the 72 demons recorded in the «Ars Goetia»[1],
also known as the Prince of Hell. There were no parents on Earth who
would name their son that. He was also an employee of the CYOP and
was not an expert on computers but in combat – of course under Full
Dive. Although he was a man with a suspicious record lesser than
that of Critter, his VR combat skills were quite outstanding.
In reality —
The twelve members of the «Ocean Turtle» Assault Team, apart

from their leader, Gabriel Miller, all had dark pasts, and adopted new
identities in exchange for being fed as [Dogs].
As a dog in their midst, Critter expressed no fear whatsoever at

being hoisted up by Vassago, replying as he loudly chewed his gum:
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“I’ll say it as many times as I want. Listen, this console’s
locked as hard as dried shit, and the laptops we brought in
aren’t gonna be able to calculate the unlock code until you
bastards die of old age. Got it?”
“I ain’t talking ‘bout that, four-eyes! Weren’t you saying

that it locked because we moved too goddamn slowly!?”
Vassago shot back loudly. If he tried hard enough, with his wild
flair, he was handsome enough to be a successful fashion model, but
he was quite frightening when enraged.
“Hey, hey, just telling the truth, man?”
“You were trembling like a leaf during combat, but you

sure are one cocky bastard now!”
The other teammates snickered at the two men firing expletives at

each other, instead of stopping them. Capturing the right timing,
Gabriel snapped his fingers at the two men to attract their attention.
“OK, cut it out, you two. There’s no time to determine

who’s responsible. Now we need to think about our next
step.”
Then, Vassago suddenly changed to a child-like tone:
“But bro, if I don’t teach him a lesson…”
He wanted to tell him not to say “bro”, but swallowed his words.
Vassago called Gabriel this probably because they had both
acknowledged each other’s prowess during one-on-one VR training,
but no matter how many time he heard this, it felt ill-conceived. To
Gabriel, these kinds of ambiguous human relationships only based on
emotions, such as friends orpartners, were only convoluted
synonyms.
Sooner or later, when the technology of extracting and saving
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souls was his, all human emotion would be able to be categorized
under hue or shape through the «cloud of light». As he thought,
Gabriel said to the two in an authoritarian tone:
“Listen to me, Vassago, Critter. I’ve been very satisfied

with the actions of the team until today, as we have
successfully achieved our first goal of taking over the control
room.”
Hearing this, Vassago very reluctantly released Critter’s collar and

put his hands on his hips.
“But, bro, there’s no meaning in that ‘cause this important

console is locked. Our final objective, the Light Cube Cluster
or whatever, is on the other side of this metal wall, right?”
“Look, we’re just about to discuss a way to bring this wall

down.”
“But, the JSDF men ain’t shrinking away forever, eh? If we

keep going after them, this big stupid turtle’s escort, the
Aegis destroyer will send the pros to attack us, and we’ll be
in real trouble ‘cause we have only eleven men fighting and
one sitting as still as cargo.”
As expected of a Vice Captain hand-picked by Gabriel, Vassago

possessed control of the situation at hand that was not a trait of a
simple wild dog. Thinking for a moment, Gabriel shrugged and said:
“… As it seems, our client has some kind of secret deal with

the higher-ups of the JSDF. The Aegis destroyer won’t do
anything within 24 hours of the attack.”
“…Whew…”
Critter whistled softly. Behind wind goggle-like glasses, his light

gray eyes narrowed.
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“So, this operation is more than just a burgl… —No, no. it’s
better left unsaid.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
Gabriel lightly smiled and nodded, surveying everyone again.
“Right, let’s confirm the situation. It’s 1447 hours, Japan

Standard Time. From infiltration to now, 40 minutes have
passed. We are currently in the Main Control Room of the
«Ocean Turtle». Although we successfully secured the target
facility, we have been unable to detain a «RATH» technician,
and the control system here has been locked. The next
objective should be securing the Auxiliary Control Room…
Brigg, can you cut through the blast door?”
The hulking teammate who was called slowly stepped forward and
replied:
“Doesn’t look good. Seems to be the newest synthetic

material. Using the portable cutting saw I have, it’s
completely impossible within 24 hours.”
“The Japanese economy is alive and well. Hans, can you

breach the wall with C4?”
This time, a tall, slim teammate with a very handsome mustache

waved his arms freely.
“I say we forget it. On the other side of that wall is the

Light Cube Cluster storage, so I can’t guarantee no harm to
the goods before blasting this door.”
“Hmm.”
Gabriel crossed his arms and thought for a split-second, then

continued:
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“… Our mission, is to find a particular one from an immense
number of Light Cubes and take it along with its interface.
We already have the ID information of the Cube. In other
words, if we can operate this console, we can effortlessly find
the Cube and extract it from the Cluster, and we would’ve
been having beers on the return trip at this moment.”
“Goddamn it, it’s all because of that turtle four-eyes,

always boasting [My crime is infiltrating the central server of
the Pentagon] or whatever, but can’t open a tiny lock.”
“Ooh, didn’t see that coming. I’m actually being told off by

a gamer who’s only fired a gun made of polygons.”
Staring at Vassago and Critter who were itching to fight, Gabriel

intensified his tone.
“Do you all want to go back empty-handed and be ridiculed

instead of rewarded?”
“NO!!”
Everyone shouted together.
“Are you all merely laymen who can’t even best an amateur
technician?”
“NO!!”
“Then THINK!! Prove that the round objects on top of your

necks aren’t filled with oatmeal!”
Semi-automatically putting on the [Tough Commander] persona,

Gabriel thought by himself in silence.
As the one who seeks souls, Gabriel’s biggest goal was to obtain
the first true artificial intelligence «Alice» mankind had ever created
and take Soul Translation technology for himself. After he obtained
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those, he planned to use the nerve agent he had secretly brought in
to take care of everyone else, and then escape to Australia.
But, having only reached the current stage, the attack that the NSA
had consigned him somewhat counted towards Gabriel’s goal. Now,
since system commands through administrator privileges were
blocked, they must figure out another way to take «Alice»’s Light
Cube.
Alice… «A.L.I.C.E.».
The one who told Gabriel’s client, the NSA, this codename, was a
«RATH» insider informant, [Rabbit].
Gabriel did not yet know [Rabbit]’s personal profile. But, given
that the motivation to an organization and disclose its information
could only be a handsome reward, he likely would not reveal himself
in this dangerous situation and take action.
In other words, they could not expect assistance from Rabbit, on

the other side of the blast door. They must utilize the information and
equipment they have now, and achieve their goal within a short time.
Time — All was time.
Gabriel, who had absolute control over useless emotions such as

nervousness and anxiety, could not help but feel a certain pressure
when faced with a slowly approaching time limit of 23 hours.
When the NSA agents had entrusted him with this top secret
seizure mission, they had said to Gabriel:
The activities of «RATH» have been severely wavering our vested

interest and rights in the Japanese military industry. Therefore, the
higher-ups of the Japan Self Defense Force are displeased with the
existence of «RATH» — Furthermore, many of them were eager to
obstruct the project.
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«RATH» was mainly comprised of young Self-Defense cadres who
did not hold much power in politics. The NSA was very sure of this,
and signed a secret treaty with the CIA at the embassy and some
high official of the JSDF navy. The Aegis destroyer Nagato that
protected the «RATH» headquarters, «Ocean Turtle», will take no
course of action within 24 hours since the attack, under grounds that
[the safety of the hostages comes first].
But, after the period of standby, when considering the upcoming

media coverage, the Aegis destroyer would eventually have to act.
As soon as heavily armed forces came, outnumbered, outgunned,
Gabriel’s strike force team would likely be annihilated.
If the situation really developed into the worst-case scenario, he

could still escape back to the submarine, alone. But at the same
time, without retrieving the important Light Cube, his great journey
to seek the soul would retreat to an irreparable state.
Gabriel had already meticulously planned out his long life after this
attack.
First he would take Alice and escape to Australia, concealing the

Light Cube and STL technology in a villa in the Sovereign Islands in
the Gold Coast. Then he would take a plane back to San Diego and
report the failure of the attack to the NSA. After it had all blown over,
he would return to Australia, construct an STL machine in the vast
basement of his villa, and architect his dream virtual world.
The inhabitants of this world would only include «Alice» and Gabriel
at first. But that would be much too lonely. As the goal was to study
souls, he must increase his resources.
He would search for young and energetic soul carriers in Sydney or

Cairns, kidnap them, use the STL to extract their soul and dispose of
the unwanted shell. There would be a day when he would cross the
seas and trek back to his home country — and travel to the country
where Full Dive originated, Japan.
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The unique mentality of Japanese VR gamers once deeply charmed
Gabriel. Of course, not everyone was like this, but one group of
gamers seemed to live there, in the VR game, as though it were
more realistic than real life, carelessly casting around their real-life
emotions. Whenever he thought of the sniper girl he had met in Gun
Gale Online, he would feel a twinge that arose from a strong desire.
The reason was likely connected to the [Real Virtual World] that
had existed for only two years in that country. With their machines
being hacked by the developers, these young people experienced a
death game with real aspects of life and death. The souls of these
[Survivors] possessed an adaptability to virtual worlds unlike
anyone else.
If possible, even if it were just one, he hoped to obtain them —

especially the souls of the elite players who were termed
[Progressors]. Although he didn’t know if that sniper girl was one of
them or not, he of course also wished to obtain her soul. The Light
Cubes sealed with those souls would exude a shine far more precious
than any gem.
An ultimate light that the tycoons of the world would be unable to

buy with tens of millions of dollars. He would line them into his secret
room, selecting whoever he wanted everyday and loading them into
his favorite world, playing with them however he wanted.
What was more beautiful was that the souls extracted from
humans and sealed into Light Cubes could be freely copied and
stored. Broken ones, twisted ones, all could be easily rewound and
ultimately sculpted into Gabriel’s favorite posture. It was like cutting
and polishing a raw crystal to make it shine with a supreme glow.
When he reached that stage, Gabriel’s long journey would return to

the beginning, as if he had been travelling in an enormous circle.
Back to the moment when he was young, under the huge trees of
the forest, seeing the beautiful glow of Alicia Clingerman’s soul.
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These thoughts flashing in his mind, Gabriel closed his eyes, a
slight shiver running down his back.
When he opened his eyes again, he recovered his ice cold

mentality.
If he analogized the souls of youths from different countries as

ruby, sapphire and emerald encircling a king’s crown, then the great
diamond encased in the center could only be «Alice». Only Alice, with
the untouched, unblemished, ultimate soul, would qualify as his own
eternal partner. Therefore, he had to think of a way to find and obtain
her Light Cube, no matter what.
But without destroying the blast door to the Light Cube Cluster
storage, he could not seize it through physical means.
Then, he could only control it from the system. That said, even the
first-rate digital criminal Critter was helpless against the lock on the
console.
Clacking his boots, Gabriel moved behind Critter, who was moving
his two hands at top speed over the keyboard.
“How is it?”
Two hands punched the air in response.
“The administrator login is really despairing. What we can

do is jealously chew our nails and peek at the fairy-tale
kingdom that the Fluctlights up in the Cluster are happily
living in.”
Critter moved his finger; a window opened on the big screen on the
wall directly in front of them and displayed a wondrous scene.
It was quite unlike a [fairy-tale kingdom]. The sky was soaked in

a frightening crimson and the ground was as pitch-black as asphalt.
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In the middle of the picture stood several primitive tents made of
what appeared to be animal skin. On the side gathered ten or so
chubby, bald, strange creatures, causing some unknown commotion.
There were generally humanoid but no matter how you looked at

them, were not human. Their backs were bent, their hands were
nearly long enough to scrape the ground, while their crooked feet
were very short.
“Goblins…?”
Gabriel muttered. Critter whistled softly, saying with apparent

happiness:
“Oh, you’re pretty knowledgeable, Captain. That’s right,

they don’t look like Orcs or Ogres, so they should be
Goblins.”
“But they’re way too fucking large to be Goblins. These are

Hobgobs, Hobgoblins.”
Vassago stepped besides them with his hands on his hips and
added his own comment. Although he was just an expert in VR
combat, he seemed to know much about fantasy RPGs.
At the place where Gabriel was looking, the fuss of the ten
[Hobgoblins] escalated. Two of them seized each other’s chests,
twisting together in a scrambling fight, while the surrounding goblins
cheered with hands raised.
“…Critter–”
Gabriel felt a certain faint intuition, and spoke to the monk-headed

man in the seat.
“Huh?”
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“These guys… These monsters, are they a part of the
system?”
“Hmm, doesn’t look like it. From a certain viewpoint, these

guys are real [humans]. They’re artificial souls read from the
Light Cubes up there… Fluctlights.”
“For real?! What the hell!”
Vassago jumped and yelled furiously.
“These Hobgobs are humans!? They have the same souls as

us!? My granny in Frisco’s[2] gonna die if she hears that!!”
Drumming with a pitter-patter on the monk-head, he shouted:
“Aw, these guys are actually doing this kind of God-

forsaken research. Right, are those shiny things full of these
goblins, orcs or whatever? Is our Alice-chan one of them as
well?”
“No way~”
Annoyed, Critter pushed Vassago’s hands away and corrected:
“Listen, the world called Underworld that the «RATH» guys

created is divided into two areas. Located in the center,
slightly west, is the «Human Empire» where normal humans
live. Then, outside is the «Dark Territory», where monsters
like these are all over the place. Alice will of course be
somewhere in the Human Empire. It’s so freakin’ big that it’d
be impossible to find her if we keep peeping like this.”
“Well that’s easy. Since they’re humans, we can talk, eh?

Can’t we just dive into the Human Empire and ask the people
there if they know an Alice?”
“Wow, a pig. There’s a pig here.”
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“The fuck did you say?!!”
“I’m telling you, the people who made the Underworld are
Japanese. Of course, the [guys who live in there] would speak
Japanese. Can YOU speak Japanese?”
Hearing Critter’s words mixed with derisive laughter, Vassago

revealed a twisted grin.
“Don’t take me lightly.”
Now, not just Critter, the entire team widened their eyes. Vassago
had spoken Japanese so fluently that even Gabriel was shocked.
The young Hispanic man changed back to English and continued:
“No problems with communications, eh? Got anything else

to say, four-eyes?”
“Y-Yeah. Of course.”
Critter recovered from surprise and snorted.
“There are tens of thousands of people living in the Human

Empire. Are YOU going to ask each and… every one of
them…”
Critter paused his retort as though he had inspired himself through

his own speech and suddenly stood up. Although his monk-head
bumped into Vassago’s chin, who wanted to spit out expletives, the
hacker shouted unhesitantly:
“Wait. WaitwaitwaitWAIT. It doesn’t have to be one man…”
Hearing this, the faint inspiration in Gabriel’s heart finally burst

completely into being.
“… Yeah. Accounts set up to log into the Underworld… They
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can hardly all be Level 1 normal citizens, can they. Right,
Critter?”
“Yes. Yes, boss!!”
Critter tapped the keyboard hard as if it were a percussion

instrument; the big screen instantly rolled up lists of names.
“If «RATH» operators wanted to log in to observe or

perform internal actions, there should be identities of all
classes in their accounts. Military officers… No, generals…
No, no, noblemen, royalty… Could even be the King
himself…”
“Wow, that’s cool, isn’t it?!”
Vassago shouted, massaging his chin that was about to split in

half.
“In other words, we can use a general’s, president’s, or

whatever high-class profile to log into the Underworld, and
can make whatever commands we want! ‘Army parade!
Right, face! Find Alice!!’ or something like that.”
“… Why is it that when you talk about it, something so

brilliant would instantly become so stupid.”
Continuing his muttering, Critter scrolled the list with frightening

speed.
However.
Seconds later, along with a rare instance of profanity from him, the
list was halted.
“Shit, no good. Not just direct commands from here, even

using high-level accounts to log in are protected with heavy
passwords. Unfortunately, it looks like we can only dive into
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the Human Empire as normal citizens.”
“…Hmph…”
Clear disappointment floated onto Critter and Vassago’s faces, but

Gabriel remained expressionless and tilted his head slightly.
There was not much time to hesitate.
But, that was but a limit of the time in reality. Beyond the screen,
in the abnormal Underworld, time was compressed in an astonishing
ratio of hundreds of times.
In other words, the remaining 23 hours equated to over a year in

the Underworld. With this much time, even if they logged in as
normal citizens, after finding and capturing [Alice], it wasn’t
impossible to use the internal information console to extract her into
the real world.
But that was definitely a long task. Compared to such a time-

wasting task, it would be faster to approach from outside the Human
Empire.
“Critter. Are there any advanced accounts outside the

Empire… prepared for the «Dark Territory»?”
“…Outside? But aren’t the chances of Alice being there

infinitely close to zero?”
Although he questioned, Critter’s fingers flashed quickly.
Gabriel looked at the newly opened cluster of windows, replying:
“Mm, yes. But, the border is not absolutely impenetrable,

is it? With the parameters given by the account, we might be
able to cross the border.”
“Oh, as expected from my bro! Your thoughts are unique as
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always! It’s that… using a non-human general, or a monster
general to fight your way through, right?! That’s burning
hot!!”
To the whistling and shouting Vassago, Critter shot at him with

utmost hatred:
“If you want to burn, then burn, if you’re the one who logs
in: you’ll be a goblin or orc in that world. Eh, you fit the bill
anyway… Hm? Ah, this is it, this is it!”
With the click of the keyboard, two more windows popped open.
“Uhh, different from the Empire, there are only two super-
accounts…Yes! There are no passwords! Let’s see… One of
them is the «Dark Knight» profile. Priority level is… 70! We
can use this one!”
“Ooh, that’s great! I’ll have that one!!”
Ignoring the noisy Vassago, Critter activated the other window.
“Then, the other one is… What’s this? The profile’s blank,
and there’s no level whatsoever. There’s only a name. This…
How do you say this? … [Emperor… Vector]?”
“Oh, an Emperor. Then I’ll take tha…”
Gabriel patted Vassago’s shoulder from behind, as he was just

about to continue.
“No, I’ll use this account.”
“Eh? But bro, can you speak Japanese?”
“Not as fluently as you can, though.”
Gabriel replied with three years of Japanese study. Although he
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had given up on reading and writing from the beginning, he was
confident about conversational usage.
“Hah, you’re pretty good. Then my bro shall be the

Emperor, and I’ll be the Dark Knight. Now we’re talking!
Four-eyes, when can we log in!?”
Completely ignoring the noisy Vassago, Critter continued punching

the keyboard. Seeing his focused scanning of information on the
screen, Gabriel walked besides him and asked calmly:
“What is it, Critter, is there another problem?”
“… Should I call it a problem, or a slight concern… There’s a

strange phrase all over the data, though I can’t really
understand it…”
“Oh? What phrase?”
Critter took a deep breath and answered Gabriel’s question:
“«[Final Load Test]».”
Higa considered carefully breaking the heavy silence that engulfed

the Auxiliary Control Room.
“Uhh… Well, his physical body… or should I say, the

condition of the Kirigaya Kazuto in the real world, is similar
to what I just described… not optimistic.”
Seeing Asuna, whose shoulders were gripped by Rinko, tremble her

thin body in surprise, Higa added in a panic:
“B-but, there’s still some hope!”
“…What do you mean by that?”
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Rinko asked with a sharp, yet seemingly praying voice.
“The Kirito-kun in the Underworld is still logged in.”
Higa looked at the screen that was much smaller than the one in
the Main Control Room. He moved the cursor, clicked a few times,
and the picture changed: a bird’s eye view of the Underworld, with
the round Human Empire surrounded by the Dark Territory,
appeared.
“That is to say, although his Self-Image has been damaged,

his Fluctlight is dynamic, and undergoing stimulation. If so,
even though we are completely out of options in the real
world, we can probably heal his soul within the Underworld.
Because he overly blames himself, he damaged his soul. If
there was someone who could grant him [forgiveness]… it’s
hard to say…”
Higa knew that his words were unrealistic.
But those were his unadulterated true thoughts.
Succeeding the NerveGear was the evolution of the Medicuboid

Brain-Computer Interface, the Soul Translator. Although Higa had
discovered the human quantum consciousness «Fluctlight» through
his development of that machine, there were still a great many
things yet to be understood.
Was a Fluctlight a physical phenomenon?
Or, was it a conceptual existence unexplainable by modern

science?
If it was the latter, Kirigaya’s Kazuto’s injured, exhausted soul

would probably only be able to be healed by some supernatural
power.
For example — someone’s love.
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“…I will go.”
As if Higa’s mind had been read.
A frail yet determined voice resounded in the Auxiliary Control

Room.
The people in the room gasped and stared agape at the owner of
the voice. Yuuki Asuna nodded at Koujiro Rinko, who was supporting
her shoulders, and took a step forward, continuing:
“I, am entering the Underworld. I will find Kirito-kun there

and say to him: You’ve done your part; many sad and terrible
things may have happened… but you’ve tried your best.”
Higa, who had dedicated his entire life to researching this type of
psychological awakening, was dumbstruck by Asuna, her great
chestnut eyes flashing with tears.
Kikuoka, with an expression as though he had been struck by

something in his chest, immediately concealed his expression with
the lens of his glasses and looked to the STL Room on the side.
“… Indeed, there is still one empty STL.”
After saying this, the commander made a complicated expression,

continuing:
“But, the current state of the Underworld is in no way

stable. According to the predetermined plan, by our time,
there are only a few hours left until it enters the Final Load
Test.”
“Final… Load? What will happen?”
Higa explained, gesturing with his hands, to Rinko, who wrinkled

her brow:
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“This… Put simply, the shell is gonna break. The endurance
value of «Gate of the East» that has divided the Human
Empire and the Dark Territory for hundreds of years will
decrease to zero, and an army of monsters will pour into the
Human World right away. If the humans have a complete
defensive mechanism, they should be able to repel them.
But, in the experiment this time, Kirito-kun has destroyed a
large portion of the ruling power, the «Axiom Church», so…
We really don’t know what’s going to happen…”
“If you think carefully about it, for the situation now, one
of us needs to dive in no matter what.”
Kikuoka muttered with his arms crossed.
“As soon as the invasion begins, in the chaos, the «Alice» in

the human world is very likely to be killed. If it comes to that,
the time we gained when we painstakingly locked down the
console will all be for naught… If we can let someone enter
with an advanced account, protect Alice, and bring her to the
«World End Altar», we can extract her from there to this
auxiliary console.”
“Right… Before this happened, you told Kirito-kun that

already, didn’t you?”
Hearing Rinko’s words, Kikuoka helplessly nodded.
“Mm. If he’s fine, he will definitely do it. At that time, he

happened to be with Alice, so… ”
“So, in the months that have passed according to internal

time, the chance of the two of them being together is very
high… Is that what you were trying to say?”
This time it was Higa who replied:
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“…You… could say that. If so, perhaps it would be better if
we had Asuna-san dive in… Aside from her communication
with Kirito-kun, we need the combat ability to protect Alice.
Among us, the one most familiar with activity in virtual
worlds would be Asuna-san, definitely.”
“Then, it would be best to use the highest level possible for

the advanced account.”
Nodding to Kikuoka’s words, Higa moved his fingers across the

keyboard at breakneck speed.
“Hey, just pick whatever you like. Knight, general,

nobility… There are all kinds of advanced accounts.”
“Hey, wait.”
Rinko interjected, slightly nervously.
“What?”
“…The attackers, could they be thinking the same thing?

Didn’t you just say it? The hidden way to secure Alice is to
operate from the inside.”
“Ah… Indeed. This could very well become their method. In

the Main Control Room below, there are two STLs. But they
won’t have time to crack the login passwords for the
advanced accounts. They can only login as LV1 normal
citizens. They just don’t have the Priority to do anything in
the terrible situation during the Final Load Test.”
While he was quickly explaining—
Higa suddenly felt a sliver of anxiety, as though he had forgotten

something important.
But this concern was dispersed by the quickly scrolling list of
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accounts.
Within the «Ocean Turtle»
The base for the disguised company «RATH» constructed to

undergo «Project Alicization», development of a Bottom-Up artificial
intelligence, is the independent large-scale floating carrier «Ocean
Turtle».
Within the enormous pyramid-shaped «Ocean Turtle», STL Room

One and STL Room Two each contain two «Soul Translators» needed
to log into the «Underworld». The «Soul Translator» used by Kirito to
log into the «Underworld» is within STL Room Two.
At the center of the «Ocean Turtle» there are stored the «souls» of
the inhabitants of the «Underworld», which is the «Light Cube
Cluster» of the artificial Fluctlights.
Gabriel’s group’s mission is to eject Alice’s artificial Fluctlight from

this gigantic mass of Light Cubes through a vacuum tube.
Before the dragon came to a stop, Dark Knight Lipia Zankehl

jumped down from its back and ran with full strength across the
takeoff pad into the footbridge that connected to the Imperial Palace.
Quickly feeling difficulty breathing, she used her right hand to

remove the helmet that covered her face.
Gray-blue long hair billowed out with a flourish. Adjusting it with

her left hand and tossing it behind her back, Lipia further quickened
her pace. She really wanted to take off her stuffy cloak and armor,
but did not want the consuls crawling about the Imperial Palace to
see one inch of her skin.
After she sprinted through the winding corridor, between the round
columns on her right, a colossal black city erected under the
backdrop of the red sky appeared in sight.
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Imperial Palace Obsidia was the tallest structure of all in the
boundless Land of Darkness — Of course, this did not include the
tabooed «Mountain Range at the End» — carved out of the rocky
mountains and constructed over a hundred years.
From the throne on the highest floor, it was said to be just possible
to glimpse the Mountain Range at the End standing far away in the
east, and the great gate embedded in the mountain.
But, there has been no one to confirm the veracity of this rumor for
hundreds of years.
After the First Emperor, also the God of Darkness Vector, returned
to the underground darkness in ancient times, the Throne of the Land
of Darkness had always been empty. The great gate on the highest
floor was sealed by a lock with infinite Life, left eternally unopened.
Lipia turned her eyes away from the peak of the pitch-black castle
and called to the ogre guards at the castle gate straight ahead:
“In the name of the Eleventh Dark Knight Zankehl! Open

the gate!!”
The wolf-headed guards were quite well-built, but turned their

heads very slowly; by the time they turned the lever of the opening
mechanism, Lipia had arrived at the cast iron gate.
The door made deep “gu, gung” sounds as it opened a sliver;

Zankehl slipped sideways through the gap.
She had not seen the castle for three months, yet what welcomed
Lipia was the same cold air.
The [Kobolds] doggedly scrubbed the corridors every day, making

them spotless. As she ran, her armor clanking on the obsidian slabs,
two flirtatiously dressed women showing skin here and there glided
over soundlessly.
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On top of their shiny, wavy hair, they wore large, pointy hats
announcing their statuses as Dark Sorceresses. Lipia intended to
ignore them and brush past, but one of the women sharply raised her
voice in an exaggerated manner:
“Uwa, how noisy! Is an orc or something running?!”
Then, the other responded with a slight laugh:
“It caaan’t beee, these tremors have to be those of a

Giant!”
— If combat were not prohibited within the city, she would have
sliced off their tongues long ago.
Lipia thought. She snorted and raced on.
The Human females born in the Land of Darkness usually entered

the Dark Sorcery Guild after graduating from Training Schools. The
Guild was an organization of extreme indulgence, teaching
debauchery instead of rules. As a result, it produced people
interested only in decorating themselves, just like the two who
walked by.
Even so, they held great antagonism towards women who chose to
become Knights. When she was a youngster in the Training Schools,
Lipia had been cursed with poisonous insects by a Sorceress who did
not get along with her. Things settled down after she drew her sword
and sliced off the Sorceress’s proudly tied hair.
In any case, there were only idiots with no ambition in this country.
Often competing, no matter if it were organizations or individuals,

basing every decision on the degree of power, the Land of Darkness
had no future.
Although danger could be balanced due to the «Ten Feudal Lords

Meetings», it was unable to hold for much longer. If, in the imminent
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battle with the Human World — termed the «Ium Country» by Orcs
and Goblins, a few of the Ten Feudal Lords were to die, the balance
would be broken, and everything would become a chaos of bloodlust
once more.
The one who told of this future to Lipia, was one of the Ten Feudal
Lords, the Commander of the Dark Knights whom she directly
reported to, and also her loved one.
And now, Lipia had confidential intelligence that he was

anticipating.
Therefore, she would not waste a second to curb the Sorceress’

taunts.
Cutting straight through the empty lobby and flying up the wide
staircase two steps at a time. Even with plenty of exercise, she was
panting and drenched in sweat once she arrived on the right floor.
With the Land of Darkness divided by negotiation between them,

among the Ten Feudal Lords, five were Humans, two were Goblins,
and the rest were vanguards of the Orcs, Ogres, and Giants. After
nearly a hundred years of civil war, they finally agreed on a
document similar to a treaty, and ended up with regulations keeping
the Five Races in equal standing.
Because of this, on the 18th floor, near the top floor of Obsidia,
there were private rooms for each of the Ten Feudal Lords. Lipia
dampened her footsteps in the round corridor, and gently knocked
three times with her right hand on the door of the innermost room.
“Come in.”
A deep voice replied immediately.
Lipia glanced left and right in the corridor; after confirming that
there was no one, she quickly opened the door and slipped inside.
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The decorations within the room were as low profile as possible.
Breathing in the manly smell floating in the air, Lipia genuflected and
bowed her head.
“Knight Lipia Zankehl; I have returned.”
“Good work. Come, sit.”
Suppressing her excitement, Lipia raised her head and looked

towards the owner of the strong voice.
On the other side of the round table, there was a man sitting in a
long armchair with his feet propped high: the Dark Knight
Commander — Biksul Ul Shasta, also known as the «Dark General».
As a Human, he possessed an outstanding figure. Although his

shoulders were not as broad as those of an Ogre, he did not seem to
lose in terms of height. His head of jet-black hair was trimmed very
short, and his moustache was very neat.
His bulging muscles nearly popped the buttons off of his plain linen
shirt, yet there was not a hint of fat on his waist. Although he
maintained a perfect body that looked not a day older than 40, since
he had ascended to the topmost throne of the Knights, not many
people knew that he continued to undergo a harsh exercise routine
every day.
Seeing her lover for the first time in three months, Lipia had to
resist the urge to fly into his embrace, instead sitting in the sofa
opposite Shasta.
Shasta raised his upper body and handed one of the crystal glasses
on the table to Lipia, then broke the seal on what appeared to be
aged wine.
“I really wanted to have a glass with you, so I swiped a

bottle from the Treasury yesterday.”
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Winking, he poured the fragrant, crimson liquid into his glass. His
expression was that of a mischievous child, completely the same as
his former self.
“Th…Thank you, Your Excellency.”
“How many times have I told you not to call me that when
we’re alone?”
“But… I’m still on a mission.”
Shasta shrugged helplessly and they clinked glasses politely. Lipia

sipped the expensive wine and felt the Life she had expended on her
long journey slowly recovering.
“…Okay, so.”
After downing a glass himself, he poured himself another one and

changed to a serious expression, asking in a low voice:
“The [Matter of Importance] that you sent a familiar for:

what is it?”
“It’s…”
Lipia looked to her left and right, then leaned forward. Although
Shasta was often candid, he was quite vigilant. This room had many
heavy protection spells cast upon it; even the Witch, leader of the
Sorcery Guild, would be unable to listen in. Even though she knew
this, the intel she had brought was so important that she couldn’t
resist lowering her voice.
Staring straight into Shasta’s black pupils, Lipia said simply:
“The Highest Minister of the Axiom Church of the Human

World… is dead.”
In an instant, even the Dark General widened his eyes in shock.
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A long, deep sigh broke the silence.
“Is this… real…? I know it’s discourteous to ask like this,

and I’m not suspicious of your intel… but… that undead…”
“Yes… I completely understand your feelings. I was unable

to believe it myself, but after a week of confirmation, there is
no error. I made sure by planting «Earworms» in the Central
Cathedral.”
“What? That was very reckless. If you were traced, you

would’ve been unable to leave the capital, and dismembered
by now.”
“Yes. But, since a spell of this caliber has not been

detected, it proves that this intel is accurate.”
“…Mm…”
Filling his second glass of wine, Shasta’s strong-willed face lowered

slightly.
“—When, did that happen? Also, what was the cause of

death?”
“About half a year ago…”
“Half a year. Indeed, their guard on the Mountain Range

had probably been slightly loose at that time.”
“Yes. About the cause of death of the Highest Minister…

This is quite unbelievable, but they are said to be
[slaughtered by a sword]…”
“By a sword. —You mean that someone cut that undead?”
“Impossible.”
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Lipia shook her head at the slack-jawed Shasta.
“I’m afraid, even if it’s the undead, they have finally

depleted their Life. But it was probably to save the spirit of
the Highest Minister known as a God, to say some empty
words like that…”
“Mm… My guess as well. But… Dead, the Highest Minister

Administrator…”
Shasta closed his eyes, crossed his arms, and leaned back into the
armchair.
After thinking deeply for a while like this, he opened his eyes with
a short mutter.
“Opportunity.”
Lipia instantly held her breath and replied in a small voice:
“What opportunity?”
She immediately got an answer.
“Obviously… One of peace.”
As a word too dangerous to utter in this city, it quickly melted in

the air of the room and dissipated.
“Do you consider it… possible, Your Excellency?”
Facing the softly questioning Lipia, Shasta fixed his gaze on the red
liquid within his glass, and slowly, but deeply, nodded.
“No matter if it’s possible or not, we must achieve it

regardless.”
Downing the wine with a gulp, he continued:
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“The Life of the «Great Gate» that has divided the Human
World and the Land of Darkness since the world was created
is about to be depleted. A large-scale invasion of the sun and
land-nourished Human World awaited by the Army of Five
Dark Races, you can say is the arrow poised on the bow. In
the last Ten Feudal Lords Meeting, there was a large quarrel
just about dividing the land, riches, and slaves of the Human
World. They are really… an incurable bunch of gluttons.”
At Shasta’s direct and unrestricted speech, Lipia recoiled slightly.
Different from the Human World that had the «Taboo Index», a
thick book of law, to rule the nation, there was only one law in the
Land of Darkness. That was — seize by force.
In a certain sense, compared with the other nine Feudal Lords

whose thirst for power could not be quenched even if they obtained
the highest authority, it could be said that Shasta’s consideration of
peace with the Human World was heresy.
However, Lipia was deeply fascinated with this man because of his
unique thoughts. Besides, unlike the servant women attending to
their master, Lipia was not taken by force. Shasta had presented a
bouquet on bended knee and convinced Lipia with his truthful words.
Oblivious of his lover wandering in such thoughts, Shasta

continued with added gravity:
“… But, they underestimate the Humans too much.

Especially, the «Integrity Knights» that have protected the
Human World for three hundred years.”
Hearing this name, Lipia nodded, her head growing cold.
”Sure… They are skillful to a frightening extent.”
“They have, quite literally, the strength of a thousand in
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one. In the long history of the Dark Knights, countless have
been slain by the Integrity Knights, but it has never
happened the other way around. Their swordsmanship is so
excellent, and the Divine Instruments that they carry are
powerful beyond measure… Even I have only brought one to
an impasse a few times, but I couldn’t manage to kill them.
Of course, my defeats definitely number many.”
“That is… due to their usage of mystifying techniques, such

as releasing fire or blinding beams from their swords…”
“«Armament Full Control Art». Even though we’ve had our

Technique Research Department study it for a long time,
we’re still unable to break it down. Just to go up against that
skill, even a hundred Goblin Soldiers wouldn’t be enough.”
“Even though you say that… Our army numbers 50,000

while the Integrity Knights number only about thirty. Can we
not suppress them with sheer volume…?”
At Lipia’s words, Shasta scratched his moustache with a sarcastic

air.
“Didn’t I just say that they have the strength of a thousand

in one? If you calculate it, we will lose 30,000 from our
army.”
“Why would… It can’t be that many.”
“Hm, yeah. Even though this method of calculation is

disheartening, we’ll be pushing forward in the battle with our
Knights, Ogres, and Giants, the Dark Sorcerers would be
using long-range explosive attacks at the rear, and we’d
eventually exhaust the Integrity Knights. But after their last
Knight falls, it’s hard to imagine how much we would have
lost. Perhaps not 30,000, but losing half is certainly
possible.”
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The crystal glass was set onto the table with a hard sound.
Shasta extended a hand to stop Lipia, who was about to refill his
glass, and sunk his back into his armchair.
“…And the result, would of course be an imbalance in

power between the Five Races of Darkness. The Ten Feudal
Lords Meeting would become meaningless, and the treaty of
equality between the Five Races would leave only its name. If
it goes down like that, the «Age of Iron and Blood» that
ended a hundred years ago would return. No, it would be
worse. Because this time, the everlasting honeyed sea of the
Humans would be in front of us. Deciding how to divide that
piece of land would take more than a hundred years of war…”
This was the worst future scenario that Shasta often feared and
mentioned repeatedly to Lipia. What was worse, the nine other
Feudal Lords apart from Shasta did not think that this was the worst
future at all — on the contrary, they were looking forward to it.
Lipia lowered her head, gazing at the gleaming light exuded by her
pitch-black full body armor, which had been her partner ever since
her entrance into Knighthood.
Twice as short as other kids when she was young, Lipia could never
become a Knight if she had been born in the «Age of Iron and Blood»;
she would have been sold to human traffickers, or abandoned
outside the city, ending her short life there.
Although it was shady, she was still thankful for that peace treaty,
as she had not been sold into slavery but instead entered the Youth
School, benefited from a late-blooming talent in swordsmanship, and
ascended to a nearly unattainably high position for a Human female.
Ever since she had become a Knight, Lipia had been gathering
children who were abandoned by their parents from remote places
rife with human trafficking, and took care of them until they were
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able to enter school. She used nearly all of her income to run a
childcare center like this.
She kept this a secret not only from her colleagues, but even from
Shasta. She was unable to explain it herself; why would she do such a
thing.
It was just that—
Lipia could not help feeling odd about this country, in which power
dominates all. Although she had not the wisdom of Shasta, to be able
to turn her thoughts into clear words, she felt that there should be a
better, more appropriate form of this country — no, the entire
Underworld, including the Human World.
Lipia hazily understood that this so-called new world, is far beyond
the peace that Shasta proposed. At the same time, as a woman she
was desperate to help the man she loved in order to realize his
dream.
But.
“…But, how do you plan to convince the other Feudal Lords,

Your Excellency? Not to mention… Would the Integrity
Knights accept a negotiation for peace?”
Lipia inquired in a small voice.
“…Hm…”
Shasta closed his eyes, his right hand playing with his elaborate
moustache. Eventually, he murmured bitterly:
“About the Integrity Knights, there is still a turn for the

better. As the Highest Minister is now dead, the main
commander should now be that old man Bercouli. Although
he’s a sly old fox, he’s still a reasonable man. The problem…
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still lies with the Ten Feudal Lords Meeting. On this side…
although it may seem to conflict with our goal…”
Deep within his raised eyelids, two sharply gleaming eyes stared at
the ceiling.
“— Seems like we have to slash a few. At least four.”
Lipia gasped in shock and leaned forward:
“Four, you say, Your Excellency…? If my assumption is

right, it can only be the two Goblin chiefs, the Orc chief,
and…”
“The Leader of the Dark Sorcery Guild. That woman has

always been filled with wild desire for Administrator’s secret
to immortality, and the day that she ascends to the
Emperor’s Throne. She would definitely not accept the
proposition of peace.”
“B-but!”
Lipia objected in a strained voice.
“That’s too reckless, Your Excellency! Even though the

Goblin and Orc elders may not stand against your sword… We
do not know what kind of despicable trick the Dark Sorceress
would use!”
Even after Lipia finished, Shasta was silent.
But what he said completely took her by surprise.
“Hey, Lipia. How long have you been coming here to me?”
“Hah? It’s… A-about… Ever since I turned 21… Four years.”
“It’s been that long, huh. … I apologize for always keeping
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you in a shadow of doubt. How about… It’s time, uh, well….”
Rotating his eyes and scratching his head with a rustle, the Dark
Knight Commander opened his mouth roughly:
“…Would you, officially, marry me? If you don’t mind me as

a middle-aged man.”
“E…Excellency…”
Lipia opened her eyes, unable to speak.
She felt a heat slowly seeping out from deep within her heart, and
just as she was about to unhesitantly fly into her lover’s embrace…
From the other side of the thick great door, a clear, loud voice as
sharp as a whip pierced right through the wide room.
“Big news!! This is some BIG news!! AAHH, what on earth is

happening!! Feudal Lords, come with me, quickly, QUICKLY!!”
She faintly remembered this voice: it belonged to one of the Feudal

Lords, the head of the Commerce and Industry Guild.
Uncharacteristic of the huge, burly figure in Lipia’s memory, the

scream continued completely unexpectedly:
“It’s THE MOST important event EVER!! — In-inside the

Throne Room! The sealing lock! It’s SHAKIIIING!!”
Under the identity of Emperor Vector, Gabriel Miller, dominating

the Throne Room, surveyed the artificial Fluctlights prostrated on the
ground with a hint of awe.
They were all photon information sealed in Light Cubes with each
edge two inches long. Even so, in this world, they were true humans
with intellect and souls. As expected, however, out of the ten in a line
at the very front, half of them were strange-looking monsters.
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The ten generals who were called «Feudal Lords» and the Knights
and Sorcerers who trailed behind them, and the garrisoned army of
50,000 outside the city, were all [Units] given to Gabriel. From now
on, he must appropriately utilize these pawns to annihilate the
defenses of the Human World and capture «Alice».
But, unlike real-time strategy games in the real world, these Units
were not freely controllable with a mouse and keyboard. They must
be led and ordered with presence and spoken word.
Gabriel rose wordlessly from the throne, took a few steps forward,
and turned to look into a mirror hung on the wall.
What reflected was himself, wearing a look that was in slightly bad
taste.
Only the shape of his face and his extremely light brown hair were
the same as Gabriel’s look in the real world. But, a black metal crown
encrusted with a crimson crystal rested on his head; on top of a black
suede undershirt and pants, he wore a luxurious midnight fur gown.
A rapier gleaming with a dreamy phosphorescence hung from his
waist, and his boots and gloves were weaved with silver embroidery.
On his back, he wore a blood red long cape.
Turning his eyes to the right, a step below the throne, he saw a
Knight with both hands behind his head, frantically looking around.
Inside a suit of armor gleaming deep purple like a gemstone was

Vassago Cazares, who had logged in at the same time as Gabriel.
Although he had already been told not to speak without restraint
before the situation is in control , he still resisted expressing his
impress with slangs with a difficult expression, clanking around in his
shoes.
Gabriel shook his head slightly, and pulled his eyes back to himself
in the mirror.
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He was used to tailor-made suits, so this attire felt very
uncomfortable anyway. But, in this «Underworld», Gabriel was not
the CTO of a private military company.
He was the emperor who ruled the boundless Dark Territory.
Also — he was a god.
Gabriel closed his eyes, took a slow, deep breath, and exhaled.
Somewhere in his consciousness, the role he was playing as

switched from the [Tough Commander] to a [Merciless Emperor]
with a click.
Opening his eyes again, as he turned, tossing back his crimson

cape, Gabriel — Vector, the God of Darkness, glared at the ten
Generals and said with an absolutely inhuman tone that resounded in
the Throne Room:
“Lift your heads and report your names. —You go first.”
The kneeling middle-aged man at the left of the frontmost line

jerked up with an unexpectedly quick motion and reported his name
in fluent Japanese.
“Y, y-yes, Your Majesty! I am Lengil Gira Scobo, head of the

Commerce and Industry Guild!”
Besides the man who lowered his head and prostrated again, an
enormous figure as large as a small mountain began to move.
On the body of a Demihuman that stood nearly 12 feet tall, glossy

black chains were hung in a cross, with the skins of some wild beast
wrapped around its waist. Vigorously raising its face along with its
weirdly long nose, the Demihuman introduced itself with a deep
voice, so low that it sounded like the ground was shaking:
“Elder of the Giants, Sigrosig.”
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While Gabriel was having difficulty in swallowing the fact that this
monster had intelligence and a soul, the third man let out an
annoying, hoarse sound:
“…Leader of the Assassin Guild… Fer Za…”
When compared to the Giant, the figure in hooded robe was so

skinny that it seemed insubstantial; its age cannot be determined, let
alone its gender.
Although Gabriel wanted for a split second to order it to raise its

head so he could see its face, he considered that Assassins must
have some rule that forbid them to expose their appearances, so he
put that aside and turned towards the next general.
Then, with great effort, he managed to hold back a frown.
The existence that was the absolute embodiment of “ugly” sat

motionlessly in front of him. It was unable to kneel as its legs were
too short. A chubby, rotund stomach filled with fat gave off an oily
luster; on a neck that was combined with shoulders dangled skulls of
small animals.
The head on top looked 70% pig and 30% human. With a
protruding, flat nose, and a mouth with visible teeth, only its small,
beady eyes flashed with human intellect, making this even more
disturbing.
“Elder of the Orcs, Rilpirin.”
Hearing this high and sharp voice, Gabriel immediately wondered

whether it was male or female, but instantly abandoned this thought.
Since it was an Orc, it would definitely be a low-level Unit in the
army. Just something disposable.
Then, what could be described as a boy raised his head and

energetically saluted. His reddish golden hair was curled, and he
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wore only a leather belt on his sun-tanned copper-colored upper
body. Putting skintight leather pants and sandals on the lower body,
and both hands clad in punching gloves decorated with metallic
square nails.
“Tenth Generation Champion of the Fighter’s Guild,

Iskhan!!”
Gabriel looked at the youngster who shouted full of energy, and

thought for a moment. A fist fighter is a boxer, isn’t he? A soldier for
empty-handed combat?
As he was thinking, there suddenly came the “grrrh” moan of a

beast.
The one who suddenly raised its head was a Demihuman who was
not as tall and muscular as a giant, but possessed a body far from
that of a human. Its upper body was nearly completely covered with
long hairs. Judging by its completely beast-like head, those hairs
weren’t clothing, but its own fur.
It looked a lot like a wolf. A protruding snout, saw-like teeth, and

triangular ears. An incoherent noise leaked from its mouth, from
which hung a long tongue:
“Gurr… Elder… of the Ogres… Furgur…. Rrr…”
Although Gabriel didn’t know whether that was a name or mere

mumbling, he nodded lightly and looked towards the next position.
Just then came an earsplitting shrill squeak:
“I am Hagasi, Elder of the Mountain Goblins! Your Majesty,

please grant our brave race the honorable position of the
vanguard!!”
The owner of the voice was a short Demihuman with a monkey-like

bald head with two thin, long, protruding ears. No matter if it was by
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height or muscle mass, it was far, far off from the Giant, Orc, Ogre, or
even Human who had previously reported their names.
According to the explanation that Critter had provided before they

Dived in, in this Dark Territory, there was only one rule. That was,
[power dominates all]. If so, what power did the Goblins have in
order to be promoted to a position comparable to other races while
they seemed weak no matter how he looked at it?
No matter what, although it was the lowest-level Unit, lower even

than Orcs, Gabriel looked at the Mountain Goblin’s face with slight
interest, and nodded lightly to himself as a sign of successfully
answering his own question: it was because of the extreme, intense
lust swirling in the Mountain Goblin’s small eyes.
Just as the Elder of the Mountain Goblin finished his sentence, the
Demihuman besides him who differed only in skin color shrieked in
the same way:
“That’s ridiculous! Compared to those guys, we’ll serve

Your Majesty ten times more effectively! I am the Elder of the
Plains Goblins, Kuberi!”
“What the hell are you saying, you slug-eater? Has your
brain swelled up because of the wet mud!?”
“You’re the one who dried up your noodles in the sun!!”
In front of the two cursing shrilly at each other—
Pachi! Blue sparks flew forth as the Goblin leaders jumped out of
the way, shrieking.
“—-You two are in the presence of His Majesty the

Emperor!”
With a flirtatious voice, a young female wrapped in clothing that

exposed much of her skin retracted her raised right hand. The sparks
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faded away as soon as she rubbed her thumb on her index finger, as
though igniting a lighter flame.
She slowly stood up, bowed as though she was flaunting her full
body and coquettish looks and saluted exaggeratedly. To Gabriel’s
right, Vassago whistled softly, as if he couldn’t help it.
Her mocha-colored skin gleamed as if it had been brushed with oil;

her chest and waist were covered only with enamel leather. Her
boots were needle-like high-heeled boots. On her back hung a fur
mantle shining black and silver. Long platinum blonde hair hung
below her waist.
Her eye-shadow and lipstick were the color of water; seductively

narrowing her light blue eyes brighter than her makeup, the woman
reported her name:
“Leader of the Dark Sorcerer Guild, D.I.L. I have 3,000

Sorcerers under my command, and my body and soul all
belong to Your Majesty.”
To these flirtatious movements and tempting voice, Gabriel, who

had never been controlled by sexual desire, merely nodded.
The Witch called D blinked a few times, as though she wanted to

say something else, but only saluted and kneeled again.
A wise decision, Gabriel thought, and turned his eyes onto the last
general Unit.
The silently genuflecting figure here was a Human, but a middle-

aged man of surprising size.
His full-body black armor had innumerable scratches on it, but still
shone with a blurred glow. On the bowed face, there were visible
light scars on his forehead and the bridge of his nose as well.
Without lifting his face up, a slightly rough baritone came out of
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the bowed man’s mouth.
“Dark Knight Commander Biksul Ul Shasta. Before devoting

my sword… I wish to ask Your Majesty.”
The face that suddenly rose shared the same serious qualities as
the few [real soldiers] that Gabriel had seen.
Especially, behind those sharp eyes, there was a certain kind of

determination that was completely missing from the other nine
generals. The Knight called Shasta stared at Gabriel with a gaze that
looked almost piercing, and continued in a low voice:
“What, is Your Majesty looking forward to, returning to the

Throne at this moment?”
As expected — These men are not simple programs.
I must remind myself of this constantly, Gabriel thought, and with

the mask of a [Merciless Emperor], produced an ice-cold response:
“Blood and terror. Flames and destruction. Death and

screaming.”
Gabriel’s hard voice that resembled sliced metal resounded in the

hall; the expressions of all ten generals tightened immediately.
Looking one by one at the ten faces, Gabriel flipped his robe,
raised his right hand and pointed at the western sky.
From within his mouth, lines filled with false desire for conquest
automatically erupted:
“…Of the western land loaded with the powers of the gods
who exiled me from the heavens, the protective «Great Gate»
will now fall. I have returned… To proclaim my power to all!”
From Critter, he had learned the most he could about the «Final
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Load Test» that was about to commence after a week in internal
time. Gabriel added the information to his tirade, continuing in a
dramatic tone:
“When the Gate falls, the Human World shall fall into the
hands of my subjects, the People of Darkness! All I desire is
the «Holy Maiden» that shall appear in that land by then! I
shall grant you all the right to do with all other Humans as
you wish! The promised time that all People of Darkness
awaited — has arrived!!”
The air that had become silent once again—
Was shattered by shrill, savage screams.
“Giiii!! Kiilll!! Kill those white Iiiuuums!!”
The one stamping its feet and screaming was the Orc leader, its
eyes rolling with anger and desire. Immediately, two Goblins raised
their arms and followed suit.
“Hooooou!! War!! War!!”
“Urra——!! War, war——!!”
The battle cry instantly spread to other generals and the officers
behind them. The black robes among the Assassin Guild billowed
along with bodies as thin as twigs; the Witches among the Dark
Sorcerer Guild released colorful sparks with flirtatious shrieks.
In the entire wide hall that was filled with primal howls—
Gabriel noticed that only the Knight called Shasta maintained his
kneeling position, without a sliver of movement.
Was it due to a soldier’s self-control, or was it due to certain inner

thoughts? It was indiscernible from the statue-like armor.
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***
“I didn’t expect bro to have that kind of talent! Ain’t it

better for you to become an actor?!”
Gabriel snorted at Vassago’s wretched grin, who threw a bottle of

wine to Gabriel.
“Only when necessary. It’d be better for you to remember

the speaking techniques just now. Since your rank is higher
than theirs.”
He popped the cork of the bottle with his finger; holding some of
the ruby-colored liquid in his mouth, he wondered whether he should
drink during a mission.
Vassago crudely drank the vintage wine as though it was beer; he

belched and replied as he wiped his mouth:
“Compared with orders or playing the part or whatever, I

just wanna kill on the front line. You don’t Dive into this
powerful VR everyday… This wine, this bottle, everything
looks real to me.”
“Comparatively, it’s going to hurt and bleed if you’re cut.

The Pain Absorber doesn’t work in here.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
Vassago smirked and shrugged. Gabriel set his bottle down on the
table and stood up from the sofa.
The top floor of Obsidia was the Emperor’s private room. It was not
inferior at all compared to the lavish decor in the office of GlowGen
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DS headquarters, and in addition, the faraway night scenery was
visible from an enormous window. Although not as bright and colorful
as that of San Diego, it had a different, fantasy look.
The ten generals with the statuses of Feudal Lords left the castle to
prepare for battle, and torchlights danced non-stop, belonging to the
porters moving resources from the storage rooms.
The Head of the Commerce and Industry Guild, who had the role of
replenishing supplies, had been ordered to deplete all stored stocks
of food and equipment in the city, so the soldiers should not suffer
from cold or hunger.
Turning his eyes away from the countless lights, Gabriel walked to
a corner of the room, touching the purple crystal plate that was set
there — a system console.
He rapidly manipulated the menu and pressed the button to call an

external observer. The time acceleration ratio decreased, and with a
strange feeling of going back to 1:1, he heard Critter’s quick-
mouthed voice:
“Captain?! I literally just came back to the control room

after watching you Dive in!!”
“It’s already the first night here. Although I understand it,

time acceleration is quite fascinating. Anyway, everything is
proceeding as planned. The preparation of the Units will be
finished in one or two days, and in two days, an attack
against the Human Empire is planned.”
“Great. Remember, after securing «Alice», please bring her

there and use the menu to eject her into the Main Control
Room, then «Alice»’s Light Cube will be ours. Also, please tell
that idiot Vassago what I said.”
As though he had heard Critter, Vassago’s short curse came from
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behind.
“I can’t operate with administrator privileges right now, so

reconfiguring account data is impossible. In other words,
Captain, if you or Vassago [die] in that world, you can no
longer use that super account. You’ll only be able to start
over with a small soldier!”
“Yeah… I know. I won’t go to the front lines for now. Any

movement from the JSDF?”
“None right now. It seems like they haven’t noticed you

guys Diving in yet.”
“Good. Then, I’ll cut the connection now. The next time I
contact you, it’ll be when we’re preparing to leave after
securing Alice.”
“Understood, good luck.”
He closed the communication window, and with a slight sense of

incongruity, the world returned to the accelerated ratio.
Vassago was still aside, muttering and cursing while wrestling with
a buckle on his armor, and finally threw off all of his outerwear; he
stood up in just a leather shirt and pants.
“Hey, bro. Why not go have some fun in the city… We can’t,
can we?”
“Just resist the temptation for now. After getting the

target, I’ll give you a night.”
“Understood. So, no killing no women for today… Then I’ll

head off to bed like a good boy. The room over there is
mine.”
His joints creaking as he stretched, Vassago disappeared into a
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neighboring bedroom, and Gabriel took off his crown, exhaling.
He put his gown and robe on the sofa, and threw his sword on top.
In VR games he had played before, the equipment he took off

would return to the item storage, but it seems like there were no
such conveniences in this world. After a month of living in this room,
it would become extremely messy, but he would be leaving the
castle the day after tomorrow, and the next time he came back it
would be time to log out.
As he unbuttoned his shirt and opened the door across from

Vassago’s room, Gabriel’s eyes narrowed in surprise.
In the frighteningly large bedroom, besides the colossal luxury bed

— there was a small silhouette, kneeled on the ground.
He should have already ordered everyone, including the servants,

not to enter the floor above the Throne Room. There was actually
someone who would defy the order of a god; what on earth was this?
For a split-second he wanted to go back and get his sword, but

Gabriel entered the bedroom anyway, and closed the door.
“…Who is it?”
He called shortly.
The answer was a slightly hoarse voice.
“…Please allow me to serve as your sleeping partner [3]

tonight.”
“Huh?”
Furrowing his brow in surprise, Gabriel slowly walked to the bed in

the dark bedroom.
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The one with both hands on the ground actually was a young
woman in thin clothes. Her ash-blue hair was tied high with a
decorative ribbon. From the slightly visible lines, he could not see
signs of any weapons.
He sat down on the vibrantly colored silk sheets and inquired:
“Whose order was this?”
After a slight pause, the woman replied in a thin voice:
“Nobody… This is only my duty.”
“Is that so?”
Gabriel turned away his eyes and fell back in the center of the bed.
Seconds later, the woman straightened her upper body and glided
onto his right side without a sound.
“Please excuse me…”
Even Gabriel could not help but marvel at the beauty of the exotic-
looking lady whispering to him. Her skin tone was slightly dark, but
the area around her cheekbones revealed a noble temperament of
someone from somewhere in Northern Europe.
Watching the woman softly undo her thin clothing and prepare to
loosen her decorative hair tie, Gabriel experienced a certain moving.
Would an artificial Fluctlight actually do something like this?
Even this lady is still not an incomplete AI? If so, to what extent of
completion would the finished Alice have achieved?
What moved Gabriel, were not the actions of the woman devoting
her body.
It was not like that—
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She quickly pulled a small, sharp knife out of her hair and raised it
high as Gabriel predicted.
Gabriel grabbed the woman’s hand with ease and his other hand
flashed, snatching the woman’s throat and pushing her down onto
the bed.
“Kuh…!!”
The woman clenched her teeth tightly and fought back with all her
might, attempting to thrust the small knife. Her wrist strength was
greater than expected, but not enough to make Gabriel nervous. He
twisted the woman’s arm all the way back, and lightly pressed his
thumb into her windpipe, restricting her movements.
Although the woman’s face contorted in excruciating pain, the

determination flashing in her gray eyes did not weaken in the
slightest. From her fierce expression just now, her incomplete
makeup and toned body, she was definitely not a professional
Assassin. This meant the one with rebellious thoughts was not the
leader of the Assassins, Fer Za, but one of the other nine generals —
most likely within the Human generals.
Edging his face slightly closer, Gabriel repeated the same question
he had asked before.
“Whose order is this?”
She replied with the same tone.
“It is my own… will.”
“Then, to whom do you report?”
“…Nobody.”
“Hmph.”
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Gabriel thought as a machine without any sliver of emotion.
«RATH» wanted to break the boundaries of an artificial Fluctlight,

which was their nature to be unable to disobey all rules, laws, and
orders from people of a higher priority.
Compared to the Human World Fluctlights bound by countless

laws, the inhabitants of the Dark Territory seemed able to live more
freely, but their nature had not changed. It was only because there
was but one rule for the Fluctlights here that they felt free on the
surface.
That rule was [power dominates all]. This was a dog-eat-dog

world in which people with higher power could dominate those under
them. If RATH’s experiment proceeded as they had planned, the
orderly Human World and the chaotic Land of Darkness would clash
violently even without Gabriel’s intervention, and would end in a
breakthrough by war.
But he did not know why, before the plan had proceeded into that
stage, there came a Fluctlight in the Human World that had
exceeded the boundaries. The spy within RATH had not sent any
information regarding a similar existence in the Land of Darkness.
In other words, this woman who had plotted to kill the Emperor
with a small knife was also a soul bound by absolute law. Even so,
from the situation that even under Gabriel’s questioning just now, no,
under his order, she did not divulge the identity of her master. It
proves that this woman, even under the order of Gabriel, an Emperor
who was also a god, she prioritized her loyalty to her master. That is,
she thought her master [stronger] than the Emperor.
In that case, to ensure that the battle goes smoothly, it was

necessary to properly display his strength to the general and officer
Units, to show them that Gabriel — Emperor Vector was the
strongest in this world. But, he couldn’t completely destroy the
valuable general Units. What should he do—
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No.
He had to dispose of one of the generals anyway. A certain person

who put the murderous spirit in this woman.
How should he single out the traitor? Should he contact Critter

again, to have him supervise the general Units from outside? No, that
would require adjusting the time acceleration ratio back to 1:1, and
would waste precious time in the real world.
Then—
Considering this matter in an instant, Gabriel scrutinized the

woman’s iron-colored eyes again.
“What is your reason for killing me? Were you offered

money? Or status?”
He did not need to think about his questions. But the answer he
immediately heard was unexpected.
“For righteousness!”
“Oh…?”
“If you wage war now, the world will fall back a hundred
years, no, two hundred years! I cannot let you return the era
to when the weak were trampled upon!!”
Again, Gabriel felt a sliver of shock.
Was this woman really in the stage before her boundaries were
broken? If so, did her master make her say these lines?
Gabriel brought his head closer, gazing straight into those gray
eyes.
Determination. Loyalty. The feeling deep within was…
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Ah, so it’s like that.
If that was the case, then there was no more need for this woman.
To be precise, there was no more need for this woman’s Fluctlight.
Gabriel complied with his own decision, and without another word,
applied force to his left hand, which grasped the woman’s throat.
He felt bones being crushed. The woman’s eyes widened, and her
mouth let out a silent scream.
Tightly restraining her struggling limbs, mercilessly tightening his

grip around her neck, Gabriel felt a surprise unlike what he felt
before.
Was this really a virtual world? No matter if it was the feeling of

muscle and bone breaking that was felt by his left hand, or the
frightening, painful smell that came from the bare skin, they all
stimulated Gabriel’s five senses much more realistically than the real
world.
His body trembled unconsciously, and his left hand reflexively

closed.
With a muffled crunch, the cervical vertebrae of the unnamed

woman were crushed.
Then, Gabriel saw it.
From the forehead of the woman with eyes tightly closed and teeth
clenched — floated a prismatic glow.
This, definitely was it — the Soul Cloud once he had seen when he
took away Alicia’s life.
In an instant, Gabriel opened his mouth wide, and sucked in every

trace of the woman’s soul.
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The bitterness of fear, pain.
The sourness of regret and melancholy.
Following these, Gabriel’s tongue was soaked in the heavenly

sweet nectar that could not be described with words.
Behind his closed eyelids, a hazy scene was shining.
Small children were playing in the front yard of an old two-story

home. There were Humans, Goblins, and Ogres. As they looked over,
bright smiles appeared on their faces, and they came running, arms
wide open.
That vision vanished, and was replaced with a certain topless man.
A wide, thoroughly exercised chest, tenderly, powerfully embracing
her.
“I…love you… Your Excellency…”
A tiny voice came, reverberated, and faded away.
After all had disappeared, Gabriel still tightly hugged the woman’s
body.
Beautiful. How beautiful of an experience.
Gabriel’s consciousness was largely shaken in ecstasy, but shards

of logic attempted to find out the reason for this phenomenon.
The Light Cube that held this deceased woman’s Fluctlight was
connected with Gabriel’s Fluctlight through the STL. Therefore, after
her Life, or Hit Points became zero, fragments of her released
quantum data could abnormally flow to Gabriel through the network.
But, that kind of theory already mattered nothing to Gabriel.
He experienced once more the [phenomenon] that he had been

chasing for his entire life. Gabriel extracted and tasted all traces of
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the woman’s last emotion — [love]. That was like a drop of nectar
falling into a stark desert.
More.
More.
More slaughter.
Gabriel’s body threw back in a wide arc, and he let out a wordless
guffaw.
***
Ordering the ten generals and the core members of each legion to
line up neatly again, Gabriel watched them with a satisfied look as
they respectfully bowed down.
Under his orders, they had completed preparations for the attack
in two days. By the looks of it, maybe these Units were even more
excellent than the fellows sitting on the floor of directors in GlowGen
DS.
Really, they should just be classified as [finished products]. The

perfect ability to carry out orders, with added loyalty. As AIs piloting
robots in war, what else would you need on top of that?
Even so, it should not be forgotten that their loyalty was based on
the bug lying in artificial Fluctlights that RATH had been eagerly
trying to get rid of. It was only because the general principle [power
dominates all] was carved into their souls that these ten people
would obey the Emperor, Gabriel — no, Vector. But at the same time,
it could also mean that as soon as Gabriel’s power was suspected,
anyone could rebel at any moment.
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This suspicion had already come true.
In the night two days ago, a female assassin sneaked into his
bedroom.
That woman planned to kill the Emperor, who had the highest
authority. In her heart, there was a master with a status higher than
Gabriel. Someone she called [Your Excellency] at her last
moments. And that person, almost for certain, was one of the ten
generals in sight.
To her, against Emperor Vector, her own master was the mightier
one. Then, the likelihood of the so-called “Your Excellency” not
declaring his absolute loyalty to Gabriel was very high. If he took a
Unit like this to battle, there would also be the likelihood of being
betrayed.
Therefore, the last task before they went to battle was to single out
and dispose of [Your Excellency] from the ten people before him.
At the same time, he could demonstrate the power of the Emperor

to the remaining nine, forever carving the identity of the strongest
into their Fluctlights.
At this time, Gabriel Miller did not consider at all the probability of
any of the ten Units before him catching him off guard — in other
words, defeating him in a one-on-one fight. To him, the Underworld
was no more than an extension of VR games, and was still under the
set impression that all Units here were [NPCs].
***
Dark Knight Commander Biksul Ul Shasta maintained his

genuflected position, recalling his mentor’s words from twenty years
ago, in the Dark Knight headquarters training field.
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“…My mentor’s mentor’s head was taken off and he died
instantly. My mentor was then cut in the chest and died on
the way back to the castle. But even though I lost an arm, I’m
alive today. Well, that’s nothing to be proud of, though.”
His mentor said this, sitting on the glossy black floor with his legs
folded under his torso[4], as he showed his right arm stump sharply
severed on the elbow to Shasta. The wound that was only bound with
medicine and gauze seemed painful just by looking at it.
The one who had gave him this injury about three days ago, was
the eternal enemy of the Dark Knights, or the most powerful
swordsman in the world, or the most ferocious monster — Integrity
Knight Bercouli Synthesis One.
“Do you know what this means, Biksul?”
Twenty-year-old Biksul could only scratch his head in confusion. His

mentor slid a hand under his clothes, closed his eyes, and continued
softly:
“We’re catching up, gradually.”
“Catching up — to that person?”
Young Shasta could not help mixing disbelief into his voice. Just
three days ago, Bercouli had demonstrated his crushing
swordsmanship. In the instant that his mentor’s arm flew high,
spurting blood, the piercing feeling that chilled him to the bone like a
pillar of ice still lingered today.
“I’ll be 50 this year. Even so, I still don’t feel like I’m
holding my sword in the best way, let alone swinging. I think,
in five years to ten years’ time, that won’t change even after
I die.”
His mentor said quietly.
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“…That way, we short-lived people are unable to achieve
what that immortal living for more than 200 years can do.
Although it’s pretty embarrassing, even in the instant that
our swords cross, I still kept it in mind. But after fleeing
following a miserable defeat, I realized that this is wrong. All
this time, my mentor and all the Knights in the past have
endlessly challenged that man, but it wasn’t all in vain…
Biksul, what is the strongest swordsmanship?”
To this sudden question, Biksul answered reflexively:
“A «Slash of Thoughtlessness».”
“Very good. Through long years of training, you unify with

your sword. One strike that you don’t think of how to cut,
draw, or move would be the ultimate swordsmanship. My
mentor taught me this, and I have taught you the same. But…
Biksul, that’s not it. There’s something stronger. I’ve realized
it since I’ve been cut by that monster.”
A hint of excitement floated onto his mentor’s aged, wrinkled face.

Shasta maintained his leg-folded seating position, leaned forward,
and asked:
“Something stronger… That is?”
“The opposite of thoughtlessness. Firm confidence. It’s the

power of will, Biksul.”
Suddenly, his mentor stood up from the wooden floor, and waved
his right arm stump vigorously.
“You see. Back then, I sliced down with a right diagonal

slash. It was exactly a thoughtless attack; the fastest I have
ever swung my sword in my life. At that moment when I drew
my sword, I already had the advantage.”
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“Yes… I thought so as well.”
“But… But. Normally, my sword should’ve bounced off his

defense, but he pressed my sword back, and this arm was
sliced off… Can you believe it, Biksul; in that moment, his
sword didn’t even touch mine!”
Shasta kept silent, and shook his head dubiously.
“H… How could this…”
“It’s the truth. It was like… the very path of the sword, was
completely altered by some unseen force. It’s not a spell, nor
is it the Armament Full Control Art. We can only explain it
like this: my Slash of Thoughtlessness was defeated by his
willpower built up with two hundred years of hard training.
Because he pictured where he wanted my sword to go so
intensely, it became the unchanging truth!”
Shasta was unable to immediately believe his mentor’s words.
The power of will: something amorphous like that can defeat a real,
heavy, rigid sword; no matter what, that can’t be real.
It looked like that Shasta’s mentor expected this reaction.

Suddenly regaining the formality in his sitting position, on the glossy
black floor, he calmly ordered:
“Okay, Biksul. I’ll teach you my last sword technique. —

Cut me.”
“What… What are you saying! It’s difficult for you to…”
Have lived so long; Shasta could only swallow these words.

Suddenly, his mentor’s eyes flashed with a strong light.
“Since I managed to live on, there is even more necessity
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for you to cut me. Since I’ve been defeated by that man in
one stroke, I’m no longer the strongest in your heart. As long
as I live, you’re unable to battle that man on equal footing.
Cut, no, kill me, and stand at the same height as him…
Bercouli!!”
His mentor finished and stood, holding his right arm stump as
though he was gripping a sword.
“Now, stand up! Draw your sword, Biksul!!”
Biksul cut his mentor, and ended his life.
At the same time, he realized with his body the meaning of his
mentor’s words.
The invisible sword that his mentor’s severed right hand held —
the sword called [will], let out intense sparks as it crossed with
Shasta’s sword, and marked an eternal wound on his face.
His face stained with tears and blood, the young Shasta stood at
the zenith that exceeded the «Slash of Thoughtlessness» — on the
border of the «Slash of Incarnation».
Time passed — Five years ago.
Shasta finally challenged the archenemy of the Dark Knights,

Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli. He was but 37 years old, but
he felt that his sword had achieved the highest.
His mentor had exchanged an arm for his life, but Shasta had no
intention of returning defeated. Because Shasta had no apprentice as
his successor. He did not want his young apprentice to have the
executioner’s burden, and bear the destiny of having his life sliced
away. He decided to put his life on the line, and sever the blood-
stained cycle there and then.
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The sword called [will] that carried with it all determination and
realization, during its first cross with Bercouli’s, was not deflected at
all. But in that instant, Shasta already predicted his own loss. He did
not think that he could reproduce a slash of such power.
But, as they crossed swords, Bercouli laughed roughly:
“Your swordsmanship isn’t bad. If you only have murderous

intent, you will be unable to block my sword. Go back and
think long and hard about the meaning behind my words, and
return after five years, little boy.”
Then the Integrity Knight Commander turned and left. But Shasta
didn’t know why he was unable to swing his sword towards the
Knight’s back, which looked full of openings.
To understand the meaning behind Bercouli’s words, it took a very

long time. But he finally understood what happened now, five years
later. Then, if Shasta had swung his sword only with hatred and the
intent to kill, he would have immediately been defeated. Although it
was only one round, he was able to clash with him because he held a
realization much heavier than murderous intent.
That was — gratitude to the mentors who put their life on the line
to pass on their knowledge, and a prayer for the young one who will
become his successor.
Therefore, after receiving news of the Highest Minister’s death,

Shasta immediately decided to negotiate for peace. He was confident
that, if the other party was Bercouli, he would definitely accept.
For the same reason—
This Emperor Vector, who suddenly descended on Obsidia and

decided to wage war without saying anything else, must be cut to
death by Shasta himself.
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Even as he kneeled and bowed his head, Shasta was shaping out
the [Incarnation] that he must load his killing Slash with.
This Emperor that left the Dark World for hundreds of years and
suddenly revived was a young man with white skin and golden hair,
similar to that of a Human World resident. His figure and looks were
not necessarily charismatic.
But, only his extraordinarily blue eyes revealed that the Emperor
was not an ordinary man. Within those eyes was a [void]. A
bottomless abyss sucking in all light. This man concealed a colossal
and evil hunger.
If his exercised Power of Incarnation was engulfed by the

Emperor’s void, the blade would be unable to reach him.
If that happened, Dark Knight Shasta would lose his life. But, his
will would likely be succeeded by someone after him.
His only regret was that he was unable to convey his determination
as he did not see Lipia yesterday. She might be busy with
preparation before the attack, or staying in her important [home].
If he told her his intent to slay the Emperor, she would definitely
not listen and beg to join him. It was better this way.
Shasta slowly inhaled, building up.
With his hand, he quietly touched the sword that was released
from his belt and placed on the floor.
He was about 15 Mel from the throne. He only had to take two
steps to reach it.
He must not let anyone notice. He must be thoughtless in drawing

his sword.
Purifying and contracting his Power of Incarnation to the limit, he
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injected it into his sword through his fingers. Then, he emptied his
body.
His left hand gripped the sword—
Just then.
The Emperor spoke nonchalantly with a sound as smooth and rigid

as glass:
“Just — last night, someone infiltrated my bedroom. With a

short knife concealed in their hair.”
A suppressed gasp wavered the air in the hall.
In the line of the other nine Feudal Lords to Shasta’s left, someone
softly held their breath, another let out a low moan from the depths
of their throat, and another shrank back into their thick robes. A few
among the officers in the back made sounds as well.
Shasta was equally shocked. Maintaining his stance and style

before slicing, he thought for an instant.
Besides himself, there were others who came to the conclusion of

eliminating the Emperor. Unfortunately, the fact that the Emperor
was still alive showed that they had failed — but which of the nine
people sent out the assassin?
Not the five Demihuman generals. Passing over the Giant, Ogre,
and Orc, even the shorter Goblins were unlikely to have dodged the
eyes and ears of the guards and infiltrated the top floor.
If he considered the four Human generals, he could first exclude

the young leader of the Fighters, Iskahn, and the leader of the
Commerce and Industry Guild, Lengil. Iskahn was just a
straightforward boy who purely aimed at improving his empty-
handed combat to the maximum, and Lengil would love to make a lot
of money out of the war.
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Since the attacker had infiltrated the bedroom, the leader of the
Assassin Guild, Fer Za, was the most suspicious, and he actually had
a few hints for what that man was thinking, but it was puzzling that a
short knife was used.
In the inner depths of dark caves, the Assassin Guild specially

researched the third power apart from Dark Sorcery and Martial Arts:
[Poison]. The race of Fer Za was an organization formed to survive,
by those who were not gifted on Priority when it came to controlling
weapons and spells. They had a unique restriction: their only allowed
weapons were hidden needles and blow darts coated with poison.
Short knives were not included.
In the same reasoning, the leader of the Dark Sorcerers kneeling

right beside Shasta, D.I.L., would be out of the consideration. This
woman with only desire for status, although she could have
considered taking and raising high the Emperor’s head, becoming the
dominator of the Land of Darkness, the Sorcerers under D would
have used spells instead of a short knife.
Looking at it like that, the one who sent the assassin was not any
one of the nine generals.
The one left — could only be himself, the Dark Knight Commander
Shasta.
However, he had not the slightest memory of doing that. He had

already decided, when he was going to eliminate the Emperor, he
would swing his sword with his own life on the line. Of course he
didn’t give an assassination order to any of his men, or even the
decision that he had kept secret, not once—
No.
No…
Could it be?
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After the Emperor finished his words, Shasta thought only for the
blink of an eye, and noticed that his left finger on his sword grip had
instantly become ice cold.
What was originally sharp, surging determination instantly

transformed. Fear. Anxiety. Terror. Then — it became a certainty of
impending misfortune.
Almost at the same time, Emperor Vector opened his mouth a

second time:
“I don’t want to question right now, regarding the name of

the one who sent the assassin. Souls that use their own
power in a desire to obtain more power are excellent. If you
want my head, cut me whenever my back is turned.”
The Emperor looked arrogantly at the bustling hall, and for the first
time, an emotion floated onto his white face — a shallow, light smile.
“Of course, I hope that you all understand that this kind of
gamble carries with it an equal price. For example… like
this.”
From within his dark robes, a hand extended and made a soft
gesture.
Then, set besides the throne, a small door on the wall east of
Shasta opened soundlessly, and a servant girl shuffled in. She held a
large silver bowl in her hands: inside was a cube-shaped object, but it
was obscured with a black cloth, so it couldn’t be seen in detail.
The servant girl set the silver bowl in front of the throne, bowed
her head respectfully to the Emperor, and exited through the door.
In the deafening silence, the Emperor wore a crooked smile,

extended a toe, placed it against the cloth covering the bowl, and
kicked it off.
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Shasta, whose entire body, even his thoughts, were frozen, caught
sight of —
An ice cube, as transparent as the most perfect crystal.
Sealed inside, was the forever sleeping face of his lover.
“Li…pi…”
Shasta’s lips moved soundlessly.
The coldness that enveloped his entire body disappeared, and was
replaced with endlessly deep, dark emptiness in his heart.
Shasta knew that Dark Knight Lipia Zankehl was secretly running
an orphanage. No matter the races, she sheltered and educated
children who had lost their parents, siblings, and were about to die
on the street. Shasta saw a hopeful future in Lipia’s actions.
Therefore, Shasta only told Lipia his own ideals. An endless dream
in which the long-term state of war with the Human World would be
broken, and a mutually supportive world in which there would be no
need for constant snatching and seizing would be created.
But, his own words had driven Lipia to attempt to assassinate the
Emperor, and ended in this grievous result. Although it was the
Emperor who killed her — Shasta also had a hand in it.
Doubtlessly.
Although it was only for a blink of an eye, a storm of

insurmountable guilt and remorse raged in Shasta’s empty-feeling
chest.
Instantly, it became a black chunk of emotion.
Murderous intent.
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Kill. He must kill that lightly smiling man sitting cross-legged on the
throne, no matter what.
Even if he needed to put his own life, and the future of the Dark
Territory on the line.
***
Now, who is that suspicious [Your Excellency]?
Gabriel watched the ten prostrated Leader Units under his eyes
with a little bit of interest.
The master of the assassin woman whom she so loved. Gabriel had
sucked dry all traces of the emotions that tasted of heavenly nectar,
that had been released during the woman’s death: not just the
yearning of the woman, he even understood the feelings that [Your
Excellency] had for the woman herself — although he just analyzed
the emotional patterns as data.
Therefore, he was confident that when he showed the woman’s

head, the one called Your Excellency would definitely take action. He
would mercilessly execute the opposing, rebellious Unit, and increase
the loyalty of the rest of the Units through fear. No different from the
simulation games he had played to kill time in the real world.
What a bunch of pitiful and happy people.
Although they have real souls, their intelligence is limited, and can
be reproduced as much as one wants even if they are killed and
killed again. There will eventually be a day, when the Underworld, its
Mainframe, and the Light Cubes are mine, the hunger that has so
pained me ever since I was young will be quenched.
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Leaning his face against his wrist supported by the throne armrest,
Gabriel waited, relaxed.
He was a little more than 15 meters from the Units. No matter

what attack from any weapon, he could easily counter it with the
sword equipped on his left waist.
Of course, he would be unable to deal with a [System Call]

prefixed command attack. But Gabriel’s anxiety had already been
wiped clean before they logged in.
The super account «God of Darkness Vector» was set up for RATH
workers to undertake forced operations to the Dark Territory.
Therefore, the HP called Life would be massive, the equipped sword
would be the strongest; and on top of all, Vector possessed a
cheating attribute to prevent all commands targeting him.
As Gabriel was protected under so many conditions, even as the

leftmost Knight out of the ten Units, clad in jet-black armor, bent his
back violently.
Even as his entire body was covered with a halo like a light
shadow.
Even as he saw the Knight’s left hand gripping his sword’s

scabbard as fast as lightning, flicking up his head at the same time,
sharp eyes flashing an inhuman crimson from the middle of his iron
face—
He did not fully understood what had happened sequentially as he

failed to realize the two facts below:
This world, was not only a program executed by a physical server,

but also a «Real Dream» that was built with the same photons which
human Fluctlights were made out of.
And, because of this, the pure and intense murderous intent
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created by the Knight in black, from his Light Cube to the Main
Visualizer, and through the photon communication circuit, could
reach the STL Gabriel was using.
***
In the middle of Shasta’s blood-red vision, he could only see the

Emperor’s figure.
With the fastest movement he had ever made in his life, he drew
his sword with his right hand.
What released from its scabbard was the Divine Instrument he had
inherited from his mentor, the longsword «Hazy Mist», but not in its
normal form of a gray blade. True to its name, a thick mist like a
night haze encircled the long blade, winding into a vortex.
The logic behind this phenomenon, was the same as the ultimate
ability of the Integrity Knights that was indiscernible even under long
years of research — the Armament Full Control Art, but all of that
seemed insignificant.
“KILL!!”
With an instantaneous scream, Shasta put all rage, hatred, and

grief onto his blade, and heavily swung it over his head.
From the northern ends of the Human Empire, to the edge of the
Eastern region.
No matter whether it was Integrity Knight Alice, or Amayori, who

was born in the Western Empire, it was the first time that they had
stepped into the land with the most mysteries of the four empires,
the Eastern Empire Eastabarieth.
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Between the rolling mountain peaks, surging rivers as blue as glass
connected tortuously. The villages and streets that occasionally
appeared at the river banks were different from the familiar stone
architecture of the north; these were almost entirely constructed with
wood.
The people who gazed up and pointed to the sky at them were all
black-haired. Then Alice suddenly remembered that Fanatio, the
Integrity Knight Vice Commander who could not get along with her,
was born here.
Moving her eyes back forward, Alice thought: the Kirito leaning on
her back and staring blankly at the sky also had jet-black hair, so
could he be born in the east? Would he start to regain his memories
if they could land on the streets and let him get in touch with the
people here? She soon abandoned this idea, though, as they could
not delay, not even a second.
Camping on rural areas at night, they had rushed full tilt for three
days, living on dried fruit and fish that Amayori caught—
In the afternoon of the second day of the eleventh month, the

Mountain Range at the Edge that stood as same as its northern
section, and a valley as straight as if it had been split by an axe,
entered their sight.
“…Can you see it, Kirito?”
Alice muttered, gently soothing the neck of her beloved dragon

that she forced to fly a long distance with a heavy load. Nowadays,
since the magical beasts were virtually extinct, dragons have
become the lifeforms with the highest Life and Priority. But, it was
definitely not a trifle to carry two people and three Divine
Instruments. The strength that Amayori had been accumulating
through unrestricted fish consumption had almost been completely
depleted.
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When we reach the camp, I’ll definitely provide her with fresh
lamb to her heart’s content. Alice thought as she shook the reins;
Amayori replied with a seemingly restless shriek and vigorously
flapped her wings.
The valley that seemed a crack as thin as paper from faraway was
definitely not the same up close.
It was about a hundred Mel wide: wide enough for an army of Orcs
or Ogres if they were to enter it in a row.
In front of the valley that straightly sliced the mountain in half, was
a grassy field spread as though it was encircling the entrance. On the
field, a large campsite comprised of countless white tents neatly
erected in rows. Steam columns from cooking food rose here and
there; around were soldiers training in formation. Alice could almost
feel the flashing blades and heavy atmosphere from high up.
Morale was not as low as she had feared — but no matter what,
their number was definitely too little. From a rough glance, their total
number was less than 3,000. Conversely, the Dark Territory invaders
must be at least 50,000. In the Human Empire, the Sacred Task of
Soldier and Guard were bestowed upon extremely few; in contrast,
everyone in the mountains, regardless of gender or age, was a
soldier.
In this situation, it would not make much difference for Alice alone
to join the battle. Just how does Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli
plan to protect the world…?
Alice deliberated as she flew over the camp; she guided the dragon
towards the slight darkness of the valley.
“Sorry Amayori, just a little more.”
She said; as the dragon responded with a “kururu”, the mountain

peaks obscured Solus’s light.
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As soon as they entered the valley, chilly air immediately
enveloped their bodies. The rocky cliffs to their left and right were
perfectly perpendicular, smooth surfaces that could only be the work
of a god. No organisms, not even vegetation, were visible.
After slowly gliding for a few minutes—
Through the thick blanket of mist, an unbelievably colossal

structure eventually became visible.
“Is this the… «Great Eastern Gate»…?”
The vertically standing gray door was probably three hundred Mel
from top to bottom. Although it was not as tall as the five-hundred-
Mel Central Cathedral of the Axiom Church, the gravity of both did
not differentiate between heights.
The most shocking fact was that the double doors were
constructed with one stone slab each, without any gap at all. An
existence of this caliber naturally could not have been carved by
human hands; even creation by way of Sacred Art processing would
be absolutely impossible. The largest structures that the Highest
Minister Administrator ever constructed were the «Immortal Walls»
that divided Central Capital Centoria into four, but each stone slab
that connected to form them was far smaller than this huge door.
In other words, this great door was placed here by the hand of a
god in order to divide these two worlds — and, in order to instigate
the tragedy that would come three hundred years later.
“Stop here, Amayori.”
Having Amayori halted in the middle of the air, Alice looked again
up at the great door from a closer distance.
At the altitude of about two hundred Mel, there was Sacred Text
inscribed across the pair of doors made out of gray stone slabs.
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“Destruct… At… The, last, stage…”
Although she tried hard to pronounce one line in the middle, she
had not an inkling of their meaning.
Just as she was thinking with her head tilted, suddenly, a wave of
frightening scratching and cracking noises shook the air, stunning
Alice and Amayori. When Alice patted the dragon’s neck to comfort
her and stared at the scene, she saw a portion of the great door, that
had been perfectly smooth before, developing a crack that
resembled lightning that was extending downward.
As the crack stretching tens of Mel long eventually stopped, bits of

stone broke off around the crack, and disappeared into the deep
valley.
Alice raised her head and looked again at the great gate: the
cracks and falling stone were not just confined to one area. It would
be better to say that the giant door was nearly covered with a mesh
of fissures and cracks.
Alice gently shook the reins, coaxing Amayori as close to the great
door as possible.
She gingerly reached out her left hand, rapidly drew the Seal of
Stacia in midair, and softly tapped the surface of the door.
A purple «Window» popped out, describing the full Life capacity

and current value of the Great Eastern Gate.
The number on the left was the highest Life she had ever seen —
more than three million. But the one on the right was less than one
thousandth of that: 2985. While she sitting staring at it, stunned, the
current value was subtracted by one in front of her eyes.
Sweat beading on her palms, Alice counted the amount of time it

took for the number to decrease. She then estimated the time until
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the Life would completely deplete.
“… It can’t be…”
In disbelief of her own conclusion, Alice mumbled:
“… Five days… There are only five days left……?”
The door that had stood dignified between the two worlds for over
three hundred years, would collapse after five days — how was this
possible?
Selka’s bright smile, old man Garitta’s tanned, deeply wrinkled

face, and her father Gasupht’s grave frown — passed through Alice’s
mind. It was only a few days ago that she had repelled the Goblins
that had attacked them, and sealed the cave with ice. She had
thought that those actions would bring peace to Rulid that could last
quite some time.
As soon as the great gate collapses five days later, the Dark Army
would swarm in like insects, and if our defensive army was unable to
defend, the bloodsucking monsters would gush into the Human
Empire like floodwater. This flood would soon reach the northern
border, and Rulid would be engulfed.
“We have to… We have to do something about it…”
Alice muttered to herself as if in a dream, as she unconsciously

pulled the reins. After moving away from the stone slab about to
collapse, Amayori slowly rose up, and stopped roughly at the height
of three hundred Mel, at the top of the door.
Behind the door, the valley continued in the same unbending way,
as though splitting the mountain. However, what appeared there was
not blue sky and green plains, but the blood-red sky and the
desolate, cinder-speckled wilderness of the Dark Territory.
Alice did not want to see this unsettling sight, but as she narrowed
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her eyebrows, focusing —
On the hazy, great black landscape, a tiny waving light was visible.
Urging Amayori higher, she fixed her gaze afar. There was not just
one light, but many extending outwards irregularly.
Bonfires.
A camp. The vanguard of the Dark Army were waiting with their
fists held up, for the great door to collapse and the way to the Human
Empire to open.
“Five days… remaining…”
Alice mumbled softly again.
Immediately, she turned the dragon around and retraced her path
towards the valley entrance. If she looked at those countless bonfires
for long, she felt that she would be consumed by a massive urge to
attack them alone.
Even if that really happened, if the opponent were merely Goblin or

Orc foot soldiers, she was still confident that she would be able to
take the heads of one or two hundred before retreating unharmed.
But if there were Ogre crossbow archers or legions of Dark
Sorceresses within the enemy, things would not be so easy.
Although it was said that Integrity Knights possessed the strength

of a thousand in one, it was only one, after all. If a Knight was
confronted with a focused long-range attack from afar where neither
their swordsmanship nor their Sacred Arts were able to match, they
would definitely suffer injuries. Even if the injuries were light, their
Life would eventually drop to zero as injuries build up over time. That
was what Knight Commander Bercouli had worried for years, the
greatest weakness of the Integrity Knights — also of the Human
Empire’s defense.
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With Administrator, the stickler for gathering power, deceased, the
large amount of defense weapons buried in the Cathedral were
already distributed among the hurriedly assembled guard team. But
their remaining time was too little. At least, if they had 10,000
soldiers, and a year of preparation—
With a soft sigh, Alice pushed away these meaningless thoughts

and motioned for Amayori to land.
At the center of the guard team camp, there was a large clearing.
Seeing huge tents neatly erected beside it, Alice knew that the
clearing could only be a landing field for dragons.
Flying down and landing in an arc, Amayori turned her head to the
tent as her talon just touched the grass, and let out a “kururu” call,
as if she were trying to be cute.
Quickly, a slightly lower call responded. That was probably her

brother-dragon, Takiguri. As soon as the dragon came to a stop, Alice
held Kirito, jumped down onto the grass, and helped Amayori unload
the heavy load on her feet. Immediately, Amayori shot excitedly
towards the tent, and rubbed heads with her brother, who had
extended his head out of the tent.
Alice couldn’t help but smile. However, she instantly noticed

footsteps approaching from behind, and frantically tightened her
face. She adjusted her plain skirt and tucked her wind-blown hair
behind her back.
Before she could turn around, a familiar, easygoing voice rang

across the landing field.
“Mentor! My mentor Alice-sama!! I knew you would

come!!”
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The one sliding over with pattering footsteps was Integrity Knight
Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-One, whom Alice had drunk a glass of parting
wine with ten days ago. Although they were in a long-term camp, his
pattan-colored long curls and silver-white armor were as spotless as
always.
“… You seem spirited.”
Unfazed by Alice’s cold words, Eldrie was about to say a lot more
as if he was deeply touched, but his lips instantly froze.
It was because he had noticed the black-haired youth that Alice

supported with her left hand.
Straining one side of his face, throwing back his head, the young
Knight put on a look of disbelief and said:
“So… you brought him here. Why?”
Alice threw out her chest in defiance and replied:
“It is obvious. I have sworn to protect him.”
“B-but… If the war begins, we Integrity Knights will need to

be at the very front line. What do you plan to do when you
are crossing swords with the enemy? To fight while carrying
him on your back is definitely not the wisest decision.”
“If I need to, I will do so.”
Supporting Kirito’s frail body that was unable to stand on its own,
as if she was trying to pull it away from Eldrie’s sight, Alice drew her
right foot back. But, somehow, the squads of soldiers and lower
Integrity Knights on break had all gathered around the landing field,
looking at Alice and Kirito leaning together with surprised
expressions.
To drown out the wave-like hubbub, Eldrie retorted sharply.
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“You cannot burden yourself with him, my mentor! Please
forgive my directness, but if you carry this useless load to
battle, not only will your strength be halved, it is very likely
that you will fall into danger yourself! In the coming battle,
Alice-sama will…”
He interrupted himself, and suddenly pointed at the surrounding

swordsmen with an ornate silver armguard.
“…be responsible as their leader in battle! How can you not

give this your all?!”
He had a point. Although he was not wrong, Alice could not easily
reply with ‘I understand’. To herself, which one — protecting the
world, protecting Kirito; both were equally important. Alice clenched
her teeth as she thought of a way to explain this.
At the same time, she was somehow surprised at Eldrie’s

enthusiastic speech.
If compared to the Integrity Knight Eldrie that was undergoing

Alice’s tutoring in swordsmanship, he had changed significantly.
Then, he had worshipped Alice, and had listened to her no matter
what she told him to do.
The people in the world had their right eyes sealed by the
mysterious «Outside Gods», absolutely not defying laws or authority.
To Alice’s knowledge, the only ones who have successfully broken
the seal were herself, and the deceased Blue Rose Swordsman
Eugeo. Even the highest minister Administrator and the sage
Cardinal, said to have Authority of Gods, were unable to defy that
seal.
In other words, Eldrie was supposed to be still under the control of

that seal. But now — he was not directly disobeying Alice’s words —
but he was definitely not in a state of [blind loyalty] like before. He
could think for himself, and convey his own thoughts.
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The reasons for this change was likely to be Kirito, and Eugeo.
Although he had only come into brief contact with the two biggest
traitors in the world, they had certainly deeply moved Eldrie’s soul.
As Alice recalled, even her sister Selka living in Rulid, occasionally

revealed dissatisfaction with the formal regulations on the village and
resilient figures of authority. Also, the two female students who
rushed to where they were when Alice was about to take Kirito and
Eugeo from Centoria Training Academy. As normal citizens, and
young girls, to actually call an Integrity Knight to stop was in itself
impossible.
And, not to mention — even Alice herself had been affected.
Before she crossed swords with Kirito and fell out of the Cathedral,
she held not a sliver of doubt against the structure of the world, the
rule of the Church, and the godliness of the Highest Minister.
However, in the time that she had to join forces with him to repel
danger, accept a truce, and climb up the outer wall, Kirito’s voice,
sword, and pitch-black eyes strongly moved Alice — eventually
breaking the Seal of the Right Eye…
Yes, Kirito is the sledgehammer that swings towards this world full
of false peace and harmony. He expended the strength hidden in his
soul, to move the world, shake, and eventually shatter the ancient
nail calling itself the Axiom Church, that was driven into the center of
the world. But, as price to pay, he sacrificed his friend Eugeo and
guide Cardinal, and lost his own heart…
Alice tightly hugged the twig-like body that she supported with her
left hand. Then, she looked directly at Eldrie.
She wanted to say it. You are who you are today because you
fought him. But, he definitely would not understand it. As far as the
Integrity Knights were concerned, Kirito was still no more than a
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hateful traitor.
Towards Alice who stood there silently, Eldrie wore an expression

that looked like he was resisting heavy pain, and just as he was
about to continue.
At this time, the wall of people around them, as though parted by

the hand of a giant, was suddenly cut open.
The voice that reached her ears from somewhere deep in the
crowd, made Alice felt so tearfully nostalgic and painfully nervous.
“Hey, don’t get so worked up, Eldrie.”
Looking away from the young Knight straightening his back, Alice
slowly turned around to the owner of the voice.
A front-gathered robe full of east region style worn loosely. A sash

tied slightly low. A plain longsword stuck casually on his left waist.
Strange wooden shoes hung off of his feet.
This was an outfit far more casual than that of those worn by the
surrounding Knights and soldiers. But, the gravity that effused from
the completely trained, gigantic body, was thicker, heavier than any
armor.
Sweeping his ice-blue hair that was trimmed very short, and of a
similar color to his clothes, the owner of the voice grinned:
“Oh, little girl. You’re more spirited than I imagined; that

reassures me. Has your face gotten plumper?”
“… Oji-sama. It has been a long time.”
Alice held back her tears with all her might, and saluted to the
world’s oldest, strongest swordsman — Integrity Knight Bercouli
Synthesis One.
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In the six years of Alice’s life as an Integrity Knight, she had only
opened up to one person, revered him as her mentor, and admired
him as her father. At the same time, she was sure that in this world,
he was the only one — apart from Kirito — who she could not win
against.
Therefore, she absolutely could not weep in front of him.
If Bercouli said that they could not keep Kirito here, she could only
obey. Of course, the Alice now could not be forced by even Bercouli’s
orders. But, if she disobeyed in front of everyone else, it would
disturb the order of the Knights and guards. In this situation in which
they had but five days until the decisive battle, she absolutely could
not harm Bercouli’s leadership authority in any way.
As though he had seen completely seen through Alice’s inner

hesitation, Bercouli slowly walked over, the corners of his mouth
maintaining a plain, gentle smile.
Gazing into Alice’s eyes, he nodded forcefully.
Then, the Knight Commander suppressed Eldrie with a glance, who

looked about to say something, and turned to look at Kirito, in Alice’s
arms.
Bercouli tightened his mouth. A light like bluish-white flames

accumulated into those sharp eyes.
Bercouli inhaled a deep breath. Then, Alice felt the air around her
swiftly becoming cold.
“…Oji-sama…”
Alice squeezed out a strained voice.
Bercouli was building up his aggressive energy. He was preparing

to release one of the «Incarnation Techniques» only inheritable by
Integrity Knights… The «Slash of Incarnation», a secret technique
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more powerful than the «Arm of Incarnation» that could move objects
with the power of one’s mind.
Imbuing his concentrated will into a sword, and releasing it. That
invisible blade could sometimes parry the tangible blade of an
enemy. The Armament Full Control Art of the Knight Commander’s
Divine Instrument, the «Time Piercing Sword» that could cut even the
future, was a technique that first came into existence based on
Bercouli’s crushing willpower.
In other words — did Bercouli plan to slice Kirito?
If he was literally going to finish the problem off, then that would
be the only thing that Alice could absolutely not accept. If it came to
that, Alice must draw her own sword to protect Kirito.
Suppressed by the Knight Commander’s extremely crushing

aggressive energy, no matter whether it was the surrounding
soldiers, or Eldrie, or even the dragons under the tent, everyone sank
into a deep silence. In the air compressed so tightly to the point of
suffocation, Alice commanded her right hand fingers to move with all
her might.
But, just as Alice touched her beloved sword’s hilt, the corners of
Bercouli’s mouth twitched, and a telepathic sound came.
—It’s okay, little girl.
“……?!”
In that instant when Alice held her breath.
Bercouli’s body was completely still, but his two eyes flashed a
terrifying light.
At the same time, in Alice’s arms, Kirito’s body jerked violently.
KIN! With a rough noise, the space between Bercouli and Kirito
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reverberated with a silver flash.
—This is?!
Alice gasped in shock, but Bercouli smiled jovially as though his

aggressive energy just now was a fantasy.
“O…Oji-sama…?”
Turning towards the numbly mumbling Alice, the Knight

Commander scratched his wide chin, the same as when they had
practiced together before:
“Little girl, did you see that just now?”
“Ye… Yes, I did. Even though it was just an instant… It

appeared to be the flash of a sword clash…?”
“Yeah. I released not a Slash but a light Stab of Incarnation

at that young man. If it had struck, it would probably have
sliced a bit of skin off of his face.”
“If it… struck? Then that means…”
“Indeed, he stopped it. That young man used his own

«Incarnation».”
Alice could not help but stared at the face of Kirito, supported by
her left arm.
But, her expectations were shattered. In the slightly open black

pupils, there was only empty darkness. No expression whatsoever, as
always.
—But, his body did tremble, just now.
Alice soothed Kirito’s hair with her right hand, and looked at
Bercouli. The Knight Commander shook his head slowly, and said
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assuredly:
“It seems like that young man’s heart is really not here…
But, it isn’t dead. Listen, the young man was not trying to
protect himself, but you, little girl. So, someday, he’ll be
back. I think so. Perhaps, when you really need him, it’ll be
the time, little girl.”
Alice could only blink back her tears more forcefully than before.
—Yes, he will definitely come back.
—Because Kirito… Kirito is the strongest swordsman in the world.

He swung two swords and even killed that demi-immortal.
—Come back for me… is what I wouldn’t say. Come back, for the
sake of the many people, living here in this world…
Alice could not resist anymore; she unhesitantly and tightly hugged
Kirito. The didactic voice of the Knight Commander passed as if it
were a hand comforting Alice, soothing her hack:
“So, Eldrie. Don’t say it so selfishly like that, just one more
young man, take care of him..”
“But…. But…”
The youngest Integrity Knight Eldrie expressed his opinions to the

oldest Integrity Knight Bercouli with spirit that may said to be
impressive.
“It would be acceptable if he had the least bit of strength,

but in this state… Besides, even if he recovered, what can the
sword of a student do…?”
“Hey, hey.”
With a calm smile, Bercouli’s words were as sharp as knives.
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“Have you forgotten? This boy’s partner has won against
even me. He’s beaten the Integrity Knight Commander
Bercouli Synthesis One.”
Instantly, the entire grassy field was silent again.
“That kid called Eugeo… He’s strong, stronger than you can
believe. I even used the Armament Full Control Art of my
Time Piercing Sword. I still lost. As you, Deusolbert, and
Fanatio did.”
Now, Eldrie was at a loss for words. Of course, a swordsman

winning one-on-one against Bercouli, no matter among the Integrity
Knights, or in the Dark Territory on the other side of that door,
shouldn’t exist — everyone in the Axiom Church strongly believed
this.
But, in a certain meaning, wasn’t this a declaration that was too

dangerous?
Knight Commander Bercouli was able to lead the assembled guard

with the authority of the strongest one. But, he made known the
existence of a swordsman Eugeo whom he had been defeated by —
and even approved that Eugeo and Kirito had equal strength, then…
As Alice thought up to this point, just as she was about to raise her
head.
Bercouli suddenly looked to the sky with a spasm-like jerk.
“O…Oji-sama…?”
At Alice’s inquiry, the Knight Commander replied with unexpected

words:
“Somewhere far, far away, a wave of overwhelming

fighting intent expanded in an instant, and disappeared…
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Someone I know, has died…”
The Ten Feudal Lords that formed the Dark Empire Ten Feudal Lord
Meeting were completely different in personality, character, and
hidden ambitions, but there was one aspect that they were all the
same in.
That was their better understanding than anyone else of the one
law that [Power dominates all].
It was better to say that this law was carved into them since youth,
and through endless diligence — training themselves or eliminating
non-conformists — they ultimately mounted the summit of this world
that washed blood away with blood.
Therefore, when the other nine Feudal Lords, who stood in line with
Dark General Shasta in the Throne Room, saw the rightmost Dark
Knight draw his sword against the Emperor with sudden vigor, none
of them felt surprised in their hearts.
In fact, most understood it as “Oh, you’re brave enough to

make a move here; you’re pretty bold.” Even the Elders of the
Orcs and Ogres whose language skills and intelligence had
deteriorated over three hundred years, thought “Now we can see
this Emperor guy’s power,” flashing their beast-like eyes sharply.
Even the young Fist Fighter Leader, who respectfully regarded Shasta
as an equal who trained to better his own battle techniques, offered
silent words of support: “Since you’ve pulled out your sword,
slash the Emperor.”
Within them, there were only two who predicted this situation
seconds before it happened.
One of them was the Dark Sorceress Guild Leader, D.I.L. She
harbored intense feelings of enmity towards Shasta; long since
planning to kidnap the Dark General’s lover, she had known Lipia’s
appearance for a long time.
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Therefore, she was contrarily even more surprised when she saw
Lipia’s frozen head. Predicting that this would probably cause Shasta
to explode in anger and draw his sword, D deliberated over what to
do in that situation.
Although she wanted to backstab Shasta and do the Emperor a

favor to take advantage of him, D eventually chose to watch from the
sidelines. If Shasta lost against the Emperor, then all would be well; if
Shasta won, he would be deeply wounded, and then she would
scorch her enemy and take over the Dark Empire herself. D chuckled
silently as she suppressed her excitement by licking her lips.
But there was another person who had noticed the Dark General’s
intent of betrayal —
And now immediately took action.
***
With only the word “KILL” in his mind, Shasta violently swung his
beloved sword.
If only the intensity of the «Incarnation» fused into the Slash was
measured, it already clearly passed his strike while he crossed blades
with Integrity Knight Bercouli. His rage and exclamation were so
intense that the Armament Full Control Art, which would ordinarily
require a prolix incantation, was immediately evoked.
Shasta’s longsword «Hazy Mist» was a Divine Instrument-class

Object automatically generated two hundred years ago in the
Underworld as part of the VRMMO package. Its property was
[Water]; now, reflecting Shasta’s extremely strong murderous
intent, the blade transformed into a mist-like shadow without losing
its absolute killing power.
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The special quality of the Hazy Mist in the state of Armament Full
Control was to completely omit the attacking process of what all
swords inherently held, [dealing damage by splitting or running
through the target object with a sharp blade]. In the instant
that one touched the long stream of mist, damage akin to a normal
slash would be dealt to his Life. In other words, other than avoiding
it, all forms of defense would be meaningless.
In the instant that Shasta drew his sword, Gabriel Miller, as

Emperor Vector, drew his own sword from his waist and was about to
parry his opponent’s attack.
If things continued like this, Shasta’s mist blade would pass

through Gabriel’s sword, strike Gabriel’s body, and inject all of the
compressed killing intent.
However, as he was moved at lightning speed, right before he

released the killing blow.
Shasta froze.
He did not know when, but under his left shoulder on the Dark
General’s heavy armor, within a joint of the thick plating, a throwing
needle was stuck deeply there.
The one slowly standing up behind him was a ghostly thin figure
entirely wrapped in a dark gray robe.
The Leader of the Assassin’s Guild, Fer Za. The one hiding behind
shadows who had the weakest existence among the ten Feudal Lords
and uttered almost not a word during conferences. He glided
forward, perhaps in the most striking way he ever had in his life.
Fer Za was able to notice Shasta’s actions before everything

happened only because he was the most cowardly and neurotic of
the ten Feudal Lords.
The Assassin’s Guild was actually a family where weaklings
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congregated. It was a group created for people who was born giftless
in physicality, magic, wealth or other qualities, but rejecting a
torturing, freedomless life of slavery, in order to hone the [Poison
Technique] that was shunned even by the Dark Territory.
The poisonous Objects in the Underworld, such as a portion of

insects, snakes, and plants, were originally configured as a part of
the Load Tests. Therefore, their effects were restricted to the level
that the inhabitants could easily recover if they used the required
knowledge. Conversely speaking, there was virtually no way to obtain
enough strength from it to confront Art rituals and swords.
However, the people who founded the Assassin’s Guild invented

the «condensation» technique unconceived even by «RATH»
technicians, and over an immensely long period of time,
painstakingly produced and strengthened poison. The Assassin’s
Guild headquarters set deep under the slum streets of this castle-
centered city even had a large cauldron that had been boiling the
juice of poisonous fruits for a hundred years, and numerous pots that
collected poisonous snakes from everywhere to make them
cannibalize each other.
But the painstakingly completed [Lethal Toxin] instead brewed

up a tragic internal strife, rampant with clandestine killings within the
Guild. Different from Art rituals and all weapons, it was extremely
difficult to search out the poisonous attacker since the poison’s
effects may be delayed.
Therefore, it was inevitable that the Guild leader would be unable

to stay alive if he was not extremely paranoid. He must be able to
notice the eyesight of those around him, no, even be able to feel an
insignificant sliver of murderous intent hiding in the air.
To Fer Za, the killing intent released by Shasta once he saw Lipia’s
head was stronger than even the smell of blood.
And Dark General Shasta was the person whom Fer Za despised
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the most in the world.
The number of assassination plots he had planned and discarded

until now was countless. He was confident that he could achieve the
murder. However, if the cause of death was discovered to be
poisoning, anyone would know it was the Assassin Guild’s doing. An
hour after Shasta’s death, the immeasurably powerful Dark Knights
would have attacked the Assassin’s Guild headquarters and quickly
kill them all. A direct battle would have no victor.
But, now, if it was in this instant.
He was in the right by piercing his enemy’s body with well-

sharpened poisonous darts. Because in the seconds that he drew his
sword to take the Emperor’s head, Shasta was no longer a Dark
Knight, or a Feudal Lord; he was a mere traitor.
The things that Fer Za pulled out of his robes and threw were
hidden weapons passed down through generations of leaders of the
Assasin’s Guild. They were extremely thin metallic needles by the
name of [Rubelir Toxic Steel], cut from a dangerous ore capable of
secreting numbing toxin, and concealable in one’s palm. After they
were hollowed out, various poisons could be stored inside.
Stored inside was a lethal toxin, a collection of the essence of the

Assassin Guild’s techniques. Gathering rare parasites by the name of
[Blood Corroding Leeches], crushing fifty thousand of them
together, and a number of condensations and filtrations would yield
only a single drop of the poisonous liquid. Since all attempts to breed
and raise this type of leech had failed, just the task of creating one
drop of poisonous liquid would require an extremely high effort.
Of course, one thing that Fer Za could not possibly know was that
every moving creature in the Underworld were all generated by the
system according to specified values per each area unit; other than
livestock Units, such as sheep and cows, all other artificial breeding
was impossible.
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In other words, the poisonous needle that Fer Za released was
concentrated with all of the power of the Assassin’s Guild from the
material used to the poisonous liquid inside. Simultaneously, they
could also be described as the crystallization of the resentment of
the weak who had suffered hundreds of years of abuse.
***
As Shasta had concentrated all of his willpower onto his swinging

sword, he almost failed to notice the pain of a metallic needle
piercing deeply into his body.
But in the instant that he prepared to jump high towards the

Throne, his entire body became as heavy as lead, and he suddenly
widened his eyes.
His feet lost their strength; as he dropped to one knee with a crack,
he finally felt a foreign object in his left abdomen.
— Poison?
After a split-second thought, before an ice-like numbness spread to

his left hand, he quickly pulled out the needle. As Shasta realized
that this small, toy-like weapon was gleaming a brilliant green, he
quickly understood that it was the accursed Rubelir Toxic Steel and
immediately began chanting a counter-Art.
However, travelling at a terrifying speed, the coldness spread to

his entire body from his left abdomen, quickly reaching his mouth.
His tongue lost all feeling before he could finish just the activation
command [System Call]; he could not even clench his teeth.
His left hand was also paralyzed; the poisonous needle made a
slight sound as it slipped out of his hand and dropped onto the black
marble floor.
Finally, his right hand that was holding his longsword high also
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began to drop slowly, and at the same time the longsword’s Release
Recollection state was also lifted: the blade transformed from gray
mist back into its tangible form and its tip touched the floor.
He was frozen to exactly the same pose as he was before he drew

his sword: left knee on the floor with his head bowed. The black lap of
a robe silently appeared in Shasta’s vision.
— Fer Za.
— I didn’t expect to be ambushed by this guy.
“… You’re definitely thinking… ‘How could I lose to this

unmentionable little thing’, aren’t you, Biksul.”
Hearing a scratchy sound from above, Shasta could only move his
eyes and put on a severe expression.
— What makes a guy like you address me with such familiarity…?
“You want to say that I don’t have a good reason to call

you by your name, right? But, it’s definitely not the first time
I’ve called you Biksul, you know?”
Slowly coiling his robes on the floor and kneeling down to the same
height, the Assassin’s face took up the majority of Shasta’s vision.
But a deep hood completely obscured the light and all was shrouded
in darkness except for his protruding chin.
The chin moved as if it was trembling, and an even scratchier voice

flowed out of the darkness.
“You… don’t remember, do you? The faces of many kids

whom you completely defeated in the Youth School, and one
of them who could not bear the humiliation, jumped into a
water ditch, disappeared from the school forever.”
— What? What is this man saying? The Youth School?
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As the son born of a nameless Knight, Shasta was shut into a Youth
School affiliated with the Dark Knights from the moment when he
could grasp a wooden sword, regardless of whether he agreed or not.
From then on, what remained in his memory was the day-to-day
training that his life depended on. He won practically every selection
test; when he caught his breath he had already been appointed as an
Officer of the Dark Knights, selected by his mentor, the former Knight
Commander — that was half of his torrential life, devoid of any
opportunity to look back upon it.
Of course, he had no way of remembering the kids whom he had

swung wooden swords with together thirty years ago.
“…But, I forgot not a single day, you know. From the time
when I floated to the underground culvert, picked up by the
Assassin’s Guild, in the eternity during which I was freely
ordered around as a slave, I’ve always remembered… I built
up my knowledge, invented many new poisons, and
eventually became the leader of the Guild. As the price to
pay, I lost so much… But all of it was for vengeance, Biksul.”
At the same as the contorted voice broke off, the hood tilted
slightly, and Fer Za exposed his face in front of Shasta’s eyes.
He still could not remember. No, even if Shasta could completely

remember his former classmates, he would not have recalled this
man’s name, because, perhaps due to some unknown effects of the
poison, Fer Za’s face was severely deteriorated, into a form so
bizarre that even an Orc would be frightened.
Within the hood that was pulled down again, there were only two
eyes flashing an intense light.
“The poison now injected into your body is developed

specifically to kill you, collected drop by drop, spending time
on it long enough to drive one crazy. According to my
experiments, it can even kill a large-type Ground Dragon with
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a Life higher than 30,000 in under an hour. With your Life,
I’m afraid there are only two or three minutes left. So… It’s
time for payback. My hatred and humiliation that I imbued
onto you.”
— Hatred, huh?
Shasta moved his eyes away from Fer Za and stared at the
poisonous needle lying on the black marble floor.
— I was driven by rage and hatred to murder the Emperor. Fer Za

injected this weapon with exactly the same strength to kill me.
Therefore, my Slash stopped. The «Incarnation of Slaughter» cannot
win against the «Incarnation of Righteousness». Before, the sword
technique I mastered when I crossed swords with that man…
Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli; in the last critical moment, I
still forgot it all…
Unable to support even his position with one knee against the
ground, Shasta fell to the left and slid onto the floor.
In the middle of his blurred vision, at where the needle pointed—
There was the cube of ice inside the silver bowl.
***
Fer Za, the avenger originally named Ferrius Zalgatis, opened his
eyes wide, as if he was savoring the instance of joy he had worked so
hard for.
Dark General Shasta, who had been playing with glory, was now
lying under Fer Za’s feet. His skin, tough for his age, had turned the
color of dirt; his sharp gaze was fading away, and his breath was
close to stopping.
What an ugly and pitiful way of dying.
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Yet Shasta’s death also proved the superiority of Poisoning
Techniques over swordsmanship and Dark Sorcery. With this new
kind of complex poison made out of Rubelir Toxic Steel and Blood
Corroding Leeches, just one needle would not only forcefully prevent
the enemies from drawing swords or chanting Arts, but also induce
their rapid death.
After seeing this sight, the Emperor on the Throne would also
realize how valuable the Assassin’s Guild was. When mass-production
of the new poison was complete, there would be no more need to
please the Knights and Sorcerers. He could redeem his name, return
to the Zalgatis Clan that disowned him, and take over the family as a
new dictator…
Fer Za, whose entire body shook as he was intoxicated in the

zenith of exuberance, completely overlooked the fact that outside his
field of vision, the blade of Shasta’s sword was slowly melting back
into mist.
***
— Lipia.
Before his Life ran out, Shasta called out within his heart the name
of the only woman he ever loved.
Lipia must have decided to assassinate the Emperor because she

was desperate in realizing the arrival of the new age that she had
heard from Shasta. Because she believed, as soon as the war of
three hundred years ended and new laws and regulations were
allowed to shine upon the Dark Empire, then the orphans, even those
who would either starve to death or become temporary slaves would
gain the privilege to live happy lives.
— Fer Za.
— You were defeated in the Youth School? You couldn’t swallow
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the loss, so you wanted to end yourself?
— But, at least you had your opportunity. You had parents who
paid your tuition, three meals every day, a warm bed and a shelter
from the rain. In this world, how many more young lives had their
lowest privileges stripped from them at birth, used like they were
trash, and disappeared?
— For this world, Lipia risked her life to correct it. I won’t let her
Incarnation be in vain. Your pathetic little personal hatred will
be——–
“…OUT OF MY WAY!!”
Shasta’s mouth, which was supposed to be completely numb, let

out a terrifying roar; at the same time, a gray tornado spun high in
the air from the Dark Knight’s right hand.
This was Releasing Recollection of a Divine Instrument, only usable

by a few within even the Integrity Knights. Shasta’s indomitable
Incarnation began to directly rewrite the Main Visualizer that stored
and calculated all information of the entire Underworld.
The gray tornado already became type-less, pure destructive

power that broke down everything it touched. With no time to evade,
Fer Za’s thick black robe was surrounded by the tornado; with a dry
noise, it was reduced to a cloud of dust and dispersed.
The stark naked middle-aged man who was thin as a twig threw up
his hands to cover his deteriorated face. But, his hands were quickly
broken into countless pieces of flesh and blown around — then, his
entire body became a thick mist of blood, swirling around in the air.
***
In the instant that the strange tornado rose from dying Dark
General, the strongest Dark Sorceress D.I.L. had an extremely bad
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feeling, and with both hands, generated Wind Elements and flew
backward at full speed.
But, as she saw that the tornado had touched her right leg, and
that everything below her knee had vanished without a trace, that
chilling feeling became the greatest shock she had ever felt in her
life.
Even when D was bathing or sleeping, she was protected by

dozens of Defensive Arts. Apart from magical attacks, these
Defensive Arts constituted an iron defense that was able to repel all
forms of attack, such as projectile weapons, swords, and poisons.
Of course, if the equal Priority ten Feudal Lords all attacked with
maximum strength, there would be a chance of running through the
shield and harming her skin. However, directly slicing away her
physical body and Life just by touching it as if the shield did not exist,
was impossible. Absolutely impossible.
But, no matter how she denied it in her head, she still saw the
deadly tornado bearing her down faster than her flying retreat,
heavily impeding her right foot. A Sorceress like D could completely
revive herself with Healing Arts no matter the extent of damage to
her physical body, but only under the condition that she was still
alive.
“Hiih… AAH….!!”
Finally, a shrill scream came from D’s mouth.
But her voice was immediately drowned out by the shrieks of the
two scrambling Goblin Elders.
The Mountain Goblin Elder Hagasi and Plains Goblin Elder Kubiri,
who had been kneeling at D’s left, ran for their lives on their short
legs, wanting to escape the tornado. But it was impossible to evade
the expansion of the tornado that could even overtake D, who was
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flying at top speed.
“Kugyaaaaaah!!”
With a grotesque noise, Hagasi slipped and fell onto the floor. He
desperately stuck out his left hand and grabbed Kubiri’s ankle with a
viselike grip.
“Higyaaah! Leggo!! Le—!!”
CRUNCH.
The two Goblin leaders were effortlessly melted into blood mist and
dispersed.
CRACK.
D’s right leg was blown away at the hip joint without leaving a
trace.
Her beauty severely distorted by horror and despair, the Leader of

the Dark Sorceresses watched as — the expansion of the tornado
miraculously stopped.
Shasta’s collapsed body was no longer visible. Around there, the

diameter and height of the erected obconic storm had already
swelled to about twenty Mel. The other six Feudal Lords, who were
further away, speedily retreated to the western wall, and the officers
of the ten armies lined up south of the Hall closely avoided injury.
Among her extremely chaotic thoughts, with her outstanding

reasoning, D deduced the reason that the tornado’s expansion
stopped.
To protect the ten or so higher level Dark Knights. In other words,

that tornado was created from Shasta’s willpower after all.
As though it were proving this theory, the upper half of the tornado
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slowly changed shape.
What appeared was the translucent upper body of a colossal man,

made out of mist.
Although it was huge, that was undoubtedly the shadow of Dark

General Shasta.
***
As Emperor Vector, Gabriel Miller couldn’t help but watch the

erected tornado giant with an expression that looked like surprise.
Publicly displaying the female assassin’s head,; the leftmost Knight

drew his sword as soon as he saw it — everything was exactly the
same as predicted up until there. To the man who wanted to slice
towards Gabriel, the elder of the Assassin’s Guild used numbing
poison or something to stop him; that didn’t seem out of the
ordinary, either.
Although it was different from his plan of beheading the traitor in

one stroke and drive absolute loyalty into the nine remaining Units, a
voluntary action to protect the Emperor could be judged as
subservient.
It was because of this thought that he still sat and observed the
progression of events—
But a gray tornado suddenly spun up from the fallen body of the
Traitor Unit, and the Elder of the Assassin’s Guild who was
surrounded by it and the two Goblin generals were destroyed in an
instant; even Gabriel could not help but halt his thoughts.
The General Units were supposed to be of the same level. Then, if
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they were to fight each other, it would supposedly be the same as
duels in real-world VRMMOs: if someone’s HP dropped, it would heal
back.
But now, how was it possible that three Units were demolished in
mere seconds? Could it be that there were systems or theories he
himself did not understand in this «Underworld»?
Just as he was thinking, the tornado giant opened its mouth and let
out an earth-shaking roar.
Under the intense pressure, most of the glass windows decorating

the Throne Room shattered in all directions.
The giant slowly clenched its frozen right fist—
And brought it down crashing down towards Gabriel.
Gabriel realized instantly that neither drawing his sword nor

evading would have any effect. Glancing left in his vision, he saw
adjutant Vassago simply raise and leap out of the way; Gabriel
remained on the throne, quietly waiting for the gray fist that came
smashing towards him.
***
The Tornado of Death that was released because of Shasta’s

Incarnation before he died was a phenomenon exceeding the
estimates of the Underworld system.
It was not measured attack power that decreased Fer Za’s Life and
caused his death; [The Will to Die] was directly sent into the Light
Cube: it first destroyed the Fluctlight and performed an inverse
calculation, shattering the visual physical body.
Therefore, the attack on Gabriel, or Emperor Vector, did not affect

his Life.
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But, the murderous intent created in Shasta’s Light Cube was
transmitted by the photon communication circuit to the STL that
Gabriel was using—
The fatal willpower of the one called Dark General Shasta that only
a handful of swordsmen in the Underworld could produce directly
struck Gabriel Miller’s Fluctlight core — his «Self-Image».
At this time, Shasta felt that he had already completely melded

with the full-body strike that he had released, and shot into Emperor
Vector.
Suffice to say, the Life of his original body had already been
exhausted. As described, this was the last sword of Shasta’s life.
His only regret was that he could not see Integrity Knight
Commander Bercouli once again. But, that man would definitely
understand. The Dark General’s wishes, and why he killed the
Emperor.
Including the Assassin’s Guild Leader Fer Za, the two Goblin Elders,
the most bellicose of the Ten Feudal Lords, had already died. It was
very regrettable that the Dark Sorceress Leader D had escaped, but
it would be impossible to rebirth with a severe injury like that. Along
with the Dark Knight Commander, if even the Emperor died, the
remaining Feudal Lords wouldn’t easily wage war against the
Integrity Knights.
If only an armistice, even a temporary one, could be established

with the Human World inhabitants who had also lost their ruler, so
that they could talk to teach other and understand each other
without drawing swords.
Hopefully from now on — the peaceful world that Lipia longed for
can arrive.
Fused with his Incarnation, Shasta ran through Emperor Vector’s
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forehead and entered the soul core within.
If only that was destroyed, even if Vector was the God of Darkness,
he would definitely and completely perish like Fer Za.
With a silent scream, Shasta’s will collided with the Emperor’s

soul—
Then, he experienced the last shock of his life.
Nothing.
The soul core like a cloud of light, a place supposed to be filled

with the essence of vitality, had only deep, deep darkness.
Why? Even the soul of the recluse Fer Za shined brightly, dedicated
to life to the point of greed.
Shasta’s Incarnation was swallowed by the endlessly extending

[Darkness] within the Emperor.
It disappeared, then evaporated.
— This person, this man…
— Does he not understand what life is?
A shining man who has no knowledge of life, a soul, or love. That’s

why it’s hungry. That’s why it thirsts for the souls of others.
No matter with how strong of an Incarnation, «The Sword of

Murderous Intent» cannot kill this man.
Because this man’s soul has ceased to live.
It must be communicated. To whom? The person who will definitely

fight this monster in the near future.
Whom — To whom…
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But at this time, Shasta’s consciousness was covered by a
bottomless abyss.
… Remorse…
… Lipia…
After the two thoughts frayed apart, the soul of Dark General Biksul
Ul Shasta was completely destroyed.
***
When he was pierced by the overly intense light of a soul, Gabriel

Miller was more joyful than frightened.
The Dark Knight’s soul was filled with thicker emotion than the soul
of the female assassin he consumed two days ago. Love for that
woman — and an incomprehensible substance equivalent to
kindness, more widely known. Also, the strong killing intent that was
driven by this.
Love and hatred. Is there anything more delicious in the world?
At this time, Gabriel was completely unaware that he had exposed

his own life to danger. Seeing three Units blown to pieces because
Dark Knight’s attack, Gabriel thirsted more to swallow the Knight’s
soul than to care about his own safety.
If Gabriel had fought for survival because of fear of the Knight’s

attack, Shasta’s murderous intent would have traveled through the
STL, destroyed Gabriel’s survival instinct, and blown everything away
along with his Fluctlight.
But Gabriel Miller was a person who [did not understand life].
To him, including himself, all life was merely automatic machines the
same as the many bugs he had killed when he was young. Gabriel’s
actual wish was unlocking the [soul] that was the energy source of
these machines — the secrets of the mysterious shining cloud.
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Therefore, the destroy signal created by Shasta’s Fluctlight simply
floated past the extended emptiness within Gabriel’s Fluctlight and
disappeared without any collisions whatsoever.
Gabriel could not have known this theory, but as he chewed the
Knight’s soul, he understood two matters:
Firstly, in this world, there existed an attack method without

weapons or incantations like normal VRMMO games.
Secondly, this attack method seemed to have no effect on him.
Later, he should get Critter to investigate the theory behind the

phenomenon just now. As he thought this, Gabriel slowly stood from
his throne.
***
The surviving six Feudal Lords — Dark Sorceress Guild Leader

D.I.L., Fist Fighter Leader Iskahn, Commerce Guild Leader Langel,
Giant Tribal Chief Siglosig, Orc Tribal Chief Lilpin and Ogre Tribal
Chief Filgul — stared stupidly up at Emperor Vector’s figure; some
with their backs against the wall, some with their behinds on the
ground, some tending to other’s wounds.
All that remained in everyone’s heart was fear.
Dark General Shasta’s terrifying super attack — a ghastly attack

that instantly sliced three Generals to pieces and blew away the right
foot of D, who was seen as the strongest among the ten Feudal
Lords, harmed not a hair on the Emperor who took it head on.
Power dominates all.
Everyone deeply believed that Emperor Vector possessed power

far insurmountable by the six Feudal Lords and the hundred officers
awaiting orders behind them, combined.
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Like a rippling wave, all knelt down and submitted themselves
before the Emperor. Even the Dark Knights who had their beloved
Knight Commander killed were no exception.
From above their heads, the Emperor’s voice reverberated.
“… Troops who have lost their generals are immediately

commanded by the next highest ranking officer. An hour from
now, we shall advance as planned.”
Words devoid of anger or denunciation towards the betrayal. This

further provoked deeper terror within the general’s hearts.
D, who had painstakingly stopped the bleeding on her right foot,

raised her right hand and fingers high in the air, and shouted:
“Long live His Majesty the Emperor!!”
Then—
Overlapping voices cheering for the Emperor shook the entire city.
Alice looked around the interior of a camp tent prepared for

herself, and sighed softly.
A simple bedsheet was pulled straight, without a single wrinkle.

The cashmere leather laid on the ground was also brand new, and
the air had only a dry sunlit smell. There were no problems with
these, but at the same time it signified that this tent was not
hurriedly vacated for Alice. In other words, Knight Commander
Bercouli had believed all along that Alice would join the battle, and
specifically prepared an extra tent for a Knight.
Although this proved that she was trusted, it would be better to say
that man had thought of her own plans.
No — that’s unlikely. Even if he was the Knight Commander, there

was no way that he could expect Alice to bring Kirito along. There
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was only one simple bedsheet set up in the tent.
Alice softly hugged the black-haired youth’s waist, guided him to

the bed, turned him around and sat him down. Suddenly, a thin noise
came from the boy’s throat, and he attempted to extend his left
hand.
“Okay, wait here for just a moment.”
Dashing to the luggage set in front of the tent entrance, Alice

pulled out two black and white longswords. She returned beside the
bed and placed them onto Kirito’s knees. Then, Kirito tightly hugged
the swords with his only hand, and fell silent.
Slowly caressing the bowed black head, Alice softly bit her lip and
became lost in thought.
Although she boasted to Eldrie that she was going to carry Kirito to
battle, in reality, it would be a little difficult. There would be no
problem if it was only a skinny Kirito, but if she were to bring along
the super heavy «Night Sky Sword» and «Blue Rose Sword», her
movements would definitely be restricted.
Although she considered directly sitting on Amayori’s saddle, if the

enemy had Dark Knights who could fly, there would possibly be an
aerial fight.
Although it would be very regrettable, entrusting Kirito to the

supply squad after battle broke out would be the most realistic plan.
Her old friends, the Integrity Knights would definitely go for the
front line, and she didn’t know a single one from the soldiers made
up of normal citizens. But now she felt uncomfortable to request
Eldrie to introduce to her someone suitable for the job.
“Kirito…”
Alice knelt down, scanning the boy’s face, and clasped his cheeks
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between her hands.
She had never thought of Kirito as a burden. Once he regained his

heart, this youth will become a swordsman stronger than anyone in
the garrison army. She brought him to the battlefield to find all
possible ways of regaining his awareness.
Knight Commander Bercouli said before that Kirito had deflected

his «Slash of Incarnation». That was because he wished to protect
Alice.
Was it really believable?
When she first met him at the Sword Mastery Academy, he was an
arrestee and a criminal. Then when they met again on the eightieth
floor of the Cathedral, he was a sentenced man and a traitor. Then in
the instant when they had their last conversation on the highest floor
of the Cathedral, no matter how much their relationship improved, it
was only in a truce.
—You’ve clearly lost your own heart ever since that battle, so why
did you still protect me from Oji-sama’s aggression?
—In the end… Who am I to you?
This question bumped into Kirito’s sightless gaze and bounced

back.
Then, how did she herself see this boy?
If she were to use one phrase to describe the Kirito in the

Cathedral, “hateful” would probably be the most appropriate. He
was just a boy endlessly ranting about how Alice Synthesis Thirty was
an [idiot].
But, in the last battle, the shadow of the Kirito confronting the
Highest Minister Administrator—
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Seeing the tail of the fiercely blowing black coat and the figure with
both hands gripping swords, Alice felt her heart quake. Such an
intensity, but a pang as though she were stabbed.
The feeling from then had always been throbbing faintly deep
within her heart.
—Because I am an artificial existence. A puppet existing only for

battle, always occupying Alice Schuberg’s body. I am not allowed at
all to revel in emotions other than belligerence.
However. What if.
Because I keep suppressing my own heart, I am unable to

communicate my voice to you?
If, right now, I release all of my «Incarnation» to you, will you

respond to me?
Alice inhaled a deep breath, and held it.
The cheeks clasped between her hands were very cold. No, it was
her palms that were hot.
Slowly, slowly approaching his face. She tilted her head slightly,
and her hair fell onto her face.
From the extremely close distance, staring into the stars within his
pupils, she gradually brought her face closer—
Suddenly a bell sounded clearly with a [Riiing], and Alice recoiled

in alarm.
She frantically looked around, but there was not a soul in the tent.
Then she realized that the source of the noise was the bell set onto
the knocker at the tent entrance.
A guest. Intentionally clearing her throat and pushing her hair
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behind her back, Alice quickly traversed the tent.
It must be Eldrie come to convince her yet again. This time, she
must make herself clear that she will not yield, no matter what he
says.
Alice peeled back one of the double layer inner curtains, slid inside,
and opened the thick outer fur with her left hand.
Then, her half-open lips stopped instantly.
The visitor before her was not an Integrity Knight; not even a
normal soldier. She couldn’t help but blink in surprise.
“T-This…”
With a small, timid voice, the visitor held out a covered pot held
with both hands.
“I’ve… I’ve come to deliver your dinner, Knight-sama.”
“…Is that so.”
Alice glanced up. Sure enough, the crimson light of the sunset was
already gradually sinking below the mountains.
“Thank you… You’ve worked hard.”
Alice commended as she received the pot, and looked the small
frame up and down again.
She was still quite young, seeming to be a young girl of about

fifteen or sixteen.
Beautiful red hair hung below her shoulders. Her large eyes were
of the same reddish leafy color. Her fair white skin and high nose
signified that she was of Northern Empire lineage.
She wore the simple light armor of a lower guard, but underneath
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were a gray tunic dress and skirt; it should be a school uniform.
Taking a child like this to the battlefield… Alice knit her brows, and
suddenly thought of something.
She seemed to have seen this girl’s appearance somewhere. But

the Alice living in the Cathedral then shouldn’t have had the
opportunity to meet common citizens.
At this time, another girl who seemed to hide behind the red-haired
girl shyly stepped forward.
“Th-this… is bread, and stuff to drink…”
Alice couldn’t help but smile slightly at the barely audible voice of
the girl whose tea-colored hair was close to black, and took the
offered basket.
“There’s no need to be so scared, I’m not going to eat

you.”
Just as she was saying that, Alice finally remembered.
She had once heard this extremely nervous voice. These two are
from then…?
“May I ask… Could both of you be from… North Centoria

Sword Mastery Academy…?”
At this, the girls’ stiff expressions instantly soothed in relief. But

then they immediately straightened their figures, snapped their legs
together and reported their names:
“Y-yes! I… I am of the Human Empire Garrison Army Supply

Division, Novice Trainee Tiese Shtolienen!”
“I am of the s-same division, Novice Trainee Ronye Arabel!”
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As expected, Alice thought, and reflexively saluted back.
These are the two who came forward to beg to bid farewell to Kirito
and Eugeo when I took them away from the Academy.
No matter how lacking the Garrison Army was in terms of

manpower, it would never expropriate students. Therefore, these two
voluntarily left the familiarity of the Central Capital to come to the
Eastern border. Why would these childlike girls do this to such a
degree…?
Her right hand holding the pot, left hand holding the basket, Alice
couldn’t help but stare at the duo. Seeing this, the black-brown-
haired girl called Ronye hid behind the red-haired girl’s back again.
The red-haired girl called Tiese curled up tightly, but finally opened
her mouth with a desperate expression:
“I… I… K-Knight-sama… I also well know that t-this is a

highly disrespectful act…”
Alice could not help but smile wryly at this extremely exaggerated
wording; she squeezed out a soft smile and interrupted her:
“Didn’t I say that there’s no need for that kind of

formality? In this camp, I’m just a swordswoman gathered
here to protect the Human Empire. Just call me Alice, Tiese-
san, and… Ronye-san.”
Right after her words, Tiese and Ronye who stuck her head out
from behind both gaped.
“…W-what’s the matter?”
“Ah, no… It’s just…. Comparing from before, when we met

at the Academy, our impressions of you are completely
different…”
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“Real…ly?”
Alice tilted her head as she thought about that. She felt nothing
about it herself, but possibly, in the half-year she had spent at Rulid,
she changed a bit without knowing it. The Knight Commander had
also said something completely unfounded about her face getting
plumper.
But now that she thought about it, Selka’s cooking was simply too
delicious, and she couldn’t deny that she did eat more than normal…
But it shouldn’t be to the degree that it showed on the surface…
A smile floating onto her slightly tightened face, Alice continued:
“Then… Is there anything you want to talk to me about?”
“Ah… Y-yes, there is.”
Tiese relaxed her nervous demeanor slightly, sucked her lip and
said:
“It’s… We’ve heard tell that when Knight-sa… Alice-sama

came on a dragon, you brought a young black-haired male…
So we guessed… That he… Could be… Someone we know…”
“Ah… So it’s like this, indeed.”
Finally understanding the girls’ reason for visiting, Alice nodded.
“You both were on good terms with Kirito in the Academy,

weren’t you…?”
Right after Alice’s words, the two instantly shined like blooming
flower buds. Ronye even leaked tears slightly from her tea-colored
eyes.
“As expected… It’s Kirito-senpai…”
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Tiese held Ronye’s hand as she murmured, and shouted, full of
hope:
“Then… Eugeo-senpai also…!”
Hearing this name, Alice sharply inhaled a breath of cold air.
These two naturally don’t know. The night-and-day fight and

ending that unfolded in the Cathedral. They had no way of knowing.
Everything, including the death of the Highest Minister Administrator
who died inside, was known only by the Integrity Knights.
Seeing Alice not utter a sound, the two revealed strange

expressions. Alice looked from Tiese’s and Ronye’s eyes for a few
seconds, and slowly looked down.
Everything has gone this far; she couldn’t hide anything now.
Besides, these two have the right to know. Perhaps they

volunteered to become Garrison soldiers and come here to see Kirito
and Eugeo again…
Alice lifted her head decidedly and slowly opened her mouth:
“To both of you, this may be too cruel of a reality… But I

believe, as the underclassmen of Kirito and Eugeo, you will
definitely accept this.”
Then she stepped back, lifted the fur drapery, and urged the two
inside the tent.
Contradictory to Alice’s expectations deep down, Kirito saw Tiese

and Ronye, but displayed not a flutter in reaction.
Enduring her disappointment, Alice stood on the side of the tent,

gazing at the tragic scene in front of her.
Dropping to her knees in front of Kirito sitting on the bed, Ronye
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took Kirito’s left hand in both of her own small hands as tears slid
down her cheeks.
But what was more painful was Tiese, who fell onto the fur carpet,
staring at the Blue Rose Sword. Her paper-white face lost all
expression as she received the news of Eugeo’s death. Wordlessly,
she turned her eyes to the blade, which was snapped in the middle.
Alice had nearly no opportunity to directly speak with the young

man called Eugeo.
When she took him into the Cathedral and locked him into the
dungeon, and when she engaged them on the eightieth floor of the
Tower, leaving only when she fought alongside with him in the final
battle on the highest floor against Administrator.
Not only winning against Knight Commander Bercouli, he had

transformed his own body into a sword, destroyed the Sword Golem
and sliced off one of the Highest Minister’s arms; Alice felt deep
respect for his willpower from the bottom of her heart, but his
personal disposition was something she had heard mostly about from
Selka.
According to Selka, Eugeo was a mature yet thoughtful young man.

He was often forcefully dragged along by his childhood friend Alice
Schuberg on all different kinds of adventures. That kind of personality
must be a good partner to Kirito.
Kirito and Eugeo must have created a lot of disturbances in the

Academy as well. Yet these two girls were drawn to them, and deeply
affected. Just like how Alice was.
—Therefore, please, I beg you both to endure this pain. Kirito and
Eugeo fought for many important things, and were injured and lost
their souls and lives.
Alice prayed within her heart as she gazed towards the two.
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When they are subjected to an overly great frightening or
melancholy psychological impact, the people living in the Human
Empire often develop mental diseases since they cannot bear it.
Some time ago, Rulid, invaded by the Dark Army, also produced a
few villagers who had no physical injury yet were confined to their
beds.
Tiese must love Eugeo deeply.
At such a young age, having to endure the immense impact of the

death of a loved one was absolutely no easy task.
In front of Alice’s sight, Tiese, sitting paralyzed on the ground,

twitched her finger, inching towards the blade of the Blue Rose
Sword.
Alice anxiously watched Tiese’s every move. Although the Blue

Rose Sword was snapped in half, it was ultimately a Divine
Instrument of the highest level. Although she did not think that girl
would be able to wield it, overly deep despair and pain could possibly
lead to unexpected strength. No one knows what will happen.
Tiese extended a trembling finger, finally touching the light blue

blade. She gently traced not the blade itself, but the side, which was
ground to a smooth surface.
Then, in that instant—
Red light that shot into the tent via the skylight spread around;
Alice saw a weak, but surely flashing blue light emanating from the
broken blade.
At the same time, Tiese’s entire body shook violently.
Feeling something, Ronye turned to look at her friend. In the

nervous air, large droplets appeared in Tiese’s eyes and fell
soundlessly.
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“… Just now…”
A whisper came from her lightly colored lips.
“… I heard it… Eugeo-senpai’s… voice… He said, don’t cry…

Because I’m… always… here… He said that…”
As the pooling tears became more and more, suddenly, Tiese laid
her face onto the sword and began sobbing loudly like a child. Ronye
laid onto Kirito’s knees, wailing.
Alice was so moved by the indescribably poignant scene that she

too was about to cry—
But in a certain corner of her mind, she repeatedly thought about

whether this kind of thing could really happen.
Although Alice did not hear Eugeo’s voice, there was an

unmistakable instant when the sword released light. Then, the words
that Tiese heard could not be completely dismissed as hallucinations.
On the Blue Rose Sword, there still remained something that was
the same as Eugeo’s soul… Was it like that?
When Alice released the Armament Full Control Art, she also felt
that the Fragrant Olive Sword seemingly fused with her own
consciousness. Eugeo’s situation was not only the same as hers, he
actually fused his own body with the Blue Rose Sword, and was
fatally wounded in the process.
Therefore, the idea that the remaining sword fragments could still
have the owner’s soul may actually be possible.
But, Tiese just said that Eugeo called upon her. If this was the
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truth, then what remained in that sword was not the reverberations
of a soul, but the actual consciousness — or Incarnation.
A hallucination caused by the girl’s desire? Or…?
This was frustrating. If it was Kirito, he would immediately see

through the secret of this phenomenon. After all, he was from outside
this world, dropped from where the mysterious Gods live.
Among her chaotic thoughts, like a small bubble, a phrase floated

into Alice’s mind.
World End Altar.
That unfamiliarly named place seemed as though it had a way to

the outer world.
If they were able to get there, would all of the mysteries instantly
come to light? They might even take back Kirito’s lost consciousness,
wouldn’t they?
But, the Altar was outside the Human Empire, on the other side
south of the Great Eastern Gate. In other words, the border of the
Dark Territory, ruled by the Dark Races.
If they wanted to go there, first, they must not only defend against
the army array beyond the Great Eastern Gate, they must penetrate
it. No, even if they could penetrate the enemy army, they can’t just
leave the Gate defenses behind and run to the south. As an Integrity
Knight bestowed with overpowering strength, Alice carried the duty
of protecting the Human Empire.
She should just use herself to lure away the entire enemy army
and lead them far away from the Gate while heading for the Altar.
But, to the people of the Dark Territory, invading the Human Empire
has been their wish for hundreds of years. There cannot be
something more tantalizing than that…
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It seems that if they want to target the World End Altar, they must
completely annihilate the Dark Army in front of them first.
At this conclusion, Alice could not help but close her eyes.
Although she came up with an exaggerated solution like

annihilating the enemy, at the current situation, simply repelling the
enemy vanguard first will be extremely difficult. However, she could
only do that. Even if it is for Tiese and Ronye’s protection, and that of
Kirito.
Sighing softly, Alice interrupted these seconds-long thoughts, and

walked towards the two ceaselesly wailing girls.
Solus’s sunset had long disappeared into the east, but within the
sky of the Dark Territory, which appeared narrow beyond the Great
Eastern Gate, an ominous blood-red still shook steadily.
As though they wanted to obscure that sight; white tents were

erected towards both north and south at the center of the the Human
Empire Defense Army camp, in the grassy plains that served as
Dragon landing sites during the day. Under an Axiom Church flag
flying high within, there gathered a total of thirty Integrity Knights
and Defense Army Commanders, their faces all plastered with
solemn expressions.
Alice realized that the Knights and soldiers had not separated at
all; she halted her footsteps in slight surprise.
The Integrity Knights were clad in shining silver armor and the
soldier commanders in black iron armor that lacked splendor, but still
had a high Priority; both sides were engaged in enthusiastic
discussion, clutching cups filled with Siral water. As she listened in,
she found that the soldiers’ words had already lost all traces of
convoluted honorifics.
“Although it’s a makeshift regiment, it’s still pretty good,
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isn’t it, little girl?”
A low voice suddenly came from her side; Alice turned frantically.
Knight Commander Bercouli, with both arms crossed over his

Oriental-styled clothing, stopped Alice who was about to salute, and
continued:
“In this Defense Army, everything related to the stupid

formalities and stuff has been revoked. Luckily, there’s no
term in the Taboo Index that says that [Normal citizens must
perfectly greet a Knight before talking to him].”
“Ha, haah… I also think that’s really unnecessary, but let’s

put that aside right now…”
Alice turned her eyes back to the army meeting.
“— Where are the other Integrity Knights? As far as I can

see, there are only ten over there.”
“Very unfortunately, this is everyone.”
“Eh… EH?!”
Alice could not help but hold up a hand to cover her high voice,
and looked up at the Knight Commander, who had a slightly bitter
look on his face.
“How… Can this be? Including myself, there should be

thirty-one of us Integrity Knights.”
This was the same as Thirty-One, Eldrie’s given name in the Sacred
Tongue.
Bercouli’s reply was mixed with a low “Even though you say
that” sigh:
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“You know as well as I do, little girl. About the
«Reprocessing» setting that Chief Elder Chudelkin
administered that caused memory discordance in the
Knights. Since that guy died, the seven Knights who were
still in Reprocessing in the Senate have still not awoken.”
“…!”
Alice could not help but widen her eyes. Bercouli continued in an
even more dejected voice:
“The only ones who knew the incantation for Reprocessing

were Chudelkin and the Highest Minister. They’re both dead
now, it’s impossible to wake those seven up without
spending time to decipher the incantation, and there’s no
time for that now. There’s only one Knight who is not in
Reprocessing but in stasis; if we can think of a way to wake
that guy up…”
Alice felt that the Knight Commander’s words were mumbled, so

she asked:
“May I ask who this is, that single individual?”
“… It’s the «Silent» Zayta.”
“……!”
Although she had never directly seen this person and had heard
only a few rumored names, Alice still held her breath. The reason was
that those rumors were simply too chilling.
Bercouli coughed, hinting that they should discuss these matters

another time. Then, he continued his explanation:
“…In summary, there are only twenty-four awakened

Integrity Knights as of now. Four of them have stayed in the
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Cathedral and Central Capital for management, and four of
them are acting guards at the Mountain Range at the Edge.
The remaining sixteen… This is the extent of what we can put
into this line of absolute defense. Of course, that’s counting
myself and you, little girl.”
“Sixteen…?”
Alice wanted to add “only”, but bit her lip and resisted.
If they confirmed their situation again, half of the fourteen in the

strategy meeting all lacked Divine Instrument — that is, they were
lower Knights incapable of invoking the Armament Full Control Art.
Even if they just considered close combat, they were warriors
capable of slaying one or two hundred Goblins, but they couldn’t be
expected to have the explosive power to stabilize the battlefield.
To Alice who fell silent, Bercouli changed his tone of voice:
“Say, what’re you going to do with the youngster…? How

about I go to the rearguard…”
“Ah… No, don’t worry about it.”
At the Knight Commander’s awkward concern, Alice shook her

head with a smile.
“By chance, there are people among the volunteers who

stayed with him in the Sword Mastery Academy… I’ll leave
him in their care once the battle begins.”
“Heh, that’s good…. Then, how did it go? Was there

anything when the black-haired kid got into contact with
people he’d conversed with before?”
Alice shook her head silently.
Bercouli exhaled shortly, mumbling “Like that, huh”.
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1191 Report
“…I’ll only say this here. Honestly, I’ve always wondered
whether the one who can really decide the tide of battle is
actually that youngster…”
Alice looked up suddenly.
“Although he had the help of you, little girl, and his

partner, being able to slash and kill Chudelkin and the
Highest Minister is extremely impressive. If we just talk
about the strength of his Incarnation, I’m afraid that not
even I can compare.”
“…How… can that be…?”
Alice already had not the slightest doubt of Kirito’s strength, but
Knight Commander Bercouli’s had honed his Incarnation for more
than two hundred years. Conversely, Kirito was still an underage
student. It would be better to say that, regardless of swordsmanship
or physique, it is impossible to win against the Knight Commander in
terms of Incarnation willpower.
But Bercouli just refuted Alice with full confidence.
“Before, when we clashed with Incarnation, I felt it clearly.

This kid has built up real combat skills on the same level as I
have. Just like that.”
“Real combat…? What does that mean…?”
“What it sounds like. Putting your life on the line.”
This was even more bizarre.
The people living in the Human Empire were protected, or

restricted, by the Taboo Index or the numerous laws of various
Empires; other than sparring with wooden swords, they usually would
never have the chance to compete with real swords in their lifetimes.
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1192 Report
The only exception was when the Integrity Knights carried out
actual combat at the Mountain Range at the Edge with Goblins or
Dark Knights attempting to invade. But since that was unlikely to
happen even once or twice between very long spans of time, and
since the Integrity Knights possessed crushing fighting power, they
honestly hardly counted as life-threatening conflicts.
According to this, the one in the Human Empire with the most real
combat experience would undoubtedly be Bercouli, who had fought
the Dark Army when the Knighthood had been much smaller. In
actuality, it is said that when he had just become an Integrity Knight
— although hard to believe — he was pitifully defeated by a Dark
Knight and barely escaped with his life.
Compared to the Bercouli then, Kirito has more real combat

experience?
If that was true — it can’t be experience from this world.
It was from his real home, «The Outside World». But that should
also be the kingdom where the Gods who created the Underworld
lived. It’s clearly that, but there is combat there? And who exactly did
he put his life on the line against?
Alice did not know what to think anymore; after hesitating briefly,
she made up her mind.
By now, she could only come clean to Bercouli. The existence of

the Outside World — and the World End Altar that can connect to
that place.
“… Oji-sama… Actually, when I was battling the Highest

Minister…”
Just as she was collecting her words, as they reached the tip of her
tongue.
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Suddenly, a sharp voice came from behind the Knight Commander.
“Your Excellency, it is time.”
Alice turned her eyes to the owner of a voice that replied “Yes”.
An Integrity Knight stood there, wrapped in light purple armor that

was still dazzling at dusk, equipped with a silvery-white rapier on the
left abdomen.
As soon as she saw the bird-of-prey-like winged helmet that

completely obscured its owner’s face, Alice felt a lament floating into
her heart — directly speaking, it was an “Ahh” feeling.
To Alice, this was probably the person whom she could get along
the least with. The Second Integrity Knight and Vice Knight
Commander, Fanatio Synthesis Two.
Alice tried not to show her inner thoughts, and pressed her right
fist to her left chest in a Knight’s salute.
Across from her, Fanatio performed the same action, her armor
clanking. But, different from Alice, who was standing straight with
legs slightly apart, Fanatio shifted her center of gravity to her right
leg and relaxed her left shoulder, putting on a delicate figure.
It’s this part about this person that I just don’t… Alice muttered
silently as she dropped her hand.
She probably wanted to hide it with her armor, helmet and stern
tone, but as soon as someone of the same gender saw her, Fanatio’s
unconcealable femininity would emanate from her words and actions
like the fragrance of a huge flower. This was also a «Technique» that
Alice, who was taken to the Cathedral at the age of a child, had not
had the opportunity to appreciate.
When Vice Knight Commander Fanatio was battling Kirito and

Eugeo on the fiftieth floor of the Cathedral, she suffered near-fatal
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injuries from a direct hit by Kirito’s Armament Full Control Art. But
according to lower Knights who happened to be at the scene, Kirito
had casted Healing Arts onto Fanatio, whom he had painstakingly
defeated, and used a strange Art to transport her to some place,
saving her life.
Although it sounded very much like what Kirito would do, Alice’s
heart was still not calm.
Besides, although this person has always said for a hundred years
that she was loyal to Knight Commander Bercouli, she named four
lower Knights who were smitten with her as her direct subordinates.
Are they, who can only yearn but not touch, not pitiful? At least stop
wearing a silver mask day and night and show your face to other
people.
As Alice was muttering in her heart, Fanatio suddenly placed her

hands on both sides of her helmet.
With a click, she unlocked the buckle and casually raised the
equipment that shined with a light purple glow. Lustrous black hair
billowed out, flowing in the night wind and emanating a silky gloss.
Alice had only seen Fanatio’s face once, and it was a chance
encounter while she was heading towards the Cathedral’s baths. It
seemed to be her first time seeing the Vice Knight Commander take
off her helmet in plain sight of everyone.
As she stared at the beauty that seemed to be even gentler than

before, she understood. Her soft lips shone with light lipstick. She,
who always concealed her femininity until now, actually put on
makeup—?
Fanatio smiled slightly at Alice, who stood blankly, and said:
“Long time no see, Alice ne. I’m relieved that you’re so

spirited wa.”
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“……”
Ne? Wa?[5]
Alice could not help but remain silent for a few seconds, then
returned the greeting:
“Long… Long time no see, Vice Commander.”
“Just call me Fanatio. Anyway, Alice. I only heard tell… You

brought back that black-haired boy?”
At this sudden question, Alice immediately purged her mind of all

surprise, her alertness rising at the same time.
Although the ones who healed Fanatio were Kirito and the sage
Cardinal, she might not know that. To Kirito, who struck her down, it
wouldn’t be strange at all for her to harbor hatred and loathing.
“Y… Yes.”
Hearing Alice’s short reply, the Vice Commander nodded,

maintaining her sweet smile.
“Oh really. Then, can I go and see him after the strategy
meeting?”
“… What for, your Highness Fanatio?”
“Come on now, don’t make that face. I’ve never wanted to

cut that child.”
Fanatio shrugged with a wry smile.
“I only want to thank him. After all, the one who healed my
fatal injuries was that boy.”
“… It is as you say. However, I think there is no need for
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1196 Report
you to thank Kirito. As I hear, the one who healed you was
the Former Highest Minister, Cardinal. And that person…
Most unfortunately, left this world in the battle half a year
ago.”
Alice said, slightly relaxing the tension in her shoulders. But

Fanatio looked leisurely up at the sky, nodded softly and said:
“Yes… I vaguely remember. It was the first time I had

experienced such a warm and powerful Healing Art. But the
one who sent me to that Sage was Kirito, and… There’s
something else I want to thank him for.”
“Something else…?”
“Yes. —When he battled me and struck me down.”
… As expected, she still wants to slash Kirito.
Seeing Alice take half a step back, Fanatio forcefully shook her
head with a serious expression.
“I’m serious. That child is the only man who has seriously
crossed swords with me even though he knew that I am
female, in the two hundred years I have been an Integrity
Knight.”
“Hah…? What… are you…”
“In the past, I didn’t wear this thick helmet and fought with
my face shown, like you. But one day, I realized it. The male
Knights who were my opponents in mock battles, even the
Dark Knights whom I fought with my life, held back just a
sliver in their swordsmanship. Showing mercy because I am a
woman is a deeper humiliation to me than crawling on the
ground after being defeated.”
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1197 Report
But that’s just something that cannot be helped. Alice felt that that
men who could ignore Fanatio’s facial beauty did not exist.
After settling down in the outskirts of Rulid, she learned for the first
time that, in the majority of the Human Empire, there were almost no
Sacred Tasks that made women hold swords. At best, the exception
were nobles and the children of Lords; in other words, ordinary
female citizens were, in principle, unable to choose any method of
survival other than becoming a wife, doing housework and raising
sons and daughters.
If this ancient custom bound the hearts of the men like the Taboo
Index, it would really be ironic. It’s this existing prejudiced view that
women should be protected by men that rendered many swords dull
in front of Fanatio’s striking beauty. Even the Dark Knights who were
inhabitants of the Dark Territory were no exception. Of course,
Goblins or Orcs who had a completely different appearance were
another discussion altogether.
But as a fellow female Knight, Alice had completely ignored the

musings of male Knights until now. She was sure that, no matter if
the enemy held back or pushed with full force, she would definitely
be stronger than them.
— Your kind of rage is the proof that you are bound by your own
identity as a female.
Just as Alice was silently talking to herself, Fanatio was muttering

the same thing:
“— I used this helmet to hide my appearance and voice,

and learned continuous sword techniques that kept enemies
from nearing me. But this also means that I am too mired
within my gender, right? That child saw through this
immediately, but still fought me with all that he had. In my
battle with him, I exhausted all of the sword and Art
techniques that I knew, and eventually lost. I’m lucky for
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1198 Report
Cardinal’s help that saved my life, and when I regained
consciousness, all of the pointless bindings in my heart had
disappeared… In other words, as long as I can be strong
enough to prevent my opponent from having concerns, it’ll
be all right. It’s not unreasonable that I want to thank the
boy who helped me understand this simple truth, and saved
my life, now is it?”
After saying this seriously, Fanatio suddenly smiled mischievously:
“Also… I’m a little annoyed. That boy actually said that he

absolutely did not feel any femininity from my face. So I
wanted to try and do this and that to see if I can wake that
boy up.”
“Wha…”
What the hell are you joking about?
If Kirito really woke up, then won’t everything I’ve done up to today
be completely worthless? Thinking from Kirito’s angle, I really can’t
say that there’s absolutely no possibility.
Without concealing the dangerous look between her eyebrows,

Alice replied in a shrill voice:
“Thank you very much for your kind words, but he is

already resting now. I will pass on Your Highness Fanatio’s
feelings to him tomorrow.”
“Ahh.”
Losing her smile, the Vice Commander’s long eyebrows twitched.
“I need your permission to see that child? In the Cathedral,

when you requested to meet with His Excellency the Knight
Commander while he was tending to public matters, I never
declined because of my personal feelings.”
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1199 Report
“I don’t need Your Highness Fanatio’s permission to see
Oji-sama, do I? Besides, aren’t you supposed to see Oji-sama
if you want to be pitifully defeated by a male Knight?”
“Ah, I’d rather not for His Excellency. He’s the strongest
swordsman in the world, and naturally he will hold back
against everyone. Even if his opponent is a Dark Knight, he’ll
be merciful.”
“Heh, really? When he trains with me, Oji-sama drips with

sweat and is really serious.”
“…Your Excellency! Is this true?!”
“Anyway, it’s Oji-sama who pampers this person too

much…!”
Alice and Fanatio turned to the side at the same time.
The Knight Commander was not there.
Where Bercouli was standing a few minutes ago, there was only
the night wind that softly blew on the dry grass.
Due to massive murderous intent released by acting chair Vice

Knight Commander Fanatio Synthesis Two and Alice Synthesis Thirty
who was newly joining the front, the strategy meeting held at six in
the afternoon began with an unusually tense atmosphere.
After Alice briefly introduced herself, she fiercely sat down on the
portable chair set in the very front row.
“…Alice-sama.”
Sitting beside her, Eldrie quietly held out Siral Water. Alice grabbed
the cup and downed the ice-cold, sour-sweet liquid. Exhaling deeply,
she finally alleviated her mood.
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1200 Report
—In any case.
There were really very few higher Integrity Knights with Divine
Instruments. The only ones she knew the name and appearance of
were the Knight Commander Bercouli of the «Time Piercing Sword»,
Fanatio of the «Heaven Piercing Sword», Eldrie of the «Frostscale
Whip», and Deusolbert of the «Conflagrant Flame Bow».
Including Zayta Synthesis Twelve with the alias «Silent», and the
extremely young Knight boy Lenry Synthesis Twenty-Seven who
seemed to be a Divine Instrument possessor, since this was the first
time Alice was seeing them, she didn’t even know what kind of sword
techniques they would use. No matter what, including the seven of
the above and Alice of the «Fragrant Olive Sword», they constituted
the higher Integrity Knights.
The remaining nine were lower Integrity Knights without Divine

Instruments, including Fanatio’s direct subordinates, the «Four
Oscillation Blades». Within them were also the shadows of those two
fearsome problem children, Trainee Knight girls who gave Bercouli
endless headaches, Linel Synthesis Twenty-Eight and Fizel Synthesis
Twenty-Nine. Although they were sitting quietly on chairs in a corner
in front of them, will they really be useful?
No matter what, the mere sixteen people constituted the full force
of what the Integrity Knighthood was able to put into this absolute
line of defense.
Conversely, the thirty Defense Army Commanders composed of

ordinary citizens were present. Although they were not without vigor,
at a glance it was still possible to see the difference between their
swordsmanship and that of the Integrity Knights. Alice and the other
higher Integrity Knights didn’t need to be mentioned, but even the
lower Integrity Knights could probably effortlessly win against all
thirty of them at once…
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“— In these four months, we have reviewed all tactics,
but…”
Speaking again at some moment, Fanatio’s voice brought Alice’s

attention back.
“What we can finally be sure of is that it would be very

difficult to repel the enemy’s total attack power with our own
battle strength right now, and when we are surrounded by
the enemy, there would be no odds anymore.”
Using the thin scabbard of her Heaven Piercing Sword as a baton,

Fanatio pointed at a giant map spread out in front of the troops.
“As you all can see, over here at the Mountain Range at the
Edge, there are plains and rocky terrain spanning ten Kilol. If
we are pushed back there, we would almost certainly be
surrounded by the fifty-thousand-strong army and
annihilated. Therefore, we must fight to the end in the
hundreds-Mel wide, thousands-Mel long valley extending
from the Great Eastern Gate. We shall set up a deep line
formation here, focus on countering the enemy’s assault, and
slice them away bit by bit. That is the basic operation. Are
there any comments regarding this point?”
The one who suddenly raised his hand was Eldrie. The young man
stood up, his wisteria-colored curls shaking, as his usually casual but
now suppressed rang in the air:
“If the enemy were only made up of Goblins or Orc foot

soldiers, we could cut down even fifty or a hundred
thousand. But the enemy are also very aware of this. The
Dark Territory has within it an Ogre army equipped with
strong crossbows, and a dangerous Dark Sorcerer division.
How are we to counter their torrential long-range attacks
soaring over from behind the foot soldiers?”
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1202 Report
“About that, it’s a dangerous bet…”
Fanatio paused, turning her eyes from Eldrie to Alice. She

inadvertently straightened her back and continued:
“… At the bottom of the valley, there is no sunlight even

during the day, and the ground is devoid of vegetation. In
other words, the Sacred Power in that space is very weak.
Before the battle begins, if I and the others completely
deplete that area, the enemy will be unable to invoke
powerful incantations.”
At Fanatio’s bold suggestion, the Knights and Defense Army

Commanders all began to argue.
“Of course, we’re the same. However, we only have about a

hundred Sacred Artists on our side anyway. If we battle with
Arts, the enemy’s Sacred Power expenditure would far
exceed our own.”
That is true. However —there were two problems with Fanatio’s

operation.
In place of Eldrie, who was now speechless, the archer Deusolbert

stood up. The veteran knight clad in reddish-copper armor inquired in
a steady voice:
“So, perhaps the Her Highness the Vice Commander’s

words are true. However, Sacred Arts are certainly not just
for attack purposes. If the Sacred Power is exhausted, won’t
we be unable to recover the Life of injured victims?”
“That’s why I said it’s a dangerous bet. We have emptied

the Cathedral treasury of all advanced catalysts [6] and
healing medicines stored there and transported them here. If
we restrict all Arts to Healing Arts and supplement them with
medicines, we should be able to hold the fort for two days
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1203 Report
just with catalysts… No, three days.”
This time there was even more surprised hustle and bustle. When
the treasury of the Central Cathedral was mentioned, most people
knew of a guarding force secure enough to become the subject of a
fairy tale. They had only heard of treasures being moved inside; it
was the first time in Human Empire history that they heard of
bringing something out.
Even the serious faces of the heroic Knights displayed silently

shocked expressions. Waiting until Deusolbert sat down with a moan,
Alice stood up.
“There’s still… one problem, Your Highness Fanatio.”
Clearing her mind of their argument a while ago, Alice brought up

the second problem.
“Although Solus and Terraria’s grace are thin, the valley is

not completely dark, and moreover, it is not completely
separated from the mainland. I believe that over the years, it
has accumulated a massive amount of Sacred Power. Exactly
who can completely deplete that power in the time before
the battle begins?”
This time, even Fanatio was unable to give an immediate reply.
The valley that ran through the mountains was certainly narrower
than the grassy plain that extended behind the camp, but even so, it
was a hundred Mel wide and a thousand Mel long. To immediately
drain that expansive space of the Sacred Power that covered it,
hundreds of Artists must cast advanced Arts at the same time, but it
was as Fanatio just said: there were not that many Artists in the
Defense Army.
Or, even if they numbered few, as long as they could drive an

extreme-scale Art enough to change the environment, they might be
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1204 Report
able to completely expend the Sacred Power, but Alice couldn’t think
of any people with that kind of power except the deceased Highest
Minister Administrator and the sage Cardinal.
However, the Vice Commander gazed at Alice with golden-brown

eyes and shook her head forcefully.
“No, there is. Only one person can do it.”
“…… One person…?”
Mumbling softly, Alice looked around at the Defense Army soldiers.
But what came out of Fanatio’s mouth was a name she had never
considered.
“That’s you, Alice Synthesis Thirty.”
“EH…?!”
“You may not have noticed, but your strength now has
exceeded the scope of an Integrity Knight. If it’s the current
you, you should be able to use it… that world-creating,
veritable godlike power.”
“Are these ‘higher Integrity Knights’ really that strong?”
Gabriel Miller asked during a bumpy ride inside of a gigantic tank

dragged by a dinosaur-like two-headed monstrosity. However, this
“tank” was more similar to a box on four wheels without treads or a
turret.
The silk-covered bench softened shaking somewhat but did not

suppress it entirely. Still, in comparison to the nightmarish roller
coaster Gabriel had to experience in the military vehicle known as a
“Bradley”[7], this ride was nothing. Wine rippled regularly in a
glass that stood on a folding table in front of him.
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1205 Report
Three days have already passed since they left Obsidia, but even
though Gabriel had never experienced continuous movement for this
long in the real world, he was almost completely unfatigued. This was
most likely unrelated to the pleasure of sitting in this so-called tank
and actually because this was a virtual world.
Besides Gabriel’s feet, lying on a soft carpet, the beautiful woman

in unkempt clothing massaged her bandaged right leg and nodded.
“They are very strong indeed… In nearly three hundred

years of combat history, not a single one of our Dark
Sorcerers or Dark Knights has managed to kill one… I don’t
know if you can understand this kind of example? Of course,
the opposite has happened countless times, as many times
as there are stars in the sky.”
“Hm…”
In place of Gabriel who fell silent, Vassago, who was sitting on the
opposite side with his legs crossed holding a bottle of distilled wine,
asked in a half-suspicious voice:
“But listen, D, baby. If those weirdly named bunch of Integrity…

Knights are really that awesome, how come they never invaded us
themselves?
The leader of the Dark Arts guild, DIL, smiled seductively and
raised her index finger.
“Good question, Vassago-sama. Each of them does have

the strength of a thousand, but in the end, each of them is
just one person. If this warrior would be surrounded by ten
thousand fighters in an open space, he’d start to incur
wounds, those wounds would accumulate and eventually his
entire Life would deplete. That’s why these cowards never go
too far over the Mountain Range at the Edge. They are afraid
of being surrounded.”
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“Heh, I see. It’s like how you can take care of all of those
tough mobs even if your DoT[8] is very low but you stay in a
safe place and shave away their HP bit by bit…”
“Hah?… Mobs?…”
Gabriel glared at Vassago, who had completely confused D’s

artificial Fluctlight with his comparison, coughed lightly and said:
“Anyway, you’re saying that if we force these Integrity

Knights to fight us in an open space, we’ll be able to
surround and exterminate them, correct?”
“That’s how it is in theory. But we’ll probably have to

sacrifice tens of thousands of Goblins and Orcs.”
Giggling, D picked a brightly colored berry out of the cup on the

carpet and licked it with her lips that were just as crimson red.
Needless to say, Gabriel was completely indifferent to the loss of

infantry units. He would not care if he had to sacrifice the entire
army, including even D. In a sense, this battle was the same as the
tactical simulations he went through countless times back at
GlowGen.
He will become the new ruler of the Human Empire with his throne
on a mountain of corpses, and issue a simple order across the entire
country: find and bring him the girl known as Alice. After that, his
mission in this strange world would be finished.
As he thought, the exotic high-class wine in the glass became

increasingly precious.
Raising his glass, Gabriel sipped the dark purple liquid.
At this time, Gabriel Miller’s mind unconsciously molded together

the figure of «Alice», with the flawless, beautiful figure of his first
prey that had an extremely similar name, Alicia Clingerman. Living in
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1207 Report
some place that would be similar to his home, Pacific Palisades, she
would be gentle, beautiful —and absolutely powerless. That was the
image in his head.
That was why Gabriel failed to consider another possibility.
He did not even begin to imagine —that the «Alice» he sought

would be one of the Integrity Knights leading the enemy army.
A long military convoy, with the command car with a waving

Emperor flag bringing up the rear, was slowly but surely moving to
the West. At the edge of the blood-colored sky, the saw-like pitch-
black Mountain Range at the Edge slowly revealed its silhouette.
On the fourth day of the march, the seventh day of the eleventh
month.
The main forces of the Dark Territory approached the base of the
Mountain Range, where they could see the huge gate that was just
about to collapse. A countless number of black tents set up by the
vanguard covered the wide plain.
Boom.
Boom.
The earth trembled from the thunderous war drums played by the
tribe of Giants.
At the end of the line, Gabriel looked silently from the roof of his
command car — as though they were countless blood cells pumped
by a giant heart, the attack unit slowly expanded into the final
formation.
The first vanguard unit consisted of several light infantry regiments

composed of Goblins and heavy Orc infantry, numbering fifteen
thousand overall. They lined up in a column barely the same width as
that of the valley piercing through the Mountain Range. Here and
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1208 Report
there among the formation, Giants resembling siege towers were
stationed; they numbered less than five hundred, but as the main
force tanks supporting the infantry unit, they were worth it.
Behind the Mixed Demihuman Unit, there was the second line,
comprised of five thousand Fist Fighters and five thousand Dark
Knights. The young new leader of the Dark Knights wanted to wash
away the shame of his predecessor and asked to be part of the
vanguard, but Gabriel refused. That could cause a drop in morale of
the other Knight Units and he must eliminate such this unsure factor.
The third line was built up of seven thousand Ogre Archers and an
entirely female Dark Sorceress division that numbered three
thousand. Their task was to charge into the valley behind the infantry
and annihilate the enemy army with long range attacks. According to
the head of the Sorceresses, D, even if they used long-range attacks,
if they could recognize the main force of the enemy army — the
shadows of the Integrity Knights, they could kill them with by
concentrating their fire onto one point.
Honestly, Gabriel really wanted to take on those invincible Knights

by himself and consume their souls. However, any sort of accident
could result in his high-level account being lost. Besides, he could
create as many Underworldians — that is, artificial Fluctlights, as he
wanted in the future. Right now, the primary goal was to control
«Alice» and escape the «Ocean Turtle».
From logging to now, eight days of internal time had passed, which
corresponded to about fifteen minutes in the real world. After Gabriel
assumed complete control of the Human Empire, the amount of time
it would take to spread the order to find Alice to each corner of this
world would take about ten more days. Thinking like that, he must
end this war as quickly as possible — the longest being an entire
day.
“Ahh, we’re not gonna get any action after all?”
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1209 Report
Vassago complained from behind, clutching his umpteenth bottle
of whiskey. Gabriel threw a quick look at him and reprimanded him
with a sharp tone:
“Don’t think I didn’t see you. When that Knight called

Shasta caused trouble, you hung me out to dry and ran off.”
“Heh, our commander sees everything, doesn’t he?”
Vassago ostentatiously laughed it off.
“Look, I specialize in PvP. I didn’t sign up to deal with that

disembodied monster.”
Gazing into his subordinate’s eyes, Gabriel still failed to understand

whether his explanation was a joke or not, so he asked curtly:
“Vassago, why did you volunteer to participate in this

operation?”
“Operation? You mean Diving into the Underworld? Isn’t

that obvious? It’s fun…”
“Before that. The operation of attacking the «Ocean Turtle».

Although you are part of GlowGen DS support, you’re probably still
just an internet expert. What is your motive for participating in a real
fight, risking being hit by real bullets? At your age, you’re not like
Hans and Brigg, the war dogs who came back from the Middle East.
It was quite a long question for Gabriel, but it did not mean that he
was interested in this person called Vassago Casals. It just suddenly
seemed as if this young man was hiding something under his shallow
behavior.
Vassago shrugged and replied with the same answer.
“Isn’t that obvious? It’s fun… That’s it, I swear.”
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“Heh…”
“Then according to your logic, sending college elites like

you to the scene is weirder, whether or not you have any real
military experience.”
“I am capable of adapting to my environment.”
Gabriel replied, but internally he muttered:
Vassago, what is “fun” to you? Shooting guns? Or… murdering

people?
Just as Gabriel was hesitating over whether to continue to question

Vassago or end the small talk, the sound of clicking high-heels,
resembling that of a walking stick, came from behind the command
car. A beautiful woman revealing light dark skin — Dark Sorcerer
Commander D appeared.
After a respectful bow, she licked her lips and reported:
“Your Majesty, the forces have been successfully brought

into their positions.”
“Mm.”
Gabriel spread his crossed legs, stood up from his temporary

throne and looked around.
There were thirty-five thousand warriors in the main force, a ten-

thousand-strong backup force built up of Goblins and Orcs, and the
command car, flanked on both sides by a five thousand-strong supply
unit of the Commerce Guild.
This fifty-thousand person army was Gabriel’s entire force. If he

suffered heavy losses and was still unable to break through the
enemy’s defenses, he would be unable to correct his basic plan. The
chances of securing Alice would almost completely disappear.
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However, according to reports from Dragon Knight Scouts, the
enemy had merely three thousand. If everything went according to
plan and he could take out the Integrity Knights, it would be
impossible to lose.
“… All right, good job. How much time is left until the gate
collapses?”
“About eight hours.”
“Then, have the first division enter the valley an hour

before the gate collapses. Fan them out as close to the gate
as possible, and attack the very moment it falls. If they can
push back the front, immediately send in the second and
third division and annihilate the enemy in a single strike.”
“Yes. …We will take the head of the enemy before

tomorrow. Of course, they will already have been charred
beyond recognition.”
D giggled. After quickly giving orders to the Sorceresses awaiting

them behind her, she bowed deeply and descended the steps.
Gabriel walked to the front of his huge four-wheeled vehicle,

looking far off at the gigantic stone gate erected in front of him.
It was still two miles off, but its size gave off the tension of a huge
mountain. Seeing an object of that quality collapse would be an
astounding phenomenon.
However, the true feast will have only just begun. The thousands of
souls that will crack and disappear will release an unparalleled
gorgeous glow. The RATH technicians locked up on the top floor of
the «Ocean Turtle» will regret missing this most grandiose scene that
they established themselves.
Boom. Boom.
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Boom. Boom.
The drums were beat increasingly faster, arousing a hunger and

madness that flooded the wilderness.
“Then… Please take care of Kirito.”
Alice said, gazing at each of the two girls’ faces.
Novice trainees, no, already independent swordswomen Tiese

Shtolienen and Ronye Arabel straightened their backs and nodded
forcefully.
“Yes, please rest assured and leave it to us, Alice-sama.”
“We will definitely protect Kirito-senpai.”
Replying to Alice, Tiese and Ronye gripped the newly constructed

wheelchair’s handle with their left and right hand respectively.
Alice had used an Art to transform an extra full set of armor from
the supply tent into the thin, long chair that reflected a grayish-white
glow. It was not only lighter than the wooden wheelchair they had
used in Rulid, it was guaranteed to be durable.
Even so, she could not do anything about the weight of the two
swords that Kirito clutched onto. Alice worried in her heart over
whether the girls could push them or not, but the duo inhaled and
exhaled in collaboration, pushing the wheelchair straight in front of
Alice.
This way, they would not be delayed even if they received an

emergency retreat order. Even so, when the time came that they
could not help but escape from the valley, it would also be the time
when the Defense Army would be surrounded and destroyed.
In honesty, as soon as the battle took a turn slightly for the worse,
Alice would take Kirito and flee towards the east. But it would only be
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delaying their fate by a few months — no, just a few weeks.
If the Defense Army was defeated, the four Knights protecting the
Mountain Range at the Edge would also retreat, ordering citizens
from each village and city to evacuate, and set up the city wall of
Central Capital Centoria as the last line of defense. But that would
only be pointless resistance. Eventually to be ravaged by the
invading army, that beautiful city and its white Cathedral would be
burned down. Within the wall-like, now sealed Mountain Range at the
Edge, they would have absolutely nowhere to run…
Alice bent her knees down to Kirito’s height and gazed into his
eyes.
In the five days since they arrived at the camp, whenever she had
time, Alice would speak to Kirito, caress his hands, and hug him tight
and close. But, up to today, he still failed to produce any response
that was worth mentioning.
“Kirito… Perhaps, this is our last farewell.”
Alice murmured to the black-haired youth, trying to keep her smile.
“Oji-sama said that he feels you can decide the outcome of

this battle. I feel the same way, since this Defense Army was
set up because of you.”
In actuality, if it were not for Kirito and Eugeo, the ones embattling
the Great Eastern Gate would be the Highest Minister Administrator
and the entire Integrity Knighthood, and that ominous Sword Golem
army.
If they had two to three thousand Sword Golems, known for their
chilling fighting strength, the fifty thousand-strong Dark Territory
army would indeed be not worth mentioning. But that would also
mean the destruction of the Human Empire. Kirito and the others
sacrificed a life and a heart to prevent that tragedy.
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But if this continues and the Defense Army is defeated, a different
kind of heavy tragedy would bear down upon and attack the people.
“… I will also try my best. I will burn and exhaust this Life
you bestowed upon me to its very last drop. So… If I fall and
use my last bit of strength to call upon you, you must stand
up and draw that sword. As long as you can wake up, it
wouldn’t matter if the enemy numbered thousands or tens of
thousands. Evoke a miracle again, and protect the Human
Empire… everyone. Because, you are…”
—The one who defeated even the Highest Minister, the strongest
swordsman.
Silently murmuring in her heart, Alice extended both hands and

tightly hugged Kirito’s emaciated frame.
After some time, Alice released the embrace, stood up, and noticed
Ronye’s blue eyes, shaking with a complicated radiance, turned
firmly towards them. Why would this be? She blinked a few times,
and suddenly understood.
“Ronye-san. You… like Kirito, don’t you?”
After Alice said that with a smile, the delicate girl covered her
mouth with her hands, her face reddening ear to ear. She looked
down and replied in a feeble voice:
“No, it’s not, how can… How could I be so disrespectful…?

Someone like me, I’m only a novice trainee valet…”
“What do you mean, disrespectful? Ronye-san, you’re the

successor of a noble family, aren’t you? I’m just a civilian
born in a border town, and even Kirito is a moneyless,
incapable, unemployed person with an unknown birthplace…”
Suddenly, Ronye shook her head vehemently and interrupted Alice.
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“No! I… I…”
With her left hand, Tiese gently supported Ronye, whose eyes were
filling with tears and had stopped her words abruptly. Her reddish-
leafy colored eyes also dampened as she began in a trembling voice:
“Alice-sama… You know of the Taboo that Kirito-senpai and

Eugeo-senpai broke, right?”
“Yeah… I know. I heard that there was a conflict within the

Academy… They murdered other students.”
Half a year ago, when Alice, still oblivious as an Axiom Church elite
soldier, received the Senate’s order for arrest, she still remembered
today the slight shock she felt then. There were never any records of
that kind of major Taboo violation involving Central Capital Academy
students murdering other students in the Church’s historical records.
“Then… Do you know why the Senpais broke the Taboo…?”
“No… About that, I…”
Just as Alice was about to shake her head, a wave of shouts

resounded in her head.
That was what Kirito shouted at Alice, who did not need the help of
a convict, when they were both thrown to the outer wall of the
Cathedral…
“—As long as it’s not prohibited by the Taboo Index, it’s

tolerable for completely innocent girls like Tiese and Ronye
to be freely played around with by the Upper Elite… Do you
think this way!!?”
Right. I heard the names of these two then.
Elite students should be the students that Kirito cut down. Then,
the ones who were played with, are—
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To Alice, whose eyes opened wide, Tiese described in a quaking
voice:
“… Elite Swordsman-in-Training Raios Antinous and Elite

Swordsman-in-Training Humbert Zizek repeatedly issued
humiliating orders to our friend and Novice Trainee Frenica
Szeski. We raised objections to those two Swordsmen-in-
Training and in our anger, carelessly used language
equivalent to extremely disrespectful behavior. Because of
that, according to Empire Fundamental Law, the noble class
were able to exercise their right to punishment and
reward…”
After that, just thinking about it would be extremely painful. Tiese’s

voice had already became stuck, and Ronye began to sob softly, her
head lowered.
Just as Alice was about to open her mouth and utter “You don’t
have to say anymore”, the red-haired girl continued determinately:
“… To save us, who were dealt with unbearable

punishment, Kirito-senpai and Eugeo-senpai swung their
swords. If we had been a little more intelligent, that would
not have happened. Our Senpais would not have fought
against the Church to correct the law, and would not have
perished because of that. We… have committed an
unforgivable sin. Therefore… even if our mouths were ripped
to shreds, we could not say that we like our Senpais…”
After sputtering out her heartfelt thoughts, hot tears finally

streamed down Tiese’s face. Carrying hatred and humiliation too
harsh for their age, the young girls hugged each other, whimpering
softly.
Alice tightly clenched her teeth, looking up at the small skylight.
She also knew of the corruption of the Upper Noble Class of the
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Four Empires. Satiation, extortion, and adultery.
But the Integrity Knight Alice from before believed that dwelling on
these acts would cause herself to be contaminated, so she turned a
blind eye to the noble class’s misbehavior. No matter what they did,
as long as they did not break the Taboo Index, they could be ignored
— As to why, it was because she was a Protector of the Law
summoned from the Spirit World. And she always deeply believed
that.
But this kind of ignorance was the real sin. Not touching the Taboo
Index that Kirito hated deeply was the actual major crime. Compared
to her inactive self, the two girls in front of her were many times
braver.
Alice inhaled and exhaled deeply, and said in a voice imbibed with
strength:
“No, you’re wrong. You both have done nothing wrong.”
The one who raised her head, shocked, was Ronye. The girl who
seemed to always hide behind Tiese stared with eyes tangled with
intense light and shouted:
“Alice-sama… Honorable Integrity Knight Alice-sama cannot

understand! Our bodies were played with those men, and our
self-respect has been tarnished!”
“The body is but a container for the spirit.”
Replying like that, Alice forcefully thumped the center of her chest
with her right fist.
“Only your heart… Only your spirit is the one true

existence. And the one who decides the state of your spirit,
is yourself.”
Alice closed her eyes and gathered her consciousness within
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herself.
When Rulid was attacked about two weeks ago, Alice once used
the power of the heart —- that is, Incarnation, to recover her lost
right eye. She personally felt that as long as she firmly, carefully
prayed, she could induce changes in her physical body even without
relying on Arts.
But now that was still not enough. Not just her physical body, even
the clothes on her body must be changed by the power of
Incarnation.
It is definitely possible. Didn’t Kirito do it before? He, who

confronted Administrator holding two swords, flipped up an exotic,
long black leather coat completely different from the clothes he wore
up until now.
She can change back. She can change back to the Alice when she
awoke in that huge, unfamiliar tower, before she blindly sealed her
heart away with thick icy armor to eliminate the anxiety and
loneliness from losing her memories.
—I’m the same as both of you, Ronye, Tiese. I was born as the
child of a man, made many mistakes, bore deep sins, and now am
here. If Eugeo killed someone because of you… Before now, if I had
not broken that small Taboo when I was younger nine years ago,
then Eugeo and the others would not have headed for the Central
Capital at all.
Yes, that was my crime. Even if I have no memories of her, Alice

Schuberg is not an unfamiliar stranger, but definitely me from before.
The days I spent in Rulid taught me that much.
Even as her eyes were closed, Alice was still aware of the white,
warm glow that wrapped around her body.
Alice slowly opened her eyes.
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Because her head was lowered, the first thing she saw was the
dress she was wearing. But that was not pure white, the color of the
Axiom Church, but dyed azure blue, reminiscent of an autumn sky.
A plain white apron lay on top of her skirt. The golden armor and
gauntlets had disappeared. As she felt the top of her head, her
fingertips touched a large ribbon. Her hair also seemed to be slightly
shorter.
Raising her head, she met eyes with the shocked Ronye and Tiese.
“…See, right? The body and appearance are merely

dependencies of the heart.”
Of course, this transformation was temporary. The instant that

concentration was broken, she should turn back into her original
Knight form. But the meaning behind it should be able to be
conveyed to the girls. Alice’s, Kirito’s and Eugeo’s longing.
“Your heart cannot be tarnished by anyone. Born in a

border village, I was originally supposed to be raised this[9]
way. But when I was eleven years old, I was taken to the
Central Capital as a sinner, had my memories erased using
Arts and turned into an Integrity Knight, and I have cursed
that fate before…”
Alice was recounting a great secret that only Knight Commander

Bercouli knew apart from herself. But she believed that these two
people would be able to accept it, and continued:
“However… Even in that state, there are things I am able to

accomplish and things I am supposed to accomplish; that’s
what Kirito taught me. Therefore, I am no longer confused. I
have decided to accept myself and step forward.”
Alice raised both hands and firmly grasped Ronye and Tiese’s
hands.
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“You have them too. A wide, long, and straight path
belonging only to you.”
Several droplets landed onto the tightly clasped hands, dripping

and dripping.
The tears that slid down the girls’ faces took on a spectral glow
completely unlike before, shining beautifully.
Tightly embracing Kirito in the wheelchair again, Alice entrusted

him to Ronye and Tiese, and walked out of the tent.
Although he was intentionally waiting for her, Eldrie jogged over,

full of praise:
“Ohh, how outstanding… A form resembling that of the

Solus’s condensed light… This is my real mentor Alice-
sama…”
“I will be covered with dust after an hour of battle

anyway.”
Coldly interrupting his words, Alice looked towards the eastern sky.
Her transformation before had long disappeared; her golden

breastplate and pure white skirt blindingly reflected the sunlight. As
she gazed up towards the eastern sky, she thought that if she came
back alive, she would add a piece of sky-blue cloth somewhere.
Solus was already leaning downwards. There were about three

more hours before it would vanish into the horizon. And then, the Life
of the Great Eastern Gate would also vanish. Finally, the three
hundred-year-old seal was about to be released.
The personnel were already at their limit.
In these five days, Alice trained along with the Defense Army; their
proficiency made it difficult to believe that they had only trained for
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half a year. What was more surprising was that everyone mastered
combination sword skills completely absent from traditional schools
of teaching.
Alice heard that it was Vice Knight Commander Fanatio who

generously imparted her skills honed over many years. The longest
one seemed to be only a three-hit attack, but it was an encouraging
weapon against the Goblins or Orcs, who randomly brandished their
rough blades according to their instinct.
Of course, if they ran into Dark Knights with their own continuous-
hit skills, it would be a very heavy burden for the Defense Army
soldiers. If high-speed continuous-hit Fist Fighters were added to the
mix, they could only count on the Integrity Knights to counter them.
The important matter was whether they could defend against the
great army of Demihumans that would immediately swarm in once
the battle began. Also, whether they could survive the bows of the
Orcs and long-range attack Arts while sustaining as little losses as
possible.
Whether they succeeded or not, it now seemed that everything

rested on Alice’s shoulders—
Turning her eyes back forward, she saw the rear supply team
preparing their last supper, with a few columns of smoke curling
upwards. Not far away, Ronye and Tiese should be taking Kirito
towards there to meet everyone else.
Must protect it. No matter what.
“… Alice-sama, it is time…”
Nodding at Eldrie’s words, Alice turned around stepped forward.
But she stopped her feet at that moment, throwing her eyes
towards her only disciple.
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“… M-May I ask what is the matter?”
Staring at the young Knight who blinked confusedly, Alice slightly

relaxed her taut lips.
“… All this time, you’ve done your best to serve me,

Eldrie.”
“Hah… W-what’s wrong?!”
She softly laid her right hand onto the left hand of the
dumbfounded standing Knight and continued:
“To be able to have you by my side is a kind of redemption

for me. You did not seek the teachings of veteran Knights
such as Deusolbert, but found me, who had not many
achievements… You were actually thinking for the sake of my
heart, were you not?”
“I… I do not dare, there are no such disrespectful delusions

within me! I am merely reverent of Alice-sama’s outstanding
swordsmanship from the bottom of my heart…”
Eldrie denied, shaking his head frantically. Alice instantly firmly

grasped his hand, let go, and smiled again:
“Because you were there to support me, I am able to finish walking

this dangerous path today. Thank you, Eldrie.
From the speechless young Knight’s eyes, fat tears suddenly

gushed out.
“…… Alice-sama… Why… do you say that you are finished

walking…”
His raspy voice asked:
“Why must you say it like your path is going to end here?
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I… I… haven’t learnt anything yet. No matter in swords, or in
Arts, I am still nothing compared to you. From now on, I still
need you to always, always train, and guide me…!”
In the instant before his trembling outstretched right hand touched

her own—
Alice suddenly changed her attitude and scolded sharply:
“Integrity Knight Synthesis Thirty-One!”
“Here… Here.”
His hand immediately halting, the Knight straightened into an

upright, unmoving posture.
“In the name of your mentor, I hereby give you your last
order. Please live on. Live to witness the coming of peace,
and bring it back. Bring back your real life, and your loved
one.”
On the uppermost floor of the Cathedral, there were still sealed the
«Memory Fragments» of all the other Integrity Knights apart from
Alice, as well as the «Loved One» who had transformed into a sword.
There must be a way for them to return to their original place and
the form they once were.
Eldrie stood upright, tears silently pouring out, and nodded

forcefully; Alice fiercely turned around. Her golden hair and pure
white skirt sliced the icy autumn air.
The visible valley and Great Eastern Gate in the darkness were
straight in front of her sight.
From then on, Alice will begin chanting an extreme scale Sacred
Art she had never experienced in her life. Without leaving a single
drop, she will condense together all Sacred Space Power, provided
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without Solus, to deal a crippling blow to the enemy.
If she makes a single error in the words of her incantation — No, if

there is a single sliver of disorder in her concentration, the
condensed Sacred Power will erupt and completely obliterate Alice’s
existence without leaving a trace.
But she had no more fear. In these five days, as an Integrity

Knight, Alice spent an enriching time with Bercouli, Fanatio, Eldrie
and the others, and as Alice of Rulid, she lived together with her little
sister Selka for a half year.
And the most important thing was, she met Eugeo and Kirito,
clashed swords with them, touched each other’s hearts, and
understood the emotions of being human — sorrow, rage, and love.
Other from that, what more was there to desire?
Along with sharp sound of her armor, Alice walked step by step in a
straight line through the center of the Defense Army that waited for
the moment of battle.
(To be continued)
References
Hello everyone, I’m Kawahara. Now I am writing this chapter of

content in a violently anxious mood. The reason is that I went under
the condition of forgetting to write an afterword for several days!
Ah— Now, back to business. Thank you everyone for reading

«Sword Art Online 15: Alicization Invading.
In the last book «Uniting», the big boss of the Church, the Highest
Minister Administrator, was defeated, but “to be continued” was
written at the end for some reason, so exactly what happened next—
is what happened now… Our story left the cage of the Human Empire
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and moved to the boundless Dark Territory. The Ocean Turtle that
Asuna and the others in the real world are in also suffered an attack,
and Kikuoka changed from his bathrobe to a Hawaiian shirt and
various developments like that…
Under these circumstances, the next book is finally planned to

begin the war between the Human Empire Defense Army and the
Dark Territory. The Alicization chapter that began with Volume 9 has
gradually entered its climax; everyone, please continue to look after
me in the future!
Regarding personal happenings, I, along with my illustrator abec-

san, attended America’s largest anime convention «Anime Expo» as
guests together. Although it was my first time in Los Angeles (only
my second time traveling to America, so to speak), the city and
convention center were huge! Also, the enthusiasm from anime fans
from all over America that covered the entire convention center was
really surprising!
Of course, thank you very much to the all of the SAO enthusiasts
who were able to come. At the same time, I realized again
everyone’s supportive kindness in the ten years since the work that
was going to be named SAO was brought up to today, from the web
era to Dengeki Bunko, and anime adaptations and game adaptations.
By the time this book is published, the airing of the second season
of the television anime should have already begun. Paralleling with
the first season, it has the «World of Guns» as its stage, but from
Supervising to all of the workers and voice actors, everyone will fully
show the style of gunfights, and the characteristics of SAO, which
remain unchanged despite this circumstance. I again ask everyone to
please support the anime version.
Time’s just about up so I’ll make my words of gratitude simple!

abec-san, who displayed the charm of new characters constantly
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taking the stage in this volume, Miki-san, who came to LA with me as
my editor, Tsuchiya-san, who took on the role of a guard and served
as deputy editor in Japan while we were away, and everyone who has
read to this point, thank you very much!
A certain day in July

2014, Reki Kawahara
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Vol.16 Chapter 18
Source: tap-trans
Latest update: 12th December [continue from last update] And

that’s the end for this stream of updates. It’ll likely take a while
before I release anything for the next chapter.
Yen Press appears to have screwed up colour illustrations on SAO

v6. See here. They appear to be offering returns. Shameless
advertising: Yen Press’s SAO Volume 8 and 9 are available for pre-
order. Go get them. Amazon referrals: v7, P.v3 (Pre-order: v8, v9,
P.v4 | Out: v1, v2, v3, v4, v5, v6, P.v1, P.v2) Available at other
retailers too if you haven’t gotten them yet.
War of the Underworld 7th Day of the 11th Month of Human Empire
Calendar 380 18:00
Solus’s afterglow dyed the gate isolating the two worlds in the red
of blood.
«Great East Gate».
The humongous structure, built at the hands of gods, that isolated

the Human Empire and Dark Empire for over three hundred years
started crumbling away this very moment.
Tremors thundered throughout the world like roars from some

immense beast in the Great Gate’s death throes, the last of its
effectively infinite Life dripping away, while the five thousand in the
Human Empire Defense Army and fifty thousand in the invading army
watched on without a word. Those crossed from the Human Empire’s
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central capital, Centoria, in the east to the land of darkness’s
imperial capital, Obsidia, in the west as distant, ominous thunder,
prompting all in the Underworld to peer up towards the skies.
Seconds passed.
A crack streaked through the core of the over three hundred mel
tall Great Gate. White light gushed from within and scorched the
soldiers lined up on both the east and west.
The fissure branched out infinitely, reaching the ends of the Great
Gate in no time, as the white light chased after, spreading out like a
mesh. Giant words in the sacred script erupted among flames upon
the gate’s two sides next. There were merely two throughout the
vast battleground who understood the meaning behind the words,
[Final Tolerance Experiment].
It started just about as those words burnt out.
The Great East Gate crumbled from the top, releasing flashes of
light that extended to the skies.
“Uoohh…”
An excited voice escaped from Vassago Casals whose upper body

went over the command vehicle’s rails.
“This the «final load test»? It puts even Hollywood movies

to shame. Shouldn’t we be taking this videography
technology instead of the AI, bro? We would be billionaires in
no time if we start a VFX studio.”
Despite having his eyes glued to the great spectacle in the

distance, Gabriel Miller coolly pointed out upon hearing that.
“Unfortunately, this sight cannot be recorded onto any
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medium. After all, it’s not polygons that form everything in
this world. It’s a grand show visible only to those connected
to the STL.”
Half of the Great East Gate had already crumbled into countless
pieces of rubble. Though the noise and tremors were tremendous,
the massive rocks all melted into light right before they crashed into
the ground. Judging from that, it seemed the remains of the gate
would not end up as a barricade.
Gabriel stood from the throne installed on the command vehicle’s

roof with his jet-black fur mantle aflutter before walking towards a
large skull set up by one of the Ten Lords of the land of darkness, the
chief of the Dark Arts Users’ Guild, D.I.L.
The skull placed on a small table was apparently an artifact

capable of transmitting sound. She said that by speaking into this
master skull, his voice would be sent to the slave skulls in the
generals’ possession. Though inferior to the Stryker Command
Vehicle’s multi-channel transmission system, it was far more
effective than sending an army of messengers for every little
command.
Looking down into the skull’s hollow eye sockets, Gabriel let out a
somber voice suited to his role as the «Dark Empire’s emperor and
Vector the god of darkness».
“Warriors of our land of darkness! The time you have

await’d hath arrived! Kill all who live! Pillage all without
hesitation! ——Trample upon them all!!”
War cries burst forth from all across the battle formations, their
volume exceeding the Great Gate’s collapse. The countless machetes
and pikes thrust upwards shone in the hue of blood under the setting
sun.
The first batch of the Dark Territory Army comprised five thousand
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mountain goblins, five thousand plains goblins, two thousand orcs,
and a thousand giants for a total of thirteen thousand units. He would
first have them lead the charge and observe the enemy army’s
reaction.
Swiftly swinging his raised right hand down in front, Gabriel gave
his first command as a player in this war game.
“Group one—begin the assault!!”
The one who assumed command over the five thousand mountain
goblins on the right flank of the goblin force making up the first
group of the fifty thousand-strong invading army was its new chief
named Kosogi. He was one of the seven sons of the previous chief,
Hagashi, who incidentally died through the Dark General Shasta’s
rebellion drama.
Hagashi was extoled as the most cruel and greedy even among the
past chiefs. Not only did Kosogi inherit a strong tendency for that
disposition, he only concealed a high intelligence unbecoming of
goblins under his hideous face.
Having reached twenty this year, Kosogi had been pondering over
why the goblins were regarded as the worst among the five races of
the land of darkness—the humans, the giants, the ogres, the orcs,
and the goblins—for over five years.
Certainly, the goblins were the smallest among the five races and
the weakest physically too. However, they once held numbers to
compensate for that disadvantage and in fact, they conducted
battles against the orcs and humans on equal terms during the
ancient «age of blood and iron».
When the races eventually ended their wars, exhausted, the goblin
chief, too, gained a seat in the Ten Lords Assembly, the highest
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aggregation in the land of darkness, upon the conclusion of the five
races’ peace treaty. However, the treaty was, in reality, in no way
fair. Both the mountain and plains goblins were given no more than
the withered wastelands in the north as their dominion and there was
nowhere near enough agriculture or game to preserve the Life of a
whole race; their children constantly starved and their elderly rapidly
died.
In short, they were done in by the chiefs of the other races.
In order to curb the goblins’ greatest strength, their numbers, they

forced upon them a vast but infertile land. As such, the goblins had
to exhaust all ends to even survive to this current day and could not
further their civilization. Having maintained training institutions for
their children to practice like the black iums was impossible; they
were instead sent down rivers on boats in order to reduce the
mouths to feed. All while aware of the treatment their children would
receive in the lands of the other races when they arrive.
If only they had fertile land and sufficient resources, their soldiers
would now hold not these machetes and plate armor casted from
crude iron but tempered steel equipment. They would have amassed
Life from ample food supplies and studied sword techniques and
tactics. They might have even acquired those dark arts monopolized
by the black iums eventually.
If they had, no one would claim the goblins to be an inferior race.
Kosogi’s deceased father, Hagashi, was constantly haunted by his

anger and jealousy towards the black iums, but he lacked the brains
to think about what he could do about it. He possessed wisdom
enough only to hope to stay within Emperor Vector’s thoughts
through military exploits in this great war.
What foolishness. How could they hope to distinguish themselves

in battle? That was obvious with a look at the army’s arrangement.
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It was likely suggested to the emperor by the chief of the Dark Arts
Users’ Guild. That woman must have forced the «honor as the shock
troops» upon the two goblin races to use and dispose of them from
the start. The goblins would charge in as the vanguards and be
promptly cut down by those devils of legend, the Human Empire’s
integrity knights, before incinerated by her as collateral damage from
the safe rear with the intention to rob them of their merits.
—How could he let her?
However, that, in no way, meant that they could disobey their

orders. The descended Emperor Vector was not damaged by even a
hair after immersed in Dark General Shasta’s attack which instantly
annihilated the two goblin chiefs and the head of the Assassins’
Guild. The emperor held absolute strength and the law in the land of
darkness decreed that the weak shall not disobey the strong.
However, that black ium female was different. Kosogi was now one
of the ten lords, on equal footing as her. He had no duty to
obediently abide by her malicious schemes.
The order given to the goblins was truly simple. They would
penetrate in with a charge as the vanguard and annihilate the enemy
army.
That was all. There was nothing about maintaining the warfront
until the flames from the art users poured in from behind. They had
the allowance to outwit that woman.
Kosogi secretly passed down a directive to his trusted commanding

officers right before the Great Gate crumbled.
The moment the slave skull given to him clicked into movement
and delivered the assault order from the emperor, he stuck his hand
under his armor and pulled out a small ball he prepared prior. His
commanding officers ought to be doing the same at that time too.
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The clump of rocks that was once the Great East Gate crumbled
completely with a roar and vanished as light.
He spotted multiple watch fires and the glint of dazzling weapons

and armor further into the valley that opened straight on.
That was the white iums’ defense army.
Beyond them were lands sufficiently filled with abundance, endless

resources, and manpower, enough for the mountain goblins to regain
their age of glory.
How could he become some discarded stone? He shall have the

plains goblins, cursed with a chief without brains yet again, and the
orcs, who were even stupider, play that role.
Kosogi gripped the ball firmly within his left hand and thrust up the
thick mountain knife in his right as he screamed in a deep voice.
“All of you, stick together and come with me!!

—Chargeeeee!!”
“First Unit, draw your swords and prepare to engage!

Ascetics, prepare your healing arts and incantations!”
Fanatio Synthesis Two’s proud voice pierced through the twilight,

in her role as the integrity knight serving as the deputy head for the
Human Empire Defense Army.
Jyariin!! The chorus of swords slipping from their scabbards rang

through the valley. Their watch fires, whose numbers were
suppressed, imbued their steel blades with a red gleam.
A thunderous noise finally approached from beyond the collapsed

Great East Gate with the ground practically rumbling from it.
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The goblins’ short pace. The orcs’ tepid pace. The giants’
footsteps, which sounded like hammers slammed into the ground,
mixed in and overlapped atop their war cries. The howl of the
massive beast known as war yet unknown to all humans.
It took everything they had for the mere three hundred guards
lined up in defensive lines two hundred mel from the Great Gate to
stand their ground. It would not have been strange for their files to
collapse before even crossing swords once and to scatter in
confusion. This was the first experience all of those guards had in a
battle with their lives at stake, let alone with war.
What kept them standing at their post were the backs of three
integrity knights standing alone in intervals at the frontmost line.
In charge of holding the left flank was the «Frost Scale Whip»,
Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-one.
In the middle was the «Heaven Piercing Sword» who also served as
the force’s commander, Fanatio Synthesis Two.
And the right flank was protected by the «Conflagrant Flame Bow»,
Deusolbert Synthesis Seven.
The three knights clad in full body armor which would glitter
beautifully even in the depths of darkness stood firmly on the ground
with each of their two feet and awaited the enemy troops without
even a twitch.
Fear and fright were present even within the knights’ chests. They
might have experience in real battles unlike the guards, but most of
those were no more than one-to-one combat with dark knights. No
one had experienced fighting against a force this massive: not
Deputy Knight Commander Fanatio, not even Integrity Knight
Commander Bercouli Synthesis One who commanded the second unit
in the rear.
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To top things off, the ruler of the Human Empire, the highest
minister of the Axiom Church, Administrator, was no more.
The absolute justice that served as the symbol of the church, too,
had long gone missing.
The knights stood on this battleground, trusting in their one last

belief. Ironically enough, it was one particular emotion that should
have been destroyed through the «Synthesis Ritual» once performed
on them.
Deusolbert Synthesis Seven awaited the enemy army with his

chest boldly puffed up while gently stroking the aged ring fitted on
the ring finger of his left hand, holding onto the Conflagrant Flame
Bow, with his right-hand fingers.
Ranking among the oldest integrity knights, he had protected the

order in the Human Empire’s northern region for over a hundred
years.
He drove away invaders from the Dark Territory in their attempts

to cross the mountain range at the edge, exterminated large magical
beasts within his base of operations, and occasionally took in
criminals who committed taboos. He had ceased thinking about the
reasons for his responsibilities since long ago. Believing without
doubt that he was a knight summoned from the Celestial World, he
held not even a drop of interest in the activities of the humans living
on the surface.
What confused Deusolbert at times were those mysterious dreams

that would pay him a visit at daybreak without fail.
A small hand so pale it seemed see-through. The light shining from

a simple silver ring on its ring finger.
That hand would stroke his hair, touch his cheeks, and softly shake
his shoulders.
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He would hear a gentle whisper.
—Wake up, dear. It’s morning…
Deusolbert told no one about those dreams. He thought the Chief

Elder would erase them with his arts upon hearing of them. He did
not want to lose those dreams. After all, the ring shining on that
small hand in his dreams had the same design as the one he had on
his left ring finger since he woke up as a knight.
Were those memories from the Celestial World? If he fulfilled his

mission as a knight in this lower realm and gained permission to
return above, could he meet with the owner of that hand and voice
once more?
Deusolbert hid that question—or hope—deep in his heart for the

longest time.
However, something happened during that severe shock sent

throughout the Central Cathedral half a year ago.
Deusolbert, who fought with the two youths rebelling against the
church, lost despite resorting to his armament full control art. The
black-haired youth, who broke through the Conflagrant Flame Bow
with a sword technique he witnessed for the first time, spoke of
something he found hard to believe.
The integrity knights were not summoned from the Celestial World.
They were mere common folk born in the Human Empire, trained to
become knights with their memories sealed.
The highest minister, Administrator, the supreme good, the

absolute order, and personification of perfect justice could not
possibly be involved in deceiving all of the knights. However, those
youths repelled Deputy Knight Commander Fanatio, Knight
Commander Bercouli, and Chief Elder Chudelkin, reached the top
floor of the Central Cathedral, and defeated even Administrator
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herself. A party of mere rebels could not hold such might in their
swords.
He frankly knew from the start, ever since he first fought them.
Their straight sword strokes possessed not even a trace of falsehood
or deception.
That then meant the owner of that small hand in his dreams, too,
was not from the Celestial World but a human born on the surface.
Deusolbert did something for the first time since he became a

knight the moment he realized that truth. He embraced the ring on
his left hand to his chest as tears flowed from his two eyes.
After all, unlike the integrity knights, the lives of the people in the
Human Empire were extinguished within seventy years at most. In
other words, Deusolbert understood he would never meet again the
one who called him, “dear”.
Yet still, he responded to Knight Commander Bercouli’s plea and

advanced onto where the decisive battle would take place.
To protect the world where he lived with the owner of that small
hand, regardless of how far in the past it was.
That was to say, what gave Integrity Knight Deusolbert Synthesis

Seven the strength to stand his ground without budging before the
great force from the land of darkness was the strength from that one
emotion he should have gotten rid of—«love».
And unknown to him, Knight Fanatio and Knight Eldrie, too, stood
there to fight alongside him for their respective loved ones.
Deusolbert separated his right hand from the ring and grasped four
steel arrows at once from the gigantic quiver set on the ground by
his side.
He arranged them carefully onto his divine instrument, the
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Conflagrant Flame Bow, that he wielded horizontally.
He was nearly done with the incantation for his armament full
control art. Fanatio and Eldrie would still restrain from doing so, but
Deusolbert’s secret technique could not display its might when it
became a ruckus. With the resolve to expend half of his beloved
bow’s Life, the integrity knight sucked in a deep breath and uttered
the final phrase.
“Enhance armament!”
Crimson.
The humongous flames from the great copper bow dyed the
invaders who reached two hundred mel away in a brilliant red.
The four arrows nocked on the bowstring shone too, immersed

within deep crimson flames.
“—I am Integrity Knight Deusolbert Synthesis Seven! All

who stand before me, you shall burn away, leaving not even
your bones!!”
Though it did not remain within his own memories, he once named
himself similarly when taking in a single girl from a small village in
the northern region eight years ago. However, with his thick steel
mask now removed, his voice rang out, accentuated and sonorous.
The knight’s fingers released the taut bowstring drawn to its limit.
Zudoo!! Four streaks of flames shot forth in a radial formation with

that roar.
The first victims of what would be later known as the «War of the
Underworld» were the plains goblin soldiers who charged in from the
left side of the valley.
The new chief of the plains goblins, Shibori, had neither wisdom
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nor schemes on the level of the mountain goblins’ new chief, Kosogi,
and was a youth who could boast only about his constitution and
strength. As such, he went up against an integrity knight, possessing
overwhelming might even when alone, absolutely unprepared and
simply ordered his five thousand soldiers into a tactless charge.
Deusolbert’s four flame arrows pierced into the tightly packed

plains goblin army from the front, achieving their maximum
potential. A whole forty-two infantry goblins were instantly
incinerated in that first strike and sent the surrounding soldiers into a
fine disarray. However, as their charge was undisciplined from the
very start, most of the machete-wielding soldiers thirsting for blood
tread over their torched kindred and continued their disordered rush,
pushing their faltering comrades aside.
Deusolbert nocked another four arrows onto his Conflagrant Flame

Bow in response.
Instead of spreading out his range, he shot them while still bundled
up.
The grand, conflagrant spear impacted upon the direct middle of

their ranks and brought forth a tremendous explosion. Many soldiers
were blown away amidst the scattered shrill screams. The casualties
exceeded fifty, but still, the plains goblins charged on.
Naturally, they would. Two thousand orcs and a thousand giants

followed after the two goblin races who kept pace with each other
and stopping would be equivalent to getting stomped upon by them,
several times their size, moments after.
While the plains goblins lacked a tangible plan like the new chief of
the mountain goblins, Kosogi, they held anger and resentment
against the scorn and oppression they faced as the weakest race.
And that emotion was redirected towards their hatred towards the
people of the Human Empire, who would eventually become slaves
under them, named «white iums» in their tongue.
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Raising the brusque battle axe he held with his two arms, far more
muscular than the average goblin, Chief Shibori let out a savage
scream.
“All of you! Kill that archer first! Surround him, cut him,
smash him!!”
“Orarara—!! Kill!! Kill!! Kill!!”
That battle cry resounded throughout the five thousand soldiers.
Deusolbert took on the imposing anger and bloodthirst without a

word as he let loose his third volley of fire arrows. The number of
goblins charred to cinders exceeded fifty yet again, but the enemy
forces charged on.
He stored away the Conflagrant Flame Bow’s flames as the

distance between them reached fifty mel and switched over to
normal shooting. Taking steel arrows out from the quiver at a
ferocious pace, he fired blindly without any particular target. Each
arrow pierced through three goblins, or two at the very minimum.
Guards ran forward from Deusolbert’s sides with their swords

drawn.
“Protect Master Knight! Don’t let their blades reach him!!”
The one who yelled that was a young guard commander still at the
age of twenty or so. He put the large, two-handed sword, with which
he had went through intensive training, before himself. However, its
edge trembled, just a little.
Deusolbert thought to ask them to retreat and to not over-extend.

He held no confidence that the young guards could endure a real
battle awash with blood yet, in sprit, in technique, and in body,
despite experiencing the knights’ strict guidance.
However, he sucked his breath in before giving a deep shout
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instead.
“My apologies. I’ll leave the left and right to you.”
“Leave it to us!!”
The guard commander showed a distinct grin.
Seconds passed.
And the shrill noise made when the plains goblin soldiers’
machetes collided with the longswords of the intercepting guards
rang out for the first time.
Several seconds before that.
In the middle of the gorge, Deputy Knight Commander Fanatio

Synthesis Two was awaiting the enemy army in a posture that could
be considered only odd by the common knowledge in this world.
She was standing with her feet far apart and the left of her body
forward. Her right hand, aligned to her shoulder’s height, was
gripping tightly onto the hilt of her divine instrument, the Heaven
Piercing Sword. However, her sword was held horizontally in a
reverse grip with its bottom end supported by her spaulder.
Meanwhile, her left hand was stretched out forward, her palm
supporting the Heaven Piercing Sword’s blade. If Gabriel or Vassago
were to witness this scene, they would likely come to the same
thought. Simply said—she was like a sniper with a rifle at the ready.
That could be said to be true in a sense. Fanatio drew the rushing

enemy army in for as long as possible while scouting out the most
effective point.
Though Deusolbert’s Conflagrant Flame Bow could adjust the
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broadness of its arrow firing, the Heaven Piercing Sword could only
shoot a single narrow beam of light. As such, naïvely firing it into the
massive enemy army would hardly do much.
She should aim for the commander somewhere within the enemy
army—any of the Dark Empire’s Ten Lords.
The Dark Territory led its forces through power and fear. The
average soldiers pledged absolute obedience towards their
commanders and they would fight on until their end as ordered
regardless of any development. But turning that around, it meant
they would lose all leadership with the defeat of their commander.
—We, too, were once so.
Fanatio embraced that intense, fleeting thought.
The news that the highest minister, Administrator, had passed

away broke down the Order of the Integrity Knights in a single night.
It was Bercouli’s words that allowed the knights at the peak of chaos
to regain themselves.
—Was our mission, our purpose to live, to obey the highest

minister and chief elder’s orders?
—No. We live to protect those living in the Human Empire.
—As long as we have the intent to protect, we will remain knights

until we perish.
In reality, not all of the integrity knights had understood and

abided by the knight commander. The knights assembled on this
battlefield numbered less than twenty.
However, they all held the will to fight until the bitter end even if
they alone remained. The same likely went for the five thousand
guards who hastened here, this place of death. That was the decisive
difference between the Dark Territory forces and them.
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Fanatio brought her bare face, stripped from its silver mask,
towards her cherished sword’s guard and caught firmly onto the
enemy army with her widened eyes.
The goblin unit charging in as the ground rumbled was already

narrowing the distance between them to a hundred mel. Deusolbert
had started his assault from her right with his armament full control
art and explosives flames lit up the twilight in red twice or thrice.
It was in that brief radiance—
That Fanatio finally found her target.
Huge shadows in the middle chased after the goblin forces in the
advance party as though urging them on. They were the giants,
boasting bodies several times the size of humans’. The one leading
them had a tremendous frame a head taller than the rest; he was
unmistakably Sigrosig, one of the Ten Lords, a chief she had caught
sight of once before.
The giants were a proud, or perhaps terribly haughty, race. They

measured superiority based only by the size of their bodies, and it
seemed that inside, they looked down even on the true rulers of the
land of darkness, the dark skinned humans.
That meant taking down the tribe’s leader with a single strike
before the war truly began would cause a great disturbance indeed.
Fanatio took in a deep breath, held it, and whispered.
“Enhance armament.”
White light, bright as Solus, engulfed the Heaven Piercing Sword’s

blade as a low noise vibrated.
She accurately seized, with the path its keen edge traced, Sigrosig
who ran in from that distant point and shouted out sharply.
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“Pierce through—light!!”
Zubaaaa!! The air shook as a dazzling heat ray converged from the
might of Solus penetrated through the battlefield.
“…It began…”
Integrity Knight Renri Synthesis Twenty-seven listened to the

continuing sounds of explosions from far away while murmuring so
with a sigh.
Renri was one of the seven high ranking knights charged with the
duty of defending the Human Empire. In other words, he could be
said to personally hold more than just a little of the defense army’s
entire war ability.
However, he now crouched, hugging his knees, not at the front of

the Defense Army Second Unit’s left flank where he originally was
but far behind, in a corner of the dim tent used for stores and
provisions.
He had fled.
After running away in the fluster several tens of minutes ago

immediately before the battle began, he snuck into an empty tent
and had been silencing his breath and pricking up his ears ever
since.
The reason he behaved so was based in that same motive he

participated in the defense army for.
A failure.
Judged so by the highest minister, Administrator, Renri had done

no work of significance as an integrity knight and spent a whole five
years in cryostasis. Despite throwing himself onto this battlefield in
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order to overturn that dishonor, he had lost against his fear in the
very end.
Though the memories had been erased from him, Renri was once a
youth termed as a genius swordsman, unmatched by all, in the
Southacroith South Empire. Advancing to Central Capital Centoria at
the young age of thirteen, he brilliantly achieved victory in the Four
Empires Unity Tournament the following year and was promoted to
an integrity knight.
Even after losing all of his memories until then due to the
«Synthesis Ritual» and awakening as a knight, he displayed awe-
inspiring talent with the sword. Climbing up the ranks to become a
high ranking knight at an exceptional speed, he was personally
granted a divine instrument by the highest minister.
The treasured divine instruments in the Central Cathedral were not

bestowed by the highest minister’s or the knights’ whims. It was, in
fact, the opposite, with the divine instrument choosing its user. Via a
certain sort of resonance between the knight’s soul and the divine
instrument’s memories.
The resonance between Renri and his divine instrument, a pair of

throwing knives, the «Twin Edged Wings», was strong indeed.
However, unbelievably, he had never invoked it. He had never

invoked the proof of the high ranking knights, the armament full
control art, even once.
That was sufficient for the highest minister to lose her interest in
Renri. With Alice Synthesis Thirty becoming an integrity knight after
him, his meaning of existence was pushed further into obscuration in
light of her overwhelming talent.
It would have been unfair to lay that blame on Renri. After all,
Alice’s talent propelled her straight up to the third position in the
knight order and was worthy of the strongest and oldest divine
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instrument, the «Fragrant Olive Sword». Still, Renri was branded as a
failure in reality and forced into a long slumber.
The moment he was turned into an ice sculpture by the chief

elder’s «deep freeze» art, what came into his mind was a crushing
sense of lacking.
He lacked something important to himself… that was why he could

not control the Twin Edged Wings despite their resonance.
Renri woke once again after a long time had passed.
It was exactly amidst that rebellion incident that made the Central
Cathedral tremor. With the resident knights defeated, including even
Knight Commander Bercouli, and the fate of Alice, their trump card,
unclear, Chief Elder Chudelkin found it fit to have him thawed.
However, Renri did not fulfil his duty this time as well. Chudelkin
and Highest Minister Administrator fell before he fully awakened and
all his eyes caught, upon him regaining his movement, was the Order
of the Integrity Knights in a state of utmost disorder.
The request to participate in the futile mission to face off against

the large-scale invasion from the land of darkness came from
Bercouli, who assumed command, in the highest minister’s stead.
Renri felt the high ranking knights who responded, such as Fanatio,
Deusolbert, or Alice, shone all the brighter despite having
experienced defeat.
He thought he might understand if he went with them. He thought

he might understand what he lacked. Why his divine instrument
would not answer to him.
Cowering in the corner of that hall, Renri timidly stood up and

raised his hand. Bercouli placed his large hand on Renri’s shoulder
with a firm nod and said only a single line to him. That he would be
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counting on him.
Despite that.
The pressure he felt in his first battlefield, or his first actual battle,
rather, surpassed what he expected by far. The bloodthirst and lust
of the scrambling forces of darkness separated by a whole thousand
mel surged towards him as a scorched stench of steel and Renri fled
before he knew it.
—Stand. I have to return to my post. If I don’t fight now, I will

remain a failure forever.
He must have rebuked himself so, time and time again, in the tent
he had snuck into.
However, heavy tremors and ferocious war cries reported the start
of the battle while his two hands still remained wrapped about his
knees.
“……It started……”
Renri murmured once more.
The pair of throwing knives equipped on both sides of his waist

seemed to waver as though condemning their master.
But he could not return now. What expression could he make to

stand before the knight commander and those guards who had
placed their trust in him once again?
—Nothing will change even if I’m there. A high ranking knight

incapable of the armament full control art would just be a bother
instead.
Thoughts that sounded like excuses went through his mind and he
buried his face deeper in between his knees.
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It was then that a soft voice reached Renri from the tent’s
entrance, sending a jolt through his entire body.
“Tiezé, how about here?”
Renri cowered with fright, utterly unlike a knight, wondering if they

were searching for him, but heard another voice immediately after.
Both voices seem to belong to young girls.
“Yes, this tent looks like it’ll do, Ronye. Let’s hide senpai in
here and guard the entrance.”
The giants’ chief, Sigrosig, was a legendary warrior with a bronze

beard and unkempt hair, a brawny appearance, and a stature the
size of a hill covered all over with countless gashes.
They, the giants, were the very ones with the purest interpretation
of the Dark Territory’s only law, «the strong shall rule». With each of
them sieved through every possible means of comparing their might,
skill, and guts for as far as they could remember, their hierarchy was
decided in a manner stricter than the Order of the Dark Knights’.
Though the giants’ domains were the high plains in the west region
of the Dark Territory, the various kinds of large animals and magical
beasts that ought to be spawning there in abundance were
constantly depleted. The giants had thoroughly hunted them down as
targets for their rites of passage.
Why did they go that far in their pursuit for strength?
If they had not, their souls, their «fluct lights», would break.
The four demi-human races in the Dark Territory were terribly

warped existences, with the «soul prototype» confined within flesh
not that of humans. A mental safety was necessary in order to guard
against the breakdown of one’s psyche.
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For example, the goblins anchor themselves by converting the
inferiority complex towards humans, born from their small stature,
into the strength of their resentment and hatred.
The giants, on the other hand, hold back the distortion of them
being human yet not through developing a superiority complex over
humans.
Each and every giant would never lose against a human in one-
versus-one combat at least. That served as the foundations of their
mentality, an absolute rule. That was especially why they imposed
such excessive rites of passage on their youth, pulling up each
individual’s priority even if it meant reducing their race’s numbers.
As such—
The thousand giant warriors called to this battlefield, contrary to

their taciturn nature, seethed with an intense will to fight. To them,
born into the times after the ancient «age of blood and iron», this
would be the first large-scale battle they experience.
The race’s chief, Sigrosig, thought in all seriousness.
That they would massacre the entire enemy army with the initial
charge and end the war.
They would grant no chance to step forward to those determined

by Emperor Vector as the army’s main force: the Order of the Dark
Knights, the Dark Arts Users’ Guild, and the Pugilists’ Guild. By
attaining victory without them, the giants would be validated as the
truly superior race.
When the slave skull given to him rattled its jaw, resounding the
emperor’s order to charge, Sigrosig felt the old scars carved all over
his body rise in heat. He thought it proof that might of those
innumerable large magical beasts he had torn apart with his bare
hands had transferred into him.
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“—Trample them!!”
His thundering command consisted of a single line.
That was enough. Swinging up the gigantic warhammer in his right

hand and making the ground tremble alongside the reliable, brave
warriors around him, Sigrosig began his assault.
The soldiers of the Human Empire were packed tightly into the
valley in front.
To the three-and-a-half mel tall giants, they were weaklings not

much different from the goblins. The swords they wear were smaller
than even the teeth of a newborn rockscale dragon.
They would crush, punt, and tear apart every last one of them.
The circuit carrying Sigrosig’s superiority complex grew red hot

and scattered sparks of pleasure. His rectangular chin warped and
exposed a brutal smile.
In that moment.
A foreign sensation that was, however, not all unfamiliar ran up his
spine.
Cold. Numbing. Like being pierced through with needles of ice.
He had tasted this sensation a long, long time ago. In the «Fledging
Valley» not far from his village. His first trial. When he went to steal
snapping birds’ eggs, in that moment the mother swooped down
from above…
Sigrosig continued his charge even as he widened his two eyes and
searched for the origin of that sensation.
He saw a small, small human at the front of the Human Empire

ranks, in the exact middle of the gorge. Long hair with a slender
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body. A female—a knight adorned in glistening silver armor.
He saw a dragon knight of the Human Empire soaring beyond the

mountain range at the edge just once before. He had thought to
crush that knight upon landing, but the knight flew away into the
mountain range after circling two, three times in the sky.
That bunch was worthless.
Nonetheless. In that female knight’s black eyes.
Sigrosig vividly felt the gaze from the knight despite their distance
apart exceeding three hundred mel. The fear or fright, which should
have been present, were missing, making up less than even a speck
of salt would after falling in a large kettle of hot water.
Instead, it had the coolness of ascertaining and targeting one’s

prey.
…Hunt, him?
To hunt him, Sigrosig, the giants’ chief and thus, the mightiest
warrior among the Dark Empire’s five races?
“Hgg……”
A shrill shriek, unsuited to his grim expression, leaked out from the
depths of his throat.
Strength left his two legs and the large hammer in his right hand
grew terribly heavy. Sigrosig’s posture crumbled as he stumbled
over.
An instant.
Zubaaa!! A ray of dazzling light shot out from the sword the female
knight propped up with that buzz unlike any sound he had heard
before. It stabbed through the right side of the chest of the giant
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running right in front of Sigrosig without any resistance.
If Sigrosig had not tumbled, that light would have blown away his
heart next.
Instead, the white light vaporized part of the giant chief’s

disheveled red hair and his right ear decorated with his prey’s teeth.
Piercing through another two of his allies running behind, it

dissipated into specks of light, leaving behind those fatal wounds.
Sigrosig’s consciousness could hardly register the three giants who

lost all of their Life in an instant and fell like logs. Even the intense
pain burning at the right of his head was stabbed like some tiny
insect before the humongous emotion assaulting him.
That was, in short, terror.
Sigrosig shamefully continued sitting on his backside as his jaw

chattered in his trembling.
Even when he witnessed the upheaval during Dark General

Shasta’s rebellion, while he was surprised, there was no fear. The
ones Shasta killed after turning into that black tornado were no more
than a feeble assassin and those goblins. Though he had to admit
Emperor Vector’s power, he had no issue there as he was no human
but a god of old.
Yet why had that mere female knight inspired such fright in
himself?
Sigrosig could hardly bear to be paralyzed in fear from a mere

human as his opponent.
“No… No, no, no…”
Smoke rose from his burnt hair as the giant chief moaned.
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Impossible. He could not be frightened. White fireworks shot off
deep in his mind as intense pain ran through it the harder he fretted.
His mouth and tongue convulsed rapidly, spewing out uninterrupted
words that came out as strange noises.
“Nononono, kill, kill, killkellkeldell, delldelldelldelldeldel.”
In this instant, the «core»—the self-image of himself as the

strongest—rooted firmly in the middle of Sigrosig’s fluct light along
with this «situation» where he was paralyzed in fear induced
unavoidable conflicts, bringing on the collapse of light quantum
circuits within his light cube.
The giant’s two eyes released crimson light.
“Dell, dell, de—————”
While the warriors of the giant race watched on in shock from all
around, Sigrosig sprang up with force.
Swinging about his gigantic warhammer as though it was a tiny

twig, he restarted his charge with tremendous vigor.
Sending those of the same race in front flying to the left and right,
he caught up with the vanguard goblin force before long. Moist
noises and shrill screams continuously welled up from his feet upon
him pushing on without any attempt to let down on his momentum,
but the giant no longer perceived those with his consciousness
breaking apart.
The command to kill that female knight alone resounded through

the core of his head like a broken bell.
In the end, the chiefs of the plains goblins and of the giants
underestimated the existences known as integrity knights.
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However, the chief of the mountain goblins, Kosogi, who led the
invading army’s vanguards’ right flank was different. He had paid a
high price to study the tremendous military might the integrity
knights possessed not long ago.
The excavation of the buried cave at the northern end of the

mountain range at the edge and the invasion of Rulid Village, by that
large force of goblins and orcs, were planned by Kosogi. Though he
stayed put at Obsidia Palace himself, he had granted troops to three
of his brothers whom he shared blood with, instigated those of the
orc race, and carried out the invasion strategy.
However, it ended as a tragedy. The few soldiers who barely

escaped alive unanimously cried out unbelievable stories in front of
Kosogi who was astonished over the information that the force was
utterly annihilated, his brothers killed in battle.
According to them, the joint invasion force of over two hundred

goblins and orcs were made to flee by a single human knight and a
flying dragon.
However hard he found that to believe, Kosogi was no fool to

abandon for nothing a lesson learnt at the cost of many sacrifices. He
decided to never again commit the foolishness of challenging the
integrity knights of the Human Empire to a frontal assault.
However, in this particular major invasion, the role ordered of the

mountain goblins by Emperor Vector was precisely that.
The dark arts users’ chief, D.I.L. must be well aware of those
dreadful integrity knights. That would be exactly why she offered this
strategy up to the emperor. To use up the goblins, orcs, and giants
and create a disordered melee in the valley before reducing them all
to ashes along with the integrity knights.
They could only obey while the emperor approved of D.’s plan.
Kosogi racked his brains over three days and nights. How could he
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carry out the order for a tactless charge while escaping from the jaws
of death formed by the integrity knights in front and the dark arts
users behind.
The intelligent scheme he finally worked out took the form of those
small grey balls distributed to his subordinates.
Having charged over the valley the moment the emperor issued
his order, Kosogi discovered a tall integrity knight clad in glittering
armor far in front.
Though that was not Alice Synthesis Thirty who destroyed the
invasion force in Rulid Village but her disciple, Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-
one, Kosogi could not distinguish between them. Either way, they
were demons scattering death without mercy to the goblin race.
“Right… throw them!!”
Kosogi issued a new command the moment they arrived fifty mel
from the knights.
At the same time, he crushed firmly the small ball held in his own
left hand.
Small flames leaked out from the cracked ball with crackling
noises. Of course, it was no sort of gunpowder. Underworld, as it
currently was, had no objects on that level of civilization.
Simultaneously, it was no thermal element generated by arts.

Inserted within the balls were small beetles known as «Firestarter
Beetles» which lived solely at the volcano at the northern end of the
land of darkness, a holy ground for the mountain goblins. They would
scatter blazing hot flames and burn one’s hands if crushed on
accident.
The grey ball enveloping the firestarter beetles were from the
north as well, it was formed by drying a kind of moss out in the sun,
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kneading the powder made, and drying it once more. As it let out a
large quantity of smoke once ignited, it was originally used as a
signal. However, through the technique of concentrating like the
Assassins’ Guild, Kosogi had amplified the objects’ effect by tens of
times.
As a result—
The moss balls thrown by Kosogi and his subordinates as one

became what could be considered as impressive smoke grenades.
Ignited by the firestarter beetles, the balls spewed out dense smoke
that hid away even one’s own nose and shrouded the entire northern
half of the valley stretching out east and west.
Not even the goblins with their excellent night vision could fight
properly within this smoke.
However, Kosogi’s scheme was not to defeat the enemies by

slipping into the smoke. Immediately before diving into the dense
smokescreen, he shouted out his third command.
“All of you, ruuuunn!!”
Returning the mountain knife to his back at once, he landed both

hands onto the ground. With their small statures, goblins reached no
higher than humans’ knees when scrambling on all fours. The smoke
was faint closer to the ground with the enemy soldiers’ positions
barely visible.
The five thousand mountain goblin soldiers with Kosogi, their chief,
completely ignored Eldrie and the guards and slipped past, running
on farther into the valley.
The emperor’s orders were merely to charge into the enemy army.
It did not specify which part to target. Kosogi set up a plan to pass by
the enemy’s main force, especially the integrity knights, without
engaging them and to assail their reinforcement units behind.
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By sneaking in beyond the front lines, they would avoid the
combined attack from the dark arts users and orc archers that would
eventually rain down from behind. They would return about and
finish off the integrity knights and guards after the flames and arrows
deal them a devastating blow, or simply flee off into the endless
Human Empire otherwise.
Thus, among the three openings of hostilities in the hundred mel

wide valley, the north side alone advanced without bloodshed.
Just about as the second unit of guards in the Human Empire

Defense Army stationed behind Eldrie finally noticed the
disappearance of the high ranking integrity knight commanding
them, Renri Synthesis Twenty-seven.
The first casualty from the Defense Army was the elderly guard
struggling by Deusolbert’s immediate side at the right flank of where
the first unit held down the front line.
He did not manage to stop the hand axes thrown by the goblins
with his shield.
He was a lower noble that had long commanded a platoon in the

Wesdarath West Empire’s imperial guards. Though he certainly had
skill with the sword, he could not help but to approach the
undisputable descent of his Life and the axe that dug deep into his
wrinkled neck dealt him a completely fatal wound. Not even the
healing arts hurriedly recited by the ascetics party on standby behind
could make up for that damage.
Deusolbert had paused his random firing immediately and

performed a high ranking healing art on the fallen old guard.
However, the guard shook his head and shouted out while
vehemently vomiting blood.
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“You must not!! This is, truly, this old man’s sacred task
and Life… esteemed knight, I trust you… with our home……”
A moment later, the old guard passed away with what was left of
his life force released as space resources.
Deusolbert bit down hard and shot at the goblin who had hurled
that hand axe with the blaze from the Conflagrant Flame Bow
powered by the old guard’s life.
The guards of the Defense Army continued falling after that, too,
sporadically yet without end. Tens of those numbers among the
demi-humans lost their lives as well, obeying the command for their
ruthless charge to the very end.
Much of the flood of Life resources dispersed throughout the

battlefield rose as specks of light—
Far, into the skies above the gorge.
Where a single flying dragon hovered under the cover of night.
Spiraling as they coalesced towards the integrity knight, clad in

golden armor, standing atop its back.
He had neither the time nor space to hide himself.
Renri curled up his back within the darkness in a corner of the

supplies tent and awaited the approaching silhouette with his arms
around his knees.
The round hole for sunlight faintly shone upon girls who seemed to
be fifteen or sixteen years old. One had vivid red hair while the
other’s hair was a deep brown. They wore light armor above the grey
tunic and skirt that appeared part of some academy’s uniform.
Slender, straight swords hung at the left of their waists. He held no
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recollection of their faces, but they were likely guards from the
common folk rather than knights, judging from their equipment
grade.
What seemed out of place was the metallic chair pushed by the
dark brown haired girl. A black-haired youth sat upon the chair,
furnished with four wheels instead of legs, with his head hung down.
Renri’s eyes were drawn towards his face.
Approximately twenty? Not only was his frame horribly thin, his
right arm was also missing from where his shoulder ended. He could
only consider him weaker than the girls from a single glance.
However, Renri understood at once that the two longswords held
tightly by the young man’s left arm—commanding tremendous
presence despite their sheaths—were divine instruments, possibly
ranked higher than the Twin Edged Wings.
How could it be? Even if he ignored how he was sanctioned to own

those, it still required physical strength on the level of integrity
knights to have them on one’s lap like that. However, the youth who
blankly stared into space could hardly possess such strength.
He thought to that point before it seemed the girls noticed Renri

cowering in the darkness, freezing up after drawing sharp breaths.
It took surprisingly little time before the red-haired girl reached out
towards her sword’s grip with her right hand.
Renri spoke hoarsely before she drew.
“I’m not your enemy… sorry for frightening you. Mind if I

stand? I’ll show you my hands.”
“…Go on.”
Waiting until the girl stiffly responded, Renri gently rose. After
taking one, two steps forward with both hands raised, the afterglow
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from the roof’s hole lit up his armor of the highest grade an the
divine instrument on both sides of his waist. The girl curtly gulped
and straightened up in a hurry. Their right hands left the sword
handle and chair, and formed a sign of respect before their left
breasts.
“Es… esteemed knight! We are terribly sorry!”
Renri shook his head and interrupted the red-haired girl who
continued her apologies with a pale face.
“No… it was my fault for startling you. Besides, I’m… no

longer an integrity knight…”
Though the latter half barely even made it as a whisper, the girls
blinked with puzzled looks. Their confusion came as no surprise. The
white mantle hanging around his back and the cross joined with a
ring, the Axiom Church’s crest, shining in the middle of his
breastplate served as definite proof of his status as an integrity
knight.
Renri placed his right fingers at the crest, as though to hide it while
exposing the truth with his twisted mouth in self-depreciation.
“I left my station and fled earlier. The fighting had already

begun at the frontmost line. It must be chaos at the unit
under my command about now. There must be causalities
too. And despite that, I can’t move from here; how could I be
considered a knight?”
He bit down hard on his lips while glancing upwards.
He saw himself in the widely opened eyes, in the colors of autumn,

belonging to the red-haired girl.
Grey hair hanging down slightly from the forehead. Those round
cheeks. And two feminine eyes with long lashes, lacking all knightly
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fortitude— A failure of a knight, confined eternally at fifteen years
old.
It was when he quickly averted his eyes from those features he

despised.
The red-haired girl covered her mouth with a hand as though

assailed by some new cause for surprise.
“……?”
Renri frowned in suspicion before the girl averted her eyes this
time and shook her head slightly.
“I-I’m sorry. It’s, nothing…”
Taking the place of the red-haired girl who continued looking down,
the girl with dark brown hair who kept silent until now stepped
forward and stated her name with a faint yet firm voice.
“We apologize for not introducing ourselves earlier. We belong to

the supply unit, I am Novice Trainee Ronye Arabel and this is Novice
Trainee Tiezé Shtolienen. And this is… Elite Swordsman-in-training
Kirito.
«Kirito».
Renri let out a soft voice from the immense shock of hearing that
name.
He knew him. Was he not one of the mere two rebels who cut
through the Central Cathedral half a year ago? He was the very one
who Renri was thawed to intercept, the one who he missed out on
engaging due to his late awakening.
That meant this skinny swordsman was the one who defeated the
highest minister, Administrator? Was that missing right arm a relic
from battle?
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Renri drew his right foot back, feeling a pressure that he could do
nothing about from the youth who kept quiet with a hollow
expression. Showing no sign she noticed that movement, the small
girl who seemed to be named Ronye continued in a tone tinged with
resolve.
“Erm… I have no opinion regarding your circumstances,

esteemed knight. While we do belong to the Defense Army,
we, too, remain here in the back without engaging at the
front lines. …That said, that is currently our responsibility.
We are tasked to protect this man at all cost from Knight
Alice…”
Alice. —Alice Synthesis Thirty.
The young prodigious knight, a stark contrast of Renri on all fronts.

She should be preparing for the Defense Army’s secret plan even at
the current moment, a large-scale art to halt the front lines on her
own.
As though cornering Renri, tormented by an emotion that made

him feel even smaller, Novice Trainee Arabel added to her words with
a desperate look.
“Esteemed knight, I do apologize if I am overstepping my

bounds… but could you possibly lend us a hand? To be
honest, the two of us can hardly even defeat a single goblin.
We must… we must keep Kirito-senpai safe!”
Renri squinted against the dazzling light in Ronye’s eyes.
He thought it a light that belonged only to those who had carved

their mission onto their heart, those determined to accomplish their
mission even if it meant casting their lives away.
—Where had I left mine behind, when even a novice trainee girl,
yet to graduate from school, has it? Or perhaps I had lacked mine
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ever since I first woke up as an integrity knight in this Human
Empire…?
Renri heard a dry voice trickle from his own mouth.
“You should be fine here… I think. His Excellency, Knight

Commander Bercouli, is the one commanding the Defense
Army Second Unit and if anything gets past his guard, that’s
equivalent to the end of the Human Empire anyway. It’ll end
up the same no matter where you run. I plan to sit here until
the battle ends. I won’t get in your way if you intend to stay
anywhere close…”
With his words fading off into his soundless breathing, Renri went
back, deeper into the tent, and sat down with a thud.
It was about then—
That smoke shells thrown by Kosogi, the chief of the mountain

goblins, and the rest blew up at the left flank of the frontmost lines
where Integrity Knight Eldrie awaited. Taking advantage of the
dense, rising fumes, a flood of goblins began slipping past the
defense line like water through coarse fabric.
Neither Renri nor two female novice trainees could have possibly
known that their aim was precisely the annihilation of the supply unit
at the Human Empire Defense Army’s rearmost.
The progression towards destruction advanced rapidly for the

collection of light quantums that made up that soul, that fluct light,
belonging to Sigrosig, the chief of the giants.
However, as the collapse caused heavy damage only to certain

parts rather than it as a whole, there was a delay before his fluct
light ceased functioning. On the other hand, that phenomenon
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induced a particular «side effect».
With the hatred and bloodthirst Sigrosig had directed towards the
humans for decades released all at once, they overflowed from his
fluct light and reached even the light cube storing Deputy Knight
Commander Fanatio’s soul through the «Main Visualizer» regulating
the Light Cube Cluster.
Direct control of phenomena via imagination. The power termed

«incarnation» by the integrity knights robbed the freedom of
movement from Fanatio’s body despite her lengthy experience.
Charging forth with his humongous frame of almost four mel with
terrible vigor, the giant chief swung the large hammer held in his
right hand up high.
—Why won’t they move!?
Fanatio thought to beat some sense into her two legs that refused
to listen to her, but she could not even ball her hands into fists to do
so.
Even with the giant chief as her opponent, the deputy commander
of the Order of the Integrity Knights would never freeze up with a
mere glare.
She told herself so, but still, her body seemed frozen in her
shooting stance with her right knee on the ground.
During a bout with Knight Commander Bercouli, she could not gain
any ground with her sword prepared—she went through such an
experience. However, this was utterly different from that heavy yet
somehow tender presence that emanated from the knight
commander and enveloped her. Pain, like leather belts covered in
iron thorns wrapped over her one after another, tormented her entire
being.
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The giant chief, Sigrosig, bellowed out a strange yell as he kicked
the goblins and orcs who should have been his allies aside and
charged closer. Cutting the distance down below fifteen mel.
He would be no challenge in a one-versus-one; that was how it

should have been.
Among the ten lords in the Dark Empire, Fanatio acknowledged

only the might of the leader of the Order of the Dark Knights, Shasta.
In a prior bout, her helmet unfortunately cracked at the end of an
intense battle exceeding thirty minutes and she tasted humiliation
when Shasta drew his sword back after seeing Fanatio’s bare face.
However, she never considered defeat even at that time. She was
under a strict restriction from Bercouli regarding the usage of the
armament full control art when fighting against dark knights. Hence,
she should not be falling behind anyone else. The very thought of
freezing up from a mere glare was preposterous.
That said, the phenomenon that exceeded Fanatio’s understanding

was drawing closer before her eyes, moment by moment.
It would not even take ten seconds before that gigantic iron
hammer swings down upon her. She had to stand up and fix her
sword stance at once. If she could intercept it with a slash, the
Heaven Piercing Sword, a distinguished divine instrument, would
never lose to that coarse iron hammer on Sigrosig.
Despite that, she could not stand. Unseen shackles bound Fanatio
and the giant chief, a dark red gleam seething in his two eyes,
approached before her eyes—
“Humankilldeldelde———
Spouting a scream that sounded no longer intelligible as his iron

hammer roared down.
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——Your Excellency.
Fanatio quietly muttered with her immobilized mouth.
Dakira Synthesis Twenty-two, a low ranking knight, had offered

everything to a sole person ever since awakening as a knight..
Not to the ruler, the highest minister, Administrator. Neither was it

to the leader of the knight order, Bercouli.
It was to Deputy Commander Fanatio and no one else. Dakira was

strongly drawn by her relentless intensity and the anguish she
concealed.
That emotion could be no other than love, going by the Human

Empire’s standards.
However, Dakira sealed all emotions away due to a variety of

reasons and served as a faceless and nameless member of the unit
directly under Fanatio, the «Four Oscillation Blades». Being by her
side alone made Dakira feel more fortunate than ever hoped for.
The Four Oscillation Blades were, by no means, some elite unit

among the low ranking knights. Fanatio had gathered those lacking
power, judged to be at risk if assigned to the front lines on their own,
and had them learn combination techniques to raise their survival
rate, creating a so-called «unit of leftovers».
As such, they garnered low evaluations from the highest minister

and chief elder, and in actual fact, they, the Four Oscillation Blades,
all committed the heavy blunder of suffering heavy injuries against
the two student swordsmen from the common folk in that rebellion
half a year ago. But what hurt Dakira much more was how they failed
to protect Fanatio. The time spent on the bed in the ward was filled
with incessant thoughts of how it would have been better to die back
then.
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However, Fanatio spoke kindly instead of harshly towards Dakira
after the injuries healed.
With the silver mask that she had never taken off in public
removed, the deputy knight commander showed a beautiful smile
and slapped all four of their shoulders in turn as she spoke.
—I, too, was saved by the rebels right before my death.

Gentlemen, you have nothing to be ashamed of. Rather, that was a
good fight. I had never seen a finer coordination of the «Encircling
Bladed Oscillation Dance».
Dakira’s mind was made up, then, as tears ran under that helmet.
To not allow any harm to befall the venerated deputy knight

commander the next time.
And this was that very «next time».
Regardless of the orders to stay stationed until further commands,

Dakira leapt out from the ranks the instant upon feeling abnormality
in Fanatio’s state.
There were over twenty mel until Fanatio, on her knee, and the
giant chief swinging a humongous iron hammer down onto her from
overhead.
Covering that distance in time was not viable with the physical
ability of a low ranking knight. However, Dakira dashed on as a
blurred streak of light and jumped before Fanatio, intercepting the
iron hammer roaring down with a two-handed greatsword.
The resultant noise, shaking the earth, flared out alongside a flash
tinged with red.
Though Dakira’s greatsword was far sharper than the guards’

weapons could hope to be, it could not compare to the high ranking
knights’ divine instruments in terms of priority. On the other hand,
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Sigrosig’s iron hammer had its priority raised to a terrible level
through the «power of incarnation from bloodthirst» streaming into it.
The skirmish collapsed in a mere half-second and numerous cracks

ran through the greatsword’s blade. It took another instant before
the sword shattered into fleeting shafts of light. Dakira threw the
handle away at once and intercepted the falling humongous iron
hammer with bare hands.
Multiple dull noises echoing throughout the body.
Both arms breaking in numerous places from the wrist to the upper
arm.
Vision hurling into whiteness from pain. Fresh blood spurting from
between armor joints, staining the helmet’s surface.
“Ku… hh… oooh!!”
With teeth clenched, Dakira molded the scream struggling to

escape into strength and caught the iron hammer, beyond those two
hands’ capacity to support, from below with that helmet.
The steel crossed mask shattered without resistance and

unpleasant noises could be heard coming from Dakira’s neck, back,
and two knees. The pain surging throughout as scorching flames
dipped everything visible into a deep crimson.
However, the lower ranking knight, Dakira Synthesis Twenty-two,

did not fall.
Fanatio was right behind. This detestable weapon must not be

swung down.
—I will protect her. This time, for sure.
“E…. eaaaaaahh!!”
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A shrill yell rang out from Dakira’s throat, freed from the crossed
mask’s voice morphing function.
The blood dripping from the injuries all over enveloped Dakira as
bluish-white flames.
Gathering at those broken arms, the flames burst as dazzling

explosions. The iron hammer shot back, blown over ten mel away
accompanied by Sigrosig’s huge frame.
Dakira slowly collapsed while listening to the heavy quake from the
giant falling.
“…Dakira!!”
A shout, almost a scream, shot in from point-blank range.
—Aah, Fanatio-sama called out my name.
—How many years has it been?
Dakira smiled while crumbling into the arms extended from the
deputy knight commander as her short, straw-colored pigtails and
freckled cheeks laid exposed with the loss of her helmet.
Dakira was born and raised in a small village beside the sea in
Southacroith South Empire. Her parents were poor, holding no family
name and fishing for a living, but the girl blessed with the strength of
a man grew up healthily while helping out with her parents’ work.
That girl committed a taboo at the age of sixteen. She fell in love
with her close friend of the same gender who was a year older.
Of course, she never found it in herself to confess. Unable to deal

with her suffering, Dakira sought penance from Goddess Stacia in an
empty church altar late at night. However, as the altar was
connected to the Central Cathedral’s automated elders mechanism,
Dakira was detected to have violated a taboo and was brought to the
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Axiom Church, becoming an integrity knight with all of her memories
pilfered.
Though she could not remember her name any longer, the older
girl Dakira had loved resembled Deputy Knight Commander Fanatio a
little.
At peace, Dakira looked on with her dimly blurred vision as

Fanatio’s beautiful features crumpled and tears trickled from her long
eyelashes.
—The venerated deputy knight commander is crying for me.
She could think of nothing that could make her happier. She had
accomplished what she set out to do at the end of those long, painful
days and all that remained as death approached was satisfaction.
“Dakira… don’t die!! I’ll tend to you this moment!!”
A heartrending voice rang out at her ears once more.
Dakira urged her broken left hand upwards with the last of her
strength and with her trembling fingertips, gently wiped away the
drops along Fanatio’s cheeks.
Grinning, Dakira formed those thoughts she had always kept

hidden deep in her chest into a whisper.
“Fanatio… sama… I shall… forever… adore… you……”
In that moment, Integrity Knight Dakira synthesis Twenty-two’s Life

reached its complete end.
The first fatality from the knight order lowered her eyelids for all
eternity.
What——What had I been doing?!!
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Fanatio screamed in her chest as she hugged the small body
covered in wounds tightly.
The giant chief, Sigrosig, who tried to stand up was reflected within
her vision warped with tears along with the remaining three
members of the «Four Oscillation Blades» fiercely charging forward in
response.
Dakira. Jeis. Hobren. Giro. She had placed them directly under her
to train them up and to protect them. Though she gave them only
strict words, they were her cherished younger siblings. Despite that,
she was protected instead, with one of their lives even sacrificed—
“……Unforgivable!!”
That word was directed at Sigrosig as well as her own self.
She would allow no more casualties. She would protect those three
to the end, for Dakira’s sake as well.
That resolve became a «power of incarnation from love» and

radiated from Fanatio’s soul with an intensity surpassing the
abnormal bloodthirst seething from Sigrosig.
The icy thorns, binding her entire body, thawed in an instant.
Laying down Dakira’s corpse, Fanatio stood up straight as the

Heaven Piercing Sword noiselessly floated from the ground into her
right hand.
Before her was the scene of Jeis, Hobren, and Giro knocked away
with a single swipe of Sigrosig’s left arm after they leapt forward with
their greatswords raised.
The crimson light residing within the giant’s two eyes seemed of
the flames in the demon world far under the earth. Even the
surrounding goblins and orc soldiers had ceased their approach,
seemingly afraid.
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“Kee… keel… Keelllll!!”
An abnormal scream roared from the giant who sluggishly stood

up. However, there was no longer even a smidgen of surprise or fear
within Fanatio’s chest.
Smoothly pointed straight towards the sky by her right hand, the
Heaven Piercing Sword—
Gained a coating of pure white light with a dull rumble. That

dazzling radiance stretched on for over five mel from the sword’s tip
and remained as such.
“Humankeeeelllll——!!”
Swinging the iron hammer with both hands, Sigrosig jumped at

Fanatio.
“…Return, unto the earth.”
Fanatio carelessly swung down with that murmur. Having extended

several times its previous length, the blade of light drew a white
streak through the air as it struck the iron hammer’s blunt surface.
A crisp noise echoed with the gigantic weapon dividing into two.
Burnt red from the cross section, the melted iron splashed all over.
The huge sword of light came into contact with Sigrosig’s head just
like that—slicing down into the ground without its momentum even
waning.
The giants behind and the guards of the Human Empire descended
into silence at that scene; the legendary warrior, boasting of the
world’s largest body, was severed into halves while still airborne.
Fanatio raised the blade of light over her head with a satisfying
sound from the two lumps of flesh, falling with a damp noise, and
shouted out loud.
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“First Unit, middle, forward!! Repel the enemies!!”
The waves of attacks from the never-ending stream of plains

goblins sank Deusolbert into impatience.
There was no chance he would be defeated or even challenged by

some average goblin soldier in one-versus-one combat, no matter
how many times that was repeated. The mountain of corpses burnt
by the flames from the arrows he shot earlier served as actual proof
of that.
However, he could not take on all of the enemy troops alone as

they came as a wide, horizontal wave. He could only leave most of
those on the sides to the guards from the Defense Army.
In terms of individual expertise, the guards surpassed the enemy

troops by a significant gap. Their sword techniques, polished through
half a year of strict training, were certainly faster and sharper than
the goblins who relied on their strength in swinging their machetes.
But that strength difference was far less sure than the overwhelming
gap between an integrity knight and goblin soldiers. It would be
tough to overcome those numbers, several times their own, with
purely skill.
Deusolbert keenly felt the desire to share with all of the guards the
great strength his body was endowed with. But naturally, there was
no art capable of that.
The guards under him lost their lives one after another, one
jumped upon by multiple goblins, another collapsing from
exhaustion. Deusolbert felt as though his own Life was shaved away
each time he heard their shrieks echo through the battlefield.
So this was «war»?
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It was utterly different from the old fights: sweeping up intruders
on the ground while atop a flying dragon or a one-versus-one duel
with a dark knight. It was an ugly war of attrition with each moment
certain to add to the number of casualties.
The pride of the integrity knights served no purpose on this

battlefield.
Was it not yet? Was the order for the unit to retreat not given yet?
Even the knowledge of how much time had passed since the start
of the battle escaped him. Deusolbert cut through the advancing
enemy soldiers with the longsword in his right hand and randomly
shot with the Conflagrant Flame Bow whenever he could. With his
calm lost without his notice, he failed to notice the strange
movements taken by a slice of the enemy troops.
The new chief of the plain goblins, Shibori, was far more of a fool
than the mountain goblins’ chief, Kosogi; the same went for his cruel
nature.
Shibori recognized the integrity knights leading the enemy troops

as no more than large magical beasts. He made light of them,
thinking that no matter how strong they were, they were just one
white ium on their own, doomed after being surrounded.
However, he found the integrity knights to be much more

troublesome than magical beasts after the fighting began, barely
slipping from their encirclements despite how many charged forth.
Ten would be blown away with the explosion from a single fire arrow
and even normal arrows flew true, to a horrifying extent, towards
their heads and hearts.
Now then, what to do?
The conclusion Shibori reached after some thinking could not have
been any more simple or cruel.
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He would continue having his soldiers charge forward until the
enemy knight’s arrows ran out.
That said, the soldiers sent ahead without a plan were in no mood
to simply “go with it”, naturally enough. There was a fair amount
with intelligence surpassing Shibori and though they went with his
orders, they contrived whatever gimmicks they could.
They began lifting up corpses from their fallen comrades and

hiding in their shadows or staying a fair distance from the knight
while strafing left and right.
Deusolbert should have seen through such a naive plan at once if

he had his usual temperament. However, the screams from the
guards whose strength left them shaved away at his calm without his
notice. The goblins benefited from how the war started at evening as
well.
The enemy was taking awfully long to fall.
By the time Deusolbert noticed that, his stock of more-than-

enough iron arrows was nearly exhausted.
“Goood, good, looks like he’s finally out of arrows.”
Shibori scraped the nape of his neck with the backs of the two
machetes against his shoulders as he snickered.
The tragic display of the countless corpses of his race, too, failed to
instigate much influence on his mind. He inherited that tenacity from
his ancestors who had lived through the old «age of blood and iron»
which could have been no more appalling.
It appeared a whole third of his allies were done in, but there still
remained over three thousand soldiers. If they obtained plentiful
meat and land after invading the white iums’ lands, they could
replenish their race all they liked.
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However, they had to produce significant results to expand their
territories. They would first have to take care of that integrity knight
in red armor.
“Alright, let’s go, all of you. Surround that archer and drag
him down. I’ll take his neck off myself.”
Shibori instructed those forming a barricade around himself, his

close aides who were both brawny and boorish, and slowly stepped
forward.
“…I slipped up…”
Deusolbert let out a deep groan.
He had finally realized those enemies erratically moving through

the darkness and those scarecrows improvised from raised corpses.
After bringing down those manipulating the scarecrows by aiming

at the feet rather than the heart, the right hand searched through the
large quiver behind and grasped only a fruitless emptiness.
Without arrows, the Conflagrant Flame Bow, a divine instrument,

was no different from a plain longbow. Though it was possible to
produce arrows from metallic elements with sacred arts, that
technique could only be used in a one-versus-one where he had the
chance to recite the art. In the first place, almost all of the space
sacred energy should have been absorbed by the integrity knight
standing by in the sky, leaving the atmosphere dry.
Grinding his teeth as he hung the Conflagrant Flame Bow on his

left shoulder by its string, Deusolbert drew the longsword from his
waist once more. It was in that precise moment that he spotted a
party rapidly approaching through the darkness from in front, with
sizes rather large for goblins. Their outfits differed from the small fry
he faced off until now. Their chest to around their hips was covered
in plate armor and riveted leather belts wrapped about their brawny
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arms. They held thick, large hatchets that seemed fit to sever even
cows in their right hands.
Deusolbert confirmed another goblin approaching from behind

those seven—with a frame that exceeded even orcs in terms of
height.
Judging from the cast iron armor shining with black luster, the two
large hatchets hanging from his hands, and the vivid, decorative
feathers swaying on his head, he figured there was no mistake that
he was the army’s commander.
The goblin general’s two eyes shining red under his bulging brow
collided with Deusolbert’s pair of eyes and the surrounding air
creaked in that instant. The swords and machetes striking against
each other without pause on the front lines gradually petered out and
came to an eventual stop. Both the guards and the goblins gained
distance from each other without further words and watched the two
generals’ confrontation with held breaths.
Deusolbert held back the numerous approaching guards with his

left hand. Brandishing the sword in his right hand without letting
down his guard, he questioned in a deep and seasoned yet distinct
voice.
“You are one of the ten lords of the Dark Empire… the
goblins’ chief, huh?”
“That’s me.”
The large goblin responded with his yellowed teeth showing.
“Chief of the plains goblins, that’s Shibori-sama to you.”
Deusolbert steadied his breathing, rough from the long, fierce

battle while gazing straight towards the enemy general.
—If I defeat this general and those close to him, the goblin army
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would lose its will to fight, even for a moment. If we take the
initiative and push the lines back, we would accomplish our role as
the vanguards.
Even if he could not use his Conflagrant Flame Bow.
Even if it was eight on one, he could only aim for a certain victory
now. He would prove the integrity knights’ strength, said to
comparable to a thousand, here and now.
“I am the integrity knight, Deusolbert Synthesis…”
Shibori’s vulgar cry cut his sonorous voice short as he tried to state
his name.
“Hold there, who cares about some ium’s name?! You’re

meat, meat stuck on that head I’ll be taking!! Get to it… all of
you, get him!!”
Uu———raaaaaahh!!
Deusolbert took on the seven elite goblins jumping forward with

brutal war cries on his own.
They should have simply continued that boorish war if they lacked
the pride of swordsmen so. Proposing this shame of a duel was just—
“Ridiculous!!”
Before picking up the whip, the spear, or the bow, every integrity
knight was an experienced swordsman.
Not even a single being there could perceive the motion of

Deusolbert raising the longsword in his right hand overhead and
swinging it down.
The slash at godspeed drew a dimly white streak of light. A faint

noise rang out as the large hatchet raised by the leading goblin was
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split into two.
That was a moment before that goblin was cut into two from the
crown of his head to his stomach, fresh blood gushing out
everywhere. However, the knight was gone before that spray
reached.
Deusolbert carried out his next attack, having moved to the second
before the first even noticed his own death.
It was not some consecutive sword technique like those of Knight

Fanatio or the rebels he had once fought against. Those were
repeated single slashes in the old style of sword techniques executed
from the traditional stance. However, Deusolbert’s skill was polished
through a near infinite number of months and years, to a practically
divine level. Only the upper ranks among the dark knights and
pugilists could react against that single strike.
In actual fact, the second, cut from the left at nearly the same time
as the first, had perished with his plate armor severed along with his
heart by the time he began swinging down his large hatchet.
The overwhelming power difference was evident in everyone’s

eyes.
However, the elite goblins showed no hesitation. Chief Shibori, too,

was a superior being that inspired fear in them and they did not even
consider opposing his command.
Two who circled around from Deusolbert’s side, bathed in the

blood sprays from their own race, assailed him from both the left and
right.
The experienced knight showed not even the least panic and first
cut into the left goblin from below and drew that into an arc into the
right goblin from above. The single immediate motion that ended the
enemies on both sides was truly on the level of divinity.
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Three remained; no, four if the general was counted too.
Would they come all at once or one after another?
Avoiding the spurts of blackish-red blood with a jump back,

Deusolbert prepared his next attack.
The fifth naively slashed at him from the left of his vision. He saw
no light reflected off blades from any other direction.
“Nuhn!”
He sliced horizontally with the sword on his left with that curt yell.
The tip cut a silver arc and sank into the enemy’s right.
Both of Deusolbert’s eyes opened wide in that moment.
A large hatchet had stabbed through the enemy goblin’s chest

from behind, right as he had slashed, and flew towards him.
The massive blade scattered all around the fresh blood from its still
breathing comrade as it closed in towards Deusolbert’s throat.
He could neither dodge nor block it with his sword.
Having judged so in an instant, the left forearm he raised collided

with the tip of that large hatchet, producing dull light.
A numbing, intense pain. Though he had somehow endured with

his reddish-copper gauntlet, the blow spread through his bones from
his flesh.
“Ku… oohh!!”
Blowing through his surprise with a shout, Deusolbert forced the

enemy’s blade to glance off towards the left. A cracking noise rang
throughout his body, informing him of the broken bones in his left
arm.
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That was no more than a single arm!!
With the slash stopped with his mustered up spirit, Deusolbert

charged straight in just like that. Stabbing through the sacrificed
fifth’s stomach, his sword reached the overlapped sixth’s body.
However, the feedback was shallow.
He had to quickly withdraw his sword, gain some distance, and link
that into his next attack.
Deusolbert pulled the sword out at once, sweat rising onto his brow
without his notice.
The fifth slumped over, dead, and beyond that, he saw—
The sixth and seventh throwing their large hatchets away and
leaping at him with their arms spread out at a height equal to crawl
across the ground.
And there existed no stance fit for attacking an enemy in that

position within Deusolbert’s style.
Falling into a momentary rigidness, the knight’s two legs were

grabbed simultaneously by the two goblins. Incapable of dealing with
their dreadful physical strength, Deusolbert fell onto his back.
His two widened eyes perceived Shibori, the enemy general,

jumping forward with his large frame and two battle axes brandished
while showing a brutal joy.
—In such a place, against goblins?
—It’s impossible for I, Deusolbert, an integrity knight, to face

defeat here.
«Impossible».
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That thought could prove to be a dangerous poison for one’s
mental state the more stubborn one was. Though he remained above
falling into a berserk state like Sigrosig, Deusolbert’s motion came to
a complete stop within his numbed consciousness.
The knight could only watch on as the lethal blade loomed closer
before he heard—
A scream, hoarse from exhaustion but valiant all the same.
“Esteemed knight———!!”
A single guard charged towards the enemy general and his fiendish
features. That was that young guard commander. That youngling
whose name he had not even heard yet raised the greatsword his
two hands held up and carried out a slash from above with all he had.
In response, the enemy general swung the battle axe in his left
hand as though it was a bother.
Gagiin!! A dull, shrill metallic noise rang out.
Though it paled when compared to the enemy general, the guard

commander had a large build and wore heavy armor, but was blown
away like a paper doll, rolling two, three times across the ground.
That physical strength overthrew the gap between their technique,
speed, and equipment all too easily.
The two eyes of the demi-human shone red and narrowed.

Releasing the murderous aura of a beast’s, he leapt and swung up
the axe in his right hand as though to put an end to the guard
commander who had yet to stand up.
—No.
—I cannot allow any further casualties as a knight, and as their

commander!
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The momentary thought stabbed into Deusolbert’s stiff mental
state like a bolt of lightning.
There was not enough time to shake his legs free from the two
elite goblins binding them, stand up, and move before the guard
commander. Throwing the sword in his right hand would only serve
to delay the same conclusion by seconds.
Before he could consider what to even do, his two hands swung
almost automatically—carrying out what he had never thought of
prior.
Nocking the longsword in his right hand as a replacement for an

arrow onto the bowstring of the Conflagrant Flame Bow he wielded
horizontally, he fiercely tugged at it.
The heavy resistance felt as though he was pulling on a rope

fastened to the great earth. The intense pain practically wiped his
consciousness blank from the roots.
However, Deusolbert let a groan escape amidst his clenched teeth

and pulled it to its very limit. Taking up a posture to fire, he yelled.
“Come, flames!!”
The divine instrument responded to its owner’s will even without

reciting its art.
The energy from the flames emitting from all over the bow
surpassed all previous manifestations of his armament full control
art.
Though the longsword nocked onto the bow could not compare to a
divine instrument, it was a named good produced personally by the
highest minister. It possessed a priority on an entirely different level
from the mass-produced steel arrows. The sacred energy contained
within its blade transformed into flames without moderation.
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The full body armor on Deusolbert, with its supposed resistance
towards heat, turned red hot at once.
The two goblins clinging onto his legs let out shrieks as flames
started spouting out from their eyes and mouths, burning them,
before they could react accordingly.
The enemy general, turning back upon noticing the abnormality,

widened both eyes from surprise and anger as he tried to hurl the
axe in his right hand.
However, that was too slow—
“—Burn down to ashes!!”
Shouting so, Deusolbert released the bowstring. Shot forth with a

roar, the longsword flapped its crimson, blazing wings as it soared
straight. It appeared just like the Conflagrant Flame Bow’s original
self—the phoenix that lived in the oldest volcano of the south
empire.
“Graahh!!”
The enemy general let out a groan as he crossed the two large
axes before his body. The phoenix clad in flames struck the heart of
that for an instant.
The large, pig iron axes vaporized all too quickly with a hiss.
And their owner, Shibori the chief of the plains goblins, skipped
through the usual processes of combustion, immediately turning into
black charcoal— He crumbled into pieces right after and vanished
without a trace.
Having witnessed their general’s horrifying death, the goblin

soldiers turned around at once and began fleeing. However, over
three hundred soldiers could not escape the phoenix’s inferno and
disappeared into cinders.
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The distress both Fanatio in the first unit, middle, and Deusolbert
in the right flank went through.
Instructing the second unit in the rear, the commander of the

Human Empire Defense Army, Bercouli Synthesis One, clearly knew
of those as well as the chaos the left flank under Eldrie’s command
experienced from that smokescreen.
However, he did not take even a single step.
The first reason was his trust in the knights and guards brought up
under his personal care. The second reason was how the Human
Empire could not send out its second unit either, with the main force
of the enemy’s ground troops, the Order of the Dark Knights and the
Pugilists’ Guild, yet to make a move.
And the third reason was the possibility of a surprise attack,

something he could not help but worry for, with his knowledge of the
Dark Territory beyond everyone’s.
Or in other words, the enemy’s might in aerial warfare.
In this world where the art for flight did not exist—save for the one
recorded in the index only Highest Minister Administrator could call
out and was lost forever with her death, to be specific—the few
«dragon knights» among the Order of the Integrity Knights and the
Order of the Dark Knights possessed exceptional war potential.
Freely soaring through the skies beyond the reach of swords, they
could raze infantry with the knight’s arts and the dragon’s heat rays.
However, they could not be rashly let out onto the war front due to
that value of theirs. If they sent theirs out before the enemy and any
fell from the off-chance of an art or arrow from the ground, they
would be ladened with a tremendous disadvantage from that very
point.
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As such, Bercouli retained all flying dragons aside from «Amayori»,
ridden by Alice, in the rear of the battlefield and trusted in the enemy
to do the same. Hence, the surprise attack he fretted over would not
come from dragon knights.
Aside from them, the forces of darkness held an aerial force that
they monopolized.
They were repulsive, winged monsters termed «minions». Created

from clay and other materials by dark arts users, they possessed no
intelligence and could understand only certain basic orders.
In truth, Bercouli had heard from Alice that the highest minister
had created and researched into those same minions in secret.
However, it seemed even the highest minister hesitated in deploying
the repulsive minions as they were to the Axiom Church. He could
only feel it a pity that she had not changed their appearances into
something fitting in time before she departed, but there was no use
in crying over spilled milk.
Due to those reasons, Bercouli felt it necessary to prepare for

minions launching surprise attacks from the skies. And in this
situation with the flying dragons held back and the ascetics unit tied
up with healing, he was the only option left for aerial defense over a
vast area.
To be accurate, the divine instrument Bercouli held, the «Time

Piercing Sword», was the only option.
Bercouli focused entirely on his mind while standing firm in the

middle of the second unit with both hands against the pommel of his
precious sword in its scabbard.
He could constantly sense the difficult battles the three integrity

knights and the guards of the first unit went through.
However, he could not take even a single step.
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After all, Bercouli had already activated the armament full control
art for his cherished sword.
A humongous clock mounted on the Central Cathedral in an age

long past had informed the residents of Central Capital Centoria of
the time. Its minute hand and hour hand were reforged into a divine
instrument, the Time Piercing Sword. The power it concealed was to
«cut the future». The power behind a slash would remain in the
trajectory where the sword was swung and anyone who touched that
would be cut, a technique that was just as exceptional.
Just before the Great East Gate collapsed, Bercouli straddled the
knight dragon, «Hoshigami», and created a gigantic «slashing space»
spanning a hundred mel in width, two hundred mel in length, and a
hundred-and-fifty mel in height right before the Great Gate. Swinging
his sword time after time with subtle vertical and horizontal
movements, he drew out a fine mesh in the empty air. The total
number of slashes exceeded three hundred.
Maintaining those «incarnation blades» on such a scale for over

tens of minutes was a first for Bercouli, the practically immortal being
who had lived for over three hundred years, as well. The technique
was made possible only by separating his consciousness from his
flesh and concentrating solely on his mental state. He had left
command of the first unit to Fanatio for this one and only reason.
—Hurry… if you’re coming, come quick.
That earnest wish remained with Bercouli despite having reached a

realm detached from needless impatience. Putting aside his mental
exhaustion, over half of the Time Piercing Sword’s sacred energy was
already consumed. He could not dispel the armament full control art
for the moment and repeat the act. If he failed to annihilate the
enemy’s minions and they assaulted Alice, preparing a large-scale art
in the sky above the first unit, they would lose their one and only
hope.
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—Come, quick.
Though Renri Synthesis Twenty-seven who abandoned his post

was the one stuck with the most pessimistic state of mind among the
seven high ranking knights gathered at the Great East Gate, Eldrie
Synthesis Thirty-one, too, was up against the wall despite how he
should have much more experience in actual battles.
That emotion differed from what Dakira of the «Four Oscillation

Blades» held for Fanatio, that honest love. He wanted to offer all of
himself to serve under Alice, yet at the same time, he experienced
the contradictory desire to place her under his protection as his
senior.
Alice was reputed as the greatest genius in the church’s history

ever since he awoke as an integrity knight. She possessed a talent at
the sacred arts far surpassing the ascetics and priests, was chosen as
the owner of the oldest divine instrument, the «Fragrant Olive Sword»
with its alternate name, the Eternal Immortality, which had rejected
all resonance with other knights, and even had the gift to take in all
of Knight Commander Bercouli’s techniques.
She could be seen only as a young girl on the outside, but to most
of the knights, Alice was like a lone star in the northern skies, distant
from all else. The circumstances had also spurred the rumors that
she would succeed the highest minister, Administrator.
As such, Eldrie, too, made no effort to approach Alice after

awakening as a knight. It could even be said he actively avoided her.
Though his memories in the Human Empire were stolen through

the «Synthesis Ritual», Eldrie was the eldest son of Eschdol
Woolsburg, the greatest commander-in-chief of Norlangarth North
Empire and a first class noble. In addition, in Year 380 of the Human
Empire Calendar, he was the first representative swordsman from the
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north empire and the champion of the Four Empires Unity
Tournament. Even after becoming an integrity knight, his innate
pride and conceit as a noble remained.
To that personality of his, Alice’s existence as a knight far superior

to him despite being young and female, and her position as Knight
Commander Bercouli’s only disciple should have brought him
discomfort and never affection.
However, it happened late at night some time after she became a

knight.
Eldrie spotted an utterly unexpected aspect to Alice by accident.
Delving deep in the rose garden in a bid for some secret sword
training, he saw Alice, dressed in simple sleepwear, throwing herself
down before a coarse grave marker and sobbing. The name on the
grave marker, a mere cross carved from plain wood, was that of an
old flying dragon whose Life went dry several days prior—the mother
dragon who gave birth to Alice’s knight dragon, «Amayori», and
Eldrie’s knight dragon, «Takiguri».
They might be highly valued for their war potential, but still, they
were mere dragons. Was she not just a lower, kept beast? What
reason was there for a grave and that grieving?
That was what Eldrie thought then.
However, when he tried to turn aside and snicker, he was shocked

upon noticing something hot welling from his own eyes.
Alice, crying as she mourned for the deceased mother dragon. He

still did not know why that had made his heart quiver hard enough to
have it tear apart. However, Eldrie could only stand still, unable to
even wipe his tears, as he realized. That graceful, fleeting figure was
the true Alice Synthesis Thirty.
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Ever since that day, the aloof Knight Alice appeared completely
different when reflected in Eldrie’s eyes. He saw her as a crystal
flower, capable of withstanding any draught with her head firmly held
high yet close to shattering at any moment—
He wanted to protect her. He wanted to guard that girl from any

tormenting, cold wind.
That emotion in Eldrie grew only stronger day by day. Still, his
thoughts of protecting were too impertinent. Alice’s talents
surpassed Eldrie’s be it in arts or the sword.
The only possibility he had left was his desire to receive Alice’s
guidance as her disciple.
From then, Eldrie lived while holding onto a single desire. To have
his master, Alice, recognize him as a swordsman and as a man.
That goal was difficult or even impossible. With the true strength of
that genius knight, Alice, at a level recognized by even Knight
Commander Bercouli, Eldrie’s zealous, desperate training was more
to keep his patience strong rather than to catch up to her.
At the same time, he made great efforts to draw his master’s smile
out, by even the slightest bit, with conversations over all sorts of
topics, meals together, and a pompous manner of speech that just
came to him—though that was, in fact, a resurgence of his
personality from before becoming an integrity knight.
It was around those days when his effort began to bear fruit, with
his skill with the sword growing and him succeeding in having his
master’s lip form an extremely faint smile.
The cathedral was assailed by the largest incident in the church’s

history.
It should have been standard duty at the start. Certainly, the major
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crime, «murder», committed by the two swordsmen-in-training was
horrifying, but still, accidents involving disputes with bloodshed, the
accumulation of unfortunate circumstances, did happen throughout
the vast Human Empire at times. In reality, he felt practically no
danger or enmity from the students when he saw them brought to
the cathedral. He thought them no more than utterly dejected youths
from the common folk.
That was why, when his master, Alice, shut them away in the
cathedral’s underground jail and ordered at the end of her
contemplation—
[Guard the exit to the underground jail for a night just in

case.]
—Eldrie was somewhat astonished. And he took up the duty with

the thought that keeping vigil in the rose garden was nice once in a
while, but felt a great shock when the criminal did escape just as the
eastern skies began to turn white.
Admiring his master’s insight, Eldrie stood before them to

accomplish his role—and yet of all things to happen, he had to lose;
and he had no excuses to deny that. He faced off against commoners
with torn chains as weapons and he even made use of the
recollection release art for his divine instrument, «Frost Scale Whip».
Truly, he could only admit his defeat. In the end, those two broke
through the upper ranking knight, Deusolbert, Deputy Knight
Commander Fanatio, his master, Alice, and even Knight Commander
Bercouli, and ended up even defeating Highest Minister
Administrator. Alice had clearly mentioned as well, in the log house
at that meager north village he did not know the name of, in front of
one of those criminals. That he was the strongest swordsman who
surpassed even the integrity knights.
He did not feel regret over losing to that black-haired youth in

terms of might with the sword.
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That was not it; he was not the one; those thoughts hurt.
The one to release his master, Alice, from the ice garden that
confined her heart was not him but that youth. Eldrie’s heart jolted at
that realization.
Hours before the Great East Gate collapsed, his master, Alice,
spoke with a gentle smile he had never seen even once in the past.
[I had continued down that bleak journey to reach today

only with your support. Thank you, Eldrie.] …Or so she said.
Eldrie resolved himself with tears of gratitude when he heard those

words. He would show how much Alice’s guidance had helped
develop himself on this battlefield, at the very least.
That strong determination lent strength to Eldrie as the power of

incarnation and drove him into a corner at the same time.
Even if the mountain goblin army had waged a normal war on the
left flank of the first unit he led, Eldrie would show ferocity in no way
inferior to Deusolbert at the right flank.
However, in reality, the mountain goblins came up with the

unexpected strategy of completely robbing the left flank force with a
dense smokescreen and slipping past their feet to assail the rear.
He was done in by goblins. He showed that shameful sight to Alice,

watching on from the sky.
That impatience robbed the capability for composed judgements

from Eldrie. He recklessly looked about in the dense smoke that
concealed even his own nose from his vision and thought to give
instructions to the guards. But he noticed in time at least, somehow,
that an order to attack in this state would end in friendly fire and yet
could think of no means to get rid of the smoke.
Eldrie could only stand stock still, disheveling his light purple hair
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and chewing on his lips hard enough for his blood to flow.
“Heey, you know, the left doesn’t look so in control.”
As Fizel, her partner, reported to their commander in a somewhat

carefree voice, Linel nodded as well as her pigtails wavered.
However, no reply came from their commander. She shifted her sight
forward while thinking about how she barely spoke.
Fizel Synthesis Twenty-eight and Linel Synthesis Twenty-nine,

apprentice knights, were stationed at the front of the second unit’s
right flank of the Human Empire Defense Army. Despite the ruckus at
the first unit’s right flank positioned a hundred mel in front, no
enemy had penetrated the defense line. It seemed the senior high
ranking knight, Deusolbert, was making quite an effort.
The center of the first unit that Deputy Knight Commander Fanatio
was entrusted with, too, held its position for the time being. Though
Linel and Fizel treated her like an elder sister and a natural enemy of
sorts, they could not deny her might. That tense feeling she gave off
previously, too, had mostly vanished after she shed that iron mask
and revealed her bare face.
What worried her, as expected, was the left flank of the first unit.
Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-one, who took up command, was a

newcomer who awoke merely seven months ago and though his
abilities recently improved significantly, the sudden, major role might
have been a little too heavy for him. He did command the front lines
by his own wish, but it felt like it would have been better to leave it
to the other senior knights instead—
She pondered over those thoughts as she pictured the stations for
each knight in her head.
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The high ranking knights gathered on this battlefield numbered
merely seven.
The first unit had Eldrie on the left, Deputy Commander Fanatio in
the middle, and Deusolbert on the right.
The second unit had the young Renri on the left, Knight
Commander Bercouli in the middle, and the silent female knight on
the right.
And the last position, in the sky, was taken by Alice Synthesis
Thirty.
“…The left is a cause for concern no matter how you look at

it, isn’t it…”
Fizel was the one to curtly nod her head instead, this time, to
Linel’s mutterings. In fact, the situation at the left flank had been
strange since minutes ago. There were no signs of injuries, but
countless disorderly cries could be heard from across the troops in
the middle. What appeared to be thick smoke, darker than even the
darkness at the bottom of the valley, could be seen lingering there
after squinting hard.
In the off-chance they slipped through Eldrie in the first unit, the
second unit commanded by the young Renri should still hold them
back—or at least, they should.
“Will that kid really be okaay?”
Nodding to Fizel’s words, Linel drew her head closer to her partner
before whispering.
“I did not say anything because I figured Esteemed Uncle

Bercouli would have something in mind, but the left and right
flanks of the second unit really should have been swapped.
I’m not sure at all about lining up Eldry with Renry.”
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Fizel lowered her voice even further at that and replied.
“I thought about it and all, but dear uncle’s probably

thinking about making us fight as little as possible, don’t you
think…?”
“……Aah…”
Coming to an understanding, Linel watched as a slender figure

quietly stood up a short distance away.
The thin armor was in matte grey, a rare choice among the
integrity knights. Her hair, dark grey as well, was separated neatly at
the middle of her pale brow and tied up at the back of her head. She
appeared around twenty years old with single eyelids on her eyes,
narrowed in a refined manner, and no rouge on her lips.
She was named Scheta Synthesis Twelve. Her alias seemed to be

«Silent», but the origins for that were unknown. However, at the very
least, Fizel and Linel understood well enough that this knight was
nowhere as harmless as she looked. This knight was dangerous. They
had no desire to even remain near her when she draws the rapier at
the left of the waist.
Knight Commander Bercouli must have thought of having Scheta

avoid battle as well, thus setting her behind the senior Deusolbert
instead of the young Eldrie. In other words, if that archer continued
to hold his ground, Linel and the rest would see no action.
That hardly constituted a valid reason, but—
“Excuse me, Scheta-sama.”
Linel spoke to their taciturn commander once more. She shot a

glance at them, so she voiced out the rest of words.
“May we go take a look at the rear?”
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The knight’s slender right eyebrow moved just two millice at that.
As she felt a questioning “why” from that, she replied in a hurry.
“Erm, well, we are a little concerned…”
Her eyebrow moved once again. It must be asking “over what”.

Her answer made her hesitate and she struggled before she
somehow got out the words.
“Ermm… that person who should be together with the

supply unit. The rebel… Kirito.”
Fizel nodded with slight motions from the side at that.
In that great turmoil seven months ago, Fizel and Linel fought
against the rebels, Kirito and Eugeo, on the Central Cathedral’s grand
staircase. To be accurate, they paralyzed them with concealed,
venomous swords in a surprise attack and dragged them before the
deputy knight commander before trying to behead them.
It should have been easy. However, that rebel, Kirito, had recited
the detoxification art without them noticing, stole their swords, and
paralyzed them in the end.
When Kirito swung the venomous swords down towards Linel and
Fizel, collapsed on the ground, they did not feel any fear in particular.
They simply sighed and felt slight regret, missing out on the
opportunity to advance to being real integrity knights from
apprentices. Thinking that it would be nice if Kirito killed them
skillfully—in a clean and relatively painless manner, in other
words—Linel awaited the moment her Life would be severed.
However, Kirito did not kill the pair. The venomous swords stood
stabbed in the floor and he turned his back to them, standing against
Deputy Knight Commander Fanatio. And he achieved victory in that
unwinnable battle with wounds all over his body.
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Fizel and Linel could still clearly recall the words Kirito’s partner,
the rebel, Eugeo, gave them right before they left.
—Fanatio and Kirito are that strong because they have their sacred
instruments and armament full control arts; that might be what the
two of you thought, being who you are, but that’s wrong. Those two
are much, much stronger. They could fight on even when hurt that
badly not through their skills or weapons but through their heart and
mind.
To be honest, she did not truly understand the meaning behind

those words even after these seven months passed.
However, it was reality that the rebels, Kirito and Eugeo, defeated
even Highest Minister Administrator. In exchange, Eugeo lost his life
and Kirito lost his heart and an arm.
What did the two rebels seek as they fought? What strength did
they gain from their hearts and minds?
It was in pursuit of that that Fizel and Linel participated in the

Human Empire Defense Army and came all the way to the faraway
Great East Gate.
The answers remained obscure. However, an unfamiliar sensation

went through Linel’s chest when she saw Kirito, atop the wheelchair
pushed by Knight Alice, appearing on the battlefield. She could not
determine what she felt and thought then; a first for her.
The apprentice knights, Linel Synthesis Twenty-eight and Fizel

Synthesis Twenty-nine, were born in the Central Cathedral. Though
they had heard their parents were among the ascetics of the Axiom
Church, they recalled neither their names nor faces.
Their parents were ordered by the highest minister, Administrator,

to procreate and to send the babies to a certain establishment in the
tower. Though there were a grand total of thirty in that establishment
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from the same background, the only ones living on now were Linel
and Fizel. All of the other twenty-eight could not endure the
«resurrection sacred art» experiments conducted by the highest
minister and died.
Fizel and Linel lived on only because of their wholehearted

research into «good methods of dying» that placed their flesh and
spirit under least burden. The pair stabbed each other in the heart as
ordered, died, and were resurrected by sacred arts. By the time the
highest minister gave up on her experiments, each of them had
already gotten the knack of killing the other while causing nearly no
pain.
Strength, to the pair, referred to effective techniques for murder. If

the opponent proved stronger, they would promptly flee. Flee, and
train, to surpass and to kill again when given an opportunity. By that
logic, there was no reason to take on injuries while standing against
someone stronger. They had always thought so.
The rebels, Kirito and Eugeo, appeared to be only as skilled as the

lower ranking knights when judging from their combat capabilities
alone. However, the pair fought against that highest minister,
abandoning an arm and a life, and triumphed.
For what cause?
And thus, what had that pair to gain?
They wanted to ask Kirito upon meeting again with him, but
Integrity Knight Alice was constantly by his side and they found no
opportunity to come into contact with him. Though they did not know
if they could hold a conversation with him in his current state, it
would be a bother if he died off before they could try. The supply unit
behind ought to remain safe as long as the second unit hold, but that
chaos on the left flank was definitely of worry.
—And as they could not possibly explain all of that to Scheta, the
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acting commander here, the pair restlessly waited for approval.
The knight, «Silent», glanced towards the left flank with her grey
eyes and pointed towards the rear with her left hand after
approximately two seconds of thought.
“Eh… erm, s-so we can go?”
As Scheta nodded without a word, she hastily made a simplified

knight’s salute with Fizel.
“Thank you very much, we will be back immediately after

confirming their safety!”
Turning about, they began running by the side of the ranks.
—Thank you very much, huh. She had never said that, not even to
the esteemed highest minister.
Linel’s eyes met with her partner and they exchanged cynical
smiles before she accelerated further.
Integrity Knight Renri Synthesis Twenty-seven, about to put his

arms around his knees once more, drew in a sharp breath deep in the
supplies tent after several shouts reached his ears from surprisingly
close by.
Could it be? He could not believe the enemy army could have
broken through the valley’s defense lines so quickly. Only tens of
minutes had passed since battle began.
It was just due to him being worked up that he could hear those
faraway noises so clearly; Renri convinced himself.
However, the reactions from the two girls who had taken refuge in
the same tent told him that he did not mishear the approaching
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soldier voices.
“No way… they’re already this far back?”
The red-haired trainee named Tiezé Shtolienen flicked her face up

and rushed to the tent’s entrance. Lifting the drapes, she ascertained
the outside. Her whispering resounded immediately after, in a tone of
increasing anxiety.
“…There’s smoke…!”
The trainee called Ronye Arabel, too, tensed up at that.
“Eh… Tiezé, is there fire too!?”
“No, there’s just this oddly colored smoke streaming in…

—No, wait. In the smoke… there are all those people…”
The words from Tiezé, peeping outside through the gaps in the
drapes, stopped as though absorbed by the thick cotton.
Renri strained his ears once again in the tense silence, getting onto
his feet.
The cries had vanished some time ago. However, he sensed

someone approaching beyond that stillness. He heard gradual, damp
footsteps.
Without warning, Tiezé retreated to the middle of the tent with

uncertain steps. Her shuddering right hand reached out towards her
left waist.
It happened then, when Renri realized she was trying to draw her
sword.
Baff! The drapes at the entrance tore as they were pulled apart
without care.
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The outside was mired in dusk without him knowing and the
torches’ light quivered alone in a pale red. A humanoid silhouette
stood in silence against that backdrop. Despite its small frame and
hunched back, its two arms were abnormally muscular and gripped
onto a coarse machete that appeared as though cut out from sheet
metal.
The stench mixed into the air blowing in from the entrance stung
Renri’s nose.
Trainee Shtolienen drew her sword as its sheath clattered and

Trainee Arabel shouted in a low voice from beside the wheelchair.
“—A goblin!?”
The intruder with bizarre features responded in a hoarse voice,

scratchy in some places.
“O-hoh… white ium girls… trophies for me…”
Tiezé slowly stepped back at the sheer rawness of his desires.
While he was a high ranking integrity knight, this was Renri’s first
time witnessing a demi-human from the Dark Territory. He had been
dealt with, by being frozen, before he was granted a flying dragon to
fly to the mountain range at the edge.
This was completely… different.
Renri thought absentmindedly.
He thought he had learnt sufficiently regarding the four demi-

human races from the lectures given by the senior knights and the
written material in the cathedral. However, the goblin he imagined,
taking on an appearance like that of the mischievous fairies from
nursery tales, resembled this repulsive organism standing a mere
eight mel away in no way.
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The goblin lumbered a step forward in Renri’s view as he shivered
to the tips of his fingers, unable to even move. His dirtied plate armor
shone dully like scales.
Tiezé turned the long sword held in her two hands towards the
goblin, but its point wobbled as her knees quivered uncontrollably.
Did that soft clattering come from the girl’s teeth?
“Ti… Tiezé…”
A feeble voice leaked out from Ronye’s throat. She hid the
wheelchair Kirito sat upon before her back and held onto her sword’s
grip with her right hand, but her legs, too, were shaking.
He had to stand.
He had to stand, draw the Twin Edged Wings from his waist, and
fight against the goblin soldier.
Despite those thoughts, Renri’s body rejected any notion to move

as though petrified. The enemy was no more than a single demi-
human soldier. The high ranking knights, capable of matching a
thousand, should have been bestowed enough power to achieve
victory even when up against a thousand of these goblins.
“Gufh… you look tasty…”
The goblin licked his lips as his viscous drool dripped in strings.
“Ba… back off! If you don’t…!”
The warning Tiezé desperately wrung out served no purpose

except to stimulate the goblin’s appetite. With a smug smile, the
demi-human took another step forward, his machete brandished.
Then—
Thump.
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That stale noise rang out in the tent.
The goblin soldier’s two yellow eyes opened widely in confusion as

he looked down at his own chest.
Sharp, smooth metal sprung from the coarse plate armor. It was
wet with drops of fresh blood; a sword’s pointed tip. Some being had
stabbed precisely into the demi-human’s heart from behind.
“…What is, this thing …?”
Those became the goblin soldier’s final words. Strength left his
brawny frame and he crumbled onto the tent’s floor in exhaustion.
Standing beyond him and half a head shorter than the two female
trainees was a small swordswoman, or perhaps a female ascetic. Her
dark, reddish-brown hair was braided and she wore a silver
breastplate atop black ascetic clothing. The sword she held in her
right hand was rather short, fitting her physique. Despite how she
could still be labelled a child as according to her age—despite how
she had just killed that horrifying demi-human soldier, her adorable
face showed not even a hint of fear.
After seeing that much in a daze, Renri noticed at last.
This girl was neither a swordswoman nor an ascetic.
She was a knight. An apprentice integrity knight with a name of

Linel Synthesis Twenty-eight if he recalled right. The girl was half of
the «dreadful twins»: the one who murdered the previous twenty-
eighth knight in a match and stole the position.
Linel’s expression showed no reaction even when she saw the

foolish sight of Renri sinking onto the ground. After confirming the
safety of the two trainees and Kirito, on the wheelchair, she spun
about.
Another apprentice knight appeared at the tent’s entrance
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immediately after. Her short hair was in same hue as Linel’s and Fizel
Synthesis Twenty-nine whispered to her partner in a soft voice.
“Nel, I took care of all of the goblins nearby, but they’re

still coming. May be best to move.”
“Nn, okay, Zel.”
Having nodded, Linel caught the obstructing goblin corpse on the

floor near the entrance with the tip of her right foot and rolled it
somewhere less troublesome. The near lack of spilled blood was
likely due to the speed and precision of that one strike from behind.
Turning around, she called out to the trainees who appeared

incapable of speaking.
“I am Linel and this is Fizel. The two of us are apprentice

knights.”
“Y-Yes, we’ve seen you during practice. We are trainees,

Tiezé Shtolienen and Ronye Arabel. Thank… Thank you very
much for saving us.”
Tiezé stated her name with a voice that still trembled and Ronye
bowed as well. Linel shrugged her shoulders in a precocious fashion
at that.
“It’s still up in the air whether you’ll live or not. It looks

like more than a hundred goblins slipped through the
defense lines while the left flanks of the first and second
units are covered in a smokescreen.”
Linel went quiet for a moment there and finally looked straight at
Renri.
Her grey eyes tinged with violet narrowed.
“What could you be doing here as the esteemed knight who
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is supposed to be taking command of the second unit’s left
flank? Those under you are moving about in confusion under
the smokescreen, you know?”
Averting his face as though to escape from the apprentice knight’s

sight, Renri replied softly.
“…It’s nothing to do with the two of you. Please take those

two and the ill one to somewhere safe.”
Renri felt vividly a change in Linel’s presence in that moment.
A cold, murderous aura, unfitting for a child, brushed against his

cheek. The sword stained with goblin blood shone orange in the
torches’ light.
Was she thinking to kill him like she did to the previous twenty-
eighth?
Then that would be all to that. It was a mistake in the first place to
hurl him, a failure of a knight who should have been frozen forever,
into a real battlefield. He could not possibly return to the second unit
now and there was no place for him even if he fled back to the
cathedral. Though she was an apprentice, an execution by Linel who
held a number as a knight would be a fitting end for such a coward.
Renri turned his face away as he awaited the blade of

condemnation.
But what he heard was a soft whisper rather than approaching

footsteps.
“…You are a terrible coward, but you must have some

strength if you’re supposed to be a high ranking knight.
Thank that swordsman you called ill.”
—What did she mean; that thought came and he raised his face
only after Linel’s ascetic clothing spun about.
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“Trainees, come, and bring Kirito with you.”
Went Linel’s instructions.
“Nel, they’re here! There’re eight… no, ten!”
Before Fizel’s voice overlapped them. Certainly, there were

multiple sets of footsteps approaching from the east.
Turning about, Linel quickly instructed Tiezé and Ronye who stood
frozen.
“I take back that order, stand by for a while. We will take

care of the goblins.”
“We… we understand, esteemed knight.”
Tiezé nodded and Linel left the tent, as though sliding away, and
vanished alongside Fizel. Cries from the goblins going, “There they
are! Ium children!” came straight away as the footsteps left. They
must have planned to draw them away before engaging.
Standing against ten whole goblins without fear required courage

beyond what one would expect from apprentices. However, those
two held strength worthy of that.
Strength.
Linel judged Renri as a coward but still said he “must have some
strength”. And that he should thank the rebel, Kirito, who should
have originally been their enemy.
He did not understand the meaning behind those words and he

doubted there was even a trace of strength inside himself. After all,
he could not even bring himself to stand even with an enemy soldier
within sight.
Renri looked downwards, unable to even muster the courage to
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confirm the expressions Ronye and Tiezé had.
However, that lasted only seconds. A straight line tore through the
thick, woven fabric on Renri’s immediate left, separating the tent’s
inside from the outside. That was reason enough for him to get up
and leap backwards, rather than cower as he did.
Standing on the other side of the torn fabric was a goblin soldier
shorter in stature than the one earlier but clad in armor that seemed
of somewhat high quality. Though made from leather, it was tailored
skillfully and even dyed black. Judging from how he hid from Linel
and the rest’s notice, he was apparently a scout that excelled in
covert operations.
Renri unconsciously reached out towards the throwing knives on

his waist. But he could not draw them. Like when he saw the first
goblin, the fear seeping from the depths of his stomach numbed his
frigid finger tips.
Renri was mostly unaware of it himself, but the source of that fear
did not stem from seeing a demi-human soldier up close for the first
time.
It was fear towards fighting. To be specific, he feared the death

match that engaging a goblin would lead to.
He feared getting killed. That said, he feared killing even more.
Sets of footsteps reached Renri’s frozen ears. They must be from a

unit different from the one Linel and Fizel drew away. There really
were more than ten or twenty goblins who slipped past the defense
lines.
Perhaps having seen through Renri’s fear as he stood frozen, the

scout grinned and turned towards Tiezé and Ronye. The two female
trainees hid Kirito on the wheelchair behind themselves and firmly
brandished their swords once more. However, despair flashed onto
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their faces right after. Numerous shadows approached through the
smoke hanging behind the scout.
The scout readied the scythe-like weapon in his right hand and
sidled towards Tiezé and Ronye.
“Stop… stop there! We will cut you if you come any closer!”
The red-haired girl shouted boldly. But that voice was faintly
hoarse and quivered.
“……”
The goblin shortened the distance in silence. The lack of pointless

banter, unlike the normal soldier from earlier, indicated him to be
higher up among the soldiers, with more training. Still, Tiezé held her
ground and held her sword aloft with an expression displaying her
readiness to die.
—You can’t do it, run.
He wanted to say so. But Renri’s mouth did not move. His body,
no, his soul rejected the option to fight even in this situation.
It was then—
A weak, creaking noise reached Renri’s ears.
He flicked his sight alone towards the right.
The black-haired youth looking downwards with an empty

expression, still powerlessly sitting on the wheelchair in the tent’s
murky depths. The noise came from his left hand. Blood vessels
showed up on the hand hugging the two swords, rousing his joints,
displaying the tremendous power within them.
As though resenting the lack of a right hand to draw those blades.
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“You……”
Renri whispered with an inaudible voice.
You wish to protect those two? Despite being unable to stand, to

draw your sword, or to even speak?
Out of nowhere, he noticed.
The strength Linel and Fizel mentioned before they left. That must
refer to neither swordsmanship, nor arts, nor divine instruments, nor
even the armament full control art.
It was that meager power everyone, both integrity knights and the
common folk, possessed from the start, yet lost sight of all too easily.
Courage.
Renri’s right hand slowly began moving. His still-numbed finger tips
brushed against the Twin Edged Wings on his waist. Sensation
returned to his hands in that instant. His divine instrument seemed to
speak to him.
The goblins carelessly swung that brutal scythe up towards Tiezé.
Then—
The sharp noise of the air being sliced apart echoed as a bluish-
white light illuminated the murky insides of the tent.
The light sprung upwards, tracing an arc from Renri’s hand,

grazing the tent’s roof as it dived. It turned upon passing through the
goblin’s body and settled between the index and middle fingers of
Renri’s outstretched right hand.
“…Gh-hi…?”
The goblin moaned as though doubting what had occurred. A light
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red line drew across the middle of his face without a sound.
Immediately after, the top half of the goblin’s face slid out of place
and fell onto the ground with a damp noise.
The divine instrument, «Twin Edged Wings», was a set of extremely

thin, steel throwing knives bent in the middle.
The knives of approximately forty cen long had no grip to hold

them by. Both sides ended in sharp tips and they were thrown by
placing that between one’s fingers. The edges that flew while
revolving at high speeds could freely change their trajectory and
would return to their owner’s hands before received between one’s
two fingers again.
In other words, even normal usage required a level of

concentration incomparable to that of swords. He could easily lose
his fingers if his focus was disturbed by the slightest bit and he failed
to receive the returning edges.
His evident control over such a weapon could be said to be proof

enough of Renri’s capabilities. However, he himself was absolutely
unaware of that. His spirit languished at the feeling of inferiority from
his incapability to activate the armament full control art.
As such, Renri had not actually become any more ready for battle
despite having killed the goblin with a single stroke.
Renri repeated his shallow breathing while focused on the cold

steel faintly quivering, whirling to a stop at the tip of his extended
right hand. He killed, he had finally killed; those words alone
resounded in his mind time and time again.
“…Esteemed knight.”
Tiezé was the one to break the silence. Tears lightly stained her
eyes in the shade of autumn as the trainee spoke in a whisper.
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“Thank you… very much. You did save us, in the end.”
Warmth spread through Renri’s chest, icy with fear, from those
words. That said, he did not have the time to respond. Multiple
shadows came directly at them from beyond the smokescreen. Their
numbers were likely beyond ten.
—Impossible. I can’t fight any longer. It was scary enough even

against that one goblin.
The meager courage he gathered from all of himself scattered and

vanished.
His breathing grew shallow. Strength left his legs.
His eyes swam, seeking a path of escape, and were drawn to the
two long swords held in the black-haired youth’s one arm.
One among them, the sword adorned with a detailed rose inlay on
its grip, let out a feeble light in the dim darkness. The blue light, faint
yet somehow warm, pulsated just like a heart. The icy dread
enveloping his entire body gradually thawed.
After drawing in all the air his chest could hold, Renri spoke.
“…The two of you should stay here and protect Kirito-san.”
“Y… yes!”
Tiezé and Ronye replied with spirit. Replying with a light nod, Renri
left the tent from where the scout tore through. The two goblins
leading the approaching enemy soldiers noticed Renri and bared
their fangs.
A flash came from his right hand and a bluish-white radiance ran
through the air.
The throwing knife returned to his fingers just as their two heads
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fell. However, Renri shifted his sight without making sure of that and
let loose the knife on his left waist towards a new target. Another two
goblins had their life cut away as they crumbled.
New troops surrounded Renri who had dealt with four goblins in
merely four seconds.
“It’s a knight…”
“The general’s head!”
“Kill! Kill!!”
Bathed in those savage voices, Renri ran forward in order to draw

the enemies away from the tent behind. The goblins’ armor rattled as
they chased after.
The orderly lines of supplies tents came to an eventual end. On his

immediate left was a cliff wall that rose vertically and a dense
smokescreen obstructing the front with goblins gushing out from
there, one after another. And behind him were the ten chasing him.
Having jumped into his own doom, Renri stopped his feet and
stretched his two hands grasping onto the two throwing knives
towards the left and right before shouting.
“—My name is Renri! The integrity knight, Renri Synthesis

Twenty-seven!! If you wish for this head, then come at me
ready to set your life aside!”
The goblins responded with ferocious roars at that speech that

took all of his courage.
Their machetes swung up as one and Renri let loose both throwing
knives concurrently, targeting them who leapt in from both ends.
The knife in his right hand towards the right. The knife in his left
hand towards the left. The two soaring edges traced arcs as they
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intercepted the frontmost goblins.
Heads left their bodies, dismembered one after another, before

falling onto the ground. Their bodies fell forward, delayed, as dark
fresh blood spurt from them.
Renri caught the two returning knives not by holding them

between his fingers but by hooking them around his index fingers.
Spinning them at high speeds in order to maintain their momentum,
he threw them once more without pause.
The exact same scene repeated itself yet again. A naive

comparison of his normal attacks against Deusolbert’s «Conflagrant
Flame Bow» and Fanatio’s «Heaven Piercing Sword» in terms of might
would probably result in his victory. The edges of the «Twin Edged
Wings» were thinner than paper and as they spun at extreme speeds,
they cut through inadequate armor as though they were not present.
The two consecutive throws downed over ten and even the goblins
who knew no fear had their vigor dampened, spooked by the
disconcerting manner of death of their allies.
I can do this— If he held on for a little longer, backup should come

from the frontlines where the smokescreen was fading.
Renri held down the terror from the genocide he committed as he

took a third throw.
However, what arrived at his ears was the noise of twigs fell by a
hatchet rather than the prior cutting noises.
Kakiiin! A shrill sound of impact.
The two knives returned somehow despite how their courses were
violently altered and Renri reached out as far as he could with both
hands to retrieve them. Deprived of the composure needed to risk
hooking it against his fingers, he narrowly brought the lethal knives
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to a stop.
His two widely opened eyes caught sight of a figure, a single

goblin, languidly appearing from beyond the smokescreen.
Large.
His height did not differ much from Renri whose body was at the
physical age of fifteen. However, the bulging muscles covering his
entire body and the burning murderous aura emanating from his pair
of yellow eyes were wholly different from the other goblins. He wore
riveted leather armor, perhaps for the sake of mobility as it appeared
light, and a massive hatchet dangled from his right hand.
“…You’re their general?”
Renri asked in a soft voice.
“Yer. Chief of the mountain goblins, Kosogi.”
The goblin replied calmly and slowly looked about.
“Ah-ah, that’s one grand display you put on in killing them.

To think there was an integrity knight left behind all the way
back here. I didn’t expect that at all.”
It was not just his physique, but his manner of speech, too,
completely differed from the other goblins. Despite possessing an
intense, seething blood thirst, his high intelligence held that down.
—Not that it matters. He only got lucky and deflected the Twin
Edged Wings once, that won’t happen again.
Renri crossed his arms before himself and shouted.
“Your war will end here!!”
He threw them as fast as he could, with all he had.
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The right edge soared down at an angle as the left grazed the
ground as it sprang upwards, accurately flying towards Kosogi’s
neck. Still.
Once again, all that rang out was a shrill, clear metallic noise.
The enemy general, Kosogi, shifted the hatchet quickly enough for
it to turn into a grey blur and splendidly warded off the simultaneous
attack from left and right.
He barely caught the deflected throwing knives.
—Why!? The Twin Edged Wings should be enough to slice through

that goblin’s weapon…!
Shocked, Renri’s sight was drawn in towards Kosogi’s hatchet.
Though its make was coarse like the machetes the goblin soldiers
had equipped, the tint of its blade differed. That was not a product of
primitive casting. It had a sharp blade with high priority, forged over
much time with tempered steel.
Perhaps having seen through Renri’s astonishment, Kosogi brought

the hatchet before his face as he grinned.
“This? It’s a prototype, but it’s quite well done, right?

There was blood spilt in order to steal the materials and
methods from the Order of the Dark Knights. But you see…
that’s not the only reason why your attacks are being
blocked, knight kid.”
“……Then how about this?!”
He swung both hands straight up. The throwing knives that soared
into the dark night skies vanished from the enemy’s sight and drew a
great arc as they assailed from behind. Deflecting this would be—
“……!!”
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His conviction immediately fell apart. The goblin chief named
Kosogi swung the hatchet behind and deflected the knives travelling
at extreme speeds without even looking, of all things.
Renri failed to perfectly catch the returning knives, wobbling

unsteadily, and suffered a cut on the middle finger of his left hand.
However, the situation gave him no time to even feel that pain.
“They’re light, kid. And that noise too.”
Kosogi’s short lines covered every single one of the Twin Edged
Wings’ weaknesses.
The weight of each throwing knife was unbelievably light for a

weapon considered a divine instrument. That was only natural given
its pursuit for only sharpness and rotational energy, but as a result, it
could not cut down by force any opponent with a defense of sufficient
priority to handle its velocity.
In addition, the knives that spun at high speeds as they flew

exhibited a distinctive noise as they sliced through the air. It was
within the realm of possibility for someone who had trained their
hearing to predict the trajectories.
Renri shuddered at Kosogi’s intellect, seeing through that much

after watching his attacks only those few times. To think a goblin, a
crude, inferior demi-human could—
“And that’s just a goblin… your face’s speaking, kid.”
Showing a grin that appeared somewhat depressed, Kosogi

whispered.
“But in my case, I would like to say this. You’re supposed

to be some great esteemed knight, right? Some integrity
knight capable of facing against a thousand… that’s what I
heard, but looks like it’s different for you? That’s why you’re
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hiding all the way back here, aren’t you?”
“…Yeah, that’s it.”
It was his mistake in the first place to make light of the enemy
before himself as some goblin. Understanding that, Renri abandoned
his bluff and nodded.
“I’m a failure of a knight. But still… make no mistake. I’m

the failure here, not this.”
He brought the silver edges held between his fingers in both hands
before his face.
The Twin Edged Wings’ weaknesses. The one method to rid it of

them would be the integrity knight’s secret art, the armament full
control art.
This divine instrument was said to be once a pair of divine birds

who had respectively lost their left and right wings. Unable to fly with
a single wing, they joined together and soared higher than any of the
other birds could go and flew on for close to an eternity.
That legend gave birth to a small, stinging wound deep in Renri’s

heart without his own notice.
The one he cherished in those memories robbed from him through

the Synthesis Ritual.
The childhood friend he crossed swords against in the final match

of the Four Empires Unity Tournament and stole the life of by
accident at the end of that battle surpassing all other.
He and Renri were truly a pair of birds. They had competed against
each other for as far back as they could recall and even after moving
to the central capital from their village, they broke through all trials
while relying on each other for mental support, reaching that
ultimate stage.
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But their wings broke there.
Even with his memories sealed and him turned into an integrity
knight, the gigantic sense of loss in Renri’s heart remained unfilled.
Having lost the courage to take up the sword to fight and the joy of
connecting, heart-to-heart, with another, Renri could not possibly
have called awake those two divine birds soaring with their wings
joined.
But.
That black-haired youth he met on this battlefield who had suffered

more than anyone else and the two swords he held in his arm.
The warmth light emanating from one of those spoke to Renri in a

mute voice.
Things existed in this world that remained even after one’s life
came to an end.
Those were memories. Recollections.
Connections between hearts allowed for one’s life to be succeeded

by another, and yet another. Without end, as long as the world
continued on.
Renri averted his sight from the goblin general, approaching with
an expression certain of victory, and gently lowered his eyelids.
The young knight appeared as though he had given on everything

before his body let loose an abrupt tempest of his spirit as a
swordsman. His two eyes flickered open. His two arms, gripping onto
the two metal knives, intersected as though to conceal the bottom
half of his face.
“——Fly, Twin Wings!!”
Those arms swiped horizontally along with that shout. The two
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soaring streaks of light traced a steep arc and assailed Kosogi from
the right and left.
“You can keep trying… but it’s useless!!”
The goblin chief brandished his hatchet and deflected the throwing
knives with all his strength.
Shrill, metallic noise accompanied crimson sparks. The two knives

bounced away all too easily, but they took off back into the skies
without falling onto the ground. Just like two nestled birds, they drew
a helix as they intertwined, joining ever closer.
It was then, when the knives came together.
“Release… recollection!!”
Rather than the armament full control art, Renri cried out loud the
phrase for the true secret art surpassing it, the «recollection release
art».
A pure white radiance illuminated the valley.
The two facing metal knives united at their apexes within the light
and became one.
Revolving gently, the knife that had now become a cross glittered
bluish like a distant star in the night sky. The divine instrument, the
Twin Edged Wings, released.
Renri slowly reached his right hand towards his other self, still
releasing light from far above.
—Beautiful.
—Just like me together… with—
He gripped, tightly, the right hand that he had raised so high.
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The crossed knife began rotating with tremendous force. The noise
of it cutting through the air grew steeply before eventually
disappearing as it exceeded the audible spectrum.
Renri leisurely swung down that right hand.
The Twin Edged Wings slid through space soundlessly as a disc of

light towards the goblin.
“It’s… no use!!”
Roaring, Kosogi slashed the hatchet at the Twin Edged Wings’

assault from the sky above in a bid to knock it down.
However, it occurred a moment before the thick steel went up

against the ultrathin knife. The divine instrument rapidly altered its
prior trajectory and leapt vertically for a moment before accelerating
downwards once more after the hatchet swiped through empty air.
Khh.
It was a dry, quiet noise.
A bluish-white streak surged through the middle of Kosogi’s figure,

trained to the extremes, in the very next instant.
“Gaaahh!!”
Kosogi leapt at Renri with a savage roar. But the right half of his
body fell behind the left. He ran a step or two before his body
separated fully, crashing towards the right and left.
On the verge of his death, Kosogi pondered on the cause of his

defeat with his excellent intellect.
Going by his preconceptions, it would mean that puny, budding

knight hid bloodthirst and desires greater than him. However, no
matter how hard he stared with his divided vision, he could discern
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no bloodthirst at all on the knight’s childlike face.
—Then, what had I lost to?
Though the desire to know overwhelmed him, that was but a

moment before complete darkness engulfed his vision.
Upon receiving the returning Twin Edged Wings with both hands,
they separated without a sound and returned to how they were.
Renri silently stared at the two knives unstained by even a drop of

blood.
It was not as if his sealed memories came back to him. In the first
place, Renri had no notion that his memories were sealed.
Yet still, Renri affirmed the remnants of memories, sparse as they

were, of another person whom his heart had joined with once. He
thought that sufficient for now.
After shutting his eyes for a moment, he flicked his head upwards
in realization. There should have been many goblin soldiers waiting
behind the enemy general, Kosogi. Yet it was strangely quiet.
Focusing his eyes beyond the finally clearing smokescreen, Renri

noticed countless corpses heaped upon each other. They were all
those of the enemy troops who should have been still alive minutes
ago. Surprise took him as he wondered who could have done it.
“…You’re looking a little more like a knight now, aren’t

you?”
Hearing that voice, he flusteredly turned his body about. The

person trotting in from his right was the apprentice knight, Fizel
Synthesis Twenty-eight. Linel Synthesis Twenty-nine was present
beside her too. It must have been this pair who took care of the
remaining enemy troops.
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He stood stock still, not knowing how to reply, and Linel, with her
hair in pigtails, snorted before carrying out an embellished knight
salute.
“Esteemed High Ranking Knight, we await your orders.”
That must have been part sarcasm, but it was still better than
scorn. Renri cleared his throat before asking of the pair.
“…Are Tiezé and the others safe?”
“Yep. They joined up with the supply unit.”
As Fizel nodded, he let out a relieved sigh and nodded.
“What about the enemy soldiers who got past?”
“We took care of all of them.”
Linel replied this time.
“Then… I’ll return to my unit, so it would be for the best if

the two of you did the same.”
“Okaay.” “Understood.”
After seeing off the apprentice knights who turned about with

absolutely no sign of exhaustion from the combat and rushed off, he
turned his eyes towards the rows of tents behind once more.
……Thank you.
Expressing his gratitude in his heart to the two female trainees and
that young swordsman, Renri Synthesis Twenty-seven the high
ranking integrity knight began running towards the east to join up
with the left flank of the second unit.
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At the back of the Dark Territory’s second army, stationed roughly
five hundred mel from the valley where the fierce battles continued.
A tall woman in a revealing outfit stood on the second floor of a

four-wheeled carriage, luxurious enough even if inferior to Emperor
Vector’s earth dragon war vehicle, with her arms folded. She was one
of the Ten Lords of the Dark Empire, head of the Dark Arts Users’
Guild, D.I.L.
The black-clothed messenger arts user waiting at her side looked

up at her master as she reported in a low voice.
“Sigrosig-dono, Shibori-dono, and Kosogi-dono have all

been lost in the battle.”
D.’s lips curved in that instant and she spat out.
“Ugh, how useless… I suppose that’s as far as those stupid

demi-humans could go.”
She took a glance at the necklace dangling on her captivating

breasts. With twelve precious stones set on the silver circle, it was a
treasured divine instrument that told the time through their
fluctuating hues. The six o’clock stone lit orange and the seven
o’clock stone was still dark. In other words, only a mere twenty
minutes or so had passed since the battle began at six in the
evening.
“Have those integrity knights’ positions been uncovered?”
She asked, making no effort to hide her irritation, and the

messenger arts user chanted a short art and listened to the art users
lurking on the battlefield before replying.
“We have visual sight on three at the frontmost lines. We

have found two in the rear, but confirming their positions will
still require time.”
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“Still five? Or perhaps their numbers are simply few…? Still,
we must be sure to slaughter those five…”
D. muttered to herself with a ruthless expression, far from the

coquettish behavior she put up before the emperor, and gave an
order after slight thought.
“Fine, release the minions. Make the commands…”
Squinting, she judged the distance to the collapsed Great Gate and
the war front beyond it before continuing.
“…«fly seven hundred mel», «descend onto ground», and

«unrestrained annihilation».”
“I believe the demi-human forces at the frontmost line will

be swallowed up with that distance?”
“That’s of no issue.”
She decided in an apathetic manner.
The female messenger arts user, too, showed no emotion and

nodded with an “understood” before asking again.
“How many shall we send? We currently have a total of

eight hundred incubated and all available here.”
“Hmm, let’s see…”
D. took several more moments as she pondered.
She felt minions, requiring many resources and much time in their
production, to be far more important than those goblins in terms of
fighting strength. Though she wanted to exercise prudence wherever
possible, the emperor would certainly be displeased if D.’s proposal
to [annihilate the enemy’s main force through a concentrated
volley of arts from behind] were to fail.
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“…All eight hundred.”
A cruel smile made its way onto those lips that issued that order.
D. hid an ambition. To achieve victory in this battle and obtain that

«radiant medium» person, and thus, to succeed the position of
emperor from Dark God Vector who had returned to the earthly
realm for absolute rule over the entire Underworld.
Upon taking the throne, she could create thousands, tens of

thousands of minions if she so wished. Her greatest obstacle, the
Dark General Shasta, had already died and the only ones with power
remaining were the merchants, interested only in money, and the
pugilists, interested only in battle. The realization of her ambition
could be said to be imminent.
She would succeed in subjugating the entire world, a feat

unaccomplished by even that half-god, half-human Highest Minister
Administrator, and get her hands on that art for eternal Life said to
be concealed at the stronghold of the Axiom Church.
Perpetual youth and immortality. Everlasting beauty.
Sweet shudders crept their way up D.’s back. Her scarlet tongue
dabbed at her lips painted blue.
It was about then when the orders from the messenger arts user
dispersed through the Dark Arts Users’ Guild at the front lines and
those pitch-black golems, manifestations of darkness given wings,
flew off as one.
As the light from the torches shone upon her glossy skin, the eight
hundred minions rose and flew straight through the gorge as
commanded.
—They’re here.
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A wide grin carved itself on Knight Commander Bercouli’s lips that
have been pursed like some sculpture since the battle began.
He sensed many aviating soldiers intruding the range of the

armament full control art he maintained in the skies right before the
Great Gate.
Those were not flying dragons with dark knights astride. They
appeared to be those minions, cold as mud and devoid of soul.
However, it was too soon to invoke it. He would pull the minions
released by the enemy in until they were all swallowed within his
«slashing space».
Bercouli’s keen senses had already perceived the tough battles

Fanatio and Deusolbert went through, as well as how Renri awakened
even if he had fled temporarily.
With the three generals of the invading army’s vanguard defeated,

there was no worry they would lose their hold on the battle line. , if
only the seventh high ranking knight on stand-by in the sky were to
render the enemy’s long range arts futile by exhausting every last bit
of the space sacred energy, the unhurt second unit of the Defense
Army would be capable of intercepting the enemy’s main force, the
Order of the Dark Knights and the Pugilists’ Guild.
Bercouli had predicted his true role to arrive after that.
It was not to fight, one-to-one, against his arch rival of many years,
Dark General Shasta.
Bercouli had already sensed Shasta’s absence from the enemy’s

main force. The immense spirit he felt vanishing far in the east days
ago—that must have been that master swordsman’s final moment.
As the most senior integrity knight, having lived through practically

countless years and months, Bercouli no longer grieved and mourned
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for those bound by Life. Still, the death of Shasta, the one he hoped
capable of reconciling the land of darkness and Human Empire
without bloodshed, filled him with chagrin and nothing else.
With things as they were, he would simply have to cut down the
one who ended Shasta’s life, the owner of this presence that felt like
a frigid emptiness—that unknown enemy supreme commander likely
leading the Dark Territory army—by his own hands to avenge his
death.
Or perhaps his own life would end there, Bercouli thought.
Still, he no longer felt even a fragment of attachment towards life.
He would simply die when the time came.
Bercouli had thought that incarnation released by that lower

ranking knight under Fanatio on the verge of death to be admirable,
and felt slight envy from it too.
But naturally, this was no time for such.
The slashing area had, at last, devoured every single one of the
swarm of minions tearing through the dark skies above as they
advanced.
Bercouli’s two eyes flashed open and gently swung up his

cherished sword, the «Time Piercing Sword», that was thrust in the
ground.
“——Cut!!”
He slashed the empty air with its naked blade with that brief shout.
At that, endless dazzling white rays of light joined together as they

traced out a three-dimensional grid in the sky beyond.
Following a grand, bizarre cacophony of death cries, darkness
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rained upon the heads of the enemy demi-human forces like a
waterfall. The weak poison in the minions’ blood spurred on the
confusion among the forces that had lost their generals.
Ominous premonitions seized D. right as she heard a faintly

startled ring in the messenger arts user’s voice which had persisted
in its utter lack of emotion thus far. Only to be realized a second
later.
“Lamentably, Your Excellency… it appears the eight

hundred minions have been all annihilated before they
landed.”
“Wha……”
She lost her words.
The shattering noise following that was a shriek from the

expensive crystal cup struck against the carriage’s flooring.
“How could it be?! I had never heard of any force capable

of arts on this scale among the enemy!”
In the first place, it would be near impossible to massacre eight

hundred minions with only arts. As they were largely produced with
clay, they held high resistance against thermal and cryogenic arts. A
slash from a sharp blade would be most effective, but the infantry
units’ swords could never reach the minions in the air.
“…The enemy has yet to release their flying dragons?”
D. asked, somehow bringing her rage under control. The

messenger arts user confirmed with her head still lowered.
“Yes. We have yet to confirm even a single flying dragon at

the current moment.”
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“In that case… it’s that? The trump card belonging to those
integrity knights… the «armament full control art». Still… to
think it’s capable of…”
Saying no more, she grinded her bared canine teeth together.
Like Dark General Shasta, D., too, had attempted to collect

information regarding the secret arts concealed by the integrity
knights. However, it was near impossible to witness some precedent
on such a scale. She could explain it with nothing more than the
synergy between the divine instrument and the knight’s own
strength.
“That said, using their weapons in such a way should

consume much of their Life. Continuous usage shouldn’t
be…”
It was when D. muttered so as her thoughts whirled about at full

speed.
Having listened to a report from the frontlines, the messenger arts

user’s head shot up and she conveyed it with a voice that had
regained some of its strength.
“Your Excellency, the tracing of the two integrity knights in

the rear has been completed. In total, we have the five
targets within sight.”
“…Good.”
Nodding, she gave it more thought.
The most uncertain element was whether to send in the second

main force of the army, the Order of the Dark Knights and the
Pugilists’ Guild in order to further debilitate the enemy’s armament
full control art. Another choice would be to invoke their trump card,
the Dark Arts Users’ Guild now and to settle the war in one blow.
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It was in D.’s original character to be wary, to carefully work out a
plan and to eliminate any obstacle before putting it into action.
However, the unexpected loss of her eight hundred treasured

minions in an instant drove her into an unconscious uneasiness.
Filling up a new crystal cup with a dark purple wine, D. spoke to

herself.
—I am calm. This is the time for the first grasp at glory.
Raising the cup that she had drank down all at once, D.I.L. loudly
ordered.
“Move out all of the ogres’ archer forces and the Dark Arts
Users’ Guild! Enter the gorge and begin reciting the «Wide-
area Incineration Projectiles» art!!”
Kurururu…
The voice produced from her throat was shrill and sounded
somehow forlorn. The flying dragon, «Amayori», encouraged her
master.
Integrity Knight Alice forced a mild smile onto her lips and
whispered.
“I am fine, there is no need to worry.”
However, she was, in actual fact, not fine in the least. Her vision
strangely distorted, her breath rough, and her limbs icy cold. It would
not be odd for her to fall unconscious in the next moment.
The compressed, enormous art, possibly exploding at any moment,

that she had continuously chanted for immediately after the battle
began was not what exhausted Alice so.
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It was what served as the source of sacred energy that art
consumed: the countless deaths.
Knights. Guards. Ascetics. The dread, grief, and despair from the
instant before they disappeared tormented Alice without pause.
Once, Alice would have paid no notice to the lives and deaths of
the Human Empire’s common folk, let alone those from the Dark
Territory.
She had lived in Rulid for half a year, understanding the

preciousness of the villagers’ modest yet earnest lives, and
recognized them as something worthy of protection, but that was no
cause for thinking the same of those living in the Dark Empire. In
reality, Alice had annihilated the gang of goblins and orcs who
assaulted Rulid a mere ten days ago without the slightest hesitation.
The dark forces were heartless invaders, an enemy to be destroyed

without mercy.
She accepted that without doubt until she assumed this duty
Bercouli assigned her to.
However.
How could it be—?
The sacred energy born from the Life of both armies’ fallen soldiers
in the battlefield below were of the exact same nature be it from a
human of the Human Empire or a demi-human. They were all warm,
pristine, and without any means at all to distinguish their former
selves.
Pondering on the reasons for that threw Alice into great turmoil.
What if, what if the Human Empire’s inhabitants and the land of
darkness’s monsters effectively possessed the same soul, differing
only in whether they were born on this side of the mountain range or
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that?
Why, exactly, were they fighting against us?
“……Kirito. If only you were around…”
You might have found some other way; she stifled those words
without verbalizing them. She had to focus on the art now.
In the war council before battle began, Alice expressed her doubts
to Deputy Knight Commander Fanatio. On who could be the one
capable of using an art enormous enough to exhaust the vast gorge
of its space sacred energy.
Fanatio looked straight towards Alice at that and answered.
—That would be you, Alice Synthesis Thirty.
—You may not have noticed, but your current strength exceeds
that of integrity knights. You should be capable of it as you are now.
The true power of the gods, to split the skies and tear the earth
asunder.
She thought she expected too much of herself then. Still, at the
same time, she felt that she had to accomplish this role even if it
meant her life in exchange. That it was her responsibility as the one
who pointed a sword at the highest minister and so drastically
altered the Axiom Church’s ruling structure.
Alice thought no further and focused solely on gathering the sacred

energy released in the gorge and converting that into the art.
However, Alice felt tight in her heart and she could do nothing
about it as screams incessantly echoed through the gorge.
Die. Dying. Fathers; brothers; sisters; and children.
…Hurry.
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Alice murmured into her heart.
She wished for «that time» to arrive even a second earlier. The
time to end this tragedy by giving birth to deaths far outnumbering
the current horrendous count—
The jumbled forces of mountain goblins, plains goblins, and giants

demi-humans making up the first unit of the invaders were a step
before going on a stampede.
The three chiefs had all died in battle. In other words, the knights
leading the enemy army were stronger than anyone among the
demi-human forces. «The strong shall rule»—that was the one and
only law engraved onto the souls of the Dark Territory’s inhabitants.
If this battle belonged only to the demi-humans, the soldiers would

have all surrendered as soon as their commander was defeated.
What narrowly prevented that situation was the presence of the

god of darkness, Emperor Vector, who had descended into the Dark
Territory. The emperor was stronger than anyone among the Ten
Lords and it was still unknown if the knights of the Human Empire
were stronger.
Hence, the demi-humans could only follow their initial order and
continue with the momentum, earnestly swinging their blades
against the Human Empire Defense Army.
Utilizing the minutes gained from their desperate combat, the Dark
Territory army’s trump card, their long-range military force: the
ogres’ archer forces and D.’s Dark Arts Users’ Guild advanced to a
position barely before the crumbled Great Gate.
The plan was to have the three thousand strong ogre unit ready
their massive crossbows in front and the dark arts users, also three
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thousand strong, chant their offensive arts behind. The one assuming
overall command was not the ogre chief, Fulgrr, but an adept arts
user close to D.
That arts user listened to the commands coming in from the rear
and nodded once before shouting.
“Ogre unit, ready your crossbow! Arts unit, begin chanting

for the «Wide-area Incineration Projectiles» ceremony!!
Spotters, begin chanting the marking art for the enemy
integrity knights’ coordinates!!”
Wide-area Incineration Projectiles referred to a large-scale

annihilation art designed by D.I.L. for the sake of this plan.
Converting all of the space darkness energy filling the battlefield into
thermal elements, they would then achieve firing it at long distances
by affixing them onto the ogres’ arrows. As it consumed no darkness
energy through transformation phrases like «bird shape» or «arrow
shape», the output should far exceed their expectations. It was the
mightiest offensive art in history, absent from the «age of blood and
iron» and possible now only because the races fought together under
Emperor Vector.
In addition, D. had prepared a careful plan to make use of arts

users excelling in aerial elemental arts as spotters, creating «wind
paths» for concentrated fire on the enemy army’s main force, the
integrity knights. If all of the incineration arrows impacted upon a
single point, it should result in an attack of extreme priority that not
even that Highest Minister Administrator could guard against
perfectly.
That was the exact situation that the Sage Cardinal once feared,
the «strength of many overwhelming the strength of one».
Amayori let out yet another low growl.
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However, this time was one to warn, with a sharp roar mixed in.
Alice mustered her will, taking back her consciousness that had
begun to fade, and stared hard towards the twilight far in front.
—They are here!!
Fresh troops approached at a controlled, steady pace from beyond

the demi-human forces still brawling with the Defense Army. She
could see no metallic glint. They were likely the long ranged attack
unit—the Dark Territory’s Dark Arts Users’ Guild.
They were the ones Knight Commander Bercouli was most vigilant
towards, those who held sufficient destructive power to sweep away
the Human Empire Defense Army in one strike.
However, the same could be said of Knight Alice.
Alice had been chanting for a large-scale art. It was conceptualized

after hearing of Deputy Commander Fanatio’s battle against Kirito,
what might be called a «reflected light amplification» art.
With the mass of space sacred energy, sourced from the countless
lives lost to the fighting, as a base, Alice first changed the shape of
crystal elements and created a gigantic glass ball measuring three
mel across.
, she created a thick metal film with metallic elements and

shielded the entire glass ball.
The product was a «sealed mirror». Placing that onto the fitting gap
between Amayori’s wings on her back, she pushed both hands onto
its smooth, curved surface, and sealed in luminous elements
generated from the constantly produced space sacred energy.
Element preservation.
That was a basic yet ultimate technique that many high ranking art
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users racked their minds over since ancient times.
Without constantly fixing one’s mind onto them, generated

elements like thermal, cryogenic, and aerial elements would drift
about the area on their own volition and eventually vanish, scattering
as hot or cold air. Simultaneously, there was an upper limit to the
number of elements maintained, fixed to the terminals the arts user
possessed: the number of fingers on their two hands.
Chief Elder Chudelkin used his unique physique to stand upside-

down with his head alone and made the toes on his two feet into
terminals as well to maintain twenty elements. Furthermore, Highest
Minister Administrator turned her silver hair into terminals through
some technique, allowing her to concurrently handle over a hundred
elements.
That said, Alice could emulate neither of those techniques. To

begin with, ten or even a hundred would not suffice for this situation.
The enemy dark arts users numbered three thousand—even if they
each maintained five elements on average, their total would actually
exceed fifteen thousand.
Hence, Alice explored means to maintain the produced elements

without the need to focus on them. What first came to mind was to
set them into some vessel. That said, the standard elements for
offensive arts, thermal and cryogenic, would instantly disappear
upon coming into contact with some material, heating it up or cooling
it down.
However, an idea came to Alice when she heard about how Kirito
had reflected the light from Fanatio’s divine instrument, the «Heaven
Piercing Sword», with a mirror created from just metallic and crystal
elements in the fight on the cathedral’s fiftieth floor.
If light did no more than rebound upon touching a mirror—she

would only have to produce a fully sealed mirror.
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And if she were to generate luminous elements within it.
It could, theoretically, maintain an infinite number of luminous

elements until the mirror’s Life expired.
The crossbow, drawn to their limits, by the brawny ogre archers

creaked as they were pointed towards the dim sky.
In order to ignite the innumerous arrowheads, gleaming dully, the

three thousand dark arts users held their hands up high as they
recited the opening phrase as one.
“““System call!!“”””
The incantation consisting only of female voices could be called

only a chorus of death. Intoxicated by the immense power it was to
be, the arts users sang the next phrase.
“““Generate thermal element!!“””
Faint red particles flickered as they lit up on their lithe fingers—
Yet it was but an instant before they turned dull, extinguishing

after letting out a modest puff of smoke.
The adept arts user commanding the unit could not immediately
understand what had happened and recited the incantations once
more. But the result remained the same.
Surprise overcame her while bewildered voices from her

subordinates reached her ears.
“We cannot create the thermal elements!”
“We cannot initiate the «Wide-area Incineration Projectiles»

ceremony at this rate!”
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She scanned the surroundings in pursuit of the cause of the
phenomenon and her close aide nearby timidly opened her mouth to
speak.
“C-Commander… shouldn’t it be due to a lack of space

darkness energy…?”
“H-How could that possibly be?!!”
The commander shouted out in shock. She pointed at the frontlines

in the distance with the left hand on which she wore numerous rings.
“Do you not hear those screams!? Don’t you see those
humans and demi-humans dying?! Just where do you think all
of their lives could have vanished off to?!!”
No one had an answer to that question. The ogre archers, too,

grew irritated with the command to fire delay and could simply
continue to keep their crossbows drawn.
The time had arrived.
Alice shut her eyes for a moment and prayed.
She would personally shoulder the sin of robbing many of their

lives for the sake of one.
The silver sphere with a diameter of three mel on Amayori’s sturdy

back had its pressure raised to its maximum. Pulling away the two
hands in contact with it, she drew her sword from the left of her
waist.
“—Bloom, flowers! Enhance armament!”
Her sonorous shout divided the blade of her divine instrument, the
«Fragrant Olive Sword», in countless small orbs. Maneuvering the
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golden yellow swarm, she instructed the knight dragon.
“Amayori, lower your head!”
Following her orders, the flying dragon inclined forward. The silver
sphere quietly rolled and tumbled off the dragon’s head into the air
after one revolution. Carefully catching it with the small orbs, she
adjusted it until a certain point on the silver sphere was directed
diagonally downwards.
Alignment… set.
Drawing in a breath, she whispered.
“…Burst element.”
An incantation far too short and plain for an art holding such
terrifying power.
The silver, reflective sphere was made with one spot thinner on
purpose.
Focusing the immense light and heat from the countless exploding
luminous elements onto that one point, the silver film and glass
liquefied into a crimson red—
Letting them loose into the world outside with a shrill explosion.
Fanatio stood in a daze, looking up towards «that» from the

ground, while she thought about how it must hold a might thousands
of times stronger than the light ray produced by the Heaven Piercing
Sword’s armament full control art.
The guards and knights aside from her were simply awed by what
they believed was Solus’s might.
The pure white pillar measuring five mel wide fell upon the earth
from the skies with extreme speed and stabbed in between the demi-
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human forces. It then made its way farther into the gorge as though
nudged gently—
A roaring symphony of several thousand bells rang out as the

waves of heat and light grew to encompass the entire width of the
gorge. It became a towering pillar of fire immediately after,
practically touching the mountain range at the edge, and dyed the
night skies red.
D. chuckled upon seeing the absurd explosions almost close

enough for her hands to reach, in belief that it was the result of her
own strategy.
However, the heat wave surging forwards at her four-wheeled

carriage from the gorge wiped that smile off.
The burnt, charred wind brought her tidings. The screams of the
demi-human units and the dark arts users D. personally raised as
they perished.
The messenger arts user reported hoarsely as D. stood in silence.
“…Due to the unknown deficiency of space darkness

energy, we were unable to set off the «Wide-area Incineration
Projectiles» ceremony… immediately after, the unidentified
large-scale attack launched by the enemy forces appears to
have wiped out ninety percent of the demi-human units,
seventy percent of the ogre archers, and also… over thirty
percent of the dark arts users units…”
“Unknown deficiency…?”
D.’s frame trembled, boiling over with anger at last, as she

exclaimed.
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“We clearly know why! It’s that ridiculous art that sucked
up every last drop of space darkness energy in the gorge!!
Still… I can’t believe it, an art on such a scale is impossible
for me… the deceased highest minister must be the only one
capable of it!! So tell me, who was the one behind it!?”
Despite her rant, naturally enough, there were no answers to be

had.
How could she find a way out of this situation—or rather, how
should she report this to Emperor Vector? The one boasting the
greatest intellect among all in the Dark Empire, D.I.L., could do no
more than breathe raggedly.
Assailed by the recoil from firing that exceptionally great art and
the tragedies born from it, Alice returned the Fragrant Olive Sword to
its scabbard immediately before collapsing onto Amayori’s back.
The flying dragon gently accepted its master before tracing slow
spirals as it descended onto the frontmost lines of the Human
Defense Army.
The first one to rush in was Deputy Knight Commander Fanatio.

Reaching out both arms, she caught Alice who slipped off her dragon.
“…That art and display of incarnation was magnificent,

Alice.”
Somehow raising her eyelids at that truly touched voice, Alice saw
the gorge with its surface still burning red as well as the shadows of
the enemy survivors fleeing in a frenzy. She could hardly find any
corpses. They must have been disintegrated by the initial ray of light
or blown apart without a trace by the following explosions.
She could not bring herself to feel any pride over the far too
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ruthless destruction.
Still, cheers surged in like a tidal waves from the surrounding

guards straight away. They eventually streamed together and turned
into cries of triumph as they continued.
While listening to the cheers for the Order of the Integrity Knights
and the Axiom Church, Alice finally let out a choked breath and lifted
her body which was supported by Fanatio. The deputy knight
commander showed a tired smile and gave a deep nod.
“The enemy has retreated. You have led us to victory.”
Responding to those words with a smile as well, Alice stiffened her

expression and spoke.
“Fanatio-dono, the war has yet to end. Please prevent the

fresh sacred energy from the earlier art from being reused by
the enemy and spend them on healing arts.”
“That’s true… they still do have their main forces, the

Order of the Dark Knights and the Pugilists’ Guild at the peak
of their health.”
The black-haired beauty nodded and raised her voice with a trace
of fatigue that even she could not hide.
“Good, all who can move, retreat to the second unit and
bring the wounded along! If you’re from the ascetics unit or
even a guard with knowledge of healing arts, treat the
wounded with all you have until the space energy runs out!
Do not take your eyes off the enemy forces’ movements!”
Her concise orders resounded and the guards swiftly got started.
The starting phrase for sacred arts could be repeatedly heard from
behind.
“I will report to His Excellency, the knight commander. Can
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I entrust this place under you?”
Alice nodded and Fanatio showed another smile before leaving,

half running. As people left, Alice was left alone at the frontmost lines
with Amayori.
Having sent off the deputy knight commander, Alice took several

steps and scratched the underside of her cherished dragon’s chin
while she gently whispered.
“You have done a great job, too, Amayori. It must have

been tiring staying still in that one place. Be sure to eat up
after you return to your bedding.”
The flying dragon purred happily, flitted up as it beat its wings, and
glided towards its peers all the way in the rear.
Now then, time to go to the wounded’s aid. Alice took a step with
that in mind.
“……Master.”
The low voice belonged to Knight Eldrie.
What Alice saw when she turned about to commend her only
disciple was the youth’s grim figure despite his usual unrestrained
and slick self.
The sword in his right hand and the whip in his left hand were dyed
red and black with the copious blood coating them. That was not all.
His silver armor and once-glossy light purple curly hair were in a
terrible state, too, from the blood of his victims. Just how did the
battle go to reduce him to such a condition?
“Eh… Eldrie! Are you unharmed!?”
She asked with her breath held and the knight slowly concurred
with a somewhat empty expression.
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“…Yes, I have not suffered any heavy injuries. Still… I
should have just thrown this life away in battle…”
“What are you saying? You have a mission to lead the

guards until this war ends…”
“I did not complete that mission.”
The young integrity knight muttered in a cracked voice.
Alice could not have known, but after the smokescreen tactic
made Eldrie let the mountain goblins through the defensive line, it
took several whole minutes of futile effort at clearing it without arts
before he finally could lead the guards to chase after the goblins
assaulting the rear.
That said, by then, the chief of the mountain goblins, Kosogi, was
already defeated by Integrity Knight Renri, mostly branded as a
failure of a knight. Deprived even of a chance to regain his honor,
Eldrie lost his cool and massacred every last one of the fleeing
goblins—before looking up at the godlike art launched by his master,
Alice, from above.
“I have betrayed… your expectations, Alice-sama…”
Returning the Frost Scale Whip to his waist, Eldrie grabbed his own
face with his left hand.
“How can I… this foolish… pathetic… disgraceful… person

be a knight…?!”
And how could he [protect his master]?
The power of that art, comparable to natural disasters. They were

too far apart. In every sense.
She never did need him. His master, that prodigious knight, never
needed some halfwit like himself. He had nothing he excelled it, be it
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swordsmanship, arts proficiency, or the full control art; and his
foolishness in having a bunch of goblins outwit him was in full
display.
To even think he could obtain his master’s heart… her love with
such a sorry sight; such a thought would be an insult.
“I… have no right to name myself as your disciple, Alice-

sama!”
Eldrie screamed in agony.
“You… you have done well!”
Alice somehow got that out her mouth despite her bewilderment.
Just what had happened to Eldrie? Though there was moderate

confusion at the frontlines, had he not kept the casualties caused by
the enemy low?
“You are necessary to me, the Defense Army, and the

people of the Human Empire too. Why do you insult yourself
so?”
Despite asking in a tone as gentle as she could muster, the

depression in Eldrie’s eyes remained. The blotches of split blood on
his cheeks quivered as the knight mumbled at a muffled volume.
“Necessary… Do you mean, for my power? Or do……”
He could not finish his words.
An abrupt, bizarre growl shook the air and both Alice and Eldrie
simultaneously turned to look.
“Fgrrrr…”
A damp, throaty noise reminiscent of a menacing wolf. Alice
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opened her eyes widely and focused them on the darkness farther
into the gorge.
Spots throughout the valley were still illuminated by the

smoldering flames and a humongous shadow weakly stood up there.
It was no human. Its legs bent at a peculiar angle; its back was
strangely slender; its brawny upper body leaned forward. The head
atop of them all was, simply put, that of a wolf. It had to be a demi-
human from the Dark Territory, one from the ogre race.
Though Alice swiftly stretched her right hand towards her precious
sword’s grip, she immediately noticed the foe was unarmed. And that
was putting it lightly as the left half of its figure was terribly charred
with thin smoke rising from it. It must have suffered those heavy
burns from the white-hot light ray. Still, why had it not retreated like
its surviving comrades?
She confirmed the situation in the area: the guards were still all
back at the rear, leaving Alice and Eldrie alone. Alice questioned in a
sharp tone while keeping vigilant against the ogre’s actions.
“…You must not have much Life remaining. Why are you
standing there unarmed?”
The demi-human replied that with an anguished growl.
“…Grr… I am the ogre chief, Fulgrr……”
The manner in which he stated his name made his long tongue
hang out while panting exhaustedly.
Alice put strength into the hand holding onto the grip. If he was the
ogre chief, that made him one of the Ten Lords in the Dark Empire, a
general for the enemy forces. In that case, did he really come for an
attack with the last of his strength?
However, the ogre continued with surprisingly words.
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“Saw, you. That, light art… launched by, you. That power,
that figure…. you, «radiant medium». Grr… you, bring… war,
end. Ogre, return, grasslands…”
What—was it saying?
Radiant medium? The war would end…?
Alice gleaned no meaning from it at all; still, her intuition told her
the information she received was important. She had to question
more. Just who was this radiant medium? And where was he to bring
it?
However, the ogre halted there.
“Damn you… you have no right to speak, you beast!!”
Eldrie was the one who screamed. Raising the bloody sword in his
right hand up high, he tried to cut straight down at the ogre chief.
That blade never did swing down, however.
Alice who practically teleported forward had Eldrie’s sword grasped

between the fingers on her right hand and stopped the slash with all
her strength.
“Ma… Master, why!?”
Though her disciple let those words escape, going limp onto his
knees, she had no time to reply. Alice let go of the sword before
slowly approaching the standing, still ogre.
A closer look showed that the demi-human’s wounds were not just
heavy but fatal. He was charred black from his left arm to his chest
and his left eyeball had turned a muddled white. Though she judged
him to be in a befuddled state, she still took caution as she continued
her questioning.
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“—Indeed, I am the radiant medium. Now, where will you
take me? Who is the one asking for me?”
“…rrrr…”
The ogre’s intact eye shone with a dull light. His saliva, mixed with
blood, trickled down his long tongue.
“…Emperor… Vector said. Want only, radiant medium. Any

wish, granted for, one who caught medium. Ogres… return
grasslands… Raise horses… birds… live……”
—«Emperor Vector».
The name of the god of darkness passed down even in the Human
Empire’s legends. Had such a being descended onto the Dark
Territory? Had that god started the war in order to obtain this
«radiant medium»?
Alice made a note of the information received in her mind as she

turned a look of pity on the demi-human before her eyes.
The raw stench of craving the goblins emitted was nearly absent
from this warrior with the head of a wolf. He was simply made to
participate in the war and to draw his bow as ordered—only to have
most of his race perish without firing a single shot.
“…Do you bear no grudge towards me? I am the one who

had massacred your people.”
Alice could not help but ask despite lacking any reason to do so.
The ogre’s reply was plain.
“The strong need to… shoulder that strength. I, too…

shoulder the chief’s role. So… catch, you, bring… to……!”
Grrrooohhh!!
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A brutal roar suddenly bellowed from the ogre’s mouth.
His muscular right arm reached out for Alice faster than the eyes
could follow.
Clink.
That brief ring came from the Fragrant Olive Sword’s scabbard.
Having drawn her sword several times quicker than the ogre, Alice
cut once before returning it to its scabbard.
The demi-human’s huge frame came to an immediate stop.
And that body slowly sank onto the earth as Alice took a step back.
A straight scar showed on its brawny chest from which the last of its
Life streamed away as fleeting light.
Alice held her right hand towards the proud wolf-headed warrior’s
corpse. From the flitting sacred energy released, she generated
numerous aerial elements.
“May your soul, at least, reach the grasslands…”
Alice waved her right hand and the green light soared towards the
eastern skies as a whirlwind.
The gaze from Emperor Vector, down towards her, frightened D. to

the depths of her heart while she prostrated herself on the dragon
military vehicle, her forehead against its floor.
There was no anger in the emperor’s ice-colored eyes. He seemed

to measure D.’s worth without any input from his personal emotions.
How would the emperor treat one he judged incompetent and
useless—she shook to her core, merely imagining it.
A brief question eventually came in a deep, fluent voice.
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“Hmm. That is to say, your plan failed and a thousand dark
arts users died due to the enemy taking the initiative to
absorb and consume the space darkness energy… is that
correct?”
“Ye… yes!”
D. lifted her face by the slightest and answered.
“That is precisely the case, Your Majesty. I have not

received any intelligence that the enemy army still retains an
arts user of such caliber despite the highest minister’s
absence, so…”
“Is there no means of replenishing darkness energy?”
Interrupting D.’s desperate excuses, the emperor pursued a

countermeasure. However, D. could only shake her head at that as
well.
“Un… unfortunately… replenishing the amount of space

darkness energy necessary to annihilate the enemy integrity
knights would require plentiful power from the earth and
sun, but both are lacking from the battlefield. The treasury in
Obsidia Palace does have minerals saved which could be
converted to darkness energy, but we would need several
days in order to retrieve…”
“I see.”
The emperor casually nodded and turned his sharp features

towards the distant gorge.
“…From what I can see, however, there is no vegetation on

this land and the sun has already set. Where is this energy
source you planned to utilize for that large-scale art
ceremony?”
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Despite how the god, Vector, the supposed originator of the
darkness arts, had enquired about the basic theory behind them, the
fear occupied too much of her mind for her to pay attention to it.
Desperately seeking for nothing more than means to secure self-
preservation, the female arts user earnestly spoke.
“Yes, it is a battlefield, after all… the blood and lives lost

by the demi-humans and enemy soldiers change to darkness
energy and permeates the atmosphere.”
“Hmm… mm.”
D. stiffened up entirely with the emperor rising from the provisional

throne.
Tap, tap; the black leather boots drew closer. Fear squeezed her
innards.
Coming to a stop on the direct left of D., frozen, the emperor’s fur
mantle danced in the night wind as he muttered softly.
“Blood… and lives?”
***
“Radiant medium…?”
Taking big bites from flatbread mixed with diced dried fruits and
berries, Knight Commander Bercouli’s sinewy chin moved as he
spoke in a muffled tone.
Making use of the temporary ceasefire, rations were distributed to

the Defense Army soldiers by the supply unit with great haste. The
healing of the wounded was almost complete and thanks to the
integrity knights, and their status as high ranking arts users, even
those on their deathbed were up and sipping at their soups.
However, the deceased naturally had no path of return. Among the
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first unit of over two thousand people, close to a hundred-fifty guards
and a single lower ranking knight had lost their lives.
Alice nodded towards the knight commander sitting on the other

side of a folding table.
“Yes. Though I do not recall such a name from any of the

history books, it appears to be certain that the enemy
commander is persistently searching for that person.”
“Commander… the god of darkness, Vector, huh?”
Pouring siral water into the cup left in front of the groaning
Bercouli, Deputy Commander Fanatio spoke.
“It’s hard to believe… the revival of a god…?”
“There’s that. But well, it’s convincing. You felt that

foreign incarnation covering the enemy’s main force, too,
didn’t you?”
“Yes… certainly, I did feel as though I was being pulled into

some chill…”
“It’s the first time the Great East Gate collapsed since the
creation of the world. Anything can happen now, maybe we
should be preparing ourselves for that. But still… lil’ miss.”
His forceful eyes caught tightly onto Alice.
“Let’s say Dark God Vector had descended onto the Dark
Territory and he’s looking for the «radiant medium» who
happens to be you, lil’ miss. That question here is, how will
that affect this war… huh?”
Indeed.
That was what it boiled down to in the end. Even if Vector would be
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satisfied with the medium in his hands, the other dark races would
not stop until they had devoured the Human Empire. They still had to
defend this gorge to the very end.
However, one other phrase remained stuck on Alice’s mind.
«World End Altar».
The words spoken by the «god from the outside world» who Kirito
conversed with via the crystal pane on the Central Cathedral’s top
floor after that fierce battle.
—Head for the World End Altar.
—Straight south after you exit the eastern large gate.
It might be possible to resurrect Kirito’s heart if she went there.

Still, even if she wished to go, she could not abandon the defense at
the Great Gate.
But what if they chased after her?
What if Vector and his army chased after Alice alone, leaving
through the Great Gate, in pursuit of the radiant medium?
Would it not buy time for strengthening the Defense Army by

having the enemy army depart from the Human Empire?
Concealing the matter about the «Altar» which was far too
uncertain, Alice declared to the supreme commander of the Defense
Army in a firm tone.
“Esteemed Uncle… no, Your Excellency, Bercouli. I will

break through the enemy camp alone and head for the
remote regions of the Dark Territory. If the enemy leader
seeks this «radiant medium», he should pursue me with a
sizable number of troops. After there is a reasonable amount
of distance between their divided armies, please launch a
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counterattack on what remains of the enemy army and
eliminate them.”
Emperor Vector spoke with a dry voice devoid of all emotion.
“D.I.L. Would three thousand suffice?”
“Yes…?”
Not understanding the meaning behind those words, D. once again

raised her face. The emperor’s side profile was glazed over to the
extent of even appearing gentle, but his pale blue eyes looked down
upon the troops with a frigid look.
Vector’s mouth moved again.
“What I asked, is that to gain sufficient darkness energy for

that large-scale arts ceremony to eliminate the integrity
knights—”
The following words made even the ruthless D. open her two eyes
widely in astonishment.
“Would expending three thousands of those orc soldier

lives we have in reserve suffice?”
A chill crept up her two legs. With an intense sensation of dread.
Those warped into sweet intoxication as they seeped into D.’s

mind.
“…They would suffice.”
D. whispered with her forehead unconsciously against the

emperor’s boots.
“Yes, they would certainly suffice, Your Majesty. I shall
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raise our collective strength and put on a display with the
two thousand arts users remaining… my Dark Arts Users’
Guild shall showcase the greatest, strongest art in history, a
terrifying art no one had ever witnessed before…”
Whether in the Human Empire or the Dark Empire, the names of

its inhabitants held no literal meaning in the languages they use.
This originated from how the four Rath researchers raising the
initial artificial fluct lights decided to give their children and
grandchildren names in katakana typical of fantasy settings without
much thought.
With those four dead (logged out), the fluct lights could only give
birth to and raise children on their own volition. What perplexed them
then was the inconsistent system of naming.
Reluctantly, the first parents gave their children names similar to

their own, formed from combinations of sounds. However, as time or
the generations passed, rules emerged for naming and they evolved
into a sort of «naming convention» unique to the Underworld.
In short—they placed wishes for their children’s futures into the

combinations of those characters, from a (ア) to n (ン) and their
variations, which were given meaning.
To state an example, the vowels represented sincerity. Zeal for the

k sounds. Wit for the s’s. Vitality for the t’s. Benevolence for the n’s.
Beauty for the r’s… and so on *. For instance, «Eugeo» contains the
traits of being gentle, working fast, and honesty. «Tiezé» was named
as a wish for her to be energetic, helpful, and talented at military
arts. «Ronye» was a name praying for her to be lovely, rich of heart,
and earnest.
The naming convention was mostly shared by the demi-humans of
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the Dark Territory too. For example, «Sigrosig» was a greedy name,
hoping for alacrity, bravery, fearless, and alacrity with bravery once
again. The goblin races with their speed of reproducing were an
exception, often using conjunctive forms of verbs such as «Kosogi»
and «Shibori» *. Meanwhile, the distinguished families among the
dark arts users consider the conventions as a practice of the inferior
castes and have a tradition of using the initials alone of ancient
Darkness Script.
Now then—
The final one still living among the five generals leading the demi-
human races was the orc chief.
His name was «Rirupirin».
Rirupirin was, according to Dark General Shasta, known to hold an

intense grudge against humans which made him as much of an
obstacle to hindering peace with the Human Empire as the dark arts
users’ leader and the goblins’ chiefs.
However, that nature was certainly nothing he had from birth.
He came into his world as the child of an influential and powerful

orc family and was praised to be the most beautiful baby in the
history of the race. The name gave to him contained the r sound for
beauty thrice, rarely seen among the orcs.
Rirupirin was raised beautiful both outside and inside by his

parents’ wishes. He was blessed with talent at the art of war as well
and all had expectations of him as the next chief; and one day, he
accompanied the current chief then out, from the southeastern lakes
and marshes of the orcs for the first time, to Obsidia Palace.
Adorned with a set of gorgeous armor and a sword, he bent his

back with pride as he entered the town near the palace—only to
witness humans with their slender bodies, glossy hair, and lovely
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facial features.
Rirupirin went through a realization that broke down his entire

cognizance. His beauty had to be quantified by affixing it with, “as
an orc”. And that the orcs were belittled as the most unsightly race
in the Dark Empire.
Stout, round bellies; stumpy limbs; a large, flat nose; beady,

sunken eyes; and droopy ears.
Among the orcs given such features, Rirupirin was said to be

beautiful as he possessed a face somewhat similar to the humans.
Rirupirin’s soul was driven to the verge of collapse upon that

realization. He could only cling on to a certain strong emotion in
order to maintain his mental state.
That was, animosity. Someday, he would definitely overthrow the

human race, making them all slaves and crushing every last one of
their eyes to prevent them from turning their sneers on the orcs;
Rirupirin became the orc chief while veiling that gruesome
determination.
Hence, he certainly did not have some innate inclination towards

cruelty like Kosogi. His hostility towards the humans could be viewed
as a major inferiority complex and he ruled over his people with
unchanging benevolence.
“Dat… dat is going too far!!”
Rirupirin unconsciously shouted when the orders from the emperor

arrived.
The orcs had already pitched in a thousand soldiers to serve as a

reserve force for the first unit and they were all lost. Thinking about
how they were ordered, outside of his command, by those goblins
and giants to fight and die was enough to make his chest tighten, let
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alone this new, cold-blooded order handed down.
He was to contribute three thousand sacrifices as a foundation for

the dark arts uses’ offensive arts.
It was to be a death devoid of honor as a warrior or even dignity as

an intelligent being. They were to be just meat—no different from
those yaks brought by the transport unit as edibles.
“We game here to bight! Ngot to pay for your mistakes wib
ow lives!”
Rirupirin protested in a strained, shrill voice.
However, the leader of the dark arts users, D., who stood with her
arms crossed looked down on the orc chief with cold eyes as she
arrogantly declared.
“This is an edict from the emperor!!”
The orc chief felt something get stuck in his throat.
He had witnessed Emperor Vector’s strength during the dark

general’s insurgency more than he had cared to. His overwhelming
strength far exceeded that of the Ten Lords.
The strong must be obeyed. That was the absolute law of the Dark
Empire.
Still— still.
Rirupirin stood still as his two firmly balled up fists trembled.
It was then when a voice, harmonious for an orc, came from

behind.
“Chief. We must obey the emperor’s orders.”
He turned back in surprise and the one standing there, with a
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slender body and dainty, long ears, was a female of his race. She was
born in a distinguished family related to Rirupirin’s and they had
often played together in their childhood.
Revealing a placid smile on her lips, she continued.
“I and three thousand other soldiers will gladly offer ow

lives. For the emperor… and ow race.”
“……”
Rendered speechless, Rirupirin could do no more than grinding

down on his long fangs as though to crush them. The female orc took
a step forward and whispered in a hushed tone.
“Riru. I believe. The celestial world invites ngot only the

humans but the souls of us orcs too. We bill… meet again,
someday, there.”
You would not need to sacrifice your life too, he wanted to say.
However, he knew it would take far too much time for the three
thousand soldiers to accept that unreasonable command without the
noble lady knight, who they exalted more in a sense, sharing their
fate.
Rirupirin opened his fist, held the noble lady knight’s hand, and
moaned.
“I’m sorry, Ren… forgive me… I’m sorry…”
D.I.L. spoke without mercy while turning an unpleasant look down

on the pair.
“You are to have three thousand troops in a closely packed

formation a hundred mel from the gorge within five minutes.
That is all!”
The orc chief glared at the dark arts user, turning away and
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leaving, with eyes short of flaring up. Why did the orcs alone have to
suffer this treatment? It was the umpteen time that question had
swirled in his chest, but this time, too, was fruitless.
The three thousand marching to their deathbeds, formed in orderly

files, appeared even triumphant. On the other hand, soft weeping
and outraged voices permeated deep within the other seven
thousands of their race seeing them off.
The three thousand orcs led by the noble lady knight astride an
armored boar boldly passed between the encampments for the Order
of the Dark Knights and the Pugilists’ Guild, forming a square a short
distance from the entrance to the gorge.
The two thousand dark arts users who were not engulfed within the
earlier grand explosions ominously showed up, as though in wait, and
surrounded the formation.
The atmosphere trembled, accompanying an incantation that

started up horribly dissonant and grating on the ears, perhaps
reflective of the art’s hideous nature.
“Ah… aah……”
Rirupirin let escape a hoarse moan. The orc soldiers had suddenly
distorted in anguish and collapsed onto the ground.
White, fleeting light particles was being drawn out from their
writhing forms without pause. Turning into black, viscous sludge as
they gathered at the arts users’ hands, they gradually transfigured
into what resembled bizarre snakes.
The shrieks from the three thousand soldiers arrived at Rirupirin’s

ears crisp and vivid. Along with a united cry mixed in.
Long live the Orcs. Glory to the Orcs.
The soldiers’ bodies burst apart in succession immediately after.
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Their blood and flesh scattered as the light leaving them grew in
intensity before stolen by the arts users all at once.
Rirupirin was on his knees when he noticed, his right fist striking
the ground. The overflowing tears spread out over both sides of his
large nose and audibly fell onto the black gravel.
Fresh blood left the noble lady knight, dressed in ornate armor, like
crimson flowers in the middle of his warped vision.
“…Renju…!”
It was in the moment he wrung that name from his throat that the
noble lady knight slowly fell to the earth, out of his sight.
Rirupirin’s gritted fangs tore into his lips as blood trickled from his
own mouth as well.
—Damned humans.
Damned humans!
Those damned humans!!
The screams of anger and hatred rattling the core of his mind,
curiously enough, inflicted a great pain at his right eye each time
they came.
Tens of minutes passed.
At the Human Empire Defense Army’s headquarters, the guards

divided into two were exchanging handshakes and hugs, vowing they
would meet again.
Accepting Integrity Knight Alice’s proclamation, Knight Commander

Bercouli added another compromise.
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That was to have Alice, the decoy «radiant medium» for luring
away the enemy army, accompanied by half of the troops. Of course,
Alice vehemently opposed it and requested for independent action,
but the knight commander would hear none of it.
—There’re still many in the enemy army. You won’t be luring many
of them away on your own. We’ll only succeed in breaking them up if
there’re enough of us running with you.
She could say nothing to refute that. It certainly would be too

arrogant to assert that she could lure the entire enemy army away
based solely on that vague information mentioned by the ogre chief.
Besides, Alice planned to have Kirito ride with her on Amayori’s

back. She was not fully confident she could continue protecting him
while serving as a decoy alone. An accompanying force would be
heartening in that aspect at least.
Bercouli had another surprise for everyone after deciding to split

up the Defense Army.
He, the supreme commander and knight commander, would

personally join the decoy unit.
With regards to that, Fanatio, who was assigned to command the

unit staying back, raised vehement opposition along with Deusolbert.
“You’ve done enough, haven’t you? Lemme fight a little.”
Fanatio refuted with the corners of her eyes raised when Bercouli
said that in an admonishing tone.
“Who are you to speak when you can’t even fold your own
change of clothes without me by your side?!!”
That incited much jeering from the knights and guards. Bercouli
showed a cynical smile, drew closer to Fanatio’s ears, and whispered
something—with the deputy commander averting her face
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downwards and backing off, surprisingly enough.
As for Deusolbert, he reluctantly relinquished as well after having

the evident fact that he had ran out of arrows from the battle earlier
pointed out. Supply units were currently heading towards the nearest
town to restock, but that would easily take more than an hour or two.
Worry and concern were on full display on the soldiers’ faces,

regardless of whether they were from the departing or remaining
unit. It was honestly unclear which was in more danger. Only the
gods—no, only the god of darkness and the supreme commander of
the enemy army, Vector, knew how many would pursue the decoy
unit and how many would continue the assault in the gorge.
Those included in the decoy unit finished their preparations before

long: the four high ranking knights, Bercouli, Alice, Renri, Scheta, and
their flying dragons, a company of guards numbering a thousand, a
company of ascetics numbering two hundred, and a supply company
comprising of fifty. Eldrie insisted on being added to the decoy unit
himself, but he reluctantly backed off after a fierce remonstration
from Alice. The apprentice knights, Linel and Fizel, threw a tantrum
as well, but even they could only give in after the knight commander
told them that he would be “counting on them for the rest”.
Eight fast coaches, each drawn by four horses, were readied for
the transport of materials. Kirito and his wheelchair along with the
two female trainees should be riding on one of those.
Alice hesitated much over whether to allow Tiezé and Ronye to

follow or not. However, someone had to care for Kirito and though
she did not know what had happened, Renri, a high ranking knight,
swore to protect the girls even at the cost of his life.
To be honest, Alice had few memories regarding Knight Renri.

However, she felt no deceit from the determination visible on his
adolescent face and the formidable gleam on the divine instrument,
the «Twin Edged Wings», equipped on both sides of his waist.
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Bercouli’s flying dragon, «Hoshigami», began its dignified ground
run and the guards let out hushed cheers.
Alice gripped Amayori’s reins and awaited the time for take-off as
she sent a glance towards Eldrie sending them off on from the
ground.
She was bothered over how her perpetually talkative disciple was
unusually quiet while they prepared for the sortie. However, before
she could send any words his way, Hoshigami softly took off and
Alice turned towards the front in a fluster before gently kicking
Amayori’s side. Her beloved dragon lifted off after a powerful ground
run, followed by Renri’s knight dragon, «Kazenui», and Scheta’s
knight dragon, «Yoiyobi».
Bercouli, who had taken a slow lead, turned about and shouted.
“Right, we’ll hit the enemy’s main force with the dragons’
heat rays all at once as we get out of the gorge! They
shouldn’t have any means for long ranged attacks now, so
just be on your guard for the dragon knights!”
They responded to the knight commander’s instructions with a

sharp “yes”.
The sound of the guards charging in on horseback or foot chased

after them from right behind. The four high ranking knights had to
shake up the battlefield on their own until those guards and the
coaches left the gorge, turning south—towards the right—and gained
sufficient distance from them.
Countless torches were visible before them in the confined, dark

gorge.
They were really many of them. Despite the many defeated, it

appeared the enemy was still almost thirty thousand strong.
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That said, their main military strength should be with the dark
knights and pugilists. Both units focused on close quarters combat
and possessed no offensive effective against integrity knights
mounted on flying dragons.
——No.
What, was that?
That deep, meandering recitation, much like a curse, that came

from below the noise of the wind.
A coordinated chanting… of arts!?
That would be ridiculous, this zone should no longer have the

sacred energy left for a large-scale art!!
Alice rejected her own instincts.
However, just as she did so, Bercouli who flew right in front of her
spat out, “Those bastards… what have they done?!!”
Aah.
What power!!
The leader of the dark arts users, D.I.L. raised her hands towards
the sky as her entire body shivered in sweet ecstasy.
Had any other arts user in history experienced a space charged

with such concentrated darkness energy?
Nothing in this world held priority as high as and power as pure as

intelligent Life. It did not matter even if it came from those vulgar,
repulsive orcs’ lives. If this viscosity was precious wine, aged for a
hundred years, then the darkness energy provided by the sun and
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earth would be plain water.
The energy meant for «Wide-area Incineration Projectiles» earlier

were, in the end, mere dregs left from the lives expended on the
battlefield. However, a whole three thousand lives were converted
explicitly to darkness energy, here and now, for this art.
Every arts user, from Dee to the other two thousands, had both of
their arms extended as numerous grotesque snakes with countless
legs, each seemingly appearing from clotting black mist, coiled about
them.
These were artificial organisms, «Life eaters», created from umbra

elements. No corporeal object could guard against them, not even
swords or armor of the highest priority. The conversion efficiency for
darkness energy was inferior to that for offensive flames, but
everything changed with a source this abundant.
Dee had chosen this art as revenge for the enemy’s «light pillar»
that burnt a thousand of her precious subordinates to death. Even
the screams of the orc soldiers, writhing as they dyed, sounded
pleasant to her ears now.
“Good… be prepared to launch the «Death Curse Worms»

art!!”
Dee’s shout rang out and—
She spotted four dragon knights charging in from the gorge, as

though they had lost their minds, with her own two eyes.
The momentary shock soon changed into elation. She could tidy up
the enemy’s greatest force, the integrity knights and their flying
dragons, all at once as things as they were.
“Stand your ground!! Let them approach!! …No… not

yet…… —Now, let them loooooose!!”
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Zwaaaaaaaa!!
The countless black snakes set off in straight courses towards the

enemy knights, scattering vibrations that seemed to spread pure
fear.
The realization that the enemy’s offensive art had become an

immense, pressing wave of absolute darkness shut down not only the
ordinary guards’ minds for several seconds but the high ranking
integrity knights’ too.
It was an umbra elemental art with an extremely high priority,

likely surpassing the luminous elemental art released by Alice earlier.
A ranged hex that directly inflicted damage on one’s Life and could
not be defended against through physical means.
The mystery—of how they had invoked the umbra elemental art,
with its low sacred energy conversion efficiency, on such a scale and
density despite the inadequacy of energy in the area—was seen
through only by Knight Commander Bercouli.
But not even he could give immediate countermeasures against it.
There were many aspects to offensive arts: the element they were
based on, their density, range, speed, direction, and so on.
Hence, defending required either offsetting or countering those

attributes. Instantly choosing and carrying out a suitable
countermeasure could be said to be part of being a high ranking arts
user.
Being capable of immediately selecting and carrying out a suitable

countermeasure, such as extinguishing a thermal art with cryogenic
elements, scattering decoys against a homing art, or quickly avoiding
an art going straight, could be said to be a requirement for becoming
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a high ranking arts user.
However, this case was an exception.
The enemy’s offensive was too far beyond the norm.
Only the luminous element could offset the umbra element.

However, luminous elements also had a low conversion efficiency
and it was effectively impossible to generate enough to dispel a
curse on that scale. Fanatio’s recollection release attack would most
certainly pierce through the enemy’s art without issue, but the
Heaven Piercing Sword’s light was far too narrow and she was absent
from this decoy unit to begin with.
“Turn!! Climb!!”
Bercouli could only shout those.
The four flying dragons turned about as they traced out a spiral
and headed straight for the skies above the gorge.
The swarm of snakes, too, adjusted their direction with an

unpleasant buzz.
However.
“—No!!”
Bercouli shouted once more.
The worms on their tail were less than half of them all. The
remaining went straight for the guards and supply unit rushing over
the ground.
“……!!”
Letting out a sharp gasp, Knight Alice had her knight dragon roll
and swoop down. She twisted towards the beginning of the darkness
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art creeping ever closer below and rushed forward headlong.
Shaa!! She drew the Fragrant Olive Sword as that distinct sound
rang from its scabbard. A bright golden radiance immediately swept
over its blade.
“Lil’ miss!! No, that won’t work!!”
Bercouli desperately tried to hold back his beloved disciple.
The Fragrant Olive Sword’s armament full control art exhibited

overwhelming power in a fight of one-versus-many, but it was
metallic elemental like the sword. It could not cut through the nearly
incorporeal hex.
Alice, too, knew that all too well. However, she could not possibly
bring herself to simply watch as the guards were attacked.
It happened then.
A fifth flying dragon rushed in from deeper in the valley with the
momentum of a shooting star.
«Takiguri».
The knight dragon belonging to the high ranking knight, Eldrie

Synthesis Thirty-one.
Eldrie repeated a single word over and over again in his mind as
he gripped onto the dragon’s reins.
Protect.
His master. Alice. He had to protect the person he pledged his

sword and swore his devotion to, no matter the cost.
Yet at the same time, he could hear a voice mocking that
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determination just as loudly.
How would you protect her? When you are so powerless? When
you are but a fool, still wanting your master’s attention and feelings
despite your capabilities falling far behind her?
Eldrie was still a fledgling when it became to being an integrity

knight and what supported his blade was the fierce, single-minded
will to serve Alice. That was how he became a high ranking knight,
but that also amplified the backlash he felt whenever his heart
wavered.
—I have neither the strength to protect Master Alice nor the right
to stand at her side.
His strength fell rapidly as that thought adhered itself to him.

Though he had leapt onto Takiguri and chased after the decoy unit,
having sensed an ominous premonition, he had no idea what could
he even do.
With things as they were, he might as well lay his life down on this
land with his master.
Flying in resigned to death, Eldrie thought he heard something and

lowered his eyes down towards the ground.
The guards company was there in disarray after noticing the

looming dark art. Behind them were the supply company coaches
with their rows misaligned as well.
A quiet blue light flickered through the canopy over one of them.
A mysterious voice spoke into his mind.
—For your determination.
—For your desire to protect.
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—You actually want nothing in return, don’t you?
—Love is not to be sought out. You simply do it: love, with all you
have, without end. Don’t you…?
Aah…
Where was I looking?
I lacked strength? I couldn’t have her heart to myself? So I couldn’t

protect her?
What a petty man I am…
And to think Alice-sama is there, trying to save the entire Human

Empire.
Eldrie snapped Takiguri’s reins with his right hand and shouted.
“Go!!”
Perhaps sensing his master’s will, the dragon flapped its wings
strongly and accelerated all at once. Eldrie heard Alice’s voice, her
attempts to stop him, as they passed by with Amayori descending.
Still, he showed no sign of slowing down and climbed steeply towards
the deadly flood of snakes.
His left hand removed a whip of white silver from his waist.
The origin of the divine instrument, «Frost Scale Whip», was a

gigantic snake said to be divine from the mountainous area of the
eastern empire. Releasing its memories increased its range by
several times and allowed for its trajectory to be freely changed.
That said, that power held almost no purpose against that art
classified as a hex.
Still, Eldrie prayed hard with an unshakable conviction.
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—Oh, snake!!
Oh, ancient snake!
If you lord over the serpents, then how about you devour that
swarm of mere worms!!
The Frost Scale Whip let out a dazzling silver light as it perceived
his booming voice.
The whip divided endlessly within the brilliance. Turning into

hundreds of streaks of light, they struck at the snakes dyed in
darkness.
The light had transformed into glittering snakes before anyone

noticed. Swarming out in a radial formation from Eldrie’s left hand,
they opened up their gleaming jaws of sharp fangs and bit at the
snakes of death.
Zobuu! The snakes torn into infinitesimal pieces with that noise
returned to umbra elements and scattered.
The swarm assailing the guards as well as the swarm pursing the
flying dragons in the sky above turned around as though recognizing
that the glowing snakes must be prioritized first.
It took no time for the snakes to coil about the countless worms.
Their hexes traced across the snakes’ bodies and flooded towards
their source.
Eldrie had made use of the only aspect to the enemy’s art that
could be interfered with here, their «automatic homing attribute»,
and focused all of their capacity upon himself.
——Alice-sama.
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He smiled and lowered his eyelids.
While the darkness swallowed the knight whole in the next instant.
Integrity Knight Eldrie Synthesis’s numerical Life which was slightly

more than five thousand—
Turned to negative fifty thousand immediately.
Eldrie’s figure crumbled and scattered from the chest down as

though he was blown apart.
“Eldrie———!!!”
Alice screamed.
Her one and only disciple who had accompanied her through those
short yet memorable days slipped from his flying dragon’s back,
having lost over half of his flesh.
Getting Amayori to roll about thrice, Alice dove into the vestiges of
the dissipating worms and grasp Eldrie’s right hand with her
extended left hand. Her breath choked up at how light he was when
she pulled him close, but still, she bore it with her teeth clenched and
had her dragon climb.
Takiguri followed right by their side, perhaps out of concern for his
owner. Alice shouted once more atop the dragons keeping in pace.
“Eldrie!! Open… open your eyes!! I will not allow it, you
must not leave me behind in a place like this!!”
Eldrie’s bluish-white eyelids quivered slightly, with everything

below his chest lost.
Beneath his barely raised eyelashes, his eyes, tinged violet and
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still faintly filled with light, looked upon Alice.
“…Master… your safety puts me……”
“Yes… yes, of course I am safe, thanks to you!! Had I not

said before that I need you?!!”
Her vision suddenly turned distorted. Drops of water fell upon

Eldrie’s cheeks, one after another. Unaware they were her own tears,
Alice hugged her disciple close.
A near inaudible voice rippled at her ears.
“Alice-sama… there are many, many more people… who

need you. I… am but a nobody… To even think… I could have
you for…”
“I will give you anything you wish for!! So come back to

me!! Are you not my disciple?!!”
“I have received enough.”
Alice sensed the insubstantial weight in her arms fading rapidly,

leaving her, with that satisfied whisper.
“Eldrie!! Eldrie—!!”
One final murmur gently overlapped her weeping cries.
“Don’t… cry…… Mo… ther……”
And the soul belonging to Integrity Knight Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-

one, also known as Eldrie Woolsburg, left the Underworld forever.
Alice’s precious disciple turned into light, as though those few

seconds she managed to converse with him was a miracle, and
dispersed into the night air while Alice watched on with damp eyes.
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Eldrie vanished before long, leaving not even a fragment of armor
behind. The Frost Scale Whip he had gripped in his left hand quietly
fell onto Amayori’s back. Perhaps recognizing the death of his
master, Takiguri who flew at their side let out an anguished howl.
Alice took in a deep breath of the faint fragrance of roses drifting

about before pulling her face upwards.
—This is war.
That was why it would be absurd to bear a grudge, no matter what

sort of offensive the enemy executed, no matter what casualties
were produced as a result. In fact, Alice herself had robbed a horde
of enemy troops of their lives mere tens of minutes ago with an
enormous art that could be only termed merciless.
Thus.
This anger. This sorrow. Even if they became strength, even if they
brought about a slaughter surpassing them—
“…Surely, you must be prepared!!”
Drawing the Fragrant Olive Sword with a distinct noise, Alice

shouted.
“Amayori! Takiguri! Advance at full speed!!”
The flying dragons shackled by binding arts would never follow

combat orders from anyone aside from their designated owner
normally.
However, the two dragon siblings roared out ferocious howls

together and flapped their wings as they began their onslaught. The
Dark Territory, the ashen earth continuing infinitely beyond the
gorge, drew close before long.
Incited by a blazing wrath, Alice’s blue eyes swiftly determined the
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distribution among the enemy’s main forces.
Roughly five hundred mel to the left from the gorge’s exit was the
Order of the Dark Knights clad in uniform golden armors numbering
approximately five thousand.
On the left was the Pugilists’ Guild, brawny figures strapped in

leather belts, numbering five thousand as well. These were the
enemy’s main force.
Deployed in their rear were the orc and goblin infantry, likely
reserve troops, and an extensive transport unit. The enemy’s
supreme commander, Dark God Vector, should be among them.
And in the very front, crowded between the dark knights and
pugilists was a group clothed in black.
Them. They were the dark arts users who launched that large-scale
hex earlier. Their numbers were approximately two thousand. Those
who noticed the approaching flying dragons scrambled to escape
without concern for their peers.
“You will not escape!!”
Alice ordered the dragons with a booming shout.
“Aim for their rear… now, fire!!”
The dragon siblings immediately bent their necks and opened their
jaws widely. Their white fangs shone crimson against the flames
filling their mouths.
Zubaa; the two heat rays that swiftly tore through the air side-by-
side drove into the retreating dark arts users’ path.
Explosions shook the earth. Flames erupted. The engulfed

silhouettes were flung about like tree leaves.
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With their path of retreat sealed by flames, the arts users lost all
order and gathered together.
Alice raised the Fragrant Olive Sword up high. Its blade released a
bright golden light more dazzling than the sun.
“—Enhance armament!”
The sword separated into hundreds of fragments with a crisp,

metallic sound. Every single one reflected Alice’s will, gaining
sharpness beyond any prior.
Ridiculous.
Impossible!!
The leader of the dark arts users, D.I.L., screamed in her head
while looking up towards the dragon knight rushing in from the gorge
like an arrow.
The Death Curse Worms art chanted by two thousand arts users
with the sacrifice of three thousand orc lives had assailed the enemy
army with more power than expected. They should have more than
enough priority to devour not just every last one of those integrity
knights but the ground troops as well.
And yet, for some reason, the art that should have fed on all of
their Life focused on a mere single knight and dissipated after
carrying out that horrible waste of an overkill.
The Death Curse Worms were drawn towards life forms with higher
Life. In other words, instantly creating an artificial being on par with
some legendary magical beast, surpassing humans and even flying
dragons, could and would be required to intentionally lure them
away, but it would be impossible to create that with a short art. This
conclusion went against logic. There was no rhyme or reason to it.
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—How could there be a power that I, the leader of the Dark Arts
Users’ Guild, the heart of the entire world’s intelligence, not know
about?!!
D. grinded her teeth as she screamed soundlessly.
Still, it was reality that the enemy army was restarting their charge
with only one sacrifice, surging towards the mere two thousand dark
arts users left with the momentum of raging waves.
“Retreat!! All arts users, retreat!!”
D. screeched with a strained voice.
However, two rays of flames crossed above in the next moment

and drove in merely some tens mel behind.
The flames roared as they erupted, swallowing up tens of her

screeching subordinates. The heat waves surged on towards the
second floor of the carriage where D. stood and singed the black hair
she was so proud of.
“Eek…”
Screaming, D. practically rolled down the carriage. Riding on it

would be like painting a target on herself.
Blending with her subordinates, D. tried to flee before a glaring

golden light shone into her vision.
In her sight, naturally drawn upwards, she saw the sword of an

integrity knight astride a flying dragon split into countless specks of
light.
She vividly sensed each of those specks possessing a horrifying

level of priority. It was clear whatever element she generated from
the sparse darkness energy drifting about would be unable to defend
against them.
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—Damn, damn it, how can I let that kill me!!
—In a place like this?!! I’m the one who will rule over this world!!
Raising the corners of her eyes with the face of an enraged deity,
D. swung her two hands with her fingers bent like talons and thrust
them into the back of two arts users running in front.
Her sharp claws ripped through their soft skin, digging into their
flesh. The shafts she gripped onto were no other than the arts users’
spines.
“Gyaa… D-D.-sama…!?”
“Wha…!? P-Please stop…”
Paying no attention to her subordinates’ begging shrieks, the

highest ranked dark arts user let out sinister laughter as she recited
the starting phrase for an art.
The words that followed were a true curse.
Transfiguration. An accursed, secret art to transform a living

being’s flesh, powered by their Life.
Squelch.
Blood and flesh scattered as the two young, healthy bodies

dissolved into indefinite shapes. Each of them covered D., crouching
on the ground, without leaving a single gap and hardened up,
becoming an elastic defensive film that had once lived.
That was a moment before a tempest of golden death blanketed

the entire land.
Alice hardened her heart and shut away the many screams
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reaching her ears.
She would not permit that art to be ever used again. She would
eliminate those arts users and the invocation for it from this land.
Each time she swiped the grip gleaming with light in her right
hand, the sharp petals followed suit and mowed down the enemy she
looked down upon. The dark arts users wearing no metallic armor
had their bodies pierced through without resistance and fell.
Alice maintained the recollection release state until she was sure
she had annihilated over ninety percent of the arts users unit
estimated at two thousand. Her sword’s Life had considerably fallen,
but she had no regrets over that.
Though around two hundred arts users had fled without even
taking a look at the heaps of their comrades’ corpses, Alice restored
the Fragrant Olive Sword to its original state instead of giving pursuit.
She had seen around ten knights take off on their flying dragons
from the rear of where the Order of the Dark Knights was based at
the left of her sight.
Though she thought they would engage her straight away, the
enemy dragon knights simply took up formation in the air without
attempt to shorten the gap between them. She immediately knew
why. Bercouli and the rest had chased after her from behind.
“Lil’ miss, don’t go overboard!”
Alice somehow responded to the knight commander who spoke the

moment he overtook her, perhaps out of concern over Eldrie’s death.
“Yes… I am fine, esteemed Uncle. Please escort the ground

units. I will fulfil my role as the decoy.”
“Right… but don’t go too far!”
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Bercouli shouted and turned his eyes towards the enemy dragon
knights. Commanding Takiguri by her side to stay hovering, Alice had
Amayori slowly climb and advance.
She could somehow sense the attention focused on her from the
dark knights, the pugilists, the orcs and goblins—and some being
with an enormous presence in a place where she could not quite
locate. She could hear soft roars from the guards and supply
companies behind who had finally left the gorge and turned towards
the south, fleeing at full speed.
Alice shouted loud enough to erase the noise they made as they
move.
Her voice, amplified by incarnation, resounded vividly throughout

all directions.
“—My name is Alice!! I am Integrity Knight Alice Synthesis

Thirty!! The one who serves the will of the three goddesses
protecting the Human Empire, the «Radiant Medium»!!”
It was a proclamation without any foundation at all, a mere bluff.
Still, the entire enemy army stirred in the next moment. The strong
desire to capture Alice reached out towards her from the land like
tentacles. It appeared the enemy actually did desire this radiant
medium as much as or perhaps even more than they wanted to
trample the Human Empire.
Did it truly refer to her, or was she only assuming the name?
Alice felt that irrelevant. She only needed half of the enemies to
chase after herself. It would have been fine as long as drawing the
enemy away from the land and earning the rest some time allowed
her to inherit the wishes of Eldrie, Dakira, and the many lost guards.
“Resolve yourself to be crushed by my holy might if you
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dare stand before me!!”
“Ohh…”
The emperor of the land of darkness, Dark God Vector, and also
the hunter of souls, Gabriel Miller, stood from his throne before
letting a deep utterance escape.
“Ohh.”
Gabriel had felt nothing at all from how that attack expending
three thousand orc units had apparently failed or even how the
majority of the arts user units were annihilated. However, shudders
were certainly going through his frigid soul at this one moment.
A quiet voice came from his pale lips that formed a smile.
“Alice… —Alicia…”
Gabriel’s two eyes captured in detail the young female knight clad
in golden, gleaming armor atop a dragon in the distant night sky.
Straight, flowing golden locks. Fair, pale skin. Perfectly clear blue
eyes like the skies in the heart of winter.
That figure matched exactly with the exquisite grown-up

appearance of the girl he first laid hands on, Alicia Klingerman, in
Gabriel’s consciousness. It was a fact in Gabriel’s mind, that Alicia’s
soul that he had failed to capture back then had appeared once more
in this virtual world.
—This time, for sure.
This time, he would capture it with these hands. He would obtain

the light cube that girl’s fluct light was saved on and savor it to his
heart’s content.
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Focusing his gaze, like a blue flame, upon the knight as she pulled
on the dragon’s reins and flew off into the southern night skies,
Gabriel spoke softly and feverishly into the command skull.
“All units, prepare for movement. Turn south with the

Pugilists’ Guild leading, followed respectively by files
comprised from the Order of the Dark Knights, the demi-
humans, and the supply units. Capture that knight, the
radiant medium, unhurt. I shall grant rule over the entire
Human Empire to the commander of whichever unit captures
her.”
“k’s”, “s’s”, “t’s”, “n’s”, “r’s”, – These refer to their respective

kana. For example, “k’s” refer to the “ka, ki, ku, ke, ko” kana.
“Kosogi”, “Shibori” – These have verb stems with the definitions
of “to scrape” and “to wring” respectively.
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Vol.16 Chapter 19
Translator’s Notes:
Translation – CJ, luacs1998, defan752
Editing – CJ, luacs1998, defan752, ZeHaffen, DarthMewtwo
Scans – 仓崎枫子
Terminology – Tap
The Dark Army had just begun to move, kicking up a huge dust
cloud behind. The dust cloud began to color the sky of the Dark
Territory, already dotted with blinking, blood-red stars, a deep shade
of gray.
Peering into the simple telescope generated with Crystal Elements,

Knight Commander Bercouli looked up and mumbled softly:
“This is astonishing… Seems like that so-called Dark God

Vector has his heart set on you, lil’ miss. The entire army is
coming after you.”
“We should be… happy, I suppose. At least this is much

better than being ignored.”
Alice muttered as she swallowed her nervousness along with some

lukewarm Siral Water.
In the unexplored — only to those of the Human Empire, of course

— Dark Territory wilderness, on a small hill about five kilol south
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from the valley, the Defense Army decoy division was having their
first short break.
The Guards were very excited.
Since an Integrity Knight had sacrificed himself to nullify a large-

scale art that had plunged everyone into the abyss of despair, they
were all determined once again, believing that they should treasure
their given chance.
Meanwhile, however, Alice was still unable to accept the reality of

Eldrie’s death.
Although it had not been long since they first met in the Central
Cathedral, much had happened. Recommending that Alice try some
wine or snacks when he discovered them; telling her bad jokes from
time to time; there had not been a quiet day with Eldrie.
She had often puzzled over whether this young man was here to
learn swordsmanship and arts, or just to be troublesome. But now,
she understood. She understood how much Eldrie had been filling her
heart with levity.
… These things just seemed so normal that I took his presence for
granted. Why am I just realizing how precious he was when he’s not
here anymore?
As she gazed towards the Mountain Range at the Edge that

spanned the northwestern sky, she gently touched the coiled whip
strapped to the back of her waist. She could now well understand
why Kirito would not want to relinquish Eugeo’s sword.
As though he were waiting for Alice to open her eyes again, the
Knight Commander said:
“About the current strategy… Basically, until all four

Integrity Knights in this decoy division are fallen, we’ll keep
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drawing the enemy away and shaving them off. Are you okay
with that?”
Alice vehemently nodded to the Knight Commander, who stood

beside the tallest boulder on the topmost part of the hill.
“This is how I see the situation: we’ve eliminated half of

the invading army of fifty-thousand and have almost wiped
out the most troublesome Dark Sorceresses. We’re left with
wearing out their main forces to some extent, which are the
Dark Knights and the Fist Fighters… and also defeating Dark
God Vector. Once we achieve these, the remainder of the
enemy would be very likely to agree with a peace treaty.
What do you think about that?”
“Hmm… the last problem is, who’s gonna be the one to

head over there. If that Shasta kid’s still around…”
“So, the Dark General is really… Are you certain about that,
Oji-sama?”
“He wasn’t there when I took a glance a while ago. Not only
Shasta, but his apprentice, the female knight who fought you
once wasn’t there either, lil’ miss.”
He sighed roughly. Alice knew that Bercouli secretly had great

expectations of the Dark General and his apprentice.
Shaking his head slightly, the oldest Knight muttered in a low

voice.
“Now we can only hope that the Dark Knight who took over
Shasta’s place would be happy to pass on his will. Not very
likely, though…”
“Not very likely?”
“Nope. Those who live in this Dark Territory don’t have any
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written laws like the Taboo Index. There’s only an unwritten
rule ordering them to obey the strong. And… unfortunately,
the Incarnation of Dark God Vector is overwhelming… A
novice youngster obviously won’t be powerful enough to
resist…”
Indeed, when she declared her own identity in front of the enemy a
while ago, a terrifyingly cold, bottomless dark energy had reached
out from the core of their formation, and she clearly felt it sticking to
her. It was the first time she had this sort of feeling since awakening
as an Integrity Knight. If one were to say the Incarnation of Highest
Minister Administrator resembled crackling bolts of lightning, what
she had felt would be pitch-black emptiness.
She was getting goosebumps just thinking about it. Calming

herself, Alice nodded.
“I see… I don’t expect many people to disobey a god,

anyway.”
Right after she said so, the Knight Commander chuckled and
slapped Alice’s back.
“Even though you say that, lil’ miss, you, Kirito and Eugeo,
you three appeared over there in the Human Empire. Let’s
hope there are fellows with guts over here as well.”
Just then, hearing vigorously flapping wings, the two looked up.
Renri’s dragon, Kazenui, was descending to the ground. The young

knight dexterously leapt off before the dragon’s claws even touched
the earth. He jogged over to Bercouli and urgent words began to
tumble from his mouth.
“Commander Your Highness, report! There is an area of

shrubbery about one kilol south that would be suitable for an
ambush on the enemy.”
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“Great. Good work on the scouting. Let me prepare to move
the entire division… Your dragon should be pretty tired, so go
give him as much food and water as he wants.”
“Roger!”
Bercouli watched as Renri quickly saluted in a Knightly fashion, and

his short silhouette began pulling away. Alice suddenly noticed that
there was a smile on the Knight Commander’s face.
“…Oji-sama?”
At her inquiry, Bercouli scratched his chin for a moment, as though

he were a little shy, and shrugged.
“Well, uh… The Synthesis Ritual creates Integrity Knights

by snatching their memories away and suspending their Life,
and that’s absolutely unforgivable. But at the same time, I
just think it’s a lil’ bit sad that there won’t be any more fresh
Knights like that young man.”
Alice thought for a moment, then a similar smile spread across her
face:
“No one can become an Integrity Knight without altering

their memories and freezing their Life? I don’t believe that’s
true, Oji-sama.”
Her right hand gently stroked the Frostscale Whip once more.
“Even if everyone of us were defeated, I’m certain that our

souls… our will shall be passed on to someone else.”
***
“All right, it’s finally our turn!!”
Bashing his right fist into his left palm with a pashii, the young
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chief of the Fist Fighter Guild, Iskahn, yelled with vigor.
I’ve been sitting and waiting here for too long since I felt the battle
heating up nearby.
The terrifying pillar of light had burnt away the Demihuman troops,
the Sorceresses had created a creepy swarm of worms, and Emperor
Vector had demanded for the Radiant Medium so persistently that he
even gave out a mysterious command. Yet these did not have the
slightest effect on Iskahn’s fighting spirit.
His world was divided into two: his own body and everything else.
Iskahn was completely uninterested in anything other than training
to improve his body. In his mind, even if he became the target of
large-scale arts like those he had just seen, he had absolute
confidence in repelling every single one of them using only his fists
and spirit.
The Fist Fighter tied belts onto his naked, muscular torso burnt to a
reddish-copper color, wearing only shorts and sandals. He turned to
the five-thousand powerfully built men and women as their leader,
and to the Dark Knights following them. They had hardly begun
moving for five minutes, but already, there was a nearly thousand-
mel gap between the Fist Fighters and the Dark Knights.
“The Knights are riding on horses but they’re just too slow,
as usual!”
A hulking man stayed by Iskahn’s side, taller than him by more

than a head. Right after hearing his insult, the man’s rock-hard face
smiled wryly.
“That’s inevitable, Champion.”
Addressing the currently strongest Fist Fighter in Dark Tongue, the

hulking man continued.
“They and their horses are wearing armor as heavy as

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themselves.”
“Completely useless, though!”
Concluding thusly, Iskahn faced front again. Shaping his right hand
into a tube, he quickly put it against his right eye.
At the center of the flame iris, his pupil enlarged.
“Oh, the Human Empire guys have started to move as well.

Seems like they’re… not coming this way. They’re still trying
to run away?”
He clicked his tongue.
Though they looked as dim as the stars above them, Iskahn could
perfectly capture the enemy’s activity five thousand mel away. He
thought for a moment, then said:
“Hey, Dampe. The Emperor’s command was to chase after

her and capture her, right?”
“Seems like it.”
“Right…”
He rubbed his nose with his right index finger, then grinned with
confidence.
“Let’s speed up for a little while. — Team Rabbit, to the

front!!”
Fierce cries of ‘OH!’ both high in pitch and tension immediately

answered the summon.
The team coming out from the army in neat formation were a
hundred slender Fighters — that said, their muscles were as firm as a
whip and perfectly balanced in volume. All of their heads were
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wrapped with white straps of decorative rope.
“Let’s go say hello to those so-called Integrity Knights! Get

ready!!”
OH!
“Martial Dance, step seventeen, GO!!”
Iskahn’s right hand fiercely punched the air and his feet violently
stomped the ground as he shouted.
His trusted aide Dampe and the hundred men of Team Rabbit were
performing the exact same action in perfect synchronization.
Zun, zat, zun zat.
Ooh, rah, ooh rah.
As the rhythmic steps and united cry continued, beads of sweat

began to glow on Iskahn’s curled copper hair, and his healthy dark
skin took on a red tinge. The same happened to his subordinates.
After the steps ended in one very long minute, one hundred and
two Fighters stopped their movements, steam billowing from their
bodies.
No, not only that. Their skin seemed to be glowing slightly red in
the darkness.
Fist Fighters.
A tribe that, for hundreds of years, had explored the true nature of
one’s physical body.
Both the swordsmen and the sorceresses considered the summit of

all arts to be ≪interrupting a target with Incarnation≫. In other
words, overwriting external events with imagination.
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However, Fist Fighters thought the opposite — strengthening their
own bodies with Incarnation. Surpassing their original limits, they
would strengthen their naked bodies with defensive force stronger
than steel, and wield their fists with attacking power enough to crush
boulders.
And, of course, they would train their legs to run faster than
horses, while barefoot.
“OOOOOH, RAAAAAH!!”
With a powerful roar, Iskahn kicked the ground and began sprinting
forth. Dampe followed along with the other hundred Fighters in hot
pursuit.
The air behind them was split apart; the ground shook furiously.
***
“——!?”
In order to keep close with the Guards who had started moving to
the shrubbery suitable for an ambush, Alice walked a few steps, then
looked back as she soon felt something strange.
Something is coming.
And they’re fast.
When she looked closely, she could see a cluster of a hundred men
bulging out of the slowly approaching enemy army, and closing the
gap at a terrifying speed. They were even faster than the horseback
riders running with all their might. For a second, Alice thought they
were Dragon Knights, but soon realized that there were too many of
them, and that they were actually moving on the ground.
“… Seems to be the Fist Fighters.”
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Bercouli muttered beside her.
“They are…?”
She had heard that name before, but this was her first time
witnessing them with her own eyes. This was because the ones who
usually appeared at the Mountain Range at the Edge were mainly
Goblins, Orcs, and rarely, Dark Knights. The Fist Fighters had never
even attempted to invade the Human Empire.
Even so, having the advantage of a very long life, it seemed that
the oldest Integrity Knight had experience battling the Fist Fighters.
He continued somewhat nervously.
“They’re a pain to deal with. Usually a sword’s gonna hurt

bare fists, but they’ll keep rejecting that.”
“Huh…? Reject…?”
There’s no way anyone can reject being cut, Alice thought. But
Bercouli shrugged and said:
“You’ll know what I mean when you fight them. Better for
us to handle them together, lil’ miss.”
“……”
Alice swallowed hard. Bercouli just claimed that he could not

handle them by himself; they must be extremely powerful opponents.
However, what the Knight Commander said next destroyed her

painstaking concentration and spirit.
“And, by the way, lil’ miss… You’re not okay with stripping
down, are you?”
“Haah!?”
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Instinctively, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and
squeezed out a sharp voice.
“Wh-what are you talking about?! Of course I don’t like

stripping down!!”
“No, I don’t mean that… Well, I do mean that… I just wanna

tell you that armor and clothes are useless against their fists,
and they may hold you back, so…”
After saying those pointless words as he scratched his chin, the

Knight Commander shook his head as if to say, “Suit yourself”.
“Anyway, if you’re gonna fight in that, get your Armament

Full Control Art ready.”
“O… Okay.”
Anxiety trickled down her spine again. As it seemed, the enemy

team was composed of around a hundred men. If she needed to
utilize the full power of the Fragrant Olive Sword against such a small
team, they were definitely not easy opponents.
However, there was one problem.
When she had released the ≪reflection-concealed beam≫ art, and

during her battle against the Dark Sorceresses, she had twice used
the Armament Full Control Art, consuming a large portion of the
Fragrant Olive Sword’s Life in the process. She could still use it for
normal slashing without fail, but she worried over how much longer it
could remain in its split-form attack.
The same applied to the Knight Commander’s Time Piercing Sword.

From a rather close distance, Alice had watched him perform the
stunning wide ranged attack that had instantly eliminated hundreds
of Minions. It could be said that both of their beloved swords needed
rest in their sheaths overnight.
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But within their tens of seconds of conversation, the enemy team
of Fist Fighters had already closed in to a distance from where Alice
could begin to make out their masculine physiques. She could not let
them get any closer to the Guards, who were still preparing the
ambush.
Alice bit her lip, nodded to the Knight Commander, and was about
to slide down the rocky slope to the north.
Right before that, however, a timid female voice called to them.
“I’ll go.”
Alice spun around in shock; beside her, Bercouli’s eyes widened as

well.
The one who had been standing there without their knowledge,
was one of the four Integrity Knights joining the decoy division — the
one other than Bercouli, Alice and Renri.
She was tall and slender, clad in drab gray armor. Her hair, also
gray, was parted so crisply that it looked artificially plastered to her
head, ending in a tight ponytail. Her face was refreshingly clean, but
showed not a shred of emotion. She was probably around twenty, like
Alice.
Her name was Sheyta Synthesis Twelve.
The Divine Instrument strapped to her waist was the ≪Black Lily
Sword≫.
However, she was seldom referred to as such. Whenever they

happened to mention her in conversation, the Knights addressed her
by another nickname.
≪The Silent≫.
Alice was not shocked because she had volunteered to battle the
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Fist Fighters.
She was shocked because this was literally the first time she heard
the voice of The Silent Sheyta.
***
Leaping over ditches and small rivers with ease, blasting boulders
out of their way with single kicks, Iskahn, Dampe and the other
hundred Fist Fighters continued their ferocious sprint.
In a few moments, I’ll finally be able to fight these so-called

demons, Integrity Knights. Bursting with anticipation, the young
Fighters revealed disturbing grins.
In fact, Iskahn had been completely dispassionate towards the

Integrity Knights of the Human Empire until he received the call to
arms. He had looked upon them with contempt, under the impression
that they were merely ruffians who hid behind armor and swords.
Among all Humans in the Dark Territory, there was only one Dark
Knight whom he had respected as a true fighter: the deceased Dark
General Shasta.
But while he was meditating as he stood by for the order to attack,

he had sensed the Integrity Knights’ fighting spirit and aggressive
energy, and that was something. At least they aren’t just relying on
their high-class weapons, he thought.
There must be impressively trained bodies beneath the armor and

swords.
With heightened expectations, Iskahn couldn’t be more excited

about fighting them fist-to-fist.
So.
When he finally sighted a Knight in front of the hill where the

enemy army had stopped minutes ago, the Fist Fighter chief’s mouth
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dropped open, dumbstruck by her standing figure.
How thin.
She seemed to be a woman, so maybe her lack of a muscular build

was inevitable; even so, she was way too thin. Although she was clad
in metallic armor, she still looked more fragile than any of Iskahn’s
female Fighters. Her armorless body would only be about as
muscular as a Sorceress’s. Even the long sword hanging from her
waist looked like a roasting spit.
Signaling with his right hand for his subordinates to stop, Iskahn
skidded to a halt, kicking up a dust cloud. Raising his eyebrows that
were curled up at the end like a flame, he opened his mouth.
“Who’re you? What the hell are you doin’ here?”
Slightly shaking her long, straight gray hair, the female Knight
tilted her head. She looked as though she were thinking of what to
say — or rather, pondering whether she wanted to answer the
questions.
Her brows, eyes, nose, and mouth looked as though they had been
sculpted with a sharp knife. Without a shred of emotion on her clean
face, the female Knight spoke quietly:
“I’m here to stop you.”
Iskahn exhaled a large amount of air from his nose and mouth; no
one knew whether he was laughing or upset, but in the end he just
shrugged.
“You can’t even stop a little kid. Oh, I know… You’re a

Knight good at arts, eh?”
There was another awkwardly long silence before she answered.
“Arts are not my strength.”
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Irritated by his enemy’s belittling attitude, Iskahn said: “Well,
whatever,” and called out one of his subordinates. “Yotte, fight
her.”
“Here I come!!”
A rather diminutive female Fighter leapt out of the formation with a

vigorous reply. Despite that, she was still several times sturdier than
the female Knight. Flexing her stiff muscles and darting to and fro,
she revealed a savage leer that was completely different from her
opponent.
“HAAH!”
From five mel away, the female Fighter punched the air,
generating wind that rustled the female Knight’s hair.
Even then, there was not an ounce of fighting spirit on the Knight’s
slender face. Instead, she looked confused and whispered softly.
“… Just one…?”
“That’s my line, you skeleton!”
Curling her thick lips, Yotte shouted.
“After I teach you a lesson, I’m gonna stuff lots and lots of
dried meat into your tiny little mouth before I finish you off!
Just pull out your sword already!!”
With a face as though saying ‘So you have nothing more to say’,
the female Knight gripped the handle on her left waist.
Shiyuran. Catching sight of the effortlessly drawn blade —
“…what the fuck!?”
Iskahn, who had backed off and crossed his arms, shouted
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instinctively.
“Thin” was an insufficient description. The scabbard already

looked like a roasting spit, but the blade inside it was just a cen wide,
like a child’s finger. The sword was matte black and thin as paper;
just being able to see it was difficult under the starry night sky. How
fragile.
Yotte’s face flushed red with anger.
“… Y’ gotta be kiddin’ me…”
Performing a short martial dance, or rather, battering the earth

with her feet, the female Fighter charged straight and quickly closed
the distance between her and the Knight.
Even to Iskahn, that was quite an impressive sprint. Team Rabbit of

the Fist Fighters’ Guild were, unlike their name, elites that were not
only agile, but skilled precision fighters.
Bibat!
Splitting the air, Yotte lashed out.
Unable to avoid the close-range attack, the female Knight

defended with her paper-thin sword.
The resounding noise was piercingly high, as if created by a

collision of two metal objects. Blinding golden sparks shot out.
Immediately after.
The needlelike sword was easily bent.
Iskahn smiled. A normal sword would never cut the skin of a Fist
Fighter.
The children born as Fist Fighters were thrown into the training
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facility as soon as they became five years of age. Their very first
training was snapping a cast iron knife with one punch.
As they matured, cast iron would be replaced with wrought iron,

and knives would be replaced with long swords. Not only did they
have to split them, they had to withstand slashes from the weapons
without any protection. Through their training, the adolescents were
confident that blades were nothing to be afraid of. I am invulnerable
to blades. That belief — in other words, Incarnation, turned their
bodies into steel.
As the guild chief, Iskahn could stop a needle 2 cen in diameter

with his eyeball.
Although Yotte, a normal Fighter, had not trained her Incarnation

to this extent, she was one of the ten group leaders in Team Rabbit.
Her fist did not lose to any sword.
Especially not that pitifully thin one.
All of the Fist Fighters had one image in their heads: the horribly
bent black needle would snap with an embarrassing crack, and a fist
would sink into the female Knight’s face.
Thew.
A strange sound, like a whip slicing the air.
Yotte froze, her fist hovering in the air. The punch barely grazed
the female Knight’s right cheek, and the Knight’s hand lifted up.
Iskahn could not see the black blade clearly from his position.
— What the hell? That’s a pretty large target to miss.
The chief cursed. Even if Yotte wins this battle, she’ll have to start
her training all over again in the arena’s third-class waiting room. No
matter how tough one’s fist is, it’s useless if it doesn’t hit the
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oppone…
Yotte’s clenched fist silently split apart between her middle and
ring finger.
“Wh………”
In front of the stunned Iskahn, the fissure continued from Yotte’s

wrist to her elbow, through her upper limb, and passing through her
shoulder.
Perfectly displaying a cross section precise to the bone, muscles

and even the thinnest blood vessels, the outer part of Yotte’s right
arm dropped onto the ground. Only after did blood erupt in multiple
jets, forming a crimson mist.
“— GHAAAAAAAAAAAA!!”
Uttering an earsplitting shriek, Yotte collapsed to the ground,

cradling her right arm.
The female Knight retracted her arm, and breathed a small sigh.
Back during her life in the Central Cathedral, ≪The Silent≫ Sheyta
seldom spoke. This was not due to introversion, nor because she
hated everyone else.
Just to avoid attention from other Integrity Knights — she

suppressed her own existence, hoping that no one would challenge
her to any sparring matches.
If she were to cross swords with anyone, even if it had been Knight
Commander Bercouli, she possibly could have killed her opponent.
Fearing that this might happen, she had kept silent in the hundred
years living in the Cathedral. Even if she spoke, her familiar caretaker
and the elevating-disk operator girl were the only ones she would
talk to.
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Sheyta was entirely a swordsman, synthesized after winning the
Four Empires Unity Tournament.
However, the records of that year’s tournament were completely

erased. The reason was that, in a tournament that appraised the
principle of mercy as one’s best quality, blood had been shed: Sheyta
had brutally murdered every single one of her opponents.
The high-ranking Integrity Knight Sheyta Synthesis Twelve, in a

certain sense, shared a similar mindset with the chief of the Fist
Fighters’ guild, Iskahn.
Iskahn thought only about beating up something or someone, while

Sheyta was interested in nothing but slicing things in half. Despite
that, from the bottom of her heart, she had never, ever enjoyed it.
She would just cut. Whether it be human or object, when she was
confronted with something, Sheyta could already see its cross
section sliced clean. Whenever that happened, she was never able to
stop herself from realizing it. If her opponent were a wooden practice
dummy, she could even cleanly sever it with her hand.
Sheyta had always suppressed her cut-hungry nature as something

sinister.
The first to perceive this deeply hidden impulse in her heart was
the Highest Minister Administrator.
For two hundred years, Administrator had been attempting to

deduce the Spacial Sacred Energy Theory, which was now common
knowledge to every learner of arts.
While the Highest Minister was still researching, she became

deeply obsessed with the last and largest war in the Dark Territory
that put the ≪Age of Blood and Iron≫ to an end. Administrator was
concerned that it would be such a waste for no one to collect the
virtually infinite Sacred Energy that had been released from the
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fierce battle between the five Dark Territory races, which took place
in the wilderness between the Human Empire and the Imperial
Capital Obsidia.
Despite that, she had been careful to never visit the Dark Territory
herself. Instead, she had summoned Knight Sheyta. The Highest
Minister had whispered to Sheyta, who had already earned the
moniker, ≪The Silent≫:
— Journey there alone and look for something in the battlefield. A

demonic beast, or something of the sort unharmed by the war would
be best if you can find one. If not, any large animal will do. A bird or
an insect at least. Just find me anything that’s engorged with Spacial
Sacred Energy.
— Bring it to me, and from it, I will fashion a Divine Instrument for
you.
— A sword with the highest Priority, a sword that can slice

anything in half… How about that?
Sheyta could not resist the temptation. An Integrity Knight could

not disobey an order from the Highest Minister anyway, but she,
without taking a dragon to get over the Mountain Range at the Edge,
trekking thousands of kilol deep into the land of ash, arrived at the
battlefield that stank of blood.
There were no moving creatures where the five races had strained
their limits to kill each other. Not even a mouse or a crow had
survived, let alone a beast.
But Sheyta did not give in. A sword that can slice anything in half.
The phrase had captured her heart, leaving her unable to think of
anything else.
At the end of her three day search —
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She finally found one lone black lily, wobbling flimsily in the wind.
That small flower was the only object that had survived the vast
battlefield, charged with Spacial Sacred Energy.
The Highest Minister Administrator generated an extremely slim

sword out of the flower that Sheyta brought back, and bestowed it
upon her with the name ≪Black Lily Sword≫.
A year later, after killing an Integrity Knight in a duel, she was put
into hibernation at her own request.
Sheyta did not know whether she sighed out of sympathy or

intoxication when she cut the female Fist Fighter’s fist.
Come to think of it, she also did not understand why she had
volunteered ten minutes ago to defend this place, speaking to the
Knight Commander and breaking her silence. Rather, she was
unaware of any motivation to join the Defense Army half a year ago,
volunteering herself while all of the Knights were invited.
Is it because I hope to protect the Human Empire, like the other

Knights?
Or is it simply because I want to cut?
Or — it wants me to cut?
Well, it doesn’t matter anymore. The situation is what it is, and

there’s no way to stop the sword anymore. Let’s just hope that there
won’t be too many lives taken.
Sheyta calmly raised her head, and glanced at the terrified Fist
Fighters who had frozen to the spot.
Without a trace of hesitation or fear, the gray Knight gripped her

slender, pitch-black sword, and slashed head-on towards the hundred
Fist Fighters.
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***
“… What an incredible performance.”
At Alice’s hoarse comment, Bercouli muttered in a low voice.
“Right… Let me tell you something that you shouldn’t tell

anyone else. Half a year ago, while I was waking her up from
her deep freeze, I was actually kind of scared.”
“I never knew. I never knew that Sheyta-dono has been so

adept…”
Beneath the hill, the battle between one hundred Fist Fighters and
Integrity Knight Sheyta unfolded. To be precise, it was a one-sided
massacre.
Whenever a thew came from the extremely thin and malleable

sword, the limbs of the surrounding enemies would immediately
separate from their bodies and hit the ground.
While impressed, Alice was slightly concerned about something

that she should have felt from Sheyta’s slim frame.
She could not feel Sheyta’s murderous intent at all. Not only that,
she could not even feel a shred of hostility.
If so, then how is she able fight so ferociously?
“Don’t think about it. Even though I’ve been watching her
for more than a hundred years, I still understand nothing
about her. Nothing.” The Knight Commander whispered and
turned around.
“We can leave this to her. The main enemy army should be
arriving very soon; we have to prepare for the counterattack
over there.”
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“… Okay.”
Nodding and looking away from the battle below her, Alice followed
him.
***
About a thousand kilol south from Bercouli and Alice, who were
walking down the hill, the gray, rough wilderness finally came to an
end, where some irregularly shaped shrubbery grew in the area. The
main formation of the decoy division was concealed among them.
They consisted of one thousand Guards, two hundred Ascetics, and

a supply team of fifty people. They had to face the five thousand Fist
Fighters with such a small force.
Integrity Knight Renri had ordered the Guards and the Ascetics to
hide in the plants’ shadows, dividing them into twenty teams. The
supply team wagon had carved fresh grooves into the only narrow
path that stretched through the entire wooded area. The plan was to
perform a pincer attack as the enemy followed the ruts into deep
enough woods.
Renri had already heard from the Knight Commander that their
swords would be ineffective on Fist Fighters, and he had heard about
their weakness as well.
Fist Fighters were not good at defending themselves against

Sacred Arts.
In the northern wilderness where not even moss could grow, there
was simply not enough Sacred Energy to deploy any high-powered
arts, but the air should be thicker in the shrubbery. The Ascetics
hiding behind the leaves would ambush the enemy together, then
retreat to the south while protected by the Guards. From the above,
five Dragons would torch the enemy with their flame breath in the
midst of the chaos.
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Prepared for a quick retreat, Renri stationed the eight supply team
wagons at the southernmost part of the shrubbery area. He
determined that, the further away from the front line, the safer they
would be.
However, just as Renri was devoting his mind to preparing the

ambush, the five Guards, who were stations around the wagons just
in case something happened, silently died, one after another, without
uttering so much as a whimper.
Its entire body clad in glossless black metallic armor that was fitted
with a demonic horned helmet, a shadow moved soundlessly.
Before him, a Guard of the Human Empire Defense Army looked

left and right, alert. He did not, however, look behind him at all,
because the other Guards should have been watching that space.
The shadow entered his blind spot, approaching as if it were

gliding. A long sword was equipped on its waist, but it did not draw.
Instead, it casually raised the tiny dagger in its right hand.
It stretched its left arm like a black snake, blocking the Guard’s
mouth and nose.
At the same time, its right hand flashed, slitting his exposed throat
in a straight line.
In complete silence, his Life was drained. Right after the Guard’s
body suddenly lost its strength, the black shadow pushed it under the
nearest bush.
Behind the black veil that covered its face, a barely audible voice
slipped out.
“Five, dooown.”
The shadow giggled.
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This was not the Ancient Sacred Tongue.
This shadow was actually one of the three real-world people in the
Underworld. He, Vassago Casals, was the adjutant under Gabriel
Miller, who posed as Emperor Vector.
About an hour ago, Vassago was swigging his red wine straight
from the bottle for the umpteenth time. Meanwhile, he caught sight
of the large-scale art, which ended with a pathetic failure for his side,
and finally said something that sounded like advice.
“Hey, bro. How ‘bout we stop depending on those guys and

try moving a bit by ourselves?”
Gabriel rolled his eyes at Vassago, raised his blond eyebrows and
replied.
“Okay, then you can make the move.”
The instructions that followed were not to invade the valley that
the Human Empire Army was protecting, but to travel somewhere far
away from the battlefield, far south, in the middle of nowhere.
When the enemy eradicated the Demihuman troops with a laser

beam like those in sci-fi movies, Gabriel had already predicted that
part of the enemy would be selected to enter the Dark Territory.
But when Vassago heard this, he questioned why he had to

specifically move south instead of north. Hearing the reply “Look,
there’s more space that way”, he couldn’t help but be even more
doubtful. But since the enemy did actually come, he could only admit
his mistake and get to work.
No matter how strong the Human Empire units were, they would
definitely stop if they lost all of their food supply. In order to continue
his ‘Killing Time’, which was his first since Diving into this world, he
gazed into the dark woods.
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Very quickly, he found wagons camouflaged with branches and
leaves.
Licking his lips under the mask, the assassin began moving again.
Then, something moved behind a wagon. He stopped abruptly and

pressed himself against a tree.
A fair-skinned young girl with tea-colored hair, which was not a

face of the Dark Territory, stuck her head out of the roof. Perhaps she
had sensed something, as she was looking around with a nervous
expression.
As Vassago stayed still, it did not take long for the girl to step
carefully out of the cart. She whispered something to someone in the
wagon, and finally began to walk slowly.
Wearing minimal defensive equipment on top of gray clothes that

looked like a high school uniform, the girl was heading straight to
Vassago’s hiding place.
Resisting the temptation to whistle, the assassin gripped his blood-

soaked dagger tightly in his right fist.
***
“— DOOOON’T…”
Forced to watch his Fighters, whom he had painstakingly trained,

effortlessly defeated nearby, Iskahn screamed in anger as he
recovered from shock.
“GET TOO COCKY, YOU BIIIIITCH!!”
Kicking onto ground hard enough to produce a giant crack, he

fiercely charged.
Flames erupted on his taut right fist as though they were the
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scorching fury itself.
He punched straight at the neck of the gray Integrity Knight.

Sparks flew from his fist, creating a blazing tail in the air along its
path.
At that moment, the Knight had just finished a slash with the sword
in her right hand; she tried to block Iskahn’s punch with her
gauntleted left hand.
— To my punch… all armor is no more than paper!!
The strike engorged with Incarnation collided into the female

Knight’s palm; blinding sparks burst in all directions.
Immediately, the gray gauntlet shattered with a deafening crack,

and the armor pieces from her arm to her shoulder were shredded
and blown away.
Countless cuts crossed the smooth, white skin of the exposed left
arm; droplets of blood flew into the air like grains of sand. However,
surprisingly, he did not feel any bones breaking.
Even though it should be excruciatingly painful, the female Knight

only frowned slightly, her right hand flashing her super-slim sword
while her left hand grasped Iskahn’s right fist.
Kiiin! A high metallic noise resonated, and sparks burst again from
the Fist Fighter’s elbow.
The source of Fist Fighters’ strength was the confidence of being

invulnerable to all blades. In order to obtain that confidence, they
wrapped their bodies only with belts, exposing their skin. The
moment they fell back on any kind of defensive equipment, a Fist
Fighter’s Incarnation would be weakened.
Therefore, Iskahn was trying to deflect the black blade that was
about to cut through his right arm, just with his determination.
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But.
The dense frigidity that almost sank into his skin was completely
different from what he had felt from any other sword, even having
taken slashes from them with bare skin.
This paper-thin sword was not just cold, hard steel; it represented
will. Instead of a desire for victory, it was simply a thirst for division.
Sensing this, Iskahn reflexively punched with his left fist.
Po! Shattering the air, the punch pierced the space where the
female Knight had been an instant ago.
That was impressively agile, but she did not completely evade the
strike: the punch grazed her gray chestplate. As the Knight jumped
out of the way, her chestplate shattered just like her gauntlet had.
But Iskahn was not uninjured either.
On his inner elbow, at the point that had met the blade for less
than a second, there was a very shallow cut. A tiny droplet of blood
slowly beaded out from its center. Only a drop — yet a drop
nonetheless.
Licking the blood away, the young Fist Fighter savagely grinned.
“… Hey, bitch. You’re quite different inside from what you

look like on the outside, huh.”
The gray female Knight and replied with something completely

irrelevant.
“… I should be older than you…”
“Huh? You got that right. Integrity Knights like you are
monsters that don’t get old for decades, right? What, you
want me to call you granny?”
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“……”
Below her eyes, the female Knight’s clean face jerked, but soon
she returned to dispassion.
“… I forgive you. You are very hard. I can barely see where
I can slice.”
“Tsk… What the hell are you talking about?”
Iskahn clucked his tongue, feeling his spirit weakened from her
offbeat attitude. However, as he looked around at the Fist Fighters on
the ground, he recovered his anger.
Twenty of them of them, men or women, were moaning, their arms

or legs having been cut from their bodies by the slim sword. The
most unforgivable thing was, not only did the female Knight harm his
subordinates, she was apparently merciful to them by sparing their
lives. None of the injured had lost their heads. With her skills and the
sharpness of the sword, the Knight could easily have made that extra
stroke if she wished.
“… So you treat us like wood dummies for your fucking

sword practice. Unforgivable… I’m gonna beat you to a
pulp!!”
Zun, zat, zun!!
The remaining active Fighters followed the quick steps of the

Martial Dance. Fierce war cries overlapped with their stamping on the
ground.
Ooh, rah, oorarah. Ooh, rah, oorarah.
As they stomped and vibrated the air, the Fist Fighters intensified
their Incarnation. Drops of sweat flied off from their copper skin,
transforming into flying, blazing sparks.
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The Integrity Knight did not move, as if she were waiting for Iskahn
to reach his maximum state.
— That’s right.
The Fist Fighter champion stopped his steps; flames roared from
his reddish golden curly hair, and blinding light effused from both of
his hands.
The female Knight, as his opponent, was persistently calm. In her

right hand, the pitch-black super-slim sword was giving off a freezing
energy.
“Heeeere I come, you BIIIIIIIIITCH!!”
Setting the air ablaze with a pow, Iskahn instantly closed the
distance between them in a straight line.
The female Knight effortlessly swung the sword in her right hand.
Thew.
Just before the fine black line touched Iskahn’s shoulder —
Faster than the sword that swung earlier than him, a blow from the
Fist Fighter struck the female Knight’s left leg. Not a punch, but a
kick. His right foot shot up, hitting the gray leg guard directly with his
toes.
With astonishing reflexes, the Knight stopped her sword and

leaned forward, avoiding a fall, but the left leg guard was instantly
shattered. The skirt around her waist was torn; her toned yet slim
legs were exposed.
“Don’t think Fist Fighters can only punch!!”
Grinning confidently, Iskahn began a high kick with his left leg.
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The female Knight turned her wrist, trying to parry the kick with
her sword.
The instant that the blade and the leg clashed, a deafening crack
was accompanied by a shower of blazing sparks. The Fist Fighter
Chief pulled his toned left leg back, feeling a sharp pain, and
suddenly thrust his right fist forward.
Bathed in crimson flames, the strike hit the Knight’s chestplate

squarely in the middle.
Kaboom! An almighty explosion propelled the two of them away

from each other. Iskahn backflipped in midair and landed on the
ground.
His left leg stabbed with pain again. He glanced at it.
On his rock-hard shin that could easily bend a steel bar, a fresh cut
carved a straight line. Dark red blood flowed out at once, dripping
onto the black ground.
Snickering at this small scratch, he observed the enemy.
The female Knight managed to withstand this as well, but she

pressed her left hand onto her chest and coughed a few times. Her
chestplate, already damaged, had shattered completely; her right
hand gauntlet and the gray clothing covering her chests were the
only things left on her upper body. There was not much left on her
lower body either: only a torn skirt and her right shin guard.
Exclusive to those born in the Human Empire, her snow-white skin

seemed to glow even in the darkness. Seeing this, Iskahn sneered:
“Now you look more like a fighter, but there just aren’t
enough muscles. Go eat and train more, bitch.”
The Fist Fighters around jeered at her, but the Knight calmly tore
off a hanging piece of cloth from her left shoulder and raised the
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sword in her right hand. Thew.
“… But you’ve become a bit softer just now.”
“… THE FUCK DID YOU SAY?”
His nostrils flared and he bared his canine teeth.
Even though he was bluffing with his expression, Iskahn felt that
his breaths had become slightly quicker.
There’s no way my spirit would decrease just by seeing some

uncovered limbs. The women over here show much more of their skin
every day, only a fresh trainee kid would hesitate just by seeing that.
The whole world is made out of opponents that I must beat up with
my tough body, even if it’s a foreign woman who’s slim enough that
the wind could bend her bones, whose skin is shining white.
“There’s no turning back… I’m gonna show you all I’ve

got!!”
Howling like a wolf, Iskahn jabbed his index finger at the female
Knight:
“So show me yours as well, bitch!! Don’t give me that

fucking sleepy face!!”
As he said so, the Knight looked confused again, and touched her
own cheeks and the middle of her forehead with her left hand.
Changing her eyebrows’ angle into a slightly fiercer look, she said:
“Bring it on… please.”
“…… Yeah, bring it on.”
I’ll be thinking nonsense again if I follow her pace.
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Iskahn inhaled deeply, gathered power in his stomach, and
violently bent over.
Putting his left fist to his waist, and pointing his right fist at his
opponent, he noisily exhaled the air. As he repeated the rough
breathing, his parted legs began to glow red, drawing power from the
ground. The energy channeled through his body and gathered at his
fist.
Crimson blazing flames gradually shone yellow, and eventually

turned bluish white.
Now Iskahn’s right fist was at a temperature so high that it could

almost burn the air, making high, sharp noises.
The female Knight faced him sideways, extended her left hand to
the front with her thumb and fingers neatly lined up, and swung the
fine sword in her right hand behind her. Her arms aligned in a
straight line, giving a feel of strength like a catapult prepared to
launch with full power.
The tension in Iskahn was so immense that he felt like he was

already split into half, from the head all the way down to the
stomach. And yet he grinned excitedly.
— She’s the first one to burn me up this much.
Both of them moved at the exact same moment.
The Knight’s sword drew a pitch-black crescent curve in the air.
The Fist Fighter’s fist became a bluish white comet. At the instant
that they collided, powerful shockwaves exploded outward, cracking
the ground on their way. The remaining Fist Fighters surrounding the
two were irresistibly blown backwards.
The sword and the fist were only meeting at the size of a needle’s
tip, yet they were battling intensely. Surpassing its limit, the
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compressed power shot forth into a beam of light, bursting into the
night sky.
With Sheyta’s combat skills, she could have defeated her opponent
without this kind of stupid competition of brute strength.
Slightly surprising to her, the intensity of the young Fist Fighter’s

Incarnation was at the level of a high-ranking Knight. Even so, he
concentrated all of his Incarnation at his fist as he charged, and other
parts of his body actually looked rather soft to Sheyta. It seemed that
she could have evaded the straight punch and cut his head off right
away.
Sheyta, however, did not choose to do that; instead, she countered

the opponent’s white-blue glowing fist head-on. There was no
rationale to this decision; she was simply following her body and her
sword.
Sheyta was rather confused by herself. Since a hundred years ago,

she had already realized that she had none of a Knight’s appraised
mental qualities, such as pride or nobility. She would cut because she
wanted to, and that was all she desired.
It should mean the same when “slice” is replaced with “kill”.

Only when she had been assigned with the mission of securing the
Mountain Range at the Edge, Sheyta could release her true self. She
had ended countless lives of Dark Knights or Goblins by mercilessly
cutting their necks.
She had been suppressing her nature as something sinister, so

much, in fact, that she was called ≪The Silent≫, but why did she not
choose to kill in this particular battle? Sheyta was deeply puzzled.
But even that was just too much to think about.
Now, at this moment, there was only herself, the Black Lily Sword
and the fist in front of her.
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— It’s so hard. Can I cut it in half?
— This is fun.
Iskahn saw the thin and almost colorless lips of the enemy Knight
slightly widening, a smile on her face.
And he had already understood that the smile was not a disgrace
to him — nor the fight.
The reason was that he had the exact same kind of smile on his
face.
— So you’re one of the elegant Human Empire residents born with

such a delicate figure, but we’re the same kind of people, huh.
Click. A small vibration could be felt from within his fist.
Iskahn realized that the noise was not because of any cracks on
the opponent’s black sword, but it came from the fracturing bones of
his own fist.
— No good. Even this doesn’t get through, huh.
— But, well, that’s how it is.
If his fist had been completely cut, for sure the black, slim sword
would cut his entire body in half as well. Even though he expected for
such a result, Iskahn felt no fear. I’m not going to meet such a great
opponent like her for a second time. If so, well, this isn’t such a dumb
way to die.
Right at the moment when he thought so, and was about to close
his eyes for a long nap.
The pressure added onto his fist slightly weakened.
Compressed at one point to its limit, the pressure released all at
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once, blowing Iskahn and the Knight away from each other as if they
were mere leaves. He suddenly noticed why his opponent’s
Incarnation had weakened. A large silhouette had tried to slip in
between the two.
Sitting up on the ground, Iskahn yelled at the huge man who fell
down as he did.
“Dampe, you bastard!! … Look at what the fuck you’ve

done!!”
“Time’s up, Champion.”
The vice chief said, slightly opening his eyes that were usually
almost closed. He stood up, raised his muscular right arm, and
pointed it to the north.
As Iskahn turned his eyes to the same direction, he could see that
the main army of the Fist Fighters and the Dark Knights behind had
come so close to one another that they could recognize each other.
Right, as the chief of the army, I shouldn’t be too obsessed with a
private battle when an army-scale battle’s beginning anyway. But—
Clucking his tongue like mad, he spun around. Behind the floating
dust, the enemy Knight that had lost almost all of her equipment and
clothes slid her slim sword back into its scabbard, as though she did
not care at all.
“Hey, bitch! Don’t think you’ve won like this!!”
The young Fist Fighter screamed, forgetting that he had just been
preparing his mind for death.
Swaying her gray hair, the Knight flicked her head to look at
Iskahn, and tilted her head as if she were searching for the right
words to say.
“Umm, that, ‘bitch’ thing… Could you please stop that?”
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“Look… In this situation, I don’t know how you’re gonna
run awa…”
At that moment, a strong gust of wind suddenly blew from the

south. The Fist Fighters surrounding her looked towards it as one.
Iskahn blinked unconsciously. In his sight, a Knight stretched her

arm up high, and a gigantic monster quickly descended. Its gray
scales twinkled like stars; this must be a Dragon.
As the Knight grabbed onto a leg, the Dragon rose into the sky at
once.
“Hey you! … Tell me your fucking name before you run

away!!”
Intertwined with the noise of the vigorously flapping wings, a mild

voice came down.
“… I’m not running away. I’m… Sheyta Synthesis Twelve.”
He stood up with Dampe pulling his hand; Iskahn watched the

Dragon’s silhouette vanishing into the nocturne darkness, and
clucked his tongue again.
If he were allowed, he would love to fight that strong opponent

again after a year of intense training, since his realized that he had a
lot to improve on.
However, Iskahn was mature enough to know that his personal

desire would be nothing in front of the war strategy.
Once his team rendezvoused with the Fist Fighter main army, they
would have to crush the enemies together with the Dark Knights.
There might not be a chance for them to fight again.
If only I could obtain the ≪Radiant Medium≫ —
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After a moment, Iskahn clucked his tongue for a third time, this
time to himself for having such a thought.
— What a retard I am. Begging the Emperor to save the life of that
female Knight as a reward? My entire tribe will be furious at me.
Pulling himself out of the thoughts, Iskahn went to the subordinate

that held a jar of medicine, in order to cure his left leg.
That’s right.
Just come ‘ere like that.
Vassago thought as he savored the pleasure of the ambush, like a

piece of candy in his mouth.
My hiding is perfect. Though the metallic armor had some

drawbacks, he was still able to melt into the shadow of the
shrubbery.
The black-haired girl was cautiously surveilling her surroundings,

but her eyes merely passed through the bush that Vassago was
hiding behind. 7 meters left… 5 meters…
— Good. Feels really good. I’ve missed this so much.
Approaching within 3 meters, the girl suddenly turned to her right

and walked towards where Vassago had concealed the bodies.
He could have waited for her to come closer, but, well, that
wouldn’t change much.
Vassago slid from the darkness in dead silence and lunged at the
girl from behind, thrusting forth his left hand. Muffling her mouth and
slicing cleanly across her nervously taut throat with his dagger —
His anticipation was so realistic that Vassago could not

immediately react to the blade flashing right before his eyes.
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“… Whoa!”
As he hurriedly backed off, the tip of the blade whistled under his
cheek, where his bare skin was exposed.
The girl, who had seemed not to notice him at all, suddenly
unsheathed her sword from her left waist and slashed towards him
without even turning around. That was one awesome counter. Had he
stepped forward just a little more, his throat would have been
cleaved in two.
Spinning around, the girl held her sword properly. He could see no
surprise in her sapphire eyes, though they revealed fear and hostility.
Vassago couldn’t help but admit that his hiding was seen through
very quickly.
Twirling the dagger in his right hand, he opened his mouth.
“Hey, baby.”
He suddenly remembered that English wouldn’t work, and switched

to Japanese that sounded almost native.
“How’d you know, little girl?”
The girl replied coldly while gripping her sword, fully alert.
“… My senpai told me: don’t just rely on your eyes; feel

with your entire body.”
“S-senpaaai…?”
As he blinked in confusion, Vassago felt the sting of some ancient

memory. I must’ve heard that somewhere…
But before he could form any substantial thought, the girl took a
deep breath and let out a deafening scream.
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“Enemy!! There’s an enemy — !!”
He clucked his tongue, and retracted his short knife back to the
right of his waist.
Well, guess that’s the end of the game.
Vassago threw up his left arm with an exaggerated motion and

shouted as well.
“Guys… Get to work!!”
This time, the girl’s eyes widened in genuine shock.
From within the shrubbery tens of meters behind Vassago, there

came the scuffling of rustling branches; it was created by the thirty
lightly-armored scouts selected from the main Dark Knight army
rising to their feet, one after another.
A second girl jumping off the wagon, along with the ten or so

Guards dashing from the north in response to the girl’s warning, were
equally dumbstruck.
***
“Wh… The enemy’s at the back!? And there’s about thirty

people!?”
Integrity Knight Renri repeated loudly, hardly believing the distress

call from the supply team.
This is bad — This is bad!
If the wagons were assaulted and the supplies were burnt or

destroyed, the entire army would grind to a halt. Not only that, there
were three people over there: two trainee girls who had sworn on
their lives to defend it, and also a young man.
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I have to send them a rescue team of a hundred, no, two hundred
men. But if I split the main army even further, they might lose to the
enemies approaching from the north. By then, they would
immediately lose to the enemy’s overwhelming number.
Wait, maybe our ambush plan has already been exposed? If it has,
then should I have the entire army retreat further south, and wait for
another chance?
Unable to come up with a proper conclusion, Renri stood still. Then,

a rough voice entered his ears.
“I never thought that they would’ve predicted us going

south and laid an ambush here ahead of us…”
Knight Commander Bercouli and Alice had just returned from the
northern hill a kilol away. Renri viewed them both as possessing
strength that towered far into the clouds above, but no longer could
he detect even a sliver of calm on their faces, and especially not for
Alice. She looked as though she were ready to fly for the supply team
at once.
Looking to the north over Bercouli’s shoulder, behind the hilly area,
Renri could almost clearly see the giant dust cloud of the
approaching army.
The Knight Commander closed his eyes for a moment, then quickly
revealed his bluish-gray gaze, and boomed:
“Renri, tell the main army to back off. Lil’ miss, get to the
supply team right now. I’ll hold off the enemies coming from
the north.”
“But, how, exactly? … There are more than five thousand

soldiers, Oji-sama! And didn’t you say that swords don’t work
against them…”
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“Don’t worry, I’ll find a way. Just go!! Lil’ miss… no, Alice,
you were the one who decided a fight to the death until our
very last warrior falls!!”
Leaving those words with her, Bercouli immediately turned to the

north.
His right hand, rough as the gnarled trunk of a tree, slowly drew
the Time Piercing Sword from his left waist.
By the aged blade’s fading gleam, one could clearly tell that the
sword only possessed a miniscule amount of Life left.
***
Sparks were thrown three times into the darkness.
The girl with tea-colored hair, who was seeing Vassago for the first
time, parried all of his strikes.
Vassago had even used a combo skill. Therefore, when the sword
flew from the girl’s hand on the third strike and stabbed into a
nearby tree, the assassin couldn’t help but whistle appraisingly.
Even so, the dark-haired girl readied her fists, but Vassago
dropped her with a sweep of his leg. Landing hard on her back, the
girl let out a pained gasp.
“Ronye ——— !!”
A red-haired girl appeared from the wagon; shrieking, she rushed

over.
Gripping the dagger in his right hand, Vassago pressed its tip
against the throat of the girl apparently named Ronye, in order to
restrain the red-haired girl. As though struck by fear, her slim legs
stopped cold.
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“Kek… Kekek.”
A muffled cackle slipped out from his mask.
— This is it. This is the feeling.
This is the joy of playing with someone’s life and relationships with
a blade. This is why I just can’t stop player-killing.
“… I won’t kill her, as long as you stand and watch right

there.”
Whispering to the red-haired girl, he crouched next to the girl

called Ronye.
Behind him, about thirty bloodthirsty soldiers were inching closer,

step by step.
Tears of fear and humiliation beaded within Ronye’s eyes. Her

fierce determination sank into the depths of despair, and ——
………?
Suddenly, Ronye’s eyes shifted focus from Vassago’s face to the

sky.
Something was reflected in her watery iris.
— Light.
Milky white, radiant particles descended, slowly, gently, softly, like

snow.
As a weird shiver ran down his spine, Vassago slowly lifted his
head.
The night sky was pitch black. The stars were blood red.
In such a background, there floated a small silhouette — and yet
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its presence was ludicrously huge.
— That’s a person. A woman.
She wore a breastplate gleaming with a shine akin to that of a

pearl. Her gauntlets and boots were of the same sheen.
Her long skirt was sewed together with countless small pieces of
cloth, fluttering like wings. Her hair flying in the wind was in fresh
chestnut color—
“Stacia… sama.”
Ronye murmured from below.
These words did not reach Vassago’s ears. The instant he had
caught a glimpse of the woman’s face descending from the sky, the
assassin had leapt to his feet as though he were being yanked
upwards.
Freed from Vassago’s grasp, Ronye immediately backed away to

where the red-haired girl was, but he did not even bother to look.
The silhouette floating in the air stretched out her right arm.
She gently swept her delicate hand across.
Laa ———————–
Resembling a chorus of thousands of angels, an overpowering

harmony shook the world.
Spectrums of polychromatic light swallowed Vassago.
The ground beneath his feet vanished.
As he fell into the infinite darkness, Vassago thrust both hands

upwards, trying to grab onto the tiny silhouette.
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“Fuckin’ really? … C’mon, fuckin’ really?”
A trembling voice slipped from his mouth.
That face.
That hair.
That atmosphere.
“Isn’t that… ≪The Flash≫ from KoB?”
***
The Knight Commander Bercouli stood still as he raised his beloved

sword.
Before him, there yawned an enormous chasm in the earth, over a

hundred mel wide. He gazed far towards the horizon to his left and
right, but there was no end to be seen. The depth was unpredictable;
bits of rock here and there dropped into the abyss, yet no sign of
impact against the bottom reached his ears.
Tens of seconds ago, this rift in the earth did not exist.
From the sky, variegated rays of color had poured down with a
grandiose harmony, and as they touched the ground, it began to
fracture.
There is absolutely no way to trigger such a groundbreaking

change, not with one thousand Ascetics, or even ten thousand
Ascetics. Perhaps not even the Highest Minister Administrator
herself.
This is the power of a God, a holy act.
Following Dark God Vector, another God is descending to the

mortal world.
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Bercouli thought with respect and fear, but he soon dismissed that
notion.
On the other side of the chasm, the five thousand Fist Fighters
were standing stock-still, thunderstruck.
If a God was determined to help the Human Empire, possessing the

right to freely manipulate the lives and deaths of humans, they could
have split the ground directly under the Fist Fighters, mercilessly
plunging them to the depths below. This crack, however, was created
with a safety margin in mind, enough for all of the Fist Fighters
running at full tilt to stop.
From this, the Knight Commander detected a sense of hesitation

towards wiping out a multitude of lives.
In other words, this was done according to human will.
— Faster.
— Faster, quickly get me to the ground, to where Kirito-kun is.
Yuuki Asuna had logged into the Underworld with Super Account
01, ≪The Goddess of Creation Stacia≫. Protected by the fall-
cushioning mechanic only available on the first log in, she repeated
her lover’s name in her mind.
Almost an hour had passed since an unknown armed group had

stormed the independent marine biology research mega-float, the
≪Ocean Turtle≫.
“I’ll go,” Asuna had declared to Kikuoka Seijirou and company,

and FullDived using Soul Translator No. 5. Higa Takeru located her
insertion coordinates, which should have been right above where
Kirito was now. When she landed, her lover would definitely be
waiting there for her.
Accompanying her nearly insane yearning, a stabbing pain racked
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Asuna’s head. She grimaced on reflex, resisting the discomfort.
She had been warned about the side effects that would occur with
usage of the ≪unlimited landscape alteration≫ ability, the
administrative authority given to the Stacia account. The area’s
Mnemonic Data was absurdly large; as the data instantly transferred
repeatedly between Asuna’s STL and the Main Visualizer, which
stored the data of the entire Underworld, her Fluctlight would
overload.
As RATH’s chief engineer, Higa had strictly told her not to

recklessly change the landscape too much — to stop whenever she
felt a headache.
Below her were a thousand men from the Human Empire, and two
enormous crowds from the Dark Territory that were approaching
them from both the north and south. As soon as she realized that,
despite the advice, she had immediately chanted the commands.
She put the cluster from the north to a halt by opening a long, wide
valley in front of them. But for the thirty men drawing near the
location where Kirito might be, she had no choice but to erase the
ground they were standing on.
They are all human beings with real souls. They are the true
bottom-up AIs that Kirito has strived for two years in this world to
protect.
Perhaps this sharp pain is their intense fear and grudge flooding
into the STL.
Even so, Asuna closed her eyes tightly, then opened them wide
and freed herself of her hesitation.
Her priorities had been determined for years.
For Kirito — Kirigaya Kazuto, she would commit any sin. She would
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accept all deserved punishment.
At long last, the descent came to an end in tens of seconds that

each felt like an eternity; the tips of her pearly boots touched the
black earth.
She was in a wooded area filled with twisted bushes. Without a

moon, there were only ominously shimmering red stars, faintly
shining down from the night sky.
Asuna shook the remaining headache away and straightened her

back. Right next to her feet, a dark, deep hole opened in the ground,
into which she had plunged an armored knight-like Dark Territory
man. It would be rather dangerous to leave it there, but she had
difficulty handling the landscape again in a such a short time.
She heard the neigh of a horse nearby; looking in that direction,

she realized that a few large wagons were standing behind the
bushes, seemingly hiding.
— Where…? Where are you, Kirito?
Just as Asuna was desperate to the point of nearly crying out his
name, a trembling voice called to her.
“… Stacia… sama?”
She turned her head around, and saw two girls leaning against
each other as they stood. They were both wearing gray jumper skirts,
just like school uniforms.
Their faces were a little strange. They did not look Japanese, nor
they did they look Western. Their skin were smooth and cream-
colored; the girl on the right had hair in maple leaf red, and the girl
on the left had hair in a dark coffee brown.
Two timeworn long swords hung from their belts.
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The red-haired girl opened her mouth slightly, and a small voice
slipped out once more.
“Are you… God?”
Perfect Japanese, yet her intonation was very subtly foreign. Thus,
Asuna felt she had glimpsed the Underworld’s three-hundred year
independent history.
— Kikuoka-san, Higa-san, look at what you’ve created.
— To RATH, this might only be a simulation, but this entire world

and the people living here, are genuinely alive.
“… No… Sorry, I’m not a god,” Asuna answered as she gently

shook her head.
The girl with dark brown hair wrung her hands. “But, but,” she
whispered. “You’ve benevolently saved my life with a miracle.
You’ve saved all of us from those scary soldiers from the
Dark Territory… You’ve saved the Guards, the Ascetics… and
Kirito-senpai.”
When she heard that name, Asuna gasped, and a violent twinge
shot through her heart.
She straightened her body that almost lost balance, and finally
squeezed out a feeble voice, her lips trembling.
“I… I just came here to meet him, Kirito… Please tell me…
Where is he? Let me meet him… Take me to Kirito, please.”
Fighting back her tears, Asuna begged. The dumbstruck girls’ eyes
widened, finally exchanged looks, and nodded.
“… Yes. Please follow us.”
The surrounding swordsmen clad in uniform armor formed an open
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circle, staring at her from a distance; Asuna walked through its center
as the girls showed her the way.
She was taken to the back of a wagon. A thick, canvas-like curtain

was hanging from the roof, and she could not see inside.
“Kirito-senpai is insi…”
Without waiting for the red-haired girl to finish, Asuna pushed the
curtains aside with both hands and jumped onto the deck. She
stumbled as she advanced.
Hanging from the roof of the cabin, a small lantern threw dim light
onto stacks of wooden boxes and barrels. She slipped through the
tiny space between them, getting deeper and deeper into the wagon.
Suddenly, she was hit by a nostalgic smell, as warm as the sun, as

refreshing as a slight breeze over grasslands and forests.
Silvery light reflected into Asuna’s eyes, which adjusted to the

darkness.
It was coming from a wheelchair made of a metal frame and pieces

of wood.
In the chair, there was a figure in black, sitting spiritlessly, its body
sagging like a shadow.
“…………Gh.”
Overwhelmed by a storm of emotion, Asuna was struck dumb.

Even though she had envisioned a multitude of scenarios, the words
for their reunion became stuck in her throat.
Now lying in the STL No.4 on the Ocean Turtle in the real world, the
one she loved most was there, in the form of his soul.
Hurt, damaged, but certainly alive.
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Back when Kirito met me again in the hospital in Tokorozawa,
when I didn’t wake up even though I was released from the death
game SAO, Kirito must have suffered the same pain, and was as
determined as I am now.
— It’s my turn. I’ll definitely save you, no matter the cost.
Softly exhaling her stuck breath, Asuna whispered:
“…… Kirito-kun.”
The right arm was missing from his emaciated body. Hugging the
black and white swords, his left arm jerked when Asuna’s voice
resonated.
His face stared downwards, and his eyes were empty; both
trembled in tiny spasms.
“Uh……”
A broken, hoarse voice slid from his parched lips.
“Uh… Aaaa… Aahh……”
Taka, taka. The wheelchair was shaking. His left arm stiffened, and
tendons puffed up on his neck.
Two tracks of tears slid down his bowed face and dropped onto the
scabbards in his arms.
“Kirito-kun… Enough, that’s enough!!” Asuna shouted.
She kneeled, and gently but tightly, hugged her lover. From her
own eyes, she also felt warm liquid gushing out without end.
Seeing each other once more, curing Kirito’s soul, his

consciousness would return—
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It would be a lie if she said she had not hoped so.
However, Asuna understood that the damage dealt to Kirito’s

Fluctlight was deep. Kirito’s Fluctlight core, or self-image, had been
destroyed. As long as they did not reconstruct it somehow, no matter
how much input he was exposed to, he could not articulate a proper
output.
Higa’s voice resounded in her mind.
— It seems that he has some accomplices… I mean comrades.

They’re artificial Fluctlights, of course. And most of his comrades died
when they fought the Church, so in the end he severely blamed
himself when he succeeded in contacting us. In other words, he
attacked his own Fluctlight.
Desolation, regret and despair had cut a bottomless hole into

Kirito’s heart.
— Even if that hole were infinite emptiness, I will fill it up. If I can’t
manage that by myself, I’ll enlist the help of those who connected
their hearts with you. There just isn’t any loss that can’t be replaced
with love.
Asuna felt her determination replenish: she would not let Kirito feel
any sorrow again, not a shred of it.
— I will protect this world, which Kirito loved and lived in. I’ll
protect it from the mysterious attackers… and even from RATH.
After hugging Kirito tightly for one last time, Asuna stood up
straight.
She spun around; and as tears flowed down her cheeks, she smiled
at the two observing girls.
“Thank you. You two have been protecting Kirito, haven’t

you?”
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The dark brown-haired girl nodded humbly, and replied with a
question in a trembling voice:
“Excuse me, may I… have your name, please? If you’re not

Stacia-sama, then… who are you?”
“My name is Asuna. I’m a human like you. And just like
Kirito, I come from the outside world… for the same
purpose.”
“All I can say is… I’m rather surprised.”
On the second floor of the imperial throne carriage, beside Gabriel

who overlooked the sudden crack in the ground, came a voice that
seemed quite relaxed.
He turned towards the voice and saw, popping up from one of the
various hatches in the deck, the burly face of a middle-aged man. He
recalled that this was Lengil, the head of the Merchants’ Guild. Lengil
joined his long sleeves and performed a sincere salute.
While he seemed to be one of the few remaining General Units,

this man did not seem like he possessed any notable fighting
prowess. What was the matter? Gabriel raised an eyebrow in
acknowledgement. Lengil glanced left and right, but his body
remained facing Gabriel. He saw that Vassago was not around, but
did not say anything else and saluted once more.
“Your Majesty. The moon will rise soon… If there are no

further orders to be executed accordingly, I humbly request
that the troops be allowed to rest and dine.”
“Okay.”
He peered into the black, gaping chasm again.
The scouts that had been sent to report on its size had not yet
returned. In other words, it wouldn’t be just a few mel. And by the
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looks of it, it seemed that a hole of this depth was not one that could
be easily filled in with raw civilian manpower.
Predicting that the enemy army had managed to infiltrate the

southern parts, where Vassago and his subordinates were, there was
now an extremely high chance that they would all be eliminated if
they did nothing. But even if Vassago himself were to die here, he
would still awaken in the real world.
Now he had to use the flying Units. But the Dark Knights only had
ten dragons. He did not know the number of trips it would take to
transport twenty thousand footsoldiers.
Or maybe it was possible with magic. But according to the Dark

Sorceresses he had consulted, creating a sufficient bridge for the
entire army to cross was not possible. If they were all as powerful as
their leader D.I.L, maybe, with more Demihuman sacrifices… But
reports told that D.I.L. had been vaporized in battle by an enemy
Knight’s counterattack.
— For someone full of ambition, you left the battle so quickly.
Gabriel thought with a twinge of regret. But at the end of the day,
an AI was merely a piece on a chessboard, and her existence
disappeared from his mind.
In other words —
That yawning chasm was something that upsetted the “game

balance” of this world. This world had nothing that neither the
Human Empire AI nor Dark Territory AI were incapable of fixing.
If that were the case, this likely involved interference from the real
world. Somebody from RATH, probably a higher-up, had logged in
with a super account like him.
They might even have the same goal. Retrieve «Alice», then eject
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to the real world through a system console.
Although things were getting troublesome, at this point, he could

only plan accordingly.
Or rather — things were getting more interesting.
The corners of Gabriel’s mouth lifted in the slightest of smirks.

After it disappeared, he turned to Lengil.
“Very well. We will set up camp here tonight. Feed the

troops well; tomorrow will be a busy day.”
“Yes, sire. Your Majesty’s benevolence is truly humbling.”
Paying his respects once more, the Merchants’ Guild chief left in
high spirits.
***
“From the same world as… Kirito-senpai?”
The two girls asked in unison, their red and blue eyes round.
“Th-that means… the world of the gods? The three gods

who created this world… the Kingdom in the sky that the
gods who govern the Elements, and the angels reside in…?”
“No.”
Asuna shook her head.
“It is a world outside of this one, but definitely not one of

the gods. Because… Look at Kirito-kun, do you guys think he
looks like a god or an angel?”
The girls looked towards the wheelchair again, exchanged looks,

then both stifled giggles. They hastily adjusted their expressions, and
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nodded.
“Yes… Yes… Right, there shouldn’t be any gods who escape

from the academy in the middle of the night to buy snacks…
right…?”
Hearing the red-haired girl’s words, it was Asuna’s turn to gape.

Really, he was still like that even in this world. Speechless and
elated, Asuna felt tears on her cheeks once more.
She blinked rapidly and nodded – Right. Then, the girl with tea-
colored hair asked:
“Uh… Um, this outside world… What’s… it like?”
Asuna thought for a moment, then replied:
“It’s a long story. I’d like to tell it to the person in charge

of everything here. Could you please take me to them?”
“O-Okay. Understood.”
The girls agreed nervously. Asuna prepared to follow them to the

back of the large caravan, then stopped to look back at Kirito again.
On his bowed face, dried tear tracks were still visible.
— It’s all right now, it’s all right now, Kirito-kun. You can leave the
rest to me…
Asuna said softly in her heart, tightly gripping his left hand. Then
she turned, slipped past a crate, and jumped off the back of the
wagon.
Just as her white shoes touched the ground —
Golden light appeared before her.
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The glint of a sword blade.
Before she could react, her body moved on instinct. Her right hand
lunged for the rapier at her left waist.
Kyariin!
The sound of metal against metal shattered the dark silence of the
woods.
While she had managed to deflect the strike, the unexpectedly

powerful impact had numbed her entire right arm. What a heavy
sword.
Scattered sparks from the collision whitened across her vision. She
could barely discern the path of a second instantaneous attack.
Unblockable with a single strike.
Immediately making that judgment, Asuna charged at her

opponent and launched a succession of rapid stabs.
Her third jab finally managed to parry the incoming strike.

Switching to the offense, Asuna finally caught a glimpse of the
attacker’s features.
She gasped in shock.
An astonishingly beautiful knight with snow-white skin, roughly the

same age as she was, was glaring at Asuna. Her sapphire eyes
emanated an animosity that seemed to crackle like electricity.
Her golden hair, seemingly fashioned from the element itself,

billowed in the air. Her hefty armor and smooth longsword both
gleamed a flaxen yellow.
From a distance, the girls looked on, eyes wide. Finally, they
managed weak cries.
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“Knight-sama, please stop!!”
“She is not an enemy, Alice-sama…!!”
— «Alice»!
Hearing this name, Asuna was stunned again.
This elegant swordswoman before her, wielding a weapon the

weight of a boulder — was the world’s first true Bottom-Up AI, the
highly adaptive artificial intelligence, ALICE? She was the goal of
Project Alicization, and what RATH and the invaders both thirsted for
— the center of everything.
But why was Alice attacking her?
Trying her best to block the golden blade, just as Asuna was
thinking of what to say, a voice akin to the music of a famous violinist
flared from Alice’s cherry-colored lips.
“Who are you?! What do you want with Kirito?!”
As soon as she heard those words.
Asuna tossed everything aside, feeling a certain emotion well up

inside her. Specifically, it was a sudden fury.
Her reflexive retort only added fuel to the fire.
“Why…? Because he’s mine!!”
Gritting her pearly-white teeth, Alice yelled:
“What did you say?! You barbarian!!”
The two swords separated with a shower of sparks in all directions.
The golden-haired swordswoman, deftly leapt away, then

immediately lunged forward with a vicious upper slash. But this time,
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Asuna stood her ground, and her right hand launched a familiar
combo attack.
Within the nighttime forest, a gigantic crescent moon collided with

streaks of comets, emitting a blinding flash.
The impact blew through Asuna’s elbow straight to her shoulder,

knocking the wind and tongue out of her mouth. She was only able to
match her opponent because of her super account Stacia’s rapier
«Radiant Light», a «GM item» that possessed a higher priority than
that of Alice’s golden longsword.
Their weapons met again, but a miniscule gap formed between

them.
A deep masculine voice broke the silence.
“Ah, the scenery here is excellent. Two blossoming flowers.

Ah, what a sight. What a sight.”
A pair of strong arms appeared from where previously there was

nothing, their fingers gently gripping the middle of Alice and Asuna’s
swords.
“?!”
As if it were sandwiched between a vise, the sword was

immovable. The arms effortlessly lifted both swords along with the
speechless Asuna and Alice, gently separated the two fighting
swordswomen, then placed them back on the ground.
Standing there was a huge man who looked more than forty years
old.
On top of what looked like a kimono, he wore defensive gear of the

lowest grade. Whether it was the iron-colored longsword hanging
from his waist or the arms extending from his sleeves, both were
carved with a myriad of scars. He perfectly fitted the description of a
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hero.
As soon as the man appeared, Alice puffed up her cheeks and

began to protest as though she was suddenly younger:
“Why stop me, Oji-san! This person could very well be a spy
for the enemy…”
“I don’t think so. This young lady helped me escape from

the jaws of death. I believe the same happened for you all?”
The latter question was directed towards the wide-eyed girls in

gray uniforms who stood to the side.
Both of them nodded furiously, and spoke in thin voices.
“Y… Yes, Honorable Knight Commander. That woman saved

us.”
“She just, with a wave of her hand, sent the enemy soldiers
into the abyss… It was, simply a miracle.”
The man who had been addressed as the Knight Commander

glanced at the large crevice that Asuna had created, then put his
hand on Alice’s shoulder and explained:
“I saw it too. Multicolored light came down from the sky,

and the ground split into a hundred mel crack. Even the Fist
Fighters’ Guild couldn’t get away, and they panicked. Fact is,
this young lady saved us just as our army was on the verge of
defeat. This isn’t the time to fight.”
“……”
Golden longsword in hand, Alice continued staring suspiciously at

Asuna.
“Then… what Oji-san wants to say is, this person is neither
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a spy for the enemy, nor impersonating a divine figure, and
she’s the real Goddess Stacia?”
Asuna bit her lip in silence. If this Knight Commander, the man
seemingly at the top, were to regard her as a god, things would
become very messy.
Fortunately for her, the man’s chiseled mouth slackened a bit, and
he replied.
“Probably not. If she really were a Goddess, she would be

an existence far colder and crueler than the even the Highest
Minister. Like, mercilessly ending the lives of those
murderous wild men and all?”
Alice had no retort to that. Her hostility unchanged, she flashed a

flaming glare at Asuna and placed her sword back in its scabbard
with a shakin!
Asuna also had many questions. What was that for? What are you
to Kirito-kun? But with a deep breath she could finally take, she
suppressed her anger.
Asuna’s mission was to bring Alice to the «World End Altar» at the
southernmost part of the Underworld, and eject her Light Cube from
the Light Cube Cluster.
In other words, she had to convince this girl, who did not mix well
with her at all, to leave the Human Empire Army. This definitely was
not the time to fight.
Sheathing her weapon, Asuna spoke to the Knight Commander:
“Yes… You’re right. I’m not a goddess; I’m a human like you all.
However, I do have some knowledge of your situation. That’s
because I am a human who has come from outside this world.
“Outside, huh…”
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The Knight Commander stroked his chin stubble, then smiled
crudely.
In contrast, Alice’s eyes went huge and she demanded shrilly:
“From outside…?! Then, are you from where Kirito came

from?”
Asuna was astonished. It appeared that Kirito had already

explained some things about the Underworld to Alice as well.
Taking the Fluctlight Acceleration Rate into consideration, Kirito

had now remained in this world for three years. Asuna could not help
but wonder that how much time he had spent together with Alice in
this world.
It seemed as though Alice was thinking the same thing. Before she
could ask more questions, the Knight Commander stopped her with a
wave of his hand.
“What comes next is probably for the rest of the Knights

and Guards to hear. We’ll talk about this over tea. Besides,
the enemy aren’t going to make any more moves tonight.”
“… I see.”
Alice nodded, her face stern.
“All right, it’s settled… Could you young ladies over there
help us prepare some tea, and get me some liquor as well?
You ladies should hear this too.”
On receiving the Knight Commander’s instructions, the young

uniformed trainees replied and saluted respectfully.
Asuna wanted to see Kirito once again before she left this place,
but before she could move, Alice’s piercing voice entered her ears.
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“Let me be clear: from now on, no one is to enter that
wagon without my permission. Ensuring Kirito’s safety is my
responsibility alone.”
This is the worst.
Asuna calmed her bubbling emotions.
“… Same to you, stop calling my Kirito-kun directly by his

name…”
“What did you say?!”
“… No, nothing.”
Hmph, Alice and Asuna spun away from each other, and followed
the Knight Commander’s retreating shadow.
The two girls left behind — Tiese and Ronye exhaled

simultaneously.
“Looks like… things are going to be rough from now on.”
Tiese suddenly raised her hands and said to her friend:
“Come on, we’ve got water to boil! Right, which wagon was
the liquor in? … Come on, Ronye!”
Before she chased after the red-haired girl, Ronye murmured

something that no one else heard.
“… He should be, my senpai, too…”
Asuna held the teacup with one hand, while gazing at the crackling
bonfire.
What realistic flames.
They were not even in the same dimension as the special effects
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flames depicted with the rendering engines in SAO and ALO. Every
spark that danced up when dry wood cracked, the thick, charred
smell floating in the air, and even the warmth she felt on her face
and hands, all stimulated Asuna’s senses more realistically than
reality itself.
Not just the fire. The rigidity of the folding chair’s seat, the smooth
feel of the wooden cup, and the rich, soothing aroma of the tea;
along with the trees around them, their leaves rustling crisply in the
night wind.
Since entering the Underworld, having to deal with endless drama,

Asuna had been unable to fully experience this world. As she revived
her senses, she was truly impressed by the STL’s «Mnemonic Visual».
It seemed that Kirito, who had been logged in without knowing that
this was a virtual world, must have become well-experienced before
realizing the circumstances. After all — there was not a single NPC in
this world.
Asuna turned away from the bonfire and gazed towards the people
gathered in the round forest clearing. Quick introductions had
already been exchanged.
Sitting to her left and hogging what looked like a bottle of vintage
liquor was Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli. Beside him was
Integrity Knight Alice, dressed fully in golden armor. Against the fire’s
orange glow, her golden locks deepened in color; Asuna could not
help but acknowledge her stunning beauty.
To Alice’s left sat a shiftless youth of about fifteen or sixteen years

old, who seemed to be an Integrity Knight of the highest «Class». His
name was Renri.
Further down, a slender female Knight sat as quietly as a shadow.

Her shining new armor seemed not to fit her at all: from time to time,
she either pulled on the straps, or loosened them, looking just like a
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beginner in a VRMMO. But when she was introduced as Sheyta, in the
split second that Asuna met her long, narrow eyes, a certain
indescribable boldness seemed to lay within.
To Sheyta’s left, across the bonfire from Asuna, around ten people,
addressed as Guard Leaders, sat side by side in a row of chairs.
Among the tough, hardened faces, there was one female.
To Asuna’s right, the young uniformed girls from before were

curled up together, sitting as quietly and as far away as possible. The
red-haired girl named Tiese and the tea-color haired girl, Ronye,
appeared to be younger students from the academy that Kirito had
enrolled in half a year ago.
After sizing up each of the ten-plus swordsmen, Asuna was

touched.
Without doubt, they were real humans.
Their appearance, actions, and even their breaths was absolutely

devoid of artificiality. Furthermore, the fact that only one artificial
Fluctlight, Alice, had managed to break through their «inability to
defy law and order», was quite unbelievable.
She now completely understood Kirito’s wish to protect each and

everyone of them.
I will inherit that will.
Asuna steeled her determination, then took a deep breath, and

spoke:
“Greetings, everyone. I believe this is the first time we’ve

met. My name is Asuna. I’m from the outside world.”
While it had only been eight days since her departure, Alice was
beginning to miss the short, idyllic time she had spent living
reclusively with Kirito in the border village of Rulid, when she would
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often push Kirito in his wheelchair on their way to the nearby farm.
Surrounded by a white wood fence, woolly sheep would graze

nonchalantly on the green grass, and among them, the pure-white
lambs would race around, full of energy.
Alice could not help but marvel at their blessed lives. Not having to
worry about the world outside that fence, peacefully living in
captivity, protected by humans.
She never expected that —
The people of this world were leading lives exactly like those
sheep.
That otherworldly girl Asuna’s words had dealt an earth-shattering

shock to all of the Knights and Guard Leaders. Even Knight
Commander Bercouli, while maintaining his usual relaxed expression,
must have been thoroughly shaken inside.
Asuna had called the world where the Human Empire and Dark
Territory existed together using a word in the Sacred Tongue:
“Underworld”. And outside — not geographically, but conceptually
— was a strange realm termed the “Real World”.
Of course, the Guard Leaders successively raised various questions

about that world, which seemed no different from the land of the
gods.
The visitor replied. The people living in the Real World, like them,
were human beings with emotions, desires, and limited Life.
And right now, at a highly specific location in the Real World, two
powers were jostling for control of the Underworld.
Asuna seemed to be a messenger for one of them. Her goal was to

protect the Underworld.
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The other side’s goal was — to retrieve one single human from the
Underworld. After that, they would undertake the destruction of the
entire world, rendering everything they knew into absolute
nothingness.
Hearing those words, the Guard Leaders began making a reckless

racket.
What quelled this disturbance was Bercouli’s thunderous bellow.
Isn’t it the same? The three-hundred year old hero pointed out.
Beyond the Human Empire lies the endless Dark Territory, with an
army of tens of thousands just waiting for a chance to invade. Until
today, there has not been a single one who has sat down and
carefully thought about this reality. It’s just an extra world outside of
ours, what are you afraid of?
After this violent reasoning was conveyed through a steady and

reliable voice, everyone accepted its view. Bercouli turned to Asuna
and asked: Who is the person that your enemies are looking for?
The outsider’s light brown eyes swiveled from Bercouli to Alice.
“… M… me?”
Not just Renri; Tiese, Ronye and even Sheyta revealed expressions
of shock. Only Bercouli nodded as though he was expecting such an
answer.
“As I expected… the «Radiant Medium»…”
Asuna did not understand what that meant. She blinked at the
Knight Commander, then turned back to answer.
“We don’t have much time. To prevent the Underworld

from being destroyed, Alice has to come to the Real World
with me. If Alice is no longer here, the enemy will stop
interfering with this world…”
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“W… What kind of joke is that?!”
Alice yelled, unable to restrain herself any further. She leapt from
her chair, slapped her chestplate with her right hand, and
proclaimed, with increasing intensity:
“Asking me to flee?! To abandon this world, and abandon

everyone here, and my comrades in the Defense Army… to
flee to the Real World?! Impossible! I am an Integrity Knight!
My greatest and only mission is to protect the Human
Empire!!”
Now Asuna leapt to her feet. Tossing her chestnut hair that was
reminiscent of silver oak acorns, she retorted with a voice like a
silver bell:
“All the more reason! If the enemy… is not from the Dark
Territory, but a thief from the Real World, and if they were to
get hold of you and drag you out of this world, everyone
here… not just them, even the earth, the sky, everything will
be destroyed! We don’t even know when the enemy will
attack!”
“Hold on, about that, you’re a bit late about that, Asuna-
san.”
The Knight Commander spoke calmly:
“The enemy you speak of are already here.”
“Uh…”
To Asuna, who was suddenly struck dumb, the Knight Commander

took a slow sip of liquor and continued:
“Seems like everything’s been revealed. The «Radiant

Medium». «Dark God Vector», who’s chasing her. The god
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Vector who’s directing his troops right now must be someone
from the Real World like you.”
“Dark… God.”
Asuna whispered, her face pale. She continued with some

incomprehensible words:
“I really didn’t think of that… the Dark Territory super

account actually wasn’t locked with a password or
anything…”
“Ex… Excuse me.”
Breaking the brief silence, young Knight Renri timidly raised his
hand.
Seeing that everyone turned to look at him, the boy asked softly,
his face reddening:
“About that, what exactly is a Radiant Medium? And, the

thieves from the Real… World? Why do they want Alice-
dono?”
The one who answered his question was someone whom everyone
thought would remain as «The Silent» during this meeting, the gray
Knight Sheyta.
“Because she broke the Seal of the Right Eye.”
Alice jumped at that, momentarily forgetting her indignation. Her

hand unconsciously moved to her right eye, and she asked:
“You… You know about that, Sheyta-dono?! How?!”
“It still hurts… whenever I think about it. At that time, to

cut down… the strongest thing in the world… the invincible
Axiom Church… it must have felt good.”
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“…”
The Knights and Guard Leaders fell into a thin silence. Bercouli
coughed and pretended not to hear that.
“Ah, I believe there are others here with similar

experiences. If the slightest sliver of dissatisfaction or
resistance was held against the Highest Minister’s power or
the Axiom Church’s authoritative body, one’s right eyeball
would begin to flash with red light, coupled with a stabbing
pain. Typically, whatever thoughts one had would be
forgotten due to the excruciating discomfort. But if one
continued these unstable thoughts, the pain would intensify
without end, and their right vision would be dyed completely
red — and eventually…”
“Their entire right eye would explode.”
Alice whispered, her memories of that detestable moment still

fresh.
“Then… Alice-dono…”
To Renri’s horrified voice, Alice nodded slowly and continued, her

voice soft.
“I battled Senate Elder Chudelkin, and the Highest Minister

Administrator. To summon that determination, I temporarily
lost my right eye.”
“Erm… May I ask…”
A voice even smaller than Renri’s requested an opportunity to

pitch in, belonging to the girl Ronye of the Supply Team, who had
been listening wide-eyed until now.
“Eugeo-senpai too, to protect me… when he swung his

sword for Tiese and me, and committed the crimes, from his
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right eye… Blood…”
That should be it as well. Alice nodded. Fighting countless battles

as a civilian, defeating even the Knight Commander, and displaying
perfect Incarnation against Administrator. That young man was
definitely able to surpass the mere Seal of the Right Eye.
That’s right, during the battle on the topmost floor of the

Cathedral, Administrator seemed to say something about the Seal of
the Right Eye to Alice. Was it, Code eight seven…?
Without waiting for Alice to recall Administrator’s words, Bercouli

spoke while rubbing his chin.
“Hm… In other words, those ‘enemies’ are looking for those

who broke the Seal on their own. Asuna-san, do you people
of the Real World have the same Seal as well?”
“… No.”
After hesitating for a moment, the chestnut hair swung from side
to side.
“I don’t have any such experience. Maybe the only

difference between Real World people and Underworld
people is whether they can break laws or commands.”
“That means, Lil’ Miss Alice is now an existence exactly the

same as you guys? But don’t you think that’s weird? If you’re
the same, why do they have such a request? Aren’t there
plenty of people in the Real World?”
“That’s…”
Hesitating more than she had before, Asuna fell silent.
But just as she dislodged her frozen memories, Alice’s shout

interrupted Asuna’s words.
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“That’s it! Code 871!”
Wringing her hands, she said frantically:
“The Highest Minister called the Seal of the Right Eye as

Code 871. She said it was added by «that person»! I don’t
know exactly what that means, though…It’s not Sacred
Tongue, so it’s the language of the Real World?!”
“Code… 87… 1…?”
Asuna repeated, dumbfounded. Her brows creased in surprise.
“… Did… someone from RATH add the Seal…? But wouldn’t

that… just interfere with their purpose…?”
She sat back down, thought for a moment, then —
She suddenly looked petrified. Her pale pink lips trembling, she
squeezed out a hoarse whisper.
But Alice did not understand what she said.
“… Damn it!… There’s a mole in RATH…! On the other side

of this wall…!”
Asuna was deeply shaken.
Blind obedience of a higher power. In order to remove the only flaw

in the jewel of the artificial Fluctlight, Higa Takeru and the RATH
technicians had put in immense effort.
This was because the current artificial Fluctlights were unable to

evaluate the morality or utility of commands they were given. If they
were loaded as AI onto war machines, even if their command system
was hacked and they were ordered to attack the troops they
belonged to or engage in indiscriminate murder of civilians, they
would not be able to evaluate their commands, instead choosing to
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execute them directly. They were different from the regulations
within Western armies, who possessed the ability to defy orders.
Therefore, to engineer artificial intelligence that was able to break

through this limitation, RATH undertook simulated experiments in the
Underworld that spanned hundreds of years.
However, if the Seal of the Right Eye or «Code 871» was an

apparatus to prevent the experiment from exceeding, if it had been
inserted by someone unknown within RATH.
This attempt at disruption probably originated from a directive

issued by the attackers on the Ocean Turtle.
And now this mole was still able to move freely in the upper shaft
on the Ocean Turtle. If he wanted to, he could even slip past the
other technicians and enter STL Room 2, where Kirito and Asuna lay
completely defenseless.
Brushing away the chill than ran down her spine, Asuna continued
to think:
Her only option was to run her current «Creation Goddess Stacia»’s
HP to zero — to death, in other words. But if that happened, she
would not be able to log back in with this super account. With the
system administration authority commands currently locked, they
were unable to reset account data.
Since the attackers were using Dark God Vector, an account of the
same level, he was undefeatable with a civilian account. To protect
Alice, and then log out safely, she needed this account no matter
what.
— What to do? What should I do first?
After racking her brains for a split second, Asuna inhaled deeply,
and decided.
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She would prioritize the Underworld. This world ran at a speed one
thousand times that of the Real World. Before the smallest
movement happened in the Real World, they should still have some
time.
In this time, she had to come up with a plan to protect Alice from
the enemy-led Dark Territory army, and extract her to the Real
World. If she failed at that, and Alice fell into enemy hands, those
people would destroy all of the other Light Cubes without hesitation
to solidify their status as the holders of the single true AI. They would
destroy the Underworld, which Kirito had put his life on the line for.
***
From the reports they were receiving, it seemed that Yuuki Asuna’s
judgment had been completely correct.
But neither her, nor Higa Takeru and Kikuoka Seijirou on the Ocean
Turtle, had realized an important truth.
Ever since Gabriel Miller and Vassago Casals had logged in, the FLA
rate had been slowly decreasing. This operation was being performed
by Critter, the technician of the attacking team, but the one who
gave the order was Gabriel.
In about twenty hours, armed JSDF personnel from the Aegis

destroyer «Nagato» would storm the floating structure. In that sort of
situation, it was understandably inconceivable to RATH that the
attacking team would lower the Acceleration Rate and throttle their
own necks.
Of course, the reason behind their lowering of the Acceleration

Rate was beyond anyone’s imagination.
But —
In this instant, only one person had seen through Gabriel’s motive.
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Concealed in Yuuki Asuna’s portable terminal, «she», the world’s
most advanced «Top-Down» artificial intelligence, stealthily planned
as she flew through the internet.
***
“What’s… wrong?”
Alice had stopped using honorifics some time ago. Hearing her
words, Asuna suddenly raised her head and shook it.
“No… It’s nothing. Sorry to interrupt.”
“You didn’t interrupt, we’re still waiting for your reply.”
Alice said testily.
“So, do you have any clues about the name «Code 871»?
“Yes. I was just about to explain.”
Alice retorted coolly. Even Asuna herself was perplexed at this.
Asuna could not remember ever arguing with anyone. She was on
good terms with her friends — Lisbeth, Silica, Leafa, Sinon, and even
with her classmates in school.
Speaking of which, when was the last time she had contended with
some like this? She thought for a moment and nearly burst out
laughing. Without a doubt, that person would be Kirito.
Ever since they had met on the first floor of Aincrad and somehow
struck up an interdependent relationship to begin clearing that death
game, Asuna had stared at and shouted in Kirito’s face numerous
times, occasionally even getting physical.
Maybe, there would come a time when she could get along with
this girl named Alice.
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— No, that’s not very likely.
As Asuna thought, she opened her mouth:
“… Then, the person who set up what Lil’ Miss Alice called
«Code 871», or the Seal of the Right Eye, was someone from
the Real World… in cahoots with the enemy.”
“Hmm… Well, besides destroying one’s right eye, is there

another way to remove this so-called Code?”
At Bercouli’s inquiry, the otherworldly girl shook her head

apologetically.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know either… I don’t think that it’s

something that can be removed from within the Underworld,
I’m afraid.”
Listening to Asuna’s clear voice, Alice felt uneasy.
Of course, her first impression of her was terrible. Asuna suddenly

getting that close to Kirito without explanation left her deeply vexed.
After all, she was the one who had protected and cared for Kirito and
his injuries.
Then again, this girl named Asuna, like Kirito, was from the Real
World. Judging by her words and actions, she must have had some
relationship with him there. Then, since she chased him to another
world, she at least had some say in the matter.
Was this the reason to her anxiety? She had thought that she was
the only one in this world most obligated and responsible for Kirito,
yet now there suddenly comes someone to challenge that?
Or was it her competitive spirit towards Asuna’s frightening

swordsmanship?
That was Alice’s first time witnessing a strike with such ludicrous
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speed. It was a speed that not even Vice Knight Commander Fanatio
could match. It wasn’t merely a continuous strike; it felt more like
multiple stabs coming at exactly the same time. If their swords had
been knocked slightly off course upon hitting each other, her
opponent would likely have recovered faster.
Or was it —
Because Asuna was so extraordinarily beautiful that just looking at

her made you sigh?
An exotic face without even the slightest tinge of austerity, as

though it were the embodiment of the word “exquisite” itself. The
bonfire brightly illuminated her white skin and her soft, billowing
chestnut hair, which looked to be top-quality strands of silk braided
together. The Guard Leaders’ eyes all revealed intoxicated gazes of
admiration. If Asuna had called herself Goddess Stacia, they would
have believed her without question.
She wanted to know.
Not about the Real World or about the enemy, but about this Asuna
person. The relationship between her and Kirito.
Catching herself floating within her own thoughts, Alice regained

her senses, struggling to concentrate and catch up with the
conversation. Asuna continued to the Knight Commander:
“… The «enemy» are afraid of those who have broken the

Seal in the Underworld… in other words, if their proverbial
«Radiant Medium» shows up and is taken away by some
external force. Because the Radiant Medium in the Real
World is actually an extremely precious existence.”
“That’s what I don’t understand.”
Knight Commander Bercouli muttered, twirling his bottle of liquor.
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“Your «Radiant Medium», or Lil’ Miss Alice, should be an
existence equal to that of a Real World person, shouldn’t
she? I just asked, why are they you all so stubborn about
this? Whether it’s the enemy, or Asuna-san, what exactly do
you want Lil’ Miss Alice to do once you take her away?”
“Um…”
Asuna bit her lip.
Her long eyelashes drooped as she showed a pained expression.
“… I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you yet. Because, I… hope that
Alice-san can come to see and judge the Real World with her
own eyes. It’s not the kingdom of the Gods, nor is it a
fantastical utopia. In fact, it’s far uglier and dirtier than this
world. I believe the same about the motives of the people
after Alice-san. That is to say, I believe she would not forgive
the Real World and the people living there. But… It’s not just
that. There are many people who wish to protect this world.
Just… Just like Kirito-kun.”
Alice silently listened to the other girl’s long, difficult speech.
Yet she found herself surprised, nodding slowly.
“… Okay. I won’t ask any more questions for now.”
She slowly parted her hands, and shrugged.
“No matter what, I’m not going to do what I don’t want to

do. Besides, I haven’t decided to go yet. Although I do wish
to see the outside world, that’s still a matter we can discuss
after we… defeat Dark God Vector and his invading army, and
establish peace.”
Alice thought that Asuna would rebuke fiercely again, but she only
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hesitated for a moment and spoke slowly:
“… Yeah. Since that Dark Territory army is being controlled

by a Real World person, it would be quite dangerous for
Alice-san and I to leave on our own. The enemy should have
thought of that as well. I’ll… fight alongside everyone. Please
leave the fight with Vector to me.”
Cheers were heard from the Guard Leaders. To them, no matter

what she herself claimed, Asuna was no different from Goddess
Stacia. At least, if she had that earth-shattering super attack, it
wouldn’t matter if the enemy had twenty thousand or two hundred
thousand troops.
The Knight Commander seemed to be considering the same thing.

He crossed his arms and asked:
“All right, we’ll put aside the matter of the Real World for
now. Back to the problem at hand… That skill you used just
now, Asuna-san, can it be used infinitely?”
“… I’m sorry, but this will disappoint you.”
Asuna shrugged her shoulders and slowly shook her head.
“That sort of power places great mental strain on its user. I

would be able to withstand it if it were merely discomfort,
but if I use it without restraint, I may be forcibly ejected to
the world to preserve my mental health. If that happens, I
can never come back. Unfortunately, I can only perform
large-scale geographical commands once or twice more.”
Let down by their excessive anticipation, the faces around the

bonfire looked disappointed. Noticing this, Alice sprang to her feet
again.
“How can we only rely on an outsider’s power to protect
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our world?! She has already given us enough aid. Now, it’s
our turn to show the outsider what we, the Knights and
Guards, are capable of!”
After this fierce call to action, Alice felt Asuna’s surprised gaze on
her and avoided her eyes embarrassedly.
The first to agree was Renri, the youngest Knight present.
“Y… Yeah! Didn’t you hear that, she’s not a god, she’s a
human like us! Then we can fight as well!”
With words that seemed to resonate from the two Divine

Instruments at his waist, the young Knight looked towards the red-
haired girl a distance away from Asuna. Alice chuckled inwardly.
“I wish to… battle that person again, too.”
«The Silent» Sheyta murmured, throwing her hat into the ring.
The Guard Leaders soon assented one by one, exchanging glances

with one another.
That’s right, we’ll all work together and protect what we love –
came the yells and shouts from the Guards who were gathered on
the grass around them. As if it were swept up in the wills of the
crowd, the fire also began to crackle more vividly, smoke flying
towards the night sky.
***
Was this — really okay?
In her assigned tent, Asuna began to think as she removed her

pearly-white armor.
According to Higa and Kikuoka’s intentions in the Real World,

Asuna was supposed to quickly bring Alice to a system console and
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extract her to the safety of the sub control room.
But what then? According to Kikuoka, as long as they procured

Alice’s Fluctlight and analyzed its structure, they could load it into an
unmanned weapon as the basis for its AI. The remaining ten
thousand artificial Fluctlights would then lose all purpose. It would
also do them no good to waste an immense amount of power and
space to keep them running.
Even they only rescued Alice and destroyed the rest of the
Underworld, what would Kirito think after he wakes up? No, would he
even be able to wake up in the first place…?
No, she could not falter like that again. She had come all this way
to meet him, so she must try her utter best to connect with him,
speak with him, and search for the key to his recovery. Higa had said
that they could only hope for a miracle from within the Underworld to
heal Kirito.
Right now, she wanted to be in the supply tent where he was, to

hold him, and talk to him. During this period of diving in, she wanted
to always be by his side. She never wanted to abandon him and
travel to the system console in the faraway south.
— At least, just for tonight…
Making her decision, Asuna removed all of her armor, changed into
a female habit and tunic, then moved to the entrance of the tent to
listen.
Despite her protests, the Knight Commander had assigned a Guard

to her as security. The young man, nervous with his task as Goddess
Stacia’s bodyguard, was restlessly pacing around the tent’s
surroundings.
When the footsteps passed over the grass directly across her and
neared the middle of the back, Asuna hastily left the tent. In three
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silent and huge steps, she concealed herself within the shadow of a
giant tree ten meters away.
Stealing a glance behind her, she saw that the guard seemed not
to have noticed anything, continuing his rounds. After silently
apologizing to him, Asuna walked into the depths of the forest.
The Human Empire Army, tired after their large-scale battle, had all
retired early, with the exception of a few sentries. The sentries were
focusing on the outskirts of the forest, so Asuna was able to sneak
into the supply tent area undetected.
Close your eyes and focus.
She did not know whether it was the power of her super account or
pure intuition, but she could immediately feel the location of her
lover.
Taking a few steps in that direction, Asuna suddenly noticed in the

corner of her eye a flash of golden light.
Damn — She timidly turned to look.
A silhouette stood with its back against the tent, arms crossed.
Like Asuna, it wore a simple gown with a yarn scarf. Flowing golden
hair that waved in the night wind. Deep blue eyes that projected a
frightening glare.
“… I knew you would come.”
Alice snorted softly, shaking her golden ponytail.
Staring directly at her opponent of the same height, same body,

and same age, Alice was just about to speak her prepared words.
— Didn’t I say that you are not allowed near here? Just go quietly
back to your own tent.
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But the breath she had inhaled felt difficult to vocalize. Because
within the eyes of the outsider Asuna, she saw an emotion that could
not be clearer.
Yearning. Pain because of that yearning, and determination

because of that yearning.
Fuu — sighing deeply, Alice asked herself.
— This is not me yielding. I am the one with the highest

responsibility to make sure Kirito awakes. This reality will not change.
Because Kirito has fought with me, hurt with me, and fallen out of
exhaustion before me.
So this is — a part of what I have to do to make sure Kirito comes

back.
“… Let’s make a deal.”
Hearing Alice’s short remark, Asuna blinked in confusion.
“I’ll let you see Kirito. I’ll also tell you what I know. In
exchange, you tell me everything you know about Kirito.”
After less than a second of confusion, Asuna smiled confidently.
“All right. But it’s a long story. One night may not be
enough to tell it.”
How uncomfortable. Pouting again, Alice demanded:
“How long have you been with him?”
So, Asuna’s light brown eyes stared up at the night sky, then she
curled the fingers on her hands and replied:
“Well… we were battle partners for two years. Then we

dated for a year and a half. We even spent two weeks living
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together.”
— “Dated” meant a romantic relationship, right? No, maybe… But

I’ve lived with him for longer…
Alice wavered slightly, then threw out her chest and retaliated:
“I’ve spent an entire night fighting by his side. Then I took

care of him in the same roof, staying by his side for half a
year.”
It was Asuna’s turn to be shocked, but she quickly recovered. Is

that so — she murmured.
The two glowered at each other, as though fully clad in armor,

ready to draw swords and duel. The night air crackled, and dry leaves
unlucky enough to land between them exploded: pishi, pishi.
The one who bravely entered the battle between an Integrity

Knight and the Creation Goddess was — the thin voice of a young
girl.
“Um…”
Shocked, Alice whirled in that direction. Asuna followed suit.
The voice had come from a young trainee from the supply team
with a soft cap on her tea-colored hair and a gray nightgown —
Ronye. She shyly clasped her hands together in front of her chest,
and spoke again.
“Actually, I, I spent two months cleaning Kirito-senpai’s

room, and he taught me sword skills as well, and even
treated us to the Jumping Deer Inn’s honey pies several
times! It does seem like very little compared to you two,
but… I also want to share…”
Alice blinked a few times before exchanging glances with Asuna
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again. Both of their mouths smiled wryly at the same time, as though
sighing together.
“Sure, Ronye-san. You were a companion, after all.”
Alice shrugged and nodded towards the petite girl. She could not
help but praise the trainee exhaling and smiling in relief: what
commendable bravery.
But — she was not the only challenger.
“May I partake in the information exchange?”
A seemingly masculine tone, yet a distinctively clear female voice.

A rather tall woman had appeared under the moonlight without a
sound. Gazing at her graceful features, Asuna let out a weak voice.
“… You’re the…”
Without a doubt. she was the female guard corps leader from the
meeting a while ago.
The woman, whose brown hair was tied in a long ponytail, nodded.
“I am Sortiliena Serlut of the Norlangarth North Empire

Knight Order. Although I wanted to wait until after the battle
had ended… or so I thought, but due to my long association
with Kirito, I couldn’t help but join in.”
Alice sighed again, raised her shoulders, and spoke to the tall
Guard Leader:
“… And what sort of association is that, Guard Leader

Serlut?”
“… If you don’t mind, please call me «Liena», Knight-dono.”
Sortiliena coughed softly before playing her trump card:
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“When I was at the Norlangarth Empire Sword Mastery
Academy,Kirito served as my valet for a year. I also passed
some sword skills to him.”
“………”
The other three sank into silence at this revelation.
Asuna and Alice met eyes, simultaneously displayed expressions of

“Really, now”, and nodded.
“Then you must have quite a bit of information too, Liena-

san. Please come in with us.”
With an odd atmosphere, the four of them began silently moving,

and Alice led them into a small tent. Simple bedding lay on top of two
leather pads next to each other. One of them was empty, while a
black-haired youth with his eyes closed lay on the other. Poking out
of woolen blanket, two longsword hilts were slightly visible.
Seeing this, Asuna’s lips trembled with a deep longing. Alice did
not discern it.
“… What’s the matter?”
At Alice’s question, the otherworldly swordswoman momentarily

forgot the animosity between them, and answered with a smile:
“Kirito of the «Dual Blades». That’s what they call Kirito-

kun over there.”
“… Hoh…”
Now that she mentioned it, when Kirito fought that decisive battle
against Administrator, he was indeed freely wielding his own black
sword and Eugeo’s white sword. That definitely did not look easy.
Alice moved to sit down opposite the sleeping Kirito. She beckoned
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the other three to sit as well, saying:
“Then let’s start from there.”
The dark night over the black wilderness became colder and
colder, with only the violet moon shining silently over the land.
Whether it was the Guards of the Human Empire Defense Army or

the Dark Knights and Fist Fighters of the Dark Territory army in their
camp that was now split by a large crevice, all had sunk into deep
sleep.
In one corner of the silent night before the final battle between the
two sides, only one candle inside a tent could not be extinguished.
Sounds of quiet laughter came from behind the thick curtain, but the
only one who could hear was a lone owl perched on a tree branch.
After the oil in the lantern was depleted, the four young women,
exhausted from talking so much, sank into sleep beside Kirito.
A moment later, far away in Central Capital Centoria in the Human

Empire, a bell steadily tolled midnight. Of course, this sound did not
reach the camp in the Dark Territory.
At the same time —
A sensation so faint it could be described as the «vibration of time»

reached every single person in the Underworld. That was the
sensation of the FLA Rate dropping to 1:1, but even if someone were
awake, they would find it extremely difficult to feel it.
Underworld Human Empire Calendar, the eighth day of the

eleventh month, Year 380, 0:00.
Real World Japan Standard Time, 7 July 2026, 0:00.
The timelines of both worlds were completely synchronized.
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— Have you ever had a premonition of death?
Suddenly, a distinctive sound penetrated the ears of Bercouli

Synthesis One, and his eyes snapped open.
The rays of dawn, tinged an unknown color, began to slowly

permeate the dark tent. The air was cold as ice, and his exhaled
breath held traces of white.
He knew that it was currently 4:20 AM. Bercouli, whose

consciousness was one with the Divine Instrument «Time Piercing
Sword», which had once been the hour hand of a giant clock face,
was exceptionally keen at determining the time. In ten minutes, he
would need to relay an order to the messenger guards to blow the
horns and wake everyone up.
Reaching behind his head with thick fingers, the aged Knight could
hear the words that had broken into his dreams.
Have you ever had a premonition of death?
The one who had asked him was his only superior, the Highest
Minister Administrator.
He had already forgotten the nature of this memory. One hundred

years ago? Or was it one hundred and fifty years ago? In the past, to
prevent his soul from breaking down, memories deemed unnecessary
had been deleted from his mind. Bercouli could not properly
chronologically organize memories long past.
Yet that scene still remains so clear.
Maybe she was growing tired of those infinitely repeating days —

although they were of her own desire to begin with — Administrator
would occasionally call the man whose age was second only to her,
Bercouli, to her bedroom for drinks together.
The silver-haired ruler reclined on a deep red couch, wearing only

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a thin silk scarf. She had asked that particular question as she lazily
played with her wineglass.
He sat straight on the floor and crossed his legs. After taking a bite
of cheese that accompanied the wine, Bercouli moved his chin and
twisted his neck.
He was accustomed to the ruler’s repetitive antics; Bercouli was

not looking to please her, but only saying what he wanted to say.
— A premonition of death. When I was still a young brat and was

defeated by a Dark Knight from the previous generation or the
generation before that, it felt pretty bad.
So the Highest Minister giggled with her hand over her mouth,
gently swirling her crystal chalice.
— But didn’t you take his head off anyway? I recall that you
seemed to transform it into a gemstone and placed it over there. You
shouldn’t have premonitions any longer.
— Yeah, I couldn’t remember. But why do you think that way? Your
Excellency shouldn’t be associated with this type of feeling.
At this question, the ancient young girl shifted her body and
crossed her long legs, smiling coyly.
— Oh dear, you don’t understand it at all, Bercouli. Every day… I

have this feeling every day. Whenever I wake up… No, in my dreams
as well. Because I have not ruled over everything yet. There are still
enemies alive. And, maybe at a certain time in the future, new
enemies will be created.
— Really, being the Highest Minister is a pretty stressful job.
One hundred years after that conversation, far away from the
Human Empire in the corner of a Dark Territory forest, Bercouli
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grinned fearlessly.
— Now, I finally understand your words.
The so-called premonition of death was just another side of one’s

lethal pursuits of danger.
A strong enemy that realizes the end of everything, searching for a

proper death, unable to resist no matter how much it kicks or
screams… You’ve been seeking it out, after all.
Just like me right now.
Just like me, who can clearly feel death knocking on my door right
now…
After Administrator’s death, Knight Commander Bercouli, who had

become the longest-living human in the world, threw back his covers
and donned a white shirt on his muscular body. He tied on his belt,
laced his shoes, and stowed his beloved sword on his waist.
Walking out into the cool morning air, Bercouli started towards the
messenger guards’ tent to relay the wake-up call.
***
Almost exactly at the same moment.
Near the Dark Territory military camp two kilol to the north, against
the slowly arriving dawn peeking up from the horizon, ten dragons
took off into the air.
In the fists of the Dark Knights on their backs were grasped

bundles of thick straw rope. One end of each was tied to wooden
stakes driven into the ground on the edge of the great canyon.
As the stretched ropes whistled in the wind, the dragons flew

across the nearly hundred-mel wide valley and arrived at the
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southern edge. The Knights that dismounted were not wielding
swords, but hefting great hammers. They began to pound new stakes
into the ground with some unfamiliarity.
Emperor Vector’s new orders were —
The Fist Fighters’ Guild and Dark Knight Order were to cross the
the valley on those ten ropes.
The enemy would naturally interfere by attacking, but they must

cross regardless.
Those who fall should not be saved.
Food and other supplies need not be transferred over.
In other words, they were to sacrifice a great many people in a

ruthless fight to the death, with no provisions. Fist Fighter Guild Chief
Iskahn and ex-Dark Knight Commander Shasta’s young successor
both clenched their teeth in fury.
But they had not the option to disobey the Emperor, their ultimate
ruler.
They had hoped at least to cross the valley before the enemy
noticed them — yet the generals’ wishes were dashed when Human
Empire cavalry scouts on night watch sighted the Dark Territory army
from a faraway hill, then turned their horses towards the knoll one
kilol south.
***
With her mouth closed, Asuna chewed the stiff roasted bread with
cheese, smoked meat and dried fruit, thinking while still bleary-eyed
from sleep.
… Since the time’s been accelerated by a thousand, I can eat a

thousand meals in the time that the people in the real world take to
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eat their meal. That won’t make me fat, will it…
Stealing a glance ahead of her, she saw Integrity Knight Alice and
Guard Chief Sortiliena nibbling on their sandwiches, their eyes also
clouded with sleep. Although it was through the fabric of their gowns,
she could make out their even bodies, without a trace of flabbiness.
Was there anything like lifestyle-related diseases in this world? Or

were body types decided by parameters granted and set at birth? Or
— were appearances merely reflections of one’s mentality?
Beside them, Ronye was tearing the sandwiches into bite-sized

pieces and feeding them to a half-awake Kirito. According to Alice,
his life had been preserved through feeding, but it always seemed to
her that Kirito’s body was getting thinner every day.
Just as if he wanted to disappear from this world himself.
“… Kirito-senpai looks a little better this morning.”
Ronye suddenly murmured, as though she had read Asuna’s

thoughts.
“And he’s eating, too.”
“Could it be the effect of four pretty girls sleeping beside

him?”
Asuna could not help but smile complicatedly at Alice’s quip.
Last night had eventually become a situation in which all four of

them had lay down beside Kirito and chatted deep into the night. The
four of them each shared their memories together with Kirito, but
they had far too little time, and eventually surrendered to the demon
of sleep.
What felt like an instant later, the call of the horn awoke them.
Then, they dug into breakfast that Ronye brought over like they were
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now, as Asuna thought about her lover.
— Kirito-kun doesn’t change wherever he is. He’s that kind to

everyone, which causes him too much of a burden, hurting himself in
the process.
— But this must be one step too far. Actually putting a whole world
on his shoulders alone. You needed to rely more on me and other
people. Because everyone likes you very much.
— Of course, I like you the most.
Asuna felt her heart fill with determination once more. When Kirito
awoke, she would tell him with a smile: Don’t worry, everything’s
been taken care of. What you wanted to protect, I and everyone else
have protected.
Asuna’s will seemed to infect the other three around her. Alice,
Ronye and Sortiliena looked towards her with gazes now fully awake,
and nodded forcefully.
Then, the horn that announced an enemy attack rang throughout

the camp with an urgent rhythm.
With bread dangling from her mouth, Alice raced to her tent,
slipped into her armor, grabbed the Fragrant Olive Sword and
sprinted back out.
After meeting up with Asuna, who was also prepared for battle, she
said to Ronye and Tiese, “Please take care of Kirito”, and left for
the north side of the camp.
At the boundary of the dark forest, she saw the silhouette of

Bercouli with his sword. After receiving the cavalry scouts’ report, the
Knight Commander watched as Alice, Asuna, and, after a few
seconds, Renri and Sheyta arrived, then grunted with a serious
expression:
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“So it seems that the enemy — the Real World guys really
have tricks up their sleeve. Seems like Emperor Vector is
pretty merciless.”
What he said next even made Alice bite her lip.
A forceful cross of a hundred-mel valley merely by thick ropes. If

you fall, you die. A task impossible without steely physical and
mental fortitude. To be able to use such a strategy, Vector must not
care for the details — or rather, he views the lives of his soldiers as
mere wastepaper.
In that case, even if one third of the enemy perished at the bridge,
their main forces were still nearly seven thousand strong. One
thousand Human Empire troops taking them head-on had no hope of
victory.
Their original strategy of attacking with arts while concealed in the

forest was now impossible in the light of day. Should they retreat
further south and wait for another opportunity to ambush?
Knight Commander Bercouli’s words interrupted Alice’s confusion.
“This is war.”
The ancient hero muttered softly. Bulges of muscle visible on his

thick neck, he continued:
“Putting aside the outsider Asuna-san, this isn’t the time to

sympathize with the Dark Territory. If we wanna live we have
to take this opportunity.”
“Opportunity… you said?”
At Alice’s surprised, parroted question, Bercouli replied with a glint

in his eye.
“Yes. … Knight Renri.”
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His name suddenly being called, the young Integrity Knight
immediately straightened his back.
“Y… Yes.”
“What’s the furthest range of your Divine Instruments the

«Twin Winged Blades»?”
“Yes. Normally thirty mel, but under Recollection Release,

about seventy, no, a hundred mel.”
“Very good. Then… now we four Knights will storm the

main enemy force in the valley. Alice and I will lead, with
Sheyta focusing on protecting Renri. Renri will use his Divine
Instruments to sever the enemy’s ropes at one end.”
Alice quietly gasped.
So — the enemy would definitely protect their crossing ropes with

their lives. Even if they blocked the opening with a human shield, the
throwing knives would curve in their flight, sail above their heads and
directly attack the ropes. As Bercouli said, this was a merciless
strategy.
But the young Knight only fifteen years of age slammed his right
hand to the left side of his chest, face filled with firm resolve.
“Yes, sir!”
Then, The Silent Sheyta said in a low voice:
“Leave it to me. I will… protect him.”
Afterwards, Asuna, who had been purposefully left out by Bercouli,

stepped forward.
“I’m coming too. The more defenders, the better.”
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Alice closed her eyes for a moment, then said to herself softly:
As the situation stands now — I, who burned ten thousand

Demihuman troops to death with a gigantic art and murdered two
thousand Dark Sorceresses with the Armament Full Control Art, am
no longer qualified to seek an honorable fight.
Now, I can only draw my sword, and kill the enemy.
“— Let’s hurry.”
Nodding to all four, Alice looked towards the knoll to the north. The
black ridgeline was already tinged with the deep red glow of dawn.
***
Hurry up!
Hurry, hurry!
Clenching both his fists, Fist Fighters’ Guild Chief Iskahn shouted
silently for the umpteenth time.
On top of the ten thick ropes stretched across the yawning valley,
the Fist Fighters and Dark Knights divided themselves up and began
to cross, one by one.
They had attempted to curl their hands and feet around the ropes
and inch across while hanging upside down, but the soldiers, having
never experienced any kind of training in that area, moved extremely
clumsily. If they had been allocated time to make and distribute
safety harnesses for everyone, that would have been beneficial, but
the Emperor had given no such quarter.
Furthermore, Iskahn’s request to be the first to cross had been

instantly rejected. It appeared to be an explanation for last night’s
expansion of orders, punishment for taking only a small number of
his subordinates to engage the enemy. You all must follow my orders
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alone. The Emperor’s ice-cold voice resounded in his ears.
Before Iskahn, who was gritting his teeth and staring straight
ahead, the frontmost subordinate finally reached the middle of the
rope bridge.
He could see from this distance the copper red skin radiating heat
in the cold morning air, droplets of sweat reflecting light. What an
arduous task.
Just then.
A strong gust of wind blew through the valley.
Pyoooo! The ropes creaked in protest and began to shake left and
right.
“AH…!”
Iskahn yelled, in spite of himself. A handful of tribal soldiers, their

palms dripping with sweat, slipped off the rope and plunged
downwards.
Beastlike roars shook the valley. The young Chief clenched his
teeth. Those were not screams of terror. Those were bellows of
remorseful deaths, unable to be afforded an honorable end on the
battlefield, forced to play acrobatics.
After the wind passed by, a two-figure number of Fist Fighters and
Dark Knights had fallen into the unending darkness of the valley.
But the soldiers behind bravely continued crossing. Every three

mel a new soldier would grasp the rope.
More gusts of wind occasionally, unforgivingly taking lives with

them every time. Without him noticing, Iskahn’s clenched fists began
flaring red.
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— Deaths in vain.
No, not even that. They didn’t even leave bodies to bury.
And the goal this time was not the wish of the five races of the
Land of Darkness; it was merely the Emperor’s desire for a woman
called the «Radiant Medium». He didn’t know how to apologize to the
tribesmen like this.
— Faster, faster. Everyone get across, before someone gets in the

way again.
Whether the young Chief’s wishes had reached him, or whether

they had merely grown accustomed to his actions, the one in front
increased his speed and finally arrived at the other side. After about
five seconds, a second one stepped onto firm ground.
At this rate, it would optimistically take more than an hour for ten
thousand soldiers to cross the valley on ten rope bridges. In this long
period of time, the enemy had no way of not discovering them here.
But now he could only pray for their lucky one-in-ten-thousand

chance.
The sun rose in the eastern sky at a frightening speed, throwing

reddish light onto the black ground.
In contrast, the number of soldiers who had gotten across only

increased at an infuriatingly slow pace. More and more fell into the
valley, increasing from fifty to a hundred, two hundred, and just as
that number hit three hundred.
At the black horizon line in the red sky, five silhouettes on

horseback appeared.
At this distance, even Iskahn with his superhuman vision was

unable to discern the features of the horseback enemies.
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— Only five of them… Scouts? Then there’s still time before the
enemy adjusts their movements.
That judgment, or rather, hope, was instantly shattered.
The five Knights suddenly charged straight towards the valley with
alarming speed. Billowing white cloaks, multi-colored shining armor,
and what stood out the most to Iskahn, who was unable to deny what
he saw radiating from all five of them, thick, powerful fighting intent
rising from them like steam.
— Integrity Knights! And five of them!!
“Enemy attack!! Defend!! Protect the ropes at all costs!!”
Iskahn yelled, not knowing whether his voice could even reach the
other side at this distance.
Seemingly hearing the order, half of the three hundred or so

soldiers who had successfully crossed the valley surrounded the
wooden stakes bound with rope, forming a circular arrangement. The
rest prepared to repel the attack.
The enemy Knights that flew across nearly a thousand mel of

wilderness from the hills to the valley leapt off their horses
simultaneously, grouped together, and lunged towards the ropes on
the right side.
Leading them was a hulking man in loose white clothing. To his

right was a female Knight with shining golden hair and armor. To his
left was a female Knight with whom Iskahn had fought against last
night, named Sheyta.
Surrounded by the three of them was a shortish Knight, and behind

him seemed to be another, but he could not see exactly.
Sweat flying from their naked bodies, tens of Fist Fighters sprinted
towards them.
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“URAAAA — !!”
With powerful screams, fists and feet flew towards the Knights.
Flash, flash flash. Numerous, instantaneous flashes of light.
Showers of blood plunged into the sky like a reverse waterfall. The
hands, feet and heads of the warriors were easily sliced from their
bodies.
Then.
Silver light that shined in its path flew high into the air from behind
the three Knights.
It drew a curved path above the Fist Fighters’ heads in the red
sunrise — flying straight towards the rightmost thick rope with a
great number of soldiers still fallen on top of it —
“NOOOOO — !!”
Iskahn’s keen ears, undisturbed by his own scream of despair,

detected the bzzp of a soft cutting sound.
The rope snapped back, dancing in the air like a great snake.
Tens of warriors were instantly thrown off and plunged below.
As this scene burned into his wide eyes, Iskahn felt words tumble
from his numb mouth:
“Is this… war? Can you call this war?”
Behind him, his aide Dampe was at a complete loss for words.
Forced to play acrobatics, his fellow tribesmen who were unable to

even stand in front of the enemy, devoured by a crack in the ground,
had definitely not endured their grueling training to meet such an
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end.
How were they to explain this to their aged parents and sons and
daughters back in their homeland? They had not died honorably in
battle — but disappeared into the ground without a wound on their
bodies. How was he to say such a thing?
Frozen to the spot, Iskahn’s ears rang with the regretful shrieks of
his fighters.
I will avenge you all. So please forgive me. Forgive me.
Even as he murmured in his heart, Iskahn was unable to

immediately point the finger at who he should accuse.
Facing an enemy several times more than them, the enemy

Integrity Knights were already giving it their all. Pleading with them
to stop until the last person crossed the valley was impossible. On
the contrary, their boldness to seize the opportunity and send only
five people to attack was impressive.
Then who?
Who should pay for the senseless deaths of the warriors?
Their commander, who can only clench his fists and stand still like
a fool?
Or —
Suddenly, excruciating pain that shot across his right eye made
Iskahn grit his teeth. Blood-red light wobbled his vision. Yet before
him, two more ropes split apart, dancing in the air.
***
In an instant, three of the ten rope bridges were severed. Gabriel

Miller watched from behind his own troops, his cheek propped on his
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hand.
As expected, in terms of AI, the Human Empire Units excelled a bit

more. No, just from situation control, he could see a great disparity
between them. Including last night’s first battle, the Dark Territory
army had the tables turned on them in an instant, and suffered
painful counterattacks. No matter how he thought about it, it did not
seem like a simulation game in which he fought against the CPU.
The results of this game involved Gabriel losing more than 70

percent of his own Units. But he did not feel a sliver of impatience.
Even as he watched hundreds of main force Units get eliminated,

he was merely waiting. Waiting for «that moment».
At this time, Critter, in control of the Ocean Turtle main control

room, had successfully decreased the FLA rate to 1:1, an action that
synchronized their time with that of the real world. They had spent
that much time doing so in order to minimize the impact of
decreasing the rate and to prevent the RATH worker who had logged
into the Underworld from noticing.
At the same time, via satellite network, he had released a URL onto
a large-scale video game social media website in the United States.
The link pointed to a certain publicity website that Critter had quickly
set up.
On the website, a sensational font accompanied with blood splatter

special effects declared the following:
An all new VRMMO is now open for a limited-time closed beta.
The world’s first killing-only PvP game is born.
Fully human avatars. No levels, no ethical limits.
Users who saw these fiery words marveled at the sheer audacity of
the development company, yet rejoiced beyond belief.
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As of now — July 2026, as part of a counterterrorism initiative,
American VRMMOs had suffered legal limitations. Even for
independent games developed through use of The Seed software
package, if it had not been reviewed by industry rating boards and
had a Code of Ethics applied to it, running its servers would be
prohibitively difficult.
Therefore, activities of cruelty were strictly limited; if one insisted

on adding «dismemberment» content, the characters must be set to
insectoid figures, like «Insect Site»1. These restrictions, worse than
that of Japan, the birthplace of VRMMOs, frustrated players all over
the US. Yet now, a mysterious closed beta announcement has
suddenly appeared.
The URL was distributed all over through SNS, and people
downloaded, copied, and reuploaded the connection client with
frightening speed. In a mere four hours, the number of AmuSpheres
connected to the client that Critter had created broke thirty thousand
connections.
Gabriel’s greatest plan that he was unwilling to sacrifice valuable

real world time for.
That is, handing over the Dark Knight accounts in the Dark
Territory to the entire American VRMMO player base, letting them
connect to the Underworld to display their own fighting strength.
Not even Kikuoka Seijirou, leader of RATH, or the designer of

Underworld Higa Takeru could even dream of such an absurd
situation.
But the underlying architecture of Underworld merely utilized The

Seed’s standard VRMMO software package. If it were a game world
merely expressed through polygons, anyone could log in as long as
they possessed an AmuSphere, and could touch Objects — or kill
other characters.
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And it made no difference whatsoever whether the killed
characters were real world people or Underworld people.
Gabriel and Critter’s secret plan was completely out of the RATH
technicians’ imaginations.
On the other hand, even if they discovered it, they had no way of
cutting off the satellite connection when the main control room was
occupied like this.
But at the moment Critter sent out the suspicious URL, someone
discovered that packet.
From within the portable terminal that Yuuki Asuna had brought
with her, the Top-Down artificial intelligence that had been observing
the Ocean Turtle’s internal status — Yui, accessed the
announcement website and correctly extrapolated Gabriel’s goal.
She searched for a way to transmit a warning to the physically

locked sub control room, but Asuna’s terminal had been left in her
cabin, and no matter how much she sounded her ringtone, no one
could hear it.
As a last resort, Yui could only pull her consciousness back to Japan
on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, and called several portable
terminals at the same time.
***
Asada Shino, a high school girl in the real world and an elite sniper
in the virtual world, was jerked awake, and jumped off her bed in her
own apartment.
Her bedside clock read 3:00 AM. Although she had been awoken at
a time like this, she was not the least bit drowsy. The reason for that
was the melody she heard was Kirigaya Kazuto’s ringtone.
Was it Kirito, who had disappeared unconsciously, calling her?
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Clumsily pressing on the terminal and putting it to her ear, she
heard the frantic voice of a young girl.
“Sinon-san, it’s Yui!”
“Eh… Y-Yui?”
Of course, she knew Kirito and Asuna’s «daughter» — the artificial

intelligence Yui. A week ago, when she had been discussing Kirito’s
disappearance with Asuna and the others, she had personally
witnessed Yui’s high-tech information processing abilities and
emotional expressions.
But, to call her directly by telephone was completely out of her

expectations; Shino was temporarily speechless. A slightly electronic,
sweet yet urgent voice reached her ear:
“I’ll explain the details later. Get ready to leave your house
and take a taxi. I’ll send the destination and the shortest
route to your terminal. First, I’ll wire the taxi fare into Sinon-
san’s electronic wallet.”
Then, with a charin sound effect, Shino’s terminal notified her of an

online money transfer.
“Hah… T-Taxi? Where…?”
Shino stood as Yui instructed, slipping her foot out of her sleepwear
and asked with a heavy head. But Yui’s next words jolted Shino’s
consciousness awake like ice water.
“Please hurry. Papa and Mama are in danger!!”
***
“D… Danger?! Onii-chan and Asuna-san?!”
A high school student and swordswoman, also Kirigaya Kazuto’s
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younger sister, Kirigaya Suguha demanded as she buttoned her
pants.
“Leafa-san, you’ll wake up Aunt Midori if you’re that loud.”
Listening to the calm voice from the terminal, Suguha hurriedly

closed her mouth.
“Ye…Yeah. Hey… This is my first time sneaking out this

late…”
“Very regrettable, but now there’s not much time to

explain the reason for your excursion to obaa-sama. Just
leave a message in your home server explaining that you
needed to attend an early morning club activity.”
“O… Okay. Wow… Yui sure is a great strategist.”
Suguha exclaimed as she finished dressing. She descended the

stairs with soft steps, and extended her hand towards the front door
handle. Although they lived in an ancient Japanese-style house, their
online security system still ran throughout the night, but the alarm
line seemed to have been severed.
After Kazuto disappeared, her mother came home early every day.
Feeling guilty for her own actions, Suguha put her hands together
and apologized before leaving through the entrance.
— I’m sorry, Mom. I will definitely save onii-chan.
After reaching the main road, a taxi appeared before her. Probably
one that Yui had reserved online. Although the driver was slightly
surprised at Suguha’s age, after she explained that her relatives
were ill, she glanced at her terminal and said:
“Um… Please head to Tokyo harbor.”
She probably shouldn’t be too specific and say “Roppongi”.2
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***
Higa Takeru felt a half-eaten Energy Bar hit his leg after dropping
from his desk, and suddenly opened his eyes.
After blinking forcefully a few times, he confirmed the time on the

wall clock. There was still a while before 4:00 AM, Japan Standard
Time. Glancing beside him, he saw that the RATH technicians
watching the sub control room all had fatigued expressions.
Professor Koujiro Rinko sat horizontally on on a chair at the control

console, her head drooping up and down as she drifted in and out of
sleep. Lieutenant Colonel Kikuoka was not asleep, but his thin slits for
eyes staring at the main monitor from behind his black-framed
glasses has lost their usual sharpness.
On the other hand, four technical crewmembers were sprawled like

corpses on mattresses laid out beside the wall. Considering that any
Defense Officer among the Self-Defense Force could be leaking
information, Kikuoka had stationed them to guard the pressure-
resistant wall partition beneath the sub control room.
Since they had been attacked by a mysterious paramilitary group,

fourteen hours had elapsed — or rather, finally passed by.
Ten hours still remained before the Aegis destroyer «Nagato»,

which was protecting them from a distance — or so it was originally
— would give the order to storm the Ocean Turtle. Under this
situation, their wait was despairingly long. It was even more so in the
time-accelerated Underworld.
Ten hours had passed since Yuuki Asuna had dived in with Super
Account 01. Calculating according to the internal acceleration rate of
one thousand times, that equated to ten thousand hours — over one
year. But there had been no news on whether her mission to protect
Alice had succeeded or failed.
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“Is it really that far away… from the Human Empire to the
World End Altar…”
Higa mumbled, his mind constructing a map of the Underworld that

resembled the RATH logo — Just then.
The telephone on the control console burst to life with a

earsplitting pi pi pi, pi pi pi. Higa jumped without thinking.
“Ki… Kiku-san, the phone.”
Wondering whether something had happened downstairs, he

notified the commander.
Also startled by the phone, a figure in a Hawaiian shirt clamored

for the receiver, his clogs slipping from his feet.
“Sub control room, this is Kikuoka!”
Although his voice was slightly hoarse, he still managed a forceful

reply. After a moment, from the receiver came — not the voice of
Captain Nakanishi, in command of the Defense Officers, but the
hesitant voice of a young man.
“Uh, um, this is the STL development headquarters of

RATH… Right? I’m Hiraki of the RATH Roppongi branch…”
“Hah? R-Roppongi?”
In regards to Kikuoka, this was an extremely rare, slow voice

reserved for situations completely outside of his expectations. But
Higa was the same.
Why would the Roppongi branch be contacting them at this time?

The technicians there were completely unaware that RATH was a
disguised business venture operating on government defense
budget, that its headquarters was based not on Japanese soil but in
the Ocean Turtle floating far out in the south Pacific Ocean, and the
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name Project Alicization should be completely foreign to them.
Of course, they were even more unlikely to know that RATH was
currently under attack by a mysterious enemy. The Roppongi branch
was set up entirely for the development of STL-related technologies,
merely an outside institution.
Right… STL…
Suddenly, a feeling of noticing something flew past in Higa’s mind,

but Kikuoka coughed loudly before Higa could catch it.
“Ah, ahh, yes. I am Kikuoka of the STL development

headquarters.”
“Ah, hello, hello! We’ve met before. Long time no see, I am

Hiraki, honored to be the development director as you
appointed me here!”
— No need for this corporate talk now, just get to the point!!
Higa screamed silently. Kikuoka put on the same expression, but

the words coming out of his mouth effused a faux corporate-like
tone.
“Ah, greetings and thank you for your hard work, director
Hiraki. It’s pretty late; are you working overtime?”
“No, it’s just that I missed the last train as I was drinking.
It’s all the fault of the office location. Oh, Roppongi. Ah,
don’t tell the higher-ups, heh heh.”
— You’re talking to a higher-up right now! The highest-up! Now

just spit it out!!
Whether Higa’s willpower had achieved some effect or not, Hiraki

stopped his nonsense, and quickly changed his tone.
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“Ah — right, it’s like this… We’ve got a problem, it’s…
something strange. Right now, someone’s suddenly come in
from the outside without an appointment…”
“From the outside? Is it a client?”
“No, it’s got nothing to do with that… Also, they look kind
of like high school girls, and there are two of them…”
“HAH?!”
Kikuoka and Higa, along with Professor Koujiro who had stood up at
some time, yelped in unison.
“High… High school girls?”
“Yeah. I tried to turn them away, since this company’s secrecy

policy is very stringent, you know. But… the things they’re saying,
makes me think… “
At Hiraki’s meandering words, even Higa rose to his feet, both

hands on the control console. Once more, Kikuoka exerted his
admirable iron willpower, and asked steadily:
“So, what exactly did they say?”
“I remember it was like, immediately contact Kikuoka

Seijirou at the RATH headquarters, and tell him: confirm the
Underworld FLA rate now… That’s what they said.”
“Wh… Whaaaat?!”
The two men yelped in unison again.
Why would high school girls from outside know these words?!
These are not words that those who aren’t familiar with all of Project
Alicization would know.
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Higa, his mouth hanging open, exchanged looks with Kikuoka and
automatically turned towards the control console, his fingers sailing
on the keyboard.
On the pitch-black monitor, the current time acceleration rate

appeared.
x 1.00.
“Gh… One?! When did this happen?!”
Higa turned away, breathing hard, as Kikuoka frantically shouted

into the mouthpiece.
“Na… Name. Did those two girls mention their names?”
“Ah, yes. That was funny… They didn’t sound like their real
names at all. They told me to tell Kikuoka-san that they were
‘Sinon’ and ‘Leafa’. They looked Japanese, though.”
Clack.
That dry noise was the sound of the clog hanging on Kikuoka’s
right foot falling to the floor.
***
Only after the automatic lock on the door to RATH’s Roppongi

branch had clicked open, and Asada Shino and Kirigaya Suguha had
trotted in, did the artificial intelligence Yui feel slightly calmer.
In particular, she breathed a small hoh of relief, and allocated a

large portion of her calculating power on another task she was
running at the same time.
Yui estimated that achieving her goals would come with a great
deal of difficulty, because this was something that she definitely
could not bring about on her own.
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But at the same time, if she failed, the ones she held most dear,
Kirito and Asuna, would be faced with grave danger.
Pulling her consciousness away from Shino’s portable terminal, Yui

gazed with round eyes at each of the four fairies across from her.
Yui and the others were currently within the VRMMORPG —

«ALfheim Online», in Kirito and Asuna’s virtual cabin on Floor 22 of
New Aincrad.
Before Yui, who had transformed into a Navigation Pixie and was
floating in the air, sitting on the couch was the Cait Sith player Silica,
with triangular ears and small fangs.
Beside her, with a head of metallic pink hair, was Lisbeth, a

Leprechaun.
Leaning his waist on a table a slight distance from them, his

standing red hair tied in a drab bandanna, was Klein, a Salamander.
And beside him was a huge gray-skinned man with his arms crossed,
Agil, a Gnome.
They were battle-worn VRMMO players often known as SAO

survivors, who had lived through the death game «Sword Art Online»,
and also best friends of Kirito and Asuna. Even though it was
currently very early in the morning, as soon as they received Yui’s
call, they had quickly logged into ALO, and had just finished listening
to an update on the situation.
Scratching his bandanna-wrapped head, Klein snorted in a

naturally carefree voice as seriously as he could:
“Dammit… That idiot got mixed up all by himself in

something huge again… a virtual world made by the Self
Defense Force, and a real artificial intelligence «Alice» that
appeared there? That’s beyond the boundary of a game
now.”
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“That so-called artificial intelligence, isn’t just an NPC in
the game… but an existence equal to humans like us?”
Lisbeth asked. Yui turned towards her and nodded forcefully.
“Yes, that is correct. Her structural principle is completely

different from an existing AI like myself; she is a real soul.
Known internally at RATH as «Artificial Fluctlights».”
“And they want to put them into war machines for use in
war…”
Watching Yui and the little dragon Pina, who was curled up on her
knee, Silica wrinkled her brow.
“Actually, RATH meant to display it as a technological base

for a demonstration of power… But according to my
estimations, the attackers currently occupying the Ocean
Turtle have a more detailed plan.”
At Yui’s words, Klein mused with a troubled look:
“Who the hell are they, those attackers.”
“There is a 98 percent chance that they are either affiliated

with the US military or the US intelligence department.”
“US… US military?! The American military?!”
Yui nodded towards Lisbeth, who had recoiled in shock.
“If Alice falls into the hands of the US military, the day
when she is loaded as AI onto unmanned weapons and thrust
into warfare will eventually arrive. Papa and Mama are
probably trying to stop this from happening as much as they
can. Because… Because…”
Suddenly, Yui became confused at the inconceivable effect that her
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own emotional output software was creating.
Large droplets of liquid rolled down her face.
Tears.
— I’m crying. But, why…?
As though her confusion was driven away just before gushing out,
Yui tightly clasped her tiny hands in front of her chest and continued:
“Because, Alice is the proof that ever since SAO began,

every single VRMMO world and the many people living within
them have existed, and the result of the consumption of real
resources. I am positive. The real goal of the creation of The
Seed software package is the birth of Alice.”
The four players listened silently. Yui’s tears flowed unceasingly as

she continued:
“… It is because, among the countless worlds connected

together, the laughter, crying, sadness, and love of countless
people… the light of their souls are reflected, so that true
humanity can be born in the Underworld. Alice was born from
Papa, Mama, Leafa-san, Klein-san, Lisbeth-san, Silica-san,
Agil-san, Sinon-san… and the cradle woven from many other
people’s souls!”
Yui also closed her mouth, and no one said anything for a while.
Yui was unable to discern the thoughts and emotions created in

the consciousnesses of the people around her. An existing AI that
was merely an information aggregate possessed no real emotions at
all, and was therefore unable to process real emotions. There was no
one who understood that better than she did.
Yes, this strong feeling of wanting to protect Kirito and Asuna, and
the people she loved only stemmed from the most basic code written
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into her mental health counseling program.
And what she said were merely words comprised of simple lists of
information, leaving her uncertain of how much she could convey to
human hearts. Before this meeting began — Yui had feared this very
moment since the instant she had flown from the Ocean Turtle with a
heavy mission.
So when she saw the transparent tracks of tears suddenly flow

from Lisbeth’s eyes, Yui experienced rare shock.
“Y… Yeah. Everything, is connected. Time, people, like

rivers.”
Silica, her eyes wet, also rose to her feet, knelt in front of Yui and
gently hugged her with both hands.
“Don’t worry, Yui. We’ll help Kirito and Asuna. Please,

don’t cry anymore.”
“Yup. Dun trea’ us like strangers, Yui-ppe. There’s no way

we’ll abandon Kirito.”3
Klein tugged his bandanna downwards, and agreed in a cracked

voice. Agil nodded beside him, and declared in a solemn baritone:
“We still owe him a lot. Now is the time to repay some of
that.”
“… Everyone…”
Hugged by Silica, Yui could only squeeze out one word.
Because she could not stop the unknown tears that had started
just a moment ago.
— There shouldn’t be any time left. I still have a lot to say. In terms
of my action prioritization, I should be calmly relaying the
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information. Has my emotional imitation circuit broken?
But Yui was overruled by a certain code that was berating her own
entire existence, and could only repeat the same words over and
over as she sobbed.
“… Thank you, everyone… Thank you everyone…”
After a few minutes, Yui managed to fight back her tears and
quickly explained the current situation to the four players and her
estimations of what would happen next.
The situation was that the attackers and occupiers of the Ocean
Turtle, where Kirito and Asuna had created an announcement
website in hopes of recruiting players. It was estimated that players
lured by this website would begin appearing in massive numbers in
the Underworld.
Klein furrowed his brow and spoke in a serious tone:
“There’ll be at least thirty thousand players diving in from

the US… maybe even a hundred thousand or more… To them,
Kirito and Asuna, along with the Human Empire army with
Alice among them, are merely PvP targets.”
“What if we went and followed the threads on American

video game social media? Expose the experiments and the
attack, and turn them away from this fake closed beta… How
about that?”
At Lisbeth’s direct suggestion, Yui gently shook her head.
“The reality of the situation is that Japanese and American

troops are engaged in a top secret battle. If we arbitrarily
expose that, it may have the opposite effect.”
“‘Your opponents are real humans, please do not harm

anyone’… If we write something like that, it’s probably going
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to cause more trouble, huh.”
Silica murmured gloomily.
The deep silence was immediately shattered by Klein’s energetic

voice.
“Hey, let’s fight fire with fire, then! The number of internet
shut-ins here will never lose to that of the US. Let’s make our
own closed beta website, have, um… RATH or whatever,
prepare some more accounts, and we’ll have thirty to forty
thousand people in no time!”
“But, there’s one very troublesome problem.”
Agil said shortly, his log-like arms crossed.
“What problem is that?”
“Time difference. The time now in Japan is still 4:30 AM,

which is when the smallest number of players are online. On
the other hand in the US, it’s 12:30 PM in Los Angeles, and
3:30 PM in New York. In terms of online player numbers, the
other side has way more of them.”
“Hnnn……”
Klein moaned, as if he had just realized this.
Yui nodded forcefully, having the exact same idea from the
beginning.
“Agil-san is right. On top of the time difference problem,

we have much fewer VRMMO players here in the first place,
so recruitment will be slower, which means that we will
probably be unable to gather up even ten thousand people.
In other words, if we use accounts with the same level as the
enemies’, the chances of us matching them is very slim.”
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“But, the god-level account that Asuna is using is already
gone, right? There’s no time to train our level from scratch
like Kirito… Looks like we can only choose the strongest ones
out of the accounts that RATH prepares and do our best…”
Yui looked towards Lisbeth, who was speaking with a stiff

expression on her face.
“No… There are still more accounts. There are accounts

that are stronger than the default accounts the enemy is
using in terms of level and equipment.”
“Eh… Wh-Where?”
“Everyone has them. The accounts that everyone is logged

in with right now.”
To the gasping four players, Yui began to explain the core details
of her mission.
She knew that she was about to request of them a ludicrous

sacrifice — in the fullest sense of the phrase, she needed them to
hand over one half of themselves.
But at the same time, Yui deeply believed that these people would
definitely agree.
“— Account conversion! All of you and many other VRMMO

players will need to convert the characters raised in
numerous worlds of The Seed, and transfer them into the
Underworld!”
(To be continued)
2. Roppongi, a district of Tokyo, is famous for its active night club

scene.↩
3. Here, Klein speaks in a much less formal, relaxed tone. It is
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difficult to replicate in English, but here is an attempt.↩
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Terminology – Tap
Thank you to everyone for reading the sixteenth volume of Sword

Art Online, [Alicization Exploding], published a year after the
previous one.
Ever since the battle in the Central Cathedral ended, the story has
finally extended from the Human Empire to the entire Underworld…
I’m very sorry for making everyone wait for so long. In this volume,
Asuna finally descends into the battlefield, and seems like some
familiar characters are joining the battle as well, so from now on, I
hope I can recover the normal pace until the end of Alicization arc.
After being constantly protected since the last volume, Kirito-shi may
make a big comeback in the next one. I just can’t help feeling so!
The subtitle of [Exploding] was added to reference the various

explosions and bursts that occurred in this volume. Although the
names were kind of short at first, like [Beginning] and [Turning],
they’ve been getting longer and longer recently1, so I want to
shorten the next volume’s name a bit. Below, I’ll be discussing the
plot of this volume for a bit. The first half of this volume is titled [War
of the Underworld], and it gives a taste of a war chronicle since
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various characters are all fighting in a mess. Because of that, I’ve
shifted the writing style from a limited third-person perspective to
the so-called “omniscient third-person perspective”. Please
forgive me if you were confused by the endlessly appearing
information that should remain unknown to that part’s central
character!
Although I want to describe the author’s situation, life has been

pretty normal like last time, so there aren’t any topics worth
mentioning… I haven’t been playing any MMORPG games properly
these few years. I’d love to start something new yet I haven’t done
that since long ago, so I at least tried a western open-world RPG on
the PS4, and wow, that was awesome. The map’s too big, there’s too
much freedom, so after wandering around for a while I forgot what
would happen during the main quests. I’m pretty sure that if I used
an HMD2 and motion controllers to play this kind of game, I wouldn’t
be able to return to the real world! I’m always dreaming that one day
SAO will become like this kind of game, but when I pleaded to
producer Futami over at Namco Bandai Entertainment, “Please turn
the entire Underworld into something that you can adventure
around in!”, I only got a stupefied smile in return.
Lastly, some routine words of thanks. To abec-san, who gave the

Stacia version of heroine Asuna-san the most beautiful and cutest
design possible (Sheyta, Renri, and the Goblin Tribal Chiefs are great,
too!), and to Miki-san, who as chief editor proofreads for me deep
into the night, thank you very much! See you next volume, everyone!
A certain day in June 2015
Kawahara Reki
1. Referring to the katakana of the names: Beginning ビギニング,

Turning ターニング, Rising ライジング, Dividing ディバイディング,
Uniting ユナイティング, Invading インベーディング, Exploding エクス
プローディング.↩
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2. Head-mounted display, used for virtual reality.↩
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Terminology – Tap
(left to right)
The Integrity Knights
“First Army, draw your weapons and prepare for battle!” —

Vice Commander • «Heaven Piercing Sword» Fanatio
“It’s all right, don’t worry.” — «Fragrant Olive Sword» Alice
“I’ve let down… Alice-sama’s expectations…” — «Frostscale

Whip» Eldrie
“General… Dark God Vector, huh.” — Commander • «Time

Piercing Sword» Bercouli
(left to right)
The Army Invading the Human Empire
“—Trample them.” — Giant Tribal Chief Sigrosig
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“I, Shibori-sama, will be taking your head.” — Plains Goblin
Tribal Chief Shibori
“The Radiant Medium needs to be captured without

harming a hair on her head.” — Emperor «Dark God» Vector
“Let’s go say hello to those Integrity Knights!” — Tenth

Chair of the Fist Fighters’ Guild Iskahn
“I will eliminate the five Integrity Knights without fail.” —

Head of the Dark Sorceress’ Guild D.I.L.
“Goddamn humans!” — Orc Tribal Chief Rirupirin
“You’re only a Goblin… It’s written all over your face, boy.”
— Mountain Goblin Tribal Chief Kosogi
(left to right)
“You brought about a miracle… and saved me.” — Trainee

Swordswoman Ronye
“Stacia… sama?” — Trainee Swordswoman Tiese
“It can’t be… Hey, is this real?” — Dark Knight Vassago
“Please take me to Kirito-kun.” — «Creation Goddess» Asuna
The State of the «War of the Underworld»
(left side, top to bottom, left to right)
Trainee Swordswoman Ronye / Trainee Swordswoman Tiese / Kirito

(in a state of unconsciousness)
Human Defense Army, total strength 5,000 (purple circle)
Integrity Knight Renri / Integrity Knight Bercouli / Integrity Knight
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Sheyta / Second Army in the Rear
Integrity Knight Eldrie (left side) / Integrity Knight Fanatio (middle)

/ Integrity Knight Deusolbert (right side) / First Army as Vanguard
(top, bottom, and middle of the illustration, and the bracketed

words in the top right corner)
Mountain Range at the Edge – Great Eastern Gate – Mountain

Range at the Edge – Dark Territory
(right side, top to bottom, left to right)
Mountain Goblin Tribe – Kosogi / Plains Goblin Tribe – Shibori
Orc Tribe – Sigrosig
Demihuman Detachment Troops
Invading Army, total strength 50,000 (purple circle)
Dark Sorceress’ Guild / Ogre Army
Dark Knight Order / Fist Fighters’ Guild – Iskahn
Demihuman Main Army – Rirupirin
Dark God Vector / Imperial Stronghold / Dark Sorceress D.I.L. / Dark

Knight Vassago
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Vol.17 Chapter 20
Editing – CJ, David Ruegg, defan752, ZeHaffen, FatedWolf, Shiina,

DarthMewtwo
Scans – ruranobe.ru
Illustration Editing – Mttblue2
Consultation – SAO Wiki
5:00 a.m.
More than 3,000 players gathered in a great dome in the World

Tree that stood in the heart of Alne City, at the center of the world of
ALfheim Online.
The winged knight monsters defending the dome’s roof gate had
been removed.2 Instead, the nine fairy races now used this space to
meet and negotiate, or as a venue for events.
Only four players were facing the roughly 3,000 other players who
had been gathered to this large, inconvenient meeting.
The hulking Gnome Agil, Salamander samurai Klein, Cait Sith beast
tamer Silica, and Leprechaun blacksmith Lisbeth — partners of the
«Black Swordsman» Kirito, who was still diving in «Underworld», yet
to awaken.
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At 4:20 a.m., when Klein and Lisbeth had been sending out in-
game messages to every single friend on their lists, there were only
three Lord-class players online. But, while pleading with them and
their subordinate officers, they resorted to the taboo method of
begging them to contact other players in real life. As a result, all of
the players currently in the square had managed to assemble in just
40 minutes.
In this sizable, hemispherical space, nearly 30% of the floating or

standing players were using newly created accounts. They were
certainly not new to VRMMOs, however. They were veterans of other
The Seed games, diving here by request of friends who had ALO
accounts.
In other words, the 3,000 people gathered in this World Tree dome
were the elites of the elites among Japanese VRMMO players. They
were the final hope of Yui, the top-down AI: they were the only force
that could save the Human Empire Defense Army in Underworld.
In the hushed dome, the Leprechaun blacksmith Lisbeth’s

magically amplified voice continued to broadcast emotionally.
“… What I’m telling you guys is not a lie, nor a joke! A

Japanese research organization has used our national budget
and The Seed to build a virtual world called «Underworld»,
and thousands of American players who know nothing about
it are about to dive in and massacre the residents inside!”
Lisbeth felt embarrassed at her own nationalistic tone, but

remained encouraged by reassuring herself that was only to her
advantage; she continued shouting:
“The residents of Underworld aren’t just NPCs! They are

true artificial intelligence, born from the data of the
countless VRMMO worlds that you’ve all been playing in!
They have emotions like we do, they have souls like we do!
Please, to protect them, please lend us your strength! Please
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convert the character data that you all are currently using
into Underworld!”
Ending her five minute speech, Lisbeth surveyed the players, and
hoped.
The crowd of fairy faces only looked confused. Of course, there was
no way they could immediately understand just by suddenly hearing
all of this. Even Lisbeth herself still found it hazy after listening to
Yui’s explanation of Underworld’s structure, and the «Artificial
Fluctlights» living within.
An elegant hand rose out of the shocked, clamoring players.
Sylph Lord Sakuya came walking out, her slender body wrapped in
green robes.
“Lisbeth. I don’t think that you and your friends would do

all of this just as a prank, and what’s more, there must be
something big if even that Kirito boy hasn’t logged in for ten
days. But…”
Sakuya’s fluent and calm voice wavered in perplexity.
“… To be honest, it’s difficult to believe this all of a sudden.

There exists AI with human souls, and the American military
is trying to seize them…? It’s all terribly far-fetched… Of
course, to prove your words, we’d only have to log in and see
for ourselves… But you just mentioned that diving into
«Underworld» involves a few problems, right? Could you
explain them first?”
— This moment has finally come.
Lisbeth took a deep breath, and closed her eyes for a moment.
This is the moment of truth. If I fail here, no one will come help us
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at all.
Snapping her eyes open and giving a sweeping look to Sakuya, the
other Lords in front of her, and the countless players, Lisbeth replied
adamantly:
“Okay. — Underworld doesn’t operate like a normal

VRMMO game at all, so there’ll be a few problems when you
dive into it. First of all, there’s no controllable UI in
Underworld. In other words, you can’t log out on your own.”
The hubbub suddenly became louder.
Can’t log out on your own; was this not a phrase that conjured
images of that death game from the past, «Sword Art Online»? These
days, all games built off The Seed, including ALO, provided two ways
of logging out: either by controlling the UI or through a voice
command.
“The only way to log out is to ‘die’ inside. But that brings
me to the second problem. In Underworld… there’s no Pain
Absorber. If you take heavy damage that reduces your HP to
zero, you should feel rather severe pain.”
The uproar grew even louder.
Pain isolation was a compulsory feature of any modern VR server.

In virtual worlds without this function, getting slashed by a sword or
burnt with fire would hurt as intensely as it would in the real world.
Depending on the circumstances, bruises might even appear on
one’s physical skin.
Yet there was a far more severe problem that came with this dive.
Waiting until the disturbance subsided slightly, Lisbeth then

informed the players of the third and greatest sacrifice.
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“— One more. Underworld servers are currently in a state
where even the developers can’t operate them. Which
means… we can’t guarantee that everyone’s character data
can be converted back to their original games… In some
situations, the characters themselves might even be lost.”
After a short pause —
Terrifyingly loud roars of fury flooded the vast dome.
Lisbeth, Klein, Silica and Agil lined up in the middle of the floor,
with Yui standing on Klein’s shoulder in her tiny pixie form; standing
silently, their bodies endured the wave of voices that lashed at them
from all directions.
This reaction was exactly what they had expected.
The 3,000 top players had spent inordinate amounts of time and
effort raising their characters. For ALO, they had spent hours
furiously slaying monsters that yielded only one experience point; it
was repeating the mundane task of emptying a lake with a bucket,
day after day.
How could they remain silent upon being told that there was a
chance of losing the characters they had built by infusing their entire
spirit into them?
“Y… You’re fuckin’ kidding me!!” A player who ran out of the
crowd shouted, jabbing his index finger at Lisbeth.
He was a Salamander dressed in crimson full-body armor, carrying

a battleaxe on his back. He appeared to be a Commander-level
player just below Lord Mortimer and General Eugene.
Pushing up his helmet visor and exposing his eyes that scorched
with rage, the Salamander bellowed in a voice loud enough to shut
up the entire group behind him:
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“You gather everyone here and tell us to dive into some
fishy server; that’s already pretty ridiculous. Now you’re
telling me about character loss?! How the fuck are you gonna
pay us back if they’re gone forever?! Or is this just a trap to
weaken our entire race?!”
“……… Gurgh!”
Lisbeth stuck out an arm to stop a red-faced Klein from jumping

forward, and tried her best to reply calmly:
“I’m sorry, we can’t. I know very well that the characters

you’ve trained are priceless. That’s why we’re pleading you
to help us… All I’m saying is, please help our friends in
Underworld, they’re putting their lives on the line to defend
against the Americans’ attack.”
Even though she was not shouting anymore, Lisbeth’s voice still
carried across the entire dome. The Salamander seemed to hold in
his anger for a moment, but suddenly it came sputtering out furiously
again.
“The ‘friends’ you talk about are just the SAO survivors,
aren’t they?! Those guys who make that face that screams
‘I’m super special’! I know all of it, you original SAO lot have
always looked down on us!!”
Now it was Lisbeth’s turn to be speechless.
Lisbeth had never once had thoughts like those the Salamander
was accusing her of. But come to think of it, she could not be entirely
sure that such a mentality had never come to her. Having situated
her player home within floating New Aincrad instead of a town on the
ground, she almost never went below and talked only to her old
friends; that much was true.
The Salamander continued relentlessly, as though seeing through
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Lisbeth’s hesitation:
“Who cares about artificial intelligence, or national

secrets?! Don’t get too cocky and bring real world shit into a
VRMMO! You can go by yourself for that kind of stuff! Isn’t
that better, you splendid, noble Great Survivor?!!”
Yeah, get lost; curses like those began to rouse the crowd.
— I can’t do it.
My words can’t get through to them at all.
Lisbeth couldn’t help but feel tears welling up as she looked

imploringly towards the strong, native ALO players whom she knew
well — Sylph Lord Sakuya, Salamander General Eugene, and Cait Sith
Lord Alicia Rue.
Even though their eyes met hers, they remained silent.
Their blazing gazes merely stared at Lisbeth unswervingly. As

though they were saying, show us your determination.
Lisbeth took a deep breath, and shut her eyes tightly. She thought
of Asuna, who would be desperately fighting at this very moment;
Kirito, who was injured; Leafa and Sinon, who had rushed ahead into
Underworld.
— At my level, even if I convert over, I won’t be able to fight like

Asuna and everyone else. But there must be something I can do.
Right now, this place is my battlefield.
Forcing her eyes open and wiping away her tears, Lisbeth began
her speech:
“… Yes, I brought some real world stuff here. And, as you

said, those who emerge from SAO may find it very easy to
mix up reality and virtual reality. However, I’m very certain
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that we’ve never thought of ourselves as heroes.”
Gripping Silica’s hand, who stood teary-eyed to her right, she

continued:
“She and I currently attend a special school for the

survivors you mentioned. We have no choice, since our
previous schools had already dismissed us in the middle of
the year. — All of the students in the survivors’ school have
to attend counseling sessions every month. They monitor our
brain waves with AmuSpheres, and we’re asked lots of
uncomfortable questions like, ‘Have you lost your sense of
reality’, or, ‘Do you want to harm other people’. There are
children who have been forced to drink medicines they hate.
To the government, we’re a reserve army of criminals that
needs constant supervision.”
Sometime during her speech, the waves of fury had calmed, and a
tense silence took over the dome. Even the Salamander had widened
his eyes in surprise.
Lisbeth had no idea where the flow of her speech should terminate.
She was only desperately converting her unstoppable emotions and
thoughts into words:
“But… to be honest, the old SAO players aren’t the only

ones who are treated like this. All VRMMO players are viewed
this way, more or less. Some say we’re just a heavy load on
society who contribute nothing, some say we’re escapists
who don’t pay taxes and pensions… There have even been
calls for a return to conscription, just to force us to serve
society!”
Lisbeth could feel the surging anxiety of the thousands of players.

If only she poked it with a needle, rage twice as intense than before
would erupt.
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But Lisbeth placed her left hand on her chest, and continued to
shout:
“But I know! And I believe! This is reality!!”
Her arms motioned towards her surroundings — towards the whole

of Alfheim.
“This world, and the many other virtual worlds connected

to it, are obviously not imaginary places that we escape to!
To me, there are real lives here, real friends, real laughter,
tears, encounters, and farewells… This is ‘reality’!! I’m not
alone, am I?! It’s because we believe this world is another
reality that we try as hard as we do, right?! Yet, if we see
this as only a game, as only a virtual world, and abandon it,
then where is our ‘reality’…?!!”
Unable to hold them back any longer, Lisbeth felt tears rolling
down her face. But she did not wipe them away, and squeezed out
her last words:
“… The numerous worlds that everyone raised; they came

together like this World Tree, and the tree has grown. Now
that the blossom called Underworld has finally bloomed, I
want to protect it! Please, I beg of you… lend your strength
to us…!!”
Lisbeth reached out towards the roof of the dome.
In her vision trembling with tears, phosphorescence sparkled,

falling from thousands of fairy wings.
***
A brilliant silver light drew a long, bright arc in the dawn.
A second later, with a dry snap, a thick rope was severed, and
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danced in the air like a black serpent. The tens of enemy soldiers
hanging from the rope were plunged into the bottomless valley,
howling. The «Twin Edged Wings», the Divine Instrument that had cut
the rope, turned in a sharp curve and returned to the hands of
Integrity Knight Renri Synthesis Twenty-Seven.
Although Renri had already quickly cut five of the ten ropes set up
by the Dark Territory army to cross the valley, his face showed no
sense of accomplishment or pride. Rather, he seemed like he was
being tormented by the merciless order to sever the literal lifelines of
the enemy soldiers, who were sacrificing themselves to cross the
valley.
The same went for Asuna, who was beside Renri and clutched the
reins atop a white horse.
When Asuna, Renri, Integrity Knight Alice Synthesis Thirty, Integrity

Knight Sheyta Synthesis Twelve, and Integrity Knight Commander
Bercouli Synthesis One arrived on horseback, hundreds of enemy
soldiers had already crossed the valley, and began valiantly
attacking them to protect the remaining ropes. A great number of
enemies were killed by the three foremost Knights: Bercouli, Sheyta,
and Alice. A few tried to flank Renri from the side, forcing Asuna to
swing her own sword.
In the virtual world «Underworld», based on the The Seed program,

Sword Skills and Horse Riding from the SAO era were still usable.
Not only that, Asuna was using the Super Account «Stacia,
Goddess of Creation», whose every parameter was very close to the
upper limit; in addition, the specs of her equipped rapier, «Radiant
Light», were beyond that of the Integrity Knights’ Divine Instruments.
Therefore, even «Linear», a basic Sword Skill, could easily pierce
through a Dark Knight’s armor or a Fist Fighter’s hulking frame.
Nevertheless, the blood spraying from enemies’ wounds, their
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aggrieved screams, and their lost lives, were all real.
The people of Underworld, whether they came from the Human

Empire or the Dark Land, all possessed souls of exactly the same
nature as Asuna’s — Fluctlights. Her opponents were unquestionably
real people just like her, yet they could be killed in one strike just
because of some game-like status values and weapon specifications;
this truth gave rise to an unbearable pain and dreadful feeling to
Asuna’s heart.
What was more, despite how they charged forward with tragic
resolve, it was clear that the Dark Knights and Fist Fighters were not
doing so of their own volition.
These Artificial Fluctlights possessed the trait of being utterly

unable to resist their superior’s orders. Under the command of
«Vector, God of Darkness», a real world human using a Super
Account like Asuna, they continued their attack despite everything,
even knowing that they were dying in vain. In another sense, they
were but victims, dragged into a real world battle over technology.
But Asuna still strove with all her might to dispel this thought from
her mind.
Right now, her utmost priority was to protect the «Radiant

Medium» Alice, whom Vector was pursuing — and Kirito, who was in
the encampment behind them.
She’d heard that the only human resources left in the Dark
Territory army were these Fist Fighters and Dark Knights. If they
could take advantage of this reckless valley crossing operation and
erode their main force, Vector would be left helpless.
“— All right, the sixth one next!!”
Integrity Knight Bercouli’s firm, vigorous voice carried over and

disrupted Asuna’s train of thought. Only after Alice, Sheyta, and Renri
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immediately replied to acknowledge, did Asuna follow suit.
Just as they turned their horses around and prepared to move

west, the sharp blast of a horn came from behind.
At a backward glance, they could see the Guardians3 of the Human

Empire decoy squad atop a hill a kilometer away, surging down in
orderly formation. Having completed their preparations just fifteen
minutes after the Integrity Knights did, they were coming from the
encampment to assist.
“They’re such… a restless bunch.”
Bercouli’s words were bitter, but since nearly 500 Fist Fighters had
successfully crossed the valley, it wasn’t a bad time for
reinforcements to arrive. As long as the Guardians could hold off the
enemy army, cutting the last five ropes would be much simpler.
— Seems like we’ve won this battle, Vector-san.
Asuna said softly in her heart —
Before she could finish, a peculiar phenomenon entered her vision.
Against the blood-red rising sun, mysterious objects began to fall

from high in the sky.
Red lines. Not just one. Tens… Hundreds.
No, thousands.
The lines seemed to consist of tiny dots, linked together. Squinting

her eyes, she saw that each dot was either a number, or a letter from
the English alphabet.
These mysterious bunches of lines poured silently down onto their

side of the valley, roughly one or two kilometers east of the
battlefield.
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Slowly, not just Asuna, but also the Integrity Knights, and even the
Dark Knights and Fist Fighters of the Dark Territory, all ceased their
actions to watch this bizarre event.
The first red line that jabbed into the cracked earth became a small
pile and shook —
It took only a few seconds to turn into a human form.
***
What he saw made Fist Fighter Chief Iskahn forget the rage
coursing through his body, even if it was just for a split second.
— What are those?
On the other side of the great valley, the five hundred Dark Land
soldiers who had successfully crossed the rope bridge were about to
fearlessly engage the five Integrity Knights.
Yet their movements had suddenly stopped, and all had turned
their astonished eyes outside of the battlefield.
Iskahn’s face, as though pulled along by this scene, unconsciously

swiveled in the same direction. There, he saw a torrential crimson
rain, falling two kilol to their east.
With a odd thundering, countless red lines tumbled from the

heavens. They swelled up upon touching the ground, and rapidly
molded into human shapes.
Warriors appeared before them, their bodies secured completely in

crimson armor, equipped with long swords, battleaxes, and spears.
Although its color was different, the shape of their armor was very
similar to that of the Dark Knight Order. At a glance, they seemed to
be Emperor Vector’s divinely summoned reinforcements.
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Then, Iskahn distinctly felt that something was ineffably queer.
These red infantrymen were standing without any sense of

discipline or regulation. It was completely unlike the Knights trained
under Dark General Shasta, who was now deceased. Some were
chatting casually with swagger, some sat on the ground, and some
even drew their weapons and waved them around without waiting for
orders.
The most striking thing was — their number.
After the peculiar rain stopped, the legion appearing on the ground
had swelled to an unbelievable size. He estimated that they
numbered far beyond ten thousand, twenty thousand… It looked like
thirty thousand people. If the Dark Knight Order had such a powerful
backup team, they would have abandoned the Ten Lords’ combined
regime long ago and brought the entire Dark Territory under Shasta’s
rule.
What was more, shocked and disturbed murmurs were breaking

out even among the Dark Knights in the troops on this side of the
valley. Even they are clueless. What the heck is that?
In this case, these red soldiers were the true “Dark Legion”,
which their Emperor, Dark God Vector, had summoned with secret
arts from the depths below.
As he realized this, Iskahn’s shock changed to fury.
If he could summon an army as large as that —
Why didn’t he do it earlier?! Weren’t the Fist Fighters and Dark

Knights who had perished in this pointless valley-crossing operation
just lures that served only to attract the enemy now?!
Wait — what if that’s really the case??
Had the Emperor only given the order to forcibly begin that
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unprecedented, suicidal operation in order to buy time to summon
his own subordinates?
…… No.
Not just this operation. During the entire battle at the Great
Eastern Gate, the loss of the Dark Land army’s strength was beyond
abnormal. Whether it was the Goblins, the Giants, the Ogres, or even
the Dark Sorceress’ Guild, they were all annihilated. Yet the Emperor
didn’t even bat an eye, let alone mourn their deaths.
In other words, to Emperor Vector, the fifty thousand people of the

Dark Land army had been expendable pawns from the very
beginning!
Before that moment, Iskahn, the young chief of the Fist Fighters’
Guild, had merely been a young man uninterested in anything other
than training his own skills, and the rise of his tribe.
But in this very second, his thought process had, for the first time,
risen to a point from which he was able to view the entire Dark
Territory, the Human Empire, and the entire Underworld. This
perspective created an unsolvable conflict in his mind.
The Emperor was the strongest one. He must obey the strongest
one, unquestioningly.
But.
But —
“Gurgh…!”
Excruciating pain, like nothing he had ever felt before, pierced his
right eye. Iskahn groaned as he covered the right side of his face.
The Fist Fighter Chief stumbled, and dropped to his knees.
With difficulty, he could make out over thirty thousand crimson
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soldiers beginning to run, speaking an unintelligible language.
At the location they were running to, nearly one thousand Human
Empire soldiers quickly combined with the Integrity Knights and
arranged themselves into a counterattack formation.
Between the two sides, five hundred Fist Fighters and Dark Knights
stood still, utterly lost.
It seemed that, despite the mercilessness of the Emperor’s

strategy, he had at least saved the lives of these five hundred
warriors.
Iskahn consoled himself as he massaged the intense pain in his

right eye.
— Even after all of their suffering, he had still underestimated just

how cruel Vector really was.
The instant that the five hundred Dark Territory soldiers, the
Human Empire soldiers, and the summoned Dark Legion met —
Countless swords, countless battleaxes, and countless spears

reflected the sunlight —
Then, with bloodthirsty howls, they were swung at the Fist

Fighters, who were supposed to be their comrades.
***
“Those guys… Why?!”
It was Asuna’s first time hearing such a shocked yell from Knight
Commander Bercouli, but words failed her.
The 30,000 soldiers who suddenly descended… no, dived to the

east of the battlefield, had undoubtedly been summoned by Emperor
Vector.
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But where on earth did he get so many people?
Did he directly create system-controlled monster-type characters?

But the central console was already locked, and this type of
administrator-privileged operation was impossible; the only way to
introduce new fighters was to create a character in the real world,
then dive in like Asuna had, but the attackers only had two STLs.
Asuna sank into the chaos of the moment —
Her bewilderment was shattered by the roars of the red troops that
had already approached within a few hundred meters.
“Charge ahead!!”
“Give ‘em hell!!”
— English!
Those people are all humans from the real world — judging by
their accent, they’re Americans!
But, why would they be here… This is a genuinely different world,

completely cut off from the real world…
No.
No —
Maybe, to the people diving in with STLs, Underworld was actually

a different world created through the “Mnemonic Visual” with
realism rivaling that of the real world. However, the generic VRMMO
template «The Seed» had also been used to design this world. In
other words, as long as one used an AmuSphere, they could dive into
this world using a low-end server based on polygonal construction —
furthermore, the Ocean Turtle had a large, military-grade bandwidth
satellite connection.
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Then, if someone were to write a client program that included
Underworld central server address and the accompanying account
information, and disseminate it in the real world —
Not just several tens of thousands; summoning an army of

hundreds of thousands was certainly not impossible.
But what shocked Asuna the most was how those crimson soldiers
acted; they had started to directly attack their supposed allies, the
Dark Land Knights and the Fist Fighter army, without any hesitation.
“Wh, what are they…?!”
“Aren’t they supposed to be our allies?!!”
The Knights screamed desperately while trying to defend against

the attack, but their numbers were already far too disproportionate,
and on top of that, the crimson soldiers’ weapons and armor were of
much higher specs than the Dark Land army’s equipment.
One after another the swords and shields started breaking apart,
and together with the agonizing screams from the collision of both
armies, innumerable spurts of blood began gushing out.
“Dude that’s awesome!!”
“Pretty gore!!”
These Americans were probably completely unaware of the true

nature of this battle. They were probably under the impression that
their diving in was merely taking part in an open beta test for some
new VRMMO. Therefore, she could not blame them for swinging their
swords and killing everyone. After all, to them, these soldiers were
not conscious beings equal to humans; they were NPCs, mere trifles.
Of course, not everyone was atrociously evil; in the real world, they
were still VRMMO players who could be friendly and work together
with other players on the same server. If there was time to inform
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them of the true nature behind Underworld and the Artificial
Fluctlights, Asuna believed that most of them would immediately
drop their weapons.
But they hadn’t such leisure right now. Even if Asuna tried to step
into the battlefield and explain the situation in English, they would
just think of her as an NPC speaking preset lines. If they were told
“killing enemies right now will earn you points, which you
can exchange for rare items after the official release”, even
the Japanese players would do the exact same thing.
In short, verbally convincing them was impossible.
The people the Americans were trying to kill were not NPCs, but
artificial Fluctlights carrying real souls. After finishing off the soldiers
of the Dark Territory, those of the Human World would surely be
next. Then, as the only one present inhabiting a transient body, she
had to fight.
With that resolve, Asuna raised the rapier in her right hand and
began to quickly chant a command.
“System call! Create field object!”
A polychromatic spectrum of rays gathered on her sword.
There was currently no way to create a bottomless canyon like she

had last night; if she did so, she would also cut off the Human Empire
Army’s path of return. Thus Asuna instead imagined a gigantic rock
as sharp as a spear, and slashed her sword down.
Laa—. with a solemn sound effect, the spectrum of rays shot from
her sword tip directly into the ground, slightly beyond where the
American and Dark Territory armies collided.
The ground before her suddenly shook violently and a steep peak
surged out of the ground, rising nearly 30 meters high at once. The
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tens of crimson soldiers standing atop it were all sent flying.
Four more mountains burst from the ground, shooting into the air,
and the ground swayed without pause. Shouting earsplitting curses
in English, several hundred crimson-armored bodies were thrown
high; some were pierced by the rocks, while others landed heavily on
the ground in a storm of flesh and blood.
Asuna could not summon the willpower to imagine how those

people felt before dying, because a harsh, searing pain suddenly shot
through her mind and caused her to collapse on the back of the
horse.
Silver sparks scattered in her vision as she struggled to breathe

and began to hyperventilate. The pain now was much worse than
when she had created the deep canyon last night. Asuna was now
personally experiencing the torment of massive amounts of
geographical data coursing through her soul… The raw feeling of her
Fluctlight being worn away.
— But I must not fall here.
If this was how Kirito was injured, this was how she wanted it to be.
Asuna thought this as she clenched her teeth, and pulled herself up
onto the saddle.
The zeal with which the American players came from the east side
of the battlefield seemed less ardent than before. But since the five
rocky hills were only around 500 meters wide, the players would soon
pass around them.
I must create a rock wall in the south, so that the Human Empire
Army can retreat.
Asuna raised her trembling right hand, panting —
But it was seized tightly by another armored hand, which reflected
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the shining gleam of dawn.
“… Alice?!…” She called the golden knight’s name in a hoarse

voice.
The golden knight’s beautiful white face showed steely resolve as

she shook her head.
“Don’t push yourself anymore, Asuna. Leave it to us

Integrity Knights now.”
“B… But, those people are enemies from the Real World…
from my world…!”
“… Even so, if it’s just some tens of thousands of

bloodthirsty guys waving their weapons around, it won’t be
enough to scare us.”
“Yep, and that’s why it’s our time to shine.”
Bercouli added with an untroubled grin.
Although the Knights’ tones of voice eased the current situation,

Asuna still detected tragic understanding in their faces, worse than
before.
The crimson tsunami of enemies numbered more than 30 times

that of the Human Empire Army.
This was no longer something they could face merely with courage.
But the Knight Commander raised his longsword high, high in the air,
and shouted an order in an extraordinarily irrepressible voice.
“Listen up! All units, assume a dense formation! Do not let

the enemy breakthrough anywhere!”
***
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“Oh… Ohh…”
What came from Iskahn’s mouth was no longer human language.
“Oh… OHHHHHHHHHH — !”
Blood dribbled from the fists clenched at his sides. But the young
Fist Fighter roared like a wild beast, seeming not to feel pain.
Iskahn’s aide Dampe standing still by his side seemed to share

Iskahn’s feelings, and was looking down, deeply… deeply.
All dead. All consumed.
His tribal warriors, in a storm of chaos, had perished, defenseless

against the approaching dark cloud of swords, their souls lost in a
mist of blood.
Moreover, the soldiers still crossing the valley on the five ropes
were unable to stop, because the Emperor’s order of “reach the
other side” still affected them. They could only obey their absolute
master, precariously cross the rope bridge, then be surrounded by
the crimson army and torn apart indiscriminately.
Why — Why hadn’t the Emperor given an order to stop crossing

the valley, or for that army to stop attacking the friendly Dark
Territory army?
Were his tribal warriors not even lures, but mere sacrifices offered
to that summoned crimson legion now?
“Must… To the Emperor…”
He must report to the Emperor. He must request that he stop this

operation.
Furious and desperate, Iskahn took a slow step towards the

imperial throne carriage behind him. The entire right half of his vision
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turned deep red, and spates of excruciating pain assaulted his right
eye.
Then, his aide Dampe looked at him, his now contorted face
seemingly trying to say something.
Just then, a gargantuan black silhouette flew overhead.
Iskahn and Dampe instinctively looked up towards the shadow in

the sky; it was a dragon.
Riding on top of the jet black armor was a figure with long, flowing
golden hair dressed in a lustrous fur mantle — Emperor Vector
himself.
“Ah… AH…!!”
As though he had heard Iskahn’s involuntary shout, the seated

Emperor glanced quickly at the ground. No emotions could be read
from his dark pupils. It was an icy glance that contained not a sliver
of compassion— not even a speck of interest for his soldiers, who
were dying in vain.
Then, Emperor Vector turned away from Iskahn, and directed his
dragon south of the valley.
This is— the god. This is the ruler.
But, if this is the ruler, if this is the strongest being with unrivalled
power—
He must take the according responsibility!!
Leading his subordinate army, ruling over his subjects, bringing the
nation to prosperity; those are the duties of a ruler. Therefore,
someone who sends several tens of thousands of lives to their end
without even using them, without feeling anything at all — the
Emperor — right eye — isn’t qualified — right eye hurts — to be a
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ruler…!!
“Uwo…. OH… OHHHHHHH!!”
Iskahn thrust his right fist high, and curled his finger into a hook.
Without hesitation, he stabbed it into the source of blazing heat

blocking his thoughts — his own right eye.
“Ch… Chief!! What are you doing?!”
The young Fist Fighter stuck out his left hand to block Dampe from
approaching him, and with a bellow, ripped his right eyeball from its
socket. The white sphere gave off a strange gleam from within his
fist, but as it shattered, that light disappeared as well.
As of now, Iskahn had not reached the point of completing

removing «Code 871» through his own willpower, like Alice and
Eugeo. Therefore, he was still unable to initiate any sort of traitorous
intent directly towards the Emperor, or refuse the Emperor’s two
orders: “continue the valley crossing operation” and “You
yourself may not cross the rope bridge”.
However, he had discovered a rather barbaric method to evade the

Emperor’s orders — and this method itself was asymptotically close
to betrayal.
Iskahn spun around and spoke to Dampe staring at him

speechlessly.
“The Emperor hasn’t told us anything regarding those

crimson soldiers, has he?”
“Ah… No, he hasn’t. But…”
“Then, if we were to kill all of them, it would have nothing

to do with the Emperor.”
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“… Champion…”
Iskahn gazed at the dumbstruck Dampe with his remaining eye,

and ordered.
“Listen up… After crossing the bridge, all tribe members

will attack that crimson army. No matter what, we must save
our partners.”
“Hah…?! The ‘bridge’ you refer to, how… would…”
“You know what I’m going to do. I leave it to you, then.”
With those calm words, Iskahn turned towards the valley.
Suddenly, roaring flames enfolded his feet.
Then the king of the Fist Fighters slowly began to run towards the
valley, leaving a trail of blazing footprints behind him. He ran faster
and faster, finally transforming into a flash of fire.
If I can’t cross the rope bridge… then all I gotta do is fly over!
Screaming that in his chest, he flung his left foot over the roughly
hundred-mel-wide gorge.
“Jumping” was a very important skill in a Fist Fighter’s training.
This training slowly progressed from being able to jump over a safe
sand pit, to sharpening one’s willpower by crossing knife mountains
and oil-filled vats, and served as the basis of forming one’s own firm
confidence to their own jump; «incarnation», in other words.
Eventually, the jumping distance of a top-notch warrior could

surpass 20 mel. In this flightless world, this was the extent of a
human body’s physical jumping distance.
Yet what Iskahn needed to cross now was a bottomless canyon
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whose width was five times this limit. The Fist Fighter stared straight
ahead, his heart still as he leapt into the air, his body dragging a long
trail of flames.
Ten mel. Twenty mel. His body rose still.
Thirty mel. Thirty-five mel. A strong wind blew from the valley
below, pushing the Fist Fighter up as though he possessed invisible
wings, propelling him even higher.
Forty mel.
Just a bit more — he only needed to rise a bit more… Then he

could rely on momentum to reach the other side —
But.
Just before he reached the very center of the valley, the upwards
wind mercilessly ceased. The Fist Fighter’s body instantly lost its
upward momentum; the trajectory of his jump reached its maximum,
and he began to fall in an arc.
He was… five mel from the other edge.
“UWOOOOOHHH!!”
Iskahn screamed, flinging his right hand forward, attempting to

grab something out of thin air. But no place existed for his hand or
foot to grab onto; only endless, cold air extended on and on from
below the darkness under his feet, wrapping around his body that
was about to fall.
Just then —
“CHAMPIOOOOOOOOOON!!”
A tremendously thick roar reached Iskahn’s ears.
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He twisted his head around.
His own aide, Dampe, had wrapped his right hand around a boulder
larger than his own head, and was preparing to throw it.
The Fist Fighter chief instantly realized what his loyal subordinate,
who often followed him around, planned to do. But — throwing that
gigantic boulder more than fifty mel was definitely impossible for a
human…
Gowa.
Dampe’s right hand suddenly swelled, his muscles bulging and

veins swelling, as though his entire body’s strength had concentrated
in one spot.
“OHHHHH!!”
The giant man bellowed, ran a few steps, and flung the boulder
from his right hand with all his might.
As the air trembled violently, the boulder shot out as though it had
been launched by a catapult — then, the Fist Fighter’s right hand
exploded, flesh and blood flying in all directions.
Iskahn imprinted the image of Dampe collapsing to the ground

firmly in his left eye, clenched his teeth, and focused all his
concentration on the boulder flying directly at him.
“… YAAAAAAAH!!”
With a shout, he stomped his left foot on the boulder.
Bagaaan!! The boulder shattered against the impact, but Iskahn’s

small body was propelled upwards. The swordsmen battling on the
other side of the valley were now closer to him.
***
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“Damn!!”
Asuna tugged her rapier from the body of a cursing American

player while breathing heavily atop her horse.
This was different when she was fighting the Dark Territory people
earlier; she no longer had to deal with the mental strain of taking a
person’s life. Asuna, previously known as “The Flash”, then the
“Berserk Healer”, was finally able to initiate combo Sword Skills;
the number of crimson soldiers who fell by her sword rapidly grew
above ten.
But — despite that, there were just too many enemies!!
Not just Asuna, the Human Empire Defense Army soldiers and the
four Integrity Knights also fought like fierce gods, and finally carved a
bloody opening to the south. Bodies had piled up into mountains in
front of the soldiers advancing in tight formation.
However, they were utterly unable to counter the waves of crimson

soldiers streaming endlessly around the rocky mountains, and could
only try their utmost to fight back and hold their current position.
Most importantly, they very quickly realized that the bodies of the
enemies they destroyed would evaporate within tens of seconds,
leaving not a trace of blood on the ground — they realized that their
opponents were not real live people, but an army of phantoms.
Then…
“Uwah… No… AAAAHHH — !!”
A sudden explosive scream made Asuna spin her head around.
— Then, she saw that a hole had opened in the Guardians’

defensive line, and the Americans were pouring in like black mud,
throwing themselves with dirty curses at the weak Guardians. The
Guardians were surrounded by enemies numbering several times
more than them, and executed; flesh and blood flew into the air, and
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shrieks of pain slowly turned into dying screams. This extremely
realistic picture of death seemed to stimulate the crimson soldiers’
bloodthirst even further, and they launched themselves towards new
prey with renewed savagery.
“Stop it…. STOP IT…!!” Asuna cried.
She clearly understood that she was supposed to ignore the

sacrifices of some of the troops, and push south as hard as she could.
But she couldn’t control herself anymore and jumped off from her
horse.
“STOP IT — !!”
Charging into the deadly crimson current alone, her scream was as
bitter as blood.
She knew the American players were only being used, but even so,
she could not suppress her boiling anger any longer.
Zzkukukuk —!!
Her right hand flashed, and «Radiant Light» stabbed straight

through the visors of the crimson helmets. Four fatally wounded
people dropped their longswords and crumpled to the ground,
screaming.
Judging by their reactions, Asuna could see that although they had
dived in with AmuSpheres, they were not protected by its Pain
Absorber. In truth, Asuna had realized that long ago, so she had tried
to make her attacks fatal stabs to the heart, instantly killing the
person and logging them out of the game, yet this logic had also
evaporated.
She now relied on her sword’s Priority to stab through the enemies’
armor, dispatching them instantly, and sometimes even cleaving the
enemies’ swords in two.
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To the Americans, the enemies before them were mere polygons,
and their blood was also computer-generated special effects. Yet to
Asuna, who dived in through the STL, they were real, live human
beings, and their spurting blood was chillingly warm, exuding a
nauseating coppery odor.
Some time later, the pool of blood reached Asuna’s feet, and she
accidentally slipped and fell. The hulking soldiers then instantly
surrounded her as she was sprawled on the ground.
“Take this!!”
A battleaxe swung down, and Asuna frantically dodged right. But

before she should pull back her left arm, the heavy axe had already
roared past.
Gatsu.
With a crunching noise, her left arm was severed down the middle
to her elbow, and it flopped uselessly in the air.
“… AAHH — !!”
Excruciating pain blinded Asuna as her breathing froze and she

went numb. A moment later, she breathed heavily and managed to
cradle her left arm, which was spurting blood. But through her
streaming tears, she watched in despair as the four or five black
shadows surrounding her had already raised their weapons.
Suddenly —
The head of the man with the giant axe seemed to explode in a
storm of flesh and blood.
Asuna heard heavy impacts like that of a machinegun. Every time

an impact resonated, the body of a soldier attempting to slash
towards her shattered and disappeared from view.
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“Hmph… Why are these guys so soft?”
Asuna endured the agony and pushed herself up; before her was a
lean, short young man with hair standing straight up like flames.
— Someone from the Dark Territory!
Asuna inhaled sharply and forgot her pain for a moment. From the
color of his skin and the single leather strap tied around his entire
body, he was unmistakably a member of the Fist Fighter tribe she
had fought minutes ago.
But why would someone under Emperor Vector’s rule attack the
crimson soldiers that Emperor Vector had summoned?
— It’s as if he had run over just to help Asuna.
Asuna looked down and noticed that the man only had one red eye
left, an ugly wound was left in his right eye socket, and trails of blood
were plastered on his face like tears; the blood looked fresh.
W ith his remaining eye, the young Fist Fighter looked askance at
an American approaching him, and raised his right fist high.
That sharply defined fist was suddenly wrapped in roaring flames.
“Wa… RAAAAAAHHH!!”
With a scream that sounded like tearing cloth, the fist struck the
ground.
Guwa!!
From where his fist hit the ground, a semicircular shockwave blew
forward like a wall of fire, relentlessly expelling all of the crimson
soldiers before them into the air.
— What strength!
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Asuna gaped. If she fought this person now, she might lose…
The Fist Fighter wordlessly stretched out and grabbed Asuna’s

armor with his left arm, forcefully pulled her up, and gazed at her
with his remaining eye.
“… Let’s make a deal.”
Asuna couldn’t immediately understand what this young but acrid

voice wanted to convey.
“A… deal?”
“Yeah. You’re the one who made those rock spears and
that valley, weren’t you? Listen, make a bridge across that
valley, doesn’t matter how narrow it is. That way, we four
thousand warriors of the Fist Fighters’ Guild can fight
alongside you for now, until we finish off this crimson army.”
Fight alongside — the Dark Territory army?
Was such a thing possible? The people of the Dark Land, no, all the
people of this world should be unable to disobey their superior’s
orders, due to the existence of «Code 871».
But the young man before her had no right eye at all. Did this
mean that he had broken the seal on his own? Had he, like Alice,
evolved into a Fluctlight capable of breaking the boundaries of this
world?
Alice had said last night: “To lose «Code 871», the eye must
completely explode”, but his wound didn’t look like the product of
an exploded right eye at all, it looked more like the entire eyeball had
been torn out by force… What was she to do, then?
Asuna’s momentary hesitation was broken by howls and sword

slashes coming from her right.
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“This person, is likely to not be lying.”
The one who cleaved off the heads of a few approaching soldiers

with a jet black longsword so thin it was nearly invisible, was the
gray-haired female Integrity Knight, Sheyta Synthesis Twelve.
Catching sight of Sheyta, a boastful yet somehow embarrassed

grin broke out on the young Fist Fighter’s face. “Hey,” he replied.
The instant she saw this smile, Asuna made her decision.
— I’ll believe him.
This was probably the last time she would be able to use the
«geographical manipulation» ability. So wouldn’t it be better spent on
creation rather than destruction?
“… I understand, leave the bridge to me.”
Asuna moved her right hand away from the wound on her left
wrist, and raised her rapier into the air with her right hand.
Laa────────.
The solemn sound of angelic song was heard as multicolored

aurorae shot into the heavens and extended due north, crossed the
entire valley, and connected to the other side.
With a sonorous thundering, the ground underneath began to

tremble.
Everyone watched as two stone columns suddenly protruded from

both sides of the canyon and slowly extended further and further,
then joined together in the middle, widened, and finally became a
stone bridge sufficient for crossing.
“OOOOHHHH, AHHHHHHH!!”
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The furious bellows of the four thousand members of the Fist
Fighters’ Guild were several times louder than the tremors just then.
Led by a giant, one-armed man, they converged at the stone bridge.
A headache several times more painful than the agony at her arm
suddenly pummeled her; Asuna nearly lost consciousness, and had to
lean on her rapier to avoid falling.
She could no longer see Alice, who was supposed to be guiding the
entire Human Empire Army and cutting a bloody path through the
enemy lines.
Asuna could only hope that she would be safe… and that the Fist
Fighter army would fight together with them like their chief
promised.
— Kirito-kun, I’m going now, okay?
Silently murmuring the name of her loved one, her pain seemed to
fly far, far away.
***
About a minute prior, at the southernmost edge of the battlefield

—
Integrity Knight Alice had already cut down countless crimson

soldiers who charged forward one after another.
These guys — were a bit strange.
They were neither aware that they were swordsmen, nor trained in
sword skills; they merely swarmed forward, stepping over their
comrades’ bodies and screaming in a strange tongue. It almost
seemed as though they were completely unaware of the value of life
— their enemies’ lives, and even their partners’ lives, all seemed
worthless to them. It was as if they didn’t even care about their own
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lives.
If the people who lived in the Real World were like this, it seemed
that Asuna was exactly right in that “the other side” was not a
kingdom of gods after all.
With the endless massacre and endlessly appearing enemies, even

Alice’s reaction speed began to slow.
She’d had enough. This wasn’t a battle at all.
Quickly — quickly break through their ranks, and get out of here.
“Get out of the way… GET OUT OF MY WAAAAAYYY!!”
She screamed shrilly as the Fragrant Olive Sword slashed

sideways. The heads and hands of the enemies scattered to the
ground.
“System call!”
Then, she began rapidly chanting an incantation, formed ten

Thermal Elements, molded them into a fiery lance, and shot it.
“Discharge!”
BOOM!!
Although it wasn’t Deusolbert’s Conflagrant Flame Bow, a gigantic

explosion pierced the entire enemy formation and tore open a hole.
And beyond it was —
She saw it. A hill, rising out of the black ground.
If she could break through the encirclement and get over there,
she could use the Spatial Resources scattered around the battlefield
to initiate the “Sealed Mirror Light Art”, and burn all of these
crimson soldiers to a crisp.
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“OUT OF MY WAAAAAY!!”
Alice screeched and kicked off the ground.
“… Lil’ Miss!!”
Knight Commander Bercouli’s shout came from behind. But Alice

did not hear his next words: Don’t go forward anymore.
— Almost there. We can almost break out.
Her feet unstopping, sword slashing at the last enemy blocking

her, Alice finally broke out of the seemingly infinite circle of enemies
and charged into the southern wilderness.
She slid her beloved sword into its sheath and continued her sprint,
gulping down the fresh air that smelled of blood.
Suddenly, her surroundings darkened.
Has the sun been blocked out? Alice thought for a moment.
Then suddenly, she felt a heavy blow on her back, and was
grabbed by a dragon’s leg suddenly passing over; by the time she
noticed, she was already being lifted by its claws.
Alice tried to activate her Armament Full Control Art, but before
she could finish chanting, her field of vision began to be enveloped in
darkness, and a biting chill filled her body.
Was it a Dark Art from the rider of the dragon? — No, that wasn’t
it. Her very consciousness was fading away, being sucked into an
infinite darkness.
This was the enemy’s Incarnation, completely different from Knight

Commander Bercouli’s polished steel-like Incarnation, and also
different from the Highest Minister Administrator’s scorching, all-
consuming Incarnation; it absorbed everything and seized
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everything: an Incarnation of nothingness.
That was the last thing Alice could think of before her
consciousness vanished.
***
To Emperor Vector / Gabriel Miller, this situation was a gamble.
Nonetheless, he firmly believed that as long as the several tens of

thousands of American players diving into the battlefield were able to
surround and attack the Human Empire Army, the «Radiant Medium»
Alice would certainly break out of the encirclement alone — or with a
small team — to initiate that huge light ray attack.
That was why he had stayed on the back of his requisitioned

dragon, hovering far, far away from the battlefield and waited. He felt
like this had been the longest stretch of time since he had first dived
into Underworld.
But then, he finally saw it. The flash of golden light sprinting out
from the ant-like swarm of soldiers.
“Alice… Alicia.”
Gabriel smiled a rare, genuine smile as he whispered that name.

He whirled the reins in his hands, taking the dragon into a fast dive.
His overwhelming imagination that formed an Incarnation of

nothingness had already consumed the dragon’s AI, turning it into a
controllable tool that slaved only for him. Under his command, the
dragon plunged like a stone, its wings silent, opened its right claws
towards the ground and tightly grasped the golden knight’s back.
Whoosh — !
Then, with the deafening noise of expanding wings, it flew back

into the sky.
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He’d never paid any attention to the bloody battlefield he had
created.
To him, whatever happened next to the Dark Territory army, the

Human Empire Army, or the people he’d summoned from the real
world, had lost all value; none of it mattered anymore.
Now, he only needed to advance straight to the system console

nearest to his current location at the «World End Altar», and from
there, eject Alice’s soul to the real world, and log himself out.
Gabriel’s vision shifted down, and stopped on the golden hair of

the unconscious Knight, billowing in the wind, caught in the clutches
of the dragon’s talons.
I want to feel her soon. This body, this soul, I want to taste it to my
heart’s content.
There was still a very long journey to the system console, which
would take several days even by dragon. He could even use this time
to properly enjoy Alice, while she still had a physical body in
Underworld.
As this crossed his mind, a different type of sweet stimulation

climbed up Gabriel’s spine, and the corners of his mouth lifted again.
***
How could it be like this?
He actually — turned the Dark Territory army of fifty thousand and

the newly-summoned thirty thousand soldiers all into disposable
pawns, and just to…
Just to capture a girl!
Ever since Knight Commander Bercouli detected the Incarnation of

nothingness wielded by the existence called Emperor Vector, an
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intense uneasiness had come over him. But the instant that Alice was
captured by the other side, he finally realized that his predictions of
the enemy had only been the tip of the iceberg.
After seeing what happened tens of mel away from where he was
standing, Bercouli did something he had not done for who knows how
many tens of years — he let out a roar of rage.
“You bastard, what have you done with my apprentice?!!”
His words pierced the air, agitating the surroundings more than a
peal of thunder could.
Yet it was completely ignored by Alice’s captor, the dragon knight,

who flew straight into the southern sky without so much as a
backwards glance.
Bercouli raised his beloved sword, and began to chase after the
flying dragon. But the hole that Alice had blown in the enemy
formation with her Art had already been filled with crimson soldiers;
they approached, spitting cryptic curses constantly.
“You’d better…”
Before Bercouli could shout get away, blinding silver lights flew
overhead.
Kirikirikiri, with that high, clear sound Integrity Knight Renri’s

Divine Instruments, the Twin Edged Wings, flew past above.
The young knight’s sharp voice came from behind.
“Release Recollection!”
With a flash of light, the two throwing knives fused together. A

cross-shaped blade flew low above the ground, whizzing forward and
leaving a sharp trail, cutting down all enemies who tried to enter its
path from either flank.
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“Go ahead, Knight Commander!!”
Renri shouted, and Bercouli turned around to answer.
“Sorry! I’ll leave it to you!”
Then he bent over, and kicked his right foot briskly off the ground.
In the next instant, his body transformed into a white hurricane,
blowing a second time through the gap opened in the enemy group,
at a speed several times faster than the sprints achieved by the Fist
Fighters of the Dark Territory in their martial dance. But Emperor
Vector’s dragon that carried Alice had already become a tiny black
dot on the far-off horizon.
As Bercouli ran, he placed his left hand into his mouth and blew a
high, piercing whistle.
Seconds later, a pair of gigantic, silvery wings appeared on the

horizon; it was Bercouli’s dragon, Hoshigami.
But not just one dragon was flying towards him. Alice’s beloved
dragon, Amayori, and the deceased Eldrie’s dragon, Takiguri, also
followed close behind.
“You were all here…”
Bercouli was briefly overcome with emotion; no matter what, he

couldn’t bring himself to order those other two dragons to stay here
on standby.
Hoshigami turned low above the ground and glided as it

approached Bercouli, extending both feet towards him. The Knight
Commander seized a talon on its left foot and hoisted himself onto its
back, straddling the saddle and pointing forward with the longsword
in his right hand.
“GO!”
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Hoshigami, Amayori, and Takiguri moved on command; three pairs
of wings thundered simultaneously, and they flew into the violet
dawn sky. Far ahead of this triangular formation of three dragons,
within the claws of the black dragon, a flash of golden light shined for
a split second.
***
After the four thousand Fist Fighters charged across the stone
bridge in one go, they quickly joined their nearly two hundred
surviving partners, assembled into a formation at the Human Empire
Army’s flank, and drove straight into the center of the enemy
formation like a gigantic battering ram.
They formed tight lines of ten each, raised their right fists in
perfect unison, and readied their stances.
“U… RA!”
With a synchronized bellow, ten fists struck out and perforated the
crimson soldiers’ swords and armor. Screams and blood flew in all
directions; with one strike, more than twenty enemy soldiers were
knocked flying towards the back.
After this blow filled with the utmost fighting spirit, the ten people
quickly parted and retreated to either side, leaving a gap, and the
ten behind them advanced forward with the same stance.
“URARA!!”
This time, ten people raised their legs and delivered flying kicks in
perfect unison, blowing a great number of enemies in all directions,
as though a bomb had exploded in their midst.
“… Wow.”
Asuna could not help but marvel as she healed her wounded left
arm with a Healing Art she had learned the night before. Even
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Sheyta, who was drinking water near her, seemed a bit surprised.
The Fist Fighters’ battle technique was somewhat similar to the

SAO progressors’ switching tactic used during the boss fights, but
their movements and cohesion were much more adept. Ten people in
a row, ten rows in a cluster; there were more than forty groups with
one hundred people each that ravaged the enemy like heavy
construction machinery reducing buildings to rubble.
“Don’t just sit there and watch. Even if we charge towards

the south, what would we do then? Since there are this many
enemies, even if we could break through them, it would be
very difficult to kill them all.”
The temporarily allied red-haired enemy general stood beside

Asuna, his arms crossed and face stern.
Indeed, even for the Fist Fighters who were breaking through
irrepressibly, defeat would be difficult to avoid if the soldiers that
outnumbered them by several times launched a flanking attack.
There were at least twenty thousand summoned Americans left, in
any case.
“… Then… after we break through the enemy formation and

charge south of the battlefield, we’ll immediately get as far
away as possible. I will then create another canyon to
separate us and them.”
Asuna replied in a low voice.
— But could she really do it? Just now, she had only created a
small bridge and almost expired from the effort. If she were to
perform another large-scale geographic manipulation that extended
all the way to the horizon, she might actually be forcefully
disconnected — worse, her brain could even be physically
damaged…
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Asuna bit her lip, and cast away her momentary confusion. Even
then, she must do it. Summoning the Americans to this world was
probably Emperor Vector’s last resort. Then, if she could get rid of
them, even if she were to be disconnected, they would be unable to
do anything to Alice.
Just then, from the south, a soldier came running to Asuna on the
north side of the battlefield.
“New orders!! New orders — !!”
The heavily injured soldier with half of his face dyed red with blood,
fell to his knees in front of Asuna, and mustered all of his strength to
shout his next words.
“Information from Integrity Knight Renri-sama!! Integrity

Knight Alice-sama, has been captured by the enemy
commander! The dragon has already flown south…!!”
“Wh…”
Asuna was dumbfounded.
Of course — she’d never thought that the current situation was

intentionally created to lure Alice herself away from the Human
Empire Army…!!
“The Emperor… has flown away?!”
That gruff, faltering answer was neither from Asuna nor Sheyta,
but from the Fist Fighter Chief, whose remaining eye began to take
on a strange glow.
“Then… Just now, that dragon… Wasn’t here simply to

watch us … Hey, woman!!”
The young man’s fiery eyes stared at Asuna, and he demanded

urgently.
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“That Alice is the «Radiant Medium»?! Why is the Emperor
so dedicated to her?! If the Radiant Medium falls into the
Emperor’s hands, what the hell is going to happen?!”
“This world… will be destroyed.”
Asuna replied simply. The Fist Fighter’s expression was one of

frozen incredulity.
“When Dark God Vector brings the Radiant Medium Alice to

the «World End Altar»… This world, whether it’s the Human
Empire or the Dark Territory, all of its inhabitants will be
obliterated.”
Asuna’s voice had not fallen silent before she noticed that her
words sounded exactly like the most classic RPG lines imaginable,
but this was one hundred percent truth. As soon as the assault team
got their hands on Alice’s soul, it was very easy to imagine the fate of
the then-useless Light Cube Cluster — they would destroy it without
remorse.
Then, what on earth was she to do… even her Super Account
«Stacia» did not bestow upon her a flying ability. How could she
follow them?
The one answering Asuna’s worries was the gray knight standing at
her side, Sheyta. Returning the now-empty bottle to her belt, the icy-
looking female knight said:
“Even for a dragon… it cannot fly forever. At most, half a

day.”
At this, the Fist Fighter Chief stole a glance at Sheyta, then

hurriedly looked away; he slapped his fist into his hand and finished
her sentence loudly.
“Then just push yourselves out there and catch up to
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them!!”
“Catch up to them… But, aren’t you…”
Asuna looked at the enemy general’s young features in surprise.
“Aren’t you from the Dark Territory army? Why, would you
go this far…”
The enemy general responded like a spoiled, abandoned child.
“Emperor Vector… certainly told us before, we Ten Lords of

the Dark Land4. He only wanted the Radiant Medium. If he
gets her, he won’t care what happens to us. Now that he’s
got the Medium, the Emperor’s achieved his goal… In other
words, the mission of the Dark Territory army has been fully
completed. After this, aren’t we free to do whatever the hell
we want, even if that means cooperating with the Human
Empire and taking the Medium back?!!”
How — absurd.
Asuna gazed speechlessly at the young enemy general. The

expression on his face was completely out of place alongside his
deterrent rhetoric a moment ago; it was filled with tragic resolve.
The Fist Fighter stared right at Asuna with his left eye, and spoke
quietly.
“… I can’t… We can’t revolt directly against the Emperor.

His strength is overwhelming… even Dark General Shasta,
who was much stronger than I am, was instantly killed
without him even lifting a finger. If he suddenly gives the
order for us to fight you, we must obey… That’s why, we Fist
Fighters will defend against that crimson army here. You and
the Human Empire Army, just chase the Emperor as hard as
you can. And then… the Emperor… that bastard…”
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The young man’s words were suddenly interrupted, and his
expression distorted — as though tormented by a pain coming from
his nonexistent right eye.
“Tell… that bastard, ‘we are not your puppets’!”
Just then, shouts came from the Fist Fighters on the south side of
the battlefield. The vanguard had finally broken through the crimson
army’s encirclement, and plunged into the wilderness.
“Very good…”
Zudan! The young tribal chief stomped his right foot on the ground
and delivered an order in a tremendous voice.
“All of you, maintain that gap!”
Then, he turned to Asuna, and spoke simply.
“Run!! We can’t hold for too long.”
Asuna took a deep breath — and nodded.
— This person, is also a human.
It didn’t matter if he was an Artificial Fluctlight. His prideful soul

was as real as any other human’s. They had clearly severed the rope
that they had used to cross the ravine, and murdered more than a
hundred of his tribespeople; he should be swearing revenge against
them.
“… Thank you very much.”
Asuna could only manage that, then turned around.
From behind her came Integrity Knight Sheyta’s voice.
“I’ll… stay here.”
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Having anticipated this, Asuna looked back, and gave the gray-
haired female knight a short smile.
“I understand. We’ll trust you to bring up the rear.”
***
Iskahn watched wordlessly as that unfathomable, chestnut-haired

female knight lead the Human Empire Army, reduced to about seven
hundred people, and passed through the gap in the enemy formation
created and maintained by his own tribal warriors in a bloody battle,
then looked away from the commotion and fixated on the Integrity
Knight.
“… You’re good with this, woman?”
“I told you my name.”
Stared at with a piercing look, the Fist Fighter could only laugh
bitterly and change his method of address.
“Is this really okay, Sheyta? I dunno if we can make it out

of this alive.”
The slender knight shrugged, and her brand new armor clattered
crisply.
“I will be the one to kill you. No chance for others.”
“Hmph, so you say.”
This time, Iskahn laughed heartily.
Wanting to help his partners avoid dying tragic deaths — he had

originally chosen to work together with the Human Empire Army with
this desire in mind. But now, he was putting his entire tribe’s lives on
the line to protect the Human Empire people from that crimson army;
how incredible. Yet his heart felt wide open, like a breeze was
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passing by.
Well, even if I die here, that’s not bad.
If he were to die protecting this world, his father, brother, and

sisters back in his hometown would definitely understand.
“All right!! Go all out, boys!!”
A roar of “URAAA!!” resounded across the battlefield.
“Form a circle!! Defend in all directions!! Trash all the

idiots who come near!!”
“You’re really in the zone, Champion.”
Dampe had already taken his position behind Iskahn once more,
and his clenched left fist emitted a grinding noise.
***
While Asuna was leading the army over the southern hill and
retreating to the forest garrisoned by the supply team, the young
knight Renri informed her about how the Knight Commander had
already taken three dragons and flown after Emperor Vector.
“… Do you think he can catch up?”
At Asuna’s sharp question, Renri’s childlike face was severe.
“To be honest, the chances are very slim. In short, the two
of them are flying at the same speed, and they need the
same amount of time to rest… But, Alice-sama is also riding
on Emperor Vector’s dragon, so that expend a bit more of its
Life. On the other hand, the Esteemed Knight Commander
can switch between his three dragons to minimize their
fatigue, so in theory, he can gradually close some of the
distance between them…”
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In other words, they could only pray that the Knight Commander
would reach the Emperor before he arrived at the World End Altar.
But, even if he caught up to the Emperor —
Could the Knight Commander really defeat Super Account Emperor

Vector by himself?
Since Asuna had never expected that the attackers might also log
in with a Super Account, she had never asked Higa Takeru what kind
of powers Vector had. But if Vector had the same type of powers as
Stacia’s “Geographic Manipulation” — even for the Integrity
Knights leader, winning against him in a one-on-one fight would be
pushing it too much…
Just as Asuna was thinking this, Renri spoke in a more cheerful

tone.
“If he catches up, the Esteemed Knight Commander will

definitely save Alice-sama. After all, that man… is the
strongest knight in the world.”
“… Yeah, that’s right.”
Asuna nodded fervently.
The only thing she could do now, was to believe. After all, during
her battle a while ago, she had seen countless times how strong-
willed the people of Underworld were.
“Then, let’s advance south together with the rest of the

army. Luckily, there are only flat plains ahead of us. We
might not be able to follow Bercouli-san, but we might be
able to help him later somehow.”
“Understood, Asuna-sama. I will notify everyone to prepare

for a quick march.”
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Renri picked up his pace, and dashed into the forest.
Seeing him off, Asuna said to herself.
Kirito wanted to protect Alice, and the entire human world.
She definitely had to protect them as well, no matter how many

injuries she sustained… no matter what kind of pain she had to
endure.
***
At the same time —
In the main control room of the Ocean Turtle, intelligence warfare

representative Critter was ready to let the second batch of 20,000
American players dive into Underworld.
And their login location was Gabriel Miller’s current location —

roughly ten kilometers away from the insertion point of the first
batch.
“……Gah!!”
Inhaling sharply, Vassago Casals jerked up.
He shook his bundled, curly hair and hastily observed his

surroundings.
Steel walls emitting a dim glow, a floor plastered with anti-slip

polymer, and numerous monitors and indicators glowing hazily in
darkness.
When he saw a thin man with a crew cut sitting in a huge leather
chair in front of him, Vassago finally realized that he had returned to
the main control room of the «Ocean Turtle», in the real world.
The crew cut man — Critter, snorted, his voice full of ridicule.
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“Whoa, you actually woke up. I thought all your brain cells
had decayed.”
“… Shut the fuck up.”
Vassago groaned, and examined his own body. He was currently

lying on a thin mattress placed in the corner of the room, a jacket
carelessly spread across his stomach.
What the fuck just happened? Vassago vigorously shook his head.
This brought about a stinging pain deep in his head, making him
curse again. He then turned toward the other side of the room, where
a couple of team members were sitting in a circle and having fun
with their cards, and asked:
“Hey, any of you got some aspirin?”
The bearded Brigg, a member of the breaching team, wordlessly

retrieved a tiny plastic bottle from his pocket and tossed it to him.
Vassago caught it with one hand, twisted the cap off, poured
everything inside into his mouth, and crushed the contents with his
teeth.
Along with the bitter, numbing sting on his tongue, his memories
finally recovered a bit.
“So… I fell into that bottomless hole…”
“How the hell did you die? You were out for eight whole
hours.”
“Ei…Eight hours?!”
Thunderstruck, Vassago jumped up, even forgetting his headache.
He glanced at the G-Shock on his left wrist, which indicated that it

was 6:30 a.m., Japan Standard Time. Less than twelve hours before
the time limit, when the armed teams of the Self Defence Force
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would leave the Aegis destroyer Nagato and break into the Ocean
Turtle.
But more importantly —
Since he had been unconscious for eight hours, a couple of months

should have passed in Underworld. How was the war? The mission to
capture Alice?
But as though Critter had seen through Vassago’s shock, tsk-tsk,

he clicked his tongue.
“Don’t stare so hard, your eyes are gonna fall out. Relax,
when you died inside, the time acceleration rate had already
been decreased to one.”
“O… One?!”
Then that meant nothing big should’ve happened inside. But wait,
this is a huge problem in itself!
“Hey, four-eyes, do you really understand the situation?

We only have twelve hours before the JSDF’s navy troops
storm this place!”
Vassago shook Critter’s crew cut head, and the latter batted his
hands away annoyingly.
“Of course I know. These are all orders from Captain

Miller.”
Then, the “plan of attack” that Critter told him rendered Vassago
speechless, even though he was a very experienced VRMMO player.
Before he left the system console in Obsidia, the imperial city in

the eastern Dark Territory, Lieutenant Gabriel Miller had secretly
given an order to Critter in the real world.
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Create an advertisement website about a beta test for a new
hardcore VRMMO freed from the laws — Underworld laws, of course
— and write a connection client program. Then, set the acceleration
rate to one by 12:00 a.m. on July 7, and at the same time, begin
recruiting beta tester players from all across the US, he had said.
“With this restricted console, I can only see the coordinates

of you and the captain, as well as the approximate
distribution of the Units, so this operation was a backup plan
in case the Human Empire’s resistance was fiercer than
expected.”
Critter’s slim, long fingers danced across the keyboard, pulling up a

map of the entire Underworld on the huge display.
On the world map that was shaped like a curved, inverted triangle,
two red lines extended from the easternmost edge, all the way to the
west.
“This is the movement log of you and the captain. Listen,

you were just wandering around the eastern gate of the
Human Empire, and then suddenly died.”
One of the red lines terminated with an ‘X’, south of the «Great
Eastern Gate».
“But the commander went past you and is currently

proceeding south. He even left the entire Dark Territory army
at the north and moved alone. That means…”
“He’s either chasing after Alice or he’s already got her.”
Vassago muttered. Critter nodded and continued explaining.
“According to our original plan, when the remaining time

goes down to less than eight hours, or when the Human
Empire Army is completely destroyed, we’ll turn the
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acceleration rate all the way back up to 1,000 times. ‘Cause
even so, we still have a full year of time in that world. Of
course, when the acceleration rate resets, the US players
diving in are all gonna get logged out because of a
synchronization error, but as long as we win the war, who
cares?”
“Then let’s turn the acceleration rate up now! There ain’t

much left of the Human Empire Defense Army.”
“It’s not that simple. Come here, look, right here —”
Critter punched a key and magnified a section of the map.
A few kilometers south of the Great Eastern Gate that divided the
Human Empire and the Dark Land, were plains, hills, and a forest,
aligned vertically. The Human Empire had set up an ambush in the
forest… In other words, that was where Vassago had died.
But somehow, between the forest and the plains, a gigantic valley
had appeared almost 50 kilometers from the west to the east.
Around that valley, clusters of extremely tiny dots were wobbling and
squirming, displayed in different colors: red, black, and white.
“The red ones are those US players that I tossed into

Underworld. A lot of them are gone, but there are still 20,000
left. And this black circle surrounded by the red, is the Dark
Territory army. About 4,000.”
“H… Hey, hey, no matter how you look at it, the reds are
attacking the blacks, aren’t they?”
“That’s because the fake beta test information only told

them that they could let loose and kill all the highly realistic
NPCs. To the US players diving in, there’s absolutely no
difference between the Human Empire Army and the Dark
Territory army. But, for some reason, the blacks are
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decreasing much slower than I expected. The Dark Territory
army should be absolutely loyal to the Emperor, there’s no
way they’re fighting against the US players, because they’re
thought to be summoned by the Emperor.”
“They must’ve stuck to killing for so long that they can’t

stop.”
“Well, let’s say these 4,000 black guys are about to be

overrun anyway. Despite that, the real problem is over here,
this little white group.”
Critter moved the cursor. Indeed, a group of very inconspicuous

white dots was currently moving south — as if they were chasing
behind Emperor Vector, or Captain Miller.
“Those guys are the Human Empire Army. Though they look
tiny from this map, there are still about 700 of them.
However, it would be very troublesome if they catch up to
the captain, so we have to stop them.”
“Stop them? …What’re you gonna do?”
Critter did not directly answer Vassago’s question, but smirked

shortly and continued to type on the keyboard.
He opened a new window on the map. Inside, an enormous red

cloud was crawling against the flat black background.
“These guys are the US players that didn’t make the first
connection, and are waiting for the second one. Once they
reach 8,000, I’ll throw them at the Human Empire Army.
They’ve got 28 times more people, so they’ll exterminate ‘em
right away, right? Afterwards, we can raise the acceleration
rate back to 1,000 times normal. That way, we can buy more
than enough time for the captain to procure Alice and bring
her to the system console at the southern end, right?”
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“… If only it were that easy.”
Vassago retorted, stroking his rough beard.
“The Human Empire Army is much hardier than you’d

imagine. Especially those guys called the Integrity Knights,
they’re fucking insane; they totally destroyed the Dark
Territory’s first wave, you know? If it weren’t for them, I
wouldn’t have pitifully died… like that…”
Just then, Vassago finally remembered.
Exactly how, and by whom he had been killed.
His breathing ceased and his eyes widened. In his head, a memory
gradually recovered, of that goddess-like figure floating high up in
the night sky, looking down upon him. He instinctively yelled in
Japanese instead of English.
“— «The Flash»…!! Yeah… There’s no doubt, it’s gotta be

that bitch…!!”
“Hah? What are you on about?”
Vassago grabbed Critter’s confused, crew cut head.
“Listen, you geek bastard! The Rath guys playing ostrich in

the second control room did the same thing as your so-called
‘operation’!! In the Human Empire Army, there’re already
Japanese VRMMO players mixed in with them!!”
“What?!”
Ignoring Critter’s incredulous face, Vassago sneered.
“Since Asuna «The Flash» is there, could it be, that guy’s

dived in too? … Oh my god, how can I just stay here… Hey,
I’m going back to the other side! Put me in together with
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those 20,000 reinforcements, and insert me at the white
group’s position!!”
“You want to dive in again… But the black knight account

you wasted is gone forever. Of course, if you don’t mind
using the red soldier accounts just like the reinforcements, I
have as many as you want.”
“I have an account… One that I’ve saved for so long.”
Kekek. Vassago’s throat emitted a laugh as he swiped a paper

energy bar wrapper from the console, pulled a pen from Critter’s
chest pocket, and quickly scribbled something down.
“Listen, use this ID and password to log into the homepage

of the «The Seed Nexus» in Japan, and convert the saved
character into Underworld. I’ll dive in using that account.”
Leaving those words behind, Vassago started running towards the

door of the STL room.
But after a few steps, he abruptly stopped.
As he turned around, Vassago’s face was twisted into a truly

savage leer, enough to strike fear into the notorious cyber criminal
Critter. It was as if his vulgar, energetic, and rowdy soldier character
was no more than one of his personae.
Then, Vassago walked towards Critter with catlike steps, and

whispered another short instruction into his ear. Seconds later, the
STL room had swallowed him, and the hacker watched the room door
alone, that tiny scrap of paper grasped in his hand.
On that paper were three English letters and eight numerical digits.
Critter had never known the meaning of the string of text ‘S’, ‘A’ and
‘O’.
***
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As the Guardians were preparing to leave, Asuna ran through their
crowd and came to the wagon behind the supply team. An
overturned silver wheelchair appeared, along with a black-haired boy
with his left hand slightly twitching, and two girls leaning towards
him.
Ronye lifted her face when she heard the footsteps. Recognizing
Asuna, her wet, teary face immediately looked ashamed, and she
cried:
“A… Asuna-sama! Kirito-senpai kept… kept wanting to go

outside… and then…”
Asuna bit her lip and nodded. She knelt in front of Kirito and
gripped his left hand with her remaining right.
“I see… Alice… was taken away by the enemy’s Emperor.

Kirito-kun must’ve felt it.”
“What?… Alice-sama was…?!”
Tiese cried in shock, her white face paling even further.
What broke this momentary silence was Kirito’s barely audible

voice.
“Ah… uh…”
His left hand stirred, trying to caress what was left of Asuna’s left
arm.
“Kirito-kun… Are you, worrying about me…?”
Asuna whispered gently. Just then, Ronye finally noticed Asuna’s

injury and screamed.
“Ah, Asuna-sama! Your arm…!!”
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“It’s okay. This is just a temporary injury for me…” she
muttered. Asuna gently lifted her left arm, of which everything below
the elbow had been cut off.
Higa Takeru had given her a very brief lecture about the
«Mnemonic Visual» technology. Although all objects were created by
The Seed program like in ALO, to Asuna and Kirito, who had dived in
with STLs, and to Artificial Fluctlights like Tiese and the others,
everything in this world was a «shared memory» loaded from the
Main Visualizer, a different reality created through the power of
imagination.
Super Account Stacia’s Life, or HP, was an astronomical number,

almost reaching the system limit. Hence, if she were attacked with a
normal weapon, even stabbed by hundreds and hundreds of swords,
her Life would still not be reduced to zero.
But when the red soldier swung down the giant battleaxe and
struck her left arm, Asuna was thoroughly and utterly terrified; she
had thought, being hit with a battleaxe this big, my arm will be cut
off, and her imagination was realized.
The same went for Kirito’s right hand. Although his Life value had
already been restored, his arm had no way of returning to normal,
because he continued to punish himself for everything.
Asuna placed her hand on her bandaged stump, concentrated her

thoughts, closed her eyes and recited to herself with fervent tenacity.
I won’t be afraid of anything anymore. Until I’ve protected Kirito-

kun and this world to the very end, I won’t lose to anyone… or
anything.
White light concentrated onto the wound with a pop. As warm

radiance silently spread, her left arm was restored.
Smiling at the two round-eyed girls who had just witnessed a
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miracle, Asuna reached out with her restored left hand and softly
hugged Kirito’s head.
“See? I’m fine. I’ll definitely save Alice and bring her back.
So… when that time comes, Kirito-kun, don’t blame yourself
anymore…”
Asuna did not know whether or not her words could reach Kirito’s
heart, but she felt that his emaciated body gradually became less
tense. Asuna continued to hug him for several seconds, then stood
up.
“We must immediately take the entire army and pursue the
enemy Emperor. Knight Commander Bercouli has already
taken the dragons after him, and we’ll be able to catch up to
them up somewhere ahead for sure. During that time, I’ll
leave Kirito-kun to you… Ronye-san, Tiese-san.”
“Y… Yes!”
“Leave him to us, Asuna-sama!”
Smiling at the two nodding girls and fighting back tears as she
entrusted Kirito to Ronye, Asuna leapt off the carriage.
As soon as she stepped onto the ground, she caught sight of a tall
swordswoman running over, who had also attended the “Memory
Exposing Competition” last night with her and Ronye. Her silver
armor was thoroughly stained with blood and dirt and her head was
wrapped in a bandage, but she did not seem heavily injured.
“It’s great that you’re all right, Sortiliena-san.”
Hearing Asuna’s voice, the swordswoman performed an

Underworld salute, and replied:
“I’m glad to see that Asuna-sama is fine as well… —It’s just

that, I have just heard that Alice-sama has been captured by
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the enemy general…”
“Yes. I was just explaining to Ronye-san that Emperor

Vector completely abandoned his own army and personally
ambushed Alice-san. I didn’t expect him to do that, either…”
“… How can this be…”
With her newly restored left hand, Asuna tightly gripped a wide-
eyed Sortiliena’s right shoulder.
“But all is not lost. Bercouli-san has already flown after

Vector with the dragons. We will pursue them as well.”
“Understood.”
They nodded to each other, and hurried towards the center of the
supply team decoy troops.
Under Integrity Knight Renri’s instruction, the Ascetic team had

finished healing all of the wounded, and the 700 Guardians had
almost completed preparations to move out. The Guardians were
smoothly lining up around the Ascetic and supply teams.
After receiving Renri’s report that preparations were complete,

Asuna issued him a new directive.
“You are the last remaining Integrity Knight, Renri. The

order to move out should be given by you, the commander.”
“Y… Yes, I understand.”
The young knight’s expression was somewhat anxious, but he

nodded resolutely, raised his right hand high into the air, and
shouted orders in a carrying voice.
“Alice-sama has kindly protected us all in the battle at the

Eastern Gate! It’s now our turn to fight for her! We shall take
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her back from the enemy, and return to the Human Empire
together!”
“OH!!” Vigorous cries arose. Renri nodded, and sharply swung his
right arm down.
“— All units, advance!”
Renri led the troops at the very front from his own dragon,
Kazenui. He was followed by 400 Guardians, on horses or on foot,
and the eight wagons loaded with supplies and a backup team of 300
began to move as well.
Only one dragon — Integrity Knight Sheyta’s dragon, stayed its

ground obstinately and did not move. With scales as grayish-white as
its owner’s hair, the dragon screeched kuurrr once it was freed from
its reins, then flapped its wings and flew north — towards the
battlefield south of the valley, where its owner had stayed behind.
In front of the wagons, Asuna thought as she shook back and forth
on the horse with Sortiliena:
The final enemy is Emperor Vector.
His true identity was that of a person also from the real world, who
existed here in the form of a virtual being. That was why, even if she
had to go down with him, she must defeat him. For those who stayed
behind to take on the red soldiers’ attack: Knight Sheyta, the one-
eyed Fist Fighter Chief, and the 4,000 Fist Fighters.
A few minutes later, the troops emerged from the withered forest
and entered the immense mortar-shaped basin. A thin road cut
straight through the crater-like ground, leading southwards.
According to RPG convention, the end of such a road would be a

special location, such as a city or ruins. Yet she had heard that the
southern area of the Dark Territory was not occupied by any of the
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demihumans. In other words, this road ended at the «World End
Altar», and Emperor Vector was somewhere on it with Integrity
Knight Alice.
Emperor Vector’s dragon and Bercouli’s dragons in hot pursuit

were all out of sight. However, 700 Human Empire soldiers still
advanced along the road as quickly as they could; the ground
rumbled with their footsteps.
Clearing the edge of the crater, charging downhill— just as the

entire decoy unit reached the bottom.
Something was trembling.
Vvvvvv… m. A rumbling like the wings of an insect.
“…?”
Asuna looked up, left and right, and behind her.
Just as she looked straight ahead, she finally discovered the source
of the noise.
Red, thin lines.
Hundreds of randomly flashing, tiny strings of text, falling out of

the sky straight to the ground.
“……… No way………”
Asuna’s lips trembled, a broken voice leaking out.
— No way. Stop. No more…
But.
Zaaaa — !!
The roar of an explosion like torrential rainfall. Falling lines
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branched left and right, dropping in a downpour. They formed a high
density screen along the edge of the crater, completely blocking the
troops’ path.
Despite having just declared that she would not be afraid anymore,
Asuna’s feet still instantly lost their strength.
What appeared where the lines landed were the brutal, ferocious
soldiers clad in that blood-red armor — VRMMO players summoned
from the real world.
“All… All units, do not stop!! Attack!! Attack — !!”
Integrity Knight Renri issued a clear order from the very front. The
disturbed Human Empire Army regained order with a warcry: Uooo!
and picked up their pace. The troops sprinted up the crater’s incline.
But, as if they had been anticipating this maneuver, the newly-

appeared soldiers seemed to all have been placed on the south side
of the crater, with the ones blocking their way numbering a
thousand… no, nearly two thousand.
Shall I risk being logged out and use Stacia’s Geographical

Manipulation again? If she wasn’t careful, however, it could backfire
and impede the advancement of the Human Empire Army.
In the next instant, Asuna’s puzzlement was shattered by a

dragon’s roar.
From the very front line, Knight Renri’s dragon Kazenui was
spewing scorching flames, and had charged ahead without looking
back.
“No… Renri-sama is sacrificing himself to open a path…”
As though he heard Sortiliena’s pained moan from beside Asuna,

Renri slowly turned around from atop the dragon’s back.
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— Please take care of the rest.
The boy’s lips mouthed.
Then, the charging knight drew the two boomerang-like weapons

from his waist, and held them at the ready.
Just before he threw them forward.
The color of the sky above the crater suddenly changed.
A cross-shaped rift tore apart the Dark Territory’s blood-red sky,

from which Asuna caught a glimpse of an infinite blue behind it, clear
as azure.
Whether it was the numerous crimson soldiers who seemed ready

to charge down, the suicidally advancing Human Empire soldiers, or
even Knight Renri charging at the very front, all lifted their heads
together, looking into the sky like Asuna.
The boundless heavens, seemingly reaching into the universe.
From beyond, a bright white star descended.
No, it was a person. Clad in armor of the same azure as the sky,
and a skirt as white as the clouds, with violently flapping short hair
the color of water. The source of the blinding white light was the
giant longbow in their left hand. Their face was imperceptible against
the reflection.
— Who…? Who, are you?
As though in response to Asuna’s silent demand, the one floating in

the sky pointed the longbow into the heavens. Their right hand
gripped the dazzling bowstring, and forcefully drew it all the way
back.
With a stunning flash, an arrow of light shining pure white
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appeared between the bow and the string.
Both the Human Empire Army and the red soldiers had stopped
dead, all seeming to forget how to speak in this instant, completely
silent. The only sound heard was Sortiliena’s low voice:
“……… Solus-sama…?”
As though answering this call, the dazzling arrow of light shot

vertically into the sky.
It instantly split and spread in all directions.
As they turned at acute angles, they transformed into white-hot

lasers and poured down towards the ground.
The words of Guardian Leader Sortiliena Serlut were only half

correct.
Above the crater, a real world person appeared, no, logged in with
Super Account 02, «Solus, Goddess of the Sun».
This account had been given the default ability «wide-ranged

annihilatory attack».
***
Sinon/Asada Shino looked down upon the immense destruction she

had wreaked, and recalled the explanation that the technician called
Higa had given her over the intercom.
“Um, Sinon-san, although the Super Accounts are really

strong, they’re not miracle workers. Since they’re prepared
for times when you only have to perform large scale changes
in Underworld, we tried our best to configure them to fit a
range acceptable to the inhabitants within.”
“So… are you saying that they’re not GMs5, just very
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strong PCs6?”
Sinon spoke into the microphone as she lay on the giant STL
machine resembling the First Generation Fulldive experimental
apparatus, located in the Roppongi branch of the mysterious startup
«Rath». What came as a reply was a click — apparently the sound of
someone snapping his fingers.
“Yes. Exactly. That’s why the «Solus» account you’re going

to use can’t get around Underworld’s resource boundaries
either. Any attacks with your bow must expend Spacial
Resources, no matter what. Since it has an auto-recharging
feature, it shouldn’t be exhausted during the day, but you
can’t do rapid fire.”
Just as Higa said, the light of the pure white longbow that Sinon
gripped in her left hand had weakened after that wide-ranged attack.
Although the bow had already begun to replenish its light at both
ends, another full-power attack would require a two to three minute
wait.
— No combo attacks? Hmph, perfect.
Compared to an automatic7, manuals suit me better anyway.
Sinon boasted silently, confirming that the explosive flames on the

ground had dissipated.
Along the edge of the roughly one kilometer wide crater, charred
bodies vanished one after another with a luminous effect. A single
shot had probably obliterated more than 5,000 enemy soldiers.
Luckily, they were not real Underworld people, but Americans who
had logged in from the real world just like Sinon. The players who
had believed in the existence of this closed beta and were torched
immediately upon connection must be seething right now.
In the crater’s center, the small scale troops vastly outnumbered
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by the crimson army began to advance again. Although the enemy
still numbered more than 10,000, most remained motionless out of
fear of the next shot — or rather, explosion, allowing the Human
Empire Army to break through.
Sinon gazed into the distance, verifying the Human Empire troops’
formation.
She instantly noticed the chestnut-haired girl in their ranks atop a

white horse, looking right up at her.
Sinon could not help but smile as she maneuvered the other ability
that had been bestowed upon the Solus account, «unlimited flight».
Although she was incredulous upon hearing Higa tell her “you fly
with your imagination”, when she actually took control she felt
that it wasn’t much different from the free flight in ALO. She looked
towards the carriage behind the girl, and flew towards it in a straight
line.
When the tips of her porcelain-painted boots touched the canvas

surface, she gently raised her right hand.
“Sorry for the wait, Asuna.”
As she saw Sinon’s warm smile, tears beaded in the eyes of the girl
in the pearly dress. She stood from her galloping horse, and jumped
beneath the carriage canopy:
“—— Sinonon… !!”
Asuna hugged her tightly with a strained shout.
Sinon lightly patted her best friend’s slender body, and said softly:
“You’ve worked hard. It’s okay… Leave everything else to

me.”
As she was hugged by Asuna, who was slightly taller than her, she
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pointed the 20% recharged bow directly ahead, and slightly drew
back the bowstring with her right hand.
The GM equipment given to the Solus account — the longbow

«Annihilate Ray» adjusted its power according to bowstring force, and
adjusted its attack range according to bow angle. An arrow of light,
much thinner than the one before, appeared when the bowstring was
drawn 10 centimeters back. Sinon aimed the arrow at the enemy
troops blocking the dragons running at the front.
Vishu! The faint sound of a shot.
Tilted about 20 degrees to the right, the bow shot out a ray of light
that split and landed within a 10 meter radius, creating an explosion
not inferior to that of a TOW missile8. Crimson armor was thrown
high into the air, and then disappeared. Taking advantage of the
opening, the dragons immediately charged through. The ten or so
soldiers who withstood the blast were slammed by the dragons’
heads, kicked by their huge talons, and instantly defeated.
At this point, the enemy soldiers seemed to have recovered from

the shock of the laser attack, and realized that their prey was fleeing.
Exploding with obscene curses, they dashed down the slope of the
crater like a red tsunami.
Sinon swung her bow over her arm, placed both hands on Asuna’s
shoulders, and gently separated themselves.
“Asuna. I can see the remains of something that looks like

ruins about 5 kilometers south of here. The road runs
straight through it, and several huge stone statues are lined
up on both sides. We won’t have to worry about being
surrounded by the enemy, and we can shrink the battlefield.
Let’s find a way to repel the enemy there.”
Asuna was also a battleworn warrior, and upon hearing Sinon’s

words, her eyes immediately recovered a sharp gleam. She forcefully
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wiped away her tears, and spoke:
“Got it, Sinonon… Sinon. No matter how many American

VRMMO players there are, they have no way of immediately
gathering more. If we can repel those ten or so thousand
people, the enemy will be helpless… I think.”
“Yeah, leave it to me. … Well, that’s pretty much it…”
After confirming that the very last of the Human Empire Army
troops had escaped the enemy encirclement, Sinon looked back at
her best friend.
“… Um, is Kirito…. among the troops?”
Asuna could not help but give her a bitter smile at this.
“You don’t have to be so polite about that now. Kirito-kun’s

in there.”
Asuna gestured with her right index finger at the carriage beneath
their feet.
“Oh, really. Well… I’ll go say hello to him.”
Clearing her throat, Sinon moved to the rear of the ceiling canvas
on the large carriage, and glided inside with the help of her flying
ability.
She waited for Asuna to follow suit, then turned towards the depths
of the carriage, stacked with wooden crates.
The first things that entered her sight were two otherworldly girls
in gray uniforms covered with armor. Their eyes grew wide at the
same time, and one of them uttered softly:
“S… Solus-sama…?”
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Sinon glanced at her own outfit, and replied with a shrug:
“Hello, nice to meet you. Although I look a lot like Solus,

I’m not. I’m Sinon.”
She tried her best to smile at them, but the duo only blinked in
confusion. But as they saw Asuna as well, they seemed to
understand something.
“Right, I’m a Real World person like Asuna. I’m also

Kirito’s… friend.”
“I… see.”
While the red-haired girl still looked startled, the deep brown-
haired girl wore a complicated expression, and murmured quietly:
Why are they all women?
You have no idea. Sinon chuckled bitterly in her heart as she took a
few steps into the gap that the girls parted to create.
She saw a boy in black, sitting on a plain wheelchair, hugging two

longswords in one arm.
Although she had already learned of Kirito’s state through Higa

Takeru, upon seeing his injured state in the flesh, her heart tightened
and she felt tears welling up.
“… Ah…”
Even though those empty eyes did not look at hers, his throat did
emit a small sound. Sinon fell softly to her knees before her former
enemy, comrade, and savior.
Leaning on the chair’s back and the armrests, the swordsman’s

body had become so thin and frail that she hesitated to touch him.
Sinon set her longbow on the carriage’s deck, then reached out and
wrapped both arms tightly around his emaciated frame.
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She had heard that Kirito’s soul — his Fluctlight, the «main body»
known as the core within, or his self-image, had suffered severe
damage. Higa had told her in a somber voice that there was currently
no known method of recovery.
But, Sinon closed her eyes tightly, tears streaming out as she
screamed in her heart: Well, that’s easy.
Many people have countless memories of the times with Kirito, and
strong emotions towards Kirito. They only needed to be gathered
together, bit by bit, and placed back into Kirito’s heart.
— Hey, can’t you feel it?… The you that’s inside me. Sarcastic, a
bit naughty, stubborn, naive… and stronger, kinder than anyone.
This is you, yourself.
Sinon forgot that Asuna was still gazing from behind her; she
turned her head and planted a firm kiss on Kirito’s face.
Just then —
Asada Shino was still unaware that her own emotional thoughts
had barely scratched the surface of the only possible way to revive
Kirigaya Kazuto’s soul.
Had she possessed ample knowledge of Underworld and

Fluctlights’ structure, it would be possible for her to solve that
method. But the explanation given to Sinon before she dived in only
consisted of the current situation and how to use the Solus account.
That was why Sinon did not bother to consider the reason behind
Kazuto’s slight trembling and subtle rise in body temperature, which
occurred when her lips touched him.
Sinon quickly released Kirito’s body, stood up, and turned to the
three watching from behind.
“Don’t worry, Kirito will definitely make a speedy recovery.

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When we truly need him.”
Asuna and the two girls nodded tearfully.
“Well… I’ll fly to the ruins in the south to confirm the

geography. I’ll leave Kirito to you guys.”
Having said that, Sinon turned towards the carriage rear–
Suddenly, Asuna tightly seized her shoulder.
Seeing the urgent gleam in her eyes, Sinon swallowed

involuntarily.
“A… Asuna, what…”
Sinon thought that Asuna was going to interrogate her about

stealing a kiss with Kirito, but naturally, this was not the case —
“H-Hey, Sinon, did you say you were going to fly?! You…
can fly?!”
At this critical question, Sinon nodded confusedly.
“Y… Yes. They told me it was a default ability of the Solus

account. I heard that it doesn’t have a time limit…”
“Then we aren’t the ones in need of help! Alice… Go after

Alice, she’s been abducted by the Emperor!!”
The situation that Asuna explained afterwards was more urgent

than Sinon had expected.
Integrity Knight Alice, the key to everything, had been captured by

Emperor Vector, who was diving with a Super Account just like them,
and was currently flying towards the faraway south on a dragon. The
only one currently in pursuit was a swordsman called Bercouli, the
Knight Commander.
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“Going up against a Super Account, even for the Knight
Commander, is too much for him. If we can’t save Alice
before the Emperor reaches the «World End Altar», this entire
world will be destroyed! Please, Sinon, go help Bercouli-san!”
After everything had been finally cleared up and she had carved
Knight Commander Bercouli’s appearance into her mind, Sinon flew
from the carriage and shot into the sky.
The 700-strong Human Empire Army was advancing south with a

dust cloud.
Chasing furiously after them from the north, the red army seemed
to consist of 20 times more people.
— I’ll come back as soon as I grab Alice. Do your best until then,
Asuna.
Calling to her best friend in her heart, Sinon spurred her

imagination to accelerate southwards. She became a white-tailed
meteor, tearing across the crimson sky.
Looking down upon the forever sprawling dark wilderness, Sinon

suddenly remembered:
Come to think of it —
Where’s Leafa, who should have logged in at the same time as she
had?
Close behind the Human Empire Army led by Integrity Knight Renri
was the second batch of inserted American players.
Far north, on the south side of the valley created by Asuna, Iskahn
and the Fist Fighters’ Guild, along with Integrity Knight Sheyta, were
still locked in a desperate battle with the rest of the crimson army
that still numbered more than ten thousand.
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And even further north of this battlefield —
In the wilderness on the other side of the Great Eastern Gate, now
stained with the remains of the bloodshed, stood the silhouette of a
lone demihuman.
A body wrapped in bulging steel armor. A leathery mantle

fluttering in the wind. Two thin ears drooping from both sides of a
rotund head, with a flat nose protruding outwards.
It was the Chief of the Orc Tribe, Rirupirin.
Having ordered his surviving three thousand tribal members to

standby behind, he had come to the Great Eastern Gate alone. He
had not brought even a single bodyguard, because he did not want
them to see him wavering over the ground.
After fumbling in the sand for who knows how long, Rirupirin finally
found what he was searching for: A plainly carved silver earring.
What he gently picked up and placed into his palm was the eye-
catching object that the Orc princess knight Renju had worn in her
ear, as she followed the Emperor’s orders and became a live
sacrifice.
This was the only possession she had left behind. In the wilderness,
not even a shard of armor remained, let alone the bodies of the three
thousand Orcs who had died together with the princess. The Dark
Sorceress’ abhorrent magic had completely devoured the Orcs’
bodies and equipment, transforming them into Dark Energy.
And the Sorceress D.I.L., who had enacted this cruel torture, along
with the Emperor who had given the order, were no longer here.
D, the Head of the Dark Sorceress’ Guild, had died after being
engulfed by the «Radiant Medium»’s terrifying and magnificent
counterattack, and the Emperor had flown south to pursue the
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Medium, without giving Rirupirin any new orders to move out.
The remaining three thousand Orc soldiers had no way of defeating

the Human Empire soldiers and Integrity Knights protecting the Great
Eastern Gate. The desire of the five races of the Dark Land, their
dream of conquering the Human Empire, had collapsed.
— If that was the result.
Why?
Why had Rirupirin’s childhood friend Renju, the three thousand

Orcs sacrificed alive, and the two thousand Orcs battling at the Gate,
died? What did their deaths bring to the Dark Land?
No answer. Nothing at all.
Just because of their inferior appearance, five thousand tribesmen

died in vain, just like that.
Rirupirin hugged the earring in his fist to his chest, and knelt
wretchedly on the ground. A raging, melancholic, crushing sorrow
flooded his heart — when they melted into tears and sobs —
At that moment.
A gaton came from behind.
The Orc chief stood up and spun his head around, startled, then
saw, fallen on the ground and creasing her brows, a human woman.
Bright golden hair and pure white skin, wearing a grassy-colored
outfit and shining armor… not someone from the Dark Land, but
surely a Human Empire girl.
Instead of shock at her sudden appearance, or fury at seeing a

human, the first thing that Rirupirin felt was a shame that said,
“don’t look at me”.
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Because the girl before him was simply too beautiful.
She was definitely the first young female white Ium he had seen
close-up, and was so different from the tall, rough-boned, ashy-
skinned females of the Dark Land that he thought she looked almost
to be from a different species. Her hands and feet looked so fragile
that they might snap at the slightest touch, her hair still gleaming
under the weak sun, her large eyes looking straight ahead
dumbfoundedly, like crystal-clear emeralds.
Rirupirin cursed himself for having such awestruck thoughts about

the beauty of this weak race.
At the same time, he was scared that the girl’s eyes might fill with
revulsion.
“Dun’… Dun’ look!! Dun’ look a’ me!!”
He shouted as he blocked his face with his left fist, clutching the
hilt of his sword with his right.
Before she could scream, he would cut her head off.
As he prepared to draw his sword, Rirupirin felt the earring gripped

in his left hand pierce his palm. A feeling like he was being held back
by Renju made him stop his movements, and then he heard a
surprising sound — or voice.
“Err… Good afternoon. Good morning, perhaps?”
Standing up swiftly and patting down her shorts, the girl smiled
gently.
Hiding behind the shadow of his fist, Rirupirin watched in surprise

and blinked several times.
There was not a sliver of revulsion or scorn in the girl’s eyes, not
even fear. To white Ium children, the Orcs of the Dark Territory were
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supposed to be man-eating spirits.
“W… Why?”
The words that leaked out of his mouth sounded desperate,

completely uncharacteristic for one of the ten Lords of the Dark Land.
“Why aren’t ya runnin’ away? Why aren’t ya screamin’? Yer

jus’ a hooman, why?”
The girl looked surprised and perplexed.
“Why… Because.”
Then, as if affirming that the world is flat and the sky is red, she
continued matter-of-factly:
“You’re a human too, aren’t you?”
In that instant, Rirupirin could not understand why his spine

trembled. Gripping the hilt of his sword, the demihuman chief spoke
in a panting voice:
“H… Hooman? Me? What kinda stupid stuff is that? You can
tell jus’ by lookin’ a’ me! I’m an Orc! An Orc called a pigman
by ya Iums!!”
“But, you’re still a human, though.”
Placing her hands on her slender hips, the girl sounded like a
parent teaching her child.
“See, we can talk to each other. Other than that, what

more do you need?”
“Wha’… more…”
Rirupirin couldn’t retort anymore. The confident words spoken by
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the green-eyed girl were too abnormal to the Orc chief who had lived
with burning inferiority and resentment towards humans.
… If you can talk, you’re a human?
Is that the only requisite of being a “human”? Goblins, Ogres, and

Giants could all speak languages. But the four races that included the
Orcs had been called “demihumans” ever since the beginning of
the Dark Territory, strictly divided from the humans.
Rirupirin could only breathe roughly as he stood there

dumbfounded. With a “Let’s not worry about that yet”, the girl
swept his shock and chaos aside as she surveyed their surroundings.
“… Where… is this?”
***
Leafa/Kirigaya Suguha noticed that she had apparently appeared

far away from her original login coordinates, and looked towards that
ominous, red tinted sky.
Since hearing that the STL Unit 6 she was using was a new
machine that hadn’t even been taken out of its PVC wrapping after
being moved in, she had felt uneasy. Suguha never competed with
newly purchased shinai, and likewise, she never trusted newly
unpackaged electronic devices. Because somehow, she’d always had
an abnormally high chance of getting defective electronic hardware.
When she had logged in, like Sinon, who entered with STL
Prototype Unit 1, her location should have been set to where Asuna
was dived in, but since she could see neither of the two, something
had certainly happened before she arrived. But that didn’t mean that
this desolate place was completely empty; before her stood a single
rotund, pig-faced humanoid — in other words, an «Orc».
According to the color cursor that was only effective for an instant
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after diving in, this Orc should not belong to her current enemy —
the American VRMMO players, but he was an “Artificial Fluctlight”
living in Underworld, the “bottom-up” artificial intelligence that Yui
had described.
After hearing Yui’s explanation about the people of Underworld,

Leafa was determined not to draw her sword against them unless
absolutely necessary.
That was obvious — how could she kill the “humans” that her
brother Kirito wished to protect? If an Artificial Fluctlight died in this
world, their soul would be completely destroyed, unable to be
revived.
Furthermore —
Even for Leafa, who was already familiar with ALO’s top-notch
graphics, the complexity of this Orc’s model, which also existed
inside much of The Seed Nexus, was shocking. The twitches and
breaths of his great pinkish nose, the texture of the metallic armor
that wrapped around his giant frame and its leathery mantle, and
most of all, his two beady black eyes and the richness of his
expression were even more proof of the unquestionable, true
presence of the soul living within him.
She had asked this Orc, who timidly turned his face away for some
reason, about their surroundings, yet had not received an immediate
answer. Deciding to start with a more present issue, Leafa raised
another question.
***
“Well… What’s your name?”
Taken aback, the Orc chief uttered a reflexive, unconscious answer

to the white Ium girl’s second inquiry. Maybe his name was the only
thing he didn’t hate about himself.
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“I… I’m, Rirupirin.”
He immediately regretted saying it. Because before, when he

traveled to Imperial City Obsidia for the first time, the human knights
and sorcerers had burst into laughter upon hearing the name
Rirupirin.
But, the girl only smiled innocently, without any kind of hidden
emotion, and repeated Rirupirin’s name in a clear voice:
“Rirupirin… What a great name. I’m Leafa. It’s nice to meet

you, please take care of me.”
Then, she performed an bewildering action for the umpteenth time.
She extended her soft, white, right hand straight out.
Shaking hands — of course he knew about this habit. It was

common among Orcs as well. But he had never heard of an Ium
shaking hands with an Orc.
— What the hell is with this person? Is this a trap, or some

Sorceress’s magic? Have I fallen for a Bewitching Art without
realizing it?
Staring at that small, outstretched hand, Rirupirin could only moan

without moving. The girl watched Rirupirin for nearly ten seconds,
then let her hand fall with slight disappointment. Seeing her like that,
he felt a stabbing pain in his heart for some reason.
If he kept talking to the girl… No, just looking at her, he didn’t

know what would happen to his brain. Rirupirin had decided he did
not want to kill this puny human before him anymore, but to find
another solution that did not require brainpower, he spoke:
“Yer… a Guardian of the Hooman Empire army, no, a

knight. I wanna take ya prisoner. Take ya ta the Emperor!”
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Even though she was young, the armor she wore and the long
sword equipped at her left waist were unlike anything given to a
soldier, no matter how he looked at them. Their intricate designs and
gleaming material were likely of much higher grade than Rirupirin’s
equipment.
The girl did not show a trace of fear at Rirupirin’s roar, as though
she was thinking about something, then finally shrugged and asked:
“The Emperor you’re talking about is Dark God Vector,

right?”
“Y… Yeah.”
“Got it. Okay then. Take me to the Emperor.”
She nodded, brought her hands together, and stuck them out. This
was very clearly not a gesture to shake hands, but one encouraging
him to tie her up.
— What the hell is she thinking?
Rirupirin took a sash from his belt, and roughly — but a bit loosely,
tied the girl’s wrists. After pulling on the end of the rope to tighten it,
he remembered that the Emperor was no longer at the army
encampment of the Dark Land.
But, if he continued to think about complicated things, his brain

would be fried. Even if the Emperor wasn’t there, there was still that
Dark Knight aide with the disgusting expression, or someone like the
Commerce Guild leader Lengil who would know what to do.
A few seconds after he turned, he began to walk as he pulled on

the sash with slight care.
Suddenly, a thick black haze appeared around him. A revolting

smell pierced his nose. Everything instantly became invisible, and
Rirupirin scanned his surroundings on alert.
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“Ah…?!”
That short, surprised utterance was without doubt from that girl
who called herself Leafa.
Flicking his head around, Rirupirin saw an arm sticking out from
deep within the thick fog and pulling violently at Leafa’s tied hair.
Then, the owner of the hand appeared out of the haze.
The woman who should have died — Dark Sorceress’ Guild Leader
D.I.L. stood there, her lips curved in a cruel smile.
***
Why can’t I catch up to him?
Bercouli, the leader of the Integrity Knights, felt as surprised as he

was desperate.
His three dragons had been in pursuit for more than two hours.
They had flown over the forest, where the Human Empire Defense
army was camping, and the wide circular depression, passed through
the ruins lined with strange, giant statues, and burst into the
uncharted southern region of the Dark Territory, but the distance
between them showed no signs of decreasing. Having abducted his
beloved apprentice Integrity Knight Alice, Emperor Vector’s dragon
still remained a miniscule black dot on the distant horizon.
The Emperor and Alice were riding together on a single dragon.
Conversely, Bercouli continuously switched between Hoshigami,

Amayori, and Takiguri, trying his best to minimize their fatigue. In
theory, he should have caught up by now.
Why can’t he catch up then? Is the Emperor able to freely control

his dragon’s Life?
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Impossible. Not even the Highest Minister Administrator could
control Life as she wanted, that should be the greatest taboo.
Of course, he couldn’t fly indefinitely. He had to let his dragon rest

at least twice before reaching the «World End Altar» at the
southernmost edge of the Dark Territory. But Bercouli’s dragons also
needed to rest. Since their speed was equal, he would never be able
to close their distance.
It — won’t end.
Bercouli was unable to use an Art that could reach all the way to
the horizon. To break this current situation, the only possibility was to
—
The Knight Commander gently caressed his beloved sword at his

left waist with his right hand.
A reliable, gritty, ice-cold feel. But just from its touch, he could feel
that its Life was far from completely replenished. The extensive
Armament Full Control Art he had used at the Great Eastern Gate had
expended more than he had expected.
The tactic that Bercouli was about to use, the ultimate pinnacle of
the Divine Instrument «Time Piercing Sword», would expend an
astronomical amount of Life.
He could use it only once. And the strike had to be more precise
than threading a needle in order to hit its target.
Bercouli gently caressed Takiguri’s neck, and leapt lightly beside it

onto Hoshigami’s back.
Even if he wasn’t holding its reins, he passed his consciousness to

his partner who had fought alongside him over the years, and
carefully adjusted his altitude.
He aimed at the black dot like a grain of sand on the far off
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horizon.
Although he very much wanted to aim at the Emperor himself, at

this distance he could not even see his silhouette, so the risk of
missing was too high. He must see through his movements, and
concentrate all of his energy on one wing of his dragon.
Standing straight up on his stirrups, Bercouli slowly moved his right

hand and drew his longsword, forged entirely from a single material,
out from its worn leather sheath.
The blade he held to the right of his body emitted a weak glow.
The Recollection Release Art directly activated without an incantation
and the longsword swayed like steam, drawing innumerable
afterimages behind it with the dragon’s advance.
The Knight Commander looked steely as the corner of his mouth

twitched, gently apologizing to the innocent dragon.
Then, narrowing his pale blue eyes — Bercouli, the world’s eldest
knight, uttered a sharp cry.
“Time Piercing Sword — Unseen Slash!!”
With a heavy zoom, he swung the blade down heavily but

surprisingly quickly. Countless blue afterimages flashed along in the
direction of the slash, then disappeared one by one.
Far off in the distance, the left wing of the black dragon ridden by
Emperor Vector was silently severed off from its roots.
***
“It smells… I can smell it… So sweet is the fragrance of

Life…”
Clasping the human girl’s hair and lifting her entire body up,
D.I.L.’s lips emitted a fractured voice.
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Rirupirin could only watch dumbly at the Dark Sorceress, whom no
matter how much he hated, it still didn’t feel enough.
Her dark skin, once gleaming with the sheen of fragrant oil, and
her once magnificent black curls, were now in a horrible state. Her
entire body was utterly covered in wounds seeping blood nonstop,
incurred from sharp blades. With D’s every move, a few wounds
would split open, spurting more blood. But the black haze
surrounding the Sorceress would quickly gather around the wound,
secrete a nauseating smell, and stem the blood flow.
The source of the smoke was a small leather pouch hanging from
D’s waist. Upon closer inspection, when the pouch was open, strange
insect-like things would occasionally poke their heads out to spray
the thick fog. It must be a Dark Art that inhibited Life decrease.
Glancing at Rirupirin, who had pinched his nose out of disgust, the
corners of D’s mouth lifted.
“What excellent prey. I commend you, pig. As a reward, I’ll

show you something nice.”
Right after she said that —
D slid her talon-like right finger into the girl’s collar, who made a
pained expression as her hair was hoisted further up.
With a relentless noise, the silver armor and light grass-colored

shirt were suddenly torn apart and fell to the ground.
As the pure white skin on her upper body was exposed, the girl’s
face contorted even further. Watching her, D panted sadistically and
revealed a wild grin.
“How is it? It’s your first time seeing a human woman’s

body, is it? This might be too tempting for a pig! But the
show’s just getting started…!!”
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The five digits on D’s right hand suddenly began to wriggle and
writhe like they had suddenly lost their bones.
Somehow, her fingers had already transformed into glistening,

slippery worms. At their ends, concentric circles of thin, saw-like
mouths opened wide, writhing disgustingly.
“Watch…!!”
As D shouted, her five fingers — no, five long worms stretched far
beyond their original length and wrapped around the girl’s upper
body. They not only stopped her from moving; the ends raised their
sickle-shaped necks — and stabbed into her skin.
“AH…!!”
Blood spurted in all directions as the girl called Leafa screamed,

her green eyes wide. She tried to peel off the worms with her hands,
but her upper body was entangled and her wrists were tied up by
Rirupirin’s sash.
The blood flow from her five wounds suddenly seemed to stop, but
the reality was different. Rirupirin realized that the worms on D’s
right hand were emitting swallowing sounds; they were drinking her
blood.
The Dark Sorceress lifted her head and began to recite a shrill
incantation.
“System call!! Transfer human unit durability… Right to

Self!!”
Pop, blue light burst from the girl’s wounds. Then, as if

synchronizing with the flow of blood, it was sucked into D’s hand
through the worms. The girl’s torment intensified, and her thin body
arched backward as though it were about to snap in half.
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“Ah… Powerful… Powerful!! How rich… and sweet!!”
A piercing screech shattered Rirupirin’s eardrums.
This pain jolted the Orc chief back to his senses, and he shouted as
if panting:
“Wha’… Wha’ are ya doing!! This girl is my prisoner!! I

wanna take ‘er ta the Emperor!!”
“Shut up, you stupid pig!!”
D screamed arrogantly, her eyes bloodshot.
“Have you forgotten that the Emperor has given all

operational command to me?! My will is the Emperor’s will!!
My command is the Emperor’s command!!”
Gu. Rirupirin was at a loss for words.
Hadn’t this operation ended in failure a long time ago? He wanted

to retort. But the Emperor had disappeared from the battlefield
without giving any orders. Now, there was no one to overturn D’s
perspective of her “power”.
As Rirupirin watched, dumbstruck, the girl emitted silent screams

and her movements began to weaken. On the other hand, the
countless wounds on D’s skin began to adhere together, bit by bit,
and close.
“Uh… Gurgh…”
Crushing noises came from his clenched teeth.
To Rirupirin, the girl having her Life slowly absorbed, overlapped

with the silhouette of the princess general who had died as a
sacrifice.
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The light slowly vanished from the girl’s eyes. Her skin had gone
from white to pale, and her hands fell powerlessly to her side. But the
tentacles on D’s right hand still writhed hungrily, intending to suck
out every last drop of her blood.
Die… She will die.
This rare prisoner.
No, the first human who was neither afraid of nor disdainful
towards him.
Just then —
An unthinkable phenomenon, or rather, a miracle occurred.

Rirupirin’s eyes widened involuntarily.
The ground.
The jet black, charcoal-like desert ground of the Dark Territory,

below the suspended girl, began radiating green.
What looked like very soft grass, which was unseen except in rare
places, shot up from the ground, and innumerable flowers in all sorts
of colors began blooming in every direction. The fragrance of flowers
carried in the wind, and even the blood-red sunlight had changed to
a warm cream color.
This scene, teeming with life, spun around and was instantly
absorbed into the girl’s body.
Her pale skin immediately regained its color, and her eyes shone
once more.
As the sudden illusion disappeared, Rirupirin realized that the girl’s

Life had already completely recovered. An inexplicable relief flooded
his heart.
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But it was immediately shattered.
“Unbelievable… It’s coming out… It’s seeping out again!!”
D screeched, her wounds seemingly completely healed as well.
She released her right hand from clasping the girl’s hair, and the
fingers on that hand also transformed into ugly worms.
With corpulent, sticky sounds, the five newly generated tentacles

pierced the girl’s skin.
“… AHH…!!”
D’s guffaws completely drowned out the girl’s thin screams.
“AHAHAHAHA!! AH — HAHAHAHAHA!! Mine! It’s MINE — !!”
***
— I have to endure this.
Suffering an excruciating pain she had never felt before either in

the real world or ALO, Leafa could only repeat this to herself.
Before she dived, she heard the explanation of Super Account 03

«Terraria, Goddess of the Earth»’s powers.
Unlimited automatic recovery. Automatically absorbing energy

from the wide space around her, to recover her own durability or that
of any static or animated object. According to that technician named
Higa, her already vast HP level, together with that power, made it
virtually impossible for her to die from HP loss.
That was why Leafa had decided to risk being captured to

challenge Dark God Vector, and simultaneously chose not to draw
her sword against the people of Underworld.
The woman tormenting her now was an Underworld resident like
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Rirupirin — an Artificial Fluctlight. If she was slashed with a sword,
her soul would be completely destroyed. Without knowing how she
had gotten wounded and why she wanted to recover, Leafa could not
battle her.
Ahh — but.
Putting aside the shame of having her clothes torn off, the pain of
her Life being drained was indescribable.
Was this truly a virtual feeling separate from her real, physical
body?
***
“… Stop.”
Rirupirin was unable to immediately realize that the word had

come from his own mouth.
But then, very clearly this time, his mouth moved, and his throat
vibrated.
“Stop!”
Her pupils shrinking to the size of pinholes, D’s eyes cast a scornful
glare. Enduring the chill welling from his stomach, the Orc chief
continued:
“Isn’t yer Life not fully restored a’ready? Ya dun need ta

get any more from that Ium’s body!”
“… Whaaat now? Giving orders to me…?”
D spoke softly, sounding like an off-key song.
Suddenly, the ten tentacles began to wriggle more intensely,

forcefully pinching the girl’s skin, rapaciously sucking blood. The Dark
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Sorceress’s skin had already completely regenerated to an oily shine,
and her hair was even longer and richer than before.
Not only that, the superfluous Life molded into blue particles and
spread into the air from her body. Yet D showed no sign of stopping
the torture, remaining wrapped around the girl, who was much
smaller than her, from behind.
“I’ve said it before, pig. This prisoner is mine now. No

matter how much Life I absorb, how much I abuse her in front
of you, pig, or even if I kill her right here and now, it’s got
nothing to do with you, does it?”
Kuku, kukuku. A leaden cackle came from her throat.
“But, yes, sure. You discovered her, so I should defer to

you, shouldn’t I? Then… take all of your clothing off now.”
“Wha’… Wha’re ya sayin’…”
“Ever since a long time ago, seeing your poser armor and
mantle has made me want to vomit. You’re just a pig, yet you
dress like a man. If you go completely nude here, crawl on all
fours, and grunt a bit for me, perhaps I’ll return this girl to
you.”
Gu.
Suddenly, a portion of the right half of his vision flashed red.

Simultaneously, a pain, like being stabbed with an iron needle, came
from his right eye.
— Just a pig.
— Like a man.
D’s words overlapped with this Leafa girl’s words.
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— You’re a human, aren’t you?
— Other than that, what more do you need?
He could not let D kill this girl. No, he did not want her to die. For
this… For this.
Rirupirin’s trembling hands found the button on his leather mantle.

Buchi, he tore it off.
Stepping on his coiled coat, Rirupirin moved his hand towards the
leather belt securing his armor together.
Suddenly, a weak voice was heard.
“… Don’t.”
His head jerked up, and his eyes met with Leafa’s, who was staring
at him.
Her teary emerald eyes swivelled back and forth.
“I’m… fine. So, don’t… do it.”
Her voice could not hold until the end. D suddenly bit softly into
the girl’s face.
“If you keep saying these useless things, I’ll bite off this
cute face of yours. We’ve already entered the good part. Hey,
what’s the matter, pig. Take it off. Or are you getting excited
from human nudity?”
Kyahahahaha. Her noisy cackling had no end.
His hand, gripping his armor’s belt, began to tremble.
He didn’t care at all about the pain in his right eye. After all,
compared to the anger and humiliation filling his heart, this pain was
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nothing.
“I’m… I’m… I’m…”
Suddenly, something gushed from both of his eyes, running down

both cheeks. The droplets falling on the left were clear, but those on
the right side were dyed crimson.
His right hand slowly released the belt — and moved towards the
hilt of the large blade on his left waist.
“I’m, a human!!”
As he shouted, an agony he had never felt before attacked his eye,

and it ruptured in its socket.
Through his halved vision, Rirupirin accurately found D’s silhouette.

Her sadistic cackle ceased, and her mouth dropped open.
With all his might, Rirupirin swung his blade towards D’s
unprotected legs.
But — since he had just lost an eye, his perception was thrown off.
The tip of his sword just missed D’s right calf. Rirupirin’s body lost
balance and his left shoulder collapsed onto the ground.
Lifting his head, he saw D.I.L. pouting, her expression now fierce.
“This stinking pig… dares to harm me…!”
She flung the girl’s body behind her, and raised her tentacle hands.
With rough sounds, they suddenly transformed into ten sharp,
gleaming black blades.
“I’ll slice you into mincemeat, and mix you into boar
feed!!”
The Orc chief only waited for the moment that the blades on both
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sides swung down.
Thump.
Thump.
Two feeble sounds were heard at the same time. D’s movements
stopped cold.
Stunned, Rirupirin saw that both of the Sorceress’s arms had

fractured at their roots and fallen to the ground with dull thuds.
D’s expression was also one of shock. The tall woman slowly
turned around, blood pouring from her shoulders like waterfalls.
Leafa’s radiant white features entered Rirupirin’s sight.
Compared to her slender frame that was rather lacking in muscle,

her long blade that looked very difficult to control swung straight
ahead. Although both her wrists were tied, this girl had, without a
doubt, been the one who cut D’s arms off.
D croaked in a shriveled voice:
“A human… helping a pig, slashing another human…?”
Watching the Dark Sorceress shake her head back and forth in
disbelief, Leafa replied:
“No. I’m only cutting evil to save another person.”
She briskly raised her long sword into a daijodan stance.
Hya-ka!
The girl slashed down from an incredible distance.
How — graceful.
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Her movements had no unnecessary force, yet were surprisingly
quick, and her technique was paramount.
Once more, Rirupirin felt tears — of emotion, this time. As he

watched, D.I.L., the strongest Sorceress in the Dark Land and the
strongest among the Ten Lords, was completely, and silently,
severed in half.
Gabriel Miller watched indifferently as the black dragon beat its

single wing, landed softly, uttered a soft cry, and expired.
The moment his eyes left it, everything related to the dragon’s
existence was completely purged from his thoughts and memories.
He surveyed his surroundings without changing his expression.
The crash site was a region with numerous cylindrical stone pillars.
The pillar he had landed on the center of the area was about 100
yards9 tall and 30 yards10 wide.
Jumping down would be too impulsive. He was still very unfamiliar

with the magic in this world, which synthesized and controlled
elements, and he could not leave the Radiant Medium Alice currently
lying unconscious at his feet.
If he had some strong ropes, anchors, and carabiners, even in the

real world, Gabriel could easily rappel down a wall of this height. But
there was no need for that now, since the enemy who had somehow
brought him down was now rapidly approaching from the north with
three dragons. He would simply deal with the enemy, take over a
new dragon’s AI, and continue south.
Gabriel lifted his head and gazed straight above. The virtual sun
floating in the red sky had reached a suitable height.
There was not much time left before Critter accelerated the time
again. Could the American closed beta testers, numbering at least
50,000, wipe out the Human Empire Army before they were forcibly
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ejected due to the acceleration? With less than 1,000 left, the Human
Empire Army could not possibly resist.
As for uncertainties, there were only the Integrity Knights, who

were ravaging the Dark Territory army one by one. But one of them,
Alice, had already fallen into his hands, and her approaching pursuer
was probably a Knight as well, so there were only one or two of them
left in the northern battlefield.
As soon as Gabriel determined that the complications were almost

resolved, he finally turned towards Integrity Knight Alice, who lay
beside him.
Absolutely — beautiful.
So beautiful that the excitement squirming deep down is just

unstoppable.
Gabriel was a bit perplexed: should he remove her armaments

before she woke up, and carefully incarcerate her? That would be the
logical decision, but an enemy was approaching and it was difficult to
find the determination to hastily deal with this stunning girl.
He would wait for the acceleration and take his time. Even for so
much as undoing a buckle on her armor, he would do it gracefully,
seriously, and symbolically.
“… Sweet dreams for now, Alice… Alicia.”
Whispering gently to her, Gabriel walked to the center of the

cylindrical rock to engage the enemy.
Whether it was Gabriel Miller, who was using Super Account 04

«Dark God Vector», or Critter, who had discovered it, neither of them
knew one fact: Alice, the strongest knight, had fallen unconscious for
several hours from just a dragon’s kick all because of Vector’s own
ability.
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The four Super Accounts in Underworld were all created for direct
operations — miracles — on the world and its inhabitants.
Stacia, who could change the geography.
Solus, who could destroy mobile units.
Terraria, who could recover durabilities.
And Vector, who could control the residents’ Artificial Fluctlights

themselves.
Specifically, he could edit the inhabitants’ memories — the vector

data within the Fluctlights, and relocate them to faraway places, or
create new households.
Since this act was different from the other three gods and
tantamount to pillaging the inhabitants, it was difficult for him to
become a subject of worship. Hence, Vector not only possessed the
highest Priority equipment and Life, he was also under the powerful
protection of “the inability to be an Art’s target”. “Vector’s
Lost Child”, passed along in fairy tales of Underworld, was created
based on previous operations on the residents.
The combination of Dark God Vector’s power and Gabriel Miller’s

unique imagination, or Incarnation, achieved a multiplied effect that
not even the «Rath» technicians could predict.
He could absorb others’ willpower without need for Arts.
Alice’s Fluctlight was temporarily robbed of its dynamism, and

forcibly placed into a state of slumber.
Vector and Gabriel’s combined power had also engulfed Dark

General Shasta’s one-hit-kill Incarnation from before.
And now, Shasta’s longtime rival — Integrity Knight Bercouli, had

stepped onto the same road.
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***
Bercouli saw that the enemy Emperor’s dragon had crash-landed

on a tall rock that could not be immediately escaped.
He confidently shrugged off the intense fatigue caused by his

ultimate technique.
“Great… Please fly a lil’ bit more, Hoshigami, Amayori,

Takiguri!!”
As his voice rang out, the three dragons powerfully flapped their
wings and accelerated. As long as the enemy stayed there, even a
ten kilol gap would not take too long for a dragon.
In the remaining time before the battle, Bercouli began to silently

contemplate. His mind clearly recalled a dream he’d had the previous
morning.
— Have you ever had a premonition of death?
Highest Minister Administrator had asked him in his dream, and to

Bercouli, whom she had known for hundreds of years, she remained
an inscrutable existence until the very end.
After he was released from Deep Freeze and informed by Alice of

the Highest Minister’s death, he felt nothing as intense as shock and
merely sighed: Thanks for your long, hard work. It was Senate Elder
Chudelkin’s death that stunned him more.
Because of that, he had never specifically asked Alice about

Administrator’s final battle, and her scattered situation. Of course, on
one hand he was too busy with the important mission of the defense
of the Human Empire suddenly resting on his shoulders, and on the
other, he simply did not want to know — the perseverance and
desires of that silver-haired, silver-eyed demigod, and just how deep
her sins ran.
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Administrator had always been listless, inconsistent, and capricious
to Bercouli. Although he obeyed her, he certainly did not worship her
like Chudelkin had.
But —
He did not hate serving her.
“That’s right… Believe me just on that one, please.”
The oldest knight muttered, and suddenly opened his sharp eyes.
He could already clearly see Alice lying on the ground in her golden
armor, and Emperor Vector’s silhouette standing silently in front of
her like a shadow.
“Okay… Standby in the air, guys! If I fail, head back north

and join the troops!”
Signalling gently to the dragons, Bercouli leapt from Hoshigami’s

back.
***
Trailing Sinon, whose flight left a meteor’s path of light, the 700
people of the Human Empire Army desperately advanced south.
They had already slowly lost the earth-shaking crimson legion

behind. But neither the Guardians nor the war horses could keep
running indefinitely like this.
Asuna stood atop Kirito, Tiese, and Ronye’s carriage, praying as

she fixated her gaze southward.
After about twenty minutes of progress, as Sinon had said, the

outline of gigantic temple-like ruins emerged above the horizon.
There was no sign of humans, demihumans, or any large beings.
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Only decaying rock lying silently on the ground.
Spanning the straight road were two flat shrines. They were about
20 meters tall, and more than 300 meters wide. They would be more
than enough as barriers to prevent the enemy from surrounding
them.
Between the two shrines, the road continued south. It gave one the
impression of a sando11, because while it served to connect the
shrine walls, there stood some massive, uncanny statues on either
side of it.
These were not Oriental-style Buddha statues, nor were they

Western-style mythical sculptures. At best, they were square figures
slightly similar to those in the ruins of South America. All of them
were carved with round eyes and large mouths, and their stubby
arms were crossed in front of their chests.
Were these designed by Rath engineers when Underworld was

created? Or were they automatically generated by The Seed
program?
Or were they — hewn from the rocky mountains by the Dark

Territory races who once lived here…? Like, giant tomb markers
dedicated to many of the dead…?
Asuna sighed briskly, banishing these ominous thoughts.
She yelled at Knight Renri, who was leading the troops from his
dragon’s back:
“Let’s engage the enemy near the center of the road!”
A reply of “Understood!” came.
Minutes later, the troops charged swiftly along the road between
the shrines. Mammoth rectangular statues on both sides silently
looked down upon them. The horses’ hooves and soldiers’ boots
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crunched dryly upon the road, which changed from dirt to
cobblestone.
Renri directed them spiritedly, his voice cutting through the icy air:
“All right. Vanguard, part your ranks and stop! Allow the
carriage team and the support team to pass through!”
The vanguard instantly split in two, and eight carriages passed

through their cavalry, followed by the support team mainly consisting
of Ascetics. Upon reaching the very back, they halted. A strong gust
of wind blew from the giant doorway far down the road, and Asuna’s
hair billowed up.
This was the only moment of silence. The American players

pursued them with a rumbling cacophony, rustling grains of sand
from the statues.
Asuna leapt from the carriage, and spoke to the girls poking their
heads out of the canopy and the woman standing beside them:
“This is the last battle. I’ll leave Kirito-kun to you guys.”
“Yes! Leave him to us, Asuna-sama!”
“We will definitely protect him!”
“— Even if we must put our lives on the line.”
As Tiese, Ronye and Sortiliena held their fists tightly in front of

their chests, Asuna did the same and smiled faintly.
“Rest assured. I will absolutely not let the enemy reach this
place.”
A part of that was a promise to herself. Asuna gently waved her

right hand and spun around with resolve.
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Renri was currently in front of the vanguard, deftly preparing the
Guardians.
The road was about 20 meters wide. Although it was a little too
broad to defend, completely blocking it by putting the troops into a
rotation system was not impossible.
The important thing was to control the number of deaths as best

they could while carving away at the 10,000 or so enemies, as the
Ascetics continued their magic support from behind. Fortunately,
there were no signs of any magic users among the crimson soldiers.
Although the players likely had no way of picking up Underworld’s
complex command system in such a short time, this situation was,
honestly, a godsend.
If this situation were to change —
I will kill the entire enemy army myself.
Asuna inhaled deeply and concentrated that thought inside her

body, together with her commitment.
Considering Stacia’s vast quantity of Life and the Priority of her

equipment, she shouldn’t fall purely because of numerical damage.
The problem was whether or not she could withstand that harsh pain.
When pain was dealt to her heart, her virtual body would be injured,
and even if she tried as hard as she could, she would still fall into a
state in which she couldn’t even hold her sword.
Asuna closed her eyes, thinking of the injured Kirito. She imagined
the enormity of the pain and sorrow he carried.
By the time she came to the very front of the forces, not a trace of
fear was left in her heart.
The titanic confrontation, meant to be the last of its kind in this

war, unfolded under the sun at high noon.
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About twenty heavily armored American players charged onto the
sando of the ruins, seeking the realistic blood and screams as
promised by the advertisement website.
Yet what awaited them were not pitiful NPCs designed to provide
unrated entertainment, but true heroes filled with the determination
to save the world and rescue their beloved golden Integrity Knight.
Although heavily damaged, their swords still glinted with the glow of
irrepressible will, firmly enduring their enemies’ weapons, shattering
their enemies’ armor.
A lone silhouette was looking down from high above, upon the
crimson-armored players being decisively destroyed.
Tight, leather clothing that minimized reliance on metallic armor,

like a rider suit12. The gleaming leather was covered with matte
silver rivets.
The only weapon was a large dagger resembling a meat cleaver,

hanging from the left waist. The face was obscured. The body was
wrapped in a black leather raincoat-like poncho, with the hood
drooping all the way to the mouth.
The lips, warped into a sneer, were the only visible feature.
It was Vassago Casals.
After diving into Underworld once more and barely avoiding

Sinon’s sudden wide ranged laser attack, he had mixed in with the
Americans to chase the Human Empire Army. However, he did not
join the early attack, instead smoothly climbing onto the wall of the
west shrine, mounting a statue’s head from where he was able to
watch the battlefront, and deciding to enjoy the show in a premium
seat.
“Kekek, that bitch is just as relentless as before when

she’s upset. She sure kills a lot.”
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He murmured as his shoulders shook with indescribable
excitement.
Exactly as she was in Vassago’s distant memory, the girl in pearly

armor with chestnut hair flying in the wind — Asuna «The Flash» let
the rapier in her right grip gleam brilliantly.
Back then, Vassago had been in the same position, watching

Asuna’s battles while hiding from afar. He had adamantly vowed to
himself: I will finish you before the world ends.
Together with the swordsman in black, who had fought even more
fiercely by her side.
***
When he leapt from the dragon’s back, Bercouli was still nearly two
hundred mel above the ground. If he had simply plummeted straight
down like that, even he would not have been able to withstand the
impact.
But as though he were stepping down an invisible staircase, the

Knight Commander rushed down the sky in a helical motion.
With every step he took, he was actually generating a Wind

Element underfoot and immediately detonating it, using this kickback
to decrease his own momentum. Controlling Elements with both feet
was a skill he had stolen decades ago from Senate Elder Chudelkin.
Gripping the hilt of his sword, the eldest knight of this world leapt,
and leapt, into Emperor Vector’s blind spot. Vector stood at the
summit of the pillar beneath him, which bore semblance to an
artificial spire.
— Kill him in one strike.
It was Integrity Knight Bercouli’s first time reanimating such

murderous intent as when he had killed the Dark General from the
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previous two generations – more than a hundred and fifty years ago.
In these long years, never once had an enemy appeared who was
sufficient at provoking his utterly raw killing intent.
Even in his battle with that Eugeo boy, who had barged into the
Central Cathedral alone, Bercouli had fought sincerely, without even
a single trace of true murderous intent. But, if he looked at it this
way, even against the Dark Generals, his strongest enemies
throughout the years, he had never harbored such negative emotions
as rage and hatred.
In other words, this was Bercouli’s first time in his prolonged life
channeling genuine fury into his blade.
Every fiber of his being was truly furious. Furthermore, it was not
just because his opponent had captured Alice.
Coming from the outside world called the Real World, this outsider
has forced the Dark Land people onto the battlefield when they could
have achieved peace instead, and sent tens of thousands to their
deaths in vain. To Bercouli, who had protected this world for over two
hundred years, this was an absolutely unforgivable atrocity.
— Emperor Vector, I don’t know what reason you have.
But not everyone from the Real World is a demon like you. I
understood that as soon as I saw that lil’ miss named Asuna.
That means, the only thing evil beyond help, is your nature.
If so, I shall bring forth your retribution.
I shall teach you the weight of Dark General Shasta, Integrity

Knight Eldrie, and the lives of the countless humans who have
perished on this battlefield.
Now learn… from this single strike!!
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“Ze… AHH!”
Leaping ten mel into the air with his last step, the Knight
Commander swung his sword down at Emperor Vector’s unprotected
head in a slash charged with all of his willpower.
The air burned, glowing white. The blade radiated a light blinding
beyond measure, causing even the world to lose its original color.
Without question, this was the strongest, most powerful strike

among all sword techniques in the history of Underworld. Its priority
was placed even above system commands as it overwrote the Main
Visualizer’s mnemonic data. In other words, for everything that was
placed in the path of this ultimate strike, all status values meant
nothing whatsoever.
Even for Super Account 04 — Emperor Vector’s practically

unlimited Life value, he would disintegrate if he were hit by this
strike.
If he were hit, that is.
Even when faced with the fatal meteorite about to plummet onto
his head, Vector’s face was devoid of emotion.
The speed of that strike was so fast that one could only stare
motionlessly at it. The attack came in a mere instant; no matter how
fast one’s reaction was, they ought to be unable to deal with it in
time.
But in that instant, Vector’s body, wrapped in black crystalline

armor, silently slid out of the way.
In the only direction to avoid the attack path, sliding just far
enough to evade the strike.
Bercouli’s blade could only reach the red mantle flowing in the
wind. The instant it came into contact with the sword, the thick fur
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pelt disintegrated into countless grains of dust.
Zugaaaaang!! With a thunderous noise, a deep, straight wound

was carved into the solid rock. The entire mammoth peak trembled,
and pieces of rock tumbled down the edges.
— He evaded that?
Although dumbfounded, Bercouli did not hesitate to move for even

an instant. Through long years of battle experience, he had long
learned not to stop and think under unexpected circumstances.
He took a final step on air, slid to the Emperor’s flank, and landed.
Immediately, he threw out a horizontal slash. Barely half a second
had passed since the failure of his fully concentrated strike.
Yet Vector even evaded this second attack.
His body was like black smoke blown away in the wind, effortlessly
sliding out of reach without any sort of preparation at all. The sword
tip grazed his armor’s surface, and sparks flew into the air.
However.
This time, Bercouli was finally certain of his victory.
His full-power attack from before had missed, but its strength had
not dissipated. His beloved sword’s Armament Full Control Art, «Time
Piercing Sword, Empty Slash»— an ability to slash the future, had
already been activated. It was an ultimate technique that would
leave its power along the path of the slash, killing any who came into
contact with the sharp blade; it had been a great torment to Eugeo
during their fight back in the Cathedral.
The Emperor’s back was pulled towards the space where there
remained an undetectable slash.
The first to go was his silky platinum hair, swirling in all directions.
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The crown atop his head shattered with a piercing metallic crack.
Vector raised his hands high into the air, as though begging for
mercy.
Bercouli strongly felt that, in the next instant, that body wrapped in
black would be severed in two from top to bottom.
Slap.
A clear, dry crack.
The source was — the Emperor’s hands, clapped together above

the back of his head.
— He stopped the «Empty Slash» with his bare hands? With his
back turned?
Impossible. Although the secret technique of catching a sharp

blade with both hands had been passed down the generations of Fist
Fighters in the Dark Land, it was an ultimate technique only made
possible by their steel fists. More importantly, even the Fist Fighter
chief would definitely be unable to stop the power remaining in that
space with his bare hands.
These thoughts only persisted for an instant, but afterwards,

Bercouli finally stood still.
Therefore, he could only stare blankly at what happened next.
The mirage-like amorphous slash left in the air was absorbed into
the Emperor’s hands.
At the same time, the Emperor’s blue eyes were dyed with a
seemingly bottomless darkness.
At the deepest point of that darkness, countless lights flashed —

those were, stars…?
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No.
They were souls. Souls that this man had absorbed and trapped
there. Dark General Shasta and his female aide were probably in
there as well…
“… You bastard, you can devour other people’s

Incarnation?”
At Bercouli’s murmuring, Vector slowly lowered his hands, which

had completely absorbed the slash, and spoke calmly.
“Shin’i?13 … I see, mind and will.”
That voice was bone-chilling; it seemed devoid of any feeling of a

living human. And the source of the voice, those thin lips, warped
into a shape that resembled a smile.
“Your mind, is like old, vintage wine. Thick and rich… With
a heavy, long-lasting aftertaste. Although it is not to my
liking… it would do well as an appetizer before the main
course.”
The Emperor’s pale hands gripped the hilt of the longsword on his
waist.
The thin blade he slowly drew out of the sheath was covered in a
violet phosphorescence. Tilting the tip downwards like a weak
person, Emperor Vector smiled again.
“Now, let me drink some more of it.”
***
The giant’s rough sword eventually grazed Asuna’s left arm.
Pain assailed her, like white-hot iron wire digging into her flesh.
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— This is nothing!
She thought intensely, as the small pink wound on her wrist silently
vanished in the next moment.
And then, with a wispy flash of her right arm, her blade stabbed
the man in front of her four times in graceful succession, from his
right shoulder to his left ribs. The man’s face distorted as he shouted
obscenities, then he keeled over onto the ground.
She had already lost count of how many she had struck down.
At the same time, she was unaware of how much time had passed
since the beginning of this battle in the ruins. She was only certain of
the fact that the number of crimson footsoldiers, flooding like an
avalanche through the entrance to this road, was still nearly endless.
— Hmph, a drawn out battle like this isn’t much. In Old Aincrad,
boss battles that took three to four hours were commonplace.
Asuna boasted in her heart, leapt over the disappearing corpses of

her allies, and parried away a new enemy’s brandished axe with her
rapier.
The enemy’s balance was shattered by this blow; Asuna struck

accurately at his heart as she glanced left and right.
Asuna’s location of battle was dead center of the road; to her right,
Integrity Knight Renri was alternatively projecting the two throwing
blades in his hands with chilling strength and accuracy, as the bodies
ahead of him piled high. He seemed fine for now.
The problem was to her left. Lead by Sortiliena, the captain-class

Guardians were stationed there, and yet it was clear that the
frontline was being gradually pushed back.
“Left flank, rotate between vanguards faster! Please

prioritize Healing Arts on that side as well!”
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“Asuna-sama, I can still fight!”
The one who responded was Sortiliena on the very front line,
activating a wide-ranged two-handed Sword Skill, «Cyclone». Her
long sword rotated rapidly with a light green glow and blew back
three enemy soldiers, but Liena knelt down immediately after.
Judging by the conversation during last night’s Memory Exposing
Competition, swordsmen of the noble class were more accustomed to
one-on-one, gentlemanly duels, and long skirmishes with no end in
sight were completely unfamiliar.
Although Liena’s sword skills were actually quite fluent and fierce,
even to Asuna, who just arrived in this world yesterday, they were
simply too proper. She used virtually no feints or tripping techniques
before her critical skills, and consequently the enemies’ flailing
weapons would inflict scratches on her when she became rigid before
or after her skills activated. Her armor was already riddled with scars,
and trails of blood seeped through her purple Guardian uniform.
“Retreat and heal, Liena-san! Trust your partners!”
At Asuna’s directive, Liena bit her lip and nodded, then retreated,
saying “I’ll be right back!” The gap she left in the front line was
immediately replaced by the Guardian Commander, but his face was
weary.
Other than the exhaustion of the left flank, there was something
else that worried Asuna.
The crimson soldiers they were currently battling were not mere
humanoid monsters driven by algorithms, but veteran players from
America, the birthplace of MMORPGs. They, who had been familiar
with player combat since long ago, would eventually realize that their
current, simple assaults were ineffective, and begin carrying out
more strategic maneuvers.
What would she do in their situation? Asuna whirled her rapier
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nonstop as she thought.
Typically, she would launch a long range attack from the rear. But
there were no wizard-class players among the enemies, and even if
there were, they would be unable to familiarize themselves with
Underworld’s complex Arts language in such a short time.
Other than magic, there was archery. Fortunately for the Human
Empire Army, the other side could not prepare archer accounts. Their
last resort was to simply lob the weapons in their hands, but this
would give them great pause, because if they threw their weapons
away, they would be unable to participate in the battle afterwards.
It seemed that their opponents were out of options to attack them.
Then, just like she envisioned beforehand, they only needed to cut
down all ten thousand or so of these enemies.
Almost exactly as Asuna renewed her determination —
The entrance to the road was suddenly obscured by darkness.
The morning sun was blocked out by gigantic shields raised into a
neat row and lances standing like flag poles.
— Heavy lancers!
“Pre… Prepare to defend against the assault!! Be careful to

avoid the enemy’s lance tips!! Just get close to the enemy
and you can knock them down!”
Right as Asuna shouted, with a CLATTER of metal on metal, the

giant lances were pointed forward in an orderly fashion.
“““Assaaaaaaaaaault!!”””
A full row of 20 heavy lancers let out a ferocious bellow, and began
charging.
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The Guardians were made restless by the pressure from the red
tsunami. I’m begging you all, please calm down, Asuna prayed
silently as she gazed at the lancers rushing towards them. The
lances, gleaming a vicious black, were fast approaching in a straight
line.
Wait until the last instant and — Cling!
Yellow sparks flew in all directions as her rapier slid across the side
of the lance. The sharp tip grazed Asuna’s right cheek, and flew past.
“… Haaah!!”
With a shout, she jabbed her rapier into a slit in the enemy’s
armor, and looking up, saw that it had pierced her hulking
opponent’s throat. With a raw, vivid impact, blood spurted from the
helmet’s visor.
The screams that rang out, however, were not just from the
footsoldiers.
Several Guardians defending the left flank, unable to avoid the

lances, were skewered.
“Grgh……….!!”
Gritting her teeth, Asuna left her position and ran to the left. With a
single stab, «Linear», she pierced through the chest armor of a
footsoldier pulling his lance from a dead Guardian’s body. Holding up
her blood-soaked sword again, she cut off both hands of the next
enemy with a double stab, «Parallel Sting».
She evaded the lance thrust by the third, jeering footsoldier with a
vertical leap. Landing on the lance, she ran up, planted her feet on
the enemy’s shoulders, ripped off his helmet with her left hand, and
buried her rapier in his exposed nape.
The enemy fell without so much as a scream. Stepping onto his
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back, Asuna shouted:
“Bring the wounded to the back! Heal them with maximum

priority!!”
Surveying her surroundings once again, it seemed that, with Knight

Renri and the Guardians’ hard struggle, they had somehow repelled
the heavy lancers, but six Guardians had suffered direct hits from the
lances. Three of them were likely beyond help.
— If our opponents repeat this strategy, the vastly outnumbered

Human Empire Army will no longer be able to hold its current
position.
Her fears were realized with a new wave of earthshaking tremors.

The next 20 heavy lancers charged in from the entrance of the
sando.
Asuna tore her gaze from the incoming swarm of lances and
glanced at her designated position in the middle of the front line.
There stood a young, almost childish-looking Guardian trying to

control his sword, his knees quivering.
“AH………!!”
Yelling sharply, Asuna ran to the right.
She leapt between the young Guardian standing stock-still and a

spear coming from the left. Her rapier wouldn’t make it in time to
parry. She could only grip the lancehead with her left hand.
If this was a normal VRMMO world, then Asuna, who had

overwhelming reaction speed and physical strength, would be able to
successfully block it. But in Underworld, the countless parameters
that were ignored in SAO and ALO, existed.
The smooth steel lance slid through her bloody fist —
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A blunt impact shook her entire body. Unable to utter a sound,
Asuna silently looked down at her side, where an enormous piece of
metal had pierced through.
***
Minimal movement maximizing his sword’s efficiency.
To Knight Commander Bercouli, Emperor Vector’s swordsmanship

was just that: completely different from any style he had ever seen
before.
First, he almost never used his feet. When avoiding an attack, he

would merely slide slightly along the ground. Also, even when he was
attacking, it didn’t seem like any preparation was made beforehand.
The sword he held loosely in his right hand would suddenly come
flying from the nearest distance.
In short, predicting his movements was nigh impossible. The

veteran Bercouli had not countered any of the Emperor’s five quick
and powerful attacks.
But five times was enough.
Due to his vast combat experience, Bercouli, who had roughly

grasped Vector’s techniques, began his first counter at the start of
the other side’s sixth attack.
“Hsss!”
Releasing as little of his spirit as possible, he launched an

overhead slash right before Vector did the same.
Along with a violent metallic clank, bluish-white sparks spurted in

all directions.
The two swords crossed in midair. From here it was a contest of

strength. The enemy’s sword sank down without even the slightest
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resistance. Seemingly unable to withstand the pressure, the tall-
statured Vector bent his knees.
— This is the critical moment!!
Bercouli infused his beloved sword with refined Incarnation. The

battle-worn steel sword’s blade gleamed silver. The Time Piercing
Sword, slowly pressing down on Vector’s black longsword, touched
the enemy’s shoulder, piercing his armor —
Immediately, Vector’s sword emitted an ominous glow.
An indigo phosphorescence squirmed out like a living organism,

coiling around the Time Piercing Sword. At the same time, the
explosive silver gleam on the Time Piercing Sword vanished, as if it
had withered.
— What, is this?
No…
What, am I… trying to do… in the first place…?
With a sharp crackle, he felt a freezing chill in his left shoulder.

Bercouli opened his eyes, jumped back, took a deep breath, and
regained the consciousness that had slipped away from him for an
instant.
— What the hell was that?
Someone like me, right in the middle of battle… was spacing out?!
Just as he demanded of himself, Bercouli realized that it was not

that simple.
It was as though that the forced blankness was corroding his

consciousness, rendering him unable to understand why he was
here, or even, who he was.
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“Bastard… You directly absorbed my Incarnation through
my sword?”
Bercouli groaned huskily.
The response was a silent grin.
Clicking his tongue, he glanced at his left shoulder. It was a graze,

yet the wound was deep.
“Hmph… this is all very interesting, isn’t it, Your Imperial

Majesty? But being unable to cross swords is pretty
troubling.”
Bercouli chuckled. In contrast, Vector erased his smile and

murmured.
“… Indeed. Come to think of it, there’s something else I

haven’t tried yet.”
After that, he casually extended the sword in his right hand

straight ahead, but it was completely out of range. There was no way
the blade would reach —
From the tip of the blade suspended in mid-air, a repulsive dark

blue light reached out.
… Don’t tell me, from a distance too?!
Just as that thought flashed through Bercouli’s mind, the light

touched his chest.
His consciousness faded away like an extinguished candle.
The longsword slowly approached the Knight Commander, sliding

straight under his left arm — yet he merely stood there, blankly
watching it all.
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The sword was casually swung upward.
With a wet, sticky noise, Bercouli’s thick arm was severed from his
body.
***
“Ku… u… ughh!!”
Asuna somehow managed to suppress her scream, which was

about to leak out, into a low moan. Excruciating pain — or rather, it
was more like being exposed to a white-hot blowtorch, continuously
scorching her abdomen, crushing her senses beyond her limits.
— This bit of pain is nothing!
It’s just a scratch, it doesn’t matter if it hurts!!
The gleaming black lance that stabbed through her upper left
abdomen must have protruded nearly a meter from her back.
Asuna twisted her head around to look behind her. The lance tip
only ended up grazing the cheek of the young Guardian standing
there. It took all of her willpower to squeeze out a smile to the young
boy, who looked palely back at her.
— Compared to the precious life of this child… What do these

virtual injuries matter?!
“Ungh… Ah!!”
With a shout, she infused strength into her left hand, gripping the
lance that pierced her body.
With a deafening crack, the metal rod nearly five centimeters in

diameter snapped in two in her fist. She then reached behind herself,
grabbed the protruding lancehead, and wrenched it out.
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Sparks danced before her eyes, and a shocking pain like lightning
ran from her fingertips to her toes. Yet Asuna’s hand did not cease,
pulling out the lance with an almost violent movement and flinging it
to the ground.
A frightening amount of blood gushed from both her mouth and the
gaping wound in her abdomen, but her body remained unswervingly
upright. Asuna wiped away the blood at the corner of her mouth, and
looked up at the enemy with fire in her eyes.
The hulking owner of the lance blinked rapidly inside his helmet,
his eyes revealing confusion.
“Oh, gosh.”
After this exclamation, uttered twice, came rapid English.
“… The hell, man… This type of game isn’t fun at all. I’m
logging out.”
After hearing that, Asuna accurately pierced the man’s heart with
the rapier in her right hand. His enormous frame keeled over, and
was engulfed by a disappearing effect.
The agony from her wound had not caused Asuna to cry, yet in this
moment her eyes filled with tears.
The pain and hatred enveloping this battlefield now should not
have been necessary from the start.
The American players and the Guardians of the Human Empire

Army never had a reason to murder each other in cold blood. If the
circumstances under which they met had been different, both sides
should have become good friends — just like she had.
Virtual worlds… VRMMOs did not exist just for this.
“H… He… Help… Gh!”
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A scream in Japanese interrupted Asuna’s thoughts. Turning her
eyes, she saw a great lance stabbing toward a Guardian lying
immobile on the ground.
“U… AAAAAAAHH!!”
Asuna’s emotions became a roar as she sprang forward.
The rapier in her right hand slashed ahead nonstop and the white
glow flowing from its edge enveloped her entire body; her feet left
the ground as she flew forward like a blinding comet. The highest
level rushing attack for the rapier, «Flashing Penetrator».
The lancer just about to kill the Guardian was flung high into the
air, and the enemy behind him suffered the same fate. A third one as
well.
After securely pinning the body of a fourth man under the foot of a
gigantic statue, her sword skill ended and she turned around,
exhaling.
The second assault wave of the heavy lancers had caused more
than five deaths in the Human Empire Army. Simultaneously, at the
entrance to the road, the third wave of twenty men had already
readied their ferocious lances.
Asuna pulled her rapier from a corpse and cried loudly.
“All units, hold this position at all costs! Renri-san, please

come to the middle!”
Asuna squeezed out a short smile, comforting the young Knight

whose face became rigid upon seeing her bloodsoaked form, and
uttered a last sentence.
“— I will rush into the enemy formation alone. I’ll leave any
enemies that slip through me to you all.”
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“A… Asuna-sama?!”
Asuna raised her left fist towards the panting Renri and the
Guardians.
Then, she broke into a run.
***
Bercouli’s center of gravity suddenly wobbled, and it was then he

realized that what he was stepping on was his own left arm, rolling
on the ground.
What awakened his consciousness was not pain, but that chilling
feeling.
“Guh…!”
He leapt backward again, widening the distance between himself

and Vector.
The blood pouring from his left shoulder dyed a crimson arc onto
the white stone.
— What the hell… is this?
He just pointed his sword at me, and my consciousness was

forcibly halted…?
Bercouli lifted two fingers from his right hand’s grip on the Time
Piercing Sword to heal his wound, racking his brains as fast as he
could. The nonverbal Healing Art quickly stopped the flow of blood
with a glimmer of blue light. However, there was not enough Sacred
Spacial Energy on these desolate rocky mountains to regenerate his
fallen arm.
— How should I fight this enemy?
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His Armament Full Control Art «Time Piercing Sword, Empty Slash»
was utterly ineffective. The Incarnation left in the air by the slash
would be completely absorbed by his opponent.
His absolute last resort was his Release Recollection Art «Unseen
Slash». But if he wanted to use that technique, he would have to
fulfill two very harsh conditions. First, the opponent could not
interrupt his lengthy attacking movements. The second was to be
extremely accurate, with the difficulty of the latter surpassing that of
the former…
Bercouli flicked away the sweat beading on his forehead with a

flourish.
Then, he realized.
— I’m being desperate.
Somehow, I have nothing more to spare.
In other words, now, this is where I die. The next moment will be
my death.
“… Heh.”
After correctly realizing his impasse, instead of frowning, Integrity

Knight Bercouli Synthesis One grinned.
His eyes slowly moved away from Emperor Vector, who was
approaching him ceaselessly, and fell onto the golden knight lying
horizontally in a corner slightly away from him — Alice Synthesis
Thirty.
— Lil’ Miss.
I still couldn’t give you what you wanted, Lil’ Miss. I couldn’t give
you fatherly love. Because, I can’t remember, anything about my
own parents either.
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But, there’s one thing that I do know.
These so-called parents die protecting their children.
“A bastard like you… would never understand, you

monster!!”
Bercouli bellowed and sprang forward.
Without any plan whatsoever, merely injecting everything he had

into his beloved sword, the eldest Knight sprinted forward.
***
“Ga… Hah…”
A great mouthful of blood gushed out with her rough breath, and
splashed at her feet.
Asuna remained upright, even if she was only propped up by the

rapier in her right hand.
After repelling the third and fourth assault waves of heavy lancers,
she had been wounded more than ten times all over her body. Her
pearly white blouse and skirt were torn to shreds, stained red by the
blood of herself and her enemies.
Having taken a direct hit from a lance, which opened a hole in her
body, it was astonishing that she could still move. In fact, Asuna’s
unfairly enormous HP didn’t allow her strength to drain.
— This body will fall only when my heart fall.
If so, I can stand forever.
Her entire body had lost nearly all sensation. Only burning heat ran
through her nerves, distorting her vision.
The enemy’s fifth wave of troops appeared in Asuna’s dim vision,
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and she pulled her rapier out of the ground.
She was no longer able to perform perfect evasions. She could only
stop the enemy’s lance with her body, and counterattack with sword
skills.
Asuna’s feather-light rapier felt as heavy as a leaden rod in her

grip, but she strained to raise it with both hands, hold it in front of
her, and wait for the enemy’s arrival.
“— Go!!”
The ground shook, and 20 lancers began charging ahead.
Boom, boom, boom boom boom boom…
In the slowly accelerating footsteps, a sharp vibration mixed in out

of nowhere.
Asuna’s eyes were attracted upward.
From the scarlet sky, a single line streaked down. It was a thin
sequence of digital code.
— Enemy… reinforcements…?
“…… Ahh……”
Although just a sliver, the sigh she emitted was mixed with
despair.
But —
The color of that line was not the familiar crimson, but a deep blue
akin to the night sky before dawn.
Asuna could no longer foresee what the color meant, and could
only widen her eyes, awaiting the result.
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The line halted around ten meters above the ground; the code
began to consolidate and, after a flash of light, became a human
silhouette.
Voom.
The air howled suddenly, and the silhouette began to spin so fast
that it blurred. Uttering a vigorous roar like a tornado, it began
falling again.
Directly under that silhouette, those 20 heavy lancers had stopped

unknowingly and looked dumbly up at the sky.
The azure tornado landed directly in their midst.
Then, suddenly, crimson exploded outwards.
Blood. The soldiers twisted within the tornado were immediately

ripped apart, and blood was thrown by the wind in a wide radius.
Finally, in the middle of the radially spread fallen lancers, the

tornado began to slow, and eventually regained the shape of a
person.
The newcomer’s back was turned to her, with a somewhat slender,

tall body. Vibrant, Japanese-style armor shined in the backlight. His
left hand gripped a sheath hanging from his waist, and his right hand
clenched a terrifyingly long sword, no, a katana, which slashed out
horizontally.
Asuna had seen that attack before, in another world.
A Sword Skill.
A heavy, ranged katana attack — «Tsumujiguruma»14.
The silhouette slowly stood, rested the longsword on its shoulder,

and gradually looked back towards her.
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Under a striking bandanna, a stubbled face grinned at her.
“Hey, made you wait, Asuna.”
“K… lein…?”
Asuna could not hear her own hoarse voice until the end.
Suddenly, an ensemble of rumbling resounded throughout the

world. Although the sound effects were indistinguishable from when
the Americans had appeared, to Asuna, this must be angelic song.
Then, thousands of bright blue strings of code began raining

unceasingly from the crimson sky.
***
Cut.
Consciousness blurred.
Pain from his wound jolted him wide awake.
Bercouli had lost count of how many times he had gone through
this process.
As though he were intentionally dragging out the fight, Emperor

Vector never once inflicted any sort of fatal injury. But Bercouli
clearly knew that the blood flowing from his numerous wounds, that
is, his total amount of Life, was fast approaching its limit.
But through his immovable willpower honed over two centuries and
several decades, he cast away all delusions and expelled all fear,
performing but one single action inside his head.
Counting.
Specifically, measuring time.
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Bercouli possessed the special ability to confirm time through
instinct alone, and now he was relying on this power to record it.
Even as his thoughts were disturbed by the Emperor’s sword, he
continued to count unconsciously.
— Four hundred and eighty seven.
— Four hundred and eighty eight.
Bercouli read the seconds precisely while repeating his foolish

attacks, occasionally sputtering taunts from his mouth.
“… Your swordsmanship… doesn’t seem, up to scratch…

Your Imperial Majesty.”
— Four hundred and ninety five.
“You can’t beat me, with these sword skills… with this
second rate stuff, no, third rate at most.”
— Four hundred and ninety eight.
“Watch this, I’m not done yet!”
With a shout, he slashed down in front of him.
— Five hundred.
His sword blade touched the indigo halo radiating from the
Emperor.
Sucked into Incarnation, his thoughts were interrupted.
When he regained consciousness, he was already down on one

knee, blood dripping from a new wound on his left cheek.
— Five hundred and eight.
Almost there. Just endure it a little bit more.
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Bercouli stood up with difficulty, and looked towards the Emperor
behind him.
A hint of slight disgust appeared on Vector’s usually expressionless

face. The reason was that, when he had cut Bercouli’s cheek, a drop
of blood had flown out and splashed onto Vector’s pale cheek.
Vector wiped away the stain with his fingertip, and mused.
“… I’ve had enough.”
He took one step forward into the red puddle that Bercouli created.
“Your soul is too heavy. Too thick. It sticks to my tongue.

And how boring, you merely think of killing me.”
The Emperor said in a flat voice, and took another step closer.
“Die.”
Raised silently, the black sword emanated a viscous gleam.
Bercouli’s expression did not change, but he secretly clenched his

teeth.
— Just a bit more. Thirty seconds left.
“Heh… Don’t, say that. I can, still… enjoy, it.”
The Knight Commander hobbled a few steps towards thin air, and
feebly raised the longsword in his right hand.
“Where’d you… go. Where the heck did you go. Oh,
there…?”
With empty light in his eyes, the Knight Commander swung his
sword.
Clank. He hit somewhere completely off with his sword tip, and
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stumbled exaggeratedly.
“Ah… Was it… here…?”
He swung another attack that lacked even a swishing noise. Then,

dragging an already disabled foot, Bercouli shambled cluelessly at
random.
Since his vision had failed due to enormous blood loss, his
thoughts also became hopelessly jumbled — he certainly looked like
that.
However, this was the Knight Commander’s once-in-a-lifetime

performance.
Those half-closed blue-gray eyes were only tightly fixated on one

single thing.
Footprints.
Through nearly ten minutes of pointless attacking, Bercouli had

spilled his blood over the entirety of this rocky summit, which was
not wide at all. Hence, the two different footprints tracked out over
the whole surface by the Emperor’s boots and the Knight
Commander’s leather sandals, were clearly carved and highly
distinguishable.
In other words, this was the detailed record of the two men’s
movements.
Acting demented, Bercouli was searching for the driest, darkest

footprint of the Emperor, created when he cut off Bercouli’s left arm
ten minutes ago.
After that, Bercouli had immediately, and unconsciously, begun to

count the time.
Which means, that was the place where Emperor Vector had stood
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ten minutes ago. Then, his bloody footprints precisely recorded the
direction he advanced in, and where he moved.
— Five hundred and eighty nine.
— Five hundred, and ninety.
“Oh… I’ve found… you…”
Bercouli mumbled feebly, rocking from side to side as he swung

the Time Piercing Sword.
This truly was the last strike.
Whether it was sword, or its owner, both of their dwindling Lives

had reached their ends.
And Bercouli expended them both to exhaustion, activating the

Release Recollection Art of his Divine Instrument, the Time Piercing
Sword.
«Time Piercing Sword, Unseen Slash».
The opposite of the «Empty Slash» that could sever the future, the
«Unseen Slash» had the power to sever the past.
Within Underworld’s Main Visualizer, the recent movements of all

human Units were recorded for six hundred seconds, or ten minutes.
The Time Piercing Sword could interfere with this record, causing
the system to mistake the Unit’s position ten minutes and one
second ago for the Unit’s current position.
As for the result, the blade that could normally cut only nothing,
could be transmitted to the body of a person who had existed in this
area in the past. Unavoidable, unblockable, true to its name, it was a
strike that could betray15 all other sword techniques and hard work.
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It was for this very reason that Bercouli always shunned activating
the «Unseen Slash». When battling Eugeo, even though he had lost to
the Release Recollection Art of the Blue Rose Sword, he resolved
never to use this technique that could easily earn him victory. He
knew that Senate Elder Chudelkin would even recognize that as an
act of treason against the Axiom Church.
But, with Emperor Vector as his opponent, who rode above

inestimable power far exceeding his own, he had no such hesitations.
The instant that Emperor Vector had stepped down from his
dragon, Bercouli had taken advantage of the fact that his enemy flew
in a straight line at a constant speed to correctly calculate his
location ten minutes before. Yet, in the mix of the close quarters
melee that ensued, locking onto his location was insurmountably
difficult.
Of course, if he could recall where his enemy was during that

instant ten minutes ago, he could activate this technique. But while
using this method, if his sword technique activation was disturbed by
the enemy, it would be very difficult to accurately count to ten
minutes after that.
— Just like this instant right now.
“You look like you’re plotting something.”
Emperor Vector approached as though gliding, and Bercouli was

forced to quickly avoid the blue-black Incarnation emanating from
the longsword. Just like that, «ten minutes and one second ago» were
forever lost to him.
— So I’ve missed my chance.
Bercouli once more readied his Time Piercing Sword about to use
Release Recollection, cursing in his chest.
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He was truly at his wit’s end.
Since the Emperor already realized that he was concealing a plot,

he would activate his own ultimate technique again without
hesitation. In reality, the gleam of Incarnation on his longsword was
already reaching towards Bercouli.
Opposite it, the Knight Commander began to evade with all his
might.
Crawl away.
Crawl away, crawl away, and fall shamelessly to the ground. He

had known since very long ago that he would welcome death in this
haggard state.
Three times. Four times.
Right until after the fifth attack, Bercouli successfully evaded all of
them.
But after that, the blue black light finally grazed his body.
His consciousness broke off with a snap.
When Bercouli opened his eyes again, what he saw was Vector’s
longsword, penetrating deeply into his stomach.
With a whoosh, the blade was jerked out, and the last of the Knight
Commander’s Life gushed out in the form of crimson liquid.
As he slowly fell backwards, he saw —
The silhouette of a dragon high above, tearing the air as it dove

down at lightning speed.
— Hoshigami.
Hey, didn’t I tell you to standby? Why did you disobey me, you’ve
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never done that before, have you?
The dragon stretched its maw wide, and bluish-white flames shot
straight out in jets.
Faced against that attack with the strength to wipe out a hundred
soldiers, Emperor Vector merely stretched out his left hand and
caught it.
The translucent black armor on his hand effortlessly deflected the

flames in all directions. Flying sparks dazzled in the air.
The sword in the Emperor’s hand shot out that dark blue light once
more, traveling up against the white flames and piercing directly into
Hoshigami’s forehead. Bercouli’s dragon took the full force of the
sword skill that could easily control the Dark Knight Order dragon
from before — but he did not stop his movements.
On the contrary, Hoshigami converted his entire Life into white

rays that shot from his wings, diving straight towards the Emperor.
A sliver of disgust crossed Vector’s pale face; he raised his sword

high and thrust an extremely simple stab toward the gargantuan
jaws of the dragon wanting to tear him into pieces. Dark light poured
in all directions, absorbing the dragon’s life, tearing its body apart.
Hoshigami gave his Life for merely seven seconds of the Emperor’s
hesitation —
Bercouli would definitely not let it be in vain.
The Knight Commander felt the last breath of the beloved dragon
who had spent its long life with him from behind and swung his
Release Recollection-activated Time Piercing Sword high into the air,
which began to leave a blue afterimage.
This method of simply recalling “the enemy’s position ten

minutes ago” could only allow one attack attempt every ten
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minutes.
Yet, the movement record etched into the ground in blood

suggested that it was possible to continually pursue the enemy ten
minutes before.
Seven seconds after Bercouli stared at the spot where he could not
snipe from before, the blood-red footprint indicating the Emperor’s
position, he launched his ultimate attack.
There was another characteristic of the «Time Piercing Sword,

Unseen Slash».
By directly interfering with the system, the strength of this sword

was to “completely erase the Life value of the slashed
target”. Therefore, this strike could not be blocked even with
Incarnation.
Indeed, Emperor Vector’s power to nullify and absorb all Incarnate

attacks could not be activated in that instant.
Therefore, the astronomical Life set for Vector in the system, was
first changed to zero.
As a result, the Emperor’s large frame was completely split from

his left shoulder to his right waist.
Even as his body was split in two along a gigantic cutting surface,
Emperor Vector’s face remained devoid of expression. Those light
blue eyes merely looked blankly up at the empty sky, like glass
beads.
The instant that his upper body was about to land and hit the
ground, around his heart, jet black light burst, creating an immense,
silent, explosion without heat.
By the time the explosion had settled, there remained nothing on

the ground that could prove the Emperor’s existence.
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Seconds later, the Time Piercing Sword that depleted its Life in
Bercouli’s right hand crumbled into debris with a weak crackling
noise.
***
… It’s so warm.
I really want to stay here for a bit longer.
Awakening from her slumber, Integrity Knight Alice smiled lightly,

as though still floating in that comfortable state between dream and
awakening.
Swaying sunlight.
Wide knees that allowed her body to lay atop of them.
A rough hand that kindly caressed her hair.
……… Father.
How long had it been since she had lay down like this, on his
knees? She had long forgotten this peacefulness… This feeling of
being completely protected, having nothing to worry about. The
feeling that all was well.
Ahh… But, it’s time to get up.
Then, Integrity Knight Alice lifted her eyelashes.
Appearing before her face was the figure of a middle aged

swordsman, his eyes squinting in a smile as he looked down upon
her.
On his toned face and chest, many old scars crossed over. And
covering those, countless new wounds were present, yet to heal.
“……… Oji-sama?”
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Alice murmured in a low voice, her consciousness finally rousing in
this instant.
— Right, I was grabbed by Emperor Vector’s dragon. Really, how

careless do I have to be, I even charged ahead while completely
letting my guard down behind me.
But, as expected of Oji-sama. Even as I fell into the hands of the

enemy general, he rescued me. As long as this person is here, I can
rest easy.
Smiling again, Alice sat up. As she noticed the wounds of Knight
Commander were beyond his face and chest, she held her breath.
His left arm was completely severed from the top of his shoulder.
His eastern-styled robe was completely dyed red with blood. And
below that wide chest, that horribly deep wound was even more
terrifying.
“O… Oji-sama… !! Esteemed Bercouli!!”
Alice screamed and reached out, her fingers touching Knight

Commander Bercouli’s cheek.
Then she finally understood, that the oldest, greatest Knight in the
world, had finally exhausted his Life.
***
… Aw, don’t cry like that, Lil’ Miss.
This moment would’ve come anyway, it just happened to be now,

right?
Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli Synthesis One said warmly,

as he looked down upon the golden haired girl bawling over his body.
Yet his voice did not reach the ground.
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… Lil’ Miss, if it’s you, it’ll definitely be okay. Even by yourself, you
can definitely live on.
Because, you’re my only apprentice… my daughter.
The scene below gradually departed from Bercouli’s vision. Casting

a last smile toward his beloved golden knight maiden, his eyes
turned toward the sky to the far north.
His thoughts flew toward another female knight, who should be

under that part of the sky..
He did not know whether they would reach her or not, but in this
moment, his heart was filled only with deep emotion, pondering the
final arrival of the end of his life, which he had originally thought
eternal.
… Well, it’s not a bad way to go down, is it?
“Yes, you should feel blessed that this many people are
crying for you.”
As he turned towards the suddenly resonating voice, he saw a girl

floating there, stark naked save for her flowing silver hair.
“… Hey, so you really were still alive.”
Bercouli shrugged, and the Highest Minister Administrator blinked

her silvery eyes and smiled softly.
“But that can’t be true, can it? Appearing before you now,
is only your memory of me. ‘I’ am merely the memory of
Administrator stored in your soul.”
“Hmm, I still don’t really get it… But if you are the ‘you’
inside my memory, it’s good that you can smile like this
now.”
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Bercouli responded with a grin, and suddenly glanced beside him.
Unknowingly, his beloved dragon Hoshigami had wrapped its long
neck around his body.
The Knight Commander softly caressed the dragon’s transparent

silver neck, leapt onto its back with a whoop, reached out, and pulled
the Highest Minister up before him.
“Do you not hate me?” The Knight Commander’s only master in
his long life asked, tilting her head. “Do you not hate me, the one
who imprisoned you within the confines of eternal life , and
stripped away your memories again and again?”
After some brief thought, Bercouli replied.
“It’s true that it was long enough to start getting boring,

but well, it was still an amusing life. Yeah, that’s right.”
“… Really.”
Looking away after Administrator’s short reply, Bercouli took

Hoshigami’s reins.
The dragon expanded its transparent wings, and slowly flew into
the boundless yonder.
***
Under the distant northern sky —
On the dry ground, the rubble of the former «Great Eastern Gate»
was piled up. To the east and west of these enormous ruins, ten
thousand Dark Territory reserve soldiers and four thousand main
troops of the Human Empire Defense army were in formation,
preparing for confrontation, staring at each other.
Since Emperor Vector had vanished without a trace, the Dark

Territory army could not begin the attack on their own. The
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completely clueless Human Empire Army also made no movements,
and that long stalemate continued.
Near the ruins of the great gate where only the dry wind was
heard, there was the silhouette of a lone female knight. It was the
Integrity Knight left in charge of the main troops of the Defense
Army, Fanatio Synthesis Two. She had ordered the Guardians and
Ascetics to rest in preparation for the upcoming battle, but she
herself was not in the mood to sleep in her tent, so she had walked
alone to the rubble that used to be the Great Eastern Gate.
The black night had long passed, and Solus’s light dyed the sky
above the Dark Territory in red, and the side of the Human Empire in
blue.
More than half a day had passed since the the decoy troops of the
Defense Army, led by Knight Commander Bercouli, had departed to
the southern Dark Territory from the Great Eastern Gate. Although
she knew that their mission would not be achieved that easily, blindly
waiting here for them was hard to endure.
Just as Fanatio was about to close her eyes, praying to the three
goddesses for, at least, the safe return of the troops —
Her eyes snapped open.
She felt as if the man she loved was speaking into her ear.
— Sorry, Fanatio. Seems that we can’t meet anymore.
— I’ll leave the rest to you. Let that kid, live on happily…
Not long ago, Fanatio had heard the exact same words. It was the
last sentence that Knight Commander Bercouli had left with her when
they separated here.
Covered in silver gauntlets, her hands gently caressed her

abdomen.
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The new life bestowed upon her body was something that had
happened three months ago. Bercouli, who had gone more than a
hundred years without touching Fanatio, probably already predicted
it when the taboos were released.
Predicted his own death.
Sensing that the long life of Knight Commander Bercouli had ended
under the faraway sky, Fanatio slowly sank to her knees, and buried
her face in her hands.
Unable to contain them, she let out sobs.
The reason that Bercouli always estranged himself from Fanatio, or

any other female, she had once heard a very long time ago.
The men and women of the Human Empire could only marry under
official recognition of an Axiom Church priest, and could only produce
the next generation under a contract. Yet Integrity Knights took on
the roles of the priests, and did not need all the fanfare that came
with marriage. They needed only to vow their love, share a bed, and
could have children.16
Yet this child would age and die sooner than its parents with frozen
Lives. Even so, having the Highest Minister give this child the same
treatment would be much crueler.
Although, after the Highest Minister passed away, Bercouli finally

accepted Fanatio’s feelings. That is, he decided to protect his child,
and let him live until the end of his time.
Then —
“… Please rest assured, Esteemed Bercouli. I will properly

raise this child. I will make him into a man as strong and
proud as you.”
Holding back her sobs, Fanatio uttered her own determination.
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— But, now, just for now.
Just for now, allow me to grieve.
Throwing herself onto the ground, Fanatio tightly held a grain of

sand that Knight Commander Bercouli had stepped on, sobbing
without holding back.
“Although I don’t have anything personal against you

guys…”
Pointing his long sword at the red army, Klein’s words reverberated
throughout the ancient ruins.
“I’m gonna return your debt of severely hurting my friend.

I’ll return it threefold… No, I’ll return it a thousandfold, you
damned bastards!!”
Right after declaring that, he plunged directly into the enemy

army. Asuna was so stunned by his recklessness that she forgot the
pain of her deep wound for an instant. Yet immediately, another
string of code poured down right next to Klein, creating a silhouette.
Appearing there was a hulking, chocolate-skinned man grasping a

large battleaxe.
“… Agil-san!!”
She called his name hoarsely.
When the “battle merchant”, who had once continued to provide

strong support in the forms of battle strength and supplies to the
SAO Clearers, glanced at Asuna, a broad grin stretched over his
gigantic features and he stuck his right thumb into the air.
Soon after, he turned around and began following after Klein,

running fiercely.
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The third and fourth persons appeared right in front of Asuna.
A girl with shortcut hair, in a reddish-brown costume draped over

her breastplate and with a silver mace suspended from her waist.
, a petite girl wearing an ultramarine tunic and skirt, with hair tied
in twin tails.
“— Liz!! Silica-chan!!”
It was here that, at last, both of Asuna’s eyes were overflowing

with tears.
All strength left her body. While somehow staying in that place,
Asuna extended both her hands toward her friends whom she had
strong bonds with.
“You really… you really came…”
“Of course we’d come!”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
Beaming at the same time, Lisbeth and Silica seized Asuna’s left
and right hands respectively and clasped them tightly. Both of their
expressions became tearful smiles.
“— Being this rash… Bleeding everywhere… you’re trying

too hard, Asuna.”
“Leave the rest to us. Because everyone else came as

well.”
Just by being hugged from both sides by Lisbeth and Silica, Asuna
felt the pain from the wounds riddling her body dissolving in the soft
warmth.
“Thank you… Thank you all…”
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Through her endless tears, she saw a rain of code strings suddenly
pouring down at the entrance of the ruins.
Appearing there were hundreds of swordsmen dressed in vibrant

armor.
“Those red guys are the enemies!”
“Vanguard, attack! Drive them back!”
“Rear guard, retreat temporarily and check your

incantations!”
Right after landing, they began to exchange shouts in Underworld

language, no, Japanese — held up their swords, axes, and spears,
and began assaulting the red soldiers in front of them.
Judging by their magnificent individual combat skills and uniformly

understood teamwork, it was apparent that they were undoubtedly
seasoned VRMMO players.
— So that’s what it is.
Asuna finally recovered her thought process and understood the

situation before her.
Ever since the American players appeared on the battlefield, the

time acceleration rate of Underworld must have been fixed to 1:1 by
the attackers’ manipulation. In other words, it was also possible to
Dive here with AmuSpheres from Japan.
But the radiance emanating from their equipped swords and

armors indicated that they were not using the default Guardian
accounts.
Meaning — they had converted here.
They had undoubtedly converted their characters, which they had
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fostered — by investing great time and effort — to Underworld.
Even though they don’t know whether or not they can return to
their original VRMMO worlds. On the contrary — considering
Underworld’s structure, it’s possible that their own character
information would be deleted the moment they died, and yet…!
“Everyone… Sorry… I’m sorry…”
With a tearful voice, Asuna apologized to her two bosom friends

before her, and then to the countless swordsmen pushing the front
line back.
“What are you saying, Asuna?”
Lisbeth’s reply was filled with solid determination.
“The reason we did our best in SAO and ALO is surely so

that we could protect important things in this place right
now.”
“Yeah… that’s right… thank you all…”
Whispering her gratitude, Asuna nodded deeply, fervently.
However, there was one more thing she had yet to learn. Exactly
who had informed Liz and the others in the real world about
Underworld crisis and requested reinforcements by means of
conversion? It would be very unlikely for Kikuoka and Higa, who were
confined in the Ocean Turtle’s sub-control room, to have the spare
time to formulate and execute this plan.
“Hey Liz, Silica-chan. The one who brought everyone here,

who was it…?”
At Asuna’s question, the pair exchanged glances, and grinned.
“Wait, Asuna, isn’t that obvious?!”
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“It was Yui-chan! She tried her hardest to explain things
about Underworld and the people living here!”
When Asuna heard those words, her heart tightened strongly and
tears gushed out endlessly from her eyes.
Yui. Born as a Top-Down AI in old SAO, Asuna and Kirito’s daughter.

Yes… it couldn’t be anyone but her. She sensed the attackers’ plans
that Asuna, Kikuoka, and the others couldn’t even predict, and took
action to counter them.
“……… Thank you, Yui-chan.”
Murmuring words filled with all of her feelings, her severed left arm
had regenerated completely and the wounds covering her body had
mostly vanished upon standing up.
At that moment, a timid voice came from behind.
“Um… Asuna-sama? Those people are… or rather, those

knights are…”
Integrity Knight Renri stood there with a dumbfounded look.

Behind him, the Guardians, who had just been saved from danger as
well, similarly had their eyes become round.
Asuna, after fluttering her gaze between Renri, Lisbeth, and the
others, smiled and replied.
“My very important friends. The came from the Real World
to help us.”
Renri blinked a few times, then stared fixedly at Lisbeth and Silica
—
A relieved expression floated onto his adolescent face.
“…So that’s the case… I’m really glad. I thought that,
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without a doubt, the people of the outside world besides
Asuna-sama were all those kinds of scary soldiers…”
“Hey, that’s impossible!!”
Along with a slightly upset smile that was nonetheless filled with
intimacy, Lisbeth patted Renri’s shoulders.
“I’m Lisbeth. Please take care of me, Knight-kun.”
“Ah… Y… Yes. My name is Renri. Pleased to meet you.”
Asuna, who was watching this scene with a smile, was suddenly hit
by a strong premonition.
She, in her entire life, would never forget this scene.
This moment, when people who were born in two different worlds
met, exchanged words, and fostered relationships. This story, which
should continue for a long, long time, should not end in tragedy.
Asuna took a deep breath, changed her tone of voice, and asked
Lisbeth.
“Liz, how many people converted?”
“Ah, well, a little bit over two thousand, I think. I already

tried really hard, but… I still couldn’t make everyone who
listened to my speech convert over…”
Asuna lightly patted her bosom friend, who was biting her lip, on
the back.
“This is more than enough. But… to preserve the chance of

them converting back, we must avoid a war of attrition if
possible. Don’t spread the front lines too much, and step up
the healing. Liz and Silica-chan, take about two hundred
men, retreat to the rear, and set up a support team.”
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Switching her awareness back to the battle, Asuna rapidly
delivered directives to Renri and the Guardians.
“Everyone else, although it may be against your will,

please merge with the Ascetics team and use Healing Arts.
The swordsmen from the Real World are not familiar with the
Sacred Arts, so it would help if you teach them the
commands.”
“Un… Understood, Asuna-sama! You heard her, Guardians!

We’re assisting the knights from the reinforcements!”
As Renri yelled, the Guardians, exhausted from continuous

battling, responded emphatically.
“… What will you do then, Asuna-san?”
At Silica’s inquiry, Asuna winked.
“I’m going to attack at the very front, of course.”
I don’t feel like losing anymore.
Charging at the very front were all familiar faces from ALO —
Asuna, noticing Sylph Lord Sakuya, Cait Sith Lord Alicia, Salamander
General Eugene, and the others, hardened her determination and
they nodded fervently at each other.
No, they were not just the players who had converted from ALO.
Those strongly backing the swordsmen by rapidly firing crossbows

with extreme accuracy were probably players from Gun Gale Online,
like Sinon.
Moreover, that team sticking tightly together, mowing down

enemies like a storm, was formed by the members of the strongest
guild that had swept across many VRMMOs, the «Sleeping Knights».
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Spotting Asuna, the mage Siune smiled at her. As Asuna waved her
right hand in response, she once again held back the tears that were
slipping out.
They all came to help despite arriving at the resolution that they
could lose their avatars, which were akin to their other selves. Then,
as the only one protected by a Super Account, she had to take the
greatest risk to minimize their sacrifices.
Asuna sprinted across the battlefield, giving on-the-fly orders to

the support army to narrow the over-widened front line and form a
semicircle again with the entrance to the sando at its center.
But no matter how strong the equipment and statuses of the 2,000
converted players were, there still remained more than 10,000
American players. If it became a war of attrition, the casualties, in
other words, players with probability of data loss, would increase as
time went on.
Furthermore, there was another unignorable concern.
The realistic pain that could not be avoided during battles in

Underworld.
Unlike most of the Americans, who would have already died and
logged out the instant they felt pain, the Japanese players, who
repeated the routine of getting injured, retreating, and being healed,
were constantly exposed to agony. And Asuna had just experienced,
firsthand, the fact that it would gradually break their spirit.
—Please, everyone, do your best. Until these 10,000 enemies are

all eliminated.
If we do that, then the war potential available to those who

attacked the «Ocean Turtle» will truly be depleted this time.
Afterward, we’d only need to catch up to Emperor Vector, who should
have been tripped up by Knight Commander Bercouli and Sinon, and
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rescue Alice.
Asuna flashed her rapier on the foremost line, and shouted with all
her might.
“No problem… we can win! If it’s everyone, we can

definitely win!!”
***
Hirono Takashi, a Japanese VRMMO player, had asked himself: Why

the hell did I come to this place? Not that it did any good now.
The reason that he accepted the all-too-sudden conversion request

from ALO, which he logged into after being woken up at 5:00 a.m. by
a phone call from his friend, was definitely not because the girl
desperately giving a speech was cute, nor was it because he
sympathized with her claims.
To be honest, he had mostly trusted his gut.
Additionally, one part was a curiosity that asked, What kind of

world would a VRMMO made using national budget be like? Another
part was an irresponsible feeling that said, I scored the worst on my
very first proficiency test in high school, so my AmuSphere will be
confiscated soon anyway. And a small part of him had a hunch —
Maybe there really is ‘something’ in that world I haven’t found in any
other game that I’ve played.
After Takashi had converted the character he had raised for two
years and logged into a server that he had never heard of before,
what awaited him was a hulking man clad in red armor standing in
his way, curses in native English slang, and a halberd swinging down
mercilessly.
He jumped back while pressing down the scream about to leak

from his throat, but the halberd’s tip still hit the armor on his left leg,
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tore through it, and cut into his shin for just a moment. He had never
felt such pain since he had fallen from his bicycle and broken a bone
in elementary school.
No one told me about this—!! Takashi shrieked in his head as he

earnestly slipped through the halberd’s pursuit, somehow repelled
the man with his extremely rare one-handed sword, and was taken to
the rear by the support team around the time he felt a wave of
nausea hitting him due to the large amount of blood flowing from the
wound on his leg.
— I’ve had enough, I’m logging out!
Letting such words slip out, Takashi was being healed by a priest-
like girl about the same age as him, wearing a light blue habit.
Somehow, when looking at her, he had a really weird feeling.
“I will treat you immediately, please endure it for a

moment, Esteemed Knight.”
The girl spoke in a delicate voice, then cupped her hands on the
severe wound on his left leg — severe only by Takashi’s standards,
though — and began her incantation. Watching her demeanor,
Takashi thought for a moment that she was merely an NPC.
However, the serious expression exuding from her gray eyes

speckled with brown, her cute features that looked like those of both
an Easterner and a Westerner, and the warmth that came from the
white light healing his wound, all clearly told Takashi that this girl
was neither an NPC nor played by a Japanese person, but a true
human being living in this world.
But could something like this really be true? She was clearly
speaking Japanese, but was not Japanese nor an NPC. Who really was
this girl, then?
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Rather than realizing it the moment he felt the agony of a halberd
slicing his left leg, Takashi clearly recognized something when his
wound was healed by the girl’s magic: he was not in any game event,
but in the middle of some extraordinary occurrence.
“All right, everything is fine now, Esteemed Knight.”
When the girl in the habit lifted her hands with a slightly proud
expression, his wound that had been more than 5 centimeters long
was completely sealed and the pain had disappeared, leaving only a
shallow, light brown scar.
“Th… Thank you.”
Stumbling with his words, Takashi somehow vocalized his

gratitude. Oh, why didn’t I come up with something more fitting for
an «Esteemed Knight»? He thought, irritated. Yet his face grew
scorching hot, and his tongue became stupidly immobile. When he
finally realized it afterwards, he had already taken a daring action
that even he himself could not expect. Reaching out with both arms,
he gently hugged the girl’s slender body.
Had this been a normal VRMMO world, Takashi’s actions would be

determined as «Inappropriate Contact with an NPC» and he would
have been given a system warning.
Yet the girl in the habit jerked in Takashi’s arms, taking a shallow
breath out of surprise. A few seconds later, Takashi felt the girl’s
arms nervously circling around his own back, and applying slight but
definite pressure.
“It’s okay, Esteemed Knight from abroad.”
Close to his ear, the sound of a soft yet steady voice came.
“Even a nun-in-training like myself, although insignificant,

can complete my own duty like this. Esteemed Knight, you
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are fighting plenty times more proudly and bravely. Please
remember… you are taking up your sword to protect many
people, to protect this world.”
The girl then gently smoothed Takashi’s back with her right hand.
Whether it was in the real world or a virtual world, Takashi never

had any experience with hugging a girl. Yet even if he was going to
have a girlfriend in the real world, he had a feeling that he would
never become more emotional than in this very instant.
After that dreamy moment, Takashi steeled his determination as

soon as their two bodies separated.
“Um… W-would you mind telling me your name?”
Patches of scarlet appeared on the trainee nun’s fair face, and she
nodded.
“Of course not… My name is Frenica. Frenica Szeski.”
“Frenica…”
The name sounded very strange, but the girl before him had
spoken it with exceeding familiarity. Unusually, Takashi also clearly
told her his own name. Not his character name Velios, but his own,
original name that he was not particularly fond of.
“… My name is Takashi… Hirono Takashi… Um… Can we,

meet again, when the war ends?”
Frenica raised her eyebrows slightly, narrowed her eyes in

kindness, and nodded.
“Absolutely, Knight Takashi-sama. When the war ends and

peace comes to this world, we will. I shall pray to the three
gods for your safe return.”
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Frenica softly wrapped her hands around Takashi’s left hand on his
knee, and swiftly stood up.
Frenica flapped the hem of her habit, turned, and ran to heal
another of the wounded. As Takashi stared towards her back, and he
clearly realized something: if he was going to stand proudly — like a
knight in front of her, he would have to fight bravely until the end.
This world was no longer a game, but another reality completely
equivalent to the real world in which Takashi was born and grew up
in.
Even if he ran out of HP, no, lifetime, and was ejected from this
world, he would face forward and hold up his sword until the very last
moment. No matter how heavily he was injured, how much it hurt. He
would certainly never see Frenica again if he failed.
Takashi stood up, shouted “All riiiight!”, and ran toward the front
line to complete his goal that was not a quest, but his duty.
1. Kawahara made a typo and wrote “Seventh Day” instead. It

has been corrected here.↩
2. Referenced in Volume 4, when Kirito fights the guardian

monsters to attempt to ascend the World Tree and save Asuna.↩
3. Referred to in previous volumes as “Guards”. Retconned to

make it sound better.↩
4. Referred to in previous volumes as “Land of Darkness”.

Retconned to make it sound better.↩
5. Game Master.↩
6. Player Character.↩
7. Automatic gun. Sinon is used to playing first-person shooter

games.↩
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8. BGM-71 TOW, a widely used US anti-tank missile. More info here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BGM-71_TOW↩
9. Approximately 90 meters tall. (The book includes metric units

because they are more familiar in Japan.)↩
10. Approximately 29 meters wide.↩
11. A sando (参道) is the road approaching a Shinto shrine or a

Buddhist temple. More info here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandō↩
12. Kawahara means “racing suit”, which is tight-fitting full body

wear for auto racers.↩
13. Incarnation (心意, shin’i) is a foreign concept to Vector, so he

repeats it aloud in Japanese here.↩
14. 旋車, literally, “whirling wheel”.↩
15. There is wordplay here. The word “betray” (裏切る, uragiru)

conjugates into 裏切り (uragiri) when it transforms into a noun, which
is pronounced the same as “Unseen Slash” (裏斬).↩
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Thank you very much for reading Sword Art Online 17: Alicization
Awakening.
(Please note, there will be plenty of spoilers below!)
Now, I’ll talk a bit about the content of this volume. As Gabriel,
Vassago, and Critter have schemed, VRMMO players from the US,
Korea, and China mass-invade Underworld and begin a fierce battle
with the Human Empire Army and the Japanese players. When I
wrote this portion of the plot in the web version ten years ago, it was
because there had been an atmosphere of exclusion against foreign
players present in the world of Japanese online games back then, so I
hope that everyone can properly reconsider that part after reading it.
But since my writing ability wasn’t up to scratch, I instead created
something that resembled what happens when anger is incited
against a common enemy, and this has always made me very
ashamed.
While I was editing this into the Dengeki Bunko version, at one
point I considered completely rewriting this section, but then I felt
like that would only be fleeing from it… in the end I didn’t change the
general plot. As to how Kirito will resolve the enmity created by the
«Inciting PKer» Vassago/PoH, who is also beginning to take action
from the shadows in Progressive, please wait for the next volume for
that information as well, everyone.
Fifteen years have transpired since SAO was conceived in a corner

of the Internet. I cannot help but marvel that it has managed to
survive for this long. But now there will be a movie, video games, and
many other projects that will keep expanding the SAO world, and I
ask for everyone’s continued support from now on. Finally, to abec-
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san, who so majestically and beautifully portrayed Leafa, Sinon, and
the others who charged into Underworld, and Miki-san, who is
beginning an all-new challenge as my editor, thank you so much!
A certain day in March 2016
Kawahara Reki
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Adfly:
Prologue
capable……”
Growth Potential A.
Approved.
here pls:P
Adfly:
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Vol.18 Chapter 0 - Prologue Part 3

Proofreading – defan752, Gemyma
“This is Blue Rose 73. Confirm atmospheric escape.

Switching to interstellar cruising speed.” Integrity Machinist
Steeka Schtrinen declared into the speaking tube at the corner of her
mouth as she pushed forward the control stick with her left hand.
The mechadragon’s silver frame began to shudder. Its fully

expanded wings glowed light blue, absorbing the scant resources of
outer space within a wide radius and feeding them into the
propulsion mechanism.
The eternal Thermal Elements encased in the heart of the

apparatus reacted with a shrieking roar and white fire shot from the
main propulsion exhausts on either side of the lofty tail assembly.
Then came the sensation of her body being pressed hard into the
cockpit seat. The violent acceleration that she had little hope of
experiencing within the planet’s atmosphere brought a grin to her
face.
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“Blue Rose 74 copies.”
A short response traveled out of the hearing tube. A glance into the
reflective disc on her right revealed the blinding light from Craft
Two’s burners as it gained on her at an angle from her rear right.
Having been appointed simultaneously with Steeka, Integrity

Machinist Laura’nei Arabel was the navigator of Craft Two. She was
normally a girl of few words and seemed even frostier when flying a
mechadragon.
However, her love for speed ran even deeper than Steeka’s.
Steeka smiled wryly and gave her a gentle prod.
“That’s too fast, Laura.”
“You’re too slow, Stee.”
What did you just say? She thought.
The Underworld Space Force was required to follow rules and

regulations to the letter, but even their spartan instructors would be
unable to monitor outside of the atmosphere. Plus, the three-hour
journey to their destination, companion star Admina, meant that
minor mishaps were well expected.
Steeka pulled the stick down a level and left Craft Two slightly
behind her, then settled into the backrest, grinning.
Her upwards gaze was drawn towards the exquisite relief inlaid on
the narrow cockpit’s ceiling.
Two swords of black and white; vertical and abreast; roses of azure
and fragrant olive petals of orange surrounding them. This was the
emblem of the «Star King», who was slowly beginning to achieve
legendary status.
It had been more than 30 years since the Star King and Queen had
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departed the royal palace of primary star Caldina: the Central
Cathedral.
Steeka and Laura’nei had been Integrity Machinists for four years
but were both 15 years of age, so, naturally, neither had ever met
them before. Throughout their childhoods, however, they would hear
anecdotes from their parents, also Machinists. Their parents had
likewise heard a great many tales from their parents.
Schtrinen House and Arabel House both boasted uninterrupted

history of serving the Star King throughout his nearly 200-year reign,
ever since the time of the Royal Guard Machinists — who were
apparently once called «Knights».
Seven generations ago, their ancestors Tiese Schtrinen and Ronye

Arabel had protected the Star King, who was yet to assume his
position at the time and carried out military achievements in a war
with the four imperial families who wielded power on the first land of
Caldina. The Emperor’s and great noble families’ domineering power
was done away with and the oppressed peoples of private territories
were liberated.
Later on, the Star King had developed the first mechadragon and
crossed the «Mountain Range at the Edge» that encircled the land
and towered all the way to the highest point of the atmosphere.
With venerable patience he negotiated with the divine beasts who

had rampaged unrestrainedly throughout undeveloped territory since
ancient eras, sometimes battled them one-on-one and emerged
victorious, then brought to life fertile colonies and bestowed them
upon the Goblin and Orcish races, who, at the time, were
discriminatorily termed «demihumans», and allowed them to build
their own nations.
Finally, having treaded all of Caldina, the King turned his attention
to the vastness of space.
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Repeated improvements upon the mechadragons finally enabled
them to escape the atmosphere.
Near Solus, he discovered another star that formed a pair with

Caldina, and christened it Admina.
After creating a periodic route for interstellar large mechadragon

transit, and not long after establishing the first Admina settlement,
he was elected first Star King of Underworld.
Under the rule of a King and Queen with eternal Life who never
languished, the two stars would continue to flourish — or so
everyone thought, but at a certain point both King and Queen had, as
prophesied, abdicated and entered a long sleep. Finally, 30 years
ago, they never appeared before the public again and departed this
world.
After that, political matters were decided through conferences

comprising military and citizen representatives. With no more
enemies, ground and space forces began slowly diminishing in size,
but still obeyed the Star King’s prophecy by sustaining stern
traditions in their Machinist training.
The Star King’s prophecy had gone like this:
—One day, a gate to another world, the «Real World», will be

opened once more.
—When that time comes, both worlds will be shaped by a vast

revolution.
Steeka didn’t really take these words seriously, but it was said that
once the gate to another world was opened, then an age would arrive
during which the continued existence of Underworld would come into
question. The prophecy warned against merely anticipating
integration and compassion; the people must continue to hone their
strength with pride and independence, or else the five human races
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of Humans, Giants, Goblins, Orcs, and Ogres will be struck again with
tragedy of even greater misery than the «War with Another World»
200 years ago.
But Steeka was not afraid.
No matter what world or age was coming for them, she could fight
valiantly as long as she had the wings of a mechadragon.
—Because I’m a member of the glorious Integrity Machinist Order,

and we have traditions dating back to the age-old creation of this
world.
She murmured, then looked again towards the ceiling emblem—
moment.
Vermillion light appeared below the main imagepanel, as letters

and a warning tone simultaneously signaled the detection of an
abnormally-sized Element aggregate.
“Wha… What?!”
She had just yelped and leapt up when Laura’nei’s anxious voice
traveled over the hearing tube.
“Blue Rose 74, I’m reading the approach of an enormous

Umbral Element being! Element density… 2700?!”
“It’s a Legendary-class Space Beast… the «Abyssal

Horror»…”
As she muttered the creature’s name in Sacred Tongue, a blotch of

pitch-black void was already reflecting off the right side of a sea of
stars covering the main imagepanel, like a splash of ink.
The uniquely-named Abyssal Horror was the most vicious of

confirmed space beasts. As many as 12 giant tentacles on its
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globular body stretched 200 mel in diameter when fully extended. Its
was 20 times larger than a single mechadragon fighter.
And since its enormous frame was formed entirely from pure, high-
density Umbral Elements, attacks of almost any type did nothing at
all. But that was not the reason it was called the most vicious.
Unlike most other Legendary Beasts, the Abyssal Horror utterly

rejected human attempts at communication. It seemed to be
constituted solely from an impulse to kill and destroy; as soon as it
saw her mechadragon currently in interstellar travel, it would make a
beeline and devour her completely.
Even the Star King, who was known for treating the Legendary
Beasts with respect, seemed to have attempted to eliminate this
space beast after enduring the tragic destruction of several large
civilian mechadragons heading for Admina. But this king, whose
power was said to outstrip a whole army, had been unable to fully
eradicate the Abyssal Horror.
According to observations conducted later, after patrolling back

and forth between the two stars at the same speed and on the same
route and then considering the matter for a while, the space beast
decided to allow all mechadragons to undergo interstellar travel
under the condition that they would avoid times in which they would
come into contact with it.
Steeka and Laura’nei had, of course, chosen to take off from

Caldina at a time and on a day which the space beast ought to have
been flying behind distant Admina.
—However.
“Why?… It’s too soon for it to appear…”
Steeka muttered, her trembling hands resting on the stick.
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But she immediately pulled herself together and screamed shrilly
into the speaking tube.
“Yaw left 180 and retreat at full speed! Pull back within the
Caldina atmosphere!”
“Roger that!!”
Laura’nei replied, her voice also nervous.
Steeka banked the mechadragon left while pulling hard on the

control stick. Long white flame shot from the flight control thruster
exhaust and her body was shoved into the seat with suffocating
weight. The stars on the imagepanel drew long arcs and slid away to
the lower right.
She finished the turn and the imagepanel was once again filled
with Caldina’s blue light, where she had left the ground just ten
minutes ago. It looked just within reach, but in reality it was
despairingly far away.
Almost praying, she accelerated to maximum speed. Screaming

roars issued from the Eternal Thermal Elements.
But the speed gauge’s needle reached five levels before its upper
limit and stopped there. The Abyssal Horror was stealing away
resources within an ultra-wide radius, preventing the resource
collectors in the mechadragon’s wings from performing to their usual
standards.
The space beast’s jet-black frame was growing even larger than it
was before through the rear view of the sub-imagepanel. She should
already see its incessantly wriggling tentacles.
Muffled violet-blue light began to concentrate at the front of two

particularly long tentacles.
“Stee, he’s preparing to attack!”
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Steeka immediately responded to the voice from Craft Two.
“I see him! Put up a Luminous Element barrier behind us!!”
She shouted, punching a button on the instrument panel with her

left hand. The armor around the mechadragon’s middle opened with
a thunderous rumble. Steeka drew a deep breath and concentrated—
“System call! Generate Luminous Element!!”
She bellowed, sending ten or so Luminous Elements traveling

through the communication channel built into the control stick
clutched tightly between her hands and out into space from two
places on the mechadragon’s middle.
Acting on Steeka’s thoughts, they changed shape and transformed

into a circular barrier.
moment.
The space beast’s tentacles lobbed forward a globule of dazzling

violet-blue light, as though it were tossing a ball.
With an echoing bang like tearing metal, the dark shot hurtled
through space.
In three short seconds or so it would impact the Luminous Element

barrier—
“…Eeyaahh!!”
Steeka couldn’t help but shriek as the mechadragon was buffeted

by violent shaking. At the same time, she heard Laura’nei’s voice
over the hearing tube.
Two shots had torn easily through Steeka’s barrier as if it were

paper, shearing deeply through the craft’s rear armor.
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Several instruments turned instantly red. The resource
communication channel began to malfunction too; her acceleration
grew sluggish.
Through the sub-imagepanel, Steeka was certain that only the

amorphous, black Abyssal Horror was split into a grin.
She looked at the image of her side and realized that Craft Two’s
single wing had been destroyed, and its speed had taken an
enormous hit.
“Laura! Laura!!”
She screamed her name, and fortunately heard a hoarse reply.
“…Don’t worry, I’m fine. But.. this kid can no longer fly…”
“…We’ll have to eject. Think of a way to reach Caldina with

the thrusters on the Machinist uniforms…”
“That’s impossible!… No, I mean, I don’t want to do that!!

We can’t leave him and run away by ourselves!!”
Hearing Laura’nei’s shriek—
Steeka could not articulate a reply.
To a Machinist, a mechadragon wasn’t just a manmade object of

steel; it was an irreplaceable partner whose spirit interlinked with
yours. Just like the dragons ridden by the Integrity Knights of ancient
times.
“……That’s right. You’re right.”
Steeka murmured, and silently covered the control stick with both
hands.
She took a deep breath, smiled, and muttered:
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“Then let’s fight to the end together… Yaw again, and
attack with full strength with your main cannon. Is that okay,
Laura?”
“…Roger that.”
Her last communication was as usual: a single, cold sentence.
Still smiling, Steeka slowly pulled up the control stick and turned
her injured, beloved dragon 180 degrees.
OOOOOOO——…
The Abyssal Horror roared, or laughed; it was uncertain.
—At least we’ll teach him a lesson before we die. Do our best to
make him wait just a bit longer before attacking this route again.
Determined, Steeka pressed down the red button on the top of the
control stick by half.
The main cannon equipped at the front of the mechadragon

clanked open. Usually at this time one would generate the most
effectively typed Element, but for the Abyssal Horror that barely had
a physical body, even polar oppositely typed Luminous Elements
wouldn’t be able to harm it that much.
In that case, she would attack with Cryogenic Elements, something

she knew well, Steeka thought as she began reciting the incantation.
Clear blue light appeared on the mechadragon’s chin.
She glanced to her side and saw Craft Two’s main cannon bursting
with red light. It looked like Laura’nei had chosen to attack with
Thermal Elements.
Only 1000 mel away now, the space beast threw open eight
tentacles in preparation to attack.
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Steeka drew in a sharp breath, ready to call the order to fire.
But—
“Wa… Wait, Stee!! What’s…!?”
Laura’nei’s shocked voice split her right ear in half.
What do you have to say at this point… Steeka thought, and at

that moment.
She saw it too.
Stars were descending.
A dazzling trail of white light was approaching directly from above

her main imagepanel at astonishing speed.
A mechadragon?! She thought, but immediately refuted herself.

The light was too small from this distance. It was about two mel in
size and about as small as a human—
No.
It was a human.
They only resembled a star because of the light coming from a

spherical barrier of Luminous Elements around them. The dark figure
of a person was clearly visible within.
The figure came to a stop about 100 mel ahead of the two
mechadragons.
Almost simultaneously, the Abyssal Horror let out a deafening howl

and fired eight shots of light.
Before she was struck by the shock of how a real live human had
appeared in deathly cold space, Steeka was screaming:
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“What are you doing?! Get out of there, now!!”
But the person made absolutely no response.
As the hem of their long coat flapped, they stood with arms bravely
folded, suspended at a point in midair.
Such a thin protective barrier would have as much effect as a piece

of paper against the Abyssal Horror’s shot. Steeka could almost
picture the sight of blood and flesh exploding in all directions the
instant one of the light shots impacted, accompanied by a low roar.
“Ruuuuuuuuun!!”
“Run away!!”
She shrieked again at the top of her lungs simultaneously with

Laura’nei.
Eight shots of violet-blue light, looking to be three mel in diameter

each, all came screaming with metallic howls.
And then, as though they collided violently with a transparent wall,

they stopped in midair and ricocheted in different directions.
The universe trembled.
The innumerable stars reflected in Steeka’s widened eyes shook

like ripples on water. moment, a shockwave roared past her and
rumbled the mechadragon’s enormous body.
At a complete loss for words, Steeka noticed that the needle in the
miniature instrument on the right side of her imagepanel swung
straight up in an instant.
“You’re… joking… that’s impossible…”
Steeka had never seen the instrument, called the «Incarnation
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meter», move up 20 percent like this. Her ears filled with Laura’nei’s
awed voice.
“…I don’t believe it… Such powerful Incarnation… It’s like

the entire universe is trembling…”
But the reality before their eyes was undeniable.
The indisputable reality that one tiny human, without using an

Element barrier, had deflected a space beast’s attack with
Incarnation — a secret technique of the ancient Integrity Knights.
Ooo…OOOOOOOO—………
The faraway Abyssal Horror roared.
A roar of rage, or horror?
Perhaps understanding that its dark shot attacks had no effect, the
space beast extended countless tentacles ahead and thrusted them
forward.
The minuscule human figure opposite it reached their outstretched

arms behind their back, and drew out two longswords equipped there
in one go.
“He’s… not thinking of fighting it with swords?!”
Steeka couldn’t stop herself from leaning forward, hands perched

on the imagepanel.
The Abyssal Horror was more than 200 mel long in total. Its frame
was constructed from an aggregation of amorphous Umbral
Elements. Metal blades less than a mel long had no hope of vying
against it.
However, the mysterious swordsman pointed the white sword in its

left hand with an effortless motion.
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Then he shouted.
Even in the void of space, and through the thick armor of the
mechadragon, Steeka heard the swordsman’s clear voice.
Blinding light burned the imagepanel stark white.
When the image immediately returned, at its center it was possible

to see several streaks of bluish-white light shooting from the blade
raised by the swordsman and rocketing towards the Abyssal Horror.
Those lights were as thin as fibers compared to the space beast’s

gargantuan form, but when they struck and wrapped around it, the
beast’s speed of assault became visibly attenuated. The frantic
motions of its freely wriggling 12 tentacles became stiff. Almost as if
they had frozen.
But that was impossible. The Abyssal Horror was a creature

acclimated to the extremely cold environment of space. It was
impossible to create a chill colder than the temperature of space.
Steeka’s stupefaction was immediately blown away by Laura’nei’s

murmuring in her ear.
“That’s… That’s the «Armament Full Control Art»… No, the

«Memory Release Art»…?”
“What?… Only highest-level Machinists can use that!”
“But… that technique just…”
Their hesitant conversation was interrupted by a third roar from

the space beast.
O… OOOOOOORRRRRRR!!
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All of a sudden, the enormous trapped body trembled and three
new tentacles erupted from it. They formed giant jet-black spears
and lunged towards the mysterious swordsman.
But this time, the swordsman raised the sword in his right hand
with a lazy movement.
Then, he shouted again:
“Release… recollection!!”
What came shooting out was darkness, deeper, heavier, and

denser than the tentacles of the space beast.
When they touched each other, it created a shockwave that almost

warped the entire vicinity and the mechadragon shuddered again.
Violet-blue electricity crawled within the void, reflecting dazzling rays
of light on the imagepanel.
Steeka’s own shock had reached a level difficult to describe with

words.
How was he producing multiple iterations at the same time of a

secret technique that only seven of the highest-level Integrity
Machinists were capable of? Moreover, not even a formation of
destroyer-class mechadragons were able to deal with the Abyssal
Horror’s full-power attack, but this swordsman had blocked it by
himself.
Not even her own parents in Centoria would believe the existence
of this swordsman.
However—
The truly shocking scene was still awaiting her.
“Stee! There’s… another swordsman!!”
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Her eyes searched in all directions at frantic speed and spotted a
new human figure streaking down from the same direction that the
mysterious two-bladed swordsman had come from.
This new figure was of smaller stature. Even through the Element
barrier, she could see their long hair and skirt billowing. Her right
hand was grasping a rapier that looked extremely fragile.
The swordswoman raised her right hand straight up—
Then brought it swishing down forward with a fluid motion.
Steeka saw a streak of variegated light appear in pitch-black

space, shaking. At the same time, there came an incredible sound,
like countless members of a harmonizing choir.
Laaaaaaaaaaa.
The Incarnation meter’s needle trembled nonstop as it pointed up.
A star…
A meteorite of scarcely believable magnitude appeared out of

nowhere and shot past above her head, wrapped in flames.
Every asteroid on the route connecting Caldina and Admina had

been destroyed many tens of years ago. But the weighty sensation
making her entire mechadragon’s body vibrate was most definitely
not her imagination.
Perhaps noticing the gigantic rock heading straight for it, the
Abyssal Horror shrieked.
It grew two new tentacles and brandished them, as though

attempting to block the star.
There was no sound upon impact.
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The front end of the fiercely burning meteor instantaneously
disintegrated the space beast’s tentacles.
Then it burrowed easily into the center of the gigantic body—
And shattered the enormous beast of concentrated Umbral

Elements in one shot.
OOOOOOOOOOoooooo———……
A shriek of death throes overlapped with the meteor’s explosion,

echoing throughout the whole universe. The vast release of
Resources bleached Steeka’s eyes pure white, then bright red, and
finally violet.
“They… defeated…… it…? That… monster……?”
She murmured in a trembling voice.
But—
“Ah… It’s… It’s not over!!”
The pilot of Craft Two who was normally slightly calmer than
Steeka was the first to notice what was happening.
The fragments of the Abyssal Horror that were blown in all

directions and what they originally thought were burned up, began to
move.
Each piece of faint Umbral Element was only tens of cen long and
completely incomparable to the immense size of the original body,
were wriggling irregularly like a swarm of flies and attempting to flee.
Records indicated that in the past, the King had once also pushed
that beast to this extent.
But the Abyssal Horror had ultimately avoided destruction after
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being reduced to thousands of fragments, finally escaped to the
edges of the universe, healed its wounds, and attacked the route
once more.
In that way, this would only be repeating that legend.
“No… Don’t let it get away! You have to burn them all!!”
Steeka couldn’t help but scream.
But the two-bladed swordsman and the rapier-wielding

swordswoman seemed unable to make any immediate moves. She
could hardly blame them; they had let loose such massive
Incarnation after all.
The fragments of the Abyssal Horror drew crooked paths and

gradually flew away, as though they were mocking them.
——Then.
The swarm of flies was suddenly thrown into disarray.
It moved irregularly, as though dispersing and not knowing which

direction to flee in.
Steeka held her breath and poked the imagepanel with her
fingertip, enlarging a portion of the image.
She saw golden light.
She continued to enlarge the object that was blooming pure light,
almost like a miniature Solus.
“……A person……”
A third swordsman.
Hair like molten gold. Armor that was equally gold. A pure white
skirt. Eyes of sky blue that stared towards the enemy with resolution.
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……I know her.
“This swordswoman… No, this knight… I know her.”
Steeka murmured. Immediately she heard Laura’nei reply, “Me

too.”
Every feature of this golden knight was exactly the same as the
gigantic portrait hanging in the throne room on the 50th floor of the
Central Cathedral. She had earned many military achievements in
the War with Another World an age ago yet legendarily disappeared
in battle, the most powerful Integrity Knight in history. It was no
mistake; her name was—
“…Alice… -sama…?”
As though she had heard their voices, the knight’s right hand
moved.
With one fluid movement she drew out the longsword from her left
waist.
The golden blade reflected Solus’s light, giving it an intimidating

shine. The many fragments of the space beast went into disorder as
though in fear, and fled pell-mell in every direction.
The knight raised the longsword ahead of its body.
The voice that then came from her mouth conjured thoughts of a
wind that blew through the entire universe. The mechadragon’s
Incarnation meter shattered with a faint explosion.
The sword flashed even more intensely.
With a metallic clang! the blade disintegrated into countless

splinters.
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The knight slowly moved the hilt with her right hand.
Whoosh. The splinters expanded into space as though they were

flower petals blown by a breeze.
The golden meteor shower flew outwards all at once.
Every tiny light penetrated the fragments of the space beast flying
every which way with spine-chilling accuracy. The pierced pieces of
Umbral Element were burned up by golden light and evaporated.
“……Such power…”
All Steeka could do was mumble.
Not even every single mechadragon in the Integrity Machinist

Order all firing their main cannons at once could display such
accuracy and strength.
The Abyssal Horror, the most vicious space beast in Underworld

that terrorized the populace let loose the most bizarre roar yet at the
instant its final fragment was run through by the golden sword.
GEEEEEEEEEeeeeee………
When the noise died down, the space beast was finally vanquished.
Dazed, Steeka stared as the golden meteor shower concentrated

towards the knight’s hand and changed once more into the form of a
longsword.
Even if this golden knight was the ancient Integrity Knight Alice,
then who exactly were the other two?
On the imagepanel, the golden sword returned her sword to its

sheath, then flew quickly across space and approached the
swordsman in black and the swordswoman in pearly attire.
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The three of them conversed briefly, then turned as one towards
Steeka and Laura’nei.
She couldn’t make out their faces. But she knew that all three of
them were smiling.
Just then, the two-bladed swordsman returned his white and black
longsword to his back, and waved his right hand gently.
In that instant—
Something immensely deep within Steeka’s chest was impaled by

immense emotion.
It was a personal pain that nearly stopped her from breathing.
“Ah… Ahh…”
Laura’nei’s quiet voice in her ear and and her own exhaled breath
caught together.
“Stee. I know him. I know this person.”
“Yeah, Laura. I… do too.”
Steeka nodded two or three times.
It wasn’t a memory of knowledge, like of the portrait in the throne

room. It was different from that sort of recognition.
This was a definite remembrance felt by her heart, her fingertips,

and her soul.
All of a sudden, her nose was struck by the sweet aroma of honey
pies.
The coolness of a breeze across a grassy plain. The warmth of

sunlight descending steadily downwards.
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Faint laughter traveling from afar.
Trancelike, Steeka donned her airtight helmet, and pulled down on

the handle to the right of her pilot’s seat.
The insulated air rushed out with a whoosh. The armor plates
protecting the mechadragon’s cockpit spread open, and a sea of
stars unfolded overhead. Craft Two’s navigator entryway was also
open.
Standing from her seat, Steeka fixed her eyes on the three
swordsmen standing in tandem, waving continuously to her from
roughly 30 mel out.
No.
Another person—
Steeka’s maple-red eyes clearly captured a fourth swordsman

materializing before her.
A boy wearing a sensible smile, standing to the right of the

swordsman in black. Like warm air, his illusory, transparent, wobbling
figure, looked ready to disappear the instant she looked away.
The flaxen-haired boy nodded slowly and deeply at Steeka.
Tears came to her eyes.
Warm tears flowed steadily down her cheeks inside her airtight
helmet.
Finally, the figure of the boy vanished, as though he were melting

into Solus’s light as it emerged from behind Caldina.
And the young Integrity Machinist understood.
This was — this moment was the unveiling of the new age that the
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Star King had prophesied about.
They were the envoys from the past, come to open the gate to the
future.
From this moment on, the world was going to change.
The gate to another world would open, and the current of the new
age would come flooding through with a roar.
It was absolutely not the declaration of paradise’s arrival. An age of

unimaginable revolution and tempest was upon Underworld.
But Steeka was not at all afraid.
Because—
Her heart was simply jumping for joy.
She had been yearning for this encounter, enough to shake her
soul.
Blinking away the tears, Steeka looked straight ahead of her.
Still standing, she silently pushed forward the control stick with her
fingertips.
Traces of blue light appeared on the mechadragon’s injured wings.
Eternal Thermal Elements blew, creating a tiny thrust, moving the

craft.
For an instant, she exchanged glances with Laura’nei beside her,

and both nodded fervently.
Integrity Machinist Steeka Schtrinen, a girl born in Underworld,

gently piloted her mechadragon.
Towards the swordsmen waving at her from far away, whom she
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did not know, but who brought memories to her.
Towards the gate to the next age.
Towards the future.
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Vol.18 Chapter 22
Proofreading – def_nomad, ZeHaffen
“Damn!” came an abrupt expletive from Critter, the information

warfare operative of the Ocean Turtle raid team, as he scrutinized
the large monitor directly above the console.
The red dot, which had numbered 30,000 at its peak, was rapidly
vanishing from the inside out.
This meant that, by one way or another, the Chinese and Korean
VRMMO players thrown into Underworld through Vassago’s secret
plan were being annihilated and automatically logged out.
A thousand survivors still remained among the blue-colored Human

Empire army and white Japanese troops in the middle of the red
circle. It was a conspicuously large number, and if this thousand
people had the power to vanquish a combined Chinese-Korean force
of 30,000, that made them all the more dangerous.
“…What the hell is that dolt Vassago doing?…”
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Critter clucked his tongue, fixating on one point in the screen.
There was one final red dot positioned exceedingly close to the
Japanese troops, glowing intensely. That was Vassago, who had
converted his own account earlier and dived in through the STL in the
adjacent room. He was right next to the enemy, but instead of
engaging them, he did not appear to be moving at all.
Had he been taken prisoner somehow and immobilized? Or did he

have his own secret plan of defeating an enemy army of
thousands─?
Critter repressed the urge to storm into the STL Room, slap
Vassago awake, seize his shirt collar, and shake him.
He could not reset the account while Underworld administrator

privileges were locked; if he logged Vassago out by force, he would
never be able to use that account again. All Critter could do at the
moment was change the time acceleration rate, which was separate
from The Seed program, but anything involving that had to be timed
with extreme care.
Critter inhaled sharply and zoomed out the onscreen map.
Deep into the Underworld south, he saw another red dot still
moving at full speed. That would be the raid team captain, Gabriel
Miller.
What he had to consider now was the likelihood of the Human

Empire army catching up to Captain Miller, who had either already
captured Alice or was currently in pursuit of her.
Sending in large quantities of American, Chinese, and Korean

players had proved a significant impediment to the Human Empire
army’s southward advance. By now Captain Miller had a several-
hundred-mile head start in Underworld. A fighter jet would clear that
in the blink of an eye, but it was difficult to imagine something like
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that within Underworld. They would have winged creature units at
the very most.
─No way they’re gonna catch up.
Critter decided after a long three seconds of consideration.
He glanced at a watch on his left wrist. It was July 7, 9:40am.
Eight hours and twenty minutes remained until the JSDF’s

commando unit was scheduled to come storming in from the
destroyer. Captain Miller had ordered them to restart the
acceleration at the eight hour mark ─ 10:00AM. But with all of their
external troops completely eliminated, there was no meaning in
waiting any longer.
In that case, it would be wise to bring Underworld’s time

acceleration back to 1,000 times right now and buy Captain Miller
some time to secure Alice.
“No way around it… Just hold on a bit longer, Vassago.”
Speaking to the still utterly immobile dot on the main battlefield,

Critter reached his right hand towards the lever that controlled the
Fluctlight Acceleration rate.
He peered up at the rate meter on the main monitor, but his eyes
suddenly came to a halt on the scale at its side.
The sliding needle was currently positioned on ×1, at the very

bottom. From there, each ×100 marked a gradation, and at ×1000 a
red line was painted across as a border.
Then the scale continued to rise, with another border at ×1200.

This would appear to be the safety limit for real live humans when
they dived in through STLs.
But the rate meter continued to rise even further, finally stopping
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at ×5000. If no humans were diving ─ if the world were only
populated by Artificial Fluctlights, then the internal time could be
accelerated up to this point.
One adjusted the time acceleration rate by operating a physical

lever on the console and then pressing the covered button beside it.
Taking care not to touch the button, Critter slowly pushed the control
lever upwards, treating it like a ship or airplane’s horizontally-moving
throttle.
The slider on the monitor rose smoothly, and the digital numbers
beside it began jumping staccato-like.
At ×1000 he suddenly encountered resistance.
He shoved hard and the lever gave, but stopped again at ×1200.
This time it did not show any signs of wanting to move no matter how
much force he applied.
“Unf……”
Critter’s curiosity got the better of him. He began inspecting the

sizable metallic lever.
And then he immediately noticed a shining silver keyhole beside

the confirmation button.
“I see.”
His face split into a grin as he scratched his close-cropped hair.
If the safety limit was 1,200 times, then the actual danger zone
had to be somewhere above that. It didn’t seem like a bad idea to try
unlocking the safety mechanism first, just in case they became
extremely pressed for time inside.
Spinning his chair around, Critter snapped his fingers at the other
team members who had returned to the main control room.
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“Hey, anyone here a lockpicking specialist?”
***
─So soft… smells good…
This had to the best sleep he’d had in months. That was why Higa
Takeru resisted until the very end the unknown voice in his ear trying
desperately to wake him up.
“…ey, Higa-kun! Listen to me! Hey, open your eyes!!”
─This sounds overly desperate, though. Almost like I’m about to

die or something.
─Whatever’s going on, this has got to be blowing it outta

proportion. It’s not like I was stabbed, or I was… shot…
“───AHH!!”
His memory reviving with his consciousness, Higa cried out as his
eyes snapped open.
Whereupon he saw before him the face of a thirty-something man,

black-rimmed glasses flashing.
“Whoaaa?!”
Higa screamed again.
Instinct told him to scramble backwards, but his body didn’t

respond to his commands. Instead, excruciating pain assailed his
right shoulder and Higa let loose a third bizarre noise.
─Right.
I got shot by that guy in the cable duct.
I lost a lot of blood but ignored it, prioritizing the STL operation
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instead. I fed the three girls’ Fluctlight outputs directly into Kirigaya-
kun’s STL, but still couldn’t wake him up… and I think something
happened after that…
“… Ki-Kirito-kun, is he─”
Higa demanded, keeping his distance from the bespectacled man

watching him at close range.
A cool female voice answered him.
“Kirigaya-kun’s Fluctlight activity has been completely

restored. In fact, it’s almost too active.”
“I.. I see…”
Higa’s murmur mixed with a sigh.
A self-image recovery from that state was nothing short of a

miracle. But surviving blood loss of that volume was a genuine, bona-
fide, inexplicable─
As he thought, he examined his own situation once more.
He was lying on the floor of the sub control room. His upper body
was naked and his right shoulder was bandaged. A blood transfusion
catheter ran into his left arm.
To his left was the bespectacled man, Kikuoka Seijirou. Sitting

directly on the floor to his right was Dr. Koujiro Rinko; she had taken
off her white gown. Opposite the catheter was Sergeant First Class
Aki Natsuki, registered nurse, changing his blood bag. She must have
been the one tending to his wounds.
Higa looked back at Kikuoka, who after remaining silent all this
time, finally sighed heavily and spoke:
“Goodness gracious… I told you not to be reckless… ─No,
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it’s my fault for not realizing there was a spy among the
technicians…”
Kikuoka’s bangs were a mess and beads of perspiration were

visible on his glasses. Closer inspection revealed that Rinko was also
drenched in sweat. it seemed that both of them had been trying to
revive him. So that comfortable sensation he had felt between
wakefulness and sleep was from…
───Huh?
Which person had given him chest compressions, and which had
given him mouth-to-mouth?
Higa almost asked, but shut his mouth at the last moment. There
were truths in this world that should remain undiscovered.
Instead, he raised a question many times more important.
“How’s Underworld… How’s Alice?”
Kikuoka nudged Higa’s left shoulder as he replied:
“The players connecting from America, China, and Korea

have all logged out. ─Also, there were nearly 30,000 players
from China and Korea, but they’re all gone…”
“Huh?… China and Korea came too?! Not reinforcements…

but enemies?!”
He leapt up on reflex but moaned from excruciating pain that shot

from his right shoulder right to the top of his head. SFC Aki’s scolding
without delay.
“Take it easy! The bullet passed right through you, but it

took a lot to stop the bleeding.”
“G-Got it…”
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Higa relaxed his body, and Rinko updated him on the situation.
“─About China and Korea, it looks like social media was

cleverly used to incite resentment and conflict among the
online gamers, then lure them here.”
“Is… that right…”
Higa sighed softly. He joined Project Alicization because… he was

inspired after a Korean friend was killed by a terrorist bomb attack
during his military service in Iraq. But even if this whole ordeal was
the attackers’ fault, things still ended up spinning out of control and
worsening the hostility between Japanese and Korean players.
He shook his head without thinking, and after grimacing from pain
again, Higa asked something else:
“How many people came from China and Korea?”
“Seemed to be 30,000 at its peak. Almost all of the 2,000

players coming to help from Japan were wiped out.”
Kikuoka shut his eyes for a second, then continued:
“At that point, there were still more than 20,000 Chinese
and Korean players, so it was fortunate that Kirito-kun awoke
then and, in the blink of an eye…”
“Wait, what?”
Higa could not help but interrupt the commander.
“Kirito-kun, by himself… in the blink of an eye,

incapacitated a great army of 20,000 people? That’s
impossible. There aren’t any weapons or commands in
Underworld able to inflict an attack of that much power or
scale. Or… so I think…”
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Just then, he finally recalled in clear detail the conversation that
had went down before Yanai shot him in the cable duct.
Sugou Nobuyuki’s original henchman Yanai hadn’t just been the

attackers’ spy. He was also deeply obsessed with the Artificial
Fluctlight «Administrator». What kind of experience had driven things
that far for him?
Moreover, the «fourth person» that had connected to Kirigaya

Kazuto’s STL ─ the anomalous Fluctlight in the Main Visualizer. Even
if it, no, he or she had become the key to Kazuto’s revival, Higa had
never expected a subjectless, normal object to express or even
simply mimic human consciousness.
“… Hey… Kiku-san…”
Higa muttered to the commander, feeling a chill that was not part
of the blood loss.
“We… may have… created something unthinkable…”
At that moment.
A shrill alarm came blaring from an embedded speaker in the sub

control room.
It was something Higa had installed: the sound of the time

acceleration rate being changed.
***
Gray clouds raced past me and Asuna at incredible speed. The

blood-red sky overhead and jet-black wilderness underfoot expanded
as far as the eye could see.
There’s only one person capable of the Art of airborne flight in all
of the vast Human Empire, and that’s the Highest Minister ─ that
was what Integrity Knight Alice once told me. Since Highest Minister
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Administrator and her «counterpart», the sage Cardinal, had both left
Underworld, there was no way to find out exactly how they had
learned the Flight Art. That’s why it struck me that my ability to fly in
midair above the Dark Territory like this had nothing to do with an
Art; it was the result of me directly manipulating things with my
imagination… the power that the Integrity Knights called
«Incarnation».
Cardinal’s familiar Charlotte had protected me ever since I left

Rulid Village, and now I heard the giant spider’s words once more,
deep within my ear.
—Every Art is naught but a tool to channel and adjust your

Incarnation… your imagination, as you call it. You don’t need
incantations or mediums anymore.
—Now dry your tears, and stand up. Then, feel them. The flowers’
prayer.
—The truth of the world.
In the time that I shut myself out of the world around me following
the battle against Administrator on the topmost floor of the Central
Cathedral of the Axiom Church, all the way until I recovered some
tens of minutes ago, somehow or other I think I established an
incredibly deep connection with the «truth» of this world.
I could feel, quite clearly, the Sacred Power swirling in the space
around me, and I could convert it, quite easily, into elements without
the need of an Art. Although I had used an incantation when I healed
Klein and Lisbeth’s Lives back there, I should have been able to
achieve the same just with my imagination.
I was now flying by coating Asuna’s and my body with Aerial

Elements to counteract air resistance while continuously discharging
Aerial Elements behind us, much like a jet engine. We were several
times faster than a dragon but it would still take us at least five
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minutes or so before we could catch up to Alice and Amayori, the
dragon she was riding into the far south.
There were a mountain of words, apologies, and thanks I wanted to

give Asuna during this respite. But no matter how hard I tried, I
couldn’t look to my right, look her in the eye as we flew side by side,
hand in hand.
The reason was—
After I awoke, after all of the blood in my body seemed to

transform to light as my sensation of invincibility ebbed away, every
recent memory in my head reorganized itself and became distinct.
There was one problem: a scene from late last night.
Having positioned my supine body at the center of a tent, Asuna,

Alice, Ronye, and Sortiliena-senpai were sitting in a circle around me.
Each one of them was chatting about their memories of me…
Actually, they were taking turns staging a one-act play of each and
every single one of my misdeeds. How else could you describe it than
a “living hell”?
—Kirito-senpai regularly snuck out of the Academy to buy bags of

honey pies from the Deer Leap or fruit cookies from the Sunflower,
and shared them with me and Tiese.
—Which reminds me, when I graduated he actually brought me

some Zephyria flowers, which you normally only find in the western
Empire. He told me that they took an entire year to bloom.
When Ronye and Sortiliena-senpai shared these anecdotes—
—When we were climbing the outer wall of the Cathedral, Kirito

took a meat bun from his pocket and shared half of it with me. He
heated it too quickly with a Thermal Element and nearly charred it.
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—When I first met him, he gave me a piece of black bread with
cream on it. And then we had blueberry tart, these huge roll cakes,
and ate lots of different things together…
For some reason Alice and Asuna began responding with food-
themed stories. Then ensued an endless conference about things I’ve
done and said…
“Ugh…”
I involuntarily clutched my head and moaned as we flew at high

speed.
“Aarrrrgh!”
At that moment my mind’s focus was muddled, and the generation

and discharge of Aerial Elements ceased. Harsh wind resistance
immediately besieged my entire body and we plunged into a
nosedive.
Crap, I muttered, opening my coat into a pair of giant wings to

rebalance myself. But before I had a moment’s breather—
“…Yaaaaaah!!”
Asuna was shrieking and dropping like a stone from above; I threw
my arms as far apart as I could and caught her.
Having avoided imminent peril, I stared point-blank into her

widened hazel eyes. Any apologies had to be said now.
“Asuna, it wasn’t like that!!”
—It was more of an excuse than an apology, but there was no

turning back now.
“Absolutely nothing happened between me, Liena-senpai,

Alice, and Ronye, really! I swear to Goddess Stacia,
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absolutely N-O-T-H-I-N-G!!”
Hearing my desperate explanation, Asuna’s face—
Broke into a warm smile. She took my cheeks in her slender hands,
replying in a half-amazed, half-wistful voice:
“…You haven’t changed at all, Kirito-kun. They say you’ve

been here for two years, and I thought you would have
become… a bit more… mature……”
Suddenly, Asuna’s eyes were brimming with tears. Her lips

trembled a bit, then let out something hoarse.
“Thank goodness… You’re Kirito-kun… You haven’t…

changed at all… My… Kirito-kun…”
Her words dug their way deep into my chest, where something hot
threatened to gush upwards, but I just managed to hold it back in my
throat:
“… I’m… me. I can’t have changed.”
“Because… you’re almost like a god. Back there you

instantly froze a whole entire army just like that… You fully
healed 200 people all at once… and also, you can fly…”
All I could manage was a strained grin.
“I’m just a little more familiar with the workings of this

world. As for flying, well, with a little practice you can do it
too, Asuna.”
“…I don’t have to.”
“What?”
“I just want you to hold me like this while you fly.”
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Asuna replied with a watery smile, then wrapped her arms around
my back in a tight hug. I hugged her back, hard, and spoke again:
“Thank you, Asuna… I mean it. Even when you were so

badly hurt, you still tried to protect the people of
Underworld… It must have hurt so bad…”
Two years ago, when I was cut by a mountain goblin at the

Mountain Range at the Edge, I truly understood for the first time how
realistic the pain in this world was. It had only been a flesh wound on
my left shoulder, but it was so painful that I almost couldn’t stand
back up.
But Asuna had faced PoH’s army head-on, pulling through to the
very last minute even with terrible wounds blanketing her body.
Without Asuna’s struggle, Tiese, Ronye, and the rest of the Human
Empire army would have been obliterated long ago.
“No… It wasn’t just me.”
Asuna said after listening to me, gently shaking her cheek

sideways against mine.
“Sinonon, Leafa-chan, Liz, Silica-chan, Klein-san, Agil-san…

and the Sleeping Knights and everyone in ALO, all did their
very best. Renri-san the Integrity Knight, the Guardians of
the Human Empire army, Sortiniena-san, Ronye-san, Tiese-
san, too…”
At this point, Asuna’s body tensed as if she had suddenly realized

something.
I realized why before she even continued.
“…Oh right, Kirito-kun! The Knight Commander… Bercouli-

san went after the enemy Emperor alone…”
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“……”
I nodded silently, then slowly shook my head.
For a while now, I’d been aware that the imposing swordsmanship
of the eldest Integrity Knight I’d never gotten the chance to talk
directly with, Bercouli Synthesis One, was no longer present in this
world.
Before the war began, we met for the first time through the
clashing of imagination blades — «Incarnation blades». As much as
my gradually awakening memory would allow, I believe that Bercouli
could already feel his impending death back then.
As the final destination of his 300 year life, he chose to fight for
Alice’s safety.
Comprehending the meaning behind my actions, Asuna tightened

her arms around me, racking with tiny sobs. But she swallowed her
weeping fast and asked:
“… Is Alice-san… safe…?”
“Yeah, she hasn’t been captured yet. She’s just about to

reach the southern edge of the Dark Territory… the third
system console. But something huge is chasing after her…”
“I see… Then we must protect her, for Bercouli-san.”
Asuna’s face slowly parted from mine, dampened with tears but
filled with ironclad determination. I gave her a slow nod. Then there
was a spark of doubt in her eyes.
“But, for now… Just for a little bit, just for a little bit
longer, you’re mine and mine only, Kirito-kun.”
Her lips murmured as they grew closer and closer, and pressed
against mine.
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Beneath the otherworld’s crimson sky, my black wings fluttered
gently as I shared a long, long kiss with Asuna.
At that moment, at long last, I understood why I had awoken in this

world two years ago.
The last Monday of June in the real world.
When I was walking Asuna home, I was attacked by the third

accomplice in the «Death Gun incident», Johnny Black, a leader of the
red guild «Laughing Coffin». My memories broke off after he injected
me with succinylcholine from a gun-shaped, high pressure syringe.
I’d probably stopped breathing or suffered some sort of brain
damage, so I was placed into an STL and Underworld for treatment.
By one way or another, PoH, the leader of Laughing Coffin, was

among the band of people attacking the Ocean Turtle and now he
was frozen into a tree on Dark Territory soil like a miniature Gigas
Cedar. If the time was accelerated again before he got disconnected
by force from outside, I don’t know how many weeks he would have
to ensure in that blind deaf state, but no doubt it would deal quite a
bit of damage to his sanity. He might even become like how I’ve
been for this past half year. It felt very cruel, but didn’t seem like
overkill to me.
That man had tried to kill Asuna… and the people who mean so
much to me.
After many spellbinding minutes during which our existences

seemed to fuse together, Asuna’s and my lips finally parted.
“It reminds me of back then…”
Asuna said, then quickly shut her mouth. I understood in an

instant.
She was remembering the kiss we had shared under the setting
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sun, against a background of the crumbling floating castle, after the
death game SAO had been completely cleared. That had been,
indeed, a farewell kiss.
I smiled, and firmly tried to clear away her anxiety:
“Let’s go, then. Let’s beat Emperor Vector, rescue Alice,

and return with everyone to the real world…”
But before I could finish that sentence.
I heard an urgent voice directly in my mind.
“Kirito-kun!! Kirigaya-kun!! Can you hear me?! Kirito-

kun!!”
That rusty tone—
“Hey… is that you, Kikuoka-san? How did you contact me

without a system console…”
“No time to explain! Something bad has happened!! The

time acceleration rate… the FLA, those bastards…!!”
***
Brigg’s face was ruddy and unshaven as he inserted two metal

wires into the keyhole and turned, while Critter looked on with some
unease.
Leave the picking to me, he had volunteered gutsily, but what

could only be the design of a time acceleration safety mechanism
had resulted in a complete difference from any old cylinder lock.
Brigg’s finger movements grew more violent as he cursed nonstop,
his voice rising too.
Hans was standing behind him, gleefully staring at a watch on his

left wrist:
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“Riiight, that’s three miiinutes! Two more and you owe me
fifty bucks!”
“Shut the fuck up! Two minutes is enough for me… to open
this thing… and swim to Hawaii… and back…”
When the noise of the wire rotating inside the keyhole began to
sound more like vandalism than lockpicking, Critter was ready to say
“Let’s give it a rest.” But once those two starter betting against
one another, there was no stopping them before one emerged
triumphant.
“One minute leeeft. About time to get out your walleeet.”
“Holy shit!”
Brigg yelled suddenly, standing and throwing the snapped wire to

the floor.
Finally giving up? Critter thought with a moment’s relief.
Without another word, the stubbled, red-faced soldier drew a giant

sidearm from his holster and aimed it at the keyhole.
“Hey, wait…”
A roar. And another.
Everyone stared blankly as Brigg stuffed his pistol back into its
holster, looked at Hans, then towards Critter, and shrugged.
“It’s open.”
Critter gaped at the new two inch hole in the control panel.
The blackness inside sparked two or three times, and then the
frozen, angled control lever began to slowly tilt. It moved about five
inches, then stopped again with a quiet clunk. Critter checked the
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monitor, but instead of seeing a number slightly above 1,200 like he
had originally wanted — the upper limit was displayed in crisp
numbers: ×5000.
“… F-Five thou……”
Just as Critter was instinctually calculating how much time one

second in the real world converted to in Underworld — another dull
clunk of metal.
The control lever, supposedly stopped at its upper limit, continued

to fall downwards.
“What… the hell……”
Critter muttered, when before his eyes, the digits on the monitor
exceeded 5000 — 10000…
—No, we’re still okay. The rate won’t actually change unless I press
the confirmation button. We can still move the lever back where it
was, nice and quiet, like nothing happened.
“Hey… Don’t touch it!! Nobody touch anything!!”
Critter gasped, motioning Hans and Brigg away from the console.
He inched towards the lever, cautiously reaching out his right

hand.
Bang.
There was a small explosion before his hand could touch the lever.
The translucent protection cover over the red confirmation button

in front of him was completely blown off.
A speaker cried an earsplitting alarm as the giant monitor installed

into an entire wall of the main control room went bright red. A 15
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minute countdown immediately appeared on the monitor and began
decreasing with dizzying speed.
***
When he heard the alarm again, a sign that someone was

tampering with the time acceleration for a second time, for a split-
second Higa couldn’t help but try to sit up, only to wince from
scorching pain.
“Higa-kun! I told you to take it…”
Dr. Koujiro rushed over and pressed her hands to Higa’s back, but
just then—
The sub control room monitor went completely red.
“What… What’s going on?!”
Kikuoka screamed. Higa pushed up his upper body with help from
Rinko’s hands, squinting as hard as he could from behind as the
commander flew to the console.
A message in thick gothic font informed them that all three layers
of security on the time acceleration mechanism had been fully
disabled, and the entire Underworld was about to enter maximum
acceleration phase.
“What’s……”
Lost for words, Higa could only pant, so Dr. Koujiro asked sharply in
his stead:
“What’s the ‘maximum acceleration phase’?! Isn’t the FLA’s

upper limit 1,200 times?!”
“…That’s the limit on people from the real world diving

inside… the actual limit is 5,000 times if only Artificial
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Fluctlights are present…”
Higa replied almost automatically. The professor’s eyes widened

even further.
“5,000?! You mean… one second here would be about 80

minutes inside… 18 seconds would be an entire day!!”
It was an impressive amount of mental calculation, but Higa and

Kikuoka shook their heads in stiff unison.
“What? …Where am I wrong?”
“1,200 times is the safety limit we decided on when taking

into account the «soul lifespan» of a real world human… 5,000
times is the limit of what can be observed in Underworld from
outside… Neither is a hard limit…”
Higa desperately squeezed the words from his throat, which was so
dry it seemed ready to catch fire. Dr. Koujiro’s hand jerked on his
back.
“Th-Then… What in the world… is the hard limit…?”
“Well, as you know, Underworld is constructed and

calculated with photons. The transmission speed of photons
is theoretically limitless inside the Main Visualizer… meaning,
the limit is determined by the equipped subordinate server
architecture…”
“All right, just spit it out! How many times is the limit?!”
Higa turned his eyes from the monitor to Rinko’s face:
“In the maximum acceleration phase… the FLA rate is a hair

above 5,000,000 times. The STLs connected by satellite from
the Roppongi branch can’t support that kind of speed, so
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they should disconnect automatically… but as for Kirigaya-
kun and Asuna-san, who are using the STLs in the Ocean
Turtle…”
One minute in the real world — would be ten years in Underworld.
Probably completing the mental calculation in an instant, Rinko’s

eyes stretched open as far as they would go, appearing to spasm
slightly.
“Oh… my god… Quickly… Quickly, we need to get Asuna-san

and Kirigaya-kun out of those STLs!”
The professor was just about to stand up before it was Higa’s turn
to grab her arm.
“No, Rinko-san! Preliminary acceleration has already

begun, if we drag them out of the machines now their
Fluctlights will be damaged!”
“Then hurry up and start the disconnection procedure!”
“Why do you think I wanted to crawl down the cable duct?!

The STLs can only be operated on from the main control
room!”
Higa shouted, his voice raising too. Then he looked at the

commander in front of the console.
Kikuoka seemed to already know what Higa was about to say.
“… Kiku-san. I’ll go down there again.”
At this, SFC Aki opened her mouth with a concerned expression,

but quickly closed it. Then she walked over, murmuring “I’ll take
out the catheter.”
The commander nodded bitterly:
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“Understood. I’m coming too. I believe I’m still strong
enough to carry you down the ladder.”
“No… No, lieutenant colonel!” came the shout of Captain

Nakanishi, the leader of the escort team. His face greatly perturbed,
he walked over with heavy bootfalls.
“It’s too dangerous, please allow me…”
“No, we still need you all to defend the stairs. We’ll be

opening the partition again… We can’t use Ichiemom and
Niemom can’t move.”
Those words caused everyone’s eyes to fall upon the left corner of
the sub control room.
The humanoid silhouette supported by a structural frame akin to a

coat hanger was not a real person, but a humanoid mechanical body
researched on and developed by Higa as a part of Project Alicization:
Electroactive Muscle Operative Machine Mark II, or «Niemom» for
short. Mark I was damaged as bait during their partition-opening
operation from before, and compared to that, this was much more
slender; Niemom was designed from the start to carry a Light Cube.
Nothing was plugged into the port on its head at the moment, so it
could not move in this state even if its power was turned on. In other
words, it could not serve as a walking shield like Ichiemom had.
Looking away from the soulless robot, Kikuoka delivered a

command, or rather an order to Nakanishi with a stern expression
never seen before.
“In terms of danger, you all would be in more danger when

you’re in a firefight with the enemy. But we need you to do
it.”
Nakanishi tucked in his chin and saluted at his commander’s order.
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“Sir, yes, sir!”
Higa listened to the JSDF officials’ conversation and raised a meek

right hand. It was still painful, but his fingers could definitely move.
The countdown on the monitor still showed around 10 minutes

before the maximum acceleration phase.
But no matter how he estimated it, opening the partition again,

climbing down that long ladder, and initiating the STL disconnection
procedure from the connector would take a total of 30 minutes.
That 20 minute difference equated to — 200 years in Underworld.
Exceeding the 150 year age of a human soul.
Worse still, people from the real world… were most likely unable to
withstand a duration of — practically infinite — magnitude within
Underworld…
Within Underworld…
“Ri… Right!!”
Higa yelped, waving his left hand complete with catheter at

Kikuoka.
“Ki-Kiku-san!! When I was working on the STL just now, I

secured a transmission channel with Kirito-kun! Please call
him on Line C12!”
“B-But… what should I say…?”
“Tell him to get out!! Get to the system console within 10

minutes, or zero out his own HP and his STL will
automatically begin the disconnection process!! But as soon
as he enters the maximum phase the console will be useless,
and dying then will be the worst-case scenario!! He’ll have to
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spend 200 years in sensory deprivation… Please just warn
him especially of that!!”
***
“Two……”
Two hundred years?!
I barely swallowed the words before they left my mouth.
By now, Asuna was looking puzzled. She couldn’t hear Kikuoka’s

voice.
“Listen to me, Kirito-kun: You have 10 minutes! In that

time, you must reach the console from where you are and
manually log out!! If you are unable to do so no matter what,
you can exhaust all of your HP… but that way is full of
uncertainties and extremely dangerous, because…”
Because there’s the risk of me spending 200 years in a death-like

state.
I understood. Interrupting Kikuoka, I demanded:
“I got it, I’ll try to get out through the console! I’ll be
bringing Alice of course, so prepare for that!”
“…If it’s not too much trouble. But right now, both of your
escapes take priority over Alice’s safety. Listen to me: even
though we can delete your memories after you log out, 200
years of this kind of time far exceeds the age of a human
soul! The likelihood of a normal consciousness recovery is…
equivalent to zero…”
Hearing Kikuoka’s pained voice—
I replied quietly.
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“Don’t worry, we will return. Also, Kikuoka-san. Half a year
ago… no, last night, I’m sorry I said such awful things to
you.”
“It’s fine… We deserve the criticism. We’ve prepared

bandages here for the beating you’ll give us when you get
back. …I think Higa-kun’s ready, I need to go too.”
“Okay. See you in 10 minutes then, Kikuoka-san.”
And then the line cut off.
I kept flapping the hem of my coat to hover in midair as I gazed

down at Asuna in my arms.
“… Kirito-kun, did Kikuoka-san contact you? Is… something

wrong?”
I shook my head slowly, and replied.
“No… the time acceleration will start again in 10 minutes,

so he wants us to get back as soon as possible.”
Asuna blinked a few times, smiled a little and nodded.
“Agreed, we really shouldn’t be staying here all day, for

Alice-san’s sake. Come on, let’s go save her!”
“Yeah. I’m taking off again.”
Hugging Asuna tightly, I generated another heap of Aerial

Elements. Green light immediately surged and encased us both.
To capture Alice, who had been advancing perpetually into the

southern sky, and the enormous, aberrant presence pursuing her — I
flew.
He was catching up.
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Alice bit her lip slightly as she looked behind from atop Amayori’s
saddle.
Without question, that sinister black dot floating in the crimson sky
was larger than it had been five minutes ago. It was not the enemy
speeding up; Amayori and Takiguri’s strength was in fact, finally
giving out bit by bit.
This was as a matter of course since they had been flying

continuously without any rest — it was rather a near miracle that
they were able to make it this far. In less than half a day they had
crossed from Central Capital Centoria to the Mountain Range at the
Edge, a distance several times the radius of the Human Empire. It
was clear that the two dragons were wearing through their own Life
at a relentless rate to keep airborne.
But in that case, how was her pursuer avoiding exhaustion?
Through the use of Crystal Element Far-Sight Art, Alice had already
verified that he was riding atop the back of a bizarre creature that
was most definitely not a dragon. It resembled a winged disc and was
unlike anything she had ever seen in the Human Empire or the Dark
Territory.
The archer named Sinon who came from the «Real World» like
Kirito had told her that she was not just being chased by Vector, God
of Darkness, Emperor of the Dark Territory; he was really a man from
the Real World and an enemy of Sinon and Kirito.
Emperor Vector had fallen by Knight Commander Bercouli’s sword,

at a grave cost — perhaps by the Time Release Art of his Divine
Instrument, the Time Piercing Sword. But Vector had descended upon
this world once again with a new life and was now chasing Alice.
His «revival» seemed to mock Bercouli’s death, and it burned

Alice’s heart with insatiable flames of rage.
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But as she flew alone, she finally realized what she had to do.
If the enemy could not die in this world—
Then she would kill him in the Real World.
To accomplish this, she must reach the «World End Altar» by any
means necessary.
Looking back forward, she just managed to glimpse the

extraordinary scale of a monumental precipice towering beyond the
distant red sky. Talk of it had been passed down by creation legend:
the «Wall at the End of the World». This cliff surrounding the Dark
Territory was unlike the traversable Mountain Range at the Edge;
supposedly, it was of indefinite height.
Before the precipice, at almost the same altitude as Alice’s flight—
There hovered a single, tiny floating island.
It was impossible to guess at exactly what kind of force was

permitting that island — shaped like a sharp-bottomed wine cup —
to float in midair.
Upon closer inspection, she spotted what appeared to be some

manner of man-made structure at the center of the flat surface. That
had to be the «World End Altar» she was looking for. It was not just
an exit from this world, but also an entrance to the Real World.
She was less than ten kilol from it, but unfortunately, by the time
Alice arrived at the floating island Emperor Vector would already
have caught up to her from behind.
Alice slowly drew in a breath, and exhaled.
She gently caressed the neck of her cherished dragon with her
right hand, and ordered:
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“Thank you, Amayori, and Takiguri. This is far enough; you
can land.”
The two dragons cried weakly and began corkscrewing downwards

at the same time.
The terrain below had transformed into dark gray desert only
moments ago. The two dragons drew long furrows into the eternally
expanding sea of sand — apparently the result of the gods tiring of
creation — before touching down and almost toppling over.
Hururururu. A creaking call slipped out from deep within Amayori’s

throat as her great body lay on the ground. Alice immediately leapt
off, searched the leather pouch at her waist, and pulled out her final
bottle of elixir.
She tipped half of the blue liquid into Amayori’s parted mouth, and
poured every drop of the other half into her elder brother’s mouth
beside her. Not even the Axiom Church’s homemade elixir could
recover the vast Life of a dragon, but it should be enough to restore
the stamina needed for one last flight.
With both hands, Alice warmly scratched the woolly underside of

the dragons’ chins.
“Amayori, Takiguri.”
As soon as she said their names, her eyes began to well up on their
own. She endured it in earnest and continued:
“This is goodbye. My final order to you both is… to fly to

the Human Empire and return to the dragons’ nest in the
western territory; Amayori, find a husband, and Takiguri, find
a wife. Have many baby dragons, and raise them into strong
children. Very, very strong children that knights can ride and
fly one day.”
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Amayori abruptly raised her head and licked Alice’s cheek.
Takiguri’s snout nuzzled the right side of her waist and sniffed at
Eldrie’s Divine Instrument hanging there: the Frostscale Whip.
As both dragons moved their heads away, Alice delivered a forceful

order:
“Now go!! Do not look back, fly straight ahead!!”
Kurururu!!
The two dragons lifted their heads simultaneously and gave high
calls.
Together, they hoisted their massive bodies up and without looking

back, began running directly westward.
Gigantic wings expanded and caught the desert wind, gently lifting
them into the air.
With pinions close enough to touch, the sibling dragons beat their
wings powerfully and gained altitude.
And, just then—
Amayori’s long neck craned around.
Alice’s precious dragon gazed back at her with beautiful, crystalline

eyes. A great mass of droplets pooled at their edges, catching the
light as they sprinkled into the air.
“Ama… yori…?”
Alice’s murmur had barely finished before—
The dragon’s head turned back forward as she and her brother
tilted their bodies to the right in unison, changing direction at a steep
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angle.
Bellowing at ferocious volume, they ascended in a straight line

towards not the east, but the northern sky. They were heading
directly for the black pursuer, who was now close enough to see
clearly.
“No… NO! AMAYORI, NOOOOOOO!!”
Alice shrieked and began to run.
But the sleek desert sand caught her boots.
Tripping face-first onto her hands, Alice watched as Amayori and

Takiguri charged to high altitude, where their immortal enemy
awaited.
Silver scales gleamed like flames under the crimson sunlight.
Jaws lined with sharp teeth opened to their fullest.
Immediately as the pursuer entered firing range, the sibling

dragons shot their deadliest weapon — fire. Pure white light bisected
the sky, just as if the dragons were burning up their very lives.
The enemy on the back of the bizarre creature did not change his
flight path at all, even as he watched the scorching flames barrel
towards him.
He casually reached out his left hand and opened five fingers.
There was no way he could possibly block it. Dragon fire had the
single highest attack priority in this world, other than an Integrity
Knight’s Armament Full Control Art or multiple Arts from a high-
ranking group of Arts users. And there were two streams of it. It was
impossible to chant any sort of defense Art capable of blocking that
in such a short window of time.
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That was how Alice reckoned, or hoped.
However.
Right before the twin streams of screaming fire engulfed and

scorched the enemy, something far exceeding Alice’s comprehension
occurred.
Clotted darkness began swirling and expanding at the center of the

pursuer’s left hand.
The entire surrounding space began to distort as if it were falling

into that darkness. Even the dragons’ supposedly terribly powerful
flames were of no exception. Their straight trajectories began to
curve, and they were absorbed directly into the man’s left hand—
The twin streams of fire were consumed without flash or explosion,

leaving nothing but a few rays of light.
As the enemy who was only a black dot flew at an altitude

unattainable by any Art or Sword Skill, Alice was certain she saw the
corners of his mouth lift in a thin smile.
Just then.
With a harsh noise like that of sand being crushed, bolts of

lightning came exploding from the darkness encroaching upon the
man’s left hand.
This attack, appearing to consume the dragons’ flame and launch

it back out as its own energy, pierced through the wings and limbs of
the airborne Amayori and Takiguri without mercy. The dragons’
gigantic bodies gave a sudden jerk, then blood redder than the
crimson sky showered into the air.
“Ah… Ah……”
Alice panted; she waved her arms towards the sky, screaming:
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“AMAYORIIIII! RUN AWAY! THAT’S ENOUGH, RUN
AWAAAAY!”
Surely her scream should have reached the dragons’ ears, but they
beat their wings as though Alice’s voice merely roused their strength,
and charged forward again.
Jaws wide open. Shimmering heat billowed from the gaps between
their teeth, and white light flashed irregularly.
WHOOSH!!
Once more, flames set the sky ablaze.
Once more, the man unfolded his shield of darkness to absorb the
fire.
Knowing full well that there would be yet another counterattack,

the dragons continued to charge with firm resolve. Their wings
produced a gale, with light firing nonstop from their jaws, barreling
towards the enemy.
The blood flying from the wounds on the dragons’ bodies became
as flames. Their silvery scales were peeling away without end,
becoming particles of light and dancing away.
The two dragons themselves were gradually transforming into

Luminous Elements.
Firing and burning away their lives to no end, the flames filled the
black vortex, saturating it. Perhaps from the unbearable, ferocious
heat, the man’s left hand began to emit white smoke.
But — at that moment.
The enemy’s entire body became wrapped in a thin bluish-black

veil. The void vortex erupting from his left hand intensified in power,
and just then, black lightning ejected from its center and pushed
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back the white flames.
The colliding forces of black and white contended with one another
in the middle for but one short second before the course was easily
reversed.
Innumerable bolts of black lightning raced towards Amayori and

Takiguri, who fluttered their wings with decreasing speed as though
exhausted—
“AMAYORI! AMAYORIIIIIIII!”
Just as Alice’s terrible scream and tears tore through the desert air.
The stars descended.
Two beams of radiant light descended from the crimson sky at

formidable speed.
One of the beams heard straight for the ground towards her.
The other beam stopped dead between the two dragons and the
pursuer. The light dissipated in an instant, revealing the form of the
entity hidden within.
A human.
A swordsman.
Slightly lengthy black hair and an equally black coat billowed in the
wind. Two longswords of black and white equipped in a cross on his
back. Arms folded in front of his chest, while staring calmly at the
roaring black lightning hurtling towards him.
Bang!! Vshiiing!!
Came such a noise as the lightning struck the swordsman. No, to

be precise, it had not touched him; it had been deflected away. The
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lightning had been blocked by a transparent barrier in front of the
swordsman as he stood upright in the air, arms crossed, its power
diffusing outwards harmlessly.
Alice held her breath and her eyes went as wide as they would go.
The swordsman in black turned his head, looking at her on the

ground.
His face, a hint of boyish immaturity still left in it, broke into a
smile, and his dark eyes shone with resolve. Alice felt sparks flare up
deep within her chest. This heat instantly expanded within her,
setting her heart into a raging blaze.
Alice noticed that a fresh track of tears was rolling down her face
as she murmured:
“Kiri… to……”
Awakened from his half-year slumber, the swordsman nodded with

a strong but slightly embarrassed smile, then swung his body around
and raised his right hand straight up.
Opposite that hand, the dying dragons were beating their wings
with their final traces of strength. The edges of their wings and the
ends of their tails were slowly vanishing, as though they were
melting into the light.
Amayori saw the Kirito that she had spent half a year living
together with at the cabin on the outskirts of Rulid Village, and called
weakly: kururu.
Kirito nodded once to her, and closed his eyes.
All of a sudden, the two dragons were inundated by a prismatic

film. It looked as though a large soap bubble had wrapped them up.
But the dragons were without fear: they merely folded their wings,
bent their necks, and curled up their bodies.
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The rainbow sphere descended slowly from above Alice’s head.
So focused above her she forgot to breathe, Alice watched

something miraculous occur.
Wrapped in multicolored light, Amayori and Takiguri’s gigantic

frames began shrinking at breakneck speed. No, rather, they were
becoming younger, less mature.
Their sharp talons grew round and mellow. Their thick, silvery
scales softened into feathers. Their tails and necks shortened, and
their miniaturized wings became covered in fur.
By the time the two dragons landed softly in Alice’s open arms,
their bodies were no longer than fifty cen. Covered from head to toe
in bluish-white skin and fur, Takiguri’s eyes were closed in apparent
snooze.
But Amayori had returned to her original appearance when Alice

had first met her in the Central Cathedral: the greenish ball of fur
raised its head straight up at her, opened its mouth lined with teeth
resembling rows of pearls, and gave a short call:
“Kyuru.”
“Ama… yori…”
Tears slid off Alice’s cheeks and bounced off the dragons’ fur,

sparkling brightly.
Just then, the multicolored light engulfing the two baby dragons
intensified all at once. The sensation on Alice’s arms changed from
soft feathers to smooth shell. She blinked a few times, and realized
that the baby dragons in her arms had transformed into two large
eggs.
The silvery-white eggs gradually shrank in size, finally decreasing

to the degree where they could fit next to each other in her palm,
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and the multicolored light finally disappeared.
Alice silently brought the two tiny eggs close to her cheek, and
attempted to make a general guess at the meaning behind this
phenomenon. Having decided that the sheer scale of Amayori and
Takiguri’s Lives were beyond the help of Arts, Kirito had simply
shrank the upper limits of their Lives as small as they would go —
reverting them to dragon eggs and saving them from destruction.
Even Alice, the highest-level Sacred Arts user in the world, found it
impossible to imagine what combination of Arts could achieve such
an effect. But she felt no unease. Only the certain prospect of seeing
these two dragons again in the future expanded warmly in her chest.
Tenderly covering the two eggs with both hands, Alice looked up
again towards the sky.
“Thank you… Welcome back, Kirito.”
She murmured in a watery voice.
Her voice would not reach the distant sky, but the silhouette in
black indeed nodded, and smiled again.
Alice heard a familiar voice in her ears.
—I’m the one who should be apologizing for making you worry for
so long. Thank you, Alice.
—Let’s meet again in the Real World.
And then Kirito slowly changed the direction he was facing, turning
directly towards the pursuer wrapped in darkness.
Perhaps unable to endure both Incarnations pitted against each

other, the void began ejecting sparks sporadically.
“Kirito…”
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—Not even you can defeat this enemy with a normal attack.
Alice bit her lip with that apprehension.
An abrupt voice came from not far behind.
“Don’t worry, Alice-san.”
Looking behind her, she saw a girl from the Real World standing
there with her body encased in pearly armament.
“Asuna…”
Her long tawny hair rippling in the wind, Asuna smiled and stroked
Alice’s back.
“Let’s put our trust in Kirito-kun. We need to get to the

World End Altar as quickly as possible.”
“Y-Yeah…”
She nodded, but doing that at this moment was not something
simple.
Alice turned due south, looking up towards the «Wall at the End of
the World» standing tall above the distant horizon, and the floating
white island hovering before it.
“… The World End Altar should be on that floating island.

But we cannot ride the dragons anymore; how are we to get
somewhere so high up…?”
“Don’t worry, leave it to me.”
Asuna nodded, and drew the magnificent rapier from her waist.
All at once, laaaaaaaa; the high angelic ensemble she had heard
during the Dark Army’s surprise attack last night echoed the space
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around them.
Prismatic colors descended from the sky in a straight line onto the
gray desert.
A dull thump marked the appearance of a white stone slab rising

out of the sand before her eyes.
BR-BRRRRRMMM!
More thumps in quick succession were heard as the slab grew

slightly in height before another and yet another appeared nonstop.
In ten short seconds, Alice saw with bated breath a marble flight of
stairs appear before her, stretching up towards the floating island in
the distant sky.
Asuna finished the geographical manipulation, lowered her sword,

and immediately knelt onto the sand.
“A-Asuna…!!”
“I’m… I’m fine. Quickly… we only have eight minutes until

the Altar closes…”
Closes—?
Alice couldn’t immediately understand what she meant, but before

she could ask, her right hand was seized with great force.
With Asuna having stood up and begun dragging her by the hand
up the white stone steps, Alice began to run too. As she ran she
turned and looked behind her once more, up towards the swordsman
in black facing off against her pursuer in the sky behind.
—Kirito. I still have a great deal to say to and ask of you.
—You must win. Win, and return to me again.
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***
The symbolic, poetic spectacle of the floating marble staircase

connected to the gray desert, along with the two swordswomen
racing up it at a practically flying speed, was beautiful enough to
evoke a sigh.
I branded that sight into my mind, and murmured deep within my

chest.
—Alice. Asuna.
—I… have to part with you here.
There was, of course, a reason I neither told Asuna that the next
time acceleration would reach 5,000,000 times real time, nor did I
tell her that we would have to spend 200 years in this world if we did
not log out before then.
Because once they learned those things, there was no doubt both
Asuna and Alice would choose to stay and fight alongside me. Even if
that would result in them being unable to escape before the time
limit.
The instant I noticed what sort of air the enemy chasing Alice was
projecting, I shuddered from how alien it felt.
No, it wasn’t right to describe him as having an air. All that existed
before me was a patch of nothing. A black hole devouring all
information, from which not even a sliver of light could escape.
If we were going to defeat an opponent like this before the time

limit, the probability of all three of us logging out safely was
extremely slim. In that case, the priority of my actions fell into place
by itself.
Make absolutely sure that Asuna and Alice log out of Underworld.
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Other than that, there wasn’t anything I had to prioritize. Nothing.
I carefully carved the beautiful, picturesque scene into my

memory, then turned my face to look towards the enemy hovering
transverse opposite me.
The «thing» I was finally encountering was an existence utterly

beyond my comprehension.
He was a man. That much should be true.
But that was all I knew.
If his facial appearance were that of a custom avatar, then his

intent had probably been to «look like an average white guy». He
looked orderly, but there was nothing special about him. He could
only be described with white skin, blue eyes, and blond hair.
For a white guy, his physique was also quite normal. His body was
neither fat nor skinny and wrapped under what looked to be a
military jacket. Then did that mean this man was military? I couldn’t
be sure. The black and gray camouflage pattern covering his jacket
up and down was moving constantly like some sort of slime.
Moreover, there was a longsword at his left waist that looked to be
Divine Instrument-grade.
When we were on our way here I heard from Asuna that this man
was a member of the special forces that had attacked the Ocean
Turtle. That meant he was probably a mercenary hired with money
by an organization or enterprise bent on stealing Artificial Fluctlight
technology. But the man watching me with glasslike eyes from a
slight distance away didn’t seem to be in pursuit of such a practical
profit. No, come to think of it, he didn’t seem human at all.
After about a second of observation and thought, I opened my

mouth:
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“…Who are you?”
I immediately got an answer. The man spoke in a sleek voice that

nonetheless sounded somewhat metallic:
“A seeker, a stealer, and a plunderer.”
As soon as he said that, the dark bluish-black aura draped over the
man’s entire body intensified its wriggling. I felt a breeze blowing
from behind me. The air… no, the information comprising this world
was being sucked into the darkness.
“What are you looking for?”
“The soul.”
As the conversation went on, the attraction gradually built up. It

wasn’t just this world’s information, even my own consciousness was
being sucked over by the gravity of the void.
At this point some expression suddenly flitted across the corners of

the man’s mouth. It was a smile of the thinnest type that had nothing
to do with emotion.
“It is I who must ask who you are. Why are you here? What
right have you to stand before me?”
Who am I — He asks?
A hero who descended into Underworld? — Surely not.
A knight protecting the Human Empire? — Wrong.
It felt as though for every word that my mind denied, something

was sucked away, plundered from my heart. But I didn’t know why; I
simply could not stop thinking.
The hero who cleared the death game SAO? — No.
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The strongest VRMMO player? — No.
«The Black Swordsman»? «Dual Blades»? — No, no.
None of those was what I wanted to be.
Then, who on earth was I…?
The instant my mind blurred with a fsshh.
I felt a certain familiar voice calling my name.
My head had lowered at some point; I swiftly raised it and gave the
name the voice had called me.
“I’m Kirito. Kirito the swordsman.”
CRACK!!
A burst of white sparks severed the dark feelers about to wrap

around my body. My thoughts immediately became clear again.
—What the hell just happened?
Was this man capable of interfering with my consciousness with

the help of two STLs?
I stared into the man’s eyes while reinforcing my barrier of

imagination. But all that was in there was a void, and a bottomless
darkness that could absorb the spirits of others.
“…What’s your name?”
I asked without thinking.
The man considered for a moment, then gave his name.
“Gabriel. My name is Gabriel Miller.”
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Instinct told me that it was neither his character’s name nor his
nickname; it was the man’s real name.
I could tell because his visage had changed for a few seconds. His
eyes had sharpened, cold as ice. His lips had thinned slightly, and his
cheeks had sunken.
Once he returned to his original custom face, the aura of darkness

emanating from the man’s entire body thickened all at once.
At this point, I finally noticed that the man’s whole right arm below
his shoulder was missing. Amorphous darkness had been squirming
there like an arm; now it slowly extended to wrap itself around the
sword at his left waist.
The sword unsheathed with a wet sound, but it had no corporeal

body at all.
It was just empty darkness, a patch of black fire about one meter
long. An utterly impossible existence.
WIth an bizarre vibrating noise, the man brandished the sword of

darkness gripped in his shadow hand.
I pulled back some distance and drew both swords from my back
simultaneously. My left hand gripped the Blue Rose Sword, and my
right hand gripped the Night Sky Sword.
If we were comparing black colors, the Night Sky Sword cut from
the treetop of the Gigas Cedar was not inferior to his, but its body
reflected light like black crystal while the man’s sword simply
resembled darkness as though the space where it occupied had been
isolated from all else. It probably was not on the same level as PoH’s
Mate Chopper in terms of merely absorbing resources.
But even against this bottomless foe, I couldn’t retreat. I had to

hold off this enemy before Asuna and Alice reached the top of the
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staircase hundreds of meters tall.
“—Here I come, Gabriel!!”
Shouting the enemy’s name on purpose, I flapped the wings

reshaped from the hem of my coat.
In an instant I gained altitude and stacked both swords in a cross in

front of me.
“Generate all element!”
Imagining the surrounding space itself as a terminal and creating

dozens of elements of all types, I dived and launched them all at the
same time.
“Discharge!!”
Fiery arrows, icy spears, blades of wind, and various other colors
tore across the heavens.
I chased after the Arts and raised both swords in my left and right
hands.
Gabriel Miller showed absolutely no sign of evading.
Still smiling thinly, he simply opened his arms wide.
Eight colors of light pierced into his bluish darkness-wrapped body.
Not missing the opportunity as his upper body trembled, I swept

the sword in my right hand towards the man’s torso and thrust the
sword in my left hand through his chest. Slimy darkness splashed
and left a chill where it brushed across my skin.
Right afterwards I flew to pull back the distance and whirled

around again.
What my eyes ended up capturing was—
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Gabriel slowly drawing the spilled, amorphous darkness back
towards him, and turning around as if nothing had happened. The
jacket covering his body was unscathed.
I knew it.
This man’s attribute was the ability to absorb slashes, thrusts,

flames, freezing, whirlwinds, steel arrows, water streams, crystal
blades, rays of light, and dark curses.
The fabric of my coat and the flesh of my right shoulder, caressed

by the void blade during the instant we had clashed, had been
destroyed and looked as though it was peeling away as blood
spurted.
***
Gabriel Miller directed a fleeting glimpse towards the figures of

«Radiant Medium» Alice and another girl climbing the pure white sky
staircase, approximating that there were five minutes left before
both of them reached the system console.
In that case, there was no time to engage this unanticipated

hindrance. Immediately disabling him and making haste towards the
floating island seemed a logical decision. But Gabriel felt slightly
interested in this new enemy, so he stayed hovering where he was.
At first glance, he looked to be just a typical child.
He now felt no sense of intimidation at all, compared to the earlier

battle against that veteran swordsman that had ended in mutual
destruction. In all likelihood, he was like «Sinon»: a VRMMO player
allied with RATH, but judging from the pressure he was giving off, he
probably fared even worse than her.
That much was owed to the fact that this black-haired teen
seemed not to exude anything resembling fighting spirit.
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He had absorbed only a meager amount of purpose the moment he
asked him what kind of person he was, but that circuit was also
promptly shut off. Then he had continually deflected Gabriel’s mental
feelers as though he were covered by a transparent shell. Fighting an
opponent whose spirit he could not taste did not interest him at all,
as it were.
If so, then he would immediately eliminate him and catch up to

Alice, or so Gabriel had thought.
But the sight of this teen transforming the hem of his coat into
wings and his ability to manipulate multiple types of magic at the
same time changed his mind somewhat. He felt that his opponent
was highly familiar with this world.
After securing Alice and taking the STL technology with him to an
uninvolved country, there was still his mission of constructing a
virtual world for him and him only, where every nook and cranny was
to his liking. Plundering that youth’s manipulation techniques in
advance did not seem a bad idea to complete that mission efficiently.
To do that, first he must destroy that imagination shell.
Gabriel smiled thinly, and addressed the boy in black with

Japanese:
“You have three minutes. Do your best to entertain me.”
***
“… How generous.”
I muttered, stroking the wound on my right shoulder to heal it.
But Gabriel Miller’s confidence came from the fact that his strength
was very real. After all, he was unstoppable against attacks of all
types.
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—No, there should be only one type of attack effective against
him. Sinon had arrived on scene first and blown off his right arm. She
had probably used her imagination to create her precious gun, the
Hecate II, and shot him. That meant even Gabriel was unable to
absorb «gunshot»-type attacks.
The reason probably had something to do with his military jacket

outfit. He had real-world experience and was intimately familiar with
the power of anti-material rifles, and that was probably why he
couldn’t counteract the damage with his willpower upon getting shot.
However, only Sinon, who could handle her precious gun like her
own hands and feet, could manage the feat of manifesting the
firearm in Underworld. There was just no way I was doing that. Even
if I could create a handgun, it wouldn’t have any power to speak of.
In other words, I had to find a way other than gunshots to make

that weird man recognize the damage dealt to him.
Meaning that I needed to understand Gabriel as a person. I had to

unravel how he lived, what he wanted, and why he was staying here.
Determined, I readied both swords in each hand and the corners of

my mouth broke into a grin.
“All right, I’ll make sure you enjoy this.”
***
Where on earth was this bout of confidence coming from?
Surely he had been logged into Underworld for a long period of

time and was highly familiar with this world’s system, but he was just
a kid gamer. He had just been informed that his exaggeratedly
stacked twin swords and flamboyant magical attacks were
completely useless, so why was he still able to smile boldly like that?
Gabriel thought, feeling annoyed by the complete lack of fear in
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the boy’s attitude. He concluded that it was false bravado merely to
stall for time.
He knew that even if he died in this world, his physical body in the
real world would escape without a scratch. On top of that, he was
only thinking of dragging the fight long enough until that girl he was
friends with could take Alice away.
Nothing but a foolish child. Three minutes with him was too long.
Clenching his right hand created from willpower, slowly waving the
void blade — Gabriel thrust the sword in an offhand manner as he
stood atop the back of the winged creature.
Like the sword and the crossbow, this creature was the result of
«Subtilizer’s» jetpack being changed into a form that most suited this
world during its conversion here. Although he could control it to his
whims, merely standing on it with two feet did not confer an
adequate feeling of stability. It was more reasonable to change it to a
pair of wings like that boy.
As the blade impaled its back, the creature emitted a short screech
and was immediately sucked in by the void. Data traveled through
the sword to Gabriel’s right arm, which he moved behind his back,
then he focused his thoughts.
Black wings like that of the boy unfurled with a flap from the
vicinity of his shoulder blades. They were not membranous, bat-like
appendages, though; instead they were covered with sharpened
feathers like a bird of prey. Fitting for someone with an angel’s name
like himself.
“… Plundered one.”
Gabriel murmured as he aimed the void blade towards the teen.
***
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I was planning for my next attack to also take out the saucer-
shaped flying creature the enemy was riding on, but he acted first
and my judgment instantly took a plunge.
Not missing his chance, Gabriel flapped his black eagle-like wings
once and slid close enough for his sword to reach me.
The speed of his thrust shocked me and he had not pulled back his
sword at all. I took him to be an amateur at Sword Skills but the
reality was completely different. I crossed my swords and brought
them swinging upwards from below to block the attack.
Kissh!
A bizarre noise and the bluish-black blade of darkness halted right

before my nose.
The Blue Rose Sword and Night Sky Sword scraped fiercely against
one another. It was all I could do to avoid getting consumed, but I felt
like I was contending with the void itself. I could easily imagine my
swords were enduring enormous strain.
But it was my deliberate strategy to use a cross-block instead of

dodging backwards. Without resisting the aggressive power of
Gabriel’s dark sword, I put my full strength into a high kick while
drifting my body to the right.
“Raah!”
I shouted. The tip of my foot sprang upwards with a trail of orange

light, connecting with his sharp chin. The darkness scattered with a
whap and Gabriel’s upper body arched backwards.
—How?!
My wings thrashed the air hard as I dashed backwards and

checked the enemy. If I couldn’t produce a gunshot, I meant to try a
«blow» instead — and if this guy was really a special forces soldier,
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no doubt he would have training in close-quarters-combat, which
meant that it might create, for him, the impression of being harmed.
Gabriel’s head snapped back to its original position, but it was

visibly unscathed.
Without missing a beat, the darkness that splashed out from his
chin collected back together and generated fresh, shining skin. The
enemy stroked it with his left hand, smirking:
“I see. But how unfortunate; the only thing served well by a

bold attack like that is TV theatricality. Real martial arts…”
Byuu!
The air whistled as Gabriel lunged towards me mid-sentence, his

whole body moving so fast it looked like a black mist. By reflex I
parried a blade swinging down from the left with Blue Rose Sword
and simultaneously countered with the Night Sky Sword. It sank into
the enemy’s shoulder and seemed to become ensnared within thick,
glutinous fluid. I couldn’t move it at all.
Just then, something slippery swiftly entwined itself around my

entire outstretched right arm. Gabriel’s left arm coiled its way
towards me like a huge snake, instantly immobilizing my joints—
Accompanied by a piercing crunch, excruciating pain rocketed to

the roof of my skull like an electric shock.
“Gwah…”
Peering into my grimacing face from a close distance, Gabriel

murmured:
“—looks like this.”
And immediately after, a ferocious assault began.
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The void blade launched a continuous barrage of attacks at
blinding speed that seemed to have no end. I attempted to parry
them only with the sword in my left hand, but they kept slipping
through the gaps, nicking at every part of my body bit by bit. There
was no time to focus on recovering my broken right arm.
“Ah… Rrrgh…”
I couldn’t help moaning, and flapped my wings hard to pull away

from him.
Dashing backwards as fast as I could, I crept my left hand over my

right arm, which, with all of my willpower, was just barely holding on
to its sword.
Precisely as the white light was about to gather.
Gabriel whipped up his left hand: all five fingers lengthened into
talons, then flexed open.
Ten or more bolts of jet-black lightning fired radially outwards,

turning at sharp angles mid-trajectory and heading straight for me.
I clenched my teeth and hurled up an imagination barrier. This was

what I used when he had attacked Alice’s two dragons, but back then
I was supremely confident about blocking the lightning, and now, half
of my concentration was focused on healing my arm — the very
realization of this weakened the barrier—
I felt weighty impacts on various parts of my body.
Three streaks of dark light had jabbed right through the barrier, my
torso, and both of my feet. A horrible chill surged through me before I
felt any pain. Before my eyes, my puncture wounds were already
crawling with bluish-black void, threatening to consume my
existence.
“Ugh…!”
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I groaned again, then took a deep breath, and yelled. I barely
managed to blow away the void, but a great deal of blood spurted
from my fresh wounds.
“Ha ha ha…”
I looked up towards that dry voice and found that Gabriel Miller’s
empty features had twisted into a laugh.
“Ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha…”
No, that wasn’t laughing. His lips were curled upwards, but the
corners of his eyes hadn’t moved at all, and his glassy eyeballs only
swirled with even greater hunger.
Gabriel slowly crossed his arms in front of his body, a gesture that
suggested he was storing power.
His dark aura began to violently shiver. It undulated with the

ferocity of flames, growing denser and denser.
“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
His arms spread wide with a thunderous shout.
Whoosh. A new pair of black wings burst from his already

expanded wings and unfurled to full length. And then another pair on
the bottom.
Gabriel slowly gained altitude as a total of six massive wings

flapped, in order, from top to bottom. A jet-black halo materialized
above his head and his camouflage uniform dissolved, replaced by a
thin, dark, wriggling cloth.
His eyes had turned inhuman before I even noticed. The sockets
were filled with nothing but bluish-black light.
Truly — an angel of death.
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A transcendent being that hunts and plunders the souls of humans.
What the hell kind of attack would work against someone who sees
themselves as that?
I looked away from the embodiment of fear itself and checked on

the figures of Asuna and Alice, who were running up the skyward
staircase hand-in-hand. They still needed two, no, three minutes
before they could reach the floating island.
It’s just that I was no longer confident I could buy them that much
time.
***
Such omnipotence.
The overwhelming sensation of power coursing through his whole

body caused Gabriel to break into a third peal of loud laughter.
Was this the power of imagination — or in the veteran

swordsman’s words, «Incarnation» in this world?
At last he had gained power equal to… no, exceeding that of the
swordsman who had killed him with a slash that went back in time,
and the Dark General who had transformed into a tornadic giant.
Until now Gabriel had been under the impression that their
techniques were the effect of from some unknown system
commands, but the reality was different. The real importance lay
with his ability to believe that he possessed power. And he only
realized this all thanks to this black-haired child performing it right in
front of him.
I’ll give him another minute as my thanks.
Gabriel spread his six wings wide and raised his blade of darkness
high.
In one minute he would slice the brat’s body into mincemeat,
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extract his soul, and ravage it until nothing was left. For the purpose
of taking more power for himself.
Bluish-violet electricity crawled about Gabriel’s body as he entered

an assault stance.
***
I looked up towards the enemy’s once human form.
I could no longer come up with anything that might frighten or

threaten this man. His right arm, supposedly blown off by Sinon, had
fully regenerated before I could even notice, as though in defiance of
even a gunshot wound.
To put it simply, I was not mentally prepared enough.
I hadn’t underestimated Gabriel Miller. His eerie air demanded

caution to the greatest extent. But that was the very reason I had
given up any hope of winning, perhaps before this battle had even
begun. As long as I bought enough time — as long as I stalled the
fight until Alice and Asuna were able to log out, both the enemy and I
would be trapped in a time prison for more than 200 years, unable to
return to the real world ever again.
Ahh… Is that so?
Perhaps I’m actually hoping for such an outcome?
A true alternate world surpassing the likes of Aincrad. The ideal

land Kayaba Akihiko had always dreamed of creating. Truly befitting
of the name “Underworld”.
I had often asked myself during the two years I was trapped in SAO
whether I really wanted to escape. I was hesitant, because as a
member of the Progressors constantly fighting on the front lines, I’d
always held the vague expectation that life in that world would
inevitably come to an end. The same end that would be met by my
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flesh-and-blood body lying in a hospital bed clinging to life via an IV,
as it eventually wasted away.
But the time-accelerated Underworld presented no such concern. A

rate of 5,000,000 times real time meant that I didn’t need to consider
the state of my real world body at all. Until my soul’s lifespan ran out,
I could stay in this alternate world forever. Can I really say that I
never subconsciously considered that?
The answer was—
It never even crossed my mind…
Not Suguha, Mom, Dad.
Yui, Klein, Agil, Liz, Silica… or the other people who’ve saved me
many times.
Or Alice.
Asuna.
I never considered the extent of their grief, their sorrow, just how
many tears would be shed.
I ultimately still can’t truly understand the feelings of other people.
I never changed, ever since that moment in middle school, when I

pushed away my friend who was reaching out to me for help…
—That’s wrong, Kirito.
Such a familiar voice.
I felt a delicate warmth emerging from within my icy left hand.
—It’s not for your own sake if you don’t want to leave this world.
It’s because you love the people you met here.
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—You love Selka, Tiese, Ronye, Liena-senpai, the people of Rulid,
and the people you met at the capital and the academy, the Integrity
Knights and the Guardians… Cardinal-san, and maybe even
Administrator… and perhaps me as well.
—That’s how great, how wide, how deep your love is. Enough to
carry the weight of the whole world.
—But that enemy of yours isn’t the same.
—That man is the one who doesn’t understand the feelings of

other people. That’s why he seeks them, because he can’t figure
them out. That’s why he plunders them. That’s why he destroys
them. Because…
He’s afraid.
***
Gabriel Miller watched as wispy tear tracks slid down the boy’s
cheeks. The hands clutching his swords shrank to his chest, as if in
fear.
Does he finally feel afraid?
Only the fear and despair of a man about to die was the feeling
Gabriel could share with others.
Gabriel had taken many lives in his search for a soul’s radiance,
ever since he had murdered Alicia Klingerman in the woods behind
his childhood home. But he had never again witnessed another
object resembling a puff of light, like the one that had escaped
Alicia’s forehead. So he had been nursing his hunger by sampling his
own fear instead.
What does it taste like? The fear gushing from a boy once so filled
with powerful confidence, now knocking on death’s door?
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The craving welling up from the depths of his body caused Gabriel
to lick his lips while raising the tip of his left finger.
Several tiny black orbs immediately materialized and began to

drone, like flies.
He brought the finger swishing down and from the black orbs burst
ultra-thin laser beams, perforating every inch of the boy’s body. A
second later, blood spurted, hanging in midair like mist.
“HA HA HA HA!!”
Gabriel roared with laughter as he closed the distance in an

instant, drawing back his void blade.
It penetrated the boy’s abdomen with ease.
The body under his black shirt and overcoat was ripped apart by
the raging void, and abruptly severed in half.
Blood, flesh, and organs sprayed in all directions.
Gabriel’s left hand reached out towards the alluring ruby-red glow.
He seized the still beating, largest jewel of them all, hanging from
the upper half of the boy — and tore off his heart.
The piece of meat in his palm continued to hammer badump,

badump, as though in protest, as Gabriel brought it close to the edge
of his expressionless mouth and whispered to the levitating, dying
boy.
***
“Your feelings, your memories, everything of your heart

and your soul… I will now devour it all.”
The angel of death proclaimed. I gazed down at him through half-
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closed eyes.
Gabriel Miller’s colorless lips parted wide, as if about to bite down

on a ripe apple, and sank his sharp teeth into my plundered heart.
…Squish.
There was a dreadful noise.
His white face contorted intensely; great volumes of blood that was
not mine gushed from his mouth.
Of course.
He had bitten into the great number of tiny blades I generated

inside my own heart from Metallic Elements.
“Unf…”
Gabriel covered his mouth and pulled back.
I moaned scratchily:
“How are you gonna find… my spirit and memories in

there? My body’s just… a container. My memories… will
always be…”
Right here.
Merged with my consciousness itself, never to be separated.
The pain of my heart getting torn to shreds was brutalized beyond

description. But this moment was my biggest and final opportunity.
There wouldn’t be a second chance if I missed it.
Eugeo was still fighting when his body got cut in half.
I spread the two swords in my hands to my left and right, crying as

blood rippled away from me:
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“RELEASE RECOLLECTION!!”
Pure white and pitch black discharged at the same time.
Massive numbers of ice tendrils exploded from the front-facing

Blue Rose Sword, tightly binding Gabriel’s body.
Then from the Night Sky Sword raised high above—
A monumental, dark pillar towered into the sky.
Dark light roared upwards, boring through the crimson and gaining
soaring altitude — then spreading in all directions almost as if it had
collided violently with the sun.
Bit by bit, it was covering the sky.
The crimson was being painted over at terrific speed and the
daytime light vanished.
Darkness reached the horizon at once, and continued to expand

beyond.
No, it wasn’t the darkness of a void. It was velvety, had a slight

temperature…
An infinite night sky.
***
Sinon lay alone in the uninhabited wilderness at the bottom of a

crowded cluster of oddly shaped boulders, waiting in silence for her
HP to fall to zero.
Pain would not stop radiating from where her blown-off legs used
to be, making her slide and out of consciousness. She tightly grasped
the remains of her necklace at her chest like a lifeline, but her right
hand was gradually losing strength.
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Just as she was trying to decide whether her slowly blurring
thoughts were a sign of impending logout or indicating that she really
was about to pass out…
The sky’s color changed.
The disgusting blood-colored blight over what was clearly

supposed to be daytime sky was being blanketed by total darkness
from the south at fierce speed. The sunlight was blocked off and the
gray clouds vanished too — then, Sinon was shrouded in total
blackness.
No. It wasn’t total blackness.
Before she realized it, traces of phosphorescence were cascading,

illuminating the rocks above her, the many dead trees, and the chain
around her neck a soft blue hue. A cooling breeze blew, swaying her
bangs.
It was nightfall. An all-healing nightfall that kindly, reliably coated

this whole world.
Sinon was suddenly reminded of a scene from the distant past.
She had spent a night in a desert in an alternate world different

from this one. With all her strength, she was bawling, barking,
venting the whole story about the incident befalling her as a child,
and just how much that memory had tormented her since. The night
sky above her now was filled with the strong, but gentle feeling of his
arms, silently wrapped around her from behind back then, enduring
the weight of her body.
—I get it. This nightfall is Kirito’s spirit.
He was no dazzling sun. He would not stand in front of others and

radiate light of brightest brilliance.
But when you were sad, when you were suffering, he would always
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be supporting you from behind. He would help heal your wounds and
blow your tears dry. Like a tiny, but positively shining star. Like the
night.
To protect this world and everyone living in it, it would seem that
Kirito was now locked in a showdown against Emperor Vector, or
Subtilizer. After fighting and fighting against scores of impossibly
strong enemies, it would seem that now he was summoning the final
bit of strength inside him.
If that’s true, then please — carry my spirit over to him as well.
Sinon prayed, looking earnestly towards the sky through eyes wet
with tears.
A tiny blue star directly above her head twinkled for a moment.
***
Leafa lay on the ground, surrounded by innumerable Orcs and Fist

Fighters, waiting for her final moment in the same way.
Her right foot no longer had the strength to stomp and cast
Terraria’s recovery ability. Her mangled, perforated body was as cold
as ice; unable to move even a finger.
“Leafa… don’t die! You can’t die!!”
Orc chief Rirupirin knelt beside her, his scream like a howl. The
lucid droplets of tears building in his tiny eyes were reaching their
limit. Leafa looked up at his tears with a shallow smile, whispering:
“Don’t cry… I’m coming back… for sure.”
At this, Rirupirin balled up his body, his shoulders quaking

uncontrollably. Watching him, Leafa thought.
—I can’t help Onii-chan directly, but this should be enough. I’ve
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done my duty. Haven’t I…?
In that moment, as though in reply to Leafa’s inner voice.
The sky’s color vanished.
The crimson daytime sky of the Dark Territory abruptly changed to

night; expressions of shock filled the spaces among the Orcs and Fist
Fighters. Rirupirin’s tear-soaked face whipped upwards, and his eyes
widened.
But Leafa felt neither surprise nor fear. She could feel her brother’s
scent on the night wind, gently caressing her cheek, blowing from
the south as if in pursuit of the darkness.
“Onii-chan…”
She murmured, taking in a deep breath of the air.
To Leafa — Suguha, Kirito had always been the closest, yet

furthest existence from her.
It was likely that her brother had stopped viewing his current
parents as his birth parents without even realizing it, even before he
discovered the truth therein. Kirito had been cloaked in a veil of
loneliness and isolation for as long as Suguha could remember; he
had never been one to connect deeply with anybody. Every time
friendship was born, he would destroy it with his own hands.
This disposition had caused her brother to indulge in online games,

and that indulgence had conferred him the character of «the hero
who liberated SAO», but Suguha took that to be neither accidental
irony nor fated redemption.
It was a path that her brother chose for himself. He would never
run away from it, always doing his utmost to push through to the
end. That was Kirito’s greatest strength.
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This night sky was the best evidence that Kirito had decided to
shoulder the burden of this world and everyone living in it. Because—
…Onii-chan is more of a swordsman than I am.
Her arms had lost all feeling in them, but Leafa wrang the out the
last of her strength and cupped her hands in front of her chest, as if
she were grasping a bamboo sword.
Then she prayed. Carry the strength of my spirit to my brother’s

sword.
Far above her head, she could see a green star gleaming brightly.
***
Lisbeth held Silica’s hand in a tight grip as she looked mutely

towards the sky where the sun had vanished.
Whether she liked it or not, the extraordinary sight of the crimson

sky being coated over by darkness evoked memories of that day.
It was afternoon on an early winter day a little over two years after
SAO began.
Bursting out of her own shop, Lisbeth learned from the great list of
system messages covering the upper floor that the death game had
finally been cleared. She knew in an instant that it had been Kirito.
Kirito beat the final boss swinging a sword I made.
Back in the real world, Kirito told her this:
—I had actually already lost back then. Healthcliff’s sword pierced

my chest and my HP definitely dropped to zero. But for some reason,
my avatar didn’t disappear immediately. It was only a few seconds,
but I was able to move my right hand and take him along with me. I
think the people who bought me that time have to be you, Liz, and
Asuna, Silica, Klein, and Agil. So I’m not really the one who cleared
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SAO. You guys are all the heroes.
She had slapped his back with a laugh and said “Why so
modest?” at the time, but that had probably been how Kirito
genuinely felt. He really wanted to say that the true greatest power
lay in the bonds between you and me.
“…Hey, Silica.”
Lisbeth looked away from the night sky, glancing at her friend
beside her.
“Apparently… I still like Kirito.”
Silica smiled, and replied:
“Me too.”
Then, they both turned back towards the faintly phosphorescent

nighttime.
Before closing her eyes, she saw two silhouettes: Klein, raising his
fist a distance away, and Agil, hands on his hips, appearing to be
muttering something.
Lisbeth heard the voices of fellow Japanese players praying,

wishing, like her.
—We dived into this world with AmuSpheres… but you can still
hear us, can’t you Kirito? Because our spirits are all connected.
Hundreds of specks of stardust scattered above them as one.
***
Integrity Knight Renri placed his left hand on the neck of his
precious dragon Kazenui, but his right hand remained grasping the
left hand of Tiese, as he looked up at the suddenly arriving night sky
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while forgetting to breathe.
The remaining history books in the church had never mentioned a

frightening phenomenon like this, where daytime sky suddenly
transformed to night. But Renri was not afraid.
When he had taken two spears in his body and had accepted the
truth that he was about to die, a rain of light had descended from the
sky and healed his fatal injuries without leaving a trace. Now, this
night contained within it the exact same warmth of that rain.
It perplexed Renri that he had survived to the last as the weakest

High Integrity Knight, but at the same time he could not forgive his
own feelings. He had always believed that dying heroically in battle
like Knight Dakira or Knight Eldrie was the one and only way of
repaying his deceased friend, whose name he could not even
remember.
Yet Renri discovered a new feeling when the rain of light healed
him.
The black-haired swordsman confined to the chair with wheels

attached to it. He also had lost his one and only friend. And then he
had decided that he needed to suffer with the responsibility for his
death, sealing away his spirit.
But that swordsman had stood up. Then he had controlled his twin
swords that were a part of his own friend just like Renri’s Divine
Instruments, the Twin Edged Wings, performed a shocking display of
power and sent tens of thousands of enemy soldiers back to the
other world. He had educated Renri with his own shadow.
To live. To connect living, fighting, life and spirit. This — only this…
“Only this, is proof of your strength.”
Renri murmured, gripping Tiese’s left hand a little tighter.
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This redheaded girl, whose other hand was linked with that of
Trainee Ronye, who herself stood beside Guardian Leader Sortiliena,
looked fleetingly up at Renri, then nodded to him as her eyes
shimmered the color of maple, glistening softly even within the
darkness.
The four of them looked up into the pitch black sky once more,
each offering his or her own prayer.
Out of hundreds of stars, four particularly brilliant ones formed a

constellation and began to twinkle.
***
Standing far away, Fist Fighter guild chief Iskahn stared fixedly,
with a sort of ineffable poignance, at the dying girl in green armor
surrounded by kneeling Orcs and Fist Fighters.
The way that girl had fought had been so fierce that “angry god”
was too inadequate of a description. After seeing her, Iskahn thought
he finally understood why the Orcs had disobeyed direct orders from
the Emperor and came rushing to rescue the Fist Fighter guild. Chief
Rirupirin and his 3,000 Orcs had determined that this girl was
stronger than even the Emperor.
But he was wrong.
There was only one reason every single Orc had obeyed, no, had
allied themselves with that girl, and it was that she had treated them
like humans; that was what Rirupirin had told Iskahn. In the past
Rirupirin’s had always been swirling with hatred towards the humans,
but when he proudly announced the situation to Iskahn the rage had
vanished like a dream from his single eye.
“Hey, woman… No, Sheyta…”
Iskahn called the name of the gray female knight standing beside
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him.
“What we call power… what we call strength, what is it

really?…”
Now a wordless knight, Sheyta tilted her head, her long tied hair
swinging. Her cool eyes traveled from the dragon standing behind
them, to the giant Dampe with bandages coiled around both
shoulders, and back to Iskahn, then a small smile spread over her
lips.
“You already know. There is stronger power than rage and

hatred.”
Immediately—
The Dark Territory’s familiar blood-red sky was plunged into

darkness.
Swallowing his breath and looking up, Iskahn saw but a single
green star opposite him, twinkling without a sound.
Sheyta’s hand reached out and pointed towards the star.
“…There. Real power. Real light.”
“…Yeah. …Yeah, you’re right.”
Iskahn muttered. The liquid welling up in his left eye made the
star’s green light seem blurry.
For the first time in his life he balled up his fist not in preparation
for a fight, and Fist Fighter guild chief Iskahn began to pray for a
reason other than victory.
A short distance away from the green star, another star burned
bright red as though it were set ablaze. A gray star floated to its side,
as if it were nestling close to it.
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Just then, the surviving Fist Fighters began singing a low martial
dance, and hundreds of stars scattered in a split second.
Thousands, tens of thousands of stars.
***
The remaining main forces of Human Empire Defense army at the

Great Eastern Gate, Integrity Knight Fanatio, Deusolbert, Knights-in-
Training Linel and Fizel, and hundreds of lower knights were at a loss
for words, their faces raised towards the unscheduled night sky.
The thoughts coursing through each of their chests was different,

but the strength of their prayers and wishes was the same.
Fanatio prayed for the world loved by the departed Integrity Knight
Commander Bercouli, and the world in which the new life in her belly
would later live in.
Deusolbert placed a silent right hand over the tiny ring gleaming
on his left finger, praying for the world in which he had once lived in
with a certain someone who once bore the same ring on their finger.
Linel and Fizel prayed that they could once more encounter the
swordsman who had taught them the meaning of true strength.
The other knights and Guardians prayed for peace to return to

their precious world, and for it to endure forever.
The mountain Goblins in the hilly north of the Dark Territory began
praying, and the plains Goblins in the western wilderness began
praying too.
The Orcs in the central wetlands waiting the return of their

husbands and fathers prayed, and the Giants of the southwestern
plateau were praying as well.
The lilac-skinned humans in the castle towns adjacent to Obsidia
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Citadel, and the Ogres in the southeastern grasslands closed their
eyes and prayed.
The night passed over the mountains, arriving in the Human

Empire without delay.
Sister-in-Training Selka of the Rulid Village church at the northern

end of Norlangarth North Empire had been retrieving well water to
wash her laundry, when her eyes were drawn to the sight of the blue
sky being slowly smeared over with darkness, and she was frozen to
the spot. The rope slid from her palm and the wooden bucket
splashed faintly into the well, but she did not hear.
The whisper slipping from her lips had a slight tremble to it.
“……Onee-sama. ……Kirito.”
Now, in this moment—
Selka could feel, on the night wind, the two people she loved the
most currently locked in fiercest battle.
It meant that Kirito had awoken again. He had stood up again from
the abyss of sorrow from losing Eugeo.
Selka knelt onto the close-cut grass, crossing her fingers at her
chest, closed her eyes, and murmured:
“Eugeo. Please… protect Onee-sama and Kirito.”
As she prayed and watched up into the night sky, a blue star
twinkled.
Stars of various colors then floated into being around it. She saw
that the children who had been playing everywhere around the
courtyard were now all kneeling silently on the ground, tightly
clasping their small hands together.
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The merchants and housewives in front of the church.
The peasants in the pastures and wheat fields.
Alice’s father Gasuft inside the village town hall, and old man
Garitta on the edge of the forest were both praying. None felt a trace
of fear.
Countless stars populated the sky above Rulid.
Likewise, the sky above Zakkaria a short distance to the north was
also scattered with a great volume of stardust. At nearby Walde
farm, husband and wife and their twin daughters Teline and Telure
were side by side at their window, praying.
The villagers and city-dwellers strewn across the four empires all
offered up their wordless prayers.
Then the residents of the megacity Centoria located at the center

of the Human Empire. The students and instructors of the Swordcraft
Academy.
Even the monks and priests of the Axiom Church were of no

exception.
For the girl responsible for controlling the elevating disc between
the 50th and 80th floors, it was the first time in her protracted life
she had done something in particular. While on duty, she took her
hand away from the glass Aerial Element-generating pipe, looked up
towards the infinitely expanding starry sky, and brought her hands
together.
She knew nothing of the world outside the Cathedral. The

Administrator’s death and the Dark Territory’s invasion had brought
no change to the girl’s life.
So she was praying only for one thing.
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The opportunity to encounter those two young swordsmen once
more.
There were already more than ten thousand stars gleaming in

myriad colors filling the night sky that shrouded over the entire
nation of Underworld at midday.
Starting from the ones on the outer boundary, the stars began
emitting bell-like sounds one by one, all beginning to descend
towards one spot.
The southernmost edge of the world.
Towards one single jet-black longsword raised towards the sky, a

stone’s throw from the floating island called the World End Altar.
***
Alice was sprinting in earnest up the steps and finally able to see
the top, when she abruptly realized that her own shadow, splayed
upon the marble under her feet, was melting into a much greater
one.
Looking back over her shoulder as she ran, Alice witnessed a scene
beyond imagination.
The enemy, incorporeal void blade raised, six-part black wings

expanded.
Vines of ice, wrapped in layers and layers over his body, hindering
his movement.
The ice was coming from a glowing bluish-white sword, gripped in

the hand of a swordsman in black with dragon wings sprouting from
his back.
Everything under the swordsman’s chest had already vanished. His

willpower to still continue fighting, in a situation where normally one
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would immediately lose all of his Life, was nothing short of
miraculous.
But the true miracle was taking place above both of their heads.
A torrent of darkness was ascending from the pitch-dark longsword

raised high in the swordsman’s right hand, covering the entire world.
But it was not a darkness without light.
The northern sky began to shimmer with countless dots of light.

Clusters of stars shining many different colors gradually adorned the
sky… the night.
All of a sudden—
The stars began to move.
Issuing a clear, somewhat bell-like, somewhat harp-like sound, the

stars congregated towards the southern end of the world. White,
blue, red, green, and yellow light left long, thin trails as they traced
out an enormous rainbow in the night sky.
Instinct told Alice that these stars were the power of the spirits of
everyone living in this world.
The people of the Human Empire.
And the people of the Dark Territory.
The humans.
And the demihumans.
Now, the world was united as one in prayer.
“Kirito……!”
Alice called the swordsman’s name, raising her left hand high.
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My spirit too. I may only be a manmade knight, possessing only the
trivial spirit of a scant life, but this feeling — this emotion flooding
from my chest is unmistakably genuine.
A brilliant golden star was released from her left hand, and then it
flew directly towards Kirito’s sword.
***
Asuna did not look back.
She understood that the only way to meet Kirito’s demands as he

was locked in mortal combat was not to waste a fraction of the time
he was buying them, and proceed towards the system console.
So Asuna tugged Alice’s hand, continuing to bolt up the stone

steps with as much willpower as she could muster.
But she found it impossible to stem the fiery sentiment bursting

from deep within her chest.
The sentiment became two droplets of tears that slid from her
eyelashes, streaked across her cheeks, and spilled into the air.
Carried by the night wind, the dancing droplets melted together,

becoming a glittering multicolored star.
Asuna only raised her head for an instant to see the star flying
forward and tracing an aurora behind it, then continued to run
without looking back. As she ran, there was only trust in her heart.
***
Gabriel Miller felt wonderment at how he could possibly be

restrained by mere tendrils of ice.
Hadn’t all types of magical attacks, even slashes from the

longswords, been utterly ineffective against him until a moment ago?
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Certainly, his mouth had been injured by the countless number of
blades the boy had concealed within his heart. But that had only
been his mouth imitating the sensation of chewing. Now his entire
body was newly shielded by a thick layer of dark barrier.
—I am the one who plunders. All light, heat, and objects of

existence.
—I am the abyss.
“NU…LLLLL!”
An unearthly, inhuman roar surged out from deep within his throat.
The six-part, three-pair black wings protruding from his back all
transformed into void blades identical to the sword in his right hand.
He beat these blades ferociously, rending the space around him.

The bluish-white tendrils of ice were severed and his body regained
freedom.
“LLLLLLLLL!!”
Continuing to eject the discordant noise from his gaping mouth,

Gabriel lengthened the seven void blades on his wings and his sword
in all directions.
When his empty left hand reached forward, about to fire dark wires
in order to return the favor of restraint to the boy.
Gabriel noticed at last that the crimson color of the sky had
disappeared.
And also, the untold numbers of meteors descending from

overhead.
***
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When I released the Night Sky Sword’s memories, I found it
impossible to summon any specific image to my mind.
The only thing in my heart were the words Eugeo had said to me
when he was helping me name this sword that I had taken to calling
the «black one».
—Oh yeah. I think «Night Sky Sword» is a decent name for your
black sword, Kirito. What say you?
—Gently… covering… this small world… like the night sky…
The darkness bursting from the sword was transforming day to

night, creating a night sky true to its name.
I understood was what happening the moment the cluster of stars

drifting here from the north became a rainbow-colored waterfall and
poured into the blade.
The Night Sky Sword’s power was its ability to absorb Resources
within a far-reaching range.
And the strongest Resource in this world was most definitely not
the Spatial Resources allocated by the system, like the sun or the
land. It was the power of the human spirit. The power of prayers,
wishes, and hope.
The final member of the almost infinitely descending star cluster

was absorbed into the sword.
Then, the very second when the last two golden and multicolored
stars dissolved into the body of the blade—
The Night Sky Sword beamed with the rainbow of emotions from a
host of people.
The light traveled from the hilt into my arm, permeating my entire
body. My lower body, wrecked by Gabriel, regenerated in an instant
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in the warm radiance.
The starlight congregated at my left arm too, giving the Blue Rose
Sword in my hand a blinding luminance—
“OH…HHHHHHH!”
I fanned my two swords far apart, shouting.
“LLLLLLLLL!!”
Opposite me, Gabriel had broken free of his ice bindings and was
letting loose a bizarre howl.
He no longer resembled anything like a human. Wrapped in bluish-

black flames, his naked, liquid metal-like body was giving off a
menacing glow, and the violet-blue light ejecting from his eye
sockets reminded me of escaping hellfire.
The giant void blade in his right hand went high up in the air, and
his wings that were now also blades lengthened in all directions.
Just then, his left hand aimed at me and a uncountable number of

tightly packed black wires burst forth.
“…OHH!!”
I set up a barrier of light with a yell and deflected them.
Then I fully opened my wings, transformed from the hem of my

long coat.
With my left sword in front and my right sword behind, I kicked the
air with all of my might.
Since there was only a minuscule distance between me and the

enemy, it should have taken under a second for me to charge
towards him at full speed. But in this segment of time, I became
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enshrouded in an infinitely long sensation of acceleration.
The figure of a person appeared to my right.
It was a knight in black armor with a black mustache, wearing a

long, large blade. The man was hugging the shoulder of a gray-
skinned female knight sticking close to him; he studied me and said:
“You must shed your bloodlust, youngster. His empty soul

cannot be cut by the Incarnation of murder.”
, a short-haired, well-built man appeared to his left. Dressed in

casual blue robes, he was equipped with a steel-colored longsword.
This was Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli, a strident grin over
his gutsy features.
“No fear, boy. Your sword bears with it the weight of the
world itself.”
By now a girl with snowy white skin and long silver hair had
emerged beside Beroculi.
Highest Minister Administrator smiled enigmatically at me with

silvery eyes and murmured:
“Come now, show me. All of what you inherited from me,
your godlike1 power.”
And the final one, coming into being directly in front of my chest,
was a robed young girl wearing a mortarboard. This was the other
Highest Minister, Cardinal, complete with tawny curls draped over
her shoulder and a tiny spider sitting atop it.
“You’ve got to trust in them, Kirito. Trust in the spirits of

the many whom you love, and who love you.”
Behind her glasses, her dark brown eyes were shining warmly.
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Then their figures faded away—
The greatest, most final enemy, Gabriel Miller, entered the attack
range of my sword.
With my arms charged full of power I had never felt before, I

unleashed my most practiced, most reliable dual wielding Sword
Skill.
Starburst Stream. A 16-hit combo attack.
“WHO…OAAAAAAAAA!!”
My sword, permeated with starlight, shot forward with a blinding

trail.
At the same time, Gabriel’s six wings and one blade came
swooping down from all sides.
Each mighty clash between light and void created vast flashes of
light, causing the world to tremble.
Faster.
Gotta go faster.
“OHHHHHHHHHHH!!”
I roared as I assimilated mind and body, accelerating to the

extreme and swinging my swords.
“NULLLLLLLL!!”
Gabriel was howling too, counterattacking with all seven blades.
10 hits.
11 hits.
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There was no more rage, no more hatred, no more bloodlust in my
chest. All that was left pervading my body was the colossal power of
the prayers, driving me.
12 hits.
13 hits.
—Take in…
14 hits.
—the light of…
15 hits.
—the spirits of everyone of this world!! Gabriel!!
The final 16th hit was a full-motion overhead slash from the left, a
beat slower than him.
Certain of his victory, Gabriel’s inhuman eyes narrowed slightly.
Moving a hair faster than the slash I had put all of my might into, a
black wing protruding from the enemy’s right shoulder sheared off
my entire left arm.
The light-filled limb burst into pieces and scattered, leaving only
the Blue Rose Sword floating in the air.
“LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!”
Accompanied by high, loud laughter, the void blade in Gabriel’s

right hand hurtled downwards, crackling with black lightning.
Psht.
With the echo of that dependable sound, two hands that were not
my own gripped onto the hilt of the Blue Rose Sword hovering in
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midair.
The Blue Rose Sword blocked the void blade firm and true.
Clutching the sword, Eugeo looked to me, flaxen hair swaying.
“Come on — now’s the time, Kirito!!”
“Thanks, Eugeo!!”
I shouted back in clear tones.
“WHO…OAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!”
I injected all of my power into what became the 17th hit, a

overhead slash from the right, crashing it down into Gabriel’s right
shoulder.
The sword plunged deep, sending the pitch-black liquid metal

scattering, coming to a stop precisely where the heart lay.
Immediately—
Eugeo and I transformed every bit of the starlight permeating the

Night Sky Sword and Blue Rose Sword into prismatic waves, surging
right into Gabriel’s heart.
***
Gabriel Miller could feel an energy of countless colors forming a

great waterfall, gushing into the bottomless abyss that occupied
every inch inside his body.
His sight was masked by variegated light, and his ears felt the
nonstop passage of many layers of voices.
—O God, save him…
—Keep that child safe…
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—Bring an end to this war…
—I love you…
—Let this world…
—This world…
—Protect this world…
“…Ha, ha, ha.”
Even as the boy’s sword speared his heart, Gabriel threw his arms
and six wings wide apart, guffawing loudly.
“HA HA HA, HA HA HA HA HA HA!!”
An exercise in futility.
That light seeks to fill my hunger, my insatiable void?
Simply an enterprise of arrogance, like attempting to warm the

vast universe with human hands.
“I will devour it all, sucking every last drop dry!!”
Gabriel bellowed, shooting bluish-black light from eyes and mouth.
“You?! Someone who only knows to fear, to dread the

power of the human spirit?! Don’t make me laugh!!”
The boy roared back, causing golden waves to swell from his entire
body.
The sword shone even more brightly, feeding light and warmth into
his frozen heart.
His field of vision fired up, and his sense of hearing was satiated.
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But Gabriel continued to laugh out loud.
“HA HA HA HA HA, HAAAAAAAAA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!”
***
I was not afraid at all.
The void filling the inside of the enemy was like a black hole, but
my own body was also swirling with a gargantuan, gleaming galaxy
created with the prayers of each and every human being.
Within the long beams of blue-violet light bulging out of Gabriel’s

eye sockets and mouth, the spectrum began to slowly shift.
From violet to red. Then orange. Past yellow — and then pure
white.
Pshk.
That slight noise signified the appearance of a tiny crack in the

liquid metal body enveloping the Night Sky Sword.
And then another. And another.
White light was peeking out from the fractures. The bottoms of the
six wings on his back were set ablaze.
The edges of his cackling mouth were greatly damaged, as holes

opened up in his shoulders and chest.
Even as pillars of light poked out in all directions from the fissures
covering his entire body, Gabriel never abandoned his laughter.
“HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!”
His voice grew shriller and shriller, eventually becoming a high-

pitched metallic frequency.
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The black archangel’s whole body, completely wrapped in white
cracks—
Crumbled inwards and collapsed in an instant.
Then released outwards.
An explosion of intimidating scale shot up into the distant heavens,

corkscrewing as it went.
***
“——————Hahahahahahaha!!”
Gabriel Miller sprang upwards, laughing uproariously.
The first thing he saw was a wall plated with gray metal panel.
Warning stickers in Japanese adorned the ducts and wiring that crept
along the wall.
“Hahaha, ha, ha……”
Gabriel quieted his final waves of laughter by taking rapid breaths,

blinking continuously. When his breathing had steadied, he took a
fresh look at his surroundings.
He was certain that this was STL Room 1 in the Ocean Turtle. It
seemed that he had been automatically logged out by some
unanticipated, yet important factor.
What a killjoy of a conclusion. He had planned on sucking dry those

vast surges of light and then finishing off the boy’s heart.
If he dived back in right now, would there still be time to do so?
Face taut, Gabriel turned his head to look, and saw…
A tall white man lying down on the STL seat, his eyes closed.
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…Who is that?
The question flashed through his mind.
Is he part of the raid team? More importantly, why is this guy lying
in the machine I dived in with?
And then, he finally realized.
—That’s… This is… my… face.
Gabriel Miller, the CTO of Glowgen Defense Systems.
Then, who will I see if I look at my own body?
Gabriel raised his own hands and stared. The only things there
were two vaguely translucent masses of hazy light.
What the hell is this? What happened?
Just then—
He heard a soft voice behind him.
“…You’ve finally come over to this side, Gabe.”
He whirled his head around.
Standing there was a little girl in a white blouse and navy pleated
skirt.
He could not see her face, because her head was bowed so deep
that her features were hidden behind a mask of floaty blonde hair.
But Gabriel recognized her in an instant.
“…Alicia.”
Saying the name for the first time in almost 20 years, he broke into
a smile.
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“What’s this? You’re in that kinda place, Ali?”
Alicia Klingerman. Gabriel Miller’s childhood friend and the first

murder victim in his noble pursuit of the soul.
For the longest time Gabriel had found it a matter of deepest

regret that he had assuredly witnessed Alicia’s soul back then, yet
failed to successfully capture it. But it turned out that he had not lost
it at all. She had always been by his side.
Forgetting his own curious situation, Gabriel reached out his right
hand.
Zip. Alicia’s left hand shot forward with startling speed and tightly
seized Gabriel’s with her small, slender fingers.
It was cold. Cold as ice. A needlelike chill speared right through his
skin and flesh.
Gabriel tried to shake her off on reflex. But Alicia’s tiny hand held
him fast in a viselike grip, and then the smile disappeared from
Gabriel’s face.
“…It’s cold. Let go of my hand, Ali.”
He muttered, but the blonde hair shook from side to side.
“No, Gabe. From now on we’ll always be together. Come

on, let’s go.”
“Go… where? No, I still have things I gotta do.”
Gabriel responded, tugging on his right hand as hard as he could.

But it did not move. On the contrary, it seemed he was being slowly
dragged downward.
“Let go. Let go of me, Alicia.”
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Almost on the second he spoke in a slightly firmer tone.
Alicia’s head snapped up.
When he laid eyes upon the face beneath her evenly cut, adorable
bangs—
Gabriel was pummeled by an emotion that made him feel as

though his entire heart had recoiled.
His internal organs welled upwards. His breathing grew rapid. His
skin broke out into gooseflesh.
What the hell is this? What on earth is this feeling, this emotion?
“Ah… Ah, ah, ah…”
Producing a queer moan, Gabriel shook his head slowly from side
to side.
“Leggo. Stop it. Leggo.”
He raised his left hand without thinking, trying to shove Alicia

away, but that hand was also seized in a flash. Fingers that felt like
frigid metal ate deeply into his skin.
Heeheehee.
“This is fear, Gabe. The real feeling that you’ve been

looking for. Isn’t it awesome?”
Fear.
The source of the expressions that had appeared, when they were
about to die, on the numerous faces of people he had murdered in
his search.
But he found it exceedingly difficult to describe his first taste of

this feeling as enjoyable. He would go so far as to call it unpleasant. I
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don’t want to know this kind of feeling. End it now.
But—
“No, Gabe. From now on, this will continue foreeeever. For
the rest of eternity, you will only know fear.”
Alicia’s tiny boots sank smoothly into the metal floor.
Then Gabriel’s feet sank in too.
“Ah… St… Stop it. Leggo… Stop it.”
He was inadvertently babbling in an almost delirious state, but the

sinking would not stop.
Without warning, a white arm shot up out of the floor and coiled
itself around Gabriel’s foot. And then another. And yet another.
Gabriel knew by instinct that these arms belonged to all of his own
dead prey.
Fear rose uncontrollably. His heart was hammering at a terrible

rate and cold sweat was pouring down his forehead.
“Stop… STOP, STOPSTOPSTOOOOOOOOOP!!”
Gabriel began to scream at last.
“Critter, come here! Get up Vassago!! HANS!! BRIGG!!”
He yelled for his subordinates, but the door to the main control
room opposite him stayed coldly shut. Vassago, supposedly diving
with the STL in the adjacent room, showed no signs of rousing either.
Before he knew it, the floor had swallowed his translucent body up
to his waist. Alicia, dragging his hands, was only visible from the
shoulders up.
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Seconds before getting completely submerged, the girl’s face
beamed happily.
“AH… AHHH… WAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!”
Gabriel let out a shriek.
He shrieked on and on.
His shoulders, neck, and face were muffled by white hands.
“AHHHH… Ahhh…… Ah………”
With a plop, his world was thrown into darkness.
Gabriel Miller’s scream, as he became aware of the fate awaiting

him that would last forever into the future, jerked higher in pitch.
***
And then—
Underworld’s time began to reaccelerate.
***
The second that synchronization was broken, the hundreds of

Japanese players logged in with AmuSpheres disconnected
automatically, awoke in their own rooms or booths of net cafes, their
chests filled with deep emotion.
For a while, all of them digested it, turned it over in their heads,
carved their experiences in the alternate world into their hearts, and
finally, wiped away the tears beading at the corners of their eyes and
picked up their cell phones and AmuSpheres afresh. For the purpose
of conveying to their friends who had fallen in battle in the alternate
world and logged out first, what had happened next.
Sinon and Leafa left Underworld due to complete loss of Life just
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before reacceleration.
Awakening in the RATH Roppongi branch, the two of them waited

for what felt like the last lingering echoes of pain to subside as they
looked to each other and nodded fervently.
Shino and Suguha were both confident that after Kirito had
revived, he defeated the final enemy, saved the world, and would
return immediately.
The next time they saw him, they would—
Even if they could not make him feel it, they would properly
vocalize their feelings to him.
With renewed resolve, both of them realized what the other was
thinking, and broke into soft smiles.
However.
Its limiters fully disabled, the FLA function was accelerating the
time ticking within Underworld to previously uncharted domain.
Over 1,000 times. Over 5,000 times.
Ever closer to the wall of time in the far off distance, the so-called
maximum acceleration phase: 5,000,000 times faster than reality.
***
As soon as the starlight vanished, the energy permeating my body

disappeared along with it. Exhausted, I allowed my body to lean back
while hovering in midair.
My severed arm should have disappeared by now, but it had

already regenerated without me noticing. In that hand I kept a tight
hold on the Blue Rose Sword with my remaining strength, trying to
keep my tears from slipping out.
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I understood that Eugeo’s soul, having saved my neck numerous
times after becoming embedded within the Blue Rose Sword, had
taken the blow from Gabriel’s blade and was consumed by the fire.
The dead would not return, whether in the real world, or here in
Underworld.
That was why memories were so precious and beautiful.
“…Right, Eugeo…?”
I whispered, but there was no reply.
I raised both swords at an unhurried pace and slid them into their
sheaths on my back.
At that moment, the night sky overhead began to dissipate.
The darkness thawed and scattered, and the sky gradually

returned to its original color.
……Blue.
The reappearing sky over the Dark Territory was no longer blood-
red; only a sea of endless blue, as far as the eye could reach.
I wasn’t sure whether it was an effect of the imminent «maximum

acceleration phase», or a miracle brought about by the prayers of
more than ten thousand people.
Whatever the reason, the sight of the transparent, azure heavens

was so magnificent that it would move you to tears. Feeling
inundated by intense nostalgia and yearning, I filled my lungs with
that blueness.
I closed my eyes, exhaled a long breath, then quietly changed

direction.
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When I opened my eyes, I laid them upon the marble staircase,
which was disintegrating in silence.
By gently flapping my wings I slowly descended, making a beeline

for the fractured steps. I was aiming for the tiny island suspended in
midair.
The circular floating island was just about overflowing with flowers
of an assortment of colors. A single road paved with flat stones cut
straight through them, leading towards a structure resembling a
temple.
I landed in the center of the stone road, then restored my wings

back into my coat hem and surveyed my surroundings.
The saccharine, refreshing fragrance of nectar tickled my nose. A

number of lapis blue butterflies fluttered weightlessly in space, and
birds chirped in trees flourishing all around me. The sight of a clear
blue sky and steadily shining sun bore resemblance to a famous
painting.
And — there was not a soul on the island.
Not a shadow in sight on the path, or in the columned temple in

front of me.
“…Thank God. They made it.”
I breathed, alone.
After Gabriel Miller was consumed by the spiral of light and

vanished, I could feel the FLA beginning acceleration once again,
timed perfectly with the moment of uncertainty when I was unsure
whether or not Asuna and Alice had successfully escaped from the
console to the real world. But both had managed to hurry all the way
up that enormous staircase and finally reach their goal in time.
Alice — the reason this world had been born, a female knight and
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the one and only soul to break the limits of an Artificial Fluctlight, had
departed for the real world at last.
I guess many hardships will be waiting for her from now on. She
must contend with a world governed by totally different laws and
social practices, a cumbersome mechanized body, and a power bent
on exploiting a true artificial intelligence for militaristic purposes.
But since it’s Alice, I think she’ll pull through. She is the strongest
Integrity Knight, after all.
“……Do your best……”
I looked up towards the blue sky, praying for the golden knight
whom I would never see again.
Yes—
Now that the maximum acceleration phase had started, there was
no longer any way for me to manually log out from inside. All three
system consoles in the world have stopped functioning, and even if
my Life falls to zero, I must wait in complete darkness, in a state of
utter sensory deprivation, for the phase to end.
Kikuoka and the other RATH workers were supposedly fighting to

stop my STL now, but that could not be done before 20 minutes, at
the very least, had elapsed.
In that period of time, more than 200 years would pass in this
world.
I didn’t know whether my consciousness would disappear after

wearing out the lifespan of my soul, or even before that, crack under
the strain of being accelerated 5,000,000 times faster than real time.
The only thing I could be certain of was that I could no longer

return to the real world.
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Mom, Dad, Suguha. Sinon. Klein, Agil, Liz, Silica.
My friends at school. The players I knew in ALO.
Alice.
And, Asuna.
I was never going to see those people, whom I loved so much, ever
again.
I dropped to my knees upon the white stone slab.
I propped myself up with both hands, but my upper body felt like it
was on the verge of shattering.
My vision went cloudy. Shimmering light trembled, then began

falling and splashing without end onto the smooth marble.
For now, at least, I think I have the right to cry a bit.
For what was important to me that I could never have back again, I
wept. Sobs issued from the gaps between my clenched teeth, and
tears fell away from my face, over and over.
Drip. Drip drip.
All I could hear was the sound of droplets hitting stone.
Drip.
Drip.
—Clack.
Clack, clack.
All of a sudden, I could hear the echoes of several, assuredly solid

noises.
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Clack, clack. It was getting closer. Faint vibrations traveled to my
fingertips.
The air swayed. A vague, but wistfully sweet smell floated through
the rich floral fragrance.
Clack.
…Clack.
The noises stopped directly in front of me.
And then, someone called my name.
1. “Godlike” (神威) and “Incarnation” (心意) are both

pronounced shin’i here.↩
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Vol.18 Chapter 23
Proofreading – defan752
Koujiro Rinko was sitting in the operator’s chair in the sub control
room, fixating upon the tiny glass hatch situated slightly to the left
on the front of the console.
The liquid crystal display above the hatch was blinking with red
letters: [EJECTING…]
The low hiss of escaping pressurized air was heard.
Finally, a small, black, square-shaped object emerged behind the

glass window. The letters on the LCD changed to [COMPLETE].
Rinko reached out a trembling hand, slid the hatch open, and
retrieved the object within.
It was a solid metal package. A cube, roughly six centimeters wide,

and unexpectedly heavy. It was seamless and jointless; only one side
was carved with a six-digit number and fitted with a microconnector
port.
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The soul of «Alice» was sealed inside.
Just as the the system had commanded, a single cube had been
ejected from the Light Cube Cluster installed at the center of the
Ocean Turtle’s main shaft, bundled into a protective package, and
dispatched through a long vacuum chute.
It was, at the same time, traveling from the inner realm of

Underworld to the outer realm of the real world.
For a moment, Rinko found herself quite unable to speak, beset by

an indescribable emotion, but quickly regained her composure and
cried into the microphone while clutching the package:
“Asuna-san, Alice’s ejection is complete! Now it’s just you

and Kirigaya-kun; hurry!”
She continued to yell, watching the main monitor give way to a

scarlet countdown:
“There’s only 30 seconds until the maximum acceleration

phase starts!! Hurry up and log out!!”
For a moment, there was silence.
And then, something she did not anticipate finally came out of the
speaker.
“I’m sorry, Rinko-san.”
“Wha…? W-What do you…?”
“I’m sorry. I’m… staying here. Thank you so much for

everything. I will never forget what you did for me, Rinko-
san.”
Yuuki Asuna’s voice sounded calm, pleasant, and full of

determination through the speaker.
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“I’m leaving Alice to you. She’s a kind person. She holds
great love inside her, and she is loved by many others. For
the sake of the many souls lost in her name… and for the
sake of Kirito-kun, please do all in your power to prevent her
from being put to military use.”
Rinko was speechless. Then she heard the final words Asuna would
say to her.
“And please tell everyone: I’m sorry… thank you… and

goodbye…”
And then, the countdown fell to zero.
***
A prolonged siren ushered in the rumbling hum of machines,

echoing throughout the narrow cable duct.
It was 10:00 am on July 7. With the end of the 15-minute

countdown, the cooling system behind the wall began chugging at
full force. Several massive fans started to siphon away the vast
amount of heat generated by the cluster of machinery sustaining
Underworld. Anyone at sea observing the Ocean Turtle now would
likely be able to catch sight of the shimmering air billowing from the
pyramid’s apex.
“……There it goes…”
Higa Takeru muttered softly.
“Yeah,” came the reply of Kikuoka Seijirou, hauling Higa down a

narrow ladder on his back.
Upon deciding that they would not be able to prevent the onset of
the maximum acceleration phase, both had immediately begun
preparations to descend once more into the maintenance cable duct,
but the single task of stabilizing Higa’s body with a harness had
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burned through eight minutes of their time.
Kikuoka continued scrambling down the ladder at a speed that was

surely producing streams of sweat, but Underworld’s maximum
acceleration phase was well under way before they had even made it
to the pressure-resistant partition.
Almost imploringly, Higa pressed his radio switch and called Dr.
Koujiro in the sub control room.
“Rinko-san… how’s everything?”
There was static, followed by a successful connection tone, but he

heard only dull silence in reply.
“…Rinko-san?”
“…Sorry. I’ve secured Alice’s Light Cube without incident.

But…”
In a stifled voice, Dr. Koujiro told him what had just happened.
Higa swallowed his breath and shut his eyes tightly.
“…I understand. We’ll work as hard as we can from here.

I’ll contact you to unlock the partition hatch next.”
Higa disconnected and emptied his lungs in one long, thin exhale.
Kikuoka did not inquire, perhaps guessing the circumstances from

their conversation. He went on exerting his muscular back.
“…Kiku-san…”
It was a few seconds before Higa finally managed to muster a

whisper, and convey to the commander what Dr. Koujiro had told
him.
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***
Critter stared in silence at a new window that popped up on the

main monitor and the message appearing within it.
The short memo informed him that a single Light Cube had been
ejected from the Cluster and sent to the sub control room beyond the
pressure-resistant partition.
This meant that «Alice» had been acquired by RATH.
It also meant that their 10-hours-and-counting operation of

locating Alice within Underworld and obtaining her had completely
failed. All of the effort that went into Vassago and Captain Miller
personally diving in, urging the Dark Territory army into an invasion
of the Human Empire, waging an extravagant war that was the envy
of a Hollywood movie, and even going as far as to drag tens of
thousands of online gamers from the US, China, and Korea into
battle, had gone to utter waste.
Critter scratched his close-cropped hair, snorted, then switched

trains of thought.
With eight hours left until the destroyer began its raid, did they still
have a chance at making a second, physical attempt to get Alice?
They had no way of breaking through the ultra-strong, composite

material pressure-resistant partition from this side; it would be a
different story, however, if they managed to unlock it, like RATH just
had.
But why were they even opening the partition to begin with? Did
RATH really think they stood a chance of holding them back with a
clumsy robot and a couple of smoke grenades?
What if that had been a diversion…? If they had another reason to

open the partition, what in hell was it?
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Critter turned to address the squad, which had just begun playing
cards again.
“Yo, you know that robot that just came at us from

upstairs? Did it have a bomb or anything strapped to it?”
Whereupon Hans’ tall figure scratched his mustache and replied:
“Well, I definitely made sure to check, y’know? There

weren’t any fixed weapons on it at all, let alone a bomb. They
were probably trying to use it as a ballistic shield, but it
stopped moving after we lit it up. And the soldiers following
behind it made a quick retreat after that, y’know?”
“Hmm… —By the way, the JSDF guys aren’t ‘soldiers’,

they’re called personnel.”
Critter spun his chair back forward after adding a wholly

unnecessary bit of trivia.
So that robot’s little disturbance must have been a diversion. But

even with smoke grenades, rushing past Hans, Brigg, and the others
without them noticing was impossible.
In that case—
He picked up the tablet computer sitting on the table and pulled up

the sketch of the Ocean Turtle’s interior.
“Hmm… here’s the main shaft, and the partition cuts

across from here… this must be the stairway that the robot
was hauling ass from…”
At that moment, the countdown on the monitor reached zero and a

shrill alarm blared. Underworld’s time acceleration was beginning
again. What was more, Brigg’s numbskullery had resulted in him
breaking off the operating lever, which was causing the speed
multiplier to rise to outrageous levels.
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But it no longer mattered what happened to Underworld now. Since
the Alice retrieval mission had failed, Vassago and Captain Miller had
probably «died» in their dives and should now be undergoing logout
procedures in the attached room.
In that case, Critter had to devise their next plan of attack before
Captain Miller reappeared.
He magnified and scrolled over the complex sketch, before finally

becoming aware of something.
“Oh, there’s a tiny hatch here too… ‘Cable duct’? What’s

this…?”
***
Having communicated the situation to Higa Takeru, Rinko sighed

wearily and leaned back into her mesh chair.
Yuuki Asuna’s determination to stay in Underworld herself just

because Kirigaya Kazuto had no way of escaping before acceleration
started, was too young, too impulsive, and yet — pricelessly
beautiful.
She could not resist thinking of him.
How the man she once loved had deserted her in the real world
and vanished into cyberspace.
If she had the chance to go with him back then, what would she
have done? Would she had chosen to fry her own brain with the STL
prototype like he had, leaving behind only a copy of her own
consciousness?
“Akihiko-san… you…” Rinko said in an inaudible whisper, closing

her eyes.
A «true alternate world», realized merely with the floating castle of
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Aincrad and the 10,000 players trapped within: that had been his…
that had been Kayaba Akihiko’s ambition.
But he had discovered something — had learned something over

the two years he spent in that floating castle. It was this something
that had changed his mind.
There was still much, much more work to be done.
He had realized that SAO was not the end point after all; rather, it
was only the beginning. It was this very reason that had spurred him
to continue condensing the NerveGear technology, and finally
complete the prototype with which he would end up destroying his
own body in a Nagano mountain village wrapped by primeval forest.
His development data was left to Rinko, who adapted it to design a

medical-use high precision FullDive device, the «Medicuboid».
RATH and Higa Takeru then built upon three years of extensive
data provided by a tester — a young girl — of the first Medicuboid
prototype, to complete the STL.
In the end, you could say that Underworld, the ultimate alternate
world, had been borne out of Kayaba Akihiko’s dream.
Did that mean, then, that with Underworld’s completion Kayaba’s

dream had been fully realized?
No, that couldn’t be it.
Why? Because the other piece he had left behind — the jigsaw
piece he called «The Seed» package, still did not seem to fit
anywhere in the puzzle.
Yes, the standardization of VRMMOs built with The Seed was what
made it possible for the Japanese players to retaliate against the
foreign attack by converting their accounts.
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But not even Kayaba would be able to predict this years before it
happened. The account conversion rescue was, at most, only a
secondary effect.
What on earth had been his goal, then? Why was there a need to
bring many VR worlds together and unite them under a common
standard…?
The duralumin safekeeping case containing Alice’s Light Cube sat

atop the console.
Being an aggregation of quantum gate elements, the Light Cube

was non-volatile, but since the driver circuit of the logic gates inside
the package required electric current to function, Alice’s soul would
remain inactive as long as it was sealed within the case.
Caressing the silver container with her right hand, Rinko turned
towards the humanoid silhouette poised in the left corner of the sub
control room — the mechanical body «Niemom».
Installing Alice’s Light Cube package into the socket on the robot’s
head would turn Niemom into Alice’s body, and she would be able to
move and speak.
She thought of carrying out that idea, of talking to Alice — but

Rinko gave a slight shake of her head and chased away the impulse.
This was no time for that sort of thing, not when Kazuto and Asuna
were still in such danger; besides, although considerably slimmer
than Ichiemom, Niemom’s complete lack of feminine properties
would probably come as a shock to Alice if she woke up with its body.
Cutting short her silent reflection, she took her right hand away
from the duralumin case, and—
“Dr. Koujiro,” came a voice behind her, and she spun around.
Captain Nakanishi was standing there, having returned to the sub
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control room at some point.
“Preparations are complete for reopening the partition

hatch. We’re ready when you are.”
“Ah… okay. Thanks a lot.” She replied, checking the monitor

clock. More than a minute had passed by since the maximum
acceleration phase had begun. In Underworld time, that was… 10
years.
It was unbelievable. Kirigaya Kazuto and Yuuki Asuna’s «soul

lifespans» now exceeded her own.
Even with the passing of a minute and a second, it was imperative

that those two were logged out as soon as possible. If they managed
to escape before their soul lifespans totally ran out, it would be
possible to remove all of their memories after the maximum
acceleration phase began. But in theory they had fewer than 12
minutes left to achieve that.
—Higa-kun, Kikuoka-san.
—Hurry!!
Rinko pleaded, positively chewing her lip.
***
Lieutenant Colonel Kikuoka’s throat was wheezing painfully. A

waterfall of sweat was discoloring his shirt, even seeping into Higa’s
clothes.
Several times, Higa had swallowed the suggestion that he would

climb the rest of the way down by himself.
Taking the maximum dose of painkiller had not lessened the

throbbing pain from Yanai’s bullet wound in his right shoulder. His
body felt weighed down by the sheer amount of blood he had lost; it
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was enough to prevent him from supporting his own weight.
Even so — Higa thought.
In all honesty, considering their present circumstances he had not

expected Lieutenant Colonel Kikuoka to put up such a desperate
fight.
They had secured Project Alicization’s ultimate goal, the boundary-

breaking Fluctlight «A. L. I. C. E.». All they needed to do now was
analyze Alice’s framework, identify what set it apart from other
Fluctlights, and they would be able to work out a way of mass-
producing bottom-up AI. Japan would establish an unparalleled
technical foundation in the forthcoming age of autonomous weapons
and break free of the American military system’s domination — they
had already accomplished the goal that RATH been created to fulfill.
This was supposed to be Kikuoka Seijirou’s dearest ambition.
This was the only reason he had stuck his nose into the SAO
incident — even amid a temporary transfer to the Ministry of Internal
Affairs and Communications — and the only reason he had created
the character of «Crysheight» to remain in contact with the VRMMO
players.
Therefore, Kikuoka’s first course of action was more likely to

gravitate towards keeping the pressure-resistant partition firmly shut
and defending Alice’s Light Cube with his life, before the Aegis
destroyer stormed the ship. He would refuse to relent even if Kirigaya
Kazuto and Yuuki Asuna’s Fluctlights, still left in Underworld, fell to
collapse. Even if they had to lock Dr. Koujiro in her room, as she
would no doubt strongly object to such a decision.
“…Quite unexpected… don’t… you think?” Kikuoka panted

unexpectedly, and Higa couldn’t stop himself from letting out a
bizarre squawk.
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“N-Nah, that’s… Well, how do I say it? I just don’t think it
seems to fit your personality, Kiku-san…”
“Indeed…”
Kikuoka chuckled briefly, continuing to climb down the ladder at

full speed.
“But… I’ve mentioned it before. This is… a calculated…

action.”
“O… Oh?”
“I’m a guy… who likes to jump to the worst case scenario.

Right now… I think it’s best… to let the enemy think… that
they still have a chance at retaking Alice.”
“The w-worst case… scenario?”
Was there really a worse scenario than the enemy noticing the
existence of this cable duct and attacking them from below before
they could fully open the pressure-resistant partition?
But before Higa could continue his speculation, the soles of

Kikuoka’s shoes touched the titanium alloy hatch.
As the commander came to a stop, gasping, Higa pressed the

connection switch on his radio.
“Rinko-san, we’ve arrived! Unlock the partition, please!!”
***
“Whoa… it’s actually opening!” Critter yelled, gawking at the

pressure-resistant partition release warning on the main monitor
above.
But why? For what reason?
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It just didn’t make sense. If they had gotten Alice now, why in the
world was RATH purposely weakening their own defenses?
But there was no time to consider the matter. Critter spun his chair
around and delivered instructions to the squad.
“Umm… Ahh, Hans and you lot, get to the stairs, everybody
except Brigg! Fire at will and secure the barrier control!”
“Easier said than done…”
Hans clucked his tongue but raised his assault rifle. More than ten
other squad members mirrored him.
“Hey… Wait a minute, then what do I do?”
Brigg was pouting and looking bad-tempered. Critter stared at him,

then snapped his fingers.
“I’ve got another job for you. Something important, perfect

for your brawn.”
He was speaking the words, but his mind was thinking something
else entirely. If possible, it was best to let this simpleton remain
somewhere he could keep an eye on him.
“Look, I want you to come with me while I go check out this

cable duct. Something tells me that this is enemy’s true
objective—”
“Oh… Oh, I see. That sounds good.”
Brigg grinned widely and checked his rifle magazine with

exaggerated noise. Critter suppressed a sigh and patted him on the
back.
He followed Hans and the others from the main control room out
into the passageway, but a moment before he ran in the other
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direction, Critter caught a glimpse of an inner door — STL Room 1.
—Come to think of it, what the hell is taking that idiot Vassago so
long to log out? He’s not taking a smoke break in there, is he?
He had a mind to check on him, but just then Brigg broke into a run
along the passageway. With no choice, Critter pursued him from
behind.
They reached their destination in a matter of minutes. At first

glance they only saw the corridor running the length of the main
shaft’s inner wall, but the map had shown a cable duct behind a
small hatch on the left wall that led to the upper shaft. Of course, the
duct itself was barricaded by a heavy-duty partition, but if his guess
was correct—
He grasped the crank with sweaty hands and swiveled it

counterclockwise.
Pushing open the heavy metal door, the first thing Critter could
make out under the dark orange lamp light was a tunnel about two
meters deep and less than a meter high. It stopped at a wall
stretching straight up, where an unobtrusive ladder had been
installed.
And directly beneath the ladder, there was what looked like a
bundle of fabric—
“…Whoa?!”
The instant he recognized the object, Critter recoiled and banged

the back of his head on Brigg’s chin, but pain and the brute’s cursing
were lost on him as his eyes widened.
There was something inside the fabric, or rather, the clothing. A

gaunt body appeared to be curled up there. Brigg shoved Critter
aside and lifted his rifle, but then said abruptly:
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“He’s already dead.”
Sure enough, the hunched man’s spine had been twisted at an

unnatural angle. Face horribly taut, Critter inched into the tunnel and
checked the man’s face.
“Wait… isn’t this that other guy? The RATH informant…?

Did they kill him when they found him out? But, to kill
someone in such a way…”
Reluctantly, he touched the man’s skin and felt a sliver of warmth

in his finger. Judging by his temperature, the man had probably died
the first time the partition was opened. Did that mean it was first
opened because he was trying to flee to the lower shaft? And then he
lost his footing on the ladder and fell to his death?
If so, then why was the partition being opened again?
Critter wanted to examine the hatch on the partition above them

more closely, and for that, he needed to drag the body out of the
way. But he didn’t want to do it himself.
He backed out of the tunnel into the hallway, and commanded

Brigg:
“Help me check if the coast is clear up the duct.”
The stubbled giant snorted, entered the tunnel, and yanked the
spy’s body outside. Then he went back in and arched his body
upwards, staring towards the other end of the vertical duct.
Even Critter’s amateur instincts were alarmed by the sight of Brigg

putting his head so far up the passage, but just then—
“Shit!!” Brigg yelled. He raised his assault rifle and fired.
Yellow flashes seared themselves into Critter’s retinas as two

different kinds of gunfire pounded his eardrums.
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Leaping back and swallowing a scream, he watched as Brigg’s
monster figure slumped onto the tunnel floor, as though he was
struck by an invisible sledgehammer.
“Whoa!! What happened?!” He screamed, sitting backwards

onto the hallway floor. Brigg laid motionless where the informant’s
huddled body had been only ten seconds ago. Critter didn’t need the
blood pooling on the floor to tell him that Brigg had met the same
fate; there was a RATH combatant somewhere up in the cable duct,
and they had shot him.
—Now what?
Cold sweat pouring down in torrents, Critter began to think.
Retrieve the rifle from Brigg’s right hand, and return fire at the
enemy in the duct in revenge? Of course not! I’m just a computer
geek; my job consists solely of thinking and hammering on a
keyboard.
He continued to think while half-crawling back towards the main

control room in retreat.
At least he now knew that RATH had every intention of using

aggressive force. However, in terms of battle strength his own side
was clearly superior. If fighting broke out, there was little doubt that
RATH would also suffer losses. If they weren’t careful, they could lose
the entire upper shaft, and then, wouldn’t they end up losing Alice
again too?
Had RATH’s commander considered a scenario even «worse» than

that? Did RATH think they had enough firepower to blow up the
entire Ocean Turtle? The C4 charges they had on hand weren’t even
capable of breaching the partition hatch…
Firepower…
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Critter gave a sudden gasp. The two bodies lying in the
passageway behind him were quickly forgotten.
They did have it.
There was only one way of completely destroying the Ocean Turtle,
of sending Alice’s Light Cube and the RATH workers all to a watery
grave.
In the event that procuring Alice became impossible, their client’s

orders has been to liquidate it. But could he really implicate this
entire, gigantic, self-propelling megafloat and her ten plus crew in
order to achieve that goal?
There was no way he was making such a terrible decision on his

own. The prospect would haunt his nightmares for the rest of his life.
Critter stood up and ran towards the main control room, seeking
the opinion of his captain.
***
“Ki… Kiku-san! Are you all right, Kiku-san?!!”
Higa demanded in a strangled voice. The enemy that appeared at

the very bottom of the cable duct had fired off at least three shots.
There was no reply. With his back to Higa, his right hand on the
ladder and his left gripping a pistol, Lieutenant Colonel Kikuoka’s
head drooped as his shoulder seemed to press into the wall.
—No way. Hey, don’t do this to me. I still have things I need you
for.
“Ki…”
Kikuoka-saaaaaaaaan!!
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He was just about to scream when the lieutenant colonel went into
a fit of coughing.
“Ugh… Ahh, damn… He got me. Looks like I was right to

wear a bulletproof vest…”
“That… That goes without saying! Were you really going to

come here in nothing but a Hawaiian shirt…?”
Higa heaved a deep sigh of relief and looked down at Kikuoka’s

back again.
“You’re not hurt, then?”
“Well, I think I was only hit once, on my vest. Are you hurt?
Those bullets bounced all over the place.”
“N… No. Neither I nor the computer got hit.”
“Then let’s hurry. The maintenance connector is just

ahead.”
Swaying on Kikuoka’s back as he began climbing down again, Higa

muttered to himself again: Quite unexpected.
Lieutenant Colonel Kikuoka had always struck him as someone

without a hint of physical skill, but right now his broad muscled back
felt like steel, and the marksmanship he just displayed — as
uncomfortable as hanging from the ladder and firing with only his left
hand was, both of his rapid shots had hit bang on target: right though
the enemy’s throat and chest.
—And to think I’ve known this guy for so long and still can’t figure
him out.
Gently shaking his head, Higa pulled a cable from his pocket for
the maintenance connector, which was now coming into sight.
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***
Critter retraced his steps through the passageway at a sprint,

bursting into the main control room as he heard rapid gunfire coming
from the stairs.
There was no trace of Captain Miller or Vassago inside. Had they

not exited the STLs yet? Five minutes had already passed since the
start of the maximum acceleration phase.
He was still hesitant over whether to tell them what he was

considering. He knew that as soon as he brought it up, both of them
would immediately put it into action. They were the type that didn’t
flinch at civilian deaths for the sake of completing the mission.
Without arriving at a decision, Critter threw open the door to STL

Room 1.
“Captain Miller! Alice got taken by the enemy…”
His next words died in his throat.
Gabriel Miller was lying in front of him on STL #1’s gel bed.
Everything above his forehead was obscured by machinery, and an
expression Critter had never seen him with before was plastered on
his face.
No, it would be more accurate to say that Critter had never seen
any human with this expression before.
His blue eyes were bulging so hard that they looked ready to pop
out. His mouth gaped hugely, his jaw looking almost dislocated and
slightly crooked. His tongue protruded all the way out of his mouth.
He looked like an alien creature.
“Ca… Cap… tain…?”
Critter was gasping, his knees shaking violently. He knew that if
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Captain Miller’s bulging eyeballs started moving, he would not be
able to hold back a scream.
It took several seconds for him to steady his breathing. Then he

put forward a timid right hand, and felt the wrist of the left arm
hanging limp from the bed.
There was no pulse.
What’s more, the skin was cold as ice. Gabriel Miller, Ocean Turtle
raid team captain, was dead without a single wound on his body.
Trying with all his might to keep down the contents of his stomach,
Critter gave a hoarse yell:
“Vassago… get up now! The captain’s… d-dead…”
He walked around the gel bed on feet that felt like water, bringing
STL #2 into closer view.
This time Critter really did let out a shrill scream.
Vice Captain Vassago Casals was, at first glance, sleeping

peacefully. The eyes on his expressionless face were closed, and his
arms lay straight on both sides of his body.
But—
His once long, raven-black wavy hair…
…was now a shock of crusty white wire, like the head of someone
over a hundred years old.
No longer feeling the need to check Vassago’s pulse, Critter took

slow steps back. His highest personal axioms consisted of logic and
source code, and right now he was certain that if he did not leave
this room at once he would end up the same way as these two.
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He pelted out of the open door and slammed it shut with his right
foot.
Wheezing uncontrollably, Critter began reorganizing his thoughts

at a furious pace.
He had no way of investigating what happened to the captain or

Vassago, and he didn’t want to know. He guessed that something
had probably befallen them in Underworld, resulting in the total
destruction of their Fluctlights.
In summary, the mission had failed. With their commander now

dead, he could not make the decision on whether or not to destroy
Alice and this ship together with it. There was no meaning in staying
here any longer.
Critter snatched up a mouthpiece from the console and spoke in

husky tones:
“Hans… get back here. Brigg, Vassago, and the captain are
all down.”
Seconds later, the manliest member of the team burst into the
main control room, a razor-sharp look on his face.
“Brigg’s down?! Why?!”
“He… He got hit from above, in the cable duct…”
Hans had barely finished listening to him before raising his rifle and
turning right around, but Critter barred him in desperation.
“Stop! They took Alice’s Light Cube. There’s no point in

fighting anymore…”
Hans was silent for a moment. Suddenly he roared and punched

the wall, then took a few steps towards Critter.
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“…No, we’ve still got orders. If we can’t get Alice then we
have to destroy it. You have some sort of idea, don’t you?”
Hans’s painstakingly straight-cut mustache was quivering.

Intimidated, Critter gave a tiny nod.
“Well… Well, it’s not like I don’t have one… No, we can’t.
We can’t make that kind of judgment without the captain.”
“Tell me. Spit it out now!!” Hans bellowed, jabbing the rifle
barrel into Critter’s throat. Faced with the dangerous glare of a
mercenary — a mercenary who had been Brigg’s partner for many
years before his employment by Glowgen — Critter found it
impossible to refuse.
“The… The engine…”
“Engine? Of the ship?”
“Yeah… The main engine of this massive ship is a nuclear

reactor…”
Ten minutes elapsed.
Koujiro Rinko wrung her sweat-drenched hands, staring at the

digital numbers as they ticked by without mercy.
The amount of time that had passed in Underworld since the

beginning of the maximum acceleration phase — was 100 years.
Exactly what time of such monstrous length felt like to Kirigaya

Kazuto and Yuuki Asuna was something far exceeding her own
imagination. All she could be certain of was that both their Fluctlight
memory retention capacities were nearing their limits.
Higa estimated that once a human soul accumulated 150 years’

worth of memories, it would no longer function normally and begin to
collapse. But naturally that had not been experimentally confirmed;
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the real limit might arrive later — or sooner.
All she could do now was pray that they finish the logout procedure
before their souls destroyed themselves. If they could manage that,
then there was still hope of restoring the both of them to normal.
—Higa-kun, Kikuoka-san, please.
In the midst of her praying, Rinko failed to notice that the faint
gunfire traveling from downstairs had ceased some time ago, until
Captain Nakanishi came running back to the sub control room and
informed her.
“Doctor! The enemy is retreating from the Ocean Turtle!”
“Re… Retreating?!”
Rinko lifted her face up and repeated, stunned.
Why now? Now that the partition was reopened, wasn’t this the
attackers’ last chance to grab Alice? They were giving up far too
easily. There were still eight more hours before the escort vessel
«Nagato» began its assault.
Typing on the keyboard to call up a status window monitoring the

conditions of various regions inside the ship, Rinko asked the captain:
“Was anyone hurt in the fight?”
“Yes… two lightly wounded, one severely who’s being

treated right now, but nothing life-threatening.”
“I see…”
She softly exhaled her held breath. A slight glance towards him
revealed that the bold lines traced by Nakanishi’s cheekbone had
been obscured with a large bandage, which was steadily growing
bloodier. He was probably one among the lightly wounded.
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They had to save those two kids so all the fighting did not go to
waste.
At least the enemy’s retreat came as good news. Her eyes flew
across the status window, affirming that the door of the underwater
dock at the Ocean Turtle’s bottom — the one used by the attackers
when they boarded — was being opened.
“They seem to be fleeing in their submarine. It’s just that,

this is much too hasty…”
Rinko raised her eyebrows, and—
A tremor, completely unlike anything they had felt ever before,

shook the entire main shaft.
Hyuuuun. Bassy rumbling permeated the gigantic self-propelling

megafloat like cold wind. A ballpoint pen rolled off the table and
clattered to the floor.
“Wha… What?! What’s happening?!”
“This is… Ahh… the bastards, they can’t have…!!”
Captain Nakanishi’s shout was half a moan.
“This trembling — it’s the main engine running at full

speed, Doctor!!”
“Main… engine?”
“The main engine… the pressurized water reactor at the

bottom of the shaft.”
Nakanishi raced past a wide-eyed, dazed Rinko and took her place
at the console, awkwardly manipulating the status window. New
windows popped up continuously, and one of them was playing a
blurry video feed.
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“Shit!! The control rods are all raised!! Those bastards,
what the hell are they playing at?!”
Bam! He slammed a fist down on the console. Her throat dry, Rinko
asked him:
“But, there are fail-safes, aren’t there…?”
“Of course. The control rods are automatically lowered to

stop the fission before the reactor core reaches criticality.
But… here, take a look at this.”
Nakanishi’s finger was pointing to the monitor, at one position on

the live feed of the reactor’s containment vessel. It was hard to tell
through the hodgepodge of crimson light, but something tiny and
white appeared to be stuck onto a spot of the large, orange-painted
machinery.
“I believe this is C4… plastic explosive. A piece this small

should be insufficient to breach both the containment vessel
and pressure vessel, but directly under there is the electrical
CRD responsible for lowering the control rod cluster into the
reactor core… the drive mechanism, in other words. If that
gets destroyed, then the control rods won’t be able to lower
themselves…”
“And we… won’t be able to stop the fission? What happens

then…?”
“The first thing that will happen is that the coolant will
generate a steam explosion, wrecking the pressure vessel…
worse comes to worst, the molten core will breach the
containment vessel and the ship’s hull, then drop into the
sea and create massive amounts of steam, and at that point
the entire shaft will be blown sky-high, including the main
control room, the Light Cube Cluster, and our sub control
room here.”
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“Wha……”
Rinko couldn’t help but stare at the floor underneath her. These
solid metal plates getting melted through, and superheated steam
shooting up from below—?
If that were to happen, there would be nothing left: nothing of the

RATH technicians who had somehow all survived until now, nothing
of Kazuto and Asuna who were connected to the STLs, and nothing of
the ten thousand plus Artificial Fluctlights in the Light Cube Cluster…
“I’m going to disarm the C4.” Nakanishi muttered suddenly.
“The bastards should have set a charge timer long enough

to put sufficient distance between their submarine and the
Ocean Turtle. At least five minutes… which is plenty.”
“B-But, Nakanishi-san. The temperature in the engine

room, it’s already…”
“It’s okay, it’ll only be like a slightly hotter sauna. I’ll just
bolt over and rip off the detonator. Easy.”
—Surely a situation that warrants protective clothing. But there’s

no time to make such preparations.
Rinko found herself unable to say the words. Nakanishi was already
walking towards the door, his wide back swelling with steely
resolution.
However.
A second before his black leather combat boots reached the

automatic door.
Rinko’s ears suddenly detected a noise she had never heard in this
room until now. Nakanishi’s hand flew to the holster at his right waist
and his eyes darted towards the left side of the room.
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Whirrrrr. With the metallic hum of a motor, something stretched
out a right foot from its fastened frame—
A mechanical body constructed from metal and plastic: Niemom.
Rinko and Nakanishi goggled blankly as the humanoid machine

approached at a sluggish pace, its head sensor glowing red.
It should not be able to move.
Hadn’t Higa, its designer, told them that? Unlike Ichiemom, which
was equipped with many walking balancers, Niemom was designed
from the start to be an Artificial Fluctlight vessel and couldn’t even
take a single step without a Light Cube inserted in it. The only
Artificial Fluctlight missing from the Cluster was Alice, and she was
still sitting inside her case on the table. The socket in Niemom’s head
should be empty.
“Why… Why is Prototype #2…”
Nakanishi uttered, astonished, as he drew his handgun from its

holster and held it aloft. But without sparing him so much as a
glance, Niemom headed straight for Rinko, stopping roughly two
meters away from her, and began to emit a voice — somewhat
corrupted with electronic noises — from a speaker installed at an
unknown location on its head:
“I will go.“
That voice.
The faint odor of oil emanating from Niemom’s body stung her
nose.
Rinko had heard that same voice and smelled that same scent in
the dream she had in her cabin bed during her first night on the
Ocean Turtle.
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She stood on shaking feet and began to walk towards Niemom,
croaking:
“Is… Is that you, A… Akihiko-san……?”
Glowing a muddled light, the sensor flickered as though it were

blinking, and the robot gave a small nod.
Rinko took a final step, almost drawn to it, and silently caressed
the aluminum chassis with trembling hands. Motors whirred as the
robot’s hands raised upwards, stroking Rinko’s back.
“I’m sorry for leaving you alone for so long, Rinko-kun.“
It was a computerized, artificial voice, but unmistakably belonging

to the only man Koujiro Rinko had ever loved — Kayaba Akihiko.
“Why… are you here?”
She whispered in the local dialect she should have forgotten long
ago. Tears sprang from her eyes, turning Niemom’s laser light into a
blur.
“There’s no time, so I’ll only say what’s important. Rinko-

kun, I was very fortunate to meet you. You have been the
only one who can connect me to the real world. If you wish… I
would like you to keep this connection into the future: keep
on connecting my dream… the two worlds that remain
separate even today…”
“Yes… of course… of course.”
She nodded frantically, and the masklike mechanical face gave her
a very faint smile.
The robot moved away from her, changed direction by nimbly

shifting its center of gravity, and exited the sub control room into the
hallway with what resembled a running gait.
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Without thinking, Rinko was just about to chase after it when the
automatic door slid shut.
She drew in a deep breath and clenched her teeth. She could not
leave this room now. She was still responsible for monitoring the
conditions of various locations.
Rinko looked up at the video of the engine room, clutching the

locket at her chest. She could hear a bemused Captain Nakanishi say
in an almost exasperated tone, “Why now…”
It was true that they had faced many dangers so far. But Rinko felt
that she understood why Kayaba had chosen this moment to shed his
role as an observer.
“…He’s not doing it for Underworld. That man has no

intention of intervening with the simulation. He chose this
moment to reveal himself because he wants to protect
Kirigaya-kun and Asuna-san…”
***
When Higa Takeru heard the low roar of the turbines from
somewhere underneath the cable duct, he finally realized what was
meant by Kikuoka’s feared «worst case scenario».
“Ki… Kiku-san, those assholes, they… the reactor…”
His moan was interrupted by determined instructions.
“I know. But right now, we need to focus on shutting down

the STLs.”
“O… Okay. But…”
Arriving at the maintenance panel at last, Higa felt cold sweat all
over his body as he inserted the cable jack a second time.
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This would all be pointless if the reactor lost control. Even
Underworld and Alice’s Light Cube would be utterly obliterated by
scorching steam and powerful radiation. Not to mention the many
deaths that would occur.
But causing a reactor explosion was nothing trivial. Small arms

were incapable of breaching the double-layer, solid metal
containment vessel encasing the reactor core, and there were
numerous failsafes installed into the control system. Even if the
engine were forced to run at full speed, the safety procedure would
immediately kick in and drop the control rods to stop the fission.
At this point, Kikuoka asked Higa in his normally calm tone:
“Well, Higa-kun, can you take it from here on your own?”
“Mm… Yeah, I can keep working if I secure my harness to

the ladder… B-But, Kiku-san, you’re not thinking of going
down there and…”
“Nah, I’m just going to quickly check the situation. I won’t

do anything stupid, I’m coming right back up.”
With that, Kikuoka swiftly undid the harness tying them both
together, slid the woven nylon belt through the ladder, and rebuckled
it. After making sure Higa’s body held steady, he climbed down a few
steps.
“I’ll leave it to you then, Higa-kun.”
The slender eyes behind his black-rimmed glasses flashed with a

grin.
“P-Please be careful! Some of those guys might still be

here!”
Kikuoka gave an very uncharacteristic thumbs up with his right

hand in response, then resumed climbing down the ladder at top
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speed.
After stepping into the tunnel at the very bottom, he took a

cautious peek inside, and slid his body through.
Higa only began to notice after Kikuoka’s figure had completely

vanished.
He was typing on his laptop’s keyboard with his right hand and
tried to adjust the harness with his left as it was digging into his
abdomen, when he felt something sticky. Startled, he peered down,
and realized by the glow of orange emergency lights that his palm
had been dampened by dark blood.
It took only one glance for Higa to register that it was not his own.
***
Although nearly all of the surveillance cameras inside the lower

shaft — which, until a few minutes ago had still been occupied by the
attackers — were destroyed, the camera head in the reactor
containment engine room area remained unharmed.
Rinko looked up towards the main monitor at an enlarged image of

the video feed, both hands clasped around her locket, waiting.
To her immediate left, Captain Nakanishi’s clenched fists were

resting upon the console. Behind them, the security forces and
technicians who had returned from battle were now deep in prayer,
each in his own way.
Rinko had pleaded with everyone to at least retreat to the bridge,

but not a single person left the main shaft.
Every single person here had dedicated their all to the clandestine
research and development of the front organization RATH. Each
entrusted his hopes and dreams to a new era that true bottom-up
artificial intelligence was sure to pioneer.
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Until now Rinko had believed herself only a temporary visitor on
this ship. She had felt unlikely to ever approve of the goals of
someone whose true motivations were as inscrutable as Kikuoka
Seijirou’s.
But she still came to RATH. And now, she was finally beginning to
understand.
Artificial Fluctlights should never be restricted to such a narrow

research goal as becoming AI for autonomous weaponry.
Similarly, Underworld was not just any societal development

simulation.
Both represented the beginning of an epic paradigm shift.
A different reality — one would inspire change in a world heading

ever closer towards a closed future. A world that realized the will of
young people fighting to break free of the established system into an
invisible power: An Incarnating Radius.
—That’s your goal, isn’t it, Akihiko-san?
That’s what you noticed and discovered during your two years in
that floating castle — their infinite potential, and the dazzling,
blinding light of their spirits.
No matter the reason, trapping 10,000 people in a electronic prison

and causing the deaths of 4,000 among them counted as the worst
crime in human history and did not deserve forgiveness. Not even
Rinko could ever be absolved of her own cooperation in bringing
about such an atrocity.
But right now… this wish was something she permitted herself to
believe in.
—Please, Akihiko-san. Protect everyone… and protect the world.
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As though in response to Rinko’s prayer, something in the remote
feed on the monitor shifted at last.
The silver mechanical body emerged onto the narrow walkway

leading towards the engine room, which housed a state-of-the-art
pressurized water reactor.
By now its battery level was likely already beginning to decrease;

the robot’s footsteps were growing heavier. It advanced with a great
kalunk, kalunk, as though it were fighting against its own weight.
It was difficult to imagine when Kayaba’s mind-simulation program

had begun hiding inside that body, but Rinko was sure of one thing:
the program in #2’s memory was the original, the one and only. No
intelligence could withstand the thought that it was a copy of
something else.
How much of the engine room’s blistering heat would the

prototype body’s electronics — which did not possess any special
heat resistance — be able to endure? Removing just the detonator
would prevent the plastic explosive from blowing up, but if Niemom’s
memory were damaged, Kayaba’s consciousness would vanish in an
instant.
Please, disarm the bomb safely and come back to me again —

Rinko implored, biting her lip.
One could only assume that Kayaba Akihiko was fully prepared to
perish.
Back then he had been willing to destroy his brain to leave behind
a copy of his mind, and now he had finally achieved his goal and
found a place to die.
The robot’s joint actuators creaked dully.
Its metal feet clunked on the floor.
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With earnest but steady steps, the metal body arrived in front of
the engine room door at last.
It stretched out its right hand and manipulated the control panel
with stiff movements. The indicator changed to green, and the bulky
alloy door swung inwards—
At that moment.
Earsplitting rapid gunfire rang out of the speaker. Niemom

stretched both arms around its body in defense, retreating with rigid
steps backward.
A soldier in black combat garb shot out from beyond the door,
shouting something.
It was undoubtedly one of the attackers, but unlike before, he was

not wearing a helmet and goggles to hide his face. Even from the
grainy video of the surveillance camera, they could tell that the
delicately featured, somewhat stubbled man had quite a venomous
expression on his face.
“Wha… There’s still someone here?! Why?! Isn’t that

suicide…?!” Captain Nakanishi groaned in shock.
Without mercy, the man showered #2 — in its defensive position

— with bullets.
Sparks flew as several holes were punched into its aluminum

chassis. Bullets severed nerve cables all over its body and jets of
lubricant sprayed from polymer muscle cylinders.
“No… NOOO!!”
Rinko could not stifle her scream. The enemy soldier on the screen
shouted again in heated English, and depressed his trigger for a third
time. The robot staggered, and began to take step after step
backward.
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“No! #2’s chassis can’t handle that!!”
He would never make it in time, butCaptain Nakanishi made to

snatch up his sidearm and dash outside.
moment.
A series of new gunshots was heard from the speaker.
A third figure had charged forward from the side closer to the
hallway and begun firing wildly. The enemy’s body gave a violent
shake to the right. Not a single shot of the continuous fire coming
from directly behind was misfiring onto the mechanical body. Who on
earth was displaying such marksmanship—?
Eyes so wide she forgot to breathe, Rinko watched as blood

spurted from the enemy soldier’s chest at last, and as though he
were being swept out of the way, he keeled over onto the ground,
where he lay motionless.
Immediately after, their savior knelt gingerly down in the middle of

the walkway—
Then he collapsed sideways. Rinko moved the mouse with a

trembling hand, zooming the camera closer.
A fringe fell over his forehead. Black-rimmed glasses askew. The

corners of his mouth lifted in what appeared to be the traces of a
smile.
“Ki… Kikuoka-san?!”
“Lieutenant Colonel…!!”
Rinko and Nakanishi screamed in unison.
This time the JSDF serviceman really did bolt from the room,
almost falling over in his hurry. Several security force members
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pursued him. Rinko could no longer stop them.
A technician raced to the console in her stead. After several

keystrokes he pulled up what looked to be #2’s status.
“Left arm output at zero. Right arm at 65 percent. Left leg

and right leg both at 70 percent. Battery level 30 percent.
We’re good, it can still move!!”
As though it had heard the technician’s yell, #2 began its advance

once more.
Zzt, krak. Zzt, krak. Sparks flew from severed cables with every
rigid step.
The instant its battered body crossed through the door, Rinko
switched cameras to show video from inside the engine room.
The second heat-resistant door was physically locked with a huge

lever. #2’s right hand closed around the handle and attempted to
push it down, but its elbow actuator spun chaotically and ejected a
shower of sparks.
“Please…”
Rinko whispered, and at the same time shouts of encouragement

were heard all around the sub control room.
“You can do it, Niemom!!”
“That’s it, just a little more!!”
Ka-chunk.
The lever sank with a hefty thunk.
The heavy steel door burst open at once, as though forced

outwards by pressure from inside. On the monitor they could see
waves of heat shooting out.
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Niemom’s body wobbled. Sparks, more intense now, flashed along
the thick cable hanging from its spine.
“Ah… Ahh, oh no!!” One of the technicians suddenly shouted.
“What… What’s wrong?!”
“The battery cable’s damaged!! If that breaks, then the

whole body’s power source will be cut… and then it won’t be
able to move at all…”
Neither Rinko nor any of the other staff members spoke.
Kayaba should have noticed this severe blow within #2 by now. He

appeared to hold the swaying cable steady with his right elbow, and
begin taking gradual steps forward again.
The long-awaited engine room interior was already at such a high

temperature that any living human would find it unbearable: the
reactor was constantly running at full capacity and unable to
evacuate any of the blistering heat it was producing.
Soon the safety procedures were bound to trip, and the control
rods would automatically descend into the reactor and stop the
fission.
But if the plastic explosive detonated before that and destroyed

the control rod drive mechanism, the immense number of neutrons
emitted from the fuel rods would continue to drive the sustained
fission of uranium atoms, eventually reaching the point of
uncontrollable criticality.
The molten core would hit the primary coolant and create a steam
explosion, damaging the pressure vessel, and then, under the
influence of gravity the core would continue to penetrate the
containment vessel, the ship’s hull, and finally the ocean surface—
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A sudden image of white steam blasting out of a perforated Ocean
Turtle flashed through Rinko’s mind.
She shut her eyes, and prayed again.
“Please… Akihiko-san…!!”
Renewed cheers came quickly from everyone behind her. As

though spurred upon by their voices, #2 approached the reactor inch
by inch.
Rinko switched to the final camera.
Instantaneously, tremendous noise began issuing from the

speaker. The monitor image was splashed with the bright red color of
emergency lights.
Parting the heated air as it dragged one of its feet, #2 was only
five to six meters away from the plastic explosive on the containment
vessel.
The robot raised its right hand towards the detonator. Sparks burst
continuously from all over its body as fragments of its chassis broke
off onto the floor without interruption.
“Come on… come on… come on!!”
Those were the only words ringing throughout the sub control room
now. Rinko’s fists were clenched as she shouted herself hoarse.
Four more meters.
Three meters.
Two meters.
All of a sudden, flares seemed to explode from #2’s back.
The broken, hanging black wire looked no different from an organ
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that had spilled out of a body.
All sensors on its head darkened. Its right arm fell slowly to its side.
Both of its knees stooped steadily downwards—
#2 was completely silent.
The group of output graphs that had been oscillating back and
forth on the main monitor now plummeted as one, dropping into
darkness.
The technician’s voice was barely audible as he declared:
“…All output… gone…”
—I don’t believe in miracles.
Kayaba Akihiko said to Rinko that day — the day that the death
game SAO was cleared far ahead of schedule and every player was
released.
His eyes shone with an unwavering light, and his unshaven mouth
was curved into the hint of a smile.
—But today, for the first time in my life, I witnessed a miracle.
—I had him at the end of my sword; his HP should have dropped to

zero for good. But almost as if he were resisting the system itself, he
refused to accept his own destruction… then he moved his right
hand, and thrust his own sword into my chest.
—That moment might have been just what I’ve been waiting for all
this time…
“…Akihiko-san!”
Rinko had not noticed that her right hand was gripping her locket
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so tightly it had begun to bleed. She was screaming:
“You’re «Holy Sword» Heathcliff, aren’t you?! You’re the

greatest rival of «Black Swordsman» Kirito-kun, aren’t you?!
Then at least… why don’t you show me a miracle too?!”
Blink.
Blink blink.
Twinkling red light was fluttering on the distance sensor on #2’s

head.
Its exposed muscle cylinders were quivering slightly.
A faintly shuddering purple glow emerged at the very bottom of

the pitch-dark status window—
The output graphs of all four limbs and torso shot up all at once.
Sparks blew from each actuator on every joint as they began to spin.
“Num… #2 has restarted!!”
The technician almost screamed, and simultaneously, the wound-

ridden mechanical body got to its feet once more.
Rinko’s eyes filled with tears.
“Let’s goooo!!”
“That’s iiiiit!!”
Everyone in the sub control room was roaring.
With oil dripping from it like blood, a right foot was put forward.
Lugging its severely injured right foot behind, Niemom raised its
right hand aloft.
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A step. And another step.
Part of the battery erupted in a small explosion. The body

convulsed, but put out another step.
With its right hand stretched to the limit, the tip of Niemom’s finger
brushed the plastic explosive on the containment vessel.
Its thumb and forefinger clasped upon the electronic detonator

inserted into the C4.
Sparks blew from the joints at its wrists, elbows, and shoulders, in
such a way that it was reminiscent of someone in horrible agony. #2
pulled off the IC timer — the detonator, and raised its right hand high
into the air.
A flash of light rendered the video completely white.
The exploding detonator had blown the fingers off #2’s right hand;
its body slowly pitched to the left—
And crashed onto the floor as though it were a thread breaking in

two. The sensor’s blinking light vanished, and at the same time the
output graphs plunged once more into darkness.
For a while, no one said anything.
The enormous cheer that came seconds later shook the sub control
room.
***
The low roar of the turbines gradually weakened and grew further
away, like the recession of a chilly wind.
Higa’s held breath came tumbling out in great pants. They were
finally seeing a decrease in the output of the reactor that had been
running at dangerously high power.
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He dabbed the sweat on his forehead with the cuff of his sleeve,
staring at the laptop monitor through grimy glasses.
Shutdown procedures for both STLs had finally finished 80% of all
processes. More than 17 minutes had elapsed since the start of the
maximum acceleration phase — equivalent to over 180 years in
Underworld.
This astronomical amount of time already exceeded Higa’s

projected Fluctlight lifespan. In theory, Kirigaya Kazuto and Yuuki
Asuna’s souls were very likely to have already destroyed themselves.
But Higa had already admitted that he probably really knew

nothing at all about Underworld, or Fluctlights. Sure, he had been the
designer, the developer, and the operator, but it looked as though
that alternate world, nurtured by artificial souls, had evolved to a
level beyond what anyone at RATH could ever dream of.
And yet the only one from the real world who most understood
Underworld was Kirigaya Kazuto. Merely a 17-year-old high schooler,
he had been thrown into Underworld without a shred of prior
knowledge, acclimated to his situation, evolved within, and displayed
strength exceeding that of all four Super Accounts.
It had not been strength innate to Kirigaya Kazuto as a person.
None of the RATH staff members thought of the Artificial Fluctlights

as anything more than programs for experimental use; Kirigaya
Kazuto was the only one who treated them as human from the start.
He approached, fought with, protected, and loved them as he would
fellow humans.
That was the reason Underworld — the people who lived in it had
chosen him as their protector.
If that were true, then maybe, by some miracle that not even Higa
could think of, they might survive these 200 years too.
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—Isn’t that right, Kirito-kun?
—Now I finally understand why Lieutenant Colonel Kikuoka wanted

your help so badly. I also understand that we will need you in the
future as well.
—So…
“…You have to come back.”
Higa murmured, eyes fixed firmly on the last few percent of the
shutdown procedure as it gradually completed.
***
Rinko was the only one left in the sub control room.
Every other staff member had rushed out to rescue Lieutenant

Colonel Kikuoka and retake command of the main control room.
In fact, she was rather inclined herself to burst into the reactor
containment room and ensure #2’s safety, as it was now lying on the
floor, and that of Kayaba Akihiko’s mind imitation program, which
now ought to be suspended inside #2’s physical memory. But she
could not leave her station. Before Higa finished the STL shutdown
procedure, she had to monitor the statuses of Kirigaya Kazuto and
Yuuki Asuna, who were lying asleep in the neighboring room.
Rinko trusted that both of them would awaken like nothing had
happened.
She wanted them to hold Alice’s Light Cube in their hands and tell
them: this is what you protected.
Then, she wanted to tell them that someone had protected

Underworld from the real world too. The very same Kayaba Akihiko
who had imprisoned them, pit them against each other, and made
them suffer, had protected the Light Cube Cluster and the Ocean
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Turtle while driving a mechanical body with a broken battery cable.
She did not want them to forgive him.
There was no absolution for Kayaba Akihiko’s crime, the mass

murder of 4,000 young people.
But no matter what, she wanted Kazuto and Asuna to grasp

Kayaba’s will to remain, and understand his goal.
Rinko’s eyes were closed and her hands were resting upon the
duralumin case containing Alice’s Light Cube when she heard Higa’s
voice coming out of her earpiece.
“…Rinko-san, 60 seconds until logout procedures for both

are complete.”
“Roger. I’ll go meet them immediately.”
“Please do. Looks like I really can’t climb all the way up
this ladder on my own… Also, Kiku-san’s gone down to check
the situation, how’s he doing? I think he might be hurt.”
Rinko could not give him an immediate answer. It had been three
or four minutes since Captain Nakanishi had made off to assist
Lieutenant Colonel Kikuoka, who had exchanged gunfire with the
enemy soldier in the hallway leading to the engine room and then
collapsed, but she had not heard from Nakanishi yet.
But Kikuoka was not someone who stood down before his goal was
achieved. That man always maintained an attitude so easygoing it
was impossible to look underneath his surface, and he always
overcame his circumstances with little effort, no matter how
punishing.
“…Yeah, the lieutenant colonel was great back there. Right

out of a Hollywood movie.”
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“Dang, that’s really unlike him… 30 seconds.”
“I’ll move to the STL room. Contact me if anything

happens. Out.”
Rinko ended the correspondence and, clutching the duralumin case

to her chest, left the console and set off for the adjoining room.
Seconds before she touched the sliding door, the speaker in the
room relayed something from one of the staff members who had
gone downstairs.
“Engine room here! Doctor… Can you hear me, Dr.

Koujiro?!”
Rinko fought back the sudden leap in her heart rate, changed the
channel on her radio, and yelled:
“Yeah, I can hear you! What is it?!”
“W-Well… the C4’s been successfully disarmed, but… it’s

gone.”
“Gone?… What’s gone…?”
“#2. We can’t find Niemom’s body anywhere in the engine

room!”
***
The cheap digital watch’s timer was chirping faintly.
Crouched in a corner of the Advanced SEAL Delivery System’s

personnel transport compartment, Critter was listening hard for any
noise outside. After failing for several seconds to hear the
megafloat’s explosive liquidation, he let out a single shaking breath.
Not even he was sure whether that was a sigh of relief, or
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1831 Report
dejection.
The only thing he was sure of was that the C4 explosive they had
planted on the Ocean Turtle’s reactor had, for some reason, not
exploded, and therefore the control rod drive mechanism had not
been destroyed, and a meltdown had not occurred.
Hans was still in the Ocean Turtle’s engine room. If he was safe, he
should have been able to manually set off the bomb if something had
happened to the detonator, so he had probably been eliminated too.
Not for a second had Critter expected a profit-seeking mercenary

to avoid reboarding the ASDS with the full knowledge that he was
going to die otherwise. He had sensed something off with Hans when
his partner Brigg had bought it, but nothing to suggest that they
were close enough to warrant dying in the same place.
“…Well, there were a lot of things I didn’t know…”
Critter muttered inaudibly, restoring his watch to time-display

mode.
Indeed — Captain Miller and Vassago had bitten the dust before
Hans and his friend, and they probably had motives and reasons of
their own that had nothing to do with money. Those obligations had
cost them their lives.
Taking that into consideration, Critter and the rest of the squad
aboard the submarine were about to land into a heap of trouble for
this operation ending in utter failure. Their employer, private military
contractor Glowgen Defense Systems, was a corporation that grew
large by accepting wetwork affiliated with the NSA or CIA, and likely
would not turn a hair at discarding their field agents. All of them
could be silenced the moment they set foot back on US soil.
As an insurance measure he had smuggled a microSD card out of

the Ocean Turtle and stuck it to the center of his chest with flesh-
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colored waterproof tape.
He did not know how much something like that could protect him,
but at least he would be going out with a bullet to the head. Much
unlike the appalling ways in which Vassago and Captain Miller had
died.
“Goddammit…”
Critter snorted and cast a reluctant look towards the two body
bags piled at the very back of the transport compartment. He
shuddered uncontrollably as Captain Miller’s horrid death swam to
the surface of his mind again — and just then.
“……Huh? Two?”
He furrowed his brow and stared at the submarine’s dim stern, but
no matter how much he stared, there were only two body bags there.
This did not add up. Passing over Hans, who had stayed behind of his
own accord, there should have been a total of three fatalities:
Captain Miller, Vassago, and Brigg.
“…Hey, Shack.”
With his elbow, he poked a nearby squad mate who was gnawing
on an energy bar.
“What?”
“Your team went to collect the bodies, right? Why is there

one missing?”
“What do you mean? It was just Brigg in the hallway and

Captain Miller in the STL room. Who else is dead?”
“No… there was one more in the STL room…”
“Only the captain’s body was there. Shit, that look on his
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1833 Report
face? Straight out of my nightmares.”
“………”
Dumbstruck, Critter withdrew his right hand, and surveyed the

transport compartment.
Nine squad members, looking equally exhausted, were seated in

the narrow space. The figure of Vice Captain Vassago Casals was not
among them.
Critter was sure that he had confirmed Captain Miller’s death in the
STL room, but he had only seen Vassago. Vassago’s skin had
appeared utterly bloodless and his hair had turned gray; nothing
about him looked alive. Moreover, if he were still alive, why didn’t he
board the submarine?
His brain refused to contemplate the matter further. Critter hugged

his knees in silence.
Until the ASDS docked with Seawolf-class nuclear submarine

«Jimmy Carter» several tens of minutes later, the normally chatty
hacker remained silent.
***
19 minutes and 40 seconds after the start of the maximum

acceleration phase—
Soul Translators #3 and #41, installed in STL Room 2 of the Ocean

Turtle, completed their shutdown procedures.
Although delayed by approximately three minutes, the time

acceleration also came to a stop, and as the cooling system ground
to a halt, silence was restored inside the ship.
Released from the STLs with the help of Dr. Koujiro Rinko and
Sergeant First Class Aki Natsuki, Kirigaya Kazuto and Yuuki Asuna —
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1834 Report
did not awaken.
Their Fluctlight activity had dropped to the absolute minimum; it

was clear that both of their mental activities had all but fallen to
zero.
But Rinko held their hands tight nonetheless, calling their names,
tears running down her face.
Faint smiles adorning their lips, Kirito and Asuna were plunged into
deep slumber.
Clack.
…Clack.
The noises stopped directly in front of me.
And then, someone called my name.
“…Kirito-kun.”
It was a steady, lucid voice, one I thought I would never hear again.
“You’re always such a crybaby when you’re alone… I

understand all of it. Everything you did.”
Slowly, I lifted my tear-stained face.
Standing there with both hands behind her back, head tilted
slightly, and wearing a smile, was Asuna.
I didn’t know what to say. All I could do was stare and stare at
Asuna’s face, and those nostalgic hazel eyes.
A cool breeze blew past; a butterfly between us rode atop it in a

graceful jig, disappearing into the blue sky.
Asuna watched it go, then looked back to me and reached out her
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1835 Report
right hand without a word.
I felt that she would vanish like an illusion if I touched her. But the
warmth coming from her white palm announced that the person I
loved was indeed there.
Asuna knew. She had known that this world was going to be sealed
immediately. Returning to the real world would likely mean reaching
the other side of an eternal river of time.
That was why she decided to stay behind. For my sake. For me,
who would do the same for her if the situation was reversed.
I reached out and tightly grasped Asuna’s small hand.
Pulling myself up with that hand, I gazed into those beautiful eyes
once more from a closer distance.
And I still couldn’t say anything.
But I felt that I didn’t need to say much. So all I did was pull her
slender body towards me and hug it tightly.
Gently resting her head on my chest, Asuna spoke in almost a

whisper:
“…Alice’s going to be furious when we get back to the

other side.”
I visualized, in my mind’s eye, the tenacious knight’s blue eyes

flashing, almost sparking as she rebuked us, and smiled softly.
“It’ll be all right. As long as we try our best to remember.

As long as we never forget a second of the time we spent
with her.”
“…Yeah. You’re right. As long as we never forget Alice…

Liz, Klein, Agil-san, Silica… and Yui, it’ll be all right.”
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1836 Report
We let go of our embrace, nodded to each other, and
simultaneously looked towards the uninhabited temple.
With all of its functions suspended, the «World End Altar» slept
silently under the gentle sunlight at the end of the world.
We turned, took each other’s hands once more, and began running
along the marble path.
After proceeding for a short while through the polychrome flowers,

we arrived at the northern end of the floating island.
Beneath the sky, which was now deepest blue, the world expanded
as far as the eye could see.
Asuna looked to me and inquired:
“Hey, how long are we going to spend in this world?”
It took me a bit of silence before I told her the truth.
“They told me at least 200 years.”
“Oh.”
Asuna nodded as the same smile, unchanged from the old days,
blossomed over her face:
“As long as I’m with you, not even a thousand years is a

long time…… Now, let’s go, Kirito-kun.”
“…Yeah. Let’s go, Asuna. There’s still much we have to do.

This world has only just been born.”
And so, each clutching the other’s hand, we opened our wings and
took our first step into the infinite azure.
1. “Kawahara meant #4 and #5.”↩
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1837 Report

Thank you very much for reading Sword Art Online Volume 18:
Alicization Lasting. I would also like to express my heartfelt gratitude:
my gratitude to you for staying with me across 10 volumes since the
beginning of the Alicization Arc in Volume 9.
I mentioned this in the afterword of Volume 1, but I would like to

reiterate that I began writing the story of Sword Art Online (“SAO”
from here on) in Fall 2001 to participate in the 9th Dengeki Novel
Prize. Even though the first draft was completed before the Spring
2002 deadline, it drastically exceeded the page limit. Since I had no
idea as to what and how I should cut the story, I eventually forfeit my
entry.
This means that back when I had just started writing SAO, I only
had the «Aincrad arc» in my head – to be more precise, the story
itself only covered a few weeks right before the death game got
cleared on the 75th floor. However, later on I set up my homepage
and published SAO as a web novel, and fortunately, I happened to
receive calls from scores of readers expressing that they would like a
continuation. With a few extra side stories in between, I went on to
release the second arc, «Fairy Dance», the third arc, «Phantom
Bullet» (known as the «Death Gun arc» back then), and, if I
remember correctly, I began the fourth arc, Alicization, in January
2005.
By now, I can’t remember why I broke out of the “VRMMO box”

that I had always been writing from, or why I stepped into bigger
themes like bottom-up AI, autonomous weapons, quantum brain
theory, and simulated reality. The only thing I do remember is how
obsessed I was about writing it, despite all the walls I was hitting.
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1838 Report
The Alicization arc finished serializing online in July 2008.
Just around the same time, I was serializing one of my works called
Chouzetsu Kasoku Burst Linker» on a novel sharing site. Six years
after my first attempt, I used that work to take on the 15th Dengeki
Novel Prize again, and I was lucky enough to win something. I
changed the name from «Burst Linker» to «Accel World» and
made my official debut as a commercial author. Just when I was
telling people about this on my homepage, Miki Kazuma-san, the
editor responsible for me, sent me an email indicating that he would
like to read SAO.
I collated a draft of the SAO series written across roughly eight

years, and he kindly squeezed precious time out of his editing work
to read the entirety of it in one week, and told me: “Let’s publish
this under Dengeki too.” I still remember it quite clearly.
Miki-san also told me back then, “I’d like to set the goal of
publishing it until the last bit of Alicization.” To be honest, I
thought that was a far-fetched dream. Considering the word count of
the SAO web version, over 15 volumes would be needed in paper.
Even if they could publish three volumes every year, the series would
succeed only if they could get readers to support it for five whole
years.
Forget publishing the end of Alicization. I wasn’t even confident

that I would still be an author by then. But thanks to Miki-san’s
passionate bookmaking, the neat and stunning illustrations from
abec-san whom Miki-san helped persuade, and of course, the love
and support from an abundance of readers, the Dengeki Bunko
version of SAO has released volume after volume and now brings to
you the finale of the Alicization arc after almost seven years since the
release of Volume 1.
As a matter of fact, a lot of content was added to the Dengeki

Bunko version of SAO, so Volume 18 is – if you count
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1839 Report
Progressive – the 22nd volume of the entire series. If you count my
other series as well, this would be the 45th volume. Seven and a half
years since my debut, or almost fifteen years since I first began
writing SAO seems incredibly long to me, but somehow, at the same
time, it feels like the blink of an eye.
While I was writing this afterword for the finale, a vague question
flashed through my mind: “Why did I write the story of SAO and
Alicization?”
Because I like online games and death game stories… which was
probably the original reason. I don’t know what would have happened
had I participated in the Dengeki Prize contest as I’d planned, but the
very likely result is that only the Aincrad arc would have been
serialized, and in parts on the Dengeki homepage. This is because
the only scenes I wanted to write 15 years ago consisted of Kirito and
Asuna sitting side by side in the sunset, gazing at the destruction of
Aincrad, and Kirito immediately searching for Asuna upon returning
to the real world.
But I didn’t stop my pen there, and I continued to write the Fairy
Dance arc, the Phantom Bullet arc, and the Alicization arc. If I were to
probe my impetus for doing so, other than the support of the readers
who visited my personal homepage, perhaps it also had to do with…
the characters themselves as they laughed together, suffered
together, and fought together throughout the story. I kept on writing,
led by the figures of Kirito, Asuna, and the others as they sprinted
forward in search of new worlds and new adventures, until this
moment… I think that was it.
Now, every time I push down the keys on my keyboard, when I

close my eyes, I feel as though I’m gazing towards the backs of Kirito
and the others as they chase the light in the distance. Their journey
is still not over. Countless adventures are hidden within ALO and The
Seed Nexus inside it, sealed within Underworld, and await them in
the real world.
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1840 Report
Of course, I want to continue to find new stories with them. Yet at
the same time, I’m encumbered by the vast, uncertain scene that is
the future. Before I step into the next world, I want to properly
appreciate and perceive the things that Alicization, this epic story,
has left for Kirito, Asuna, Alice, and the others, and myself – those
are my thoughts today.
In the long period that the SAO franchise has serialized to today, I
have been under the care of countless people. Nakamura Tamako,
Minami Juusei, Hazuki Tsubasa, Nekobyou Neko, Himura Kiseki,
Yamada Kotaro, and Kiya Shii, all in charge of the manga
adaptations.
Director Itou Tomohiko, in charge of the anime adaptation, Adachi

Shingo-san and Kawakami Tetsuya-san, in charge of the anime
character designs, Shikama Takahiro-san, animation action director,
along with all of the production staff at A-1 Pictures: producer
Iwakami Atsuhiro-san, Oosawa Nobuhiro-san, Kashiwada Shin’ichiro-
san, Katou Jun-san, and Niwa Masami-san. For Matsuoka Yoshitsugu-
san, who provided Kirito’s voice, for Tomatsu Haruka-san, who
provided Asuna’s voice, for Taketatsu Ayana-san, who provided
Leafa’s voice, for Sawashiro Miyuki-san, who provided Sinon’s voice,
and every one of the voice actors and actresses. For LiSA-san, Eir
Aoi-san, and Haruna Luna-san, who lent their voices to the theme
songs. For sound director Iwanami Yoshikazu-san, Konno Yasuyuki-
san, in charge of sound effects, and Kajiura Yuki-san, who composed
the soundtrack.
For Futami Yosuke-san and Kawai Yasukazu-san, who have created

many games. For Washizaki Takeshi-san, in charge of radio and
events.
For Miki Kazuma-san and Tsuchiya Tomoyuki-san, in charge of

editing. For Kurusu Tatsuya-san, who drew the miniature maps, and
abec-san, who filled the story with color through innumerable
outstanding illustrations.
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1841 Report
And lastly, to all of my readers, who have stayed with the story
until now.
I extend my heartfelt gratitude to you all.
Thank you very much, everyone. I hope you all will support the
SAO series in the future as well.
A certain day in July 2016 Kawahara Reki
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1842 Report

Adfly:
Prologue
capable……”
Growth Potential A.
Approved.
here pls:P
Adfly:
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1843 Report
Disclaimer
There is no guarantee the translation is 100% correct.
ASIANOVEL.COM wishes to emphasize that this translation is for

review purposes only. We do not claim this intellectual property or
any rights whatsoever.
Under no circumstances would you be allowed to take this work for

commercial activities or for personal gain. ASIANOVEL.COM does not
and will not condone any activities of such, including but not limited
to rent, sell, print, auction.
www.asianovel.com

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Sword Art Online

In the year 2022, gamers rejoice as Sword Art Online-a VRMMORPG

Now trapped in the virtual world of Aincrad, their bodies held

Author(s): Reki Kawahara

Survival Game, Sword And Magic, Sword Wielder, Tsundere, Virtual

ASIANOVEL VERSION: 3.10

More info and chapters:

PLEASE keep up the amazing work that you do here! I am most

Editing: Pryun, Dennis, 1caiser

Rainbow Bridge Part 2

I muttered this in an unintelligible voice, while chewing my chewy

At that moment, Suguha, sitting on the opposite side of the dining

“That’s bad manners, Onii-chan.”

It’s true that holding chopsticks in my right hand and a tablet

“……Then, what about karē udon?”

“……How about kitsune udon?”

“……And what about nabeyaki udon?”

“I don’t get your standards at all……”

Sighed Suguha, who then slurped a mouthful of the chilled bukkake

“So, what was with that ‘I see’?”

It took me a second to realise that the question was about the

“……I can’t believe you recognised that it was ‘I see’…… Eh,

“Oh, so you investigated that right away .”

I presented the tablet, where the corresponding article of an online

“It’s completely useless, Onii-chan. And here you said “I

“I-is that so?”

“S-stop stop. Let’s save the beginning of the world till

Although I thought that interrupting the earnest lecture was

Leviathan told us 『I am going to move it to a new

In ordinary campaign quests, if one of the quests is cleared, the

Assuming that this campaign is of that type, there should be hints

Suguha called me several times while I pondered, before I ﬁnally

“Eh, wh-what is it?”

“I hope you haven’t forgotten that we’re doing a major

Of course I had forgotten about it, but without saying a word, I

“I get it I ge~et it, I’ll go to sleep in one… make that two

I avoided my little sister’s gaze of suspicion, and escaped to the

In my room, I rolled in bed and looked up at the alarm clock on my

It was 23:30. At around this time in the old Aincrad, I would be in

Of course, leveling is indispensable even in ALfheim (although ALO

But of course, there was no chance of experiencing the trepidation

Needless to say, that’s a fortunate thing. I did not, by any means,

I felt a sign of that ≪something≫ the moment Leviathan’s trident

“……No, well, it would just be interesting if that were the

I muttered that monologue to hide my embarrassment and, in

After about ten seconds had passed, I fumblingly grasped the

1. ^ Udon is a type of thick wheat noodle of Japanese cuisine. The

3. ^ Haruhoho is a slur of “naruhodo” (なるほど), which means “I

4. ^ The word Mimuro (御室) means "home of a nobleman".

5. ^ In the original text, the expression 予定調和 (yotei chouwa, lit.

So, as of now, the 24th episode of the Alicization anime has

I had intentionally planned to do Distant Journey part 2 for this

Italic font marks Engrish (English written in katakana) where it's

Any feedback is appreciated. No, seriously, if you spot some errors,

"Wha…… Raios and Humbert were bitten by a crab and are

When I responded with my question, Eugeo nodded with a serious

"Yeah, they're currently hospitalised at the North Centoria

This raised so many questions that I didn't even know where to

"Oh geez, how many times are you going to do that."

"Ehm, for starters, what do you mean they were bitten by a

Once I did, Eugeo blinked in surprise, before tilting his head.