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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.
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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.
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
Part 1
Index
Part 3
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“…………Haruhohohee……”
"I'm certain that I can eat bukkake udon while using my tablet.”
“No way.”
“That’s fine.”
“No way.”
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.
“You can say that, though I’ve only read a rough outline.”
“……What is it?”
“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……”
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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.
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?
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“……-chan, come on, Onii-chan, geez.”
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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≫.
“Link Start.”
Part 1
Index
Part 3
Notes
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.
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Chapter ME 28
Source: Dreadful Decoding
-Gsimenas
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Credits
Translation: Gsimenas
Sugary Days 14
Index
N/A
"Hospitalised……"
"Youch!"
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.
"Yeah, those are the ones. I just had a thought that there
might not have been any crabs in your hometown, Kirito."
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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."
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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?"
"……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.
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."
"Yeah yeah."
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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.
"A draw~? Chudelkin, did that thing even have a time limit,
again?"
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"Hahah…… As I recall, the finals should have had no time
limit whatsoever……"
"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~?"
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.
But of course, we could not allow her to acknowledge that our fight
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was staged.
"……Understood."
"Do your best…… So that those names one day come true."
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possible.
"U…… Understood."
"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……"
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.
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is as intimidating as you could expect from one……"
"Why you!"
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"I'm not going to use that naming. Feels like I'd eventually
bite my tongue."
"Eeeeh…………"
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find Alice……"
"…………Truth be told……"
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.
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.
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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."
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.
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.
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mouth. Eugeo seemed to be taken aback just as well, but eventually
he timidly called out to the girl.
"Indeed, 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.
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.
"……Yeah."
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any response either.
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single tree grew here.
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.
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.
"What are you talking about, now's not the time for that."
Suddenly——
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He stood there stock still and dumbfounded, as if his spirit had
already left his body.
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.
(To be continued)
Afterword
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
Publisher: WordGear
Printing: Ryokuyou
Sugary Days 14
Index
N/A
Notes
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as "oku".
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Chapter ME 29
Source: Dreadful Decoding
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.
Markup explanation:
-Gsimenas
Credits
Raws: Takazuki
Translation: Gsimenas
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Index
N/A
——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.
"Hey, Eugeo."
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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!"
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.
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middle to separate it into two…… and only the senior knights
can use it in the first place, what discrimination……"
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.
"…………"
It took about a full seven seconds before I got an answer from him.
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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.
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.
"No, I've never used any carsha fruit on me, 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.
"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."
"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."
As Eugeo seemed to be about sink back into his gloom, I pulled him
out of it with my deliberately loud voice.
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memories of her life at Rulid."
"……Her memories……!?"
"The Church……"
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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."
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.
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.
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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?
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.
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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.
Just like when I had first come here, the twenty-eighth floor hallway
was completely deserted.
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mind, I was walking along the hallway with a red carpet laid on the
floor, when...
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.
"……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.
At that, the woman blinked once more, before giving a deep bow.
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.
"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……"
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.
"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……?
"…………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.
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……?
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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.
"……Wow……"
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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.
"Haaah!?"
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.
"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.
"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.
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.
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apprentice knight, I probably can't enter the exclusive dining
room for knights proper……"
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
Publisher: WordGear
Printing: Ryokuyou
Index
N/A
Notes
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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“Ohh…”
“Uh-huh…”
“Hmm…”
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attention from the cheesecake plate to our conversation thus far, and
blinked thrice before putting on an utterly grim look.
The first was «Weekly Argo», the strategy guide paper published by
the distinguished information dealer, Argo the «Rat».
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.
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…?”
“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.
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.
I looked up and spoke to Klein, grimacing from his spicy ginger ale.
“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…”
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.
The katana wielder grinned at that and prodded at my leg with his
foot under the table.
Nodding away with those ludicrous words, Klein downed what was
left of his ginger ale and stood up with a flourish.
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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.”
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.
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.
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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.
“At what?”
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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.
Showing a defiant smile, «The Flash» pointed with her right index
finger.
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.
“……”
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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.
“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.
“You saw it, didn’t you? That… popularity poll for the
clearing group players.”
“Yeah…”
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KoB’s sure to win the top spot if we’re considering this
roster…”
Asuna let out a sigh she had been holding onto with a complicated
look after that muffled bellow.
“What?”
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.
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.
“I see…”
“Well, that’s the one thing others can’t help with, after
all…”
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Starting off awkwardly once more, Asuna began her speech,
interspersed with sighs.
“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.”
“Oh?”
“……P-Photo book?”
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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.
“Well, sure they aren’t. Aside from battle gear, there could
be some normal, cute, personal clothes…”
“Cu…”
“Sch…”
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“And maybe, there are always swimsuits…”
“Swimm…”
“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……?”
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days, before her lips formed a teasing smile.
Replying without hesitation, Asuna stood and placed her right hand
on my shoulder without waiting for my response.
I somehow got that reply out, and the KoB sub-leader flashed
another smile before exiting the shop with a hop in her step.
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!”
Yet, still—
(end)
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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.
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…!”
“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.
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.
Shifting her sight from the crystal panel to her elder sister, Yuuki
asked.
“Hmm…”
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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.
“O-Ohh…”
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.
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all that?”
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.
There was once when their parents visited Serene Garden via the
AmuSphere.
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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 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.
“……Yeah…”
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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.
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.
“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!”
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.
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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.
“…Ah.”
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.
“…Ah.”
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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.
“It’s not just rare. That’s the Royal Triton Stag Beetle.”
“But you see, it’s the strongest among the stag beetles if
you raise it well!”
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.
“Me too…”
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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.
“……”
“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.
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.
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.
—and her left fist shot up before Ran approached with a face filled
eighty percent with surprise and the rest with fear.
“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.
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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.
With her face still facing the stag beetle whose jaw was wriggling,
Yuuki briefly pondered. It was then that—
“Aaaaah——!”
“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.
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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!”
“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?”
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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.
She stepped forward with a bitter smile, but the girl looked down at
herself, more flustered than before.
“……”
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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?”
“Eh… me?”
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.
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.
Yuuki gave her name as well while shaking hands with Merida who
extended her right hand with a bright smile.
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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 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.
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.
“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.
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.
“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.
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body stabilized soon enough.
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.
Before the pair tilting their heads in sync, Merida took a long, deep
breath as though calming herself down before beginning her
explanation.
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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?”
“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.
“Aah, no more!”
—Ran grabbed onto her from the right with that shout and she was
forced to kneel onto the grass.
“You were the one who hit the ground first, Yuu, so I won
our standing on one leg contest!”
“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.”
“It sounds like you know a lot about full-dive games, but do
you play other games aside from Serene Garden too?”
She replied with her smile back on, but it appeared slightly gloomy.
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.
“Erm…”
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.
“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”.
“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?”
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.
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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.
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.
Yuuki and Ran, who both had their sight stuck on the scenery
before their eyes, turned back simultaneously and shook their heads.
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!”
Yuuki had already focused her sight towards the menu made from
cork by the time Ran sat back down.
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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.
Yuuki let out that miserable cry immediately before Ran cheerfully
recited on and on.
“……”
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.
Upon raising the white flag and jumping on the bandwagon, Merida
continued with a “then me too!” as well.
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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.
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.
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“Merida, this crepe is suuu… per tasty! It’s completely
different from the shop at the teleport gate plaza!”
Faced with that question, Ran raised her face from the crepe she
had already taken three mouthfuls from and gave a deep nod.
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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.
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.
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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.
The news article Ran showed her before they started picking herbs
surfaced at the back of her mind. She softly, coarsely murmured that
name.
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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.
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…”
“……!”
Why do you wish for such a horrifying game of your own will—she
could not pose that question to Merida.
“…That’s true.”
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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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
“Leave it to me!”
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 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.
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.
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“Ah, that’s okay! There are now games out with free clients
that charge for items.”
“…Fight…”
However, Ran then voiced out more words that crossed her
expectations.
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“Doesn’t it?!”
“I wonder…”
“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.
“Yay!”
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Merida clapped her hands together loudly and glanced up at the
sky.
“Yes, sure.”
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.
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her avatar. That always made Ran tease her with a “you’re
thinking too much”, however.
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.
A purpose to live.
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.
“…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.
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.
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.
“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.
“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.
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.
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!”
Smoke rose once again with that voice and the two arms
embracing Yuuki appeared.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Merida politely answered Ran who was not very familiar with
games.
“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.
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.
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.
“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.
“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.
Ran pointed towards the menu on the table at Merida tilting her
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head.
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».”
“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…?”
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!”
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.
“It’s strange, isn’t it, how you really become full despite it
just being food in a virtual world.”
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.
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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.
She asked back and those shoulders covered in an ash green ninja
outfit shriveled a little.
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.
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.
“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.”
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.
Muttering so, Yuuki raised her right hand and gently grasped
Merida’s left hand as they walked beside each other.
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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.
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.
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?”
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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.
“Yes, we were.”
After laughing kindly, Kurahashi pat Yuuki’s head, stroked it, and
stood up.
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!”
Shouting back—
—to Ran, Yuuki raised her own katana straight, above her head.
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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.
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.
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.
“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.
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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.
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.
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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.
Ran lightly pat Yuuki’s back that had slumped over without her
notice.
“Eh, ah… yeah! Then I’ll vote for that shop from the other
time!”
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.
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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.”
Or so Yuuki uttered—
—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!”
Ran asked and Merida first nodded her head with a smile before
shaking it.
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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.”
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.
Neither Yuuki nor Ran could ask Merida, “What was the other
half?”, after she spoke with a bright smile. Instead, they laughed
alongside her.
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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.
Doctor Kurahashi had told her to keep quiet about being a tester
for the Medicuboid when she was going to Asuka Empire.
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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.
“Nerve Gear…”
“I… see…”
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.
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.
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walls or a ceiling.”
Patting the space beside herself with her palm, she continued with
what she thought more important.
“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.
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.
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.
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celebrate their birthdays. Of course, not in a virtual world, but at
Yokohama General Hospital Kouhoku in the real world.
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…?
“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?”
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“I’m sure Merida will be glad, too, if we have a birthday
party in your room, Yuu.”
“You better hurry, then. You only have until the day after
tomorrow. —Not that I will be helping, though.”
“Eeeeh~~”
“…Yeah!”
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.
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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……!”
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.
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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.
Yuuki felt as though the virtual temperature had taken a steep dive
while she shouted and Ran quickly shook her head in return.
However, Ran still would not concede. Instead, she placed her
hands on Yuuki’s two shoulders and whispered as though to calm her
down.
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.”
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.
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.
This was where Yuuki caught that Royal Triton Stag Beetle.
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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!!”
“……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.
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.
After taking in a deep breath, Yuuki hurled words filled with all her
emotions at her close friend.
Nevertheless, Merida slowly lowered her eyes and forced her words
out, one after another.
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.
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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.
“……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.
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.
“………”
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……”
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!!”
Yuuki did not understand why she replied so to that quiet question.
But those words had the power to sway even her own fate.
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.
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place, the towering, large cedar on the outskirts of the capital,
Kiyomihara.
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.
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.
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.
Yuuki felt something compress deep in her chest the moment that
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shinobi katana’s sharp point was directed at her.
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.
—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.
“Ii… yaaaaahh!!”
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.
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.
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.
“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.”
Yuuki unwittingly asked the ninja she faced off. Merida looked up
towards the cloud skies at that while she murmured.
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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.”
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?”
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.
Yuuki felt like she heard that from behind. Her eyes grew wide in
that moment and expanded her focused vision.
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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.
“…!”
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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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.
——So……!
“……——aaaaaaaaahh——!!”
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.
“…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.
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.
“Eh……”
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.
“Right, that!”
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“……No way… I couldn’t possibly…”
Ran who stood on her immediate right placed her face on Yuuki’s
shoulder as she verbalized something unexpected.
“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.
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someday. Or perhaps, before that—they could be torn apart by force.
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.
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—We will find it for sure, Merida.
Stretching out her left hand to its full length, Yuuki spoke earnestly
in her heart.
Eventually—
Her tears, which alone had the exact same hue as its counterpart
in Serene Garden, silently spilled and Merida replied hoarsely.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
Merida bowed her head down deeply and Ran firmly held onto her
shoulder.
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[Yuuki-kun, are you ready?]
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.
“It’s fine, it’s fine, seeing it like this is enough for me! It’s
really beautiful… thank you very much, Merida!”
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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.
(End)
“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:...
Source: defan’s...
Translation Credits:
Translation – defan752
Proofreading – defan752
Raws – ZeHaffen
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Adfly:
Prologue
“I’m sorry Hyeon Su. If only this father of yours was more
capable……”
Growth Potential A.
Approved.
If you want to support poor old me with an extra 0.6 cents click
here pls:P
Adfly:
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Adfly:
Prologue
“I’m sorry Hyeon Su. If only this father of yours was more
capable……”
Growth Potential A.
Approved.
If you want to support poor old me with an extra 0.6 cents click
here pls:P
Adfly:
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172 Report
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
“E-Erm……”
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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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”.
“Zero!”
I nervously asked and Asuna wiped away the window with a smile.
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
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would likely only last until the seventy-fifth floor was cleared at most.
“……Yeah.”
“Besides, the day isn’t over yet. There’s still much more
stuff we can do, isn’t there?”
“……Y-Yeah.”
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…”
“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.
“Kirito-kun.”
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?”
“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.”
“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.
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for a better tasting dish, or feel that way.
With a thought coming to me, I opened the skill tab on the main
menu.
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.
“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.
“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?”
“Yep.”
“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?”
“You see…”
“Huh?”
“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.
“Y-Yeah, we would.”
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was a little more gentle and all.”
“Y-Yeah, it might.”
“…Let’s.”
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.
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3
“Yeah…”
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.
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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.
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.
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.
(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!
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“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.”
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.
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?”
“A table?”
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“It’s in Coral Village on the 22nd floor.”
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.
“It is not.”
“I suppose I will ask this at least, but what did you want
made here?”
“A rocking chair!”
“…I see.”
Mahokl lowered that index finger and turned towards the depths of
the atelier.
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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.
“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.
“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.
“Yes, well…”
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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.
“Nn~~……”
“Ooh!”
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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.”
“Hm-hmm.”
Swapping in for me, who could only nod in awe, Asuna put her
quick-wittedness on display.
“That it is!”
Her two hands, still in their leather gloves, softly hit together and
Mahokl leaned against the back of her chair.
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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?
“A ballista.”
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“……E-Eeeeehh?!”
The bell signaling midday rang just as we exited the teleport gate
on the 22nd floor.
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.
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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.
“…What is it?”
“T-That’s true…”
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on the third day of our marriage, I growled and Asuna giggled before
gently patting my shoulder.
“Y-Yeaah, still…”
“N-Nnnn……”
Mahokl watched over our exchange through her thick lenses and
grinned once more.
“Y… yes?”
“You will have to gather all of the material items I ask for!”
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Five types of material items were listed there. Each was relatively
rare, but the problem laid beyond that.
“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?”
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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.
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.
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Distant memories came back to me for a moment as I sipped the
coffee.
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.
“…What is it?”
“Hmm.”
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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.
Also, why had she gave us this condition to gather the rare
materials likely for the ballista…?
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.”
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.
Asuna got that far before my two hands reached out and drew her
closer.
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.”
(To be continued)
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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.
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.
“If there aren’t any stalls, it looks we’ll have to get the
drops on our own.”
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.
“………”
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A hushed voice echoed close to my ears before long.
I whispered back, and Asuna shook her head slightly, side to side,
still sunken in my shoulder.
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.
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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…”
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.
—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.
“—This way!”
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“They look like they’re in trouble, huh…”
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.
“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.
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“Asuna, counting on you for the counter.”
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.
That doubt cleared away upon hearing the players who were
fleeing from the bear.
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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.
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 really was just a little! Besides, that skill to block its
breath was amazing too… so there are sword skills like that
too, huh…”
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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.
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.
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.”
The woman laughed with a tehehe and the man opened his mouth
once again.
Asuna yelled out the moment the female player giggled once
more.
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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.
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However, I gripped Asuna’s hand while I answered.
“Teleport, 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.
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.
The skinhead giant looked up at that, and his mouth bent along
with his beard as he let out a groan.
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.
“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.”
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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.
—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.
Checking the contents of the trade window from Agil with care, I
confirmed the items’ names and quantities before nodding.
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“Thanks, Agil.”
Asuna and I expressed our gratitude in unison and the big man
answered with a “Thanks!” before grinning.
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.
We turned our sight towards the gigantic tree towers after some
brief laughter.
(to be continued)
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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?”
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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.
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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.
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?”
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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…?”
However, the mysterious wood crafter shut her mouth there and
the rapped the table.
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.
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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.
“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.
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I asked, with that popping into my mind, and the young bride
spoke somewhat falteringly.
“I-I know that much. The issue lies in how that something is
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probably the ballista…”
“Let’s see…”
“Nn.”
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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…”
“Huh? Of what?”
“………Aah!”
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softly lifted Asuna ten centimeters before we fell back.
“…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.
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.
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first, I shaped that confounding speculation into words.
“Then, let’s just call him a merchant axe… no, but still,
seriously……?”
“Hm~~~~mm…”
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…”
“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…”
“…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.
“Nn, nnn~~”
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it from the clearing group, right?”
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.
“R-Right.”
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.
“Eh, who…?”
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3
The man popping out from the teleport gate at Coral Village raised
a bottle of sake, probably a present, upon catching sight of me.
“G… gooo……”
“O… oi, Kiritard, what the heck is this!? Why are you with
that Asuna-san from that KoB while on your R&R break!?”
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.
“…………”
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Klein froze up for a good five seconds.
“Wuuuuuuuuttt!?”
(to be continued)
Afterword
Kunori here, thank you very much for buying “SAO: ME18”.
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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“I get it, I get it, I’ll explain properly the next time we go
for drinks or whatever.”
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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.
“…We heard from Agil, but it looks like the 75th floor’s
conquest is quite a tough one, huh?”
“Aah, yeahh…”
“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~~”
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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.”
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.
Klein and I shifted our hands behind our heads at once and curtly
bowed.
“S-Sorry.”
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With her laughter dying down, Asuna slightly puffed out her cheeks
before turning a somewhat sober expression towards Klein.
“I… see…”
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.
Neither Asuna nor I could hold back our surprise upon hearing that.
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.
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parted from Asuna’s hand, and then spoke.
“Of ‘cos.”
Klein nodded and raised the menu board on the table like a shield
as he rattled on.
“……Yeaah?”
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.”
“By the way… Klein, when did you first meet Agil again?”
Though still curious as ever, Klein turned his eyes upwards and let
out a short groan.
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.
“…Why are you asking me? Why not just go up to him and
dig out the answer for something like this straight?”
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.
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soft snort before advancing the conversation.
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.
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levelling up the skill and gathering funds for opening a store
when I asked.”
“Agil… logging?”
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.
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?”
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“…Listen, Kirito-kun.”
“Nn…?”
“…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…?”
“True…”
Asuna lightly nodded her head, still atop my chest, yet switched to
shaking it softly immediately after.
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but even advanced Sewing and Polearm Weapon Creation to
master class as well.”
“…I see…”
“…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…”
“If only we had some evidence of Agil being the axe warrior
in question…”
“……Ah!”
“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.
“Wahh!!”
The foot my weight laid upon slipped five centimeters due to that
explosive shout from behind.
“Nwaaaahh!!”
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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!!”
“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.
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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?”
“…Sure, it is?”
“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
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!
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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...
Credits
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Raws: Takazuki
Translation: Gsimenas
N/A
Index
N/A
"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.
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.
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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~~"
"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."
"Klein, as well as Asuna and the other girls, have all said
that they're free tomorrow."
"Woohoo!"
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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.
"S-seriously……"
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"Like you can let Asuna-san see you in something so
completely utilitarian! C'mon, hurry up and get ready!"
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
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Vol.13 Chapter 9
Source: tap-trans
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.
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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.
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!”
“…Uooh… you…”
“Wha…”
The white face that peeked out from under my feet quickly blushed
red.
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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!!”
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.
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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.”
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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…”
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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.
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?”
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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.
“—Uoooh!!”
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.
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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.
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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.
“…A truce?”
“……”
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exactly does that refer to?”
Not looking at me any longer, the integrity knight sank into another
long silence, but eventually nodded slightly in a nearly imperceptible
motion.
“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.”
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most profound grimace yet and shouted.
“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?”
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.
“Hah?”
“……”
“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…?”
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…”
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around three in the afternoon.
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?”
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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!”
“…Then, I’m just checking this time too, but… how about
calling for that huge flying dragon I hung off all the way
here?”
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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.
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done.”
“……”
“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.
However—
Alice drew in a deep breath, then put strength into her gaze and
nodded.
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“Well, obviously, we’re going to run vertically… no, that’s a
joke.”
“Hmph!”
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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.
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.
“…an’t.”
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“No… no, you can. With that strength of yours, pulling your
own body up would be…”
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.
“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 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.
“…Please be careful.”
“Got it.”
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.
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“System call! Generate metallic element!”
“Erm… I’m pretty sure we’re almost done with the eighty-
fifth floor.”
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.
After I shouted out while pointing, Alice, near my feet, raised her
face as well. Her blue eyes squinted and she answered.
“Three… I see.”
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.
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.
“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.
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.
I muttered;
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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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…!”
“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.
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body lurched atop the piton.
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 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.
Now that it had come to this, I could only remove the lifeline and
jump at any enemies targeting Alice.
“Alice… Alice!!”
The integrity knight’s body trembled with a start and those blue
eyes finally looked in this direction.
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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.
“Kyaaaaa!!”
“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.
“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.
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ears.
“…Yes, I do.”
Screaming that as though she was wringing the words out, Alice
tightly bit on her lips.
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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, who returned her sight to the front as well, appeared to have
shaken her head quickly.
“…I see.”
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.
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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!”
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.
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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.
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!”
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.”
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.
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knights are… forbidden from mingling with townspeople
aside from during duty, so…”
“……”
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—?
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.
“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!”
“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…”
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.
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—
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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.
As a result, we could only meekly wait here for a few hours until
the moon rose.
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Vol.13 Chapter 10
Source: tap-trans
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.
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.
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.
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superfluous thoughts.
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……
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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.
And with that, an enemy stronger than any before must be lying in
wait.
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.
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.
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—
“………”
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.
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—
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.
“—!?”
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.
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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.
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 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.
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.
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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.
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.
“…What is it?”
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.
Having heard Eugeo’s reply, the man brazenly let out a sharp
breath and nodded.
“Wha……”
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.
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“Oh?”
With his hand still in the bosom of his oriental clothes, the man let
out an amused voice.
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.”
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—
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
“……!”
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those fancy fluid skills at all, ya know?”
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.
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.
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 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.
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Synthesis One!!”
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.
The air quivered near his right ear. But he felt neither pain nor
impact.
—I dodged it!
“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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
“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 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.”
Bercouli Synthesis One. That should have been what the man
called himself.
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.
He made a metallic sound with the crude sword that was entirely
steel blue, still in its scabbard.
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.
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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.
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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.
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.
“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.
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.
“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.
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!!”
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.
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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.
“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.
“What…!?”
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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—
And a sheer moment before that, Eugeo stabbed the Blue Rose
Sword into the bottom of the bath and shouted.
“Fre… eeeeeeze!!”
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.
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.
“—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.
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.
Brittle chimes ringing out from the small icicles hanging off his
eyebrows and hair, the knight commander groaned.
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.”
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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!!”
“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.
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!!”
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.
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.
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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.
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.
Eugeo finally recalled «who» was the giant man in front of his eyes.
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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.
The Blue Rose Sword, now with all the strength it held awakened,
continued shining a cold light roughly ten cen beneath the ice
surface.
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commander spoke.
“—A sword like that was in the nest when I killed the
guardian dragon of the north…”
The scene Alice and him witnessed when they explored the
northern cave together eight years ago resurfaced in his mind.
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made into integrity knights, everyone were the same as us…
every one of them was human…”
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.
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?
It was then.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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Bercouli’s lips quivered and a low and hoarse voice flowed out.
“Hoo, hohoo!”
Upon hearing Bercouli’s words, the small jester skipped three steps
while loudly clapping his hands.
That shrill laughter that didn’t seem like that of a human spread
out.
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!”
“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.
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…”
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.
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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.
—Kirito.
——Alice…
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Vol.13 Chapter 11
Source: tap-trans
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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a certain sense.
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A voice suddenly came from the right and I blinked my eyes,
putting a stop to my daydreaming.
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me feel so hungry, I’m getting dizzy…”
“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.”
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.
“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.”
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.
Alice had an expression like she was stunned from the depths of
her heart and took her hand off her sword.
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.
“Bur…”
–st; before I could continue, a hand reaching out from my side like
a flash of lightning pinned down my mouth.
“Mghh!?”
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
“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.”
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.
Hearing that low and stifled voice coming from Alice, I took in a
deep breath and gathered strength in my core before curtly nodding.
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“…Are you talking about the duty of the integrity knights?”
“That’s it.”
“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.”
“It’s the other way round. There wasn’t a single one who
hadn’t been once human.”
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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.
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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…”
Alice’s lips shivered slightly. Her two eyes drifted off my face and
wandered through the air.
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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.”
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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.
“…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!”
“She did!”
“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…?”
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straight towards her face appearing pale under the starlight, I sped
on in earnest.
“…I couldn’t possibly forget that. The two of you were the
first criminals I was ever commanded to bring in.”
“…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.
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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.
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.
“…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.
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.
“Selka.”
“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.”
“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.
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watching the integrity knight sobbing away in a stifled voice.
I will—
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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.
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…
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.
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.
Hugging her knees with her eyes turned down, Alice suddenly
muttered so.
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“Yeah… I did.”
“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.
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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.
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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?”
“……!”
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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…”
“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…?
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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.”
Telling Alice so from her side, I couldn’t help but feel a great
cynicism.
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—
“Eh…?”
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.
I could no longer find any suitable replies. Despite the tempest that
must be raging within her heart, Alice still showed a stout smile.
“……Alice…”
“That is…?”
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.
The knight replied with a curt nod as well, before she took in a
deep breath, put on an assertive expression, and spoke.
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days ago as I got up onto my feet.
“……!?”
Upon the perfectly circular blue iris in Alice’s widely opened right
eye.
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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.
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].
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].
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.
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.
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?
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“…Horrible…”
Those pallid lips trembled and let out disconnected words once
more.
“…Gods…”
“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…”
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.
However hoarse it might have been, Alice still shouted with dignity.
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…!”
“……Sure.”
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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 moment it faded off, a deep crimson shaft of light left Alice’s
right eye.
Eugeo.
Eugeo…
What happened?
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.
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… 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…?
Hehe.
Everyone
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have already been killed by you, haven’t they?
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!”
Muttering so in his heart, Eugeo closed his two eyes tightly and
kept his breathing shallow.
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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?
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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.
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.
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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…
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.
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.
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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.
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.
Only the desire to touch these hands, this hair, these cheeks filled
his emptied head.
The fingers on his stretched out right hand would reach in just a
little… reach that smooth skin in a little bit…
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Run!
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.
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.
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—Can I win… right now…?
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.
“……gh…”
But Eugeo let out a distraught sigh while gripping onto the dagger
through the fabric.
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Eugeo… run……
But before that voice that seemed far too distant could make its
way to his consciousness—
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 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.
“Eh…? 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.
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“…A potted… flower…”
“…For what…?”
The girl stared at Eugeo with her reflective eyes and replied with
the smile still on her face.
“Love.”
“Indeed. You are a pitiful child who has never had the
experience of being loved.”
“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…?”
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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.”
……
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.”
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you and only you…?”
“You have forgotten. I’ll let you recall them. Your true
memories, buried deep within the depths of your heart.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
And by her side was a head covered in prickly black hair. His one
and only best friend, Kirito.
The fickle wind sent Kirito’s voice to Eugeo’s ears as he stood still.
“We’re still safe. Just a little more… just a bit more, okay?”
No.
But Eugeo’s legs refused to budge as though the tree’s roots had
entwined around them.
No.
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Lies. These are all, lies.
Sniff.
The whisper with a tinge with laughter wiped away the forest
scene.
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.
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.
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.”
Moving her legs that had sunk into the soft sheets, she
straightened her upper body.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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?”
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.
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.”
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the depths of his heart put up a quiet resistance.
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.
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.
“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.”
“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.
“Core…”
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…?
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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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.
“U… uhm…”
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…?
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.
“If it’s annoying you that much, why don’t you just get in a
bath or something, oh great knight?”
“No, that’s a joke! Let’s not even joke about going all the
way back down to the floors in the middle.”
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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.
Now then, had Eugeo passed through this ninety-fifth floor yet?
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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.
“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.”
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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…”
Putting aside how she called him oji-sama for now, I decided to
enquire about something that caught my attention.
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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.”
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.
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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…
“System call!”
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.”
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.
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remain impossible until Solus rises.”
“B-But…”
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.
“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.”
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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.”
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.
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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 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…
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.
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.
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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 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.
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…”
“……!!”
In other words, what froze over the whole of this gigantic bath was
not a sacred art, but…
“……Eugeo…”
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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.
“……!”
“Oji-sama…!”
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giant half-buried in ice, her two hands grasped together tightly as
she wringed out a half-scream.
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.
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.
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.
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pale, bluish grey. I could vividly feel the strength of will coming from
the man’s two eyes.
“…Hey, lil’ miss. You don’t hafta cry that hard… it’s ruining
your beauty.”
“Oji-sama…!!”
“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…”
“That’s not… that’s not true!! There are still many, many
things that I want you to teach me, Oji-sama…!!”
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how… it should be……”
“…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.
“……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.
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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.
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.
“…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…”
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.
“Only once.”
She continued murmuring while hugging herself with her two arms.
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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…”
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.”
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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.”
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.
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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.”
“I won’t mind reversing the roles. But in that case, I’ll have
to ask you to defend against those sacred arts.”
“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.”
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?
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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.
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.
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 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.”
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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.
“…De-Decapitated heads…?”
A hoarse voice escaped me and Alice, behind me, let out a whisper
at the lowest possible volume from my left.
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.
Alice pricked her ears towards the boxed humans’ voices once
again at my words, then spoke with a scowl.
“A value…”
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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.
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…
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No, I couldn’t permit such terrible treatment, even towards cows
and sheep.
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?”
Alice’s face slowly slipped down and her lightly fallen golden hair
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hid her expression.
“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?”
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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.
“Aah… aah—!”
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.
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.
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!!”
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.
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.
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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”.
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!?”
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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.
Those thick lips pursed like a trumpet before long and a voice like
the creaking of rusted metal leaked out from Chudelkin.
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You should’ve fallen out of the tower to your death with one
of the traitorss.”
“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!!”
“Wh… Wha…”
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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.
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.
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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.”
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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!”
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.
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eyes at all, Chudelkin resumed his reminiscing.
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.
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.
“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.
“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.
“Hohii!! Hohi—hii-hii-hii-hii—!!:
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of my waist banged into the wall.
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……
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“…We’re nearly at the end of the stairs!”
“Got it!”
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 took another look around the circular room that was probably the
ninety-ninth floor as prompted.
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“……This room…”
“What is it?”
“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.
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The knight pondered over my question with a finger from her left
hand on her lips.
“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…
“E-Erm…”
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“That much is enough. The only one starting with ‘lu’ would
be the luminous element.”
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.
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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.
It appeared Alice had steeled own her will as well in the meantime.
“…Let’s go.”
“Let us move.”
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.
I muttered—
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.
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longer. The boy who wore the integrity knight armor was……
“………Eugeo……”
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.
“Eugeo.”
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synthesis.”
“…No way, that’s… but it took three days and three nights
for you…”
But Alice’s left hand firmly gripped my loosely hanging right arm
without warning. Accompanied by a voice at my ear.
“Sal… salvage…?”
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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.
“Yeah.”
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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.”
The boy wrapped in bluish silver armor kept his silence for another
few seconds, then finally opened his mouth.
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.
“But thanks.”
“…For what?”
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“For bringing my sword back to me.”
“Eh……”
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.”
“………”
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“What you wanted…? Is that more important than Alice?”
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.
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“What’s that supposed to…”
“…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.
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.
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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 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».
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“transgression quotient” which is translated from kanji.
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Afterword (v13)
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.
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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.
Credits
Translation – Tap
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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.
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defense forces and its members were constantly aboard, actively
guarding it even after its completion.
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.
“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.
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 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.
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.
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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.
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…”
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.
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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.”
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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.”
“Really?”
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.
Nakanishi gave a toothed smile, then turned his own eyes towards
the faraway ship and continued.
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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.
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.
“Good luck with that. I’ll clear up the utensils for you.”
“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.
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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.
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advance.
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.
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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.
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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.
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.
“………”
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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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 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.
“…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.
“…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.”
Gyarin! The blades slid and gave birth to a streak of sparks in the
dim darkness. I was pushed backwards while Eugeo pitched forward.
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.
“Ooohh!”
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)».
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…!”
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.
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right foot, not my body, with the sword’s pommel rather than its
blade.
“——!”
——Now!
Gashiin!!
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.
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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—
“——!?”
“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…!”
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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.
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 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.”
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through a lengthy period of self-improvement, let alone the
incarnation techniques and the armament full control art!”
“……”
“…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.
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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.
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.
“Don’t be silly.”
“…Thanks.”
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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.
—I’ll be sure to give you a name when the battles are all over… so
lend me your strength.
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.
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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.
“Ooohh!”
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—!
The black sword tip took the top of Eugeo’s shoulder, protected by
the bluish-silver armor.
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.
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.
Eugeo stood firm on his left foot beyond the red mist, refusing to
fall.
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 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.
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.
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.
Eugeo muttered with his facial expression calm, like a frozen water
surface.
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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.
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.
“………”
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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».
No.
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The virtual blue light covering the two intersecting swords dimmed
as it begun to lapse.
“Eu… geo———!!”
I swung my sword with a scream the instant the sword skill ended.
“O…oooo——!!”
I roared.
“Se… aaaa——!!”
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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?
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…?”
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.
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was pushed backwards, unable to hold up against the Blue Rose
Sword’s pressure.
“Eugeo—!!”
The knight shook with a startle and slowly lifted his face that was
turned down.
“……Kirito.”
“Alice……”
My ears couldn’t have been lying this time. Eugeo’s voice had
called out our names.
“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.
However.
“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 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.
“Eugeo… why……”
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
And—
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.
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 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.
A small shadow tottered out from the bed with unsteady steps.
Accompanied by an unpleasant laughter.
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.
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?”
Steeling his determination, Eugeo opened his mouth, giving his all
to keep his expression still.
“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?”
“……”
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.
—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.
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.
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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.
The fat lips of the small man in the jester outfit greatly distorted as
they let out a voice that rang of anger.
The index finger on his right hand shot out before Eugeo’s face—
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.
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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.”
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.
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?
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.
“…Yes.”
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.
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and raised his voice here. Focusing entirely on the texture of the
sheets, he advanced.
Suddenly—
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.
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.”
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—
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…”
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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.
Recalling that brief moment in the hidden Great Library Room that
seemed ages ago, Eugeo muttered in his heart.
……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.
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ever so slightly.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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—
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.
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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.
“………”
Eugeo’s lips slightly trembled as they, and they alone, regained the
ability to move.
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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.
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.
——Move.
——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…”
“…Mm… ov…”
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fine even if he could never swing a sword again. So, just once more—
“…You…?”
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.
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.
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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!!”
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.
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.
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.
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The means of redeeming for his error numbered only one.
At the tender age of eleven, Alice was taken from her home town
and trained as a knight with her memories sealed.
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.
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.
“…!!”
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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.
“Guhh……”
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.
“Wh……”
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.
“………”
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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…”
“Eternal…… servitude……”
The highest minister nodded, fiddling with the piety module she
had just extracted from Eugeo’s forehead with her left hand.
“………”
Laid prone, Eugeo stared at the Blue Rose Sword gripped in his left
hand and the reddish-copper dagger held in his right.
“………”
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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.”
Banou-san and Toriza-san from Wolde farm. Telin and Telulu, their
twins.
And Kirito.
Alice.
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heard those words.
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.
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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.
“…That child…?”
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The silver-haired girl grinned broadly at that and nodded.
“……Thirty… …Alice…”
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.
“………”
Firmly gritting down on his teeth, Eugeo lifted himself up with his
trembling arms and wobbled as he stood up.
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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 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.
Raising her right hand, she pointed nothing more than her index
finger towards Eugeo.
“O… ohh!”
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Eugeo kicked off the ground, perfectly aware of that.
—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?
The smile vanished from the highest minister’s lips and she
extended her right hand.
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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.
“………!”
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.
“U… ooooohh——!!”
It was when Eugeo strained out one last scream from the bottom of
his abdomen.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…”
—Not yet. It’s not over yet. If I give up now, just what have I
returned to this room for?
“Gu… o-ohh…!”
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.
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?
The silence that filled the highest floor of the Central Cathedral
was shattered by an odd cry from neither Eugeo nor Administrator.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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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.
Eugeo unconsciously took a step or two away from the hole for the
elevating disk.
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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.
“………”
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.
Spinning about, he got on all fours and quietly peeked into the hole
in the floor.
“Hoaaaa——!!”
“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.
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.
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…”
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.
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.”
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“……That’s true. You’re always…… always going with……”
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.
—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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“………”
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bring the battle downstairs to an end, Eugeo’s mouth unconsciously
slackened as he replied.
“…Hey, Kirito, I’m the one who stopped the both of you,
you know?”
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.
The one who answered was the knight standing on Kirito’s other
side, Alice.
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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.
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!”
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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.
Administrator took a silent step forward atop the bed with a faint
smile.
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.
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Vol.14 Chapter 13
Source: tap-trans
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.
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.
That said—
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!!”
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.
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.
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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!!”
“Guh… mghghh…”
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who sent the substitute knights, essentially Eldrie, Deusolbert, and
the «Four Oscillation Blades», to the hospital.
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.”
—Just what was she talking about? That person…? Code, eight,
seven, one…?
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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.
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.
The highest floor felt astonishingly wide with the bed gone.
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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.
But even before I could move for real, I saw Alice shake her head
slightly.
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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.
But before he could, Chudelkin who had fallen onto his rear jumped
to his feet like clockworks.
“Hohohohh!”
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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.
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?”
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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?
“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.
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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—
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.
“…No way…”
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The same applied to offensive arts that manipulated elements.
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…!”
“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.
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.
“…Nhn… gngngnngnnn…”
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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!?”
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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.
It was then—
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The chief elder’s limbs instantly shrunk in.
“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.
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“I doo——!! I do, I do, I do, I dooo!!”
Chudelkin glared at Alice with fiery eyes and spread his limbs out
wide while wringing out shrill words directed at Administrator behind
himself.
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feelings, emotions expressed from the depths of the spirit that
belonged to this man named Chudelkin.
Her pearl grey lips sharply twisted up as though she found him
unbearably comical.
“…Certainly, Chudelkin.”
Or so she whispered.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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us to grip our swords in a fluster.
“Ten…”
“…Seconds.”
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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.
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.
“………”
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!!”
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
“His eyes.”
“Got it.”
“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—
It was the one slovenly lying sprawled in mid-air far behind him,
the highest minister, Administrator.
That alone sufficed to shatter the ice arrow with it still over a meter
from the highest minister.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
“U… oooohh——!!”
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I released a war cry from the depths of myself with all my might.
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!!”
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.
“………!”
With his breath held, Eugeo somehow chased after the crimson
glow with his eyes.
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.
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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.
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……”
The body that stood on its head slowly lost its balance and
splashed into the pool of fresh blood it had personally created.
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.
Kirito had stopped all motions with his waist still much lowered and
his right arm extended as far as it could go.
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.
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.
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—?
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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 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.
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?
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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.
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.
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.”
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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.
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.
“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?”
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.
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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?”
“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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.”
Looking down upon Alice through the violet light, she gently
whispered.
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.
The questions stained with tears were practically asked with much
pain—
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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.”
As his shuddering surged anew and covered his body with goose
bumps, Eugeo verified that fact.
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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.
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.
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.
“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?”
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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.”
“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.
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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.”
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.
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.
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.
The air swirled with that roar and her pure silver hair ruffled
greatly.
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.
“…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.”
“……An art…?”
“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.
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—
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.
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 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.
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—!
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.
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.
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.
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…”
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The short silence was punctured by Kirito’s hoarse muttering.
“A sword… automaton.”
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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.
The heart of the sword giant shone brilliantly with violet light.
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.
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.
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.
And then, any and all conflict that could actually be considered a
“battle” ended in that instant.
Unable to pull back the sword surging backwards, the knight was
slightly lifted off the floor with her balance destroyed.
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!!”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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this. They will stand right back up this very moment and ready their
swords once……
Hehe. Hehehe.
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—
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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.
“Eh…”
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.
Turned towards the sword golem, likely tens of thousands times its
size, and ran straight.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
That was when that soft, yet substantial, voice burst into my ears.
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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.
Before my eyes, the one who leapt down onto the carpet stained
with my blood without a sound—
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?
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!”
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.
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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 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 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.
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.
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…”
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.
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.
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Her right legs shook and altered the direction she faced. Her four
eyes stared gently at me.
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.
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.
Both Eugeo and I looked towards the thick door with a familiar
design and color in silence.
In that moment—
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.
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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—
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.
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—
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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“B-But… but still…”
“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—
Calling out with an austere voice, the childlike sage finally turned
her two eyes straight towards her bitter enemy of two hundred years.
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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.
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, hehehehehehe.
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.
“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?”
But there was no time to do anything. An instant was all it took for
Administrator to grip her right hand tight.
With that—
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scene that could only be expressed as «nothingness».
“….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.
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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.
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.
But.
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heavy mistake if you underestimate these younglings,
Quinella.”
“What…”
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.
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.
“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.
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“Kirito… exactly who is this…?”
“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.”
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
“……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?!!”
Alice placed her left hand against her chest again as she groaned
as well.
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”.
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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.
“You… monster…”
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The answer was a no.
The girl, Quinella, from an age long ago might have not committed
murder.
“Half… you…”
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excitement, Administrator turned her silver eyes towards the knight
standing on my left.
Alice did nothing more than listen to her teasing giggles in silence.
Soon, what came from her was a single question with as much
restraint as she could muster.
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form are the innocent masses as you say—you cannot
possibly be loved by those swords!!”
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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.
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…
“……!?”
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My flaxen-haired partner was staring at the highest minister
without the slightest movement as his blood left his face.
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.
“Wha…”
Cardinal and Alice, too, let out astonished voices while I was at a
loss for words.
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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?
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.
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.
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Hence, the memories saved in Alice’s memory fragment were
effective—effectively…
“I see… so that was it! Damn you, Quinella… how far do you
intend to toy with mankind, you monster?!!”
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.
The sage’s words paused once there before she loudly knocked the
staff’s base against the floor and shouted.
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.
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.”
Fufu. Ufufu. Her silver eyes narrowed and the girl softly sniggered.
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it? Wouldn’t you say it’s a lovely design? Marvelous… the
power of greed is truly marvelous!”
“……Wrong!!”
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The ruler’s voice rang high as though convinced of her triumph.
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!!”
The voice that came from Cardinal next was abnormally mellow.
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.
Ku-ku-ku-ku.
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.
“……!!”
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But the aura of her firm resolve exuding from Cardinal’s small back
brought our movement to a halt.
“N-Nn…”
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.
“I’m all for leaving the fun bits for later too, you know? …I
shall swear it on the goddess, Stacia, then. I will…”
“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”.
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.
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.
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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.
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!!
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as she was about to fall on her side.
Gagaa!!
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.
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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—
“Hahahahaha!! Ahahahahahahaha!!”
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.
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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.
“…Kuh… ugh……”
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.
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.”
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.
“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.”
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.
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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.
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.
Alice who knelt by my side suddenly reached out with both hands
and wrapped them around Cardinal’s right hand.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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capital. It was the one and only story that he still believed might
have been the truth.
Cardinal’s eyes, that had almost lost all light, opened weakly.
[Eugeo… you…]
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whisper.
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.
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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.”
“……!”
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.
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“………!”
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.
Her voice regained its strength for a moment, like a candle nearly
snuffed, and resounded in the core of my head.
“What…?!”
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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.
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.
Spitting that out as her lips warped, the ruler showed that savage
smile once again before raising her rapier of white silver up high.
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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 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.
That crystal—
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fragment.
Eugeo’s muscled body, the Blue Rose Sword’s clear blade, and the
translucent crystal prism aligned.
The thirty thermal elements drifting about the rapier coalesced and
shot off as an enormous fire ball.
Replying with a dignified shout, Alice turned her right hand towards
the swirling flames.
A clash.
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Brief silence.
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.
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What hovered there was no longer a human body.
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.]
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.
[…Beautiful…]
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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.
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.
And yet, Eugeo’s sword accelerated even quicker, charging into the
waiting swarm of blades.
Gold and pure white collided a moment later. White and black light
intertwined, swirled, and flared up.
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.
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.
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epiphany.
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.
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resplendence.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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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.
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!!”
“Brat…!!”
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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.
“Eugeo————!!”
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.
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.
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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.
“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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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What appeared was a silver long sword of simple design, yet with a
graceful blade and grip.
With her two eyes tinged with faint, mild delight, the girl whispered
gently.
The blade drew a blue arc in the air with its razor-sharp edge as it
drew closer to my neck.
In an instant.
This wasn’t
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the first time I saw this.
am I
going to——
That thought sped like a flash and time ceased its motions for an
instant.
The warm palm thawed the cold dread and resignation filling my
whole body slightly.
—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.
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fluct light.
Flashing out faster than ever before, my right hand firmly grasped
the grip for my black sword that had tumbled right beside me.
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.
Smiling with those cheeks still raw with burns after defending
against Administrator’s flames, the knight gave a hoarse murmur.
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“…Yeah.”
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.
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.
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.
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descended upon them.
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.
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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.
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.
“…………”
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The moment Administrator’s sword made the slightest movement,
I kicked off the floor with all I had and advanced.
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.
“……!?”
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.
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But Administrator’s skill with the sword exceeded my expectations
yet again.
“O… oohh!!”
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.
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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.
There was a slight lag before the voice that reached my ears
turned into meaningful words.
Sword skill.
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.
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spread from where he was split. Just how many minutes remained
until his Life runs out?
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.
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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».
The slash had half a second before it would dig into Administrator’s
left shoulder.
The silver long sword turned its end straight towards me.
“Gah…”
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.
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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.
With the upturned corners of her lips slightly visible beyond the
sharp edge, the exquisite ruler announced in a sneer.
——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.
—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…”
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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!!”
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.
No, this is no longer the time to think. This rage was all I needed.
“——Uoaaahh!!”
“——Shii!!”
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A cry came from Administrator’s lips too, subdued yet sharp.
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.
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.
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There was only one thing that I was certain of.
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.
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Melodious stifled laughter.
It was then.
Those nostalgic green eyes that almost drew out my tears looked
at me from beyond those barely raised eyelids.
“Eu… geo.”
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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…”
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….!?”
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.
Transmutation.
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.
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This was no art.
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.
The pain from the wounds pierced into my whole body vanished.
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.
“——Why.”
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The voice that came out was deep, distorted, with a metallic ring.
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.”
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the words uttered without her lips moving.
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.”
“You merely usurped it. One who does not love this world…
and the people living in it has no right to be its ruler!!”
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.
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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!”
“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.
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.
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!!”
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.
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And the same probably went for the prideful ruler, Administrator.
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.
In the next moment, the resources all burst; that was to say, an
enormous explosion occurred.
Slender lines of light poured out from all over the world’s most
beautiful bare body, spreading out in a radial pattern.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
The ruler’s shoulders shook jerkily like a broken doll as she let out
a brief laugh despite the circumstances.
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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.
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.
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down audibly.
“Wha……”
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.
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—
Here, the girl finally raised her face and looked straight at me.
“Fu, fu… see you, boy. Let’s… meet again. This time, in
your 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!!”
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Her broadly smiling lips mouthed out a soundless farewell.
Go- od-
by-
e…
A shriek rang out from someone who had crept up to the base of
the console with neither Administrator nor I noticing.
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.
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Her lips warped and emitted a shout that was almost a scream.
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.
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.
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The raging inferno rapidly subsided.
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.
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There was no reply.
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.
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.
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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.
“……Kirito.”
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!”
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 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.
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There is no way I will accept it!!”
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.
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.
And then—
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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.
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.
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“I’m way quicker. This is all that’s left.”
“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.
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?”
“I’m done!”
“It’s over!”
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filled with suspicion.
“That’s why I told you so. Now it’s all ruined, geez.”
And with a hop towards Eugeo, she shouted out with a smile as
brilliant as the sun.
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.
“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!”
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next, showed a huge smile that wouldn’t lose to Alice.
I’m not crying; Eugeo swiped at his face and looked straight at me.
Alice and Eugeo who stood side-by-side, too, cried with their smiles
still on—
“We might part here… but still, these memories will remain
forever.”
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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 light in his eyes faded as they wandered and Eugeo called out
my name with that smile still on his face.
“Yeah…”
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sword…… Kirito……”
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.
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.”
“Let’s.”
In that moment—
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.
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No one yet knew where the collection of photons that formed the
two souls would go.
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.
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.
Observer. Those who made this world, set it into motion, and
watched over it.
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.
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.
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……
Lifting my stiff left hand, I touched the button to call the observer
with a trembling finger.
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Acceleration rate will be fixed at 1.0. Are you sure?]
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.
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.
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!!!”
I stood still and my ears caught human’s voices this time… a tense
exchange of yells.
[A7, return fire somehow! Stall them until we lock down the
system!!]
What—is this?
A movie…? Did it pick up the audio from some streamed movie the
staff members were watching in the research room?
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A pointed, rusty voice answered.
I had never heard his voice this strained. What exactly was
happening beyond the screen?
[Wha… whaat!?]
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I couldn’t help but to shut my mouth at this desperation that didn’t
suit him at all.
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!]
At that time, the first voice I heard echoed out from point-blank
range.
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[What… that’s ridiculous, there are tons of safety limiters
on the STL…]
The one who broke the fraction of a second of silence was Kikuoka
once again.
[I’ll up the FLA rate to its limit!! We’ll think about the rest
later, his safety’s the…]
—Asu… na?
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And—
Pillars of white light silently soaring down from the skies far above,
stabbing through the cathedral’s canopy.
I—
[Kirito-kun… Kirito-kun!!]
That was——
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Hello, everyone. Thank you very much for reading “Sword Art
Online 14 Alicization Uniting”.
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.
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!
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Vol.15 Chapter 14
Source: tap-trans
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.
Did she sense something that made neither noise nor vibration?
That intuition was marvelous, but unfortunately, it was too late.
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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.
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«That moment» would truly be ever so sweet.
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.
Morning, two-twelve.
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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.
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.
No, that was off. That battle happened not in reality, but in the
virtual world.
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criminal of the century—no, precisely because he was such a person.
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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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deep in the dense forest behind his mansion.
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.
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.
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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.
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hurt by some unknown person and lose its brilliance.
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.
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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.
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.
The call ended, and Gabriel sank deep into the chair with his legs
crossed.
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.
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to expose himself to the dangers of the battlefield.
The two NSA agents who visited this room a month ago managed
to surprise Gabriel, who could hardly claim to be emotional,
numerous times.
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remaining by spending several tens of thousands of dollars—of
course, he didn’t intend to use it himself, however.
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.
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He would make that his own.
“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.
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.
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“……Your soul… will be so sweet……”
Gabriel whispered once more, this time in Japanese, and shut his
eyelids.
Nonetheless—
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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.
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…
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The sudden noise from the sonar technician pulled Giuliani out
from his thoughts.
Giuliani stared hard at the two light points shown on the large
display in front.
The words from those men in black suits who brought the directive
directly from the Pentagon resurfaced in Giuliani’s mind.
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Still, he was already old enough to understand he had no choice
but to obey those orders.
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.
The faint vibrations his body felt conveyed the release of their
baggage from the afterdeck.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.”
Three swords sat on sturdy metal fittings on the wall the youth
stretched his hand towards.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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—
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
What came to mind then was Rulid, the name of the village Kirito
told her of on the outer wall of the cathedral.
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.
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.
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.
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by.
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.
Roughly ten seconds passed before he let out a deep yet resonant
voice.
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.
She had no immediate reply this time. She herself knew neither
what crime she committed nor whether it was pardoned.
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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.
—Leave. This village has no place for one who committed a taboo.
“Nee-sama…?”
“…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.
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.
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 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.
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.
She asked while holding the wheelchair’s grips and Selka opened
her mouth after brief hesitation.
After letting a giggle escape from those words, Alice pacified her
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sulking little sister.
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.
She felt her tawny hair on her cheeks, a sensation much the same
despite the clearly different color, and whispered.
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 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?
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.
—And the ones who nurtured that idea must be… the Axiom
Church, the Taboo Index, and us, the Order of the Integrity Knights.
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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.
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.
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.
Still, Alice returned the best smile she could muster and gave a
slight nod.
“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.
“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!”
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“…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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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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.
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 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.
“That’s why even that girl can bring down that platinum
oak in one blow, huh?”
The third youth shouted and held the Blue Rose Sword’s handle
with both hands so as to draw it.
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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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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?
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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 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…”
“……”
“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?”
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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…”
Eldrie stared at the bowl placed before his eyes with a mixture of
delight and suspicion.
“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.”
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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.”
“…The caves…?”
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.
“Though I flew around the cave for an entire day, I saw not
even a single goblin, let alone an orc.”
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“Perhaps they mistook a pack of beasts for military
forces.”
Having left his flowery language behind some time ago, Eldrie
showed the resolute face of a knight and continued.
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.”
“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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
But what should she do, as one aware that the goddesses and the
Celestial World were both great lies?
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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.
The two lines that came from that mysterious crystal plate after
the battle with the highest minister, before Kirito collapsed.
Alice tilted her head atop the pillow and stared at the youth
stretched out on the other side of the bed.
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.
She could bring an end to it all, stabbing their two touching hearts
as one.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
Alice changed Kirito, put him to bed, then changed into her own
sleepwear, and extinguished the light before slipping under the
blanket.
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.
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.
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…?”
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though to leave the bed.
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!”
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.
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—A bushfire!?
An enemy assault.
“…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.
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?
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…”
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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…”
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.
“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.
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.
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…!?”
Alice tapped the flying dragon’s neck again and shouted out a line
after moving right above the plaza.
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.
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!!”
But what came out from Nygr’s mouth after he came to his senses
was a throaty, harsh voice.
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.
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.
The cry of a young yet resolute voice reached Alice’s ears then, as
she stood frozen.
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.
“Father, have big sister ever been wrong even once? No,
even I can tell. At this rate, everyone will die!”
Taking the place of the village chief who went speechless, Nygr
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Barbossa erupted once more in anger.
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.
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parents, and Kirito away from this village and search for a new home
somewhere far away.
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.
After she took in a deep breath and let it out, the force Alice’s left
eye flashed open with practically made a noise.
“…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.
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.
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.
“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.”
Kneeling down on the stone paving with a firm noise, the village
chief shouted with a strained voice while looking downwards.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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?!!”
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!”
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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.
Nygr collapsed back onto the stove paving, perhaps due to the
strength in his waist leaving him, with his two eyes peeled.
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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.
“Gihii——!!”
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.
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!!”
“Gyaa——!!”
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.
—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.
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.
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.
—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.
There was no fear in Alice’s heart as she faced the enemy army on
her own.
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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!!”
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.
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.
“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.
Alice lifted her hand to her brow and looked at circular Rulid Village
towering beyond the wheat fields.
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.
Selka, who had been helping out with her preparations for
departure with an adamant smile so far, opened her mouth while
looking downwards.
“I know, Selka.”
Alice hugged her little sister’s petite body and whispered in return.
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.
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.
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“Yes. Take care… and be sure to come back, big sister.”
“I know. I’ll become a fine sister for sure… and one day, I’ll
also…”
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.
Even if she were to fall on the battlefield, her spirit would still
return; it surely would.
“…Hah!”
Softly.
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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
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.
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“I understand. I will make it my responsibility to ensure
Kirito’s recovery.”
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.
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.
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.
“Good work. How long do the barrier walls look like they
will hold?”
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.
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fight.”
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?”
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times, and then somehow restarted his mind still reeling with
lingering shock.
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.
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.
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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.».”
“I fail to see how they are where we want them to be… but
there lies the problem.”
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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……”
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exit is when extracting it.”
A small metal plate was screwed into the door made from
aluminum alloy. The words carved into it were, “Second STL
Room”.
“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.
“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.
“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…”
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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…?”
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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…”
“…I haven’t.”
“Even when you really think you still want to and could
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have another?”
“Yes.”
“…Unfortunately…”
Higa paused his words for a moment and continued with his eyes
turned downwards.
Silence reigned over the dim space with its solitary rule yet again
for the third time.
“…Fu…”
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.
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.
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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?”
With that, Vassago who turned his head to look back pouted his
lips like some child and spoke.
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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.
“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.”
“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.”
Nodding with a faint smile, Gabriel scanned through the team once
more.
The giant he called out to sluggishly stepped out from the group
and answered.
“Hmm.”
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Gabriel crossed his arms and continued his words after a moment
of thought.
“No!!”
“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.
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 NSA agents told Gabriel this when they requested this
intelligence theft mission, to be conducted in absolute secrecy.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
His icy-cold cognition had returned by the time his eyes reopened.
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.
“How is it?”
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.
“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 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?”
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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”
Critter pointed that out with disdain to which Vassago replied with
a somewhat crooked smile.
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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?”
“…That good idea just sounds stupid now after those words
from you.”
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 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.
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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.”
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!”
“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»?”
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started speaking.
“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!?”
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.”
“…Specifically?”
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.
Higa was well aware his own words could hardly be considered
scientific.
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Was the fluct light a physical phenomenon?
If it was the latter, Kirigaya Kazuto’s hurt and battered soul could
be healed by some power that exceeded science.
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.
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.
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expression and continued.
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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…”
Nodding to Kikuoka’s voice, Higa ran his fingers over the keyboard.
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citizens. They won’t be doing anything in the chaos of the
final load test with statuses like those.”
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Vol.15 Chapter 17
Source: tap-trans
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.
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.
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 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.
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pitched laughter.
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.
In the end, those of this land were no more than fools without
concern for the future.
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.
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.”
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.”
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.
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.
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?”
“…And, so.”
Emptying his own cup and straightening his expression, the knight
commander asked at a slightly softer volume.
“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.
He was that Dark General, but his eyes still flashed wide open
nonetheless.
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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……”
“…Hmm…”
Wetting his tongue on his second cup of wine, Shasta lowered his
hardy face.
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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…”
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.
That vocabulary too dangerous to let out from one’s mouth within
this palace permeated into the room’s atmosphere and dissipated.
Shasta set his eyes on the crimson liquid in his glass and nodded,
slowly but deeply, at Lipia who asked so in a whisper.
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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.”
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.
Lipia nodded while feeling her head cool off gradually upon hearing
that name.
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“Certainly… Their mastery is to be feared.”
“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.
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.
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discover her late blooming aptitude for the sword, reaching
practically the highest position a human female could hope for.
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.
“…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 may have to cut them down. Four of them at the very
least.”
“B-But!”
Shasta kept his silence for a short while even after Lipia’s mouth
shut.
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“Hey, Lipia. How long have you been by my side for?”
He scratched his head, his sight wandering, and the dark knight
commander spoke slightly brusquely.
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.
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.
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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.
Gabriel silently stood up from the throne and gazed into a mirror
affixed onto the wall behind after several steps.
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.
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.
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leader of the Economic Guild!”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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a growl, Gabriel lightly nodded and looked at the next.
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.
“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.
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.
The man finally lifted his face and on it, Gabriel saw a grimness
resembling those rare «true soldiers» he met before.
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 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!!”
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.
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—
“To think you had such a talent, bro! Shouldn’t you have
become an actor instead?”
“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?”
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.
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.
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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.”
“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.”
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.
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“Oh?”
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.
He questioned while sitting onto the glossy silk sheets and the
woman replied in a hushed voice after a momentary pause.
“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.
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.
“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.
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“……I have none.”
“Hmm.”
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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.
Now then—
“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!!”
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Gabriel leaned his face in and stared into her ashen eyes up close.
He could hear and feel her neck bones creaking. Silent screams left
her mouth with her two eyes wide open.
Crack. The unknown woman’s neck bones crumbled with that dull
noise.
From the brow of the woman who closed her eyes tight as she
endured the pain—gushed out a light shining in rainbow colors.
Gabriel opened his mouth widely in that instant and sucked in the
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woman’s soul without missing any of it.
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.
More.
He needed more.
Gabriel threw his body back and let loose silent, raucous laughter.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.]
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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?]
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.]
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Viksul? His sword did not even touch mine in that moment!]
[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.
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Finishing those words, his master stood and adopting a stance akin
to wielding a sword with that missing right arm.
With that, he learned the meaning behind his master’s words with
his body.
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».
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.
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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.
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.
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His left hand grabbed at the sword’s sheath——
The emperor casually spoke in his hard and smooth voice that
resembled glass.
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.
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.
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.
However, that would mean none among the nine lords called for
the assassination.
The one and only remaining was Dark Knight Commander Shasta
himself.
No.
No…
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.
“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.”
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—
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And sealed within it, never to wake again, was the face of the
woman he loved.
“Li… pi…”
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.
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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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.
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.
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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.
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—
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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lingering mist.
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.
Though she managed to sound out one line among many, she did
not understand its meaning.
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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…”
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.
Upon reaching the top of the gate, towering three hundred mel tall,
she hovered once more.
Tearing her eyes from the ominous scene, Alice abruptly squinted.
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.
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.
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.
A familiar man’s voice rang through the landing field before she
could turn back.
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.
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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.
Alice, too, held her head as high as she could and replied.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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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?”
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.
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.
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.
Bercouli drew in a long breath. Alice felt the air around freeze up,
bit by bit.
“…Esteemed uncle…”
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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.
“…!?”
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.
“Esteemed… uncle…?”
The knight commander rubbed his chin and spoke to Alice who
murmured in a daze as though some practice had just ended.
“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.”
“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.
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.
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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.
“Oh, c’mon.”
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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…
“Esteemed… uncle…?”
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.
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.
And the last who surmised the dark general’s insurgency was yet
another—
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With only that one word, “kill”, in his heart, Shasta swung his
cherished sword down, hard.
The emperor, Gabriel Miller, drew the sword on his waist as well
when Shasta did in order to repel the enemy’s strike.
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.
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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.
And also to Fu Za, the dark general, Shasta, was a being more
detestable than any other.
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.
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.
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.
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.
—Fu Za.
—No one gave you the right to call me with such familiarity…
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.
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.
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the influence of poison.
Two eyes alone shone glaringly from within the hood pulled back
low.
—Hatred, huh.
Shasta shifted his sight off Fu Za’s eyes and stared at the poison
needle that tumbled onto the black marble floor.
In the midst of his hazy, faded vision, beyond the poison needle—
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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.
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…
—Lipia.
Before his Life ran out, Shasta shouted out the name of that one
woman he loved in his heart.
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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——
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.
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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.
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.
“Eek… aaah…!!”
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—!!”
Squelch.
The two who ruled over the goblin races turned into sprays of
blood all too quickly.
Crunch.
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.
Though her mind had descended into utter chaos, D. still realized
why the tornado’s expansion ceased.
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As though endorsing her guess, the top half of the tornado
gradually morphed.
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.
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.
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some logic still unknown to both Critter and him exist in this
Underworld—?
The giant gripped its right fist that was as large as an engine
block—
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.
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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».
It was clear his original body had exhausted its Life. Shasta
understood this would be the last attack of his lifetime.
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 he broke that, not even the god of darkness could prevent his
own existence from lapsing like Fu Za and the rest.
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scream—
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.
Shasta’s will was absorbed into the darkness that went on forever
within the emperor.
Vanishing. Vaporizing.
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.
Someone—to someone…
……Regret……
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……Lipia……
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
However, in that final battle, what she saw of Kirito from behind as
he stood up against the highest minister, Administrator—
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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.
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.
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.
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.”
“…I see.”
Alice glanced towards the sky. Though she had not noticed, the
vermillion sunset was certainly departing for the western skies.
Receiving the pot with gratitude, Alice gazed over the other party
once again.
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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.
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.
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.
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“Y-Yes! I-I… I am from the Human Empire Defense Army,
supply unit, novice trainee, Tiezé Shtolienen!”
These were the two who pled for permission to bid Kirito and Eugeo
farewell when she took them away from the academy.
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.
Both Tiezé and Ronye whose head popped out from behind made
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dumbfounded looks at that.
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…
“Ah… y-yes.”
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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.
Ronye who spoke in a frail voice had her hand grasped by Tiezé
who shouted in a voice filled with hope as well.
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.
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…
“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.
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.
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.
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.
Sitting, Tiezé gradually reached out towards the Blue Rose Sword
with her right hand in jolting motions before Alice’s eyes.
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.
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.
“…Just now……”
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—
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.
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.
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.
Apparently, that place she had not heard of before had a door to
the outside of this world.
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.
Letting out a soft sigh, Alice then put an end to her several
seconds of contemplation and walked towards the two weeping girls.
Alice stopped her feet in slight surprise upon noticing the knights
were not separated from the soldiers.
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from their exchange when she pricked up her ears.
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.
“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.
“……!”
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.”
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…”
“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.
“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.”
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.
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…?
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.
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.
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.
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.
Though she thought it was very much like Kirito to do so, she could
still not come to terms with it.
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.
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to conceal her femininity—?
“It has really been a while, hasn’t it, Alice? I’m so glad to
see you have been in good health.”
“……”
[Really]? [So]?
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.”
“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.
After Alice spoke with a little of her strength slipping from her
shoulders, Fanatio’s eyes slowly turned towards the sky and she
nodded.
“A different matter…?”
“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.”
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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 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?”
“Wha…”
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.
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“Oh dear.”
“In the first place, it’s because you always pamper this
person that…!”
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.
“…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.
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…
“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?”
Fanatio’s lips paused for a moment and she glanced towards Alice.
She listened to the words that continued while unthinkingly
straightening her back.
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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?”
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.
Forgetting the earlier quarrel for the time being, she threw out the
second problem at hand.
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.
“……One person…?”
However, the name that came from Fanatio immediately after was
beyond her expectations.
“Eh…!?”
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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.
“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.
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.
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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.”
“Huh…? Mob…?”
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.
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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.
The long files of troops behind the command vehicle flying the
emperor’s flag slowly yet surely continued marching towards the
western boundary.
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.
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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.
Gabriel did not know how serious his subordinate was with that
excuse and he stared at him briefly before curtly asking.
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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.
“Oh…?”
Vassago, what do you find fun? Firing guns? Or… murdering and
such?
She gave a respectful bow and licked her lips before reporting.
“Understood.”
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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youth.
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.
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.
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.
“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…
That was it. I heard the names of this pair back then.
Before Alice who opened her eyes widely, Tiezé’s voice shook as it
began to speak.
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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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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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.
Even with her eyes shut, she knew the white, warm light had
enveloped her body.
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.
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…”
“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.”
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.
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anyway.”
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.
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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.
However, she stopped that foot there and stared at her one and
only disciple.
“…W-What is it?”
“Yes… w-what!?”
She gently placed her right hand at his left hand, while he stood
dumbfounded, and continued.
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“I had continued down that bleak journey to reach today
only with your support. Thank you, Eldrie.”
“Ye… yes!”
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She saw the vast gorge sunken in dim darkness and the Great East
Gate straight before her eyes.
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.
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
Source: defan’s...
Credits:
Japanese Consulation – CJ
Scans – Tap
Now, since the site is now using a new structure, all individual
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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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Afterword (v15)
Afterword
Right, let’s try that again, thank you very much for reading
“Sword Art Online 15 Alicization Invading”.
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!
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!
Credits
Translation – Tap
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“………………”
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“Oji-sama. It’s been a long time.”
This logo references a big and small gear and drive belt, and the
shape of a pig’s nose.
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This chapter is translated by Tap.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
After changing clothes for Kirito and laying him down, she changed
into her nightwear, extinguished the lanterns, and climbed into bed.
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.
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:
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…?”
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—
“Kuruuu, kuruuu!”
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.
A bush fire?!
An enemy attack.
“…Selka!!”
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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?
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…”
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…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll go. I’ll save everyone. So, stay here, and
relax.”
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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.
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!”
“Go!”
Whoosh! Flapping its silvery wings, the dragon sprinted and soared
into the air.
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.
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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…?!”
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:
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.
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:
“What the hell are you saying! For us to leave our homes
behind… leave the village behind and run?!”
“We can still get away before the goblins catch up to us!
Your wealth or your life: which one’s more important?!”
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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.
At this time, Alice, who was standing still, heard a young yet
determined shout.
“…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.
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“But…. but…”
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.
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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.
Inhaling and exhaling deeply, Alice snapped open her eye like a
breaking string.
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.
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lead the way to evacuate to the southern forest.”
“A knight’s authority.”
As the thick fabric was removed, her golden armor and Fragrant
Olive Sword instantly reflected the raging flames, shining with
blinding light.
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.
“Nee…sama…?”
Turning her sight towards her sister, who clutched her hands in
front of her chest, Alice smiled kindly.
Dropping to his knees with a thump, the village chief bowed and
cried roughly:
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chief’s command, let alone which was based on that of an Integrity
Knight.
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.
Smiling and nodding at her crying sister, Alice turned and looked
north. Behind her, the villagers began to move as a whole.
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:
That was likely to be Guard Chief Jink. Hearing this, Nygr suddenly
blustered at Alice with renewed intensity:
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!”
“— 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.
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.
“Good, then leave with everyone else. And yes, please take
Barbossa-san with you as well.”
“Gihiiii!”
“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.
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armor; its eyes flashed yellow with frightening murderous hunger, as
it shouted:
“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.
Alice stepped back to avoid the spray of blood and said to herself
in her heart:
— 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…
Even so, she at least needed to use every last bit of this power for
the people.
Maintaining her position to swing the sword all the way, Alice
opened her left eye with determination.
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.
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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.
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She said, holding the cloth that was close to disintegrating to her
lips.
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.
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.
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.
“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!”
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.
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.
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dragon towards the Cave of the North to confirm.
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.”
“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’.”
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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:
But he immediately raised his head and surveyed the slightly small
Auxiliary Control Room.
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injured, two lightly injured, all in treatment with no risk of
death. Ready for combat, six, including two lightly injured.”
“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 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.”
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At the sudden question, Higa blinked several times, turning his
brain that had not yet fully recovered from the impact.
“We can confirm one more thing… These people know the
existence of Project Alicization.”
Higa nodded.
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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.».”
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1066 Report
Nakanishi channeled power into his chin in an effort to steady his
voice, and bowed his head slightly.
“Wh…”
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1067 Report
Cube Cluster within the Main Shaft and transported by
vacuum tube to any control room. It’ll exit there.”
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.
Hearing the weak breathing, Higa raised his head and directly met
eyes with the intense glare of Asuna, who was being hugged by
Rinko.
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1068 Report
Higa said in a newly serious tone, manipulating the mouse again.
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.
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1069 Report
Koujiro Rinko interjected.
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:
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1070 Report
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…”
“… Of course not.”
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1071 Report
“No.”
Rinko bit her lip, as though she were thinking about something.
She eventually whispered:
“… Regrettably…”
“… Fu…”
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1072 Report
probably left tens of minutes ago, before finally stopping his stream
of profanity.
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].
In reality —
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1073 Report
“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?”
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.
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.
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1074 Report
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:
“…Whew…”
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1075 Report
“So, this operation is more than just a burgl… —No, no. it’s
better left unsaid.”
The hulking teammate who was called slowly stepped forward and
replied:
“Hmm.”
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1076 Report
“… 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.”
“NO!!”
“Are you all merely laymen who can’t even best an amateur
technician?”
“NO!!”
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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1077 Report
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.
When the NSA agents had entrusted him with this top secret
seizure mission, they had said to Gabriel:
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1078 Report
«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].
Gabriel had already meticulously planned out his long life after this
attack.
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.
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1079 Report
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.
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.
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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1080 Report
These thoughts flashing in his mind, Gabriel closed his eyes, a
slight shiver running down his back.
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?”
Critter moved his finger; a window opened on the big screen on the
wall directly in front of them and displayed a wondrous scene.
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1081 Report
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.
“Goblins…?”
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–”
“Huh?”
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1082 Report
“These guys… These monsters, are they a part of the
system?”
“No way~”
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1083 Report
“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?”
Now, not just Critter, the entire team widened their eyes. Vassago
had spoken Japanese so fluently that even Gabriel was shocked.
“Y-Yeah. Of course.”
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1084 Report
can hardly all be Level 1 normal citizens, can they. Right,
Critter?”
However.
Seconds later, along with a rare instance of profanity from him, the
list was halted.
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1085 Report
the Human Empire as normal citizens.”
“…Hmph…”
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.
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1086 Report
always! It’s that… using a non-human general, or a monster
general to fight your way through, right?! That’s burning
hot!!”
“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!”
“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]?”
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1087 Report
had given up on reading and writing from the beginning, he was
confident about conversational usage.
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1088 Report
Rinko asked with a sharp, yet seemingly praying voice.
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.
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1089 Report
“…I will go.”
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:
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.
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1090 Report
“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.”
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1091 Report
“…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.”
“Hey, wait.”
“What?”
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1092 Report
accounts.
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.
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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1093 Report
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:
She had not seen the castle for three months, yet what welcomed
Lipia was the same cold air.
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1094 Report
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:
— If combat were not prohibited within the city, she would have
sliced off their tongues long ago.
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.
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1095 Report
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.
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.
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.”
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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1096 Report
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.
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».
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.
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1097 Report
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.
“How many times have I told you not to call me that when
we’re alone?”
“…Okay, so.”
“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.
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1098 Report
A long, deep sigh broke the silence.
“…Mm…”
“Impossible.”
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1099 Report
Lipia shook her head at the slack-jawed Shasta.
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.”
“What opportunity?”
Facing the softly questioning Lipia, Shasta fixed his gaze on the red
liquid within his glass, and slowly, but deeply, nodded.
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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.”
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.
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.
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1101 Report
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.”
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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.
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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1103 Report
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.
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.
“…Hm…”
Shasta closed his eyes, his right hand playing with his elaborate
moustache. Eventually, he murmured bitterly:
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1104 Report
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.
“B-but!”
“Hey, Lipia. How long have you been coming here to me?”
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1105 Report
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:
“E…Excellency…”
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.
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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1106 Report
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.
Gabriel shook his head slightly, and pulled his eyes back to himself
in the mirror.
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1107 Report
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.
Gabriel closed his eyes, took a slow, deep breath, and exhaled.
Besides the man who lowered his head and prostrated again, an
enormous figure as large as a small mountain began to move.
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1108 Report
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:
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.
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1109 Report
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.
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.
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1110 Report
height or muscle mass, it was far, far off from the Giant, Orc, Ogre, or
even Human who had previously reported their names.
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:
“What the hell are you saying, you slug-eater? Has your
brain swelled up because of the wet mud!?”
Pachi! Blue sparks flew forth as the Goblin leaders jumped out of
the way, shrieking.
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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.
A wise decision, Gabriel thought, and turned his eyes onto the last
general Unit.
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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1112 Report
the bowed man’s mouth.
The face that suddenly rose shared the same serious qualities as
the few [real soldiers] that Gabriel had seen.
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 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.
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.
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***
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 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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1115 Report
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.
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behind.
“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.”
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?”
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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.
“…Who is it?”
He called shortly.
“Huh?”
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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1119 Report
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.
Edging his face slightly closer, Gabriel repeated the same question
he had asked before.
“…Nobody.”
“Hmph.”
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Gabriel thought as a machine without any sliver of emotion.
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.
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No.
Then—
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!!”
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.
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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.
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.
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The bitterness of fear, pain.
That vision vanished, and was replaced with a certain topless man.
A wide, thoroughly exercised chest, tenderly, powerfully embracing
her.
After all had disappeared, Gabriel still tightly hugged the woman’s
body.
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.
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.
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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1125 Report
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 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].
***
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1126 Report
“…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.
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.”
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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?”
“A «Slash of Thoughtlessness».”
Suddenly, his mentor stood up from the wooden floor, and waved
his right arm stump vigorously.
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“Yes… I thought so as well.”
“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!”
The power of will: something amorphous like that can defeat a real,
heavy, rigid sword; no matter what, that can’t be real.
“What… What are you saying! It’s difficult for you to…”
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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.
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».
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.
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.
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.
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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 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.
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.
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injected it into his sword through his fingers. Then, he emptied his
body.
Just then.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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Shasta, whose entire body, even his thoughts, were frozen, caught
sight of —
“Li…pi…”
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.
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.
***
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.
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.
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.
Even as his entire body was covered with a halo like a light
shadow.
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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.
***
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!!”
From the northern ends of the Human Empire, to the edge of the
Eastern region.
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1139 Report
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—
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1140 Report
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.
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1141 Report
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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the Life would completely deplete.
“… It can’t be…”
The door that had stood dignified between the two worlds for over
three hundred years, would collapse after five days — how was this
possible?
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.
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.
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.
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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—
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.
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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.
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.
Straining one side of his face, throwing back his head, the young
Knight put on a look of disbelief and said:
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.
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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 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.
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.
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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.
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.
The voice that reached her ears from somewhere deep in the
crowd, made Alice felt so tearfully nostalgic and painfully nervous.
Looking away from the young Knight straightening his back, Alice
slowly turned around to the owner of the voice.
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:
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.
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.
Bercouli inhaled a deep breath. Then, Alice felt the air around her
swiftly becoming cold.
“…Oji-sama…”
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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.
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.
But, just as Alice touched her beloved sword’s hilt, the corners of
Bercouli’s mouth twitched, and a telepathic sound came.
“……?!”
Bercouli’s body was completely still, but his two eyes flashed a
terrifying light.
KIN! With a rough noise, the space between Bercouli and Kirito
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reverberated with a silver flash.
—This is?!
“O…Oji-sama…?”
Alice could not help but stared at the face of Kirito, supported by
her left arm.
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.
—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…”
“Hey, hey.”
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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.”
“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.”
As Alice thought up to this point, just as she was about to raise her
head.
“O…Oji-sama…?”
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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.
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.
But there was another person who had noticed the Dark General’s
intent of betrayal —
***
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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 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.
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.
***
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?
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.
— Fer Za.
Hearing a scratchy sound from above, Shasta could only move his
eyes and put on a severe expression.
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.
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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.
“…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.
Within the hood that was pulled down again, there were only two
eyes flashing an intense light.
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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.
Unable to support even his position with one knee against the
ground, Shasta fell to the left and slid onto the floor.
***
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.
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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…
***
— Lipia.
Before his Life ran out, Shasta called out within his heart the name
of the only woman he ever loved.
— Fer Za.
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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!!”
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.
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….!!”
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.
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.
As though it were proving this theory, the upper half of the tornado
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slowly changed shape.
***
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.
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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.
***
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.
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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».
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.
Hopefully from now on — the peaceful world that Lipia longed for
can arrive.
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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.
Nothing.
Why? Even the soul of the recluse Fer Za shined brightly, dedicated
to life to the point of greed.
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.
***
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.
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:
***
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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.
Then—
Overlapping voices cheering for the Emperor shook the entire city.
Although this proved that she was trusted, it would be better to say
that man had thought of her own plans.
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was only one simple bedsheet set up in the tent.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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—
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.
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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.
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.
Alice glanced up. Sure enough, the crimson light of the sunset was
already gradually sinking below the mountains.
Alice commended as she received the pot, and looked the small
frame up and down again.
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.
At this time, another girl who seemed to hide behind the red-haired
girl shyly stepped forward.
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.
She had once heard this extremely nervous voice. These two are
from then…?
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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.
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:
Alice could not help but smile wryly at this extremely exaggerated
wording; she squeezed out a soft smile and interrupted her:
Right after her words, Tiese and Ronye who stuck her head out
from behind both gaped.
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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…
Tiese relaxed her nervous demeanor slightly, sucked her lip and
said:
Right after Alice’s words, the two instantly shined like blooming
flower buds. Ronye even leaked tears slightly from her tea-colored
eyes.
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Tiese held Ronye’s hand as she murmured, and shouted, full of
hope:
Everything has gone this far; she couldn’t hide anything now.
Alice lifted her head decidedly and slowly opened her mouth:
Then she stepped back, lifted the fur drapery, and urged the two
inside the tent.
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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.
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.
—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.
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.
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“… Just now…”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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isn’t it, little girl?”
A low voice suddenly came from her side; Alice turned frantically.
“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.
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:
“……!”
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.
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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.
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“…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 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.
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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.
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.
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.
Alice turned her eyes to the owner of a voice that replied “Yes”.
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.
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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.
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.
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“……”
Ne? Wa?[5]
Alice could not help but remain silent for a few seconds, then
returned the greeting:
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.”
“Oh really. Then, can I go and see him after the strategy
meeting?”
“I only want to thank him. After all, the one who healed my
fatal injuries was that boy.”
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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.”
“Something else…?”
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.”
“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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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.
— Your kind of rage is the proof that you are bound by your own
identity as a female.
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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?”
“Wha…”
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.
“Ahh.”
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“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.”
Where Bercouli was standing a few minutes ago, there was only
the night wind that softly blew on the dry grass.
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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—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.
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.
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“— In these four months, we have reviewed all tactics,
but…”
“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:
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“About that, it’s a dangerous bet…”
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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.
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.
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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.
But what came out of Fanatio’s mouth was a name she had never
considered.
“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.”
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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.
“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:
The leader of the Dark Arts guild, DIL, smiled seductively and
raised her index finger.
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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?…”
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
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Vassago complained from behind, clutching his umpteenth bottle
of whiskey. Gabriel threw a quick look at him and reprimanded him
with a sharp tone:
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.
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“Heh…”
“Mm.”
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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?”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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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:
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.
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…
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:
Just as Alice was about to open her mouth and utter “You don’t
have to say anymore”, the red-haired girl continued determinately:
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:
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:
Replying like that, Alice forcefully thumped the center of her chest
with her right fist.
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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.
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.
Even as her eyes were closed, Alice was still aware of the white,
warm glow that wrapped around her body.
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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.
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.”
The tears that slid down the girls’ faces took on a spectral glow
completely unlike before, shining beautifully.
Coldly interrupting his words, Alice looked towards the eastern sky.
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.
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.
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.
“… Alice-sama, it is time…”
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?”
She softly laid her right hand onto the left hand of the
dumbfounded standing Knight and continued:
“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…!”
“Here… Here.”
“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.
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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1224 Report
without Solus, to deal a crippling blow to the enemy.
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.
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
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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1225 Report
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…
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.
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1226 Report
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!
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1227 Report
Vol.16 Chapter 18
Source: tap-trans
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.
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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].
The Great East Gate crumbled from the top, releasing flashes of
light that extended to the skies.
“Uoohh…”
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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.
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».
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
That hand would stroke his hair, touch his cheeks, and softly shake
his shoulders.
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He would hear a gentle whisper.
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.
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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.
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”.
To protect the world where he lived with the owner of that small
hand, regardless of how far in the past it was.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
Instead of spreading out his range, he shot them while still bundled
up.
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!!”
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.
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instead.
“Leave it to us!!”
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
That meant taking down the tribe’s leader with a single strike
before the war truly began would cause a great disturbance indeed.
“Enhance armament.”
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…”
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.
He had fled.
A failure.
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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.
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.
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.
Renri felt the high ranking knights who responded, such as Fanatio,
Deusolbert, or Alice, shone all the brighter despite having
experienced defeat.
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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.
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……”
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.
“Yes, this tent looks like it’ll do, Ronye. Let’s hide senpai in
here and guard the entrance.”
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.
If they had not, their souls, their «fluct lights», would break.
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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—
That they would massacre the entire enemy army with the initial
charge and end the war.
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!!”
The soldiers of the Human Empire were packed tightly into the
valley in front.
They would crush, punt, and tear apart every last one of them.
In that moment.
A foreign sensation that was, however, not all unfamiliar ran up his
spine.
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.
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body. A female—a knight adorned in glistening silver armor.
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.
…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.
Yet why had that mere female knight inspired such fright in
himself?
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.
While the warriors of the giant race watched on in shock from all
around, Sigrosig sprang up with force.
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.
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 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.
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.
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—
Not even the goblins with their excellent night vision could fight
properly within this smoke.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
It took surprisingly little time before the red-haired girl reached out
towards her sword’s grip with her right hand.
“…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.
Renri shook his head and interrupted the red-haired girl who
continued her apologies with a pale face.
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.
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.
“……?”
Renri frowned in suspicion before the girl averted her eyes this
time and shook her head slightly.
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.
«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.
—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…?
With his words fading off into his soundless breathing, Renri went
back, deeper into the tent, and sat down with a thud.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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———
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——Your Excellency.
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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.
Dakira’s mind was made up, then, as tears ran under that helmet.
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.
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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.
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.
“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.
Dakira slowly collapsed while listening to the heavy quake from the
giant falling.
“…Dakira!!”
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.
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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.
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 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.
The first fatality from the knight order lowered her eyelids for all
eternity.
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1271 Report
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!!”
She would allow no more casualties. She would protect those three
to the end, for Dakira’s sake as well.
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!!”
Smoothly pointed straight towards the sky by her right hand, the
Heaven Piercing Sword—
“Humankeeeelllll——!!”
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!!”
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.
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1274 Report
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.
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.
The conclusion Shibori reached after some thinking could not have
been any more simple or cruel.
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1275 Report
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.
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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1276 Report
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.”
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arms. They held thick, large hatchets that seemed fit to sever even
cows in their right hands.
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.
“You are one of the ten lords of the Dark Empire… the
goblins’ chief, huh?”
“That’s me.”
—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 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.
Shibori’s vulgar cry cut his sonorous voice short as he tried to state
his name.
Uu———raaaaaahh!!
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.
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1279 Report
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.
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 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.
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.
The massive blade scattered all around the fresh blood from its still
breathing comrade as it closed in towards Deusolbert’s throat.
“Ku… oohh!!”
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That was no more than a single arm!!
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 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.
«Impossible».
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1282 Report
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—
“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.
—No.
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1283 Report
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.
“Come, flames!!”
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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1284 Report
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.
“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.
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1285 Report
The distress both Fanatio in the first unit, middle, and Deusolbert
in the right flank went through.
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.
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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1286 Report
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.
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.
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1287 Report
After all, Bercouli had already activated the armament full control
art for his cherished sword.
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.
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1288 Report
—Come, quick.
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.
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1289 Report
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.
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?
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1290 Report
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—
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.
It should have been standard duty at the start. Certainly, the major
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1291 Report
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—
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
She pondered over those thoughts as she pictured the stations for
each knight in her head.
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1294 Report
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.
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.
Nodding to Fizel’s words, Linel drew her head closer to her partner
before whispering.
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Fizel lowered her voice even further at that and replied.
“……Aah…”
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.
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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.
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.
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?
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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.
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.
—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.
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.
“…There’s smoke…!”
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.
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.
“—A goblin!?”
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.
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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.
The goblin licked his lips as his viscous drool dripped in strings.
Thump.
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That stale noise rang out in the tent.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
Linel went quiet for a moment there and finally looked straight at
Renri.
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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?”
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.
—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.”
Turning about, Linel quickly instructed Tiezé and Ronye who stood
frozen.
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.
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.
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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 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.
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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.
“……”
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—
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“You……”
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.
Then—
The sharp noise of the air being sliced apart echoed as a bluish-
white light illuminated the murky insides of the tent.
“…Gh-hi…?”
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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.
As such, Renri had not actually become any more ready for battle
despite having killed the goblin with a single stroke.
“…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.
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.
“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…”
“Kill! Kill!!”
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.
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.
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.
However, what arrived at his ears was the noise of twigs fell by a
hatchet rather than the prior cutting noises.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
Kosogi’s short lines covered every single one of the Twin Edged
Wings’ weaknesses.
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hiding all the way back here, aren’t you?”
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.
He brought the silver edges held between his fingers in both hands
before his face.
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.
Things existed in this world that remained even after one’s life
came to an end.
Renri averted his sight from the goblin general, approaching with
an expression certain of victory, and gently lowered his eyelids.
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.
The goblin chief brandished his hatchet and deflected the throwing
knives with all his strength.
“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».
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.
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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.
“It’s… no use!!”
Khh.
“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.
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no bloodthirst at all on the knight’s childlike face.
Upon receiving the returning Twin Edged Wings with both hands,
they separated without a sound and returned to how they were.
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.
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.
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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.
That must have been part sarcasm, but it was still better than
scorn. Renri cleared his throat before asking of the pair.
“Okaay.” “Understood.”
……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.
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“Still five? Or perhaps their numbers are simply few…? Still,
we must be sure to slaughter those five…”
Squinting, she judged the distance to the collapsed Great Gate and
the war front beyond it before continuing.
“That’s of no issue.”
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.
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.
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».
It was not to fight, one-to-one, against his arch rival of many years,
Dark General Shasta.
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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.
The slashing area had, at last, devoured every single one of the
swarm of minions tearing through the dark skies above as they
advanced.
“——Cut!!”
He slashed the empty air with its naked blade with that brief shout.
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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.
“Wha……”
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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…”
“…Good.”
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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.
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.
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.
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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 accepted that without doubt until she assumed this duty
Bercouli assigned her to.
However.
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?
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.
—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.
However, Alice felt tight in her heart and she could do nothing
about it as screams incessantly echoed through the gorge.
…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 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.
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.
That was the exact situation that the Sage Cardinal once feared,
the «strength of many overwhelming the strength of one».
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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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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And if she were to generate luminous elements within it.
“““System call!!“”””
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.
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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.
“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?!!”
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.
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.
“…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.
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—
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.
“Unknown deficiency…?”
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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!?”
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.
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.
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 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.
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I entrust this place under you?”
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.”
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?
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…”
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.
Returning the Frost Scale Whip to his waist, Eldrie grabbed his own
face with his left hand.
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.
Alice somehow got that out her mouth despite her bewilderment.
An abrupt, bizarre growl shook the air and both Alice and Eldrie
simultaneously turned to look.
“Fgrrrr…”
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opened her eyes widely and focused them on the darkness farther
into the gorge.
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 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?
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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?
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?
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.
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».
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»?
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.
Alice could not help but ask despite lacking any reason to do so.
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.
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.
Alice waved her right hand and the green light soared towards the
eastern skies as a whirlwind.
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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!”
“I see.”
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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.
“Hmm… mm.”
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.
***
“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.
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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.
Pouring siral water into the cup left in front of the groaning
Bercouli, Deputy Commander Fanatio spoke.
“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.”
“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.
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.
What if Vector and his army chased after Alice alone, leaving
through the Great Gate, in pursuit of the radiant medium?
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.
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counterattack on what remains of the enemy army and
eliminate them.”
“Yes…?”
The following words made even the ruthless D. open her two eyes
widely in astonishment.
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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…”
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.
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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.
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facial features.
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alone this new, cold-blooded order handed down.
“We game here to bight! Ngot to pay for your mistakes wib
ow lives!”
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.
The strong must be obeyed. That was the absolute law of the Dark
Empire.
Still— still.
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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.
“……”
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.
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 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.
“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.
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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!
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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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!”
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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.
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.
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earth would be plain water.
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.
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.
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.
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Zwaaaaaaaa!!
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.
There were many aspects to offensive arts: the element they were
based on, their density, range, speed, direction, and so on.
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a high ranking arts user.
“Turn!! Climb!!”
The four flying dragons turned about as they traced out a spiral
and headed straight for the skies above the gorge.
However.
“—No!!”
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.
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».
Eldrie repeated a single word over and over again in his mind as
he gripped onto the dragon’s reins.
Protect.
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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?
—I have neither the strength to protect Master Alice nor the right
to stand at her side.
With things as they were, he might as well lay his life down on this
land with his master.
A quiet blue light flickered through the canopy over one of them.
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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…
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.
That said, that power held almost no purpose against that art
classified as a hex.
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—Oh, snake!!
If you lord over the serpents, then how about you devour that
swarm of mere worms!!
“Release recollection!!”
The Frost Scale Whip let out a dazzling silver light as it perceived
his booming voice.
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.
“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!!”
Beneath his barely raised eyelashes, his eyes, tinged violet and
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still faintly filled with light, looked upon Alice.
“Eldrie!! Eldrie—!!”
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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.
—This is war.
Thus.
This anger. This sorrow. Even if they became strength, even if they
brought about a slaughter surpassing them—
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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.
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.
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.
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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!”
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?!!
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.
“Eek…”
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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…!?”
Squelch.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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Vol.16 Chapter 19
Source: defan’s...
Translator’s Notes:
Translation Credits:
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.
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from the valley, the Defense Army decoy division was having their
first short break.
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 though he were waiting for Alice to open her eyes again, the
Knight Commander said:
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drawing the enemy away and shaving them off. Are you okay
with that?”
“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.”
“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…”
“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.
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.
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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!”
“…Oji-sama?”
Alice thought for a moment, then a similar smile spread across her
face:
Her right hand gently stroked the Frostscale Whip once more.
***
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!”
Concluding thusly, Iskahn faced front again. Shaping his right hand
into a tube, he quickly put it against his right eye.
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:
“Right…”
He rubbed his nose with his right index finger, then grinned with
confidence.
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.
OH!
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
“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.”
“……”
“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.
“O… Okay.”
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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.
“I’ll go.”
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.
The Divine Instrument strapped to her waist was the ≪Black Lily
Sword≫.
≪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.
So.
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dropped open, dumbstruck by her standing figure.
How thin.
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.
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:
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.
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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!!”
“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…?”
“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.
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instinctively.
Bibat!
Immediately after.
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.
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.
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.
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………”
“— GHAAAAAAAAAAAA!!”
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.
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.
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.
The first to perceive this deeply hidden impulse in her heart was
the Highest Minister Administrator.
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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≫:
— Bring it to me, and from it, I will fashion a Divine Instrument for
you.
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.
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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.
A year later, after killing an Integrity Knight in a duel, she was put
into hibernation at her own request.
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.
Or — it wants me to cut?
Sheyta calmly raised her head, and glanced at the terrified Fist
Fighters who had frozen to the spot.
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***
Beneath the hill, the battle between one hundred Fist Fighters and
Integrity Knight Sheyta unfolded. To be precise, it was a one-sided
massacre.
She could not feel Sheyta’s murderous intent at all. Not only that,
she could not even feel a shred of hostility.
“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.
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.
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.
Its entire body clad in glossless black metallic armor that was fitted
with a demonic horned helmet, a shadow moved soundlessly.
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.”
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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.
Gabriel rolled his eyes at Vassago, raised his blond eyebrows and
replied.
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.
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.
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.
***
“— DOOOON’T…”
Flames erupted on his taut right fist as though they were the
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scorching fury itself.
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.
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.
Kiiin! A high metallic noise resonated, and sparks burst again from
the Fist Fighter’s elbow.
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.
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.
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.
“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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
Even though he was bluffing with his expression, Iskahn felt that
his breaths had become slightly quicker.
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.
Howling like a wolf, Iskahn jabbed his index finger at the female
Knight:
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:
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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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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“Look… In this situation, I don’t know how you’re gonna
run awa…”
As the Knight grabbed onto a leg, the Dragon rose into the sky at
once.
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.
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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.
That’s right.
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 —
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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.
“Hey, baby.”
The girl replied coldly while gripping her sword, fully alert.
“S-senpaaai…?”
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.
***
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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?
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.”
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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!!”
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.
***
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.
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.”
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.
………?
— Light.
As a weird shiver ran down his spine, Vassago slowly lifted his
head.
The night sky was pitch black. The stars were blood red.
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its presence was ludicrously huge.
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.”
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.
The silhouette floating in the air stretched out her right arm.
Laa ———————–
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“Fuckin’ really? … C’mon, fuckin’ really?”
That face.
That hair.
That atmosphere.
***
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.
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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.
— Faster.
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.
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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.
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.
For Kirito — Kirigaya Kazuto, she would commit any sin. She would
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accept all deserved punishment.
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.
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The red-haired girl opened her mouth slightly, and a small voice
slipped out once more.
Perfect Japanese, yet her intonation was very subtly foreign. Thus,
Asuna felt she had glimpsed the Underworld’s three-hundred year
independent history.
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.
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circle, staring at her from a distance; Asuna walked through its center
as the girls showed her the way.
“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.
In the chair, there was a figure in black, sitting spiritlessly, its body
sagging like a shadow.
“…………Gh.”
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.
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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.
“…… 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……”
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.
She kneeled, and gently but tightly, hugged her lover. From her
own eyes, she also felt warm liquid gushing out without end.
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It would be a lie if she said she had not hoped so.
— 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.
“My name is Asuna. I’m a human like you. And just like
Kirito, I come from the outside world… for the same
purpose.”
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.
“Okay.”
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.
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.
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 —
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.
Paying his respects once more, the Merchants’ Guild chief left in
high spirits.
***
The two girls asked in unison, their red and blue eyes round.
“No.”
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nodded.
She blinked rapidly and nodded – Right. Then, the girl with tea-
colored hair asked:
“O-Okay. Understood.”
— 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.
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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.
Scattered sparks from the collision whitened across her vision. She
could barely discern the path of a second instantaneous attack.
From a distance, the girls looked on, eyes wide. Finally, they
managed weak cries.
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“Knight-sama, please stop!!”
— «Alice»!
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.
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Asuna stood her ground, and her right hand launched a familiar
combo attack.
“?!”
Standing there was a huge man who looked more than forty years
old.
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hero.
“Why stop me, Oji-san! This person could very well be a spy
for the enemy…”
“She just, with a wave of her hand, sent the enemy soldiers
into the abyss… It was, simply a miracle.”
“……”
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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.
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.
“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.
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.
“… I see.”
“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.”
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.”
“… No, nothing.”
Hmph, Alice and Asuna spun away from each other, and followed
the Knight Commander’s retreating shadow.
“Come on, we’ve got water to boil! Right, which wagon was
the liquor in? … Come on, Ronye!”
Asuna held the teacup with one hand, while gazing at the crackling
bonfire.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
The people of this world were leading lives exactly like those
sheep.
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”.
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.
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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.
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?
“… 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.
Asuna did not understand what that meant. She blinked at the
Knight Commander, then turned back to answer.
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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:
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.”
“Uh…”
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Vector who’s directing his troops right now must be someone
from the Real World like you.”
“Dark… God.”
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:
The one who answered his question was someone whom everyone
thought would remain as «The Silent» during this meeting, the gray
Knight Sheyta.
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“…”
The Knights and Guard Leaders fell into a thin silence. Bercouli
coughed and pretended not to hear that.
“Then… Alice-dono…”
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right eye… Blood…”
“… No.”
After hesitating for a moment, the chestnut hair swung from side
to side.
“That’s…”
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“That’s it! Code 871!”
She suddenly looked petrified. Her pale pink lips trembling, she
squeezed out a hoarse whisper.
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execute them directly. They were different from the regulations
within Western armies, who possessed the ability to defy orders.
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.
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.
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.
“So, do you have any clues about the name «Code 871»?
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.
“… 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.”
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?
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 —
Not about the Real World or about the enemy, but about this Asuna
person. The relationship between her and Kirito.
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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…”
“… 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 thought that Asuna would rebuke fiercely again, but she only
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hesitated for a moment and spoke slowly:
“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?”
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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.
“Y… Yeah! Didn’t you hear that, she’s not a god, she’s a
human like us! Then we can fight as well!”
«The Silent» Sheyta murmured, throwing her hat into the ring.
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.
***
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extract her to the safety of the sub control room.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
— 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.
“I’ll let you see Kirito. I’ll also tell you what I know. In
exchange, you tell me everything you know about Kirito.”
“All right. But it’s a long story. One night may not be
enough to tell it.”
So, Asuna’s light brown eyes stared up at the night sky, then she
curled the fingers on her hands and replied:
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together.”
Alice wavered slightly, then threw out her chest and retaliated:
“Um…”
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.
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again. Both of their mouths smiled wryly at the same time, as though
sighing together.
Alice shrugged and nodded towards the petite girl. She could not
help but praise the trainee exhaling and smiling in relief: what
commendable bravery.
“… 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.
Alice sighed again, raised her shoulders, and spoke to the tall
Guard Leader:
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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.”
“………”
Seeing this, Asuna’s lips trembled with a deep longing. Alice did
not discern it.
“… 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:
The dark night over the black wilderness became colder and
colder, with only the violet moon shining silently over the land.
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.
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— Have you ever had a premonition of death?
Reaching behind his head with thick fingers, the aged Knight could
hear the words that had broken into his dreams.
The one who had asked him was his only superior, the Highest
Minister Administrator.
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.
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.
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.
Just like me, who can clearly feel death knocking on my door right
now…
Walking out into the cool morning air, Bercouli started towards the
messenger guards’ tent to relay the wake-up call.
***
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.
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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.
The Fist Fighters’ Guild and Dark Knight Order were to cross the
the valley on those ten ropes.
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.
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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.
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.
— 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.
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.
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.
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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.”
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.
“This is war.”
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His name suddenly being called, the young Integrity Knight
immediately straightened his back.
“Y… Yes.”
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!”
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Alice closed her eyes for a moment, then said to herself softly:
“— 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.
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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.
Pyoooo! The ropes creaked in protest and began to shake left and
right.
“AH…!”
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.
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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.
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.
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— Only five of them… Scouts? Then there’s still time before the
enemy adjusts their movements.
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.
Iskahn yelled, not knowing whether his voice could even reach the
other side at this distance.
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.
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 — !!”
The rope snapped back, dancing in the air like a great snake.
As this scene burned into his wide eyes, Iskahn felt words tumble
from his numb mouth:
Behind him, his aide Dampe was at a complete loss for words.
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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.
Then who?
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.
***
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hand.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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Clumsily pressing on the terminal and putting it to her ear, she
heard the frantic voice of a young girl.
“Eh… Y-Yui?”
“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.”
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.
***
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younger sister, Kirigaya Suguha demanded as she buttoned her
pants.
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.
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:
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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.
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…”
“Hah? R-Roppongi?”
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1492 Report
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…
— No need for this corporate talk now, just get to the point!!
“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.”
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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…”
“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.
“Wh… Whaaaat?!”
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.
x 1.00.
“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.
***
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.
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.
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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?”
“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.
“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…”
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own emotional output software was creating.
Tears.
As though her confusion was driven away just before gushing out,
Yui tightly clasped her tiny hands in front of her chest and continued:
Yui also closed her mouth, and no one said anything for a while.
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.
Silica, her eyes wet, also rose to her feet, knelt in front of Yui and
gently hugged her with both hands.
“We still owe him a lot. Now is the time to repay some of
that.”
“… Everyone…”
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.
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.
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to cause more trouble, huh.”
“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!”
“Hnnn……”
Yui nodded forcefully, having the exact same idea from the
beginning.
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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…”
“Eh… Wh-Where?”
To the gasping four players, Yui began to explain the core details
of her mission.
But at the same time, Yui deeply believed that these people would
definitely agree.
(To be continued)
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difficult to replicate in English, but here is an attempt.↩
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Translator’s Notes:
Translation Credits:
Scans – 仓崎枫子
Terminology – Tap
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!
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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!
Kawahara Reki
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2. Head-mounted display, used for virtual reality.↩
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Translator’s Notes:
Translation Credits:
Scans – 仓崎枫子
Terminology – Tap
(left to right)
(left to right)
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1507 Report
“I, Shibori-sama, will be taking your head.” — Plains Goblin
Tribal Chief Shibori
“You’re only a Goblin… It’s written all over your face, boy.”
— Mountain Goblin Tribal Chief Kosogi
(left to right)
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Sheyta / Second Army in the Rear
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Vol.17 Chapter 20
Source: defan’s...
Translator’s Notes:
Translation Credits:
Translation – defan752
Scans – ruranobe.ru
5:00 a.m.
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 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.
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.
Sylph Lord Sakuya came walking out, her slender body wrapped in
green robes.
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:
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.”
Yet there was a far more severe problem that came with this dive.
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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.”
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.
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.
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!”
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!!”
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.
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Lisbeth’s hesitation:
Yeah, get lost; curses like those began to rouse the crowd.
— I can’t do it.
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.
Forcing her eyes open and wiping away her tears, Lisbeth began
her speech:
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that we’ve never thought of ourselves as heroes.”
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:
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But Lisbeth placed her left hand on her chest, and continued to
shout:
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:
***
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.
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.
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aggrieved screams, and their lost lives, were all real.
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.
But Asuna still strove with all her might to dispel this thought from
her mind.
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.
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immediately replied to acknowledge, did Asuna follow suit.
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.
No, thousands.
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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 —
***
What he saw made Fist Fighter Chief Iskahn forget the rage
coursing through his body, even if it was just for a split second.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
The instant that the five hundred Dark Territory soldiers, the
Human Empire soldiers, and the summoned Dark Legion met —
***
It was Asuna’s first time hearing such a shocked yell from Knight
Commander Bercouli, but words failed her.
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But where on earth did he get so many people?
Her bewilderment was shattered by the roars of the red troops that
had already approached within a few hundred meters.
“Charge ahead!!”
— English!
Those people are all humans from the real world — judging by
their accent, they’re Americans!
No.
No —
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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 —
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.
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.
“Pretty gore!!”
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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the shining gleam of dawn.
“B… But, those people are enemies from the Real World…
from my world…!”
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.
***
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“Oh… Ohh…”
“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.
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.
Were his tribal warriors not even lures, but mere sacrifices offered
to that summoned crimson legion now?
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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.
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…!!”
Then, Emperor Vector turned away from Iskahn, and directed his
dragon south of the valley.
But, if this is the ruler, if this is the strongest being with unrivalled
power—
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…!!
Iskahn thrust his right fist high, and curled his finger into a hook.
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.
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“… Champion…”
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.
Screaming that in his chest, he flung his left foot over the roughly
hundred-mel-wide gorge.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
“UWOOOOOHHH!!”
Just then —
“CHAMPIOOOOOOOOOON!!”
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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.
“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.
“… YAAAAAAAH!!”
***
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“Damn!!”
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.
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.
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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 — !!”
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 —!!
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!!”
Gatsu.
With a crunching noise, her left arm was severed down the middle
to her elbow, and it flopped uselessly in the air.
“… AAHH — !!”
Suddenly —
The head of the man with the giant axe seemed to explode in a
storm of flesh and blood.
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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.
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?
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.
“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…
“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.”
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?
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“This person, is likely to not be lying.”
The instant she saw this smile, Asuna made her decision.
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?
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────────.
“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.
Silently murmuring the name of her loved one, her pain seemed to
fly far, far away.
***
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.
Quickly — quickly break through their ranks, and get out of here.
“System call!”
“Discharge!”
BOOM!!
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!!”
“… Lil’ Miss!!”
She slid her beloved sword into its sheath and continued her sprint,
gulping down the fresh air that smelled of blood.
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.
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everything: an Incarnation of nothingness.
That was the last thing Alice could think of before her
consciousness vanished.
***
But then, he finally saw it. The flash of golden light sprinting out
from the ant-like swarm of soldiers.
“Alice… Alicia.”
Whoosh — !
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He’d never paid any attention to the bloody battlefield he had
created.
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.
***
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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.
His words pierced the air, agitating the surroundings more than a
peal of thunder could.
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.
“Release Recollection!”
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“Go ahead, Knight Commander!!”
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.
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.
“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.
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.
— 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.
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.
“Wh…”
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.
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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?!”
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:
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them!!”
“Aren’t you from the Dark Territory army? Why, would you
go this far…”
How — absurd.
The Fist Fighter stared right at Asuna with his left eye, and spoke
quietly.
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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.
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.
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Having anticipated this, Asuna looked back, and gave the gray-
haired female knight a short smile.
***
Stared at with a piercing look, the Fist Fighter could only laugh
bitterly and change his method of address.
The slender knight shrugged, and her brand new armor clattered
crisply.
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passing by.
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.
“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.
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…
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.
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Renri picked up his pace, and dashed into the forest.
***
“……Gah!!”
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.”
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:
Along with the bitter, numbing sting on his tongue, his memories
finally recovered a bit.
“How the hell did you die? You were out for eight whole
hours.”
“Ei…Eight hours?!”
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would leave the Aegis destroyer Nagato and break into the Ocean
Turtle.
“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!
Vassago shook Critter’s crew cut head, and the latter batted his
hands away annoyingly.
Then, the “plan of attack” that Critter told him rendered Vassago
speechless, even though he was a very experienced VRMMO player.
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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.
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.
One of the red lines terminated with an ‘X’, south of the «Great
Eastern Gate».
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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?”
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.
“H… Hey, hey, no matter how you look at it, the reds are
attacking the blacks, aren’t they?”
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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.”
“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.”
“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.”
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.
“What?!”
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those 20,000 reinforcements, and insert me at the white
group’s position!!”
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:
Asuna bit her lip and nodded. She knelt in front of Kirito and
gripped his left hand with her remaining right.
“Ah… uh…”
His left hand stirred, trying to caress what was left of Asuna’s left
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.
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.
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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!”
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.
With her newly restored left hand, Asuna tightly gripped a wide-
eyed Sortiliena’s right shoulder.
“Understood.”
They nodded to each other, and hurried towards the center of the
supply team decoy troops.
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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.
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.
In front of the wagons, Asuna thought as she shook back and forth
on the horse with Sortiliena:
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.
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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.
“…?”
Just as she looked straight ahead, she finally discovered the source
of the noise.
“……… No way………”
But.
Zaaaa — !!
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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.
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.
From the very front line, Knight Renri’s dragon Kazenui was
spewing scorching flames, and had charged ahead without looking
back.
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— Please take care of the rest.
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.
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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…?”
Above the crater, a real world person appeared, no, logged in with
Super Account 02, «Solus, Goddess of the Sun».
***
“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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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:
Sinon lightly patted her best friend’s slender body, and said softly:
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.
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.
Sinon swung her bow over her arm, placed both hands on Asuna’s
shoulders, and gently separated themselves.
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wiped away her tears, and spoke:
After confirming that the very last of the Human Empire Army
troops had escaped the enemy encirclement, Sinon looked back at
her best friend.
Asuna could not help but give her a bitter smile at this.
Asuna gestured with her right index finger at the carriage beneath
their feet.
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:
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.
“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.
“… 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.
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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.
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.
“H-Hey, Sinon, did you say you were going to fly?! You…
can fly?!”
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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.
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.
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.
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.
Why?
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.
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.
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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.
At the same time, he was scared that the girl’s eyes might fill with
revulsion.
He shouted as he blocked his face with his left fist, clutching the
hilt of his sword with his right.
Standing up swiftly and patting down her shorts, the girl smiled
gently.
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?”
“Why… Because.”
Then, as if affirming that the world is flat and the sky is red, she
continued matter-of-factly:
“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!!”
Placing her hands on her slender hips, the girl sounded like a
parent teaching her child.
“Wha’… more…”
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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.
“… Where… is this?”
***
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.
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.
***
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“I… I’m, Rirupirin.”
But, the girl only smiled innocently, without any kind of hidden
emotion, and repeated Rirupirin’s name in a clear voice:
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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:
“Y… Yeah.”
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.
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.
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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.
The woman who should have died — Dark Sorceress’ Guild Leader
D.I.L. stood there, her lips curved in a cruel smile.
***
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.
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Impossible. Not even the Highest Minister Administrator could
control Life as she wanted, that should be the greatest taboo.
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
—
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.
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horizon.
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.
Then, narrowing his pale blue eyes — Bercouli, the world’s eldest
knight, uttered a sharp cry.
Far off in the distance, the left wing of the black dragon ridden by
Emperor Vector was silently severed off from its roots.
***
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.
D slid her talon-like right finger into the girl’s collar, who made a
pained expression as her hair was hoisted further up.
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.
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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.
“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…!!”
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.
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“Ah… Powerful… Powerful!! How rich… and sweet!!”
This pain jolted the Orc chief back to his senses, and he shouted as
if panting:
“Uh… Gurgh…”
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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.
No, the first human who was neither afraid of nor disdainful
towards him.
Just then —
The ground.
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.
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But it was immediately shattered.
She released her right hand from clasping the girl’s hair, and the
fingers on that hand also transformed into ugly worms.
“… AHH…!!”
***
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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.”
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:
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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.
“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.
— Just a pig.
— Like a man.
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— You’re a human, aren’t you?
He could not let D kill this girl. No, he did not want her to die. For
this… For this.
Stepping on his coiled coat, Rirupirin moved his hand towards the
leather belt securing his armor together.
“… Don’t.”
His head jerked up, and his eyes met with Leafa’s, who was staring
at him.
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?”
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.
His right hand slowly released the belt — and moved towards the
hilt of the large blade on his left waist.
“I’m, a human!!”
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.
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.
D’s expression was also one of shock. The tall woman slowly
turned around, blood pouring from her shoulders like waterfalls.
Watching the Dark Sorceress shake her head back and forth in
disbelief, Leafa replied:
Hya-ka!
How — graceful.
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Her movements had no unnecessary force, yet were surprisingly
quick, and her technique was paramount.
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.
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.
Absolutely — beautiful.
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.
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The four Super Accounts in Underworld were all created for direct
operations — miracles — on the world and its inhabitants.
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.
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***
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.
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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 —
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.
***
Trailing Sinon, whose flight left a meteor’s path of light, the 700
people of the Human Empire Army desperately advanced south.
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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.
She yelled at Knight Renri, who was leading the troops from his
dragon’s back:
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!”
Asuna leapt from the carriage, and spoke to the girls poking their
heads out of the canopy and the woman standing beside them:
“Rest assured. I will absolutely not let the enemy reach this
place.”
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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.
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.
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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.
The lips, warped into a sneer, were the only visible feature.
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He murmured as his shoulders shook with indescribable
excitement.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
— He evaded that?
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.
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.
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.
— He stopped the «Empty Slash» with his bare hands? With his
back turned?
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.
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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…
“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.
***
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’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.
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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.
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.
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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.
Then, just like she envisioned beforehand, they only needed to cut
down all ten thousand or so of these enemies.
The morning sun was blocked out by gigantic shields raised into a
neat row and lances standing like flag poles.
— Heavy lancers!
“““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.
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.
“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.
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back, Asuna shouted:
Asuna tore her gaze from the incoming swarm of lances and
glanced at her designated position in the middle of the front line.
“AH………!!”
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1624 Report
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.
***
“Hsss!”
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1625 Report
resistance. Seemingly unable to withstand the pressure, the tall-
statured Vector bent his knees.
— What, is this?
No…
Someone like me, right in the middle of battle… was spacing out?!
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“Bastard… You directly absorbed my Incarnation through
my sword?”
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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!!”
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.
“Ungh… Ah!!”
With a shout, she infused strength into her left hand, gripping the
lance that pierced her body.
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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.”
“… 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.
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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!!”
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.
“— 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.
***
What awakened his consciousness was not pain, but that chilling
feeling.
“Guh…!”
The blood pouring from his left shoulder dyed a crimson arc onto
the white stone.
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.
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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…
Then, he realized.
In other words, now, this is where I die. The next moment will be
my death.
“… Heh.”
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.
***
“Ga… Hah…”
A great mouthful of blood gushed out with her rough breath, and
splashed at her feet.
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.
Her entire body had lost nearly all sensation. Only burning heat ran
through her nerves, distorting her 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.
“— Go!!”
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.
A Sword Skill.
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Under a striking bandanna, a stubbled face grinned at her.
“K… lein…?”
Asuna could not hear her own hoarse voice until the end.
***
Cut.
Consciousness blurred.
Bercouli had lost count of how many times he had gone through
this process.
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.
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1636 Report
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.
“You can’t beat me, with these sword skills… with this
second rate stuff, no, third rate at most.”
— Five hundred.
His sword blade touched the indigo halo radiating from the
Emperor.
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Bercouli stood up with difficulty, and looked towards the Emperor
behind him.
Vector wiped away the stain with his fingertip, and mused.
He took one step forward into the red puddle that Bercouli created.
The Emperor said in a flat voice, and took another step closer.
“Die.”
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.
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1638 Report
stumbled exaggeratedly.
Since his vision had failed due to enormous blood loss, his
thoughts also became hopelessly jumbled — he certainly looked like
that.
Footprints.
In other words, this was the detailed record of the two men’s
movements.
Which means, that was the place where Emperor Vector had stood
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1639 Report
ten minutes ago. Then, his bloody footprints precisely recorded the
direction he advanced in, and where he moved.
The opposite of the «Empty Slash» that could sever the future, the
«Unseen Slash» had the power to sever the past.
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.
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.
Bercouli once more readied his Time Piercing Sword about to use
Release Recollection, cursing in his chest.
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1641 Report
He was truly at his wit’s end.
Opposite it, the Knight Commander began to evade with all his
might.
Crawl away.
Right until after the fifth attack, Bercouli successfully evaded all of
them.
But after that, the blue black light finally grazed his body.
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.
— 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 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.
Hoshigami gave his Life for merely seven seconds of the Emperor’s
hesitation —
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.
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minutes.
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.
Therefore, the astronomical Life set for Vector in the system, was
first changed to zero.
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.
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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.
Swaying sunlight.
……… 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.
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.
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.
Then she finally understood, that the oldest, greatest Knight in the
world, had finally exhausted his Life.
***
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… Lil’ Miss, if it’s you, it’ll definitely be okay. Even by yourself, you
can definitely live on.
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.
“Yes, you should feel blessed that this many people are
crying for you.”
“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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1647 Report
Bercouli responded with a grin, and suddenly glanced beside him.
Unknowingly, his beloved dragon Hoshigami had wrapped its long
neck around his body.
“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?”
“… Really.”
The dragon expanded its transparent wings, and slowly flew into
the boundless yonder.
***
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.
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1648 Report
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 —
She felt as if the man she loved was speaking into her ear.
— 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.
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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.
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.
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.
Then —
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— But, now, just for now.
Pointing his long sword at the red army, Klein’s words reverberated
throughout the ancient ruins.
“… Agil-san!!”
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The third and fourth persons appeared right in front of Asuna.
, a petite girl wearing an ultramarine tunic and skirt, with hair tied
in twin tails.
“— Liz!! Silica-chan!!”
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.
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.
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.
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1652 Report
Through her endless tears, she saw a rain of code strings suddenly
pouring down at the entrance of the ruins.
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1653 Report
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…!
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.
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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.
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.
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
—
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without a doubt, the people of the outside world besides
Asuna-sama were all those kinds of scary soldiers…”
Along with a slightly upset smile that was nonetheless filled with
intimacy, Lisbeth patted Renri’s shoulders.
Asuna, who was watching this scene with a smile, was suddenly hit
by a strong premonition.
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.
Asuna lightly patted her bosom friend, who was biting her lip, on
the back.
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Switching her awareness back to the battle, Asuna rapidly
delivered directives to Renri and the Guardians.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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rescue Alice.
Asuna flashed her rapier on the foremost line, and shouted with all
her might.
***
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Close to his ear, the sound of a soft yet steady voice came.
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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.
Patches of scarlet appeared on the trainee nun’s fair face, and she
nodded.
“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.
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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.
5. Game Master.↩
6. Player Character.↩
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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↩
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Thank you very much for reading Sword Art Online 17: Alicization
Awakening.
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.
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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!
Kawahara Reki
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Adfly:
Prologue
“I’m sorry Hyeon Su. If only this father of yours was more
capable……”
Growth Potential A.
Approved.
If you want to support poor old me with an extra 0.6 cents click
here pls:P
Adfly:
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1667 Report
Translator’s Notes:
Translation Credits:
Translation – defan752
Scans – ruranobe.ru
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1668 Report
“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.
However, her love for speed ran even deeper than Steeka’s.
Steeka smiled wryly and gave her a gentle prod.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
No matter what world or age was coming for them, she could fight
valiantly as long as she had the wings of a mechadragon.
moment.
“Wha… What?!”
She had just yelped and leapt up when Laura’nei’s anxious voice
traveled over the hearing tube.
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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.
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.
—However.
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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!!”
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.
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.
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Steeka immediately responded to the voice from Craft Two.
moment.
With an echoing bang like tearing metal, the dark shot hurtled
through space.
“…Eeyaahh!!”
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Several instruments turned instantly red. The resource
communication channel began to malfunction too; her acceleration
grew sluggish.
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!!”
“…Don’t worry, I’m fine. But.. this kid can no longer fly…”
Steeka murmured, and silently covered the control stick with both
hands.
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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.”
Still smiling, Steeka slowly pulled up the control stick and turned
her injured, beloved dragon 180 degrees.
OOOOOOO——…
—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.
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—
No.
It was a human.
The figure came to a stop about 100 mel ahead of the two
mechadragons.
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!!”
As the hem of their long coat flapped, they stood with arms bravely
folded, suspended at a point in midair.
“Ruuuuuuuuun!!”
“Run away!!”
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.
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meter», move up 20 percent like this. Her ears filled with Laura’nei’s
awed voice.
Ooo…OOOOOOOO—………
Perhaps understanding that its dark shot attacks had no effect, the
space beast extended countless tentacles ahead and thrusted them
forward.
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.
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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.
“Release recollection!!”
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.
“Release… recollection!!”
Not even her own parents in Centoria would believe the existence
of this swordsman.
However—
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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.
Laaaaaaaaaaa.
A star…
Perhaps noticing the gigantic rock heading straight for it, the
Abyssal Horror shrieked.
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The front end of the fiercely burning meteor instantaneously
disintegrated the space beast’s tentacles.
OOOOOOOOOOoooooo———……
But—
The pilot of Craft Two who was normally slightly calmer than
Steeka was the first to notice what was happening.
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.
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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.
“No… Don’t let it get away! You have to burn them all!!”
——Then.
Steeka held her breath and poked the imagepanel with her
fingertip, enlarging a portion of the image.
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.
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 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.
“Release recollection!!”
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The knight slowly moved the hilt with her right hand.
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…”
GEEEEEEEEEeeeeee………
When the noise died down, the space beast was finally vanquished.
Even if this golden knight was the ancient Integrity Knight Alice,
then who exactly were the other two?
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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—
“Ah… Ahh…”
Laura’nei’s quiet voice in her ear and and her own exhaled breath
caught together.
All of a sudden, her nose was struck by the sweet aroma of honey
pies.
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Faint laughter traveling from afar.
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—
Warm tears flowed steadily down her cheeks inside her airtight
helmet.
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.
The gate to another world would open, and the current of the new
age would come flooding through with a roar.
Because—
She had been yearning for this encounter, enough to shake her
soul.
Still standing, she silently pushed forward the control stick with her
fingertips.
Towards the swordsmen waving at her from far away, whom she
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did not know, but who brought memories to her.
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Vol.18 Chapter 22
Source: defan’s...
Translator’s Notes:
Translation Credits:
Translation – defan752
Scans – ruranobe.ru
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.
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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.
Critter repressed the urge to storm into the STL Room, slap
Vassago awake, seize his shirt collar, and shake him.
Deep into the Underworld south, he saw another red dot still
moving at full speed. That would be the raid team captain, Gabriel
Miller.
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that within Underworld. They would have winged creature units at
the very most.
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.
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.
The slider on the monitor rose smoothly, and the digital numbers
beside it began jumping staccato-like.
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……”
“I see.”
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?”
***
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.
“───AHH!!”
His memory reviving with his consciousness, Higa cried out as his
eyes snapped open.
“Whoaaa?!”
─Right.
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─”
“I.. I see…”
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.
Higa looked back at Kikuoka, who after remaining silent all this
time, finally sighed heavily and spoke:
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it’s my fault for not realizing there was a spy among the
technicians…”
───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.
“G-Got it…”
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Higa relaxed his body, and Rinko updated him on the situation.
He shook his head without thinking, and after grimacing from pain
again, Higa asked something else:
“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?”
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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.
“… Hey… Kiku-san…”
Higa muttered to the commander, feeling a chill that was not part
of the blood loss.
At that moment.
***
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».
—Now dry your tears, and stand up. Then, feel them. The flowers’
prayer.
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.
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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.
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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…”
“Aarrrrgh!”
“…Yaaaaaah!!”
Asuna was shrieking and dropping like a stone from above; I threw
my arms as far apart as I could and caught her.
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absolutely N-O-T-H-I-N-G!!”
Broke into a warm smile. She took my cheeks in her slender hands,
replying in a half-amazed, half-wistful voice:
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:
“What?”
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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:
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.
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“……”
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.
“… Is Alice-san… safe…?”
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.
That man had tried to kill Asuna… and the people who mean so
much to me.
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.
***
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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.
“Holy shit!”
“Hey, wait…”
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……”
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.
Critter gasped, motioning Hans and Brigg away from the console.
Bang.
There was a small explosion before his hand could touch the lever.
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minute countdown immediately appeared on the monitor and began
decreasing with dizzying speed.
***
Dr. Koujiro rushed over and pressed her hands to Higa’s back, but
just then—
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:
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Fluctlights are present…”
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.
“All right, just spit it out! How many times is the limit?!”
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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…”
The professor was just about to stand up before it was Higa’s turn
to grab her arm.
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“Understood. I’m coming too. I believe I’m still strong
enough to carry you down the ladder.”
Those words caused everyone’s eyes to fall upon the left corner of
the sub control room.
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.
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“Sir, yes, sir!”
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!!”
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spend 200 years in sensory deprivation… Please just warn
him especially of that!!”
***
“Two……”
“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…”
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.”
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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.
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.
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But as she flew alone, she finally realized what she had to do.
To accomplish this, she must reach the «World End Altar» by any
means necessary.
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.
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 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.
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.
“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:
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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.
Kurururu!!
The two dragons lifted their heads simultaneously and gave high
calls.
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.
“Ama… yori…?”
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.
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.
Just then.
“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, the man unfolded his shield of darkness to absorb the
fire.
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.
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.
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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.
“AMAYORI! AMAYORIIIIIIII!”
Just as Alice’s terrible scream and tears tore through the desert air.
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!!
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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.
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……”
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.
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.
“Kyuru.”
“Ama… yori…”
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.
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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.
Her voice would not reach the distant sky, but the silhouette in
black indeed nodded, and smiled again.
—I’m the one who should be apologizing for making you worry for
so long. Thank you, Alice.
And then Kirito slowly changed the direction he was facing, turning
directly towards the pursuer wrapped in darkness.
“Kirito…”
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—Not even you can defeat this enemy with a normal attack.
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.
“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.
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.
BR-BRRRRRMMM!
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.
“A-Asuna…!!”
Closes—?
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.
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***
—Alice. Asuna.
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.
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.
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.
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“…Who are you?”
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.
“The soul.”
“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?
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The strongest VRMMO player? — No.
My head had lowered at some point; I swiftly raised it and gave the
name the voice had called me.
CRACK!!
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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.
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.
It was just empty darkness, a patch of black fire about one meter
long. An utterly impossible existence.
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.
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staircase hundreds of meters tall.
“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.
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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.
***
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.
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.
***
“… How generous.”
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.
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.
***
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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.”
***
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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!
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.
“Raah!”
—How?!
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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.
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:
Byuu!
“Gwah…”
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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…”
Gabriel whipped up his left hand: all five fingers lengthened into
talons, then flexed open.
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.
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.
“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
His eyes had turned inhuman before I even noticed. The sockets
were filled with nothing but bluish-black light.
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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?
It’s just that I was no longer confident I could buy them that much
time.
***
Such omnipotence.
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.
Gabriel spread his six wings wide and raised his blade of darkness
high.
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extract his soul, and ravage it until nothing was left. For the purpose
of taking more power for himself.
***
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.
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.
—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.
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.
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.
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!!”
The body under his black shirt and overcoat was ripped apart by
the raging void, and abruptly severed in half.
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.
***
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closed eyes.
…Squish.
His white face contorted intensely; great volumes of blood that was
not mine gushed from his mouth.
Of course.
“Unf…”
I moaned scratchily:
Right here.
Eugeo was still fighting when his body got cut in half.
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“RELEASE RECOLLECTION!!”
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.
The crimson was being painted over at terrific speed and the
daytime light vanished.
***
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…
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.
Sinon prayed, looking earnestly towards the sky through eyes wet
with tears.
A tiny blue star directly above her head twinkled for a moment.
***
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.
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:
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done my duty. Haven’t I…?
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…”
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.
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—
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.
Far above her head, she could see a green star gleaming brightly.
***
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.
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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.
“Me too.”
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.
—We dived into this world with AmuSpheres… but you can still
hear us, can’t you Kirito? Because our spirits are all connected.
***
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.
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.
Yet Renri discovered a new feeling when the rain of light healed
him.
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…
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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.
***
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.
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.
Iskahn called the name of the gray female knight standing beside
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him.
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.
Immediately—
Swallowing his breath and looking up, Iskahn saw but a single
green star opposite him, twinkling without a sound.
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.
***
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 mountain Goblins in the hilly north of the Dark Territory began
praying, and the plains Goblins in the western wilderness began
praying too.
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Citadel, and the Ogres in the southeastern grasslands closed their
eyes and prayed.
The whisper slipping from her lips had a slight tremble to it.
“……Onee-sama. ……Kirito.”
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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The opportunity to encounter those two young swordsmen once
more.
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.
***
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.
Vines of ice, wrapped in layers and layers over his body, hindering
his movement.
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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.
All of a sudden—
Instinct told Alice that these stars were the power of the spirits of
everyone living in this world.
The humans.
“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.
***
The sentiment became two droplets of tears that slid from her
eyelashes, streaked across her cheeks, and spilled into the air.
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.
***
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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 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.
“LLLLLLLLL!!”
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.
***
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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?
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.
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!”
“LLLLLLLLL!!”
Opposite me, Gabriel had broken free of his ice bindings and was
letting loose a bizarre howl.
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.
“…OHH!!”
With my left sword in front and my right sword behind, I kicked the
air with all of my might.
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enshrouded in an infinitely long sensation of acceleration.
“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.
“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.
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.
“WHO…OAAAAAAAAA!!”
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!!”
“NULLLLLLLL!!”
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.
15 hits.
The final 16th hit was a full-motion overhead slash from the left, a
beat slower than him.
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!!”
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.
“Thanks, Eugeo!!”
“WHO…OAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!”
Immediately—
***
His sight was masked by variegated light, and his ears felt the
nonstop passage of many layers of voices.
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—Bring an end to this war…
—I love you…
—This world…
Even as the boy’s sword speared his heart, Gabriel threw his arms
and six wings wide apart, guffawing loudly.
An exercise in futility.
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.
***
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.
From violet to red. Then orange. Past yellow — and then pure
white.
Pshk.
White light was peeking out from the fractures. The bottoms of the
six wings on his back were set ablaze.
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!!”
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The black archangel’s whole body, completely wrapped in white
cracks—
***
“——————Hahahahahahaha!!”
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.
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.
A tall white man lying down on the STL seat, his eyes closed.
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…Who is that?
Is he part of the raid team? More importantly, why is this guy lying
in the machine I dived in with?
Gabriel raised his own hands and stared. The only things there
were two vaguely translucent masses of hazy light.
Just then—
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?”
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.
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Almost on the second he spoke in a slightly firmer tone.
When he laid eyes upon the face beneath her evenly cut, adorable
bangs—
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?
Producing a queer moan, Gabriel shook his head slowly from side
to side.
Heeheehee.
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.
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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.”
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.
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.
***
And then—
***
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.
Shino and Suguha were both confident that after Kirito had
revived, he defeated the final enemy, saved the world, and would
return immediately.
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.
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.
***
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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.
“…Right, Eugeo…?”
I raised both swords at an unhurried pace and slid them into their
sheaths on my back.
……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.
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When I opened my eyes, I laid them upon the marble staircase,
which was disintegrating in silence.
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 breathed, alone.
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.
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.
In that period of time, more than 200 years would pass in this
world.
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Mom, Dad, Suguha. Sinon. Klein, Agil, Liz, Silica.
Alice.
And, Asuna.
I was never going to see those people, whom I loved so much, ever
again.
I propped myself up with both hands, but my upper body felt like it
was on the verge of shattering.
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.
—Clack.
Clack, clack.
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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.
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Vol.18 Chapter 23
Source: defan’s...
Translator’s Notes:
Translation Credits:
Translation – defan752
Proofreading – defan752
Scans – ruranobe.ru
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…]
Rinko reached out a trembling hand, slid the hatch open, and
retrieved the object within.
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.
And then, something she did not anticipate finally came out of 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.
***
“……There it goes…”
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.
Almost imploringly, Higa pressed his radio switch and called Dr.
Koujiro in the sub control room.
“…Rinko-san?”
In a stifled voice, Dr. Koujiro told him what had just happened.
Higa disconnected and emptied his lungs in one long, thin exhale.
“…Kiku-san…”
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***
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.
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?
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?
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Critter turned to address the squad, which had just begun playing
cards again.
In that case—
In that case, Critter had to devise their next plan of attack before
Captain Miller reappeared.
***
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?
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Aincrad and the 10,000 players trapped within: that had been his…
that had been Kayaba Akihiko’s ambition.
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.
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.
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…?
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.
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.
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control room at some point.
—Higa-kun, Kikuoka-san.
—Hurry!!
***
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was enough to prevent him from supporting his own weight.
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.
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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…”
“O… Oh?”
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?
***
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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!”
Hans clucked his tongue but raised his assault rifle. More than ten
other squad members mirrored him.
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.
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.
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?!”
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“He’s already dead.”
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.
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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.
—Now what?
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.
Firepower…
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Critter gave a sudden gasp. The two bodies lying in the
passageway behind him were quickly forgotten.
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.
Critter stood up and ran towards the main control room, seeking
the opinion of his captain.
***
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.
“Well, I think I was only hit once, on my vest. Are you hurt?
Those bullets bounced all over the place.”
—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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***
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.
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Captain Miller’s bulging eyeballs started moving, he would not be
able to hold back a scream.
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:
He walked around the gel bed on feet that felt like water, bringing
STL #2 into closer view.
But—
…was now a shock of crusty white wire, like the head of someone
over a hundred years old.
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He pelted out of the open door and slammed it shut with his right
foot.
“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.
Hans had barely finished listening to him before raising his rifle and
turning right around, but Critter barred him in desperation.
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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?”
“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.
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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.
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.
“Re… Retreating?!”
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.
“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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1809 Report
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.
“Main… engine?”
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:
“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—?
“It’s okay, it’ll only be like a slightly hotter sauna. I’ll just
bolt over and rip off the detonator. Easy.”
Rinko found herself unable to say the words. Nakanishi was already
walking towards the door, his wide back swelling with steely
resolution.
However.
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—
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.
“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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1813 Report
She stood on shaking feet and began to walk towards Niemom,
croaking:
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.
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.
She nodded frantically, and the masklike mechanical face gave her
a very faint smile.
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1814 Report
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.
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.
***
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».
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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1815 Report
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.
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.
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speed.
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.
***
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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1817 Report
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.
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.
But right now… this wish was something she permitted herself to
believe in.
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As though in response to Rinko’s prayer, something in the remote
feed on the monitor shifted at last.
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.
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1819 Report
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.
A soldier in black combat garb shot out from beyond the door,
shouting something.
“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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1820 Report
“No! #2’s chassis can’t handle that!!”
moment.
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—?
“Ki… Kikuoka-san?!”
“Lieutenant Colonel…!!”
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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1821 Report
pursued him. Rinko could no longer stop them.
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.
“Please…”
Ka-chunk.
Soon the safety procedures were bound to trip, and the control
rods would automatically descend into the reactor and stop the
fission.
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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1823 Report
A sudden image of white steam blasting out of a perforated Ocean
Turtle flashed through Rinko’s mind.
“Please… Akihiko-san…!!”
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.
Those were the only words ringing throughout the sub control room
now. Rinko’s fists were clenched as she shouted herself hoarse.
Three meters.
Two meters.
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1824 Report
that had spilled out of a body.
All sensors on its head darkened. Its right arm fell slowly to its side.
The group of output graphs that had been oscillating back and
forth on the main monitor now plummeted as one, dropping into
darkness.
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.
—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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1825 Report
so tightly it had begun to bleed. She was screaming:
Blink.
Blink blink.
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.
“Let’s goooo!!”
“That’s iiiiit!!”
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.
With its right hand stretched to the limit, the tip of Niemom’s finger
brushed the plastic explosive on the containment vessel.
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.
The exploding detonator had blown the fingers off #2’s right hand;
its body slowly pitched to the left—
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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1827 Report
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.
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.
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?
—So…
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.
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.
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1829 Report
Turtle while driving a mechanical body with a broken battery cable.
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.
“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.
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“Dang, that’s really unlike him… 30 seconds.”
Seconds before she touched the sliding door, the speaker in the
room relayed something from one of the staff members who had
gone downstairs.
Rinko fought back the sudden leap in her heart rate, changed the
channel on her radio, and yelled:
***
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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.
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.
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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?”
“Only the captain’s body was there. Shit, that look on his
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face? Straight out of my nightmares.”
“………”
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?
***
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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did not awaken.
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.
“…Kirito-kun.”
It was a steady, lucid voice, one I thought I would never hear again.
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.
Asuna watched it go, then looked back to me and reached out her
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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.
Pulling myself up with that hand, I gazed into those beautiful eyes
once more from a closer distance.
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.
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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.
Beneath the sky, which was now deepest blue, the world expanded
as far as the eye could see.
“Oh.”
Asuna nodded as the same smile, unchanged from the old days,
blossomed over her face:
And so, each clutching the other’s hand, we opened our wings and
took our first step into the infinite azure.
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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And lastly, to all of my readers, who have stayed with the story
until now.
Thank you very much, everyone. I hope you all will support the
SAO series in the future as well.
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1842 Report
Adfly:
Prologue
“I’m sorry Hyeon Su. If only this father of yours was more
capable……”
Growth Potential A.
Approved.
If you want to support poor old me with an extra 0.6 cents click
here pls:P
Adfly:
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1843 Report
Disclaimer
There is no guarantee the translation is 100% correct.
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