Sword Art Online - Volume 13 - Chapter 2.3

Part 3
“There… we… goooo!”
With that desperate cry, I pulled my body up for the umpteen time, hooked my right leg onto the marble edge and clambered over it before falling flat down onto the smooth floor.
My joints and muscles, abused beyond their limits, throbbed as though they were sizzling in a fire. Large drops of sweat poured endlessly down my forehead and neck and I could only let out my coarse breathing, not even having enough strength to wipe them away with my fingertips. The realism of this hefty fatigue was practically enough to dispel my belief of the basis that this world was a virtual world generated by the STL.
I had finally reached the ninety-fifth floor of the Central Cathedral at the end of roughly two agonizing hours after awaiting the moon’s ascent and resuming the wall climbing, but I no longer had the energy to gaze around. Throwing out my limbs, I closed my eyes and waited for even the slightest amount of my Life to recover.
The objective, the ninety-fifth floor, was merely seven floors from that terrace set up with «minions», but the reason for spending this much time and effort to cross that distance was this golden knight strapped onto my back with thin chains.
Several hours ago, Knight Alice Synthesis Thirty did manage to surpass that which was likely set on everyone in the Underworld, «the seal of the right eye»—that mysterious system alert, by her own will, but the price she paid was heavy indeed.
Her right eye, bearing a resemblance to jasper, blew off without a trace and the pain from that shock rendered Alice unconscious.
I am uncertain if it was due to their souls being stored in an artificial storage medium, the light cube, but those of the Underworld were relatively susceptible to psychological shocks. When afflicted by excessive grief, fear, or perhaps anger and such—those emotions were rare due to the lack of crime in the world, however—they end up losing their sense of reason for a period of time, likely to protect their fluct lights from a fatal error. Like what had occurred to Selka, Alice’s little sister, when she was captured by a squad of goblins at the northern mountain range cave two years ago.
I conjectured that Alice, too, had only lost consciousness to mitigate the shock from breaking that seal and would eventually awaken. She should have died on the spot like the head elite swordsman-in-training, Raios Antinous, if her fluct light had threw a fatal error.
On that line of thought, it was a real surprise that Eugeo, having experienced the same phenomenon as Alice in Raios’s room two days ago, managed to draw his sword without losing consciousness. As expected, he wasn’t in an excellent state of mind after we were thrown into the discipline chamber together, but he could still give a proper reply when spoken to.
I had yet to form a concrete idea on the reasoning behind their emotional vulnerability and their absolute obedience towards orders, but at the very least, it wasn’t impossible for the people of the Underworld to transcend those. Eugeo and Alice were tangible proof. The people of the Underworld were intelligence created by man—AI, but the strength of their souls was no different from the humans of the real world…
Thinking through such things, I awaited Alice’s recovery on the minions’ terrace, but the esteemed knight wouldn’t wake up even after an hour had passed. I did stanch the blood flow from her right eye with sacred arts, but I lacked both adequate space resources and the competency as an art user to cure it completely. The moon rose as I stayed on standby and the space resources began to be replenished, but that had to be reserved for creating the pitons necessary for climbing. I tore the hem of my shirt off and made an impromptu bandage, winding it around Alice’s face in consolation, before making up my mind to climb the tower with the unconscious integrity knight on my back.
Upon undoing the chain that connected both of our bodies and carrying Alice’s slender, yet unbearably heavy body, I seriously considered leaving behind the golden armor and the Fragrant Olive Sword that made up most of the weight. But seeing as Alice was resolved to fight on our side, it would be inane to discard that equipment.
Resigning myself to my fate once again, I firmly fixed the knight I carried in place and began climbing the sheer wall towards my goal, the upper portion of the cathedral that had sank into the night sky. When I saw a new terrace at the end of an excruciating two hours, the strength that escaped me from the relief I felt even caused me to drop a piton. I could only pray that no one was standing on the ground straight below.
Anyway, I ought to be forgiven for lying down for a nap after climbing over ninety meters of this vertical, straight wall to reach the goal, this ninety-fifth floor. Not that I’d move for another three minutes even I weren’t.
I gathered my determination to do so and focused my all into relaxing my entire body, sinking into bliss, but a hindrance sprang forth from behind me; it was a soft voice.
“U… uhm…”
The knight’s breath tickled my nape as she stirred awake.
“…Where… I’m… how…”
Those murmurs escaped from Alice before she tried to get up, but the chain immediately tensed up and the weight that momentarily left my back returned.
“These chains… Kirito… don’t tell me you carried me… all the way here…?
That’s right, be a little more grateful about it. That mutter to myself lasted a brief moment.
“Get away from me, you’re soaked in sweat! It’s seeping into my clothes! Quick, get off me!”
And upon sending a jab to the back of my head alongside that scream, my brow smashed into the marble floor with all of her strength back it.
 
“You’re horrible… that was too much…”
Having undone the chain in a hurry and lowered down the baggage on my back, I leaned against a nearby circular pillar as I sighed.
However, as for the esteemed knight, she took no notice of my hard labor and dusted off her white skirt with a scowl. Just as I thought she was done, wrinkles settled in her brow as she pinched the sleeve that had stayed in constant contact with my neck while I carried her. I couldn’t help but to give a light rebuke at least, after seeing such conduct.
“If it’s annoying you that much, why don’t you just get in a bath or something, oh great knight?”
It was meant as a jab towards Alice’s fussiness, but as the recipient began tilted her head in actual consideration, I had to continue on in a fluster.
“No, that’s a joke! Let’s not even joke about going all the way back down to the floors in the middle.”
“No, there’s no need to go that far, a mere five floors below… on the ninetieth floor, there is a large bath meant for the integrity knights’ use.”
“Wha…”
I was the one who trembled this time round. It would be a lie if I said that I didn’t want to clean up my clothes and body, smeared with dust and sweat due to the consecutive, fierce battles after escaping the underground jail, along with that unexpected wall climbing.
It didn’t have to be a bath, even a single pool of water close by would—I pondered while scanning through our surroundings once again.
The ninety-fifth floor of the cathedral, «(Morning Star Lookout)», appeared to have been built as a humongous viewing deck as its name implied. The circumference of the perfectly rectangular floor had no walls—that was the reason why we set this place as our target, after all—and circular columns supported the ceiling in intervals of roughly three meters all by themselves. I couldn’t help but give a nod of agreement to Administrator’s decision to station minions on the wall a little below in the slight chance of intruders, after seeing how openly this was constructed.
The outermost circumference, where Alice and I were, was a terrace encircling the floor with short steps stretching inwards from various positions. Several marble sculptures and verdant shrubs were placed in the slightly higher interior, along with tables and chairs of magnificent design. Sitting in those chairs in the afternoon, rather than the middle of the night like now, would likely allow a lovely bird’s eye view of the Underworld, extending on infinitely.
The grand staircase leading up and down seemed to have been built on the northern side. Belated as it might be, there were no sign of anyone aside from us on the floor now.
Now then, had Eugeo passed through this ninety-fifth floor yet?
Over seven hours had passed since we were separated on the eightieth floor. Considering it rationally, Eugeo should have reached this place far faster than us who went through great struggles to climb up the outer wall.
But the problem would be the mighty opponent standing in Eugeo’s way, stronger than the minions we had fought—Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli Synthesis One himself. The hero of the legend, supposedly stronger than both Deputy Integrity Knight Commander Fanatio who fiercely fought me to a close draw and Alice who dealt with me without difficulty.
Of course, Eugeo wasn’t weak. He might have even surpassed me in terms of skill with the sword. However, technique alone could not defeat the upper ranks of the integrity knights who were effectively superhuman. That made striking the opponent unaware and making use of the entire situation necessary, a so-called strategy of «anything goes». Was the diligent Eugeo actually capable of that…?
Having taken a look around as well, Alice called out to me as I worried.
“Of course, this has nothing to do with the bath, but… that partner of yours called Eugeo hasn’t gotten this high yet, have he?”
“Eh? Why?”
“After all, this ninety-fifth floor is the one and only place where we could return back into the cathedral after getting thrown outside. That much should be obvious on first sight… in other words, if he had reached here before us, he would have been waiting here for you.”
“…I see, that’s true…”
I nodded with my arms crossed. Now that she brought it up, if Eugeo had already passed this floor before us, he would have likely been captured—or turned into a corpse. Though it went against my earlier conjecture, I would like to believe that Eugeo wasn’t one to be captured or killed that easily.
“Besides, if Eugeo…”
Alice murmured with a pensive expression, with his name rolling off her tongue truly naturally, though the person in question probably hadn’t noticed so herself.
“…had climbed the grand staircase beyond the Cloudtop Garden, he would have encountered the strongest opponent before he reached here, the Morning Star Lookout. He would have come into contact with oji-sama… His Excellency, Knight Commander Bercouli.”
Putting aside how she called him oji-sama for now, I decided to enquire about something that caught my attention.
“So he really is strong? His Excellency, the Knight Commander.”
Alice’s face promptly turned into a smile with the improvised bandage still wrapped around it as she nodded.
“I, too, have never achieved victory in a match against him. Hence, both you, who lost against me, and Eugeo, possessing as much skill as you, couldn’t possibly hope to defeat him.”
“…Sure, that stands to reason. But as for whether I would have lost or not had we continued fighting…”
Ignoring my sore grumbling, the golden knight spoke on.
“Certainly, oji-sama’s expertise with the sword is beyond top class, but his armament full control art could even be said to be a technique on the level of the gods. The sacred instrument he holds, the «Time Piercing Sword», possesses the power to cleave through time as its name suggests. To be specific, the might behind oji-sama’s slashes remain in the air for a period of time… do you understand the implication of that? Even if one were to dodge those slashes one after another, it would only take a mere moment to get imprisoned within a cage of those invisible blades. Their limbs would be severed on touch, perhaps even their necks if they were down on their luck, and that said, they would meet their end even if they stayed still. All who have fought oji-sama had ended up taking on a single fatal hit in the end, like some wooden dummy.”
“…The slashes remain…”
It was tough imagining the reality through those words alone, but I suppose that essentially meant that the slashes had their durations stretched into the future. If that was the case, it truly was a frightening ability. It easily nullified the essence of the Aincrad consecutive hits sword skills, which disregarded the power behind each hit in order to lengthen the attacks in terms of distance and time, that Eugeo and I excelled in.
Exactly how did Eugeo fare against such an opponent? Though I am convinced that he had not died, cold, ominous premonitions crept their way up my back.
I guess it really would be best to head downstairs in search of my partner. But what if the worst case had already occurred and he was apprehended and taken away upstairs… to the top of the cathedral, where Administrator lived? What if the highest minister, intimate with every command, was conducting some sort of dangerous art upon him this very moment…?
Putting my strength into my two legs that had finally shook off some of their fatigue, I staggered as I stood up. Glaring at the grand staircase on the northern side of the floor, I chewed my lips.
The thought that this was the perfect time to use sacred arts to search for Eugeo’s current position came to me, but as a general rule, sacred arts could not be targeted on «humans not in this area». Administrator and Cardinal’s death match would have been settled long ago if that had been possible. Targeting an object instead of a human would still be possible, but…
I finally noticed the existence of a simple solution upon getting to that point in my thoughts and muttered.
“I see… that’s right.”
After unconcernedly nodding at Alice who turned to me with a suspicious look, I raised my right hand and shouted out at a restrained volume.
“System call!”
The space resources drained by the wall climbing had apparently been recovering as my extended fingers faintly glowed violet. Holding back the impulse to rush, I carefully chanted out the length of the command.
“Generate umbra element. Adhere possession. Object ID, WLSS703. Discharge.”
That all came from memory. Though it was nothing more than a guess, the string, «WLSS», in the first half of the ID might be short for «Double-edged, Long Sword, Single-hand» [7] 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…
Even as I brooded over such things, an umbra element bead separated from my finger tip as it breezily floated downwards and burst apart, vanishing with a sparkly noise the moment it touched the floor a short distance away.
“…Downstairs, huh.”
“It would appear so.”
I exchanged a curt conversation with Alice who now had a look of comprehension on.
I gripped and opened my lowered right hand several times; it seems that my Life, reduced from fatigue, had already recovered somewhat, but the injuries Alice had suffered should be far deeper than my own. Taking another look at the knight, I briefly enquired.
“How’s your right eye, any chance it could be healed…?”
Alice gently pressed against her right eye, covered by a bandage that was originally my shirt, with her finger tips at that and replied with a question.
“You were the one… who applied this?”
“Yeah… I got the blood to stop somehow, that’s the limits of my sacred arts. But you might be…”
“Well, of course, your art usage authority couldn’t possibly compare to mine, but…”
Voicing out her usual harsh words without hesitation as usual, she turned her lone left eye towards the skies and stared at the bluish-white full moon.
“The current amount of sacred power in the air isn’t sufficient to generate the number of luminous elements necessary to regenerate my lost eye at all. It will likely remain impossible until Solus rises.”
“Then, if you convert some sort of high priority ob- no, item on you into sacred power… like that armor, perhaps…”
“The art to return equipment into sacred power itself, too, requires no small amount of sacred power. Have you not learnt that in the academy?”
Alice put on a mildly exasperated face before hardening her expression and speaking.
“It still hurts and my right field of vision is slightly deprived, but neither would serve much obstacle in combat. I do not mind staying in this state for the time being.”
“B-But…”
“—And I wish to hold onto this sensation for a little longer. This pain; this proof of my resolve to do battle with the Axiom Church I had trusted in for these many years…”
I could do naught but nod with her saying that. Knight Alice would have to cut open a path to obtain a fate chosen by her own hand in the battles happening from now on.
“…Got it. I’ll have your right if we have to fight.”
Replying thus, I shifted my sight towards the grand staircase.
“Well, sorry to rush you, but let’s get going. Eugeo seems to be quite a few floors below judging from the umbra element earlier.”
To be accurate, I had searched for the Blue Rose Sword’s current position, rather than Eugeo’s, but he wouldn’t let his beloved sword out from his grasp until something major had happened. Upon hearing my words, Alice, too, looked towards the stairs and nodded.
“Allow me to lead the way, I am familiar with the way… though I suppose we are only heading down the stairs.”
Without granting me a chance to slip a word after her proclamation, she began walking with her boots making a clicking sound. I hurriedly followed behind.
Nothing more than a chilly draft blew from the grand staircase heading downwards at the northern end of the floor, the presence of humans was utterly lacking beyond the darkness. Signs of life from the inhabitants of the Central Cathedral was already boundlessly faint even on the lower floors, but this place near the top brimming with viscid dreariness could practically get it classified as a beautiful ruin. One could hardly believe this was the pivotal organization reigning over the whole of the Human World.
If I recall right, the top of the Axiom Church should have a bunch of people called elders, aside from the Integrity Knight Order, but I wonder why haven’t we caught sight of any of them even after coming this high.
Positioning myself on Alice’s right after she started descending the stairs in advance, I softly voiced my misgiving. The knight quickly frowned when I did and replied in a whisper as well.
“To be perfectly honest… not even us, the integrity knights, have been briefed on the full picture behind the elders. We have heard of a department named the Chamber of Elders on the floors above, from the ninety-sixth, but the knights were barred from entering and…”
“Huh… —In the first place, what do those elders’ work involve?”
“……The Taboo Index.”
Alice’s voice became increasingly grave.
“Confirming and inspecting the Human World’s inhabitants’ compliance to the Taboo Index… that’s the elders’ work. And the integrity knights are dispatched to deal with the situation whenever one who breaks a taboo appears. The order for me to head towards the Sword Mastery Academy in North Centoria to arrest Eugeo and you, too, was one from the elders.”
“…I see… So, in other words, the Chamber of Elders does the highest minister’s work in her place, huh? But it’s pretty amazing that cautious Administrator granted them such a high authority. Or maybe the elders have their memories suppressed like the integrity knights as well…”
Alice scowled while shaking her head at my words.
“Please don’t mention anything concerning memories. I would be troubled if my left eye started hurting this time round.”
“S-Sorry. But I think it’s okay now… Nothing really happened to Eugeo after he broke through the seal once too…”
“…I hope so too.”
I looked at Alice softly caress the eye patch over where her right eye was while recalling what had happened on the terrace outside.
Despite trembling time after time before she made up her mind to revolt against the church and fight against the highest minister, the «piety module» that should have been inserted into her fluct light through that process hadn’t turned unstable in the slightest. I had guessed that the «memory fragment» stolen from Alice by Administrator was of her little sister, Selka, or her childhood friend, Eugeo, but unlike with Eldrie, that purple prism showed no sign of leaving her forehead, both when she met with Eugeo at the Sword Mastery Academy and when she heard Selka’s name.
In that case, what exactly are the contents of the memories stolen from Alice and in Administrator’s possession?
There wasn’t any point in bothering with that now. After all, if we get Cardinal to conduct a so-called «reverse synthesis», Alice would regain her former memories and her integrity knight persona walking at my side right now would vanish…
My feet moved automatically as I became aware of a soft throbbing in my chest. Our footsteps were all that reverberated in the grand staircase, silent as a cemetery, in the middle of the night.
Upon passing a landing covered in red carpeting for the fifth time, the stairs downward cut off and a gigantic door took their place. We did ignore the floors from ninety-fourth to ninety-first, but there weren’t any traces of battle left on the floor and walls thus far.
I gave a look that asked, “Here?”, to Alice who stopped in her tracks.
“Yes… The ninetieth floor’s large bath is just ahead. Oji-sama certainly wouldn’t have chosen such a place to intercept him… or so I would think, but that man is simply…”
Gulping down the rest of her words, Alice raised her right hand and placed it against the double doors. The thick marble slab easily turned without making any noise.
White mist surged forth as a whole from inside in that instant and I instinctively averted my face.
“Woah… this is some amazing steam. Just how huge is this bath, I practically can’t see anything in front of me.”
That wasn’t entirely true of course, but it would be so nice to strip my sweat-soaked clothes and jump into the warm water… with those thoughts in my mind, I took a step in. There, I finally noticed the white mist sticking to my whole body wasn’t anything like steam rising from hot water, but a cold wave caused by extremely low temperatures.
It appeared this was beyond Alice’s expectations as well, seeing as she let out a small sneeze—while I let a huge one rip. I highly doubt it was pushed aside by my breath, but the white veil smoothly diverged left and right. The now-exposed, panoramic view of the large bath struck me into standing still.
It must have used up the entire cathedral floor, with the wall on the other end so far away it appeared white and hazy. The bath took up nearly all of the floor area and was halved by the path stretching straight out from where Alice and I stood, but each of them were a pool with a size of fifty meters, or so they appeared to me.
However, what was truly frightening was how the left side, which should have been brimming with hot water, was now frozen pure white.
Even the water flowing from a spout installed at the corner of the bath, made in the resemblance of a beast’s head, had turned into a curved icicle, an indication that it froze over in an instant. This was, of course, no natural phenomenon and should be acknowledged as a result brought about by some large-scale sacred art.
However, it was no simple task to freeze over this quantity of hot water in an instant. If the usual freezing arts done through cryogenic elements were used, it would require ten high ranking users at the very least, wouldn’t it?
I went forward towards the left and down the stairs that served as the edge of the bath, then placed my foot upon the white and hardened ice surface. The ice didn’t even creak with my entire weight upon it while my black sword was still on me. The depths must have been frozen all the way through to the bottom.
“…Just who and why…”
I muttered, dumbfounded, as I pushed through the lingering mist, my feet taking several steps forward before they treaded onto something hard. A fleeting noise rang out from that before breaking apart in that instant. Frowning and taking a look downwards, I saw that there appeared to be numerous more round lumps scattered on the ice surface. Reaching my hand out, I broke one off and brought it before my face.
It—had several blue, translucent petals in bloom, a rose made from ice.
“……!!”
I had caught sight of this several times before. When I fought against Deputy Knight Commander Fanatio Synthesis Two on the fiftieth floor of the cathedral, «Grand Cloister of Spiritual Light»—or when I fought with Integrity Knight Alice Synthesis Thirty on the eightieth floor, «Cloudtop Garden». Eugeo’s armament complete control art, used to stop their movement, gave birth to ice flowers like these.
In other words, what froze over the whole of this gigantic bath was not a sacred art, but…
“……Eugeo…”
A chime rang out as Alice came down beside me as I muttered. She murmured hoarsely with her left eye opened wide in shock.
“Goodness… Eugeo was the one who did this…?”
“Yeah, no mistake about that. It’s his Blue Rose Sword’s armament complete control art. …Honestly, I never imagined it could be this powerful…”
Eugeo mentioned that his armament full control art was meant for restricting movement, but this was ridiculous. A person would have all of his or her Life drained in an instant just by getting caught up in this icy hell.
He might have truly driven away the knight of legend, Bercouli… I pondered while anxiously scanning around. The umbra element searching for the Blue Rose Sword had certainly indicated somewhere around here, thus Eugeo should be near this sword as well.
That then happened. Alice let out a soft “Ah” by my side.
“……!”
I sharply drew in a breath in the next moment. Around twenty meters away, following the knight’s sight, was a visibly large silhouette. That was unmistakably the contour of a human’s shoulders and head. Someone was buried within the ice.
After exchanging glances with Alice, we both kicked through the ice roses at our feet as we started running. But I immediately realized that the silhouette buried in the ice clearly wasn’t Eugeo. Both his shoulder breadth and his neck thickness were several times as burly as Eugeo’s.
I slackened my speed from disappointment and wariness, but on the other hand, Alice cried out shrilly and ran even quicker.
“Oji-sama…!”
She rushed over to the frozen silhouette without restrain.
—That’s Knight Commander Bercouli!? Then where had Eugeo went…!?
I sped up once again even in my discomposure. By the time I got there several seconds later, Alice was already kneeling before the giant half-buried in ice, her two hands grasped together tightly as she wringed out a half-scream.
“Oji-sama…! Your Excellency, Knight Commander! What had happened that you were…!?”
Shouldn’t Alice have already known of the Blue Rose Sword’s ability after experiencing Eugeo’s armament full control art firsthand on the eightieth-floor? My doubts were cleared immediately.
The large man sunk chest-deep within the thick ice was not merely frozen. His shoulders, bulging with muscles, his neck, thick as a log, and his masculine facial features with the edge of a war sword were all dyed in an inanimated grey.
“…This… isn’t Eugeo’s armament full control art…”
Still kneeling down, Alice gently nodded when I muttered in a daze.
“…I believe so as well. I have heard about this from oji-sama a long time ago. That the chief elder is granted the authority to turn each and every human to stone… and that includes even the integrity knights. I believe that art was named… «Deep Freeze», if I recall right.”
“Deep… freeze. But why… Shouldn’t he be a vital source of combat might for suppressing us intruders right now?”
“…Oji-sama seemed to hold faint distrust against the instructions handed down by the Chamber of Elders… However, he believed peace without the Axiom Church’s rule was impossible like I once did and continued fighting through the endless days. Regardless of the authority the chief elder may possess, this… this treatment is definitely unwarranted, whatever the circumstances might have been!!”
Tears overflowing from Alice’s left eye trickled to her knees as she cried out with her head hung down. Without even attempting to wipe her cheeks, Alice reached out with both hands and clung to the petrified Bercouli. The drops of tears falling through the air landed onto the knight commander’s cheeks and scattered as light particles. That was when it happened.
Bishii! That noise hammered my ears.
Alice sprang to her feet and fixed her eyes upon Bercouli’s neck. As though the meager heat from Alice’s tears were dissolving through the petrification, thin cracks formed upon him. The cracks instantly multiplied and miniscule fragments burst off.
The ashen stone sculpture crackled on its own and its neck slowly, sluggishly turned as Alice and I looked on in amazement.
Before long, the stone figure, with its head finally turned upwards, started developing cracks near its mouth this time round. Those broken pieces that must have been living flesh and blood a few hours ago continued falling off without stop.
Judging from the name, deep freeze, it seemed probable that command completely froze not just the Underworld inhabitants’ physical bodies, but their minds as well. It was different from being painted over with plaster in the real world. They would be denied from all possible motions as instructed by their absolute god, the system. And this man was smashing through that with the might of his will.
“Oji-sama… stop, stop it! Your body will shatter, oji-sama!!”
Alice shouted out in a voice streaked with tears. However, Knight Commander Bercouli ceaselessly struggled against god and his eyelids finally lifted up as remarkably loud breaking noises rang out. His eyes were dyed in the same grey as his skin, but his irises quivered like the surface of water and slightly regained a shade of pale, bluish grey. I could vividly feel the strength of will coming from the man’s two eyes.
His mouth formed a broad grin as fragments endlessly flaked off him and a terribly hoarse—yet stout voice streamed out from there.
“…Hey, lil’ miss. You don’t hafta cry that hard… it’s ruining your beauty.”
“Oji-sama…!!”
“Stop worrying already… It’s not like I would kick the bucket from a single art like this, right? Instead…”
Bercouli stopped his words for a moment and stared at Alice’s crying face right before him, along with the impromptu bandage covering its right, before showing a fuzzy smile filled with what seemed like a father’s love.
“So that’s it… lil’ miss, you’ve finally… crossed that wall, huh… The seal I’ve… spent three hundred years without breaking it… in the right eye…”
“O-Ojisama…… I… I…”
“Don’t make… that face… I’m… glad… Now… there’s nothing more… I can teach you, lil’ miss…”
“That’s not… that’s not true!! There are still many, many things that I want you to teach me, Oji-sama…!!”
Making no attempt to hold back her childish weeping, Alice hugged the knight commander’s neck with both arms once more. A gentle smile still on his face, Bercouli whispered into Alice’s ear.
“You can definitely do it, lil’ miss… The Axiom Church’s mistakes… amend them and guide this… twisted world to how… it should be……”
I realized that voice was rapidly fading away. The astounding willpower brought forth by the knight commander’s fluct light was nearly at its end.
Bercouli’s eyes, losing their light and returning to rock-grey, suddenly pointed straight towards me. From his unmoving lips, a grave, hoarse voice poured out.
“Hey, rascal… I’ll leave lil’ Alice… in your… hands.”
“…Right.”
I nodded with just that and the hero of olden times nodded back as new cracks were carved into his neck. What would likely be his last words reached my ears on the white, cold air.
“Your… partner was… taken by… the chief elder, Chudelkin… Probably… to the highest minister’s room… Hurry… before that kid’s misled… by his muddle of memories…”
Knight Commander Bercouli turned into a mute stone statue once more the instant his voice was cut off.
With a dense, white mist covering up to his chest, the countless cracks carved upon from his neck to his eyes seemed to further emphasize his valor, fitting of a hero of old.
“……Oji-sama…”
The heartrending voice Alice forced out while clinging to the knight commander’s shoulders reached my ears as I thought hard over the meaning behind the words he left.
?
The person known as Chief Elder Chudelkin had performed the «Deep Freeze» command upon Knight Commander Bercouli and took Eugeo away from this place. Those would be the facts. Taking a look around, I noticed a perfectly square hole in the ice that seemed as though it was cut out by a power saw, down to the bottom of the bath, a short distance away from Bercouli froze.
Eugeo must have definitely activated his ice roses art with the resolution to bring it into a stalemate. And the chief elder who barged in had cut Eugeo out with the ice, then took him up towards Administrator’s room. However, those words the knight commander left behind bothered me, about some muddle of memories. I’m not one to believe that Eugeo would yield to brainwashing that easily with what I knew about him, but I couldn’t even begin to imagine what trickery Administrator could resort to, with her ability to alter fluct lights directly.
Staring at the shaft as I pondered, I noticed something glittering as it caught the light deep within the smoothly carved out portion. Stepping up towards the hole, I stared hard into it and saw a single long sword stabbed into the bath’s base. I couldn’t possible mistake its elegant shape even through those few centimeters of ice. It was Eugeo’s beloved sword, the Blue Rose Sword.
My unease heightened all the more upon seeing that beautiful sacred instrument that could practically be called part of Eugeo’s self left alone at the bottom of the ice. I took a glance at Alice still clinging onto Bercouli, then drew my black sword from the left of my waist and lightly stuck its point straight down, right above the Blue Rose Sword buried in ice. I put strength into the handle I held with an underhand grip for an instant.
Pikii! That loud noise rang out as the ice was smashed vertically down, crumbling into the shaft at its side. Kneeling down on the ice, I covered the mostly exposed Blue Rose Sword’s handle with my left hand and slowly pulled on it despite needing to endure its relentless chill, of some negative Celcius degree, stabbing into my skin. The sword put up a little resistance, but was soon drawn out without any noise as miniscule shards of ice fell off it.
When I stood up with the black sword in my right hand and the Blue Rose Sword in my left, various joints of mine creaked in protest at their weight. It was only natural, holding onto two sacred instruments with high priorities, but I couldn’t simply give up here. After all, our valet trainees, Ronye and Tieze, had bloodied their hands to bring these swords to us while we were being taken away to the cathedral.
I’m the one in charge of getting this Blue Rose Sword to Eugeo this time.
Taking yet another look around me, I saw a familiar white leather sheath left on the frosty ice surface. Putting the black sword back to the left of my waist, I picked up that fallen sheath and stored the Blue Rose Sword into it. After a bit of thought, I hung the second sword on the right side of my belt, somehow attaining the balance to move around.
I took a deep breath as I turned around and found Alice standing before me, apparently gotten there without my notice. She wiped away the tears from her left eye with her sleeve and spoke in a slightly blunt tone, perhaps to hide her embarrassment.
“…The only ones who would hold two swords are those eccentric upper class nobles capable only of grandstanding… but it fits you well enough, strangely.”
“Hm? Oh really…”
I couldn’t help but give a wry smile. Certainly, I lived on as a solo player fighting with two swords equipped in my SAO days, but maybe due to the long while I spent hiding my skills, having someone look at me with dual blades brought a sense of unease.
No—that might not be all to it; I might be holding some fear for that grandiose other existence of mine, that Kirito who cleared the death game SAO with dual blades, somewhere in my heart… or perhaps repugnance. No matter how anyone would try to convince me, I would gladly pass on taking up that role for a second time.
“…Even so, swinging two swords at the same time would be simply impossible.”

Alice candidly nodded in agreement when I said so while shrugging my shoulders.
“Wielding two swords would render you unable to use the important secret skills, after all. Even if we ignored that fact, there is clearly no benefit in equipping two swords. In any case… if that sword was left behind, I suppose Eugeo must have already been taken away to the esteemed highest minister… It would serve us best to hurry, that person’s actions are beyond what human could think up of…”
“…Have you talked to her before? Have you talked to Administrator?”
“Only once.”
Alice’s facial expression went rigid as she nodded at my question.
“That would be six years ago now… but when I woke up with all of my past memories lost as an integrity knight apprentice, I met the esteemed highest minister, «the one who summoned me» and the mouthpiece of the gods in the Human World. She was a slender and beautiful person who appeared to have never held anything of considerable weight, let alone swords… but her eyes…”
She continued murmuring while hugging herself with her two arms.
“Those silver eyes were like mirrors, reflecting all light… Yes, I understand now. I must have been stricken with dread. What drove me to never go against her, to trust in all of her words, and to give all of myself to her was an overwhelming sense of fear… I am sure of that now.”
“Alice…”
Feeling slight unease, I stared at the knight’s crestfallen face.
However, as though she had read my mind, Alice took in a deep breath, then raised her line of vision and nodded.
“I am fine. I have already decided. To do what I believe to be right, for my little sister living in the faraway north… the family I have never met, as well as the general populace. —Oji-sama knew of the seal placed on our right eyes. In other words, the one who managed the integrity knights, Bercouli Synthesis One, had definitely not blindly believed the Axiom Church’s rule to be benevolent. Coming down to this floor hadn’t been any help in regards to saving your partner, but I am glad I could meet with oji-sama… I will not let my heart waver any longer.”
Alice lowered her waist and gently stroked the petrified Bercouli’s cheeks. But that only lasted a brief moment and she turned back, firmly stepping on the ice as she began walking back towards where we came from.
“Now, let’s hurry. The chief elder might stand in our way before we can face off the esteemed highest minister.”
“H… hey, is it okay leaving the knight commander like that?”
I asked after getting beside her in a half-run and Integrity Knight Alice casually spoke with a keen light in her left eye.
“That would be settled if we string up the chief elder, Chudelkin, and get him to release the art… or perhaps if we cut him down.”
The thought that I definitely didn’t want this knight back as my enemy crossed my mind as I walked on, enduring the weight of the two swords.
 
Alice and I stopped upon returning to the ninety-fifth floor, «Morning Star Lookout», after running through another five floors worth of stairs, though against gravity this time round.
Unlike me, breathing hard due to the Blue Rose Sword hanging off the right of my waist, the great integrity knight had that unchanging tranquil expression on despite how there shouldn’t be much difference between the weight of our equipment. I could practically feel a chill from her snow white skin and blue eyes, filled with resolute determination, as she looked up towards the stairs continuing to the next floor.
“…Listen to me while you catch your breath. The elders shouldn’t be much different from the common folk in terms of close-range combat with weapons, but their sacred arts usage authority exceeds even ours, the integrity knights’. Even if the air barely has any sacred power like now, they would likely use catalyst crystals gathered from the rose garden and launch an unending barrage of long-range arts at us.”
“For opponents like that… bringing it into close-range, with a sneak attack, would be the norm… huh.
Alice curtly nodded at me when I cut into the conversation while puffing and panting.
“This is no time to worry about how we fight. It will be best if we managed to approach without their notice, but there is no guarantee we could. If we were to fail in our surprise attack, I’ll have you charge in while I guard against their sacred arts with my sword’s full control art.”
“…So I’m the one attacking, huh…”
With me showing a depressed look at the prospect of fighting against the magic-type enemies that I disliked, Alice’s left eyebrow jerked up and she let loose with that usual sarcasm she had a gift for.
“I won’t mind reversing the roles. But in that case, I’ll have to ask you to defend against those sacred arts.”
“Yeah, got it, I’ll do it.”
Certainly, my black sword was currently recovering its Life and I wasn’t sure if it could even use its full control art. If possible, I would honestly like to preserve it until the battle against the highest minister. In the first place, my special skill, summoning that huge, umbra-elemental spear that originated from the Gigas Cedar, was lacking in type of functionality the «flower storm» from Alice’s sword had, even if it might have the destructive might to turn a situation around.
Alice solemnly spoke as I nodded away.
“I might cast a healing art from the back if I get in the mood. Go berserk all you like, but leave the chief elder, Chudelkin, alive. If he is as I recall, he should be a small man dressed in a jester costume in shades of vivid blue and red.”
“…That’s one… outfit that throws all sense of dignity to the wind.”
“That may be so, but don’t make light of him. Aside from that terrible «Deep Freeze» art, he should have many quick and powerful arts under his control… he does have the most capability in the arts in the church, behind the highest minister, after all.”
“Yeah, I know. Those who look like runts at first glance always turn out to be the most troublesome in quests.”
Alice spared only a brief moment to make a wary expression at my words before she turned her pointed gaze towards the ascending stairs and spoke out a “well, then” with strength.
“—Let’s get going.”
What awaited us, upon running up a floor on the grand staircase, silencing our footsteps as much as we could in our hurry, was a particularly narrow, dimly-lit passage and a black door that shut off the rest of it.
The breadth of the passage illuminated by an eerie green lamp was a meter and a half at most. Narrow enough that two would have to take care when passing by each other. The single door further in, too, was small. Alice and I were barely able to pass through without hitting our heads against it, but well-built men the likes of Knight Commander Bercouli would have to bend over quite a bit, wouldn’t they?
This sight simply didn’t feel right. Normally, the stronghold of the strongest enemy—the «last dungeon» in short, would get increasingly extravagant and gaudy in layout and furnishing the further one explored, wouldn’t it? The floors really had been generous with their decorations and floor area usage up until the «Morning Star Lookout» just a floor below.
So what was with this cramp space after we had gotten a hair’s breadth away from the highest floor?
“…This is the «Chamber of Elders» that you mentioned earlier… right?”
“I do believe so, but… —We will know after entering.”
She stepped into the passage, her golden hair aflutter, as though to shrug away her doubts.
Having begun to think that there might be traps set in this narrow space, I instinctively tried to pull her back, but immediately reconsidered and ran after her. They couldn’t possibly have set traps in anticipation of intruders in an area this far inside the Axiom Church. Even if there were any, they would probably be proudly displayed like the minions lining the outer wall.
The narrow path of roughly twenty meters let its intruders pass without incident and we reached the small door.
Exchanging glances, we both nodded before I, in the offensive role, reached out and held the doorknob, which was small as well, with my right hand. The door was unlocked; the knob turned far too easily with a click and it smoothly opened when pulled.
I could distinctly feel a sort of presence in the chilly air blew out from the dim interior—to use an analogy, it was like that desolation I felt whenever I opened the boss rooms’ doors in Aincrad’s labyrinths, inducing goose bumps over my back.
That said, I couldn’t very well tell Alice to swap in as the vanguard now. Firmly pulling open the door, I stooped slightly as I looked in.
The narrow path continued a little more and expanded into a barely illuminated, dark space. A faint violet light seemed to be flickering away, but I couldn’t see where it came from.
It was in that moment I timidly passed through the door that what sounded like grouchy curses reached my eyes. Stopping in my steps, I pricked up my ears. It wasn’t a single person’s voice. There were several—perhaps even several tens of people muttering over each other. Alice whispered, “Those are sacred arts”, from behind and I replied in agreement, holding my breath.
I braced myself, expecting multiple attacks aimed at us, but that was apparently not the case. The word, «generate», crucial for offensive arts line, was absent from the fragments of commands I could hear.
I inclined my head, pondering what sort of art it could be, and Alice urged me on with whispers.
“Let us rush in. If the elders are casting some great art unrelated to us, that would actually be in our favor. We might even be able to get within sword fighting range if we slip among their voices in this darkness.”
“…Yeah, that’s right. Like we planned, I’ll be the first to go. My back’s yours.”
Whispering back, I slowly drew my black sword from the left of my waist. I did think that the Blue Rose Sword at the right of my waist might become a burden in combat, but that wasn’t enough to make me leave it in a place like this. Confirming that Alice had drawn her Fragrant Olive Sword, I stepped forth once more.
Upon closing in to the shadowy space, I noticed a sort of unpleasant stench mixed into the cold air. It was unlike the stench of beasts or blood, similar to rotting food. Shrugging my thoughts off that, I pressed my back against the passage’s wall while peeking into the dim area known as the «Chamber of Elders».
It was spacious—or rather, it was tall.
The floor was circular with a diameter of roughly twenty meters. The winding wall stretched up high, probably three floors worth of the cathedral, the ceiling sinking into the darkness. In terms of its structure, it bore a slight resemblance to the Great Library Room Cardinal lived in.
There weren’t any sort of lamps; the only sources of light were several blinking, faint, violet lights around the walls. Aside from that, there were round objects arranged uniformly with the same short gaps, but I couldn’t recognize them.
A new light then came to life rather close to us. A rectangular plane shimmering pale purple—a «Stacia Window». And those spheres further in were……
The heads of humans.
So that meant every one of those round things lined up in this cylindrical hall—
“…De-Decapitated heads…?”
A hoarse voice escaped me and Alice, behind me, let out a whisper at the lowest possible volume from my left.
“No, they seem to be attached to bodies, but… they appear to be growing from the wall…”
I desperately focused my eyes at her words. Certainly, a neck and shoulders were below those round heads, but those were all I could see. After all, their bodies were cleanly withdrawn in the rectangular boxes mounted on the wall.
Judging from the modest sizes of the boxes, their limbs must have been folded as far as they could be bent inside. I could hardly think that environment was pleasant, but the boxed humans seemed entirely unconscious of the situation they were in. After all, their faces thrust out from the boxes completely lacked any sort of emotion.
They grew no hair, not on their hair, 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 windows displayed flowing lines of text in a minute font and at each pause, the boxed humans voiced out monotonously from their colorless lips.
“System call… display rebelling index…”
My whole body stiffened the moment I heard that voice unfitting for one among the living.
“They… they are… from back then…!?”
“Do you know of them!?”
Alice rapidly responded to my groan. Taking glances at the knight’s face, I faintly nodded.
“Yeah… Two days ago, right after I fought against Raios and Humbert at the Sword Mastery Academy, something like a window appeared in a corner of the room. The white face that looked at Eugeo and I from in there… was definitely those guys…”
Alice pricked her ears towards the boxed humans’ voices once again at my words, then spoke with a scowl.
“The art they’re chanting… I have no memory of it whatsoever, but they seem to be dividing the Human World into small divisions and displaying some sort of value. I don’t know what that value represents, though.”
“A value…”
The moment I parroted those words, a voice flashed back in my mind.
—And within those hidden parameters, there exists one called «Transgression Quotient».
—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 [8] Cardinal spoke of, which in other words, meant that the tens of boxed humans in this space were currently checking through the transgression quotients of every single person living in the Human World.
If they were to detect an abnormal value, the boxed humans would peek into that location, identify the one who committed the taboo, and report it. The person who received the report would then instruct the integrity knights to arrest the criminal. This was how Eugeo and I, and Alice as well, were taken away to the cathedral…
I was standing still in mute surprise when a buzzer-like beeping suddenly rang out. Alice and I both instinctively steeled our grips on our swords, but apparently, we hadn’t been discovered. After all, the boxed human who stopped chanting those commands en masse, were looking straight up, rather than down.
I hadn’t noticed until now, but something resembling a faucet stuck up straight above their heads. The boxed humans all opened their heads and a gooey, brown fluid suddenly flowed out from the faucets. They caught that with their mouths and drank it down mechanically. Some of the fluid spilled from their mouths, staining their necks and chests. That was likely where the stench of rot came from.
The buzzer rang again before long and the supply of liquid food ceased. The boxed humans rotated their head back forward and resumed chanting the commands. System call… system call…
—This couldn’t be considered any way to treat humans any longer.
No, I couldn’t permit such terrible treatment, even towards cows and sheep.
I grinded my teeth, holding back the indignation welling from deep inside, just as Alice uttered out in a deep, tense voice.
“And these… are supposed to be the elders, of the Axiom Church, governing the Human World?”
I shifted my vision and saw the integrity knight glaring into the space, her single, blue eye ablaze with light. It didn’t come to mind until she mentioned it, but that certainly would be the conclusion. These tens of boxed humans were the elders, the higher civil servants of the Axiom Church.
“And the one who brought forth such a sight, too… was the highest minister, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah… that’s likely.”
I nodded slightly at Alice’s words.
“They must have been humans excelling at the sacred arts, though with poor combat potential, kidnapped from all over the Human World who had their emotions and thoughts sealed away and reformed into these observation instruments called elders…”
Yes, they were nothing more than mere instruments here. Instruments to overlook the maintenance of the flawless peace… or perhaps, stasis, of the entire Human World under the reign of the Axiom Church. The wretchedness of these elders’ fates eclipsed even the that of the integrity knights who lost the memories of those precious to them. Administrator’s rule had continued on for several hundreds of years on the backs of these victims.
Alice’s face slowly slipped down and her lightly fallen golden hair hid her expression.
“…I can’t forgive her.”
Perhaps projecting its master’s rage, the Fragrant Olive Sword gripped in her right hand let out a soft chime.
“No matter what crime they had committed, were they not still given life as humans? To… deprive them of human intelligence and emotion, not stopping at simply robbing them of their memories like the knights were, and shutting them away in small boxes with meals inferior to even that of beasts… there is neither honor nor justice in this place.”
Alice boldly raised her face the moment her words ended and she stepped into the hall without faltering. I chased after her in panic.
The elders’ vision stayed firmly on the Stacia Windows despite the arrival of this female knight, glittering beautifully even in the depths of darkness. Alice moved to the left and stood before a single box. I stared at the elder’s pallid face from diagonally behind.
I couldn’t tell its age, or even its gender from up close. Were its human characteristics robbed from their essence in the endless months and years since getting bound in this lightless hall, no, prison?
Alice then smoothly brought the Fragrant Olive Sword in her right hand up. I thought she intented to break the box, but its golden edge was neatly placed where the elder’s heart should be. Swallowing my breath, I sounded out a short whisper.
“Alice…!”
“Do you not believe that severing its life… would be an act of mercy?”
I had no immediate answer for that question.
From the circumstances, even if they were to reunite with their «memory fragment»—if there was even one preserved—they might not return to how they were… the elders’ fluct lights were broken beyond salvage, rendering repair impossible; I couldn’t help but to think that.
However, Cardinal, or maybe Administrator could still grant them a hope that was an improvement over death at the very least. With that in my mind, I thought to place my hand on Alice’s golden epaulet to restrain her.
However, a queer noise reverberated through the hall a moment sooner and frozen both Alice and I in our tracks.
“Aah… aah—!”
It was a person’s screeching, shrill cry.
“Aah, no way, aah, that is such a waste, oh, highest minister, aah, you mustn’t, aah, ooh—!!”
Alice and I exchanged expressions of doubt at that list of senseless interjections.
I have no memory of that tone of voice. It didn’t seem to be from someone young, but still, I doubt it was from someone elderly. All I could be sure of, was that the owner of that voice was so excited that he or she had lost all sense of reason.
As though cold water had been thrown on her fury, Alice withdrew her blade and stared towards where the voice came from. I, too, turned my sight in that direction.
Further into the cylindrical hall was a widely opened passage like the one we entered from. The shrill voice carried out from inside intermittently.
“……”
Let’s go; Alice seemed to imply as she pointed towards the passage with her sword. Replying with a nod, we began moving with our footsteps silenced.
The hall lacked any pillars or furnishing that we could hide ourselves behind and it took a little courage to cross straight through the middle of the floor, but the tens of humans stationed on the walls had no eyes for us which implied that the liquid food coming out from the faucets were all that existed in their worlds. I couldn’t help but pity the underground jailer or the girl in charge of the elevator when I found out about their circumstances, but saying that the elders were tragic was an outright understatement.
At the same time, I could only say that I could make no sense of that person letting out that loud, writhing voice so close to this horrifying place. At the very least, I was sure it couldn’t be an ally.
Alice apparently thought the same as a pronounced shade of anger different from earlier appeared on her pale profile. Cutting a straight line through the hall with her footsteps suppressed, Alice peeked in from the entrance to the inner passage. I, too, examined the state of affairs from right behind her.
Beyond the passage, just as strangely narrow as its entrance, was a sizable room, though smaller than the hall. Though modest, it was illuminated, allowing us to see the interior without trouble.
My first impression was that of a extremely bizarre room.
Every single piece of furniture glittered with a crass golden color. From the large ones, like the drawers and bed, to the small, round table and storage boxes; they all gleamed dazzlingly as they reflected the lighting, stabbing into my eyes even from this distance.
And what jutted out from those golden furniture or laid atop them, were countless toys of various types, both big and small.
Most were stuffed toys in loud primary colors. From human dolls, with buttons for eyes and yarn for hair, to animals like dogs and cats, horses and cattle, even some monsters I couldn’t identify, in their repulsive forms; they were here, there, and everywhere on the floor and bed, piled up into heaps. There were also building bricks, wooden horses, musical instruments, and such aside from those, as if the toy shop from Centoria’s fifth district had been carted here.
And the owner of that voice sat half-buried in there, back facing us.
“Hoooooh!! Hoooooooh!!”
Similarly, the being that had degenerated into hurling out meaningless exclamations, one after another, could be described only as bizarre.
Round. A round head rode atop a nearly spherical torso just like a snowman. But it wasn’t white; it was clad in a jester outfit, colored red on the right and blue on the left. The sleeves covering its stumpy arms had vertical stripes of red and blue as well; a sight that seemed like it would hurt if stared at too hard.
The round head was pure white and utterly bald like the elders behind, but unlike them, its surface was glossy with grease. A hat in the same boorish shade of gold as the furniture sat on that head.
I put my mouth closer to Alice’s ear as she stood in front and asked as softly as I could.
“That’s the chief elder…?”
“Yes, that’s Chudelkin.”
The knight’s answer was extremely soft as well, but it came out with undeniable disgust. I gazed once more at that back covered by the jester costume.
If he was the chief elder, he should be on equal footing as Knight Commander Bercouli as the highest ranking sacred arts user, one among the Axiom Church’s most important people. But despite that, the word, “defenseless”, was practically written on his back. His mind appeared to be completely taken in by something he carried in his two hands.
I couldn’t see it well due to his round back blocking, but it seemed that thing Chudelkin was absorbed in looking into was a large glass ball. His outstretched, short legs wiggled each time colors flickered within it, along with his exclamations of “hah” or “hoh”.
I figured for sure there would be a tense introduction before a great battle began, like the fights against Deusolbert and Fanatio, but just how should I deal with this situation? When I struggled to think up of a follow-up, Alice suddenly made her move, apparently unable to hold herself back any longer. With a wholehearted dash and no attempt to hide her footsteps, to boot.
That said, she only really needed to kick off the ground five times. Easily leaving me behind as I frantically tried to catch up to the golden squall that raided the room, Alice had already gotten a tight grip on the fluttering collar of Chudelkin’s jester outfit and lifted him up by the time his round neck thought to turn around.
“Hoooooaah!?”
Alice vigorously pulled that round thing, from which a hysterical voice escaped, out from the sea of stuffed toys and lifted him up high. Finally caught up there, I first scanned through the entire room. Of course, I was looking for Eugeo who had been taken away from the large bathe by Chudelkin, but I couldn’t spot him anywhere. When I looked towards the middle of the room again in dejection, the glass ball Chudelkin had been absorbed in caught my eye.
A swirl of light dyed the insides of the glass ball, probably measuring fifty centimeters from side-to-side at least, showing an image with depth. A slovenly sitting girl with both legs folded to the side atop luxurious sheets. Her face was hidden from view by long silver hair, but her body was completely unclothed.
It was when my gusto drained away upon realizing this was the reason behind Chudelkin’s odd squeals that I noticed what appeared like another person in front of the sitting. I leaned my face in for a closer look, but perhaps because the art was interrupted off then, the image flashed white and faded.
Alice, on the other hand, showed no interest in the image from the very beginning, thrusting the tip of her sword straight towards the suspended jester’s mouth as she spoke.
“I’ll slice your tongue off from its base the instant it tries to start the chant for an art.”
The small man’s mouth that was about to scream something aptly closed after that cold-hearted warning.
Going by the fundamental rule of the Underworld, where all sacred arts need to be preceded by a «System Call», an art user opponent would have already lost any advantage upon being forced into such a posture. But still, I kept my attention on those two short arms while I gazed at the face of this man—Chief Elder Chudelkin.
Inexplicable; there weren’t many others whose appearance suited that figure of speech. Bright red lips occupied the bottom half of his perfectly circular face, a pug nose protruded above that, and his eyes and eyebrows drew an arc that resembled a smiley.
However, those narrow eyes were now opened as wide as they managed, their small, black pupils quivering as they stared at Alice.
Those thick lips pursed like a trumpet before long and a voice like the creaking of rusted metal leaked out from Chudelkin.
“You… number thirty… why are you in a place like thiss? You should’ve fallen out of the tower to your death with one of the traitorss.”
“Don’t call me by a number! My name is Alice. And I’ve no longer a thirty.”
Chudelkin’s greasy face convulsed at Alice’s reply that had been tinged with a biting cold and he turned his eyes towards me for the first time. His two crescent eyes opened into half-moons and heavy breaths spilled out from his throat.
“Y-Youu, why, how!? Thir… Knight Alice, why do you not cut down this rascal heree!? He is a rebel against the church… have I not told you that he was a pawn of the Dark Territoryy!!”
“Certainly, he is a traitor. But he is no vanguard for the land of darkness. Just like I am now.”
“Wh… Wha…”
Chudelkin’s short limbs flapped about as though they were one of the toys the room was filled with.
“S-Soo you plan to betray the church, huuuh, you shitty excuse for a knighttttt!!”
Perhaps the held sword no longer registered in his vision, but Chudelkin’s pure white face was dyed bright red in an instant and his roars of anger reverberated around the room in a voice even more screechy than his usual.
“You useless integrity knights are always like thiss!! And you’re mere puppetss!! Just dolls that have to move according to my commandsss!! How could you do this to Her Eminencee!! How could you betray the highest minister, Administratorrr!!”
Having avoided the saliva scattering from Chudelkin’s mouth by averting her face, Alice coldly replied without even twitching her eyebrows at the scorn.
“Was it not the Axiom Church who had turned us into dolls? After all, you have sealed our memories through the «Synthesis Ritual», forcibly instilled loyalty inside us, and made us believe in the deception that we are knights summoned from the Celestial World.”
“Wha……”
Chudelkin’s face changed, once again, from red to white and his large mouth flapped.
“Why do you know about…”
“It seems we do have some memories left behind despite the sealing, faint as they may be. I saw this scene for a moment when I stepped into the adjacent Chamber of Elders… a frightened girl, filled with anxiety and fear and bound in the middle of that hall, who had the walls to her heart wrenched open by the elders’ many, many arts over a course of three days and three nights. That is the truth behind the Synthesis Ritual… My tears of grief and despair must have once stained the stone floor in that hall when I was still that little girl.”
Despite Alice’s attempt at controlling herself, Chudelkin’s face bewilderingly swapped between red and white as he heard her words that possessed an edge as sharp as a steel blade.
But in the end, Chudelkin, probably the only human who still retained his own sense of self among the Chamber of Elders, showed a vulgar, defiant grin.
“Yes… it is just as you’ve saidd. I can still recall it like it just happened yesterday, you knoww? The young, untainted, and oh-so-lovely you, your tears trickling down as you kept on begging and begging… ‘Please, don’t make me forget… don’t make me forget about those precious to me…’, hohoho.”
Looking at Chudelkin imitating a girl’s tone of voice in a repulsive falsetto, Alice’s eyes carried a glow reminiscent of a fervid flame. But Chudelkin continued with his provocations, resuming his tasteless monologue.
“Oho, ohoo, of course I remember it! The pleasure I get from using that sight can still last me an entire night even now! After brought here from some shitty place in the sticks, you were first raised as a sister apprentice for two years. You were such a tomboy, finding a loophole in the daily regimen and sightseeing at Centoria’s midsummer festival, bu still, you put your all into studying, believing that you would be able to return back to your hometown once day if you worked hard enoughh. But you see, that was all nonsense! Right after your sacred arts usage authority got fattened up enough, the forced synthesis came! That tear-stained face you had when you found out you would never return home was justt… I even thought about turning you to stone like that, so that I could leave you in my room as a decoration forever and everr! Hoh, hoh, hoh!!”
I couldn’t stop my right arm, holding onto my sword, from quivering either upon hearing Chudelkin’s utterly vicious spiel. The grinding of Alice’s clenched teeth rang out again, but she questioned the chief elder without losing her self-control.
“There was something strange in what you’ve just said. Forced synthesis, was it? Wouldn’t that imply there were some who went through the Synthesis Ritual on their own free will?”
The chief elder narrowed his two eyes to lines at that and briefly laughed.
“Ho-ho, what good ears you have. There are, you know? Six years ago, you refused to chant that secret art needed for the usual synthesis so stubbornlyy. ‘My sacred task is still in my real village, I have no need to listen to your orders!’ and the like; and you said it with such contemptt!”
It seemed exactly like what Alice would say as a child—I utterly agreed though I didn’t know the girl back then at all. Perhaps remembering that as well, the chief elder spat out with his lips curled in annoyance.
“You were such a shitty, impertinent brat back thenn. I even thought about asking Her Eminence, the highest minister, to awakenn, but I couldn’t very well do that before finishing the preparations for the ritual, you seee. Thus, I had no choice at all, but to withdraw the automated elders from their duties for the time being to yank open those walls that protected all of those that were oh-so-very precious to youu. Well, I did get my fill of amusement thanks to that show you put up, thoughh! Hohii, hoh-ho—!”
His shrill guffaws ceased the moment the Fragrant Olive Sword’s tip got within a centimeter close. However, a grin remained in his eyes and lips.
The glib words spilling from Chudelkin included several valuable pieces of information. I did want to hear his answers on various issues if only Alice could restrain herself, but still, this felt off. Why had this jester been talking about the secrets so vital to the church without restraint? He should have cut down on provocations towards Alice if he wanted his life spared and it didn’t seem like he was waiting for a chance to counterattack either.
I gathered my thoughts in silence; as though I didn’t register in his eyes at all, Chudelkin resumed his reminiscing.
“The first phase of the forced synthesis ended and you were carried to Her Eminence, the highest minister, by no other by me, as I will proudly admitt. Regrettably, I couldn’t watch what happened nextt, but in the end, the ritual completed and you awoke as an integrity knight, convinced that you were a herald of the gods, sent down from the Celestial World, you knoww? Just like every single one of the other knightss. I almost tore open my stomach, laughing when I heard you silly knights go on and on about the Celestial World…”
I noticed Chudelkin’s eyes swaying as he quickly spoke without stop, suspended in the air. As though he was waiting for something. In other words, this guy’s long story was just to buy time by binding us in this room…?
I tried to call out to Alice to tell her so, but the knight opened her mouth a moment earlier. Her voice, colder than the cold air filling that large bath, streamed into the gilded room.
“Chief Elder Chudelkin, I thought you might have been a poor jester who had his life toyed with by the highest minister, Administrator; a victim like the integrity knights. But even if that was true, it appears you had your fill of fun from your own circumstances. I suppose you have no lingering regrets, then. These stories are starting to bore me.”
The tip of the Fragrant Olive Sword shifted and pressed against the middle of the round, bulging jester costume—right on the heart. The glittering material showed some final resistance as it slightly sank in.
Chudelkin should reveal some new information now if his aim was to buy time. Perhaps even Eugeo’s location.
My predictions were easily betrayed a second later.
The golden blade dug deep into the chief elder’s chest as he stayed silent, his mouth left open in the midst of his words. His narrow eyes opened wide and his jester costume of red and blue strained as it swelled. Perhaps to avoid the spurting blood, Alice swung her face away; it then happened.
Baan! That tremendous explosive noise roared out and Chudelkin’s perfectly round body shot off like a balloon. A flood of blood dyed Alice’s armor crimson—not.
“What…”
“Eh…!?”
Both Alice and I let out cries of surprise. What spurted out wasn’t liquid but gas—fumes colored bright red. It soon spread into the surroundings, shrouding the entire room of toys.
There were monsters with this special ability in Aincrad too. Their skin swelled over their whole bodies and whenever they were hit by anything aside from a blunt-type attack, they would burst open and spew out a lot of smoke, their real selves escaping somewhere in that opening.
Having refreshed my memories from back then, I instinctively swung the sword in my right hand the moment I noticed a long, thin shadow nimbly crossing past at a corner of my sight. I felt a little resistance, but all that rolled to my feet from the smoke was a familiar golden hat.
I stepped forward in pursuit, but the poisonous-looking fumes assailed my throat with a pricky pain the moment I breathed it in and drove me into a coughing fit.
“Chudelkin…!!”
Alice cried out with her left hand covering her mouth and leapt out in pursuit of the shadow. Chudelkin had escaped not towards the door connecting to the Chamber of Elders, but deeper into the room. Thinking about how there shouldn’t be an exit there, I held my breath and dashed forth as well, with a lowered stance.
However, what we saw beyond the smokescreen was the golden drawers slid to the right and a hidden passage open behind it. We peeked in, just in time to see a shadow of a round head atop with a ridiculously lean body and limbs escaping with agility.
“Hohii!! Hohi—hii-hii-hii-hii—!!:
The piercing laughter reached my ears as I continued coughing.
“Arts aren’t all to a performance, you idiots! Ii—diots!! Go ahead and come after mee, I’ll put my all into entertaining you next timee, hoh—hoh, hoh——!!”
The laughter continued like a broken toy’s, alongside short, quick footsteps.