Part 5
Eugeo… just what do you have in mind?
I shifted my vision with that thought.
The flaxen-haired young man, my sole closest friend, Eugeo the Aincrad-style swordsman, met my eyes for a moment and nodded with a smile. He immediately returned his eyes towards Cardinal and voiced out those words.
“Cardinal-san. With what power you have left, please turn me—this body of mine—into a sword. Just like that doll.”
Perhaps those words tugged her consciousness back—
Cardinal’s eyes, that had almost lost all light, opened weakly.
[Eugeo... you...]
“If we run from here now… Administrator will turn half of the humans in the world into that horrifying monster. We definitely can’t allow that. Any last hope we have in preventing that tragedy should lie within this art…”
Showing a clear smile as though he understood everywhere, Eugeo wrapped Cardinal’s left hand with both of his and recited in a whisper.
“System call. …Remove core protection.”
I had never heard of such an art.
Eugeo’s eyelids gently shut after he recited those words.
Complex patterns resembling electric circuits were drawn upon his smooth forehead in lines of violet light. They extended from his cheeks to his neck as I looked on, then reached his shoulders, his arms, and his fingertips.
The shining circuits even encroached a little onto Cardinal’s left hand, gripped by Eugeo’s two hands, and sparkled at its end as its arrival was expected.
Remove core protection.
Judging from the meaning of the phrase, Eugeo must have granted Cardinal unrestrained modification authority to his own fluct light. I didn’t understand why he knew of such an art, but at the very least, those three words were filled to the brim with Eugeo’s strong determination and resolve.
The sage who received that command on the verge of death opened both her unhurt left eye and burnt right eye as her lips trembled. Her shuddering thoughts made themselves known through our touching skin.
[Are you certain... Eugeo? There is no guarantee... you can return... to how you were.]
With circuits of light surfaced on his brow and cheeks, Eugeo nodded deeply with both eyes still shut.
“It’s fine. This is my duty…the reason why I am here now. That’s right, there was one thing that I have to say first. Cardinal-san… and the both of you too, Kirito, Alice. Metallic weapons will not reach the highest minister. That’s why I couldn’t stab her with that dagger you gave me.”
“……!”
Alice and I drew sharp breaths at Eugeo’s whispers.
But Cardinal simply blinked and nodded without showing any surprise—or perhaps she lacked even the energy needed for that. With another slight shake of his head, Eugeo continued his words.
“Well then… please. Before Administrator notices.”
“……No, stop it, Eugeo.”
I moved my parched mouth and somehow forced those words out.
“I mean, if you don’t return back to normal… you… your dream……”
If we managed to win this battle and Eugeo could not return to a human form. The wish he held in his chest for eight years… his hope to take Alice back and return to Rulid Village with her would remain unfulfilled.
Only two in this world could use that ridiculously advanced sacred art capable of transmuting human flesh and blood into weapons: Administrator and Cardinal. One was our ultimate enemy and the other’s life was fading away. In other words, even if we could overturn this predicament, there might be no arts practitioner capable of turning him back to human.
Shrouded in violet light, Eugeo turned his eyes towards the ceiling before giving me a firm nod as I tried to continue speaking.
“It’s fine, Kirito. I have to do this.”
“………!”
I had no words to rebut my bosom friend’s strong determination.
Really now, what could I say?
As one shaken to the core, capable of neither swinging a sword nor stepping forward, after merely a single defeat.
I gave an imploring look towards Alice at my side.
Distress and respect filled the knight’s blue eyes in equal parts. Alice lowered her head deep down in the next instant. Towards the criminal she had struck with no visible emotion at the academy’s large auditorium just two days ago.
Cardinal nodded slightly with her eyelids still raised within my arms, blood spreading from my lips as I silently chewed it.
[Very well, Eugeo. I shall offer my life's final art... to that determination of yours.]
Her voice regained its strength for a moment, like a candle nearly snuffed, and resounded in the core of my head.
A violet gleam resided in the middle of her opened brown eyes.
The light circuits connecting Eugeo to Cardinal through their hands glowed with intensity. That radiance raced up Eugeo’s body in an instant and slipped out upon reaching the patterns on his forehead, forming a pillar of light that stretched up into the ceiling.
“What…?!”
The voice belonged to Administrator who appeared intoxicated on the other end. The ruler firmly shouted as the aftertaste of victory immediately vanished from her face and her silver eyes flared with anger.
“What do you think you are doing, after escaping from death?!!”
The rapier in her right hand turned to Eugeo and me, and as a result, Cardinal. Pure white sparks coiled about its blade.
“I will not let you!!”
Integrity Knight Alice shouted in return.
Jyaa; the blade of the Fragrant Olive Sword that should have been reaching its limit in terms of Life split apart loudly and whirled through the air as chains of gold. An ear-piercing boom roared out at nearly the same time, let loose a gigantic bolt of lightning.
The tip of the chains came into contact with the pure white lightning. The torrent of energy transmitted straight through the chains in that instant, drawing closer to Alice.
But by then, the golden chains had already stretched itself towards the back and stabbed the small edge at its end into the floor. Unable to flee from the improvised earth wire, all of the immense energy flowed into the tower’s structure and was extinguished, causing explosive roars and white smoke.
Alice pointed her left index finger at Administrator and declared.
“Lightning will not work on me!!”
“How cheeky… for a mere knight doll!!”
Spitting that out as her lips warped, the ruler showed that savage smile once again before raising her rapier of white silver up high.
“Then… how about this!?”
Bobobohh!! The air trembled and countless red points of light appeared about the blade. They obviously numbered beyond thirty. Supposing those were all thermal elements, it would then be a number easily exceeding the human limit of controlling twenty elements.
The fact that the Fragrant Olive Sword’s full control art was weak against intangible fire attacks was evident from the earlier battle against Chudelkin. But the golden knight showed no sign of backing off and even took a firm step forward with her right foot, a noise ringing out from the heel of her boots. As though understanding its master’s determination, the small blades that made up the chain, too, split apart with a distinct metallic ring, arranging themselves into a grid pattern.
The violet light engulfing Eugeo grew endlessly in intensity even while the pair faced off.
Eugeo’s body then lurched as it lost strength without warning. But instead of falling, the reverse happened with him gently floating into the air.
The clothes disappeared from Eugeo’s body as though they had evaporated while he floated horizontally with his eyelids lowered.
The column of light rising from his brow had reached the ceiling. With that, a crystal set in the drawn miniature—one embedded in the eye of a small bird sailing through the ancient skies—gleamed brilliantly as though it was called out and responded in kind.
The approximately thirty crystals, memory fragments robbed from the integrity knights, set in the canopy should have all been activated as the «owners» of the sword golem. Despite that, the crystal in the small bird left the canopy as its radiance pulsed, descending through the light column.
That crystal—
That was possibly, no, unmistakably Knight Alice’s memory fragment.
I had guessed those memories stolen from Alice through the Synthesis Ritual might have been related to her sister, Selka. But if that was true, Selka would have already been kidnapped from Rulid’s church and turned into a sword in this room before two years ago.
If it wasn’t Selka… just who was in the memories saved in that crystal?
Without giving me any answers to the doubts swirling inside me, the crystal in the form of a hexagonal prism, pointed at its two ends, quietly fell closer. The Blue Rose Sword lying on the floor rose as well and spun before stopping with its tip pointing at Eugeo’s heart.
Eugeo’s muscled body, the Blue Rose Sword’s clear blade, and the translucent crystal prism aligned.
At the same time, Administrator swung down her rapier with a scream at the other end.
“Burn, all of you!!”
The thirty thermal elements drifting about the rapier coalesced and shot off as an enormous fire ball.
“I said… I will not let you!!”
Replying with a dignified shout, Alice turned her right hand towards the swirling flames.
The small cross-shaped blades aligned in the air immediately clumped together and formed a gigantic shield. Leaning her body into that shield, the knight kicked off the floor, and thrust into the conflagrant fire ball.
A clash.
Brief silence.
The following explosion shook the entirety of the isolated space. Rampaging heat and light filled the wide room alongside shock waves, with most of the carpet spread across the floor burnt to nothing. Even the giant form of the sword golem which had ceased movement a distance away violently shook while Administrator who was farther behind shielded her face with her left arm.
But I only had my breath taken away by the heat wave, thanks to the protection Alice’s shield granted. Both Cardinal, who I held in my arms, and the floating Eugeo appeared unaffected by the explosion.
The swirl of flames vanished from the hall in seconds like it had been all a lie—
Alice fell from the heart of the explosion with a thud. Shortly after, the Fragrant Olive Sword, back in its original form, stood straight by its master’s side as though it had lost its strength.
Smoke rose from the various places charred on Alice’s white and blue knight uniform. There were burns all over the skin on her limbs too, making it evident her Life had fallen greatly. It seemed the knight had lost consciousness as she stayed collapsed; the precious seconds she had earned were not in waste, however, Cardinal’s final art was mere moments from completion.
Enveloped by the column of violet light, Eugeo’s body lost its solidity and quietly turned transparent. The Blue Rose Sword at the center of his chest did likewise as it fused with him as though being drawn into him.
Yet another intense flash of light.
Eugeo’s body unraveled into countless ribbons of light above as I involuntarily squinted. Those gathered once more as they swirled about and mingled.
What hovered there was no longer a human body.
An enormous sword with a blade so utterly white it appeared blue and a crossed guard.
The length of the blade was as long and broad as Eugeo’s body was. The beautiful lines that shaped it extended out from the base and converged on its keen tip. The floating crystal prism drew close to the small groove hollowed in the middle and joined with it after a soft click.
Cardinal’s left arm lost its strength and plopped onto the floor.
The sage’s lips quivered slightly and her final words flowed out as a gentle breeze.
[Release... recollection.]
Kiiiin!! The hexagonal prism that was pointed at its two ends—Alice’s memory fragment—shone brilliantly with a distinct resonant sound. Eugeo’s sword, too, chimed refreshingly as though in response while it soared ever higher.
The pure white greatsword was now independently operating on the exact same logic as the sword golem. Or in other words, through a sword forged from human flesh, a memory fragment as its owner, and the feelings joining the pair—the power of love.
But the sword golem had a component Eugeo’s sword lacked.
The violet triangular prism Administrator buried in the golem’s heart. A piety module. That was exactly what warped the power of love fueling the golem, urging it to slaughter.
“Curse you, Lyceris… to make me go so out of my way…!!”
Turning her face away with what appeared like disgust for the radiance exuded by the greatsword, Administrator shouted.
“You may try to imitate the art… but one flimsy sword could never hope to stand up to my weapon of destruction! I’ll snap it in a single strike!!”
Administrator prompted with a wave of her left hand and the eyes of the sword golem that had stayed silent thus far gleamed bluish-white once more. Giiin; the gigantic form vigorously began its advance with an ear-piercing metallic screech.
Eugeo’s sword spun its blade horizontally without any noise and pointed its tip straight towards the five mel tall giant.
Its white blade intensified in luminosity even further while scattered light particles whirled about it.
Immediately after, the greatsword took flight with a sound that brought to mind the tinkles of bells. Its pure white radiance drew a long streak in the air like a comet.
[...Beautiful...]
Cardinal let out faint thoughts from within my arms.
[Human... love. And the light, from their, will... How... beauti, ful...]
“Yes… it certainly is.”
Tears fell from my eyes once again as I murmured in reply.
[Kirito... I leave the, rest to you... Protect this... world and... its people... please...]
Moving her face with the remaining vestiges of her strength, Cardinal stared into me with her clear eyes and gave a gentle smile.
Upon confirming my wordless assent, the world’s greatest sage, this young girl, slowly shut her eyes and let out a weak breath—never to breathe ever again.
The meager weight my two arms felt swiftly faded while I held back my sobs.
In my vision, tinted iridescent, the pure white greatsword that had inherited Cardinal’s will flapped its wings of light as it soared straight.
Meeting its assault, the giant soldier spread its two greatsword hands and the smaller swords that served as its rib wide. The aura of darkness coiling about the countless blades which shone as they turned into jaws of evil.
Purely in terms of priority values, the greatsword formed solely from Eugeo’s body and the Blue Rose Sword couldn’t possibly match up to the golem converted from three hundred humans.
And yet, Eugeo’s sword accelerated even quicker, charging into the waiting swarm of blades.
It aimed towards the core of the golem’s torso—beyond even the spine formed from three swords at its center. A violet light spilling from the gaps between swords.
The piety module.
Gold and pure white collided a moment later. White and black light intertwined, swirled, and flared up.
A multitude of metallic noises, resembling the roars of beasts, were released as the blades forming the golem’s arms and ribcage crossed in an instant.
But right before that. The white sword plunged deep through the gap opened in the golem’s spine.
The quiet breaking noise didn’t escape my ears. The violet light spilling from its spine scattered into countless fragments.
An unclouded radiance enveloped the thirty enormous swords that were joined by a viscous darkness thus far, spreading from where the white greatsword pierced through.
It seemed like the love between Eugeo and Alice was practically easing the sorrow of the separated lovers.
Giiii! The discordant death throes were tuned into pellucid rhythmic tones in the blink of an eye, resounding beautifully as they dispersed.
A moment later. All of the swords that formed the weapon of destruction that drove us to the verge of death separated and flew off in all directions.
The swords, spinning as they fluttered up high, traced out thirty parabolae and simultaneously stabbed into the outer circumference of the hall with a deafening noise.
An enormous edge towered right behind me as well, like the mark for a grave. There was no mistake that was the golem’s left leg that split my torso, but the dark aura that twined about it had already vanished and it was now no more than cold metal.
The crystals on the canopy that moved the golem, too, had their irregular flickering grow dim and eventually fell into silence. There was no understanding what had happened to «their» consciousness, but at the very least, Administrator’s full control art that used them as an energy source was destroyed and a second cast of that seemed unlikely.
The white greatsword that dismantled the sword golem with a single strike still lay horizontal in the air, scattering particles of gleaming light.
Alice’s memory fragment glittered at the core of the blade. The knowledge of what was saved within came to me like a sudden epiphany.
The integrity knights numbered thirty-one. The sword golem’s swords numbered thirty. The one unused memory fragment belonged to Alice, that was evident from how it fused with Eugeo’s sword.
Then why did Administrator not create a sword to pair up with Alice’s memories?
Alice’s memories… the love sealed within them must have definitely been too great. The young Alice loved Eugeo, Selka, her parents, every one of those living in the village, Rulid Village itself, along with the time she spent with those beloved to her and the time which had yet to come.
Not even the highest minister could transmute time and space. Hence, Administrator did not create a sword to be linked to Alice.
And that would be the true reason why the sword brought forth by Alice and Eugeo shone this beautifully.
“Aah… It’s beautiful, indeed.”
I hugged Cardinal’s corpse tight and whispered to the girl’s soul which had set out on a journey far beyond both the Underworld and the real world.
No voice responded, but I felt a faint luminance envelop the petite form in my two arms. Purity of the same variant as the miraculous light released by the white sword filled this radiance.
That was irrefutable evidence Cardinal, or the girl named Lyceris, was a human with true emotions and love, rather than some program like what she had made herself out to be time and time again.
Slight warmth accompanied the luminance, soaking into my chilled body while the presence of her corpse rapidly faded. Dimming into translucency, it gently unraveled and vanished as pure white resplendence.
Illuminating all of the isolated space, the waves of light that seemed to purify—
Were sliced apart by the edge of a voice that seemed hell-bent on opposing them to the very end.
“Such dull, futile struggling on the verge of death, shorty. Did you really need to besmirch a delightful memory like this?”
Administrator showed a cold smile, arrogant even with her final trump card destroyed.
“—But well, I guess breaking a single prototype‘s the limit for you. I am creating hundreds or thousands of those from now on, after all.”
Her fingertips on her left hand traced over the pure silver rapier as she bragged, appearing utterly mechanical as though truly devoid of all emotion despite how she should be a copy of Cardinal. Miasma-like, pitch-black waves lazily coiled about her body that had white, porcelain skin that seemed to shine and that lustrous silver hair.
The chilly snake named fear raised its head from the bottom of my body once again. I tightly gripped my arms, now empty, together without thinking.
The sword golem I thought invincible was destroyed, but the cost was far too great. We had lost the one and only sage in this world with abilities on par with Administrator’s extraordinary powers.
Contrasting me, who simply looked up at the highest minister, unable to get even a single word out—
Still hovering, Eugeo’s sword let out a clear ring and pointed its tip straight at its worst and final enemy.
“Oh my.”
Narrowing her specular eyes, Administrator murmured.
“Still up for more, boy? Feeling brave now after breaking my doll by poking through that gap?”
I did not know if those words reached Eugeo now that he had turned into a greatsword. But its pure white blade did not quiver in the slightest, maintaining its sharp tip at the highest minister. The radiance surrounding its blade intensified once more while the reverberations, going kiin, kiin, from it heightened in pitch as well.
“…Stop it, Eugeo.”
I wrung out a hoarse voice while extending my left hand towards the gleaming sword.
“Don’t… don’t go on your own.”
Pricked into action by a seething irritation, I shuffled my knees over the burnt floor with legs that lacked any strength. One of the light particles scattered from the sword came into contact with my desperately extended fingers, bounced off, and vanished.
An instant later.
Wings of light spread out once more from the greatsword’s handle. Flapping those mighty wings, the white greatsword charged straight towards Administrator.
A vicious smile appeared on the ruler’s pearl grey lips. The mirror-like rapier swung down with a grating noise and retaliated by emitting lightning, the same or stronger than those that burnt Cardinal to death.
The sword’s tip touched the lightning.
Shock waves exceeding those when the sword golem was destroyed swept out, slamming into my whole body as I knelt far away.
I opened my eyes as wide as I could even while I drew my body in and watched as Administrator’s lightning was shredded into numerous thin lines.
Vaaaaa!! The sparks that flew all around with a roar caused small explosions throughout the hall. The sword soared on despite breaking through the torrent of immense energy head-on. Miniscule pieces chipped off the surface of its white blade, scattering one after another. And each of those should be a part of Eugeo’s body, his life.
“Eugeo!!”
The raging tempest erased my shout.
“Brat…!!”
The smile vanished from Administrator’s lips.
At the source of the lightning at last, the white greatsword’s tip landed a certain, fierce hit upon the rapier’s needlelike end.
The resulting resonance shook the isolated space with its extremely high frequencies. The silver rapier, a source of resources for supporting Administrator’s divine strength, and the white greatsword, fused from Eugeo and the Blue Rose Sword, continued their struggle for several moments. They appeared to be in an absolute deadlock, but all of my skin told me that was a premonition for the destruction yet to come.
The phenomenon that eventually occurred seemed to drag out forever, like it was in slow-motion.
Administrator’s rapier shattered into countless miniscule shards.
The white greatsword snapped in half as it emitted particles of light.
The blade, its first half, spun as it was blown away and sliced Administrator’s right arm off from the top of her shoulder without a sound.
The sounds and tremors soon caught up to the scene burnt onto my retinae.
The tremendous amount of resources pouring out from the shattered rapier induced a grand, iridescent explosion that swallowed up the hall.
“Eugeo————!!”
My scream was yet again buried in the howls of raging electromagnetic noise this time. The surging shock waves crashed into me and sent me flying to the south window.
Riding out the shock waves behind a sword stabbed in the floor, a part of the sword golem until a few minutes ago, I staggered to my feet and looked—
At Administrator who stood on the floor with her own two feet, pressing down on the wound at her right shoulder with her left hand.
And two large, broken pieces lying at her feet.
A dim, white radiance was still resided on Eugeo’s broken sword.
But it pulsed, just like the beating of a heart, as its brilliance faded away to nothing, all while I stared at it in a daze.
The white sword fragments lost their substance as one and gradually began returning to a human form.
The fragment from the heart of the blade to where it tapered off became the lower half of a body.
And the fragment including the crossed guard became the upper half of a body.
Eugeo had his eyelids shut while his right hand, atop his breast, held a crystal prism. It happened then, when his flaxen hair and milky skin regained the tangibility of a human.
A terrifying amount of blood gushed out from both severed parts of his body, immediately soaking Administrator’s bare feet.
“Ah…… ah……”
The squeaky voice wrung out from my own throat seemed to come from far away.
The world lost nearly all color; smell and sound, too, were watered down until almost entirely stifled.
The widening red of blood alone appeared shudderingly vivid at the heart of this anesthetized world. Something glistened as it swooped towards Eugeo’s side as he lay in the middle of the crimson sea.
It thrust into the puddle of blood, producing a gentle ripple with a tap; it was a slender long sword of bluish-silver—the Blue Rose Sword. It appeared unharmed, or so I thought for an instant before the bottom half of the its blade abruptly cracked into crystals of ice with a quiet shattering noise.
Losing its support, the top half of the sword slowly slanted and fell over by Eugeo’s face. Splattered drops struck Eugeo’s cheeks and dripped down.
I took two, three unsteady steps forward before my knees hit the floor.
My arms wrapped around my body as though clinging onto what was left of Cardinal’s warmth while my empty eyes stayed open. However, the faint heat could not fill up the desolation spreading within myself. Everything seemed hollow: my consciousness, my flesh, even my soul.
Let it end here.
That thought floated up from the depths of nothingness like a bubble and popped.
We, no, I had lost in every way imaginable.
The only reason I am now here was to release Eugeo’s soul to the real world, was it not? Despite that, I was actually protected by Eugeo’s sacrifice and now cowered like so, helplessly. I, who would be simply logged out to the other side even if I were to lose my life.
—Now I just need to fade-out from this world, to vanish.
—I want to see no more. I want to hear no more.
I desired solely for my own swift annihilation.
However.
The Underworld, too, was a reality in its own right and its ruler was no program that would stop upon reaching the Bad End screen.
A hint of emotion showed upon Administrator’s beautiful, white, and now expressionless features before disappearing immediately. The lovely voice streaming from her lips shook the silence in the hall.
“This must be the first time I suffered an injury of this degree since that battle with Lyceris two hundred years ago.”
That murmur seemed to include a trace of praise.
“The sword transmuted from Eugeo’s body… it couldn’t possibly have matched up to my «Silvery Eternity» in terms of priority, but what an unforeseen turn of events. Also, it was my mistake to assume swords would be metallic.”
Drops of blood dripped from the wound at her right shoulder, one after another, rippling the red water surface at her feet. Administrator caught those drops onto her left palm, turned them into numerous luminous elements, and touched the wound. The cut sealed in an instant, covered by smooth skin.
“Now…”
Done with her first-aid, the ruler fluttered her long eyelashes and turned her specular eyes towards me.
“It is somewhat surprising for you to be the last one remaining, boy from the other side. I am just a little curious why you’ve come here without any supervisor authorities… but I’m bored and sleepy now. I’ll leave the question for «that person» on the terminal later, let’s put an end to this battle with your blood and screams, boy.”
Administrator closed her mouth and began walking elegantly, showing absolutely no sign of being affecting by the heavy injury of losing her arm. Striding over Eugeo’s sundered body, she left footprints of fresh blood on the marble floor while approaching me.
The girl stretched her left hand straight out to her side as she walked. Something white fluttered to her from behind with that. That was a slender right arm—the part of her that Eugeo’s sword had sliced off.
I thought she would reattach it to her shoulder, but Administrator lifted her own arm before her face by its wrist and lightly breathed onto it. Violet light immediately took the arm and its composition was transmuted as a metallic throb resounded.
What appeared was a silver long sword of simple design, yet with a graceful blade and grip.
It was not polished to a perfect mirror surface like the destroyed rapier, but as expected of one made from the resources of the arm belonging to the human possessing the world’s greatest priority, the power it concealed seemed sufficient to detach my neck with a single strike.
Death approached with faint footsteps. I awaited it on my knees.
Dazzlingly beautiful even with an arm lost, Administrator advanced to right before my eyes in mere seconds and looked down at me.
My upturned gaze clashed with the iridescent light from her specular eyes.
With her two eyes tinged with faint, mild delight, the girl whispered gently.
“Farewell, boy. Let us meet again on the other side someday.”
The long sword rose, gleaming as it reflected the moonlight.
The blade drew a blue arc in the air with its razor-sharp edge as it drew closer to my neck.
In an instant.
A silhouette forced itself into my vision.
Long hair fluttered through the air.
The female knight covered in wounds spread her arms wide; dumbfounded, I stared on at her back.
This wasn’t
the first time I saw this.
How many times
am I
going to——
——repeat this mistake?!!
That thought sped like a flash and time ceased its motions for an instant.
Numerous occurrences lined up in this monochrome world that had lost its sound and color.
A small hand gently touched my right arm, dangling powerlessly.
The warm palm thawed the cold dread and resignation filling my whole body slightly.
The image of loss did not disappear.
But it was fine acknowledging that weakness, the owner of that hand whispered to me.
—You have no need to win every time. Even if you fall, even if you lose, it is of no issue as long as your heart, your will is kept alive by another.
—All of those who had spent the slightest time with you should be of that belief, youngling. Naturally, the same applies to me.
—Thus, you, too, can still stand.
—If you wish to protect those beloved to you.
I realized the subdued warmth from deep in my body, or perhaps my consciousness, had extended a circuit of light towards my frozen fluct light.
From the core of my chest, pass my right shoulder, through my arm, ending at my fingertips.
Blazing heat engulfed the five stiff digits.
Flashing out faster than ever before, my right hand firmly grasped the grip for my black sword that had tumbled right beside me.
And time moved once more.
Administrator’s sword descended, targeting Knight Alice’s left shoulder as she stood and spread her arms wide in her attempt to protect me.
It happened exactly as the keen blade tore through the scorched knight uniform’s sleeve to dig into her pale skin.
The tip of my blade sword, swung hard diagonally upwards while I got to my feet, barely intercepted the silver sword, letting out a fierce burst of sparks.
The impact put Administrator a distance away from Alice and me, driving us behind.
Holding onto Alice in my left hand as she fell onto her chest, I was blown away to the window once again and braced my legs to prevent crashing into the windowpane. Leaning her head against my right shoulder, Alice turned her head slightly towards the left and looked at me with her blue eyes.
“Just look at you…”
Smiling with those cheeks still raw with burns after defending against Administrator’s flames, the knight gave a hoarse murmur.
“So you can move… can’t you.”
“…Yeah.”
I scraped together what could barely pass as a smile in return.
“Leave the rest to me.”
“I shall… do just that.”
Upon finishing those brief words, Alice lost her consciousness once more as her knees collapsed.
Lowering the knight onto the floor as I supported her left arm, I leaned her back against the glass and took a deep breath while I got back up.
—Leave what’s left to me and have a good rest, please.
—This life Charlotte, Cardinal, and Eugeo entrusted me with… I shall connect it to yours.
Even if Alice alone was my limit, I had to evacuate her from this isolated space by all means necessary. For that, I must fight Administrator and make it a draw if not a win. Even with my limbs all sliced off, even with my heart pierced through, even with my neck decapitated.
Hardening my resolve, I shifted my sight upwards and gazed at my enemy.
The smile had all but faded from Administrator and she was looking at the sword she held in her left hand. Maybe the impact from earlier had hurt it as a part of her soft-looking hand was grazed red.
“…Not even I can reel in my irritation forever.”
Her sigh trickled out icily.
The specular eyes aimed at me froze over as if a layer of frost had descended upon them.
“What are the lot of you? Why do you struggle so unseemly against idleness? The result of this battle was clear from the start. What meaning is there in the process to a predetermined end?”
“That process is what really matters. Whether to grovel and die or to die with my sword in my hand. This is why we… are human.”
While replying so, I lowered my eyelids and summoned a strong image of who I once was.
My image of «Kirito the Black Swordsman» that I had always kept locked away for so long. My other self that could never lose—one like a curse that would leave me nowhere to go upon defeat, or so I feared from the depths of my heart.
But I could no longer be bound by that anxiety and obsession.
My long fringe was casted over my eyes when I lifted them open. After combing it up with my left hand, covered in a fingerless glove, and spreading out my long black leather coat, I braced myself with the long sword in my right hand.
Standing a short distance away, Administrator knitted her brows slightly before showing a cruel smile close to what she had on when she stole Cardinal’s life.
“That pitch-black appearance… it’s just like that of a darkness knight from the Dark Territory. …Very well. If you wish to suffer to the bitter end, I will grant you an extremely, extremely drawn out and merciless fate. One that will make you fervently plead for a rapid end to your life.”
“That’s not enough… I can’t redeem my foolishness with just that.”
With my waist lowered after that murmur, I watched the silver long sword held in the highest minister’s left hand.
Administrator had flaunted her sacred arts’ devastating might countless times, but now that the pure silver rapier, seemingly named «Silvery Eternity», that served as her source of resources was destroyed, she would likely be unable to rapidly fire high priority arts in succession. That was why she had transformed her own arm into a new sword.
I was all for a fight between swords, but I had no information at all on the opponent’s competency. She probably used a style like the knights, mainly focusing on single heavy blows, but my battle with Knight Alice on the cathedral’s eightieth floor had clearly shown that was nothing to look down on.
My weapon’s priority value was probably worse, so the little Life left in the black sword would be spent after continuous clashes. I had no choice but to get within range and seize victory with consecutive hits skills which she should not know about.
Firming my resolve, I lowered my center of gravity farther in preparation to charge. My right and left feet were planted on the floor in the front and back respectively.
My opponent, Administrator, stood calmly as she raised the sword in her left hand up high towards the back. As expected, it was a stance from the High Norkia style, a traditional school. The absurd speed and weight behind that attack would probably kill in a single hit and be impossible to parry. I had to dodge that somehow and slip in closer.
“…………”
I took in a deep breath and gathered strength in my abdomen.
The moment Administrator’s sword made the slightest movement, I kicked off the floor with all I had and advanced.
The enemy’s long sword was tinged in a blue radiance. Recognizing the unleashed secret move, no, sword skill as «Vertical», I stomped down with my left foot and shifted my charge towards the right. As Vertical was a single vertical slash, it would be tough to chase an enemy that fled beyond its range.
Tracing a blue streak, the silver long sword drove in with terrifying speed. With my body opened up towards the left and I desperately tried to slip pass the sword’s tip. The straight line tore through the hem of my long coat as it flapped strongly.
—Dodged it!
This time, I stepped hard on the floor with my right foot and restored the direction of my charge while raising the sword in my right hand—
But.
The brilliance on Administrator’s sword did not fade.
“……!?”
I gasped in surprise as the sword that had nearly swung all the way down to my feet bounced back up at a speed that ignored inertia. This was no time to dodge. Withdrawing the sword I was raising, I somehow managed to cut it into the slash’s path.
Gaiiiin! A massive metallic noise was let loose with enormous sparks. Though my defense succeeded somehow, I had to jump back to avoid having my stance destroyed and falling over from the pressure that was heavy enough to make the bones at my right hand creak. Dodging the enemy’s upwards slash with a step, I immediately went for a counterattack—
But Administrator’s skill with the sword exceeded my expectations yet again.
The sword returned overhead after tracing out the shape of a V and roared again as it swung down. With my balance shifted forward, I could not evade the third attack and it made a shallow cut at the left of my chest. It was a graze, but what ran through my body were fear and shock rather than pain.
If the sword skill Administrator executed was the one I knew.
It will slash through me if I tried dodging or a blocking half-heartedly here.
“O… oohh!!”
Hurling off my fear with a shout, I activated a sword skill from a rather unreasonable posture. The single-hit slash, «Slant».
My expectation struck home at last this time and Administrator’s sword returned overhead so quickly it seemed like it had teleported before unleashing its fourth attack with all its might.
I met the blade of white silver approaching from straight above with my black sword. Explosive light effects unique to when sword skills clashed against each other came forth and lit up both the highest minister’s and my faces.
The fourth attack of that four-hit skill could not be fully absorbed by a basic single-hit skill normally. But it was lucky how Administrator currently lacked her right arm. That had disturbed her balance and caused the slash to slide diagonally down, leftwards.
Gyariin! The two swords separated with a metallic ring and I jumped back, hard, for real this time, leaving her range.
Faint red tainted my fingers after touching the wound on my chest with my left hand. There was no need to heal damage of this degree with arts, but rather than the flesh wound, it was the fresh slit on the leather coat with a far higher priority value than it seemed—though actualized from my image—that made me shudder.
I could not speak; in my stead, Administrator leisurely straightened herself up while she spoke.
“—One-handed straight sword, four-hit sword skill, «Vertical Square»… wasn’t it?”
There was a slight lag before the voice that reached my ears turned into meaningful words.
The skill’s name was as I had expected. But—
Sword skill.
Did Administrator just say that?
Certainly, the Underworld had the same groups of sword skills as the old world of SAO. But they were called «secret moves» and recognized as power residing in the swords after lengthy training rather than system assist.
Not to mention how the secret moves used of those of the Human World were limited to single-hit skills like « Lightning Flash Slash ( Vertical ) », « Whirl Current ( Cyclone ) », and « Heavenly Mountain Rending Wave ( Avalanche ) ». That was the main reason why I could win through the many matches, practice and real, with the «Aincrad-style consecutive hits skills» and I thought that would have been my only chance at victory in this final battle as well.
But if Administrator could use sword skills, and the mighty skills of over four hits to boot, that advantage would cease to exist.
Eugeo’s figure, fallen from that fatal wound, entered my slowly retreating vision while confusion and unease assailed me. Blood still spread from where he was split. Just how minutes remained until his Life runs out?
I thought as anxiety consumed me further.
Eugeo had his memory temporarily sealed and fought against me as an integrity knight. That meant his memories were scanned through the Synthesis Ritual. That meant there was the possibility that the highest minister had scooped out the name and motion for Vertical Square from Eugeo’s memories.
If this guess proved accurate, Administrator should be able to use no more than the intermediate skills for one-handed straight swords. After all, I had never shown my partner any of the advanced skills.
Thus, I would have a chance at victory if I performed a skill with over four hits.
The best of the one-handed straight sword skills certainly did go up to ten hits. This was no longer any time to hold back.
Administrator let out a giggle as she looked upon me quickly separating my feet and fixing the grip on my black sword.
“My… your eyes can still stay so defiant? Very good, entertain me more, boy.”
Though a large chunk of her Life should have been lost along with her arm, the highest minister still said so with the utmost composure. I spoke no more in return, taking in a deep breath and holding it in.
I vividly recalled the image of that sword skill carved into both my body and my memories. A look revealed a faint bluish-white light effect already beginning to cover the sword in my right hand.
My sword drew an arc as I swung it from the right to straight overhead—
“—Haahh!!”
I let out a sharp war cry while activating the most advanced sword skill for one-handed straight swords, «Nova Ascension».
Backed by an unseen force, my body soared into the air at an extreme speed. The first hit was a rapid downwards slash that bested almost all other sword skills in terms of speed. There was no skill that exceeded this speed for one-handed straight swords.
The slash had half a second before it would dig into Administrator’s left shoulder.
My sensations accelerated and in that time, where all seemed heavy like immersed in jelly—
The silver long sword turned its end straight towards me.
A steel silver flash traced out a cross-shaped brilliance.
Dokakakakakaa!! Six thrusts stabbed at divine speed first vertically, then horizontally on my body.
“Gah…”
Fresh blood scattered from my mouth.
My ten-hit skill, interrupted on its initial hit, halted with its ice-blue glow futilely dispersing.
I could not even register what had conspired in my mind, let alone make any guesses at the cause. Overwhelmed by pain and fear, I stared at Administrator’s sword, drawn from my stomach, as I staggered away.
Six consecutive hits consisting entirely of thrusts.
No such sword skill existed under the one-handed straight sword category.
Fresh blood gushed freely from the small wounds bored into my shoulders, chest, throat, and stomach. I slumped down, strength leaving my knees, and thrust my sword into the floor as I desperately struggled against collapsing.
Having kept a distance away as if to avoid the spurting blood, Administrator hid her mouth with the sword with a blade which appeared to have become narrower than before.
“Ufufufu… what a pity, boy.”
With the upturned corners of her lips slightly visible beyond the sharp edge, the exquisite ruler announced in a sneer.
“Rapier, six-hit skill, «Crucifixion».”
——No way.
I hadn’t shown Eugeo that skill. In the first place, I couldn’t use that skill. I had only seen it time after time, long ago, in Aincrad.
The world seemed to lurch. No, I was the one lurching. I frantically sought an answer for the inexplicable development thrust at me.
—Was it my memories she peeked into?
—She stole that skill from my fluct light…? Even so, could the highest minister perfectly pull off a skill that I had all but forgotten…?
“No way…”
A murmur leaked out from my mouth, one so strained that I could hardly believe it was my own voice.
“Impossible… that’s impossible…”
My clenched teeth gnashed. Perhaps wanting to drown out an unexplainable anger and a fear that refused to leave my back, I roughly drew my sword from the floor, stood my unsteady feet firmly on the floor, and made no attempt to conceal my stance.
The left hand out and the right hand drawn in. The posture for the one-hit certain kill skill that defeated Chudelkin, Vorpal Strike.
The gap between us was roughly five meters. That was perfectly enough.
“U… aaaah!!”
I screamed out from deep in my abdomen, forcibly wringing out my wilting power of imagination. The sword notched atop my shoulder gleamed a ferocious crimson red. Was that the color of blood—or a naked intent to murder?
Administrator, in response—
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