Sword Art Online - Volume 27 - Chapter 15

15

Operator Second Class Lagi Quint held his wounded right shoulder and tried desperately to stand.

But his legs were numb and would not heed him. The paralysis extended beyond his legs to his arm, back, and even the inside of his mouth. The blood of the enemy creatures that had landed on his wound must have included some kind of poisonous substance.

The space force’s basic training included instructions for situations like this. The majority of poisons could be neutralized with light elements, so if he knew where the poison got in, he could start there, and if he didn’t, he would have to cut open the skin on his arm to mix liquefied light elements into the bloodstream. It was a crude means of healing, but the formula was short and easy, and it was practical, too, because it would heal his life value at the same time.

Lagi tried to perform a light-element antidote as soon as he realized he’d been poisoned, but by then, his tongue was already too numb to intone the commands. There was a vial of antidote on his belt of battle equipment, but today was sacred arts drills, so he was wearing his regular casual wear instead.

Still, he at least had his sword. And the person he was meant to protect was still fighting. Crawling around in a miserable state on account of some measly poison was not an option.

He pressed his back to the wall and somehow got to his feet.

In the center of the spacious pilot commander’s office was its owner, Eolyne Herlentz, locked in furious combat with the freakish enemy creatures.

“Sha!” he hissed, unleashing a two-part thrust that the enemy blocked with the backside of its thick blade. Instead of winding up to swing, it swiped the machete to the right, catching the chest of the commander’s white shirt as he jumped back and tearing a button loose.

In prime condition, the commander would have easily avoided it entirely or stayed back just far enough to deliver a powerful counterattack. But it was clear at a glance that his movements were growing sluggish.

There was no blaming him. Along the walls were the corpses of five more of the creatures that he had already defeated. The commander had been fighting for more than fifteen minutes since the things barged into the room and attacked, and his exhaustion had to be reaching its peak.

“……Rgh…,” Lagi grunted, not even able to grit his teeth. He tried as hard as he could to move his legs.

Immediately, the commander stated calmly, “Don’t move, Lagi. The poison will spread.”

My duty is to protect you, he would have said, if he could speak at all. Tears blotted his eyes, born of frustration and self-loathing.

The Quint family stemmed from the famed warrior Azurica Quint, who was runner-up of the Four-Empire Unification Tournament (the predecessor of the current Human Unification Tournament) and later went on to be the director of the North Centoria Imperial Swordcraft Academy for life. Lagi’s grandfather and father served in the space force, and as the eldest son, Lagi naturally chose to be an operator.

He strove his hardest as a soldier second class in Cattleya Company, and in just his third year, he was rewarded by a promotion from soldier to operator. Last year, while he was still officially a member of Cattleya Company, he was selected from the pool of candidates to be an Integrity Pilot, the group that headed the entire space force. As part of that pool, he participated in twice-weekly training exercises.

Just earlier today, the Pilothood’s sacred arts master was teaching him high-level sacred arts theory. After his supper in the cafeteria on the second floor, he hurried back to Cattleya Company’s barracks down the hallway. Commander Herlentz was walking alone ahead of him, so Lagi gave him a salute as he passed by the wall. But the commander had returned the salute and then asked, “Operator Quint, would you help me with something?” Upon accepting the request, of course, Lagi found that he was intended to retrieve materials from the library on the fifth floor of the command center.

As they walked the piles of historical texts, maps, and so on to the office on the seventh floor, Lagi couldn’t help but notice how tired the commander seemed. But he was hauling documents himself rather than resting, so Lagi offered to help even more.

He had provided the commander with food and water, and even searched through some of the documents for him, until it was already eleven o’clock. He was just thinking that it was about time to get back to the barracks when it happened.

The commander abruptly got to his feet, looked at the ceiling of the office, and muttered, “Oh, damn.” Immediately after that, explosions rocked the building. Lagi wanted to run out of the office to see, but the commander stopped him. Less than a minute or two later, the door was blasted open, and a number of the strange creatures poured inside.

Lagi attempted to fight back, too, of course, but none of his attacks felt like they did anything. Using an ultimate technique finally felt like it inflicted some damage, but he immediately took a blow from one of their machetes, and the enemy’s blood from the wound he’d just caused spurted all over him.

He fell to the ground near the door, where he saw someone’s mirror-bright boots walk past his nose. Lagi looked up to see a tall man with black hair hanging to the middle of his back, wearing a dark-gray cloak that fell below his knees.

The man walked through the office without being accosted by any of the creatures and went right past where Eolyne fought for his life, to the large desk in the back of the room, which he then sat upon.

In the fifteen minutes since then, the commander dispatched five of the creatures. Only the one he was fighting now was left. But the mysterious man still leaned against the desk, arms folded. In fact, it seemed as though he was smiling.

He wore a brimmed hat the same color as his cloak, but even with that obfuscation, it was clear at a glance that the man was stunningly beautiful. He had pale lips, a finely shaped nose, and upturned eyes that were silvery-blue and piercing.

I feel like I’ve seen him before, Lagi thought, just before he was distracted by the commander shouting “Haaah!” and executing an ultimate technique.

A vertical slice slammed the enemy to the ground, followed by a pair of swings from left and right, and finally a big pullback to an overhead slash right down the middle. Although he’d never seen it in person before, Lagi recognized that this was probably a secret art of the Integrity Pilots, Lightning Slash Profusion…

The four-part attack left the enemy creature’s torso in tatters. It hissed its dying breath as it was knocked off its feet. Toxic blood sprayed everywhere as it fell, but the commander swung his free left arm and created a gust of Incarnation that knocked all the liquid down.

Right after that, however, he stumbled and fell. Only the point of his sword against the floor stopped him from leaving his feet, but his exhaustion was palpable. He had already been tired when he returned to the command center, and that was before more than two hours of studying reference materials.

The mystery man clapped his hands twice.

“Very good, Eol. You defeated six Type-3 minions, and while you were fatigued, no less.”

His voice was equal parts soft and cold.

The commander wiped away a trickle of sweat that issued from under his mask, then straightened his back. “Same to you…It must have been quite an ordeal to make the trip all the way to Cardina, after that desperate scramble for safety you exhibited earlier, Kouga. You must have a real hard-ass for a commanding officer,” he said, his voice dripping with irony. But there was no hiding his exhaustion.

And what a strange conversation it was. The commander and the mysterious man were speaking as though they had just seen each other hours ago.

Plus, the name Kouga, which the commander mentioned, struck Lagi’s memory center. He had seen that face somewhere before…

“Heh, I won’t deny it. But it’s my philosophy to use everything that I can make use of,” the man named Kouga said, smirking. He extended a hand and pointed courteously at the window behind the desk. “Will you make a trip up to the roof with me, then? I’m afraid this hasn’t yet been a greeting worthy of the noble Commander Eolyne Herlentz.”

“I’d rather pass, thanks. I still haven’t finished with the day’s work yet,” the commander replied, lifting the sword he was using to prop himself up and leveling the point at the man.

Kouga’s lips pursed, though his arms remained folded.

Lagi felt the air itself crack with pressure.

The lingering remnants of battle floating in the air began to pop and sizzle. Even standing several mels away, Lagi’s body was subjected to fierce invisible pressure.

They were engaging in a battle of Incarnation, trapped in a deadlock. If there were an Incarnameter in this room, Lagi couldn’t have imagined what sort of a number it would be displaying.

But the stalemate lasted only seconds.

The instant a drop of sweat from the commander’s bangs hit the floor, his body, slender for a swordsman’s, floated off the ground and was propelled backward with incredible force.

Lagi’s breath caught in his throat. Eolyne was going to hit the wall.

But then, in nothing but empty air, someone’s arm shot out and grabbed Eolyne’s body.

There were faint clanging sounds. Around the commander, who floated in the air, a tall, translucent door began to take form.

In time, the door took real shape. It was a large crystal doorway, open wide.

Within the extremely thin frame was pitch blackness—no, night sky. A cold wind blew through the opening against a backdrop of glittering stars.

After the arm came legs. Then a body and then a head.

It was a man, about the same age as Lagi or maybe younger. He was wearing a pilot’s uniform, the kind for space flight. There were two swords at his sides. His hair was black and his eyes the color of deep night…

Lagi knew this young man’s name. Lagi himself had driven him from North Centoria to the space force base in a mechamobile that morning. His name was Kirito…and he was Commander Herlentz’s strange, enigmatic guest.

Lagi had assumed that he was some kind of special envoy on a secret mission from lands abroad, but apparently his guess was completely wrong.

Kirito looked over at the commander, who was propped up on his arm, and grinned at him. He reached out and ruffled the flaxen hair spilling over the white mask.

“I’m here to rescue you, Eo.”

(To be continued)