PRISONERS AND KNIGHTS, MAY 380 HE

Even now, there were times I thought back to when I was held

prisoner in Aincrad.

Back then, especially that first year of the game of death, every

single day lasted forever. Whenever I was outside of town, I had

to watch my back at all times for monster (and occasionally

player) attacks, and leveling at maximum efficiency required

some truly grueling daily schedules.

I cut down my sleeping time as far as I could without sacrificing concentration, and I dedicated even the scant time I had for

eating to memorizing data I bought from info brokers. By the

later stages of the game, I was the black sheep of the advancement group, a guy who could spend an entire day taking a nap,

but I never thought of myself as simply wasting my time. It felt

like the fourteen years before SAOand the two years in Aincrad

occupied an equal amount of time in my mind.

Compare that to this…

The days since coming to this mysterious Underworld seemed

to fly by. I wasn't letting them slip past out of laziness—not at all.

If anything, the two years from leaving Rulid to joining the Za-

kkaria garrison to being a student at the Swordcraft Academy in

Centoria were a time of constant activity. Perhaps even busier

than my time in SAO. And yet when I thought back on them, it

felt as though they'd passed in a blink.

Perhaps the reason for that was the lack of danger of my life—

their concept of HP—running down to zero. Or perhaps the reason was that compared to real life, the passage of time here was

vastly accelerated.

When I took on a job for the mysterious tech company Rath,

they explained that the maximum FLA (fluctlight acceleration) of

the STL was three times that of normal time. But that was probably—no, definitely—false. Based on a number of data, I estimated

that my current FLA ratio was closer to a thousand to one. If true,

then the two years I'd spent in this simulation had passed in just

eighteen hours in the real world. Surely the lack of mortal danger

and the knowledge that all of this was passing in the blink of a

(real-world) eye were making the days feel shorter.

But…no.

Perhaps there was another reason.

It was because my life here…especially at the Swordcraft Academy, with Eugeo, Sortiliena, Ronie, and Tiese, had been so enjoyable. Even though what brought me to the school to polish my

skills was to get outof this place as soon as possible. Perhaps my

secret desire for this enjoyment to last was making the time pass

quicker.

If so, that was a betrayal. A betrayal of Asuna, Sugu, Sinon,

and the others, all waiting and worrying about me in the real

world.

Perhaps this was my punishment for that betrayal. My time at

the academy ended in a bloody catastrophe and got me locked

down beneath the earth, where no ray of sunshine could pene-

trate…

I stopped reflecting and sat up, causing the steel chain locked

around my right wrist to clink. A few moments later, I heard a

dull whisper from the darkness nearby.

"…You awake, Kirito?"

"Yeah…have been for a while. Sorry, did that wake you?" I

whispered back, so as not to attract the attention of the jailer. I

heard a dry, exhaled chuckle.

"Of course I can't sleep. I'm normal—not like someone else

who started snoring away from the moment we got locked in

here."

"That's the second secret to the Aincrad style: Sleep when you

get the chance," I improvised, then glanced around us.

We were surrounded by deep darkness, with the only light

coming from the jailer's station down the hall on the other side of

the steel bars. If I squinted, I could just make out the silhouette of

Eugeo on the adjacent bed.

I'd mastered the elementary-level sacred art of sparking a light

on the end of a stick long ago, of course, but this prison was thorough enough to block any kind of spellcasting inside it.

I looked in the direction of Eugeo's face, though I couldn't

make out his expression, and, after mulling it over, asked, "Well…

feeling a bit calmer now?"

My internal clock told me it was about three in the morning. If

we were locked in this basement prison at midday yesterday, that

meant only thirty-five hours or so had passed since the incident

of two nights before. Eugeo defied the Taboo Index to attack

Humbert Zizek with his Blue Rose Sword, then witnessed Raios

Antinous lose his mind and die—an almost incalculable amount

of shock and trauma for him to undergo.

After a long silence, an even softer voice responded, "It feels

like…all this has been a dream…That I turned my sword on Humbert…and that Raios ended up like that…"

"…Don't think too hard about it. You need to focus on what

comes after this instead."

It was the best I could come up with. I wished I could rub his

back to reassure him, but the chains kept me from reaching the

other bed. After a few moments of watching his outline closely, I

heard him whimper, "Got it. I'll be all right."

I was the one who had severed Raios Antinous's wrists, not

Eugeo. The wounds themselves shouldn't have been fatal if

treated promptly and properly, but I suspected that he got stuck

in an infinite mental loop trying to assign priority between his

own life and the Taboo Index, which caused his fluctlight to collapse.

I did feel guilt at causing the death of an Underworldian, of

course. But already, two years ago, I'd killed two goblins in the

cave north of Rulid to save Selka, the sister in training. They had

fluctlights just like Raios did, so it would almost be an insult to

that goblin captain's memory if I fell to pieces over killing Raios,

who was far weaker than them.

But even then, something sat wrong with me.

My running suspicion was that Rath and Seijirou Kikuoka, the

people operating the Underworld, were attempting to create a

true artificial intelligence.

The artificial fluctlights here already had emotions and intelligence on par with real human beings. If their one flaw was absolute, blind obedience to the law, then Eugeo had crossed that

wall by drawing his Blue Rose Sword and striking Humbert down

to save Tiese and Ronie. In other words, he'd completed his final

breakthrough and evolved into true artificial intelligence.

And yet, thirty-five hours of internal time later, the world

showed no signs of shutting down. Either the acceleration rate

was so high that Rath still hadn't noticed the change or there was

some kind of horrible accident going on that I couldn't even

imagine…

"What comes…after this," Eugeo repeated from the other bed.

I set aside my concerns and took my eyes off the ceiling to look at

him again. In the darkness, his familiar silhouette bobbed and

continued, "You're right, Kirito. We've got to get out of this prison

and find out what happened to Alice…"

I was relieved that my partner seemed to be recovering from

his shock, but something very important in his statement stuck

with me. He'd said, "Get out of this prison" like it was just that

simple. To him, this prison—a symbol of the Axiom Church's

power if there ever was one, the place we would remain until we

received God's forgiveness—was less important than Alice. The

recent events had indeed prompted a major change in the way his

mind worked.

But I didn't have time to delve into that now. Soon the sun

would rise, and some inquisitor or executioner would come drag

us out. Like Eugeo said, we could consider deeper matters once

we had escaped.

"Yeah…I'm sure there must be a way to get out."

But only if it's your typical RPG locked-in-a-jail event, where

there's always a means of escape.

I brushed the chains holding me in place. They were cold and

almost unbearably tough metal. They were welded to a ring of the

same material that was locked around my wrist, which in turn

was connected to a similar ring embedded in the wall. It was

quite clear that no amount of pulling would break any part of the

binding apparatus.

Yesterday morning, Eugeo and I had finally crossed the wall

into the Axiom Church's Central Cathedral, our ultimate goal ever

since leaving the very northern tip of the world. We hadn't

planned on doing it by dangling from the legs of a dragon, however.

We had barely had any time to admire the chalk-white tower

that stretched up into the clouds before they sent us marching

down a deep spiral staircase behind the spire, and at last we

reached this underground prison and were handed over to its

fearsome jailer.

Alice Synthesis Thirty had finished her duty and left without a

word. After that, the beastly, burly jailer with a metal mask like a

kettle slowly but surely chained us here in this cell.

For food that night, we got one meal of hard, dried bread and a

skin of lukewarm water, tossed through the bars. Compared to

this, even the treatment of the orange players in the jail at Blackiron Palace in Aincrad was like a suite at a luxury hotel.

We'd tried and failed at every method of freedom yesterday:

pulling on the chains, gnawing, sacred arts. If we had the Blue

Rose Sword or my black one, we could cut through them like butter, but sadly, the weapons that the girls tore their palms bloody

to bring to us had been taken who-knew-where by Alice. Ronie's

homemade lunch thankfully escaped confiscation, but it was now

long gone.

In short, we just "needed a way out." However, we'd tried and

failed at every conceivable option so far.

"I wonder…if Alice was chained up down here, too…" Eugeo

mumbled, sitting on the bed of metal frame and rags.

"Yeah…dunno," I said, which was not much of an answer. If

Alice Zuberg, Eugeo's childhood friend and Selka's sister, had undergone the same treatment, that meant she'd been locked in this

horrible place alone by that iron-masked jailer at the tender age

of eleven. It was hard to imagine a more terrifying experience.

Eventually she would have been summoned to make a confession, then sentenced—and then what…?

"Say, Eugeo. Stop me if I'm off, but…are you absolutely certain

that this Alice Synthesis Thirty is the same person as the Alice

you're looking for?" I asked hesitantly.

After a few seconds, a pained response came: "That voice…her

golden hair and blue eyes…I'd never forget them. That was Alice.

But…otherwise, she seemed like a totally different person…"

"For being old friends, she sure smashed you pretty good. So

perhaps…her memories are being controlled in some fashion…or

her thoughts limited, even…?"

"But there were no sacred arts like that listed in the textbook."

"But the fancy bishops of the Church can manipulate life itself,

right? Surely they've got some means to mess around with memories."

And in fact, the Soul Translator I was using to dive into the

Underworld could do just such a thing. If they could manipulate

the memory of a biological brain, surely it would be even easier

and more effective on an artificial fluctlight saved on its own

medium.

"But," I continued, "if that knight is the real Alice, then what

was that thingtwo years ago, in the cave north of Rulid…?"

"Right…you mentioned that, when you were healing me with

Selka, you heard a voice that sounded like Alice's…"

Though I hadn't told Eugeo all the details, I'd used Selka's

powers to give him half my life when he was gravely wounded in

the fight with the goblins. It was a very risky action and sucked

out my life at a much faster pace than I'd expected, but just when

I was certain that I couldn't maintain myself any longer—I had

heard a voice.

"Kirito, Eugeo…I'll be waiting for you always…I am waiting

for you at the top of Central Cathedral…"

Along with the voice, I had felt a mysterious warm light fill me,

restoring both my life and Eugeo's. That wasn't just confused

memory. It must have been Alice, once taken away by the Axiom

Church, using some unexplained power to save us.

We took that message to heart and had made our way down to

Centoria to the Central Cathedral.

But when we finally met Alice in a most unexpected manner,

she was not Alice Zuberg from Rulid but the Integrity Knight

Alice Synthesis Thirty. She treated us merely as criminals to be

judged and gave no sign whatsoever that she was Eugeo's childhood friend.

Either she was a different person who coincidentally shared

her looks and name or she was the real Alice with her memories

altered or controlled. It seemed the only way we'd find out the

truth was to escape this prison and actually get up to the top of

Central Cathedral—the place where we'd find out everything

about the Axiom Church.

And yet we hadn't been able to put a scratch on the chains or

bars so far and didn't seem likely to in the future.

"Argh, this is so frustrating…If there's a God here, I'd like to

strangle that holy neck until I finally get the entire truth!" I

grunted, thinking of Seijirou Kikuoka's stupid face.

Eugeo chuckled nervously and whispered, "Come on, you

shouldn't insult Stacia while we're inside the church. You don't

want divine retribution."

His shift in priorities regarding the Taboo Index had not removed his faith in their religion, I noted, and added, "Hey, maybe

she'll punish these chains instead."

Then a thought occurred to me, and I changed my tone. "Wait

a second. Speaking of Stacia, couldn't we call up a window here?"

"You know, we never thought to try that. Go on and see."

"Right."

I waited to ensure that there wasn't any movement from the

jailer's station down the hallway to the left, then extended the

index and middle finger of my right hand. I made the familiar status window summoning gesture, then tapped the chain tied to my

left hand.

After a brief pause, a pale-purple window popped into being. I

didn't think that learning the chain's properties was going to improve our situation, but it never hurt to have more information.

"Hey, there it is!" Eugeo grinned and checked the numbers.

There were just three lines of information: the object ID, a horrifying 23,500/23,500durability rating, and the descriptor class-38

object. Class 38 was a higher value than many fine swords, but it

was lower than the Blue Rose Sword's 45 and the 46 for the black

sword made from the Gigas Cedar branch. If we had either sword,

we could cut through the chains—but it was pointless to hope for

that now.

Eugeo popped up the window on his own chains and groaned.

"Ugh, no wonder they wouldn't budge even the tiniest bit. We'll

need at least a class-38 weapon or tool to cut them…"

"That's exactly right," I said, looking around the dim cell, but

all the room contained was the crude metal beds and an empty

waterskin. I felt a brief moment of hope when I wondered if I

could remove a leg of my bed to use as a crowbar, but upon examining the window, it was a cheap class-3 object. The iron bars

looked much tougher, but the chain was too short for me to reach

them.

I looked around, even more desperate for some option I hadn't

tried yet, when Eugeo said weakly, "You're not going to suddenly

find some incredible sword hiding in your cell. I mean, what's

there to find? It's just the beds, the skin, and these chains."

"Just…chains…" I mumbled, staring at the chain confining my

arm, then the one around Eugeo's wrist. Suddenly, I had an idea.

I tried to control my excitement. "It's not justchains. It's two

damn chains!"

"Huhhh?" Eugeo gasped, totally baffled. I waved him down off

the bed, then got onto the stone floor myself so I could see my

partner's outline standing in the darkness, wearing the school

uniform he'd had on since our arrest.

Around his right wrist was a crude metal ring, like mine,

welded to a long chain that ran to a fastener in the wall behind his

bed.

First, I ducked under Eugeo's chain, then doubled back over it

to my original spot. That crossed our chains into an X pattern.

Then I motioned for him to back away, which I did as well, so that

the tension at the intersection of the chains was high enough for

them to creak unpleasantly.

At last, Eugeo seemed to understand what I was thinking.

"Um, Kirito, you aren't suggesting that we both pull, are you?"

"Pull, indeed. The two chains have identical priority levels, so

this should essentially damage the life of both. We'll see once we

try—use both hands to pull."

Eugeo still seemed skeptical, but he did as I said and used

both hands to grab the chain connected to his right wrist, then

crouched a bit. I did the same on my end.

"Wait, before that…"

I made the sigil with my left hand and called up the chain's

window again.

If we tried this method in the real world in an attempt to sever

chains of this thickness, we'd maybe put a tiny scratch on the surface at best. But in the Underworld, no matter how real everything looked, the physical principles were different. As demonstrated by the way we cut through a twelve-foot-wide tree in just a

few days with the divine Blue Rose Sword, when any two objects

collided with a certain amount of force and velocity, the higherpriority object would eventually destroy the other.

We made eye contact to get our timing right, then yanked on

the chains with all our might.

Gink!The chains rattled, dull and forceful, and it took my entire core to keep my legs planted so that Eugeo's surprising brute

strength didn't hurtle me off my feet. He started to get into the

spirit of it, too, and before long we had mostly forgotten the original idea and were having a simple tug-of-war.

In addition to the ugly scraping at the intersection of the

chains, there were occasional orange flashes of sparks. Without

letting up any of the pressure, I craned my neck to check the open

status window.

"Oh!"

I couldn't pump my fist with both hands occupied, so I had to

smirk instead. The durability value was descending, with the ones

digit rotating faster than I could see and the tens digit dropping

fast. At this rate, we'd have them down to zero in mere minutes. I

gritted my teeth, pulling even harder with Eugeo.

In order for this to work, we had to have two chains and two

prisoners, as well as a high-enough object control authority—

what would correspond to the strength stat in SAO—to override

the chains' level. So it was unlikely that eleven-year-old Alice, imprisoned alone, would have been able to do this.

She must have gone to her interrogation, and then something

happened. If the two Alices were the same person, then they must

have done something to her that controlled her mind, changing

her into an obedient soldier of the Axiom Church…

I was so occupied by this train of thought that I forgot a very

crucial part of the plan. We needed to stop tugging just before the

life of the chains went down to zero. Otherwise…

Ping!That sound was much higher-pitched than the previous.

The next instant, Eugeo and I were hurtling backward, and I

slammed the back of my head against the hard stone wall.

I huddled on the ground, clutching my head, desperately trying to resist the pain and dizziness the STL faithfully represented.

Once they abated, I looked toward the door, certain that the jailer

would have heard us this time, but there was no reaction. I exhaled with relief and got up.

When Eugeo recovered and stood on his own, he rubbed his

head and muttered, "Ow…that must have knocked a hundred off

my life."

"Hey, that's a cheap price to pay. Check it out."

I held out my right arm, the chain dangling limp from the

shackle. The metal was severed clean, with about one mel and

twenty cens left connected. There were four U-shaped pieces of

metal on the ground, the remains of the two rings that had split

simultaneously from the stress of our pulling. Before long, they

tinkled and crumbled out of existence.

That gave me the idea to check the window of the broken chain

hanging from my arm. It had recovered its life up to 18,000,

nearly the original amount. My expectation (more like hope) was

that once we pulled its life down to zero, the entire three-mel

length of the chain would be obliterated as a whole, but because it

was made of a long series of rings, the remaining parts had instead reconstituted as new chain objects.

Eugeo checked his own chain, following the same line of

thought, then threw up his shoulders and said, "Good grief…I

could never pull off a mad idea like this. It's why I'll never be like

you, Kirito."

"Heh! My motto is, 'Impossible, improbable, inadvisable.'

Still…I don't know what we'll do about this now…"

We were free from being stuck three mels from the wall, but I

had no idea how I'd remove the dangling tail of chain hanging off

my wrist now. If we did the same tug-of-war, we could shorten

the chain but never remove it entirely.

"I guess we'll just have to lug these everywhere with us. It's a

bit heavy, but if you wrap it around your arm, it shouldn't interfere with the ability to run," Eugeo said, doing just that. I followed his lead, and soon we had matching chain gauntlets, which

made us smirk at each other.

"So," I said to Eugeo, knowing that we had to clear something

up before we moved to the next step, "I need to ask you something, Eugeo. You understand that if we escape and go searching

for the truth about Alice, that means open rebellion against the

Axiom Church. We don't have time to grapple with what that

means, each and every action we take. If that knowledge is too

much for you to handle, I think you should stay here."

For the two years we'd known each other, this was probably

the hardest thing I'd ever said to him, but it was an unavoidable

issue.

He seemed calm on the surface, but Eugeo's fluctlight—his

soul as a collection of light quantums—had just experienced a violent restructuring. Ever since birth, he'd believed in the absolute

authority of the Axiom Church and Taboo Index. Now he had

turned his back on that and placed something else in a higher priority.

I had to assume that Eugeo was in a more unstable position

than he seemed, and if I put too much strain on his shifting mental model, it might cause an aberration within his soul like

Raios's. That's why I had tried not to mention either the Church

or the Index if possible over the last thirty-five hours.

But if we were going to undertake the extreme task of escaping

this cell and infiltrating Central Cathedral, I had to get some

things straight beforehand so that he didn't have to stop and

grapple with a sudden existential quandary in the middle of

everything. I had to get Eugeo to the top floor of the cathedral

safely—the place where I should find a control console that would

let us disengage the simulation and return to reality.

That's right—I wanted to bring my partner and friend out to

meet real people in the real world. The Underworld as it existed

now was an experiment run by Rath, and they could turn it off or

reset it at any time. That would mean deleting the fluctlights of

the thousands upon thousands of people who lived in this world.

I couldn't let that happen. I needed for Rath, and Seijirou

Kikuoka, to have a conversation with Eugeo and realize what

they'd built.

The Underworldians weren't just virtual NPCs. They had the

same intelligence and emotions as people in the real world, and

they had a right to live here.

Eugeo's eyes went wide when I demanded that he prepare for

the truth. He lowered his head, lifted his hand, and clenched a fist

in front of his chest.

"Yeah…I know." His voice was quiet but resolute, full of determination. "I've made up my mind. I'll turn on the Axiom Church

if it means being able to go back to Rulid with Alice. I'll even draw

my sword and fight if I have to…If that Integrity Knight is the real

Alice, I'll find out what happened to her memory and turn her

back. That's what's most important to me."

He looked up, staring at me with absolute resolve shining in

his eyes, then grinned faintly. "When we went on that picnic, you

said, 'Sometimes there are things that must be done, even when

they are forbidden by law.' I feel like I finally understand what

that means."

"…I see."

I took a deep breath of cold air to push down the strange feeling I was getting in my chest. I nodded, stepped forward, and patted his shoulder.

"I understand your determination. But…once we're out of

here, we're going to avoid battle wherever possible. I don't feel

like we stand a chance against any of the other Integrity Knights."

"You're usually not this pessimistic, Kirito." Eugeo smirked. I

reminded him that these guys were the toughest fighters in the

world, then walked over to the metal bars separating our cell

from the hallway. I pulled up the window for one of the threecen-wide rods. Its object class was 20, and its life was close to ten

thousand.

Eugeo came over to look at the window and groaned. "Hmm…

that should be easier than the chains, but it'll probably take a

while to bend it with our hands. What do you think? Should we

body-slam it at the same time?"

"We'll lose plenty of life on our side, too. But I think I've got an

idea. Check this out."

I waved him back, then undid the chain wrapped around my

right arm. I made it sound like I'd had the idea all along, but in

fact, it came to me only when I was first wrapping the chain up.

For the first year I'd spent at the Swordcraft Academy, I'd

watched my mentor Sortiliena wrap up her own signature leather

whip in the exact same way when she was done with it.

Eugeo watched me shake the four-foot-long piece of chain and

wondered, "Um, Kirito, are you going to try to break the bar with

that? What if you mess up and hit yourself…?"

"Don't worry, I got plenty of lessons in whip-snapping from

Liena. They called her the Walking Tactics Manual, remember?

Now, if we blow the bars off, it's gonna make a hell of a noise, so

we need to run straight for the stairs. Don't fight the jailer if he

comes out. Just run."

"…Uh-huh. Plenty of lessons, eh?"

I ignored that and started waving the chain wider and wider. It

was still a bit short to use as a proper whip, but that class-38 priority would help make up the gap.

You must strike by focusing on the weight of the tip, not the

hand holding the whip, Liena would tell me. I pulled back the

chain and, before it stretched all the way out, swung it hard.

"Seya!"

It sprang forward like a dull gray snake, striking the intersection of those thick bars directly and producing a shower of

sparks.

Ba-gwaaam!The bar ripped loose from the vertical frame, top

and bottom, and slammed into the cell on the far wall with a

tremendous clatter. If anyone had been stored in that cell, they

would've assumed that Solus had sent down their punishment directly.

I held my breath against the thick cloud of rising dust and

tumbled into the hallway. The kettle-headed jailer had to have

heard that one. He probably wasn't as tough as an Integrity

Knight, but I wasn't going to test that theory with just a length of

chain for a weapon.

I crouched and watched the hallway, but after several seconds,

there was no change. Eugeo followed me out of the cell. I glanced

at him and whispered, "They might be waiting in ambush. Be on

your guard."

"Got it."

We started sneaking along to avoid drawing attention—probably a bit too late for that.

According to the information I'd frantically memorized when

we were brought down here, the Axiom Church's basement

prison had eight hallways that extended outward like wheel

spokes, with four cells on either side of each hallway. If all the

cells held two at most, that meant it had a maximum capacity of 8

times 8 times 2, or 128 prisoners. I couldn't imagine that it had

ever been full, however.

At the "hub" of the wheel where all eight spokes met was the

jailer's station, around which wound the spiral staircase that went

up to the surface. If we could avoid the jailer's attacks and sprint

past him, that would be the best outcome. At the end of the hallway I came to a stop, checking out the area around the station.

There was a small lamp hung on the wall of the rounded station, its light meager and flickering. Nothing at all moved, but I

couldn't shake the feeling of the jailer lying in wait somewhere,

readying an attack with some terrifying weapon.

"…Hey, Kirito."

"Shh!"

"Uh, Kirito?" Eugeo insisted, tapping my shoulder as I tried to

peer around the corner. I turned.

"What?!"

"Do you hear that? Isn't it…snoring?"

"…Uh, what?"

I focused on my ears and heard a rhythmic series of faint but

familiar low rumbles.

"…"

I looked at Eugeo again, then shook my head and started walking.

Out of the hallway (without so much as a mouse hiding around

the corner, of course), it was a fairly open circular space, with a

stone pillar in the center about sixteen feet across. The pillar was

hollow inside—the jailer's room—and was, in fact, the source of

the snoring.

There was a black metal door on the side of the pillar with a

small window in its top. We snuck closer and I pressed my face to

the window to look inside.

In the middle of the room was a crude bed, no better than the

ones in the cells, with the jailer's barrel-like body spilling over the

sides of it. He was still wearing that kettle-like mask, and the thin

material vibrated with each snore.

This was our golden opportunity to escape, but I had to wonder about the circumstances of his life. The jailer stood guard

over a prison that hardly ever saw any visitors, if I had to guess,

and had worked here alone for years, if not decades. After all, unless you were born to a noble family, everyone in this world was

given a "calling" at age ten by their local leaders, and there was no

way to choose or change it on your own.

Down here in the depths without any sunlight, waking up with

the faint sound of the morning bells, patrolling empty cells, then

going to sleep to the night bells. This jailer's job had consisted of

nothing but that repetition for years and years. An existence so

dull and automatic that he hadn't even stirred when we blasted

the bars off our cell.

There was a huge array of keys in various sizes hanging on the

wall of the station. Somewhere among them would be the keys to

our wrist shackles, but I wasn't in the mood to disturb the jailer's

sleep and fight him. I stepped back and said, "Let's just go."

"Yeah…I agree."

Eugeo seemed to understand where I was coming from. We

moved away from the window and started up the spiral stairs,

never looking back.

2

The stairs had felt interminably long when we were descending

them, but rushing upward, I sensed the exit was near after just a

few minutes. The moldiness of the air trailed away, and the damp

stone walls and steps changed to fine, smooth marble.

Eventually the way ahead got lighter, and when the exit came

into view, we leaped upward, skipping steps and completely forgetting any sense of caution. Once we were on the surface again,

we greedily sucked in lungfuls of fresh air.

"…Ahhh…"

When I felt my respiratory system functioning properly again,

I looked around at last. It was dark yet, but the faint amount of

starlight was still enough to see by.

The Axiom Church was located on a large square plot of land

directly in the middle of Centoria. From what I could see when we

were hauled in on the dragon yesterday morning, the main gate

was on the east side (probably to face a rising Solus), with a wide

approach that led to the church building proper.

That building was the massive, white Central Cathedral. It,

too, had a square base, its sheer walls polished to a mirrorlike reflection, and the top was so distant that it was always lost in the

clouds and invisible from the ground.

I believed that someone or something at the top of the cathedral managed this world and that someone would maintain a system console that I could use to contact Rath on the outside. If I

could just get there, I could return to the real world after two

years and two months of being trapped in here…

I turned back to the entrance to the underground stairs, savoring the idea of my potential victory. The doorless, rectangular

hole opened rather abruptly in the side of the pure-white building. I looked left, then right, then upward along the smooth, polished marble, but due to the thick fog, I couldn't see a corner in

any direction.

Of course, even without the fog, I couldn't have seen the top—

that white marble surface was the outside wall of the very cathedral that was my destination.

Following the same train of thought, Eugeo took a few steps

forward, raised his hand, and stroked the wall. His fingers rubbed

back and forth, ascertaining the absolute solidity and coldness of

its surface.

"…I know it shouldn't be a surprise at this point, but…it's hard

to believe. We're touching the Central Cathedral itself. Even the

greatest nobles—even the four emperors—can only look at this

tower from beyond the walls."

"Too bad we're here as escaped fugitives, rather than Integrity

Knights like we planned," I deadpanned. Eugeo weakly smiled

back for a moment.

"But at this point, it seems like we made the right choice," he

said. "What if we became Integrity Knights and turned out like

Alice…?"

"With our memories being controlled, you mean? Good

point…but if all the knights are like that, I wonder who they think

they are," I mused. Eugeo removed his hand from the stone and

looked at me.

I put my hand on my hip and explained, "I mean, assuming

the knights' memories are being hidden from them…they should

at least know things like who their parents are and where they

were born, right? I mean, that's the most fundamental root of

human experience. I think it would be really hard to fake that

kind of knowledge."

"I see…The knights can fly everywhere on those dragons, after

all. If you sealed their real memories and gave them fake ones,

they could easily go to those locations and realize the lie…"

Suddenly, Eugeo sucked in a deep breath and stared at me. I

looked back, surprised at this reaction. After several seconds of

staring at each other, I finally recognized the reason for his behavior.

"Oh…you think we might find a way to return my memories in

the tower?"

"Er…I—I just…"

He scrunched up his face and looked down at the ground, so I

moved toward him and ruffled his flaxen hair. "You're such a

worrywart. I told you—whether my memory comes back or not,

I'm going along on your journey to the end."

Eugeo raised his reddened faced and protested, "Don't treat

me like a child." But he didn't try to brush away my hand. "I'm…

I'm not doubting your word. You've said that over and over. But…

when I started thinking about how our journey might be coming

to an end, it just…"

His voice was tense and thick with emotion, and I started to

feel something rising within my own chest. I looked up, hand still

on Eugeo's head.

The tremendous monolith standing over us was truly worthy

of being called the center of the world. Even if there somehow

weren't any obstacles on the way up, the trip would not be easy—

but that was all that was left. No matter how many thousands of

stairs were between us, once we'd finished climbing them, our

journey would be over. And it had taken at least a year less than

we had planned.

But this wouldn't be an eternal farewell. I'd log out to the real

world, but I would be back. I had to see Eugeo, Liena, Ronie,

Tiese, and everyone else again.

"Once it's over, let's make sure we secure a happy ending.

You'll get Alice's memories back and take her home to Rulid.

But…wouldn't you need to choose a new calling then? You should

probably start thinking about that now, because you won't get another chance," I teased.

Eugeo looked up at last, his familiar annoyed expression present. "You're getting way ahead of yourself. But at the very least,

I've had enough of cutting down trees."

"Ha-ha, I bet you have."

I took my hand off his head and slapped his shoulder, just as

the Bells of Time-Tolling far overhead rang the time, beautiful

and grand. That was the four o'clock melody. Only one more hour

until daybreak…

"…Looks like we ought to get moving."

"Yeah, let's go."

We knuckled fists in solidarity, the force, timing, and speed of

which were perfectly matched. No more words were needed. We

set about examining our surroundings again.

For now, all we knew was that we were on the back side of the

cathedral, on the west. The eastern side was hidden from view on

the other side of the building, of course.

Our present objective was to get inside the cathedral, which

would be easy if there were an entrance to the ground floor, but

the west face was totally sheer and slippery, with no windows

anywhere near low enough to climb up to. The only opening was

the staircase exit we had just come out of, and while there just

might be other passages back down there, we'd sworn to Stacia

that we would never make that trip again.

So the next option was to follow the wall around, either to the

north or the south. The problem was that less than twenty feet in

either direction, there were metal fences flush against the building wall. They were low enough to climb over with some difficulty, but I'd seen during the flight in yesterday that there were

actually many fences arrayed in rows.

Based on the well-burnished look of the bronze fences covered

in vines, they were probably tougher than the bars down in the

cells. There were layers upon layers of these impediments on the

west side of the cathedral. It was a garden as much as it was a

maze—most likely to keep in any prisoners in the unlikely event

of an escape.

So between the wall and fences, the east, south, and north

were blocked, but there was a gate to the west. Beyond it was a

short, straight path that led to a clearing in the maze. That was

where the dragon had landed yesterday.

Just before that had happened, I had tried to memorize the escape route, but the maze was so complex and my time so brief

that it was completely impossible. Now it seemed we didn't have

any other option.

"We've got to make our way through the maze…and reach the

north or south side of the cathedral," I said.

Eugeo agreed. "I put my hope on your instincts."

"I've got this. Always been good at mazes," I replied without

thinking. Eugeo gave me a strange look, and I had to start walking before he asked me how I would know that.

Within a few paces, we were at the gate to the west; I opened

the window of the metal fence to check its priority level. The window said it was 35—as I suspected, it was special bronze. I could

break it in a number of swings with the chain around my right

hand, but not only would it take longer than climbing, it was

likely to attract the attention of the guards or even an Integrity

Knight.

We were about to resume our attempt on the maze as originally planned when Eugeo gasped.

"Wh-what is it? Is it something about the fence?!" I asked.

"N-no, not the fence…These leaves…"

Eugeo was staring at the vine wrapped around the fence,

pointing out a plain old leaf growing on it.

"I've never seen one, but I'm certain…it's a rose, Kirito."

"A rose, huh…? Wait, really?! All these plants growing in the

maze…?!"

It hadn't seemed significant at first, but then I remembered

that roses were no ordinary flowers in the Underworld. The Four

Holy Flowers—anemones, marigolds, dahlias, and cattleyas—all

grew fruit that contained very high-purity sacred power. But even

more valuable was the rose, the Flower of the Gods. Commoners,

nobles, and emperors alike were forbidden to cultivate them. The

few that grew naturally in some remote mountains were worth a

fortune at the markets of Centoria.

And there were thousands, tens of thousands of them just in

this maze…I was overcome with a sudden urge to go pick as many

as I could find, but sadly, the Underworld didn't have a handy inventory system to hide them in.

In contrast to my baser instincts, Eugeo's reaction was quite

calm. He pulled apart the jagged-edged leaves and peered deeper

into the growth.

"The flowers aren't blooming yet, but you can see the buds

swelling. With this many of them, I'm sure they put off an extreme amount of spatial power."

Now that he mentioned it, the air in the maze was sweet and

rich, and every breath felt like it was purifying me. I inhaled and

exhaled greedily, but Eugeo just looked annoyed.

"No, what I mean is, we might be able to use higher sacred arts

here."

"…That's great, but we're not injured or anything…"

"True, but we aremissing something very important. Our…"

"Oh, r-right! Our swords!" I said, finally realizing what Eugeo

was getting at, and snapped my fingers. Our class-38 whip-chains

were powerful weapons, but Eugeo didn't know how to use one,

so the sooner we got the Blue Rose Sword and the Black One

back, the better. In fact, it should be our top priority.

We hadn't seen the swords since Alice the Integrity Knight

took them away, but with the help of sacred arts, we could form a

good guess as to their location. I raised my right hand, took a

deep breath, and said, "System Call!"

To Eugeo, this was the initiation of a magical spell. To me, it

was a system control command. Purple light gathered faintly

around our fingers, signaling that the booted command prompt

was ready. I extended my index finger and squeezed the other

four before delivering the next command.

"Generate Umbra Element!"

As I chanted, I envisioned a gemstone, black and matte, and

on the tip of my finger appeared a tiny orb, totally black with blue

and purple highlights. This was a darkness element, one of the

eight kinds in this world. On the overall scale, it was a difficult

spell, but at least those boring sacred arts classes and tests had

carried over to practical use.

Darkness elements were the opposite of the light elements that

Miss Azurica had used to heal Eugeo's eye—they had a negative

energy to them. They were dangerous: If discharged, they could

easily scoop out and empty the surrounding space. But their adhesive properties were equally useful.

"Adhere Possession. Object ID WLSS102382. Discharge." I

finished chanting, and the floating element began to move away,

as if drawn by a magnet. The orb wobbled and rose as it moved

east, until it ran out of energy just before the cathedral wall and

vanished. For several seconds, it left behind a faint blue-purple

trail that hung in the air.

I watched it closely, following the trajectory of the line. Eugeo

did the same and murmured, "As I was afraid. They're inside the

cathedral. I was hoping they'd been stashed in some kind of storage shed outside…"

"But it doesn't seem like they're very high inside the building.

Only the second floor…maybe the third. That's better than if

they'd been carried way higher."

"Yeah…I guess. Then let's set our sights on sneaking into the

cathedral using some method other than the front door and head

for the third floor to retrieve our swords."

At the academy, I was the only one who'd dare to say things

like sneak intoand retrieve, but now Eugeo was getting into the

game. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, but that wasn't

important now.

We knew where to find the swords, but it hadn't changed the

situation with the rose maze. If only I could cast a sacred art that

would display the path to the exit, but there were no commands

thatconvenient here—I thought.

Eugeo and I passed through the bronze gate again and headed

for the little clearing straight ahead. If the roses were blooming in

the daytime, it would make for a gorgeous sight, but the darkness

was our friend for now. We continued stealthily but quickly under

the light of the stars.

The next gate soon made its appearance. Just past it was the

clearing where the dragon landed. I recalled seeing benches and a

small fountain, but I wasn't sure if there was a map of the garden

as well. But it was a clearing for general use, so there should be

one. There must be!

Just as we passed through the second, smaller gate, I felt a familiar pain at the roots of my bangs, while Eugeo tugged on the

back of my coat.

"Wh-what?"

"…Someone's here."

"What…?"

I tensed and peered forward.

The clearing was rectangular, elongated east to west, with the

gate at the eastern end. In the center was a fountain with a bronze

statue of Terraria, surrounded by four benches of the same metal

as the fences.

And just as Eugeo said, on the northern bench—the right-hand

one, from our perspective—was a figure.

The face was hidden behind long, flowing hair. The person's

slender form was clad in polished silver armor and carried a

curved longsword on the left side. Hanging from the shoulders

was a dark-colored cape. Even from here, the circled cross insignia was clear.

"An…Integrity Knight…"

There was no question. Based on size, hair, and color, it was

not Alice, but it wasclear that this knight was just as powerful as

she. This was not a foe who could be beaten without a sword…

perhaps not even withour weapons.

We had to rush into the maze, either to the north or south. Or

perhaps turn back, I considered. But before I could even make a

decision, a pleasant male voice sounded through the clearing.

"Don't just stand there. Come in, prisoners."

There was a shining object in his hand. To my surprise, it was

a wineglass. There was a bottle sitting next to him on the bench.

I sensed something confrontational about this, and yet I

couldn't help but indulge my bad habit of rising to the bait.

"What, are you going to serve us some wine?"

The knight didn't answer right away. He looked over at us and

motioned with the glass.

"Sadly, this is not for children like you…especially not criminal

children. It's a hundred-and-fifty-year vintage from the Western

Empire. I might let you sample its bouquet, though." He grinned,

swiveling the glass in his fingers. Even in the starlight, he was

shockingly handsome. The combination of his prominent, thinbridged nose and slightly wild eyebrows had a profound balance,

and his long, sharp eyes glinted with intelligence.

Eugeo and I were both shocked into silence. The knight uncrossed his legs and stood up, his armor faintly ringing. He was

very tall—at least a head taller than me. His deep-violet cape and

pale-purple hair both flowed in the night breeze.

The man took a sip of his wine and caught me off guard when

he said, "I must admire my teacher Alice's wisdom. She perfectly

predicted this most unlikely prison break."

"Alice…your teacher…?" I repeated.

The knight nodded easily and continued, "She ordered me to

spend the night out here in case you escaped, but I honestly

thought it was preposterous. I planned to gaze at the rosebuds

and nurse a bottle of wine through the night, but here you are, in

the flesh. Those chains wrapped around your arms are made of

spiristeel forged in the volcanoes of the Southern Empire. I don't

know how you cut them, but it's clear now that you have no regard for the law."

He smiled and set the wineglass on the bench, then ran his free

hand through his hair and continued, "I'll be returning you to the

cells, of course, but before that, you ought to be punished. I assume you understand that."

His thin smile hadn't left, but there was power radiating from

his tall, lean form, and I had to resist the urge to falter. I summoned what strength I could muster to reply, "Then Iassume you

know we aren't going to submit to your punishment without a

fight."

"Ha-ha-ha! Very feisty. I'd heard you were just pups who

hadn't even graduated the academy, but I'm impressed. In honor

of your empty threat, I will give you my name, before I beat you

to the last shred of your life. I am the Integrity Knight Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-One. I was freshly summoned just a month ago, and

I don't have any territory to my name yet—hope you don't mind

that."

When this speech was over, Eugeo sighed over my shoulder,

but I didn't pay attention—because there had been several crucial

bits of information contained in that annoyingly smooth introduction.

First of all, this established a clear rule to the naming of the

Integrity Knights. Alice's full name was Alice Synthesis Thirty, so

it was clear that Alice and Eldrie were their personal names. The

Synthesisin the middle was commonly shared. And the last name

was just a number. Eugeo wouldn't have understood, because

they were Englishnumbers, but it would suggest that Alice was

the thirtieth of the knights, while Eldrie was the thirty-first.

He also said that he was "summoned just a month ago." I

wasn't sure what he meant by summoned, exactly, but if he was

indeed the newest of the knights, that meant there were only

thirty-one of them in total. And given that many of them had to

leave Central Cathedral to protect the various regions of the

human empire, that meant there couldn't be more than twenty in

the tower itself.

But all that calculation was putting the cart before the horse if

we couldn't defeat the newest and greenest of the knights.

I turned my head and hissed to Eugeo, who stood behind me,

"We're going to fight. I'll go first. You wait for my signal."

"O-okay. But…Kirito, I…"

"I told you, there's no time to hesitate anymore. If we can't

beat him, there's no way we'll get up to the cathedral."

"Um, I'm not hesitating, I'm saying that his name is— Oh,

never mind. It can wait. But don't be too reckless, Kirito."

Based on his reaction, I wasn't sure if Eugeo had understood

the full plan, but we didn't have time to hold a strategy meeting. I

got the feeling that my invisible guardian spirit above my head

sighed, but we could still flee for safety after ascertaining the

enemy's strength—I hoped.

I took two steps forward through the gate, then unraveled the

chain and held it in my fingers. The knight noticed this and raised

his eyebrow in curiosity.

"I see. I wondered how you would fight without a sword. A

chain, eh? I suppose it might end up being a proper battle after

all."

His voice and expression were still overflowing with confidence. I inched closer, swearing under my breath that I'd wipe

the smugness off his features soon enough.

The chain had a handicap: I couldn't use my special sword

skills with it. But it had much longer reach than a sword. If I kept

moving, striking and disengaging, it should eventually build up

enough damage to give us a chance.

It took one moment for that ray of hope to be smashed to

pieces. Eldrie reached not for his sword but behind his back, and

he said, "Then I shall forego my sword and use this."

When his right hand emerged, it held a second weapon he had

concealed under his cape—a thin whip that shone silver.

As I watched in disbelief, Eldrie let the whip hang so that it

coiled on the stones like a snake. Unlike my crude chain, the

weapon was of finely woven silver cords. And upon closer look,

there were fine spiraling spikes running down its length like rose

thorns, glinting wickedly in the starlight. It would do more than

tear the skin if it hit me.

On top of that, it was at least a dozen feet long, at least three

times the length of my chain. My plan to strike and keep my distance was ruined.

I froze, feeling a cold sweat break out. Eldrie noted the change

and snapped his hand. The whip leaped like a living thing, cracking on the stone ground.

"And now…in recognition and admiration of your rebellion

against the Axiom Church's Taboo Index and your escape from

imprisonment, I will do you the honor of fighting my hardest

from the word go."

Before I could react, Eldrie switched the whip from right hand

to left and shouted, "System Call!"

The exceedingly complex commands he gave were too fast for

me to make out.

The sacred arts of the Underworld were like the magic system

of ALfheim Onlinein that high-speed casting was possible—in

other words, saying the commands as quickly as you could. But

the faster you tried to chant, the greater the likelihood you would

flub a word and screw up.

Of the people I knew, the second-best at high-speed chanting

was Sortiliena, with the best being Miss Azurica. But Eldrie spoke

even faster than her. He finished the thirty-plus-word command

in barely seven or eight seconds, finishing with an unfamiliar

phrase.

"…Enhance Armament!"

I understood the English word enhance, fortunately. But armament…?

He didn't give me time to consult my mental dictionary. Eldrie

lazily raised his arm, pointed it at me, then swung.

The distance between us was a good fifty feet. No matter how

long his whip was, it couldn't reach. And yet.

Eldrie's whip left a silver trail in the air as it stretched several

times its actual length, as though made of some elastic material.

Even in my shock, I lifted my chain with both hands overhead on

instinct. There was a tremendous blast, and pale-white sparks

showered down around me.

"Urgh…!"

My instincts told me that if I took the blow standing still, it

would sever my chain. I bent my knees and twisted to the right to

deflect the whip to the side. It scraped nastily along the metal and

flew past to strike the stone ground, where it left a deep groove

before returning to the knight's hand.

Another wave of cold sweat rushed from my pores as I looked

at my chain and groaned. The blow had gouged the class-38 object made of "spiristeel," whatever that was, to the point that one

of the rings was nearly ready to split apart.

The Integrity Knight smirked at my shock and remarked,

"Well, well…I was expecting to take off your ear, but you man-

aged to evade my divine Frostscale Whip at first glance. I suppose

I should apologize for assuming you were a mere student."

I really wanted to deliver a good comeback to that cocky comment, but my mouth refused to move.

He was powerful. He was deadly. If anyone was unconsciously

underestimating the other, it was me. Eldrie Synthesis ThirtyOne was a type of foe I'd never faced before, I belatedly realized.

The Underworld was Rath's virtual-reality experiment, so in a

strict sense, there was no mortal danger to me, Kazuto Kirigaya.

If Eldrie's whip knocked my head off and reduced my life to zero,

it wouldn't harm my actual flesh in the least.

So in a certain sense, the fear involved in battle wasn't the

same as in SAO, the game of death. Facing enormous floor bosses

or psychotic red players in Aincrad, having that tightrope sense of

the yawning abyss just beneath your feet—that was a sensation

I'd never feel again, and I was glad for it.

Yet that game of death was populated with online gamers like

me, who had no real knowledge of swordfighting. We were risking our lives based on stats and numbers, physical motion assistance systems, and reaction speeds honed over a year or two of

practice at best.

But Eldrie was different. He'd spent more than a decade of his

life in this world training and disciplining his skills, perfecting his

craft to its limit. He was a true warrior, physically and mentally.

He wasn't an SAOplayer or a monster under the server's control.

He was a rune knight from a fantasy novel come to life.

Eldrie had sharper skills and sacred arts than the goblins we

fought in the cave under the End Mountains. His willpower was

stronger than even the first-seat elite disciples Raios Antinous

and Volo Levantein. He likely had the advantage over me in every

possible way. If I fought him with nothing more than a single

metal chain, I was 100 percent going to lose.

If there was anything I could use to get out of this situation, it

was…

You are not alone.

For a second, it felt like someone had spoken my own thought

aloud. Following that instinct, I whispered to my partner, "Eugeo,

the only way we can win is because there's two of us. I'll try to

stop his whip. Then you hit him."

I didn't hear a response. When I quickly snuck a look over my

shoulder, I saw that it wasn't fear on Eugeo's face but admiration.

When he did eventually speak, my suspicions were confirmed.

"Did you see that sacred art, Kirito? That was incredible…I've

only read about it in an old book at the library, but I recognize it.

That was Perfect Weapon Control…an ultrahigh-level art that

works on the very matter of your weapon and uses a divine miracle to increase the weapon's strength. No wonder he's an Integrity

Knight!"

"This isn't the time for gushing, man! Anyway, if that helps increase the attack span, do you think that Perfect Control would

work on our chains, too?"

"No way! That's a top-level secret art, according to the Church.

And it only works on divine-level weapons."

"Then we'll have to forget about that one and make do with

what we've got on hand. Anyway, I'll find a way to stop his whip,

and you finish him off. I know you're not used to whips, but you

can at least swing it downward, right?"

Eugeo finally got his face under control again, and I warned

him, "You've gotta be ready, remember? He's an Integrity Knight,

the highest force of the Axiom Church—and we've got to beat

him."

"…I know. I told you, I won't lose sight of the goal," Eugeo answered, and used his free hand to loosen the chain wrapped

around his arm, too. We looked forward again, where the knight

smiled his cool smile and snapped his silver whip.

"Done with your little strategy meeting, prisoners? I hope

you've come up with something fun."

"…Should an Integrity Knight really be playing with fire like

that?"

"It's correct that we must mete out divine justice on those who

rebel against the Church. That is the will of our exalted pontifex.

But as a proud knight, it pains me to lash the weak and helpless

with my whip. So I am holding out hope that you are at least

strong enough to put a scratch on my armor and prove your

worth as foes."

"Scratch your armor? We'll knock off half your life, and your

cocky smile with it." I snarled to hide the rising panic inside me.

The "pontifex" Eldrie mentioned was an interesting title, but I

didn't have time to contemplate the implications. I gave my chain

a wave, then thrust out my left hand at Eldrie.

"System Call! Generate Thermal Element!" I commanded,

imagining a crimson ruby. Glowing red orbs grew at the end of

my thumb, index, and middle fingers. They were flame elements,

the basis for fire-based attack spells. I was going to continue, but

Eldrie calmly held up his hand in response.

"System Call. Generate Cryogenic Element."

Those were blue ice elements to counteract my fire, and there

were five, one for each finger. He already had the advantage of

numbers, but I ignored that and continued, "Flame Element,

Arrow Shape!"

I opened my left hand, stretching out the lights so that they

turned into three flaming arrows. They were designed for maximum speed and puncturing power. As quickly as I could, so as

not to give the enemy time to react, I chanted, "Fly Straight! Discharge!"

A vortex of flame erupted, and the trio of arrows shot toward

Eldrie.

In a world where sword battle was the orthodox method of

combat, attack-type sacred arts existed only to battle the forces of

darkness—or so the old lecturer at the academy said. He'd probably have a stroke if he knew I was using his lessons to attack an

Integrity Knight.

I leaped forward after the arrows. Up ahead, Eldrie chanted a

counteracting art in one breath.

"Form Element, Bird Shape. Counter Thermal Object, Discharge!"

The five blue dots turned into little birds—ideal for homing—

that took flight at once. My arrows were faster, but there were

more of the little ice birds. The fiery shafts slipped past two of

them, but the other three pounced on the arrows, causing the

flames and ice crystals to shatter and cancel each other out. The

force of the collisions knocked the wineglass off the bench, and it

shattered on the stones.

I bore down on Eldrie, using the flashy explosion as cover.

Two steps until I was within my chain range…One step…

The knight's right hand snapped, and the silver whip leaped

off the ground like a snake. At this range, his Perfect Weapon

Control range boost was meaningless. I watched it curve in from

the right and tried to read its path, tilting my body to avoid it so I

could cross that last step. But—

"—?!"

My breath caught in my throat. Eldrie's whip split into two in

midair, the new silver snake cutting a sharper angle to bear down

on me directly.

I was already trying to avoid the original blow by inches, and I

had no way to dodge this one. The whip struck me right in the

chest and slammed me down onto the cobblestones.

"Gaahh!"

I'd been expecting it, but even then, the pain of those countless

metal thorns on the whip made my vision briefly go dark. I

clenched my teeth and looked down to see that the chest part of

my black uniform had torn through both layers, with a vivid red

line running across the exposed skin beneath it. Little drops of

blood began to form along its length and trickle downward in

parallel lines as they oozed forth.

Eldrie looked at me, splayed out on the stones, and laughed

heartily.

"Ha-ha-ha! Those tricks won't work on the Frostscale Whip.

When under Perfect Control, not only can it cover up to fifty

mels, it can also split into up to seven parts. If there were eight of

you, then you might stand a chance attacking me all at once."

I didn't have the mind to get angry this time. I hadn't experienced such searing pain since the goblin captain hit my shoulder

two years ago.

I always tried to remember that my lack of resistance to pain

was one of my greatest weaknesses here, but given that the stopshort rule was practiced in almost all cases at the academy, I just

hadn't had the chance to build up my hardiness. I talked a big

game about stopping the whip with my body, but this result was

pathetic.

"Uh-oh, did I put too much hope in you? Well, I can be merciful and at least knock you out quickly," Eldrie boasted. He took a

step forward, silver armor scraping.

Just then, Eugeo leaped out from behind the fountain, sheer

desperation on his features. "Uraaah!"

With a rare bellow, he swung down his chain. It was a tremendous swing for someone with no experience using one, and it

came with perfect timing—but it still wasn't enough to break the

knight's defenses.

Eldrie's right hand moved at blurring speed, the silver whip

splitting once again. One of the tendrils deflected the chain, and

the other hit Eugeo. Like me, it hit him on the chest, and he was

thrown into the fountain with a huge splash before he could even

react.

The shocking pain of my wound was still vivid, but I couldn't

waste the opportunity that Eugeo's suicide attack had created.

Sensing that Eldrie's attention was mostly focused away from me,

I sat up and hurled what I'd had clenched in my right hand at the

knight's face.

Unlike in Aincrad and Alfheim, in this world, most objects did

not immediately vanish when they were destroyed. Pieces, fragments, even corpses received their own fresh, new life-counter.

That life—its durability—would dwindle much faster than it

had before breaking, and once down to zero, it would crumble

without a trace for good. But even then, it usually took a few minutes to get there.

Even for fragile little things like broken wineglasses.

The shard of glass cut through the predawn night toward Eldrie's left eye. I'd even rubbed some of my blood on it before I

threw it, so it wouldn't reflect the light of the stars.

It didn't take a tenth of a second from the moment it entered

his view until it struck. But even then, the knight had the reaction

speed to turn his face to the right and avoid a direct hit on his eye.

The piece of glass scratched his left cheekbone and disappeared

into the darkness, leaving only a shallow cut.

"Whoa!!"

I was in a squat before Eldrie could turn back to face me, and I

raced forward. Two steps later, I was in chain range. I pulled it

back over my left shoulder in preparation to strike. Momentarily

startled, Eldrie recovered and brought his right hand back, returning the whip from its attack on Eugeo to use it against me.

If I just crudely swung the chain forward, the weapons would

clash at best, or the whip would split and hit just me again at

worst. But I banished my fear and focused hard on the gleaming

end of the whip—then on the spot behind Eldrie, where Eugeo

had fallen into the fountain.

In every style of swordfighting we learned about at the Swordcraft Academy, it was a tremendous mistake to take your eye off

an enemy during an attack. A kind of "taboo," in fact. Swordsmen

in this world would never do that. Even Integrity Knights.

"Hrng!"

And thus Eldrie grunted and, for an instant, turned his focus

away from me. He sensed that Eugeo was instantly going to rise

from the fountain after his fall, striving to attack again. But that

was a sensation he received only because I shifted my eyes away

from him. Eugeo was tough, but not enough to take a hit from a

Divine Object and get up the next second.

Mirroring Eldrie's hesitation, his silver whip wavered briefly in

midair. It passed my chain, missing by just a hair. I'd chosen the

awkward backhand from the left to make the chain run parallel to

the whips and increase the difficulty of deflection—a trick I'd

learned through hard experience with my wooden sword against

Liena's whip.

But this strategy wouldn't work twice. It was my one, only,

final chance.

"Zeyaaaaah!!"

I screamed with all my soul and swung down the spiristeel

chain with all my strength.

My aim was at his head, the only part of the knight's body not

protected by that shining armor. Whether he'd taken his helmet

off to drink the wine or had assumed he simply wouldn't need it

against mere students, I wasn't going to let that chance pass. A

good heavy chain smashing an unprotected head could even

knock out an Integrity Knight, I bet…

But once again, Eldrie displayed an ability I never considered.

His left hand shot out like lightning and caught the end of the

chain—not with the gauntlet armor on the back of his hand but

with the thin leather glove of his palm.

If he'd taken it with the back of his hand, the chain would have

wrapped around the point like a fulcrum and still hit his head, albeit not as powerfully. In that sense, Eldrie made the right choice

—but that thin leather glove wasn't going to absorb a blow from a

class-38 chain.

"Urgh…!"

He grunted, unable to conceal his pain. I clearly heard the

sound of multiple bones in his left hand breaking all at once. He

wouldn't be able to use that hand for a while, and I didn't think

him likely to toss aside that Frostscale Whip for a different

weapon.

I'd leap on him and start a hand-to-hand fight. Liena had

taught me some of the Serlut style's martial arts. It was more

suited to holds than blows, but against a heavily armored opponent, that was actually a good thing.

"Not done yet!" I shouted, and lunged forward, ready to use

my left hand to grab his injured arm.

"I don't think so!"

But the thirty-first and newest Integrity Knight once again betrayed my expectations. He squeezed the chain with his broken

hand and pulled. The chain was rooted to the shackle around my

right wrist, so it pulled me in the opposite rotation and threw off

my balance. I desperately tried to hold my ground, but Eldrie bellowed and attempted to swing me away.

"Hrrng!!"

If he succeeded, I'd be out of my chain's range and back on the

wrong end of his whip. He'd ensure I didn't get close again.

On instinct, I adjusted my left hand's target from Eldrie's left

arm to the right hand holding his weapon. The Frostscale Whip's

many thorns did not reach down to the last four feet or so from

its handle. I wrapped that part of it around my arm so that it

couldn't break free.

Unless Eldrie let go of both his whip and my chain, he couldn't

put distance between us. If he released my chain, I could wail on

him all I wanted. He sensed that, too, so he gripped my weapon

even harder in his crushed hand.

This stalemate of steel chain and silver whip kept us just over

three feet apart. I was sure his broken hand had to be screaming

in pain as it clutched the chain, but the knight showed no signs of

it on his face.

"I suppose I must take back my statement about expecting too

much of you. I never thought I would be pushed this hard," he

murmured, still calm and cool.

"Gee, thanks," I said, wishing that I could have given him a

snappier comeback—but I didn't want to draw attention to our

wounds. Between Eldrie's fractured hand and my chest lacerations, the bleeding whip wound was making my life descend

faster. If he realized this, he could maintain his hold on my chain

and wait until I started to weaken.

But perhaps he already knew. The knight smiled, but if his

next statement was meant to buy him more time, it was an odd

way of doing it.

"You know, that way you fight…I feel like I've seen it before,

strangely enough."

"Oh yeah? It shouldn't be that strange. Maybe you've fought

someone else who uses the Serlut style before?"

"Hah. That's not possible, prisoner. I told you, I was summoned into the human realm as an Integrity Knight only a month

ago."

"…When you say 'summoned'…" I started to ask, but then I

heard the sound. Or more accurately, I heard a shift in a sound

that was already there.

In the middle of the fountain behind Eldrie was the stone

statue of Terraria, the deity of earth. The statue held a little jug

that was pouring a constant trickle of water into the fountain

below—but now the sound was muffled. It was a sign. From my

partner to me.

Eldrie would notice it soon, too. I had to keep up the conversation and be ready to move.

"…that makes it sound like someone snapped their fingers and

called you here."

In order to distract him, I had to do something. But releasing

the Frostscale Whip from my arm wasn't an option. That left only

one possibility…

I yanked hard on the chain!

Eldrie reacted by pulling back to return the position to equilibrium. The metal yanked tight, and almost immediately, the chain

snapped down the middle. The piece that had taken the whip

blow moments earlier finally gave out.

"Wha—!" He gasped and lost his balance.

It was then that Eugeo leaped out of the fountain with a huge

splash. He'd recovered from the blow to his chest and was waiting

beneath the statue's trickle for his chance to attack. The change in

sound had come from the flow of water striking his back.

"Raaaah!!"

Eugeo swung his chain down at Eldrie's defenseless head,

spraying water droplets everywhere. But half a second before

that, the knight had spoken a brief command.

"Release Recollection."

This phrase, I didn't understand at all. But the effect it had,

given the brevity of the command itself, was so impossible, it

seemed to transcend the category of sacred arts.

The silver whip wrapped around my left hand, so tight that he

could neither push nor pull it away, flashed brightly. Then it

began thrashing around like a living animal—and extended

tremendously fast.

The Frostscale Whip, now a shining snake, soared over our

heads and leaped onto the chain in Eugeo's hand. And "snake"

wasn't just a bit of poetic license. On the tip of the whip, I saw little ruby eyes and bared fangs.

The snake bit down on the end of the chain, pulled it (and

Eugeo) up into the air, and slammed it down onto the cobblestones just next to me. Eugeo landed on his back and grunted.

That added up to more damage for him than me so far, but he

valiantly attempted to rise again.

But a ferociously sharp tip grazed his wet bangs before he could

get up.

Eldrie had recovered his balance, tossed aside the broken

chain, and pulled his sword free to point it at Eugeo. It was a thin

blade, but it shone with the richness of a fine make. The weight of

it had to be killing the broken bones of his left hand, but there

was only the faintest hint of a furrow between his eyebrows.

The silver snake, which—for all I could tell—had protected its

master of its own accord, shriveled up and returned to being a

plain old whip again. Whatever that Release Recollection command was, its miracle had a short time limit.

The situation was in a stalemate at last.

I had Eldrie's whip stuck to my hand. I'd lost half my chain.

Eugeo had a sword to his face, keeping him still. Eldrie seemed to

have the advantage, being the one with the sword, but I doubted

he could do all that much with it, given the state of his hand.

Silence settled upon the little rose garden in the predawn chill.

It was Eldrie who spoke first again. "No wonder Alice was worried about you. You attack without form or pattern…but I suppose that succeeded at catching me off guard. I can't believe you

forced me to use my Memory Release skill."

"Memory…?" I repeated. Then I finally understood the meaning of that mysterious command. "Recollection" was a synonym

for memory. So it was a sacred art that unleashed the memories…

of the weapon?

Memories of the weapon. That sounded familiar from the recent past, and I was about to consult my own memories when

Eugeo gasped with admiration for some reason. He said, "And

you…are every bit as great as I imagined, Sir Knight."

"Th-this isn't the moment for compliments! And…what do you

mean, 'as you imagined'?" I couldn't help but reply. He made it

sound like he'd known this knight before.

"I thought the name sounded familiar when he said it. And

now I remember. Kirito, this man is the Norlangarth Empire's

champion swordsman for this year…as well as the winner of the

Quad-Empire Unification Tournament—Eldrie Woolsburg!"

"Wha…?"

I stared at the Integrity Knight standing two paces away.

The Northern Empire's champion. That meant he won the Imperial Battle Tournament held in late March. He was the representative of the Imperial Knights, the man who defeated Sortiliena in the first round and Volo Levantein in the second. He won

the Quad-Empire Unification Tournament in early April with

overwhelming skill, making him this year's greatest swordsman

in the human empire and earning him an invitation to Central

Cathedral.

I now realized that I didn't know that mighty warrior's name.

There was no Internet in this world, no television or radio, so the

only form of news media was the primitive "town square" type of

weekly newspaper displayed for the public. I hadn't been bothered to go check out the school's bulletin board, but apparently

Eugeo had faithfully read it every week.

"You're such an honor student," I grumbled—I couldn't help

myself. But if Eugeo was right, and this Eldrie Synthesis ThirtyOne was indeed this year's champion, Eldrie Woolsburg, then

something about his actions didn't add up.

Eldrie had said that he was summoned to the human realm as

an Integrity Knight one month ago. I would understand if he were

designatedan Integrity Knight…but he made it sound like…

"…What…did you…?"

That hoarse whisper didn't come from me. I looked away from

my partner back at the knight.

For some reason, Eldrie was pale, his faintly purplish gray

eyes wide as if grappling with some monumental shock to the system. His bloodless lips trembled and formed the words, "I was…

Northern…Champion…? Eldrie…Woolsburg…?"