Central Cathedral, May 380 HE Part 2

The girl on the right had her light-brown hair tied into two

braids. Her eyebrows sloped downward over her round eyes, giving her a weak-willed look. The girl on the left had straw-blond

hair cut short, and her eyes were sharp and triumphant.

To no surprise, the first of the two to step forward was the

bolder-looking one on the left. She took a deep breath and

abruptly introduced herself.

"Um…I'm Fizel, an Axiom Church sister-in-training. And she's

another apprentice like me…"

"L…Linel."

Their youthful voices wavered a bit at the end due to nerves.

Eugeo smiled to put them at ease, but then he realized that if they

were holy women in the Church—even as apprentices—that made

them enemies.

But Fizel's follow-up question was even more direct than

Eugeo's line of thought.

"Um…are you the intruders from the Dark Territory?"

"Huh…?"

He and Kirito shared a look. Even his partner seemed at a loss

for how to respond. His mouth opened and shut several times

without producing any words, and then he drew himself behind

Eugeo and said, "I'm not good with kids. You take this one."

Eugeo hissed, "No fair!" but he couldn't circle around to hide

behind Kirito. Instead, he looked up at the two girls and said

awkwardly, "Um…well, uh…we're from the human world, actually…but I guess if anyone's an intruder, it would be us…"

The girls put their heads together and started trading whispers. Their voices were low, but the area was so devastatingly

quiet that they couldn't help but be audible at this distance.

"See? They look like totally normal humans, Nel. No horns or

tails!" hissed Fizel, the feistier of the two.

The other one, Linel, argued, "I—I just told you that was in the

book, that's all. You're the one who took the idea and ran with it,

Zel."

"Hmm. Maybe they're just hiding them. Would we be able to

tell if we got closer?"

"But they just look like totally normal people. Then again…

they could have fangs in their mouths…"

Eugeo couldn't stifle a grin, as he was reminded of Telure and

Teline, the twin girls from Walde Farm. If he and Kirito were that

age and had heard about intruders from the land of darkness

nearby, they would have very likely tried to go see them, too. And

they'd probably have gotten a tongue-lashing from their father or

the village elder for it.

That thought gave Eugeo pause. What if the girls got punished

for making contact with rebels against the Church? It didn't seem

like he was in a position to spend much time worrying about that,

but he couldn't help himself.

"Um…are you girls going to get in trouble for talking to us?"

Fizel and Linel both went silent and then grinned. Fizel replied

with a smirk and considerably less formality than before. "This

morning, all the monks, nuns, and apprentices were ordered to

stay in their rooms and lock the doors. Don't you get it? We can

slip out to see the intruders, and no one's going to be around to

notice us."

"Uh…right…"

It was just the kind of logic that Kirito would come up with. In

fact, he could practically see his partner getting scolded for it already.

The girls discussed something between themselves again, and

this time, it was Linel who said, "Um…and you're definitely not

monsters from the Dark Territory?"

"N-no."

"Then, if you don't mind, may we see you up close? Um…your

forehead and teeth in particular."

"Huh?" Eugeo replied, turning around to Kirito for help, but

the other boy was conveniently looking away. This one would be

up to Eugeo.

"…Well…I suppose that would be all right…"

The inability to refuse such a request was in his nature, but a

part of Eugeo also felt it was important for people to realize that

even a traitor like him was a regular human being. Plus, they

might be able to get information about the cathedral from the

girls.

Their faces shining, Fizel and Linel trotted over with a mixture

of curiosity and caution. They stopped when they reached the

landing and stared with blue and gray eyes.

Eugeo crouched over, drew back his bangs from his forehead,

and showed them his teeth. They stared at him without blinking

for a good ten seconds, then looked satisfied.

"He's human."

"Yes, human."

He snorted at the obvious disappointment in their reaction.

Linel wondered, "But if you're not monsters from the Dark Territory, why did you decide to infiltrate Central Cathedral?"

"Um, well…," Eugeo started, wondering how they could con-

tinually throw him off guard, then decided to be honest and admitted, "…Long ago, a little girl who was a friend of mine got

taken away by an Integrity Knight. So I'm here to take her back."

Surely, this statement would be difficult to accept, given how a

sister-in-training would feel about the righteousness of the Axiom

Church. Eugeo expected to see fear and revulsion in their young

features, but instead, they merely bobbed their heads.

Fizel, the one with the straw-blond hair, complained, "Oh.

That's kind of an ordinary reason."

"O-ordinary?"

"People whose families or lovers have been taken here have always come to argue their case to the Church. Not many, but it

happens. But I bet you two are the first who actually got all the

way inside."

Linel continued, "Plus, you got thrown into prison, and yet you

broke your spiritual chains, then you defeated two Integrity

Knights. So we figured you were monsters…maybe even real dark

knights. And it turns out you're just ordinary humans…"

The girls looked at each other and said, "Good enough?"

"Good enough."

Linel turned to Eugeo again and tilted her head at a questioning angle, braids swaying. "Well, can you at least tell us your

names, here at the end?"

Surprised, because he was hoping to ask them plenty of his

own questions, Eugeo replied, "I'm Eugeo. And that's Kirito behind me."

"Oh…No last names?"

"Er, no. I was raised out on the frontier…Same for you two?"

"No, we have full names," said Linel, smiling. It was the bright

innocent smile of one about to stuff her face with a delicious

treat.

"My name is Linel Synthesis Twenty-Eight."

In the moment, Eugeo could not process the implication of

that name.

Suddenly, he felt a chill in the pit of his stomach and looked

down.

At some point, Linel had removed her short sword from its

sheath and had buried the tip in Eugeo's stomach by about five

cens.

It had only looked like a wooden toy before. The wood he'd

taken to be the blade had actually been the scabbard. The blade

she pulled from it was not made of wood but an unfamiliar metal

that appeared cloudy green. The surface caught the outside light

and gleamed wetly.

"Eu—!"

That was Kirito. He craned his neck to look back at his partner, frozen in place, right foot forward. Fizel had been at Linel's

side just an instant earlier, but now she was standing behind Kirito, thrusting her own green blade into his black shirt. Just as before, her smile was triumphant and confident.

"And I am Fizel Synthesis Twenty-Nine."

They pulled their short swords from Eugeo and Kirito simultaneously. With swipes so fast they were invisible, Fizel and Linel

flicked the blood off their blades and returned them to their

sheaths.

The chill that snuck into his stomach began to spread to his

whole body. Everywhere that freezing feeling touched, his sensa-

tions began to numb.

"You're…Int…eg…," he managed to stammer before even his

tongue froze in his mouth. Eugeo felt his knees give way, and

then he toppled to the floor. His chest and left cheek smashed

against the marble, but he didn't even feel an impact, much less

any pain.

A second later, he heard Kirito hit the floor, too.

Poison , he belatedly realized, trying to think of a counterplan.

In class at Swordcraft Academy, they had learned about poisons and antidotes found in the natural world. But all the cases

presented were from sources like plants, snakes, and insects. The

school never even considered the possibility that they would be

attacked with poisons in battle.

But of course. At the school—in the entirety of the human

realm—battle was merely a competition of ferocity and aesthetics.

Spreading toxic substances on a weapon was completely against

the rules. Even that noble boy who released a poisonous insect to

impede their advancement at the Zakkaria tournament didn't actually put any on his blade in competition.

So the extent of Eugeo's knowledge of poisons was: If such and

such bug stings you, rub such and such herb on it. He didn't know

what kind of poison the girls used, and there wasn't a single natural object around, much less an antidote herb. The last resort

would be to attempt cleansing via sacred arts, but that was impossible while his hands and mouth were paralyzed.

So if this poison was the kind that both immobilized them and

steadily drained their life, they could easily perish before they

reached even the halfway point of Central Cathedral.

"You don't have to be so frightened, Eugeo," said Linel Synthesis Twenty-Eight overhead. Her high-pitched voice was warped

and warbled; the poison made everything sound like it was underwater. "It's just a paralysis poison. But the only difference is

whether you die here or on the fiftieth floor."

She trotted over until a little brown shoe came into Eugeo's vision where he lay with his cheek pressed to the floor. Linel lifted

her foot and rested the toe right on Eugeo's head, rolling it

around in search of something.

"…Hmm, no horns after all."

The foot moved over to his back, where it pressed down repeatedly on either side of his spine.

"And no wings, either. What about him, Zel?"

"He's just plain human, too!"

Somewhere outside of his field of view, Fizel was doing the

same thing to Kirito. She said, "Aww, just when I thought we'd finally get to see some Dark Territory monsters!"

"Don't worry. If we take them up to the fiftieth floor and chop

off their heads in front of everyone standing around up there,

they should finally give us our divine weapons and dragons. Then

we can just fly to the Dark Territory and see the real monsters for

ourselves."

"Good point. Okay, Nel, let's race to see who can take out a

dark knight first!"

To Eugeo's mind, the most horrifying part of all of this was

how Fizel and Linel still sounded as childlike and innocent as

ever. Why were children like them turned into Integrity Knights—

and why were there children inside Central Cathedral at all?

Eugeo hadn't seen Linel draw her sword, and she had been

right in front of him. Fizel was quick enough to easily neutralize

Kirito from a distance. Their abilities were undeniable.

But true skill in battle had to be gained through years of training and experience in battles of life and death. Eugeo's ability to

wield the divine Blue Rose Sword was not just because he had

swung an ax at the Gigas Cedar for years, but it was also because

of his battle against the goblins in the Northern Cave, according

to Kirito.

Fizel and Linel, however, looking to be no more than ten years

old, didn't act like they'd ever faced the monsters from the

world's extremities in battle. So how had they developed this

blinding speed and skill?

Eugeo could not give voice to any of these questions. The poison had spread throughout his entire body, such that he didn't

feel the coldness of the floor or any sensation that suggested he

had a body at all. Linel grabbed Eugeo's right ankle with a tiny

hand and started dragging him along, which he only realized because his vision rotated.

By turning his eyeballs to the left—the only part of him he

could apparently move—Eugeo saw that Fizel was tugging Kirito

along like a piece of luggage. His partner's face was impossible to

read, owing to the same paralysis.

The young Integrity Knights lightly skipped up the stairs,

dragging the boys with their swords still in place. With each step,

his head bounced violently, but he still felt no pain.

If there was any time to think of a way out, it was then, but the

paralyzing poison seemed to work on his brain, too, as Eugeo's

mind was empty and numb.

Even for a foe he had sworn to fight, Eugeo found it difficult to

believe that the Axiom Church was performing its inhumane

knighting ceremony on mere children. After all, the population of

the world had believed that this organization represented absolute goodness and justice—for centuries.

"You find it strange, don't you?" he heard Linel say, a hint of

mirth in her voice. "Why are these children Integrity Knights?

Well, since we're about to kill you anyway, I can explain first."

"If we're going to kill them, Nel, talking is a waste of energy.

You're such an eccentric."

"It's going to be a boring trip up to the fiftieth floor. You see,

Eugeo, we were born and raised here in the cathedral. Administrator herself ordered the monks and nuns in the tower to create

us—in order to test out a resurrection sacred art that can heal totally lost life."

Despite the horrific nature of what she was saying, Linel's

voice was utterly pleasant. "The children outside earn their Calling when they turn ten, but we got ours at five. Our job was to kill

each other. We got these little toylike swords, even smaller than

our poison blades, and would take turns stabbing each other."

"You were terrible at it, Nel. It hurt and hurt, every single

time," Fizel interjected.

"Only because you would jump around in weird ways," Linel

complained. "As you two probably know, since you've already defeated multiple knights, humans are surprisingly hard to kill.

Even at five years old. So we would stab and slice, trying to kill

the other as quickly as possible, and when the life would finally go

down to zero, Administrator would bring us back to life with her

sacred arts…"

"And the resurrection barely even worked at all in the beginning. The ones who died normally had it best. The ones who were

exploded into bits or lumped into blobs of flesh would practically

come back as different people altogether."

"It might have been our Calling, but we didn't want to go to all

the trouble of getting hurt and not come back to life. We did a

bunch of research together about the cleanest and quickest way to

kill, because that had the least pain and the highest rate of successful resurrection. The problem is what you do for that single

blow itself. Do you stab the heart as quickly and smoothly as possible or lop off the head?"

"I think we were about seven when we were finally able to do

that. We would do all our practice swings while the other kids

were sleeping."

His bodily sensation showed no signs of returning yet, but

Eugeo still imagined the prickling of his hair standing on end.

In other words, Fizel's and Linel's extraordinary physical capabilities were the result of years of practice killing each other. Each

and every day, they focused on nothing but how best to end each

other's lives.

He supposed that practice of this sort would indeed be enough

to grant even a child the right to be an Integrity Knight. But at

what cost? These children had entirely lost a crucial part of themselves that would never return.

The constant shuffle up the staircase continued, as did Linel's

pleasant tone of voice. "Administrator gave up on the resurrection tests when we were about eight. It seems that total resurrection was impossible in the end. Did you know that when your life

goes to zero, a bunch of arrows of light come down and they kind

of, like, carve your mind down? The kids who lost important parts

of themselves that way never went back to normal, even after resurrection. There were many times that I came back and couldn't

remember what had happened in the last few days. There were

thirty of us in total when the experiment started, and by the end,

only Zel and I were left."

"Since we survived and the test was over," Fizel said, "those

old senate fuddy-duddies said we had to choose our next Calling,

and we told them we wanted to be Integrity Knights. They got

mad and said that Integrity Knights were summoned from

Heaven by Administrator, and kids like us couldn't be one of

them. So we ended up having a fight against the newest knights at

the time…What were their names, again?"

"Umm…it was Something Synthesis Twenty-Eight and

Twenty-Nine."

"It's the Something I was asking for, Nel! Well, anyway, you

should have seen the looks on those senators' faces when we

lopped off those cocky guys' heads in one shot."

The girls giggled, and Linel continued the story. "…So Administrator made a special exception and named us Integrity Knights

in the place of the two who died. But since we haven't learned

enough to go on defensive duties like the other knights, we still

have to spend a two-year period learning the laws and sacred arts

like the other apprentices. It's really getting old."

"We were just wondering how to hurry up and get our dragons

and Divine Object weapons, when an alert went out that agents of

the Dark Territory were loose in the cathedral. So we decided this

was our chance! If we caught them before the other knights and

executed them, Administrator would surely make us full-fledged

knights at last. That's why we were waiting on the stairs."

"Sorry about using that poison. But we really wanted to take

you up to the fiftieth floor alive, if possible. Oh, and don't worry—

we're really good at killing, so it won't hurt."

The girls could scarcely wait for the moment when they

dropped the boys' severed heads before the Integrity Knights' defensive line on the fiftieth floor. They bounded up the stairs with

surprising speed, dragging their heavy prey behind them.

Despite the increasingly urgent need to devise an escape plan,

all Eugeo could do was listen passively to their story. Even if his

mouth wasn't paralyzed, it seemed impossible that he could actually talk the girls out of it. They didn't even seem to possess the

concepts of good and evil. The only thing they obeyed was the

order of their creator, the pontifex Administrator.

After dozens of times changing direction, the ceiling that

formed the entirety of what Eugeo could see went from being a

steady upward slope to a flat surface like any ordinary ceiling.

There was no more staircase to travel—they had arrived at the

Great Hall on the fiftieth floor that marked the midpoint of the

cathedral.

Fizel and Linel stopped walking and exchanged brief comments about getting ready.

There were maybe minutes left—seconds, perhaps—before

that green blade severed his neck. No matter how hard he willed,

he couldn't even budge a finger; there was no sensation in his

body.

The ceiling here was taller than anywhere previous, probably a

good twenty mels overhead. The curved marble featured brilliant

portraits of the three goddesses of creation and their followers.

The circular pillars supporting the ceiling were covered in a multitude of sculptures and reliefs. On either side of the hall were

massive windows beaming in the light of Solus. It was a tremendous sight, a place worthy of the name "Great Hall of Ghostly

Light."

The girls dragged Eugeo and Kirito five mels forward, then

came to a stop. The momentum left Eugeo's body in a half-turn,

giving him a full view of the Great Hall at last.

It was frighteningly vast, seemingly spanning the entire

breadth of the cathedral floor for one chamber. The distant corners of the multicolored stone floor were hazy through the light.

A deep-red carpet ran from the entrance all the way to the far

wall, where double doors stood, so tall they seemed to be built for

a giant. Clearly, the stairs to continue moving upward were

through that door.

In the middle of the hall, far before the giant door, a number

of knights stood in their armor and helmets, bristling and forbidding, preventing further progress. Four of them stood in an

evenly spaced row, and another waited slightly ahead.

The four in the back all wore brilliant silver armor and helmets

with a cross-shaped slit in the middle—exactly the kind that Eldrie wore. Their weapons were identical longswords, each standing on its tip with its owner's hands resting heavily on the pommel.

The knight in the front looked much different from the others.

This one's armor shone with a regal pale-purple color and looked

comparatively delicate, and a thin sword designed for thrusting

hung at the knight's side. It was tempting to think of this as

"light" armor, but the suffocating sense of danger rolling off the

one wearing it far outclassed the others. The knight's face was

hidden under a helmet designed to resemble a bird of prey's

wings, but it was clear that he or she was just as mighty as Deusolbert.

Five Integrity Knights, an incredibly imposing wall to surpass

in order to continue upward—and yet, at that moment, it was the

two little girls right next to them who represented a greater threat

to Eugeo's and Kirito's lives.

Linel and Fizel, standing proud in their apprentice habits,

faced the five knights.

"You must be Fanatio Synthesis Two, the vice commander of

the knights," Linel said crisply. "If Fanatio of the Heaven-Piercing

Blade is being called upon, then the senate must be panicked indeed. Or are you the worried one, Fanatio? At this rate, you might

find your vice seat taken by the Osmanthus, won't you?"

After several seconds of strained silence, the purple knight

spoke. The metallic voice carried that familiar inhuman rattle

unique to Integrity Knights, but Eugeo did not miss its note of ir-

ritation.

"…Why do you apprentice children barge onto the battlefield

of honorable knights?"

"Oh, this is so stupid!" Fizel immediately shot back. "It's that

insistence on honor and dignity that got two of the so-called invincible Integrity Knights beaten. But don't worry; we've caught

the intruders, and we won't let any more harm come to the reputation of the knighthood!"

"We're about to chop off their heads, so watch closely and give

the pontifex an accurate report. Not that I would expect an 'honorable knight' to claim the credit like a coward."

Despite the desperate circumstances, Eugeo couldn't help but

be amazed at the boldness of Linel and Fizel and how they stayed

so composed facing five superhuman warriors.

But, no…Perhaps he was wrong. The emotion exuding from

their little figures—was that…hatred?

With all his strength, Eugeo focused his eyes on the girls. Even

if his intuition was correct, what did they hate? They'd showed

nothing but pure curiosity toward Eugeo and Kirito, who were

high traitors to Administrator and the Axiom Church.

Linel and Fizel were so busy staring at the Integrity Knights

with open loathing and disrespect, the knights themselves were

so obviously annoyed by them, and Eugeo was so preoccupied

with trying to figure out the two girls, that it was unlikely anyone

noticed the figure in black moving behind them until it actually

appeared.

Like a panther on the hunt, despite suffering the same paralyzing toxin that Eugeo did, Kirito snuck behind the girls and

grabbed their short swords from their belts, one with each hand.

In one smooth movement, he drew the blades and pressed them

against their exposed arms.

By the time they turned around, mouths agape, Kirito had already leaped clear backward, short swords in hand.

They were stunned. "Why…?"

"I can't move…"

The paralysis worked instantly, and after just a few words, the

children toppled lightly to the floor. As they fell, Kirito rose. He

held both poison daggers in one hand and stepped forward to

search in their pockets with the other. In no time, he had found a

little bottle the size of a fingertip, filled with an orange liquid.

He popped the cork out, sniffed it, and looked satisfied. Still

paralyzed, Eugeo had no other option but to trust that it was an

antidote as the bottle's contents slipped between his lips. It was

probably for the best that his numb tongue couldn't taste it, either.

Kirito leaned down on his knee, an unfamiliar and severe look

on his face, and whispered, "The paralysis will wear off in a few

minutes. Once your lips work again, start chanting the Perfect

Weapon Control command so the knights don't hear you. When

it's ready, hang on to it and wait for my signal."

With that, he stood up and moved back to stand next to the

girls. In a loud, clear voice, he called out to the five Integrity

Knights, "The swordsmen Kirito and Eugeo apologize for the disrespect of entering your presence on our backsides! We seek to

make amends and repair our dishonored reputations, and to

cross swords with you!"

Promptly, the purple knight, who seemed to be the most important, replied, "I am second of the Integrity Knights, Fanatio

Synthesis Two! Sinner, know that my divine Heaven-Piercing

Blade knows not the concept of mercy, so if you wish to speak, do

so while it remains sheathed!"

Kirito looked down at the collapsed girls next to him and, loud

enough for the other knights to hear, said, "You must be wondering how I was able to move."

Linel was unable to speak, of course, but her eyes seemed to

well up with frustration.

"You gave the game away. You said that all the monks and

nuns were ordered to stay in their rooms. Nobody in the cathedral would dare disobey an order—so given that you weren't following them, you couldn't be real sisters-in-training."

The antidote started working, sending little prickles of pain

into Eugeo's limbs, but he hardly noticed them at all. At last, he

realized the nature of the emotion he saw on his partner's face.

Kirito—placid, aloof Kirito—was furious .

But his anger didn't seem to be directed at the children themselves. If anything, there was pain in his eyes when he glanced

down at Linel and Fizel.

"And those sheaths you wear. They're made of ruby oak from

the south. That's the only material that won't corrode when

touched by these swords made of Ruberyl's poisoned steel.

There's no way a simple apprentice nun would be carrying something like that. So before you approached, I cast a poison-dissolving art—it just took a little time for it to actually work. The speed

of your sword isn't all there is to strength. In short, you were stupid enough that you might as well die here."

He held the poison swords aloft in his left hand, then swung

them down without mercy or hesitation.

The two short swords flew, leaving little green trails. They

thudded dully, the blades stuck into the floor right before Linel's

and Fizel's noses.

"But I will not kill you. Instead, I want you to watch the Integrity Knights that you insulted and see how powerful they truly

are."

Then he turned and took several steps forward. He drew his

black sword loudly and swung around to brandish it before a

knight.

"You have waited long enough, Fanatio! I challenge you!"

No…he wouldn't.

But Eugeo's lips could do no more than tremble. He couldn't

call Kirito back; his mouth and tongue were still regaining their

sensations.

Kirito often liked to take out books on weapons from the academy library, so that might explain how he knew about things like

ruby oak and poisoned steel. It was just like him to employ his

skills of observation to escape from the girls' trap, but the two

had still undoubtedly left them in a far more dangerous situation

than before. They had to face five Integrity Knights, one of whom

was the vice commander, and fight them in direct battle. Their

great idea about having Perfect Control ready to go before they

entered the Great Hall was totally ruined.

Normally, Kirito would drag Eugeo away from this situation to

regroup and improve their chances. That he wasn't doing it now

was a sign that he wasn't in his right mind. He was gripped by

such a rage that if Eugeo squinted, he thought he could see wisps

of pale-blue flame rising from the back of his black shirt.

Even the instructors at Swordcraft Academy would be taken

aback if they faced Kirito in his present state. But the purple

knight named Fanatio, vice commander of all Integrity Knights,

boldly grabbed the handle of his rapier and drew it. Eugeo's eyes

were pierced with such a brilliant light that it seemed the weapon

itself was glowing.

Following Fanatio, the other four soldiers flipped up their

downward-pointed swords in unison and took stances. The swell

of tension and hostility pushed back against Kirito's, making the

air in the hall practically crackle.

Fanatio showed no signs of being affected by the tense mood.

His dark voice issued forth from the helmet.

"Sinner Kirito, it seems that you desire a duel of single combat

with me. Unfortunately, we are under strict orders to slaughter by

any means necessary if you should reach the Great Hall. So you

will fight them first—my personal students, the Four Whirling

Blades!"

With that grand pronouncement, Fanatio promptly launched a

System Call and began a complex, high-speed casting chant. It

was most likely—most definitely —Perfect Weapon Control. They

either had to use the same art to counteract it or attack before the

spell was finished.

Kirito chose the latter. He sprang forward at Fanatio so hard

that the hobnails on his boots created sparks. His black sword

swung up high in the air.

But at the same moment, the leftmost of the four knights

standing behind Fanatio began a similar charge. This one met

Kirito with a two-handed greatsword, whipping it horizontally

from the left.

Kirito changed the angle of his swing, bringing it straight

down to block the knight's attack. There was an ear-rending

screech of metal, and both combatants sprang backward, creating

a gap between them.

Unlike the knight, who had to redirect the momentum of his

massive sword, Kirito recovered quickly. By the time he landed,

he was already in follow-up mode, ready to plunge in again and

deliver one fatal blow—

"…?!"

Eugeo gasped. Somehow there was a second knight there, unleashing a devastating slice from Kirito's left. Kirito paused, tilting his sword up to slice left and deflect. There was another

screech, a shower of sparks, and they ended up about four mels

apart.

This second knight also ended up significantly off-balance.

This was natural, as anyone swinging such a huge sword so hard

would find it difficult to avoid the shift in momentum when it was

knocked off its trajectory. If anything was worthy of praise here, it

was Kirito's skill in repelling the enemy's attack with a minimum

of movement, absorbing the impact, and promptly transitioning

to the next move.

However—before Eugeo could even suspect it, the third knight

was leaping at Kirito where he landed. Eugeo tore his eyes away

from the third clash of blades and forced himself to look farther

behind them.

" !!"

His jaw clenched. By the time Kirito and the third knight's

swords met, the fourth was already charging.

How could they predict his movements so accurately? Yet another sideways swipe, and this time, Kirito's reaction was off. He

managed to block the swing, but the momentum finally pushed

him back, and his black form teetered in the air.

That's it…

Belatedly, Eugeo realized the knights' intentions. All their at-

tacks were horizontal swings from left to right. If he deflected

them with his sword, that limited the direction he would be

pushed. Then the next knight would rush to that spot and start

another horizontal slash. Given the increased effective area of

their attacks as compared to vertical slices or thrusts, and the size

and length of their swords, it must have been easy enough for

them to ensure that even when jumping early, they had enough

leeway to hit Kirito no matter where he landed.

The Integrity Knights didn't have consecutive techniques the

way the two boys did, but this was effectively the same thing, just

spread out over a group. These were not the preening, demonstrative swordsmen of Centoria but true fighters with experience

in the Dark Territory.

But even the Integrity Knights' combination strategy was not

infallible.

Figure it out, Kirito! Then you can counteract it!

The only sound that erupted from Eugeo's throat was a dry

groan. At least his tongue and lips were starting to move again.

He worked at the tense muscles as best he could so that he'd be

able to start his chant and silently prayed. Figure it out, Kirito.

After deflecting the fourth knight's attack, Kirito finally faltered on the landing and had to put a hand to the floor.

The first knight had recovered and blazed forward with another ferocious attack. Kirito promptly leaned backward, trying to

duck under the sword. A lock of his black hair made contact with

the blade and flew free.

Exactly. If he knew they were always going to swing horizontally, he could dodge above or below, rather than stopping it with

his sword.

But that evasion had to be one with his countermove. If all he

did was fall over to dodge, he would be that much slower to transition to his next action, if not worse.

And the second knight, who bore down on Kirito from the left,

was not going to give him time to recover. He raised his sword

from flat to overhead and started a massive downward swing.

"Ah…!"

Eugeo tried to yell Watch out , ignoring the sharp pain that

stabbed at his throat. But he wasn't in time. Sensing that there

would be no way to avoid it, his eyes instinctively tried to avert

themselves from the grisly outcome.

Just then, the first knight, who had finished his swing to Kirito's right, suddenly lurched. Kirito hadn't just been lying on the

ground. Somehow, he wrapped both his legs around one of the

knight's and pulled the larger man down on top of him.

The second knight was already into his attack and couldn't

stop now, so the huge greatsword dug deep into his companion's

back. He tried to pull it away, visibly startled, when a dark blur

rushed up from below.

Kirito thrust through the knight's upper arm as he jumped to

his feet, then turned to the third knight, who was hastily trying to

follow up, and hurled the second knight at him. The newer attacker had no choice but to stop before he simply sliced his partner in two.

At last, the combination attack of the group Fanatio called the

Four Whirling Blades came to a halt.

Kirito took advantage of this brief interval to burst forward.

He completely ignored the fourth knight and charged at Fanatio,

who was still chanting his Perfect Weapon Control.

Make it in time! Eugeo prayed.

"Enhance—!" Fanatio shouted.

"Yaaaah!!" Kirito bellowed.

He swung back his sword, still at a considerable distance. Normally it would never reach from this far, but the blade promptly

let off a pale-green light—the Aincrad-style attack Sonic Leap.

Like Vertical, it was a single downward slice, but this one had a

charging power that covered over twice the distance in an instant.

Kirito leaped like some hunting animal, trailing colored light,

as Fanatio held out the tip of his rapier. But no matter what he

did with it, such a slender tool could not completely block the impact of an ultimate technique. The Gigas Cedar blade was even

heavier than Eugeo's divine Blue Rose Sword. When combined

with the tremendous speed of Kirito's attack, three of those little

rapiers together would shatter easily under its force.

The black swordsman reached the peak of his jump, and just

as he started to swing the sword forward, the rapier glinted in the

knight's hands. Or more accurately, the entire body of it flashed,

and then it stretched forward at incredible speed.

The slender beam silently punctured Kirito's left flank, continued onward through the air, then exploded at last against the ceiling of the Great Hall. All of this happened in a single moment.

The shock of his pierced stomach threw off the trajectory of

Kirito's attack, causing the brunt of its force to hit nothing but air

and merely glance off the plume of Fanatio's helmet.

There was hardly any bleeding from the wound, so it didn't

seem like much of a danger in terms of his life value, but Kirito

immediately fell to a knee as he landed. Eugeo looked closer and

saw that there was a faint trail of smoke rising from the edges of a

little hole in his shirt.

So it was likely a fire-based attack. Yet the light that shot from

Fanatio's sword was so white, it was nearly blue. Eugeo had never

seen fire that color before.

Fanatio turned with almost detestable grace and pointed the

tip of the rapier at the prone Kirito. It let off a soft hiss, and another beam of light shot out. If Kirito hadn't immediately leaped

to his left, it would have caught his leg. Instead, the beam pierced

into the marble floor and exploded again. When the light faded,

there was a melted red hole in the spot.

"No…way…," Eugeo grunted, though he didn't even realize

he'd done it at first.

The materials used to build the cathedral were the same excellent marble as the Everlasting Walls that divided Centoria, judging by the pure color and smooth sheen. It wasn't the kind of

stone that would melt from a simple fire. Even Deusolbert's Conflagration Bow only succeeded in burning the carpets and tapestries.

So if Fanatio's Perfect Control arts were fire-based, they were

easily far greater than Deusolbert's. It was possible that Kirito's

life was already in dire condition from the earlier shot.

Clutched in the grips of cold fear, Eugeo could only watch as

Kirito continued to leap around irregularly. Fanatio's sword

flashed and blasted after him, gouging stone with each volley.

The most frightening part of the technique was that it operated instantly, with no preparatory period of charging or thrusting. From Eugeo's location, it was impossible to tell when the casually pointed rapier would emit the beam of light. It was similar

to Eldrie's Frostscale Whip in terms of its range, but that one

seemed positively cute compared to this.

Fanatio continued pressuring Kirito, gliding after him. It was

only Kirito's honed primal instincts and excellent reflexes that

helped him evade the fourth, fifth, and sixth beams.

It was the seventh that finally brought an end to the deadly

game of cat and mouse.

The beam sizzled through the air and caught Kirito on the top

of his right foot in midair. He lost balance and fell hard on his

shoulder. Even then, he lifted himself up immediately, but Fanatio was there, training the point of his weapon below that black

head of hair.

"Ki…!" Eugeo started to shout, but then he realized the numbness in his throat and mouth was finally subsiding for good. He

thought he might have enough voice to execute the sacred art.

He summoned strength into his gut and began to recite the

commands, quietly enough that the knights couldn't hear but

loud enough for God.

"System Call…"

Kirito would be able to get out of his predicament on his own.

There was only one thing for Eugeo to do, and that was to recite

his Perfect Weapon Control and have it ready to go when it was

needed.

Fanatio held his deadly sword directly before Kirito, drawing

out the silence, and then muttered, "…For a hundred years, the

commander has scolded me for a bad habit of taunting in these

situations…but I must admit, it is so pathetic. Why do those who

fall before the might of my Heaven-Piercing Blade always look so

foolish? I am certain that you, too, are wondering about the nature of this attack that defeated you so easily."

The four knights working under Fanatio finished their healing,

and they fanned out behind Kirito at a distance, brandishing their

swords one-handed. That made escape more difficult, but it also

looked like Fanatio's speech might last a while. Eugeo focused his

entire mind on chanting, taking great pains not to make a single

mistake.

"Sinner though you may be, if you lived in Centoria, then you

must know what a mirror is," Fanatio prompted Kirito, who

looked baffled by this sudden leap, despite his obvious agony.

A mirror?

Eugeo had seen them before, of course. Not back home in

Rulid, but the rooms in the elite disciple dorm at the academy

each had a small one. It was a curious item that reflected light far

more vividly than water or metal plates, but Eugeo hadn't spent

much time looking in it. He didn't like his weak-willed appearance.

Fanatio kept the sword trained on Kirito in case he moved,

and continued, "It is an expensive item made by pouring molten

silver into a case of glass, so few outside of Centoria will have

seen one. A mirror can reflect the light of Solus with nearly perfect results. Do you understand me? Any place that receives both

Solus's light and a reflected beam from a mirror is made twice as

warm. One hundred and thirty years prior, our exalted pontifex

summoned all the silver coins and crafts in Centoria, then ordered the glassmakers to fashion one thousand great mirrors

from them. It was an experiment in creating a weapon that did

not require a sacred arts chant to execute. A thousand mirrors,

arranged in a semicircle in the cathedral's courtyard, could focus

all of Solus's midsummer strength into one point and produce

pure-white flame. Within minutes, it could melt down a rock the

size of a person."

Weapon…White flame…?

Fanatio's statement didn't exactly add up in Eugeo's mind. But

he could sense instinctively that this plan of the pontifex's was

just as horrific as making children kill each other in order to test

resurrection arts.

"Ultimately, the pontifex decided it was too elaborate to utilize

in battle. But she did not want all the work to go to waste, and so

she had those thousand mirrors bundled and strengthened and

honed down into a single sword: the Heaven-Piercing Blade. Do

you understand me, sinner? It was the power of Solus itself that

pierced your stomach and foot!"

Eugeo was so stunned by this proud speech, he nearly slipped

up at the end of the chant.

So the white beam of light was Solus, amplified by the power

of a thousand mirrors.

An attack with heat elements could be fought off with ice elements. But how would one defend against an attack of pure light?

And as far as Eugeo knew, no art that used light elements as its

base had any direct attack power to speak of. An illusory light

spell could be eliminated by one using darkness, but not even ten

or twenty layers of darkness could withstand a beam of that

power.

Eugeo continued with his recitation largely automatically, resisting the sense of panic driving him, and finally reached the

end. All he had to do was finish with Enhance Armament , and

the Blue Rose Sword would unleash its hidden strength. Now he

had to wait for Kirito's signal.

Fanatio had said all he wanted to say and pushed forward the

rapier he had pointed at Kirito's head.

"Kirito, do you understand now the full power of the sword

that will take your remaining life? Before you die, repent for your

sins, pledge your faith to the three goddesses, and beg for forgiveness. Then the purity of the ghostly light will wash your sins clean

and guide your soul to Heaven. And now I bid you farewell,

young, foolish heretic."

The Heaven-Piercing Blade flashed, surging with the beam of

light that would pierce Kirito's heart and end his life.

At that exact same moment, Eugeo heard, "Discharge!"

Before the light erupted from the tip of Fanatio's sword, Kirito

smacked his hands together and shoved them forward. Right in

front of his palms was a silver-colored sheet.

But it wasn't just an ordinary metal plate. It was perfectly

square and flat, and in it, Eugeo could see a reflection of Fanatio's

helmet.

Just before Kirito had brought his hands together, Eugeo had

glimpsed two different-colored elements gripped in his fingers. In

his right hand was a steel element, used to throw needles or create temporary tools. And in his left hand was a crystal element,

an essence of glass for fashioning cups or building barriers that

were hard to see. By combining the two and forming them into a

flat surface, he had created…

…a mirror.

The spear of superheated light hit the magically created mirror

and instantly turned the silver into orange.

Tools created from sacred elements were naturally short-lived.

It might look like the same knife, but one forged from proper ore

would last for decades, while a tool crafted from steel elements

would run out of life and turn to dust in mere hours. This mirror

was no exception, and it clearly wouldn't last against the HeavenPiercing Blade's incredible power.

Sure enough, the mirror only held up for a tenth of a second.

The liquefied mixture of glass and metal sprayed outward, and 80

percent of the beam's power proceeded toward Kirito.

He made use of that instant, however. By tilting his body to

the left just enough, it singed his hair and a bit of his cheek as it

passed him.

The other 20 percent of the beam reflected by the mirror

bounced sharply back at Fanatio's helmet.

Despite the stunning turnaround, the second of all Integrity

Knights yanked his head aside with similarly quick reflexes. But

the winglike plumes on either side of the helmet did not escape

damage. The light penetrated the left wing, obliterated the fastener that held it down—and then the entire helmet fell off in two

halves, front and back.

The first thing Eugeo noticed was the volume of hair that burst

free.

It was just as black as Kirito's, yet the shine of it was far richer.

The long, wavy locks, which must have required a lot of upkeep,

shone in the midday sun from the Great Hall's window.

Wow, for being a knight, he's kinda… , Eugeo started to think,

and then Fanatio raised a hand to block the light and shouted,

"You dare see me, you knave?!"

Unlike the metallic, warped voice that came from the helmet,

this one was clear and high-pitched.

It's a woman?!

In his shock, Eugeo nearly discarded the sacred arts he had in

waiting. He clamped his lips shut and tried to focus on holding

the spell in. But part of him couldn't avoid staring at Fanatio's

back.

She was as tall as Kirito, if not taller, but seen in this new light,

the curve from back to waist was indeed too delicate. And yet he

had never doubted that Fanatio was a man until that point.

They'd already met Alice Synthesis Thirty and the children

Linel and Fizel, so there was no reason to assume there weren't

plenty of women among the Integrity Knights. And at the academy, nearly half the students were girls like Ronie and Tiese.

Many of those students wound up to be Integrity Knights, so it

shouldn't have been a surprise that the second-in-command was

a woman.

Eugeo was puzzled by why he was so thrown for a loop, until

he realized that Fanatio's mannerisms and attitude were extremely masculine. So perhaps Fanatio's current rage wasn't

about the revelation of her face—but her femininity.

Even Kirito looked completely shocked, one knee on the

ground and burns on his face.

Fanatio glared at him through the fingers of her left hand and

said, "And you…you look at me the same way, sinner? Even a traitor and rebel against the Church claims that he cannot fight me

seriously once he knows I am a woman?"

Despite her strangled cry, her voice was as pure and beautiful

as an instrument played by a master musician.

"I am not human. I am an Integrity Knight summoned to earth

from Heaven…and yet you men mock and slander me as soon as

you learn I am a woman! And not just my fellows…but even the

general of the dark knights, the very manifestation of evil!!"

No, you're wrong. Neither I nor Kirito is mocking you , Eugeo

thought.

Between the garrison at Zakkaria and the academy, he had

fought against many women. Many were better than he was and

had bested him in combat. In none of those battles did Eugeo

fight at less than his best because they were women, and he held

an equal regard for the skilled, no matter their sex.

But what if it wasn't a fight with rules for victory and defeat,

but a true battle to the death? Could he actually destroy the last of

an opponent's life without hesitation?

The breath caught in Eugeo's throat. He'd never had to consider this question.

Just then, Kirito launched himself up into the air. It wasn't a

fancy technique of any kind, just a slash from the upper right. It

was so fast that Eugeo could barely see the blade moving. It was

practically a miracle that Fanatio was able to block it in time,

given her distress. An earsplitting clang ripped through the vicinity, sparks briefly illuminating the faces of the two combatants.

Fanatio caught the sword on the rapier's guard, but the momentum of the attack drove her several steps back. Kirito did not

let up any pressure on the knight as they clashed hilt to hilt. Bit

by bit, Fanatio's purple-armored knee began to bend.

Voice low, Kirito said, "I see. That's why you chose that sword

and that move. So that you could fire those shots and keep anyone from finding out you were a woman…Isn't that right, Miss

Fanatio?"

"You…y-you wretch!!" she shrieked, pushing back on her

sword.

At great pains, Eugeo tore his eyes away from the combatants

to look at the four knights surrounding them, who did seem

slightly unnerved. Perhaps even some of them were unaware of

Fanatio's true identity. He had no idea about the two paralyzed

girls to his right, though.

Kirito and Fanatio continued their deadlock, soaking in the attention of all present. In terms of personal and sword weight, Kirito had a clear advantage. But once she pushed back on equal

footing, Fanatio exhibited a tremendous force of her own that did

not seem to come from her physical arms.

Through gritted teeth, Kirito tried rattling her again. "…Just so

you know, the reason I was so shocked earlier is because your

spirit got so weak as soon as the helmet broke. You hide your face

and your swordfighting style…I'd say you're the one who's most

obsessed with your femininity."

"Sh-shut up! I'll kill you…I swear I'll kill you!"

"That's the point of this fight. And I'm certainly not going to

let up just because you're a woman. I've lost to girls plenty of

times already!"

Even from just what Eugeo knew, Kirito had lost to Sortiliena,

his tutor disciple at school, plenty of times. But the way he was

speaking now, it didn't sound like he was talking about training

and practice duels. It sounded like he had engaged in real, actual

battles against swordswomen and lost…

Kirito abruptly swung his right foot forward and swept her leg.

Her balance lurched, and the two blades gave off sparks. He

pushed the jet-black sword forward with one hand.

But the Integrity Knight flashed her hand with impossible

speed, and the rapier deflected the side of the black sword like a

living creature. With his thrust pushed aside, she had time to recover her balance and take a step back for distance.

Kirito countered just as quickly. He plunged in close, practically ramming her, to keep the gap small. Given the way she could

produce that light beam without any preparation, fighting at a

distance was a nonstarter.

A swordfight erupted at point-blank range and lightning

speed.

Most shocking of all to Eugeo was that for all of Kirito's blinding combination attacks, Fanatio met every one without faltering.

Her shining rapier moved here and there and everywhere, dispatching every strike of the black blade that just kept coming.

Whenever the slightest opening presented itself, she threw in two

or three jabs in a row. Neither was using any ultimate techniques,

because neither had the time to take the proper stance.

None of the sword schools in the human realm possessed anything like the combination attacks of the Aincrad style. Even the

veteran Integrity Knight Deusolbert wasn't aware of them. That

would mean that Fanatio's combos were something she came up

with herself. Surely, the reason for that had something to do with

what Kirito had said earlier.

The Heaven-Piercing Blade defeated foes without letting them

approach. The combination attacks ensured that if she couldn't

use Perfect Weapon Control, she could continue attacking, even if

the first blow was blocked.

Fanatio was terrified of fighting at ultraclose range and having

what was underneath her armor revealed.

But why…? Why would she go to such lengths to hide her own

nature?

Eugeo watched their battle in stunned rapture as he considered these questions. The other four knights were in the same

state of mind—they were all watching with their greatswords lowered.

Wow…

What a truly brilliant battle.

Even at such close range, both combatants kept their feet still

and traded furious storms of slashes and thrusts, dodging and deflecting as necessary. It felt like he was watching shooting stars

clash, reflecting and vanishing. The impact of steel on steel was

so quick and constant that it began to resemble a kind of percussion performance.

A ferocious smile was plastered on Kirito's pale, excited face as

he moved, a single being of man and sword. The strategy was to

stick close to prevent her from using the Solus attack, but at this

point, he just seemed to be enjoying unleashing his swordfighting

skill.

But Fanatio had no need to indulge him. She could have one of

her knights attack Kirito from behind, then pull back and use her

beams. He would have no defense against that.

Yet the Integrity Knight with the long black hair seemed to be

determined to beat him at his own game. Eugeo couldn't guess

what her reasons were. Was it anger at Kirito's taunts? Because

her pride wouldn't allow her to back away? Or did she, too, find

some value in trading combination attacks at the very limits of

possibility?

Eugeo couldn't see Fanatio's face from his position, so he

didn't know what kind of expression she was wearing. Based on

what had been said, Fanatio seemed to have been an Integrity

Knight serving the Church for at least 130 years, if not longer. It

was an amount of time that Eugeo, who was not yet nineteen

years old, could scarcely fathom.

So he had no way of knowing how many years ago she started

hiding her face and gender, but if she had developed these combinations skills all on her own, it had to be over ten or twenty years.

The only reason Kirito could keep up with Fanatio was that he

was an expert practitioner of the rare Aincrad style. Any other

swordsman would have been crushed flat without getting in a single swipe.

So perhaps Kirito was actually the first opponent Fanatio had

ever been able to exhibit her utmost abilities against.

Based on the examples of Eldrie and Deusolbert, even the Integrity Knights prized the beauty and gallantry of the single attack. It was hard to imagine that Fanatio could utilize her combination skills in training against the other knights. For a long, long

time, she had trained in secret against the imaginary shadow of

another wielder of these arts—a shadow that now had flesh and

blood in the person of Kirito.

As their superhuman duel continued, Eugeo eventually realized that all the hair on his body was standing on end, and his

eyes were brimming with tears.

Ever since he started learning the Aincrad style with Kirito, he

had been envisioning an ultimate form of battle that was now realized before him. This was not the practiced beauty of the principled aesthetic but the stark allure that could only result from the

ultimate fixation on cutting down the enemy, and nothing else.

Five consecutive thrusts from Fanatio met five consecutive

slashes from Kirito, and with each rebound they brought their

weapons back around with even greater fury.

"Ryaaaa!"

"Seyaaaa!"

The shock waves of their weapons intersecting felt hot on

Eugeo's skin, even from where he lay on the floor a considerable

distance away. Their black hair danced and flew, metal snarled,

and they switched spots, back and forth.

When Fanatio's face finally came into view, Eugeo's breath

caught in his throat.

She had the pure beauty of a holy woman from fairy tales

come to life. By appearance, she couldn't have been more than in

her mid-twenties, with smooth skin the color of tea mixed with

plenty of milk. Her arched brows and long lashes were black, but

her irises were a light brown very close to gold. She appeared to

come from the eastern region, with a slender-bridged nose and a

rounded chin that added softness to her beauty. Her small lips

had just the faintest tinge of red.

There was none of the lethal fury in her features that he'd felt

earlier. Instead, there was simply determination, enclosing and

protecting a kind of pain.

"Ah, I see," said Fanatio in her smooth voice as their swords

crossed. "Sinner, you are not like the others I have fought until

today. No man has ever looked upon this cursed visage and truly

attempted to kill me."

"Cursed, huh? Then who are you combing your hair and wearing lipstick for?" Kirito taunted. But Fanatio merely grimaced.

"For over a hundred years, I have waited in hope that the man

I love might seek something in me other than my skill with the

sword and the number of heads I bring him. But after pining behind my mask for so long, and then tasting defeat at the hands of

a newer knight more beautiful than me, who bothered not to hide

her features…I could not help but seek a touch of cosmetics."

A knight more beautiful and mighty than Fanatio. A woman.

The thought of yet more powerful knights in the tower gave

Eugeo the chills, but then he realized that he knew of an Integrity

Knight who fit the description. A recent knight who did not wear

a helmet, and who had dispatched him with a single blinding

strike—Alice Synthesis Thirty.

Kirito must have felt something in her words, too, but he kept

his face an utter mask as he demanded, "What is the most important thing to you? If all the Integrity Knights do is obey the pon-

tifex's orders, then there shouldn't be any room in your heart for

love or jealousy. I don't know who this man is, but if you've been

in love with him for a hundred years…then it's because you're

human. You're just as human as me. I'm fighting to destroy the

Church and your leader so that human beings like you can fall in

love and lead happy lives!"

Even Eugeo was stunned by this speech. Kirito was always so

aloof; he had no idea his partner was thinking about such deep

concepts. But Eugeo also sensed his friend was grappling with

himself as well.

For just an instant, Fanatio's expression twisted.

When a deep furrow appeared on her smooth forehead, he

wondered if her Piety Module would emerge the way Eldrie's did,

but it was only the number-two Integrity Knight's extreme reaction.

"…Child, you have no idea what kind of hell this world will be

plunged into without the might of the Axiom Church…Day by

day, the Dark Territory amasses its forces. They bristle just beyond the boundary of the End Mountains. Yes, I admit that you

are strong. And you are not an agent of darkness or a wicked intruder, contrary to what the prime senator claimed. But you are

still dangerous. You threaten the Church and its knights not just

with your sword but your words as well. In the face of our greatest duty, to protect the human realm and those who dwell in it,

my feelings of love are but chaff in the dirt."

She looked stern and resolute, all reservations cast aside. All

throughout her long speech, the Heaven-Piercing Blade and the

black sword creaked and screamed at maximum volume. If either

combatant pulled back even the tiniest amount, they would surely

be thrown off balance.

Even as they struggled, the life of the two swords was dropping. If the deadlock continued, the Heaven-Piercing Blade would

give out first. Among Divine Objects with similar rank, the larger

and thicker weapon always had more life to begin with.

Naturally, Fanatio would be aware of this. She knew that if her

sword gave out and left her open to attack, Kirito would slice her

without mercy or hesitation.

"And that is why I must defeat you—even if it means trampling

upon my pride as a knight. Mock me for winning with a shameful

technique. You have that right," she muttered. Then she bellowed, "Hidden light of the Heaven-Piercing Blade, cast off your

shackles!! Release Recollection!!"

That was it—the command to unleash its greatest power!

The silver blade shone brighter than it ever had.

An instant later…

Bwaash! A multitude of beams streamed outward from the tip

of the weapon. A blinding attack , was Eugeo's first reaction. It

was a way to rob Kirito of vision and throw him off balance so

that she could strike.

But that possibility was ruled out when one of the beams in

the omnidirectional spray landed on the stone floor right next to

Eugeo and gouged deep into the marble.

That's no blinding technique—they're all the same beams! Kirito!! Eugeo thought desperately, sitting upright. Just at that moment, one of the beams was about to pierce Kirito's right arm.

And in fact, there were charred black holes on his left shoulder

and right thigh already.

Kirito wasn't the only one who was suffering from the superheated light.

Even Fanatio, the very owner of the Heaven-Piercing Blade,

received ugly holes on the armor over her stomach, shoulders,

and legs. The punctures looked even deeper than Kirito's. And yet

there wasn't a single shred of anything but determination in her

proud features.

The Integrity Knight Fanatio Synthesis Two was going to put a

stop to Kirito, and she would sacrifice her life to do so.

Eugeo recalled what the previous pontifex, Cardinal, had said.

The Release Recollection command summoned all of the

weapon's memories and unleashed its wildest power. Power that

was enough to destroy not just the enemy but the wielder as well.

The unleashed Heaven-Piercing Blade's initial volley inflicted

nearly fatal wounds on the two directly in its presence, and it

caused at least minor damage to the other four knights at a distance. The stately, impressive decorations in the Great Hall were

hideously blasted and charred, and expensive glass windows

shattered left and right. Few of the lights reached Eugeo or the

two paralyzed girls beside him, but eventually they would get hit.

The lights shone and shone from the tip, but the weapon

forged of a thousand mirrors showed no signs of stopping. Every

second, the tip of the sword flashed, sending out short bursts of

light in every direction. Half went up into the air, hitting the

walls, pillars, and ceiling, but many of those that traveled downward naturally landed on the two people closest to the source.

Without letting up any pressure on the intersection of the

swords, Kirito craned and darted his head out of the way of any

beams threatening to hit his brow. More light-headed for Fanatio's face, but the Integrity Knight did not budge. A beam brushed

her cheek, gouging a deep red furrow into her spotless skin and

evaporating a lock of her full black hair.

"You…colossal idiot!!" Kirito screamed. A spray of blood shot

from his mouth. No matter how much life Kirito had, there was

no question about being in danger of running out, given the dam-

age he was taking. But the swordsman in black refused to falter.

He slid his sword up so the side of it covered the beam-emitting

point of the Heaven-Piercing Blade.

Brief as this moment was, it succeeded in blocking all of the

light that was shooting at Kirito and Fanatio.

Now—now is the moment!

Kirito did not give an explicit signal, but Eugeo's senses of reason and intuition both told him that the time had come.

Fanatio and her four knights, who held up their greatswords

like shields, were too busy with the light beams to pay any attention to the other guilty party. No one was going to take advantage

of the moment of weakness when Eugeo activated his Perfect

Control.

He leaped up with tremendous force and drew the Blue Rose

Sword he'd been cradling beneath his stomach the entire time.

"Enhance—"

In midair, he spun the handle so that it pointed down, added

his left hand to the hilt, and thrust it into the marble floor with all

his strength.

"—Armament!!"

Nearly half of the pale-blue blade sank into the stone.

Craaakk!! With an earsplitting bursting sound, the marble

was instantly covered in white frost.

Sharp, crystalline pillars thrust upward in a wave of ice that

swelled forth. Within five seconds of launching, the ten-mel-wide

ice wave had swallowed up the feet of Kirito, Fanatio, and the

four other knights.

At last, the quartet of knights noticed the anomaly. Their helmeted heads turned to look in his direction.

But it was too late.

Eugeo clenched the sword with all his strength and screamed,

"Roses— bloom !!"

Instantly, countless vines of pale-blue ice sprang up around

the feet of the knights, Fanatio, and Kirito. Each one was only the

width of a pinkie finger, but every single tendril bristled with

sharp thorns that dug into the legs of their prey.

"Rrgh…"

"Wh-what is this?!"

The knights exclaimed their surprise. By then, the icy vines

were climbing up their legs and to their waists and bellies. One

knight belatedly tried to sever the vines with his greatsword, but

the moment the weapon touched the ice, more vines wrapped

around it and sewed it to the ground.

The vines covered the knights from toes to fingertips to head,

turning them into immobile ice sculptures. The ice creaked as it

snaked upward, firming its grasp on its prey, and then, with the

crisp ringing like a bell, it sprouted a multitude of dark-blue

roses.

They were all ice, of course. There was no nectar or scent coming from the hard, crystalline buds, only freezing white mist.

Soon the air in the hall was filled with it: a thick, sparkling haze.

The source powering the chill was the very life of the captured

knights.

The drain on their life was slow, but there was no way to summon the strength to break the chains of ice while the roses sucked

it away. This sacred art was not designed for killing foes. Eugeo

had settled on this particular effect for the purpose of immobilizing Alice.

The four knights were completely neutralized, but their worthy

leader was sharp enough to intuit the nature of the attack as soon

as the vines started breaking through the frost on the floor, and

she jumped away to evade them.

But Kirito's reflexes were even quicker, aided by his prior understanding of Eugeo's technique. Improbably enough, he not

only leaped earlier than Fanatio, but he landed on her shoulder

armor to leap a second time farther away. He did a somersault in

the air to distance himself from the vines of ice, spreading a fine

spray of blood as he went.

The pressure of his jump pushed Fanatio back to the floor,

where she landed on one knee and was immediately surrounded

by the ice.

"Rrgh…!"

Her concentration faltered, and the indiscriminate shower of

light beams from her sword succeeded in severing a few of the

vines before it fell silent. Her hideously damaged purple armor

was wreathed in fine tendrils, then covered in thick ice.

Blue roses sprouted up her body, the last one appearing right

over the wound on her cheek. The penultimate Integrity Knight

and her divine weapon stilled completely.

Kirito continued his backward leaps and flips to evade the ice

vines, despite the terrible injuries all over his body. Eventually he

lost his balance on a landing and fell right next to Eugeo.

"Grf…"

A little cough emerged from deep in his throat, spraying out an

alarming amount of blood. It soon froze over into crimson frost,

to Eugeo's alarm.

"Kirito…hang on, I'll use a healing art on you…!"

"No! Don't stop the technique!" Kirito demanded, eyes flashing despite the loss of color in his skin. "That isn't enough to stop

her…"

Flecks of blood around his lips, he used the black sword as a

crutch to hold his battered body upright. After wiping his mouth,

closing his eyes, and getting his breath under control, Kirito

glared and held his sword aloft.

"System…Call!!"

Given the state of his body, the speed of his desperate chanting

was really remarkable. Between every command was a bloodcurdling wheeze, and occasionally a bit of crimson spittle flecked

from the corner of his lips. But still he continued to recite the

dozen-plus commands of the art.

Up close, the sight of the numerous marks on Kirito's body

was ghastly. The light from the Heaven-Piercing Blade had punctured him everywhere, and the wounds were charred and black.

The only upside was that he hadn't lost much blood, but several

of the beams had pierced his organs. His life was dropping faster

than the knights trapped by the ice roses, and he needed help immediately.

But Eugeo couldn't let go of the hilt of his sword if he wanted

to maintain his hold on the Perfect Control arts. Kirito might

have been able to heal himself, but he was so viciously focused on

his recitation that it was clear he had no such intention.

You don't need to rush, Kirito. Those knights won't break

their cages of ice that quickly , Eugeo thought, looking up at the

soldiers ahead.

Just then, a beam of light shot from the midst of the profusion

of ice roses and stuck in the wall. He was so startled that he

grunted, "Wha…"

The source of the light was Fanatio, who should have been

completely immobilized under all those vines of ice.

Perfect Weapon Control wasn't some infinite power once the

sacred art was cast. In order to control the expanded power of the

weapon, the caster expended considerable concentration. Eugeo

had to clutch the hilt of the sword stuck into the floor and continue envisioning the wild sprouting roses in order to maintain

his prison of ice.

Fanatio had unleashed her sword's Perfect Control, fired sunrays, engaged in a light-speed battle with Kirito, then unleashed

indiscriminate beams all over and suffered nearly fatal wounds

for it. Her concentration should have been shot, and her control

over the Heaven-Piercing Blade gone.

And yet…

The slender weapon covered in ice and clutched in Fanatio's

right hand was slowly moving, creaking and crackling. Before

Eugeo's stunned eyes, a wisp of steam, like the essence of her

fighting spirit, rose from the knight's body.

"Rrgh…!"

He bit his lip and clutched the hilt of his sword even harder.

Guided by this image, ten or so fresh vines of ice rose around Fanatio. They struck her right arm like whips and wrapped around

it, forcing her to be still.

But that lasted for only a second. The knight shrugged off the

clinging thorns of ice and forced her arm down. Nearly half of the

azure vines shattered and spilled to the ground.

A chill colder than ice ran down Eugeo's back.

Is she even human?

Kirito was exhibiting tremendous force of will with his bloody

recitation, but this woman was beyond even him. The uncontrollable light-beam attack had riddled her with holes, and the ice

roses were mercilessly draining her life—and yet she still did not

fall. Instead, she was ripping herself free from the chains of ice

that her companion knights were helpless to stop, using nothing

but the strength of one arm.

With horror, Eugeo noticed that the Heaven-Piercing Blade in

her hand was steadily changing angle to point in their direction.

What was giving Fanatio so much strength?

Was it the Integrity Knight's sense of compelling duty to uphold the law? Her love for this man that had apparently lasted for

a hundred years? Or did it have something to do with what she'd

said earlier…?

Fanatio claimed that if the Axiom Church's power was lost, the

armies of the Dark Territory would run wild over the human

world.

If true, then she was sacrificing her own health for the sake of

the common people—the ones the higher nobles treated like livestock, abusing and exploiting them for all they were worth.

But that couldn't be true. The Integrity Knights were the tools

of the wicked Administrator, who took young Alice away, robbed

her of her memories, and turned her into someone else. They

were the hateful enemy. Their whole quest up the length of Central Cathedral had been built on the knowledge of their nature

and the possibility that they would need to kill them.

They couldn't be anything else—the Integrity Knights couldn't

be a bastion of goodness now.

"You…you people have no goodness!!" Eugeo growled, pouring

all the hostility welled up in his heart into the Blue Rose Sword.

Once again, a wave of ice vines grew around Fanatio, winding

up her right arm and digging into her flesh with their thorns.

"Stop…just stop !!"

But although his heart was full of overwhelming hatred, something spilled from Eugeo's eyes. He could not accept that they

were tears; he refused to recognize that he was being moved by

the sight of her foolish insistence on extending her own arm, despite the binding thorns that embodied Eugeo's hatred and fury.

The Integrity Knight's arm was tattered. A carpet of broken

thorns stuck in her skin, her blood oozing out and freezing into

hanging red icicles.

But it never stopped moving, lowering until the upright

Heaven-Piercing Blade was pointed level, its tip directed right at

Eugeo and Kirito.

Through the blur of tears, Eugeo saw the silver weapon shine

brighter than ever before. The light was so bright that Fanatio

must have been burning off the entire remainder of her life. He

had to squint his wet eyes to shut it out; the light was as bright as

if Solus itself had descended on the Great Hall.

I can't win. I just can't beat her. Eugeo sighed softly, watching

the ice roses melt and break down from nothing more than exposure to her light.

But he wasn't going to simply close his eyes and wait for that

sun to bring him death. He refused to give in to Fanatio's "righteousness" like that.

He would at least create one last rose in a symbol of spite. He

summoned the last dregs of hatred from the depths of his heart

for that final act of defiance—when Kirito finished his recitation

and murmured, "You can't beat her with hatred, Eugeo."

"Huh…?"

Eugeo turned back and saw his partner with blood-flecked lips

turned into a tense smile. "You didn't come all this way because

you hate the Integrity Knights, right? It's because you want to get

Alice back, to see her again…You're here because you love Alice.

And your feelings aren't in any way inferior to her justice. Same

for me…I want to protect the people of this world: you, Alice,

even her. So we can't afford to give up and lose now…Right,

Eugeo?"

Despite the desperate circumstances, Kirito's voice was calm.

The mysterious black swordsman smiled, nodded, and looked

forward.

Just then, the Heaven-Piercing Blade unleashed its biggest

and final flash.

It was a spear of light that not even all the beams until now,

bundled together into one, could have matched. The light of the

heavens, which Solus herself flung to banish the god of darkness

—Vecta—in the age of creation, bore down as it prepared to burn

everything in its path.

Kirito's eyes were wide with astonishing willpower. The final

line of the chant left his mouth, a single note of defiance amid

desperate odds.

"Enhance Armament!!"

The black sword, pointed straight ahead, pulsed.

From every surface, every angle, darkness poured forth.

A surge of pure, light-sucking black writhed, soared, and tangled. It, too, coalesced into a massive spear, thick enough to require both hands to encircle, and shot forward. The tip of the

spear seemed to have physical form: a hard, sharp tip like obsidian. Eugeo recognized that texture—it was the wood of the giant

tree he had spent every day of his youth chopping at, until just

over two years ago. The prior form of the black sword: the Gigas

Cedar.

In that moment of recognition, Eugeo understood the nature

of the Perfect Weapon Control that Kirito had activated.

By awakening the dormant memories in the black sword, he

had brought the proud giant tree, which resisted any effort to cut

it down for centuries, back to life in this place. It wasn't the same

size and shape, but it was certainly the same material.

Hardness, sharpness, and overwhelming weight.

All three in such measure that its existence itself made it the

largest weapon possible.

Eugeo felt his heart lurch. And then the tip of that void-dark

spear made contact with the end of Solus's light. The resulting

shock wave ripped through the Great Hall of Ghostly Light…and

possibly rattled all of Central Cathedral itself.

The tremendous outpouring of heat and dense light did push

back even the demon tree, bringing its relentless onslaught to a

halt. Yet the endless darkness continued pouring out of the sword

in Kirito's hands, propelling the weapon onward.

The Heaven-Piercing Blade showed no signs of stopping, either. The wild stream of light strengthened by the moment, until

the heat had totally melted all of the ice roses keeping the knight

captive. Not only that, but the gauntlet protecting her right arm

was bright red and smoking.

Yet the stalemate between light and darkness in the center of

the Great Hall continued.

But this sort of ultrapowerful clash could not possibly equal

out and vanish into nothing. One sword would vanquish the other

and utterly destroy its wielder.

And the one disadvantaged here was Kirito.

No matter how tough the Gigas Cedar was, it was a tree with

physical form. Just as the real thing was eventually felled after

years of chopping, it would take damage and gradually weaken

until it was no more.

But the light of the Heaven-Piercing Blade was pure heat. How

would one destroy a force without mass?

If there was a way to counteract that, it would have to be either

a mirror, like Kirito had already tried, or some kind of absolute

cold from the Blue Rose Sword—some special quality that was

anathema to the light itself. But if the Gigas Cedar had any qualities, it was being incredibly hard and heavy…

And one other thing.

It greedily absorbed all of Solus's light and turned it into its

own power.

Suddenly, Fanatio's spear of light splintered into a thousand

tiny streams. It was Kirito's tree of darkness that broke the stalemate and resumed its charge.

The tip of his spear was, unsurprisingly, glowing red-hot, but

it stood strong as it gouged through the sheer pressure of the light

and bore down on its source. Meanwhile, the light itself sprayed

wildly and landed all over the Great Hall, melting the ice vines

and causing little explosions everywhere. The four other knights

were blasted free from the ground and flew through the air.

Fanatio the Integrity Knight did not budge a step when she

saw the enormous black lance approaching. Her beautiful features no longer contained any anger or hatred. Her eyelids fluttered down, and her lips budged. Surely there was some emotion

contained in that action, but Eugeo could not detect what it was.

The sharp tip of the tree made its way up the stream to the

source of the light at last, colliding with the end of the HeavenPiercing Blade.

First, the silver rapier bent, then it twanged and rotated as it

flew through the air. Then the knight herself launched backward

with astonishing force. Her body flew directly toward the ceiling,

spraying shards of purple metal and obliterating the painting of

creation on the plaster.

Her fall was much slower. She came down with a shower of little pieces of structural marble and landed limply in front of the

doors at the far end of the hall. The second Integrity Knight did

not get up after that.

The spear of darkness gradually lost form and retreated like a

shadow, retracting back into Kirito's sword. The blade itself

seemed slightly bigger than usual, just like during the fight

against Raios, but by the time all the darkness was absorbed, it

was normal again.

Eugeo merely stood and stared at the aftermath of the tremendous battle.

The perfect, spotless marble floor and walls were now melted,

burned, and pockmarked all over. In the middle, where the spears

of light and darkness clashed, there were fissures in the floor so

deep, it was a wonder you couldn't see through to the cathedral

level beneath.

No one who wasn't present would have believed that this stunning destruction of the Great Hall of Ghostly Light on the fiftieth

floor of Central Cathedral was between just two people, one of

whom had been a mere academy student just two days before.

But we did it , Eugeo told himself. We fought five Integrity

Knights of the Axiom Church, the absolute power that has ruled

the world since its creation…and won.

That meant that, including Eldrie, they had defeated nine Integrity Knights so far. According to Cardinal, there were twelve or

thirteen knights stationed inside the cathedral. So if they overcame a few more…

Just as Eugeo was savoring the feeling of their progress, Kirito

fell heavily to his knees. The black sword tumbled from his hand.

Eugeo hastily let go of the Blue Rose Sword, still stuck in the

floor, and helped support his partner's body before it fell over.

"Kirito!"

He was stunned at how light his friend felt, a sure sign of how

much blood and life he'd lost. His skin was paler than the marble,

and his eyelids weren't popping back open. Eugeo quickly looked

him over and then put a hand to the deepest-looking wound, a

gash in Kirito's side.

"System Call! Generate Luminous Element!"

He moved the three light elements this produced into the

wound and continued the sacred art to unlock their healing

power. When the cauterized wound began to seal up, he let go

and repeated the process on Kirito's left shoulder. Normally, light

elements required a significant amount of spatial resources, and

thus a catalyst like holy flower essence, but not in this case. The

life the Blue Rose Sword had absorbed from the five knights was

now present in the air around them as sacred power.

He had patched up the primary wounds, which would stop the

continual loss of life, but Eugeo was not able to use light-based

healing arts that could actually recover the amount Kirito had already lost—which was most of it. He clutched Kirito's right hand

with his left and began to chant a new art.

"System Call! Transfer Human Unit Durability, Self to Left!!"

This time, motes of blue light appeared all over Eugeo's body

and gradually converged on his left hand, through which they

traveled to the other youth. Compared to the simplicity of casting

the spell that moved life from one person to another, the actual

effect was enormous.