Administrator, May 380 HE

Both Eugeo's Blue Rose Sword and my black blade carved light-green trails in

the darkened chamber.

The paths formed a perfect symmetry. This was to be expected, as we

launched into identical skills simultaneously, including the charging skill Sonic

Leap. The timing was perfectly aligned, such that the sword tips reached the

peak of their curve, flashing brighter to indicate the attack power was at its

maximum potential, at precisely the same moment before silver and black

edges collided.

I didn't just execute the technique. I used the tension in my feet, rotation of

my body, and swing of my arms as three separate accelerative forces on the

attack. Even so, Eugeo's Sonic Leap wasn't even a microsecond slower than

mine. He had pushed his as far as it could go, just like I had. And I hadn't even

fully taught him how to do that yet.

Somehow, when I hadn't been paying attention, Eugeo had kept patiently,

stubbornly swinging away. Hundreds of times, every single day, until he could

hear the voice of the sword.

"…How?" I grunted under my breath as our swords clashed at their

intersection point. "How did you lose to the Synthesis Ritual? The reason you

studied the blade…the reason you left Rulid for Centoria was to take back your

childhood friend Alice. Right?"

"…"

Eugeo stood firm, blocking my sword. As he'd warned before we started, he

had nothing more to say to me—his lips were shut tight. I felt like I saw a

glimmer in his green eyes the moment he heard the name Alice, but whatever

that was, it was instantly swallowed by darkness. Perhaps it was nothing more

than a trick of the eyes, caused by the green glow coming from the swords.

If our stalemate continued for a few seconds longer, the Sonic Leaps would

expire, ushering us into a furious close-range swordfight. At that point, I

wouldn't have the time to think. I used the brief recess to furiously spur my

mind onward.

Integrity Knights were created through direct operation of their souls, in what

was called the Synthesis Ritual. It involved extracting a crystal of memories from

the subject's mind and replacing it with a device that forced their loyalty, an

object called a Piety Module.

The moment Eldrie had heard his mother's name, he'd become unstable, and

the Piety Module had begun to emerge from his forehead. That meant that in

order to make him an Integrity Knight, Administrator had stolen his memories

of his mother.

The other knights must've lost similarly precious memories. For Deusolbert, it

was likely the memory of his wife. For Fanatio and Bercouli, I couldn't be sure

yet, but I imagined it was either families or lovers.

So who would it be for Alice? The golden knight was back against the wall,

watching the fight between Eugeo and me. The most probable answer was her

little sister, Selka, who was still living back in Rulid. When I had casually dropped

Selka's name while we were resting on the terrace ledge outside the tower,

Alice had reacted violently. She'd cried at the mention of her sister and even

sworn rebellion against the Axiom Church.

But the mention of Selka's name didn't cause Alice's Piety Module to become

unstable, as far as I could tell. That was either because she'd been an Integrity

Knight for six years already or because the stolen memories weren't actually of

Selka.

Assuming my conjectures about these matters were accurate, then whose

memory did Administrator steal from Eugeo?

Not far from where we stood locked in combat was the levitating platform,

which Chudelkin had used to flee to the floor above, and which I'd summoned

back down. There was a hole in the ceiling about three feet across. It had to be

Administrator's chamber through there, but it was pitch-black through the hole.

If she was up there right now, I couldn't tell.

But just an hour ago, she had "synthesized" Eugeo there—stealing his most

precious memories. But of whom?

There was only one answer I could imagine. It was the girl he'd been chasing

after for eight years, ever since Deusolbert took her away when she was a child.

Alice Zuberg, who was now Alice Synthesis Thirty.

Then why did Eugeo have no reaction toward Alice, who was standing in the

very same room with us while we dueled? Eldrie's module nearly fell out just at

the mention of his mother's name. If his instability was a factor of how little

time he'd spent as an Integrity Knight—well, Eugeo had been one for barely an

hour. He should've had an even more violent reaction the instant he saw Alice.

But this Eugeo was completely closed off from the world. If it wasn't

memories of Alice that had been removed from him, then who—or what—did

Administrator take away?

At that moment, the shine from the two clashing sword skills faded.

Without the propulsion that the system assistance gave them, the white and

black blades recoiled from each other. As sparks flew, I clenched my teeth and

Eugeo looked as impassive as ever. We brandished our swords for new attacks.

"Yaaah!"

"…!"

With simultaneous cries—one voiced and one mute—we launched high lefthanded swings with perfect synchronization. The blades clashed and recoiled,

and next was a swipe from the right side. The edges clanged and slid, leading to

a downward left swing. This, too, was firmly caught.

As we settled into our second stalemate, I couldn't help but marvel. Our

swords might have identical stats, but the people who wielded them did not. I

was lighter, with regular clothes, while Eugeo wore heavy plate armor. He was

lugging around many times the weight I was, yet his attacks were coming with

the exact same speed. Either turning into an Integrity Knight bumped up his

strength, or this was the effect of that "Incarnate" thing Alice had mentioned

just before the fight.

I knew that this world contained some systems that couldn't be explained

with the logic of all the other VRMMO worlds I'd experienced to this point.

Invisible forces like willpower and imagination could, at times, produce effects

beyond that of even high-level system commands.

Becoming an Integrity Knight had taken away Eugeo's memories and

emotions, but his willpower was cold and sharp. Before we started fighting, he

had summoned the Blue Rose Sword I possessed to his hand as though through

telekinesis—an ability Alice had called Incarnate Arms.

What was actually in Eugeo's heart now? It was the determination to take

Alice back from the Church that drove him to want to be an Integrity Knight in

the first place. What kind of will was now filling the enormous void left in its

place?

I couldn't imagine that it was all just loyalty to the Axiom Church and its

pontifex, etched into his soul. I didn't want to believe that; there was no way

the Blue Rose Sword could withstand every last ounce of my black sword's

strength with that kind of artificial willpower.

Somewhere within those icy cold eyes, something was still burning. I had to

believe in that. And if there was one way to summon that forth, it had to be…

"…Eugeo," I whispered, pushing against the sword with all my strength,

"maybe you don't remember this anymore…but you and I never actually got to

fight with everything we have, before."

"…"

Eugeo's eyes, which had once shone a brilliant green, were now dark and dull.

I stared into them, willing them to respond.

"On the journey from Rulid to Centoria, and while we were at Swordcraft

Academy, I asked myself the same question many times: Who would win if we

crossed blades for real? And to be honest…I felt like one day, you would surpass

me."

Eugeo returned my gaze without blinking. In fact, he didn't return it—his eyes

were like closed shutters. I was nothing but an intruder who needed to be

eliminated. If I showed him even an instant of weakness, he would strike. But I

still delivered the conclusion of my speech, believing that something would get

through to him.

"…But now is not that time. You've forgotten about me, about Alice, about

Tiese and Ronie, and even about Cardinal. You can't beat me. And I'm going to

prove that to you."

As soon as the words had left my mouth, I stopped breathing and willed the

strength of every muscle in my body into my sword. Fine wrinkles appeared on

Eugeo's brow as he attempted to push back.

At that instant, I pulled back.

Zshang! The blades clashed, producing a line of sparks in the gloom. The shift

in momentum pushed me backward and caused Eugeo to lean forward.

If I tried to steady myself, I'd be a sitting duck for Eugeo. Instead, I pushed

into the momentum and let my back fall toward the floor. Out of the corner of

my eye, I spotted Alice reaching across her body for the Osmanthus Blade,

certain that I had just lost.

But her decision was coming three seconds too early. Victory or defeat would

be determined by whether my strategy was successful or not—or how well

Eugeo truly understood the Aincrad style.

Just before my back hit the floor, I kicked upward with my right foot. The toe

of my boot shone, lighting Eugeo's chin from below.

"Yaaaah!"

I spun backward, the angle tight. It was Aincrad-style martial arts, the

backflip-kick skill Crescent Moon. This handy move, which you could activate

while falling backward, had saved my life on numerous occasions in the old

SAO. I hadn't used it in combat or practice since coming to the Underworld, but

the movement was etched into my muscles—and most importantly, I'd never

shown it to Eugeo.

On the other hand, I had shown him martial arts with fists or shoulders. He'd

shown proficiency with it, too. He could do the simple punching skill Flash Blow,

as well as three parts of Meteor Break, the high-level combination of body

blows and slashes.

If he had discovered the existence of kicking attacks in his own time, or even

just suspected their existence, he was going to evade my Crescent Moon. And

the downside of this attack was that it had an extremely long recovery after it

had been dodged. If I missed, I would be helpless against his merciless blade.

This is it, Eugeo!

My right foot closed in on my opponent's gorget. Even in this situation,

Eugeo's eyes were full of impassive frost. He twisted his torso without changing

his expression, attempting to curve away from my foot. But the momentum

that had pulled him forward when I fell backward was still a factor. My glowing

toe shot toward his defenseless chin.

"…!"

Air shot from Eugeo's mouth. The arm holding the Blue Rose Sword swiped

sideways with ferocious force. But no matter how hard he swung, my leg was

faster. If I just focused on connecting, I would reach…

No.

Eugeo wasn't attempting a counterattack. He was using not the blade of the

sword but its pommel and aiming it not at my body but at my leg: a backhand

pommel strike. It was an utterly practical movement, one that would never

exist in the Underworld, where graceful solemnity ruled all concerns of

swordfighting. Even in the old SAO, only the most savvy of veteran PvP players

could pull off such a tactic.

He could change the trajectory of the Crescent Moon by nudging it from the

side. So where did I aim?

" !"

I gritted my teeth and did everything in my power to hold back the kick. But if

I pulled too hard, the skill would fumble, leaving me helpless. I had to delay the

progress for what felt to me like a quarter of a second so that Eugeo's hand

would pass first.

Now!

A hard crash erupted.

Rather than hitting Eugeo's throat as originally planned, my Crescent Moon

got him on the back of the hand that held his sword. Like the other Integrity

Knights, he wore tough gauntlets, so this wouldn't damage his hand—but it had

the exact effect I was hoping for.

Eugeo's right hand bounced upward, knocking the Blue Rose Sword from his

grasp. It spun upward and embedded itself in the marble ceiling, which I

spotted out of the corner of my eye. I squeezed my sword, readying myself to

attack once my backflip followed through and I landed on my feet again.

The sole of my shoe—the glow of the attack fading—touched solid ground. I

bent my knees, absorbing the impact, and launched myself before I could

straighten up or fall again. My left foot soared forward, pushing me right at the

unarmed Eugeo's breastplate, where I would deliver the simple Slant attack at

an upward diagonal from the left— " ?!"

As I rose, leaning at an extreme forward angle in the process of activating my

skill, Eugeo's left hand reached out with the fingers glowing green. Just before

my sword could bite into that shining armor, I heard Eugeo announce, "Burst

Element."

Five separate wind elements burst from his fingers, enveloping me in an

explosive gust of wind. As it was just a simple release, it didn't inflict any pain,

just force, but that was enough to buffet me into the air like a scrap of cloth.

"Arrgh…!" I grunted, spreading my arms in a desperate attempt to maintain

balance. If I hit the wall headfirst, I'd lose over 10 percent of my life. Instead, I

managed to spin myself so that my feet were pointed toward the onrushing

surface.

The instant I landed, a tremendous shudder ran through me from feet to

head, pressing me to the wall until eventually the numbness subsided and I

could get back down to the ground. I looked up and saw that Eugeo had been

similarly pushed toward the opposite wall, but the extra weight of his armor

kept him on the ground. He rose to a standing position again, his face almost

obnoxiously calm.

I scrambled to my feet after him and heard a soft voice from my right say, "Is

that really Eugeo, your partner?"

It was Alice, who was standing at the wall and watching the fight, as I had

asked her to do. I sent the briefest of glances toward the knight in golden armor

and hissed back, "What do you mean? You were the one who said he was

synthesized, right?"

"Yes, I did…but…I'm not sure how to say this," she mumbled, strangely

hesitant. "For being freshly synthesized, he is far too skilled in our ways of

combat. Between the Incarnate Arms he used before the fight and this windelement technique, nothing about him seems new or inexperienced."

"…So you don't just automatically know these things when you get turned

into an Integrity Knight?" I asked, just to be sure. Despite the tense

circumstances, I couldn't help but hunch my shoulders in embarrassment when

she snapped at me.

"The knighthood's tools do not simply appear out of thin air! It takes long

periods of training with weapon techniques and sacred arts to be able to use

them—to say nothing of Incarnate abilities and Perfect Weapon Control!"

"Ah. R-right. But then…what was that all about just now…? I didn't think

Eugeo was capable of creating five elements on one hand yet…"

"Which is why I was asking you if that was really Eugeo!"

"…"

I pursed my lips, staring down the knight in silver armor as he strode calmly

toward me.

Just above us, on the hundredth floor of Central Cathedral, was

Administrator, who, along with Cardinal in the Great Library, was the ultimate

wielder of sacred arts. She could already alter the memories of people, so

perhaps she could also arrange an imposter who was physically identical to the

real thing. Yet…

"…It's Eugeo," I rasped.

His eyes were dull, his cheeks were pale, and there was no hint of mirth

around his mouth, but the Integrity Knight was still none other than my best

friend from Rulid. I'd made plenty of mistakes in the Underworld, but I was

absolutely certain of this one.

How was it that the newest Integrity Knight could wield skills that stunned

even Alice, who was third in their rankings? I didn't know. Neither did I know

how the forced synthesis process took less than an hour for him, when it

traditionally lasted three days and nights.

But no matter how much of a freakish occurrence this might be, there was no

arguing with the reality of the situation. I had only one course of action: put

everything into my sword and swing it. That was all.

I sucked in a deep breath, exhaled, and clutched the black blade. Eugeo

stopped in the middle of the round room, perhaps sensing my determination,

and extended his right hand. Those invisible Incarnate Arms reached out and

plucked his longsword from the ceiling, returning it to their master's hand.

The Blue Rose Sword would never obey an imposter.

Eugeo deftly spun the impossibly heavy Divine Object and snapped it, still at

chest height. There was no opening to exploit.

"Shall I try him?" Alice whispered.

"Don't be stupid," I snapped back, brandishing my own weapon. Eugeo and

Alice had grown up together as friends in the village of Rulid, though neither of

them could remember it now. I couldn't allow them to fight—and more

importantly, it was my job to wake Eugeo up.

Alice had exploded with fury when I had called her stupid while we hung from

the outside wall of the cathedral, but now she just took a step back and folded

her arms, a sign that she would not interfere, even if it meant my defeat.

"…Thank you," I murmured, summoning all my focus to the task at hand.

I was going to forget every unnecessary thing for the sake of the battle ahead.

I'd be one with my sword, utilizing every possible trick I knew. There was no

way I could beat Eugeo the Integrity Knight otherwise—and no way I could

speak to my friend's heart, which still beat somewhere beneath that thick metal

armor.

The black tip of my sword rang softly. It was like the echo of that rumble of

distant thunder on the day we started our journey two years ago, arriving

through the mists of time.

Please, partner. I'll give you a name once all the fighting's done…so for now,

give me strength, I pleaded with the trusty weapon in my right hand. When I

was done, I took a deep breath, steadying myself.

All sounds, scenery, and even sensations faded away. The only things in the

world were me, my blade, Eugeo, and the Blue Rose Sword. The moment I'd

been fearing deep in my subconscious for the past two years had finally arrived.

Here I come, Eugeo!!

With a silent roar, I lunged across the floor.

Eugeo held his pose, waiting for my strike.

He was a fully adept practitioner of both the Aincrad style of swordcraft and

elite sacred arts—mere trickery was meaningless against him. I sped across fifty

feet of space and used all that momentum for an overhead strike from the

right.

Eugeo stomped so hard he might have cracked the floor, unleashing a twohanded upward swing from his own right.

Black and white blades clashed, resulting in a bright flash of light. Our

weapons bounced back, but I calculated there wasn't enough room to try a

sword skill. I moved my left hand to the pommel for a two-handed grip.

Without fighting against the momentum of the heavy blade, I reached an

overhand stance with the shortest arc possible.

"Yaaaah!"

I expelled all my breath and swung downward. Assuming the specs of the

sword and wielder alike were identical for both combatants, it was impossible

to perfectly parry a direct downward swing at full strength with either a side or

a diagonal swing. The only ways to stop it were to use the same attack and

expect a mutual defeat or to evade the path of the sword.

But after his strike to the right, Eugeo's sword was still fully extended in that

direction. Because his center of gravity was tilted there, too, he couldn't

instantly jump back. This time I would land my blow!

I cast aside all distractions, focusing only on making it as quick and fierce a

swing as possible. The tip of the black blade caught the armored left shoulder of

my target. No matter how high priority the Integrity Knight armor was, it wasn't

tough enough to deflect a blow from a divine weapon without harm.

The sword bit into the metal with a high-pitched screech and continued

downward after the briefest moment of resistance. A stream of light ran from

Eugeo's left shoulder near his neck to the breastplate.

A moment later, the heavy armor buckled and broke with a sound like

shattering glass. The pieces of metal spun into the air, mixed with red spray. It

didn't feel very deep, but my sword had undeniably gouged Eugeo's body.

The moment I recognized that I'd hurt my friend, I felt a terrible cutting pain

in the same spot. I couldn't help but grimace with agony, but there was no

stopping now. When my vertical swing reached the floor, I flipped my wrists

and used the rebound to swipe upward this time.

A dull shock ran through my arms, and the sword rebounded sideways.

Eugeo hadn't faltered from the pain of being sliced from shoulder to chest for

even an instant. He'd used his right leg's greave to smack my sword out of the

way. Realizing that this action also put him in position for a counterattack, I felt

a wave of horror run down my back and twisted desperately. The Blue Rose

Sword came roaring toward me from the left.

I barely avoided a blow to the neck but couldn't get all the way clear. He cut a

line across my left shoulder. Rather than pain, I felt a searing chill there and

launched myself off my right foot to throw my wounded shoulder at Eugeo for a

body blow.

This time, I did feel a blinding pain, and blood spurted into the air. Through

the red mist, I saw Eugeo steadying himself on his left leg to keep from falling.

A direct counter would be impossible from that position. I held my sword to

the right, one-handed once again. The black surface of the sword shone pale

blue—this would be the diagonal-slash attack Slant. If I hit him on the right

shoulder, he'd be wounded on both sides and unable to swing the same way

again.

"Raaaah!"

But right as I was about to unleash this attack, a surge of red light shot out

from the far side of Eugeo's body.

It was the light of a sword skill. But there was no Aincrad skill that would allow

him to attack from a position with his right rear side exposed to me.

Both stunned and unable to stop the momentum at this point, I activated the

Slant. A moment later, Eugeo's body spun counterclockwise at ferocious speed.

A bright-red slash shot toward me from the left.

I recognized it as the two-handed skill Backlash—a counterattack skill that

worked against a foe standing behind you. But I had never taught it to Eugeo.

The resulting impact completely jarred these thoughts out of my mind. My

Slant and Eugeo's Backlash collided, and our swords rebounded hard. As fresh

blood streamed from our shoulders, Eugeo and I found ourselves readying our

swords straight overhead in perfect synchronization.

Two blades shining a deep blue for the single downward strike Vertical.

While it was classified as a vertical strike, the trajectory was not necessarily

set in stone. It was common for the angle to tilt as much as ten degrees,

according to the position of the dominant hand. Thus, it was possible for two

people facing each other to have paths that would intersect and force each of

them backward.

It started out that way this time, too. The black and Blue Rose swords met at

about a third of the length from their tips, throwing off blinding sparks.

But unlike in the old SAO, there were times in the Underworld when two

sword skills would meet and not deflect each other. I suspected it was when the

fierce will to battle—the strength of mental image, or Incarnation—on the part

of both combatants acted as a brake on the system's natural tendency to repel

the weapons.

The swords were locked together, spraying orange sparks and flashing blue

light. In this third stalemate, Eugeo and I were thrust face-to-face, our arms and

swords locked in total equilibrium as we each tried to follow through and finish

the skill.

I stared into Eugeo's pupils beyond the showering sparks and, through

clenched teeth, hissed, "…Does that attack of yours have a name?"

With a face as still as a frozen pond, Eugeo replied, "…Baltio style, Storm

Wave."

Off the top of my head, I couldn't remember where I'd heard that style's

name before. I frowned, and then it came to me.

Baltio style. It was the school of swordsmanship practiced by elite disciple

Golgorosso Balto, the mentor under whom Eugeo had served as page at the

North Centoria Imperial Swordcraft Academy until this March.

Because it was plain and unadorned in comparison to the Norkia and HighNorkia styles, the higher noble students looked down on it, as they did to the

Serlut style used by Sortiliena, who was my own tutor.

But in fact, this was just a sign that it was a more practical style. And for the

year that he'd been a page, Eugeo had received a thorough education in its

ways, courtesy of Golgorosso. And that gave rise to another mystery.

"Eugeo…do you remember the person who taught you that move?" I asked

again, putting every last ounce of strength into the intersection of our blades. A

moment later, I got the answer I expected: "I don't remember, and I don't

care."

He must've been putting just as much of his power into the stalemate as I

was, but his voice and expression were utterly cold and dry.

"I only need to know about her," he continued. "She is the reason I use my

sword. My existence is dedicated to eliminating her enemies…"

"…"

So he'd forgotten not only Alice and me but Golgorosso as well. And yet he

knew the names of his skills and how to execute them. Completely resetting the

memories of the person being made an Integrity Knight meant that they would

lose all that accumulated training and all those learned sacred arts. It was why

Administrator had come up with the complicated work-around that was the

Synthesis Ritual.

Rather than deleting all of the target's memories, it blocked their access,

making it impossible to recall what was still there. I didn't know the precise

logic behind it, but it seemed similar to what we would call retrograde amnesia

in the real world: loss of memories of oneself and others, but language and life

skills preserved.

The thing blocking the proper flow of Eugeo's memories was the Piety

Module that was placed inside his soul, his fluctlight. But whose memories were

in the space where the module sat now? If I knew that, it would be the first step

to getting him to come to his senses…

But no.

I would need more than just words to break that woman's wicked spell. I'd

traded sword blows with so many people since the very first day I was locked

inside the world of Aincrad—Asuna, Suguha, Sinon, Yuuki. And in this world,

there had been Sortiliena, first-seat disciple Volo, and knights like Eldrie,

Deusolbert, and Fanatio. Even Alice, who was watching this fight from just a

short distance away.

Swords in the virtual world weren't just polygonal bits of data. Because our

lives were resting on them, the feelings that we imbued the blades with could

reach the soul of our opponents. I chose to believe that a sword freed from

hatred could sometimes foster an understanding that surpassed mere words.

The blue light of Vertical slowly began to fade from our deadlocked swords. I

wrung out every last drop of power from my body.

I had to make sure that the entirety of my being was reaching out toward my

friend's soul.

"Eugeooooo!!" I shouted the moment the sword skill ended, pulling back my

sword.

I struck with all my might. My attack was blocked. Eugeo slashed. I met his

strike at the base of the blade. Our feet stayed in place, where we could keep

swinging with the shortest possible range. A steady stream of clashes and

sparks flew, filling the room with sound and light.

"Rrraaaaahhh!!" I bellowed.

"Seyyyaaaaah!!" Eugeo added, his first roar of the fight.

Faster. Faster!

I strung together a continuous line of attacks—no skills or form or strategy,

just pure instinct—and Eugeo kept up perfectly. With each trade of blows, I

sensed the invisible shell around him cracking.

Eventually I realized that I had a fierce grin on my lips. I recalled that there

was a time long ago that Eugeo and I had fought wildly like this, a good

liberating sword brawl. It wasn't in the training hall at the academy. Not along

the journey to Centoria. No, it was in the fields and forests close to Rulid…We

pretended we were practicing with our swords, using wooden blades that were

practically toys…whacking one another like rambunctious little boys…

But did Eugeo and I really do that, right after we met in the woods two years

ago?

Were those cracks actually…in my memory...?

Ka-chiiiing! A sharper metallic clang broke my momentary trance. The black

sword and the Blue Rose Sword met at the perfect angle again, canceling out

each other's momentum, falling still where they crossed.

"…Eugeo…?" I whispered.

I saw his lips move in response.

I didn't hear his voice, but I could tell that the knight in silver and blue had

murmured my name.

His normally smooth, pale forehead was now creased and jagged. I could see

teeth clenched shut through his parted lips and a weak flicker of light in his

cold, dark eyes. They looked over my shoulder at Alice, who was hanging back

along the wall.

His lips trembled again, forming Alice's name with no voice behind them.

"Eugeo…Do you remember, Eugeo?!" I called out. That caused my blade to

slip. It was unable to withstand the full pressure of the Blue Rose Sword and

faltered backward.

I lost my balance and had to struggle to stay on my feet. I knew I was a sitting

duck—but Eugeo did nothing to follow up. He just stood there, holding his

sword out at an odd angle.

I retreated and came to a stop near Alice, sucked in a deep breath, and

expelled all of it at once.

"Eugeooooo!!"

He flinched, and his downcast face slowly rose.

It was as pale as ever, but this time there was true expression upon it.

Confusion, anxiety, regret, and affection…All these emotions that had been

frozen by the ritual combined into one faint smile that seemed to shake the

shell of thick ice that surrounded him, just a bit.

"…Kirito," he said, and a moment later, "Alice…"

I heard it clearly this time. Eugeo spoke our names out loud.

It had worked. My sword…reached him…crossing the boundaries that

separated his heart from mine.

"Eugeo…"

The thin smile that rested on his lips deepened. He spun the Blue Rose Sword

around in his hand to hold it in a reverse grip. His arm lowered until the tip of

the sword landed on the marble floor. It crackled, and the slightly misty weapon

sank in about an inch.

I saw that as a sign that the battle was over, and I lowered my sword. The

breath I'd been holding escaped, and I took a step forward with my right leg.

But the next moment was just the start of a series of events I failed to predict.

"Kirito!"

That was Alice, calling me over my shoulder. I hadn't sensed her coming; her

left arm circled around my torso and lifted me up straight.

Then more words escaped from Eugeo's lips.

"…Release Recollection."

That was the phrase. The initiation of the greatest of battle abilities in the

Underworld, calling forth the memory of the weapon and unlocking the true

heart of superpowered Perfect Weapon Control—the secret of Memory

Release.

Bright blue-white light shot from his sword.

I couldn't dodge or defend against it. Absolute cold spread from the blade,

instantly freezing the entirety of the vast chamber. The mouth of the

descending staircase in the corner of the room, the levitating disc that went up

to the top floor, and both Alice and I were frozen solid up to our chests in thick,

immobilizing ice. If Alice hadn't straightened me up, the ice would have

swallowed my head.

When we came across Bercouli Synthesis One in the great bath on the ninetyfifth floor of the cathedral, he had been frozen up to his neck like this. Eugeo's

Memory Release power was strong enough to freeze an entire pool of hot

bathwater so fast that even the oldest of the knights wasn't able to escape. I

hadn't forgotten or overlooked that, but there wasn't even any water to freeze

on this floor. And he hadn't generated a huge number of ice elements to make

use of—where had all this ice come from?

But even that wasn't the shocking part.

Why did Eugeo do it? He just got his memory back; why would he need to lock

me and Alice in ice?

Against the all-consuming, piercing chill, I just barely had the strength to make

my mouth form the words "Eugeo…why...?"

About fifty feet away, Eugeo got back to his feet easily and favored me with a

sad little smile. "I'm sorry, Kirito…and Alice. Please don't come after me…"

And then my best friend, and Alice's childhood companion, pulled the Blue

Rose Sword from the floor and headed for the levitating disc in the center of

the chamber.

The large marble platform, like the staircase and us, was covered in thick ice,

but the knight simply walked over it and jabbed the end of the sword down

lightly. It began to rise, ice shards cracking and sprinkling off.

As the disc ascended, I saw that smile stay on Eugeo's face, an expression

attempting to withstand a whole host of conflicting emotions, until he

eventually vanished through the hole above.

"…Eu…ge…oooooo!!" I screamed, but it was drowned out by the hard, heavy

sound of the disc fitting seamlessly back into the ceiling.

2

"Remove Core Protection."

Just three command words, a phrase he'd never heard before in his life. But

the moment that he finished repeating them, Eugeo came to realize that he'd

just unlocked a door that was never meant to be opened.

Just one hour before that unthinkable duel against Kirito, Eugeo had barely

managed a painful draw against Bercouli, commander of the Integrity Knights

and wielder of a blade that cut into the future. By utilizing the Memory Release

feature of the Blue Rose Sword, he had been able to freeze them both in place,

until a strange man named Prime Senator Chudelkin had taken his unconscious

body up to the hundredth floor of Central Cathedral.

It was there that Eugeo had met a girl with silver hair and mirror eyes, the

otherworldly beauty that was Administrator, pontifex of the Church. Through a

mental haze that refused to lift, he'd listened to her speak.

You are a flower in its flower bed, deprived of the water that is love.

But I am different. I will love you, and only you.

However, only if you love me just the same.

It was like they were sacred arts commands in and of themselves, binding his

will to them. He'd felt himself repeating the three command words as she'd

bidden him.

It must've been some kind of forbidden art. Something that hurled open the

door meant to protect truly precious things—memories, thoughts…the soul.

With that perfect smile, Administrator had peered into Eugeo's mind, looked

around, and inserted something deep inside it, something colder than ice.

Then he'd lost consciousness again.

When he awoke, it was as though he were being dredged up from the bottom

of a deep, dark blackness, answering someone's distant call.

Bright sparks. Silver steel. And a young man with black hair, furiously fighting

against him.

That was when Eugeo recognized that he was clad in the armor of an Integrity

Knight and that he was using his sword on the friend he trusted more than

anyone in the world and the childhood sweetheart he'd cared for more than

any other soul.

But even that realization did not remove the icy thorn jabbing into the center

of his mind. It bound his thoughts to its will, ceaselessly ordering him to strike

down these foes for the glory of the supreme Administrator. Helpless to stop

himself, Eugeo activated the Blue Rose Sword's Memory Release art, locking

those two precious souls in ice. He resisted in vain, but it was the only way to

stop the fight.

…I gave in to her temptations and destroyed something that should never

have been destroyed. But even still, there are things I can do…things I must do.

"…I'm sorry, Kirito…and Alice," he managed to say.

Eugeo stepped onto the levitating platform to return to the hundredth floor

of the tower—to Administrator's bedchamber.

When it came to a heavy stop, the moonlight coming through the enormous

windows reflected off Eugeo's armor and sword, sending sheets of pale light

through the room.

It was about two o'clock in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the fifth

month of the year.

Just three days ago, at this hour of the night he was in his bed in the elite

disciples' dorm. He always slept like a rock after a full day of lessons and

training and never awoke before the morning bell.

Thinking back on the last few nights, he remembered that he'd spent the

twenty-second in the school's detention cell and the twenty-third in the

underground jail beneath the Axiom Church's grounds—hardly the best

conditions for sleep. After the early-morning escape on the twenty-fourth, he'd

been through battle after battle, a thought that made his body go numb with

the weight of fatigue, but that pulsing, throbbing thorn of ice stuck in his head

kept him from being sleepy.

Give your everything to the pontifex. Fight to protect the Axiom Church, the

thorn commanded, both as stern as a steel whip and as sweet as the finest

honey. In reality, the "thorn" was probably the same purple crystal that had

been stuck in Eldrie's forehead. And Eugeo got the feeling that if he gave in and

tasted that honey again, his mind would never return.

The only reason he had any consciousness at the moment was because of

Kirito's desperate appeal and the ferocity of their swordfight. And the reason he

could return largely unharmed was thanks to Alice watching them fight, rather

than getting involved.

Alice Synthesis Thirty's skill with the sword and the Perfect Weapon Control

version of her Osmanthus Blade, a storm of golden petals, was a combination

far beyond Eugeo's current ability to counteract. If she had drawn her weapon

and fought alongside Kirito, Eugeo would have fallen before he could have ever

regained his own mind.

He didn't know exactly why Alice would have pledged herself to rebellion

against the Axiom Church. Perhaps, as he imagined while ascending the

staircase, Kirito had managed to convince her. Perhaps it was something even

more impressive than that.

There had been a bandage over Alice's right eye that appeared to be

fashioned from Kirito's ripped clothing. Eugeo guessed that whatever had

happened had been the same as when Eugeo himself had attacked Humbert

Zizek at the academy. Her right eye must have exploded when she committed

the crime of declaring war against the Church. Both the first time they'd seen

her at the academy and later in the Cloudtop Garden of the eightieth floor,

they'd been totally unable to stop Alice. And it wasn't Eugeo who had brought

her to that momentous decision, but Kirito…

But I don't have the right to complain about that now. I gave in to

Administrator's honeyed words. I cast open the door to my heart. It was a

betrayal of Kirito and Alice. Of Tiese, and Ronie, and Frenica, and Golgorosso

and Sortiliena, and Miss Azurica the dorm manager, and Sadore the craftsman,

and everyone on Walde Farm, and Selka and Old Man Garitta back in Rulid, and

Elder Gasfut, and the little sage Cardinal in her hidden library.

He clenched the pommel of his sword, withstanding the chilling throb as it

steadily grew worse. There wouldn't be much time left for him to maintain his

wits like this. He had to atone for his sins before he vanished for good.

There was only one way to do that.

Eugeo raised his head and looked around. The placement of the ninety-ninth

and hundredth floors had to be unbalanced, as the disc had put him on the

south side of the room here. The only thing beyond the glass windows that

surrounded the room was a full blanket of stars. The massive sword decorations

on the pillars between the windowpanes gleamed with the light of the moon

and stars.

Suddenly, he got the sense that someone had called for him, and he looked

up.

The pure-white domed ceiling over ten mels above featured a mural, which

he'd seen the first time he'd come here, of the story of the gods. Among the

gods and dragons and human beings in the image were embedded tiny crystals

that shone with their own light.

…Is it that light that's calling me…?

He squinted, focusing on one of the crystals. Then he heard an actual voice

from a different direction and hastily looked forward.

In the middle of the vast chamber was a circular bed that had to be ten whole

mels across. The drapes were down around the sides, blocking the interior from

view. But if he focused, he could hear a faint voice on the other side of the

sheer material. A voice that sang as much as it whispered, threaded with sweet,

dulcet tones.

The voice of Administrator.

It sounded like she was chanting a sacred art, but it didn't have the fierce

rigor of an attack spell. If she was performing some typical, everyday kind of

housekeeping art, now was his chance.

He put the Blue Rose Sword in its sheath and laid it on the floor, then

removed the armor that had been damaged in the fight with Kirito. Off went

the gauntlets, the boots, and the cape, until he was dressed in his usual shirt

and trousers. Eugeo brushed at his chest with his fingers, just to make sure that

what he needed was still there.

He took one step toward the canopy, then another.

A squat figure tottered closer from farther within the bed. It produced an

unpleasant chortle.

"Hoh-hee, hwee-hee-hee…I figured buying me a good five or ten minutes

would be about right. I didn't actually expect you to come back alive. Perhaps

you're a better find than I realized!"

The instant he saw the figure in the moonlight, Eugeo's breath caught in his

throat. It was all he could do not to grimace.

He wore hideous clothes, bright red on the right half and bright blue on the

left. The middle of his balloon-like chest was an ugly patchwork. His face was

pale white, with narrow eyes like slits in his face and a long, upturned mouth.

The gold cap he wore atop his bald pate was gone, but Eugeo would never

mistake the remaining features as belonging to anyone else.

This was Prime Senator Chudelkin. He had shown up at the end of Eugeo and

Bercouli's fight, cast a Deep Freeze art that had turned the commander to

stone, and then transported the unconscious Eugeo up here to the top floor.

While he looked just like a short, silly clown, he was almost certainly the most

powerful sacred arts user after the pontifex herself, and a cruel inquisitor in the

extreme. If he found out that Eugeo was (temporarily) back in his right mind, he

would use that petrification art without missing a beat. The only way Eugeo

could fulfill his final duty was if he managed to get past this man without

suspicion.

Chudelkin cast a glance at the armor Eugeo had set on the floor, and his

nearly hairless eyebrows shot upward theatrically.

"Oh, my, you certainly did a number on the armor that Her Holiness gave to

you. I sincerely hope you did not receive this beating from those brazen rebels

and come running back with your tail between your legs, Number ThirtyTwo…?"

Her Holiness had to be Administrator, those brazen rebels would be Kirito and

Alice, and Number Thirty-Two was his own designation as an Integrity Knight.

He felt like he'd give away the game no matter what he said, but he had to

answer the question one way or another.

Eugeo steeled himself and kept his face as devoid of emotion as he could. "I

locked the two rebels in ice, Prime Senator."

Chudelkin's eyes curved as though he were beaming with all his might, but

the pupils themselves glittered with cold, hard malice. "Hoh-hoh. You locked

them in ice…? All very well, all very good…but you did finish the job, didn't you,

Number Thirty-Two?"

"…"

Throughout that moment of silence, Eugeo's mind raced.

Of course he hadn't killed either Kirito or Alice. The Blue Rose Sword's

advanced ability was designed only to imprison its targets, not to harm them. As

long as their faces were exposed, they wouldn't lose much life despite being

stuck under thick ice.

Would it be better to not mention that and to just say they were done for? If

Chudelkin went down below and saw for himself, he'd uncover that lie in short

time. This was the sort of situation where Kirito would use his intuition and

courage to come up with the perfect answer on the spot.

All I ever did was hide behind him. Whenever there was trouble, I looked to my

partner for help. Every big decision was his to make.

This time, I have to think, and I have to decide. Kirito didn't just leave all of the

big calls up to his gut. He thought his hardest, picked out the right answer, and

got me all the way here.

I have to think like he would.

Eugeo thought so hard that for a moment, he actually forgot about the cold

throbbing in the center of his head. His lips parted, and he spoke with the

absolute minimum of volume.

"No, I did not finish them off, Prime Senator. The pontifex ordered me to

'stop' the rebels."

He didn't actually know whether that was the order he'd been given by

Administrator. But from what he could vaguely remember, the first time he had

awakened in this chamber, the man had not been there. If Chudelkin hadn't

been around when Eugeo was turned into an Integrity Knight, he couldn't judge

the content of any orders—and if Administrator had said it, this man couldn't

possibly override that.

Of course, if Administrator herself was listening from the bed just ten mels

away, then all was lost. But she seemed to be in the midst of chanting some

kind of sacred art through the layers of hanging canopy. There was a good

chance that as long as they whispered, she wouldn't hear.

Eugeo waited for Chudelkin's response, desperately controlling his expression

to keep his nerves from showing. The little clown man's huge lips twisted, and

he scowled.

"Very poor, Number Thirty-Two, very poor indeed!"

He jabbed a finger at Eugeo's face. "When you refer to me, you must call me

'Lord Prime Senator.' Understand that? Lord! The next time that you forget

that, you'll be my steed! I'll ride around on your back, digging my heels into

your sides—hi-hoh, hi-hoh! Hwe-hee-hee-hee!"

He cackled in falsetto, then clasped his hands over his mouth and peered

toward the bed. Once he was sure that Administrator's sacred art was

continuing without interruption, he made a grand gesture of calming himself

down, then beamed.

"…Well, I ought to carry out Her Holiness's orders for me now. That miserable,

corrupted knight must be put in Deep Freeze at once. Oh, and you'll wait right

here, Number Thirty-Two. It's no fun if others are around to interfere, you see.

Hoh, hoh-hoh-hoh."

Eugeo nodded, stifling the sickening lurch rising in his chest.

Chudelkin tottered over to the levitating platform on the south end of the

room. Like he did to Commander Bercouli, he likely had all kinds of humiliating

treatment in mind for Kirito and Alice while they were stone.

But there shouldn't have been any concern for them. The prison of ice the

Blue Rose Sword created was nothing compared to Alice's Perfect Weapon

Control. In the Cloudtop Garden, Eugeo had locked Alice's entire body in ice.

But the Osmanthus Blade had turned into countless tiny shards that had carved

the ice into nothing.

Either they were already out of the ice by now, or Alice would use that

merciless power of hers as soon as Chudelkin showed up. For his part, the fat

little man hopped onto the platform, huffing and wheezing, and headed

downward. Eugeo watched and waited as the platform returned empty, fusing

into the floor like always. The prime senator must have let the platform go back

up so that he could enjoy himself in peace. It left no way to know what was

happening on the ninety-ninth floor.

It's all right. The stupid man can't beat them.

Eugeo took a deep breath to steady his nerves and returned his gaze to the

center of the room. He lifted his left hand and pressed down on the shirt over

his chest.

I just have to fulfill my role.

He steeled his resolve, picked up the sword, and started walking forward. He

was just three mels away from the bed, then two, then one.

Just then, the endlessly droning sacred arts chanting came to an abrupt stop,

like it had been snuffed out. Eugeo automatically froze, mind racing.

Did the sacred art just happen to finish right then, or did she stop because she

sensed him approaching? What kind of spell was it, anyway?

His head swiveled around, but nothing seemed different. The circular room

was larger than the floor below, perhaps forty mels across, and there was

hardly any furniture inside—just the bed, the thick carpet, and more than a

dozen pillars with massive sword decorations to serve as frames for the

windows that surrounded the room. They had gleamed golden in the

moonlight, but nothing seemed different about them now.

Eugeo gave up on his examination and faced the bed again. Instantly, the

middle of his head throbbed.

The cold pain was getting stronger, bit by bit. He probably wouldn't be lucid

for much longer. Before he became an Integrity Knight in body and mind again,

he would do what needed to be done.

He took a few more steps, right up to the side of the bed, and after some

hesitation, laid the Blue Rose Sword on the ground. The instant he let go, he felt

anxiety and loneliness, but he had to remove any reason for the woman to

suspect him of being a threat.

Eugeo straightened up, took a deep breath, and prayed that his voice

wouldn't tremble.

"…My lady Pontifex."

After a few seconds of silence, which felt eminently longer, her voice replied.

"…Welcome back, Eugeo. You finished your errand properly."

"…Yes, my lady," he muttered. Eugeo was bad at acting, but he'd spent years

of his life in Rulid suppressing his emotions. All he had to do was go back to that

time in his life. Back to the old him, before he met that strange, black-haired

boy at the Gigas Cedar.

"Very good. Then I owe you a reward. Come into my bed," came the soft,

velvety welcome beyond the canopy.

He brushed the front of his chest again, then gently pulled open the part in

the canopy surrounding the bed. It was all purple darkness inside, but the

sweet, familiar scent there lured him in deeper.

He put his weight on the silk cover and crawled forward. While it might have

been voluminous for a bed, it was still supposed to be only five mels to the

center. Yet no matter how many crawling repetitions he did, he couldn't see or

feel anything ahead.

But if he panicked or said something, it would tell her that his mind was back

under his own control. He kept moving, focusing only on the feel of the covers.

Suddenly, a bit higher than his eye level, a pale light appeared without a

sound.

That color wasn't coming from a candle or a lamp. It was a light element from

a sacred art, though he never heard any commands. The floating little mote

peeled back the velvet darkness just the tiniest bit.

Eugeo looked down and saw her smiling face, just two mels away. For an

instant, his eyes bulged, but then he composed his face again just as quickly and

bowed with his hands still pressed against the bed.

It was a girl dressed in sheer purple fabric, with long silvery hair. The ruler of

humanity, with transcendent beauty and mirror eyes that kept her thoughts

hidden.

Administrator, pontifex of the Axiom Church.

The young woman seated lazily on the blanket stared at Eugeo, silver mirror

eyes reflecting the light of the little floating element, and whispered, "Come to

me, Eugeo. As I promised, I will give you what you want. The love that belongs

only to you."

"...…Yes, my lady," he whispered, inching closer to her, still prone.

Once he was one mel away, he'd leap on her, cover her mouth with his hand

so she couldn't give commands, pull his secret weapon out from under his shirt

with the other hand, and stab her with it. It would take less than two seconds

altogether, but that still seemed like an eternity against someone like

Administrator.

The instant he thought of this act of rebellion against her, a sharp pain ran

from the spot between his eyebrows to the center of his head. But there was no

time to think about it. He had to relax as much as he could and sneak closer,

closer…

"But before that," Administrator murmured just before he reached the right

distance, causing him to pause, "I want you to show me your face again,

Eugeo."

Did she sense his malice? If he tried to execute his plan now, he wouldn't be

in time. He had to obey.

Slowly he rose off the sheets and looked at her, keeping his expression frozen.

At the very least, he wanted to keep from looking into her eyes, but those

glassy surfaces drew his gaze through some irresistible force. They betrayed no

information of their own and yet had the ability to peer directly into the mind

of any who looked into them. The floating light caused them to reflect an eerie

glint.

After several interminable seconds, the woman said, "Conveniently, there

was a hole in your memory already, so I inserted the module right there.

Perhaps I shouldn't have been so lazy…"

It seemed like she was mostly talking to herself, and Eugeo didn't understand

at first.

There was a hole in his memory—meaning that something had been missing

from Eugeo's memory even before he was first taken to this chamber? But he

had no inkling that there was some missing period of his life before this. Maybe

the fact that he didn't remember it was the hole in his memory, but there had

been that thing Cardinal said, too.

To insert the Piety Module, the most precious memories of the target had to

be removed first, usually of their most beloved person.

That conversation in the hidden library seemed like it was ages ago by now.

Eugeo mulled this over.

…My most beloved person. That would be Alice Zuberg, the girl who was taken

away by an Integrity Knight before my eyes eight years ago. I've never once

forgotten her. When I close my eyes, I can see her golden hair shining in the sun,

her eyes bluer than the bluest midsummer sky, and that dazzling smile.

…And while it might not be the same kind of love, I also have a partner, a

friend almost as important to me as Alice. A strange young man I met in the

forest south of Rulid two years and two months ago. A "Lost Child of Vecta,"

with black hair and black eyes in the eastern style. Kirito's been my best friend—

he got me out of the village and helped guide me all the way here to Central

Cathedral. I can easily see that mischievous grin of his, too.

…Alice and Kirito. I may never see their smiles again. But even if I'm fated to

lose my life here, I know that up to that final moment, I'll never forget about

them.

…I was hoping I'd be able to go back to Rulid with Kirito and Alice once she got

her memory back…but I don't have the right to wish for that anymore. I gave in

to Administrator's temptation. I lost sight of myself. I turned my sword on the

two people I care about most.

Just as he reached that conclusion, Eugeo felt his eye twitch just the tiniest

bit. Administrator tilted her head in slight confusion, though it was unclear how

she chose to interpret that motion.

"Yes, you seem a bit unstable still. Very well, I'll just have to resynthesize.

Your reward can come after that, Eugeo."

She thrust out her right hand.

It might have been the perfect moment to leap into action, but the moment

that her delicate finger pointed at his forehead, Eugeo underwent a most

peculiar sensation. His body jolted and went numb, leaving him unable to even

speak, much less move his limbs.

And the next instant, a very bizarre feeling shot from the spot between his

eyes toward the back of his head.

The source of the cold throbbing, that thorn of ice jabbing deep into his head,

was being slowly but forcefully pulled out from its location. It didn't hurt, but

each movement of the thorn brought a bright flash to his eyes, and brief

glimpses of vague scenes.

Green branches swaying in the wind. Gently shifting sunlight coming through

the trees.

Running and laughing beneath them.

Shining golden hair just ahead.

Coarse black hair bouncing right beside.

Young Eugeo looked to his right as he ran. But the smile of his other childhood

friend drifted away into a bright flash, out of reach…

A powerful shock brought Eugeo back to the surface of the bed in the

darkness. As his numb body arched its back, something alien was protruding

from his forehead. A triangular, translucent prism that glowed purple.

When they'd fought Eldrie the Integrity Knight in the rose garden, the

mention of his mother's name had caused him to act strangely, until this same

kind of prism emerged from his head. But the one appearing out of Eugeo right

now was larger, carved with more-intricate symbols, and glowing brighter.

Stunned with both the shock that something this enormous had been inside

his head all this time and the horror that Administrator's sacred arts were

powerful enough to do such a thing, Eugeo could only watch in silence.

"Yes…be a good boy. Just stay there," the silver-haired young woman purred.

She reached out and gently plucked the purple prism from Eugeo's head. The

moment the object came loose, his mind went blank, and Eugeo slumped

helplessly into the linens.

Administrator cradled the prism in her fingertips, gazing upon it lovingly. "This

is an improved model of the module. I just finished making it. Not only does it

force loyalty to me and the Church, it also contains circuits for strengthening

the imagination. Synthesize this, and there won't be any need for inefficient

training. You'll be able to use Incarnation that very instant. It's still limited to

very elementary steps for now, however…"

Eugeo understood less than half of what she was saying. But one thing was

clear—that prism, the Piety Module, was what took over his thoughts, turned

him into an Integrity Knight, and made him threaten his friends. Yes, he had

chosen that path for himself, but now that the module was removed, he could

fulfill his final role without that bothersome false obedience getting in the way.

Now he realized that the horribly cold, stinging pain in the center of his head

was gone, too.

However, even with the module gone, the numbness that came over him

when she pointed her finger at him did not go away. He was completely unable

to control his own limbs.

If only he could move his right hand. Then he could grab the thing from his

chest and swing it down on her…

He struggled with all his might, stuck with his back hunched over—and then

her hand was reaching out again.

Eugeo rolled his eyes upward and saw the pontifex, module in her left hand,

approaching close enough that their knees were nearly touching. Unable to

resist even the slightest of pressures, his head was pulled toward the smiling

woman, and he toppled forward.

Administrator rested his head sideways on her lap and traced his hairline with

her fingertip. "Show me your memories again. This time, I'll bury this in the

most precious place of all. Then your head won't hurt anymore. Even better…

you'll be forever free of all those pointless, petty troubles and pains, your

hunger and thirst."

The pale finger pulled away, then descended to brush his lips. The numbing

feeling went away but only around his mouth.

She removed her hand again, gave him a mind-melting smile, and

commanded, "Now say those words I taught you, one more time."

"…"

Now that they were barely under his control again, Eugeo's lips trembled. His

memory of fighting with Kirito as an Integrity Knight was fuzzy, as was whatever

came before that, but he did have a very clear picture of the three command

words he had chanted.

Remove Core Protection.

The sacred words were unfamiliar to him, and he couldn't guess what they

signified, but one thing was certain: That short command was designed to seize

the door that all people were born with—a door that stayed shut to keep the

mind safe—and hurl it open.

That was how Administrator had been able to peer into Eugeo's memory and

find the empty space into which she inserted the Piety Module. But according

to her words, the synthesis process had been unstable, which was why she was

trying to do the same thing again.

Despite the incredible danger he was in, Eugeo was still in his right mind,

which meant the door was shut again. Either it closed on its own over time, or

the pontifex had closed it afterward for some reason or another; he couldn't be

sure. Whatever the case, in order to resynthesize him, Administrator required

that Eugeo utter the three-word command again.

If he did, he would almost certainly become an Integrity Knight in every sense

and would never again get the chance to restore Alice's memory.

But if he didn't say them, Administrator would detect his rebellion against

her.

This was the moment. Right here, with her skin exposed and defenseless,

Eugeo had his last and best chance. He had to find a way to restore feeling to

his numbed hands and stab her.

With just a gesture of her hands, she had paralyzed his body. And not just that

—she'd also generated that light element above without uttering a word.

There was another occasion on which Eugeo had witnessed an invisible power

being used without a spoken command, although it was not the same kind of

sacred art. It was Bercouli Synthesis One, whom he'd fought in the bathhouse

many floors below—though Eugeo originally knew him as the ancient hero who

had founded the village of Rulid. With just a motion of his hand, he had drawn

his distant sword to his side.

In fact, that wasn't the only time. In the Great Library, Cardinal had closed off

passages with a wave of her staff and made a table appear out of nowhere.

There must be a level of power at which simple thoughts could have the same

effect as the chanting of sacred arts.

Of course, Eugeo had been a simple student at the academy just days ago. His

ability with sacred arts wasn't even as good as the apprentices in the Axiom

Church, much less masters like Administrator and Cardinal.

But at this moment—right now—he had to break this paralysis with nothing

but the power of his mind.

Kirito once told him that what was most important in this world was what you

put into your sword. In other words, the sword would take on the power that

came from your heart and mind, making its bite sharper and stronger.

If your mind could make your sword stronger, then the same thing could be

true of sacred arts…or of anything and everything that human beings did.

Move, Eugeo prayed, opening his lips and breathing steadily. Move, hand,

move.

I've made so many mistakes in my life. I failed to save Alice when the Integrity

Knight took her away. I spent years not going after her. Right when I was finally

at the end of that long journey, I lost sight of my goal. I have to make up for all

that weakness.

"…M—…"

A hoarse sound escaped from his throat.

"…Mo—…"

Administrator's smile, just above his head, waned. Her silver mirrors

narrowed, searching for Eugeo's intention. There was no turning back now. He

focused all the energy he could summon into his right hand.

But the numbness was not abating. Countless invisible needles stabbed at his

fingers and palm, keeping them trapped in place. If only he could just move his

hand this one moment, it could shatter into pieces afterward. He didn't need to

swing a sword again. Just one little…

"…Mo—ve…," he uttered, wringing out the sounds.

Just then, light enveloped the hand that was resting on the bedsheet. It was

warm and gentle and seemed to melt all the pain away. Instantly, the icy thorns

that gouged his flesh and bones disappeared.

"…What are you…?" Administrator murmured and tried to pull away. But

Eugeo's mobile hand was already sneaking into the collar of his shirt and

grabbing the object that was hanging on the chain around his neck.

It was a tiny dagger that gleamed deep bronze.

He pulled it out and jabbed it downward, toward the white skin visible above

the deep collar of Administrator's sheer nightgown.

It was impossible to miss. The blade of the weapon was barely five cens long,

but they were basically touching already—there was no way he would come up

short.

But just as that needlelike tip was about to pierce the skin of Administrator's

body, something happened that beggared belief.

Craaak!! There was a blast like thunder, and a film of purple light appeared,

centered around the point of the dagger. The glowing surface was made up of

strings of extremely tiny sacred script. They were so small they shouldn't have

had any mass at all, but the thin film was resisting the sharp tip of the weapon.

"Hrrggh…!!"

Eugeo gritted his teeth and summoned all his willpower, trying to break

through the resistance. Cardinal had given him and Kirito one of these daggers

each. It had almost no attack power of its own, but whatever target he used it

on would be vulnerable to the remote sacred arts of the little sage in her

isolated library.

Eugeo's dagger was supposed to put Alice the Integrity Knight to sleep, and

Kirito's was supposed to defeat Administrator. But he had already used his own

to save the life of Fanatio Synthesis Two, the vice commander of the knights,

whom they had fought on the fiftieth floor.

At the time, Cardinal's bodiless voice had told them, "There is a high

likelihood that Administrator is not in a waking state at the moment. If you can

reach the top floor before she wakes, you can eliminate her without needing

the dagger."

But they hadn't been in time. Now that she was awake, the only way to beat

Administrator, who had just as much power as Cardinal, was to use the dagger

in Eugeo's hand.

He'd wanted to return Alice's memories and take her back to Rulid with him.

It had been his only desire for years. But then he'd allowed himself to fall under

the pontifex's sway, even temporarily, put on the Integrity Knight armor, and

threatened both Kirito and Alice with his sword. Eugeo could sense that his

original wish would never come true. It couldn't.

But if there was some way he could atone for his sin, it would be to abandon

himself—to carry out this act not for his own personal conviction but in service

of a much larger destiny.

Eleven-year-old Alice, taken from her hometown, bereft of her memories, and

turned into a knight.

Tiese and Ronie, perfectly innocent girls, violated over nothing more than

noble birthright.

These were the products of a warped, corrupt system of rule, and he would

use the last remnants of his strength and life to destroy that. If he had to die in

order to ensure that the pontifex fell, then all the time he spent on his journey

and at the academy would have had a purpose after all.

But despite all that resolution, that determination, the thin purple film was

keeping him from Administrator's skin. Meanwhile, she clearly hadn't predicted

Eugeo's actions, as she was arching her back away from him and breathing

heavily.

There was rage in those gaping mirror eyes now. Eugeo added his left hand to

his right, trying with all his strength to push the dagger through.

"Yaaaaah!"

The needlelike point pierced barely a single milice into the shining protective

layer—and then the sacred writing that formed the barrier exploded into bright

light, blasting Eugeo and Administrator backward.

"…!!"

He tumbled through the air as though slapped by an invisible giant's palm, but

even as it knocked him completely off the bed, Eugeo was able to achieve two

things simultaneously.

He got a fresh grip on the chain holding the dagger before it could fall out of

his grasp, and the moment that his back hit the floor, he reached out with his

other hand to grab the sheath of the Blue Rose Sword, which was right next to

him.

Even with the heavy sword weighing him down, his backward momentum

continued, rolling him along the floor until at last his back smashed against one

of the giant windows that separated the room from the world without.

"Nng…"

Wincing against the pain, Eugeo raised his head and looked to the center of

the room.

The hanging canopy sheets around the bed had all been blown clean away,

exposing the circular bed. On the far side of it stood a silent figure. Like Eugeo,

she'd been blasted backward by the explosion of the barrier, but the only

damage she seemed to have received was the swaying of her long hair. In her

left hand was the shining prism she'd taken out of his head.

The sheer purple cloth she'd been wearing hadn't withstood the impact,

however. But Administrator didn't show the slightest bit of concern about her

nakedness. She reached up with her free hand to smooth out her long silver

hair.

Then she sat from a standing position, as though there were an invisible chair

behind her, and crossed her slender legs. She moved silently through the air,

not breaking her posture, until she stopped about ten mels away from where

Eugeo lay prone on the south edge of the room.

From atop her invisible throne, the pontifex placed her fingers against her

chin and stared at Eugeo. He was unable to move or speak. Eventually the

silver-eyed young woman grinned and said, "I was just wondering where you

hid that tool of yours…I suppose it was the doing of the little one in the library,

wasn't it? She filtered it out of my senses. In the time since I've seen her last,

she's gotten rather crafty, hasn't she?"

She chuckled deep in her throat. "But too bad. I haven't just been sleeping on

the job, either. Her mistake was crafting that weapon with a metallic element.

No metal-based object can harm my skin anymore. Not an ogre's machete nor a

fine sewing needle."

"Wha…?" Eugeo grunted, still lying on the floor.

No metal weapons could hurt her? If that was true, then not only was

Cardinal's dagger powerless, but so was any other kind of sword. Assuming the

strange purple film that had rebuffed the tip of his dagger earlier was that

protective sacred art, he couldn't begin to guess what precise art it was, in

order to undo it—to say nothing of the fact that Eugeo himself did not have the

skill for it.

He palmed his weapon, which was small enough to hide there, and stared up

at the floating pontifex, unable to do anything else.

The naked woman whispered, "You poor thing."

"…"

"I made a promise to you. All you had to do was give your everything to me,

and I would love you back. And when the eternal love you always wanted, the

eternal rule, was nearly in your grasp, you chose to do this."

"...…Eternal…love…," Eugeo repeated, hardly knowing what he was doing.

"Eternal...…rule..."

She nodded, playing with the Piety Module she'd just pulled from his

forehead. "That's right, Eugeo. If you give your all over to me, the thirst that has

tormented you your entire life will be quenched. The troubles and fears you've

been grappling with all this time will go away…This is your final chance, Eugeo.

Use the sword in your left hand to shatter the toy in your right. Then I shall

forgive your sins with the bounty of my love."

"…"

From his prone position, Eugeo looked first at the Blue Rose Sword, then at

the copper-colored dagger. Then he looked up at Administrator and said, "Love

is ruling and being ruled…? The only one I feel pity for is you, if that is the only

way you can describe it."

"…"

Now it was her turn to have no response.

All it would take was a swing of her slender hand to call down a high-level

sacred art that would eliminate his life value in an instant. But Eugeo continued

talking.

"I'm certain…that you must've felt the same way. Starved and searching for

love…but never finding it," he continued, but on the inside, he was reflecting.

Maybe I was a child who never found love from his own parents. But even if

that's true, I have loved many people in my life.

Old Man Garitta, the previous carver. Sister Azalia from the Church. Selka the

apprentice sister. Grandfather, who told me stories of the past. My elder sister,

Celinia, who cared for me when I was little. Vanot and Triza Walde from the

farm. Their twin daughters, Teline and Telure. Golgorosso, who helped train me.

Miss Azurica, the dorm manager. Tiese, who filled my life with smiles for the

short time that she was my page. Ronie, who was the page of my partner.

And Kirito.

And…Alice.

"You're wrong, you wretched soul." Eugeo stared into those mysterious

rainbow eyes of Administrator's, emphasizing each and every sentence. "Ruling

is not loving. Love isn't transactional; you don't give it to get something in

return. You give it continuously and selflessly, like water to a flower…That's

what love is."

Administrator listened, a faint smile playing around her lips again. But there

was no honeyed sweetness there anymore.

"…What a shame. I was going to forgive the little criminal who betrayed the

Axiom Church and rescue his soul, and this is what I get in return."

And to Eugeo's breathless awe, the silver-haired young woman floating in the

air changed from human to god.

There was no change to her appearance. But her unblemished white skin

filled with a kind of bottomless force, a holy aura. Something in the air spoke of

unfathomable power—that of a simple twitch of a finger capable of tearing the

greatest warrior or arts caster to pieces.

"Eugeo…are you under the impression that I need you? That if I really want

you to be my knight, I wouldn't dare take your life?"

There was no discernible emotion in her smile. All he could do was clutch his

dagger even harder and bear the incredible pressure suffocating his body.

"Hee-hee…I don't need boring little boys like you. I'll suck out all your life,

convert your body into a tiny jewel, and lock you away in a box. That way, even

after I file away today's memories, at least I'll feel something when I look at it,"

she gloated, crossing her legs as she sat on her invisible chair.

It wasn't a bluff. If she decided she would do it, it would happen without

pause.