Administrator, May 380 HE Part 2

He couldn't run away now, even if there was actually a way out. It'd take far

too long for the levitating disc to take him down to the next floor. If he could

somehow break the window behind him, all that awaited him outside was

empty air until he hit the ground hundreds of mels below.

Besides, Eugeo's fate had been decided the moment he'd used his Perfect

Weapon Control on Kirito and Alice down below. He had to stick Cardinal's

dagger into the pontifex, even if the act killed him.

She was protected by a barrier that rebuffed all metal weapons. But he got

the feeling that it wasn't as absolute in power as she said it was. When he had

used all his strength to push in the dagger, it looked like the barrier itself had

exploded. He doubted it was the end of the sacred art, but perhaps the dagger

could reach her body right after a blast.

"Oh…are you still going to try something?" murmured Administrator, staring

down at her prone foe. "How very thoughtful of you to keep trying to entertain

me to the bitter end. Hmm, maybe it would be a waste to kill you and turn you

into a jewel. Perhaps I could force-synthesize you, like I did her…it'll just take a

while."

Despite the desperate circumstances, something in what she said stuck in

Eugeo's ear. "Like…her…?"

The silver-haired woman smiled and nodded. "That's right. The one you're so

infatuated with: Thirty. She really didn't want to say the words, so I had the

automated senate facility undo her protection. It took several days. I was

asleep, so I didn't see it for myself, but I'm sure it was torturous. What do you

think? Would you like to try undergoing the same thing…?"

"…Thirty…? Alice…," he hissed.

As usual, he understood less than half of what Administrator was saying, but

he could tell one thing.

Eight years ago, after she'd been tied up and taken to Central Cathedral by

force, Alice had undergone a harrowing process to become an Integrity Knight.

She hadn't given in to the demand to say the Remove Core Protection

command the way that Eugeo had, and as a result, they'd had to pry open the

door to her mind by force. Surely the wounds that Eugeo had suffered along the

way were nothing in comparison to that.

No, he couldn't run away now.

He couldn't allow himself to fall without striking back at Administrator.

"..."

Eugeo clenched his teeth and pushed himself up with trembling arms, getting

to his unsteady feet.

He stared back into those silvery eyes, which were losing their mirth, wrapped

the chain of the dagger around his right wrist, and grabbed the hilt of the Blue

Rose Sword with the same hand. The familiar white leather clung to his palm.

He drew the blade and tossed the sheath aside.

In the light of the moon from over his shoulder, the weapon shone pale and

bright.

Ten mels away, the girl seated in the air narrowed her eyes in response to the

light. When she spoke, her tone was noticeably more chilling.

"So that is your answer, boy. Fine…then I will at least ensure that your end is

not painful."

She raised her right hand and pointed her index finger at Eugeo. Clearly, the

pontifex did not need to speak the command words aloud to use sacred arts.

But there were still two steps that had to be taken to use any kind of attacking

art— —the creation and processing of elements. Whether heat, ice, or some

other natural force, even the greatest master needed at least two seconds to

create the elements and give them a shape.

So by the time she started to move her finger, Eugeo already had the sword

propped up near his shoulder.

Light-green color infused the Blue Rose Sword. Pale-blue dots appeared at the

end of Administrator's finger.

"Yaaaah!"

This would be his final swing, Eugeo knew, as he launched himself off the

ground. The last ultimate technique.

The Aincrad-style charging attack Sonic Leap.

In his ears, he heard Kirito's voice: Listen, Eugeo, these techniques will move

our bodies for us. But just letting it do all the work isn't going to cut it. You have

to become one with the technique and speed it up with your legs and arms. If

you can do that, your sword can hit the enemy before the breeze itself.

How many times had he practiced it? How many times had he failed and

wound up with his face planted firmly in the grass?

And how many times had Kirito laughed with delight…?

Eugeo's sword flashed the color of fresh green shoots and cut through the air

so fast, even the sound couldn't keep up.

Administrator's smile vanished. She spread the fingers of her right hand. The

ice elements, which were just about to be shot like needles, burst as they

touched the Blue Rose Sword. Then Eugeo's most powerful technique smashed

against Administrator's palm—or more accurately, the thin purple barrier about

five cens in front of it.

He was buffeted by a shock far greater than the one earlier.

The purple barrier did succeed at blocking the accelerated Sonic Leap, but the

fine layer of tiny sacred script that composed it rippled and shook.

If he kept pushing with all his might, the barrier should explode, as it had a

few minutes earlier. He just had to resist it somehow and use the dagger

hanging from his wrist to stab her this time. His body could disintegrate after

that was done.

"Break…through…!!" he snarled, throwing all his strength into the still-glowing

sword.

"…!"

The pontifex said nothing, but she certainly wasn't smiling anymore. Colorful

light swirled deep in her narrowed eyes. Her extended fingers were all bent and

strained.

She wasn't attacking with her left hand, because it was still holding the Piety

Module. If she wasn't discarding that despite her insistence that she would kill

him, it meant that she hadn't given up on making him a knight or that she had

some other use for him.

But it was pointless to consider that now. All that mattered was completing

this final attack—whether or not it required the very last drop of his strength

and life.

"Rrraaaahhh!!"

He unleashed a bellow from the very pit of his stomach—and then, once

again, something he never could have predicted happened: The Blue Rose

Sword began to sink into the purple barrier.

The wall itself was not gone. But the tip of the sword was indeed cutting—no,

slipping through—the layer of sacred script that was supposed to rebuff all

metal.

It wasn't a trick of the eyes. Even the mirrors on Administrator's face were

gaping.

The situation abruptly changed.

Administrator stopped attempting to hold back Eugeo's sword and suddenly

leaped back. The barrier retreated with her, and without the surface holding it

in place, the Blue Rose Sword swung downward with a slicing whoosh. The

moment the edge touched the ground, a gash several mels long opened in the

thick carpet.

He couldn't tell what had happened. All he knew was that if he stayed where

he was, her attack art would hit him. His limbs felt heavy after summoning all

that power, but he promptly bolted into action regardless.

This time, his enemy was faster. As she pulled back, the pontifex generated

fresh elements and sent them hurtling at Eugeo. By the time he was in his

technique stance, green lights were flying right at him.

On instinct, Eugeo broke the stance and used the Blue Rose Sword to block his

body. The wind elements burst with a flash, and the ensuing gust of wind

pushed Eugeo against the south wall again.

Fortunately for him, she had forgone the step of shaping the elements. If

she'd turned them into blades of wind rather than just dispersing the energy in

the motes of light themselves, he could've easily lost a limb.

But not all his luck was good. Rather than slamming into the flat glass

windowpane, this time Eugeo's back struck one of the large pillars that

connected the windows. It was designed with a massive standing sword motif,

and Eugeo smashed into the side of the blade before falling to the ground. If

that had been the naked edge, it might have maimed him, even though the

sword was only decorative. Maybe that made him lucky after all, but the pain

was enough to drive the breath from his lungs.

I have to move. It'll be real sacred arts next time, he told himself, lifting his

upper half off the ground.

She had retreated to the other side of the bed; the only thing he could see in

the darkness was the shine of her silver hair. She was far away enough to be out

of range of his Sonic Leap—but it was an easy distance for a sacred art. If he

didn't get off the ground, he would die.

"Nnh…hrrg…"

Somehow, he got to one knee. But there was no strength to push off with. He

tried and tried to stand, but the leg only trembled and refused to obey.

No. Not yet. I can't give up now. Why did I even come back to this room, then?

What have I been living for all this time?

"Grr…raaaahh!"

Eugeo pressed his back against the golden sword decoration and used his Blue

Rose Sword as a support to get to his feet. He could tell that the previous

impact had cut him as well as buffeted him, because there were droplets of

blood spattering on the floor below.

It must've taken well over five seconds for him to get up, but for some reason,

Administrator wasn't attacking. She just floated in the darkness twenty mels

away, holding her silence.

In time, he heard an utterance so quiet that it would have been inaudible if

not in the midst of absolute silence.

"...That sword…Ah, now I see…"

Eugeo glanced down at his blades, uncertain of what she meant. The Blue

Rose Sword was thrust tip down into the floor. Hanging from his wrist was the

little copper dagger. Which of the two was she referring to?

His intuition told him this was a crucial distinction, but before he could reach

an answer, the quiet that filled the top floor of Central Cathedral was broken by

neither Eugeo nor Administrator.

"Ah, ah, aiiiieeeee!!"

It was coming from a circle in the floor about five mels away that was now

sinking out of sight—the platform to the floor below. The voice was louder now

that there was just a dark portal in the middle of the carpet.

"H-h-help meeeee, Your Holiness!!" wailed the voice, which clearly belonged

to Prime Senator Chudelkin, who had gone down to the ninety-ninth floor

earlier. Administrator proceeded forward through the darkness in silence and

stood at the edge of the bed.

"…What is it about him that grows more childish with age? Perhaps it's nearly

time to reset him," she muttered, shaking her head. Eyeing her with caution,

Eugeo stealthily backed away toward the west wall, putting distance between

himself and the hole.

The disc was sinking but not very fast. It would take most of a minute for it to

descend all the way to the floor, then rise again with Chudelkin atop it.

But no sooner was there a twenty-cen space between the floor and the disc

than two pale, clammy hands grasped the edges of the aperture.

"Hohhhhh!!" he screeched, and his round head appeared. The perfectly

hairless skin was bright red now. The prime senator squeezed and pulled until

his body popped through and landed on the floor.

His clothes hadn't changed since he'd left the room earlier, gloating. But now,

the puffed-out red-and-blue clown outfit was torn and sliced all over and

slightly deflated. He plopped down on the carpet, wheezing and puffing.

Administrator gazed at him coldly. "What happened to your clothes?"

Meanwhile, Eugeo was stunned. The arms and torso that were visible through

the ends of the prime senator's tattered clothing were as thin as gnarled

branches. And yet his head was as puffed up and round as ever—like a child's

drawing of a stick figure with a circle head.

So what did it mean that the first time he'd seen the man in the great bath,

the clown's outfit was puffed up to bursting? As Eugeo wondered, Chudelkin

got to his feet, seeming not to notice the presence of the young man, and tried

desperately to plead his case.

"Y-Your Holiness, I am certain that my appearance must be most displeasing

to you, but I assure you, it is the result of a ferocious battle in which I

endeavored to punish the rebels and protect the glory of the great Axiom

Church!"

At that point, Chudelkin must have realized the pontifex was completely

nude, because his crescent-shaped eyes went full moon. He slapped his hands

over his face, giant head turning even redder.

"Hohhh! Oh-hoooo!! Oh, you mustn't! Your Holiness, I am entirely unworthy

of your visage! My eyeballs shall explode! I shall turn into stoooone!!" he

wailed, but despite his protestations, the gaps between his fingers were wide,

and his beady eyes gleamed through them.

Administrator covered her cheek with her hand and threatened, "If you don't

state your business, I really will turn you to stone."

"Hohhh! Hwaaaa…ah…aaah!" screeched Chudelkin, immediately stopping his

contortions and freezing in place. His burning-red head promptly went pale. The

prime senator suddenly spun on his heel and hopped like a frog toward the hole

he'd just climbed through. The platform was still down on the ninety-ninth floor

and hadn't returned yet.

"W-we must seal this place at once! They're coming! The devils!!"

"…You mean you didn't eliminate the rebels?" Administrator asked.

Chudelkin's back twitched. "W-w-w-well, I fought valiantly and with great

sacrifice, as you can see from my condition, but these rebellious devils are most

foul and treacherous and sadistic…," he screeched.

In the back of his mind, Eugeo considered this information. The "rebels"

Chudelkin spoke of were obviously Kirito and Alice, whom he'd left trapped in

ice down there. No matter that the prime senator was the second-greatest user

of sacred arts in the Church or that the others were trapped in ice—Eugeo

couldn't imagine them being defeated. Sure enough, they'd put up a fierce fight

that apparently had sent him running wounded.

However, that meant…

Eugeo subconsciously retreated a few steps from the platform hole. He

must've caused some slight rustling of fabric, because Chudelkin paused in the

midst of his excuses and glanced his way.

Those thin, beady eyes were wide again. The prime senator thrust his finger

at Eugeo, instantly forgetting his own miserable failure, and screamed,

"Hwaaaa! Y-you! Number Thirty-Two! What in the world are you doing there?!

H-h-how dare you draw your sword in the Chamber of the Gods, where Her

Holiness dwells! You will crawl upon the ground, this instant!"

"...…"

But Eugeo barely heard anything Chudelkin said anymore. His ears were fixed

on a faint vibrating sound coming up from the floor below. The sound of the

thick levitating disc rising through the power of sacred arts.

Belatedly, the prime senator noticed it, too, in between his seething insults,

and he fell silent. Then he turned around, got down on all fours, and peered

into the hole in the carpet.

"Hwaaaaaa!!" he screamed, his loudest yet, and turned back to Eugeo. "N-NN-Number Thirty-Two! What are you doing?! Go! Go now! This only happened

because you failed to rough them up enough! This isn't my job! Y-Your Holiness,

surely you must know th..."

Chudelkin was crawling toward the bed, babbling furiously the entire time,

until a hand reached up through the hole in the floor and grabbed his right foot.

"Eeeeeeeek!!" he squealed, eyes bulging, and kicked his legs. The pointed

clown shoe popped off, and the momentum caused his little body to roll. The

prime senator leaped to his feet, bounded for the bed, peeled the hanging

canopy curtain aside, and wriggled into the darkness between it and the floor.

The pontifex, who was standing on the bed, stared down at the hole in the

floor with a smile on her face, all thought of the prime senator's miserable state

banished. Eugeo was prepared to attack at once if she showed hostility, but for

now she seemed content to wait for her guest to appear.

Eugeo glanced back at the levitating platform. The hand that had grasped

Chudelkin's shoe was still fully extended. The black sleeve slid downward,

revealing an arm that was thin but finely muscled.

How many times had those arms saved Eugeo?

In fact, for as long as he could remember, he'd been led around by that hand.

Even now, after Eugeo had gone the wrong way and turned his sword on the

owner of that arm, the advance continued.

The disc continued rising.

Next to appear was black hair, still tousled from battle. Then two eyes darker

than the night sky beyond the windows and yet brighter than the stars. Lastly, a

mouth curved into a cocky grin…

"...…Kirito…"

Eugeo's voice was trembling. It wasn't loud enough to be audible over ten

mels away, but his friend glanced toward him along the wall anyway and

nodded, smile never wavering.

It was a gesture that was warm and heartening, just like all the ones he'd

made since the moment they'd met. The disc finally came to a heavy, grinding

stop.

Kirito…there you are…

Something deep inside him throbbed with an emotion he couldn't even name.

But that pain wasn't an unpleasant one. It was certainly much gentler than

the suffering he'd felt when the Piety Module was jammed into his head—and

more wistful and sweet.

As he watched, frozen in place, his partner and teacher dressed in black

smirked and said, "Yo, Eugeo."

"...I told you not to come," he murmured.

His partner hurled Chudelkin's silly shoe and beamed even harder.

"When have I ever followed the instructions you gave to me?"

"...Good point. You've always...…been like..."

He couldn't find the words.

He meant to pay for the crime of attacking his friend by sacrificing his life. He

was going to use that secret weapon from Cardinal to pierce Administrator's

skin, even if he had to get torn to pieces to do it. And now he was reunited with

Kirito again, without having completed this duty.

But no. It was Kirito's own will that had brought him here.

He'd broken through Eugeo's Perfect Control art, defeated Prime Senator

Chudelkin, and reached the hundredth floor while Eugeo was still alive.

Yes, I'm still alive. And I still have the dagger hanging from my wrist. Which

means now is the time to fight. That's the one thing I can do.

Eugeo turned away from his partner and looked to the center of the chamber.

Administrator waited on the massive bed, an enigmatic smile playing across her

lips. Her mirror eyes caught the moonlight but, as usual, did not reveal any

emotion of their own. All that was clear was that she was watching this new

visitor and thinking about something.

He had to explain to Kirito before the battle resumed. He had to tell him that

her flesh was protected by a barrier that blocked all metal—and that it wasn't

infallible.

Without taking his eyes off the pontifex, Eugeo began moving toward his

partner.

Just then, there was the sound of metal shifting from the direction he was

moving. He had to break his gaze to look over.

To Kirito's right, another figure strode forward from the thick shadow cast by

the pillar between the windowpanes.

Golden hair and armor sparkled in the light of the moon. At the left side of

the figure's waist was the Osmanthus Blade, a Divine Object with a hilt

fashioned like flower petals. A white skirt billowed below.

The Integrity Knight Alice Synthesis Thirty.

Eugeo had seen her working with Kirito already on the ninety-ninth floor. But

seeing them standing together like this made his chest throb even harder. His

legs stopped moving toward Kirito of their own accord.

Alice stared at the pontifex, then at Eugeo.

The right side of her face was covered in the dark bandage still. Integrity

Knights were known for being excellent arts casters, so she should have been

able to heal her eye in an instant. Perhaps she was leaving it as it was in order

to feel the pain.

Her deep-blue left eye was full of conflicting emotions as she looked over

Eugeo. It wasn't at all like the impassive, cold gaze she'd had down on the

eightieth floor. This time, it was full of human emotion.

She hadn't recovered her Alice Zuberg memories yet, but there had been

massive change within Alice the knight in a short amount of time. And the

obvious cause of that was the black-haired swordsman standing next to her.

Kirito's words had pierced the unmeltable ice that surrounded her heart.

And if, somehow, they could recover the memory fragment that

Administrator was hiding somewhere in this room and return Alice to her old

self, then Alice the knight would go back to being Alice Zuberg, Eugeo's

childhood friend.

And it meant that Alice the knight, the one who had spoken to Kirito,

sheathed her sword, and withstood the pain of losing her eye in order to fight

back against the Axiom Church, would vanish.

That was Eugeo's greatest wish and the reason he had fought so hard to get

here. But how did the present Alice understand this? And Kirito…He had fought

to the death against Vice Commander Fanatio, only to save her life afterward.

Did he really desire for Alice the knight to be eliminated forever…?

Eugeo took a deep breath, let it out, and forced himself to stop thinking about

it. He had to focus on this, the final fight. He'd been able to let his mind wander

because Administrator was passively letting the situation play out, but she

could resume attacking at any time.

He tore his eyes from Alice and looked back at the center of the room,

resuming his march. He sidled across the moonlit floor until he was next to

Kirito at last. Then he pressed the Blue Rose Sword into the floor again with a

sharp exhale, resting his weight on it.

"Are you hurt?" Kirito whispered. "It's not…my fault, is it?"

"…"

The fact that his partner was willing to let that simple statement cover

everything that had happened on the floor below them brought an unexpected

smile to Eugeo's lips.

"You never hit me with your sword, not once. I had a run-in with a pillar."

"You could've waited until we got up here."

"…I was the one who trapped you to keep you down there, Kirito."

"As if I was weak enough that something like that would stop me." Kirito

snorted.

Bantering with him like this reminded Eugeo of before they'd split apart at the

eightieth floor…like the times back at the dorm of the academy. The throbbing

in his chest lessened just a bit.

But what happened had happened and would never go away. He had given in

to Administrator's temptations and attacked his best friend, a crime that no

amount of words would lessen.

Eugeo pursed his lips and gripped the hilt of his sword. Kirito stared at the

middle of the room until eventually he muttered, "Is that Administrator? The

pontifex of the Church?"

"That's right," came the answer from Kirito's other side. "She hasn't changed

at all in the last six years," Alice stated.

After this direct mention, Administrator finally broke her long silence.

"Oh, my…I've never had so many guests in this chamber at one time. Do I

recall, Chudelkin, that you insisted I leave the fate of Alice and the irregular boy

to you?"

The curtains hanging around the side of the bed parted from the inside, and a

very large head popped out. Prime Senator Chudelkin rubbed his forehead

nervously and craned his neck at an angle that suggested he'd made some kind

of mistake.

"Hoh, hoh-hee! W-w-w-well, I assure you, Your Holiness, I fought as bravely as

a lion for your sake…"

"You mentioned that already."

"Hwaaaa! I-it is not my fault, oh-hooo! Number Thirty-Two was sloppy and

only half encased them in the ice…And Number Thirty, that hideous gold knight,

had the gall to utilize her Memory Release ability on me! Though I'm not so

flimsy as to let that gaudy little princess's secret technique put a single scratch

on me, hoh-hee-hee-hee!"

"Anyone but him," Alice muttered darkly.

Chudelkin didn't notice—he spun around and looked up at Administrator,

who was standing upon the bed, and screeched, "In fact, it was Number One

and Number Two who started it by going mad! I can only assume that their

idiocy has now infected Number Thirty!"

"Ah…now be quiet," Administrator commanded. Chudelkin shut his mouth

and froze where he lay on the floor. But he kept his eyes wide open, which he

seemed to be doing in order to drink in the sight of the pontifex's nakedness.

Administrator's silver eyes were fixed on Alice and totally unconcerned with

whatever the prime senator was doing. She inclined her head in curiosity.

"It was about time for me to reset Bercouli and Fanatio anyway…but I've only

had you for six years, yes, Alice? You don't seem to have any errors in your logic

circuits…So is it the influence of that irregular unit next to you? Fascinating."

Eugeo didn't understand anything of what she was saying. But there was

something in the silver-haired woman's tone of voice that made him shiver—

like a shepherd speaking about a sheep or a craftswoman about her tools.

"Well, Alice? Do you have something you want to say to me? I won't be angry.

Go ahead and speak your mind," Administrator said with a faint smile, taking a

step forward atop the bed.

Alice took a similar step backward, as though pushed by an invisible wall. To

his surprise, Eugeo saw that the knight's profile looked even paler than the

moonlight, and her lips were clenched shut. But Alice stood firm and reached

up with her bare hand to touch the bandage over her right eye. Then her

withdrawn leg took a step forward instead, as if the scrap of cloth had given her

strength.

Tak.

The sound of her foot was sharp and crisp, as though there wasn't any carpet

underneath. The golden knight, instead of kneeling before her master, thrust

her chest forward and declared, "Holy Pontifex, the proud order of Integrity

Knights has been shattered. It was defeated at the hand of the two rebels

beside me… as well as the boundless obsession and deceit that you have built with this tower!!"