Dark Territory, November 380 HE Part 2

The genders, personalities, and hidden ambitions of the ten lords who made

up the Council of Ten in the Dark Territory were varied, but there was one thing

they all shared in common.

It was that they understood, better and clearer than anyone else, the one law

that power rules all.

In a sense, their proof was in the fact that this law was carved into their souls

from childhood, and that their unceasing efforts—whether in personal

improvement or elimination of rivals—had ensured that they were the fittest to

survive and reach the top of their dog-eat-dog world.

And so, when the commander of the dark knights brigade, kneeling at the

right end of their line, launched himself at the emperor with his sword drawn,

none of the other nine lords were truly surprised by his actions.

If anything, more of them were impressed at the particulars—He's doing it

now? How bold. Even the chiefs of the orcs and ogres, whose intelligence and

language ability had stagnated over the last three centuries, flashed their beady

eyes as they realized they would get a chance to see just how strong their

emperor actually was. The young pugilist, who respected Shasta as a fellow

devotee of the art of combat, even secretly rooted for the knight to cut down

his opponent now that he had committed to battle.

Of these figures, there were two who predicted this would happen, seconds

before it did.

One was Dee Eye Ell, chancellor of the dark mages guild. She was a fierce rival

of Shasta's and recognized Lipia because she herself had plotted to kidnap the

dark general's lover.

So she was more shocked when she saw Lipia's head encased in ice than

when Shasta made his move. She had a hunch that he might draw his blade in

anger, and she began to consider what she would do when it happened.

She could cast her arts on him from behind and attempt to ingratiate herself

to the emperor. But ultimately, Dee chose to watch. If Shasta lost, that was all

well and good, and if he somehow actually won, he would be gravely injured,

and she could burn her fiercest rival alive so that she had control of the land of

darkness. On the inside, Dee grinned, then licked her lips to hide her rising

excitement.

There was one other figure who sensed the dark general's rebellion ahead of

time.

And this one acted instantly.

Shasta swung back his blade, his entire being dedicated only to the act of

killing.

Judging by the toughness of the Incarnation in his blade alone, it was indeed

greater than the time he had attempted to kill Commander Bercouli. The

ferocity of his rage and mourning brought about the Perfect Control state

instantly, when it typically required a long chanted command first.

Shasta's long katana Oborogasumi was a Divine Object automatically

generated about two hundred years ago by the Underworld from its VRMMO

package assets. Its natural element was water, and in responding to Shasta's

overwhelming urge to kill, it transformed its deadly power into a kind of misty

shadow form.

Under Perfect Weapon Control, Oborogasumi completely shortcut the

normal, accepted attacking process of any sword: to deal damage by severing or

piercing the target with the edge of the blade. Any target that made contact

with the long strip of mist suffered slashing-type damage to their life value. In

other words, no method of defense worked, aside from avoidance altogether.

Emperor Vecta (aka Gabriel Miller) drew his own blade the moment Shasta

drew his, and the god of darkness attempted to strike back at his opponent's

swing.

If it had happened in this way, Shasta's blade of mist would have passed

through Gabriel's and delivered its payload of compressed murder directly into

his body.

But just before his lightning-quick strike could leap forth, Shasta simply froze

where he was standing.

Somehow, there was a throwing needle sunk deep into the left flank of the

dark general's armor in a tiny gap between its thick plates. Behind him, a man

as thin as a ghost stood up, his body covered by dark-gray robes.

It was the head of the assassins guild, Fu Za. He was the least noteworthy of

the ten lords, preferring to stay quietly in the shadows with hardly a word at

the council meetings. He slipped silently forward, drawing the most attention

he had ever received in his life.

Fu Za recognized Shasta's rebellion because he was the most cowardly and

sensitive of all the lords.

The assassins guild was a place where those without power stuck together.

Those who were given life without physical or magical strength, without money,

without any kind of power to their names—and who also refused to live the

tortured life of a slave—came together to advance the ways of poison, which

was despised even in the Dark Territory.

The small number of insects, snakes, and plants with poisonous qualities in

the Underworld had been placed there for the sake of the final stress test. So

their effects were limited and easy enough for the residents to avoid with a

proper amount of knowledge. In other words, poison was not strong enough to

counteract the power of the dark arts or swordfighting.

But the ones who created the assassins guild developed a process of

concentration that Rath never envisioned to produce ever stronger poisons

over years and years. The guild's headquarters, deep below the slums of the

castle town, featured rows and rows of massive pots that had been boiling

poisons continuously for over a century. Other pots held snakes found from all

over, which were placed together so they would eat one another and develop

greater venom.

However, when they finally perfected a lethal poison, it led to tragedy:

assassination within the guild. Unlike with swords or arts, slow-acting poison

made it very difficult to identify the aggressor.

Naturally, the one who led the guild would have to be extremely cowardly to

survive. Enough to cower away from the sight (or presence) of others and so

sensitive as to pick up the tiniest buds of malice in others.

And when Shasta saw Lipia's head in the ice, Fu Za sensed his instant rush of

rage more keenly and strongly than the smell of fresh blood itself. Shasta, the

dark general, was also the single greatest target of Fu Za's hatred.

How many times had he drawn up assassination plans and scrapped them? He

was certain that he could perform the actual killing. But once it became clear

that poison was the cause, everyone would know it was the assassins guild's

work. Within an hour of Shasta's death, the mighty dark knights brigade would

charge into the headquarters and slaughter them all. The assassins didn't stand

a chance in a direct fight.

But perhaps now, in this very moment…

He had a very good rationale for piercing his hated enemy with a sharp,

poisoned needle. The act of drawing his weapon in the emperor's presence

instantly meant Shasta was no longer the dark general or a council member,

just a simple outlaw.

Fu Za pulled out and threw a weapon that had been passed down

continuously through the leadership position of the guild over the years. It was

a very thin needle made of a dangerous metal called Ruberyl's poisoned steel

that contained a paralyzing substance of its own. The needle was hollow, so it

could store other poisons as well.

Held within the weapon was a poison that was the apex of the guild's efforts.

They took fifty thousand of a rare creature called the bloodcurdle leech and

ground them into a liquid, then filtered and concentrated the result many

times, until they were left with just a single drop of poison. Because all their

attempts to breed and raise the leeches themselves had failed, it took an

unfathomable amount of effort to produce this tiny drop.

Fu Za, of course, had no way of knowing that the animals that lived in the

Underworld were generated by the system to meet certain determined density

levels across an area, and therefore, any animal that fell outside of livestock

units like sheep and cows could not be intentionally bred by humans

whatsoever.

So the poisoned needle that Fu Za hurled, both in material and poison

content, represented the concentrated work of the entire assassins guild in one

item. It was the synthesis of the collective hatred of the weak, distilled over

centuries of torment.

Because Shasta had put all his willpower into the sword in his hand, he was

not conscious of any pain from the poison needle embedded deep into his flesh.

All he knew was that the moment he tried to leap for the throne, he was

stunned to find that his entire body felt as heavy as lead. The strength went out

of his legs, and he fell loudly to one knee before finally noticing the foreign

object lodged in his left side.

Poison…

Before the icy chill could paralyze his hands, he quickly pulled the needle free.

It was so thin and fragile—barely a weapon—but when he saw how it shone a

vicious green color, Shasta recognized Ruberyl's poisoned steel and

immediately began to chant a counter-art.

But the chill spread from his left flank through his whole body with terrifying

speed, reaching his mouth. Before he could even say the system-call prompt,

his tongue was numb, and he could not even grind his teeth together.

Finally, his right arm gradually lowered the sword, undoing the Perfect

Control status. The gray mist returned to its physical form: a long blade with its

tip dragging on the floor.

Shasta wound up in the exact same position—lowered head and left knee on

the ground—as he'd been in before he'd made up his mind to attack the

emperor. A dark robe passed silently through his vision.

Fu Za. To think it would be this man, of all people.

"…Undone by such a minor, insignificant person. Is that what you're thinking,

Vixur?" said a hissing, sibilant voice from overhead. The only thing Shasta could

move on his body was his eyelids, which he squinted.

How dare you call me by that name…

"You're probably thinking, 'You have no right to refer to me by name.' But

actually, this is not the first time I've called you Vixur."

The assassin bent his knee so he could crouch next to Shasta, putting his face

into view. But the heavy hood blocked the light, leaving everything but his

jutting chin hidden in darkness.

The chin trembled, and that raspy, haunting voice said, "You probably…don't

remember. You wouldn't recall the faces of all the children you beat in the

youth training academy. Nor the one who threw himself into the canal out of

sheer shame, never to return."

What? What is he talking about? Youth training academy?

Shasta was the child of a simple knight, so from the age he was old enough to

hold a wooden sword, he was forced into the children's training academy

attached to the dark knights brigade. After that point, his only memories were

of training all day to survive. He won in every selection test, was eventually

made an officer of the brigade, and was taken under the wing of his master, the

previous commander. Half his life had passed in such a rush that he never had

the time to reflect on it.

Of course he could not remember. How would he remember the names of the

children he'd swung swords with over thirty years ago?

"…But you see, I've never forgotten you for a day of my life. The assassins

guild picked me up out of the culvert where I washed up, and I was worked like

a slave for years and years. I still never forgot. I gained knowledge, developed

many new poisons, and finally clawed my way up to head of the guild. I lost

many things in exchange…but it was all in search of vengeance against you,

Vixur."

When the twisted voice paused, the hood tilted just a tiny bit, and Shasta saw

Fu Za's real face.

He did not receive a flood of old memories. In fact, even if Shasta perfectly

remembered all his old classmates, he would not have recalled this one's name.

Perhaps it was the effects of poison—Fu Za's face was horribly melted and

disfigured, a countenance that would frighten even an orc.

The hood fell forward again, leaving only two glittering eyes under its

darkness.

"The poison I injected into you was developed to kill you and created drop by

drop through an excruciatingly long process. Our tests found that even a great

land dragon with a life of over thirty thousand could be killed in an hour with it.

Based on your strength and total life, I would give you another two or three

minutes. So…now it is time for you to give back the hatred and humiliation I left

with you."

Hatred? Shasta looked away from Fu Za's eyes and down at the poison needle

on the black-marble floor. I put my anger and hatred into attempting to kill the

emperor. Fu Za put the same power into this needle in an attempt to kill me.

That's why my blade came to a stop. Murder Incarnate cannot defeat Righteous

Incarnate. Years ago, I grasped the secret after my battle with Commander

Bercouli…and at the very, very end, I forgot that lesson…

He couldn't even maintain his kneeling position anymore. Shasta fell hard to

the stone on his left shoulder.

Through his hazy vision beyond that poisoned needle—there was a block of

ice resting on a silver tray.

The avenger Fu Za, once known as Fuelius Zargatis, watched very closely,

intent on savoring the moment of his greatest delight now that it was finally

here.

Shasta, the dark general, who had taken every glory he ever wanted, now lay

at Fu Za's feet. His skin, smooth for one his age, was now ashen, his formerly

sharp eyes were dull, and his breath was short and shallow.

It was a miserable, pathetic death.

And Shasta's end was also proof that poisoning techniques were superior to

sword techniques or dark arts. The confluence of Ruberyl's poisoned steel and

bloodcurdle leeches was powerful enough to leave a target instantly unable to

fight or chant—and to kill them soon after.

Emperor Vecta on the throne would have realized the value of the assassins

guild from this incident. When they figured out a way to mass-produce this new

poison, there would no longer be any need to worry about what the knights and

mages thought. He could take his real name back and return to the Zargatis

family, which had abandoned him, as the rightful conqueror…

So absorbed was Fu Za in his long-awaited moment of pleasure that he failed

to notice Shasta's sword at the corner of his vision turning back into mist.

Lipia.

Just before his life hit bottom, Shasta silently spoke the name of the one

woman he had ever loved.

Lipia had almost certainly attempted to kill the emperor because she was

praying for the arrival of the new era Shasta spoke to her about. She surely

believed that if the three-hundred-year war ended and a new law and order

shone upon the land of darkness, even the orphans whose only options in life

were starvation or slavery might have the right to live happily.

Fu Za…You claim I beat you in the youth training academy? And unable to

bear the shame, you threw yourself into the river?

At least you had that opportunity. Your parents put you in school and gave

you three meals a day, along with a warm bed and a roof to stave off the

elements. How many lives in this world are deprived of even that minimum

right, treated like garbage, and fated to vanish while they are still young?

Lipia gave up her life in an attempt to make this world right. I cannot allow

that Incarnation of hers to come to nothing. Your petty personal grudge…

"…will not stop me!" roared Shasta, who should have been completely

paralyzed. Something like a gray whirlwind swirled around the dark knight's

hand.

This was the Memory Release phenomenon that only a few of the Integrity

Knights could command. Shasta's mental Incarnation of unparalleled strength

began to overwrite the Main Visualizer, that machine that stored and calculated

all the information in the Underworld.

The gray whirlwind was a phenomenon of pure destructive force without any

particular affinity—it simply broke down everything it touched. Fu Za was

swallowed by the tornado before he could leap away. His thick black robe was

blasted into nothing, dying like smoke in the air.

The scrawny, middle-aged man within it lifted his arms to hide his disfigured,

melted face. His arms were torn into a cloud of flesh—and then his entirety was

nothing but a thick swarm of blood in the air.

The moment the strange whirlwind rose from the dying dark general's body,

Dee Eye Ell leaped away, seized by an awful premonition. She generated wind

elements in both hands and used them to fly backward at top speed.

When the rapidly expanding whirlwind touched her right leg, removing all of

it below the knee without a trace, that premonition turned into the ultimate

shock.

Whether bathing or sleeping, Dee always kept herself protected by dozens of

defensive arts. She should have been surrounded by a perfect wall that kept out

not just other magic, but all thrown weapons, swords, poison, and every other

kind of attack imaginable.

Of course, it was possible that an all-out attack from one of the ten lords who

shared her level of priority could break through that defense and harm her

directly. But it was not possible for it to act like her defensive wall was nothing

and tear away the flesh with a simple touch. It just wasn't possible.

But no matter how she tried to deny it, the whirlwind of death continued

advancing on her faster than she could retreat, carving up her right leg. Dee was

an accomplished enough dark mage that she could re-create a lost limb with

healing arts, but only if she survived the ordeal first.

"Aaah…aaaah!!"

At last, a scream burst from Dee's mouth.

But it was drowned out by similar screams from the two goblin chiefs. On her

left side, Hagashi, chief of the mountain goblins, and Kubiri, chief of the flatland

goblins, were racing as fast as they could from the whirlwind on their stubby

legs. But even Dee could not escape its wrath at full flight speed; they stood no

chance.

"Kgyaaa!!"

Hagashi slipped and tumbled to the floor with a hideous shriek. With his

outstretched left hand, he caught Kubiri's ankle like a vise.

"Hiyeaaah!! Let 'ooo!! Let g…"

Splurch.

The rulers of the goblin tribes turned into bloody mist.

Zhurnk.

The remainder of Dee's leg was blown to pieces.

Before the eyes of the dark mages guild's chancellor, her beautiful features

twisted with shock and terror, the whirlwind's expansion miraculously came to

a stop.

Shasta's fallen body was no longer visible. The inverted cone of his raging

storm was already a good twenty mels across and in height. The five lords

who'd been far enough away had retreated to the western wall. The other

military officers lined up along the south end of the chamber were safe, too, but

just barely.

Dee's mind was beset by confusion, but she had just enough rational power

left to vaguely understand why the whirlwind had stopped expanding.

It was protecting the dozen or so high-ranking dark knights in the room. The

whirlwind was something created by Shasta's own will.

As if to back up her suspicion, the upper half of the whirlwind began to

change shape. It formed a man's torso made of translucent mist.

While it was incredibly huge, it was also clear that it was a representation of

Dark General Shasta.

Gabriel Miller stared up at the oncoming tornado giant with something that

indeed resembled shock.

When he had revealed the assassin's head, he'd expected that the knight on

the left end would draw his sword in response. When the head of the assassins

guild used some kind of poison to paralyze the man who tried to attack Gabriel,

that was not exactly a shock, either.

His plan was to crush the traitor at once and instill absolute obedience into

the remaining nine. That wouldn't happen now, but a spontaneous act of

protecting the emperor was worthy of praise, he decided, so he allowed events

to unfold.

But then, a gray whirlwind suddenly erupted from the fallen rebel unit, and it

obliterated the head of the assassins guild and the two goblin generals in an

instant. That caught Gabriel off guard.

The general units should have all been roughly equal in status. So if they

fought one another, it shouldn't be quick. It should be a long series of chipping

away at HP and healing, back and forth.

But three units had just been destroyed in mere seconds. Perhaps there was

some kind of logic to the Underworld that neither he nor Critter understood

yet…

At that point, the giant in the whirlwind opened its mouth and let loose with

an earthshaking bellow. Unable to withstand the intense pressure, a majority of

the glass windows around the royal chamber gave way and broke outward.

The giant lifted a fist the size of an engine block—and swung it down at

Gabriel.

It was pointless to block it with his sword, and he could tell that there wasn't

enough time to evade it on his feet. Noticing Vassago leaping nimbly out of the

right corner of his eye, Gabriel stood at the throne and awaited the gray fist.

The deadly whirlwind of Incarnation that Shasta produced in his final

moments transcended even the system of the Underworld.

He did not eliminate the life value of Fu Za and the goblins with numerical

attack power to kill them. Instead, he forced the mental image of death directly

into their lightcubes, thus destroying their fluctlights—and in reverse order, this

caused their flesh to be obliterated.

So his attack against Gabriel similarly had no effect on Emperor Vecta's vast

store of life.

But the aura of death that Shasta's fluctlight produced passed through the

quantum circuits and into the STL machine where Gabriel's organic body lay—

and so the pure concentrated bloodlust of Shasta, the dark general, one of the

greatest warriors in the Underworld, scored a direct hit on the core of Gabriel

Miller's fluctlight: his ego.

In the moment, Shasta's consciousness fused with his unstoppable attack, so

that he felt as though he were plunging inside Emperor Vecta.

It was clear that the life of his actual body was long gone. Shasta knew this

was the last attack he would ever make.

He regretted that he would never fulfill his promise to cross swords with

Integrity Knight Bercouli again. But the man would understand. He would know

what the dark general wanted, and why he struck back against the emperor.

He had killed both Fu Za of the assassins guild and the two goblin chiefs, who

were the most combative of all the lords. It was a shame that Dee, chancellor of

the dark mages guild, had escaped, but she could not recover instantly from

such a terrible wound. If the head of the dark knights brigade and Emperor

Vecta himself both died, the remaining lords would surely reconsider their final

war against the Human Empire.

If they could just form a temporary truce with the people of that side, who

had recently lost their own ruler. If they could trade words instead of blows,

perhaps some common understanding would arise.

And he could only hope that somewhere down that line, the world of peace

that Lipia had desired would arrive.

Completely fused with his Incarnation, Shasta split Emperor Vecta's brow and

plunged into the core of the soul that existed within. If he destroyed this, even

the god of darkness would be erased just as completely as Fu Za and the rest of

them.

With a silent roar, Shasta's will collided with the emperor's soul— Only to be

met with the final shock of his life.

Nothing.

At the center of the cloud of light that was the soul, the place where the pure

essence of consciousness and being should have been, there was nothing but

dense, choking darkness.

But why? Even the soul of Fu Za, the recluse, had been glowing with a

perverse fixation on life.

The infinite darkness at the center of the emperor swallowed Shasta's

Incarnation.

He was vanishing. Evaporating.

This…this man…

Does he not know life?

A man who knew nothing of the shine of life, of soul, and of love. No wonder

he was starving. No wonder he wanted others' souls.

No matter how powerful his ability to Incarnate, no sword built of murderous

anger could defeat this man.

The man's soul was dead, even as it lived.

He had to tell someone. Whoever was fated to fight this monster in the

future.

Someone…someone…

But that was the moment Shasta's consciousness was enveloped in the

infinite abyss.

...…Alas...…

...…Lipia...…

And with that final thought, the soul of Vixur ul Shasta, general of darkness,

was obliterated at last.

At the moment of that overwhelmingly powerful soul shine piercing him,

Gabriel Miller felt more joy than fear.

The dark knight's soul, even more than the woman's he'd devoured two days

ago, was brimming with thick emotions. Love for the woman. And a kind of

beatific love that was much broader in nature and harder to understand. And

using those as a source of power—an untamed drive to kill.

Love and hatred. Could there be anything more delicious in this world than

those two concepts?

Gabriel was completely unaware at this time that his own life was in terrible

danger. Even after seeing the three units fragged to pieces by the dark knight's

attack, Gabriel was more interested in devouring the knight's soul than in his

own safety.

If Gabriel feared the attack and wished for his own survival, Shasta's deadly

drive would have crushed Gabriel's instinct for survival through the STL and, by

extension, obliterated his fluctlight itself.

But Gabriel Miller was a man who did not understand life. To him, all life,

including his own, was like that of the many insects he slaughtered when he

was a young boy—automatic and mechanical. All he wanted was to unlock the

secrets of the soul that powered the machine—that mysterious shining cloud.

So the destructive signal of Shasta's fluctlight simply passed through the

empty void at the center of Gabriel's fluctlight and vanished without colliding

into anything at all.

Gabriel had no way of knowing all this, but as he chewed on the knight's soul,

two things stuck in his memory.

First, that there were ways of attacking in this world beyond just the weapons

and magic spells of normal VRMMOs—and that this kind of attack did not have

any effect on him, apparently.

He would have to make Critter study the logic of the phenomenon he

witnessed, Gabriel thought. He slowly rose from the throne.

The six surviving lords—the dark mages guild chancellor, Dee Eye Ell; the head

pugilist, Iskahn; the leader of the commerce guild, Rengil; the giant chief,

Sigurosig; the orc chief, Lilpilin; and the ogre chief, Furgr—were either pressed

back against the wall or flat on their backsides or attempting to stanch their

bleeding. But all of them were staring up at Emperor Vecta.

The only feeling in their hearts at this point was fear.

Dark General Shasta's stunning mega-attack, which had reduced three of their

number to a bloody mist in an instant and ripped off the leg of the fearsome

mage Dee, had not left so much as a scratch on the emperor.

The one with the power makes the rules.

It was clear to the six lords and hundred-plus officers behind them that even if

they all fought together, they could not overcome the power of Emperor Vecta.

Like a wave rippling across them, they all bowed their heads, signaling

acquiescence to the emperor. Even the dark knights brigade, who had just

witnessed their beloved commander's death, were no exception.

The emperor's voice rang out loud and clear over the scene.

"…For each army that has lost its general, the next-highest officer must

immediately take command. We will begin the march in one hour, as planned."

He did not rage about the outlaw or point a finger in blame. This fact only

brought a fresh wave of fear to the remaining officers.

Dee finally succeeded in stopping the bleeding of her leg. She thrust her hand

high in the air, fingers splayed, and shouted, "Long live the emperor!!"

After a brief pause, voices echoing her cry poured forth from the crowd over

and over, a flood of sound that threatened to shake Obsidia Palace to its

foundation.

5

Alice looked around the tent that had been assigned to her, and she sighed.

The simple bed was neatly turned down, and the sheepskin leather on the

floor was brand-new. Even the air inside smelled of sunflowers. That was all

well and good, but it was clear at a glance that this tent had not been hastily

arranged for her after her arrival. Commander Bercouli had prepared for her

presence and ordered an extra knight's tent in advance.

Perhaps she should have taken it as a sign of trust, but knowing what the

commander was like, it was hard not to feel like he could read her mind and

actions like a book.

No—that couldn't be entirely true. Even the commander hadn't seemed to

guess in advance that Alice would be bringing Kirito along. There was only one

bed in the tent.

She brushed Kirito's back, leading him over to the bed to sit down. Instantly,

the young man was moaning, trying to reach out with his left hand.

"Yes, I know, just a moment."

She hurried back to the pack she'd set down by the entrance and pulled out

two swords, one black and one white. Then she went back and laid them across

his lap. Kirito put his arm around the swords and became quiet.

Alice sat next to him and thought as she removed her boots.

She'd told Eldrie that if necessary, she would fight with Kirito strapped to her

back, but if it actually came to that, it would be difficult to do. Kirito alone was

scrawny enough, but the weight of both the Night-Sky Blade and the Blue Rose

Sword would limit her mobility in battle.

She could leave him on Amayori's saddle, but there were dark knights on the

other side who hunted dragons, so air battles were likely. She wanted to keep

her mount's burden as low as possible.

Sadly, the most realistic option at the moment was to leave Kirito in the care

of someone back in the supply train during the battle. The problem was

whether she could find someone trustworthy enough in time.

The Integrity Knights that she knew were, of course, all going to be in the

midst of the fighting, and she didn't know a single soldier among the common

people. She also wasn't in the state of mind to ask Eldrie to point her to a

suitable person.

"Kirito…"

Alice stared at him right in the face and brought her hands up to cup his

cheeks.

She was not going to treat him like a burden. If he could just get his old self

back, he would be the best possible protector of the realm that anyone could

ask for. She had brought him here to the brink of the battle because she

thought there might be a chance it would be the spark that healed his mind.

Commander Bercouli claimed that Kirito had deflected the Incarnate Sword

he'd hurled. Even in his current state, he had tried to protect Alice, supposedly.

Should she believe that?

When they first met at Swordcraft Academy, they were apprehender and

criminal. When they met again on the eightieth floor of the cathedral, they

were executioner and rebel. Even in the moment they traded their final words

on the top floor, the most favorable view one could take of them said they were

potential enemies in the midst of a truce.

If he hasn't had his mind ever since that battle, how is it that he tried to

protect me from Uncle's sword technique?

Tell me…what do you think of me?

Her question bounced right off Kirito's lightless eyes and back to her. What

did she think of this young man?

If there was any single word she'd felt about Kirito in the cathedral, it would

probably be detestable. Before and since, no one else had ever called Alice

Synthesis Thirty an idiot so many times.

But the way Kirito had looked in the final battle, as he'd bravely stood up to

the all-powerful Administrator…

The sight of the swordsman—black cloak flapping in the buffeting wind, a

sword in each hand—had made Alice's heart tremble. It was a powerful image,

one that pierced her chest with sadness.

She still felt it in her chest, a bittersweet throbbing.

But she was afraid to learn the reason for that and thus kept her heart shut

tight.

I mean, I am only a creation. A puppet created to fight, occupying the body of

Alice Zuberg. I am not allowed the luxury of possessing any emotions aside from

the will to battle.

But what if…?

What if my voice isn't reaching you because I'm holding myself back?

If I unleashed the Incarnation of all my being, would you respond in kind?

Alice sucked in as much air as her lungs could bear and held it.

Kirito's cheeks were cold in her hands. No—it was her palms that were hot.

She drew his cheeks closer and stared into those black eyes right in front of

her. Dark as midnight. But somewhere in the distance, she felt she could make

out tiny, blinking stars.

She stared at those stars, getting closer, closer…

At the abrupt tinkle of a small bell, Alice leaped back into a standing position.

She looked around the tent in a panic, but no one else was there. Finally, she

realized that it was the bell on a string attached to the entrance flap of the tent.

There was a visitor. Alice cleared her throat, straightened her hair, and

crossed the tent. It was probably just Eldrie coming to complain again. She

wasn't going to kick out Kirito, no matter what he said, and she was going to let

him know that.

Alice stuck her head through the thin inside flap of the doubled entrance

curtain, then pushed aside the heavy fur exterior to the outside.

Her half-opened lips froze in place.

Standing before her was not an Integrity Knight or even an ordinary soldier.

She couldn't help but stare.

"Um…," the little visitor said, voice timid, holding up a covered pot with both

hands. "I…I brought your supper, Miss Knight."

"…Oh, I see." Alice glanced at the sky. Somehow the red of the sunset was

already retreating toward the western horizon. "Thank you…for bringing it to

me."

She took the pot and gave the visitor a proper examination from head to toe.

She was still just a girl, maybe fifteen or sixteen years old. Her hair was a

brilliant red color and hung to just below the shoulder. Her large eyes were a

similar reddish-brown color, which, combined with the pale color of her skin

and thin bridge of her nose, indicated she was from the northern empire.

The girl wore light armor, suggesting she was part of the defensive army, at

least, but the gray jacket and skirt underneath it looked more like some school

uniform.

A poor child, here on the battlefield, Alice thought at first—but then she

blinked in surprise.

She recognized the girl's face. But while she'd been stationed at Central

Cathedral, Alice had almost never had any contact with ordinary people.

Just then, a second girl bashfully popped out from behind the back of the first.

"Um…w-we brought bread and a drink."

This girl had dark-brown hair that was nearly black and deep-blue eyes. Her

voice was barely audible. Alice accepted the basket she offered, trying to hold

back a smile. "You don't have to be afraid. I won't bite."

But just then, Alice's memory jogged itself. She recognized that nervous voice.

These were the girls who— "Pardon me…are you two…from North Centoria

Imperial Swordcraft Academy…?"

For just a moment, the nervous faces of the two girls relaxed, but then the

duo hastily straightened up and snapped into a salute.

"Y-yes, Miss! I…I am Primary Trainee Tiese Schtrinen of the Human Guardian

Army, Supply Corps!"

"P-Primary Trainee Ronie Arabel, of the same!"

Alice returned the salute out of habit and realized that her hunch was correct.

They were the ones who had rushed up when she was taking Kirito and Eugeo

away from the school and requested permission to say their good-byes.

Just because the guardian army was shorthanded didn't mean they were

about to conscript students. These two must have enlisted of their own accord

and traveled from the familiar city out to this dangerous place of battle. The

girls were still so young. Why would they do this…?

Alice stared at the two, pot in her right hand and basket in her left. The

brown-haired girl named Ronie slipped behind the red-haired girl named Tiese's

back to hide again. Tiese hunched up a bit smaller herself, but soon, she

decided to go for broke and opened her mouth to speak.

"I…uh…I'm well aware that…this is, uh…a most inappropriate and impertinent

matter to inquire about…"

Alice had to stifle a groan at her awkwardly grandiose vocabulary. Instead,

she put on as understanding a smile as she could and interrupted, "Listen, you

don't have to try to be so formal. Here in this camp, I'm just one more warrior

to help protect the realm. Call me Alice, Tiese…and Ronie."

Tiese looked stunned by this, as did Ronie when she poked her head out from

behind her companion again.

"…Wh-what's the matter?"

"Er, it's just…wh-when we saw you back at Swordcraft Academy, you seemed,

um…different…"

"Oh…did I?" Alice asked. She couldn't tell for herself, but perhaps the six

months she'd spent in Rulid had changed her somehow. The commander had

said some kind of nonsense about her cheeks filling out, after all.

On further reflection, perhaps there were some times that she was a little too

excited about Selka's cooking and overate a bit…but surely it wasn't enough to

change her appearance…

Cautious not to let her doubt show, Alice had to favor them with a friendly

smile. "So…did you want something?"

"Oh…uh, y-yes," said Tiese, a bit less nervous than before, perhaps. She bit

her lip briefly. "Um, Miss Kni—er, Miss Alice, we heard that when you arrived

on your dragon…you were with a young man with black hair…and we were

wondering if it was someone we know…"

"Oh…I see. Yes, of course." Alice nodded, understanding their reason for

being here at last. "You were good friends with Kirito at school, then…"

The moment the words were out of her mouth, the two girls' faces lit up.

Ronie's blue eyes even started brimming with tears.

"It…it really was Kirito…," she whispered.

Tiese took her hand and said, voice full of hope, "Then…is Eugeo also…?!"

Alice sucked in a sharp breath at the mention of that name.

They didn't know. They didn't know about the fierce battle half a year ago at

the cathedral—or the outcome of it. They couldn't have known. Everything

surrounding the pontifex's death had been kept a secret from all but the

Integrity Knights.

Alice's stunned silence left the two girls confused. She looked into Tiese's and

Ronie's eyes, back and forth, then closed her own.

She could not hide the truth from them.

They had a right to know everything. In fact, they had probably come all this

way and joined the guardian army just for the hope of seeing Kirito and Eugeo

again…

She steeled herself and opened her mouth. "This might be…too difficult for

you to bear. But I have faith that if you learned from Kirito and Eugeo, you will

be able to endure it."

She took a step back, lifted up the pelt flap, and beckoned the girls into the

tent.

Counter to Alice's faint hopes, Kirito did not display any reaction whatsoever

to the sight of Tiese and Ronie. She stood at the tent's wall, hiding her

disappointment, and watched the tragic sight play out.

Ronie knelt in front of Kirito, who sat mutely on the bed, and held his left

hand in both of hers, allowing the tears to fall freely down her cheeks.

But even more painful was Tiese, who slumped onto the leather mat on the

floor, staring at the Blue Rose Sword. Her face was as white as paper, and she

hadn't moved the tiniest bit since Alice had told her the news of Eugeo's death.

She just gazed at the broken sword in silence.

Alice herself had barely had the chance to exchange any words with the

young man named Eugeo. They had been together only while she took him

from the school to the prison, when she fought him and Kirito on the eightieth

floor, and when they fought on the same side against Administrator.

She had boundless respect for him, not only for winning against Commander

Bercouli but also for turning his own body into a sword to destroy the Sword

Golem and cut off the pontifex's arm. But most of what she knew about Eugeo

came from what Selka told her from memory.

According to her, Eugeo was a quiet but thoughtful boy, who was often

dragged out on adventures by his childhood friend Alice Zuberg. Given his

personality, it was no wonder he made such a good partner to Kirito.

Kirito and Eugeo must have caused all sorts of trouble at the academy. Tiese

and Ronie would have found them fascinating, and the boys would have

influenced the girls in a huge way. Just as they had done to Alice.

So please, understand and accept your sadness. Kirito and Eugeo fought, hurt,

and lost heart and life to protect things they cared very deeply about, Alice

silently willed as she watched the two.

The people of the four empires, when faced with a mental shock like

overwhelming terror or grief, had a tendency to falter and grow mentally ill. The

recent attack on Rulid Village had left several villagers bedridden, even though

they had no physical injuries.

Tiese must have loved Eugeo.

To lose a loved one at that young age must be a terrible shock, one hard to

withstand. Alice watched as Tiese's hand twitched and began to creep toward

the Blue Rose Sword bit by bit.

Alice felt her hackles rise. The Blue Rose Sword, though broken in half, was

still a Divine Object of the highest caliber. Tiese couldn't possibly use it, but

such deep grief and desperation could bring forth unexpected power at times.

She couldn't predict what might happen.

Tiese's awkward, outstretched fingers finally made contact with the pale-blue

weapon. She touched not the edge of the blade itself, but the smooth, polished

flat.

And just then, the broken sword began to glow, faintly but surely, overcoming

the dim-red light of the sunset through the skylight of the tent.

At the same moment, Tiese's body twitched. Ronie sensed something and

turned to look at her friend. In the tense silence, clear drops formed on Tiese's

eyelashes and silently fell to the floor.

"…I just…," she whispered through pale lips, "heard…Eugeo's voice…saying…

Don't cry…I'll always…be…here…"

The tears continued to fall, one after the other after the other, until Tiese

hunched over the sword at last and began to sob violently, like a young child.

Ronie had her face pressed into Kirito's knees, bawling.

Alice felt her own eyes growing hot at the painful but pure display before her,

and a part of her wondered whether this was something that had really

happened. She hadn't heard Eugeo's voice, but the sword had indeed glowed

for a brief moment. So she couldn't claim that whatever Tiese had heard had

been in her imagination.

Could the Blue Rose Sword have something like Eugeo's soul still within it…?

When Alice activated Perfect Weapon Control, she felt a sensation like her

mind becoming one with the Osmanthus Blade. And in Eugeo's case, he'd

actually fused his own body with the Blue Rose Sword—during which he'd

suffered a fatal injury.

So perhaps it was possible that, in the remaining shard of the sword, some of

its owner's will still lingered. But Tiese had said that Eugeo had called out to

her. So what if it was not just a soulless echo in the sword, but a real will—even

Incarnation?

Was it an illusion brought about by her love? Or…?

It was so frustrating. Kirito would probably be able to get to the bottom of the

phenomenon. He'd fallen into this world from the outside—from the

mysterious place where the gods dwelled.

On the surface of her thoughts, above the swirling fray, one term rose to the

top like a bubble and burst into being.

World's End Altar.

At that place with the unfamiliar name, there would likely be a door to the

outside of the world.

If she could reach it, would all the mysteries be thawed in an instant? Could

she bring back Kirito's missing soul? But the altar was outside the Eastern Gate

and far to the south, they said. It was a distant place, even in the Dark Territory

ruled by the tribes of darkness.

If she was going to go there, she'd need to break through the army outside

the gate, rather than defend against its invasion. And even if she succeeded,

she'd have to abandon the defensive mission and head south. As an Integrity

Knight with phenomenal power, Alice had a duty to protect the human realm.

What if she gave herself up to draw the enemy's attention and headed for the

altar, pulling them away from the gate with her? On the other hand, the Dark

Territory had been dreaming of invading for hundreds of years. There couldn't

be anything more tempting to them than to rush inside…

No, if she was going to travel to that altar at the end of the world, she would

need to utterly destroy the forces of darkness first.

Alice shut her eyes when she arrived at the conclusion. Obliteration was an

admirable goal, but at present, they would have difficulty just pushing back the

first line of enemy troops. Yet, it had to be done if she was going to protect

Tiese and Ronie—and Kirito.

She exhaled, thought for several moments, then approached the crying girls.

6

The last rays of Solus had vanished to the west long ago, but the sliver of sky

over the Dark Territory visible beyond the Eastern Gate was still stubbornly,

eerily bloodred.

In the center of the grassy clearing the Human Guardian Army used for

dragons to take off and land during the day, there was a pure-white enclosure

that seemed designed to draw the eye away from that baleful red color. Just

before the fence, under the proud flag of the Axiom Church, a group of about

thirty Integrity Knights and army captains had their heads together, faces

solemn.

Alice came to a stop, startled to notice that the knights and soldiers were not

separated into distinct groups. A knight wearing shining silver armor and a

military captain with less attractive but still effective steel plate stood drinking

from the same pitcher of siral water, deep in discussion. From what she could

hear from listening in, they had completely dispensed with any formalities that

would have bogged down the conversation.

"Pretty good for a hastily assembled force, don't you think, little lady?" said a

deep voice at her side, drawing her attention.

Commander Bercouli, hands thrust into the waist of his eastern-style clothing,

shook his head to stop her from saluting. "I decided that all that tedious saluting

and protocol was a waste of time for this army. Fortunately, the Taboo Index

doesn't have an entry that says 'Normal folks must ensure that a knight is

properly mollified before they speak to them.'"

"I…see. That is all well and good, but aside from that," Alice prompted,

looking back to the military discussion, "where are the other Integrity Knights?

From what I can see, there are only ten or so of them here."

"Sadly, that's about all of them."

"Wh-what?!" Alice yelped, then covered her mouth with her hand. She looked

up at the commander, aghast. "You…can't be serious. There should be thirtyone members of the knighthood, including me."

It was easy to remember, because the latest knight was Eldrie, who was

designated Synthesis Thirty-One. Bercouli sighed in acknowledgment and

lowered his voice to explain.

"I'm sure you know that Prime Senator Chudelkin performed 'tune-ups' on

any knight who was about to suffer from memory issues. When he died, there

were seven knights undergoing retuning in the senate. None of them has

awakened as of yet."

"…!"

Her eyes bulged. Bercouli looked away from her uncomfortably. He

continued, "Only Chudelkin and the pontifex knew how to perform the art of

retuning. Now that they are dead, we can't bring those seven back without

working to decipher the command, and we don't have the time we need for

that. There was just one knight who was in simple cryosleep there, not

undergoing retuning, and we managed to get them awake, but…"

She sensed the awkwardness in his tone, so she asked, "And who was that?"

"…Sheyta the Silent."

"…!"

It was a name Alice knew from a number of stories, but she'd never actually

met the knight in person. She held her breath, however, because they were

terrible stories, indeed.

Bercouli just cleared his throat to suggest they could talk about that later and

continued discussing numbers. "Ultimately…there are twenty-four Integrity

Knights awake at the moment. Four of them are managing things back at the

cathedral in Centoria, and another four are patrolling the End Mountains for

safety. That leaves us with sixteen. That's the maximum we can have at this

crucial line of defense. That includes you and me, of course."

"Sixteen…," she murmured, biting her lip not to include the word only.

And once she studied the lineup that was present, she realized that the

majority of the fourteen here were lower knights without divine weapons—and

thus without Perfect Weapon Control arts. They were still stout warriors who

could kill a few hundred goblins in a battle, but they did not have the kind of

overwhelming power that could alter the course of battle in an instant.

Bercouli filled in the silence by changing the subject. "By the way, about the

question of what to do with the young man…I could have the rear guard take—"

"No…it will be fine," she said, responding to his awkward offer with a smile.

"There are volunteers who were his pages at the training academy…Once the

battle starts, I will leave his care to them."

"Aaah, that's good to hear. So…did the fellow show any response when

meeting someone from his past?"

Her smile vanished. She shook her head.

Bercouli exhaled and grunted in acknowledgment. "Just between you and

me…I can't help but get the feeling that he's the very person who will

determine the course of the coming war…"

Alice was stunned to hear that.

"The fact that he defeated the prime senator and pontifex with his sword,

even accounting for the help from his partner and you, is a hard thing to

fathom. I might not even be a match for the sheer durability of his Incarnation."

"…I didn't think it was so remarkable…"

She had no intention whatsoever of doubting Kirito's strength at this point,

but Commander Bercouli's Incarnation was an ability he'd spent over two

centuries honing. And Kirito was just a student, not yet a full adult. If anything,

Incarnation should be the one category in which he was absolutely unable to

match the commander, regardless of his technique and stamina.

But Bercouli was certain in his assessment. "When I struck him with my

Incarnate Sword, and he struck back, I could feel it. That boy's got just as much

experience with true battle as I do, if not more."

"True battle…? What do you mean…?"

"Just what it sounds like. The trading of life."

Now, this she could not believe.

The people of the human lands were protected—or perhaps imprisoned—by

the Taboo Index and Basic Imperial Laws. Duels with wooden swords were

common, but it was typical for one to go from birth to death by old age without

ever once experiencing a true battle to the death with naked steel.

The only exception was for the Integrity Knights, who did fight against goblins

and dark knights attempting to breach the End Mountains. But these events

happened only once or twice over the course of a long campaign, and the

Integrity Knight was inevitably far superior to the other side, so it was hard to

call that a real battle of life and death.

In that sense, the one person with the most bountiful battle experience would

be Bercouli himself, who had been fighting the monsters of darkness since the

knighthood was at its smallest. Apparently, soon after he had been made an

Integrity Knight, he even lost to a dark knight at the time—hard as it was to

believe now—and had to flee for his life.

And somehow, Kirito had more experience with fighting for his life than

Bercouli?

If that was even possible, then it was not experience that came from this

world.

His real home was in the "outside world." But that was also the place where

the gods who truly created the Underworld lived. True battle? Who would he

have fought for his life…?

Alice wasn't sure how to process all this information. Ultimately, she had to

make a decision for herself: She would tell Bercouli everything. About the

existence of the outside world—and the World's End Altar that led to it.

"Uncle," she said hesitantly, choosing her words carefully, "the truth is…

during the battle against the pontifex…"

But she didn't get any further because a sharp voice interrupted over

Bercouli's shoulder. "It's time, Commander."

She started and looked toward the owner of the voice.

It was an Integrity Knight, dressed in beautiful light-purple full armor that

shone even in the twilight, with a silver rapier on her left hip. The moment she

saw the full-face helmet adorned with wings like a bird of prey, Alice's

instinctual emotion was…Ugh.

It was probably the one person in the world whom Alice got along with least:

the vice commander and second of all Integrity Knights, Fanatio Synthesis Two.

On instinct, Alice made the knight's salute of a right fist across the breast and

a left hand on the sword hilt, doing her best not to let her emotions show on

her face. Fanatio made the same gesture, her armor clanking. But while Alice

stood up straight, feet slightly apart, Fanatio placed her weight on her right foot

and dropped her left shoulder in an affected way.

This is the exact sort of thing that drives me mad about her, Alice secretly

grumbled, lowering her arm.

Perhaps she thought that her imposing helmet and tone of voice hid it, but to

a member of the same sex, it was clear that Fanatio couldn't help but exhibit a

flowery femininity. Having been taken to the cathedral at a young age, Alice had

never successfully learned such a skill.

On the fiftieth floor of Central Cathedral, Vice Commander Fanatio fought

Kirito and Eugeo and suffered nearly fatal wounds when Kirito's Perfect

Weapon Control hit her directly. But despite the great effort it took him to win,

Kirito used healing arts on Fanatio and then used some mysterious ability to

teleport her away from the place, according to one of the lower knights who'd

been present.

It did sound like something Kirito would do, but she couldn't help but be

unnerved by it.

For one thing, Fanatio seemed to be utterly devoted to Commander Bercouli,

and yet, she had four attendant knights who were clearly smitten with her.

Didn't she pity the ones who admired her so much but would never be able to

even touch her? She could at least show them her face, rather than hiding it at

all times with that helmet.

So it was to Alice's great surprise, during Alice's secret griping about the

helmet, that Fanatio actually reached up and clasped the sides of it with her

hands. She clicked the fasteners to undo them and easily lifted off the lightpurple piece of armor. In the firelight, her smooth black hair shone like spun

silk.

The only times Alice had ever seen Fanatio's face at the cathedral were when

they encountered each other in the great bath by coincidence. As far as Alice

could remember, this was the first time she'd ever seen the vice commander

remove her helmet out in the open.

Compared to before, her beautiful looks seemed somewhat softer, and upon

closer examination, Alice understood why. Her plump lips were actually colored

in, albeit subtly. The woman who tried so hard to hide that she was a woman

was…wearing makeup?

Fanatio took the occasion to flash the stunned Alice a warm smile. "It's a joy

to see you again, Alice. I'm ever so glad to see you well."

"…"

A joy? Ever so glad?

That added another three seconds to Alice's stunned silence before she

recovered enough to return the greeting.

"I…it's been a while, Vice Commander."

"Please, call me Fanatio. By the way, Alice, I couldn't help but overhear…Did

you bring that black-haired boy here with you?"

The question was framed innocently, but it replaced Alice's surprise with

caution instead. It was Kirito and Cardinal who'd healed Fanatio's injuries, but

she might not be aware of that. It was possible that she still harbored hatred for

the boy who'd bested her in combat.

"I…I did," Alice replied. The vice commander deepened her bewitching smile

and nodded.

"I see. Do you mind if I meet with him after this conference?"

"…Why do you ask, Fanatio?"

"Don't give me that look. I'm not going to attack him at this point," Fanatio

said, her smile turning faintly sour. She shrugged. "I just want to thank him. I

understand that he helped heal me when I was mortally wounded."

"…So you knew. But I don't think you need to thank Kirito. I've heard that it

was actually a person named Cardinal, the previous pontifex, who saved your

life. And sadly…she passed away in the battle half a year ago," Alice explained,

feeling her hackles lower a bit.

Fanatio gazed into the sky and said, "Yes…I faintly recall it. I'd never felt such

warm and powerful healing before that. But it was Kirito who sent me to her…

and there is one other thing I wish to thank him for."

"Other thing…?"

"Yes. For fighting and defeating me."

…Maybe she does mean to attack him, Alice wondered again, backing up half

a step.

But Fanatio only shook her head, her expression earnest. "It is my honest

wish. For all the many years I have lived as an Integrity Knight, he was the only

man who ever truly fought his hardest against me after learning that I was a

woman."

"Huh…? What do you…mean by…?"

"In the past, I did not have this helmet. I fought with my face exposed, as you

do. But one day, I came to understand that the male knights who fought me in

mock battles, and even the dark knights I faced in true combat, had just the

tiniest falter in their actions. To be pitied in combat for my sex is more

humiliating than any defeat in the dust."

But surely that was an unavoidable thing. Very few men could completely

ignore the potent allure of Fanatio's looks.

It wasn't until she set up in the cabin outside Rulid that Alice learned that

almost no women received a calling that involved taking up the sword. The only

exceptions were the daughters of noble or landowning families. Ordinary

women were prevented from choosing any life for themselves other than as

wives, homemakers, and mothers.

If it was this old-fashioned custom that bound men's hearts just as the Taboo

Index did, it was an ironic thing indeed. The assumption that women were

meant to be protected by men caused their abilities to weaken in the presence

of her radiant beauty. If the knights in the Dark Territory had wives and children

of their own, they would be no exception. At least the goblins and orcs, who

had completely different appearances, were exempt from this belief.

But Alice, a fellow female knight, had never noticed or cared if male knights

showed her favor or weakness. She had confidence that whether her opponent

went easy or tried his best, she would be the victor, regardless.

Perhaps your anger is simply proof that you cannot move past your status as a

woman, Alice thought right as Fanatio said something to the same effect.

"I used this helmet to hide my face and learned consecutive swordcraft

techniques to keep foes away from close range. But that was because I myself

was too obsessed with my gender. Not only did that boy recognize it

immediately, he attacked me with all of his ability. I used every battle technique

and art that I knew in the fight, and I lost. When I came to, thanks to Cardinal,

that petty obsession of mine was simply gone…The entire time, the whole point

was that I should be strong enough that no opponent would dare to go easy on

me. Is it really so strange that I would want to thank the boy who showed me

this simple truth and made sure I lived to understand it?"

At the end of that impassioned speech, Fanatio put on a little smirk and

grinned. "And I must admit…I'm a bit chagrined that he never sensed any

femininity from my bare face. I was thinking that I might try a few things to see

if he wakes up from his fugue."

"Wha—?"

What kind of nonsense…?

If that actually worked on Kirito, everything she'd done would feel so empty

and pointless. And when it came to Kirito, she couldn't completely rule out that

possibility.

Alice did not bother to hide the stern furrow in her brow. "I appreciate your

sentiment," she snapped, "but he is currently resting in the tent. Do not worry; I

will relate your feelings to him later."

"Oh my," said the vice commander, her eyelid twitching. "I need your

permission to visit him? When you sought an audience with the commander at

the cathedral while he was on duty, I don't recall ever trying to stop you for

personal reasons."

"That is because your permission is unnecessary for me to meet with him.

And really, now that I think about it, if you wanted a man to beat you senseless,

you always could have asked Uncle to do it."

"Oh, there's no reason for that. He's the strongest swordsman in the world,

so of course he goes easy on everyone. He even showed mercy to the dark

general."

"Oh, did he? When we trained together, Uncle always worked himself into a

heavy sweat out of true exertion."

"…Is that true, my lord?!"

"Uncle, if you didn't always pamper her…"

Both of the women turned to the side—but the commander was not there.

Where Bercouli had stood just minutes before, there was now merely a pile of

dried grass.

*

When the conference began at six o'clock, it was under rather tense

circumstances, owing to the frosty air between the master of ceremonies, Vice

Commander Fanatio Synthesis Two, and the newly arrived Alice Synthesis

Thirty.

Alice completed a brief introduction and plopped into one of the chairs in the

front row.

"…Miss Alice." Eldrie hesitantly reached over with a glass of siral water, which

she snatched from his hands. She drained the cold sweet-and-sour liquid in one

go. After a long, deep breath, she managed to shift to a different mental state.

Now that I get a good look…

There really were too few higher Integrity Knights with Divine Object

weapons. The ones she knew and recognized were Commander Bercouli with

his Time-Splitting Sword, Fanatio with her Heaven-Piercing Blade, Eldrie with

the Frostscale Whip, and Deusolbert with the Conflagration Bow.

There were also Sheyta Synthesis Twelve, known also as Sheyta the Silent,

and a very young boy knight named Renly Synthesis Twenty-Seven, both of

whom had divine weapons, but she had hardly ever met them before and didn't

know what they were capable of. At any rate, including Alice and her

Osmanthus Blade, that was seven higher Integrity Knights in total.

The other nine, including the Four Whirling Blades who served under Fanatio,

were lower knights without Divine Objects. And that included the infamous

problem children, the apprentice girls whom even Bercouli had trouble

managing—Linel Synthesis Twenty-Eight and Fizel Synthesis Twenty-Nine. They

were seated obediently at the end of the row, but who knew whether they

would behave and join the battle when it arrived.

That made sixteen in total, which was the grand sum of Integrity Knight

power that they could actually apply to the ultimate line of defense.

Meanwhile, about thirty officers from the Human Guardian Army were also

seated in attendance. Their morale didn't seem poor, but even at a glance, the

difference in power between them and the knights was clear. Even one of the

lower knights could take on all thirty of them in a consecutive match and win

with ease…

"We've considered all potential strategies over the last four months," said

Fanatio all of a sudden, pulling Alice back to the purpose of the meeting, "and

the first conclusion is that with our current status, it will be very difficult to push

back an all-out attack from the enemy, and if we are surrounded, we will not

stand a chance of winning."

Using the long, slim scabbard of the Heaven-Piercing Blade as a pointer,

Fanatio tapped a point on the strategic map set up at the back of the

conference area. "As you can see, for ten kilors in all directions on this side of

the End Mountains, it is nothing but grassland and rocks. If we get pushed back

this far, their tens of thousands will surround us and defeat us. Therefore, we

will have to maintain the fight in the narrow ravine to the Eastern Gate—a

hundred mels wide and a thousand mels long. We'll set up a long, deep

formation here to absorb the enemy's rush and grind them down. That will be

the basic thrust of our strategy. Does anyone have any thoughts about this so

far?"

Eldrie was the first to raise his hand. He got to his feet, lilac-purple hair

waving, and kept his usual flowery formality to a minimum.

"If the enemy were only made up of infantry like goblins and orcs, fifty or a

hundred thousand would be no matter. But they know that as well. They have

units of ogres with powerful war bows and even more dangerous dark mages.

How will we counteract the long-range attacks that will come from the rear of

the infantry?"

"It is a dangerous gamble, I will admit," Fanatio said, pausing and looking to

Alice. She straightened up and waited for the rest of the answer. "But the

sunlight does not reach the floor of that ravine, even in midday, and there is not

a blade of grass on the ground. In other words, the sacred power there is weak.

If we can consume all of it before the battle, the enemy should be unable to

utilize their powerful attack arts."

This bold idea brought a murmur to the knights and military officers.

"Naturally, the same will apply to us. But we only have a hundred capable of

sacred arts in the first place. If it comes to a battle of arts thrown back and

forth, the enemy side is bound to consume far more sacred power than we

are."

That did make sense in its own way. But there were two problems with

Fanatio's plan.

Eldrie was too stunned to speak, so Deusolbert, the archer, requested

permission instead. The senior knight in his bronze-colored armor asked, "I

believe you are correct. But sacred arts are not only used to attack. If the sacred

power dries up, will it not be impossible to heal the wounded, too?"

"Which is why it is a gamble. We brought all the high-quality reagents and

healing herbs from the cathedral's treasure repository here to this camp. If we

reserve our sacred arts just for healing and use the herbs for extra support, the

reagents should last us two…even three days."

This statement caused even louder gasps than the first one. The treasure

room of Central Cathedral was known for having such tight security, there were

fairy tales about it. Treasure was brought in—but this might be the first

instance in history of anything being removed.

Even the imposing knight's stern face was slack with shock. Deusolbert sat

down heavily with a grunt, and Alice took her turn to stand.

"There is one other problem, Miss Fanatio," she said, putting aside their

earlier argument to offer feedback. "While the blessings of Solus and Terraria

might be weak, the ravine is not perfect darkness, nor is it separated from the

earth. I believe that a vast amount of sacred power has been stored in that

place over the course of many years. What kind of person can use up all that

power in the brief time we have before the coming battle?"

Now it was Fanatio's turn to be at a loss. The ravine through the mountain

range was indeed more constrained than the grassland behind the camp, but it

was still a hundred mels wide and a thousand long. It would take hundreds of

people using high-level arts at once to completely sap all the sacred power in

that vast space, and as Fanatio had just said, the guardian army did not have

that many.

Perhaps a smaller group could achieve the same effect by casting some megascale art with cataclysmic effects, but no one was known to have that kind of

power aside from the late Administrator and Cardinal.

But the vice commander stared at Alice with light-brown eyes and shook her

head.

"I can tell you. We have just one person capable of that."

"…One…?" Alice asked, looking at the faces around her. But the name Fanatio

said next was the last one she expected to hear.

"It is you, Alice Synthesis Thirty."

"What…?!"

"You might not realize it, but your present power surpasses the Integrity

Knight's bounds. At this moment, you should be capable…of wielding true godly

power that splits the heavens and earth."

7

"Is a higher Integrity Knight really that powerful?" asked Gabriel Miller as he

sat in a large tank—which was really just a large four-wheeled vehicle without a

cannon or treads—pulled by two dinosaur-like monsters.

Even the cushioned lounge chair couldn't eliminate the vibration, but

compared to the deadly rumbling of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle he'd had to

ride in as a soldier, this was nothing. At worst, it meant the glass of wine on the

side table sloshed around a little bit.

Three days had passed since they left Obsidia Palace, a period of travel he'd

never experienced in the real world, but he didn't feel tired at all. Perhaps that

had more to do with the virtual nature of this world than the comfort of the

tank's seating.

At his feet, a beautiful young woman reclined on the thick carpeting, rubbing

her bandaged right leg. "But of course. In fact…over three hundred years of

history, not once have our dark mages or knights ever succeeded in vanquishing

an Integrity Knight. Does that convey the danger they pose? On the other hand,

our own fallen are more numerous than the stars."

"Hmm," Gabriel murmured.

Vassago was sitting cross-legged along the spacious cabin's wall, cradling a

bottle of distilled liquor. He wondered, "But, Dee, if these Integrity Knights are

so tough, why didn't they just come over here to invade?"

Dee Eye Ell, dark mage chancellor, gave Vassago a sizzling smile and raised a

finger. "A very good question, Master Vassago. They are indeed warriors worth

a thousand men, but each is only one person. If surrounded by ten thousand in

a vast space, the little cuts and bruises will add up until their life is depleted. So

the cowards never leave the End Mountains, knowing there is no danger of

being surrounded."

"Oh, I get it. It's like when you're up against a really tanky mob, so you just

chill at a safe distance and riddle 'em with DOTs until they kick the bucket…"

"Mob…? Dee-oh-tee…?"

Of course the artificial fluctlight would not understand Vassago's analogy.

Gabriel shot him a look and cleared his throat.

"At any rate, the point is, if the Integrity Knights can be pulled into a wideopen arena, they can be surrounded and eventually overwhelmed, yes?"

"That would be the logic of it. But it would cost over ten thousand goblin and

orc casualties, easily." Dee chuckled to herself and picked up a poisonouslooking fruit from the silver bowl on the floor and sensually placed it between

her lips, of the same bloodred hue.

It hardly needed to be said that Gabriel did not care about the expenditure of

grunt units. In fact, if he could defeat the enemy forces at the cost of Dee and

every other soldier from the Dark Territory, he would take it without question.

In a sense, this war was no different from the tactical simulations that Glowgen

Defense Systems ran on a daily basis in its lab.

He would cross a mountain of bodies and rule over the Human Empire as their

new sovereign, giving them just one order: to find the girl named Alice and

bring her to him. Then his mission in this odd world would be complete.

The thought actually made the strange-flavored wine a bit more special. He

would be sad to see it go.

Gabriel lifted his glass and downed the dark-purple liquid all at once.

At this time, the hunter of souls, Gabriel Miller, had an unconscious mental

image of Alice that was very similar to his very first victim, Alicia Clingerman:

innocent, young, and delicate. He assumed she would be a kind, beautiful—and

helpless—girl living in a town just like Pacific Palisades.

So there was one thing that Gabriel failed to sense. He could never have

imagined that the Alice he sought was going to lead the enemy army as an

Integrity Knight.

The military train ahead of the command vehicle flying its imperial flag

stretched endlessly to the west on its slow but sure advance. On the horizon

against the crimson sky, a range of mountains as sharp and clear as the teeth of

a saw jutted upward, growing slowly closer.

On the seventh day of the eleventh month, the fourth day of their march, the

Dark Territory's main force reached the foothills near the giant gate that was

soon to collapse. Around the flat mesa was a profusion of black tents prepared

by the advance troops.

Du-du-rum.

Du-du-rum.

The beating of the giants' war drums kept the ground rumbling.

From the roof of the command vehicle, Gabriel watched as the single line of

troops fanned out over a wide area, like blood cells pushed by the pulse of a

gigantic heart.

The first regiment at the lead was fifteen thousand strong, consisting of a

battalion of goblin light infantry and orc heavy infantry. They made a vertical

formation sized just right to fit in the narrow ravine cut through the mountains.

Here and there, individual giants loomed over the rest like siege towers—

perhaps just a hundred in total, but they would be a valuable and active force to

assist the infantry.

Behind the demi-humans was the second regiment, consisting of a unit of five

thousand pugilists and another of five thousand dark knights. The young knight

who had been newly named to the position of dark general desired to fight on

the front line to avenge the stain of his predecessor, but Gabriel ordered them

back. The knight units were likely to have reduced morale now, and he wanted

to eliminate uncertain variables.

The third regiment was seven thousand ogre archers and three thousand

female dark mages. Their job was to enter the ravine behind the infantry and

decimate the enemy with long-range attacks. According to Dee, as long as they

could see the Integrity Knights, the primary source of the enemy's power, they

could focus their fire on the target from a long distance and possibly defeat

them.

For his part, Gabriel was intrigued enough by the supposed invincibility of

these Integrity Knights that he wanted to battle one directly and devour their

soul, just to sate his curiosity. But he couldn't afford to lose this account

through some unforeseen accident, and he could always produce as many

Underworldian artificial fluctlights as he wanted later. Right now, it was more

important to seize Alice and escape from the Ocean Turtle with her.

Eight days had already passed inside since he'd logged in, which was about

fifteen minutes in the real world. It would take roughly ten days to completely

conquer the Human Empire and ensure the entire world knew about his order

to find Alice. With that in mind, he wanted to get this battle over with as quickly

as possible—within a full day at the longest.

"Damn. You think I'll even get a chance to shine?" complained Vassago.

Gabriel couldn't count how many whiskey bottles Vassago had downed today.

He shot the other man a look and snapped, "I saw what you did. When that

Shasta fellow turned into a tornado, you abandoned me and ran for cover."

"Heh-heh, I knew you'd be paying close attention, Boss." Vassago grinned

innocently. "Listen, I've always been a PvP kind of guy. I'm not up for fighting

against ghostly monsters without a corporeal body."

It wasn't clear just how serious or silly he was attempting to be. Gabriel stared

at his subordinate, then asked, "Vassago, why did you enlist for this mission?"

"Mission? You mean the Underworld dive? Because it seemed fun,

obviously…"

"No, before that. The mission to attack the Ocean Turtle. You're on staff at

Glowgen DS, but you're a cyber-operations specialist. What's the reason you

would take part in a mission that might involve live fire? You're too young to be

a Middle East war dog like Hans or Brigg."

It was a long question by Gabriel's standards, but that did not mean he had

any deep interest in Vassago Casals, of course. The thought merely occurred to

him that something must lie beneath the young man's shallow exterior.

Vassago just shrugged and said, "Same thing. It seemed like it would be fun."

"Aaah…"

"Also, if you're gonna go down that rabbit hole, it seems a lot crazier for a

fancy elite college boy like you to want to go into live combat. I don't care if you

do have military training."

"I prefer a hands-on style," Gabriel replied. On the inside, he wondered, What

does "fun" mean to you, Vassago? A chance to shoot? Or…a chance to kill?

He was deciding whether to go ahead and ask these questions or cut off the

conversation there, when he was interrupted by the sound of high heels coming

from the staircase at the rear of the command vehicle. The chancellor of the

dark mages guild, Dee Eye Ell, appeared.

She gave an obsequious bow, licked her lips, and reported, "All units are now

in place, Your Majesty."

"Good."

Gabriel unfolded his legs and stood up from his makeshift throne, then looked

around. Aside from the main force of thirty-five thousand ahead, there was a

reserve of ten thousand (mostly) goblins and orcs to the left of the command

vehicle, plus five thousand members of the commerce guild's supply corps to

the left and right.

This army of fifty thousand was what Gabriel had been given to work with. So

if all his units were damaged without breaking the enemy's line of defense, he

would have no choice but to give the plan a fundamental course correction. His

chances of catching Alice would become infinitesimally small.

But according to the dragon scouts he'd sent out, the enemy's size was no

more than three thousand. So as long as they could eliminate the Integrity

Knights as he desired, their victory was all but assured.

"How long until the gate is destroyed?" Gabriel asked.

Without looking up, Dee answered, "Roughly eight hours, Your Majesty."

"Then one hour before collapse, move the first division into the ravine. Put

them just in front of the gate and have them lead an all-out attack as it

collapses. If that pushes the line, send in the second and third division behind

them and wipe out the hostile force."

"Yes, Majesty. Before the day is out, you will have the head of the enemy

leader. It may be slightly charred." She giggled and turned to pass on the orders

to the messenger behind her before bowing and descending the stairs.

From the roof of the command vehicle, Gabriel surveyed the massive gate in

the distance. It was more than two miles away, but it had such weight and

presence that it felt as if it were practically hanging over his head. The

crumbling of that mammoth structure would be something to behold.

But the true feast only started there. Thousands of souls would burst and

vanish, releasing an indescribably gorgeous shine into the air. Perhaps the Rath

engineers trapped in the upper shaft of the Ocean Turtle were gnashing their

teeth, because the biggest spectacle they had scheduled in their system was

going to happen, and they wouldn't be able to observe it.

Du-du-rum. Du-du-rum.

Dun, duh. Dun, duh.

The war drums' tempo rose, and with it the pitch of thousands of bloodthirsty

roars.

8

"Well…I leave Kirito in your hands, then," said Alice, looking at the young girls

in turn.

The primary trainees—really, they were full-fledged warriors by now—Tiese

Schtrinen and Ronie Arabel, straightened up and bobbed their heads.

"Yes, Miss Alice, we will take good care of him."

"You have our word that Kirito will be safe with us."

Then Tiese took the left handle of his new wheelchair, and Ronie the right.

The thin chair gleamed silver; Alice had used arts to change the shape of a

leftover suit of armor from the supply tent. It was lighter and also tougher than

the wooden wheelchair she'd used in Rulid.

But there was nothing that could be done about the weight of the two swords

Kirito clutched in his lap. She was worried the girls might not be able to push

the chair, but they worked in unison and did an admirable job of rolling it right

up to her.

Now they wouldn't be left behind if they were given an immediate order to

retreat. If they had to flee from the ravine, it would only be because the

guardian army had been surrounded and crushed already.

Deep down, she wanted them to take Kirito and run to the west at the first

sign of danger in the battle. But all that would do was delay their inevitable fate

for a few months—or weeks, perhaps.

If the guardian army lost, the four knights guarding the End Mountains would

withdraw from their posts, helping residents of the regional towns and villages

evacuate and setting up the castle walls of Centoria as the final line of defense.

But this would be a meager resistance, indeed. The invaders would trample all

over them, and the beautiful city and chalk-white Central Cathedral would be

burned to the ground. Within the prison walls of the End Mountains, there

would be no real escape…

Alice crouched so she could look at Kirito at eye level.

For the five days they'd been in the camp, Alice had spoken to him when she

had time, held his hand, and hugged him. But she'd never been able to get

anything resembling a reaction.

"Kirito…I guess this might end up being our final farewell," she said, barely

managing a smile for the black-haired boy. "Uncle said he had a feeling you

would determine the course of this battle. I agree with him. You practically

created this defensive army."

If it hadn't been for Kirito and Eugeo, in fact, it would be Administrator and

the Integrity Knights set up behind the Eastern Gate right now—along with an

army of those horrific Sword Golems.

Against two or three thousand golems and their tremendous fighting power,

the fifty-thousand-strong Dark Territory army might as well be nothing. But the

golems were also synonymous with the collapse of the human realm. They

would be built out of thousands and thousands of residents. Kirito and Eugeo

had sacrificed a heart and a life to prevent that tragedy.

But if Bercouli's Human Guardian Army was defeated, a great tragedy would

happen anyway, just in a different form.

"…I'll try my hardest. I'm going to use up every last drop of the life you

worked so hard to save. So…if I fall in battle, and I call for you with my last bit of

strength, stand up and draw your sword. If you just come back to us, it wouldn't

matter how many thousands the enemy has. You'll work another miracle…and

protect everyone. I mean…

"You defeated the pontifex. You're the greatest swordsman alive," she

whispered. She reached out and squeezed Kirito's scrawny body. After an

embrace that could have been a second long or several minutes, Alice let go

and stood up. Suddenly, she noticed that Ronie's gaze was concentrated on her,

and in her blue eyes was a tapestry of emotions. Alice blinked, taken aback by

this reaction, but she soon understood.

"Ronie, you…you love Kirito," she said, smiling. The girl covered her mouth

with her hands, face going red from cheeks to ears. She looked away in

embarrassment.

"N-no, I…," she stammered. "I couldn't…I'm not worthy of…I'm just a primary

trainee and a page…"

"Worthiness has nothing to do with it. You're the heir of a noble family, aren't

you? I was born in a tiny rural village, and I don't even know where Kirito came

from…"

But suddenly, Ronie cut her off, shaking her head wildly. "No! It's not that! I…

I'm…"

She lost her voice there, large droplets welling in her eyes. Tiese held out a

comforting hand to support her friend. Her red eyes were wet, too. In a

quavering voice, she said, "Miss Alice…are you aware of the taboo…that Kirito

and Eugeo broke?"

"Er…yes. I heard there was a quarrel at school…and they killed another

student."

Half a year ago, when Alice was a blissfully ignorant soldier of the Axiom

Church, she was quite surprised to receive the arrest orders from the senate.

She could still remember that now. There was no instance in the entire church

record of such a serious taboo being broken before—a student in the city killing

another student?

She motioned for Tiese to continue. The girl asked, "Then…do you also know

how it was that they came to commit that crime…?"

"No, I didn't know that part," Alice said, shaking her head. But then a shouting

voice replayed inside her mind. It was just after she and Kirito had been thrown

out onto the cathedral walls, and she'd claimed that she did not need the help

of a criminal.

He had shouted, "Just because the Taboo Index doesn't outlaw it, should

higher nobles be allowed to torment and defile completely innocent girls like

Ronie and Tiese…? Is that what you believe?!"

That's right. I heard him say their names back then.

The higher nobles he mentioned must have been the students Kirito and

Eugeo attacked. And "defile"…?

Her voice trembling, Tiese explained to the wide-eyed Alice what that meant.

"…Elite Disciples Raios Antinous and Humbert Zizek repeatedly gave our

friend Primary Trainee Frenica Cesky humiliating orders to obey. We protested

to both disciples, but in our anger, we used words that were inappropriate for

our station. Because of that, they executed noble judicial authority according to

imperial law…"

Tiese choked up there, finding it painful to recall. Ronie was already sobbing

faintly. Alice wanted to tell them it was okay and they didn't need to explain

any further, but the redheaded girl shook off her weakness and continued.

"They were going to inflict…an unbearable punishment upon us, when Kirito

and Eugeo used their swords to save us. If we had been just a bit smarter, it

would not have come to that. They wouldn't have fought the church to fix the

law, and no one would have died. We…we committed a crime with irreversible

consequences. So…we don't have the right to express any love to them…"

Once she had finally admitted everything they'd been bearing, Tiese's eyes

flooded with tears. The young girls hugged each other tight, sobbing with a

regret far too terrible for their age.

Alice clenched her jaws and looked up at the skylight cut into the tent. She

believed she understood the corruption and rot that was rampant in the higher

nobles of the four empires. Gluttony, miserliness, and licentiousness.

But the former Alice the Integrity Knight had felt that knowing more would

defile herself in turn, and she'd avoided learning of the deeds of the nobles.

Whatever they did, she did not need to know—as long as no taboos were

broached. She was the protector of the law, summoned from the celestial

realm. As far as she believed.

That silence itself was a sin. It did not violate the Taboo Index, which Kirito

hated so much, but that just made her crime more grievous. These two girls

were many times braver than the one who looked the other way.

Alice inhaled a deep breath and said firmly, "No, you're wrong. You do not

bear any sin."

Ronie instantly looked up. She usually seemed to be hiding in Tiese's shadow,

so it was rare to see her look so intent and plaintive. "You would not

understand, Miss Alice…You are a proud Integrity Knight! But they treated our

bodies like their playthings, and now our dignity has been stained with sin!"

"The body is nothing more than a vessel for the heart," Alice replied, striking

her chest with a clenched fist. "The heart…the soul is the one thing that truly

exists. And the only one who can determine the nature of the soul is the self."

She closed her eyes and turned her mind's focus inward.

When Rulid was attacked about two weeks ago, Alice used the power of her

heart—her power of Incarnation—to regain her lost eye. She herself had

experienced that a strong, dedicated wish could bring about change in the body

without the use of sacred arts.

But that alone was not enough now. She needed to change not her body, but

the clothes around her, with Incarnate power.

She should be able to do it. Kirito had shown it to her before. When he faced

Administrator with two swords, he was suddenly wearing a strange, foreign

cloak of black leather that he hadn't been wearing moments before.

She had to go back. She had to be the old Alice, before she woke up in that

unfamiliar white tower, fighting the unease and loneliness of lacking her

memory and deciding to encase her heart in ice to protect herself from the

pain.

I'm just like you, Ronie and Tiese. I was born a human, I made many mistakes,

and I'm here now because I bore a terrible crime. If the death at Kirito's and

Eugeo's hands was your fault, as you claim…then if I hadn't forgotten my taboos

as a young child and touched the soil of the Dark Territory, they would never

have had to go to the city in the first place.

Yes, that was my crime. Even if I have no memory of it, Alice Zuberg was not

some unfamiliar stranger—she was me. My time in Rulid taught me that much.

Even with her eyes closed, she could sense that a warm white light was

enveloping her body.

Alice's eyes slowly opened.

Her face had been downcast, so the first thing she saw was the skirt she was

wearing. But it was not the pure white of the Axiom Church—it was a blue as

clear as the autumn sky.

Over the skirt was a simple cloth apron. Her golden armor and gauntlets were

gone. She brushed her head, and her fingers touched a large ribbon. It seemed

like her hair was a bit shorter, too.

Then she looked up and into the stunned faces of Ronie and Tiese.

"…There, you see? Your body and appearance are entirely dependent on your

heart."

This transformation was temporary, of course. The moment her

concentration lapsed, she would return to her original knight form. But the girls

would understand. They would realize Alice's and Kirito's and Eugeo's true

feelings.

"Nobody can defile your heart. I should have grown up to look like this in the

little rural village where I was born. But when I was ten, they took me to

Centoria in chains, erased my memory with sacred arts, and turned me into an

Integrity Knight. There were times that I cursed my fate…"

It was an enormous secret, something she had told only Commander Bercouli

and no one else. She believed that these girls were able to bear her secret, too.

"But Kirito taught me that there were things I could and should do," she

continued. "So I'm not lost anymore. I've decided to accept being myself and

keep moving forward."

Alice lifted her hands and squeezed Ronie's and Tiese's together. "I know that

you, too, have your own path in life—one that is wide and long and very

straight."

A number of droplets fell on her hands. The tears ran down the girls' cheeks

and fell, sparkling with a beautiful rainbow prism that had not been there

before.

She gave Kirito one last hug in the wheelchair, then left him with Ronie and

Tiese and exited the tent.

As though he'd been lying in wait, Eldrie suddenly bounded forward, bursting

with compliments. "What a wondrous sight…like the concentrated blessing of

Solus herself…You truly are my mentor, Lady Alice…"

"Don't worry—I'll be covered in dirt and dust again in an hour," she said,

glancing down at her clothes.

The previous transformative effect was long gone; it was just her golden

breastplate and white skirt, shining in the sun. She looked up at the western

sky, thinking that if she came back from this alive, she'd add a piece of blue

cloth somewhere to the outfit.

Solus was already on its descent. There was another three hours before it

vanished over the horizon—and the moment that the Eastern Gate's life would

dwindle to nothing. The three-hundred-year countdown would be over at last.

She had done all she could.

Alice took part in the guardian army's training exercises for five days, and she

had to admit that for half a year of work, the soldiers' ability was admirable. To

her shock, all the soldiers were using consecutive sword techniques that did not

exist in the traditional styles of combat.

Apparently, Vice Commander Fanatio had taught them all the secrets of her

techniques she'd spent years upon years honing. The longest they could

manage was only three strikes, but they would be a valuable tool against the

free-swinging machetes of the goblins and orcs.

Of course, if any dark knights with their own combination attacks showed up,

the soldiers might be outclassed. If you added the dark pugilists with their own

speedy combos, only an Integrity Knight could match up.

The most important thing was not to be overwhelmed by the rush of demihumans who were sure to be first when the gate fell. Next, they had to find a

way to minimize the damage from the ranged attacks of the ogre archers and

dark mages.

The success or failure of this strategy now rested solely on Alice's shoulders.

Her eyes traveled down to ground level again, where she could see several

trails of smoke from the supply corps in the rear cooking up the final meal.

Ronie and Tiese would be taking Kirito back there very soon.

She had to protect them. She had to.

"Miss Alice, it's about time," Eldrie prompted her. She acknowledged him and

pulled back her leg to turn the other way.

But then she stopped and fixed her lone disciple with a firm gaze.

"…Wh-what is it?" the young man asked, a bit nervous.

Alice let her pursed lips relax just a bit. "You've served me well, Eldrie."

"Oh…wh-what?!" the knight yelped when she put her right hand over his left.

"It has been a great help to me to have you by my side. You sought out my

instruction—a newer knight with little to show for herself—rather than a

veteran man like Deusolbert. Was it out of concern for my mental well-being?"

"Wh-why, no! I would never do such an inappropriate thing—I swear it! I was

drawn out of pure respect and admiration for the way you fought…!" Eldrie

protested, shaking his head.

She squeezed his hand harder, then let go and smiled. "It was because of your

support that I was able to walk my rocky path to this day. Thank you, Eldrie."

The young knight's eyes were huge—stunned. Suddenly, large tears welled in

them.

"…Lady Alice…why…do you speak in the past tense?" he asked, his voice

hoarse. "Why do you make it sound as though your path ends here and now? I…

I have not learned nearly enough. Not of the sword, nor of the sacred arts. I am

nowhere near your level. You must be around to train me and guide me to be

better…!"

But just when his outstretched, trembling hand was about to touch her, Alice

suddenly snapped, "Integrity Knight Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-One!"

"Y-yes, ma'am!" His hand froze, and he snapped to attention.

"As your mentor, I give you my final order: Survive. Survive and witness the

coming of peace, then take back your true life and loved one."

Even now, the memory fragments belonging to the other Integrity Knights

and their loved ones, transformed into swords, still remained on the top floor of

Central Cathedral. There must be a way to return those things to their rightful

places and forms.

Eldrie stood stock-still, shedding tears. Alice gave him a forceful nod and spun

around on her heel. Her golden hair and white skirt cut through the chilly

autumn air.

Just before her was the great ravine, sinking into darkness, and the Eastern

Gate within it.

She was about to begin the command for a sacred art so unbelievably grand

in scale that she had never experienced it before. It would be designed to use

every last drop of sacred power in the ravine and deliver a painful blow to the

enemy.

If she got a single word incorrect—or even just let her concentration lapse—

the accumulated sacred power would misfire and likely wipe her from

existence.

But she felt no fear anymore. The last five days had been fulfilling ones as an

Integrity Knight, spent around Bercouli, Fanatio, and Eldrie. And as Alice from

Rulid, she had been able to share half a year with her sister, Selka.

And most of all, by meeting Eugeo and Kirito, crossing blades with them, and

coming into contact with their hearts, she had learned human emotions—

sadness, anger, and even love.

What more could she ask for?

Her armor sliding and rattling, Alice proceeded forward, step by step, through

the army waiting for the arrival of battle.