Sword Art Online: Alicization

The Crimson Knight

*Let's Continue Where We Left Off*

Kirito slowly opened a door into a dark room. He peaked inside to see if anyone is inside. After that, he look's at Eugeo and Sonic and gave them an all clear nod. The three then entered inside and closes the door behind them.

"System Call.. Generate Luminous Element."

The room then had light and the three noticed a ton of armory inside the room.

"Amazing... these are all weapons?"

"Let's go. We have to find our swords."

"Here they are!"

Eugeo founded both his and Kirito's sword. Eugeo grab's his own sword while Kirito his as well.

"Glad to see we all have our weapons now once again." Sonic said

"How long are you going to stand there in awe?"

"I couldn't help it. Hey, Kirito. Do you think the Church is planning to build its own army someday?"

"The Integrity Knights alone should be enough. It's the opposite. They're not building an army. The Church gathered all these weapons here to make one impossible." Kirito said

"What do you mean?"

"In other words, I'm saying the person who has the least faith in the Church's authority might be the pontifex herself. Come on, we don't have time. Let's get out of here." Kirito walking away

"Coming." Sonic following him

"Uh, yeah. You're right."

Before Eugeo could leave, he noticed shiny armor standing in front of Eugeo.

"What do you think, Kirito? Should we borrow some armor, too?"

"Well, we've never worn armor before. We should stick to what we know. Let's help ourselves to those clothes over there."

*Later*

The three slowly looked outside the room if no one was there. But moments later, arrows were flying towards them. The three noticed and started running back inside. The arrows hit the door, causing to open up all the way. The three looked and saw the Integrity Knight that was chasing them down, standing on top of the stairs. The Integrity Knight aims his bow at the three.

"Not again." Sonic said

"Burst Element!"

The Integrity Knight fires his bows at them but were blocked from the burst element

"Straight ahead!"

The three all had there swords and were charging at the Integrity Knight.

"Such absurd antics."

The Integrity Knight fires a bow at Kirito but block's it with his sword. The Integrity Knight then takes out more arrows as he fires them up in the air. The three all ran in seprate ways as they blocked a couple.

"Kirito! Sonic! You alright?"

"B-Barely." Kirito looking at an arrow that almost hit him.

"Alright? I'm just getting started." Sonic said

"I'm okay this time."

"Let's go."

"System Call."

The Integrity Knight's bow was glowing red.

"This is bad. That's not an elemental command. It's the Perfect Weapon Control art!"

"Enhance Armament."

The Integrity Knight's had fire aura around him.

"That's amazing. I wonder what that bow's source is?"

"This is no time to be impressed!"

"Not if I stop it."

Sonic started to transform.

"It's been two years since I was last engulfd by the Conflagration Bow. I see. You criminals do indeed have the skills to contend with Sir Eldrie Thirty-one. But that makes it all the more unforgivable. That instead of fighting as proper knight should, you restored to the vile dark arts to lead Thirty-one astray!"

"D-Dark arts?"

"Y-You're wrong! We just talked about Mr. Eldrie's life before he became an Integrity Knight!" Eugeo said

"Before he became a Knight? None of us has a past. From the moment we were summoned here from the heavens, we have always been glorious Intergrity Knights? I've been ordered to capture you alive, so I won't reduce you to cinders. But now that I've unleashed for the Conflagreation Bow, perpare for at least one of your arms to be burned off."

The Integrity Knight summons a fire bow and aims at the three of them. Sonic finally transforms into Excalibur Sonic.

"Come."

"It doesn't matter if he's out of arrows or his bowstring's broken, huh?"

"Any ideas?"

"I have to believe that he can't fire rapidly. Sonic and I will somehow block his first shot, so you charge in."

"Have to believe?"

Kirito smile's at Eugeo. Eugeo then sigh's but smiles.

"Got it!"

Both them got in their positions.

"Get ready, Sonic! Or should I say, King Arthur."

Moments later, Kirito, Sonic, and Eugeo all charged at the Knight.

"System Call! Generate Cryogenic Element! Discharge!"

Ice walls appeared in front of them.

"Ludicrous!"

The Integrity Knight fires the arrow at them. The bow broke every ice wall that was in it's path but not the last ice wall. The bow thrn's into a falcon as it tried to break the last ice wall. It eventually did and start's heading toward's the three.

"Sonic! Now!"

The two spun their swords to stop the arrow from getting closer.

"Keep holding!" Sonic yelled out

Small fire's hit Kirito's clothes and burned away he but didn't stop. Soon, a massive explosion erupted and sending Kirito back but not Sonic. As he landed right beside Eugeo on his feet.

"-Kirito!"

"-Kirito!"

Kirito hit's the wall very hard.

"Keep going, Eugeo! Help Sonic!"

Eugeo soon start's running up the stairs along side Excalibur Sonic. The two then jumped and were about to attack the Knight.

"Don't insult me!"

Everything then turn's into slow motion.

"What now?"

"In this world, the important thing is what you infuse your sword with."

"I wonder what I should infuse my sword with?"

"That's something you need to find on your own."

"Right. That's all that matters. I'm definitely going to rescue Alice this. So... Please, Blue Rose Sword! Lend me your strength! I have to move foward!"

"Excalibur! Lend me more power!"

Both their swords start glowing at they swung their swords at the Knight. The three had their swords slammed together as they were struggling to move.

"More! Power!" Sonic yelled

Soon, the two were slowly pushing back the Knight. Eugeo's hands were burning up as well as his sword.

"You... ever since the world's creation, were forged by the bitter cold blizzards at the top of the End Mountains."

"-Don't let these pathetic flames... defeat you!" Eugeo cried out

"-Don't let these pathetic flames... defeat you!" Sonic cried out as well

Eugeo's Blue Rose Sword started freezing the Integrity Knight. The two then cried out as they both pushed back the Integrity Knight. Both swords start glowing as both charged at the integrity Knight and both swung theirs swords at him. After they awung, blood spewed out of the Knight.

"You're not getting away!"

Both of them charged their swords once again as they swung at the Knight again. Once they swung at them, the Knight feel down and was dead. Kirito stood back up and noticed Eugeo and Sonic standing still. Once everything passed, Eugeo's sword removed the blood off itself and Sonic swing's his sword to remove the blood off it. The Knight was freezing and he couldn't move his body that much anymore.

"Boys, what are the names of those secret skills you used?"

"The Aincrad-style two-hit strike sword skill, Vertical Arc."

"An unknown skill that never should've existed in this world. Excalibur."

"A two-hit strike attack... Excalibur. And you? What skill did you use?"

"Kirito! Are you hurt?"

"I'm okay. I mostly healed the worst burns. And also Sonic, you have blood stains covered in you're armor."

"I'll clean it later." Sonic said

"Old man knight, that was the Aincrad-style defensive skill, Spinning Shield."

"From one end of the realm of humanity to the other... I was sure that I'd seen past that. But in this world, there are still swords I've never see, skills I've never encountered, eh? Your skills were suffused with the weight of years of earnest training. I accused you of using vile arts to lead Sir Eldrie astray, but I was mistaken. Please tell me your names."

"Eugeo the Swordsman. No family name."

"I'm Kirito the Swordsman."

"Sonic The Swordsman. But in this form, King Arthur."

"On the fiftieth floor of the cathedral, in the Great Hall of Ghostly Light, there are several Integrity Knights awaiting you. They've been ordered to not take you alive, but to extinguish your lives. If you charge them head-on like you just did, your lives will be snuffed out in an instant."

"H-Hey, old man. Is it okay for you to tell us that?"

"As I've failed to carry out Administartor's order, I will be stripped of my armor and Divine Object, the proof of my knighthood, and will be frozen indefinitely. So before I submit to such shame, I want you three... to take my life."

The three were in utter disbelief on what ghe Integrity Knight said.

"No need to hesitate. After all, it was your splendid sword skills that defeated me. Me... Integrity Knighy Deusolbert Sythesis Seven."

Eugeo remembered who it was. The Knight that took Alice away.

"Deusol... bert."

Eugeo kneel's closer to Deusol.

"Eugeo?"

"Are you okay?"

"So you're... from back then... You're telling me to take your life? You say it was a splendid battle? She was just... She was just an eleven-year-old girl, and you bound her with chains! You suspended her from your dragon and took her away... so don't say that, after everything you've done!"

Eugeo raises his sword and was about to kill Deusol but he didn't do anything. Kirito and Sonic walk up to Eugeo and put their hands on his shoulders. They both nodded with a no.

"Why are you both stopping me?"

"That old man doesn't intend to fight anymore. You can't raise your sword against someone like that."

"It's not right. He already done fighting."

"He's... he's the one who took Alice away!"

"I'm pretty sure the old man doesn't remember. About taking your Alice away from Rulid Village. He hasn't forgotten, his memory's been erased."

The Knight unfreezes and remove's his helmet.

"It's as the black-haired boy says. I apprehended a young girl and took her away with my dragon? I don't remember doing such a thing."

"You don't remember? It was only eight years ago."

"Old man... I mean, Sir Deusolbert. You were the Integrity Knight in charge of guarding the northern border of Norlangarth. That's true, right?" Kirito said

"Indeed. I oversaw Norlangarth's northern border in District Seven. Yes... until eight years ago. At that time, due to a great feat, I was awarded the duty of guarding the Central Cathedral, as well as this armor."

"Do you remember what that feat was? I'll tell you what it was. Your feat was discovering Integrity Knighy Alice Synthesis Thirty. Administrator gave you credit for bringing Alice to this tower, but she also had to erase your memories of that incident. Integrity Knights have no past. That's because they've been summoned from the heavens. Or so you said. The pontifex must've told you that right after you awoke as a knight. To convince you that was why you couldn't remember anything from before you became an Integrity Knight. But to get you to accept that story, it wasn't just your memories of being a human, but also your memories of any other knight's creation that had to be erased. Because there'd be chaos if a sinner you brought here showed up the next day as a fellow knight."

"I don't remember anything."

"Your precious memories were seized by Administrator, and instead embedded fealty to the Church in you, turning you into an Integrity Knight. You're a human, just like us. Including Sonic."

"Me? A resident of the realm of humanity like yourselves? My memories, manipulated? Unbelievable."

"Hey man, something similar happened to me when I was transported to a different world with a bunch of people from different universes. I was force to fight until we defeated the forces of light and darkness. I'll explain it more some other time." Sonic said

"To think that the pontifex would cast such a spell on me."

"But it's the truth. There has to be something still in your mind. Something like a precious memory no art can completely erase."

"Ever since I decended to the realm of humanity, I keep having the same dream. A small hand shaking me awake, and the silver ring worn on its finger. But when I wake up, no one's there."

"Administrator stole your memory of the owner of that hand and ring. You decide what you're going to do next. Go back to Administrator and accept your punishment, heal your wounds and come after us, or..."

Kirito and Sonic then walked away and going up the next set of stairs. But they stopped, looked back and noticed Eugeo wasn't moving or anything. Eugeo then took a deep breath and put his sword back in its case.

*Later*

"We've been climbing for a while, so how far up are we now?"

"The next floor is the twenty-ninth. Another half hour of climbing and I think we'll reach the fifieth floor he mentioned."

"Sonic, are you going to transform back to your orginial form?" Kirito said

"I decided not to for this journey. You always have to be prepared for anything that comes in our way." Sonic said

"Anyway, Are we going to charge straight in?"

Kirito sat down on the stairs.

"Well..."

Kirito take's out some food out of his clothing.

"Where's those come from?"

"Great! Im starving."

Eugeo and Sonic grabbed one each and started eating. Sonic took off his helmet and eat's peacefully.

"Based on the battle with that old man, they're not used to combo moves. More like they have almost no experience. I'd like ti think we have a chance if we can get into one-on-one close combat. But not only are we uo against multipl enemies, they're also waiting for us fully prepared."

"Then should we look for another route, instead if going straight in?"

"I just realized I could've just flew all the way up into the 100th floor." Sonic face palming himself

"I don't know about that. Cardinal made it clear that these stairs were the only way. And even if we did find a shortcut, we could still get caught in a pincer attack later on. I'd rather take out the knights on the fiftieth floor, even if we have to use the ace up our sleeve." Kirito said

"Right. The Perfect Weapon Control Art." Eugeo said

"Yeah. Maybe the instant we charge onto the fiftieth floor, we can strike first with the Perfect Weapon Control art and neutralize as many knights as we can."

Sounds good to me." Sonic said

"Uh, about that... My Perfect Weapon Control art isn't a direct attack like that Integrity Knight's."

"R-Really?"

"Well, Cardinal wrote the command for me, so... I mean, I was the one who imagined what kind of technique it should be..."

"Well, let me take a look at the command."

"O-Okay."

Eugeo give's the command list to Kirito and look's at it.

"I see. You're right, I wouldn't exactly say it's for offense, but depending on its use, it'll come in handy. And it seems like it'll be compatible with my Perfect Weapon Control art. Even Sonic.

"Really? What's your skill like?"

"You'll have to wait and see."

"And this form... is not the ture form." Sonic said

"Really?"

"Yea. You'll see it somehow later." Sonic said finishing what he was eating

"Can't wait to see that as well, Sonic. Now then, should we..."

Eugeo noticed someone on top of the stairs. It was two little kids. They both ducked down as they were noticed by Eugeo. They peaked once again moments later. Kirito and Sonic looked up at the kids.

"You two... who are you?"

The two of them looked at each other and nodded. They then showed themselves.

"Th-They're kids?" Eugeo

To Be Continue...

"Next Time: The Relentless Knight." Kirito and Sonic as narrtors