I'm really sorry for the late update! I've been playing a lot out of my PS4 and hadn't dedicated a lot of time to write. I'll try to be better.
Chapter 23- The Incarnate System
April 18th, 2057
"It's been a while, Ash," Sky Raker said. "I'm happy to see you haven't forgotten me yet."
"A-a-as if I could forget you, Master," Ash Roller said nervously while bowing in respect.
It was weird to see Ash Roller acting this way, far from the usual confidence he portrays. "I guess anyone would be on edge around Sky Raker if she's as strong as Ash says she is," Graphite thought to himself. "But why's she in a wheelchair? It can't be part of her Duel Avatar could it?"
The sky-blue avatar turned her gaze towards the dual wielders. It was so intense that the duo found themselves taken aback for just a split second.
"You must be Graphite Edge and Black Wolf." Her voice was calm like a gentle breeze. "I've heard a lot about you two."
"Really?" Black Wolf questioned. "We're that well known?"
"Of course. As you are both aware, flying in the Accelerated World is an extremely rare ability so if an avatar has that ability, word about them is bound to spread far and wide."
"I see."
Graphite Edge couldn't help but ball his fists in anger. His sister, Suguha, otherwise known as Verdant Fairy, had her wings stolen by another Burst Linker, the new student, Seiji Nomi, aka Dusk Taker. He swore that he'd make Seiji pay for what he did and restore his sister's wings.
"Um…okay then, Master. I-I'll be on my way now."
"Wait, what?!" Graphite and Wolf exclaimed in surprise as they watched Ash roller return to his bike.
"You're leaving?!" Graphite Edge continued. "What are we supposed to do?!"
"How should I know?" Ash Roller replied. "I'm sure you and Wolf will be just fine. I don't know how Verdant Fairy lost her wings, but if anyone can help you get them back, it would be my guardian. Besides, I owed Red Shogun a favor after he got me out of a jam here in the Unlimited Neutral Field."
"What jam?" Wolf questioned.
"You'll have to ask Shogun yourselves. Anyway, good luck!"
Ash Roller turned on his motorcycle, drove it into the portal, and disappeared.
"Why do I have a feeling he wants to raise our popularity enough and get us to betray Nega Nebulus?" Black Wolf wondered aloud.
"Well Ash is a member of the Green Legion, so it wouldn't be surprising if he had an ulterior motive for helping us," Graphite replied. "Not that it would work on us."
Sky Raker giggled. "Other than the way his brain works, the way he talks, and the way he looks, Ash is a pretty decent kid."
Graphite Edge just rolled his eyes and faced the female avatar. "Anyway, Ash said that you were the closest anyone got to flying in the Accelerated World."
"Correct, but I was never able to achieve true flight, like how you and Black Wolf have achieved."
"So, do you know we can get our comrade's wings again?" Black Wolf asked curiously.
Sky Raker didn't answer right away. Instead she gently brushed aside her dazzlingly lustrous sky-blue hair and stared at Graphite and Wolf for a while.
"I'm sorry, but that's impossible," she answered crisply.
"What…"
Graphite Edge was rendered speechless. This was supposed to be how he could help his sister. Now what was he supposed to do? Right as he was about to turn away, Sky Raker casually lifted the hem of her white dress, causing the boys' eyes to widen.
"Please take a look."
Sky Raker's legs were missing from the knees down. The round knee joints drew a supple line up to the thin thigh area, but the calves that should have stretched out below them were not there.
"What the hell?" Black Wolf said in disbelief.
It made sense that Sky Raker would be in a wheelchair if something was wrong with her legs, but for them to be missing? It was bizarre. Every Burst Linker knew that they could take damage by losing limbs during duels, heck, both Graphite and Wolf had lost a few during some battles every now and then. But after the duel is over, those lost limbs were immediately restored once you logged off.
"Did Seiji steal Sky Raker's legs with his special move?" Graphite Edge wondered before shaking his head. "No, that can't be it. Arms and legs are different than special moves and Enhanced Armaments. They're practically vital for a Burst Linker to fight."
"What happened to your legs?" Graphite questioned.
"I chose to cut them off myself."
"What?!"
"I decided that I no longer needed legs, and I had a certain person cut them off for me. However, she knew that it was arrogant of me to do so, and deep down, so did I. Since then, no matter how many times I dive into the Accelerated World, my legs have never returned. Which means…even now inside me, the embers of madness smolder. As long as they exist, my legs will remain like this. I guess you could consider this my punishment for foolishly attempting to achieve the impossible."
"Your…punishment…" Black Wolf said slowly. His thoughts turned to the battle with Chrome Disaster, how his body went rigid as his traumatic memories overwhelmed him. If it wasn't for Kuroba encouraging him to fight back, who knows what would have happened?
"So you can't help us?" Graphite Edge asked nervously.
"I never said that," Sky Raker replied. "I know that you possess the power you need to restore your comrade's wings. Whoever did this must be very powerful, and I believe I know a way for you to confront them on equal terms."
"Really?" Graphite perked up, his hope renewed.
Sky Raker led the duo into the garden with her self-driving wheelchair. There were white benches installed at the edges of the round garden, each in a cardinal direction. They had no backrest, so you could sit facing either way. Sky Raker brought her wheelchair to a stop next to the northern bench, facing outward, prompting Graphite and Wolf to sit next to her.
They both couldn't help but gasp as they saw the incredible sight of an unbroken view of the heart of Wasteland Tokyo three hundred meters below. The government district area in Nagata-cho had changed into immense ruins hewn in red sandstone. The Shuto Expressway curved across the chasm, supported by an arc of piled stones. Even the Imperial Palace could be seen far off into the distance.
However, there was some mysterious black ruins that Graphite Edge could see near where the park where Marth and Kuroba had trained at. He was too far away to get a good look, but passed it off as some random area that was generated with the Terrain.
"I'm glad I finally got to meet you, Black Wolf, Graphite Edge," Sky Raker said suddenly, breaking the silence.
"Um, it's good to…uh…meet you too, Sky Raker," Black Wolf said nervously, causing the sky-blue avatar to giggle.
"No need to be so nervous. Almost eleven years have passed since the foundation of the Accelerated World, and finally a flying ability appears. When Ash told me about you two, I was deeply surprised and also greatly interested. I thought, what kind of spirit…what kind of wounded psyche's scars could realize a power so great as to cut free from the gravity of this world?"
Black Wolf hung his head low, as if in shame. "I'm not sure you want to know. We're more like survivors of a harsh fate if anything else." He was surprised that he was telling this to a Burst Linker he just met, but the words simply came out with ease.
Sky Raker simply smiled and shook her head gently while patting Wolf on the shoulder. "I can't even begin to imagine just what kind of mental scars that Brain Burst read from your minds to create your Duel Avatars."
"Well, aren't mental scars feelings of failure?"
"True, but those aren't everything. Duel Avatars generated from an enormous loss, like a seething anger, without exception, manifest this power as a simple destructive force. One example is that Chrome Disaster, which had brought such monumental calamity to the Accelerated World."
The boys took a sharp breath upon hearing that name. While Graphite Edge was unable to help his friends take down the Armor of Catastrophe due to him dying during the battle with the Yellow Legion, he watched his partner take on his Dark Swordsman persona to defeat the cursed Enhanced Armament once and for all.
"Come to think of it, how did Marth change into his SAO appearance back then? Same for me during the battle with Sulfur Pot?" Graphite wondered.
"Then there are avatars with malice as their source who acquire midrange fighting abilities like a curse, while avatars created from despair often become self-destructive types, hurting themselves to defeat their enemies. Graphite, Wolf, are you aware that not all avatars house destructive powers like those?"
"Sort of," Wolf replied, looking kind of lost.
"I think so," Graphite Edge added.
There was definitely truth in Sky Raker's words. Graphite, Wolf, Fencer and Fairy's wings were not direct attack powers. Same with Ash Roller's bike.
"So your wounds, in other words, is a lack," Sky Raker replied. "A hole in the heart where something important is missing. You both have this futile hole, and you get angry, you resent it, you despair-or you reach out for the heavens again. That choice determines the nature of your avatar."
"Reach…for the heavens?" Black Wolf questioned.
"Exactly. In other words, hope. A wounded psyche is also the flip side of hope," Sky Raker said crisply. "You and Graphite Edge must have more hope for the sky in your heart than any other Burst Linker who came before you two…"
"Except I never wanted to reach the sky," Wolf spoke up suddenly, catching Sky Raker off-guard. "When I became a Burst Linker, I had amnesia. I couldn't remember anything about my past, save for my name." He brought his hand to his forehead and let it sit. "But when my memories started coming back, I began wishing that they had stayed forgotten. I didn't want to remember all the pain and trauma I had went through. All I wanted…was to die so I couldn't cause anyone else any more pain."
"You wanted…to die?" Sky Raker asked in disbelief.
"I did. I thought my death would be the only way I could protect my friends, and make up for the sins I've committed." Wolf lowered his hand and let out a heavy sigh. "Thankfully, Graphite and my guardian managed to snap me out of my despair. My past will always haunt me, but I have to move forward, no matter what."
"I see," the sky-blue avatar said with interest before turning to Graphite Edge. "What about you, Graphite?"
"My experience was similar to my partner's," the metal-type admitted. "I didn't long for death, but the weight of my troubled past threatened to overwhelm me. I wouldn't be surprised if I began having the desire to die had I not gotten better."
"Interesting," Sky Raker mused. "Tell me, do either of you believe that here in the Accelerated World, the force of your will means nothing? That the numerical data prescribed and calculated by the system alone determine any and all phenomena."
Black Wolf lifted his head in confusion. "What are you talking about? We're in a VR game. Are you saying that there's something other than digital data here?"
"This wheelchair."
Her sudden, seemingly unconnected statement made the duo raise an eyebrow.
"Look at it closely. This is not a separate Enhanced Armament. It's just an object, just as it looks, assembled from a chair and wheels. I'm sure you both noticed that it drives itself."
"Y-yeah," Graphite Edge acknowledged, still confused. "Is there like a motor installed into it or something?"
Graphite and Wolf began examining the wheelchair closely but realized there was no type of propulsion device installed anywhere on the wheelchair.
"What the hell?" Black Wolf said in shock. "But how did it move earlier?"
Rather than answering, Sky Raker gently spread her thin hands out to the sides, revealing no control devices on the armrests. Then her wheelchair began slowly rolling backward, wheels creaking.
"You've got to be kidding me," Graphite Edge said in amazement.
The chair pulled even farther back and suddenly began twirling on the lawn before gracefully sliding back and forth and side to side, like a figure skater on ice. Once it finished, the chair stopped neatly in the same position it was in before.
"How was that?"
"Uh…" Both Wolf and Graphite were stumped as to what just happened.
There's no way the wheelchair should have been able to move. The Accelerated World was nearly identical to the real world that it could be considered another reality. All machines required a motive device and all motive devices required an energy source. Ash Roller's motorcycle, for example, had gasoline in its tank and the drive wheel spun because of a chain connected to the engine.
"It can't be," Graphite Edge said slowly. "What kind of force is moving your chair?"
A serene smile appeared on the small mask of the Duel Avatar whose hair was the color of the sky. "My will," she answered simply. "I moved it with nothing more than my willpower."
Black Wolf let out a gasp while Graphite Edge shook his head in disbelief.
"But that's practically ESP! Is that the ability?!"
"I'm not so sure," Black Wolf said as he stood up before walking to the edge of the cliff.
"Wolf, what are you doing?" Graphite Edge said nervously while Sky Raker simply watched.
Wolf didn't answer as he drew Lunara from its sheath. Suddenly he threw the black sword off the edge as far as he could. They all watched as the sword faded into the distance.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" Graphite Edge practically shouted. "It'll take us forever to find your sword! Time we don't have!"
"Just watch," Black Wolf said crisply. The black avatar stretched out his right hand to the horizon.
Suddenly Graphite could barely see a small black object flying towards them at high speed. His eyes widened when he realized it was Lunara as Wolf effortlessly caught without getting knocked back from its momentum.
"Interesting," Sky Raker said in awe. "So you're familiar with this power, Wolf?"
"Sort of," Black Wolf admitted. "I found out about this trick during one of my first duels, but I never really thought about it too much. I just thought about my swords returning to my hands and they respond just like that."
"Why didn't you mention this sooner?!" Graphite Edge exclaimed.
Black Wolf scratched his head sheepishly while returning Lunara to its sheath. "Uh, I forgot."
Graphite Edge just slouched in exasperation. "Seriously?"
"Anyway, Sky Raker, this willpower trick, could it also be considered the power of imagination?"
Sky Raker nodded. "Correct. You catch on quick, Wolf. I'm sure that when you both fly, you have to create strong images of how much you'll accelerate, turn, or even decelerate. Your Neurolinkers reads those thoughts and moves your avatars accordingly."
"Come to think of it, Wolf and I got the hang of flying by imagining virtual bones and muscles in our wings and moving them," Graphite Edge realized.
"Excellent! Now you're getting it. This is the true power that's hidden within us Burst Linkers. Imagine Power. I have total control over this wheelchair through a stable imagining of the two wheels rotating. Admittedly, it did take me quite a long time before I was able to do this, but it's not impossible. Absolutely not."
Again, the right wheel turned with a slight creak, and Sky Raker faced the duo again. When she spoke, she sounded majestic and mysterious somehow, her voice having some sort of echo.
"Those Burst Linkers who manage to attain control via the Image Power System, which lies beneath the Movement Command System normally used to control the avatar, have a name for it. This desire straight from the heart-in other words, your will." She paused for a second. "The Incarnate System."
"The Incarnate," Wolf started.
"System," Graphite finished.
Rias quietly opened the door to her foster son's room, trying not to disturb him if he was asleep. She was wearing light green pajamas and was barefoot. The room was dark, the only light being the moonlight peeking through the small window.
The red-haired woman saw the Blade Eater sleeping peacefully on his bed, though it seems like he forgot to take off his Neurolinker again. Rias simply shook her head with a light smile on her face. She slowly made her way into the bedroom and knelt beside the sleeping teen and simply watched him.
"I can't believe how long it's been since Shiro and I found you unconscious in the park," Rias thought to herself. "You may not say it, but I can tell that you've gotten yourself involved with something big. But no matter what happens, I'll always protect you, Frank."
She thought back to when her foster son had used his powers to protect his cousins from a bear. Unbeknownst to Frank, however, their parents wanted to report him to the government as they saw him as a threat to their children and Japan. Luckily, Rias managed to "persuade" them and the children to forget all about Frank's powers. Also, when Yuniko had emailed her months back about staying at their apartment, Rias was well aware that she was lying about her identity, but she also knew that Frank could take care of himself so she played along. Besides, if things did go south, well, she had ways of getting back in a flash.
Rias eyed her right palm and summoned a red magic circle before it turned into a tiny fire. She simply smirked at the sight. It was easy to manipulate the memories of humans for her. After all, ordinary humans are no match for a demon lord.
"Don't worry, Altena," Rias whispered. "I'll protect the reincarnation of your son. Always."
She was furious with herself over what happened in Okinawa. She had let her guard down thinking Frank and his friends would be safe there, but Arcanos only took advantage of that and plotted to kill the Blade Eater with the Curse of the Shadow Fortress. From now on, Rias refused to lower her guard again. She won't let Arcanos or his allies get anywhere near her adopted son, even if it involves fighting in the virtual world.
Morgan Berlitz was sitting on her bed in her quarters reading a tome that was written in a long-forgotten language. She had light blonde hair that went down to her waist and green eyes, along with slightly pointed ears. She was wearing a blue and black dress that exposed her cleavage and her stomach, and black leggings and shoes. She looked like an eighteen-year-old human girl, but her looks are very deceiving.
Morgan was actually a half-demon, with the other half being fairy. She was born during the Era of Beginning when the gods and sacred beasts still lived. Because of Morgan's heritage, she was extremely powerful with the mystic arts, but she was shunned by both fairies and demons, causing her to live alone for most of her life.
When Zeta, the God of Darkness, began his war campaign to wipe out the humans, the blonde sorceress cast her lot with him. It wasn't because she agreed with the god's mindset. She did it only for her own survival and to secure a future for herself. In fact, it wasn't long until she was named the sixth demon lord. However, there were two demon lords that had rebelled against the Dark God, Rias Morningstar and Altena Umbris.
Morgan didn't really care that two of the demon lords had turned traitor as all it did was give her more opportunities to prove herself and she managed to complete every task she was assigned. That is, until she met him. One young man from a fallen kingdom whose name has been lost to time. Morgan had killed hundreds of humans without any issue before, but for some reason, this one would not die. It was the only battle she had ever lost in her long life. If she actually focused, she could still feel her body ache from the slashes of the young man's black and gold sword.
What was most surprising was that the young man chose not to kill her. Instead he allowed Morgan to teleport away to safety. To this day, the blonde sorceress had no idea as to why he spared her. She chose not to return to Zeta as she knew that failure would mean death. Instead, she chose to hide away in a small cove where she put herself into an enchanted sleep to recover from her injuries and avoid the rest of the war.
The only reason Morgan was here now was because Arcanos, a fellow demon lord, had found where she was sleeping and awoke her. He needed her magical expertise to locate Zarc, the king of the demons and the top demon lord, who had gone missing after his battle with the Dark Swordsman.
Arcanos promised to pardon her desertion if she helped him, but Morgan knew it was a lie. Once she had fulfilled her purpose and located Zarc, Arcanos won't need her alive anymore and he would kill her. Not that she would make it easy for him though.
Despite this Morgan still helped out with locating the missing King of Demons, but it was only out of her own self-interest. If she managed to find a better offer, she'd drop this one in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, Morgan has yet to find such a thing, much less someone worthy of her loyalty.
Suddenly she heard a knock on her door. "Come in," she answered.
The door opened, revealing it to be none other than Blados, who had recovered from his battle with the Blade Eater and his Drivers in Okinawa.
"I see you're looking better," Morgan said, but her voice had no emotion in it.
"Yes, I've managed to recover all my strength thanks to the Dark Springs," the orc replied. "Have you located Lord Zarc yet?"
"Not yet. Tracing spells take time to work and I'm searching the entire planet for him. No one knows where Zarc ended up after his defeat against the Dark Swordsman and there's no personal objects of his that remain that would speed up the process. Even a supreme sorceress like me can't force a miracle to happen."
"I see. Just keep trying. Arcanos might start getting impatient soon. He and the Research Society have big plans for this world."
"I know," Morgan replied. "Speaking of which, did you retrieve what I asked for a?"
"I have." Blados pulled out a small pouch from his armor and handed it to the half-demon, who eagerly accepted it. "You have no idea how hard it was to sneak into the vault and retrieve that without getting caught. I'm a warrior, not a rouge!"
Morgan simply smirked wickedly. "Don't be such a baby. With my talisman, you wouldn't have been seen at all. This thing is better off in my hands than in those fools. They can't even comprehend what they had found."
"Okay, what is it?" Blados asked with little enthusiasm.
The sorceress opened the pouch and emptied its contents into her palm, which was a tiny piece of chrome. "Why only the last surviving shard of the Armor of Catastrophe, of course."
Graphite Edge was at a loss for words as he processed the words "Incarnate System" in his mind. He had never heard of such a system before, not even in Sword Art Online. However, just thinking those two words made him sense a feeling of power from them.
"So, using this 'Incarnate System' can give us the power we need to take back Fairy's wings?" Graphite Edge questioned.
Sky Raker's response, however, was neither confirmation nor denial. "I showed you and Wolf how I can move the wheels with the power of my will. But I could easily do the same thing with my hands, instead of working so hard to focus the image. Do you two see? Using the will as an agent for work is possible to do with the normal control system, but manifesting something with the will phenomena is normally impossible. There is a very wide, deep ditch, no, a vast canyon, between these two concepts. To speak figuratively, it's like hitting a bullet with a bullet in the real world. It's possible, in terms of physics, but the execution is difficult. Extremely."
Sky Raker turned her gaze to the sky. When she spoke again, it was still tranquil, but it had a slight tremor in it.
"I wasn't able to do it. I threw away my legs, my friends. I abandoned everything I could think of, and yet I wasn't able to detach myself from the virtual gravity of this world…I said so earlier, didn't I?"
"Oh, sorry."
"It's fine. Since the beginning, this avatar of mine has had a certain Enhanced Armament. The power to move away from the earth and approach the sky. However, you most certainly could not call it flying. I leapt to an altitude of a mere hundred meters or so through a momentary thrust force, before I simply fell back down."
Graphite thought about the time he and Wolf decided to see how high they could fly with their wings. However, the highest either of them reached was 1500 meters before their fully charged special-attack gauges were depleted.
"I ended up possessed by the desire to someday fly higher, go farther. I spent every level-up bonus on enhancing my jumping ability, and all my time fighting so that could get even more points. The few friends I had, even my guardian, lost patience with what I became and left me. The only person who supported me was my former Legion Master. I tried to be useful to her as well. However, when I reached level 8 and turned that bonus again to my jumping, I realized that it would never be enough to turn Jump into Fly. My desire had turned into a deep madness."
Black Wolf gasped in shock. "You didn't…"
Sky Raker glanced at the Blade Eater and nodded.
"I…I made my avatar itself more lightweight, and in order to enhance my ability to fly using my will, I decided to get rid of my legs, which held my greatest attack abilities. I asked the person who had been both my friend and Master to cut off my legs with her sword. She tried to stop me, but I no longer understood even her feelings… I said some terrible things to her, but she only looked sad until finally she granted my wish."
Sky Raker stroked her knees lightly with her right hand before telling the rest of her story.
"I used all my bonuses, trained my will, and even abandoned my legs to make it impossible for me to walk. The maximum altitude I was able to reach as a result was 350 meters. Three point five times my starting altitude. But I did not reach the sky. I just barely managed to reach the peak of the old Tokyo Tower here, and then I finally understood. That the psychic wounds that were the source of my avatar and my hopes did not have that much power. 'Raker' means 'one who views'. Viewing the sky for a moment at the peak of a parabola…that is the absolute limit of the power given to me. But by the time I realized this, I had lost everything I cared about.
"So, Black Wolf, Graphite Edge?" Sky Raker asked, turning her shadow of a mouth up into a smile. "Even after hearing this fool's story, do you still want to train with the Incarnate System? Even knowing that it's most likely ninety-nine percent impossible?"
Graphite Edge hung his head and bit his lip.
"So there's high probability that Marth and I won't be able to use the Incarnate System," he thought to himself. "If Sky Raker, a level 8 Burst Linker, struggled to gain access the system, what chance do I have?" He then thought about his and Black Lotus's battle with the mysterious Sulfur Pot and how he somehow changed into his Black Swordsman persona to protect his Legion Master. "Hold on, could the Incarnate System be the reason why my appearance changed that day? All I wanted was to protect Kuroba no matter the cost, just like how I opposed Kayaba back on Floor 75 of Sword Art Online. Somehow my memories must have overwrote the reality of this world to change my appearance. The same could be applied to Marth during his battle with Chrome Disaster when he changed into his Dark Swordsman persona. If we could do that just by accident, then that means we can master it."
The metal avatar looked his partner in the eye. No words needed to be said as they both knew what they had to do.
"Sky Raker," Graphite Edge started to say.
"Teach us how to use the Incarnate System," Black Wolf finished.
Sky Raker smiled faintly and cocked her head slightly. "It will take a long time."
"We don't care," Black Wolf said. "This is something we have to do."
"It might take you both much longer than you think. So long that, depending on how it goes, you might reach the Point of No Return as Burst Linkers."
The dual wielders immediately knew what she meant. They knew that the reason why Kuroba and Yuniko seemed quite remote was because they had spent a protracted amount of time in the Unlimited Neutral Field, so much so that a gap between their actual and mental ages had emerged. Now it was their turn to make that decision.
"This wouldn't be the first time either of us have spent an unnatural amount of time in the virtual world," Graphite Edge replied as he balled his right hand into a fist. "We know the risks. But neither of us care. We have to protect our friends!"
Black Wolf nodded in agreement.
"Very well. Right now, in real time, it's a little after nine PM, correct? How much longer can you two stay in the dive in the other side's time?"
"We have school tomorrow so we should be okay for another three or four hours."
"Good. Let's call it a day for now. We'll start training tomorrow morning."
The swordsmen sighed in disappointment but accepted what the sky-blue avatar said. The three of them returned to the house and went inside, revealing that it was much larger than expected. However, it was just one room with nothing more than a small kitchen, a table, and a bed.
It turns out Sky Raker had been making some stew prior to Graphite and Wolf's arrival, but she gladly shared it with them. Naturally the male avatars were confused as to why a fighting game like Brain Burst would have cooking in it, but then remembered the handful of times they came across small bars and diners here in the Unlimited Neutral Field.
After dinner, Sky Raker suggested they get some sleep before snapping her fingers sharply, causing all the curtains to slid shut. Naturally, she would take the bed while Graphite and Wolf will be sleeping on the floor.
"Would either of you like a pillow?" she offered.
"Nah, I'm good." The Blade Eater suddenly changed into his wolf form before curling up on the floor.
"A shape-shifting ability? That's also quite rare. Just who are you, Wolf?"
"No one special," Wolf passed off.
Graphite Edge just shook his head in amusement before morphing into his wolf form as well.
"Interesting," Sky Raker muttered quietly as she looked at the black and white wolves. "I know I've seen Wolf's sword before, but where?"
"Hey, Sky Raker, does Ash Roller know about the Incarnate System?" Black Wolf asked.
"Not completely," she answered. "I've just given him hints. It seems he's trying a variety of things in his own way."
"That explains how the bike managed to stay on the tower," Graphite Edge spoke up. "Are you part of the Green Legion too?"
"No. I have only and will only ever belong to one Legion."
"Let me guess, Nega Nebulus," the black wolf said. "So the person you asked to cut off your legs was…"
"Black Lotus. Stronger, nobler, and kinder than anyone. She's one of my only two friends."
"And who's the other one?" the white wolf asked.
Sky Raker simply smiled. "You'll find out soon. Let's get some sleep."
The Next Morning (Accelerated World)
Sky Raker woke the sleeping wolves up at around 5 AM. After that, they switched back to their human forms, had some breakfast before following the sky-blue avatar outside.
"So now what?" Black Wolf questioned.
"I think the best way for you two to learn how to use the Incarnate System is through battle," Sky Raker replied.
"So Wolf and I have to fight each other?"
The former member of Nega Nebulus shook her head. "No, not that. In order for you two to figure out how to access the Incarnate System, you'll need to be pushed to your limits. Luckily, I called the perfect sparring partner."
Graphite Edge raised an eyebrow. "Okay," he said in suspicion. "Who is it?"
Suddenly a black stone gateway emerged near the house. It had an eerie aura around it. The double doors then opened, revealing a black Duel Avatar who marched out. The avatar was a muscular male and had black armor with green outlines, the helmet resembling a dog with green eye lenses. He had long spikey gray hair and a black tail.
The SAO Survivors were immediately on guard as they sensed a powerful presence coming from the new arrival, who was slowly drawing closer to them.
"Black Wolf, Graphite Edge," Sky Raker said calmly, completely unfazed, "meet your sparring partner… Dark Cerberus."
"Dark Cerberus?!" the duo exclaimed in shock. They instantly recognized that name. Another Burst Linker had warned them several months ago that a powerful level 8 player named Dark Cerberus was looking for the Black King, Black Lotus, for some unknown reason.
Black Wolf balled his hands into fists and clenched his teeth. "Why him of all people?!"
"So you're Black Wolf and Graphite Edge?" Dark Cerberus stated as he folded his arms. "I'm not impressed. I should be grinding for some extra Burst Points, not training some amateurs. The only reason I'm doing this is because I owe Sky Raker a lot."
"Tch," Graphite Edge grunted. "This just got more complicated."
To be continued
And Dark Cerberus finally appears! I'm looking forward to writing his interactions with Marth and Kirito as they battle. And it looks like a certain demon is plotting something. What'll happen next? Well, we'll find out in the next chapter. See you guys next time.