Chapter 15 – Mission
11/14/380
With the sun rising, Alice's cover in the forest was finally broken. She could no longer hide using the darkness of night, and the shadows of the trees could only mask her presence to a limited extent. She had already served her purpose here in the forest, doing her best to distract the armies of the Dark Territory so that it would be easier for the Human Army to escape their predicament. And she was sure that many of their enemies had been distracted by her presence, as the ruckus around her during the night basically confirmed her apparent popularity. Alice didn't have any estimates as to how many of the Dark Territory's forces had foolishly followed her into the woodlands that she escaped into, but with the number of enemies she had managed to strike down, she could tell that it was an inordinate amount.
By the time the rays of Solus were about to strike the ground, Alice had shaken off most of her enemies, silently preparing for her own escape to return to the main fight. Rather, she should say that it was the sun's rays, since Solus was a fictional deity conceived of by the creators of this world, meant to deceive all who were born and raised in the Underworld. If her enemies were no longer directly on her tail, then it would be best for her to slip out of the forest unnoticed and head back towards the rest of the Human Army. She didn't want to spend another moment stuck in this forest; returning to the real fight was her number one priority.
She looked down at her Osmanthus Blade, now dirtied and marred with countless splotches and streaks of blood. Some of those red bits had already dried, since they had already been there for hours. Not all of it had dried, however, and blood was still freely flowing down from the tip of her sword. Alice quickly realized that she would need to clean off her blade to prevent herself from being tracked. Besides, all the bloody residue would only work to reduce the Life of her sword, and she did not want her lifeline being eroded by what remained of her enemies. Finding a couple of large leaves on a nearby tree, she stripped them cleanly, then proceeded to wipe off the leftovers from the previous hours of battle.
It was only when she squatted down to do this work that she realized just how exhausted she really was from the night of running around and fighting in the dark. Unfortunately, now was not the time for her to waver or relax. Resting here could result in being caught by those of the Dark Territory who she did not manage to strike down, and that wasn't exactly a future she was fond of. Besides, the more time she spent loafing around here in the woods, the more likely it was that her enemies would be able to encircle the entirety of the forest. If that situation came to be, she had no doubt that she could fight her way out and escape, but it would only lead to having all the Dark Territory's troops on her tail.
To be honest, Alice was not even sure of the status of the situation that she left behind to slip away into the forest – though she wanted to believe in the strength of Bercouli, Kirito, and the other Integrity Knights as well as the soldiers of the Human Army, there was a legitimate chance that by the time Alice returned, she would no longer have any allies. Of course, she did not want to think in such a pessimistic way, but Alice knew that she would need to prepare herself for the worst possibility, no matter how much she believed that it would not come to pass. She could only pray that her gamble of trying to pull the enemy away rather than fighting alongside the rest of her comrades had turned the tides in her allies' favour.
Alice crept around the forest quietly, being careful not to let her armour make any noise as she moved. Gently moving around on the tips of her toes, she made her way back towards the northern edge of the forest. In her mind, it made more sense for the Dark Territory to assume that she would continue her journey further south, so Alice figured that she would have a better chance of shaking off her pursuers if she travelled in the opposite direction. At this point, it would be better for Alice to act as bloodlessly as she could, avoiding killing any of the Dark Territory who were attempting to track her down. Even if she was capable of slaying every single one of the enemies that she encountered without a single sound, she would still have the issue of not knowing what to do with the armour and weapons of those she struck down. Of course, their bodies would return to the sky in a shower of golden dust, which may be concealed in this dense forest, but the metallic objects that they carried would not leave the ground with their bearers. Unless she decided to carry with her all the armour that was left behind, she would end up creating the most obvious trail behind her.
It was at times like this where Alice truly regretted her physical features. Blond hair that stood out among the green trees, golden armour which shined with even the slightest hint of sunlight, a deep blue cape which was unlike the colour of nature all around her; even before she took her first step, it was evident to Alice that she stuck out like a sore thumb. And so, she dedicated herself to becoming as stealthy as possible while she traversed north, back towards the remnants of the Great Eastern Gate. She had already completed her mission of serving as the ultimate distraction, and she proud to admit that it seemed as if she had done quite a fine job.
Nearby rustling and footsteps prompted Alice to be on her highest guard. There were enemies nearby; she needed to do everything that she could to avoid being detected by them. Sneakily hiding her body behind a nearby tree, she held her breath, not even daring to make the slightest movement as her enemies passed by her. Judging by their sounds and their steps, she guessed that this was likely a group of goblins. During the night, she had struck down whole swaths of goblins, orcs, and ogres, but she caught no sight of the Dark Knights or the Pugilists, the two groups who were the Dark Territory's strongest fighters. That likely meant that the main army had to contend with these extremely tough opponents.
Finally, the footsteps of the small group of goblins faded and mixed into the sounds of the trees. Quite fortunately for Alice, it was an unusually windy day. The whistling and rustling of the leaves provided some auditory cover for her as she travelled, so unless the enemy had exceptional hearing, she would probably be safe as long as she did not show herself or stumble and have her armour pieces clash against one another. At the very least, she figured that shedding her cape would aid her goal of remaining hidden, and so she quickly tore it off and threw it up into the trees, making it look like she had made that place her resting place. Alice truly did not want to abandon her suit of armour, given that it was not only an excellent piece of workmanship, but it was also something that she had carried with her ever since she had become an Integrity Knight. The only other two constants in her life were her Osmanthus Blade, and Bercouli, who served as a mentor to Alice.
Alice chuckled, her body shaking silently with laughter which was fully tainted with disbelief, as she thought about the many miraculous events which had led to her presence here in the middle of a forest, just south of the Great Eastern Gate. No one would have been able to convince her that there would come a day when she would be sneaking around through a forest, facing an army of Dark Territory forces many times greater than what she could handle all by herself. Even if it were Administrator who had been the bearer of this news, Alice would have most certainly scoffed in her face, because the absurdity of this situation wasn't something that anyone could believe. Couple that with the information she had received from Kirito regarding the truth of the creation of this world… every single thing she had known and believed in had been torn apart as easily as she could fell a tree.
No matter how insane the sequence of events which had led up to her present situation, Alice knew that she could not get caught up in the sheer improbability of the position she was in. This was the present she was facing, and she would have no choice but to do her best to get out of it. Getting back on her feet, Alice continued to move forward bit-by-bit. Any time she heard or saw any sight of her enemies, she immediately looked for the thickest tree that she could hide behind, before attempting to fully conceal herself behind that natural barrier. It looked as if the Dark Territory was still confident that she was somewhere in the forest, given how erratically their troops were moving through the heavy brush. Alice knew that she would need to quickly escape before one group's random actions were able to catch her movements, destroying all the careful effort she had taken to lose her enemies.
Hours passed. If she had to be honest with herself, Alice found it difficult to track the time while she was busy escaping and hiding. The half-hidden light of Solus was the only thing that she could rely on, but all she could gather was that it was already past noon. It looked as if she still had a few hours before nightfall, so Alice would need to ensure that she escaped before she needed to use a torch to find her way around. As she looked straight ahead, she still saw no sign of the trees thinning out, hinting at the fact that she still wasn't even close to the edge of the forest. Alice wordlessly encouraged herself to keep going forward, continuing to travel north until she finally reached the place from which she entered the forest. Only then could she fully regain her bearings and prepare to rejoin the defence of the gate. Until that happened, she had no choice but to keep her legs moving, and keep her presence hidden to the best of her abilities.
The red light of the setting sun was finally permeating from the northern edge of the forest. At last, Alice had finally reached the edge, and she was finally able to make her escape. She firmly believed that she had not alerted any of her enemies of the fact that she was heading north, so hopefully the armies of the Dark Territory would still be searching for her in a place where she no longer was. The longer they fell for this simple ploy, the better. Truthfully, Alice wasn't sure where to go. She had no idea whether her allies were still being surrounded by the Dark Territory, or if they had managed to break the encirclement and counterattack, or if they had already perished. Based on the original plan, by now, everyone should have already retreated into the heart of the Eastabarieth Empire, fleeing in the direction of Centoria. She would need to see for herself what the result of the battle was.
Shielding her eyes with her gloved right hand as she exited the forest, Alice peered into the distance, trying to determine what fate befell her friends in the Human Army. But all she could see was a vast expanse of wasteland, where there was nothing and no one. No signs of life, neither human, demi-human, animal, or plant. Only rock and dust remained, blowing ceaselessly in the wind, floating through the skies with no end and no beginning in sight. Even the rocks wavered in the presence of the breeze, with nothing standing in the way to defend against nature's fury. Straining her eyes towards the ground, Alice noticed that there were things other than rocks being lifted into the sky – what looked like planks of wood, and some discarded weapons. Alice immediately knew that these were the leftovers of the battle which had occurred here while she was absent. Feeling another pang of guilt knowing that she was not able to be with her allies in this time of great need, she trudged ahead to see if she could piece together the chronology of the battle.
The wooden planks which were rolling on the ground as a result of the wind looked to be from the supports of the tents which built up the Human Empire's camp. With nothing left to cover them up, they were uprooted and thrown around to no end. At this point, Alice could strike one possibility off the list – no matter from which angle she looked at the battlegrounds, it was nothing but a former battleground, with the fighting long finished. And judging by the fact that the camp had been dismantled, it wouldn't be too far of a stretch to say that the Human Army had at least not come out as the losers of this battle. She doubted that the Dark Territory would even care to remove what was already built if they had been the victors. They would either trample through it, or simply leave it to be. The same could not be said if the Human Empire were the ones who were on the offensive now, but Alice doubted that after so many days of hard fighting, they still had the strength and energy to push forward and invade the Dark Territory's land. Besides, what would they gain from it? A land of desolation was all that lay to the east of the Great Eastern Gate, and gaining control of that region would not be worth the effort required. Alice knew that this was the main reason why the Dark Territory had always longed to invade the lands within the End Mountains, though now it seemed that their Emperor Vector also had other goals.
Besides, conquering the Dark Territory's lands was never part of Bercouli's plan to escape from the perilous situation. In the end, it left only the outcome of a successful escape, and Alice's observation of the dismantled camp supported that hypothesis. They likely had enough time to load everything up and send it off towards Centoria before the Dark Territory was able to break through the lines. The surprisingly low number of abandoned weapons and broken-down armour somewhat perplexed Alice as well. By no means were there very few of these, but it was much less than she had expected. It looked like neither side had suffered all too many casualties, though Alice was still disturbed knowing there might have been a few soldiers she could have saved had she been there.
As she pondered this, she gradually turned her body to face the west, towards the direction that she needed to travel. That was when her eyes were fully assaulted by a mysterious thing plastered across her entire vision. To describe it in the simplest words that she could, it was a mass of white marble that extended forever in all directions. As to how it originated, and how it came to rest in that location, Alice genuinely had no idea. Any Sacred Art that could possibly create such an incredible structure must have taken ages to activate, and this art still would not have been able to build it in an instant. It would take many, many years as the marble spread from the epicenter to finally fill up the entire sky. A mere seven days ago when the battle had just started, there was no evidence of the existence of this wall.
Thus, Alice was led to believe in the actions of a divine being. One of the Gods, perhaps Stacia, the Goddess of Creation, must have come down to this world in order to put a stop to Emperor Vector's evil machinations. However, Alice was aware of how these Gods were nothing but a farce created along with this world in order to deceive its residents. In essence, it likely meant that someone from Kirito's world had transported themselves into this world, under the guise that they had all the authority of the Gods of the Underworld. Momentary relief washed over her heart, knowing that there were those on the outside who were at least supportive of the continuation of the Human Empire. However, immediately after that, rage coursed through her veins as she thought about how this invasion of the Dark Territory could have been stopped by those who controlled every single aspect of the world.
Thoughts raced through her head as she began to think of other possibilities. If there was someone from the outside who had infiltrated and joined the ranks of the Human Empire to help support them in the fight, then wasn't there the possibility that another person from the Real World could have done the same thing in joining the Dark Territory? If Stacia, the Goddess of Creation, was in fact controlled by someone else, then maybe… Alice shuddered at the thought, but she forced herself to face the potential truth. Maybe it was Vector who was also controlled by someone from Kirito's world, the world which she knew nearly nothing about. The most powerful beings in this world, aptly controlled by those who were, quite frankly, unaffected by whatever fate befell them here – it was conceivable that their true identities could only be those who were free from the shackles of life in this one.
Whatever the case may be, the undeniable fact was that there was now at least one being, person or god or something, who possessed power beyond any limits that Alice could even dream about. And despite knowing that they were essentially human beings born of another world, she couldn't help but shudder at the ridiculous amounts of power they managed to hold in the palms of their hands. If they so wished, they could instantly end Alice's life. Even the Pontifex Administrator did not strike fear into Alice like the thought of this unknown someone. At the very least, Administrator could still be considered somewhat "human", even if she had already thrown away that identity: all her incredible feats and shows of power were rooted, albeit by a single strand, in reality. The creation of this wall in such a short amount of time without any noticeable preparation was simply impossible, at least to Alice's knowledge; Alice ravaged every single corner of her brain to come up with some explanation as to how this could have been done, but everything she could fathom led her to believe that it should have been absolutely impossible.
To describe it in the best way that she could, it looked like someone had literally overwritten existence. Within a certain portion of this world, anything, whether it would be air, the ground, the clouds, or perhaps even living things – they were all transformed into white marble. It followed no rules, no process from the Sacred Arts; it had to be something above that. Because if the laws that supposedly governed this world were followed, there may not even be enough Sacred Power in all of existence that could allow such a structure to be constructed. Immediately, the thought of Incarnation, a technique taught only to the Integrity Knights, came to mind. But would anyone's willpower be so overwhelming that they would be able to rewrite the fabric of existence itself? It made more sense to describe it instead as a power that was simply from beyond this world.
Regardless, there was no point for her to stand and stare at this mass of marble for all of eternity; Alice tried to piece together the events of the previous day based on what she could see. This wall stood a bit further west from where the Human Empire's camp had been stationed, so she could stand to accurately guess that the wall had appeared during the Human Army's retreat westward. It was likely that the encirclement had been broken, but still, they couldn't get away from the pursuit of the Dark Territory. But because the wall had materialized out of thin air, the two armies were separated, and it created an opportunity for the Human Empire's forces to retreat towards Centoria.
"That makes sense… right? So now that means the Dark Territory is very likely running through the Eastabarieth Empire, trying to catch up to everyone in the Human Empire who managed to slip away."
Alice muttered to herself as she tried to rationalize her thoughts, yet she still found it somewhat difficult to believe the words that came out of her mouth. If there truly was someone with the ability to create this wall out of nothing, then the tides should have been instantly turned. It wouldn't have been a wise choice to go on a full offensive, but at least Bercouli could have ordered all the troops to regain the stronghold that they held at the Great Eastern Gate. The fact that Alice now stood amongst what was left of the camp indicated that this was not the choice that was made. So, the choice for her was obvious. Taking one last look around her to see if there were any resources she could gather before making the journey off to the west, she began to head in that direction.
She knew not where her dragon Amayori was. Every single one of the Integrity Knights' dragons were tasked with keeping the Dark Knights at bay, the strongest fighters at the Dark Territory's disposal. It was either that, or they were busy making sure that the retreating Human Army did not get overwhelmed by the pursuit of the Dark Territory's troops. But, with the wall now appearing out of thin air and forming a gap between the two sides, the dragons would likely either be trailing the troops or returning to Centoria as quickly as possible. Regardless, it looked like she would not be able to expect any support from her friends in the sky. She was on her own until she returned to Centoria, but she expected minimal resistance until she got closer to the city. And so, her only option was to head west to hopefully reunite with everyone she cared about, and to meet this mysterious helper who likely came from the other side – Kirito's world. Maybe this being would even be acquainted with Kirito himself, and travelled to this world in order to help him out.
11/17/380
It was times like the one she was currently experiencing when Alice truly regretted being on foot. It wasn't that she couldn't physically walk; she was an Integrity Knight, and thus at the peak of physical fitness. It also wasn't like she was just feeling lazy and wanted to take a rest. There was no other reason than the fact that it took an insanely long time to travel on foot from the edge of the Human Empire to its capital Centoria. It had already been two days of constant walking for Alice, and she honestly had no idea what the remaining distance was between herself and Centoria. It was originally her goal to travel through the night, but her mission in the forest had robbed her of more energy than she had initially predicted. Begrudgingly listening to the pleas of her body, Alice had taken ample time to rest instead of continuing her journey throughout the night.
The disgusting terrain of the Eastabarieth Empire was truly the greatest hindrance to walking on foot. Wet and muddy, Alice's full-metal armour served no purpose but to cut through the mud and cause her to sink much easier than she would have liked. It was utterly repulsive, having to pull her feet out every single step. The only saving grace was that she was able to see where someone, whether Human Empire or Dark Territory, had travelled, since their footprints were saved into the shape of the mud. There must have been many who travelled along this route, as the ground was completely ruined to the point where she was unable to tell what the topography had looked like before this mass exodus had occurred. Along the way, all that she was able to spot were what looked like abandoned wagons sunken in trenches. No matter who it belonged to and who had emptied it out, there was nothing of value that Alice could extract from them.
Unlike the original battlefield at the Great Eastern Gate, Alice couldn't find any sets of armour left on the ground without their owners; clearly, not much fighting had occurred when one army was pursuing the other. Unfortunately, even after travelling so far, she still could not catch a single glimpse of either her allies or her enemies. All she had ended up seeing along the way were villages which had been ransacked from head to toe; houses with doors torn down and walls broken apart, it was clear that the Dark Territory had come through this way and robbed any life from the villages themselves. But Alice could do nothing but pray that the Human Empire had gotten here first and evacuated its citizens, as according to the original plan.
Alice finally arrived at a landmark that she was able to recognize on the map: the Corough river. Though it had been a long while since she had looked at a map of the land here in the Eastabarieth Empire, there were a few iconic landmarks which had stuck with her. First, and obviously, was the Great Eastern Gate. Next, the Corough river, which acted as the main throughway here in the east and allowed goods to be transported throughout the land. And finally, was the waterfall of the Corough river which ran through the "central" town of Alario. Equally fortunate and yet unfortunate, she was now fully aware of how much longer her journey to Centoria would be.
However, as she approached the town, something struck her as odd. Alice quickly noticed that the banks of the river were much lower than they normally were, running deep in the channel rather than being nearly level with the ground around it. There was also something missing – the sound of the waterfall. She could hear no crashing of water, almost as if the waterfall itself had ceased to exist. Something, some phenomenon, must have completely disturbed the natural flow of the river, making it so that the river's flow had been redirected, with much of it flowing elsewhere.
And when she finally neared the gates of Alario, the pieces of the puzzle finally all fell into place. She could see some strange thing, wedged firmly in the upstream portion of the waterfall, effectively drying the entire waterfall so that it was nothing more than a sheer cliff face. Instead, the whole town was being bombarded by a constant flow of water. It was like the streets themselves had all become small rivers themselves. Some of the river's water managed to make its way back to the river basin, but at least half was flowing out of the village, away from the river, being absorbed by the already wet ground. At this point, the ground was probably less solid than liquid. Anything short of a boat probably wouldn't be able to make its way through.
Unlike the previous villages Alice had walked through, Alario did not look like it had been ransacked to the same degree, probably because the streets were essentially inaccessible from all the flooding. Still, Alice couldn't understand what series of events could have led to the barricade which had redirected all the water into the town. It wouldn't make any sense for the fleeing villagers to do this; it was also extremely unlikely for them to have the power to do this too. Shielding her eyes from the sun to see what it was that was strewn across the riverbed, Alice was still unable to make it out. She would need to climb up to the higher elevation to get a better glimpse of it.
As the surrounding areas were completely waterlogged and would be next to impossible for her to walk through, Alice decided that the best course of action would be to climb up the rocky wall face which was the structure of the waterfall itself. There weren't many handholds, as the whole wall was rather smooth, but it wasn't an impossible task by any means. At least she had some things to grab onto and could easily make progress up the wall instead of hanging on for dear life.
It's just like that time… when we were on the edge of the Central Cathedral back in Centoria. It almost feels like an eternity ago, that first time I had encountered Kirito here. If he hadn't caught and held onto me, I would have already lost my life.
Alice couldn't help but reminisce about the very first moment she could remember her life being saved by someone else, where her life was completely in another's hands. It had only been only about half a year ago, yet it had already melded into the backdrops of her memory, even though it wasn't an experience she could forget that easily. Every single time she thought about Kirito, she could feel a myriad of emotions barraging her heart and mind. He was the person who had saved her from certain death after the combination of their attacks had torn a hole through the side of the presumably unbreakable Central Cathedral. He was the person who had helped her regain herself from the brainwashing of Administrator. He was the person who had fought Administrator, an essential god in this world, to a standstill, even if he was unable to truly defeat her in the exact sense of the word. And he was the one who had revealed the secrets of this world to herself and Bercouli, divulging in truths that Alice would have never fathomed with her own mind.
Ultimately, he was the one who was arguably the strongest swordsman she had ever met. Sure, one could make an argument about how the statistics showed that in the mock battles between himself and Bercouli, his opponent had a clear advantage in win-loss ratio. However, Alice had seen them spar in the past, and Alice had seen Kirito's true strength in the battle against Administrator. She was quite confident, certain even, that Kirito wasn't truly using his full strength when he sparred against Bercouli. However, she could easily tell that Bercouli was still being pushed back, being forced to release all his skills, strategies, and strength, stopping just short of releasing his power of Incarnation. Which, of course, she was sure that Kirito was fully capable of performing as well. It was the strong, those with incredible powers of imagination, who were able to bolster their fighting prowess and break past their normal limits.
One night, when Kirito was elsewhere eating dinner with the soldiers that he trained rather than Bercouli and Alice, the two of them had had a discussion regarding the mysterious individual with whom they had become so well acquainted. Even though they now knew where he was from, it was still difficult for them to wrap their heads around this other world that Kirito came from. Neither of them doubted the credibility of his words; it was simply a foreign and nearly impossible concept to them. But Bercouli had mentioned how it felt like Kirito had so much experience fighting with his life on the line. It didn't make much sense to Alice – Kirito had mentioned that his world had grown rather peaceful in the last fifty years or so of its history, so how was it possible that someone who lived in that era would have the misfortune of having to constantly fight for their lives? It wasn't a question that neither she nor Bercouli felt comfortable asking about, but Alice trusted Bercouli's analysis of the situation. The more she thought about it, the more the evidence supported that claim. The very fact that he, along with his friend, Eugeo, were able to climb up to the 80th floor of the Central Cathedral all while besting the various Integrity Knights who were sent to stop them was a spectacular feat. And though Bercouli had praised the swordsmanship of Eugeo, Alice could reckon that without the guidance his partner Kirito, Eugeo would have never managed to achieve so much in such a short period of time.
It was like Eugeo had the natural talent to go very far, but Kirito had all the base knowledge and information required to build a strong structure. And Kirito had imparted that expertise to Eugeo, allowing him to grow at blazing fast speeds. Of course, that wasn't to discount Kirito's skill with the sword, as the simple observation was that he was leagues ahead of any other soldier, and even above the Integrity Knights in terms of skill. Alice shuddered to think how strong Eugeo would have been as well, had he not perished. Alice had only barely glimpsed his true ability during the confrontation against Administrator, but he had held his own against Bercouli, and had even been able to encase him in ice, effectively defeating him in battle. If Eugeo were here fighting with the rest of the Human Empire, it might have been possible for them to hold the Great Eastern Gate without having to forsake the entirety of the Eastabarieth Empire and retreat to Centoria.
By the time her mind had finally cleared itself from these thoughts, Alice had finally clambered up to the top of the waterfall. Standing at the top with a clear vantage point to flooded buildings and streets down below, she was finally able to see what sort of destruction had befallen the village. She was also able to see the mysterious object wedged in the waterfall. Quite frankly, it looked less like a solid object and more like an amalgamation of something which had hardened to block the river from its surface all the way to its depths.
Looking down on the half of the town situated next to the lower side of the waterfall, she could make out many indicators of a battle. Helmets, chest plates, swords, and spears among other things littered the streets, some still trapped on the roofs of buildings, while others were caught on the structural supports of the buildings. She hadn't paid much attention to it as she followed the Corough River upstream towards Alario, but now she could remember spotting some of these things along the riverbanks as well.
It didn't seem like there was much to look at other than pieces of metal strewn about the streets. Anyone who had fought and perished here would no longer be present in this world, having been whisked away to whatever the afterlife was. Maybe there was none. Maybe they just simply disappeared into thin air when their lives expired. At least, the memories of their existence were not taken away from those who were still living, and they lived on knowing that someone who had once associated with them would no longer stand alongside them. Disappointed, though she had anticipated this exact outcome, Alice turned away to begin heading further westward, towards Centoria. But suddenly, a string of purple cloth fluttering in the waters filling the town below brought her attention back to what stood underneath her.
Where there were clothes, there were living beings. Alice, unfortunately, had witnessed many beings, both human and inhuman, lose their lives in this war. Because of this, however, she with absolute confidence that when something with life finally expired, everything that was normally on their bodies would disappear along with them. That meant their shirts, pants, and whatever footwear they were wearing as well. Things they did not normally carry with them, like armour and weapons, were untouched in this world, the only difference now being that their owners had gone and left them behind. So therefore, a bit of purple cloth would indicate someone, or something, who or which was alive. As Alice hurriedly descended back down the path she had originally clambered up, she silently hoped that this survivor would be a soldier from the Human Empire, rather than the Dark Territory. Regardless, she would be able to get the story of what had happened out of this organism.
And when she finally reached the place where the cloth was fluttering from, Alice sighed in relief upon seeing the person's face. Yes, person. She could instantly tell, just by looking at her attire, that she was not one of the humans who lived beyond the borders of the Human Empire. And on top of that, Alice recognized her face. She was one of the soldiers who had come to defend the Great Eastern Gate as part of the Imperial Guard. Though the two had never interacted before, Alice always kept her eyes on the lookout for standout swordsmen and swordswomen. This woman, who looked to be currently unconscious, was one of those who would be considered quite extraordinary when compared to the other soldiers, regardless of seniority. Alice could easily see that she was one of the special ones, along with a few others who were likely also graduates of the Swordcraft Academies.
The fact that her body had not broken down into golden dust to be carried off by the wind indicated that she still had Life within her. She had fought a difficult battle here and had managed to keep her life among all the chaos. If there was anyone who would be able to tell Alice what she herself had missed, this person would likely be one of the best candidates. Carefully, Alice moved the rubble which was keeping her locked in place; she should really be thanking the rubble for allowing this woman to be stuck in the city, or else she might have been washed away and drowned. Alice also quickly realized that it may not be the best idea for her to be stuck here in the bottom half of the village, in the case that the other troops from the Dark Territory arrived. Like this woman here had been, she would be stranded without many options of escape. Besides, she now had someone else to keep safe, which would be extremely difficult in this terrain that made movement nearly impossible. It would be best to head back up the waterfall, and rest for a while in the dry part of the town.
It took a lot more effort to lug another person up the rocks on the side of the waterfall, even though Alice already knew the path well and had experience climbing up herself. After a bit of hard work, she was finally able to do that, setting down the woman strapped onto her own shoulders. Immediately afterwards, Alice worked to apply some healing magic to replenish the life of the woman who was still lying on the ground unconscious. Alice guessed that it would be at least a little while before this woman was able to open her eyes again, so Alice took the time to explore the upper half of the village and check if there was anything that she had missed which could potentially be useful to her.
Even after checking through every single house, and roaming the streets, the sun's position hadn't changed much. Alario truly was a small place, a town where every single person undoubtedly knew all their neighbours. The number of streets could be counted on one hand, and it took Alice no more than an hour before she had explored all corners. Then returning to where she had laid the woman down to rest, Alice was met by a pleasant surprise. The woman, no longer lying down on her back as Alice had so left her, was instead now sitting upright, alert and aware of her surroundings. As soon as her eyes caught sight of Alice who was returning to her, she quickly rose to her feet and saluted.
"Esteemed Integrity Knight, I sincerely thank you for saving my life. Had you not intervened and pulled me out from the waters below, my life would have been over. You have my greatest thanks."
Even now, it was odd for Alice to have someone initiate a conversation with her. Most were simply content to answer whatever the Integrity Knights asked, without bothering to ask anything of their own. As such, Alice felt more like an investigator than anything, seeing as she would only get a response out of people if she took the time to ask a question. However, this woman was clearly different. She even exuded an interesting aura. One not of arrogance, but of confidence, even while facing someone who she likely knew was far stronger than she herself was. No, confidence wasn't exactly the right word for Alice to describe this person in front of her… perhaps madly curious was a better term for it. Alice wasn't quite certain how exactly to pin her finger on what made her feel this way about the woman standing in front of her, but that was something she was willing to put aside for now in lieu of more important topics.
"Do not worry about that. I am glad to see that someone else from the Human Empire has survived, so I can find out what has happened. How has the retreat towards Centoria been progressing?"
"What remained of the army had been split off into many small portions, each travelling in a different direction, so I am unable to brief you on the status of their progress. However, as you can see, the group I was travelling with, which was led by Integrity Knight Warrick, was attacked by the Dark Territory. We used the town of Alario as a defensive stronghold, hoping to halt or at least slow down their offence. Integrity Knight Warrick decided on the plan of damming the river and letting it flood the city, while some of us would have baited the Dark Territory's forces into entering the city gates. As I had fallen unconscious after the water crashed down into the city, I do not know how well the plan worked out."
Finally, Alice was able to gain a bit of information which was not purely speculative, but instead came from factual experience. It wasn't too far off from her expectations anyhow, but it was still nice having some sort of confirmation. Regrettably, it wasn't the whole story, as this person had not been able to witness whether the plan to ruin this group of the Dark Territory's troops had succeeded. And as she thought this, Alice realized she had no idea who she was speaking to.
"I understand. Thank you for your service and hard work. Forgive my rudeness, but it does not seem like I know your name. I am Integrity Knight Alice Synthesis Thirty."
"My name is Sortiliena Serlut, member of the Norlangarth Imperial Guard and recent graduate of the Norlangarth Swordcraft Academy."
"Norlangarth Swordcraft Academy… could you possibly be acquainted with a young man named Kirito?"
A light shock appeared on Sortiliena's face, seemingly reacting to the name that Alice had spoken. Quickly, she nodded her head before responding.
"Yes, in fact I do. He was actually my underclassman valet back when I was a student at the Academy. If I may ask, Knight Alice, how are you familiar with him?"
Alice knew that she could not tell the truth of how she had gotten to know Kirito; there was a very good chance that Sortiliena did not even know of the crime that Kirito had committed which had brought him to the jail of the Central Cathedral given that she had graduated before his incident had occurred. That didn't even consider the fact that he had risen in rebellion of the Axiom Church, before defeating anyone who had stood in his way, fighting against the Pontifex, then vanquishing her. Of course, if Alice divulged in those details, it would also make known her own betrayal against the organization that effectively ruled the entire Human Empire.
"That is… a rather long story. I do suppose that you could wait until a more appropriate time to hear the whole account. Perhaps you could even hear it from his own mouth. We do have more pressing issues to consider now, so let us instead focus on those."
Sortiliena looked the slightest bit dissatisfied, but that expression disappeared nearly instantly from her face, being replaced by an expression filled with seriousness.
"Absolutely. We'll leave that for later, but I do hope to hear about it one day. What shall our course of action be?"
Alice walked up to a nearby tree and snapped off a twig from the lowest branch. Then, taking that stick, she traced out a map of the Human Empire in the dirt, roughly charting out where some of the major landmarks were. She highlighted the Great Eastern Gate, the Corough River, the town of Alario, and of course, Centoria. After finishing, she marked a cross through Alario, before turning her face to Sortiliena.
"If what you say is true, then at least a portion of the Dark Territory's army has passed through this town. It would likely indicate that they are heading towards the capital city of Centoria, ready to invade at a moment's notice. Do you recall which group it was that you were fighting against?"
"I was only able to spot orcs as part of the assault group, but there may have been others scattered throughout. However, I didn't see any Dark Knights, or Pugilists, and no Dark Arts users either. The wall must have split up their forces as well, so I do not imagine that they are in the same structured units that came to assault the Great Eastern Gate."
"I see. Well, let's assume that there are many more of these smaller Dark Territory groups. It won't be possible for us to stop them all; there are simply too few of us here to do that. We could stop this specific group which attacked Alario, but then the other ones would reach their destination regardless. I doubt there are many others, if any, who are in this situation where they can find themselves behind their enemies."
Alice stopped to take a quick breath, racking her brain to think about the best course of action to take. As she already pointed out, it simply wouldn't do them much good in trying to slow down this one group of Dark Territory's forces since all the other ones wouldn't come across this issue. In that case… maybe it was best for them to make haste to Centoria, arriving to help bolster the defensive forces. That was probably the wisest response to their current predicament.
As she was about to enunciate her ideas to Sortiliena, Alice began to feel a strange rumbling underneath her feet. It was different than the rhythmic drumming that the waterfall created; it was a far more aggressive sounding beat. Quickly, she peered off into the eastern distance, as her eyes scanned the horizon trying to search for the source of the sound. And her eyes easily found out what it was that was producing this vibration in the ground. A massive vehicle, barreling its way westward despite the marshy conditions. Alice would have thought that such a thing would easily sink into the wet soil, but it looked to be completely ignoring the fact that it should not have been able to traverse these conditions. Or perhaps it was simply so large that it had sunken all the way through the mud to the rocky ground beneath.
Whatever this thing was, it was monstrous. Decked out like a massive ship, only to be driving through the difficult terrain like a carriage that was powered by a beast of a monster. Its size couldn't be compared to anything that Alice had seen before; the only things that Alice had observed which could match the sheer size of this thing were those which fundamentally were unable to move. Every fibre of her body told her to reject the information that her eyes were giving her. It was almost like she wanted to believe that it was some sort of illusory magic, but the fact that her eyes were able to see it along with her body feeling its effects probably indicated that this was nothing but the truth, and it was quickly approaching.
"What… is that?"
Alice could hear the curiosity sinking out of Sortiliena's voice as she said that. Though she asked the question, Alice could tell that Sortiliena did not really want to find out what that thing was. Like Alice herself, Sortiliena was silently hoping that the massive ship-like structure was nothing more than a hoax. It was something outside the bounds of this world, something that simply should not exist based on the rules and laws which governed it. If Alice had to describe this feeling building up in her, it was akin to when she had first laid eyes on the seemingly infinite marble wall which Alice could still see on this clear day in the setting sun. To put it simply, it was something which must have been the work of the Gods; the work of those who came from beyond this world.
Based on her previous speculations, Alice had already gathered that there was a good chance the wall had been built by a human from Kirito's world, who had come to this world as one of the Underworld's Gods; she was likely known here as Stacia, the Goddess of Creation. Then, who would be commanding this freakish ship? Alice doubted that it would be Solus, the Goddess of Light, or Terraria, the Goddess of Land. Based on its overall dark colour, there was a possibility that it could be Lunaria, the Goddess of the Moon, but she was always known in legend to be much of a pacifist, who would have no business involving herself in a war. Of course, if she was being controlled by someone else, it could be possible that this predictable demeanor would be completely thrown out the window, so the possibility that Lunaria had joined the Dark Territory's cause couldn't be completely weeded out. However, the very likely culprit would be Vector, the God of Darkness.
From a superficial standpoint, the colour of the ship already matched his description. She had also heard the stories of how Vector had always been the one to oppose the other three main Goddesses, choosing to favour the residents of the Dark Territory rather than the Human Empire. However, it was something which Alice had experienced herself which led her to believe that this ship was the work of the Dark God Vector. It was because of those words which were spoken by those two goblins, mentioning how Vector wanted to have the Radiant Medium brought back to him. At that time, Alice had determined that it was very likely that she herself was this Radiant Medium that was so sought after by Vector, and had decided to distract the enemy by moving to the forest.
Alice doubted Vector's omniscience and omnipotence, even if he was one of the Gods. If he truly could do anything, then the Human Empire's efforts to hold the Great Eastern Gate should not have been as successful as it were. The Dark Territory, led by Vector himself, should have been able to crush the defensive lines of the Human Army without breaking a sweat. There was a good chance that Vector did not know that Alice, the Radiant Medium he was so desperately looking for, had fled into the forest south of the battlefield. So, when he laid eyes on the battlefield and found out that his foes had fled back to another stronghold, it was natural to assume that the Radiant Medium would have followed suit. In the end, it looked like Vector's assumptions would be accurate. Besides, Alice figured that Vector's ultimate goal was the conquest of the Human Empire, with the capture of the Radiant Medium being more like a side quest than anything else.
"I would suspect… that this ship-like thing belongs to the Dark God Vector. He is the one leading the Dark Territory's forces in their attempt to conquer this land from us."
As Alice finished speaking and turned to Sortiliena, she saw the other woman stiffening at hearing the name of the Dark God. It looked like regardless of who it was, whether the regular soldiers of the Human Army, or the Integrity Knights who oversaw managing and leading it, they all had that same adverse reaction to hearing this name.
"It looks like the Gods have given us a great opportunity to turn the tides of this battle. We are so very close to the command center of the Dark Territory. If we can sneak into the ship, there is a chance that we could do something that could help out the rest of our comrades."
Sortiliena looked very apprehensive, pensive about the words that Alice had just uttered.
"Pardon my skepticism, but is it really possible to do this? There are only the two of us, and though you are an Integrity Knight, I am just a regular soldier of the Human Army. How could it be possible for us to infiltrate their headquarters and do anything? We'd be instantly swarmed by guards."
Alice looked over to Sortiliena, who was beginning to lose her courageous outlook.
"Sortiliena Serlut. First of all, I believe that is a massive understatement of your abilities. I have seen you in combat training. You are well above the average soldier, your strength equivalent to many others combined. There are few others who I would rather have at my side, and I feel extremely fortunate that I was able to find someone as capable as you to embark on this dangerous mission with me. I believe that there is no conceivable way that the Dark Territory would expect someone to be brazen enough to charge into their most fortified place. And because we literally number two, it would be difficult for them to track us down if we are careful with our movements."
Alice paused for a moment, the wind fluttering through her hair. Slowly taking a breath, she continued.
"Besides, we don't have much of a choice, do we? The ship will surely catch us before we can make it back to Centoria, all because of this disgusting muddy land. If we are caught out in the middle of nowhere, we either die or become prisoners. Why not tempt fate and enter the ship not as a captive, but as someone who is free to do whatever she wishes?"
Alice quirked her brow at Sortiliena, looking at her expectantly. After a moment of silence, Sortiliena raised her face with a small smile on her face.
"Yes, that's right. It would be better to enter that mobile fortress without our hands and feet bound together. Let us work together to achieve that goal then, Integrity Knight Alice."
A/N
So, it's been an incredibly long time since the last chapter, and really all I have is a "long" list of "reasons" (excuses) for that.
- Built my PC (it's so nice not having to wait literally 20 seconds for a Word document to load)
- As usual, watched the World Junior Hockey Championship (Go Canada!)
- Nearly broke my PC a couple times trying to update BIOS and changing boot settings after installing everything and not having backups
- Got back into reading a bunch of light novel series which I had been putting off for the last year or so
I guess another reason was the fact that I kept on changing the way that this chapter would play out. And because of what's on the page now, I need to re-plan the next few chapters again. I swear the next chapter won't take this long to come out (I believe it's been nearly 8 weeks between this one and the last?).
My friend who helps me edit was also mad that I took so long so it looks like I'm letting everyone down (yikes).
Until next time :)
