Yuuki groans slightly as she rubs at her eyes as if waking up from another nap. She shifts off of the bed she was on, yawning and stretching her arms as she attempts to further open her still half-open eyes.
She turns to see her sword in its signature purple and red scabbard leaning against the side wall. She walks over it to pick it up, but as she crouches down to do so, she stops.
What is her sword doing here? Wasn't she back in the Ocean Turtle, just about to full-dive into the Underworld?
The purple-haired girl whips around to observe the room she was in.
To her right was a simple, white rectangular mattress with a white pillow and a thin white blanket which was piled at the bottom of the mattress. She appeared to be in a small bedroom with four pale yellow walls, a nightstand, a small table with a vase of white flowers growing in them, and a single, circular window right on the wall where her bed was up against.
It looked like an inn room from back in the Medieval Ages.
Was she already in the Underworld?
Yuuki crawls up onto the bed to take a look through the room's only window.
Unless time had somehow rewinded a few hundred years into the past, then she was definitely in the Underworld.
Outside, people in what looked like Medieval peasant clothing walked up and down the cobblestone streets. A red-and-yellow chariot ridden by horses clops down the street, carrying a man and a woman dressed in fancy, silk clothing. Lining the streets were wooden posts with what looked like oil lamps hanging from them. Right outside her inn room was a small brick building with a small wooden sign which read TAILOR and had the image of a needle and a ball of yarn on it.
If Kikuoka and Higa hadn't messed up, then Yuuki should be in Centoria, the central city of the Underworld. Which was home of the Central Cathedral, the tower that Kirito was last seen attempting to scale.
Kirito...Kirito was still somewhere in this city. And a good place to start would be in that Central Cathedral place. Where he was last seen.
A quick assessment of her current attire confirmed that she was dressed in an obsidian, dark purple chestplate, a violet tunic, and a red and violet skirt, complete with a red hairband keeping her hair eye.
This was her outfit from back in ALfheim Online. Kikuoka and Higa must've sent Yuuki in as her ALO avatar minus the elf ears. Drawing her sword from its sheath and examining the blade of it further confirmed this.
"Course you couldn't have given me a super-account like that Solus guy or something," Yuuki grumbles. "Now I have to actually manually look for Ki. Stingy bastards. Oh wait, didn't Kikuoka-san teach me how to use system commands? What was the command for viewing the entire command list again? Oh right.
"System call. Inspect entire command list."
A purple screen appears in front of Yuuki. On it were lines upon lines of commands written in a white, digital font.
"Wow, there're a lot of commands," Yuuki mutters to herself, scrolling through the purple screen. "Most of these seem pretty simple."
Then she comes upon a command that, unlike the other commands, was written in yellow all the way at the bottom of the list.
"Eh?" she mutters to herself. "What's this? Some kind of special command? Maybe I should give it a try. Ahem.
"System call! Enhance armament!"
Yuuki waits a moment. Nothing happens.
"Hold on, armament, as in weapon," Yuuki says. "Maybe I need to have my sword drawn to use it?"
Yuuki draws her sword and holds it out in front of her before repeating the command.
Again, nothing happens.
"Maybe the command can only be used on certain weapons," Yuuki says, making the purple screen disappear. "Anyways, I should get started with looking for this Central Cathedral place."
Yuuki opens her room's wooden door and exits it. She then walks down a hallway and into what looked like a rustic bar. The innkeeper, a bald, muscular man with a very sharp-looking mustache, notices her stepping into the inn's small bar and waves at her.
"Hello again, madame!" he says in an almost-French accent. "Are you departing?"
"Um, yeah," Yuuki says.
"Mhmmm, and will you be returning again, madame?"
"Um, I'm not sure."
"Mhmmm, I hope to see you again, madame! Oh, and your payment please."
"Of course, ummm…"
Yuuki attempts to access her inventory to pull out some currency, but finds that she can't. Of course, that was to be expected, since this wasn't ALO, but she panics slightly. How is she supposed to pay the innkeeper?
Then she realizes that there was something in the right pocket of her skirt. Something light, but just heavy enough to draw her attention. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small, brown pouch. Upon opening it, she sees that it is filled with golden coins.
"Um, will this be enough?" Yuuki asks, pulling out a coin and showing it to the bartender.
"Why, madame, this is enough for more than three months of rent, much less one night!" the bartender exclaims, staring googly-eyed at the coin. "Are you sure you want to give me such an absurd amount of money?"
"Well, it's not like I have any other form of currency on me," Yuuki says, sheepishly.
At least Kikuoka didn't drop me in as a hobo.
"Thank you very much, madame!" the bartender says, who looks like he might break out into giggles as he gingerly takes the coin from Yuuki's hand. "Do please come again!"
"Oh, and uh, one more thing."
"Of course. What may it be?"
"You don't happen to know where a place called the 'Central Cathedral' is, do you?"
The bartender eyes her for a moment before running his eyes down her body. Yuuki blushes slightly and feels the sudden urge to cover herself despite being completely clothed. Then she realizes that he's examining her armor and sword. She blushes again out of embarrassment.
"Madame, you don't happen to be an...Integrity Knight-in-training, do you?" the bartender asks.
"No?" Yuuki replies with. "There's just someone I'm looking for who should happen to be there."
"Well, only those on appointment are allowed to enter the Central Cathedral," the bartender says. "So unless an Integrity Knight has made an appointment to see you, then I don't believe you can enter the Cathedral."
"Who are these 'Integrity Knights'?"
"Madame, you aren't really from...around here, are you?"
"Not even close, no."
"Well, the Integrity Knights are the sole defenders of the Human Empire," the bartender says. "The most powerful of men and women, all called down from the heavens by the esteemed Lady Pontifex. They serve the Axiom Church and us citizens, striking down monsters of men and beast alike. You will be lucky to even see one before you reach your days' end."
"So, basically law enforcement?"
"...What?"
"Never mind," Yuuki says, sighing. "Do you know where the Central Cathedral is?"
"Why, it's quite hard to miss, for it is the tallest building in all of Centoria. It can be seen from everywhere."
"Thank you," Yuuki says as she exits the inn.
As she steps into the busy, bustling streets of Centoria, she takes a look around, attempting to find the Central Cathedral.
And it doesn't take her very long to do so. Immediately, she picks out a very, very tall white tower that disappears into the clouds.
"That looks like a good place to start," she says to herself as she starts making her way towards the tower.
"so, what can i do for the two of ya?"
The two knights stop their quiet approach towards the figure clothed in unusual blue robes. They were confident that both their dragon's landing and their approach towards the figure were almost perfectly silent. And even if they weren't, it should've been nigh impossible to determine that there were exactly two of them without taking a glance.
"it's fine if ya don't wanna answer right away," the figure says, still lying on his back on the patch of yellow flowers, the back of his head to the two knights. "we do have all day."
The two knights look at each other. Then they turn back to the figure and draw their swords, the sound of blades of gold and crystal audibly being withdrawn from their sheaths ringing throughout the flowerfield. If the figure did hear the sound of their blades being withdrawn, he didn't give any indication of it. The female, golden knight decides to start off.
"We are-"
"integrity knight alice synthesis thirty and integrity knight eugeo synthesis thirty-two," the figure says. "yeah, i know."
"How do you know this?" the silver knight, Eugeo, asks. "Neither of us have met you before."
"and neither have i," the figure says, getting off the ground and onto his feet. However, he keeps his back turned to the two knights. "but we never needed to meet. i can tell who you are from your souls. that is what gives everyone their own distinct identity. someone's soul reflects everything about them, including their true characteristics and intentions no matter how hard one tries to hide them. now, what can i do for ya?"
The figure turns to Eugeo and Alice. His blue hood was over his face, hiding it in its shadow, but his unorthodox clothing had matched the Administrator's description perfectly.
"Sans, her Lady Eminence, the most esteemed Pontifex Administrator, has brought upon us the duty of carrying out your execution," the golden knight, Alice, says, pointing her golden sword at Sans.
"mmm, at least ya know my name," Sans says. "but do tell, your 'esteemed pontifex administrator' hasn't, at all, specified why she wants me dead, am i correct?"
Neither Synthesis Thirty or Synthesis Thirty-Two reply.
"thought so," Sans says, sighing. "honestly, that was to be expected. well, you two are here to execute me, right? get on with it."
Eugeo and Alice just stare at the figure for a moment. They were clearly confused with Sans's current response so far. He seemed completely confident with taking on the two Integrity Knights, nonchalant about it even. Neither Eugeo nor Alice knew what to make about that.
Alice was first to jump into action. The Osmanthus Knight suddenly darts forward, raising her Osmanthus blade over her head in an overhead slash. Although it was a simplistic attack, she was confident that her power was a lot more than enough to overpower whoever came across. However, Sans doesn't pull out a weapon like she expects. Instead, just as her blade were about to come in contact with his head, he suddenly leans it out of the way, cleanly dodging the slash. Her blade sinks into the ground.
The ground behind Sans in front of her suddenly cracks. She just manages to spin out of the way before sharp, white bones shoot out of the ground, nearly spearing right through her face. Alice swings her sword across her body in a golden blur, a slash that Sans dodges by hopping backwards. He takes a gloved hand out of his right pocket and snaps it.
A dozen sharp, white bones appear in the air above him. Sans points at Alice, firing all of the bones at Alice.
The Osmanthus Knight hefts her sword and swings her sword with surprising speed, parrying all the bones out of the air with ease.
Just as Sans is about to summon more bones from underneath Alice, he suddenly hears a whoosh from behind him.
Eugeo raises his crystal sword, the light-blue blade of it glowing a bright red. He then swings his sword downward diagonally across his body before swinging it again horizontally across his body, a trail of red energy following his blade. He then slashes diagonally again, completing the perfect execution of the Aincrad style's Sharp Nail technique.
Sans dodges around every single slash effortlessly and makes some bones rise out of the ground from behind Eugeo. Eugeo hops to the side, narrowly dodging the bones that were a split second away from spearing him through the chest. From his peripheral vision, Sans sees Alice raise her sword over her head again and bring it down on him. He twists his body, the Knight's golden blade just barely missing the hood of his jacket.
Sans then raises a hand into the air. The ground around him starts shaking and cracking. A wall of sharp, white bones rise out of the ground in a ring around Sans, forcing Eugeo and Alice to jump back and away.
Their breathing was starting to become heavy from slight exhaustion. If Sans was exhausted or tired at all, he showed no signs of it. The figure slowly lowers his hand.
"Enough of messing around," Eugeo says. "I do not know what that demonic Sacred Art that you are using is, but now I see why her Lady Eminence wants you dead. With a force of darkness like you alive, the Human Empire cannot truly be at peace."
"dude, y'know that i've been literally serving as the nearby village's babysitter for, like, nearly a month right?" Sans asks. "i spend almost everyday taking care of children. i dunno, but i don't that's what a 'force of darkness' would spend his time doin'."
"Well, regardless of what you have done, the Lady Eminence still wishes you dead," Alice says. "And it is our duty as Integrity Knights to carry out her orders."
The golden Integrity Knight raises her Osmanthus Blade into the air.
"System call! Enhance armament!"
Golden cybernetic circles of code appear all over the golden blade. The blade then starts glowing before suddenly deforming into thousands of small, glowing, golden four-pointed stars.
Alice swings the handle of her sword at Sans, lashing out at him with the glowing stars like a whip. Sans summons a wall of bones to his side in defense, but the stars easily break through the wall. Sans then summons a bone from the ground underneath his feet, shooting him up into the air. He snaps his fingers, summoning more bone projectiles aimed at Alice and fires them at her. She swings her sword's handle at him, manipulating the flowers into a wave, which easily breaks through the bone projectiles and shooting off towards Sans. Sans manages to avoid the attack by hopping to the ground from his tall bone.
Alice raises his sword's handle, scattering her flowers into the air and raining it down on Sans like rain.
Just as she does that, he sees Eugeo raise his crystal sword into the air then stab the blade of it downward into the ground.
"System call! Enhance armament!"
Large, light blue cybernetic, code circles appear all over the ground, briefly illuminating the ground in a light blue glow.
The ground around him erupts in ice as tendrils of ice crawl across the floor and towards Sans.
With the flowers raining from above and the large waves of ice coming from his sides, Sans knew it was impossible to manually dodge without getting hit with something. And Sans also knew that getting hit with anything would instantly reduce him into a pile of dust.
It looked like he was going to have to break himself out of his current situation.
Sans activates his magic and snaps his fingers.
Instantly, large glowing, light blue bones shoot out of the ground to form a very big tent over him, destroying the large waves of ice surging towards him and protecting him from the flowers falling from above.
The gust of wind that resulted from such large objects all of sudden shooting out of the ground within close proximity to him blows Sans's hood up and away from his head, giving the two Integrity Knights full view of his head.
Sans's head was shiny and purely white with not an inch of skin or single sticking out of the top of it. In place of his eyes were two empty holes, one of which was empty and one which had a glowing, light blue flame burning inside of it. In replacement of a nose, he had an upside down-heart shaped hole and his mouth was permanently split open into a wide, toothy grin.
Sans snaps his fingers. In the air above him, what looked like two large, floating dragon skulls appear. Actually, they were just that: floating dragon skulls with nothing inside of them except glowing, light blue dots in their eye sockets. They both opened their jaws, where large orbs of glowing, light blue energy appear. Then large, glowing beams fire out of their jaws.
The beams shatter through the ice surging towards Sans before following Eugeo's trail of ice back towards the Integrity Knight, destroying more ice along the way. Eugeo pulls his sword out of the ground and holds it out vertically in front of him. The sword then starts spinning like a windmill at such a high speed that it appeared to be more of a shield of light than a sword. The beams hit Eugeo's newly-made shield, but they find no purchase through it. After a second, the beams disappear.
"So this is why her Lady Eminence wants this individual dead," Eugeo mutters to himself as his sword slows down and reappears in his hand as a normal sword. "How did a monster cross into the Human Empire? And I don't remember one like that being in the texts back in the Cathedral."
Alice suddenly hops from the ground behind Sans, her sword having reformed into its usual golden blade. She brings it up across her shoulder as if to swing it downwards again, but then Sans's hand shoots up. She suddenly freezes in midair, mid-slash, her whole body enveloped in a dark blue aura. She then suddenly gets thrown forward, past Sans and into Eugeo, who opens his arms to catch the Osmanthus Knight. Their chestplates collide with a loud clang.
Sans snaps his fingers again. This time, four dragon skulls appear in the air above and around him. They open their large jaws, orbs of energy appearing in them.
However, neither Alice nor Eugeo move as if to dodge.
Instead, Eugeo holds out his sword. It suddenly starts glowing light blue and frigid air looked to be being absorbed into the blade of it. The temperature notably starts dropping.
"Release recollection," Alice says, also holding out her sword.
The golden blade immediately bursts into thousands of glowing, golden flowers just as it had before. The flowers all gather to form a dome around her and Eugeo just as the dragon skulls all fire large, bright beams of energy. The beams all splash harmlessly against the dome of flowers.
Alice then points her sword's handle at Sans, sending the flowers off toward Sans and scatters them all around Sans and the flower field.
"Now you have nowhere to run," Alice says. "Burst element."
The flowers then start glowing with orange light.
Then the whole flower field explodes as all of Alice's flowers burst.
Sans manages to summon a gaster blaster and use it as a shield to protect his whole body from the explosion. Alice and Eugeo don't bother shielding themselves, knowing full well that both of them would receive the most minimal of damage.
Once the explosion passes, Sans makes the gaster blaster shell disappear. Just as he recollects his magic to counterattack, Eugeo suddenly stabs his sword his sword into the ground again.
Suddenly, the whole flowerfield suddenly freezes over, coating every flower and every inch of land with a sheet of ice in less than a second.
"Release recollection."
Vines of ice grow out of the ice and start curling around Sans's legs. Sans reacts by raising his arm summoning some bones out of the ground around him, shattering the ice around his feet. More vines of ice shoot out of the ground and towards Sans. He summons more bones to destroy more of them, but some of them wrap around his outstretched arm. More of them wrap around his legs and side. He suddenly found himself unable to move his arms or legs. Not exactly a preferable situation to be in as Sans's attacks usually required him to snap his fingers or wave an arm in the air.
"Bloom, blue roses."
Buds start emerging from the vines of ice. Then as the buds open up, shiny roses of crystal ice emerge.
Immediately, Sans feels his health drop.
*Sans
*0.9/1
"We're finished here," Eugeo says, pulling his sword out of the ground.
The ice coating the whole flower field disappears save for the ice right underneath Sans, which had the icy vines growing out of them.
*0.8/1
dead by soul-sucking flowers made of ice, Sans thinks to himself. not exactly something i would've wanted to see on my eulogy.
*0.7/1
It was a very unusual time to notice it, but as he watched the two Integrity Knights, who couldn't have possibly been more than just kids, walk back to their dragon, he finally saw a real glimpse of their souls.
Instead of being bright with life and filled with the soul essence of one of the seven traits of the human soul, both of their souls were dull and strangely empty. Empty in a way that should've indicated both of them as dead. Actually, both of them were very similar to monster souls. They were upright as the soul of a human should be, but their souls were just empty, white-bordered hearts.
*0.6/1
In the center of those hearts, though, were glowing, purple objects. Even from the distance apart they were, Sans could both see and feel that those glowing purple items were sucking out their soul's life energy. And without any soul energy, neither of them had a distinct identity.
*0.5/1
their bodies are just empty puppets for someone else to play around with, Sans thinks to himself. who could possibly be capable of that? and why? not allowing someone to live with their own distinct soul, it's monstrous. maybe if i can save these two, i can find out who that person is. but looks like i'm not really in an ideal situation to do that.
welp, guess this is the end of the line for me. i'm sorry undyne, i'll say hi to paps for you.
*0.4/1
Just as the thought passes his mind, four light blue spears suddenly drop from the sky, embedding themselves into the ground around Sans, close enough to him to destroy the icy vines keeping him captive but not too close as to accidentally nick him. The two Integrity Knights, who were about to mount their dragon, stop to turn to Sans.
Eugeo and Alice pull their swords back out of their sheaths, eyeing the glowing, light blue spears around Sans.
"Who-"
Alice eyes something in the sky behind and above and Sans. She suddenly pushes Eugeo to the side and onto the ground, cutting him off, before leaping to the side herself.
A figure then slams into the ground from somewhere in the sky behind Sans like a meteor, releasing a bright, light blue explosion upon impact.
Sans instinctively covers his head with his arms. Eugeo and Alice just hold their swords up to the figure.
The light disappears to reveal what looked like a knight in a full, light grey armor. Although the knight's whole head was hidden away in his helmet, a red pony-tail of hair was sticking out of the back of it and a miniature, light blue fiery spear kept appearing and disappearing through where the knight's left eye would be in the eye-slot of the helmet.
"undyne?" Sans calls. "what're you doing here?"
"I was just engaged in a one-sided conversation with one of the villagers about these Integrity Knight guys that everyone apparently look up to," Undyne says. "Then just as he was talking about dragons, I just happen to see one fly in this direction. I thought it was nothing at first, but when I saw and heard that explosion, I knew you were in trouble."
"well, i'm glad you came," Sans says. "would've died if you hadn't."
"These guys are the ones that almost succeeded in trying to kill you?" Undyne asks, turning to the two Integrity Knights.
"yep," Sans says.
"Who are you and why do you protect this monster?" Eugeo asks.
"Call me Undyne," is all Undyne says, as she holds out her hand.
A light blue, glowing spear appears in the palm of her hand.
Eugeo and Alice get into stances of their respective sword styles. It was evident to Undyne that they were going to soon attack.
"hey, don't kill them," Sans says, walking up to Undyne's side from behind. "just knock'em out."
"Why? Didn't these guys just almost kill you?"
"yes, but their souls, their completely empty save for a little thing that's sucking out their soul essence. but they're still alive. they're puppets, mindlessly following their master's commands. i wanna try to save them."
"How does that concern us at all?" Undyne asks, glancing at Sans for a split second before refocusing her gaze at Alice and Eugeo.
"well, first of all, it is the right thing to do, naturally," Sans says, shrugging. "plus, whatever their master has done to these two, it's purely monstrous. i might be able to find out who is capable of doing this and carry out some judgement."
"Fine, I'll just knock them out."
"I, Integrity Knight Alice Synthesis Thirty, and my companion, Integrity Knight Eugeo Synthesis Thirty-Two, command that you lay down your arms and allow us to peacefully bring you into custody so that we may decide your punishment for protecting this monster," Alice says. "Non-compliance will result in your immediate execution."
"Come on then," Undyne challenges, holding her spear out in front of her defensively. "Come execute me, punks."
Both Alice and Eugeo shout "System call! Enhance armament!" at the same time as both their weapons glow and cybernetic circles and boxes of code.
"watch out, these guys aren't your walk in the park," Sans says, a light blue flame flaring in his left eye socket as he activates his magic. "the one with the crystal sword, if he freezes us with his ice, then it's game over. the one with the golden sword isn't any less dangerous."
"Just worry about yourself, Sans," Undyne says, tightening her grip on her spear. "Let's get this done with."
Meanwhile in the peaceful confines of the Grand Library, far away from where a fierce battle rages like a storm, a young, black-haired boy opens his eyes after a long sleep.
Kirito sits up on his cot and yawns, stretching his arms. He rubs his eyes, looking around.
He was in the guest room that Cardinal had granted him in the Grand Library. The room looked to be tidied up, clean of discarded balls of paper which Kirito was used to seeing strewn all over the floor.
As he sat on his cot just looking around, all Kirito could do was just feel how much more clear-headed he felt. He felt less tired than he ever had in the last month. That constant feeling of anxiousness that constantly chewed away at him was gone. He felt at peace for once.
"Ah, Kirito," Cardinal says, walking into the guest room with a cup of tea in one hand and her staff in the other. "It looks like you're awake. How are you feeling?"
"Really great, actually," Kirito says. "Thank you, Cardinal-san, for knocking me out there. I feel that if it weren't for you, I'd never get a good night's sleep ever again."
"More like a whole day's sleep," Cardinal says, offering Kirito the cup of tea.
"I was asleep for a whole day?" Kirito asks. "Man, I must've been a lot more tired than I thought."
"More than you could possibly imagine," Cardinal says. "Anyways, are you ready to start the day? We have much to discuss, including a skill that might help you if you wish to rescale the Central Cathedral."
Kirito just stares at Cardinal. Cardinal was so against the idea of Kirito attempting to climb the Central Cathedral again before, so why was she even willing to help him do just that? Before though, Cardinal did say that the lack of sleep was rapidly degrading his health. Maybe that was why. The Cardinal really did care for his health. Kirito smiles and nods.
"Perfect," Cardinal says, walking out of the guest room. "Don't be too long on that cup of tea."
A/N: I understand that there are some problems with canonicity here, but this was my thought process: if Alice can use her flowers to aid in a large Burst element blast fired from a large, reflective marble, than I think her flowers should also be able to store and release Burst element. Again, the flowers were just holding up that large, reflective marble with all the spatial energy, but still. Also, I know that Eugeo's Release Recollection is the roses thing, not the vines thing, but I got to add one more line of dialogue, so yay? Anyways, thanks for reading and see y'all in the next chapter!