Combat was a repetitive pattern Sans hadn't had to experience ever since his escape into the human world and from the genocides in the Underground.
And for some reason, he was relishing in the thrill of it. Something he wouldn't exactly pride in due to considering himself as a rather peaceful monster.
As the golden Integrity Knight in front of him threw attack after attack at him, Sans would respond by dodging every attack and counter attacking with either bones or blasters. The knight would then either block Sans's attack with her flowers or simply dodge it. The fight had become more of a stamina battle.
It was rather boring in a way. After all, to the skeleton, fighting involved doing two main actions: dodging and attacking. That was it. How did those combat nuts in Undyne's anime not get bored with this? But yet again, they were animated characters.
Not too far away from the two of them, Undyne and the silver Integrity Knight were locked in an intense clash of spear against sword. The air was frigid as a result of the Knight having his sword's Perfect Weapon Control art activated and the blade was still glowing with pure, frigid energy. Ice was scattered all around the two of them and steam rose into the air everytime the two of them clashed, but neither of them seemed to be injured much at all.
The four of them were locked in stalemate battles.
It was then when Integrity Knight Alice Synthesis Thirty, the golden Osmanthus knight, decided to attempt to end all things once and for all.
All of Alice's flowers pool at her sword's handle, forming a large ball of swirling, golden flowers, something that caught Sans's attention.
great, what's she doin' now?
"Cursed monster of the darkness, you have done well to last until now," Alice says. "However, this is when you meet your end.
"System call, generate luminous element."
Immediately, the ball of flowers explodes outward, as if it were a large balloon popped with a large needle. Then the flowers all scatter all over the flower field like Alice had them do before, making Undyne and Integrity Knight Eugeo Synthesis Thirty-Two stop their fighting and turn to Alice. However, unlike last time, the flowers were all glowing with very bright white light. They looked like small, four-pointed stars.
"No, Synthesis Thirty!" Eugeo shouts. "Not that! You won't survive the backlash of it!"
"It is our duty, Synthesis Thirty-Two," Alice says. "We are the Integrity Knights. And if we don't completely dedicate even our lives to protecting the citizens of the Human Empire by vanquishing the forces of darkness, then we don't deserve such a title."
Sans saw, at that moment, that the golden's knight blank and empty soul, for just a second, flashed dark blue. For just a second, Alice's soul glowed brightly with Integrity. Then, the life energy all got slowly sucked into the peculiar purple object in her soul, once again emptying it of all of her life energy.
This girl, her purpose of wanting to kill Sans may have been severely misplaced and based off of nothing but a command from her superior, but her claim of dedication held nothing but truth. Whatever she did, she truly believed it was for the good of the Human Empire.
That gave Sans more incentive to save her. To restore her soul.
"Goodbye, monster," she says, swinging her sword's handle downwards.
Immediately, all of Alice's flowers started glowing even brighter with pure, white light. Just from feeling the energy of even one of those flowers, Sans knew that just simply forming another gaster blaster shield to protect himself wouldn't be sufficient enough to protect himself from the blast. Whatever magic was packed into these flowers, it was powerful enough to deal some very, very serious damage.
However, Sans also had an ace up his sleeve. A very powerful attack that sapped life energy straight from his soul. It was risky on a fatal level for him, considering that he had only one health. It was either risking his death or just flat-out dying. Plus, Sans knew that the strength of the blast wouldn't just kill him and Alice, it would also kill Undyne and Eugeo. It was either do this and risk getting himself killed or risk getting himself and everybody else killed. A single death was better than four.
Plus, this girl's integrity, he wasn't going to let it go to waste.
"soul manipulation is the strongest form of magic that has ever existed," Sans says, holding out his hand. "because the soul is so powerful that without it, no matter who you are, even if you were a god, you wouldn't be truly alive. it is the strongest generator of magic that an individual could possess."
A glowing, white upside-down heart appears in his hand. However, in a flash of light, the pure white peels away to reveal a glowing dark blue.
Undyne couldn't help but just stare in wonder at the glowing soul of Integrity in Sans's hand. She had never actually seen a human soul before. After all, it was Asgore who killed the six fallen children and harvested souls. She never thought she'd ever get to see one in her lifetime, much less on a monster. It was most beautiful thing she had ever laid eyes on.
"you're so dedicated to your mission, so dedicated to protecting those who put their lives in your hands, that you're willing to sacrifice yourself to vanquish what you think is a threat," Sans continues. "you're integrity is large, even for a human. it'll be a crime for me to just let you kill yourself so readily. to accept a death that you clearly don't deserve."
Then, all of Alice's flowers, once again, explode.
Selka Zuberg skips down the path towards her home, a basket filled with freshly-picked vegetables around her shoulder and a wooden bucket of water in her hand. Outside, her father was attempting to pacify Mr. Barbarossa, who was barking something indiscernible to the village chief. The green-haired economist seemed to be in yet another one of his rants to get Selka's father to accept some proposal that would make him more money, as usual. Selka waited for him to leave before continuing her way towards the home.
"Ah! Selka!" Gasupht Zuberg says. "I see that you're back!"
"Yep!" the girl chirps. "I've picked out some vegetables. Also here's water from the well."
"Thank you, Selka," the village chief says, taking the bag of vegetables and the bucket of water from his youngest daughter. "What are you going to do now?"
"I don't know," Selka says, folding her arms. "Maybe I will-"
Suddenly, a loud boom goes off. Both Selka and Gasupht, along with the other villagers around, turn to see a large pillar of white light rising over the buildings and the trees of the forest southwest of the small village.
"What the..." the village chief starts, staring wide-eyed at the pillar of light.
"Such a powerful luminous Sacred Art," Selka mutters.
Then the pillar slowly fades away before scattering away into particles of shiny, white particles. Soon, even those faded away.
For just a few seconds, the whole village seems to freeze, eyes fixed in the air where the pillar of light had risen to.
"M...Maybe it's just an Integrity Knight on business," Gasupht says. "Let's get back to our business."
"Y...yeah," Selka says.
Alice had her eyes closed upon triggering the Sacred Art.
She had never dared to even consider using this particular move. After all, she knew that the energy would burn up her body, leaving no remains of her. However, the monster she was fighting against was powerful enough to warrant risking using such a move.
As the Sacred Art triggered, she expected to feel searing heat rip her body to shreds and reduce it to nothing. She wouldn't mind having nothing of her remain in this world if it meant that she could kill this monster.
But as she felt the light envelop her, instead of the searing heat that she expected to feel, she felt absolutely nothing. Nothing at all.
When the luminous Sacred Art ends, she opens her eyes.
The first thing she notices is that the whole ground is glowing dark blue and light green. All the flowers in the flower field, instead of showing off their usual bright, golden color, were all glowing with blue and green light. They looked completely undamaged, their petals waving around as tiny particles of light rose from their petals.
The next thing she noticed was that her whole body was enveloped in a dark blue and green aura. Right in front of her, floating just in front of her chest, was a glowing green and blue heart.
Looking around, she saw that everyone else in the flower field was enveloped in the same aura. Eugeo and the knight he was fighting, like Alice, were wrapped in green and blue auras with glowing green and blue hearts floating in front of their chests.
Sans, however, wasn't wrapped in the aura. The flame in his left eye, which usually was just a light blue, burned with a small dark blue and green flame. His arms were outstretched an he looked to be breathing heavily and sweating slightly.
This monster had erected some sort of protection Sacred Art. That was plainly the reason why Alice was still alive. What puzzled Alice was that he had chosen to protect everyone from Alice's Sacred Art, not just himself and his companion.
Why?
Sans's arms fall to the side as his eye sockets close before he suddenly falls forward. He falls to the ground, unconscious.
The blue and green aura disappears from Alice, Eugeo, and Sans's partner as well as the glowing hearts. The flower field also stops glowing as the flowers all revert back to their usual ripe, golden colors.
"Sans!" the knight shouts with a woman's voice Alice notes.
A cloud of dust kicks as the knight disappears from in front of Eugeo. She reappears between Alice and her companion, her glowing blue spear raised in the case of defending a potential attack from the golden knight.
However, the attack never comes.
Alice's sword suddenly drops from her hand and clatters to the ground.
It was foolish of her to forget that the Sacred Art she had just procured would exhaust her. She no longer felt that she had the energy to even swing her sword once more. Before she knew it, her darkness fills her vision and she, too, falls to the ground.
"Alice!" Eugeo shouts, running over to his fallen companion.
He picks her off the ground and hastily draws out an S in the air with two fingers. A purple screen appears in front of him, listing out Alice's stats. Her durability, strangely enough, hadn't gone down, which made Eugeo exhale in relief before withdrawing his sword again to face the knight in front of him.
Undyne, having confirmed that Sans was sleeping soundly, turns to Eugeo, her spear having reformed into her hand.
"So it's just the two of us now," Eugeo says.
"Pretty much," the knight says.
"Let us finish this quickly then," Eugeo says, raising Blue Rose Sword, the blade of it glowing with frigid energy.
At that, the two knights launch themselves, both determined to take the other down to bring an end to the battle.
"So what do you think, Kirito?" Cardinal asks, looking up from the parchment in her hand.
Kirito stands among the cleanly-sliced remains of dozens of training dummies, created from the tap of a staff from Cardinal, in the Grand Library's main chamber. He was breathing hard a little and there was a trickle of sweat ran down his forehead.
He sheathes his signature black sword and rubs his hands together.
"Your Fury's Vengeance is a powerful sword skill," Kirito says. "Thank you for this, Cardinal-san. However, it can be very, very easily broken though. Although I will keep this move in mind for use whenever I may need it, it doesn't fare very well against the Aincrad style. I don't think it will be very effective for if I have to fight Eugeo again."
Cardinal just nods.
"However, there is something that may help," Kirito says, unstrapping his scabbard from his belt and examining it in his hands.
"What is it?" Cardinal asks.
"I think it's time that I start using the more...advanced side of the Aincrad Style," Kirito says, drawing his sword from its purple scabbard.
"The more advanced side?" Cardinal asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Cardinal-san, are you capable of creating divine weapons?" Kirito asks, turning to the small librarian.
"No, I do not have the authority to do that," Cardinal says. "The only person capable of that is Quinella. Why do you ask?"
Kirito doesn't respond. He just keeps staring at his sword's scabbard. For a minute, silence floods the Grand Library.
"One more question, Cardinal-san," Kirito says finally. "Do you think there might be divine weapons in the...Central Cathedral's armory?"
That makes Cardinal raise her eyebrows at the young swordsman. She just stares at him through her small, chestnut-brown eyes as if considering whether she should tell him or not. Kirito was pretty sure that she already knew where he was going with this.
Finally, she sighs before closing her eyes and pushing her small glasses up onto her nose with a finger.
"I can't give you confirmation, but I believe there should at least be one divine weapon that the Administrator has confiscated in her efforts to prevent an army forming without her supervision," Cardinal says.
Kirito just nods. He then straps his sword and scabbard back onto his hip before turning to look at the Cardinal.
"How about we drop by there to take a look?" Kirito asks.
"Going back into the Cathedral you mean?" Cardinal asks.
"Yes," Kirito says. "I want to try to find at least one more divine weapon."
"You still haven't told me why yet."
"You'll find out later," Kirito says. "Anyways, are you able to open a doorway directly into the Cathedral's armory?"
The librarian just stares at Kirito. Kirito knew full well that Cardinal was able to do just as he asked. He just needed to know how comfortable she was with allowing Kirito to enter the Central Cathedral, even if just to drop by for a little bit in one of the not-as-dangerous lower floors.
Despite the usual, placid expression on her face, Kirito knew that she was debating whether to tell him or not. The Grand Library is, once again, flooded in silence.
After a few minutes of silence, Kirito just sighs.
"Well, it's fine if you don't want to do it," Kirito says. "But this-"
"I can do it," Cardinal says, cutting Kirito off. "And I shall do this for you. However, only under the condition that you will not leave the armory under any condition. Any condition."
"That's all?" Kirito asks.
"That's all."
"Great!" Kirito says. "Let's go now."
"Now?"
"Now."
Cardinal closes her eyes and sighs. Then, she taps her staff on the floor beside her. A wooden door with a glowing, golden outline appears out of the ground. The door opens to reveal a glowing passage behind it.
"This should lead us directly into the armory," Cardinal says.
Kirito nods and prepares to step through the doorway. However, Cardinal blocks the way with her staff.
"One more thing, if we are caught in the armory, then we will immediately take this doorway back here, regardless of whether you have found your divine weapon or not," she says. "Am I clear?"
"Crystal," Kirito says, holding up the OK sign at the small librarian.
The Cardinal just stares blankly at the gesture. Kirito sighs before putting his hand down and walking through the doorway.
"As basically the base for whatever passes as law enforcement around here, this place was awfully easy to break into," Yuuki says, as she practically strolls through the empty rose garden path.
There was nothing separating the Central Cathedral's outside garden from the rest of Centoria except a small black-iron gate and fence, which she easily hopped over, and a sign saying that all trespassers would be executed on the spot according to something called the "Taboo Index." It sounded important, but Yuuki would find out about that later. After all, it couldn't be too important, right?
Definitely not as important as finding Kirito though.
"Synthesis Thirty-One, this will be your post for now," she hears a woman's voice say just before turning a rose hedge.
Yuuki immediately stops and puts her back against the rose hedge. Thank the stars for her enhanced senses.
"Again?" she hears a man say.
"Yes, again," the woman replies. "Her Lady Eminence isn't comfortable with how easily those fugitives dealt with you."
"But that black-haired swordsman, how could I have defended against his dark magic?" the man says, slightly exasperated.
Black-haired one swordsman...?
"I am just simply passing down a command from Her Lady Eminence," the woman says. "Whatever reason she had asked for this, I do not know. However, you must obey her command. No more shall be said on this."
"...yes, Synthesis Twelve."
Yuuki then hears someone, presumably the woman, leave, her footsteps pattering away. She then risks peeking around the corner.
It was a long shot. A very, very long shot. However, black-haired swordsman was a good way to describe Kirito. That possibly meant that Kirito was here before.
Around the corner was a tall, purple-haired man dressed in a full set of shiny, elegant armor with a purple cape flowing down the back of it. At his hip was a sword and what appeared to be a pointed whip with a shiny, metal handle.
He was sitting under a white, wooden pavilion, sipping from a glass of dark red beverage. He didn't look like he was going to move any time soon. However, luckily for Yuuki, his back was turned to her.
Yuuki, as quietly as she possibly could, tip-toes farther the brick path and towards the rose hedges on the other side. Fortunately, her attempt to keep her footsteps as silent as possible seemed to have paid off. She manages to get farther down the path without eliciting any unwanted attention from the knight. After putting a healthy distance between herself and the knight, she breathes out a sigh of slight relief before continuing on her way.
Finally, she comes upon a doorway leading into the Central Cathedral. She is quick to push through it, hand on the hilt of her sword.
She enters a large chamber with nothing, but a red carpet a large staircase, leading upwards to the second floor. Yuuki runs up the staircase and to the second floor, which was another large chamber with some other doors. However, Yuuki ignores those and continues running up the stairs towards the third floor.
On the third floor was a large set of double doors. A very large set. However, just as in the second floor, she ignores them and takes the first step up the next staircase towards the fourth floor.
However, she stops when she sees an individual turn the corner from the front of the stairs.
It was a woman, a knight like the one in the courtyard according to her attire, which was a full, elegant set of dull, dark grey armor minus the helmet. She was a slender woman, somewhere in her twenties, with grey hair that was tied into a ponytail and a placid expression that looked to be sculpted onto her face.
"Knew there was someone in the rose gardens," the knight says. Yuuki recognizes it as the woman's voice she had heard outside the Cathedral. "I can barely blame Thirty-One for this one this time though. It seems that I was a tad bit too late in carrying Her Lady Eminence's command of posting him there."
Yuuki draws her obsidian blade and gets into a combative position.
"Hmm, seems like yet another intruder," the knight says. "Tell me, who are you? It would be disrespectful of me to not learn the name of those I execute."
Yuuki's grip on her sword tightens. She ponders whether she should answer or not, but then decides against it.
"Hmm, that is fine," the lady knight says. "That information will come out soon enough when I bring you into custody. Maybe you'll know where that intruder Kirito is."
"K-Kirito?" Yuuki stutters before she can stop herself.
"Ah, so you know him?" the lady knight asks, raising an eyebrow.
Then, she draws a long, very, very thin sword from her belt. A rapier.
Although its blade was thin like a rapier's, it was so thin that Yuuki could just barely see the blade of it, even with her enhanced eyesight. It looked to be no thicker than a sheet of paper.
"I am Integrity Knight Sheyta Synthesis Twelve," the woman says, her rapier falling to her side. "And you, intruder, are coming with me, whether by your compliance or by force."
"An Integrity Knight, huh?" Yuuki says. "Man, that intro must be a complete chore to remember. Anyways, I'm definitely not coming with you. I've still got a job to do."
"Hm, by force then," Sheyta says, pointing her rapier at Yuuki.