Chapter 13- Meeting of Two Kings
November 2, 2056
Marth and his friends soon arrived at the door of his and Kisara's apartment. Now that he thought about it, this was the first time Kuroba would be here. Fuko had visited him multiple times over the past two years and yet Celine's reincarnation had not visited his apartment at all last month. Granted, they have met up at other places, like Dicey's and Dun Scaith, but still, kind of that this was his first time inviting the Black King to his apartment.
Why did he suddenly feel nervous about this? The apartment was very tidy as Rias had trained him to maintain a clean household. Was it his room? Last he remembered, he didn't have anything M-rated save for a few old games Kazuto had gotten him over the years. Just what was this odd feeling? It was annoying.
"Are you okay?" That was Kuroba, her voice snapping him from his stupor. "You look tense about something."
Marth quickly brushed this strange feeling in his heart to the side and donned his usual passive mask. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."
She looked ready to say something, but the demon prince didn't give her a chance to speak as he undid the electronic lock through his Neurolinker and opened the door. Unbeknownst to him, Kisara had noticed his strange behavior and smirked mischievously. Due to his past experience with girls, Marth had a hard time understanding true romantic love. He simply believed that no one could love a monster like him. That was the main reason he couldn't see that both Kuroba and Fuko's clear feelings for him.
But the demoness had to admit that it was funny to see the two girls fight over her oblivious brother. Their antics brought out a side that was rarely seen in the reserved dual swordsman. Plus it was fun to tease him about it.
They all entered the apartment, where they heard the sounds of fighting and a girl screaming, "Take that you stupid angels! Die die die!"
Almost immediately Marth's eyes narrowed in frustration. He stormed into the living room where he saw his Nintendo Switch hooked up to the TV, his game collection scattered over the floor. On the coach was the Red King and the game she was playing was definitely not meant for kids if the familiar Umbra Witch beating up angelic creatures was any indication. He had dozens of Switch games in his collection, and out of all of them, Yuniko picked Bayonetta 2 of all games?!
"Yuniko," he said coldly. "What are you doing?"
The Red King suddenly flinched and immediately paused the game. Yuna, in her doll form, was sitting beside her and seemingly rolled her eyes, as if knowing this would happen. It took a few seconds for the younger girl to find her voice to speak. "Y-you said I could play your video games while you and big sister were gone as long as I was in the living room," she stammered in defense.
"I did say that, yet I also told you that there were some games you couldn't play, and this was one of them." As if to calm him down, Kisara put her hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. That seemed to do the trick as he began to relax a little. "Fine, I'll let you slide this time. Besides, if what I hear about you is true, Bayonetta actually sounds like a game you'd play."
The young king player looked relieved that she wasn't going to get punished and simply smiled. "Thanks, big brother! And just so you know, this is the only M-rated game that I took from your room."
"M-rated games?" Fuko said with a dangerous smile. "Just what kind of games do you play, Marth?"
The demon prince quickly looked away from everyone, trying to hide the tinge of red on his cheeks. Honestly, Sky Raker was one of the few people who could make him feel embarrassed. "Not the kind you're probably thinking of," he said a bit too quickly for his liking. "I'm not a pervert."
"Oh I'm not judging you. In fact…"
"Let's get back on topic," Kuroba suddenly interrupted, putting herself between the black-haired demon and the bold brunette. Once it was clear that Fuko had stood down, she turned her attention back to the Red King. "So you're the new Red King, Scarlet Rain?"
"That's me. You sure like up to the title of Black King with all that black you're wearing. I bet I couldn't see you if it was the middle of the night."
Kuroba simply scoffed in response. "And with all the red you're wearing, I could hang you in an intersection and use you to stop cars."
Sparks were exchanged between the two Kings. It made almost everyone else in the room take a step back. If Marth didn't know any better, he would think that Yuniko was challenging Kuroba to a duel. But that wasn't the case. A duel between two level 9 players had special rules, where the loser will be removed from Brain Burst. Such a fight would not be entered lightly. It felt more like they were sizing each other up.
"My, my, you all are very noisy today," a new voice spoke up.
Everyone turned towards the kitchen, where they all saw Medusa sitting by the kitchen table with a book in hand. Despite her (relative) quiet being interrupted by the teenagers, she looked more amused than anything. Such was the behavior of a minor goddess, especially one created by the Goddess of Darkness herself. She rarely interacted with mortals (non-divine beings) since she spent the last seven millennia isolated on her island in Eternus, with no one for company except for Rias and her familiar Elaine. Still, it was nice to see his elder sister seem so relaxed, especially given her tragic past.
"Anyway," Medusa continued. "I take it you all have something important to discuss regarding that?"
While not outright saying it, pretty much everyone could tell what she was implying. Just like Rias and the other adults they knew, the snake goddess knew about the existence of Brain Burst. There wasn't much point keeping it a secret from her.
Anyway, to give them some privacy, Medusa headed into Rias's bedroom and closed the door. While Marth was busy making tea and coffee for everyone, they gathered in the living room and cleaned it up so that it no longer looked like a tornado went through it. Soon they were all sitting on the coach or chairs, sipping their beverages.
"Okay," Takumu spoke up after taking a sip of his coffee. "Why don't we start with introductions? You go first, Red King."
The young girl looked hesitant to say anything but it quickly faded as she had already given the Umbris siblings her real name. "Yuniko. Yuniko Kozuki."
The other teens then said their names, though out of all of them, Kuroba was the most smug about it. Initially, she addressed herself as "Kuroyukihime" and showed a hacked quantum key with the fake name. She mainly did this to get a rise out of the Red King, and it worked like a charm since Yuniko looked ready to pop a blood vessel over it. It also had the added benefit of amusing Marth, which was probably another reason why she did it. She then, of course, gave her real name.
"Anyway," the Black King continued. "Now that introductions are out of the way, Yuniko, how did you manage to track down Marth and Kisara in the real world?"
"If you're wondering if I told the Red Legion about their identities, then you can relax. The only one who knows is me. As for how I pinned them down, it was just a bit of social engineering. Everyone knows that the Black Legion's territory is in Suginami and judging from the times you all signed in, I guessed that you were high-school students. So I applied for school visits for all high schools in the Suginami Ward so I could connect with their local nets and check the matching lists while the teachers were showing me around."
"I see. Sounds extremely troublesome, but it makes sense. However, both Marth and Kisara are two of three hundred students attending Umesato. How did you figure out that Ashen Wolf and Purple Flare were them?"
Yuniko pursed her lips and went silent for a moment. She then gave the demon siblings a sidelong scowl before making a voice that sounded like she was trying to excuse herself.
"It's not like I had any special interest in them. I just need their dual avatars, more importantly their wings. Once I found out that Ashen Wolf and Purple Flare were at Umesato High School, I set up camp near the gate and accelerated whenever students came out to go home. I was a bit surprised to see these two at gates when Wolf and Flare appeared on the matching list."
"Wow," Kazuto commented with a whistle. "Still that would have burned through a lot of burst points. How many did you end up using?"
"About two hundred or so."
A handful of the teens were shocked by the statement, while the others either smirked or retained a passive expression. For Fuko, she formed a wry smile.
"My, my. That's something only a King with points to spare could do," she said smugly. "But your tenacity is commendable."
"Indeed," Kuroba added, having the same smirk plastered on her face. "Do you have a crush on Marth, or are you into girls?"
"Hell no on either!" Yuniko cried out in anger. "My business is with their avatars, not their real selves. If things actually went according to plan, they'd be my subordinates by now!"
The siblings shared an amused chuckle. They had predicted that was the reason she was here. "Ha, as if that would ever happen," Marth replied with a knowing grin hiding behind his cup.
"Our 'cousin' says the funniest things," Kisara added.
Naturally, Yuniko looked confused by their statements. Neither of them seemed eager to elaborate on their thoughts as they were enjoying her reaction too much. It was Shino who answered on their behalf.
"You see, Marth and Kisara don't trust strangers very well since they're constantly ridiculed by their peers. Plus you tried to pass off as their cousin, when they only have each other when it comes to kin by blood, well except for Medusa, whose their elder sister. Your plan was doomed to fail from the start."
"Seriously?! Are you saying that they wouldn't join Prominence even if I came up with a sob story?"
Kazuto couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Haha! Certainly not with Marth. He's way more distrusting than Kisara is. Even then, they have ways of getting the truth out of people." As if to make his last sentence sound even more intimidating, a dangerous glint shimmered from the Umbris siblings' eyes, which actually succeeded in making the Red King flinch out of instinct.
"So then," Asuna spoke up calmly. "Why exactly have you gone to such lengths to recruit Marth and Kisara? It can't be because you want to add their strength to the Red Legion. Your methodology is too extreme to be that. You want to use them for one thing, and one thing only, am I right?"
"Yes," Yuniko agreed in a low voice. "I need to borrow their wings to destroy the Armor of Catastrophe."
Marth raised an eyebrow in confusion over the Red King's words. Kisara and the others had a similar reaction, not really understanding what she had meant. Only Kuroba and Fuko seemed to know what Yuniko was talking about, with the Black King slamming her right hand onto the table (thankfully with not enough force to break it).
"Impossible!" Kuroba argued intensely. "That armor is destroyed. I saw to it myself!"
"Indeed," Fuko said in agreement. "The curse should be broken by now."
The mere mention of the word curse made Marth's stomach lurch. It reminded him too much of the dark power that resides within him, the power of the Calamity. He wordlessly prayed to Sinestra that there was no connection between his power and this supposed cursed armor.
"Uh, mind filling the rest of us on this?" Kisara spoke up. "What the heck is the Armor of Catastrophe?"
The fairy princess fell silent for a few moments before returning to her seat. She then let out a heavy breath before crossing her stocking-clad legs.
"It's…a complicated story," Black King replied slowly. "The Armor of Catastrophe is a person, a Burst Linker, but it is also an object." She then turned her gaze to the male demon. "Marth, do you remember the first opponent you fought in the Accelerated World?"
"Yeah. Ash Roller. He fought on that old school bike of his. But what does he have to do with anything?"
"Nothing as far as we know. I just needed an example. His motorcycle is an object, but it's also a part of his Duel Avatar, meaning that it is both a thing and a person. Another example is you and your swords."
"That makes sense," Asuna said. "I think. Is there like, a name for these things?"
It was Fuko who answered instead. "There is. These types of external items are called Enhanced Armaments."
For the first time since the meeting began, Marth looked visibly shocked at what he had heard. "Enhanced…Armament…" he muttered under his breath. He had heard that term before. "Enhance Armament" was one of the Perfect Weapon Control techniques to unleash the power of a divine weapon. The technique itself required a bond between the user and the weapon, as well as an incredible focus.
He has yet to even try the Enhance Armament technique for himself as Perfect Weapon Control cannot be used on projections, as they are merely inferior copies of the original divine weapon. The backlash would probably kill him if he tried it. Was it a coincidence that a very similar name was used for external items in Brain Burst? Just who are the creators of Brain Burst?
"Just so you all know," Yuniko said with a sneer. "My fortress is made of Armaments too."
"Yes, but they're not as rare as you think they are," Kuroba countered smoothly. "There are four ways to get Armaments. First is that you may get them as part of your initial equipment, like Marth and Kirito's swords. The second way is through a level-up bonus, but that way isn't possible if there are no choices for your bonus."
Marth didn't see any options like that during the three times he had leveled up. It didn't really bother him though. He had plenty of things at his disposal already. There was currently no need to add to his arsenal.
"The third method is through a shop," Fuko took over. "This method is available to everyone. You basically use your burst points to buy the Armaments directly."
"I see," the demon prince replied. "Don't see myself using it though. When it comes to Armaments, I think I'll just stick with my swords."
His friends simply laughed in response. "That so sounds like you, Marth," Kazuto commented. "Then again, I'm the same way."
"As for the fourth method," Kuroba continued. "You kill someone and take it. To be more specific, if a Burst Linker with an Enhanced Armament loses all their burst points, banishing them from the Accelerated World, then there is a chance that the ownership of the Armament will transfer over to the winner."
"It's supposed to be a randomly generated event with a low probability of even happening," Yuniko interjected. "But that's not the case with the Armor of Catastrophe. It's a 100 percent transferal rate, and it's totally cursed."
"However. It was destroyed two years ago. I confirmed the annihilation of Chrome Disaster myself."
Chrome Disaster was the name of a legendary Burst Linker who had existed since the beginning of the Accelerated World. Wrapped in a metallic gray, knight-like Enhanced Armor, he possessed fierce combat abilities and made many Linkers crawl before him. His fighting style, to put it bluntly, was brutal. It was basically on par with Marth's savagery whenever he used his forbidden power. Chrome Disaster would decapitate his surrendering opponents, dismember them, and perpetrate every outrage on them.
However, like with all things, his reign of terror would eventually come to an end. He had caused many Burst Linkers to lose Brain Burst permanently and seemed keen on continuing with his path of destruction. In response, the other highest-level Burst Linkers at the time all joined together and fought Chrome Disaster until his points dropped to zero. But, in the wake of his "death" within the Accelerated World, he laughed and declared a curse onto the world, that he will resurrect again and again, no matter how many times he is struck down.
His words would ring true. While the Burst Linker called Chrome Disaster was banished from the Accelerated World, his Enhanced Armament remained. It would transfer over to one of the Linkers who fought him. Either out of curiosity or temptation, she equipped it, and her mind was hijacked. It didn't matter that she was a beloved and noble leader. In just a single night, she had changed into a ruthless killer. Apparently her figure even became indistinguishable from the first Chrome Disaster.
Kuroba took a pause out of her story to take a sip out of her coffee. After wetting her throat, she continued in a grave tone.
"This event would repeat three times. Once the owner of the armor is defeated, rather than disappearing, the Armor is instead transferred to the one who dealt the finishing blow, and the transfer causes their personality to change. This Burst Linker is then referred to as Chrome Disaster rather than their original names. Two and a half years ago, I was already occupying one of the seats of the Seven Kings of Pure Color. I and the other Kings participated in the subjugation of the fourth Chrome Disaster. It was dreadful battle. Even now, my hair stands on end just thinking about it. There's no way I could communicate it through words."
Marth lowered his head, leaning his forehead onto his hands. Hearing the tale of Chrome Disaster struck him to close to home. It sounded very similar to his own situation. The Demon Lord of Wrath is supposed to be Sinestra's enforcer, the one who keeps the other demon lords in line. However, the first Wrath Lord fell victim to a terrible curse, the circumstances of which having been lost to time. Slowly, the curse corrupted them, warping their entire personality. Once the curse had fully taken over, they were practically unrecognizable.
The Wrath Lord would then begin spreading destruction and carnage across the united world, ending the lives of so many people, whether they be humans, fairies or other demons. They were quickly given the title of Lord of Calamity, embodying the monster that they had become. Eventually, the other six demon lords confronted their fallen comrade, and together with their mistress, Goddess Sinestra, they finally managed to slay the Lord of Calamity in a difficult and brutal battle. Some of the lords even lost their lives that day.
Similarly, the world believed that the Lord of Calamity was gone for good. A new Demon Lord of Wrath was later chosen but eventually they too went mad and began to rampage until they were brought down as well. Sinestra and the others learned that the Wrath position itself was cursed. If anyone dared to take on the mantle, they too would inherit the curse and become the dreaded Lord of Calamity. In order to stop the cycle of destruction, it became taboo for anyone to become the next Demon Lord of Wrath.
For millennia, this taboo held true, until a certain human king decided to break it. Somehow, King Lambert of Arcadia had learned about the cursed position. For unknown reasons, he decided to force his three-year-old son, Zane, to take up the Wrath Lord mantle, as he had the potential to become a demon lord. The Goddess of Darkness pleaded with the king not to do this, but he didn't listen. He forced her to cooperate by threatening Zane's life. Since the Umbris family are essentially the children of Sinestra, the goddess had no choice but to obey, but out of consideration for the demon prince, she suppressed his memory of the incident, else the trauma would scar him forever.
No one knows why Lambert did this. Some theories say that he did it for power, to have a pawn strong enough to take over the world. Others say that he simply didn't know the position was cursed and just refused to heed Sinestra's warnings. Altena, Zane's own mother, didn't even find out what her husband had done until years later. Had she learned this sooner, she would have executed Lambert herself and taken Zane and Lucia back to Eternus. She might even have tried to force another demon to take her son's place as the Wrath Lord and killed them once the transfer was complete to spare him from the fate of becoming the Lord of Calamity. Unfortunately, by the time she found out, Lambert was already dead, and the War of Light and Shadow was ravaging the world. With four of the demon lords turning traitor and siding with Zeta, Altena had no choice but to let Zane continue being the Demon Lord of Wrath.
Thankfully, Sinestra had placed a seal on Zane's demon lord powers, allowing him to reasonably control himself and keep the curse in check. However, cracks began to form when the prince began to lose some of his friends in the war, with the widest cracks being caused by the death of his mother. The seal would then break when Lucia died when she shielded Zane from a fatal blow right during the final battle with the God of Destruction.
Ironically enough, it would be thanks to the power of that curse that Zane was able to defeat Zeta and end the war. However, with the seal now broken, the curse began to corrupt him as well. As an Umbris, Zane was largely able to resist it thanks to the divine blood in his veins. He never did become the Lord of Calamity though, mostly because he died before the curse could fully corrupt him. The rest of Eternus didn't even know about this, and for good reason.
The curse already made the Wrath Lords it corrupted very powerful. The Umbris royal family are considered to the strongest demons to ever live. If an Umbris fell victim to the curse, then they would become the most dangerous being to ever exist. This was the fate that awaits Marth, as he is Zane's reincarnation, inheriting his cursed mantle.
Somehow, someone had managed to put another seal on Marth's forbidden power, keeping the curse largely in check. It wasn't as strong as Sinestra's, but it was self-regenerating as it keeps resetting whenever Marth uses that power. However, every time he uses it, the stronger the curse becomes. Eventually, the seal will no longer be able to hold and the curse will be set free once more, creating the most powerful Lord of Calamity there is.
"Marth. Marth."
He snapped out of his thoughts to see that Kuroba was calling out to him. She looked concerned about him. All his friends did actually, but the Black King looked the most worried, tied with both Fuko and Kisara.
"Are you okay?" Kuroba asked. "You look completely flushed. Are you feeling sick?"
"I'm fine. I just got lost in thought is all. Anyway, is there something you needed?"
The fairy princess looked hesitant to reply. Did she know he was lying? Regardless, she didn't make it known and simply said, "We need some direct cables. I have one that's a meter long, but for what I'm about to do, I need enough cables for everyone."
"Alright. I should have some spares in my room. I'll go get them."
He stood up and went over to his room, grabbing enough cables for everyone from his desk before returning to the living room.
"Okay, so most of these are around a meter long, but the last one's only fifty centimeters."
"I call the fifty centimeter one!" Yuniko cried out in a smug grin. She ran over to try to grab the cable from Marth's hand, only for the demon to raise it up higher than she could reach.
"Not…on your…life," he said coldly, knowing exactly what her intentions were.
"Uh, why do you have so many direct cables?" Takumu questioned.
"Shipping mistake. I ordered just two that's a meter, one for me and one for Kisara, but they sent me eight instead. Couldn't be bothered to send the rest back so I just kept them as back-ups. As for the fifty centimeter one, that one was meant to sync my Neurolinker with my computer."
Fuko and Kuroba locked eyes with each other. They both knew what the other was thinking and quickly sprinted for the demon prince, or more specifically, the fifty-centimeter cable. They were secretly competing for Marth's affection after all. Victory for this battle would go to the Black King, as she was able to snatch the cable from the boy she loved before using it to connect their two Neurolinkers.
"Do you have to cling to him like that?" Fuko said in protest.
Kuroba simply cracked a smug grin as she wrapped her arms around Marth's left arm, as if to annoy the brunette even further. "Can't help it. The cable's too short."
The others simply watched in amusement as the two girls continued their little stand-off. They were actually aware of their competition since they haven't exactly been very subtle about it. Heck, the only one who didn't know was Marth himself, mostly because he's too dense and insecure about himself (the latter largely because of his curse and his poor experiences with girls; he honestly believed that no girl could love someone as damaged as him in a romantic way) to notice.
Bitterly forced to accept defeat this time, Fuko grabbed one of the meter cables and connected to Marth's other terminal. Although, to demonstrate that the war between them was still on, she also wrapped herself around the demon lord's other arm.
"Uh, Fuko," Marth said with a slight blush on his face. The brunette's breasts were practically digging into his arm. "What are you doing?"
She simply let out an innocent giggle. "I'm just a little cold is all."
"If that's the case, I could loan you a coat if you want."
"How gentlemanly, but I'm fine with just this."
"Are they always like this?" Yuniko muttered to Kisara, the latter looking very amused at the sight before her.
"Only when it involves my brother," the whitette answered.
Everyone else took the remaining cables and all connected, forming a chain of sorts. They all sat down, but Marth had the hardest time moving. Not only was the cable between him and Kuroba very short, but she clung really tightly to him, while Fuko was doing the same on the other side. It brought some mixed feelings for him, but he decided to just roll with it as neither girl looked willing to separate from him. Although, he had a feeling that a certain someone would be jealous if they saw him right now.
"So what do we do now?" Shino questioned.
"Oh, nothing too complicated," Kuroba assured. "After switching to full sensory mode, jump through the access gate displayed. Here we go. Direct link."
With the way the Black King closed her eyelids and relaxed into him, Marth couldn't help but find her cute. The same applied for Fuko as she leaned into him too. Wait, why was he thinking this?! They're just friends, nothing more. Shaking his head to clear it, he muttered his custom command.
"Link Start."
Marth found himself within a vast wasteland made of rows of strange purple rocks. Wondering what was going on, he looked around, only to see that he didn't have a body. At first, he was a little concerned but soon realized that he was in a VR movie, rather than the Accelerated World. This was basically just a recorded video playing directly within his brain. To further show that it was a video, there was a play time and a slide bar located in the lower right-hand corner of his vision.
"You here Kuroba?" he questioned, getting a response back instantly.
"I'm here." That was definitely the Black King's voice, even though he couldn't see her.
"So am I." And there was Fuko. The others soon said that they were here as well.
"Pretty impressive trick," Asuna said in awe. "But if we were gonna watch a movie, why did we have to direct?"
"I don't want anything to leak out. If I transmitted to all of you through Marth and Kisara's home net, it would still remain in the cache of the condo servers."
"Oh. Never mind then."
Soon a familiar sight landed with a crunch a few meters away from Marth. It had jet-black, sparkling, semitransparent armor, long, sharp sword-shaped limbs and a V-shaped head. Marth knew that form anywhere. It was Kuroba's Duel Avatar, Black Lotus, confirming that this was indeed a video of the Accelerated World.
As if reading his thoughts, Kuroba said, "That's me from two and a half years ago. I recorded this using an expensive item called Replay."
"Two and a half years ago?" Kirito questioned. "Does that mean this is a recording of that battle you mentioned earlier, the battle between the Seven Kings and Chrome Disaster? Why are you alone?"
"I'm not alone. Someone else is about to come."
Before she even finished that sentence, a new duel avatar came from the left side of the field. The avatar was about a head taller than Lotus. Its body was slim, but their arms and legs had some serious volume. They carried a rectangular shield in their left and their armor was a deep and transparent green.
"Incredible," Takumu said in awe. "Kuroba, is that…"
"Indeed. That is the Green King, Green Grande. Affiliation is near and midrange, but his nickname is an accurate reflection of his avatar's nature, which is invulnerable."
"I've heard that all his losses are due to time-ups, and even then, his HP's never been cut in half. That has to be a lie."
Marth wasn't too sure about Yuniko's comment. Parts of his memories have begun to slowly return since he began fighting in the Accelerated World. The description of the Green King's feats by the younger girl caused him to think about Heathcliff, the leader of the Knights of Blood from SAO. Heathcliff was the in-game avatar for Kayaba so he could fight alongside and observe the other players without revealing his identity. Just like Green Grande, he too has never had his HP go below half, he even used a shield as well. Although, to be fair, Kayaba had used the system to make himself immortal so that he wouldn't accidently die before revealing himself and Satoshi Shiraki as the final bosses.
Speaking of Shiraki, Marth felt that he was way tougher than Kayaba. His speed went beyond the limitations of the game. There were times where even Marth couldn't keep track of his movements. If Kisara and Yuuki hadn't overcome their paralysis and hurried to his aid, he would have likely died that day on Floor 75. Shiraki was that strong. Granted, even without the assistance of the system, Kayaba was no slouch either, especially because he knew the movements for all the sword skills, making them all worthless on him as he would know exactly how to block them. That nearly cost Kirito his duel when he accidently unleashed Eclipse, the strongest attack from his Dual Blades skill. Asuna ended up shielding him from Heathcliff's counterattack and Kirito ended the duel in a draw. Marth's battle with Shiraki ended the same way as well.
"Watch and see," was Kuroba's response.
Black Lotus approached the fellow King and made gesture about the shadow of a large rock beside them. The Green King silently nodded and slid into the shadow, pressing his back against the rock. Meanwhile Black Lotus hid herself behind a rock nearby. They were clearly setting up an ambush.
Even though it was just a video, Marth could still feel the tension in the air. Footsteps could soon be heard. A few seconds later and an enormous duel avatar appeared from between the two rocks. It had about fifty or so centimeters on Green Grande. Its chest was covered in bellows-shaped armor, looked unusually thin and long, inclined forward, almost like a snake raising its head. Its hands were dangling down, with its right hand holding a large clumsy axe, the thick blade scraping along the ground. Its head was a smoothly cylindrical, similar to that of an earthworm, with two black holes on the end. Its eyes glowed red.
The avatar's armor was a dusky silver, with it reflecting the weak sunlight. It looked around at its surroundings before suddenly staring directly at Marth. Momentarily forgetting that this was a recording, he immediately reached for his swords, only to grab empty air instead.
Was this really a Burst Linker? It looked more like a wild beast on the hunt than something that contained a human being.
"That's the fourth Chrome Disaster?" Yuniko questioned. "Its size and form look nothing like the fifth one that's running about."
"That sounds about right," Fuko replied. "From what I heard, since the Armor of Catastrophe is an Enhanced Armament, its shape will change depending on the avatar equipping it. However, its characteristics will never change. It is essentially madness incarnate."
The black avatar began brandishing its axes without saying a word. Its target was none other than the rock Green Grande was hiding behind. Somehow, whether it was instinct or some unknown ability, Chrome Disaster had seen through the ambush.
It roared like that of a feral animal. It swung its axe with a ferocious velocity, easily splitting the thick rock in half. However, just before the attack hit, the green avatar leapt sideways, away from the stone. The axe swung again. With no time to flee, the Green King held up his shield, and with a metallic screech, the four corners of it expanded, resembling that of a large cross and covering the entirety of its master.
The crude axe collided with the shield from above with incredible power. A waterfall of sparks, which was then followed by an earsplitting clang of impact. The axe may have been repelled, but Green Grande dropped to his knees.
Whether it was anger or joy, Chrome Disaster cried out before swinging his axe over and over in just wild abandon. There seemed to be no strategy behind its attacks. If it wasn't for that shield, Green Grande might have been cut to ribbons, but that shield sure was durable and the King knew how to use it as he was easily able to endure the assault.
It was then that Marth noticed that there were various deep cuts in Chrome Disaster's armor. Every time it swung its axe, a strange black mist would fly out of the openings, dispersing in the air.
"He's hurt."
"Correct," Kuroba answered with a whisper. "He has already done battle with the other kings and is cornered here. Regarding his HP, he's near death. And yet despite this, he continues to fight with such ferocity. Back then, I was afraid of him."
To hear that this avatar scared even the Black King herself sent a chill down Marth's spine. He couldn't blame her though. This thing has just fought against the other kings, who are supposed to be the strongest players in the Accelerated World, and yet it was still able to fight despite its grave wounds. Did that mean that Chrome Disaster's strength went beyond level 9?
Seemingly frustrated about how the Green King's defense would not even crack, Chrome Disaster let out a menacing growl. While continuing his assault, he opened his mouth, allowing some kind of tube-like tongue to stretch out.
"Gross," Kisara said in disgust. "What the heck is that?"
"That is one of Chrome Disaster's abilities. It's called Drain. It allows him to steal the HP of his opponent in battle."
As Kuroba spoke, the strange tube slithered out, trying to get around Green Grande's shield and latch onto his head. Suddenly Black Lotus, who at this point was still hidden, flew out like a flash of black lightning. She brought down the sword of her right arm down at a speed that was nearly impossible to see, severing the crazed avatar's tongue by the root.
Chrome Disaster screeched in pain, his head unconsciously thrown backward. A murky darkness leaked out of his mouth. Not losing her momentum, Black Lotus pulled her left arm sword back, the blade shining a brilliant purple. She lunged her sword forward, easily cutting off the head of her opponent.
The video ended after that and everyone returned to the real world. Understandably, most of the teens looked shaken over what they had just seen. Even Marth looked a little uneasy. They all then began removing their cables.
"Wow," Kazuto muttered. "Hard to believe that there's really a person in that thing."
"Tell me about it. There's really no difference with how the fifth one is fighting, and that is that, Black King," Yuniko spoke as she rose to her feet. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you guys worked your butts off to take down the fourth one. But then why did the Enhanced Armament not disappear?!"
"It did!" Kuroba shouted, rising up as well. "As soon as the fourth Chrome Disaster was banished from the Accelerated World, the Green King and I rejoined the other kings and we confirmed that none of us had the armor in our storage. The curse should have ended right then and there!"
"Well if that's true, then why is there another one running around out there?"
"What is the name of the fifth one? The name 'Chrome Disaster' is just a nickname we use for the tainted Linker. Even if they equip that armor, it should still have their original name if you duel them. Which King is possessed by the armor?"
Strangely enough, Yuniko lowered her gaze and went silent. After a brief pause, she took a deep breath and shook her head.
"None of them. The fifth Chrome Disaster is…a member of my Legion, Prominence. His original name was Cherry Rook. He's been completely overtaken by the armor." Her voice sounded unusually hoarse and shaky, a stark contrast to her usual aggressive personality.
"It's not a King? A member of the Red Legion? How…"
Already Marth was getting a bad vibe from this whole thing. It had nothing to do with Yuniko. He could tell that she was telling the truth. Somehow, the Armor of Catastrophe was still around and there were only a few suspects who would have the potential to inherit the Enhanced Armament.
"Hey, Kuroba," the demon prince spoke up in a serious tone. "Is it possible for Burst Linkers to exchange Enhanced Armaments?"
The Black King looked initially confused by the sentence but nodded in confirmation. "Yes. If they connect directly, sometimes even through the shop, the transfer of Enhanced Armaments is possible. Why?"
Marth folded his arms (both of which were now free), bracing himself for what he was about to say. "Now this could be just me overthinking things because of my skeptical nature, but considering that backdoor program incident, I find it hard to believe that all the Kings are pacifists with a perfectly clean record. What if one of the Kings lied about not having the Armor and secretly kept it for two and a half years before pawning it off to Cherry Rook?"
"Could something like that happen?" Fuko spoke up. "Level 9 players shouldn't have any desire to possess a massive quantity of points, since they can't use them to reach level 10. If this King really did hand over the Armor, then they must be trying to weaken the other Legions."
"But that sounds too risky," Takumu argued. "Chrome Disaster is an uncontrollable monster. It would be too dangerous to unleash that thing upon the Accelerated World for that reason. Not to mention that if a Red Legion member has it, then the originator would have had to be the Red King. But the Red King who took part in that battle is gone now."
Marth noticed Kuroba stiffen at the mention of Red Rider. She still hasn't gotten over what she did to the former leader of Prominence. He hated seeing her like this. Occasionally he had thought about using his mental magic to help suppress the trauma of the event, similar for what he did to Fuko, but something kept holding him back. It was like a voice in his head was telling him to let the Black King handle it on her own.
"It couldn't have been Red Rider," Kuroba said slowly. "He was killed three months after that battle. It would be impossible for him to be the cause of this."
"And I don't know any details about it since I had only just become a Burst Linker back then and was just chirping away," Yuniko added in a gloomy tone. "Obviously I didn't inherit the Armor from him, and even then, I'm not stupid enough to give it to one of my members. Just seeing that demonic style…"
"Is the fifth Chrome Disaster that strong?" Shino questioned.
"More than in that replay. He's no Burst Linker anymore, and the way he fights is no duel. I…even saw him pluck off an arm from a fallen opponent and chomp it down."
"Gross," Kisara groaned as she took a sip of her tea. "About this whole possession and contaminated mind? Enhanced Armaments, they're no ordinary weapons are they? Are they able to interfere with the thoughts of the Linkers themselves?"
"It's certainly possible," Kuroba confirmed. "Brain Burst reads the user's feelings of inferiority and obsessions before condensing them to create the duel avatar. It can access not just the sensory areas of the brain through the Neurolinker, but also the domains of thought and memory. Needless to say, the Enhanced Armament is stained with the awareness of losing its original owner, and when someone else equips it, it is possible that awareness flows into them."
That description made Marth think about what happened to him during his fight with Cyan Pile. Right when it seemed like defeat was the only outcome for him, the Lunara began glowing with a gentle purple light, and he could hear a voice in his head. The voice addressed him as "Master" and encouraged him to keep fighting. Thinking about it now, he started to realize that the voice sounded very familiar to him, like an old friend. There were things about the Lunaris that Rias has yet to tell him about, saying that it was better for him to learn them at his own pace. Just what secrets are hiding within the Sword of Darkness?
"Just so you all know," Fuko spoke up suddenly. "Only Chrome Disaster has a history of corrupting your mind to the point of your entire personality changing. Enhanced Armaments are never that extreme. Still, I can't help but wonder what kind of person the first Chrome Disaster—"
"I don't care!" Yuniko interrupted with a loud shout, stomping on the hardwood floor in a rage. "He was a stupid bastard who ruined everything! If he hadn't made that blasted Armor, then Cherry Rook wouldn't be like this! Cherry was a good guy. He didn't have any incredible abilities, but he managed to reach level 6 through hard work. This was supposed to be a fun game for him. And how… Damn it all!"
She hurriedly turned away from the teens, but Marth managed to catch a glimpse of tears trying to leak from her eyes. There was something about Cherry Rook that she wasn't telling them. From the way she was talking, it sounded like she knew him personally. It actually sent a jolt to his normally icy heart.
Staring out towards the skyscrapers, Yuniko's voice fell to a trembling murmur. "He's still a member of the Red Legion, and his attacking the other members systematically. He's going to break the nonaggression pact. I…have to clean house."
"I see," Kuroba mused after a long silence. "Even though he is now the infamous Chrome Disaster, as long as he's still a member of the Red Legion, you can expel him from the Accelerated World with a single move, the Judgement Blow."
"Correct. Ten days ago he managed to reach level 7. I challenged him to a duel, but somehow he managed to dodge all of my long-range attacks. The Judgement Blow is always a point-blank attack, meaning you need to use other attacks to immobilize your target to use it. But none of my main weapons or missiles even managed to scratch him. Instead he just chipped away at my HP until I lost to a time-up."
"You lost?! Even with the Judgement Blow, you, a King, lost?!"
"Don't act all surprised. You fought him too, so you should understand. His mobility, that's something only a monster could pull off. Incredible long-distance jumps, control over his trajectory while midair. It was almost like he was flying."
"Wait, did you say flying?" Kuroba replied before all eyes turned towards the Umbris siblings, the pieces now beginning to fit. "Now I get it. That's why you were so desperate to track down Ashen Wolf and Purple Flare."
"Yeah," Kazuto agreed. "It's all making sense now."
Kisara raised an eyebrow at that. "Uh, what are you guys talking about?"
Marth let out a deep sigh, having also realized the Red King's true plan as well. "Simple. Yuniko wants us to capture Chrome Disaster for her."
To be continued
Well, this should be interesting. Now that I think about it, in Black Wolf, Kirito had the ability to fly yet I don't think Yuniko ever mentioned looking into him, just Marth (I could be wrong since it's been about a year or so since I wrote that chapter). Granted, even in that story, Marth and Kirito lived apart so she would have to choose only one to pursue, but she still could have at least mentioned that Kirito was on her radar too if she needed someone with an aviation ability. Anyway, mini rant aside, I couldn't help but draw parallels between Marth and Chrome Disaster. They both have a curse that makes them berserk and will eventually bring ruin to the worlds they're in. Hm, I wonder which one's worse? Joking aside, I'm actually looking forward to the next chapter, and if you've read Black Wolf or watched the Accel World anime, I think you know why. SLEEPOVER TIME, but with addition of Kisara and Fuko! What could possibly go wrong with that? Anyway, see you guys next time!
