"Asuna!" - Regular Speech
'Kirito-kun!' - Thoughts
"Starburst Stream!" - Authority Chant
"Godslayer!" - Heretic God/Empowered Campione
Chapter 2: Return of the Black Swordsman
Same Time
Dining Room, Yuuki Estate
"No." Asuna stated coldly. She was seated on one side of the dining table, with her mother seated on the other side, and the atmosphere in the room was downright frosty, and heading towards being positively glacial at a very rapid pace.
"How can you be so selfish!?" Yuuki Kyōko seethed quietly. Unlike her usually friendly and expressive daughter, the Yuuki Matriarch gave off a very cold and detached feeling, almost emotionless. Even now, with her all her mounting frustration and irritation, her face didn't show any sign of it beyond a slight curl to her lips, which was already curved into a disappointed frown. However, her eyes still managed to convey her emotions for all to see. "This is for the sake of the Yuuki Family!"
The chestnut-haired girl let out a small, disbelieving laugh at that. "Trying to get me to agree to an engagement with a man who's old enough, if barely, to be my father? Not long after that louse of a man Sugou was arrested? Mother, it will be obvious to everyone that you're trying to shift attention away from his connections to our family. Do you honestly think that anyone is going to just pretend that nothing happened? Did you honestly think that I'd simply agree to this stupid charade you're trying?"
"I had nothing to do with the selection of Sugou as your fiancé, Asuna! That little decision was entirely your father's choice." Kyōko snapped irritably, ignoring the other points completely.
"It didn't stop you from agreeing with it, didn't stop you from pushing me into it or ignoring my own complaints about the man!" Asuna shot back, supremely unimpressed by her mother's argument. "Sugou molested the maids whenever he came over, and none of them reported it after you fired the first one to do so! The screenshot that Kazuto-kun showed me of the website that broadcast Sugou's crimes to all and sundry was more than enough to show me just how big of a bullet I dodged!"
The elder woman almost growled at the mention of the major irritant that had somehow taken the good, biddable girl that had entered that infernal game, and turned her into this stubborn, defiant little…person…who had refused to quietly acquiesce to her will a single time since she'd woken up. Instead, everything was a battle with this girl now, and it was driving her to the edge of frustration.
"I see…this is about that…boy." Kyōko sniffed in disdain, making 'boy' sound like 'rat', or something more unpleasant when spoken by her.
"That boy, as you called him, save my life and soul more times than I can count, mother." Asuna responded, her voice taking on a kind of deadly calm that sent a shiver of dread up her mother's spine.
For the first time, Yuuki Kyōko felt a hint of worry that she might have crossed a line with her daughter and didn't know how the now wilful girl would respond.
"Kazuto-kun save my life at the end of the first month, when I had decided to go out fighting in despair and gave me a reason to fight on." Asuna continued, her voice cold but sharper than any sword. "We fought side-by-side for two years, protecting each other from anything and everything in that waking nightmare. I love him! If you want to think that he's the reason I don't want to have an Omiai with this Sakurazaki Reito, then by all means, take it that way, because it's the truth. But don't you dare speak of him like that in front of me!"
The icy anger radiating in her daughter's voice and eyes honestly terrified Kyōko. Just what had happened to her daughter in that dratted game to have created such a drastic change? Just how close were she and this boy that she'd practically threaten her for simply insulting him?
"Alright now, I think you both need to take a step back and calm down!" a male voice cut in from the doorway. Both Yuuki females turned and caught sight of a weary and wary young man who had his sister's chestnut hair and a mix between his mother's elegant features and his father's more masculine ones, resulting in him being fairly handsome.
Yuuki Kōichirō looked between the figures of his little sister and mother, and mentally sighed at how similar they were in this one regard. Once either of them decided to dig their heels in on an issue, you'd need a herd of wild elephants to make either of them shift their stances on it. With both of them clashing head-to-head like this, it was a classic case of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object.
Meaning he had to defuse the situation, mostly because his father was a complete coward when it came to breaking up a fight between the two most important women in his life. Or at least he was when he was ever even around the house these days.
"Mother, Asuna is right to refuse this Omiai, mostly because it is very widely known everyone with the least amount of connections that she was previously engaged to Sugou Nobuyuki." he said calmingly. "Getting her engaged so soon after her previous fiancé has been arrested and charged is not only unwise but unseemly, as it makes us look desperate and might call Asuna into question as possibly being…sullied by Sugou."
Turning to his sister, who was eyeing him warily, knowing he was likely going to try to placate her next (damn her for being so smart!), he continued, "Asuna, mother is, in her own way, trying to look out for your best interests. She's merely being…a bit overzealous on the matter."
Glaring at him mutinously, Asuna let out an unladylike huff and settled back in her seat. She was very obviously not buying a word of it, but was backing down just because it was him asking her to do it.
Thank the sweet heavens for such small and tender mercies.
Kyōko scowled at her son, but let out an annoyed breath a moment later, accepting that the boy made a fair point. The aftermath of Sword Art Online was still fresh and reverberating through society even three months after that the dratted game finally came to an end. The fact that the, now gratefully deceased, Kayaba Akihiko had gone to the trouble of posting a website filled to the brim with the crimes connected to one Sugou Nobuyuki mere moments before his death as 'punishment for daring to interfere with the final act of the great game' had just added to the tumultuous ruckus that the madman had created.
It had taken a solid month of work by a small army of the best programmers in Japan, including several from RECT Inc. itself, to finally take that dreadful site down. By that time, everyone and their mother knew about Sugou's various abuses, perversions, and thefts; including the attempted kidnapping of over 300 of the SAO victims into his own death game, with Asuna herself being among that number, which had apparently sparked Kayaba's ire at the man.
Quite naturally, Sugou had attempted to flee the country inside of the first hour of the website going live, but had been rather swiftly caught by police. His face was still being plastered in every form of media from tasteless bloggers to various tabloids to the most reputable news companies. Fortunately, none of the crimes that the twisted little fool had committed were directly related to his work with RECT Inc.; everything he'd done had been carried out entirely by his own means or using resources he'd stolen or embezzled from their company. If anything, the fact that Sugou had actually stolen or embezzled both materials and funds from RECT actually helped preserve their company's image, painting them as just another victim of the sadistic monster that the world was painting Sugou Nobuyuki as.
'Even worse, we really can't do anything to help restore our image without making it look like we're attempting to cover up Sugou's crimes. We have no choice but to keep our heads down until all of this furore over that damnable game fades away on its own.' the businesswoman thought with a moue of distaste. 'Curse it…'
"Very well. I shall…reconsider the issue of an engagement for you, Asuna." Kyōko agreed reluctantly. "I shall take my leave now so we can both calm down. Inform the maids that I shall be taking dinner in my rooms tonight, Kōichirō."
"I will, Mother." Kōichirō promised as his mother got up and left the room, not even looking at her daughter as she did so. Waiting until he heard the sound of her steps fading up the stairs, he slumped his shoulders and sighed before casting a somewhat exasperated glance at his sister.
"Didn't I say not to let her draw you into another argument?" he asked pointedly.
"She took my crutches." Asuna pointed to where the aforementioned objects were, across the table from her. "Without those, I couldn't just get up and leave like I'd have liked to, Kō-nii-sama."
"Sorry that I didn't arrive sooner then, I honestly didn't think that she'd try and force something like this yet." her brother sighed. He'd been running interference between the two women in his family for weeks now, trying to prevent just the kind of blow-up that had been moments away from occurring before he'd arrived. Their mother was not taking her daughter suddenly developing a spine very well, despite Kōichirō happily welcoming the change. And their father… "Father's workaholic nature is making more work for everyone else."
Asuna winced on her brother's behalf. "I'm sorry to hear that. I know that keeping an eye on me and doing your job must be difficult…"
"It's kinda my job description as a brother to look out for my sister, Asuna." Kōichirō said with a smile. "Listen…does your boyfriend…?"
"Kirigaya Kazuto-kun." Asuna supplied.
"Kirigaya-san. Does he really make you happy, Asuna?" her brother asked seriously.
"More than anything." the SAO Survivor replied at once, a tender look crossing her face. "He lets me be me…if you know what I mean."
"I do." Kōichirō said with a nod. With their mother having constantly tried to mould her into the perfect biddable daughter, a must for anyone who wanted Asuna to be theirs was allowing her to be who she wanted to be, not forcing her into a mould. She wouldn't tolerate anything else.
"He suffered so much in SAO, just because he was a Beta Tester…he lost people he cared for…" Asuna said with a bowed head. "It might sound silly, because he was stronger than I was in the game, but…I want to protect him. Kirito-kun is a lot more fragile than he ever lets anyone actually see."
'Well, there goes any chance of talking her into not seeing the boy for a while.' Kōichirō sighed to himself. He'd seen that tender expression on his mother's face only very rarely, and it had always been regarding her husband. Despite their clashing personalities, both Yuuki women were people who loved deeply and who loved strongly.
Even if they had drastically different ways of showing it.
Asuna had chosen the man she wanted to be with, come hell or high water, and he doubted anything he or anyone else could say would make her shift her opinion on the matter.
"OK, Asuna. If you're going to say that much, I guess I can't do anything else other than support you." he sighed ruefully.
"Kō-nii-sama?" Asuna looked up at him hopefully.
"Although you may not like to hear it, you and Mother are both alike in that you're both so damned stubborn." the older Yuuki said with a shake of his head as he grabbed her crutches and brought them over to her. "Neither of you will back down on something you both consider to be important to you, and it's obvious that your boyfriend is one of those things for you. Father won't be much help, so I may as well help you in his stead."
"Thank you!" Asuna hugged him when he got close enough.
"What are big brothers for, little sister?" he smiled down at her. "Now, let's get you to your temporary room so you can finish that little project of yours, hmm?"
Blushing that she'd been found out, Asuna nevertheless accepted her crutches and slowly stood up. She was improving with every session she spent at physical therapy, but she was just so frustrated by her inability to walk more than a couple of steps before her body began to shake from exhaustion!
Memories of how she had been able to run and jump in Aincrad taunted her in her dreams, and Asuna was determined to regain and surpass her former physical abilities. Helped by her boyfriend, of course.
'Kirito-kun…' she thought with a smile.
With Kirito
"Whoa!" Kazuto yelped, barely managing to dodge out of the way of another charge from the Colchis Bull due to a sudden, unexpected sneeze
Someone must have been talking about him. Hopefully it was Asuna.
The thought of his girlfriend seemed to galvanize something in him. After everything they'd gone through, all the dangers they'd faced, the trials they'd overcome, and the monsters they'd defeated, there was no way some oversized tin-plated steak was going to tear them apart before he even got to take her on a single real date!
Asuna was stubborn enough that she'd refused any possibility of one until she was strong enough for them both to enjoy it. Well, that and her mother being an absolute snob (Asuna's words, not his).
Sadly, making that reality a fact was proving easier said than done. The three strange sensations that were buzzing in the back of his head, which he was now certain were the 'Authorities' that both Morpheus and that Sakura girl had mentioned, were remaining damnably elusive, seemingly slipping between his fingers whenever he tried to grab them, which was whenever he wasn't dodging the truck-sized metal bovine attempting to turn him into roadkill.
'OK Kirigaya, think.' he ordered himself sternly, forcing himself to calm down. 'You keep mentally grabbing at the Authorities and they seem to jerk away…at least whenever I tried to reach out for them all at once. Maybe that's the issue, I can only use one of them at a time like with the Sword Skill System? That would make sense. So then, which of those three are best to use on this 'Divine Beast' that's trying to turn me into a failed matador?'
All three 'feelings' started to glow (just how a buzzing sensation in the back of his head could glow was a matter he could ponder on later) with power. Kazuto sensed that they needed a bit more in a way of direction before one would come forth.
'I need an Authority that can let me stand up to and defeat this thing head on.' he thought quickly, as he could see the damned metal bull coming around for another fiery charge.
One of the Authorities came forward in Kazuto's mind at that. For lack of a better term, it felt like…purple? And ivory, for some reason? Why were these Authority things so damned weird?
Leaving the oddities of the powers he had stolen from a god to one side, he 'grabbed' the Authority in his mind and suddenly, it felt like someone had placed a key into a lock, or put a peg into the right hole, as everything seemed to click into place. Pure power seemed to flow through his veins like liquid lightning, while knowledge bloomed into his mind, along with an aria that he was sure that Kayaba had had a hand in penning.
"Clad in Black, I strode through the great Castle of Swords, fighting my foes." Kazuto chanted slowly, feeling the power thrumming through his veins grow hotter and more excited with each word. "With sword of darkness and sword of aqua, I faced the deadliest of foes and triumphed. Let the Black Swordsman stride across the battlefield once more!"
In a flare of violet and silver white light, Kirigaya Kazuto vanished from the mortal realm.
In his place, Kirito the Black Swordsman strode forward once again, ready to face a new foe. Clad in his oh-so familiar equipment; the Blackwyrm Coat, the Heart of the Relic and the shirt, trousers and shoes made for him by Ashley, the best Player Tailor in Aincrad. Upon his back were a pair of swords that had become a much a part of him as his own hands; the Boss Drop he'd received from the Super Boss on the 50th Floor, the heavy black sword Elucidator, and the aquamarine blade made from the finest of materials by Liz, the most skilled Player Blacksmith in Aincrad, the Dark Repulser.
The strength that he felt flowing through him was more than that, though. His level, at the time of the end of Aincrad, had been Level 96; but he felt so much stronger than that…as if he could have taken 'Heathcliff' apart with his bare hands, or taken on both the [Gleam Eyes] and the [Skull Reaper] at the same time with one arm tied behind his back
So, this was the power of what he now was…a Campione.
…Neat…
Looking up, he stared down the rapidly approaching Khalkotaurus with cold, clear eyes; all the fear and nervousness vanishing like morning mists under a noontime sun. Instead, he stared at the beast with the clinical eye of a hunter who'd faced down monsters far greater and more dangerous for years. Despite the fire and metal skin, the so-called Divine Beast wasn't any bigger or faster than the Bulbous Bow that he'd defeated on the 2nd Floor of Aincrad.
As the charging bull got closer, Kirito (and he felt like Kirito, like there was something new to him that he hadn't felt as Kazuto), leapt forward into the air, drawing Elucidator smoothly from his back with a single hand before slashing experimentally at the metallic bull's front-right shoulder as he soared above it.
Elucidator carved a deep line across the beast's back and flank, parting the metallic skin like butter under a lightsaber. The Divine Beast bellowed in surprise and pain at the sudden change and unexpected attack from the annoying fly that it had been attempting to swat.
'This feeling…it's like I'm back in Aincrad again.' Kirito thought absently as he landed gracefully, quickly turning to face his target again. The bull was no longer a threat or even a real opponent; now it was merely prey, a target to test his newfound abilities against. 'Just like back then, it was so…easy. Like my hand should have been holding these blades my entire life. Heh…I guess I've kinda missed this feeling more than I thought.'
His body dipped into a stance for one of his favourite Sword Skills almost on instinct as the bull clumsily recovered and loped around for another charge. Nothing seemed to happen at first, until words started whispering into the back of his mind, forcing him to groan.
Really? He had to do something so…shōnen-like in order to use his Sword Skills?
"Damn it…!" he grumbled as the Khalkotaurus thundered towards him. He folded his sword arm towards his body and then twisted his body towards the right. Just as the massive bull entered his range, Kirito shouted, "Vorpal Strike!"
The blade of the black sword was instantly enshrouded in golden light as he thrust it forwards, the blade propelling him towards the oncoming bull with the sound of a jet engine and striking it right in between its lowered horns. With an explosion of displaced air and physical force, the Khalkotaurus was hurled back and away, banging into the ground like a stone skipping across water before gouging a trench into the ground and coming to a slow halt.
Blinking in shock, Kirito looked between his sword and his target in disbelief. That was pure bullshit, no pun intended. The only way that Vorpal Strike could have sent something flying like that was if he seriously out-levelled his target.
Just what level was this so-called 'Divine Beast'? Better yet, what kind of stats was he sporting right now?
Then the implications of how it had happened came over him and Kirito barely resisted the urge to facepalm. "I seriously have to call out my attack names in order to use them? What. The. Hell?"
He just knew that Kayaba was to blame for this somehow, Kirito just knew it. The bastard was probably giggling himself silly in whatever pit of hell he'd been thrown into.
The sight of the bull getting up, seemingly without any major injury to boot, made Kirito frown. If this was anything like a Boss Fight, then it would take a constant barrage of attacks to cut the damned thing down to size. Fortunately, the main weakness of the Sword Skill System, Post-Motion Delay, wasn't an issue here; he'd been able to move after executing Vorpal Strike, which had quite a large amount of PMD, so hopefully that meant the rest were free of it as well.
"Alright, let's see just what I can do if I really cut loose." he mused as he drew Dark Repulsor with his free hand and lowered himself into a crouch. "OK, you metallic side of beef…time to make you into sirloin!"
Drawing Elucidator down parallel with his right leg, the young Campione drew it back abruptly, making it glow a sky-blue colour.
"Rage Spike!" he shouted, and the thrusting attack, the Sword Skill in his repertoire that gave him the longest linear range, exploded across the blue sword's blade, letting him fly across the ground and slam into the Kalkotaurus like a lightning bolt. The bull, which had only just started to build up momentum, was taken off-guard again and its bellow of rage was followed by a gout of fire from its mouth.
Kirito quickly disengaged and readjusted himself to end this as quickly as possible, drawing Dark Repulser. He didn't know how much time he had left to use the Authority, but he could feel some kind of pressure building in the back of his mind, likely to indicate that there was a limit to how long he could use it for.
"Starburst Stream!" he roared, both of his swords glowing at the use of his favourite Dual Blades Sword Skill. Not waiting for the Divine Beast to rise, Kirito laid into it with slash after slash, his twin blades biting into the beast and rending metal asunder with every strike. Flames spewed from every wound in its massive body, along with a golden liquid that Kirito guessed was the blood of the beast.
After Starburst Stream was finished, he used Horizontal, Slant, Horizontal Arc, Vertical and Vertical Square. Rents, dents and other injuries accumulated in the Divine Beast, but it still didn't fall.
"Gotta give you credit where it's due, you're a lot more resilient than I expected." Kirito said with a wince as the pressure in his head grew. The Kalkotaurus looked like a complete mess, weeping golden blood from all over its body as it stumbled after him.
"Usurper…!" a metallic, hollow voice snarled from the bull before the entirety of its body burst aflame and it charged at him anew.
"Wait, you can talk?!" the Black Swordsman gawped for a moment before dodging to the side and lashing out with one leg.
"Suigetsu!"
With his leg glowing a watery blue, the roundhouse kick slammed into the side of the charging bull and made it stumble, off balance, slowing it down just enough for Kirito to invoke what he hoped would be the last Sword Skill of the fight.
"Double Circular!" he shouted, speeding in and chopping at its neck with first Elucidator, then with Dark Repulsor, the two blades messily severing the bull's head from its body.
As the head thumped to the ground, the body stumbled forwards for a moment before keeling over as well, as if only just realising that it had just been killed. Then it started rumbling and shaking in a decidedly worrisome manner that had Kirito hastily retreating.
It was a wise precaution, as the next instant, the body and head of the Kalkotaurus exploded with the force of a bomb, sending Kirito flying back to lie, stunned, on the ground, whilst also making him release his Authority by surprised reflex.
As Kirito's clothes and weapons faded from existence, Kirigaya Kazuto's regular clothes replaced them. Shaking his head to clear it, Kazuto got up and was shocked to see the large crater where the Divine Beast used to be. Floating above it was a golden orb about the size of a grapefruit that shot into his chest before he could do anything to stop it.
Suddenly feeling completely exhausted from everything that had happened since he'd left the hospital…had that really just been an hour ago?…Kazuto trudged back across the scarred and battered landscape (which he had to wince at) and found his bike, which was miraculously intact and hadn't been burnt, melted or crushed in the fight.
Sighing in relief, the black-haired boy stood the bike upright and started wheeling it out of the park, deciding to leave the idiots who had caused all of this mess to begin with alone...for today.
'Once I have time to get over the freak out that I'm no doubt going to have about this though…!' Kazuto scowled. The only saving grace of the incident was that it had taken place when there was no one else around to get caught up in the mess, something he suspected was thanks to, and he hesitated to say it, magic. Some kind of barrier that kept mundane people out.
Regardless, had things gone really sour, the bull could have rampaged through the entire city before he could have stopped it. What were the people behind this thinking?!
Same Time
Meeting Room, History Compilation Committee Headquarters
"Well people, I believe that what we just witnessed removes any shred of a doubt that Japan now has the dubious honour of being the only nation to have two Campione born within it in the same century." a tall woman with red hair stated. Although dressed in a men's suit, she was undoubtedly female, in spite of her pranking nature. She was nodding at the mirror set before the four people present, which currently showed the figure of one Kirigaya Kazuto biking home.
"Indeed." an older man wearing a traditional outfit of hakama and kimono top nodded. "Although it puzzles me as to why he ran around like a fool for so long before actually using his Authority."
"I just received word from our misappropriated agent, Kōzuki Sakura." an ancient woman in a formal kimono interjected. "Apparently, prior to today, the Godslayer has not accessed any of his Authorities even once."
"Ridiculous." the last person present scoffed. He looked at the old woman contemptuously. "You must be mistaken, Kuhōtsuka. The boy is obviously lying and has misled the fool girl."
"Given that we know for a fact that the god that Kirigaya-sama slew was Morpheus, that possibility cannot be discounted, of course." the Kuhōtsuka representative acknowledged. "However, Seishūin, let the principle of Occam's Razor apply here, hm? Suppose he has not, in fact, deceived the watchers set on him. Suppose, just for the sake of argument, that today was the honest and true first usage of his powers as a Campione. Imagine what might have happened had he not been able to access his powers."
A silence fell on the room for a moment before Kaoru facepalmed.
"Fuck. We screwed up."
"I would guess so." the first to have spoken, the Renjō representative, agreed. "Our own research and interviews on Kirigaya-san's character have shown several key attributes about his character before his rebirth. Multiple other survivors have stated that the 'Black Swordsman' has always been one to pursue those who harmed others within the death game. Should his character remain the same after his rebirth then we could indeed be in deep shit. Sayanomiya-sama, have you not gotten in touch with Hosaka Tomo as of yet? Her input would have been most helpful in preventing this…misjudgment from occurring."
"I have. Unfortunately, the enmity that she holds for me in particular, and the Sayanomiya Clan and History Compilation Committee in general, are working against us." Kaoru replied wearily. "The actions of my last three predecessors in side-lining, ignoring and taking advantage of the Hosaka Family seems to have come home to roost on all of our heads. She has agreed to help manage him, but has specifically not agreed to exert any influence in our favour. Hosaka Tomo is more than likely going to ensure that he treats us with suspicion and disdain, even in the best-case scenario."
The clicking of tongues at their predecessors' shortcomings went around the room. The Hosaka Family had once been a direct subordinate Branch Family to the Sayanomiya back during the Warring States Period, acting as the eyes and ears of the larger Clan throughout Japan under the guise of a wealthy mercantile clan. Aided by their magic, they had been the perfect spies among the numerous clans of Japan during that turbulent time.
After the victory of the Tokugawa Clan and its allies at the Battle of Sekigahara, however, the usefulness of the Hosaka Family had been diminished, and they had found themselves steadily losing respect and face among the old Council of Mages that predated the HCC. They had respectfully asked their liege lords for aid and redress, as they had loyally served the Sayanomiya Clan with fidelity and honour for generations, but the head of the clan at that time, Sayanomiya Eisuke, had dismissed their claims out of hand and had even barred them from appearing before the Sayanomiya again for a century.
Kaoru was reasonably certain it was because the man had been an infamous misogynist, and the Hosaka Family was traditionally matrilineal and matriarchal.
Since then, the relationship between the rulers of Magical Japan and the Hosaka Family had steadily declined, with the Hosaka being decimated during the Bakumatsu, the bombings at the end of World War II and the American occupation that followed afterwards, with little to no aid being given by the Sayanomiya Clan.
"OK, you were all my predecessors' council. Why the hell didn't he reach out to the Hosaka?" Kaoru asked in exasperation. "This stupid grudge is well over four centuries old and we do not have the time for such an idiotic problem rearing its head."
"From what I managed to gather; it was a verbal instruction passed down since Sayanomiya Eisuke that the Hosaka Family was to be reduced to nothing." Renjō offered, frowning slightly. "None of the others since Eisuke were anywhere near as bad as that man was, but they were required to swear a binding oath to follow a set of instructions before they were eligible to take up the mantle of Sayanomiya Clan Head."
"I suddenly feel very fortunate that my grandfather passed away very suddenly from choking on a fish bone." Kaoru drawled in annoyance, running a hand through her hair. "Right, so…my ancestor was a woman-hating bastard who wanted to wipe out the Hosaka because of their matrilineal practices. I get it."
After a pause, she threw her hands up. "No, I don't! The Hosaka were the best infiltrators and covert agents in Japan, and we reduced them to a single member over the course of four hundred years because…why?!"
"Have you checked Sayanomiya Eisuke's journal?" Kuhōtsuka asked. "I recall that all Clan Heads of the Sayanomiya kept a journal of their time as clan head."
"I'd like to, but the old head librarian of the Clan's gone senile and is now in a care-home." the bifauxnen sighed. "Her three apprentices are currently arguing about who's going to take her place. I'll be putting my foot down about them choosing someone within the week."
"Good. Now, if we could return to the matter of the Campione who likely already has a rather poor view of us, as well as the freelance mage who has an axe to grind with us…" Seishūin said sarcastically.
"There isn't anything we can do, about either problem, Seishūin." Renjō informed him. "Hosaka Tomo is at least an acquaintance, if not a full ally, of the new Campione, and going after her in any form could make him attack us with that Authority we just watched him use."
Kuhōtsuka snorted. "He'd go through even the best of our mages like a scythe through wheat. The physical enhancement it grants him alone would be enough all on its own, let alone those two magnificent blades he wields while it's active. And that leaves the…what were those things called in Sword Art Online, Sayanomiya-sama?"
"Sword Skills." the Sayanomiya Head replied. "Kayaba Akihiko had a bias of some sort against magic, so his game had 'sword magic' alone, aside a set of specialized crystals with healing and teleportation magic."
"Ah yes, the 'Sword Skills' that he used there." the old woman nodded. "Those are exceptionally useful in combat. I believe even Lord Salvatore would have been hard pressed to fight those without using [Curse of Rampage]. I believe that Kōzuki Sakura mentioned that he possessed Authorities, as in the plural. Do you suppose Morpheus granted him multiple Authorities?"
"I actually had a thought about that." Renjō put in, holding up a report. "According to this statement by one Tsuboi Ryōtarō, Kayaba assumed a form under the title of 'Morpheus the Oneiroi Amalgam' to do battle with Kirigaya-sama, after mentioning Morpheus, Phobetor and Phantasos specifically. An amalgamation of the three most well known of the Oneiroi…what if he received one Authority from each of them?"
"That…would make sense." Seishūin nodded slowly. "Except I do not recall anyone, aside from Lord Kusanagi, receiving multiple Authorities from the same Heretic God. Even Duke Voban only received one Authority, [Sturm und Drang], from killing Lei Gong, Yu Shi and Feng Bo."
"You are incorrect there." Kaoru disagreed with a shake of her head. "We've actually looked into that and, despite some claims to the contrary, [Sturm and Drang] was actually a composite Authority born from the merger of three Authorities granted by the Chinese Weather Trio. Lei Gong granted him an Authority that allowed him to call down and manifest lightning, Yu Shi granted him an Authority that allowed him to create and manipulate rain storms, and Feng Bo granted him an Authority that controlled all winds within a set area around him. On their own, each was a fairly strong Authority, but when combined they allowed him complete control over the weather within an area-of-effect the size of an entire country while also extending all three's duration immensely. Hence, he only ever used them in their combined state of [Sturm and Drang]."
"Humph. So there is precedent." Renjō nodded. "Which do you believe this Authority to belong to, Sayanomiya-sama? Has your Spirit Vision given you any insights?"
"None." the Crossdressing Hime-Miko replied. "The sheer strength of my Spirit Vision abilities falls drastically short of Mariya Yuri's own. It's rare that the stupid thing even triggers, let alone the vision actually having anything approaching clarity."
"Perhaps it is your own disinclination to trust your ability that renders it so useless, Sayanomiya-sama." Seishūin noted absently. "But that aside, we must ensure that either Kirigaya-sama leaves Japan post-haste, or he agrees to assume lordship of Japan. At the moment, Lord Salvatore Doni is the only other living Campione on the planet, and he has been in a coma since the battle against the King Who Manifests At World's End. If we can be the first nation to have the first Campione of the new generation, as well as have been the nation to produce the last Campione of the old generation, our international prestige is likely to skyrocket!"
"Don't reach for the stars when we're barely out of the gutter, Seishūin." Kuhōtsuka snorted. "We have little enough to offer the new Campione; Mariya Yuri, Mariya Hikari and Seishūin Ena, our three best Hime-Miko, have all been claimed by the Round Table Alliance. It is entirely possible that Kōzuki Sakura will also join them when Lord Kusanagi, her cousin, returns to this world. The best alternative to sending a Hime-Miko is Hosaka Tomo, as a relative of the Sayanomiya Clan, and by this point that girl is just as likely to turn on us as she is to help us in any way, and she specifically warned us against sending anyone to the special school in Nishitokyo that's going to be opening up soon. We are, as the saying goes, stuck between a rock and a hard place."
"I believe that Hosaka Tomo wishes to humble the Committee in general, and the Sayanomiya Clan in particular." Kaoru put in tiredly. "She may dislike us, but she does recognize that having a unified Mage Association controlling and regulating the magic users of a country is a vastly preferable situation to, say, the situation in South America right now."
Winces abounded. South America had once had several fairly large Mage Associations that had kept things together, using a fusion of Hermetic Magic and Aztec Magic passed down since the Conquistadors had arrived. Now, more than thirty years after the descent of the Heretic God Tezcatlipoca had basically depopulated most of the mages in those countries, the entire place was still rife with internecine warfare between the remnants of the various Mage Associations each trying to claim supremacy over the continent. Had John Pluto Smith, the Campione who had slain Tezcatlipoca, still been around, he would have taken them in hand long before now, but he was not, so it was a moot point.
"So you do not think she will attempt to have us…disposed of?" Renjō asked cautiously.
"Heavens, no." the bifauxnen shook her head. "She'll throw mud in our faces…metaphorically speaking. Embarrass us and do what she can to make us look unattractive to the Campione. The absolute worst thing I could imagine her trying is that she might persuade him to found his own Mage Association and force the History Compilation Committee into a subservient position, which I doubt anyone here would like or desire."
"Agreed."
"Without a doubt."
"Obviously."
"So, our best bet to keep that from happening is to hopefully find some way to appease young Hosaka. With what you have all told me regarding my ancestor's vendetta against her clan, then I believe that it's best that I figure out exactly what in the name of the eight-million kami he thought he was doing by basically trying to kill off an entire branch family of our Clan." Kaoru concluded. "Should Hosaka Tomo become the first magic-user concubine of the new Campione, he will no doubt bring it up. I will hopefully have an appropriate explanation prepared for that happenstance."
"You emphasised 'magic user' there." Renjō noted. "I take it he has someone of the non-magical variety?"
"The Yuuki scion, the only daughter of RECT Incorporated, one Yuuki Asuna." the Sayanomiya Clan Head informed her compatriots. "She was apparently married to him inside Sword Art Online, and is currently fighting back against her mother to maintain the status of his girlfriend. From what we've been able to gather, both Kirigaya-sama and Asuna-chan were two of the most powerful fighters inside the game, and were regarded as the Number One power couple inside it as well."
"Hmm…a relationship based on mutual respect and bonds formed in times of strife…" Kuhōtsuka mused aloud. "How very unlike the children nowadays. Is he even likely to want concubines if he already has a loyal girlfriend?"
"Regardless of who he was before, Kirigaya Kazuto is a Campione." Kaoru stated. "King Kusanagi gathered all of the best women he could find in a relatively short period of time following on from his ascension as a Campione; the Diavollo Rosso, the Fairy Knight, the Hime-Miko with Glass Eyes, the Hime-Miko of the Sword, and even the Hime-Miko of Disaster Purification, not to mention his Foreign Mistress, Lucretia Zola, the Witch of Sardinia. All Campione gather people to them, whether it be few or many, but all of the people gathered are remarkable in some regard."
She regarded her fellows seriously. "Hosaka Tomo is the last living member of the Hosaka Clan, and is highly skilled as an infiltrator, spy and a particularly deadly combatant should the need arise. Such a person would be nigh impossible for a Campione to possibly disregard. It isn't a matter of if she's going to join him, but when."
Shortly after that, the meeting broke up. Sayanomiya Kaoru slid into her car beside Amakasu so he could drive her back to her apartment.
"I want the librarian situation resolved immediately." she said tersely to him as he started driving through Tokyo. "This situation with the Hosaka girl holding a grudge against us is beyond the pale."
"I shall resolve it as fast as I can." the ninja nodded. "Do you truly think that the Hosaka girl can influence the new Campione to such a degree, Sayanomiya-sama?"
"It's almost impossible to truly influence a Campione, but their bonds are from his time as a mortal man." Kaoru replied. "From all reports, they had a very cordial friendship, and it's highly likely that she holds some form of affection for him to boot. He doubtlessly feels at least a degree of affection for her also. If she plays on that, she may be able to direct him at us with unfavourable intentions. I wish for something to disarm, or at least mitigate, that situation."
"And what of the situation in the park today?" Amakasu asked.
"The Family Heads had no say in that; it was due to radicals in the Seishūin Family, as well as a few in the other families." the bifauxnen said in exasperation. "All of them will be in custody shortly. We'll leave judgement of them up to Kirigaya-sama. It should work as both a peace offering and as a way to get another insight into his character."
"You realise that could be taken in a negative light by him?" the ninja pointed out.
"Anything we do could be taken in a negative light by him." Kaoru huffed. "We simply have to manage with the cards we are dealt. Do what we can and run damage control on the aftermath. And unlike in King Kusanagi's case, the first magic user to interact with him and become his companion will be a Japanese Mage; regardless of how this turns out, we'll be able to squeeze a little recognition out of that."
"I hope so, Kaoru-sama." Amakasu murmured. "I hope so."
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Next Chapter: Pandora, the All Giving Woman
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