Chapter 18: Backup
Dark Territory, Southern Skies
"He's not slowing down. I'm switching dragons and I still can't catch him."
Bercouli stared at the black speck on the horizon in a mix of confusion and desperation.
He had been flying after that speck for over two hours at this point. The forest, where the Human Empire Army had set up camp, had passed underneath his three dragons almost immediately. He'd flown over the giant crater that acted as a remnant of some massive battle, and the ruins with strange stone statues shortly after that, emerging into the uncharted southern area of the Dark Territory. Even after all of that, he hadn't managed to close the gap between him and the black dragon of Emperor Vecta at the slightest.
The Emperor, having stolen his beloved apprentice Alice from under his and Rythin's noses, was flying on one single dragon carrying both of them. And Bercouli, in comparison, was flying on three dragons. He switched between Hoshigami, Amayori, and Takiguri to manage their fatigue as best as he could. In theory, he should have caught up.
Bercouli raised his hand and called a familiar Sacred Art to generate a magnifying Crystal element. The back of Emperor Vecta came into focus, Alice dangling limp in the black dragon's claws.
"Does he have the power to heal his dragon's Life?"
No, that was impossible. Not even the Highest Order Administrator herself could do something like that.
The man from Rythin's world couldn't fly forever, of course. To reach a place as distant as the southern edge of the Dark Territory, his dragon would have to rest twice. But Bercouli's dragons needed to stop as well. Their speed was equal, so he could never close the distance between them.
"That settles it," Bercouli mused to himself as his hand rested on the hilt hanging from his left hip.
It was a cold, firm, familiar feeling. But he knew his weapon well enough to tell that it hadn't fully recovered from the powerful Full Control Art he'd used at the Eastern Gate. That Art had used more Life than he expected - and the technique he was about to use, the ultimate technique the Time-Splitting Sword possessed, would use an incredible amount of Life.
Bercouli had only one chance to use this technique.
He stood up on Hoshigami's back; despite not holding the reins, his partner flew perfectly level as if knowing exactly what Bercouli intended to do. He drew the sword from the worn sheath on his hip and grasped it firmly with both hands.
The blade in his hands released a weak shine. It left a trail of light behind it, as though cutting through water and leaving a wake behind it. "Sorry, dragon," Bercouli said.
Then, he raised the longsword over his head and said with a firm, steely voice, "Time-Splitting Sword... Uragiri!"
A Sacred Art circle appeared around his sword, with lines resembling the shape of his blade on its surface. There were two; one short and one long. The longer line clicked forward twice, pointing at a sixty degree angle in front of him.
When he swung his sword down with a heavy slash that moved surprisingly quickly, blue afterimages trailed the path of his blade and then slowly disappeared.
Off in the distance, at the very edge of his vision, Bercouli could see the left wing of the black dragon separate from its body.
Uragiri was the sword that slashed the past. Even an emperor able to force his dragon past its limits could not rewind time.
Bercouli looked below him and saw that the Emperor's dragon had crashed onto a tall rock column. It was a flat plateau, with no easy way down. The man from the other world was trapped there.
"Just fly a little bit further!" he shouted to the dragons. They flapped their powerful wings and soared through the sky.
Without a dragon, it wouldn't take long for him to finally close the distance. In the time before the battle began, Bercouli closed his eyes and focused his thoughts.
Just before he'd jumped onto Hoshigami's back, Rythin had told him something important. As well as having infinite Life, Emperor Vecta had powers befitting a god. Protection from Sacred Arts, was it? Ah, that was going to be rough...
His lips curved in a small, peaceful smile as he recalled the dream he'd had that morning.
"Have you ever felt you were going to die?"
That was the question the Highest Order Administrator had asked him in his dream.
"Will this be the place I die?" he mused.
He didn't want to die here, but after so many years of service he was starting to get a little bit tired. Still... For little Alice's sake, he needed to last just a little bit longer.
When Bercouli opened his sharp eyes, Hoshigami was about to fly over the plateau. He could see Alice lying on the ground in her gold armor, and the silhouette of Emperor Vecta next to her.
"If I get cut down, head back to the others and help them," he commanded the dragons, and then jumped from Hoshigami's back.
He was still well over two hundred mels above the ground when he leapt from the dragon's back. If he'd let himself fall, then even Bercouli couldn't have survived the impact. Instead, he ran down the empty air as though he were descending a spiral staircase. Naturally, Bercouli had stolen the skill of manipulating elements with his feet from Prime Senator Chudelkin years ago, and he put it to good use in this situation.
Bercouli generated a Wind element under his feet and burst it immediately with each 'step'. The propulsion upwards wasn't much, but it was enough to eat away at the momentum and turn the uncontrollable descent into something he could use to his advantage.
True killing intent was something that Bercouli had never before put into his sword. To look at it a different way, there were no enemies in this world that had managed to fill Bercouli with such powerful emotions as rage and hatred. Even when he'd fought Eugeo in the Central Cathedral, Bercouli had never held a trace of killing intent in his weapon.
This was, then, the first time in Bercouli's long, long life that he channeled fury into his blade, with the intent to kill the man in front of him with a single strike.
'Emperor Vecta. Not all real-worlders are demons like you. Those boys and girls are proof of that.' Bercouli tightened his grip on the Time-Splitting Sword's hilt.
'You whipped up the Dark Territory and drove its people to war. You caused the deaths of tens of thousands of them, and us. As far as humans go, that right there is proof you're evil to the core.'
'You're gonna pay. You're gonna feel the weight of every life lost.'
'So help me… I'll make you pay with this blow!'
"Uraaaaah!"
The leader of the Integrity Knights kicked off of the air with a powerful leap, and swung his blade down towards the back of Emperor Vecta's unprotected head.
His sword glowed white as it split the air. This one single slash was so powerful that even the color of the world faded away.
It truly was the ultimate strike. Bercouli's years of experience combined with the fury and hatred in his heart to create something more powerful than any other sword technique in the Underworld. This attack would access the Main Visualizer directly and write to the data there directly. In other words, even Emperor Vecta's nearly infinite amount of Life would drop to zero from this single slash.
Still, though, and even though he could surely sense the killing intent behind him, the blond man didn't move.
Bercouli's slash bore down on the back of Vecta's head. It cut so swiftly that in an instant the blade slashed down; even if one's eyes could follow it, there was no possible way to react to it or even do anything other than stare at the blade.
Still, though, in the instant before he was cut, Vecta moved. His figure blurred out of the way in the only possible direction that would have saved his life. The only thing Bercouli's impossibly powerful strike cut was the very edge of Vecta's cloak. As soon as it touched the metal of his sword, the mantle disintegrated entirely.
*Krrrrrrsh!* The impact of his blade rocked the whole pillar they stood on, and left a massive crater behind. Shards of rock were knocked loose from the whole formation and fell down.
"Slippery bastard… How did he evade that!?"
Despite the confusion, Bercouli didn't stop moving for an instant. His long years of experience in the battlefield had taught him to never stop and think even under the most unexpected of circumstances.
He detonated another wind element under his feet and jumped one last time to the side. He landed to Vecta's flank and kicked forward again, throwing out a horizontal slash.
As expected, Vecta avoided this second slash, thrown out barely half a second after the first. His black armor was grazed by the sword's tip as he slid backwards like oily smoke, and despite the dust and rubble kicked up by the force of Bercouli's swing the only damage to the Emperor was sparks and a scratch on his jet-black chest plate.
But... even still, that was Bercouli's aim in the first place.
"I've got you... Time-Splitting Sword... Karagiri!"
A vertical slash cut through the air and haze. It came not from Bercouli himself, but from the empty space that he'd cut with his attack before. Bercouli's Divine Object's powerful ability to cut the 'future' had already been active when he struck earlier - and now it had been released. Vecta turned around just in time to watch his death approach.
The first thing to get cut was Vecta's crown. It shattered into tiny pieces as it brushed up against the edge of the slash held in place and went flying. Vecta's hair tumbled in every direction as it was exposed.
And then...
*Crack.*
Bercouli could only stare in shock, finally frozen, as he watched Vecta bring his right hand up as though he were covering his face. A sharp cracking sound echoed through the air as Vecta and somehow manage to stop the remains of his attack with his bare hand.
The technique of catching blades had been passed down through the Pugilists guild, but their ability to do so relied on their steel skin. And more importantly, the strength behind the echo of the slash was such that even the leader of the Pugilists wouldn't be able to stop it.
But somehow, Vecta had stopped it. With one single hand, as the other dangled by his side. Not only that, but as the slash lost its energy it was absorbed into Vecta's hand.
"You can absorb Incarnate abilities?" Bercouli demanded.
The last bits of the mirage-like distortion in the air disappeared and Vecta's hand closed into a fist. "Is that what it's called?"
He turned and Bercouli beheld the change that had come over the man. His eyes had become dyed in blackness, like staring into the eyes of a demon.
"Incarnate. Your fusion of mind and will?"
Vecta spoke strangely, interspersing his speech with words from the Sacred Tongue. His voice was thin and empty of any emotion, and his lips had twisted in something like a warped smile.
Bercouli stared at the monster in human form as he noticed something strange. There were glimmers of light in the depths of Vecta's eyes. Like starlight...
No. That was wrong.
They were souls. Trapped by Vecta and devoured.
"Yours tastes like a vintage wine. Rich, thick, heavy... with a finish that lingers a bit too long. It's not my favorite, but as a palate cleanser before the main course, it isn't bad."
The Emperor grasped the longsword hanging from his waist and slowly pulled it out. It was a thin blade, and Vecta held it like an amateur, but there was something strange about the glowing light that covered the blade.
"Come on. Let me drink more."
"Don't choke on it!"
Bercouli shouted, steeling himself for battle, and lunged forward. He swung his blade in a heavy swing that was suddenly parried by Vecta's blade slicing upwards.
The force of the clash was incredible. Bercouli found his blade forced back again, and each of his swings was met by the Emperor's dark blade.
As they fought, Bercouli's mind studied his opponent, and he came to a conclusion: minimal movement for maximum effect. That was the style of swordplay that Vecta used, and it was something he had never seen before. It wasn't even like Kirito and Eugeo's Aincrad style, where every move was efficient and precisely flowed into the next with no openings.
The black-eyed Emperor held his sword like an amateur, but that didn't seem to matter at all. When Bercouli swung, the dark sword would slide right into its path perfectly with no preparation or windup. The rare times he couldn't block, Vecta would seem to glide along the ground without moving his feet, like he had back when dodging Bercouli's first Incarnate slash.
All with the damnably pleased smile on his face.
When attacking, it was all too similar. Vecta's sword would seem to dart directly into position with no wind-up or warning at all. Bercouli was unable to predict where he would strike from, and he had been cut five times already by the edge of the emperor's blade.
He would not allow a sixth.
Bercouli's combat experience was so rich that he had already started to adapt to Vecta's pace. He raised his sword and countered, delivering an overhead slash just as Vecta raised his sword to do the same.
Bercouli hissed and used as little of his willpower to deliver the firm slash, and the two swords clashed with a loud metallic clang. The impact sent out a shockwave across the top of the stone pillar, and sparks sprayed out from where their swords crossed.
The sword of the Knight Commander had been faster by just an instant, and he was stronger. He pushed further and the enemy's sword was pushed backwards towards his own neck. As Bercouli forced him back, Vecta's position wavered and the black-armored emperor fell to his knees.
'This is my chance!'
That thought flashed through Bercouli's mind and he pushed his will into his blade. The old weapon, his old friend, gleamed a bright silver tinged with the red of the sky above, and Vecta's sword was pushed back further. The edge of Bercouli's blade closed in, and finally touched the shoulder of Vecta's armor, mirroring the still-bleeding wound on the emperor's other shoulder.
Vecta smirked.
His sword began to glow an eerie blue, and a dark, slimy smoke oozed from the metal. When it touched the Time-Splitting Sword, the glow of Bercouli's beloved sword died away.
'What's happening?'
The world seemed to fade away from him, melting into a world of nothingness.
'I was about to do something… But I forgot.'
There was...
...Suddenly, pain.
An intense, freezing sensation in his left shoulder brought the world back into focus as his eyes snapped open. Vecta was standing right in front of him, sword slashing for his throat, and Bercouli jumped back. He took a deep breath and centered himself again.
"What the hell? I can't believe I let my mind wander like that."
Bercouli looked down at his shoulder. The pauldron he wore had been pierced and blood had stained the cloth underneath.
No, it wasn't as simple as spacing out. He'd been forced into that state, where everything had been stolen away from him.
"You bastard, you leeched my Incarnate ability right out of my sword!"
In response, Vecta just grinned silently.
"Tch." The wound in his shoulder had barely been a graze, but it was bleeding a lot. Bercouli just clicked his tongue and tightened his grip on his sword. "That was a nifty trick you pulled just now. But if we can't cross swords, we're gonna be here all day, Your Highness. C'mon!"
Bercouli chuckled. Finally, Vecta dropped the unnerving, fake smile and looked at the blade of his sword.
"True," he said. "That reminds me. I have another trick to try. "
His sword continued to glow, and he pointed it at Bercouli. The same dark smoke swirled from the blade and reached out towards the Knight Commander like dark tendrils.
"You've gotta be kidding me. Not from a distance, too?"
The dark power wrapped around Bercouli and his eyes went dull and blank as his will was sapped away. Just like before, his mind was snuffed out.
Vecta approached his target, but Bercouli, jaw slack and eyes unblinking, didn't react. Even as the longsword lifted up and pressed against Bercouli's arm, drawing blood from the slightest touch, Bercouli didn't do anything but stare.
The longsword was pulled outwards.
With a wet, meaty sound, Bercouli's left arm was severed just above the elbow.
"Ghh!"
The sudden pain and shifting center of gravity snapped Bercouli's mind from the fog it had been in, and he stumbled back. Blood poured from the stump, staining the ground in sticky puddles, and he jumped back again to get more distance. Vecta let him move, still holding his longsword out.
Bercouli pressed two fingers to his wound and called on Luminous elements to heal it while his mind raced. The Healing Art was able to stop the flow of blood, but the lack of spatial resources in the Dark Territory prevented him from doing more.
'He clouded my mind just by pointing his sword at me. How can I counter that? I used Karagiri and that didn't work.'
The wound had stopped bleeding, and Bercouli lifted his sword back into a ready position, holding the massive blade with one hand.
'The only other skill I've got is the Memory Release Uragiri, but he's not gonna stand there as I fire it up.'
As that thought crossed his mind, Bercouli realized. He was desperate. He'd been pushed to the absolute edge.
"If this is where I'm supposed to die, I'll make it count. ...Heh."
His face split into a grin. Vecta finally started walking towards him, but Bercouli's eyes didn't go towards the enemy. Instead, they drifted to the side, where Alice was sleeping on the ground.
'Kiddo. I don't know if I did it right, but I tried to be some kind of father to you. Heh, I can't remember mine, so it's not like I had a clue as to what being a dad's all about. But, there's one thing I do know.'
'A good father would give his life to protect his kid.'
'And that's something you're never gonna understand as long as you live... you monster!'
Despite everything, Bercouli pushed his will into his sword and sprinted forward.
Dark Territory, Southern Ruins
I stared up at the sky as hundreds, thousands of blue lines plunged down from the heavens.
"Ah," I said, and I could barely hear my own voice it was so hoarse. "I see. Now it's our turn."
Reinforcements had arrived. The leader of the vanguard was someone I knew pretty well, after all.
Klein looked over his shoulder and smirked at us, hefting his katana over his shoulder. My eyes swam from exhaustion and I swayed on my feet as the quiet despair transformed into a rush of relief that stole the adrenaline from me. I looked down and realized my empty hand was shaking, and I took a deep breath.
Another beam of light crashed into the ground beside Asuna and formed into a hulking figure that cut a Red Knight down with a massive battle axe. The man straightened up after that and sent us a charming grin.
"Agil!" Asuna cried.
"Hey, lady. Hope I'm not too late," he said, giving us a thumbs up.
The Human Empire Army looked around, staring as the beams of light started to plunge into the ground in the area between our forces and the red knights. The enemy had taken a break when they'd seen Klein's savage attack, so we had some breathing room.
I pushed through the forces that were standing between me and the others. As I approached Asuna and Agil, two more beams of light landed near the beautiful girl. One resolved into a young girl with twin ponytails tied up with red ribbons wearing a blue tunic. The other, next to her, became a girl with short hair wearing a brown-red tunic with a gleaming mace hanging from her waist.
"Liz! Silica! You're here! I can't believe it!"
Asuna sheathed her rapier, reached out and clasped her hands with Liz.
Liz grinned. "We couldn't sit this one out."
"We came as soon as we could."
All the girls hugged tightly. It was honestly a heartwarming moment, and I didn't really want to break it up as I approached. Still, Liz caught sight of me as I walked up with Kirito beside me, and the tight hug she had around Asuna slipped.
"...Rythin?"
Silica let go of Asuna as Liz breathed my name. The tiny girl gasped and practically teleported in front of me to throw her arms around my waist and squeeze.
"Ghk."
"No, you don't get to complain," Silica muttered as she rested her chin on my shoulder. "Not after scaring all of us so much."
I sighed and rubbed her back. "Sorry."
"Holy crap," Liz said. "You're... you're awake, thank god..."
She rubbed at her eyes and joined the hug, throwing her arms around me too. I didn't really have a free hand to hug her with, so I just... kinda leaned over and rested my cheek against her soft hair.
"Yui said you were..."
I chuckled. "Argo woke me up," I said. "I wish there was some way we could have told you, so you didn't worry. But seriously, how could I sleep in and miss all this?"
"You're okay now," Liz said, and if her voice was maybe a little watery and the spot on my shoulder where she'd buried her face was a little wet, I wasn't going to say anything. "You're okay."
"Yeah. I am. Especially now that you're here."
Liz giggled. "We brought everyone we could."
I looked up into the sky and ran a quick count of the people in our friend group, and decided that several thousand was more than that.
"So when ya say everyone," Argo mused, echoing my thoughts as she stared up at the sky, "what exactly do ya mean, 'everyone'?"
The blue columns of letters and numbers plunged down. Where they landed, swordsmen appeared in bright and shining armor of different makes and colors. Red, green, gold... I recognized several faces from the crowd, too. Alicia Rue of the Cait Sith looked a little strange without the cat ears and twitching tail, but the Sylph's leader Sakuya was practically identical. There was even that grouchy Salamander general, Eugene.
Alicia's Cait Sith honor guard was there too, as well as a ton of Salamander soldiers in their matching red armor. Players other than the ALO fairies appeared too, wearing all kinds of vibrant armor that ranged from heavy plate mail to thin, light leather jackets. I even saw Musketeer X from GGO, checking a hand crossbow.
When the rain of code finally ended, an army stood in the space between the Human Empire Army and the Americans.
"Those big dumb ones are the bad guys!"
"Vanguard, with me! Drive them back!"
Alicia and Eugene gave the orders. Their soldiers leapt into action without hesitation. While the red and gold players charged forward, Sakuya turned to the remaining players. "Rearguard, fall back with the Underworlders. Check your spells."
"Just so we're clear, this ain't nothin' personal," Klein said. "All the same, we're gonna make you pay for what you did to our friends. Big time. Three times the amount... no, make it a thousand! You bastards!"
I exhaled slowly as the battlefield changed in an instant. I needed to take a few seconds to just process everything that was going on. The acceleration of this world had to have been set to 1:1 so that the Americans could Dive in using AmuSpheres. That meant that the connection existed, and anyone that knew the address could log into the Underworld.
But all of the equipment, their shining weapons and armor... They were too brilliant. They had the shines of upgraded and enhanced weapons - not quite as powerful as the Divine Object in my hands or Asuna's rapier, but definitely better than the equipment they'd have if they used a default account.
That... No, that couldn't be right. That's not how this works. I don't get to be this lucky.
"No way..." Kirito breathed. "They converted their characters to the Underworld?"
"But they might not be able to go back," Asuna said. "How could they have done something like this? I just… I'm sorry."
"What are you talking about, Asuna?" Liz asked. "What do you think we work so hard in SAO and ALO for? It's this. To protect the people we love whenever and wherever. "
Asuna looked at Liz and Silica, both of whom smiled back in unshakeable confidence in the beautiful girl. Asuna smiled and wiped at her eyes where they'd been tearing up a bit. "You're right. As usual. Thanks, guys."
"Question, over here," Argo said. "Ya need ta have th' address ta log into Underworld. It's not like ya can just find it in the game list. So who gave ya the location?"
Liz and Silica blinked, then giggled. "I'm surprised you'd ask," Liz said. "It should be obvious."
"Yeah. It was Yui and Din. They told us everything that was going on with the Underworld and its people. I've never seen them get so emotional before. "
I blinked, and then closed my eyes and smiled. Those kids... Of course. I should have guessed from the start.
I'll have to give them presents when we make it back, as a thank you.
"Thanks for looking out for us, Yui," Asuna said.
As she murmured the words filled with emotion, her body glowed with a golden light. The scrapes and wounds she'd picked up vanished like they'd never been there to begin with, and the blood staining her face and clothes disappeared.
In my case, just getting the nice hug from Liz and Silica had restored my energy. In front of my cute little sisters, I could fight forever. Obviously.
"Um... Lady Asuna? Sir Rythin?"
"Kirito, who are they?"
The pair of voices came from beside us. Renly and Eugeo were standing nearby, staring at all of us. I think the sudden appearance of Liz and Silica, as well as everyone else that had charged the Red Knights and were cutting them apart, had spooked them a little bit. The two Integrity Knights were staring, and the regular soldiers behind them had eyes wide and round with shock.
"They're with us. They're our best friends," Asuna said.
Kirito nodded. "Eugeo, this is Liz and Silica. They came from the Real World to help us. "
Liz and Silica stared at Eugeo, both of them making a thoughtful hum, and then they exchanged a quick glance and nodded. I think I can guess what just went through their minds: 'For once, it's not another girl!'
Heh. Just wait until they meet Alice and Liena.
More importantly, they glossed over the 'Sir Rythin' part of that comment, so I wasn't going to be teased about it.
"I wonder how many favors the kids had to burn to drag everyone here," I murmured.
Liz didn't hear me, but Silica did. "Liz didn't mention it, but she did a lot to help too," the little beast tamer said in a whisper. "She gave this amazing speech and convinced everyone to help."
"Hmm, really?" I guess I have someone else to get a present for once we're back, then. "I'm glad you're all here to help."
Silica giggled and squeezed my waist one more time before she broke off to stand next to Liz. Renly approached the two girls, staring at each of them in turn, until he finally sighed and his shoulders relaxed.
"Thank you for your assistance. I'm so relieved! To tell you the truth, I thought everyone from your world aside from the goddesses, Kirito, and Sir Rythin were brutes, like those soldiers."
"Well of course we're not all like that! I'm Lisbeth! Put 'er there, Mr. Knight!"
Liz grinned as she cheerfully introduced herself, and patted Renly on the shoulder a few times. Gently for her, of course – I saw the kid shudder a few times as she smacked him. Then she offered her hand to him to shake.
"I'm Silica! It's nice to meet you!"
Renly smiled and clasped hands with Liz. "O-Oh, right, apologies! I'm Renly. A pleasure to meet you both."
How sweet.
"By the way... Mind telling us more about that 'Sir' business with Rythin?"
I sighed. "Dang it, Liz," I complained. "You missed the first one, why couldn't you let this one go too?"
"No way! I was just waiting for a chance to ask. You never wore metal armor in SAO or ALO, so of course I'm curious!" She grabbed my wrist and inspected the dagger I was holding. "And we've gotta talk about this, too..."
"Place and time, Liz," Kirito said as I leaned away from the over-excited blacksmith.
She glanced at him and stuck her tongue out. "Like you've never gotten crazy about swords," she said. But anyway, she did give me a little bit more space.
Phew. Thanks, Kirito.
"Hey, Liz," Asuna said firmly, and we all snapped to attention at the Sub-Commander voice she was using. "How many people converted in with you?"
"Um, oh, yeah… Only a little over two thousand came along. I tried to get more, but even after spilling my guts to the council that's all I could get. "
She looked away, and Kirito reached out to pat her head. "You did a great job, Liz," he said, and Silica looked on with barely-disguised envy as Liz blushed. "That'll be more than enough."
Asuna opened her mouth to clear her throat as Kirito patted Liz, but after a second she just sighed and smiled fondly. "If reconverting is an option for Real Worlders," she said, "this could turn into a war of attrition. We should focus on healing, and keep the front line from spreading. We need a support unit. Liz, Silica, could you fall back with 200 and form one? "
"We'll get right on it!"
"Don't worry, we'll be ready!"
Silica nodded and Liz gave Asuna a confident thumbs-up. Then, Asuna turned to Renly and Eugeo.
"I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I need you to teach healing. My world doesn't have Sacred Arts, so I thought if you and your priests taught our warriors, it might give us the edge we need. "
"Yes, I'd be happy to!" Renly saluted her.
Eugeo nodded. "I'll do everything I can to help," he said.
Asuna smiled at the two of them. Then, she drew her rapier and crouched in her regular stance. Beside her, Kirito drew his sword. "All right then... We're heading to the front line!"
The fencer tensed for a second before she launched herself forward at the speeds she was known for in SAO. Kirito was right behind her. I exchanged a quick glance with Argo and smiled at her.
"Shall we go?"
"Nya hah hah! Let's go help 'em out a bit."
My girlfriend darted forward, her claws gleaming as her ribbon fluttered in the air behind her. I followed after Argo, knife in my hand as I charged the front lines -
- A shiver ran down my spine and my eyes narrowed. This was a familiar feeling... So where did it happen before? I flicked through my memories in search of the familiar feeling of death.
This was killing intent. Someone somewhere was watching me, eager to kill me.
My lips twisted. I recognized the sensation now. Back in E Class, during our clash between killing Korosensei and saving him, there had been an instant when Nagisa descended from above like a reaper collecting souls. That feeling of being an assassin's target was a match, only I was on the periphery - I wasn't the main target. More like being in the splash zone.
I skewed to the side and centered my breathing. With practiced skill I erased my presence entirely and looked around. There wasn't anything going wrong in the battlefield, no assassin aiming for anyone's neck from behind. Just the regular clash of melee.
In the front lines, General Eugene raised his sword and then cut a red knight in half with a roar. Someone tried to swing a hammer at him from the side, but he swung his greatsword and cut them to pieces, passing through the hilt of the weapon like it wasn't there before slashing the knight's upper body apart.
Alicia Rue lunged and raked her claws across one of the Red Knight's chests, leaving huge gashes and knocking him over. She's a lazy Lord, entirely motivated by naptime and snacks, but then again I had no room to talk.
Sakuya was holding her own as well with her katana. I knew the Sylph Lord wasn't much of a fighter - she preferred the more political aspects of ALO - but I had to respect the katana she wielded, at least.
Injured fighters were being healed in the back. I saw some of the robe-wearing players from ALO; I recognized one of the Undines from when I joined a temporary party. Nothing was wrong over there.
I even smiled a little bit as I noticed a small group of players clearing large swathes of Americans. The Sleeping Knights - the guild Yuuki had led - must have been some of the first to join the fight. The talented fighters scythed through the enemies. I noticed Siune smile and wave as Asuna passed by.
There were even ranks of crossbow-wielding marksmen that were loosing bolt after bolt with incredible precision and accuracy. So it wasn't just ALO players, but other games like GGO...
Liz did a great job.
But unfortunately, that wasn't enough. The dark, twisted killing intent had come from somewhere. And if it wasn't the battlefield, then it could only be... My eyes drifted upwards, towards the top of the stone idols watching us.
Ah.
I've found my target.
After all, what else would I call someone watching the battle from above, dressed in a ragged black poncho?
Dark Territory, Rock Pillar
Out of the corner of his eye, Bercouli saw the black body of Vecta's dragon disappear in motes of golden light.
He couldn't focus on it, however. His battle with the Emperor was taking every last shred of his considerable willpower, honed after countless battles.
Vecta, as though playing with him, would allow for a short exchange of flurried blows. The emperor's thin sword would flash into place to block every single one of Bercouli's heavy attacks, or slide out of the way just enough for a heavy slash to crack open the earth instead. The man's wounded left arm seemed like it would be an opening, but all it served to do was slow down Vecta's movements a little bit.
Bercouli would parry and slash, but eventually Vecta would grow tired and -
Pain from a fresh wound would jolt him awake, pulling Bercouli from his faded consciousness.
He had honestly lost track of how many times it had happened.
Vecta never quite made any intentionally lethal injury. Cuts and wounds littered Bercouli's body, pouring blood, and Bercouli knew his limit was quickly approaching. Even with his incredible Life total, losing this much blood meant that it was dropping rapidly.
Even with that knowledge, however, Bercouli had not given up. Instead, with every ounce of willpower he had, he focused his entire being on one action and one action alone.
He was counting.
Specifically, time.
Perhaps it was his bond with the Time-Splitting Sword, or perhaps just an innate talent that had blossomed with his experience. But whatever the source, Bercouli possessed an incredibly accurate internal clock, down to each passing second. Even as the Emperor's sword and dark powers stole his consciousness, that internal clock recorded the passage of time.
'Four hundred and eighty-seven. Four hundred and eighty-eight.'
Bercouli tracked each second that passed, even as he slashed at Vecta again. He couldn't use any Incarnation in his swings or even touching the dark purple aura surrounding Vecta's sword would burn away his thoughts.
'Four hundred and ninety-five.'
He lunged and slashed, cutting through the dust and scattered chips of rock. As the Knight Commander jumped through, Vecta appeared through the haze and slid out of the way as Bercouli slashed down to smash the ground.
'Five hundred.'
Despite being wounded in one shoulder and not very skilled, Emperor Vecta didn't seem to be slowed down at all. Bercouli cut out desperately, and his sword touched the dark aura surrounding Vecta.
His mind was sucked into the demon's Incarnation and Bercouli's thoughts vanished in a puff of smoke.
When his mind cleared from the colorless world, he had dropped to one knee and blood dripped from a new slice on his left cheek.
'Five hundred and eight.'
Even still, he kept track of the time.
Bercouli surged to his feet and lunged forward. Vecta swung his sword impossibly quickly, and the clash of their weapons rocked the stone platform. Bercouli traded blow after blow with Vecta, but his missing arm was enough to weaken his styles. Vecta's wounded arm slowed the black-armored emperor, but it wasn't enough.
A heavy blow knocked Bercouli backwards and he tumbled uncontrollably. He was able to stab his Time-Splitting Sword into the rock to stop himself from sliding, but Vecta had already crossed the distance with a heavy downwards slash.
The Knight Commander crashed to the ground on his back with a grunt. He stood up with difficulty and glared at Emperor Vecta, who stared back with lips twisted in slight disgust. That was because, when slashing at Bercouli, a few drops of his blood had splashed onto Vecta's cheek.
"How boring. Your soul is too thick and heavy."
He took a step into one of the puddles of blood Bercouli had created. As he walked forward another step, another red boot print was added to the tracks that littered the top of the plateau.
"Too simple. It sticks to my tongue. All you can think about is killing me."
He raised his black sword, and it glowed with an ominous black light.
"And now, you are done."
Bercouli grinned, despite the situation.
'Just a bit more. Thirty seconds left.'
"Heh... Don't be like that. I've still got enough... left to enjoy, this."
The Knight Commander took a weak step - but not towards Vecta. Instead, he stumbled off to the side and raised his longsword. The tip of the blade wavered in the air, and then feebly dropped.
"Where are you...? Where did... you go? Over, there?"
The blade clanked against the rubble on the ground. Bercouli's empty, dull eyes swept across the battlefield, not stopping as they passed over Vecta.
"No… Was it, that way?"
He shuffled forward, heedless of the way Vecta watched him. He dragged one leg, disabled by the battle, as he wandered at random.
His vision had become clouded. His mind was gone.
That was the performance that the Knight Commander was desperately putting on, to get even one chance at success. His eyes that swept over the battlefield at random were fixated tightly on tracking one thing alone.
Bloody footprints.
Across the entire ten minute span of the hopeless battle, from the moment his arm had been severed, Bercouli had covered the entire rock surface with his blood. As a result, the Emperor and the Knight Commander had left tracks across the entire plateau. The clear differences between the sandals Bercouli wore and Vecta's boots were a nearly perfect record of their movements through the entire battle.
It was damaged by their battle, of course. That was why he was going through this entire farce in the first place, to track those footsteps back to the original point where Vecta had cut off Bercouli's arm. These ten minutes he had been counting had started in that instant.
'Five hundred and eighty-nine. Five hundred and ninety.'
"There... Found it," he said.
The pool of darkened and dried blood where the counter had begun. Bercouli could almost see their figures standing there, the remnants of their wills in the Main Visualizer.
Bercouli raised his sword, preparing for the final blow.
Whether he succeeded or failed here, both his Life and that of his sword had dwindled to nearly nothing. The last shreds of Life in his weapon would be burned away using the Release Recollection Art of his Time-Splitting Sword.
The Time-Splitting Sword Uragiri is the sword that slashes the past.
The Main Visualizer contained a record of every Unit's position for ten minutes - six hundred seconds exactly. Uragiri could access this record and cause the system to treat the position six hundred seconds ago as the current position of the unit.
As a result, when the Time-Splitting Sword passed through that position it would cut anything and everything, reflecting the damage back onto the unit. Since it was targeting the past, nothing could block this attack. It was the perfect strike that ignored skill, talent, and everything else.
Bercouli despised using this final technique for that reason. Even when facing Eugeo in the bath, he had steadfastly refused to use this technique that would guarantee victory. The Prime Senator Chudelkin would have seen it as a clear betrayal if he had known.
However, against this human from the Real World, against this evil monster, Bercouli would not hesitate.
He had been able to slash the black dragon's past by calculating where it had been, taking advantage of the way Vecta had flown in a straight line at a constant speed. In this hectic battle, he'd needed to follow the footsteps back to their source. And now, all Bercouli needed was the instant to activate his technique.
"...Now what could you possibly be up to?"
"Commander!"
Two voices rang out at the exact same moment.
Vecta, who had practically appeared behind Bercouli in an instant, was forced away by a swirl of golden Osmanthus petals in the next instant.
Alice was on her feet, eyes open and fierce as she stretched her arm out towards Bercouli and Vecta.
"Bloom, my flowers!"
The swirl of petals spun around Vecta. The Emperor's automatic protection from Sacred Arts kept him from being so much as touched, but with the veil of golden flowers between him and Bercouli there was no way for him to reach the Knight Commander.
'Thanks, little one.'
A Sacred Art circle appeared around his sword, with lines resembling the shape of his blade on its surface. There were two; one short and one long. The longer line clicked forward twice, pointing at a sixty degree angle in front of him.
Bercouli's sword trailed a blue afterimage as he swung it down with all the force he could muster.
"Uraaaaaah!"
Bercouli's sword slashed through the air.
Vecta froze in place, mid-lunge.
"The Time-Splitting Sword Uragiri is the sword that slashes the past. And I just slashed yours, you bastard."
The phantom appearance of Vecta was sliced apart. At the same instant, the Emperor's body was cut from his left shoulder to his right waist in a bloody cut.
The sword that slashed the past, by interfering with the system, had the ability to 'set the Life value of the target to zero'. Even Incarnation - or Emperor Vecta's twisted ability to absorb Incarnation - could not protect him from that attack.
As his body split in two along the plane and slid apart, though, Vecta didn't show expression on his face. The eyes simply stared at the sky as a silent, heatless explosion surrounded the body. The jet black light burned apart every shred of the Emperor's body until nothing was left.
Seconds later, the Time-Splitting Sword in Bercouli's hand crumbled and fell to pieces in his hand.
Then, Bercouli collapsed. A desperate, feminine cry rang out as his eyes closed.
"Uncle!"
...
She was dreaming. It was a lovely dream, with sunny blue skies and a warm, gentle breeze. She was surrounded by so many people - a younger brother, a younger sister, two precious childhood friends, and most importantly... Wide knees that she could rest her body on, and a rough hand that was still very gentle as it patted her head.
...Her father.
It had been so long since Alice had been allowed to lay down like this. She'd almost forgotten what it was like to sleep like this, with no worries, safe and sound.
"Alice. You must awaken." The voice of Cardinal echoed through her mind.
Alice's eyes snapped open as consciousness rushed back to her. Her body ached, but that didn't matter. She pushed herself up and grasped at the sheathed sword. It didn't take more than a second for the genius swordswoman to grasp the situation in front of her, even with the disorientation from being forcibly put to sleep by Emperor Vecta's strange Art.
The middle-aged form of the Knight Commander stood in the center of a plateau, with his sword raised over his head. The Emperor that had captured her was gliding towards him, and Alice knew in her heart that if he was allowed to get close then someone precious to her would be lost.
"Commander!" she shouted, even as she pushed will into her blade. The Osmanthus petals answered her call and stormed from her golden sword, lashing out towards the black-armored figure. Just like before, he slid away like he was made of oily smoke and not flesh and blood.
But, he was forced away from the Knight Commander. Now, she just needed to keep it that way.
"Bloom, my flowers!"
The olive petals swirled around Vecta, forming a twister that the man from the Real World couldn't escape from.
When Bercouli made his final attack and Vecta was killed, Alice couldn't find it in herself to feel excited. After all... 'Vecta' was, according to Asuna and Argo, just an empty shell. A vessel for someone from the Real World to puppet around. And performing the impossible task of killing the god had simply ejected him.
Of course, when Bercouli swayed and collapsed, Alice couldn't feel anything other than panic. "Uncle!" she cried as she dashed towards him.
She was able to catch him before he fell to the ground, but what she saw chilled her to the bone. He was covered in fresh wounds on top of the long-healed scars, and his left arm was gone below the shoulder. His normally-pristine robes were soaked with blood. With how pale his cheeks were... The Knight Commander's Life must be nearing its end.
"U-Uncle? Lord Bercouli?! No, you can't die!"
She reached towards him - and then stopped. What was she doing, panicking like a child?
"System call! Generate Luminous element!"
The shining light gathered at her fingertips - but it faded without doing more than flickering for an instant. There just were not enough spatial resources to properly form an element, much less one that could heal Bercouli's incredible wounds.
But Alice didn't let herself fall into despair. Instead, she placed her right hand on Bercouli's shoulder.
"System call! Transfer Human Unit Durability self to right!"
Alice knew that her Life total was nowhere near Bercouli's maximum. However, the best she could do was try to save Bercouli just a little bit longer until a miracle happened.
'Please, someone... Help me save him!'
And yet another change appears…
Like with the Leafa fight, I pulled from Bercouli's fight in the light novel rather than the anime because I felt it did a better job representing the opening fight and events leading up to it. The timing for Bercouli's reminiscence on what Quinella was saying wasn't something that should be in the middle of battle, after all. For those who might be paying attention, though, I've kinda toned down his obsession with Quinella.
The Real Worlders appear as well! Rythin is glad to see them, and they're like a second wind. Everyone's here! But who could be watching…?
Finally, the actual fight with Vecta. This one's also mostly from the light novel, but you should watch the anime anyway – the animation is phenomenal, one of the segments you can tell they put a lot of time and effort to make it look good. Also, thanks to Cardinal, Alice's Fluctlight was forced out of sleep mode! Just in time, too.
(Undocumented change that's not going to come up because why would they talk about this - Bercouli and Fanatio didn't sleep together before the war, and Fanatio's not pregnant.)
Many thanks to everyone that favorited, followed, or reviewed.
