Skipping a bunch of useless filler, we're heading straight to the top. I have made some changes in ending story from the game, but that comes in the next two chapters. Nothing...major, I think, just some adjusting to fit my narrative.
Enjoy.
Hours later
"How the hell Eugeo and Kirito made it up fifty floors is beyond me," Medina says as the seven of us plus Bercouli ride an elevator up to the 95th floor. I wish traversing up the 100 levels of Aincrad was this easy in comparison, though it was a cakewalk getting to this point. Monsters, monsters, and monsters impeded our path, forcing us to leave the wayfarers and most of the Integrity Knights down below. Bercouli will remain on the 95th, as planned, leaving anything and everything above it to the seven members of his most trusted squad.
"Maybe we should have flown dragons up here," Eydis says. "Or climbed the outside, right Alice?"
"Eydis!"
Sortiliena chuckles. "Anything would have been better than what we just went through. Yet I have a feeling we may have it easier up here, traveling-wise."
Tiese nods. "The upper five floors were the parts raised from the cathedral, right? Maybe there aren't any Clamps up here."
"Or the biggest one yet," Ronie reminds us. "Remember what Medina said, the Pontifex's body is up here."
I'll have to keep that in mind. "Well, we're almost at the top. If everything has gone well, we may have gotten here in the nick of time." I turn around as the platform ceases movement and hear the collective gasps of the group. I'm confused for a moment until I lay eyes on Hersyrian...and the beautiful woman standing beside him that reminds me of Strea, yet more sinister than my mischievous friend. "...Oh shit."
"But… But…"
"Is this the reborn Administrator?"
Hersyrian bows to us. "Oh, if it isn't the savior, the invader, the grimy criminals, and the Integrity Puppets. Thank you so much for coming to our little celebration."
"Damn you, Hersyrian."
"You really brought back the Ponitfex."
Hersyrian turns to Quinella (a clothed Quinella, at that), who stares at us quietly. "Mother, dearest, everyone's here to celebrate your awakening and ascension."
"Control… I control and rule all… I… I…"
"She's acting weird," Eydis comments. "Is she really Administrator?"
"Mother? The Pontifex didn't have a son," Bercouli says.
"Indeed," Hersyrian confirms. "One wouldn't want to let something grow in her pure, beautiful body. One of tainted blood such as I could never be allowed to be born of her body."
"Hersyrian, what the hell are you?"
"All right, weirdo, what the hell is going on? What is this Administrator?"
"It appears to be a raised minion, but it's different from the others we've seen. It seems to have no will of ifs own. Just a cloud of memories."
"I agree. I feel no restriction to my desire to cut this woman down."
I now grow tired of the weirdo's games. "Answer me, Hersyrian! What the hell have you done?"
This frustrated the man as he started to do some weird motions with his head and fingers.. "Aaaaahhhh! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh! Shut up! Shutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutup, you criminals! Stop your yammering… Your voice grates on my ears… It's bad enough that you grimy criminals have entered the Central Cathedral! Aaaaaaahhh! I can't stand it! That Mother's murderers is breathing the same air as her! It's unacceptable! Sacrilege! I want to crush your insolent vocal cords."
Seeing him lean all the way back with his arms out makes me laugh. "Chillax, Dio."
"It took all my self-restraint to appear calm in front of you… Every time I see your ugly black hair that reminds me of him, I yearn to destroy everything!"
I smirk as I reach behind me, drawing a black sword from under my cape to show Hersyrian. "Why? Because this sword killed the Administrator? I thought it'd be nice to let it do it again, and Kirito willingly handed it to me."
Hersyrian grits his teeth at the sight of the sword, then chuckles. "Hahaha… Oh, how many times I dreamed of killing him with these hands? How I so wanted to walk up to his body and choke the Life out of him. But just killing him isn't enough! For all you've done, I'll show you, Lord of Knights, endless, boundless pain! I won't let you die so easily…. I'll torture you until you beg for death and wake that accursed swordsman up! And yet… I do like you, just a little… Because you gave me the opportunity to bring Mother back as my mother alone!"
"Who… Who are these people," Administrator asks.
"It seems they weren't even worth remembering, but I'll help you recall. Some of them are the criminals who tried to kill you, Mother. The others are traitors, and that one carries the blade of the one criminal who dared sully your perfect form."
"Criminals?"
"I know you're not quite stable yet, Mother, but I'm sure you understand. We have to kill them. For your sake, Mother, now that you've finally awakened."
"What are you talking about, you bastard," Medina angrily asks.
Hersyrian cheers on Administrator as he gestures her forward. "Now use your divine power and slaughter these criminals! Dearest Pontifex… Administrator… Mother?" Hersyrian's proud smile turns a little sour as we all see the Dark Slash Sword protruding from Administrator's throat. The woman chokes on blood and drops to the ground as Eydis removes her sword and points it at Hersyrian.
"As I thought. The real Pontifex wouldn't have fallen so easily. You have failed, Hersyrian...and you're next." Eydis won in one blow, but for some reason I have a bad feeling about this. That was too easy. I look at Hersyrian, who seems to read my mind.
"'Something's strange. The Administrator's dead, so why is he so calm?' Is that what you're thinking right now?" My facial change confirms it. "Haha, you were, weren't you? Oh, you utter fool!"
Eydis is very annoyed. "I defeated the Pontifex you call your Mother, false as she was, so why are you laughing?"
"Well, how upset would you really be if I broke a mere clay doll of yours?"
"Are you saying it doesn't matter because that was only a minion body," Alice questions.
"Yes, her new body may be broken, but Mother's mind can never break. And this clay doll was only a test… It was never worthy of housing her mind."
I drop my jaw. "If this body was only a test… Where is her fluctlight? Her soul?"
"As she is now, Mother has no need of one. Even her body was nothing more than an object made from this giant tree."
"Then how was she able to move?"
"Thanks to the base knights who once swore fealty to Mother before betraying her.
Alice grits her teeth. "The Integrity Knights… I heard you stole memory data about the Pontifex from the Integrity Knights."
"Correct. And I would appreciate you not scoffing at our memories as mere data. The force that allows Mother to move is the Knights' respect for the Pontifex and their love for her. I collected all the love from the Knights' memories and rebuilt Mother's consciousness."
I stand there in shock and awe. The answer I need to bring Kirito back...he found it. But I can't just go around and doing the same...but if the same principle Hersyrian used on the Knights and Quinella was applied to Kirito, that means I definitely need Asuna here and now.
But something doesn't make sense here. Administrator is dead, right here in front of us. She's died before due to Kirito. Yet her will for the past two months since then, and he claims her consciousness continues to do so without a need for a body. That is not possible...unless he did something quite unheard of. "You switched the soul for consciousness."
Medina looks at me. "You truly think there's something in this world that plays the role of a human soul?"
Herysrian chuckles. "The entire concept of souls is so reductive, so...limiting. People aren't defined by anything so insignificant as a soul! Surely you, whose Incarnation allowed you to manifest and break the limitations of Sacred Arts, or watched that murderer's help him defeat Mother, understand. I've never forgotten Mother, not for one moment. I can recreate her face, her voice, everything, in my mind at any time. It doesn't matter if her soul has been destroyed. Within me, she is eternal!"
"I get where you're saying, but just how did you accomplish that? What did you use? Where the hell could you…" Herysrian laughs as realization dawns on my face on the one place he could somehow store Quinella's consciousness. All data, all the memories of the fluctlights go there, so, in theory, one could live on even with a soul in this place where memories are compiled. "The Main Visualizer."
"Oh, is that what you call it? Mother only called it the 'vault of memories'. But yes, Mother's consciousness currently exists in this so-called Main Visualizer."
"What does that even mean," Eydis asks.
"It is...where the other enties without fluctlights, like animals and your dragons, gain existence from. They all come from the Main Visualizer. That means he recreated Administrator's mind and body, put them together, and reanimated them."
"That's...that's profaning the dead…"
Hersyrian chuckles. "Your actions are profane, not mine. Killing Mother, your demi-gods of this world… You outsiders came into this world with your so-called justice and destroyed it. No one loved this world more deeply than Mother, and you trampled that love! You labor under a grave misconception. I am not the one who planned this."
"She did."
"Indeed. tt was my beloved Mother. As I slept, I heard Mother's beautiful Incarnated voice. So long had it been. She told me of the vault, the existence of the soul, and how to resurrect her. That hideous clown was already dead, freeing up the title of Senate Representative."
"That's one thing we agree on," Eydis says. "That clown is thankfully dead."
"You say you were sleeping," Medina comments. "Does that mean you were frozen?"
"I'm loath to admit such to the likes of an Orthinanos, but yes, I suppose so. Regardless, Mother allowed me to awaken."
Alice crosses her arms, still not understanding the most important part of all of this. "But if your plan was successful, why is it that the Pontifex is...like that?"
"Ahh...is THAT what was bothering you? True, Mother is no longer quite the same as the Pontifex you once knew."
"Despite her consciousness being compiled from those stolen memories? Shameful."
"Connecting an unstable mind to a half-finished body like this is no simple feat. I've tried many bodies, but my own ventriloquism is much more effective. Oh, that's right. Dear savior, care to witness an encore performance? 'Oh, Hersyrian, what a good boy you are. My perfect, precious child."
Eydis grimaces. "That's...freakily accurate."
"But I just… Lies like that aren't what I desire. And Mother is calling. I have no time to waste with dolls or any of you for that matter. The next in command will deal with you. I've always found him digusting and unpleasant, but he's surprisingly useful." A door appears in front of Hersyrian and closes just as he enters. As it vanishes. I sheathe Kirito's blade back behind me and look to Eydis, the girl smirking quite devilishly.
"Eydis."
"I hate Hersyrian so much, but he's nothing compared to that fat sack of shit Chuldekin. if he's between us and the 100th floor, I may enjoy this a little more… Anyway, shall we get moving?"
"And what is Hersyrian trying to achieve?"
I look at Quinella's body, with only one idea in my head. "if the previous bodies were unfinished and the mind is unstable… He must have finally succeeded. A finished body, a stable mind...and soon, a full resurrection.'
"Then we have no time to waste," Sortiliena shouts. "We must stop him...or put them both down together."
"Then hurry," Bercouli says as he heaves his sword on his shoulder. "I'll wait for the rest, then follow you all up. The seven of you are our first line of hope of saving the realm...and possibly the only hope we have. Jaymes, get to the Pontifex at all costs."
I nod and look to the pair of ascending stairs. "Ronie, Alice, Medina, Tiese, Sortiliena, and Eydis… This is more than a month of hardship in the making, and now we're here. If two boys could make it to the top, so can the seven of us, as long as we fight together." I draw Falchion and point it towards the stairs. "Bercouli is right, we may be the only hope the Human Realm has, so we cannot fail! We'll follow Hersyrian and defeat all in our way!"
Four relatively peaceful floors later…
"Is it just me, or is it hot in here?"
Eydis is wearing all that metal, but she's not alone. "No, I feel it as well."
"It is what it is," Sortiliena says. "You'll just have to endure it." I don't know what she's talking about, she looks like she might burn from her jacket and skirt she's wearing."
Tiese pushes her hair back to cool herself. "So where's this next in command Herysrian speaks off."
Alice suddenly pauses. "I knew this heat was familiar…" Before we can question her, a disembodied laugh echoes in the walls. Eydis begins to growl at the familiarity of it, then in front of us appears a giant, fiery demon. "Chuldekin!"
"Finally." Eydis and the rest of us draw out blades as the demon continues laughing at us. "Alice, how did you and those boys beat this laughing freak?"
"I played the bait while Kiritio and Eugeo took out the real Chuldekin. But I don't see his real body anywhere, and based on the sound of his voice, looks like he has fused with it. I can tell you now, my petals won't do much against him."
"Number 30...and Number 10… Traitors? Your… Eminence! I shall glady...give my life...annihilating these rebels…"
Eydis scoffs. "I can wait for him to pop in flames."
"Jaymes," Medina calls out, "your sword could him, right?"
"I don't know, if Alice's petals couldn't, then mine may not be able to as well."
"No, not that one, but the time you saved me from Hersyrian. You said your sword, at its full might, could cut down anything you wanted? That could work, right?" I look at Falchion. Medina may have a point, but that was the one time I used full might but it's worth a shot. I nod and prepare myself.
"Great. Everyone else, concentrate Aqueous or Cyrogenic Elements. I'll draw his attention again, but you only have a few seconds." Alice runs to the right and holds her sword up. It glows and bursts into petal, orbiting around the demon and gaining its attention. As it becomes distracted and attacks Alice, the other girls hurl water or ice in its direction. Meanwhile I hold Falchion up and point it in the direction of the clown's burning belly as it tries to punch Alice's shield of petals.
Ten seconds, huh? "Exalted Falchion! Secret Sword Skill: Great Aether!" I throw my sword at Chuldekin and fly towards them, grabbing it and unleashing a 14-hit combo of sword strikes and kicks before slicing him down in half along his midline. I watch as he explodes in fire and Sacred Power, the latter I absorb with my Falchion as it reverts to normal. Not feeling exhausted at all, or either too amped up to notice, I stand up and sheath my sword.
"I guess coming back from the dead didn't make him any less of a pest," Eydis jokes as she and the others rejoin Alice and me.
Alice smiles slightly. "No, it doesn't seem so."
"So Herysrian's this genie to hold us off?"
"Possibly to make more time for the resurrection of the real Pontifex."
"But how?"
"No time to worry about that," I say. "We need to keep moving."
Medina nods. "You're right. Hersyrian… What in the world is he?"
I turn to the Integrity Knights."We'll find out soon… Ladies, lead us into the den of the devil herself--Woah!" The floor below us begins to shake vigorously, then ends as suddenly as it begins. What lingers behind...is an enormous amount of power.
"What is it? What is happening?"
"This feels like...her."
"Administrator. And for real this time..."
The final battle begins next chapter...
