The Twenty-Fifth Knight
Chapter Twenty Eight
380 HEC, Twenty Fifth day of the Fifth month
"Well, I did not see that coming," Quinella sighed, as Kirito fell to his knees before his friend. Katherine buried her head in Mateo's arm, crying into him, and Alice's expression was one of shocked sadness, as though her memories had finally broken through and reminded her of the love she'd had for Eugeo, mere seconds too late.
"Even though my blade, the Silvery Eternity, far outclassed the Blue Rose Sword in terms of Priority level, Eugeo still managed to push through. I should've realized the sword wasn't metallic sooner… oh well," the Pontifex mused, floating over the bifurcated body of their friend, clearing away the blood from her now armless right side with a wave of her hand, regenerating the arm and in an instant, reversing all of the damage done by Eugeo. Kirito snarled at her. Until now, he'd only had an abstract reason for wanting her dead. She threatened people he cared about, friends who'd taken him in and treated him like family. But now, Quinella had killed his best friend, and his rage became very, very personal.
"So, the three of you are the only ones still standing… Katherine Zarallia, the first and last of my knights to ever destroy their Piety Module without the memory fragment, and the unregistered boy from the other side, I expected the two of you would fight against me… But you, Mateo… Your module is still functioning, or at least it should be. You know, those headaches you've experienced from the moment you set foot in the Cathedral, to bring me to my knees… those weren't normal headaches… Your piety module is overdue for a replacement," Quinella said, and Mateo narrowed his eyes.
"The last time you were in this chamber, I offered you a choice, to join me and become an Integrity Knight… But, like little Alice who came after, you refused my offer. I can make the pain go away… The pain of your buried memories bubbling to the surface like balloons of air, threatening to burst through your skull… I can tell that it causes you great pain and suffering, to know that there are things you should remember but cannot, regardless of how hard you try…" As if on cue, Mateo experienced another wave of pain, much stronger than the ones before. He sank to his knees and pressed a hand to his head, vainly trying to alleviate the agony as Katherine reached out towards him.
"Those memories, if they aren't subdued or released soon, will only intensify… it can easily make even the most steadfast go mad before long… I can help you, Mateo… Join me now, and I will not only forgive your transgressions, but I will restore your memories as well… Your dear mother and father, who gave their lives to protect you… your good friend William, who despised his father just as much as you despised your owner, the boy who left clues whenever and wherever he could that might allow you to teach yourself the sacred arts, and one day free your family and the other slaves from his father's cruel practices… you know their names but cannot see their faces, nor remember their voices, and it grieves you so greatly… Come to me… Let me fix you, who has remained broken for far too long…"
The pain in Mateo's head doubled and then tripled twice over, and he could feel his conscious forcing the prism out of his head, inch by inch. "Lady Pontifex… You are right… I do miss them, even as I struggle to recall anything about them… but you are a fool if you think I'd ever join you willingly…" Mateo groaned. Out of nowhere, the words uttered by the Dark Knight's mages floated to the front of his brain. His muscles tightened in pain as he parted his lips again. "System… c- call… Generate… umbral… element… wedge… shape…" he said, and a long, jet black spike formed in his right hand. In a sudden move, he jammed the wedge into his skull right next to the emerging Piety module, roaring with agonizing pain. Tears flowed down his face as he arched his back and stared up at the ceiling, his eyes focusing on a single, glistening prism embedded in the mosaic.
"You took… everything… that I held dear…" he said as memories trickled back to him like drops of water leaking through a dam. "Now… I'm taking them back!"
With that, he gripped the prism in his skull like a metal vice, and with a shout of pain, pulled it out of his skull. Immediately, having sensed the opening that act had created, the fragment in the ceiling that had been created from his childhood memories shot towards him and slammed into his head, launching his skull backward. At the same time, he swung his left hand and let the partially cracked Piety Module fly.
Quinella gasped in shock as the projectile detonated with a massive shockwave in mid-air, mere inches from her chest. Memories poured into his consciousness, breaking through the mental dam of the Synthesis Ritual.
"Mateo… we are with you…" said a soothing voice, much more motherly than Quinella could ever dream of sounding.
"We have always been with you…" said a second voice, sturdy and strong like an unbreakable shield, but full of care and comfort, like the fur of a wolf pack's leader.
"And we always will be with you…" said a third and final voice, much younger than the other two, but still just as compassionate and wise.
A current of wind swirled around him as he gasped, shocked by the torrent of images that had just been unsealed. His eyes shut tight, he formed a small grin on his face as he finally realized something staggeringly refreshing. The Pontifex, the Axiom Church, the Taboo Index, none of them held any power over him any longer, and he looked up at Quinella, his eyes alight with fiery passion like never before.
"I remember them all…" he softly said, holding both the Infernal Wyrm Axe and the Crystal Flame Greatsword out to his sides. "I remember everything and everyone you made me forget. Though they are all long gone, I still remain, Quinella," he said, pointing the axe at the ground behind him as he turned to point the sword at her neck. "And I'd sooner go to war with the Goddess Stacia herself than betray their memories by joining you again!"
Quinella frowned in disappointment, her body burned by the piety module's explosion. "Hmm… I seem to have underestimated your resolve… and if one rogue Integrity Knight with their memories wasn't dangerous enough, having two of you on the loose is a risk I cannot take. Very well then," she said, summoning the Silvery Eternity back to her hand. "I shall eliminate you all, right here and now!"
Katherine smiled at her husband, who was now free from the shackles placed upon him by the Church's administrator, just as she was. She took her place next to him, her sword drawn, and held out towards the Pontifex as Alice drew her sword from its sheath and stood beside Kirito, who was at Mateo and Katherine's side. They would emerge victorious together, or they would die together. Either way, there was no retreating now, nor even the slightest hint of surrender or weakness.
With a shout, Mateo led the charge, slashing downward with his axe and then following up immediately after with an opposite slash from his flaming sword before darting backward as Alice thrusted her sword into the ground and unleashed her weapon's perfect control once again with a mass of flailing, razor sharp vines which thrashed around Quinella. Katherine leaped off of one of those vines and crashed down on Quinella with a blast of formless Luminous elemental energy, and Kirito slashed at the Pontifex's stomach with the reborn Elucidator.
Quinella's sword glowed blue, and she struck back against Kirito, diving through the air and effortlessly weaving around Alice's onslaught and dodging Katherine's attack from above. She focused down the black swordsman, who parried one hit from her longsword, planting his feet and slashing backward at her as he kicked upward and slammed one of his feet into her chin, knocking the Pontifex off balance. "System Call!" he called out as he landed on his feet a few paces back. "Generate Thermal element! Arrow shape! Discharge!"
Three blazing hot arrows ripped through the air and tore through Quinella's arm as she deflected one but missed the other two. She cringed, only to be forced on the defensive again by Mateo, who rained down blow after blow on her with his sword just like she'd taught him in that very instant after he became an Integrity Knight when she'd used luminous elements to instruct him with the basis from which he'd created his own style of fighting. He hooked his axe around her Silvery Eternity and pulled himself forward into a spearing thrust from his sword, which left a bloody slash mark along her sword arm. Quinella grunted in pain, and she psychically sent Mateo flying backward, only to gasp in shock as he used his axe in a way she'd never expected. With the head of his axe hooked around her sword, Mateo pulled her with him and rolled into the fall, kicking her into the air where she was met by Katherine's sword, which she narrowly intercepted before spinning around in the air to kick Kirito in the face.
Alice charged at her from behind with vigor, cutting down through the air and then in the opposite direction, both attacks being parried by the Pontifex. Quinella scowled at her, before spinning around on the ball of her foot and sending a wave of umbral energy out in all directions that knocked Alice off of her feet. In a stunning move, Quinella skewered the Thirtieth Integrity Knight's arms on a pair of metallic element spikes, causing her to let out a pained cry as Quinella brought the Silvery Eternity up for a killing blow.
But at the last second, Kirito bear-tackled her away from Alice, who was freed from Quinella's metal spikes by Katherine. He and Mateo worked in tandem with each other to land hits on the evasive Pontifex, who would all too easily weave around one of their strikes. But by striking seemingly at random, they could catch her off guard, and that's exactly what they did. Kirito would feint, not with an attack, but with a retreat, and when the Pontifex lunged to take advantage of it, Mateo was there to punish her for it with a sword that was narrowly blocked.
Flipping backward and away from the Pontifex, Mateo and Kirito stood beside Katherine and Alice, all of their weapons raised and pointed at Quinella. Each of them glanced over at their fellows, and as one, they hauntingly spoke. "Enough is enough. Now, you shall pay for your crimes, Quinella."
Their weapons all glowed in unison, and they uttered the same command. "Release Recollection!" they shouted, and the original memories of their weapons sprang to life towards the Pontifex. A golden forest of roots, armed with razor sharp leaves, petals, and branches surged forth from Alice. Gabriel, ever the courageous vanguard, and clad in his shining metal armor, bounded towards their foe from the Righteous Defender. The ancient dragon once ridden by Solus into battle, and the extinct wyrm which burrowed deep within the core of the world flew at Quinella, and a forest of branches as dark as the night sky uprooted the floor from Kirito's position.
Each of these attacks closed in on the Pontifex, but at the last second, she let slip a small grin. "System call! Generate reversal mirror!" she chanted, and a shimmering wall of light formed in front of her. Kirito realized what was about to happen a second before everyone else, but it was still a second too late.
"Take cover!" he shouted, jumping backward and pulling Alice to the ground with him. Mateo and Katherine, barely hearing him over the cacophony of sounds from their attack, were only able to throw up their hands before all four of their attacks were reflected at them. They let out shouts of pain as Gabriel's formless luminous energy, Solus' pure fire, and Terraria's earthen might shot back at them and sent them flying.
Kirito's head whipped backward to where Mateo and Katherine were lying on the ground, dazed as they slumped against the wall and their weapons strewn off to their sides. "Alice! Get them on their feet! I'll buy you some time!" he called out, pushing himself to his feet and running up to the Pontifex. Kirito unleashed a barrage of slashes, cutting vertically and then arcing around to slash horizontally, then two diagonal strikes followed by a series of thrusts, and then more attacks. He filled all of his rage for Cardinal and Eugeo's deaths into his assault, incarnating it into his reborn Elucidator as he forced Quinella on the defensive.
At the same time, Alice had run over to Katherine and Mateo and was examining their wounds. But their injuries were severe, as she had worried after seeing them get hit in the face by three simultaneous memory release skills. Quickly, she got to work, pouring healing art after healing art into their bodies, but it was to no apparent effect, for their wounds were too great. Moments later, she heard Kirito cry out as he was sent flying into the wall by Quinella, and she turned around just in time to see the Pontifex charging at her, a massive claymore in hand. Reflex kicked in and Alice brought her sword up. But the Pontifex was extremely strong, and even on her own, she was more than a match for the young Integrity Knight.
Alice desperately tried to parry her attacks, but she lasted only three strikes before being batted aside by Quinella, who raised her sword in an attempt to deliver a simultaneous killing blow to both Mateo and Katherine.
Kirito, slumped against the wall and still recoiling from Quinella's greatsword, watched wide eyed as the Pontifex dropped her sword down on Mateo and Katherine. His mind flashed back to the end of his time in Sword Art Online, when he had been in the same situation he was in, and two of his friends, the Spearmaster Will and the Shieldmaiden Emily, were about to be killed by the gamemaster and creator of Sword Art Online, Akihiko Kayaba.
Then, as if to complete the scene, Kirito watched as Alice threw herself over Mateo and Katherine, the very same way Asuna, the Vice Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath, and his girlfriend, had done to protect Will and Emily.
"It's happening again… No, I'm letting it happen again…" he thought to himself, and regret poured into his mind and body. It was his inability to protect his friends that had led to Asuna sacrificing herself in an act that in any other situation, would've surely meant her death. Now, Alice was doing the same, protecting those who couldn't protect themselves against a nigh-unconquerable evil.
Suddenly, he heard Cardinal's voice in his head. "You do not need to win every time. If you lose, what does it even matter? In the end, what does is that your heart and will are remembered. I am certain that everyone who has spent time with you and moved onto other planes believed that, as do I. We have given you the strength to stand, so stand! Protect those you hold dear!"
Hearing this, Kirito was filled with new resolve, and he got to his feet as time seemed to slow down. With a fire in his stomach and his sword in hand, Kirito, the Black Swordsman, the Hero of Aincrad, ran at Quinella with a great battle cry. His sword glowed with golden light as he activated the Vorpal Strike sword skill.
Alice braced herself for oblivion's cold embrace as she saw the Silvery Eternity crash down upon her, but at the last second, she saw a flash of black and gold out of the corner of her eye, and then there was a loud clang as Quinella's blade was stopped in its tracks.
The impact sent Quinella flying backward to the other side of the room, and Alice collapsed into Kirito's arms. She coughed twice, and Kirito noticed that with it came drops of blood. "K- Kirito?" she muttered, and the black swordsman nodded.
"Yeah. Don't worry," he said, looking at Alice, and then back at Mateo and Katherine, lying unconscious on the floor behind them. "I can take it from here."
"If you wish… Have at it…" Alice breathed, before falling unconscious. Kirito set her down to the side and stood up.
"You fought hard, Alice. You, Mateo, and Katherine all did. Now it's my turn," he said, staring down the Pontifex. "Charlotte, Cardinal, and Eugeo… you gave your lives for mine… Now I'll make sure you don't have to give yours too. I swear it."
Hearing this, Quinella sighed. "Really… this is starting to annoy me. Why do you insist on struggling when there is nothing to gain from it? It should be obvious by now that you've lost, so why do you choose to resist when the outcome is clear, and when your actions are so meaningless?" she asked, and for once, there was a hint of genuine confusion in her voice. In all the years that Quinella had been alive, never once had she encountered someone of such strong conviction as the boy in front of her now.
Kirito shook his head. "Whether we die on our knees, or with a sword in our hands, it's our actions that count. You don't seem to get it, but that's what being human is about," he explained in an unwavering tone while looking at the sword in his hand, the Elucidator. It felt like ages since he'd last used it, during the battle against Akihiko Kayaba, but it felt the same now as he remembered, as did the Blackwyrm Coat he now wore.
"You prefer black, like a knight from the Dark Territory…" Quinella mused. "Well then little boy. If you wish to continue suffering, then I will make sure that yours is long and agonizing indeed. You'll be begging me to relent by the time I'm through with you." She lifted up the Silvery Eternity in one hand and pointed it at Kirito, who did the same with the Elucidator in response.
"We'll see about that," he replied simply, and Quinella held her sword above her head. "The High Norkia Style. She's going to try and kill me with a single strike," he thought to himself. Holding his sword behind him, he activated Sonic Leap and charged at the Pontifex, who swung her glowing blue sword in an overhead arc, just barely missing Kirito as he sidestepped, but still slicing off a corner of his cloak.
The Black Swordsman spun around and raised his sword, but then, Quinella suddenly turned around and countered the attack, her sword still glowing a bright blue color. "What the- a multiple hit sword skill?!" he mentally exclaimed as he dodged her next attack and blocked the fourth.
"Yes, a one handed four hit sword skill. It's called Vertical Square, correct?" she asked mockingly, knowing full well what she'd just done.
"Sword Skill?! How the hell does she know that term?" Kirito wondered. "Maybe she got it from Eugeo's memories. I'll have to use something I never showed him before then: a combo with more than four hits!"
Kirito raised his sword to rest on his shoulder, and the Elucidator glowed blue as he activated Deadly Sins, a seven hit Sword Skill. He pushed off the ground and swung the first arc, but as he did so, Quinella stepped up close to him with a grin. Her sword glowed orange, and suddenly what was once a longsword had now transformed into a rapier. Quinella let out a battle cry as she suddenly skewered him through the chest six times in fast succession, forming a wound the shape of a cross.
As the two backpedaled away from each other and Kirito healed the injury, Quinella smirked. "Mine was a six hit skill, called Crucifixion."
Kirito gasped. "No way…" he muttered, before stepping into the stance to activate Vorpal Strike. His sword glowed a crimson red, and at the same time, Quinella's rapier transformed into a curved katana, and she stepped into a low stance.
He charged at her, hoping his sword skill would strike before whatever she had ready could, but it was futile, for in an instant, Quinella sidestepped and slashed across his chest with her sword.
"A one hit skill: Zekku," she informed him as he hit the ground and coughed up drops of blood, coming to a halt right next to Eugeo's bisected body. Quinella stood up and looked at Kirito, who was groaning as he tried to push himself to his feet. "There is nothing I do not know about the system which drives the properties of this world."
"Damn it…" he muttered, and then he felt something touch the back of his hand. Looking down, he gasped as he saw Eugeo's eyes open and staring at him.
"Losing hope already?" he breathed. "That's not like you, Kirito…" Eugeo reached out to his friend, and suddenly they were in a different place, floating in a starry void. Eugeo was completely unharmed, and so was Kirito.
"Integrity Knights aren't the only ones who lost their memories. We did too, and we forgot something very important," Eugeo told Kirito. "You, Alice, and I were all born together in Rulid. We grew up there together, and for a time you and I even shared the same calling, to cut down the Gigas Cedar, remember?"
A torrent of images flooded into Kirito's brain, and he realized that what Eugeo was talking about were the memories that Rath had sealed when he first dived into the Underworld. But they weren't sealed anymore, and he could vividly remember every moment. "Yeah… I remember it now. I was right there with you, in the square when Alice was taken by Deusolbert," he replied.
A regretful frown came over Eugeo's face. "I couldn't move when that moment came. I felt so helpless," he admitted, and then the frown became a smile. "But not you. You were so brave, and you charged in and stood up to him."
Kirito's voice began to break slightly. "Eugeo…"
The blonde haired swordsman floated closer, and then he placed both hands on Kirito's shoulders. "This time, I'm going to help you, as I should've back then," he reaffirmed. "This time, we'll definitely save Alice together, along with everyone else in the Human Empire. Now come on!"
With that, the vision faded, and they were back in the Cathedral. "Kirito…" Eugeo said, pain slipping into his voice again. "Come on, on your feet. You can do it, so stand up. Stand up as many times as it takes."
Eugeo lowered their hands down to the hilt of the Blue Rose Sword, and suddenly the sword glowed with a ruby hue. The handle floated into Kirito's open hand, and suddenly the sword had repaired itself, turning a crimson red color. "You can do it… Get up… My best… friend…" Eugeo breathed before his head fell back and his eyes closed. "My… hero…"
His arm fell limp, and his breathing came to a stop. Tears welled up in Kirito's eyes, and he let out a short sigh of sadness. "Yeah… For you, I'll stand as many times as it takes," he said, pushing himself to his feet. He turned around and picked up his black blade, and then he stared at Quinella.
The Pontifex scoffed. "Honestly… you have lost, so why do you resist?" she asked.
Kirito took a step forward, and then another. "Because I can. And I won't stop, not until you're gone."
Quinella took a step back, unnerved at her foe's tone. "This world belongs to me! How dare you come here uninvited and defy my rule?!" she demanded, pointing her sword at Kirito. "On your knees! Offer your head to me! Accept your defeat!"
A cyclone of umbral energy whipped up around her, and the Silvery Eternity morphed back into its longsword shape. But Kirito was not fazed by the demand, and he simply took another step forward.
"No way," he replied softly. "You're not a ruler, you're a thief. You don't love this world or the people who live in it." Kirito's eyes suddenly glowed with golden light. "Based on that, someone like you has no right to be in charge!"
Quinella raised her sword as both of Kirito's went up. "To love is to rule! I love everything, and I thus rule everything!" she exclaimed as purple particles were absorbed into her blade, transforming it again into a greatsword. With a shout, she swung it at Kirito, the blade glowing red, but he blocked the strike with both swords, and then pushed her away before countering the attack.
A series of clangs rang out around the room as Kirito fought the Pontifex with both his Elucidator, the blade black like a starless night sky, and the now ruby colored sword which was once Eugeo's. Though it had felt like ages since he'd last fought with two swords, his form had not rusted at all, and with grace, precision, and incredible speed, he forced the Pontifex back on the defensive with a masterful flurry of strikes from both sides. Their swords locked against each other for a moment, before they pushed away and charged again.
Kirito leaped up into the air, spinning as he flew over her and raining down a rapid series of strikes like a bladed disc. Landing behind her, he kept up the assault, striking from the left to distract her from the slash coming from the other hand, and then reversing the attack. Quinella backed up, and in response, Kirito charged at her and slashed diagonally with both swords, only to then spin on the ball of his foot to attack from the other direction, and then, again and again, keeping her constantly backpedaling and unable to gain any ground as his flurry showed no signs of stopping.
Backflipping away, Quinella attempted to push off the wall and skewer him through his chest, but the boy was too fast, and he locked his swords against her own before she could even kick off of the side of the chamber. Rage overcame the Pontifex, and she began forcing him back for a change, until Kirito kicked out with one foot, winding her as he struck her gut and put some distance between them. But then he covered that distance in an instant as he spun both swords like sawblades, using the normally inoffensive Spinning Shield skill as an attack.
Quinella intercepted the strikes with her sword, but then she gasped as Kirito effortlessly transitioned into a double thrust aimed at her neck, his swords sliding against each other like a massive pair of scissors. Her head flew back, and then she spun around to slash at his legs, only for the nimble swordsman to jump over her attack. Quinella cartwheeled away, with her foe right behind her as he leaped into the air and crashed down on her with both swords once again.
As their swords clashed once again and locked against each other, the two fighters glared at each other with narrowed eyes, before pushing away from each other. "How… How dare you?" Quinella gasped, breathless. "How dare you!"
Her sword glowed purple, and all too familiar rings appeared around it as she held it out. "Release Recollection!" she exclaimed, and then suddenly, a dozen identical replicas of the Pontifex emerged from the blade, each armed with their own identical copy of the Silvery Eternity. Each one of them grinned with a smile dripping with malice and hatred, and as one they all charged at Kirito.
But even outnumbered, Kirito didn't flinch for a second. Leaping over the first sword, he slashed through one of Quinella's clones in the air, before hitting the ground and ducking down to avoid the next incoming sword, before easily countering that attack too. He danced and weaved around each clone and each sword, effortlessly killing each one with a single strike.
"Your clones may be fast," he said with a grin after slashing through another pair of phantoms. "But they're as fragile as paper!" he warned. "Enhance Armament!"
Kirito stabbed the Red Rose Sword into the ground, and all of Quinella's clones were suddenly frozen in ice, with only the real Quinella avoiding the attack by flying into the air. Slicing through the air with his other sword, Kirito annihilated the frozen clones, the black beam of energy shattering each of them and the ice they were trapped in like glass, and once again, it was just Kirito and Quinella.
With a snarl, the Pontifex flew down towards him like an arrow, her sword glowing red. Kirito aimed back up at her, his midnight blade glowing the same color of red as her own, and then both swords shot out in the same instant, slashing against each other and creating a cloud of sparks, followed by a torrent of blood. Both of their arms fell to the ground, severed from the rest of their bodies by simultaneous Vorpal Strike Sword Skills.
Quinella flipped her head back, shouting "Curse you!" at Kirito, who was still stunned as pain overwhelmed his mind. Her long hair wrapped around his body, and she grabbed his throat with her other hand and lifted him into the air.
She scowled in rage as his eyes refocused on her. "Not yet…" he muttered as his eyes narrowed, and then the Red Rose Sword began to glow with bright red light. "I'm not done yet!"
Mental images of everyone he'd ever loved, everyone he'd ever cared about, and everyone he'd ever fought beside flooded into his mind. His aunt, uncle, and cousin, whom he'd long believed were his birth family. All the friends he'd made growing up before he'd found out the truth and secluded himself from everyone. And then, all of the friends, comrades, and brothers and sisters in arms he'd made while trapped in Sword Art Online. Asuna and the Knights of the Blood Oath. Klein and the Fuurinkazan. Agil, Silica, Lisbeth, and all the other friends he'd known. Will, Emily, Grace, and Xander, who'd all fought by his side and fought with every fiber of their being and then some. Yui, the AI who had become the closest thing he and Asuna had to a daughter, who, despite not being a real human, he would die to protect all the same.
Even Kayaba, who after putting the players through that hell, was someone he still looked up to, certainly not as a friend, but if nothing else, someone that, like Kirito, possessed an unstoppable drive to accomplish his dreams and someone who would not let anyone defile his legacy. Yes, even Kayaba was someone that Kirito respected still.
More images poured into his mind, memories of the people he'd met in the Underworld. Eugeo and Alice, whom he had grown up for the second time with. Selka, whom he and Eugeo had rediscovered their courage in order to protect. Tiese and Ronye, who looked up to them as teachers and older brothers they could always confide in. Katherine and Mateo, who had risked everything to help them. Cardinal and Charlotte, who had sacrificed their lives to get him to where he was now.
With the memories and strength of everyone he'd cared about, and who had cared about him, the sword let out a powerful burst of energy that freed him from Quinella's hold. With a cry of righteous fury in his throat, Kirito extended his left arm in the air and stabbed Quinella through the heart. A massive, fiery explosion overwhelmed both of them, and they were launched to opposite sides of the room.
As Kirito got back to his feet, he saw Quinella standing up already. He instinctively raised his sword with his one remaining arm, but then it fell as he realized that she was shuddering, and there was a massive, gaping hole where he'd stabbed her.
"I- In the end… neither sword… was made of metal…" she said, and the Red Rose Sword glowed white, and then returned to its broken, pale blue state. Then, Quinella chuckled. "How foolish of me… I did not expect this outcome," she mused as Kirito set down the broken Blue Rose Sword.
"Even if I gathered up every spatial resource here… no, every spatial resource in the world… it would not be enough to heal this wound," she muttered. Kirito's hand glowed with bluish white light as he sealed up the bloodied remains of his severed arm. "It would seem that I have no choice now, at this point…"
Quinella chuckled to herself as she walked over to the middle of the room, where her bed had once been. Kneeling down to tap the floor, she grinned as a circle of light appeared in front of her, and from it, a glowing panel rose up.
"Wait- you're not-" Kirito gasped, instantly recognizing the panel as something he was all too familiar with: a computer screen.
Quinella glanced back at him out of the corner of her eye, and she grinned. "Oh, I am. Much earlier than I had planned, mind you… but never the less, it is time for me to go," she said, pressing keys on the keyboard. Kirito shambled towards her, but he tripped on a piece of the fragmented Sword Golem as a beam of purplish-red light surrounded Quinella, and the shifting purplish void outside the shattered windows dissipated. "Farewell, little boy," she said, ascending into the air. "For now. The next time we meet, it shall be in your world."
But then, as Kirito tried in vain to stop her, a voice sounded from the side of the room, a voice neither of them thought they'd hear again. "Y- Your eminence!" Chudelkin groaned, reaching out to her. "Don't leave me here! Take me with you!" Flames enveloped the grotesque clown's body, and he flew up towards her even as the Pontifex gasped in horror. Chudelkin grabbed onto her, and he would not let go. In a twisted turn of fate, Quinella's body began to ignite as she screamed, the only one of her subjects who loved her above all else instantly being the one to foil her greatest plan of all: to leave the world she was born in behind and rule over what she had known all along to be the real world.
When the fire and smoke cleared, Quinella was floating over the capital of Centoria, all her wounds healed and once again clothed in her silk linens. As she gazed over what had been her kingdom for three hundred long years, she sighed, and for once, she smiled with true fondness. "I did love it… I loved all of it," she thought to herself before the light of the sun swallowed her entirely.
At the same time, Kirito looked around, fearing that he was falling for another one of Quinella's sinister tricks. But there was no sign of her or her devoted Prime Senator. The only ones remaining on the Cathedral's one hundredth floor were himself, Mateo, Katherine, and Alice, and only he was conscious. But that was the least of his worries. With the Axiom Church defeated, it was only a matter of time until his employers reset the world entirely, and maybe him along with it.
"Is it over now?" he wondered as the fragments of the Sword Golem disappeared all around him with their maker. But then, his eyes found their way to Eugeo's broken body, and his heart caught in his throat. "Eugeo…" he breathed, watching as the crystals sealing his wound shattered, their master no longer among the living. Kirito's Blackwyrm coat, a relic of a bygone age, transformed back into the ornate, armored jacket he had taken from the armory of the Cathedral, and his Elucidator reformed into the sword which had been forged from the tip of the Gigas Cedar.
Kirito fell to his knees, and desperation overtook him. Blue orbs of light shot toward the gaping wound from his hand. "Stop bleeding! Please! Heal, God dammit! Come on!" he exclaimed in anguish. "You can't die now! Not when we've just won! Eugeo!"
Miraculously, a sliver of life returned to Eugeo right then, and he mustered the resolve to pick up one hand and open his eyes. He rested the hand on Kirito's, causing the boy to gasp in disbelief. "Stay… Cool… Kirito…" he muttered, a smile on his face. "Heh… did I… did I use it right this time?" he asked, and Kirito nodded, tears in his eyes.
"Come on, Eugeo. Let go, I'm trying to heal you," Kirito pleaded, but Eugeo shook his head.
"Don't bother… It's fine… really, it is… leave it…"
Kirito's eyes widened. "W- what are you saying? I'm not going to let you die like this!"
But Eugeo shook his head again, fainter this time. "It's for the best… really, it is. Otherwise…" he looked over at Alice, who was still unconscious. "We'd have fought over Alice. To get her back the way I knew her, Alice Zuberg… or to protect her as you know her now, Alice the Knight."
Kirito's heart shattered. Even though he didn't want to believe it, deep down, he knew Eugeo was right. "Then get up and fight!" he exclaimed. "Let me heal you and then we'll fight! You're way stronger than I am now! So do it! Do it for the old Alice's sake! Fight me!" he cried.
"I can't… not with a broken sword. Besides, I was weak. I gave in to Administrator, and I turned my sword against you… This is how I can make amends for that sin…"
But Kirito shook his head. "You really think I care about that? You made a mistake, but everyone makes mistakes! That's part of who we are!" he shot back. "And you fought back and snapped yourself out of it! We couldn't have defeated Administrator without you, and I won't leave this tower without you either!"
For one last time, a smile came over Eugeo's face. "Don't… worry… you won't have to. Remember? My memory… is the Blue Rose Sword's memory… it and I… we're one and the same now. So as long as you take it with you… I'll always be there, to keep you safe… broken or not."
Eugeo raised up his other hand and touched Kirito's palm to the memory fragment in his hand.
Eugeo walked through the forest, his eyes fixed on the clearing at the end of the path he was on now. Kirito and Alice had been gone all day, and with it being their day of rest, he'd wanted to spend it playing with them.
"All done!" Alice cheered.
"So am I!" Kirito added, and they held up two objects.
"Wait… you've been here this whole time?" Eugeo asked, walking up behind them. "What are you two doing?"
"Uh… nothing…?" Kirito said, but they all knew Eugeo didn't buy it.
Alice and Kirito both held their works tight to their chests, but then Alice reached over and snatched something from Kirito, before standing up in her frilly blue and white dress.
"Well, it's three days too early, but…" she trailed off with a smile, before turning around and holding a wooden sword and a beautifully embroidered sheath out to him. "Happy Birthday, Eugeo!"
"Is- Is that for me?!" Eugeo asked, and both of his friends nodded.
"It's no match for the real thing, like the one your big brother has…" Kirito said, standing up to grin at his friend. "Still, this one's much better than any of the wooden swords the shop in Rulid carries!"
With a smile and flushed cheeks, Eugeo smiled and picked up the sheathed wooden sword. "It's wonderful… no, it's beautiful! I'll cherish this forever! Thank you both!" he said, before embracing them in a hug. But then, the scenery around them vanished, save for a cobblestone path with branched out in two directions.
Eugeo and Alice stood apart from Kirito. "W- wait!" he asked, but his friends shook their heads, neither able to look him in the eyes.
"Us three… we grew up together, and we were the best of friends," Eugeo said.
"We're going different ways now, but… our memories will live forever, Kirito," Alice said.
Then, they both looked up at him, staring at Kirito in the eyes. "They'll go on living in your heart forever… So you see? It's fine!" they said, and then they were back in the Cathedral.
"So you see? It's fine… So don't cry, Kirito," Eugeo muttered, still faintly holding onto Kirito's sleeve.
Tears welled up in Kirito's eyes, and then they fell from his face to land on Eugeo's shirt. "Yeah… you're right. It's like you said… you're not gone, you'll be here, forever."
Eugeo nodded. "Forever and ever… us three… the best of friends…" he breathed, his hand falling limply to the ground. As Kirito breathed shakily, his mind still racing to come to terms with the fact that Eugeo was about to die, the blonde haired swordsman's eyes glazed over. "Kirito… are you still there? Where'd you go? I can't see you…"
Kirito picked up Eugeo's head. "I'm here… I'm right here…" he reassured his dying friend. "We did it, yeah? We beat Administrator… This world… I'll keep it safe… I promise…" he swore.
Eugeo didn't seem to hear anything more after Kirito told him that he was right there with him. "Oh, I see now… Stars sparkling in the dark… the Night Sky… above the Gigas Cedar… It was full of stars, wasn't it?" Eugeo asked, and Kirito nodded. "Your sword… it shines just like that night sky… Hey… how's that for a name? The Night Sky blade," he said.
Kirito's voice trembled. "Yeah… that's a great name. The perfect name," he replied, thanking Eugeo.
"It's like you… you know? You're both like the night sky. Wrapping this sorry world up in your stars…" Eugeo said. With that, Eugeo's body glowed gold, and it vanished in a magnificent cloud of golden particles, each one shining as brilliantly as he always had.
Mateo groaned as he stirred from the black void of nothingness. His body was lying down on the ground, flat against the cold, marble tiles of the Cathedral, just like he had when he'd first been brought to the Church, so very long ago.
Suddenly, his eyes shot open as he heard a sound echo around the chamber. Rapid bangs followed by a series of explosions, and strangely, they all felt so familiar, like he'd heard them before when he was naught but an infant.
"Come in, Kirito! Are you there?!" a voice desperately asked.
"Yeah, I'm here all right! Do you jackasses know what you've done?! You son of a bitch!" Kirito shouted back at a strange, glowing panel.
"Can we please save the insults for later? Right now I need you to listen to me!"
Kirito let out a small breath to try and calm himself. "What do you need? I hear shooting, what's going on out there?" Kirito asked.
"I can't get into that right now! Listen, Kirito! There's a girl named Alice! I need you to find her and-"
"Holy crap, Kiks! Check out the monitor! How did we miss this alert! There's two more that match Alice's status! Cross checking…" another voice interrupted. "Yeah, they've both breached their limits, same as her! Their names are… Mateo and Katherine! Kiks! We've found two more just like Alice!"
There was a gasp from the first man on the line. "No way… and of all the times we could have found them, they show up now?! Kirito! I need you to find them and-"
"I don't have to find them, they're right here!" Kirito answered.
"Y- You have them?!"
"You've gotta be kidding me! That son of a gun is a walking miracle!"
"Yeah, he is," the first voice agreed. "All right, listen up Kirito. Once we're off the line, I'm going to crank the FLA to a thousand. That should give you all the time you need to get Alice and those other two to the World's End Altar!" the first voice asked.
Kirito shook his head. "I've never heard of that place!" he exclaimed.
"That's okay! Just go out the Eastern Gate and the altar is due south-" the voice said, only to be cut off by a third, this one much quieter, or maybe it was farther away. Either way, Mateo couldn't tell.
"Wh- What? Was that me and Katherine they were talking about?" he wondered, trying to push himself to his feet, but to no avail. Either time was going slower, or he was moving faster. It had to be one of the two, and he didn't know which it was. "Yeah, it had to be. Kirito said they were right here with him!"
"Sir! They're headed down to electrical!"
The second voice gasped. "We're screwed! What do we do Kiks? If they cut the main power line, it'll cause a surge!" he exclaimed. "The lightcube cluster should be safe… but the sub computer where Kirigaya's STL is won't be! It'll cook his fluctlight!"
Now the first voice gasped. "O- Okay. I'll handle the Lockdown and boost the FLA. Higa, take Asuna and Dr. Kojiro down to Sub Con, and wait for my word! Keep Kirito safe, you hear me?"
Kirito stiffened. "Asuna…?"
"What the hell… what's she doing there? How'd she get to Rath?!" he thought, but then Kirito was shaken out of his thoughts by another familiar voice.
"Oh crap! Nakanishi! They're cutting the power!"
Alice and Katherine pushed themselves up just in time to see Kirito get flung backward by a massive beam of white light.
"Asuna…" Kirito mumbled as everything went white and black at the same time.
A/N: Roll credits! That's the end of the Twenty Fifth Knight! I hope you all enjoyed reading this series as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I hope you'll stick around and keep reading the other things I upload!
If you hadn't guessed by the end of this chapter, yes, I am most definitely going on to write a new version of the War of Underworld featuring Mateo, Katherine, and Araney, as well as Will, Emily, Xander, and Grace from my Forgotten Heroes fanfic. Unfortunately, I'm still in the very early stages of planning that one out, and I want to finish the rest of the Untold Legends Saga before writing the conclusion to both this series and the Untold Legends, because I plan to have them converge somehow. Not sure how yet, but I'm considering some kind of three part story, with part one telling Mateo and Katherine's side of the first half of the War of Underworld season of the anime, part two telling everyone else in the real world's side of the story, and then part three being a fanfic that meshes both sides into one for the second half of the WoU season. (I mean, of course, I was always going to do that though. Did you really think I was going to bench Will, Emily, Grace, and Xander for the War of the Underworld, instead of letting them go in to help the Underworlders along with everyone else from the real world.) Something tells me I'm biting off more than I can chew, but hey, that's part of the fun, isn't it?
Anyway, with all that aside, it's been a pleasure to write this series for you. I hope you liked it, and I hope you'll share it around to your friends. As always, leave me a review with your thoughts and opinions, and I'll see you all next time!