"So that's the story, huh? Go figure."

After Eydis and I privately chatted, she had Sylvie bring back in Kureha, Knight Commander Arcras Zancale, Archmage Mer Agi Ina and Supreme Commander Sikhan Auratum. Keeping our real identities a secret (using our real names instead of Jaymes and Kureha), she reintroduced us as agents of the Pilothood sent over here with Sylvie as she journeyed home on her day off, which had a varying effect on the five strangers around us.

I never met Iskhan the pugulist before the maximum acceleration kicked in, but I did know Sheyta Synthesis Twelve, so to see Sikhan Auratum act with so much expression and emotion to the point he might've kissed my feet was undaunting. He was fraught with worry that he had hurt me, being that he called for Kureha and I's immediate arrest, so I forgave him before things got weird.

Mer Agi Ina, who Eydis said was best called "Merls" as a nickname or "Merlina Iversial" as her birthname, was the least active about my introduction...or at least that's how I took it. Along with the customary bow, she smiled at me friendly, but I could tell it was more than that. She's the leader of Clan Iversial and a descendant of another member called Brunhilda, who I recall from the stories my Fluctlight recounted. Like her ancestor and all other archmages, she's the most powerful of the current age, and seeks to have her daughter, Not Sal Arc (Notte Arcan, Sylvie's friend) successor. So many names to remember for just one person. I wonder why we did not get rid of the mage nomenclature.

Acras Zancale had the more reserved expression of face, given tthat he kept his helmet on. Eydis told me he's the strongest and most loyal to the throne, especially to the absent Emperor. Talk about loyalty, but there's a reason he's is strong. His ancestors are Arthurio, Mia and Lipia Zancale, all dark knights two hundred years ago. I never met Lipia but heard of her from Eydis prior to the Otherworld War; however, Mia and Arthurio I learned about from my fluctlight. Mia, a Dark Knight trainee, was my apprentice during my early time here in the Dark Territory. Arthurio was her childhood friend and was already knighted by the time I met him.

After a short talk, Eydis dismissed me and Kureha, telling Sylvie and Cordelia to escort me to our original destination in the palace, the vault door. In my ear, Eydis told me that I should know the password and gave me a hint. She'll remain with the adults and the two knights who were with us, as they're two of the four other youngsters who'll come with me later on. The other two have been summoned and she'll brief them in full at once.

Dorothy Zancale introduced herself as Acras' daughter and closest friend of Sylvie - Cordelia contested that. Log Auratum, who dragged me into the castle and tossed me like a disgraced criminal, was oddly more nervous after we were introduced. He kept looking back between me and Sylvie, and when I spoke to him, he almost disintegrated.

"Got to admit, you're so...predictable," Kureha continues. "You broke the rule you instated on your sword to save Eydis once, now here you are, forgoing our investigation to save her again. If Dr. Koujiro heard about this, she'd rip your head off." I have no argument against her, but before I could muster a weak counter, Kureha takes hold of my shoulder. "One day, you'll forgive yourself. Ko already has, not that it was ever your fault."

"...I thought I had when I saved Medina, but it seems that I hadn't. No, I knew that, my actions this past week says otherwise."

"When do you plan on telling her?"

"Tonight, I've decided. After meeting Eydis and talking with her, it's only right I fix things in my other life before I continue here. It's just..."

"Koharu will understand, Joshua," my partner states with certainty. She holds up her thumb and smiles gently. "If anyone knows your willingness to protect what matters to you as well as I do, it is her. Unlike a certain someone, she won't stop you as long as you trust her to support you. That's why she followed you for so long, why Eydis is trusting you with this mission and her child, and why I'm here with you. Let her protect herself."

I nod my head, understanding what Momiji is saying. I've played protector for so long that to not protect is foreign to me. There's no mortal danger to Koharu knowing this knowledge, but her feelings are. I sort of resolved my inner feelings with the situation now, enough to talk to her as I promised. But I noticed a temporary change in Momiji's tone. "You really have something against Liz, don't you?"

"I have problems with everyone, to be fair. But yes I really don't...well, I think my preference is clear."

"Hmm... Anyway, this is it, Sylvie?"

The princess stops exactly at the middle of the hallway between the doors to the fiftieth floor and the throne room's doors. She faces the right wall and places her hand upon the smooth obsidian surface. "This is it."

I step forward and place my hand on the wall. The specific part of the wall she pinpoints doesn't stand out. It looks just like the rest of the wall. If someone was seeking the hidden treasures of the Crimson Emperor and Abyssla Empress, even if they knew where to look, they wouldn't know what to look for. But who set this up? Me. If I know myself, then I know what will reveal the passage.

Eydis said that there's a password, with the hint that "to the person who shared our heart, it was someone important to her." To Joshua Hardin, who has no recollection of many things that could matter to the emperor and empress, I'm limited to the seven months we were together and the short span of time I learned from the emperor. If I cross-reference what might matter most to me to what matters to Eydis, then that narrows it down to two choices.

But, no offense to the Osmanthus Knight, who was nothing more than my goal at the time, there was someone who mattered to my heart. And if I'm wise, I wouldn't use an easy answer that Cordelia could answer...but something only Eydis and I could identify 200 years later. The true answer to this question is not "who matter to Eydis and Jaymes?" but "who mattered to Medina Orthinanos?"

One name comes forth twice in my head. In my direct memories, she was one of the first wayfarers we met and eventually was Medina's first true friend, even staying by her side when Medina separated from the Anti-Cedar Task Force. She was killed by Hersyrian, the Pontifex's adopted son and Medina's ancestor, in cold blood along with many of the wayfarers with Medina at the Western Ravine.

The second memory doesn't exist in my hippocampus, but derives from my soul. For whatever reason now of all time I get memories directly from my soul, I faintly recall the name being used for Medina's daughter. That's how important the namesake was in her life...and why I chose it as the password.

Taking a nervous breath, I speak my answer. "Selina."

The wall grants my answer with a mechanical roar from the other side, which pulls the slab in front of me up. I must've have put a good deal of Incarnation to make the wall look continuous with the hallway. I mentally clap myself on the back as a dark hallway beckons us onward.

"Selina? I thought the password was 'Medina' or 'Alice.' Not the name of Lady Medina's daughter."

I turn to Cordelia and smile at her. "I thought so too, but when I thought about it, Alice and I never got along and still don't. Medina was too easy an answer. But she had someone important to her before Eydis and I were her friends."

"Oh."

"Come on... Sylvie, you've been in here before. What else is in here?"

"I believe there's a couple of other treasures or secrets, but I'm not sure why Mother wants you to come here. What did she tell you?"

"When we discussed things over, Eydis said that she'll send two other experienced fighters with us to lead when I can't. She said they'd be happy to see me first, and I assumed it would be the Supreme Commander and Knight Commander. Yet our aides are in the vault... Oh, I understand now."

Eydis didn't explain much, but she knew i would figure it out. Who we're looking for aren't sitting in the vault just waiting to be let out - not consciously, that is. They're in Deep Freeze, the art found by the Pontifex. She used it on her knights and other..."valued people" by freezing their Life value and consciousness. The best analogous description I can think of is how the Greek myth of Medusa the Gorgon turned people into stone, but in this case the stoning can be undone. Alice and I were one of the few people who know the spellwords for Deep Freeze for both processes after Cardinal taught us during the Clamp Crisis (as only people who broke the Seal of the Right Eye could undo it) and I taught it to Eydis after she broke the seal in the final battle.

And it isn't much longer before I see everything I was previously told about this room.

"Vault" in its general definition might be wrong. It isn't filled to the brim with eye-popping treasures. There's only a couple of things present in this 150-foot wide square, 100-foot tall chamber. Being the largest object in the room, my eyes are drawn to the largest dragoncraft I've seen. That must be the Chaos Drake, the personal dragoncraft of the Crimson Emperor.

Much like the dragon itself, it bears a black body with a violet belly. At the "head" of the dragoncraft, a pair of red eyes sparkle like rubies. The craft is at least half the length of the room, its wingspan a third of the width. In design, it looks like a F-22 Raptor fighter jet, which makes sense that I'd design my own plane after an American fighter jet, but with a slightly longer wingspan and over double the length. Under the wings and tail are three exhaust ports meant to house heat elements. Between the wing's ports and the main body are turrets or something like them.

"Sweeeeeeeeeeeet," I find myself swooning over the machine, ignoring everything else in the room. I must look like a dog with a bone in its face, salivating heavily in anticipation for the treat. I can only imagine that Kirito's X'rphan is nowhere close in size.

"Imagine if we had this in GGO," says Kureha, who's just as entranced as I am. Gun Gale unfortunately doesn't have aerial crafts of this sorts, else all of us would have pooled credits into buying one for ourselves. "If Pitohui could see this now, she'd faint...or throw herself at you to make you buy it."

"Hopefully you truly mean Pitohui, not Elsa. That makes a difference."

"Luckily that argument for you doesn't land you in legal trouble, you lolita." Kureha ignores my gawking expression and places a hand on the Chaos Drake, whistling as she glides her hand along the belly. She rubs the writing on the side of the craft — Chaos Drake Mk. 7 — while nodding her head excitedly. "Damn, this thing is packing. The weaponry here...you truly were influenced by Gun Gale, huh?"

Kureha's account, which we've taken to calling Bellumia like the giant did, is well-deserving to be named after the Latin word for war. Not only is her axe - or the hilt specifically - a powerful tool and her ability to adapt in a fight borderline cheating, apparently she can look at a weapon and determine its capabiliites. No other god accounts has this extensive list of abilities. But I remind myself that Stacia, Terraria, Solus, Vecta and Lunaria all had their OP abilities that, in comparison, Bullemis can't even counter.

I mean Terraria can heal herself almost unlimitedly. I want that perk.

Aside from the mounted turrets, I don't see another weapon on the dragoncraft, but knowing myself, the Crimson Emperor wouldn't have been caught lacking in offensive might. "What's this bad boy packing?"

"Looks like you got a couple turrets on the wings, and a big gun up front at the snout, hidden within the craft. Wonder how these work. Last I looked, this world didn't have guns besides the times you and Sinon incarnated one."

"Maybe it works on the sacred arts like the craft itself. At this size, it must take a lot of concentration to power this up. I can only imagine what it takes to do that and fight at the same time."

"Maybe its' not a single-seat cockpit... Man, I wish we could take the Drake for a spin."

"For real. Maybe we could take it for a test drive-"

"Ahem. Jaymes, Kureha." We turn around to see a displeased Sylvie, arms crossed. She walks towards the back of the dragoncraft. Following silently, we come to a staircase within the back wall. Cordelia isn't with us, and I didn't see her left behind in the hanger.

The ascending stairs lead up to double stone doors, partially opened. Inside, we can hear Cordelia's voice, so we enter after her. What we come into is a small room, about as big as one as a single room apartment back in Japan. Again, there isn't a plethora of treasures. As a matter of fact, the four light arts Cordelia uses to illuminate the room reveal only a few objects present, five more eye-drawing than the others.

The first, hung horizontally on the left wall, is a black and white sheath, a black hilt poking out of one end. The slight curvature and overall design is familiar to me, but I don't reach out for it. It is Sylvie who does. She holds the sheath in both hands with awe, then faces me. "Is this Mother's Dark Slash Sword?"

"It is. So this is where she put it."

"I heard she hadn't used since I was born, and rarely used it beforehand. And right here..." Putting the sword in one hand, she reaches out for the set of silver armor just underneath where the sword rested. Her hand caress the black collar with a white cross-like symbol on it. "This is her knight's armor. I don't recall ever seeing this before. It's in great condition, so...why doesn't she wear this armor and wield this sword?"

Remaining silent, I take the sword from Sylvie. For a moment, I sense the sword greet me, or maybe my nostalgia is running rampant. In any case, I smile at the weapon, greeting it silently, then hand it back to Sylvie. "Your mother... She's the last of the old Integrity Knights, but she was also kicked out of the order. Though not of her own volition, she betrayed the Human Empire, but instead of being put to death or imprisoned for life, I bargained for her exile to the Dark Territory. When Knight Commander Fanatio ousted her from the Integrity Order, she allowed Eydis to keep her weapon and armor. I don't know why that is, but it remains the strongest weapon on this side of the End Mountains."

Sorry, Falchion, but you're down a level for now.

"Then why is this sword here?" Cordelia's comment brings my attention to the other end of the room. She and Kureha stand in front of the remaining "treasures." One of them is a golden sword planted in a pedestal. Design-wise, the blade is a twin of my famed sword from SAO, Avenger. The winged hilt is identical, and there's a red crystal encrusted in the golden hilt.

But even with the similarities, one thing differs: me. Something deep inside me is fearful of that sword, and it doesn't take me a lot of thinking to figure out why. It also explains why it looks like the two statue-liked humans erected in front of the sword seem to be guarding it more than being weirdly placed. "Don't touch it," I instruct, walking towards the redheads. "This sword is the most dangerous weapon in the world - the Gladius Filius."

"The sword of the First Son?" my daughter spurts out. "It's here? Why?"

"Good question. I didn't know its fate after Primus fell. I assumed it was destroyed along with him. But if it exists now, why is it here and not in the cathedral? And...do they know it is here?" I look up to the knight to my right, a young, tanned woman with flowing purple hair. She wears deep violet and black armor, the colors of the Dark Knights. A long black cape covers her back, but underneath it is a sheathed sword and a bow hanging off her hip. Her entire form is frozen solid - not even the fanning movements of my hand moves a strand of hair.

Her companion looks to be of similar age, but her skin is whiter, indicative of her Human Empire origins. Her hair is short and dirty blonde, her armor is forest-green, and attached to her waist is a golden sheath with an ornate gold and blue hilt protruding out of it.

I refrain from asking Sylvie if she knows who these people are, partially because I know she doesn't. The other reason is quite simple; whether it is my soul reacting to their presence like it has done with other places and people, or I subconsciously figured out who Eydis sent me to meet, I know these two woman. Once upon a time, the violet-haired woman was my apprentice, and the blonde was Medina's. The Hand of the Emperor, Mia Zancale, and Ilia Ordona, thirty-fourth Knight of the Integrity Order.

I glance back at Kureha, who gives me a reassuring nod. I could free them myself, but I don't want to trip Obsidia's Incarnameters. Even if I don't rely solely on Incarnation and recite the spell, Obsidia is still on high alert from the attack. No need to trouble my former subjects anymore.. "Sylvie, Cordelia, let's try waking these women up. I'm going to teach you the art for Deep Freeze." I gesture them forward to a woman - Sylvie to Mia, Cordelia to Ilia - and recite the Deep Freeze art I learned from Cardinal two centuries ago.

The girls repeat my words perfectly, and given their respective training, I am sure they have the sacred art level and ability to impart the spell to their targets. Yet...something is amiss. Neither Ilia or Mia stir from their slumber. "Again."

Nothing.

"Are you telling us the right words?"

"Yes. I learned the spell myself and used it before, so I... I know this should work." I try not to snap back at my quick-tempered daughter and take a step back. I take a deep breath and look at the two girls and the golden sword they guard. I step out the shoes of Joshua Hardin and into the shoes of the Jaymes the Crimson Emperor.

I'm more than certain the spellwords are the same. I learned them from Cardinal, the "sister" of Administator, if other half is not the best term to describe her. She knows everything Administrator knows prior to her creation, and she taught only two of us the Deep Freeze: Alice and me. We could use it as we weren't under control of Adminstrator (Eydis hadn't broken the Seal of the Right Eye at the time), so whenever Hersyrian used the Deep Freeze spell, we could reverse it.

That brings a thought to my head - why did I never use it afterwards?

As far as I can recollect, I never used the art after we freed the Integrity Knights from Hersyrian at the Eastern Ravine in the waning moments of what's know as the Clamp Crisis, However, neither Alice or I used it between then and the Otherworld War. But, as seen, it'll be used again. The Integrity Knights of old, the two before me, and Selka are preserved to this day by the art. So why isn't it working? Is there crucial information I'm missing out on?

"...When you recited the words, did you feel anything?"

"Oh yes," Cordelia announces. "It felt like something was stirring initially, but then fade out back to as it is now."

"So there's a spark of life, but it doesn't take hold.

Yes, it goes back to why I never used it again after the Clamp Crisis, and as egregious it is to me, I can only imagine how Alice feels about now. The Deep Freeze spell we learned was not the same one Administrator used, but one modified originally by Hersyrian to use with the Clamps and coded for our use by Cardinal. It's a complicated explanation, but its like a developer creating a new line of code to patch a game. The art we know is the patched version, not the original. For that same reason, neither of us could awaken the Integrity Knights in slumber at the time of Quinella's fall before the Otherworld War began.

But eventually we cracked the original line of code, which leads to our current predicament. If so, who knows it, and where are they? Eydis apparently has no clue about it and I know her well enough she wouldn't trick me by keeping that secret to herself. Do I know it? Did the Crimson Emperor keep vital information to himself to toy with me?

No, I hate cyptic riddles in quests, so why would I do that to myself? Just because he did not tell me anything about this doesn't mean he did not lay down the framework for me releasing Ilia, Mia, and Selka from Deep Freeze. The clue is in here somewhere.

"A record crystal?" Sylvie had walked to the westernmost corner of the room, where a writing desk is situated. On the desk is a pale blue cube. She picks it up the cube and says, "System Call. Release Recording." I step back at light is emitted from the cube, creating a projection of a very familiar male. Yeah, it's me, but the clothing I wear is much different. The emperor is clad entirely in blood-red light armor with black accents. Someone's hitting the nail on their epithet, huh?

As if it knows I'm here, the recording turns in my direction and bows to me. "Greetings, Joshua. If you're looking at this now, surely you're learned a lot about the Underworld in the last two hundred years. But peace...as you know, is fleeting, for we're prone to making enemies, huh? If you are here, trying to revive my old apprentice and Medina's, then you must know the truth of the Cult of the First Son. They existed, plagued the Dark Territory and the Star Empire, and were defeated. However, Eydis always had a feeling they weren't gone for good. I thought her fears were unfounded, but I knew better to voice them on the off-chance they became reasonable. And reasonable did they become."

"When I was told Eydis was pregnant, I remembered Primus' final words, that his ultimate revenge would be the culling of my lineage. It's not a frightful to me as it seems, I would be gone anyway, but for Eydis and the child I am to have, I knew I had to prepare. I created many of these record crystals for the heir to teach them my best skills with the sword and with Incarnation. I believed, and still do, that Eydis and her child will be safe for years to come, which means the next step was preparing for you. We probably met in the real world, in which I decided to tell you the story of the First Children at the beginning and the presence of Eydis' child. You'll find your way to Obsidia Palace and this vault and see Ilia, Mia, and the Gladius Fillius. You probably tried to wake them to no avail, and wondered what to do."

"The Deep Freeze art we learned was specific to Hersyrian's modification of the spell, but the old one exists. We know half of the spellwords, but the other half is stored away on the planet Admina. Where, I have no clue, I wasn't keen on knowing those details. But knowing our luck, we'll find it. That's all for now... No, there's two more things. One, Falchion's Memory Release is locked away by the sword after we broke a rule of the system...but it isn't gone forever. How we can regain its power, I don't know, but I'm sure it will. I believe in myself, after all."

"As for the second... By the time of this recording, the child of Eydis and I hasn't been born, so I have no clue as to what they look like or their name. This is the final cube I'm using, so I guess I'll never speak their name to them. But if you've met them...and they're there with you now, I'm sure you've made all of my skills yours. If you haven't, keep trying. If you've decided not to use them, I understand. But no matter what course you've taken in life, I know you're Eydis' child, and a kid she's proud of raising. Likewise, though I'll never say something so embarassing out loud, I am proud of the future you can bring not just to the Dark Territory as its future empress, but as my kid too. With that... Jaymes, if the cult is around, and you truly wish to accomplish our family's goal — the Hardin family's goal and the promise we made to Commander Bercouli — end it once and for all."