No one's POV

After both Sinon and Asuna arrived at the Underworld, they immediately began their assault on the American players. Asuna with her land alteration from Stacia, Goddess of Creation, along with Sinon and her Annihilation Bow from Solus, the Sun Goddess. They wiped out over 10 thousand of American players, leaving Philia and the Underworldian shock.

At last, the rest of the soldiers had recovered from the shock of the laser attack and realized that their prey was in the process of getting away. They rushed along the slope of the crater, a red tsunami that howled and swore.

Sinon: Philia. About three miles south of here, me and Asuna saw something that looked like a historical ruin.

Asuna: This path runs right through the middle of it, and there are a bunch of huge statues on either side of it. We think we can fight the enemy off there without getting surrounded. Let's beat the rest of them from that spot.

Philia was an experienced fighter herself, of course, and as she recognized the wisdom of this advice, her expression tightened up at once. She rubbed the tears away and opened her mouth.

Philia: Alright, Asuna, Sinon. America might have a lot of VRMMO players, but surely they can't get many more than this right away. If we can beat that ten-thousand- plus, the enemy won't have another move...I think.

Asuna: All right, let us handle this.

Sinon: Now...with that settled...

Asuna and Sinon glanced back to confirm that the very rear line of the human army had cleared the enemy blockade, then Sinon continued in a quieter voice.

Sinon: Is, er...is Zora in this group?

Philia had to grimace at that.

Philia: Look, you don't need to ask me so awkwardly. Zora's right in here.

Philia said, pointing down at their feet to indicate the wagon they were standing on.

Sinon: Oh, he is?

Asuna: Then, um...We'll just go say hi to him.

Philia: Why are you acting so awkward as well?

Asuna and Sinon cleared their throat and moved over to the rear edge of the canopy that covered the huge wagon, they slide into the interior of the vehicle. She waited for Philia to come down next, then headed past the stacks of boxes.

The first thing that came into view was two girls wearing armor over what looked like school uniforms. They both looked back at Asuna and Sinon with wide-eyed wonder.

Ronie: S...Solus...?

Tiese: S...Stacia...?

Asuna and Sinon glanced down at their fanciful outfit and shrugged.

Asuna: Hello, it's nice to meet you. We might look like Stacia and Solus, but not on the inside. My name is Asuna.

Sinon: And I am Sinon.

Asuna and Sinon said with a forced smile. The girls reacted with surprise, but when they looked over her shoulder at Philia, they seemed to understand. Asuna gave them a gentle nod.

Asuna: That's right—We're from the real world, like Philia. And we are Zora's...friends and family.

Tiese: Oh...I see.

The one with dark-brown hair narrowed her eyes just a bit and murmured.

Ronie: They're all women...

Sinon had to smirk to herself.

Sinon: We're not even the last one.

Asuna and Sinon walked past the girls on her way to the back of the wagon space. Sitting there in a simple wheelchair, clutching two longswords with just one arm, was a young man dressed in black and white.

Takeru Higa had described Zora's condition to the both of them already. But seeing him broken like this in person filled their chest with emotion and brought tears to their eyes.

Zora:...Aa...

His empty eyes could not focus directly on Asuna nor Sinon, but he did produce a slight croak when they came into view. Both Asuna and Sinon took a knee before their friend and savior.

The swordsman's body, sunken into the back and armrest, was so skinny that the two Goddess hesitated to touch him. They reached out to gently enfold his shoulders with their hands.

Zora's soul, his fluctlight, was deeply damaged down in the core of its being, his self-image. Higa had told them in hushed tones that they had not yet discovered a method of healing him. But Asuna and Sinon just closed their eyes, sending the welling tears down their cheeks.

Asuna(mind): Even if you're soul's been deeply damaged, there are so many people who know your soul so well.

Many people had countless irreplaceable memories of and strong feelings for the young man named Zora. They just needed to collect those feelings up, bit by bit, and return them to him.

Sinon(mind): There, can't you feel it? That's the you that exists within us. A sarcastic prankster, stubborn, naïve...and stronger and kinder than anyone we know.

For a moment, both Asuna and Sinon forgot that Philia was there, and they turned to brush her lips against his cheek.

Asuna Yuuki and Shino Asada had no idea that, at that very moment, their fervent emotions were almost, almost encroaching on the one method that could actually heal Sora Kirigaya's soul. If either of them had known more about the nature of the Underworld and fluctlights, they might have landed upon the answer. But the advance knowledge they'd been given just before their dive covered only the current state of the world and the capabilities of the Stacia and Solus account.

So when Sora's body twitched a little and rose in temperature after their lips brushed him, they did not think further of it. Asuna and Sinon let go of Zora at once and stood to face the three behind them.

Sinon: It's all right. Zora will be better before you know it.

Asuna: Just when we need him the most. Like always.

Philia and the two girls nodded back tearfully.

Sinon: Well...I'm going to fly down to the ruins south of here to get an idea of the lay of the land.

Asuna: I'll stay here with Philia. With my land altering power, I could set a trap if something happens.

Asuna and Sinon said, turning toward the back exit of the wagon—only for Philia to grab Sinon's shoulder. Sinon held her breath when she saw the fierce look in the other girl's eyes.

Sinon: P...Philia, what is it...?

For a moment, she was afraid that Philia would be angry that she'd kissed Zora, but that was not the case, of course.

Philia: H-hey, Sinon, did you just mention flying?! Can...can you fly?!

Philia demanded.

Sinon: Um...yes. It's a special feature of the Solus account. I heard it doesn't even have a time limit...

Philia: Then we're not the ones you should be saving! Go get Alice...She was captured by the emperor!!

Philia went on to explain the situation in fuller detail; it was more desperate than Sinon could have imagined. Emperor Vecta was another super-account with a real-world player in it, and he had abducted Alice the Integrity Knight, the key to everything. Now he was flying far to the south with her on a dragon, and only Commander Bercouli of the knights was giving direct chase.

Philia: Even for the commander, facing a super-account alone is too much of a burden. If we can't save Alice before the emperor reaches the World's End Altar, he's going to destroy this entire world. Please, Sinon...help Bercouli!

Once she'd grasped the situation and had a description of Bercouli driven into her mind, Sinon jumped straight out of the wagon into flight. The seven-hundred-strong human army headed south, raising a trail of dust behind it. The army of red charging after them from the north was at least twenty times their number.

Sinon: I'll head right back as soon as I get Alice. Just hold out until then, Philia, Asuna.

Sinon swung to the south and added as much acceleration to her flight as her imagination could allow. She became a comet with a white tail, splitting the red sky in two as she streaked across it. As Asuna stared up at Sinon above, a thought passed through her mind.

Asuna(mind): Hang on...if they logged in at the same moment me and Sinon did, then where are Kirito and Leafa?

(Elsewhere)

Renly the Integrity Knight led the human army, with the American players chasing furiously after them. But far to the north, on the southern edge of the ravine Philia created, Iskahn's pugilists guild and the Integrity Knight Sheyta were battling for their lives against the first red army, which was still over ten thousand in number.

Even farther north, at the plains outside the Eastern Gate, where the scars of battle were still fresh, one nonhuman stood deep in thought. Steel armor covered his squat body. A leather cape trailed in the wind. Wide ears drooped at the sides of his round head, and a flat-ended nose jutted out of the front. It was Lilpilin, the chief of the orcs.

With the mere three thousand remaining members of his tribe waiting, he walked alone to a place where he could see the Eastern Gate well. He did not allow a single bodyguard along with him, because he wanted no one to see him crawling along the ground.

After hours of digging through the gravel, Lilpilin finally found what he was looking for—a silver earring with a simple design carved into it.

He scooped it up into his palm. It had formerly been in the ear of Lenju, the princess who had led the orc troops into sacrifice for the massive dark art that the emperor had demanded.

That was the only item of hers he could find. Neither she nor the three thousand orc soldiers who'd died with her had left behind a body—or even a piece of armor. The horrific spell cast by the dark mages guild had converted the orcs' flesh and even their equipment into dark power, devouring them whole. The chancellor of the guild, Dee Eye Ell, who'd carried out the cruel spell, and even the emperor, who'd ordered it, were no longer present.

Dee had perished in the deadly and beautiful wide-range counterattack of the Priestess of Light, and the emperor had flown south in pursuit of that priestess. He had not released Lilpilin from the order to stay put.

The three thousand surviving orcs could not defeat the Human Guardian Army and the Integrity Knights guarding the Eastern Gate. The desperate wish of the five races of darkness—the conquest of the fertile human realm— was over.

Lilpilin(mind): But in that case...why?

Why did Lilpilin's lifelong friend Lenju and the three thousand orcs who were sacrificed along with her...Why did the two thousand orcs who fought in the battle at the gate have to die? What glory had their death brought the Dark Territory?

The answer was "nothing." Not a single thing.

Five thousand of his people had died for an empty struggle. Just because they were uglier than humankind. Lilpilin clutched the tiny earring to his chest and fell to his knees. Rage, helplessness, and overwhelming grief thrust through his heart, bubbling up in the form of tears and sobs... Until there was a faint sound behind his back.

Leafa: WAAAAAAAAAA..........!!!!!!!

The orc chieftain leaped to his feet, spinning around to see a young human woman sprawled on her behind, grimacing with pain. Her hair was brilliant and golden, her skin was flawless, her armor shone, and her garments were the color of young shoots...She was clearly a resident of the Human Empire, not the dark lands.

Leafa: Ouch! Jeez! This is why I can't stand brand-new equipment!

Lilpilin's initial reaction was not surprise at her sudden appearance, or anger at what humanity had done to him, but something closer to shame, a wish that she would not look at him.

She was just too beautiful for him to bear.

His first encounter with a young white Ium lady left him with a completely different impression than the tall, powerful, and darker-skinned women of the Dark Territory. Her body was so delicate that a mere touch might break off her limbs. Her hair shone brilliantly even in the weak sunlight, and the large eyes that gazed up at him in surprise were as pure as polished emeralds.

Lilpilin cursed his own senses, that he should find this small, fragile creature so beautiful that she made him quake and tremble. And he feared the recognition of disgust in those green pools.

Lilpilin: D...don't look!! Don't look at meeee!!

He screamed, covering his face with one fist and clenching the hilt of his sword with the other. Cut off her head before you hear her scream with horror, his instincts told him.

But in the moment that he went to lift his sword, he felt the earring in his left hand prick his palm. It felt to him that Lenju was telling him not to do it. And in that moment, he heard something he'd never expected to hear—not a scream, but words.

Leafa: Um...good afternoon. Or is it morning?

The girl hopped to her feet, patted her short, flared trousers, and grinned at him. Lilpilin stared down at her from behind his concealing fist, blinking in disbelief. There was no hatred in her eyes, nor disdain, nor even fear, it seemed. But to white Ium children, orcs from the Dark Territory were supposed to be people-eating monsters.

Lilpilin: Wh...why?

He stammered, at a loss. It was not the voice of one of the ten lords of darkness.

Lilpilin: Why don't you wun away? Why don't you scweam? Aren't you human?

Now it was the girl's turn to look startled and uncertain.

Leafa: Why? I mean...

In the manner of one pointing out such obvious facts as the earth being flat and the sky being red.

Leafa: Aren't you human?

For some reason, a deep jolt ran through his spine. The demi-human chieftain struggled for words but kept his greatsword clenched tightly.

Lilpilin: H... human? Me? Dat's widiculous, just look at me! I am an orc! Da being you white Iums call a pig-man!!

Leafa: But you're still human.

The girl repeated, putting her delicate hands to her waist. She spoke like a parent lecturing a child.

Leafa: We're here talking to each other, aren't we? What more proof does there need to be?

Lilpilin: What...? But.........

Lilpilin didn't know how to argue against that. The confident girl with the green eyes said things that just did not fit into his lifetime of experience as an orc chieftain drowning in hatred for humanity and his inferiority complex toward them.

Lilpilin(mind):...If I can talk to them, I'm human?

Was the definition of human really that simple? Because the goblins and ogres and giants could all speak the common tongue, too. And with the orcs included, the four races had always been known as demi-humans or humanoids, a class strictly separated from humanity.

Lilpilin stood there in shock and confusion, gasping and snorting for breath. But the girl just pushed all of that aside with a simple "More importantly" and spun around to survey the area.

Leafa:...Where are we?

Suguha Kirigaya, better known as Leafa, surmised that she had dropped down at a location far off from the initial login coordinates. She stared up at the baleful red sky overhead.

When she'd heard that The Soul Translator she was being given to use, STL #8, was still so new that they hadn't removed the plastic shrink-wrap yet, she'd had a bad feeling in the back of her mind. Suguha would never use a brand-new shinai in a kendo competition, and she didn't trust electronics when they were fresh out of the box. She had a very reliable streak of coming home with defective products.

Her login coordinates were supposed to be set to Philia's present location, the same as Asuna and Sinon's in STL #1 next to them. Given that they were nowhere to be seen, something must've gone wrong. But the blasted wasteland all around wasn't empty—there was a humanoid with a round body and a piglike face nearby: an orc.

According to the color marker that functioned for only a short period after the initial dive, this was an orc, and not one of the enemy American VRMMO players. It was an artificial fluctlight of the Underworld, a true bottom-up artificial intelligence, as Rio and Yui described it.

When they'd been given an explanation of what the Underworlders really were, Leafa had sworn to herself that unless it was absolutely, unavoidably necessary, she would never draw her sword to harm them.

It only made sense. She couldn't kill the people that her brother Zora was trying to protect. If the artificial fluctlights died in this virtual world, their souls would be forever destroyed and never come back.

But now that she had a better look...

Leafa was used to playing in ALO, which boasted the finest graphics of any game found in The Seed Nexus, but the realism of the orc in her presence left her stunned. The movement and dampness of that large pink snout, the texture of the metal armor and leather cloak over its huge body, and most of all, the richness of expression and intelligence in its small black eyes—these things told her all she needed to know about the authenticity of the soul behind it all.

She tried asking the orc where they were, but for some reason, it looked away in seeming embarrassment and did not reply. Deciding that starting from a more formal position might be better, she switched to a different question.

Leafa: Um...what's your name?

The white Ium girl's second question was simple enough that despite the orc chieftain's extreme confusion, he answered it on instinct. Perhaps because, of all the things he'd been given in life, his name was the one thing he did not hate.

Lilpilin: I...I am Lilpilin.

Immediately, he regretted it. His introduction brought to mind the first time he visited Obsidia Palace and introduced himself to the human knights and mages, only to be laughed off. But the girl just grinned innocently again and repeated his name.

Leafa: Lilpilin...that's a wonderful name. I'm Leafa. It's nice to meet you, Lilpilin.

And once again, she gave him a shock: She extended her willowy arm in his direction.

He was familiar with handshakes, of course; orcs performed them on a daily basis. But he had never in his life heard of an orc and Ium formally shaking hands.

Lilpilin: What in the world does this human want? Is it a trap? Or the work of some mage? Have I been placed under the effect of a bewitching art?

He stared hard at the little hand and growled. The girl waited for him for a good ten seconds before she finally lowered her arm in disappointment. He felt a prickle of pain in his chest at that, for some reason.

If he stood around talking to—or even just looking at—this girl, it was going to drive him crazy. Lilpilin had no desire to attack her anymore, so he clung to the simplest solution to this situation that did not involve violence instead.

Lilpilin: You...you awe a guard—no, a knight—of da human awmy. I will take you pwisonah, den. I'll take you all da way to da empewah!

She might appear young, but the girl's armor and the long blade at her side were clearly not ordinary army issue. The way it gleamed with brilliant detail was clearly a step above even Lilpilin's equipment.

But his threat did not seem to frighten the girl. She looked thoughtful and eventually tilted her shoulders.

Leafa: When you say 'Emperor,' you mean Vecta, the god of darkness, right?

Lilpilin: D...dat's wight.

Leafa: All right. Then take me to the emperor.

Leafa said, sticking her hands out together. He was confused at first, until he recognized that she was motioning not for a handshake, but for him to chain her up.

Lilpilin(mind): I don't understand what she's thinking...

Lilpilin removed a decorative rope from his waist sash and roughly tied it around the girl's arms—though not very tight. Only after he held the other end and tugged on it did he recall that the emperor was no longer with the main body of the Dark Army.

If he stopped to take any further detail into account, his mind was going to catch on fire. If the emperor was absent, then that flippant dark knight who was his second-in-command, or Rengil, the head of the commerce guild, would be able to decide her fate.

He spun around and began to pull her along, not too roughly, but only got a few steps along when there was suddenly something like a black mist all around them. A nasty stench stung his nostrils. Soon Lilpilin could not even see, and he spun around in alarm.

Leafa: Wha...?!

A yelp of alarm, which belonged to the girl named Leafa. Out of the corner of his eye, Lilpilin caught sight of an arm reaching through the thick darkness to grab Leafa's dangling hair and violently yank her upward.

Then the owner of the arm came tearing through the veil to reveal herself. A woman who should have been dead—Dee Eye Ell, chancellor of the dark mages guild—stood there with a sadistic smile on her blue lips.

Dee: The smell...This smell...! So strong, the sweet scent of life.

Dee Eye Ell croaked as she lifted the human girl up by the hair. He should have hated the dark mage more than hatred itself, but Lilpilin found himself utterly at a loss in this situation.

Her tanned skin, once gleaming with perfumed oils, and her thick, wavy black hair were both in a bedraggled state now. Wounds that oozed blood crossed every bit of her skin, like she'd been slashed with countless knives. With each movement, the lacerations pulled apart, sending more fresh blood spurting out. But the dark mist around the mage gathered around her wounds and began to plug them, hissing with an unpleasant stink.

The source of the mist was a small leather sack hanging from her waist. Every now and then, an insectoid creature popped its head out of the opening and belched out a healthy gout of the dark mist. This was clearly some dark art that was meant to minimize her loss of life. Lilpilin's snout crinkled in disgust. Dee shot him a look, and the edges of her mouth curled upward.

Dee: This is quite a wonderful prize. You have done well, pig. I will reward you with a bit of entertainment.

Dee stuck the clawlike fingers of her right hand down the collar of the hanging, anguished girl. Instantly, she ripped loose the silver armor and pale- green top she wore underneath it. The girl squirmed even more as her blindingly pale skin was exposed. Dee's smile was sadistic, and she hissed with laughter.

Dee: Is this your first time seeing the body of a human woman? Does a pig find this tempting? Well, the fun part is only getting started...

Suddenly, her fingers wriggled as though the bones were gone. They were no longer fingers, in fact, but had the appearance of long wormlike things. Tiny mouths lined with sharp teeth opened at the ends of them, and they flopped and writhed in an unpleasant manner.

Dee: Here we go...!!

The five worm things stretched and grew to dozens of times their length and wrapped around the girl's body. With her bound and immobile, the ends of the creatures reared back and jammed their heads into her flesh to bite down.

Leafa: Aaaah!!

Blood squirted from the bites as the girl named Leafa shrieked, her green eyes bulging. She tried to brush off the worms, to yank them free, but her arms were tied down to her body, and Lilpilin's decorative rope was still tied around her wrists.

At first, it looked like the blood loss from the five bites was over in an instant. But Lilpilin intuited that the worm things connected to Dee's hand were actually drinking the blood instead. The dark mage craned back her head and cried out.

Dee: System Call!! Transfer Human Unit Durability to Self!!

A shining-blue glow appeared at the girl's injuries. It traveled through the long worms, marking the flow of blood, and made its way up into Dee's arm. The girl's anguish grew even more stark, and her delicate body thrashed backward so hard that it seemed ready to break in half.

Dee: Ahhh...Incredible...It is incredible!! How rich...how sweet!!

The screeching voice pierced Lilpilin's eardrums. The pain of it caused the orc chieftain to return to his senses.

Lilpilin: Wh-what awe you doing?! Dat girl is my pwisonah!! I will take her to dah empewah!!

Dee: Silence, swine!!

Dee shrieked, her eyes bloodshot and mad.

DeeL Have you forgotten that His Majesty placed overall command in my hands?! My will is the emperor's will!! My orders are the emperor's orders!!

The breath caught in Lilpilin's throat. He wanted to argue that the military operation had long ago failed to be; the words were right there. But the emperor had vanished without leaving any newer orders. So there was no evidence for Lilpilin to overturn Dee's claim that all orders were still valid and active.

As Lilpilin watched helplessly, the struggles of the human girl grew noticeably weaker. Dee's wounds, meanwhile, began to close and quickly heal.

Lilpilin: Guh...ggrh...

He grunted through gritted tusks. The sight of the girl with the life being sucked from her overlapped with the lasting image of the princess knight who'd given her life in sacrifice.

The light was going out of the girl's eyes. The paleness of her skin was turning sallow, and her arms dangled limply at her sides. But Dee's finger worms continued to wriggle and writhe, determined to suck out every last drop of blood.

She was going to die. His precious prisoner.

The very first human to look at him without fear or disdain.

Just then, Lilpilin's eyes bulged with shock. The ground...the blackened, sootlike earth of the Dark Territory, began to glow bright green beneath the dangling girl.

Soft, fresh shoots erupted from the ground—something that should have been possible only in extremely limited regions—and bloomed tiny flowers of many colors. Fragrant, healing scent exuded from them, and even the bloodred sunlight changed to a gentle, milky white.

The rich blooming of life from the little mound of grass swirled upward and into the body of the girl. Her pale skin began to flush with blood again, and her eyes went from dazed to bright.

The green on the ground then vanished, and the sun returned to its usual color, telling Lilpilin intuitively that the girl's life was fully restored. Strangely, relief flooded into his breast, though he shouldn't have felt anything like that. The feeling was brief.

Dee: Ohhh, yes...It is surging...Overflowing again!!

Dee screamed in her awful voice. She would've already been healed by now. Dee let go of the girl's hair and turned the fingers of that hand into more of the hideous worm things. With more wet smacks, the five new tentacles stabbed into the girl's skin.

Leafa:...Aaaah...!!

Her cry was drowned out by a gale of Dee's laughter.

Dee: Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!! Aaaah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!! It's mine...!! This is all miiiine!!

Leafa(mind): I have to endure.

Neither in real life nor in ALO had Leafa ever felt such mind-numbing pain. All she could do was repeat the mantra to herself.

She'd gotten an explanation of the unique abilities of Super-Account 03, Terraria, the Earth Goddess, before she dived. She had Unlimited Automatic Recovery, which absorbed energy from a wide range around the user automatically and could allow her to heal the durability of herself and other people and objects. With that ability, on top of her massive total of hit points, Higa assured her that it was virtually impossible for her to die by means of HP loss.

That was why Leafa prioritized encountering Emperor Vecta, even risking the danger of becoming a prisoner, and why she swore to herself that she would never draw her sword on the Underworlders.

The woman who was constricting Leafa and inflicting agony upon her, like Lilpilin, was an Underworlder—an artificial fluctlight. If she sliced the woman with her sword, her soul would be forever destroyed. She couldn't fight the woman without knowing why she was injured and why she wanted to be healed this way.

On the other hand...the pain of having her life sucked away was overwhelming, so much so that she didn't have room to feel the shame of most of her top being ripped away.

Was this really just a virtual sensation, with no relation to anything the real body felt?

Lilpilin:...Stop.

Lilpilin did not initially recognize that the word was coming from his own mouth. But then the action repeated itself clearer, the movement of his mouth and vibration of his vocal cords unmistakable.

Lilpilin: Stop!

Dee's pupils were contracted to the size of the eye of a needle. She glared at him balefully. The orc chieftain withstood the rising chill from deep in his gut and continued.

Lilpilin: You have alweady wecovered all of yoah life. You have no need to continue sucking da life fwom dat Ium!

Dee: You dare...order me...?

Dee lilted, like an off-kilter lullaby. Her ten tentacles spasmed, squeezing the girl's flesh and continuing their blood feast. The dark mage's wounds were entirely healed now, and her skin was shiny and oily again. Even her hair was growing back with more fullness than before.

In fact, the excess of life flowing through her was dispersing out into the air in the form of blue lights. But Dee showed no sign of undoing her wicked bondage.

Lilpilin: I warned you, pig. This prisoner is mine now. I can suck as much life from her as I want. I can defile her right before your eyes or decide to gut her right here and now, and you have no say in the matter.

She chuckled, the laughter muffled deep in her throat.

Dee: Hmm...but on the other hand, you did find her first. I suppose I could give you something in return...but only if you strip naked first.

Lilpilin: Wh...what do you mean...?

Dee: From the moment I first saw you, that fanciful armor and cloak of yours made me sick. What kind of a pig walks around like he's a person? Take it all off and run around snorting on all fours, and maybe I'll think about giving the girl back to you.

Zirnk. Red light flickered on the right side of his vision. He felt a deep, deep pain in the middle of his head, like a steel needle had been jabbed all the way through his right eye.

Dee: What kind of a pig...like he's a person?

Dee's words repeated in his mind, only to be followed by the girl named Leafa's.

Leafa: You're still human. What more proof does there need to be?

He couldn't let Dee kill her. He didn't want Dee to kill her. And to do that...to prevent that... Lilpilin's right hand moved to the clasp of his leather cloak. He ripped it loose from his shoulders. The cloak fell to the ground, and he reached for his armor's leather straps next. But then came a faint voice:

Leafa:...Stop.

He looked up with a start, directly into Leafa's eyes. Those emerald pools, tearful with pain, shook from side to side.

Leafa: I...I'm fine. Don't...do...

She never finished. Dee leaned over and gave the girl's cheek a soft bite.

Dee: If you spout any more of that nonsense, I'm going to chew off your sweet little face. Don't ruin our entertainment. And what are you doing, pig? Off with your armor. Or has the naked human form gotten you all excited?

She cackled and giggled. Lilpilin's hand shook on the armor's straps. The pain in his right eye was not going away at all. But it was nothing compared to the fury and humiliation that raged within his rib cage.

Lilpilin: I...I am...I am...

Abruptly, he felt something burst from his eyes and drip down his cheeks. The droplets trickling down the left cheek were clear, but the ones on the right were crimson. His hand dropped from the armor strap to the sword at his left side.

Lilpilin: I am human!!

He shouted, right as the worst pain yet lanced through his eye, and the organ burst from the inside. Through his reduced sight, Lilpilin kept a close watch on Dee. The mage's sadistic smile faded, and her jaw dropped in horror.

Lilpilin hurtled a quick-draw slash right at Dee's unguarded legs. But since he attacked in the moments just after he lost half of his eyesight, he failed to judge the distance correctly.

The tip of the sword only grazed Dee's right shin, and Lilpilin lost his balance, toppling shoulder-first into the ground. Through his upturned eye, he saw Dee Eye Ell's mouth curl into an expression of fury and disgust.

Dee: You stinking hog...How dare you turn your sword on me...!

She tossed the girl behind her and raised her hands. The ten appendages rang like metal and instantly went from tentacles to shining black blades.

Dee: I'll carve you into chunks of meat, mix you with the hay, and feed you to the boars!!

The orc chief waited for the array of blades to come down on him. Tup. Thump. Two quiet sounds happened nearly simultaneously. Dee froze in place. The mage's arms separated from her body just below the shoulders and fell heavily to the ground, a fact that Lilpilin only hazily registered.

Dee looked just as shocked as anyone else. Blood spurted and gushed from her shoulders as she slowly turned to look behind her. Lilpilin saw the figure of a young man clad in black. The figure was a boy with black hair and armor. In his hand were two long sword. Lilpilin and Dee shudder at the boy. Because they boy himself gave them the personification of death itself, but it was clear that he was the one who had severed Dee's arms.

Kirito: I can't believe those people just drop me in the middle of nowhere.

It was Kirito. He had logged in with the Super Account #5, Shiva, the God of Destruction and Death. Kirito was given an unlimited power of destruction with each swing of his sword. The power grew during the night.

Kirito: I don't know what's going on, but it's clear to me that you had hurt my little sister as well as her friend there. All the more reason to cut you down.

The dark mage's head shook in utter disbelief.

Dee: A human...cutting a human...to save a pig...?

Leafa: No...

Leafa explained. Lilpilin and Dee saw the figure of Leafa shining brightly. Her body was so slender and fragile that none of it resembled muscle, but she was in the follow- through stance of swinging a truly massive and long sword.

Leafa: Big bro cut a monster to save a human. And I'm slashing evil to rid this world of it!

And with a smooth, practiced movement, she raised the long blade into a high position. Shwip. She slashed the woman from a distance that did not seem possible. It was...beautiful.

There was no excess effort anywhere from her fingers to her toes, but the speed of the strike was breathtaking. It was the ultimate demonstration of experienced precision.

Lilpilin's vision flooded with tears again, this time of joyful emotion, as the body of Dee Eye Ell, the greatest living dark mage and highest member of the remaining ten lords, split straight down the middle without a sound.

(Elsewhere)

With Sinon flying ahead and leaving a white trail behind her like a meteorite, the seven hundred members of the human army continued their desperate southern march. They were pulling away from the rumbling red army behind them, but the guards and the horses couldn't keep running like this forever.

Philia and Asuna stood on the canopy of the wagon carrying Zora, Tiese, and Ronie and watched the sky to the south, praying.

After twenty minutes of progress, as Asuna had told and guide them, a massive ruin that looked like a temple appeared on the horizon. There was no sign of large animals, including humans or demi-humans. It was a place of old, weathered stone, slumbering in silence.

On either side of the straight-line path sat long, flat temple buildings. They were about sixty feet tall, and over a thousand feet long. It was certainly a large enough obstacle to prevent the enemy from surrounding them on all sides.

The path continued right through the two temples and onward to the south. It had a ceremonial feel to it, thanks to the eerie giant statues lining it on both sides. The statues were not Eastern Buddhist style or classical European gods. If anything, they were more reminiscent of the ruins of South America, squat and blocky. Their faces had round eyes and gaping mouths, with short little hands joined in front of their chests.

Was that something that the Rath engineers designed personally when they were building the Underworld? Or did The Seed automatically generate it? Or perhaps...the races that once lived here in the Dark Territory carved the stone from the mountains and brought them here. As giant gravestones dedicated to the dead...?

Philia exhaled to push the ominous thought out of her mind. She called out to Renly, who was on his dragon at the head of the group.

Renly: Let's fight back against the enemy in the middle of that ceremonial path!

He shouted back to indicate his understanding.

Within a few minutes, the army charged down the path between the temples without losing speed. The giant blocky gods stared down at them from the left and right. The ground underneath went from dirt to paving stones, making the horse hooves and marching boots louder. Through the chilly air, Renly's handsome voice called out.

Renly: Lead group, branch off to the sides and halt! Let the wagons and rear group through!

The eight wagons trundled past the split lead troops, and the rear troops made up mostly of priests followed them, taking position at the farther point down the road. A dry wind blew through the large gate, rustling Philia's hair.

The silence lasted only a moment. The ominous rumbling of the army of American players reached the ruins, sending fine grains of sand spilling from the statues around them. Philia jumped off the wagon, standing next to Asuna and spoke to the girls who peered out from the cargo space and the swordswoman who stood next to them.

Philia: This is the final battle. I'm leaving Zora in your care.

Ronie: Of course! We'll keep him safe, Miss Philia!

Tiese: He's under our protection!

Liena: Upon my life.

Both Philia and Asuna returned the salute of fist to chest that Ronie, Tiese, and Sortiliena gave them in turn, and then Asuna grinned.

Asuna: Don't worry. We're not going to let them get this far.

It was as much for her own ears as it was for theirs. She waved her open hand and spun around. At the lead of the troops, Renly was busy arranging the men-at-arms. The temple path was about twenty yards across, a little bit too wide to properly defend, but they had enough people that they could block it off and still rotate troops in and out.

The big question was whether or not they could grind down over ten thousand enemy troops, minimizing losses, while the priests in the rear could still perform support magic. Fortunately, the red soldiers seemed to have no magic users of any kind among them. It was probably because it would be impossible to teach new players the complex command system of the Underworld's sacred arts in such a short amount of time. Whatever the case, it was a welcome development.

Philia(mind): And if need be, I will cut down the entire enemy army myself.

Philia swore, inhaling deeply. Given Lunaria's vast life reserves and top-priority equipment, she would not be defeated through numerical damage. The real question was whether or not she could stand the blinding pain that came with each wound suffered. If she gave in to the pain, not only would she be physically damaged, but she would find herself cowering, unable to swing her sword back at the enemy.

Philia closed her eyes and thought of Zora, damaged and broken. She thought of the pain he had suffered and the sadness he still bore.

When she stepped forward again, there was no fear left in her.

The clash between armed forces, what promised to be the last major battle in this war, started beneath the sun at its apex.

The first group of about twenty American players, seeking ultrarealistic blood and screams as promised by the promotional site, plunged down the path to the ruins. But they were not met in battle by helpless NPCs designed for some sadistic pleasure-jaunt with no board ratings. They were battling against true heroes who were fighting to save the world and, more specifically, the golden Integrity Knight those people adored and worshipped. Their weapons were ragged and chipped but shone with unyielding determination, blocking the enemy's blows and smashing their armor.

One figure observed the one-sided obliteration of the red-armored players from above.

He wore tight-fitting black leather with almost no metal plating whatsoever, like a motorcycle riding suit. The smooth leather was instead studded with dull-silver rivets all over.

His only weapon, which hung from his left hip, was a huge dagger almost the size of a kitchen knife. His face was hidden; he wore a black leather poncho with a hood that he kept pulled down over his features. Where his lips were visible, they featured a smile twisted in the extreme.

Vassago Casals.

After logging back in to the Underworld, he deftly evaded Sinon's wide- ranging laser attack and snuck among the Americans chasing after the guardian army's decoy force. He chose not to take part in the first wave of attackers, instead climbing up the wall of the western temple building and perching atop one of the statues with a first-row view of the battlefield.

PoH: Heh-heh, I see that part of her hasn't changed. She's ruthless when she snaps. Look at her kill!

He marveled, his shoulders rocking with mirth. Far below, Philia the Treasure Hunter, the girl with chestnut-brown hair and dark-blue armor, jabbed and thrust her dagger with impossible speed.

PoH: Oh, so you're here too, Flash? I wonder if Blackie's here too?

PoH sneered even further watching with a surprise look to see the SAO survivors that he had tormented were here. Just as Vassago remembered from the distant past.

Now, as back then, Vassago hid and watched, unbeknownst to either of them. Deep inside, he swore to himself that he would finish them off before this world came to an end.

Along with the swordsman in black and white who fought even more ferociously than those two did.

(Elsewhere)

Bercouli: Why can't I catch up?

Commander Bercouli of the Integrity Knights felt equal measures of impatience and alarm.

He'd been in pursuit with three dragons for over two hours now. They'd flown over the forest where the Human Guardian Army was camped, over the round crater to the south of it, over the ruins with their eerie, tall statues, and even farther into the south of the Dark Territory, but there was no indication that he'd gotten any closer to the enemy. The dragon bearing Emperor Vecta and Bercouli's prize pupil, Alice, was still just a tiny black dot on the horizon.

The emperor had the weight of two people dragging on a single dragon. But Bercouli had the trio of Hoshigami, Amayori, and Takiguri, which he rode in turns, minimizing the fatigue of the dragons. In theory, he ought to be catching up by now.

Bercouli: Why can't I get any closer? Could the emperor control the dragon's life by willpower alone?

That couldn't be possible. Directly manipulating life was the greatest of forbidden arts, something that even the late Administrator could not do.

And he couldn't possibly keep it flying indefinitely. The dragon would need to rest at least twice in order to reach the World's End Altar at the southernmost tip of the Dark Territory. The same was true of Bercouli's dragons. If they were going at the same speed, he would never close the gap. Perhaps there was nothing to be done.

Bercouli could not use any ranged arts that could reach to the very horizon. If there was one thing that could break through this stalemate, it was...

The commander brushed the hilt of the sword on his left hip. It was cold, hard, and trusty. But he could sense that his sword was far from recovering all its life. The fatigue on the weapon from the Perfect Weapon Control art he'd used at the Eastern Gate was worse than he'd realized.

And the ultimate technique of the Time-Splitting Sword that Bercouli was considering would cost a vast amount of the weapon's life.

He could use it only once. It would have to be wielded with such accuracy that it could split the eye of a needle.

Bercouli patted Takiguri on the neck and leaped over to Hoshigami nearby. His longtime partner was so trustworthy he did not need to hold the reins to commune with the dragon. It carefully adjusted altitude automatically.

His aim was at a black dot on the distant horizon the size of a grain of sand. He wanted to aim at the emperor himself, but without being able to visually identify him, the threat of missing was too great. Instead, he focused his entire mind on the one detail he could just barely make out: the flapping wing of the black dragon.

Bercouli stood tall in the saddle. His right hand moved slowly and gracefully, pulling his longsword, which was entirely made of one material, from its well-used sheath.

He took a stance with his right side forward and extended the steel blade, which glowed with a faint light; he had activated its Memory Release art without a spoken command. The sword warped like a heat haze and left behind an unbroken afterimage as the dragon soared forward.

He spoke through gritted teeth, uttering a brief apology to the innocent dragon he was about to attack. Then his pale-blue eyes narrowed, and the oldest knight in the world uttered a brief but powerful command.

Bercouli: Time-Splitting Sword—Uragiri!!

He swung the blade downward, heavily but with tremendous speed. The blue afterimages traced the path of the sword, every bit of their length shining, before going out. In the far distant sky, the left wing of the black dragon carrying Emperor Vecta silently separated from its shoulder joint.

(Timeskip)

With its last bit of strength, the black dragon managed a soft landing with its one remaining wing and perished with a feeble cry. Gabriel Miller watched it die without emotion.

By the time he looked away from it, the dragon was completely purged from his memory and thoughts. He spun around to survey the area impassively. They had crashed onto the top of a rock that stood in the center of a wide field of oddly cylindrical rock pillars. It appeared to be about a hundred yards tall and thirty yards across.

Perhaps just jumping down would be reckless. He had not nearly mastered the means of magic in this world, generating elements and wielding them to perform tasks. And of course, he was not going anywhere and leaving the still unconscious Priestess of Light behind.

Gabriel could easily rappel down a wall of this height in the real world if he had a sturdy rope, anchor, and carabiner, but there was no need to jump off this rock now. The enemy that had shot him down through unknown means was approaching from the north with a trio of dragons at this very moment. He could take care of the enemy, conquer a new dragon's AI, and resume the southward journey.

He looked straight overhead. The virtual sun in the red sky was already at a high angle. There was likely little time left before Critter resumed accelerating the time ratio. The only issue was whether the American "beta testers" could wipe out the Human Empire's army before the acceleration knocked them off the simulation. There were fifty thousand of them, however; it shouldn't be any issue for them to eliminate the less than one thousand remaining foes.

If there was an uncertain variable in the mix, it would be the Integrity Knights, who'd destroyed the Dark Army, which vastly outnumbered them, but he already had one in his possession, and whoever was pursuing him now would likely be a knight as well. There would be only one or two of them still fighting to the north.

Assuming that his problem would solve itself, Gabriel lastly gazed at the prone Integrity Knight, Alice.

Vecta(mind): She is simply beautiful.

Enough that it was hard to control the writhing anticipation deep in his core. He wondered briefly if it would be better to remove all her equipment and tie her up before she woke. That would be the logical choice, certainly, but he did not like the idea of quickly and mechanically performing the task because an enemy was approaching.

This was something he wanted to savor. He wanted to take his time, once the acceleration rate increased again. Every last buckle of armor removed should be an act unto itself: graceful, solemn, symbolic.

Vecta:...Just rest peacefully there for now, Alice...Alicia.

Gabriel said gently. He strode to the center of the table-like rock, preparing to greet his foe.

Although neither Gabriel Miller nor Critter was aware of it, it was not the simple dragon kick that knocked Alice, the strongest of Integrity Knights, unconscious for several hours, but a special ability belonging to Super- Account 06—Vecta, the god of darkness.

The six super-accounts in the Underworld were designed for the purpose of directly manipulating the world and its inhabitants in ways that were tantamount to the work of gods.

Stacia modified the world terrain.

Solus destroyed mobile units.

Terraria restored object durability.

Lunaria grant dreams and illusions.

Shiva gave destructions and death.

And Vecta manipulated the residents—artificial fluctlights.

Technically, he overwrote their memories, altering the vector data in their fluctlights—the inspiration for his name—so that they could be placed in distant locations or given new families and still function.

Because this meant physically abducting the residents, that made the role unsuitable for worship, unlike the three other gods. Therefore, in addition to his top-priority gear and maximum life value, he had another layer of powerful protection: He could not be targeted with arts. The "lost children of Vecta," a kind of folklore myth in the Underworld, referred to those who had been moved elsewhere by Vecta's powers.

And the combination of the god of darkness's powers with Gabriel Miller's extreme sense of imagination—his ability to Incarnate—had a synergistic effect that even Rath's engineers could not have predicted.

He absorbed a person's will without using arts. Alice's fluctlight was temporarily rendered inactive, putting her into a kind of forced coma.

The way that he devoured Dark General Shasta's tremendous Incarnation was another feat of Vecta's and Gabriel's powers combined.

And now Shasta's longtime respected rival, Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli, was plunging headlong toward the same conclusion.

Bercouli spotted the emperor's dragon crashing on top of a rocky growth that would leave him trapped for at least a little while. The use of that tremendous ability left him physically spent, but he swept the fatigue aside with sheer willpower.

Bercouli: All right...One more burst of flight, Hoshigami, Amayori, Takiguri!!

He shouted, and the three mounts beat their wings harder to pick up speed. If the enemy was stationary now, the dragons could cross a distance of ten kilors in just a blink.

In the small amount of time he had before the fight, Bercouli engaged in a kind of meditative trance. The dream he'd had in the early hours of the morning flooded back into his mind, bright and vivid.

Quinella: Have you ever sensed your own death?

Administrator had said in his dream. Even after centuries of interaction with her, she was a mystery to the end.

When he was unfrozen, and Alice told him of the pontifex's death, he did not feel anything he would describe as shock. It was more of an appreciation for her long, long efforts. If anything, the real surprise to him was that Prime Senator Chudelkin was dead.

So he did not press Alice for details of the battle against Administrator or about how she died. Part of that was the sudden weight of protecting the human world now on his shoulders, but perhaps a part of him also didn't want to know. He did not want to know about the depth of that silver-haired, silver-eyed half goddess's desire, obsession, and karma.

To Bercouli, Administrator was a languid, fickle, and willful princess. He was obedient to her, but he did not worship her the way Chudelkin did. And yet...his servitude to her was not something he hated doing.

Bercouli: It's true...I hope you believe me on that point, at least.

The oldest knight muttered to himself. His eyes flashed open. He'd caught a glimpse of Alice's golden armor lying on the top of the rock—and Emperor Vecta looming before her like a standing shadow.

Bercouli: Here we go...you three hover in the air!

Bercouli ordered the dragons.

Bercouli: If I fall, go back north and rejoin the group!

With that, he leaped from Hoshigami's back out into open air. When Bercouli jumped from the back of the dragon, there was nearly two hundred mels of space between his feet and the top of the rocky pillar. Even he could not withstand a collision of that much force if he simply let gravity do all the work.

Instead, the knight commander descended in a spiral, as though following an invisible staircase down the sky. As a matter of fact, he was generating wind elements under his feet with each step, setting them off and using the counterforce to slow his descent. He'd stolen the secret art of using feet as element control terminals from Chudelkin decades ago.

The oldest Integrity Knight leaped again and again, staying out of Emperor Vecta's sightlines on the artificial-looking rock pinnacle far below him. He put his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Bercouli(mind): I'll settle it with the first strike.

Commander Bercouli had not fashioned a truly deadly Incarnation since he'd cut apart the dark general two generations before, 150 years ago. That was how long it had been since he'd faced an opponent that necessitated the summoning of such a feat.

When he'd battled the youngster named Eugeo in Central Cathedral, Bercouli had fought his hardest, but not with intent to kill. And on that note, he had never truly felt negative emotions like fury or hatred when he faced the dark generals who were his greatest rivals.

In other words, this was the first time in Bercouli's long, long life that he infused his beloved weapon with true anger.

He was furious. He burned with righteous wrath. And it was more than just for Alice's sake.

This outsider, from some place he called the real world, had swept in and driven the darklanders to war when there might have been a chance for peace. He'd caused tens of thousands of deaths for no purpose. And this was something that Bercouli could not forgive, after more than two centuries of dedication to the protection of the world.

Bercouli(mind): I have no idea what makes you tick, Emperor Vecta. But I know from seeing that Philia girl that not all the real-worlders are demons like you. It's your personal nature that's evil. And you must pay a price. You will know the weight of the lives of Dark General Shasta, of Integrity Knight Eldrie, of all the people who perished on the field of battle...with this blow!!

Bercouli: Zeyaaah!!

His last step came at a height of ten mels, at which point Commander Bercouli let himself plunge downward, bringing all the force he could muster into a swing at Emperor Vecta's defenseless skull.

The air seared and flashed. The light his blade produced was so bright that the world lost all color.

It was undoubtedly the most powerful single sword strike that had ever happened in the history of the Underworld. Its priority level in overwriting the Mnemonic Data of the Main Visualizer surpassed that of the system's commands themselves. It was a true automatic kill shot, nullifying any and all numerical stats that might oppose it.

Enough to deplete all the nearly infinite life of Super-Account 06, Vecta, the god of darkness. As long as it hit.

Even in the instant that he noticed the lethal meteor plummeting at him from the heavens, Vecta's expression did not change.

The attack was so fast that the only thing he could do was look up at it. It was instantaneous, impossible to react or respond to.

And yet, Vecta's body in its obsidian armor simply slid to the side—in the only possible direction to avoid the blow, with only the minimum distance necessary to put him out of harm's way.

The only thing Bercouli's sword touched was his flapping red cloak. The hem of fur and thick fabric was obliterated into fine dust, and the top of the tough rock mountain split deep with a thunderous kaboooom!! The entire structure shook, and chunks of it split off and fell down to the ground below.

Bercouli(mind): He...evaded that?

Bercouli's body did not stop moving for an instant, despite closing his eyes. He was long past the stage of experience when an unexpected action from the enemy paralyzed one's mind.

He kicked one last time in midair and landed around the flank of the emperor, instantly striking on a flat plane. He had missed on executing an all-consuming super-attack but transitioned to his next swing in less than half a second.

Vecta dodged that one, too.

Like smoke pushed by a breeze, he simply slid along the ground without any shift in momentum. The tip of the sword scraped the surface of his armor, sending up harmless sparks.

But this time, Bercouli was sure of his victory.

The first powerful blow from above had missed, but it wasn't gone. He'd activated the Perfect Weapon Control art of his weapon—the Time-Splitting Sword's Karagiri—the ability to cut the future. It was the skill that had caused Eugeo such pain in the cathedral, leaving the full power of the cut hanging in the air, such that anyone who touched that space received that slice courtesy of an invisible blade.

Emperor Vecta slid backward toward the space where the invisible slashes hovered.

First, his platinum-silver hair frayed and spread.

The crown over his forehead cracked and broke into pieces.

Vecta's arms rose high in a mockery of a pose of pleading for forgiveness. Bercouli had a vivid vision of his tall black form splitting vertically. Whap. A dry smacking sound.

The emperor's palms clapping together, without so much as a glance behind him.

Bercouli(mind): He trapped my Karagiri, the empty slice, between his bare hands? And with his back to it?

It was impossible. The secret technique of trapping a sword between the hands was known among the pugilists of the dark world, but it was possible only because of their incredibly tough fists, which were harder than tempered steel. And more importantly, the power of the Karagiri hanging in the air was beyond even what the chief of the pugilists could stop with his bare hands.

This understanding flashed through Bercouli's mind in an instant, but at last, it caused him to stop moving. And therefore, he was caught flat-footed, only able to watch what happened in the next moment.

The slash that flickered in the air like a heat haze melded into the emperor's hands. His blue eyes began to swirl with darkness.

And within that pit of blackness flickered countless...stars...?

No.

They were souls. The souls of all the people he had absorbed, trapped within him. And among them were surely the souls of Dark General Shasta and the woman who'd served as his right hand...

Bercouli:...So you can devour the Incarnations of others?

Bercouli muttered. Vecta lowered his hands, the force of the Karagiri entirely absorbed now.

Vecta: Incarnation? Some melding of mind and will, I suppose.

His voice was deathly cold, a human voice stripped of all living humanity. His thin lips moved into the shape typically recognized as a smile.

Vecta: Your mind is like a wine of aged vintage. Rich, thick, heavy...with a lasting aftertaste. It is not to my taste...but as an opening act, it is a worthy flavor.

His pale hand moved to grab the hilt of the longsword at his side. He pulled the thin blade free from the sheath; it shone with a bluish-purple light. Vecta let the weapon dangle at his side as he smiled again.

Vecta: Now, let me drink more.

Bercouli: Don't mock me!

Maximum efficiency with minimum movement. That was how Commander Bercouli viewed Emperor Vecta's fighting style, which was different from anything he'd seen before.

For one thing, his feet hardly moved. When he dodged an attack, his feet just slid across the ground a tiny bit. He also had nearly no windup for any kind of attack. The sword would be limply held in his right hand, then slither forward to strike at the shortest possible range.

Therefore, it was essentially impossible to predict his movements. The emperor's attacks were not especially quick or powerful, but they kept the vastly more experienced Bercouli from countering, five consecutive times.

But five was enough. Calling upon his vast past knowledge and instinct, Bercouli had a grasp of Vecta's attacks by that point and moved to counterattack on the sixth one at last.

Bercouli: Sssh!

He hissed as quietly as possible, striking high before Vecta's swing could come. White sparks accompanied a piercing clash of metal. Two swords connected in the air—and it was a battle of strength from here. The enemy's sword sank easily, without much resistance. Tall Vecta's knees bent, as if giving out to the pressure.

Bercouli(mind): I sense victory!!

Bercouli poured all his finely honed Incarnation into his sword. The well-used steel blade began to give off light. The tip of the Time-Splitting Sword, which pushed Vecta's black longsword lower and lower, finally touched his shoulder and dug into the surface of his armor...

In that moment, Vecta's sword flashed eerily. The bluish-purple light moved like a living thing, wrapping around the Time-Splitting Sword. Suddenly, the rippling, powerful light of Bercouli's silver blade began to wilt and vanish.

Bercouli(mind): What is this? In fact... What was I...even trying...to do...?

With a sharp crack, Bercouli sensed a freezing chill in his left shoulder and snapped his eyes wide open. He leaped back, sucked in a deep breath, and collected himself.

Bercouli(mind): What in the world was that? Did I just space out in the middle of a battle?!

Aghast, he shook his head, telling himself that it was not some careless accident. It was as though his mind had been forcefully devoured by blankness, leaving him unable to explain why he was there or even who he was.

Bercouli: You...you sucked my Incarnation straight from my sword?

Bercouli growled, deep in his throat. The only answer he got was the faintest of smiles. Bercouli clicked his tongue and glanced at his shoulder. The wound was deeper than just a scratch.

Bercouli: Hmph...well, you're proving to be a better opponent than I thought, Your Majesty. This will be a tough battle if I can't use my sword against yours.

Bercouli grinned back. That wiped the smile from Vecta's mouth.

Vecta: Ah...That reminds me, I never tested it.

He stuck his sword out forward, but it was far from the proper range. The blade would never reach—But from the tip in the air emerged a viscous blue-black light.

Bercouli(mind):...From long range?

Bercouli recognized, right at the moment that the light touched his chest. His consciousness went dim, like the flickering of candle flames. The knight commander stood there dumbly, watching as his opponent's sword slunk its way under his left arm. Then it jumped upward, smoothly and easily. Bercouli's thick arm split off from the shoulder with a wet, heavy squelch.

Bercouli faltered, his center of gravity thrown off. He stepped on his own left arm lying on the ground. It was the nasty, fleshy feedback he got from his foot that snapped him back to attention before the pain did.

Bercouli: Grgh...!

He jumped again, putting more distance between them. The blood spilling from the gaping wound on his left shoulder created a crimson arc on the light colored rock.

Bercouli(mind): How can this be? Just by pointing his sword, he could cause the mind itself to stop working?

Bercouli placed two fingers on his right hand against the wound on his shoulder, still holding the Time-Splitting Sword, and thought rapidly. The healing arts he activated without a command glowed blue and stopped the bleeding. But there was not enough spatial sacred power on this desolate rock to regenerate the arm that had been lopped off.

Bercouli(mind): How do I counteract this?

Karagiri, the empty slice of his Perfect Weapon Control art, would not work on Vecta again. He would just devour the Incarnate slash as it hung in the air.

The only skill remaining was Uragiri—his betrayal slice Memory Release attack. There were two major issues with using that, however. One, the enemy was not going to stand there and watch as he performed the lead-up motions. And two, it was nearly impossible to narrow down which specific place to strike...

Bercouli blinked to get the sweat from his forehead out of his eyes. In doing so, he came to a sudden realization:

Bercouli(mind): I'm getting desperate. At some point, I lost all my composure. My back's against the wall. This is the place where I may die. The very tipping point between life and death.

Bercouli:...Heh!

Bercouli Synthesis One, commander of the Integrity Knights, smiled with the knowledge and certainty that he was was facing a true threat to his very existence. His gaze moved from the steadily approaching emperor to the form of the golden knight, Alice Synthesis Thirty, lying prone to the side of their battle.

Bercouli(mind): Little Miss...I suppose I wasn't able to give you the thing you truly sought after—the love of a father. I don't remember my own parents at all. But there's one thing I do know. A father is meant to die protecting his own children.

Bercouli: I suppose that's something...you'll never understand as long as you live, monster!!

Bercouli bellowed. And the oldest living knight charged, with no plan, no strategy, nothing but his trusty sword in hand.

(Elsewhere)

Philia: Gah...uh...

As she panted, blood spilled from her mouth, pooling on the ground at her feet. But Philia stayed standing, with Asuna standing beside her as support. Both of them had managed to cut down the third and fourth waves of heavy lancers, but they now bore over ten wounds in various places on her body. Their skirt were ripped and tattered, stained red by blood belonging to both them and their victims.

The fact that their body could still move, despite the puncture wounds from the lances, was impossible to believe. In fact, it was just the brutal fact of her impossible hit point total that was keeping Philia upright.

Asuna: Philia, you should rest.

Philia: No. My body will give out when my mind does. And that means I will stay standing forever.

Philia could barely feel anything anymore. The only sensation from her nerves was burning heat that warped her vision. When she caught sight of the fifth wave of spearmen through her dimming vision, she pulled the dagger loose from the ground. She couldn't use nimble footwork to evade anymore. She could only block the lances with her body and hit back with sword skills.

The feather-light rapier was now as heavy as a leaden rod. She propped it up with both hands, her front half bent, and waited for the enemy.

Red player: Go!!

Twenty lancers began to charge, the earth pounding with their footsteps. Dmm, dmm, dmp-dmp-dmp-dmp...The steps accelerated. And yet, a high-pitched vibration was coming from somewhere. Philia and Asuna found their gaze drawn upward. There was a line stretching across the red sky. A very fine string of digital code.

Philia: Enemy...reinforcements...?

Asuna:......Oh no......

There was, at last, the smallest bit of resignation in their voice. But...this line was not the same red color as the previous kind Philia had seen. It was a deep blue, like the color of sky just before the dawn.

She wasn't able to surmise what that might mean at this point. She just watched, wide-eyed, waiting to see the result. The line coalesced about ten yards up, flashed momentarily, and turned into human form. Vwom. The air buzzed, and the figure's hand thrust with blurred speed, then resumed descending, roaring like a shooting star.

The twenty lancers beneath the lowering figure were all stock-still, too, watching it come down. The dark-purple star lance descended lightly into their midst—and turned red.

It was blood. The lance instantly severed the bodies of the soldiers, splattering their pieces all around it. They collapsed outward from the circle, and the spinning slowly stopped, returning the figure to human form.

There stood a tall, thin profile, facing the opposite direction. Polished milky white with a hint of purple skin, lustrous and gorgeous, long, purplish-black hair, and red eyes. She wore obsidian chest armour, a bluebottle violet tunic and a windswept skirt of the same colour beneath the armour. A thin, black sheath hung on her waist. Philia and Asuna had seen this attack before, in a different world.

It was a sword skill. The eleven hit original sword skill, Mother's Rosario. The figure straightened up again, lifted the long sword to her right shoulder, and inclined her head to the side. A smile showed itself above an obsidian designed armor.

Yuuki: Sorry about the wait, Philia, Big Sis.

Philia and Asuna: Y...Yuuki...?

They rasped, though they never actually heard her own voice. Everything was drowned out by the resonance of a multitude of vibrations filling the sky. It was the exact same sound that the American players had made when they appeared, but to Philia, it sounded like a heavenly host of angels singing.

Thousands of lines of code came hurtling down out of the crimson sky like rain, glowing a vivid blue.