3

Beyond the double doors was a chamber about the same size as the entrance hall they came up through on the southern end of the Great Hall. It, too, was rectangular, with long, narrow windows on the far wall that offered a view of deep-blue sky.

But the black-and-white-patterned stone floor was missing one crucial element: the staircase that would take them to the fifty-first floor and above. They looked all over, but there wasn’t even a hanging rope, much less a ladder. There was only a strange circular recess in the stone floor, and Eugeo couldn’t see a single thing that suggested a way up.

“No…no stairs,” he mumbled, following Kirito farther into the dim room. The flow of cold air across the back of his neck made him hunch his shoulders. His partner noticed it, too, and they both looked straight up.

“…Wha…?”

“What is that…?”

Then they fell silent.

There was no ceiling. There was just empty space in the same shape as the room itself—no, a vertical shaft—that stretched up as far as the eye could see. The top was lost to thick darkness, making it impossible to tell how high it went.

As their eyes traveled slowly back down to ground level, they realized that the shaft was not just a smooth, hollow space. Along the side of the shaft, at heights corresponding to the levels above, were doors leading to each successive floor, albeit smaller than the double doors they’d just come through. Extending from each door was a narrow little terrace that stretched about halfway across the shaft.

So all they had to do to infiltrate the floors above was get to those terraces. In a daze, Eugeo reached out and jumped into the air.

“…Of course I can’t reach it…,” he mumbled. Even the lowest of the terraces was higher than the ceiling of the Great Hall of Ghostly Light, well over twenty mels overhead.

Next to him, neck outstretched, Kirito asked weakly, “Listen…Just checking here, but there aren’t any sacred arts for flying, right?”

“Nope,” he answered without pity. “Only the Integrity Knights have the right to fly. And they use flying dragons, not sacred arts…”

“Okay…Then how do the people here get up to the fifty-first floor and higher?”

“I don’t know…”

They puzzled over that one together. Just when it seemed like they would have no choice but to turn back to the Great Hall and ask Fanatio’s subordinates for help, Kirito whispered, “Something’s coming.”

“Huh?”

Eugeo looked back up the shaft.

Something was indeed approaching. A dark shape was coming slowly down the shaft, nearly grazing the uniform edges of the vertical line of terraces. They jumped backward out of the way, and Eugeo watched the shadow descend closer, hand on his sword hilt.

It was a perfect circle about two mels across. Given the way the edges glinted in the blue light from the narrow windows, it appeared to be forged from steel. But why was this object just floating slowly down the shaft without any visible means of support?

As the disc passed the terrace two floors above, speed steady the entire way, Eugeo began to hear an odd hissing sound. Again, he was aware of cold air flowing over the back of his neck.

He could neither run away nor draw his sword, but stood in place dumbfounded as the disc brushed the terrace overhead and descended toward them. When it was just a few mels away, he noticed a small hole in the middle of the disc’s underside that was emitting little bursts of air, which explained the strange sounds and breezes.

But how could the power of wind alone keep such a large metal platter floating in the air? The object’s hissing grew louder and louder as its descent gradually slowed, until at last it came to fit perfectly in the circular depression in the middle of the floor with a soft thunk.

The top of the disc was polished as smooth as a mirror. There was a finely decorated silver handrail placed around the rim. In the center of the disc was a straight glass tube about one mel tall and fifty cens wide. Next to the tube was a girl, with both hands resting on the bulged spherical end.

“…?!”

Eugeo took another step backward and squeezed the hilt of his sword. He tensed, ready for the revelation of a new knight.

But very soon, he realized that the girl was not equipped with so much as a knife anywhere on her body, much less a sword. And she was wearing a long black skirt that seemed unsuited to combat. The white apron from chest to knees with an understated crochet pattern around the edges was about the most decorative element in her outfit, and she had no articles or accessories otherwise.

Her grayish brown hair was cut straight across at eyebrow and shoulder level, and the features of her pale face were unremarkable. They looked fine but lacked character or expression. She appeared a bit younger than Eugeo, but there was no way to be sure.

Eugeo gazed at her eyes, wondering who she was, but they were downcast, the lashes covering them so that he couldn’t even make out their color. She folded her hands in front of the apron, still not looking at either of them, and bowed deeply before saying at last, “Pardon me for the wait. What floor will you be visiting?”

It was a voice devoid of emotion and with only a bare minimum of inflection. At the very least, there was no hostility, either, so Eugeo took his hand off his sword. He repeated her question.

“What…floor? Are you saying that you’re going to take us higher up?” he asked, scarcely believing it.

She lowered her face again. “That is correct. Please tell me the floor you wish to visit.”

“Um…well…”

Eugeo wasn’t sure what to say; he’d grown to assume that anyone they met in the cathedral would be an enemy. Next to speak was Kirito, who was often just as inscrutable in his own way.

“Well, um, we’re wanted men who snuck into the cathedral…so are we allowed to ride on this elev—I mean, this flying disc?”

The girl’s head tilted the tiniest bit in confusion, then returned to position. “My job is merely to operate this floating platform. I am under no other orders.”

“I see. In that case, we’d be happy for a ride,” Kirito said, walking right up to the circle.

Eugeo called out, “H-hey! Are you sure about that?”

“Well, it doesn’t look like there’s any other way to get up.”

“Uh…I guess you’re right, but…”

After what the two child knights did to them, Eugeo was stunned that his partner could be so trusting again, but on the other hand, they had no clue how to operate the disc. He simply had to tell himself that if it was a trap, they could somehow jump to the nearest terrace.

They stepped onto the disc through a gap in the delicate handrail. Kirito peered at the glass curiously and told the girl, “Well, uh, take us to the highest floor this can go.”

“Yes, sir. Ascending to the Cloudtop Garden on the eightieth floor. Please keep your hands and feet behind the guardrail at all times,” she replied, bowing, and put her hands on the top of the tube.

Then she sucked in a breath and said, “System Call. Generate Aerial Element.”

Eugeo’s first instinct was that she was about to attack them with sacred arts, but he immediately realized he was wrong. The shining green wind elements appeared inside the clear tube. But it was the number that amazed him—a full ten, which marked her as a considerable master of the arts.

The girl lifted her right thumb, index, and middle fingers off the glass tube and murmured, “Burst Element.”

Three of the elements flashed green, and a rumble started under their feet. With all three of them on top, the metal disc began to rise as though lifted by an invisible hand.

“Aha! So that’s how it works,” Kirito exclaimed, and thus the pieces clicked into place for Eugeo as well. The tube running through the middle of the disc released wind elements, pushing the explosion of wind downward and propelling the disc and the weight of its three passengers upward.

It was very simple once they knew how it worked, but the movement of the disc was so smooth that they barely felt it. Aside from a brief feeling of pressure at the start, it essentially floated up without the slightest bit of movement.

The marble floor dropped farther and farther away, and it hit Eugeo that this floating disc was going to take them to the eightieth floor of the cathedral—in other words, an elevation up in the clouds. He wiped his sweaty palms on his pants and clenched the handrail.

Kirito, meanwhile, was taking it all in stride as though he’d ridden on such a thing before. He made sounds of admiration as he examined the disc, and when that was done, he turned his attention to the person operating it.

“How long have you been doing this job?”

With just the faintest note of surprise in her voice, the downcast girl replied, “This is the one-hundred-and-seventh year since I received this Calling.”

“A hund—?” Eugeo gaped, forgetting about the distance under their feet. He took over for Kirito and asked, “Y-you’ve been moving this floating platform for…a hundred and seven years?!”

“Not…all that time. I receive a break for lunch, and I do rest at night.”

“Er…that wasn’t what I meant…”

But perhaps it did explain what he wanted to know. Like the Integrity Knights, her life had been frozen so that she lived atop this little plate of metal for what was essentially eternity.

The disc rose, slowly but surely. Whatever emotions the girl might have had, she kept them hidden. As one wind element ran out, she released another, then another, each time with the command, “Burst.” Eugeo wondered how many times she had said that word before and realized that he couldn’t imagine it.

“Hey…what’s your name?” Kirito asked suddenly.

She put on her most pronounced display of confusion yet. “My name is…forgotten. I am simply called the operator of this platform. My name is…the Operator.”

Kirito was unable to mount a reply to this. Eugeo counted the terraces as they passed, and by the time he reached twenty, he felt an impulse to say something to break the silence.

“…Um…so, listen…We’re going up there to defeat a very powerful person in the Axiom Church. The person who gave you this Calling.”

“Is that so?” was her only reply.

But Eugeo pressed on, knowing that his words probably meant nothing. “If…if the Church disappears, and you’re released from this Calling, what will you do…?”

“…Released…?” she repeated awkwardly. The girl named Operator was silent for a whole five terraces.

Eugeo glanced up and saw, to his surprise, that the gray ceiling was now in sight and approaching. That would be the base of the eightieth floor. At last, they were reaching the central core of the Axiom Church.

“I…I do not know anything but the world of this shaft,” the girl blurted out. “Therefore…I cannot possibly choose what my next Calling should be…but if I had a wish…”

For the first time, she lifted her face and stared through the narrow windows on the right wall, out to the pure-blue sky.

“…I wish that I could fly this platform out there…wherever I could go…”

Eugeo saw, now that they were visible at last, that her eyes were the absolute crystal blue of midsummer sky.

Just before the final wind element flickered and died, the disc reached the thirtieth terrace and slowly floated to a halt. The Operator removed her hands from the glass tube, folded them in front of her apron, and bowed.

“Thank you for waiting. This is the eightieth floor, the Cloudtop Garden.”

“…Thank you.”

Eugeo and Kirito bowed back and stepped onto the terrace. She dipped her head briefly one more time, looking down again, and as the wind element weakened, the platform began to descend. That rustling sound of the wind expelling faded, and eventually the tiny, confined world of metal trapped in time was gone.

Eugeo lamented, “…And I thought my old Calling felt endless…” Kirito shot him a look, eyebrow raised, so he explained, “At least I was lucky enough that I could retire after getting too old to swing an ax. Compared to what she’s been doing…”

“Cardinal said that even if you freeze the natural degradation of life, you can’t prevent the soul from aging. Eventually your memories start to crumble, and then it all falls apart in the end,” Kirito said, downcast.

He turned around, forcefully cutting off that line of thought, and faced away from the long vertical shaft. “What the Axiom Church is doing is wrong. It’s why we’ve come all this way to put a stop to Administrator. But that’s not the end of it, Eugeo. The real problem is what comes after…”

“Huh…? Weren’t we going to leave things up to Cardinal after we beat Administrator?” Eugeo asked. Kirito’s lips moved as he sought the right thing to say, but there was a rare moment of hesitation in his eyes. He turned away.

“Kirito…?”

“…Actually, I’ll tell you the rest after we get Alice back. This isn’t the time to be thinking about extra stuff.”

“Well…okay, I guess,” Eugeo replied. Kirito hurried down the terrace to escape his gaze. Eugeo followed after him, feeling no small amount of apprehension about what had just been mentioned, but the sudden surge of tension that gripped him when he saw the large doors ahead swept away his concern.

Given how many Integrity Knights had been waiting for them on the fiftieth floor, it seemed clear that whoever was giving the orders—Fanatio had mentioned a prime senator—intended to put a stop to them right then and there. It was practically a miracle that they had withstood the furious assault of the knights and won.

Now that they had broken through that barricade to threaten the top floor, this prime senator would use whatever power necessary to stop them. They might open this door and come across the commander of the Integrity Knights with all the remaining members, flanked by powerful priests and monks to cast sacred arts from a distance.

But there were no side routes in. Whatever awaited, they had to meet it head-on.

Kirito and I can do this.

They shared a look of determination, reached out to the doors, and gave a push together. The large slabs rolled inward.

“…!”

The resulting combination of color, trickling water, and sweet scent was so overwhelming that Eugeo couldn’t believe his senses at first.

They were still inside the tower. The same white marble wall as the rest of the obelisk was visible in the distance ahead. But the floor here was no longer stone tile; instead, it had thick, soft grass. Here and there bloomed holy flowers, which were the source of the scent.

To Eugeo’s surprise, there was even a pristine little brook a short distance away, its surface sparkling. From the doorway ran a narrow brick-lined path that crossed over the brook with a wooden footbridge before continuing on.

Beyond the river was a small hill. The path snaked its way up and over the slope, which was covered in flowers. Eugeo followed the trail with his eyes all the way to a single tree standing at the top of the hill.

It wasn’t a very big tree. The thin branches supported dark-green leaves and little orange cross-shaped flowers. The light of Solus coming through the windows just below the high ceiling fell right on that tree, illuminating the flowers like gold.

The slender trunk also shone in the sunlight—and at its base was a flash of even brighter gold…

“Ah…!”

Eugeo didn’t even register the gasp that came from his mouth.

From the moment he saw the girl resting against the trunk with her eyes closed, he failed to think of anything else.

Like some trick of the gentle, dappled sunlight, the girl’s entire form shone with gold. The beautiful armor that covered her top half and arms was already dazzling gold to begin with, and her long white skirt had embroidered highlights of similarly colored thread. Even her polished white leather boots seemed to radiate in the sunlight.

But more beautiful and glowing than anything else was her long, flowing hair. It was perfectly straight, running from her perfectly curved head down her back, like a waterfall of holy light and molten gold.

Years ago, he had seen that hair every single day. He had tugged on it and jammed twigs into it, innocent and ignorant of its glory and fragility.

That golden shine that was a symbol for friendship, longing, and just a tinge of love, turned in the course of a single day into a reminder of Eugeo’s weakness, ugliness, and cowardice. Now the light that should have remained forever out of his grasp was in reach once more.

“A…Ali…ce…,” he mumbled, scarcely hearing the words. He lurched toward her, wobbling down the brick path. Eugeo couldn’t even sense the pleasant fragrance of the holy flowers or the babbling of the brook. The only sensations that connected him to the rest of the world were the warmth of his sweaty hand clutching the collar of his shirt and the pulsing sensation of the little dagger beneath the fabric.

He crossed the bridge over the water and started up the hillside. Less than twenty mels to reach the top.

As he looked up, he saw the downward-facing features of the girl, clear as day. There was no expression of any kind on that pure white skin. She just sat there, eyes closed, floating in the warmth of the sun and the scent of the flowers.

Is she sleeping?

If he snuck up on her and held out the dagger to prick one of the fingers resting on top of her knees…would that be the end of it, right there?

Just then, Alice raised her hand, and Eugeo stopped, his heart leaping into his throat. Her shining lips opened to let him hear that familiar voice.

“Please wait just a little longer. The weather is so nice, I want to let her soak in the sun a bit more.”

Her eyes, bordered by golden lashes, slowly opened.

Irises a shade of blue that existed nowhere else in the world met Eugeo’s gaze. He anticipated a softening in her look, the hint of a smile to play over those lips.

But the blue of those crystal eyes was not gentle like it once was. It was the color of permanent ice, unmelting under centuries of sun. Eugeo was trapped in place, an intruder caught in the sights of a sentinel.

So battle would be unavoidable.

Lost memory or not, she was Alice Zuberg from the village of Rulid, and now he would have to point his sword at her—to return her to normal. No matter how hard and unforgiving the fight would be.

He understood the strength of Alice Synthesis Thirty, Integrity Knight. He’d learned it by experience, when she smacked him in the face with her scabbard. He hadn’t merely been taken by surprise; he hadn’t even seen the blow before it landed. How difficult would it be to neutralize a warrior of such skill without hurting her, either?

She could not be fought with anything less than his greatest effort.

But can I even manage to cut a single lock of her golden hair?

He couldn’t take a single step forward, much less draw his sword for battle.

While Eugeo struggled like never before, Kirito approached from the rear and murmured hoarsely, “You shouldn’t fight, Eugeo. Just think of how to stick Alice with Cardinal’s dagger, that’s all. I’ll block her attacks with my body if I have to.”

“B-but…”

“It’s the only way. The longer the battle goes, the worse our odds get. I’ll take Alice’s first hit on purpose, hold her down, and then you use the dagger. Got that?”

“…”

He bit his lip. In the fight against Deusolbert, and again versus Fanatio, it had been Kirito who suffered all the bloodletting. And this mad rebellion against the Axiom Church had all stemmed from Eugeo’s own personal desire in the first place.

“…Sorry,” he muttered, feeling abashed.

“You don’t have to apologize,” said Kirito, sounding more normal now. “I’ll give it back to you double…But, that aside…”

“…? What is it?”

“Well…based on what I can see from here, she doesn’t seem to be armed. Plus…who was she talking about…?”

Eugeo focused on Alice again, sitting atop the hill. She had closed her eyes and put her head down again, but sure enough, that golden whip from their encounter at Swordcraft Academy was nowhere to be seen.

“Maybe she’s on break and left her sword somewhere else…Boy, wouldn’t that be helpful,” Eugeo hoped, without any audible conviction.

Kirito brushed the hilt of his black sword. “I feel bad, but we can’t wait for her to stop napping in the sun. If we attack now, whether she has her sword or not, she won’t have time to cast her Perfect Weapon Control. If there’s one thing we need above all else, it’s to prevent that from happening.”

“Good point…My Perfect Control doesn’t use up too much of the sword’s life, so I think I can use it two more times today…”

“That’d be great. But one more’s the limit for me. And we should have this knight’s commander after Alice, too. Anyway…here goes.”

Kirito signaled to him, then took a step forward. Eugeo summoned his courage and followed.

They stepped off the brick path, which wound around the hill, and headed straight for the top. Their boots rustled the grass. When they were halfway up the slope, Alice stood. Through half-open lids, her emotionless, icy gaze met them.

Instantly, as though her vision itself could cast sacred arts, Eugeo felt his legs turn to lead. Despite the lack of any weapon, Eugeo’s legs seemed to be refusing to get any closer to Alice. Was that one bash to the cheek enough for his body to have learned its own subconscious lesson? Yet it seemed like Kirito’s pace was losing steam up ahead, too.

“…So you have come all this way up at last,” Alice’s crystal-clear voice rang out. “I made the decision that even if you should somehow escape your cells, Eldrie would be enough to stop you cold in the rose garden. Yet you defeated him, and then Deusolbert with his divine weapon, and even Fanatio, before setting foot in the Cloudtop Garden.”

Her arched brows darkened. There was a faint note of mourning from her cherry lips. “What in the world is giving you your power? Why do you seek to unravel the tranquility of our realm? Why do you not understand that for every Integrity Knight you harm, a major weapon against the forces of darkness is lost?”

It’s for you. That’s all this is, Eugeo thought. But he knew that this statement would mean nothing to the Alice facing him now. He clenched his teeth and put all his concentration into moving forward.

“I suppose I shall only have my answers by the blade. Very well…if that is what you seek,” she relented, placing her hand on the trunk of the tree.

But she has no blade, Eugeo protested, right as Kirito mumbled, “No way—”

There was a flash of light, and the little tree sitting atop the hill vanished.

“?!”

A moment later, there was a rush of thick, sweet fragrance, and then it was totally gone.

In Alice’s right hand was now a familiar longsword. A weapon made entirely of shining gold, from blade to hilt to sheath. A cross-shaped pattern of flowers decorated the hilt.

Right in that moment, Eugeo didn’t understand what had happened.

The tree vanished, and the sword appeared. Did the tree change into the sword? But Alice did not give any commands. Whether it was a simple illusion or some kind of ultra-high-level matter-conversion art, it should have been impossible without a verbal command.

But…not unless the tree changed its form based on only Alice’s thoughts, making it…

Kirito reached the conclusion a split second before Eugeo did. He snapped, “Dammit, that’s not good…Her sword might already be in Perfect Control mode!”

Alice stared down at the stunned boys, holding her sword flat with both hands. She drew it crisply, the blade a deeper golden yellow than the sheath, gleaming as it reflected the light of Solus.

In an instant, Kirito was rushing forward. Whatever power it was that Alice’s sword held, he was determined to force close combat before she could utilize her Perfect Control over it. He tore up the hill, blades of grass flying, and crossed nearly the entire distance within ten steps.

Eugeo tried his hardest to follow after his partner, still clutching the chain around his neck. Kirito wasn’t going to draw his weapon. Like he said, he was going to block Alice’s first attack with his body, which would give them just a tiny amount of time to hold her back. It was absolutely imperative that Eugeo take advantage of that window to hit her with the dagger.

Nothing in Alice’s expression changed with the black swordsman charging up at her. She calmly, almost carelessly, pulled her sword back.

Kirito wasn’t yet within sword range. Was it a ranged attack, like Deusolbert’s and Fanatio’s? If so, she might stop Kirito at a distance, but it would still leave Eugeo with enough time to get in close with the dagger.

Eugeo peeled off from Kirito and kept running at a different angle.

Alice’s right hand swung forward—and the golden blade disappeared.

“?!”

It did not actually disappear. It was more like a disintegration. The sword split into hundreds, thousands of pieces that hurtled at Kirito like a golden storm.

“Aaagh!!”

Kirito was knocked clean off his feet by the shining swarm. Eugeo gritted his teeth and raced onward, determined to make use of the momentary diversion his partner created.

But the golden wind did not stop there. With a sound like rustling leaves, it abruptly darted left in midair to engulf Eugeo next.

The force was irresistible. It felt like a giant swatting him with the palm of its hand, knocking him over on his right side.

Each individual fragment, less than a cen in length, was tremendously heavy. Eugeo instinctually covered his face with his left arm as he landed on the grass and felt a searing pain there. It was all he could do not to scream and roll around in agony.

The swarm of gold pieces, having easily stopped them, flew back to Alice’s side, where they hovered around the knight rather than returning to sword form.

In fact, on closer examination, all of the shards were cross-shaped combinations of even smaller diamond-shaped pieces. It was the same as the design on the hilt of the sword—the shape of the flowers from the tree.

“Are you mocking me? Why else would you run for me without drawing your weapons?” she asked, still without the slightest hint of emotion. “I held back on that attack, as a warning. The next time, I will eliminate your life. Use all the power you possess, for the honor of those knights you already defeated.”

She…held back? And that tremendous power was the result…?

As Eugeo watched in horror, the golden flowers audibly bristled with metallic sounds in unison. The tips of the petals, which had previously been rounded and smooth, were now sharper than the end of a rapier. It wouldn’t just be a body blow anymore; those points would split the skin and sever bone.

Deep fear plunged Eugeo’s limbs into numbing, icy water. Even a single one of those golden flowers could take his life down to dangerous levels if it struck the right spot—and there were at least two or three hundred circling around in the swarm. It was impossible to deflect them all with a sword, and probably just as difficult to evade the practically sentient multitude. Alice’s Perfect Weapon Control was almost too perfect, and all-powerful…

Yes. It was too perfect.

Perfect Weapon Control of a Divine Object was very powerful, but even that had its limits. The core of the power was extracting the “memory” of the weapon’s material and turning it into an exaggerated physical property: heat, cold, toughness, speed. For it to specialize in one area, by necessity it had to sacrifice power in others.

Fanatio’s Perfect Control was so developed in terms of compressing light to that powerful beam that it was overturned by Kirito’s simple mirror response.

Whatever the nature of the little tree that was the core of Alice’s weapon, if the sum of its potential was split among so many tiny objects—focusing on accuracy—then the attack power of each individual petal must be small. It just didn’t add up that those little objects less than a cen across could have the weight of a giant’s fist.

In order for that to be possible, the slender little tree with orange flowers had to be an ultra-high-priority object, even more powerful than the Gigas Cedar that was the basis for Kirito’s sword…

Nearby, Kirito lifted his head, his face a pale mixture of astonishment and horror as he arrived at the same conclusion as Eugeo. But not knowing the meaning of the word resignation, he turned determined eyes toward Eugeo and mouthed, Chant.

Getting through the storm of petals by orthodox methods was impossible. The only way was to immobilize the actual wielder through the Blue Rose Sword’s own Perfect Control. Earlier, Alice was swinging around the naked hilt to match the movement of the flowers. That suggested that the mass of petals wasn’t moving solely of her own control.

From his prone position, Eugeo subtly laid a hand on the hilt of the Blue Rose Sword and began to recite the Perfect Control chant at a barely audible level. If Alice noticed him and attacked, he’d be totally defenseless, but Kirito would handle that.

As he expected, Kirito bolted to his feet just at that moment and called out in a loud, deliberate challenge, “I apologize for treating a proud Integrity Knight in a manner lacking in proper respect! Kirito, student of the sword, seeks a proper duel of blade against blade with the Integrity Knight Alice!”

He thumped his right fist against his chest and dipped his head, then grabbed the hilt of his sword from his left side. After drawing his pitch-black weapon with a vicious shing, he held it up in a stance, as if to split the golden aura that surrounded the knight.

Alice gazed at him, her blue eyes all-knowing, then blinked and said, “Very well. I shall ascertain the nature of your wickedness from the way you fight.”

She motioned with the hilt. With a sound like waves, the cloud of golden flowers gathered within reach like a little dust devil and assembled themselves into the shape of a perfect, unbroken blade. They made a ch-ching! sound and fused, returning to the form of that golden sword.

As she approached, regally holding her sword at chest level, Kirito moved his blade low and said, “It is inevitable that one of us will fall once we cross blades. Before that happens, answer me this: I see that your divine weapon takes its form from the tree that was on the hilltop previously. How does such a small tree hold such incredible power?”

It was obviously a stall for time, but Kirito really did want to know the truth behind the golden sword’s Perfect Control. Eugeo was curious, himself. He listened in as he continued reciting.

Alice took three steps forward before coming to a halt. She paused, then opened her mouth to speak.

“It would be pointless to tell you just before you die…but I suppose I shall do you this favor on your path to Heaven. The name of my weapon is the Osmanthus Blade. As the name suggests, it was once nothing but a simple osmanthus tree.”

Osmanthus was a type of small tree that bloomed tiny orange flowers in the fall. It hardly grew at all around Rulid, but Eugeo had seen a few in Centoria. It certainly wasn’t a one-of-a-kind specimen like the Gigas Cedar.

“As you said, it is merely a small tree—except for its age. The place where Central Cathedral stands now was once, in the distant past, the Place of Beginning, which the creation goddess Stacia gifted to humanity. In the center of the little village was a beautiful spring, with a single osmanthus tree growing on its bank…according to the first chapter of Genesis. That tree is the origin from which this sword was forged. Do you understand? This Osmanthus Blade is the oldest thing in existence.”

“Wh-what…?” Kirito gasped.

She continued, “This sword is a reincarnation of the tree that God herself placed. Its quality is ‘everlasting eternity.’ Even a single fallen petal will split stone and tear the earth where it lands…just as you experienced for yourselves. Do you now understand what it is you face?”

“…Yeah, I get it,” Kirito replied obligingly. “So it’s the first indestructible object that God placed, huh…They just keep upping the ante with these things they pull out. But I can’t waste my time being amazed by it.”

He brandished his black sword high, now seemingly rather insignificant in comparison to a tree-based weapon of a much higher notoriety. “Integrity Knight Alice…let us fight!”

The black swordsman leaped off the ground, audibly ripping his way through the air. He charged with such speed that it was hard to believe he was the one going uphill.

Kirito likely believed that if he could start his combination attack within close range, no matter what Alice’s weapon was, he could seize the advantage. Fanatio’s ability to respond in kind was a product of her unique personal mastery of the combination arts and surely was exceptional among the knights.

As Kirito and Eugeo expected, Alice pulled her sword back overhead in honest response to Kirito’s high slice. She couldn’t block him if he segued that high attack to a mid-level one next.

The downward burst of black lightning met with the Osmanthus Blade, sending up pale sparks.

But the second attack did not instantly emerge.

Alice’s sword barely budged, but Kirito bounced backward, as though he had tried to smash a boulder with a stick, and lost his balance.

“Whoa…”

The slope played havoc with his feet, forcing him to take several wobbly steps, while Alice pursued with the grace of rushing water.

Her left hand extended fully, all the way to her fingertips. The golden sword drew back straight behind her, leaving her front wide open. It was an old-fashioned style, not nearly as practical as the Aincrad style, but between the flowing blond hair and waving skirt, there was a kind of painterly beauty to the sight.

“Eiii!” she cried, swinging the sword forward in a semicircle. The speed was tremendous—but the movement was too grand.

Kirito had recovered his balance and had plenty of time to hold up his sword.

Grakk! The two swords clashed. Once again, it was Kirito who spun away from the impact like a top. He put a hand to the grass to avoid falling off his feet as he slid down, nearly to the foot of the hill.

At last, Eugeo understood the nature of what he was seeing. The weight of each blow was off the charts.

With his high-priority divine weapon and special Aincrad combination attacks, Kirito had bested a number of Integrity Knights to this point, but the Osmanthus Blade was likely several times heavier than Kirito’s black one. At that speed, it was hard enough just to survive the attack, much less deflect the impact.

And that wasn’t all. As the first impact had proven, even when Kirito was the one attacking, he wound up getting knocked off balance. The outcome was obvious.

Realizing this for himself, Kirito scrambled to his feet and took several hasty steps in retreat. Alice glided after him.

It was as one-sided a fight for Kirito as had ever happened in the last two years.

With her flowing, methodical beauty, Alice attacked again and again. The young man did his best to block and was knocked around miserably each time. He might have fought back had he been able to dodge, but for the great size of her swings, Alice’s aim was extremely fast and accurate, such that Kirito could never evade her cleanly.

Eugeo finished his command, following the two with bated breath. He would have to unleash his Perfect Weapon Control while his friend was still able to block the attacks.

After just five blows, Kirito was already pressed up against the western garden wall. There was nothing but hard marble behind him and nowhere else to run.

Alice pointed the tip of her sword at her trapped foe, expression as cool as ever, and said, “I see. You are only the second to evade my strikes for so long. No doubt, you have great determination and belief that propelled you up the tower. But you are far short of destabilizing the Church. And I cannot allow you to endanger the peace of the realm.”

There was no weakness to exploit in the golden knight’s regal stance. Even from behind, Eugeo felt that she could react and stop his sacred arts.

Say something, Kirito. I just need a moment, a chance, Eugeo thought as he ran, but his partner just glared at her fiercely with his back to the wall and held his silence.

“Then prepare yourself,” she said, lifting the Osmanthus Blade up to point straight at the heavens.

There was a moment’s silence.

Then, with a terrible air-ripping noise, golden light appeared.

Forcing his eyes as far open as possible, Kirito moved his hand at blurring speed.

A metallic clash. Sparks.

He didn’t absorb the blow, but he diverted it. Sword met sword at the slightest possible angle, just enough to shift the trajectory of Alice’s unfathomably heavy swing.

The Osmanthus Blade ran through a spot just a single cen to the left of Kirito’s head: smooth marble wall. A few strands of black hair flew into the air and vanished.

Then he leaped at her. He held down her right hand with his left and locked his other arm around hers. At long last, that succeeded in getting a facial reaction from the previously unshakable Alice.

Now.

“Enhance Armament!!” Eugeo screamed, thrusting the Blue Rose Sword into the grass at his feet.

In an instant, the ground was white with ice. The wave of frost raced forward and swallowed Kirito and Alice where they stood, about ten mels away.

A rush of icy vines grew up their legs. They formed blue crystal chains that wound around the two bodies. Kirito’s black clothes and Alice’s white armor were soon covered in thick ice.

Kirito, Alice, I’m sorry!

He continued pumping out more and more ice vines. After seeing what Alice could do, no amount felt like enough to hold her down.

The crackling vines gripped tighter and tighter until they eventually changed into a single thick pillar of ice. The giant crystal, multifaceted like a raw gemstone, glistened quietly with the two combatants trapped inside. The only thing extending from the block was Alice’s hand and the Osmanthus Blade in it, stuck into the wall. Frozen in time within the blue ice was a look of slight surprise on Alice’s face and sheer determination on Kirito’s.

One prick of the dagger on her extended arm, and it was all over.

Eugeo let go of the Blue Rose Sword and stood up. The Perfect Weapon Control would be undone now, but that huge block of ice wouldn’t melt naturally for many minutes. He squeezed his little dagger and took a step forward, then another…

When his third step landed, golden light exploded.

“Ah…!”

To his shock, Alice’s trapped sword was disintegrating into countless petals again.

With a stately, harmonic thrum, the storm of golden flowers circled the pillar. The tiny cross-shaped blades swarmed and chiseled the ice as Eugeo watched helplessly. If he jumped into that fray now, he would lose his life before getting a single step closer.

The flowers shredded the ice until there was just a thin layer left, then fluttered up higher into the air. With a delicate crack, what was left of the ice pillar crumbled to the ground.

Alice thrust Kirito toward Eugeo with the hand that was grappling with him, brushed loose a bit of ice still stuck in her hair, and, as if nothing had just happened, said, “Did you not seek to reach a conclusion through a sword competition? It was an amusing diversion…but mere ice cannot hope to contain my flowers. I will fight you next, so stay there and wait your turn.”

She extended her right hand, and the cloud of petals instantly coalesced back into their original—

“Enhance Armament!!” screamed Kirito.

However it was that he had found the time to recite the chant, Kirito’s black sword sprayed out darkness.

It plunged not for Alice herself—but for the Osmanthus Blade, just before it was whole again.

“Wha…?!”

For the first time, Alice was startled.

The surge of darkness scattered her golden petals and ruptured her control over them.

With an ear-shattering roar, dueling storms of black and gold rumbled and soared. They tangled, swirled, and slammed against the marble wall behind her.

“Eugeoooo!!” Kirito screamed.

That was right: This was the final chance.

Eugeo pulled the dagger from its hiding spot and charged.

Just eight mels to reach Alice.

Seven.

Six.

And then something happened that no one could have predicted.

The abnormal surge of the melded powers of divine Perfect Weapon Control slammed into the Central Cathedral wall so hard, cracks and splits began to form.

With an earthshaking rumble, the massive marble edifice, seemingly indestructible just like the Everlasting Walls, began to crumble.

Squares of stone fell outward one after another, and the hole in the wall grew and grew. Eugeo stared, dumbfounded, at the blue sky and white clouds beyond.

A sudden gust of wind smacked his back and knocked him to the grass. The air inside the tower was being sucked out through the hole in the wall—and the two closest to the aperture were helpless to resist it.

To his utter shock, the tangled black swordsman and golden knight were sucked out of the tower. The image burned itself into his retinas.

“Aaaaaah!!” he screamed, crawling up to the hole.

What should I do? Make a rope from sacred arts—no, use the Blue Rose Sword’s ice to—

He didn’t have time to put any of these ideas into action.

The stones of the cathedral wall that had fallen through the outside were gathering together, as though time itself were rewinding.

With each one fitting into place, the hole got steadily smaller: gonk, gonk, gonk.

“Aaaaaah!!” he wailed again, rushing up to the wall just as it became seamless once more.

He slammed a fist against it. And again. And again.

The skin of his hand split and blood flew from the wound, but the restored wall did not budge.

“Kiriiito!! Aliiiiice!!”

His voice only echoed off the cold, smooth marble.

(To be continued)