The Emperor looked arrogantly at the bustling hall, and for the first time, an emotion floated onto his white face — a shallow, light smile.
“Of course, I hope that you all understand that this kind of gamble carries with it an equal price. For example… like this.”
From within his dark robes, a hand extended and made a soft gesture.
Then, set besides the throne, a small door on the wall east of Shasta opened soundlessly, and a servant girl shuffled in. She held a large silver bowl in her hands: inside was a cube-shaped object, but it was obscured with a black cloth, so it couldn’t be seen in detail.
The servant girl set the silver bowl in front of the throne, bowed her head respectfully to the Emperor, and exited through the door.
In the deafening silence, the Emperor wore a crooked smile, extended a toe, placed it against the cloth covering the bowl, and kicked it off.
Shasta, whose entire body, even his thoughts, were frozen, caught sight of —
An ice cube, as transparent as the most perfect crystal.
Sealed inside, was the forever sleeping face of his lover.
“Li…pi…”
Shasta’s lips moved soundlessly.
The coldness that enveloped his entire body disappeared, and was replaced with endlessly deep, dark emptiness in his heart.
Shasta knew that Dark Knight Lipia Zankehl was secretly running an orphanage. No matter the races, she sheltered and educated children who had lost their parents, siblings, and were about to die on the street. Shasta saw a hopeful future in Lipia’s actions.
Therefore, Shasta only told Lipia his own ideals. An endless dream in which the long-term state of war with the Human World would be broken, and a mutually supportive world in which there would be no need for constant snatching and seizing would be created.
But, his own words had driven Lipia to attempt to assassinate the Emperor, and ended in this grievous result. Although it was the Emperor who killed her — Shasta also had a hand in it.
Doubtlessly.
Although it was only for a blink of an eye, a storm of insurmountable guilt and remorse raged in Shasta’s empty-feeling chest.
Instantly, it became a black chunk of emotion.
Murderous intent.
Kill. He must kill that lightly smiling man sitting cross-legged on the throne, no matter what.
Even if he needed to put his own life, and the future of the Dark Territory on the line.
***
Now, who is that suspicious [Your Excellency]?
Gabriel watched the ten prostrated Leader Units under his eyes with a little bit of interest.
The master of the assassin woman whom she so loved. Gabriel had sucked dry all traces of the emotions that tasted of heavenly nectar, that had been released during the woman’s death: not just the yearning of the woman, he even understood the feelings that [Your Excellency] had for the woman herself — although he just analyzed the emotional patterns as data.
Therefore, he was confident that when he showed the woman’s head, the one called Your Excellency would definitely take action. He would mercilessly execute the opposing, rebellious Unit, and increase the loyalty of the rest of the Units through fear. No different from the simulation games he had played to kill time in the real world.
What a bunch of pitiful and happy people.
Although they have real souls, their intelligence is limited, and can be reproduced as much as one wants even if they are killed and killed again. There will eventually be a day, when the Underworld, its Mainframe, and the Light Cubes are mine, the hunger that has so pained me ever since I was young will be quenched.
Leaning his face against his wrist supported by the throne armrest, Gabriel waited, relaxed.
He was a little more than 15 meters from the Units. No matter what attack from any weapon, he could easily counter it with the sword equipped on his left waist.
Of course, he would be unable to deal with a [System Call] prefixed command attack. But Gabriel’s anxiety had already been wiped clean before they logged in.
The super account «God of Darkness Vector» was set up for RATH workers to undertake forced operations to the Dark Territory. Therefore, the HP called Life would be massive, the equipped sword would be the strongest; and on top of all, Vector possessed a cheating attribute to prevent all commands targeting him.
As Gabriel was protected under so many conditions, even as the leftmost Knight out of the ten Units, clad in jet-black armor, bent his back violently.
Even as his entire body was covered with a halo like a light shadow.
Even as he saw the Knight’s left hand gripping his sword’s scabbard as fast as lightning, flicking up his head at the same time, sharp eyes flashing an inhuman crimson from the middle of his iron face—
He did not fully understood what had happened sequentially as he failed to realize the two facts below:
This world, was not only a program executed by a physical server, but also a «Real Dream» that was built with the same photons which human Fluctlights were made out of.
And, because of this, the pure and intense murderous intent created by the Knight in black, from his Light Cube to the Main Visualizer, and through the photon communication circuit, could reach the STL Gabriel was using.
***
In the middle of Shasta’s blood-red vision, he could only see the Emperor’s figure.
With the fastest movement he had ever made in his life, he drew his sword with his right hand.
What released from its scabbard was the Divine Instrument he had inherited from his mentor, the longsword «Hazy Mist», but not in its normal form of a gray blade. True to its name, a thick mist like a night haze encircled the long blade, winding into a vortex.
The logic behind this phenomenon, was the same as the ultimate ability of the Integrity Knights that was indiscernible even under long years of research — the Armament Full Control Art, but all of that seemed insignificant.
“KILL!!”
With an instantaneous scream, Shasta put all rage, hatred, and grief onto his blade, and heavily swung it over his head
Part 3
From the northern ends of the Human Empire, to the edge of the eastern territory.
No matter whether it was Integrity Knight Alice, or Amayori, who was born in the Western Empire, it was the first time that they had stepped into the land with the most mysteries of the four empires, the Eastern Empire Eastabarieth.
Between the rolling mountain peaks, surging rivers as blue as glass connected tortuously. The villages and streets that occasionally appeared at the river banks were different from the familiar stone architecture of the north; these were almost entirely constructed with wood.
The people who gazed up and pointed to the sky at them were all black-haired. Then Alice suddenly remembered that Fanatio, the Integrity Knight Vice Commander who could not get along with her, was born here.
Moving her eyes back forward, Alice thought: the Kirito leaning on her back and staring blankly at the sky also had jet-black hair, so could he be born in the east? Would he start to regain his memories if they could land on the streets and let him get in touch with people here? She soon abandoned this idea, though, as they could not delay, not even a second.
Camping on rural areas at night, they had rushed full tilt for three days, living on dried fruit and fish that Amayori caught—
In the afternoon of the second day of the eleventh month, the Mountain Range at the Edge that stood as same as its northern section, and a valley as straight as if it had been split by an axe, entered their sight.
“…Can you see it, Kirito?”
Alice muttered, gently soothing the neck of her beloved dragon that she forced to fly a long distance with a heavy load. Nowadays, since the magical beasts were virtually extinct, dragons have become the lifeforms with the highest Life and Priority. But, it was definitely not a trifle to carry two people and three Divine Instruments. The strength that Amayori had been accumula
ting through unrestricted fish consumption had almost been completely depleted.
When they reached the camp, I’ll definitely provide her with fresh lamb to her heart’s content. Alice thought as she shook the reins; Amayori replied with a seemingly restless shriek and vigorously flapped her wings.
The valley that seemed a crack as thin as paper from faraway was definitely not the same up close.
It was about a hundred Mel wide: wide enough for an army of Orcs or Ogres if they were to enter it in a row.
In front of the entrance of the valley that straightly sliced the mountain in half, was a grassy field spread as though it was encircling it. On the field, a large campsite comprised of countless white tents neatly erected in rows. Steam columns from cooking food rose here and there; around were soldiers training in formation. Alice could almost feel the flashing blades and heavy atmosphere from high up.
Morale was not as low as she had feared — but no matter what, their number was definitely too little. From a rough glance, their total number was less than 3,000. Conversely, the Dark Territory invaders must be at least 50,000. In the Human Empire, the Sacred Task of Soldier and Guard were bestowed upon extremely few; in contrast, everyone in the mountains, regardless of gender or age, was a soldier.
In this situation, it would not make much difference for Alice alone to join the battle. Just how does Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli plan to protect the world…?
Alice deliberated as she flew over the camp; she guided the dragon towards the slight darkness of the valley.
“Sorry Amayori, just a little more.”
She said; as the dragon responded with a “kururu”, the mountain peaks obscured Solus’s light.
As soon as they entered the valley, chilly air immediately enveloped their bodies. The rocky cliffs to their left and right were perfectly perpendicular, smooth surfaces that could only be the work of a god. No organisms, not even vegetation, were visible.
After slowly gliding for a few minutes—
Through the thick, velvety mist, several colossal structures eventually became visible.
“This is the… «Great Eastern Gate»…?”
A vertically standing gray door; it was probably as tall as three hundred Mel from top to bottom. Although it was not as tall as the five hundred Mel Central Cathedral of the Axiom Church, the gravity of both did not differentiate between heights.
The most shocking fact was that the door was constructed with one stone slab, without any gap at all. An existence of this caliber naturally could not have been carved by human hands; even creation by way of magical processing would be absolutely impossible. The structures that the world’s strongest sorcerer, the Highest Minister Administrator constructed in the past was the «Immortal Wall» that divided Central Capital Centoria into four, but the individual stone slabs on it were far smaller than this huge door.
In other words, this great door was placed here by the hand of a god at the beginning of the world. To divide these two worlds — in order to instigate the tragedy that would come three hundred years later.
“Stop, Amayori.”
Having Amayori halt in the middle of the air, Alice looked again at the great door from a closer distance.
For some reason, on the door, or the stone slab would be a more appropriate name, there were Sacred Words inscribed.
“Destruct… at… the, last, stage…”
Although she tried reading the line of Words in the middle, she hadn’t an inkling of their meaning.
Just as she was thinking with her head tilted, suddenly, a wave of frightening scratching and creaking noises shook the air, stunning Alice and Amayori. Alice turned the dragon’s neck towards the noise; a portion of the great door that had been perfectly smooth before, had developed a crack that resembled lightning that was extending downward.
The crack that was tens of Mel long suddenly stopped; bits of stone broke off from its surface and struck the valley floor with heavy impact sounds.
Alice raised her head and looked again at the great gate: the cracks and falling stone were not just confined to one area. It would be better to say that the giant door was nearly covered with a mesh of fissures and cracks.
Alice gently shook the reins, coaxing Amayori as close to the great door as possible.
She gingerly reached out her left hand, rapidly drew the Seal of Stacia in midair, and softly knocked the surface of the door.
A purple window materialized, labeled «Great Eastern Gate», with its full Life capacity and current value.
The number on the left was the highest Life she had ever seen — more than three million. But the one on the left was less than one thousandth of that: 2985. Moreover, the rightmost number decreased just as she was looking at it.
Sweat beading on her palms, Alice counted out loud, measuring the amount of time it took for the number to decrease. She then estimated the time until the Life would completely deplete.
“… It can’t be…”
In disbelief of her own conclusion, Alice mumbled:
“… Five days… There are only five days left……?”
The door at the end of the world that had stood dignified for over three hundred years, had only less than five days until it would collapse — how was this possible?
Selka’s bright smile, old man Garitta’s tanned, deeply wrinkled face, and her father Gasupht’s grave frown — passed through Alice’s mind. It was only a few days ago that she had repelled the Goblins that had attacked them, and sealed the cave with ice. She had thought that those actions would bring a temporary peace to Rulid.
As soon as the great gate collapses five days later, the Army of Darkness would swarm in like insects, and if the guards are unable to defend, the bloodsucking monsters would gush into the Human Empire like floodwater. This flood would soon reach the northern border, and Rulid would be engulfed.
“We have to… We have to think of something…”
Alice muttered to herself as if in a dream, as she unconsciously pulled the reins. After moving away from the stone slab about to collapse, Amayori slowly rose up, and stopped roughly three hundred Mel above, at the top of the door.
Behind the door, the valley continued in the same way, as though splitting the mountain. However, what appeared there were not a blue sky and green plains, but the blood-red sky and desolate, cinder-speckled wilderness of the Dark Territory.
Alice did not want to see this unsettling sight, but as she narrowed her eyebrows, focusing —
On the hazy, great black landscape, a tiny waving light was visible.
Urging Amayori higher, she fixed her gaze afar. There was not just one light, but many extending outwards irregularly.
Bonfires.
A camp. The vanguard of the Army of Darkness, already in formation in front of them, just waiting for the great door to collapse and the way to the Human Empire to open.
“There are only… five days…”
Alice mumbled softly again.
Immediately, as though she were escaping reality, she turned the dragon around and retraced her path towards the valley entrance. If she looked at those countless bonfires for long, she felt that she would be consumed by a massive urge to attack them alone.