However, right before our fingertips were about to touch, we were hit with tremendous gravity.
It was like we were thrown into the bottom of a deep, deep swamp of mucus. I couldn’t endure it, the pressure overwhelmed my whole body and I fell to one knee. Asuna fell down at the same time, thrusting both hands at the invisible floor.
Asuna looked at me, mouth moving slightly.
“Kirito… -kun…”
‘It’s all right, I will protect you no matter what’, I was going to reply. At that moment a high-pitched laugh echoed throughout the darkness.
“Hey, what do you think about this magic? It’s scheduled to be introduced in the next update, but perhaps the effects are too strong?”
That voice loaded with so much mockery that it couldn’t be kept in check, it was familiar. The man who, in front of the sleeping Asuna, ridiculed me, calling me hero.
“- Sugou!!”
I shouted as I struggled to stand up.
“No no, in this world, please refrain from calling me by that name. Not even using an honorific when calling your king’s name. You may call me the Fairy King, His Majesty, Oberon!!”
His last words jumped up a few octaves, turning into an exclamation. At the same time something struck my head.
Turning my head a little bit, a man was standing next to me. All I could see were the feet, wrapped in boots covering gaudily embroidered tights, which he moved to the left and right on top of my head.
When I lifted my eyes I could see he was wearing long clothes in a poisonous green color, and above that is a face that looked perfectly made. No - it really was an artificial face. Starting at zero with polygon modeling, it was a handsome face distorted by it’s twisted expression, making it truly ugly. His red lips were hugely distorted, making it look like he was grinning.
Even if his appearance was different, I know this guy was Sugou. The man who confined Asuna’s soul in such a place, a man for whom hate just wasn’t enough.
“Oberon – no, Sugou!”
Asuna was almost lying on the ground, but she raised her face, shouting courageously.
“The things you have done, I’ve seen them with my own eyes!! Those terrible deeds - you won’t get away with it, never!!”
“Oh? Who is going to stop me? You, or maybe him? Or maybe God? Unfortunately, there is no God in this world. Apart from me, hehe!”
Sugou said with his voice mixing together with that annoying laugh as he stepped down on my head, hard. Unable to endure the pressure from the gravity, I was pushed to the floor.
“Stop this, you coward!!”
Asuna yelled, but Sugou did not lend an ear to her cries. Instead, bending over me, he extracted my sword from the sheathe on my back. Standing up, he held it up with his forefinger then spun it around.
“- Well, Kirigaya-kun, no… I should call you Kirito. I did not think you would actually come here. Is it bravery or stupidity? Since you are in this situation it must be the latter, hehe. I heard that my little bird had escaped from her cage. Thinking that this time she must be punished I hurriedly returned, but what a surprise! It seems a cockroach had gotten lost in the cage! - Come to think of it, there was also that one strange program…” Sugou paused, and waving his left hand, quickly brought out his menu window. His lips curved while he looked at the luminescent blue screen for a moment, and humming in a nasal tone, he closed the window.
“…It escaped? What was that anyway? In the first place, how did you climb up to this place?”
Knowing that at least Yui hadn’t been deleted, I felt slightly relieved and said:
“I flew here, with this pair of wings.”
“- Well, alright. I’ll understand if I ask the contents of your head directly.”
“…What?”
“You didn’t think that I would make this kind of place while raving drunk right?”
While bouncing my sword with his finger, Sugou wore a smile that dripped venom.
“With the devoted cooperation of former SAO players, my research into the fundamental operations of thought and memory is already 80% complete. A little more and I will be able to control the soul which no one has ever accomplished. That has always been called the work of god! Besides, I have happily obtained a new experimental body today. It makes me so happy. Looking through your memories, rewriting your emotions!! Just the thought of it makes me tremble!!”
“No way… that, you can do that…”
I whispered while I was still trying to master my disbelief after that far too insane speech. Sugou put his foot on my head again, tapping his toes.
“You learned nothing and connected using NERvGear right? Then it puts you in the exact same position as my other experimental bodies. Afterall, children are stupid. Even a dog remembers what not to do once it gets kicked. “
“That… That kind of thing will not be forgiven, Sugou!!”
Asuna shouted with a bloodless face.
“If you put a hand on Kirito, I’ll never forgive you!!”
“Little bird, it is near the day when I’ll be able to turn your hatred into absolute obedience with the flip of a switch.”
After Sugou said that with an intoxicated expression, he held my sword and caressed the blade with the fingertips of his left hand.
“Well, let’s have a fun party before I change your soul! Yeah… finally, I’ve long been waiting for this moment. Since the best guest has shown up, it’s worth waiting till the limit of my patience!!”
Sugou turned around, opening his arms wide.
“Now, I am recording all logs of this space! Show me a good look!!”
“……”
Asuna bit her lip, and staring into my eyes, whispered quickly.
“…Kirito-kun, log out right now. In the real world you can expose Sugou’s plot. I will be fine.” “Asuna…!”
I felt torn in two directions for a moment. But immediately nodded and waved my left hand. If there was this much information, it was likely I could get a rescue team without physical evidence. As long as we could control RECTO Progress’ ALO server, everything would head toward being solved.
- But. The window did not appear.
“Ahahahahahaha!!”
Sugou bent over, holding his stomach as he convulsed in laughter.
“I told you, this is my world! Nobody can escape from here!!”
Sugou danced around happily, suddenly lifting his left hand. After his fingers manipulated the menu two chains seemed to fall from the sky in the endless darkness with a jangling sound.
There was a jarring metallic sound as they hit the floor. Wide metal rings hung from the end of the chains, Sugou took one of the rings and placed it around Asuna’s right wrist with a noisy ‘kaching’ sound. Then, the chain extending into the darkness was tugged lightly.
“Kya!”
The chain was drawn up suddenly and Asuna’s right hand was lifted up high. Her toes were barely touching the floor when the chains stopped.
“You bastard… what are you…!”
I cried out, but Sugou did not even spare me a look while humming a song and taking hold of the other handcuff ring.
“I did have a variety of toys prepared. Well, I will start over here first.”
While saying that, the ring was shackled to Asuna’s left wrist and the chain was retracted. With the other side drawn up, Asuna was suspended in mid-air with the appearance she was being hauled up by both hands. Seemingly still under the influence of intense gravity, the curvature of her elegant eyebrows was distorted.
As Sugou stood before Asuna with his arms crossed, he gave her a vulgar whistle.
“How nice, this face can’t be made by an NPC woman after all.”
“…!”
Asuna glared at Sugou and shut her eyelids tightly with her head bowed. Sugou chuckled, a ‘kuku’ sound emerging from the back of his throat, as he turned and slowly walked behind Asuna. He took a bunch of her long hair in hand and inhaled, taking a deep breath of its scent.
“Mmm, a good fragrance. It was a struggle to reproduce the scent of the real world’s Asuna-kun. I wanted you to appreciate the effort of bringing the analyzer to the hospital room.”
“Stop… Sugou!!”
An unbearable anger pierced through my whole body. Red flames ran throughout my nerves, in an instant the pressure holding my body blew away.
“Gu… oh…”
I propped myself up with my right hand and tore my body off the floor. Standing on one knee, I gradually lifted myself using all of the power in my body.
Sugou made a dramatic gesture at his waist with his left hand while shaking his head from side to side. He walked in front of me twisting his mouth.
“My, my, the audience should behave… and stay there grovelling!!”
Standing right beside me, he suddenly kicked both my legs. I lost my support and slammed to the floor.
“Guhah!!”
My lungs were emptied from the impact, involuntarily making that sound. With my hands once again propped on the floor my head looked upwards. Sugou hung a venomous smile across his lips - while holding my sword in his right hand he stabbed me in the back without remorse.
“Gah…!”
The flames coursing through my nerves were extinguished by the sensation of thick metal piercing through my body. The center of my chest was pierced through by the sword, which seemed to be deeply rooted in the floor. Though there was no pain, I was being assaulted by intense discomfort.
“Ki… Kirito-kun!!”
Hearing Asuna’s cry, I met her gaze while trying to tell her ‘I’m fine’.
However, faster than my voice could come out, Sugou suddenly spoke out to the darkness in the sky above with a booming voice.
“System command! Pain Absorption, change to level 8.”
That moment, a sharp cone of pure pain spread through my back, as if I was stabbed.
“G… Guh…”
When a groan leaked out of my mouth, Sugou howled in laughter.
“Kukuku, there’s still two more treats for you. The pain will get stronger gradually so look forward to enjoying it. When it gets lower than level 3, I’m afraid it seems you’ll still feel the symptoms of shock even after logging out.”
With a clap of his hands as if he were saying ‘Now then…’, he returned to behind Asuna.
“F-… Free Kirito-kun right now, Sugou!”
Asuna cried, but of course, Sugou showed no sign of having heard her.
“You know, I hate brats like that the most. Although he has neither the ability or the background, a noisy insect. Kuku, like insects in the specimen box, they must be pinned and stopped. Besides, you’re hardly in the condition to worry about him, are you little bird?”
From behind Asuna, Sugou stretched out his right hand and stroked her cheek with his index finger. Asuna twisted her neck trying to avoid it, but it didn’t happen as she wanted due to the severe gravity. His finger crept about her face and before long moved down to her neck. Asuna’s face was distorted in disgust.
“Stop… Sugou!”
I cried out, while desperately trying to push up my body. Asuna gave a resolute smile and with a trembling voice, said:
“- Do not worry, Kirito-kun. I won’t be hurt by such a thing.”
That moment, a squeaky laughter with a ‘kiki’ sound came from Sugou.
“It has to be like this, after all. How long do you think your pride will sustain you - 30 minutes? An hour? Perhaps a whole day? Prolong it as long as possible, this pleasure!!”
While shouting, he grabbed the red ribbon at the collar of Asuna’s dress with his right hand. As he pulled, the cloth stretched and tore. The thin blood-red ribbon fluttered through the air without a sound and landed on the ground before my eyes.
From the torn dress the pure white skin of her chest was greatly exposed. Asuna’s face was distorted in humiliation and her eyes shut so tightly she shook.
Sugou bent back, laughing with a smirk while stretching his right hand out to Asuna’s bare skin. His lips opened in the shape of a crescent moon and he stuck out his vivid red tongue. While making a sound of dripping mucus, he licked from below Asuna’s cheek up.
“Ku, ku, shall I tell you what I am thinking about?”
Sugou said in a voice tinged with a fevered madness while his tongue was still sticking out near Asuna’s ear.
“Once I fully enjoy this place I’ll go to your hospital room. If I lock the door and turn off the camera, that room becomes a secret room. You and I, just the two of us. I’ll set up a large monitor and run today’s recording and enjoy myself with the other you! I’ll take my time and go carefully. After all, it is your real body. After taking the purity of your heart here, I’ll take the purity of your body there!! So fun, a truly unique experience!!”
Sugou’s shrill laugh turned my guts inside out as it echoed in the darkness.
Asuna opened her eyes wide for a moment, her lips courageously pulled tight.
However, the fear she couldn’t control collected in the corners of her eyes. As the two tears dripped down her long eyelashes Sugou’s tongue licked them up.
“Ah… sweet, so sweet! Come on, cry for me some more!!”
A white-hot rage that could incinerate everything pierced straight through my head, scattering violent sparks through my vision.
“Sugou… you bastard… YOU BASTAAAARD!!”
I screamed, recklessly moving my limbs as I tried to stand up. But the sword through me did not even budge.
I felt tears overflowing from both of my eyes. Crawling like an unsightly insect and struggling, I roared.
“You bastard… I’ll kill you!! KILL!! I WILL DEFINITELY KILL YOU!!”
I cried, but all that was drowned out by Sugou’s mad-sounding laughter.
Right now, if I could borrow power…
My fingertips scratched at the floor, praying to move even a single millimeter forward.
Right now, if I were granted the power to stand up, any price would be fine. Take away my life, my soul, everything, I would not care. Whether it be a demon or a devil, it did not matter as long as that man was cut down and defeated. As long as Asuna was returned to the place she belonged.
Sugou stroked Asuna’s arm and leg with both hands, caressing them. Every move of his hand was probably causing a strong pulse of sensory stimulation in her. Asuna bit her lips so hard she started bleeding, enduring the humiliation.
With that figure in my vision, I felt my thoughts turning white, cut off by a searing white sensation. The flames of anger and despair consumed me. My remaining thought processes were turned to ash. If my soul became like the color of a lump of dry bones, I would not have to think. There would be no need to think.
If I had a sword, I thought I could do anything. Because I was the hero who stood at the top of 10,000 swordsmen. I defeated the demon king, the hero who saved the world.
The virtual world was merely assembled based on the marketing theory of companies, simply a game. Being caught up in thinking it was another reality, I was deluded into thinking that the strength gained in that world was real strength. Freed from the world of SAO - or expelled, after returning to the real world, was I not disappointed with my meager body of flesh? Somewhere in my heart, did I not yearn to return to that world, the world where I was the strongest hero? Which is why you, after learning of Asuna’s mind being in a new game world, thought you could do something about it with your own power and came blindly. When the thing you truly should have done was to leave it to the adults with power in the real world. After regaining the illusory power once again, overwhelming the other players, was it not to please myself by satisfying my ugly pride?
Then this result - was what I deserved. That’s right, you were only using the power granted by someone else, getting excited like an innocent kid. Merely having one ID could not overwhelm something called system administration privileges. Only one thing was certain, regret. If I didn’t like it, I had to abandon the thought.
/> 『Running away?』
- Not so, I acknowledged the reality.
『Do you surrender? To the power of the system you have denied before?』
- It can’t be helped. I am a player, that guy is a game master.
『Those are words that defile that battle. Where I was made to recognize that the power of the human will can surpass the system, made to comprehend the possibilities of the future, our battle.』
- Battle? Such a thing is nonsense. Isn’t it simply a thing that would increase or decrease numbers?
『You should know that isn’t so. Now stand. Stand and take hold of the sword.』
『- STAND, KIRITO-KUN!!』
That voice was like a thundering roar, it tore through my consciousness like lightning.
The senses that had been fading seemed to reconnect in an instant. My eyes opened widely.
“Wu... oh…”
Leaked from my throat in a hoarse voice.
“O…. OOoh…”
I clenched my teeth and put my right hand to the floor, pushing myself to my elbows with a voice that sounded like the cry from a beast near death.
When I tried to lift my body, the sword which had pierced through the middle of my spine hung with an overwhelming pressure.
- I can’t stay grovelling miserably under such a thing. This attack with no soul, surrendering to it was unforgivable. The barrage of every blade in that world was more heavy. More painful.
“Wu… Gu, ooh!!”
Together with the short roar, I used all the power of my body and soul to lift myself up. With a dull ‘shuit’ sound the sword left the floor, slipped out of my back, and rolled to the ground.
Sugou stared with a dumbfounded expression as I staggered to my feet. Soon, he made a displeased face and took his hands away from Asuna’s body, shrugging theatrically.
“My my, I thought I had fixed the coordinates of the object, I wonder if it still has a strange bug. When it comes to our management team’s incompetence……”
He muttered as he walked toward me. Raising his right fist, he sent it flying to punch my cheek.
I stretched out my left hand, grabbing his fist in midair.
“Oh…?”
I looked into Sugou’s surprised eyes, opening my mouth. A set of words echoed in the depths of my mind, I repeated them.