Sword Art Online Volume 17 - Alicization Awakening

  Sensing that the long life of Knight Commander Bercouli had ended under the faraway sky, Fanatio slowly sank to her knees, and buried her face in her hands.

  Unable to contain them, she let out sobs.

  The reason that Bercouli always estranged himself from Fanatio, or any other female, she had once heard a very long time ago.

  The men and women of the Human Empire could only marry under official recognition of an Axiom Church priest, and could only produce the next generation under a contract. Yet Integrity Knights took on the roles of the priests, and did not need all the fanfare that came with marriage. They needed only to vow their love, share a bed, and could have children.15

  Yet this child would age and die sooner than its parents with frozen Lives. Even so, having the Highest Minister give this child the same treatment would be much crueler.

  Although, after the Highest Minister passed away, Bercouli finally accepted Fanatio’s feelings. That is, he decided to protect his child, and let him live until the end of his time.

  Then —

  “… Please rest assured, Esteemed Bercouli. I will properly raise this child. I will make him into a man as strong and proud as you.”

  Holding back her sobs, Fanatio uttered her own determination.

  — But, now, just for now.

  Just for now, allow me to grieve.

  Throwing herself onto the ground, Fanatio tightly held a grain of sand that Knight Commander Bercouli had stepped on, sobbing without holding back.

  5

  “Although I don’t have anything personal against you guys…”

  Pointing his long sword at the red army, Klein’s words reverberated throughout the ancient ruins.

  “I’m gonna return your debt of severely hurting my friend. I’ll return it threefold… No, I’ll return it a thousandfold, you damned bastards!!”

  Right after declaring that, he plunged directly into the enemy army. Asuna was so stunned by his recklessness that she forgot the pain of her deep wound for an instant. Yet immediately, another string of code poured down right next to Klein, creating a silhouette.

  Appearing there was a hulking, chocolate-skinned man grasping a large battleaxe.

  “… Agil-san!!”

  She called his name hoarsely.

  When the “battle merchant”, who had once continued to provide strong support in the forms of battle strength and supplies to the SAO Clearers, glanced at Asuna, a broad grin stretched over his gigantic features and he stuck his right thumb into the air.

  Soon after, he turned around and began following after Klein, running fiercely.

  The third and fourth persons appeared right in front of Asuna.

  A girl with shortcut hair, in a reddish-brown costume draped over her breastplate and with a silver mace suspended from her waist.

  Next, a petite girl wearing an ultramarine tunic and skirt, with hair tied in twin tails.

  “— Liz!! Silica-chan!!”

  It was here that, at last, both of Asuna’s eyes were overflowing with tears.

  All strength left her body. While somehow staying in that place, Asuna extended both her hands toward her friends whom she had strong bonds with.

  “You really… you really came…”

  “Of course we’d come!”

  “Isn’t that obvious?”

  Beaming at the same time, Lisbeth and Silica seized Asuna’s left and right hands respectively and clasped them tightly. Both of their expressions became tearful smiles.

  “— Being this rash… Bleeding everywhere… you’re trying too hard, Asuna.”

  “Leave the rest to us. Because everyone else came as well.”

  Just by being hugged from both sides by Lisbeth and Silica, Asuna felt the pain from the wounds riddling her body dissolving in the soft warmth.

  “Thank you… Thank you all…”

  Through her endless tears, she saw a rain of code strings suddenly pouring down at the entrance of the ruins.

  Appearing there were hundreds of swordsmen dressed in vibrant armor.

  “Those red guys are the enemies!”

  “Vanguard, attack! Drive them back!”

  “Rear guard, retreat temporarily and check your incantations!”

  Right after landing, they began to exchange shouts in Underworld language, no, Japanese — held up their swords, axes, and spears, and began assaulting the red soldiers in front of them.

  Judging by their magnificent individual combat skills and uniformly understood teamwork, it was apparent that they were undoubtedly seasoned VRMMO players.

  — So that’s what it is.

  Asuna finally recovered her thought process and understood the situation before her.

  Ever since the American players appeared on the battlefield, the time acceleration rate of Underworld must have been fixed to 1:1 by the attackers’ manipulation. In other words, it was also possible to Dive here with AmuSpheres from Japan.

  But the radiance emanating from their equipped swords and armors indicated that they were not using the default Guardian accounts.

  Meaning — they had converted here.

  They had undoubtedly converted their characters, which they had fostered — by investing great time and effort — to Underworld.

  Even though they don’t know whether or not they can return to their original VRMMO worlds. On the contrary — considering Underworld’s structure, it’s possible that their own character information would be deleted the moment they died, and yet…!

  “Everyone… Sorry… I’m sorry…”

  With a tearful voice, Asuna apologized to her two bosom friends before her, and then to the countless swordsmen pushing the front line back.

  “What are you saying, Asuna?”

  Lisbeth’s reply was filled with solid determination.

  “The reason we did our best in SAO and ALO is surely so that we could protect important things in this place right now.”

  “Yeah… that’s right… thank you all…”

  Whispering her gratitude, Asuna nodded deeply, fervently.

  However, there was one more thing she had yet to learn. Exactly who had informed Liz and the others in the real world about Underworld crisis and requested reinforcements by means of conversion? It would be very unlikely for Kikuoka and Higa, who were confined in the Ocean Turtle’s sub-control room, to have the spare time to formulate and execute this plan.

  “Hey Liz, Silica-chan. The one who brought everyone here, who was it…?”

  At Asuna’s question, the pair exchanged glances, and grinned.

  “Wait, Asuna, isn’t that obvious?!”

  “It was Yui-chan! She tried her hardest to explain things about Underworld and the people living here!”

  When Asuna heard those words, her heart tightened strongly and tears gushed out endlessly from her eyes.

  Yui. Born as a Top-Down AI in old SAO, Asuna and Kirito’s daughter. Yes… it couldn’t be anyone but her. She sensed the attackers’ plans that Asuna, Kikuoka, and the others couldn’t even predict, and took action to counter them.

  “……… Thank you, Yui-chan.”

  Murmuring words filled with all of her feelings, her severed left arm had regenerated completely and the wounds covering her body had mostly vanished upon standing up.

  At that moment, a timid voice came from behind.

  “Um… Asuna-sama? Those people are… or rather, those knights are…”

  Integrity Knight Renri stood there with a dumbfounded look. Behind him, the Guardians, who had just been saved from danger as well, similarly had their eyes become round.

  Asuna, after fluttering her gaze between Renri, Lisbeth, and the others, smiled and replied.

  “My very important friends. The came from the Real World to help us.”

  Renri blinked a few times, then stared fixedly at Lisbeth and Silica —

  A relieved expression floated onto his adolescent face.

  “…So that’s the case… I’m really glad. I thought tha
t, without a doubt, the people of the outside world besides Asuna-sama were all those kinds of scary soldiers…”

  “Hey, that’s impossible!!”

  Along with a slightly upset smile that was nonetheless filled with intimacy, Lisbeth patted Renri’s shoulders.

  “I’m Lisbeth. Please take care of me, Knight-kun.”

  “Ah… Y… Yes. My name is Renri. Pleased to meet you.”

  Asuna, who was watching this scene with a smile, was suddenly hit by a strong premonition.

  She, in her entire life, would never forget this scene.

  This moment, when people who were born in two different worlds met, exchanged words, and fostered relationships.

  This story, which should continue for a long, long time, should not end in tragedy.

  Asuna took a deep breath, changed her tone of voice, and asked Lisbeth.

  “Liz, how many people converted?”

  “Ah, well, a little bit over two thousand, I think. I already tried really hard, but… I still couldn’t make everyone who listened to my speech convert over…”

  Asuna lightly patted her bosom friend, who was biting her lip, on the back.

  “This is more than enough. But… to preserve the chance of them converting back, we must avoid a war of attrition if possible. Don’t spread the front lines too much, and step up the healing. Liz and Silica-chan, take about two hundred men, retreat to the rear, and set up a support team.”

  Switching her awareness back to the battle, Asuna rapidly delivered directives to Renri and the Guardians.

  “Everyone else, although it may be against your will, please merge with the Ascetics team and use Healing Arts. The swordsmen from the Real World are not familiar with the Sacred Arts, so it would help if you teach them the commands.”

  “Un… Understood, Asuna-sama! You heard her, Guardians! We’re assisting the knights from the reinforcements!”

  As Renri yelled, the Guardians, exhausted from continuous battling, responded emphatically.

  “… What will you do then, Asuna-san?”

  At Silica’s inquiry, Asuna winked.

  “I’m going to attack at the very front, of course.”

  I don’t feel like losing anymore.

  Charging at the very front were all familiar faces from ALO — Asuna, noticing Sylph Lord Sakuya, Cait Sith Lord Alicia, Salamander General Eugene, and the others, hardened her determination and they nodded fervently at each other.

  No, they were not just the players who had converted from ALO.

  Those strongly backing the swordsmen by rapidly firing crossbows with extreme accuracy were probably players from Gun Gale Online, like Sinon.

  Moreover, that team sticking tightly together, mowing down enemies like a storm, was formed by the members of the strongest guild that had swept across many VRMMOs, the «Sleeping Knights».

  Spotting Asuna, the mage Siune smiled at her. As Asuna waved her right hand in response, she once again held back the tears that were slipping out.

  They all came to help despite arriving at the resolution that they could lose their avatars, which were akin to their other selves. Then, as the only one protected by a Super Account, she had to take the greatest risk to minimize their sacrifices.

  Asuna sprinted across the battlefield, giving on-the-fly orders to the support army to narrow the over-widened front line and form a semicircle again with the entrance to the sando at its center.

  But no matter how strong the equipment and statuses of the 2,000 converted players were, there still remained more than 10,000 American players. If it became a war of attrition, the casualties, in other words, players with probability of data loss, would increase as time went on.

  Furthermore, there was another unignorable concern.

  The realistic pain that could not be avoided during battles in Underworld.

  Unlike most of the Americans, who would have already died and logged out the instant they felt pain, the Japanese players, who repeated the routine of getting injured, retreating, and being healed, were constantly exposed to agony. And Asuna had just experienced, firsthand, the fact that it would gradually break their spirit.

  —Please, everyone, do your best. Until these 10,000 enemies are all eliminated.

  If we do that, then the war potential available to those who attacked the «Ocean Turtle» will truly be depleted this time. Afterward, we’d only need to catch up to Emperor Vector, who should have been tripped up by Knight Commander Bercouli and Sinon, and rescue Alice.

  Asuna flashed her rapier on the foremost line, and shouted with all her might.

  “No problem… we can win! If it’s everyone, we can definitely win!!”

  ***

  Hirono Takashi, a Japanese VRMMO player, had asked himself: Why the hell did I come to this place? Not that it did any good now.

  The reason that he accepted the all-too-sudden conversion request from ALO, which he logged into after being woken up at 5:00 a.m. by a phone call from his friend, was definitely not because the girl desperately giving a speech was cute, nor was it because he sympathized with her claims.

  To be honest, he had mostly trusted his gut.

  Additionally, one part was a curiosity that asked, What kind of world would a VRMMO made using national budget be like? Another part was an irresponsible feeling that said, I scored the worst on my very first proficiency test in high school, so my AmuSphere will be confiscated soon anyway. And a small part of him had a hunch — Maybe there really is ‘something’ in that world I haven’t found in any other game that I’ve played.

  After Takashi had converted the character he had raised for two years and logged into a server that he had never heard of before, what awaited him was a hulking man clad in red armor standing in his way, curses in native English slang, and a halberd swinging down mercilessly.

  He jumped back while pressing down the scream about to leak from his throat, but the halberd’s tip still hit the armor on his left leg, tore through it, and cut into his shin for just a moment. He had never felt such pain since he had fallen from his bicycle and broken a bone in elementary school.

  No one told me about this—!! Takashi shrieked in his head as he earnestly slipped through the halberd’s pursuit, somehow repelled the man with his extremely rare one-handed sword, and was taken to the rear by the support team around the time he felt a wave of nausea hitting him due to the large amount of blood flowing from the wound on his leg.

  — I’ve had enough, I’m logging out!

  Letting such words slip out, Takashi was being healed by a priest-like girl about the same age as him, wearing a light blue habit.

  Somehow, when looking at her, he had a really weird feeling.

  “I will treat you immediately, please endure it for a moment, Esteemed Knight.”

  The girl spoke in a delicate voice, then cupped her hands on the severe wound on his left leg — severe only by Takashi’s standards, though — and began her incantation. Watching her demeanor, Takashi thought for a moment that she was merely an NPC.

  However, the serious expression exuding from her gray eyes speckled with brown, her cute features that looked like those of both an Easterner and a Westerner, and the warmth that came from the white light healing his wound, all clearly told Takashi that this girl was neither an NPC nor played by a Japanese person, but a true human being living in this world.

  But could something like this really be true? She was clearly speaking Japanese, but was not Japanese nor an NPC. Who really was this girl, then?

  Rather than realizing it the moment he felt the agony of a halberd slicing his left leg,

  Takashi clearly recognized something when his wound was healed by the girl’s magic: he was not in any game event, but in the middle of some extraordinary occurrence.

  “All right, everything is fine now, Esteemed Knight.”

  When the girl in the habit lifted her hands with a slightly proud expression, his wound that had been more than 5 centimeters long was completely sealed
and the pain had disappeared, leaving only a shallow, light brown scar.

  “Th… Thank you.”

  Stumbling with his words, Takashi somehow vocalized his gratitude. Oh, why didn’t I come up with something more fitting for an «Esteemed Knight»? He thought, irritated. Yet his face grew scorching hot, and his tongue became stupidly immobile. When he finally realized it afterwards, he had already taken a daring action that even he himself could not expect. Reaching out with both arms, he gently hugged the girl’s slender body.

  Had this been a normal VRMMO world, Takashi’s actions would be determined as «Inappropriate Contact with an NPC» and he would have been given a system warning.

  Yet the girl in the habit jerked in Takashi’s arms, taking a shallow breath out of surprise. A few seconds later, Takashi felt the girl’s arms nervously circling around his own back, and applying slight but definite pressure.

  “It’s okay, Esteemed Knight from abroad.”

  Close to his ear, the sound of a soft yet steady voice came.

  “Even a nun-in-training like myself, although insignificant, can complete my own duty like this. Esteemed Knight, you are fighting plenty times more proudly and bravely. Please remember… you are taking up your sword to protect many people, to protect this world.”

  The girl then gently smoothed Takashi’s back with her right hand.

  Whether it was in the real world or a virtual world, Takashi never had any experience with hugging a girl. Yet even if he was going to have a girlfriend in the real world, he had a feeling that he would never become more emotional than in this very instant.

  After that dreamy moment, Takashi steeled his determination as soon as their two bodies separated.

  “Um… W-would you mind telling me your name?”

  Patches of scarlet appeared on the trainee nun’s fair face, and she nodded.

  “Of course not… My name is Frenica. Frenica Szeski.”

  “Frenica…”

  The name sounded very strange, but the girl before him had spoken it with exceeding familiarity. Unusually, Takashi also clearly told her his own name. Not his character name Velios, but his own, original name that he was not particularly fond of.