Accel World - Volume 20 - Chapter 6

6

Light. Tremors. Vibration so powerful, he couldn’t stay on his feet.

Desperately long seconds passed, and when he felt all the shaking stop, Haruyuki lifted his face anxiously.

At a glance, nothing had changed. Or so it seemed—but soon he realized that two things were gone. The person on the roof of the building on the north side of Sengakuji. And the large ring of the stronghold that should have been emitting a blue light right beside him.

In the place where the base had been until a few seconds ago, Ash Roller, Bush Utan, and Olive Grab were looking around, dazed. Near the south gate, Chocolat and her friends were looking his way with concern.

The faces of Nega Nebulus lined up on the buildings on the east side, the members of Oscillatory Universe encamped on the west side, and Glacier Behemoth in front of Haruyuki looking up at the night sky appeared to have taken no damage nor had any other changes made to them. In which case, what exactly had the Incarnate released by the mysterious Burst Linker and the vibration that followed it wrought in the Territories stage?

Haruyuki had started to look around once again for some kind of clue when he heard the faint voice of Glacier Behemoth.

“King…does this mean that now is that time?”

Haruyuki didn’t understand what this meant. But he realized that Behemoth was staring at the eastern sky as if to burn a hole in it, so he turned around and looked up in the same direction.

Sky Raker and the others were also looking around suspiciously, of course, from their perch on the roofs. But Behemoth wasn’t looking at them.

Far, far, far away. In the distant eastern sky, the jet-black darkness receded slightly, changing to an ultramarine color. Dawn was breaking. But there was no way. The night of the Demon City should continue for the full thirty minutes. That dawn would break in this stage…Dawn coming…

Here, finally, Haruyuki noticed the timer was gone. It should have had another 1,200 seconds left on it, and it had vanished from the top of his field of view. The health gauges of Team Ash on the left and Behemoth on the right had also disappeared. All that was left was his own gauge.

An impossible dawn and a simplification of the user interface. There was only one solution to this mystery.

“This is…the Unlimited Neutral Field?”

A cool, dry wind blew up and immediately drowned Haruyuki out.

(To Be Continued)