Accel World - Volume 23 - Chapter 2

2

The arena for their first direct duel in some time was a Sacred Ground stage; floating octahedral crystals were spread out across the field. Haruyuki came down to stand on the roof of a ten-story building and narrowed his eye lenses beneath his mirrored mask to scan his surroundings.

The sunlight falling through the gaps in the thick clouds made the crystals shine all the colors of the rainbow, and the sight was definitely one of the most beautiful to be found among the many varied duel stages. But the shape of the regular octahedrons now inevitably brought to mind Black Vise’s Incarnate technique, Octahedral Isolation. Kuroyukihime and the other kings were imprisoned by his higher-level technique, Icosahedral Insulation, but that fact didn’t do much to lift Haruyuki’s spirits. Hoping that the sight of these crystals didn’t depress his Legion Master wherever she had appeared in the field, he once again checked the terrain around him.

Suginami was divided up into Area No. 1 on the north side of the Chuo Line train tracks, Area No. 2 east of the Kanpachi main road on the southeast side, and Area No. 3 on the southwest side. Kuroyukihime’s house was located in Area No. 3, along with Umesato Junior High. Unlike with a normal duel, however, players in a direct duel started at random positions within the stage. The wide road immediately to his south was likely Oume Highway and the Chuo Line overpass bridge was to his north, so his current location appeared to be the Suginami Ward office. Since this was a wired duel, there was no Gallery.

Built in the 1990s, the ward office was wider than it was tall, but since there were few tall buildings in this part of Suginami, he had a pretty decent view of the area. If Kuroyukihime were moving along Oume Highway, he’d definitely be able to spot her, but the guide cursor displayed in his view pointed due south toward a row of buildings transformed into temples from a foreign country, so he couldn’t yet pick out the figure of the Black King.

As the challenger, he decided he should close the distance himself rather than wait on the roof for her to approach him. Haruyuki spread the silver wings on his back and jumped off the ten-story ward office without the slightest hesitation. His special-attack gauge was empty, so he couldn’t actually fly, but when he descended to the road in a gliding spiral, he landed with almost no sound.

The guide cursor still pointed south. A group of buildings/temples stood on the south side of Oume Highway, which ran east to west, and while Kuroyukihime’s duel avatar might have been slender, there was no way she could slip through the gaps between the structures. If she was going to come at him, she would have to take a detour around to the intersection to the east or the west, but if she did that, the cursor would follow her movement.

He took a deep breath before chanting a quiet voice command. “Equip Lucid Blade.”

A white light gathered on his left hip and materialized into a slender longsword. He touched the hilt to make sure it had fully materialized.

When he thought about it, this was the first time he was dueling Kuroyukihime using this Enhanced Armament that was his level-six bonus. Just as her nickname World End would have it, the Black King’s avatar specialized in cutting power with the swords of her four limbs. Given this, it was fair to say that her swordsmanship was of the highest level in the Accelerated World. It was probably slightly suicidal to challenge such an opponent with a sword, but nevertheless, Haruyuki wanted to fight with this new partner he had sought out and selected.

Of course, he had no expectation of victory. The optimal outcome for him was for Kuroyukihime to stand tall and win this battle with her head held high so that she could eat the last sandwich.

Still—or maybe precisely because of that—he wanted to go up against her with everything he had. He wanted to give her his full power in recognition of how graciously she had accepted his not-entirely-thought-out duel request.

The guide cursor didn’t so much as twitch, but he could see Black Lotus’s special-attack gauge charging rapidly in the top right of his field of view. That meant she’d begun destroying the stage’s crystals.

Undaunted, Haruyuki also approached an octahedral rainbow crystal floating on the road and pulverized it with a right mid-kick. The amount of charge he received for his efforts was unsatisfying compared with the Unlimited Neutral Field, but at least here the sound of destruction wouldn’t attract Enemies. After the fifth crystal fell, his special-attack gauge was full.

“All right,” he murmured.

He was about to deploy the wings on his back to fly to her when a flash of light cut across the front wall of a five-story building on the south side of the road. Part of the wall fell away to reveal a hole in the shape of an inverted triangle, and a sharp silhouette charged fiercely out of it. The sword of her right hand caught the light and glimmered as she swung it down so fast, he could hardly see it.

Kuroyukihime destroyed a building.

She’s so fast. I can’t dodge.

Thoughts flickering through his mind at top speed, Haruyuki reflexively drew Lucid Blade with his right hand.

Black Lotus’s swords were fused to her arms, but the reach of her slashing attack was greater than he’d imagined. It was already too late for him to dodge to either side or the rear. But there was also no way he could defend against this blow with his arms. Kuroyukihime’s ability Terminate Sword would easily slice through Silver Crow’s metal armor.

He could have turned things around using the Incarnate System, but just because he’d been fighting with Incarnate full throttle lately, and just because the right to eat the sandwich—no, the right to have her eat the sandwich—was on the line, didn’t mean he could go around breaking the Legion rule of only using Incarnate when attacked with it first.

Thus, Haruyuki chose to defend with his sword, although it wasn’t like he had absolute faith in this option, either. Up to this point in time, the only things that had been able to cross swords with the limbs of the Black King and come out mostly unscathed had been legendary Enhanced Armaments, such as the demon sword Star Caster that the Armor of Catastrophe Chrome Disaster had been equipped with, and the Green King’s unbreakable great shield, the Strife, one of the Seven Arcs. Silver Crow’s Lucid Blade didn’t even begin to compare to the power of those weapons, especially given that Silver Crow was not a sword user by nature and the blade itself had only come into his possession as a level-six bonus.

Regardless, Haruyuki caught Kuroyukihime’s slashing attack from above with his beloved sword as soon as he had drawn it from its scabbard.

Skreeeek!

The obsidian blade stopped millimeters from his silver mask.

He’d defended—well, not quite. At the intersection of their swords, her blade was digging into his, albeit only slightly. If it came down to a contest of power, there was a strong possibility that he would be sliced in half together with his weapon.

“Nngh!” Grunting sharply, Haruyuki sank down as he turned his wrist. Kuroyukihime’s sword slid along the ridges of Lucid Blade, sending sparks scattering. Now the blade closed in on his right shoulder, and he drew it in until the very last possible second before he rolled it along and then pushed it back with not force but timing—the Way of the Flexible—using a sword.

The axis of Black Lotus’s body wobbled the tiniest bit, and not letting this momentary opening slip by, Haruyuki used his wings for a full-powered dash backward. Sparks flew as sword separated from sword. He only managed to catch his breath once he’d put more than three meters between them.

Kuroyukihime recovered her balance right away, but she didn’t immediately come in for a counterattack. The bluish-purple eye lenses beneath her semi-mirrored goggles blinked, and he heard her calm voice.

“Is that your new Enhanced Armament? Fairly decent sword you’ve got there.”

“I—I guess so.” He turned his eyes to the blade for just an instant and discovered that five millimeters were indeed missing from it. Sorry for putting you in this situation, he thought to it.

“Choosing this sword was a bit of a selfish impulse,” he said out loud. “To follow through on what I’ve been doing since level one, I should have taken the flight enhancement just like I have so far. And if I wanted to expand the range of my fighting techniques, it would have been better to pick an offensive or defensive special attack. Silver Crow’s a fighting-type duel avatar originally, so who knew what kind of compatibility he’d have with a sword? Plus, it’s not like I’m good with a sword or anything.”

“Hmm.” She cocked her head to one side. “So then why did you act on this selfish impulse?”

“Um.” As always, he was not great at explaining what he was thinking or feeling, but unlike his flesh-and-blood self, his duel avatar’s speech organs had never betrayed the orders of his brain. In an unconscious gesture, he put a hand to his chest and continued.

“So far, I’ve enhanced my avatar in ways that would make my dream of flying even faster a reality. But then I started wondering if that was enough… Like, Shinomiya has purification, which she uses to help people, and Master Fuko’s Wind Veil and Akira’s Maelstrom are techniques that allow them to protect their comrades. Even you, Kuroyukihime! You look like you’re specialized in attacking, but you use your Overdrive’s Mode Green when you’re on the defensive in a group battle. So I wanted to be able to do more for my comrades when we’re fighting together. That was basically my thinking. I figured I could fight opponents immune to striking attacks if I learned to use a sword.”

“My Mode Green was originally a technique for a fight of one against many, though,” Kuroyukihime noted with a wry smile. “However, I do believe what you just said is the polar opposite of a ‘selfish impulse.’”

“Oh, but I’m not done yet.” Shrinking into himself somewhat, Haruyuki picked up where he left off.

“I wasn’t lying when I said this sort of stuff was in my head when I chose the sword as my bonus. Not exactly. But later, while I was practicing with it and learning how to fight with it in a real battle, I realized that maybe I had another reason… Um. Taku and I made a promise. We said we would fight again for real when we both reached level seven.”

“Oh-ho.”

Haruyuki had the bad habit of suddenly going on a tangent in conversation, but Kuroyukihime simply nodded, without a hint of confusion.

“I see. You’ve both reached the step before level seven—before you become high rankers. As your parent, I couldn’t be more delighted. But what does the sword have to do with your promise to Takumu?”

“Well,” he said, “I think… I want to fight Taku with a sword. And I think I picked Lucid Blade because of that. And I guess I feel like that’s a pretty—no, a very selfish motive.”

Haruyuki had expected that upon hearing this confession, Kuroyukihime would laugh or get mad. But she did neither; her black crystal avatar merely nodded slowly.

“Mmm. I see. But Cyan Pile’s Enhanced Armament is not a sword. It’s a Pile Driver, correct? If the rules for your fight allow the use of Incarnate, then he could indeed use his Cyan Blade, but your sword would be no match for that weapon. Not until you develop an Incarnate technique to enhance your own weapon.”

“Hmm. I don’t want us to use Incarnate in our fight, so he’d have to get a sword, too, right?” Haruyuki paused. “It’d be great if he could get one as his level-seven bonus, but if not, we could try for a drop from a high-level Enemy or finally go to the shop.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Huh?” He frowned. “What do you mean ‘why’?”

“Why would you go to such lengths simply to fight Takumu with a sword?”

Haruyuki knew it was a reasonable question, but he realized he didn’t really have an answer. He looked from the Lucid Blade in his right hand to the face mask of the Black King and back again, seeking the reason inside himself. But he couldn’t find it, so he offered up a theory instead.

“Because Taku’s best weapon is a sword. He’s out there at kendo practice every day, and his Incarnate technique is also a sword. So if I’m going to fight him at full power, I think we should both fight with swords.”

“Mmm. I see.” Although she made noises of agreement, she didn’t look like she fully accepted this line of thinking.

Haruyuki stood rooted to the spot, waiting for her to continue, and Kuroyukihime cleared her throat as if pushing away some kind of hesitation before gliding over to him.

In a duel with anyone other than a Legion member, he would have been on guard against a surprise attack here in the guise of continuing the conversation, but the thought never even crossed his mind as he lowered the sword in his hand.

A mere fifty centimeters away from him, Kuroyukihime stared hard at Haruyuki with her sharp eye lenses.

“That’s not the full truth that lies in your heart,” she murmured finally. “Perhaps… you know it in the furthest recesses of your mind? Whether Incarnate is allowed or not, if you both put everything you have into the fight, every last drop of your strength”—she paused for a moment, and her voice grew even quieter as she continued—“you will most likely emerge victorious.”

“Huh?!” He jerked his head back in surprise and then shook it earnestly. “No way… There’s no way! I mean, I did win our very first duel. But he’s worked superhard since then and gotten really strong. I have no idea which one of us would win. I really don’t!”

“I wouldn’t think to refute that. Nor Takumu’s hard work,” she agreed. “But half of his self is in the real world—in his activities on the kendo team. In contrast—well, I wouldn’t say all of you, but some seventy percent of your heart is inclined toward the Accelerated World.”

“Um. Well, that might be true…”

“When it comes down to it,” she continued, “strength for a Burst Linker is the duel avatar’s performance together with the player’s abilities, knowledge, and experience. As of late, you’ve fought a succession of powerful warriors. The ones I know of include the Green Legion’s Iron Pound, the Blue Legion’s Coba-Manga sisters, the White Legion’s Glacier Behemoth and Rose Milady, the Society’s Shadow Cloaker and Argon Array… You’ve even exchanged blows with the Green King himself, if only briefly.”

Hearing the names she listed, Haruyuki shivered belatedly. He had indeed fought them all, but he couldn’t say he’d beaten even a single one of them under his own power. And he couldn’t really imagine going up against any of them ever again. That was how painful and difficult those fights had been. The experience had strengthened him and taught him a great deal—this was an unassailable fact. However.

“But Taku’s had his feet to the fire too many times to count! When the Society abducted Niko, he smashed Black Vise’s Octahedral Isolation, and in the Territories the other day, he was instrumental in protecting everyone from the Devil-class Enemies—”

“That’s it right there,” she interrupted.

“What?” he responded, baffled.

Kuroyukihime took her eyes from his face and glanced upward, probably to check how much time they had left. Following her lead, Haruyuki looked up himself and saw there were still 1,300 seconds—about twenty-one minutes remaining.

“Let’s sit for a moment,” she said, and then she proceeded to cross Oume Highway, heading toward the Suginami Ward office building Haruyuki had leapt down from. With the sword of her right hand, she sliced through two of the thick pillars in the garden in front of the building like they were made of butter. Once the tops fell backward, smashed to pieces, and disappeared, she fashioned two impromptu seats.

Kuroyukihime sat gracefully while Haruyuki plopped himself down across from her. He returned the Lucid Blade to its sheath and sighed.

“It’s so quiet,” she murmured, and she turned her goggles upward once more. She wasn’t looking at how long they had left now, but rather at the sky above them. The Sacred Ground stage was overcast as a general rule, but rather than sticky rain clouds hanging inert in the sky, belts of stratocumulus clouds drifted along at a fairly good clip, allowing them glimpses of a faintly golden sky in the gaps between.

As he stared absently at the flow above them, he heard her voice once more.

“A wired duel is nice sometimes.” She smiled. “No Gallery, no Enemies, only the two duelers alone in the world.”

“You can only do this if you’re together, huh,” Haruyuki responded casually, still looking up at the sky, and a giggle came back to him.

“Well of course, that’s what a wired duel is.”

“I—I guess so.” He looked back down and shrank into himself.

“But it is true.” Kuroyukihime nodded firmly. “There likely aren’t too many Burst Linkers who can duel directly on an everyday basis like you and I can. Normally, the only ones known to each other in the real are parent and child, and more than a few Burst Linkers have been parted from either parent or child due to total point loss or else forced into hostilities for some other reason.”

She herself was in definitive opposition to her own parent, the White King, White Cosmos. Takumu’s parent, a member of the Leonids, had been censured for their use and dissemination of a backdoor program as judged by the Blue King. The number of his friends who had lost their parents—Niko, Utai, Rui/Magenta, Satomi/Mint—was certainly not small.

“I… guess so.” His voice was barely audible.

Total point loss = Forced uninstall. This was the fundamental rule of Brain Burst. Because of this constraint, duels were serious contests, and the Accelerated World was no mere game world. But when he thought about it again now, he couldn’t help but shudder in fear at the ruthlessness—the cruelty—of this rule.

Burst Linkers who lost all their points also lost all memories pertaining to Brain Burst. While this was the mechanism that allowed the Accelerated World to remain hidden, it was also thought to be a measure of salvation for those who had lost all their points. But simply imagining the inexplicable emptiness that would wash over you after you lost everything made his limbs grow cold with terror.

That said, he didn’t think it was right for a Burst Linker who had lost all their points to be pulled back into the Accelerated World through some underhanded means and made to fight once more. Revived as a duplicate personality, Dusk Taker Seiji Nomi was impelled by a hatred even greater than the emotion he’d shown before his total point loss and so he’d run wild, out of control, until he was finally consumed by the Incarnate energy emitted from the ISS kit main body and vanished in a veil of haunting screams. Haruyuki assumed that the one who’d brought Nomi back to “life” had been the White King, also known by the nicknames Transient Eternity and Necromancer, and regardless of her reasons, he felt that her way of doing things was wrong. Very wrong.

“I never even considered it,” Kuroyukihime said abruptly, and Haruyuki lifted his face with a gasp.

“Considered what?” he asked.

“Ever having real-life interactions with so many Burst Linkers,” she told him. “In the first Nega Nebulus, the only ones I met in the real were Fuko and Utai. But now, I don’t know… The number of people I see on a daily basis easily exceeds ten. Let’s see…”

“Master Fuko, Shinomiya, Akira, Chiyu, Taku, me,” Haruyuki counted them off on his fingers. “Choco and Yume and Satomi. Kusakabe Rin, Niko, Pard. That’s twelve. A-and…” After a moment’s hesitation, he steeled himself and added, “If you count Wakamiya, there’s thirteen of us.”

“… Aah, yes. Thirteen.” Her voice was calm, but she crossed her sword-hands in what was likely an unconscious movement, wrapping them around her body.

He wavered again and then asked, “You still haven’t heard from Wakamiya?”

The black crystal avatar wordlessly shook her head.

Umesato Junior High student council secretary and Kuroyukihime’s best friend, Megumi Wakamiya—Orchid Oracle—had abruptly appeared in the Territories against the White Legion the day before and transformed the stage into the Unlimited Neutral Field with her astounding Incarnate technique Paradigm Breakdown. The battle ended with the new Nega Nebulus just barely snatching the victory, but when Megumi stayed back on the main battlefield alone with Black Lotus, she had simply said she was sorry and then pierced her own heart with Black Lotus’s sword to vanish from the stage.

After that, none of them had been able to get in touch with Megumi, and then she had appeared before Kuroyukihime and Haruyuki in an unexpected form—though he didn’t even know if that had actually been Wakamiya.

When Wolfram Cerberus charged into the meeting of the Seven Kings, his right shoulder—formerly home to the personality copy of Dusk Taker—spoke in Megumi’s somehow ephemeral voice, which was followed by a pale-peach overlay, and the stage was transformed into the Unlimited Neutral Field again.

Thinking about it, it seemed like they should assume the Megumi that had appeared there was a duplicate presence like Taker. But unlike Nomi, Wakamiya hadn’t lost her memories of being a Burst Linker. More precisely, although she’d previously lost all her points and had Brain Burst forcibly uninstalled, she’d regained her memories immediately before the Territories on Saturday.

Atop a small tower in the Unlimited Neutral Field, Megumi Wakamiya had told Haruyuki that the White King had set out a lone proposition after she restored Megumi’s memories and the BB program: If Megumi joined the Territories and used Paradigm Breakdown there, the White King would bring someone beloved to Megumi back to life. There was no way she could have refused—the “beloved someone” was a tragic Originator, Saffron Blossom, parent to Megumi and Rose Milady. Long, long ago, the White King herself had driven her to total point loss.

When Haruyuki revealed this truth to Megumi, she realized that the White King had been manipulating her, and she restored the Unlimited Neutral Field to the Territories stage. If she hadn’t, Haruyuki and his comrades would have been swallowed up by the herd of Devil-class Enemies that attacked them and very likely been annihilated.

In other words, by the end of the Territories, Megumi knew what the Acceleration Research Society was up to, and she had broken free of the emotional control of the White King. And yet not only had she not contacted Kuroyukihime, but she had been “equipped” in Wolfram Cerberus and had used her Incarnate technique again. What on Earth had happened…?

“If only it wasn’t summer break,” Kuroyukihime said lifelessly, her arms dropping limply to her sides. “If I could see Megumi at school tomorrow—well, even supposing she were absent, that would also tell me something. But in this situation, all I can do is keep sending messages and calling her.”

“Is that really all you can do, though?” Haruyuki asked timidly.

Kuroyukihime narrowed her eye lenses behind her goggles. “Are you saying there’s another way to contact her?”

“Um. What about going directly to Wakamiya’s house?”

He didn’t think he was suggesting anything even remotely outlandish, but Kuroyukihime didn’t react at all for some time.

Eventually, she blinked and said with a sigh, “Of all the things, how could I—no, of course I wouldn’t think of it. The idea never even occurred to me.”

“Um, have you ever… been to Wakamiya’s house?” he asked.

“Not once. And she’s never come to mine, either.” She shook her head. “We’ve gone shopping together or had tea after school any number of times, but… It seems that Megumi’s home situation is just as complex as my own. Then again, I would think few Burst Linkers could claim different.”

Haruyuki bobbed his head up and down without a word. Put another way, the majority of Burst Linkers were able to clear the BB program installation requirement of being equipped with a Neurolinker since infancy precisely because there was something twisted or problematic in their home lives.

“So then,” he started, “is going to Wakamiya’s house out of the question?”

“No, that’s not it. I am still the vice president of the student council,” she noted. “I’m able to remotely access the students’ personal information database.”

But that’s not because you’re vice president. It’s actually because you tweaked a bunch of stuff in the Umesato local net using that authority, isn’t it? The thought was in his head, but he couldn’t exactly say that, so he leaned forward and told her, “I-if you want to try going over there, I’ll come with you!”

“Mmm.” She nodded. “I’d appreciate that. But… time-wise, it would have to be tomorrow.”

“I guess so.”

It was about seven in the evening in the real world, and although it was still more or less light out at this time in July, it was a bit late for a junior high student to be out alone.

Through this chain of thought, Haruyuki remembered that he still hadn’t sent his mother a message, but he could think about that once the duel was over. Right now, there was something more important at hand.

“Um. If you’re going to go to Wakamiya’s house, then I think there’s someone you should to talk to before you do. Or actually, someone you should hear out.”

“Oh?” Kuroyukihime cocked her head to one side. “And who would that be?”

“Um…” He paused. “The White Legion’s Rose Milady.”

“Wha…?” She was speechless before letting out a sigh. “Oh, I see. You spoke to Grumpy in the Territories yesterday. Megumi—Oracle—and Rose are Saffron Blossom’s children and they both want Saffron resurrected. In which case, I guess it’s true I should discuss the situation with Rose, as well.”

Here, she cut herself off and then turned a somehow complicated gaze on Haruyuki.

“But are you saying then that you have some means of communicating with her? Did you go so far as to trade addresses in the middle of the Territories?”

“N-n-n-n-n-n-no!” Haruyuki flapped his hands frantically in front of his face before trying desperately to explain. “I do know a way of contacting her if that’s what we’re talking about, but it’s not like I asked for her address or anything. We could go through the Highest Level…”

“Was that it?” Kuroyukihime laughed cheerfully, and he finally realized she had been teasing him.

Now that he thought about it, she did know that he’d been summoned by the Archangel Metatron and come face-to-face with Rose Milady on the Highest Level right before the meeting of the Seven Kings that day. Although the one who’d actually explained all this to her had been Fuko, his companion there.

As he was feeling sorry for himself underneath his mask, Kuroyukihime held up a hand.

“Ah, sorry. It just came out when I thought about you making friends with yet another F-type.”

“Frie—No, no, no, we’re not friends or anything at all, no,” he protested. “I mean, she probably thinks I’m just some small fry from an enemy Legion.”

“You never know.” He could practically hear her arched eyebrow. “After all, you said Leo’s Dualis were quite rude to you at first, but now…”

“I-it’s not anything ‘now’!” Haruyuki pushed back hard against the implications, and was about to get the conversation back on track, when he had a sudden realization: They had supposedly sat down here to talk about Takumu, and before that, they had started this wired duel to determine which of them would eat the sandwich.

He once again checked the time remaining and saw they were down to fifteen minutes. The issue with Megumi was important, true, but he was also curious about what Kuroyukihime had started to say before they sat down.

“Um, Kuroyukihime?” he started. “Before we talk about Rose, can I ask you about Taku? You mentioned something about how the issue was all the tough battles Taku’s been through.”

“Oh, we were in the middle of talking about him, yes.” Straightening up on top of her pillar seat, Kuroyukihime shook her head slightly. “Naturally, there’s no issue with the fact that Takumu’s come through these battles himself. I also recognize that he’s steadily grown stronger in every respect. But don’t you sense it as his friend? That Takumu takes too many intropunitive actions?”

“Intropunitive?” Haruyuki frowned. “You mean he blames himself? Like, he punishes himself?”

“Exactly.” She nodded sharply.

His avatar’s mouth straightened into a line, and Haruyuki stared at the white-tiled ground. Unfortunately, he couldn’t refute Kuroyukihime’s observation.

It was true that Takumu had spoken of his own crimes any number of times and also tried to sacrifice himself to protect his comrades just as often. Haruyuki had told him over and over that it wasn’t his fault, but Takumu almost certainly still hadn’t forgiven himself for setting up the backdoor program in Chiyuri’s Neurolinker or for hunting the Black King. He’d also turned to the ISS kit out of his own self-hatred and despair.

From Haruyuki’s perspective, Takumu had seemed to have it all, but now he saw that they were fundamentally very similar. Ever since they were little, Haruyuki had gradually grown increasingly envious of tall, cool Takumu, who was good at academics and sports, until finally he pulled away from him and Chiyuri. But Takumu had also succumbed to the temptation of the backdoor program in his desire for whatever it was that Haruyuki had that he didn’t—although Haruyuki still didn’t really know what that was.

In their big battle at the hospital where Kuroyukihime had lain unconscious, and again when they fought at the time of the ISS kit crisis, Haruyuki and Takumu had revealed to each other what was deep in their souls and clashed with all their might. But there was a hint of lingering unpleasantness. And to eliminate this, they’d promised to duel at level seven. If Haruyuki held back in any way, Takumu would never forgive him, and of course, the opposite held true, as well. But Kuroyukihime was saying that the way the two friends were now, Haruyuki would win.

“I feel like Taku blaming himself… and his strength… are two different things, though,” Haruyuki asserted, lifting his head.

“It would be in a normal, everyday duel,” Kuroyukihime agreed. “Takumu’s calm nature, his powers of observation, his analytical skills, and the excellent strategies these lead him to are already in the domain of a high ranker. However—and I said this earlier as well—one-third of a Burst Linker’s strength is refined through experience. You’re not wrong that Takumu has also faced too many fierce battles to count, but in a live-or-die situation, he would sacrifice himself and save his comrades.”

Kuroyukihime paused here, and her eye lenses shone crystal clear beneath her goggles.

“But Haruyuki, you’re a bit different. No matter what happens, you don’t give up. You always do whatever it takes to make sure both you and your comrades survive. Or perhaps that’s just how it turns out… In those extreme situations, you don’t only think about how to defeat the enemy before you. I shivered when Fuko told me you defeated the Argon Array in an Incarnate fight.”

“N-no, that totally wasn’t me alone,” he protested. “If Master hadn’t pulled me back, I would have gotten my head blown off and died before I could mount an attack.”

“As careless as ever, I see.” She giggled. “But after that, you smashed Argon’s Infinite Array dead on, didn’t you? To a veteran of her class, the speed of her Incarnate technique activation would be basically the same as that of a normal special attack. And yet you were faster than that. So have a little more faith in yourself.”

At this rare unreserved compliment, Haruyuki squirmed and shook his head quickly. “Th-that was thanks to the wings Metatron lent me. You mentioned all these powerful people I fought aside from Argon, but I didn’t beat a single one of them by myself.”

“All of those fights inspired significant growth within you, however,” Kuroyukihime noted. “This strength of yours, to challenge powerful fighters without shrinking back, to try and win come hell or high water… Unfortunately, that’s something Takumu currently lacks. I’ll say it again. The reason that you are limiting your fight with him to sword against sword is because somewhere deep in your heart, you feel you would win if it was a no-holds-barred contest, isn’t it?”

“N-no!” Haruyuki earnestly denied this once more. “It’s not limiting or anything. I just want to duel Takumu with our swords…”

“Then I’ll ask you.” Her voice was gentle, but he also felt the steel at its center. “If you were to fight Takumu with that sword, would you seal away your flight ability? Those wings on your back; the very reason for your existence? Do you think Takumu would agree to a contest like that?”

“……!”

Haruyuki inhaled sharply, but the air in his virtual lungs showed no signs of returning as words. Holding his breath, he reflected on the girl’s question.

The truth was, he had realized it a little. That at the moment, his flight ability and Lucid Blade were not exactly compatible.

He could adapt his Aerial Combo, which combined striking techniques with propulsion from his wings, to attack with a sword. But the true pinnacle of his flight ability was indeed the speed and ability to maneuver freely in the sky of the stage, and the power of a plummeting attack was much greater with a dive kick than a slashing offensive. The truth was, when Haruyuki crushed Argon Array, he had chosen not his sword, but his own right leg. In fact, he hadn’t even considered using Lucid Blade.

He slowly exhaled and half muttered, “It’s true. I might have to seal away my wings if we fight with blades. But if Takumu’s using a sword, too, then he’ll end up sealing away the Pile Driver of his right arm. So then the conditions will be… equal… won’t they?”

“I’m sorry, but Takumu won’t think so.” Shaking her head, Kuroyukihime raised the sword of her right hand and pointed it at a slender ray of golden light shining through a break in the clouds. “For Takumu, the sword is a familiar weapon. Possibly more so than his Pile Driver… But that’s not the case for you. The way you caught my blow earlier with the Way of the Flexible was magnificent, but you could’ve handled it more smoothly with your bare hands. This sword is still a tool to extend your reach. It hasn’t even reached the most basic of levels for a sword-bearing avatar—you’re still not one with the sword.”

“One… with the sword?” he parroted back.

“Mmm.” She nodded. “It might be just the tiniest amount, but you were putting extra power into it back there. The reason your blade was nicked is because you were trying to push back my slicing attack with force.” Her words made all the sense of a riddle, but her last comment at least caused something to fall into place for him.

Deep in his ears, he felt like he heard the echo of a voice.

You mustn’t try to push back power with power.

There’s no need for power in sword techniques in the Accelerated World.

He’d heard this voice while fighting the seventh Dwarf of the White Legion, Glacier Behemoth. But he still had no idea who exactly it belonged to. The manner of speaking was similar to that of Amaterasu, one of the Four Saints, whom he’d encountered on the Highest Level, but the tone was totally different.

“What’s the matter, Haruyuki?” Kuroyukihime asked, and he hurriedly lifted the face he’d lowered at some point and bobbed his head up and down.

“Oh! I-I’m sorry. Um. I get a tiny bit of what you’re trying to say. Strikes…” He paused. “The force of punches is determined by speed and power, but it’s a little different for swords, right? This isn’t the real world, after all. It’s the Accelerated World, so a sword is like, um, a blade—no, well, that’s obvious, huh? Ummmmm, if you really dig deep, it’s not even a blade, though. It’s like the cutting power is a concept, or…” Haruyuki earnestly worked to give voice to his thoughts even as he started to lose the thread of them himself a little.

Kuroyukihime blinked once before saying, “Oh-ho. So you do understand, don’t you? Surprisingly. Of course, it’s not like this for all swords. Some are used to beat opponents back with their sheer weight like a blunt weapon, but mine and that Lucid Blade of yours are specialized in cutting power. If you can master the use of such a sword, you will even be able to cut through steel. But the road to that point is endlessly long. The fact that you would think you could have an equal contest using swords against Takumu, who has been studying kendo since he was very young, is a little optimistic, I have to say.”

“… Right…” He hung his head in dejection before turning to the swordmaster as if seeking a rock to cling to. “But in that case, what should I do? If the fight is ‘anything goes,’ then you think I have the advantage, right? I really believe that when it comes to raw ability, we’re totally on the same level. Or actually, Taku might even be stronger than me. But the Metatron Wings… I borrowed this power from Metatron, so it’s outside the framework of the basic principle of same level, same potential. Still, it’s not like we can prohibit Enhanced Armament, and I know Taku would never agree to a rule prohibiting just my Metatron Wings.”

“Hmm.” She pondered the question for a brief moment. “I don’t think the Metatron Wings are the essential issue here, but well, it is true that Takumu would want you to use all of your strength. Ultimately, you have two choices.”

“Two?”

“First, you use your Incarnate techniques, the Metatron Wings, everything, and fight Takumu with your full power, no holds barred. It’s just as you said—I do think you would win given the difference in your experience fighting powerful warriors and your willpower to push through to victory, but it’s not as though that’s a foregone conclusion.”

“A-and the other choice?” he asked.

“Just as you wish, you seal away your flight ability and your Metatron Wings and the Pile Driver, and fight sword against sword,” she told him. “But before you can do that, you have to become capable enough with the sword for Takumu to accept these conditions. Up into the territory of a true master… In that event, you might be able to have the serious contest you and Takumu desire, one that burns up everything inside you.”

“T-true master,” Haruyuki muttered, stunned, and touched the sheath of the Lucid Blade unconsciously. “But I only just got this as a bonus for level six. How many days—no, weeks—would I have to train if I wanted to become a master?”

“You’re too optimistic!” Kuroyukihime smiled indulgently. “This is on the order of a few months at the very least—years, depending on how things go. Takumu has been practicing kendo since grade three—so, five, six years, yes? If you’re going to try and catch up with him, halfhearted efforts won’t be enough.”

“… I… guess not. Totally,” Haruyuki replied, picturing Takumu in the kendo dojo swinging his bamboo sword, together with Cyan Pile readying his Incarnate sword Cyan Blade.

Training for years—it wasn’t impossible in the Unlimited Neutral Field, where more than four hundred days would pass in about ten hours in the real world. But Haruyuki had never once tackled the challenge of such a long-term continuous dive because of the warning Kuroyukihime had given him back when he’d first learned of the existence of this virtual space. If you dive for too long, reality slips away. Even memories of the real world become hazy if a player is away long enough.

Once the Territories from the previous day ended and Haruyuki returned to his home, he’d once again visited the Unlimited Neutral Field under the orders of the Archangel Metatron and trained for two months to strengthen their link. At present, that was the longest dive he had ever done. But now Kuroyukihime herself was proposing he train for several years. Otherwise, he’d never master fighting with a sword—and he’d never get his fair fight with Takumu.

“That’s… just what I want,” Haruyuki said, firming up his resolve as he gripped the sheath of Lucid Blade. “If it means I can fight Taku with a sword, then I’ll train however many years it takes. And it’s not because I’d win with no rules or anything like that… I simply want to face Taku this way. And when I do, Taku and I will both be able to move forward. I firmly believe this.”

“I see. Understood.” Kuroyukihime looked at Haruyuki with her bluish-purple eye lenses. “Apologies for the nitpicking, Haruyuki. If that’s the case, then I won’t begrudge you my assistance. I do happen to have a passing knowledge of sword techniques. I’ll be there until you reach the master level and—” Abruptly, the flow of encouraging words stopped, and Haruyuki blinked rapidly in surprise.

And then he finally realized that Kuroyukihime couldn’t join him to train with the sword in the Unlimited Neutral Field. Because the instant they dived, Black Lotus would be burned to death in the intense flames of Inti. Or rather, she would have to wait an hour or so to be regenerated first, but the end result was the same. Until they found a way for her to escape from the Unlimited EK trap set by Black Vise, Kuroyukihime could not visit the Unlimited Neutral Field.

“Kuroyukihime.” Leaning forward, Haruyuki argued vehemently, like a man possessed, “I am totally, totally going to help you out of Inti’s flames. At the Legion meeting tonight, we’ll all talk and find a way for you to escape. I promise… I promise.”

“Ohh, I know.” Her avatar relaxed, and she seemed to be smiling. “I believe in you—you and everyone in Nega Nebulus. We’ve finally made it to the point where we’re exposing all of the White Legion’s evil deeds. We can’t allow ourselves to be stopped here. I have to get out of that ridiculous ball of flames immediately and declare war on Cosmos.”

“Right!” Haruyuki agreed with all his heart, and as he yanked his head up, he caught sight of the timer in the upper part of his field of view. In the blink of an eye, they were down to only five minutes. “Oh! We’re done already. Okay, I’ll apply for a draw—”

“What half-baked nonsense is that?” Kuroyukihime said in exasperation, and stood up soundlessly from the severed pillar. “Five minutes is plenty. Let’s finish this, Haruyuki.”

“Unh?! O-okay,” he squeaked as he got to his feet in a panic. After hurrying to draw Lucid Blade, he realized that there was one more thing he needed to do. “Oh! P-please wait a sec.”

“What? Now you get scared?”

“N-no, that’s not it,” he protested. “Well, that’s not not it, but please give me just a little time before we resume the duel.”

“Mmm?” She cocked her head to one side. “I don’t mind, but there’s only four and a half—”

“It’s okay. We’ll be done in thirty seconds,” he declared and extended his hands. “Kuroyukihime, please give me your hands.”

“F-fine…” Looking confused, Kuroyukihime raised the swords of her hands and brought up a faint overlay in the tips. Krrk! The sword tips split and transformed into five surprisingly slender fingers.

Gently clasping the proffered hands, Haruyuki prayed, Metatron, sorry to bug you when you’re resting, but could you guide us to the Highest Level?

He heard the reply right away, but it wasn’t in the form of a voice, but rather a bell. Ringing repeatedly, the sound enveloped them and finally became a river of light tinged with a hazy heat, running through the circle created by their joined arms.

“Kuroyukihime, please feel the flow of the light.” He now sent his thoughts toward his duel partner, and heard a slightly perplexed voice in the back of his mind.

“Mmm… Like this?”

“Yes, that’s it. Concentrate… Here we go!”

He had no sooner announced this than he aligned his mind with the endlessly accelerating light. The sounds of the Sacred Ground stage receded, and the sights melted into a white light.

Skreeeeee!! By the time the sound of reacceleration rang out, both of their minds were already flying toward the space of the higher dimension.