Chapter 8 - Central Cathedral (5th Month of Human World Calendar 380)
Part 1
What a great distance I have traveled—
A lofty ceiling, uniform marble pillars, and the floor, an exquisite stone mosaic that used a variety of rock types.
Even as he had his breath taken away upon beholding the splendor of the Axiom Church Central Cathedral's interior for the first time, Eugeo couldn't help but to think so.
Until slightly more than two years ago, he believed that his life was to continue hacking away in vain at an unfellable tree with his axe. To pass his days immersed in memories of his blonde childhood friend, lost long ago, without getting married or having children, before turning his sacred task over to the next woodcutter after years had passed, living deep within the forest like that, and having his Life expire someday without anyone noticing.
However, the black-haired youth who had suddenly appeared one day forcibly broke through the small world that confined Eugeo. He even managed to hack down that absolute barrier sealing the path towards the capital, the Gigas Cedar, with a method that generations of woodcutter could never have imagined, causing Eugeo to approach a crucial juncture. To continue living in the small village while holding onto his memories of Alice. Or to set out on a journey to recover Alice—
It would be a lie to say that he hadn't faltered. Eugeo’s first thought was of his family the moment Gasupht, the village chief, said that he could choose his next sacred task on that village festival night.
Until then, Eugeo had always turned over all of the wages he had earned from chopping the Gigas Cedar to his family. Their occupation for generations had been growing wheat, but their fields were confined, especially in recent years where revenue was scarce due to the succession of poor harvests. His parents and elder brothers might not mention it outright, but they were likely partially counting on the stable income Eugeo earned each month.
The earnings as a woodcutter would naturally be gone with the felling of the Gigas Cedar. However, he could probably receive preferential treatment in gaining an area well-exposed to the sun in the newly cleared, cultivated land in the south if he chose to grow wheat like his father and the rest of his family as his sacred task. Upon spotting the faces of his family from the stage, mixed with anticipation and anxiety, at a corner of the cheerful villagers making merry, Eugeo was at a loss.
He was, but only for a brief moment. Eugeo forcibly tipped the scale balancing a reunion with the girl from his childhood and a life with his family, and he made a declaration. That he would leave the village and become a swordsman.
Even if he were to choose being a swordsman as his sacred task, he could still receive a salary from the village if he had stayed in Rulid and become one of the guards. However, leaving the village was, ultimately, to stand on his own two feet, away from his family's side. The money Eugeo brought to his family and the new fields they could have received were all nullified. The reason he had left in such a hurry, on the day after the festival, was because he could not bear to see his parents and elder brothers' faces, suppressing their disappointment and dissatisfaction.
There were chances where he could have chosen to start a new life with his family even after setting off with Kirito. Having participated in the swordsmanship tournament held in the town of Zakkaria, Eugeo won in the end, alongside Kirito, which had earned him the right to enter the guard corps, and he did so. Enduring the harsh training for half a year, they received letters of recommendation to take the examination for the North Centoria Imperial Sword Mastery Academy from their commanding officer in the guard corps, but an invitation from the commanding officer came with that. Their ranks would rise next year if they remained with the guard corps, with the level of skill the two had, and even becoming the commanding officer in the future was no fantasy. How comfortable would his family's lifestyle have gotten if he had gained a stable income in Zakkaria and sent a portion of it back to their home by entrusting it to an itinerant wagon?
However, Eugeo politely declined the commanding officer's invitation and got him to write the letter of recommendation as planned.
While en-route to the capital, his goal, and after enrolling in the Sword Mastery Academy as well, Eugeo continued making excuses in a corner of his mind the entire time. For example, if he was chosen as the academy's representative swordsman, gaining victory in the Four Empire Unity Tournament, and thus, inducted as an honorable integrity knight, he could enable his parents and family to live in unimaginable extravagance. Or if he made a triumphal return to the village, clad in silver armor and straddling a flying dragon alongside Alice, his parents would have more pride in him than anyone else.
However, by drawing his sword against the elite swordsmen-in-training, Raios Antinous and Humbert Zizek, two evenings past, Eugeo had betrayed his family for the third time. At the very least, he had discarded the considerably likely future of being invested as a first class aristocrat if the circumstances had allowed it... no, that was an understatement; he had discarded even his status as a commoner and chosen instead the path of being a major criminal who had violated a taboo.
Back then, Eugeo was conscious of those circumstances somewhere in his mind, even when he was induced into motion by a tremendous rage. If he were to cut Raios and Humbert at this very moment, he would lose anything and everything. Eugeo drew his sword while aware even of that. He did it to help Tiezé and Ronye who appeared to be getting raped before his eyes; he did it to continue in the justice he believed in; but that wasn't all to it. He had desired to release that bloodthirst rampaging within his heart; he had desired to erase Raios and Humbert without leaving a single trace behind; he had certainly desired to take action on those murky thoughts.
Really now, what a great distance I have traveled—
He had made a complete turn from one of the exclusive twelve elite swordsmen-in-training in the academy, to stepping upon the floor of the most sacred place in the world as a rebel, an enemy of the Axiom Church.
Fleeing from the pursuit of the bow-using integrity knight, Eugeo was informed of the existence of a book that recorded down all history of the Human World from a young girl who was supposed to be the previous highest minister of the Axiom Church in the mysterious Great Library Room he had entered, and proceeded to read it as though he was devouring it. Because he needed to know, no matter what. Whether there were any humans who had pointed a blade towards the church, fought with integrity knights, and escaped far away somewhere after accomplishing their wishes, in the long history.
Unfortunately, he couldn't find a single episode of such a person. The influence of the church spread far and wide, covering the world, and all of the masses would prostrate themselves before the authority of the integrity knights; no matter how serious the quarrel was—it would be easily overcome, even if it was a dispute over imperial borders between fellow empires. There wasn't even a single record of anyone who had drawn a sword in an attack against the church and fought against the integrity knights in the massive history book, no matter how hard he had examined it.
...In other words, I am the worst sinner over the three hundred and eighty years since the Human World was created by the goddess of creation, Stacia.
The moment Eugeo thought so while closing the back cover of the book, an icy chill assailed him. If Kirito hadn't come back with such perfect timing and called out to him, he would have probably have continued to quail as he cowered there.
Eugeo had to convince himself countless times, even as he listened to a tale from the mysterious previous highest minister with his partner. He could no longer return to his previous way of life after choosing to abandon his family, slash another man, and fight against the church. He had no path aside from moving forward, no matter how much blood may stain his hands, no matter how many sins may besmirch his soul. For the sake of that one purpose that he had left.
To recover the «heart fragment» stolen by the current highest minister, turn Integrity Knight Alice Synthesis Thirty back into Alice Schuberg, and send her to the dearly-missed Rulid Village.
However, his wish to live together with the girl could no longer be granted. The one and only place he thought he could go now, with the many crimes he had committed, was beyond the mountain range at the edge, into the dreadful land of darkness. But that was fine too. There was nothing more to hope for, if Alice could live happily where she was born.
As Eugeo reflected upon his mute determination, he stared at Kirito's back, moving ahead of him.
...If I said I will go to the land of darkness, would he come with me...?
Upon asking that question silently, Eugeo forced himself to stop imagining his partner's reply. Thinking about how his path forward might, in the near future, part from his black-haired staunch friend, the only other person in this world standing in the same position right now, was unbelievably terrifying.
As Cardinal mentioned, the corridor that extended straight from the door was unexpectedly short.
He walked quickly, while sunk in thought for a mere instant; it didn't take him long before reaching the spacious, rectangular room.
The central portion of the right wall had staircases, surprisingly wide and respectively rising up and descending down. The ceiling's height extended over eight mel, thus, it seemed there were over twenty steps until reaching the landing at the halfway point of the staircase.
And set in the left wall were grand double doors, surrounded by sculptures of winged beasts.
Kirito walking in front quickly turned his right palm this way and hugged against the wall, so Eugeo followed suit and pressed his back against a stone pillar within reach. Holding his breath, he scanned through the gloomy, spacious room.
If the previous highest minister's words prove right, the grand doors on the left ought to be the equipment vault they were looking for. Despite being such an important place, the spacious room was silent as the grave, lacking the presence of any others. Even the light from Solus that shone in from the large staircase to the right appeared stained in an icy gray hue.
"...There's no one around, huh..."
Upon softly whispering towards Kirito's back, his partner nodded, slightly disappointedly as well.
"It's an equipment store, so I figured there would be a guard or two, but... I guess maybe it's because the Axiom Church wouldn't have anyone entering to steal in the first place..."
"But they know about our intrusion already, right? They're rather calm despite that."
"They really do have reason to be. They have no need to spend their time searching around for people like us. In other words, the next time we meet integrity knights, there will either be a considerably large number of them or considerably strong ones. C'mon, let's make use of this time extension as much as we can."
Ending his words with a hmph, in a snort, Kirito agilely ran out from the cover of the wall. Eugeo followed after that, crossing the deserted, spacious hall.
The doors to the equipment vault had embossed carvings of the two goddesses, Solus and Terarria, and no keyholes, but they possessed such intensity that it made him think that unbelievers might not be able to open them, no matter how hard they pulled or pushed. However, after Kirito put his ear against the door for a bit, then placed his hands upon the handles, putting some force into them, the doors opened so easily that it was practically a let-down. The hinges didn't even let out a single creak.
A dense, cold air, like several hundred years worth of stillness, swirled out from the black gap of around fifty cen that opened up and made Eugeo shiver, but his partner slipped himself through without hesitation, so he hurriedly followed behind. When the solemn doors closed behind, their surroundings were engulfed in complete darkness.
"System call..."
The art ritual that instinctively left his mouth overlapped perfectly with Kirito's voice, so he ended up smiling despite the situation. While continuing with generate luminous element, Eugeo recalled the time he went with Kirito to the north cave to search for Selka. It was hard enough using the basics of the basics among the sacred arts back then and he couldn't do much more than making a stick held in his hand light up faintly at its tip—
The pure white luminous element brought forth atop his right palm pushed aside the dense darkness, incidentally brushing away Eugeo's nostalgic mood.
"Uo..."
As Kirito let out an astonished voice at his side, a gulp simultaneously came from Eugeo's throat.
What space. It was labeled a vault, so he imagined a place like the Sword Mastery Academy's tool storehouse, but this was ridiculous. It had practically as much area as the large practice arena where Kirito and Uolo Levanteinn had held their match.
Radiance of each and every hue filled the space, reflected illumination from the luminous element that shot from Eugeo's palm, with the surrounding smooth stone walls on all four sides.
Systematically lined along the floor were suits of armor, placed upon supports modelled after humans. In addition to having pitch-black ones, pure-white ones, and those in dazzling hues of coppery reds, silvery blues, and golden yellows, they also included each and every sort of armor, from light armor constructed from thin chains and leather to heavy armor, large metal plates joined together without any gaps. They numbered no less than five hundred.
And on the tall walls hung, yet again, practically every kind of weapon in existence, closely packed together.
Even among the swords alone, there were long ones, short ones, with a wide range of thick, thin, straight, and curved ones also. In addition, there was a great variety of combat equipment, from single-edged and double-edged axes, to lances and long spears, warhammers, whips, and maces, to bows stretched from the floor to nearly the ceiling, their numbers practically uncountable, and Eugeo could do naught but leave his mouth agape.
"...Sortiliena-senpai might get overwhelmed and faint if she came here, huh."
Kirito finally broke the silence with a whisper several seconds later.
"Yeah... The same goes for Gorgolosso-senpai, he'd throw himself at that large sword and never let go of it if he saw it."
Sighing as he murmured a reply, Eugeo then forcefully expelled the breath choked in his throat. Scanning through the vast equipment vault once more, he shook his head two or three times.
"How do I say this... is the church thinking about eventually starting its own army or something? The integrity knights alone should already be enough, though..."
"Hmm... to fight with the army of darkness...? No, that's not it..."
Kirito's expression suddenly stiffened and continued with a glance at Eugeo.
"It's the reverse. It's not to make an army... but to make it impossible to create one; that's why the church has been gathering equipment here. The equipment here is probably all powerful, at sacred instrument class or somewhere around there. The highest minister, Administrator, didn't need some organization aside from the Axiom Church from getting their hands on strong equipment and obtaining excess battle potential..."
"Eh...? What's that supposed to mean? There can't possibly be an organization that'll turn on the Axiom Church, no matter what kind of strong equipment they hold, can there?"
"In other words, the one with the least faith in the church's authority might just be the venerable highest minister herself."
Eugeo could not immediately grasp the meaning of Kirito's sarcastic words. However, his partner patted him on his back before he could ponder on them.
"Come on, time's running out. Let's hurry up and get our swords back."
"Ah... y-yeah. But it'll be a daunting task to look for them from all these..."
The Blue Rose Sword and the black sword were sheathed in their respective sheaths of discreet white and black leather, but many similar swords could be spotted on the walls.
"...Even if we try to use the umbra element searching art again, the sacred power in the area should have been used up by the luminous elements earlier..."
It was in that moment, when Eugeo let out a sigh while thinking 'if that was the case, we should have just used a single light', that Kirito unhesitatingly spoke.
"Oh, found them."
Lifting his right hand, he pointed to the immediate left of the doors they had entered.
"Woah... to think they're in a place like this."
The white and black swords at the spot Kirito pointed towards were certainly the pair's beloved swords, beyond any room for doubt. Eugeo gazed at his partner's profile in mute amazement.
"Kirito, how did you do that without even using any sacred arts...?"
"I just figured that the newest swords brought in might be placed closest to the door."
Despite how Kirito, who revealing his reasoning, would normally childishly show a proud smile at such times, he was now for some reason staring solemnly at his own black sword. But he then immediately exhaled, approached the wall, and gripped the black leather sheath after reaching for it with his right hand.
He froze for a fleeting instant, as if hesitating, but lifted it off the metal supports before long. Following that, he took the Blue Rose Sword at its side with his left hand and tossed it. Eugeo caught it in a panic and the familiar weight made itself known to his wrist.
Despite spending less than a few days away from his beloved sword, a powerful sense of nostalgia and relief that surprised even Eugeo himself flooded through him and he tightly grasped the sheath with both hands.
The Blue Rose Sword was always close to him and had helped him out countless times ever since the Gigas Cedar was felled back home. It was there when he had entered the swordsmanship tournament in the town of Zakkaria; it was there when he had challenged the entrance examinations for the Sword Mastery Academy; it was even there when he had disobeyed the Taboo Index and amputated Humbert's arm.
If the Axiom Church had always been gathering all kinds of powerful equipment over the many years, them overlooking this Blue Rose Sword, laying dormant in the north cave, was truly good fortune—or perhaps fate. Evidence that following the path of taking Alice back was definitely not a mistake...
"Stop getting all overwhelmed already, hurry up and wear it."
Abruptly regaining his senses at Kirito's voice, mingled with laughter, he saw that his partner had already attached his beloved sword's sheath onto the clasp of his sword belt. Eugeo followed suit while showing an embarrassed smile, ending with a pat on its pommel and looked around as he pondered on their next step. The elite-looking armor lined up on the ground had engraved nameplates hung on them, with names such as [Senrai Armor] or [Shinzan Kacchu] [4] , inciting quite an interest from him.
"...What should we do, Kirito? We'll probably be able to find one that suits us with this many around, do you want to borrow some armor too?"
"Naah, we haven't worn armor before, right? It's best not to do what you’re not used to. Let's just take those clothes over there."
Looking towards the place his partner pointed and true enough, he saw clothes in a variety of colors arranged at a section within the ranks of the armor. Looking down at his own body, he found spots torn and frayed on the academy uniform he had worn from two days ago due to the fight and subsequent retreat from Knight Eldrie.
"True, they'll likely become indistinguishable from rags sooner or later at the rate we're going."
The two luminous elements drifting overhead were gradually losing their radiance too. Casting away his lingering regrets over the armor, he ran over to the clothes section and haphazardly dug through the fabric that seemed to be of high quality, looking for a coat and trousers that matched his frame. Turning their backs to each other, they quickly changed.
Putting his hand through the sleeve of ultramarine clothes extremely similar to his academy uniform, Eugeo was shocked by the texture's smoothness. When he turned back after changing, he saw Kirito had the same thought, stroking the black fabric with both hands.
"...These clothes definitely have their own little bit of stories to tell. It would be nice if they could stop the integrity knights' attacks somewhat, though."
"Now that's hoping for too much."
After laughing a little at his frivolous partner's words, Eugeo’s expression tautened.
"Now then... shall we get going?"
"Yeah... I guess so."
Trading short remarks, they returned to the entrance.
Things had gone so smoothly thus far that it could be considered disappointing, but it would hardly remain that way. Let's proceed with our guards up—their deep, mutual nods silently included the recognition of that fact; Eugeo grasped the right handle of the doors and Kirito, the left.
Gently pulling them open together, the gap gingerly widened—
Do-ka-ka-ka! That noise came almost concurrently from the countless steel arrows that pierced through the surface of the thick doors.
"Uwah!"
"Owah!?"
The doors were hurled open with the weight of the impact; Eugeo and Kirito fell onto the ground, their rear-ends first.
A familiar knight in red armor stood on the grand staircase's landing, far away on the opposite side of the rectangular room stretching out from the opening, starting to nock fresh arrows onto a long bow of nearly the same height. Furthermore, that was with four at the same time. There was no mistake that this was the same integrity knight riding the flying dragon in the rose garden.
The distance between us is roughly thirty mel, huh? Swords definitely can't reach, but it's likely the perfect range for an expert archer. And we probably won't have the time to draw the swords at our waists from this unsightly fallen posture, let alone getting up and taking cover at the walls.
That was why I said we should wear the armor! It would have been even better if we had a shield!
Eugeo screamed thusly in his heart as the knight began drawing the longbow's string almost simultaneously.
With things as they are, I have no choice but to give up on evading without getting hurt and use all I have to avoid a fatal wound—no, a severe wound that'll render me immobile at the very least.
Eugeo opened his eyes wide and stared at the four nocked arrows. The dull silver-colored arrows were aimed not at their hearts, but their legs. It was as Cardinal mentioned, the order passed down to the knights was likely not to take them out, but to capture them. But in the current circumstances, getting captured was essentially the same as getting murdered.
The integrity knight drew the strained bowstring to its limit.
A moment of stillness arrived, where all motion seemed to cease—
Kirito's tense voice pierced through that opening.
"Burst element!"
Eugeo could not instantly catch what his partner said as it was too fast. He understood its significance only after the phenomenon occurred.
A brilliant whiteness suddenly radiated across his vision.
An intense light, as if Solus had descended. It was a simple art that merely set free a luminous element, one of the «elements» that served as the foundation of elemental sacred arts, but Kirito hadn't recited the art ritual for generating elements. Just where did—...
No, there was an element. There were luminous elements, drifting in midair, called out by both of them to illuminate the equipment vault tens of minutes ago, weren't there? The neglected elements were on standby for any sequential art rituals. Kirito gave the order for the element floating over his head to be set free and produced that immense light.
—There was him throwing that glass fragment he had picked up during the fight with Eldrie too; I'm totally no match for him at fighting by making use of items lying around as always...
While thinking about such things, Eugeo gathered strength into his legs within the pure white light and jumped to the right with all his might.
He immediately heard the screeching noise of steel arrows digging into the stone floor, coming from where he had been until half a second ago. It would be best to take cover by the walls first, having averted a direct hit—or so he thought, when Kirito's low shout reached his ears.
"Forward!"
Understanding his partner's aim in an instant, Eugeo kicked off the ground once again. Not slanting off towards the right, but straight forward.
The luminous element's explosion was from overhead, behind the pair, which meant Kirito and Eugeo did not face the light source directly, but the integrity knight's eyes should have taken the light head-on. There was no doubt his eyesight would remain robbed for several more seconds.
The luminous element's direct offensive ability was low when compared to thermal and cryogenic elements, and mostly used in healing arts instead, but if one were to make a weapon emanate light strongly, it possessed the promising abilities of blinding eyes and inspiring awe. Hence, it was wise to prepare an element of the opposing type, the umbra element, for the sake of neutralizing art rituals when the opponent generates a luminous element during battle; this was taught even in the academy's lessons.
There was no way an integrity knight, standing at the apex of all swordsmen and art users, would not have heard of such common knowledge, which meant calling a new luminous element out and blinding him would not work for a second time. This was the first and last opportunity to narrow the distance from the enemy archer.
Speedy analysis of the situation and selection of actions were also an essential point of the Aincrad-style, or so Kirito told Eugeo countless times. It was a way of thinking utterly different from the High Norkia-style that emphasizes refinement and gallantry in movements. And the charm to calm one's mind down for putting that point into practice, even in the midst of battle, was «stay cool».
A step behind his partner following the usage of the luminous element, Eugeo frantically chased after the footsteps in front. He drew the Blue Rose Sword from the left of his waist as he ran.
Having served its purpose, the luminous element vanished immediately after, and the world regained its color and form. The pair had already run into the spacious hall from the equipment vault. Affirming with both eyes wide open, that the integrity knight could be seen standing around twenty steps up the staircase ahead.
As predicted, it appeared that the knight's vision was still impaired. His body tottered with his right hand on the face guard of that bronze-colored helmet.
It was a true stroke of luck that unlike Eldrie, the integrity knight in front of them did not wear a sword on his waist. He had an astonishing amount of self confidence, bringing nothing more than a single longbow when picking a fight indoors. He must have been convinced that he could shoot through the pair's legs before they could approach.
Eugeo's mind was calm, but still, he could not suppress that tiny flame of anger, languidly swaying in a corner of his consciousness.
—Integrity knight, you're the same as Raios and Humbert. You are haughty, arrogant, and you believe yourself to always be in the right. You are convinced that you, justice incarnate, have absolutely no chance of losing.
—But that is your own vanity. Just wait, I will... prove that to you this instant!!
Pushed on by a rather foreign emotion, Eugeo charged onto the grand staircase. It was after traversing the first two steps, just as his right foot reached for the third.
The knight, standing on the landing slightly more than ten steps ahead, removed his right hand from the face guard, turned it around towards his back, and drew out steel arrows from a quiver. Every remaining one, all at the same time.
The packed bunch of arrows that his right hand nimbly brought back numbered at least thirty no matter how one looked at it. Without even granting enough time to question what he had in plan, the knight nocked the entire bunch of arrows onto the string of the longbow held horizontal with his left hand.
"Wha..."
Stopping with his foot on the third step of the grand staircase, Eugeo gulped. There ought to be no way that single slender bowstring would be able to fire thirty arrows together at once.
A metallic, creaking noise reached his ears. Something cold ran down his spine upon noticing that it was the steel arrows screaming as they endured a tremendous grip.
It appeared Kirito, who had stopped on the right, had deduced the knight's intentions as well. It could be a bluff made in desperation, or—
An increasingly violent squealing swept out; the longbow was drawn back heavily.
"—Jump back to the left!"
Kirito shrieked.
Binn! The air reverberated, followed immediately with a snapping sound as the bowstring broke under the pressure.
But every single one of the thirty steel arrows were fired out into a radial pattern, cascading down onto the pair as a lethal, silver storm.
Eugeo kicked off the stairs with such force that he thought his right foot broken, pitching his body towards the left. He laid the Blue Rose Sword across the center of his body, protecting it.
The pair surely would have been riddled with holes if the knight had not had an issue with his eyesight.
One arrow struck the Blue Rose Sword and was repelled with a shrill noise. One weaved through the right cuff of Eugeo's trousers, one made a shallow cut at his left flank, and one grazed his left cheek, shearing off several strands of hair.
Loudly crashing onto the ground, shoulder first, fear made Eugeo grit his teeth as he looked down along his own body. After confirming the lack of severe wounds, he turned his face towards Kirito who had jumped towards the right.
"Kirito! You alright?!"
His black-haired partner lightly nodded with an expression that went rigid as expected upon his hoarse shout.
"So... somehow. Looks like it went through the gap in between my toes."
He saw an arrow stuck in through the tip of Kirito's left shoe, piercing through the sole, when he took a look. While giving thanks to his partner's reaction speed and good luck, Eugeo took a deep breath of air.
"...That was dangerous..."
He murmured as he urged his numbed body to stand.
When he looked up at the landing, the integrity knight had truly ceased motion this time round. The quiver on his back was empty and the longbow's string, too, was broken and dangling loosely. This was truly what running out of options meant, with his bow broken and arrows spent [5] . But the opponent was an integrity knight, so it would be unacceptable to let down one's guard, not to mention this was no situation for pity.
"...Let's go."
His partner gave a subdued call and Eugeo set his right foot onto the stairs once again.
But Kirito instructed Eugeo, with his left hand still gripping onto the arrow extracted from his shoe.
"Wait... that knight's reciting an..."
"Eh."
Eugeo pricked up his ears in a fluster. So long as they weren't at a distance where they could slash the enemy with a single bound, it was imperative to generate the opposing element when he starts to recite a sacred art. He focused on the voice, warped in a metallic manner, uttered from under the integrity knight's helmet. He chanted rather fast, but he caught it somehow, perhaps because he was made to study in that library room.
However, each and every phrase in that ritual was new to his ears. He couldn't adopt a countermeasure without the phrase that included «generate», that determined the type of element.
"Crap, that's..."
In that moment, Kirito's voice came out in a gasp.
"This isn't an elemental attack. It's the «armament full control art»."
Before those strained words could end, the integrity knight shouted the final phrase lucidly.
"—Enhance armament!"
With a 'po' sound, orange flames were born at the bowstring's two torn and dangling ends. The flames consumed the bowstring in the blink of an eye and then something occurred the moment they reached the two tips of the longbow.
A deep crimson blaze swirled up from the entire copper bow.
A fervor that seemed enough to scorch one's skin extended to the bottom of the stairs and Eugeo instinctively shielded his face. The integrity knight standing at the landing draped the flames surging out from the bow around his whole body, looking as though he was set ablaze.
Eugeo was at a loss on what action to take, with the utterly unforeseen development. Should he conclude that the knight had no offensive ability even after using the full control art, since those arrows were already spent, and rush in? Or perhaps the knight spent all the arrows on the attack just a moment ago because they were no longer necessary in the full control state?
Wondering which his partner saw it as, he took a fleeting glance at the side and saw Kirito staring in wonder, with even a faint smile upon his lips just like a child, neither drawing back nor charging in.
"Now this is amazing... I wonder what the origin of that bow is."
"This isn't any time to admire it."
He felt like knocking against Kirito's shoulder out of habit, but he held it back and looked up at the knight once more. They could use the full control art they had recently learned as well, to deal with the opponent's art ritual, but there was no doubt the other side would not permit that. It was certain they would be attacked before they could finish reciting the lengthy art ritual. If they were inclined to use it, they couldn't possible complete it in time unless they had started chanting with the opponent.
With things this far developed, there was naught but to adapt to the opponent's moves; Eugeo resolved himself for the worst, but it appeared the integrity knight intended for a respite for the time being as well, raising his helmet's visor with his right hand while the blazing bow remained in his left.
His face wasn't visible, sunk deep within the shadows cast by the flames, but Eugeo discerned an intense gleam in his eyes that actually reminded him of steel arrows. The voice that followed, too, carried a mechanical reverberation that made it seem unlike a human's.
"—It has truly been two years since I basked in the flames of the «Conflagrant Flame Bow» in this manner. I see, it does appear that you possess enough ability to exchange blows with Knight Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-one, criminals. However, that makes it more unforgivable. To not engage in a fair and proper battle between knights, but to deceive Thirty-one through those repulsive darkness arts!"
"Dar... darkness arts, you say?"
Kirito spoke from the side, as though he was taken aback. Eugeo lost his breath for a moment too, then vehemently shook his head as he shouted.
"Th... that's not it, we haven't used darkness arts or anything like that! We were merely talking about Eldrie-san before he became an integrity knight and..."
"What, before he became an integrity knight!? We integrity knights do not have a past of our own! We have always been glorious integrity knights from the moment we were summoned from the Celestial World!!"
The steel-like, enraged words made the grand staircase tremble and snatched Eugeo's breath away.
According to the girl, Cardinal, all of the integrity knights have had their memories sealed away before becoming one. In other words, this red knight before his eyes, too, simply believed thoroughly that «he was summoned from the Celestial World».
It seemed possible to stir integrity knights into unrest if their original memories, blocked by that object called a «piety module», were stimulated, but that was impossible when he weren't even aware of the opponent's name. In short, he couldn't be immobilized with the same method used in Eldrie's case.
The knight let out a thunderous voice with heightened severity in the midst of the endless sparks scattered by the longbow.
"I will not reduce the two to you to cinders as I was ordered to capture you alive, but prepare yourself to have an arm burnt away with the Conflagrant Flame Bow now released as you can see! Try all you wish, to see if those shoddy swords are capable of slipping through these flames of conviction and reaching me!!"
The knight placed his right hand approximately where the bow, raised high, would originally have held its string. Before even allowing the time to ponder what the gesture his fingertip adopted, like gripping onto something, meant—
Intense flames surged out in front of the bow and transformed into a single arrow in an instant. Eugeo's back went rigid upon vividly sensing an absurd amount of power contained within that flame arrow brilliantly gleaming.
"Guess neither breaking the bowstring nor running out of arrows mattered."
Kirito voiced with a dull groan at his side, so he gathered strength into his jaw that seemed like it was about to tremble and quickly answered.
"Any plans?"
"He can't shoot multiple times in a row, that's my hunch. I'll stop his first attack somehow, so you go in for the kill."
"Hunch, hey..."
—In other words, that meant everything was over if that flame arrow could be shot consecutively. However, even if it was a single shot, that was evidence enough to prove that it possessed enough might to kill in one attack. wasn't it? Doubts over how Kirito would defend against an attack like that burgeoned, but Eugeo shrugged them off and nodded.
"—Got it."
Kirito would probably stop it if he said he could. This was far more realistic when compared to the absurdity of him chopping down the Gigas Cedar when he said he would.
Perhaps interpreting the pair, returning to a stance with their respective sword at the ready, as resolving themselves for the worst, the integrity knight started to draw the invisible string with an air of composure.
The heat caressing Eugeo's cheeks strengthened further. The flames emitted from the longbow, apparently named Conflagrant Flame Bow, had already reached the landing's ceiling and were scorching the marble black.
Kirito moved without warning.
With neither a war cry, nor a strong kick off the ground, he charged forth like a leaf from a tree swept away by rapid currents. A split second late, Eugeo followed behind in agitation.
Only a faint, blue light shone through his partner's loosely gripped fist as he ran up the steps, but Eugeo still noticed. He had probably generated them in secret while the knight delivered his speech, and he had no doubt that was the radiance emitted by cryogenic elements.
The knight finally drew the longbow to its limit when they approached the halfway point of the twenty-steps staircase.
An art ritual rapidly gushed out from Kirito's mouth at the same time.
"Form element, shield shape! Discharge!"
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