Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli.
could shave his Life away like this. In the first place, it was an art specialized in stopping the opponent"s movement. No, even that would not succeed for sure with that man as the target. He could probably rob him of his freedom for several seconds at most.
The way he used that time would decide the flow of the battle.
With drops of water trickling down his whole body, Eugeo got up from the bath. Climbing the mere three marble steps at the side was enough to make the chest wound throb. Suffering another attack of the same level would likely leave him without even the strength to heal.
"Heh-heh, you coming, boy? Let me say this first, I won"t be holding back anymore."
Firmly gripping the metal handle of the Time Piercing Sword worn in his clothes" sash, the knight commander smiled broadly.
Atop the pathway, twenty mel apart, Eugeo also held his Blue Rose Sword forward. The blade in its standby state was already mildly clad in ice, forming ice crystals in the drifting steam around it.
Kirito would likely retort with some comment in such a situation, but his mouth was parched and seemed hardly capable of moving fluidly. Taking in a deep breadth, Eugeo cautiously muttered the concluding phrase of the armament full control art.
"Enhance... armament. "
Byuu! A cold wave swirled around his feet and swept out in al directions. Eugeo thrust his beloved sword he held with a reverse grip into the stone floor with al he had.
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The moisture that made the marble"s smooth surface wet froze over like a mirror in an instant. Making noises like cracking wood, the icy wave plunged forward towards Bercouli at the front.
Despite the pathway having a breath of approximately five mel, the freezing wave brought forth by the Blue Rose Sword stretched close to ten mel. Layers of ice extended out over the pools fil ed with hot water at the sides as well, but as expected, their advance was sluggish due to the heat. However, this was no longer any time for excuses.
Shifting al of his mental focus on his right hand, Eugeo gripped the sword tighter than ever. With a solid roar, countless rose thorns, rather than tendrils, reached out from the frosty floor.
Those changed to thick icicles in the blink of an eye and their sharp ends gleamed all over the pathway while rushing towards Bercouli, gliding across the ground. However, the knight commander"s mouth merely stiffened up slightly, moving no more after lowering his waist in that same position. It appeared he hadn"t the slightest intention of escaping into the baths at the sides.
Eugeo steeled his resolve upon seeing that standing figure, like a guarded fortress. He wasn"t an opponent that one could defeat without putting one"s life on the line.
Pulling the Blue Rose Sword from the ground, he began chasing after the ranks of ice spears. His aim was the instant of vulnerability that the tens of spears might create as Bercouli intercept them.
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He likely spotted the dashing Eugeo as well, but the knight commander didn"t show the slightest speck of distress. He opened his legs wide apart and sent strength into the sword held at the left of his waist.
"Nuuhn!!"
Accompanying the deep yel was a single, brutal slice. The ranks of spears had yet to reach and the blade slashed horizontally through the empty air, but the Time Piercing Sword severs the future.
Half a second later, the numerous icicles all shattered simultaneously with loud, shril screams of "gashaan". Not a single one made its way through the slash Bercouli left behind a moment ago. The knight commander returned his sword into an upper stance with a hateful nonchalance and prepared for Eugeo"s follow-up.
However, Eugeo had finally gotten within reach of the enemy and brandished the weapon in his right hand up high. The many floating, miniscule shards of ice reflected the light from the ceiling, but the same went for his opponent.
"Seaaa!!"
"Ouhh!!"
The two screams rang out together.
The light-blue trajectory Eugeo"s sword drew confronted the dark-gray one drawn by Bercouli"s sword.
In the next moment.
The sword Eugeo held shattered with a fleeting shriek.
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Bercouli"s two eyes widened slightly. He must have been shocked at the lack of resistance. Eugeo"s right hand, too, felt nearly none of the impact when the sword smashed into pieces.
That was only natural. Eugeo had thrown away the Blue Rose Sword he held towards the right immediately before he began rushing in, breaking of an icicle to serve as a replacement sword.
Bercouli"s downwards slash had been one for repelling Eugeo"s sword. He would have been overpowered and pushed backwards if the sword hadn"t been made from ice. However, the icicle held in his right hand shattered with no resistance at all and Eugeo kept the momentum from his charge and slipped past the enemy"s sword, plunging towards his chest.
"Ooohh!"
Rotating his body with that second yel , he rammed hard into the knight commander"s abdomen with his left shoulder. It was a secret move named Meteor Break, from the Aincrad style"s "martial arts". The skill"s meaning was a "crushing meteor". It didn"t ful y activate due to the lack of a sword, but with center of gravity unsettled by the unexpected strike and his ma.s.sive frame fluttered into the air.
This would have normally continued with a horizontal slash towards the right, but Eugeo spread out his two arms and joined them around the knight commander"s waist instead.
"Nuhh..."
Even the huge man couldn"t help but to have his stance broken by the twofold plan that threw his upper torso greatly off balance. This was the first and final chance.
"Uoooohh!!"
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Erasing the pain from his wound with that roar, Eugeo wrung every bit of strength from his entire body and threw himself into the bath on the right with the knight commander. Bercouli tried to brace himself with his left foot, but his bare foot slid atop the frosted floor. Following the floating sensation his body felt, the impact from landing on water shook through to the injury on his chest.
However, that was a trifling affair compared to the blinding chil that enveloped his whole body.
"What...!?"
While Eugeo maintained his hold, a third cry of surprise escaped from Bercouli. The boiling hot water in the bath just several minutes ago had turned into cold water on the verge of freezing without his notice. His amazement was only natural.
While holding down the giant, who tried to stand, with his left hand, Eugeo searched the bottom of the bath with his right. I should have thrown it around- Aided by half by his accurate calculations and half by good fortune, his fingertips touched the grip of his familiar, beloved sword.
Immediate after, Bercouli tried to stand, shaking Eugeo off with al his might.
And a sheer moment before that, Eugeo stabbed the Blue Rose Sword into the bottom of the bath and shouted.
"Fre... eeeeeeze!!"
This was what would decide the battle.
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Al that the Blue Rose Sword cooled down was a mere portion of the hot water fil ing the gigantic bath. There were stil much hot water around them. It would likely take tens of minutes for ten sacred arts users to freeze it al , even if they generate cryogenic elements continuously. But he had no choice.
The armament ful control art was an art that awakened a mighty power that was originally impossible by releasing the sword"s memories.
The mysterious sage, Cardinal, was the one who said so. In order to compose the full control art for the Blue Rose Sword and the black sword, she had Eugeo and Kirito pursue the memories of their respective swords.
The sacred tool Eugeo possessed, the Blue Rose Sword, was originally a ma.s.s of ice enshrined at the top of the tal est mountain in the northern mountain range. It was cold there even during the peak of summer and the ice had never thawed throughout the year, but at the same time, not a single living being approached. The eternal ma.s.s of ice spent tens of years in isolation.
However, in a certain spring, the wind blowing through the mountain range dropped off a little seed right next to the eternal ma.s.s of ice. The ice melted itself day after day, trickling the meager water it created onto the seed. The seed eventually budded and a flower bud swel ed out, enduring the intense cold, with that modest, yet beautiful flower blooming with the onset of summer. It was bluer than the skies of the north, a single rose.
Delighted that it final y had a friend, the eternal ma.s.s of ice spent each and every day conversing with the rose. But on a day after even autumn pa.s.sed by, the blue rose spoke thusly. I 112.
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cannot endure the cold of winter. So, it wil soon be our time to part, it said.
The ice lamented. Its tears ran at the sorrow of losing its first friend and its body diminished. Looking upon the ice in that state, the blue rose spoke again. Wouldn"t you shut me away within you before I wither away unseemly? Even if I were to lose my life then, my form will forever remain.
The eternal ma.s.s of ice granted the blue rose"s wish. Spending its al to move into the puddle of water its tears made, it nestled close to the blue rose, then prayed. Freeze, freeze, freeze for all of eternity, it prayed. That prayer was strong, so strong that even the ice had its heart frozen solid.
By the time the blue rose laid down its life within the ice, the ice, too, spoke or thought no more. All that remained on the intensely cold summit was the ice, whittled narrow like a sword as all of its tears flowed, and a single blue rose shut away within it.
That might have been the dream Eugeo saw in the Great Library Room. He had absolutely no idea how crudely shaped ice could turn into an actual sword or how it moved to the underground cave from the summit and got protected by the white dragon, and in the first place, he doubted some mere ma.s.s of ice or rose could possess hearts.
However, even if it was a dream, the ice"s plea remained vividly within Eugeo. To freeze everything; the sorrow; the pain; even their lives and time-it prayed.
...Grant me power, Blue Rose Sword!
A new cry came from Eugeo"s mouth the moment he strongly wished for that.
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"-Release... recollection!! "
The second stage of the armament full control art. The ceremonial phrase to release al of the strength slumbering within the sword, the command to "release its memories".
Cardinal had said it was too early for Eugeo to use it, but now- it would work now and only now.
The sword in his right hand shook violently.
Immediately after, numerous rigid cracking noises reverberated throughout the whole of the huge bath like countless panes of gla.s.s shattering. With Eugeo"s right hand as the nexus, a bluish-white circle of light expanded at high speed.