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absolute G.o.d, the system. And this man was smashing through that with the might of his wil .
"Oji-sama... stop, stop it! Your body will shatter, oji-sama!!"
Alice shouted out in a voice streaked with tears. However, Knight Commander Bercouli ceaselessly struggled against G.o.d and his eyelids finally lifted up as remarkably loud breaking noises rang out. His eyes were dyed in the same grey as his skin, but his irises quivered like the surface of water and slightly regained a shade of pale, bluish grey. I could vividly feel the strength of will coming from the man"s two eyes.
His mouth formed a broad grin as fragments endlessly flaked off him and a terribly hoa.r.s.e-yet stout voice streamed out from there.
"...Hey, lil" miss. You don"t hafta cry that hard... it"s ruining your beauty."
"Oji-sama...!!"
"Stop worrying already... It"s not like I would kick the bucket from a single art like this, right? Instead..."
Bercouli stopped his words for a moment and stared at Alice"s crying face right before him, along with the impromptu bandage covering its right, before showing a fuzzy smile filled with what seemed like a father"s love.
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"So that"s it... lil" miss, you"ve finally... crossed that wall, huh...
The seal I"ve... spent three hundred years without breaking it...
in the right eye..."
"O-Ojisama...... I... I..."
"Don"t make... that face... I"m... glad... Now... there"s nothing more... I can teach you, lil" miss..."
"That"s not... that"s not true!! There are still many, many things that I want you to teach me, Oji-sama...!!"
Making no attempt to hold back her childish weeping, Alice hugged the knight commander"s neck with both arms once more. A gentle smile still on his face, Bercouli whispered into Alice"s ear.
"You can definitely do it, lil" miss... The Axiom Church"s mistakes... amend them and guide this... twisted world to how...
it should be......"
I realized that voice was rapidly fading away. The astounding willpower brought forth by the knight commander"s fluct light was nearly at its end.
Bercouli"s eyes, losing their light and returning to rock-grey, suddenly pointed straight towards me. From his unmoving lips, a grave, hoa.r.s.e voice poured out.
"Hey, rascal... I"ll leave lil" Alice... in your... hands."
"...Right."
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I nodded with just that and the hero of olden times nodded back as new cracks were carved into his neck. What would likely be his last words reached my ears on the white, cold air.
"Your... partner was... taken by... the chief elder, Chudelkin...
Probably... to the highest minister"s room... Hurry... before that kid"s misled... by his muddle of memories..."
Knight Commander Bercouli turned into a mute stone statue once more the instant his voice was cut off.
With a dense, white mist covering up to his chest, the countless cracks carved upon from his neck to his eyes seemed to further emphasize his valor, fitting of a hero of old.
"......Oji-sama..."
The heartrending voice Alice forced out while clinging to the knight commander"s shoulders reached my ears as I thought hard over the meaning behind the words he left.
The person known as Chief Elder Chudelkin had performed the " Deep Freeze" command upon Knight Commander Bercouli and took Eugeo away from this place. Those would be the facts.
Taking a look around, I noticed a perfectly square hole in the ice that seemed as though it was cut out by a power saw, down to the bottom of the bath, a short distance away from Bercouli froze.
Eugeo must have definitely activated his ice roses art with the resolution to bring it into a stalemate. And the chief elder who 245.
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barged in had cut Eugeo out with the ice, then took him up towards Administrator"s room. However, those words the knight commander left behind bothered me, about some muddle of memories. I"m not one to believe that Eugeo would yield to brainwashing that easily with what I knew about him, but I couldn"t even begin to imagine what trickery Administrator could resort to, with her ability to alter fluct lights directly.
Staring at the shaft as I pondered, I noticed something glittering as it caught the light deep within the smoothly carved out portion. Stepping up towards the hole, I stared hard into it and saw a single long sword stabbed into the bath"s base. I couldn"t possible mistake its elegant shape even through those few centimeters of ice. It was Eugeo"s beloved sword, the Blue Rose Sword.
My unease heightened all the more upon seeing that beautiful sacred instrument that could practically be cal ed part of Eugeo"s self left alone at the bottom of the ice. I took a glance at Alice still clinging onto Bercouli, then drew my black sword from the left of my waist and lightly stuck its point straight down, right above the Blue Rose Sword buried in ice. I put strength into the handle I held with an underhand grip for an instant.
Pikii! That loud noise rang out as the ice was smashed vertical y down, crumbling into the shaft at its side. Kneeling 246.
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down on the ice, I covered the mostly exposed Blue Rose Sword"s handle with my left hand and slowly pulled on it despite needing to endure its relentless chill, of some negative Celcius degree, stabbing into my skin. The sword put up a little resistance, but was soon drawn out without any noise as miniscule shards of ice fel off it.
When I stood up with the black sword in my right hand and the Blue Rose Sword in my left, various joints of mine creaked in protest at their weight. It was only natural, holding onto two sacred instruments with high priorities, but I couldn"t simply give up here. After all, our valet trainees, Ronye and Tieze, had bloodied their hands to bring these swords to us while we were being taken away to the cathedral.
I"m the one in charge of getting this Blue Rose Sword to Eugeo this time.
Taking yet another look around me, I saw a familiar white leather sheath left on the frosty ice surface. Putting the black sword back to the left of my waist, I picked up that fallen sheath and stored the Blue Rose Sword into it. After a bit of thought, I hung the second sword on the right side of my belt, somehow attaining the balance to move around.
I took a deep breath as I turned around and found Alice standing before me, apparently gotten there without my notice.
She wiped away the tears from her left eye with her sleeve and 247.
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spoke in a slightly blunt tone, perhaps to hide her embarra.s.sment.
"...The only ones who would hold two swords are those eccentric upper cla.s.s n.o.bles capable only of grandstanding...
but it fits you well enough, strangely."
"Hm? Oh really..."
I couldn"t help but give a wry smile. Certainly, I lived on as a solo player fighting with two swords equipped in my SAO days, but maybe due to the long while I spent hiding my skills, having someone look at me with dual blades brought a sense of unease.
No-that might not be all to it; I might be holding some fear for that grandiose other existence of mine, that Kirito who cleared the death game SAO with dual blades, somewhere in my heart... or perhaps repugnance. No matter how anyone would try to convince me, I would gladly pa.s.s on taking up that role for a second time.
"...Even so, swinging two swords at the same time would be simply impossible."
Alice candidly nodded in agreement when I said so while shrugging my shoulders.
"Wielding two swords would render you unable to use the important secret skil s, after all. Even if we ignored that fact, there is clearly no benefit in equipping two swords. In any case... if that sword was left behind, I suppose Eugeo must have 248.
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already been taken away to the esteemed highest minister... It would serve us best to hurry, that person"s actions are beyond what human could think up of..."
"...Have you talked to her before? Have you talked to Administrator?"
"Only once."
Alice"s facial expression went rigid as she nodded at my question.
"That would be six years ago now... but when I woke up with all of my past memories lost as an integrity knight apprentice, I met the esteemed highest minister, "the one who summoned me" and the mouthpiece of the G.o.ds in the Human World. She was a slender and beautiful person who appeared to have never held anything of considerable weight, let alone swords... but her eyes..."
She continued murmuring while hugging herself with her two arms.
"Those silver eyes were like mirrors, reflecting al light... Yes, I understand now. I must have been stricken with dread. What drove me to never go against her, to trust in all of her words, and to give al of myself to her was an overwhelming sense of fear... I am sure of that now."
"Alice..."
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Feeling slight unease, I stared at the knight"s crestfal en face.
However, as though she had read my mind, Alice took in a deep breath, then raised her line of vision and nodded.
"I am fine. I have already decided. To do what I believe to be right, for my little sister living in the faraway north... the family I have never met, as well as the general populace. -Oji-sama knew of the seal placed on our right eyes. In other words, the one who managed the integrity knights, Bercouli Synthesis One, had definitely not blindly believed the Axiom Church"s rule to be benevolent. Coming down to this floor hadn"t been any help in regards to saving your partner, but I am glad I could meet with oji-sama... I will not let my heart waver any longer."
Alice lowered her waist and gently stroked the petrified Bercouli"s cheeks. But that only lasted a brief moment and she turned back, firmly stepping on the ice as she began walking back towards where we came from.