Alice The Integrity Knight, May 380 HE

Creak.

Creak.

With the repetition of each tiny sound, I felt my heart shrink.

The sound came from the tip of my still-unnamed black sword,

which was just barely sticking into the gap between Central

Cathedral's roughly one-inch-thick white marble blocks.

My right hand was damp with sweat where it clung to the

sword's hilt, and my elbow and shoulder joints were screaming

with pain, ready to disconnect at any moment. Which made sense

—my assuredly not-beefy arm was supporting the weight of two

people, one ultra-high-priority longsword, and a full set of armor.

There wasn't a single handhold in the mirrorlike smoothness

of the wall, so there was no way for me to wedge the sword farther into the surface. There was nothing below me but an endless

expanse. And in addition to the pain in my right hand, my left

was also reaching its limit as it clung to the lady knight in her

heavy suit of golden armor.

Physical fatigue in the Underworld was slightly different from

in the real world. In terms of long-distance walking, sprinting,

fierce training, and lifting heavy objects, it was the same sensation. The difference was that fatigue acted like injury in the way

that it reduced one's "life," the numerical value of vitality in the

Underworld—i.e., your hit points.

In the real world, hardly anyone ever literally died of fatigue.

Before the body could reach a state of serious, permanent injury,

fatigue rendered you unable to move. But here, it was possible at

times for strength of will to override physical possibility. In other

words, it was theoretically possible that you could run, resisting

pain and exhaustion, until the moment your life reached zero and

you instantly died.

At the moment, I was supporting an unbelievable amount of

weight with my body. My life value was slowly but surely decreasing as long as this state continued. I could keep both hands

clenched out of sheer determination, but eventually my life would

reach zero, and I would die. In that instant, my hand would probably let go of the sword, and the knight with me would plunge to

the ground hundreds of feet below and die as well.

I wasn't the only one suffering damage. My beloved sword was

supporting more weight than it could handle, with only its very

tip for leverage. And I'd already used the immensely taxing Perfect Weapon Control twice in the day's battles. I couldn't open its

Stacia Window to check numbers, but I wouldn't be surprised if

its life reached zero within a few minutes. When that happened,

the sword would shatter and no longer recover its strength by

merely returning to its sheath.

It would be a terrible shame to break my sword before I could

even give it a name, not that it would matter for long once I

plunged to my death. I needed to do something and fast, but just

holding on took all my strength, plus…

"That's enough! Let go of me!" shrieked the woman dangling

from me—Alice Synthesis Thirty, the golden Integrity Knight with

the Osmanthus Blade. "I would rather die than live with the

shame of having been saved by a criminal sinner like you!"

She struggled and rocked, trying to break herself loose from

my grip. Her gauntlet slipped a little bit in my sweaty palm.

"Arghk…stahppit…" I tried to control the shaking while uttering nonsense. But the vibration of her thrashing worked the

blade's tip a tiny millimeter out of the wall. When all was still

again, I glanced down and yelled, "Stop moving, idiot! You're an

Integrity Knight; you should know that getting suicidal here isn't

going to solve anything! Idiot!"

"Wha…?" The pale face visible between my feet turned red. "Yyou…you dare insult me, you rogue? Take that back!"

"Shut up! I'm calling you an idiot because you arean idiot, you

idiot! Idiot!" I yelled, uncertain whether I was doing this to engage her in negotiating for help, or whether I was just working

out my frustration. "Do you understand the situation? If you fall

off and die here, Eugeo's going to keep climbing up to Administrator's chamber all by himself! It's supposed to be your job to

stop that from happening! Shouldn't your top priority as an Integrity Knight be to sacrifice anything you can to stop him?! If

you're too stupid to see the logic there, then you're an idiot!!"

"Th-that's eighttimes you have insulted me now…," Alice said,

glaring up at me with her cheeks reddening; I doubted she'd ever

been called an idiot since she became an Integrity Knight. She

raised her Osmanthus Blade, eliciting chills as I pictured an attack that would send us both to our doom. But it seemed that her

sense of reason won out, because the sword soon dangled at her

side again.

"I see. There is a logic to what you say," she admitted, her

pearly teeth gritted. "But why don't you let go?! Can you prove

that your reason is not pity, a fate more painful than death?!"

It certainly wasn't pity. Saving Alice from this fate was half the

reason Eugeo and I were here at Central Cathedral in the first

place. But there wasn't enough time to explain all that. And besides, it wasn't Alice Synthesis Thirty that Eugeo wanted to rescue

from the tower, but his childhood friend Alice Zuberg, who had

been abducted from Rulid Village eight years ago.

I tried to come up with an argument that would convince Alice

as I fought against the screaming pain. But no such rationale

manifested. I could offer up only a partial truth.

"I…Eugeo and I didn't come charging up the cathedral for the

purpose of destroying the Axiom Church."

I stared down at Alice's fierce blue eyes, searching for the right

words. "We want to protect the realm from a Dark Territory invasion, just like you. We fought a goblin band in the mountains two

years ago…not that I expect you to believe me. So I don't want

you to die, if you're one of the most powerful Integrity Knights.

You're a valuable source of power."

She drew her brows together, taken aback by this comment,

but regained her poise to snap, "Then why do you turn your

sword upon your fellow man and commit the greatest taboo of

bloodshed?!"

The question came from a place of pure righteousness—implanted by Administrator for her own ends or not. Alice's eyes

burned. "Why did you harm Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-One and all

those subsequent knights?!"

Sadly, I didn't have a convincing reply. My desire to save the

human realm was both honest intent and an act of hypocrisy. If I

reached the top of the cathedral and defeated Administrator, Cardinal would regain all system privileges. In order to prevent the

coming catastrophe, she would attempt to reinitialize the entire

Underworld. And as of that moment, I couldn't think of a way to

avoid this outcome: salvation through utter oblivion.

But if Alice and I plunged to our deaths, that would only make

the coming tragedy worse. If the "final stress test"—an invasion

from the Dark Territory—happened without Cardinal having con-

trol, the Integrity Knights and Administrator would fall in battle,

and every last human being would be agonizingly slaughtered.

The worst part of all was knowing that if I died here, I would

simply wake up in a Soul Translator somewhere in the real world.

The Underworldians would perish in a hell of suffering, and I

would be perfectly fine back in reality. An unthinkable conclusion.

"I'm…"

With the little time I had left, what could I possibly say that

would convince the protector of the church and its dedication to

order? But no matter how futile, there was nothing else I could do

in this situation.

"Eugeo and I attacked Raios Antinous and Humbert Zizek at

the academy because the Axiom Church and Taboo Index are

wrong. Deep down, you know that's true, don't you? Just because

the Taboo Index doesn't outlaw it, should higher nobles be allowed to torment and defile completely innocent girls like Ronie

and Tiese…? Is that what you believe?!"

My body shook as my mind flashed back to the scene I witnessed two years ago in the student dorm—the girls mercilessly

trussed up with tears in their eyes. The tip of the sword creaked

in the wall again, but I barely noticed it.

"Well?! Answer me, Integrity Knight!!"

My raging emotions manifested in a hot droplet that spilled

from my eye to Alice's forehead below. The golden knight sucked

in a sharp breath, her eyes gaping. When her trembling lips

opened again, it seemed as though the harshness of her attitude

had given way to something else.

"The law…is the law. Sin…is sin. If the people are allowed to

define the law by their own needs, then how are we to uphold

order in the world?"

"And who decides if Administrator was right to create the law

that way? The god of the celestial realm? Why aren't I being fried

by a bolt of lightning from above, then?!"

"Because Stacia's will is made clear through the actions of us,

her servants!"

"And Eugeo and I came up all this way hoping to clear that up!

We want to defeat Administrator and prove that it's a mistake!

And for the exact same reason…"

I glanced up briefly at the sword wedged into the wall and saw

that it was nearly out. One move from Alice, one tiny little gust of

wind, and the tip would either break or fall out, sending us plunging below.

"…I refuse to let you die right now!!"

I sucked in the biggest breath I could, tensed my stomach, and

summoned all my remaining willpower.

"Yaaaah!!" I bellowed, yanking my left arm up to lift Alice.

Both arms and shoulders screamed with pain, but I managed to

bring her up to my level and use the last bits of my strength to

shout, "Stick your sword in that seam! I can't hold out…please!"

Up close, her features were twisted with emotion. A moment

later, she lifted her arm and loudly, deeply thrust her Osmanthus

Blade into the seam between marble blocks. At nearly the same

second, my black sword slipped out of the stone, and my other

hand lost the grip holding Alice.

In a single, vivid instant of panic from head to toe, I envisioned my long, long fall to the ground, and the oblivion that

awaited.

But all I actually felt was a split second of floating, then a

fierce tugging shock. Alice's hand had shot out and grabbed the

back of my shirt collar. Once I was sure she was supporting all my

weight with her sword and arms, I let out a deep breath. My

pounding heart gradually eased to a state less than sheer panic.

"…"

I looked up at her. In the span of a single second, we had

switched positions both physically and mentally. The golden Integrity Knight clenched her jaw, as if grappling with every possible kind of conflicting emotion. I felt her fingers loosen and

tighten over and over, shifting pressure on the back of my collar.

Eugeo was the only Underworldian I knew who could be uncertain under such extreme circumstances. The other artificial

fluctlights, for better or for worse, were blindly faithful to a certain set of behaviors, and did not need to grapple with huge, difficult choices. Put another way, all the truly important decisions

were always handed down to them by something or someone else.

In other words, Alice the Integrity Knight's mind had a more

"human" quality than many of her fellow Underworldians—even

after her soul had been altered by Administrator.

I had no way of knowing what sort of inner debate she housed.

But after several seconds that felt like an unfathomable eternity,

she easily lifted my body up to its former level.

Unlike her, I had no reason to hesitate. I instantly thrust my

sword into the seam once more, exhaling. Once I was stable

again, Alice withdrew her hand from my collar and turned her

face away. Despite the sternness of her words, her voice itself was

weak and small.

"…I did not save you, only repaid what you did for me. Besides…we have not finished our duel."

"Ah, I see…In that case, we're even now," I said, choosing my

words carefully. "Here's a suggestion. Both of us need to find a

way to get back into the tower. So why don't we call a truce until

then?"

"…A truce?" she asked, turning to throw me a truly mistrustful

glance.

"Yes. I doubt we can manage to destroy the cathedral's wall

again, and it won't be easy to climb it. If we work together, it will

raise our chances of survival. Of course, if you've got any easy

ways back inside, I'm all ears."

"…"

She bit her lip in frustration. "If such a method existed, I

would have done it already."

"Yeah. Obviously. So may I assume we're in agreement on a

truce and cooperation?"

"Before I say yes…what exactly do you mean by cooperation?"

"If one of us seems likely to fall, the other helps. If we had a

rope, it would make it easier for us to maintain our position, but I

suppose that's asking too much."

The knight did not answer or look at me for a long time, then

bobbed her head almost imperceptibly. "It is a logical suggestion…I must admit. I suppose I have no better choice," she said,

turning to glare at me. "But the instant we return to the tower interior, I will cut you down. Do not forget this inevitable outcome."

"I'll…keep it in mind."

She nodded with satisfaction, then cleared her throat, signaling a topic change. "So…you mentioned needing a rope? Do you

have any extra fabric?"

"Fabric…?"

I looked down at my outfit, realizing I didn't have so much as a

handkerchief in my pockets. If this were good old Alfheim, I

could produce a veritable ton of extra clothes, capes, and so on

from my virtual item storage, but the Underworld was not blessed

with such convenience.

"…Well, all I've got is this shirt and these pants. If need be, I'll

take them off, though," I offered with a one-shouldered shrug.

Alice made the bitterest face I'd ever seen and yelled, "That

will not be necessary! You must be joking. I cannot believe you

would head into battle with nothing but a sword."

"Hey, you dragged me and Eugeo here from the academy with

nothing but the clothes on our backs, right?"

"But you snuck into the tower's armory, didn't you? There

were plenty of very fine ropes in there that…oh, forget it. This is a

waste of time," she snorted, turning away. She lifted her right

hand in its golden gauntlet, then grimaced when she realized she

couldn't take her other hand off the sword hilt.

She thrust her arm toward me and commanded, "Undo the

fastener on my gauntlet with your free hand."

"Huh?"

"And do not touch my skin under any circumstances. Quickly

now!"

"…"

From what Eugeo told me, back in Rulid, Alice had been a

bright, friendly, and kind girl to all. So where was this totally opposite personality coming from?

At last, the feeling was back in my left hand. I lifted it up to the

fastener on her gauntlet. I held the metal device so she could pull

her hand free. Her pale, slender fingers made a gesture, and she

shouted, "System Call!"

This was followed by some complex, unfamiliar commands.

The gauntlet in my hand flashed and began to change shape.

Within a few seconds, I had a beautiful, coiled golden chain in my

hand.

"Whoa…a matter-transformation spell…?"

"Weren't you listening? Are those ears on the sides of your

head, or carnivorous holes for devouring insects? That was just a

shape-changing art. Only the pontifex herself can perform the art

of altering the very material."

I apologized to Alice, who clearly didn't view our truce as a

chance to soften her tone, then tested the strength of the chain. I

stuck the end into my mouth and tugged; it felt like my teeth were

going to pop out. The metal was thinner than my pinkie finger,

but it was clearly tough enough, and the chain was bookended

with sturdy-looking fasteners.

I stuck one of the fasteners onto my belt and held out the other

end, which Alice took and attached to the metal clasp of her

sword belt. The length of hanging chain between us ran about fifteen feet long. As long as we didn't both fall at the same time, this

gave us some measure of security.

"All right…"

I glanced around to survey our situation. Based on the placement of the sun, we were hanging from the western wall of Central Cathedral. The sky overhead was turning from blue to purple,

while the sunlight hitting the white stone painted it a soft orange

hue. I estimated it was about half past three.

After a very careful glance past my feet and the thin wisps of

cloud beyond them, I could make out the stone walls that surrounded the cathedral garden like a miniature play set, then the

rest of Centoria, split into four by the Everlasting Walls. The sight

was a reminder of the impossible height of the tower.

Counting the thickness of the stone partitions, I estimated

each floor of the tower to be about twenty feet high, so the height

of the eightieth floor, where I fought Alice, would be over fifteen

hundred feet off the ground—perhaps more like sixteen or seventeen, given the high ceiling on the fiftieth floor. If I fell from here,

there was no chance of survival. My body would be so pulverized

by the impact that I'd be reduced to dust. The air around us was

gentle for now, but there was no guarantee it wouldn't blow

harder.

I shivered and clenched the hilt of my sword tighter, then

wiped the sweat from my free palm on my pants.

"So, uh…just so I'm clear on this…," I started to say.

Alice's face shot up to look at me; she'd been gazing down as

well. I thought she looked a bit paler than before, but her tone of

voice was just as blunt as ever. "What?"

"I was just wondering…if you know the high-level sacred arts

to change the shape of items, maybe you'd also be privy to an art

to…fly? Okay, sorry, forget I asked," I stammered at the sight of

her arched eyebrow.

"Did you learn anythingin school?" she snapped. "The only

person in the entire world who can fly in midair is the pontifex

herself. Even the youngest apprentice monk knows that!"

"Hey, I said I was just checking! You don't have to get so mad

at me."

"I did not appreciate your insinuation!"

It was becoming more clear by the moment that Alice the Integrity Knight and I were simply not designed to get along on a

personal level. Still, I stifled my urge to snap back and asked,

"Fine…so in that case…is it possible to call that enormous dragon

you flew me here on?"

"It's just one stupid question after another. Dragons are only

allowed to approach the thirtieth-floor landing. Even Uncle…er,

the knights' commander himself isn't allowed to take his dragon

higher than that."

"H-how would I know those rules?!"

"You ought to have realized the implication, since the landing

was placed only on the thirtieth floor!" she said, glaring at me yet

again for a good three seconds before we both turned away in a

huff. I spent the next three seconds calming my rage over her totally unfair accusations before I was ready to resume.

"So…there's no way for us to escape this predicament through

the air…"

It took Alice another couple of seconds to regain her cool. Her

blue eyes caught mine. "Not even birds can approach the upper

reaches of the cathedral. The pontifex cast some kind of special

art unknown to me that prevents them from coming closer."

"I see…Very thorough."

Off in the far distance, I saw a birdlike shape, but it didn't

seem to be getting any closer. I supposed it was some combination of Administrator's magical power and a pathological sense of

caution. In a sense, the abnormal height of this structure was

both a symbol of power and an indication of fear toward some

unseen foe.

"So that leaves three options…climb down, climb up, or break

through the wall again."

"The third will be difficult. Central Cathedral's walls possess a

nearly infinite life and regenerative ability, just like the Everlasting Walls. The same can be said of the glass windows on the lower

levels."

"So we can't even climb down to where the windows are," I

murmured. She nodded.

"In fact, that hole punctured in the wall is even difficult for me

to believe…I suppose I must accept it as some freakishly unlucky

outcome from melding our Perfect Weapon Control arts, so it

produced a huge burst of power. You have really been a thorn in

my side."

"…"

I merely breathed through my nostrils, certain that arguing my

case would only lead us into another downward spiral. "In that

case…couldn't we repeat the phenomenon if we attempted the

same thing again?"

"I can't rule out the possibility…but it would be difficult to

make our way through the wall in the few seconds before it repairs itself again, and more importantly…I've already used the

Perfect Weapon Control of my Osmanthus Blade twice. It needs

either a good helping of sunlight or a long rest in my sheath before I can use it again."

"True, the same goes for mine. It needs a few hours of sheath

time…and I'm sure that just hanging from it like this is doing

plenty of damage on its own. Whether we go up or down, we

should probably start moving soon."

I brushed the marble stone with my free hand. It was devastatingly smooth. The blocks were nearly six feet to a side, stacked

upon one another infinitely, with not even a window to break the

totality of the west face. And even those were indestructible, according to Alice.

Our only means of traversing the tower side was to utilize

something like rock-climbing hooks that we could jam into the

seams of the marble stone to use as handholds. The amount of

energy required to go up or down seemed about the same, so I

figured we might as well go up, but that led to another major

problem.

I gave Alice my most serious face, preparing for another

nonanswer, and asked, "If we go up from here…will there be a

spot we could use to get back inside the tower?"

As expected, Alice looked hesitant at first. She bit her lip. If

there was a place farther up to reenter the building, it would have

to be very close to the top floor, where Administrator lived. It

would be tantamount to taboo for an Integrity Knight tasked with

protecting the Church to escort an enemy to such a vital place.

But Alice drew a deep breath and said firmly, "There will be.

On the ninety-fifth floor, in a place called the Morning Star Lookout, the tower is open to the air, with only pillars for support. If

we can climb up that far, it will be easy to get back in. However…"

Her crystal-blue eyes got even harder. "If we actually make it

up to the ninety-fifth floor, I will have to kill you."

There was enough force in her gaze to make the back of my

neck tingle. I nodded. "That was the deal, I believe. So shall we

climb the wall, then?"

"…Very well. It's more practical than going all the way down to

the ground from here…But you make it sound so simple. How will

we climb such a sheer wall?"

"Why, we'll just run vertically right up it…I'm kidding," I

added hastily, seeing the temperature in her eyes rapidly dropping to subzero numbers. I cleared my throat, switched hands on

the sword, and motioned with my free hand. "System Call! Generate Metallic Element!"

A shining metal-gray light appeared, which took further shape

as my command continued. It grew out to a good foot and a half

with a pointed end—a brand-new climbing hook.

I gripped it tight, looked up at the seam in the stone where my

sword was stuck, and pulled my arm back.

"Hmph!"

With all the strength I could muster, I drove the hook into the

wall. To my relief, it didn't break. The blade stuck right in the

narrow crack. I gave it a few firm yanks up and down as a test,

and it appeared wedged tightly enough to support my weight.

Objects generated by sacred arts had very little life and would

disappear in a matter of hours if just left around. So it wasn't suitable to be a lifeline between Alice and me, but it would at least be

sturdy enough to act as a decent foothold when climbing the wall.

I could feel the doubt in Alice's gaze as I held the hook tight

with my right hand and pried loose my poor abused sword with

my left. Once it was safely back in its sheath, I hung from the fifteen-inch support with both hands and kicked up like mounting a

bar.

My physical abilities in the Underworld weren't exactly like in

the later days of SAO, where I had agility that would make a Bmovie ninja jealous, but I was still much nimbler and stronger

than in the real world. I put my right foot on the bar and rose up

to a standing position, with my left hand pressed firmly against

the wall.

"A-are you all right?" came a hoarse voice. I saw Alice looking

up at me with a pale face and her free hand clutching the golden

chain. She looked surprisingly young and innocent. For a moment, I was tempted to pretend to fall, just to see what she'd do,

but then thought better of it.

"I think…I am."

I gave her a little wave with my right hand, then chanted another sacred art to summon a fresh climbing hook. I drove it into

the next seam overhead and climbed up as before. It was only six

feet of progress, but I felt a small measure of accomplishment at

the success.

I called down to Alice, "I think this will work! Just follow me

and climb up on the first bar below."

The Integrity Knight stared at me without budging. Eventually

her lips moved, and I just barely heard the sound, "…an't."

"Huh? What'd you say?"

"I said… I can't!"

"Uh…sure you can. With your strength, it should be easy to

pull yourself up to—"

"That's not what I mean!" she insisted, cutting off my awkward

attempt at a pep talk. "I have never experienced a situation like

this before…and at the risk of exposing myself to shame, it is all I

can do just to hang here. I simply can't climb up on such a slender

step…"

Her voice trailed off into nothing again.

I was shocked. As a general rule, Underworldians were uncomfortable with situations outside their personal experience or

expectations. So they had a poor ability to react to impossible circumstances, to the extent that when I cut off his arms, Raios's

fluctlight actually collapsed before his life ran out—or so I assumed.

Even an Integrity Knight had to be struggling with the experience of breaking a hole through a supposedly indestructible wall,

getting sucked into the void outside, and dangling from a height

that even dragons couldn't reach. Perhaps though, deep down,

the superlative sword-wielding Alice Synthesis Thirty was just another girl.

In any case, given her abundance of pride, I had to assume

that the Integrity Knight's admission of weakness meant she was

at her wits' end.

"Okay!" I shouted. "Then I'll pull you up to the bar with the

chain!"

Alice bit her lip, apparently weighing fear against pride, and

ultimately decided that she'd cast her lot already and wasn't going

to change her mind. She tugged on the chain.

"Th-thank you for the assistance," she squeaked. I gripped the

chain, resisting the urge to tease her.

"All right, I'll lift you slowly. Here goes."

I carefully pulled it up. The hook under my feet creaked, but it

seemed to be able to withstand two people for a bit of time. I

lifted the golden knight a few feet, careful not to rock the foothold

too much, then held the chain in midair.

"There. You can pull out your sword now."

Alice nodded, slowly removing the point of the Osmanthus

Blade from the white stone. A large amount of fresh weight

yanked on the chain, and I gritted my teeth as I held it still. Once

her sword was back in its sheath, I resumed lifting.

When Alice's boots were resting on the first hook below, I instructed her, "Now place both your hands against the wall to

steady yourself…good. I'm releasing the chain now."

I couldn't see her face due to the angle, but she did subtly tip

her head as she clung to the wall. Imagining her desperate expression below that windswept blond hair, I lowered my right

arm. She momentarily wobbled, then regained her balance.

"Phew…"

I let out a long breath I didn't realize I'd been holding.

How many more feet until this so-called Morning Star Lookout on the ninety-fifth floor? As long as I could successfully repeat this process, we would make it eventually. The problem

boiled down to the time it took to make it up one block. Night

would fall eventually, and if we needed to sleep while hanging off

the wall.

"Okay, I'm going to go one step higher again," I warned her.

She turned her panicked face toward me and replied, barely

audible through the breeze, "Please be careful."

"Sure thing."

I gave her a bracing thumbs-up—a gesture I was certain no

one in the Underworld understood—then chanted the system

command for a third climbing hook.

Despite Centoria getting ready for its summer solstice festival in

the lands below us, when the sun began sinking, its progress was

mercilessly swift. Against the white stone, the orange light of the

setting sun quickly progressed from a burning red to violet to

deep navy blue, until only fragments of the End Mountains were

visible in the last red light of the day, far, far to the west.

Overhead, the stars were twinkling, but they did not bless our

progress. An hour earlier, we had come across an unexpected limitation of the system that was proving rather difficult.

The process of our climb was simple: I created a hook with sacred arts, stuck it in the gap between the marble blocks, and

climbed on top of it. Then I would lift Alice with the chain so that

she stood on the hook below me. Once we did this about ten

times, we'd gotten a single repetition down to under three minutes.

The problem was with generating the hooks themselves. There

was no statistic in this world that corresponded to what we'd call

mana pointsin ALO. The magic they called sacred artscould be

repeated as often as you wanted, as long as the spell was within

your system access level.

That did not mean they were usable anywhere and everywhere, however. This world's rules dictated that all production

required magical resources, a fact that applied to sacred arts as

much as anything else. In order to execute an art, you needed to

expend spatial resources, either in the vicinity of the user or

through consuming the life of valuable catalysts or living things—

even humans.

Spatial resources were tricky because they couldn't be measured in numbers. For the most part, this value came from sunlight or the earth. Wherever the ground was fertile and open to

the sun, resources would be rich, enough to support continued

casting of high-level arts. On the other end, a windowless room in

a stone building would run out of resources very quickly and take

a long time to recharge.

By those rules, our current situation—stuck at a height of fifteen hundred feet off the ground with the sun sinking over the

horizon—was about as bad as it could possibly get. Before long,

my hook-generating sacred arts had dried up all of the twilight's

resources, leaving us unable to continue upward.

"System Call! Generate Metallic Element!"

Over my palm, outstretched to catch some last bit of light in

vain, a few little motes of silver light floated, then snuffed out

with tiny wisps of smoke.

I sighed, and below me, I heard Alice murmur, "Generating

containers like that uses much spiritual power. Now that Solus is

gone, you'll be lucky to manage one per hour. How far have we

climbed?"

"Err…I think we're past the eighty-fifth floor now."

"So there's a long way to go until ninety-five."

I gazed longingly at the traces of purple in the sky. "Yeah…and

in any case, once it's dark, it'll be too dangerous to keep climbing.

And if we try to camp out here, getting any rest will be difficult…"

At worst, someone would need to dangle from the chain, but

not only could we not create more hooks, they would also disappear after a few dozen minutes, so we'd have no choice but to use

our swords as supports again. And I wasn't sure they could withstand the pressure all night.

I looked up the wall face, stubbornly hoping that there'd be

somekind of outcropping we could connect the chain to, using its

fastener. And then…

"Oh…"

There was a series of evenly spaced shadows with complex

shapes against the wall not much more than twenty feet above us.

When the sun went down, the mist around the tower dissipated,

revealing these hidden decorations.

"Hey…does that look like something to you?" I asked, pointing. Alice looked up and narrowed her blue eyes.

"You're right…Statues, perhaps? But why would they be here,

so high up, where no one will see them?"

"I don't care why, as long as we can sit and rest on them. But

they're a good…eight mels above us. We'll need another three

bars in order to climb up there."

"Three bars…," she repeated, deep in thought. "All right. I was

planning to save this for an emergency…and it looks like the time

has come."

She pushed her back against the wall and removed the gauntlet on her left hand. She stared at the faintly glowing piece of

armor and began to chant the command for a sacred art. When

she finished her execution (many times smoother than mine),

there was a flash, and the gauntlet had turned into three more

climbing hooks. Alice's matter-transforming arts must've had

better energy efficiency than generating from thin air, given my

inability to summon any myself.

"Here, use these," she said, stretching upward with the hooks

in her hand. I crouched down and carefully took the tools.

"Thank you—this is a huge help."

"If it's truly necessary, I have more armor…"

I glanced at the fine breastplate that covered her upper half

and shook my head. "No…we'll leave that one to the very end. You

never know what we might need…"

I carefully got to my feet, stuck two of the hooks into my belt,

and lifted the third.

"Uraa!"

Sure enough, the golden hook was much sturdier than the

metallic elements I'd created; it sank deep into the rock's seam. I

did the now-familiar climbing routine and used the chain to pull

Alice up. After another repetition, the mysterious objects were

half as far away, and much clearer in the darkness.

They were stone statues, as it turned out; large and ornate, a

significant number surrounded the cathedral walls on narrow terraces. But these were not the holy statues of goddesses and angels

that I'd seen inside the tower. They were human-shaped, true, but

bent at the knees into a crouch, with their arms folded menacingly over their legs. Gnarled muscles bulged, and wings as sharp

as knives extended from their backs.

Worst of all, the heads of the statues were utterly alien, curved

and elongated at the front and ending in a conical mouth. They

looked like the heads of some kind of grotesque giant weevils.

"Ugh…that's such a creepy design," I groaned.

"Huh…? W-wait…that's from the Dark Territory…!" Alice exclaimed.

Just then, the head of the statue right above me craned back

and forth, its lamprey mouth opening and closing. That was not

some decorative statue carved out of stone. It was… alive.

If this were a quest in some ordinary VRMMO back in the real

world, a statue attack would be inevitable after a demonstration

like that. But in this case, the person writing the scenario was either a total sadist or a green beginner. We were stuck on these

foot-long hooks jammed into a sheer wall, with nowhere else to

go.

The term certain-defeat eventcrossed my mind, but I dismissed it just as quick. This wouldn't be one of those thrill-ride

incidents where someone would swoop in and save us if we fell.

We had to use our brains to evade danger on our own, or we

would die.

While I prepared myself for danger, the winged statue shook

itself and began to change color. Its white skin, the same hue as

the tower stone, began turning a slick charcoal black, starting

from the extremities.

I drew my sword in anticipation of the black wings snapping

out into full extension. Without taking my eyes off the former

statue, I shouted down to Alice, "Looks like we'll have to fight

here. Not falling off should be the top priority!"

But I didn't hear the Integrity Knight respond right away. I

glanced down and saw her face, pale in the night, a perfect picture of shock. On the updraft of wind I heard the whisper: "No,

how is this possible?"

An Integrity Knight should know everything about the Axiom

Church. Why would she be so surprised? From what I knew

through my secondhand reports about Administrator, she was

abnormally cautious. Surely, it wasn't so unthinkable that she

would not only prevent flight to the tower's upper sections, but

also place stone guardians along the walls in case any challengers

were persistent and mad enough to climb all the way.

The guardian—which, aside from the head, looked similar to a

typical video game gargoyle—gripped the terrace ledge with

clawed hands and emitted a whoosh of air from its mouth.

A shiver went down my back as I realized the gargoyles on either side of the animated one were also changing color. If they

were placed equally around all four walls of the cathedral, there

could be at least a hundred.

"Oh, damn," I hissed, turning to press my back to the wall and

hefting up my sword. Just that was enough to unbalance me,

given the tiny bar I was standing on. Even in SAO, I had never

tried to fight like this.

But before I could even start planning, I heard the wings flapping overhead. The gargoyle was hovering against the dark-blue

sky, the round eyes on either side of its elongated head fixed on

me. The monster was bigger than I'd expected, probably more

than six feet. Even its dangling tail looked about as long as I was

tall.

"Bshaaa!!"

It let out a hiss like steam escaping a valve, then plunged

headfirst toward me.

It didn't seem to have any ranged attacks, fortunately, so I anticipated claws on one of its limbs to appear next. Right or left,

top or bottom—

"…Whoa!!"

With a whiplike crack, its tail shot out. I jerked my head away

and yelped in surprise; the tip grazed my cheek, as sharp and

pointed as a knife.

I'd managed to dodge, but my balance was now a problem. I

wobbled atop the hook, attempting to stay upright. Mercilessly,

the gargoyle's tail shot at me again.

With my left hand against the wall to steady myself, I blocked

the tail attack with the sword in my right. It was all I could do to

hold it up like a shield. There was no way I could actually swing it

around to sever the spike.

"Urgh…"

Sensing that this wasn't the time to be thrifty, I took my left

hand off the wall and pulled out one of the two golden hooks in

my belt. Envisioning the movements of the Throwing Weapons

skill I'd practiced so much in SAO, I hurled the spear at the center

of the gargoyle's body.

I didn't put that much effort into the throw, but the short

spear lived up to its nature as Alice's gauntlet, shining bright

through the gloom to sink deep into the gargoyle's lower stomach.

" Bshhi!" it hissed, its circular mouth spurting black blood. The

monster flapped its wings irregularly, trying to regain altitude. I'd

inflicted some good damage, but not enough to vanquish it. The

black, insectoid eyes glared at me with rage.

Even knowing there were more important things at hand, I

couldn't help but wonder, Was it just a program controlling that

freakish monster? Or, like the people from the Dark Territory,

was it an artificial fluctlight…?

"Bshhhuuu!!"

A second cry jolted me out of that thought. Two more gargoyles

had descended from the terrace and were circling around, waiting

for their opportunity to strike.

"Alice, draw your sword! The monsters are coming for you!"

I glanced below and saw that the Integrity Knight was not yet

over her unexplained shock. If they attacked now, she'd be either

skewered by a tail or knocked off the hook.

Should I try to climb the remaining dozen or so feet to the terrace while the gargoyles are still hanging back?I had only one

hook left in my belt—and I suspected the furious beast with the

hook stuck in its stomach would not be kind enough to give it

back.

If the current high-pitched screech was any indication, the

three hissing monsters were getting ready to attack again. I could

potentially be forced to let go of the lifeline chain and jump down

onto a gargoyle if it swooped on Alice. I felt my belt for the chain's

clasp. Then my eyes went wide.

The length of the chain was over fifteen feet. And there were

only about twelve feet between me and the ledge.

"Alice…Alice!!" I bellowed as I slid my sword back into its

sheath. The Integrity Knight twitched and turned her blue eyes to

me at last.

"Hold tight to the chain!"

She frowned, looking confused. I used both hands to grip the

chain connected to her sword sheath and pulled, lifting her off the

hook. She belatedly grabbed the chain and gasped, "Wait…are

you…?"

"If we both survive, I'll give you all the apologies you want

later!!"

I sucked in a deep breath, then yanked—no, hurled—the

knight hanging on the chain upward. Her long golden hair and

white skirt billowed through the air as Alice swung in a semicircle.

"Eyaaaa!!" she shrieked, a surprisingly amateur reaction, as

she passed between the gargoyles on her way to landing on the

ledge above. Landingnot in the active sense, but the passive. I decided to ignore the very unladylike Murgk!that ended her scream.

The exertion of my wild throw hurtled me off the hook I had

been balancing on. If Alice didn't hold firm up on the ledge to

support my weight, we'd both plunge off the side of the building.

Thankfully, the Integrity Knight sensed what needed to be

done: She grabbed the chain with both hands and dug in her feet,

although the first brief moment of weightlessness sent a shiver

down my back.

"Why…youuuuuu!!" she raged, pulling as hard as she could.

Just as Alice had, I flew through the air, and though the impact of

my back slamming against the marble wall knocked the breath

from my lungs, I'd never been as relieved as when I felt the terrace floor under my feet. I could've lain there on the flat surface

forever, until Alice kicked me in the ribs.

"Wh-what in the world were you thinking, you madman?!"

"I didn't have a better choice to…We can talk later! Here they

come!"

I drew my weapon again and pointed the tip at the gargoyle

trio rising toward us. With what little time we had before combat

resumed, I looked left and right to get a grasp of the arena.

The high-wire circus act we'd executed to get up there granted

us a ledge about three feet wide around the building. There was

no decoration, just flat, simple marble jutting horizontally out of

the tower wall. In fact, it literally served as a shelf, and it occurred

to me that this was just meant to be a resting place for the gargoyles.

Since Alice hadn't known about the terrace, I maintained hope

that there might be some special door or window along the wall

nearby, but sadly, there was nothing. The only features in sight

were the other monstrous statues that hadn't come to life yet,

lined up all the way down to the corners of the building. It was a

horrifying thing to see, but fortunately the only ones currently active were the three flying up toward us.

With her confidence returned from being on solid ground,

Alice slid her Osmanthus Blade from its sheath. But that hadn't

solved all her questions. "Yes, I'm sure of it," she rasped. "But

why…would they be here…?"

The gargoyles were back on our level again, but they were

keeping their distance, wary of our weapons. Without taking my

eyes off the hovering creatures, I asked Alice, "What has been

bothering you? Do you know something about those monsters?"

"…Yes…I do," she replied, to my surprise. "They're wicked

beasts that serve the evil sorcerers of the Dark Territory that created them. We know them to be called minions. It is a word in the

sacred tongue that means followeror subordinate."

"Minions…Well, I can tell they're from the Dark Territory

based on their looks—but why would they be lined up on the walls

of the holiest place in the world?"

"That's what I want to know!" Alice grunted. She bit her lip.

"Obviously, they should not be here. It's inconceivable that these

minions would cross the End Mountains without attracting notice, converge on Centoria, only to fly this high and land on Central Cathedral itself. And…"

"And it's completelyimpossible that someone powerful within

the Church might have intentionally placed them there…?" I

asked, filling in the blank. Alice shot me a nasty look but did not

offer a rebuttal.

I looked at the gargoyles hovering close by and asked, "Just

tell me one thing. Are those minions intelligent? Do they understand human words?"

Alice shook her head. "That would truly be impossible. Minions are not living things like goblins or orcs. They are agents

without souls, created by sorcerers who worship the god of darkness, Vecta. The only things they understand are a few simple

commands from their master."

"…Ah," I said, breathing a secret sigh of relief. I knew that I

was overlooking the present danger, but I still couldn't help but

feel resistance at the thought of killing a being with the same kind

of fluctlight as a human.

Cardinal had told me that babies were born only to men and

women whose marriages had been ratified by the Axiom Church

—probably because they had the particular system command that

executed it. The denizens of the Dark Territory had to work the

same way. Therefore, the minions generated by dark arts would

run on the same program code as wild animals, rather than artificial fluctlights.

With that in mind, the hostility I sensed from those insectoid

eyes had the same kind of digital fakeness that I'd experienced

with so many monsters in the SAOdays. Something in their routine switched from hang backto attack, and they beat their wings

and rose in unison.

"Here they come!" I shouted, holding up my sword. The minion with the golden rod stuck in its chest swooped toward me

first, thanks to the accumulated hate value.

This time, it started by swiping at me with its claws rather

than its tail. It wasn't particularly fast, but it'd been so long since

I'd fought a monster that it was hard to judge the distances involved. I was focused on blocking the claws, waiting for a good

opening to strike, when, out of the corner of my eye, I caught

sight of the other two descending on Alice.

"Watch out—the other two are going for you!" I warned.

"Who in the world do you think I am?" she snapped, holding

the Osmanthus Blade at her left side.

With a tremendous slice, the golden blade flashed outward,

practically lighting up the night. It wasn't a feint or a combination

attack, just a single, medium-height slash: In the Aincrad style, it

would be known as Horizontal. But it was so fast and devastating

that I could feel a subconscious cold sweat break out on my skin

from standing next to it. The utter perfection of this single attack

had me entirely overmatched, with no room for defense or evasion, in our battle on the eightieth floor. My years of VRMMO life

had turned me into a permanent proponent of combination attacks, but her single attack had absolutely crushed that conviction.

Alice paused at the end of her swing, and the four arms of the

minions toppled off. Even their trunks, which were well out of her

sword range, silently separated across the chest.

The monsters toppled without even a death scream, filthy

black blood spurting from the clean-cut stumps. Not a single drop

so much as touched Alice, of course. She straightened up, quite

matter-of-fact, and looked over at me as I stood there struggling

with defense.

"Do you need any help?"

"…N-no, I'll manage," I protested. I'd seen all of the minions'

attacks now and sidestepped a claw-and-tail combination attack.

Before the monster could pull away to a safe distance, I executed

a familiar combo of my own.

For a long time, I found it mysterious that the Underworld had

the same sword-skills concept as SAO. After two years of internal

debate, I still hadn't arrived at a completely satisfying answer.

Perhaps the Rath engineers utilized SAO's Seed platform to build

the foundation of their virtual world, but as far as I knew, The

Seed didn't actually have the sword-skills function built in. If it

did, I would've been able to use sword skills when I converted to

Gun Gale Online.

Perhaps wise Cardinal in her hidden library knew the truth,

but I didn't ask her when I had the chance. Cardinal knew that

she and all other Underworldians were living in an experiment

designed by Rath, a reality she grappled with deeply. I couldn't

bring myself to make her confront the fact that everything she

knew was a kind of artifice. And at this point, the reason that

sword skills existed here wasn't that important. As long as they

worked properly and were tools I could use, that was all that mattered.

The sword in my hand glowed blue and engaged in the fourpart attack Horizontal Square.

"Rrraaaahh!" I bellowed. My sword lopped off the minion's

arms and tail, then severed it clean across the chest with the final

swipe, not that I was trying to compete with Alice. The momentum of the attack nearly took me off the ledge, but I managed to

hold still in time, watching the pieces of the monster fall separately through the clouds below.

I figured that if the pieces didn't evaporate into thin air during

the fall, some monk wandering the cathedral grounds below

would eventually get a real scare.

"Ooooh," Alice murmured with the approval of a teacher observing her pupil's exhibition. I swiped my blade left and right be-

fore returning it to the sheath at my side—I'd have preferred to

stash it over my back, but there were no shoulder harnesses in the

armory—and looked at her sidelong. "What?"

"Nothing. It was a rather odd skill—that is all. I daresay you

could attract quite a crowd if you exhibited it on a stage during

the summer solstice festival."

"Gee, thanks."

I had to chuckle to myself from being with such a sardonic

knight. Then a thought manifested, and I asked, "Have you ever

even seen Centoria's solstice festival? If anything, it's a holiday

for the common people. At Swordcraft Academy, hardly any of

the upper noble children went to it…"

There were exceptions to the rule, of course; Sortiliena was a

noble, and she looked forward to the festival every year, I recalled

fondly.

Alice snorted. "Do not take me for one of those nobles with

their airs. Of course…I…have…," she protested, before trailing off

prematurely.

Her mouth was hanging open, her brow knitted in confusion,

searching for some answer. She lifted her bare left hand and

pressed her fingertips to her smooth forehead. Then she shook

her head several times and mumbled, "No…One of the monks

told me…there was such a festival. Integrity Knights are forbidden…from mingling with the common folk…outside of duty…"

"…"

That made sense. The Integrity Knights believed they were

summoned from Heaven by their pontifex, but that wasn't true.

Administrator brought human beings who excelled in wisdom or

strength to the cathedral and performed a Synthesis Ritual that

locked their memories away and turned them into knights.

Therefore, if any knights wandered around the cities below, they

might run across their former family, leading to chaos.

Alice was number thirty, making her the second-newest knight

after Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-One, who'd been converted this

spring. Logic dictated that she'd probably been synthesized

within the past year as well, and yet she'd been taken from Rulid

eight years ago—leaving a blank period of seven years.

What kind of life had Alice lived here during that time? Was

she learning sacred arts as an apprentice sister? Did Administrator have her frozen as a prisoner the whole time?

Perhaps she had actually visited Centoria's summer solstice

festival before being turned into a knight. Maybe that little scrap

of conversation was peeling away at an old memory hidden behind her memory block…

If I kept asking her little questions about the solstice festival,

perhaps I could cause her Piety Module to eject, the way it had

with Eldrie. I opened my mouth to speak, only to quickly clamp it

shut.

Cardinal had said it would take more than just removing the

Piety Module from Alice the Knight to turn her back into Eugeo's

friend Alice Zuberg. I needed the fragment of her "most precious

memory," which Administrator had removed entirely. So if I removed Alice's module now, it would cause her to go entirely unconscious. I didn't want to do that, especially when there was no

saying when the next enemy might attack.

And for one thing, Alice hadn't even blinked when she ran into

Eugeo, her childhood friend for years back in Rulid. That indicated the comprehensiveness of her memory block. It was unlikely that a minor topic like the festival would dislodge the module, and it would probably backfire by making her more suspicious of me.

She watched me mulling this over, a questioning look on her

face, then switched gears and said, "Minion blood brings disease

with it. We must clean it off."

"Hmm? Oh…"

Alice pointed at me, and for the first time, I realized that a few

drops of the monster's blood had landed on my left cheek. I was

going to wipe off the foul-smelling liquid with my sleeve when she

snapped, "Don't do that!"

Stunned, I had to wonder how many years it had been since

someone scolded me that way.

"Ugh, why must all men be this way?" she lamented. "Don't

you at least have a hand towel of some kind?"

I stuffed my hands into my trouser pockets. The right one was

empty, and the left was stuffed with things that weren't a handkerchief. I had to sheepishly admit, "I don't have one…"

"…Forget it. Use this," she said, producing a white handkerchief from somewhere in her skirt and handing it to me with a

look of disgust.

If she was going to treat me like a little boy, I might as well lift

up her skirt and rub my cheeks on it, but I realized she could easily kill me for that. Instead, I gratefully accepted the lace-edged

kerchief and carefully wiped my cheek. It took the minion's blood

clean off, as if the fabric had some sacred art of cleansing cast

upon it.

"Thank you very much," I said, resisting the urge to call her

teacher. I tried to hand back the cloth, but she turned her head

away and said, "You will clean that before you return it, or I will

cut you in two."

Dark days ahead. What could I possibly say to someone like

this to avoid combat once we're back inside the tower, so that I

can reunite with Eugeo?I looked around, imagining my partner

climbing the stairs inside. By then, the light was totally gone from

the sky, replaced by twinkling stars. We'd defeated the minions,

but there was no way to generate new climbing hooks until the

moon rose and gave us its meager resources.

I stuck Alice's handkerchief in my pocket and examined the

terrace. As long as we didn't get any closer to them, it seemed

that the minion statues would remain in stone form along the

wall. If I rushed up to it and swung my sword at a vital spot before it could fully transform into flesh, I could probably beat it,

but there was nothing to be gained by exposing myself to that

danger.

We'd just have to wait here for the next few hours while the

moon rose. I was perfectly happy to sit down and rest for a while,

but I wasn't sure that I could avoid angering Alice for that entire

time. I decided to hold my tongue until I could think of a way to

improve the mood of the testy Integrity Knight.