Sword Art Online 13: Alicization Dividing Part 12

Despite the lack of what could be const.i.tuted as blood-thirst in those pale, light blue eyes, he felt an intense pressure just from facing him from over fifteen mel away. His gaze likely contained only pure interest in the opponent he would now cross swords against, and the rapture of battle itself? The only ones who could look upon an enemy with such eyes have had to possess an absolute confidence in their own swordsmans.h.i.+p. In other words, this man resembled Kirito somehow.

Having finished tying the sash in front of his body, the man turned his right hand to the clothes basket. With that, a longsword gently came out from the bottom of the basket, settling into his burly hand. Carrying it on his shoulder, he began walking on the marble with his wet, bare feet.

Standing stil after closing until a mere eight mel or so away from Eugeo, the man rubbed his st.u.r.dy chin that had a short beard growing from it and spoke.

"There. Could ya tell me something before we fight?"

"...What is it?"

"Well, that'd be... did the deputy knight commander... did Fanatio die?"

That curt tone, as if asking about the menu for dinner, made Eugeo feel like retorting with a "Aren't you talking about your deputy?" However, he immediately noticed an awkwardly constructed guise on the man's expression as he averted his gaze to the side. Despite being truly anxious about it, he seemed averse to revealing that. That, too, brought to mind the partner who wasn't present.

"...She's alive. She's receiving treatment right now... I believe."

87.

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli.

Having heard Eugeo's reply, the man brazenly let out a sharp breath and nodded.

"I see. I won't be taking your life then."

"Wha......"

Once again, he was at a loss of words. It was a conceit so immense that it had no room for suspicion over it being a bluff.

Self-confidence was a great weapon in its own right, or so Kirito had said, but even he wouldn't show this much composure in front of a strong enemy. The source of the rock-hard pride belonging to the giant of a man before his eyes was probably impossible for both Kirito and Eugeo to obtain-the experiences of winning through countless fierce battles, enough for every single one of those wounds all over his body.

However, even the count is significantly lower than his, Eugeo had also driven away integrity knights, just like this man, on more than one occasion on the way up here. Showing weakness before they cross swords would be inexcusable to the defeated integrity knights, to Gorgolosso and the academy's instructors who trained Eugeo, and of course, to his black-haired partner.

Mustering all the fighting spirit he had, Eugeo stared at the man head-on. He spoke with strength to his stomach, for his voice to not quiver.

"I don't like it."

"Oh?"

With his hand still in the bosom of his oriental clothes, the man let out an amused voice.

"What don't you, boy?"

88.

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli.

"Fanatio-san isn't the only one of your subordinates, is she?

There are Eldrie-san and the "Four Oscil ation Blades"... and do you not care whether Alice is dead or alive either?"

"Aah... that's what you were getting at"

The man looked up and sc.r.a.ped the side of his head with the longsword's grip held in his left hand.

"I guess it's like this... Eldrie's lil' Alice's disciple and the Four Oscil ation Blades, Dakira, Jeis, Hobren, and Giro, are Fanatio's disciples. So, that makes Fanatio mine, you see? I'm not one for holding grudges, but at the very least, I'l take revenge if my disciple gets killed; that's all to it."

He broadly grinned, then added on as if it just occurred to him.

"...Well, lil' Alice might think of me as a mentor, though...

honestly now, I don't know who'd be stronger now in a real fight.

It wasn't that hard six years ago when the lil' miss just became a knight apprentice, though."

"Six years ago... a knight apprentice...?"

Forgetting about his retort towards the man for the moment, Eugeo murmured.

Six years ago would mean two years after she was taken away from Rulid. Kirito had taught him that the integrity knights'

names included a "number" in Sacred Tongue as they climbed the stairs and it seemed Alice was thirty, Eldrie was thirty-one, and Deusolbert was seven. It shouldn't have been that long ago when Alice became a knight, judging from the newness of her number, but- "...But Alice is thirty... the thirtieth integrity knight, right?"

89.

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli.

The man lightly tilted his head at Eugeo's question, but immediately let out an "aah".

"General y, we aren't in the habit of giving numbers to apprentices. The lil' miss became thirty last year when she was formally commissioned as a knight. She was more than qualified as one with her capabilities even six years ago, but she was too young and al ..."

"But... Fizel and Linel possessed numbers despite being apprentices."

The instant he heard those names, the man's mouth distorted as though he just bit down on a bitterbug.

"...It just turned out that way with those pipsqueaks becoming knights. They're exceptions, getting numbers while stil apprentices. -Did you fight those two? Living through that's surprising in a whole different way from defeating Fanatio."

"We did get paralyzed by "Ruberyl's poison steel" and almost got beheaded, though."

Eugeo considered further while replying.

The man knew Alice when she was a knight apprentice. Hence, Alice had her memories sealed through the "Synthesis Ritual" a whole six years ago... when she was thirteen, it seems.

Thereafter, Alice believed herself to be an existence summoned from the Celestial World in order to become an integrity knight and continued living in the cathedral...?

Gazing at Eugeo who sank into silence, the giant man shrugged his shoulders.

90.

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli.

"Wel , I don't plan on losing to ya, so I doubt the lil' miss who's as strong as me got cut by you. From what I heard from that Chief Elder b.a.s.t.a.r.d, you had a partner, huh? If that guy isn't that, he's probably going at it with the lil' miss somewhere, eh?"

"...That's essentially it."

After finding himself nodding, Eugeo restored the tight grip on his sword. He couldn't help but to have his animosity chipped away by the man's speech, but this was no situation to lose his focus. Concentrating his two eyes further, he cried out a taunt.

"By the way, who wil be the next to exact vengeance on me after I cut you?"

"Hehe, don't worry. There's no master of mine around."

He grinned and gently drew the longsword from his shoulder with his right hand. He carelessly stuck the scabbard left over into his sash with his left hand.

The slightly blackened, bulky blade was meticulously polished, but the infinite amount of old blemishes faintly remaining over its entire length glittered in the il umination s.h.i.+ning in from the ceiling. The guard and grip appeared to be made from the same quality of metal as the blade, but unlike the sacred tools wield by the integrity knights he had fought thus far, not even a single splendid decoration adorned them.

That said, it was clear that was no weapon to look down upon, even from afar. It must have taken a considerable amount of blood over an endless period of time, with a sort of presence coiling about the dark-gray blade.

Eugeo, too, drew his beloved sword out from the sheath at the left of his waist while taking in a sharp, thin breath. It wasn't in 91

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli.

its full control state, but its pale-blue blade let out a faint chill, perhaps responding to its owner's tension, forming flickering crystals of ice in the surrounding steam.

In a gal ant motion that suited that fine body, the man pulled back his right leg while holding the sword in his right hand near vertical and visibly lowered his waist. It resembled the stance for the Norkia-style's secret move, "Lightning Flash Slash", but differed slightly. Setting the sword that straight would result in a need for excessive movement in order to activate that skill.

Eugeo took the stance for the Aincrad-style's secret move, "Sonic Leap", with that consideration.

As far as Eugeo knew, the mysterious Aincrad style, with its own pract.i.tioner, his partner, Kirito, had skil names in Sacred Tongue for al of its secret moves. The Sacred Tongue was a holy language pa.s.sed down onto the Axiom Church's originator by the three G.o.ddesses during the creation of the world, with no dictionary for it in the Sword Mastery Academy's library-or even the castles the four emperors resided within, according to what he had heard from the instructors.

Knowledge on the meaning behind its vocabulary was restricted to those used in sacred art rituals. Hence, even Eugeo, who studied diligently in the academy, knew only the meaning for words like " element" or " generate" from the limited vocabulary.

However, despite how he lost all of his previous memories before appearing in Rulid Forest two years ago, Kirito seemed to have known of bits of Sacred Tongue that Eugeo didn't. The vocabulary used in the secret moves' names were no exception; he said Sonic Leap had the meaning of "jumping at the speed of sound". He didn't know exactly how fast sound travelled, but it

92.