Sword Art Online 13: Alicization Dividing Part 14

98.

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli.

99.

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli.

He fell back-first into the bath on the left of the pathway. A water sprout rose high and the surroundings were dyed in crimson the moment that settled down.

"Gu... haa...!"

He spewed out the hot water that made their way into his throat and that spray, too, was tinged red. It appeared part of his injuries had reached his lungs. If he hadn't killed some of that momentum, despite the slight amount it had been, immediately before cras.h.i.+ng into that heat haze, it wouldn't be strange even for his body to be slashed into two now.

"System... call. Generate... luminous element..."

His body floating in the bath, he chanted a healing art in disconnected streams. Fortunately, he was surrounded by a large quant.i.ty of warm water. They should possess an amount of sacred power significantly more than what cold water had. That said, Eugeo couldn't completely treat a wound that severe in a such short period of time with his capabilities, though.

The knight commander standing on the pathway calmly looked down upon Eugeo as he somehow succeeded in stopping the flow of blood and roused his body in his lightheadedness. He had already slipped his sword into the scabbard on the left of his waist and thrust his right arm into the breast of his clothes.

"That was pretty dangerous, I mean, I didn't think you were going to rush in at a speed like that. Sorry 'bout that, almost kil ed you there."

Those words lacked urgency even now, but Eugeo couldn't find the strength to rebut any longer and forced out a hoa.r.s.e voice from his hurting lungs.

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Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli.

"Wh... what was that... skill..."

"I did say I'd be using my trump card. I didn't just slash the air with some practice swing, yeah? In a sense... I slashed the future of a little later."

It took a little while for him to realize any tangible meaning from the knight commander's words. The wound that throbbed, as though ice was pushed purely against the spot despite the surrounding hot water, robbed him of his thoughts.

-The future... was slashed?

That certainly was a valid description for that phenomenon.

There was no mistake that Eugeo activated Sonic Leap after the knight commander had swung his sword. However, as if the sword had a.s.saulted him from the past, Eugeo suffered from a deep gash the moment he touched the trajectory of that slash.

No- To put it more accurately, it should said that the force behind that sword slash remained in midair. Eugeo did see something like a heat haze wavering in the air before he was blown away.

The "right place" and the "right time" were necessary for a sword slash to hit. The sword would miss the enemy if either the place or time were off.

In all likelihood, the knight commander's ful control art extended the latter of those conditions, time. Power remained within the trajectory even after the sword had been swung. To say it in another way-it slashed the enemy in that position of the future.

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Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli.

It was the most plain, appearance-wise, among the armament full control arts the knights he had faced thus far commanded, but stil , this was a horrifying ability. Anywhere that sword pa.s.sed through would be converted into a lethal domain. The "extent" of which would far exceed the duration of continuous slashes that consecutive hit skills boasted of. Close combat of sword versus sword would be practical y impossible.

-Then I'l have to bring this into a far range battle?

Even if the knight commander's ful control art could extend time, it couldn't lengthen the slashes' range. In comparison, the range of the "ice tendrils" brought forth by Eugeo's full control art exceeded thirty mel.

The question was whether the Blue Rose Sword could exhibit its original potential in this place with much hot water. At the very least, he would have to be prepared for a little delay on its effect after activation. In other words, he would need to draw the enemy in to a range such that it wouldn't be possible to escape beyond the range of the ice tendrils art even if its nature was seen through.

It would be tough, but there was no choice.

Steeling himself for the sink-or-swim bout, Eugeo touched his breast with his left hand. A shocking, sharp pain ran through, but it seemed the wound wouldn't open even if he moved for a bit. Of course, it was far from fully healed and his Life likely reduced by over thirty percent, but he could stil stand and even swing his sword.

"System call. "

Merging his voice into the roaring noises of water coming from the spouts installed in the four corners of the bath, Eugeo 102.

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli.

began chanting the art. An expert like the knight commander couldn't possibly miss that, but rather than obstructing the chant, he even dared to continue chatting leisurely on the pathway with his arms folded, as though granting Eugeo the time.

"The first time I saw the darkness knights' Continual Sword was practically right after I got my duties as an integrity knight, ya know? I got hit so hard at first I couldn't even make a sound. I ran back in panic, then thought about why I lost with this c.r.a.ppy brain of mine for quite some time."

The scar on his chin the knight commander rubbed with his fingertips was from that time, perhaps.

"Wel , it's not too hard when you think about it. Main point is, compared to the swordsmans.h.i.+p my body had been immersed in, going one-mindedly after the might of a single strike, the Continual Sword goes for the obvious path of blocking the enemy's. .h.i.ts and succeeding in one's own, that was al to it. I don't have to point out which is more practical. No matter how powerful a strike it is, it's just like a little breeze blew back if it doesn't hit, yeah..."

The ends of his lips twisted and he took a short, audible breath.

"-But even if I figured out that much, I'm not so good that I could just start learning the Continual Sword right away, you see. Man, if the highest minister was summoning an integrity knight, she should have picked some guy with a little more flexibility."

Eugeo frowned at those words as he continued chanting.

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Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli.

As expected, the man who named himself the knight commander had the memories before he became an integrity knight erased as well. However, even if he himself were to lose those memories, would it be possible for every single person in the world, without exception, to forget about someone with such proficiency with the greatsword? Ever since the man stated his name so grandly earlier, Eugeo himself had felt an itch in a corner of his mind, as though it reminded him of someone.

Bercouli Synthesis One. That should have been what the man cal ed himself.

He had definitely heard of that name somewhere. A champion of the Four Empire Unity Tournament, or perhaps some general of the imperial knight orders.

Behaving as though Eugeo's fixed gaze on his face and the art he composed in a whisper didn't bother him in the slightest, the knight commander continued talking, detached from the situation.

"And so, I racked my poor brain and thought about how I could hit the enemy with my sword. And this guy's the answer."

He made a metallic sound with the crude sword that was entirely steel blue, stil in its scabbard.

"This sword was originally part of a sacred tool cal ed a "clock" that was mounted on the Central Cathedral's wal , see.

The "Time-tel ing Bel " in the same place now tel s the time through sound, but that clock-thing had a huge needle pointing at numbers arranged in a round long ago, ya know. I mean, it was something that existed since the world was created... the highest minister called it the " System Clock"... or something strange like that, I think."

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Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli.

It might have been Sacred Tongue, but those words rang no bell to Eugeo. The same went for that "clock" that seemed to have been in Common Tongue. Knight Commander Bercouli's eyes narrowed as though he was peeking into the past long ago and moved his mouth once again.

"Quoting the minister, 'The clock does not merely display the time, it creates it.'... she said. I had practically no idea what that meant, though. Anyway, this guy's from forging that clock's needle into a sword. In contrast with lil' Alice's "Fragrant Olive Sword" cutting through s.p.a.ce horizontal y, this guy pierces through time vertical y. Its name is "Time Piercing Sword"... the sword that pierces through time."

He found it difficult to form a tangible image of the tool cal ed the clock, but Eugeo somehow understood what the knight commander tried to convey. The force brought forth the instant the sword was swung apparently did possess the ability to bypa.s.s time and maintain itself, in actual fact. If that was possible, there was absolutely no need to link multiple slashes together like in the Aincrad style. When asking for the reason why consecutive hit skil s use consecutive hits, that would be no other than to stretch out the duration of the slashes. If Bercouli's Time Piercing Sword combined the offensive ability of single-hit skil s and the accuracy of consecutive hit skills, that sword style would be peerless. As long as it was within range, that is.

As aptly put by Bercouli himself, there was only one method to counter it. He could only fight, utilizing the extent of s.p.a.ce, rather than time.

And the same moment Eugeo thought so, the knight commander grinned.

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Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli.

"So you'l have to attack from a distance, that's what you thought, right? The same went for those who saw my skill, every single one of them."

He was startled by his thoughts being read, but he couldn't very well cease his chanting now. He might have predicted that Eugeo would commence a far-range attack, but he should have had no means to ascertain the skill's nature. Whether he understood what Eugeo thought in his mind or not, the knight commander lightly shrugged his shoulders.

"Including Fanatio and Alice, those integrity knights summoned after myself tended to choose full control arts with long range because they saw my skill... there were definitely some who did it because of that. But I'l say this first; I've never lost a single match against those guys. Anyone who defeats me would be as good as the new knight commander from then now, after all. Well, lil' Alice might do me in sooner or later, though.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to it too. I wonder just what is that skil of yours that drove off those guys one after another."

"...Relaxed, aren't you."

Having finished chanting the art several seconds ago, Eugeo muttered so without thinking. However, perhaps because of his tension, the ful control art remained on standby within Eugeo without getting annulled.

It seemed Bercouli really did give that long-winded speech in order to grant Eugeo the time to chant his full control art. He likely had the confidence to crush it on his first encounter, whatever skill it was.

And although he hated to admit it, even if the ice roses art were to capture Bercouli, he had absolutely no confidence he 106.