Accel World: Crimson Storm Princess

by Reki Kawahara

  He probably no longer has the strength to stand up. The red black light that was trying to repair his whole body’s damage had mostly disappeared, and instead from the wounds drips of darkness came out like blood.

  “Cherry.”

  Niko called with a quiet sound as her feet stepped out.

  “Let’s end it. The game that is just painful and tough, there’s no meaning to continue.”

  In between the fingers that were covering the helmet, Chrome Disaster’s red eyes faintly shining could be seen.

  He lifted up the left hand that was pushing on the ground, with an ‘I surrender’, like gesture the palm faced the sky.

  ‘Did he regain his rationality?’ Haruyuki thought that for an instant.

  - However.

  Suddenly, without any preparation, the heavy looking black silver avatar danced up with fierce speed.

  “What...”

  In the view of Haruyuki who shouted, at a steel beam that was sticking out the top of a mostly broken down five storey building, Disaster had reached that place. He turned backwards, and again, as if sucked in by the air, jumped above.

  While staring at the shape that got smaller and smaller, Haruyuki blurted out.

  “Fl... «Flight Ability»!?”

  “Wrong, it’s «Super Long Distance Jump»!”

  Niko answered in an urgent sound.

  “...He wants to logout at the Sunshine City Leap Point. If he escape from here... there won’t be another chance...”

  Cherry Rook that is covered by that armor, must have realized that his «child», legion master Niko traced his movements with some kind of method. After logging out, he would surely find a counter for that, and then the «Wait and Ambush in Unlimited Neutral Field» kind of tactic could not be used again.

  Haruyuki ground his inner teeth, then stared at the Red King and said.

  “Niko. This time be sure to shoot. The «Judgement Blow».”

  “...Long-winded. I will shoot. For his sake.”

  “Then...”

  Finally, it’s time for the original plan with Silver Crow to chase and capture Chrome Disaster to start. After that, all he has to do is fly. With that determination, Haruyuki clearly announced.

  “...Until Niko catches up, I will hold Disaster down.”

  After an instant of speechlessness, Niko tilted her head slightly.

  “O... one person is impossible! Even though you can say he is wounded, he can still move like that. Instead of capturing him, you would be eaten up!”

  “...”

  Haruyuki took a quick glance at the deep black shape that was still lying far south at the crater’s edge.

  Soon his eyes turned back, and said forcefully.

  “Then I will hold out till being eaten at that time!”

  With a ‘Crunch’ rubble sound he changed his direction - .

  Haruyuki opened his wings wide, and left the ground in a straight line.

  He flew out of the half broken buildings, and gained altitude, then soon saw the dully shining avatar. He had already went about 300 meters northeast, and with tremendous long distance jumping from one building top to another going further away.

  After confirming with his glance below, that the crimson avatar started to run northeast as well, Haruyuki took a deep breath, and with a rumble sound, started flying.

  His two hands stuck straight in front, and charged forward while cutting the virtual air. He soon flew past the Green highway, then he went into the crossing capital number five highway and continued to accelerate.

  The towering Sunshine City that he was heading for was just right ahead. Of course, that shape was not the grey colored high-rise building in the real world. Made up of bluish sharp steel trusses, and piercing through the dark clouds like a huge tower where a demon king lived. The shopping mall at its base was also changed to a desolate courtyard, the space with cracked tiles, black trees with twisted branches spread wide here and there.

  There was a big set of stairs that passed through the courtyard to the tower from the street, and there he saw a blue white light filling the entrance. That was probably the «Leap Point». If he escaped there, then there won’t be another chance to capture Chrome Disaster in the Unlimited Neutral Field.

  That Disaster, while leaving a deep black blood trail, continued to jump in a zigzag way from one building near the highway to another. The fierce speed from not just any jump, however, it was obviously slower than Silver Crow’s flight.

  ‘- Catching up!’

  Haruyuki held his breath and calculated his rapid descent timing. First he has to knock the Armor to the ground, and then stop his movement.

  While maintaining more than enough altitude, Haruyuki reached the blind spot right above the opponent, and the Armor reached the top of another building, then at the moment he jumped towards the next target, Haruyuki entered a full speed dive.

  He stuck the tip of his right foot out, and descended like a sharp wedge. Maybe he heard the sound of air being cut, the Armor’s helmet turned to look up. But he should not be able to dodge while in his jump path. The strongly shining tip, headed towards the back of the badly wounded armor -

  “Wh... what!?”

  Right before that, something improbable happened.

  Chrome Disaster that was in the middle of a jump, as if seeing some kind of omen, changed his path to the right.

  With a ‘Zaa’ kind of brushing sound, Haruyuki missed kicking his target. He would be buried in the building right below like that, so he controlled both wings with full strength, and barely succeeded in slowing down.

  With a ‘Boom’ loud noise release, Haruyuki landed on both feet, and watched in shock as Chrome Disaster flew away to the right side.

  ‘What was that just now!?’ No matter what kind of long distance jump, while in the middle of a jump there is no way to change the path in the air. If that is possible, then for sure that would be the same as Haruyuki’s «flight», it could only be concluded like that.

  Hastily leaving the ground again, Haruyuki chased after Disaster. Until the Leap Point at Sunshine City, there was only two or three jump’s distance left.

  For an unknown reason, when the opponent can change its path in the air, he probably can no longer score a hit with a straight dive kick. If it is like that, then he would have to brave the danger of being captured, and try to attack in a close contact chase.

  “...Ooo.”

  With a short psyche, Haruyuki accelerated all at once, and closed in near the black silver armor’s back. Then, the Armor again made a left turn, and he unreasonably followed the turn. With the centripetal force on his whole body, his avatar creaked.

  While grinding his teeth, his held fist hit towards that back, at that time. Again, Chrome Disaster showed him an unthinkable action.

  This time right below, sinking almost straight down. With his punch cutting the air, Haruyuki flew past his target, and turned left while diving to aim for the opponent after it landed.

  No matter what, just at the instance both feet landed on the building top, to thrust for the next jump he should stop. To the falling Disaster’s shape, with his unreasonable moves, Haruyuki desperately tried to continue capturing him in his view in the dim light, and calculated his timing.

  The Armor’s body became round, looked up, and extended his right arm.

  And then Haruyuki saw a third startling scene.

  The heavy metal avatar that should have a huge mass, rapidly decelerated in the air. With movements as if gravity was turned upside down, he momentarily stopped in the empty space, then again flew straight up. Haruyuki who again missed his target, his right foot cut through only air as he turned around - .

  In his wide open eyes, he finally saw it.

  Chrome Disaster who ascended in a sharp angle, and towards the somewhat high building he was heading to, between them, was a very small red line, that shone for an instant.

  It’s not a beam. That was a reflection from the last remaining sunlig
ht that came in between the buildings.

  It is a wire.

  Inside Haruyuki’s brain, from the earlier Chrome Disaster’s fierce battles, the strange grip skill that he showed flashback one after another. The Yellow legion’s long range avatar, and the rock that Kuroyukihime kicked up, was improbably sucked in by the Armor’s open palm skill - that, also Disaster’s long distance jump and mid air movement, are all the same principle. Fire from both hands, an ultra small wire with anchor attached hit the target object and sucked it back in. Or hit a stationary object and pull itself up with it.

  In Haruyuki’s view, Chrome Disaster who ascended with very high speed coiling of the wire, disappeared between the buildings.

  While rising again to chase after him, Haruyuki desperately thought.

  To interfere with that jump, all he has to do is cut the wire that was in the air.

  But would he be able to cut it with his knife or kick? That heavy looking avatar, furthermore while in descending speed was being supported easily. The hooking power of the anchor, and the wire’s load carrying capacity, must be thought of as to the ultimate range. He won’t be able to cut it, or on the other hand might be damaged by it.

  Haruyuki who desperately turned his thinking wheel as he rapidly ascended, saw Chrome Disaster landing on the top of a building with a curved roof.

  On the other side of that building is Sunshine City. Just one more jump and he will reach that tower. What should he do? How will he stop him?

  Disaster extended his right hand towards the tower’s blue black wall.

  That sharp five fingered claw form opened. In the center, a flash of wire being fired shone.

  “- That’s it!!”

  At that moment, Haruyuki shouted after being visited by revelation. It could be said to be a reckless tactic, but he no longer had any method other than that.

  Putting all his energy into the white silver metallic fins that made up his wings, Haruyuki aimed straight for the Sunshine and went forward. The small avatar was covered by dots of light, and trailed a tail in the sky like a comet. Soon he caught up to Chrome Disaster and went past him, then over the road, and kept flying.

  More - more, «accelerate» more!

  With his increase in speed, the world’s shape started changing. Relatively speaking, everything other than himself started to decelerate.

  Haruyuki who went forward like a brilliant laser, ahead in his view, he accurately captured it. Chrome Disaster’s right hand that aimed for the tower’s outer wall and fired the wire. The ultra small hook at the tip of that wire.

  “U... O...o!!”

  With that roar and final acceleration, Haruyuki started a shallow angle dive, with his flight trajectory aiming to cross the wire.

  A ‘Kan’ kind of sound passed through his body, and he felt something ate into the center of his back.

  Right after, a tremendous weight wanted to pull Haruyuki back. He resisted that, expanding all the acceleration he had, and Haruyuki continued to move forward.

  That weight lessened. Chrome Disaster’s body that was behind the wire, floated in the sky behind him. Without looking behind, in Haruyuki’s brain, the Armor that was connected to him and flying at the same speed in the sky appeared.

  Disaster controlled the wire’s coiling speed, so as not to crash into the thing that he hooked onto while landing. However being pulled like this, he should no longer have any skill to slow himself down.

  In front of his eyes, the outer wall of the huge tower that reached for the sky closed in. While glaring at the numerous big steel beams that made up the surface of the wall, Haruyuki endured the terror and calculated timing. If he was too early, then he would give Disaster time to land, and if he was too late, he would crash into the tower as well.

  ‘- Here, here,’

  “It is!”

  With that shout, Haruyuki turned straight up to the limit of angle allowed. All the joints in his whole body creaked, and sharp pain ran in them. One steel beam’s tip lightly scratched from his chest to his stomach. While trailing orange sparks, Haruyuki rose while sticking to Sunshine’s wall, and at the same time slowed down his speed.

  Right after that.

  With an impact sound that shook the whole Ikebukuro area, Chrome Disaster’s huge body crashed into the tower’s wall.

  The tower itself trembled, with broken material and glass blown apart like explosions. The energy wave that was created, became blue white sparks that flew through the air.

  The wire that extended from Haruyuki’s back, was sucked into the huge hole on the wall around ten floors high in the tower.

  With mushy quiet echos, a large amount of water spew out from that hole while Haruyuki looked on in amazement. If he concentrated on looking, he could see large and small strange sea creatures in the water as well. They danced in the air as the remaining sunlight reflected red light from their scales, and they fell to the ground floor courtyard and bounced around.

  In the real world Sunshine City, that location should be the aquarium, Haruyuki realized in a daze. Probably that was also recreated in this accelerated world, and the water tank was broken by Disaster’s crash.

  After huge fishes and amphibians flowed out, at the end something like a lump of metal was pushed out of the huge hole, and caught by a bend steel beam.

  It was Chrome Disaster. He was so broken up that his original shape no longer remained.

  The right arm was half smashed to pieces, and the right foot was like crushed iron scrap. The armor was broken and crushed, with almost none of its usual shine.

  From the numerous wounds, a fearsome amount of black liquid flowed out, and before they reached the ground, they dissolved in the air and disappeared. With all those, that he did not get eliminated from the field right this instant, was strange enough.

  Haruyuki blinked hard once, then listened to himself saying that this is not the time to be emotional, and prepared to lower Disaster to the ground with the wire that was still connecting them. Niko should reach that place soon.

  He rose up slightly, and the wire that was pulled tight brought the Armor’s right arm up.

  - At that moment.

  “Ruu... oooOOOOOO!!”

  Suddenly, a tremendous volume roar was sent out.

  Chrome Disaster raised his head, and in his hood like helmet, many long and large fangs of darkness appeared, and opened wide.

  His right hand grabbed the air like a claw - and Haruyuki’s body was pulled in with unspeakable force.

  After falling for a few meters, Haruyuki used all his strength to move his wings, and resisted the demonic pull. The wire that was pulled tight rang with a ‘Giriri’ sound. Right in front of him, hungry fangs opened and closed.

  “Gu... O...”

  Groaning, Haruyuki desperately resisted. Chrome Disaster’s «feed on prey» has damage repair function. If he got eaten up here, then that guy that healed up will again go after Niko, and also Kuroyukihime will be attacked.

  Turning his eyes away from the fearsome jaw, Haruyuki looked straight up into the sky.

  In the Unlimited Neutral Field sky that was getting covered by darkness of night, it was mostly filled with deep black clouds, but in between those he could see a few stars.

  He extended his right hand all the way towards the biggest red star in that group. Holding his fist tight, Haruyuki also roared.

  “U... O...O - .”

  With a ‘Douu!’ vibration sound in the air, the silver wings’ thrust overcame the steel thread’s pull. Haruyuki who went forward as if shot out, while dangling the Armor below him, flew up with a fierce speed close to the outer wall of Sunshine. The impact wave shook the wall like a ripple, and following behind, was glass breaking.

  Haruyuki who reached the top of the tower in a few seconds, kicked a strange thorn that stuck out horizontally from its edge, and changed his body’s direction on reaction.

  He headed towards Chrome Disaster that was pulled flying by the wire.

  “U...
Raa!!”

  At the same time as that shout, his right foot kicked into the Armor’s throat area. With a dull metallic sound, the helmet’s bottom half was blown apart, and the fangs of darkness also crumbled.

  In that posture, this time he started a full speed descent. The white silver and black silver avatars became one and fell to the ground like a shooting star.

  - Then.

  With a ‘Boo’ sound, the darkness inside Disaster’s helmet was all blown away.

  What appeared from inside, was a bright pink, simple mask.

  The horizontal oval eyes dimly shone, and a small sound leaked from the mouth. With the remains of innocence, a boy’s voice.

  “...I... strong... want to become. Just that...”

  While continuing to dive, Haruyuki opened his eyes wide. He met the peeking like eyes, and the pink colored avatar again murmured.

  “If it is you, then... you understand right? You too, power... want it right...?”

  At the moment he heard those words - .

  Deep in his body, Haruyuki felt an emotion with fierce heat erupting.

  That was anger. Overwhelming fury.

  “Want to become strong... you said?”

  Haruyuki concentrated all the thrust from his wings towards the right foot on the Armor’s neck, and he said that. His voice slowly changing to a shout that was sent out.

  “That’s why you want to say everything is forgivable!? Wearing that armor, attacking many avatars, and wanting to eat your child, Niko, you want to say all that was justified?!”

  The dive already passed half of the tower. If he doesn’t retreat soon, he will be in danger as well. He understood that, however Haruyuki could not stop releasing his words.

  ‘Wanting to become strong’. Those were truly words that he repeated recently like a curse. Thinking of being inferior to everyone else, he became involved in a reckless training. But, arriving in the battle field today, and gotten past many different fighting situations, Haruyuki finally realized that he had forgotten something important.

  Strength is absolutely not something relative.

  Winning or losing in a duel, above or below someone, those kind of superficial reference is worthless.