Sword Art Online - Volume 4 - Fairy Dance

by Reki Kawahara

  According to Kirito, this new world’s acceleration theory was very similar to a car’s.

  Immediately after taking off, extend the right and left wings to a greater extent, «torque oriented» - was what Kirito said, but she didn’t understand it - this flight method allowed a strong kick in the air.

  For gradually speeding up, sharpen the angle of the wings, reducing the amplitude. At the highest speed, the wings are folded almost in a straight line, oscillating at a speed so high that from the point of view of the ground, it looks like a colorful comet flying past. When that stage is reached, the acceleration decreases, how fast you can go depends only on your spirit. Most players would soon start to slow down, overcome by fear and mental fatigue.

  In the «cross-ALfheim race» that was held last week, Lyfa and Kirito were in a dead heat, she had jumped ahead at the last second, taking first place by a very small margin. Those two were so much better than the other players, that they endanger the chance of a 2nd race.

  …That time, was a lot of fun…

  Lyfa made a small, reminiscent smile while flying. Just before the goal, when Kirito had overtaken her, he used a dirty trick in order to make Lyfa laugh, he had yelled a stupid joke and she had burst out laughing. For revenge, she made an antidote potion into object and threw it at him, if it missed then her top position would probably have been in danger and stolen.

  Flying in such an event was nice - but after all, when she was able to empty her head and just concentrate on accelerating to the absolute limit, that was the thing that she found most comfortable.

  Her speed had already risen to the limit after a few tens of minutes of flight. The earth wrapped in darkness flowing by quickly became just a strip, small city lights occasionally appeared ahead, but quickly passed behind.

  She felt that she had reached the highest speed so far - while thinking that, she opened her wings for an instant, bent backward and threw herself into a quick climb.

  Overhead, the huge moon was shining through a break in the clouds. Aiming toward the blue white disk, she rose like a rocket.

  After a few seconds, with a subtle change in the sound of the wind, she plunged into the sea of clouds. She flew through the black veil like a bullet shot from a gun. Lightning flashed from point-blank range, dying the clouds white, but she charged on without minding it.

  Before long, she passed through the sea of clouds. Below spread the world of pale blue moonlight, the clouds forming an endless plain. The only things she could see were the clouds and the tip of the World Tree. As her speed was slightly reduced, Lyfa closed her lips, held out her fingertips and intently aimed for the moon. It might have just been her imagination, but the diameter of the silver plate of the moon seemed to get slightly bigger. A number of craters were clearly visible.

  It might have been an illusion, a group of lights in the big central hallow seemed to shimmer and twinkle. Might there be a town in which the people of the moon live? A little more - just a little closer -

  However, at last the end of the world, a wall at the altitude limit caught her. Acceleration decreased, and her body seemed to grow heavy. The end of the virtual space was just ahead. She couldn’t rise beyond that, so it couldn’t be helped. But…

  Lyfa stretched out with her right hand as much as she could. As if to seize the moon, she spread her fingers.

  She wanted to go. Even higher. Far, far away. Beyond the stratosphere, separating from gravity, until the moon. No, beyond the orbit of the planet, beyond the passing comets, into the ocean of stars -.

  Her climbing speed finally descended to zero, then became negative. Still with her hands spread wide, Lyfa began to free-fall in the night sky. The moon gradually receded.

  But Lyfa closed her eyes and smiled.

  For now, it’s unreachable, but -

  From what she had heard from Kirito, there were plans to connect ALfheim Online with another larger VRMMO, making a nexus. For starters, they should be connecting to a game with the moon’s surface as a stage. That way, it might be possible to fly to the moon. With each game world added as a planet, the day when there was a ferry that comes and goes across the sea of stars will come.

  Fly anywhere. Go anywhere. But… There is a place she absolutely can not go.

  Suddenly, Lyfa felt lonely.

  While falling toward the fluffy clouds, Lyfa hugged her body tightly with both hands.

  She understood the reason for her loneliness. Tonight, in the real world Kirito - Kazuto brought her to a party, it was that party’s fault.

  It was very fun. Until now, new friends that could only be seen in this world, meeting them for the first time in the real world and talking with them about many things. Three hours had quickly passed by.

  However, at the same time Suguha felt it. They are linked with something that couldn’t be seen… a very strong bond. In «that world», the floating castle Aincrad that currently no longer existed, they fought together, cried, laughed, and loved, the memories - those, even when they returned to the real world, still shone from their hearts as a strong light.

  Her feelings of love toward Kazuto hadn’t changed.

  At night, saying good night in front of the door. In the morning, running together to the station, it always felt like soft and warmth sunlight.

  Even if they became real brother and sister, or if not, they might become strangers living in different cities, that would make her shed tears of sadness. But right now, living under one roof every day made her happy. She didn’t need to have all of Kazuto’s heart. As long as there is a corner that is just for her, is good enough.

  - Finally, she was able to accept it like that.

  At that party, she had a feeling that Kazuto was going far away, to a place that she would never reach. She was not allowed to trespass within those people’s bond. That place had no room for Suguha. Because Suguha had no memory of «that castle».

  Body small and rounded, Lyfa continued to drop like a meteor.

  The sea of clouds was approaching. Because the meeting place was the newly established Yggdrasil City at the top of the World Tree, she should have opened her wings and started gliding. But, because her heart was filled with cold loneliness, she couldn’t move her wings.

  Cold wind blew past brushing her face. Steadily stealing the warmth from her heart. She would just fall like that into the dark sea of clouds, sinking deeper and deeper -

  Suddenly, her body was caught by something, and she stopped falling.

  “- !?”

  Lyfa opened her eyes in surprise.

  There was a face in front of her, it belonged to Kirito. He was holding her with both hands, hovering just above the clouds. ‘Why’ - before she could ask, the dark-skinned Spriggan opened his mouth.

  “I was worried about how far you were going to rise. I came to pick you up because it is almost time.”

  “…I see …thanks. “

  Lyfa laughed with a smile, flapped her wings and flew from Kirito’s grasp.

  The new ALfheim Online administrators, had transferred all of the game data from RECTO Progress, which included the character data from the old Sword Art Online. Therefore, thanks to the administrative body, the former SAO players were able to choose to whether or not to use their old characters in ALO, including appearance.

  Because of this, the players that Lyfa played with daily, Scilica, Asuna, Lizbet have characters infinitely close to reality, beside their fairy racial characteristics. But when Kirito was given a choice, he did not revive his earlier appearance, choosing instead to continue with the figure of a Spriggan. He had also chosen to re-initialize his stats, dissolving his previous impressive skills and training from scratch.

  At this point, Lyfa wanted to know his reason, and asked her question while they hovered in the sky.

  “Hey, onii-cha… Kirito-kun, why didn’t you return to your original figure like the others?”

  “Hmm…”

  Kirito crossed his arms, his eyes became cloudy as he
seemed to look into the distance. Then he answered with a small smile.

  “The role of that world’s Kirito has ended.”

  “…I see.”

  Lyfa also wore a small smile.

  She had met the Spriggan warrior Kirito first, they went a journey to the World Tree. Thinking of that, made her little happy.

  Moving in space while standing up, Lyfa took Kirito’s right hand.

  “Hey, Kirito-kun. Let’s dance.”

  “Huh?”

  Pulling Kirito whose eyes were wide, she began to glide above the clouds as if sliding.

  “This is the recently developed high level technique. While hovering you can slowly move in a lateral direction.”

  “Oh I see…”

  Nothing stimulated Kirito’s mind like a challenge, his expression turned serious as he began to match Lyfa while gliding. However, he soon lost his balance and toppled.

  “Wooah!”

  “Hehe, it won’t work if you try to move forward. Instead, all you need it´s a little upward thrust, at the same time glide sideways.”

  “Mumuu…”

  Lyfa pulled Kirito’s arm as he unsteadily struggled for several minutes, but as expected of his ability to adapt, he soon looked like he had mastered the trick.

  “Oh… I see, so it’s like this.”

  “Right. Good, nice.”

  Lyfa smiled as she pulled a small bottle from a pocket at her waist. Opening the lid and letting it float in the air, drops of silver light spilled from the bottle, and at the same time a clear string instrumental ensemble that came out of nowhere could be heard. It was an item sold by a high-level Puca ministral, stuffed with their performance.

  With the beat of the music, Lyfa slowly stepped into dance.

  Large step, small step, another large step, they gently danced upon the air. With their two hands clasped together, staring into Kirito’s eyes, improvising to match the direction of movement.

  Two people glided, turning round and round on the endless sea of clouds, lit silently by the pale moonlight. At first a slow movement, but gradually speeding up, each their steps going farther.

  The green light being scattered from Lyfa’s wings overlapped with the white light scattering from Kirito’s wings, vanishing on collision. The sound of the wind receded. Lyfa closed her eyes gently.

  The feelings in Kirito’s heart flowed through his fingertips, and she felt and accepted them.

  This could be the last time, Lyfa thought.

  To date, there had been several times when, with a moment of magic, the feelings of the two had intertwined. It was probably the last time for that, too.

  Kirito - Kazuto, had his own world. School, comrades, and an important person. His wings were strong, and his steps too big, the hand he extended couldn’t quite be reached.

  Two years ago, since the day he didn’t return from the journey he started in that world, indeed their paths had started to grow further apart. In order to become closer to his back, Lyfa had tried on fairy wings, but half of Kazuto and those people’s hearts were even now still occupied by the mirage of the castle that floated in the sky.

  With the advances in science and technology, the virtual world becomes a real one without limits. It goes beyond the boundaries of a game, turning from a virtual world into a reality. However, people are not clever enough to live in many realities. Kazuto had surely accumulated far too much of his share of joys and sorrows, and of love in that world. A world of fantasy that Suguha would never be able to visit.

  From her closed eyelids, Lyfa felt the tears pour out.

  “- Lyfa…?”

  Kirito’s voice reached her ears.

  Lyfa opened her eyes, looking into his face with a smile. At the same time the small bottle that was full of music waned, fading out, disappearing along with the faint sound of the bottle breaking.

  “…I, for today, will be going back.”

  Lyfa said as she let go of his hand.

  “Eh…? Why…”

  “Because…”

  Once again, her tears overflowed.

  “…It’s too far away, onii-chan’s… and everyone else’s place. For me, I can’t go there…”

  “Sugu…”

  Kirito looked at her with serious eyes. He lightly shook his head.

  “It’s not like that. If you think you want to go, you can go anywhere.”

  Not waiting for an answer, Kirito grabbed Lyfa’s hand again, and with a firm grip, turned around.

  “Ah…”

  With the powerful sound of wings, he began to accelerate. Straight toward the the World Tree towering beyond the clouds.

  Kirito flew at a breakneck speed that didn’t even allow words. Their linked hands never even loosening slightly, Lyfa frantically tried to keep up.

  The World Tree grew to cover the sky as they approached it. Among the many branches, at the point where they divided from the trunk, there were innumerable lights shining. The lights of Yggdrasil City.

  From the center rose a remarkably high tower shining brightly, toward which Kirito soared.

  From the collection of lights, the light leaking from the windows of the building, and the streetlights illuminating the streets were beginning to be seen individually - it was at that time.

  Multi-layered bells began to sound. It was the bell signaling midnight in ALfheim. Inside the World Tree, set up in the large upper cavity above the elevator connecting Yggdrasil City to Aarun, the sound echoes through the whole world.

  Kirito spread his wings wide, suddenly braking.

  “Waaah!?”

  Lyfa was unable to stop, and they almost collided. Hovering, Kirito spread his arms and as she bumped into him, stopping her by hugging her gently.

  “We didn’t make it in time. - Here it comes.”

  “Eh?”

  Not understanding the meaning of his words, Lyfa looked at Kirito’s face. With a wink and a grin, Kirito pointed to a corner of the sky. Turning her body around while still in his arms, she looked up at the night sky.

  The huge full moon, glowing a bright, clear blue. - That was all.

  “The moon… what about it?”

  “There, look carefully.”

  Kirito further extended his arm. Lyfa stared hard.

  The shining circle of silver, at the upper right edge - was slightly chipped.

  “Eh…?”

  Lyfa’s eyes opened wide. Lunar eclipse…? She thought for a moment, but then remembered that such a thing had never happened in ALfheim.

  The area of the black shadow eroding the moon increased steadily. However, its shape was not circular. It was like a triangular wedge biting into it -.

  Suddenly, Lyfa’s ears caught the sound of a low growl. ‘Gon, gon’ the solemn sound echoed. From far away, the whole sky shook, as if something was falling.

  The shadow that appeared finally stretched to cover the whole moon. However, the moonlight still shone from beyond the shadow, illuminating the vague triangular shape. Steadily getting bigger and bigger. It was coming closer.

  It appeared to be a cone-shaped object. The sense of distance couldn’t quite be grasped. She strained her eyes, wrinkling her brow. And -

  Suddenly, the suspended object began to shine.

  Bright yellow light was being emitted in all directions.

  It looked like it was made with many thin layers stacked together. Light spilled from the space between the layers. Three huge pillars hung down from the base, their glowing tips dazzling as well.

  A ship…? A home…? Lyfa tilted her head in puzzlement. In the meantime, it grew bigger. Already, it had come to completely blanket that part of the sky. A bass sound shook her body.

  From the bottom layer to the next, she noticed something as she stared. Many small projections stretch from the bottom to top. No - Those are -

  Buildings! Huge buildings with windows on many floors seeming to be tightly packed. However - from calculating the size of the buildings, that one building that’s ove
r ten floors is about the same height as the Tower of the Wind. Then, the floating cone’s full height must be… hundreds of meters, no, a few kilometers…?

  “Ah… No way… No way, that is…”

  As she thought about what she was seeing, lightning flashed her mind, illuminating the truth.

  “That is…!”

  She turned around and looked at Kirito’s face.

  Kirito give one big nod, and spoke in a voice in which the excitement couldn’t be disguised.

  “Yes. That is - The Floating Castle, Aincrad.”

  “- ! …But …why? Why here…?”

  The huge floating castle slowed, then stopped moving just before touching the upper branches of the World Tree.

  “It’s for a rematch.”

  Kirito said in a quiet voice.

  “This time, we will perfectly clear from floor one to floor one hundred, and conquer that castle. Earlier, it ended after being three-fourths completed. - Lyfa.”

  Kirito placed a hand on her head and continued.

  “I have now become weak… Give me a hand.”

  “…Ah…”

  Lyfa choked on her voice and looked at Kirito’s face.

  - If you think you want to go, then you can go anywhere.

  Tears fell down her face again, onto Kirito’s chest.

  “- Yes. I will go… no matter where… together…”

  Snuggling up to Kirito, she watched the absolutely huge floating castle, from the direction of her feet came a voice.

  “Hey, you’re late Kirito!”

  Lyfa looked at the source, a yellow and black bandana around his red hair, a formidable long katana on his waist, Cline was rising up.

  Beside him a Gnome with brown glowing skin, was Egil carrying a huge battle axe on his back.

  Carrying a Leprechaun-only silver hammer, dressed in pure white and blue apron-dresss was Lizbet.

  With gorgeous long black ears and tail, a small water color dragon on her shoulder, was Scilica.

  Flying hand in hand, was Yuriel and Sinker.