Did the sacred art just happen to finish right then, or did she stop because she sensed him approaching? What kind of spell was it, anyway?
His head swiveled around, but nothing seemed different. The circular room was larger than the floor below, perhaps forty mels across, and there was hardly any furniture inside—just the bed, the thick carpet, and more than a dozen pillars with massive sword decorations to serve as frames for the windows that surrounded the room. They had gleamed golden in the moonlight, but nothing seemed different about them now.
Eugeo gave up on his examination and faced the bed again. Instantly, the middle of his head throbbed.
The cold pain was getting stronger, bit by bit. He probably wouldn’t be lucid for much longer. Before he became an Integrity Knight in body and mind again, he would do what needed to be done.
He took a few more steps, right up to the side of the bed, and after some hesitation, laid the Blue Rose Sword on the ground. The instant he let go, he felt anxiety and loneliness, but he had to remove any reason for the woman to suspect him of being a threat.
Eugeo straightened up, took a deep breath, and prayed that his voice wouldn’t tremble.
“…My lady Pontifex.”
After a few seconds of silence, which felt eminently longer, her voice replied.
“…Welcome back, Eugeo. You finished your errand properly.”
“…Yes, my lady,” he muttered. Eugeo was bad at acting, but he’d spent years of his life in Rulid suppressing his emotions. All he had to do was go back to that time in his life. Back to the old him, before he met that strange, black-haired boy at the Gigas Cedar.
“Very good. Then I owe you a reward. Come into my bed,” came the soft, velvety welcome beyond the canopy.
He brushed the front of his chest again, then gently pulled open the part in the canopy surrounding the bed. It was all purple darkness inside, but the sweet, familiar scent there lured him in deeper.
He put his weight on the silk cover and crawled forward. While it might have been voluminous for a bed, it was still supposed to be only five mels to the center. Yet no matter how many crawling repetitions he did, he couldn’t see or feel anything ahead.
But if he panicked or said something, it would tell her that his mind was back under his own control. He kept moving, focusing only on the feel of the covers.
Suddenly, a bit higher than his eye level, a pale light appeared without a sound.
That color wasn’t coming from a candle or a lamp. It was a light element from a sacred art, though he never heard any commands. The floating little mote peeled back the velvet darkness just the tiniest bit.
Eugeo looked down and saw her smiling face, just two mels away. For an instant, his eyes bulged, but then he composed his face again just as quickly and bowed with his hands still pressed against the bed.
It was a girl dressed in sheer purple fabric, with long silvery hair. The ruler of humanity, with transcendent beauty and mirror eyes that kept her thoughts hidden.
Administrator, pontifex of the Axiom Church.
The young woman seated lazily on the blanket stared at Eugeo, silver mirror eyes reflecting the light of the little floating element, and whispered, “Come to me, Eugeo. As I promised, I will give you what you want. The love that belongs only to you.”
“………Yes, my lady,” he whispered, inching closer to her, still prone.
Once he was one mel away, he’d leap on her, cover her mouth with his hand so she couldn’t give commands, pull his secret weapon out from under his shirt with the other hand, and stab her with it. It would take less than two seconds altogether, but that still seemed like an eternity against someone like Administrator.
The instant he thought of this act of rebellion against her, a sharp pain ran from the spot between his eyebrows to the center of his head. But there was no time to think about it. He had to relax as much as he could and sneak closer, closer…
“But before that,” Administrator murmured just before he reached the right distance, causing him to pause, “I want you to show me your face again, Eugeo.”
Did she sense his malice? If he tried to execute his plan now, he wouldn’t be in time. He had to obey.
Slowly he rose off the sheets and looked at her, keeping his expression frozen. At the very least, he wanted to keep from looking into her eyes, but those glassy surfaces drew his gaze through some irresistible force. They betrayed no information of their own and yet had the ability to peer directly into the mind of any who looked into them. The floating light caused them to reflect an eerie glint.
After several interminable seconds, the woman said, “Conveniently, there was a hole in your memory already, so I inserted the module right there. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so lazy…”
It seemed like she was mostly talking to herself, and Eugeo didn’t understand at first.
There was a hole in his memory—meaning that something had been missing from Eugeo’s memory even before he was first taken to this chamber? But he had no inkling that there was some missing period of his life before this. Maybe the fact that he didn’t remember it was the hole in his memory, but there had been that thing Cardinal said, too.
To insert the Piety Module, the most precious memories of the target had to be removed first, usually of their most beloved person.
That conversation in the hidden library seemed like it was ages ago by now. Eugeo mulled this over.
…My most beloved person. That would be Alice Zuberg, the girl who was taken away by an Integrity Knight before my eyes eight years ago. I’ve never once forgotten her. When I close my eyes, I can see her golden hair shining in the sun, her eyes bluer than the bluest midsummer sky, and that dazzling smile.
…And while it might not be the same kind of love, I also have a partner, a friend almost as important to me as Alice. A strange young man I met in the forest south of Rulid two years and two months ago. A “Lost Child of Vecta,” with black hair and black eyes in the eastern style. Kirito’s been my best friend—he got me out of the village and helped guide me all the way here to Central Cathedral. I can easily see that mischievous grin of his, too.
…Alice and Kirito. I may never see their smiles again. But even if I’m fated to lose my life here, I know that up to that final moment, I’ll never forget about them.
…I was hoping I’d be able to go back to Rulid with Kirito and Alice once she got her memory back…but I don’t have the right to wish for that anymore. I gave in to Administrator’s temptation. I lost sight of myself. I turned my sword on the two people I care about most.
Just as he reached that conclusion, Eugeo felt his eye twitch just the tiniest bit. Administrator tilted her head in slight confusion, though it was unclear how she chose to interpret that motion.
“Yes, you seem a bit unstable still. Very well, I’ll just have to resynthesize. Your reward can come after that, Eugeo.”
She thrust out her right hand.
It might have been the perfect moment to leap into action, but the moment that her delicate finger pointed at his forehead, Eugeo underwent a most peculiar sensation. His body jolted and went numb, leaving him unable to even speak, much less move his limbs.
And the next instant, a very bizarre feeling shot from the spot between his eyes toward the back of his head.
The source of the cold throbbing, that thorn of ice jabbing deep into his head, was being slowly but forcefully pulled out from its location. It didn’t hurt, but each movement of the thorn brought a bright flash to his eyes, and brief glimpses of vague scenes.
Green branches swaying in the wind. Gently shifting sunlight coming through the trees.
Running and laughing beneath them.
Shining golden hair just ahead.
Coarse black hair bouncing right beside.
Young Eugeo looked to his right as he ran. But the smile of his other childhood friend drifted away into a bright flash, out of reach…
A powerful shock brought Eugeo back to the surface
of the bed in the darkness. As his numb body arched its back, something alien was protruding from his forehead. A triangular, translucent prism that glowed purple.
When they’d fought Eldrie the Integrity Knight in the rose garden, the mention of his mother’s name had caused him to act strangely, until this same kind of prism emerged from his head. But the one appearing out of Eugeo right now was larger, carved with more-intricate symbols, and glowing brighter.
Stunned with both the shock that something this enormous had been inside his head all this time and the horror that Administrator’s sacred arts were powerful enough to do such a thing, Eugeo could only watch in silence.
“Yes…be a good boy. Just stay there,” the silver-haired young woman purred. She reached out and gently plucked the purple prism from Eugeo’s head. The moment the object came loose, his mind went blank, and Eugeo slumped helplessly into the linens.
Administrator cradled the prism in her fingertips, gazing upon it lovingly. “This is an improved model of the module. I just finished making it. Not only does it force loyalty to me and the Church, it also contains circuits for strengthening the imagination. Synthesize this, and there won’t be any need for inefficient training. You’ll be able to use Incarnation that very instant. It’s still limited to very elementary steps for now, however…”
Eugeo understood less than half of what she was saying. But one thing was clear—that prism, the Piety Module, was what took over his thoughts, turned him into an Integrity Knight, and made him threaten his friends. Yes, he had chosen that path for himself, but now that the module was removed, he could fulfill his final role without that bothersome false obedience getting in the way. Now he realized that the horribly cold, stinging pain in the center of his head was gone, too.
However, even with the module gone, the numbness that came over him when she pointed her finger at him did not go away. He was completely unable to control his own limbs.
If only he could move his right hand. Then he could grab the thing from his chest and swing it down on her…
He struggled with all his might, stuck with his back hunched over—and then her hand was reaching out again.
Eugeo rolled his eyes upward and saw the pontifex, module in her left hand, approaching close enough that their knees were nearly touching. Unable to resist even the slightest of pressures, his head was pulled toward the smiling woman, and he toppled forward.
Administrator rested his head sideways on her lap and traced his hairline with her fingertip. “Show me your memories again. This time, I’ll bury this in the most precious place of all. Then your head won’t hurt anymore. Even better…you’ll be forever free of all those pointless, petty troubles and pains, your hunger and thirst.”
The pale finger pulled away, then descended to brush his lips. The numbing feeling went away but only around his mouth.
She removed her hand again, gave him a mind-melting smile, and commanded, “Now say those words I taught you, one more time.”
“…”
Now that they were barely under his control again, Eugeo’s lips trembled. His memory of fighting with Kirito as an Integrity Knight was fuzzy, as was whatever came before that, but he did have a very clear picture of the three command words he had chanted.
Remove Core Protection.
The sacred words were unfamiliar to him, and he couldn’t guess what they signified, but one thing was certain: That short command was designed to seize the door that all people were born with—a door that stayed shut to keep the mind safe—and hurl it open.
That was how Administrator had been able to peer into Eugeo’s memory and find the empty space into which she inserted the Piety Module. But according to her words, the synthesis process had been unstable, which was why she was trying to do the same thing again.
Despite the incredible danger he was in, Eugeo was still in his right mind, which meant the door was shut again. Either it closed on its own over time, or the pontifex had closed it afterward for some reason or another; he couldn’t be sure. Whatever the case, in order to resynthesize him, Administrator required that Eugeo utter the three-word command again.
If he did, he would almost certainly become an Integrity Knight in every sense and would never again get the chance to restore Alice’s memory.
But if he didn’t say them, Administrator would detect his rebellion against her.
This was the moment. Right here, with her skin exposed and defenseless, Eugeo had his last and best chance. He had to find a way to restore feeling to his numbed hands and stab her.
With just a gesture of her hands, she had paralyzed his body. And not just that—she’d also generated that light element above without uttering a word.
There was another occasion on which Eugeo had witnessed an invisible power being used without a spoken command, although it was not the same kind of sacred art. It was Bercouli Synthesis One, whom he’d fought in the bathhouse many floors below—though Eugeo originally knew him as the ancient hero who had founded the village of Rulid. With just a motion of his hand, he had drawn his distant sword to his side.
In fact, that wasn’t the only time. In the Great Library, Cardinal had closed off passages with a wave of her staff and made a table appear out of nowhere. There must be a level of power at which simple thoughts could have the same effect as the chanting of sacred arts.
Of course, Eugeo had been a simple student at the academy just days ago. His ability with sacred arts wasn’t even as good as the apprentices in the Axiom Church, much less masters like Administrator and Cardinal.
But at this moment—right now—he had to break this paralysis with nothing but the power of his mind.
Kirito once told him that what was most important in this world was what you put into your sword. In other words, the sword would take on the power that came from your heart and mind, making its bite sharper and stronger.
If your mind could make your sword stronger, then the same thing could be true of sacred arts…or of anything and everything that human beings did.
Move, Eugeo prayed, opening his lips and breathing steadily. Move, hand, move.
I’ve made so many mistakes in my life. I failed to save Alice when the Integrity Knight took her away. I spent years not going after her. Right when I was finally at the end of that long journey, I lost sight of my goal. I have to make up for all that weakness.
“…M—…”
A hoarse sound escaped from his throat.
“…Mo—…”
Administrator’s smile, just above his head, waned. Her silver mirrors narrowed, searching for Eugeo’s intention. There was no turning back now. He focused all the energy he could summon into his right hand.
But the numbness was not abating. Countless invisible needles stabbed at his fingers and palm, keeping them trapped in place. If only he could just move his hand this one moment, it could shatter into pieces afterward. He didn’t need to swing a sword again. Just one little…
“…Mo—ve…,” he uttered, wringing out the sounds.
Just then, light enveloped the hand that was resting on the bedsheet. It was warm and gentle and seemed to melt all the pain away. Instantly, the icy thorns that gouged his flesh and bones disappeared.
“…What are you…?” Administrator murmured and tried to pull away. But Eugeo’s mobile hand was already sneaking into the collar of his shirt and grabbing the object that was hanging on the chain around his neck.
It was a tiny dagger that gleamed deep bronze.
He pulled it out and jabbed it downward, toward the white skin visible above the deep collar of Administrator’s sheer nightgown.
It was impossible to miss. The blade of the weapon was barely five cens long, but they were basically touching already—there was no way he would come up short.
But just as that needlelike tip was about to pierce the skin of Administrator’s body, something happened that beggared belief.
Craaak!! There was a blast like thunder, and a film of purple light app
eared, centered around the point of the dagger. The glowing surface was made up of strings of extremely tiny sacred script. They were so small they shouldn’t have had any mass at all, but the thin film was resisting the sharp tip of the weapon.
“Hrrggh…!!”
Eugeo gritted his teeth and summoned all his willpower, trying to break through the resistance. Cardinal had given him and Kirito one of these daggers each. It had almost no attack power of its own, but whatever target he used it on would be vulnerable to the remote sacred arts of the little sage in her isolated library.
Eugeo’s dagger was supposed to put Alice the Integrity Knight to sleep, and Kirito’s was supposed to defeat Administrator. But he had already used his own to save the life of Fanatio Synthesis Two, the vice commander of the knights, whom they had fought on the fiftieth floor.
At the time, Cardinal’s bodiless voice had told them, “There is a high likelihood that Administrator is not in a waking state at the moment. If you can reach the top floor before she wakes, you can eliminate her without needing the dagger.”
But they hadn’t been in time. Now that she was awake, the only way to beat Administrator, who had just as much power as Cardinal, was to use the dagger in Eugeo’s hand.
He’d wanted to return Alice’s memories and take her back to Rulid with him. It had been his only desire for years. But then he’d allowed himself to fall under the pontifex’s sway, even temporarily, put on the Integrity Knight armor, and threatened both Kirito and Alice with his sword. Eugeo could sense that his original wish would never come true. It couldn’t.
But if there was some way he could atone for his sin, it would be to abandon himself—to carry out this act not for his own personal conviction but in service of a much larger destiny.
Eleven-year-old Alice, taken from her hometown, bereft of her memories, and turned into a knight.
Tiese and Ronie, perfectly innocent girls, violated over nothing more than noble birthright.
These were the products of a warped, corrupt system of rule, and he would use the last remnants of his strength and life to destroy that. If he had to die in order to ensure that the pontifex fell, then all the time he spent on his journey and at the academy would have had a purpose after all.
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