Volume 16

by Reki Kawahara

In addition, D. had prepared a careful plan to make use of arts users excelling in aerial elemental arts as spotters, creating «wind paths» for concentrated fire on the enemy army’s main force, the integrity knights. If all of the incineration arrows impacted upon a single point, it should result in an attack of extreme priority that not even that Highest Minister Administrator could guard against perfectly.

  That was the exact situation that the Sage Cardinal once feared, the «strength of many overwhelming the strength of one».

  * * *

  Amayori let out yet another low growl.

  However, this time was one to warn, with a sharp roar mixed in.

  Alice mustered her will, taking back her consciousness that had begun to fade, and stared hard towards the twilight far in front.

  —They are here!!

  Fresh troops approached at a controlled, steady pace from beyond the demi-human forces still brawling with the Defense Army. She could see no metallic glint. They were likely the long ranged attack unit—the Dark Territory’s Dark Arts Users’ Guild.

  They were the ones Knight Commander Bercouli was most vigilant towards, those who held sufficient destructive power to sweep away the Human Empire Defense Army in one strike.

  However, the same could be said of Knight Alice.

  Alice had been chanting for a large-scale art. It was conceptualized after hearing of Deputy Commander Fanatio’s battle against Kirito, what might be called a «reflected light amplification» art.

  With the mass of space sacred energy, sourced from the countless lives lost to the fighting, as a base, Alice first changed the shape of crystal elements and created a gigantic glass ball measuring three mel across.

  Next, she created a thick metal film with metallic elements and shielded the entire glass ball.

  The product was a «sealed mirror». Placing that onto the fitting gap between Amayori’s wings on her back, she pushed both hands onto its smooth, curved surface, and sealed in luminous elements generated from the constantly produced space sacred energy.

  Element preservation.

  That was a basic yet ultimate technique that many high ranking art users racked their minds over since ancient times.

  Without constantly fixing one’s mind onto them, generated elements like thermal, cryogenic, and aerial elements would drift about the area on their own volition and eventually vanish, scattering as hot or cold air. Simultaneously, there was an upper limit to the number of elements maintained, fixed to the terminals the arts user possessed: the number of fingers on their two hands.

  Chief Elder Chudelkin used his unique physique to stand upside-down with his head alone and made the toes on his two feet into terminals as well to maintain twenty elements. Furthermore, Highest Minister Administrator turned her silver hair into terminals through some technique, allowing her to concurrently handle over a hundred elements.

  That said, Alice could emulate neither of those techniques. To begin with, ten or even a hundred would not suffice for this situation. The enemy dark arts users numbered three thousand—even if they each maintained five elements on average, their total would actually exceed fifteen thousand.

  Hence, Alice explored means to maintain the produced elements without the need to focus on them. What first came to mind was to set them into some vessel.

  That said, the standard elements for offensive arts, thermal and cryogenic, would instantly disappear upon coming into contact with some material, heating it up or cooling it down.

  However, an idea came to Alice when she heard about how Kirito had reflected the light from Fanatio’s divine instrument, the «Heaven Piercing Sword», with a mirror created from just thermal and crystal elements in the fight on the cathedral’s fiftieth floor.

  If light did no more than rebound upon touching a mirror—she would only have to produce a fully sealed mirror.

  And if she were to generate luminous elements within it.

  It could, theoretically, maintain an infinite number of luminous elements until the mirror’s Life expired.

  * * *

  The crossbow, drawn to their limits, by the brawny ogre archers creaked as they were pointed towards the dim sky.

  In order to ignite the innumerous arrowheads, gleaming dully, the three thousand dark arts users held their hands up high as they recited the opening phrase as one.

  “““System call!!“”””

  The incantation consisting only of female voices could be called only a chorus of death. Intoxicated by the immense power it was to be, the arts users sang the next phrase.

  “““Generate thermal element!!“””

  Faint red particles flickered as they lit up on their lithe fingers—

  Yet it was but an instant before they turned dull, extinguishing after letting out a modest puff of smoke.

  The adept arts user commanding the unit could not immediately understand what had happened and recited the incantations once more. But the result remained the same.

  Surprise overcame her while bewildered voices from her subordinates reached her ears.

  “We cannot create the thermal elements!”

  “We cannot initiate the «Wide-area Incineration Arrows» ceremony at this rate!”

  She scanned the surroundings in pursuit of the cause of the phenomenon and her close aide nearby timidly opened her mouth to speak.

  “C-Commander… shouldn’t it be due to a lack of space darkness energy…?”

  “H-How could that possibly be?!!”

  The commander shouted out in shock. She pointed at the frontlines in the distance with the left hand on which she wore numerous rings.

  “Do you not hear those screams!? Don’t you see those humans and demi-humans dying?! Just where do you think all of their lives could have vanished off to?!!”

  No one had an answer to that question. The ogre archers, too, grew irritated with the command to fire delay and could simply continue to keep their crossbows drawn.

  * * *

  The time had arrived.

  Alice shut her eyes for a moment and prayed.

  She would personally shoulder the sin of robbing many of their lives for the sake of one.

  The silver sphere with a diameter of three mel on Amayori’s sturdy back had its pressure raised to its maximum. Pulling away the two hands in contact with it, she drew her sword from the left of her waist.

  “—Bloom, flowers! Enhance armament!”

  Her sonorous shout divided the blade of her divine instrument, the «Fragrant Olive Sword», in countless small orbs. Maneuvering the golden yellow swarm, she instructed the knight dragon.

  “Amayori, lower your head!”

  Following her orders, the flying dragon inclined forward. The silver sphere quietly rolled and tumbled off the dragon’s head into the air after one revolution. Carefully catching it with the small orbs, she adjusted it until a certain point on the silver sphere was directed diagonally downwards.

  Alignment… set.

  Drawing in a breath, she whispered.

  “…Burst element.”

  An incantation far too short and plain for an art holding such terrifying power.

  The silver, reflective sphere was made with one spot thinner on purpose.

  Focusing the immense light and heat from the countless exploding luminous elements onto that one point, the silver film and glass liquefied into a crimson red—

  Letting them loose into the world outside with a shrill explosion.

  Fanatio stood in a daze, looking up towards «that» from the ground, while she thought about how it must hold a might thousands of times stronger than the light ray produced by the Heaven Piercing Sword’s armament full control art.

  The guards and knights aside from her were simply awed by what they believed was Solus’s might.

  The pure white pillar measuring five mel wide fell upon the earth from the skies with extreme speed and stabbed in between the demi-human forces. It then made its way farther into the gorge as though nudged gently
—

  A roaring symphony of several thousand bells rang out as the waves of heat and light grew to encompass the entire width of the gorge. It became a towering pillar of fire immediately after, practically touching the mountain range at the edge, and dyed the night skies red.

  * * *

  D. chuckled upon seeing the absurd explosions almost close enough for her hands to reach, in belief that it was the result of her own strategy.

  However, the heat wave surging forwards at her four-wheeled carriage from the gorge wiped that smile off.

  The burnt, charred wind brought her tidings. The screams of the demi-human units and the dark arts users D. personally raised as they perished.

  The messenger arts user reported hoarsely as D. stood in silence.

  “…Due to the unknown deficiency of space darkness energy, we were unable to set off the «Wide-area Incineration Arrows» ceremony… immediately after, the unidentified large-scale attack launched by the enemy forces appears to have wiped out ninety percent of the demi-human units, seventy percent of the ogre archers, and also… over thirty percent of the dark arts users units…”

  “Unknown deficiency…?”

  D.’s frame trembled, boiling over with anger at last, as she exclaimed.

  “We clearly know why! It’s that ridiculous art that sucked up every last drop of space darkness energy in the gorge!! Still… I can’t believe it, an art on such a scale is impossible for me… the deceased highest minister must be the only one capable of it!! So tell me, who was the one behind it!?”

  Despite her rant, naturally enough, there were no answers to be had.

  How could she find a way out of this situation—or rather, how should she report this to Emperor Vector?

  The one boasting the greatest intellect among all in the Dark Empire, D.I.L., could do no more than breathe raggedly.

  * * *

  Assailed by the recoil from firing that exceptionally great art and the tragedies born from it, Alice returned the Fragrant Olive Sword to its scabbard immediately before collapsing onto Amayori’s back.

  The flying dragon gently accepted its master before tracing slow spirals as it descended onto the frontmost lines of the Human Defense Army.

  The first one to rush in was Deputy Knight Commander Fanatio. Reaching out both arms, she caught Alice who slipped off her dragon.

  “…That art and display of incarnation was magnificent, Alice.”

  Somehow raising her eyelids at that truly touched voice, Alice saw the gorge with its surface still burning red as well as the shadows of the enemy survivors fleeing in a frenzy. She could hardly find any corpses. They must have been disintegrated by the initial ray of light or blown apart without a trace by the following explosions.

  She could not bring herself to feel any pride over the far too ruthless destruction.

  Still, cheers surged in like a tidal waves from the surrounding guards straight away. They eventually streamed together and turned into cries of triumph as they continued.

  While listening to the cheers for the Order of the Integrity Knights and the Axiom Church, Alice finally let out a choked breath and lifted her body which was supported by Fanatio. The deputy knight commander showed a tired smile and gave a deep nod.

  “The enemy has retreated. You have led us to victory.”

  Responding to those words with a smile as well, Alice stiffened her expression and spoke.

  “Fanatio-dono, the war has yet to end. Please prevent the fresh sacred energy from the earlier art from being reused by the enemy and spend them on healing arts.”

  “That’s true… they still do have their main forces, the Order of the Dark Knights and the Pugilists’ Guild at the peak of their health.”

  The black-haired beauty nodded and raised her voice with a trace of fatigue that even she could not hide.

  “Good, all who can move, retreat to the second unit and bring the wounded along! If you’re from the ascetics unit or even a guard with knowledge of healing arts, treat the wounded with all you have until the space energy runs out! Do not take your eyes off the enemy forces’ movements!”

  Her concise orders resounded and the guards swiftly got started. The starting phrase for sacred arts could be repeatedly heard from behind.

  “I will report to His Excellency, the knight commander. Can I entrust this place under you?”

  Alice nodded and Fanatio showed another smile before leaving, half running. As people left, Alice was left alone at the frontmost lines with Amayori.

  Having sent off the deputy knight commander, Alice took several steps and scratched the underside of her cherished dragon’s chin while she gently whispered.

  “You have done a great job, too, Amayori. It must have been tiring staying still in that one place. Be sure to eat up after you return to your bedding.”

  The flying dragon purred happily, flitted up as it beat its wings, and glided towards its peers all the way in the rear.

  Now then, time to go to the wounded’s aid. Alice took a step with that in mind.

  “……Master.”

  The low voice belonged to Knight Eldrie.

  What Alice saw when she turned about to commend her only disciple was the youth’s grim figure despite his usual unrestrained and slick self.

  The sword in his right hand and the whip in his left hand were dyed red and black with the copious blood coating them. That was not all. His silver armor and once-glossy light purple curly hair were in a terrible state, too, from the blood of his victims. Just how did the battle go to reduce him to such a condition?

  “Eh… Eldrie! Are you unharmed!?”

  She asked with her breath held and the knight slowly concurred with a somewhat empty expression.

  “…Yes, I have not suffered any heavy injuries. Still… I should have just thrown this life away in battle…”

  “What are you saying? You have a mission to lead the guards until this war ends…”

  “I did not complete that mission.”

  The young integrity knight muttered in a cracked voice.

  Alice could not have known, but after the smokescreen tactic made Eldrie let the mountain goblins through the defensive line, it took several whole minutes of futile effort at clearing it without arts before he finally could lead the guards to chase after the goblins assaulting the rear.

  That said, by then, the chief of the mountain goblins, Kosogi, was already defeated by Integrity Knight Renri, mostly branded as a failure of a knight.

  Deprived even of a chance to regain his honor, Eldrie lost his cool and massacred every last one of the fleeing goblins—before looking up at the godlike art launched by his master, Alice, from above.

  “I have betrayed… your expectations, Alice-sama…”

  Returning the Frost Scale Whip to his waist, Eldrie grabbed his own face with his left hand.

  “How can I… this foolish… pathetic… disgraceful… person be a knight…?!”

  And how could he [protect his master]?

  The power of that art, comparable to natural disasters. They were too far apart. In every sense.

  She never did need him. His master, that prodigious knight, never needed some halfwit like himself. He had nothing he excelled it, be it swordsmanship, arts proficiency, or the full control art; and his foolishness in having a bunch of goblins outwit him was in full display.

  To even think he could obtain his master’s heart… her love with such a sorry sight; such a thought would be an insult.

  “I… have no right to name myself as your disciple, Alice-sama!”

  Eldrie screamed in agony.

  “You… you have done well!”

  Alice somehow got that out her mouth despite her bewilderment.

  Just what had happened to Eldrie? Though there was moderate confusion at the frontlines, had he not kept the casualties caused by the enemy low?

  “You are necessary to me, the Defense Army, and the people of the Human Empire too. Why do you insult yourself so?”


  Despite asking in a tone as gentle as she could muster, the depression in Eldrie’s eyes remained. The blotches of split blood on his cheeks quivered as the knight mumbled at a muffled volume.

  “Necessary… Do you mean, for my power? Or do……”

  He could not finish his words.

  An abrupt, bizarre growl shook the air and both Alice and Eldrie simultaneously turned to look.

  “Fgrrrr…”

  A damp, throaty noise reminiscent of a menacing wolf. Alice opened her eyes widely and focused them on the darkness farther into the gorge.

  Spots throughout the valley were still illuminated by the smoldering flames and a humongous shadow weakly stood up there.

  It was no human. Its legs bent at a peculiar angle; its back was strangely slender; its brawny upper body leaned forward. The head atop of them all was, simply put, that of a wolf. It had to be a demi-human from the Dark Territory, one from the ogre race.

  Though Alice swiftly stretched her right hand towards her precious sword’s grip, she immediately noticed the foe was unarmed. And that was putting it lightly as the left half of its figure was terribly charred with thin smoke rising from it. It must have suffered those heavy burns from the white-hot light ray. Still, why had it not retreated like its surviving comrades?

  She confirmed the situation in the area: the guards were still all back at the rear, leaving Alice and Eldrie alone. Alice questioned in a sharp tone while keeping vigilant against the ogre’s actions.

  “…You must not have much Life remaining. Why are you standing there unarmed?”

  The demi-human replied that with an anguished growl.

  “…Grr… I am the ogre chief, Fulgrr……”

  The manner in which he stated his name made his long tongue hang out while panting exhaustedly.

  Alice put strength into the hand holding onto the grip. If he was the ogre chief, that made him one of the Ten Lords in the Dark Empire, a general for the enemy forces. In that case, did he really come for an attack with the last of his strength?