Alicization Dividing

by Reki Kawahara

  “Hrrng!!”

  He bellowed and swung. The carpet of ice spears wasn’t yet within range, so the powerful slice cut only empty air—but the Time-Splitting Sword could sever the future.

  Craaash!!

  Half a second later, the plethora of ice stalagmites burst. Not one made it past the slice that Bercouli placed in front of them. With almost detestable confidence, the commander returned his blade to an upright position to prepare for Eugeo’s follow-up.

  But Eugeo had the enemy in his sights now and held his weapon high overhead. The tiny shards of ice floating around it caught the light from the ceiling, fogging his vision, but it affected his foe equally.

  “Seyaaa!!”

  “Roahh!!”

  They roared together. Eugeo’s sword traced a pale-blue line in the air, while Bercouli’s met his with a gray trail behind it.

  The next moment, Eugeo’s sword shattered with a thin, tinkling scream.

  Bercouli’s eyes widened just a bit, probably because he was taken aback by the lack of resistance. Eugeo hardly felt a thing, either.

  But he knew that was coming. Right before his charge, Eugeo had tossed aside the Blue Rose Sword and broken off an icicle to use as a weapon.

  Bercouli had swung to deflect Eugeo’s weapon. If the sword had been proper steel instead of ice, the impact would have knocked him back on his heels. But because the ice simply gave way without resisting, it allowed Eugeo to keep speeding forward, past Bercouli’s defenses.

  “Yaaaah!”

  He turned his body and rammed his left shoulder into the commander’s stomach. This was an unarmed attack of the Aincrad style called Meteor Break—it supposedly referred to a rock from the sky that breaks through anything in its way. It didn’t technically activate, because he wasn’t holding his sword, but when combined with the man’s unexpected overswing, it succeeded in knocking the large man off balance, disrupting his center of gravity.

  Normally Eugeo would continue with a level swipe on the right. But instead, the boy spread his arms and grappled around the commander’s waist.

  “Nwah…”

  This impromptu push knocked the hefty fellow back, loosening his upper half. This would be the first and last opportunity.

  “Yaaaah!!” Eugeo bellowed, disguising the pain of his wound as a masculine roar, and hurled the commander and himself with all his strength toward the bath on the right. Bercouli tensed with his left leg in an attempt to resist, but his bare sole slipped on the icy stone. After he was airborne, the sting of landing in water punched his chest.

  But that sensation was nothing compared to the blinding, all-enveloping chill.

  “What the…?!” Bercouli exclaimed yet again, with Eugeo clinging to his waist. The bathwater had been scalding just minutes ago, and now it was nearly freezing. No wonder he was shocked.

  Eugeo held down the man with his left hand and used his right to search around on the floor of the bath. It should be just around here…

  Half by meticulous design, half by luck, his fingers grazed the familiar hilt of his sword.

  Soon after, Bercouli threw Eugeo off him by brute force and started to rise, but not before Eugeo thrust the Blue Rose Sword into the base of the bath and commanded, “Freeeeeze!!”

  This was the battle’s crucial juncture.

  The Blue Rose Sword froze only a small percentage of the vast bath. There was still plenty of hot water around it. In order to freeze it all, you’d need ten sacred arts casters generating ice elements for most of an hour. But there was no other choice here.

  Perfect Weapon Control unleashed the memory of the sword, bringing forth power that would be impossible otherwise. It was the wise, mysterious Cardinal who’d said that. She’d made Eugeo and Kirito travel the path of their swords’ memories to put together the Perfect Control arts for each.

  Eugeo’s Blue Rose Sword was a Divine Object that originally came from the chunk of ice that sat at the very top of the End Mountains’ tallest peak in the north. It was cold there even in the middle of summer, and because the ice failed to melt all year long, it kept all creatures away. For decades and decades, that eternal ice passed a solitary existence.

  One spring, there was a breeze that carried over the mountains and dropped a tiny seed right near the eternal ice. Day by day, the ice let a bit of itself melt, providing a small amount of water to The Seed. Eventually, it found root and budded despite the freezing cold, and when summer arrived, it bloomed a small but beautiful flower. It was a rose, even bluer than the northern skies.

  Delighted to have a friend at last, the eternal ice spoke to the flower at every opportunity. But one day, as autumn was coming to a close, the flower said, “I won’t be able to survive the cold of winter. We’ll be parting soon.”

  The ice lamented. It cried and cried at the loss of its only friend, which shrank its body. The flower said, “Before I shrivel up and wither away, will you lock me inside you? That way, even after I die, my body will remain forever.”

  The eternal ice granted the blue rose’s wish. From its own tears, it carefully formed a pool of water around the blue rose and prayed, Freeze, freeze, freeze forever. The prayer was so strong, it even froze the ice’s own heart.

  When the blue rose froze within the ice, the frozen ice no longer spoke or thought for itself. It had shed so many tears that the only thing left on the mountaintop was a piece of ice that had elongated into the shape of a sword, with a single blue rose trapped inside.

  It could have all just been a dream that Eugeo had inside that enormous library. He had no idea how that rough ice approximation of a sword had turned into a real weapon and moved from the peak down to the cave underneath, where the white dragon hoarded it. And of course, it was impossible that a chunk of ice and a rose could have minds and feelings.

  And yet, if it was supposed to be just a dream, how could he still tangibly feel that prayer from the hunk of ice inside him? The wish for all the sadness, the pain, the life, even time itself to freeze forever…

  Give me your strength, Blue Rose Sword! he prayed, letting loose a shout.

  “Release…Recollection!!”

  This was the second stage of Perfect Weapon Control: the command for Memory Release, fully unlocking the weapon’s hidden power. Cardinal had said they weren’t advanced enough to use it yet, but maybe now he could—and if not now, then when?

  In his hand, the sword shook.

  Then there was the stunning sound of countless panes of glass shattering all at once throughout the bathhouse. A ring of bright-blue light spread quickly out of Eugeo’s hand. All the water it touched froze so fast, even the ripples were preserved.

  In mere seconds, the enormous bath was frozen white. The terrific, incapacitating chill forced a moan from Eugeo’s lips. You would never feel a temperature that cold, even standing naked in the Rulid forest in midwinter. If he closed his eyes, he wouldn’t be able to tell whether it was ice on his skin, or burning iron.

  He wanted to brush off the frost whitening his eyelashes, but his left hand was under the water, holding Bercouli down, while his right had the Blue Rose Sword in a reverse grip near the bottom. Only blinking rapidly could knock the crystals off, giving him a view of his foe through the thick mist.

  Bercouli the Integrity Knight Commander was stuck in the ice up to his neck. Because he’d been trying to push himself up, both his left hand and his sword-holding right were near the bottom of the bath. Like Eugeo, he was immobilized.

  The commander grumbled, tiny icicles crumbling from his brows and beard. “Never thought I’d see a swordsman who throws his sword away in the face of the enemy…Is this a tactic of your own devising?”

  “…No,” Eugeo struggled to say through numb lips. “My partner taught it to me. He said that anything on the battlefield can be used as a weapon or a trap.” Bercouli closed his eyes and appeared to think about this, then broke into a grin. More bits of ice sprinkled off his lips.

  “Hmph. I see. Making use of th
e lay of the land…Well, I’ll admit that you got one over on me, but I’m afraid I can’t just concede defeat to you.” He sucked in a breath and held it.

  Eugeo was nervous, wondering what he intended to do. If the man started chanting a sacred art, he’d have to prepare a counteracting art instantly.

  Bercouli’s pale-blue eyes opened. His lips parted to reveal bared animal fangs that emitted a splitting cry.

  “Nrrrng!!”

  Several thick veins rose on his forehead. Cords of muscle bunched on the parts of his neck visible above the ice, turning his skin bright red.

  “Wha…?” Eugeo gasped. Bercouli was trying to break through the thick ice using nothing but sheer muscle power.

  It was impossible. Even with full movement and plenty of space, you’d have a terrible time attempting to break a block of ice this thick with your bare hands. And he was trying to do it while completely immobilized from the neck down.

  His clenched white teeth creaked with a sound like metal scraping. Those blue eyes burned like they were going to emit their own light. Even the subzero air surrounding him could not stop an even colder sensation from running down Eugeo’s spine.

  Then there was a small but undeniable crack.

  A fracture line ran through the ice between them. It cracked and split into two. And then another. Once again, Eugeo realized this man was an extraordinary, superhuman specimen. The Integrity Knights were chosen from among the handful of the very best warriors in all the empires, and this man stood above them all. He was the most powerful fighter in the world. A living legend who had spent a century or two in battle.

  Not a single instant of carelessness could happen against such an opponent. Of course, Eugeo hadn’t expected that freezing both himself and the enemy would be the end of the battle. His true intention was yet to come: a forced battle of attrition as their life values sank.

  Deep under the surface of the ice, Eugeo gripped the hilt of his sword, which was still in its Memory Release state, and focused his thoughts. If the memories he saw were true, then the Blue Rose Sword had a slightly different genesis than Kirito’s black sword, Bercouli’s Time-Splitting Sword, and Fanatio’s Heaven-Splitting Sword. Unlike theirs, his had two distinct entities for its source: the eternal ice and the rose locked inside it.

  The ice’s power was to freeze all things. And the rose’s power…was to cause life to flower.

  “Bloom, blue roses!!” he screamed, and countless buds dotted the surface of the ice. They rotated as they grew, extending clear blue petals as thin as razors. Each rose bloomed with the chime of a bell, until there were hundreds and hundreds of flowers. It was a sight astonishingly beautiful and unfathomably harsh—all the flowers were growing and blooming through the consumption of Eugeo’s and Bercouli’s lives.

  He felt his limbs growing numb, his vision dimming. Not only could he not feel the chill; he couldn’t even sense the hardness of the ice pressing against his skin. Sheer numbing lack of sensation covered his entire body.

  Bercouli’s reddened skin was turning paler, too; trying to break through the ice was sapping all his strength. For the first time in the fight, his proud features no longer looked totally confident.

  “Kid…were you planning on taking us both down…from the start?”

  “Don’t get…the wrong idea,” Eugeo rasped, struggling to lift his heavy lids. “The only area where I might have an advantage…is the amount…of life. Fanatio suffered the same wound as my partner and collapsed at the same moment…which would mean that Integrity Knights still have the same amount of life as regular people…isn’t that right?”

  While he spoke, brilliant points of light began floating up from the hundreds of icy roses. The thundering sound of the main faucets providing the bath with water was gone now, a sign that the ice had reached even them.

  Both Bercouli and Eugeo were covered with so much ice, only their faces were exposed. If he could see their Stacia Windows, they would indicate that their life was dropping at an alarming rate. Eugeo desperately fought back against his sudden desire to sleep, keeping his mouth working.

  “Based on your looks…I assume you became a knight after you turned forty…and that means your maximum life value is lowered. But my life is close to its peak…Even after taking that blow, my number should still be higher. That was my bet.”

  No sooner were the words out of Eugeo’s mouth than Bercouli’s eyes shot open. His face contorted, breaking the icicles hanging from his forehead and nose. “What the hell…did you just say?”

  It would have been difficult just to stay conscious, but there was a burning fire raging in the commander’s eyes. “When I became a knight…? You’re acting like you know what our previous lives were like.”

  Eugeo blinked, gathering all his remaining strength to reply, “I cannot…forgive…that part of you people.”

  The sudden surge of emotion from his gut caused him to briefly lose feeling all over his body. “You forget who and what you are…you know nothing of the true form of the Axiom Church you serve…and you pretend that you’re the good guys, the only real protectors of the law. You’re not knights who were summoned from Heaven by the pontifex. You were born from a mother who gave you the name Bercouli. You’re a human being, just like me!” he screamed.

  And just then, in that moment, Eugeo realized who the mighty man was.

  The shock was so sudden, a gasp escaped his lips. Bercouli…the name of the man in the old stories his grandfather told him. He founded Rulid Village three hundred years ago and served as its first chief man-at-arms. He went spelunking in the cave under the End Mountains, where he snuck up on the sleeping white dragon in search of a fabled sword…the Blue Rose Sword, which was now in Eugeo’s right hand.

  For a moment, he wondered if this was some descendent who shared Bercouli’s name, but then Eugeo abandoned that idea. When the Integrity Knights’ life was prevented from charting its natural decline, aging became impossible. Here he was, in the flesh. The hero Eugeo had admired as a child…and the protagonist of “Bercouli and the Northern White Dragon,” the fairy tale he hadn’t thought of since that summer Alice was taken away. Only now, the man had no memory of his life at the founding of Rulid.

  Somehow, Eugeo recovered from his brief but monumental shock. “B…Bercouli. You…you should recognize…my sword.”

  A few inches below the surface of the ice, the Blue Rose Sword was still glowing, expelling its full chilling force. The knights’ commander and hero of a three-hundred-year-old legend glanced down under the ice. His firm jaw bulged, and air hissed through his clenched teeth. Eugeo was surprised at his eventual answer:

  “…I think…I have…seen it…before…”

  He closed his eyes slowly, then opened them again.

  “When I killed the northern protector…there was a similar sword…in its lair…”

  Stunned, Eugeo nearly forgot all about the all-consuming cold that surrounded him. “When you…killed it…?”

  An image flashed into his head of exploring the northern cave with Alice, eight years ago. There was a collection of enormous bones inside the central chamber of the cave. They were crisscrossed with fierce gashes—cuts not from some wild animal’s fangs or claws but from a metal tool swung by human hands.

  “Those dragon bones…You did that…? You killed the dragon…from the story…?”

  Despite the ice encompassing him, a burning ball of emotion rose in his throat. Eugeo shook his head, feeling something seeping out of his eyes. “Did you really forget everything…? Bercouli, back in the village where I was born, everyone from the elderly to little children knows you as a hero. You were our ancestor, the man who traveled a long way from the big city to found a village in a distant, barren land. The pontifex abducted you, covered up your memories, and made you into the first Integrity Knight. And not just you—Fanatio, Eldrie, Alice…everyone. Before they were made Integrity Knights, they were all…human, just like me.”

  “Covered up…my
memories…?”

  Bercouli’s gaze had been steady and firm all through the fight, but now it was uncertain, focused on some undefined point in the distance. In a voice just barely audible, he mumbled, “I can’t…just take what you said…at face value. But…I’ll admit, I’ve been…skeptical…for a long time…that I was some holy knight brought here from Heaven…”

  Bercouli’s muscles were relaxed again, no longer clenched. The frost was covering his manly features once more. The tears on Eugeo’s cheeks froze, too, disappearing into the film of ice covering his face.

  The knowledge that the hero from “Bercouli and the Northern White Dragon” had actually slain the other central figure of the tale filled Eugeo with a sense of helpless loss. The pontifex’s power was well beyond his imagining, if even the greatest of warriors could be manipulated and turned into a faithful knight. Perhaps there was no way that a mere pair of student swordsmen could do anything about Administrator…and the Axiom Church.

  In the back of his mind, Eugeo could feel his life steadily being sucked away by the blue roses. It would be the same for Bercouli. Through the foggy frost, his gray-blue eyes were half-closed, and he was barely conscious.

  So we’re both going down…

  The realization set off a tiny spark of determination in his heart, a refusal to give up now. But he couldn’t even move a finger. Under the ice, he could sense his grip on the Blue Rose Sword dying…

  “Hoh-hohhh! Why, what a marvelous sight,” a sharp voice said, as unpleasant as fork tines scraping on a metal plate.

  Through clouded eyes, Eugeo watched an odd silhouette wobbling closer along the walkway toward them. It was a person, it seemed, but extremely round. It was like someone had attached comically tiny limbs to a giant ball-shaped torso. There was no neck whatsoever, just a similarly round head that grew straight out of the shoulder area. It looked like a child’s winter snowman.