Accel World: Crimson Storm Princess

by Reki Kawahara

The sparks instantly increased in voltage, Haruyuki shouted silently and backed away another step.

  These two are both level 9 «Kings». If they duel, following that special rule, the one who lost will have her Brain Burst taken away. There is no way a light duel will happen either, since Kuroyukihime is easy to anger, and the Red King seem to be a livid character who hate to lose.

  ‘- Here, I have to jump in between them!’

  With Haruyuki’s determination of noble sacrifice, he scratched the back of his head with one hand and said.

  “A, ah, I am so happy to get a cute imouto and beautiful onee-san at once.”

  When he giggled.

  “I will kill you again.”

  “Are you an idiot?”

  Two ultra cold sounds were thrown at Haruyuki, hitting him between his eyes and in his heart.

  They looked away from Haruyuki who collapsed slowly, and continued to stare at each other for a few seconds, then eventually both snorted and looked away.

  “Hey, hurry and prepare tea and things, you seem to be inconsiderate.”

  “Ah, Haruyuki-kun. I would like coffee, black.”

  ‘- The Tomoko-chan that baked cookies and made curry yesterday no longer exist.’

  While Haruyuki was truly depressed about that fact, he retreated to the kitchen on all fours, and wiped his forehead when he could no longer be seen by those two.

  At the large dining table, Kuroyukihime and Haruyuki sat beside each other, and opposite them the Red King sat cross-legged on her chair, drinking their coffee - Kuroyukihime is black, Haruyuki with milk and sugar, and Red King café au lait with mostly milk - together, at that time the chime rang at the house entrance.

  From the door that Haruyuki opened with remote control, after ‘Sorry to bother you’, Takumu continued in a cheerful voice.

  “Ah, it’s so nostalgic. How many years since I came to Haru’s house...”

  Then he saw the tragedy on the living room floor, he seems to instantly understand what had happened, and with sympathy behind his glasses, he patted Haruyuki on the shoulder.

  Next he stared at the Red King, his eyes instantly became small, and he silently sat beside Haruyuki.

  That seat already had a coffee cup with a little bit of milk in it, Takumu said ‘itadakimasu’ then extended his hands towards it, and said in a tactful tone.

  “First, let’s start with introducing ourselves. Here, shouldn’t you tell us your name, «Red King»?”

  After a look at Takumu, the girl snorted then opened her mouth.

  “Well, fine. I will give you that much service. I am... Yuniko. Kouduki Yuniko.”

  Next she snapped her finger, and a crimson name tag flowed into Haruyuki’s view. In a somewhat cute font, [Kouduki Yuniko] is shown.

  That is like a name card for showing your name to someone you first met, it also act as a simple personal identification card. At the lower right side of the tag shone the Juki Net[3]’s certification mark, that would be hard even for wizard class hackers to fake, so the name on the tag should be «Red King»’s real name.

  On the tag, other than name and other things, the birthday is also shown. Born on December 2035, that meant just 11 years old.

  It is often said that Burst Linker’s mental and physical age is out of sync, Red King - Yuniko’s was hard to judge on first impression. Sometime she felt like much older than Haruyuki, and other times she could be seen acting her age.

  “Fuun, Yuniko-chan huh.”

  Looking at the lightly laughing Takumu doubliously, Tomoko that is Yuniko said.

  “Give your name too, «Cyan Pile».”

  That sentence, showed that the Red King have very detailed information on the legion «Nega Nebulas».

  Takumu probably realized that, his smile changed to a sarcastic one and he said his real name.

  “I am Mayuzumi Takumu. Yoroshiku[4].”

  Then he did a gesture of snapping his finger. It was probably sending his name tag to the Red King.

  After a momentarily look in the air, she faced Haruyuki and pointed her chin.

  “M... my name is already known to you. Arita Haruyuki.”

  “Send your tag.”

  After being told, he manipulated his desktop.

  Finally, the three pair of eyes concentrated on the so far silent Black King.

  She raised her coffee cup to her face, and blinked her long eyebrows slowly.

  “N? Ah, me. I am Kuroyukihime. Nice to meet you, Kouduki Yuniko-kun.”

  “Hey you, that could not be your real name!!”

  Yuniko instantly retorted, and Kuroyukihime flipped her finger with a cool face. Instantly, not just the Red King, in front of Haruyuki too floated a deep black name tag.

  [Kuroyukihime].

  On the right side below that written in large Courier font, the Juki Net certification mark shone clearly, Haruyuki sighed and shook his head. Just this person, he could not understand.

  The Red King too, sighed with a difficult look, and clicked her tongue hard.

  “Ah fine, whatever! I will just remember the cheeky girl who called herself Princess!”

  If she tried to give her real name to Yuniko at that moment, with Kuroyukihime being able to hack the tag’s quantum signature key, there’s no way to tell if the next one would be real.

  Kuroyukihime grinned and said in a cool voice.

  “It’s much more cute than calling yourself «King» right? - Anyway, self introduction is over, let’s hurry onto the main topic.”

  Her smile instantly disappeared, and her deep black eyes shone sharply.

  “First, Red King... that is Yuniko-kun. I would have you tell me how you did reality intrusion on Haruyuki-kun.”

  Hearing the unexpected question, Haruyuki was surprised and left breathless.

  That’s right - everything with the problem, started with that. Not how the Red King faked being his second cousin Tomoko-chan, nor her goal. «Reality Intrusion» is a Burst Linker’s biggest taboo - because that directly links Haruyuki to being in danger in the real world.

  Yuniko glanced at the understandably green faced Haruyuki, then lightly shook her shoulders.

  “You don’t have to make that kind of face. Even in the Red legion, I am the only one who knows you are Silver Crow. I swear on the name of King. The way I did it was...”

  There, she lifted part of her lips.

  “It’s the same technique as infiltrating this home. Social engineering. However, it could only be done by elementary school student like me.”

  “Huh...? What do you mean...?”

  “Everyone knows that your territory is Suginami. Then, with the time of your appearance we can find out that you are a middle school student. Do you understand up to there?”

  «After you are born you must usually wear the Neuro Linker», with that being the first condition, the oldest Burst Linker now is not yet 16 years old. To be precise, there is a chance there might be first year high school students, but if they are a student, most can be determined to be middle school students.

  With his nod, the Red King pulled her jaw slightly then continued.

  “With that, I used my elementary student status to visit future middle schools in Suginami city district. With a visitor’s pass, I can connect to the school local net. Then, when I am being shown the tour by a teacher, I «Accelerate» and check the matching list...”

  “- And eventually found Silver Crow right. Hmm, a troublesome but logical method.”

  After that little regretful sentence, Kuroyukihime continued with ‘However’.

  “But, you won’t be able to tell which of the 300 student in Umesato middle school he is. How did you manage to determine it was Haruyuki-kun?”

  Hearing that, the Red King bit her lips and was silent for a while.

  She glared at Haruyuki sideways, and said in a childish excuse kind of voice.

  “Listen, I do not have any special feelings for you. I only have a use for your duel avatar, to be more precise just t
he wings on its back. - After I found Silver Crow in Umesato middle school, I took a window seat at a family restaurant that can see the school gate, and accelerated when a student stepped outside of the school. At the moment Silver Crow appeared on the matching list, and the guy who stepped pass the line was this onii-chan, I was a little surprised.”

  Normally he would listen to that speech while slightly bored, but this time he could not.

  Haruyuki’s eyes became rounded, he opened and closed his mouth for a few times, then fearfully inquired.

  “...That, how many, Burst Points were used...?”

  “Around 200.”

  “200!!”

  Haruyuki shouted, Takumu dropped his cup, and Kuroyukihime had a large wry smile.

  “...I see. That means, other than being an elementary school student, it’s a method that can only be used by a «King» with extra points. However, well... that’s an impressive obsession. Have you fallen that hard for Haruyuki-kun?”

  “No way!!”

  With an unreasonable kick to Haruyuki’s shin under the table, Yuniko retorted.

  “I already said it!! I have no use for him, just his avatar!! Anyway, if everything had gone as planned, he would have been lured away to be my minion by now!!”

  “That means...”

  With a smile and calm light in his eyes, Takumu said in a quiet voice.

  “That «need», is the reason why you used 200 points to do reality intrusion on Haru, used yourself to do social engineering, and finally requested this meeting.”

  At that moment - .

  Yuniko’s expression lost all childishness.

  With her red hair swaying, she leaned her back on the chair, and the Red King acknowledged in a low voice.

  “That’s right.”

  She lowered her face with eyes half closed, and looked straight at Haruyuki with cherry brown eyes. That pressure, even this little girl, is a «King» like Kuroyukihime, he fully realized that.

  “The wings on your back... «Flying ability», I want to borrow it just once. To destroy the «Disaster Armor».”

  Chapter 3

  Haruyuki could not understand the meaning of Red King Yuniko’s words. Takumu was probably the same, his eyebrows behind the glasses were slightly raised.

  The one who showed extreme reaction was Kuroyukihime.

  The right hand that she used to reach for her coffee cup was suddenly clenched together. Banging on the table with that fist, the Black King shouted.

  “No way! That «Armor» is... supposed to be totally annihilated!!”

  She stopped there with her eyes going empty and face white, Haruyuki fearfully asked.

  “Ah... that is. What is that... Disaster Armor? It isn’t a human, but a thing?”

  Kuroyukihime continued to be silent for a few more seconds, then eventually leaned back on her chair and took a long breath.

  While crossing her stocking legs, she turned her upper body toward Haruyuki.

  “Nn... about that... As a human it’s a Burst Linker, as a thing it’s an object... it could be said to be like that. Haruyuki-kun, do you remember your first duel opponent?”

  “Wha, y, yes. That bike guy... «Ash Roller».”

  While that flashy chop bike and skeleton helmet appeared in his mind, Haruyuki nodded. He belonged to the Green legion whose territory ranged from Shibuya to Roppongi. They still fought once in a while with some wins and some losses.

  “That man’s bike. That’s an object other than the rider himself, however together they make up the Duel Avatar. So that’s a thing and a person, isn’t that right?”

  “Let’s see... that, is right. For sure.”

  He nodded again.

  “That kind of external item, is called an «Enhanced Armament» in the Brain Burst system.”

  “Enhanced... Armament.”

  Somehow, a cool name appeared.

  Haruyuki was momentarily excited, but it was soon replaced by depression. For the empty handed Silver Crow, no matter how you put it, he did not have any.

  Realizing what Haruyuki was thinking, Kuroyukihime said with a small wry smile.

  “I don’t have any either, don’t be so depressed.”

  “But I have.”

  Yuniko said with relaxed lips. And was immediately bathed in Kuroyukihime’s sharp sound.

  “In your case, instead of having, it’s more like the armament is the actual body.”

  “Oh, I heard a nice loser phrase.”

  Between the two glaring at each other, Haruyuki hurriedly cut in.

  “I, I see. Scarlet Rain’s, that incredible firepower container... that is all an «Enhanced Armament», right?”

  “That is right. However, it’s not such a rare thing that could make this little girl proud. There are four ways to obtain it.”

  Kuroyukihime extended her thumb from her raised right fist, and continued.

  “First, as beginner equipment at the start. Ash Roller’s bike is probably that.”

  “My right hand’s «Pile Driver» is also that right.”

  Hearing what Takumu interrupted with, Haruyuki involuntarily said ‘What’.

  “Why does Taku also have one!”

  “There there, let’s listen.”

  “...Continuing.”

  Her extending index finger’s nail snapped the air.

  “Second, obtained using level up bonus. If it does not exist in the bonus selection, that’s impossible.”

  “...I didn’t have any...”

  Haruyuki whispered after remembering the three level ups till now. Other than that, he already followed Kuroyukihime’s advice and put all of his level up bonuses into speed and flight time upgrades.

  Next Kuroyukihime lifted her middle finger and continued with the explanation.

  “And the third. Use points to buy in a «Shop». Here it is possible for Haruyuki-kun too, well, I would not recommend it.”

  “Huh? Shop... that is a store? That, where is it?”

  “Secret. I can easily imagine that you will waste all your points.”

  “N, no way.”

  With ‘Ahaha’ laugh, Takumu also nodded.

  “Without doubt. Haru’s personality changes when he goes to that kind of store.”

  “Wh, what’s with you two...”

  The relaxed air flowing around the living room - .

  Was cut by Yuniko’s one sharp sound.

  “...Hurry and say the fourth way.”

  Kuroyukihime took the Red King’s dangerous look directly, nodded slightly, however did not say anything right after that.

  Then, Yuniko extended her hand, forcefully extended Kuroyukihime’s ring finger, and spit out a short sentence.

  “Fourth. «Take forcefully by killing».”

  “Ki... kill...”

  To the wide eyed Haruyuki, Kuroyukihime sighed and added.

  “This, is still not fully understood phenomenon but... when a Burst Linker with an «Enhanced Armament» loses, if at that point his Burst Point became zero and forever leaves the accelerated world, there are cases where the ownership of the loser’s armament will transfer to the winner.”

  “Low rate random event, is the current theory.”

  Yuniko interrupted with that, then held the back of her head with both hands.

  “But, that does not apply to «Disaster Armor»... Transfer rate 100%, a perfect cursed item...”

  “But... however.”

  Murmuring that, Kuroyukihime ground her teeth and snapped.

  “Not possible. It was supposed to be destroyed. Two and half years ago, I clearly saw that «Armor»... «Chrome Disaster»’s final moment, and confirmed its annihilation!”

  ‘- Chrome Disaster is the legendary name of a Burst Linker from the early days of accelerated world from seven years ago.’

  Kuroyukihime’s story started with those words.

  ‘- Covered in metallic grey knight like «enhanced armament», his incredible fighting power covered the ground with many dead Linkers. Hi
s fighting style was severe, or more like cruel, those who surrendered, heads were cut off, limbs disemboweled, it was violent to the extreme.

  However, he who forced many opponents to forever lose Brain Burst, his final day also arrived. Aside from him, the highest leveled Burst Linkers at that time allied, and continued to go after only Chrome Disaster for duels.

  Eventually his points dropped to zero and at the moment he «died» in the accelerated world, he shouted with a loud laughter. “I curse this world. Corrupt. I will revive again and again”.

  Those words were true. The Burst Linker named Chrome Disaster retired, but the Armor... the enhanced armament did not disappear. Its ownership transferred to one of the people in the subjugation alliance; lost to the lure of curiosity and the mentality of the Linker who put that on... was taken over. The till then admired noble leader, changed into a cruel killer over night. That savage shape could not be distinguished from the «First generation».’

  Kuroyukihime stopped there, after she wet her throat with coffee, she continued in a low voice.

  “The same thing happened three times. The owner of the «Armor» went on fearsome ravages, and was subjugated. However the armor did not disappear, it changed owners and changed personality and shape one by one... that Burst Linker no longer used his original name and became known as Chrome Disaster. Two and half years ago when I was already one of the «Pure color seven kings», I joined the subjugation of the fourth Chrome Disaster with the other kings. How incredible that fight was... I still feel it in my skin now. It could not be told in words...”

  She returned the cup and rubbed her arms through her uniform, then Kuroyukihime’s tone suddenly changed.

  “Then, Haruyuki-kun. Sorry, but can you find two direct connect cables?”

  “Wha... ca, cable!? And two of them...?”

  “I have one already. The length, well, about one meter is fine.”

  “O... okay.”

  Haruyuki stood up while not understanding what’s going on, ran to his own room, took two XSB cables from the wire rack on the wall and returned to the living room.

  “There were just two cables. Let’s see the length, this one is one meter, this one... err, 50cm.”

  While he shrug his head and dangle the cables from his hands, Yuniko stood up with an understanding like face.