Accel World: Crimson Storm Princess

by Reki Kawahara

‘- That person, Kuroyukihime, is definitely not a super woman that’s totally perfect. A middle school student like me, and a girl that is easily hurt.’

  That thought, when he saw Kuroyukihime crying from words not from his heart, he definitely could not forget. However even with that, the admiration and worship inside him did not reduce even a bit.

  Not against strength.

  It’s the will to become strong. The soul that continues to shine while resisting different adversity, Haruyuki is absolutely drawn to it.

  ‘- That is why, you should be standing up again. I don’t know what kind of relationship you had with the previous Red King, but you should get past that memory, and should be standing. Isn’t that right!?’

  At the same time as Haruyuki’s desperate silent shout under his silver mask.

  The momentarily slowed enemy legion attack restarted fiercely.

  The remaining close combat types were less than ten, but they started advancing from all directions. To support them, long range fire came down like rain.

  “Don’t underestimate meeee!”

  Niko roared, left and right main cannons, missile pods, and machine guns started firing.

  Then all of them spit out fire - right before that, Haruyuki thought he heard a strange sound.

  A high frequency sound that could only be called noise shook the air. At the same time, his view of the world doubled, and tripled.

  The missiles released by Scarlet Rain suddenly spun in the sky, and flew in different directions. Even the main cannon beams aiming for the long range attackers outside missed them from above, and hit a far away building, with explosion sounds echoing.

  “Shit... it’s jamming!”

  Niko shouted in a low voice.

  “It’s not that Radio guy... one of his yellow color underlings! Find him!”

  “Un... understood!”

  At the same time as his answer, Haruyuki expanded his wings and strongly kicked the ground to fly up. However.

  From the ground two wires extended up like snakes and wrapped around Haruyuki’s feet.

  He was pulled back all at once, and hit the ground hard. Even out of breath from the shock, Haruyuki tried to cut the wires with his knife. But.

  “«Electric Therapy»!!”

  “...!!”

  With someone’s shout of a skill name, blue white lightning ran along all of Haruyuki’s body, and at the same time he was assaulted by intense shock. Looking around, he saw a mechanical avatar with wires extending from both arms, and on his back was a transformer like equipment emitting sparks.

  It seems like the main attack was to stun, so he was not damaged much at all, but with his body not under his control, Haruyuki could not shake loose the wires around his feet.

  “Gu... u...!”

  Haruyuki groaned, and he was showered by the electric avatar’s high pitched laughter.

  “Kihihihihi! Just sleep there for a while, brat! Till the Red King’s whole body is stripped apart!!”

  Like those words said, he could see many shapes of close combat avatars rushing towards Niko’s fortress type avatar. They close in from her main cannons’ blind spots and started to shower her enhanced armament connection points with punches and kicks. Orange sparks flew, bolts were knocked apart, and the thick armor was stripped off one by one.

  Haruyuki desperately resisted the electricity paralyzing his whole body and turned his body around, trying to crawl towards the electric avatar.

  However the sparks did not seem to weaken even a bit, and he could not even change his head’s direction.

  ‘- What should I do. What should I do. What should I do at this time, senpai.’

  ‘- Hurry... if I don’t hurry, then Niko!’

  Sounds of despair appeared in his head, at that time from the far edge of the crater, he heard rich tone laughter loudly echo.

  “...Hahaha! Hahahahahaha!!”

  It was the Yellow King, Yellow Radio. His slender and long body with the two horn hat swaying, showing joy with pantomime actions.

  “How! How unsightly! Comical shapes! A King’s dignity and such... there isn’t a single fragment of that!? After all, you two don’t have the qualifications to be a King, that is what it means! The Red is an upstart fake! And the Black, is a despicable traitor right!?”

  The relentless insults, was overlap by ‘Gishi gishi’ metallic breaking sounds. And then, a girl’s small painful sounds too.

  “A... a...”

  He looked that way, and saw a large close combat type avatar standing on Scarlet Rain’s missile container, holding her left main cannon.

  He used his whole body to pull the huge cannon up. From the joints a lot of flame like sparks came out, that looked almost like fresh blood.

  Eventually, with a ‘Bikin’ sudden sharp breaking sound, the main cannon was pulled off.

  Linked to that, without a doubt, was Niko’s broken left arm that came dangling down. With Niko’s unsuppressed scream that leaked out, the enemy avatar lifted the cannon up high in a victory pose and roared at the same time.

  “All right! The Red King is just like this! You guys, strip off all her skin and yank that kid out!! Till right before her gauge run out, give her plenty of humiliation!!”

  Haruyuki grounded his inner teeth till they almost broke, and his extended fingers of his right hand desperately clawed the ground.

  In front of that, was a dust covered black lotus avatar laying flat there with eyes fully lost all light.

  “Senpai... senpai.”

  Haruyuki pushed out a raspy sound from his throat paralyzed by the stun effect.

  Behind him, maybe Niko’s last resistance, her remaining weapons continued to sound as they fired. While feeling the vibration from empty explosions, Haruyuki still shouted.

  “You... you are okay with this? This way of finishing, is your game ending?”

  In his brain, from last night, the real Kuroyukihime and Niko sleeping while holding each other appeared lightly.

  What that scene represent, and what the two girls truly wish for, Haruyuki could not conjecture. But, the one thing he was sure is, soon everything will end. The slight bond born out of chance in one night, will be cruelly broken apart.

  “Senpai... Black King!!”

  Haruyuki used the rest of his strength and screamed.

  Right now, the wound Kuroyukihime faced in her heart, might be so huge size that Haruyuki could not fathom. The first generation Red King - a comrade, and friend, while he was excited, he was betrayed and forever retired from the accelerated world, Kuroyukihime must have continued to suffer a long time for that action.

  No, maybe «Red Rider» and her, were more than just comrade or friends. That kind of opponent, that person was put down by her hand.

  But.

  Even if that was true.

  “What is «Acceleration» to you!? And «Brain Burst»!!”

  Hitting the ground with his fist surrounded by sparks, Haruyuki roared with passion.

  “Getting to level 10 that has never been achieved before... Is your ambition to see what’s ahead in this world just to this degree? Is it so cheap as to exchange for the memory of just one man! Someone who wants to exceed the human husk... being tired down by past regrets, how long are you planning to be this unsightly! You don’t have the free time to do that, you should cut through all kind of obstacles, mow them down, and charge forward as the last person, isn’t that right, Black Lotus!!”

  ‘Rin’.

  In front of his thrown out right hand, was it an illusion that he saw the deep black sharp part waver?

  No, that’s wrong. Inside the sharp form’s goggles, like distant stars, slight violet lights shone. Weak like glowing embers of soul, beat with ‘thump thump’.

  “Sen... pa...”

  Haruyuki quietly said.

  ‘Bun!’ kind of strong vibration sound overlapped that.

  That, was under the goggles, the sound of two eyes strongly shining.

  In the half tran
sparent armor as if made from obsidian, from parting lines starting from the head to the limbs, the same light filled them up. That blew away all the dust covering her whole body, reviving its dull reflection.

  Finally, the sword arms and legs strongly vibrated.

  To the lightly rising, as if pulled by invisible strings, deep black avatar, Haruyuki watched without blinking as his throat clogged up.

  Black Lotus who stood straight up, with the tip of her feet slightly floating above ground, slowly began to hover and move. She reached Haruyuki who was lying flat while being caught by electric shocks, and stopped still.

  “Haruyuki-kun.”

  The sound that echoed was kind and strict like usual.

  “...Yes.”

  Hearing his groaning reply, she murmured with her familiar wry smile mixed sound.

  “That is... the way you said it earlier, it was like Rider and I were lovers.”

  “Is... is that wrong?”

  “Absolutely wrong. You are my first, I should have told you before. Also... how long are you planning to lie there, try sticking a hand into the ground.”

  “Huh... o... okay.”

  As told, Haruyuki lined up his sharp fingers, and stuck them into the dry ground near him.

  At that moment, he felt that the sparks holding his whole body slowly flow into the ground, and Haruyuki shouted in realization.

  “I... I see, earth...”

  “If you think about the skill’s affinity and feature, you should be able to counter even if seen for first time. It seems I still have a lot of things to teach you.”

  Right after, he heard a ‘Pusun’ kind of pathetic sound from behind, and Haruyuki turned his head to look.

  He saw the electric avatar slowly backing off while white smoke came from the transformer on his back.

  “You should be able to handle the rest yourself. - I have to go look after the little girl that fell into a trap.”

  She said that casually.

  With a ‘Bunn’ air vibration, the deep black avatar disappeared.

  Without a single preparation, that was a fearsome speed dash. Kuroyukihime who went forward like a dark color beam for a few tens of meters, the next moment, she appeared beside the close combat type enemy standing directly on Niko.

  “Uooo...”

  After that surprised yell leaked out, the enemy avatar holding Red King’s main cannon let it go, and opened both hands with strangely strong fingers trying to dance with Kuroyukihime. Having the arm strength to pull off Niko’s main cannon, instead of a blunt attack type, it must be a hold skill type duel avatar.

  Against that, not sure what she is thinking of, Kuroyukihime extended her right arm straight out as if saying ‘please grab it’. The enemy’s eyes shone strongly, and his snake like extended hands held Black Lotus’ arm in two places.

  “Got you, «Oneway Sl...».”

  With the shouting of the skill name, he turned around, putting the arm he was holding on his right shoulder, going into a judo throw posture - at that instant, some things dropped down.

  Ten fat curved cylinders. Fingers. The enemy’s fingers holding Kuroyukihime’s sword arm, to throw her, he applied strength, and they were cut by the sharp edge.

  “Sorry, hold type skills do not work on me.”

  Kuroyukihime said that to the enemy frozen in the throw posture, and cut her carried right arm down in one go.

  From right shoulder to left flank, the faint light passed through. Then the enemy avatar’s tough upper body slid down, and the remaining 70% of the body fell to the ground.

  “Aaa... ga... gaaaaa!!”

  He seemed to still have HP remaining so did not disappear, however just disappearing might be better off for him. Screaming in the pain of his body being cut apart, his remaining arm flapped the ground. Kuroyukihime moved her eyes away to stare at the remaining 7 or 8 enemy close range type avatars.

  “I am not sure if you all realized, but people fighting with me always taste the pain of losing body parts.”

  The tone was calm, but the savagery echoing in it made everyone in the battle field breathless.

  “You can not... say that you don’t want to now!”

  With that loud shout, the black raptor like avatar attacked an unlucky guy that she set her eyes on. High pitched metallic sounds, intermittent screams, and the surrounding Burst Linkers’ cries of desperation soon filled the air.

  After determining that he could leave that place to her for a while, Haruyuki turned towards the electric avatar that still had the wires around him.

  When their eyes met, the enemy turned his old fashioned instrument-like face away and raised a hand.

  “Hey, wait a minute. I am recharging my battery right now...”

  “Like I would wait!!”

  Haruyuki shouted, and grabbed the two wires wrapped around his feet with both hands and released them, then kicked the ground all at once leaving it behind.

  “U, uwawawa!”

  With the moaning enemy dangling below, he attained altitude, then while hovering started turning in circles.

  “Waa - Aaa - Aaa -”

  With the high and low screams continuing from the opponent, Haruyuki attained plenty of centripetal force then let go of the wires, and the heavy looking robot avatar flew south with tremendous speed, then with a small falling sound somewhere in the group of buildings.

  His own eyes were spinning as well, so he shook his head strongly to clear them and looked down, the expanding battle below was right in his sights.

  That could no longer be called a «Duel», but a «Slaughter» probably.

  Most of the blue type close combat avatars fight with their hand or foot, and some with hammer or sword like contact weapons. That is for blue type comrades, they basically switch between attacker and guard, aiming for any opening in the opponent.

  For Kuroyukihime - Black Lotus, with four sword limbs is a super close combat type as seen, but can take various attack actions.

  Cut, a slash forward type of action is matter of course, if the opponent blocks with a fist or arm, they will be cut apart, and just chasing an opponent with a dash while swinging a leg up would cut the target apart. Absolutely no contact is allowed. Everything that touches her gets cut apart, just like a «Black death water lily» - .

  The dance like battle shape was incredibly beautiful, and also full of very painful rejection.

  Within merely a minute or two, the enemy close combat team was mostly annihilated, or with lost parts, damaged, in sharp pain, rolling on the ground out of action.

  “Y... you bitch!!”

  The last remaining large build Burst Linker suddenly roared loudly. He held up his thick long sword, and swung it down right at Kuroyukihime.

  Spectacular speed and timing. The lightning like steel colored thick sword that came down, Kuroyukihime did not avoid it, but took it with two crossed sword arms.

  ‘Kiiiiin!’ That ear splitting high frequency wave echoed pass. Brilliant sparks came from the contact point, and the movement of both stopped.

  ‘Screech screech’ like high pitch metallic sound continued to echo. The silver and black swords, with every second ate into each other deeper.

  Which will eat into the other first, Haruyuki could not instantly determine. However, the sword wielding fighter type avatar, his Hannya[10] like mask twisted in a sneer.

  “Zann!”

  At the same time as the fighter’s low sound, right below the sword, Kuroyukihime’s hands cut left and right in one instant.

  What fell without a sound, were the fighter’s head, and the huge sword’s upper part. The head that rolled around with unbelieving eyes was pierced without mercy by Kuroyukihime’s left foot tip. A light pillar went up, and the enemy avatar blew apart like glass figurine and disappeared.

  Again, a few seconds of silence.

  What broke it was a short sound released from the far edge of the crater.

  “...Why.”

  With a flat sound that fin
ally lost composure maintained till now, the Yellow King, Yellow Radio said in a moan.

  “Why appear now, to interrupt my years-long prepared circus carnival? After continuing to hide in a basement somewhere for two years, why?”

  In the clown’s laughing face, the up turned eyes were filled with white phosphorescent. The dead branch like arms spread wide left and right, standing swaying on one leg, and head swinging slowly left and right.

  Suddenly under the mask, a ‘kukukukuku’ small laughter leaked out. His right hand pointing straight at Kuroyukihime, the Yellow King said in a voice with regained mockery.

  “That means, you have already forgotten? From your betrayal, our friend that was beheaded? ...Right now he, what he is doing and where. Never to return to the accelerated world again... I wonder if you remember the person who created the reason why that is? If it was me, I won’t be able to forget it. If it was a normal fight then fine, but that kind of sneak attack... right?”

  ‘Kuu, kuukuukuuku’.

  While hearing the laughter coming up from that throat, Haruyuki shouted in his mind.

  ‘- Don’t listen to it. That guy wants to take away your fighting spirit again.’

  However, to say that in actuall words, Haruyuki could not do it. For the Black King and the Yellow King, since the beginning of the accelerated world they have been training together, between the two that had been friends till the incident two years ago. He thought there was a history that not just anyone can cut into.

  Haruyuki slowly descended, and he landed behind Black Lotus who was standing beside the half broken Scarlet Rain. Inside his chest, he just strongly prayed that she would not lose.

  Suddenly - .

  Kuroyukihime lifted up her right arm without a sound. The obsidian edge that did not have a single scratch from the battle was pointed straight at the Yellow King.

  The Black King started her smooth silky voice.

  “...You are mistaken about just one thing, Yellow Radio.”

  “Oh? What would that be? Don’t tell me that was not a cowardly sneak attack?”

  “Not that. You think that your head has the same weight as Red Rider’s to me, that. Let me tell you another thing... I...”

  With a ‘Riin’ sound, she slashed her right hand horizontally, and Kuroyukihime said.