Sword Art Online - Volume 4 - Fairy Dance

by Reki Kawahara

  “System Login. ID «Heathcliff». Password…..”

  The gravity which was wrapped around my body disappeared as soon as I finished reciting the complex series of alphanumeric characters.

  “Wha… What!? What is that ID!?”

  When Sugou bared his teeth and cried out in surprise, he shook off my hand and flew back a step. He waved his left hand downward and a blue system menu appeared.

  Before that guy could even move a finger, a Voice Command emitted from my mouth.

  “System command. Supervisor Authority Change. ID «Oberon» to level 1.”

  In a split second, the window disappeared from under Sugou’s hand. He stared with his eyes looking back and forth several times between my face and the empty space where the window was, waving his left hand again in frustration.

  However, nothing would happen. The scroll of magic which gave Sugou the power of the Fairy King wouldn’t emerge.

  “A… An ID of a higher rank than mine…? Unbelievable… This shouldn’t be possible… I am the ruler… The creator… The Emperor of this world… God…”

  Sugou kept talking in a high-pitched voice that sounded like an audio sample played back at high speed. I spoke while looking at the pretty face collapsed into ugliness.

  “That isn’t so right? You stole it. The world. The residents there. A thieving king that dances all alone on his stolen throne.”

  “Thi… this punk of a kid… me… actually dares to say that to me… I’ll make you regret it… I’ll take your head off and make it an ornament…”

  Sugou thrust a forefinger bent like a hook at me and screamed in a shrill voice.

  “System Command!! Object ID «Excalibur» Generate!!”

  However, the system was no longer responding to Sugou’s voice.

  “System Command!! Listen to me you piece of junk!! God… God is commanding you!!” At his screams, I averted my eyes from Sugou. I looked at Asuna who was still hanging off of the ground.

  Her radiant dress was ripped and only shreds covered her body, her hair disheveled, and there were streaks of light that were tears on her cheeks. But her eyes had not lost their shine. That strong whip did not break her tenacious spirit.

  - It’ll be over soon. Wait just a little more.

  I whispered in my mind, looking into Asuna’s hazel-colored eyes. It was a small motion, but Asuna nodded.

  A new flame of anger rose in me when I looked at Asuna’s oppressed figure. I looked up slightly and said:

  “System Command. Object ID «Excalibur» Generate.”

  The space before me began to distort when I said that. Minuscule numbers flowed out in a rush to form a single sword. The color and texture were given gradually from the tip down. With a blade giving off a golden gleam, it was a longsword engraved with beautiful decorations. There was no doubt it was the same weapon that had been sealed at the end of the dungeon in Jötunheimr. The strongest sword which was the dream of many players, and it appeared on one command, not a particularly pleasant feeling.

  I grabbed the hilt of the sword and threw it to a wide-eyed Sugou. After seeing him catch it in a dangerous manner I gently lifted my left foot.

  My sword flew up into the darkness from where it had rolled before when I stepped hard on its pommel. Rotating through the air, it dropped toward my right hand with a flash of its blued steel. With a heavy sound, the sword fell into my hand.

  When I had pointed my unwieldy black iron greatsword at Sugou, I said:

  “It’s time to settle this. The thieving king against the pretend hero… System Command. Pain Absorption to level 0.”

  “Wha… What…?”

  Hearing the command to raise the virtual pain without restriction, the color drained from the cheeks of the Fairy King wielding the golden sword. He edged back one step, two steps.

  “Don’t try to escape. That man had no hesitation whatsoever in any situation. That - Kayaba Akihiko.”

  “Ka… Kaya…”

  Hearing that name, Sugou’s face became extremely warped.

  “Kayaba… Heathcliff… so it’s you… You’re getting in my way again!!”

  Waving the sword in his right hand high above his head, he screamed in a voice that would tear metal.

  “You died! You bit the dust!! Why should you hinder me even in death!! You were always like this… Always always!! Always making that face like you understood everything… snatching away all the things I wanted by the edge!!”

  Sugou shouted, suddenly thrusting his sword towards me before continuing.

  “A brat like you… What could you possibly understand!! What it’s like to be below him… What it means to compete with him, how could you possibly understand what it’s like!?”

  “I understand. I became a servant after being defeated by that man too. - But I never thought of becoming like him. Unlike you.”

  “Brat… This brat… THIS BRAAAAAT!!”

  Sugou kicked off the ground with a scream that turned inside out and brandished his sword. As soon as I observed an opening, I cleave down the sword in my right hand and the tip of my sword sliced through the smooth cheek of the Fairy King.

  “AAah!!”

  Sugou cried as he held his cheek with his left hand and jumped back.

  “It… HUUURTS…!”

  The scream from the wide-eyed figure only served to further ignite my rage. The thought that Asuna was under this man’s oppression for two months was unbearable. Taking a large step forward, I brought down my sword. Sugou instinctively raised his right hand to block and my sword severed his wrist. The hand and the golden sword being wielded disappeared into the darkness. The sound of it falling somewhere far away echoed clearly.

  “AAAAAAaaah!! Hand… My haaaaand!!”

  It was a pseudo-electrical signal, but that was why Sugou would be feeling pure pain. Of course, it wasn’t enough. There was no way it could be enough.

  I swung my sword with brute force at the green robes wrapping Sugou’s torso while he was holding onto the stump on his forearm and moaning.

  “Guboaaaa!!”

  The stomach of the tall, handsome body was dissected apart in two equal halves, rolling to the floor with a severe noise. The lower half was immediately engulfed in rising white flames and collapsed after being burned.

  Grabbing Sugou’s long wavy blond hair in my left hand, I lifted him up. He continued to scream in a metallic voice out of a quivering mouth that was opening and closing, while tears drained from eyes which were stretched open to the limit.

  His figure could only evoke disgust in me. I swung my left hand, throwing his upper torso straight down.

  Holding my greatsword with both hands, I took a stance above him. Watching the sword drop, he released a harsh scream -.

  “…Uoooo!!”

  I brought the sword down with all of my strength. With a noisy ‘Gatsutsu’ sound, the blade went through Sugou’s right eye and exited from the back of his head.

  “Gyaaaaaaaaa!”

  The unpleasant scream echoing in the darkness was like several thousand broken gears scraping against each other as they turned. The right eye was divided in two on the left and right sides of my sword. Sticky white flame erupted, quickly spreading from the head to the upper body.

  He turned ghost-like and kept dissolving, and for the several seconds before completely disappearing Sugou continued crying without stop. The scream slowly faded, and before long, the figure disappeared. Silence returned to the world, and I waved my sword, scattering the white embers.

  With a gentle swing of my sword, the two chains binding Asuna shattered and disappeared. I let go of my sword, it’s job complete. I held Asuna as she slipped to the ground, her body gone limp.

  The energy supporting my body also ran out and I slid to one knee on the ground. I looked at Asuna in my hands.

  “…Ugh…”

  The torrent of helpless feelings changed form and began flowing from my eyes as tears. Tightly holding Asuna’s slender body, my face
buried in her hair, I cried. I couldn’t say anything, I just kept crying.

  “- I believed.”

  Asuna’s clear voice shook my ears.

  “…Yes, I believed. …Up until now, from here on. You are my hero… You will always come to help me…”

  Gentle hands stroked my hair.

  - That’s not it. I… I actually had no power…

  However, I took a big breath, and said in a trembling voice.

  “…I will do my best to be like that. Now, let’s go back…”

  Waving my left hand, a complex system window emerged, it was really different from normal ones. I intuitively dove into the hierarchy window, stopping when my finger landed on the transfer-related menu.

  Staring into Asuna’s eyes, I said:

  “In the real world it is probably already night. But I will go to your hospital room immediately.”

  “Yeah, I’ll wait. It will be nice to see Kirito-kun first.”

  Asuna smiled brilliantly. She looked at some far-off place, with crystal clear eyes, and whispered:

  “Ah… finally, it ended. I will return… to that world.”

  “That’s right. …It changed in various ways, you will be surprised.”

  “Fufu. Let’s go to a lot of places and do many things.”

  “Yeah. - For sure.”

  I nodded holding tightly to Asuna and moved my right hand. I touched the log out button, with my finger-tip glowing blue waiting for a target, I gently wiped away the tears flowing down Asuna’s cheeks.

  Then, blue light wrapped around Asuna’s white body. Little by little, Asuna became more transparent like crystal. Particles of light came from her fingers and toes, dancing through the air before disappearing.

  Until Asuna completely disappeared I was holding on to her body tightly. Finally, the weight in my arms vanished and I was left alone in the darkness.

  For the moment I remained crouching.

  In addition to feeling that everything was over, there was also the feeling of a large amount of progress. Yet this incident caused by Kayaba’s fantasy and Sugou’s ambition - is this the so-called ending? Or is it just another big turning point?

  I forced myself to stand up somehow with a body that was running out of energy. I looked above in the dazzling darkness extending to the depths of the world, and whispered alone.

  “ - You’re there aren’t you, Heathcliff.”

  After a moment of silence a rusty voice sounded in my consciousness, the same one as earlier.

  『It has been a long time, Kirito-kun. Though for me - the events of that day seem like just yesterday.』

  It was different this time, as the voice seemed to reach me from some far-off place.

  “ - Are you alive?”

  With that short question, I heard an answer after the briefest instant of silence.

  『You could say that I am, and you could say that I’m not. In a sense, I am - an echo of Kayaba Akihiko’s consciousness, an afterimage.』

  “As usual, you’re a person that says things in a confusing way. I’ll express my gratitude for the time being - at any rate, it would have been nicer of you to have come out and helped us earlier.”

  『……』

  The presence of a wry smile being revealed.

  『That was unfortunate, my apologies. The time when the decentralized preservation system connected and awakened my program was just a bit ago - when I had heard your voice. There is no need for thanks.』

  “…Why?”

  『You and I aren’t on friendly enough terms to accept free favors. I need to have compensation of course, naturally.』

  This time it was my turn to smile wryly.

  “Then tell me what needs to be done.”

  Then, from the distant darkness, some kind of - silver shining object fell. I reached out and it settled into my hands with a faint sound. It was a small, egg-shaped crystal. Within the crystal a dim light was blinking.

  “This is?”

  『It is a world seed.』

  “ - What?”

  『When it sprouts, you will understand. I entrust you with the decision of what to do with it afterwards. Deleting it is fine, forgetting it is fine… However, if you have any feelings other than hatred left for that world…』

  The voice broke off there. Following a short silence, only a curt farewell descended.

  『- Well then, I’ll be going. May we meet again some day, Kirito-kun.』

  Then suddenly, the presence vanished.

  I twisted my head around, dropping the shiny egg into my breast pocket for the meantime. Lost in thought for a while, I lifted my face.

  “ - Yui, are you here? Are you okay!?”

  As soon as I cried out, the world of darkness split open along a straight line.

  Orange light quickly shone through, cutting up the dark curtain. The wind blew in at the same time carrying away the darkness. It was so beautiful and dazzling that I had to momentarily close my eyes. I opened them cautiously and found myself back in the birdcage.

  In front of me, the huge setting sun was giving off its last light before falling below the horizon. There were no human figures, just the sound of the wind.

  “ - Yui?”

  Calling out once again, light condensed in front of my eyes, and a dark-haired little girl appeared with a crackling pop.

  “Papa!!”

  With a resonant cry Yui jumped into my chest, hugging my neck tightly.

  “You were safe. - Thank goodness…”

  “Yes… When it looked like my address was going to be locked all of a sudden, I retreated to the NERvGear’s local memory. I managed to connect again, but both Mama and Papa were gone… I was worried. - Mama is…?”

  “Ah, she returned… to the real world.”

  “I see… that’s great… truly…”

  Yui closed her eyes and put her cheek to my chest. I sensed a faint shadow of loneliness from her and gently stroked her long hair.

  “ - Soon, we’ll come see you again. But… I wonder what will become of it, this world…”

  After my muttering, Yui grinned and spoke.

  “My core program is not part of this place but stored in Papa’s NERvGear. We’ll always be together. - Oh, but it is strange…”

  “What’s the matter?”

  “A rather large file has been transferred to your NERvGear’s storage…. though it does not seem to be active…”

  “Hmm…”

  I tilted my head, but put aside the question for now. Rather, there was something else I needed to do no matter what.

  “- Well, I’m going. To meet your Mama.”

  “Yes. Papa - I love you.”

  Exuding wispy tears, I hugged Yui strongly while stroking her head and waved my right hand.

  Just before I pressed the button, I stopped and watched the world dyed in the colors of sunset. This world that was ruled by a false king, what would happen to this world now that he was gone? My heart ached when I thought of Lyfa and the other players who loved this world so deeply.

  I gently kissed Yui’s cheeks and moved my finger deeply. Radial light spread through my vision, it wrapped my awareness and carried me higher and higher.

  I felt a deep sense of exhaustion when I opened my eyes. In front of my eyes was Suguha’s face and she was looking at my face with a worried expression. When our eyes met she hurriedly stood up.

  “S-, sorry, I entered your room without permission. When you didn’t come back for a long while, I became worried…”

  Suguha said, with her cheeks slightly flushed as she sat on the edge of my bed. After a little time lag my limbs regained a sense of connection and I forcefully push my upper body up.

  “Sorry I was late.”

  “…is it all over?”

  “- Yeah… finished… everything…”

  For a moment I stared into space while answering. Being in a dangerous situation in the virtual world and getting captured, but this time imprisoned without being able to
be cleared, wasn’t something I could tell Suguha. Eventually I would tell her everything, but right now I don’t want her to be more worried. This one and only younger sister who had already saved me more times than words could tell.

  That one late night in the forest, I met a green-haired girl and my new adventure started - during the whole long journey, she was always with me. She showed me the way, taught me about the scenery and protected me with her sword. If she hadn’t introduced me to the two lords and made friends with them, I definitely would not have been able to break through the wall of the guardian knights.

  Looking back, I also received the help from a huge number of people. But of course, the most help came from the girl in front of my eyes. When I was Kirito and she was Lyfa, and when I was Kazuto and she was Suguha, she helped and supported me, but at the same time her small shoulders carried a deep anguish -.

  Once again I stared at Suguha’s face, it had both the dazzling activeness of a boy, and a newly sprouted green leaf’s evanescence. I reached out a hand and gently patted her head, Suguha gave a small smile of embarrassment.

  “Really - really thank you very much, Sugu. If you weren’t here, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything.”

  Suguha’s face became even redder and she lowered her head. She fidgeted for a bit, then she made up her mind and rested her cheek against my chest.

  “Yeah… I was happy. In onii-chan’s world, I was able to help onii-chan.”

  Suguha whispered with her eyes closed. With my right hand, I gently held her back and gave her a quick squeeze.

  After I let go, Suguha looked up at me and said.

  “Then… you got her back, right? That person - Asuna-san…”

  “Yeah. Finally - she is back at last… Sugu, I……”

  “Yes. Go, surely she is waiting for onii-chan.”

  “Sorry. I’ll tell you the details when I get back.”

  I put a hand on Suguha’s head and stood up.

  I got dressed in record time, but paused on the porch in my down-jacket. It was completely dark outside. The hands of the antique wall clock which hung in the living room pointed to a time shortly before 9:00 PM. Visiting hours were over long ago, but the situation was the situation. If I told the circumstances at the nurses station, I might be able to get in.