Sword Art Online 13: Alicization Dividing Part 23

Cutting off her words, Alice slowly turned towards me and looked straight at me.

In that moment, the moon that had risen into the eastern sky without my notice suddenly sent down a single streak of light through the clouds. Alice's two eyes softened, red and puffy from crying like a child's, and smiled once more as her entire body was surrounded by specks of gold. I couldn't bear to look at that face any longer and turned my sight towards the moon overhead.

To return Alice her memories. That was the one and only desire of my unparal eled partner, Eugeo. In other words, going with that, it should also be my desire.

However, that would be the equivalent to the death of this integrity knight... no, this girl forlornly hugging her knees at my side. An unavoidable victim and an inescapable order of priorities. There were no more routes left to me.

"Yeah... I'll promise you. I'll swear on it."

While looking up at the night sky, I told her so.

"I'll definitely bring you to Rulid before your memories are restored."

"...Make sure that you do."

Turning my sight back towards Alice who underscored her request, I gave a clear nod.

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The knight replied with a curt nod as well, before she took in a deep breath, put on an a.s.sertive expression, and spoke.

"Understood. Wel , then... as of now, in order to protect the Human World and its residents, I, Alice Synthesis Thirty, will discard my mission as an integrity kni... gh... ah...!!"

The bold proclamation turned into a piercing scream al of a sudden. Her body, clad in that golden armor, bent backwards and her right hand pressed against her right eye. Was her ordered face being warped by some enormous, intense pain right now?

Despite my surprise, I instinctively recal ed the scene I saw two days ago as I got up onto my feet.

Eugeo who sliced off the second-ranked elite swordsman-in- training, Humbert Zizek, in order to save Ronie and Tizei. By the time I ran in, his right eye had already blown off without a trace, the gushing fresh blood flowing down his cheek as crimson tears.

That night, Eugeo talked about it bit by bit in the academy's disciplinary chamber. The moment he tried to cut Humbert, his right hand froze as though it wasn't his own and his right eye burned with pain, he said. And before his eyes, unfamiliar sacred letters appeared, glowing deep red- That same phenomenon Eugeo talked about might be a.s.sailing Alice right now. It was likely some sort of 172.

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psychological block. Its trigger would be the act of opposing a regulation carved upon one's soul.

"Don't think about anything! Freeze your thoughts!"

I shouted so while approaching Alice and held onto her armored left shoulder with my right hand. And my left hand caught the tormented knight's right wrist, gently pulling it away from her right eye.

On Alice's eye that should have been sapphire-blue, I saw a flickering red light and swallowed my breath. I peered closer in order to ascertain the true form of that light.

Upon the perfectly circular blue iris in Alice's widely opened right eye.

Delicate lines were lined up in a radial pattern on the outside, glowing red while they slowly rotated. There was no fixed pattern to the lines' thickness and the way they were ordered, too, was random. As though-it was a bar code.

I had guessed that the one who inserted this psychological block into the Underworld people was the highest minister, Administrator, ever since I heard the story from Eugeo.

However, I had absolutely no memory of spotting anything resembling bar codes in these two years.

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-It wasn't done by Administrator...? But in that case, just who...?

It was then, when I let out a short gasp.

The circular bar code ceased its rotation and drew a horizontal list of strange symbols atop Alice's contracted pupil. The string of characters that surfaced, glowing deep crimson, appeared to be [ T A MTY].

I was momentarily confused about what it signified, but immediately noticed.

It was mirrored text. Alice's eye, directly under the line of text, should be seeing it in a horizontal y flipped form. In other words, it said [ SYSTEM ALERT].

System alert. To me, it was an familiar, unpleasant warning that popped out every now and then when utilizing a PC, but it should be a nonsensical phrase to those in the Underworld, like Alice. In this world, only the "Common Tongue"-which would be j.a.panese, was used in daily life, while English, "Sacred Tongue", was treated by most of the inhabitants as something that impossible and pointless to understand.

If one studied the sacred arts, though one would be able to chant various English vocabulary, starting from the initial " system call", I doubt that person would be too aware of the exact meaning the words held. I had taught Eugeo some of the meanings behind the names of skills for the secret moves of the 174.

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Aincrad style, the sword skills, but he always found it strange how I possessed knowledge of the Sacred Tongue.

In short, this string of characters, SYSTEM ALERT, would hardly make any sense to the people of the Underworld. In other words, the one who inserted this psychological block into Alice, Eugeo, and the rest was no Administrator, but humans from the real world-namely, someone within Rath's staff; I suppose that would be how it was...

My rapidly whirling thoughts were interrupted by Alice's weak scream from point-blank range.

"Aaah... my right eye is, it's burning...! And... these are...

letters...!?"

"Don't think about anything! Empty your mind!!"

Crying out in a fl.u.s.ter, I held Alice's pet.i.te face between my hands.

"What's happening to you is probably similar to a psychological barrier activated when you tried to oppose the church. It should be trying to urge you into absolute obedience by causing pain to your right eye... your eyebal wil burst out if you continue thinking!"

It only took a moment to explain that, but in this case, persistently insisting might bring about a reverse effect instead.

No human could be disciplined enough to stop their thoughts when told to do so.

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Upon hearing my voice, Alice shut her two eyes tightly. But the red words projected onto her eyes probably wouldn't disappear from just that. The knight's hands fumbled in the air and gripped onto my shoulders the moment they found them.

My muscles grated from the force her monstrously strong hands put upon them each time a faint scream escaped her, but it was nothing compared to the pain Alice must be feeling.

Figuring it would help if I could calm down her thoughts, I shifted half of my thoughts to thinking up of any possible methods even as I firmly held Alice's face between my two palms.

Alice and several other integrity knights had already broken the Taboo Index once. After all, they were taken away by the Axiom Church and underwent the Synthesis Ritual because of that.

However, Alice, in particular, shouldn't have had her right eye burst off when she committed the taboo of "Trespa.s.sing into the Dark Territory" eight years ago. I hadn't heard anything of that sort from Eugeo. According to his explanation, the young Alice had apparently tottered over the boundary line without thinking. In other words, that would mean that a clear intent to commit a taboo wasn't in Alice's mind at that time.

The psychological barrier currently a.s.sailing Alice likely reacted to a proactive intent to violate a rule she was given. The moment one held such intent, the right eye would first hurt and 177.

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the red SYSTEM ALERT would then throw the target's mind into disarray, planting a deeper awe for the taboo once again.

Conducting a psychological barrier like this that could only be considered a work of G.o.d on the inhabitants of the Underworld who basical y didn't break laws would likely cement their obedience to no end.

But if this psychological had been handed down by Rath's staff, it would bring up a huge contradiction.

After al , the goal of the experiment being conducted in this Underworld was likely the creation of artificial fluct lights capable of judging between the right and wrong of a rule they were given. Even after the people of the Underworld had tried so hard for a breakthrough, forcefully driving them back with such a slipshod, violent psychological block could only be considered as a mix-up in their priorities.

In other words, those who had inserted this system alert were purposefully impeding the success of this experiment-could that be it?

In that case, who exactly is that person and for what goal?

Heathcliff... Kayaba Akihiko's duplicated consciousness came to mind for an instant, but I immediately rejected that notion.

He and his desire to create a true alternate world would not hinder the progress of artificial fluct lights. In the first place, such a heavy-handed method was not to that man's style. I 178.

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suppose this had to be some influence or personal sabotage against that organization, Rath.

I could envision the existence of various hostile forces if the one directing Rath was the Self-Defense Forces member, Kikuoka Seijirou. For example, a group with internal opposition towards Kikuoka with in the Self-Defense Forces, a large company monopolizing the domestic defense industry, or if I let my imagination run wild, even a foreign arms manufacturer or intelligence agency wouldn't be out of the question.

However, if those humongous influences had planned to hinder Rath, would they take such an intricate measure? If they possessed enough authority to insert an interference program into the artificial fluct lights, couldn't they merely deal with it with haste and destroy the Light Cube Cl.u.s.ter, the true body of the Underworld?

In other words, that would mean that someone was intentionally delaying the experiment without the desire to completely wipe it out. Could that person be waiting for something by slowing down the experiment? Something on a large scale that required much preparation-for example...

The theft of the experiment's results, including the Light Cube Cl.u.s.ter itself.

As I reached that conclusion, horrified, Alice's weak voice suddenly came from between my hands.

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