She…held back? And that tremendous power was the result…?
As Eugeo watched in horror, the golden flowers audibly bristled with metallic sounds in unison. The tips of the petals, which had previously been rounded and smooth, were now sharper than the end of a rapier. It wouldn’t just be a body blow anymore; those points would split the skin and sever bone.
Deep fear plunged Eugeo’s limbs into numbing, icy water. Even a single one of those golden flowers could take his life down to dangerous levels if it struck the right spot—and there were at least two or three hundred circling around in the swarm. It was impossible to deflect them all with a sword, and probably just as difficult to evade the practically sentient multitude. Alice’s Perfect Weapon Control was almost too perfect, and all-powerful…
Yes. It was too perfect.
Perfect Weapon Control of a Divine Object was very powerful, but even that had its limits. The core of the power was extracting the “memory” of the weapon’s material and turning it into an exaggerated physical property: heat, cold, toughness, speed. For it to specialize in one area, by necessity it had to sacrifice power in others.
Fanatio’s Perfect Control was so developed in terms of compressing light to that powerful beam that it was overturned by Kirito’s simple mirror response.
Whatever the nature of the little tree that was the core of Alice’s weapon, if the sum of its potential was split among so many tiny objects—focusing on accuracy—then the attack power of each individual petal must be small. It just didn’t add up that those little objects less than a cen across could have the weight of a giant’s fist.
In order for that to be possible, the slender little tree with orange flowers had to be an ultra-high-priority object, even more powerful than the Gigas Cedar that was the basis for Kirito’s sword…
Nearby, Kirito lifted his head, his face a pale mixture of astonishment and horror as he arrived at the same conclusion as Eugeo. But not knowing the meaning of the word resignation, he turned determined eyes toward Eugeo and mouthed, Chant.
Getting through the storm of petals by orthodox methods was impossible. The only way was to immobilize the actual wielder through the Blue Rose Sword’s own Perfect Control. Earlier, Alice was swinging around the naked hilt to match the movement of the flowers. That suggested that the mass of petals wasn’t moving solely of her own control.
From his prone position, Eugeo subtly laid a hand on the hilt of the Blue Rose Sword and began to recite the Perfect Control chant at a barely audible level. If Alice noticed him and attacked, he’d be totally defenseless, but Kirito would handle that.
As he expected, Kirito bolted to his feet just at that moment and called out in a loud, deliberate challenge, “I apologize for treating a proud Integrity Knight in a manner lacking in proper respect! Kirito, student of the sword, seeks a proper duel of blade against blade with the Integrity Knight Alice!”
He thumped his right fist against his chest and dipped his head, then grabbed the hilt of his sword from his left side. After drawing his pitch-black weapon with a vicious shing, he held it up in a stance, as if to split the golden aura that surrounded the knight.
Alice gazed at him, her blue eyes all-knowing, then blinked and said, “Very well. I shall ascertain the nature of your wickedness from the way you fight.”
She motioned with the hilt. With a sound like waves, the cloud of golden flowers gathered within reach like a little dust devil and assembled themselves into the shape of a perfect, unbroken blade. They made a ch-ching! sound and fused, returning to the form of that golden sword.
As she approached, regally holding her sword at chest level, Kirito moved his blade low and said, “It is inevitable that one of us will fall once we cross blades. Before that happens, answer me this: I see that your divine weapon takes its form from the tree that was on the hilltop previously. How does such a small tree hold such incredible power?”
It was obviously a stall for time, but Kirito really did want to know the truth behind the golden sword’s Perfect Control. Eugeo was curious, himself. He listened in as he continued reciting.
Alice took three steps forward before coming to a halt. She paused, then opened her mouth to speak.
“It would be pointless to tell you just before you die…but I suppose I shall do you this favor on your path to Heaven. The name of my weapon is the Osmanthus Blade. As the name suggests, it was once nothing but a simple osmanthus tree.”
Osmanthus was a type of small tree that bloomed tiny orange flowers in the fall. It hardly grew at all around Rulid, but Eugeo had seen a few in Centoria. It certainly wasn’t a one-of-a-kind specimen like the Gigas Cedar.
“As you said, it is merely a small tree—except for its age. The place where Central Cathedral stands now was once, in the distant past, the Place of Beginning, which the creation goddess Stacia gifted to humanity. In the center of the little village was a beautiful spring, with a single osmanthus tree growing on its bank…according to the first chapter of Genesis. That tree is the origin from which this sword was forged. Do you understand? This Osmanthus Blade is the oldest thing in existence.”
“Wh-what…?” Kirito gasped.
She continued, “This sword is a reincarnation of the tree that God herself placed. Its quality is ‘everlasting eternity.’ Even a single fallen petal will split stone and tear the earth where it lands…just as you experienced for yourselves. Do you now understand what it is you face?”
“…Yeah, I get it,” Kirito replied obligingly. “So it’s the first indestructible object that God placed, huh…They just keep upping the ante with these things they pull out. But I can’t waste my time being amazed by it.”
He brandished his black sword high, now seemingly rather insignificant in comparison to a tree-based weapon of a much higher notoriety. “Integrity Knight Alice…let us fight!”
The black swordsman leaped off the ground, audibly ripping his way through the air. He charged with such speed that it was hard to believe he was the one going uphill.
Kirito likely believed that if he could start his combination attack within close range, no matter what Alice’s weapon was, he could seize the advantage. Fanatio’s ability to respond in kind was a product of her unique personal mastery of the combination arts and surely was exceptional among the knights.
As Kirito and Eugeo expected, Alice pulled her sword back overhead in honest response to Kirito’s high slice. She couldn’t block him if he segued that high attack to a mid-level one next.
The downward burst of black lightning met with the Osmanthus Blade, sending up pale sparks.
But the second attack did not instantly emerge.
Alice’s sword barely budged, but Kirito bounced backward, as though he had tried to smash a boulder with a stick, and lost his balance.
“Whoa…”