The slope played havoc with his feet, forcing him to take several wobbly steps, while Alice pursued with the grace of rushing water.
Her left hand extended fully, all the way to her fingertips. The golden sword drew back straight behind her, leaving her front wide open. It was an old-fashioned style, not nearly as practical as the Aincrad style, but between the flowing blond hair and waving skirt, there was a kind of painterly beauty to the sight.
“Eiii!” she cried, swinging the sword forward in a semicircle. The speed was tremendous—but the movement was too grand.
Kirito had recovered his balance and had plenty of time to hold up his sword.
Grakk! The two swords clashed. Once again, it was Kirito who spun away from the impact like a top. He put a hand to the grass to avoid falling off his feet as he slid down, nearly to the foot of the hill.
At last, Eugeo understood the nature of what he was seeing. The weight of each blow was off the charts.
With his high-priority divine weapon and special Aincrad combination attacks, Kirito had bested a number of Integrity Knights to this point, but the Osmanthus Blade was likely several times heavier than Kirito’s black one. At that speed, it was hard enough just to survive the attack, much less deflect the impact.
And that wasn’t all. As the first impact had proven, even when Kirito was the one attacking, he wound up getting knocked off balance. The outcome was obvious.
Realizing this for himself, Kirito scrambled to his feet and took several hasty steps in retreat. Alice glided after him.
It was as one-sided a fight for Kirito as had ever happened in the last two years.
With her flowing, methodical beauty, Alice attacked again and again. The young man did his best to block and was knocked around miserably each time. He might have fought back had he been able to dodge, but for the great size of her swings, Alice’s aim was extremely fast and accurate, such that Kirito could never evade her cleanly.
Eugeo finished his command, following the two with bated breath. He would have to unleash his Perfect Weapon Control while his friend was still able to block the attacks.
After just five blows, Kirito was already pressed up against the western garden wall. There was nothing but hard marble behind him and nowhere else to run.
Alice pointed the tip of her sword at her trapped foe, expression as cool as ever, and said, “I see. You are only the second to evade my strikes for so long. No doubt, you have great determination and belief that propelled you up the tower. But you are far short of destabilizing the Church. And I cannot allow you to endanger the peace of the realm.”
There was no weakness to exploit in the golden knight’s regal stance. Even from behind, Eugeo felt that she could react and stop his sacred arts.
Say something, Kirito. I just need a moment, a chance, Eugeo thought as he ran, but his partner just glared at her fiercely with his back to the wall and held his silence.
“Then prepare yourself,” she said, lifting the Osmanthus Blade up to point straight at the heavens.
There was a moment’s silence.
Then, with a terrible air-ripping noise, golden light appeared.
Forcing his eyes as far open as possible, Kirito moved his hand at blurring speed.
A metallic clash. Sparks.
He didn’t absorb the blow, but he diverted it. Sword met sword at the slightest possible angle, just enough to shift the trajectory of Alice’s unfathomably heavy swing.
The Osmanthus Blade ran through a spot just a single cen to the left of Kirito’s head: smooth marble wall. A few strands of black hair flew into the air and vanished.
Then he leaped at her. He held down her right hand with his left and locked his other arm around hers. At long last, that succeeded in getting a facial reaction from the previously unshakable Alice.
Now.
“Enhance Armament!!” Eugeo screamed, thrusting the Blue Rose Sword into the grass at his feet.
In an instant, the ground was white with ice. The wave of frost raced forward and swallowed Kirito and Alice where they stood, about ten mels away.
A rush of icy vines grew up their legs. They formed blue crystal chains that wound around the two bodies. Kirito’s black clothes and Alice’s white armor were soon covered in thick ice.
Kirito, Alice, I’m sorry!
He continued pumping out more and more ice vines. After seeing what Alice could do, no amount felt like enough to hold her down.
The crackling vines gripped tighter and tighter until they eventually changed into a single thick pillar of ice. The giant crystal, multifaceted like a raw gemstone, glistened quietly with the two combatants trapped inside. The only thing extending from the block was Alice’s hand and the Osmanthus Blade in it, stuck into the wall. Frozen in time within the blue ice was a look of slight surprise on Alice’s face and sheer determination on Kirito’s.
One prick of the dagger on her extended arm, and it was all over.
Eugeo let go of the Blue Rose Sword and stood up. The Perfect Weapon Control would be undone now, but that huge block of ice wouldn’t melt naturally for many minutes. He squeezed his little dagger and took a step forward, then another…
When his third step landed, golden light exploded.
“Ah…!”
To his shock, Alice’s trapped sword was disintegrating into countless petals again.
With a stately, harmonic thrum, the storm of golden flowers circled the pillar. The tiny cross-shaped blades swarmed and chiseled the ice as Eugeo watched helplessly. If he jumped into that fray now, he would lose his life before getting a single step closer.
The flowers shredded the ice until there was just a thin layer left, then fluttered up higher into the air. With a delicate crack, what was left of the ice pillar crumbled to the ground.
Alice thrust Kirito toward Eugeo with the hand that was grappling with him, brushed loose a bit of ice still stuck in her hair, and, as if nothing had just happened, said, “Did you not seek to reach a conclusion through a sword competition? It was an amusing diversion…but mere ice cannot hope to contain my flowers. I will fight you next, so stay there and wait your turn.”
She extended her right hand, and the cloud of petals instantly coalesced back into their original—
“Enhance Armament!!” screamed Kirito.
However it was that he had found the time to recite the chant, Kirito’s black sword sprayed out darkness.
It plunged not for Alice herself—but for the Osmanthus Blade, just before it was whole again.
“Wha…?!”
For the first time, Alice was startled.
The surge of darkness scattered her golden petals and ruptured her control over them.
With an ear-shattering roar, dueling storms of black and gold rumbled and soared. They tangled, swirled, and slammed against the marble wall behind her.
“Eugeoooo!!” Kirito screamed.
That was right: This was the final chance.
Eugeo pulled the dagger from its hiding spot and charged.
Just eight mels to reach Alice.
Seven.
Six.
And then something happened that no one could have predicted.
✦ ✦ ✦
