The Night Sky Swordsman (Sword Art Online X OC)

Chapter 63 The Crimson Knight

No one's POV

As Cardinal had warned, the hallway from the doorway was surprisingly short. Before long they arrived at a spacious rectangular room. In the center of the right-hand wall was a surprisingly large staircase leading upward. The ceiling was about eight mels above, so there were a good twenty steps before the stairs stopped at a landing. On the left-hand wall was a set of large double doors surrounded by sculptures of winged beasts.

Zora flung out his hand and pressed against the wall, so Eugeo followed his lead and backed against a nearby pillar. They held their breath and listened intently for any presence in the dim chamber. If the former pontifex was correct, those doors on the left would lead to the armory. For being so important, however, the chamber was silent and appeared empty. Even the light of Solus coming down from the stairs on the right seemed chilly and gray.

Eugeo: Looks like there's no one here...

Zora: It's an armory, so you'd figure there would at least be a soldier or two on guard...but I guess nobody's going to sneak into the Axiom Church to steal weapons, anyway...

Eugeo: Still, they know we're here, right? They don't seem too concerned.

Zora: They probably aren't. They figure they don't need to bother searching around for us. So the next time we run across an Integrity Knight, it'll either be a whole bunch of them or a really tough individual. Let's make the most of our leeway, then...

Zora darted out from the shadow of the wall, and Eugeo followed him across the empty room. The doors of the armory, carved with reliefs of the goddesses Solus and Terraria, were so imposing and stately that even without a keyhole, it almost seemed to suggest that they would not open to anyone who wasn't pure of faith. Zora put an ear to one of the doors and yanked on the handles. They opened with almost disappointing ease—there wasn't even the squeak of a hinge.

The dark space beyond the fifty-cen opening exuded the chill of centuries of silence. Eugeo shivered, then had to hurry to squeeze through after Zora entered without a care. The doors swung heavily shut behind them, leaving them in perfect darkness.

Zora: System Call... Generate Luminous Element.

A source of pure white light appeared above his palm, driving away the thick darkness and Eugeo's wistful recollection along with it.

Zora: Whoa...

Eugeo: Amazing... these are all weapons?

The word armory had called to mind a space like the supply closet at the academy, but nothing could be further from the truth here. It was at least as big as the great training hall where Zora had sparred with Volo Levantein. The light element danced upward from Eugeo's palm, reflecting off all the polished stone walls—and more importantly, off shining metal of every variety and color.

The floor was packed with wooden stands for full sets of armor. Black armor, white armor, bronze, silver, gold—a blinding array of shades, as well as shapes, from light chain and boiled leather to seamless slabs of heavy plate. There had to be at least five hundred sets in the room.

And hanging all over the high walls was an assortment of what appeared to be every conceivable weapon. Even with swords alone, there were long and short ones, thick and slender, straight and curved. There were single-and double-bladed axes, spears, lances, war hammers, whips, bludgeons, and bows—every possible variation of weaponry in uncountable numbers, stretching from floor to ceiling. Eugeo's mouth dropped open and hung there.

Zora: If Sortiliena-senpai ever saw this place, she might just pass out.

Eugeo: Yeah...I think Golgorosso-senpai would have leaped onto that greatsword there and never let go.