The Night Sky Swordsman (Sword Art Online X OC)

Chapter 71 A Human's Love

No one's POV

The little wise woman glared Cardinal up at her two-hundred-year foe, her voice righteous and bold. But the pontifex, still watching the situation unfold from her floating position across the room, did not respond. She merely steepled her fingers in front of her mouth, mirror eyes shining enigmatically.

According to what Cardinal had said in the library, when Administrator fused with the original form of the Cardinal System, the self-correcting process—which was the basis for her second personality, the one that was in Cardinal's form now—was powerful enough that she had to manipulate her own fluctlight to remove her emotions in order to counteract Cardinal's rebellion.

Once the two split into separate bodies, she no longer had to worry about the subprocess taking over her body, but her emotions were still meaningless noise to her and unnecessary to bring back.

So the image of Administrator that Zora had carried in his head was that of a programmed human, someone who mechanically carried out her tasks. But the pontifex Zora saw at the top of Central Cathedral was far from what he'd expected. She sneered at Chudelkin and toyed cruelly with our lives; something told him the grin that she constantly wore was no false simulation.

Even now, the silver-haired, silver-eyed young woman burbled and giggled behind her hands, her eyes narrowing with pleasure.

Quinella: Heh-heh-heh.

She laughed, slender shoulders rocking, letting Cardinal know that her righteous missive was no more damaging to her than a slight breeze. Eventually, between her chuckles came a short message that made real the very thing Zora had been afraid of.

Quinella: I thought you'd come. If I tormented those children long enough, I knew you'd emerge from your musty hole sooner or later. That's the limit of what you can do, little one. You can arrange for pawns who will come after me, but you can't bring yourself to abuse them like the pawns they are. You humans are such helpless creatures.

Zora(mind): I knew it...

As Zora feared, Administrator's true intention was to put enough pressure on them to lure Cardinal out from her isolated library. Or in other words, she did this knowing that she still had a secret trick that would absolutely ensure her triumph.

But the Sword Golem, which ought to have been her ultimate weapon, was virtually destroyed, and now Eugeo and Zora were perhaps battle capable again. Even Alice was awake, pushing herself up with one hand in an attempt to get up.

Cardinal and Administrator were two sides of the same coin, and in a one- on-one fight would surely draw, so in these circumstances, Zora, Eugeo and Alice's presence gave their side an overwhelming advantage, he assumed.

That meant that the instant the door to the library had opened, Administrator's rational choice would have been to stop observing and simply attack at full power without delay. So why had she let Cardinal destroy the Sword Golem and heal Alice and Zora and even allowed them to have a brief conversation? Cardinal had to be wondering the same thing—but her expression betrayed nothing but firm determination.

Cardinal: Since I last saw you, you've grown adept at imitating a human. Been practicing smiling into a mirror for two hundred years, have you?

Administrator shrugged off the comment with that very smile.

Quinella: Oh my. And what about you, pipsqueak? Why are you speaking to me in that bizarre manner? 200 hundred years ago, when you were brought before me, you were trembling and alone! Right, Lyserith?

Cardinal then looked at Quinella annoyed.

Cardinal: Don't call me by that name, Quinella! My name is Cardinal. I am the program that only exists into delete you.