No one's POV
After being thrown out of the Cathedrals due to their Perfect Weapons Control, Zora and Alice are hanging on the side of the cathedral with Zora's sword stabbed into the wall.
* Creak. Creak.*
With the repetition of each tiny sound, Zora felt his heart shrink.
The sound came from the tip of his still-unnamed black sword, which was just barely sticking into the gap between Central Cathedral's roughly one- inch-thick white marble blocks.
Zora's right hand was damp with sweat where it clung to the sword's hilt, and his elbow and shoulder joints were screaming with pain, ready to disconnect at any moment. Which made sense—his assuredly not-beefy arm was supporting the weight of two people, one ultra-high-priority longsword, and a full set of armor.
There wasn't a single handhold in the mirrorlike smoothness of the wall, so there was no way for Zora to wedge his sword farther into the surface. There was nothing below him but an endless expanse. And in addition to the pain in his right hand, his left was also reaching its limit as it clung to the lady knight in her heavy suit of golden armor.
Physical fatigue in the Underworld was slightly different from in the real world. In terms of long-distance walking, sprinting, fierce training, and lifting heavy objects, it was the same sensation. The difference was that fatigue acted like injury in the way that it reduced one's "life," the numerical value of vitality in the Underworld, or their hit points.
In the real world, hardly anyone ever literally died of fatigue. Before the body could reach a state of serious, permanent injury, fatigue would rendered a person unable to move. But here, it was possible at times for strength of will to override physical possibility. In other words, it was theoretically possible that they could run, resisting pain and exhaustion, until the moment their life reached zero and they instantly died.
At the moment, Zora was supporting an unbelievable amount of weight with his body. His life value was slowly but surely decreasing as long as this state continued. Zora could keep both hands clenched out of sheer determination, but eventually his life would reach zero, and he would die. In that instant, Zora's hand would probably let go of the sword, and the knight with him would plunge to the ground hundreds of feet below and die as well.
Zora wasn't the only one suffering damage. His beloved sword was supporting more weight than it could handle, with only its very tip for leverage. And he'd already used the immensely taxing Perfect Weapon Control twice in the day's battles. He couldn't open its Stacia Window to check numbers, but he wouldn't be surprised if its life reached zero within a few minutes. When that happened, the sword would shatter and no longer recover its strength by merely returning to its sheath.
Zora(mind): It would be a terrible shame to break my sword before I could even give it a name, not that it would matter for long once I plunged to my death.
Still, he needed to do something and fast, but just holding on took all his strength, plus...
Alice: Enough! Let go of my hand! I don't intend to live with the shame of being saved by a sinner like you!
Alice Synthesis 30, the golden Integrity Knight with the Osmanthus Blade shrieked. She struggled and rocked, trying to break herself loose from Zora's grip. Her gauntlet slipped a little bit in his sweaty palm.
Zora: Hey!...Stop...!
Zora tried to control the shaking while uttering nonsense. But the vibration of her thrashing worked the blade's tip a tiny millimeter out of the wall. When all was still again, Zora glanced down and yelled at her.
Zora: Stop moving, idiot! You're an Integrity Knight; you should know that getting suicidal here isn't going to solve anything! Idiot!
Alice: Wha...?
Alice's pale face turned red in annoyance.
Alice: Y-You insulted me yet again! Take that back, criminal!
Zora: Shut up! I'm calling you an idiot because you are an idiot, you idiot! Idiot!
Zora yelled, uncertain whether he was doing this to engage her in negotiating for help, or wether this girl Alice looks so much like his Big Sister, or whether he was just working out his frustration.
Zora: Do you understand the situation? If you fall off and die here, Eugeo's going to keep climbing up to Administrator's chamber all by himself! It's supposed to be your job to stop that from happening! Shouldn't your top priority as an Integrity Knight be to sacrifice anything you can to stop him?! If you're too stupid to see the logic there, then you're an idiot!!
Alice: T-That's eight times you spoke to me that way.
Alice said, glaring up at Zora with her cheeks reddening; Zora doubted she'd ever been called an idiot since she became an Integrity Knight. She raised her Osmanthus Blade, eliciting chills as Zora pictured an attack that would send them both to their doom. But it seemed that her sense of reason won out, because the sword soon dangled at her side again.
Alice: But I see...What you're saying does make sense. And yet, if that's true, then why won't you let go of my hand? Can you prove that I won't find the reason to be less tolerable then death?
It certainly wasn't pity. Saving Alice from this fate was half the reason Eugeo and Zora were here at Central Cathedral in the first place. But there wasn't enough time to explain all that. And besides, it wasn't Alice Synthesis Thirty that Eugeo wanted to rescue from the tower, but his childhood friend Alice Zuberg, who had been abducted from Rulid Village eight years ago.
Zora tried to come up with an argument that would convince Alice as he fought against the screaming pain. But no such rationale manifested. Zora could offer up only a partial truth.
Zora: I...Eugeo and I didn't come charging up the cathedral for the purpose of destroying the Axiom Church.
Zora stared down at Alice's fierce blue eyes, searching for the right words.
Zora: We want to protect the realm from a Dark Territory invasion, just like you. We fought a goblin band in the mountains two years ago...not that I expect you to believe me. So I don't want you to die, if you're one of the most powerful Integrity Knights. You're a valuable source of power.
Alice drew her brows together, taken aback by this comment, but regained her poise to snap.
Alice: Then why did you wield your sword against another and cause bloodshed, violating the gravest taboo of all?
The question came from a place of pure righteousness—implanted by Administrator for her own ends or not. Alice's eyes burned.
Alice: Why did you harm Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-One and all those subsequent knights?!
Sadly, Zora didn't have a convincing reply. His desire to save the human realm was both honest intent and an act of hypocrisy. If Zora reached the top of the cathedral and defeated Administrator, Cardinal would regain all system privileges. In order to prevent the coming catastrophe, she would attempt to reinitialize the entire Underworld. And as of that moment, Zora couldn't think of a way to avoid this outcome: salvation through utter oblivion.
But if Alice and him plunged to their deaths, that would only make the coming tragedy worse. If the "final test"—an invasion from the Dark Territory —happened without Cardinal having control, the Integrity Knights and Administrator would fall in battle, and every last human being would be agonizingly slaughtered.
The worst part of all was knowing that if he died here, Zora would simply wake up in a Soul Translator somewhere in the real world. The Underworldians would perish in a hell of suffering, and Zora would be perfectly fine back in reality. An unthinkable conclusion.
Zora: I'm...
With the little time Zora had left, what could he possibly say that would convince the protector of the church and its dedication to order? But no matter how futile, there was nothing else Zora could do in this situation.
Zora: Eugeo and I attacked Raios Antinous and Humbert Zizek at the academy because the Axiom Church and Taboo Index are wrong. Deep down, you know that's true, don't you? Just because the Taboo Index doesn't outlaw it, should higher nobles be allowed to torment and defile completely innocent girls like Ronie and Tiese...? Do you think such act is righteous?! Do you think that's fair...?! Is that what you believe?!
Zora body shook as his mind flashed back to the scene he witnessed two days ago in the student dorm—the girls mercilessly trussed up with tears in their eyes. The tip of the sword creaked in the wall again, but Zora barely noticed it.
Zora: Well?! Answer me, Integrity Knight!! Is it right?!
Zora's raging emotions manifested in a hot droplet that spilled from his eye to Alice's forehead below. The golden knight sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes gaping. When her trembling lips opened again, it seemed as though the harshness of her attitude had given way to something else.
Alice: The law is the law...A crime is a crime...if the people are allowed to judge arbitrarily, then how are we to maintain order?
Zora: And who decides if Administrator was right to create the law that way? The god of the celestial realm? Why aren't I being fried by a bolt of lightning from above, then?!
Alice: The will of the Gods...of Stacia, is reveled in due course through the actions of us, her servants.
Zora: And Eugeo and I came up all this way hoping to clear that up! We want to defeat Administrator and prove that it's a mistake! And for the exact same reason...
Zora glanced up briefly at the sword wedged into the wall and saw that it was nearly out. One move from Alice, one tiny little gust of wind, and the tip would either break or fall out, sending them plunging below.
Zora: I refuse to let you die right now!!
Zora sucked in the biggest breath he could, tensed his stomach, and summoned all his remaining willpower.
Zora: Yaaaah!!
Zora bellowed, yanking his left arm up to lift Alice. Both arms and shoulders screamed with pain, but Zora managed to bring her up to his level and use the last bits of his strength to shout.
Zora: Stick your sword in that seam! I can't hold out...please!
Up close, her features were twisted with emotion. A moment later, she lifted her arm and loudly, deeply thrust her Osmanthus Blade into the seam between marble blocks. At nearly the same second, Zora's black sword slipped out of the stone, and his other hand lost the grip holding Alice.
In a single, vivid instant of panic from head to toe, Zora envisioned his long, long fall to the ground, and the oblivion that awaited.
But all Zora actually felt was a split second of floating, then a fierce tugging shock. Alice's hand had shot out and grabbed the back of his shirt collar. Once Zora was sure she was supporting all his weight with her sword and arms, Zora let out a deep breath. His pounding heart gradually eased to a state less than sheer panic.
Alice:...
Zora looked up at her. In the span of a single second, they had switched positions both physically and mentally. The golden Integrity Knight clenched her jaw, as if grappling with every possible kind of conflicting emotion. Zora felt her fingers loosen and tighten over and over, shifting pressure on the back of his collar.
Eugeo was the only Underworldian he knew who could be uncertain under such extreme circumstances. The other artificial fluctlights, for better or for worse, were blindly faithful to a certain set of behaviors, and did not need to grapple with huge, difficult choices. Put another way, all the truly important decisions were always handed down to them by something or someone else.
In other words, Alice the Integrity Knight's mind had a more "human" quality than many of her fellow Underworldians—even after her soul had been altered by Administrator.
Zora had no way of knowing what sort of inner debate she housed. But after several seconds that felt like an unfathomable eternity, she easily lifted Zora's body up to its former level.
Unlike her, Zora had no reason to hesitate. He instantly thrust his sword into the seam once more, exhaling. Once Zora was stable again, Alice withdrew her hand from his collar and turned her face away. Despite the sternness of her words, her voice itself was weak and small.
Alice: It's not as if I saved you. I simply returned the favor. Besides, our duel has yet to be decided.
Zora: Ah, I see...In that case, we're even now. Here's a suggestion. We can't hang here all day, our arms will get tired. Both of us need to find a way to get back into the tower. So why don't we call a truce until then?
Alice: A truce?
Alice asked, turning to throw Zora a truly mistrustful glance.
Zora: Yes. I doubt we can manage to destroy the cathedral's wall again, and it won't be easy to climb it. If we work together, it will raise our chances of survival. Of course, if you've got any easy ways back inside, I'm all ears.
Alice:...
She bit her lip in frustration.
Alice: If such a method existed, I would have done it already.
Zora: Yeah. Obviously. So may I assume we're in agreement on a truce and cooperation?
Alice: Before I say yes...what exactly do you mean by cooperation?
Zora: If one of us seems likely to fall, the other helps. If we had a rope, it would make it easier for us to maintain our position, but I suppose that's asking too much.
The knight did not answer or look at me for a long time, then bobbed her head almost imperceptibly.
Alice: That's a logical proposal. I have to admit that it can't be helped. However, the instant we set foot inside the tower again, I shall slay you. Do not forget that, even for a moment.
Zora: I'll keep that in mind.
She nodded with satisfaction, then cleared her throat, signaling a topic change.
Alice: So...you mentioned needing a rope? Do you have any extra fabric?
Zora: Fabric...?
Zora looked down at his outfit, realizing he didn't have so much as a handkerchief in his pockets. If this were good old Alfheim, he could produce a veritable ton of extra clothes, capes, and so on from his virtual item storage, but the Underworld was not blessed with such convenience.
Zora: Well, all I've got is this shirt and these pants. If need be, I'll take them off, though.
Zora offered with a one-shouldered shrug. Alice made the bitterest face he'd ever seen and yelled.
Alice: That will not be necessary! You must be joking. I cannot believe you would head into battle with nothing but a sword.
Zora: Hey, you dragged me and Eugeo here from the academy with nothing but the clothes on our backs, right?
Alice: But you snuck into the tower's armory, didn't you? There were plenty of very fine ropes in there that...oh, forget it. This is a waste of time.
Alice snorted, turning away. She lifted her right hand in its golden gauntlet, then grimaced when she realized she couldn't take her other hand off the sword hilt. She thrust her arm toward Zora and commanded.
Alice: Undo the fastener on my gauntlet with your free hand.
Zora: Huh?
Alice: And do not touch my skin under any circumstances. Quickly now!
Zora(mind): -_- She's just as bossy as Big Sis...
From what Eugeo told him, back in Rulid, Alice had been a bright, friendly, and kind girl to all. So where was this totally opposite personality coming from? At last, the feeling was back in his left hand. Zora lifted it up to the fastener on her gauntlet. He held the metal device so she could pull her hand free. Her pale, slender fingers made a gesture, and she shouted.
Alice: System Call: Form Object, Change Shape.
This was followed by some complex, unfamiliar commands. The gauntlet in my hand flashed and began to change shape. Within a few seconds, Zora had a beautiful, coiled golden chain in his hand.
Zora: Whoa...a matter-transformation spell...?
Alice: Weren't you listening? Are those ears on the sides of your head, or carnivorous holes for devouring insects? That was just a shape-changing art. Only the pontifex herself can perform the art of altering the very material.
Zora: Geez, sorry...
Zora apologized to Alice, who clearly didn't view their truce as a chance to soften her tone, then tested the strength of the chain. Zora stuck the end into his mouth and tugged; it felt like his teeth were going to pop out. The metal was thinner than his pinkie finger, but it was clearly tough enough, and the chain was bookended with sturdy-looking fasteners.
Zora stuck one of the fasteners onto his belt and held out the other end, which Alice took and attached to the metal clasp of her sword belt. The length of hanging chain between the, ran about fifteen feet long. As long as they didn't both fall at the same time, this gave them some measure of security.
Zora: All right...
Zora glanced around to survey their situation. Based on the placement of the sun, they were hanging from the western wall of Central Cathedral. The sky overhead was turning from blue to purple, while the sunlight hitting the white stone painted it a soft orange hue. He estimated it was about half past three.
After a very careful glance past Zora's feet and the thin wisps of cloud beyond them, he could make out the stone walls that surrounded the cathedral garden like a miniature play set, then the rest of Centoria, split into four by the Everlasting Walls. The sight was a reminder of the impossible height of the tower.
Counting the thickness of the stone partitions, Zora estimated each floor of the tower to be about twenty feet high, so the height of the eightieth floor, where he fought Alice, would be over fifteen hundred feet off the ground—perhaps more like sixteen or seventeen, given the high ceiling on the fiftieth floor. If Zora fell from here, there was no chance of survival. His body would be so pulverized by the impact that he'd be reduced to dust. The air around them was gentle for now, but there was no guarantee it wouldn't blow harder.
Zora shivered and clenched the hilt of hia sword tighter, then wiped the sweat from his free palm on his pants.
Zora: So, uh...just so I'm clear on this...
Alice's face shot up to look at him; she'd been gazing down as well. Zora thought she looked a bit paler than before, but her tone of voice was just as blunt as ever.
Alice: What?
Zora: I was just wondering...if you know the high-level sacred arts to change the shape of items, maybe you'd also be privy to an art to...fly? Okay, sorry, forget I asked.
Zota stammered at the sight of her arched eyebrow.
Alice: Did you learn anything in school? The only person in the entire world who can fly in midair is the pontifex herself. Even the youngest apprentice monk knows that!
Zora: Hey, I said I was just checking! You don't have to get so mad at me.
Alice: I did not appreciate your insinuation!
It was becoming more clear by the moment that Alice the Integrity Knight and Zora were simply not designed to get along on a personal level. Still, he stifled his urge to snap back.
Zora: Fine...so in that case...is it possible to call that enormous dragon you flew me here on?
Alice: It's just one stupid question after another. Dragons can approach no closer than the landing platform on the thirtieth floor. Not even Uncle... no, the commander himself can get any higher on a dragon.
Zora: H-how would I know those rules?!
Alice: You ought to have realized the implication, since the landing was placed only on the thirtieth floor!
Alice said, glaring at Zora yet again for a good three seconds before they both turned away in a huff.
Zora(mind): 💢 The hell up with is this girl! This just like how me and Rumia would sometimes fight over small stuff!
Zora spent the next three seconds calming his rage over her totally unfair accusations before he was ready to resume.
Zora: So...there's no way for us to escape this predicament through the air...
It took Alice another couple of seconds to regain her cool. Her blue eyes caught mine.
Alice: Not even birds can approach the upper reaches of the cathedral. The pontifex cast some kind of special art unknown to me that prevents them from coming closer.
Zora: I see...Very thorough.
Off in the far distance, Zora saw a birdlike shape, but it didn't seem to be getting any closer. He supposed it was some combination of Administrator's magical power and a pathological sense of caution. In a sense, the abnormal height of this structure was both a symbol of power and an indication of fear toward some unseen foe.
Zora: So that leaves three options...climb down, climb up, or break through the wall again.
Alice: The third option will be difficult. Because the outer Cathedral wall is endowed with nearly infinite life and regeneration abilities. The same can be said of the glass windows on the lower levels.
Zora: So we can't even climb down to where the windows are.
Alice nodded her head in agreement.
Alice: In fact, that hole punctured in the wall is even difficult for me to believe...I suppose I must accept it as some freakishly unlucky outcome from melding our Perfect Weapon Control arts, so it produced a huge burst of power. You have really been a thorn in my side.
Zora: -_-
Zora merely breathed through his nostrils, certain that arguing his case would only lead them into another downward spiral.
Zora: In that case...couldn't we repeat the phenomenon if we attempted the same thing again?
Alice: I can't rule out the possibility...but it would be difficult to make our way through the wall in the few seconds before it repairs itself again, and more importantly...I've already used the Perfect Weapon Control of my Osmanthus Blade twice. It needs either a good helping of sunlight or a long rest in my sheath before I can use it again.
Zora: True, the same goes for mine. It needs a few hours of sheath time...and I'm sure that just hanging from it like this is doing plenty of damage on its own. Whether we go up or down, we should probably start moving soon.
Zora brushed the marble stone with his free hand. It was devastatingly smooth. The blocks were nearly six feet to a side, stacked upon one another infinitely, with not even a window to break the totality of the west face. And even those were indestructible, according to Alice.
Their only means of traversing the tower side was to utilize something like rock-climbing hooks that they could jam into the seams of the marble stone to use as handholds. The amount of energy required to go up or down seemed about the same, so he figured they might as well go up, but that led to another major problem.
Zora gave Alice his most serious face, preparing for another nonanswer.
Zora: If we go up from here...will there be a spot we could use to get back inside the tower?
As expected, Alice looked hesitant at first. She bit her lip. If there was a place farther up to reenter the building, it would have to be very close to the top floor, where Administrator lived. It would be tantamount to taboo for an Integrity Knight tasked with protecting the Church to escort an enemy to such a vital place. But Alice drew a deep breath and said firmly.
Alice: Yes, there is. There's a place called the Morning Star Lookout, which has pillars on all four sides is open to the air. If we can make it there, we should be able to re enter easily. That said, even if we do reach the 95th floor, I shall have to slay you there.
There was enough force in her gaze to make the back of his neck tingle. Zora nodded.
Zora: That was the deal, I believe. So shall we climb the wall, then?
Alice: It's fine. Still, you make it sound so easy, but how are you going to climb up this wall?
Zora: Why, we'll just run vertically right up it...I'm kidding.
Zora added hastily, seeing the temperature in her eyes rapidly dropping to subzero numbers. He cleared his throat, switched hands on the sword, and motioned with his free hand.
Zora: System Call! Generate Metallic Element! Wedge Shape!
A shining metal-gray light appeared, which took further shape as his command continued. It grew out to a good foot and a half with a pointed end —a brand-new climbing hook. Zora gripped it tight, looked up at the seam in the stone where his sword was stuck, and pulled his arm back.
Zora: Hmph!
With all the strength Zora could muster, he drove the hook into the wall. To his relief, it didn't break. The blade stuck right in the narrow crack. Zora gave it a few firm yanks up and down as a test, and it appeared wedged tightly enough to support his weight.
Objects generated by sacred arts had very little life and would disappear in a matter of hours if just left around. So it wasn't suitable to be a lifeline between Alice and him, but it would at least be sturdy enough to act as a decent foothold when climbing the wall.
Zora could feel the doubt in Alice's gaze as he held the hook tight with his right hand and pried loose his poor abused sword with his left. Once it was safely back in its sheath, Zora hung from the fifteen-inch support with both hands and kicked up like mounting a bar.
Zora's physical abilities in the Underworld weren't exactly like in the later days of SAO, where he had his inhuman agility, but Zora was still much nimbler and stronger than in the real world. Zora put his right foot on the bar and rose up to a standing position, with his left hand pressed firmly against the wall.
Alice: A-are you all right?
Zora saw Alice looking up at him with a pale face and her free hand clutching the golden chain. She looked surprisingly young and innocent. For a moment, Zora was tempted to pretend to fall, just to see what she'd do, hoping that it would give her a good shriek like Rumia would, but then thought better of it.
Zora: I think...I am.
Zora gave her a little wave with his right hand, then chanted another sacred art to summon a fresh climbing hook. He drove it into the next seam overhead and climbed up as before. It was only six feet of progress, but Zora felt a small measure of accomplishment at the success.
Zora: I think this will work! Just follow me and climb up on the first bar below.
The Integrity Knight stared at him without budging. Eventually her lips moved, and Zora just barely heard the sound.
Alice:...sible.
Zora: Huh? What'd you say?
Alice: I said... that's impossible!
Zora: Uh...sure you can. With your strength, it should be easy to pull yourself up to—
Alice: That's not what I mean!
She insisted, cutting off Zora's awkward attempt at a pep talk.
Alice: This is the first time I've found myself in a situation like this... and I-I may be embarrassing myself, but...it's all I can do to hang like this... I can't possibly climb such a narrow foothold....
Her voice trailed off into nothing again.
Zora(mind): The hell, she has a cute side as well.
Zora was shocked. As a general rule, Underworldians were uncomfortable with situations outside their personal experience or expectations. So they had a poor ability to react to impossible circumstances, to the extent that when Zora cut off Raios's arms, his fluctlight actually collapsed before his life ran out.
Even an Integrity Knight had to be struggling with the experience of breaking a hole through a supposedly indestructible wall, getting sucked into the void outside, and dangling from a height that even dragons couldn't reach. Perhaps though, deep down, the superlative sword-wielding Alice Synthesis Thirty was just another girl.
In any case, given her abundance of pride, Zora had to assume that the Integrity Knight's admission of weakness meant she was at her wits' end.
Zora: Okay! Then I'll pull you up to the bar with the chain!
Alice bit her lip, apparently weighing fear against pride, and ultimately decided that she'd cast her lot already and wasn't going to change her mind. She tugged on the chain.
Alice: I would appreciate that.
Zora: All right, I'll lift you slowly. Here goes.
Zora carefully pulled it up. The hook under his feet creaked, but it seemed to be able to withstand two people for a bit of time. He lifted the golden knight a few feet, careful not to rock the foothold too much, then held the chain in midair.
Zora: There. You can pull out your sword now.
Alice nodded, slowly removing the point of the Osmanthus Blade from the white stone. A large amount of fresh weight yanked on the chain, and Zora gritted his teeth as he held it still. Once her sword was back in its sheath, he resumed lifting. When Alice's boots were resting on the first hook below, Zora instructed her.
Zora: Now place both your hands against the wall to steady yourself...good. I'm releasing the chain now.
Zora couldn't see her face due to the angle, but she did subtly tip her head as she clung to the wall. Imagining her desperate expression below that windswept blond hair, Zora lowered his right arm. She momentarily wobbled, then regained her balance.
Zora: Phew...
Zora let out a long breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.
Zora(mind): How many more feet until this so-called Morning Star Lookout on the ninety-fifth floor?
As long as Zora could successfully repeat this process, they would make it eventually. The problem boiled down to the time it took to make it up one block. Night would fall eventually, and if they needed to sleep while hanging off the wall.
Zora: Okay, I'm going to go one step higher again.
Alice turned her panicked face toward him and replied, barely audible through the breeze.
Alice: Please be careful.
Zora: Sure thing.
Zora gave her a bracing thumbs-up—a gesture he was certain no one in the Underworld understood—then chanted the system command for a third climbing hook.
(Timeskip)
Despite Centoria getting ready for its summer solstice festival in the lands below them, when the sun began sinking, its progress was mercilessly swift. Against the white stone, the orange light of the setting sun quickly progressed from a burning red to violet to deep navy blue, until only fragments of the End Mountains were visible in the last red light of the day, far, far to the west.
Overhead, the stars were twinkling, but they did not bless their progress. An hour earlier, they had come across an unexpected limitation of the system that was proving rather difficult.
The process of their climb was simple: Zora created a hook with sacred arts, stuck it in the gap between the marble blocks, and climbed on top of it. Then he would lift Alice with the chain so that she stood on the hook below him. Once they did this about ten times, they'd manage a single repetition down to under three minutes.
The problem was with generating the hooks themselves. There was no statistic in this world that corresponded to what they'd call mana points in ALO. The magic they called sacred arts could be repeated as often as they wanted, as long as the spell was within their system access level.
That did not mean they were usable anywhere and everywhere, however. This world's rules dictated that all production required magical resources, a fact that applied to sacred arts as much as anything else. In order to execute an art, a person needed to expend spatial resources, either in the vicinity of the user or through consuming the life of valuable catalysts or living things— even humans.
Spatial resources were tricky because they couldn't be measured in numbers. For the most part, this value came from sunlight or the earth. Wherever the ground was fertile and open to the sun, resources would be rich, enough to support continued casting of high-level arts. On the other end, a windowless room in a stone building would run out of resources very quickly and take a long time to recharge.
By those rules, Zora and Alice's current situation—stuck at a height of fifteen hundred feet off the ground with the sun sinking over the horizon—was about as bad as it could possibly get. Before long, Zora's hook-generating sacred arts had dried up all of the twilight's resources, leaving them unable to continue upward.
Zora: System Call! Generate Metallic Element!
Over his palm, outstretched to catch some last bit of light in vain, a few little motes of silver light floated, then snuffed out with tiny wisps of smoke. Zora sighed, and below him, he heard Alice murmur.
Alice: Generating containers does significantly deplete spatial resources. Once Solus sets, we might be lucky to create one every hour. How high have we climbed so far?
Zora: Err...I think we're past the eighty-fifth floor now.
Alice: The 95th floor is still quite a long way off.
Zora gazed longingly at the traces of purple in the sky.
Zora: Yeah...and in any case, once it's dark, it'll be too dangerous to keep climbing. And if we try to camp out here, getting any rest will be difficult...
At worst, someone would need to dangle from the chain, but not only could they not create more hooks, they would also disappear after a few dozen minutes, so they'd have no choice but to use their swords as supports again. And Zora wasn't sure those swords could withstand the pressure all night. He looked up the wall face, stubbornly hoping that there'd be some kind of outcropping they could connect the chain to, using its fastener. And then...
Zora: Oh...
There was a series of evenly spaced shadows with complex shapes against the wall not much more than twenty feet above them. When the sun went down, the mist around the tower dissipated, revealing these hidden decorations.
Zora: Hey...does that look like something to you?
Zora asked, pointing. Alice looked up and narrowed her blue eyes.
Alice: Could they be statue or something? But why in such a high place?
Zora: I don't care why, as long as we can sit and rest on them. But they're a good...6 mels above us. We'll need another two bars in order to climb up there.
Alice: Two bars...huh? Understood. I was saving this for an emergency, but apparently, now is the time.
Alice pushed her back against the wall and removed the gauntlet on her left hand. She stared at the faintly glowing piece of armor and began to chant the command for a sacred art.
Alice: Form Object. Wedge Shape.
When she finished her execution, there was a flash, and the gauntlet had turned into two more climbing hooks. Alice's matter-transforming arts must've had better energy efficiency than generating from thin air, given Zora's inability to summon any himself.
Alice: Please use these.
Alice said, stretching upward with the hooks in her hand. Zora crouched down and carefully took the tools.
Zora: Thank you—this is a huge help.
Alice: If it's truly necessary, I have more armor...
Zora glanced at the fine breastplate that covered her upper half and shook his head.
Zora: No...we'll leave that one to the very end. You never know what we might need...
Zora carefully got to his feet, stuck one of the hooks into his belt, and lifted the second.
Zora: Uraa!
Sure enough, the golden hook was much sturdier than the metallic elements Zora had created; it sank deep into the rock's seam. He did the now-familiar climbing routine and used the chain to pull Alice up.
Zora: Ready? I'm gonna pull you up.
Alice: Okay.
Zora: Are you alright?
Alice: I'm fine.
After another repetition, the mysterious objects were half as far away, and much clearer in the darkness.
They were stone statues, as it turned out; large and ornate, a significant number surrounded the cathedral walls on narrow terraces. But these were not the holy statues of goddesses and angels that I'd seen inside the tower. They were human-shaped, true, but bent at the knees into a crouch, with their arms folded menacingly over their legs. Gnarled muscles bulged, and wings as sharp as knives extended from their backs.
Worst of all, the heads of the statues were utterly alien, curved and elongated at the front and ending in a conical mouth. They looked like the heads of some kind of grotesque giant weevils.
Alice: That's...
Zora: Ugh...that's such a creepy design.
Alice: It's from the Dark Territory!
Alice exclaimed. Just then, the head of the statue right above me craned back and forth, its lamprey mouth opening and closing. That was not some decorative statue carved out of stone. It was...alive.
If this were a quest in some ordinary VRMMO back in the real world, a statue attack would be inevitable after a demonstration like that. But in this case, the person writing the scenario was either a total sadist or a green beginner. They were stuck on these foot-long hooks jammed into a sheer wall, with nowhere else to go.
The term certain-defeat event crossed Zora's mind, but he dismissed it just as quick. This wouldn't be one of those thrill-ride incidents where someone would swoop in and save them if they fell. They had to use their brains to evade danger on their own, or they would die. While Zora prepared himself for danger, the winged statue shook itself and began to change color. Its white skin, the same hue as the tower stone, began turning a slick charcoal black, starting from the extremities.
Zora drew his sword in anticipation of the black wings snapping out into full extension. Without taking his eyes off the former statue, Zora shouted down to Alice.
Zora: Alice!! Looks like we'll have to fight here. Not falling off should be the top priority!
But Zora didn't hear the Integrity Knight respond right away. He glanced down and saw her face, pale in the night, a perfect picture of shock. On the updraft of wind Zora heard her whisper.
Alice: No, how is this possible?
An Integrity Knight should know everything about the Axiom Church. Why would she be so surprised? From what Zora knew through his secondhand reports about Administrator, she was abnormally cautious. Surely, it wasn't so unthinkable that she would not only prevent flight to the tower's upper sections, but also place stone guardians along the walls in case any challengers were persistent and mad enough to climb all the way.
The guardian—which, aside from the head, looked similar to a typical video game gargoyle—gripped the terrace ledge with clawed hands and emitted a whoosh of air from its mouth.
A shiver went down his back as Zora realized the gargoyles on either side of the animated one were also changing color. If they were placed equally around all four walls of the cathedral, there could be at least a hundred.
Zora: Oh, damn.
Zora hissed, turning to press his back to the wall and hefting up his sword. Just that was enough to unbalance him, given the tiny bar he was standing on. Even in SAO, Zora had never tried to fight like this.
But before he could even start planning, Zora heard the wings flapping overhead. The gargoyle was hovering against the dark-blue sky, the round eyes on either side of its elongated head fixed on him. The monster was bigger than he'd expected, probably more than six feet. Even its dangling tail looked about as long as Zora was tall.
Monster: Bshaaa!!
It let out a hiss like steam escaping a valve, then plunged headfirst toward Zora. It didn't seem to have any ranged attacks, fortunately, so Zora anticipated claws on one of its limbs to appear next. Right or left, top or bottom—
Zora: Whoa!!
With a whiplike crack, its tail shot out. Zora jerked his head away and yelped in surprise; the tip grazed his cheek, as sharp and pointed as a knife. Zora had managed to dodge, but his balance was now a problem. He wobbled atop the hook, attempting to stay upright. Mercilessly, the gargoyle's tail shot at him again.
With his left hand against the wall to steady himself, Zora blocked the tail attack with the sword in his right. It was all he could do to hold it up like a shield. There was no way Zora could actually swing it around to sever the spike.
Zora: Urgh...
Sensing that this wasn't the time to be thrifty, Zora took his left hand off the wall and pulled out the golden hooks in his belt. Envisioning the movements of the Throwing Weapons skill he'd practiced so much in SAO, Zora hurled the spear at the center of the gargoyle's body.
Zora didn't put that much effort into the throw, but the short spear lived up to its nature as Alice's gauntlet, shining bright through the gloom to sink deep into the gargoyle's lower stomach.
Monster: Bshhi!
The gargoyle hissed, its circular mouth spurting black blood. The monster flapped its wings irregularly, trying to regain altitude. Zora had inflicted some good damage, but not enough to vanquish it. The black, insectoid eyes glared at him with rage.
Even knowing there were more important things at hand, Zora couldn't help but wonder, Was it just a program controlling that freakish monster? Or, like the people from the Dark Territory, was it an artificial fluctlight...?
Monster: Bshhhuuu!!
A second cry jolted me out of that thought. Two more gargoyles had descended from the terrace and were circling around, waiting for their opportunity to strike.
Zora: Alice, draw your sword! The monsters are coming for you!
Zora glanced below and saw that the Integrity Knight was not yet over her unexplained shock. If they attacked now, she'd be either skewered by a tail or knocked off the hook.
Zora: Should I try to climb the remaining dozen or so feet to the terrace while the gargoyles are still hanging back? Either way, it'll be bad if they attack us all at once. For me anyway, but Alice...
If the current high-pitched screech was any indication, the three hissing monsters were getting ready to attack again. Zora could potentially be forced to let go of the lifeline chain and jump down onto a gargoyle if it swooped on Alice. Zora felt his belt for the chain's clasp. Then his eyes went wide. The length of the chain was over fifteen feet. And there were only about twelve feet between him and the ledge.
Zora: Alice...Alice!!
Zora bellowed as he slid his sword back into its sheath. The Integrity Knight twitched and turned her blue eyes to Zora at last.
Zora: Hold tight to the chain!
She frowned, looking confused. Zora used both hands to grip the chain connected to her sword sheath and pulled, lifting her off the hook. She belatedly grabbed the chain and gasped.
Alice: You're not going to...
Zora: If we both survive, I'll give you all the apologies you want later!!
Zora sucked in a deep breath, then yanked—no, hurled—the knight hanging on the chain upward. Her long golden hair and white skirt billowed through the air as Alice swung in a semicircle.
Alice: Eyaaaa!!
Alice shrieked, a surprisingly amateur reaction, as she passed between the gargoyles on her way to landing on the ledge above. Landing not in the active sense, but the passive. Zora decided to ignore the very unladylike sound that ended her scream.
The exertion of his wild throw hurtled him off the hook he had been balancing on. If Alice didn't hold firm up on the ledge to support his weight, they'd both plunge off the side of the building. Thankfully, the Integrity Knight sensed what needed to be done: She grabbed the chain with both hands and dug in her feet, although the first brief moment of weightlessness sent a shiver down Zora's spine.
Alice: Why...youuuuuu!!
Alice raged, pulling as hard as she could. Just as Alice had, Zora flew through the air, and though the impact of his back slamming against the marble wall knocked the breath from his lungs, he'd never been as relieved as when he felt the terrace floor under his feet. Zora could've lain there on the flat surface forever, until Alice kicked him in the ribs.
Alice: Wh-What were you thinking, you complete idiot!
Zora: I didn't have a better choice to...We can talk later! Here they come!
Zora drew his weapon again and pointed the tip at the gargoyle trio rising toward them. With what little time they had before combat resumed, Zora looked left and right to get a grasp of the arena.
The high-wire circus act they'd executed to get up there granted them a ledge about three feet wide around the building. There was no decoration, just flat, simple marble jutting horizontally out of the tower wall. In fact, it literally served as a shelf, and it occurred to him that this was just meant to be a resting place for the gargoyles.
Since Alice hadn't known about the terrace, Zora maintained hope that there might be some special door or window along the wall nearby, but sadly, there was nothing. The only features in sight were the other monstrous statues that hadn't come to life yet, lined up all the way down to the corners of the building. It was a horrifying thing to see, but fortunately the only ones currently active were the three flying up toward them.
With her confidence returned from being on solid ground, Alice slid her Osmanthus Blade from its sheath. But that hadn't solved all her questions.
Alice: There's no doubt. What are they doing here?
The gargoyles were back on their level again, but the gargoyle were keeping their distance, wary of Zora and Alice's weapons. Without taking his eyes off the hovering creatures, Zora asked Alice.
Zora: What has been bothering you? Do you know something about those monsters?
Alice: Yes. I know. They're soulless, evil familiars controlled by dark art users from the Dark Territory, who created them with lumps of soil. Following their lead, we call them minions.
Zora: Minions...Well, I can tell they're from the Dark Territory based on their looks—but why would they be lined up on the walls of the holiest place in the world?
Alice: That's what I want to know!
Alice grunted. She bit her lip.
Alice: Without having to tell me, I know this is something that shouldn't be. I simply can't believe that minions could slip past the Integrity Knight's watch and infiltrate all the way to the Central Cathedral. And...
Zora: And it's completely impossible that someone powerful within the Church might have intentionally placed them there...?
Zora asked, filling in the blank. Alice shot him a nasty look but did not offer a rebuttal. Zora looked at the gargoyles hovering close by.
Zora: Just tell me one thing. Are those minions intelligent? Do they understand human words?
Alice shook her head.
Alice: That would truly be impossible. Minions are not living things like goblins or orcs. They are agents without souls, created by sorcerers who worship the god of darkness, Vecta. The only things they understand are a few simple commands from their master.
Zora: Ah.
Zora said, breathing a secret sigh of relief. Zora knew that he was overlooking the present danger, but he still couldn't help but feel resistance at the thought of killing a being with the same kind of fluctlight as a human.
Cardinal had told him that babies were born only to men and women whose marriages had been ratified by the Axiom Church—probably because they had the particular system command that executed it. The denizens of the Dark Territory had to work the same way. Therefore, the minions generated by dark arts would run on the same program code as wild animals, rather than artificial fluctlights.
With that in mind, the hostility Zora sensed from those insectoid eyes had the same kind of digital fakeness that he'd experienced with so many monsters in the SAO days. Something in their routine switched from hang back to attack, and they beat their wings and rose in unison.
Zora: Here they come!
Zora shouted, holding up his sword. The minion with the golden rod stuck in its chest swooped toward him first, thanks to the accumulated hate value.
This time, it started by swiping at him with its claws rather than its tail. It wasn't particularly fast, but it'd been so long since he'd fought a monster that it was hard to judge the distances involved. Zora was focused on blocking the claws, waiting for a good opening to strike, when, out of the corner of his eye, Zora caught sight of the other two descending on Alice.
Zora: Watch out—the other two are going for you!
Alice: Who do you think I am?
Alice snapped, holding the Osmanthus Blade at her left side.
With a tremendous slice, the golden blade flashed outward, practically lighting up the night. It wasn't a feint or a combination attack, just a single, medium-height slash: In the Aincrad style, it would be known as Horizontal. But it was so fast and devastating that Zora could feel a subconscious cold sweat break out on his skin from standing next to it. The utter perfection of this single attack had him entirely overmatched, with no room for defense or evasion, in their battle on the eightieth floor. His years of VRMMO life had turned him into a permanent proponent of combination attacks, but her single attack had absolutely crushed that conviction.
Alice paused at the end of her swing, and the four arms of the minions toppled off. Even their trunks, which were well out of her sword range, silently separated across the chest.
The monsters toppled without even a death scream, filthy black blood spurting from the clean-cut stumps. Not a single drop so much as touched Alice, of course. She straightened up, quite matter-of-fact, and looked over at Zora as he stood there struggling with defense.
Alice: Do you need my assistance?
Zora:...N-no, I'll manage.
Zora protested. He'd seen all of the minions' attacks now and sidestepped a claw-and-tail combination attack. Before the monster could pull away to a safe distance, Zora executed a familiar combo of his own.
For a long time, Zora found it mysterious that the Underworld had the same sword-skills concept as SAO. After two years of internal debate, he still hadn't arrived at a completely satisfying answer. Perhaps the Rath engineers utilized SAO's Seed platform to build the foundation of their virtual world, but as far as Zora knew, The Seed didn't actually have the sword-skills function built in. If it did, he would've been able to use sword skills when he converted to Gun Gale Online.
Perhaps wise Cardinal in her hidden library knew the truth, but Zora didn't ask her when he had the chance. Cardinal knew that she and all other Underworldians were living in an experiment designed by Rath, a reality she grappled with deeply. Zora couldn't bring himself to make her confront the fact that everything she knew was a kind of artifice. And at this point, the reason that sword skills existed here wasn't that important. As long as they worked properly and were tools Zora could use, that was all that mattered.
The sword in his hand glowed blue and engaged in the four-part attack Horizontal Square.
Zora: Rrraaaahh!
Zora bellowed. His sword lopped off the minion's arms and tail, then severed it clean across the chest with the final swipe, not that he was trying to compete with Alice. The momentum of the attack nearly took him off the ledge, but Zora managed to hold still in time, watching the pieces of the monster fall separately through the clouds below. Zora figured that if the pieces didn't evaporate into thin air during the fall, some monk wandering the cathedral grounds below would eventually get a real scare.
Alice: Ooooh.
Alice murmured with the approval of a teacher observing her pupil's exhibition. Zora swiped his blade left and right before returning it to the sheath at his side—he'd have preferred to stash it over his back, but there were no shoulder harnesses in the armory—and looked at her sidelong.
Zora: What?
Alice: Nothing. I was thinking how strange your moves are. If you were to preform on a stage during the summer solstice festival, you'd gather quite an audience, no?
Zora: Gee, thanks.
Zora had to chuckle to himself from being with such a sardonic knight. Then a thought manifested, and he asked the golden knight.
Zora: Wait a sec, have you ever even seen Centoria's solstice festival? If anything, it's a holiday for the common people. At Swordcraft Academy, hardly any of the upper noble children went to it...
There were exceptions to the rule, of course; Sortiliena was a noble, and she looked forward to the festival every year, Zora recalled fondly. Alice snorted.
Alice: Please don't think that I'm the same as those arrogant nobles! Of course I've seen... It before...
Alice protested, before trailing off prematurely. Her mouth was hanging open, her brow knitted in confusion, searching for some answer. She lifted her bare left hand and pressed her fingertips to her smooth forehead. Then she shook her head several times and mumbled.
Zora: Alice...?
Alice: No. I heard there was such a festival from one of the monks... We Integrity Knights are prohibited from mingling with the townsfolk expect in the line of duty.
Zora:...
That made sense. The Integrity Knights believed they were summoned from Heaven by their pontifex, but that wasn't true. Administrator brought human beings who excelled in wisdom or strength to the cathedral and performed a Synthesis Ritual that locked their memories away and turned them into knights. Therefore, if any knights wandered around the cities below, they might run across their former family, leading to chaos.
Alice was number thirty, making her the second-newest knight after Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-One, who'd been converted this spring. Logic dictated that she'd probably been synthesized within the past year as well, and yet she'd been taken from Rulid eight years ago—leaving a blank period of seven years.
Zora(mind): What kind of life had Alice lived here during that time? Was she learning sacred arts as an apprentice sister? Did Administrator have her frozen as a prisoner the whole time?
Perhaps she had actually visited Centoria's summer solstice festival before being turned into a knight. Maybe that little scrap of conversation was peeling away at an old memory hidden behind her memory block...
If Zora kept asking her little questions about the solstice festival, perhaps he could cause her Piety Module to eject, the way it had with Eldrie. He opened his mouth to speak, only to quickly clamp it shut.
Cardinal had said it would take more than just removing the Piety Module from Alice the Knight to turn her back into Eugeo's friend Alice Zuberg. Zora needed the fragment of her "most precious memory," which Administrator had removed entirely. So if he removed Alice's module now, it would cause her to go entirely unconscious. He didn't want to do that, especially when there was no saying when the next enemy might attack.
And for one thing, Alice hadn't even blinked when she ran into Eugeo, her childhood friend for years back in Rulid. That indicated the comprehensiveness of her memory block. It was unlikely that a minor topic like the festival would dislodge the module, and it would probably backfire by making her more suspicious of him.
Alice watched Zora mulling this over, a questioning look on her face, then switched gears.
Alice: Minion blood will bring about illness. Make sure to wipe it off.
Zora: Hmm? Oh...
Alice pointed at Zora, and for the first time, Zora realized that a few drops of the monster's blood had landed on his left cheek. He was going to wipe off the foul-smelling liquid with his sleeve when she snapped.
Alice: Don't do that!
Stunned, Zora had to wonder how many years it had been since someone scolded him that way. Yes, it was just like how Rumia would scold him if he did something silly.
Alice: Really, why are men all so... Do you not have a single handkerchief?
Zora stuffed his hands into his trouser pockets. The right one was empty, and the left was stuffed with things that weren't a handkerchief. Zora had to sheepishly admit.
Zora: I don't have one...
Alice: It's fine. Just use this.
Alice said, producing a white handkerchief from somewhere in her skirt and handing it to him with a look of disgust. If she was going to treat Zora like a little boy, Zora might as well lift up her skirt and rub his cheeks on it, like he used to with Rumia, but Zora realized she could easily kill him for that. Instead, Zora gratefully accepted the lace-edged kerchief and carefully wiped his cheek. It took the minion's blood clean off, as if the fabric had some sacred art of cleansing cast upon it.
Zora: Thank you. I appreciate it.
Zora said, resisting the urge to call her Big Sister. He tried to hand back the cloth, but she turned her head away.
Alice: Return it to me washed, before I slay you...
Zora(mind): Why do you remind me so much of Big Sister?
He look at her longingly.
Zora(mind): What could I possibly say to someone like this to avoid combat once we're back inside the tower, so that I can reunite with Eugeo?
Zora looked around, imagining his partner climbing the stairs inside. By then, the light was totally gone from the sky, replaced by twinkling stars. They'd defeated the minions, but there was no way to generate new climbing hooks until the moon rose and gave them its meager resources.
Zora stuck Alice's handkerchief in his pocket and examined the terrace. As long as they didn't get any closer to them, it seemed that the minion statues would remain in stone form along the wall. If Zora rushed up to it and swung his sword at a vital spot before it could fully transform into flesh, he could probably beat it, but there was nothing to be gained by exposing himself to that danger.
Zora and Alice would just have to wait here for the next few hours while the moon rose. Zora was perfectly happy to sit down and rest for a while, but he wasn't sure that he could avoid angering Alice for that entire time. He decided to hold his tongue until he could think of a way to improve the mood of the testy Integrity Knight.