S.A.O Project Alicization - OC/Male Reader Insert

Project Alicization ----- Chapter Eight

July 372 HE, Underworld Human Realm
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Eugeo and Kirito were dragged to the center of the square and pushed to their knees. Kirito pretended to wobble toward Eugeo so that he could whisper into the other boy's ear. "Listen, Eugeo...I'm going to attack the knight with this ax. I'll try to hold him off for a few seconds, and you take Alice away to freedom. If you rush to the barley field to the south, you can hide among the stalks and slip into the forest. That should give you good enough cover."

Eugeo glanced down at the Dragonbone Ax still clutched in Kirito's hands and found his voice at last.

"B-but...Kirito..."

You saw the way that Integrity Knight managed to put down Shi in no time with no effort, he'll kill you like that black knight yesterday.

Kirito read Eugeo's unspoken thoughts on his face and continued. "It's all right. The knight didn't execute Alice on the spot. I don't think he can kill someone without a trial or whatever. I'll look for my chance to escape. Besides..."

He turned his burning gaze upon the knight, who was checking that the restraint straps were on tight. With each tug of a strap, Alice's face twisted in pain.

"...Besides, if we fail, so what? We'll get hauled in with Alice and wait until we have a chance to escape. All that matters is that if Alice gets taken away on that dragon, we'll never see her again."

"I...don't..."

He had a point. But it was so brash and reckless it didn't even qualify as a "plan." Wasn't that just rebellion against the Church? The very greatest of crimes, outlawed in Book One, Chapter One, Verse One...

"Why would you hesitate, Eugeo?! Who cares about taboos?! Are they more important than Alice's life?!"

Kirito's impassioned but restrained voice lashed his ears.

And he was right.

Deep down, Eugeo's mind screamed at him.

The three of us were born in the same year, and we decided we'd die in the same year. We swore to always help one another. Each of us lives for the other two. So there's no reason to hesitate. Which is more important, the Axiom Church or Alice? The answer is obvious. It should be obvious. It's...it's...

"Eugeo...What's wrong, Eugeo?!" Kirito nearly screamed.

Alice was looking at them, distraught. She shook her head.

A strange, unfamiliar voice broke from his throat. "It's...it's..."

But he couldn't finish the sentence. He couldn't even formulate the words that came next into his head. A sharp pain winced behind his right eye. An odd itching that refused to go away was blocking his thoughts. Wince, wince. Bloodred color covered his vision. The sensation of his limbs faded.

The village elder noticed the change in Eugeo and weakly waved his arm to the two men standing behind the boys, commanding, "Take them out of the square."

Hands grabbed their collars and resumed pulling.

"Damn...let go! Elder! Mr. Gasfut! Do you really want him to take Alice away?! Are you fine with that?!" Kirito raged, knocking away the man's hand. He prepared to charge with the ax.

But his simple leather shoes would not take a single step forward. Something impossible had happened.

Having finished checking Alice's restraints in the distance, the Integrity Knight merely glanced at Kirito, and the Dragonbone Ax gripped tightly in the boy's hands clanged and flew high into the air. The knight hadn't touched his sword or his bow. He hadn't even moved a finger. Yet as though his own will were a physical blade, he had struck the ax from Kirito's hands, sending it flying to the edge of the square.

Kirito fell onto his back with the momentum of that strange collision. A number of villagers immediately set upon him and held him down.

The thing however was were the axe landed: right next to Shi. He quickly grabbed it with his tied hands and cut the ropes, grabbed his sword and the axe and ran forward at full sprint. He used the axe as a boost to send him into the air by smashing it into the gro7nd after jumping, and the used his sword like a brace to brace the jump. What had he done? Jumped over the entire crowd and land a short while away.

The villagers were grabbing at him, all while Kirito was yelling to Eugeo.

His cheek forced into the cobblestones, Kirito screamed, "Eugeo! Please, you have to go for me!"

"Ah...uhh..." Eugeo grunted. His body shuddered.

Go. You have to go. You have to steal Alice from the knight's hands and run into the forest, a tiny voice commanded in his head. But then came that stabbing pain behind his right eyes again, robbing him of his agency. Another voice clanged inside his head along with the pulsing red light.

The Axiom Church is absolute. The Taboo Index is absolute. Disobedience is forbidden. No one is exempt from the law.

"Please, Eugeo! At least get them off me! Then I can-!"

The Integrity Knight did not watch what was happening in the square. He fixed the end of the chain to another chain connected to his dragon's saddle. The creature lowered its head, and the knight swung up to straddle it. The silver armor shone again.

"Eugeo!!" Kirito screamed at bloodcurdling volume.

The white dragon rose, stretched it wings, and beat them. Again and again, it pounded the air.

Alice was tied directly to the dragon's saddle. She stared at Eugeo and smiled, her blue eyes seeming to be saying good-bye. The updraft of the beating wings brushed her golden hair, which sparkled just as brightly as the knight's armor in the sun.

Shi had just got past all the villagers, and jumped into the air, using his sword like a hook to cling himself onto Alice. His sword firmly wrapped in the chains, he pulled, tugged, twisted, yanked and even tried to cut them, but Alice stopped him.

"It's okay Shi, but thank you. I know you won't be able to pull your sword out, so I will keep good care of it for when we next meet"

She pushed him off the chains by swinging, and he fell from about ten mel up.

But even though Alice was being taken, Kirito held down, and Shi falling from great heights, Eugeo couldn't move. He couldn't speak.

He couldn't budge an inch, as though his feet were rooted right into the ground.

(A nice, pleasant short chapter to finish the DAMN FIRST PROLOGUE, WHY THE HELL IS THERE TWO PROLOGUES, AND WHY DID IT TAKE A WHOLE BLOODY EIGHT CHAPTERS TO FINISH THE FIRST ONE!?!? Sorry, just venting)