War For Underworld

The War For Underworld Begins

Jaymes

"You're becoming paler and blurrier like you're getting further away. Eventually, you'll lose your color too, so raise your flag engraved with the proof of your existence..."

Feet back on the ground, I reach for the sword on my back as my eyes bear down on the white-haired woman in front of me. She has her left side facing me, her face angled towards the treeline. She sings a tune to herself, one I recognize as the one she always sings to herself, and allow her to hum in peace as I pace around her.

Eydis meant to draw me out alone, that I know. She knows Medina and Ilia will chase after me, but that might be to my benefit or to the enemy. I don't see the other two figures Medina described, so either they're hiding their presences nearby or they're watching out of my range of sensitivity of ten or so kilors...which I guess is equivalent to the measurement it is named after. I haven't asked Kiirto, and usually, I forgo speaking the Underworld system of measurements. I care not to learn it.

I keep my eyes on Eydis, taking in her appearance. It's as Medina said, her knight's armor is gone, her hair and limbs are covered by a strange coloration from chalk-white to pitch-black, and her eyes show no signs of the jovial "big sister" of Alice Synthesis Thirty. I can't tell if they're cold, murderous, or both, but I do know that when she faces me, I will feel my spine shiver in fright.

Not once in the past four years (in real-world time) have I felt this way when confronted or drawn into a one-on-one fight before the fighting began. The last time I felt a powerful dread was against Quinella after we entered the Main Visualizer and she made herself invincible to any sword not made of Orthinanos blood. Her weapon was made from the blood of Medina's ancestors, preserved as crystals, while Medina sacrificed herself to become a sword for me. Fighting Vecta... No, with respect to the fact Commander Bercouli defeated the Vecta account, fighting Subtilizer didn't scare me. I was enraged when he threatened Sinon, revealed himself as the man responsible for an incident in GGO last year before the Death Gun incident, and discarded his loyal AI companion Lievre aside when she went to reunite with him. By the time I caught up to him, right when he caught up to Alice, any fear I could've had subsided.

Yet Eydis had crossed the line too, and knowing me, I should be angry. Not many things make me angry, but after Koharu's "death" in SAO, I found I have a trigger that draws a rageful, murderous side out of me, and it comes when a friend of mine, especially a female, has their life endangered or taken. Annihilator, who killed Koharu and nearly raped and killed Lisbeth as he did most of his other victims, and a few other members of Laughing Coffin died at my hands because of it. I almost killed Itsuki when Kureha and Zeliska's lives hung in the balance. I went into a fit when Quinella struck down Medina, even though it was to my benefit, and as I said, Vecta had done what he did to Sinon, Alice, Lievre, and, indirectly, Kirito as the cause of his comatic state. Oh, and I shall not forget PoH, but that bastard is getting off easy being a giant tree in the Dark Territory. Had Medina not stopped me, he would've been sawdust right now.

Eydis had attacked Tiese, Ilia, and Mia back in the Forbidden Valley. She brought Medina to the brink of death. She allies herself with the people responsible for the sickness Alice's hometown suffers. I should be angry...but I can't summon that rage. I don't know why it isn't coming up. I've done it before to the very redhead I'm protecting now when she betrayed me and Eydis, yet the other woman doesn't ignite the same fire.

No, I know why. Unlike everyone else who drew that side of me out, none of them could end my life as easily as Eydis could. All she needs is one fatal swing through my sword and armor, and it's over. For the first time since Itsuki betrayed and trapped me, Zeliska, and Kureha with NerveGear on our heads, I fear for my life.