Unital Ring III: Rebellion In the Underworld

Tohkouga Istar

"How is he?"

Kirito had gone silent after testing Eolyne's pulse and heaving up the commander. I figured that he was thinking about something or, by the way he was looking at Eolyne, someone else. A person I never met but heard plenty about, someone who mattered to Kirito and Kirito alone.

To Kirito, the week he spent in the Soul Translator prior to the maximum acceleration was about two years. Two years to develop a deep friendship with a boy called Eugeo, and a lifetime to remember and regret the other boy's death. It's a cold sensation I've felt every time I used to think about Koharu and, while her (second) death doesn't affect me, there's other regrets I have for Medina Orthinanos.

"Jaymes...no, Joshua, my savior, I'm so glad I met you. Thank you for helping me restore my family. Thank you for being the light in my darkness. Thank you for instilling memories of our days to the very end. But most of all, thank you for being my lycoris flower-for being the ideal that gave me hope. I ask of you...to never forget me."

I shake those thoughts off and focus on the moment. Eyes on the leader in the lab, I sharply hiss, "Kirito. We got to get out of here."

"Huh... Oh, yes, you're right." He frowns and looks around the chamber. "We can't use Incarnation to burst out of here to the roof. We can't risk that guy going into hiding and the Divine Beast being killed."

"And my teleportation art is out the question."

"Yeah. We'll have to escape as quietly as possible. Can you take point, then?"

"Any objections to me getting physical if need be?"

"None." Kirito lifts his head to look back to the lab with me. where Their Excellency is now joined by the two researchers from before. The cold aura they emanated before remains, even though the distance between us and them had increased. The trio halts in front of the Divine Beast, the leader analyzes the tubes in the beast's mouth.

"...The stasis measures seem to be holding up as desired," they say, their voice coming through from the speaker.

A researchers replies, "Th-that is true...The chemicals are being administered in the proper dosages."

"Good. And where is the juvenile you say you've found?"

"W-well..." The researchers glance at each other, not wanting to answer before the other...or at all.

One of them eventually answer, "We...we lost sight of it when we evacuated the chamber. I believe it should still be somewhere in here..."

"In other words, both the juvenile's source and destination are unknown."

"W-well...at present, I suppose that is true..."

"Find it and capture it."

That terrifies the researchers, but one of them musters up a rebuttal. "B-but Master Istar...if we attack a juvenile, we might once again draw an Incarnate attack from the Divine Beast."

Istar — finally a name to the being, if not a gender — turns on their heel to face the researcher. Their black hair moves with the head, revealing red highlight on the ends of the strands. "Even if the  Incarnate attack came from the Divine Beast, the target was the syringe, wasn't it?"

"Y-yes...that is...accurate, but..."

"In other words, if you do not attempt to kill the juvenile, you will be safe. If you wish to continue this argument, I would be happy to do so in the interrogation room above."

"N-no, Your Excellency! We have no quarrel! We'll begin searching for the juvenile now!"

There's not much to search, but with Istar distracted for the moment, I sense our opportunity. Whether or not the juvenile is recaptured or remains in hiding, that's up to it. I do find it strange that it wasn't found at the head of its mother, that's where it went.