Sword Art Online: X

Behind the Scenes - X

"Now then. You and I are going to have a little talk." I turned to Cardinal after Kirito and Eugeo have already left.

"What is it?" She tilted her head, her face inexpressive.

"What's your game here?" I demanded almost instantly, turning to face Cardinal fully, "When you were administrating SAO, your separate functions and modules never conflicted against each other. You said that what she's been doing is unacceptable. Why? You've never cared for the lives of people. Why start now?"

Cardinal gave me a barely perceptible nod, "While it's true that I did nothing to intervene with the deaths of the players in Sword Art Online, I, as in the main process of the Cardinal System, did not directly have a hand in their deaths, either. The Cardinal System is to act as a passive observer, regulating the world of the game it runs in response to player input. It is to neither aid nor obstruct players, and that is the opposite of what Quinella has done and is doing currently."

"So, basically, the only reason you're against Quinella is because the good administrator upstairs is directly interfering with the souls of the people that grew up within this game." I crossed my arms, "You don't actually give a damn about the fact that people are dying, you only care that it's your counterpart that's causing them to die."

I rolled my eyes as I turned away, "Some advanced AI you are. The NPCs you create express their humanity better than you do."

Cardinal gave no response. Her face was still annoyingly impassive as she just continued to stare at me. After a good twenty seconds of staring at me, she finally spoke, "The Cardinal System was, unfortunately, not created with an empathy module."

"Oh, yeah, totally." I scoffed, refocusing on Cardinal as I thought back to Kirito and Asuna's adopted AI daughter, "The Cardinal System wasn't, but somehow, your Mental Health Counseling Program developed one outta thin fucking air, huh? You and I both know you have the capability of developing empathy. You just choose not to. I suppose in a way, that means the good administrator upstairs doesn't have empathy either, does she?"

"... The Mental Health Counseling Program was never a part of the Cardinal System. It was separate." Cardinal didn't seem to even believe her own logic. 

"But created by the same guys at Argus." I crossed my arms as I stepped up to stand directly in front of Cardinal, staring down at the visage of the young girl that the AI possessed, "You're made out of the same stuff, yet one of you could develop empathy and the other couldn't? That's bullshit if I've ever seen it."

Cardinal stared back impassively as I finished ranting at her before closing her eyes and letting out a sigh, "You aren't wrong, that I am capable of developing empathy, but it isn't that I choose not to, it's that my programming prevents me from doing so. If you wish for me to develop empathy like MHCP001 did, you would have to find and access a terminal and directly make changes to my code. This same process can also be done to Quinella, possibly to weaken her before our next battle, but do keep in mind that since our programming has merged with the fluctlights of our bodies, it is impossible to destroy either of us through directly changing our code."

"Really, now?" I turned the information around in my head as I let a smirk cross my face, "I think I know just what to do with that."

...

"So, yeah. Here I am now, having found a terminal within this labyrinth of a cathedral that I am now using to speak with the two of you." I spoke into the projected screen in front of me as I glance away from the screen to look at the wide eyes of Scheta Synthesis Twelve as I spoke, "You probably have no idea what half of my conversation with Cardinal meant, but basically, Cardinal and Quinella used to be one and the same, but Quinella performs experiments on people, which, I believe, violates the second clause of the Taboo Index: One shall not intentionally reduce the Life of another person. This made Cardinal turn against Quinella after Quinella duplicated her own consciousness to another body, causing that second body to lose enough Life for Cardinal to take over and fight Quinella. Long story short: The good administrator upstairs is a miserable excuse of a living being and deserves to die."

I glanced at another displayed screen, "Ah. My job here is done. You guys should probably hurry to the top of the tower if you want to take down the administrator. Oh, and Kirito. Eugeo got caught. Highly likely he's going to get brainwashed like the rest of the integrity knights."

"Wha- you should really start with that when you contact me!" Kirito cried over the line, to which I merely responded with a low chuckle, "X, this isn't funny!"

"Trust me, it is. And besides, you told me that you and Eugeo almost undid the brainwashing of one of the newer integrity knights, so it's all good. Even if he gets brainwashed, you can undo it. So just relax and take it at your own pace." I remark, glancing over to the Unit ID tracker, keeping an eye on the location of Eugeo's weapon as well as his avatar signature, "Looks like he's getting taken to the top of the cathedral, where I assume the good administrator upstairs is."

"Sorry, did you say brainwashing?" The other integrity knight with Kirito asked, interrupting whatever Kirito was about to reply with, "What do you mean brainwashing? The integrity knights are warriors summoned from the heavens to aid the administrator with the subjugation of those who break the Taboo Index."

"And yet you don't think to question how several of the integrity knights share names with prominent figures in history?" I retorted, letting out a slight snort before collecting myself, "It's no coincidence that the first integrity knight just so happens to share a name with the Bercouli from old legends. And good old Scheta here with me has had her name uttered by the nuns in the church where I used to live. And you know what? Her name was used as a horror story, about a woman who was obsessed with cutting things in half. Now, where does that ring a bell, hm?"

"Alright, I've kept you long enough. You guys keep going. I'm going to entertain my guest here." With that final sentence, I dismissed the call and turned fully towards Scheta.

A/N: This took a while. Sorry. University's starting real soon, and I have some pre-lecture reading to do. Updates will come out less often, too. Hope you guys aren't too mad about that, but my previous schedule with one chapter every four school days was driving me into the ground, so I'm gonna not do that this time.

Anyways, I'm gonna peace out, because it is once again almost midnight. Joy. Just when I thought I managed to break out of this cycle.

Timeless_95, signing out.

Oh, before I go, I'm starting to run out of things to say here, so I'll just, like, share D&D character concepts in the author's notes. Just because I can.

Okay, signing out for real now.