Sword Art Online: X

Truths Revealed - X

"Well then." As I ended the call, I turned back towards Scheta, "I suspect you have a lot of questions, don't you?"

"I..." Scheta hesitated before looking away, "I don't understand."

I scoffed, "Well, no shit. That's why I'm here. Now do you have questions or not? I can't exactly stay here all day. In case you haven't noticed, there's an administrator upstairs that needs to be taken down a peg, and I can't exactly do that if I'm in here, babysitting your bloodthirsty ass."

Scheta blinked owlishly at me before sighing, "I suppose there's no denying it then. The Pontifex truly doesn't have the people's best interests in mind."

"Oh, wow, really?" I drawl, rolling my eyes as I lean against the command console, "I hadn't noticed. I thought brainwashing people was normal here."

"I have no need nor desire for your sarcasm." Scheta's voice was still blank and emotionless, yet somehow still managed to get her irritation across.

"Heh." I pushed off the console and walked past Scheta, "Well, if you have no questions, I'll be going now."

"Wait."

"Ugh, seriously? I give you all this time to ask questions and you don't. Now, when I'm about to leave, is when you finally decide to ask?" I threw my hands up in mock exasperation, "Seriously, what is wrong with people?"

"If the Pontifex falls... who will defend the Human Empire against the forces of the Dark Territory?"

I blink, turning my head, "I'm sorry, what?" I draw closer to the bound integrity knight, "What the fuck are you on about? Isn't the Dark Territory kept away from the Human Empire by some magical barrier or something? The fuck happened to that?"

"It's... I suppose the best way to explain it would be that there exists a prophecy foretelling the invasion of the Dark Territory." Scheta met my eyes as she explained, "Our order of integrity knights was founded for the very purpose of repelling this invasion, but we are only 31 warriors strong. If we were to triumph over the Dark Territory's forces, we would need the power of the administrator. Without it... The Dark Territory would take over and destroy the world as we know it."

I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose, "Oh, for fuck's sake... It's just problem after problem, isn't it? Look-" I flicked my hand and summoned Nigen-Sei again, "We'll worry about that later. Right now, the immediate problem is dear Quinella upstairs. Sit tight. I'm gonna go kill a god real quick."

Without another word, I strode out of the room holding the hidden command console, ignoring Scheta's protestations behind me.

...

In retrospect, I really should've left the console room earlier. It took me literal hours to climb the tower of hell that is the Axiom Church. 

When I got up to the highest level, I stepped into a surreal scene: A bunch of swords fused together in an amalgamation of blades that only barely resembled a humanoid figure was towering over Kirito and a blonde intergrity knight. Eugeo was lying a few feet away on the floor, apparently having just broken out of the administrator's control.

Speaking of...

"What the fuck." I deadpanned up at the naked figure of Quinella, "Why are you naked?"

"X, priorities!" Kirito's voice was strained. Given the situation, I really couldn't blame him. 

"I dunno about you, dude, but this is pretty high up on my priority list!" I folded my arms, hugging Nigen-Sei to my chest so Quinella couldn't do any sneaky admin bullshit to steal it away from me, "Seriously, woman. Put some clothes on!"

The administrator just looked down on me with a mixture of contempt and amusement, "Oh? Can you not handle it?"

I scoffed, "Bitch, please. I've handled way worse shit than a naked woman before. I just thought you might like some dignity in death. But if you insist on dying naked, who am I to stop you?"

What happened next could only be described with a single phrase: Lightning had struck.

I drew back the string of Nigen-Sei and muttered a system command underneath my breath before lancing a few arrows at Quinella. At the same time, the sword automaton swung down at me.

My arrows were intercepted by the golem's other arm while its attacking arm slammed into the ground, having just barely missed me as I leapt to the side.

A thunderous crash rang through the chamber as my arrows exploded with crackling lightning, having been formed of a conductive metallic element, and coursed through the golem's body as marble-like floor grounded a majority of the electricity. 

"Well, shit." I mused as the golem reared back in what looks to be an instinctual reaction to pain, "Looks like this thing isn't just AI."

"What are you talking about...?" Blondie asked from behind me, "What's this AI you keep mentioning?"

My eyes flickered from between the sword golem and the fallen people behind, "You really wanna do this now? Look- bottom line is: those swords aren't just enchanted. They're sentient. This sick bitch forcefully turned the bodies of hundreds of humans into swords and forced them into servitude."

The integrity knight narrowed her eyes- wait, no. Eye, singular, at the administrator, "The more I hear about her deeds, the less respect I have for her."

"Ha! And you wondered why we were fighting her." I laughed at the irony before sobering up almost immediately, "But yeah, she's a twisted motherfucker."

"You? Judging me? That's rich, coming from someone with arguably less empathy for human life than I do." Quinella smirked as she spoke, her words piercing through the room, causing all noise to fade away.

I hummed, "So you know just about everything Cardinal does, huh? Interesting."

"X..." Kirito warned, "Be careful. Don't tempt her."

"Why? Because you're afraid she's going to give Little Miss Integrity Knight and dear old Eugeo an existential crisis?" I raised an eyebrow, "Well, she won't get to do it if I do it first."

Kirito's eyes widened, "X-"

"Hey, Eugeo, Miss Integrity Knight!" I grinned predatorily, looking at the two virtual humans.

Eugeo spoke first, "Her name is Alice-"

"Don't care!" I chirped cheerfully, "Wanna have an existential crisis while we're all in a fight that may very well kill us if we aren't careful? Me neither! Am I giving you a choice? Ha! Nope!"

And I opened my mouth to explain exactly what the Underworld is.

A/N: Yeah, I'm not liking Eugeo and Alice's chances here. Having an existential crisis during a life-or-death situation is never a good thing. Why is X doing this, you ask?

Seriously, you haven't figured it out? X is an asshole. A benevolent asshole, but an asshole nonetheless. 

And yes, of course this is going to have consequences. X has been allowed to get away with his bullshit for way too long. By the time the first half of Alicization is over, y'all are probably going to have the pitchforks and torches out all over again.

Anyways: D&D character concept for the chapter: An orc who flies into a frenzy every time someone catches sight of his eyes. If this sounds familiar to you, that's probably because it is, as this character was inspired by SCP-096.

Anyways, it's midnight again, so I'm gonna go pass out real quick.

Timeless_95, signing out.