Blighted Affection

Prologue: Scourged Ritual

Quinella's Chamber, 100th floor of Central Cathedral

Kirito's POV

In the room clad in icy cold white marbles, both the walls and the floor; ceilings decorated with the paintings of the three goddesses. The goddess of Earth, Terraria; the goddess of Sun, Solus; and finally the goddess of creation, Stacia. The painted sky on the dome ceiling glistened beautifully matching the divinity of the goddesses. It was definitely a sight to see.

However, I was unable to indulge in its beauty with the current situation I was in. Finally freed from my frozen state inflicted by my brainwashed partner, Eugeo, supposedly referred to as Synthesis 32, Alice and I chased after the fleeing Chudelkin up to the peak the white marble tower, Central Cathedral. There, we were reunited with Eugeo, who had managed to break free from Quinella's control and was in the midst of a fierce confrontation.

A few words exchanged between the both of us and I saw hot tears fell from his eyes, along with a bright smile of relief. I gave him the widest grin I could offer, the feeling of giddiness welling up inside of me at the sight of his usual gentle self. I was glad that he was back and so was he. A brief and awkward exchange between both him and Alice before the three of us turned to confront the woman standing before us, fully bare yet unfazed.

After a firm declaration of rebel from Alice, followed by Chudelkin's outrage, the pontifex directed an order to the vexing clown to obliterate the three of us. The clown graciously agreed to it as the reward would be claiming her body all for himself, which I knew it would never be true as the pontifex's sworn oath was nothing but empty promises. A fiery battle, fueled by his obsession with the pontifex, lasted for merely a few seconds as I willed myself to bring forth my Black Swordsman persona to fight for what was important to me rather than continuing to reject my past. Blood was splattered, staining the pure white marble as Chudelkin's defeated form fell to the floor.

Without much concern for the loss of her subordinate, Quinella revealed my identity and her true motive, bringing forth a fearsome monstrosity, the Sword Golem. One by one, we were defeated in just a single strike. I was almost cut in half when I charged into the golem, enraged at the severe wound it had inflicted on Alice. My sliced body slammed painfully into the stone wall, coughing up blood as I collapsed onto the cold floor, immobilized. I saw Eugeo frozen at grave outcome as I tried to beg for him to run, yet I was unable to utter a single word.

To our surprise, a voice came beside me, charging into the golem with its large transformed body. It was Charlotte, a spider who had been watching over both Eugeo and I for quite some time and had grown attached to us. She had sacrificed herself to protect us while demanding Eugeo to open a path for Cardinal. Tears were shed from my eyes as I watched Charlotte's limbs were sliced off one by one, until she could fight no more. Her last words hurt even more as she thanked me for the time we spent together before shrinking down to a usual miniature form.

Cardinal's arrival saved us from our demise but everything turned south in an instant when Quinella revealed the truth behind the creation of Sword Golem. Live humans turned into countless of weapons, fueled by the desire to reach their loved ones and becoming an ultimate killing machine. And the source of that desire lies above the painted ceiling, the glistening stars. They were, however, not decorative ornaments. They were memory fragments of the integrity knights in the form of beautiful crystals.

The horrifying revelation rendered Cardinal unable to fight, prompting her to make herself a sacrifice in exchange for our safety. Despite my protest, the petite girl stepped forward and received the gruesome torture from the pontifex. Her broken body was tossed to the floor and I quickly scooped her in my arms, apologizing for my uselessness in tears. Burn marks were all over her and yet she gave Alice and I the faintest smile she could, encouraging us to carry her will, to save this sorry world.