Accel World Volume 9

Chapter 1 Progress: 25%. ======= I will kill you all. And leave not a single one alive!!

Occupying every part of his mind until no room is left, only this impulse remains. As though making up his entire body, Arita Haruyuki only wants to tear their limbs and skulls apart, to succumb to a thirst to slice and dice them. “Grrrr….” Uttering a low growl like a beast, he renews his grip on the greatsword in his right. The pure silver colour of Silver Crow’s body has completely disappeared, in it’s place is the vicious black silver colour of chrome. The armour’s shape has also been drastically changed; the original slender and flat limbs are now covered with sharp rings of metallic parts, and the body naturally is different too. But the most fiendish change is still the helmet, which now completely encases the original round helmet: at first glance, it seems to have become the wide, greedy mouth of a carnivorous beast. Rows of sinister teeth completely protect and envelope the face, so the original mirrored faceplate is covered. This armour is no ordinary equipment – not just an Enhanced Armament in the game called Brain Burst. The strongest equipment in the game, the Seven Arcs, or the Seven Star Armaments; among which, the armour «The Destiny», representing the sixth star ‘Zeta,’ had been warped as a result of receiving a Burst Linker’s immense wrath and sorrow, and together with the high-ranking greatsword «Star Caster» fused into the «Disaster Armour». This legendary Enhanced Armament, The Disaster, has even surpassed the area of the Seven Arcs, bringing widespread destruction since the dawn of Accelerated World, repeatedly returning if it is suppressed and supposedly eradicated. And now, it has completely taken over the body of Silver Crow. No, this kind of phenomenon has already surpassed the limits of «summoning» or «equipping». There is no difference between Haruyuki and the armour; his thoughts and Disaster’s destructive impulses are together as one, no longer hearing the voices of reason in the past. Haruyuki softly uttered of his own will: “You bastards…can all forget about staying alive.”

Opening his fiendish-looking wings to hover in midair, Haruyuki overlooks the real-world Shibuya Area’s (明治通り宮下公園北)’s street in the Demonic City stage, where six Burst Linkers are gathered in a circle looking up at him like an intruder. This group of people encircled two weakly flickering points of light. One of them was grassy green in colour and the other is the colour of ash. They are «Grave Markers» that appear at the spot whenever a Burst Linker dies in the Unlimited Neutral Field. The grass-green marker belongs to Green Legionnaire ‘Bush Utan,’ from «Great Wall», and the other is his long-time friend and Haruyuki’s rival, ‘Ash Roller.’ Of the six who have killed Roller and Utan countless times, five of them are unknown to Haruyuki, seeing them from the first time. One of the six just moments ago dealt a killing blow to Ash. This player was of medium height and slim build, and his two hands gave a feeling of large volume. His armour was a dark green colour like tea. Named «Olive Glove», Just a few days before, he and Bush Utan had engaged Haruyuki in a Tag Team battle as medium-levelled members of the Green Legion. Of course they also were familiar with Ash Roller, and probably friends as inferred from their speech. Yet he, with no change of expression whatsoever, emotionlessly stabbed Ash through the chest. He had attempted to erase Ash Roller from Accelerated World permanently by depleting all his Burst Points. Gazing upwards at Haruyuki, expressions of surprise leaked out from the face masks of Olive Glove and the five others. From their chests, a small, strange object shaped like an eyeball was equipped. It is the darkness-filled body of the «ISS Kit», which grants its users control over the Incarnate System to gain offensive power beyond the system. In exchange, it amplifies the negative feelings of its wearer, warping the personalities of the player before even logging into the game. It was likely, thus, that the six who had attacked Ash Roller, Olive’s fellow senior legionnaire were under the Kit’s control, including Bush Utan. But Haruyuki no longer cared about all this. Ash Roller is a member of another legion, and it could be said that they are enemies. Even though his Parent is Nega Nebulas’ sub-commander Sky Raker, in the real world he and Haruyuki have never met. And yet– Ash had always been Haruyuki’s opponent; his first duel after becoming a Burst Linker, his first loss, and also his first victory. No matter what the situation was, Ash would always treat Brain Burst as a fighting game and play only for the fun of it. At some unknown time, his passion had become Haruyuki’s emotional support in a significant way. When Haruyuki had encountered adverse situations or was at a loss, Ash would always lead him

back to the path of the Burst Linker with his super-masculine fighting style and the bold exhaust sound of his American bike. It was always so hot-blooded, so happy-go-lucky whenever they duelled. But these six people instead depended on bullying the weak and the overwhelming superiority of Incarnate attacks to incessantly slaughter Ash, leading Haruyuki to hold only hatred for them. Having been restored to a dormant seed stage with great diofficulty, it was precisely those feelings of hatred and wrath which revived the «Disaster Armour», leading Haruyuki to the completely opposite side. It could be said to be a huge contradiction, but Haruyuki is no longer aware of that. Inky black sparks burst from from him hovering in midair. Haruyuki raised the sharp greatsword high into the sky. On the ground, Olive Glove and the five others, as though judging this action to be offensive, raised their right hands perfectly in unison to aim at Haruyuki. An identical layer of black Over-Ray1 reesembling viscous darkness enveloped six arms of different sizes and shapes. The darkness rapidly increased in density, distorting the space all around, illustrating the fearsome attack power accumulated within. At the same time, a line of small English font appeared at high speed in the grey overlayer of Haruyuki’s vision. Their meaning was– [ATTACK PREDICTION/INCARNATE ATTACK – RANGE EXPANSION-POWER/TYPE NEGATIVE ENERGY –DEGREE OF THREAT/10] Semitransparent, pale red lines soundlessly emerged from the arms of the six on the ground towards him. This is not the actual attack, but merely the attack trajectory calculated by the «Armour» with its vast accumulation of battle experience being illustrated in Haruyuki’s vision. These long range attacks were nothing special, being directly aimed at his chest. To dodge them would be effortless. But Haruyuki didn’t even move a millimetre, and merely tightened his right hand’s grip on the greatsword ever so slightly. The black aura enveloping the blade immediately flickered violently. It closely resembled its counterparts on the ground, but while their might be termed ‘mucus,’ Haruyuki’s would be called «Flames»: the fusion of highly refined killing intent with boundless rage — absolute-zero 2 flames. The six Burst Linkers on the ground momentarily clenched their fists before forcefully opening their fists, their fists calling out the technique name in unison: “«Dark Shot»!”

This is one of the two basic Incarnate attacks granted to users of the ISS Kit. Three days before, Bush Utan had used it to rip through one of Silver Crow’s wings as though it was paper; now, six beams of darkness gathered in a single breath to emit a beastly resonance as they flew together as one. The power contained in this wave is enough to annihilate any other duel avatar in an instant. Haruyuki however, was slow to move, only sweeping the greatsword «Star Caster» in hand only when the beams began to converge on him. The dark aura of the sword blazed ferociously, til the beams of Dark Shots did not even touch the sword’s body. The clash between Incarnation attacks of the same attribute seemed to shatter space itself with their collision; all six beams were deflected to Haruyuki’s lower right. The Demonic City stage, despite being the hardest terrain amongst all stages, was deeply pierced in an explosion of black flames. But Haruyuki didn’t even bat an eyelid at the destruction below and merely growled softly: “…Lousy.” In the end, it’s merely akin to a test of their Incarnate techniques before the actual battle. Even if it was enough to technically cause the Overwrite phenomenon 3, the foundation was extremely lacking and its efficacy was far from adequate. It was nothing in comparison to Takumu’s «Lightning Dark Spike» which was augumented by the ISS Kit and experienced yesterday; this technique didn’t even have any feeling behind it. The only thing within the hearts of Olive Glove and the others is «Thirst». A thirst that knows only to seek Burst Points from others to be satiated. To depend on other users of Acceleration to reduce the risk to themselves. An ugly lust for victory. It is these kind of people who sued such powers to murder Ash roller repeatedly. He as a reserved fighting gamer had distanced himself from the Incarnate System, only wishing to strength the foundation of duel opponents in the end. But these six had surrounded him, and executed Ash again and again. No, not just him. Even Ash’s companion – Bush Utan, originally part of the six – had been killed without a second thought. The clearest proof was the two Grave Markers nestled together, close to the six of them. Had they not met the group, Ash and Utan should have been at the Chiyoda Ward far, far, away in the northeast, waiting for Haruyuki and the others…

Today: 2047, 20th June, 7 PM. The six members of Nega Nebulas had carried out a battle to rescue Haruyuki/Silver Crow and Shinomiya Utai/Ardor Maiden, trapped deep within the towering «Imperial Palace» located within the Unlimited Neutral Field.

Haruyuki and Utai had attempted to enlist the help of the mysterious Burst Linker deep within the Imperial Palace, Trilead Tetraoxide, to escape from the Palace’s South Gate. Kuroyukihime, Fuuko, Takumu, and Chiyuri then prepared to assist their escape at the same time by restricting the movement of the gate’s guardian: Super-class Enemy Suzaku of the «Four God»s. In actual fact, Suzaku had appeared much earlier than they had expected, and prevented Haruyuki and Utai from directly escaping. Just before Suzaku could vaporise them with a breath of ultra-hot flames, Kuroyukihime and Fuuko had entered Suzaku’s boundary in a suicidal charge to draw its attention. Naturally, it would lead to the Legion Master and Sub-Master dying deep within the Four Gods’ territory aand falling into the Infinite EK state4, quite possibly the worst outcome of all. Haruyuki had thus entrusted Utai, having fainted earlier, to Takumu and Chiyuri, before turning 180 degrees back to rescue the two people whom he loved and respected. Holding Kuroyukihime and Fuuko in each of his arms, he had taken their only remaining escape route – flying straight up and above. But Suzaku never stopped chasing him. When Haruyuki had exhausted the energy source of his Aviation ability, his Special Gauge, he realised within him a new Incarnate techinique found wihtin his heart: «Light Speed», flying through the stratosphere and into the world of stars. Without air in space, neither Haruyuki could fly nor Suzaku could move. But there was the booster-type Enhanced Armament, Gale Thruster, which Fuuko possessed. Letting Kuroyukihime ride her back to attack, and depending on the Black King’s incomparable Incarnation attack, «Starburst Stream» to hit Suzaku. Despite being unable to finish Suzaku in one last attack due to the «Four Gods’ connection» and its incredible healing powers, Haruyuki, Kuroyukihime, and Fuuko were still able to escape from Suzaku’s territory alive. The six of them had gathered to share their elation at the mission’s success, but failed to see Ash Roller, who should also be there with them as previously arranged. Upon hearing that he hadn’t appeared at the meeting point, an indescribably ominous premonition surfaced in his heart, and he flew off alone to investigate, culminating in this discovery… No, he witnessed this scene. In that instant, he saw Ash being murdered by Olive Glove.

Much as Ash belongs to the Green Legion, Great Wall, which shares a rivalry with Nega Nebulas, he still chose to meet them in the Unlimited Neutral Field with all the dangers it entails, for the reason of being unwilling to give up on his conviction and wish to learn the Incarnate System. After the duel they had in the morning while going to school, Ash had told Haruyuki his plans. He didn’t want to learn the Incarnate System to wantonly battle in the Unlimited Neutral Field, but to strike Bush Utan once and wake him up.

His unexpected failure to meet them at the appointed time and place was definitely due to a conincidental meeting with Bush Utan in the regular duel field. Notes: 1. ^ Written as ‘excess light.’ I know, the idea of black light, or anything that makes it sound unlike light, is strange, but this is Accelverse. 2. ^ Absolute zero refers to the temperature of 0 Kelvin, or -273 degrees Celsius. 3. ^ ‘Overwrite,’ as explained in more detail in Volume 3, is the process through which excessive signals produced from the brain trick the system into rendering the players’ signals as in-game phenomena. Not to be confused with ‘Over-Ray,‘ a concurrent phenomena in which the excess signals may be processed by the system as free photons – excess light, and that’s why Over-Ray is written in kanji as excess light but pronounced that way. 4. ^ Infinite Enemy Kill, a state where you continuously die at or near the spawn site of an Enemy which you cannot defeat nor escape from, until you lose all Burst Points and Brain Burst uninstalls.