Accel World Vol 1 Chapter 8 (1/2)

Chapter 8

BAKIBAKIBAKIBAKI!!

What rang through the world in that rating against each other

The fresh enerated into a creepy yellow

The surrounding floor and walls were covered with biological-looking slime everywhere from Haruyuki’s feet, and with creased and rusted metal The support pillars had joints like the abdoe eye-like bulges visible on the ceiling

It had only taken a few seconds for the interior of the cutting-edge hospital that had been so clean to be covered with organic htmare of a classic cyberpunk author

As he held his breath and stood stock still, Haruyuki’s body began to be covered by shi+ning silver armor from the tips of his limbs and at the same time was squeezed and thinned down like a wire

Everything froed into smooth silver, and at the end his head rapped in a round helmet

At nearly the same time as Haruyuki transformed from the pink avatar to the duel avatar «Silver Croo physical strength gauges extended out in the upper corner of his vision with a screeching sound

In between the gauges were the nuits of 1800

And then finally, a flame burst out with a roar in the middle The characters of «FIGHT!!» that appeared inside the flames shi+ned a deep red, and then scattered with an explosion

After quickly looking at the countdown that had started to decrease and letting out a breath of relief as he thought ‘I made it in time’, Haruyuki looked towards the end of the sli

Standing there while facing towards the side in the exact same place was a duel avatar with an unexpected form

That…was Takumu!? «Cyan Pile»!?

Haruyuki unconsciouslyin astonishment

He was gigantic, no, his height wasn’t that big He was only about five centimeters taller than Takumu, as one-hundred-and-seventy-five centimeters in his first year of middle school—but even so, Silver Croas at most one-hundred-and-fifty-five, had to raise his eyes to look up at him

However,than that was how incredibly thick Cyan Pile’s entire body was

It was different fro on them like a pro-wrestler’s And that was all wrapped inbodysuit-type armor

Dark blue rough boots on the feet, and a silove on the left hand

He looked like a e was a full 180 degree reversal from the actual slender and slim Takumu

While Haruyuki was inescapably overwhelmed and stood stock still

Turning his body to the left slowly, Cyan Pile’s gaze poured straight forward at him

Cyan Pile’s head was covered by a stylish tear drop-shaped aps were opened horizontally on the face, with points facing doard vertically at the center of each slit Looking at it, it reminded one of a kendo mask

Inside one of the slits, two bluish-white eyes suddenly flashed and shi+ned sharply He slowly lifted his left leg and sto left and right with a splash

While he took another step with his left leg, Haruyuki’s eyes were drawn in by Cyan Pile’s exposed right arm What—was that!?

There was no arht arm It was connected to a pipe from the elboards

The pipe had a diath of one meter Furthermore, the sharp tip of a rod, which stuck out from an aperture on it and see and dangerous radiance

Cyan Pile’s attribute, based on the color of the are Blue» Moreover, according to Kuroyukihily close to the pure color of blue So, that sharp rod shouldn’t be a projectile weapon

But even as Haruyuki thought that, he couldn’t helpback another step

As if he was tor the stock-still slender Silver Crow, Cyan Pile took one slow step, then another down the organic metal hallway Then, his movements suddenly stopped

That s

The voice that flowed out from inside that was—darkly warped, but that was certainly the refreshi+ng voice that he had heard for so long, of his best friend Takumu

“He It’s been a while since I’ve seen it What were its attributes again?”

In the face of that carefree chatting, Haruyuki unconsciously opened his mouth

“Ta…Taku…”

SUGYAAAAAH!!

Suddenly swinging it, the steel rod of Cyan Pile’s right arm ate into the metal wall of the hallway, and unseemly tore it up Scattered s fell and dripped down onto the floor

Haruyuki gulped back down his words and cringed in fear with a ‘HIKUN!’

Fleetingly looking at his reaction, Cyan Pile continued speaking further in a cheerful voice

“As expected, it’s hard Destroying this stage may be a little difficult”

Thud He resu blue fra over him

“Haru…Haru As usual, the way you operate a virtual desktop is so fast Though all I had left to do was pull the Duel button, you broke in just before that”

“Ta…kumu…”

—So it really is you Why? Since when?

Since when on earth have you been a Burst Linker?

Before Haruyuki could give voice to the questions swirling in his chest, Cyan Pile uttered more words

“To think you would become a Burst Linker…I’m shocked Yesterday, I couldn’t keep ht that ht, Haru?”

“Ta…kumu…N…No, that’s not it That was…”

The words that Haruyuki blurted out in a hoarse voice were drowned out by the loud sound of the steel rod hitting against the wall again

“…Hoas it, Haru? How did it feel to direct connect on Chii-chan’s bed? How did it feel to hug her? How did Chii-chan’s body feel as you touched her while thinking about me?”

—That isn’t Taku it

That isn’t the Taku I know Taku wouldn’t say such things Always bright and refreshi+ng, never showing any negative feelings at all, that is Takumu

Cyan Pile was someone else Surely, he’s put a Backdoor in Taku from somewhere far away

Haruyuki desperately tried to tell himself that

But, at the same time, the presence that he had felt back then

Haruyuki was strongly aware that the presence he had felt when he had direct connected with Chiyuri and discovered the virus in her Neuro Linker, of so intently, was exactly the sa up from the blue duel avatar in front of him

And, possibly, it lances that Taku Haruyuki and Chiyuri since long ago, from the time that the three of them had been small children

“Taku…It was you”

The words that Haruyuki emitted froly that it surprised even himself

“It was you that put that virus in Chiyu’s Neuro Linker You secretly connected to Chiyu, and peeked through heras you pleased!”

“Please don’t call it a virus”

Stopping just five htly spread out his left hand in a stylishlike Takumu

“Chii-chan is irlfriend So it’s only natural that we direct connect And direct connecting is the sa your Neuro Linker to your partner Things like circu the deepest parts of one’s local ra? Haru, even you …”

Haruyuki felt that, inside the thin slits cut across Cyan Pile’s mask, there was a warped smile on the face that he couldn’t see

“Even you direct connected with Chii-chan, and secretly looked through her memory, didn’t you? What’s more, you’re not even her boyfriend either The one who took advantage of Chii-chan’s kindness and pretended to be pitiful was you, wasn’t it?”

“Th…That’s…”

“You’ve always been like that since long ago, Haru”

As Cyan Pile began to speak in a cal with a weird shape tried to pass by on the wall to the right of him

Cyan Pile lifted the giant needle of his right arhtly pierced the back of the bug with it Stopped on the wall andfuriously waved its countless legs as it tried to escape

“Always, always since long ago, you kept saying to Chii-chan, ‘Aren’t I pitiful? Aren’t I pathetic? That’s why, be kind to me Care for me more’ Even if you didn’t use words, in your behaviour, in your eyes…No, it could be seen in your existence itself”

Making a wet squishy noise, the needle sank further into the shell of the bug Grew fluid scattered around, and the virtual bug began to wriggle and struggle even more

“Girls sure are incomprehensible Compared to when she holds hands withherselfand co after you and o…Did you know? Whenever she goes anywhere, she always carries a huge toweling handkerchief For the sweaty you”

BACHA!!

And with a horrifying noise, the bug was crushed, and its dark green shell and legs scattered about along with slime

As the bug’s fluids dripped from the needle, the half-dumbfounded Haruyuki asked Cyan Pile

“That’s why…? That’s why you confessed to Chiyu two years ago? Looking like you were impatient…?”

“It wasn’t ‘like’, I was is were left as they were, Chii-chan would have tried to keep looking after you for the rest of her life, you know? Like one of those old-fashi+oned ood without me around, I’ll marry you’ —Ah, could it have been your plan to induce Chii-chan into that as well?”

‘Hahahaha’, Cyan Pile gave a seeh, but which contained a distorted echo that made one shudder

No That’s not it—

Taku after the pitiful me She was seriously worried and suffered

But, Haruyuki didn’t kno to express those thoughts in words to Taku from the surface, what Takumu said was true to some extent

Cyan Pile’s foot took another step towards the stock-still Haruyuki

“When Chii-chan chose ht that Chii-chan also finally understood That it was h hardshi+ps by looking after Haru That…was the pragmatic decision after all”

“Pragma…tic?”

“‘We can’t stay children forever’, right?”

Those were the words that Haruyuki had told Chiyuri yesterday Cyan Pile lifted the tip of his green-dyed reement

“Even Chii-chan is a girl…no, a wo a boyfriend you can boast about to your friends, a happylife is what true «happiness» is That’s why I also worked hard I studied desperately to enterevery day While you were playing worthless games and spent time fast asleep, Haru”

“You…do you seriously mean that?”

Still unable to gather his thoughts, Haruyuki cried that out almost reflexively

“Do you seriously believe that Chiyu chose you over some calculation like that!?”

“I don’t like how you call it ‘calculating’ It’s looking at everything from an impartial point of view”

‘Fufufu’, Cyan Pile laughed once again

“Chii-chan has the right to be happy The right to go out withthe first years at school and is the municipal tournament champion in kendo”

“……”

Haruyuki sharply drew in a breath, and took in even more

As I thought, this isn’t Takumu

I don’t believe, I don’t want to believe at all that this is Taku has warped him

Certainly, Haruyuki and Chiyuri were also partly to bla feelings towards Haruyuki That was also part of what drove Takumu into a wall

But—what changed Takureatly than that was, most likely

“…You’re wrong, Taku”

Haruyuki lifted up his silver ht at the sharp eyes of Cyan Pile

“The first place position, the championshi+p, those aren’t your power That’s Brain Burst’s…«accelerations»’s power Since when? Since when did you become a Burst Linker?”

For a short while, silence filled the Purgatory stage

A group of ss passed by their feet, and stea’s so the wall

Since it had started froh 200 seconds At the sait column became ‘5’, Cyan Pile spoke out

“It’s my power”

He pointed his right arht at Haruyuki

“«Acceleration» issoftware init ever since I was an infant! It’s only been a year since I became a Burst Linker The captain of my kendo club is reat expectations for uards But…”

GAGYAAAAAN!!

He greatly swung his right arraved several scars into the wall

“It’s too late!! You’ve only recently become a Burst Linker, haven’t you!? And you think you’ve become my equal with just that, Haru!? Since you have confidence in your «acceleration» power, you think you can get back Chii-chan again!? It’s no good, Haru You can’t win against s…and of course, even in this Accel World I’ll ainst that weak duel avatar of yours”

shi+NE!! Both of Cyan Pile’s eyes eht

He’s serious Takuht

Inside Haruyuki, there were still feelings like, ‘If I exhaust all my words, he’ll understand I want to explain Chiyuri’s and also ht like this’

But, if Haruyuki lost here

Cyan Pile would duel with Black Lotus again And would hunt while she’s unconscious At that instant, Kuroyukihime would lose all her points, and also lose her acceleration ability at the same time

Just that Whatever else happened, he had to prevent just that

“…Taku You certainly are a You can study, play sports, and are so cool You have all the things that I don’t have”

Looking down, Haruyuki murmured in a subdued voice

But, iht at Cyan Pile and shouted sharply

“But, you’re an idiot You’re a great big idiot!”

“…What? I’m an idiot?”

“That’s right, because you can’t win against aainst me?”

“…Haru Haru”

There was a laughvoice

“Then, right here and now…I’ll make you lose the last of your pride!!”

BANG!! Cyan Pile’s boots kicked off from the floor

With that, he shortened the two- speed that didn’t suit his huge body

But, as expected, coe of Ash Roller’s bike, it was slow

I’ll slip past him And then move to somewhere more spacious The entrance hall…no, the rooftop

Haruyuki concentrated his focus on Cyan Pile’s right hand The opponent was a close-coe of that needle, he wouldn’t receive dae

After seeing Cyan Pile’s ht arm in preparation, Haruyuki also dashed in order to escape to the opposite side of him

Silver Crow’s speed, which nearly his only redee feature, seemed to be unexpected for the opponent as well With a hint of a little surprise, the right arm drew an arc and stuck out towards Haruyuki

—I can dodge it!!

While predicting the attack trajectory, Haruyuki lowered his posture and tried to cut across right next to Cyan Pile’s left leg

GASHUN!!

At thatout

In the corner of Haruyuki’s wide-open sight, flames spouted out froht arm

Fro and thick steel needle shot out at a speed he couldn’t follow

It seeth instead of a firearh to catch Silver Crow

CLANG!! Haruyuki heard an unpleasant breaking noise go through his body

At the same time, an impact And a numb-like dull pain

Haruyuki saw the tip of the steel needle cut pierce through and cut off his arm from the left elbow

Haruyuki belatedly remembered that «pile» meant «stake»

Falling on the floor while e sparks from its end, his arments and vanished

His health gauge in the left corner of his vision also suddenly decreased by alle attack

But, Haruyuki didn’t have the tiht at the start While his posture was destroyed and he endured having his back noisily strike the hallway’s wall and falling down, Haruyuki saw the still-extended brutal steel needle—no, steel stake be stored back into Cyan Pile’s right arm

It was clear that, the instant the sake was reloaded in the launcher tube, it would fire that terrible attach attack again

Its attack attribute was »

The ainst that For it to have torn apart his arle blow despite that, was it because the place that was hit was bad, or because there was a difference of three levels between theth?

Even as he instantly considered those things, Haruyuki readjusted his posture and created distance between the far

Like that, he dashed in the direction of the entrance hall at full poithout looking back

“Hahaha! What, are you going to suddenly run away, Haru!!”

Plunging into the hall as if urged forward by that warped laughter which sounded behind his

The long benches that were lined up in the waiting space had changed into cast iron with thorns poking out of them like some ht had rusted barbed wire twined around it Naturally, there were no signs of people

And behind the counter was the thing he was looking for Elevator doors

In the «End of the Century» stage, you couldn’t enter inside the buildings and so naturally the elevators wouldn’t function either, but if it was the «Purgatory» stage where the indoor was reconstructed in such detail, it may function

Rushi+ng over to it, Haruyuki hit the skull-shaped button next to the door, which had turned into ferocious-looking iron grill bars, while praying Sure enough, with a grave ht He clutched his right hand while thinking ‘Alright!’

Fro footsteps of Cyan Pile approached moment by moment

Plunging into the prison cell-like elevator box, he slaraved with an ‘R’ Quickly, move quickly

Just as the iron grill closed with a frustratingly slow speed, soh the space of about five centi sharp tip

“…!!”

Stopping hi back at once and pressed his back against the wall

GASHUN!!

The steel stake, which was launched while pushi+ng and bending the grill a little, stopped just barely a few centimeters in front of Silver Crow’s thin abdomen

At the same time has that brutal radiance was pulled back out, the box finally shook with a clattering and the elevator began to rise

“Hahaha! Hahahahaha!!”

As that howling laughter continued to stick close froht foot down hard and tore it away

Getting out on the rooftop, Haruyuki turned his gaze around while taking a rough breath

“……”

His eyes widened unconsciously

The sky of the «Purgatory» stage was filled with a creepy yellow light, and darkish clouds were swelling up there like living creatures The surrounding streets, which should have originally been at the center of the Suguna creature-like form, and shi+ned in a slimy dark-red rusty color

The group of lance-like spires that could be seen over that way seemed to be the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office in shi+njuku and the skyscrapers that surrounded it

Just how far did this stage spread? As Haruyuki thought that, he suddenly noticed so and held his breath

There were people

No, those silhouettes were too strange to be called hus that were taller than the hospital, they looked down at Haruyuki They were unknown Burst Linkers—spectators

Why!? After a moment of astonishment, Haruyuki finally realized

Haruyuki was currently cut off from the Global Net, but the other person in this duel, Takulobally connected just before the o so far as to risk the danger letting others intrude was unknown, but in any case this stage was opened to the outside and Burst Linkers who had registered Cyan Pile and Silver Crow in their autoallery had appeared as a result

However, even if there was a gallery, there was no great difference to the situation

The light blue arrow cursor that was visible in his vision began to change direction slowly as it slightly treotten on the elevator and was heading towards the roof

Afterabout ten meters across the vast roof, Haruyuki turned around to face the elevator door In this place, there was plenty of space to dodge and evade unlike the hallway

I’ve already grasped the range of Cyan Pile’s steel stake with my body If I’ht, it should be possible to dodge it Don’t be afraid I have to do it

As Haruyuki told hi ahead of hiht

As his huge figure rubbed against the box that fully enclosed him, Cyan Pile stepped out onto the roof, and the eyes within his slits gloeakly

“…I see If it’s here, you’ll be able to use the strategy of hit-and-run by darting about, Haru…no, Silver Crow”

“And your body buildhot down there”

“Ahaha, to think you of all people would say such a thing”

While letting out deep-throated laugh, Cyan Pile slowly began to move forward

Haruyuki lowered his posture and measured the distance between them

He shouldn’t have been able to see through Silver Crow’s speed yet A chance to win lay only there Before his eyes can get accustomed to it, seize victory no matter what

Just before his heavy-looking boot took its fourth step and connected with the ground, Haruyuki kicked off the ground with all his strength

The air range in his ears with a swishi+ng sound, and he instantly got close to that huge blue figure

Cyan Pile’s right ar

—Here!!

Haruyuki unexpectedly took off froht The steel stake then shot out at ultra-high speed along with a yell It was nearly i it launch, but if you anticipate its collision path beforehand—it’s possible!

The tip of the steel stake stopped just short of Haruyuki’s left cheek as he drew an arc and circled around to Cyan Pile’s left side While feeling heat on his cheek as if it burned, Haruyuki kicked off the ground with his right leg using all his strength, and—

“U…raaah!!”

Haruyuki’s right fist drive into Cyan Pile’s virtually open flank A strong reaction The huge blue body shook

More—Keep going!!

Running after Cyan Pile’s back as his body spun and turned around, Haruyuki dashed forith another step and this tiht spin-kick into the enemy’s left calf As Cyan Pile lost his balance, Haruyuki sent a final left knee-kick to the middle of his back

BANG!! A heavy iure bent forward in a ‘く’ shape

Staggeringly roaned hatefully

“Guh…as…as expected, you really are good at games, Haru But, such weak attacks have no effect… at all!!”

WHOOSH, just barely avoiding the left fist that ung at him, Haruyuki rolled his body with that ht heel into the back of Cyan Pile’s defenseless protruding neck

“Gguuuuuh!!”

Blocking his ears to the crushi+ng scream from Takumu’s voice, Haruyuki continued his rush further

He unleashed a coht arm, but even his torn-up left arm too

Before he knew it, screa out from his own mouth as well

“You… idiot!! You great big idiot!! Chiyu!! Chiyu didn’t want for you to be first place a the first years, thelike that!!”

Ju a front kick he desperately fired as a kick-off point, Haruyuki grabbed Cyan Pile’s ainst it with all his strength

CRACK, with a breaking sound, part of the blue mask broke and fell

As Cyan Pile lost his balance and fell to the ground on his back, Haruyuki sat on top of his chest and kept repeatedly hitting with his right fist

“Chiyu only wished for you to stay as you were!! The oneher think ‘I want to return to the old days’, is you, Taku us is you!!”

Without thinking of anything, he cried out those words in a violent fury

But, just as Haruyuki’s voice resounded, both of Cyan Pile’s eyes let out a shudderingly cold and strong light beneath his fissure-like slits

“Don’t…get…”

Suddenly, both of Cyan Pile’s thick ar himself

But, Haruyuki didn’t immediately realize that this wasn’t a defensive movement

“Don’t get cockyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!”

At the saht, the sharp tips of over ten stakes rose to the surface of Cyan Pile’s bodysuit from chest to belly with a ‘HOGOGOGOGO’ noise

What!? This is bad—Dodge—

But, the instant that Haruyuki tried to kick off the ground with both legs and jump away

“—«Splash Stingeeeeeeeeer»!!”

ZUDODODODODO!!

Along with a rapid-fire sound like a heavy ht at Haruyuki froe

“Kkuooo!!”

He so towards his head and the middle of his chest However, immediately after, Haruyuki received dreadful iht knee, and was blown high up like scrapped garbage and then fell back down to the floor of the rooftop on his back

“Guh…hah…!!”

A gasp mixed with a shout was squeezed out from his throat His vision flickered, and a dull and heavy pain coursed through his whole body He couldn’t believe that this was virtual da transmitted from his Neuro Linker

What on earth—was that just now!?

As Haruyuki supported hiht arishly stood up first in front of him

“Ku…fu, fufufufufu”

As if sohter slowly leaked out from beneath Cyan Pile’s blue mask

“Kufufufu You’ve…pushed orously, haven’t you? I was just a little surprised But…after all, you are an annoying little bug It seee”

“Special…technique…”

While es in the upper part of his vision once again

Of the thick health gauges that extended left and right, Cyan Pile had 60 left He had received da Haruyuki’s rush But Haruyuki’s, due to directly receiving those blindly fired stakes just now, already had only about 30 left

And, another light green gauge extended beneath each of their health gauges

Cyan Pile’s was shi+ning clearly close to 70 In comparison, Haruyuki’s was nearly full to the tank

“Hey, hey, don’t tellabout it for the first time, Silver Crow”

While letting out ‘Kukuku’ laughter, Cyan Pile slowly began to move forward

“The exchange of special techniques is the essence of «duels» The «Splash Stinger» just noas my Level 2 special technique It’s an ideal attack for shooting down noisy little bugs, right? Oh, speaking of which, your gauge should have also built up a lot Please, by all means, use it as much as you like as well”

Haruyuki clenched his teeth hard

The only special technique provided to Silver Crow, «Headbutt», couldn’t hope to oppose Cyan Pile’s technique that had aand obvious, as though clearly saying that he was preparing to attack

…da like a special technique I have my fist, feet and speed

At the sa vision settled down, Haruyuki threw all his strength into his right leg in order to quickly stand up

But

He heard a horrible cracking noise

And a round

As he confusedly looked dohat lay in front of hi, which had been pierced by a stake shot and broke off from the knee—