Accel World Vol 1 Chapter 8 (2/2)

“Aha, ahahahahaha!!”

Cyan Pile’s piercing loud laughter

“Your leg caile!! And yet you’re a metal-color!?”

That voice didn’t reach Haruyuki’s consciousness

damn it damn it!!

Without , even justis unreliable

The creeping signs of panic quickly chilled the bottom of his body

This is bad I can’t lose here I have to protect senpai no matter what

THUD

A boot stepped down on Haruyuki’s torn-off leg and shattered it like glass

As Haru looked up, two bluish-white eyes narrowed quietly

“…In the end, this is how you are, Haru”

A faint whispery voice

“Being like that suits you Though, you really said whatever you wanted to say earlier, didn’t you? As if only you understand Chii-chan?”

“…I do, at the very least more than you”

“Then, what about ether just the two of us, she’d suddenly show a sorrowful face…When I know that it was because she was thinking about you, did you consider s, Haru?”

Mo his face closer, Cyan Pile—Takumu spoke the decisive words

“Because you’re like that”

It was a tone that even seeentle in some way, but those words pierced Haruyuki’s chest far iant steel stake

“Because you’re like that, me and Chii-chan are held back by you, as if we’ve fallen into a et back out Just disappear already, Haru And free me and Chii-chan”

THUD

This ti with the sole of his foot

Eht hand’s launcher tube up high, Cyan Pile drew a co from the launcher tube to his shoulder rapped in a vivid blue light

Suddenly, the launcher inal thickness

Sticking out froe hammer

The striking edge of the hammer was suddenly pointed at Haruyuki, who couldn’t even consideranymore

“Now then—Let’s end it Haru Everything”

This battle, and our pretend friendshi+p Cyan Pile’s eyes said that

Iht

“—«Spiral Gravity Driver»!!”

GYUAAAA!!

As the ha , Haruyuki desperately tried to avoid it But his leg was being steadily held by the foot, and he couldn’t escape Iiant steel

An instruh-pitch screech fro s crushed

Without being able to even cry out, Haruyuki was knocked through the floor and crashed into the hospital floor of next floor below

But the ha into both Haruyuki and the floor, and then—

BOGOH! BOGON! BOGOAH!!

Whileafter going through all five floors of the hospital and eround of the first floor

CHIKA CHIKA

So red flickered within the darkness in the upper left corner of his vision

It took several seconds for Haruyuki to realize it was his health gauge, which had decreased to less than 10

As if regretting that it couldn’t finish shaving off the gauge, the tip of Cyan Pile’s hah it started spinning in the opposite direction and returned back up

After the hammer left while rubble clattered dohat re up to the distant rooftop From inside that hole, Cyan Pile’s voice resounded faintly

“Ah, there’s still a little left Well, it’s fine, there’s only five or six o look for hi blow Besides, I still have to have to challenge the true «final boss» after this —Now then!”

The tone of his voice changed It sounded boastful—or so

“Did you see that, ladies and gentleion in particular!! I’ht properly even in the «Unlimited Field» above this! It’s a waste to throw ht!?”

Taku—Takumu…You…

While rolling over like a broken doll at the bottoo down his cheeks It was tears But, he didn’t understand very hat he was crying over

Probably, the tears were flowing because soed without his noticing

Even thought it was a battle he couldn’t lose Even though he had to absolutely win, for Haruyuki’s own sake, for Chiyuri’s sake, for Takumu’s sake—and for Kuroyukihime’s sake

While holding that pain of huge regret, Haruyuki slowly raised his body Fragments of cracked armor spilled froround

There was noup anymore In order to accept this decisive defeat and return to his previous self before he knew about Brain Burst, Haruyuki held his knees where he lay and tried to wait just for the moment when the time count reached zero

He began closing his eyes—just before he did that

In the corner of the dimly-lit room

That person’s fored like an illusion

There was a bed braided with thorns

Encircled by countless jet-black petals in full bloo down on it

A dress blacker than darkness Silver frills A parasol placed beside her And, spread-out beautiful black hair, and skin shi+ning whiter than snow in the di eyelashes were quietly turned down

A?

While thinking that, Haruyuki dragged along his severed right leg and slowly, slowly approached the thorny bed But, no ns of Kuroyukihi

After propping his right hand on the edge of the bed as if falling down on it, Haruyuki finally realized

Here, this place is themedical treatment

And Kuroyukihime was connected to the hospital’s network So, as soon as Haruyuki began an accelerated duel, automatic-spectator e

“…Senpai”

Whilein a hoarse voice, Haruyuki extended his worn-out right hand and gently touched Kuroyukihime’s cheek

Words gushed out of him one after another as if a dam had broken At the same time, his tears also returned

“I…I couldn’t protect you I couldn’t protect your dream, your wish I couldn’t respond to your expectations”

A tear, dripping from a crack of his half-broken helmet, fell down onto Kuroyukihime’s cheek, and then scattered into a miniscule blaze and vanished

“‘I can change’…that’s what I thought I can change through your words, your kindness, and your feelings…But, it’s useless It’s not my avatar’s fault…probably, this avatar was created as the enation» The reasons that this, that Silver Croasat the sky and only facing the botto”

Haruyuki softly turned over his body, and clung to the tip of Kuroyukihime’s shoulder

“I wanted to go there To the place where you were…To that distant and high sky, where you easily flapped your wing Higher…faster…escaping this bog-like reality…together with you…”

With a sob, Haruyuki squeezed out the last words

“I wanted, to fly”

—TOKUN

At that ti to his voice, a faint sound was heard

TOKUN TOKUN

The source of the sound was Kuroyukihi on top of A rhyth, but certainly ticked away in the center of her chest A heartbeat

Right noithin acceleration, it was i of a heart in reality But it was impossible that it was an auditory hallucination Desperately straining his ears and listening, Haruyuki suddenly understood

This was a sound being issued froht now, Kuroyukihie of life and death, she was desperately resisting in order to hold on That strong will had beco in the virtual battlefield

“…That’s right…”

Haruyukihot Inside his ears, he faintly heard the words Kuroyukihiain

—The

I didn’t know theit, I siave up

“Strength is about si»…”

Even if I’htly Even if I look ridiculous Even if I around, and am covered with mud

Kuroyukihi a life-and-death battle with the other Kings, held her breath and continued staying hidden in a small network But, that wasn’t because she was cowardly, or afraid It’s because she never gave up Because she never looked down

“…To si towards the sky even after falling down…that is the only proof of strength Isn’t that right…senpai?”

There was no response

But, Haruyuki clearly felt a powerful beating being born deep within his own chest as well

His heart’s pulse becanal and was transmitted to his brain

And then once more, the soul, the will, the spirit that confronts adversity accelerated

As long as there was this beating in his chest—

“I can still stand…I can still fight!”

Haruyuki cried that out to himself, and to Kuroyukihime

He grasped the edge of the bed with his right hand, threw all his strength into his left leg, and stood up while staggering

Minute frag But, the beat that had been born from his chest flowed heat all the way to his wounded limbs, and trembled intensely

Suddenly—

Intense white light was emitted from the many cracks in his armor

At the sa of blowing away came on him Haruyuki opened his eyes wide and bent his body backwards as he threw back his head

There was a big mirror on a wall that was a short distance away in front of hiic mirror that connected with the ht now, like the bed, it had changed into a huge full-length es

In theon the bed of thorns, and of hi up was reflected

His entire body’s ar were torn off fro across it The cracks also reached to his back, and a cracking sound seemed to be resounded from there Every time a thin spark ran out, small pieces of broken armor scattered about, and—

“……!?”

Du things started extending out slowly, slowly froht side of his back

They see and thin pieces of metal Swords—?

The instant he thought that, the two extendingnoise and spread out like a semi-circle Nearly ten thin folded-up metal fins also respectively unfolded from the tip of the first sword-like protuberance

These—weren’t weapons, but…

——Wings

Haruyuki remained dumbstruck for less than one second

Hot!!

Feeling a terrible heat along his entire back, Haruyuki raised his body as if to repel it

He staggered back several steps on his knees while writhing, and shrunk his s his shoulder with his arm

Rather than hot tey was crao somewhere

“——!!”

It’s no good I can’t hold it down any longer

As he bent his body like a bow and faced above, ahead of Haruyuki’s gaze was—

He saw the huge hole that had been drilled through the building by his body only tens of seconds ago And also a sht that looked isolated on the other side of that black and deep hole A corridor leading to the far away sky

It’s calling me

Moving unconsciously, Haruyuki raised his broken left arht ar at the tip of his shoulder blades suddenly increase in density and compress

After returning his gaze just for a ht of the stretched-out form of his beloved person

Haruyuki fixed his gaze above once again

“——Goooooooooooo!!”

He stuck out his right ar with that shout

DOOO!!

Along like an explosion-like ih the darkness

In an instant, Haruyuki’s entire body flew straight up like a fired arrow

GOH, GOGOGOH…

Each time he passed by one of the hospital’s floors, the air twisted in his ears

Going through the dark corridor in just a few seconds, the silver avatar flew out froher and higher The h-speed That energy accelerated his s off the virtual gravity and persistently, persistently pushi+ng Haruyuki upwards

I black clouds drew near in front of him

The instant he touched the thick cluster with his raised right fist, the clouds were pushed away like mere coins with a loud whoosh

After having gone through and moreover ascended out of a black tunnel, a pale yellow and dazzling light filled Haruyuki’s vision

Ih that sea of clouds, Haruyuki expanded both his arh-pitched vibrating sound lowered in pitch, and a soft floating sensation like when an airplane has finished taking off came upon him

While gently hovering, Haruyuki spun his body around

“…Aah…”

Unconsciously, he leaked out a voice mixed with a breath

A view beyond iination was spread out beneath his eyes From the breaks in the sea of clouds that flowed and swelled, he could see an unbroken view the huge dull-colored city that continued on as far as the eye could see The shi+njuku urban center which had changed into leaning spires was there, and a deep forest was over there, and the building that looked like a towering ic fortress was perhaps the Imperial Palace

When he looked in the other direction, streets that continued froinami to Mitaka to Hachiouji[1] extended out as far as he could see, and over there were the h peak next to theh the sea of clouds was probably Mt Fuji

Finally looking to the south, Haruyuki caught sight of a grey level surface that shone brilliantly

The sea The Tokyo Bay And—the Pacific Ocean, which spread on endlessly

Infinite

“This world…is infinite…”

While an to descend

Sinking back through the clouds froh to the bottoround

Once he had descended to a height where he could start seeing the details of the streets below, he ain, and hovered once more

Just thirty ained his posture, was the roof of the hospital

That battlefield that he had thought so large and wide now looked small, as if he could pick it up with his hands And the for hole in the center and looking up towards him, was still there as well

Cyan Pile gazed up at Haru for nearly a full three seconds, as if his soul had fallen out

He weakly raised his left hand, and leaked out a hoarse voice

“Ha…Haru…”

But those words were erased by the loud commotion that suddenly arose

Voices The gallery people, that stood on the roofs of the buildings surrounding the hospital and watched the duel between Silver Crow and Cyan Pile, all simultaneously raised their voices in a squall

“He isn’t…he isn’t falling!? He’s completely stationary!!”

“It isn’t a ju!? No way!?”

“A «Flight Ability»…it’s finally appeared Look at those wings!! That’s a «Flight-type Avatar»!!”

Haruyuki didn’t understand why the gallery was in such a cla the the duel avatars caher positions, while others drove their finger to their consoles

“There’s no data on hi to…who’s his «Parent»!?”

“F-For now, let’s contact headquarters! You, log out and go tell them!!”

“Don’t joke around! As if I’ to miss what happens next!!”

What calmed down this uproar that was like a prodded beehive—was a terrible shout that was suddenly released

“Oo…Oooooooooh!!”

Spreading his ars, Cyan Pile bellowed The tremor that rocked the atmosphere like an electric shock reached even Haruyuki far up in the sky

“No!! Nononononooooooooo!!”

As it ht arht at Haruyuki

“Don’t!! Don’t you!! Look down on meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!”

A screa up blood

At the sa resounded, and the loaded steel stake scattered out ht

As Cyan Pile struck a stance of spreading out both legs, dropping his waist and supporting the launcher tube with his left hand, the ree suddenly vanished with a jerk

As Cyan Pile aimed as likely his final attack technique at hi in place and clenched his fist hard

Haruyuki now finally realized the true «special techniques» that was giving to him

«Punch» And «Kick»

At the same time as those were normal techniques, there were also special super-attacks

Greatly drawing back his clenched fist, Haruyuki fully expanded all his fins and changed his body’s direction Straight towards Cyan Pile beneath his eyes

“Fa…aaaall, dooooooown!! «Lightning Cyan Spike»!!”

At the same time as Cyan Pile screaed into a long beaht arm

Facing it, Haruyuki released all the propulsive power of both his wings while preparing just a punch

“Uu…ooooooooo!!”

DOGOOO!!

As if igniting a rocket engine, Silver Crow’s body charged forward as a bullet of light

In the left-hand corner of his sight, the green special technique gauge quickly began to decrease At the saht fist endlessly increased its radiance

“Haruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!”

Takumu cried out

“Taku——————!!”

Haruyuki also cried out

KIIIIIIIIIIIN!!

A «hyper-acceleration» beyond the acceleration of Brain Burst surged from his back and wrapped around Haruyuki

The color of the world changed

Haruyuki certainly saw Cyan Pile’s blue lance rushi+ng up frole tipped point Its predicted trajectory stood out like an illusion in his vision

The speed of Haruyuki’s mind surpassed the speed of the attack that was certainly like the lightning the technique was named for This was the power of a true «accelerated person» that Kuroyukihime found and believed in

I can see it…I can see it, senpai!!

Haruyuki shouted that out in his thoughts

The speed of the lance fell

In comparison, Silver Crow’s speed increased endlessly, as if he had becoht itself

Both of them closed in and blended—in that instant, Haruyuki slide his charging trajectory a little to the right

ZASHUUU!!

The lance grazed the left side of his helh and scattered fierce sparks

Immediately after

Haruyuki’s «Punch» deeply, deeply went through the center of Cyan Pile’s chest

Along with a roaring ‘SUGAAA!!’ sound, their two bodies were blown off together while carving a deep rut in the roof’s floor

They crashed into the steel fence of the roof, s out into the open air

“…Oooh!!”

Haruyuki cried out and made his metallic fins flap

The intense and powerful lifting porapped around his entire body While eht arm all the way into Cyan Pile’s body, Haruyuki pointed his trajectory upwards and rose higher, higher

He pierced through the sea of clouds in several seconds and flew out into the yellow sky

After he reduced acceleration and shi+fted to hovering, Cyan Pile, who seemed to have lost consciousness at thenoise under his mask from where it lay on top of Haruyuki’s shoulder

“Go…fuh…”

After his huge figure quivered for a bit, he raised his head

Iry voice of resentment until now seemed like a lie

“U…wah…!? F…fly…ing…!?”

While shaking his ht, he cried out further

“Stop it, Haru…! D…Don’t drop me!! If I fall now…I’ll l-lose…”

Both of their health gauges were dyed deep red together, and their width had decreased to the point of being thing like a thread Cyan Pile’s entire body was still froed his voice to a tone of begging

“If…if I lose…if I lose against to a Level 1 like you, my points will become zero…but it’s fine for you, you’ll only lose 4 or 5 points anyhow! Please, please surrender here, Haru! I can’t lose Brain Burst now!!”

“Taku…Takumu…”

While ht fist that was still pierced through Cyan Pile

What—What are you saying after all this time!! You tried to take away all of Kuroyukihime’s points…You tried to erase that person’s Brain Burst, and her one and only wish!+

Right noith just the sle, he could deprive Cyan Pile’s huge body of support and round far below Takumu would lose about 40 points and at the same time have Brain Burst forcefully uninstalled And then—he wouldn’t be able to attack Kuroyukihiain

Haruyuki gritted his teeth to the point of breaking them

His whole body tree passed from his head to his toes and left him

The voice he pushed out from the space between his clenched teeth was cracked, as if it wasn’t from himself

“…Do you acknowledge it, Taku?”

“……W-What…?”

“You can never win against e that, Taku!!”

An instant of silence

The words that were returned through the body glued to hi had collapsed

“……Yeah That’s true…As expected, I can’t win against you Just like in the various gaether in the past…”

Haruyuki inhaled deeply, and then exhaled Then, he spoke in the same quiet voice

“Then…me and you are the same”

“…!? W-What……?”

“In the real world, I can never win against you But, in this world, you can’t win against me We are the same That’s why…that’s why”

Pausing in his speech, Haruyuki looked at the bluish-white eyes within Cyan Pile’s mask, and then continued

“That’s why…becoht as that person’s subordinate from now on”

Takuasped sharply After a short ti voice leaked from beneath his thin slits

“…Don’t be stupid, Haru, you should knoell Your parent…«Black Lotus», who tries to hide and hunt the legion I belong to as well, is Accel World’s biggest traitor! In other words…to fight together with her would mean…”

“That’s right We would have to beat the «Six Kings of Pure Color» That’s nothing to feel frightened about Let ame essentially is”

After Haruyuki declared that, Taku silence

The words he let out several seconds later seeed with a self-derisive smile

“…Haru, do you still believe in me? Even if I say yes here, do you intend to believe in my words without any basis at this late hour? The words of ion, broke the rules of Brain Burst, and betrayed my only two friends?”

“After this, the two of us will tell Chiyu everything”

As Haruyuki immediately retorted back, Takumu let out an astonished breath for the nth time today

“Eh…!?”

“About Brain Burst, about our battle, and also…about the feelings you and I kept hiding, we’ll confess it all to her”

Haruyuki turned his gaze towards the sky that continued on far away into infinity, and slowly spoke

“We probably have to start fros we shouldn’t have hidden We doubted the things we shouldn’t have doubted We have to start over…from somewhere”

“……Start over…do you really think that, Haru? I…I, to Chii-chan’s Neuro Linker…”

As Takuhtly with his broken left arm

“She’s be e…but in the end, she’ll forgive, if it’s her”

Haruyuki said that with a laugh in his voice as they slowly began to descend

Returning to the roof and freeing hiered back several steps and then sat on the floor with a thud

Haruyuki briefly confir ti duel would end

Just in case he clicked on the gauges to confir health had both the exact same numerical value If the time ran out like this, t