Accel World Vol 4 Chapter 1 (1/2)

Chapter 1

“Wh…y?”

Haruyuki heard the cracked and crushed sound from his own throat

“Why……Chiyu?”

The cold wind of the «Purgatory» stage bleay the hollow question, and scattered it to the yellow sky above But, there was no answer Standing still on top of the school building’s roof, the bright green avatar «Lime Bell»—Kurashi+aze, and sat doith a scraping noise while grasping the roof railing with her right hand

Instead, what responded to his question was a very loarped laughter

“Fu……fu, fu”

On the ground a little ways away, the lens-like mask of the dusk-colored avatar, which had thron its li bit by bit

“Fufu…fu, a ability»…truly a miraculous power…fufu, hahaha…”

As he laughed quietly, the avatar’s severe gashes from only dozens of seconds before were healed as if they had never been, and his whole body glowed a glossy dark purple The recovery phenoht arm’s flamethrohich should have been destroyed

Haruyuki—«Silver Crow», and standing behind hiht battle on the field of Ued to crush the dusk avatar «Dusk Taker» Both of his arms had been blow off in an aerial battle with Haruyuki and had been pierced to the ground by Takuo le ordinary attack

However, the one who interrupted that was Li from on top of the roof

As soon as he rapped in a shower of light eht arm just now, Dusk Taker’s HP had radically recovered, and even his right side was brilliantly glowing now

“Why…Why, Chiyu!!”

Haruyuki looked up at the school building again, and screa his throat

Dusk Taker was the enemy The first year student who controlled that avatar, Nouh he possessed «Brain Burst», and licentiously used his acceleration ability in kendo matches and real tests

Not stopping there, he even cornered Haruyuki to just before the point of school expulsion by setting a trap, and had taken away Silver Croings in ahis special technique «De up his heart that had been co a neer at the end of a long struggle, Haruyuki hadtorn up in the process

Now pushed past the edge of confusion, Haruyuki could do nothing but widen his eyes beneath his silver face and stare at Lime Bell

Chiyuri didn’t try to say anything, and just kept clenching the roof fence and hiding her face beneath the brie hat

As soon as he saw her delicate shoulders tre—

—Why? It’s obvious

—Nou today’s lunch break, and demanded that she obey hie of some weakness and threatened her That was the only possibility

As Haruyuki’s gaze turned back, while creakily laughing even further as he res on his back fully

The wings that seeh darkness struck the air slowly, and the slender avatar gradually stood up as if pulled by an invisible thread

“Fufufu…ku, kukukuku…”

The volu voice increased very fast Inside his visor which had similar luster to the compound eyes of an insect, two reddish-purple eyes blinked intensely

“Kuku, ha, hahaha «Flying ability» And «healing ability» These two incredibly rare powers…are now both mine…”

Now co up, the avatar stopped and sietically opening up his regenerated arers towards the sky A dusky-dark aura rushed out like mucus from those hands

“Aah…What a wonderful feeling! This pleasant feeling of robbing! This al on someone’s dreams, their hopes, their potential…it’s just so irresistible…!!”

That ugly joy co boy spread across the field as a physical pressure, and shook Haruyuki’s badly-bruised avatar

But, without being conscious of that, Haruyuki squeezed out a voice covered in the noise of various feelings from beneath his helmet

“……Y, ou”

He took a single step toward the dusk-colored avatar that was floating at a slightly high place

“Noumi…what did you do? What did you do to Chiyu?”

Hearing that, Dusk Taker slowly moved his face and looked down at Haruyuki

Within that half-gross spherical surface, his two thin eyes slowly blinked once, and—

He formed a smile filled with the most venomous ridicule in silence

Haruyuki’s sight was suddenly dyed in the color of blood All his confused feelings converged onto a single needle-like point That is, onto overwhel hatred for Noumi Seiji

“Nou…mi…”

Whileright hand’s fingers into the shape of a sword A high resonance ‘IIIIIIIN’ sound caertips

As if the swirling hatred had becoe, the light was quite unstable Without caring about that, Haruyuki greatly brandished his right arm and tried to slice it towards Dusk Taker

But, an instant earlier

“U…aaaaa!!”

Along a cry that seemed to vomit blood, there was a blue shadohich passed by Haruyuki froht

It was Cyan Pile His ar sht-class avatar rushed forhile unleashi+ng a ruround

“You made Chii-chan…cryyyyyyyyyyyyy!!”

Takumu, who never lost his calm at any kind of time and should have been the one who held back Haruyuki’s ra like a little kid

Even in the face of the raging heavy tank-like charge, Dusk Taker didn’t try to move away even a little

He slowly raised his slender right hand and fully opened out his five sharp fingers At the same time, he spat out a short sentence

“Disappear already”

BYUAAA!! Along with a different vibrating sound, his right hand rapped in a glistening purple wave of nothingness It soon changed shape, and claws, no, sickles extended out longer and longer froers

The five sickles casually wrapped around Cyan Pile’s huge body fro long claws touched both sides of Cyan Pile’s neck, his right side, his left shoulder and his left side, and then—

Iether without any resistance

“……!!”

Before the eyes of the silently gasping Haruyuki, the upper body of the blue heavy weight-class avatar was split into several parts

His head and ar around after brushi+ng against Dusk Taker’s body Finally, his still charging lower body fell doith a grave sound

Following a slight tie only after the phenoe suddenly began to decrease Changing to yellow as it reduced to half and dying red when it reached the re in width, and then—

Reached zero

The wreckage of the cut-apart avatar scattered into pieces of bluish-white polygons and disappeared Before Haruyuki’s eyes, a syste that Dusk Taker had destroyed Cyan Pile appeared

“……Ku…ku, ku, fu, ha”

Mincing laugher dripped out from the dusk-colored avatar’s mouth

“The ones known as loser…are always so co to adle in an unseemly manner and in the end have even the last of their pride taken away Though I thought Mayuzuent-type, he completely disappointed me Well, after all, even with a brain, he has that muscular macho avatar, kukuku, fufu, hahahahaha!!”

Radiating a pronounced dark aura frohed hysterically

While being bathed in that voice, Haruyuki stared at the spot where Takuo, and then looked at Chiyuri, as still crouching small on the roof of the school

Standing stock-still, the sword of silver light on his right hand flickered little by little and then vanished

He hadn’t lost his fighting spirit It was the opposite Like a blazing flah the inside of his avatar, and was disturbing Haruyuki’s mental concentration

Hate He wanted to destroy He wanted to smash up the duel avatar called Dusk Taker—no, the ed inside it, to mince it apart, to tear it into shreds and trample over it

The world already wasn’t a virtual gae were exchanged back and forth

Until now, in every ga «Brain Burst», Haruyuki, while feeling frustration towards enemies who defeated him, had felt no hatred towards the real-life players who controlled those avatars

But, right noas different The teh the blood vessels of his entire body easily exceeded that of frustration

——Then, destroy

Suddenly, soht behind him

——Destroy, eat Devour his flesh, drain his blood, steal everything from him

It was a familiar voice Haruyuki had definitely heard that warped low voice that was mixed with a metallic overtone at some point, somewhere

But, before he could trace theinto him formed in the center of his back It pierced deeply between his shoulder blades, penetrated all the way to Haruyuki’s heart, and froh his entire body

The chilling hunger fused together with his burning hate, and at that instant—

His vision squeezed and contracted to the center

The gold-green ground of the Purgatory field, the school building with an organis her head on the roof, it all disappeared into the swaying darkness The only thing he saas the still high-pitched laughing Dusk Taker

“Nou……mi”

A moan with the same metallic effect as the voice he had heard before leaked out from Haruyuki’s throat

“Noumi…You…you……”

All of his raging feelings flowed into the tip of his reht hand as if pulled there

In order to activate the «Incarnate Systee control systeraame, absurdly deep concentration was needed In truth, the «sword of light» that was given form due to Haruyuki’s mind had vanished the instant he was seized with hatred towards Noumi

In spite of that

Suddenly, a very long sword extended out frorave ‘ZUAAA!’ vibrating sound

However, its color wasn’t the clear white of earlier

As if drawing in and drowning out all light, a jet-black sword It had a far deeper color of hungry darkness than the dark purple needles that Noumi had formed

“……Hmm?”

Noticing Silver Crow’s unusual phenoave a short mutter

“Oya…Do you still intend to do so, Arita-senpai? Do you intend to follow your cohtly behavior?”

Haruyuki had no hts and feelings being sucked into his right hand’s sword Besides that, the only thing that existed in him was the extreme impulse that only wanted to destroy the enemy in front of him into minced pieces

——That’s right Eat Devour

The brutal voice whispered in the center of his head

As if urged on by that, he took a step forith his right foot

Iely

“U…oaaaaa!!”

While howling, he raised the dark sword in his right hand high above his head He placed the speed of his charge, the entire weight of his avatar, and all of his raging hatred into the sword edge, and ai Dusk Taker

It should have been impossible for the kendo player Noumi to not avoid the direct slash from Haruyuki who had no plan But, the purple avatar didn’t try to move even a little from where he was, and like he did to Cyan Pile, tried to catch the black blade with only his opened right hand