Accel World Vol 6 Chapter 6 (1/2)

Chapter 6

Like a e that vanishes without a trace, the warht on by thehis body took its place

Under his duel avatar’s mirrored helmet, Haruyuki excitedly opened both his eyes No matter how many tie setting

However this tie that lance at the fire-red sunset with cool wind rustling the sea of golden grass, Haruyuki confire, and immediately turned around

Just as the object of his immense curiosity – the duel avatar shi+nomiya Utai controls – came into his vision, and in that instant, Haruyuki inhaled sharply

As Haruyuki had expected, her body was small, yet it possessed a thickness that couldn’t be called ‘s shi+elds draped from both her hands, and the layer of protective skirt armour she wore, which covers from her upper waist to her feet and widens at the bottoether practically looks like a set of white clothes with a red skirt – rese olden japanese apparel

But the deepest impression this duel avatar made was that its upper and lower halves were of completely different colours

The colour of her torso and arms are a moist, watery pale white, very si arh purity in contrast It’s coeneration Red King, nor does it elicit the transparency of Scarlet Rain, the second generation King This particular colour, co– it should be called «Vermilion»

The head bears an astounding resee-like armour plates are covered by a whitehead of hair extends from the back of her head Combined with her skirt and eye lenses dyed in the same vermilion colour, it was both cute and yet appears fir

Haruyuki has never seen such an avatar with two colours separated like this Silver Crow’s body was coloured entirely silver, of course, and this too was the case for the legionnaires of Nega Nebulas who all possess a single colour Even though there are duel avatars that do have more than two colours, they were different shades of the same colour, as ‘the duel avatar’s colour name = duel avatar’s affinity = the colour of its body’ Since the colour name of a duel avatar’s na expressed– or that’s how it should be

But before Haruyuki’s eyes, the lower half of Utai’s slender and elegant avatar is very close to the «Red of ranged Combat», while the upper half similarly is dyed in the «White of Special Character» What colour naht then possibly encompass both colours despite their clearly dissimilar properties?

Haruyuki becaaze, captivated by the powerful attraction of the japanese-style avatar, and looked away to the two Health Gauges in the upper left corner of his vision He focused on the nae:

[Ardor Maiden] This is the name of shi+nomiya Utai’s avatar

Maiden can be understood and interpreted as ‘young woman’ There’s no other name besides this that fits Utai better

But the crucial point is the colour word, the English word ardor, which Haruyuki momentarily couldn’t translate Had this been the real world, a translation bubble would be called up just by focusing on the word in question Regrettably, no such function exists in Brain Burst Even if he feels that he has colish materials up until 2nd year middle school level at least definitely did not cover this word

Asking Utai for theoff-topic, so Haruyuki could only give up and check his tag partner’s Level It was Level 7– as expected, considerably high

Haruyuki spent another three seconds to finish gathering his infor:

“Then…then, please take care of me I won’t disappoint you”

Raising his head after speaking, he suddenly realised there was a problem Brain Burst does not provide auto functions How on earth would they coe? Eye contact?

Immediately afterwards, Utai replied in such a way that made Haruyuki doubt his eyes– or rather, his ears:

“Take care of me too1 And Kuu-san, there is no need to speak so politely all of a sudden”

–Kuu-san? Is this referring to me? Is this ‘kuu2‘ from ‘crow?’

No, this is not the question I definitely didn’t mishear– she actually spoke The mouth parts of Utai’s duel avatar’s mask had definitely

“May…maymay I ask? shi+shi+…shi+…no, um, how should I address you…”

“Anything besides ‘Denden’ is fine Previously, I was called by ‘Mei'”

–is it the first half of ‘Maiden?’ No, this still isn’t the i now

“…then, then…Mei-san, this…just now, you…spoke…”

Extremely shocked, Haruyuki’s words were more than a little rash, but Utai didn’t seem to mind and nodded:

“IAcceleration You could say that it’s the only reason why I continue to come to this world”

Her voice see tenacity underneath its innocent and pure tone While Haruyuki’s poor speaking skills is a perfect reflection of his real self, Utai appears overwhelly smooth with a rich inflection to her words; every word can be heard clearly as though she has taken speaking classes

“But…but, to talk in this world, isn’t the theory that speech signals originate froht and the Neuro Linker processes them…?”

“I myself am not so sure of the specifics But in the past, Black Lotus said that this is because the depth of quantum consciousness connection is never the same for everyone”

“Oh, oh…I don’t understand either…”

Tilting his head to the side in deep thought, Haruyuki returned to closely exa the entirety of Utai’s avatar

Page 171

Exquisite as the combination of pure white and vermilion was, the japanese-style apparel, a white shi+rt and red skirt, al captured No– perhaps there’s a reason for this appearance The arrangement of these colours and this appearance reminded him of a certain event in the real world He re that it was before his parents divorced, and the three of theether for New Year’s…

“Kuu-san, I don’t mind even if you stare at me all day…”

“…and there, ent to a huge shrine…to pray for New Year’s…”

“I wouldn’t mind if you want to come pray in June for New Year either…”

“After praying, then ent for a divination…and then I re ‘Greatly Inauspicious’…”

“But the Guide Cursor has beennonstop till now”

“It ritten on the top that reatly suffer…wait, what?”

When Utai’s words finally reached his consciousness, Haruyuki hurriedly looked at the dull blue cursor in the center of his vision Indeed, the cursor was circling froht speedily, and the opponents were surely were the arrow pointed

This picturesque grassland after all is a battleground provided by Brain Burst, not a virtual space to chit-chat

“No good…they’ve gotten a lot closer!”

Quickly grasping the situation, Haruyuki checked on the opposing tag teaht corner of his vision

One of theionnaire whom Haruyuki has never seen before

However, he was quite surprised upon checking the other name

It’s «Bush Utan» A Level 3, he’s also a Green Legionnaire whom Haruyuki has battled nuina tea Bro,’ the motorcycle rider Ash Roller

Despite his h he teamed up with his pal to battle s of uneasiness aside There was aby the Guide Cursor, the eneically the battling will begin soon, but–

“…where are they?”

Tiptoeing, Haruyuki desperately scanned in the direction of the Cursor, but all he could see was the absurdly tall grass being blown by the wind Not even the silhouettes of the opponents’ avatar could be seen They surely should be keeping a low profile as though swirass

While Haruyuki looked all around, Utai softly spoke to him:

“Kuu-san, it seems that the opponents have split theuards I will take care of the rear and leave the front to you Please let th”

She leisurely walked towards the back after saying that

From Utai’s manner of speech before the battle, she should be related to Kuroyukihime’s «Disaster Armour Purification Plan» for her, a rural resident, to even appear before Haruyuki And it is al on whether to take part or not based on the outcome of this battle

As such, a ful victory should be desired; a quick win is out of the question But it is useless to talk about winning when the enemy can’t be found at this very moment Fro closer in a spiral pattern, he will soon approach within 10 metres of Haruyuki,and at that point the Guide Cursor will vanish With increasing desperation, he searched high and low for his opponent to no avail, unable to distinguish between the occasional rustling of the wind and the sound of an opponent’s footsteps

–that’s right, listen!

He abruptly shut his eyes and directed all his concentration to his ears He needs to listen for the difference in sounds when an opponent trarass and leaves when the wind blows There’s a minute difference within the two that should be heard

Two seconds later

“…there’s absolutely nothing!”

Feeling extreain No matter how he listens, there see from all directions Usually there will be small differences between the two players, but to perceive this aural difference

His eyes and ears are useless in this situation Haruyuki ht be able to find the opponent if he was able to fly with his wings, but his Special Gauge is still es

On the edge of grinding his teeth in worry, the Guide Cursor in Haruyuki’s vision finally disappeared Strictly speaking, there is still one more Cursor, albeit pale-coloured, but it points towards the rear vanguard opponent instead, and as such is irrelevant to the circumstances

He doesn’t know if the front vanguard is Bush Utan or Olive Glove, but that guy, having co for an opportunity to strike and dish out the punishment to Silver Crow Of course, Haruyuki could sirass, but doing so will sacrifice the biggest advantage of Silver Crow: it’s speed And in doing so, the duel will becoround

Had this been a regular battle, Haruyuki would have abandoned all thoughts by this time; make preparations beforehand to attack the weak spots, steadily fill his Special Gauge, and bet on aerial coht onwards This could be said to be the default fighting style of Haruyuki It’s because Silver Crow is not very durable and its attack range is short, therefore it isn’t suited for grappling coes while not flying–

Because that’s what he has always believed in his heart

But, shi+noth

This true strength could be said as «One’s true power» And as for ‘true,’ it would mean that no reservation nor excuse is acceptable Most importantly, this battle definitely has a direct connection to the success or failure of the «Purification Plan»

–is there no way out anymore? Have I no cards left to deal with this situation?

As he wondered, a thought seemed to flash in his heart

What if it’s her? Even if the Black King, Black Lotus, is only strong in close-quarters combat, ould she do if in the same situation as Haruyuki? Of course she wouldn’t be frantically looking around like he is; she’d definitely stay in that one spot leisurely until the ene on that one instant to counter Indeed, she’d do this Since the ene in the grass the instant he strikes

Naturally, Haruyuki will be the one slower to react in this course of action He can’t pre-emptively strike even if he sees the enemy But in the Direct Connect duel last week, she told him that a skill to switch from defense to offense exists He can’t replicate it exactly, but even if he tries and fails, it’s a hundred ti there

Releasing his entire body, Haruyuki half-closed his eyes

The i last week’s duel appears in his mind

Silver Crow’s fastest, ht-hand punch was still slow in co had intercepted it Her movement was not so much fast as it ithout excessthe ene its vector to push it away This technique as na is «Soft Act», or also known as «Guard Reversal3»

A high-pitched RIIIN sound can be heard in his consciousness, blotting out all sound in the background even though he’s keeping perfectly still This is the Accelerated Sense, which Haruyuki only experiences after surpassing a certain level of concentration, although this is his first ti still in such a relaxed state

After an indeterminable amount of time, Haruyuki finally felt the direction of the opponent’s first strike; not by seeing nor hearing, but by the slight tremors of footsteps

–the back-right!

Haruyuki turned his body and raised his right hand sied froreen avatar that blended into the surroundings: Bush Utan

His mask resembles that of a primate His body is hunched over with s and thick It would seerass, but instead depended on his h, which explained the lack of the sound of footsteps

There is a distinct advantage for the short-statured in this kind of terrain To Haruyuki, this first strike is a surprise attack By the tiht fist is no more than ten centimetres away fro is less than ideal, it’s ie this hit

“–hohh!”

Certain that his first hit would connect, Utan gave a loud shout Withouta sound, Haruyuki intercepted the enemy’s fist with his open palm

The blazing power froht hook was transferred to the palm In this moment, any attempt to withstand and block would certainly end with the ar the brunt of the strike Rather than doggedly resisting, it is to adjust one’s moveth but to change his vector The key point is a «Circular ame daily in the past: the speed of the ball will rise infinitely if power hits are always used to return it, so it beca the racket’s face in a circular ‘wrapping’ motion

Recalling the action, Haruyuki twisted his opponent’s fist in an anti-clockwise direction with his palm It wasn’t possible for hiht wrist armour creaked from the stress applied, but at the sa altered

At this stage, Kuroyukihirees to throw Haruyuki backwards completely Naturally, Haruyuki didn’t have such proficiency, but a deflection of about ten degrees was all that was needed here, such that it would not be a direct hit at least Clenching his teeth and holding his breath, Haruyuki carefully redirected Utan’s fist into a circular motion

CHII! A s, sensation assailed his left cheek A few dots were shaved off frolanced off Haruyuki’s helmet for an instant and continued on past; Utan’s upper body lost balance It would probably be a result of only his ar his centre of gravity too high whenever he strikes

Realising in that instant, Haruyuki involuntarily swept out his right leg towards Utan’s short legs

“Uwoah?!”

The grassy green avatar yelped and so on his back with a ZAN! sound effect Although the tall grass e, Utan’s HP Gauge nevertheless fell by a few percentage points

——I did it! That looked like Guard Reversal!

Much as he was elated with himself, it was too early to celebrate Utan disappeared into the grass with audible SHA SHA sound effects again, probably to attempt another sneak attack Haruyuki crouched slowly and devoted his full attention to his perception

The next atteround shook with the vibrations of footsteps fro faster than his eye could see, Haruyuki’s right hand shot out, and in the instant he felt it catch soain

When his vision caught up to his action, it was the sight of the deflected left straight and Utan having lost his balance again that greeted his eyes Utan had attempted to forcibly correct his attack’s trajectory at the cost of raising his centre of gravity when his left leg was fully straightened; Haruyuki reflexive catching of Utan’s fist with his pal Utan’s shoulder

“Uoh!?”

With that single shout, Haruyuki put in his strength to deflect Utan, sending hi on his face It seerass wasn’t able to properly absorb the fall da the injury effect was a 10 decrease in his Health Gauge

Stuck in that disastrous position with his legs waving in the air for a th to spin a hundred and eighty degrees and land on his feet Instead of tunneling back into the grass, he merely retreated a few steps and pointed at Haruyuki:

“Hohoho, as expected of Ash-bro’s longtime rival!”

Not expecting this kind of response, Haruyuki could only blink and sputter incoherently:”Eh… It… It is?” But Utanattention to him:

“To think you’d use such an extraordinarily clever defense technique! This is the first tie! But if you think you’ve won already, don’t get a head of yourself! I would truly be undefeatable if I gave up direct attacking and went for sneak attacks instead!”

“Ugh!”

He wasn’t wrong at all Although he understood Kuroyukihireat difficulty, it was funda skills If both his legs were to be grabbed by Utan’s rass, he would end up in a one-sided battle without a doubt

However Utan er at Haruyuki, as sending himself into a panic:

“But if we used grappling skills here, the audience here would be super-disatisfied, right? That way, they wouldn’t see anything at all!”

Upon hearing this, Haruyuki scanned his surroundings and discovered that besides shi+no him from a distance, and the other opponent «Olive Glove», who had yet toarass Utan was quite correct: no round, they would not be seen by anybody

“…so, what do you plan? Eh, I just wanna clarify, I absolutely won’t agree to using brute strength to decide the winner!”

When Haruyuki had blurted out as such, Utan replied just as he slapped his right fist into the the palm of his left:

“Hoho, that’s a pretty good idea! But too bad, those skinny arms of yours that look like bamboo are noto bring out my newly acquired skill!”

“N…New skill?”

This made Haruyuki tense up As far as he knew, Bush Utan’s only teapons are 1) The strength contained within his huge arms, and 2) The ability to extend the his Special Gauge Since he was a Level 3 in the duel last week, it naturally couldn’t be that he had obtained a new Special Move or ability If that was the case, then he should have used his Burst Points to purchase an Enhanced Armament, or he had perhaps developed a new battle technique No matter which one it was, he needed to be extra careful

Haruyuki crouched low and tightened his mind and body Utan, on the other hand, walked closer without a care in the world and spoke deeply and provocatively:

“Hohoho, if you challengedthat you could win just as easily as you did in last week’s Territorial Battle, then you’ll surely regret this! I’m not the polite me from then anymore, so watch closely… This is my neer!!”

Coely exaggerated action, and after a :

“«IS Mode» activate!! Come!!”

I…IS Mode?

Hearing that unheard-of skill na to dodge anything – even a long-ranged skill

But what happened next completely surpassed his predictions

Froe object eed with a kacha sound It was a small hemisphere approximately 5 centimetres in diameter with a heavy lustre, but not the metallic type It looked like plastic; no, it should be best described as a anic form

The following things immediately confirmed this observation The he in half Below this ‘eye’ leaked a bloodred glow, and the eye stared directly at Haruyuki

And then-

Bush Utan released a dreadful pressure, flattening the grass all around Black light was released fro loudly Despite being about ten metres away froh Haruyuki’s armour

An abnormal thirst in his eyes, Utan shouted out an unheard-of skill naed forwards:

“Hohh… «Dark Blow»!”

Gaining the likeness of an enorave off a heavy, low vibration as it hurtled towards Haruyuki

“Uuh…”

If he wanted to, surely Haruyuki could grasp this chance to use Guard Reversal again, but an indescribably frigid killing intent shut down that thought Driven by fear, he jue

What happened thereafter bleay Haruyuki’s thoughts, even forgetting to counterattack

Utan’s straight landed at his feet, and in an instant bleay the grassy field like a meteor strike

The stage floor possesses different properties from objects and rock, and should not be so easily shattered Such power to effortlessly carve out such a crater was highly uncommon Had he attempted to deflect that punch with Guard Reversal, he would have been single-handedly trying to bear such huge strength

–What was that!? A Special Move…that can’t be right, an Enhanced Armament?

At a loss for words, Haruyuki reflexively checked the gauge displayed below Utan’s HP, a sli

Upon seeing it, he was panic-stricken and breathless

The gauge hadn’t even decreased by a hair Or rather, it hadn’t even been used from the start And yet, Utan’s entire body was constantly radiating a dark aura with flickers of red

Constant ee Only one word in the Accelerated World exists to explain this phenomenon:

«Over-Ray» Besides the Movement Command system most commonly used, there’s another way to control a duel avatar: the Iined action passes through this systenals are treated and rendered as photons – visible light

At this point, Haruyuki finally understood what Utan had meant by ‘IS Mode’

It had to be an abbreviation for ‘Incarnate System Mode,’ or the more co Utan was proof that he had activated the forbidden Incarnate System

But why did he do this? Whenever high-rankers pass on the knowledge of IS, they would surely warn their students that the Incarnate System is to not be used in normal duels And besides that, just as that black eyeball in his chest? Incarnation is purely froination of its user, so no objects nor equipment need to be equipped

Deeply confused, though Haruyuki was fully aware that Utan, draped in inky blackness, had begun to attack; he thus was unable to react immediately

“Vuu…hohh!”

Utan yelled out in a distorted voice as he raised his fist high Haruyuki finally blinked and opened his eyes wide; but it was too late to dodge Despite knowing the danger of doing so, all he was able to do was to raise his left hand, preparing to apply Soft Act in response-

“Hohh…«Dark Blow»!”

Calling out the same skill name as before, Utan threw an explosive punch

Haruyuki brought his palainst the Over-ray emitted by the fist

For a split second, he felt a bone-chilling sensation in his hand—

With a high-pitched shattering sound, Silver Crow’s left hand instantly fragmented into countless shards of silver

“GUAHHH!”

Even in the regular field with a reduced pain threshold, Haruyuki was unable to hold back his screah someone had literally ripped out a piece from his mind And yet Utan’s fist didn’t stop there and continued on towards his face

Haruyuki desperately craned his neck away to evade, but couldn’t stop the corner of Utan’s large, rough thuh his cheek had been cauterised, an enormous pressure then knocked hirass

Haruyuki rolled on the ground in agony All of his left arm from the elboards had disappeared without a trace, and at the side of his hel sparks Utan looked down on hiht hand with heavy movements He then thrust his left fist into the air

There was no trace left of the original Bush Utan froht of his slanted, comma-like eyes behind his huo, with none of the passion for duelling Now, those eyes only held a thirst, a longing beyond hurting and breaking Haruyuki, until he surrendered to Utan’s delight

For the third time, Utan’s left fist, cloaked in the sticky black aura, was brought down to strike Haruyuki propped up his back for dear life and unfurled his wings froth

Utan’s fist deeply pierced the ground where Haruyuki was a ht of this, and he clih and fast as he could until he was more than twenty metres above, and only then did he halt

He couldn’t understand it at all, or rather, he refused to believe it With great difficulty, he eased open his locked jaw, and squeezed out a feords:

“…U, Utan…why…your skill, what the…”

And the response he received was-

Utan raised ain the air A voice crushed low to the point of a rumble issued from his mask:

“…flying away is just as useless…”

A black aura gathered in the center of his palarbled voice, he shouted:

“«Dark Shot»!”

A jet-black beaht erupted from Utan’s palm with a heavy sound

Haruyuki’spast the point of surprise, and all he could do was stare at the black beas and slipped sideways, atte to move out of the beam’s way, but of course, it was too late…

Boom!