Accel World Vol 8 Chapter 5 (2/2)

“I understand that I got it, but today let me start today with my turn!”

“Uh, unh…”

Ash Roller pointed the index fingers of both his hands straight at Haruyuki, who had been completely overwhelmed

“All right, got it you Crow bastard, duel with me today for real! And then, if I lose, I’ll listen to what you have to say But if I win, you listen to one of a even condition!”

“What? R, request?”

“Besides that, if we continue two tiallery who took the trouble to register to watch our duels will be a let down!”

To the ren shi+eld of the helht!” and “Today ant to see so!” followed Hurriedly Haruyuki looked around at his surroundings and saw the silhouettes of spectators sprinkled on the roofs of the buildings along Loop 7

He couldn’t say there were verylist see the Burst Linkers whose homes where west of shi+njuku, there were many who knew that Silver Crow and Ash Roller were closely connected fellow rivals, and since their fights tended to become showy due to the fact that both of their avatars’ performances were too peaky and extreood match To add, both were level 5

Giving a glance at the time count, which showed that sixty seconds had already elapsed, Haruyuki thought quickly

Different from the day before yesterday when they had fully talked for close to thirty minutes, today what he had to transe «If ant to remove Bush Utan’s ISS Kit, now’s our chance» Surely it would not take thirty minutes If so, in order also to one to the trouble of spending, it wouldn’t be bad to duel with Ash Roller in earnest for the first tiht’s «I on how Sunday’s «Seven Kings’ » unfolded, this would become his last duel with him, which he could not deny…

“—Understood”

Nodding deeply, Haruyuki opened his mouth

“I will accept it on a condition If I win, listen properly to what I have to say – just a momennnnnt!”

However, without being able to speak to the end, he changed the end of his sentence into a scream and jue-class bike had charged ferociously without warning

“Ah, isn’t that dangerous! I’…”

“Quiet shut u—p! The duel’s already begun bo—y! My bad but today, you’re gonna let a co—ol victory!”

While shouting that, Ash Rolleraware that his rotation radius had become far sharper than that of the time when they had met, Haruyuki also indomitably retorted back

“I, I’eous perfect win in with even if I win you’ll only listen to what I have to say, while if you win I have to listen to your request; somehow the conditions seem unbalanced…”

“Su—ck it! If you’re fussin’ over the details you won’t get used to the wind!”

Spouting exhaust flames from its fat mufflers, the American bike made its third mad dash

Ash Roller was an abnormal Burst Linker who had invested the majority of his duel avatar’s potential in his Enhanced Are-class bike

The rider hiardless of whether it was close-range or long-range In return, his bike was furnished with both high h endurance power A «Vehicle Enhanced Armament» itself was relatively rare, but within them one could probably say its capacity was top-class

If one were forced to name its weaknesses, it would be that it was less adaptable than a living avatar and that it lacked covertness due to its size If one were to attack the latter point, a «long-distance firepower concentration attack» would be effective, but Haruyuki did not possess red-class attack power at all

Therefore, if he were to fight with Ash Roller on the ground, he would carry out «life-risking close-range attacks» Concretely, he would dodge the bike’s charge by a paper-thin ht or left and shower either Ash the person hiine parts with attacks

It would be best if he used Silver Crow’s ht overhead and to aim for the head of the rider himself, but the other party knew that The instant Haruyuki entered a vertical juh-speed revolution of his back wheel would use his «anti-air technique» His juame of rock-paper-scissors, had one-way compatibility; if he took the hit he would not be able to avoid great dae An unmeasured dive would be suicidal action

“Yeeee—haw—!”

Haruyuki concentrated all his nerves on the huge front tire of the onrushi+ng bike, whose rider was co Haruyuki’s dodge; he would probably ht just beforehand It would be all right if Haruyuki attacked in the opposite direction; if he evaded in the same direction, he would unmistakably meet an accident with bodily injury

—Which one…right, or left… It’s not the tires but the incline of the bike frame I have to watch…

Activating his «super-concentration power liameplay» that had been polished from the time before he had become a Burst Linker, Haruyuki focused on the actions of the entire body of the bike with all his nerves

—And then, at that time

The winker on the side of the bike that was on the right froe color

“Heigh…”

While leaking out his voice, he reflexively dived left

However, at the saed tire pressed in before his eyes—

A fearsoous hae whirled round No, the one revolving round was Haruyuki While exhibiting a high-speed backward so anime, Silver Croas blown off several dozen y mountains on the east side of the Loop 7 road headfirst

Knocked unconscious for a bit, he thrust his arainst the bare rock and deeply pulled his helmet out As soon as he jue, he shouted

“Y, y, you turned in the opposite direction of your winker! Violation of road traffic lao hundred million yen fine!”

After Haruyuki had done so, while chasing hi at hihter

“Hyahahahaa—! I, Ash-sama! My existence itself is a violation of road traffic laws—!”

That was the truth Currently in this age, if one burned fossil fuels on public roads and tried to emit even a cubic centimeter of carbon dioxide, one would be handcuffed on the spot Furthermore, the explosive roar from the muffler easily broke safety standards, and there was no number plate on the rear However, of course in the field of the Accelerated World, there were no motorcycle cops ould crack down on him

While being showered in the allery instead of a siren, Ash Roller caain

“You bastard…”

While raising a cursing voice, with a glance he checked the upper left hand of his field of vision Silver Crow’s health gauge had two-tenths scraped aith the dao In opposition, his special technique gauge had accumulated to the extent of three-tenths, but it was still undependable to activate his «flying ability» and claim a win

He would fly after clashi+ng oneto do that, Haruyuki dropped his waist and lay in wait for the large-class bike He had involuntarily fallen for the feint using the winker since it was the first tiain In his e the charge and hammer him with a special technique counter

However, soht that the sa his winker to blink—

“Tuo!”

With that shout he juht with his seat and handle as footing Like that, while ed It was Ash’s so-to-speak «hidden secret», also by the name of «V Twin Fists»

Its naht of as a joke, but as a matter of fact it had a concealed power that could by no ed the bike’s front tire, the kick of the rider hi for a counter Although Haruyuki had already experienced this technique a number of times, he was still unable to find an effective countermeasure

“Yaaaaahoo—!”

Haruyuki stared as hard as he could at the inco a war cry It was possible to evade hie jump, but with that he would not be able to counterattack Sky Raker, Ash’s master and parent, had destroyed that V Twin Fists with the superhu a back dash», but i that was still impossible for Haruyuki

Were there no other weaknesses, so, somewhere, someplace—

“!”

Abruptly, a flash of insight

Would Ash Roller be able to make the bike wheelie from that stance as well? No, it was probably impossible If he did that, he would tumble from the bike Basically, what he had to aim for was,

“The top!”

The instant the huge tire drew close, filling his vision, Haruyuki stooped over and iht and leaped up

“Towaa!?”

The minute he slae voice, he held on for dear life The tere separated from the bike and dropped to the road with a thud The American bike, which had lost its proprietor, ran away as it was to Loop 7

“You, you, hold-o of me you bastard!”

With all hisand struggling while bellowing He could not miss this chance

“No way! Ash-san without his bike is fukujinzuke4 without curry!”

“What did ya just say! I’m a hardcore fan of japanese leek with curry!”

At the sight of the two rolling on the ground and grappling, the gallery again became excited However, in a hand-to-hand battle between their fellow main bodies, Ash Roller did not have the power to pierce Silver Crow’saround hitting his face and chest, Haruyuki forcefully got behind hihtly held his chest from the back

“Gyah! Wait, y-y-y-you, don’t hug me!”

“I-it’s not that I want to hug you that I’ you!”

“Don’t say hug you suck-it bastard!”

“You’re the one who brought it up first…right!!”

At the sao Investing in his special technique gauge, which had been charged to the extent of another tenth with the hand-to-hand fighting of right noith all his strength he made his ten metal fins vibrate

With a doh! impact sound, Silver Crow and Ash Roller took off vertically like a rocket

“Gya—! What the heck, we’re flying hi—gh!”

No longer keeping coy Haruyuki continued to ascend In an instant, he passed the rocky , and at that rate he reached an altitude as high as one hundred—two hundred—three hundred meters

“No, nooooo! I can’t be high up, don’t like it, no thank you—…”

The shrill shouting voice suddenly broke off into a mumble Ash Roller stiffened his body, which had been thrashi+ng about in Haruyuki’s chest, and he asked so in a hoarse voice

“Uh, um, Crow-san? Surely notin the night sky?”

“Yes Like some space debris whose trajectory has fallen”

Nodding, Haruyuki released his hands mercilessly

Byability in combat, Haruyuki had devised soinning was a kick or punch at an extreh altitude—«Dive Attack» Further the technique «Aerial Cos’ instantaneous thrusts in close-range hand-to-hand fighting on the ground

However, in reality, rather than those two ahis duel opponent, carrying hie froe-class avatars, and he would not be able to hold opponents with a high fighting capacity in the first place, but once fixed, a large ae was almost certain Why Haruyuki did not really use this technique was because on the contrary he tended to suffer a regrettable counter when his opponents realized he was ai for close contact, and since there were plenty of avatars who had high resistance against falls even if they couldn’t fly, there was no way not to aim for the situation like this time where it had becos If Ash Roller fell froe would probably be applied to him, whose avatar’s htly hover or to move in three dimensions

Haruyuki had cooal and had becoht, was also not a manly opponent to the extent where he would be done in without a peep On the brink of being separated frorabbed it and at the same time shouted

“If it’s gonna be like this, thenKnucklehead»~!!”

—A special technique!?

Haruyuki reflexively stiffened his body He had surely not thought that Ash Roller’s main body would have a special technique

However, even after so that it was a bluff siain time, Haruyuki had been opened his mouth and had been about to say a coive up, but he ied his words to a shout of surprise

“Wait a —awaaaaaaah!?”

What had surprised Haruyuki was not Ash, whoht rapidly approaching fro in while spurting orange flas near the area of their tails and a red lens on their heads No matter how he looked at them, they were:

“M-m-missilesss!?”

With a scream, he rapidly launched forth in the air However, the twofunctions; they , he couldn’t outrun them at all

Come to think of it, before Ash Roller had certainly said so like “I loaded missiles on my bike” Basically what had fired those was the Around of Loop 7 Even if he were separated froh voice commands were possible However

“A-a-at this rate you’ll be blown up too right!”

“Heh, it’s better than just being dropped right booooy!”

Sure enough there was that too Haruyuki tried with all hisfor a double kill, at that criticalon with his two hands and feet Due to that, he couldn’t even put out half his normal speed, and within a few seconds thein on his toes—

“Key Shoooo—p!”

At the sa, they exploded spectacularly

What was fearsome about the explosion-type attack was even e, if one took its blow, for a while «one wouldn’t be able to understand anything» From an altitude of three hundredknocked unconscious, had his ability to think restored right before piercing the ground, spread his wings, and suddenly applied a braking motion

Where he crashed siled up with hiinally the center of the intersection between Loop 7 and O to him even more, he thrust him several dozens of centimeters away and then asked without delay

“…Um, Ash-san What’s the «Key Shop» you just mentioned?”

The bike rider, who seehtlyhis skull helmet bit by bit

“Well, uht For the lish…but maybe you’re better able to understand «ball shop»?”

“…From the bottom of my heart I don’t care either way In fact, either one’s impossible to understand”

While es Before the missile had directly hit, Haruyuki’s had been less, but his metal are; at present either one of the ten percent left

If one side dealt two, three more clean hits, it would be a situation where a conclusion would be reached, but as they lay on the road surface their facesit both spoke

“…Do you want to call it a draw?”

“…Let’s make it a draw, shall we”

Mutually nodding, they simultaneously stood up with a heave-ho

Looking round at the surrounding gallery, whose azes on the two, Haruyuki strained his voice and shouted

“Excuse me, we’re sorry! With this, please let us call this match a draw!”

He had thought that voices of discontent would come, but contrary to his expectations—

“Good game!”

“Next tiain~~”

The spectators individually shouted that, left a grand round of applause, and burst out While gazing at them, Haruyuki was abruptly self-aware of so his chest

This was a «duel» Even if there were thrill or exciteer did not exist Even if the duelists were vying rivals, they were not enemies to be hated

If one considered the cool-headed Brain Burst system, perhaps this world’s creator had envisioned a e survival However, the players had refused the creator’s intentions with their oill Undoubtedly that feeling had been put into the name «Burst Linker», which had not been prescribed by the system They were «comrades»

The ones trying to destroy that world were the «ISS Kit» and the Acceleration Research Society

Both Bush Utan, who had fought with Haruyuki soht yesterday, did not see themselves at all No, the Research Society’s saere people to whom the enjoyment of duels was irrelevant

That rong Absolutely wrong

With a slap, a hand wrapped in a leather glove tapped the left shoulder of Haruyuki, as clenching his fists and standing still

“Good fight, you Crow bastard The weakness of h it nicely”

“…I’h”

To Haruyuki, who had replied, Ash Roller let out a laughing “heh” voice

“Of course You’d better watch out, ‘cause next I’ll be doing a wheelie while standing”

The scarface, which seelanced upward He had checked the tih, but there was some leeway to talk

Ash Roller, who had sat down on one of the handy-sized rocks dotting the inside of the intersection, jerked his chin up in a way that see Haruyuki sat on an opposite rock, nodded, and opened his mouth

“Um…what I have to say is about Bush Utan”

He was unable to say as far as the details concerning Takuion, but despite that Haruyuki made his maximal efforts to convey information to the limits of what he could convey

That the ISS Kit possessed a colony-like nature and linked with so-to-speak «genetically close» Kits That the equippers were guided to that link each tiht and connected with the ion comrades had attacked that main body in a data-like way and had dealt it considerable dae—

“…That’s why, if we do it now, itUtan in the middle of a normal duel However…to do that, there are two problems”

Staring straight at the face of Ash Roller, as listening attentively and mutely, Haruyuki spoke

“The first is that we probably can’t deal dae to the ISS Kit without Incarnate techniques And then the second is that Utan experienced firsthand the large-scale Incarnate technique of «Rust Jigsaas riding in the tenth vehicle in the recent «Here distrust of the veteran Linkers, who have been hiding the existence of the Incarnate syste has given birth to the impatience that even if he relies on whatever dubious power, if he beco there’s noIf that’s not resolved, even if his current ISS Kit is destroyed, he’ll undoubtedly search for a new Kit again…”

“…Aah, that’s true I think that too”

Nodding, Ash Roller tipped up his skull-design shi+eld with his right hand

The face ave the ied sky of the «Wilderness Stage» A voice with a faded voice effect and an unexpectedly delicate tone flowed quietly

“I already talked about how that guy Uu’s «parent» lost all his points right It’s probably obvious, but it see shock to hi like discontent or irritation always staying inside his heart Doing so about him was probably the responsibility of -all-your-points system, I still haven’t, how d’ya put it…come to terms with it What I should’ve done for Uu, I didn’t know…”

“Come to…terms with it?”

Ash nodded slowly at Haruyuki, who had asked that back, and turned his pale green eye lenses at him

“«If your Burst Points becoram itself will be forcibly uninstalled, and you can’t return to being a Burst Linker again» I was taught straightaway by Master Raker that that was the Accelerated World’s biggest rule Crow, the saht?”

“Uh…yeah I was distinctly warned as well by senpa…Black Lotus the first day I became a Burst Linker”

“I know right Now that I think very closely about it, until now I’ve never once really been cornered to the brink of losing all my points If I were forced to say it, in was kinda s immediately afterward to you, level 1 at the tiet the chills”

At his sharp glare, Haruyuki reflexively shrank his neck

Now that he looked back, this Ash Roller was the opponent hoht as a Burst Linker and to whom he had first lost After that, he was lectured by his parent Kuroyukihi all his tactics when he challenged hiain, somehow in just in one day Ash had become level 2 and with the thanks of his newly acquired «wall clione to waste

Though he had given up on the match there for a ht where he had pinpointed the old-type bike’s weakness that «only the rear wheel had motive power» and had achieved a co point of tactics

The « froame

In regular RPGs, at a point where one’s experience points reached a certain value one would automatically level up However, in this Brain Burst, in order to raise one’s level, one must exhaust one’s accumulated experience points, namely Burst Points Concretely, the required amount of points to rise from level 1 to 2 was no fewer than 300 Basically, if one carried out the level up operation from the system menu called the «Install Menu», at that instant one’s points would drop by 300 in one go Therefore, one would need sufficient leeway—nain»—just to settle the matter so that when one leveled up, even if one lost a number of times continuously after that one would not fall into the pinch of losing all one’s points If one thought about it a little, it seemed obvious, but—

In response to Ash Roller’s words, whilea pitiable smile Haruyuki confessed

“In, in reality, in the past I too got worked up when I had barely saved up 300 points and accidentally leveled up, nearly losing all my points”

“…Are you serious, really? At that tiht? Until you recovered it as a safety zone”

In response to his stunned voice, he shrugged

“Uh, yeah that’s true My buddy…Cyan Pile saved me, somehow…”

Though he had begun to speak, he was unable to remember well at the time how in the world he had recovered his points Instead, Haruyuki corrected the topic beginning to stray away to its original route

“By, by the hat did youall your points» a little earlier?”

“Aah…basically, well To me, the system in which you lose all your points and have it forcibly uninstalled, it seems like a ridiculously harsh and cruel rule…however in one respect, there’s the feeling too that as a Burst Linker if you’re gonna receive the blessing of «accelerating» that much is probably a due risk Frankly, I can’t make head or tails of either one Because you see, it’s easy to say that it’s harsh, but…behind the scenes while you and I are beco as far as level 5 like this, there also uys who’ve had that number of points stolen from them and have lost all their points You could also say that indirectly, the points I acquired and spent nonchalantly are the points that souy Uu’s parent the time when he lost all his points…”

“…”

Hearing rehtly, no, quite a bit from the usual “hyahahaa” end of century rider, Haruyuki was involuntarily speechless Possibly having read his thoughts, Ash snorted, turned away as if embarrassed, and continued

“However, on the other hand I think that if you’re a Burst Linker, from the start you should at least be prepared for so it and the side who’s getting it In that sense, I respect your parent…the Black King Black Lotus It’s quite soion Great Wall, to say, but…that person’s a In the way of her countenance of resolution, without question she’s nus through a cool like that too, but…but you know…for instance Crohen I’ with you, if I were let known that you’d lose all your points with one more loss, whether I’d be able to strike the final blow mercilessly and in a cool way then…honestly I have no idea At the least, I’m not confident that I wouldn’t hesitate…”

“—Ash-san”

Being truly surprised this tiaze at hierous voice

“Oi you, you look like you’d say ‘I’d norh,’ don’t you”

“N, nonono, no way! I’d hesitate too, I’d super-hesitate!”

“Oi hey there, you look like you’d say ‘Even if I hesitated I’d really cause you to lose all your points after all though,’ don’t you”

“W, well Ash-san weren’t you saying that you’d just look like you were hesitating!”

After causing his two hands and face to undergo furious high-speed horizontal exercise and evading Ash Roller’s cross-exa quickly

“I mean, it’s natural to hesitate to do that My parent…Black Lotus is surely hesitating Because no matter how spiteful her opponent is…at their roots they’re similarly Burst Linkers —Back then, I troubled you too, Ash-san, but…I was irreconcilable with the guy who stoleto the bitter end…froht I loathed Despite that, when I beat hiht, wasn’t it perhaps possible to have met him differently and dueled with hi as we’re Burst Linkers, that hesitationthat’s absolutely indispensable…”

“…”

This time Ash Roller was silent

At last, while dropping his gaze to the reddish-brown ground between his legs, he murmured in bits

“That’s possible But well…, due to that hesitation, I wasn’t able to say anything to that guy Uu If I were acting as his older brother, in truth I should’ve plainly said one or the other ‘I’ll never forgive the guy who caused your parent to lose all his points; I’ll definitely get revenge on hi all their points; don’t keep blubbering,’ one of those two… However, I was unable to say either one That’s why only anger and fear grew inside Uu…he yearned for «power» other than his own I’m the one who created one of the reasons for him to run to the «ISS Kit»…”

To Ash Roller, whose feet had traround with a sharp tap, Haruyuki could not immediately find the words he should have said

Before he opened hisred in the top of his vision The ti one hundred seconds