03x26 - Raids

[bunniefuu]

Kirito.

It's all right. I'll go.

After I've rescued the villagers,
I'll come right back.

Kirito!

Raids

That's...

Advance! Advance!

Why don't they flee south
where there aren't any enemies?

Amayori, wait here until I summon you!

If the enemy breaches our line of defense,
use lethal force!

Listen! Don't let a single one
get this far into the village!

That's...

We can't possibly defend against them here.

Please have everyone
take the south road to evacuate!

Don't be ridiculous!

Abandon my mansion—
No, I mean the village and run off?

If you leave now, you can get away
without being caught by the goblins.

Your possessions or your lives,
which is more important?

"Form a circle in the plaza,
and tighten up our defenses."

Those are Chief Man-at-Arms Zink's orders.

In a situation like this, even I,
the village elder, must follow such orders.

That is imperial law.

Let's do as Sister says.

Father.

Selka.

Father.

Have you ever once
known Sister to be wrong?

No, even I can tell.

If we don't do something...

we'll all be k*lled!

Flee?

You're just a child, so stay out of this!

The village must be protected!

I-I see.

I get it!

You're the one who let those monsters from the land
of darkness into the village, aren't you, Alice?

Years ago, when you crossed the End Mountains,
you were tainted by the power of darkness!

You're a witch!

This girl is a fearsome witch!

As a knight, I hereby revoke
Chief Man-at-Arms Zink's order.

I order all villagers gathered in this plaza
to evacuate to the forest south of here,

with those who are armed in the lead.

K-Knight? What are you talking about?

There's no such Calling in this village!

Claiming to be a knight just because
you can somewhat handle a sword.

What would happen if the knights
in the capital heard about this?

My name is Alice.

I am the overseer of the
capital city of Centoria.

An Integrity Knight... of the Axiom Church.

Ranked third!

Alice Synthesis Thirty!

I-I-Integrity Knight?

Sister, you're...?

I'm sorry I kept it from you all this time.

This is the true penalty I was given,
and my true duty.

No. I always believed!

That there was no way
you could be a criminal.

I shall follow your command,
Lady Integrity Knight.

Those of you who are armed, take the lead
and guide the villagers to the south gate!

Once you've left the village, evacuate
to the forest south of the clearing!

Leave the wounded and the elderly to us!

We'll lead the others out! Follow us!

Father, please take care of everyone,
and of Selka and Mother.

Lady Knight.

Take care as well.

Sister, don't push yourself, okay?

Amayori!

What a horde!

Retreat! Retreat!

Burn them all!

N-No way.

I-Is that Sister's...?

A dragon?

Wh-What are you doing here?

There's no time to explain.

Please evacuate with the others.

Hurry!

I-Ium woman. I'll k*ll and devour you!

From now on, I'm going to fight
for what I want to.

To protect my sister and my parents.

And...

I will fight to protect the people of the Human
Empire Kirito and Eugeo tried to preserve.

Thank you, Kirito.

I'll be fine now.

I'm sure I'll still hesitate,
but I'm going to move forward.

For you, and for what I seek.

I am Alice, knight of the Human Empire!

As long as I'm here, you'll never
find the blood and carnage you desire.

Return through the cave to your homeland!

Enhance Armament!

Out of my way!

If it's just one little girl,
I, Morikka the Foot Harvester, will...

Wh-What?

Storm and churn...

...my flowers!

This is the wall separating the
Human Empire and the land of darkness!

Even if you unseal the caves,
as long as we knights exist,

we will never allow
you to corrupt this land!

Make your choice!

Either advance and
fall into a sea of blood,

or retreat and escape
to the land of darkness!

I'll make you a new doll!

Yay!

I think deep down,
Father wanted to come and see you off.

I know.

Someday,
when I've fulfilled all of my duties,

I'll come back here as plain Alice Zuberg.

I think that's when I'll be able to say...

"Father, I'm home."

I'll definitely return
to this village one day.

Even if I fall on the b*ttlefield,
my heart definitely will.

Monday, July 6, 2026 2:07 PM Ocean Turtle

Main Control Room Ocean
Turtle 33 minutes after the att*ck

Hey! It's deserted.

Looks like they ran away.

Where are they?

My guess would be...
in the Sub Control Room.

Sub Control Room Ocean
Turtle 23 minutes after the att*ck

We're connected to the backup power now!

Now we can use the Sub Control Room.

If Kirito doesn't regain consciousness,
I will never forgive you as long as I live!

I know that.

I'll see to it that Kirito recovers,
no matter what.

It'll be all right.

I promise you it'll be all right.

He'll definitely come back to you.

Yes, of course.

I'm sorry I overreacted.

Reporting in, sir.

Confirming that the primary and secondary
bulkheads have been completely sealed,

and that all noncombatants
have been evacuated to the bow block.

Good work.
How long will the bulkheads hold?

The enemy could break through
with expl*sives, but that's unlikely.

Near the primary bulkhead...

...is the Lightcube Cluster, right?

All right. Let's sum up the situation here.

Lt. Nakanishi,
please report the casualties.

Yes, sir.

Minor injuries to three researchers
on the civilian block team.

Two heavy injuries and two minor injuries
to the Self-Defense Force.

None of them are life-threatening.

Any damage to the ship?

The bulkheads in the passageway from the bottom dock
to the Main Control Room can't be controlled remotely.

Even worse,
now that the main power line has been cut,

even though the auxiliary line is providing
a stable power supply to all areas,

we can't rotate the screws
without rebooting the control system.

Just like a sea turtle without its fins,
huh?

Plus,
it's got a shark latched onto its belly.

Yes. Sectors 1 through 12 in the Lower
Shaft... have all been completely taken over.

So they've seized Main Control,
STL Room One, and...

...even the nuclear reactor, huh?

I guess the silver lining
is that their intention isn't to destroy.

The question is, who are these guys?

Higa, do you have any thoughts?

Well.

Let's see.

Going by the color and specs of their gear,
they don't belong to any official army.

And from their average size,
we can assume that they're not Asian.

So at the very least,
they're not with a domestic special forces.

How lucky for us, huh?

And there's one more thing
we can say with certainty.

These people know about
the existence of Project Alicization.

Yeah, you got that right.

I mean, they went straight
to the Main Control Room.

Which means their goal is
the true bottom-up artificial intelligence.

To seize A.L.I.C.E.

Luckily, we were able to
lock down Main Control in time.

So now they can't interfere with the simulation
or eject Alice's Fluctlight from the cluster.

But the same goes for us, right?

Well, yeah, that's right.

It's no longer possible to use commands
to eject Alice's Lightcube externally.

But Mr. Kiku, at this point,
wouldn't you call this a win?

I mean, they can't access the cluster
by physical or informational means.

So now if our escort ship
sends some reinforcements,

I'm telling you, it's game over.
Game over!

Not that we know what kind of game it is.

And that's the problem.

Tell me, will the Asahi take action?

Well, about that...

The Asahi was ordered by Fleet Command in Yokosuka
to stand by and maintain its current distance.

They've determined that we've been
taken hostage by our attackers, it seems.

Most likely, those men in black have a
back channel to the top brass in the SDF.

There won't be an order for the Asahi to att*ck
until after Alice's Lightcube has been secured.

Meaning that those
guys aren't just t*rrorists?

This could be bad.

If they have any experts on their side,
they might figure it out.

An operation within the Underworld, huh?

Now that they've taken control
of STL Room One,

they can certainly execute commands via the
virtual console installed in the Underworld.

What will happen if they do?

The target cube will be extracted from the
Lightcube Cluster in the center of the Main Shaft,

and transported via air tube
to the chosen control room.

There's an extraction hatch there.

And of course, there's one in
the Main Control Room, as well.

We're going to retrieve Alice's Fluctlight
from the Underworld before they can.

The only one who can do that is Kirito.

In other words,
our last hope rests on his shoulders.

Higa, tell us. What's Kirito's condition?

To be concise...

he's teetering on the edge
of the worst-case scenario.

The as*ault by the last Death g*n member left
Kirito with damage to his neural network,

and to treat him, we blocked his memories
and had him dive into Underworld like before.

But for some reason,
his memories didn't get blocked.

Kirito was plunged into the Underworld
as Kazuto Kirigaya, his real-world persona.

W-Wait a second!

Then he's been living as himself in the
Underworld, where time's accelerated, for how long?

About two years.

That's how long Kirito has been interacting
with the artificial Fluctlights of that world.

Knowing the entire time that they'll all be
destroyed at the end of the current simulation.

That's probably why he went to the console in
the Central Cathedral to contact the real world.

To ask you,
Mr. Kiku to protect all of the Fluctlights.

And I'm sure it wasn't an
easy thing for him to do.

But he did make it.

Since we were under att*ck,
I couldn't check the logs,

but it seems like he lost some allies
in the battle against the Axiom Church.

That's why, when he managed
to get in contact with us,

he was berating himself harshly.

To put it another way,
he was attacking his own Fluctlight.

At that moment,
the men in black cut the power line,

which caused a short circuit, and the ensuing
surge caused the STL to spike momentarily.

As a result, Kirito's self-destruction impulse
was actualized and his ego was deactivated.

Ego... deactivated?

What does that mean?

Take a look at this.

Normally, where this black hole is,
what you'd find is, to be precise...

...the self-image.

Self-image. One's conception
as determined by the self, you mean?

That's correct.

Apparently, all our decision making passes
through a "Yes/No" circuit inside our Fluctlights

that asks "Should I do this
under these conditions, or not?"

For example, Rinko-senpai, have you ever
ordered a second helping at a beef bowl place?

I haven't.

Even if your mind is like, "I want to
have more. I could eat another bowl"?

That's right.

So in other words, that was the result
of your self-image circuit processing.

In Kirito's case,
his Fluctlight is largely unscathed,

but because the circuit in question
is non-functional,

all he can do in his current state,
most likely,

is reflexive reactions
triggered by deeply ingrained memories.

I don't think he knows who he is,
or what it is he needs to do,

and he can't speak voluntarily.

I believe that's his current state.

Next time: The Final Load Test.