"Say goodnight, Rythin," Administrator taunted me. She raised her hand, and a bright light gathered above her. "I promise this Sacred Art won't deplete your Life entirely. Though you may not survive with all your limbs intact... No matter. I can always repair that. Or maybe I'll simply remove the memories of your arm from your mind?"

Crap! I needed to stop her!

Chapter 6: Knight Without Integrity

Think fast, Rythin! She's going to strike, and... Luminous elements. That's the weak point!

"System call!"

Administrator scoffed; she didn't understand what I was doing. But that was perfect. The words to the Sacred Arts rolled off my tongue, the chant culminating as soon as Administrator's ball of light finished charging. The purple-haired woman laughed loudly, and then -

Administrator leveled her hand at me. The swirling ball of bright white like a miniature sun erupted in a lance of light that screamed towards me.

At the same time, before Administrator acted, I did two things. The first was to discharge the Sacred Art I'd just chanted; a large plane appeared in front of me, as reflective as I could make it. The metallic element wouldn't hold off this strange Sacred Art for long, but the one time I'd seen Fanatio Synthesis Two's strongest attack it had made me wonder. 'Could the beams of light be reflected?' I'd played with some Luminous elements before but never at the level of power Fanatio's sword could reach.

The powerful collection of Luminous elements slammed into the Metallic shield I'd created. It held for a second, and I was almost impressed at how amazing I was - until the back side of the shield started to glow a cherry red as it swiftly melted under the concentrated power of the light. I gritted my teeth. That was too fast!

My Sacred Art shattered against Administrator's attack, and the beam of light crashed into the bed, destroying it almost instantly. The bed shattered as its Life struck zero and out of the corner of my eye I saw that blond boy that Administrator had been toying with fall to the ground. But that kid didn't matter.

I landed on my feet and glared at her. My wound... The beam of light that had pierced my side had burned through my armor and body without stopping. It stank of burned meat, but I wasn't bleeding heavily. So, I gripped the sheets from the bed that I'd managed to save from the attack. With a shout, I threw the sheets in the air.

The biggest problem with Administrator's Sacred Arts? She had to aim.

"What good do you think those will do you?" Administrator sneered. A snap of her fingers and frozen cryogenic arrows punched through the silky crimson sheets. Naturally, it was destroyed instantly.

"It did exactly what I wanted!" I shouted. When she'd used those Arts, she couldn't target my heart! They might have pierced my body, leaving wounds that poured blood, but even through the pain I was still alive and attacking. Administrator had just a second to react before my fist slammed straight into her gut, digging into the soft and vulnerable spot that would knock the wind from her lungs and -

That same, damnable Sacred Art appeared between my fist and Administrator. My fist froze centimeters from her skin and no matter how hard I pushed, it was like I was punching an immovable object. The activation of the Sacred Art was identical to the first time, although the sacred letters that made up the circle blocking me were packed more tightly. I snarled loudly and tried my best to push through, but just like last time the only thing that happened was purple lightning crackled around the impact point and I was forced backwards in a blast of wind.

"Damn iiiiiiit!" I howled. I staggered to my feet and glared at Administrator.

She smiled smugly. "What's wrong? I simply modified the Sacred Art's activation parameters."

Activation parameters, hmm? Well then. "System call," I growled.

While I chanted, Administrator shook her head at me. "This little petulant rebellion hurts me, Integrity Knight," she said. "You would dare raise your hand against me, the arbiter of the goddesses' will upon the Human Empire. You cannot imagine the injury you've caused with your childish stunt. But my heart is large, Rythin. Once you're my perfect little puppet again, I'll forgive you and love you once more."

I'm going to kill this woman. I'm going to kill her and have a SMILE ON MY FACE WHILE I DO IT! "ENHANCE ARMAMENT!" I howled.

The Armament Full Control Sacred Art was the most complex single art I knew. It was an incredibly high-ranking Sacred Art that could pull forth the true value of the owner's weapon. The result of such a powerful Art could only be called a 'miracle', a gift granted by the goddesses that smile down on us.

However, the outcome of my Armament Full Control couldn't be called a 'miracle' but only a 'curse'. Darkness bloomed within my blade and swallowed up the stars trapped within. Wisps of shadow dripped from it and disappeared before they touched the ground. My weapon had been transformed, and with it? I was going to kill her.

I snarled and lunged forward again. This time, things would change!

Administrator shook her head. "Try all you wish, it won't change the outcome. Perhaps I'll drain your life and turn you into a jewel."

"DIE!" I howled. My bloodlust poured forth, pushing me to move one step closer and one heartbeat faster. My dagger slashed out, and Administrator contemptuously raised a hand to block the blade.

The Sacred Art that protected her appeared to clash against my dagger - and shattered as the darkened blade of my dagger drank deeply. "What?!" Administrator exclaimed, stumbling back. I smirked at the crimson line decorating her palm and flowed smoothly into the second strike of the combo drilled into me.

My Divine Object-class weapon. Like any useful Integrity Knight, I was able to call forth its hidden power with the Armament Full Control Sacred Art. Unlike the others, my blade's enhanced form was almost entirely useless. What good was it against creatures of the Dark Territory, that fought in such a blighted land? There were no Sacred Arts there, and so I never needed to unleash the power of my Starry Night Dagger. But here? In the heart of the Central Cathedral, against the Pontifex?

Naturally, the ability to destroy any Sacred Art and scatter the resources used to craft it would be quite useful. And so, in an instant, the protective shell that Administrator had to have been relying on to protect herself from me was gone.

"You -!" Even as she fell back, Administrator's bloody palm glowed with a green light as wind swirled around it. She gathered so quickly! The hurricane force winds began to roar towards me, but my blade severed the gathered power at its source in a sweeping horizontal slice. Before she could react appropriately, I slashed up with my blade.

Crimson blood splattered across the formerly pristine floor as I severed Administrator's right hand at the wrist. Her stump oozed blood slowly, and I cackled. "I'm coming for your head next, bitch!"

"How dare you talk to her like that?! You, you, you insolent ruffian!"

I jumped away as the awful clown bounced forth from somewhere. Maybe he'd hidden under the bed until it had been destroyed. He'd taken the time to patch up his costume from somewhere, but the white patches were utterly hideous and clashed with the rest of it terribly. In other words, totally normal for his uniform. "I'm going to kill her, Chudelkin," I pointed out almost idly. "It really doesn't matter how I talk to her."

"Gaaaaah!" The clown stamped his foot. "Yoooooou bastard! I know! Instead of killing you, I'll turn you into a horse! Hoo hoo hah hah hoo!" He started hopping up and down like he was riding the horse he'd just talked about, one hand gripping phantom reins while the other swatted at the air. "And then I'll run around riding you until you fall over! Kee hee hah hoo hah!"

I kept half of my attention on Chudelkin, but watched Administrator. The scowling bitch was the main threat here - but when she walked over and picked up her hand, I smirked. She concentrated and a pale green light surrounded the wrist for a second. When it faded, though, her wrist hadn't healed in the slightest despite the very powerful Sacred Art she had to have used. "Kya hah hah! It won't work like that!" I cackled. Naturally, Sacred Arts for healing wouldn't work on anything severed by my Enhanced Armament. "Don't worry, I'll take the other hand soon enough!"

"Sh-Shut your mouth!" Eyes wide, Chudelkin stopped hopping up and down and pointed at me in rage. "You shitty Knight! You're just worthless puppets to do as you're told!"

"Keep talking, clown, and I'll remove the tongue from your mouth first," I snapped.

Administrator tilted her head as she gazed at me, her sole hand pressed against her oozing stump. "Hmm... It was about time to reset Bercouli and Fanatio," she said. "It has been almost a century since I erased their memories. But you... You've only belonged to me for a year now. Could it be that you were influenced by the irregular units that climbed the tower?" She gazed down at the blond boy on the floor. "Or... maybe it's because you yourself were an irregularity. A visitor from the other world..."

"What." Everything stopped for me. My heartbeat, the slow drip of Administrator's blood on the floor, and even Chudelkin's rant. Those words. "Explain. Now."

Ignoring my words as if I hadn't spoken, Administrator uncrossed her legs and stood up. "Well, in the end, it will take a thorough examination to know the cause... Now. Chudelkin." The idle curiosity that had taken over her face disappeared, and she looked at Chudelkin with dark anger clouding her eyes. The clown looked at her in shock and, if I wished hard enough, a little bit of anger. "Since I am so very generous, I shall give you the chance to restore your tattered reputation. I do not care how, just... deal with him."

"B-But my Lady -!"

My blade passed through the clown's body with no resistance. The Prime Senator may be quite skilled with Sacred Arts, but against me that meant nothing at all. Not to me. This time, he couldn't use tricks like before to save himself.

Chudelkin crumpled like a deflated balloon and I flung his body across the hall with a contemptuous swing. His garish corpse crumpled to the ground with a wet-sounding thud.

"No more puppets, Administrator," I hissed. "Now it's just you and me."

Her eyes narrowed. "You have made yourself quite irritating, Rythin," she sighed. "Perhaps I was wrong to make you my servant after all. Or maybe the blame lies with one who chose to bring the serpent to her breast."

"I'm no snake," I snarled. "But I'll still plunge my fangs into your heart!"

My piece was said and I rushed forward. My knife swept out and I cackled as Administrator rose her other hand. That won't save you! That won't -

A hammer smashed into my side and sent me flying across the room. I felt ribs shatter under the impact and I coughed in pain when I slammed into a pillar in the opposite side of the room. My own blood splattered on the ground, and I slumped over in pain. I looked up despite the fire burning in my lungs and saw a massive golden hammer... hovering in midair? How...?

"Your weapon is a powerful counter to my Sacred Arts, it's true," Administrator said. "But, I've noticed that it only applies to the blade itself." The shadows that were swirling from the blade had disappeared as soon as it left my hands. This time, I hadn't managed to hold on to it. "What is the matter, Rythin? Didn't you say you were going to kill me?"

I gritted my teeth. Bitch... "I'm... Khaack!" The cough ripped out of me and I spat more blood up. I grimaced at the reminded that I'd been injured. "I'm not done... yet...!" I slammed my right hand into the ground and winced at the pain. It was barely enough to register through the haze of pain coming from my side, but I still accepted the pain. First one knee, then to my feet... As long as I could stand, I would fight.

My ribs were probably piercing my lungs, some part of me knew. The lacerations on my hands didn't hurt because my hands were numb from the cold, but I'd probably also shattered my knuckles when breaking through her shields earlier. And with every heartbeat my bloodloss was making me weaker and weaker. All of that didn't matter, if I could fight and kill her.

I glared at her, and didn't so much as shake.

"Oh well," Administrator sighed. "This next strike will deplete most of your Life. It will definitely be difficult to keep you alive. But I suppose that risk is suitable for a traitorous boy such as yourself. Sleep now, Rythin. You won't remember any of this if you wake up."

The hammer swung towards me, and I knew I wouldn't be able to dodge. I glared at Administrator and refused to blink, even as the golden hammer struck -

*Crash!*

Golden petals rushed in from the side of my vision and swirled in front of me. The hammer had crashed into them with a heavy blow, but it didn't budge the wall of olive petals. I stared at the sight in front of me, but my pain-fogged brain refused to understand what was going on. Those were... Alice's flowers? But what were they doing here?

The resolute form of the flowers' owner rose from the hole that led down a floor, and a breath shuddered out of me. Alice, the golden knight... But somehow, I didn't have the energy in me to hate any more. I just couldn't manage to bring back the loathing I felt for the beautiful girl.

As soon as she stepped forward the platform sank back down into the ground. It must be going to fetch someone else... I swayed on my feet and realized that the room had tilted quite rudely on me. It was... easier to sit down, but when I tried to sit the room swam again and I missed. Once I'd sprawled out on the floor, it was too hard to move my body again.

Alice glanced over her shoulder, and for a heartbeat we met gazes. I expected her to scoff in disgust and refuse to protect me, but... she turned back to Administrator without moving. Strange.

"Well, well. Alice. I am surprised to see you among those turning against me," Administrator said. "Your logic circuits don't seem to be malfunctioning, either... Perhaps those irregular units have influenced you?" Alice inhaled sharply, and Administrator smirked. The hammer hovered in the air behind her lazily. "What is it, Alice? Do you have something you wish to say to me? Go ahead and speak your mind. I won't be mad."

The golden-haired girl shook, and she took a single step backwards. Then, before her heel touched the ground, she stopped. After a moment of thought, she brought her foot back up. She didn't back down...? "I will, your Eminence," she said. Her finger brushed over her right eye.

"As of today," she said, "the proud order of Integrity Knights has fallen. All it took to bring it down were the swords of the rebels in this room and a floor below, and the obsession and deceit of your rule - represented by this cathedral! My duty is not to protect the church, but protect the innocents and safeguard their peace. It is your actions, more than anything else, that threaten the well-being of the citizens of the Human Empire."

Those words... she'd said them to me earlier. I hadn't cared. But... somehow, now, it felt like she was right...?

My eyes closed. It felt like my body was made entirely out of lead weight. Crap... My Life was running out...

Administrator said something but the fog was too much, but when I heard the words 'Piety Module' I clenched my fist. That thing... "...means she must have disabled the code 871 which was installed for me by her own volition! Rather than by sudden emotion!" What? "I won't know what happened until I run an analysis," she said. "For now... I shall have to deal with you myself."

I groaned and tried to roll over - until somehow it happened despite my weakness. I blinked blearily and tried to focus; a boy with black hair stared down with obvious concern. "You're really hurt," he said. "This is my fault... you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me. I have to heal you...! Alice, please protect us!"

"Fear not, Kirito," Alice said. "I will do my best."

"I hope that's enough..." Kirito muttered. "System call! Generate luminous element."

A pale green glow surrounded his hands and hovered over my side. The sudden bloom of warmth in my body made me shiver, and a heavy sigh slipped out of my body. It felt so good that I... I...

I had to stop myself from tapping my foot impatiently as the silly elevator floated back down to me. If I were back in my old AI body, I wouldn't have needed to worry about such a thing. But when I was this close to seeing Rythin again? To seeing my Nick again? There was no way I wanted to wait another second longer than I absolutely had to. Korosensei might have taught us to be patient and wait for the perfect moment to strike, but that didn't matter when I really, really wanted to see Nick!

Muuuuu! I really wish I had some way to make that disk hurry up. Alice and Kirito had already gone ahead of me, and I could hear the sounds of combat from down here.

As soon as the platform landed on the ground, I stopped puffing out my cheek and hopped on. "System call... Generate aerial element." Getting to this point had been a long, long journey, but I didn't mind. Even getting arrested and taken to the Central Cathedral had been another step closer, as awkward as getting carried away by the dragon had been.

"I'm almost there, Rythin," I said. "Stay safe."

Of course, the second I saw the top floor of the Central Cathedral, I knew I'd jinxed it. Alice was standing at the front, sword out and pointed at someone that would make Okajima cry tears of joy for being so blessed if he saw her. The purple-haired naked lady was hovering in midair with nothing to support her, legs crossed like she was sitting on an invisible chair, and did I mention she's totally naked?! Nick had explained the concept of Fluctlights back in our other world, so... maybe she was originally based on Professor Bitch's Fluctlight? The only thing marring her beauty was the stump of her right arm, dripping blood. Her hand was on the ground a little bit away.

Aside from Alice and Administrator, there was a blonde boy in blue lying motionless on the ground - that had to be Eugeo, and I noted it in the back of my mind - but Kirito was kneeling by a motionless body and it was only the assassination training that kept me from freezing up at the sight of the blood pooling around Rythin's body. My best friend wasn't moving and I could see how pale his face looked. "Kirito!" I gasped.

He looked over at me as I scrambled off of the rising disk even before it had come flush with the floor. Blood stained my socks and skirt, but I didn't care. "Ritsu," he said. "Don't worry, he's alive." He didn't stop his Sacred Art as he poured life into Rythin.

I let out a huge sigh of relief and smiled. "That's a relief."

"So, another little rat crawls out of the woodwork." The calm, detached voice fit Administrator as she hovered above us, though the blood still dripping from her stump ruined the effect. I wonder why the person with all the authority in this world hadn't healed herself? I bet Rythin had done something to her. "Though you... you're interesting, girl. You're not a human from the other side, like my little Knight or his friend. But you're still an irregular unit, perhaps born from an unregistered marriage. I wonder why I can't see your properties?"

"...I'm very sorry," I said with a polite bow, "but I'm a perfectly normal girl, Administrator... or would you prefer Quinella?"

Administrator giggled. "So the little imp from the library filled your head with all her ridiculous stories. Well, children? What are you doing in my world? I doubt you've just stumbled in out of curiosity."

"You're right," Kirito said. He stood up and I hurriedly checked on Rythin; his breathing had stabilized but he'd lost a lot of blood. It didn't look like he was losing any more, though, so his Life shouldn't be dropping. "We didn't. Your world is gonna end real soon, and it's all your fault."

"I'm sorry, what?" Administrator said with an incredulous laugh. "Are you saying I'll destroy it?"

"Pretty much. The Dark Territory will invade," Kirito said. "That's why you made the Integrity Knights, to stop it. But your faith in them's your mistake. They won't be enough."

Administrator giggled again. "That sounds exactly like something that little brat would say. How pitiful... Both her for being so desperate to have me expelled, and you for being so gullible."

"Madam Pontifex, if I may," Alice said. "The army of the dark has grown rapidly. If they invade now, the current number of Knights could not withstand it. The commander believe it, as did Vice Commander Fanatio." Alice closed her eyes. "And I... I as well." She opened her eyes and stared firmly at Administrator. "What is your plan, now that the order of Knights is no more? Do you think you alone can protect the Empire?

"But what angers me more than your hubris... You have stolen us Knights from our parents. From wives and husbands, brothers and sisters." Her fist clenched. "You sealed away our memories of them, and replaced them with lies of being summoned from a nonexistent heaven." She slammed her sword into the ground, the tip gouging a small hole. "Pontifex! Could you not trust us to be loyal to you and respect your authority? Were we such a threat to you... you had to submit us to such a monstrous ritual, and force our souls into obedience?!"

She sniffed quietly, and I realized tears were streaming down her face.

"I do trust you, though," Administrator said. She held up a sparkling purple crystal. "In fact, I love you. The Piety Module installed in you Knights is proof of my love. A gift from me to you all. Why, this little thing frees you from the worry and pain of normal folk. You're my beautiful dolls, beautiful for all eternity."

"That isn't love."

Everyone looked at me, and I realized with surprise that I'd been the one to speak. "And what do you know of love, girl?" Administrator sneered.

"I don't know much." I pressed my hand to my chest. "I was created for one reason, and there was no room for love in my calculations. But even still, I grew to love my teacher and my friends. What you're talking about isn't love, Quinella." It wasn't even the misguided love that drove Nagisa's mother to such lengths. "You're just playing with people's lives and controlling them."

How dare she compare my feelings for Korosensei and E Class to the monstrous things she's done? My feelings for Nick?!

"Out of all the Knights," Alice began, her hands trembling on the hilt of her sword, "Unc- Commander Bercouli has shown you the deepest loyalty. But you do not know the man, even though he's served you faithfully... for three hundred long years. Do you think he has not suffered once in all that time? Did you not know of the pain he carried in his heart?! Are you that oblivious!?"

"...You think so little of me. Of course I knew." I gasped at Administrator's answer. "These things you speak of didn't start Bercouli recently, though. He brought them up ages ago... A century, I think? Yes, about that, give or take. I couldn't watch him brood over such trivialities, so I fixed him," Administrator said lightly. "Reset him, to be more specific." She giggled. "And he's not the only one. I reset every Knight over a century old. All of their painful memories and troubling thoughts were wiped away. Don't you worry, Alice. I'll overlook your transgressions and erase all the thoughts that made you so miserable too. Before you know it, you'll go back to being my puppet and have no need to think."

Alice simply closed her eyes. "You are correct," she said. "Right now, I feel enough pain and sadness to tear my heart into pieces. However, I choose to embrace it. I do not wish to erase what I have never felt before. This pain, serves a purpose. It reminds me what I am - a human being, and not a puppet Knight. Madam Pontifex," she declared. "I do not want your so-called love, and I do not need you to fix me!"

"I'm sad to hear that," Administrator said. "Unfortunately, what you want doesn't matter. As soon as I resynthesize you - and I will - the pesky feelings that trouble you now will be erased completely."

"Kinda like what you did to yourself in the past, huh?"

Kirito's question seemed to strike a nerve, and Administrator tilted her head to stare at him. "Watch it, little boy," she said. "Dredging up the past is considered quite rude."

"Why?" he asked. "You scared the truth will come out? No one's got the power to erase the past. Not even you. You were born a human and raised a human, and no matter you've got, that's one thing you can't change, can you?"

"I'm not quite sure what you're getting at, little boy from the outer world."

"All you want is to be a god," Kirito replied, "but you can never be a god because you're human. Being human means you make mistakes, and you made a big one. At this point, there's nothing you can do to fix it. You've got less Integrity Knights now. If the Dark Territory invades, who's gonna stop them? They'll destroy everything!"

"And who were the ones who corrupted some of my best Knights? They were you, children," Administrator said.

"If you're all that's left after this, maybe you can start over with a clean slate," Kirito said. "Maybe that's what you always wanted. Thing is, it ain't gonna go the way you want it. On the other side, there's the people who created this world who have final say over what happened to it. If they see the Human Empire fall, they'll think, 'Oh well. That didn't work. I guess we'll start over.' Then, one of them will push a button and everything will disappear. The mountains... the rivers... the towns... Every person here and you. They'll erase it all in the blink of an eye."

I felt something uncomfortable curl in my stomach. There were people who could just... control something like that? They could have just erased everyone in E Class if we failed to kill Korosensei or something like that? I shivered at the thought of Nagisa and Karma and everyone disappearing at the press of a button. By the look of it, Alice felt just as uncomfortable at this revelation.

"Point taken," Administrator snapped. "But I have a feeling the same goes for your world too. You must have a creator. Does your kind grapple with the thought of living under the whim of a higher power, as well? Do you strive to please this being, obey its laws, hoping it won't tire of you and wipe you out?"

The woman straightened up in midair and stretched her arms out wide. Her long purple hair floated behind her and she smiled peacefully. "I would be shocked if that were the case! As you say, your kind created our world. And if we fail them, they would delete us without a care. If that is how your kind treat us, boy, then you do not have the right to criticize me. I reject their authority. I will not pander to self-proclaimed gods, groveling for the right to continue existing. I refute them all.

"I exist for one reason alone - to rule over all in this world! That singular desire is what drives me, and gives me life. My legs are for climbing over others to greater heights, not to bend at the knee in subjugation!" Administrator's face twisted in a snarl and wind began to whip around her as she floated higher in the air. The gusts plucked at my clothes and hair and I'd never been more glad that I always wore my long hair in twintails. I couldn't imagine having my hair loose like Yukiko or Rio...

But... this was it. The moment that Korosensei had taught us to look for and recognize - the moment that our target let their guard down and opened themselves up to assassination. I only had one chance, and I couldn't let myself miss.

"And then what?!" Kirito shouted as he stepped forward. "You gonna sit back and let the Human Empire get destroyed? Are you gonna watch everything burn, alone on your token throne? A queen with no one to rule?"

My hand slipped around my neck and I tugged the tiny little dagger free. While my new, human body might not be fully trained in assassination techniques, I was still a member of E Class. I'd sat through the same lectures, and I knew the right thing to do here.

"On the contrary," Administrator said, and she closed her eyes. "I will not allow your kind to reset the Underworld. Nor will I allow the Final Stress Test to run its course either. I've prepared a new Sacred Art to -"

*Shunk*

She froze and stared at the tiny dagger embedded in her stomach, just below her rib cage. Naturally, I'd aimed for center mass, and hit my target without fail. A perfect assassination. "What is... No! This must be from that brat! It was created from her body, and that means...!"

The dagger began to glow purple and lines of code swirled around it as the stored Sacred Art activated. "Assassination complete!" I said.

"Stop! You can't!" Administrator snarled. "I am the ruler of this world! I can't be undone by some... some petty brats and a girl playing with stolen power!" The dagger fully dissolved into the lines of intricate letters. They surrounded Administrator's body and sank in, enveloping her with a purple aura. I noticed that the bleeding from her stump had completely ceased.

"Oh my. Well done." A voice resonated from nowhere. "I'd given up hope, but it seems you succeeded anyway."

"You coward! Letting others do your work for you while you hide in your musty hole!" Administrator strained, but couldn't move. "Sacred Art -"

"That will be quite enough of that."

The purple light wrapped around Administrator's figure shone brightly when Cardinal spoke. I had to close my eyes from the brightness of it, and when I opened them again the naked woman had disappeared - along with, surprisingly enough, the severed hand and the pool of blood spread across the floor.

Some of the letters still floated in the air, and Cardinal's voice echoed through them, though she was growing fainter. "Once I've dealt with Quinella, I shall return to you. Your friend needs help."

"Please, hurry," I begged her. "Rythin..."

"He will be fine." The last of the letters disappeared and I let out a quiet breath. Please, please be okay...

Rythin didn't stir even after five minutes had passed. I knelt down and rested his head on my lap, gently running my fingers through his hair. His skin was so cold... Beside him, Eugeo finally groaned. "My head..." he murmured, and then his eyes snapped open. "Administrator!"

He sat up abruptly, and then stopped when he realized the room was empty. Kirito grinned at him. "Morning, sleepy-head," he said. "You're finally awake."

"Kirito! ...Alice..." His eyes were glued to the golden knight. "What happened to Administrator?"

"I stabbed her with the dagger," I said. "I threw it at her while she was distracted and had let down her guard."

"So, it's over..." Eugeo sighed. "But... I'm glad you're okay, Kirito. Is Alice still our enemy?"

Alice shook her head. "No. It is clear to me now that you were never invaders from the Dark Territory, and that the Pontifex had been abusing our trust."

It looked like Eugeo wanted to say something, but more purple light filled the room as a column of light rose. A heavy wooden door appeared in that column and creaked open. Light spilled through as Cardinal floated through and looked around the room. She floated over to where I was sitting and stretched out her staff; all it took was a single tap from her staff and the horrible wound on Rythin's body vanished as if it had never existed.

"Thank you," I whispered. Then, I settled down to wait for him to wake up.

…

I opened my eyes. "What... happened...?"

"Huh - Oh! You're awake!" A girl with purple hair and blue eyes stared back at me. Unlike the Pontifex, her hair was short, aside from two long twintails. Her outfit was a stylized uniform of sorts - similar but not quite what Kirito had been wearing - with a red ribbon tied around her neck in a bow. "Kirito said you might wake up soon. I'm glad."

"Administrator," I ground out. "What..." When I tried to stand up, the girl pressed at my chest until I stopped moving. I realized that at some point my armor had been removed, probably when Kirito had been healing me.

Speaking of the boy, he was speaking in the center of the room with the blond boy that had been unconscious on Administrator's bed. Alice was standing next to both of them, and from where I was lying against the wall I could see her face. It was... amazing. Something was different about her. Her expression was less stoic and way more animated than I'd ever seen before - and as I watched she giggled and shoved at Eugeo. I'd never heard her giggle, ever.

It was... weird. Alice was almost... cute. And wasn't that a strange thought.

The girl knelt down beside me. "Who - oh, you mean Quinella." Quinella? Was that the bitch's name? "I'm not sure of all the details, but Kirito and I were given a special dagger that I needed to use on her. The perfect assassination weapons," she giggled. "One touch was all they'd need and a Sacred Art would activate." While she was talking, the girl slipped my arm over her shoulders and helped me stand.

"Yes. Though Kirito used his quite foolishly, to save the life of an Integrity Knight he battled." I glanced over at the voice. And then down, when I didn't see anyone right away.

"...A tiny librarian?"

The tiny librarian coughed. "Ahem. Yes. My name is Cardinal." I tilted my head. I was still a little confused by this strange, lost child. She carried a staff that was larger than she was, and wore some fancy-looking maroon robes. A large hat was perched on top of her head, but even with the hat she only came up to my chest. Her messy brown hair made my heart lurch for a second, but the feeling was gone almost before I noticed it.

"Who even are you?"

"It would be simpler to explain myself as the 'good' Pontifex of this world, as Kirito put it," she said. "I fought with Administrator two hundred years ago, but was forced into hiding until she was finally stopped. But none of that matters at the moment. Right now, you need my help."

"I don't need -"

Cardinal's eyes narrowed and she let out a grumpy 'hpmh'. "You needed my help to stop from dying," she pointed out. I pressed my hand to my side. "Kirito tried his best but your injuries were too severe. All he was able to do was stabilize your Life. You're lucky that your friend was able to pierce Quinella with the special dagger I'd created while Alice distracted her."

I stared at Cardinal. I had the strangest urge to pat her on the head. Maybe it was the earlier blood loss.

She adjusted her glasses. "But that wasn't what I meant. You need my help to restore your memories to their rightful state."

I controlled the immediate urge to jump at her offer. My tongue still darted out and licked my lips, though. "...What do you want from me?"

"Hmm?" Cardinal blinked up at me. With the pigtails, she looked pretty cute like that. "What are you talking about? Want? There's nothing I want."

The purple-haired girl sighed. "Rythin, she just wants to help, that's all." I looked back and forth at them. I didn't know them at all, and that made no sense... "I'll just go get Kirito, since you're awake now." She shook her head and headed off. She knew Kirito?

I was so very confused. Cardinal smiled up at me. "Don't worry," she said. "I've already restored Alice's memories. The process is very simple. Although, since you're from the other realm..." Other what?!

"The Highest Order Bi... No. Quinella said the same thing," I said. "What does that mean?"

"You'll remember once your memories are back," Cardinal said. "I promise."

"Mm."

It didn't really make me feel better, but there wasn't time to say anything else. The purple-haired girl returned with Kirito following her. "Hey..." he said awkwardly when I looked at him. "I'm glad you're okay, Rythin. Ritsu was really worried about you."

"And you found your friend, Kirito!" the newly-named Ritsu said. "Congratulations."

"Kirito," I began, and then stopped. What was I going to say? 'Thank you for showing me how much Quinella had been messing with my mind, sorry for trying to murder you?' 'My ribs feel better, how are yours?' 'So Quinella was kind of a bitch, huh?'

The boy grinned at me. "Turned out that thanks to you cutting off her hand, Administrator wasn't able to fight back as effectively," he said. "Alice distracted her just long enough for Eugeo to wake up, and then Ritsu threw his dagger and got her. She's got really good aim." He scratched his cheek. "So... thanks, I guess."

I sighed. "I'm not sure I did much but..." I shook my head. "Putting that aside. The mini-librarian here says she can bring my memories back."

"Excuse me!" Cardinal pouted. Well, she probably intended for it to be a stern frown, but it looked like a pout.

"Can she?" I asked Kirito. "And is it safe?"

"Yes," he said immediately. "And absolutely." He glanced back over at the golden girl, who waved at him cheerfully. "Alice is... well, according to Eugeo, she's back to her old self."

I nodded once, and then looked at Cardinal. "Well, let's be about it then," I said.

"Umu." Cardinal nodded as well. She gestured at the ruined bed with her staff. "Go lie down. It'll be faster if you're unconscious, and I don't want to waste time."

Hmmmmm. This really wasn't putting me at ease. But, then again, I'd been unconscious earlier and nothing had happened, so... I guess I'll listen to Cardinal for now. I walked over to the bed and sat down. It really was exactly as comfortable as I thought it was.

"Thank you," Cardinal said. "Now... System call." She struck her staff against the ground and the rings on the end rang out. I let my eyes close as she chanted a complex Sacred Art. I was really just so tired of everything...

I opened my eyes.

And then immediately regretted it. "Ugh... Can someone get the license plate of the dragon that ran me over?" I growled. "Gods, everything hurts." I pushed myself up and rubbed at my head. Headache, check; ache in the side, check; arms and legs and everything else ache, check.

I rubbed at my eyes and looked around. Everything was exactly the same as I'd seen it when I closed my eyes. But now... now I remembered everything. Including Kazuto, Ritsu, and everything. "...Hey, Kazuto," I said. "Good to see you again."

My brother let out a huge sigh of relief and he smiled at me. "Hey, Nick," he said. "You worried us for a little bit."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry about that." I spotted Ritsu hovering just over Kirito's shoulder and smiled at the girl. "Hiya, Ritsu. It's been a while, huh... I should have come back earlier."

She shook her head and wiped at her eyes. "I-it's fine. I'm not..." After a few seconds she gave up on words and lunged forward. She wrapped her arms around my waist and buried her face in my chest; I blinked for a second at Kirito's grin, then patted her back. "I'm so glad you're back to normal, Rythin," she mumbled. "I missed you so much."

"I left you alone for a while, didn't I?" I asked. "I'm really, really sorry, Ritsu. I screwed up." She sniffed into my chest but didn't reply or deny the charge. After all, it was true. "How did you get wrapped up in all of this, anyway? This isn't the type of place for an assassin."

"I waited and waited, but you never came back," she mumbled. "So I went to Centoria. One thing led to another, and... um..."

"She was in one of the cells when Eugeo and I broke out," Kirito said. "She recognized me and called out, so we broke her out too." He chuckled. "You really talked about us a lot back in... E Class, right?"

I nodded. "Well, who else would I talk about? I missed you all."

Kirito grinned and drifted off to talk with Alice and... Eugeo, apparently? The blond kid that Quinella had been about to make her next Integrity Knight. Meanwhile, I fidgeted awkwardly while Ritsu sat and clung to me. She didn't move for the longest time, so I didn't really have a choice but to let her cling to me. Though, to be honest, it was nice to get a hug again. My memories as an Integrity Knight remained, and the entire time I'd been alone there.

Speaking of being an Integrity Knight... I gently poked at Ritsu's side until she sat back and let me stand up. I had something I needed to do.

Alice was laughing with Eugeo and Kirito like a trio of old friends when I approached them. My bare feet were quiet on the cold floor, but Eugeo still saw me approach them. "Oh, um... hi," he said. "You're... Rythin, right? Kirito's best friend." He smiled at me. "I guess it's nice to finally meet you! He told me a lot of stories while we were traveling through the Northern Empire."

I raised an eyebrow and smirked at Kirito. "Oh, he did? Good to know. Hopefully nothing too embarrassing," I said with a chuckle.

"Um..." Eugeo scratched his cheek. Maybe he picked the habit up from Kirito. "W-Well, he said you, um... w-wore a dress before."

I sighed in relief. "Great, so nothing embarrassing. If crossdressing was the worst thing he said about me, I got lucky." Eugeo blushed a little bit and I snickered. "But... It's nice to meet you as well, Eugeo. If you don't mind though, I wanted to talk to Alice for a second...?"

"Yes, of course!" Wow. This boy was entirely too nice. A veritable cinnamon roll. I'd talked to him for all of a minute and I could already tell. "Come on, Kirito, let's leave them to their conversation."

"Yeah, yeah, coming, coming. ...I wonder if we have time to run down to the kitchen and grab something? Those meat buns were good but I'm still hungry."

"Honestly, do you ever think of anything but food?"

I grinned. Yeah, okay, Eugeo's gotten to know Kirito pretty well, hasn't he?

"A dress, hmm?"

Alice's voice made me turn to look at her. I could still see the proud and stern Knight that I'd come to know, but the playful sparkle in her eye was anything but. "Yeah," I said with a shrug. "Why? Is that a problem?"

"No, not really," she said. "It was just hard to match that mental image with the Integrity Knight I knew for the last year." I winced. Yeah, okay, that was a good point.

"About that..." I took a deep breath. Let's go, Rythin, you need to say this. "I apologize, Alice."

"...Pardon me?"

"I apologize for my rude and thoughtless behavior." I could make plenty of excuses about how I wasn't in my right state of mind, or how Quinella had been controlling me, but the simple fact was, Integrity Knight Rythin Synthesis Thirty-One was a part of me. A cruel part untempered by my experiences in E Class and without my lovely girlfriend and my family, yes, but it was still me. "For the past year or so, I've been cruel. Please, forgive me."

"I..." Alice hesitated, and then sighed. "I understand your words, Rythin. I will do my best to look past your previous actions." She smiled. "After all, you're Kirito's friend."

What did that - oh. Of course. Those pheromones of his! I glanced over to where he was talking with Eugeo and Ritsu. I need to protect my classmate from his pretty-boy harem aura! Alice is lost but I can still save Ritsu! Don't fall for that dense idiot, Ritsu! "I suppose that's the best I could ask for," I sighed. "Honestly, I'm a little surprised you managed to even try."

Alice shook her head. "I'm not... unfamiliar with the situation you were in, so I can empathize somewhat."

"...You remembered your past life, right?" I asked her.

"I did." A soft smile graced her appearance. "I'm looking forward to visiting with my childhood friends once things in the Central Cathedral settle down."

I smiled. "Great. I hope it's a nice place."

Sure the conversation was awkward, but it was a good starting point. Even if I'd never see Alice again once I logged out of Underworld, it felt good to apologize to her.

...Wait, did she say 'friends'? As in, plural? But the only one here from Underworld was Eugeo, so she must have misspoken. Unless... Of course. Ha ha ha! Of course Kirito managed to make childhood friends with a cute girl! They must have erased knowledge of him from everyone's memories when he left, but if Alice's memories had been locked away, they wouldn't have been affected!

Seriously, that boy. It's ridiculous, really.

...

"So, where do we go from here?" I asked Kirito and Cardinal.

The little librarian let out a quiet hmph. "Now, I have to take care of you two." She strode over to the edge of the chamber and struck her staff against the floor. A circle under the staff glowed and rose up from the ground; on top of the small pedestal was a small...

"That's a terminal," I breathed. The small white marble shape looked like it was a laptop sitting on there, albeit without a keyboard or a screen.

"Umu. Quinella's plan was most likely to upload herself to the human world in the event that the Load Test Stage arrived. She always was a coward." I glanced at Kirito during Cardinal's mini-rant, and he gave me a look that said 'I'll explain later'. I nodded and turned back to Cardinal as she started typing at the terminal. Purple screens the same color as the Stacia window appeared and lines of text swiftly crawled up the screen. "Hmm... Yes, I can open a communication channel between here and the real world. It will allow you two - three, pardon me," she added with a glance over at Ritsu. I looked over my shoulder at her and saw the AI girl chatting happily with Alice and Eugeo. "To leave before I return this world to nothingness."

Nothingness? "You still want to do that?" Kirito asked her. "The people here are alive! If we can let them live a happy life, then -"

"Hang on, both of you," I said. "I'm gonna need that explanation now. Return to nothingness? What?"

After the explanation, I sighed heavily and took a seat on the terminal pedestal. "So, you want to delete everything and reset things back to null, as punishment to RATH for making this world? Just making sure I have this pretty clear in my head."

"That is correct," Cardinal said.

"And, as an incentive to get him to do what you wanted, you told Kirito you could archive ten or so Fluctlights instead of deleting them. Still right?"

"Umu."

I sighed again and buried my face in my hands. "Okay. Okay, I think I've got it. So, first thing, your plan isn't going to work. Not permanently, at any rate."

"...Explain," Cardinal said.

I shrugged. "They've got backups. Where do you think Ritsu came from? She's not from the human world, but here she is. A separate system for a different test. Even if you erase this world, there's only a few outcomes I can see." I raised my hand and ticked them off one at a time. "One, you successfully erase all the Fluctlights. The engineers at RATH swear and start over. Two, you successfully erase all the Fluctlights. The RATH engineers sigh and move on to the next idea using Fluctlights. And three, you fail to erase all the Fluctlights and things continue."

"Besides. If you erase the world, I can't grant your desire again," Kirito said. Cardinal grumbled under her breath and glared at him.

I blinked rapidly. "Pardon?" I asked. "I must have misunderstood that. One, I'm pretty sure that's illegal? Wait, she said over two hundred years ago… does that make her a – never mind. Besides the point. Number two, you'd better have Asuna's permission, otherwise I'm going to have to hurt you."

"N-No no no!" Kirito waved his hands wildly. "Just a hug, a hug! That was it!"

"Oh." I stared at the now blushing Cardinal. "Huh. I would have pegged her for the piggyback ride, honestly -"

"I am not a child," Cardinal grumbled.

"Heh." I shrugged. "But seriously. I don't think that whatever your problem is, wiping the slate clean is a good answer. There's probably some better way rather than scrapping everything."

Kirito grinned, and Cardinal sighed. "Geez," she said. "What unreasonably optimistic people you two are." Eh? Optimistic? Me? That's a new one. "But... Maybe you're right," she said. "If the only response would be to restart the project..."

I cracked my neck. "How about once we're out of here, Kirito and I talk to the asshole in charge? The head rear-end, if you will." Kikuoka is going to owe me big time for what I did, even if it was entirely on accident. "I'm sure that we can get something done."

"Your crude comments aside," Cardinal sniffed, "that sounds like... an acceptable agreement. For now, let me open the communication channels." She typed rapidly at the terminal.

Eventually, a purple screen popped up with an icon on it, an arrow pointing towards a silhouette. "External Observer call", I read out loud. "What, so, Kikuoka?" I smirked. "I have some words for him, so that's good."

Cardinal headed back to the girls and Eugeo. Once we were alone, Kirito and I nodded, and then he pressed the button. "Performing this operation will set the Fluctlight Acceleration rate to 1.0," he read from the prompt. "Are you sure?"

"Well we can't call unless we do," I shrugged.

He nodded and tapped the Confirm button. A red panel popped up that said Processing, and -

The world twisted around itself and I had the weirdest experience of my body somehow slowing down to a crawl; my thoughts and movements were in slow motion while sound and light and everything else stretched out before snapping right back. I shivered violently and rolled my shoulders.

The panel was now totally black, with a single line that read [Sound Only]. I frowned. Stupid thing couldn't even give me video? "Helloooo~?" I sang out. "Anyone home?"

"Kikuoka, are you there?" Kirito called out.

The only thing that answered us was silence. "Okay, wow, rude, just answering the phone without anyone there," I grumped. "See if I answer your next phone ca-"

The mechanical chatter of gunfire replied to my whining. Immediately my eyes widened and I shut up. The speed of the retorts... Automatic weaponry. "What's going on?" Kirito gasped.

"Ritsu!" I snapped. "You're needed!"

"Coming!" My classmate hurried over as more semi-auto fire echoed out across the channel. Bright orange soundwaves spiked every time. "Gunfire? What's this? Does it have anything to do with the oddity I just sensed?"

"No idea," I murmured.

"Lieutenant Colonel! The door's been breached! We have to leave!" An unfamiliar man's voice came across the line. "They'll be in the control room any second! I'm shutting the bulkhead!"

"No, wait!" That one was undeniably Kikuoka. "Just give me a couple minutes! I have to sort a few things out here." More gunfire. This sounded different. Probably two sets of guns, attackers and defenders. And from the sound of it, Kikuoka's team was on the defensive. "Higa. How long until we're locked down?"

"I need another eighty... no! Seventy seconds." I recognized that voice too. It was one of the techs that worked on Underworld. Higa. He was older than me and more skilled at programming, though I was catching up fast. "Wha- Holy crap! Hey Kiks!"

...Kiks?

"It's a call from the Underworld! It's... Dude! It's them! It's Kirigaya and Weyr!"

"Wha- really?" Kikuoka gasped. "Kirito! Rythin!"

Kirito sucked in a quick breath, but I didn't waste any time getting angry. "Sitrep now. What the hell is going on out there?" Kirito opened his mouth but I pressed a hand on his shoulder. He was pissed at Kikuoka for any number of excellent reasons, but that didn't matter.

"An enemy force has invaded RATH. I don't know what they're after, but it's probably the Fluctlights." More gunfire echoed through the channel, machinegun followed by the sharp retort of what sounded like...

"Handgun, or semi-auto?" I asked Ritsu.

She tilted her head and listened, then held up a single finger. "Definitely handgun, though multiple weapons."

"Probably security then," I shrugged.

"Listen! I need you two find a girl for me. Her name is Alice, and -"

"We have the girl," I interrupted. "Ritsu, go make sure she stays in place, we'll need Alice." The girl nodded and headed off to grab the blonde. "What next?"

"You have her? That's incredible. How did you find her? Wait, never mind."

"You've gotta be kidding," Higa breathed. "Those kids are awesome!" Damn straight we are.

"Alright, once we're off the line, I'll crank the FLA to a thousand," Kikuoka said. "Then, take Alice and head to the World's End Altar."

I shook my head. "We need more information than that. No idea what or where it is." It's probably the logout point for the Fluctlights, if I had to guess.

"That's okay," Kikuoka told me. "Just go out the Eastern gate and the altar's due south."

"Sir! Two of them are heading down the corridor, heading towards electric!"

The security guard's voice made me wish I'd memorized the layout of RATH better, if only to know where hostile forces were. Unfortunately, that had been two years ago, and before I'd really gotten in the habit of memorizing floor plans. "What?" Kikuoka ground out.

"We're screwed!" Higa complained. "What do we do? If they cut the main powerline now, it's gonna cause a surge! The Lightcube Cluster should be safe, but... the subcomputers where Kirigaya and Weyr's STLs are won't be! The surge will cook their Fluctlights!"

"Oh fuck," I said succinctly.

"Okay, I'll handle the lockdown. Higa, take Doctor Koujiro, Asuna, and Kana, and get to the upper shaft! Keep Kirito and Rythin safe!"

My fist smashed down on the pedestal next to the terminal. "The girls aren't safe yet?" I snarled. "What the hells have you idiots been DOING?!"

"What are they doing at RATH!?" Kirito gasped.

"They're cutting the power!" one of the guards shouted. "The screw propellers are going down!"

I gasped and turned to look at Ritsu, reaching out a hand. I could see Alice and Eugeo turning to look at us from the other side of the room; they were too far away to have heard anything from the human world, but the commotion and my shouting probably attracted their attention.

Suddenly, the entire room lit up in an eerie blue light. Beside me, Kirito staggered backwards. Pillars of light lanced down from above, stabbing through the top of the cathedral. Where they smashed through my body, they didn't hurt or have an impact or anything at all... But still, something in me recoiled from them. I'd been grievously wounded, an animal part of me was certain. Red and purple squares appeared in my vision as the world shuddered.

My soul shuddered too, pieces of it breaking apart and falling away. The thing that made me me was shredded by the light.

My vision faded to whiteness that seemed to have nothing in it.

Of course, even the idea of hollow whiteness stopped having meaning.

From a distant source, I could hear someone shouting. "Rythin... Nick!"

'I don't want to forget her again, please,' one part of my mind begged.

But... forget...

...Who, exactly?

Administrator fiiiiiight! And then... bad things. Good things? Definitely bad things in the end.

With this, we've finished off all of the first Season of Alicization. This is, in the end, fanfic; and Rythin's journey here especially is separate from Kirito. I'm assuming most of my readers know the plot of Alicization by now (since, y'know, it's been animated) but if you don't, I'd heavily suggest watching at LEAST the recap of cour 1 that aired before cour 2 officially started. I think it's subs only, though. Moving forward, there might be a little bit of explanation about what went down when Nick wasn't looking, but don't expect a full recap or anything.

Other than that... how did Ritsu get there? She did a crime and killed something, duh. Same thing that got Nick arrested, because she knew it would work! She'd managed to make it to Centoria but knew she wouldn't be able to win a sword fight and become a Trainee, so she deliberately broke the Taboo Index. Did she know Rythin was still alive? No, but we'll get to that next chapter, don't worry.

Many thanks for everyone that favorited, followed, and reviewed.