Sword Art Online Light Novel Volume 13

Alicization Dividing (アリシゼーション・ディバイディング) is the 13th book in the Sword Art Online Light Novel series, published on August 10, 2013.

Interlude IV
Asuna and Rinko were enjoying a meal together on the Ocean Turtle, as Asuna wondered about their current location. She was not allowed to connect to the Ocean Turtle's Wi-Fi due to security measures, and the only information she was told was vague. She asked Rinko whether she knew anything about it, but she reveals she knew about as much as her. The two then noticed a ship from the large window of the Ocean Turtle, and wondered if that was how they obtained the fish they were eating. Though, they then realized that it looked more like a warship.

Lieutenant Nakanishi came into their conversation, and pointed out that Japan had no warships, before being invited to eat with the women. He explained that the tomatoes they were eating were grown on the ship, as part of an agriculture experiment. Asuna eventually brought the topic back to the ship outside, and he explained that it was an escort ship, named «Nagato». However, immediately after, Lieutenant Nakanishi noticed that the escort was changing course, away from the Ocean Turtle. He reported this fact, through a portable terminal, from his pocket, stating that Nagato was supposed to escort them for another day. He then excused himself from the two, and left Asuna and Rinko to eat alone, as the «Nagato» slowly disappeared from view.

Chapter 9 - Integrity Knight Alice
After falling out of the Central Cathedral's 80th floor, Kirito managed to stab his sword into a small gap in the Central Cathedral's outer wall and was now hanging on his sword while holding on to Alice Synthesis Thirty with his other arm. With a bit of persuasion, he managed to convince her to form a temporary truce and work together to survive until they could return to inside the Cathedral. Alice then stabbed her sword and created a chain out of her right gauntlet, which they used to tie themselves together in case one of them fell. During their conversation, he asked Alice whether there was any way to re-enter the Cathedral from the outside on the higher floors. After finding out that they could enter the Cathedral through the Morning Star Lookout on the 95th floor, Kirito thought up of climbing the Cathedral using pitons he created from metal elements using Sacred Arts as a platform to jump between pitons. And he did so, repeatedly going through the process of generating metallic element, changing them into pitons, stabbing it into the wall, getting himself up onto it, and pulling Alice up to the piton he previously stood on using the chain.

After repeating the processes for quite some time and getting to about the 85th floor, Kirito spotted grotesque stone statues on a pavement jutting out from the wall a few meters ahead. As night had already fallen, thus the sun no longer provided the Sacred Power needed for Sacred Arts, Kirito had ran out of pitons due to the limited resources around and thus Alice made three out of her left gauntlet. At four mel (meters) to the pavement, Kirito realized the statues were not statues, but were instead recognised as «minions», underlings created by using Dark Arts, by Alice. Kirito, noticing that the pavement was four meters away, while the chain was five meters long, he grabbed the chain and hurled Alice onto the pavement and was shortly afterwards pulled up by Alice in a similar fashion. Together, they managed to fend off the minions, both being impressed by each other's skills. Alice then lent Kirito her handkerchief to wipe off the minion blood on his face, stressing him to wash it before returning it to her. The chapter ends with Kirito wondering on what they should do while they waited for the moon to rise in a few hours and provide them with resources to continue climbing.

Chapter 10 - Integrity Knight Commander Bercouli
After seeing the hole Kirito and Alice had been sucked through had returned to being a wall because of the self-repair Sacred Arts cast upon the tower, Eugeo climbed up the long staircases up to the 90th floor all on his own, feeling quite lonely without his black-haired friend by his side. Even after passing the 81st and 82nd floors, he had not felt any human presence, but he still proceeded with caution, till the staircase came to a stop at the 90th floor, just as the seven o'clock bell rang. There, he found no more stairs, but a large white door, which he pushed and entered the large room on the other side.

To his surprise, the entire floor was a gigantic bath with steam everywhere. And even more to his surprise, he found an extremely bulky man - who was unmistakably an enemy - bathing.

The rather large man, who later introduced himself as Bercouli, asked Eugeo to wait a while as he finished his bath. After a short time, Bercouli leisurely rose and retrieved his clothes and long sword and asked Eugeo about the fate of Fanatio Synthesis Two. Eugeo said that she should be receiving treatment, and the statement caused the relieved Bercouli to claim that he would not kill Eugeo. Surprised that Bercouli only asked about the fate of Fanatio, Eugeo demanded to know why Bercouli did not care about the other Integrity Knights, to which Bercouli stated that those Knights were not his disciples. Bercouli finally drew his sword and prepared to duel.

Eugeo noticed that Bercouli's stance reminded him of the «Lightning Flash Slash» technique of the Norkia-style Swordsmanship Class and intended to counter with «Sonic Leap». Noticing Eugeo's uncommon stance, Bercouli interrupted Eugeo by asking whether or not he was practicing the "Continual Sword" style. Eugeo replied whether it mattered if he used consecutive hit skills, and Bercouli dismissed the question and added that the knights of the Dark Territory could use them but no one in the «Human World» could. At that, Bercouli then said that he would start with his "trump card" as well and raised his longsword, which started to vibrate.

Bercouli slashed his blade horizontally at a distance of eight mel from Eugeo, who had jumped forth to the left, avoiding the predicted attack. Activating «Sonic Leap», Eugeo rushed in towards the direction of his opponent. In his way, was a transparent fluctuation cut through the air - a heat haze, from Bercouli's attack. Noticing this, Eugeo attempted to draw back his sword, but a Secret Move could not be stopped midway quite easily, resulting only in deceleration, and thus his body eventually came into contact with the heat haze.

Eugeo was blown away, a gash from his left breast to his right armpit had appeared as he fell into the water, with pain surging through his body and blood spewing. Using Sacred Arts, he managed to stop the bleeding, though with his level of skill, he could not fully treat his wounds in such a short period of time. Bercouli, who was surprised by Eugeo's charge attack, sheathed his sword and apologised for nearly killing the boy in a relaxed manner and then explained that he had "slashed the future" with his sword. Noticing that Eugeo had begun chanting his «Armament Full Control Art» and wanting to give him time to finish chanting, Bercouli continued chatting leisurely and continued talking about his past encounter with Dark Knights that were trained in the Continual Sword and explained how that lead to the creation of his Time Piercing Sword from a «System Clock» to counter the new style. As Bercouli was finished talking, he boasted that no one who tried to beat him from a distance had succeeded thus far.

Having thought of a course of action and having completed his chant, Eugeo rose from the water, prompting Bercouli to draw his sword again and warn Eugeo that he would not hold back anymore. Eugeo then released the art and stabbed his sword into the marble floor, freezing his surroundings with ice and rose thorns as far as ten mel and forming a field of icicles around Bercouli as a distraction. Retracting his sword from the ground, he ran towards Bercouli through the meadow of ice.

Seeing Eugeo dashing towards him, Bercouli sliced the air before him horizontally. Shortly afterwards, the icicles shattered in harmony, none spared by the slash he had left behind. With Eugeo finally within the reach of his enemy, together they slashed at one another vertically, and Eugeo's sword shattered - or at least the replacement icicle did, as he had thrown his blade to his right before charging the Integrity Knight, thus reducing the impact inflicted towards him from Bercouli's slash and avoiding being pushed back. Still running, he rotated his body and thrust his left shoulder into the abdomen of the man before him. Using Aincrad style's martial arts technique, «Meteor Break», though it did not activate properly with the lack of a sword, Eugeo managed to push back the large frame. Instead of normally continuing the skill, Eugeo grabbed Bercouli by his waist, and with all the strength he could muster, threw them both into the water, which had already turned cold. Maintaining his hold on the bulk beneath him, Eugeo searched the floors of the bath with his fingertips, finally touching the hilt of his beloved sword once more. Piercing the bottom of the pool with his blade, he continued to use his sword to freeze the area around him, using the power of the recollected memories he had seen in the Great Library Room. Wishing for the Blue Rose Sword to grant him power, he activated the second phase of the «Armament Full Control Art», the «releasing» phase. Cardinal had told him he was not ready for the second stage yet, but he had no choice and was confident that it would work for him. The sword violently shook, and instantaneously, the waters had frozen while rippling in just seconds, trapping the two within layers upon layers of frost.

Beneath the white ice, Bercouli inquired about the origins of Eugeo's strange fighting style. He replied by saying that he was taught by his friend. Bercouli, refusing to be defeated, recklessly attempted to break out of the ice with sheer brawn, and managed to make several cracks in the ice. The shocked Eugeo remembered, the Blue Rose Sword, unlike other swords, had two existences that rooted it. He then activated the other side of the «Armament Full Control Art»'s «releasing» phase, causing enormous blue roses, which bloomed by sucking out Eugeo and Bercouli's «Life», to bloom everywhere, accompanied by chimes similar to a bell's. Dismissing Bercouli's assumption that he had aimed for a draw since the start, Eugeo claimed his amount of «Life» was higher than Bercouli's, thus he was hoping of winning in terms of endurance. Stating that, judging by his appearance, Bercouli became an Integrity Knight at about the age of forty, he caused Bercouli to question Eugeo about how he would know anything about the past life of an «Integrity Knight».

Enraged, Eugeo exclaimed his animosity towards the Integrity Knights, who have forgotten who they once were, and suddenly recalled the identity of the man before him - the founder of his hometown, «Rulid Village», and the hero of the story 'Bercouli and the White Dragon of the North' he heard as a child. Recovering from shock, he told Bercouli that he should have seen the Blue Rose Sword somewhere before, to which Bercouli replied affirmatively, saying that it was at the nest of the guardian dragon of the north which he had killed. Bewildered that Bercouli killed the dragon from his own story, the crying Eugeo explained how the Integrity Knights had forgotten everything because the Highest Minister, Quinella, had sealed away their memories. Bercouli said that the story of how he was summoned from the Celestial World was not exactly logical, but he refused to believe Eugeo's idea as well, claiming that it was also quite preposterous.

When both Eugeo and Bercouli barely had any «Life» left, an extremely round man clad in clown-like clothing appeared before them. The strange man, while comically laughing, declared that if Bercouli was defeated, it would be considered as treachery against the Highest Minister. Bercouli dismissed the man he identified as «Chief Elder Chudelkin», telling him not to interfere with a battle between swordsmen. The Chief Elder, now skipping and clapping in shrill laughter, complained that Bercouli could have easily defeated Eugeo if he used the «other side» of his Time Piercing Sword, stating the latter would be unable to even lift a finger, reimplying Bercouli's treachery for going easy on the intruder. Bercouli defended himself by saying that he fought with all he had, also declaring that he had been lied to, since Eugeo was not an assassin from the «Dark Territory». The irritated Chief Elder stomped on Bercouli's head, swaying left and right atop it, screamed at how he found it hilarious that the Integrity Knights were defeated merely by two kids, and that, minimally, Bercouli and his deputy were to be reprocessed once the Highest Minister awakened. Just as the confused Bercouli was about to ask the meaning behind the term 'reprocessed', Chudelkin chanted a short Sacred Art at a piercing pitch, causing the former to appear as if he was turning to stone. Chudelkin, turning to Eugeo, mentioned he had found a very useful pawn, while Eugeo, calling out Kirito and Alice's names, lost consciousness.

Part 1
Kirito woke up from his nightmare shuddering. He had just recently heard the night eight o'clock bell, but the moon had yet to appear. Alice was crouching distantly to his right with her eyes closed. While wondering what Eugeo was doing at that point of time, he realized that Eugeo had been his first close friend, whose natural talent with the sword was simply tremendous, and wondered if he could introduce him to Asuna and the gang someday. Alice disrupted his daydreaming by asking him why he was grinning. In a bitter tone, she stated it was foolish of him to be optimistic in the situation they were in. He replied that it was still possible to create more pitons, which he carefully referred to as wedges, to climb, and mentioned that he was hungry. After discovering «Integrity Knights» could get hungry, and hearing Alice's stomach grumble, Kirito accidentally let out a stifled laugh, and encountered two meat buns in his left pocket from before while retreating from Alice. After generating a thermal element with «Sacred Arts», Kirito was cut off, while mid-chanting the word 'burst' to heat up the buns, by Alice, who stole them from his hands, and generated a thermal, aqueous, and an aerial element. She then made a spherical swirl with the aerial element and made the two meat buns hover in there. Next, she threw the thermal and aqueous elements in too and the moment she touched them, she burst them. After about thirty seconds, the elements vanished, and the buns plopped into her hands perfectly round as if they were just made. Alice, jokingly acting as if she was going to eat both meat buns, caused Kirito to pathetically yelp, and then offered him one of the steam emitting buns. They devoured their buns, Kirito in three bites, and Alice in four.

Adaption Notes

 * Interlude IV was not present in the Web Version.

Volumen 13 ru:Том 13