Sword Art Online: Alicization – 14

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1. https://randomc.net/image/Sword%20Art%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20Alicization%20-%2014%20-%20Large%2033.jpg

   Integloli Knights. 😀

   https://randomc.net/image/Sword%20Art%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20Alicization%20-%2014%20-%20Large%2014.jpg

   Phantom Phoenix!

   Lastly, does the Perfect Weapon Control art require the one casting it to stand perfectly still (or at least in place)? He could have avoided Eugeo’s jump attack simply by sidestepping.

   Magnus Tancred

   January 15, 2019 at 2:49 am 6 years ago

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   1. Intrgrity Knights origin: Show Spoiler ▼

      The first Integrity Knights were actually Underworld residents with a high level of a hidden parameter called «Transgression Quotient». Such people were likely to disobey the Taboo Index and go against Quinella’s plan of maintaining the regularity of the world, therefore, Quinella wanted to dispose of them. However, she could not murder them because of the single “Do not murder” command passed down to her by her parents. Therefore, instead of murdering them, she decided to capture them and use them as guinea pigs for her research into a command that manipulates the Fluctlights directly. These experimental subjects had their memories damaged during the rituals and, after the experimental rituals were complete, the bodies and minds of the subjects were frozen: the natural degeneration of their maximum Life was halted and they were reduced to beings existing only to breathe.
      After Cardinal managed to assume control of another avatar who also had supervisor level authority and retreated to the Great Library Room, Quinella took up new measures to protect herself. One of them was to create absolutely loyal followers to protect her. The many experimental subjects that were kept frozen within the Cathedral were the first to become Quinella’s absolutely loyal warriors, the first Integrity Knights. Later, Quinella established the Four Empires Unity Tournament as a new method of acquiring the best warriors in the Human Empire. The winner of the annual tournament is invited to the Central Cathedral, where Quinella forcefully turns the victor into an Integrity Knight. Meanwhile, the victor’s family is awarded with large monetary rewards as well as being bestowed the status of a higher noble, creating a unanimous opinion among noble and wealthy merchant parents to have their children study the sword.
      Integrity Knights are led to believe that they were summoned by the Administrator from the Celestial World at that they have no ties with the world that they were “summoned” to. The Knights who apprehend violators of the Taboo Index have their memories of the action suppressed, so that the Integrity Knights would continue to believe in the lie of their origin and so that they wouldn’t be surprised when the former prisoners become new Integrity Knights.
      Currently, about half of the thirty-one Integrity Knights in existence are those who had broken the Taboo Index, while the other half are the past winners of the Four Empires Unity Tournament.

      When Kawahara first wrote the story as a web novel, the Integloli Knights were two boys. They were changed into girls when it was published as a light novel.
      About the Phoenix: A «Divine Object» is an item in Underworld that was created by converting an animal, plant or object which had gathered a large amount of resources (memories) into a high «Priority» item, usually via a high-ranking Sacred Arts ritual. Weapons of this class can be enhanced with the high-ranking «Armament Full Control Art» Sacred Art ritual that unlocks the true potential of the weapon. Divine Object weapons can only be used by people whose souls resonate with the weapon’s memories. An unknown Priority longbow with the ability to shoot powerful flaming arrows, capable of taking the form of a bird, when the «armament full control art» is cast on it. The longbow was created from a phoenix that lived in a volcano in the southern empire.
      “Don’t be naive! I will describe how to unlock the technique, but what sort of attack style you make with it is entirely up to you.”
      “Uh…what?! How come?!”
      “The core of Perfect Weapon Control is the Memory Release technique, but just chanting a sacred art alone is not enough. You must use your mind to imagine the unleashed form of your trusty weapon. In fact, it is this mental process of recall that is more crucial to your success than the Perfect Control technique itself. For it is the power of the imagination that forms the fundamental basis of the world—the ability to incarnate what you envision…”
      I started losing track of the meaning of Cardinal’s rapid-fire explanation partway through. In particular, I was uncertain whether the word incarnate was meant to be from the sacred or common tongue, but before I could ask her to elaborate, something prickled in the back of my memory.
      It was…yeah, two and a half months ago. As I kneeled before the loose petals of the tattered zephilia flowers in the garden of Swordcraft Academy’s primary dorm, someone—Cardinal’s familiar, the little black spider Charlotte—whispered to me. She too had mentioned that all sacred arts were nothing but a tool to refine and collect the power of imagination.
      I’d followed her suggestion and used my mind to envision the life energy of the four holy flowers in the nearby beds flowing into the severed plants. I didn’t say a single word aloud, yet green light ran through the air, enveloped the buds…and brought the zephilias back to life.”
      Eldrie’s sword: Show Spoiler ▼

      An unknown Priority whip created from a two-headed snake lord of the largest lake in the eastern empire. It has the ability to split into up to seven parts with the «Armament Full Control Art» and even turn into an actual snake if the second phase of the ritual is activated.

      Eugeo’s Sword: Show Spoiler ▼

      The sword was created from an eternal block of ice from the «Mountain Range at the Edge», with a single blue rose that had been frozen within it, before it could wilt.
      According to Eugeo’s vision of the sword’s origin, the Eternal Ice was alone, at the very top of the mountain, where it was frozen even in the summer, until a single seed landed near by. The ice began to melt itself little by little, each day, until the seed became a blue rose. From then on, the Ice and the Rose talked to each other as friends. However, eventually, the Blue Rose asked to be frozen by the Ice, as it could not endure the cold for much longer. And so the Eternal Ice did so, freezing the Rose and itself together, forming into a sword, with the Rose shut away within it.
      At some point after, it somehow ended up within a cave, with a White Dragon guarding it and the Human Empire, just as three other Guardian Dragons, scattered throughout the Human Empire. According to fairy tales, Bercouli, the founder of Rulid Village, tried to steal it from the white dragon who protected the «Human Empire» but was caught, though he was later forgiven for the crime. However, when Bercouli became an Integrity Knight, Quinella had ordered him and the Integrity Knights to massacre the Guardian Dragons of the North, East, West, and South, because she could not control them. For unknown reasons, Bercouli did not recover the sword after killing the Northern Dragon.
      As a priority class 45 weapon, the Blue Rose Sword has exceptional strength and cutting power, seen when it was able to cut the demonic tree Gigas Cedar. It is has also shown to be highly durable as it was able to withstand Deusolbert Synthesis Seven’s fiery punch despite the obvious advantage fire had over the ice-powered sword. Like Kirito’s Night Sky Sword, the Blue Rose Sword also has the ability to respond to Eugeo’s will, shown during the fight with Deusolbert, where the sword answered Eugeo’s cry not to lose, and stopped the Integrity Knight’s attack and extinguished his flames. Its high priority class also allowed it to use Sword Skills of up to four consecutive hits, when wielded by a competent swordsman.
      With the «Armament Full Control» art in effect, the sword is capable of covering a large area in ice.

      Kirito’s sword: Show Spoiler ▼

      Cardinal continued, “And besides, why would I need to give you powerful weapons when you already have excellent and familiar swords?”
      “What?” Eugeo reacted instantly. “You’re going to get back my Blue Rose Sword and Kirito’s…black one?!”
      “I see no other option. Those two swords are truly divine. One is the weapon of one of the four dragon knights, and the other is the essence of a demonic tree that absorbed vast resources for centuries. Even Administrator and I would find it difficult to instantly produce weapons of that scale. And you both have had plenty of practice with them.”
      “I suspect that your swords are being held in the armory on the third floor. The nearest back door will dump you out just thirty mels from there, but as you’ve now seen, any such door within the tower can be used only once. The insects that Administrator sends to look for me will swarm it at once, you see. So after you’ve left the door to get your swords in the armory, you will have to climb the tower on your own from there. Fortunately, the great stairs are right in front of the armory.”
      Cardinal explained, “Divine weapons take on significant qualities of the objects used as their foundation. Eldrie’s Frostscale Whip was once a two-headed white serpent that ruled the largest lake in the east, until Administrator took it alive and converted it into a weapon. But even as a dormant whip, it has the speed of a snake, the sharpness of its scales, and the accuracy of its aim. Perfect Control is the state of unleashing the weapon’s memories and bringing about attacks that would normally be impossible.”
      Eugeo tried the same thing and had a similarly frustrating result. He wondered, “Cardinal…can we really do this? How am I supposed to imagine my weapon’s unleashed form when it’s not even here…?”
      On the other side of the table, Cardinal said, to my surprise, “Its absence is better for the process. If you can see the weapon before your eyes, your imagination stops there. Your hands and eyes are not necessary to touch the hidden memory in the sword, guide it, and unleash it. You merely need the eye of the heart.”
      The illusion of the sword, which had wavered uneasily in spots at first, began to grow firmer and more stable as my intruding thoughts gradually faded. Eventually it had a toughness, a weight, even a temperature. It exuded a powerful sense of presence on the table.
      As I gazed into the shining flat of the blade, I heard a voice from somewhere say, “Deeper. You must dive deeper, until you can touch the memory hidden in the sword, its true essence.”
      The black of the sword expanded without a sound. It covered the table, the floor, the bookshelves and lamps, and then the world. Only the sword and I existed in this infinite, lightless space. It rose up and came to a halt in the air, handle down and point up. My form rippled and melted, and I felt my mind getting sucked into the sword.
      The next thing I knew, I was a cedar tree rooted in cold ground.
      It was a deep forest, and yet there wasn’t a single tree growing around me. I stood alone in a rounded clearing. I tried to call out to the moss and narrow vines crawling along the ground at my feet, but there was no answer.
      …Solitude.
      I was racked with desolate loneliness. With each breeze, I stretched my branches desperately, hoping to rustle against the others, but I came up short every time.
      Maybe I could reach them if I stretched farther. So I sucked in ground energy through my roots and light energy through my leaves. My trunk thickened, and my branches extended. My needlelike leaves stretched, grasping toward the shining green leaves of the closest oak.
      Alas! Just before I could finally make contact, the oak leaves turned brown, wilted, and fell all at once. The moisture drained out of the branches and even the trunk; it weakened and died, then toppled over from the base. And it wasn’t just the oak. All the trees at the rim of the rounded clearing were dying and crumbling. Soon their remains, too, were covered by the carpet of moss.
      I lamented my solitude in the now larger clearing, then sucked strength from the ground and sun again. My trunk swelled, creaking, and my branches expanded. This time I reached for the next closest tree, a laurel.
      Once again, its leaves wilted before I could touch them, the dead trunk rotted, and it toppled. So did the tree next to it. And the one after. More and more trees fell, and the empty space grew larger.
      Because I was sucking up power to stretch my branches, the other trees were dying. But even understanding this, I did not stop trying to touch them. How many times did I repeat the same thing? Eventually, I was dozens of times the size of the other trees, and the clearing itself was dozens of times its original span. The same could be said of my loneliness.
      No matter how hard I reached, the day would never come when my pointed needles made contact with the leaves of another tree. But by the time I realized this, it was too late to turn back. My leaves and branches gobbled up incredible amounts of sun, regardless of my wishes, and the vast lattice of my roots devoured the power of the earth. The cold empty space grew by the day as the trees fell over dead, one after another after another…
      “That is enough,” said a sudden voice, freeing me from the cedar.
      I blinked once, and instantly I was back in the Great Library, surrounded by an endless array of bookshelves lit by orange lamplight, resting on polished stone floor.”

      l.kostas

      January 15, 2019 at 8:08 am 6 years ago

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   2. He doesn’t need to stand still, nope. But he couldn’t have dodged it anyway because he didn’t know what Eugeos Art was and it’s a pretty nasty AOE. And besides,
      [possible(!) spoiler ahead]
      Show Spoiler ▼

      it is possible to chant ahead of time, have it on standby (only lasts as long as you concentrate on it i believe) and trigger it using the keyphrase later. Basically:
      -you know there is an enemy up ahead wating.
      -you chant but leave out the activation phrase at the end.
      -storm the enemy and immediatly trigger the art, seemingly without a chant.

      tOOL

      January 15, 2019 at 9:16 am 6 years ago

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2. https://randomc.net/image/Sword%20Art%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20Alicization%20-%2014%20-%20Large%2025.jpg
   I don’t know what to say, to see Integrity Knights be given false settings as their “past,” and their later actions are based on the “settings” that they are given. In a way, maybe future anime stories will be made like that where digital people are given a special “setting” and the said characters will gradually “create” a story based on the “roles” that they are given, like a Hero falling in love with a demon queen mainly because the two characters were “programmed” to perform whatever random action they need to do to fulfill their role.

   https://randomc.net/image/Sword%20Art%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20Alicization%20-%2014%20-%20Large%2030.jpg
   Anime logic, even during intense fights, food stored somewhere, in your body, remains conveniently undamaged.

   Greed

   January 15, 2019 at 12:39 pm 6 years ago

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3. I am just curious how these two guys plan to fight a room full of Integrity Knights since they are rightfully struggling with just one at a time. Looking forward to seeing how they deal with that.

   Kurik

   January 16, 2019 at 5:41 am 6 years ago

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   1. The two girls probably know a secret way past the room that they’ll tell them because Kirito is Kirito.

      Aex

      January 16, 2019 at 6:10 am 6 years ago

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4. ReOna really sounds like Aimer. She was the singer in SAO: GGO Alternative, right? I really love the new ED song as well, Forget Me Not. It’s on repeat 🙂

   Kaz

   January 21, 2019 at 4:58 am 6 years ago

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