The Black Dual Swordsman Read online

  Copyright

  ACCEL WORLD, Volume 18

  REKI KAWAHARA

  Translation by Jocelyne Allen

  Cover art by HIMA

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  ACCEL WORLD Vol. 18

  © REKI KAWAHARA 2015

  First published in Japan in 2015 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo.

  English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo, through Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo.

  English translation © 2019 by Yen Press, LLC

  Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  Yen On

  1290 Avenue of the Americas

  New York, NY 10104

  Visit us at yenpress.com

  facebook.com/yenpress

  twitter.com/yenpress

  yenpress.tumblr.com

  instagram.com/yenpress

  First Yen On Edition: June 2019

  Yen On is an imprint of Yen Press, LLC.

  The Yen On name and logo are trademarks of Yen Press, LLC.

  The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Kawahara, Reki, author. | HIMA (Comic book artist) illustrator. | Beepee, designer. | Allen, Jocelyne, 1974– translator.

  Title: Accel World / Reki Kawahara ; illustrations, HIMA ; design, bee-pee ; translation by Jocelyne Allen.

  Description: First Yen On edition. | New York, NY : Yen On, 2014–

  Identifiers: LCCN 2014025099 | ISBN 9780316376730 (v. 1 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316296366 (v. 2 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316296373 (v. 3 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316296380 (v. 4 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316296397 (v. 5 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316296403 (v. 6 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316358194 (v. 7 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316317610 (v. 8 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316502702 (v. 9 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316466059 (v. 10 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316466066 (v. 11 : pbk.) | ISBN 9780316466073 (v. 12 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975300067 (v. 13 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975327231 (v. 14 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975327255 (v. 15 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975327279 (v. 16 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975327293 (v. 17 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975327316 (v. 18 : pbk.)

  Subjects: CYAC: Science fiction. | Virtual reality—Fiction. | Fantasy.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.K1755Kaw 2014 | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2014025099

  ISBNs: 978-1-9753-2731-6 (paperback)

  978-1-9753-2732-3 (ebook)

  E3-20190507-JV-NF-ORI

  1

  A jet-black star falling from the bloodred sky:

  The duel avatar plunged straight down from the roof of Shibuya Ravine Tower, a magnificent 230 meters aboveground.

  Cloaked in a super-dense aura, the slender silhouette seemed many times larger than it actually was. Haruyuki found himself thinking that this overwhelming presence was on par even with that of the indomitable Green King and his cross-shaped great shield Strife, one of the Seven Arcs.

  If the avatar crashed into the ground like this from that height, he would be killed instantly. The other duelists near the epicenter would also be unable to escape the impact unscathed.

  But the starters for this duel/meeting were Iron Pound, the third seat of the Six Armors—the Green Legion’s executive branch—and Viridian Decurion, likewise Great Wall’s second seat. Which meant that the black avatar plummeting toward them had to be a member of the Gallery, like Haruyuki and his comrades, so he couldn’t die no matter what height he fell from, and no harm would come to the surrounding avatars.

  Nevertheless, the thirteen people gathered in the Twilight stage cried out in surprise together—although Haruyuki actually screamed—and leapt back from the impact zone. The only ones who did not so much as flinch were Green Grandé and the Black King, Black Lotus.

  Bearing two longswords crossed on his back and overcoat armor spread out, the black avatar continued his dramatic descent, arms tightly crossed in front of his chest, face mask raised triumphantly. He shot toward the marble floor of the Ravine Square rooftop plaza, and just when it seemed he would plunge into it face-first, the avatar abruptly spun around to face forward. Like an acrobat, he flipped forward at dizzying speed, arms still crossed, and in the last moment, he thrust his hands out and bent his knees.

  Boom! The sound effect was rather intense for the fall of a Gallery member.

  Once the dust settled, Haruyuki saw that the black dual swordsman avatar had managed a perfect landing a mere two meters in front of Black Lotus.

  Actually…although the avatar’s timing and physical control were impeccable, Haruyuki wasn’t entirely sure that his touchdown had been perfect. Because the dual swordsman had landed not on his feet, but rather with hands and knees on the ground, head bowed deeply. There was only one way to describe it—he was prostrate. He had landed in an apologetic bowing position from a height of 230 meters after fifteen somersaults.

  “Sorry, Lota!” the avatar cried, his voice strong and resolute, his forehead practically scraping the floor.

  “………”

  Each of them gathered there was speechless for their own individual reasons.

  Haruyuki—and probably Takumu and Chiyuri—was simply baffled at the incomprehensible development, but Fuko, Akira, and the other Nega Nebulus veterans slumped their shoulders, while Pound and the Great Wall executive shook their heads in exasperation.

  The Black King moved her shoulders up and down several times as if struggling with her choice of words before speaking, her voice just slightly chilled. “How many times have I told you to stop calling me ‘Lota’…Graph.”

  Graph. This was apparently the name of the swordsman. Haruyuki felt like he’d heard it somewhere before, and after quick rumination, he finally remembered where. Akira, Fuko, Utai, and Kuroyukihime had all mentioned it any number of times. A nickname taken from the first part of the avatar’s full name: Graphite Edge. The final member of the Nega Nebulus executive Four Elements.

  “Wh-wh-what…?” Haruyuki gasped, taking a half step back.

  Like Akira and Utai, Graphite Edge had fallen into an Unlimited Enemy Kill at the north gate, which was guarded by the God Genbu, in the mission to attack the Castle three years earlier, and he was supposedly still sealed away there. While it was impossible to dive regularly into the Unlimited Neutral Field once you were stuck in Unlimited EK, you were, however, free to come and go in normal duel fields, including this meeting space. That said, Haruyuki had thought the whereabouts of Graphite Edge were unknown—so what was he doing here?

  The endless questions began clamoring for space in his mind. As he stood there, consumed by confusion and shock, Utai slid over to him.

  “C, it seems you understand who this is, yes?”

  “Y-yes. It’s the Element Graphite Edge…right? But why…?” He tried to express any one of the vortex of questions coalescing in his brain, but Utai got the jump on him and shook her head briskly.

  “If you are surprised or panicked each and every time Graph does something, there’ll be no end to it. The trick is to simply think of him as that sort of person and accept it.”

  “R-right…”r />
  This should have been an emotional reunion with an old comrade for Utai, but Haruyuki didn’t get the slightest hint of that in her him and that, causing further gaping from him. Opposite Utai, Fuko and Akira also bobbed their heads.

  Kuroyukihime was similarly not unperturbed. She heaved an enormous sigh before addressing the still-prostrate avatar once more. “And what exactly are you sorry for? You grovel before me and apologize at our first meeting in three years, and I’m supposed to know why?”

  “Nah.” The double swordsman lifted his head slightly. “Well, aah, what can I say? Truth is, I’m sorta staying somewhere other than Negabu right now.”

  “Oh?”

  “And I kinda got this title.”

  “Oh?”

  “So basically, okay, well…Ah…” This half-baked meandering finally evoked anger not in the black camp, but in the green’s Viridian Decurion.

  “Would you behave yourself and stop with that embarrassing posture already?!” the gladiator in the deep-green armor and helmet yelled, stomping on the ground. “Whatever the circumstances, you are here as our representative! Stand tall, chest out, and name yourself!”

  …Our representative? What exactly does that mean? Haruyuki cocked his head once more.

  “I see,” Takumu, beside him, murmured hoarsely. “Is that it, then?”

  Is that what, then? But Haruyuki didn’t need to ask.

  Graph hung his head in resignation after this public scolding and did a sudden handstand from his prostrate position on the way to flipping his body back to standing.

  Although they were both black, while Black Lotus’s semitransparent armor glittered like smoky quartz, Haruyuki noticed that Graphite Edge had semimatte armor with a soft texture as he turned the masculine design of his face mask toward the seven members of the black camp and introduced himself.

  “’Kay, I’ve never met some o’ you, so I guess I’ll do the intro thing. I’m Graphite Edge. Used to be one of Nega Nebulus’s Four Elements…and now, I’m what ya call the first seat of Great Wall’s Six Armors. Lota, Rekka, Careent, Denden, been a while. You three new faces, nice to meetcha.”

  Utai groaned slightly at the casual greeting—most likely because he had called her the cutesy nickname Denden, but Haruyuki didn’t have enough parking spots in his mental garage for that sort of thing right now.

  The first seat of the Six Armors. So then, that meant he was above Viridian, the number-two spot in the Green Legion.

  It wasn’t just the members of Nega Nebulus who were surprised. Everyone other than Grandé and Decurion on the Great Wall side all reeled in unison and cried out.

  “The first seat is…ex-Negabu?!” from Iron Pound.

  “The…Anomaly…,” whispered Lignum Vitae.

  “You beat Veri and got a draw with the boss?!” Suntan Chafer gasped.

  “I’m gonna kick that guy in the nuts!!” shouted Ash Roller.

  Haruyuki finally remembered what Pound had said a few minutes earlier, that only the Green King and Decurion had ever met the first seat. The other Legion members didn’t even know his name, much less what he looked like.

  “Anomaly, huh?” Graphite Edge did a one-eighty to face the members of Great Wall and scratched the side of his helmet. “Haven’t heard that name in a while. I guess none o’ya but G and Veri knew ’bout me, but—well anyway. I’m Graphite Edge. I’ve been the first seat for two years and eleven months now. Nice to meetcha.”

  Pound and the others were frozen, seemingly at a loss for how to respond to the sudden appearance of the Legion’s number two, but finally, they managed brief greetings.

  “…Hey.”

  “’Sup.”

  Haruyuki watched over this, growing increasingly baffled, as Utai murmured from beside him, “Two years…and eleven months…”

  He immediately flipped back through the calendar pages in his mind. It was July 2047 now, so two years and eleven months ago would have been August 2044. The month in which Kuroyukihime took the head of the first Red King, Red Rider. And in which the first Nega Nebulus was destroyed due to the colossal failure of their Castle attack.

  In other words, Graphite Edge had transferred to Great Wall right after the annihilation of the Legion. That switchover was way too fast.

  “So.” The black swordsman shrugged lightly, as though he didn’t feel the least bit of pressure from the eyes of some dozen people focused solely on him. “Jumpin’ in like this, I’m eating up our time. Twenty minutes left? We gotta get moving, or this’ll go nowhere…So, like, it’s up to you, Lota.”

  “…If you’re just going to dump everything in my hands, then why did you even come…?” Kuroyukihime no doubt had many, many other things she wanted to say to him, but she pushed them back with a brief sigh and took a step forward. “But, well, it’s true that we don’t have time for that. A surprising face has joined you, Great Wall, but both sides do now have seven members, so let’s begin.”

  She walked over to one of the two benches facing each other in the center of the plaza. Green Grandé also moved silently, cross-shaped shield on his back, and the two kings sat down firmly in the middle of their respective benches. Fuko, Utai, and Akira sat down to the right of Kuroyukihime, so Haruyuki hurriedly set himself down to her left. This put him directly across from Graphite Edge, and Haruyuki quickly lowered his face.

  The only male Burst Linker in Nega Nebulus’s Four Elements. A warrior so powerful, he had managed a draw in a one-on-one fight with the Green King and even challenged the Sun God Inti, a Legend-class Enemy feared by all. He was a genuine high ranker, his color name “graphite” infinitesimally close to pure black.

  Unable to understand how to process his arrival, Haruyuki snuck a glance at the dual swordsman. Graph’s sharp goggles hid his eye lenses, just like Silver Crow’s mirrored goggles hid his own, and he could get no sense of the avatar’s inner workings.

  Friend? Foe? Was he planning something? Or not?

  If he called Metatron and got her to “look” at Graph, he could learn all kinds of things, but if the Great Wall side took notice of the icon and demanded an explanation, they could use up all the remaining time talking about her and still not be done with the conversation. All that Haruyuki could do at the moment was watch and take careful notes on his own.

  Once everyone had found a seat on the benches, Kuroyukihime began to speak again.

  “First, I would like to express my gratitude once more to all of you in Great Wall for accepting our request. I started to say this before, as well, but our purpose today is to discuss measures for the Acceleration Research Society. At the meeting of the Seven Kings last week, the destruction of the ISS kit main body and the inactivation of all the kit terminals were confirmed, but we do not believe this is the end of the Society’s activity. They will no doubt use the negative Incarnate energy transferred from the kit main body to bring about destruction and chaos in the Accelerated World on an even greater scale. I wish to prevent that before it happens.”

  Her words held a quiet yet resolute will, and not only the black side, but the green as well—excluding Graph and Grandé—sat up straighter.

  Iron Pound raised the iron glove of his right hand. “That there’s exactly why we were waiting for months on end for the chance to knock that damned Metatron out of the sky. To get rid of the Midtown Tower guard, so we could destroy the ISS kit main body inside.”

  I’m so glad I didn’t summon Metatron! Haruyuki threw up a silent prayer of gratitude.

  “If those Society jerks are planning some big thing,” Pound continued, “we won’t hesitate to crush it. But, Black King, seems like you sussed out the deets of what they’re gonna do next. How? And why’re you coming to us with this instead of the Red Legion Promi? They’re Negabu allies.”

  These were only natural questions. At the last meeting of the Seven Kings, Haruyuki and his comrades had reported basically none of the things they’d seen and done at the Acceleration Research Society headquarters. The only
thing they’d been able to disclose to the other kings was that an enormous amount of Incarnate energy had been transferred from the kit main body. They’d been forced to keep secret the fact that the vessel that accepted that energy was Wolfram Cerberus, the Armor of Catastrophe, Mark II, produced from the Red King’s stolen Enhanced Armament, as well as the specific location of the headquarters themselves.

  If it became public knowledge that the Red King was missing one part of Invincible, they ran the risk of the Yellow King getting up to no good again. And revealing the location of the headquarters was the same as announcing that one of the Seven Kings’ Legions was a front for the Society without any proof at all.

  That situation had not changed since the meeting of the Seven Kings. Haruyuki held his breath and wondered how on earth Kuroyukihime would respond.

  “Fisty— No, Pound,” Fuko began, “the answer to your question is simple. But unfortunately, there is no proof that this answer is correct outside of our experience and your faith in us. In other words, if you hear it, you will have to make a choice. Will you believe us and work with us on all fronts? Or will you not and cut off all ties?”

  “…Those are pretty extreme choices,” Decurion said in a low voice from where he sat beside the Green King. “There’s not an option for partial trust and cooperation with limits?”

  “There is not,” Fuko replied immediately. “And when you hear what we have to say, you’ll understand why.”

  “……”

  Decurion fell silent and narrowed his eyes, while Pound crossed his arms, as if also deep in thought. The Legion’s number two and the first seat of the Six Armors, Graph, didn’t so much as twitch, and Lignum and Suntan remained quiet.

  When the time remaining displayed in the upper part of his field of view was down to nine hundred seconds, Haruyuki heard a kawhunk!

  Ash Roller, at the end of the bench, had dropped the heel of his sturdy riding boot down on the marble tile. “This is getting seriously giga-annoying, yo. We’re all here now. If Negabu says squat, we’ll never get started. If GW don’t listen, we’ll all just get bone-broke tired, yeah? Being all undecided like this’s a waste of time.”