“Understood. Well, then… as of now, in order to protect the
Human World and its residents, I, Alice Synthesis Thirty, will
discard my mission as an integrity kni… gh… ah…!!”

The bold proclamation turned into a piercing scream all of a
sudden. Her body, clad in that golden armor, bent backwards
and her right hand pressed against her right eye. Was her
ordered face being warped by some enormous, intense pain
right now?

Despite my surprise, I instinctively recalled the scene I saw
two days ago as I got up onto my feet.

Eugeo who sliced off the second-ranked elite swordsman-intraining,
Humbert Zizek, in order to save Ronie and Tizei. By the
time I ran in, his right eye had already blown off without a trace,
the gushing fresh blood flowing down his cheek as crimson
tears.

That night, Eugeo talked about it bit by bit in the academy’s
disciplinary chamber. The moment he tried to cut Humbert, his
right hand froze as though it wasn’t his own and his right eye
burned with pain, he said. And before his eyes, unfamiliar
sacred letters appeared, glowing deep red—

That same phenomenon Eugeo talked about might be
assailing Alice right now. It was likely some sort of
psychological block. Its trigger would be the act of opposing a
regulation carved upon one’s soul.

“Don’t think about anything! Freeze your thoughts!”

I shouted so while approaching Alice and held onto her
armored left shoulder with my right hand. And my left hand
caught the tormented knight’s right wrist, gently pulling it away
from her right eye.

“……!?”

On Alice’s eye that should have been sapphire-blue, I saw a
flickering red light and swallowed my breath. I peered closer in
order to ascertain the true form of that light.

Upon the perfectly circular blue iris in Alice’s widely opened
right eye.

Delicate lines were lined up in a radial pattern on the outside,
glowing red while they slowly rotated. There was no fixed
pattern to the lines’ thickness and the way they were ordered,
too, was random. As though—it was a bar code.

I had guessed that the one who inserted this psychological
block into the Underworld people was the highest minister,
Administrator, ever since I heard the story from Eugeo.
However, I had absolutely no memory of spotting anything
resembling bar codes in these two years.

—It wasn’t done by Administrator…? But in that case, just
who…?

It was then, when I let out a short gasp.
The circular bar code ceased its rotation and drew a horizontal
list of strange symbols atop Alice’s contracted pupil. The string
of characters that surfaced, glowing deep crimson, appeared to
be [TЯƎ⅃A MƎTƧYƧ].

I was momentarily confused about what it signified, but
immediately noticed.

It was mirrored text. Alice’s eye, directly under the line of text,
should be seeing it in a horizontally flipped form. In other
words, it said [SYSTEM ALERT].

System alert. To me, it was an familiar, unpleasant warning
that popped out every now and then when utilizing a PC, but it
should be a nonsensical phrase to those in the Underworld, like
Alice. In this world, only the «Common Tongue»—which would
be Japanese, was used in daily life, while English, «Sacred
Tongue», was treated by most of the inhabitants as something
that impossible and pointless to understand.

If one studied the sacred arts, though one would be able to
chant various English vocabulary, starting from the initial
«system call», I doubt that person would be too aware of the
exact meaning the words held. I had taught Eugeo some of the
meanings behind the names of skills for the secret moves of the
Aincrad style, the sword skills, but he always found it strange
how I possessed knowledge of the Sacred Tongue.

In short, this string of characters, SYSTEM ALERT, would
hardly make any sense to the people of the Underworld. In
other words, the one who inserted this psychological block into
Alice, Eugeo, and the rest was no Administrator, but humans
from the real world—namely, someone within Rath’s staff; I
suppose that would be how it was…

My rapidly whirling thoughts were interrupted by Alice’s
weak scream from point-blank range.

“Aaah… my right eye is, it’s burning…! And… these are…
letters…!?”

“Don’t think about anything! Empty your mind!!”

Crying out in a fluster, I held Alice’s petite face between my
hands.

“What’s happening to you is probably similar to a
psychological barrier activated when you tried to oppose the
church. It should be trying to urge you into absolute obedience
by causing pain to your right eye… your eyeball will burst out if
you continue thinking!”

It only took a moment to explain that, but in this case,
persistently insisting might bring about a reverse effect instead.
No human could be disciplined enough to stop their thoughts
when told to do so.

Upon hearing my voice, Alice shut her two eyes tightly. But
the red words projected onto her eyes probably wouldn’t
disappear from just that. The knight’s hands fumbled in the air
and gripped onto my shoulders the moment they found them.
My muscles grated from the force her monstrously strong
hands put upon them each time a faint scream escaped her, but
it was nothing compared to the pain Alice must be feeling.

Figuring it would help if I could calm down her thoughts, I
shifted half of my thoughts to thinking up of any possible
methods even as I firmly held Alice’s face between my two
palms.

Alice and several other integrity knights had already broken
the Taboo Index once. After all, they were taken away by the
Axiom Church and underwent the Synthesis Ritual because of
that.

However, Alice, in particular, shouldn’t have had her right eye
burst off when she committed the taboo of «Trespassing into
the Dark Territory» eight years ago. I hadn’t heard anything of
that sort from Eugeo. According to his explanation, the young
Alice had apparently tottered over the boundary line without
thinking. In other words, that would mean that a clear intent to
commit a taboo wasn’t in Alice’s mind at that time.

The psychological barrier currently assailing Alice likely
reacted to a proactive intent to violate a rule she was given. The
moment one held such intent, the right eye would first hurt and
the red SYSTEM ALERT would then throw the target’s mind into
disarray, planting a deeper awe for the taboo once again.
Conducting a psychological barrier like this that could only be
considered a work of god on the inhabitants of the Underworld
who basically didn’t break laws would likely cement their
obedience to no end.

But if this psychological had been handed down by Rath’s
staff, it would bring up a huge contradiction.

After all, the goal of the experiment being conducted in this
Underworld was likely the creation of artificial fluct lights
capable of judging between the right and wrong of a rule they
were given. Even after the people of the Underworld had tried
so hard for a breakthrough, forcefully driving them back with
such a slipshod, violent psychological block could only be
considered as a mix-up in their priorities.

In other words, those who had inserted this system alert were
purposefully impeding the success of this experiment—could
that be it?

In that case, who exactly is that person and for what goal?
Heathcliff… Kayaba Akihiko’s duplicated consciousness came
to mind for an instant, but I immediately rejected that notion.
He and his desire to create a true alternate world would not
hinder the progress of artificial fluct lights. In the first place,
such a heavy-handed method was not to that man’s style. I
suppose this had to be some influence or personal sabotage
against that organization, Rath.

I could envision the existence of various hostile forces if the
one directing Rath was the Self-Defense Forces member,
Kikuoka Seijirou. For example, a group with internal opposition
towards Kikuoka with in the Self-Defense Forces, a large
company monopolizing the domestic defense industry, or if I let
my imagination run wild, even a foreign arms manufacturer or
intelligence agency wouldn’t be out of the question.

However, if those humongous influences had planned to
hinder Rath, would they take such an intricate measure? If they
possessed enough authority to insert an interference program
into the artificial fluct lights, couldn’t they merely deal with it
with haste and destroy the Light Cube Cluster, the true body of
the Underworld?

In other words, that would mean that someone was
intentionally delaying the experiment without the desire to
completely wipe it out. Could that person be waiting for
something by slowing down the experiment? Something on a
large scale that required much preparation—for example…
The theft of the experiment’s results, including the Light Cube
Cluster itself.

As I reached that conclusion, horrified, Alice’s weak voice
suddenly came from between my hands.

“…Horrible…”

Startled back, I looked down at the integrity knight’s face.
Her eyebrows that had always maintained a graceful line
were pressed together tight, drops of water resided in the
corners of her eyes, and she had bitten down on her lips hard
enough to draw blood.

Those pallid lips trembled and let out disconnected words
once more.

“This is… horrible… To have not just my memories, but my
consciousness, too… be manipulated by… someone else…”
Gripping my shoulders, Alice two hands strongly shook with
grief, or perhaps anger.

“The one… who burned these red sacred letters into my
eyes… was it… the highest minister…?”

“No… I don’t think so.”

I unconsciously shook my head.

“It’s an existence that created this world and observes it from
the outside… one among the «gods» that had not made an
appearance in the creation of the world lore.”

“…Gods…”

Clear drops flowed down from Alice’s eyes without a sound.

“So the gods would not trust us… even after we, the integrity
knights, spent these countless days fighting without end to
protect this world they had wrought. Taking my memories of
my family, and my sister, and on top of that, performing such a
seal upon me… forcing me into obedience…”

I couldn’t begin to imagine how much shock, confusion, and
despair Alice who had lived as a knight of the gods must be
feeling now. Alice’s eyelids suddenly flashed open as I looked on
without saying a word, unable to breathe.

The mirrored, horizontal words on the blue iris of her right
eye shone vividly even now. However, Alice appeared to pay it
no heed, merely staring at the skies in front—at the bluishwhite
moon floating among the black clouds.

“I am not your puppet!”

However hoarse it might have been, Alice still shouted with
dignity.

“Certainly, I might be an existence created by someone’s hand.
But I have my own consciousness too! I want to protect this
world… I want to protect the many people living in this world. I
want to protect my family and my little sister. That is the one
and only mission I will strive for!!”

The glow of the text in her right eye increased in intensity
while letting out a piercing, metallic noise. The bar code etched
onto the outside of her iris, too, began to rotate rapidly.

“Alice…!”

Expecting that phenomenon to happen any time now, I cried
out.

Without turning her eyes towards me, Alice whispered in a
stifled voice.

“Kirito… hold me tight.”

“……Sure.”

I couldn’t do anything but nod. Taking my hands off Alice’s
face, I moved them to the armor on her shoulders. Strongly
holding down the knight’s body trembling in small jolts beyond
that golden armor.

Alice shrugged her long, golden hair once, before proudly
gazing up towards the skies and took in a deep breath.

“The highest minister, Administrator… and you nameless
gods!! For the goals I must achieve… I will fight against you!!”

An unbounded proclamation that had a refined echo.

The moment it faded off, a deep crimson shaft of light left
Alice’s right eye.

A warm splash of blood stained my cheeks.

(Alicization Dividing, 172-182)