Berculi has never met Vector’s sword style before, using minimal movements to dodge and attack. After five attacks from Vector however Berculi saw through his style and counterattacked through a opening. Sparks flew when the blades clashed, Vector’s blade was pushed back and Berculi was on the verge of cutting Vector down. Vector’s sword glowed brighter with the will-o-wisp light however, and the glow began to envelop even the white light of the Time-Piercing Blade. Berculi’s sword’s Incarnation glow began to wilt and vanish. For a second Berculi lost his senses and wondered what he was doing, before pain blossomed from his left shoulder, like his shoulder had frozen. The pain brought him back to his senses, and Berculi jumped back while breathing heavily.
Berculi figured out Vector can absorb his Incarnation through crossing blades, and the side effect can blank out his mind. He commented it would be problematic if they can’t cross blades. Vector gave a twisted smile, and said speaking of which there’s something he hadn’t tried yet. Vector raised his sword, and pointed it at Berculi. Berculi then realized Vector’s attack can be long-ranged, but he didn’t have any chance to think further when a line of blue-black light shot out from Vector’s sword and impacted into him. The Knight Captain’s mind went blank like a blown out candle, and Vector’s sword effortlessly stabbed into Berculi’s left shoulder without resistance. With a sticky sound, Vector severed Berculi’s left arm from the base up.
Scene change, back to Asuna. She used all her mental effort to not scream out loud from the lance embedded inside her, with pain overwhelming. Asuna gritted her teeth and thought this is only a flesh wound, that this pain is nothing. The youth she tried to protect only had a scratch on his face from the lance, though he was pale that Asuna saved him like this. Asuna thought it was worth it if she could save the kid’s life like this, taking on a wound in a virtual world in exchange for saving a life.
Asuna grabbed the lance, and broke it with her left hand. She then pulled out the embedded piece inside of her. A frightening amount of blood flowed out from her wound and her mouth, but Asuna stayed standing. She wiped the blood from her mouth away, and glared with a blaze in her eyes at the man who stabbed her. The man went ‘OMG’ twice, then gave up on the game saying it’s boring; he asked Asuna to kill him and log him off, which she obliged. Asuna shed tears that the virtual world ended up with pain, suffering, and hatred, when under different circumstances the players and UW people could have been friends.
She was broken out of her thoughts when another guard on her side was about to be impaled by a lance. Asuna used the Rapier <<Mastered>> sword skill ‘Flashing Penetrator’ to rush in to attack, turning into a shooting star. She shredded three heavily armoured lancers and pinned a fourth into a statue. The third wave of 20 lancers is preparing, and that second wave has killed off another 5 people. Asuna ordered Renri to come to the centre instead, and she will head off into the enemy formation to attack them. She asked him to mop up after her, and assured him she’s fine despite her current wounds.
Back to Berculi. He came back to his senses, felt unbalanced, then realized he was stepping on his own severed arm. He didn’t wake up due to pain, but due to fear. Berculi used his teeth to hold onto his sword, and stopped his arm stump from bleeding using his right hand to cast a spell. He didn’t have time to reattach his arm, and there wasn’t enough energy in this part of DT to fuel him doing so anyway. Berculi felt he was out of options, his Release Recollection will only be absorbed by Vector and his ougi ‘Uragiri’ had too long a casting time. Berculi doubted Vector would just stand still for him to finish preparing, and that for Uragiri he needed perfectly accurate coordinates of his enemy.
Berculi realized there is little chance of getting out of this alive for him now, that he will die soon in the next few exchanges. Berculi however only smiled at this outcome, and momentarily directed his gaze to the still-asleep Alice. He apologized to Alice that in the end he could not give her what she wanted: fatherly-love. He can’t remember anything about his own family, too. The one thing he does know, however, was that a father would be willing to die fighting for his child. Berculi roared out to Vector: “A Monster like you… will never understand that!!” and charged in head on without any plans, just focusing all his self into his sword.
Scene Change to Asuna. Wave three and wave four of the Lancers are defeated. She had over ten stab wounds on her now, and her entire set of clothing was ripped and dyed red with blood. The only reason Asuna could still move now with a hole torn out of her body was because of her massive amount of HP. Before that runs out her body will still continue to function, so effectively the only way for Asuna to fall now is for her to give up. Asuna’s body had gone numb by now, feeling both hot and cold at once and her eyesight has dimmed from all the fighting. The fifth wave of Lancers was assembled, and Asuna struggled to draw her rapier from off the ground. The feather-light weapon now felt like it was made of lead. She could no longer dodge with her current state, so Asuna resolved to just catch the attacks with her body and fight back once they hit. The 20 Lancers charged, though the sound of their footsteps had other sounds mixed into it. Asuna looked up, and broken pieces of computer code descended once more in lines. She began to despair that the US players had even more reinforcements. However, the line of code was not black like before, but blue like the night sky before dawn. Asuna was too tired to even guess what this might mean. The 20 lancers also stopped and looked at this view, before the line landed on them.
Then, the lancers exploded into red. A whirlwind ran into them, cutting them up. After the lancers are gone the whirlwind slowed down, turning into a man in blue armour with an impractically long katana. Asuna recognized that technique – a sword skill. Katana, heavy-damage, wide area attack – ‘Blade Windmill’. The man turned around, showing a bandanna with a lot of kanji written on it and a lazy face under that. Asuna recognized that it was Klein. The same sound effect as when the black legion descended began to ring out, but now to Asuna they were the most beautiful symphony she has heard.
After that, several thousand lines began to fall down from the sky.