The Night Sky Swordsman (Sword Art Online X OC)

Chapter 91 Stars Under the Night Sky

No one's POV

Alice: Zo...ra......

The swordsman, awake again after a half-year slumber, gave her a nod with a smile that was powerful but somehow shy, then turned away and raised his right hand in front of him. He pointed toward the dying dragons, who were flapping their wings with the last bit of strength remaining. The tips of their wings and the ends of their tails were already melting into light.

Amayori looked at Zora, with whom it had lived for half a year at the cottage outside of Rulid, and trilled softly. Zora nodded back to it and closed his eyes.

Without warning, iridescent film surrounded the two dragons. It was like a giant soap bubble had formed around them. But the dragons were not alarmed; they folded their wings, tucked in their heads, and rolled into balls.

The rainbow orb slowly descended directly over Alice. She was so stunned that she nearly forgot to breathe. And then something very strange happened. The enormous rainbow-tinted bodies of Amayori and Takiguri began to shrink. No, not shrink—they were getting youthful, growing in reverse.

Sharp talons rounded. Thick, hard scales reverted into soft, downy growths. Their tails and necks shrank, and smaller wings sprouted fine hair. By the time they came down to Alice's outstretched arms, the dragons were less than fifty cens in size. Takiguri was covered in a white pelt with a bluish tint, its eyes closed in peaceful sleep.

And Amayori was like a green ball of fluff, the same way as when she'd first met it at Central Cathedral. The little dragon looked right at Alice, opened its jaws to expose teeth like little pearls, and trilled.

Amayori: Kyuru!!

Alice: Ama...yori...

Alice gasped. Tears trickled down her cheeks and sparkled as they bounced off the dragon's soft, feathery hide. The rainbow film surrounding the two infant dragons grew brighter, all at once. The sensation of soft feathers on Alice's arms turned to smooth hardness. After a few blinks, she realized that she was cradling two large eggs.

The silvery eggs shrank smaller and smaller, until they were capable of resting side by side in the palm of her hand, and the rainbow glow around them faded at last. As she nestled the eggs against her cheek, Alice tried to interpret what had just happened. Zora must have determined that the maximum value of Amayori's and Takiguri's lives was so great that sacred arts alone could not restore it. So instead, he shrank that maximum value as small as it could go—effectively returning them to their embryonic egg form and preventing them from reaching death.

Alice was currently the most powerful user of sacred arts in the entire world, and even she couldn't imagine what combination could produce such an effect. But she was not worried. The only thought she kept was warm certainty that she would one day meet the dragons again. She wrapped the two eggs between her hands gently and looked up to the sky again.

Alice: Thank you...and welcome back, Zora.

She whispered tearily. There was no way her voice could reach the figure floating in the distant sky, but the man in the black and white coat nodded firmly back to her and smiled again.

Zora: No. I'm sorry for having put you through so much. Thank you, Alice. We'll meet again in the real world.

Then with the use of his Incarnate Arms, Alice's Osmanthus Blade flew from her hips towards Zora's instead.

Alice: Zora?

Zora: I'll be borrowing this. So I know you'll have my back till the end.

Then Zora slowly turned and faced the darkness-shrouded pursuer. Sparks crackled here and there in empty space, as if the world itself was unable to withstand the pressure of two massive sources of competing Incarnation.