THE 7TH

Exactly 11 o'clock in the evening. It was customarily dark. The slightly dim magic crystal bulbs were the only ones giving faint vision to the ones inside the close chambers.

At the gate, four paladins stationed for security felt the coldness of the chamber through its thin schisms. They could sense as if all beyond the hard metallic gate were tons of insoluble icebergs in huge lumps. Because of this creaking and shivering air moving to and fro from the other side, the guards were frequently prodded by the urge to take a nap. Added by the stationary nature of the job that would last for straight five hours until the shifts, they felt as if keeping themselves awake at all times was the greatest burden of all. Consequently, one of the methods they thought of keeping the feeling from getting over them was to chatter in spree until morning came.

"Dude, do you have any trite of idea what's in this gigantic chamber?" A sleepy man, who could barely even open his eyes, asked out of nowhere.

"No idea," another one answered nonchalantly, "but the archpriest I spoke with about last month said it's some kind of magic relic or something, though he couldn't really confirm it…"

"Mm, you're right. Even my older brother, also a former senior guard here, doesn't seem to know."

"You three, listen to me…" The fourth one came closer as if a deep secret or gossip was about to be mercilessly spilled. "Please don't tell the archpriest about this, okay? I have a guess. Could this be a captured demon from the ancient times?"

"""Huhhh!!!???"""

In a sudden surprise, the energy on the rest of the three guys came back to them. It was an interesting topic to be touched that spiked out the boredom out of their fatigued bodies.

"H-Hey, dude, what are you talking about? Isn't the demon race the archenemy of the Delosian faith…?"

"Y-Yeah, why could there be a demon inside this holy land?"

"I agree. I think it's illogical."

"You guys, I'm not done explaining yet, you know? Look, why is this chamber so cold? Any good idea…? Tsk. Seriously? Haven't you guys realized that the only ice skill user in the land who can cast something like this is Zard Blizz, the Lord of Ice?"

"You mean, the great champion, Lord of Ice? The demon extermination expert who is also good at sealing them?"

"Correct. Think about it guys…"

"…Y-You've got a point… The odds are high that the one inside might be a captured creature…"

"Y-Yeah, I think you might be right."

"Beyond that…" he pointed at the gate. "We might be guarding a very dangerous creature all along—"

"—Wait! W-What's going on!!?"

"The ground…"

"What is this tremor? Is this an attack? No, we are at the safest and centermost place in the country. But what could this be…?"

Before everyone was able to dwell deeper into "that" interesting topic, a sudden shaking hit the ground. They were all perplexed as they saw a series of huge explosions that rocked the dark underground thoroughfare leading to the chamber of their responsibility. This underground passageway had always served as the usual route for every exchange of personnel. Now, it was all reduced into slabs and debris of destroyed walls from the impact.

And rather than seeing an approaching ally for back-up in this time of confusion, an unknown man wearing a back long-sleeved jacket and a black robe slowly exhibited himself from the dark passageway. On his hand was a katana covered by thick purplish aura. The four paladins, even with their high-level senses, still couldn't see the face of the man because of the weird black mask he was wearing. The only recognizable feature was the long violet hair that slightly slapped from side to side.

Everything on the way had just reduced into rubble. And, without further ado, the intruder began approaching them in a quite impressive speed.

"Guys, be careful. You can sense it, right? This intruder's too strong."

"Y-Yes… I'd never thought that a safe place like this would be ravaged like this so easily, as if the defense line consisting of the strongest among the strong is as flimsy as paper…."

"This enemy was able to bypass the other paladins stationed outside, he must really be very strong."

"That's right. Anyway, let's fight with utmost caution."

"""Yeah!!!"""

All of them readied their holy swords imbued with heavy energy and sheer courage to intercept the man. Even though the shaking and anxiety were real, safeguarding this holy treasure was the job that they were bounded to do even if it would cost them their precious lives. This was cast in stone. Nothing more and nothing less.

"Who're you?" One of them asked the man. "What do you think you're doing?"

"…"

"No answer? Then, sorry, but we'd just eliminate you, after all! Let's go, guys!!!"

"""Yes! Glory be to high spirit Delos!!!"""

In a split second, the man disappeared through the dark. In a flash of light, he reappeared, and splashes of blood eventually painted the cold and rusty gate in crimson color. Not long after, the four paladins turned into mincemeat. And along with it was a loud clattering sounds from the broken armors and vests Even at the highly nauseating scenery that transpired after turning the four into slabs of raw meat, the man didn't mind and just lurched his stained sword away to remove the sticky red. He then assumed in a strike-to-death gesture in front of the colossal gate like barrier protecting it was made of wood.

—Sword Art, Absolute Rift—

After the short enchantment, a circular magic circle, or commonly known as

"cosmic gate," appeared at the tip of his sword out of the thin air. The circle vanished after some kind of dense and eerie energy passed through it and coated the whole blade. In a second, a couple of crossing heavy sword slashes struck the metallic gate, and it immediately crumbled. The man then went on to look at the insides. Then he heaved a sigh…

"Just as I thought, you really are here.. I've been looking for you..."