Am I the only one streaming Sword Art Online on the entire internet?

"It's not like we're giving them away for free. At least we have weapons that match theirs, and we have the ability to fight the Integrity Knights. It's just that we can't summon the weapons' [will].

Eugeo was initially overjoyed, but after hearing Sorin's words, he suddenly felt quite guilty and could only try to comfort himself. Sorin, of course, noticed this and patted Eugeo's shoulder casually, saying reassuringly:

"Don't worry, I was just saying. With this fully equipped gear, I could take on ten of them if they were right in front of me. I don't know how I could lose. How could I lose? I could win by charging in and I could win by trading bases. But thinking about it... why would they store so many weapons and equipment here?"

"Perhaps they also considered the possibility of dealing with the Dark Legion someday in the future, which is why they stored enough equipment here to arm a large force," Eugeo guessed.

"I think you must have guessed wrong."

Reignition

"I think you must have guessed wrong."

After a moment's thought, Sorin turned to look at Eugeo and shook his head.

"They do this simply to prevent others from having the ability to resist them. Even if someone happens to have the desire to rebel against these established rules, without powerful equipment, they cannot rebel against the Central Cathedral."

His words carried a hint of disdain, and after sensing Eugeo's confusion, he added, "The Church concentrated the weapons here to prevent people from building armies. Even if they aren't divine artifacts, the equipment stored here is at least as powerful as they are."

"But...don't we have our own weapons? The Blue Rose Sword and your black sword are no less powerful than their weapons."

Eugeo initially thought it made a lot of sense, but then he thought, if all the divine weapons in the world were gathered here, then what were the weapons they had before?

"It's understandable that you would think that way. But think about how we acquire our weapons. My weapons didn't originally exist in this world, while your weapons come from places beyond their control. That's the uncontrollable factor. That's the problem with Taboo Index; it didn't adequately anticipate some uncontrollable factors, which is the most fundamental difference between humans and machines."

Solin gave a brief explanation, then moved around a bit in the spacious area. His weapons were quite handy, which gave him some confidence for the journey ahead.

"And if my guess is correct, then the uncontrollable factor we've detected—that is, our swords—is also here. Look carefully." As Solin said this, he specifically checked the location of the swords, and then realized that he had indeed been searching for a long time. Both the Blue Rose and the Black Sword were stored in simple white and black leather scabbards, which were basically the common types of scabbards, making them particularly difficult to find.

Of course, after a moment of confusion, Sorin figured it out and pulled out his and Eugeo's swords. The reason was quite simple: recently acquired equipment would only be placed closest to the door.

"Also, pick out a piece of leather armor that looks good and wear it. If the armor here isn't made with cheap materials, it will be very helpful in protecting against arrows."

"...Why? We've never fought in armor before, so we're bound to be unfamiliar with this," Eugeo asked, puzzled. "Besides, we've been able to defeat enemies even without armor."

“But the enemy we’re facing now is different. Even the strongest martial artist can’t guarantee they’ll be able to dodge every blade coming their way in their lifetime. And if that happens, armor could very well save your life. To put it simply, it’s better to have something than nothing.” Sorin unusually spent a long time explaining the necessity of their current actions to Eugeo, then took two sets of underwear from a shelf. “I didn’t notice earlier, and they tore my clothes to shreds. Let’s get a couple of good ones and work together.”

“…What are you saying?” Eugeo was stunned by Sorin’s long string of words containing various verbs that he couldn’t understand, until Sorin hit him on the head again.

"Don't worry about the details, just wear it."

After gently tapping Eugeo on the head, Sorin naturally opened the system menu in front of Eugeo, unequipped his two nearly worn-out uniform shirts and pants, and changed into the innerwear he had just taken from the side, humming a song that Eugeo still couldn't understand.

"No food, no clothes, the enemy provides them; no guns, no cannons, the enemy makes them for us!"

Of course, Eugeo didn't have time to understand what Solin was singing at this moment. To be precise, after Solin turned his back to him and took off all his clothes, it was a direct attack on him. He even felt his breath catch in his throat. It wasn't until Solin put his clothes back on and turned around to look at him as he started putting on his leather armor that he vaguely realized that he had been standing there in a daze.

"Hey little bro, why are you taking so long to change clothes? Hurry up, okay?" Sorin seemed oblivious to what had just happened (and he genuinely hadn't noticed), looking at Eugeo with a puzzled expression. Meanwhile, his hands moved non-stop, and he quickly put on a full set of leather armor. "You don't expect me to do it for you, do you? I don't think you know anything."

"Understand? Understand what?" Eugeo asked subconsciously, then shuddered as he saw Sorin's gaze gradually turn dangerous. He quickly changed his equipment. By the time he finished, Sorin was almost out the door.

He rushed to Solin's side and grabbed the doorknob on Solin's other side. Together they pulled gently, and a small gap appeared—

Just then, several clattering sounds suddenly came from the door. Solin recognized the sound as arrows hitting the door, and almost at the same time, he also saw several steel arrows stuck in the door.

"*****!" Solin shouted loudly. He was sent flying by the sudden force, landing on the ground mid-air. He then looked towards the doorway and saw the familiar red-armored knight.

"You troublemaker! It's you again!"

"Further words are pointless. It's truly my fault for letting you all end up here... What!"

He stood arrogantly on the platform, looking down at the two men, a seemingly insurmountable chasm. They were thirty meters apart. The higher ground against the lower ground should have been a significant advantage. But to his surprise, a burst of blinding white light suddenly erupted from Eugeo's hand, instantly dazzling him. He could only hear the voice of the man who had provoked him earlier.

"A1 high evasion! Nice!" Sorin shouted, taking advantage of the red-armored knight's blindness, he stomped his left foot on the ground, drew a longsword from his waist with his right hand, and instantly launched a diagonal upward charge, quickly closing in on him, even accompanied by more vicious taunts:

"Damn it, a mad dog chased me for eight blocks, and now it insists on calling me its grandfather, huh, Dragon Knight?"

messenger

"It might not be a bad thing... But it's already come to this, could things get any worse?"

Holding a knife in her left hand and clutching the FN-57 that Aivisin had left her in her right, Yuna leaned against the glass wall connecting Mo Yulan's treatment room and Yuan Chongcun's office, whispering softly. At this moment, she felt only a vast sense of powerlessness coming from all directions. Only now did she realize how heavy the burden that Mo Yulan had once carried was.

“Miss Yuna, we have to retreat. They could attack us at any moment, and we don’t have enough manpower to stop them, even with Vector and Ivy Shin.”

The source of the voice was one of Higa Ken's assistants, whom she had met before. At this point, the situation on the lower levels was indeed as she had described. Even with Ivy and Vector using numerous traps to slow them down, and Sinon slacking off in the back, they hadn't been able to stop them from rapidly advancing to a point quite close to Yuna's current location. However, it was clear that she was unwilling to evacuate now.

To be more precise, even if Yuna fights to the last bullet here, she will not leave. For her, leaving Mo Yulan, who is still unconscious, here is more unacceptable than dying.

“You can leave now. If there’s really no other way, I’ll go to the upper levels.” Yuna shook her head, refusing the transfer order. “Lan is still here, and Xiao Aiweixin is still fighting at the front. I really can’t leave like this.”

The assistant wanted to persuade Yuna again, but at that moment, with a loud bang, the entire office and the corridor outside lost their lights and fell into darkness.

Yuna wasn't alarmed, as Ivy had already discussed this with her beforehand. If the enemy truly breached the controllable range, she would precisely cut off all power to the lighting equipment, further delaying their progress. With the first control room already breached, a partial power outage was indeed an advantage for them.

"Miss Yuna!"

"Don't panic. Staying calm is an essential quality for researchers." Yuna's voice suddenly turned cold. She put away her pistol and drew another knife from her waist with her right hand. "When everyone else is blindly pursuing the truth, remember—all is vanity."

"When everyone else's mind is bound by law and morality, remember—all is permitted. We toil in darkness to serve the light."

She spoke these words more to herself, trying to cast aside the last shred of weakness in her heart. To protect the man who had always stood before her and guarded her, she had to become strong.

The assistant couldn't understand her words, but she knew it was impossible to persuade Yuna to leave now, so she sighed and left silently.

Yuna took a deep breath. In that instant, although her vision was still dim, she seemed to be able to see through everything in the darkness. She took two quick steps forward, then started running. Strangely, even as she ran through the metal-floored corridor, she made not a sound. If someone were watching, they would see Yuna's figure seemingly blend into the darkness. Only those who knew there was someone there beforehand and observed carefully could make out a vague outline.

Meanwhile, on the OceanTurtle deck.

"Disruptor team has arrived at the designated location and is awaiting further instructions, Zero."

The disruptor landed steadily on the deck, unloaded his disposable jetpack, pulled out his sniper rifle from his back, and looked at his comrades behind him. The other three also landed quickly, organized their equipment, and soon entered combat mode.

"Very good (gunshot). Now head to the reactor and try to stealthily outflank them from behind. There are friendly forces among the enemy. Ivy will send you the identification codes."

The Disruptor nodded and quickly arranged the positions of the group. Except for the Hunter, who was acting as a scout and was at the very front, furthest from the rest of the group, the other three stood in a triangle behind them, with the Executioner at the very front, while the Disruptor and the Scarecrow stood on either side of the Executioner, hiding behind him.

"Identification code received. Let's get started. It looks like the situation on Zero's side is quite tense."

The disruptor pointed to the dark compartment ahead, activated its thermal imaging system, and then reminded the executioner and scarecrow who were carrying weapons of mass destruction.

"Scarecrow, turn down the weapon's power. And executioner, remember not to swing your blade unnecessarily; this part is very fragile... Got it?"

"I know, I'm not stupid, Sister Interference," the executioner said nonchalantly. "But there's a problem. It's not like we can't get messages out here, so why do we need to come? Wouldn't it be easy for any of the countries involved to send a special forces unit and solve everything?"

“They just don’t want to openly break ties. Right now, the only ones who dare to open fire on this ship are anarchists, which should be easy to understand, especially since your mind map was just upgraded, Executioner.” The Scarecrow explained in a flat, monotone tone, “If there’s one side that might break the balance right now, it can only be the Republic.”

“But they have no reason… I understand.” The executioner hadn’t realized it at first, but when he thought of their client and the man in the eye of the storm, he suddenly understood. “But they should have considered this too, right? Why did they dare to raid this maritime research institute?”

"Perhaps they want to break through quickly and complete their mission. After all, from their perspective, this maritime research institute is truly unarmed. As long as the Self-Defense Force's warships are moved away, breaking through quickly and obtaining the technology they want would be a piece of cake." After hearing the executioner's question, the disruptor answered without hesitation, "So Zero's idea should be the same. We just need to continue to delay, so that they have neither the ability to break through nor the ability to obtain the technology they need in a short period of time. All that awaits them is to prepare a plan and then withdraw."

But both Blank and Zero seemed to have prepared ample contingency plans, and she didn't believe they would think it was that simple. But that was no longer something she should be concerned with.

What's your true name?

Let's switch the scene to the arena where Sorin and Eugeo are fighting the Integrity Knight archer. Normally, an archer character, when faced with a melee fighter like Sorin at close range, would choose to retreat immediately and look for an opportunity. However, the dragon knight did not do that.

He drew out more than thirty steel arrows from his back, nocked them on his bow, and aimed them at the sky in the direction of Sorin.

*Clang!* That was the sound of air vibration. Then came the sharp "thud" of the bowstring snapping under the strain. All thirty steel arrows had been launched in a radial pattern, transforming into a deadly silver rain of arrows that fell upon the two men.

"Launch! Watch out for overhead!"

Seeing this, Sorin immediately shouted. He could hide behind the dragon knight to avoid the attack, but Eugeo clearly couldn't do that. Faced with the overwhelming rain of arrows, he seemed to panic for a moment as well.

"Blind spot at eight o'clock! Quick!"

Sorin glanced back, spotted an area with a lower attack density, and gave Eugeo a hint. He then launched an attack on the now unarmed dragon knight, completely disregarding the arrows that could rain down on him at any moment.

Fortunately, the arrows did not cause much damage to Sorin when they fell. As for Eugeo, he also managed to dodge the full barrage thanks to Sorin's guidance, though he looked a bit disheveled.

"Focus fire! Push him! He's out of fire!" Sorin shouted, urging Eugeo to follow his lead. But at that moment, things seemed to change again. The dragon knight was chanting some mysterious words, but neither Sorin nor Eugeo could understand his incantation, and therefore could not discern the spell he was using from its content.

However, that's no longer important, because the procedure itself isn't very long.

"Enchance armament!"

The dragon knight murmured for a moment, then shouted the final words—the incantation for "Complete Armament Control." With a soft "pop," orange flames ignited from one end of the drooping bowstring. Just as the flames rapidly consumed the bowstring and reached both ends of the longbow, pale red flames swirled around the copper-colored bow.

"You're insane! Do you think every knight can instantly equip their gear?"

Sorin made a casual remark, but no one paid any attention to it anymore. The heat, as if scorching the skin, could be felt even below the stairs, causing Eugeo to reflexively turn his face away. The dragon knight standing on the platform was completely enveloped in flames spewing from his bow, as if he were about to burn himself to ashes.

"It's been two years since I've been bathed in the flames of the 'Blazing Bow' like this. So that's how it is. It seems you do indeed possess skills capable of contending with the knight Eldrie Satyvan, you sinners. However, this makes it even more unforgivable. Why didn't you engage in a fair and square knightly battle, but instead used filthy dark magic to bewitch Satyvan!"

The dragon knight lifted the visor of his helmet and pointed at Sorin, questioning him.

"Heh, you managed to fool that good brother so badly that I have to take the blame?" Solin retorted disdainfully. "I'm right in your face and you're still talking nonsense. Does your transformation have invincibility frames?"

Of course, Sorin didn't care whether this transformation had invincibility frames or not, nor did he have the habit of wasting words with his opponents. That sarcastic remark just now came out along with his attack. He unleashed a three-hit combo at the dragon knight with his black sword, and then, to the dragon knight's astonishment, drew his katana from his back.

"Face the storm!"

The moment the blade made contact with the bow, a fierce gust of wind erupted, sweeping across the entire hall and making it difficult for Eugeo to even open his eyes.

"A formidable opponent indeed. Unfortunately... your sweet talk is ineffective against me!"

The dragon knight shouted, attempting to distance himself from Solin, but Solin followed closely. Left with no other option, he fired an arrow close to Solin. A fierce burst of flame erupted from his hand, extending forward from the bow and transforming into the shape of an arrow.

From the crimson glow of the arrow, Sorin truly felt the immense power it contained, causing his body to tense up involuntarily.

"You can't take this arrow head-on; if you do, it'll explode!"

As he thought this, time suddenly stood still beside him… not still, but his thoughts suddenly accelerated, causing everything he saw to appear to slow down countless times. This ability, which he could only regain after recovering all his memories, was a thought acceleration derived from the system.

"The situation is changing again; it's time to make a choice."

These were the words that ninja, or perhaps swordsman, once spoke to his elder brother. But now he uttered these words not to offer any advice to the dragon knight before him, but simply to unleash a unique technique from the Shimada clan warrior.

"One blow...kill them all! Dragon God's 剣を喰らえ!"

The arrow arrived in an instant, but was deflected by the katana tightly gripped in Sorin's hand. The arrow, which had been shooting menacingly at him, was instead deflected back towards him and pierced straight through his chest.

"How...is this possible?" He stared at Sorin in disbelief, then slowly released his grip on the Blazing Bow and collapsed to the ground. Of course, such injuries were not enough to kill him, but he was now powerless to resist.

"Anything is possible. I've witnessed too many impossible things happen, and it seems you haven't seen enough."