Original subtitles

I thought you'd come.

If I tormented those children long enough,

I knew you'd emerge from your musty hole sooner or later.

Since I last saw you, you've grown adept at imitating a human.

Oh my. And what about you, pipsqueak?

Why are you speaking to me in that bizarre manner?

Two hundred years ago, when you were brought before me, you were trembling and alone!

Right, Lyserith?

Don't call me by that name, Quinella!

My name is Cardinal.

I am the program that only exists to delete you.

Yes, that's right.

And I am Administrator.

The one who controls all programs.

I apologize for not greeting you sooner, pipsqueak,

but I was preparing the command to welcome you,

and it took longer then expected.

Administrator

You disconnected the address, didn't you?

Two hundred years ago, it was certainly a mistake to let you get away

when I was so close to killing you, pipsqueak.

And so,

I decided to learn from that mistake.

If I could someday lure you out, I'd trap you on this side.

A mouse inside a cage with the cat that hunts it.

But in this situation, it isn't clear which of us is the cat, and which is the mouse, is it?

After all, there are four of us and only one of you.

Four against one?

No, your calculations are a bit off.

What?

To be precise, it's four against three hundred, not even including me.

Three hundred?

You... What...

What depths have you sunk to?

Are they not the very subjects you should be protecting?

Subjects? Subjects, as in humans?

Which means that monster is human?

As if I would ever bother with petty matters like "the subjects I should be protecting."

I am a ruler.

As long as those under my rule exist in the lower world in the manner I desire,

whether human or sword, then there's no need for concern.

You...

Oh my, you're not shocked by the matter conversion of a measly three hundred human units, are you?

Did you say measly?

And this is only a prototype.

In order to mass-produce the finished version to handle the awful load test,

I think I'll need at least half.

Half of what?

Half of the 80,000 or so human units residing in the Human Empire.

That should be enough.

To repel the Dark Territory's invasion and attack the other side.

Well? Are you satisfied, Alice?

Your precious Human Empire will be well protected.

Your Eminence, Pontifex.

It's clear that the words of a human can no longer reach you.

So I ask you as a user of the sacred arts.

Where are the owners of the thirty swords that make up that puppet?

Even if you've broken the rule that only allows you full control of a single sword,

you can't break the next rule.

To perform Memory Release,

there must be a powerful bond between the sword and its owner.

Your Eminence, if the source for the swords that make up that puppet is innocent humans,

then it's not possible for those swords to love you!

The answer is right before your eyes.

I'm sure Eugeo has already figured it out.

I see. So that's it.

Eugeo?

Kirito, the crystals in the ceiling.

They aren't just ornaments.

They're probably the memory fragments stolen from the Integrity Knights.

Wha—

Curse you, Quinella! You've... You've gone too far in your manipulation of humans!

By inserting the memory piece you extract during the Synthesis Ritual into a mental model,

you can treat it as a simulated human unit.

But its intelligence would be severely limited.

It'd be unable to execute a complex command like the Perfect Weapon Control art.

But it'd be different if the memory piece and the data linked to weapon are almost the same.

In other words,

the beloved people in the memory pieces you stole from the Integrity Knights

were your resources for creating those swords.

Isn't that right, Administrator?

The knights' simulated personas desire only one thing.

To touch the one they recall, hold them tight, and make them their own.

It's that unseemly desire that moves this swordsman puppet.

Right now, they sense that person is near. But they can't touch them. They can't be one.

Driven by maddening starvation and thirst, the only thing they can see

is the enemy standing in their way.

If they annihilate that enemy, the person they desire will be theirs.

So they fight.

No matter how badly they're wounded, or how many times they fall,

they'll get back up and fight for eternity.

Well? Isn't it a wonderful mechanism? The power of desire really is remarkable!

You're wrong!

Don't you dare taint that emotion by calling it desire!

This is...

This is pure love!

They're the same thing, my foolish pipesqueak.

Love is control.

Love is desire.

In actual form, it's nothing more than a signal output from the Fluctlight!

And most important of all...

now that you know that, you can never destroy that puppet, no matter what.

And why?

Because that puppet's swords are living human beings who've been transformed!

Yes... you're right.

I can't kill people.

I've spent the last two hundred years devising an art to kill you, a nonhuman,

but it was all for nothing.

How foolish of you! How completely comical!

All life in this world is nothing more than aggregated data that can be overwritten.

No, they're still human, Quinella.

The people who live in the Underworld possess the true emotions we lost.

Hearts that laugh, grieve, rejoice, and love.

What more do they need?

I will give you my life!

But in return, I want you to spare the lives of these youngsters!

What are you—

What would I gain from accepting such terms?

If you wish to fight, then I assure you I'll keep your pathetic doll's actions contained,

and shear off at least half of your life.

That much of a load will further strain your dwindling memory capacity, wouldn't it?

Well, all right.

I can always save the fun for later, right?

All right. I swear on the goddess Stacia. That after I—

No, not on any god, swear on the one thing you value most of all, your own Fluctlight.

Fine, fine.

Then I swear on my Fluctlight and all the precious data accumulated there.

After I've killed you, I'll let the three behind you go unharmed.

Very well.

I'm sorry.

Is that it?

No matter how many times you strike me, I'll—

Of course I'm holding back, pipsqueak!

What fun would it be to finish you right away?

I've been waiting two hundred years for this moment, after all!

Stay back!

I'm powerless.

I can't believe how powerless I am.

No, there has to be something I can do.

Instead of berating myself for being powerless, I need to find a way to fight!

Now, shall I finish this?

Farewell, Lyserith.

Farewell, my daughter.

And...

my other self!

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

Why would you apologize?

You still have a mission you need to complete, don't you?

The three of you...

This fleeting, beautiful world...

No matter what...

No matter what...

we'll use these lives you gave us to complete this mission.

Eugeo.

I... I just finally realized what my mission is.

I won't run.

I have a duty I must carry out.

Cardinal.

Please use your remaining power to transform me... transform my body into a sword.

Just like that puppet.

Eugeo, are you...

If the three of us escape from here,

Administrator will transform half of the humans in the world into terrifying monsters.

If there's one last chance remaining to prevent that tragedy,

then... it must lie in this command.

System Call.

Remove Core Protection.

Please, Cardinal.

Our bond has to be far stronger than the power driving that monster!

Don't! Stop it, Eugeo!

It's okay, Kirito. This is what I'm meant to do.

Very well, Eugeo.

I offer the final command of my life... to your decision.

That's right. I need to tell you one last thing.

The pontifex is impervious to metal weapons. That's why I couldn't stab her with my dagger.

What?

What are you doing, you half-dead runt?

No you don't!

Your lightning won't work on me!

You lowly puppet knight!

You say such impertinent things!

Then all of you can burn!

I said, no you don't!

Release... Recollection.

Even if you mimic my command,

a meager sword like that can't compete with my weapon of utter destruction!

I'll snap it in two with a single blow!

Beautiful.

Human love, and the light released by one's will...

It's so beautiful.

Yeah. It is.

Kirito, I'm leaving the rest to you.

Please protect this world and its people.

Eugeo.

Oh my!

You want to fight me, boy?

A little arrogant, when all you did was poke a gap and destroy my puppet, wouldn't you say?

Stop.

Don't go.

Eugeo!

Eugeo!

You wretched brat!

The sword that was converted with Eugeo's body,

in terms of priority, it was no match for my Silvery Eternity, so this is a surprise.

And not recognizing that the sword wasn't metallic was also mistake.

Now then.

That you'd be the last one standing

is something of a surprise as well, boy from the other side.

Why you came all this way without administrator privileges...

I admit I'm a little interested.

But I'm tired of all that now, and I'm sleepy.

I'll have that person give me a full account later,

and bring this battle to an end with your blood and screams.

Farewell, boy.

Let's meet again someday on the other side.

How many times...

am I going to make the same mistake?

There's no need to win every time.

Even if you fall, if you're defeated one day,

it's enough if your heart, your will is connected to another.

I'm sure everyone who's spent time with you but left felt that way.

As do I, of course.

Therefore, you can stand again.

To protect someone you love.

What?

You can still move after all?

Yeah. Leave the rest to me.

I think I will.

Thanks, Alice. You can rest.

This life that Charlotte, Cardinal, and Eugeo entrusted me with,

I'll connect it to you.

Next time: My Hero.