The Archive

Of course I wasn't planning to charge in blind.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you need never fear the result of a hundred battles — so first I had to learn something about my opponent.

I simply didn't have enough information.

Siberia's Awakened rarely talked about the Awakened of other regions. In that bitter cold, with hopeless supply lines and an environment merciless to human beings, the people holding the Absolute Defense Line had their own kind of pride.

Then why not pick the next Sword Saint from among Siberia's own?

That was a neighborhood where even S-rank Awakened got chewed up if they weren't careful. Of the people who fought with swords there, the only one who lasted any real length of time was me.

It made sense. Call them Saintesses, Archmages, Sword Saints — whatever. An Awakened was, fundamentally, someone who wielded the supernatural. Those who insisted on polishing pure swordsmanship instead of powers tended to end one of two ways.

Dead, or alive and a hero.

Unfortunately, not many lived long enough to become heroes.

And of those who did, not one of them came out unbroken.

"…So I need to see for myself."

A hero isn't a hero because they're strong. A hero is someone who can actually protect people. You need the kind of mental fortitude that doesn't shatter even in the hopeless hell of the front line.

If this person wasn't fit for the title of Sword Saint…

"Then I'll cut them down myself."

Accepting the World Government's invitation to come in person. Allowing a demonstration of the Sky Sword. Looking into the next Sword Saint candidate. All of it was for that reason.

The title of Sword Saint was a seat that left you with nothing but honor.

The more glorious it was, the harder you got ground down, and the faster your mind wore thin. It didn't even pay well. Anyone chasing nothing but fame and glory wouldn't last long.

So I decided to take a slightly irregular route.

"My meds… ah, here they are."

I didn't trust anything circulating online. Having seen the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠World Government's information manipulation and propaganda firsthand, that was only natural. Once you reached the level of Sword Saint, you got a glimpse of the darker things they did.

The only information you could actually trust was…

"Classified data. Nothing else."

My security clearance was Grade 1. Aside from the ultra-classified matters marked Grade 0, I could look up just about anything.

There were two reasons I hadn't done so until now. First, I simply hadn't needed to. Second, the drain on my brain's capacity was severe enough that the effects of my medication risked burning off completely.

But this wasn't the time to be picky about that.

The moment I entered the pure white space of the virtual world, I looked up into the empty air and called out.

"Disable capsule safety settings."

"Insert World Government security code. Grade 1 security code: 1F1CA711C82AD75D."

The blunt mechanical voice fell silent for a moment.

Static crackled across the pure white lobby of the virtual world. Beyond the lobby shattering under the noise, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠caught a glimpse of endlessly spreading outer space.

"It actually works?"

Thanks to my Grade 1 classified-access privileges, I'd known the backdoor existed. I'd also known that, in theory, it was possible through a VR device.

But knowing and seeing were different things. I stared blankly around me until a red settings window floated into view.

I'd always known the World Government weren't the good guys. But I hadn't expected them to plant a backdoor in every single machine like this. The more I looked, the more suspicious the whole thing seemed.

"…Anyway. Open settings."

"Lift the virtual-reality dive limit. Cap the immersion-rate increase at twenty-five percent. And if immersion rises any higher than that, force my consciousness to surface."

Once the settings were done, the old waiting room was gone. The scenery of the lobby shattered, and before I knew it I was drifting through the middle of endless space.

The avatar I'd set for the virtual world had black hair and black eyes — yet silver hair floated in the vacuum around me. My real-world appearance was being projected. The backdoor program was working properly.

"…You absolute lunatics. What the hell did you build?"

I muttered it under my breath and looked around.

An ordinary person would have found nothing here. A vast cosmic expanse packed with endless stars was, by itself, a wide and empty maze.

But for me, with my Eyes open, it was different. As I quietly fixed my gaze on the distorted space, the hollow cosmos began to shudder once more.

A colossal library unfolded before my eyes.

A library so endless and so tall that even my Eyes could not find its limits.

A library hidden on the boundary between the real world and the virtual one. A massive computational engine storing every classified secret in existence. The World Government's dimensional server — the Archive.

The moment I set foot inside, a clear young girl's voice rang out.

"Welcome to the dimensional server 'Archive,' Sword Saint Unnie."

"…Who are you?"

"I'm the keeper of this library, responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the dimensional server 'Archive.'"

With the click of heels, a golden-haired girl stepped out of a dark corridor. Lifting the hem of a sky-blue skirt edged in white frills, she introduced herself.

"Please just call me Alice."

"You already know, but I'm Sword Saint Serena Eustania."

With my Eyes still open, I studied the girl who called herself Alice. The currents that composed the library resolved into streams of blue data. The girl Alice was no different — the flow of mana forming her body took the shape of informational data.

Hmm. Some kind of AI managing the library? Then she probably held all the information I needed, too.

Grateful that it would cut down on search time, I asked Alice as she curiously circled around me.

"If you're the keeper… can you find the information I need?"

"Of course. That's my job, after all."

Alice's thumb and index finger spread into a right angle. Above the blue window that bloomed between them, a map of the library's first floor appeared. She went on with a bright smile.

"The first ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠floor is the Personal Records Archive. The second floor is the Human History Archive. The third floor is the War Records Archive. Is there anything among those you'd like?"

"Yes. I want to review information on the next Sword Saint."

"I'll verify your record-access privileges!"

The instant Alice finished speaking, a wave of information poured out in front of me. Amid the countless data currents surging around the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠two of us, Alice plucked free a single line.

"Next Sword Saint. Information access grade for S-rank Earth-attribute Awakened Lee Seon-woo is Grade 2. Using Grade 1 code 1F1CA711C82AD75D to lift the access restriction."

The data-filled girl's eyes shifted from pink to blue. At the same time, a notification window appeared.

"Yes."

"I want to check the battlefields he's recently participated in."

"Mmm…"

After reviewing his combat record, watching the battle footage, and confirming everything from Awakened Lee Seon-woo's abilities to his personality, I arrived at a single conclusion.

"This guy isn't the type the World Government would want."

Awakened Lee Seon-woo was an Earth-attribute Awakened. And Earth was generally an attribute suited to tanks and supports — better for protecting something than cutting it down.

Lee Seon-woo himself didn't stray far from that mold. His abilities were far too heavily concentrated on defense.

His combat style was the opposite of mine, too. Where I used wind to push destructive power and speed to the extreme, he was the kind of person who used Earth-attribute abilities to take hits head-on while fighting.

In every way, he felt mismatched with the image of the "Invincible Sword Saint" the World Government had been selling all this time.

"His character itself doesn't seem bad… so why pick someone like this?"

The pure swordsmanship I'd seen on video was solid enough to respect. In a pure sword fight, even I couldn't be certain of victory.

His personality looked good, too. For an S-rank Awakened to have zero scandals trailing after him meant his day-to-day conduct was cleaner than mine.

But in the end, he didn't fit the frame of "the invincible hero who leads us to victory."

He was closer to "the shield that protects everyone" — more like my sister than like me.

"Are they trying to change the whole propaganda approach?"

Which left only one conclusion I could draw.

Maybe they intended the image of the Second Sword Saint to be a little different.

The storytelling itself wasn't bad. The First Sword Saint had been the hero who led everyone, cutting down an SS-rank Gate — so in a world growing more stable, the Second Sword Saint would be the shield that protected them all.

"Well, then I guess there's nothing to worry about."

I said it as I moved to close the window.

Until I saw the classified entry hidden at the very bottom.

"…Ha?"

This was information I could not simply let pass.

The former Northern Supernatural Research Institute was a place I could never forget. I had never forgotten that hell where my sister and I had been made.

There weren't even ten survivors of the Northern Supernatural Research Institute.

And of those survivors, the three confirmed ones — me, my sister, and Lee Seon-woo — were all S-rank Awakened? When there weren't even fifty S-rank Awakened in the entire world?

Something about this was wrong.

The Northern facility wasn't the only supernatural research institute, either. There were plenty of others that ran far more humane experiments, received far more funding, and were staffed with superior researchers.

"And yet, of all places, it had to be that one…"

Just what kind of experiments had they been running?

"Alice. Can I access information on the Northern Supernatural Research Institute as well?"

"Of course!"

A wave of information crashed over me. Alice drew out a single strand of data from within it and moved to project the contents into the air.

Or rather — she tried to.

The moment I tried to look up materials on the Northern Supernatural Research Institute, scarlet alert windows began popping up one after another.

…Just as I thought. Something was definitely off.