So, as I pray…
Summary
Haruyuki heads off to school with Kuroyukihime, and meets Chiyuri on the way, who needs a lot of convincing before she accepts that it was only because of something to do with Brain Burst. When she mentions becoming a Burst Linker as well, KYH goes into the bond forged between a guardian and protege, stating that as the strongest bond in Accel World, it can be a gift as well as a curse, the latter of which she has experienced in the past. Later, after Niko researches where Chrome Disaster has headed off to hunt, the four perform an Unlimited Burst and enter the neutral field of Accel World with no time limits, where they are ambushed and attacked by the Yellow King, Yellow Radio.
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Impression
Clowns have always scared me, you know. And it seems that the Yellow King is no different, despite the semi-serious Burst Linker name of Yellow Radio. Why…radio? Anyway, he looks too much like HxH’s Hisoka for my liking, and has that permanent clown smile on, which gets creepy after a while. Niko seems to have gotten the fact that the whole thing’s probably an ambush set up by Yellow Radio, and that Chrome Disaster was the bait to lure them in, while not being there at all. My guess is that Radio, as the Yellow King is probably after Kuroyukihime because of her past betrayal, and felt like the neutral unlimited field is the best way to exact revenge while bypassing the peace treaty.
In that sense, Niko may be right in some of the Level 9 Kings trying to secretly get to Level 10 – after all, the fact that no-one knows what’s up there would spark people’s curiosity a lot, and that’s extended even further from the fact that Accel World is governed by some unknown higher force. Quite similar to Sword Art Online in that respect, actually. The fact that KYH is the only King willing to say it out loud and not chicken out really shows the difference between her and them – you’d think more people would be interested in why an outer force would want to make a secret program that speeds up brain processes to that extent, instead of just taking advantage of its abilities.
Kuroyukihime really went into a lot of graphic detail about the things she’d like to do to her former mentor (being completely serious here) and it seems she really, really hates him. Or her. The fact that this bond is a double-edged sword only means you have to be all the more careful with it – like for example, what if a couple formed it, then later broke up? It’s not like you can just back out of the bond that easily. Somehow, from Haruyuki’s earnest promise I think we’ve just been set up for something ironic that will happen later on between them. Watch this space.
What I said last time about spending long periods of time in AW has now even become more prominent with them introducing Unlimited Blade Works Burst and the neutral field, meaning that you can spend as long as you want training. Just 1 day IRL means 3 years in this field fighting Enemies – if people like KYH or Niko could go in at Lv 4, and are now Lv 9…god, how different must their physical and mental ages be? The place is beautiful though, and it’s definitely fitting as the “true” Accel World. Maybe Haru might appreciate it more if he wasn’t being surrounded and targeted right now.
