Sword Art Online Vol. 15 – Alicization Invading Chapter 15 - In Northern Lands 41 | P a g e They would likely obey if ordered by the Axiom Church or the emperors. However, that alone could not bring them victory against the forces of darkness. Knight Commander Bercouli must be aware of that grave reality at the very least. What would decide the course of battle in the end was neither the priority level of weapons nor the usage authority of arts, but the strength of one’s will. Kirito’s struggles as he upset that hopeless difference in battle potential, defeating numerous integrity knights, Chief Elder Chudelkin, and even Highest Minister Administrator, served as proof for that. Taking on the looks given by the villagers laboring in the wheat fields, entwined with vigilance and anxiety, with her chest puffed out, Alice whispered to her master in swordsmanship in her heart. —Oji-sama, for the masses living in the Human World, peace might not be something to protect but something granted for all of eternity. —And the ones who nurtured that idea must be… the Axiom Church, the Taboo Index, and us, the Order of the Integrity Knights. Even at this very moment, Knight Commander Bercouli should be toiling away, training the forces of the four empires in Central Capital Centoria and producing their equipment. Or perhaps he was already mobilizing troops to the «Great East Gate» the frontier of the Eastabarieth Empire where the fighting will be fiercest. He must be wanting for even an additional knight around, both as an assistant with practical experience and as military capability after war breaks out. —That said, I am now… Going through the wheat fields while sunken in her contemplation, she exited at the cleared land spreading out towards the south of the village. Stopping the wheelchair right before the dug black soil, she scanned through the vast plot of land. It was said that a massive forest larger than the one in the east, where Alice and Kirito lived in, stood here until a mere two years ago.