Railgun Online Book 4: Alicization Beginning

The Underworld

"No.. no.. NO!!!" Mikoto awoke, fear clutching her heart.. as she sat right up, her heart jolting like an alarm.

She was in a beautiful wilderness, full of extraordinary tall trees, and beautiful flora and fauna. Mikoto had to admit, she had never seen an environment this amazing, even in ALfheim, or anywhere in the real world... though it wasn't as if she were well travelled, so it was tough to say.

She tried to think back to what had just happened and how she ended up here... however, strangely enough, she couldn't remember anything after she, Shino, Asuna, and Kazuto left the Dicey Café..

"Strange.." Mikoto muttered, sitting up in the bright green grass. How strange, each blade of grass felt so comfortable, and each little leaf looked so perfect and pristine, as if some system had designed it.. maybe... maybe she was in a VR world? It was possible.. after all, she never remembered anything of her VR experiences with the BMI whenever she and Kazuto tested it.  And the way this world was so perfect yet real at the same time.. it had to be the new amazing in depth experience of the Soul Translation technology.

Mikoto then realized her clothes felt different then before, and she looked down, so see she wasn't wearing the school uniform provided to her at her cram school for SAO survivors.. but a light pink shirt, and cutely designed pink shorts with a flouncy light sort of air to them.. along with a small bead necklace. There were also white flowers adorned in her hair where she usually wore her hair pin.

Mikoto blinked with surprise when she realized they were the clothes she wore to Hawaii during the terrorist Group known as GREMLIN's attempted invasion of the United States of America years ago. They had been a temporary thing for her, since everyone in Tokwadai Middle was rarely ever allowed to wear anything else other then their uniforms, even on weekends..  However.. there was something strange about these clothes.. for one, the bead necklace had tiny symbols inscribed.. and her clothes seemed to be made out of a lighter, more hand sewn material.. like it had been made in a more medieval or Edo-period fashion. and instead of sneakers, she wore lightly colored leather shoes that were open toed, and had a small metal plate over each one.. like boots from Sword Art Online or ALfheim.

Perhaps this was some sort of fantasy game..

Her doubt began to fade away even more when she saw the familiar looking sword strapped to her waist.

Mikoto grabbed the hilt of the Master Sword, and drew it slowly, listening to the metallic "sheeeen" as it came out of it's beautifully decorated sheathe.

She held the blade before her.. it seemed different somehow.. the blade was more white, and holy looking.. and so mirror-like, that she could see her own reflection in the sword.. something that wasn't often seen in the swords of ALfheim Online.. while they were metallic and reflective.. they were never mirror-like.

This was a whole new level of VR.. it was the creation of a world so real, that one couldn't tell the difference between here and the Real World.. not unless they noted how unusually perfect everything in here was.

Mikoto swung her sword around experimentally, getting a feel for it.. it's weight and balance felt much heavier and sluggish then it did in ALfheim.. and for some reason, it didn't feel like she could properly even use it as a weapon.

"Kirito!!!" Mikoto shouted, sheathing her sword. "Kirito!! Are you there!?"

No answer..

Mikoto was about to give up, when she heard a voice that she did not expect to hear in this world. "Mikoto-chan?"

Mikoto turned around, and blinked with amazement to find Shino there.

Shino was wearing clothing that looked a bit more medieval then hers, a gray short sleeved shirt with a white cloth tied around her waist. And some very short black shorts. She had no weapon however.