Railgun Online Book 4: Alicization Beginning

Epilogue.

"Are they stable?" Kikuoka, also known as the head of the VR division looked through the glass of the room's high density window at the three individuals currently attached to the device called Medicuboid. A large cube-like full dive device that attached itself to one's head like a humungous cubed shaped Nerve Gear.

The base in the middle of the pacific ocean called the Ocean Turtle was secure.. if there was one thing Kikuoka was sure of, it was that these three would be safe here while their brain damage was repaired. Nobody... absolutely nobody would find them here-

"CHRYSHEIGHT!!!!!!!!"

Oh God Damn it.. how many more people had to find this place?

Asuna stomped down the hall furiously, followed by an enraged Touma, Accelerator, and Azume.

"Azume!?" said Kikuoka with stunned recognition. "You're supposed to be on assignment in France!"

"I changed my mind." said Azume a little scathingly. "When I heard Mikoto Misaka and Kazuto Kirigaya went missing from their respective hospitals by means of fake paramedics."

"You shouldn't have been so bold as to just 'take them'. " Birdway made Kikuoka jump by suddenly appearing right next to him..

"Now now.." said Birdway. "What purpose do you have for keeping them here?"

"Who are you!?" said Kikuoka. But Asuna ran over and grabbed Kikuoka by the collar of his shirt. "Enough about that! Where's Kirito!!?"

"And Biribiri!" Touma added.

"And Shino!?" Accelerator growled, his fist clenching and unclenching, always a danger sign.

"They're fine!" said Kikuoka. "Honestly, I assure you I never meant them any sort of harm. I'm here to make sure they pull through. If I had let them go to another hospital, I'm sure they wouldn't have made it with the damage the drug did to their brains! These three have done a lot for me in the past, I consider them friends.. which is why I pulled some strings in the JSDF and Rath to connect them back into the Underworld until we could repair their brain functions."

Asuna stared at where Kikuoka pointed into the Medicuboid room and caught her breath. "Th-they..."

"They're fine.." said Kikuoka. "See? They're just in a virtual world.. and as they sleep I assure you I'm taking the best care of their bodies."

"Then tell me.. why is it you are using Viros Technology here!?"

Seyat shifted out of the shadows.. blue flames gushing out from behind his mask.

"You people have got to stop sneaking up on me like that!" said Kikuoka irritably. "Hello again Seyat.. here to try and ruin things again?"

"Not when it is the only thing keep those three alive." said Seyat. "You've been using Viros Technology to clone souls!!!"

"We discovered plenty of your plans already." said Birdway, twirling her wand around casually. "All we needed to do was reach my connections in the government and inquire upon the subject of Rath's experimentations with the BMI.  And we went from there.. eventually we found your military base here in the Pacific.. It was easy enough to get there after that... you see, the Agnese forces from the English Puritan Church's magical organization Necessarius had their own specialty boats all set up.. Agnese Sanctis was only happy to oblige. And don't pretend you don't know who I am Seijirou-san.. we both know you know plenty about the magic side.. the only thing I never found out.. was why you did this."

Kikuoka sighed. "Well.. you're all here.. and I'm guessing Azume managed to get you past security by pretending you were assistants in the project. So I might as well tell you. My idea.. was to create a new self aware AI from the bottom up.. to create new AIs that could operate our military technology in the field with fewer loss of human lives."

"What!?" said Accelerator. "What is this supposed to be? Terminator?"

"He means technology that can think for itself so that it can make judgement calls that otherwise only sentient beings with emotions and morals would be able to make." said Seyat.

"Exactly.. that is why we studied Viros.. Viros are the perfect examples of Fluctlights that have gained a physical body and intelligence." said Kikuoka. "We needed to make sure we weren't creating something that was merely an imitation of intelligence. So we started by taking the Fluctlights of infants, and then cloning those Fluctlights. The clones of those Fluctlights had families, and grew up in the Underworld.. then they had families.. so on so forth, creating communities and what not. We tested their ability to respond to danger and their ability to break laws and judge by setting monsters in the world.. like the Dark Territory, and by making a Taboo Law..to see if they could break the laws out of their own better judgement.."

"But these aren't AIs.." said Seyat scathingly, sounding more enraged. "Fluctlights as you call them.. are actual living souls!! You think that sending them into battle would not involve the same moral casualties as regular humans!?"

"I'm sorry Seyat.. but it's not up to the Viros to decide what we can or can't do." said Kikuoka. "Lately, America hasn't been sharing it's technology with us as the post war treaty from WW2 designated. Instead they only give us outdated tech... the development of VR gaming thanks to Kayaba is the one chance we've got to stay in the game out of defense for our country!"

"Did Kirito agree with you!?" said Asuna. "And what about Biri-chan!? They both tested this tech for you!"

"Well... they thought it was just some new Full Dive device." said Kikuoka. "And we originally sent them in there to see why many of the citizens in the Human Empire of Underworld refused to break any Taboo Laws.. turns out an influential entity called the Axiom Church was responsible.. the founder of the church found out how to gain Administrator authority over the System and binds the citizens under her control.. and also uses her own reprogrammed soldiers called Integrity Knights. In any case.. we sent them in there to be reborn as infants.. and they grew up in a small village until they reached around 11 years of age in that world, making childhood friends along the way.."

"Then you deleted their memories and pulled them out  when testing was done." said Accelerator. "But how the hell did ya make them relive their entire childhood in 3 days!?"

"Brain Burst of course." said Kikuoka. "They didn't know it.. but Misaka and Kirito's Brain Burst program had already been taken from them by rather skilled government hackers.. however, we left them the original copy so we could see how they would develop it.. In any case.. we used it's incredible ability to speed up the brain's perception to accelerate the growth of Underworld.. making mere days turn into hundreds of years.. I believe in the 18 hours you spent searching for these three, they have already spent 1 and a half years in the Underworld.."

Kikuoka sighed. "We also have two others in the Underworld. One is a confused girl by the name of Yuniko whom we found had somehow come through a strange temporal rift in space.. I know it sounds outlandish.. but she's from 40 years in our future.. her brain was also partially damaged from the trip.. so I did her a favor and put her in the Underworld for repair as well.. the same with a Cancer Patient I found playing ALO who was near death.. I put her Fluctlight in Underworld so I could probably clone her a new healthy body before sending her soul back in.."

Kikuoka spread out his hands. "I am not your enemy. While the motives of my creating the Underworld may be in question..  in regards to Kirito, Mikoto, and Sinon-san.. I see them as my friends as much as you do. Everything I did with them after testing in the Underworld was finished, was done to save their lives."

"Kirito.. Mikoto.." Asuna whispered.

Touma put a hand on the glass of the window and stared inside at Mikoto's sleeping form. "So.. they're safe."

"Yes.. but  just one small snag.." Birdway gave Kikuoka a glare that would've made a Tyrannosaurus scream like a girl..

"Why.. the hell.. is Laughing Coffin in the Underworld!?"

Kikuoka's eyes went wide with surprise. "They're... WHAT!?"

End of Epilogue.

Stay tuned for Book 5, Alicization Running