Railgun Online, Book 6: Alicization Invading

Shadow King Thevos.

Mikoto hummed the morning away with good cheer, as she sat in the courtyard of the Sword Academy, scrubbing a sponge over the Gore Magala's black scales.

Many of the students of the academy were staring from a distance, not sure if it was safe to approach as Mikoto cleaned her dragon's scales.

There had been a mixed reaction to Mikoto's new pet. Some had become thrilled at the gaining of this new violent weapon against the Viros Armada.. others had been extremely jealous, it was years since an non-Integrity Knight was allowed his or her own dragon.. and plenty were just scared to go near what they considered to be a black abomination.

Kirito however, thought he knew what was up with Mikoto. Mikoto, had never been able to have a pet as a small girl, both in the Underworld and IRL.  Her electromagnetic field, always drove away cats, and even some small dogs or other animals would prefer to avoid her..

But for once, there was one pet that liked her.. even if it was a giant black dragon with extendable feelers.

"S-so.." said Stella who was sitting outside with Mikoto, a sponge in her hand. "Sh-she's not going to bite?"

"Nope! Not unless I ask her to bite somebody." said Mikoto. "Right Kiri?"

Kiri grunted lazily, and her breathing began to slow as she went right to sleep. All Kiri ever did usually, much to the surprise of everybody, was sleep. Occasionally, she would leave the Dragon Keep in the cathedral to hunt. However, after that, she would avoid the other dragons, finding a nice quiet place to snooze.

It was suspected that Kiri might have only acted supremely aggressive before, due to the sword that had been stuck in her back for who knows how long? Raking her with extreme pain that ultimately caused a massive amount of aggression.

"Hey.." said Stella. "So.. Sempai.. that's a new outfit.."

"Oh.. this?" Mikoto looked at her gold and black furisode. "I thought I'd get used to wearing it.. it's pretty comfortable actually, and adds to a large percentage of my Life. But.. well there's one function it also has which I'd rather not use.."

"Really?" said Stella curiously. "What is it?"

"Not.. keen on discussing it." said Mikoto.

Mikoto perked up when she saw Alice enter the courtyard. "H-hey Alice! Is there another war meeting?"

"No.. there's a bit of bad news.." said Alice with a supremely worried expression. "It appears we have an intruder.."

A moment later, Kiri landed near the northern end of the city, and Mikoto and Alice slid off her back, approaching the scene which was already being observed by Integrity Knight Gerald, a grey armored man with a face covering helm.

"Looks like he came in during the night, with some sort of strange monsters.." said Gerald. "Eyewitnesses gave a description that matched what we know about Thevos.."

"Him huh?" Mikoto gritted her teeth. "I know he's a bit of a nutjob.. but this.. this is insane.."

Sinon, who had just arrived on the scene herself.. gritted her teeth. "I wondered what happened to him after the Dark Mind incident.. but.."

Sinon couldn't speak.. Mikoto didn't blame her..

The crime scene was gruesome.. piles upon piles of bodies littered the streets, people could be heard crying out with anguish as they recognized loved ones in the streets.. dead by the hand of Thevos and whatever sick minions he had brought with him.

Mikoto could feel sweat pouring down her face at the sight of all this death. In SAO at least.. when people died, they didn't leave behind a gruesome body.. but this.. this was even worse then Dead Space Online.. all the people here were disemboweled or worse..