Whoosh! They landed on a patch of land, grass stretching as far as the eye could see, with a huge twilight sun looming over them.
Elysium Eclipse was a mysterious application under the file name 'ee2060-exe' that launched five years ago from an unknown source. It was, for all intents and purposes, an XRMMO that could be played in three different modes: a tinted-blue AR landscape of the real world where you could scout or fight other players through a copy of the real world, a limited-time MR space where you could duel others on virtual terrain that mimicked real world constraints, and finally, a FullDive VR world.
All three modes were supported thanks to the use of a single device: the Neuroqlest, a hybrid of two machines that were direct competitors of each other in the past. The Neurolinker, an all-purpose terminal that was the successor of the AR device known as Augma developed by KAMURA; and the QLEST, a device that was released around the same time by an American company known as IOTAGE. Using this, one could seamlessly enter either VR, AR or MR by scanning a copy of their self-image and generating the field accordingly. If it were AR or MR, they could use their real bodies as well, but there came extreme limitations when it came to designating certain areas for AR/MR play. This mode of play relied hugely on events that happened in real-world locations, which meant certain areas had to be cleared ahead of time in order to duel properly.
However, there was one game that advertised itself as not only a fully-functional XRMMO that utilized all three play modes, but did so in such a way that it overcame such limitations. That was Elysium Eclipse/EE2060, a revolutionary game that based all its play modes in a parallel timestream called the 'accelerated world'. Though 'advertised' was not really the right word, as it could only be passed down by those who already possess a copy of the application, which meant some copies were only passed down directly from its creator.
According to Arisu, EE was the fifth gateway to the accelerated world. Though it only launched recently, the doors to this gateway were opened by a group of powerful players who had cleared the objective of the accelerated world through its second trial, called Brain Burst/BB2039. Apparently, among those players, there was a pair who bore a love so strong it gave them the strength to overcome all the crushing obstacles the world threw at them. Despite the purpose behind the accelerated world being fulfilled, it was still allowed to remain for whatever reason, and this time it was open to the whole world, unlike previously where it was just limited to Japan.
"Now then… Fuuka and the others should already be at the Umesato school grounds. Let's head towards there first."
"Right!"
And thus, the four of them headed off, trying to reunite with their comrades at Umesato Junior High school which neighbored Matsunogi Academy. Naturally, the distance to such a place was extremely short, and thus they were able to get there within three minutes using their abilities. Usually, one traverses to a nearby place using AR mode, however there was the risk of letting players know about their real-life identities. As AR was the mode closest to reality, usually avatars in that mode were set from one's real appearance. Hence, they chose to travel in MR mode instead as others couldn't exactly determine one's real face from their avatar.
As soon as they got there, Seiki suddenly stopped. She suddenly had a vision… of what appeared to be a lone girl standing in a barren world.
"…Seiki-nee?"
She returned back to her senses just as quickly. Matsuyuki looked on with concern.
"No, it's nothing. Let's keep going!"
"…Okay."
"Still, who was that?", Seiki couldn't help but wonder.
Eventually, they arrived at their predetermined place and…
"Hey, Fuuka-san, Hou-chan, it's been a while."
The two in front of them were Kyoukai Fuuka (竟界 風), currently a student at Umesato Junior High, and Kyoukai Hou (竟界 火), a girl who had just started elementary school. Though they shared the same family name, they were not sisters, but rather more like cousins.
Eventually, they travelled to the place where they last confirmed the disturbance that spread all across EE.
"…Wait. I can, see one person coming."
Hou, who had only been playing EE for a year, possessed a rather supernatural spatial awareness, though not on the same level as Matsuyuki. In a sense, she could detect nearby aura signatures and determine whether they were hostile or not.
And sure enough, a single person arrived at this place, as if also detecting an intrusion upon this place. It was hard to identify them as they were nothing but a silhouette.
"So… you've finally showed up at last, Neo Galaxia.", the person spoke in a low voice, likely male, that carried the sharpness of a blade. "It's a shame, I was hoping you'd stay out of our way. Though, I guess our master knew we would come into contact eventually."
"We could say the same about you, Nameless. You people are the ones disrupting the balance in this world."
'Nameless'… Seiki had indeed heard that name before. If she wasn't mistaken, this was a person who appeared to be quite infamous in EE for quite some time. Some players from each of the top legions all disappeared, creating a guild for themselves called 'Spectra', which means 'apparition', with Nameless seemingly being their subleader. In other words, they appeared as ghosts inside the game, trying to uncover a long-lost secret.
"But, why 'Nameless'? That feels like an alias used by hackers of old…"
Seiki soon brushed aside that thought.
"Disrupting? My friends, you are dearly mistaken. The one that is truly disrupting the balance is a girl who sleeps in the other world."
"Other… world?"
"Oh, I'm not talking about the real world. I'm talking about a parallel world that's hidden here, inside EE itself."
"What do you mean?"
"We've uncovered slight cracks that opened up whenever Incarnate of a certain wavelength was used, cracks that appeared to lead into another world. And it seems there was a certain girl who was sleeping there, maintaining that space all on her own."
"A certain… girl? Ghh!"
Just then, Seiki faced a huge mental strain overcome her.
"Seiki-nee!"
"Hahaha, just as I thought. You were indeed the key, after all."
"The… key?"
"Yes, it seems that girl took a liking to you. Thus, you remain the only one who can open the door to that world for us. We've subtly been preparing Incarnate just for this moment."
"You'll… never…"
"It's okay, Seiki. Don't say anything more.", Arisu reassured her with a smile, then addressed the adversary in front of her with a firm and bold gaze.
"We won't allow you to any more harm to EE… to this sanctuary."
"Heh, just as you are intent on stopping us, we are also intent on discovering the secret to this world. It seems a conflict was inevitable then."
No further words were necessary. From then on, a clash of fists and blades took place.
In EE, there were attacks of different categories: normal attacks, special attacks that consumed MP, and finally a hidden class of attacks known as Incarnate attacks.
Normal attacks could be executed using simple body motions. For special attacks, each player used their MP – Magic Power – from their avatars, which then corresponded with the attribute determined from their preset mental affinity, and launched a spell accordingly.
However, as one went deeper, one would utilize the thought patterns generated from the brain – or rather their inner conscience – and subconsciously affect the scale and degree of power behind the attack, based on certain emotions they were feeling at that moment. This gave birth to a new class of attacks known as 'Incarnate attack', from which their thoughts and will were incarnated. This was a system introduced ever since the first trial, but it was deemed too dangerous to use, for overexposure to it would corrupt your soul. And it would also steadily introduce a strain on the game system as it combated irregular changes happening within it. Therefore, it was determined to only use Incarnate against other Incarnate.
Now, as if struck by the slightest trigger, all of Neo Galaxia faced off against with Incarnate attacks. From all the information they obtained about Nameless, he himself used a void-type of Incarnate that brought about total darkness. As they engaged ruthlessly in this battle of Incarnate…
A hole opened, caused by a strain in the game system, into the 'other world'. It ended up taking Seiki with it, as if it was choosing her all along, while the others resisted the hole with all their might.
"G-Ghh…Aaaah!"
"Seiki!"
"Seiki-nee!"
Arisu and Matsuyuki shouted, but got no response, while the hole closed instantly.
"Good grief… she went in by herself…", Nameless muttered with a sigh.