Part 3 (1/2)

Then the left sleeve slowly lifted upwards, too. Then with its two empty gloves spread out in front of ten thousand players, the faceless person opened his mouth-no, it felt like it did. Then a low, calm, male voice resonated from high in the air.

'Players, I welcome you all to my world.'

I couldn't understand it right away.

”My world”? If that red robe was a GM, it certainly had G.o.dlike powers in this world enabling him to change the world at will, but why was he pointing that out now?

Klein and I looked at each other, dumbfounded. The anonymous red robe lowered its arms and continued talking.

'My name is Kayaba Akihiko. Right now, I am the only person who can control this world.'

”What...!?”

My avatar became rigid with shock, and a lump formed in its throat (and perhaps my throat back in the real world as well) for a second.

Kayaba-Akihiko!!

I knew that name. There was no way I didn't.

This person, both a game designer and genius in the field of quantum physics, was the one responsible for raising Argus (which was just one of many small companies a few years ago) into one of the leading companies in its field.

He was also the development director of SAO and, at the same time, the designer of the Nerve Gear.

As a hard core gamer, I respected Kayaba deeply. I bought all the mags that featured him and read his few interviews until I almost knew them all by heart. I could almost see him in the white overalls he always wore by just hearing his voice.

But he had always stayed behind the scenes, refusing media exposure. He had never even been a GM, so why was he doing something like this?

I forced my mind to start moving again, trying to make sense of the situation. But the words that came out of the empty hood almost seemed to mock my efforts to understand.

'I think that most of you have discovered the fact that the Log Out b.u.t.ton has disappeared from the main menu. This is not a bug; it is all part of ”Sword Art Online”'s system.'

”Part of... the system?” Klein muttered brokenly.

The announcement continued in its low voice as if to cover the sound.

'Until you get to the top of this castle, you cannot log out of your own free will.'

This castle? I couldn't understand this phrase at first. There's no castle in the ”Starting City”.

Then the next thing that Kayaba said blew my confusion away.

'... also, the disruption or dismantling of the Nerve Gear from the outside is strictly forbidden. If these things are attempted...'

A moment of silence.

The silence of ten thousand people was overwhelming. The next words came slowly.

'The signal sensors in your Nerve Gear will emit a strong electromagnetic pulse, destroying your brain and stopping all of your basic functions.'

Klein and I stared at each other for seconds in shock.

It was as if my mind refused to believe what I had just heard. But Kayaba's short statement pierced through my body with a ferocity that was both hard and dense.

Destroy our brains.

In other words, kill us.

Any user that turned the Nerve Gear off or unlocked the clasp and took it off would be killed. That is what Kayaba had just stated.

People in the crowd started muttering, but there was no one shouting or panicking. It was either that everyone, like me, couldn't understand it yet, or refused to.

Klein raised his right hand slowly and tried to grasp the headgear that would be situated there in the real world. As he did, he let out a dry laugh and started talking.

”Haha... what's he saying? That man, has he gone nuts? He's not making any sense. The Nerve Gear... It's just a game. Destroy our brain... How is he going to do that? Right, Kirito?”

His voice broke at the last shout. Klein stared at me hard, but I couldn't nod in agreement.

The countless signal transceivers in the Nerve Gear's helmet emitted small electronic pulses to send virtual signals to the brain.

They might call this the newest ultra-technology, but the basic theory was the same as a certain household appliance that's been used for over 40 years in j.a.pan-the microwave.

If there was sufficient output, it was possible that the Nerve Gear would vibrate the water particles in our brains and cook it with the heat from the friction. But...

”... theoretically it's possible, but... he must be bluffing. Because if we pull the plug on the Nerve Gear, there's no way it can emit a strong pulse of that type. Unless there's some form of battery with a huge storage capability... inside....”

Klein already guessed the reason why I had stopped talking.

”There... is,” he said, his words almost a scream with a hollow expression on his face. ”Thirty percent of the gear's weight is in the battery. But... that's totally crazy! What if there was a sudden power outage or something!?”

Kayaba started explaining, as if he had heard what Klein had shouted.

'To be a little more specific, disconnection from an outside source of electricity for ten minutes, being cut off from the system for more than two hours, or any attempt to: unlock, dismantle, or destroy the Nerve Gear. If any of these conditions are met, the brain destruction sequence will start. These conditions have been made known to the government and the public through ma.s.s-media in the outside world. On that note, there have been several cases where the relatives or friends have ignored the warnings and tried to forcefully remove the Nerve Gear. The result...'

The metallic voice took a short breath here.

'... regretfully 213 players have already exited this game, and the real world, forever.'

A long, thin scream was heard. But most of the players couldn't or refused to believe what they had been told, and just stood there slack-jawed or with a wry smile on their faces.

My head tried to reject what Kayaba had just said. But my body betrayed it and my knees started shaking violently.

I stumbled back a few paces on my weak knees and managed to keep myself from falling. Klein fell on his backside, his expression lifeless.

213 players have already...

That phrase repeated over and over again in my head.

If what Kayaba said was true, over 200 people have already died?

Among them, there would have been beta testers like me. I might have even known some of their character names and avatars. These people had their brains burnt and... died, is that what Kayaba was saying?