Chapter 6

A shiver ran down my spine as I kept seeing beams of light teleport players in this now tightly packed place. I turned to look at Emi, she seemed just as confused as what was going on as well. I looked away as more commotion echoed around the entire place, banter and commotion on what was happening.

"Hey? Why was I teleported here?!? I was so close to leveling up!!"

"We're wondering the same thing! I almost defeated that boar!"

"Noo! My exploration progression!!!"

"How long are we going to stand around near the teleportation pad?!?"

"Can I leave now?!!"

Many people were angry as it was justified, but I could see the arising unsettledness of most people within the area. Just as if my worst fears were answered, something within the sky suddenly appeared.

"Hey! What's that!!"

"Huh?""You're right, what is that?"

"Is...that a hexagon?"

I looked up at the sky like everyone else as I saw a hexagon within the sky as well. What is that... Although it was a hexagon I couldn't see it well from the ground view, just as that single hexagon stood out like a sore thumb, another one appeared, then another and then a third one.

Is...Is it multiplying?...

The hexagon began spreading out within the sky, turning the sky dark and filled with red hexagons. Just when it couldn't get worse, two minutes later a dark-red substance began to seep out from between the hexagons. Like before another player had pointed out the substance, leaking out of the hexagons and forming something in the air.

All the players were looking at the thing, seeing the substance begin to form a cloak, arms, and hands. The substance formed into a floating entity, an avatar for what seemed to be a worldwide announcement. The way the entity floated above us was ominous, looking down upon us from a higher view.

"Attention players!" The entity spoke with an echoing reverb.

"My name is Kayaba Akihito, I would like to take this moment to say, thank you for joining into my reality."

"Is that Kayaba?"

"I'm not sure, I can't tell from the voice..."

People were discussing amongst each other as "Kayaba Akihito" took the initiative and continued with his announcement.

"Players! Players! Settle down, I must continue with this announcement, as of now some of you may notice that the logout icon is missing from your menu."

Kayaba swiped down as he flicked his wrist to the right, spinning his menu around to showcase his menu. The menu looked exactly like all of ours, except that the logout icon was indeed gone.

Mumbling and commotion began breaking out as players began to open their menus to confirm the evidence given to them, including myself. That can't be true, there has- My eyes widened at the sight of it, just like Kayaba showed, our logout icon was gone too.

This...This must be some kind of mistake...right? No one's this oblivious to making a game without a logout button...

"Now, some of you must think that this is a mistake or some kind of bug...However...I must inform you that this is not a bug nor is it a mistake..." Kayaba spoke out.

"This is a feature to Sword Art Online, logging out is not an option within this game nor is having outside interference an option either..."

"Have a look..."

Kayaba swiped his left arm as he brought up about six large screens around him, showing the news about the Nerve gear and the casualties that have already taken place. Distraught families, close friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, and many more were shown as Kayaba then snapped his fingers, the screens turning off and disappearing.

"Within every nerve gear helmet is a hidden compartment where the top of your head will be sitting. In that compartment is a transmitter, rigged to emit microwave frequencies to your brain, frying it completely from the inside."

"Any attempt in taking off the helmet will trigger the transmitter, something as simple as unclipping the chin strap will result in your death. You are in my world players; you will play by my rules."

"As we speak death surrounds us with players families and friends attempting to take off the nerve gear, however the news has spread and less lives have been taken. If you want to escape this game then you must do something simple, survive and beat the game."

"Right now, you are on Floor One, the lowest floor in Aincrad, The floating castle. There are a total of One Hundred floors, each floor is unique and will pose challenges as you continue through each floor. However, every floor contains a floor boss, defeat the floor boss and you will be able to continue to the next floor. Do this for every floor until you reach the hundredth floor, and you will all be released."

"However, if you die, your avatar will be erased from the database, the transmitter will trigger and you will die, take every step as a dance with death. There is no way to revive other players or yourself, treat it very seriously."

All the players were in shock, staring up at Kayaba as they put a hand on their cloak, seemingly visually telling us that he might have remembered something. Whatever this monster had remembered could only be as worse as the information he handed to us.

"I just remembered, I will be giving ALL of you a special gift, check your inventories players."

Ding!

I opened my inventory and saw a "!" mark on my backpack icon. I tapped it and opened my inventory, seeing a handheld mirror in my inventory. I tapped on the box and saw the two circles, blue and red. Hesitantly, I tapped the blue button as it materialized right in front of my hands.

Just as I looked at myself in the mirror, players began to be engulfed by a blue light. It began at one point of the tightly packed place as it spread out towards the other side. I turned to look at Emi, seeing Emi engulfed in this same blue light.

"Emi!!"

I reached out as I grabbed her hand, pulling her hand out of the light, seeing and feeling her wrist was softer, more towards the same texture of her skin outside of this world.