chapter 4

"That look like the game master... don't you think so Klein? Kirito?" Leonard asked while pointing his finger at the figure clothing.

"Yeah...you're right...maybe he's going to tell us what's going on...maybe?" Klein said in a nervous tone of voice.

The hooded figure then spread its arms out.

"Attention players." the figure spoke in a male voice, it was the voice of Akihiko Kayaba, the creator of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear.

"I welcome you, to my world." Kayaba proclaimed to all the confused players who stood below him in the plaza.

"What does he mean by that?" Kirito questioned.

"He's Akihiko Kayaba?...because that's the guy who created Sword Art Online."

Leonard replied to Kirito.

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba...and as of this moment, I am in control of this world." the hooded figure of the game master introduced himself and break the news to everyone.

Kirito was surprised by the figure answer, while most other just had a confused expression on their face as they listened.

Akihiko Kayaba then pointed out to the players that they probably already notice an item missing on their menu, a very important item, the logout button, he then explained that it was not a bug, but it was how Sword Art Online was designed and create.

"He's kidding me...right?" Klein watched with his mouth dropped wide open.

"You cannot log yourself out of SAO, nor anyone from the outside could shut down or remove the NerveGear on your head If anyone attempt to do so...a transmitter inside of the NerveGear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull...destroying your brain and ended your life." Kayaba then dropped them another bad news.

Which of course, set off many players within the crowd.

"Well, no shit then...next he's probably going to tell us that if we die in the game, we're also die in real life as well," Leonard said those words in the most sarcastic tone as possible, and it somehow manages to attract Kayaba attention to him.

"You are absolutely right, there will no longer be a revival function for Sword Art Online, if you were to die in the game, you will also die in real life, upon the death of the player, the NerveGear will simultaneously send out a Microwave signal, frying your brain," Kayaba told all the players in his loudspeaker voice.

"This got to be a joke...who would believe this crap…" Klein said nervously while looking back at Kirito and Leonard, however, Kirito had a serious expression on his face, while Leonard only showed his neutral side.

"He's right...the NerveGear indeed has that function." Kirito break that news to Klein.

"Also...there's a battery installed into the NerveGear as well...so unplugging the thing won't help you, in fact, it might even set off the brain-frying process ahead of schedule." Leonard then added in more bad news.

"Oh come on! Can't you give me some hope dude?" Klein said dejectedly.

"There's no point in trying to cling onto some false hope my brother...keep on listening, he might tell us how to escape this," Leonard suggests Klein to keep on listening to the announcement.

"Despite my warning, the family of some players did try to remove the NerveGear, an unfortunate decision to say the least...as the result, the game now has 213 fewer players than when it began...they all been deleted from Aincrad and the real world," Kayaba informed them and then showed the players of the news coverage worldwide about Sword Art Online, telling them that due to the unfortunate death of those 213 players, it is likely that no one will try to prived open their NerveGear in the meantime, so they can set their mind on clearing Aincrad- of which after they killed the final boss on floor one hundred, they will be freed.

"Shit just got real…" whispered to both Klein and Kirito.

"Last but not least, I placed a little present in the item storage of every player, please...have a look," Kayaba told the players.

To which they began to check, only to pulled out a small hand mirror that showed their face- it was then that a blue light envelops their body and blurred out their vision for a second, after which it quickly dimmed down and disappear.

"You ok Kirito?" Klein then walked up to Kirito and asked the now teenage looking guy in the same clothing as Kirito.

"Yeah...who are you?" Kirito answered and turned to look at Klein, he was surprised that the man looks totally different from the Klein avatar.

"I'm me, but who are you?" Klein told Kirito in a confused voice, as Kirito now looks like a teenager that has nothing resemblance to the in-game avatar- except for his clothing and weapons.

"Wait a second...is that you Kirito?!"

"Wait a second...is that you Klein?!"

The both of them pointed finger at one another and asked in a surprised and shock tone of voice after they noticed everyone else look quite different.

"But how- wait...where is Leonard?" Klein quickly noticed a person missing and quickly looked around.

"I'm here…" Leonard notice that Klein was a bit erratic and placed his hand on the man shoulder just to get his attention.

"...wait...what?" Klein was surprised when he notices Leonard appearance, Kirito was also surprised as well.

"...wait...you look no different from your avatar at all?!" Klein pointed out Leonard feature.

"Yeah...is that something you should be surprised about?... I was lucky that the system actually has my appearance as a preset…" Leonard told them, of course it was all total bullshit- since there is no way in hell that could have happened since this is all the work of the Multiverse System instead of the Cardinal system, but it was a good enough bullshit lied that's believable at the moment, so he just goes with it.

"...what are the chance of that ever happening...but wait...how did SAO notice our real face and body type from the real world?!" Klein now has another reason to freak out.

"...probably facial scan and body calibration?" Leonard answered.

Kirito nodded "yeah...probably that one."

Once again, up in the sky- Akihiko Kayaba began to go further into his story, about why he would want to do all of this, trapping people in a death game, literally, however, Leonard was having none of this.

"Oh shut up! Get the game started already?! You can tell us LATER after we finish conquering the whole of Aincraid?! It's probably some god complex excuse!" Leonard shouted out, interrupting the man in the middle of his speech.

"..." the whole crowd of players and Akihiko Kayaba himself was speechless by Leonard outburst.

"Since that's the case...let the game begin!" Kayaba raised his voice and announcement before he quickly vanished.