Dong—dong—dong.
Ominous bells echoed through the air. Beams of white light lit up the vast plaza, and within them appeared figures of all kinds, gathering together in the Town of Beginnings.
"SAO… huh."
In a corner of the plaza, Lillian stood alone, his expression dark as he looked around.
"Huh? Why were we suddenly teleported here?"
"No idea! I was fighting mobs just now!"
"Did you notice we can't log out??"
"You're right… the logout option is gone!"
"Hey, hey, isn't this bug way too serious?! I've got a date later! Game company, fix this shit already!"
The players shouted over one another. All ten thousand players in the game had been gathered into the enormous square.
Lillian listened in silence, unsure of what he was supposed to feel.
When he had lost consciousness and woken up again, he had already arrived inside this game world. He hadn't been transported back to reality and given a choice of whether to play or not—he had been thrown directly into the game itself.
What angered him most wasn't even that.
It was the fact that he hadn't been able to properly say goodbye to Historia.
Disappearing so abruptly like that… she must have been devastated. The feeling of having no control over his own fate was truly awful.
[Buzz—buzz—buzz]
A piercing sound rang out. Everyone looked up to see red grids appearing in the sky, like massive error messages.
[WARNING]
[System Announcement]
"That is…?"
The error display spread rapidly, covering the entire sky in an instant, forming a red dome that made people feel deeply uncomfortable. Then, from the gaps between the grids, thick, viscous blood began to pour out. The blood gathered together, forming a gigantic humanoid figure clad in a red cloak. It hovered in midair, looming over everyone like a god.
"Kayaba Akihiko…"
Lillian stared at the figure. As the creator of SAO, Kayaba was effectively invincible in this world.
And indeed, he had acted that way—disguising himself as a player wasn't enough; he had even given himself an [Immortal] buff, a twisted sense of humor if there ever was one. Still, "invincible" wasn't entirely accurate. This game wasn't governed purely by code—resolve and belief could break through the system itself. Otherwise, Kirito's final sword strike in the original story would never have happened.
"Welcome, players, to my world."
Kayaba began introducing himself and explaining the situation of the game.
"I am now the only person capable of controlling this game. You may have already noticed that the logout button has disappeared from the main menu. This is not a bug—it is how SAO was originally designed."
A truly deranged design.
If players had known beforehand that dying in the game meant dying in reality, there was no way this game would have passed inspection. Kayaba would have been arrested the moment he finished his launch presentation. That was why he had carried all of this out in secret.
As for whether Kayaba was good or evil—it was hard to define. This game had indeed caused the deaths of several thousand people, but it had also served as a warning to society about the dangers of full-dive VR, leading to the development of monitoring systems and medical VR technology that alleviated the suffering of countless patients.
Still, none of that could soothe the rage of the families and friends of the dead. Kayaba's death was inevitable.
Right now, Lillian had no interest in listening to his theatrics, but the area was under GM restrictions—there was no way to leave.
Kayaba continued, now speaking of real-world deaths.
"Unfortunately, due to some players' relatives and friends ignoring our warnings and forcibly removing the NERVGear, as of now, 213 players have permanently left Aincrad—and the real world."
As he spoke, numerous news screenshots appeared to support his claim, lending credibility to his words.
"As you can see, the media is continuously reporting on your situation and the growing number of fatalities. It can be said that the risk of your NERVGear being forcibly removed has now dropped significantly. Please feel at ease and focus on clearing the game."
"From this point on, all revival mechanics will be removed. The moment your HP reaches zero, your character will disappear forever—and your brain will be destroyed by the NERVGear. The only way to be freed from this game is to clear it. You are currently on the lowest floor of Aincrad. By clearing each floor's dungeon and defeating its boss, you may proceed upward. Defeat the final boss on the 100th floor, and the game will be cleared."
One hundred floors…
Lillian recalled that in the original story, it had taken the assault team several years just to reach the 75th floor, suffering catastrophic losses along the way. Pushing further could easily have resulted in total annihilation. That alone showed just how difficult this game truly was—though the small number of frontline players was also a factor.
After all, most players chose to live safely inside towns. Out of the ten thousand players trapped here, only a few hundred were part of the assault force.
"Lastly, I have prepared a gift for each of you. It is now in your item inventory."
Lillian raised his hand and made a tentative gesture. An interactive UI appeared before his eyes. The sensation felt incredibly unfamiliar.
He had spent several years in the AOT world, growing accustomed to its backward production and primitive lifestyle. Being suddenly dropped into a near-future world filled with holographic interfaces naturally left him feeling disoriented.
Fortunately, the system was designed to be foolproof. After a brief attempt, he understood how it worked.
Opening his inventory, he found a single item inside: [Hand Mirror].
He selected it. Instantly, a small mirror appeared in his hand. Lillian lifted it and looked.
The face reflected back at him was still his—Lillian's face.
During his first transmigration, his soul had possessed the body of another person with the same name. This time, however, even his physical body had come with him. He glanced at the pendant around his neck—the one Karen had given him. It was still there. Everything else was gone.
Even the clothes he wore had changed, replaced by a gray combat outfit—standard beginner gear automatically assigned by the system.
But…
Staring at his reflection, Lillian wondered: where was his real-world body now? Had it been dragged into this world as well, lying somewhere with a helmet on? Or did the "real world Lillian" no longer exist at all?
Unless he escaped the game, he would never know the answer.
While Lillian himself hadn't changed, many other players had. Under the mirror's effect, the square full of handsome men and beautiful women was instantly reduced to reality. Teams that had just formed collapsed on the spot. The plaza was flooded with shouts of:
"Holy shit, you scammer—stay away from me!"
"Get lost, you freak!!"
After the chaos settled somewhat, Kayaba spoke again:
"You must be wondering why I, Akihiko Kayaba, did this. My objective has already been fulfilled. I created SAO in order to give birth to this world—and to observe it. All of my goals have now been achieved. This concludes SAO's official operational briefing. Players, I wish you good luck."
With that, Kayaba's body dissolved and vanished. The sky returned to normal.
But the players' appearances—and their moods—never would.
"Don't joke with us! Let us out!"
"Get back here, you bastard GM!!"
"I have plans later—what am I supposed to do?!"
"Someone help us already!"
Panic was inevitable.
The game itself had been incredibly difficult to obtain. After finally getting their hands on it, they were suddenly told it was a death game—few people could accept that.
Yet some players…
Lillian's gaze followed a number of people who quickly left the plaza. Their expressions varied—some excited, some grim—but all of them moved decisively.
"Those must be the beta testers."
SAO's closed beta players could immediately leverage their prior knowledge to gain levels and equipment advantages, snowballing far ahead of ordinary players. Of course, blind overconfidence could still get them killed—after all, the monsters differed between beta and official release.
"So… what should I do next?"