AN: Shhh, no complaining. If I wanna make the beta for SAO international, I can. Authoress' prerogative :). In SAO the Rapier is treated as a separate weapon skill, so I imagine there are other weapons that have their own individual skill. Also I'm setting Dante's home to be in New York, yes in the previous chapter I said they were in an empty park, but Shh! Don't nitpick.
It had been eight years since Marzanna and her mother had moved in with her father and his family. Now, Marzanna is incredibly excited as she waits impatiently. Sword Art Online was finally launching. When she'd heard that they were making the beta for it international, she'd signed up with little hope of actually being picked. However, to her delight she was lucky enough to become one of the 500 beta testers from outside Japan. Originally the closed beta was supposed to be limited to Japan, but when Argus, the company who developed the NerveGear and SAO, realized the interest gamers outside Japan had in SAO, they expanded the beta to 1500. 1000 beta testers from Japan, and 500 international beta testers.
SAO was incredible. It was beautiful, amazingly realistic, and just completely awesome. She couldn't even complain about the sword fighting, as merely wildly swinging one's sword would get you nowhere, you needed actual skill and technique. Something that pleased her greatly. Having actual skill with weapons or being naturally proficient with them made a huge difference, people with such skill were immediately on another level then regular players. It upset her that this kinda unbalanced the system, but the other players could develop skills with weapons with time, so she wasn't overly worried.
Glancing at the second clock she'd bought just so she'd know what time it was in Japan without having to waste time figuring out the time difference, she sees that it's 12:55 November 6th in Japan, five minutes till SAO launched. Though it was 11:55 pm November 5th for her, since New York was 13 and a half hours behind. She wouldn't be able to play long since it was almost midnight, but she just couldn't wait til tomorrow to play. She'd get no sleep whatsoever if she tried to.
When her secondary clock said it was 12:58 she put her NerveGear on and laid down. The second the clock inside the NerveGear, which was also set to Japan Standard Time, clicks over to 13:00 she immediately closes her eyes and says, "Link start."
Instantly the startup sequence begins, it checks over her sensory connections before automatically selecting 'Japanese' in language select, since it was the only language to choose from. When she'd been accepted into the beta test, she'd immediately been grateful to her Uncle Vergil and mother for insisting on teaching her some languages when she was younger. She wasn't perfect at it, but practice born from a month of talking to mostly Japanese players in the beta ensured that she didn't speak in broken sentences.
Once she's finished logging in, the now familiar 'Welcome to Sword Art Online!' appears before her, then a rush of color goes by before she suddenly finds herself standing in the main plaza of the Town of Beginnings. Grinning widely she looks around to re-familiarize herself. Off to her left, she vaguely hears another player murmur, 'I'm finally back', but ignores the obvious beta tester. She was far more interested in running off to utilize what little time she had today to make as much progress with her character as possible.
Heading in the direction of a good shop she knew of she started going through a mental list of things to do, 'First things first, I need to sell the standard «One-Handed Straight Sword» all players start with and buy a «One-Handed Curved Sword» so I can train it up and unlock the «Falcata» skill. Not to mention even if SAO's «Claw» weapons have the claws extending from the knuckles instead of the fingers like I'm used to, I'll need to get a «Claw» for my off hand eventually, but the ones in the starting city just aren't worth the Col. I'll just wait til I get a monster drop. You start out with two healing potions, but I'd like to have a bit more than that if I can afford it. It depends on if they updated the starting shops, and what sword I buy. The starting armor will do for now.'
Quickly arriving in what had been the best shop in the beta, she finds that the shops have been updated a bit, but she could still afford a decent sword and four healing potions. After checking to make sure she doesn't need anything else she confirms her purchase. Now done with her shopping she takes off for the best grinding spot for level 1 players.
An hour and a half later she finishes clearing the hunting grounds one more time before sighing since she needs to logout now. Between shopping and grinding she'd spent a little over two and a half hours online. The time display in the bottom right read 15:27, which meant it was 2:27 am in her own time zone. Opening her menu she looks towards the bottom, only to frown.
The logout button was gone. Marzanna, currently under her player name Hanna, a joke to herself, stares at the menu with only one thought running through her head, 'Fuck.'
Dante glances over at the clock as he takes a sip of whiskey. It was almost one in the morning. Normally, he'd be curled up in bed with his wife, but his daughter had begged him to be allowed to stay up late for the launch of Sword Art Online despite the fact she was accompanying him on an investigation into demonic activity tomorrow morning. Since they weren't heading out until ten and Nephilim didn't need even six hours of sleep, he had agreed, but only so long as she was logged off and asleep by three so she'd have plenty of rest before she has to get up at nine.
He actually did trust Marzanna herself, but he wasn't so sure about her ability to keep track of time rather than getting absorbed into playing, so part of the deal was that he would stay up to check on her at three, and if she wasn't asleep she was absolutely grounded. He didn't really mind having to stay up, and to be honest he was a little torn about the situation. The part of him that was a responsible father murmurs about how dangerous being tired on the job or detrimental it could be just for school thinks he's already being lenient. The part of him that was a rebellious little shit that had never really gone away even as he's grown older chafes at being so restricting.
Personally, he wouldn't have spent the amount of money on the brand new virtual reality device, NerveGear, and the game SAO, on something as simple as video games, but Marzanna had saved up to buy them herself. She'd worked hard for it too. A while ago, they'd worked out a system of how the pay for jobs was split. The first thing that came out was the percentage that went to the house and business that covers everything from the household necessities, business expenses, an emergency stash of funds for the inevitable repairs needed after demonic attacks, as well as covering the paychecks for working in shop for things like setting up jobs with customers or even running the cover weapon replica business. Kyrie and Lily also got paychecks, just because they all knew damn well that taking care of a household full of Demon Hunters was a full time job in and of itself, not to mention the potions Lily brews for them.
Though that wasn't to say that the two of them couldn't be Hunters if they wanted to, given that they were both half Nephilim due to bonding with Nero and himself respectively, just that Kyrie didn't really like fighting and Lily had more than had her fill during the war with Voldemort. After that, the rest of the pay would be split between whoever goes on the Hunt, both the Hunters themselves as well as their support.
For the past two years since she started accompanying them on Hunts, she'd gone from being entirely support to slowly becoming their backup and then a more active Hunter. Nowadays, she was allowed to act as a full-time Hunter as long as she was with one of the older Hunters. To that extent, she'd started running her own jobs, where she was the main Hunter and whoever went with her was there only as backup in case she got in over her head. While the part of him that just wanted to bundle up his little girl and keep her safe didn't like it, the realistic part of him knew that it was better that she got the experience necessary for the job in as safe a manner as they could give her and was just grateful that she'd been able to learn with that constant support, rather than being forced to become a Demon Hunter entirely on her own without even backup just to survive as a child as he had.
Though he lamented that his daughter was growing up so fast, she had happily taken advantage of finally getting the go ahead to run jobs to increase her spending money, particularly in the lead up to the launch of the NerveGear and later SAO.
Abruptly Dante is jerked from his thoughts as the TV, which he'd been watching before he spaced out, suddenly stops the show it'd been playing, and switches over to a newsroom, "We interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcast with breaking news. We start this with a warning from authorities. If anyone you know is currently playing the newly released virtual reality game 'Sword Art Online', or using the virtual reality device 'NerveGear', do not attempt to remove the device and do not attempt to remove the game cartridge."
Dante freezes as dread washes over him, but the broadcaster mercilessly continues as though she hasn't just threatened the foundations of his world, "Half an hour ago, Akihiko Kayaba, creator of the NerveGear, as well as Sword Art Online, released a video revealing that he has trapped all logged in players inside of Sword Art Online by removing their ability to logout, as well as having equipped the NerveGear to be able to release a fatal electromagnetic pulse into the brains of those wearing it. He went on to say that he has programmed Sword Art Online to release that pulse and kill the player if they perish in game, or if the NerveGear or cartridge was attempted to be removed."
"Already, approximately one hundred and fifty people in Japan as well as an additional fifty worldwide have perished, either due to people refusing to believe the warning or from trying to remove it prior to the video release. Due to this, authorities are asking that people not touch the NerveGear at all. It is currently unknown why Akihiko Kayaba has committed such a crime but if any one you know is playing SAO or may be please call…"
The voice of the broadcaster fades out as he zones out. It couldn't be true. It couldn't. He lunges forward and snatches his phone off of the coffee table. At the top was an emergency broadcast notification repeating the same warnings. Almost fumbling it with shaking hands it takes a few tries to open his browser as well as a new tab. Immediately, he's bombarded by news articles along the bottom below his frequently visited sites screaming the same thing. With trembling fingers, he opens up the news site that is actually run by Demon Hunters, and therefore along with having the most accurate news he trusts, also puts out an encoded newsletter weekly for Demon Hunters.
The front page article shatters his world with the same news everything else was saying.
He stares at it for an unknown amount of time, mind completely blank. Then the information finally sinks in and he surges to his feet and tears out of the living room, with a frantic shout, "Marzanna!"
Maybe she'd gotten distracted reading while waiting for the launch, or-or maybe she fell asleep! Maybe- Maybe she wasn't- Maybe she was still-
With the constant threat of Demon attacks making them all light sleepers, as he reaches the second floor, he finds his entire family leaning out of bedroom doors or in the hallway. Not seeing any Demons, Nero squints tiredly at him, "What the fuck, Dante?"
He ignores his nephew to beeline to his daughter's door, heart pounding in a valiant attempt to burst straight through his ribs, throat clenched tight around the breath struggling to escape his frozen lungs. He flings the door open-
His daughter, lying on her bed, NerveGear covering her head.
He slumps against the doorframe. His wife presses against his side to look past him, then turns to him in confusion, "Babe? She's just playing her game."
He squeezes his eyes shut and turns sideways towards her, and forces through a stiff jaw and clenched teeth, "It's all over the place. On the TV, emergency phone broadcasts, news sites, everywhere." He opens his eyes as he lifts his phone, almost crushed it in his fist, "They're saying that- That-"
His throat closes up and he chokes his body's refusal to voice the horrible truth. His wife gently pries his phone from his hand, and he knows when she sees, he hears the horrified gasp, sees out of the corner of his eye as she stumbles back and sways, sees her caught by Nero with a worried 'Aunt Lily?' and Vergil snatch the phone out of the air when it slips through her numb fingers.
His brother lifts the phone to look at it, and his face goes that frigid blank that he'd only learned in recent years did not mean he didn't care. His nephew stares at his brother in concern, "Dad? What's going on?"
With an emotionless voice, his brother begins to read the article out loud, but he shuts him out, unable to bear hearing the news again. The sounds of horror and distress his family makes are almost as bad. His wife lurches out of his nephews slack arms with a sob, latching onto his coat and burying her face into his chest. Numbly, he reaches up to wrap an arm around her shoulder.
Lady breaks the heartbroken silence, "Could- I mean, she's a Nephilim, and I've seen Dante survive so much shit-"
His father's grave voice cuts her off, "We don't know if a Nephilim could survive an electromagnetic pulse straight to the brain. For Marzanna's safety, we have to assume it would be equally as fatal for her as the rest of the players."
Lily sobs again, and he hears Kyrie whimper in pain. He can't tear his eyes away from where his daughter lays as the peaceful life they'd built shatters to pieces around him.
Marzanna had tried calling a GM every half hour, but nobody answered. In between those unsuccessful calls, she'd been carefully leveling. She had a horrible feeling she needed to become as strong as possible, as quickly as possible, and she felt strangely on edge, in a manner that she'd only experienced during the first few Demon Hunts she'd gone on.
She'd discovered her missing log out button a little over an hour and a half ago and it was now 5:10 pm in Japan. She was now making her way back to the starting city, as a low level character she couldn't carry that many items, and being on edge had caused her to grind like crazy. So she was now incredibly close to her weight limit. About halfway between the grinding spot she'd been using and the Town of Beginnings she sees two male players relaxing on a hill.
Considering no GMs have been answering her calls she was fairly certain of the answer already, but she decides to ask the two if their logout buttons were available, or if it was just her glitching. So she calls out to them, "Ah, excuse me? Can I ask you something?"
The two males turn to her and the redhead immediately jumps up while blushing, "Of course! I'd be more than happy to help you in any way you require!"
She sees the black haired boy shake his head, and hears him mutter, "First my sister, now some stranger we just met."
Vaguely she realizes that she recognizes his voice, it was the same beta tester she'd heard muttering about being back when she first logged in. She shakes it off though, and explains her problem, "Sorry to bother you, I'm Hanna, but well you see, my logout button seems to be missing, and the GMs aren't answering. I was just wondering if it's just me glitching, or if the problem is plaguing the entire system. So, basically, are your logout buttons showing, because mine isn't."
The redhead frowns heavily and opens his screen, while the black haired male stares at her in shock for a moment then quickly asks, "Are you sure you didn't just overlook it? If not, that's a huge glitch to have on the first day the game launches."
Marzanna, or rather as her avatar name proclaimed her, Hanna(1) shakes her head, "No. I was in the beta test, I know where the logout button is, and the game designers didn't have any reason to move it."
His eyes widen, but before he can reply, the redhead interrupts, "Umm... Kirito, I can't find it either."
The black haired male, now identified as Kirito, turns to him, "It should be the bottom button on the main screen Klein."
The redhead, Klein, shakes his head, "Dude, it's not there. See look, I'll make my window viewable to you."
Putting actions to words, Klein pushes the option to make his player window viewable, then tilts his screen towards Kirito, who leans over saying, "See it should be-"
Kirito had begun to point to where the logout button should be, but had frozen upon seeing it missing. A moment later he jerks back, and immediately calls his own window out. Neither she nor Klein need to see his window to be able to tell his logout option was missing as well. The way he freezes again is telling enough.
Sharing a worried glance with Klein, Hanna speaks up again, "I thought as much. I figured it wasn't just me since the GMs weren't answering. If it's a system wide glitch, they're probably swamped with calls from distressed players."
Klein nods absently, "No logout button. Man that's a serious glitch to have the first day you launch your game. Hey Kirito? Is there any other way to logout?"
Hanna immediately shakes her head, but Kirito actually gives it a moment of thought. Then a moment later he agrees with her, "No, the only ways to logout are with the option on your main menu or being forcibly logged out by the GMs. The GMs will probably log every player out in a bit, so I suppose all we can do is wait."
Klein glances down and to the right before exclaiming, "But! I ordered that pizza, remember? It's supposed to arrive at 5:30, and it's already 5:16!"
Kirito glances at Klein in exasperation and sighs, "Yeah, and I've got homework I need to get started on. Don't misunderstand, I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just saying, we've all got our reasons why we need to get back soon, but it won't change when we get logged out. We have no choice but to wait for the GMs."
Klein looks put out at Kirito's words, but glances at her, "What about you? You discovered it before we did, so obviously you were trying to logout. Why do you need to log out so soon?"
Hanna tilts her head at him, "Well, I'm not actually from Japan, when I said I was in the beta I meant I was one of the 500 chosen for the international side of the 1500 beta testers. I'm actually from America, I stayed up just to play a couple hours before I had to go to bed. It's now roughly... 4:16 am where I live. My dad said I could stay up to play, but only if I was logged out and asleep by 3 am. He's not overly strict, so he'd probably be understanding of the fact the system was glitching, but still..."
They both look startled when she tells them she was from America, and Kirito opens his mouth to reply, but whatever he was about to say is cut off as a loud bell begins ringing, and moments later all of them were subjected to a forced teleport.
When the light from the teleport clears she finds herself in the main plaza of the Town of Beginnings, given how it was filling up with columns of light that fade into players, it seems like the GMs were teleporting all of the players there for an announcement. Presumably it was about the logout issue. The bell was still ringing from the central clock tower, and the plaza quickly fills with the noise of confused players.
To her left from where he's also looking around, Kirito murmurs, "A forced teleport?"
A moment later the bell stops, and without its loud ringing the voices of the players seem to surge in volume to fill the space for a few more moments. Then, over the din, someone shouts, "Ah! Above!"
Turning her gaze upwards reflexively, she sees an elongated red hexagon floating in mid-air, flashing faintly with a low pulsing sort of noise. On it, it simply says 'WARNING', then quite suddenly, more of the elongated hexagons begin to spread out around it, making a sort of honeycomb pattern, half containing the first message, while the other half reading 'System Announcement'. They continued to spread until there was a dome of the red hexagons over the entirety of the plaza. Perhaps she was just paranoid after being a Demon Hunter for so long, but the way the light filtering through the dome stains the whole area an ominous red fills her with a sense of dread.
She rubs her arms against the chill the feeling brings, even as she warily watches a thick red liquid the color of blood begin to ooze through the cracks between the hexagons. It pools in midair and with a crackle of electricity begins to form into a massive figure. On Kirito's other side, Klein nervously mutters, "What is that?"
Finally the liquid solidifies into a giant cloak with a deep hood, the inside of which was almost pitch black, and white gloves peeking out of the large flowing sleeves. Despite the darkness within the cloak, they could just make out that it was empty, a sharp contrast to the GMs who had worn the cloak in the beta and had always been human sized with either the stereotypical 'old bearded sorcerer' if they were male and a somewhat generic bespectacled young girl with a plain face if they were female.
Murmurs break out in the crowd.
"A game master?"
"Why doesn't it have a face?"
"Is this an event?"
Nearby, she hears a female voice murmur, "I'm scared…"
A male voice replies, "It's fine. It's just another part of the opening ceremony."
The white gloves lift, spreading the sleeves in a wide welcoming gesture, and a low calm voice resonates from the hood, "Attention, players. Welcome to my world."
Out of the corner of her eye, she can just see Kirito's brows furrow, "My world?"
The voice from the cloak continues, "My name is Kayaba Akihiko. As of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world."
Kirito gasps and murmurs echo over the plaza once more.
"Is that really him?"
"He must've spent a lot of time on this."
Kayaba continues after a moment, "I'm sure you've already noticed that the logout button is missing from the main menu." He waves his hand to pull a menu up and begins navigating it to the system menu and where the logout was supposed to be as he continues, "But this is not a defect in the game. I repeat… This is not a defect in the game. It is a feature of Sword Art Online."
From beyond Kirito she hears Klein mutter, "A-A feature?"
Mercilessly, Kayaba continues once more, "You cannot log out of SAO yourselves. And no one on the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear. Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and thus ending your life."
The crowd is noticeably louder this time when it breaks its silence.
"What?"
"Come on, enough already."
"Hey, I can't get out!"
Klein also joins the cacophony of noise, "What's he talking about? He's gotta be nuts. Right, Kirito?"
To her side Kirito is silent for a few beats before he quietly admits, "He's right that the transmitter's signals work just like microwaves. If the safety were disabled, it could fry a brain."
Klein grows more serious, "Then, if we cut the power…"
Kirito shakes his head immediately, "No, the NerveGear has an internal battery. It actually takes up thirty percent of the NerveGear's total weight, so it's got more than enough juice for something like that."
Klein makes a distressed noise, "But-! This is crazy. What's going on?!"
Any response they might have made was cut off by Kayaba, "Unfortunately, several players' friends and families have ignored this warning, and have attempted to remove the NerveGear. As a result, two hundred and thirteen players are gone forever, from both Aincrad and the real world."
Kirito takes a step back as he reflexively recoils, "Two hundred and thirteen?"
Klein murmurs lowly, "I don't believe it…" But then his voice gains strength as he insists, "I don't believe it!"
Whether he hears the denials or had anticipated them, screens begin to pop up and float around him, all showing news articles about exactly what he's been saying, "As you can see, news organizations across the world are reporting all of this, including the deaths. Thus, you can assume that the danger of a NerveGear being removed is now minimal. I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game. But I want you to remember this clearly. There is no longer any method to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be forever lost as your account will be erased." The screens around him begin to rapidly close and disappear, "And simultaneously, the NerveGear will destroy your brain."
Kirito gasps sharply. The silence following Kayaba's declaration hangs like a guillotine, but he isn't done, "There is only one means of escape. To complete the game." He clicks something on the still open menu, and a 3D map appears, showing the first floor, "You are presently on the lowest floor of Aincrad, Floor 1." The 3D map tilts to show a side view of Aincrad, "If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may advance to the next level." The labyrinth of the first floor lights up, and then the map rushes upwards as it highlights each successive floor's labyrinth, before ending at the very top, "Defeat the final boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game."
"Clear?"
"What's he talking about?"
"Y-You're just making that up!"
Into this noisy response, Klein murmurs in disbelief, "Clear all hundred floors? That's impossible." Then his voice raises sharply, "Even the beta testers never made it anywhere near that high!"
She stares up towards Kayaba with wide eyes. Strictly speaking, Nephilim were far sturdier than humans, and the same microwave that would prove lethal to a human might not be so for her, and even if it did do damage, they could even survive small portions of their brain being damaged, by a gunshot for instance, and could regenerate just fine with no negative side effects. However, she had always been taught to prepare for the worst and hope for the best, and by that reasoning she has no choice but to assume that the microwave the NerveGear could release would be equally as fatal for her despite her different physiology.
Kayaba drops his hand away from the menu, "Finally, to show you evidence that this is your only reality, I've added a present from me to your item storage. Please see for yourselves."
Thousands of chimes echo around the plaza as she opens up her inventory along with the other players, navigating quickly to her items, she sees a new one has been added to her inventory «Hand Mirror» was the simple title. Materializing it with the 'make into object' button, she finds that it's exactly what it says. A simple rectangular hand held mirror, currently reflecting the face of her avatar. After a few seconds however, she is engulfed in a bright white light. It sears her eyes for a few seconds before fading away. Blinking rapidly, she lifts her hands, intending to rub at her eyes before catching the reflection in the hand mirror.
There, the straight tricolored hair and almond shaped vivid green eyes of Marzanna stares at her, the familiar face starts gaining the same surprised look she can feel spreading over her own. She can't help the way her hand raises to touch her cheek, an action mimicked by the Marzanna in the mirror before she's forced to accept the reality it's showing her. She has her own face. Not that of her avatar. Hers. The motion is jerky as she turns towards where Kirito and Klein had been standing.
The space was still occupied by two males, one with red hair and one with black, but other than that, the strangers standing in place of her vague acquaintances looked nothing like them. Klein had gone from a vaguely stereotypically vaguely attractive red haired fantasy adventurer look alike to a more realistic average young man, though his hair was still red if less vibrant and more of a brownish tone. Kirito on the other hand, had gone from a young black haired protagonist type to a shorter, younger man, around her age, also more realistic. Considering her own change, she assumes that these are their real life appearances.
They turn to look at each other, confused expressions on their faces, not recognizing each other for obvious reasons. Then they both glance into their mirrors and with a wave of one emotion after the other, confusion, shock, alarm, then realization, it's clear they work out what happened as well.
They point at each other with comically exaggerated expressions, yelling simultaneously, "Wait. You're Kirito?!"
"You're Klein!"
They turn towards her, another wave of shock and surprise sweeping over their faces before Klein bursts out, "Wait, that means... Hanna?! You-! You're! You're even more gorgeous in real life?! How the hell is your avatar a downgrade from your actual looks?!"
She's suddenly overtaken by a strong urge to plant her face into her palm, and not a small bit of embarrassment given that while she'd like to think she's prettier than average, especially given that despite the fact none of her family had any of the abilities her great grandmother had been half Succubus, no one has ever actually said anything like that to her. The former feeling seems to be shared by Kirito, given his expression, but unlike her, after a moment he actually does cover his face with one hand, though it's more him lightly covering his eyes, "So not the time Klein."
She agrees completely, and being a Sparda, Nephilim, and Demon Hunter, she's used to dangerous situations and keeping her focus completely on that. But seemingly taking Klein's outburst as prompt, a small, distant part of her brain pipes up, 'Klein's not too shabby himself with that rugged roguish face. Although,' it murmurs out in a vague, distracted tone, 'I'm not the only one more attractive than their avatar, given that Kirito is actually cuter like this…'
Her eyebrow twitches, and she chastises that part of her brain, 'Not the time. At all.'
Shaking herself from those thoughts, she turns back to Kayaba, since he hadn't disappeared after giving the players the hand mirrors and making them look like, well, themselves, and presumably has more to say. In the background, she can hear Kirito and Klein discussing how he got the information of their real life appearances, but she ignores them, as the how doesn't really matter to her.
She isn't disappointed, as he does indeed continue after giving the players a moment to realize what had occurred, "Right now, you're probably wondering, 'Why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and NerveGear, do this?' My goal has already been achieved. I created Sword Art Online for one reason... It was to create, watch, and intervene, in this world(2). And now, it is complete. This ends the tutorial for the official Sword Art Online launch. Players, I wish you the best of luck."
She clenches her teeth furiously as thinks, 'So he did all of this, kidnapped 10,000 people, killed 213 people already and who knows how many will die in the future, just so he could play God?!'
There's a few moments of stunned silence after his farewells as his cloak begins to deflate with wisps of red smoke and glitches as the cloak itself breaks down even as it collapses in on itself. The smoke disappears into the cracks between the hexagons the red blood look alike had seeped from before they blink out all at once right as the last of the smoke vanishes between the cracks.
The silence lingers for a few more moments before being broken by the sound of breaking glass, presumably one of the mirrors, and a young female voice calls out, "No!"
It opens the floodgates of the players screaming and shouting denials or curses and orders and pleas to be released, but nonsense like that is useless. Kayaba wouldn't have ruined his reputation, professional or otherwise, for a joke, which means he's absolutely serious. To that extent she turns to grab Kirito's hand, trusting him to grab Klein on his other side, with the intent to pull him out of the plaza before things really turn ugly.
To her surprise, when she turns, hand already extending, she finds Kirito has already grabbed Klein's arm and was reaching for hers. They share a quick, somewhat startled glance, before Kirito's expression turns serious with resolve as they realize they had similar intentions and they both turn to leave without a word. Then, with Kirito dragging Klein, they run for the exit of the Town of Beginnings. They don't make it far before Klein comes to his senses and pulls back, "W-Wait a minute, where are we going?"
She shares another wordless glance chalk full of meaning and mutual understanding with Kirito before explaining to Klein, "It's safer to assume we won't be getting any help from the outside world, rather than waste precious time we could be leveling up waiting to be rescued. If they do manage to get us out, great, if not then for both the sake of survival and getting the hell out of Kayaba's trap it's better to get started as soon as possible."
Kirito nods firmly, backing her up, and Klein looks at his feet before slowly shaking his head, "I can't just leave. Like I told you earlier Kirito, I've got friends in here. I can't just leave them."
Kirito glances quickly at her. It was obvious he was thinking of the odds just as she was. If it had just been Kirito he might have been able to bring along Klein and one other person while simultaneously keeping them safe, with another beta tester, her specifically, coming along that number increased to 3 or 4 players they could bring along and still keep them safe. The problem with that though, was the fact bringing 4 people who've never played a VRMMO would slow them considerably.
Before either of them can reach a decision, Klein abruptly shakes his head wildly then exclaims, "What am I saying, I might've never played a virtual reality game before, but I've played MMOs. I've got at least ten friends back there, asking you to keep ten other people along with me and yourselves safe is just unreasonable."
She starts to protest, but Klein shakes his head again and cuts her off, "No. Don't worry about me, Kirito showed me how to fight earlier, I'll teach it to my friends, with that we should be able to protect ourselves."
She frowns, "Are- Are you sure you'll be ok Klein? I can't speak for Kirito, but if you really need me to, I can stay behind and help?"
Klein smiles, "No it's ok, but before we part I wanna thank you two."
Both give him looks of confusion, and she says, "But I haven't done anything for you to thank me for."
Klein shakes his head a third time before explaining, "You have though, when those people back in the plaza come to their senses, how many of them do you think will give a damn about anyone except themselves and their friends huh? You only met me an hour ago tops Hanna, yet you're worried about me and my friends, and offered to stay behind just now even though we'd undoubtedly slow you down. So don't think you haven't done anything Hanna, because you've done a lot for me already. Not to mention, like I said earlier Kirito showed me how to fight, and you were both willing to take me with you, and protect me til I could protect myself. So thank you both, for everything you've done for me."
Her brow furrows as she murmurs, "Klein..." Then shakes her head and brings out her menu and quickly manipulates it, a moment later a friend request pops up in front of him, and she gives him a stern look, "Kayaba said that our accounts would be erased if we died, so theoretically if you're on someone's friends list you should disappear from that list upon death. I won't take no for an answer, because this way I can be sure you're ok." Softening a bit she adds, "And you can message me quicker if I'm on your friends list. So don't hesitate to message me if you need help. Or even if you just wanna talk."
Klein gets a bit teary, but nods firmly, accepting the request, "You too. You don't hesitate to message me either, ok?"
Hanna nods with a smile, and a moment later what's presumably another friend request appears in front of Klein, this time from Kirito. The only explanation Kirito gives is a simple, "What Hanna said."
Klein nods again while accepting Kirito's friend request, but as he opens his mouth to bid them farewell, Kirito interrupts, "Klein. I won't say goodbye, because that implies a permanent farewell. So I'll just say, see you later, ok?"
Klein nods, and quietly says, "Yeah, see you two later, Kirito, Hanna."
Hanna smiles then responds with an equally quiet, "See you later Klein."
(1): I think it's rather obvious, but this is my way of saying that I'll be referring to Marzanna by her username 'Hanna' for the duration of SAO from now on.
(2): In the light novel he says to 'create and watch this world', but in the anime he says 'create and intervene' I liked both so I just combined them.