What exactly was "hentai"?
Yuuki Asuna thought about it, but still couldn't figure out why she would become famous because of such a term.
[Fallen Saint Black Cat: Golden Toilet, you also know about Hentai-suna, right? You explain it ]
Black Cat didn't want to say it herself, asking another person who also knew her story to explain.
And this unwillingness to speak made Yuuki Asuna even more uneasy.
Perhaps what was involved was too serious, similar to Magical Girl Madoka—also a tragedy?
So serious that Black Cat couldn't bear to say it out loud.
[Golden Toilet: Hentai-suna? What's that? Although I also know the story of Miss Yuuki Asuna's world, I don't know she has such a nickname
Fallen Saint Black Cat: Stop pretending to be proper, your font betrays your thoughts. Come on, how many doujins have you read?
Golden Toilet: What do you mean how many? That's nonsense, Black Cat, explain clearly
Fallen Saint Black Cat: Hehe, I mean doujin books, those 18+ Asuna doujins, you must have read quite a few
Golden Toilet: Oh, I understand now, so that's the origin of Hentai-suna. But I really haven't read any. Though I have read Black Cat's doujins just a little bit ]
Seeing this, even if Yuuki Asuna was naive, she understood.
Due to her family education, she wouldn't be exposed to otaku culture, but that didn't mean she knew nothing about it.
So after understanding these two people's conversation, her face instantly turned completely red.
[Asuna: Th-that, let's not discuss douj-... those books. Could you please tell me about the situation in my world, Black Cat?
Fallen Saint Black Cat: You're right, I almost forgot. Asuna, what's your situation there? Which floor are you clearing? ]
She indeed knew about her world's situation, knew that she had logged into Sword Art Online (SAO), right?
[Asuna: The virtual game Sword Art Online (SAO), right? I just logged in, just started trying to play
Fallen Saint Black Cat: What? Quick, quick, quick, log out! If you can log out, do it immediately! Don't play this game, it's a death game! If you die inside, you'll really die! Log out quickly!!! ]
This extremely urgent and disbelieving text seemed to make Yuuki Asuna feel like a girl was anxiously urging her right by her ear.
Dying in the game would make you die in real life too?
Wasn't this a bit too dangerously sensational?
Besides, before this game officially launched, there had been beta testing.
If such problems really existed, it would be impossible to cover them up.
However, although Black Cat's words were hard to believe, logging out of the game first wouldn't be a big problem.
After logging out, she could have a good chat with Black Cat about the situation.
Immediately, she called up Sword Art Online's main menu window—raising her right index and middle fingers straight up together, then swiping straight down. This was the gesture to call up the window.
Soon, a long window emitting purple light appeared. Yuuki Asuna went to select the logout option.
The result—
Eh?
Wh-what was happening?
Did she remember wrong?
The logout button wasn't here?
After searching around, Yuuki Asuna's face gradually turned pale, and she was getting truly panicked.
She kept searching, but she just couldn't find the logout option.
[Asuna: Th-that, I can't seem to find the logout button
Fallen Saint Black Cat: No way? Then it's over! This is that guy called Kayaba... something, anyway, the game's developer did this on purpose. This guy has obviously already disabled the logout option, preventing you from escaping ]
Can't escape?
That wouldn't be so bad, right?
If Asuna stayed online too long without logging off, her family would definitely come into her room.
At that time, they would probably force her to log off by forcibly removing the headset from her head.
[Fallen Saint Black Cat: Don't think your family can help by taking off your headset offline—the result would be your immediate death. An electronic component in that virtual headset will emit microwaves to destroy your brain ]
These words made Asuna's face turn even paler.
[Asuna: You said the creator Kayaba Akihiko did this? Why would he imprison tens of thousands of players in the game? What's his purpose?
Fallen Saint Black Cat: The purpose is to make you play the game. How should I put it—this guy has a dream. Um, it's like fantasizing about being the protagonist in a novel who gets transported to another world for a fantasy adventure. So he created this game, but games are ultimately just games. To make it feel real, he made this game truly real. If you really die in this world, you really die, and to end this death game, you can only clear it!
Asuna: Isn't he mentally ill?
Fallen Saint Black Cat: Yes, exactly! He's sick, has psychological problems, he's insane! ]
However, with tens of thousands of people imprisoned in the game with their lives threatened, the government couldn't possibly remain indifferent. They would definitely try every means to rescue them.
So—
[Fallen Saint Black Cat: Asuna, don't think you'll be rescued quickly. From the plot I know, it takes about two years for the game to barely be cleared, but during that time, almost half the people die ]
This further news made Asuna's body tremble. That meant several thousand people died?
Moreover, it took two years to clear?
During that time, the government couldn't successfully rescue everyone either, meaning they had to live in this world for two years?
Thinking of this, Asuna became even more terrified. In this world, she had no familiar people at all...
She would have to survive alone?
[Asuna: M-maybe there's some system bug that will be fixed soon
Fallen Saint Black Cat: If only that were the case. Oh right, the mastermind should appear next. You should be able to see it soon—all of you will be forcibly teleported back to the central plaza of the Town of Beginnings. Kayaba Akihiko will appear in the sky in a grotesque form and announce the cruel truth to you all, telling you that you're imprisoned in this world, that you must clear the game to log out, and that in this world, you basically have only one life. If you die, it will trigger the headset's mechanism to destroy your brain ]
So now she just had to wait and see if what Black Cat said would really happen.
Whether—
Ah?
Suddenly a bell rang, coming from the central plaza of the Town of Beginnings. At the same time, her body was enveloped by a blue pillar of light, giving her a strong sense of unease.
As the light pillar blocked her vision, she couldn't see anything. When the light pillar faded again and she could see once more, her vision had changed.
She had really come to the central plaza.
It was densely packed with people—all players had really been gathered here.
For a moment, everyone on the scene discussed in confusion, with most people thinking there was some kind of program or activity announcement.
Asuna also heard some people saying they couldn't find the logout button.
Gradually, the scene became restless, and just as it was about to become chaotic, Asuna looked up at the sky with trembling pupils. The sky had turned an ominous deep red, as if stained with blood.
Then, from the center, that red thickness like a giant drop of blood formed into a giant wearing a deep red cloak—an extremely eerie giant.
This scene matched what Black Cat had described.
"Welcome, players, to my world."
This low voice made Asuna's heart sink further.
If this figure was the GM, saying such god-like statements would normally be no problem.
But everyone knew this, so there was no need to emphasize it like this.
Yet the other party deliberately said this, really giving off the flavor of a lofty deity who could control everyone's life and death at will.
"My name is Kayaba Akihiko, and I am currently the only person who can control this world."
This further declaration made Asuna's heart approach despair even more.
The developer personally coming online to serve as GM and making such statements felt like a terrorist's announcement after successfully occupying a venue and taking hostages.
So please, don't continue speaking! Don't say content she didn't want to hear!
Asuna prayed in her heart.
...
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