Cline and I stared at each other for seconds in shock. It was as if my mind was refusing to believe what had just been said. But Kayaba's short statement pierced through my body with a ferocity that was both hard and dense. Destroy our brains. In other words, kill us. Any user that turned the Nerve Gear off or unlocked the clasp and took it off would be killed. That is what Kayaba had just stated. People in the crowd started muttering, but there was no one shouting or panicking. It was either that everyone, like me, couldn't understand it yet, or refused to. Cline raised his right hand slowly and tried to grasp the headgear that would be situated there in the real world. As he did this, he let out a dry laugh and started talking. "Haha...what's he saying? That man, has he gone nuts? He's not making any sense. The Nerve Gear... It's just a game. Destroy our brain... How is he going to do that? Right Kirito?" His voice broke at the last shout. Cline stared at me hard, but I couldn't nod in agreement. The infinite signal sensors in the Nerve Gear's helmet emitted small electronic pulses to send virtual signals to the brain. They might call this the newest ultra technology, but the basic theory was the same as a certain household appliance that's been used for over 40 years in Japan—the microwave.