"The buyer's raised the price to 29,800 cor, sounds like a pretty good deal if you ask me."

A young woman wearing a cloak that covered the majority of her face sat across from Kirito on a table in her room at an inn. She had a petit built but was of average height, also having short blonde hair that was usually hidden by the hood she wore. But her most distinguishing features were on her face, were the 3 lines on her cheeks resembling whiskers; prompting her nickname Argo the Rat.

"Once again, not interested." Kirito crossed her arms with a firm tone." Tell the buyer that if he wants the Anneal Blade then he can just do the side quest for it rather than trying to buy it off someone else, it'll be easier that way."

Argo chucked. "Hehe, savage as always kii."

Kirto slightly flinched at her words, tilting her head in curiosity. "How exactly did I earn that nickname from you?"

"Be-ca-use, you're my favorite after all!" She jumped off the table and sat on the table next to her wrapping her arm around Kirito's shoulder, leaning in. "And because you're my favorite, I'll give you a special deal, 1,000 cor for the identity of the buyer."

"Not interested."

"Critical hit!" Argo playfully yelled and wrapped her arms around Kirito, trapping her in a hug. "Without your cor filling my pockets I'm unable to function, 500 cor for revival."

Kirito didn't attempt to struggle knowing how persistent Argo was. "If you release me I'll give you information about the next thing to ask for."

"Oh- ho, your words have revived me!" Argo released Kirito leaping towards the door. "Pleasure doing business with you as always!"

Kirito sighed to herself laying down on her bed at the ordeal of dealing with Argo. She turned her head towards a clock on the wall, "I should probably get going."

One month has passed since the game started, over two thousand players have died. However, no one has been able to clear the first floor. Ever since the beta test everything on this floor has been rearranged, no one has been able to find the boss room.

Kirito sat on the outskirts of a small coliseum populated with a group of players who bothered to show up.

"Ok everyone, let's get started!" "My name is Diabel, and I'd like to consider my "job" as a knight!"

An eruption of laughter echoed through the stands.

"There's no job system in this game newb!

"Take this seriously!"

"Is this meeting a joke too?"

Diabel gestured for the stands to lower their voices, a more serious atmosphere spread through the crowd as he spoke again.

"Today, our party located the boss room on top of the tower."

The players murmured among themselves at the revelation

"We need to defeat the boss, reach the second floor, and tell everyone at the town of beginnings that it is possible to beat this game. Everyone present here shares that duty! Do you all agree?!"

"All right, then let's begin our planning; first, divide into parties of six!"

A familiar feeling of dread spread though Kirito's chest, as she looked around at everyone- all of whom were men- easily grouping up together.

"An ordinary party has no chance against a floor boss. We'll need to form a raid group using multiple parties in order for our attack to be affective.

Under different circumstances she would have easily formed a party with other players, with a male avatar. However, this wasn't the time to wallow in self-pity. She looked around spotting another player wearing a brown hood sitting by himself.

Taking a deep breath, she summoned all her courage and walked over to him, "Were you left out as well?"

He didn't even bother looking in her direction, "I wasn't left out, everyone just seemed to know each other already."

"Are you a solo player?"

"…something like that."

Kirito tilted her head slightly trying to get a better view of his face, a weak attempt of trying to gain his attention. "Do you want to party with me for this raid?"

The hooded player turned his gaze to her.

"He just said that we can't beat the boss on our own, so just for this fight?"

The player sat still for a few moments before nodding.

Kirito opened the menu and sent a party request which the player accepted, she read the user name located near his health bar.

Asuto

"Okay, have you all partied up? Then-"

"Wait!"

A rather gruff looking player standing at the top of the amp theatre grabbed everyone's attention, he jumped down to the center stage where Diabel stood.

"My name's Kibaou, I wanna say something before we take on this boss." He faced the audience. "Some of you need to apologize to the two thousand players who have died so far!"

A few people were taken back with shock.

"Kibaou, are you referring to the beta testers?" Diabel calmly asked.

Kirito flinched slightly.

"Of course I am! On the day this stupid game started all the beta's ditched us beginners and disappeared; they took all the best hunting spots and easy quests for themselves while the rest of us were still trying to process what was even happening. They horded all the extra experience points and bonus items that the beginners didn't know existed!

A few whispers took hold of the stands.

"I'm sure someone here was in the beta! Whoever you are, you should get on your knees, apologize, and give up all the items and money you've been hoarding! Otherwise how can we expect any sort of protection or trust when we fight, for all we know they could take advantage of every battle to gain bonus items!"

He's not wrong, not entirely.

The image of Klein flashed in Kirito's mind, and a familiar pain made Kirito claw her shirt.

"May I speak?"

The new voice snapped her from her thoughts.

A giant muscled man with a battle axe walked towards Kibaou.

"My name is Agil. Kibaou, tell me if I have this right. You're saying that because the beta players didn't help the rest of you, that it was the reason that so many players died, correct?"

Kibaou tensed at his words, "Y-yeah."

Agil pulled a small brown book from his items menu, showing it to the crowd.

"You all got this guide book didn't you? It was provided for free on the items store."

"I did." Kibaou lowered his head slightly, "But what does that have to- "

"This guide book contains information compiled from the people who played the beta."

There were expressions of shock that everyone shared, a slight snarl formed on the side of Kibaous mouth.

"Everyone has equal access to this information, and even still, many players died. Not because there was information being withheld, but because of their own mistakes. I thought that the meeting being held here was to discuss how we could learn from the deaths of the fallen, and how we could use that to help defeat the boss."

Murmurs of agreement spread through the stands. Agil turned back to face Kibaou, as if to challenge anything else he may say. But the aggressive player turned tail to a seat in the front row, accepting defeat.

"All right then, I assume we can continue then?" Diabel held the guide book in his hand. "The latest issue of the guide book was just issued and it contains information about the boss. According to it, the boss's name is Illfang the Kobold lord. He's guarded by his assistants known as Ruin Kobold Sentinels. He is armed with an axe and a buckler He has four health bars, and when the last one enters the red he'll switch to a curved sword-like weapon called a Talwar. At that time his attack pattern will change and he'll become more aggressive."

Except when that happens there'll be no telling how, or who'll he'll attack.

"That concludes this briefing, but before you all go, the items will be distributed automatically, the extra EXP will go to the party that defeats the boss, and whomever receives any bonus item will keep it themselves. Any objections?"

Only silence greeted him.

"Then we'll leave at ten tomorrow morning. See you there!"

Kirito stood near the shadows of the town's pavilion, silently, with crossing arms hoping that no one would approach her. The raid party were enjoying their charisma boost after Diabel's speech overconfidently drinking to a future victory.

The tall man, Agil, nodded a greeting but kept his distance, instead choosing to converse with the other players. at her She sighed to herself, under different circumstances, there would have been an urge to crush their spirits. But now; perhaps they were right to enjoy what could be their last night.

In the corner of her eye she saw a familiar dark hood, moving towards the back alley. Asuto was biting into a roll of sourdough.

"Can I join you?"

Asuto looked a little surprised that anyone was approaching him. Kirito stood a few feet away with her hands behind her back in a polite manner. "Don't you want to be with the rest of them?" Sounding slightly curious.

"I'd rather get to know the one who'll have my back, wouldn't you?"

Asuto though over her words for a moment before scooting away, giving her room to sit.

" Tasty isn't it?"

"You really think so?"

Kirito nodded, "It's better than the food in the Town of Beginnings for the most part, though I do like to change it up a bit." She removed a small jar from her inventory placing it near Asuto.

"Change it up a bit?"

"Try it." She smiled reassuringly at him.

Asuto activated the item, a small glow formed around his hand as he put it on his bread. A familiar physical form took shape on its crust.

"Butter?"

Asuto gave a slightly tense glance at the bread before taking tentative bite; after which he furiously gobbled down, sighing in satisfaction afterward.

" Um, sorry." He shot her an apologetic glance after the item shattered.

She shook her head, " It's alright, think of it as a token to our partnership."

Asuto chuckled slightly. "Over butter?"

Kirito returned his smile, "We've broken bread, I'd say that we're at least not strangers.

"It's a reward for a quest called The Heifer Strikes Back" one village behind us, if you want, I'll show you where it is sometime."

The air seemed to grow colder as Asuto shook his head. "I'm never going back."

"Huh?"

Asuto lifted his head looking towards the plaza where the faint cheers of the raid members could be heard. "You've seen it haven't you, all those players who gave up after...that day."

Kirito tensed slightly.

" They're trapped in that town, no hope, no will to move forward to do anything besides feel sorry for themselves." Asuto gripped his hands tightly. "I'd rather die still being me than letting myself rot away back at the inn's in the first town. Even if I get killed by a monster, I still want to be me."

There was a thick silence before Asuto snapped out of his thoughts, " Ah, sorry, I got a little dark there didn't I?"

Kirito looked forward, gently swaying her legs. "I won't allow any party members to die on my watch, so at the very least; you can't die tomorrow." Her party member nodded his head.

"I won't be a burden to you."

Kirito make her way back to the inn after seeing Asuto to his, wanting to make sure nothing happened to him. She avoided other players easily, but wasn't careful enough when she was just about to open the door to her room.

"You're, Kirito, right?"

She sighed to herself, muttering a few swears as she turned to face a blue haired swordsman. "Diabel."

He stared at her for a few moments -as if trying to place her- before smiling, "Can I offer you a drink? The tavern downstairs has a pretty good ale."

Kirito slightly narrowed her eyes, distrustful, but surprised to be seeing the swordsman at the inn.

" I'm not going to try anything." He tried to reassure her but could see that his efforts were in vain. Normally, players didn't talk to each other out to socialize; they always had an alterior motive, always.

But curiosity presidence as she did want to hear what he had to say."Alright, your treat, right?" She smirked playfully much to his chagrin.

...

They sat across from each other at the tavern, each with a goblet filled with what was technically alcohol in-game, but to Kirito just tasted like cranberry juice, but she didn't drink enough to know if it could make the players actually drunk. They all could have acted that way from the atmosphere.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Kirito picked up her goblet, taking a sip.

"I'd like to get to know you a little better, is that ok?"

Kirito slightly narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms after setting down her goblet. "If you have a point, kindly get straight to it, we'd both save a lot of time."

"Fair enough." He took a sip of his ale before choosing his next words carefully." You were part of the beta test, weren't you?"

Kirito's body tensed, but she kept a calm head. "What's it to you?"

The blue haired knight smirked at her response. "Nothing really, I just wanted to see if my hunch was correct. The first day that everything started a bunch of the other beta players went ahead to do whatever side quest to gain exp and items they could before the rest of the players did. Because of that it was easy for a while to discern who were the beta's and regular players. I saw you in this town a good time before everyone else came along, and the majority of them are just regular players."

"So you're one as well?" Diabel nodded at her words. "That can't be the only reason you wanted to talk."

Diabel chuckled to himself slightly. "It kind of is." The air turned a more serious tone. "This is the first boss battle that this game is giving us, and for all we know everything could be entirely different from the beta."

"It's plausible isn't it? The whole point of a beta is to check for bugs and make sure everything was actually playable. Any changes that were made were for the benefit of the players."

"But you're forgetting that this isn't a normal game, for all we know the moment we step into that room there could be an ambush just waiting to slaughter anything that steps though."

"Is that what you're afraid of? Getting everyone killed?" She said slightly surprised at his chivarly.

"I'm the one leading the charge remember? I have to make sure that everyone gets out of this dilemma alive. The game already took so many people; I don't want to add to that list."

"Respectable."

"You've already partied up with another player, so if I may ask, would you mind sticking to rear support?"

Kirito forwned at his words. "Explain."

"I'm running on assumptions here, but if you've already gotten a sword of Anneal then your level must be pretty significant. The majority of the players average out to about 10 to 15, what they lack in strength we make for in numbers. But the sentinels are the same way, it makes sense if we base our main attack towards the boss and have a strong player taking out the foot soldiers so they don't pose a threat right?"

A red flag went off in Kirito's mind, but she remained quiet about her inner thoughts. "Sounds to be a good plan on paper, but plans can change. It also makes sense to have the stronger group with the few higher tier players and have the larger group take on the sentinels. That way there'll be smaller targets for Illfang to hit so the other players won't need to soak up extra damage."

He nodded at her words, Kirito noticed that he gripped his cup tighter.

"If you'll allow me to state my own obervations; I'm willing to bet that in the two thousand people that died, a few were in the beta. In this game especially no one is above desire, if they see on oppotunity they'll probably take it by the horns. But it's that desire that can blind you." She sighed to herself as she could see that Diabel understood what she was trying to say. Never wavering as she stood, "Well whatever. I'll follow your plan tomorrow, so don't worry about it."

She walked rested her hand on his shoulder as she passed by. Argo's attempts at getting me to accept your offer are getting quite tedious. I'd recommend that you stop trying to buy my weapon altogether and focus on the battle tomorrow."

Kirito didn't look at his response as she walked back to her room, going over every battle strategy that wouldn't get her killed. Rule one in her books: Don't go for the obvious kill.

Floor 1: Forest Field

"Let's go over this again, we're the leftovers so our objective is to attack the boss's support."

The raid group made their trek through the woods, the larger group taking the lead with Diabel in the front while Kirito and Asuto lagged behind a few feet away.

"Got it."

"I'll use the sword skill to knock them off balance, the second I do switch in and go for the most damage."

"Switch?"

"It's the fastest way to get an attack in, were you mostly on support in other games?"

"Support?"

"You know, healing and buffs?"

"Um...not really."

Tension rose in Kirito's chest. "But you have been in a party before, right?"

"This is my first."

Kirito stopped in her tracks, looking towards the skies of Aincrad - defeated- for some kind of explanation of why she got stuck with a newbie.

"Is something wrong?" Asuto asked.

She shook her head, patting his shoulder reassuringly, "If it gets bad in there, just fall back and rely on me to protect you."

"Huh?"

...

...

Within the dungeon, everyone stood around the door leading to the boss room, the air high with tension.

"Everyone, I have one thing to say! Let's win!"

Kirito nervously looked towards the familiar door her heart beating rapidly as it opened to a dark room. As all the players walked in it lit up and the red eyes that sat in the back of the room took form.

What looked to be a giant red muscled kangaroo wielding an axe and a shield jumped forward from its throne roaring loudly. It immediately summoned its foot soldiers, smaller versions of itself, geared with armor and maces immediately running towards them upon spawning.

"Commence attack!" Diabel yelled, leading the attack. The raid party charged, the yells of battle cries and the songs of sword against sword were the only sounds to be heard above Diabel's instructions.

"Squad A! Squad C! Switch out!"

"Squad B, block!"

"Squad C, keep guarding and prepare to switch out!"

" Squads D, E, and F, keep sentinels off of us!"

"Roger!" Kirito ran straight towards the sentinel in front of her, unbalancing its weapon for a moment. "Switch!"

Asuto wasted no time in striking the monster with a rapier multiple times, making Kirito stand there for a few second in awe before snapping back to reality.

His technique is so fast even I can't keep track of his blade.

She smiled inwardly as they continued their offensive attack against the small fry.

Suddenly the boss roared out, grabbing Kirito's attention. The boss threw away it's weapon and shield bearing its teeth. Its heath was in the red nearing its end.

"Stand back, I'll go!"

What?!

Diabel ran ahead from the crowd weapon in hand.

We were supposed to surround it with the entire group, what is he doing?!

Kirito's heart almost stopped as Diabel looked back at her with an apologetic smile on his face. The boss pulled out it's weapon as Diabel stopped to build up his sword skill, a yellow light overtaking his sword; a long sword with a curved end.

That's not a Tawar, it's a Nodatchi! It's not the same as the beta!

"No! Jump back as fast as you can!" Kirito yelled as loud as she could, but it was no use.

The boss jumped at a blinding speed, bouncing off of the pillars and then the ceiling faster than the eye could follow. In a few seconds it critically slashed Diabel back many yards away, leaving the raid party to handle the now chaotic boss.

Kirito killed the sentinel she was taking on, "Cover me!" she yelled at Asuto and ran towards where Diabel was on the ground. She knelt near him, immediately taking out a potion.

" What were you thinking?!"

She tried to use the potion to heal him, but the item had no effect.

Diabel smiled gently, his avatar had already begun to face. She dropped her item reaching for his hand instead.

" Sorry, Kirito."

Before her eyes Diabel's avatar shattered, leaving a wound that no potion could heal. She looked in shock, lowering her head in defeat. The raid players were all scattered to the edges of the room in fear of the Boss's random attack patterns.

"Watch out!"

Kirito didn't react to Asuto's words, not noticing a sentinel's raised mallet suddenly flash into destroyed pieces as Asuto now stood behind her. She was still knelt down, looking at the place where Diabel's body once was. For a moment she shut her eyes.

When this game started, the only thing I thought about was my own survival, but you never abandoned the other players. No matter what your intentions were, you fought, and led everyone brilliantly! You united all of these players, something I would never dream of doing.

Gripping the hilt oh her sword, she stood, lifting her head now in a calm demeanor, looking directly at the boss knocking away other players. Asuto stood by her wordlessly, nodding his head as if he was in agreement.

"Thank you."

The two sprinted ahead towards the monster.

"It's just like the sentinels, unbalance then strike!"

" Got it!"

The Illfang looked at the two of them building up his sword skill so his Nodatchi was shining in a white light.

Kirito aimed directly at the Nodatchi, knocking up the sword and leaving the stomach of Illfang wide open for Asuto to strike.

"Switch!"

Asuto was poised to strike but in a spit second Illfang struck down, recoiling from the previous strike.

Kirito's eyes widened in fear, "Asuto!"

The strike damaged the cloak he wore, destroying it, but didn't prevent Asuto from striking a critical attack. Kirito stood in awe for a few moments his strength before blocking another one of the boss's attacks. The two continued their barrage of attacks, Kirito defending and Asuto leading with a wave a strong smaller hits. But in one move Illfang gained the upper hand, slashing Kirito with an upper slash sending her slamming into Asuto back a few yards, dropping her weapon. She could see her health dwindle quickly into the yellow before watching Illfang going in for another strike. Asuto covered her, lifting his rapier to defend, but was unneeded as Agil struck the boss. The rest of his party followed suit, the tall man looked back to the two of them.

"We'll hold him off until you recover!"

The raid players made the mistake of attacking while Illfang was blocking, easily being swept back as Illfang launched its counter attack. It went in for another attack jumping up to build power.

"Watch out"!

Kirito wasted no time in picking up her sword and leapt towards the boss at a high altitude, slashing the stomach of Illfang, then tumbling to her feet again when hitting the ground.

"Asuto! One last counter attack!"

"Roger!"

They sprinted together repeating the technique that they used against the sentinels, Kirito defended once as Asuto struck Illfang, but the last move was Kirito's as she built up her sword skill, screaming all of her physical strength into one last attack destroying Illfang.

For a few moments the only movement was from the fallen pieces of Illfangs form than soon faded away. Then cheers came from the players to their victory of defeating the first boss.

Kirito remained on one knee, trying to catch her breath after the adrenaline rush. She looked at the window that popped in front of her, [Bonus item: Coat of Midnight]

"Congratulations."

Kirito looked behind her where Asuto and Agil stood proudly.

"That was some fine swordsmanship, this victory belongs to you.

"Why?! Why did you let Diabel die?!"

"Let him die?" Agil responded on her behalf.

"That's right, you knew the technique the boss used, why didn't you warn him?!

"She must be a beta tester, that how she knew all the attack patterns. She knew but didn't tell us."

"Other beta testers are here too right?! Come out!"

Everyone looked around with distrust, the tension in the room could be cut with a knife.

This is bad, at this rate…

Kirito looked towards Asuto and Agil trying to calm down the other players with little success. They were beginning to argue with themselves. She looked back at the window informing her of the bonus item she had received and took a deep breath.

Suddenly the room was filled with her condescending laughter as a hush fell over the crowd.

"A beta tester? You must be as stupid as you look."

"What?!"

Kirito stood where she sat, walking towards Kibaou and the other members of his party that called out the other beta testers.

"Comparing me to the rest of those newbies would be comparing apples to oranges. Most of them were newbies who didn't even know how to open the menu on the deep dive function; something a child could figure out, I may add."

She stared them down with a cold look in her eye and a smirk on her face.

"But I'm not like them. I made it up higher than any top player ever did during the beta. The reason I knew the bosses' skills was because I fought against worse in the upper levels. I know a lot more, more than any information broker at this level would know.

"W-What, that's, that's worse than being a beta tester. You, you're a cheater!"

Roars of outrage came from the raid party, the screamed out insults at her venting out all their anger.

"A beta tester and a cheater, you, you're a beater!"

"A beater, I like it." Kirito opened her menu equipping her new item. "That's right, I'm a beater so from on don't confuse me with the other players."

Kirito easily turned her back on the players of whom she fought beside, making her way towards the gate.

"Wait."

Kirito stopped walking up the stairs, looking back slightly at Asuto who ran after her. He stood at the base of the stairs.

"You called my name while we were fighting."

"Sorry for not asking for permission, did I mess up the pronunciation?"

"Where did you learn it?"

"…Huh?" Kirito looked back slightly dumfounded.

"My name, I never told it to you, so how did you know it?"

She paused for a moment to process what he just said. "There should be a second hp gauge around here under your name."

"Ki-Kirito." He sounded it out. "Is that your name?"

She nodded.

"Ah, so that's where it's been." Asuto proclaimed as if it was the most natural thing to say.

"…pft." Kirito smiled inwardly laughing at his response. "You, you're something else entirely."

She could see Asuto slightly pouting at her remark, not sure whether it was a compliment or an insult.

The laughter ceased and Kirito smiled mournfully at him. "You'll be pretty strong one day, so if anyone you trust ever asks you to join a guild, don't turn them down. There's a limit to what you can do as a solo player. "

"Then, what about you?"

Kirito turned back towards the door leading to the next floor. Her only response to his question was opening her menu and disbanding their party. Without a second of hesitation she walked through the door leaving Asuto behind.

It's always benefited everyone when I kept to myself, this time it's no different.

A/n note:

Ok, a few things. I actually went over a bit of the novel (even though this fiction is going to be based on the anime majorily, with a bit of extra content) and holy crap, the novel has quality the anime skimped out on. (which makes me kinda angry). In the novel Diabel is a lowkey shifty character who constantly tries to keep Kirito from the front lines so he could get the bonus item. And in the small scene I wrote he tried to actively keep Kirito from the front lines after she didn't accept his offer to sell her blade (that happend in the book as well) but she caught on and kept out of his antics. Argo is super cute so I'll probably add her in from time to time. I'd like to add shorter snipits in about the side characters (mostly Agil best he's best), and change a few plot points. (also if it wasn't clear, Diabel's hp ran out before Kirito could use the potion rather than he just refusing the potion altogether and monolouging for two minuets)

Asuna's genderbent name is Asuto, and Kirito's will stay the same because it's a user name. His personality will be simliar to Asuna's but a little more darker (because these kids are in a death game after all)

The next episode may be split into two parts because I want to build up the relations with the Moonlight black cats and two of them in particular. The changes are going to warp Kirito's character more, so we see more of her personality and affects from the game. If anyone has any smaller short story requests for side charactes I'll do my best to add them in but won't post any fics that invole charactes that haven't appeared yet within the canon of this fiction. (That doesn't mean I won't post them later on however)

Littlest1 - No, I'll keep the girls the same gender because they're fine the way they are (plus I have plans for their respective arcs with Kirito, muhaha)

Verde the Star Warrior - Thank you for your comment, and I have plans to change a few things as well as adding on more material

- Sugu will be male, but he will not be a love interest. However I would like to expand upon their frienship and relationship as siblings. In his character, it will be shown that he harbors anger towards Kirito, but not the the reasons you may thing ;)

Thank you for reading my story, Please Review your comments mean alot to me. (and if anyone is interesting in beta reading my stories for spelling and grammer errors please pm me. I need to get that issue looked at)