So, I'm back once again with another chapter.

Firstly, to the Guest who once again reviewed (or is it someone else, I dunno) you're half right. It isn't exactly related to Kuou Academy, more like the other world besides the human one. I have a tendency to give away too many spoilers.

Well, you know what they say: All roads lead to Kuou Academy.

What do you mean that's not correct?

Well, that sounds like everything … Oh wait, there's something else.

I would like to apologize since this chapter and the last have 90% in common with the canon of Aria in the Starless Night. DxD elements have not made an appearance since the latter half of the prologue. Hopefully, I can change that by next chapter.

Anyways, that ends my rambling. On to the story.

Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own DxD or SAO any more than Brazil own a semifinal victory.

Oh and someone please teach me how to do line breaks!

Chapter Two: The Beater

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

Asuna looked at the scimitar user from one of the raid groups organized to defeat the boss – the same raid group as the one Diabel was in. Diabel being the 'Knight' who had organized this raid and had motivated the 44 players who had shown up to take down the boss.

Thanks to that Diabel person, everything had gone smoothly, putting aside a spiky-haired player's hatred towards beta testers. It was thanks to him that they had come all this way to fight the boss of the first floor.

And yet Diabel was the only one who died in the battle.

To put a long story short, she had gone with the boy to the meeting the knight had organized. She listened to what he had to say. While she had put up a neutral expression outside, she was frowning inside.

How? She had thought, confused at the actions of the mane dubbed Diabel. How is it they can still keep their spirits so high? An entire fifth of Aincrad's prisoners are already gone. How can they still have the will to keep trying?

Asuna could never understand a sentiment like that. If something was guaranteed to be impossible then she would never bother to attempt it. Some would think that she didn't have the courage to do so, but it was simply because she didn't want to waste her time on impossibilities.

That was when the spiky-headed player, Kibaou (What a pretentious name, Asuna had thought.*) came up to Diabel and requested permission to speak. He then proceeded to give a speech on how all the deaths that had occurred so far was the fault of the beta testers – the players who had gotten a chance to test the game before its release. He spoke about how it was because those beta testers had disappeared on that first day that 2000 players had died.

Asuna immediately felt a deep dislike for the man. She knew his type. Arrogant, loud, but completely useless. When faced with a problem he would not go hunting for a solution: instead, he would look for someone or something to push all the blame on. It was like ignoring your burning house and yelling at the neighbors, accusing each and every one of them of committing arson.

That was exactly what Kibaou had tried to do. After he had said all the hateful words he could think of, Asuna had glanced to the right – only to see a furious expression on the face of her new acquaintance. It was by that alone that she realized just what the boy was, and from his furious expression, she realized that there were definitely some beta testers among the two thousand who had died.

Things would have progressed badly had it not been for a very large foreigner who spoke up and silenced Kibaou. He told him that information from the beta test was available, and showed him the guide to prove it. Asuna had gotten herself one as well, for free. As did most other players congregated there.

Thanks to both Diabel and the foreigner, Agil's efforts, the raid party was back to functioning smoothly. They were given a few hours before the raid would begin. Asuna would have spent it either slaughtering more monsters around the dungeons or eating the bland, cheap bread that was available at inns. Had her companion not mentioned the word 'bath'.

Asuna practically forced him at blade-point to take her to the room he had rented and, after a clear warning to him about not peeking, and used the bath. In one sentence: she sent him running after he "somehow" accidentally got a glimpse.

They had met up again at the same plaza, and this time the atmosphere was serious and determined. Once again, Asuna wondered at their tenacity. And once again, she simply followed.

The battle had gone well, until the boss did something unexpected, by everyone except her partner. He yelled at them to get back, but it was too late. About half a dozen players had their HP sent below half. Diabel, while still airborne from the sudden different skill, was hit by a second attack from Illfang the Kobold Lord and was the first and only person to die in the raid.

Everyone had lost their morale not long afterwards, but her partner had taken charge, and with her assistance and some help from the large axe-wielder Agil had rallied the remaining forces against the boss. At one point the black-haired longsword-wielder had called her name, which confused her, as Asuna did not recall ever telling it to him. Flicking aside that momentary thought, she had focused once again on the task at hand. And soon it was all over.

For a few moments everyone was elated and cheering. They had struck their first decisive blow against the death game. They had made their first solid step to accomplishing the impossible. But, that was when the scimitar-wielder had cried out.

Which brought them back to the present. The scimitar user whose name Asuna still did not know, was glaring at her partner with burning hatred. The black-haired boy looked as though he could not believe what he had just heard.

"Let him die …?" he asked blankly.

"That's right! You knew, didn't you?! You knew that skill the boss used! If you had told us about it earlier, Diabel-san wouldn't have died!"

This accusation caused a ripple among the previously cheering members of the party. "He's right, you know…" "How did he know that? It wasn't in the guide…" "Now that you mention it…"

Asuna had turned to look at Kibaou, expecting him to add fuel to the flames. He did not, however say anything. It was somebody else who came up to the boy and jabbed a finger at his face.

"You! You're a beta tester aren't you?!"

Asuna grimaced inwardly, not particularly satisfied that her suspicions were correct. Mostly because this was exactly the wrong situation for them to find out. Looking around, she saw that the other players did not look surprised. They had most likely suspected it ever since he had predicted the katana skill the boss had used instead of the talwar.

"You are, aren't you?! You knew everything, the boss's attack patterns, the good hunting spots, everything! And yet you hid them all to yourself!"

"Hold on," someone else said calmly. "If he was a beta tester, wouldn't his information be the same as on the guide?"

"The guide was a lie," the scimitar user spat out. "No doubt that Rat Argo is also a beta tester. Do you really think she'd give away the right information for free?"

Asuna noticed the black-haired boy looking around. She could see the gears turning as he thought of how to best help the situation. Then, a look of conviction came into his eyes.

Some instinct of hers made her realize that whatever he was about to do was a bad idea. She, and Agil at the same time, moved forward to say something before he could.

"Hey, listen," she began, but the boy held up a hand to silence her. His face then changed, as if he had put on a mask. With that expression dripping with condescension, he turned to the rest of the group.

"Beta tester? Don't confuse me with those noobs."

Just the one sentence chilled the air in the room.

He looked around, wearing an expression of superiority, and began again. "Listen up. SAO's Closed Beta Test had ridiculously low chances of someone winning the lottery to become a tester. Of the thousand that were selected for the test, how many of them do you think had any actual experience with MMORPGs? Most of them were just pathetic newbies who let their luck get the better of them."

His act was so good that, had Asuna not known him beforehand, she would've believed him. Now all she felt was worry for him. Worry? She realized. When was the last time I felt worried for someone I barely knew?

While the boy tried to put up a good act, she could see in his eyes how much this was hurting him. He kept speaking,

"I'm nothing like those idiots. I was the one who went the furthest during the beta test, who found out more things about this game than any one of them. That skill the boss used? A katana skill from a higher floor. Only I knew that because only I had made it that far. That Argo doesn't even know a fraction of the stuff I do."

It was then that she realized just what he was trying to do. All the hatred the players had for beta testers, he was shifting all of that loathing onto himself.

Tirades broke out among the group. They yelled at him, calling him "beta tester" and "cheater." At one point, the two terms merged and became "Beater."

He laughed at hearing that. "Beater. I like that. Well, at least now you know. Don't make the mistake of grouping me with those noob testers."

And with that, he equipped the long coat he had obtained from landing the last hit on the boss, and flourishing it, he turned towards the forty-odd steps that led towards the next floor. "Don't follow me unless you're prepared to die." In a few seconds, he had crossed the door and was gone.

Silence reigned over the empty boss room. Asuna made up her mind to follow the hard-headed moron and teach him a lesson, but a voice stopped her.
"Hey," Kibaou said. "If you're gonna follow him, then give him a message from me."

I walked onto the streets of Urbus, the second floor of the floating castle, Aincrad.

Normally, this would've been a cause for celebration. Not this time, however, since I had just directed the hatred of a number of players onto myself. And as the word spread, I would have more people here out for my blood.

"Guess I really can be an idiot sometimes," I said to no one in particular.

I got a shove in the back as a response, which knocked me off balance. Falling onto one knee, I heard a familiar voice behind me say, "You've been an idiot every second I've known you the past day."

I looked back. Sure enough, it was Asuna standing there, glaring at me.

"Didn't I tell you not to follow me?" I asked.

"Must've slipped my attention," she said indifferently. "You should count yourself lucky this game prevents me from hitting you as hard as I want to."

"Actually, here in the town area, you can without me losing any HP-"

That was definitely a dumb move on my part as a fist flew at my face and knocked me to the ground.

"Well, now that that's done," she continued, pretending as though nothing happened, "I've got a couple of messages for you."

That surprised me. I thought I had scared them enough so that they wouldn't approach me, at least not right away.

"Really… what are they?"

"Agil-san said, 'Let's go for the second floor's boss together.' And as for Kibaou…"

She paused, and attempted to imitate a Kansai accent. " 'You've helped me today, but I don't acknowledge you. I am going to clear this game my way.'"

It was so awkward I couldn't help breaking out into a small grin. Asuna seemed to be irritated by my expression and huffed before turning to the side.

"There's one more thing," she said, turning only her eyes at me. "In the middle of the battle, you called out my name."

"Your name? Oh, yeah, sorry for not adding the honorific. Or was it the way I pronounced it?"

She looked confused for a second. "No you idiot, I don't remember ever telling you my name. How did you find out?"

This time I was confused for a split second. And then I remembered.

"Right. This is your first time teaming up with someone isn't it?"

"What do you think?"

"Yeah, I get it," I said. Seriously, did she have to bite back at everything I said? I then said while pointing to the left of her vision, "Where you normally see your HP, there should be a second smaller HP bar. There's something written under it, right?"

"Um…" Asuna muttered, turning her head to where I pointed. I stopped her with my fingertips, and said, "No, don't turn your head. Just use your eyes to look at the corner of your vision."

She turned her brown eyes towards the left, and then uttered three syllables.
"Ki…ri…to. Kirito? Is that your name?"

"Yup."

Suddenly, I felt her shaking. I recalled just in time that my finger was still on her cheek and hurriedly withdrew it. As I prepared myself to be whacked once again, I realized she was laughing. Too bad I couldn't see the face of the normally cold fencer as this happened, I thought.

She stopped as abruptly as she had begun. "You're unbelievable, you know that?" she suddenly said. I was baffled to say the least.

"Eh? Why?"

"Like you said, I really had given up on getting out of this nightmare. I was completely prepared to die. However," she said, finally turning to look at me.

"Despite all my protests you dragged me to the first floor raid meeting and convinced me to try and take a step towards leaving this place. You even reminded me of how much I was missing in the real world with the cream bread** and the bath."

"You threatened to knife me if I didn't let you use the bath."

She laughed again. "There is that," she said, amusement evident in her eyes, "but that too I have to thank you for. And finally, thanks to you, I think I know what I want to do here."

"Really?" I asked. She then turned to me, this time looking completely determined.

"You proved to me that while it's a Herculean task, getting out of this game is not impossible. And so, I have to thank you for that."

"Herculean…?" I said, not knowing the word.

Asuna grinned at my confusion. "It means something that seems impossible, but is actually possible with a massive amount of effort."

"… I knew that," I retorted, trying to act cool.

For the third time, she laughed. And this time it was me who started speaking afterwards.

"Asuna… you're going to become a strong player. Not just in your swordsmanship, but better tools and skills than that. So, if you ever get offered to join a guild, don't decline. There can only be so many solo players after all."

"Who are you to try and tell me what to do?" she said with mock superiority. "And I'll throw those words right back at you." She then turned to leave, but paused after a moment's hesitation. "Oh, and the next time we meet, you're gonna tell me just how you carried me out of that labyrinth, got it?"

"Understood, ma'am," I responded. Smiling, she walked away. "See you around, Kirito-kun."

After she had gone, I realized that I couldn't just stand around here anymore. I'd have to go into hiding soon and begin my long, covert life.

I'm making it sound like some sort of undercover spy movie. Yeah, like its anything at all like that.

There was a sudden sound and an icon appeared at the corner of my vision. I'd gotten a new message. I didn't have anyone in my friend list except for Klein … and Argo.

Opening the message, I saw that it was indeed from Argo

"Seems like I caused you a big hassle, Kii-bou. In return, I'll give you any one piece of information for free."

Seeing that message, I grinned. I decided to ask her something that normally would have cost me about 100,000Col. I quickly typed out my reply:

"Tell me the reason for your whiskers personally***."

Chapter Two complete, and it's another SAO-centric one. I'm making myself impatient with how long it'll take to actually reach Kuou Academy. Oh right, firstly,

*Kibaou means Fang King

**anyone who's either read the LNs or watched the anime knows the cream bread scene. I didn't bother writing out that bit

***to those of you who've watched only the anime, go back to the episode where Kirito fights Nicholas the Apostate to get that possible revival item. That face-painted girl who gives him the info? Yeah that's Argo. And yeah, she's a beta tester. Man, they should've kept her for more scenes in the anime.

So then, next chapter, something different will take place. PS: what should I make a certain Red Dragon's in-game handle? Send me a message with possibilities.

Next time, Chapter Three: The Dragon's Fear.

Punitor567 out. El Psy Congroo.

(And how'd you like the new dynamic between Kirito and Asuna?)