Hey everybody, Zedu is here and it is time for chapter 3. I hope you enjoy this next chapter. Leave a review telling me what you think and favorite if you're enjoying it so far. Thanks for reading!

Sword Art Online is owned by Reki Kawahara, Aniplex USA, and A1 pictures. I do not hold nor claim to hold any ownership.

I continue along after Kirito as wind our way through the Town Of Beginnings and into the starter fields. I stay a few paces behind him as we exit into the fields, not slowing a bit. We continue running until a pack of Dire Wolves jump onto the path, forcing us to a halt. Kirito and I stand beside each other, drawing our blades. I laugh and whisper to Kirito, "You certainly know how to show a girl a fun time. I mean seriously, five dire wolves?"

He laughs back sarcastically and replies, "Haha, because a death game is totally my idea of a good time."

"Well, I'm trying to not think about that right now. We sorta have more pressing priorities."

I charge forward, rushing the wolves before Kirito can respond. The moment I begin running Kirito follows close behind and the Dire Wolves counter-charge at us. I move my sword to my side, the blade enveloping in the pale blue veil of the sword skill Vertical. Just before we collide with the wolves I release the skill, sending an upwards vertical slash straight across the side of the closest Dire Wolf. The wolf is sent several feet into the air before freezing and exploding into blue crystals. I look to Kirito and see a similar sight of exploding crystals. We both quickly spin and face the three remaining wolves, including the Alpha.

"I'll handle the alpha, you get the other two." I say

"Sounds good to me."

We charge again and the wolves seem to split, the alpha heading for me and the remaining two for Kirito. I smirk, preparing another sword skill, my blade lighting up with a crimson red. Uppercut. I look to the alpha and see it is much close than the other dire wolves. It's faster. Hmph, too bad for it, it will only die faster. Just before the wolf reaches me, I dodge to the side and let my sword skill loose. My blade swings up, connecting with the Dire Wolf Alpha's stomach and slicing clean through. The Alpha lands on its back hard, the small remnant of its HP draining away and exploding into crystals. I look over to Kirito, finishing the last wolf with a Slant.

"Good work, but we should probably keep going. Right?"

He looks over at me and sighs, "Yep, you bet. We are gonna have to fight that Mini-Boss eventually."

"Hold up, you didn't tell me we were fighting a Mini-Boss. Explain. Now."

"Whoa, calm down. It will be super easy. Not a big deal."

"Better question, how do you even know there is a Mini-Boss? Were you a beta tester?"

Kirito frowns, "Yes, one of the best actually. I made it to the 8th floor."

"Wow, guess I should have some form of trust then huh?"

"If you didn't trust me, then you were stupid to come along with me. Now let's get going."

I mumble a complaint and we continue on our way, heading for Horunka village. We encounter a few mobs but easily send them back to the spawning pool and Kirito fills me in about the boss along the way.

"According to the beta test the boss is called the Moonlit Oose. It is essentially a giant magical ostrich. I believe it is roughly 12 to 13 feet tall and pretty slow. It uses its wing to blow gusts of wind or will attempt to peck you or claw you. It has a weak point on its neck that will deal large damage. It has two HP bars and when the second bar is in the red it becomes much faster than before. One of us will keep the Boss distracted while the other goes for a critical hit on the neck. Once a successful crit occurs the boss will switch targets. We'll keep this up until we defeat it. Sound like a plan?"

I run over the plan in my mind a few times before I respond. "Yeah, I got it. So who is going first as the distracter?"

Kirito stops and looks at me, "I don't know. You want to duel for it? First clean hit loses and the loser is the distraction first. You up for it?"

I smirk and reply, "Only if you are ready to go down, pretty boy."

Kirito's eyes widen and he looks at me in shock. "Well, I have never been called that before. And I'm not sure what to think. So let's just fight already. Remember, no sword skills. Pure swordsmanship."

I flick open my menu and send Kirito the duel request, setting it to first hit mode. "Then let's go… Pretty boy."

Kirito flinches and accepts the duel, a timer appearing above us, counting down from 60 as we both draw our blades and set ourselves in defensive stances. I take a look over Kirito's stance as the clock reaches 30 seconds, his left foot set back and most of his weight set on his forward foot. His blade held in front of him, slightly tilted to the right.

He's going to charge me. Probably go for a diagonal slash across my chest. I wonder if my STR stat is high enough to get a full parry on him.

The timer strikes zero and Kirito does exactly as I predicted. I raise my blade to meet his with equal force, unable to completely parry him back. His eyes widen, surprised by my Strength. I shove my blade hard and jump back, settling into my defensive position. Kirito, braces again and charges me going for a thrust. I quickly spin to the side and swing around after him, missing by mere inches. I charge for Kirito, taking the offensive and catch him unprepared. I feint a downward diagonal swing up high right and quickly switch to a thrust. Kirito falls for my feint moving his blade up to block but not noticing my sudden thrust until he is too late to block it. He barely dodges to the side, my blade barely scratching him. He jumps back, several feet away.

"I'm impressed Arya." He says, breathing heavier. "You are really good."

I smirk, not lowering my guard or my blade even a bit. "Thanks Kirito, I try. But enough chatter, let's finish this already."

I rush Kirito, my blade meeting his. He looks at me from across our blades and I smirk as I kick him in the chest and he goes flying back a few feet as I charge towards him, going for a hasty swing. My blade connects with his leg, sending his HP to the middle range and winning me the duel.

I sheath my blade and walk over to Kirito, reaching my hand down to help him up. He takes my hand and I pull him up to his feet, setting an HP potion into his hand. He drinks it and his HP begins to slowly raise back up towards full.

"I… I'm impressed. I really am. You just stomped me."

"I'm sure there will be another time, now let's go. We have an Oose to kill."

"Yeah, you're right. Let's go."

We continue along the path heading to Horunka village with a new appreciation of the other player's skill…

Well, that's it. Chapter 3. I hope you enjoyed it. I decided to actually write some fighting this time. Normally I try to avoid it because I'm not too great at it. But I went for it. So yeah. Thanks for reading, and I will see you all later!