Author Note: I do not own Sword Art Online, Frozen or any other characters. This Fanfic was written solely for entertainment purposes. I also want to thank everyone who has read, reviewed, or favorited my story. It really means a lot.

All that we could see from the outside was a row of columns stretching into the shadows. As we entered, a pair of red eyes gleamed in the were large, angry, and all together terrifying. Diabel entered the room with Group A, and something changed. The room lit up in bright pastel shades of yellow and green. From the end of the hallway, a loud roar sounded and a gigantic mob soared through the air, landing in front of all of us. When the dust cleared, I could see a large

red monster with four health bars. It could only be Illfang the Kobold Lord. It roared, summoning the expected Sentinel minions. The mobs charged as Diabel stood calm and strong, a bastion of strength. He drew his sword and pointed. "Commence attack!"

And our party rushed forward to the charge and meeting the mobs halfway was Kibaou, a player that surprised me. He didn't seem like the type to fight; his time with Diabel certainly had changed him. The battle quickly dissolved into chaos. Diabel stood in the rear, shouting commands and moving the different squads around to fight. Illfang proved to be a tough foe, as its mighty attacks blew away defenders and its shield blocked most attacks. The fighters were chewing through its HP a bite at a time, though. There hadn't been any casualties so far, a blessing. Agil was fighting, using his sword skills to counter Illfang's mighty strikes, switching out with Kibaou to deal damage. Diabel kept a steady stream of commands flowing, manipulating his men with ease. I was impressed.

"Squads D, E, and F, keep those minions off us!"

"You got it," replied Kirito as he charged a Ruin Kobold Sentinel. He blocked its overhead strike, placing it off balance as Sinon quickly shot three arrows into the kobold, destroying it. The body of the mook burst into polygons as she turned to me smirking

"Sinon, watch out!" Kirito's shout alerted me to something behind her.

She quickly stepped to the right and stabbed the offending kobold in the head with an arrow.

While we handled the mook issue, the assault team had whittled away most of Illfang's HP. The fourth bar turned red, and Illfang let out a loud roar. Everyone backed away from it, unsure of its next motions. Surprisingly, the boss threw away its axe and shield. I realized this was the attack patterns changing to the curved sword.

Kibaou was grinning. "Looks like the guide book was right."

Suddenly, Diabel rushed to the front. "Stand back! I got it!"

Confused, the three of us watched him. That action made no sense; the plan was to surround Illfang and confuse him. As we watched him, Diabel made eye contact with Kirito and smirked. Suddenly, the pieces of the puzzle came together.

"Son of a…" I breathed, too quietly for Kirito to hear. Diabel was trying to weaken Kirito, using Kibaou as a go-between. That fact clicking into place triggered the rest of the puzzle to become clear. Diabel was a beta tester as well, and he didn't want competition at the top. I could only help but shake my head in admiration. It was a well-thought plan; unfortunately for him, it didn't work.

As Illfang pulled out his sword, Kirito gasped. Something must have been off with the sword. "Wait, stop!" His desperate cry turned only a few heads, Kibaou among them. "It's no good! Get out of there!" Diabel didn't listen, and unleashed a Sword Skill. Suddenly, Illfang leaped high into the sky, landing and jumping off of pillars in the room. Diabel stopped, stunned, and took Illfang's landing blow head on with no way to stop it. He was sent flying back, and no one could stop what happened next. Illfang immediately charged another Sword Skill, rushing the airborne Diabel and knocking him across the room. Kibaou turned and shouted, "Diabel!", but Illfang landed in the circle of fighters, roaring. Kirito and I rushed to Diabel's side."Diabel!" He knelt down, lifting Diabel's head to look at his HP. The bar was red, prompting Kirito to dig out a healing potion. "What the hell were you

thinking?"Before he could give it to Diabel, his hand was stopped. Diabel looked up at him. "You…know… you were a beta tester too, weren't you?" Kirito's eyes widened. "You were after the Last Attack Bonus, the rare item. You're just like me, a beta tester!"Diabel smiled sadly. "Please… you have to… defeat the boss… for everyone here…" His body faded and burst into hundreds of polygons, scattering into the air and dissipating. Kibaou's face was stunned; his will to fight was broken. "Diabel…"

Kirito crouched there motionless, eyes wide and shining. I thought back to when my parents died, remembering the pain of watching someone die in front of you. I thought back to the meeting in the

town center: Diabel standing there, happy, sharing his confidence with everyone. He was the kind of person who would give his all to help out the new players. I, on the other hand, would probably have left the people I was with if I knew what I was doing.I didn't even realize I had cried until the few tears fell to the floor. Kirito stood up without a word, motionless, and then turned with hard eyes toward the boss. I could feel his resolve to fight and win rising; he would not rest until one of the two was dead. He stared directly at Illfang, the monstrous red beast. Illfang was surrounded by players, but none were healed; its roar knocked them away.

Kirito tightened his grip on his sword, turning to face the boss.

"I'll cover you," Sinon stated

The hooded girl from Agil's party stepped to his side. "I'll go too."

I fell into position beside Kirito as well. "Count me in."

Kirito looked at the three of us. All he said was, "Okay." And then we took off running toward the boss. Illfang let out a roar as he knocked away the last few defenders, which meant there was nobody between the three of us and him. "We'll hit just we did the minions." When Illfang saw us running toward him, it drew its sword back. It started glowing with an eerie white light; a Sword Skill. Suddenly an arrow hit it in the shoulder, stunning it and canceling the Sword Skill. Kirito lunged forward with a yell, unleashing a Sword Skill of his own. The two attacks clashed, knocking both Kirito and Illfang off balance. The new girl leaped in, preparing to use a Sword Skill. But something was wrong. There was an imperceptible tightening in Illfang's muscles, a sign that only Kirito and I noticed. "Watch out, " we both yelled, Somehow she managed to twist her body to the side as Illfang's sword crashed down where she used to be. The boss had recovered from the Sword

Skill clash, allowing it to twist and swing in a heavy slashing motion. At first I thought the girl was killed, her red cloak had been ripped away. But I was wrong. The girl had been able to dodge the strike, countering with her own blows. Kirito and I stared at her: without her hood, her hair fell free. It was braided at the back to keep her bangs out of her face, but the rest fell down her back. Knocking back Illfang with a blow, she landed and stared at the monster, totally focused.

Kirito stood up and shouted, "He's coming back!" He rushed in to meet Illfang's blows with his own sword; the +6 enhancement was proving its worth. I shuddered, thinking about what would have happened if Kirito would have sold the sword.

Kirito and the girl were proving their skill as a team, each striking and blocking when the other was recovering from an attack. She had just struck a heavy blow when Illfang swept his sword down in the same attack that nearly killed her the last time. Kirito dashed in, blocking with his own sword. He somehow knocked away the sword and prepared for another counter. Illfang activated a Sword Skill

that started crashing down from above; in reaction, Kirito slashed using his own Sword Skill in an upward diagonal.

Something was off though. Illfang's initial strike was only a feint, and the real strike blew Kirito backwards, doing heavy damage. He crashed into the new girl, both of them falling to the ground. She was able to stand, but Kirito was badly injured. He tried his best to stand up, but Illfang had already jumped near them and was preparing to end their lives. An arrow flew from Sinon's bow, but Illfang brushed it aside. I rushed forward in an attempt to save them, but someone was closer.

Agil had somehow managed to charge the monster with his axe drawn and counter Illfang's blow, saving my friends. I rushed to their side, helping Kirito stand. Agil turned and looked back at the three of us as the other members of the raiding party charged Illfang to hold him back.

"We can hold this bastard off until your health's back up."

Kirito looked up in gratitude. "You got it."

Agil nodded and rushed into the fight. Kirito downed a healing potion and the girl supported him.

"I'm Asuna, by the way"

Kirito looked at her, confused.

"My name is Asuna. Just thought you would want to know it."

"Asuna. That's a nice name," Kirito replied, "ready to finish this guy?"

Suddenly, the boss used an Area of Effect attack to knock away every player attacking it. In the brief space it had to breathe, it leaped into the air and prepared to attack using a Sword Skill.

"Watch out!" shouted Kirito as he lunged off the ground, using a Sword Skill. Agil was the target of Illfang's attack, and so Kirito caught it by surprise.

"You're going down!" He used his Sword Skill to fling Illfang into the ground away from the wounded party members. Kirito landed and rolled to his feet, shouting "C'mon Asuna! Fuyuko! Help me beat this sucker! One last attack!"

Asuna ran forward, rapier drawn. "You got it!"

I was caught by surprise at his request for my help, but I dashed forward alongside Asuna. "No need to ask!"

Illfang stood up, bellowing in rage and anger. Kirito met its attack head on, knocking its sword aside. Asuna lunged forward to strike with her rapier; as predicted, Illfang tried to attack again. By that point I had circled around to its back and struck with my sword, driving it into the small of the back. Roaring in pain, it was open to Asuna's next strike. Lunging forward, Kirito sliced the boss from shoulder to hip. Not finished, he started his next strike going back the way he came; his eyes were blazing with fury and strength. Roaring a challenge, he sliced Illfang, leaving a deep cut from the hip through the sternum ending at the neck, sending Illfang flying over my head. In midair, Illfang's body glowed bright white and shattered into thousands of tiny little polygons.

The congratulations screen showed up and everyone went wild, celebrating our victory over the first floor of this death game.

"That was some fine swordsmanship, all of you. Congratulations." Agil raised his voice slightly. "Today's victory is all thanks to you, Kirito."

Kirito tried to deny it. "N-no…."

The assembled players had other ideas. "Yeah!" "You rock, man!" "Great job!" The varied applause and celebration finally brought a smile to Kirito's face.

"Stop it. Stop cheering for the bastard!"

Kibaou's voice rang throughout the hall. Everyone stopped and turned back to where he was sitting on the floor.

"Why'd you do it, huh? Why'd you let Diabel die?"