A/N: SURPRISE! What's this? Consistent uploads? This isn't DH at all, burn the witch!

Jokes aside, I was working on this at the same time as my other fic so I am happy to post this within the same 24 period of each other. With the help of TheSib, he and I made sure this chapter was not only long but filled to the brim with actiony goodness and intense moments for all to see. So without further ado, enjoy the chapter!


"Hiyah!" Asuna yelled as she swung her leg for a fierce kick at the large boulder in front of her. She would have liked to see it shatter into a million pieces from the hit, but sadly over the course of the three days she had been working to destroy it there was only a crack in it.

'Damnit, I can't believe how long it's taking to break this thing.' Asuna thought to herself. 'The boss raid is today. Do I even have any chance of making it at this rate?'

She remembered her words to Kirito and Leafa, promising to finish this quest within three days and make it to the boss fight. Sure, she had probably jumped the gun with the NPC's borderline sexual harassment. But her pride refused to let things end this way.

Plus, there was the special little surprise she had planned with Argo. no way was she planning to miss that.

"This isn't looking good." Nezha said. Over by his rock, Asuna could see he had made even less progress than her. Though she supposed it couldn't be helped considering his lack of depth perception within SAO. "I don't think we're going to make it in time for the boss raid."

"Yes we will! We just have to keep at it!" Asuna shouted. It was more to convince herself than Nezha really. She stood in front of the rock and began throwing punch after punch at it. Her hands hurt like hell from the constant bashing against the hard surface, but she didn't care. "I! Swear! I! Will! Break! This! Damn! Thing!"

After a minute or so, Asuna's strength began to give in. She panted as she cursed herself. "I won't quit… Not ever…"

"Do you think we could ask Argo to convince them to postpone the raid?" Nezha asked.

Asuna shook her head. "No, I don't think so. But I better message her to-"

"ASUNA! HELP ME!"

The sudden shout caused Asuna and Nezha to turn around and see its owner. Asuna's face brightened when she saw Argo and waved to her. "Argo, how's it-" Her expression immediately did a 180 turn when she saw the ox chasing after the info broker. "Why did you bring that thing here?!"

"I was in a rush and messed up my hiding skill attempt!" Argo called back. "Now save me!"

"I don't have my rapier though!"

"Then improvise!"

"What do you expect me to…" Asuna fell silent when she noticed the ox glance her way. Fear overtook her as she trembled. "Nice bull… Easy there boy…"

Her pleas were unanswered however when the ox stopped chasing Argo only to turn and charge at Asuna instead. "Waaaahhhh!"

With her pursuer no longer after her, Argo took a moment to catch her breath. "Ok, listen! I found out some info! There's a clue to the second floor boss somewhere here! We have to break a certain rock!"

"Which one?" Nezha asked.

"It's one called the Hermit's Perch!" Argo pointed over to the rock that the NPC monk was sitting on. "I think it's that one!"

"Are you KIDDING me?!" Asuna shouted back. "It took me three days to even get a crack in the rock I was working on! How do you expect me to-" Asuna cut herself off as an idea flashed in her head. "Wait…"

Quickly halting to a stop, Asuna turned to face the ox. She took off her red coat and held it out, waving it at the bull.

Argo's eye widened. "Is she…"

Seeing the red coat, the ox charged at Asuna in a frenzy rage. Asuna dodged at the last second, the bull rushing past her. Asuna moved to another spot in the field and waved her coat yet again. "Right here, big fella!"

Once again, the ox charged at her. Asuna smirked as she remembered the monk's rules of how they were allowed to clear the quest.

"Aside from using your weapons, you can break the boulder however you wish. Using your fists, your legs…"

As the ox came at her, Asuna dodged at the last second once again. But this time, the monster ended up running straight into the rock the monk sat on, splitting it in two and knocking the monster out cold from what was probably a serious headache.

"...even your head, if you must."

With the boulder being destroyed, the NPC let out a hearty laugh as he brought out Asuna's rapier. "Congratulations young lady. You have now mastered my-"

"Hiyah!" Asuna yelled as she delivered a fierce upwards kick to the old man's jaw. He fell back as she grabbed her rapier from him. "Oh my precious Wind Fleuret! Mommy's never letting you go again! Never, ever, ever!"

Argo and Nezha blinked in surprise as they tried to process everything that had just happened. "Ok so using oxes to break the rocks works. Gonna have to include that little tidbit in my next version of the guidebook." Argo said. She quickly went to Asuna to make sure the girl was okay while Nezha took a bit of a detour in order to bait another ox to do them same for himself to clear the quest.

After making sure both quests were cleared and Asuna was alright, all three hurried over to the destroyed rock and noticed some stairs leading underground. "Bingo! Nice work Asuna!"

The group of three journeyed down down the stairs together. Argo lit a torch as they walked through an underground cave. At the end, there was a wall painting, very similar to the one she had recently seen depicting Illfang. This one however, showed an entirely different monster, most likely the floor 2 boss.

"Is this… a clue to beat the boss?" Asuna asked.

"Maybe." Nezha said.

"Oh no…" Argo said in a grim tone.

Asuna and Nezha both looked at the info broker. "What is it Argo?" Asuna asked.

"No… no, no, no! This is bad! This is really, really bad!" Argo exclaimed. She took off running out of the cave. "We have to warn the raid party! They're all in really big danger if they go into here using the beta info about the Floor 2 boss!"

"What?!" both Asuna and Nezha exclaimed. They ran after Argo, hurrying together towards the boss labyrinth for Floor 2.

'Kirito… Leafa… Please be safe…' Asuna prayed. 'Let us make it there in time.'


Nato started his charge against the front line in a wild frenzy. Just as the info read, this was the standard attack formation the duo started with.

"Squad B, move into formation!" Lind shouted, making the troops line in to intercept the bull's swing.

"Got it!" With a mighty roar, Kirito parried the attack leaving the boss vulnerable. "Asuna, switch!" A few seconds passed with no one charging in to follow up with the switch. Sparing a glance back to the squad, he mentally kicked himself when he remembered where Asuna was at current. "S-Someone switch in already!"

Answering his call Leafa came in to push Nato back with a Rage Spike. The boss stumbled back a bit which allowed Leafa to look back to her brother with a smug, almost amused expression. "Asuna was the first one on the mind, huh?"

Hearing his squadmates snicker at her comment the swordsman had the grace to blush under the attention before focusing back on the boss. The bull making its way back onto its feet as it reared its fist upwards. "Sh-shut up and look out!"

Leafa yelped at the harsh yank back that brought her away from the shockwave that came from Nato smashing his fist on the ground. Something they were looking forward to as it left the boss in a huge stun delay. "Move in and attack!"

Armored steps answered the call as The Legend Braves moved in on the offensive. "Verily! Sally forth and take him down!" Orlando shouted as the others rallied with him.

Kirito and Leafa both watched the pseudo guild have at the boss as the others focused down Baran. For all their eccentric behavior and bluster, all of them knew how to coordinate their attacks and cover for each other like true teammates.

"You're seeing it right, Kirito?" Leafa said lowly between the two of them. "They know what they're doing."

He nodded while glancing at the others handling Baran for a moment. "Yeah, like Nezha said. Teamwork seems to be their strongest suit even without him." He watched Orlando parry another strike from Nato and saw the axe user come barreling to knock back the boss. "The real deal alright."

A rough hand pressing on his back made Kirito turn around see Agil looking at him with an amused expression. "What's wrong Sir Blackie, missing the last third of the trio?"

He wouldn't out right admit that to anyone listening. Especially not Leafa given how she might lord that over him for the next few floors. "Please, I can make do with that stubborn goat trying to push me around. I got enough to handle with this one here." As per usual he received a kick for that remark but he didn't acknowledge it.

"I think you can leave those knights be, They seem to have the situation under control."

"It's not The Legend Braves I'm worried about. It's the main force dealing with Baran."

A shrill yell of retreating only served to punctuate Kirito's worries as Lind and Kibao both ran to avoid the shockwave from Baran's hammer smashing down against the floor. Multiple players scattered around from the impact and were unable to get up as they were inflicted with paralysis. The others who were standing scrambled to help out those who couldn't move as Baran let out a vicious roar of rage.

As Kibao shouted out orders to the players who could move, Lind stood by staring at the situation. Their coordination was far off any many players weren't moving in sync. Such was the consequence of mixing two different factions who didn't care much for one another but this was simply going bad. 'No, we can still do this…! We… We can still do this!'

"Lind? Lind!? LIND!" The shout from the beater broke his train of thought and made him look back to the swordsman and his lackey running up to him.

"Lind, we have to pull out at this rate!" Leafa said urgently. "If more players get stunned then we're done for. We don't have enough manpower to endure a stun lock from two bosses at once!"

"N-No! Nato's already at half health and we're making progress here." He shouted desperately. It was easy to see the stress of the situation was getting to him. He wasn't a built leader like Diavel was. "If we leave now…"

"Unless another one of us gets stunned, we ain't leaving!"

The gruff yell caught all three pairs of eyes as Kibao focused in on them. "My, our men may not be the top gamers in the world or anything. But they're learning quick enough, and they're doing their damn best to keep up! Plus if we left now then all of our healing items would've gone to waste." He bared his sword and shield as if he was ready to charge in again.

Lind looked to the fellow 'guild leader' and took in his words. Though he didn't say it directly, the motivation of his words steeled his resolve as he took up his sword once more. "... Alright then. Thanks for that, let's go give that heffer what for."

Both brother and sister looked to each other and nodded their heads. They bumped fists for a moment before Kirito ran off to help the others with Nato. Leafa walked next to the two leaders and brandished her blade. "Hope you don't mind me cutting in like this. But working together is the only way we're taking this boss down."

"Hmph, just be sure to keep up girlie." Kibao grinned confidently. "Don't think for a second I'm gonna make getting that Last Hit Bonus easy for you."

"Just be careful when Baran reaches his last HP bar. That's when the real fight begins." Leafa warned as all three of them charged in to support the squad as they recovered.

With that the battle continued on both ends. Kirito's sided along with Agil to bait in the boss to allow the others to swing in on the offensive. While on Leafa's side she worked alongside the leaders to keep the DPS going against Baran. Playing on different sides with different roles gave a bit of hope to both siblings.

The players, true to Kibao's words were truly starting to get a sense of rhythm in their attacks and movements. Timing Sword Skills to the various parries and stun delays that they routined the bosses into through their own patterns.

But this was still a bit suspicious.

Very much so since Agil stopped moving and nudged Kirito. "Hey Kirito, doesn't this seem a bit off to you?"

"... It does but I can't just figure it out."

"I think I got something." Agil's face held a grim smile which put the black swordsman on edge. "Thinkin' about it logically, isn't it a bit weird that the last boss we fought was a 'lord' in Illfang? Why are we suddenly fighting generals, who are ranked lower than lords as far as position tiering goes?"

A rumbling noise caught all the players attentions as in the center of the boss room, round bases began to rise up to form a small tower of sorts. Along with that came the noise of something large falling from a great height as the wind rumbled loud enough to have even Nato and Baran stop their actions.

"Well… I guess we know now."

From the heavens came a behemoth of a minotaur that dwarfed even Nato and Baran in its height. It's striking black mane almost in an attention seeking manner clashed with the bright yellow battle armor that the beast wore alongside a huge double sided battle axe that looked like it could chop a mountain in half. Two long, upwards facing horns reached for the sky along with the golden crown that was adorned on its head. Its name gave true weight to Agil's words as six HP bars appeared next to its name.

Asterios, the Taurus King.

"Shit! It's a pincer attack!" Agil shouted while brandishing his axe. "We gotta get to the others now!" His beginning run was cut short as Kirito yanked him back from doing so. "Dude, the hell!?"

"The boss is still a good distance away from the main party!" He argued to the larger man. "Don't get your priorities mixed up, we gotta kill the other two now!"

Nato was being pushed back heavily by The Legend Braves and the other squads. It was nearing the red zone of its HP bar making the boss more ferocious in its march to crush the players. But the sudden dash in Vorpal Strike by Kirito knocked the boss out of his pattern and surprised the other players. "Quick! We gotta kill them now! Charge it and kill Nato!"

Though surprised at the urgency in the beater's voice, the squads nonetheless got swept up in the frenzy of Kirito's attack and began charging in to smash to boss at every angle possible. Nato being overwhelmed as it was couldn't keep up with the damage being done to it. Just as the overgrown bull hit the red HP portion on its health, a looming shadow cast over Nato and the players around it.

"DODGE!" Kirito's warning came just fast enough for several players who weren't in too deep to dodge the lightning breath that came out of Asterios's mouth to Nato's direction. The now miniboss was immune to the paralysis effect from the breath but those hit were now locked in stun. "Strength players, get the stunned ones out of range! We gotta keep them safe!"

Agil and the others in his squad began to move in while Nato was still recovering from the beatdown it received. The stronger players doubled up on carrying out players two at a time to make sure no one died needlessly.

But while the other squad covered those who were attacking Nato, the swordsman noticed that Asterios began turning to where Baran was.

To where Leafa was fighting.

"Legend Braves! Follow me, we're taking down Baran!" With near demonic speed, Kirito rushed past the pseudo guild who quickly rallied behind him.

"Aye Sir Blackie, let us march forth!" Orlando yelled behind him. He would normally be bothered by such a name but he had more important things to worry about.

Having noticed the new arrival like her brother, Leafa had taken to go on the offensive against Baran like a tour de force for the lead squad. Her parries and Sword Skills allowed Kibao, Lind and a whole host of other players to switch in and deal huge burst damage against the taurus. But so busy as she was, she didn't even notice the shadow looming over her and the party until it was too late.

She turned around to see Asterios leaning its head back, gearing up for another paralysis breath attack against the players fighting its general. There was no way to get out in time for any of them, even if she was the fastest in the squad. She let out a curse just as the king began moving its head forward to spew the breath attack at them.

"LEAFA!"

His shout gave way for a loud banging to the boss room door as it was forced opened roughly. A burst of wind rushed past his face before he even noticed what caused the noise to begin with. But the glimpse of auburn long hair and the flash of a rapier nearly made his heart stop with hope. "Asuna!?"

"Take this!" A flash of blue from her rapier gave way for a hugely damaging Shooting Star skill against Asterios's skull. The sheer force of the impact made the boss clench its jaw shut, cutting off the breath attack from activating. Asuna flipped backwards from the push back of the blow and reared her left foot back. Shocking Kirito and Leafa as her foot began to glow green.

"That's-'

'-A physical skill!'

In a beautiful yet vicious crescent of green, the lightning quick player unleashed a heavy Moon Kick skill. The blow smashing Asterios's chin up and knocked the boss on its rear with a good chunk of its first HP drain.

Cool as a cat, she landed in a way that grabbed everyone's attention. Especially the boss's as the bull slowly began getting up from the impact of the sneak attack. 'Alright, I got it's attention but what now? Kirito and Leafa are busy with the other two and they can't spare time to help.' Now looking at Asterios proper it was clear to see the huge size of the king could even dwarf a mountain in size. 'One hit from him and it could take out half by HP without a doubt. And the stun effect on the bull's attack means one hit and I'm dead.'

"Is she nuts!? She can't take a boss like that by herself!"

"Don't get sidetracked Lind!" Leafa shouted while blocking the force of Baran's hammer. "She's be fine, we have to kill these bosses now!"

The others realizing that helping Asuna now would only divide their already dwindling forces would only serve to doom them. Both Kibao and Lind reluctantly listened to the beater's opportunist sidekick and charged in to help get the weight off of her.

On the other side the others were beginning to have trouble against Nato's renewed vigor and the frenzied attacks that came with it. "Push it back!" Agil groaned while he and other tank players struggled to push back Nato's axe from their shields. Once they finally managed to throw the weapon off them, Kirito and The Legend Braves all converged to assault and blitz the boss down.

Their strenuous efforts didn't go noticed by Asuna who was currently dodging as best she could. Her high speed stat was a huge boon to helping with the dodging of Asterios's wide ranging attacks. 'Good, if the boss is distracted then it won't shoot its lightning breath at the others. Just a bit longer and Kirito and Leafa will kill the other two…' While Asterios was in another bit of stun delay she spared a quick glance to where Kirito was. But in that second when their eyes met, it felt like an eternity between them.

Kirito's frantic look of worry and fear staring right back into her own worried and desperate eyes. His arm trembling with the heart pounding fear for her safety.

'You idiot! Focus on the boss, not me!' Seeing the shadow loom over her once more, Asuna dashed in between Asterios's legs as his axe slammed down against the stone floor. 'No, I'm not gonna let you worry about me! I can handle myself just as you can with yourself. So keep focus moron, I can handle this boss-' While the boss was lifting the axe out the floor she leapt up into the air and prepared a Sword Skill to stab the bull in the back. '-all by myself!'

The attack was about a hair's breath away from connected when she was roughly yanked back by the boss's tail wrapping around her body. Her senses were thrown out of order when she was tossed high into the air and punched down into the floor by the boss's free hand. Skidding on the floor until she reached the middle of the boss room.

Seeing her get hit threw Kirito into a catatonic shock, so distracted by his worry that the wind got knocked completely out of him when Orlando roughly shoved his elbow into his stomach to move him out of the way of Nato's attack range. He struggled to get up as he saw the looks on The Legend Braves faces as they tanked Nato's blows.

"Sir Blackie! Go, she needs you!"

"But-!"

"GO! Do not let a fair maiden throw her life away!"

A thankful look was all he could spare as all efforts focused in on running to his friend. Making sure every ounce of energy went into making it on time to where she laid. 'I won't let you… I won't let you throw your life away! Not after what you said!' Kirito threw all his strength into one great leap towards Asuna just as Asterios lifted its fist again. 'I won't let you!'

Even in her stunned state, she felt bewildered at Kirito suddenly leaping in and embracing her as a shield. A shield that Asterios was all too willing to take a crack at with a solid punch to the teen's back. A rough cough rocketed out of his mouth as the two of them slid on the floor until they stopped near a pillar. Looking up, Asuna was horrified to see that Kirito got hit with the paralysis status. Both of their HP bars reaching into the low red zone.

"You idiot… Why did you do that." She asked while moving to look at the person who protected her.

"I… have no idea...:" He admitted. Yet despite that Kirito looked relieved to have saved her from being killed.

Leafa felt like crying out of a myriad of emotions. Fear for her brother and friend, anger at this boss for not wanting to die and sorrow that she couldn't get to them from how far she was. Similarly, The Legend Braves were also feeling such emotions of anguish. So much so that Orlando tried to move in to protect the two as Asterios lifted its head once more for a breath attack. But his advance was cut from one of his friends grabbing him by the arm. "Unhand me!"

"Don't do anything foolish Orlando!" The party member begged as he held firm against his leader's yanks. "It's too late for them!"

"What is wrong with being a fool! It's a knight's duty to fall to protect his allies and princess!" He finally broke through as tears of frustration at his helplessness began to fall from his face. "If we aren't meant to be heroes then what is the point of charging forth into glorious battle for!?"

"Well said, Orlando!"

A sharp sound of cutting air whistled through the boss room as a device went and slashed Asterios in the eyes. The boss screamed in agony as it fell down to the floor.

Kirito looked to Asuna who let out a sigh and shook her head. "Took you long enough."

"Forgive me, but you run way too fast."

Kirito smirked at seeing the chakram return to its owner. The very same owner he gave the weapon to in the first place. "You son of a bitch, Nezha. The two of you are gonna make me look sloppy with how quickly you cleared that quest."

"Nezha!?"

The former blacksmith looked to his leader and friends as they stared in disbelief at seeing him fight. He shook his head and pointed at Nato. "All of you, go forth and take down those two!" He turned around and glared at the main boss who gave the raid party such trouble. "I'll kill this thing myself!"

With a new sense of hope in their chests, the raid party rallied hard to make the final push against the minibosses while another player dragged Asuna and Kirito to safety. "Man, you two sure know how to get into trouble, eh?"

"Argo!?" It sure was a surprise and a half to see the info broker in a boss room of all places. Given that she could hardly fight anything above her weight, a simple attack could spell death for her. "What are you doing here!?"

"Well, Ki-bou I was gonna let Asuna go on ahead and rely the new info we got but it seems like she went balls deep to savin' yer butt." Argo pressed first an antidote potion to both player's mouths to which they happily drank. Then handed them healing potions as a pick me up as they watched Nezha distract the main boss with his chakram.

"The boss is rearing up again!" Lind shouted as he turned to Nezha. "You're our only hope, stop it!"

Being able to play as he once did in other games, being able to fight to the fullest. Nothing more could bring tears of joy down his cheeks as he threw his chakram yet again. "Right!"

Argo whistled as he and the rest of his friends began to handle Asterios. Especially now with the efforts being focused on him with Nato and Baran now dead. It was nice to see someone who was so willing to help take her advice to heart and really use that weapon to its fullest. But even then, The Legend Braves were only holding the line because of their super powered equipment compared to the rest of them.

But such thoughts came to an end when she was suddenly glomped to the floor by a black haired blur. Kirito nearly felt his heart leap out his mouth when he saw Leafa hugging Argo close to her chest yelling out words of thanks for saving the two of them.

"G-Gah! Lemme go, Boobasaurus Rex! You're smotherin' me to death!" The Rat complained. She complained more when Leafa's grip tightened at the new nickname for her busty status.

It brought a smile to his face that she was alright. Knowing her, she probably got the last hit bonus against Baran and rushed her way over here. He looked over to Asuna who immediately looked away with a red face with him doing the same. It was true that he had no idea as to the reason why he suddenly jumped in like that nor for the huge amount of worry he had for such a capable fighter. But it made him smile to see she was alright even if she was fumming in her own thoughts about Kirito's save of her.

"The hell is that creeper grin on yer face for Ki-bou? You're freaking me out!"

Argo's statement was enough for Kirito to get back up on his feet and give a bump to his sister's shoulder. "Ready to get back in there?"

"I am but you better get ready for after all this because I am gonna kick your ass for being so reckless back there." Leafa warned while drawing her sword.

"Yeah, I've just come to expect that at this point."

"Hold on!"

Asuna's shout brought attention back to her, even with hearing Agil's shouts to help now that they were healed up. "You two are trying to steal the show again huh? Partners come rolling in to get the last hit." The accusation wasn't lost on the two of them but they weren't about to defend their skill to pacify Asuna. "Well then… Let's see you two try and get it… When I'm gunning for it too!"

With her lightning speed Asuna rushed past both the siblings who yelled out and followed after, a smile on their faces as they joined the front lines.

With the support of his friends once more, Nezha took his charge seriously as the others protected him. Not out of his burden at not being able to fight but to guard their lifeline in this fight. Just as before they worked together as a team to push the boss back. Even Agil's backing up with his squad's tanking prowess made confidence bubble back up inside him. With this momentum back into full swing, the main forces pushed back Asterios one last time just as the trio team came rushing in with their blades glowing bright.

"Just like last time." Asuna said while throwing off her cloak.

"You got it, try to keep up Leafa."

"Don't worry, we've got this!"

With slash after slash the three of them bombarded the boss with skill after skill to keep him in a delayed lock of being constantly parried and charged against. His fists and axe couldn't keep up from the never ending stream of blows being launched at him. With one final parry at Leafa's hands both Kirito and Asuna jumped in with their weapons set ablaze. A victorious roar ripped out their lungs as they thrust forward to stab the boss through the head and drop its HP down to zero.

A death kneel of a scream gave way to the boss exploding into a million crystalline fragments. It allowed silence to reign through as the raid party realized the boss had been defeated after a huge effort. That's when the screams of cheer and joy came when the same banner as before shined overhead.

Congratulations!

As the rampant cheering went on both Lind and Kibao went over the number of raid members from when they started to when it ended. Both of them were nearly slack

Kirito leaned against one of the pillars in the room as he slumped to the floor. He looked over at Argo. "So you mind filling me in on how the hell Asuna and Nezha were able to clear that quest so fast? Neither of their STR stat could have been as high as mine or Leafa's."

Argo showed Kirito a big smirk in response as she tapped her head. "Lil' Asuna was real clever. She used an ox mob to break the rock for her. You shoulda seen her, going all matador on it, Ki-bou. Once she did that and we found the clue to the boss fight, we rushed here as fast as we could."

'After we remembered we had to go back and help Nezha clear the quest so he could use the chakrams in the first place.' Asuna thought to herself. That was a blunder that had all three of them face palming themselves when they realized it halfway down the mountain.

"The weakness of the boss was its horns. Hit 'em and the big guy stumbles for a bit." Argo explained. "Nezha's chakrams really came in handy for that."

"Kirito! Asuna! Leafa!" Nezha ran over to the three players with a huge smile on his face. "That finish was amazing! You three were great!"

"Thanks, but it's really you who saved the day, Nezha." Asuna said. "Being able to use those chakrams without a test run. It really came through for us with the boss."

Nezha rubbed the back of his head. "Well most of it was the system auto-aiming for me." He looked down at the throwing weapon in his hand. "But still… I finally got to be what I always wanted. A true hero."

"Yup you sure helped out a lot. You deserve a big thanks." Agil said as he walked over with multiple other players. "Unfortunately… that's not all there is to say." Nezha and the others grew tense as Agil's expression became stern. "You know, you were a blacksmith until very recently. And there's a lot of players that coincidentally had a similar experience with you."

"Do you have any idea… how much trouble we faced?" one of the other players asked with a growl. "Since our rare weapons we paid you to upgrade broke to pieces?"

Kirito widened his eyes. 'Wait… Are all these players victims?'

"H-Hold on! It's not what you think!" Kirito said as he stepped forward. "I gave him the chakrams to-"

"It's alright Kirito." Nezha said, cutting the raven haired swordsman off. He looked at Agil and the other players he had scammed out of their weapons, and bowed his head. "You're suspicion are correct. I switched out all your weapons for replicas… and took them for myself."

Agil narrowed his brow. "Is there anyway to get them back?"

Nezha shook his head. "No… I sold them. And then… I spent all the col on luxuries and other stuff."

"Why you…" one of the players came at Nezha and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "You son of a bitch! Do you have any idea how hard we worked to upgrade those weapons?! How much it hurt to have those weapons gone?!"

Nezha couldn't look the player in the face. "I…"

"I thought I might not be able to stay on the front lines. But my party… they chipped in the money to help me gather materials. Even though it set them back so much…" He glared at Nezha. "And you have the nerve to spend it all on luxuries?! Not to mention buying your own elite gear?! And then you waltz into the boss raid and act like some kind of hero?! Where do you find the nerve?!"

"... Do whatever you want then." Nezha spoke. "I deserve it. I won't hold it against you. Do whatever you wish. Even…" he gulped as he finished his sentence. "Even if you want to kill me."

The player reached for his weapon, as did a few others that were equally angry. "I have half a mind to do it, you know? To cut you down right here and now."

As Kirito was about to step in, a loud shout was heard. "Halt!" All heads turned to see Orlando and the Legend Braves walk forward. "There is no need to soil thy hands on him. This player… no… This hero…" Orlando said. "Is our companion." Several players widened their eyes as they heard this. Orlando and his party all bowed down as they got on their knees. "He was only doing this upgrading scam on our orders. All our gear that you see here… was created using the weapons and money spent selling them."

Several players began to grow enraged as they heard this. Orlando understood their rage at him and his party and took off his helmet. "If you wish… we will give up this equipment, as well as our col. You may do with them as you wish."

Altogether, the Legend Braves unequipped their fancy gear, going back to basic starter-level equipment. Several players grumbled about the option as they thought it out. Frankly speaking, it wasn't a horrible way to compensate. The Legend Braves would be reduced to practically nothing. Meanwhile the fancy equipment they had would sell for a lot, and would cover almost all the damage costs they had created.

However, one player wasn't so ready to forgive them.

"Do you really think that'll fix things?" Everyone looked over as a hooded player walked up to the Legend Braves. He kicked away one of the expensive pieces of gear. "Maybe that'll help cover the cost of the damage you did." he said. "But what about the players that died as a result of your little scam?"

Everyone in the room widened their eyes as they heard this. Shouts of confusion were heard from around the room.

"Died?!"

"Who died?!"

"You're saying players that got scammed by these guys died?!"

"I know the truth!" he said. He pointed an accusing finger at Nezha. "Tons of players got backstabbed by that blacksmith over there! And one of them had to go out into the fields with cheap store-bought gear! And when he came across a mob he was able to kill before… this time it was HIM who died!" Several gasps came as the hooded player continued. "You can't replace those lives with simple dirty cash, and you know it!" He looked around to all of the players. "I think we all know the only way they can truly pay for their crimes, don't you?"

Kirito, Asuna, and Leafa all widened their eyes as several players began to all have dark thoughts flowing through their mind. It was easy to see where they were going with this.

"It was an indirect PK…"

"They killed that player…"

"They should go apologize to the people they killed…"

Kirito and the others didn't know what to do. Chants of "Kill them" began to float around the room. Players grabbed the Legend Braves including Nezha and dragged them all to the center of the room.

'No… This'll turn into a public execution at this rate!' Kirito thought. 'If this happens… then PKing will become acceptable in SAO. It'll turn into a game of murder.' The thought caused Kirito's eyes to widen as he looked at the hooded player. 'Is that what he's aiming for? Is he trying to do this on purpose?'

"EVERYONE STOP!"

The shout from Lind caused everyone to fall silent and turn to him. Lind looked around at the players. "As leader, I will render our judgement! I trust there are no objections?!"

Nobody spoke up. Kibao also shrugged in agreement with it. Lind looked directly at the leader of the Legend Braves. "Orlando. If you are their leader… then judge them with your own blade."

'In other words, Lind is telling Orlando to kill his own party members.' Kirito realized. 'Is he nuts?!' Just as he was about to step in and stop this, he found Asuna and Leafa blocking him off with their arms. "What are you girls-"

"Just shut up and watch, Kirito." Asuna told him in a whisper.

Kirito looked over at Leafa who gave a nod as if to say to trust Asuna. He couldn't understand for the life of him what these girls were thinking.

The Legend Braves all looked at their leader in fear as he picked up his sword. Nezha also couldn't believe what was happening. "Orlando…" But when he looked at Orlando's eyes, he saw not the look of someone who was about to murder his comrades. He saw the caring smile he had always known Orlando to have.

'No… Orlando, you're not thinking of-'

With a swift motion, Orlando turned the blade on himself and pierced it into his own body. Several gasps of shock came as Orlando's HP plummeted rapidly.

'Screw the girls, I can't let this happen.' Kirito thought. Just as he was about to charge in and stop this suicide, Lind's blade lit up and swatted the sword away, stopping the decrease in Orlando's HP.

"That's enough." Lind said with a grin. "I accept your sincerity."

The Legend Braves gathered around Orlando, checking on their leader and giving him a potion to recover his health. The hooded player that had called out the Legend Braves stared at the scene in disbelief. "H-Hey, what're you doing?! Do you really think it's ok for them to live after those players died?!"

"What are you talking about?" Lind said as he flipped his hair in an overly dramatic fashion. "Orlando, the leader of the scam artists, has just died before our eyes. Now he is reborn, as a new man." He looked down at Orlando and his teammates. "And now they can start over, and work their way to the front lines. We won't wait for you though, but the front lines could always use some brave heroes."

Everyone stared in silence up until that point. But at hearing Lind's words, nearly every player in the boss room burst out laughing. Everyone seemed to be clutching their sides except for Kirito who seemed to be unable to comprehend what was going on.

There was one other besides Kirito who was confused at what was going on. The hooded player that had suggested the PKing in the first place. "Wh-What are you all laughing about?"

"Hahaha, come on man didn't you just hear all that? How can you not laugh?" Kibao laughed as he threw an arm around the player.

"H-Huh?"

"But enough about that" Kibao said. His tone was suddenly serious as his arm tightened on the hooded player. "Say pal… Who exactly was it that got his weapon stolen and died? Name? Party? He must have been aiming for the front lines, so some us us probably heard of him."

A cold sweat went down the back of the player's back. "I… I uh… heard it from someone."

"Psh, that's it?! You were making all those accusations based on a rumor?!" Kibao smirked as he delivered a bonk to the hooded player's head.

The player kneeled on the ground as others laughed at him. It was clear that things were not going to go as he planned.

"Well, in any case…" Argo said. "I'll make sure to personally investigate all of it. The player's name. Cause of death. And any relation to the scam." she smirked at the hooded player. "Assuming they exist at all of course."

"Grrr…" With his plot obviously a failure, the player took off running out of the room. Players laughed at him as he ran, leaving them behind.

"Yo, beater!" Hearing his title called caused Kirito to turn to Lind. "You and your two girls go activate the teleport monument on the next floor. You're used to it, aren't you?"

Kirito let out a sigh. "Yeah, yeah. I'll get right on it." He turned to the stairs and waved to Leafa and Asuna. "Let's go."

Asuna and Leafa followed after the raven haired swordsman as they journeyed together to the next floor. It was a long staircase, much like the last one. It wasn't long before they were well out of earshot from the others.

"Alright spill it. You two knew something, didn't you?" Kirito asked. "That went way more smoothly than it should have." The giggles from Asuna and Leafa told him he was right, and it only served to irritate him further.

"Well… we MIGHT have had a little plan we set up with Argo." Asuna said.

"And she MAY have let Lind and Kibao know ahead of time, who spread the word to the rest of the main raid team." Leafa added.

"So wait, all that was staged?!" Kirito exclaimed as he turned around. "You two set all this up to get the Legend Braves to confess?!"

"See? And you said he wouldn't get it?" Leafa giggled as she looked at Asuna.

"Well he is a bit of a dunce sometimes." Asuna smirked.

Kirito couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Let me get this straight. You trusted Kibao and Lind with this information but not me?!"

"Well we needed to make sure it was believable." Asuna shrugged. "And frankly, we weren't sure you'd be able to put on a convincing performance."

That insult hurt more than all of the damage Kirito had taken in his fights since the start of SAO put together. He turned around and grumbled. "You two suck."

"Aww… is someone mad that we didn't trust him?" Leafa giggled.

Kirito spared a small glance at the two. "So what about the hooded guy? The one who was trying to get the Legend Braves PKed?"

"That was admittedly not part of the plan." Asuna admitted. "But at least it all worked out in the end."

Kirito turned back around as they headed towards the door. "I guess it did."

"Now that I think about it…" Asuna said as her eyes narrowed. "The Last Attack Bonus didn't show up for me. What about you, Leafa?"

The black haired girl shook her head. "Nope, me neither." Collectively, the two of them glared at Kirito. "Kirito…"

"H-Hey, it was pure chance right? It's not my fault." Kirito shrugged.

"Except you were behind us in that final attack." Asuna said. "You made us go in first on purpose, didn't you?"

Kirito simply whistled innocently, not daring to look back at the two girls. "H-Hey, isn't that the door to the next floor?! Let's go check it out!"

"Kirito!"

"Get back here!"

Kirito ran as fast as his AGI stat would allow him. Asterios be damned, it was the two girls behind him that were the real threat to his life.


A/N: Ah Kirito, skilled a player you might be. But hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Anyways that wraps up floor 2 which now allows me to address something for the future regarding the relation to this fic and Progressive. While it might borrow from both that and the anime, I do want to take on more original story ideas and arcs for the Aincrad saga. As such, I will not be doing Floor 3 and the Dark Elf War arc due to as of the posting of this chapter, the arc not being complete in the manga. And from what I've read it would take at least 6 chapters of this to even cover that arc and I don't want to drag my feet on it.

That being said though I will still acknowledge past events that happen on floors below even if I end up skipping a few to progress the journey. I hope you all understand my reason for doing this, I simply want to make sure there is a smooth progression of story while not dragging my feet anywhere along the way. So with that being said, hope you all enjoyed the chapter and drop a review if you want!

Have a good one everybody!