A/N Btw, figured I should mention this to avoid any potential confusion. Italics done like this 'wordy words' are a character's thoughts. As opposed to the ones without apostrophes, which are used to denote emphasis or changes in scenes/time.

A few minutes of party formation later

"So, now that you seem to have all formed parties. Let's all say what role you'd like to fill so we can get a decent formation going. And no, you can't all be dps that wouldn't work. How about we start with you guys?" He says while pointing towards Kirito and Co, who all look a bit surprised to be put on the spot but not overly much.

With Klein being who answers for them "We are more suited towards dps then tanking, but we can both if needed. It's also important to know that we can deal ranged damage as well, with magic or thrown weapons"

As one can expect, the insinuation that magic is a thing people can use caused something of an uproar that takes a few minutes before Diabel is able to regain control of the planning session. "Everyone quiet down! We can't get answers if everyone is shouting over each other!" Which of course, involved him shouting over people.

Once everybody had quieted down, at least to the point where they were no longer talking over each other. He asked the questions everybody gathered there wanted to know; sans Kirito's group that is.

"So. You claim to be able to use magic, can you back up that claim? Also details on how you use it would be most helpful. Because such info would be very useful for clearing the game." He says over the few remaining whispers and half-questions of the crowds

Kirito's, and by extension the party's, response is to summon a small flame in their palm for a few seconds to make sure they have everyone's attention before sending it flying into one of the stone walls of the amphitheater. "That should be proof enough that it can be used. As for the second question, I can't really explain it beyond the basic act of doing so; and that has its own requirements associated with it. In order to do it without the system's help you have to be aware of the….magical energy? that the spell uses in order to cast it yourself. Which from the limited experimentation we've done so far doesn't seem to be possible without having casted a spell before. And yes, I know that sounds contradictory but that's all we have been able to figure out so far."

Understandably, that confuses everyone and it takes several seconds before anyone is able to ask for a clarification. With the one doing so being Kibaou, making it more of a demand than a question.

"Now just wait a second. You tellin me that in order to use magic. We need to be able to use magic? What sort of beta-tester cheating bullshit is this?! That makes no fucking sense! You just don't want to let anyone else in on it!"

Once again Kirito looks a bit uncomfortable in the face of such…. unpleasantness but doesn't shrink in on themselves like they did prior. They instead let out a sigh, as if they knew this would happen at some point. "We aren't trying to do that. It's just that in our experiences so far, casting magic without the aid of the system requires you to have a feeling for the magical energy within you to do so. Which doesn't seem to be there unless you've casted a spell before. Because we've tried to instruct other people how to do it before but the feeling of the energy just wasn't…..there. Though I will admit that could just be our inexperience with it and are missing something important. Either way, we can't teach you how to use the magic we have." At the end of their attempted clarification they give a shrug, as if to say "it is what is what"

Kibaou opens his mouth to let out another string of accusative expletives but is cut off by Diabel "Thats certainly odd, but I don't really see what you'd have to gain from lying about it, especially in such a convoluted way, so I guess I have to accept it. Though it raises the question, if you can't cast magic without the system's aid originally, then how did you get the system to let you do it? There must have been something you did to cause it. Also, is there a reason you are the one answering these questions and not any of your companions? Since you claim they can use magic as well."

He doesn't look accusatory when he says it, but does look a tad suspicious regarding why Kirito seems to do most of the talking for the group.

In response Anna, who had introduced herself earlier with the rest of the party, answers. "That is because while we can all use magic, except Sinon who only joined us recently, Kirito is the one who has spent the most time messing with it and trying to figure it out. So she is the most skilled of us in that regard. As for how we gained the ability to cast magic through the system; We completed a quest that gave our party the ability to do so. We had no idea we'd get the ability to do so from it, but we did."

Diabel was satisfied by this answer, but as seemed to be the trend here the cactus headed Kibaou was not. Shouting once more with a sort of haughty glee "See! I was right! They just want to take all the good quests and stuff for themselves! We shouldn't trust them!"

Luckily though, he seemed to be alone in his delusions because nobody else appeared to agree with him. One player who even went as far as to call him out. Exasperated with his insistent nonsense. "Dude, seriously. Can you give it a rest? You definitely aren't helping your point here considering you've done nothing but accuse others of things and have provided nothing of value to this meeting. Can we just get back to what we were doing earlier? You know, making a raid team? Like, don't get me wrong this magic stuff is interesting but it's apparently not going to be of any use to us currently."

Kibaou grumbles furiously at the blatant dismissal but has enough sense to not try and push his agenda more. Causing Diabel to realize that they did get rather sidetracked, again.

"Yes, let's get back to what we were doing before this reveal. So, you guys would be best for dps but can also tank? Noted. Let's move on to the others then"

Sometime later, near the end of the meeting

"Ok, so we've established who the dps, tanks, and off-tanks are going to be. That just leaves who is going to be dealing with the adds it summons. We probably won't need many people, like 3 or 4 unless there are a lot of them. So, let's have the person in the brown cloak who hasn't said anything yet. Sinon, because of her ranged attacks and maybe Kirito for the same reason unless someone else wants to volunteer?" Silence is the only response he gets, because nobody wants to be stuck with dealing with the adds instead of fighting the actual boss. Though neither Kirito or Sinon seem too annoyed with the plan, and the cloaked person maintains their silence.

Sinon does direct an observation towards him however "So i'm guessing your plan is for me and Kirito to try and aggro any of the mobs with our ranged attacks so they don't harass the others? Decent enough plan. Shouldn't be hard to pull off."

"Yes, that is the idea I was going for. And with that" He proceeds to clap his hands, as if for emphasis or a desire to be dramatic "That concludes the meeting. How about we meet up in front of the labyrinth at noor tomorrow? That should give everyone enough time to prepare accordingly." He receives a series of grunts, vague acknowledgements, or silence and most of the gathered players start to file out of the amphitheater except for Kirito and friends, and the stranger.

Kirito turns towards their friends before saying "I'm going to see if I can get anything out of that person I am expected to be working with, want to join me Sinon?"

"Sure, probably best to have some idea who they are before we fight a boss with them. Would rather things not end in disaster for trusting someone too much."

The two head over to the still unknown stranger, who turns toward them as they approach, though doesn't say anything. Causing Kirito to try and break the ice with "Hello, as you likely know I'm Kirito and this is my friend Sinon. We were hoping we could get to know you a bit before the raid tomorrow?"

To the surprise of both of them, the person, apparently a girl going off their voice -though lacking in inflection or emotion- answered. "You may call me Asuna. It is a pleasure to meet you two. What do you desire to know?"

Kirito is too stunned by her actually answering them that Sinon has to inquire instead "We were wondering what sort of weapon you use? And your...skill level if that isn't offensive to ask. It's fine you don't want to answer"

"I use a rapier, it is...enjoyable to stab things with it. As for my skill level, I don't know how good this makes me; but I can fight 3 of those kobold monsters in the...labyrinth at the same time without much difficulty." She doesn't sound offended or mad, though the near-monotone and hood make it effectively impossible to determine how she is feeling at all.

Though by this point Kirito had recovered from their shock, and so decided to add a comment themselves. "That's understandable, it is….satisfying to kill monsters by launching small fireballs at them in a way that regular sword play isn't. Though that aside, taking down 3 kobold sentries at once, solo is pretty impressive. Not many people can handle two at once, let alone 3."

"Hpmh, perhaps we will be able to get out of this game then. Or perhaps not if people like that overly loud individual are common. Either way, let us return to your inquiries. Is that all you wanted to know about me? Or may I bid you two a good night?" She stands up as she finishes saying this, as if she is done with this conversation but doesn't want to directly say it.

"Oh uh..no, but we were also wondering if you would like to join us and our friends for some food? Harry One is a surprisingly good cook. He doesn't say much though."

Asuna stops heading towards the exit for a moment in assumed contemplation before answering without turning back around. "You have my thanks for the offer, but I shall decline this time. Perhaps another time, if we manage to win tomorrow that is. Good night to the both of you."

"Well, she seemed nice enough. If a bit odd with the whole speaking in a monotone and rather formal speech thing. Though I'll take her over dealing with some of those other people any day." commented Kirito

"Yeah, the amount of people who tried to get us to join their party, despite it being rather obvious we were already in one, was pretty absurd. And don't get me started on that spiky haired ass who kept trying to cause problems."

"He was definitely quite the….character that's for sure. But let's forget about that for now and go eat some of Harry's cooking, hopefully he's making something good tonight."

And with that, the two friends headed back to their friend group to indulge in some nice food and pleasant company. Because either way, things would change tomorrow. For better or for worse, things would no longer be what they once were.

The next day, at the door to the Boss Room

"Okay everyone, here we are. Everyone remember what they are supposed to be doing?" Diabel pauses for a few seconds to get the signs of acknowledgement before continuing "Good. Provided Illfang doesn't do something completely unexpected or absurd; and hopefully even if he does. Then this shouldn't be a problem as long as we stick to the plan and don't get reckless. Let's beat this boss and show everyone that this game can be beaten and that we can do this!"

A few cheers go up but most of those present say nothing, focusing on the task at hand. And it is with this determination that they enter the boss room that is initially shrouded in darkness before suddenly brightening once they enter it to reveal that for reasons unknown, the room is patterned like a pastel kaleidoscope.

Though such an unusual design choice is ignored by the players who are only focused on one thing; Illfang, the Kobold Lord who stood at a good 12ft tall easily and was covered in bristly red fur. However, unlike most of the lesser kobolds it barely wore any armor at all, just a pair of bracers and an open faced helmet. Leaving it large, some might even say gluttonous belly exposed. Though the 4 health bars appearing next to its name indicated this would not be an easy fight by any means.

Rising from its throne at the back of the room, it made a great leap to the middle of the room and let out a roar, summoning a squad of kobold sentinels -who did actually wear full a set of armor- to its side who proceeded to charge the players.

"Okay, squads B, C, and E draw the boss's aggro while squads A, D, and F focus on damaging it. Squad G deal with the kobolds and keep them off us. Carefully everyone, focus on safety instead of dealing damage."

Everyone went into formation and either charged the boss, or in the case of squad G which was composed of Kirito, Sinon, and Asuna who headed towards the kobold sentinels with Kirito and Sinon using firebolts and small throwing knives to attract their attention to them.

"Time to back up your claim Asuna, because we will be here awhile. Hope I have enough knives in my inventory to deal with all the kobolds that will be summoned." Within a few seconds of Sinon saying this, one of the sentinels reached them and swung an overhead blow at her. She dodged and then stabbed into its neck while it was unbalanced from the missed swing.

Another one tried to go for Kirito, only for its mace to be deflected by their sword and receive a firebolt to its helmeted face for the trouble, that was followed up by a diagonal slash from its shoulder to waist.

A 3rd went for Asuna with a wide sweep, hoping to catch her off guard with it. Only for its attack to be back-stepped with ease and then be faced with a lunge and a series of stabs that were chained together with a sort of fluid grace. It, like the others, was dealt with quickly and efficiently.

"As I've said yesterday, three of them at once isn't overly hard. One at a time like this is a trivial matter. Will we be dealing with more than just groups of 3 like that one?" Her tone was just as emotionless as usual, though it seemed to have a hidden layer of snark to it.

"It's possible more will be summoned at a time as the fight goes on, or the interval between summonings will go down so that we have to deal with more of them in less time. Potentially even both, we'll just have to wait and see how things go." They replied, expecting this boss fight to be more of a marathon then a sprint and preparing as such.

Over with Squad A, which was just Klein and his original group of friends, things were going reasonably well for them so far. Illfang was surprisingly fast for both his size and general physique, which had caused a few mishaps with both the other dps squads and one of the tank squads. Where they misread a potential opening or were surprised by a new attack, resulting in them taking some hits but it was early enough in the fight that nobody was in danger of dying. And the unfortunate victim or victims were covered for by the others drawing the boss's attention or blocking subsequent attacks.

This is to say that, slowly but surely Ilfang's health was going down without any major problems. However the fight was most definitely rather hectic with all the movement, attacks, blocks, and tactics being called out, as well as the general sounds of exertion, resulting in a sort of low din covering the area.

"Good thing Kirito and those other two are keeping the adds off us, this would be so much harder if we had to deal with them and the boss. Because this guy isn't too bad on his own but-" Klein is cut off by a horizontal swipe from Illfang's large axe, forcing him to jump back to dodge it "-if with any extra targets this would be terrible."

Seeing that illfang is going after the dps again, one of the tanks slammed their shield into its gut, rather forcibly drawing its attention once more. Before interjecting their own thoughts on the matter "Yeah, with just the one big guy we have to focus on it's not really a problem. Will definitely still take awhile with how long health it has, but not particularly dangerous; long as none of those kobolds get interested in us."

Almost as if the monster could tell it was being disrespected it became incensed and retaliated with a brutal overhead strike that the player was only barely able to sidestep out of the way of, the axe passing inches to his left and becoming embedded in the stone floor. A fact that was immediately noticed when Illfang tried to pull back the axe, only for it to be stuck in place. With the tank watching, stunned over the force of the blow.

"Ok...let's not insult the giant monster with the massive axe. Got it…" The stunned player muttered before seeming to snap out of it "Guys! It looks like its axe is stuck, now's our chance to do some real damage!"

Most of the surrounding players piled on the boss as a result, exploiting its vulnerability for all its worth with various kinds of attacks and skills, and even a few firebolts launched at the oiled areas on the boss. Before retreating back to their positions once the boss managed to pry out its axe.

Though not all the players had the cautious optimism of the others, some like Kibaou held rather….different views. He was still rather aggravated after getting shot down in the meeting yesterday 'Ugh, just thinking about those annoyances pisses me off. I'll bet they were all dirty beta testers and were just trying to cover their own backs. Well I'll show them, I'll show them all!'

Though, he avoided making any overt moves for now, wanting until the boss was weak enough for his plan.

3 health bars later

The fight progressed as expected, with more sentinels being spawned for every health bar depleted; but with the combined efforts of the three of them they still posed little threat even in their greater numbers.

"I wonder if we will get a level up or two from all these sentinels we are killing. Or is this one of those encounters where you only get xp for the first set of enemies you kill? What do you think Kirito?"

"Well Sinon, I can't check without opening my status screen which i'd rather not do currently but going off the difficulty of the kobolds, i'm learning towards the second option." They said while in the middle of burning the metaphorical face off another kobold.

In fact, the two had taken to conversing with each other in between, or even during the waves of kobolds because they could. Though somewhat predictably Asuna remained silent unless asked a question directly.

While the other squads rotated positions throughout the fight in order to ensure the wellbeing of everyone involved and maintain efficiency. Nothing terrible or particularly noteworthy happened until Ilfang's final health bar dropped into the red.

As expected, it let out an enraged roar and ditched his axe and shield to grab the larged sheathed weapon on its right side. To reveal that it was a particularly large nodachi instead of the talwar that everyone had been expecting. Though so far no one had noticed the discrepancy regarding the boss' weaponry.

"Ok everyone! We have it on the ropes now but don't get cocky, It might change its attack patterns up so be on your guard! We are almost through with this endeavour!"

Finished with its roaring and attempted intimidation, Illfang made a quick swipe at the nearby squad F. Though due to Diabel's warning to remain on guard and experience with the boss' sudden movement they were able to avoid getting hit and retreated somewhat to let the tanks take the lead.

It was at this point Kirito's group had finished dealing with the most recent wave of kobold sentinels and they looked over at the boss to see if things were going according to plan. It took a second but Kirito did realize that the weapon the boss was wielding was different, and concerningly so.

They had wanted to keep their beta tester status more of a secret considering the potential unpleasantness it could bring, but they knew if they didn't say something people's lives would be put into unnecessary danger due to the lack of information, thus they raised their voice and shouted to the others

"Diabel, that's not a talwar, it's a nodachi! They don't use the regular set of sword skills! But the ones for katanas instead!"

Luckily this warning was received by everyone who seemed to become even more wary of the boss' movement, if such a thing was possible. Though unfortunately "everyone" included Kibaou who reached an accurate conclusion for once in his life; and that was that Kirito was a beta tester. 'I knew one of those damn beta testers was here, and of course it's her. Knew she sounded too uppity to be a regular player, well I'll show her. The boss is even leaving itself open right now.'

However, contrary to Kibaou's belief the boss was in fact doing the exact opposite of leaving itself open to attack. Though those unfamiliar with the concept of Iaijutsu could be forgiven for this misconception.

What Illfang had done was that upon seeing that only the sturdier targets remained close to it, it had sheathed its nodachi in preparation for a quickdraw to cut into anyone who approached and began charging a sword skill in secret.

Of course, Kibaou did not know this and so charged the boss in an attempt to get some easy damage, with it turning to face him.

Diabel was initially puzzled on what the boss was doing, before realizing that since it was apparently utilizing the katana skill set it was going for an Iaijutsu strike and tried to shout a warning to Kibaou who was nearly in range of the nodachi "Kibaou get back! Its trying to use Iaijutsu!"

Unfortunately the warning came too late, recognition flashed in Kibaou's eyes of his impending doom but before he could stop himself the oversized katana was ripped out of its sheath at high speeds and cleaved straight through his neck. Decapitating him yet not somehow not instantly killing him; leaving his head to fly through the air for a few seconds with one, final, thought. 'This...is how I die isn't it?

A/N I wasn't originally planning on ending this on a cliffhanger, but this is currently at 4 thousand words and didn't want to have a really long chapter so decided I'd split this into two parts. Well not really split since I haven't written the second part yet but a better word currently escapes me. Again I'll try and have it out within 2-3 weeks but still make no promises.

I wonder if anyone saw this coming? I am most curious. Because while I thought I had made it abundantly clear that Diabel wouldn't get himself killed, my actual foreshadowing could probably use some work so comments would be appreciated.

Oh, Asuna's personality wasn't originally intended either but I started writing it, and thought it was interesting enough so here we are.