Disclaimer: I do not own anything about Sword Art Online or its characters. Only thing that I own in this story is my original characters and idea.

Players were started to gather for the 20th of the boss battle strategies, which became a routine for assault team.

Agil stood in the corner, watching the gathering crowd of players while no one particularly paid attention to him. It was natural of course, as contrary to some players in lower levels, most of the high-level players knew him as stingy merchant. Normally Agil wouldn't attend to boss raids, but lately business was bad and since he was a high-level, it was a good idea to attend one. These meetings were actually boring as hell; however, if you want to survive the encounter, you have to walk through that one.

While waiting, he checked if everything was still the same. Around the table two big guilds leaders, Holly Dragon Alliance and Knights of Blood, have taken their place as always. Around them their vice commanders and the leader of other small but significant guild leaders were standing. His eyes caught a solo player that standing around the table who has black messy hair and black coat, which relaxed him a bit. "Still alive, good." Unknowingly also a small grin has placed on his face.

Then, on a whim, he turned his gaze on the back, looking on the players who is strong enough to be in assault team but not that significant. Most of them were members of the guilds with some of them being solo players. "Nothing new it seems…" he thought for a moment, until his gaze caught something so strange and so familiar.

Behind the very end of player crowd a young man stood with gray cloak on him. His dark brown hair was combed to back, and he has a height around 1.76 meters. His posture, although not belong here was familiar enough for Agil to recognize him. With an increasing curiosity he approached the young boy and with a voice that still not confused whether he is dreaming or not called him "Ilsamor?"

Boy in front of him turned towards him with a smile on his face.

While he was still surprised to see him here, he couldn't help but smile too as he well knew that the boy has a naïve and kind nature with a tendency to help those around him. His only downside was that his inability to help anyone while he really wants that.

"Oh, Agil-san! Forgive me, I should have expected to see you here. I hope you are doing well." Agil nodded "Thank you Ilsamor, everything is fine. I hope you are doing alright too. If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here? 20th floor is above your level, and your equipment is not certainly state of the art." Ilsamor continued to smile; however, something passed from his eyes for a moment, which Agil saw it as joy mixed with sadness. "You were definitely right three weeks ago Agil-san, but you see, I have finally found a good companion that helped me get over my weaknesses. With her help, I believe I am in par with our current floor. And as I am, I came to see if I can help the people who put their life to line for us."

Agil almost laughed to the face of boy, however he managed to keep it back. It was crazy, he tought. Has Ilsamor gone mad?

But then, there was something different in his eyes. His usual gaze, which was filled with fear and a childish energy was now filled with something else, an interesting serenity and resolve. He still couldn't believe the boy…

But…

At that moment, a gentle wind has blew inside the meeting room and hilt of Ilsamor's sword became visible for a short time. Agil's eyes widened. "Ilsamor… Where did you get this?" Ilsamor answered his question while hiding the hilt once again. "It was a mission reward, the one which kept me busy for about a week. Although it came with a heavy price, I hope I will put it to good use."

Agil scratched his head "Heavy price?"

Ilsamor thought for a moment before shaking his head. "Never mind. Anyway, since I have finally some good equipment, I hope to be of assistance to assault team."

Boy's words confused Agil as he never heard Ilsamor talk like that before. Finally, he shook his head to gather his thoughts and waited with Ilsamor for meeting to start.

Few minutes later Heathcliff stood up from his chair and suddenly silence reigned the room. His gaze briefly wandered around the room before he started his talk.

"Honorable Assault Team members, welcome to 20th boss meeting. As you may heard, our scouts have finally located the boss of the floor in labyrinth. This time it is some sort of cyclopes, who uses heavy and powerful swings for attack. However, it has some sort of an AoE skill that prevented our reconnaissance team to find out the exact mechanisms of the boss. It should be avoided, but unfortunately we couldn't find out how before meeting."

Crowd started to talk among themselves against that development, and then a voice which was louder and clearer than others have spoken. "That AoE attack can be prevented by stopping boss from hitting certain points in room."

All sound inside the room stopped at that instant, and heads turned towards to speaker. Agil noticed in great surprise that talker was none other than Ilsamor himself. He whispered to boy's ear "What are you doing Ilsamor?"

Ilsamor didn't care Agil's warning and continued his explanation "That attack is actually a trigger for a trap. Boss gathers the amount of damage that hit it and by using certain tiles inside the room, it releases a percentage of that damage to attackers. Yet it is possible to stop boss from hitting those tiles with using appropriate sword skills or stopping its attack with shields."

Silence continued as everybody was quite surprised. Heathcliff was the first one that managed to free himself from that state "Very interesting Mr…"

"Ilsamor."

"Ilsamor. Can you please step forward?"

Ilsamor stepped forward under the surprised gazes of players until he reached table. Heathcliff stood silent for a moment, weighing the player that in front of him. "This is an interesting piece of information you told us. Might tell us how you got it?"

Ilsamor stood silent for a moment and answered with a firm voice "I challenged the boss myself after scout team retreated from battle." His answered caused murmurs in the crowd, most of them were about his empty boasting. He didn't flinch, however, as far as Agil can see even leaders were looking suspicious. Heathcliff smiled "Forgive me if I don't believe you because I didn't see you before in any of the raids." Ilsamor's face kept its stoic expression "You are right commander; I haven't partaken in previous raids as I have newly reached sufficient level and item rating. Yet can I ask you, what would I gain by lying about boss mechanisms in a raid meeting?"

He trailed his gaze on leaders for a moment, then continued:

"And again, everything that I intend to say here can be checked before the actual boss battle; furthermore, I will not ask any material compensation or tribute from these informations nor I will ask for guild invite from any of you."

Heathcliff slightly leaned to table while joining his hands under his chin. "Then what will be your gain?"

Ilsamor looked him directly in the eye, which was a feat that most even dare to try. "I want to be an independent part of the scout team while they discover the labyrinth, and once they find the boss room, I will be the only scout that will bring the information about boss."

"Why?"

This time question came not from leaders but from the solo player with black coat. "Do you have a death wish?" Ilsamor slightly smiled at the sight of player "No. I have just nothing to lose and none to miss if I do not return."

Player's eyes widened in shock, but before he answered that claim one of the leaders of Holly Alliance stood up furiously "I won't take this anymore, enough games! Do you really believe that we will let the lives of all players here to charlatan like you?! You even donned that rag to hide your actually low-level gear, yet I can see through your lies!"

Heathcliff raised his hand to stop the commotion that was beginning to form. Once the silence established, he spoke "While I am more inclined to believe your claim, my friend has a valid point. We need to see your equipment to at least form a thought about your power."

Ilsamor closed his eyes for a second, then answered "As you wish Commander Heathcliff." Then he loosened the tie that keep his cloak on himself with his left hand.

While cloak was dropping Agil had an instant flashback from real world, which is the only similar moment that can be compared to situation in here:

"You have no power here, Gandalf the Gray!"

Yet again, as in the movie, it was an understatement. With cloak gone, everyone can see the equipment of Ilsamor. But none of the viewers that at the meeting were as shocked as Agil.

The usual worn-out armor that he saw on Ilsamor were gone, replaced by a snow-white coat, adorned with a sword that was in flames and pointed to ground, all with gray threads on his back. He couldn't see the front side of armor, but leaders were taken aback with the revelation.

Heathcliff leaned backward and asked with a slightly amused tone. "Interesting… Can you show us your sword?" With a nod Ilsamor unsheathed his sword, which once again stunned the audience with its radiance, like a second sun was suddenly born into room. Leader of the Aincrad Liberation Force stuttered "W-w-what kind of metal is that?!"

Ilsamor sheated his sword back "It is not important. As you can see, I have necessary qualifications for the position I want. Don't worry, I will not ask for your answer at this instance. For this meeting, I will tell you all I know, if you allow me, about this boss, then I will await your answer after this boss is defeated. Is this agreeable?"

Leaders looked each other for a moment, and they accepted the conditions with a slight nod.

"Then let's get down to business."

"That was a hell of a show Ilsamor!"

After a meeting that lasted two hours players were finally leaving the room, most of them seemed bored or tired. It was only natural because this was the longest and most detailed boss meeting they attended since 8th floor.

After the initial shock has passed, Ilsamor told almost every one of the mechanisms of boss to the players. He explained when to dodge, where to dodge, which sword skill can cancel which action and most importantly which tiles boss uses to activate the trap mechanisms. While most of the assault team were too bored, it cannot be denied that their spirits were high, taking so much information before a battle.

With the ending of meeting Ilsamor was once again in his gray cloak, with his sword being at his back this time. When Agil approached the boy, he saw that Ilsamor's legs were a bit shaking. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing Agil-san," said Ilsamor while smiling once again. "It was just…Tiring, you know. I had to stand my ground in front of leaders when they told me that I was a charlatan, then long boss meeting. I just need to rest." Agil smiled the boy while patting his shoulder "I'd say you've definitely earned it. Well, I have to go. Don't forget to stop by, I'll treat you tea." Ilsamor nodded and watched as muscular axe user walk away towards to teleportation stone.

After Agil's departure, Ilsamor sat on a boulder, waiting for his breath to catch. This wasn't easy for him, contrary to stoic and calm expression he showed today. However, an order was an order and he needed to take that step to actively help front liners.

Now he had to do something for low-level players as well.

Again, with a shaking hand, he wrote a PM for his contact. These things weren't easy for him, talking to strangers, writing them messages or in overall making anything that might attract attention.

He took a deep breath and recited one of his favorite quotes "Times change and so must I."

He waited a little longer while his legs were gaining strength.

Finally, he stood up, knowing that he promised Asemi the Medallion of Dire Wolf, and of course on the way he needed to kill some mobs to gain edible meat as loot. With a barely audible sigh, he turned towards to Twilight Forest.

Kirito started to get bored from watching the mysterious player.

Actually, it wasn't his intention to stalk the man, but coincidentally he saw him farming the mobs, and as he didn't saw his style before it picked his curiosity.

Which was interesting in certain aspects.

First was his farming strategy. Ilsamor didn't cut down mobs just by one by one, but instead he was gathering ten mobs to his tail before beginning his offensive maneuvers, which was a very risky move considering the floor. Second part was player's sheer defensive power, while he was not a shield user, his deflections, parries, and blocks were precise; in addition to few sword skills that Kirito didn't see before, which are seemed like defensive purpose skills. Finally, third point was the strength of his offensive power. Most of the moves seemed familiar with small differences, however the effects that accompanied them was interesting. As a rule of thumb, magic simply didn't exist in Aincrad, just limited to few items like crystals. However, when Ilsamor initiates a sword skill, his sword skill effect was accompanied by fire, electricity, or some type of white light, which was barely distinguishable from the sword skills usual effect.

Sound of polygons managed to snap him out of his thoughts. When he looked, he saw Ilsamor was sheathing his sword to his scabbard. After he sheathed the sword, he stood there for a moment, then turned towards him with a smile on his face. "Please don't be disturbed Master Kirito. It is an honor to be watched by a skilled player like you. Would you mind joining me?"

Kirito was surprised as he became aware of that this player's search skill was high, he stood up from the place he was hiding and walked towards him. "Sorry about that, I was just-"

"No need to apologize Master Kirito. Truth to be told, I didn't say that this was honor for the sake of courtesy. Before joining the front lines, your skills and your accomplishments were a source of inspiration for me."

Kirito was taken aback from his statement. "I didn't know I was a celebrity in lower levels." Ilsamor nodded "Not many know you by your name. If you'd ask them 'Who is Kirito' none would answer you; however if you'd repeat the same question with 'Beater' or 'Black Swordsman' names, then I can assure you, you'd get a wide range of comments."

Kirito scratched his neck nervously "So you say…"

Ilsamor smiled slightly "Don't worry, I am not that 'You are beater, you have no place' types. I may not be pro-gamer like you, but I have enough experience to know that when someone does his or her job much better than others, they immediately accuse him/her for being a cheater."

Kirito nodded slowly, than he asked the question that kept disturbing his mind "Ilsamor, can I ask you, where did-"

"-I get my sword? That is the question, right?"

Kirito nodded slowly once again. Ilsamor sighed "It was a quest reward, and before you ask, I am afraid quest was a one-time one. If it was possible, I would tell everyone how I got it."

"I see… But, what about the effects during the sword skills, that flames or electricity?"

"Well, as the name indicates this is the sword of the First Light, which is the source of all earthly lights. These effects are not caused by me but the sword. As far as I understand, this sword has some type of classification on 1-H sword skills, under fire, lightning and holy. When you initiate a skill under one of these classes, it is also accompanied by related effect."

Kirito slowly stroked his face. "Does it have an effect on damage?" Ilsamor nodded "Fire subtype ones deal more damage to enemies related to cold while lightning is more effective against earth and water."

Kirito waited for him to continue but when he didn't, he asked "Then holy?"

"Demons and devils. I reckon we won't need it until higher floors, and I really hope I am not wrong." Kirito caught the hidden fear in his voice. "There is something else, what is it?"

"Well, I haven't tried it yet, thankfully, but according to codex, holy type damage is very effective against criminals and villains. In other means-"

"Orange players."

"Exactly."

A short silence reigned the area for a few seconds. Finally, Ilsamor spoke once again "I actually know why you are Kirito."

Kirito's gaze turned towards woods. "You do?"

"Yeah, I do." Ilsamor answered, "I almost appeared out of nowhere for assault team, with no reason or background. What's more, I have very high-quality equipment, and I offered to leaders to become sole boss scout of assault team. You have every right to become suspicious."

Kirito nodded without pulling his gaze from forest. Ilsamor sighed "Unfortunately I cannot give you an objective evidence that I am not an enemy or some sort of agent to GM. All I can ask is you to withhold your judgement on me for now, until I do something to prove your fears or hopes true."

Kirito finally pulled his gaze from the forest and looked back Ilsamor. He was holding out his hand. "I hope we can work together to save these people, Black Swordsman."

Kirito smiled slightly, and while shaking his hand he unknowingly called him with a name that will be a legend in VRMMO world one day…

"I hope that too, Silver Blade."

A/N: Dear friends, welcome to my first fanfiction. I hope you will have a good time while reading it.

I tend to make mistakes in writing as English is not my native language. If you encounter a mistake too often or a critical mistake, please write it in reviews, beside that I will also be happy to accept any reviews on the nature of story itself.