A/N: This should be one of the last egregious bits of quotation from the anime itself for a while, at least until Silica and Lisbeth show up, and that's only a maybe. Again, I would like to thank all of you who took the time to read this so far.
I would like to once again thank those who have reviewed so far, and I appreciate the feedback. The world building specifically will simply occur more naturally as the story goes.
Also, since this version of the story will progress more slowly, fewer, shorter time skips, there will be OCs, both minor and major, to fill the necessary gaps. The first showed up in the last chapter, and we will see more starting next chapter.
It had been one month since the launch of Sword Art Online. The game's player base had already dwindled by two thousand. One of every five players who logged in would never log out. The first floor had still yet to be cleared, despite the more rapid success of the beta testers of the same period. The boss room had not yet even been located until a couple of days ago, and the players who had decided to go forward and clear the dungeon had gathered for the strategy meeting. There was a general sense of relief as many felt that forward progress was finally being made.
Kirito and Sinon were seated in one of the upper rows of the amphitheater, looking down at the assembled crowd and the blue haired man in the middle. A few more players were still showing up for the meeting. On the same row, a few yards away, Asuna sat patiently, hands folded in her lap, her face mostly obscured by the hood of her cloak. She'd kept herself distant from people since Karin had passed.
The blue haired man standing in the center, likely the man who had called the meeting, finally began talking. "Okay, people. Now that everyone's here, let's get this meeting started," he began. "So anyway, I want to thank you all for coming. Good to see you. My name is Diabel, and in this game, the job I rolled is knight." This was met with some sniggering at his enthusiasm about his role in a game that had no real job system. He quieted the crowd before turning completely serious. "Right, anyway, here's the deal. Our party found the boss room at the top of the tower today." That got everyone's attention.
Diabel continued, talking over the murmuring this last statement caused. "First, we need to defeat the boss and make it to floor two. The next step is we have to tell everyone waiting in the Town of Beginnings that it is possible to beat this game. Fact is, it's our duty as the most capable players here. Do you agree, or not?" The crowd took a moment to soak this in, before nodding agreement. A few of the players even began to clap for him. "Okay, glad that you're all with me on this. Now, let's figure out how we're going to beat the boss. First off, we'll team up into parties of six." Diabel continued talking, but Sinon and Kirito weren't listening at that point.
All of the players broke off into groups almost immediately, leaving Sinon and Kirito out. They looked frantically around and noticed a hooded player sitting on their left. The two slid over towards the player, stopping next to her. Kirito spoke to the player first. "You got left out too, huh?"
She responded flatly, "Not even. It wasn't like that. Everyone just seems like they're already friends." Asuna didn't bother looking at him.
Sinon spoke up now, "So you play alone, too?"
Asuna looked at Kirito first, then Asuna. "You two don't look like solo players."
Sinon shook her head. "We stick together, but we keep away from most others. What about it, want to join our party?"
When Asuna hesitated, Kirito spoke up. "You heard what the guy just said, we can't beat the boss on our own, and it would only be for this fight." Asuna nodded, and readily accepted the invitation when Kirito sent it.
A few moments later, Diabel was ready to speak again. "Alright! It looks like everyone's teamed up. Now then-"
"Hold up a sec!" A voice boomed from the back of the theater. Everyone turned to look as a man with spiky orange hair jumped down from the top row, rapidly making his way to where Diabel was standing. "My name's Kibaou," he identified himself, "got that? Before we take on the boss, I wanna get something off my chest. We all know about the two thousand people who died so far, yeah? Well some of you need to apologize to 'em right now!" He pointed at the stands as he said this last.
Kirito and Sinon both had to look away, knowing what was coming next. They felt it themselves, from time to time. Neither of them noticed the clenching of Asuna's hands as the comments were being made. She'd grown to hate this attitude in the two weeks since Karin died.
"Kibaou," Diabel began, trying to pacify the situation, "I think I know who you're referring to. You mean the ones who are ex-beta testers, right?"
"Of course I mean them! The day this stupid game started, the beta guys just up and vanished, right? They ditched all us beginners! They snagged all the good hunting spots, and they grabbed all the easy quests, too. They were the only ones getting stronger in here. This whole time, they've ignored us like we're nothing. I bet there's even some of them here!" He clenched his fist and looked as though he wanted to fight someone, anyone in the crowd.
"Come on out, beta testers. We should make them apologize to us. And we should make them all give up their money and the items they've got. They can't expect the party to trust them when they don't trust us. Why should we?"
Kirito felt the sting of the words. Kibaou was right, after all. He had abandoned them to fend for themselves. He hadn't given any thought to helping anyone except for Sinon and Klein. At least Klein had had the guts to go back for his friends. Sinon wasn't doing much better, her thoughts mirroring Kirito's. Asuna, on the other hand, could only remember the first friend she'd had in SAO. In light of her, it was hard to stomach this treatment of beta testers. In her eyes, Kibaou just wanted the easy way out. She wasn't even sure he believe what he was saying. He seemed more like he just wanted someone to blame.
"Can I say something?" A smooth, deep voice came from the crowd. Everyone looked towards it as a giant black man stood, an axe strapped to his back. Kibaou's aggression seemed to evaporate as he saw the man. The new speaker strode up to the stadium and introduced himself. "Hey, my name's Agil. Kibaou, right? I want to make sure I'm on the same page. You say the ex-beta testers should be blamed for the rookies' deaths because they didn't help them, and you want them to apologize and give up their winnings. I leave anything out?"
Kibaou had backed away, visibly afraid of Agil. Looking up at the man, he replied, "No. You didn't." Some of his aggression was coming back now.
Agil reached into his pocket and produced a book. "The item store handed these out for free. It's a guide book. You got one, didn't you?"
"Sure I got one, so what about it?" Kibaou turned defensive.
"You know who was handing these out? The ex-beta testers." Agil seemed to get the crowd's attention with that. The crowd started murmuring, and Kibaou sensed he was losing them. Agil turned his back on Kibaou to face the crowd. "Listen up. Everyone had equal access to this information. Even so, lots of players still died. I didn't come here to point fingers at anyone. I'm here because I want to learn from those players' deaths. I'm here because I want to find out how we're going to beat the boss." Agil turned to look at Kibaou, who simply huffed and walked away, throwing himself down onto the front row. Agil returned to his seat, giving Diabel the floor. Asuna, Kirito, and Sinon all relaxed.
"Okay, can we get back to the meeting now?" Diabel asked. When no one said anything, he continued, "For info on the boss, it's all in here," he was holding up his guide book, "the latest issue of the guide book you just heard about. According to the book, the boss's name is Illfang, the Kobold Lord. Also, he'll be surrounded by his minions, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels. Illfang carries an axe and a buckler. He has four health bars, and when the last one turns red, he switches to a curved sword type weapon called a talwar. He can change his patterns of attack, too." He closed the book as the crowd once again moved to talking amongst itself. "That's it for the briefing. As for the distribution of loot, money will be divided equally among everyone. The party that defeats the boss gets the XP. And whoever gets an item gets to keep it. Any objections?" Again, he let the silence speak for itself. "Good, we leave tomorrow at ten in the morning. Meeting adjourned, people."
Sinon and Kirito sat there for a moment, taking in what just happened. Kirito, at least, had been avoiding the topic where he could. Yes, they discussed it, but it hurt a lot more to actually be accused of it. Sinon stood, her eyes roving the crowd, carefully observing Kibaou, Diabel, and Agil. Kibaou and Diabel seemed to make up rather quickly, but she had a sneaking suspicion that this was only the beginning where Kibaou was concerned. At least Agil seemed willing to give them some benefit of the doubt. Asuna simply stood and walked off without a word. Kirito was too surprised to say anything to the girl.
"You think they're really ready for this?" Sinon asked her partner, her eyes never moving from the crowd.
Kirito sighed, "So long as they keep fighting the monsters, not each other, we should be fine."
There was a party in the town square that night, with most of the raiders in attendance. One last last bit of festivity before they all went out to face death tomorrow. Diabel and Kibaou could be found drinking with the other members of their party. Sinon and Kirito kept to the fringes of gathering, preferring to remain outsiders. Sinon noted that at least Agil was not present.
"I'm going to do some last minute shopping," Sinon announced. "You need anything for tomorrow?"
"No, I'm fine. Food, I guess, but nothing unusual," he responded.
"Alright. I'll message you when I'm done. If you want to go out and train, let me know. Otherwise, I'm going to turn in for the night," She started to walk away, but then paused, remembering something. "Hey, Kirito, why don't you check in on our new party member? It might help to know her a little bit more before tomorrow."
He nodded in response, having already come to the same conclusion. He was used to Sinon wandering off to go shopping. He sometimes wondered if that's all she did, but that wasn't really his business one way or the other. He spent some time scanning the crowd, trying to find their new compatriot. He heard Sinon clear her throat, having not left quite yet. He looked at her, confused, until he saw her pointing off into the distance. Kirito followed where she was pointing and quickly found Asuna. He heard Sinon laughing as she walked away. Those eyes of hers could really get annoying sometimes.
Kirito walked over to where Asuna was sitting on the edge of a brick planter, trying to take a bit out of what looked to be a particularly flavorless roll. She didn't seem to notice him, so he spoke up when he got close enough. "Those are pretty good, aren't they?"
Asuna looked over at him, surprised. Once she realized who he was, remembering he was one of the two people she'd partied up with earlier that day, her expression changed to bewilderment at his apparent lack of ability to taste.
Kirito couldn't see her eyes, but she seemed to recognize him easily enough. "Mind if I sit down?" She didn't respond, so he did just that, taking a seat next to her. She slid away, and he assumed he'd sat down too close to her. Given how she carried herself, he didn't take it personally. He pulled a roll of his own out of storage and took a bite out it.
Asuna finally decided to speak, turning slightly towards him, "Where's your friend?"
"She's out shopping, picking up items for the raid tomorrow," Kirito responded.
Asuna returned to what he'd first said. "You really think these taste good?" She found her question to come out more monotone than incredulous, which might have been for the best.
Kirito looked her in the eyes, or, at least, where her eyes would have been visible if not for the hood she wore. How did she see with that thing on? When he finished chewing, he responded, "Uh huh. Since I came to this town I end up eating at least one a day. 'Course, I got a trick to make it taste better." As he said this, he reached into his storage and produced a small jar.
"What trick?" Asuna asked, her voice still nearly void of emotion.
Kirito put the jar down between the two of them and suggested, "Try it with some of that."
Asuna tapped the top of the jar and an aura surrounded her finger, showing that whatever it was ready for use. She ran her finger along the top of her roll, and butter spread over. "Butter?" It was Kirito's turn not to respond. He used up the rest of the butter, the jar shattering in a manner that both of them had become used to in the past month, and loudly took a bite from his roll. Asuna looked at her food for a moment, still surprised by the generosity, before taking a noisy bite of her own.
Kirito stopped eating for a moment to observe her. He couldn't figure her out. Before he had time to ask anything, she wolfed down the rest of roll, one bite after another, before letting out a sigh when she'd finished eating. Kirito could only blink in response. "I got it from 'The Heifer Strikes Back'. That's the quest from the village before you get to this one. You want to know how I did it?"
Asuna shook her head. "I appreciate the offer, but I didn't come to this town to eat good food." She was looking at her hands again.
It was encouraging that she was finally talking, and now Kirito was genuinely interested. "Okay, why are you here?"
"So I don't lose sight of who I am. I don't want to lock myself into a room in the town of beginnings and slowly rot away. I'd rather stay the way I am until the last moment." She clasped her hands, "Even if a monster beats me and I die, I won't lose to this game or this world. No matter what."
Kirito tossed another chunk of roll into his mouth before responding. "I wouldn't want a party member dying on me, so try not to die tomorrow."
The raiding party met up in the forest the next morning. Kirito and Sinon had met up outside of the inn they'd both been staying at and exchanged money and supplies, Kirito reimbursing her for her expenses the previous night, before heading to the rendezvous point. Asuna just spent the morning making sure her equipment was ready. They were all ready to move on. This stage, beautiful though it may have once been, had become something to be looked beyond. They were finally able to move on, as well.
The swordsmen were all wary of what was to come. This was their first boss battle. There was an air of nervous excitement mixed with grim determination that filled the air. Kirito, Asuna, and Sinon were in the back of the pack, being the smallest party, the only one smaller than six people, they were ostensibly being kept there for their own safety.
"Alright, let's go over it again, we're the back up, so our target's going to be the boss's minions, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels," Kirito was saying, going through their jobs one last time.
"I know," Asuna replied, in the same monotone she'd used when first speaking to him.
"I'll use a sword skill to knock their weapons out of the way. When I do, switch and jump in," Kirito continued.
"What's a switch?" Asuna asked, genuinely unsure.
Sinon and Kirito's eyes widened a bit. "Okay, level with me, is this the first time you've ever been in a party?" When Asuna nodded in the affirmative, Kirito stopped in his tracks, leaving Sinon to drag him along to keep the party from leaving them behind.
Sinon continued where Kirito had left off, since he seemed incapable of speech at the moment. "A switch is where you and a party member change places. If they're fighting and having a hard time, it's your job to jump in there and save them. Or, in this case, to take advantage of openings they make for you, that make sense?"
Asuna looked at the girl, this being the first time the brunette had spoken to her. "Yeah, I guess so. So what are you going to do?"
Sinon smirked, holding up some of her throwing needles. "I'm good at hitting eyes and joints from a distance." Kirito was starting to recover, so she let go of his collar and let him move under his own power. "I can switch in if you two need me to, though, no worries."
They were finally here. They'd marched for most the day, but now they'd reached the inner sanctum of the tower. A pair of double doors was all that stood between them and Illfang. Diabel stood in front of the door and planted his sword in the ground. Sinon, Asuna, and Kirito stood in one corner, still keeping themselves apart from the group, as they'd done for most of the day. Sinon could see the nerves across the room. A lot of the players were already sweating. They'd had to fight their way up here, but they'd taken time to heal. They were all a little afraid of what was to come.
"Listen up everyone, I've only got one thing to say to you. Let's win!" Diabel encouraged them as he turned to open the door. It only helped break a little of the tension. "Come on!" Diabel ordered, as the pushed on the doors.
The doors swung openly slowly, on their own, after his initial push. It was a large, darkened throne room, with pillars regularly lining the walls. At the far end sat a massive, fat kobold. He was several times larger than any of the players. He seemed to have been sleeping when the door opened, as his eyes suddenly glowed red as he lifted himself from his chair. Diabel and the point squad were the first inside. Once they'd gone ten or so yards into the room, everything changed. The walls seemed to light up and what had once been stone was replaced with a swirling rainbow of color. Illfang and landed about half of the throne room ahead of Diabel and his party, roaring in anger. Anyone who had been distracted by the lights was refocused now. His four sentinels spawned next to him, three armored, helmed kobold wielding maces larger than their heads. The lord himself wore only a loincloth, shin guards, bracers, and a helmet. While the sentinels' faces were covered, Illfang's face was exposed, his red eyes glowing with hatred. He bore a shield and an enormous axe, carrying one in each hand. With wicked purpose in their movements, the four monsters charged at the raiding party.
Diabel drew his sword and pointed it at the beasts, "Commence attack!" With that, the battle was joined. Several of the player parties charged forward at Illfang and his soldiers. Kibaou was the first to make contact, crossing blades with one of the sentinels before being pushed back, another of their comrades engaging the thing. Diabel was barking orders, moving the groups around, doing his best to keep freshly healed waves of players going after the boss. There were no casualties immediately, for either side. He looked directly at Kirito as he gave orders to the support keep the minions away from the main parties.
"Yeah, you got it," Kirito responded, charging at the Sentinels. One of the sentinels jumped at him, attempting to bring its mace down on his head. He sent it sprawling backwards with his counterstrike, catching its mace with his blade. "Switch!" Even as he shouted it, Asuna was already charging past him.
"I'm on it!" she acknowledged, rapier at the ready. She stabbed the sentinel repeatedly, her blade continuously green as she chained sword skill into sword skill. Kirito found himself unable to properly follow her attacks. The Sentinel staggered backwards, at least three wounds showing, and fractured into pieces.
Another sentinel leaped at Kirito from behind him, and Sinon put a needle in its back on the way down, redirecting it fall next to Kirito. "Pay attention!" She drew her blade as she yelled at him, charging after the thing. She didn't get there before Kirito killed the kobold, running it through while it was still laying there on the ground.
Illfang roared, and the whole fight seemed to stop. Everyone stole a look at the monster as he flung his equipment aside. His health was down to the last quarter of the bar. He stood there for a moment, towering over the players.
"Stand back, I've got it!" Diabel shouted, sprinting across the room to stand across from Illfang. It was the first time in the fight he'd engaged any of the enemies. This stole Kirito's attention away from the fight. The group was supposed to surround Illfang when he was weak, to finish him off the same way they'd fought him the whole time. He heard the whiz of a needle flying past his ear as Sinon hit a Kobold Sentinel that was charging at him. It dropped its mace and reached for its face, apparently having been hit in the eye. Asuna stabbed it from behind and stopped next to Kirito.
Diabel charged at Illfang as the king drew his weapon, a long, straight blade. Panic bells went off in Kirito's head. A talwar was a curved sword. It wasn't a talwar at all, but a nodachi. Their information had been wrong. The fight had been changed from the beta. "Wait, it's no good! Get out of there!" he tried shouting at Diabel, but it was too late. Illfang, showing tremendous athleticism for his size, jumped up and began bouncing from pillar to pillar. Diabel tracked him for the first few jumps, but couldn't keep track. Illfang landed behind Diabel, who turned to face him just as the red beast's nodachi carved down across him, leaving a deep gash and sending Diabel flying backwards. The beast dashed past Diabel before he could hit the ground, and with a second attack redirected him again, the man landing near the far wall.
Kibaou and the rest of the lead squad tried to rush to Diabel's aid, but Illfang was already on top of them, and suddenly they were once more in a fight for their lives. Kirito rushed over to the fallen warrior, producing a healing potion as he slid over to the man. He took the man in his arms, trying to give him the potion. "What were you thinking?"
Diabel pushed the potion away, looking Kirito in the eye. "You know. You were a beta tester too, right?" His words were ragged.
Kirito gasped as the realization hit him. "You were after the last attack bonus, the rare item. You're just like me, a beta tester.
Diabel grimaced in pain, then gave a weak smile. His words came haltingly. "Please. . . you have to. . . defeat the boss." He was beginning to disintegrate as spoke. "For everyone here." Then he shattered, and Kirito found himself holding air. He looked in shock at the fragments that were floating in the air where the man used to be. The other players could only stare. Illfang took this opportunity to try and slay two of the front line players, but Sinon emptied her supply of needles into the creature's wrist and knee. He staggered for a moment, scrapping them all off, but it gave the group the reprieve they needed. They other players collected themselves as Illfang roared in anger.
Kirito stood, turning to face the monster. He tightened his grip on his sword as he readied himself. Asuna seemed to appear next to him. "I'll go too," she informed him.
Kirito looked over at Sinon. She shrugged at him, showing him an empty pouch. "I've seen you two in action. I'm there if I'm needed." She drew her own blade, but stayed back.
Kirito nodded, then looked back at Asuna. "Okay." They took a moment, steeling themselves, then charged headlong at Illfang. "We'll hit him just like we did the minions," he told her. She agreed readily. Illfang swatted away a couple of players, finally taking note of the attacking pair. The monster readied its own skill. Kirito yelled as he and Illfang crossed blades, Kirito sliding backwards from the impact, but managing to send Illfang's Nodachi up above his head. "Switch!"
Asuna dashed past him, but Illfang recovered more rapidly than they had predicted. She barely heard Kirito call her name as she narrowly ducked Illfang's blow, her cloak getting shredded off her back. She yelled as she stabbed the creature in its side, sending the creature sprawling. She didn't notice the reactions that her appearance elicited.
Kirito was stunned by the sudden fierce beauty of her. The cloak had made her seem so timid, but now, watching her dance around Illfang, orange-red hair flowing around her, finally settling down to her knees, the determination in her eyes, he found himself unable to look away. He recovered after a few moments, remembering the creature that was bearing down on them. "He's coming back!" Kirito picked himself up off the ground and charged the kobold king, again catching the thing's sword with his own. Asuna slid in before Illfang could regain his balance, gouging him several times in the side with her rapier. Illfang tried to bring his nodachi down on her, but Kirito switched back in, still playing defense. Kirito and the monster dueled, rapidly exchanging blows. Parry, swing, parry, swing. On the third iteration, the kobold faked a strike, swing his sword out of the way as Kirito went to deflect his strike and slashed at Kirito throwing him back into Asuna, knocking them both to the ground. Kirito's sword had gone flying from his hand as he was hit, and as Asuna climbed over Kirito, she saw that his health was half gone.
Not moments later, the massive being was looming over them, his nodachi poised to cleave through both of them. As he brought it down with killing intent, Asuna heard a woman yelling and Sinon was suddenly standing behind them, her blade catching Illfang's. An axe caught Illfang across the chest as Agil came in to protect the fighters. Sinon didn't say anything, just followed after Illfang, swinging after the knee she'd hit earlier, not giving him any time to recover. The other players came charging in, and she slipped away just in time to avoid Illfang's sword cracking the tile where she used to be. She melded into the crowd, holding off Illfang but not showing the same deftness with her sword as her two party members. "We can hold this thing off until your health's back up," Agil informed the two, before charging in himself.
Agil and four other players had Illfang pinned, but with a mighty roar, he flung the group away and readied to jump. Knowing she had to do something to keep people from dying, Sinon jumped in and buried her sword into the thing's knee. She was batted away immediately, and her health dropped precipitously, but the blade embedded itself deep in its flesh. "Asuna, Kirito, finish him now!" Illfang was already reaching to pluck the thing out, and she had a suspicion that the injury wouldn't slow him down as long as it should.
Kirito had downed a healing potion and picked up his sword by this point. He was already charging at the beast. "You got it! Come on Asuna, help me beat this sucker. One last attack!"
Asuna caught up immediately and matched him step for step. "You got it!" The both ran low to the ground, swords pointed at Illfang. He'd pulled out Sinon's sword and tossed it aside, and was now poised, looking to finish off the two pests that had hit him earlier. He brought his sword down at Kirito, who again blocked for Asuna. She ran around Kirito, stabbing the beast in the chest. The monster reeled, and Kirito took this opportunity to dash around Asuna, bringing his blade down across Illfang from shoulder to hip. The monster continued to stagger, and Kirito finished the thing, gashing it from the same hip up through its head. The thing was lifted by the momentum, seeming to float suspended in the air, and finally died, shattering into millions of shining pieces. As the word "Congratulations!", celebrations broke out across the group. The room went dark in the wake of its master's defeat.
Sinon picked up her sword and walked over to where Kirito was still kneeling, catching his breath. Asuna walked over to join them. "Nice job out there," Sinon said to the two of them. She was sad she couldn't have done more in close quarters than she did, but with the two of them fighting, it didn't seem like anyone else in the room really mattered.
Kirito glanced up when he heard Sinon's comment. "Thanks. You didn't do too bad yourself." Glancing around, he noticed Asuna standing next to him. "You were pretty good."
"Thanks. You too," was her only response. Something was bugging her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what. It had to do with something that happened in the battle itself.
Agil followed her over, and complimented the both of them. "That was some fine swordsmanship. Congratulations, today's victory is all thanks to you guys."
Kirito's face scrunched up as he looked down, "No. . ." he began, but the crowd began cheering over him. Kirito was speechless.
Then came a shout over all the commotion. "Stop cheering!" It was Kibaou. Sinon steeled herself. She knew this couldn't be good. Kirito and Asuna had similar thoughts. "Why'd you do it, huh? Why'd you let Diabel die?" Kibaou was crying.
"Let him die?" Kirito asked, confused.
"That's what I said. Admit it, you knew the technique the boss was gonna use. You could have told us! Then Diabel would have stood a chance. He wouldn't have had to die!"
Another member of the crowd spoke up. "I know why he knew! He used to be a beta tester! He knew all the boss's attack patterns! He knew, but he kept it from us!" The player paused for a moment before throwing fuel on the fire. "And I bet he's not the only beta tester here. Come on! Show yourselves!" The crowd began looking around. Everyone seemed to suspect everyone else.
Agil stepped forward, trying to be the voice of reason once again, "Hey, calm down."
Kirito's mind was racing. He had to figure out a solution to all of this. Diabel had died to protect these people, and he wasn't going to throw away the sacrifice he'd made. It couldn't come out that Diabel was a beta tester, not here, not like this. He had to find a way to stop this here.
Sinon didn't let him, though. "So what if we are beta testers? You think Kayaba didn't change the game at all since then? Why do you think it took us a month to find this place? You think we like yanking you guys around? We're just as in the dark as you are!"
Kibaou glared at them. "You expect me to believe that? You expect any of us to believe that?"
Agil stood between the two of them, "They just might be telling the truth. What makes you think they're not?"
"You all heard him call out to Diabel when that thing switched weapons. He knew what the boss was going to do and he didn't say anything! If he had, Diabel would still be alive."
Sinon was the one doing the talking now. Kirito still hadn't stood up. The crowd was starting to turn against them. "Anyone could tell that that second weapon wasn't a Talwar. That doesn't mean we knew before the fight." She paused for a moment. Someone should have noticed earlier, though. She had to admit that. She was supposed to be the eyes of the party. "This is hard on everyone."
"You're lying!" One person shouted. "You knew!" came another voice. "You're not just beta testers, you're cheaters! You're beaters!" The crowd picked up that last one as a chant. Agil kept himself between the mob and the suspected beaters.
"You guys may want to get out of here now," he said to them. "Give it some time, let people cool down, and things should be fine, but you probably want to vanish for now."
Kirito and Sinon nodded, starting for the door. Asuna followed after them. Kirito and Sinon looked at her. "You don't have to follow us. We agreed it was just for this fight."
"I don't believe them." She stated flatly.
Kirito blinked. "What makes you say that?"
"I don't believe that all beta testers are the monster they make them out as. If this is what most people are like, I don't want to be a part of that. I'd rather be with you guys." She paused for a moment. "Besides, we make a great team."
Sinon and Kirito considered this for a moment. It was Sinon who spoke next. "You know you can't go back on this, right? If you come with us, they're not going to think there's any difference between us. You okay with that?"
Asuna nodded. "I know the risks. I trust you guys."
Together, they stood at the foot of the door to floor three. The stone swung apart of them, and they stepped into the blackness. Only ninety-nine floors to go.