Sao rewritten

by Nicolastheconqueror

From getting stuck in a death game to enjoying live in the world of fairies. From stopping a murderer IRL tobeing forced to live in a virtual world like no other. Follow this group of friends as they fight their way through different virtual worlds, make new Friends and find love.

3. Floor 1: desperation, hope, and victory

Hey there guys. So fun fact: the last chapter was the longest chapter I ever wrote. But that record probably won't last very long. Anyway I don't really wanna drag on with this particular author's note. The only thing I wanna say is there will be some new characters introduced in this. Some characters from the show or games, others some OC's like Darros and Ariël from the last chapter. And there will be meetings between different characters. Anyway time for the chapter itself. Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own SAO or it's characters. SAO is the property of Reki Kawahara, Aniplex and A-1 pictures. Please support the official release.

In the town of beginnings.

Chaos reigned supreme in the town of beginnings. Some were screaming, begging to be released. Some could do no more then sit in silent shock. Then there were those who had discreetly left and had made their way to inn's. Lastly there were those who kept a cool head and knew what they to do.

One of the latter ones was Kirito. The moment it was revealed SAO was a death game and the barrier around the town plaza was lifted he pulled aside Leafa to go over the plan.

"The moment everything calms down the other players will 100% clean the fields around the town of beginnings out. That means our best bet is to head over to Tolbana. I have camping equipment on me so we should be able to make it. It will take us three days though so be prepared for that." Kirito told his sister. It was the best way to survive for the two of them. Even if it meant potentially throwing newer players under the bus. As Kirito told Argo keeping Leafa save was his top priority. However Leafa didn't share that thought.

"So we'll just let everyone fend for themselves? You promised you would help out the retail players. I understand you want the best chance of survival but we shouldn't throw others under the bus for no reasen." Leafa said. To her it didn't make sense. Not just her brother's decision but this entire situation. If it wasn't for Kirito suddenly dragging her to a alleyway she would've just stood there, unable to do anything other then being in shock.

"I understand what you mean Leafa. But I also said that your safety was my top priority. Obviously when Argo asks me to give the info I know I'll give it to her so she can make a guide. But right now we need to think only about ourselves. Which is why I ask you this: please be selfish for once in your life. I know you have difficulties with that but sometimes you simply have no choice." Leafa had never heard her brother this desperate before. But why wouldn't he be desperate? She was his younger sister. They may not agree on everything but as the older sibling Kirito always felt obliged to help Leafa out. Still she wasn't going to just give up.

"But what about Klein? He is surely gonna need our help if he wants to survive and we might need his. Don't you think he'd be resentfull if we just left him here?" Leafa said. Kirito wouldn't Admit it straight up but couldn't help but thinking about that himself. As a beta-tester he knew he was gonna be the centre of all the hate and resentment of some of the retail players. After all there would always be those that would let their emotions run rampant. He only knew Klein for a day and thus didn't know enough about him to accuretly guess his reaction to the to leaving him in the dust.

"I heard you lot mention my name. What is going on?" Klein said as he suddenly entered the alleyway. His appearance, like everyone else's, was changed to his real life one. His hair was now spikey and he also had a small beard.

"Klein. Well to be honest I was planning on heading to Tolbana with Leafa. The fields around here are gonna be full of players killing mobs so our best option is to head to fields with less people. And while going to Tolbana In can immediatly do the quest I talked about. The thing is I don't feel entirely sure I can help you and your guild out as much as I should as I'm gonna be focusing on helping Leafa survive. However Leafa doesn't agree with me as you probably heard" Kirito said. Klein nodded while smiling. He had told them about him and his guild during the grind session they held together. They were all still new to this sort of game. Luckilly enough they already had someone with a bit of knowledge about the game.

"Ya don't have to worry us. You trained me well enough to were I'm sure I can handle most of the challanges ahead of me. As for the others. I'll just teach them what you thought me. So like I said don't worry. You would be too focused on protecting Leafa anyway. I don't know how exactly you two are related but you're definitely very close. So go on and do what you must do. We'll follow suit." Klein told them. To say the siblings were surpised would be a understatement. Kirito expected him to suddenly just burst out in anger anyway but Klein kept smiling.

"You're being serious aren't you?" "Yep. I hope we'll see you two in the next town. I've onky known you two for a couple of hours but I genuinely think you guys are wonderfull people. I hope that you guys can complete that quest Kirito talked about. I know I promised I would help you if able but I think I'd rather just help my boys out." Kirito and Leafa were stunned into silence. It was quite a well known fact a lot of players would get pissed if you knew more about the game and simply refused to help them, acting as if you owe them that. But Klein wasn't like that apperently.

"Ok Klein. We'll see you in Tolbana. According to Kirito it's three days from here so we'll probably be there long before most other players. So we'll probably have cleared most of the quests by the time you arrive. If you need some tips then tell us alright" Leada said. Klein smiled and nodded in affirmative. Kirito was still stunned into silence by Klein's relaxed reaction. Eventually he spoke up.

"Thank you Klein. You might be one of the few men I might actually see as a friend. Come on Leafa, let's head for Tolbana" Before Klein could ask what Kirito meant the two siblings were gone. So he just moved towards his buddies.

As for Kirito and Leafa. They quickly exited the town amd headed to tge fields. Both knew that what Kirito had just said was very painfull for the both of them. So they had to get away from Klein before he could ask any questions.

"We'll have to head to Harunka first. That is were we'll meet the quest giver." "Got it." The two siblings had one goal in mind: survive. However there was already that little inkling of doubt in Leafa's mind. That doubt of wheter this game was even beatable. A doubt that would eat away at her for the entire time she was in Aincrad.

With Sinon

Sinon had quickly but silently left the town of begginings. She would be lying if she said the revelation didn't shock her. However there were more important matters at hand here. First off she had to start hunting for food and levels. She decided to that pretty far from the town of beginnings. A field Tristan had shown her while grinding for levels.

"If Kayaba thinks we'll give up then he's sorely mistaken. I've won plenty of challenges in my life. I've faced someone with killing intent before. What I'll be facing now are predictable mobs created by a system. As long as I don't challenge a entire hoard of them head on I'll win." Sinon said. She had always been a competative person. And this game would'nt change that. It didn't matter what Aincrad threw at her, she would face it head on. She had to. Espacially now it stood between her and survival.

She had already found her last and biggest target. It was a thick skinned Frenzy Boar, about 3 levels higher then others. Luckily for Sinon she had already unlocked some pretty handy bow skills. Of course she had the pretty standard 'aim and shoot' bow skill. You basically aimed directly at your target and released you arrow. However she had to basically stand right next to her target. Something an archer typically only did out of neccesity. Luckily she recently unlocked a certain skill which would both allow her to pick off her target at a distance and score more reliable critical hits: 'correct aim'.

Similar in funtion to the 'linear' rapier sword skill, if trained on it could be one of your best tools. Again it was a fairly simple skill: aim your bow at the enemy and let the arrow go. It was basicaly made to counter the bows inherent weakness: the fact the arrow curves and lost power as it continued to head towards your enemy. However it also had a 10% chance to crit your enemy. And with her bow that chance had increased by another 10% chance.

The bow Sinon was currently using was a simple iron bow. The only difference between when she bought it from the store and now was the upgrade in Accuracy. Each upgrade to a stat of a weapon improved something by 10%. Strenght increased damage output, Durability increased how long a weapon would last before it broke, Quickness how fast you could swing the blade, Heaviness how much you dameged anothers weapon and Accuracy increased the rate of hitting critical points. Of course Sinon had upgrading both her bow and her dagger with her dagger having a upgrade in Strenght. The one who upgraded her weapon was a blacksmith called Lisbeth, a girl Sinon quite liked. But right now wasn't the time to dwell on matters like that. She had to make this one shot count.

After taking some time to get her breathing in check Sinon unleashed her arrow on the highest level Frenzy boar. As she expected she hit the critical spot and insta-killed her target. The other Boars didn't even notice anything. She sighed as she prepared to set up camp for the night.

As adviced by Tristan she set up camp in a open place outside of monster spawn zones. There she would cook the boar meat she obtained. Sinon already had killed 27 before the big one and had a bunch of meat. She wouldn't eat all of it but enough to fill the hunger bar each person had.

As she are she remembered something Tristan told her. "For each weapon type there is a droppable item and a quest item on this floor. The item drop is a higher rareity and more powerfull overall but the quest weapon is easier to obtain and has more upgrade slots available. I would advice you to pick one of them to keep inventory space."

Sinon of course was quite intriqued by this bit of knowledge. This way there was always a chance for players to get a powerfull item. She had of course asked Tristan which one he would choose. His answer was "The droppable bow known as the 'Dual Bow'. You can pick whichever. Both are really only good up untill about floor 3 or floor 4 anyway. Though for you I would advice the 'Astral Arc'. The quest is easilly doable alone and takes about 2 hours if done right."

Sinon had thought about his advice and decided to try and do the 'A hunters best friend' quest for the 'Astral Arc'. "If it is really so easy I don't see a problem doing it alone. The problem is the location of the quest giver's location."

The quest giver was a hunter that lived in the woods outside of the Town of Beginnings. The problem with that was that there were several different paths which meant a player could easilly get lost and if you were really unlucky you could come face to face with the field boss of floor 1. Luckilly Tristan had given her a map drawn from memory. Of course memory meant relatively little in the retail game: it was very likely things had changed from the beta.

"I just hope I won't run into that field boss. It should just be a bigger Frenzy Boar but still going up against it 1 vs 1 isn't gonna end well for me. Oh well, the path is probably the same so it shouldn't be that difficult if I just follow the map." Sinon mumbled to herself. To her getting the 'Astral Arc' had the main priority. She ate the last bit of meat, which was almost as hard to chew as a brick because of her low cooking skill, and went on her way to the vast forests of the first floor.

Back in the town of beginnings

"We need to find Silica in this mess! She can't simply be left alone!"

That was Ran's first order before a wild search for the young girl started. Yuuki was currently making her way through the crazed, panicked hoard of people when she finally found the young girl sitting on the ground sobbing. The only thing Yuuki recognised about her were the ponytails. Without that feature she wouldn't have ever thought this could be the person she was looking for.

"Silica. I'm glad I found you. Come with me. I'll send a message to the rest of the group when we're out of here." Yuuki grabbed Silica by her hand and started walking to the agreed spot. There she messaged each of the Sleeping Knights which were rellieved to see the little beast tamer was still safe and sound.

"Thank god we found her. I'm sorry to say this Silica but we don't think you would've survived for long out there on your own." Jun said with a relieved sigh giving the little girl a hug like the rest of the guild. Silica just stared at the floor still sobbing. She didn't want to face them. They would recognise her in an instant.

"Silica why don't you show us your face? Are you scared to?" Ran asked. Silica shoock her head and said "I just don't want you guys to recognise me. You would treat me differntly if you did." This made the knights only more curious. Yuuki walked over to the sobbing girl and held her pinky in front of Silica. "How about we pinky promise. That way we can't break the promise at all." every knight agreed with Yuuki and decided to each lay their vow.

Silica silently agreed with them and they all pinky swore not to act any differently towards her. It was then she finally lifted her head. The Sleeping Knights gasped as they instantly recognised who the girl was: Keiko Ayano the child idol.

"Yeah I get why you don't want to show your face. You're by far the most popular child idol in the world." Merida said. Silica nodded, her eyes still teary from everything she was just told. The Sleeping Knights already knew what would happen when people recognise her. Ran came up with an idea. She opened her menu and went to her tailoring skill. There she used some of the materials to make a coat that was precisely the size of Silica and gave it to her. The coat had a hood to hide one's face.

"Use that coat to hide your face. That way only the people in this alleyway will know who you really are. Don't worry, we'll make sure no one else will realise who you are." Ran told Silica who equiped the coat and put up the hood. It pretty much covered her entire head.

"Come on, we have to head to Tolbana and start grinding there. Silica if you want to ypu can come with us. However you're also allowed to stay here." Ran said. Silica immediatly shook her head and said "You guys already did so much for me. I want to help you out. Even if it means only being able to give moral support and the occasional tamed beast."

The Sleeping Knights could only smile at her determination to help out. Tey didn't argue any longer and just allowed Silica to join with them. "Ok guys, we have two goals. Goal 1: help Silica get some levels. Goal 2: keep Silica save. Jun, Clovis and Merida are Silica's guards. The rest will focus on either killing mobs, healing the group or training mobs for Silica to kill. Yuuki, you're in charge of training the mobs whenever we do so. Siune, you heal at every oppertunity." Ran said. The rest all nodded in confimation. It would quite the wild ride for the Sleeping Knights. Espacially for the two Konno sisters.

With Philia

Philia hadn't left the safety of town quite yet. She was standing on top of a building looking down on the crazed mass of players. Unlike the majority of players Philia managed to keep her cool. She had been in a lot of traps due to her rather dangerous lifestyle in the real world so she could easilly cope with the sudden turn of events. She was currently weighing down her options aswell as thinking about her earlier reservation when it came to diving into SAO.

"I knew something was off about the Nervegear. It was so damn obvious." Philia mumbled out loud. "And yet here you are, playing the game. Not exactly the action a truly concerned person would take now is it?"

Startled, Philia turned around and saw a rather short girl standing on the roof with her. Her facial features were hidden under the hood of her coat. She clearly was good at sneaking up on people as Philia never even noticed her coming on the roof or get as close as she was.

"Sorry 'bout that. I didn't mean to startle ya. But I still want to know: if you had your reservations about the Nervegear why did you put it on to dive into SAO?" the girl asked. Philia's answer wasn't what the other girl was expecting. "I just followed my heart. And besides I'm a treasure hunter. I've got to hunt every last bit of treasure available in every world available."

The other girl, who unbeknownst to Philia was Argo, simply couldn't belief what she heard. Eventually she couldn't help but let out a laugh. "What's so funny?" Philia asked. "It's nothing really. I'm just surprised anyone who had doubts about the Nervegear would 'follow her heart' and still dive into the game. Then again you clearly are a thrill seeker. I hope you find many treasure's girly. It's either that or death for people like you."

With that Argo went on her way. Philia didn't need much time to progress what was just told. She knew people wouldn't be able to belief her if she said she dove in despite having minimal trust in the device. However she didn't care. It was just as Argo said: for her it was finding plenty of treasure or death. And she wasn't about to let the second option become reallity.

She looked down on the crazed crowd one more time and saw that group of players she gave treasure to talk to a girl in blacksmith attire. "Are they planning on heading to Tolbana? I would if I were them. Espacially that blacksmith. Tolbana will be the base of operations for the majority of the players. Well I hope it will be anyway."

With that, Philia decided to make her way to Tolbana. It was gonna be a bumpy ride, but she knew she could make it. Aslong as she didn't do something stupid that is.

With the moonlit black cats

Fear. That was the only thing Sachi felt. Despite this she still followed her guildmates to the only blacksmith they knew was a high enough level to really craft good weapons and armor. She was sitting there, shaking, terrified of what could happen to her. When the Moonlit Black Cats' leader Keita tapped her shoulder she let oyt a terrified scream which she eventually managed to stop as she recognised the boy.

"You're Keita right? And you guys are his guild. What do you need of me?" the blacksmith, Lisbeth, asked. She was still shaking, a look of pure fear in her eyes. She clearly couldn't cope with this. None of the Moonlit Black Cats blamed her. They were barely keeping their own cool.

"Yeah we're them. Listen, if you want to we can help you head towards Tolbana. You'll be more ablebto help the people clearing the game there" Keita said. Lisbeth shook her head before saying "Even if I went to Tolbana I wouldn't be of much help. Remember, people will actually have to try and clear the game. How many people will be brave/stupid enough to risk their lives like that?"

Most of the Moonlit Black Cats had no answer. The only one that had was probably the one that was most terrified of all the guildmembers. "I know you might not belief it but some people have already headed towards Tolbana. There people will surely try and find the way to defeat the game. If you don't belief me for my words then belief for my actions. With that I mean, despite my immense fear, I will fight to clear this game."

The rest were all shocked. Aside from Lisbeth everyone here knew how scared Sachi is. And yet she was the first one to say she'll fight. Of course Keita couldn't just leave her to fight alone. "Sachi won't be the only one to fight. All of us will. Right boys?" This got him a loud "Hell yeah!" from the others. Lisbeth couldn't belief what she was hearing. She smiled sadly and said while standing up "You guys are fools you know that. But alright, I'll go to Tolbana. But first I'll close my store here and get my merch in my storage. And thanks, you've given my a small bit of hope."

That was enough for the Cats. They of course helped Lisbeth get her stuff. Sachi still had a lot of reservations and was truly scared. She really just said what she said to get Lisbeth to agree. Still she had made her decision. She was gonna fight even though she was scared to die. She had to. Keita suddenly squeezed her hand a bit. Before she could ask why he did that he told her something she needed to hear.

"We'll get out of here Sachi. I'll make sure of that. Just use your magic and deal as much damage as you can. I'll protect you while you do that." Keita said. Sachi couldn't help but smile. It definitely made her feel much better knowing her best friend was protecting her. "Thanks Keita. I really got us in a pickle huh? Sorry about that." Sachi said. Keita shook his head. "We would go to the frontlines anyway one day. So it doesn't matter. And you can relax, we're not going straight into the labyrinth. We'll grind for a decent level first." He assured her. Sachi just nodded. She was just gladvshe wasn't gonna be holed up in her room all day.

"We're ready to go you two!" Ducker said. Keita and Sachi immdiatly went to the others and readied themselves for the adventure of a lifetime.

With Asuna in the Town of Beginnings, 1 month later

There was little progress. For an entire month there had been very little progress. Asuna had done what most players did: hire an Inn room and wait untill the game was over. However as the days, no hours, past she regretted that decision more and more. Here she was having gotten a powerfull weapon for free from a former beta-tester who went to do the quest for another rapier Asuna though was called the 'Sun's Dance'. Here she was having some solid equipment with enough materials and money to upgrade and repair it. Here she was with the skill of a frontline player. But instead of fighting she was cowering. She was waiting for someone else to do her task for her. The more she thought about it the more she realised something: this isn't like her.

Asuna had grown up with challenges at every corner. Challenges she always had to overcome. And she always did overcome those challenges. So why was she sitting here in a room while she wasn't afraid of death? Why was she sitting here while a group of players scared out of their minds were fighting to save everyone? Was it a fear of failure? No, even if she sat here doing nothing she would fail. So why was she just sitting here? Perhaps it was her lack of hope. She had no hope that they would escape. But even so, wasn't it better to die fighting then sit here and die whitering away in shame? Asuna knew her answer.

"I'm not dieing sitting here. Even if we don't escape I won't be beaten by this game." Asuna said to herself. She opened the door of her room and left the inn. She had no hope, no idea of how to get out of here. But when she was alive she would fight. Even if there was no way out. She had to. After everything Ariël did for her she had no other choice. She equiped her hooded cape and headed for Tolbana.

With Kirito and Leafa 2 weeks later in Tolbana

"What is even the point anymore?! We might aswell just double suicide at this point!"

That was Leafa, crying in the room she and her brother had stayed in these past few weeks. They had practically done everything untill this point: complete the quest for the 'Anneal Blade' twice, once for each sibling, upgraded their equipment, defeat the field boss and clear several floors of the floor 1 labyrinth. However they were really the only ones aside from that huntress called Sinon, a few retail players and some of the beta testers consistently fighting on the frontlines everyday. Atleast that is what Leafa thought. Kirito recently bought info from Argo saying more people were joining the fight. They had heard of a couple of people constantly fighting. This apperently made a lot of people want to fight aswell. Kirito only knew about this from this morning and wanted to tell his sister. But he found her crying to herself. When he asked what was wrong she suddenly started bawling and screaming. Kirito was shocked and wanted to interupt her but never got the chance.

"Why are we doing this? Is there even a reason? I don't understand! You guys made it up to floor 10 by this point! We're still on floor 1! Yes I know the circumstances are different but still! How are we ever supposed to get out of here? Not to mention the fact there are people like Coper out there who would gladly see others die just to survive himself! And before I forget: 2000 people are already dead! Some of which had killed themselves! So again: what is even the point anymore? We'll never get out of here!"

Kirito understood why Leafa was acting like this. Everything she said was true. At this point in the beta most were trying to defeat the samurai mobs from floor 10. Now they were still stuck on the lowest floor. Yes the circumstances are different but Leafa had clearly though more people would fight. While a lot of people did fight occasionally most just were too scared to fight everyday. And even so there were about 15-25 people that avtually fought on the frontlines, just over half a raid party at best. And then there was Coper.

While trying to clear the quest Kirito and Leafa met Coper, another former tester and a somewhat close friend of Kirito's. They decided to clear the quest for the 'Anneal Blade' Together. It went well for the most part but when they got the quest item Coper tried to kill the siblings by having the plant mobs kill them. Long story short it backfired and got him killed instead but it was a cruel reminder of how people could truly be.

It was also true that several hundred people had killed themselves by jumping off of the walls of Aincrad. Anyone would eventually lose hope due to this. But Kirito still had to tell his sister off. He knew she needed to know the truth. After all more people were joining, for any one person like Coper there are multiple helpfull people and they definitely had a reason to fight.

"Sugu, please calm down. There are several things I need to tell you." For the first time in a while it was quite as Leafa looked up at her brother who had just called by his nickname for her for the first time in almost two months. When she stayed silent Kirito continued.

"First of all we're finally getting fulltime help aside from Sinon and some the beta testers. Most players who occasionally went into the labyrinth because they were too scared to go in all the time are now getting more and confident that they can do what we can and new people are joining in aswell. Yes it's true we haven't been able to climb up as far as we would've wanted but that is understandable. Once we beat this floor boss we'll be able to build up momentum. Untill then we'll need to fight with everything we've got. Yes people like Coper are out there but I can guarentee you that for every person like him there are atleast 10 actually helpfull players. As for why we fight..."

Kirito waited a bit so that everything could get processed by Leafa. Of course she was quite surprised but managed to process it rather quickly. After that Kirito stated the reason he thinks they should fight for.

"I think both of us have different reasons. For you the reason would be to protect others. You've always been like that. Everytime someone is in danger in the labyrinths you're the first to jump to their rescue." Kirito said. it was true. Leafa was always selfless. She would help anyone even if it meant risking her life. Kirito... wasn't quite like that.

"As for me. I fight to make sure we survive. As long as you and I survive and we don't unnecessarally risk other peoples lifes I can make it through this hell. So please, don't talk like this. I need you more then ever." Kirito said. Leafa never had seen her brother like this. Even back in the Town of Beginnings he wasn't this sad, this desperate. She eventually said the one thing she thought Kirito needed to hear.

"Ok, I won't talk like this anymore. But I won't sway from my point of view of clearing this game being a impossible task. I want to see results first." Kirito nodded understanding what she meant. He was just happy he didn't reveal something else about his reason to fight.

Unlike Leafa, Kirito hated his life in the real world. He only really had his family and his videogames. And even then he rarely spoke with his parents irl. He loved them but he just never had anything to tell. Unlike Leafa who had very good grades, was the schools top Kendoka and had lots friends outside of online gaming Kirito had very average grades, no club activities and no friends other then those online and a few of Leafa's friends. He was constantly getting bullied and thus never had any good experiances. For Kirito it didn't matter how long he was stuck here or if he even survived at all. All he cared about was his sister's survival and that those who had a life worth living made it out alive. That is why he fought. That is why he would survive this hell.

"You can take a break for today if you want to. I'm heading for the labyrinths." Kirito said. Leafa shook her head. "After saying I hate the fact almost no one helped us I'm not going to take a break anytime soon. Come one, let's get going. We still need to get our weapons repaired after all."

That was all that was said before the two left for another day of grinding.

In the labyrinths, 2 weeks later

It hae been exactly 2 months since the death game started at this point. 1 month since Asuna started fighting on the frontlines. She had to admit she was having a relatively easy time. Maybe because the Kobold Troopers were pretty easy opponents. Or perhaps her 'Wind Fleuret +2 (1S1A)' was more powerfull then she already thought it was. Either way she was having an easy time soloing these labyrinths. She had gotten used to the system and knew the perfect patern to most effeciently taking on this labyrinth: kill a few mobs, rest in the safe zones for a few minutes and take the occasional nap, repeat the process before going out of the dungeon, repairing her equipment and head to the inn room before going to bed and try to get a somewhat decent night of sleep if she's lucky. This has worked out so far. But as you would expect her luck ran out one day.

"Well this just isn't a good day for me. How did this happen anyway?" she asked herself. While walking through the 19th floor of the floor 1 labyrinth she had accidently set off a spawn that surrounded the players, or player in this case, by Kobold Troopers. They weren't powerfull but there was one key issue: it also spawned a Kobold Sentinel. Unless she killed that specific mob the Troopers wouldn't stop respawning. To make matters worst the path to the safe zone was blocked so she couldn't even hide there and wait for help. Everything seemed like it was lost, and Asuna had even resigned herself to her faith as she had left herself defenseless from the coming attack, untill she felt an arrow swoosh past her which hit the Sentinels weakspot and killed it. From that same direction a wind spell and a sword skill killed the rest of the Troopers. It happened really fast. When it all calmed down Asuna saw a black haired swordsman wielding what she knew was the 'Anneal Blade' and wearing minimal armor which didn't surprise her. After all that sword was insanely heavy. Two people eventually joined them. Both were black haired girls, one being the mage fighter that fired the wind spell and also wielded a 'Anneal Blade' and the other was the Huntress that shot the arrow. They each wore different colored tunics, the boy wore a blue one, the mage a green obe and the Huntress and green and red one. Each of them wore comfortable pants and just like the boy the girls wore light armor.

"That was close. Honestly, why was there even a trap? Was there anything like this in the beta Kirito?" the Huntress asked. The boy immediatly shook his head and answered with "Not on any of the 10 floors Sinon. So it is a change, a huge one at that. How many players have already falken victim to this trap? It's honestly terrifying to think about. Leafa could you check on the rapier girl please? Maybe she'll need some healing." the Mage Knight, who Asuna now knew was called Leafa, nodded and walked over to Asuna. Asuna immediatly shook her head and said "Don't worry about me. I haven't taken any damage. And even if I had I can use healing magic myself. In fact I specialise in that."

This piqued the black haired boy's, who she now knew was called Kirito, interest. "A Mage Fighter specialising in healing magic is a frontline solo fighter? Does that mean you primarily use self-healing spells?" he said. Asuna nodded and said "I mostly selected self-healing spells yeah. In fact my best spell for healing other people is the standard 'Heal others' spell."

"Wow, so all the creativity went into the weapon names huh?" Seriously, 'heal others'? What sort of name is that?" Sinon asked. Leafa couldn't help but giggle at the look Kirito gave her. The three of them had worked together several weeks now and the relationship between Sinon and Kirito was probably the closest thing to a rivalry Leafa has seen since coming here. The two would often bicker with eachother aswell as tease eachother. Though in battle the two knew they could rely on eachother. As for between Leafa and Sinon: they were practically sisters despite only knowing eachother for 2 months. They had similar interests and everything. The three of them became quite the dynamic trio and are usually the first on the frontlines. At first Sinon only really played solo but after working together for one day they quickly decided to stay a team. Well Leafa and Sinon decided to stay a team. Kirito initially was hesitant because he told Klein he couldn't exactly help him out however after Sinon consistently proved herself more then capable of holding her own he decided that he was fine with her joining them.

"Before those two squabble like kids again I actually want to know something. Did you expect to die right there? I saw you just didn't bother with defending yourself. The name's Leafa by the way. These are Kirito and Sinon" Leafa said. The two immediatly stopped whatever argument they were about to have and looked at Asuna. She hesitated a bit before answering her question. "Yeah, I was fully expecting to die there. I honestly think I'll die here anyway. There has been barely any progress. To me it's less when I die but more where I'll die. Let's be real, there's very little chance of getting out alive. However I'll still fight. Just because I think there's no way out doesn't mean I won't fight for my life. I won't let this game beat me." Asuna said. Leafa understood her stance. She also had no faith that they would get out. But because of what her brother said she still fought. Kirito for his part had no answer. He knew a lot of people thought the game was impossible to beat. But unlike with Leafa he had nothing to say to Asuna.

"Don't give me this shit. Hearing this sort of bullshit pisses me off."

Everyone looked at Sinon. Her face was icy cold but her eyes seemingly lit up. When Asuna looked away Sinon became even more pissed and grabbed her by the colar of her tunic. Asuna then saw just how seriously pissed off Sinon was. Gone was that calm and collected girl from just now. In her place there was now a terrifying demon.

"You wanna know what I hate most? People who give up before trying. Yeah sure you're here now, but why is that exactly? If you don't think we'll make it then why bother? I know that we can make it. I don't care how long it takes but we will get out of here. And yes I know there are more people who think we'll be stuck here forever and to those I'll gife this message: I don't care! I don't care you think we can't make it out of here! Because I know there is a way. I'll find it all on my own if I have to. If you think we can't make it I can't change your mind. But just promise me this: don't cast your life away. Because if you simply cast your life away before we get out of here and we finally beat this acursed game you'll never see those you care about again because you didn't think we would get out. That would be too cruel. I and many others fight to get out of here. You'll have to fight to help those people realise that dream. So please do exactly that. Oh, and don't give me that shit about not wanting to be beaten by the game. The fact you resigned yourself to death already means you lost. The only way to not get beaten by this prison is by fighting untill you can't fight anymore while thinking about the freedom that awaits you. That is what I think anyway." Sinon said before eventually releasing Asuna. When she looked around she saw just how scared the others were. It's often scarier to people when someone who was pissed off talked in such a calm voice instead of screaming like a lunatic.

"Sorry about that. I just don't want to lose hope myself. I don't particularly care about going back to the real world myself but I still think that we can get out of here." She said. No one really questioned why she said she didn't care about going back to her real life as there was a unwritten rule inside of this game: no one pryed into others matters in regards to the real world.

"Don't worry Sinon, I understand your frustration. And I'm thankfull you guys saved me. Anyway I'll be on my way to Tolbana now. See you guys there." Asuna said. She was going to walk to the exit before Kirito stopped her with these words "You sure you want to head out alone? We're planning of heading out anyway because of the meeting today."

This piqued Asuna's interest. "Sure we can head over together. But what sort of meeting are you talking about?" Kirito couldn't help but smirk slightly before answering "The boss fight meeting of course. All the top players will be there."

In Tolbana, several hours later

After getting to the safety of town the typical wave of tiredness came over the four players that just entered town. They didn't need to be on alert anymore so they relaxed. Kirito was about to say something when he saw a familiar silhoutte wave towards him from the shadows and then swiftly going out of his sight. Kirito turned to his group and said "I've got some business to handle right now. You two bring her to the usual lunch spot. I'll come later." The others just nodded and Leafa lead them to the fountain in the plaza of town. Kirito then went into a relatively small alleyway and met with the person who waved at him: his fellow ex-beta tester Argo the rat.

"So you got yourself another party member huh. I know a thing or two about her you might not know. Of course that would mean paying 'bout 500 col." Argo said with the usual smile on her face. Kirito just sighed before answering with "I'll pass. I don't like prying into a girls personal information." This got a laugh out of Argo. "Good mindset to have Kii-boy. Although you didn't quite have that same tact when it came to my whiskers in the beta."

Kirito sighed remembering several things. One was a quote often used in the beta. "Watch out. Five minutes of chatting with the rat, and she'll have worked 100 col out of you." Of course Kirito knew this was an overexaturation. Argo never sold a piece of info she couldn't validify. He also remembered that Argo's motto was 'all information has a price' so she would sell just about anything. And then there was the entire whiskers thing. Everytime someone asked Argo about her whiskers her answer would always ge along the lines of "If ya pay 1000 col I'm willing to give you that info." Kirito rembered being one of the people that asked Argo about that. He got some more tact after that luckilly enough. Of course there was also info she didn't sell which brings us to this situation.

"So has the mystery bidder bid higher again? If so how much?" This time Argo scowled slightly. For a long time now someone was trying to buy Kirito's 'Anneal Blade +6 (3S3D)'. The entire party had their weapons upgraded: Leafa had a 'Anneal Blade +6 (3A3D)' and Sinon a 'Astral Arc +6 (3S3A)'. But Kirito's was the only one being bid on. Kirito had already said no to several bids but the mystery bidder refused to give up. And once more he had upped the bid.

"Yep. They'll go up to 29.800 col. Almost 30.000. But I already know your answer." Argo said. Kirito nodded and answered with exactly what Argo thought he would. "I'm still not selling. I don't understand why he's will to go so far anyway. I'll just bin this sword on the 4th floor anyway." Kirito said.

Kirito and his group had done everything they could to upgrade their weapons this far. Lisbeth, the most in demand blacksmith in Aincrad, had done all of those upgrades despite having a chance of 'only' 75% which is much more then most other blacksmiths could give you right now. Even though the sword was powerfull it was only good enough to go up untill floor 4. After that it was worthless. So really there is no need for someone to by this sword for almost 30k.

"How much is he paying you to keep silent about his name?" Kirito asked. "1000 col. Would you like to up the ante?" Argo responded. Kirito started thinking about it. The mystery bidder had paid Argo 1000 col to never tell their name to Kirito. This "hush money" worked similar to bidding on a auction. The highest bidder gets his wish earned by Argo. The problem for Kirito was that even if he gave Argo 1100 col the bidder could just bid 1200 col and so on. Kirito sighed and said. "You even earn money on information you don't sell huh? Not even surprised to be honest." Argo simply laughed. It was true after all she was earning 1000 col to withhold information.

"I'm not gonna spend 1100 col on info I won't get. You can just go tell him that I still refuse his offer." Kirito said. Argo nodded, a sly grin on her face, and left using her incredible agility and stealth stats to easilly and siliently sneak away. Kirito himself just sighed. He had known Argo for quite a while and knew how skilled she was but he was still very worried about her. She was a capable fighter but was clearly more suited to finding information then combat. Kirito really hoped she would stay alive for as long as possible. Not only was she the best at her job but she also was a good friend of his. Kirito eventually went over to the usual place he and his group hung out.

With the 3 girls

As Asuna listened to the two other girls talk she felt rather out of place. The only other person she knew was Ariël and she hasn't seen her since they split up after the chaos in the Town of Begginings. She eventually took out one of the loafs of dry bread she always packed. They weren't particularly great but they were edible enough. Before she could take a bite Sinon looked at her and started talking to her.

"Those are quite nice aren't they? Espacially when fresh." she said. Asuna was a bit confused. She didn't think anyone actually would like these loafs of bread. "You really think they're good?" she asked. Both Sinon and Leafa nodded. "Yeah, they're really good. We usually have around 2-3 each day. Though we usually try different things with them aswell. Kirito usually brings the stuff to put on the bread with him. Speaking of Kirito there he comes. Hey, Kirito!" Leafa said, waveing Kirito over. He for his part just smiled and walked up to them. When he saw Asuna had one of those loafs of bread he immediatly went into his inventory and picked a small jar out if it and gave it to Asuna.

"Here, put this on your bread. It tastes way better with this on it." Kirito said. Asuna pressed with a finger on the jar, then spread what looked like cream on her bread. She saw the others do the same. "Cream? Where did you get this?" Asuna asked. Kirito simply smiled before ushering her to take a bite. She did, and then another one untill she was the first to eat it all. Kirito couldn't help but be amused by Asuna who blushed slightly due to her bad manners. She immediatly reprimanded that by saying "Thanks for the meal." "Don't sweat it. But anyway, I want to know: do you really only fight to not let the game beat you or also for another reason?" Kirito asked. The others looked at the two while Asuna was trying to think of the best words to tell them.

"I guess I fight to be myself aswell. I've always been the type of girl to rise up to the challenge. I couldn't just sit in a inn room while so many others were giving their lives fighting those monsters." Asuna said. There were different reactions all around. Leafa was sympethatic, knowing how hard it is fighting without hope but still feeling like you need to fight. Sinon for he part just nodded in understanding. She herself also fought to be herself. She also understood Asuna's choice of staying in an inn. Most players did. No one could blame them. But Kirito probably had the reaction that surprised them the most.

"I'm sorry. It's my fault you feel so presured to-" He said but due to the winddmill abd the click the rest of the sentence would gpbe lost to time. Kirito stood up and said "Let's head for the meeting. It's time to hear what the guy wants to talk about."

At the meeting grounds.

44 people, of which Kirito recognised only about 5. Ran, Merida, and his group. The rest were all new faces. He knew Ran and Merida were with their group. But he knew no one else or theur roles. He also knew they still lacked 4 people for a full raid party. He was disapointed untill one of his group decided to speak up.

"We should be happy that this many decided to show up. Yes it's not a full raid party but still the fact that 44 people are willing to try and fight the boss says a lot." Asuna said. The rest of their little group couldn't help but agree. They eventually sat down and eventually the leader, a blue haired swordaster with a blue tunic and pants, copper breastplate and kneepads started talking when everything died down. Kirito saw in the corner of his eyes that Argo was sitting on a piller overviewing the meeting.

"Greetings my fellow frontliners. My name is Diavel and I like to think of myself as a knight." The leader, Diavel, began. Immediatly some people began murmering and some even snickered, hell someone even yelled that there was no such thing as the knight class. All in good fun of course, something that Diavel understood. When he raised his hand everyone stopped with their murmering.

"It is all fun and well however let's get to the important part. As of today we've managed to find the staircase leading to the 20th floor of the labyrinths. That means we're ohn step closer to our goal." Diavel said. This made everyone murmur among themselves. Even Kirito was shocked. So they finally managed to find the way to floor 20. So that means they found a way to avoid the trap on the 19th floor.

Diavel raised his hand again. When everyone quieted down he continued. "As far as our progress overall is concerned: it hasn't been great. Still I belief we can do this. In fact I have so much confidence in you guys that I've already set a deadline to when we'll beat the floor boss. For the rest of the week we'll explore the 20th floor. Then at the end of the week we'll beat the boss on this floor. I quickly want to stress that it is important that we beat the boss on the first try. If we fail we will in the best case scenario have to wait for another two months for a next attempt. The worst case scenario, and the most likely, is that all hope will be lost and we'll ge stuck here forever." Diavel stopped and waited for that to sink in. After several minutes he continued. "But it won't come that far. Because we will win against the boss. Like I said before I know we'll win. There is no other option. We will beat this boss on the first try as we are only ones who can win. We're the ones that have everything at their disposal to win against every boss on every floor. We will beat this floor and every floor after that. I swear to all of you that we will succeed. Who is with me?!" he eventually finished. Everyone cheered. Kirito couldn't but smile. Asuna and Leafa were clapping and cheering aswell. However Sinon had already seen a certain man standing up with a snarl on his face. "That isn't good at all." Sinon thought.

"Not so fast, blue guy!" The cactus haired man said. Everyone started murmering among themselves in indignation. "I think some people over 'ere owe us an apology." Diavel kept as calm as he could and went along with what the man was saying. "And what is your name sir?" he asked. "The name's Kibaou." the cactus haired man said. "And who exactly owe us a apology?" Diavel continued. Of course Kirito already knew the answer.

"Why, ta beta testers 'f course. Those rats went and took all the good hunting spots for 'ehmselves leaving us normal players in ta dust. It is their fault 2000 players are already dead. I want every single one of em to come down here and grovel at our feet, begging for forgiveness." Kibaou said. This made everyone go silent. It was true that 2000 people were dead. But no one really wanted to belief that it was the beta testers fault. Of course there was always one thing he didn't keep in mind. Something that pissed Kirito of more then he could imagine.

"200 of those player were beta testers you dickhead." Kirito wanted to scream. Out of the 2000 that had already died 10 % were beta tester according to the info Argo had found. That of course meant that 90% of the deaths were retail players. At first glance it seems like a way worst statistic untill you realise just how few beta testers there were. Only 1000 players out of 10.000 were beta testers meaning that the beta testers had already lost 20% of it's player base, the same amount of casualties that the retail gamers had while having more players. This meant there was 20% less possible beta knowledge. Of course the amount of retail player deaths was technically worst but while looking into it further the beta testers definitely suffered worst losses as there are fewer of them. Atleast that was Kirito's way of thinking.

"Hold on just a second there boy." A voice suddenly said. Everyone looked at the tall, muscular man walking over to Kibaou. His weapon was a 2-handed battle axe and considering the equipment he wore he was certainly a merchant class player. Kibaou was clearly intimidated by the man but still managed a snarl in his direction despite shaking like crazy.

"What might your name be sir?" Diavel asked. "The name is Agil and I have something to say about this whole 'all beta testers are at fault' argument." the man, Agil said. He then pulled a book from his inventory. The book had Argo's signature logo on it and it's name was simply 'Argo's guidebook'.

"You've got this book in your inventory aswell right?" Agil asked. "Yeah, so what?" Kibaou responded. "This book was being given away for free at every single merchant stall. In this book every bit of information from the beta was written by the beta testers for us retail players. The simple reasons for so many deaths were either that they couldn't cope with the news or they simply underestimated the challenge SAO would." Agil finished causing murmering to stir up again.

Kirito for his part was just surprised. He looked at were Argo was sitting untill now but saw her spot was vacated. He then looked at Asuna and asked wheter she got the book for free. "Yeah I did. They were being given away all over the first floor by merchants." Asuna said. Leafa couldn't help but giggle a bit at her brothers reaction. He bought one for the both of them for the full price. Meaning he spend 1000 col on essentially free information. Eventually Diavel raised his hand again and started talking when the murmering stopped.

"Thank you Agil and Kibaou. As everyone knows it is truly sad so many died. However to pin the blame fully on the beta testers is simply unfair for the reasons stated. If you two would be so kind as to sit back were sat before." he said. Agil and Kibaou, still glaring at eachother, went to sit back in their seats. When they sat down Diavel continued. "Thank you two. As stated by Agil we each have a guidebook written by the beta testers. In it it states the boss of floor 1 is Ilfang the Kobold Lord. In his first stage he uses a simple sword aswell as a Buckler. When he drops into the red he switches to a Talwar. Up until his final stage he is alway accompanied by 3 Kobold Sentinels." Diavel said. Kirito, Sinon and Leafa could see Asuna cringe at the name of the mob that accompanied Ilfang, rememberimg her ill fated encounter with one of them that nearly resulted in her death. They listened on as Diavel continued. "Now, as we are going to fight a boss it is wisest to form parties. As we are with 44 men that would mean we will have to split up in 4 parties of 9 and 1 party of 8. Split yourselves up and we'll get going."

Kirito immediatly noticed the 4 groups of nine form. This left him with 4 people. He then noticed 4 people sitting next to them. Everyone knew they had little choice so they of course asked of they wanted to join their party. "Sure thing. Hope all will work out." the leader of the group of four said. After they accepted the invite 4 more names entered their list: Deliah, Arsene, Lupin and Clasour. After the parties were formed they went their seperate ways. Kirito and Leafa offered the 6 members of their party to their little room at a farm. They each happily accepted. Everything was better then the slabs they dared to call matresses in the inns.

As they went to the place the other 6 players immediatly noticed it was essntially a farm. "I didn't know the game treated farms as inns. That is some good info." Sinon said. She for her part always slept in either a tent away from mob spawns or inn rooms. Everyone else had a similar reaction.

"Yeah it's definitely a more luxeourious place to stay in then the inns. It has a bath and everything." Kirito said. He immediatly flinched when Asuna suddenly stood in front of him. "A bath you say? Can I use it?" she asked. Kirito nodded but added "I'll have you know that the texture and feel of the water feels off compared to real life. And there is no real need to bathe in here. You sure youn want to?" "Yes I'm sure. I don't care if it isn't practical, I still want to bathe real quick." Asuna said. Kirito simply nodded and led the others to the rooms on the top floor.

"There's enough room for everyone so make yourselves at home. Oh and I'm expecting someone and I want to talk to them in private. So please stay off of the second floor untill then. Asuna the bath is in on the second floor. I hope you'll enjoy it. After dinner I want to do a quick meet and greet sort of thing. See you guys at dinner." Kirito said. "Uhm, excuse me but what do you mean with that we have to stay off the second floor? And why can Asuna come up there anyway?" Deliah asked. Kirito grinned sheepishly before answering. "Yeah there are no seperate rooms. So basically the entire second floor is just the one room Leafa and I sleep in and the bathroom. So we'll be staying up there in the same room. Hope you guys don't mind." "As long as the boys keep it in their pants I don't mind." Sinon jokingly said. The girls couldn't help but giggle while the boys looked at Sinon with unamused looks. The rest simply wanted to actually sleep for once. They eventually went their seperate ways and Asuna went into the bathroom.

In the bathroom.

Asuna hasn't had a proper bath since coming into SAO. So even if the feeling was off she simply wanted to feel the water on her skin again. She filled the bath with warm water and started to take off her gear. First her weapons and armor. Then her tunic and skirt. Then her underwear. When the bath was properly filled she went into the bath. A sigh of contempt escaped her lips.

"It's true what he said. The water feels off. Oh well, as long as I enjoy myself it's okay." Asuna thought. It was a wonderfull experiance despite that fact. After all it meant that atleast on pleasure was still there. Asuna just relaxed and enjoyed the one experiance she would likely not forget for a long time.

In the main room with Kirito

Kirito of course wanted to meet in private because it had to do with the mystery bidder. As he entered he saw Argo enter through the window. They sat down and began to talk.

"So what is the bid this time?" Kirito asked. He had been quite annoyed by this bidder. Why couldn't he just give up? Argo shared pretty much the same thoughts as she spoke up. "39.800 col. Absolute insanity of course. You know what, if you me 2000 col I'll tell you who is constantly bidding on your sword. I'll also tell him I won't give any more of his messages to you." Argo said. Kirito hadn't heard her like this ever before. Clearly she ways just as done with this crap as he was. He nodded and opened the trade menu. He gave Argo the 2000 col. She happily pockedted it.

"Okay so who is it?" Kirito asked Argo. "Oh you already know him. After all he said we should grovel and beg for forgiveness." Argo said. Kirito immediatly knew who she was talking about. "Kibaou. But why? Why does he want my sword so badly?" Kirito. Argo lifted he shoulders. Even she didn't know.

"The only likely scenario is that he knows I'm a beta tester. But if that is the case then does he know that? I'm pretty sure you didn't tell him considering your policy on that stuff." Kirito said. It's true what he said. While her motto might be that every info has a price that doesn't mean she sells all info she has. If anyone wanted to know who a beta tester was she wouldn't tell them no matter the price. After all they would likely be witch hunted and killed by players.

"I haven't got a single clue. But one thing is for sure: he knows. Which means he might know something we don't know. I'll do some digging but don't expect me to find anything. It is difficult enough to find info when you sorta know where to look. But I don't even know where to start." Argo admitted. Kirito only nodded. He knew finding anything was next to impossible even for Argo.

"I understand. Could you tell me more about that treasure hunter you told me about? Nothing about her personnal information, but just how good she is." Kirito said. Argo grinned a bit. She and Kirito were the only ones who knew about a certain treasure hunter who was surely hunting for everything she could find right now. Well not right now but everyday. They had talked about her once and Kirito was quite interested in judt how good she was. "Sure, if you give me about 250 col. 350 col if you want to know her in-game name which I recently discovered." She said. Kirito sighed but gave her the 350 col. He had enough money to spend it on this anyway.

"She has been doing well. In fact she started doubling as a treasure hunter and a information broker. Remember that trap you told me about via messageing? Yeah she told the others how to avoid it because she herself avoided it. Apperantly there is this secret route they added on this floor. Of course we don't know wheter each floor has them so we'll still have to be on the lookout for any possible ambushes. But back to her as a treasure hunter. It seems like she knows what she's doing. She knows exactly what is a trap and what isn't. It seems to me she really told the truth when she said she was a treasure hunter IRL. Her username is Philia." Argo said. Kirito nodded and started thinking. If this Philia was as good as she apperently is it means she must've been an experianced treasure hunter. But from the describtion he had gotten about her he deduced she was around his age. So how old is she really? Of course Kirito wasn't gonna ask that. Even someone as woefull in communication as he was knows asking a girl her age is a death sentence.

"Thanks Argo. That was all I needed to know." "Ok Kii-boy. By the way can I use your bath? I know it isn't neccesary but I still like the feeling of water on my skin." Argo said. Kirito shook his head. "Sorry Argo. Asuna is already using it." He said before immediatly smacking himself around the head for saying who exactly was using his head. Argo immediatly grinned.

"So A-chan is using the bath huh. I didn't think you would allow someone that isn't Leafa to come here." "We have very little choice. We're a party of 8. I'm honestly a bit nervous. I have never slept with so many people in the same room before." "It'll be fine. Just don't say something stupid and everything will be just dandy. Anyway, I'll be on my way now. See ya later."

Before Kirito could respond Argo went through the same window as where she came from. When she was gone he just sighed messaged the others to meet him and Asuna in the dining hall. When the door opened he saw Asuna, fully clothed of course, enter the room with a smile on her face.

"How was the bath?" "Wonderfull. But you were right, the feeling is a bit off. Guess the Nervegear isn't able to precisely give the sensations of the water hitting your skin. But anyway I remember asking you how you got thst cream and you never answered. So ehere and how did you get it? Asuna asked. Kirito grinned sheepishly. He had completely forgotten to tell her due to being to focused on e etything else. "Yeah my bad. It was the reward for the'Revenge of the Cows' quest. If you want to do it there is a way to do it in 2 hours." "Nah, I'm good. I can't exactly waste any time right now. We're gonna fight the boss by the end of the week after all." "True true. Let's go downstairs and eat something shall we?"

After dinner they went to do the meet and greet. "Because I was the one that suggested it I'll start followed by Leafa, Sinon, Asuna, Arsene, Lupin, Cursour and finally Deliah." Kirito scraped his throat and started the meet and greet. "My name is Kirito, I'm a 1-handed sword wielding swordmaster who uses a 'Anneal Blade +6 (3S3D)' and prefers light armor." Kirito said. Everyone nodded in understanding as they then lidtened to Leafa.

"My name is Leafa, I'm a 1-handed sword wielding mage fighter that uses a 'Anneal Blade +6 (3A3D), specialises in wind magic and prefers light armor." Leafa said. Once again everyone just nodded as the next person in line would then start talking.

"I'm Sinon. I'm a Huntress that uses a 'Astral Arc +6 (S3A) and a simple iron dagger +1 (S1). I also prefer light armor." Simon said.

"My name is Asuna. I'm a Rapier wielding mage knight who uses a 'Wind Fleuret +2 (1A1D), specialises in healing magic and preferes light armor."

"The name is Arsene. I'm a 1-handed axe wielding Berserker who uses a 'War Terror +4 (2S2D)' and prefers light armor."

"I'm Lupin. I'm a two-handed battleaxe wielding berserker who uses a 'Lion's Pride +3 (2S1D)' and prefers heavy armor."

"I'm Clasour. I'm a 2-handed sword wielding Swordmaster who uses a 'Killing Strike +4 (2S2D)' and prefers heavy armor."

"And finally my name is Deliah. I'm a 1-handed sword wielding Swordmaster who use a 'Stout Brand +2 (1S1A)' and prefers light magic."

When everyone told eachother their classes and preferences they noticed two thing. 1: they had almost no support players and 2: they had two possible tank but both used highly offensive weapons. The only real support character was Asuna and 2-handed weapons sucked for defense making their tanking ability almost 0. So it was pretty clear they were a highly offensive party.

"Ok so when we get to the dungeon who will be party leader? I'm not particularly good at it. I mean I can lead a party like this but I prefer being in the background if I can." Kirito said. When no one volunteered he heard Asuna sigh. "I'll take that role on me. I'm a pretty solid guild leader in other MMO's I played so I know what I'm doing." Kirito couldn't help but be relieved that someone else to ok the role of party leader. He wasn't lying when he said he wanted to in the background. Mostly because he was a beta tester. He was afraid they wouldn't listen to him and get themselves killed if h was ever revealed to be one.

"Ok so that means that you'll have to be the one to tell Diavel about our strentghs and weaknesses. You think you can?" Kirito asked Asuna. "Of course. Our strenghts are that we've got good offensive power, two good ranged combatants and are pretty mobile for the most part. Our weaknesses are the lack of support characters and tanks. Again, back in the real world I was a guild leader in some games. I know what I'm doing."

"Well I think that with that all decided we should go to sleep. We've got one week and we want to be well rested each time. Let's get to sleep shall we?" Sinon said. Everyone agreed and picked out a spot in the room. It was gonna be a busy week after all.

Deadline day for the boss fight.

In the week they had agreed on everything went smooth. In just 2 days a group called the 'Sleeping Knights', which Kirito knew were Ran's group, had found the boss room. So the next 4 days were all about getting ready for the battle. Getting levels, upgrading and repairing equipment, coming up with strategies etc. There were multiple meetings in between to discuss the progress they had made and on deadline day the requirments were met. But before they set out Kirito wanted to talk to 2 beta testers in particular: Ran and Merida. He wanted to talk about how Kibaou was trying to buy his sword.

"Hè there Kirito, long time no see. You wanted to talk?" He heard a familiar voice. He didn't recognise them instantly but he knew exactly who they were.

"Yeah. Aside from Argo you guys are the only fellow beat testers I trust. I wanted to talk about Kibaou." "Why him? I know he's very anti-beta testers but he doesn't know you're one right?" Ran asked. Kirito shook his head. "He knows alright. Otherwise he wouldn't specificaly try to buy my sword for 39.800 col."

This revelation came as a shock to the female beta testers. Kirito explained how Kibaou constantly tried buying his 'Anneal Blade +6 (3S3D)' going so far as to bid almost 40k for a sword that fully upgraded is worth about 35k. The three agreed that the only way he would've singled him out was because he knew he was a beta tester. But how he knew that was a mystery to them. They couldn't think of any feasable ways and so they decided to go and get themselves ready for the boss.

When they got to the plaza the roles were pretty well devided by Diavel. For the most part The 4 parties of nine were splited into two damage dealing parties, Diavel's team A and Kibaou's Team B while the tanks of Agil's party, team C, would pull the agro of Ilfang away from the damage dealers. Ran's party, team D, was basicaly given the freedom to do what they wanted, being the most balanced group, while Asuna's team E would keep the Kobold Sentinels at bay. None of them really understood that decision. In terms of raw damage their group could easily handle Ilfang but orders were orders. However Kirito suspected there was more to it then that.

When they entered the labyrinth of floor 1s dungeon everything went smoothly. No one died, got seperated or ambushed while they were on their way and the team gelled well. Of course this was largely due to their preperations. Kirito didn't know how the others had prepared but he knew his team had upgraded Asuna's 'Wind Fleuret' to '+4 (2A2D)', Arsene's 'War Terror' to '+6 (3S3D)', Lupin's 'Lion's Roar' to '+4 (2S2D)' and Deliah's 'Stout Brand' to '+4 (2S2A)', aswell as stocking up on potions so that Asuna could focus on other things then just healing the party. Their armor was mostly the same as before: either light iron armor or heavy plated iron armor.

When they reached the boss room Kirito was suddenly tapped on his right shoulder. When he looked there he saw that to his relief it was the first retail player he considered a friend: Klein with his bright smile.

"It's good to see you again mate. I completely missed you it seems." Kirito said. Leafa simply gaped, realising who stood there. "I told ya the boys and I would catch up eventually didn't I? It seems like you're still around aswell huh Leafa. And it seems like you guys teamed up with some people. Can't really say anything though. Orders are orders so don't worry I'm not mad. I hope you lot make it out." "Same here Klein. So which party are you on?" "Diavel's. We're the main damage dealers. I hope you guys can hold off those Sentinels." "Don't worry about that. They're though but not invinceable. Just beat the shit out of Ilfang and we're golden." "Will do kiddo. But it seems like the big boss wants to talk."

It was true. For this battle Diavel held one final speech before they opened the door. "I want to tell you all two things. The first is once more that it is essantial that we win here today. If we lose we might never get another again. The second is my graditude to all of you. The fact you're standing here with me, about to enter the battle of a lifetime, is truly special. I know you guys can help me win this. So raise your weapons, ready your spells and focus on the task at hand. We can and will win here today for we are the only ones that can. We will beat everything that stands between us and freedom. Let's win this battle and head to the second floor!"

A war cry resounded trough the entire dungeon. Everyone was ready to beat the bosd and set the first steps towards freedom.

Several minutes later

The battle was going as smoothly as you could imagine. The tanks of team C pulled the agro as much as possible, teams A and B were interchanging briliantly and team D was making full use of it's freedom. 5 people were helping out the Ilfang teams, 4, including Ran, were helping team E. Or they were initially. When it was apparent that team E didn't need help fighting the Sentinels they all focused their attention on Ilfang. One person in particular impressed: Yuuki. While her focus was dealing damage to Ilfang she often found the time to fight the Sentinels. She also was the only fighter who never dipped below full health.

"Switch!" Kirito yelled out to Deliah as he jumped back to allow her to enter the fray. Deliah quickly dispatched the Sentinel with a 'Horizontal'. Kirito had to admit she was quite good. She knew exactly when to switch in and out. The plan Asuna had come up with was simple: the two heavyweights would protect Leafa and Sinon as they rained hell upon the Sentinels from afar. Meanwhile Kirito, Asuna, Arsene and Deliah would fight face to face with the Sentinels. Whenever the group was dispatched they would drink their potions and ready themselves for the next.

Another group that did well was a 5 man group from Kibaou's party. They were called the 'Moonlit Black Cats' if Kirito remembered correctly. While the girl of that group spammed lightning spells to stun Ilfang the others either protected her or fought Ilfang. He had to say that, despite the fact the girl was visibly shaking, she was doing really well. The boys were doing great aswell, giving Ilfang hell.

"Look Kirito, Ilfang is in the red! We're actually about to win this!" Leafa said. For the first time in two months she was truly excited about something. Could you blame her? Finally after two long, cruel months they were finally about to go to the next floor.

"Yeah, an' now you're gonna do what ya always do aren't ya boy? Go ahead, I won't stop ya." Kibaou suddenly said. This put a damper on Leafa's enthousiasm. Kirito looked at Kibaou confused. "What are you talking about man?" "Don't play dum', boy. I know what kind 'f player ya are. Ya're one of them beta testers. And both Diavel and I know what ya're after: ta last attack bonus."

It was then that Kirito understood. Kibaou was just a middle man just like how Argo was. In reallity someone else had asked him to buy the sword. Not to strenghten himself but to weaken Kirito. It was also then that Kirito realised something. He had seen and heard the name Diavel before. But he couldn't remember from where. Ever since that day in Tolbana he was thinking about every possibility aside from the most obvious: Diavel was a former beta tester himself. And he was also the one who told Kibaou about Kirito and told him to buy his sword by every means neccesary. All of that for the last attack bonus. Something Kirito became quite infamous for as he always managed to get it in the beta.

"Alright men. Out of the way. I'll take it from here." Kirito noticed Diavel charge at Ilfang. He resigned himself to the fact that Diavel would take it. After all Kirito himself was on the other side of the room. A smart plan from Diavel he had go admit.

"Uhm Kirito, Ilfang was supposed to have a Talwar right?" Sinon said. "Yeah, why?" "Because that is not a Talwar! That is a No-Dachi!"

Kirito immediatly looked at Ilfang and to his shock Sinon was right. Ilfang was wielding the Japanese No-Dachi instead of the Indian Talwar. "This is very bad" Kirito thought. Talwars used the ordinary 1-handed curved sword skills which were common place around here. However No-Dachis used Katana sword skills, sword skills that shouldn't be seen up until the 10th floor. "Everyone, get out of there! Ilfang's weapon has changed!"

It was already too late. Ilfang jumped, twisting his body and midair, building momentum for his strike. The power emitted from thst was like that of a crimson whirlwind. Plane: horizontal. Angle: 360 degrees. It was the powerfull Katana sword skill: 'Tsumuji-Guruma' or 'Spiral Wheel'.

6 members of Team A were hit by Ilfang's skill. It would've been bad enough if the skill only took away half of your hit points but of course this game wasn't so kind. The skill also inflicted a stun effect. One of the two worst and deadliest status' in the game along with blindness. They might only last 10 seconds but because of this there was no way to recover it. Your party had to jump in without the switch command and get the mobs attention.

However they were all stunned. Everything went as planned before. But now the leader lied on the floor. This kept everyone rooted to their spot. It wasn't until Ilfang had recovered thst Kirito came to his senses.

"Watch out for the follow up!" He screamed at Agil's C team but he was too late. Ilfang's second sword skill 'Ukifune' or 'Rising ship' was aimed directly at Diavel. He was launched into the air. However that was just the start. The massive beasts wolflike mouth flashed a grin, his sword glowing red once more. The best thing to do here was to roll up in a ball and maximise your defense. However Diavel had never faced the terrifying floor 10 beasts wielding the No-Dachi. He was one of the many who weren't strong enough to face even the basic beasts of that floor.

Diavel tried to initiate a sword skill but failed, the system not responding to his flailing. Ilfangs sword hit him head on. Two stikes, one up and one down, faster then could be seen followed by a pause and then a thrust. It was the sword skill 'Hiougi' or 'Scarlet Fan'. The hits were critical hits to boot. Kirito knew it then: Diavel was dead.

Kirito dispatched the Sentinel he was fighting with a 'Slant' and ran to Diavel along with Asuna. Both had drawn the same conclussion. Healing a player in SAO could only be doneonce the health no longer depleted. This meant that there was no chance to save the brave leader of the raid. They kneeled down to have one last talk with Diavel, his health slowly depleting.

"It seems my overconfidence in my knowledge was the death of me huh? I'm truly sorry Kirito, Asuna. But I had no choice. Kirito would've gotten it 100%." Diavel said. "I understand. I didn't do myself any favours by playing dirty in the beta." "What now though? Who is gonna lead the group?" Asuna said. Diavel smiled one last time before saying "You know who is going to lead them Asuna."

Those were Diavel's last words before shattering into blue pieces of glass. The leader of the first raid was dead.

Most people didn't know what to do. When Ilfang charged at the girl of the 'Moonlit Black Cats' however someone got back into it.

"Incantate order! Devil chains! Release incantation!" Ran shouted, trapping Ilfang. "Someone come up with a plan quickly! We have to beat him! I can't hold him for more then 30 seconds!"

It only got worst as more Sentinels started spwaning. Everytime one died more came back. No one, not even Kirito and Merida, could think of something. Until someone, an unexpected person, started barking orders.

"A team, you guys are staying out of the battle until your all healed up! When you heal you'll fight against the Sentinels! B team,D team and E team will focus on damaging Ilfang! C team you help out against the Sentinels! Tanking against Ilfang is a death sentence!"

Asuna, the cloaked Rapier wielder, had barked orders to everyone. Most were sceptic about them though. "Just do as she says! It's the only plan we have!" Kirito shouted. "He's right! Unless you've got a better plan follow Asuna's!" Ran shouted to back them up.

Immediatly after they began moving about. The sentinels wouldn't be much of a problem. But Ilfang was going to be. "Once he jumps move as far away from him as you can! If someone fails to avoid his hit rush in immediatly to help them!" Asuna shouted. Everyone shouted their affirmative. Team A eventually joined the never ending battle against the Sentinels. The Ilfang teams knew they had to win quickly. It was going well but they knew that they had to be quicker. Sinon then came up with a risky but surefire way to kill Ilfang.

"Kirito, could you use those pillars to jump towards Ilfang? That way you might be able to kill him when he is at his most vulnerable: during the start up of his first skill." Sinon said. Kirito nodded. "I could if Asuna allows it." he said. "Just do it! Everything to win. We have to be quick. Everyone! Kirito will attack Ilfang in the air. The rest of you stay back!" Asuna said. Kirito nodded and waited for the perfect moment.

There it was. Ilfang jumped and Kirito followed suit. He knew that if he failed he would die. But he wouldn't fail. Using the momentum of his run he jumped further then he thought possible. His sword skill 'Horizontal Arc' hitting Ilfang where it hurts. With the momentum he sliced Ilfangs stumach and eventually landed onto the floor.

Behind him Ilfang's bursted into tiny particles and so did the sentinels. The large congratulations sign appeared. Everyone cheered as Kirito got the last attack bonus.

"You did well Kirito." Asuna said. Both his group, Ran's group and Klein's group joined them. "Couldn't have done it without you lot. You were amazing."

"Why? Why did Diavel have to die?" someone suddenly said. If Kirito remembered correctly his name was Lind. Lind immediatly pointed his finger towards Kirito.

You! You're at fault. You withheld information about the boss from the beta! You beta scum!"

Everyone began murmering amongst themselves aside from the groups by Kirito and Kibaou himself. Before Kirito could retaliate someone did it for him.

"Or maybe things changed! There already was one place were I almost died because there was a trap that wasn't there in the beta! Why is it when you guys have such misfortune it's always the beta testers that get the short end of the stick? Maybe you should look at your own shortcomings once, you entitled assholes!"

Asuna was pissed off. The commander that had led an army in disarry to victory was already laying the seeds for a massive rivalry. But she didn't care. She was supporting the beta testers through thick and thin even if they weren't all great people.

"Why are you on their side? Are you a beta tester yourself?" "No I'm not. However I hate it when people who've done nothing wrong get targeted by entitled pricks like yourself. Kirito didn't withhold information, he was just as shocked as you were. Again things change. And yes, I've known he was a beta tester for a week now. But I don't care. He is... my partner. My second-in-command if you will. I trust him with my life. He trusted me, a relative noobie, to lead his party simply because he himself doesn't want people to die because he is a beta tester. Because of people like you he is afraid to lead other."

That hit where it hurts. No one said anything until Deliah spoke up. "Is is ok if we stay with you guys Asuna? We could learn a thing or two from Kirito." Everyone was shocked aside from Deliah's group. They had been talking about teaming up with this group permanently but didn't know whether that was smart. Now however their doubts were gone. They always wanted to team up with a beta tester and now was their chance.

Asuna looked at Kirito. "You're the leader Asuna. You decide, I follow." he said. Asuna looked at Deliah and her group and made her decision. "Welcome to the party everyone."

The group were more then happy. However one question remained. "Kirito, what was the LA?" Leafa asked. Kirito went to his menu and equiped an item called the 'coat of midnight'. "It was this coat. It gives you better night vision and hiding skill" he said. Everyone knew how handy that could be.

"My party and I'll open the teleport gate on the second floor. See ya'll there." Asuna said. Everyone that wouldn't go to the second floor right now nodded and went to the cities to tell the people of their victory.

"That was something else. And it's only getting harder from here. I don't want to think about it." Sinon said. The small party of eight agreed completely. But unbeknownst to anyone this party of eight would be the start of the most powerfull and respected guild in SAO.

So yeah there goes last chapters record. Honestly I'm a bit afraid the entire suicide and bath scene thing might force me to bump this up to a M rating but on the other hand I'm not worried about that. Considering the officially licensed product is also T rated and everything just mentioned is in that I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter. Anyway to the actual note.

This is probably the chapter I'm most proud of out all the chapters I've written but I'll talk about that before I answer some questions. But first a quick word on the story itself. If people haven't noticed it yet this series takes ideas from multiple sources of the franschise, most notably the Progressive story which itself was a retelling of the story but currently only has 6 volumes out despite the fact that the plan was to go from floor 1 to floor 75 but apart from that shows us more of characters like Argo and introduces Vassago early on and it also takes a lot from the games were I got the idea to add Leafa, Sinon, Yuuki, Philia and eventually the rest of those characters to the story. I'll also have to think up a completely new storyline for ALO as that is where the biggest changes will come. GGO will stay in mostly tact however I'm not sure if Mothers Rosario will translate well considering Yuuki won't die in this story so I'll probably have to scrap it which hurts because it is probably my favorite SAO arc. Alicization is gonna be extremely hard to handle. I have a bunch of ideas that I like and likely will write but those might not sit well with some of you guys. And don't worry, the goddesses will appear in my version of Alicization.

Anyway, why am I so proud of this. For one the drama is handeled better then usually. It's still not good enough in my eyes but atleast it isn't as bad as my first story where the drama is rushed because of my inexperiance and because back then I had the attention span of a toddler and wanted to pump my stories out too much. Since then I've started writing longer, more in depth chapters. I still think my older stories are decent and I want to write more chapters for those but in the style I write now. If you want to compare them to this one by all means read them but bare in mind that those stories are about the cartoon Winx Club which I was super into back then and that most of the chapters are much shorter. By comparison my shortest chapter of this story is roughly the same lenght as the longest from those stories and more then 6000 words longer then the shortest of my chapters back then. Also a bunch of crossovers I never went back to and a story that isn't even getting to the good stuff yet aswell as a Winx Club Formula 1 story which I was supposed to write weekly but got tired of after 4 chapters. I will return to all of them eventually but before then I atleast want to finish this arc and have the first 3 to 4 chapters of ALO ready to go. So that will be a long time.

Another reason I'm proud is the balance between action, drama and calm moments. I think there is still room for improvement but I feel more certain of myself now. There will me chapters which will be just a lot of calm moments between characters and some romance of course which I hope I'll handle beter then before.

The next is the action scène against Ilfang. I hope the build up was worth it. Again Progressive helped me a lot both here and with Argo and I truly hope I managed to do it well. What I of course mean is that it helped me remember the sword skill names aswell as how the system upgrade system works. Research is my number 1 neccesity and the books make sure I can be as accurate as possible while giving my own spin to many of things used by Reki. I didn't want to completely discard the original game and world made by Reki so instead I used it as a skeleton to create my own Aincrad. I think it works pretty well. What do you think?

The final reason I'm proud is that I did this a story that I genuinely enjoy writting. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed writing those others but they were from a series I started to lose passion for. Winx Club is in my opinion a solid show but not what it used to be. Season 8 pretty much made me completely lose interest because it just wasn't what it could've been. Ever since season 4 it has been getting more and more childish and the dark moments from earlier seasons felt unimpactfull as they're never mentioned. Could it be that I had watched Madoka Magica one to many times and thus hold other magical girl shows to that standard? Yeah probably. It was similar to when I first watched SAO. I had recently started HunterxHunter, my favorite Shounen show ever, aswell as Madoka Magica a year earlier and I just wasn't into MMO's at the time. So I had convinced myself SAO wasn't for me. I gave it a shot again during last christmas and fell in love with the series. I realised it was far from as bad as some people say it is. That is why I wanted to write this. To show my appreciation for Reki's first series and because I just love the show.

Anyway now for some questions. First off I won't go the harem route. While some say SAO is a harem it really isn't. Just because a boy has a bunch of female friends doesn't mean he has a harem. In fact apart from Asuna the only girls who had romantic feelings for Kirito where Lisbeth who got over them, Leafa who got over them and Sinon who is struggling to get over them and doesn't act on them out of respect for Kirito and Asuna. As for the other girls (spoiler alert by the way. Skip to the next question if you don't to get spoiled) : Sachi was his first lover in the web novels which are no longer canon and thus sadly don't count, Silica sees Kirito as a brother, Yuuki literally only saw him as a powerfull swordsman, Sortiliena was a person Kirito admired, Ronie admires but doesn't love Kirito, Tiese loves Renly and gets married to him, Linel and Fizel are 10 years old and too busy becoming powerfull knights, Fanatio has a kid with BercoulI, Sheyta has a kid with Iskhan and Alice's feelings towards Kirito were purely maternal. Yes the games turn it into a harem and A-1 pictures has a tendency to take things out of context but in the Light novels it is clear Asuna is the only girl for Kirito and vice versa.

Another interesting question was who will be the main villain of Aincrad. The person answerd their question themselves: Vassago also known as the Prince of Hell or PoH for short. He is one of the two best villains in SAO and I'm looking forward to when I get the chance to write him into the story. As for other arcs apart from ALO the villains will remain the same. I have a more appriate candidate for the role of Oberon.

There are two more questions I want to answer. And one of them was how I'll handle writing 100 floors despite only really know about 10 of them right now. I could look to that games but honestly even they don't go through all floors if I remember correctly And I'm taking too much inspiration from them already. Most will be completely made up. So yeah whish me luck.

And then there was the question of wheter we'll go into SA:O or Sword Art:Origin and Ordinal Scale. For now the plan is absolutely yes we will. I love the world of SA:O and Ordinal Scale was a fantastic movie which added so much to SAO including the titular game Ordinal Scale and two great characters in Eiji and Yuuna.

And those were the questions. Let me know whay you think about the story and your predictions of which way we're gonna go with the story. Your input is more wanted then ever before. And now for thd usual SAO random trivia.

Lisbeths hair colour and outfit were chosen by Asuna. She thought the stereotypical blacksmith attire didn't suit Lis due to her cutr said Lis should try her pink maidesque outfit to see if customers would come in. Long story short it worked.