Twinblade and Angel of Death

by WaterBendingQueen88

When SAO becomes a death game, many players take up their weapons and fight to escape. One of them is Taicho, a young man who wants to get back to his family for answers, and another is Haruza, a young girl who seeks redemption for herself after a real-world failure. This is their story.

3. Beater

I thank whitworth5274 for helping me.

A month had passed since Sword Art Online had gone live. Since Kayaba's announcement and entrapment of 10,000 players, a fifth of them had died on the 1st Floor. No progress had been made to clear the 1st Floor. What made clearing the Floor difficult wasn't just the fear of death, but the location of the Floor Boss' lair. Beta testers had been unable to find that location within the 1st Floor labyrinth.

Until today, where players are holding a meeting at the village of Tolbana, residing in the shadows of their towering hopes of escape.

One of those players was a young man with dark brown hair and sharp blue eyes. He wore a grey shirt underneath his metal chestplate, dark leather fingerless gauntlets, and blue pants that covered his dark boots. His sword clinked against his back as he found a seat in the amphitheater, eager to get the meeting started.

His name was Taicho, real name Haruji Kaito, and of all people trapped in SAO, he was the one in greatest disbelief and guilt.

His father worked on the game, Taicho got to play different builds of the game, including the official beta, and he couldn't recall a single point in which the current situation would have been noticeable. After Kayaba's announcement, Taicho was brimming with anger towards his father, but as time passed and emotions gave way to logic, one thing made sense: If his father was party to Kayaba's scheme, why would he allow his oldest child to enter the game? Taicho prides himself on his ability to think logically, so logically his father had to be unaware of the game's purpose.

And even if he found out before launch, Taicho didn't believe he could have warned 10,000 potential players. As far as he knew, once you logged on, you were trapped.

So for the past month, he solo'ed the first floor, using his beta knowledge to the maximum. He did notice small differences in the final build from the beta, from how some items operated to activation times for skills, but that didn't worry him. When the beta went down in August, he had only played a short portion of the pre-launch version of the game on this floor, but he never got high enough in level to get as far as Tolbana. Anyone who played beta and final builds of games knew there were to be changes, and they could be as small as merchant carpets having a limit on placements in town (caused a big problem in the beta) to how bosses attack or were present.

The greatest fear of any fight in history was not the lack of information, but the datedness of information.

As Taicho found his seat, a man standing on the stage of the amphitheater clapped his hands to gain everyone's attention. "Ok, people! Now that everyone's here, let's get this meeting started! So anyway, I wanna thank everyone for coming. Good to see you. My name is Diavel and in this game, the job I enrolled here is Knight."

Laughter took over the amphitheater, even Taicho wasn't immune. "Dude, there's no job system in this game!"

"You guys wanna hear this or not?" As silence resumed, Diavel took a deep breath, all humor leaving his face for a serious look. "Right, anyway, here's the deal. Our party found the Boss room at the top of the tower today."

Taicho raised his eyebrows. He knew, and had himself, that higher-level players were mapping the labyrinth of the 1st Floor in hopes of finding the lair of the Boss. Naturally, Taicho plotted out the path the doors to the Boss from the beta, but not only was that path incorrect, it was cut short. "Finally."

"First, we need to defeat the Boss and make it to Floor 2. 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?" Hoping to alleviate some of his guilt (and his family's guilt, he was sure his father was taking this hard), Taicho agreed silently with Diavel, and joined the other players in clapping. "Ok! Glad to hear you're all with me on this. Now let's figure out how we're gonna beat the Boss. First off, we'll team up into parties of six. A typical party doesn't stand a chance against a Floor Boss. We need a raid group made up of multiple parties."

Parties? Made sense. Six people was the maximum for a party, in Sword Art Online, and for raids, you'd need at least eight of them to be effective. Taicho understood that from prior games and the SAO beta. Problem was… Most players of SAO, at least those that made it this far, were not solo players. Taicho looked around and saw small groups forming immediately because they were already party members. For someone like him to randomly join up with others...

"Hey, you need a party?" Taicho looked up and saw a redhead girl standing over him. In a game vastly dominated by males, Taicho's first reaction was purely that of a boy his age when an unknown, rare, and admittedly cute-looking girl spoke to him. Thankfully, that embarrassment stayed in his head as her words took root in his brain.

"You're...offering to party with me?"

The girl nodded. "Yes. Me and my friend are four short of a full party, and he's over there trying to convince that other loner to join us. Um, not that you're a loner or anything-"

"It's fine. Truth be told, I have been alone this entire time, and asking to join someone's party made me a little nervous. But I'll take you up on your offer, since we do need to join one anyway."

She grinned and sent an invite. "Thanks!" Taicho received and accepted the invite to join the girl's party. Upon accepting, three names appear underneath his status bars. "Kirito, Haruza, and Asuna… Let me guess, you're Haruza?"

"Mhm! And you're...Taicho. Nice to make your acquaintance, Taicho!" Haruza extended her hand to Taicho, and he took and shook it lightly. Well, the first order of business was out the way, Haruza took her seat beside Taicho and waved to a boy on the row behind and to the fair right seated with a girl with a red hood. That must be Kirito and Asuna, respectively.

Once it seemed everyone was partied up, Diavel started speaking again. "Alright! Looks like everyone's teamed up. Now then-"

"Hold on a sec!" Taicho watches as a spiky haired man on the top row of the seating area of the amphitheater jumped down all the way to the stage. He landed in front of Diavel and began speaking harshly. "My name's Kibaou, got that? Before we take on the Boss, I wanna get something off my chest! We know about the 2,000 people who died so far, yeah? Well some of you need to apologize to them right now!" Kibaou pointed to the audience, but he didn't specify who needed to apologize. Taicho, however, had a good idea what Kibaou meant.

"Kibaou, I think I know who you're referring to. You mean the ones who are ex-beta testers, right?"

"Course I mean them! The day this stupid-ass 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!" He then growled "Hell, I bet there's some of them here! Come on out, beta testers! We should make them apologize to us! And we should make them give out their money and the items they got! They can't expect the party to trust them when they don't trust us! Why should we?"

As Taicho listened, he bore a guilt-ridden expression on his face. Apparently Haruza picked up on that as she turned to him. "So you're one too."

"Too? Oh, you're a beta tester as well?"

"Mmhm. Me and Kirito are. And until all this started, I didn't know he was a guy I'm friends with in real life."

"Oh. Hmm. Well, yes, I am a beta tester...and more."

Taicho didn't plan on elaborating more, not to someone he didn't know, but if Haruza was going to press further, she didn't as a large, dark-skinned man with an ax on his back stood: "Can I say something?" The man made his way to the stage and confronted Kibaou. "Hey, my name's Agil. Kibaou, right? I wanna make sure I'm on the same page. You say the ex-beta testers should be blamed for the rookie's deaths because they didn't help them. And you want them to apologize and give up their winnings. I leave anything out?"

"No, you didn't."

Agil pulled out a small brown book and held it up. "The item store hands these out for free. It's a guidebook. You got one, didn't you?"

"Sure I got one. So what about it?"

"Ya know who was handing these out? The ex-beta testers." Agil spoke true. Though he had a book himself, former testers like Taicho had given information about the floor for Col. It was part of his own personal quest to absolve for his guilt, but even that information couldn't save 2,000 people.

Kibaou looked tense as Agil continued. "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 'cause I wanna learn from those players' deaths. I'm here because I wanna find out how we're gonna beat the Boss."

Haruza stood up. "A lot of players died because of suicide, not just hard quests. I know because I saw them jump from the pillars and into the endless sky."

After Haruza's outburst and defense of her and the other hidden beta testers affect on the deaths, Agil looked to Kibaou. Verbally defeated, he groaned and headed to the nearest seat, crossing his arms. Agil himself left the stage and returned to his seat while Diavel regained control of the meeting. "Ok. Can we get back to the meeting now? For info on the Boss, it's all in here. The latest issue of the guidebook you've 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. 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."

Taicho nodded along as the information on Illfang was presented. Everything sounded just as he remembered it from prior testing, including the beta. Of course, there might be some changes, but he didn't expect something like a complete overhaul, just a few balancing changes.

Diavel closed the book and looked at the audience. "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 EXP. And whoever gets an item gets to keep it. Any objections?" No objections were made. Those were standard raid agreements, after all. "Good. We leave tomorrow at 10 in the morning. Meeting adjourned, people!"

"Kirito, this is Taicho. He'll be joining us for the boss raid. Taicho, Kirito, my friend who I've been with since the game began." Taicho nodded to the seated black-haired boy as he and Haruza came to the other half of their party. Kirito stood up and held his hand out in greeting and Taicho took it.

"Thanks for having me."

"Thanks for joining us. We might not have a full party, but it's better than none, I suppose? Ah, and this is-huh?" Taicho, Haruza, and Kirito watched as the cloaked fourth member silently walked off, with no interest or care about introducing herself (although they already knew her name).

"Well, she's an interesting one. Could've said hello or something."

"Don't get offended, Haruza. It took a lot to convince her to join us. We'll see her soon enough, I guess."

"Fine. Say, Taicho, you don't mind hanging with us for now, right?"

Taicho shrugged. Given it has been a month since he really engaged with other people, this would be a nice change of pace. Plus, Haruza and Kirito were gracious enough to invite him to their party; it was only right he paid them back with equal friendliness. "Sure, why not?"

Haruza smiled and threw her arm up. "You hear that, Kirito! We got a new friend!"

"Haha, yeah."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tolbana was just as lively as it was during the day. Taicho could spot many of the raid members enjoying the dark hours as they returned from the field, finished preparations, headed to dinner or to an inn, or simply engaging in conversation. Taicho's party was no different. They, too, did light field work after the meeting, with the trio just returning to town.

Kirito claimed something caught his interest, so he split from Haruza and Taicho once they entered the town's central square. They tailed the boy for a moment, seeing him engage their red-hooded friend from earlier, and decided not to interrupt. Returning to the square, they found a seat on one of the benches surrounding the fountain.

As they sat there, Haruza pulled out a flute and started to fiddle around with it. Taicho remembered that there are other, non-combative skills in the game, like instrument, cooking, crafting, etc., but he did not expect to see one of them from a frontliner. At this point, he can tell her skill is very low based on the basic notes and short tunes she's playing, but at least there's a melody.

After a few minutes of raising the proficiency of the skill, Haruza put the flute away and sighed. "One day I'll be able to play my favorite songs on the damn thing."

"It's impressive you invested in the skill so early."

"Yeah, but I had it pretty good in the beta. Then again, it's not like I have a month to just dilly-dally with this flute…" Haruza suddenly frowned and looked to her feet, twisting one of her ankles back and forth rhythmically. Taicho looked up and decided to not pester her about her personal life, SAO or real life. He barely knew her, so making a pass to getting to know her before the day of battle and potential death might be bothersome if one dies and the other survives. It was the unsaid rule of MMOs anyway, to not speak of the real world with players met online. That conversation would be better suited for Kirito, someone who knew her in the other world.

Yet his elder sibling instincts kick in. "Something's the matter?"

"Well… Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"If you had a choice between Aincrad and Japan, would you go back to our world?"

"Hmm." Virtual reality or their reality? If he was a kid, an open, hardcore otaku, or had a reason to certainly hate the life of Haruji Kaito, the answer would be simple. The other option has its merits too. But was that what Haruza was asking in that question? No, Taicho didn't believe she was asking Aincrad versus Japan, but he'd bite. "I think I'd choose home. Or, at least, the ability to come and go from Aincrad as originally designed."

"That so? I don't know about that. On my end, I don't think I want to go home."

Not considering the danger of Aincrad, the floating castle is a paradise. He did mentally list types of people who would take their imprisonment here as their own isekai anime. A second (albeit temporary if they survive) attempt at life. "Why not?"

"The real me...she shouldn't be here. Not because she doesn't want to be here, I really do. But it's...parental, if that makes sense."

"Strict academic parents? You skip studying for SAO?"

"Well, if you replace academics with athletics, you'll be on the money. That girl made an error and is paying for it physically. Since then, she's tried her best to work hard, but everyone wants her to take it easy and heal. Her mother, however… She doesn't understand that her daughter wants to be a fourteen-year-old second year student sometimes. She wants to be a nerdy gamer, an amine enthusiast, a computer freak, and, heck, I want to know what it's like to have a crush on the most popular boy in school. But once we return to our world, if she lives, she will lose her life anyway."

"I see. I'm sure she's not the only one with some baggage in the real world."

"You're right. Like Kirito, you think he's all cool, but he's a bigger loser than I am back home. Not his fault, I guess, but… I wish he'd realize how it is affecting others around him. Poor Sugu." Haruza sighed and sat back, facing Taicho with a raised eyebrow. "Since we're breaking one of MMO's rules, you got baggage to share?"

"What, you take me for some protagonist with a crappy life story?"

Haruza scoffed humorously. "No, but I'm sure there's something. You don't look like a protagonist. You're the best friend who appears in the first four episodes for one or two scenes, then gets a whole episode dedicated to you before completely vanishing until the end of the season. And that anime is twelve episodes with no second season in sight, so read the light novels."

Taicho frowned. "Oddly specific."

"'Tis true, you know it."

Sighing, Taicho looked up to the dark sky. Haruza poured her heart out to him, and it might feel good to do the same. "Well, he has a secret. His father was a programmer at Argus, so not only did he get to tinker with the NerveGear earlier than most of the world, but SAO as well, from alpha to sometime prior to release. So...although it is illogical, he feels guilty about not knowing about how this game would've turned out. He was angry at his father initially, but no one in their right mind would send their kid here if they knew the truth. And even if he did know, that boy couldn't have possibly stopped 9,999 other people from logging on. So, until he gets home, he'll do all he can to get them to the 100th floor and home. Even if they don't want to."

Haruza pursed her lips and looked away. "Well, thanks for the offer, maybe I'll change my mind if we live to see the 2nd floor. Not that I lack confidence we will, but...helps to be skeptical."

"Right."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

December 3rd, 2022 1st Floor Forest Field

"Let's go over it again. We're the backup, so our target's gonna be the Boss' minions. The Ruin Kobold Sentinels."

"I know."

"I'll use a sword skill to knock their weapons up and out of the way. When I do, switch and jump in."

"What's a switch?"

"It's a technique between party members that switches out the attacking person for another."

Kirito faced the hooded girl. "Ok, level with me. Is this the first time you've ever been in a party?"

"Uh-huh." Kirito, Haruza, and Taicho stopped and watched the girl continue walking down the forest path. Sighing along with the others, Taicho rubbed his head.

"This ought to be interesting."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Very soon, they were at the top of the first floor labyrinth. After a month and a fifth of the player base dead, this moment was vital to the morale of the remaining eight thousand. If they won, they'd inspire others; if they lose...

Diavel must have sensed that tension, so he stood in the lead in front of the metal double doors, his features illuminated by the giant torches on the walls. "Listen up, everyone. I've only got one thing to say to you. Let's win!" "Come on!" He touched the gate and forced it open, taking the first step into a long, darkened corridor.

As the other players funneled inside, Taicho precisely recalled the room, so his eyes immediately locked on to the one who sat at the other end in darkness. He would stand several meters above the tallest player, his body crimson like blood. As the room lit up, the large biped beast picked up its ax and leapt towards the players, his sentinels charging forth too, beginning the first boss fight of Aincrad.

Illfang the Kobold Lord.

Diavel came to a halt in the middle of the advancing players and pointed his sword forward: "Commence attack!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Squads A and C, switch in... Here it comes! Squad B, block! Squad C, keep guarding and prepare to switch. Everyone else, when you fall back, regroup and flank them! Squads D, E and F, keep those minions off us!"

Kirito nodded and looked toward the group of incoming sentinels. "Yeah, you got it!"

"You know, I had my doubts, but Diavel is leading pretty well… We can do this, guys!" said Haruza.

Kirito nodded as he parried a Kobold Sentinel's blade and knocked it back. "Switch!"

"I'm on it," Asuna called as she passed Kirito and attacked with incredible speed..

Taicho, switching with Haruza, saw this and smirked to himself. "Looks like we may have slightly misjudged her, she does not look much like a beginner."

"Yeah. I can barely see the tip of her sword… Right on!"

Haruza locked blades with another kobold. "Taicho, switch!" Taicho heard the command and raced towards Haruza, activating the Vertical sword skill and slicing through the kobold's waist. Once the kobold disappeared, Taicho taunted by swinging his sword on his shoulder and winking at the spot it used to be. Looking at the girl behind him, he gave her a thumbs up. "You're all right."

Haruza rolled her eyes and looked at the main force. 'Great, another showoff." Taicho ignored that and joined Haruza in glancing at the groups attacking Illfang. Everything was going their way, with Illfang's final health bar now becoming red, signifying less than 25 percent remains. In response, he threw away his axe and buckler, just as in the beta.

Taicho was content and about to tell Haruza that they should get back to fighting, but then Diavel did something insane. Instead of following the plan they set, he rushed off on his own while Illfang switched weapons. Why the hell would he…

No. Of course there's only one reason a player would do something like this. And if Diavel was aware of such a thing as the Last Attack Bonus, Taicho had no problem giving it to him. The current moment was because Diavel rounded everyone up and led them perfectly, so he deserved it.

His eyes moved from the blue-haired knight to their red-bellied enemy as it drew its final weapon. Taicho expected to see the blunt-ended talwar, but what Illfang pulled out shocked Taicho beyond belief. The pristine weapon Illfang drew was a straight blade with a notched ending.

The boss fight, between the beta and the full release, has indeed been changed.

Kirito notices it too as he cries out, "That's not a Talwar! It's a Nodachi! This isn't like the beta! Wait, stop! It's no good! Get out of there!"

"Diavel, get back!" Taicho watched as Illfang leapt up and around Diavel on the columns supporting the room, then came down with a downward diagonal slice, and combos that with an upward vertical, sent Diavel flying. Illfang roared at the remainder of the group, now dazed by what just transpired.

"Taicho!" Haruza grabbed Taicho's sleeve and pulled him towards where Kirito knelt beside Diavel. They couldn't hear the conversation over the shouts behind them, but they did see Diavel reject Kirito's potion. So when they did arrive, Taicho could hear his assumption proven true.

"You were after the last attack bonus. The rare item. You're just like me. A beta tester."

Taicho shook his head. "That was idiotic. Now take the potion, you have to lead us."

Diavel shook his head and smiled. "Please, you have to… defeat the Boss…" he began to glow "…for everyone here." Diavel flashed in white light and disappeared into blue polygons, his avatar deleted from the world...and his real self killed in the other world.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When the game, the real SAO, started, Haruza joined up with Kirito. At times, she found herself thinking that he wanted to abandon her, so she did all she could to possibly prevent him from doing so. Yet not once did he voice such concerns, despite the way he took things too seriously. In a sense, she saw herself in Diavel, wanting to keep herself together and fight alongside Kirito.

After hearing Illfang's roar, she stood up on Kirito's right, gripping her sword, glaring at the beast. "Let's do this."

Kirito nodded. "Right."

Asuna came over and stood at Kirito's left. "I'll go too."

Taicho joined on the other side of Haruza, nodding to her. "So will I."

She smiled and nodded back. "Right."

Kirito nodded and led his party out on a run towards Illfang. "Ok. We'll hit him just like we did the minions."

"You've got it."

"Let's finish this."

"For Diavel." As Haruza and company approached, Illfang's blade glowed white, signalling a sword skill activating. Kirito charged first, activating one of his own and cancelling Illfang with a parry.

"Switch!"

"On it!" Haruza attacked, slashing twice horizontally and throwing Illfang off-balance. She glanced back at the two behind her and dropped back. "Taicho, Asuna, switch!"

As the pair approached and initiated a coordinated attack, Illfang's eyes flashed red and countered them. As Haruza and Kirito called out their names, they were mesmerized by the destruction of Asuna's red hood...and along with a safe Taicho, her true look. Long chestnut hair flowed like water from her head, and with only half her face visible, they could tell she's a beautiful girl.

The destruction of her hood didn't stop her attack, nor did the distraction halt Taicho as their swords glow again. With a conjoined yell, they struck Illfang, pushing him far back into the room.

Haruza chuckled as she helped Kirito to his feet, seeing his amazed face. "She's cute, isn't she? Cuter than me, huh?"

"Huh? Wh-What are you talking about?" They were interrupted by Illfang's angry growls. "He's coming back!" The four rejoined and fought Illfang as a group. It went on for a moment until Kirito was knocked into Asuna, both dropping to the floor. Haruza tried to take his place, but Illfang nearly cut into her, throwing her off balance. Taicho was a distance away, so he wouldn't make it to Asuna and Kirito in time to save them.

Then a streak of green flew over Kirito and Asuna, coming from the big man, Agil. He parried Illfang and turned to Kirito and friends as the other players rejoined the fight. "We can hold this bastard off until your health's back up."

"You've got it."

"Thanks."

As the four healed up, they watched as the other squads eventually surrounded and corner Illfang. It didn't last as Illfang broke free and leapt into the air, his sword glowing purple.

"It's the combo," Taicho shouted out.

Kirito got to his feet and grabbed his sword. "Watch out!" Placing his sword over his right shoulder, Kirito was launched into the air towards the descending boss. "You're going down!" He avoided Illfang's blade and struck his body, knocking the beast on the floor. As he landed, he didn't stop. "Come on, Asuna! Haruza, Taicho, follow me! Help me beat this sucker! One last attack!"

"You've got it!"

"It's over!" Haruza yelled.

"Let's go!" As they ran, Taicho was first to engage Illfang, deflecting the Nodachi. Asuna followed with multiple thrusts from her rapier, then Haruza sliced him with a single strike. Kirito finished the attack with two vertical strikes, and Illfang's body became a dazzling ball of light.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As the congratulations prompt appeared in the room, the players cheered as their victory was assured. As the room went dark again, Taicho, Haruza, Asuna, and Agil approached a kneeling Kirito.

"Nice job."

"That was some fine swordsmanship. Congratulations. Today's victory is all thanks to you."

"Well, we helped, don't forget that."

"That's true, Haruza, but Kirito did pick us back up."

"No." Despite Kirito's claim, the others agreed with Agil as they cheered and clapped in celebration of Kirito. At least until a dissenting voice made himself known.

"Stop cheering! Why'd you do it, huh? Why'd you let Diavel die?!"

"Let him die?"

Kibaou grit his teeth. "That's what I said! Admit it! You knew the technique the Boss was going to use! You could of told us! Then Diavel would've stood a chance! He wouldn't have had to die!"

Haruza frowned. "Kirito didn't let him die! Diavel refused to take the health potion! And there wasn't any chance of explaining in time! But we all saw that the information we had was wrong!"

Her protest fell on deaf ears as another player joined Kibaou's side. "I know why he knew! He used to be a beta tester! Think about it. He knew the Bosses' attack patterns. He knew, but he kept it from us!"

"I just told you there was no time to explain!"

"And I bet he's not the only beta tester here. Come on, show yourselves!"

Tension started growing in the room, just as Diavel feared. Once more, the beta testers were seen as the enemy, and if no one spoke up, everyone would turn on each other. Haruza looked down at Kirito, seeing him gulp as he looked at the reward he got as the last attack bonus. Is he...about to do something stupid again? "Kirito, you're not thinking what I think you're thinking?'

Kirito ignored her while laughing uncharacteristically. Standing, he faced the players and spoke. "So you guys think I used to be a beta tester? It's not cool to put me in the same class with those newbs."

"Wh-What'd you say?!"

"You heard me. Most of the thousand people who scored a slot in the SAO beta were rookies. They were so green, they didn't even know how to level up. Hell, even you guys are better than they were."

Haruza gasped as Kirito walked through the players. Was he...taking on the hatred of the beta testers alone? "Kirito…"

"But me, I'm nothing like those guys, man. During the beta, I made it to Floors even higher than any of the other testers. That's a fact. I knew about the Boss 'cause I've fought tons of monsters with way more sword skills on higher Floors. I know a bunch of other things too. More than you can imagine, more than any info broker."

"Wh-What the hell? If that's true then you're worse than a beta tester. You're a goddamn cheater, that's what you are!"

"He's a beta tester and a cheater! He's a Beater!"

"A Beater, yeah, that's good. I like it. Ok, you can call me a Beater. Just make sure you don't confuse me with those beta testers anymore." He equipped the dark Coat of Midnight, his last attack reward, and walked towards the 2nd floor alone. As he departed, Haruza tightened her fists and followed him.

"Haruza?"

Hearing Taicho called her name, she paused and looked back to him and the others. She then gazed up at Kirito, who was shocked to see her behind him. Bowing her head, she swallowed and faced the audience. "Since we've known each other since the game began, no, since the beta, Kirito shared those things with me. So if what you say about him is true, then I also knew about the Boss. You can call me whatever you want. I don't care." She took a final glance at Taicho, who looked at her guiltily, then faced Kirito's back as she walked with him up the stairs.

"Why'd you do that?" he asked.

"I could ask you the same thing. But I know you, Kirito. It's not right for you to get all the hatred, not alone. So I'll just have to be a Beater too."

"Well, what's done is done… What do you plan on doing next?"

"I also know when you need to be alone. So you don't have to worry about me following you. I'll go my own path."

Kirito nodded and placed his hands on the gate to the 2nd floor. He looked away from Haruza, down to a specific person below the stairway. "Right… But promise me something, Haruko. If the opportunity comes, if it's someone you trust, join them. There are limits to what a solo player can do." Kirito reached out and disbanded the party of four, then looked back to his childhood friend. "See ya later. Stay alive out there."