A/N: Time for the first Intermission chapter, this is to cover all the Floors I skim over with a small scene to flll the gaps, that's not to say I won't possibly return to these floors, I just don't have the time nor the sanity to cover ALL of SAO's floors. Review Time.
To MeMyselfAndI82907: I think Kirito bluffing by saying he's reached floors beyond the Beta was more to play with the high tension in the moment, say for Kibaou who saw through it despite not liking the Beta Testers, Lind I think figured it out as somepoint but I'm not sure. That aside, by the time anyone puts two-and-two together, not that it's hard, the rumours have already spread as Kirito expected. But yeah, plot holes.
Enjoy.
|Floor 6|
The infamous sixth floor of Aincrad was the source of many Beta Testers infuriation. A floor dedicated to puzzles around every turn, for every quest and expected commodity. Most notably about the floor was its sharp contrast with each of its five biomes divided by mountains, each area accessible via a dungeon with a Field Boss waiting within each behind various puzzles. A Forest, a dry flatland, a swamp, a sprawl of caves, and a desert where the Labyrinth resided.
It was a test, not just of one's quick thinking, but their patience. Some puzzles were more insidious than the last.
"All these squares make a circle, all these squares make a circle..." Nagi kept repeating to himself, his aura a deep blue as he fell to his knees, unable to comprehend the vault door locking away their desired loot.
"How did all these squares make a circle!? I just..." Artorias took a step back, inhaling slowly, taking a few seconds to collect her thoughts, then exhaled at the wall puzzle grid. "No, no, it's fine, I'm okay with this, it doesn't bother me... it doesn't bother me..." Her right eye twitched, glowering at the puzzle again. "It bothers me, it bothers me a lot - AND THAT ONE'S STILL GREEN!"
|Floor 7|
A notorious floor that sucked away the spending of many Beta testers, the peculiar floor was known for two features. One, it's eternal summer humidity, despite them arriving at the floor in January in Winter, and its emphasis on gambling via the casinos in the main towns across the floor, past plains and mountains, and other common shifts in the terrain toward the western Labyrinth tower.
Neck-deep in the southern town known as Volupta, its casino was the home of three credible players, one tapping the edge of the mahogany desk they leaned against. Artorias leered while bending forward. "Time to cash out."
"Would ya hurry it up, ArtY," The Rat, Argo, was already pressed for time, needing to help out Kirito and Asuna with their questline to uncover the roots of the floor's story alongside Nagi who was playing with a pair of dice in his hands.
Artorias raised her finger. "Maybe extras kill people without looking them in the face, but I ain't a fink, dig?" She put on an awful drawl, sizing herself up like some big-shot gambler. She put her chips forward, "Ya made your last bets, kids, sorry you had to get wrapped up in this scene,"
"He's really been asking to do this since we got to this floor," Nagi whispered to Argo, the informant nodding with her eyes closed, utterly bemused by the sad state the redhead had dug herself into. But the blonde had to admit, it was pretty amusing seeing the looks of fear written on all Artorias' competitors' faces.
"From where yer all sittin' it must look like an eighteen-carat run of bad luck. Truth is... the game was rigged from the start," She flipped her cards over, and the fear cut the tension, some falling back on their stools as the sheer sight in her hands made them all pale, some crying like children curled up in the corner of their room. A Royal Flush. "Boom! Sexy, lucky, and a hell of a hand at Poker, let's goooo!"
"Can we go now?" Argo and Nagi thought at the same time, watching the col spill into Artorias' pockets. She had a serious gambling addiction.
|Floor 8|
The familiar battleground rested below Nagi's feet as he looked toward his challenger with a confident smile. On the eastern side of Frieven, three trees grew in a triangular formation, their branches arched and curled around one another to form a stable stretch of land. The foundations created a wide, flat surface, the circumference barred with a simple set of posts and thick rope as sunlight bathed the arena once more at sundown.
"Give 'em hell, boss!" Artorias applauded.
"My bet's on you, HerO!" Argo whistled too.
"Are you kidding me, again!?" Kirito gawked at his conniving friend who passed a cheeky smile beneath her hood. Grumbling to himself, Kirito drew his sword. "Let's do this..."
"Do your best, Kirito," Asuna, while not as enthralled in the competitive nature as the other two, was willing to learn first-hand more on PvP given her prior experience with hostile players.
-{3, 2, 1}-
"Sharp Nail/Scarlet Fang!" Chiming their sword skills together, the pair rushed to close the gap with a rush of deep blue against an ocean current.
Nagi's upward lunge was crossed with Kirito's diagonal toward his left. Nagi drew his katana toward the ground, parrying the horizontal cross that twisted into another descending slant against his thrust, skating Yozora away from Kirito's tailcoat by a few threads.
Nagi passed, doubling back while raising his left foot with Uchikesu to preemptively stomp down on the longsword inches from his stomach. Kirito threw Nagi's foot back, taking two water blades to the chest, in the space where his skill motion was interrupted, Nagi had sheathed his katana, water encircling the scabbard.
"Serpent Slash!" Nagi quickly dipped his head back, feeling the heat from the longsword pass his adam's apple as he backflipped, pushing off his toes to intercept Kirito with a spin, avoiding Sonic Leap while whipping a water arc behind him. Folding his arm close to his side, droplets gathered at the tip of his blade. "Ripple Thrust!"
The shinobi grunted, seeing the glowing blue palm deflect the blade away as Kirito's longsword slashed across his stomach and collarbone through to his right shoulder. The pair spun around, the Blackswordsman's brow creased upon feeling Nagi's fist curl against his abdomen, flinging the Beater toward their friends with Flash Blow.
Kirito rubbed his stomach, smirking back at Nagi who mirrored that exact expression. Neither backed down, unlike before, they weren't strangers to each other's strengths. "En guard, Black Swordsman." Nagi held his katana forward in both hands, raising it above his head with a vortex of water gathering at the edge.
"Yeah, you too, Water Shinobi," Kirito offered back, blade spun around to hang by his right side, the tip of the blade glowing by the branches.
"Hyrraaaaaah!" Both lunged in a blink of an eye.
|Floor 9|
Wrapped up in the Elf War Campaign once more, the grand finale as it were, Nagi had joined Kirito and Asuna in combatting the Floor Boss that stood in their way of the fabled final floor the Beta Testers had ever achieved. ALS and DKB were present for the battle that forced many to adapt their strategies to evade the boss's far-reaching strikes.
A sickly green Elven warrior with bare legs say for the thighs, its forearms much the same, covered by a thick maroon gauntlet with dark spikes. His breastplate was much the same in design, giving his shoulders a broader appearance with a mantle of thorns surrounding the head adorned with a scarlet crown. White, waxy hair hanging down by its stomach with two piercing blue eyes and a grin filled with elongated teeth. Clasped in each hand was a pair of large sickles with crystal blue edges, as though they were made of ice.
Its dark red cage was torn wide open after the ritual was conducted, causing the outer walls beyond black pike fences to twist and turn like blood. Demonic the Fallen Elven was a crafty warrior unlike the mindless beasts of the previous floors.
Demonic threw his sickles at the various squads out in front, carving a straight line between their ranks before he forced them to scatter with a slam attack, conjuring a ring of ice around his legs, some of the rime triggering a Slowness debuff on various tanks that were too bulky to move in time. The ice crumbled, and it grinned as it brought its sickles toward the ground where the Dark Elf, Kizmel stood, ready to parry and attack in kind.
The boss chuckled, it was a feint! The beast doubled back, surprising Kizmel as it spun on one leg, drawing its right back as a torrent of air pressure as cold as a winter breeze tickled the Dark Elf's cheeks, her guard falling as she realized she couldn't evade. The kick sent forth a tornado that stripped through the ranks of the Frontrunners, leaving Kizmel to bury her sword into the ground to hold herself steady, never realizing she left herself wide open like the boss wanted.
Asuna gasped as Kirito froze mid-skill motion, realizing his error as he couldn't cancel the skill now, missing Vorpal Strike as it just skimmed by the white cloth tied to Demonic's waist. It drew both sickles low, intending to impale the Elf through the gut with both blades licked with frost. Her pupils contracted, attempting to avoid the blow, roll, anything to minimize the impact.
*Ting-Crunch!*
The Fallen warrior's smile fell in shock, its arms buckling against a large barrier of pink expanding from a single grave shield hoisted by Artorias who smirked up at the boss, shielding Kizmel. "Hey now, ask her out to dinner first before you get all grabby, eh?" She quipped, and from above the barrier, Nagi swept down, slicing through the boss' right wrist, severing it from the bone with Rising Sun, the powerful skill carving a water wheel through the ground in the process.
He threshed the blade forward, remaining crouched while clutching his katana in both hands. "Are you okay, Kizmel!?" Nagi yelled over the commotion.
"I... am now, thank you, my friends," She sighed with relief, hardening her glare to the tainted beast as the rosy hardlight fizzled away, her sword running parallel with Artorias'. The look in her eyes burned with a righteous flame that only expanded to her allies, the Queen's buff returning. "I've read all its moves! Come, we are going for the victory!"
"Ah, love it when a plan comes together," Artorias smirked. "Let's end this damn war!"
The trio took off toward the Fallen Elf, Nagi spun through the air, water enrapturing his allies as he drew his blade toward the flying sickles. Artorias lunged alongside Kizmel, both applying a violet and rose Vorpal Strike at either side of Nagi.
End
I honestly would cover floors six and seven but since the Light Novel is all I have as a backing, and I fear I'd lose the will to live, here we are. I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; seeya in the next chapter, Players!