Well over a month had passed since that red-robed Administrator had told a 10,000-strong crowd that they were not leaving this place until they cleared it.  Today was the day they were going to see what kind of a task that was really going to be.  Nero scrolled through a menu in the midst of a 49-player group standing before the all-too-familiar massive doors of the boss room.  Good, he had everything...  Crystals at the ready, potions...  Was he missing anything?  No, he never was.  He missed his gear from the beta, though...  By now, he'd had better drops on his blade and gauntlets.  The others were quest rewards he'd found before, but he could always be stronger.  Before they left to fight today, they were split into teams and pairs, but nobody stuck with them.  They were all just doing whatever they wanted and it showed.  No sense of leadership.  Nero shook his head - people were going to die today and nobody was taking it seriously yet.  He was confident that they would before they saw that big 'Congratulations' banner.

He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head, wondering where exactly the people assigned under him were.  He shrugged, hardly recognizing any of their faces - he could only see their health bars in the top corner of his view, under the 'party' tab.  They were all doing fine on health and they had competitive levels, but he still topped their best, who also seemed to be a loner named "Kimigami", by a mere level.  Unfortunately, he still wasn't quite the highest level in the crowd.  He was fast, but he wasn't power-leveling.  No, he was watching his coffers fill up little by little.  Aincrad was no different from any other world - cash was power.  The steel gray colour of his coat stood out amongst the blues and reds of everybody else's ragtag attire.  No doubt they, too, would discover the inexpensive and entirely aesthetic art of dying clothes.

--- [i]Earlier that Day[/i] ---

Kimi rolled backward over her shoulder, dug her boots into the ground, and pounced forward.  There was a small twitch in her health bar as a spear just barely nicked her shoulder.  However, it was insignificant compared to the chunk which disappeared from her opponent as rapier met dead center of the chest and threw the other girl back.  Almost there... just a smidgen left to take and she'd win...  [i]Pivot, pivot...  Close the gap,[/i] she urged herself, narrowly avoiding each jab from the other attacker.  The opportunity would present itself if she just waited patiently.  There it was, she smirked, turning a complete ninety degrees as a glowing green skill flashed a mere inch from her abdomen.  She grabbed her opponent's wrist and yanked, throwing the other girl off balance before she dashed past and activated a skill in the same moment she halted, giving her the reverse moment she needed to strike thrice into the other girl's back, bringing the figure's health into the yellow.  The duel halted as Kimi was named the victor.  She beamed brightly, punching the air as their respective health bars were refilled post-fight.

Yari smiled back, giving a small bow, "You're always so excited when you win, like it's any surprise.  You stay out at least a half-hour longer than me whenever we're grinding together," She pointed out unfairly, crossing her arms after placing her spear on her back.  "Besides, you're actually kind of a natural fighter to begin with - this spear is kind of difficult to get a handle on."

Kimi shrugged, "I dunno, I guess it just reminds me I'm good at something."  She gave a small laugh, "Besides, you've got plenty of friends - you're out training just as much as me when I'm not with you, it's just that you have to split it more than two or three ways sometimes, and that makes it a little less efficient."

"But it's fun and safe," Yari retorted, waving a hand, "You're reckless, I guess that's just the trade-off, eh?"

Kimi nodded, "Exactly."  Her eyes wandered to the clock on display in her HUD and tensed, "Oh god!  They're leaving soon, I gotta go, Yari...  We're taking on the boss today, I'll see you later."

Yari returned her farewell with a small smile, "I'll see you on floor two, don't do anything stupid and find one really trustworthy battle buddy before you step through that door."

"We'll be in groups, no biggie," The smaller girl replied dismissively.  They would be fine, she saw some of the levels going into that room, there was no way they weren't ready.  She sheathed her rapier, turned on her toe, and took off toward the team aiming to take out the boss.  After today, the rest of the players would see how realistic getting out of here was and then more people would get stronger and they could take safety in numbers...  It was a simple matter of boosting confidence.  The floors would get smaller and the players would realize how easy it was to take on the rest of the game.

--- [i]Boss Doors[/i] ---

A blue-haired young man stood before the large doors to take the first step into clearing this god forsaken castle.  These people were excited and nervous, as they should be, but he'd already noticed that they couldn't take orders very well or follow a plan.  That was okay, as long as everything worked the way that book described it, they would know how to survive and push through.  He struck his shield with the hilt of his sword, causing the clang to reverberate throughout the entire corridor where their 49-person team waited until everybody was ready to go in.  He looked over the crowd as they quieted down and looked to him.  He'd said all he could before they left, he just wanted them to know it was time.  He made sure to look through them all, notice any faces he hadn't before - even if he didn't remember them, he would be damn sure to have seen them.  These 49 people would be the ones to pave the way for the entirety of Aincrad - live or die, they were a beacon of hope that this place wasn't impossible.  Up until now, players had been killed by wolves, slimes, boars, and even falls...  But today that would stop.  Today they were see what this place was - this was their new life.

People were watching him... waiting for his move.  Finally, he took a deep breath and turned to the doors.  He smirked -[i] let's kick things off dramatically[/i], he decided, leaning back, raising a foot, and kicking the double doors dead-center at his height.  They gave in to the strength of the strike and parted enough for their crowd to start moving in.

Kimi looked at her black-gloved hand.  It shook slightly with anxiety as she looked around.  Her group had all but abandoned her up until now, but she hadn't suffered many hits, either.  She'd watch her health and everything would be fine.  The head of their team, "Nero" - what kind of name was that?  She couldn't even tell if she as pronouncing right, but he was hardly conspicuous in his leadership.  She'd lost track of him more than once, the others in their group didn't listen to him right away, so he stopped ordering them around.  Luckily, he was easy to [i]spot[/i] if you were looking for him - he was in a steel grey outfit, and one of the few who had a matching set of armour.  She didn't even have similar pieces of equipment...  It was kind of disappointing, it would look a lot worse if she didn't wear leather.  The people in heavier armours looked kind of silly, if she was being honest.  

She tightened her grip on her rapier, heart pounding as the sound of a shield clanging caught her attention.  She waited a moment, meeting his gaze for a mere moment.  She stood straighter, furrowed her brow, and re-stanced herself as she felt his scrutinizing gaze.  The doors opened and they began to pour into the hall and spread out.

[CENTER][HIDER=SONG][URL=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWr4yjxNKzA]Song[/URL][/HIDER][/CENTER]

With the blue-haired leader at the head, everybody squared off with the center of the room.  Silence fell over the room as a blanket of anxiety and nerves.  It was empty...  Finally, just before somebody asked the question that was on everybody's mind, there was a roar from the top of the dome in the room.  The floor shook violently as it hit the ground, falling from the ceiling and smashing its blade into the ground.  Dust filled the air as it let out another roar, realistic spittle and drool hitting the first ranks of players in the face.  Their blue-haired organizer didn't even flinch.  Instead, mid-cinematic, he took a step forward, raised his shield, and did exactly what everybody was waiting for - he performed the first sword skill against the first boss of the first floor in the game.  As he dashed forward and slashed thrice at the beast's abdomen, everybody in the room remembered why they were there, for whom they were fighting, and what was at stake.  As he jumped back and out of the way, the fight began, several players remembering their job and breaking away to fight the Kobold minions while the majority focused on blocking and striking at the boss.

Kimi jabbed a powerful attack into the chest of a minion and it shattered around her blade before she stepped back and readied herself for the next.  There was one party, she noticed... a tall, lanky black-haired boy of pale complexion with a two-handed curved sword, a moderately-sized blond boy with a sword and shield, and a girl with long silver hair, swinging a one-handed axe and blocking with a massive shield and heavy armour.  They worked with such admirable synergy, from over here, they seemed almost untouchable as the sword-and-shield boy kept two or three Kobold at bay and the silver haired girl protected the curved sword user as he attacked Illfang with fervor.  She found herself envious as she easily dispatched the minions one at a time.

She spotted "Nero" from her fighting position, darting between people, narrowly, constantly flitting under Illfang's legs, taking several swings, and then running through.  He was switching sides in their circular-attack pattern.  He wasn't the only one that was being quite mobile and not staying with any group, but as Illfang's health got closer to its final health bar, he was attacking less frequently, like he was waiting for something to happen.

Finally, as it hit its last health bar, it was time for the DPS players to become more involved with the monster as it threw aside its first weapon and pulled a Tulwar from its back.  Their Blue-Haired leader was the first to move in as the cinematic came to an end and the beast took its first swing.  Players scattered - that was [i]way faster[/i] than the book said it would be.  The warrior tried to hide his surprise as he narrowly avoided the attack with a leap to the side.  It came crashing down into the floor.  He rolled over his shoulder and put up his shield as another attack came in from the side.  He alone held the full force of the attack, resting on one knee as an awestruck 48 other players, who had all actually survived to this point, watched in awe, none of the fellow shield users able to react and move in.  Where was everybody..?  He wondered as he grunted under the force pressing on his shield from the side.  Finally, it gave way and he was swatted like a fly, tumbling through the air and directly into a pillar.  The strike did significant damage...  Then his momentum as he hit the post caused another chunk to fall from his health bar, and then he fell all the way to the ground and it blinked a dangerous red.  The boss wasn't done with his little Aggro Toy.  He let out a roar and ran, with more than a little bloodlust, through the crowd of players directly to their leader, who had yet to even rise to his feet.  Without time to react, the Tulwar came down from an overhead swing and struck the ground.  In the next moment, it lifted its blade and the dust cleared...  He was nowhere to be seen.

Kimi watched in horror - she hadn't actually seen somebody die yet.  Most of the deaths had been families removing Nerve Gears against the advisory or people training alone or in traps.  But this...  This happened in front of everybody.  Their leader, who had been maintaining a very healthy green health bar was just... gone.  He had believed in them, trusted them, their organization had actually been [i]working[/i] and then as soon as the difficulty changed... what?  Nobody knew how to react or protect him.  She could have run in and stolen aggression...  Or thrown him out of the way... or... or...  [i]something![/i]

Nero felt the darkness fall over the room.  His eyes scanned the crowd as he sunk deeper away from the boss.  Would they rally or would they fall into chaos and let more of their friends die?  Everybody seemed to have the same thought - if they couldn't trust anybody to run to that boy's rescue, who would come to theirs?  The ranks thinned as people began to separate distrustingly, their nerves clouding judgment.  Nero watched his party tab as two of his own, who he couldn't have even picked from a line-up, were killed in the next attack as chaos reigned supreme... Just like that.