FULL COUNTER! Of the Abridged Quotes. And a cute gluttony knight appears.

"I… feel like this was longer."

Asuna said as she had the tip of a sword pointed against her throat while her right hand was grabbed, unable to attack Yami.

What was to be expected? Even if Asuna was a prodigy in sword fighting, Yami had fought and trained for several weeks and dueled daily with Esdeath. Just comparing a duel against Asuna to a duel against Esdeath was like comparing heaven and earth.

[The constellation "Xianxia" is greeting his companion.]

"So, will you admit defeat or should we go onto the stage of holding hands?"

She was taken aback by the strange words Yami just said. Just now she finally realized that her wrist was grabbed by him and she didn't really know how to respond to that.

[The constellation "LEWD!!" is shouting while blushing; LEWD! HAND HOLDING IS LEWD!!!]

Because she didn't know how to handle such a situation in which she never had been before, she just went along with what he said.

"I admit my defeat."

He was just holding her wrist, nothing special, just a move to incapacitate the opponent.

"Good. Now let's party up for a while. Wouldn't want anything to happen to you."

[The constellation "UNO REVERSE CARD!" is laughing while looking at the activated trap card.]

Asuna was perplexed, why did he want to party up with her again? She wasn't really nice to him all the time, rather, she didn't speak much and a bit of her "bad" personality was already shown to him.

Asuna could be said to have two personalities, the outer one is the one from the original anime, kind, caring and confident. The "inner" or "bad" personality is the one from the Abridged series, the Ass personality. The one which likes to manipulate and use arson to burn their friends workshop to the ground. Because of understandable reasons, Asuna just showed her "outer" personality while hiding her inner one, because she knows that her "bad" side would never be liked. Liz and Tiff used a shortcut, window, just to escape the moment they saw her. That should show how people react to the "true" Ass. Lovely isn't it?

But she didn't understand this boy in front of her at all! He just went up to her as if he knew her since long ago and asked her to party up with him. He practically drew out her "bad" side to make her join him and now he even asked her to play together more. This didn't make sense! Especially since the words he muttered in a lower tone about not wanting anything to happen to her sounded as if he liked and cared about her?

"And we're back to square one. What do you want from me, man?!"

All things will go as all things should go. Yami instantly put his sword in front of her face.

"Just push the damn BUTTON!"

The intimidation Asuna felt that moment reminded her of someone… herself.

"Okay, okay. Just be cool. We're all friends here."

First, Yami didn't seem to be joking about using that sword. Second, Asuna was a bit happy inside that she found someone that seemed to be similar to herself, maybe someone who could understand her. Although she herself didn't really understand that yet.

If you are wondering why she needed to push the button again if they were already in a party? How the hell should I know? It wouldn't make sense for Yami to disband it just to invite her again. It was the game who just wanted the scene to happen again because it was a very nice display of the dysfunctional characters. Although the situation was reversed.

Yami started to spin the sword in his hand for no apparent reason. Normally it should have been a knife, that would have been way easier to spin than a sword.

"There, was that so hard? Friggin' drama queen."

"You put a sword in my face! I'd say this is an adequate amount of drama!"

"Oh please. It's not like it's the first time I've done that."

"That doesn't make it better!"

Asuna didn't know why but Yami had a big smile on his face throughout the back and forth. And she didn't notice that her own mouth had curled up a bit. For the first time since coming to this game she had her fun talking with another person.

"Oh no! Anyway. I heard that in four days a raid will attempt to defeat the boss on this floor and clear the first floor. After all this time I would like to finally advance and I have a feeling that the raid will be able to accomplish it if we both join them. Don't worry, my "feeling" is very good at predicting the future."

Asuna wanted to clear this game as well. She would rather fight at the frontlines for her freedom than just sit and wait. Because of that Asuna didn't have any problem with doing battle with the boss on this floor. But she still didn't want to die and she knew that Yami was a really good player and it would be a good idea to stick with him for the time being. For some reason she didn't dislike being together with him, like, she was not disgusted with his very existence.

"Alright. You sound like you have a plan."

"Yeah, more or less. It's pretty simple, because of the quest I leveled up and am now level 11. But you need to raise your level as much as possible in the next few days. Don't worry, I have spent the last weeks farming XP, it will be a lot quicker than if you do it on your own."

Asuna just nodded. He was right, even if she was good at fighting, in a RPG stats and numbers were power. He had already explained a bit to her about that. He also said the line: "Get to a high enough level and you're basically untouchable, my wounds heal faster than you can make them! We could do this all day, and you would not be any closer to beating me, not that it wouldn't be fun."

Thus both of them started the power-leveling for Asuna.

- - -

Even if going up just one level was a tedious and hard task, with Yami it was a lot easier for Asuna to get XP.

He could fight against higher leveled monsters and Asuna just needed to make the final hit. And the rewards of quests would also be split between both of them, even if Asuna wouldn't have been able to do them on her own. She was mostly being her nice self, but didn't completely hide her second self. She noticed that Yami didn't like one more than the other which greatly confused her. Why didn't he like the nice and confident "girl" side more than her rude and aggressive side? Shouldn't it be normal for another person to rather interact with the fromer? However, deep inside she was relieved to know that he didn't just like a part of her but was okay with the complete Asuna.

They spent three days together. In the morning they would meet up, do hunting and quests and talk a bit. And in the evening both of them would go to their own inn and Yami went to Paradise to spend some quality time with Esdeath and the other girls while practicing magic and his swordsmanship.

Mikasa, Esdeath and Raphtaila sometimes went out to get some actual battle experience, mainly for Raphtalia's training.

But the demi-humans, rather, the Shadow Foxes, wanted to get stronger as well. They knew that their power was important if they wanted to be of use to Yami, their master.

Yami decided that he would let them train after entering the second floor. He would take Tsunade after clearing the first floor as well. That was the plan and Tsunade was all for it, after not only hearing Esdeath's moans but her talking about how "GREAT" he master/husband was, she could barely control herself. Although the feeling that Esdeath had the pleasure to experience was not something that could be described with just words, her words still made it clear for all the girls that a night with Yami was the "heaven" on earth, or paradise in Paradise.

- - -

It was the evening before the discussion. Yami and Asuan would meet up tomorrow in the morning at the place where the players would gather.

He was currently strolling through the town. After being there for a rather long time and knowing that he would soon advance to the second floor Yami liked the thought of a walk around town while the sun was setting. It was nice.

[The constellation "God-father" is saying that he is bored.]

(I can totally understand you. It is like watching 100 episodes of a lets play where the player is just farming XP constantly, but what should I do? This is the world you created and chose.)

At that moment the surroundings started to bug again. And he could see a bit of Probability as well.

(Seriously? Aren't these bugs dangerous for the game, or at least for players?)

{According to my estimations, around seventeen players died because of the short previous intervention of God.}

(God really doesn't care for the lives of humans if it is more entertaining that way…)

Just as Yami's thoughts started to turn more gloomy everything returned to normal, but his eyes were fixed on a certain person. The one which was most definitely influenced by the probability.

(How the hell is she here?!)

There was a blond haired girl walking proudly through the streets. If there was something like an aura, she would have the aura of a knight.

(Eve, what is Alice doing in SAO? She is only introduced, or rather, created in SAO Alicization, she shouldn't be here. Did God do this?)

{Indeed. It appears that God has added more of the SAO girls into the death-game than originally. But you don't really dislike that, right?}

(Dislike? This is great! I was actually wrecking my brain on how to get to the other girls, especially Alice since she is an AI from a project.)

He was observing Alice. He guessed that in this case, the situations were just rewritten a bit to make the girls enter SAO. In Alice's case, the easiest way would be to say that Kayaba created her just like Yui and Strea.

But there was still the question; why was an AI walking among the players and likely playing the game?

(The best reason I can come up with would be the same why Kayaba himself acted as the leader of the KBO; she needs to help the dumb and useless players clear the game. After all, these idiots weren't even able to overcome the first floor after a whole month, while over 2000 players died in that time. Kayaba's reasons should be the same as in Abrided, since in the original he… had none? Or had just forgotten them? It was really dumb.)

Alice just like the players was still looking at the spots which previously twisted because of God's interference. But as a highly skilled knight, she noticed that there was one gaze that was particularly focused on her instead of the "strange" phenomenon that just occured. There was a very handsome young man with white hair a bit away from her, his blood-red eyes were focused on her. She wasn't as good at guessing and understanding human emotions as the other AI's, but she tried to understand the emotions in these eyes. If she had to guess then the emotions were something like; curiosity, happiness, and a bit of intrigue as well as affection.

The blonde haired knight was confused and came to the conclusion that her guesses were false. After all, why would a player hold such emotions towards her, whom he had never seen. She needed to talk with her older and younger sister about that, maybe they could help her with understanding the emotions of humans better, this was their job after all.

Now both of them were staring into each other's eyes, Yami into Alice's sparkling blue eyes and Alice into the blood red eyes of Yami.

Alice looked like when she was an Integrity Knight; she had sparkling blue eyes, and long, golden hair that is tied to both sides of her head, and a braid running down from the back of her head, a bow attached at the end of the braid. She wore her golden armor, blue cape and her white skirt. The sword and sheath she had at the left of her hip were the same golden one she had in the anime.

Yami guessed that this equipment was given to her from the system and it was likely overpowered to make her even stronger. The game and Kayaba of course wouldn't want one of the AI's to die, especially if Alice was made to fight on the frontlines.

Both of them observed each other. None of them wanted to just walk away but they didn't know how to advance at this moment. Finally Yami decided that it would probably be the best if he just made direct contact just like he did with Asuna, it had worked last time and he would rather make some kind of connection with Alice as fast as possible. He tilted his head a bit, he had seen it in anime and Tsunade had said that he looked adorable when he did it.

"May I know why you are looking at me like that? Oh right, I should introduce myself before asking questions. My name is Yami... Since we are in a game I don't think that anything like hobbies matter, right? ... I'm sorry, I'm not really used to talking with strangers."

Yami decided that it was best if he just tried to start a conversation. He decided that if he acted a bit more innocent, Alice wouldn't have a bad impression of him. He had already stared at her, but if he pretended that he was just curious about her, then he could turn it around and ask her why she was staring at him. His age was very hard to guess from his appearance, he had the charm and handsomeness of a young man, but the cuteness of a child as well.

It seemed to have worked since Alice's gaze was less fierce now, but instead grew more interested or rather, curious. She arrived in this town only this morning after being sent into the death-game by the system to support the players in conquering the floors. This was her first real contact with a human/player.

"My name is Alice. I'm a knight. …"

Just like the boy in front of her, she didn't really know what else to say. This was all she could introduce herself with. Both of their introductions were awkward, Alice felt that she needed to really learn more about the players. Her task was to help them advance in the game and Yui and Strea had already told her that she needed to get along with the humans and fight in a team with them to complete this task. Tomorrow was a meeting about the first floor boss and she needed to attend to it. Maybe she could use this opportunity and talk a bit with the boy, that would be practical experience about how to handle a human, right?

"I think the street isn't a suitable place to talk, how about we go into that cafe over there?"

Yami proposed, if they sat down together they would really have a nice little chat and he quite liked the cafe as well.

"It would be my pleasure."

Alice agreed because of her previous train of thought. She was interested in tea as well, as a AI she had a lot of information, but she had never drunk or eaten something and wanted to experience this feeling. Actually, even if she was determined to complete her mission, she still wanted to experience and learn a lot of things and humans and food were the first things on her list. Thus this was a great opportunity.

"Two birds with one stone, was it…"

She mumbled as they went into the cafe.

Yami really liked this place since it reminded him of the Anteiku, it had good tea and coffee and delicious snacks. He had gotten a lot of inspiration and decided to add some of the cakes from here to the assortment in the Anteiku.

Both of them sat down and ordered tea and two cakes from a NPC in the cafe.

"I think our first meeting was a bit strange so let me introduce myself once more. I'm Yami, I'm a player that wants to advance in the floors and clear this game. Alice, was it? As a knight, have you heard about the boss raid that will be discussed in this town tomorrow?"

Alice was very relieved by his words, she didn't know how to start a conversation with him and what to talk about. But it seemed that both of them practically had the same objective, although for different reasons.

"Yes, that's actually why I came to this town. It is my mission and purpose to help clear this game and because of that I'm going to fight the boss. I'm a knight after all. Why are you asking? Are you planning on participating as well?"

Yami was able to confirm his suspicions about Alice's reason for being in this game through her words. But he of course needed to pretend that both of them were normal players.

"That's an odd way to phrase it, but not like I have a problem with that. As for your question, yes, I plan to fight the boss as well."

At that moment Yami had an idea. Improvisation was one of his strong points.

"Actually, that was the reason why I was looking at you previously. I apologize once again. Let me phrase it in this way: "Even a knight can't fight all battles without anyone on their side". I have heard that one needs to form a party to participate in the battle, because of that I was looking for someone with whom I could form a party. Your bearing and equipment looked like you were a skilled player, I was thinking whether or not to ask you if you wanted to team up with me and another person. But please don't misunderstand, it's not like I just want you for your gear, from the way you walked and well, your bearing I felt something that could only come from a true knight."

With every moment Alice liked this boy more and more, she very much liked the phrase he said and it was probably something original. Now that she knew the reason why he stared at her, all her inhibitions about him were gone. And the opportunity to get into a party with other players was something very convenient for her since she wanted to take part in the fighting. And was indeed very likely that teams would be formed for the battle. Alice was very proud of being a knight as well and even an AI would like flattery.

"I'm going to accept your offer, however, I have a condition."

Alice had just one problem.

Yami nodded signaling her to continue, he really wanted to be in a party with her and Asuna since then he would have the two main heroines of the SAO arc and the Alicization arc already in his team. Well, these were actually pretty much the best Waifu's there were.

Asuna and Alice were great. Leafa was good as well, but she was a bro-con and Yami didn't know if she was in SAO and even if she was, he didn't know if she was in love with Kirito or not. Silica was just a cute child and NO LEWDING THE LOLI! Liz, well, Yami didn't really have any particular feelings about her. Maybe he could make the ship of Kirito x Liz canon? There was Sinon as well, she actually appeared in SAO in one of the games… Yui was still a must have and there was another AI that Yami would like to meet, even if she was only from the aforementioned SAO game.

Back to the two, Alice and Yami stared into each other's eyes.

Alice took a deep breath before stating her condition.

"You have to pay!"

"Eh?"

Yami was confused. He has to pay? Did she mean the tea and cake they ordered?

(Does she… not have any money? Are you serious? The system probably gave her the strongest items of all the players, but couldn't give her a bit of currency?!)

It really seemed that Alice's only problem was that she couldn't pay the things he ordered.

Yami of course accepted immediately, how bad could paying for a simple tea and cake be if he got an adorable blonde knight in return?

The answer; very bad.

Alice was actually a big big glutton. Since she had never tasted anything before, the moment she got into contact with the sweet flavour she couldn't stop eating and ordered more and more. While Yami's "bank-account" was screaming, Alice was stuffing her cheeks full while humming happily. She had the time of her life.

She was certain, she wanted to experience more of such things. She wanted to eat different delicious food and understand more about humans.

After that Yami had to agree to the condition of "feeding" her in exchange for her entering the party. It seemed that as a IA she couldn't receive money from quests or killing monsters.

A fully but happy Alice and a happy but poor Yami walked out of the shop after several hours. It was already deep into the night and both of them bid farewell to each other after Yami had told her where to meet up tomorrow.

He didn't forget to send a message to Asuna that they now had a third party member to avoid misunderstandings which liked to arise in anime. Luckily Asuna wasn't awakened by the message otherwise there would have been a bloodbath tomorrow.

After that Yami went back to the inn and went into Paradise. He would only spend a bit of time there since he wanted to sleep at least a little bit.