Sword Art Online Episode 02

Beater (ビーター) is the second episode of the Sword Art Online anime adaptation. It aired on July 14, 2012.

Plot
A month has pass since the announcement of Kayaba Akihiko; 2000 players have already died in the game and the 1st floor is still not cleared.

While attending the meeting at the town centre held by a self-claim knight name «Diabel», it was declared that the boss’s room in the dungeon have been located. When everyone was ask to form into groups, Kirito was left behind to partner with the only other player left behind name «Asuna».

The meeting was later interrupted by the aggressive male player name «Kibaou» who started demanding the apologies of the «Beta Testers». However a tall man name «Agil» intervene the commotion, and defended the called out Beta Testers, stating that they should not be fully blame as they had also help by distributing knowledge around the game. When the commotion has ended, Diabel continue his speech and present the recent release guide that would describe the up-coming boss battle. At the end of the meeting, Kirito and Asuna were tasked to protect the rear.

The next day, the boss raiding army face off against the 1st floor boss: «llfang the Kobold Lord» along with his re-spawning minions: «Ruin Kobold Sentinels». When the boss’s health was nearly completely depleted, Diabel tries to engage the «Last Attack». However, the boss’ change battle style was different from its beta version, and it resulted with Diabel receiving a deadly 3-hit combo from the boss and dies in front of Kirito. In his last moment, he reveals to Kirito that he was also one of the «Beta Testers», and was trying to hinder Kirito since he knew by his name as the one who perform many «Last Attacks» against the bosses from the beta version.

With Asuna’s help and everyone’s cooperation, Kirito perform Diabel’s last wish in defeating the boss and therefore obtaining the rare boss item. Everyone was celebrating their victory until the atmosphere change when a few players from Kibaou’s group reminded everyone that their leader Diabel had died. To deal with growing anger against the «Beta Testers», Kirito made the bold decision to direct all the anger onto him by announcing himself as belonging to a new category known as «Beater» (Beta Tester + Cheater); a player who uses future knowledge to benefit himself in the SAO game from its previous version.

After flashing the boss item: «Coat of Midnight» to everyone, Kirito soon left them all behind and proceeds to the gate of the next floor. Before he passes through, Asuna quickly met with him to show her gratitude. Afterwards, he passes through the gate once he cancels his partnership to Asuna.

New Characters

 * Diabel
 * Asuna
 * Kibaou