[Alfheim Online, New Aincrad, Floor 1 Coliseum]

[Malzeno's POV]

With my glorious undefeated record and the scorn of the populace growing all around me, I took my seat with the rest of the Sleeping Knights, as well as my SAO friends, not sure we have a group name but I'm sure it's a work-in-progress. The second match of the first round was well underway when myself and Sinon sat down.

In this match, it was Asuna and Yuuki, Kirito and Klein were in separate brackets, five and seven, so Kirito was sat beside Sinon to my left. From here, I had a perfect view of the literal chaos that was the battle royale style to eliminate the competition, the flash and strokes of colours was like watching a meteor shower at daytime.

But of course, I had my eyes set on one that zipped between player after player, barely taking a scratch as she danced through the horde of enemies, her blade flourished in a vibrant purple haze, sweeping arcs of light akin to the shooting star strokes from a blue and white Undine that skated past her.

"Yuuki's keeping on the offensive using high mobility skills to keep her opponents sights of her brief," I noted, memorized by the display that it really got my heart racing at her beau - skills, her skills, yes. I cleared my throat after that lapse in thought.

"Asuna's doing the same, it appears they've brokered on a truce too," Sinon commented. "They're both putting their agility to the test,"

"That's what I'd expect from Asuna, but it's different for Yuuki," Kirito's review drew our gazes for a split second, him sitting with his arms crossed, never taking his eyes off either women. "The skill motion is increasing her movements but it's her reflexes that are allowing her to pull off these evasions with precision and timing; If I'm honest, with her reaction time... if Yuuki were in SAO, she'd have obtained the Duel Wielding skill,"

That... honestly surprised me. "Never expected to hear that from you, Blackie," The Unique Skill - Duel Wielding - was one of only three known Unique skills discovered before the end of SAO. Divine Blade for the strongest player. Duel Wielding for the player with the fastest reaction time. And... Darkness Blade... for the player with the most kills of other players.

Shaking off that reminder, my eyes again followed the blur of purple, catching Yuuki's determined grin from here, radiating like her obsidian blade. "If Yuuki was in SAO... maybe we would've met sooner..."Putting that thought aside, I raised a brow at Kirito's fixed gaze. "Are you jealous she'd steal your thunder?"

"W-what? No, I'm just saying she has the potential based off her exposure to Full Dive compared to ours," He quickly excused, but that raised a suspicious noise from Sinon.

"...Are you certain of that, Kirito?" Sinon prodded, making his hands raise in defence.

"Hey, I-it's pure logical speculation! I-I'm not envious of her skills, in fact, it gives me a new height to reach for - yeah, that's it!" He quickly replied with a shaky grin.

"Didn't believe green would suit him..." I whispered to Sinon, her head tilted toward mine.

"Take away a boy's pride, and he'll scramble for an excuse to save it," Sinon concurred, Kirito deadpanning toward us, face a little flustered.

"You two are the worst," We just shrugged and went right back to viewing the absolute slaughter due to Zekken and the Berserk Healer.

~-those two players are unstoppable! Just what kinda crowd did we attract this year!?~ Cliffheart practically gawked from how she sounded.

~Zekken, one of the top-ranking PvP players in recent news, and a player known as the Berserk Healer who is as renowned for her support as well as her offensive capabilities~ Thinker knowingly acknowledged, making me smirk a bit when I saw her actually pause mid-battle, appearing flustered while Yuuki laughed beside her, waving to her adoring fans while simultaneously parrying a sword skill from behind.

"Princess really hates that title," Among others that I will continue to tell her until she dies.

"But it's her own fault for always switching roles mid-boss fights," Sinon shook her head.

"I really don't see the issue, she was labelled 'Lightning Flash' back in SAO," Kirito rubbed the back of his neck, unsure himself. I suppose our fare lady in white and blue truly is a modest woman... when she isn't pissed off.


[Yuuki's POV]

Kirito was up next in this battle, I fought him before, he was probably the only one, like Malzeno, to have kept me on my toes. I really hope we get to fight again, that match was awesome, his reaction time was nearly the same as mine. I sat just behind Malzeno, Asuna beside this new girl, Sinon, I haven't met her until now, but she seemed pretty cool and confident, I mean, the way she and Mal fought together was amazing!

"Blackie's still not using Excalibur that much," Malzeno pointed out.

"He sees it as his back-up, he prefers black swords like always," Asuna playfully rolled her eyes.

"Say for Pinky's blue one, what was it, 'Dark Repulser' or something?" Malzeno held his head up in thought.

"Best one-handed sword I ever made, I'll have you know!" Lizbeth to the far left grinned happily.

That's when I saw the mischievous smirk crawl up Malzeno's face, uh oh, "Made with all her love too~" He hummed, causing Liz's face to burst out crimson, swinging her hammer over my guildmates who ducked to avoid her rage, Silica trying to calm her down.

"Grah, it was made because I had the best blacksmithing skills and you know it! And what smith doesn't put their heart and soul into a piece of art, huh!?" She excused while he cackled like a madman, Sinon holding one hand up to keep him from falling onto her while her eyes remained glued to the battle below.

"L-Liz, please calm down, you know he teases everyone!" Silica tried to coax with a frantic expression, her dragon chirping with her hastily.

"Back on topic, Kirito is obsessed with swords but if it's not a specific colour he'll rarely touch it," Sinon shook her head in disbelief, finally pushing Malzeno back to his seat, again, he was lining up for another jab, it was oddly hilarious but I kept quiet to avoid the fire.

"Would you still use Hecate if she were hot pink?" Malzeno teased, and the blue-haired archer sent him a dangerous glare, it was kinda surprising to see.

"Don't ever joke about that," She warned him.

"I'll take that as a clear 'no' - ah, you'd suit pink, bring out the hatred in your eyes," Malzeno kept prodding, making the girl's eye twitch.

"Need I remind you that even within a party, you can still team kill in GGO," Something tells me she was going to shoot him next time.

"You wound me, Miss Sniper," The ravenette sighed in defeat. During this whole banter, I felt... weird, seeing them interact, their retorts just kept bouncing off each other, heck, even when they fought together they looked like they were bantering a bit at the end. Just thinking of that made my chest all funny...

"Excuse me, Malzeno?" Siune below me to my left waved to grab his attention. "I'm curious, what's the relationship between you two?"

"'Relationship'?" I ended up blurting out alongside Sinon and Malzeno.

The pair glanced at each other, the bluette nodding to him silently - man, they even know how to give silent responses!? No fair... "Uh, well real simple, while I was taking a break from ALO for a bit, I ended up trying out GGO, Gun Gale Online, and lo and behold, I ended up in the middle of a gunfight with my ass pinned down,"

"I was probably dead on the spot after digging too deep into relic hunting when I heard this loud 'crack' of a sniper, more like a roar of thunder if I'm honest, and someone patched into my comms frequency saying, and I quote, 'keep your head low or I might take it off', real charming words that day," He pretended to swoon, making Sinon shove him. "Since then, I've been given tips on keeping myself from dying two feet from the main city by the world's scariest sniper,"

"After that, she dropped into ALO due to Kirito's request, and I returned the favour, so every-now-and-then when we're on GGO we party up," Malzeno summed up his detailed story of how they came to know one another. It sounded straight out of a fantasy novel or something.

"Wow, even in other games, you still attract a hornet's nest," Nori cackled next to me, slapping the top of Jun's chair in front of her.

"S-so you two became good friends out of respect?" Talken guessed as Sinon nodded once.

"He's a pain when he doesn't learn to shut up, but his skill's improved, and as Malzeno said, he's helped me adjust quickly to ranged weaponry in this game," Her voice and gaze appeared sincere, and I still felt like my chest was stinging hearing all this.

The ravenette then held up his hand at that, "I will forever have the last laugh," Malzeno stated, a couple of us laughing, I just strained a smile. I mean, they're great friends, clearly - ugh, this is all the girls' faults for filling my head with romantic stuff after I confessed about it, now I'm starting to act weird around Malzeno more!

I buried my head into my arms on the seat in front of me, stifling my whine to not draw Malzeno's attention. "I'm so screwed..."I'm overreacting to stuff that isn't even there...

"Ahem," I felt a nudge to my side, cracking an eye open between my arms, I saw Nori grinned down at me, eyes flickering to Malzeno and me, then she worded it slowly, 'Someone's a little green today'. Now my own blood boiled from the neck up, shooting upright to wave my hands.

"It's n-not - s-shut up!" I waved franticly to quieten her laugher as she doubled back to hold her stomach, only increasing the temperature of my face.

"Uh... we miss something, Cupcake?" I squeaked hearing his voice, now we had their full attention as I wrestled with Nori's arms, steam rising from my head probably due to this stupid system.

"N-n-no, it-it's fine - oh, l-look, Kirito's fighting several people at once!" I distracted them long enough to wrench my arms free, pouting to myself while Nori just snickered beside me. I patted my warm cheeks, trying to calm myself down. This today's gonna drag forever...


[Malzeno's POV]

It was finally the end of the First Round, meaning, after a small break for lunch, the first batch of 1v1 matches to close out Saturday's line-up will be announced afterward. This gave us all time to either split up or go in groups to explore the festival around the coliseum. I stuck to my lonesome path, grabbing a meal from a familiar vendor.

Once I took a look around some of the park benches under trees or passing by players having picnics on the grass, I spotted my target, slithering up behind them without triggering their Detect skills. "Hello~"

"Yah! Why do you always do that like Argo!?" Yuuki gasped, hand on her chest as she punched my arm in passing. "Jerk!"

"Hahaha, and miss that adorable reaction? Never..." I remarked, seeing her face redden a little before I held out lunch. "Take this as a sign of an apology,"

She squealed a bit with stars in her eyes, maybe a bit of drool too? Strange, but I held onto two pairs of three dango. Mine, from top to bottom, were light green, white, and pink, the traditional colour pallet. For Yuuki's, violet, white, and red. Sitting down, I let Yuuki take hers while I searched my inventory and set out a plate with two jars.

"Red jar's got the red bean paste, the white jar contains sweet soy sauce, take your pick, got tea too," And another flash and two fresh cups appears, steamy.

"Thank you so much! You're the best!" She cheered with her skewers high, placing two down to grab the sweet soy sauce first to lather the skewer in it. "How'd you get these down on this floor?" She asked before biting off the top one as I did the same.

"Hm... when this tournament occurs, bunch of players... get together to form stalls for each floor's... signature dishes... this was the tenth's, of course," I explained, enjoying the first one in seconds before taking a long sip of green tea with a content sigh. It was a nice day too for this. "Took me a while to find it since there are more floors for stalls to cover, but the line wasn't terrible."

"Awesome~" Yuuki cooed, cupping her cheek as she ate happily. It was honestly infectious seeing her this way. We ate in silence for a bit, enjoying each other's company under a tree's shade, and yet, I can just recall the days in that first month, wondering if we'd ever escape SAO. Clearly, me being lost in thought attracted her attention. "What was it like? The first month here I mean,"

Setting my third skewer down, now sipping my tea slowly, I looked back at the arena, the stalls, all the people enjoying themselves. Making a gesture at it all with my head, I spoke softly. "This is what it should've been like; 2000 people lost in a single month... a good amount of them to suicide, others locked themselves in; then groups or people like me kept going, from one village to another, getting stronger... and it worked, and the deaths slowed a little, coming here after that day, people had more hope, and now, being in Aincrad again, it's all I can think about,"

"You must've been on the frontlines then after... uh, s-sorry," She gulped but I shook my head.

"Not even close - I stuck with Argo for a while, I didn't join 'till the 24th floor, even then I had to really prove my worth, while avoiding being drafted by the major guilds at the time," Even now I wonder how Lind and Kibaou are doing, the two top leaders that often bickered as much as they cleared the floors. "I wasn't much, ol' Blackie's the hero of the story, I'm just the brat that got swept along,"

"But you still fought with everything you had," That made me look at her fully, seeing her clench her fist as though to hold a sword. "No one would've blamed you if you felt like stopping after what happened to your friends, but instead, you kept their dream alive and pushed onward. Look at you now! You got to fight to clear the game, and you met so many new friends who'll support you - and... we finally got to meet again, something that wouldn't have happened if you gave up,"

She's right, even joining ALO after the death game I was scared I'd never logout, or... was I expecting that? To live in a world where I didn't need to pretend to everyone. Meru Zena and Malzeno, and Kazuki are pieces I haven't been able to properly fit together. Hopefully I can go through with that in time...

Smiling, I rubbed my nape with a bashful laugh. "You make it sound like I became some fabled hero of the story like Blackie, I certainly held my own but I wasn't that good, even if I had the Katana skill, Klein - guy in-charge of the Furinkazan guild - had faaar more experience with those skills,"

"Hm..." Yuuki made a face she often did when constructing some devious plot, usually to my own detriment.

"Cupcake, I don't like that face..." I warned before she shot her finger to push against my nose, making go cross-eyed for a second.

"If I win this whole thing, let me help you handle using swords again!" Was... that it? I stared at her determined face, seeing her finger retract to tap two together, appearing a little flustered. "A-and something else, w-won't say now, duh..."

"Y'know PTSD doesn't just go away, right?" It was so bad I'd need medication, but actively using a sword made my skin crawl and my heart race uncontrollably, like a panic attack, something Sinon understood and even gave me advice on how to mitigate.

"Yeah, but you've been helping me out so much, I wanna do this, if I win, of course!" Yuuki was going to win, although, Kirito might be a tough battle, even for her.

"Okay, knowing you, you'd do it regardless," I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose, but her eyes were so dead-set, she was only a few inches from my face now, making the heat crawl from my neck. "L-look, okay, how about, you win, you do... whatever you're plotting, and I'll sweeten the deal-" I should stop talking now. "-if you win it all-" Kazuki, shut up, stop it, stop it now. "-I'll treat you to something truly worthy of the fabled Absolute Sword, how's that sound?" Oh my God, I actually did what Argo suggested...!

My offer made her face explode with joy, suddenly hugging me as I balanced my tea in one hand. "Yes, deal, no backies!" She let go afterward, giggling between her toothy grin. "I'm looking forward to my reward, don't disappoint your leader!"

"As if I could ever stoop so low now, milady," I pretended to tip a hat to her. I... really need to learn to stop letting Argo convince me of these ideas of hers, they hurt my brain.


Setting foot in the coliseum again, those that remained gathered to witness the large blue crystal display a blank screen, the anticipation of the first batch of battles to round off today was palpable in the air. I stood with Yuuki, Sinon, Asuna, Kirito, and Klein. All of us silently waiting for the announcement.

~Heya, how's everyone after the break!?~ Cliffheart got a roaring response from the crowd, some from the arena too. ~Good answer! Now then, let's not waste much time - after eight rounds of absolute chaos, we're left with only forty competitors, the best of the bunch! Or are some here by luck? Time to find out!~

~To explain, Round Two consists of One-Versus-One battles that'll last until a player's HP gauge drops into the red or the timer - which'll be Five Minutes - runs out~ Thinker laid out, everyone eyeing the screen as forty names with the main weapon of said user appeared. ~The board will now randomize your opponents for today's first round of battles, and lay out the groundwork for tomorrow's~

"Here we go..." Yuuki shook my arm giddily.

"Hopefully we'll be split up for the time being," Asuna prayed for.

"Man, if I gotta fight Kirito or Yuuki, I'm screwed!" Klein whined.

"Hey, what about us?" I deadpanned, Sinon and Asuna raising a brow too at Klein's remark, the samurai holding his hands up a little.

"Hey-hey, I'm just messin', but these two are monsters," Klein's genuine fear wasn't misplaced.

"I'll go easy on ya, Klein," Kirito smirked a bit without looking back, making the man pale a little.

"Can't promise I will, hehehe," Yuuki chuckled deviously like me, ah, I'm so proud of my corruption.

Above, the board shuffled the names, the crowd slowly going 'oooh' as the tension ramped up. ~And the first match of the day iiiis...!~ Cliffheart joined in, and the names finally stopped, forming a bracket system with the first match glowing gold for indication. ~Woah, talk about a strong start from two top players from Battles One and Two!~

!Malzeno, Member of Sleeping Knights VS. Leader of Red Sainglenn, Shinku!

My eyes, as well as a few others, all widened. Fate's a fickle thing apparently, although, I had a feeling we'd finally come to blows like this. The crowd applauded... primarily Shinku, I, on the other hand, got what I was expecting.

"Die, you scumbag!" "I bet everything on you losing!" "Bows are the worst meta in this game!" "Just drop out, brat!"

Across from my left, my eyes locked with the man himself. His deep red eyes under shoulder-length red hair, his skin being tanned and wearing dark red heavy armour with a black underarmour. Mounted on his back was a longsword of similar tones. Salamanders often have that edgy vibe to them, but all the races are colour coded.

Shinku was the same idiot who tried to steal the floor boss from us back when I first helped Yuuki and her friends, so if he didn't hate me before, he most certainly did now. All I got was a scornful glower from him, one I smirked a bit, alongside the colourful crowd's motivation for my crushing defeat.

"Hey-!" Stopping Yuuki with my hand, I showed off my manic grin, eyes burning with even more determination to disappoint everyone's expectations.

"Man oh man, do you hear that!? They all put their money solely against me! Do you have any idea how much I'm gonna win from this!?" My voice grew higher from my jubilation, cackling madly. "Place all your bets, folks! I'm just gonna show you the harsh truths of gamblin' against someone better than you in every way, ahahahaAHAHAHA!"

"He's officially lost what little sanity he had left," Sinon commented off to the side, looking bemused.

"He certainly has an expressive way of showing confidence, I just hope it's not all hot air," Asuna smiled warily, rubbing the back of her head.

Yuuki shared Princess's look, giving me a raised fist. "If he's confident, than so am I! Do your best for the guild, Mal!"

"Yeah, that's the spirit, give 'em hell, Mal!" Klein threw his fist up also, giving me that winning grin of his. Kirito smirked, nodding once for me to get it done.

"Ohohoho, don't worry about a thing!" I flashed the whole crowd a devilish grin. "I'm ready to go!" I'm so winning this thing.

[To Be Continued...]

[Author's Notes]

The first match of the second round is off with a bang. Malzeno vs. the newly named background player I've given life to. Just who will come out on top? I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; seeya in the next chapter, Players!