It was sunny out on Floor One, and quiet too if you knew where to hide away from everyone else. The Town of Beginnings was a massive place, after all. I sat facing a fountain, a katana sheathed, resting against my legs while I stared down at its simple design.

"Ya ready to gO?" Off to my right, a girl with red whiskered painted on her face under a dusty brown hooded cloak approached, arms crossed as she waited for my reply.

"It... feels heavy," The stats were fine, but the sentimental weight was enough to crush my hands. "I... still don't know if I should use this,"

Argo gave some thought to my words, waltzing over to stand in front of me. "Know what I thinK? Yer old pals didn't want ya wallowin' in grief wonderin' about 'what ifs', ain't gonna do nothin' but hurt ya far morE,"

"I know, but..." Argo was right but this felt so hard to move past, it was scary.

Instead of lecturing me, I got an earful of that from the top brass in other guilds, like they didn't exploit the game and people to make themselves stronger, Argo instead placed a hand to my head, patting it. "Like it or not, I said I'd watch out for ya, so even if it'll take 'till the final floor, I'm gonna be here, ain't nothin' in this world's gonna best mE,"

"How can you be so certain? What if you end up just like them someday?" I didn't want to lose anyone else that way. And yet, Argo smiled, her whiskers twitching.

"Ain't it obviouS? I ain't, sometimes I'll make a mistake or two, what's important is confidence, ya gotta look at your situation and say, 'there's a way out' or 'I can make it with a little elbow grease', stuff like that'll save yer skin, cause sure, you're scared half to death, but yer still willin' to rest everythin' on a gamblE,"

Argo wasn't being cocky or full of herself, she was scared of dying, she wasn't immortal, yet she kept a grin and even if one day she'll die in this game, she'll do it with confidence. Hearing her admit this was... nice, holding this katana didn't feel nearly as heavy, if only by a fraction, but I did smile, and it did grow lighter.

"Thanks, Argo,"

"Nyahaha, I'll not charge ya for that intel, ya got lots to learn from yer big siS," She again patted my head and marched on. "Keep up, we've gotta lot to coveR!"

"R-right, wait up!" Holding Pix's katana tighter, I hastily hooked it to my belt to catch up with Argo before she did her vanishing act.

[Alfheim Online, New Aincrad, The Demonlord's Domain]

[Malzeno's POV]

Flames roared in my ears when I came back to my senses moments ago, I didn't really consider what was happening at all. Lost in memories I wish I could've fallen back into, things I wanted to change as desperately as breathing. Then it clicked, Argo's words rang in my ears, breaking away that façade so Pix's words could cut through.

A small slither of me wouldn't let go, just like the weight of the sword that day, I was hindering myself, pretending it was out of sentimentality and not grief. Raising this sword, I held it now to my right hip. "Ah... fits like a glove," That anxiety didn't pull at my stomach, I wasn't feeling weak in the knees or dizzy anymore, it felt... right.

Primordial roared but it was faint, barely a whisper to me as it cast a ring of deadly Qurio energy around itself, twirling into the sky. "Argo, I'm sorry. I know I made you worry, but I'm... okay now,"

"Hidden Skill-"Lunging forward through the eruptions of energy, the two wings came crashing down like a pair of butcher's blades while my arms swung in a rotating motion, twisting my waist and torso to add further momentum as my blade scarred the underside of the wings in a series of winding slashes."-Conflagration!"

My blade swung downward in a haze of red, leaving a deep gash across Primordial's chest as it warped backward twice, reeling back, it unleashed an explosive wave to rupture the ground. Kicking off a heel, I spun over the blast radius, sweeping forward into a powerful, vertical slash to the left foreleg. "Waterfall!"

My blade quickly turned green as I slid underneath its legs, "Whirlwind Slash!" A twin, omnidirectional move that slit through all four limbs, rolling out in time to evade the first wing that tore up the earth to my left as I dove into it a second later, dodging the one to my right.

It disappeared behind me, wings crossed over itself when I pivoted with one hand, blade streaking gold. "Iai," With a blur of light behind me, both wings struck the earth, missing me but ending up slashed by the tail-end of my horizontal strike. Digging my fingers into the stones, I held my blade in both hands. "Boom,"

The scars I left to pepper Primordial's body suddenly pulsed, erupting with a bright violet blast of flames, further inflicting Burn. This sword is the same Yuuki and I received that night we got dango on Floor 10, the Spine of Eo. It had a nasty ability that it can inflict Hellfire onto an enemy, and after some time, will explode to deal bonus fire damage, something Primordial and its other form shared a weakness to.

Primordial turned to me, shaking off the flames as it charged with a shield made of its wing, I held firm, drawing my sword overhead for a slam that let out a sharp ringing in my ears, then again to repeat the same skill twice. "Ichimonji!" The second slam broke the talon off the top of the wing, shedding a few scales as I rolled into the thrust of its tail, evading the blast it left.

Twirling my sword, I ducked under another flick of its tail into a thrust and slash from the left wing. In return, my sword gouged through its hide four times, spinning once to deliver a powerful horizontal across its crest, breaking the thickened scales beneath the festering Qurio as Primordial roared, its body trembling with red sparks. "Hidden Skill, Solar Brilliance!"

"Look out!/Watch it!" I heeded their words and performed a backflip from the blast, avoiding the waves of dark energy that followed, but now I was in its line of sight as it spun itself into a drill toward me.

Bending at my waist, my legs flew under me into a spiralling dance toward Primordial, slashing through its hide with four deep arcs, the fourth smacking it out of its spiral as it tumbled, "Dance of the Water Dragon!" Turning to face it, Primordial warped several times in various directions until it was right above me, slamming the ground with a ball of energy to swat with its tail, the blast tearing into my body while a multitude of Hellfire blasts ripped through its hide, dropping us both.

Picking myself up, I ran at the nearest wall, running parallel as Primordial blasted the ground beneath me, stabbing the wall with its tail where I once stood. Clasping my sword tightly, I swung in an omnidirectional wave like a sawblade, slashing through the tail with a powerful halo of orange and purple. "Rising Sun!"

The flames scattered around me, the tail recoiling sharply from the blow. Sheathing my sword, I ran from its wing slashes, hearing it warp, several columns of light forming to my right, forcing my body to slide underneath the barrage of energy, it shifted again, Primordial raining down a volley of blasts to bury me in a cloud of red mist.

From the cloud, I slashed the air, unleashing a devastating blast of wind pressure that brought Primordial down as the physical effects of the Qurio forced it to reel in agony, even in ALO, the Qurio still ate away at its life force. My ranged skill was Dragon's Breath, capable of reaching a target several meters away with an arc of wind pressure.

But using all these skills with Sword Skill Connect physically took their toll on me, my limbs, even in this world felt as heavy as lead. Primordial recovered without issue, going on the offensive as Nori brought her hammer through the concrete, tearing up the earth with a powerful spray of debris with Fissure.

Primordial targeted her, thrusting its tail only for it to scream when a whirling assault of Talken's spear swept through like a blender with Dancing Spear, severing the whole pronged tail, but it still managed to use a wing to slash the teen across the chest, throwing him against Nori's arms.

Behind it, one eye of Primordial was met with a roaring emerald flames that surrounded the entire length of Tecchi's mace and up to his shoulder. Said shoulder collided with Primordial's left foreleg, followed by two a diagonal swings after each other, leading into two powerful upward swings that broke its jaw, even as it performed a retreating slash with a wing to push Tecchi backward.

It had retreated straight into Jun, who had climbed atop the nearest, burning edge of the arena to dive bomb the Elder Dragon, tracing a lightning bolt down from one wing to its hind legs, breaking the second wing talon with an electrified impact, stunning Primordial who warped twice, flying upward to then slam the ground with both wings, unleashing four waves of energy in its wake.

Finding my strength, I still had one more move in me, drawing my sword over my right shoulder, casting it into a wave of various shades of red, one more skill is all I need! "Esoteric Skill...!" The words seethed between my teeth, witnessing them all giving their all for this fight.

To everyone's surprise but mine, I smirked seeing Siune break between Nori and Talken in time to parry a downward slam with both wings, the massive attack disrupted by her rapier stripping slithers off its scales in the nick of time with sheer, overwhelming hits due to Flashing Penetrator.

Seemingly at its limits, Primordial took to the skies, unleashing a hellish roar as a bombardment of energy left its body, raining down like meteors. It shifted forward, closing its wings around its frame like a cocoon, building an enormous amount of power, its ultimate attack. At this range, all of us would be hit, and we're all in the yellow...

But I wasn't worried, not when an amethyst star was on a collision course with the scarlet comet. Yuuki brandished her sword toward the epicentre of Primordial's ferocious attack, stabbing it in waves of violet light that I could barely keep track of, her voice carrying over the chaos and music that filled the sky, her final thrust erupting into a plume of lilac smoke through Primordial's back, disrupting its nova blast in the nick of time, her own body burned being so close to this attack as she fell towards Tecchi's waiting arms.

Our eyes met, and all of them screamed at the top of their lungs. "SWITCH!"

"Tenryū No Mai," Finishing my sentence, I broke across the ruined domain of Primordial's as it landed before the whole party to face me as it roared, but it had no strength left to move after attempting that finishing move.

Arching my blade through its head, each blow grew faster and stronger, even as Primordial found the strength to slash at my sides with its claws, each crescent of light became layered in another two, creating a flurry of blows that weaved into one another, splashing red polygons through the air. For the final, 16th blow, I kicked off its chest to wield this cursed blade high above its broken horns.

"Hyrraaaaah!" With a single, clean slash as bright and potent as sunlight, every slash ignited into a ring of hellfire around us, tearing through and burning away the Qurio in a single blast, the hot wind billowing through my clothes.

Primordial Malzeno held itself upright with its broken legs and wings, giving a final, pained roar towards the sky that began to clear away, the clouds broken up by rays of sunlight as the Qurio died and fell around us like red snow, releasing Primordial from their grasp as its original colours gleamed through as it collapsed before us, turning bright blue before shattering into hundreds of pieces.

The prompt for the quest's completion appeared but my attention was drawn forward, panting heavily with the scorching blade in my hands as I let it clatter to the floor. Under one of the rays of sunlight, my eyes fell to three figures, my face frozen on them.

Myst made a face like he just laughed, giving a two-fingered salute. Arc placed a hand to his heart, bowing respectfully. And Pix... the wind pulled at her hair and hood, wearing a warm smile as she held out her katana, then, let it fall as it vanished into the ground, and a new prompt appeared before me, taking my breath away, nearly losing my footing entirely.

|L.A Bonus - Memento Mori|

I, without hesitation, hit 'Equip', and resting against my left hip was a familiar black scabbard. The katana's handguard rectangular with hollowed rectangles at each corner, all of which are gold in colour. I drew the blade, allowing the sunlight to catch across its oceanic pigment.

Looking back... they were gone, leaving me with the very sword that took me so far through SAO. I felt my legs give out, but several pairs of hands caught me, all of them were smiling in some capacity, I had a new party to protect now, and vice versa.

Clutching Memento Mori tight to my chest, I finally said the word that I had refused to say until now. To what was left behind in this world and beyond as a few tears rolled down my face, but for once, with complete acceptance.

"Goodbye."

[To Be Continued...]

[Author's Notes]

What a way to end this battle with a Malzeno versus Malzeno battle! See why I chose Primordial now? Also cause it's a spectacle and a half. Now, still got one last chapter to wrap up this arc of Inner Peace. It's both fun, leans into an anime trope for the heck of it, and a pinch of emotion to boot.

I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; see ya in the next chapter, Players!