[Alfheim Online, New Aincrad, Floor One Coliseum]

[Yuuki's POV]

Despite my win against Asuna, I didn't have the luxury to kick my feet up and relax. In five minutes, the final round would begin, so I had a small amount of time to rest up and mentally prepare for what might be the toughest fight of my life... erm, second toughest.

"Nervous, Cupcake?" I didn't move my head just my eyes toward Malzeno's winning grin.

"...yes," I squeaked out, feeling a bead of sweat roll down my cheek. "I fought Kirito once and that was with 'ONE' sword, and it also wasn't Excalibur-I don't even know what it's special ability is!"

"Care to trade for that infO?" Suddenly, Argo appeared on the crates behind me, causing me to almost jump out of my skin as she snickered. "Nyehehe, well, wanna find ouT?"

"N-no offense, Miss Argo, but your prices are... eeh, steep?" I seesawed my hands, trying my best not to offend her.

"Oh, she knows, you being anxious only makes her enjoy it more," Malzeno deadpanned. "You're not honestly gonna charge her for that, are you?"

"Nyahaha, now what have I taught ya, Mal? If there's a demand, there's a sale to be haD," Argo wagged her finger down at us, propping up her hand to rest her chin. "Since this ain't hard-to-come-by intel, I'll fork it over for my regular cosT,"

A wave of relief washed over me, and I opened my menu to send her a gift with the allotted amount of Yrd. With a satisfied grin, the blonde hopped down to the lowest crate to chat.

"Excalibur's better than that demonic sword ya see the General swingin' around, that gold-plated blade's got the nasty ability to allow all attacks, skill or otherwise, to deal True Damage, heck of a deadly weapon in a skilful hanD,"

That revelation made my eyes widen, "It's that powerful? I can see why he only used it against you so far..." I eyed Malzeno who shrugged, drawing a thumb across his neck. "So keep that sword from touching me, piece of cake!" I raised two thumbs, which seemed to please the informant who hopped off the crate to tap her knuckle off my breastplate.

"Ya got a fightin' spirit, Yuuki, I'll be rootin' for yA," With a curt wave, Argo left, tucking her hood over her feline ears. Now, it was just me and Malzeno again as I felt a nervousness wash over me.

"So.../So..." We paused, blinking at each other before snickering at our combined awkwardness.

He gave me a gesture to speak, so I did to relieve the tension. "So... where's the rest? I honestly expected them to dogpile me after making it to the finals, hahaha,"

"Oh believe me, I nearly got trampled," I watched him dust off his coat dramatically, earning a snort from me. "They went topside for a better view, and Siune sent me as a courier with a collective message for your upcoming battle,"

"Really? Well, lay it on me," I motioned for him to give some grand speech, smiling stupidly as I tried to make myself appear modest and professional as a leader would. Aiko was better at that than me.

What I wasn't expecting was for his hands to rest on my shoulders, breaking my confident expression for a surprised one, staring into his eyes, taking in his whole expression that I've seen plenty of times through a camera lens. Now? That very kind face was right in front of me.

"Don't lose. No matter what, don't ever give up until it's over, understand?" Malzeno's message was so short and yet it felt like the exact words I needed to hear right now.

In SAO, Malzeno, Asuna, Kirito, and Argo, as well as the others had all fought so hard not just to survive but to live. That was the life I've known since I was pulled into the Medicuboid, I understood that while my friends were rooting for me, hearing them from someone who really gets the kind of world I live in felt just as impactful.

"...if I was there too, I wonder if we'd have fought together on the frontlines?" Maybe Merida was right, even just a bit. Me, Aiko, Merida and Malzeno fighting through every floor with our lives on the line.

"Yuuki?" Malzeno looked at me funny as I shook myself from my train of thought. "You're not having an existential crisis are you?"

"HaAH!?" Making a strange noise, I threw my fists up to show my determination. "Not a chance! After that pep-talk I'm all fired up!"

"Alright, cool your jets, Natsu before you burn yourself," He quipped, evading my light punches. "Yuuki," Pausing, he held out his fist for me. "Good luck,"

Grinning with my eyes closed, I tapped my knuckle off his. "Just watch me!"

~Are. You. Reaaaady!?~ Immediately after exiting into the arena, Cliffheart's voice exploded onto the mic, possibly bursting the eardrums of people across multiple streams.

Was it just me or had the audience gotten bigger since the last match? I even saw them sitting atop the wall at the very back of the coliseum, man, talk about dedication. Walking toward me, I could easily spot the twin blades on Kirito's back, the golden one remained a caution in the back of my head.

~Welcome to the final round, I'm sure you all would like for us to skip straight to the action, but I feel it's only fair to give one last introduction, don't you think, Cliffheart?~ Thinker announced, the girl giggling delightfully.

~You read my mind! Ahem, practically an icon since the start of the tournament, she's blazed a trail of impressive battles, many of which were one-sided! Let's hear it for The Absolute Sword, Yuuki!~ Everyone grew in volume once more, making me chuckle as I came to stand four meters from Kirito, himself wearing an easy-going grin.

~As for her opponent? He's a player that has surpassed all expectations, displaying experience and skill with dual swords and single-sword combat one may call an art. The swordsman in black, or 'Blacky' as many refer to him under, Kirito!~ Thinker introduced, earning him quite the wave of praise from his own adoring fans.

"I never expected I'd fight you again, not after what you said last time," Perking up at Kirito's voice, I eyed his expression crossed between lax and steely.

Smiling hesitantly, I never had much of a conversation with him, bar a few words that is. "Yeah... I mean, guess it didn't matter in the long run, huh? Malzeno saw through me pretty quickly too,"

"Argo's taught him so I'm not surprised, so, same rules as last time?" Already, he cut right back to the battle. I still dunno what to think about Kirito, just what everyone else has told me. Maybe we can talk sometime after the tournament? Maybe in real life with that camera he hooked me into?

"Oh, uh, sure thing," Smirking, I withdrew my trusty obsidian blade. "This won't be like last time, I'm more than ready for ya!"

"Hmph, ditto," His smirk mirrored mine, drawing both blades to mimic that old skill from SAO, Dual Wielding, what I wouldn't give to see those sword skills! Ah, focus Yuuki!

~Our fighters are itching to battle! Many of us have anticipated this outcome since the line-up was introduced! The timer's set so let the final match of the United Duelling Tournament commence!~ Cliffheart cried out, clapping into the mic.

~You'll have ten minutes, whoever's HP is the highest or if one player is defeated will decide the victor. Both of you, fight well!~ Thinker exclaimed.

As the timer drew closer to zero, the crowd had dulled to a murmur, I and Kirito's expressions fell to a firm look, his wasn't like Asuna's, but I could tell he was ready for our rematch. This won't be anything like last time.

~The tension's so thick you could cut it with a knife...!~ Cliffheart whispered, my eyes glancing up at the timer between our names.

-{BEGIN!}-

I instantly inhaled and closed the gap between us, Kirito having the exact same instinct as his blades connected with mine at an angle to catch both blades. Breaking away, he began to strike relentlessly, already I was on the defence against both swords, the sparks flung around my eyes while I waited for an opening.

Twisting my wrist, I struck his cheek as Excalibur sliced my side. I hooked my sword around his left-hand blade, throwing myself over head to avoid his follow-up thrust to kick-step with a strike to his back. But in seconds he was already upon me, both blades gliding across my hips as I guarded against his cross strike.

Over and over I had to parry and evade his constant, intense swings that left me little room to properly counter, our health roughly only depleted by ten percent. Then, Excalibur took on a bright blue glow, humming in my ears as I quickly cast my own crimson skill to counter the following blows that rang from our blades and through my bones.

Streaks of blue and red split through the earth as I pivoted toward my right, forced back by the weight of the horizontal slash that grinded against my obsidian sword. Suddenly, the light left Excalibur as it nicked my shoulder, and I had to act fast and drop to my palm to kick Kirito's feet out from under him, surprising him as his left sword turned green in that instant.

Although, his skill motion carried through, his arm wrenched upward to slash across my chest while I twisted my hand and threw myself back on my heels, himself rolling to kneel, light filling his golden blade once more. "That's that crazy technique he learned to do, Sword Skill Connect!" Now I get how he got his hands on Excalibur, if he led his friends with an ability like that...

A gasp caught in my throat, and I narrowly evaded the powerful lunge of Vorpal Strike, twirling in the air to hack across his back, missing the second slash as my orange skill faded away among the streaks of light between us.

Motes of orange and red drifted over my frame, bringing my sword down against his cross guard, thrown back by a prod from both blades, one of them pricking my collarbone. "This guy can counter bullets and magic projectiles, and he has two swords, come on... think Yuuki, how can you beat him!?"

Steadying myself, I barely had time to dive away from his lunging strike that led into a horizontal.

"Look, my reason is more a speculative guess on what I've seen of Kirito; Argo, Asuna, and Sinon will get it, but... Kirito is different than the Black Swordsman that was left behind in SAO,"

"That's right, this isn't him at his absolute strongest, I've been itching to fight him again but that's because I wanted to see him as the Black Swordsman, not as Kirito," That thought now dampened my expectations, keeping on the defence as II stared into his steeling onyx eyes. "He's probably had a lot on his mind from the Death Game, fighting with your life on the line is just how I've always been, I've never had the luxury Kirito and the others have to simply stop, me trying to force that out of him wouldn't be right..."

The Kirito I'm fighting is the person he wants to be, not this 'Black Swordsman' persona, so, that's what I'll aim to defeat today, Kirito the swordsman. Parrying his cross slash, I smiled a little, adjusting my posture. "Sorry, Kirito," He blinked, looking at my strangely. "I've kinda been looking at this fight the wrong way, but that's all gone now, here I come!"

His strange look remained for a moment longer, then, I drew my blade in gold and charged. In turn, his sword matched mine in hue, both of us using Savage Fulcrum to carve a rich gold '4' in the air between us, again, the light vanished into Excalibur, tinting the blade silver as I threw my body sideways to evade the rising slash, wrapping around his legs while its edge cleaved in a horizontal arc.

Rolling to my feet I pounced, blocked by his dark sword while I dove overhead and drew my sword across his shoulder, his own nicking my left thigh. Switching up my style, I thrust my sword-tip toward him, cutting along his forearms that withdrew to weave between my constant jabs, ensuring to cut off any openings.

His left leg suddenly rose and came down hard on my sword, leaving me wide open to his own thrust attack that I narrowly triggered Serration Wave to fling him backward, the blast damaging him a little while I felt his sword tip flick and split my chin open. Undeterred by my attack, I saw the blue glare reach over past the dust.

Instinctually, my blade erupted into a flurry of lavender streaks, countering the first slant, then the a rising strike followed by a horizontal that I diverted toward the side, then a vertical that trembled against the edge of mine. He performed a somersault doubling into a horizontal from his right, then two spinning slashes crossed into an 'X'.

I saw the look of bewilderment in his eyes, countering every hit from Howling Octave with a glare present against my own weapon. Letting out a cry, I used the remaining moves within Mother's Rosario to plunge through his torso, the blast of blue and purple stretching into a cross around us, Kirito launched skyward.

Though my smirk didn't last, his health, while extremely low, he wasn't defeated, seeing him spin around and adjust himself with his wings in time to drive his sword downward. My muscles tensed when I saw something flicker in his eyes...

A shade of gold...

Evade, I had to evade this now! Released from my momentary paralysis, I felt his sword glide down my chest, leaving a shallow wound when he spun, leaving a similar line across my stomach, twirling still for an overhead slash wrapped in a pale green tint.

"Hyrrraah!" Letting out his own wordless yell, I couldn't evade this time.

"Haaaaah!" Releasing a bloom of light from my sword, I drew it against his in a mirrored movement, the brittle impact igniting between their edges with a colourful blast of light, even so, I wasn't hampered yet, yelling to match with Kirito blow for blow, neither of us landing a deciding hit as our movements and reaction times ramped up higher and faster.

My heart was ready to explode while every muscle and vein in my body was on fire! Faster, I had to react faster than ever before like Aiko could! His eyes were burning into mine, our teeth grit as each strike chained into another almost within a second.

Only a few feet was between us, drawing back a sword each with a deep red hue over them both, combining our Vorpal Strikes, the tips of our swords connected in the middle with an electrifying reaction, resulting in a blinding blast of light, almost like a halo that split the earth where we stood.

...

...

...

~What's happened? Can anyone see through the dust!?~ Cliffheart's voice reached my ears while I panted, nearly toppling over with my sword still outstretched.

~It appears they triggered a rare phenomenon known as an Infinity Moment, wherein multiple skills connect to a single object in such a short window they can deal incredible bonus damage~ Thinker explained as that rumbling in my ears faded into the background. ~These two had used a vast array of skills that they resulted in this multiplier activating~

~Just what the heck have these two been doing in this game!?~She cleared her throat. ~Still though, the dust's settling, who's the winner!?~

Managing to turn my head, I saw that Kirito was a few feet behind me, the injuries to his body fading as mine had, only, when I raised my head a little, I saw our names in the sky.

-{YUUKI WINS!}-

I... I won...? My health was probably less than ten percent, but Kirito's was likely lower than that, if I had been even a split second off any of those hits, I'd have likely lost. No one has ever drawn me to such a tight margin before in so long. Falling onto my backside, I felt the strength leave my body as the whole arena gave out a thunderous applause, confetti and fireworks filling up the skies above.

"Yuuki~!" From out of nowhere, I was assaulted from behind by Nori's arms as she grappled me into a bear hug, laughing giddily as I peeked over and saw everyone else running up to me. All of them looked so overjoyed as I just stared blankly, the message just hadn't sunken in until I saw even Malzeno approach, laughing and clapping in approval. "You absolute demon, that was the most intense fight to date!"

Nor started to noogie my cheek, finally drawing a laugh from me from how ticklish it was.

"You were amazing out there, Yuuki, congratulations!" Siune smiled with her eyes closed.

"What a fight, leader!" Jun flexed his muscle, grinning like an idiot.

"I was on the edge of my seat..." Tecchi chuckled, drying the sweat that formed on his brow.

"I've never seen you fight that way before, Yuuki, I-I was impressed," Talken was ecstatic in his own way, he looked just as relieved as Tecchi.

"I..." Now, I eyed Malzeno who was shaking his head, a rising smirk on his face as he eyed Kirito who looked on, pleased despite the loss as he sheathed his swords. "...I don't have the words, that battle was beyond anything I've seen before... no, it did remind me of one but the feeling behind yours was different, I... can't even begin to explain how mesmerized I was,"

Hearing all their praises, I felt a warmth fill up my chest, I really did it, I showed everyone in this game and beyond just what I could do. In a way, my own legacy had touched the hearts and minds of thousands of players, that's what I pray for, but just knowing what I accomplished here... I've never felt happier.

Then, I shook myself from that daze, scrambling to my feet to approach Kirito who was watching us. "Kirito, I..." Stopping just before him, I smiled shamefully at the ground. "I'll admit, I wanted to see if by fighting you I could draw out the Black Swordsman I heard so much about; for self-satisfaction, curiosity, or something else, maybe all the above,"

Looking into his eyes confidently, I didn't feel ashamed now to admit it. "But that doesn't matter, I got to fight one of the strongest swordsman to date, and I nearly lost too. I've never fought that hard before, even when trying to leave the Sleeping Knights' mark on the Monument of Swordsmen," I then offered my hand. "Thank you for an unforgettable fight, Kirito! Let's do it again sometime!"

"I had a feeling that's what you meant, I guess given your circumstances you're no different than us back then," He replied calmly, he didn't appear annoyed by what I meant, reaching out to grasp my hand tightly, causing my smile to grow. "I'm up for a rematch anytime, beating you won't be easy but I'll admit, for a moment anyway... I felt I was closer to the person I was back then, whether that's good or not doesn't really matter to me,"

"Heh, well, that's good enough for me!" Shaking his hand, I then made him jump in surprise when I raised them both to the sky, getting the crowd even more worked up than before. I felt my cheeks grow a little rosy from all the praise but I was happy regardless. Kirito seemed to relent, smiling and allowing me to hold his hand up with mine.

~After an unbelievable final battle, one never before seen across the previous years, leaving an impact that has sent people across social media crazy, our victor by the sheer skin of their teeth is the leader of the Sleeping Knights, the Absolute Sword, YUUKI!~Cliffheart screamed as loud as she could into the microphone.

~This battle could've gone either way, but regardless of the results, no one will be forgetting this tournament for a long time~ Thinker chuckled, clearing his throat soon after. ~To all our competitors from the battle royale, the twelfth, quarter, and semi-finals, thank you all for a stunning performance. And most especially, a big hand to our finalists and the fourth champion of the United Duelling Tournament!~

[To Be Continued...]

[Author's Notes]

Holy crap I don't need to write fight scenes for a while now, woot-woot! Joke aside, I really put all I had into this battle, instead of a 'saved by the bell' we get a high-octane battle between the strongest swordsman of SAO and the strongest swordswoman of ALO. With Yuuki our crowning champion.

I really hope you all enjoyed this arc as we've still got the aftermath and some other stuff to see through, I appreciate the support as always; see ya in the next chapter, Players!