End of Match One. Start of Match Two.

Teftos was trapped in a violent storm of confusion and disorientation.

His legs trembled like a newborn fawn's.

His vision warped from the impact to his brain, making it hard to even track Azu's position.

He fought down a fierce wave of nausea. One slip of concentration and he'd black out.

It was a clean hit.

Only experience let him stay standing.

Neither arm would respond properly.

Teftos raised his guard, but it was nothing more than a bluff.

And it was obvious enough that even Azu could tell.

(If I buy time, I'll recover. I need to stall.)

Teftos managed that much thought and tried to put distance between himself and Azu.

But legs that wouldn't obey couldn't outrun Azu's speed.

It was true that Teftos had underestimated Azu.

However, he hadn't been careless.

If the right straight after the body blow had landed, the match would've been over.

But it hadn't.

The gap had closed rapidly once Azu started mimicking his movements just from watching.

Azu had grown mid-fight, surpassing Teftos's calculations.

Azu's footwork and bare-handed strikes were both crude.

Her swaying had looked passable thanks to her natural agility, but that was it.

Yet that crude imitation had been fortunate enough to catch Teftos square on the jaw.

Blood dripped from Azu's right hand.

She'd gripped too hard, her nails breaking the skin.

Azu shifted her sword to her left hand, steadying it with her right.

If Teftos recovered, Azu had no chance of winning.

She had no intention of letting this narrow opening slip, the one born from exceeding his expectations for a single instant.

Azu broke into a run, sword at the ready.

Teftos gave up on dodging, mustered what little strength remained in his fists, and threw a punch at the charging Azu.

Instead of a swing, Azu switched to a thrust.

If she wound up carelessly, Teftos's fist would reach her first.

The fastest thrust. The best option for finishing Teftos with her unfamiliar left hand.

Thanks to the difference in reach, Azu's sword reached Teftos first.

In that instant, a chill ran down her spine.

Teftos gave up on his warped vision, closed his eyes, and judged the situation by footsteps alone.

He executed a perfectly timed sway.

But his sluggish body betrayed him, and the blade grazed his throat ever so slightly.

Still, far from a fatal wound.

Teftos was already recovering from the damage of having his brain rattled.

Azu channeled her magic power through the blade.

The Sealed Sword Grungaus activated, and a surge of power lashed at Teftos's throat.

At his best, Teftos could have dodged that follow-up with ease.

He opened his eyes one last time and smiled. Whether in self-mockery or in praise of Azu.

Teftos vanished.

The wound was judged fatal, and he was teleported out.

"Main tournament, Match One. Winner, Azu!"

The referee's declaration made Azu's victory official.

The tension drained from Azu's body, and the pain in her abdomen came flooding back. She nearly doubled over but forced herself upright and raised her sword high.

A roar of applause and cheers enveloped her.

Far louder than the preliminaries.

For Azu, it was the first time she'd ever experienced anything like it.

Master whistled in admiration.

The odds had been over ten to one, after all. He'd bet one gold coin on her.

Of course he was grinning.

A massive upset.

Bathed in cheers, Azu exited the stage, and the second match began.

Entering the arena was a cute girl wielding daggers in both hands: Finn.

And a young man who fought with a bow, Knuckles.

It was rare for a bowman to enter a tournament like this.

His greatest asset, range advantage, couldn't be fully leveraged.

Especially against someone like Finn, who specialized in close combat and dressed light for exactly that reason.

Impressive that he'd made it through the prelims, Finn thought.

And also: easy pickings.

Finn had been waving to the crowd right up until the match started. The moment it did, she vanished.

That was how it looked to the spectators, at least. In reality, Finn's initial burst was simply that fast, and leaning forward made her already small frame even harder to track.

The distance shrank in the blink of an eye.

She was even faster than the two fighters from the previous match.

By the time Knuckles nocked an arrow and took aim, Finn was already close enough that a few more steps would put her daggers within reach.

"Bye-bye!"

Still all smiles, Finn whispered the words and accelerated to close the remaining gap.

But whether it was an assassin's instinct or raw talent…

Finn skidded to a dead stop.

In that same instant, an arrow flew through the exact spot she would've been in had she kept going.

There was no way Finn would miss the moment an arrow was loosed.

The arrow Knuckles had nocked had teleported the instant he released the string.

No matter how fast you moved or how sharp your eyes were, if you couldn't see the arrow being fired, you couldn't dodge it.

"This guy…"

"Well, I was hoping to say 'bye-bye' right back at you. You've got pretty sharp instincts. Even most monsters can't dodge this one."

"Oh?"

Finn kept her smile fixed and studied Knuckles.

Some kind of magic, probably.

She clicked her tongue quietly enough that no one could hear, circling Knuckles without closing in or backing off.

There'd be no reason not to use such a convenient spell from the very start of the match.

This wasn't some one-trick gimmick.

Aimed at a vital point, it would take down anyone short of a seasoned warrior.

So the reason he hadn't used it right away had to be something she could figure out.

Range, some condition, or both.

Finn kept walking her circle, twirling both daggers deftly in her hands.

Knuckles nocked another arrow, tracking her movements with his bow trained on her.

Finn's footsteps rang out lightly as she gradually, inch by inch, tightened the distance.