First Round, First Half

Once Finn crossed a certain distance, arrows would teleport directly at her.

If she knew they were coming, her skill was more than enough to block them.

But the problem was what happened if she pushed even closer. The arrows could materialize inside her body.

No way to defend against that.

Finn sheathed her daggers and walked, thinking it over.

(Pretty handy trick. But boy, sure seems like it's got a lot of restrictions.)

Having identified the maximum range, Finn backed up a step and hiked up her skirt.

She hiked it to a daringly high line, exposing her pale thighs and the several belts strapped around them.

Finn drew throwing knives from the belts.

She dropped her skirt back into place and gave her body an exaggerated wiggle.

"So naughty, mister. Juuust kidding!"

Eight knives in total.

The maximum she could hold in both hands.

She threw two at Knuckles first.

The knives flew at his eyes and throat. Rather than dodge, Knuckles deliberately shot an arrow to intercept them.

Deflecting two throwing knives with a single arrow was impressive in its own right.

Finn immediately threw two more at Knuckles's feet and simultaneously broke into a full sprint toward him.

Each time her knives were deflected by arrows, she followed up with more.

Knuckles read Finn's intent, but he didn't move from his spot.

Finn was now certain her theory was correct. She licked her lips.

She launched her last two knives and drew both daggers again.

Knuckles deflected those final two with an arrow and hurriedly nocked the next.

But the instant he raised his bow toward Finn, she was gone.

It didn't matter how many arrows he could teleport if he didn't know where she was.

Knuckles spun around on instinct.

"Too bad."

Finn's voice came from behind him. From his back.

Knuckles fired an arrow in a panic, aiming just behind himself.

But the arrow cut nothing but air.

Finn had already leapt up and was perched on Knuckles's shoulders.

Two dagger blades rested against his neck.

"Sloppy trick. Can't move while using it, the range is nothing special, and you can only fire one arrow at a time. You'd be better off using it to hunt dim-witted monsters and beasts."

Finn deliberately explained the mechanics of Knuckles's technique loud enough for everyone to hear.

Knuckles tried to turn around.

"Making me work for it."

She whispered it low enough that only he could hear.

Then she drew her daggers across.

Knuckles vanished in that instant, and only Finn remained on the stage.

"Main tournament, Match Two. Winner, Finn!"

The referee's voice echoed across the arena.

Finn flicked the faint trace of blood from her daggers onto the stage floor.

She sheathed them at her waist and waved broadly to the crowd.

She didn't forget to swiftly collect her thrown knives, either.

An assassin's pockets weren't exactly deep.

Finally, she pinched both sides of her skirt, gave the audience a curtsy, and disappeared.

Then came Match Three.

Dalia, the dancer who'd advanced from the prelims alongside Alexia, faced Futsu, a warrior who'd fought his way through in straightforward fashion.

Dalia's outfit was outrageously provocative.

Revealing clothes that amounted to underwear, layered with sheer fabric over the top and bottom that made you wonder why she bothered wearing it at all.

In the wrong setting, she'd look like nothing but a prostitute.

No, even a prostitute wouldn't dress quite like that.

Gold and jeweled accessories adorned her hands, feet, and neck, dazzling the eye.

The moment the match started, Futsu raised both hand axes to throw at Dalia.

But he was captivated by her enchanting dance and forfeited on the spot.

The outcome was so anticlimactic that the crowd erupted in boos, so Dalia treated them to a dance performance instead.

The referee cut it off at an appropriate point, and the result of Match Three was finalized.

Then, Match Four.

Entering the arena were Obias, a Spartian warrior, and Betters, a magic swordsman who had advanced from the prelims alongside Futsu.

Betters had won his preliminary bout against another Spartian warrior, albeit narrowly.

The referee gave the signal, and the fight began.

Just as in his preliminary victory, Betters tried to rack up damage from range with magic first.

A Spartian warrior's ranged options amounted to a devastatingly powerful javelin throw.

Fearsome, but naturally a one-shot deal.

Even with a spare lance, that was two at most.

Betters opened up distance and prepared to fire water magic at the Spartian warrior. What filled his vision instead was a massive, spinning shield.

He deflected the spinning shield with his sword on reflex.

But the impact sent the sword flying out of the arena.

The shield arced cleanly back to Obias's hand.

"I always got scolded for doing circus tricks."

On closer inspection, Obias's shield was slightly smaller than the standard Spartian issue.

"Took a lot of work, you know. Getting it calibrated so it functions both as a proper Spartian shield and as something I can throw."

With that, he wound up with his right arm, set the shield spinning, and hurled it again.

Betters desperately launched water magic, but the shield shattered every spell.

"Oh, come on."

The shield bore down on Betters's face.

He tried to catch it, but the rotation slapped his hands away and it slammed into him.

Betters vanished.

Obias had won.

The first half of Round One was over.

The Ocelot Colosseum main tournament, which had started that morning, took a break. The afternoon would resume with the second half.

Azu rejoined Master. Of the three, only Alexia still had a Round One match remaining.

Elza had slipped back at some point. As a seeded entry, she had nothing to do until Round Two.

The three of them shared a large serving of fried potatoes that Master had bought, making it their lunch.

Azu had earned herself cotton candy for her brilliant Round One victory. She held it in one hand.

Master had tried to leave it at that, but Elza glared at him, so a real reward was postponed until they returned to the Kingdom.

Before long, the afternoon came and Round One resumed.

The second half.

It was finally Alexia's turn.