"This is pretty cool, huh, it's the first time that three students have all made it to the quarter-final round of the X-Warrior Championship, two of which are Level Q students. Before this, only six students had ever made it this far, and never more than one per tournament. I mean, to be fair, there's a definite drop in overall quality of the participants this year, and a big part of that drop in quality is the fact that a lot of the best K-Ranks were killed during the attack on the Wights," Pointed out Sakura.

It was a little while after the third round had ended, and Sakura had won her match as well. With that, it was down to the final eight.

​​

"So you're saying that the X-Warriors participating in this edition of the tournament are all talk and no bite, am I right?" I replied with a slight smirk.

"Well...to an extent, yes, but not all of them. And it's not like you don't know that."

"What about the remaining X-Warriors, do you know which of them are strong?" Inquired Katie curiously.

"Let's see...I don't know much about your next opponent, though from what I saw of his previous matches, you're a bad match up for him. I'm confident that I can beat my next opponent too. Oh, but Kilzachs...your next opponent is a real tough one, I don't know if your regular skills will be enough against him," Remarked Sakura with a frown.

"I'm aware," I replied wryly.

Yeah, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned. My next opponent was a guy named Nikolai Ivanov, a highly rated and very experienced Prodigy who'd been an X-Warrior for more than ten years, and was ridiculously good at using his manifestations.

His Primary Manifestation formed cannon-like blasters around his forearms, which were capable of firing out powerful blasts of wind, and his Secondary Manifestation formed a sphere of swirling wind around him, which shredded anything that came into contact with it, though he hardly ever uses it, which likely means that it consumes a lot of XFE.

Anyway, bottom line, he's no weakling, he knows what he's doing. He's not quite at the level of an Ace, but he's not too far behind...he'll likely be my toughest opponent in the tournament yet, he's certainly one of the top contenders of the final eight.

"Oh, it's my turn," Said Katie, before standing up and walking towards the door, as the participants of the first quarter-final match were called up.

"So, what do you think her chances are?" Sakura asked me, as Katie walked out the door.

"Hm? Why are you asking me?" I responded with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, because she's your classmate, as well as your teammate, and...you two seem reasonably close," She responded with a suggestive smile.

"No, not really...honestly, we've probably spoken more in just the last two days than we have in the past six months or so combined," I replied honestly with a shrug.

"That seems hard to believe, but okay, I'll take your word for it...but come on, you should have some idea of how this next fight is going to go," She pressed me curiously.

"Sure I do, since she's my teammate, I do try to have a reasonable understanding of what she's capable of...and from what I've seen of her opponent so far in the tournament...this should be an easy win for her," I surmised, as the first quarter-final began.

"You think so? Well, then, let's find out if you're right..."

...

"Looks like I was right," I remarked, as Katie wrapped up her victory with another blast of her most powerful attack.

"You know, I have to say...she's getting kinda predictable with that finishing move," Said Sakura, as Katie began heading back towards the waiting room.

"Yeah, you make a good point...but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Plus it's her only option, since she's not the best at close range combat, and at this level, most, if not all, of her opponents are going to be agile enough to move faster than her Primary Manifestation does," I agreed, "For now, it's the only move she can rely on against opponents of this level."

The door then opened and Katie walked back in with a sigh. Sweet, looks like she's tired again, which means her emotions are gonna be more visible than usual.

"Hey, nice going...you're now officially the first ever student to make it to the semi-finals of the X-Warrior Championship," I greeted her, as she sat back down beside me.

"Thanks...though I wish I had more options than to just keep spamming the same attack over and over," She sighed in reply, sounding frustrated.

So, she's realized her weakness too, that without her Manifestation Overdrive, she'd have never made it this far in the tournament.

"I think it's good enough for now, I'd say. And besides, the more brightly your strengths shine, the darker the shadows of your weaknesses are...in other words, I'm betting that your Manifestation Overdrive has helped you better understand your weaknesses or areas you can improve in," I responded, as the participants for the second quarter-final were called up.

It was Yugi Suzuki, the other Anomaly that was participating in the tournament, against some random K-Rank whom I don't know much about and hadn't made any impression on me in her previous matches.

So far, Yugi had won all his matches without suffering so much as a scratch, his opponents just start acting crazy and he calmly walks up to them and slashes at them with his X-Blades. Let's see if this match will be any different...

"Hey, you're good at analyzing stuff...which aspects of my fighting style do you think I can and should improve on the most?" Inquired Katie, sitting up and fixing her gaze on me.

She's asking me? Hm, let me think...

"Well, for starters, your close-range hand-to-hand combat could use a lot of work, you could try training to move your Primary Manifestation around faster and more sharply, you tend to lose a lot of momentum turning the manifestation around if and when your opponent evades it. What else...maybe you could try figuring out how to fire out your lightning in smaller bursts? Like, what if you concentrated it like a laser beam and fired it out, that should make it really fast," I suggested, as I mulled it over while keeping an eye on the match, "Let's see, what else-."

"O-okay, I think that's enough," She interrupted me, before adding, "It's almost like you know my abilities better than I do."

"That's unlikely, it's just that I see things from a more objective and logical perspective...you probably knew all these things, at least vaguely, but you've thought about it in an analytical sense. So when I put it into words, it made sense to you because you already had an idea of all this," I replied objectively.

"Jesus Christ, dude, what are you, a robot or something?" Inquired Sakura with a bemused look on her face.

"Do you think about your own abilities in such an analytical way?" Asked Katie, looking intrigued.

"Oh, yeah, I definitely do. I've got a lot of tricks up my sleeve, but it'd be pointless unless I know each and every one of them inside out. The problem with having so many options is that you can sometimes freeze up and your mind goes blank because you can't decide which option is best for a particular situation. That's why I do my best to fully understand the limits and applications of each and every one of my skills and powers, so when it comes to those split-second decisions, I don't freeze up," I explained, before realizing that I was talking way too much, "Well, uh, anyway, I'm not gonna bore you with the details, you get the idea."

"...those weren't the details?" Responded Katie.

"Well, no...like, I didn't get into the specifics of how I analyze each skill and how I organize them in my mind so that I can access any of them in an instant if I need to-," I began sheepishly.

"Okay, seriously, again...are you a robot or something, dude? That's just...insane," Said Sakura with a slight laugh.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I replied, rolling my eyes, before taking a deep breath to compose myself.

The second quarter-final is over, which means that it's time for my next match. The second quarter-final ended just as I'd predicted, with the Anomaly winning easily...his opponent was just punching and kicking at the air frantically, which gave the Anomaly the opportunity to casually walk up to him and slash at him. That's how both rounds of the fight ended.

And now, finally, it's my turn again. I have to admit, I've enjoyed myself in this tournament so far...I'm looking forward to this...

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