Vadton pointed his spear out in front of him, the deadly pointed tip directly facing his opponent. It was as if he were issuing a challenge, giving an equal his respect, and apologising for taking Xyalla lightly all at once. Xyalla nodded its rotund head in response and then began its own assault. 

The alien leapt up into the air and began to wave its hands in circles above the battlefield, using his telepathic power to send a torrent of swirling energy down toward their opponent. It was if a hurricane of manna had been spawned in an instant, a terrifying display of raw strength. 

But Vadton was ready. 

He threw his spear up into the air, where it hung and began to spin in the opposite direction. Vadton stood underneath the spinning spear with his arms crossed, his head titled upward to watch as the torrent of power splashed harmlessly off of his own spinning defence. 

The torrent stopped, and at that exact moment Vadton teleported himself to his spear, threw it up toward Xyalla, and then teleported to it again. The range of movement his spear offered him was terrifying, and this time Xyalla was less prepared. 

With the momentum gained from teleporting to his weapon, Vadton flipped in mid air and brought his food down in a mighty downward heel kick toward his opponents head. 

Xyalla was able to raise his guard, but only just. The kick may not have connected but the force behind it still had the alien psychic rocketing toward the ground. There must have been some kind of invisible manna shockwave backing the strike up considering Xyalla had been knocked back like a bullet out of a gun. 

Nevertheless, the psychic had managed to stop themselves just before impacting the ground. But Vadton wasn't letting up the pressure now that he had the upper hand. The spear had already been thrown, but Xyalla had managed to gain enough composure to grab the weapon with his psychic powers, sending it smashing into the far wall of the stadium, followed by a burst of power so strong that it caused a visible ripple as it rocketed up toward the armoured knight. 

The attack was never going to hit Vadton, but that likely wasn't the point. It was just a maneuver to break the alien's pace, to have him teleport to a spot away from Xyalla so they could regain their own composure and launch a counter attack. 

Vadton followed that pattern down to a tee. He teleported over to the spear, which had embedded itself solidly into the wall, and pulled it out in one smooth motion as he reappeared. In that time Xyalla had managed to stand once more, and was now floating a few inches above the floor of the arena. We were right back where we started at the beginning of the fight, the two opponents sizing each other up from opposite ends of the fighting space. 

"They are more equally matched than I had initially anticipated," Yr'Arl said, his attention fully grasped by the unfolding battle. 

"Yeah, I had no idea that teleportation abilities like Vadton's even existed, but Xyalla seems to be holding his own against the pressure they create pretty well," I weighed in. 

Akash remained silent. By that, I could only assume that the battle was going exactly as he had predicted. He had seemed completely sure that the fight was as good as done the moment the two Initiates had stepped into the arena, after all. 

It happened so quickly that I was barely certain of what had actually occurred. One moment it seemed as if Vadton was going to heft his spear toward the opposing alien once again, and the next he was enclosed in a rippling field of energy, exploding from a point on his spear. 

"Just as I suspected," Akash finally said. "Vadton is too focused on full-frontal assaults with overwhelming power, but Xyalla is too smart to fall for such brutish attacks. In the end, this was Xyalla's match to lose." 

The energy field had trapped Vadton completely, and while Akash assumed that this was the match sealed and done, I had suspicions that Vadton wasn't the sort to give up when an obstacle like this was shoved in front of them. If I were them, I'd be trying to do everything I could to get out of the shimmering energy field. 

Especially considering that, by the runes that were growing on the ground and the muttering that Xyalla was doing, a big spell was on the way to finish the fight for good. 

But despite all that, Vadton didn't seem as if he were worried in the slightest. He pointed his spear directly at Xyalla again, though this time began muttering his own incantation. A bubbling black energy began to form at the tip of Vadton's spear, growing and growing until we couldn't actually see Vadton behind its writhing mass. It launched itself toward the energy barrier and lanced straight through it, cracking it like an egg. 

The energy shot forward and wrapped around Xyalla before the alien could react to what was happening and bound him tight. Vadton followed up by throwing his spear, teleporting to it, and punching Xyalla down to the ground, hard. 

With that, the fight was over. 

"So much for Xyalla being too smart to fall for such brutish attacks, eh Akash," I said with a snort, before turning my attention back to the battleground. 

"And with that incredible display of power and technique, Vadton will be moving through to the next round of the fight!" Belana announced to the crowds, who had now gone from booing at me to cheering at the incredible fight they had just witnessed. 

If the rest of the competitors were up to the level of skill that Vadton had displayed, then I might seriously be in trouble. 

A flash of white light whisked the two aliens away, only for them to appear in the medical bay. 

Xyalla and Vadton were both teleported directly into the bay's medical beds, though Vadton got up before they could begin scanning him for any injuries, not that he looked hurt anyway. 

I was looking forward to fighting him if I got the chance.