By doing the math, the next match was either going to include me, Yr'Arl or perhaps even both of us if that was the way the cookie crumbled. 

I'd probably end up feeling pretty bad if I had to take Yr'Arl out so early in the competition. He deserved to make it through to at least the semi-finals, but if I did have to take him out then I knew that I had it in me to do exactly that. 

"If we end up having to fight before the finals," I said, "You'll go all out on me, right? You won't hold back just so we can pull off the plan, will you?" 

Yr'Arl never got his chance to answer my question, because before he could reply a bright blaze of blue swept him away and down into the battle arena. I guess that answered that question, next up was going to be Yr'Arl, which meant my fight was once again going to be the last of the four that were happening in this round. 

<After everything you've learned about Yr'Arl and his culture, you really think he's going to go easy on you in a proper fight?> BB asked, <It's as if you barely know the guy.>

BB was right on the money about that. Ever since I'd met him Yr'Arl had been nothing but polite and upfront regarding just about everything, and that was why I was worried about him going easy on me in the first place. If I couldn't beat him, then there was no way that I'd be able to defeat someone like Lara. 

<There you go, talking about defeating Lara again, as if that's ever going to happen. You're going to get your butt beaten, you just need to survive long enough for everyone else to play their parts.>

BB could be a real downer at times. 

"And for our next Semi-Final bout, we've got the incredible Yr'Arl, who has already shown us leaps and bounds in his fighting style from when we last saw him in the Battle Royale!" Squadron Leader Belana announced. "Facing him will be an equally impressive opponent, the asteroid hopping all-seeing Boledo!" 

On the opposite end of the battlefield from Yr'Arl was the pyramid-like Boledo with his 360-degree eye. The last time I'd seen them, Boledo had been knocked unconscious as an aftereffect of their own spell taking too much out of them, but now they were seemingly up on their feet again, completely unharmed and ready to fight. 

As with all of the quarter-final matches, the holo grid of the battle arena flickered as it was given new parameters to work with. As expected, over on Boledo's side of the field the white receded into inky blackness and mighty boulders flashed into existence. The simulation of space was seemingly so well done that Boledo was even able to move as if they were in zero gravity. 

Meanwhile, over on Yr'Arl's side of the battle arena, a mighty castle had sprung up from the ground. From mighty parapets to an intricate courtyard, everything was there. Unlike previous matches where the fighting arena had been split directly into halves, Yr'Arl's castle had been placed onto a ginormous asteroid that hung in the space of Boledo's simulated environment. 

Once again, I was completely blown away by what the magic of the holo grid could actually do. Just like when we had fought in the battle royale, the space was somehow enclosed within the arena but was also much bigger than the arena. Looking at it made my head hurt. 

I wasn't going to have to think about the scale of the stadium for long though, Yr'Arl had already summoned his spectral armour and had stepped inside of it. He was going to be using his new skills straight away, bringing the fight to Boledo in the element that he was most comfortable with. It was a ballsy strategy, but was it ballsy enough to work?

Yr'Arl took off at a sprint, each footstep gouging a crater out of the asteroid he was running on. And then, in a flickering flash of white, he was gone. 

Boledo's 360-degree eye had no trouble spotting Yr'Arl when he reappeared, just meters away from the rock-hopping alien, swinging his spectral sword so hard it blurred in the air and left a trail of glistening shadow in its wake. 

Boledo sprung away using their three strong legs and spun away into the inky blackness of space. As far as strategies go, launching yourself into the void to get away from an opponent was certainly one strange way to go about it. Surely they'd just lose by default? 

<I wouldn't count Boledo out of things just yet, remember he would have literally grown up in situations like this. I doubt he'd let drifting in space, even if it's just simulated, be enough to put him out of commission. 

BB was, of course, completely correct. 

A shining beam of orange light whipped out of the gloomy black of space, anchoring itself into one of the larger clumps of rock that were floating through space. 

Boledo came swinging back through the darkness at the end of the manna tether, though what I immediately noticed is that they were carrying another tether behind them… one that was attached to a much larger boulder. 

Boledo thwipped the second tether around and launched the boulder through space, straight at Yr'Arl. 

I was expecting Yr'Arl to teleport out of the way, but instead, he launched himself off of the asteroid that he was standing on, straight toward the new one. 

Blue sparks crackled and broke off of his sword as he threw it forward ahead of him, in a move that was strangely reminiscent of the spear teleportation tricks that Vadton had pulled off in his fight against Akash. 

The sword collided with the rock and just kept going as if the asteroid wasn't even there. It pierced through, out of the other side, and the rock cracked with a shower of blue electricity. 

Yr'Arl had destroyed a massive asteroid as if it were nothing more than a piece of paper.