I let the robot do its scans on me as it peeled itself out of the wall, seething internally. 

Something was going on here that I wasn't privy to. Something involving the Void, and the creatures that lived within it. I felt like I was on the edge of a massive discovery as if there were just a few missing pieces of the puzzle that I hadn't quite figured out yet.

Whether the Urstnir of Nadpid had managed to escape the Chasm after their death, or if they were simply born there to begin with I was going to find out eventually. After everything else had been dealt with, I'd revisit that gaseous cloud and put them to my blade if they didn't tell me exactly what I wanted to know. 

<They really got you riled up, didn't they?> BB asked as I allowed our synchro mode to come to an end. <Hey, at least we managed to get through to the next round, right? Just one more fight and we can break through to the finals, then all we have to worry about is Lara.>

He was right about that. We had made it through to the next fight, all I had to do now was take down Yr'Arl, as difficult as that was likely to be. If anything, I was more annoyed that my secondary system hadn't seen fit to count that last battle as a win in my favour, and so I hadn't actually gained any experience for it. I had gone into this tournament hoping to get a bunch of power-ups, but so far I hadn't received any. 

The robot stopped its fussing and melded back into the wall, allowing me to remove myself from the zero-gravity field that was acting as a medical bed. 

I crossed the room back to where I was sitting and allowed myself to fall heavily into my chair. Okay, I was acting a little immature about the whole thing, sure, but I was still annoyed. 

"You performed admirably in that fight, Jacob Lyre," Yr'Arl congratulated. 

I shot him a look, "It didn't feel deserved, what with the Urstnir of Nadpid's surrender and all," I said. 

"It is likely that the Urstnir of Nadpid merely did not want to get attacked by your blade," Yr'Arl said, "They are likely using some form of manna to bind their physical form together, if you were to strike them with a blade that absorbs manna, then there is a large chance that you would have simply absorbed them wholesale." 

I hadn't considered that, and while it likely wasn't the reason the Urstnir of Nadpid had surrendered I supposed it could have been. They had, after all, moved the tendril away from my sword very quickly when I went to parry their physical attack. There may have been some truth to Yr'Arl's theory. 

"Either way," I replied, "It doesn't feel like I've earned my semi-final spot anywhere near as much as you and Akash have." 

"It is not a matter of earning your spot," Akash cut in, rising from his seat, likely in preparation to be teleported away into the battlefield next, considering he would be fighting Klatissi in the next round. "The fact of the matter is, you're in the semi-finals now, and you're going to have to do your best to get past Yr'Arl, much like I am going to have to do my best to get past Klatissi. Do not focus on what has happened, focus on what you need to do next." 

It was rare for Akash to give me so much sage advice at once, and I couldn't even thank him considering he was teleported away in a flash of white light almost the moment after his sentence was over. 

"The Quarter Finals are now over, and we only have three more fights left today. The first of which is going to decide whether Akash, the last of the Eldrani, or the powerful water wielder Klatissi will make it through to the finals! Can we hear some applause for both of these incredible combatants?" Admiral Belana all but screamed into the comms system. 

The audience lapped it up, clapping and roaring as much as they could. 

As they did, the battlefield flickered once again, this time building back Akash's forests, and having them lead into a deep crystal blue lagoon, where Klatissi's head was bobbing at the surface. 

"Three… Two… One… Let the fight Begin!" 

Both of the fighters wasted no time in gathering the resources that they needed to ramp up into their most powerful forms. Akash devoured trees left and right, using them to build himself up to his powerful battle form, making it bigger and stronger than I had ever seen it before. 

Meanwhile, Klatissi was busy manually casting their own runic circles, causing water to rush forward around them, building them up to their own watery battle form. The very same that had dealt with Ke'Zuc so effortlessly in their last fight. Would Akash's own battle form be enough to take it on, even if there weren't any manual runes involved in creating it? 

I was incredibly interested in how this fight was going to play out. On the one hand, the two aliens seemed equally matched in their bulkier forms. Both Klatissi and Akash had ramped up in strength, and now both stood at around the same height. However, if the fight wore on to the point that he had to pull out his speed form, or even one of the other forms that he hadn't revealed yet, then Klatissi could be in some serious trouble. 

Klatissi emerged from the water, fluid and graceful even in their buffed up form. Meanwhile, Akash lumbered out of the forest, each step causing the very lagoon to ripple and quake. Neither attacked straight away, instead choosing to just size one another up.

These were two titans of power, and there was no telling which of them would come out on top.