They moved almost in unison, both lashing out with their own whip-like attacks. 

Akash launched a massive vine toward Klatissi at the exact same moment that Klatissi launched a tendril of water toward Akash. 

The two attacks collided, but instead of Klatissi being knocked away from Akash, the water trickled up the vine arm, working closer and closer to the main bulk of Akash's battle form. 

He whipped his fine away, hard, breaking free of the watery grip that Klatissi had held on him, and shook the water from his vine. They may have been fairly evenly matched in strength, but it was pretty clear that Klatissi's water armour had the edge in terms of how adaptable it was in combat. Akash couldn't afford to get too close, or they would be overwhelmed and drowned just like Ke'Zuc had been in the previous fight. 

Four mounted shoulder cannons grew out of Akash's armour, once again proving how much he was able to adapt his own body in a fight. From what I could tell, they were absorbing the light from the local area just like the crystal alien he had fought against earlier in the tournament had done. 

Did everyone have a way of recreating other peoples attacks? Was it only me that was missing out on that ability?

<It's because your powers are still so severely limited. You've barely scratched the surface of your potential. When you've opened things up a bit, you'll be able to do basically anything,> BB explained. 

That didn't stop me from feeling just a little bit left out. 

Akash let loose with all four of the light attacks at once. All four found their mark, burning deep into the watery armour, but ultimately not managing to do much to break through its defences. The water sizzled and boiled as the light lasers ate into the top layer, but that was just about it.

I was uncertain if anyone else had stats as I did, but if they did then Klatissi's defensive stats would have had to be very high to shrug off an attack like that. 

The shoulder cannons receeded back into Akash's battle form, they had been useless and clearly Akash was planning on using the wood that made them up for something different. 

It didn't take long for that different thing to make itself known. He reared up onto his two hind legs and smashed his front arms together. They ballooned in size and created a cannon that was much bigger than the two that he had on his back, and absorbed another load of light from the area, so much so that for a moment it actually seemed like the surroundings were dimmed slightly. 

Recognizing that they might actually be in danger, Klatissi dove back into the lagoon, taking their entire watery armour with them. 

That didn't seem to bother Akash. He let loose with a tremendous beam of energy, a blast that seemed to burn even brighter than the sun. It screamed through the air and ripped through the lagoon, flash boiling the water that it came into contact with into steam immediately. The beam went on, eventually colliding with the far wall of the simulation. The so called manna resistant architecture, which had cracked and crumbled so frequently over the course of the fights in the tournament, was blown to smithereens, revealing the corridor beyond. 

The beam attack ended, and water sloshed back into the place it had been frying. If Klatissi had been in the way of that attack, I wouldn't have been surprised if they had ended up being killed by the power. 

But no, the water armour of Klatissi emerged out from the waves, even bigger than it had been before, and it wasted no time going on the offensive. 

With a gesture of their hand, the water armour sent a torrent of high powered liquid toward Akash, almost mimicking his own attack with water instead of light. His front limbs still tied up in the form of a cannon, Akash had no way to escape. The water plowed straight into him, lifting him up off the ground and sending him crashing through the trees into the other wall. 

Just like his own attack, Akash was sent straight through the wall and into the corridor beyond, where he lay for a moment, unmoving. 

The crowds watched with bated breath. 

I watched with bated breath, my hands clenched around my beanbag chair. 

Was it over? Had Akash actually been defeated?

The seconds dragged on for what felt like hours, but then, there was movement. Akash stood, his armour crumbling around him, back in his base form. 

He clambered through the hole in the wall and strode forward, somehow confidently. If I had just been tossed through a wall after throwing out what might have been my most powerful attack, I wouldn't be looking so cocky. 

<Maybe he's figured out some sort of secret,> BB said, though I couldn't figure out any weaknesses based on the fight that had gone on so far. 

His vines whipped out and absorbed another batch of trees, the wood disappearing into his form in moments. 

"I have no idea what he plans on doing here," I said out loud, glancing over at Yr'Arl as I did so. 

"I must admit, I too do not see how Akash plans to take on Klatissi at this moment," Yr'Arl replied. "I had thought the light attacks that Akash had employed would have stripped Klatissi's water armour away, but they seem somehow resistant to heat. Evaporation did not occur at nearly the rate it should have done." 

Well, I was glad that I wasn't the only one that was having trouble understanding where Akash was going with his plan, even as he absorbed more and more trees, slowly clearing the entire forest of its wood. 

"On my world, back when I still had such a thing," Akash said, his voice a low grumbling growl, "We treated our brother trees with respect, and only harvested that which we needed. But in this instance, I shall do what many of my people would have considered forbidden… and I will defeat you, Klatissi, a worthy opponent."

And then, Akash began to transform.