The giant castle mecha threw its fist toward me, in a way that felt incredibly reminiscent of the very first fight that I experienced after being reincarnated in this world. 

I launched myself up into the air with a burst of [Propulsion] to avoid the below and then activated the skill once again to come crashing down onto the arm. I careened downward, my sword below me in a deadly point, and cut straight through the wrist of the mannachoid. 

My sword sliced through the castle's arm like a knife through warm butter, chopping the hand clean off with ease.

[Basic Swordplay Lvl Up! 1 - 2]

Part of me had been hoping that contact with my sword would have deactivated the manna within the entire structure, but whatever was powering the structure hadn't been impacted by the damage dealt to its hand, which meant I'd either have to chop off both arms or find the core powering the whole thing- which was probably Yr'Arl himself. 

I didn't have long to think, in any case. Yr'Arl had cocked back the arm that I had damaged before launching it forward for another punch. A quick burst of [Propulsion] send me skidding backward across the grassy floor of the courtyard, just barely managing to push myself clear of the impact zone. 

Before Yr'Arl could get ready for another hit I powered my [Enhance] back up and teamed it up with another [Propulsion], it sent me flying through the air toward the broken arm, which I landed on deftly. 

Without losing any of my speed I ran up the arm, dragging the tip of my sword behind me along the mannachoid as I went, each step disabling more and more of the arm that I was standing on. I leapt as I reached the shoulder and shot off another bout of propulsion, this time aiming me directly at the Mannachoid's head. 

This was when Yr'Arl chose to strike. The eyes on the head of the machine, two windows of the outhouse that made up the structure, glowed a dark purple before suddenly letting loose with the strongest energy beam yet. 

With my enhanced cognition, thanks to both my [enhance] and [propulsion] granted speed, I was able to react fast enough to bring my sword down, cutting straight through the centre of the beam. Protected behind my blade's strike, I used [propulsion] one last time to crash down into the head of the mannachoid. 

The energy beams shut off immediately, and the entire structure began to fall back. I'd been right in my assertion that the head of the construct was where the main power source was located, and destroying that had shut down the rest of the machine in its entirety. 

But it hadn't been enough to take out Yr'arl. In a blaze of blue lightning the feline alien erupted out of the front of the now-destroyed head as the mannachoid teetered backward, catching me in a full-body tackle that knocked my sword flying away.

His tackle sent us flying into the air. I twisted, grabbing the feline by the waist, and activated my [Propulsion] once again, sending us hurtling straight back down to the ground. 

[Propulsion (Adept) Lvl up! 10 - 11]

We collided into the dirt with a mighty boom, the shockwave that resulted causing the biggest crater yet. I stood over my friend turned foe, waiting for him to make another move, but he didn't. The spectral armour flickered away and Yr'Arl lay, completely unmoving. 

[Quest Success!

Defeat Yr'Arl Completed!

Rewards:

+30,000XP

+1000CRED

+5 Stat Points]

[Level Up! You are now Level 21!

You gained 2 Stat Points!]

"And there you have it," The voice of Squadron Leader Belana called out, "The victory of the last semi-final match, and going on to the Grand Finals versus the Last of The Eldrani Akash, is Jacob Lyre the Human!" 

The response from the audience watching in the stands was deathly silent as I was teleported away in another flash of white light, deposited back in the hovering medical bed back in the Initiate waiting room. Considering I'd taken a fair amount of damage from the fight, I allowed the medical bot to heal me. 

[HP regained to full!]

It was then that I realised my sword had been left, discarded from where Yr'Arl had tackled me, in the battle arena. I'd never gotten the chance to go and pick it up. 

[Inventory discovered!]

[Inventory space allows a user to deposit items in a sub-space pocket dimension, easily accessible at any time. If an item that is designated as being owned by the user is somehow removed from the possession of said user, it will automatically return to the users inventory space.]

My eyes widened at the pop-up, that was quite an insane power up. It basically meant that nothing I owned could ever be removed form my ownership. The moment it was, it'd just teleport right back into my inventory for me to use again. 

I opened the [Inventory] page with a blink, and there my sword was in an inventory spot. I accessed it and mentally pointed toward the equip button. The familiar weight of the blade settled onto my back immediately. 

<That secondary system is seriously weird,> BB said as he came out of our synchro mode. <Its magic is somehow able to affect even Null Space weapons, which should be completely resistant to all forms of manipulation through Manna. It makes no sense whatsoever.>

It was a concerning thought, but considering the secondary system was likely granted to me by the beings in the Chasm there was a chance that it didn't work on the same level as the rest of the magic in the world, therefore making it immune to the effects of manna resistant or absorbing effects. 

<I… guess that makes sense?> BB said, clearly happy to just accept the state of things instead of questioning it too much. 

I clambered out of the floating medical bed. Yr'Arl had been defeated and I had moved on to the finals. This was it.