"Alright everyone, who"s ready for the first semifinal matchup?" Rathe continued to hype up the entire arena, loving this job as the master of ceremonies. He looked into both the east and west tunnels as Oli and Yeter walked out to the roar of the crowd.Once on top of the platform, both of the boys walked to the center of the stage. With a friendly laugh, they shared a quick headb.u.t.t for all to see before walking to their own sides.
"Give it up for our semifinalists everyone! They"re both young masters of their clans and are the best of friends, surely they"re even more excited to face each other than we are to watch it," Rathe gave the crowd some food for thought. "Oli, Yeter, are you both ready?"
"Yes!" Both yelled at the same time, taking a battle-ready stance.
"Begin!"
Like the time they sparred, they first exchanged a simple blow; a headb.u.t.t from Yeter and a punch from Oli. They equalized each other"s attacks, but Oli was pushed back a couple of krin further than Yeter. Based on this, it would be a good fight with Oli suffering a slight disadvantage.
The two friends laughed as they both got serious, releasing their essences and taking the offensive. Yeter dashed around the stage launching stomps, kicks, and headb.u.t.ts in every which way in an attempt to keep Oli on the defensive.
Oli materialized his hammer while evading Yeter"s attacks, hoping to get Yeter to waste all of his energy.
It was clear everyone that Yeter was stronger, yet Oli was the one who controlled the fight"s tempo, prolonging the fight as long as he could. When Oli was finally forced to block more of Yeter"s charges, the tempo began to s.h.i.+ft, and so did the emotions of the crowd. Both Oli and Yeter were favorites inside the betting booth, so many people waited with bated breath for the outcome of this fight.
But just as Yeter started to gain control of the fight, Oli began to take the offensive and lunged towards the charging Yeter with a sideways swing of his hammer.
Yeter ducked under it and tried to rear his head sideways to hit Oli, only for him to see Oli jump and use the hammer"s momentum to swing his legs around Yeter"s neck. Before the stallion knew it, he was in a headlock and thrown down to the ground with a thud.
Yeter struggled in Oli"s grasp, verbally insulting him as much as possible in hopes to get Oli to hesitate. Sadly for him, Oli was too focused on trying to make Yeter pa.s.s out in a sleeper hold. The stallion fought back and tried to roll back to his feet, but Oli had him on lockdown. Right before Yeter pa.s.sed out, a whisper reached his ear.
"Sorry buddy, but I need all of my energy for the finals."
With an unsatisfied smile, Yeter closed his eyes as his head collapsed to the floor.
"The winner is Oli!" yelled Rathe, who wanted to run over to his nephew and lift him high for everyone to see, that was until he saw Oli rollover with heavy breathing.
It wasn"t the ending that the audience wanted to see, but it still took a lot out of Oli to hold up his defenses and choke out Yeter, a cultivator two tiers higher than himself.
"There you have it, Oli is our first finalist!" Rathe tried to get the crowd chanting and hyped, but was disappointed with their reaction.
The crowd was torn at the sight, especially because the majority had bet on Yeter. Those people that bet on Oli were over the moon with excitement, especially because the odds for Oli to win were lower and gave them a higher return on their investment. Most of the crowd was silent, with only a light cheer for Oli"s achievement. They all wanted to see the two friends slug it out till the end, not a win by a grapple.
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"Don"t worry everyone, there"s still the next match with the shockingly talented Karos from our lynx clan and the heavy-hitting Jrad from our wildebeest clan. Whoever wins that one will duke it out with Oli in the final showdown of the night!" trying to appease the crowd, Rathe reminded them of Karos, the absolute favorite to win the tournament. The crowd was revived as they remembered his flashy attacks and electrifying performance thus far.
Oli rolled over to his feet and began the walk back. He nodded to his uncle and vanished into the tunnel. To him it was obvious that Karos would finish off his opponent without much trouble, so he didn"t bother to stop at the viewing rooms and continued walking till he reached his private waiting room as a finalist at the end of the corridor.
Once there, he removed a novice grade core from his ring and began to absorb its energy to try and replenish his own.
The day before Vloz and Rathe had already briefed him on how the tournament would progress. Oli knew there would be a half-hour intermission before the final fight; that way the audience could go get food, make bets, or do anything else they needed to. It also let the finalists rest and return to their best physical state to lay it all on the line for the final.
"Nice fight," a gentle voice called out from the entrance to Oli"s room.