"For our final fight of the round, we have Boreik Griffinwing, representing Riptide! He is the sixth representative of Riptide today, and the only one who hasn"t yet made it to the next round. Will Riptide have a perfect record? Well it"s up to his opponent, Seryllia Vespin! Representing herself, this fiery lady will need to work hard if she wants to prevent Riptide from being the second organization in the top sixteen with a perfect record!" said Halfthur, introducing the two fighters to the audience.
"I"m still annoyed that all three of Hydrus" group made it through," Ryan commented, flashing a dirty glance towards where Hydrus, Barns, and Grott were sitting.
"Just be glad that all of us made it through as well. Your match was a little dangerous at the end there Ryan," Mark replied.
"I just really wanted to see if I could get a cooler kill than Jun did. That last shot was sick," Ryan replied, looking enviously towards Jun.
Jun laughed, "Dumba.s.s thought that I couldn"t hit him if he got behind me."
Laughing at this, the group turned their attention back to the projection, where the fight was about to start.
Rushing forward, Seryllia activated Charge, blitzing across the stage with her axe held high. Not wanting to take a full power strike from Seryllia standing still, Griffin activated Shield Rush, charging out to meet her with his shield held in front of him, the boss gleaming brightly in the afternoon sun.
With a loud roar, Seryllia swung her axe, the curved axehead whistling through the air towards Griffin"s helmet. Raising his shield, Griffin caught the axe, deflecting it wide and sending it crashing into the stone floor.
Swinging his sword, Griffin howled, activating Wild Strike as he attempted to punish Seryllia"s vicious attack.
With a howling sound, the illusory wolf claws appeared, accompanying Griffin"s sword as it swung downwards towards Seryllia"s exposed flank.
Ignoring Griffin"s attack, Seryllia let go of her axe with one hand, using it to conjure a Flame Strike which she launched towards Griffin"s face as the Wild Strike struck her, while she used her other hand to bring her axe back in preparation for another attack.
"And they both land a hit on each other! Boreik eats a Flame Strike as Seryllia takes a sword skill to the side. Wavesun, what skill do you think that was? I"ve never seen anything like it," Halfthur commented, pa.s.sing the buck over to Wavesun.
"Well Halfthur, it looks like a wild skill. A skill imparted to those who are considered friends of the wilderness. From the appearance of the claws, I would guess it"s a feline or canine type animal that imparted this skill to Griffinwing. But it could be that he created it himself, having been inspired by an animal. Either way, it"s a very impressive skill, and Seryllia cannot be feeling too good right now," Wavesun replied, his magically amplified voice filling the stadium.
As the two commentators discussed Griffin"s skill, the fight below raged on. Seryllia ignored defence, using a combination of axe skills and fire magic to pressure Griffin relentlessly, forcing him on the backfoot.
Fortunately for Griffin, his knowledge of Seryllia"s skills was fairly high thanks to Tom"s tutelage. Thus far, he"d been able to hold on, repelling her strikes with his shield, and counter-attacking with a mix of Wild Strike and more basic tank skills to throw her off balance.
Seeing an opportunity, Griffin blocked another strike with his shield. As Seryllia began to cast another Flame Strike, Griffin stepped forward, hacking downwards with his sword, aiming for Seryllia"s arm that was still holding on to her axe.
Even Seryllia couldn"t ignore this strike. Letting go of her axe, she launched the Flame Strike at Griffin, throwing herself bodily at him as he went for another Wild Strike.
Not expecting this sudden turn of events, Griffin was knocked down, Seryllia landing on top of him as she attempted to pin him, her fists showering his face with punches. Using his superior size to his advantage, Griffin rolled, throwing Seryllia to the side as he staggered back to his feet.
Rolling lightly, Seryllia grabbed her axe from the ground, rising to meet Griffin"s charge with a blow of her own.
"Neither Boreik nor Seryllia will give in! They"re both going at it non-stop! Who do you think has the advantage here Wavesun? Boreik"s looking pretty strong, Seryllia"s taking a lot of damage from these trades," Halfthur commented.
"Boreik seems to be forcing himself to trade with Seryllia. I was watching him in the earlier rounds, and he generally preferred to take a more calculated approach. I feel that Boreik"s giving Seryllia too much respect, he"s being sucked into her pace. If he"s not careful, then Seryllia will overwhelm him with her aggressive playstyle," Wavesun a.n.a.lyzed.
"Mmmmh," Halfthur replied. "That"s definitely a concern for Griffinwing. However, for now he seems to be doing well. The two fighters are roughly even in health, but Griffinwing"s defence is holding strong," Halfthur said, turning back to the match below.
Using Shield Rush, Griffin struck Seryllia in the face, knocking her a step backwards. Raising his sword, Griffin attempted to go on the offensive, howling as he activated Wild Strike. However, as the illusory claws began to appear, the b.u.t.t of Seryllia"s axe slammed into Griffin"s stomach, forcing the skill to come to a halt as Griffin"s sword stilled in midair.
With a groan, it was Griffin"s turn to stumble backwards, the breath having been literally knocked out of him. Launching herself towards him, Seryllia"s axehead began to glow red, descending like a thunderbolt towards Griffin"s exposed head.
Collapsing like a sack of potatoes, Griffin was whisked away by the blue light, leaving Seryllia alone on the stage.
"And Seryllia finishes Boreik off with a Power Blow! Riptide does not maintain its perfect record, as Boreik Griffinwing fails to advance. Seryllia Vespin is the winner!" Halfthur announced, the audience surging to their feet as cheers filled the arena.
With a snort, Seryllia left the stage, making her way back to viewing lounge where Eric and the others were looking depressed.
"He messed up. He didn"t expect her to feint at the end there," Eric said sadly.
"Feint? Where did she feint?" Mark asked curiously.
"Right at the end, when Griffin used Shield Rush. He expected her to respond with an attack of her own like she"d done the entire fight, Shield Rush would"ve blocked the attack and let him follow up with a Wild Strike which probably would have won him the fight. But Seryllia feinted the strike, instead taking the Shield Rush and slamming the end of her axe into Griffin"s chest, which was what allowed her to get that final skill off without Griffin blocking it," Ryan explained.
Eric nodded, "Yeah. Who would have expected her to feint there? She"s been going full aggro the entire tournament. If she"d reacted normally, then using Shield Rush was the right call. Griffin just didn"t wait to see if he"d blocked an attack before throwing out Wild Strike."
"d.a.m.n. So in the end he really did lose to her," Jun commented.
"Yeah. I"m not sure if he was giving her too much respect or not enough. But in the end, Griffin"s been eliminated. At least he made it into the elite platoon I suppose," Mark said heavily.