A familiar bright white flash of light whisked both myself and Yr'Arl away, depositing us once again in the battle arena. 

This was it. 

While both myself and the being I considered to be my best friend had both made it this far, one of us would be eliminated at this point, and with the revamp to my abilities and skills there was all of a sudden a very real chance that person being eliminated could be me. 

"It's time for the penultimate match of the tournament!" The voice of Squadron Leader Belana rang out through the stadium. "Will Yr'Arl and his incredibly powerful spectral armour take the win, or will the only Human to ever attempt to join the guard Jacob Lyre walk away with victory?"

As he spoke the battle arena flickered and changed once again, though this time the stage was a little bit different. I hadn't been deposited in the center of central London, surrounded by the houses of Parliament and the River Thames, this time.

Instead, I was standing in a perfect recreation of St James' Park. I was stood next to the lake, with trees all around me. I only recognised the location because of all the times my Dad had taken me there as a kid, walking around the area and having fun in the playground. 

The only difference that I could notice was that, in the direction of what should have been Buckinham Palace, a large gothic castle loomed up from above. The very same castle that Yr'Arl had been granted in his previous fight. The hologram system had decided to merge our two ideal locations into one, and it had chosen perfectly. 

<Good luck, Jacob,> BB said, <Not sure how this is going to work out, but we'll both try our best.>

He was right about that, and I gave a sharp nod of agreement as I pushed him down into our shared synchro mode. Most of the abilities we had worked in the exact same way that they did before, it was just a matter of chaining them together in new and interesting ways. 

"Let the last Semi-Finals match begin in three… two… one… Fight!" The voice of Belana rang out once more. 

[Quest Gained! 

Bad Kitty

Yr'Arl is giving it his all to try and take you down, stop him and make your way through to the finals of the Entry Tournament. 

Objectives

Defeat Yr'Arl 

Rewards: 30000XP, 1000CRED, +5 Stat Points]

Well that was new… I hadn't received a quest for any of the battles that I'd been in so far, and none of them had given me any Cred, which I was sure was probably the currency of the world that I was now in. I didn't even know how the system was able to do such a thing, considering it seemed largely disconnected with the rest of the world. Nevertheless, I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, getting credits for free wasn't exactly a bad thing. 

Anyway, there were more important things to deal with, like beating Yr'Arl, who was probably powering up already. 

I needed to get to a vantage point, and thankfully there were a bunch of big trees nearby for me to climb. 

Using my natural speed, which had been vastly improved thanks to my system revamp, I darted forward and scaled a nearby tree in mere moments, my Propulsion Cognition allowing my mental state to keep pace with my superior movement. 

From the top of the tree I actually couldn't see all that much. If Yr'Arl was powering up, he wasn't doing it in an immediately observable area, because I couldn't see anyone out in the courtyard of the castle. 

That didn't bother me too much, though. I knew what that castle could do if I gave Yr'Arl the opportunity to bring it into the game, and I wasn't intending to allow that to happen. 

[Enhance]

[Manna Bolt]

I let the enhancement wash over me and charged a manna bolt up to its highest level of damage, the sphere of power cupped between my hands as if it were an ability from one of the anime that I used to love watching. 

With a grunt, I let the bolt of power loose. 

The golden bolt of energy soared through the air, at least as thick and as long as a tree trunk. But just as it was nearing one of the big towers of the castle he arrived. Clad in his armour, blue sparks flickering off of his form, Yr'arl was here. 

With his own sword in hand, Yr'Arl deflected the manna bolt. The bolt careened harmlessly away, where it exploded into the grassy grounds of the castle, leaving a massive crater in its wake. Yr'Arl fell back down into the courtyard of the castle, leaving both him and the building unharmed. 

I may not have done any damage, but my attack had at the very least revealed my opponent. 

Keeping my enhancement up to its fullest potential, I applied my [Anti-Gravity Fields] to myself and engaged my [Propulsion], blasting me across the battlefield toward my opponent. As I flew through the air I pooled the manna for another [Manna Bolt] In my palm, letting it fly as I reached the apex of my jump. 

Once again Yr'Arl simply deflected the powerful energy attack, allowing another crater to be blasted into the grounds of the courtyard. 

I landed deftly on my feet, cancelling the [Anti-Gravity Field] so that I could fall back through the air. 

"I see you're going all out from the start, Yr'Arl," I said, bouncing lightly from foot to foot. 

"It is what you asked of me, Jacob Lyre," Yr'Arl shot back, with no hint of levity in his voice. He really was taking this as seriously as he could. 

I drew my sword from its holster on its shoulder and shot my friend, no at this point in time… my enemy, a cocky smirk. 

"In that case, let's get this party started."