As the crowd booed, Halfthur recollected himself, preparing as Eric and Barns made their way to the stage.

"For our next match, Kyp, the final hope of Riptide will take on Barns as he attempts to make it an all NRG finals! Kyp will be looking to avenge the loss of his teammate to Hydrus, but in order to do that, he'll have to defeat Barns first. For his part, Barns will do his best to take down his second Riptide member after defeating Fogs last match. Will it be an all NRG finals? Or will Kyp avenge his fallen teammates - it's time to find out. Fighters! To your positions!" Halfthur shouted, doing his best to sound jovial.

As Eric appeared on stage, the crowd slowly began to stir, as if realizing that not all hope was gone. After all, Jun might have lost, but there was still one member of Riptide left. NRG hadn't won yet. Slowly, cheers began to fill the arena once more. Although they weren't as clear or as strident as the chants for Jun had been a moment before, it was clear that the crowd supported Eric over Barns.

"Ready to be eliminated like your friends?" Barns asked with a mocking smile.

Staring heavily at him, Eric remained silent, plucking at his bowstring as if pondering the answer to a question that n.o.body had asked.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue? Don't tell me you're scared speechless," Barns taunted once more.

"Just deciding how to slaughter a pig. I was going to do the humane thing and give it a dignified death, but I think I've changed my mind," Eric replied evenly.

Barns' face contorted, "You'll regret that, you swine," he spat.

Eric smiled, an eerie, vicious look that made Barns shiver despite the warm afternoon sunlight. "Just the barking of a dog, blindly charging towards its death in a vain attempt to please its master."

With that, Eric turned heel and left, heading for the other side of the stage. Glaring unwillingly at his back, Barns appeared to consider attacking his retreating opponent, but thought better of it, turning and heading in the opposite direction to take up his own position.

As the two fighters settled into ready positions, Halfthur's voice echoed through the arena, "Let the fight begin!"

Rushing forward, Barns used a movement skill right off the bat, a pale light enveloping his feet as his speed increased drastically.

"Barns starts off with Light Steps! He's going to close the distance against Kyp as quickly as possible while using his speed to dodge all Kyp's spells, an excellent choi-"

Cutting off mid-sentence, Halfthur stared towards the stage in disbelief. Barns was kneeling down at the centre of the stage, with scorch marks visible on his neck and chest.

As Halfthur watched, dumbfounded, Eric prepared another spell. Seeing this, Barns attempted to dodge, strafing left, then suddenly cutting to the right to throw off Eric's aim. But it was no use, Eric's spell flew forward like a guided missile, catching Barns mid-dodge as another chunk of his healthbar disappeared.

"Kyp catches Barns in the middle of his jump! Even using Light Steps, Barns can't avoid these spells! It's like Kyp knows exactly where Barns is going to dodge even before he does!" Halfthur said in disbelief, as if he couldn't believe it himself.

"Kyp's accuracy isn't as high as Astrid's or Jun's. But his ability to read his opponent's movements and capitalize on their mistakes is uncanny. Barns is in trouble if he can't figure out a way to close the distance soon. Because Kyp is turning him into a target dummy," Wavesun a.n.a.lyzed, sounding incredibly happy over Barns' misfortune.

On stage, Barns took another spell to the chest. Staggering slightly, he glared towards Eric who was simply staring impa.s.sively towards him as he prepared another spell.

"Don't f.u.c.k with me!" Barns roared, activating another movement skill.

As the audience watched, the white light around Barns' feet suddenly began to fade, slowly darkening in colour as it was replaced by a crimson light, similar to the flames that had engulfed Hydrus' sword.

As the crimson light fully corroded the white, Barns sped up, his speed increasing yet again as he began to dart back and forth, leaving afterimages in his wake as he approached Eric at a terrifying speed.

Staring at his opponent, Eric began to cast another spell, his fingers dancing as he traced the runes in the air. As Barns approached, Eric kept casting, continuing to simply stare at the onrushing a.s.sa.s.sin as his spell took form.

"DIE!" Barns screamed, leaping towards Eric as his daggers took on a crimson hue.

Holding his ground, Eric watched as Barns' daggers loomed larger and larger in his vision. Only when the daggers were close enough that their crimson glow could be seen reflecting off the buckles of his armour, did Eric make his move, planting his fist in Barns' forehead while the a.s.sa.s.sin was still midleap.

Clutching Barns' face, Eric moved forward, sweeping the a.s.sa.s.sin's feet off the ground as he slammed his head into the arena floor, followed closely by the rest of his body.

"It's a shame this won't kill you for real," Eric whispered, releasing the Multi-linked Wind Dart he'd prepared directly into Barns face.

With a scream, Barns fell, his daggers falling uselessly from his hands as his health drained instantly.

"And Kyp wins! Barns is eliminated without managing to score a single hit against his foe! It's a Riptide versus NRG finals folks!" Halfthur shouted, with a palpable excitement in his voice.

As Barns disappeared from view, whisked away from the blue light, the crowd's cheers exploded over the stage, as hope sprang anew from Eric's victory. Giving the audience a wave, Eric disappeared from view as he left to check his gear prior to the final match.

"d.a.m.n, Eric dominated that guy," Gio commented.

"Eric holds grudges - dude probably p.i.s.sed him off. I know I'd be p.i.s.sed off if I had to look at that smug mug of his," Ryan replied.

"True."

"I hope Eric can win. Hydrus looked terrifying in that match against Jun," Griffin commented.

"We talking about Jun?" Mark asked, appearing behind them and causing Griffin to jump in fright.

"d.a.m.nit Mark, don't sneak up on us like that," Griffin complained.

"Sorry, were we talking about Jun? I was getting more snacks for Ulfir."

"Yeah, we were just talking about how Hydrus murdered him at the end there," said Ryan.

Mark nodded seriously, "Jun almost had him. Hydrus is seriously good. I feel he still hasn't shown all of his skills either. If he's still got some even stronger skills ready for Eric, than Eric might be in serious trouble."

"What do you think his chances are?" Rob asked.

"Low."

"How low?" Rob pushed.

"Hard to say. Eric's last match was really dominant. Even if he counters Barns perfectly, Hydrus isn't going to take him lightly after he did that to Barns. He's going to come out of the gates at full power," Mark a.n.a.lyzed. "I also feel Eric might have a problem once Hydrus gets into melee range. Jun hasn't spent much time practicing his martial arts or other melee skills in game, but he's still way better than a normal fighter and look what just happened to him. Eric's spent some time practicing his martial arts and sword skills, but I doubt it's going to be enough to make a huge difference in the outcome."

"So you don't think Eric's going to win?"

"I didn't say that. But no, I feel being a mage will put him at a disadvantage against Hydrus," Mark admitted.

"Well, I hope he wins. Someone needs to put that Hydrus douche in his place," Ryan said with a frown.

This received a chorus of agreements from the rest of the group, conversing softly as they waited for the final match to begin.