Two days after their conversation, the semi-finals came around after Victor had crushed Diana Moonfell. "Welcome to the Semifinals of the Spring Festival Tournament! Today, we have a clash of the titans set up for us, first, fighting from the First Siberian School of Soul Gear, the only 4th year to even make the Semifinals, Lilly Killian, she is a mid-tier rank-a, but proved her will to win against many opponents that either outranked her or were known for immense fighting skills yet they fell in the first round against Lilly. The other fighter in this match, is Victor Angelic, a mid-tier, rank-c, but clearly he deserves more, forcing a tap-out from the Iron Zombie herself and knockouts against Catherine Guntbert and against Alex Belworth, showing sportsmanship and a dark side of him, with viciousness and killer instincts, we are in for a good match. Judges, to you!"
"Reminder to the two fighters, this is a 3x5 minute bout, this will be for a qualification to the finals, no destruction or illegal attacks, no targeting the pilot, only the SGT, if you go down, you have 25 seconds to get up or else you will be declared unable to continue, get ready, GO!"
Lilly's style was all-in, go big or go home, she put everything into a single strike. She combined speed and power to deliver a singular, massive, destructive blow. She stared his down and slammed her fist to the floor, offering the duel.
"There it is, the challenge, will Victor accept it?"
He slammed his fist to the floor in response, staring back at her. She smiled and lifted her arm from the ground. She put her arm back and a huge amount of energy focused to her arm. He sighed, "Lasgi, same thing please."
"Okay, this should overpower her strike, I am going to use 95% of the core's power in this, so you need to hit this."
"Okay, I think I can," She stared him down and began running towards him. He did the same. He knew he could beat her, but something told him that he might fail. He had accepted her challenge, he wasn't going to dodge her hit, it would be looked upon badly, even by Clara. Lilly was a prodigy in their school, being next in line for the spot of student council president, as a 4th year only. She was extremely talented, but this was the first time he ever saw her use this type of strategy, probably something she started using for the tournament. He began moving forwards, his movements were slower than usual because of the lack of power. He slowly picked up speed and four boosters opened on his SGT's arm. They closed in on each other. With the force they both had, the reaction to their strikes would either clash and stop, or send them both crashing to the ground. They closed in and he noticed something change. They struck each other with full force, sending both of them flying.
"Lasgi, re-calibrate the power, all-rounded, now!"
"But, isn't she down?"
"She is outsmarting you, trust me."
"Okay, if you say so," He got to his feet and looked around. He dived to the side. The crowd looked on confused. A massive impact appeared on the wall. He grit his teeth, he lifted his arms protecting himself.
"What? This is bizarre, the two of them clashed, Lilly's SGT went down, yet something is attacking Victor, and there is no third SGT in the arena, what is going on?"
A massive hit landed to his back. He fell to the floor. He got up and blocked a unseen kick to his left with his arm.
"Lasgi, can you try to EMP?"
"Okay," A small shock wave detonated around him. He caught a glimpse of a cloaked figure.
"She is cloaking herself."
"I'll change the power to be able to be both fast and powerful."
"Go ahead," He stood still in the arena, "Can you muffle the crowd and the announcer and make it so I can hear the arena noises?"
"I will stop talking," He stood still and listened for the noise of sand. He turned and threw a kick backwards. It slammed into something that impacted against the wall a few meters back. He watched as the cloak reset as she got up. He stayed silent and ducked.
"Activate my boosters, and un-muffle the noise, I have an idea, this is pointless, I can't keep up with her."
"Okay, if you say so," He rose from the floor and spun around this area. He knew that if she used boosters, the cloak wouldn't cover it up, so she was pinned to the floor. He dived down and lowered his spinning and knocked up a cloud of sand, "I see what you are doing and I'll tell you when I see her," A massive cloud of sand lifted around the arena. He noticed a disruption in the sand clouds, "Charge there."
"Will do, Lasgi," He turned towards her and slammed into her, driving her into the wall and kept a hold of her. He rolled backwards, pulling her over him and bringing her to the ground. Her cloak fizzled as he continued to slam her into the ground, without letting go of her.
Her cloak deactivated completely and he smiled. He threw her in the air and met her fall with a spear tackle, slamming her into the ground. He got up and walked backwards, keeping his sight on her. The count began, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, she wasn't moving, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, she wasn't twitching, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The bell rang and the crowd roared into cheers. Clara held her heart after the match finished. Victor walked to his side of the arena as Lilly was helped out of her SGT. He dismounted from his and walked out of the arena.
He walked into the newsroom again, sitting down in front of the journalist, taking a bottle of water and taking a drink. He was out of breathe.
"Amazing fight Victor, what happened out there? I don't think anyone could really tell, explain what went on in there."
"I, well, I actually don't know, she set the challenge, I accepted, but she pulled off this trick, the cloaking trick, when you use a mirrored image, or a hologram and you fake you being down to then sneak up and deliver massive blows, while still invisible."
"We saw you use various techniques to find her, but I have a question, what were you doing when you stood still in the middle of the arena?"
"I adjusted the noise I was hearing and tried to isolate the noise of sand, since, even if she wasn't visible, I could still hear her, and I tracked it like that," He laughed, "But that wasn't easy, I couldn't focus, because of my own breathe, so I took to the air."
"Why did you change your strategy? You used EMP during the fight, couldn't you reuse it?"
"It has a cooldown, around a minute or so, meaning I can't use it all the time, but the sand was way more effective, I could see her and I was flying, out speeding her, and if she ever went to the air, well, I would be able to see her, and thus, beat her."
"This fight has earned you a spot in the finals, do you think you are ready to face Clara Kaiser? She is the 2nd highest ranked rank-s, do you think you have a chance against her?"
"I think we have the same chances, I don't want to be cocky and, like I said before, what goes on in the arena defines what should be considered."
"Thank you, Victor, good luck for your upcoming match.
"Thank you."
He walked out of the room and was met by a group of girls, who seemed to be fans. This was entirely new thing for him, maybe him making it to the finals suddenly made him popular. They were holding pictures of him during his fights.
"Victor Angelic! Can you sign this? Please, it would make my day!"
"Sign this for me please! You are so amazing!"
"Please, calm down, but I don't have a pen or anything," He was met by a couple hands, handing him their pens, "Well, sure, I can sign stuff, but I am not going to spend too much time with it, I have to prepare for tomorrow."
"You are facing Clara Kaiser, show her that she shouldn't have her rank!"
"Yeah, Victor, beat her!"
"Calm down, we are talking about Clara Kaiser, just expect a good match."
"I can't wait!"
"Neither can I."