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The tournament's quarterfinals begin today. And, as I don't have to participate yet since I have a turn for tomorrow, I'm in the stands waiting for Deirdre's turn to fight, who has been given one of the turns for today.

For this stage, the arena has been quickly modified during the night and this morning.

Eliminating the halls in which the groups fought and creating a single arena for the fights, surrounded by wide grandstands.

Unfortunately, Raila saw me as I was sitting on the grandstand. And, after looking around and seeing that I was with no one but Azur, she seemed to decide that this time she really wanted to sit next to me…

Deirdre has been given Victra as her rival, the red-haired girl who seems to be close to the queen.

I guess in a few moments we'll see which of the two is faster; I think as I recall yesterday's conversation with my companion.

"That red-haired woman is very strong," Raila says, pointing to Deirdre's rival. "I think she is going to sweep the dust today with that mouthy companion of yours."

I can't understand it. Every word she says seems to be intended to irritate me…

And it seems to have the same effect on Azur, as I hear him start to growl softly while trying to control his anger by thinking about Mia.

I don't know if the woman does it intentionally, but she is extremely annoying. From the first day I met her, I didn't like her.

But let's use Deirdre's strategy...

"I'll bet you a platinum coin that my companion wins the fight," I say, pulling out a coin from my inventory. And, as I see that Raila seems to be speechless, I provoke her by saying "what? is that too much money for you?"

"N-no, no. It's just that I was surprised at how much confidence you have in that girl." she says, and, making what seems like a mental effort and swallowing saliva sonorously, she finishes, "But i-it's okay, I'll take the bet."

Hearing Raila's tone of voice, Azur gives me a gentle flick of his tail on my back to show his approval.

...

Deirdre starts the fight running at full speed toward her opponent and tries to perform, with her right hand, a slash intended for her opponent's abdomen.

But Victra simply turns to the side to avoid the attack and, using the spinning motion, slashes Deirdre in the back while firing an arrow with her crossbow.

The projectile travels at full speed toward Deirdre's head, but she seems to have understood what was going on behind her back due to the sound of the shot, as she throws herself to the ground at full speed. And, turning to get away from her opponent, she gets back to her feet.

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But as soon as she gets up, she has to defend herself from a slash aimed at her neck. This leaves her with no time to react to the next projectile, practically fired at point-blank range, which is aimed at her leg.

The arrow pierces Deirdre's thigh, greatly limiting her ability to move. She tries to push her opponent away with two quick slashes of her daggers.

And she succeeds, as her rival takes a few small and nimble jumps backward to evade, almost as if toying with her, and shoots again at the therian's other leg.

This time, Deirdre manages to parry the arrow with one of her daggers, but this leaves her exposed to her rival's stab.

And, after getting within inches of Deirdre in just a few milliseconds, Victra uses the opening to attack the therian's abdomen. The attack slips through a hole in my friend's leather armor and goes deep into her flesh.

As Victra's dagger approached her body, Deirdre tried to block the attack with her own dagger, but her opponent was simply too close and too fast.

With that stab, Deirdre screams in agony, and a dagger falls from her hands and clatters on the arena flagstones.

And, although she still seems to want to fight, her opponent turns her own dagger 180 degrees before withdrawing it suddenly from the wound.

Whereupon Deirdre loses consciousness with a final and more piercing scream and begins to fall backward.

But her opponent holds her up, preventing her from hitting the arena floor, and calls for the healers to attend to the therian.

I don't find it pleasant to watch Deirdre's body fill up with wounds during the fights. And I suppose it will be the same for her when it's my turn to fight.

But it's something we're both a bit used to, after so long of going to the labyrinth.

Besides, it's nothing a health potion won't cure. And there are also mages specializing in holy magic in the tournament, prepared for the most serious wounds.

...

At this stage of the tournament, there are 30 minutes between each fight to allow the spectators to talk calmly about the fight.

So, a few minutes after Deirdre's fight, as we were waiting for the next fight, I notice the little therian walking up the stands in my direction, with her head down and a defeated expression on her face.

When she gets to where Raila and I are standing, she hears about the bet. Since Raila keeps laughing and telling everyone near her about it.

Whereupon Deirdre seems to get even more depressed.

And I have to put a hand on Azur's snout. Because from the images I'm getting through the link, he seems to be asking me if he can throw a mana bullet at Raila.

"Don't be discouraged. You learn to fight to defend yourself and others, not to compete in some stupid tournament" I say, and decide to ask her the question that intrigues me since I saw the beginning of the fight "Besides, why didn't you use your smoke bombs? You could have easily won if you did."

"Because I wanted to prove to you that I'm better than her. But it seems you were right, as usual..." she says with a tone of voice that is a combination of sadness and irritation "she is much better at fighting than I am".

"Who cares about that? You shouldn't have had to worry about proving anything to me. I don't even know that girl. Why should I care about her victories?" I inquire, puzzled.

"Does that mean you do care about me?" she asks with a mischievous twinkle in her eye, as a smile begins to creep onto her face.

"Cof cof... I didn't say that..." I say, averting my gaze. And I feel through the bond that Azur is obtaining a lot of fun from my reaction. I don't know why, but I think there's another meaning behind Deirdre's innocent words, and it makes me uncomfortable… "Ahem. Changing the subject. Now that you've fought, I have no interest in what's here," I say, eloquently looking at Raila with disgust for a brief moment "What do you say we go get some ice cream? My treat. There's nothing better than eating or having something sweet to counteract the bitterness of defeat"

"I love that idea!" says Deirdre, and we get up to leave the place.

The truth is, it's ridiculous what Deirdre has accomplished in just over a month.

To say she's talented is an understatement.

She isn't very strong or tough, but her speed is incredible. And that, combined with her short stature and her ability to hide, makes her a formidable opponent.

She was just unlucky that her opponent was also focused on speed.

Because of that, Victra could evade her attacks very easily.

But the outcome would have been very different if Deirdre had used all the tools at her disposal.

Hmm. I don't know if, like me, other people need to level up to get stronger. But, if so, there are clearly more things to consider besides levels when analyzing a person's abilities.

That's the only thing that can explain the speed at which Deirdre is getting stronger.

Haa. Likewise, I can't see the levels of others. So, I can only guess...