Continue to watch the fight.

This is terrible. Poor Niki must be so sensitive now after all this teasing. At this point, she'd probably rather face the humiliation of an orgasm in front of the audience than continue being tortured like this.

You can see ever movement of her fingers rubbing over Niki's skin-tight pants almost like she isn't wearing any at all. The way she attacks her most sensitive spots--how she learns to work her body as she goes--is nothing short of masterful. Umi must be the spymaster's most precise assassin. She doesn't seem to care much for any antics either. This girl is straight to the point, and Niki is nothing but her toy right now.

Umi drags two fingers up to her clit. "After this many denials, you should be as weak as a kitten." Her ears twitch. "Or so to speak."

Niki snarls in response. "No... You're just pissing me off!"

Though the warrior is strong, the cat is also agile. Niki swings her body around, and as she moves, her wrists tear through the rope, and her elbow jerks backwards to hopefully smash right into her foe's stomach. Umi leaps back and strafes to the side, however, but this leaves Niki free. Her knees wobble as she pulls herself back up to her feet, though you can tell it's difficult for her to stand, or even to focus on the fight.

"Impressive," Umi speaks.

Niki lifts her shield and stares her opponent down. "I'm not here to impress you."

Just like that, the fight starts up once more. Umi flips into battle. As she swings with her dagger, Niki parries the strike away, though then the cat bumps up against Niki's grown. Even the slight touch causes the girl to whimper and weaken. Thankfully, she recovers enough to block the next strike as well. With her legs shaking, you can tell that she's become helpless to basically any touch to her body. She's far too pent up to resist.

"You're fast..." Niki pants. "But I've been to hell and back on my adventures. With my friends. I've grown! And not only that, but they banished me from my own home. From my own family. And what do I have to show for it? These!" She grabs her tits through her chainmail top.

"What's your--"

"So I'm going to master them! These marks grant me two things... strength, and durability." Niki starts stepping towards her opponent with her shield in-hand.

"And two very obvious weak points. You're foolish."

"So if I'm overpowered, or knocked out, then what was the point of sacrificing everything to get them?!"

The voice of the announcer comes from above. "As the hourglass nears its end, ten minutes is almost up. Prepare the beast!"

"The beast," Niki mutters. "You've got one right here!"

Sprinting into action just as always, Niki hurls her shield like Captain America with incredible might. Umi ducks beneath the frisbee of ****, and her eyes widen as it shatters one of the wooden seats between an audience member's legs. The crowd gasps, and then cheers. This was a distraction, however. She pounces at the cat and manages to grab her by the shoulders and slam her into the ground.

"Not so fast if you can't move, huh?" Niki taunts.

"Let me... go," mutters Umi. "Damn it."

She dropped her guard for only a second. I guess Niki's recklessness was surprising enough. Maybe she thought she'd be weaker after all of that teasing, though I can't imagine what she'll feel like after the adrenaline stops pumping.

"So what now?" Umi asks. "You'll have to move your arms eventually."

"Yeah right." She grins. "I've got something else even harder than my fists."

"Wh-What?"

After pulling back her neck, Niki slams her forehead right into the noggin of her opponent, leaving her stunned and on the brink of unconsciousness. She then stands up and lifts the cat in her arms bridal style. Like a wrestler, she heaves her up above her head, and with impressive ease, she hurls Umi not only out of the ring, but right into the lap of a few audience members a couple rows up. They scream.

One of the men look down at the catgirl ninja now laying back over his lap. "This is the best Golden Sword so far!" he exclaims.

"And right at the ten minute mark, we have our winner!" shouts the announcer with excitement. "Niki Vakila. Congratulations! You've made it to the final matches of this year's Golden Sword. Please allow our healers to treat you, and somebody grab Umi before the audience does something weird!"

"She actually did it," Bek says. "Guess her opponent underestimated her."

"Now will Hedi Vakila and Falcon please enter the ring? The next round will become shortly. After the match, it will be revealed who will fight next, and who will be exempt until the final battle."

"Guess that's me," Hedi says as he hops to his feet. "Wish me luck, guys. I don't know much about this Falcon girl, but if she's who we think she might be, I better be careful. Maybe I can catch her off guard and take her out right away."

Once again, you lift up the strange book you found earlier and start flipping through it. "Good luck." You nod.

As he makes his way off, Niki makes her way up with her chainmail skirt being manually held around her hips. She looks distracted. People around her cheer, but as their grabby hands brush against her legs, she purses her lips and does her best to hold in any embarrassing noises. She plops herself down right beside you with her legs pressed between her legs, and her face flooded with colour.

You reach out a hand and speak, "Mend". The cut around her armour's waist seals, allowing it to be worn once again.

"Thanks," Niki mutters quietly.

"You all right?" you ask.

"N-No... Not really." She bites her lip. "But I'll make it through. Only a few fights left among us in the tournament. Then I'll get this stupid collar off, and I--"

You look to her, and she seems to be staring you down, lost in thought.

Suddenly, she snaps back into reality and looks towards the ring. "S-Sorry. Nothing," she says quietly.

It has to say something else helpful in this book. What else can I find? Let's see... There are a couple pages of weird code. It's just a series of words, but I don't understand. It doesn't make some sort of acronym either. Wait a minute. What the heck is this all about? There's just a little sketch of a straw hat in the corner of this page. Is that part of the code?

Thomas leans over from the other side. "Hey, Kyle. You've been looking over that book for awhile. Mind if I help?"

"Oh. Sure," you reply. "It's a lot of nonsense. It might be encrypted."

Meanwhile, the two competitors have stepped into the ring. On one side, a young man with short black hair. Just like when you first met him, he's still dressed in loose-fitting red silks. His ruby gaze is unflinching. He doesn't want to look away from his opponent for a second. You've yet to see him fight, though he's made it this far. You're interested to see what he can do, especially if you end up needing to fight him next round.

The girl on the other side is the same as before--short, cloaked in brown fabric, and black pigtails flowing down from her hood past her shoulders. All you can make out is her dark skin beneath the shroud of her hood, and her own crimson stare partially covered by an eyepatch over her left. It's a battle of two sunhearts yet again, but there's something mysterious about this girl, and it's more than because she's hiding herself under that robe.