Observe the next fight.

"Are you ready?" asks the announcer. "Then... begin!"

Hedi isn't completely unlike his sister. The second the fight begins, he bolts towards his foe--a cloud of dust bursting up behind him. Meanwhile, the girl remains still. He plants his foot into the dirt the moment he reaches her, and swings out with his other in a sweeping kick across her midsection. However, he dodges beneath the strike. The shine of metal reflects off a dagger that comes quickly from inside her robe, though he's no rookie either. He dodges to the side before being stabbed in the torso.

It continues for a moment longer--close range combat. Hedi strikes out with his feet and his fists while dodging his opponent's quick maneuvers with a dagger gripped in both hands. Meanwhile, she unleashes a barrage of jabs while easily moving away from the attacks coming her way.

They both leap backwards. Hedi looks winded already, but he lowers himself into a readied stance regardless.

Then, you notice Hedi's left sleeve fall to pieces. A thin line of blood is drawn across his skin, partially over the mark from the Rite of the Sun he showed you once before. His eyes widen in surprise, but all that's on the girl's face is a smile.

"There it is," she speaks. You've met a lot of tall, strong sunhearts, so her voice is higher pitched than you expect. "The way you were moving. I knew you were protecting a mark of your own."

Hedi grabs his shoulder. "Damn. You're observant for someone missing an eye."

"It's called adapting." She grabs the collar of her robe, and to your surprise, she tears it off and allows the breeze to take it away. Though she isn't nearly as busty as someone like Eva or Niki, she's no Fang either. Her chest is being contained by a black crop top tied with a red ribbon in the middle, and on top of that is a short, open coat reaching down to her wrists--black, trimmed red. Her shorts are small enough to look more like bikini bottoms, but she has stockings that fade from black to dark crimson from her thighs to her boots. A thick belt hangs from her hips which holds a variety of pouches, daggers, and shurikens. She also has a pair of fingerless gloves, each with a stitched pattern of four stars.

"She didn't do that for me!" Bek calls out. It seems like that made him more upset than anything else that's happened.

"Guess it's time for a real battle." Tom looks up from the book you're holding.

"Oh you bet it is. Let's go, right now!"

Niki snaps her head to the side. "S-Stop shaking the bench, please!"

"You look even smaller without the cloak," Hedi taunts.

Falcon scoffs. "If you think you're such a big man, show me."

"Gladly." He lowers his body and waits for an opening. "But you're being strange revealing for a spymaster."

"I'm a spymaster now?" With one dagger held underhand, and the other pointed forwards, she begins slowly strafing around to his side.

He strafes the other direction, watching her closely. "Leave my family alone."

"Make me."

Hedi leaps back into combat. Unfortunately, his punch is dodged. They continue to exchange blows until they near the end of the ring's boundary. You see Hedi's eyes light up in this moment. He shifts backwards, and with one of his palms, he stretches back, and then thrusts a blow forwards. However, it isn't anywhere near Falcon, so surely it won't do anything at all.

Then, from his hand, there's an explosion of wind. It's like a horizontal cyclone coming from his body.

This is Hedi's trump card! If he can surprise someone with a gust of wind, he could ring them out easily. It must be from his mark.

Tom looks up again from the book. "It's no good," he mutters. "He already used that on me!"

"So the element of surprise is--" You watch nervously.

"Palm of the Wind Dragon!" Hedi screams. There's an intensity in his eyes--a rage, a hatred. If this truly is the spymaster that works for the Demon King, it's all her fault that his parents are in danger.

Nonetheless, the attack hits her directly. It's such a powerful gust that the people in the audience in front of him nearly fall backwards in their seats. Her body is thrown back and smashes against the wall outside of the ring.

The celebration is brief, however.

As soon as the body hits the ground, it poofs into a log. Meanwhile, Falcon is standing right behind him with a dagger in his back.

Niki stands up from her seat. "Brother!" she cries.

Blood runs down his body. She pulls the blade out, and he stumbles forwards with a hand over the wound coming out the other end. With a cough, he falls to his knees.

"How did you make it this far?" Falcon asks. "I haven't even had to use my full power."

"Full..." Hedi grumbles. "You bitch."

"That isn't nice." The blood on her dagger drips down the blade and to the ground by her feet.

There's a long pause. You're waiting for the final blow, when she plunges the blade into his spine to finish him off. He isn't surrendering, which means it could come to that. But then, he strengthens his resolve. In a fluid motion, he takes her by surprise with a pivot of his body, and a swing of his foot directly into the side of her head. It's a devastating blow! She crumbles to the side, which gives him just enough time to stumble to his feet and continue holding his bleeding wound.

Falcon rolls back up into a readied stance. "Your family is incredibly stubborn."

Hedi grins. "You're not wrong about that. This wound is nothing!"

Again, he leaps straight into combat. He allows his wound to continue to bleed while he unleashes a barrage of palm strikes in her direction. One of them actually makes contact this time with her shoulder, and you can see some worry finally come to her face.

"Take another!" Hedi shouts. From his palm is an explosion of wind. It nearly launches her straight into the stands, but she flips over his head, and prepares to plant her dagger right into his back a second time. He spins, however, and kicks the blade right out of her hand.

"That's enough!" Falcon snarls. This time, she thrusts her own palm right into his stomach.

Hedi isn't the only one with trump cards. There's one critical weakness everybody has in this fight against Falcon, and it's that nobody knows anything she can actually do. You've seen her be quick, agile, and precise, though that's about it. What she does next catches you completely by surprise, and it's much worse for Hedi who has to feel it.

A burst of **** comes from her palm. It's hard to tell exactly what happened, but it's almost like the strike she made struck tenfold. The **** is enough to launch Hedi off his feet and into the air. He cries out in pain as his wound is made far worse by the impact. His vision blurs and his body weakens. With this final move, he collides with the ground just outside of the ring.

The audience falls silent, but only for a moment. A thunderous applause erupts.

Falcon looks upset. "You made me use--" But she turns away with a flick of her pigtails. "Never mind. I won."

"What did the bitch just do to him?!" Niki shouts. "I bet she has a mark too."

She might be right, but I have no idea what the specifics are. Can she just punch really hard? That doesn't seem right. Why was she upset about using it? She must have wanted to save every trump card she had until the final fight. I guess that'll be against either me or Niki too, and Niki is in no condition for an even more difficult fight. This is bad. We don't have enough information.

"The winner is... Falcon!" the announcer cheers. "Please allow yourselves to be healed. In five minutes, the next match will begin. I hope you're rested, Kyle Warren, as you're the one up next. Be ready by the time the fight begins. This goes for your opponent as well. The second-to-final match of the Golden Sword will be Falcon versus Kyle Warren. It should be exciting for sure!"

The people around you cheer, but you can't look away from your opponent down in the ring slowly making her way back out.

A head slowly rises up from the backpack at your feet. "I think you can do it..." The slime girl's voice is gentle and comforting.

"Thanks, Jelly," you reply.

"Let me keep looking through this book," Thomas says. "Maybe I can figure something out before this whole thing is over."

You nod and stand. "I guess I better get ready."

As you walk, Niki grabs your wrist. "Kyle..."

"What's up?" You turn to meet her gaze.

"You better... not lose this fight."

"I'll do my best."