Stumble awake.

You groan and open your eyes. Not far away is the same sunheart priestess as before. Your head and back ache, as does a spot on your shoulder. Though when you look down, you see no wound. The tunic is still torn and stained with blood, though you feel much better than you should. As you start getting up, the priestess hurries over and tries to keep you down.

"Please," she asks. "Just rest for now. You were hurt very badly."

"I'm fine now. Thank you very much for healing me."

"If you must watch the final fight, just promise me that you'll move slowly."

You smile and nod. "Yeah. I promise. Thanks again."

What time is it? I can barely remember what happened. Damn it. That's right. Falcon... Lynx? The spymaster of the Demon King. She tricked me, and I lost in the damned overtime round. If it was a regular one on one, I would have pulled through. Of course something had to happen. Who am I kidding... She planned it out better than I did. She knew about the Twilight Scorpion. I still stink too.

You pull yourself up from the bed and stumble towards the door. As you open it up, the sun's light blinds you for a moment. You fiddle your way through the outside of the arena, and start walking up the steps into the bleachers.

Niki... She's going to fight next, and it's because I lost.

"Welcome to the final match of the Golden Sword!" the announcer states.

It's starting already.

He continues. "It's been a wild tournament this year. Thank you all again for coming. But now that the intermission has concluded, it's time to get things underway! The final battle of the Golden Sword will be the quick, the tactful, Falcon! Her opponent will be the furious and powerful Niki! With her, there's always quite the show it seems. Are you all ready?"

The roaring applause hurts your head.

Finally, you find your friends. Hedi is sitting next to Tom and Bek just like before. Though a bit farther down, you see the hulking mass of armour you've only known as the one that lost to the one half his size--Crusher. A couple levels down, you see Umi right next to Zakira. The Edge isn't far away. Everyone seems to have recovered since their fights as well.

You sit beside Hedi with a groan. "Did I miss anything?" you ask.

"The fight is only about to begin, sworn rival." The Edge's voice is **** on your headache.

"I'm not your rival," you mutter.

Tom glances over. "I think I may have made some progress on this book."

"Oh?" The bit of good news brightens your spirits.

Hedi looks focused on what's happening below. "Come on, sister," he whispers. "You can do it."

"Kick her ass!" Bek screams.

Umi winces. "Do you mind keeping it down?" she asks.

"This is a fight! Fights are about yelling!"

Niki stands below. She's recovered her bat, and still wields that wine cask lid as a shield. It seems she still hasn't been able to get her hands on better equipment, even after an intermission. Though, there's something odd. It looks like there's ropes tied around her shield, though that doesn't make a lot of sense. Surely Niki doesn't actually believe that'll provide anymore defense. Though, it might just be falling apart.

Across from her is the spymaster Lynx. Though her body has been mended, her own gear hasn't been, so she's opted to leave the jacket off. However, she has repaired her eyepatch, and has it back over her left eye's mark.

"Then let the final match begin in three... two... one... battle, for glory!"