Victor is lucky his eyes closed, because this particular burst came out much brighter than the last--much, much brighter, no doubt due to the extra effort he put into it. The entire audience had the shield their eyes, and Tarlen tottered this way and that in the air, his sense of balance thrown off by the loss of his eyesight. With sight compromised, the blinded audience could do nothing but listen after the attack was fired. They heard the loud, whistling explosion as the burst hit...something. Maybe the wall, perhaps the ground, perchance the Tempest. Who could tell?

After five seconds, the light faded to its normal outdoor level, and Tarlen picked his head up from the ground--he had hit it in a jumble of feathers and bone sometime during the whiteout. With squinted eyes, he looked across the arena for signs of the combatants, and his eyes widened a little when he located them both. Standing up slowly, he dusted himself off, coughing a little, then rising into the sky once more with a few hard beats of his wings. Then, once hovering ten feet above the center of the arena, he let it all out. "VICTOR HAS WON!" [3+3(SPI+Roll)] A roar leapt from the throat of every spectator there, all of them amazed by the upset. Nobody had expected a Bard, of all people, to overcome one of the two most powerful mages in Hyrule. Yet he had done it.

His beak open and tongue hanging out, Tarlen panted with the exertion of staying afloat. They're nice and fired up...excellent...The finals ought to be good. As the medics rushed onto the field to retrieve Sovelis' beaten body, a pack of four small children leapt over the railings, running out towards Victor and leaping the whole way, jumping and scrambling to reach the elevated arena and pull themselves up. "Ladies and Gentlemen, you've seen what both of our finalists are capable of!" Tarlen shouted as one of the children, a redhead, scaled the wall and reached over to pull up his companions. "In one week, the final fight will begin! You don't want to miss this, believe me!" As he descended to give his tired wings a rest, the children reached the Bard, tugging at his cape and shouting their jubilation and admiration at the victor of the match. The guards just stood by, smiling. They weren't as worried of these children causing a disturbance, like a certain old lady with a sturdy meterstick had in the first round.

OOC: Wow. I don't think anyone was expecting it to end this way.

"... Guh?"

Victor opened his eyes to the roaring of the crowd around him. He... wasn't sure what the commotion was about yet, honestly. For all hew knew they were cheering because Sovelis had dodged hi- HE HIT?!

The Bard shared in Tarlen's and everyone's surprise. His forehead could hardly contain his eyebrows. Somehow, he had done it. At the start of the fight... well, he was almost prepared to give up without a fight when he saw the Tempest join him in the ring. But he had persevered, if only because... well, damn it, he wanted to win. At the very least, he wanted to make it to the Finals. It would seem that was all the drive he needed to win...

Finally, Victor lowered his hand. It still buzzed with the feeling of a recently discharged spell. And it was that special, satisfactory buzzing that only seemed to come when the attack hit. Now he used the hand to brush away the last of the ash on him. This fight had definitely been... eventful. Briefly, he wondered what his prize would be this round. But, who cared? Moving into the Finals was prize enough. Suddenly very, very happy, he joined in cheering with the rest of the crowd.

Oh look! Children! He smiled down at their young faces. He'd never realized that he might have had fans... it didn't seem too likely before, mostly the cheers sound all the same. He tried desperately to respond to their shouting but it was probably a hopeless endeavor. Wow, he had won! It was still unbelievable. He... oh, wait. OK, now he put away his boomerang, and waved to the stands. Wow. The Finals. An honor, really. So exciting!

Well... as much as he wanted the moment to last, the Bard quickly came to realize something. The Finals. Against Alpha, no less. His old friend. He had to... do something. Train, or something like that. Something, at least, or he would certainly have no chance. Well, at least it would be a win for Alpha. Speaking of the Sheikah...

Victor scanned the front row, spotted his next opponent watching. He very clearly stared in his direction... and then beamed, as if to say, "See ya there, buddy!" And then, finally, he waved goodbye to the cheering fans and tugging kids and walked towards the entrance, hoping the children would know to let go as he left... but still smiling. It was going to be an interesting week...

Alpha finds himself standing and actually leaning over the railing as far as his body can go - and once or twice, actually leaning too far and having to struggle to keep his balance - as he watches Sovelis' form get thrown about by Victor's suddenly insightful strategy. 'Using the Boomerang to stun and inflict minor damage, then coming in for the finishing blow?!' The tactic seems a bit beyond the Victor that he knows . . . though, the Sheikah admit, he hasn't talked with the Bard in quite a while. Obviously he's improved dramatically if he is able to have a chance at beating someone like Sovelis -

And then it becomes more than a mere chance. It becomes reality.

The mage's mouth hangs wide open as Victor's own Elemental Burst slams into the Tempest, hurling him to the ground as victory is claimed by . . . Victor! Amazing! What an upset! Never in his wildest dreams had he even considered the chance that Victor would be his opponent in the final round!

There's a slight bit of disappointment which he feels; he had been looking forward to a match against Sovelis, a mage against mage battle that would be spoken of for many days to come. Well, no doubt that match will come one of these days (OOC: no, of course I'm not referencing FoG. Not at all. Of course not. Definitely not. NO way. . . . well, maybe a little bit . . . ). For now, he finds himself nodding to Victor as the Bard looks his way, tossing the Vagabond a quick salute with his first two fingers. "Good work, Victor. I look forward to next week," he mutters as he turns and looks for some way to depart from the stadium unseen.

Yes, next week's fight will certainly be very interesting . . .