Ray had heard tales of the fishmen from his uncle, but had never seen one, or had hoped to see one, himself. Ikarous Ryu was undoubtedly a rare specimen among his kind for getting this far in the competition, but combined with the stories he had heard and the evidence before his eyes, he silently prayed that Luro would take this threat more seriously. 

Luro's other opponent was... well, she had a sword, a single-edged curved blade, but it was of foreign design to Lendria. That she was one of the finalists said plenty for her skill, but what really caught his interest was the way she carried herself. Luro had the sense of haphazardness to him, and the fishman stood with an alien, yet familiar stance of controlled power, waiting to be released. This “Bow Black,” or Alicia Tashigi as the announcer had introduced her, seemed to be so completely at ease, it seemed as if she was standing there alone, without the crowd or even an opponent to face her. When the fight started, her attitude hardly seemed to change, fighting as if she wasn't fighting, but rather dancing or making some form of art. Ray hardly paid attention to the fight; his eyes were glued on Tashigi. Her graceful style was quite different than the swift and straightforward form he was accustomed to. Hers had a beauty to it. When she landed the final blow on the fishman, Ray broke from his trance to cheer wildly for the two of them. [i]To be an accomplished fighter and look damn good doing it? This woman is something else.[/i]

Now it was only Luro and Alicia. Luro could definitely end this if he could get one straight shot lined up, but Alicia could probably overwhelm him quickly. He was cheering for Luro, but a small part of him wanted to see Alicia defeat him, half because Ray wanted to see the limits of Luro's strength, and half because he was so enamored with Alicia's fighting style. Either way, he knew they were in a hell of a show.