3rd Seed Pyra (Xenoblade 2) VS 14th Seed Tamamo-no-Mae (Fate/EXTRA)
Pyra: 172 votes
Tamamo: 174 votes
This is it. This right here was the best match of the entire competition. Sure, I know that I in my Round 2 roundup claimed that Alice VS Shanoa was the greatest match of the round, but that was mainly the salt talking, and it also just felt wrong to snub our first ever perfect tie AND its crazy tiebreaker. However, Pyra VS Tamamo was not only an amazing match, it actually *mattered*; Alice and Shanoa were fighting for the privilege of being stomped by Reimu in the following match, while Pyra and Tamamo were literally fighting over a spot in the contest final. Also, I just find the big swings of this match way more exciting than a near-constant stalemate, fascinating as that is in its own right. And of course, the power levels and vote totals were just way higher.
As a big Pyra fan, I had been worried about Tamamo from the day the tournament bracket was finalized. I didn’t even know that much about her at the time, but the Spaghetti Meme and the IRL buck breaking of Andrew Tate made me suspect that the fox girl could be the dark horse of the tournament. Then came round 1, and while Pyra looked great, Tamamo arguably looked even better given how strong Illya was expected to be. Both girls were clearly powerhouses, but despite being a top seed, Pyra was increasingly looking like the underdog.
That said, I was definitely prepared to go all out for my girl – after initially wanting to hold back on the Pyra propaganda until her match with Tamamo, I decided to heavily support Pyra in round 1 despite her victory being certain, just to get a lot of Pyra love out there early and possibly win over a few neutrals ahead of time. Later, I ended up being inspired by SuperSnekFriend’s pre-match Patchouli Support Thread, and made several pro-Pyra effortpoasts ahead of her round 2 match where I laid out my case for her. All while stocking up on good SFW Pyra pics of course.
All of this actually made me feel a lot better about Pyra’s chances, because God, did she have so much going for her – perfect 10/10 body, legendary boobs, tight tushy, an outfit that Triggers leftists/faggots/trannies to no end, not to mention that she’s literally a submissive tradwife, a mother (and her daughter grows up to be GORGEOUS by the way), a genuinely well-written character, hell, even a really fun Smash Bros fighter. Strong as Tamamo no doubt was, I was starting to think that Pyra should be able to overcome her.
The actual match began in the immediate aftermath of the sensational Alice-Shanoa tie, with interest in the tournament having reached an all-time high. As a result, Pyra VS Tamamo immediately erupted with massive vote totals and a significant back and forth struggle between the two girls, as might have been expected. But then Tamamo kicked things into overdrive, and not only took the lead, but started outright dominating my precious Sword girl. The same kind of insane strength that had enabled Tamamo to legitimately Double a legendary Loli like IIlya was now overwhelming Pyra, and a debated match was turning into a blowout.
However, Pyra was no Illya, and while she was getting clobbered, the resilient Blade wasn’t being outright knocked out. Pyra was brought down as low as 39% after more than 50 votes, which was bad, but not nearly the kind of ass-beating that Illya had endured (Tamamo’s Fate sister was still down 34 – 66 after a whopping 100 votes, in a far slower match), and Pyra was already starting to mount her comeback, with me also personally doing everything I could to mobilize potential Pyra voters. And course, the match thread was being absolutely carpet-bombed with quality Pyra art to the point where even the Fluffy Tail Fanatics were being forced on the defensive.
All of this was having an effect, and in a big way – Pyra was hitting Tamamo with everything she got, Blade Combos, Fusion Combos, Special Level 4, and Tamamo’s once-massive lead was quickly evaporating, not just in terms of percents, but also when it came to the all-important vote count. Pyra brought that lead down to 45 - 55, then 48 – 52, and while Tamamo stubbornly clung on to the lead, the fox was clearly under heavy pressure. Nearing the 100-vote mark, Pyra was only 3 votes behind – but then Tamamo brutally retaliated, increasing her lead to 53 – 47 at the 100-vote mark, and then just further increasing her lead to 12 votes and again threatening to outright kill the match.
But this slugfest seemed to suit Pyra just fine, and not only did she fire back with a monster push of her own, this time she managed to bring Tamamo’s lead even further down, and before you knew it the girls were tied, before Pyra FINALLY claimed the lead for herself, and despite some resistance by Tamamo the Bae Blade’s momentum carried her to a 5-vote lead. Then, in seemingly the blink of an eye, Tamamo erased the lead Pyra had worked so hard to gain, and the girls were deadlocked as the votes kept pouring in and reached 81-81. At 85-84, Tamamo again had the lead, then extended it to 4 votes, but Pyra fought back, 88-88, then took the lead by 3 votes, then 5 votes again, which quickly got cut down even as Pyra was desperately fighting to maintain the tiniest of leads, but she just couldn’t do it.
After a total of 200 votes the score was a perfect 100 – 100, but before the Alice VS Shanoa déjà vu could get too strong, Tamamo made her move, and it proved devastating - Pyra was completely unable to do anything, letting Tamamo rack up a 7-vote lead with no answer. Pyra did finally woman up and manage to cut that lead down to 2 votes, but this only caused Tamamo to strike back with even greater force, accumulating a 15-vote lead. We all went to bed with Tamamo back in a solid lead, but us Pyra Patriots had at least one big counteroffensive left in us, and knowing how badly Tamamo had bled percentage points against Illya towards the end of their match, the situation looked far from hopeless.
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