(Arin's Perspective)
No referees, no rules, and they weren't even wearing mana-dampening robes. These two girls genuinely intended to blow each other up. The situation was critically dangerous. If left unchecked, one of them could end up in the morgue.
"Cut your mana flow right now, or I'm reporting this as attempted murder between students."
My voice was flat, but the volume was loud enough to slice through the tension between the two girls ready to detonate.
Erika and Elena turned in unison. Their gazes were still fiery, filled with unchanneled adrenaline.
"Stay out of this, Arin! This is about pride!" Erika exclaimed. The tip of her wand still hummed dangerously, pointed straight at Elena's face.
"Precisely. Step aside, Arin. Let me freeze that big mouth of hers," Elena chimed in with a piercingly cold tone.
I massaged my temples, which were starting to throb. Dealing with two stubborn women was far more exhausting than fighting monsters.
"Listen," I said, staring at them alternately with the sharp gaze of a doctor, "if you fight here without protective robes and without a medical referee, one of you will suffer severe injuries. Worst case, death."
I paused to let my words sink in, then continued with a cynical tone. "And for your information, I have no hobby of dating corpses or hospital patients. So, if you want that date, do it in the Arena. Wear protection to make it fair."
Those words worked.
"Date" was the keyword. Honestly, the reluctance to date and the strong desire to sleep all day still echoed loudly in my heart, unfortunately, there was no other choice to diffuse this potential disaster.
Their killing auras slowly receded. Rose clapped slowly from behind. It was clear she was slightly panicked since she was the one who proposed this crazy duel. If something bad happened, she would definitely be dragged into trouble.
"Good idea, Arin. The audience in the forest is just squirrels. In the Arena, the whole school can see who the real Queen is. Right, Princess?" Rose provoked, trying to support my plan.
Elena flipped her hair arrogantly. "Certainly. I don't mind humiliating her in public."
"Who's scared?!" challenged Erika. The girl no longer showed any inferiority in front of Elena.
One hour later, at Training Arena 4.
News spread faster than a plague. The spectator stands were packed. Hundreds of students, from Class C to Class S, jostled to witness this rare spectacle: The Ice Princess versus The Cripple's Sidekick.
The roar of student voices filled the stands, creating a dizzying buzz. The majority of them bet on Elena's victory.
"Weakling Erika against a Duke's Daughter? This is a slaughter," they whispered faintly.
In the center of the arena, Instructor Karim stood with a face that looked ready to eat someone alive. He stared at me sharply, his gaze promising suffering for me later.
"You..." he growled softly as I handed over the duel form, "you're making me a babysitter, Arin?"
"Consider this a field test for research subject number two, Instructor," I whispered with a thin smirk. "Erika needs real combat data."
Karim snorted roughly. Although annoyed, he didn't refuse. He knew this data was invaluable for our research journal.
"Both fighters, FRONT!"
Erika and Elena walked to the center of the arena. They were now wearing gray Magic Resistance Robes loaned by the academy. The robes functioned to absorb fatal impact and would flash a red signal if the damage tolerance limit was exceeded.
Karim raised his hand, then dropped it with a lazy motion. "Start!"
Elena didn't move an inch from her position. She simply flicked her wand gracefully, as if conducting a symphony orchestra, not a magic fight.
Modified Second Circle Magic: Icicle Barrage.
Dozens of sharp ice needles formed instantly in the air, then shot toward Erika with lethal precision. This was Second Circle magic engineered to be fast, efficient, and beautiful.
Elena seemed to have learned from the data of Erika's fight against the Grizzly Bear. Although she didn't know all of Erika's trump cards, she knew one thing for sure: never let herself be forced into a defensive position.
Elena chose to attack aggressively from the first second.
On the other side, Erika didn't dodge. Her eyes burned with blazing determination. She pointed her wooden wand forward. The tip hummed roughly and unstably.
Stacked mana plates floated around Erika, blocking all the ice needles trying to pierce her. First Circle Magic: Mana Shield reinforced with stacking technique.
When the intensity of Elena's attack began to decrease, Erika immediately transitioned from defensive mode to offensive mode. She raised her wand again while whispering a rapid incantation.
Instantly, Erika triggered her Stacked Circuit.
Trat-tat-tat-tat!
A barrage of blue mana bullets the size of marbles spewed out. There was no accuracy in that attack, only pure volume flooding the arena.
Elena narrowed her eyes. She appeared to be thinking hard to determine her next move while increasing the intensity of the magic circle to strengthen her attack.
Elena's neat ice needles collided with Erika's storm of mana bullets in the center of the arena.
Crack-Crack-Crack!
Ice shards scattered in all directions. The audience gaped at the sight. Erika's "trash magic," which was usually mocked, now created a wall of mana so dense that Elena's ice needles shattered before reaching the target.
Elena clicked her tongue softly. "So crude. Like throwing mud."
The noble girl changed tactics. If long-range attacks could be withstood, she would lock her opponent's movement. She struck the arena floor with her wand.
Second Circle Magic: Permafrost.
A layer of ice spread rapidly across the stone floor, freezing Erika's footing in an instant. Erika slipped, her balance wavering.
Elena smiled coldly. "It's over!"
She cast a large Second Circle Magic: Ice Lance above her head, ready to strike.
Erika suppressed her panic. Instead of trying to run on the slippery ice, she turned her back on Elena. She pointed her wand backward, directly at Elena, and triggered a larger mana explosion.
BOOM!
Not to attack, but for propulsion. The recoil force from the mana explosion pushed Erika's small body sliding across the slippery ice floor like a rocket. She shot away from Elena's Ice Lance target at high speed.
BLAM!
The ice lance hit empty space, only shattering the ice floor.
Erika, now sliding fast to Elena's blind side, spun her body while still moving. Blood began to drip from her nose, a sign that her brain was starting to overheat.
"Crazy! She's surfing with explosions?!" Rose gasped. The audience's reaction was not much different.
"My turn, Princess!"
While sliding, she fired a barrage of mana bullets from the side.
Elena was startled. She must not have expected an attack usually used to lock opponents would become a weapon that accelerated the enemy's movement. She was forced to cancel her follow-up attack and erect a hasty defense.
Second Circle Magic: Ice Wall.
Crack-crack!
The ice wall vibrated violently, battered by hundreds of Erika's mana bullets. Cracks began to appear little by little on the surface of the clear ice.
The situation turned in Erika's favor. Behind the cracked thick ice wall, Elena thought hard to find a way to turn things around. She couldn't stay in a defensive position forever.
Blood dripped heavier onto Erika's gray robe. Although she had the upper hand, she knew she had to end this as quickly as possible before her mental state collapsed.
Elena stepped slightly out of the protection of her thick ice wall, launching ice lances to pressure Erika back.
Mana explosions were heard again as Erika used them to push her small body, sliding nimbly to avoid attacks on the layer of ice floor.
There was an intense exchange of attacks between the two girls. Both began to get overwhelmed, unable to land a truly decisive blow.
Both girls' breaths came in gasps. Indicators on their Resistance Robes flashed yellow, a sign that cumulative damage had reached fifty percent.
Elena realized she had underestimated her opponent. This village girl was no longer the cripple crying in the corner of the class. She was a wild fighter capable of tearing down a Grizzly Bear's defense.
"Fine," Elena's golden eyes shone seriously. The arena temperature dropped drastically until breath vapor became clearly visible. "I will acknowledge you as an opponent."
Erika wiped the blood on her nose with her sleeve. Her hands trembled, but her grip on the wand only tightened. "I don't need your acknowledgment. I need you to stay away from Arin."
The ice wall was fully thickened by Elena, blocking her own counter-attack path. Responding to this, Erika was confused for a moment, until finally, she realized the dire situation unfolding.
Elena stopped counter-attacking, focusing on absolute defense to buy time for a Third Circle magic incantation.
A Second Circle mage needed a lot of time to cast higher circle magic. She was betting on ending this duel in one final lethal strike.
Erika realized the danger. Her face, already pale from anemia, turned even whiter. All her focus shifted to demolishing Elena's thick ice wall before the spell was complete.
Du-du-du-du-du!
Various cracks were carved into the ice wall; it would soon collapse and pierce Elena behind it. Unfortunately for Erika, she was too late.
Elena raised her wand high. The mana around her solidified into beautiful yet terrifying crystals.
Third Circle Magic: Glacial Coffin.
Not to trap a single target, but a wide-area freezing wave impossible to avoid just by sliding.
Erika knew she couldn't run. She planted her feet, letting her boots freeze to the floor for stability.
She stacked her mana circuits. Three layers. Four layers. Five layers. Various first circle magic circles were united until they looked solid, almost resembling a disc of light.
Her practice wand began to crack, creaking painfully unable to withstand the load of overflowing mana.
Modified First Circle Magic: Mana Cannon.
A few seconds later, a mana ball the size of a basketball rolled out. Its movement was slightly slow, but it carried immense destructive intensity.
Elena looked panicked. Cold sweat poured down her forehead. She could dodge, but she was focused on controlling the Third Circle magic. She had no choice but to increase intensity to block the mana cannon.
Elena unleashed a denser and more terrifying blizzard.
The wave of ice froze Erika's mana ball in the air, trying to slow it down. But the mana ball was too dense. The ball pierced through the blizzard, continuing toward Elena even though its surface began to freeze.
On the other side, Elena's blizzard passed the mana ball and hit Erika's body mercilessly. The girl struggled to deploy as many mana shields as possible, but eventually, her body was enveloped and frozen by the ice storm.
BOOM!
Erika's mana ball, shrunk due to ice erosion, slammed into Elena's body. The beautiful body was thrown, crashing hard into the ice wall she built herself.
The impact tore the uniform at her stomach. A shallow wound gaped, making her white stomach now bathed in red blood.
Meanwhile, Elena's ice storm wrapped Erika's body. Her white skin had turned a pathetic gray-blue, a sign of extreme hypothermia.
Both collapsed, unconscious.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Loud alarms sounded from both girls' robes simultaneously. The robe indicator color changed drastically from Yellow to RED. The arena security system activated, absorbing the remaining lethal magic impact.
If not for the robe protection and training arena defense system, Elena's guts would have spilled out from the direct hit. Meanwhile, Erika's blood would have frozen from the inside along with her organs.
Karim jumped into the arena with a tense face. He checked both indicators quickly, then sighed in relief that they were still alive.
With a loud voice, he shouted, "BOTH ROBES REACHED TOLERANCE LIMIT SIMULTANEOUSLY. THE MATCH ENDS IN A DRAW!"
Arin, watching from the sidelines with a pounding heart, immediately vaulted over the barrier fence. He ran frantically to the center of the arena, confused about whom to prioritize seeing both girls severely injured.