The clash between the two mighty weapons lasted several seconds, and neither fighter seemed able to push the other back even a single millimeter.
While neither Aislyra nor Mitoros appeared to suffer any real effects from their fierce exchange—aside from the unmistakable excitement shining on their faces—the same could not be said for the ground beneath them.
Under the pressure of their overwhelming strength, it began to crack and break.
And yet, for the two combatants, this initial clash was nothing more than a greeting.
"Who would have imagined that I'd one day meet an elf woman capable of matching my strength…" said Mitoros, his lips curling into a grin of pure excitement, without reducing the force of his attack in the slightest.
"Don't lie Mitoros. I know very well that you still haven't activated any type of physical enhancement spell. Honestly, if I hadn't met that kid a few days ago, I'd have a hard time believing it was even possible to reach this level of strength without using magic," Aislyra replied, her own grin even sharper than his, refusing to give ground.
"Well, that's true… but you aren't using your full strength either. The amount of mana you're putting into your Physical Enhancement spell is still minimal, isn't it?" the minotaur retorted, as he began channeling a significant amount of mana through his body.
At last, the stalemate began to shift.
Aislyra was forced to step back a couple of centimeters.
The smirk on the queen's bodyguard's face only widened as more mana gathered in her arms. While this didn't immediately allow her to overpower him, she managed to press her greatsword forward just enough to sink its blade slightly into her opponent's hammer.
It was a barely noticeable cut—no more than a couple of centimeters deep.
Yet, that tiny groove was more than enough.
From that shallow incision, frost began to spread.
Within moments, Mitoros's entire warhammer was completely frozen.
The sudden surge of unnatural cold running through the weapon nearly caused him to drop it instinctively, but the powerful minotaur resisted and tightened his grip instead.
However, the freezing had made the weapon brittle.
With only a slight increase in pressure, Aislyra shattered the massive hammer into pieces with shocking ease.
'That sword is dangerous…' Mitoros thought.
Now left holding nothing but a fragment of the broken handle, with no defense other than his own body, he understood that even a single clean strike from that greatsword could prove fatal.
Without hesitation, he threw the useless remains of his weapon aside.
Then, channeling a massive amount of mana into his right arm, he launched an incredibly powerful punch toward Aislyra.
Caught off guard by the sudden attack, Aislyra reacted just in time to halt her own offensive and avoid taking the blow directly.
But the moment Mitoros's fist cut through the air in front of her, a violent shockwave erupted.
It was infinitely more powerful than the gust created by their initial clash.
The sheer force of it pushed the unprepared Aislyra back an entire meter. Her feet dug into the ground in resistance, carving a long furrow across the arena floor.
And yet, the smirk on her face only grew wider.
The force behind that "simple" punch was extraordinary— that blast of compressed air wasn't the result of any Wind Magic spell, but of raw, unfiltered physical strength.
If not for the exceptional quality of her armor, that single burst of air alone might have been enough to shatter her body.
There was no doubt about it.
Mitoros was among the physically strongest opponents Aislyra had ever faced in her nearly two hundred years of life.
Now that he had created a bit of distance between himself and his opponent, Mitoros glanced down at his warhammer—now frozen, shattered, and completely unusable.
"Ah…" the minotaur sighed, a hint of sadness in his voice. "The hammer my friend gave me has already broken…"
He paused for a moment before continuing.
"It was a gift from a friend who knew I would be participating in this tournament. I usually end up destroying every weapon I use, so he spent quite a lot to get me one that could withstand my strength… He gave it to me so that, for once, I wouldn't have to fight bare-handed…"
Hearing this, Aislyra felt a slight touch of guilt.
At a glance, she had already recognized the weapon's exceptional quality—most likely crafted in Roterberg's homeland—and therefore incredibly expensive. Still, this was a tournament where, even if rarely, death was a possibility, as the previous day had already proven.
In such a setting, the destruction of a weapon—even one of that caliber—was far from impossible.
If Mitoros had truly wanted to ensure it wouldn't break, then he shouldn't have brought it into the arena in the first place.
"Oh well…" Mitoros continued, his tone returning to normal. "Once I get back home, I'll pay him back with some of the prize money I won in the Red Thread Tournament. I actually set some aside, since I knew something like this would probably happen… Using weapons isn't really my style, anyway."
With that, he raised his arms, bringing his fists just below his face as he assumed a combat stance.
"Magma Gloves."
At his words, his hands began to glow with a reddish-brown light.
Then, as if they were sweating, molten magma—bright, fiery orange—started to ooze from his skin, quickly spreading until it completely covered both of his fists.
Moments later, part of that magma hardened, turning into a deep obsidian black.
However, not all of it cooled.
Cracks ran across the darkened surface, and through them, the intense glow of still-boiling magma pulsed beneath, radiating heat.
'Magma Magic… one of the possible derivations of Earth Magic. This could be troublesome…' Aislyra thought.
And yet, the excited grin on her face did not fade.
With a single powerful leap, Mitoros closed the distance he himself had created.
Without hesitation, he unleashed a relentless barrage of punches—fast, heavy, and devastating. A flurry that could have easily melted even a thick wall of metal.
But Aislyra was ready.
Using Burning Ice, she blocked each incoming strike, her blade moving with precision as she deflected every blow. At the same time, she managed to carve several cuts into the magma-coated fists, taking advantage of the fact that each individual punch carried less force than the earlier shockwave.
Unfortunately, the intense heat of the magma posed a serious problem.
The moment her blade created a cut and the obsidian-like layer began to freeze, the molten core beneath would instantly melt the forming ice.
'I knew this would be an issue… The compatibility between my Ice Magic and his Magma Magic is terrible. The temperature of that magma is simply too high…' Aislyra thought.
"But!"
She wasn't at a disadvantage.
Thanks to her superior control over the Physical Enhancement spell, she was faster than her opponent. And even though Mitoros had excellent reflexes, it was inevitable that an opening would eventually appear.
And it did.
Less than three seconds later, Aislyra seized her chance.
While Mitoros continued his relentless assault, she slipped past his guard and swung her massive broadsword, carving a long—though relatively shallow—gash across his chest.
The wound immediately began to freeze, along with the surrounding skin.
Mitoros immediately gathered a large amount of mana in his right arm once again and unleashed another attack, releasing a powerful jet of compressed air.
This time, Aislyra was prepared. She was barely pushed back, but the attack still gave Mitoros enough time to act.
Taking advantage of the brief opening, he pressed one of his magma-covered hands against his wound. The ice melted instantly.
Even so, he had to grit his teeth.
His hands were protected from the effects of the magma only because of the Magma Gloves spell. The rest of his body had no such protection. The only thing saving him was the natural resistance of minotaurs—their skin and hair could not catch fire. They had evolved this way because of the volcanic environment in which the minotaurs were and still are used to living.
But the pain remained.
Seeing this, Aislyra let out a whistle and remarked, "You've got guts, boy!!"
Mitoros responded with a smile before immediately returning to the attack. This time, however, his fighting style changed.
He became more defensive.
His punches grew slower but far more powerful, and he always kept at least one hand ready to guard against incoming attacks.
Aislyra's Burning Ice had no trouble withstanding the increased force of his blows. In fact, since his attacks were now slower, it was even easier for her to read and block them.
However, there was a cost.
Punch after punch, her arms began to tremble.
The sheer force behind each strike was too much to endure continuously, and the strain was starting to damage the muscles in her arms.
'I wanted to keep this fight purely about strength and speed… but it looks like I don't have a choice…' the queen's bodyguard thought as she deflected yet another devastating blow.
Aislyra immediately countered with a thrust from her greatsword.
But Mitoros blocked it with one of his magma-coated hands.
At the same time, he launched another crushing right hook.
This time, instead of blocking with her blade, Aislyra reacted differently.
"Ice Wall!"
In an instant, a thick wall of ice formed between them.
Mitoros's fist shattered it effortlessly.
But Aislyra was no longer there.
She had already retreated, creating distance by her own choice.
"I'm sorry, Mitoros. You were an excellent first opponent, but it's time to bring this fantastic match to an end!" the elf declared.
Then, raising her voice to its peak, she cast her spell:
"Crystal Tree of Wisdom!!!"
Behind her, a luminous, light-blue magic circle with a radius of at least five meters appeared.
From it, a massive pillar of ice, as wide as the magic circle, surged upward—shaped like the trunk of a tree, its form perfectly natural despite its translucent, light bluish color.
Then, branches of ice spread outward, growing rapidly in every direction. From those branches sprouted large, needle-like formations, resembling elongated leaves made entirely of frozen crystal.
A smile—equal parts excitement and despair—formed on Mitoros's face.
He was stunned.
He had always believed that only gods could create something so immense out of nothing with a single sentence.
Clearly, he had been wrong.
Monsters like this existed.
And this was the first time in his life that the minotaur had witnessed one with his own eyes.
Even so, he did not retreat.
Mitoros immediately raised his arms into a defensive stance, preparing himself for whatever his overwhelmingly powerful opponent was about to unleash.
Meanwhile, Lucas could only stare in awe.
His eyes shone with wonder as he took in the beauty and majesty of the spell his little sister had just cast.
'She just created a gigantic sequoia made entirely of ice!!' he shouted internally.
He had never seen Aislyra use this spell before, so he had no idea what its effects might be. But its sheer scale alone was enough to leave him breathless.
And given its name—and the fact that the tree resembled a sequoia— It was pretty obvious that this spell was a tribute to a certain person.
"Come on, Aislyra! I know you can win!!" the former boy cheered, even though he knew she couldn't hear him. The excitement was simply too overwhelming to contain.
Nearby, a radiant and incredibly gentle smile had formed on Sequoria's face.
"Needles of Wisdom… go!" Aislyra commanded.
At her words, the countless needle-like "leaves" detached from the branches of the ice tree and shot forward at incredible speed, all aimed at Mitoros.
For a moment—
Even the sky above the arena seemed to darken.