"It looks like Solcren is in trouble. He had to face that disgusting woman."
From the stands, Elowyn watched the fight between Enrico and Lira. To be honest, she believed Lira would completely break him now that she had taken an interest in him. The princess only hoped she would leave him in one piece, since she still needed to use him for her kingdom.
"Why do you call her disgusting, Princess?"
The question came from Velka beside her.
"Because she is, and you don't need to know why."
Velka immediately fell silent. Around Elowyn, all her male and female subordinates had been watching the fights since the first day, gathered in a space specially prepared for the princess of Sanos. Elowyn's eyes narrowed.
'This is truly disgusting.'
Lira's essence was exposed before Elowyn's eyes, and what she saw was simply grotesque. Various substances of different natures, liquid, solid, and gaseous, surrounded the girl's body like distorted shadows. For someone with Elowyn's special eyes, it was one of the worst essences she had ever seen.
The only thing she respected about Lira was her ability to maintain control despite the abomination she carried within herself. Even so, Elowyn knew that condition was temporary. Sooner or later, the girl would explode, and the princess did not want to be nearby when that happened.
'Lira seems to want to find someone capable of dealing with this abomination. But honestly, I doubt she'll succeed.'
As if fate wanted to prove Elowyn wrong, Lira began laughing, demonstrating that she had chosen Enrico as someone capable of enduring that essence.
'How can Solcren do that?'
Back in the arena, Lira began moving as if she were dizzy. Then, she stomped hard on the ground and charged forward rapidly, surprising Enrico with her speed.
He tilted his head backward at the last moment, dodging a fist formed from a white aura that passed dangerously close to his face.
[She's using Ki magic to increase her own speed.]
'Really? Wow, if you hadn't told me, I never would have noticed.'
Enrico activated Charged Impulse and landed a kick on Lira's chin, making her spit blood from her mouth. Even so, the smile never left her face.
[Enrico, end this quickly. The longer you stay near her, the more the air will be poisoned by her madness.]
Enrico knew the System's words were an exaggeration, but he couldn't help agreeing.
'You make it sound so easy.'
Enrico grabbed Lira's foot and hurled her against a house, causing the structure to collapse. Then, he created his Fire Bow and began shooting arrows nonstop toward the rubble.
Lira emerged from the destroyed house at an even greater speed.
"Internal Manifestation!"
Enrico tried to block her punch by crossing his arms in front of his body, but he felt a tremor run through his limbs as he took the impact.
'Her strength has increased too.'
"Flame Impact!"
Enrico landed a blow to Lira's stomach, dragging her several meters backward. The result confirmed his suspicion: her physical durability had also increased.
Lira, however, continued smiling. An explosion of magic enveloped her body, and she charged forward again.
"Inner Eyes!"
Lira's eyes acquired an intense purple glow. With this ability, she could predict the flow of magic and detect hostile intentions, allowing her to anticipate Enrico's movements.
Thanks to this, she dodged a Zero Impact he launched at her.
"Heavenly Slash!"
The attack struck Enrico's chest, opening a deep gash. His body trembled from the pain, but he reacted immediately, creating lines of fire that coiled around Lira's hand.
For a moment, he considered cutting her arm off. However, before he could carry out the move, the lines snapped, and Lira took advantage of the opening to land a Purifying Palm directly on his face, striking his soul.
"Hnhnhnhnhn... You're trembling, aren't you? HAHAHAHAHA! You're so fragile! Come on, don't be so deliciously fragile, or I might end up breaking you!"
The System grew increasingly uncomfortable with the girl's behavior, so it couldn't help saying:
[You damn lunatic!]
Enrico gritted his teeth, enduring the effects of the attack. Then, he pressed his left hand against Lira's stomach and created his Fire Bow.
Holding an arrow, he fired it quickly, landing a direct Flaming Shot. The force of the impact sent Lira flying backward.
Enrico took a deep breath and secretly used his water magic to heal his wounds. Meanwhile, the place where Lira had fallen was engulfed by an explosion of mana.
She emerged from the rubble at high speed and landed a punch that sent Enrico crashing into another house.
Sitting in the stands, Danyana watched the fight in surprise.
"That girl is crazier than I am... Then why didn't she want to fight me?"
The personality Lira was displaying now was completely different from the one she had shown when Danyana tried to challenge her.
Seeing Enrico get back up, Danyana clenched her fist, remembering the training she was undergoing to get her revenge.
'You can't be defeated.'
"Why does he have that amused smile on his face?"
Danyana looked down and spotted Elowyn with her subordinates. Paying closer attention to the words and expressions of the people around her, she turned her eyes back to Enrico's face and noticed a small smile appearing on it.
That made her excited.
"I think I understand how to do it."
Enrico's words were spoken in a normal tone, but his expression made it clear that something was about to happen.
Standing up, he saw Lira approaching. He took a deep breath and entered a state of extreme concentration.
'As I thought, she's far too strong...'
With his eyes fixed on his opponent, Enrico noticed the Purifying Palm approaching. He spun his body in place, allowing the attack to pass straight through where he had been. During the movement, he concentrated fire in his fist and launched a ranged strike that hit Lira in the chest.
"Gah!"
The impact hurled her backward. Lira fell to the ground, still smiling, but she showed surprise as she observed Enrico's condition.
He no longer had that amused smile. His expression was completely focused, and small flames seemed to escape from his eyes like incandescent embers.
What Enrico was doing was using a concentration technique combined with his magic. He set unnecessary thoughts aside and focused all his attention on predicting his opponent's movements. After adapting to the combat patterns and observing the movements repeatedly, he could anticipate certain actions with a fair degree of accuracy. It was a technique he had developed over the past two weeks.
[So that was the technique he was saving for the right moment?]
Enrico had decided to keep it secret for two reasons. First, the technique was still incomplete and could only be used for thirty seconds. Second, he wanted to use it to simulate the development of a prodigy in front of the others.
That was precisely why he had made that remark, giving the impression that he had just figured something out during the fight.
"Hehehehe... Please, keep entertaining me, Enrico."
Lira charged forward again, combining her Purifying Palm with the physical movement of her own hand, just as she had done before.
Enrico dodged the attack with his hand and tried to punch her in the face. Lira reacted in the same way, imitating his movement and attempting to kick him in the head.
He took a step backward, interrupting his attack, and responded with a kick aimed at her legs, but Lira jumped at the right moment, avoiding the blow.
Both of them could predict each other's movements to a certain extent. Therefore, it was unlikely that either would land a decisive blow while their techniques remained active.
Lira licked her lips, and an idea began to take shape in her mind.
"Hehehe... I figured something out too."
Concentrating her mana in the palm of her hand, Lira began combining her two spells. Gradually, an ethereal sword took shape, composed of compressed air and pure spiritual magic.
"Tempestuous Spirit Sword!"
The amount of magic released was so great that the ground itself began cracking beneath her feet.
While Enrico pretended to be a prodigy who had just understood something during the battle, the opponent before him was a true prodigy. Even so, he had no intention of giving up.
"Charged Flame Impact!"
The ground beneath Enrico's feet also began cracking, unable to withstand the magical pressure released by his attack.
He still had a chance to win that fight. Only five seconds remained before his concentration technique reached its limit, but he had already prepared something to counterattack Lira's strike.
Seeing this, Lira became even more excited. Her eyes were completely fixed on Enrico's, which remained focused on her. At that moment, it seemed as though they were the only two people in the world.
Both propelled themselves toward each other, increasing the power of their attacks with every step.
Upon noticing Lira's trajectory, Enrico's eyes seemed to shine. He began rotating his fist, preparing to add a movement similar to the rotation of his Flaming Shot to the blow.
The intention was to create a piercing attack powerful enough to break through Lira's still-incomplete sword. When the two attacks collided, an explosion shook the arena.
Neither of them retreated, but Lira realized she was about to be defeated the moment Enrico's fist spun against her sword, beginning to shatter it.
"I want more! I want more! So please, keep going!"
With a crazed smile, Lira continued advancing even as her sword shattered. At the same time, she concentrated Spiritual Ki magic in her fist, preparing her final move.
She knew she would be defeated. After all, she could already see Enrico's fist approaching her face.
At least, that was how it should have happened.
CRRZZZZ!
An energy of fire exploded from Enrico's body, accompanied by a sudden burst of blood that surprised Lira.
To the spectators, except those with a sufficiently high level of magic, it looked as though Lira had landed the first blow and sent Enrico flying backward.
And, in fact, that was exactly what happened when he stopped moving at that moment.
"What?"
Virelle and Hao immediately stood up, realizing what was happening. Angela also prepared to enter the arena.
The reason was that this was the day when the fire cancer and the maximum effect of the vampires' Sacrifice Pact had been activated at the same time.