"...number 46—Astrid Longsora and Number 23—Freya Velthariel!"
When the announcer's voice rang in his ears, Jarek put an end to his contemplation.
He would get back to it later.
But this match was a match he couldn't afford to ignore.
Two minutes later, both Astrid and Freya were in the arena.
Freya had a smile on her face, which, if she weren't as beautiful, the smile would have been quite eerie.
Astrid, on the other hand, had a somewhat serious expression.
Unlike her previous matches, she seemed to be taking this succubus seriously.
"Begin!"
Freya, with a smile still on her face, dashed towards Astrid, her aim clear, to close the distance between them.
Astrid, who was already wary of Freya, did the opposite, trying to increase the distance between them by moving in the opposite direction.
As she did this, she launched several attacks on Freya, who was advancing towards her.
|Earth Art: Earth Spear|
One by one, spears made of earth were fired towards Freya, who had no choice but to slow down and retaliate with an attack of her own.
|Horn of Corruption|
An illusory yet eerie horn manifested as it headed towards Astrid, who immediately recognized what it was. 'Curse laws.'
The earth spears, which came into contact with the cursed horn, slowly decayed until they were completely destroyed.
The cursed horn continued its path with some of its power remaining.
A wall of earth resembling the walls of a fortress rose from the ground and stood between Astrid and the huge incoming horn.
This was Astrid's most powerful defensive ability.
|Earth Art: Fortress of the Land|
The horn collided with Astrid's strong defense, which managed to withstand the attack with little effort.
Seeing the wall still standing, Freya unleashed the same attack twice until the fortress was finally brought down.
As it crumbled, what came into Freya's sight, or the lack thereof, left her stunned.
She had been expecting to see Astrid's figure, as she thought she had been hiding behind her defenses.
But Astrid...
'Where is she?'
...was nowhere to be seen.
It was like she had vanished into thin air.
'She isn't behind me, right?' Thinking so, she quickly turned around, only to witness that the entire arena was indeed devoid of Astrid's presence.
She looked all around her, warily trying to find any abnormality within her surroundings.
Unbeknownst to her, the real threat wasn't anywhere within her line of sight.
After three minutes of observation, she felt the earth beneath her feet tremble slightly.
But just before she could process anything, a fist rose from beneath the ground.
It took less than a second for the fist to connect with her chin.
The force was powerful enough to knock her into the air.
Astrid had appeared out of nowhere, or at least that was how it seemed to Freya, and when she did, she delivered the finishing blow.
What really happened was that when Astrid had constructed her fortress wall and was sure she was hidden behind it, and using another ability, she burrowed into the earth.
She then slowly moved to just beneath where Freya stood, and launched herself upward for a surprise attack.
And as expected, it succeeded.
Using this unexpected tactic, she had avoided the worst outcome.
In this battle, Astrid was at a huge disadvantage.
She was up against a succubus who is well known to be highly skilled with mental attacks.
If Freya had just gotten close enough to her, she would have been subjected to constant mental attacks, all while simultaneously facing other attacks as well.
She would be put in a hopeless situation where her powerful close combat methods would be rendered irrelevant.
Demons were truly one of the most powerful races in the mortal phase of cultivation, making them incredibly difficult to deal with.
Astrid needed a way to deal with the mental attacks.
By hiding beneath the ground, Freya can't target her with mental attacks.
And most importantly, it allows her to deliver a completely unexpected sneak attack.
Freya, who received the blow from the earth dragon directly, couldn't endure the force of Astrid's punch and lost consciousness.
Her body lay motionless on the arena as Astrid turned to leave the arena without waiting for the referee to announce her victory.
"Winner, Astrid Longsora!"
Amidst the cheers of the audience, a male earth dragon commented, "It seems that our princess is going to be the winner of this tournament."
A fire phoenix who just happened to be close to him turned to face him and scoffed, "Hmph! It is clearly our Blazoria Kingdom's Brynhild who will be the final winner."
"Keep dreaming!" The male earth dragon bit back.
Brynhild looked at Astrid with a solemn expression as she moved to teleport back into the underground chamber she was in.
'As expected of my rival.'
The phoenix princess acknowledged that Astrid would be a very difficult opponent to deal with.
In this tournament, there were only two people whom she wasn't sure she could defeat.
One of those people was Astrid, and the other was Jarek.
The dragon princess might not be as intelligent as her, but when it came to matters of combat, Astrid was unmatched.
Her senses were incredibly powerful, and her well-balanced fighting style made her a force to be reckoned with.
Jarek, on the other hand, was a complete enigma.
His true abilities remained a mystery, his limits unknown.
Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't even dream of being able to face him.
He was, after all, someone who was as strong as an Empyrean by her estimates.
But in this tournament, where he has to conceal most of his strength, she at least had a chance.
She knew that even in his suppressed state, Jarek was still a force to be reckoned with.
Her intuition told her so.
But instead of worry, excitement filled her heart.
She welcomed such a challenge.
Isn't that why she came to this academy in the first place?
She would still overcome it, just like she has always done.