Alex didn't run. He didn't even try to dodge this time.
With a flick of his wrist, his hand finally closed around the hilt of his long sword.
There was a sharp, ringing hiss of steel as the blade left its sheath.
At the exact same moment, Alex released the full suppression on his upgraded Sword seed.
A brilliant, freezing silvery-grey light erupted from his body, clashing violently against the dark red mist of Abu's aura.
Alex's muscles, refined by the Naagin Bloodline and strengthened by the system's continuous upgrades, coiled tightly like steel springs.
Despite his slender, highly feminized body, his raw physical strength was always monstrous, easily rivaling, if not surpassing, a berserk B-Rank barbarian.
He swung his sword, covered in his silvery-grey mana upward to meet the falling axe.
CLANG!
The impact of the two weapons meeting created a massive, deafening shockwave that ripped through the arena.
A ring of dust and dirt was blasted outward in a perfect circle, slamming into the invisible energy barriers around the pit and causing the holographic screens above to flicker and static.
The sheer kinetic force of the blow would have crushed a normal B-Rank fighter's arms, but Alex didn't take a single step back.
His three-inch feet dug half an inch into the hard dirt, locking him in place like a mountain.
Abu let out another angry roar, pressing down with all his weight and boiling blood energy, trying to cleave Alex in half through brute force.
Alex looked up at the giant, his dark eyes glowing with a faint, silvery slit, a subtle hint of his serpent bloodline.
"You're strong, I can say that," Alex said calmly, his voice easily cutting through the howling wind of their clashing auras. "But brute force without a mind to use it, is just nothing."
With a subtle twist of his wrists, Alex used his newly evolved sword arts.
Instead of fighting the axe's downward pressure directly, he tilted his blade just a fraction of an inch, using the freezing liquid mana coating to slick the surface.
Abu's heavy axe slid off the sword with a loud screech of sparks, slamming harmlessly into the ground beside Alex's foot.
Before the barbarian could recover his balance, Alex went on the offensive.
He moved like a phantom. To the elite fighters and gamblers watching from the high-tier boxes, the center of the arena turned into a blinding storm of red and silver light.
They couldn't see the individual strikes anymore, only the brutal afterimages of a seven-foot blood-red giant swinging a massive axe, and a sleek, ivory-clad blur dancing around him, leaving trails of freezing silver mana in the air.
Clang! Slash! Ring!
Every time their weapons collided, the temperature in the stadium plummeted.
Alex's sword seed was feeding on his Void Yin Constitution, generating a freezing, absolute frost energy that began to infect the battlefield.
Abu swung horizontally; Alex parried the blow with a crisp flick of his blade, leaving a thick layer of white frost across the iron axe head.
Abu punched forward with a blood-wrapped fist; Alex spun his body smoothly out of the trajectory, his silk suit brushing past the giant's arm as his sword sliced a long blood line across Abu's thick forearm.
Where the sword cut, no blood flowed.
Instead, grey, crystalline ice formed instantly over the wound, freezing the veins and stopping the boiling blood mana from circulating.
"Roar!" Abu didn't feel pain, he only swung wildly, his movements beginning to lose their explosive snap.
The frost energy was relentless.
With every passing second of their high-speed clash, the silvery-grey mana from Alex's sword crept further up Abu's double-bladed axe.
The metal began to turn brittle, covered in thick frost.
The freezing cold was seeping through Abu's thick skin, chilling his blood, and violently slowing down his heart rate.
Alex could feel the rhythm of the fight completely in his grasp.
Every step he took in his stilettos was precise, balanced, and elegant.
His body moved without resistance, his joints working in perfect harmony with the deadly, serpentine choreography of his evolved sword art.
"Let's end this," Alex thought, feeling the chilling power of his Sword seed reach its absolute peak.
As Abu lunged forward for a desperate, overhead smash, Alex stepped directly into his guard, completely ignoring the falling axe.
He spun his body, dropping low, and swept his glowing, frost-covered sword in a gorgeous, full-circle arc.
A crescent wave of pure, freezing silvery mana erupted from the blade, slicing cleanly through the air and colliding directly with Abu's chest and weapon.
The sound that followed wasn't the clash of metal, but the sharp, echoing CRACK of deep freezing ice.
For a second, everything in the arena seemed to freeze. Literally.
The dark red blood mist swirling around the barbarian in front of him turned into tiny, sparkling red ice crystals that hung suspended in the air before shattering into harmless, freezing dust.
A loud, sharp CRACK echoed across the stadium.
The heavy iron axe, already made brittle by the relentless frost energy, couldn't handle the sudden thermal shock.
It shattered into dozens of frozen metal pieces, scattering across the dirt floor like broken glass.
Thick, silvery-grey frost spread like spiderwebs across Abu's bare chest and arms, freezing his boiling blood right inside his veins and forcibly shutting down his berserk state.
The blinding red light in his eyes flickered and went out, replaced by normal, wide-eyed shock.
His knees gave out from under him, and he dropped heavily to the frozen ground, his breath puffing out in weak, white clouds of cold vapor.
He wasn't dead, but he was entirely trapped in a thick layer of magical ice, shivering from the cold and completely unable to move a single muscle.
For three whole seconds, the entire ten-thousand-seat stadium went dead silent.
You could hear a pin drop in the stands.
Then, the invisible wave of emotional energy hit Alex like a speeding train.
Absolute shock. Terror. Overwhelming awe from thousands of spectators.
[ System Alert: Massive surge of Empathetic energy detected! ]
[ Source Power Increased: +185 Points! ]
[ Source Power Increased: +210 Points! ]
[ Source Power Increased: +195 Points! ]
[ Current Total Source Power: 1,518 Points! ]
[ Feminization Progress: Phase 2/9 (Ecdysis) – 74.5% ]
A sudden, intense rush of heat exploded inside Alex's lower belly, contrasting sharply with the freezing ice mana still floating off his blade.
He gasped softly, his lips parting as a deep, sweet shiver ran straight down his spine.
His body was changing again, feeding greedily on the massive amounts of Source Power he had just harvested.
His breasts began to noticeably swell again under his clothes, becoming slightly heavier and fuller, pressing tight against the already tight shirt.
The fabric suddenly felt rough against his sensitized nipples, sending a sharp, electric jolt of pleasure straight to his brain.
He could actually feel his waist pulling inward and his hips broadening slightly, making his tailored white trousers fit much tighter around his thighs and rear.
His balance adjusted automatically to his new, softer center of gravity.
His skin felt smoother, hotter, and incredibly sensitive to the cool evening breeze brushing against his neck.
Alex forced a slow breath through his nose, using his mana to push down the sweet, heavy ache throbbing between his legs.
He lowered his sword, resting the flat of the freezing blade casually over his shoulder.
He walked over to the kneeling barbarian, when he reached Abu, he stopped and looked down at him.
Abu looked up, his jaw trembling from the intense cold, waiting for the killing blow.
Instead, Alex offered him a small, gentle smile.
"Don't worry, big guy, I'm not bloodthirsty, from now on you will follow me…" Alex murmured, his voice smooth, melodic, and just loud enough for Abu to hear over the ringing silence of the arena.
"The frost mana completely numbed the slave brand on your neck. It temporarily froze the curse, so your master can't burn your heart out while you're down. Take a nap. I'll handle the rest."
Abu's eyes widened in gratitude.
He gave a weak, slow nod before letting his heavy head sag forward, succumbing to the exhaustion and the freezing cold.
Up in the announcer's booth, the commentator finally found his voice.
He grabbed the microphone, his voice screaming through the stadium speakers:
"The challenger has frozen the Gorefang into unconsciousness! The winner of this special challenge match is... VERONICA STERLING!"
The stadium exploded.
Half the crowd screamed in absolute cheers, fascinated by the beautiful, mysterious swordswoman, while the other half, who had just lost their life savings betting on Abu, screamed furious curses and tore up their betting slips.
High up on the VIP balcony, Lord Malakor was losing his mind.
He smashed his expensive wine glass against the gold railing, his greasy face turning purple with pure rage.
He glared down at the dirt pit, screaming words that were drowned out by the noise of the crowd.
Alex turned his head and looked straight up at the VIP balcony, and gave a mocking two-finger salute.
The floating camera drones caught the arrogant, sexy gesture in perfect high definition, broadcasting it to every giant screen in the coliseum.
In his ear, the tiny communication piece sounded again. Leo sounded like he was on the verge of crying from pure relief.
"Boss... you actually did it!" Leo yelled over the static. "You took down Gorefang without even breaking a sweat!"
"The betting payouts and the slave ownership deeds are being transferred into our account right now! We're rich!"
"Good," Alex murmured quietly, turning his back on the screaming stadium as the heavy iron exit gates slowly began to grind open for him.
As he walked toward the exit, the feverish heat inside his body burned hotter and heavier.
He immoderately rushed to the previous private room where he previously upgraded his skills and locked it tight from the inside.