Peace Hunter

"Then, the match begins," said Mr. Elgin.

Mr. Elgin immediately stepped to the edge of the arena, while Irene and Elaina immediately attacked with their respective weapons. They attacked each other at close range, exchanging blows. During the exchange, there was a moment when their weapons clashed, suppressing their respective opponents. During this exchange, Irene spoke to Elaina.

"Sword Princess, why did you make that bet with Rid earlier? Do you have feelings for him?" Irene asked.

"It seems you, his current girlfriend, are very curious, huh?" Elaina said.

They were evenly matched in their battle of strength, and they both took a few steps back before exchanging blows again.

"Rather than calling it feelings, perhaps it would be more accurate to say I'm attracted to Senior Rid," Elaina said.

"Attracted to him?" Irene asked.

They chatted as they exchanged blows.

"Yes. I became interested in him after reading the newspaper that circulated some time ago," said Elaina.

"If you were only interested, why did you make such a bet with him?" asked Irene.

"If I became Senior Rid's girlfriend, I could grow closer to him. And if I get closer, maybe this attraction will grow into love. Besides, Senior Rid is a suitable partner for me. What woman wouldn't want a strong man as her life partner? You do too, right, Senior Irene? That's why you canceled your participation in the ~Matchmaking Battle~ to compete for Prince Charles and chose to date Senior Rid. Because you know Senior Rid is stronger than Prince Charles," said Elaina.

"I don't want to talk about the event, but I'm surprised you knew about it," said Irene.

"The San Lucia family isn't the only family close to the royal family," said Elaina.

"I see. Rather than that, if you had made that bet when you fought Rid from the start, you wouldn't have won. During your time at this academy, Rid has never lost a match against anyone, so I doubt you could have won the match or your bet," Irene said.

"I know that. I'm also certain I couldn't win if I fought senior Rid. Besides, I made that bet to him just as bait," Elaina said.

"Bait, huh? So from the start, you made that bet to Rid to bait me and make me want to fight you," Irene said.

"As expected of you, senior Irene. You said earlier that there was a chance for me to win against you. If so, I won't waste that chance," Elaina said.

~Blade Dance Technique: Rhythm of the Destruction Sword~

Elaina then tried to slash at Irene, but Irene blocked the slash. However, after blocking the slash with her rapier, Irene was pushed several meters back. Elaina continued to attack Irene with her slashes, even though Irene managed to block them. But the more Irene blocked the slashes, the more she was pushed back, and now the distance between her and the arena wall was getting closer. Then, Irene was cornered against the arena wall after being pushed back again while blocking Elaina's slashes. Then, Elaina launched an attack at the cornered Irene.

~Sword Art: Destruction Slash - Wind Splitter~

Elaina slashed at Irene, but Irene managed to block the slash with her rapier. A deep, horizontal scratch suddenly appeared on the wall behind Irene. The scratch was created by Elaina's attack.

"That attack just now was quite dangerous. Were you planning to cut me open?" Irene asked.

"I knew you would be able to handle my attack, but I didn't expect you to block it so easily with your rapier," Elaina said.

Their weapons were still clashing, but Elaina suddenly deliberately made her sword graze against Irene's rapier so she could move to Irene's side. After successfully moving to Irene's side, she launched another attack.

~Blade Dance Technique: Rhythm of Sword Thrust~

Elaina then tried to stab Irene repeatedly. But Irene managed to block each stab one by one with her rapier. Elaina, shocked to see her attacks blocked by Irene, increased the speed of her attacks. But Irene was still able to block all of them. Then, Irene suddenly blocked Elaina's attack with such force that Elaina's sword rose upward, leaving Elaina's defenses exposed. Seeing this, Irene immediately launched an attack at Elaina.

~Advanced Glacier Strike~

The attack was aimed squarely at Elaina's body. However, before it could hit her, Elaina immediately used her previously raised sword to block Irene's attack. Elaina successfully blocked the attack. However, the attack was so powerful that it sent Elaina flying into the wall far behind her.

*BOOMMMMMMM

A loud crash rang out, and smoke appeared where Elaina had hit the wall. The watching first-years immediately fell silent. Meanwhile, Chloe, Leandra, Lily, and the others cheered for Irene.

"The Ice Princess is so powerful,"

"Has the Sword Princess lost?"

"There's no way Miss Elaina will lose that easily," the first-years exclaimed.

Suddenly, from behind the smoke that enveloped Elaina, a wind slash emerged. The wind slash aimed at Irene, but Irene immediately cut it in half with her rapier, which was now imbued with ice magic. Not just one wind slash, but other wind slashes continued to appear and aim at Irene. Irene continued to slash at the wind slashes that were aimed at her. Then the smoke that had enveloped Elaina's area slowly began to dissipate. Elaina continued to launch long-range wind slash attacks at Irene with her sword. Several wounds appeared on her body, though they were only minor.

~Wind Sword Art: Consecutive Wind Slashes~

Elaina continued to launch wind slashes at Irene. As time went on, the wind slashes grew faster. Even so, Irene was still able to continue cutting through the wind slashes that were aimed at her.

Moments later, because the wind slashes hadn't stopped, Irene decided to launch a powerful attack to destroy all the wind slashes at once and force Elaina to stop attacking with her long-range wind slashes. As a wind slash approached Irene, Irene prepared to launch a powerful slash.

~Ice Sword Art: Great Ice Slash~

Irene launched a massive ice slash at the approaching wind slash. The wind slash was immediately destroyed, as were the wind slashes behind it. The ice slash headed towards Elaina, destroying the incoming wind slashes. Elaina, watching this, was slightly surprised.

"'Ice Sword Art'? She's a rapier user herself. Why would she name her technique that?" Elaina thought.

Then, Elaina stopped her consecutive wind slashes and immediately prepared to launch another attack.

~Wind Sword Art: Great Wind Slash~

Elaina launched a massive wind slash at Irene's ice slash. The two slashes collided, creating a powerful explosion. The explosion also created an icy mist that obscured the arena, severely limiting visibility.

"Ice mist? It looks like it was created by the shattered ice," Elaina said.

"You better be careful of this ice mist, Sword Princess," said Irene, who was on the other side of the tournament arena.

Irene and Elaina couldn't see each other because their vision was blocked by the ice mist. But they could still sense each other's location.

"Careful for what?" Elaina asked.

Suddenly, Irene swiftly darted toward Elaina and launched an attack at her without her even realizing it.

~San Lucia Art: Freezing Air X-Slash~

Elaina was struck squarely in the torso, creating a large, frozen X-Slash. The X-Slash was so large, it exceeded her own size. After being slashed like that, Elaina dropped her sword. Meanwhile, her body remained standing because a large X formed from the arena floor to Elaina's body, thus supporting her body so that she didn't fall to the floor.

"I told you to be careful of this ice fog because it could cause your defeat," said Irene.

-To be continued