"If he has these soldiers, why hasn't he used them in the previous match?" Ellen muttered while observing Ignazio before finding his nose started bleeding. "!!!"
Despite Ignazio's poker face, Ellen understood the reason he participated in this match instead of Enrica. This power could only be controlled for a period of time. It was proven when blood flowed out of his mouth. The skill must have put a huge toll on his mind.
With how cunning Theo was, Ignazio must have had no confidence in settling the fight within that time. Hence, Ellen changed her strategy and said, "Sihan, he can't control this for long. We will buy enough time until he collapses."
Sihan glanced at Ignazio and nodded before saying, "On your left."
Ellen squinted her eyes and pointed her index finger to the left.
"Frost Nova."
"Tch." Alys clicked her tongue because she was going around to attack them from behind. As long as they eliminated one of them, the battle would become one-sided.
"Bad girl." Alys harrumphed and summoned burning charcoal, sending it to Ellen's Frost Nova.
The two clashed as the fire evaporated the ice but ended up frozen from the residual power of the Frost Nova.
Ellen raised her staff and tapped the ground twice with her staff.
The ground began to freeze, starting from her staff, spreading to half of the arena.
"Freezing World."
With this slippery ice, the armors might slip and be left unguarded.
Alys needed to stop for a moment before Ignazio provided her with cover fire.
The ten archers changed their arrows into fire arrows and shot the ground near Ellen and Alys, melting the ice floor in an instant.
"…" Ellen wanted to use another skill, but something big happened.
Ignazio suddenly raised his sword and a horse that seemed to be thirty percent taller than a normal horse or those his cavalries rode on emerged from his shadow. The horse had black skin and a solemn look.
The horse stared at Ellen as if understanding the owner's target.
"There are two generals on the battlefield. The first is someone who stays in the rear while giving instruction so as to provide some sort of relief to their soldiers. The second is a general who rides his horse in front of everyone so as to inspire their soldiers." Ignazio said with an aloof expression as he raised his sword.
His horse's front legs jumped while letting out a cry. That cry was the signal for the cavalries to regroup with him.
As the cavalries were about to arrive, Ignazio gently kicked the horse and started riding forward, targeting Ellen. "And I am the latter."
Ellen placed her hand on the ground. "Ice Wave."
Ice Crystals appeared in a fan-shaped area as they planned to kill Ignazio and his cavalry.
"Bad—" Alys tried to stop her skill, but Sihan had appeared in front of them, waving his sword. Alys ended up taking a huge leap to the side, retreating from Sihan's range.
However, she had done enough for the team since Sihan wouldn't have time to help Ellen.
Sihan believed in Ellen's Ice Wave, but Ignazio was one step ahead. As one would expect of the God of War, the moment the Ice Wave arrived before his eyes, the scattered Infantry regrouped and formed a formation to stop the Ice Wave.
"!!!" Ellen widened her eyes when she saw a yellow screen appearing in front of her Ice Wave and prevented any more Ice Crystals from being born.
The rest that struck the shield were shattered into pieces, so her Ice Wave had officially stopped.
At the same time, Ignazio moved to the side and charged at her from the other side, where Sihan couldn't interfere.
Even so, Sihan quickly leaped to Ellen. As long as she retreated a little bit, he should be able to stop the cavalry.
Unfortunately for him, ten arrows flew straight at his head. Sihan raised his shield to block it, but he soon realized the arrows hit one spot, creating enough inertia force for him to flip.
'Kh. I was careless.' Sihan gritted his teeth before finding a present box above his head.
"Bad boy needs to be punished. It's another surprise!"
Alys' voice echoed in his ears before the present box exploded instead of releasing some toys or confetti.
Boom.
Meanwhile, Ellen released her Ice Star to stop Ignazio, but the latter swept every single of them in one stroke. He charged through her defense and pointed his sword at her neck.
With the smoke produced by the explosion had been brushed by the wind, it revealed Sihan protected by a translucent white sphere, protecting him from any harm.
As a Mythical Rank Expert, Diego obviously had enough speed to react to any of their movements. This was also the reason why the competition was for students instead of old men like him.
He just showed a bit of assurance to everyone in this competition that no one would be critically hurt under his watch.
"Sihan has taken a direct hit. The explosion may cause him severe injury, so as to prevent any of it, I use my right as the referee and declare that he is unable to fight anymore." Diego then took a glance at Ellen's condition and continued.
"Italy wins!" Diego announced with an indifferent look.
Ignazio, for the first time, showed a strong side of him in this competition and raised his hand up high as if he had just won the competition.
He simply wanted to show that the second battle was important to them. No one would know the outcome of the third battle, so he wanted them to know that their team had done their best to fight Thersland. Theo was the one screwing everything up.
Ignazio wiped the blood on his mouth, looked at Ellen and said with a cold tone. "Tell Theodore this… Don't think you have won. Defeating us is harder than you think."
Without waiting for her response, Ignazio turned around and left the arena, showing a cool and composed look.
Ellen, on the other hand, wondered what he meant by those words. Only Theo might know about it, so she thought there was no harm in relaying his message.