"Theo!" Alea shouted as she stomped the ground and charged forward.
As someone responsible for stopping Alea, Sihan took one step to the right and made a small swing to block her off completely.
If it were in the real world, Sihan obviously had no chance of stopping her. However, the Virtual World was different. Working in the same condition and having the same level, Sihan completely read her movement and matched it to the very detail, preventing her from taking another step forward.
Unfortunately for him, Alea's eyes caught his plan. She halted her movement, struck Sihan's sword, and used the force from his swing to help her spin her body.
'Spin?!' Sihan widened his eyes in surprise, looking at Alea moving in the opposite direction.
This was the same move she pulled during the first fight when Alea showed her fighting style to Theo. However, Sihan was not a monster. He had enough reaction speed to take one deep step to the ground and launched himself in the opposite direction, pushing her to the side with her shield. "If our levels were not the same, you might have passed me just now… Unfortunately for you…"
"Kh!" Alea clenched her teeth as she kept moving with small steps so as not to fall because of the force. As someone who didn't know to give up, Alea kept pushing forward until she managed to do it.
Feeling the push got lighter, Sihan hurriedly spun his body and sent another swing toward her.
The swing threw her off as it came from her blindspot and appeared in her vision right before it hit her.
Alea managed to block the sword, but the force also pushed her a few steps back.
Sihan released his killing intent and said with a cold tone. "…You're not going anywhere."
"…" Alea frowned while glancing back and forth between Sihan and Theo, worrying the latter. She just hoped Theo was able to fight against her best friend… At least, until she killed this Sihan who didn't want to budge.
Hontar also had a similar situation with Phyrill.
Phyrill actually allowed Hontar to help Theo, but the opening was none other than the traps he devised. The moment he slipped past him and helped Theo, it was the time for Phyrill to deliver the killing blow. Hence, Hontar stopped his motion and stayed where he was.
While those two remained in their position, Theo had risen from the ground, staring at Ellen with squinted eyes. He recounted the earlier attack before sighing.
"Oh?! You're not coming?" Ellen remained calm and offered him a gentle smile. Her eyes slightly widened, but they were still the same uninterested eyes. She simply said, "Since you managed to surprise me, I will show you something amazing in this fight. Also, please don't underestimate magicians by attacking them without a plan.
"Nowadays, Magician is someone who wields magic while maintaining their own life, not the same as magic throwers in the past."
Theo frowned, understanding what she said. She indirectly implied that magicians needed to be able to protect themselves by learning Martial Arts.
Coupled with their magic, they were like an impenetrable fortress. And this was the first time Theo fought a full-fledged magician unlike Shella in the past.
He took a deep breath and raised his spear. His haste was still in motion, so he planned to use it to the utmost limit while searching for an opening.
Ellen raised her staff and summoned three palm-sized translucent blue ice lotuses above his head.
"Bloom, Ice Lotus."
"!!!" Theo once again realized that she had been buying time this whole time. Because of the position, Theo took one big step backward and watched the lotuses hit the ground, blooming. They literally expanded.
With the width of two people for each lotus and the height of ten feet, Theo needed to go around the lotuses to charge toward Ellen. Yet, when he was about to move to the side, he heard Hontar calling for his name.
"Theo! Right!"
"!!!" Theo turned around and saw Phyrill's blade almost reach him. Luckily, he held his spear on the right, so he planted the spear on the ground and stopped the attack with the handle.
The force completely died because the ground acted as his second hand, but the combination attack had yet to end.
Five crystals, the size of a human head, revolved on top of Ellen's head.
When she waved her hand to the side, the five crystals released their ice power straight toward Theo.
The latter quickly moved to the side and hid behind the ice lotuses, making them all slip past him. He then decided to go in the opposite direction, running away from Phyrill.
Seeing Theo move around the lotuses, Ellen smiled and looked at him with a calm, composed look.
In Theo's mind, he already counted the magic she used.
With the additional two, there was only one magic left she could use before waiting for a while to use it again. Hence, he tried to reach her as quickly as possible.
'I can cover the distance between us within three seconds. As long as I look out for her last magic, I should be fine.' Theo frowned and kept running.
Not wanting Theo to reach her, she summoned four crystal-shaped glowing blue lights, two on the right side and two on the left side.
"Ice Star."
The four lights flew straight to Theo in a more spread way, hoping one of them would hit him.
But Theo already predicted such an attack would come and stomped the ground with his right foot before turning his body to the left. With force he accumulated in that right foot, he launched himself to the side, avoiding those blue lights.
'As expected! Everything is according to the plan.' Theo couldn't help but make a small smile as there was nothing between them anymore. Even if she had some Martial Arts, he had his own confidence he could beat her in close combat. 'I will kill her.'
Sadly, Theo himself might be pretty good in a fight, yet, there was one thing that differentiated the first-year student and third-year student.
Trick? He indeed managed to defeat Laust and won the last match, but all of them were still first-year students. Tricks alone wouldn't be able to let him go far in battle. And this was the reason why his Master wanted him to seal the Clone and Magic Bullet again.
Only by overcoming this ordeal could Theo become even stronger. And the difference between them was…
"Wait, Theo! Stop!"