Ethan and the others, who were looking at the arena, frowned when the white mist had become thick enough, preventing anyone from seeing what was happening inside.
The Dueling Arena had this invisible shield that prevented any stray magic from hitting the spectators. This same shield was preventing the white mist from leaving the arena, blocking everyone’s vision.
Nicole stood on the right side of the Arena with her rapier pointed on the ground, her left hand was on her waist as she waited for Alice to finish the smokescreen that she was making.
Five minutes later, the silver-haired beauty’s cold voice reached her ears, making the pink-haired beauty smile.
“Now we fight for real,” Alice declared.
The mist was so thick that it was impossible to see anything beyond a meter, but that didn’t pose a problem to Nicole, who had been trained by her family to face many dangerous situations.
“I asked you this earlier, and I’ll ask you again,” Nicole stated. “Are you serious about this? Do you really want to become the representative for the exhibition match of the First Year?”
This time, Alice replied, making her intentions known.
“Yes.”
“Very well. May the person whose will is stronger win.”
Nicole then took a fighting stance, with the blade of the rapier mere inches away from her eyes as she cast a spell that would allow her to pinpoint Alice’s location within the dense white mist.
“Calor visionis.”
The pink-haired beauty’s eyes glowed faintly as she activated her heat vision spell. As someone who wielded the powers of Fire and Water, Nicole could use these two elements to her advantage.
Within the white mists, she saw a person giving off heat from their body.
However, she didn’t attack this person.
Due to the height, and size of the body, Nicole assumed that this person was none other than the referee to their battle, Professor Barrett.
She then turned around, scanning her surroundings, looking for any traces of Alice. But, to her surprise, she didn’t see any other heat signals in the surroundings, allowing her to pinpoint her opponent’s location.
Suddenly, Nicole’s sixth sense gave her a warning, but it was too late.
A two-meter tall Ice Ball suddenly materialized in front of her, sending her flying backwards.
The pink-haired beauty managed to regain her balance mid-air, and landed while skidding across the ground.
If not for the fact that she had been able to summon her round shield subconsciously, she might have received a serious injury from the sneak attack that came out of nowhere.
‘My left arm still feels numb,’ Nicole thought as she raised the round shield in front of her in a defensive stance. ‘This girl is really dangerous. I might have no choice but to use that…’
At that moment, a faint sound reached Nicole’s ears.
The first thing she did was to crouch on the ground, and used the shield to cover her body, just in time to block countless icicles that rained down on her from within the white mists.
While the spectators outside the arena weren’t able to see anything, they could hear tinkling sounds, like the sound of coins being shaken on a glass cup.
“I can’t see anything,” Chloe complained. “This mist is in the way.”
“Yes,” Ethan agreed.
He really wanted to see the two Witches fighting each other because it might give him an insight on how to defeat them, if they were to face him in the exhibition match.
Although he knew that his chances were slim, he still believed that if an opportunity presented itself, he would be able to snatch a win from them.
“Right now, Alice is forcing Nicole to fight defensively,” Luna, who was seated beside Ethan, commented.
“You can see them?” Ethan asked the angelic beauty beside him, which made the latter shake her head.
“I can vaguely sense the flow of magic in the arena,” Luna replied as she pointed at a location within the mist. “Someone is using offensive spells in that direction.”
Luna then pointed to the far right corner of the arena before continuing her explanation.
“The spells are hitting something in that direction, which is creating the tinkling sounds that we are hearing,” Luna explained. “Since the magic being used is Ice Magic, I am assuming that it is Alice who has the upper hand right now. But…”
“But what?” Ethan inquired.
“Nicole seems to be casting some magic, and I can feel it getting stronger with each passing second,” Luna answered with uncertainty. “If I have to make a guess, it is a spell that deals magical damage to a large area, or it can also be a…”
Luna wasn’t able to finish her words because a loud screech reverberated inside the arena. Although the white mist was blocking their view, they were able to see something red, and fast, moving within the mist.
Not long after, sounds of explosions, and hissing sounds spread in the surroundings as Alice found herself facing a four-meter-long Fire Snake that Nicole had summoned to hunt her down.
“Found you.” Nicole smirked as she pointed her rapier in the direction where her Fire Snake was currently at.
“Magna Fragor!”
A Great Fireball that was as big as a wrecking ball shot out from the tip of her Rapier, and flew straight towards her target.
Nicole planned to finish the battle as soon as possible because she didn’t want her opponent to know anything more about her trump cards.
However, just as she fired the Great Fireball, she felt something cold pressing against the back of her neck, making her body stiffen.
“I win,” Alice said in an icy tone.
Nicole, who thought that she had pinpointed her opponent’s location was caught completely by surprise, unable to react to the silver-haired beauty’s declaration.
“H-How?” Nicole asked in disbelief. “I didn’t even sense you coming at me from behind.”
“Do You really think I will answer that question?” Alice replied with the same icy tone.
The white mist slowly dispersed in the surroundings, allowing the spectators to see what was happening in the arena.
Soon, loud cheers erupted the moment they saw Alice pressing an icy dagger against the back of Nicole’s neck,
“““Alice!”””
“““Alice!”””
“““Alice!”””
The First Years of the Eques Manor started shouting Alice’s name, making it resound in the surroundings. Clearly, they were very happy with this result because they found Nicole to be too arrogant as of late.
“Winner, Alice Quinn!” Professor Barret declared, confirming Alice was the victor of the match.
As soon as her victory was announced, the silver-haired beauty dispersed the Ice Dagger in her hand and walked away without even turning back. 𝑂𝒱𝗅xt.𝒸𝑶𝓂
Nicole, who had been left in the arena, watched Alice’s back until she disappeared in the distance.
If one were to look closely, the corner of her lips was raised ever so slightly, hiding a smile from the crowd.
“I didn’t know that the Asta Family trained their daughters to become actresses,” Professor Barret said as he appeared beside the pink-haired beauty, having used a magic similar to teleportation magic. “When the Headmaster told me that there were many interesting First Years this year, I didn’t believe him at first. But seeing the two of you fight, I guess he was telling the truth.”
Professor Barret gave Nicole a curt nod before disappearing from the arena. His job was finished, so he had no intention of staying any longer.
As Nicole started to leave the arena, she glanced in Ethan’s direction and gave the blue-haired boy a wink.
Ethan was surprised because he could vaguely sense that Nicole was in a good mood. Also, he noticed that the pink-haired beauty didn’t have the expression or stance of someone who had just lost an important duel in her life.
