Seeing that her attacks weren't landing, Kira decided to try a different approach. She rushed forward at full speed. She wasn't a close-quarters fighter, but she had something up her sleeve.

When she reached halfway, she blasted the ground beneath her with a massive surge of ice pressure, launching herself into the air. From above, she unleashed a barrage of ice lances toward Arith. If attacking head-on didn't work, then she would try from above, and then from every possible angle.

Arith looked up as the lances came raining down. She immediately pushed backward, dodging each one as they slammed into the ground and exploded into shards of ice.

Seeing this, Kira concluded that attacking from above had a better chance of working, since Arith chose to dodge instead of deflect. With that information in mind, she lunged forward again, her eyes locked onto Arith, who remained calm, a faint smile still on her face.

Kira launched herself even higher into the air this time. She pointed both hands downward.

"Arghhh!"

She let out a growl as twenty ice lances formed in the air, all primed and ready. She released them at once, and they came crashing down like missiles, all aimed at Arith.

Arith kicked off the ground and began retreating immediately. The ice lances stabbed into the floor, but none managed to hit her.

Using the moment Arith was distracted, Kira, still airborne, used her compressed ice again to propel herself forward, heading straight toward Arith.

When she got close, she clasped both hands together, and a massive ice lance formed in front of her.

"Boom."

She unleashed the attack from above. She was certain it hit. For a moment, Kira truly believed she had done it.

But the next instant, the ice lance was deflected, shooting off to the side and slamming into the wall. Arith's eyes shimmered briefly as the attack was repelled.

Kira landed on the ground, completely shaken. She had thought that attack would surely end it.

Arith looked at her and smiled.

"That was pretty innovative," she said. "Noticing that I couldn't deflect attacks from above and taking advantage of it."

She paused before continuing calmly.

"But sadly, it was all bait. I wanted to see how you'd adapt, so I made it obvious that I couldn't block from there. In reality, I can block from all three hundred and sixty degrees."

Kira got back on her feet, staring at Arith as she tried to think of a way through. She didn't even know what ability Arith had, or what class it belonged to, only that something was stopping her attacks.

"Let me help you out," Arith said. "My class is an S-tier mage with a space ability. So the reason I can block your attacks is space-related."

"Space, huh?" Aren muttered from the side, resting his chin on his hand. "If she's a space mage, then the deflection is probably some kind of spatial dome or barrier."

"That's a pretty close guess," Legion said. "Sadly, it's far more sophisticated than that, and yet very simple."

He turned his attention back to the fight.

"Breaking through that defense only takes one crucial move. Let's see if Kira can figure it out."

Since my attacks aren't landing because of her defense, then I should try something else, Kira thought. I need to throw her off balance.

She lifted her foot and stomped hard.

A trail of foot-high ice shot across the floor, racing toward Arith.

Arith reacted instantly, leaping backward to dodge it. But the moment her feet touched the ground, another ice trail followed. This one clipped her foot, nearly tripping her as she stumbled back.

Kira seized the opening and fired three ice lances in rapid succession.

They sliced through the air, and this time, they weren't blocked.

When Arith looked up, they were already right in front of her.

She reacted immediately. A blood-red, swirling portal opened beneath her feet, and she sank into it as the attacks flew overhead and smashed into the wall behind.

Another portal opened above, and Arith dropped out of it unharmed.

"I didn't think I'd need to even use another spell to deal with you. You are pretty smart. You might lack the explosive power people would want in battles, but you make up for that with on-your-feet planning," Arith said.

"That being said, I'm ending this now," she said, and then charged forward, moving very fast. Kira had just a moment to react, so she immediately attacked with an ice lance, but that was a bad idea, as Arith dodged it.

And this was quite ironic, considering the fact that Arith had just praised Kira for being able to think on her feet, only for her to make a panicked decision the next moment. It showed that despite having the smarts for it, she was still a young kid who was heavily inexperienced and could get flustered.

Before she could make another attack, Arith was already right in front of her, coming in with a punch right to the chest.

Crack!

The fist slammed against a thin layer of ice, stopping the blow and shattering, Kira's final move. Despite being a bit stunned by the ice, Arith moved fast after that, attacking with a kick right to the side of the head, stopping only an inch from Kira, with only the wind from the attack hitting her.

"You lose," Arith said calmly, and dropped her leg.

Kira stumbled back after that, her heart rate higher. If that kick had landed, she would have for sure lost consciousness.

"You did pretty well, to be honest. I didn't think you'd last that long," Arith said with a smile.

"Look at who is smiling now. Thought you hated work," Lmace said, and Arith immediately pouted.

"I still don't like it, but at least she made it worth it," Arith replied.

Kira walked away from the training ground to the side, and next, Aiden walked forward. Stepping onto the training ground, his breathing was calm. He clutched his sword confidently, and when he got there, he pulled it out and immediately got into his stance.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.