"Are you two ready?" Miss Nora asked.

  "Ready," said Irene and Senior Gretta.

  "Then, the match begins," said Miss Nora.

  Miss Nora stepped to the edge of the arena.

  ~San Lucia Art: Snow Blade Dance Technique~

  The match had just begun, but Irene immediately became serious, using her family technique. Six rapiers made of ice appeared and moved around her. After that, Irene quickly moved towards Senior Gretta. Once close to Senior Gretta, Irene prepared to attack.

  ~Glacier Strike~

  Irene attacked Senior Gretta with her rapier, but Senior Gretta managed to block it with just her feet.

  "What?!?!," said Irene, slightly surprised.

  "That was quite a dangerous attack, Irene. My legs were even shaking a little while blocking it," said Senior Gretta.

  As Irene's rapier and Gretta's upper leg clashed, the ice rapiers surrounding Irene began to attack senior Gretta. Senior Gretta then kicked Irene's rapier, sending her flying several meters back. Then, senior ?Gretta dodged the ice rapier attacks.

  Seeing senior Gretta's focus on dodging the ice rapiers, Irene immediately approached senior ?Gretta to attack her again. But senior Gretta sensed this and prepared to attack. Senior ?Gretta took a kicking stance, even though Irene was still quite far away. But senior Gretta continued her kick, hitting the air.

  ~Great Wind Slash~

  After she kicked the air, a large wind slash emerged from her kick. The wind slash headed towards Irene. Irene was slightly surprised, but she immediately prepared to counterattack to block the wind slash.

  ~Ice Sword Art: Ice Great Slash~

  Irene launched an ice slash at the wind slash. The two slashes collided, finally exploding. The explosion from the collision was powerful enough to fill the arena with smoke. Shortly after, the smoke that had filled the tournament arena dissipated.

  When the smoke cleared, Irene was surprised to find that senior Gretta was nowhere to be seen. She looked everywhere but still couldn't find senior Gretta. Suddenly, Irene sensed an aura approaching her. She immediately took a defensive stance with her rapier. Sure enough, Irene was suddenly pushed back, having just been attacked by an invisible figure. Fortunately, the attack was blocked by her rapier.

  Then, the invisible figure revealed itself. It turned out to be senior Gretta.

  "I didn't expect you to block my attack, Irene. I've already made myself invisible with ~Stealth Magic~," Gretta senior said.

  Seeing Senior Gretta reveal herself, Irene immediately attacked her using the ice rapiers surrounding her. Just as the ice rapiers were about to strike Senior Gretta, Senior Gretta turned invisible. After Senior Gretta became invisible, the ice rapiers stopped attacking and circled back around Irene.

  "I heard that your ice rapier technique can attack enemies directly when they're near you, but it seems that doesn't work for invisible enemies, because your ice rapiers are just standing still even though I'm already near you," said Senior Gretta, who was still invisible.

  Senior Gretta immediately attacked Irene again, but Irene managed to block her attack again this time. Even so, Senior Gretta continued to attack Irene relentlessly. Although Irene could sense Senior Gretta's presence, she couldn't directly see her aura. As a result, she couldn't predict the direction of Senior Gretta's attacks.

  Irene continued to be pushed back by Senior Gretta's attacks.

  Stolen story; please report.

  When Senior Gretta attacked Irene again, Irene was hit by the attack, but Irene immediately used her magic on Senior Gretta.

  ~Ice Magic: Ice Vapor~

  Irene exhaled a kind of ice vapor from her mouth. The vapor flew forward and struck Senior Gretta, who had just attacked Irene.

  "What is this?" asked Senior Gretta, confused.

  Most of the ice vapor Irene exhaled had dissipated, and some of it enveloped Senior Gretta, who was currently invisible. Although Senior Gretta was invisible, the ice vapor surrounding her indirectly made Senior Gretta's form visible.

  Suddenly, Irene charged towards Senior Gretta and attacked her with her rapier.

  ~Glacier Strike~

  Senior Gretta sensed this and used her legs to block Irene's attack. Irene's rapier and Senior Gretta's legs collided.

  The ice rapiers surrounding Irene began attacking Senior Gretta.

  Senior Gretta increased the strength in her legs and pushed Irene far back as her rapier and Senior Gretta's legs collided. Senior Gretta then began to engage the attacking ice rapiers. Senior Gretta dodged and attacked the ice rapiers with her legs. Two of the six ice rapiers were shattered by Senior Gretta's attacks.

  Irene, seeing Senior Gretta busy dealing with her ice rapiers, immediately moved back toward Senior Gretta.

  ~Frozen Rapier~

  Then Irene launched an attack on Senior Gretta.

  ~San Lucia Art: Freezing Air Slash~

  Senior Gretta realized Irene was about to attack her and immediately used her legs to block the attack. Irene's rapier and Senior Gretta's legs clashed again, but Irene now had the upper hand.

  Senior Gretta was slowly pushed back until she was finally slammed into the arena wall behind her.

  *BOOMM

  A collision occurred and a cloud of smoke rose. Not long after, the smoke began to clear. Senior Gretta was seen leaning against the arena wall, ice chunks stuck to her. Despite her condition, Senior Gretta was still able to speak.

  "You're quite strong, Irene, to be able to make me like this. But unfortunately, the one you're fighting this time isn't my true form," Senior Gretta said.

  Suddenly, Senior Gretta turned into mist and slowly disappeared.

  "What?!" Irene said, looking shocked.

  Suddenly, Senior Gretta, who had been invisible, attacked the shocked Irene. Senior Gretta kicked Irene in the stomach, causing a small amount of blood to spill from her mouth. But as she was kicked, Irene quickly grabbed her rapier and swung it at Senior Gretta. The rapier struck Senior Gretta's body, injuring her. After that, Irene was thrown against the arena wall by Senior Gretta's kick.

  *BOOMMMMM

  A collision occurred, and the smoke reappeared. Senior Gretta stared at the spot where Irene had hit the arena wall.

  "I didn't expect you to have such quick reflexes that you could injure me while I was attacking you," said Senior Gretta, holding her injured body from Irene's rapier.

  The smoke hadn't yet dissipated, but Irene had already walked out of the smoke. It was obvious she had sustained quite a few injuries.

  "I'd forgotten about you being able to create clones too, Senior. That's why I was a little surprised. But seeing you injured now means you're not a clone, right?" Irene asked.

  "Yes, that's right. I didn't expect you to injure me like this. If I'd known it would be like this, I should have used a clone to attack you," Senior Gretta said.

  "Hmm, there's something I'm curious about. You've been attacking me with your feet all this time, but you've never used your sword, Senior. You carry a sword at your waist, or is it just for show?" Irene asked.

  "Ah, this, of course it's not for show. I haven't attacked you with my sword yet because I usually use it when using my signature magic," said Gretta's senior.

  "I see," said Irene.

  "Hmm, but since ~Stealth Magic~ is no longer useful against you, it looks like I'll have to use my signature magic," said senior Gretta.

  Then, senior Gretta clapped her hands once and joined her palms as if meditating.

  ~Mist Magic: Misty Area~

  Suddenly, a thick fog appeared in the tournament arena, filling it. Visibility was limited by the fog.

  "Mist magic, huh? It really is troublesome magic," said Irene.

  Irene was seen holding her rapier in case of a sudden attack.

  "You seem very alert right now, Irene. Well, that's understandable, since your vision is limited, so you have to be extra vigilant to avoid being attacked," said a voice, which belonged to senior Gretta.

  Because the arena was currently filled with fog, Irene couldn't tell where Senior Gretta was, all she could hear was her voice.

  "Actually, I could have used this magic right away at the start of our match, but I didn't. Do you know why?" Senior Gretta asked.

  Irene remained silent and didn't answer the question.

  "You don't know, huh? Okay, since you don't know, I'll tell you the answer. The reason I didn't use this magic at the start of the match was..." Senior Gretta said.

  Suddenly, Senior Gretta darted toward Irene, wielding her sword.

  ~Mist Sword Art : Dozens of Death Mist Slashes~

  Senior Gretta slashed at Irene with her sword. Irene was hit in the stomach. However, Irene was also hit in the arm, cheek, chest, leg, and other parts. Almost all of her body was slashed and injured. After taking numerous slashes, Irene collapsed to the floor, her body now covered in slash wounds.

  "........Even though I said before that I wouldn't be gentle with you, I still didn't use this magic at the start of the match because I was worried that you would lose right away," said Gretta's senior.

  -To be continued