Ellia calmly entered the stage. Abel was already standing in his full body armor with a massive shield and the helmet on his back.

All of them looked like high-level armor, which wouldn’t be easy to penetrate. Compared to him, Ellia’s clothes looked light, as if she didn’t plan to have any defense at all.

Ellia only held a sword in her hand, as though it were the only thing that she needed.

Abel was glaring at her, his anger was much more apparent after the stunt she pulled.

Principal Fernandes took the liberty of monitoring this match by becoming the referee.

He stated, "The rule is simple. Any killing blow will be stopped by me, which will be the end of the match. Do your best during the fight."

"You can probably win against me if you train for a bit longer. However, it’s your mistake to challenge me now." Abel put on his helm and grabbed his shield.

He extended his right hand as a sword materialized.

Auric looked at the match with interest. Unfortunately, he couldn’t copy this light element yet since his light element hadn’t evolved. But registering this kind of power shouldn’t be a problem. He could simply use it to increase his power after his light element evolved.

"As expected, this is going to happen." Ran muttered, "This is going to be a hard battle for Ellia. After all, that man is known as the paladin. His fighting style relies on his defense, which is formed by stacking high-level equipment together."

"Does that mean his attack is weak?" Milinda, who happened to be sitting next to him, asked.

Ran shook his head. "Not at all. He is using the power of money for his defense, meaning he can channel all his power into his offense."

Auric thought it would actually work, especially for an heir of a wealthy family.

Ellia drew her sword while still holding her scabbard with her left hand.

"I don’t challenge people meaninglessly. If I challenge you, it’s because I have the confidence to win. Where does that confidence come from... hmm, I wonder." Ellia showed a mocking smile.

"!!!" Abel gnashed his teeth. She was indirectly saying that he was weak enough for her to think that she had a chance to win.

He swore to himself that he would show who was on top.

Principal Fernandes raised his hand. "You may begin."

Their energy immediately erupted. Abel chose to make the first move by pointing his sword at Ellia. This sword flared up and shot a beam.

The beam traveled so fast that it looked like Ellia wouldn’t have the chance to dodge it.

As though she had seen through this movement, she actually bent her knees before the laser even came out.

After the laser passed by her, Ellia ran toward Abel and swung her blade.

Bang!

With the length of her sword, the impact of a single swing was much stronger than that of a normal sword.

However, it wasn’t enough to push Abel back.

Abel blocked it with his shield effortlessly and swung his sword at her neck. Ellia spun her body so that the momentum would carry the scabbard on her left hand to hit the light blade.

"Hmph!" Abel harrumphed as the light blade released a massive amount of energy, pushing her to the left.

Her foot slid on the ground, but Ellia surprisingly managed to maintain her balance this way.

She then kicked the bottom part of the shield so that even if Abel stopped the kick, the shield would tilt downward.

Then, she completed her spin and brought the sword forward, hitting the top part of the shield. With the sudden momentum, Abel couldn’t control his shield’s tilt, causing the shield to be knocked back and hit his helm.

Abel took two steps back.

People were quite surprised by the result. Abel might be relying too much on his equipment, but he was definitely stronger physically. In addition, the energy in his body was much more vigorous and robust, so the boost he got from his energy should have been much higher than Ellia’s.

Yet he was the one who was pushed back first.

"You..." Abel’s eyes turned bloodshot as he stomped on the ground. A big, golden light appeared above them.

The light then shot a ray toward Ellia.

Ellia glanced up before the ray hit her, scorching the floor.

However, Ellia managed to use her Void Step at the last moment, teleporting behind him. She was already in a position to launch a powerful attack.

"I know you’re going to teleport. That’s why..." Abel snorted. The golden light suddenly shifted toward Ellia’s new position.

"!!!" The students were quite surprised. It turned out that this ability could change the direction. Ellia was in no position to dodge it, so the attack would hit.

Ellia, on the other hand, never intended to avoid it. When the golden light was about to reach her, she swung her blade, using it to meet with the golden light head-on.

The blade actually cut through it—or rather, her blade simply passed through the light.

Her sword strike flew forward to hit Abel, but the latter simply put his shield in front of him. Meanwhile, the light hit Ellia.

Yet Ellia actually created a portal above her head. The portal absorbed the light as another portal formed above Abel. This portal spewed out the light that was absorbed by the other portal.

Abel was quite startled, but he managed to see through it and put the shield above his head, blocking his own attack.

Little did he know, other students were watching in astonishment.

Ellia’s strike earlier didn’t produce only a single strike. It produced two strikes. The first one was a simple sword strike launched head-on, while the other one was produced after Ellia completed her swing.

Abel’s vision was blocked by his own light, so the sword strike that had circled around the arena couldn’t be seen. Then, Ellia produced a portal and used Abel’s own light to make him focus. As a result, the sword strike that came from the opposite direction could reach him undefended.

Bang!

"Gah!" Abel coughed, feeling the impact of the sword strike. If not for his armor, he would have been cut in two.

However, as one would expect from high-level armor, it barely scratched the surface.

When other students saw this impact, they couldn’t help but say, "You suck."

"If you hadn’t worn armor, you would have been defeated."

"You’re a disgrace!"

Students were embarrassed by Abel’s performance, who could only rely on armor, but the teachers were actually admiring Ellia’s method.

"She’s good. She released two types of attacks by taking advantage of the blind spot created by the opponent’s own attack."

"To know which battle technique to use and how it needs to be used is something that is hard for even a hardened warrior to do."

Seeing her attack was ineffective, Ellia charged forward. She kicked Abel’s legs to immobilize him, but Abel managed to put the shield in front of him. This time, he tilted it up so that when the kick landed, he could scoop her body up and launch her into the air.

Ellia didn’t resist it. She even spun her body in the air to stabilize it. People might be missing something, but there was a black dot that got kicked up farther into the sky. It was hidden because of the bright sun.

Abel gathered his power into his sword and released a massive beam so that Ellia couldn’t escape. He was also baiting Ellia to use her Void Step and seal that battle technique for a moment so that he could deal some damage to wash away his embarrassment from receiving the first hit.

It was an attack worthy of someone who possessed an adult-form avatar.

Auric saw this attack and realized that even with the full power of his lightning, he didn’t think he could block it.

So, Ellia’s best option was probably to use the Void Step.

Ellia once again surprised everyone’s expectations. If it were before she had the artificial heart, she would definitely use the Void Step to escape.

But Ellia’s eyes simply turned serious.

Principal Fernandes wondered why Ellia hadn’t dodged the attack yet, so he remained vigilant, ready to stop the match at any moment.

To everyone’s surprise, Ellia’s blade started emitting gray energy.

’She is taking it on?’ All the people who witnessed this battle couldn’t help but ask the same question.

Ellia took a deep breath. She could feel the energy moving smoothly in her body.

"Huuu..." Ellia swung her blade.

In everyone’s eyes, it looked like the swing left a single pinkish line in front of her. This pinkish line would produce enough energy to clash with Abel’s ability.

However, everyone widened their eyes the moment they saw the world suddenly split.

The world split, and everything in front of her blade also followed. The light on the right side slid upward, while the light on the left side slid downward.

Unable to reconnect, the light disappeared together with Ellia’s sword strike.

"!!!" Even the teachers couldn’t contain their shock. This wasn’t what a student at her level could actually use. Yet she somehow managed to use it. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Principal Fernandes felt a chill down his spine, thinking, ’This kind of talent... If only she didn’t have a unique element...’

Abel gasped. "How is that possible?!"

He hurriedly raised his shield as Ellia fell to the ground.

Before reaching his shield, Ellia put the scabbard forward as she struck the shield with both her sword and her scabbard.

Bam!

The impact was hard enough to pin Abel to the ground. She then landed smoothly on top of the shield and jumped away casually, as though she were playing around.

Abel was confused for a second, but suddenly, a small round thing dropped on top of his shield.

He couldn’t contain his shock when he realized what it was.

Boom!

Yes, it was a grenade. When Ellia was first launched into the sky, she actually took out a grenade from her Space Storage, pulled the pin, and tossed the grenade up. The reason she spun her body was not just to stabilize her form, but also to cover Abel’s vision.

Then, she timed the fight for noon so that anything coming from the sky would be covered by the sunlight.

Abel’s light element wasn’t related to the sun like Mr. Popo, so it didn’t matter when she picked a fight against him. So, she picked a time that would give her the most advantage.

Her plan succeeded. Unable to see the grenade until the last moment, Abel was knocked to the ground by the explosion.

Looking at her fight, the students felt like they were watching a maestro rather than a swordsman. She orchestrated this battle perfectly to the point where she had been the one leading the battle from the start.

Once she landed on the ground, Ellia turned around, planning to end this battle.

However, Abel managed to get back up quickly and put his shield in front.

"Holy Blast!"

Abel shouted in frustration. The light gathered on his shield and burst, smashing everything in front of it.

It was at this time Ellia used her Void Step to teleport behind him.

"!!!" Abel almost forgot the fact that she hadn’t used her Void Step yet. He hurriedly turned around, but Ellia managed to reach him faster and hit him hard on the back.

"Kh!" Abel gritted his teeth. The armor once again saved him from defeat. He focused on completing his spin so that he could put his shield in front.

Ellia, on the other hand, spun her body one more time to use the momentum to deal another strike. But her position was much more advantageous, and after seeing Abel’s stance, she slightly lowered her blade and hit the top part of the shield.

Unfortunately, that attack didn’t do much, so Ellia had to jump back.

All this time, Ellia was the only one who managed to land an attack. In fact, she would have won twice had it not been for his equipment.

The equipment was not something someone at her level could destroy, so unless Abel took it off on his own, Ellia wouldn’t be able to hurt Abel, who had covered his whole body with armor.

They couldn’t help but wonder how Ellia was going to win the match.