"Lightning attribute?"
Arcs of golden electricity flashed around Noah.
Lightning encircled him like loyal servants awaiting orders!
He looked across the arena at Shizuku Kurogane, his gauntleted hands poised to act.
Right at that moment, Shizuku moved.
She hurled two jagged ice crystals, aiming directly at Noah's head.
Facing the ice crystals mid-flight, Noah manipulated his ambient lightning, striking them down with two bolts of thunder.
Immediately after the flash, a water curtain rose from the ground before her.
"Water Lotus!"
The initial ice spears were merely a feint, intended to make Noah overlook the defensive technique she had set up beneath her feet.
"Wow! Contestant Lorelei has instantly summoned a water barrier! But why choose such a weak defensive tactic against an enemy who is using the lightning attribute?!" Kagami shouted from the commentator's booth.
Down in the arena, Noah gathered lightning in his hand, forming a compressed spear of pure thunder.
As he hurled the spear, the thunder striking the water curtain twisted and dissipated into the air!
"I see."
Noah murmured, then dispersed the rest of the lightning hovering around him.
Seeing this up in the booth, Nene Saikyo smiled and said into her microphone, "Ultra-pure water does not conduct electricity, Kagami. That little girl's magic control is impressive."
High-level water mages can generate non-conductive, ultra-pure water through precise molecular control, overcoming their natural weakness to lightning.
However, this isn't a long-term solution, as constantly filtering and creating ultra-pure water mid-battle requires strong magic control and consumes immense energy.
To generate ultra-pure water without fatigue, one needs not only sufficient magic control but also ample magical power.
Shizuku, with her B-Rank magical power, cannot match monsters like Stella in this war of attrition.
Noah was aware of this loophole, but bombarding the opponent's barrier with lightning wasn't the most energy-efficient way to break through.
Moreover, while maintaining the ultra-pure water curtain, Shizuku's ranged attacks wouldn't stop.
"Water Prison Orb!"
Leaping up from behind her barrier, Shizuku hurled two pressurized water orbs.
These were sticky water bullets designed to attack the face and upper torso.
Once hit, the target would be unable to break free, suffocating inside the sphere of water.
Hence the name.
As the Water Prison Orbs approached, Noah didn't dodge. He simply reached out and tapped the surface of the flying water as if knocking on a door.
In an instant, the two Water Prison Orbs froze into two heavy lumps of ice, falling to the stadium floor and shattering into ice dust.
"Contestant Noah actually used the ice attribute to counter the Lorelei's signature move! Truly worthy of being an Ability user who can manipulate all elements!"
Noah glanced at the ice dust on the ground, his gaze flickering.
He didn't want to use the same defensive method again.
Water mages can freeze water into ice, or melt ice back into water through magical control. If he kept freezing her attacks, the resulting puddles in the arena would gradually become the water mage's domain.
Compared to him, who can only manipulate elements within a five-meter radius via Spell-Weaver, Shizuku, who can control ambient water across the entire field, would have a massive advantage in such a flooded environment.
Doing so would be like fighting the opponent in their own territory!
Swish! Swish! Swish!
From the water curtain, streams of pressurized water whipped toward him like razor-lashes.
Noah summoned a fireball with one hand, gathering all the ambient fire elements within five meters in a single breath.
With a wave of his hand, he transformed the concentrated flames into a sea of fire, igniting the center of the arena.
Fire and water collided, producing the hissing sound of boiling steam.
As the flames showed signs of weakening against the water, Noah made his move again.
"Next is wind."
He stirred up a localized storm, using a cyclone to amplify the flames' oxygen intake.
A firestorm rose from the arena floor like a torch, radiating blistering heat.
Even the stray droplets of water, heated to the point of boiling, splashed onto the protective glass of the spectator stands, eliciting shocked cries of "It's hot! So hot!"
Shizuku, being the closest to the blast, felt the scenery before her blur from the heat haze.
"Being able to use two clashing attributes at once is unfair," the girl sighed before taking action once more.
"Freeze! Freezing Dust Illusion!"
As her boiling water curtain dissipated, Shizuku froze the remaining puddles on the ground into a jagged sheet of ice.
Then, in one breath, she condensed the ice into an enormous spike and hurled it directly into the center of the firestorm.
Infused with a massive amount of B-Rank magical power, the ice spike was no longer as fragile as before and crashed through, extinguishing the core of the firestorm.
However, the ice spike itself was immediately consumed by the ambient heat, melting into countless droplets of water suspended in the steam.
Seeing this, Noah's pupils contracted.
Sure enough, the next moment, the countless suspended droplets elongated, transforming into long water needles.
"You might think of using an earthen wall for defense here, Noah-kun! But right now, this frozen ground is under my control!"
Shizuku seemed to have anticipated his step.
She unleashed a wave of cold air into the steam, freezing the suspended water droplets into countless ice needles.
"It is over!"
A thousand ice needles shot forth simultaneously, blanketing Noah's position.
"Oh my! Contestant Noah is in a crisis! Could it be that the match will end here?!" Kagami observed Noah in the arena with wide eyes.
Noah didn't retreat.
He plunged his gauntleted hand into the icy ground beneath him, and a blinding blue light erupted from his palm.
The next moment, a massive glacier was uprooted from the earth, shattering the thousand ice needles condensed in mid-air and extending up to a terrifying height.
Thanks to Shizuku constantly flooding the arena, the amount of water elements Noah could manipulate via Spell-Weaver had increased.
Now, he released it all at once, creating something truly substantial.
This could no longer be called an ice spike. It was an iceberg.
The iceberg, radiating an astonishing cold, made the watching students feel what it truly meant to experience both fire and ice in a single minute.
The arena, which had been heated to the point of sweating due to the firestorm just moments before, instantly turned freezing cold.
Students in short sleeves shivered uncontrollably in the stands.
"Hey, hey, hey! Whats going on down there?! If this escalation continues, he will end up tearing down my training ground one day!" Kurono Shinguuji patted her forehead in the VIP box, gazing up at the towering iceberg with concern.
Down below, Noah placed his hand against the iceberg and drew out an ice greatsword from its surface.
He could sense that his opponent was approaching through the mist.
Swish!
An ice blade shot toward his neck as Noah dodged it by slightly lowering his head.
At the same time, hostile magical reactions came from four different directions simultaneously.
Noah's pupils contracted slightly as he infused more magic power and wind elements into the ice sword in his hand.
He spin in place, wielding the enlarged ice greatsword like a scythe.
The greatsword swept in a full circle, bisecting all four Shizuku Kuroganes lunging at him in mid-air!
That's right, four of them!
Looking at the splashing water droplets falling from the severed halves, Noah understood the trick.
They were water clones.
Although they were mere clones, not only did they look almost identical to the original, but their attack power was the same, and their martial movements were agile.
Shizuku Kurogane was undoubtedly the strongest water mage Noah had ever seen.
'The main body isn't here.'
Suddenly, Noah sensed an overwhelming surge of magical power from above.
With this level of magical energy, there was no doubt his opponent was using her full strength.
He realized something and widened his eyes, looking up toward the peak of the iceberg he had just created.
The next moment, a huge crack appeared on the peak of the iceberg, and a roaring torrent of pressurized water gushed out from within.
"Noah-kun, let me thank you! This is my gratitude for helping me complete this!"
Suspended high in the air by the raging water current, Shizuku Kurogane looked confident.
Because her ultimate domain was now established!