Back to the arena.

  "Are you two ready?" asked Miss Nora.

  "Ready," said Irene and Nadine.

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

  Miss ?Nora immediately stepped to the edge of the arena.

  Irene and Nadine prepared to attack. Nadine immediately crafted a bullet and loaded it into her rifle, but Irene quickly darted towards Nadine.

  ~Glacier Strike~

  Irene immediately attacked Nadine, but Nadine easily dodged the attack. After dodging, Nadine fired her rifle at Irene.

  Irene immediately swung her rapier at the bullet to block it. However, when her rapier made contact with the bullet, it exploded, creating a powerful ice explosion. Ice vapor erupted from the explosion, but Irene quickly waved her rapier to dissipate it. Irene was seen to have sustained a wound on her right hand from the explosion.

  "Explosive bullets? Luckily, I only suffered minor injuries from the explosion. I guess I'll have to dodge them instead of blocking them with my rapier, because I don't know what kind of bullet Nadine will use next. I don't want to take any chances," Irene thought.

  "I thought you'd at least be seriously injured by the explosion, Irene, but it turns out you only sustained minor injuries. Looks like I'll have to use bullets with a high explosive impact," Nadine said.

  Nadine began firing her rifle again at Irene, but Irene managed to dodge the shots as she moved toward her senior.

  "It seems pointless to fire these bullets directly at Irene, since Irene will just dodge them. In that case..." Nadine thought.

  Nadine aimed her rifle at the arena floor where Irene was about to pass. As Irene approached the arena floor, she immediately fired her rifle at it.

  ~Great Frozen Explosion Bullet~

  The bullet hit the arena floor, causing a large ice explosion. The ice blast struck Irene squarely, as she was within its range and had no time to dodge. A cloud of ice mist immediately erupted from the arena due to the explosion. A moment later, a large ice slash emerged from within the ice mist, aimed at Nadine. Nadine immediately moved to the side to avoid the slash. The slash also caused the ice mist surrounding the arena to dissipate. As the ice mist dissipated, Irene was seen preparing to launch a follow-up attack on Nadine, who was already evading the slash.

  ~Glacier Thrust~

  Irene launched a long-range thrusting attack. Nadine, who had just realized Irene's follow-up attack, had no time to dodge and was struck squarely. Nadine slammed into the arena wall behind her. Smoke appeared where she had hit the wall.

  Meanwhile, after Irene launched her attack, it was clear that she had a new wound on her body, likely from the previous ice blast.

  A few moments later, the smoke that had appeared in Nadine's area disappeared. Nadine stood, her body slightly injured, staring at Irene.

  "I knew that attack just now wasn't enough to defeat you, Nadine. Looks like I have to get serious from now on," Irene said.

  ~San Lucia Art : Snow Blade Dance Technique~

  Irene created six ice rapiers that floated around her body. After that, Irene pointed one hand to touch the arena floor.

  ~Ice Magic: Full Frost~

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  In an instant, the arena floor froze into ice.

  Then Irene immediately moved towards Nadine.

  ~Ice Skating~

  She moved by skating on the frozen rink. Irene glided quickly towards Nadine. However, before Irene could reach Nadine, Nadine immediately pointed both hands at the icy floor.

  ~O cold ice, fill this arena with icy chunks~

  ~Ice Magic: Field of Ice Floes~

  Suddenly, chunks of ice appeared on the arena. A block of ice appeared in front of Irene, blocking her from approaching her senior, Nadine. Furthermore, a block of ice appeared on the floor where Irene was standing, forcing her to retreat to avoid being hit.

  Then, a bullet suddenly shot toward her. Irene swiftly dodged it.

  "Where did that bullet come from? Nadine shouldn't have been able to shoot me directly, as her view was blocked by these blocks of ice. I can't even see her. Or maybe...," Irene thought.

  The bullet Irene dodged immediately bounced back toward her after hitting the ice block behind her. Irene realized this and immediately dodged the ricocheting bullet.

  "...I see. Since the bullet can ricochet, Nadine doesn't need to see my position to fire it. She just randomly shoots the ice blocks and lets them ricochet until they finally hit me," Irene thought.

  Then, suddenly, another bullet appeared, heading toward Irene.

  "From what I know, this ~Ice Reflecting Bullet~ is just a regular bullet that can only ricochet. It seems like nothing will happen if I block or slash it with my rapiers," Irene thought.

  Irene began slashing at the bullets aimed at her. And as she expected, the bullets were stopped without any harm when they hit her rapier. After that, Irene continued slashing at the bullets aimed at her while moving to find Nadine ?who was hiding behind the ice blocks. Irene searched for Nadine by sensing her aura. After a while, Irene sensed her aura behind a large chunk of ice in front of her.

  "She's there," Irene thought.

  Irene immediately prepared to launch an attack on the iceberg.

  ~San Lucia Art Secret Technique : Seven Iceberg Breaking Slashes~

  Irene slashed the large chunk of ice with her rapier and the six surrounding rapiers. The large chunk of ice was immediately sliced ??and shattered by Irene's slash. After the iceberg shattered, Nadine ?was seen aiming her rifle at Irene. It seemed she also knew Irene was approaching.

  Nadine immediately fired at Irene with her rifle. But Irene reacted quickly by directing one of the surrounding ice rapiers to block the bullet. However, instead of blocking the bullet, the ice rapier shattered into pieces after being hit.

  "Don't tell me those are ice-breaking bullets?" Irene said, slightly surprised.

  Shards of the shattered ice rapier immediately scattered in all directions, including toward Irene. However, Irene managed to dodge the shards. Nadine continued firing her rifle. As a result, four of the ice rapiers surrounding Irene were destroyed. Nadine had intended to destroy the ice rapiers directly, aiming her rifle at them, not Irene. Meanwhile, Irene appeared to have sustained new wounds on her body, as some of her ice rapier shards had hit her.

  "Those ice-breaking bullets are very troublesome. They can cause the shattered ice to scatter. Previously, I was lucky enough to dodge the shards unharmed, but over time, it's getting harder and harder to dodge them. And the more I keep dodging them, the less I can get close to Nadine. Looks like I'll have to take a risk this time," Irene thought.

  Irene appeared ready to attack Nadine again. Irene immediately shot towards her, sliding across the ice arena. Senior Nadine immediately reacted by firing her bullets at the two remaining ice rapiers.

  *Bang

  *Bang

  Two shots were fired, hitting the two rapiers squarely. The two ice rapiers instantly shattered, shards scattering in all directions, including Irene. Irene, unfazed by this, continued to charge toward Senior Nadine, inflicting a significant amount of ice shards on her. Senior Nadine, who witnessed Irene's actions, was shocked.

  "You're truly reckless, Irene," said Senior Nadine.

  "You could be called reckless, but thanks to that, I've managed to get close to you, Nadine," Irene said.

  Senior Nadine was surprised to see Irene quickly approaching her. Irene immediately launched her attack at Senior Nadine.

  ~Glacier Strike~

  The attack struck Senior Nadine squarely, sending her crashing back into the arena wall. Smoke erupted again from Senior Nadine's position. But Irene didn't stop there, she immediately prepared to launch her next attack.

  ~Frozen Rapier~

  Irene transformed her rapier into a frozen one and immediately launched herself back at Nadine, who had slammed into the wall.

  "I know that attack just now wasn't enough to defeat you, but I'll make sure you lose with this attack, Nadine," Irene said.

  As Irene was launching herself at Nadine, Nadine suddenly shot out from behind the smoke toward Irene. Her entire body was now emitting a white mist.

  "She's using ~Magic Martial Arts~ huh?" Irene thought.

  Then the distance between Nadine and Irene closed. Both of them prepared to launch an attack.

  "I'll defeat you, Irene," said Nadine.

  "No, but I will defeat you," Irene said.

  ~San Lucia Art: Freezing Air Slash~

  Irene launched a slash at Nadine.

  ~San Lucia Art: Iceberg Crush~

  Meanwhile, Nadine launched a palm strike from both hands at Irene.

  Their attacks collided, creating a powerful clash of power.

  -To be continued