The clash between their attacks continued. The impact was so powerful that it caused the arena floor and the surrounding ice blocks to slowly crack. Meanwhile, neither Irene nor Nadine was willing to give in to this contest of strength. Each continued to strive for dominance.

  Moments later, the arena floor and the surrounding ice blocks began to crumble under the pressure of their prolonged exchange of blows. Furthermore, despite their prolonged exchange of blows, Irene wasn't weakening. Irene continued to dominate Nadine in this contest of strength. Nadine, on the other hand, seemed to be weakening as she was slowly being pushed back. Her hands, which she had used to strike with Irene, were also beginning to freeze.

  "Ugh, her strength is immense. It seems you've gotten stronger during your time at the academy, Irene," Nadine thought.

  The two continued to exchange blows, and Nadine was pushed further and further back from their initial clash. In the midst of the exchange, Nadine began speaking to Irene.

  "Let me ask you something, Irene. How did you become this strong? You lost so badly to Princess Amelia before, but in this tournament, you even defeated her. There must be something that made you this strong," Nadine ?said.

  "It's because of my training with Rid. Rid taught me how to become this strong," Irene said.

  "So it's because of Rid, huh?" Nadine said.

  "But, even though you think I'm strong now, that's not enough. I still lost to senior Gretta in the semifinals. Even so, I will get even stronger than I am now. I will continue to grow stronger until I can find and kill the ice dragon hiding in the Orokho Mountains. I must kill that dragon and restore the climate in the San Lucia region to normal, and I must avenge it for what happened to my mother," Irene said.

  "You have big goals, Irene. It seems you're behaving like a Duke's daughter now," said Nadine.

  "I am indeed a Duke's daughter," Irene remarked.

  "You're starting to talk a lot now, unlike before," Nadine remarked.

  Hearing this, Irene fell silent. The exchange of blows between them continued, but it seemed to have reached its climax, as Nadine's hands were about to freeze completely.

  "Looks like this is my defeat," Nadine remarked.

  Nadine's hands were completely frozen. Therefore, she couldn't defend against the attack she was using against Irene. Irene's rapier moved freely through Nadine's hands, having no one to stop it. The rapier struck Nadine squarely in the torso, sending her flying back into the arena wall. Smoke erupted again.

  Meanwhile, after Irene slashed Nadine with her rapier, it immediately cracked and shattered. Irene appeared exhausted after the exchange.

  "Huffftt......Huffftt.....it seems I channeled too much mana into my rapier, making me so exhausted. Furthermore, my rapier was destroyed after clashing with Nadine. Hufftth.....if that exchange of blows had lasted any longer, I would have lost," Irene said.

  Then suddenly, a large amount of blood came out of Irene's mouth. Irene realized this after touching her lips with her hand.

  "Blood? Could this be the shockwave created by Nadine's attack? That attack was truly dangerous. Not even a direct hit would make blood come out of my mouth, let alone a direct hit," Irene said.

  Then a few moments later, the smoke that had appeared where Nadine had hit the wall slowly began to dissipate. Nadine was seen unconscious, leaning against the wall she had hit. A large amount of blood was coming out of her mouth, apparently Nadine had suffered internal injuries from being slashed by Irene's rapier and hitting the arena wall quite hard. A large chunk of ice stuck to her body and extended to the arena wall from Irene's attack. Miss Nora, seeing Nadine's in such condition, immediately announced the results of the match.

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  "The third-place match in the womens ?academy tournament between Irene Emerald San Lucia and Nadine Emerald, wins by Irene Emerald San Lucia," Miss Nora declared.

  Hearing the announcement, some of the audience began cheering.

  "Amazing, ice princess,"

  "You were amazing,"

  "That was an amazing match," the audience said.

  A visibly exhausted Irene looked at the cheering crowd. Not long after, several staff members arrived at the arena. They came to carry the injured Nadine to the treatment room. First, they tried to melt the ice on her body and also thaw her frozen hands. Once the ice was thawed, Nadine was carried to the treatment room on a stretcher.

  Meanwhile, two other staff members approached Irene and offered to escort her to the treatment room. Since Irene was also quite badly injured, the two staff members also approached her.

  "I can use healing magic, but my healing magic isn't as good as Rid's. So it's impossible to heal these wounds relying solely on my healing magic. It seems I really need to go to the treatment room, just like when I won against Princess Amelia," Irene thought.

  Irene agreed to the two staff members' offer. Then, with them, Irene immediately went to the treatment room.

  -

  In the audience seats where the upper-ranking nobles were seated.

  "What a truly incredible clash of attacks. I didn't expect Irene to win this match and take third place. I guess I'll have to congratulate her in person at the closing ceremony of the academy tournament and the prize presentation," said Queen Kayana.

  "Irene is very strong and beautiful, just like her mother. I hope she breaks up with her current boyfriend soon and enters the Matchmaking Battle so she can become Charles's potential fiance," said King Albert.

  "I commend your courage for complimenting another woman's beauty while your wife is right beside you," said Queen Kayana.

  "That's not what I meant," said King Albert.

  "I know, I was just teasing you. By the way, weren't you supporting Amelia to become Charles's fiance? Why do you want Irene to enter the Matchmaking Battle again? If Irene doesn't participate, Amelia will definitely be Charles's fiance without another fight," said Queen Kayana.

  "I do support Amelia, but the main purpose of the ~Matchmaking Battle~ is to get the four Dukes back together. So it's natural that I hope Irene will participate again, because with Irene, Lord Duke San Lucia will definitely be there too," said King Albert.

  "Hmm, I see," said Queen Kayana.

  -

  In the participant waiting room.

  "Wow, Irene managed to defeat Nadine. That means she placed third in the womens academy tournament, huh? Now it's just a matter of finding out who will be the first and second-place winners. Who do you think will be the first-place winner in the womens tournament, Rid?" asked Senior Gretta.

  "Hmm, I don't know. Both you and Senior Alisha are very strong. It's hard to predict who will win first place," I said.

  "Are you playing it safe? You could have guessed that Alisha would be the first-place winner, because she defeated me in the previous tournament," said Senior Gretta.

  Then, a few minutes later, the projection showed Mr. Alan in the arena, which had been restored to its original state.

  "Since the arena has returned to its normal state, let's continue with the matches. Previously, we watched the two third-place matches in the mens and womens academy tournaments. This time, we'll watch the final match of the academy tournament, starting with the womens ?match," said Mr. Alan.

  The audience cheered, and the match schedule was displayed. Senior Gretta and Senior Alisha looked at the projection.

  "It's time, Alisha," said Senior Gretta.

  "Yes," said Senior Alisha, immediately closing the book she was reading.

  After that, they walked to the arena.

  "Good luck, Senior Gretta and Senior Alisha," I said.

  "Thank you, Rid," said Senior Gretta.

  "Thank you," said Senior Alisha.

  -

  Back to the tournament arena.

  "As you can see in the projection schedule, the participants competing in the final match of the womens' academy tournament are fourth-year Gretta Schwartz and fourth-year Alisha Lesher. Let's welcome these two," said Mr. Alan.

  The audience began to clap and cheer.

  Then, senior Gretta and senior Alisha entered the tournament arena and began facing each other.

  "Since our match started first, I think I have to be careful not to fall if I lose to you, Alisha. If I fall, I'll miss the match between the chairman and Rid," said senior Gretta.

  "Don't worry, Gretta. I'll record the match for you if you fall," said Alisha.

  "You're right, you can do that for me. But that can happen if you manage to beat me, Alisha. I've always lost to you before, but this time I'll be the one to beat you," said Gretta's senior.

  -To be continued