With [Ground Shrink], Sol narrowed the distance between himself and Lapis in an instant. He swung his sword, but it was smoothly deflected by her spear. The two exchanged multiple attacks and skills within a few seconds, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats. Sol’s attacks were heavy and strong, while Lapis’s were fast and precise.

Everyone believed the match was even until Lapis stabbed forward with her spear. Sol swung to block it, but just as his sword was about to meet the shaft of the spear, it curved in a way that would normally be impossible and stabbed into his side.

As Sol was surprised by this maneuver, Lapis was equally surprised.

‘How tough is his body?’

Though [Twisting Serpent] allowed her to curve her spear in unnatural ways at the cost of lower damage, she was barely able to stab half an inch into Sol’s side.

Before Lapis could retract her spear, Sol took this window of opportunity to strike and finally landed an attack of his own. He only managed to shallowly cut her left forearm before she jumped out of his attack.

Though shallow, the single cut more than satisfied him.

‘Now let's see how effective it was.’

Sol didn't stop there and ran after her, continuing his onslaught. Lapis tried to defend as she did before but found it much harder to do so. She felt sluggish, and soon two more attacks got past her, cutting her once more.

She leapt back and searched through her body, quickly finding the cause.

Oeser figured it out as well and informed the spectators.

“That sword! The cold energy is making Lapis slower! It must have the [Frost Touch] skill! Does that mean it has a status skill for fire as well?!”

The small cuts on Lapis became frosted over as it spread through the rest of her arm and invaded her body. The cold energy slowed her movements and reaction speed.

[Elemental Ice Sword

Unique

Attack: 145-175

Durability: 900/900

Skills:

[Sharpness] Lv 7, [Frost Touch] Lv 7, [Ice Shatter] Lv 7]

[[Frost Touch] Lv 7: Attacks made with this weapon freeze the target, temporarily lowering their agility by 14%.]

As Sol continued his flurry of attacks, he noticed that Lapis was becoming slower than he initially expected.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

As Sol landed another cut on her, he asked himself, ‘Shouldn't she still be faster than me?’

Sol’s agility was 150, while Lapis’s was 185. Even with the 14% decrease, her agility should be around 160, which was still faster than him. But the reality was that he was actually faster than her by a small amount.

“Lapis is being pushed back! She has lost her only advantage, so what will she do now?!”

Oeser commented as Sol unleashed attack after attack, weaving skills in between as she struggled to keep up.

This made Lapis rather frustrated.

She wished she could use her other skills but knew they couldn't be used in this setting. Zaman drew a line, and she knew the usage of poison crossed it. She also knew better than to get on his bad side. It still didn’t make her feel any better as she received attack after attack, slowly arriving at her inevitable defeat.

As Sol unleashed another [Cross Slash], the first slash was so strong it knocked away her spear. The second slash came soon after, and in response, she closed her eyes and braced herself for what would surely hurt a lot.

Lapis waited, but she felt no pain. She opened her eyes to see the ice sword a few inches away from her.

Oeser commented in surprise, “Sol stopped his final attack! Is he waiting for her to surrender?!”

Sol shook his head and spoke, “This isn't fair.”

With the exception of a few astute individuals, the rest of the audience was confused by what he meant.

In the VIP area, Zaman and a few knights were curious about what he was up to.

One of the knights asked Zaman, “Should we stop him?”

The Commander shook his head, “No, I want to hear what he has to say.”

Sol looked at Lapis and asked, “If not for the fact you were holding back, it wouldn’t have been so one-sided, right?”

She widened her eyes in surprise. She didn’t know when he figured it out, but she nodded in response.

“I won't ask you to go all out as you have a good reason for not doing so, but the least I can do is make it even. [Warm Current]. [Life Drop].”

Two intermediate water spells were chanted back to back. The first spell caused a warm wave to wash over Lapis, curing the effects of [Frost Touch], and the second spell healed all her wounds.

Once she was fully healed, Sol deactivated his Lipon.

Oeser was shocked, “Does Sol not plan to fight with his weapon?!”

“What? No, I’m just changing the element.”

In one fluid motion, Sol popped out the ice cartridge, inserted another one, and pulled the trigger, releasing a sword made of stone.

“It can change to earth as well?! It can actually become any element?!”

With the new elemental sword in hand, Sol asked, “How about it? This one also has a status ailment, but it's for lowering defense.”

Lapis was still confused by all of this, “Don’t you want to win?”

He nodded, “I wan- no. I need to win.”

“Then why risk it? Why throw away your advantage?”

“I just don’t want to win that way. It's not fair to you, and it wouldn't be earned for me. So how about it? Ready for round two?”

All eyes were on her, waiting for her answer. She took a step back and went for her spear. Oeser loved everything that was happening, and since no one told him to stop them, he prepared his wand once more.

Oeser excitedly announced, “We are going into a second round, ladies and gentlemen! Let the figh-!”

“I surrender.”

Before he could finish, Lapis interrupted him. She put away her spear in her spatial ring and walked out of the arena.

“HUH?!”

Oeser wasn’t the only one shocked; everyone, including Sol, was surprised at her response. Sol was about to follow after her to ask why, but was promptly stopped by Oeser, who whispered to him.

“I know you're confused, but stay for a second.” He then exclaimed out loud, “What a surprising twist! Our winner for this round is Sol!”

Sol had to force a smile and wave at the audience, who chanted his name, before he could finally chase after her.