Lysa's attention had been locked on Leo's eyes the moment the arena was revealed.
She had been eager to catch his surprised reaction to the unveiling of the ice ring, but Leo had remained notably composed.
In the first place, it was tough to read any expression on his face because of his mask, however, even the eyes that Lysa could see had shown little surprise at the arena's reveal.
She wondered whether he could have known about the arena in advance, like her? Or whether he was simply indifferent by nature?
With these thoughts in her mind, she had used a levitation spell to float above her spot in the ring, while she observed Leo and the referee climbing to theirs.
Describing the fighting arena as slippery didn't fully capture its nature; it was almost entirely frictionless, making any movement a challenge.
This was beyond mere ice; it was as if the surface had been purposefully designed to negate any grip or traction.
Attempting to exert too much force on this surface was sure to result in self-elimination by sliding uncontrollably to the arena's far side as once one began sliding there was not much that could help them stop in terms of grip.
Having seen Leo and the referee struggle just to reach their spots had confirmed Lysa's theory that she indeed had the upper hand on this treacherous terrain.
Smiling to herself, she realized that her familiarity with ice magic and her ability to control her movement through the levitation spell would be her key advantage in this battle.
"BOO-, BOO-, THIS IS BULLSHIT! THE MAGE CAN FLY! HOW IS THAT EVEN FAIR!"
"NOOO…..Look how hard it is for The Boss to even walk in that arena…. Oil over ice is just cruel"
"Shit, can I change my bet from The Boss to Lysa, ain't no way he's winning this fight"
The crowd boo'd the referee non-stop as he explained the rules of the match to the crowd, however, despite the noise, both Leo and Lysa remained laser focused on the fight ahead.
Lysa stared right into Leo's eyes, a defiance visible in her glare as although Leo never personally intimidated her, his aura as the top player cast a psychological pressure on Lysa when they were matched against each other.
'I can do this…. Even if he's the top player I can do this…. I can beat him' Lysa thought as she glared into Leo's eyes defiantly.
So far, Cervantez had invested a lot in her and had shown her a lot of faith.
Now was her chance to pay that faith back, as adorning the DarkSky guild robes, she wanted to beat The Boss in this round and send an emphatic statement to the masses about how superior their guild was, having even beat the number one player in the very first round.
"How pathetic….." Leo spoke in a deep voice as Lysa accidentally said "Huh?" Not being sure as to what Leo spoke.
"I SAID HOW PATHETIC" Leo screamed this time, as his voice cut through the crowd's chatter and forced everyone to go silent at once.
Not sparing a glance towards Lysa, Leo gazed towards the crowd, running his eyes through the audience around him.
"You guys groan like little bitches….. you think I can't hear you?" Leo said rather aggressively, as the crowd was shocked that Leo was addressing them instead of his opponent before his fight.
"This ground is unfair to me?"
" I might lose?"
" She knows the levitation spell, while I don't?" Leo said, sounding agitated as he pointed his finger at the crowd and then curled it into a fist.
"Ice ring, fire ring, air ring….. doesn't matter. Nobody can defeat me...…So stop groaning like little bitches and just shut up and enjoy the show I'm about to put forward.
I am the number one player….. nobody can defeat me" Leo said authoritatively as he made a bold declaration.
For a moment, the crowd remained silent before breaking into wild cheers as people lost their minds over Leo's speech.
How domineering!
Hold bold!
How arrogant of him to claim that nobody could beat him!
"Hey yo, did you hear that? Did he just say what I think he did?"
"Too arrogant, he's going to be defeated hard. I can see it-"
"Too cool! The boss is too cool!"
The crowd went absolutely nuts for Leo, as Lysa felt her blood boil at the lack of regard that Leo showed her.
"Do I not exist for you?" She asked, as Leo looked into her eyes and shook his head.
"Weak people like you can't enter my eyes" he replied as now Lysa was irked.
"Alright, I'll show you how weak I am…." Lysa said, feeling fired up as the referee signaled the start of the match.
"Fighters ready? Fight-" he signaled, before sliding out of the arena as straight from the get go, Lysa used strong wind spells to knock Leo out of bounds.
[ WIND CUTTER ]
Sending slashes after slashes of wind towards Leo, Lysa bombarded him with attacks as Leo leapt into the air, dodging her initial flurry of attacks using his excellent elastic body, while scattering 10 daggers across the entire arena as they planted firmly into the ice.
*CLICK*
Landing back down, Leo landed upon the hilt of his planted dagger using one foot as just like that he created a footing for himself in this impossible to maneuver arena.
*SHUA*
*SHUA*
Using 20 more daggers, Leo covered almost the entire arena evenly with daggers as just like that he neutralized whatever advantage Lysa held over him as he hopped from one dagger top to another, being able to maneuver once more.
'Shit, I never thought he would use those daggers as support points' Lysa thought, as she tried to use her wind spells to dislocate some of the planted daggers, however, Leo did not allow her the luxury to focus on anything but himself, as he charged towards her with incredible speed.
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/// A/N - Bonus chapter for hitting the GT Target, good job everyone! ///