Once Su Yang and Minerva took their starting positions, a heavy silence washed over the arena.
The crowd, brimming with anticipation, leaned forward in their seats, eager to witness the clash between the proud first-year and the seasoned second-year.
Su Yang stood poised, his sword gripped tightly in his hands, his golden eyes locked onto Minerva with pure, unfiltered rage.
Across from him, Minerva stood calmly, her bow resting lightly in her grasp, her stance unshaken, her breathing slow and measured—completely unbothered by the storm of emotions radiating from her opponent.
The contrast between them was glaring.
Su Yang was a wildfire, burning, untamed and hungry for destruction, while Minerva was an ice-capped mountain—unmoved, unaffected, and untouchable.
For a while it became a contest to see who would flinch first, however, before that could happen, the referee standing between them raised his hand.
"BEGIN!" He declared, as immediately Su Yang launched forward like a cannonball, the sheer force of his movement kicking up a cloud of dust behind him.
*Shine*
His sword gleamed as he raised it high, ready to carve his opponent apart before she could even react.
But—
WHOOOSH!
An arrow shot from Minerva’s bow before he even took five steps.
Not at him.
But at the ground in front of him instead.
CRACK!
The moment the arrow struck the earth, a towering wall of ice erupted between them.
A massive, translucent barrier, thick and solid, blocking his path in an instant.
"WHAT?!"
Su Yang’s pupils shrank, but his reaction was instant.
With a furious roar, he swung his sword.
SLASH!
The thick ice shattered like fragile glass under the sheer force of his strike, splintering into countless shards.
But—
As the ice crumbled before him and his path was cleared—
Minerva was gone.
As his head snapped up, she was no longer standing where she had been just moments ago.
And Instead—
She was already at the farthest edge of the arena, her bow already drawn and multiple arrows nocked between her fingers.
"How—"
Su Yang barely had time to process the impossibility of her speed before—
FWISH! FWISH! FWISH!
Arrows rained down upon him—
Fast. Precise and Unrelenting.
His body reacted before his mind did, his sword whipping through the air to deflect the incoming projectiles.
CLANG! CLANG! THUD!
As he managed to knock a few aside—
But not all.
One arrow sliced his cheek. Another grazed his shoulder and a third embedded itself into the dirt beside his foot, missing him by a hair.
"What the hell?" He mused, as he barely manages to take a step forward, when—
FWISH!
Another barrage came flying and his step faltered.
’Shit!’ He thought, as he was forced to defend once again, as he found himself on the receiving end of a relentless barrage.
Any time he tried to move forward, Minerva let loose another wave, forcing him back into a defensive stance, and to make matters worse, each new arrow was faster than the last, whistling through the air at impossible angles and aimed at every weak spot that she could exploit.
He wanted to close the gap—needed to close the gap—
But he couldn’t.
Every time he even thought about moving, an arrow was already there to stop him.
And it wasn’t just speed.
Her accuracy was supernatural.
There were no wasted shots, and every arrow she launched carried a lethal intent.
’How am I even supposed to fight her?’ Su Yang wondered at that moment, as the only solution that came to mind was to unleash his sword attack the [Mountain Splitting Slash] in hopes that it would buy him enough time to close-in the gap.
However, the second he tried circulating the mana in his body, he somehow failed at conjuring anything, as it seemed like an external field was preventing him from mobilising mana.
"Got you—" Minerva said at that moment, as Su Yang looked around at the arrows scattered around him on the ground, and realised that they were the mana absorbing type.
He was in the centre of an arrow formation that would make it impossible to mobilize any of his skill moves unless he could get out of it, however, Minerva simply wouldn’t let him move.
"DAMN IT!"
Su Yang gritted his teeth, his body shifting, twisting, and weaving between the endless onslaught.
The crowd watched in stunned silence, the energy shifting drastically from excitement to disbelief.
This wasn’t a fight.
This was a humiliation.
And everyone could see it.
"This is brutal…" one spectator whispered.
"Minerva isn’t even breaking a sweat."
"Damn… I thought Su Yang was stronger than this."
The words stung worse than the arrows themselves.
But the worst part?
They were right.
He couldn’t touch her.
Couldn’t even get close to touching her.
Every attempt was futile.
Every move was countered before it even began.
And the longer this dragged on, the more exhausted he became.
His breath grew ragged.
His muscles ached.
His movements slowed.
But Minerva—
She remained the same.
Calm. Steady. Untouched.
About 12 minutes after the fight began, Su Yang’s vision started to blur slightly, sweat dripping into his eyes.
His arms felt heavier than before. His legs screamed in protest.
And that was when it truly sank in.
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The gap between their strengths—
It was massive.
She was on an entirely different level.
He wasn’t even fighting her.
He was being toyed with.
Like a cat playing with a trapped mouse.
"ENOUGH!" Su Yang roared, his voice hoarse from exhaustion.
His body was bruised, battered, and bloodied from all the arrows that had slipped past his defenses, his breath heaving, his once-pristine uniform now tattered.
And yet—his grip on his sword remained firm.
"Stop firing arrows at me from a distance like a damn coward and face me properly!"
His voice echoed across the arena, filled with frustration, fury, and desperation.
For a moment, the world seemed to pause.
Then—
Minerva tilted her head slightly, lowering her bow just enough to meet his glare.
And then—
She laughed.
A quiet, airy chuckle that sent another wave of humiliation crashing over Su Yang.
"Face you properly?" She echoed, her voice carrying a clear note of amusement.
Then, with a smirk, she said—
"Sorry."
Her bow raised once more, the tip of her next arrow glinting under the sun.
"As a woman, I’m too scared to fight men in close range."
FWISH!
The next arrow struck Su Yang clean in the chest, knocking him flat onto his back as the referee immediately stepped in to call the match.
"Match over! Winner: Minerva!"
The arena erupted.
Some cheered wildly. Others laughed. Some sat there, stunned into silence.
But the result was undeniable.
Su Yang had lost.
And he had lost badly.
—-------
"MEDICS…. MEDICS—" Alric screamed at the top of his lungs, as the medics rushed to Su Yang’s side that very instant.
Blood had already started to pool around the wound in his chest, however, before he could even lose a hundred ml, the arrow was pulled out, and a whole medical team began to work hard to heal his injury.
"I lost—" Su Yang muttered aimlessly, the arrogance in his eyes replaced by a clueless stare, as the reality finally sunk in.
He had been manhandled by Minerva, and that wound to his pride, hurt a million times more than the one in his chest.