Shards of ice flew towards the Sword Princess as she attempted to close the distance between herself and her aggressor once again, not only her gaze, but her every sense sharp as the battle forces her to draw out every bit of strength she possesses.

Each step she takes forces her to swing her blade forward to block all incoming attacks; the academy staff’s spell appears far more precise than the beasts she and her teammate were previously fighting, making it harder for her to deal with each individual attack now coming for her life.

’One hit... I just need to buy enough time for one hit...’ Despite that, however, she continues to move forward to parry and block, each exchange between her blade and the spells targeting her making the blade glow a little bit brighter than before.

While this happens, however, her control over the blade seems to deteriorate as well, her firm grip over the hilt now wavering bit by bit as her fingers began shaking under the tremendous force being contained within her armament, each step becoming yet another challenge as she had to adjust for the more and more challenging wielding of the blade just so she could maintain her momentum.

"Hahaha!! Is that all you got, Miss Top Student?? More!! You’re a Unique Magic user, right!!"

Meanwhile, Venica continues to feel more and more amused as time passes by, her gaze focused entirely on the eldest daughter of the Heavenblade clan as if she is enjoying the young lady’s each and every struggle, every parry and block that causes the student’s arms to tremble, making the smile on her face all the wider, all the worse.

Another blade of wind approaches, making Medea swing her blade down to cut the magic right in half, her action causing her to wince a bit as she feels warm blood flowing down her cheeks.

"Fufu~~ hihihi~~~ didn’t quite expect it, did you, Student Medea~?" Venica remarked with a proud smile on her face, a tinge of blushing seemingly from excitement now apparent on her face as she watched blood being drawn out of her target’s body.

’The Wind Blade split into two...’ she thought to herself as pain began spreading from the wound, but despite wanting nothing more than to deal with it first, as said pain feels quite distracting to her, she decided to carry on, one step at a time.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself down and prevent herself from making the same mistake, she pushes her senses to the limit all the more, her gaze, once sharp as if a blade drawn, now gradually turning normal and seemingly safe once more, as if the blade is gradually being returned to its sheath.

The biggest mistake one might think of regarding her current action is that this is her, the Sword Princess, finally realizing the fight is futile, that this is her surrender. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Few mages who survived from fighting against any member of the Heavenblade Great Clan, however, can tell that rather than a struggleless surrender, this is instead the calm before the storm.

Spells continue to fly, and with each of the being blocked or stopped from completely hurting Medea, her blade glows brighter in white while her fair body begins being soaked in crimson red, initially just her face, but now her limbs, arms, and legs alike, as well as the entirety of her torso, are left with painful wounds as well.

"Hihihi!!! Can’t keep up now!! Do something, Student Medea!! Entertain me a little bit more!! Fufufu~~~ Hehe~~ Hahaha~~!!!"

Watching Medea’s clothing being torn along with her once fair, flawless skin, Venica’s face blushed even more, her lips opened a bit wider than before, with drool flowing down the corners, her eyes sporting an elated gaze as she watched her spells destroying her target bit by bit, her body trembling from the excitement of all of it.

Then finally, as if telling the triple element mage that the fight is over, Medea stopped her movements, her feet planted solidly on the ground as she remained there motionless, eyes closed and blade still tightly held by her trembling, no, now shaking hands.

Laughter resounds, deranged and almost aroused too, as Venica creates a magic circle once more, her body showing how excited she currently is as she trembles while swinging her stave, launching yet another blade of wind towards her opponent as she ties her with appendages of water, all while a huge boulder of ice forms above her target’s head.

To her, it is no longer bringing this target back to the laboratory where they can experiment with this target as much as they like, but rather an entertainment, like a hunter taking down a deer for the fun of it rather than its hide and meat.

"DIE!! HAHAHA!!!" a loud, guttural scream paired with crazed laughter came out of the triple elemental mage as she watched her attack approach, and as a response, Medea swung her blade once more.

A calm and slow slash.

Or at least, that is what it should’ve been.

A drowning, brilliant white covers the entirety of the battlefield as a crescent moon formed on the surface of the infested island, or at the very least, around this place, as a single horizontal clash swept through the powerful combinations of spells all too easily, devouring everything in its path.

One of the most dangerous techniques of the Heavenblade, a weapon that reveals an absolute threat not only to the enemies, but to the very user as well, who needs to bear the rampaging force of that accumulated attack before releasing it in one go.

The results is apparent, Medea, after that attack, barely keeping herself standing as the combination of the weight of that attack, as well as all the damage her opponent dealt on her body making her feel like never in her life did she ever feel something this excruciatingly painful, forcing her to grit her teeth as she raises the sword once again, prepared for the off-chance that her fight isn’t over yet.

"Fufu~~~ haah... haah... Your... turn... Novus..." with her vision blurring and doubling from the loss of blood, she mutters to herself as she plants her blade to the ground to use it as support, her bloodied body trembling as she struggles to maintain that little bit of consciousness from leaving her body.

In front of her, a great sphere of ice stands, the force from her last attack causing thick cracks to form along its entirety, the structure lasting for just a moment more before it completely shattered into shards of ice, revealing the person hiding underneath.

Still with a barrier of water swirling near her, Venica’s face reveals a look of horror as she reaches out for her cheeks, finding her fingers stained with her own blood that flows unceasingly, a wound forming that made her realize how close she was to death from that singular attack.

"Y-You..." her voice trembles as she realizes why the other ones from her group warn her of the dangers of facing one on one against a member of the Heavenblade Great Clan, that mistake costing her own face, causing her to grit her teeth as she screams.

"YOU FUCKING BRAT!!" she said as she swung her stave once more, her body still trembling from the near brush with death as she formed magic circles unstably, taking her a little longer to create ice than she normally would.

Still, without anyone stopping her from doing so, ice forms and is sent towards the barely conscious Medea, the sharp, spike-shaped icicle heading straight for her heart, the aggressor intending to end it all.

"W-what!?"

But before her magic could reach, Venica’s eyes widened once more as she watched it being cut into two clean halves, her sharp gaze directed right at her as she watched Medea.

Arms shaking and knees trembling, nearly giving up, and yet she, the Sword Princess, still stands.