Tessa and Lina locked eyes as the tension between them increased.
"Students! Watch carefully, because trust me, an epic battle is about to go down!"
The students cheered loudly in response to the announcer's words.
Tessa and Lina continued staring at each other intensely. It was clear that both of them had understood what was going on.
There were traps in the battlefield, and a sound could be heard before the trap would release, so they both had to depend on their ears.
Meanwhile, some of the other participants who were seated at the front row of the arena were already grumbling.
"Shit... I'm not the best in terms of speed among my teammates," a boy muttered to himself, realizing that he would have to fight while evading traps at the same time. "Ani would have been suitable for this stage."
Some of the others were also complaining to themselves about not being the ones among their teammates suitable for this stage.
Well, it wasn't their fault. They weren't told that traps would be part of the battle.
On the platform, Tessa's eyes were still fixated on Lina.
'Five minutes, huh?' she thought as she gripped her sword. 'I think only about three minutes is left.'
'I have to end this before the time elapses...'
The announcer didn't say anything about what would happen if there is no winner when the time elapses, but she didn't want to know, neither did Lina, so they had to finish this quickly.
Lightning surrounded Lina's legs as she dashed towards Tessa who was also dashing towards her.
Suddenly, Tessa raised her hands, and then...
But immediately after that...
A piercing sound was suddenly heard, and it was directed towards Lina.
Lina's eyes widened as she tried to cover her ears. She was able to cover them, but damage was still done.
The piercing sound stunned her, and blood trickled down from her ears.
The students of Greenfield Academy cheered again, screaming Tessa's name.
Taking that opportunity, Tessa increased her speed, and quickly reached her.
Without wasting time, she swung her sword towards Lina.
But before her sword could hit Lina, a lightning barrier suddenly surrounded Lina.
Because of the momentum, Tessa couldn't stop her sword on time, and it collided with the lightning barrier.
She was instantly blasted back by the lightning barrier, making the students of Blackstone City cheer.
Tessa gritted her teeth as she spun mid-air, and landed swiftly.
Her body had a few burn marks. She was barely able to activate her Sound Barrier Spell, if not, it would have been worse than that.
As soon as she landed and looked up, balls of lightning instantly greeted her. They rushed towards her with immense speed.
Instinctively, she stepped back, and as soon as she did, she heard the familiar sound of metal clashing.
Quickly, she stepped back again, and then....
A spear erupted from the ground, but the lightning balls also arrived in that same moment.
The spear clashed with some of the lightning balls, causing an explosion.
Unknowingly, Tessa grinned as she quickly absorbed the sound from the lightning balls, the cheers of the students, and the explosion.
Her eyes sharpened as she crouched slightly.
"It's now or never..."
She blasted off the floor, dashing towards Lina with great speed.
Seeing this, Lina also decided to end this fight now.
She raised both hands, and then...
Dark clouds suddenly began forming above the platform, lightning flashing inside them.
"Oh oh! It seems Tessa and Lina are going all out! They are ready to deliver their attacks! Which of them will reign supreme?!"
Tessa seeing this did not stop in the slightest. She noticed that Lina did not look ready to move from that spot where she was standing.
'She must be hesitating to move because of the traps,' Tessa thought.
Tessa was getting closer to Lina, but at the same time, she heard multiple sounds of metal clashing.
The lightning in the dark clouds raged as they prepared to descend.
The spears began erupting from the floor as Tessa moved rapidly, dodging the multiple spears.
Lightning from the clouds instantly began descending, heading straight for Tessa.
Now, she had to dodge both the spears coming from the floor, and the lightning coming from the clouds.
"Ah! It seems Tessa is cornered! Will she surrender?!"
"NEVER!" The students of Greenfield Academy exclaimed as they cheered for Tessa.
Tessa's figure couldn't be seen again as she rapidly evaded the spears and the lightning.
To some extent, it became easier for her to do, because she was continuously absorbing the sound from the attacks and using it to further boost her speed.
She kept moving in a zigzag manner, dodging the attacks while inching closer to Lina.
Lina's eyes widened slightly as she realized that none of her attacks had hit Tessa yet.
Seeing that Tessa was already a little bit too close to her, she finally decided to move, but...
A ball made of Sound Energy was suddenly hurled towards her. Quickly, she summoned a lightning barrier.
The attacks collided, sending a shockwave in the platform.
Lina got ready to dash to another location as she quickly deactivated the lightning barrier, but that was a big mistake.
After absorbing the sound from the collision earlier, Tessa moved with a burst of speed, instantly arriving beside Lina.
Lina created a lightning barrier once again, ready to defend herself from Tessa's sword.
Tessa grinned. "That won't help."
Instead of attacking with her sword, Tessa used her Sound Element Spell that created a high-pitched sound. The barrier couldn't do anything against the sound, and Lina was instantly affected.
She staggered as blood trickled down from her ears.
Tessa instantly spun, delivering a kick to Lina's stomach.
Due to being stunned, Lina was unable to do anything to defend herself. The kick landed, and Lina's body flew backwards before landing on her back on the floor with a thud.