Fear and inhibitions will only slow me down, Onean's opponent thought to himself as he prepared to engage Onean in close-quarters combat.

His black daggers were giving off a menacing red gleam, and at this point, they were only two steps away from Princess Onean. Right at this moment, he suddenly stopped cold in his tracks. There was still a look of single-minded focus etched on his face, and he was trying to lunge forward with all his might, but he had been completely rooted to the spot.

As it turned out, his feet had already been struck by one of the glacial tornadoes, and his feet and calves had already been frozen to the ground. Furthermore, the ice crystals that had formed were climbing up along his body. He frantically twisted his body from side to side, trying to free himself from the ice, but his feet were behind him, while his body was leaning forward, so his center of balance was completely thrown off, and he was left in a very wobbly and unstable position.

The assassin's lower body was immobilized and frozen to the ground, while his upper body was still flailing in a futile fashion, and it was quite an amusing sight to behold. Many of the spectators were already beginning to laugh out loud at his expense. A short while later, the ice crystals climbing up his body had already transformed him into a frozen statue.

In reality, this had been a contest of speed from the very beginning. Onean's opponent thought that his speed of movement would exceed the speed at which Onean could cast her spells, while Onean was banking on the opposite to be true, and in the end, she had come out on top.

The administrator standing at the side of the competition platform adjudicated Princess Onean to be the winner, and a burst of thunderous cheering and applause instantly rang out from the spectators. Even though this was the expected outcome, they had still been extremely anxious during the course of the match.

Onean made her way over to the ice statue with a faint smile, then gently tapped it with her staff, and the thick layer of ice crystals was instantly shattered. Her opponent's teeth were chattering uncontrollably from the cold, and he was quickly carried off the platform by several administrators.

"Hmph, she's still just as arrogant as ever. She had a million ways to win that fight, yet she chose the riskiest approach just to show off!" Master Piro grumbled, clearly not very pleased with his disciple.

King Cameron merely smiled in response. In contrast with Master Piro, he saw this as a display of confidence from his daughter. She had directly faced her opponent and defeated them fair and square, which was perfectly in line with the style of the royal family.

Looks like she's just as lethal as Lana is. 

Erwin shook his head with a wry smile as he looked at Princess Onean from afar. He then directed his gaze toward the opposite side of the venue to see Lana's reaction to Onean's match, but he was unable to find her, so he could only assume that she had also gone to prepare for her match.

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Erwin had planned to go back and take a nap. After all, he had barely slept the night before. However, he didn't want to miss Lana's match. After all, he had fought her on two previous occasions, and he was very curious to see how she was going to fare against her opponent.

Seeing as it wasn't time for Lana's match yet, Erwin quickly sat down to close his eyes and rest. Whenever he heard the chatter around him grow louder, he would know that it was time for Lana's match.

After all, he was the only one interested in seeing Lana's performance, the same applied to all of the tens of thousands of spectators present.

Sure enough, not long after he had fallen into a light sleep, he heard the sound of thunderous applause and spirited discussion ringing out around him. He reluctantly opened his eyes and cast his gaze toward the center of the venue, upon which he caught sight of a gorgeous figure in red. Erwin couldn't help but wonder if Lana had some type of obsession when it came to her pursuit of beauty. Even in a match like this, she wasn't willing to wear any armor, but she naturally wasn't going to forget her signature sheep wool cape. On this day, she was wearing a green cape, and for any other person, it would be very difficult to pull off this green and red attire combination. However, Lana's breathtaking beauty coupled with her fair skin allowed her to look stunning in anything that she wore.

Even though she was wearing a cold and aloof expression, Erwin could tell that she was very much enjoying her moment under the spotlight. Given how cold and haughty she was, there was no way that she would accept the notion that any woman in this world could be superior to her, not even the royal princess, who was just as beautiful as she was and possessed outstanding aptitude in magic.

Thinking back to Princess Onean's match from earlier, it was clear to Erwin that Onean was also an extremely proud and confident character. In a way, Lana and her were extremely similar in many facets of their personality, and if these two were to go up against each other in the Pillow Sword Tournament, that would definitely culminate in an earth-shattering battle. With that in mind, Erwin couldn't help but shudder as a chill ran down his spine.

For her first match, Lana was up against Byron, who was from the same academy as Erwin, but unlike Erwin, he was an advanced magician. He had heard some things about Lana, and he was convinced that Lana was only powerful enough to bully the likes of Erwin. As one of the brightest young talents of Teedus Academy, he was quite a conceited character as well, so he was quite disdainful toward Lana, and his distaste toward her was further exacerbated by the lofty praise that all of the spectators were giving her. However, what enraged him the most was the fact that throughout this entire process, Lana hadn't even taken a single glance at him.

"Byron Shreesan is the only son of Duke Shreesan, and I've heard that he's quite renowned among the advanced students of Teedus Academy."

Erwin could hear a spectator beside him telling someone about Byron, and only after hearing this did he realize why Byron's name had seemed so familiar when he had seen it on the matchup board. As it turned out, they were from the same academy! Judging from Byron's demeanor, it was clear that he was also quite a proud and hot-headed character, so it seemed that this was going to be an interesting match.

One of the administrators fired another magic blast, officially signifying the commencement of Lana's first match.

Lana reacted extremely quickly, seizing the initiative from the get-go as she waved her silver short staff through the air. Erwin took a close look at the staff and discovered that it was the same one that she had used against him during the last offense and defense class. She rapidly chanted an incantation, to which Byron's brows furrowed tightly as he found himself completely unable to understand the magic language that she was speaking. Erwin knew that this was an arcane spell being unleashed using the ancient magic language. Rays of black light of different lengths began to rapidly emerge above her head, and on this occasion, she was able to gather magic energy far faster than on the previous occasion. In the blink of an eye, a black cloud that encompassed close to half of the entire competition platform had already appeared, and inky-black magic energy was surging incessantly within the cloud. This black cloud was several times larger than the one she had conjured up during the last offense and defense class.

Erwin gulped nervously at the sight of the massive black cloud, and he was rather concerned about whether she would be able to handle the arcane spell backlash from such a vast amount of energy. The administrators standing beside the competition platform turned to Prime Minister Fuller with uneasy expressions, and Fuller's brows were also furrowed tightly as he gave Prince Lazaar an inquisitive look from afar. However, Prince Lazaar seemed to be completely at ease, so Prime Minister Fuller gestured toward the administrators to continue as normal.

Byron didn't know what to make of the strange spell that Lana was preparing, and instead of taking advantage of her chanting interval to attack her with instant-release spells, he chose the safer option, which was to conjure up his own advanced magic shield first.

All of a sudden, Lana let loose a loud cry, and the fearsome black cloud above her began to gather magic energy toward her in the form of a vortex. In the instant that the magic energy came into contact with her body, Lana's head of red hair instantly began to dance wildly around her, while her green cape also began to flap incessantly from the magic turbulence gushing our her body. Erwin could see that she was gritting her teeth tightly with an agonized look in her eyes, so it was clear that she was suffering immensely from the backlash of the arcane spell.

However, Lana continued to persevere with tightly gritted teeth, and Erwin couldn't help but heave an internal sigh upon seeing this. In her pursuit of magic, Lana was so cruel to herself at times that even Erwin couldn't help but feel sympathetic toward her. In the next instant, around a dozen bolts of black lightning that were giving off a golden sheen erupted forth. Upon closer inspection, one would realize that those bolts of black lightning were actually ferocious black wyrms that seemed to have just been released from a cage, pouncing toward Byron with boundless fury and killing intent before surrounding him from all directions.

The dozen or so black wyrms were glowering intently at Byron through his magic shield, and it was as if a black cage had taken shape around him. The golden eyes of the black wyrms seemed to be able to glean his emotions, and they were watching his panicked and horrified expression with mockery and disdain.

Cold sweat was pouring uncontrollably down Byron's face. He had never seen a spell like this before, and all of the spectators present had also been stunned into silence. Who could've imagined that Prince Lazaar's daughter would be able to suddenly summon a pack of black wyrms?

"I thought her brother was quite impressive, but she's putting on quite a show herself. It's certainly not every day that I get to see someone so young able to control such an advanced arcane spell," Master Piro said with furrowed brows. "I'm afraid she's not inferior to Her Highness in the slightest, Your Majesty."

"All of Prince Lazaar's children have grown into fine warriors and magicians," King Cameron remarked with an indifferent expression, but deep down, he was feeling quite dejected, and this dejection stemmed from his disappointment in his royal children and grandchildren. Aside from Princess Onean, all of his other descendants were completely mediocre and unremarkable.

Lana looked on with a faint smile as the pack of black wyrms surrounded Byron, much like a proud owner watching her pets play with their toy.

Byron was absolutely petrified, but he was unable to accept such humiliation due to his innate pride and sense of superiority. Thus, he immediately prepared to chant an incantation for an advanced spell to retaliate against the black wyrms, but right as he did so, the black wyrms let loose a collective roar that shook him to his very core, and he began to tremble so violently that he was almost unable to even hold onto his staff.

"Are you still not going to forfeit?" Lana chuckled.

At this moment, Byron felt as if his limbs had turned into floppy noodles, and his pride had been completely crushed. He was staring at Lana as if he were looking at a monster, and Lana's provocative words were like a series of sharp spikes that stabbed viciously into his already severely bruised ego, making him even more humiliated and embarrassed.

A short while later, Lana suddenly seemed to have lost interest in toying with her prey, and her smile abruptly faded as a frosty look appeared on her face. With a wave of her silver staff, she turned around in a carefree manner, not even bothering to look at what became of her opponent as she slowly made her way back toward the competitors' entrance. At the same time, all of the black wyrms pounced upon Byron's magic shield at her behest, letting loose vicious roars as they did so.

All of the administrators present hurriedly conjured up their own magic shields to protect Byron, leaving only one of them to adjudicate Lana as the victor.

Lana was already making her way down from the competition platform, and she cast her gaze toward the contestants' spectating platform in the east as she expertly withdrew her staff back up her sleeve. In the instant that she turned around, the dozen or so black wyrms behind her instantly tore through several magic shields in the blink of an eye. If Lana hadn't withdrawn her staff, Byron would've most likely already been torn to shreds by her arcane spell.

Even from this far away, Erwin could see the half-smile playing on her lips. This was the expression that he feared the most from Lana. He knew that she was angry about something, but he had no idea exactly what she was angry about, and a chill ran down his spine as he watched the soulless Byron get carried off the competition platform.

In the wake of that match, all of the citizens of Sarus were made aware of the power of Prince Lazaar's son and daughter. Looking at the gorgeous figure in red and green that was slowly disappearing into the contestants' passageway, many of the spectators gulped nervously before returning to their senses, and none of them were even commenting on Lana's beauty or magic prowess anymore as they were still thinking about those fearsome magic black wyrms.

Some of the officials and nobles on the bottom level were stunned by Lana's formidable display and didn't dare to look at Prince Lazaar any longer, while others had turned to Prince Lazaar with renewed fervency and admiration in their eyes.

As for Prince Lazaar himself, his expression remained unchanged, and he continued to wear the same calm and amicable smile.

Archbishop Sirius of the True Light Church was also watching from afar, and a peculiar smile suddenly appeared on his face, only to vanish just as abruptly as it had appeared.