[Element Drive: Ice Force]!

The temperature dropped instantly as white mist spread out turning everything into ice. Blocks of ice rose from the ground and it blocked the incoming needles.

Bang! Bang!

Alice pressed both of her hands together causing blocks of ice to surge like a tidal wave. Her aura was flaring up as she used a large amount of energy in her attacks. Her Ice Force was already close to Integration so the power that she possessed when using it was higher than normal [Element Drive].

A seed of ice was about to sprout in her mana pool. Unfortunately, the limitation of a mortal's body prevented the seed from growing.

"You!!"

Elder Hanmi was surprised as he didn't expect that Alice was already strong to the point that she surpa.s.sed him. From his point of view, Alice was just an expert that recently reached the Shackled Realm. It would take some time before she could catch up to him.

He gathered his mana as he tried to control his soul weapon, but the needles were completely covered in thick boulders of ice. It's not easy to break through these layers of ice made of Alice's energy.

At this moment, Alice arrived in front of him. He swung the sword in his hand and sharp winds followed his movements.

Swoos.h.!.+

Alice didn't dodge the powerful attack. Instead, she took it head-on and endured the pain of receiving a huge cut on her body.

"You can't escape."

Alice said before thrusting her spear. Her spear glowed brightly as enormous energy exploded from the point of impact when it landed on Elder Hanmi's body.

Boom!!

Elder Hanmi narrowed his eyes as he felt that everything around him was being frozen from the intense cold energy coming from the spear.

He tried to resist it with his own power but the collision of two energy caused an explosion with him as the center.

Boom!!

Alice was thrown on the barrier and spat a mouthful of blood.

Cough!

"Huff... Huff..."

She felt that her muscles were twitching and her wounds were closing at high speed. Although she could heal her wounds, she couldn't quickly recover her stamina and energy.

"I'm tired..."

She muttered as the cold energy around her slowly disappeared. She narrowed her eyes and stared intently at the smoke.

After a while, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hu~ that was pretty intense."

She muttered as she sat down on the edge of the arena.

Soon, the smoke dissipated and it revealed Elder Hanmi who was unconscious on the ground. Some parts of his body were frozen and the ice was red. It was his blood. It was instantly frozen when it gushed out of his body.

"Elder Hanmi is unconscious!! The winner of this battle is LADY ALICE!!!"

Meina announced the winner of the battle after she saw the scene.

...

Souta was sitting lazily in his seat. He's been here ever since the start of the tournament and he hasn't even had a time to enjoy the festive atmosphere of the Astros.

"Alice's battle is great but I want to do something..."

He muttered as he slumped down on the table. He gazed at the Astros and looked at the people strolling around. There were different kinds of stalls across the streets and people were testing all kinds of products.

Although the main attraction was the tournament, there were people on the other side doing different things.

Most of the population of Astros were witches but over time, new recruits entered the organization and it made it possible to have a festival with different events. So witches approximately hold almost forty percent of the total population of Astros.

"After this, I'll begin implanting parasites in the new recruits."

He mumbled to himself. He turned his gaze to Meina and slowly gathered his energy in his throat.

"Meina, come here." He whispered softly. His words traveled through the air smoothly without any interruption. She was the only one who would be able to understand it.

Meina, who was entertaining the audience, suddenly s.h.i.+vered. She turned around and saw that Souta was looking at her seriously.

"I-Is there s-something wrong, Lord Souta?" She said in a trembling tone. She was afraid that she did something wrong without her knowledge.

"I said come here..." Souta cast down his eyes as he stared at her figure.

"I-I understand." Meina meekly nodded. She quickly left the arena and went to Souta's side.

After arriving, she stood in front of him. Her eyes were darting left and right as she kept fiddling with her hair.

"Don't worry, I will not do anything to you," Souta a.s.sured her. He didn't why but this girl was afraid of him. There's no doubt about it. He could see it from her actions.

"I want to know the matchup of the tournament. Can you tell me?" He asked.

She's the only one who knew the matchup so he naturally had to ask her if he wanted to know it.

"Ah," Meina let out a soft voice as she didn't expect that Souta only wanted to know the matchup. She thought that she did something wrong.

She exhaled and took out a piece of paper from her pocket. She placed it on the table and said, "Lord Souta, this is the matchup of the upper tournament."

"Oh, I see. Thank you." Souta smiled as he took the paper and looked at the contents.

1st match.... Eilish vs Eztein

2nd match.... Yenxa vs Leef

3rd match.... Isabella vs Hanso

4th match.... Amanda vs Arfi

5th match.... Great Lightning Jaguar vs Prima

6th match.... Elder Hanmi vs Alice

7th match.... Franklin vs George

8th match.... Red Dragon vs Ren

9th match.... Yuko vs Sisi

10th match.... Maki vs Elder Guan

11th match.... Lina vs Torkez

12th match.... Doranjan vs Ardelo

"Hmm... So these are the people that joined the tournament. They are less than what I expected." Souta muttered. He then noticed that Meina was still standing before him. He looked at her and said, "You can go now."

"Thank you, Lord Souta." Meina bowed and she was about to leave when Souta suddenly stopped her.

"Hold on." Souta's voice echoed in her ears.

She slowly turned around to face him. "I-Is there something wrong, Lord Souta?" She asked carefully.

"I want to add something here," Souta said and he proceeded to explain what he wanted to do.

Meina listened attentively. She was a little bit surprised when she heard his words.

"Lord, are you really planning on doing that?" She asked.

"Yep, so prepare it for me." Souta nodded at her. "You can go now."

"Thank you, Lord Souta." Meina bowed and left hurriedly.

After she left, Souta focused on the matchup.

Most of the people that joined were from Witch Clan. He already expected it as they were the largest and strongest force in Astros.

He stared at it for a while. After that, he turned his head and gazed at the audience. There were various creatures watching the tournament and his eyes scanned them one by one.

"They've grown stronger..."

Souta muttered. He already had an idea about what was going to happen in this tournament.

The next battle would be interesting. It was between Franklin and George. George, the Chief Enforcer of the Witch Clan and father of Arfi, the witch that Amanda fought in the fourth match.

Both of them were at the limit of S-rank. They were close to reaching Shackled Realm so it would be a fierce battle.

Suddenly, a man hurriedly went to Souta's side and whispered something to him.

"Lord, the people from the s.h.i.+mpan Family are here. They said that an envoy from the Mine Valley had arrived." The man whispered.

Souta raised his eyebrows with interest. He didn't expect that the Mine Valley would come to him of their own volition at this moment. He guessed that they would contact him after they investigated his force.

"Okay, prepare the guest room. I'll meet them." He said to his subordinate.

"Yes, Sir." The man quickly left after he saluted to Souta.

Souta exhaled as he gave the arena one more glance before he stood up and left. He didn't have any plan to stop the tournament just because of an envoy from the Mine Valley. At the very least, he would try to learn the intention of the Mine Valley before he made a plan.

He asked Meina to prepare something for him but he guess that he wouldn't be doing that anymore. He asked her to prepare a time so that he could fight the winners. Too bad, the tournament would proceed without his interference anymore.

On the arena...

Franklin was looking at George with a faint smile while both of his hands were on his back. Savage aura slowly oozed out of his body making the ground beneath his feet tremble.

"I've been looking forward to this battle. I invested a lot in this tournament so I hope that you have the power to entertain me."

Franklin said to his opponent, the Chief Enforcer of the Witch Clan.

"You're quite confident in your skills. I guess I have to show you what it means to fight the Chief Enforcer." George said as a smile formed on his face.

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