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\'Frozen Cloud!\' She exclaimed inwardly, casting another spell that thickened the fog around the arena even more.

This spell was harmless for the most part. Its only effect is that it lowers the temperature of her surroundings quickly. That said, the low temperature makes it easier for her to cast her other spells so in a sense, Frozen Cloud could be considered as a support spell as well.

\'Glacial Spear\' was the next spell she used. She poured a lot of her mana into this spell, increasing its lethality overall.

And just for further assurance, Isabella also used a spell called \'Blooming Ice Field\', which caused the entire area to be covered in ice shards.

It\'s clear that Isabella wants to turn this field into her advantage. By lowering the temperature severely and covering the entire field with ice, she\'s making Cedric vulnerable to her attacks.

And this is a good plan, nobody would take that away from her. Unfortunately, she missed something that should\'ve been obvious. Something that she has noticed earlier but somehow forgotten by now due to the mounting pressure being exerted on her.

...Cedric was leagues better than her when it came to Elemental Control despite not being a Spellcaster...

Fwoosh!

The sound of a loud ignition shocked her. It was followed by a rapid and alarming increase in temperature.

Vermillion flames billowed on Cedric\'s body, shaped like a lion\'s mane. The smoke cleared and the audience finally saw what was happening.

Despite its size, the heat of Cedric\'s flames could be felt all over the arena, those who were close to it could also feel the rising heat of these flames.

The spells Isabella painstakingly set up to give her an edge, evaporated to nothing under the heat of Cedric\'s flames. The worst part is that, Isabella could feel herself weakening too due to the sheer suppression of the Fire Element.

This shouldn\'t have been the case normally. Ice should be a tad bit stronger compared to fire. The reason why Cedric was able to do this is because of sheer skill; his control and understanding of the fire element greatly surpassed Isabella\'s, and it brought them to this outcome.

\'Damn it!\' Isabella cursed inwardly. She tried resisting the heat but she couldn\'t. Her Ice was completely suppressed by Cedric\'s flames.

And as if things couldn\'t get worse, Cedric wasn\'t done just yet. Without moving even a single muscle, the flaming lion\'s mane on his body followed his will.

It left his body and turned into a large fireball hovering above him. The moment it formed, the temperature rose even higher than before.

It\'s as if Cedric just made a miniature sun without any effort.

The audience felt the sheer heat radiating from that mini-sun even from a distance. Even the older students who happened to be around and stayed due to curiosity were shocked by Cedric\'s sheer skill.

And if you think they had it worse, how do you think Isabella feels, being this close to it?

Despair gripped her heart along with a strong sense of defeat. She has never been outclassed like this before. It usually happens the other way around. Unfortunately, she met Cedric.

His sheer skills and talent made her feel so...inadequate. Like she\'s been wasting her time all her life which couldn\'t be any further from the truth.

Again, this usually happens the other way around for her. And whether she\'d be willing to admit it or not, it has gotten in her head.

How can it not when she practically grew up hearing it? This couldn\'t be blamed entirely on her.

But it\'s precisely because of that, that this...\'humbling\' experience hurts even more.

\'Am I really this helpless against him?\' She asked despairingly to herself as she felt weakness claiming her. \'Am I not even worthy for him to draw his sword?\'

"Please understand where your current limit lies, Lady Frostwind."

Cedric\'s voice shook her out of her dark thoughts, causing her to be momentarily dazed.

"I don\'t want to hurt you any more than this." He continued while placidly looking at her eyes.

His words cut deep into her, causing her to feel even more weak and vulnerable. She hated this feeling like no other yet she couldn\'t do anything about it.

This is the first time that she has ever been this helpless against a peer. The adults obviously don\'t count since they have lived longer than her. Not even Garrick made her feel this way.

Biting her lips in frustration, she let out a defeated sigh and dropped her guard, saying:

"I admit defeat."

Those words taste bitter for her. It felt so frustrating to be this weak and helpless against somebody.

As soon as she admitted her loss, the heat dissipated almost immediately. The audience couldn\'t help but notice that the ground beneath Cedric had been charred like no other. However, it\'s already recovering due to the special enchantment of the arena.

Feeling embarrassed to stay even for a second longer in this place, Isabella left the arena.

Fortunately, she\'s wearing a veil that hid her features, otherwise people would\'ve seen her forlorn expression, mirroring the despair she felt in her heart.

As she made her way out of the venue, she couldn\'t help but feel as if she was doing a walk of shame. Despite this, she maintained her dignity.

It wouldn\'t be too late to let out her frustrations later when she\'s in the safety of her room anyway.

Unbeknownst to her, her veil failed to protect her from Cedric\'s senses. Meaning he knew what she felt and had seen her defeated expression.

Inwardly, he felt guilty. He thought that he might\'ve bullied her a little too much. And while that might hold some truth, in a way, he\'s not completely at fault here.

This was a competition. It was normal that someone would win while the other would lose. Cedric was just defending his title. Besides, life\'s been too good for that girl.

She was blessed right at the very beginning; she\'s talented, and she received care from strong people in the form of training and resources. She\'s admired by many people and made a name for herself.

It\'s clear that she hasn\'t faced enough setbacks to balance her life. Sure, she might\'ve experienced her fair share of struggles and difficulties, but none of it truly threatened her before and as a result, she grew complacent.

\'If only she knew just how much untapped potential she truly has...\' Cedric shook his head inwardly.

Like what was mentioned earlier, life\'s been a little too good for Isabella, and comfort breeds complacency.

In hindsight, Cedric has the means to break her completely. If he had truly wanted to do so, he could. However, this isn\'t something that he wants to do.

Cedric\'s no fool. Even though he wants to help her realize her true potential, he\'s unqualified to do so. He also doesn\'t want to be an instrument for her character development.

All he can do is to become what he is for the rest as well...a wall so high that it makes them feel helpless. It\'s not his intention to be mean by doing this, he only hopes that his presence could viewed as an encouragement instead.

Because if he could reach this stage simply because of a simple stroke of luck, imagine what they could reach with their innate blessings.

Shaking his head, Cedric stopped concerning himself about Isabella\'s feelings. Whether she bounces back from this or not would only depend on her.

Since he won the match against her, there\'s only a single challenge left for him to answer and he could be done with this. Summoning the System Interface, he accepted Garrick\'s challenge and waited.

Boom!

The arena suddenly shook from the impact. Cedric couldn\'t help by roll his eyes at the antics of his next opponent.

Despite not looking, he knew what Garrick did. The dude jumped from his seat in the audience and got up the stage in this bombastic method. A little excessive if you ask him but well...everybody had their weird quirks so he can\'t complain.

Looking blandly at his opponent, Cedric winced ever so slightly when he saw how pumped Garrick was looking. The sheer fighting spirit he was exuding was...jarring, to say the least.

\'A battle junkie...I should\'ve realized it sooner. Oh, boy.\' Cedric whined inwardly.

And he wasn\'t wrong. Garrick was certainly looking forward to this, evident with how he wore his armor and held his great axe. As soon as the countdown began, he was already releasing his aura. Cedric saw how his muscles coiled as he gathered force around them.

A sigh escaped his lips as the countdown continued.

\'3...2...1! Fight!\'

"LET\'S FUCKING GOOOO!!!"