CHAPTER 97: MIRABELLA VS ELENA!

The arena floor cleared as Mirabella and Elena took their positions at opposite ends of the vast combat space.

The atmosphere was electric with anticipation; two daughters of legendary noble families, each representing the pinnacle of magical breeding and training, about to demonstrate why their bloodlines commanded respect across the surface.

Mirabella drew her single dagger with fluid grace, the weapon gleaming with inner frost as she channeled magic through its enhanced edge.

The air temperature around her dropped noticeably as she connected to the loom’s second layer, ice crystals beginning to form in the air itself, suspended like deadly ornaments.

Elena’s Stage 1 Radiant Phoenix rune activated, her eyes beginning to glow with golden light as her Phoenix Vision enhanced her perception.

She could see heat signatures, energy flows, and calculate precise distances—crucial for optimal portal placement within her line of sight.

"Begin!"

CRACK!

Mirabella opened with calculated aggression. Three ice shards materialized in the air around her, each one forming at insane speeds. She launched them in a spread pattern, not only aimed at Elena but also at the spaces where she might dodge.

These weren’t simple projectiles. Each one carried the compressed density of her advanced ice manipulation, sharp enough to pierce steel and cold enough to freeze blood on contact.

Elena’s response showcased the terrifying effectiveness of her enhanced Phoenix Vision. Her golden eyes tracked every icicle’s trajectory with supernatural precision, reading the thermal patterns and energy flows that revealed their exact paths.

She wove spatial distortions with clinical efficiency, creating two portal pairs simultaneously, catching the outer shards and redirecting them back at converging angles. The middle shard she simply sidestepped, already calculating where Mirabella would move.

WHOOSH!

But Mirabella had never released control of her ice. The shards Elena had redirected suddenly changed trajectory mid-flight, curving around to attack her from new angles!

Upon activation of her stage 3 rune, Mirabella could easily regain or maintain control of her constructs as long as they remained within thirty feet.

Her magical influence over ice spread around the surroundings like invisible threads. This ability drastically increased her versatility in combat.

Elena adapted instantly. She created a portal directly in front of herself and another to her right, diving through to emerge at a different position while the ice shards collided where she’d been standing.

She literally only knew one space weave, but she had mastered it to shocking levels!

’Her ice remains under active control,’ Elena noted while circling. ’But maintaining that control across multiple constructs divides her concentration.’

She tested this theory immediately, creating four small portals in rapid succession, each one launching tiny metal darts at insane speeds.

Mirabella had to choose; control her existing ice or defend against the incoming projectiles.

CLANG!

Mirabella chose defense, bringing her ice shards back to deflect the darts. But Elena had already moved, using the distraction to close distance.

She created a portal pair mid-sprint, one entrance at her feet, the exit appearing above Mirabella.

The ice mage looked up to see Elena dropping from above, but this was spatial combat—the expected attack angle.

Mirabella formed a huge ice spike directly above her head, forcing Elena to create another portal mid-fall to redirect herself.

CRACK! BANG!

Elena emerged horizontally from another portal, but Mirabella was ready. She’d formed a needle of ice in the air—thin as paper but sharp as a razor—directly in Elena’s trajectory.

Elena’s Phoenix Vision caught the temperature differential just in time.

Since she was still midair and hadn’t regained her balance from the rapid change in directions, she could only create another portal to pass through the ice needle, but the rapid portal creation was taking its toll.

Each spatial doorway required intense concentration, and she’d already created eight in thirty seconds!

WHOOSH!

Mirabella pressed her advantage with tactical brilliance. She began creating ice needles—hundreds of them, each no larger than a fingernail—suspended in the air around her.

Her Stage 3 rune ability continued to work at full power, the magical enhancement allowing her to maintain control over such a vast number of individual constructs, something that would have been absolutely impossible otherwise.

But instead of launching them as projectiles, she scattered them throughout the arena with deliberate placement.

The needles spread like deadly seeds, hovering at different heights and positions, creating an ominous glittering field that caught the light.

Elena’s Phoenix Vision immediately recognized the threat. The needles weren’t meant to strike—they were positioned for something else. She began reaching for the equipment pouches at her belt, fingers finding the sets of balanced throwing darts she always carried.

"Detonate," Mirabella said quietly.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

Every ice needle exploded simultaneously into clouds of superfine ice crystals. The detonations weren’t violent, they were controlled dispersals that filled the entire arena with a freezing mist.

The air itself became thick with ice particles so small they hung suspended like frozen fog.

Elena felt the cold immediately, the icy mist clinging to her skin and clothes. Her movements began to slow as the numbing cold penetrated her muscles.

The mist was so dense it reduced normal visibility to mere meters.

But Elena’s Phoenix Vision wasn’t normal sight. While the ice particles interfered with energy perception, she could still see heat signatures—and Mirabella’s body temperature, even despite her attempt to reduce it with her ice, stood out like a beacon in the frozen fog.

Phoenix Vision was too powerful for this.

Swoosh!

Mirabella’s dagger struck from the mist, expecting to catch Elena blind. But Elena had already sidestepped, her enhanced vision having tracked Mirabella’s approach perfectly.

More importantly, she’d identified exactly where Mirabella was standing.

Elena created four portal pairs in rapid succession, each entrance hidden at different points in the mist around her, all exits positioned in a ring around Mirabella’s heat signature. She began throwing darts through each portal in sequence.

WHOOSH! CLINK!

Mirabella heard the portals forming but couldn’t see them in her own mist. The first dart grazed her shoulder before she even realized the attack pattern.

She dodged left, directly into the path of the second dart from another portal. Her hasty ice shield deflected it, but now she was on pure defense, unable to locate where the attacks originated.

"Clever," Mirabella admitted, spinning to track the whistle of projectiles. "Using my own concealment against me."

Elena didn’t respond verbally since that would give away her position. Instead, she relocated silently and created new portal pairs. Her top quality darts were more than enough to deal lethal damage.

Her Phoenix Vision tracked Mirabella’s heat signature perfectly while the ice weaver was essentially fighting blind in her own mist. Another volley of darts forced Mirabella to create a defensive wall of ice.

CRACK!

But then Mirabella did something unexpected. She raised both hands and began drawing the mist back toward herself—not dissipating it, but condensing it.

Every particle of ice in the arena began flowing back, streams of frozen crystal converging on her position.

Elena watched through her Phoenix Vision as the ice mist compressed, getting denser and denser. The temperature readings were dropping precipitously at the convergence point. Mirabella was combining all that dispersed ice into something singular.

WHOOSH!

A single ice needle formed in front of Mirabella—but this one was different. It was only a few inches long but impossibly dense, containing all the ice from the mist compressed into one projectile.

It gleamed with an inner light that spoke of dangerous magical concentration. The air around it warped from the extreme cold.

"Every particle of ice from that mist, compressed," Mirabella said, her voice strained from the concentration required. "Let’s see you portal this."

Bang!

She launched it with devastating force. The needle moved so fast Elena barely had time to react, and when she created a portal to redirect it, she discovered the problem—the needle was so cold it began crystallizing the portal’s edges on contact!

The spatial doorway became unstable, flickering dangerously. And then...

CRACK!

Elena had to abandon the failing portal and dive aside. The needle punched through the arena wall behind her like it was paper, leaving a hole through her shoulder that was rimmed with frost that spread outward in crackling patterns.

But the compression had cost Mirabella. She was breathing heavily, and Elena’s Phoenix Vision showed her body temperature fluctuating, signs of mental exhaustion. Creating and controlling that much ice, then compressing it to such density, had drained her reserves significantly.

So Elena had a pierced shoulder that was rapidly freezing over, and Mirabella had a splitting headache and low mental reserves.

It was anyone’s game now.

[A Note from Your Awesome Author!

Hey amazing readers!

You know what makes my day? Seeing your Power Stones and Golden Tickets rolling in! It’s like getting a high-five through the screen that says "Hey, we love what you’re writing!" And honestly? That motivation directly fuels my writing speed.

So here’s the deal - the more support you show, the more Chapters I can pump out for you:

Support Rewards:

• Every 200 Power Stones → 1 Bonus Chapter

• Every 20 rank increase in Golden Ticket ranking → 5 Bonus Chapters

• Every Win-Win milestone reached → 10 Bonus Chapters

• Every Castle → 10 Bonus Chapters!

Think of it as a joyful partnership - you help the story climb the rankings and reach new readers, and I respond with extra Chapters beyond the regular schedule. It’s my way of saying thank you for believing in this story!

Every single vote counts and genuinely makes me smile. Let’s grow this story together!]