The match between senior Alisha and senior Nadine was still ongoing. The battle between the two was growing increasingly intense.

  Senior Nadine dashed toward one of senior Alisha's forms and immediately launched an attack.

  ~Ice Breaker~

  Senior Nadine struck senior Alisha's form with a palm strike. But the blow once again pierced through senior Alisha's body. After being struck, the form slowly disappeared.

  "I've attacked Miss Alisha's form several times, which I assumed was her true form, but why do my attacks only penetrate her as if it were an illusion? Was my vision faulty, or perhaps it was actually her true form, but Miss Alisha quickly switched to an illusion after realizing I was about to attack her. Normally, such a feat would be impossible, but since I'm now within her magic area, it's possible for Miss Alisha to do so."

  While senior Nadine was thinking, senior Alisha launched an attack at senior Nadine.

  ~Earth Magic : Ground Shattering Arrow~

  Senior Alisha fired her arrows at Senior Nadine. Not only was she the only one firing arrows, but other forms of Senior Alisha were also firing arrows at Senior Nadine. Senior Nadine ran, dodging the arrows. The arrows were so powerful that they shattered chunks of ice, walls, and the floor of the arena they struck. While running, Senior Nadine also searched for the real Senior Alisha. After a few moments of running, Senior Nadine found her and quickly dashed toward the real Senior Alisha.

  ~Ice Slasher~

  Senior Nadine launched a chopping kick at Senior Alisha. The kick was aimed at Senior Alisha's right side. But again, the kick failed to hit her and only went through Senior Alisha's body. Senior Alisha's form slowly disappeared again.

  But Senior Nadine didn't stop there. She reconnoitred the real Senior Alisha and, upon finding her, readied her rifle and fired at the real Senior Alisha.

  *Bang

  *Bang

  *Bang

  Three shots were fired at Senior Alisha, but again, they only went through Senior Alisha's body. They also hit the ice block behind her, but they rebounded and landed on Senior Alisha's other form.

  "Although these bullets aren't necessarily targeting the real Miss Alisha, at least they're helping to diminish Miss Alisha's illusion," thought Senior Nadine.

  Senior Nadine began firing Ice Reflecting Bullets again at Senior Alisha's supposedly real form. Although the bullets still only went through Senior Alisha's form and made her disappear, they immediately rebounded and landed on Senior Alisha's other form.

  Currently, there were 10 bullets continuously ricocheting and landing on Senior Alisha.

  Senior Nadine watched silently as the bullets continued to ricochet rapidly, one by one eliminating Senior Alisha's illusions. Senior Nadine noticed two of Senior Alisha's forms untouched by the ricocheting bullets, one of them was Senior Alisha's true form.

  Senior Nadine continued to watch until finally, one of the ricocheting bullets landed on one of the two forms. It was aimed at Senior Alisha's true form. Seeing this, Senior Nadine immediately rushed towards the other, the illusionary form. The ricocheting bullet then pierced Senior Alisha's true form. At almost the same moment, Senior Nadine launched an attack at the approaching illusionary form.

  ~Double Ice Claw~

  Senior Nadine used a claw attack typically used by the Demi-Human race. Senior Alisha's form, which was in front of her, was surprised and chose to dodge. However, Senior Nadine's attack managed to hit Senior Alisha's right abdomen and left cheek. This time, Senior Nadine managed to hit Senior Alisha, injuring her. Not stopping there, senior Nadine immediately kicked Alisha in the stomach.

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  ~Glacier Breaker~

  Senior ?Alisha was struck squarely by the attack, sending her flying into the iceberg behind her, shattering it.

  *BOOMMMMM*

  Smoke from the shattered ice billowed across the arena.

  A few moments later, the smoke cleared, revealing senior Alisha standing back up. A small amount of blood was leaking from her mouth, and she also had cuts on her right abdomen and left cheek from the previous claw attack. However, it seemed that senior Nadine's previous attack hadn't had much of an impact on Alisha.

  "I didn't expect you to be able to attack me, Nadine. It seems you already know how my area magic works," Alisha said.

  "Yes, you always switch to your illusion form when your true form is about to be attacked, miss. And your illusion form is always easily attacked, even though when you only have one illusion form, your illusion form can easily avoid my attacks. I think that you can't control your many illusion forms. That's why your illusion form seems to surrender to the attack and immediately disappears. That's why I chose to use ~Ice Reflecting Bullets~ to destroy most of your illusion forms until only a few remain,"

  "?When ~Ice Reflecting Bullets~ began targeting your true form, at the same time I also quickly attacked your illusion form. When the bullets were about to hit your true form, you switched to your illusion form that I was about to attack. After you switched forms, you were surprised because I was already preparing to attack you. You tried to avoid my attack but it was too late and finally my attack hit you. It took a long time, but finally I was able to injure you, miss Alisha," said senior Nadine.

  "You are indeed very good at analyzing your enemy, Nadine," said senior Alisha.

  "Your illusionary form in this arena is finished, Miss Alisha. It seems there's nothing you can do anymore, Miss. I'll end this match," said Senior Nadine.

  "I should be the one saying that, Nadine," said Senior Alisha.

  Suddenly, Senior Alisha's illusionary forms appeared in the arena again, in large numbers. They were ready to shoot with their arrows.

  "I thought you couldn't create any more illusionary forms, Miss Alisha," said Senior Nadine.

  "I never said that," said Senior Alisha.

  "This is really difficult. It looks like I'll have to start all over again to be able to attack you again, Miss," said Senior Nadine.

  By now, Senior Nadine looked extremely exhausted.

  -

  A few moments later.

  Senior Nadine lay unconscious, leaning against the ice block she had created. Her body was covered in wounds. Meanwhile, Senior Alisha stood in front of her, holding her bow. There were no new injuries visible other than the ones sustained previously on senior Alisha's body. Senior Alisha's illusionary form also surrounded senior Nadine, and gradually all the illusionary forms disappeared.

  Seeing this, Miss Nora immediately returned to the arena and announced the winner of the match.

  "The semifinal match of the womens academy tournament between Alisha Lesher and Nadine Emerald.........,?Alisha Lesher wins," Miss Nora said.

  The audience cheered upon hearing the announcement. Shortly after, several staff members began arriving at the arena and carrying senior Nadine to the treatment room. Senior Alisha, who had suffered several injuries, was also taken to the treatment room, accompanied by a staff member.

  Afterward, because the tournament arena was currently covered in chunks of ice, the next match was delayed for a few minutes to restore the tournament arena to its original condition.

  In the audience, Mr. Irwin, senior Nadine's father, was seen leaving the spectator area after senior Nadine was taken to the treatment room.

  -

  In the participant waiting room.

  "Alisha won, huh? Well, I'm not surprised," said senior Gretta.

  "So senior Alisha can use ~Mirage Magic~, isn't that the same as you, senior Gretta?" I asked.

  "I can't use ~Mirage Magic~," said senior Gretta.

  "But when senior Gretta beat senior Vyn, senior Gretta also used the same clone as senior Alisha. I thought it was ~Mirage Magic~," I said.

  "That wasn't ~Mirage Magic~ because I can use my clone to attack. Clones made from ~Mirage Magic~ can't normally attack. I could tell you what magic I actually used, but I can't, because my opponent in the semifinals is here right now," said senior Gretta.

  Irene remained silent as senior Gretta spoke.

  +

  Then the match resumed.

  "Since the tournament arena has returned to normal, let's begin the next match. This time it's the final match in the men's tournament semifinals. As you can see in the matchup chart in the projection, the next semifinal match will be Darryl Lachman from third year versus Rid Archie from first year. Let's welcome these two," said Mr. Alan.

  The audience began to cheer. Then the two of us entered the tournament arena. Once we arrived, we faced each other.

  "You seem to be really liked by the chairman, Rid. He even wants you to make it to the finals and face him," said senior Darryl.

  "I don't know why senior Vyn treats me like that," I said.

  "The chairman is indeed that kind of person. But I feel like I'm being underestimated by the chairman, and that's annoying me. I'm going to beat you here and then beat the chairman in the finals," said senior Darryl.

  -To be continued