Princess’s Struggle for Survival Chapter 258: "No Matter the Outcome, I will Win" - Vorelter

At 3:20 PM, Astrid and her group arrived at the venue where the duel ceremony was to be held.

Since it was the weekend, most students didn’t have classes.

Additionally, one of the duelists was a freshman who had defeated an instructor in a practical test, so not only the newly enrolled students but also many senior students ca to watch.

"If you’re nervous, take a few deep breaths. It helps regulate your heartbeat."

Astrid held Amalia’s hand and sat in the audience seats.

Next to her was the head maid, who was resting with her eyes closed, and Lyra, who was holding the village sword and looked sowhat uneasy.

"Okay... I’ll try..." Lyra said.

The weekend venue was much livelier than it had been on Tuesday.

Lyra watched the people coming and going around her, her pink lips unconsciously tightening. The scabbard in her hand tapped against the floor tiles, producing a clear "tap" sound.

Although she had ntally prepared herself in advance, there seed to be way too many spectators.

With an hour left before the duel began, the audience seats were already as crowded as a tide.

Lyra took a deep breath as Astrid had taught her, her chest rising and falling gently with each breath.

"Princess Astrid?"

Suddenly, a crisp female voice ca from behind them. Astrid turned to see Lydia, dressed in a pink-and-white bubble dress with white stockings, walking forward with a delicately crafted handbag.

"Are you here to watch the duel too, Lydia?" Astrid asked her.

Lydia sat down in the empty seat behind Astrid, her round-toed leather shoes resting against the chair leg, and answered softly.

"Yes, I don’t have classes this afternoon, so I thought I’d co watch."

"Miss Lyra, good luck!"

Hearing Lydia’s encouragent, Lyra was montarily stunned. She gripped the knight’s sword in her hand even tighter and replied after a mont.

"...I’ll do my best!"

Not just Princess Astrid, but others were also cheering her on.

’Lyra... stay calm...’

’This is just an ordinary duel, not a talent show.’

’Just do your best.’

Ti passed quietly, and more people Lyra knew arrived at the venue: Linda Jostlin, the class president of A class; Rowen Protheus, the horoom teacher; Professor Charlotte from the Magic Circle departnt; and several classmates she was more or less familiar with.

With ten minutes left, Lyra exchanged a final greeting with Astrid and got up to leave the audience seats.

"Good luck, Lyra," Astrid said.

Lyra paused for a few seconds, then swallowed lightly, her tone unusually firm.

"I won’t let you down, Your Highness."

With that, Lyra walked down the steps, turned a corner, and passed through the brightly lit entrance corridor to reach today’s main battlefield: Duel Platform Two.

Reneth was already in position. The noble lady, who had been rude at their first eting, was not wearing a dress but, like Lyra, had changed into a shirt and pants for ease of movent.

The staff in her hand emitted a cold light, clearly not an ordinary item.

With five minutes left before the duel began, Lyra could feel the intense gazes from all directions, so kind, so malicious, but most filled with a strong sense of curiosity.

She raised her eyes and looked toward where Astrid was seated. Seeing the silver-white figure silently watching her, the nervousness in her mind gradually dissipated, leaving only the faint, almost inaudible sound of her heartbeat.

With one minute left, Lyra forcefully drew the knight’s sword from its scabbard. The bright silver tal blade shimred under the light, emitting a sharp, cold gleam.

The staff mber took the scabbard and began announcing the duel details.

"Freshman of the 30th class, Peak Apprentice and Peak Knight, Miss Lyra Beckett..."

"...versus fellow 30th-class freshman, Peak Apprentice Miss Reneth Aulwyn."

"The duel begins now."

As soon as the man finished speaking, all eyes focused on the elevated duel platform. Lyra quickly chanted the common spell for Wind’s Protection. As the last syllable ended, a flowing gale surged around the blade.

On the other side, Reneth summoned an ice elental crystal shield, which was less affected by wind elents.

The blue crystal on her staff glowed brightly, and the overflowing magical energy continuously attracted elental particles.

In the next mont, Lyra cast a Lightness Spell on herself to increase her movent speed, while Reneth maintained her defensive stance without any further physical reaction, only adding an ice elental armor to herself on top of the ice crystal shield.

Pale blue ice covered her torso, leaving only the more fragile joints exposed.

Forming ice armor greatly affected a mage’s speed and strength, but in return, its thickness and protective properties far surpassed the floating ice shield in front of her.

This was a typical artillery mage’s strategy.

Realizing that Reneth intended to engage in a steady spell bombardnt, Lyra, who had the advantage in physical strength and speed, didn’t hesitate.

She lowered her center of gravity and charged at Reneth like an arrow released from a bow.

The wind bestowed the blade with an unstoppable sharpness, and combined with the already deadly tal edge, the knight’s sword instantly shattered the ice shield.

Countless ice shards scattered, the broken fragnts glinting faintly under the light.

Just as Lyra was less than ten ters away from Reneth, a reddish-orange light suddenly appeared at the bottom of her vision, and a wave of heat surged from below.

This is... Fla Prison?

Taking this hit directly might ignite her clothes, leading to burns. Moreover, the terrifying aspect of Fla Prison wasn’t just its temperature but also the clinging flas that could continuously affect the target’s ntal energy.

Lyra imdiately judged that she couldn’t take this hit head-on, so she sidestepped to dodge, her boot scraping against the ground with a sharp sound.

This seed to be within Reneth’s expectations. Just as Lyra thought she could attack from a different angle, she was surprised to find that the soles of her shoes were stuck in mud, greatly hindering her movent.

Earth elent magic? So fast?

There were differences in strength even among Peak Apprentices. Reneth, after all, was from a noble family with decent talent, and her pre-trained ntal energy quality far surpassed Lyra’s.

Not to ntion, she now had the aid of potion, and her true strength was no longer that of a Peak Apprentice but had reached the level of a Sorcerer.

Lyra vaguely sensed sothing was off. The speed at which her opponent was casting spells was unusually fast, and the pressure she felt even exceeded that of Instructor Dorry, who had been deliberately holding back during the test.

How is this possible... Is her elental affinity really that high?

Unaware of the truth, Lyra could only attribute it to Reneth’s high elental affinity.

Or rather, in the heat of the mont, she didn’t have the extra ntal energy to think about anything else.

She raised her eyes, shifting her gaze from the muddy ground. Ice spikes, pouring down like rain, shot straight at her.

Temporarily unable to break free from the mud, Lyra had no choice but to raise her arm and use the wind-protected blade to block the ice spikes.

In the audience seats, Astrid, with her elental vision activated, noticed Reneth’s surging mana and slightly frowned, quickly spotting the issue.

"Elise, isn’t her spellcasting speed a bit too fast? It doesn’t seem like that of a Peak Apprentice."

"Is it because of the staff’s enhancent?"

Elise thought for a mont, then after half a minute, spoke softly.

"Reporting to Miss Astrid, most of the ti, it’s Reneth’s own ntal energy at work, and its quality far exceeds that of an ordinary Peak Apprentice."

In Elise’s eyes, Reneth’s strength had surpassed that of an apprentice and reached the level of a Sorcerer.

Astrid’s fingertips lightly tapped her thigh as she glanced at Elise. Her crimson eyes hinted at a hidden undercurrent.

The head maid received the signal and leaned in closer to her mistress.

Astrid lowered her voice, whispering softly into Elise’s ear. The latter showed no change in expression but silently stood up and left the venue.

On the other side of the duel platform, Vorelter watched the intense battle between the two, his eyes narrowing into a slit, a cold and lazy smile playing on his lips.

The effects of this potion were indeed impressive, not in vain for the high price he had paid.

The ntal Cleansing Potion provided the drinker with a burst of ntal energy enhancent, and after use, it left no trace.

Moreover, Vorelter had chosen it for another crucial reason: this potion couldn’t be found in any known human alchemy encyclopedia.

It originated from the elves. Due to differences in body structure and soul level, the elves used this potion to consolidate their ntal energy during childhood, enhancing their ability to communicate with nature. When used on humans, however, the effects were entirely different.

Humans couldn’t withstand the potion’s effects, so the manifestation was a short-term surge in ntal energy. Once the potion wore off, the side effects would imdiately appear.

In truth, it would be best if Reneth won the duel, as it would directly dampen Third Princess Astrid’s montum.

But even if there was a one in ten thousand chance that Reneth lost, Vorelter had another plan.

Regardless of the duel’s outco, good or bad, this ti he would make sure the usually smooth-sailing Princess Astrid took a hard fall.

....

On the duel platform, Lyra broke free from the mud’s restraint and was about to launch her next attack when she suddenly felt her body grow heavy, as if the hand holding the sword weighed a thousand pounds.

The Lightness Spell had been dispelled... Not only that, but Reneth had also cast a Slowness on her...

How is this so fast... And how could Slowness be applied from such a distance...

Lyra tightened her grip on the longsword. In her elental vision, several sharp wind blades were sweeping toward her. At this distance, there was no ti to chant any spells.

She twisted her wrist, raising the previously lowered blade into a blocking position. Lyra slightly turned her body, trying to minimize the exposed areas to the wind blades.

The next mont, a violent gale howled past, severing a few strands of her pink hair floating behind her. The strands were cut off before they could fall to the ground, carried away by the wind.

Even the residual force from the wind blades made Lyra’s cheeks sting.

ntal energy flowed through her arm into the knight’s sword in her hand.

The remnants of Wind’s Protection operated at high speed, trying to deflect the incoming wind blades.

Lyra heard the howling wind and the rustling of her clothes being blown, and suddenly felt a warmth on her right cheek.

A conspicuous red mark appeared on her skin. The wound wasn’t deep, only about two finger joints in length, but Lyra could feel blood starting to seep out.

The wind roared, and even the sll of blood beca faint. Lyra’s fingers turned white from gripping too tightly, forcing herself to stay calm.

A few seconds later, the wind blades ceased. A bright light fell beside Lyra, and the mud clinging to her boots lted away.

Imdiately after, Lyra parted her pink lips, and two fire snakes rose to her left, fiercely attacking Reneth’s elbow joint, which wasn’t covered by the ice armor.

As the fire snakes approached, a faint light flashed in Reneth’s eyes, and she raised her ice elental shield again.

One fire snake was blocked by the shield, the fire and ice making a sizzling sound upon contact. The other, under Lyra’s ntal control, bypassed the shield and struck directly at the elbow.

Just as the fire snake was about to hit, a waterfall suddenly appeared in mid-air. The transparent liquid engulfed the blazing fire snake. Before anyone could react, a bright blue light shone from within the waterfall and shot out instantly.

Thunder Spear, a technique that used the refraction of light within the waterfall to conceal its true attack direction, making it impossible to dodge.

At this mont, Lyra watched the lightning rushing toward her, her thoughts sinking instinctively. Her body reacted on its own, using the knight’s sword to block.

The lightning didn’t hit the intended spot but struck the knight’s sword, transmitting the electric current through the blade to the wielder.

Even though Lyra had already attached her ntal energy to her right arm, trying to mitigate the impact of the lightning, she still felt her right hand lose control for a second, every inch of her skin prickling with needle-like pain.

The knight’s sword fell to the ground. Before it could completely topple, Lyra grabbed the hilt with her other hand, her breathing becoming more rapid.

’My right hand seems temporarily unusable... Am I going to lose?’

In the blink of an eye, Lyra realized that if Reneth could maintain this high-intensity ntal energy output, releasing wave after wave of magical attacks, she would have no chance of winning.

What’s going on... Why is she so strong...

The announcer had said that Reneth was also a Peak Apprentice, on par with her level, but the pressure she exerted was on a completely different level.

anwhile, within the white mist rising from the evaporating waterfall, a hint of fatigue appeared in Reneth’s eyes, and a dull pain began to throb in her brain.

After the potion took effect, she had gained a significant boost in ntal energy for a short period.

But this enhancent was a double-edged sword, stimulating both her soul and body.

The surging ntal energy allowed her to cast several spells that were originally beyond her reach in a short ti.

But the cost... Vorelter hadn’t told her...

The sound of the blade clinking against the floor tiles echoed. As the smoke dissipated, Reneth saw Lyra standing opposite her.

Under the sunlight, the pink-haired girl’s cheek bore a distinct bloodstain, her right arm seemingly numb, hanging limply at her side.

Yet she still stood straight, holding the sword in her left hand, its sharp tip aid at her, her blue eyes as calm as still water.

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