Erina stabbed out with her rapier and the Eternal Frost that covered Kai receded slightly, it was just a tiny gap enough for the rapier to fit through but just as that tiny gap opened, the entire field trembled and an invisible force stopped Erina's rapier.

"This is... Telekinesis!" Erina cried out in alarm and tried to retract her rapier but before she could get very far, the ground she stood on collapsed. Her eyes flashed with a scintillating light as she stomped her foot and the breaking floor turned into ice.

Then, she mustered all of the power in her body to break out of Kai's Telekinesis and leaped several meters backward. However, just as her foot touched the ice, it broke apart and then moved to attack her. Erina twisted her body several times but each time she stepped on something, it would break and fly towards her.

She bit her lip as her eyes and hair glowed silver. Then, she stomped the floor which immediately became covered in Eternal Frost. Erina's eyes flashed with understanding and she immediately tried to seal the small hole that she had drilled into the Eternal Frost holding Kai but before she could do so, her eyes widened.

Rumbling sounds could be heard as the entire arena trembled. The audience cried out in alarm and the tournament staff quickly set up barriers. First, it was just the rumbling, then cracking sounds followed. The stage, the walls, everything was beginning to crack but the arena itself stood tall.

It was then that Erina heard the most alarming sound she had heard today.

CRACK

Erina turned her eyes to Kai and quickly channeled all of her power. She waved her arm and another cloud of Eternal Frost formed to seal Kai again but before the cloud could reach him, the Eternal Frost broke apart and revealed a suit of armor made from ice.

"[Armor of Eternal Frost], [Eternal Frost Buckler], [Eternal Frost Blade]."

Accompanied by a flash of cyan light, the suit of armor began forming to cover Kai from head to toe. A small shield formed itself on the forearm of his armor and a long blade with a curve at the end formed on his waist inside a sheath.

It all happened in an instant and when the transformation finished, Kai's eyes hidden by the armor had trails of blue light. He unsheathed the katana from its sheath and with quick movements, cut apart the cloud of Eternal Frost. There were some that passed through but they didn't freeze Kai, the armor prevented it.

"Battle gear made out of Eternal Frost...? When did you have the time?!"

Kai smiled beneath his helmet at Erina's agitation. True, even if Kai were to muster all of his power, it'd be impossible for him to create this much Eternal Frost at once. Not to mention that they all appeared in the same instant and finished manifesting in a fraction of a second.

"Erina, I've never underestimated you. I have no idea what you cooked up during those days in the illusion world but, I won't slack off just because I'm confident. Since the start of this match, I've been gathering the necessary power to use this. It was quite difficult, my spells were limited and I couldn't move well otherwise my focus would be drained. Still, I succeeded."

Kai talked calmly, the Eternal Frost wouldn't drain his mana now that it was already here.

If Kai's defensive power was at a hundred before, then it would be at five hundred right now.

Erina's face was ashen as she looked at Kai's armor but no matter where she looked, there were no exploitable gaps. It was the upgraded version of the spells Kai used as a child, Armor of the Frost Giants, Compact Ice Shield, and Ice Blade. The only major difference would be the type of ice used as his three new spells contained Eternal Frost rather than normal ice.

"Are you going to give up?" even multiple S-class wouldn't necessarily be able to break apart Kai's armor right now.

Still, Erina stayed silent as she relaxed her stance. She removed the cloak from her body but left the mask on. Then, accompanied by a flash of white light, a dress appeared on Erina's body—the gift given to her by her master, the Goddess of Frost.

Then, under Kai's gaze, she laughed.

"..."

Other people would take that laugh as surrendering bitterly but for some reason, Kai's instincts told him otherwise. Her fighting will hadn't diminished in the least, rather, it burned fiercer.

"Hahahaha!"

Erina continued on laughing much to the confusion of the audience. Yoko and the others were watching from the audience as well.

"What's wrong with Erina?" Yoko asked Amelia.

In response, Amelia sighed in relief, "thank goodness. It's her win."

Everyone with the exception of Sachiko opened their eyes wide.

"What do you mean? Isn't she laughing because she's lost?"

Yoko followed up with more questions.

"Sachiko, what do you think?"

Amelia didn't answer Yoko and passed the question to Sachiko who was right beside her.

"Nn. It's definitely her win. Still, I can't believe you know Kai that well."

Sachiko sighed. She had spent some time with Erina and Amelia in the illusion world and was naturally aware of their plans.

"Are you sure that she should be using that here? I mean, it's one of her trump cards," she continued.

"There's no helping it," Amelia shrugged, "Kai's as stubborn as a mule, the only way for him to concede is to defeat him with conditions in place. Although I don't know what the winning condition is, it's most likely to make Kai bleed or break his mask. Either way, it's Erina's win."

Amelia and Sachiko ignored everyone's shocked gazes and looked back at the battle. Erina had finished laughing and replaced her rapier with a sword made of ice.

"Kai, this is my win. Earlier, I asked you when you had the time to make it, the truth is I already knew."

Erina removed her mask but only revealed the lower half of her face so Kai could see her smile.

"I'm the Goddess of Frost's disciple. You were trained by her but unlike you, I'm her real disciple. She planned to pass on many things to me and that naturally included her own power."

She began explaining.

"The Goddess of Frost is the source of the Eternal Frost and without her, it's just normal ice. Now let's say that an angel under her was to turn traitor and use Eternal Frost to attack, do you think it'll work?"

Kai pieced the puzzles together and leaped towards Erina, he had to end it now.

"It's too late. The armor on your body, the Eternal Frost is impossible to break in the short-term. The moment you finished chanting and wore that, it was your loss."

Erina calmly put on her mask as Kai arrived in front of her in an instant But a strange scene happened just as Kai unsheathed his katana and slashed at Erina. Starting from the very tip of the blade down to the center which was the parts that would hit Erina, the katana experienced sublimation.

Ice used water but Eternal Frost was special, it didn't have a medium to freeze and so there was no water left when it melted. Kai's pendant was trapped under his armor so he couldn't press it to get a new weapon and he immediately retreated but found that his feet were glued to the ground.

Black flames ignited on his arms but he wouldn't be able to melt his own armor faster than Erina could attack. Kai felt a sense of deadly crisis and he used as much mana as he could to burn the armor faster. Luckily, there was an abundance of mana in the surroundings to use.

However, just as Kai reached the peak of his flames, his connection with mana was suddenly cut off.

"?!"

He looked closely at Erina and could see that she was channeling large amounts of magic power and somehow, his astral body was inaccessible.

"[Goddess of Frost, please lend me your power]."

Behind Erina, Kai could see an incarnation of his grandmother. He didn't know if it was visible only for him or if the others could see it as well, but Kai felt that the wavelength of Erina's magic power synced with his grandmother's.

Erina's power spiked and climbed higher and higher in S-class, at the rate she was going, then she'd reach SS-class in just a few more seconds. But luckily for Kai, her magic power slowed down near the peak of S-class and stopped once it was at the door to SS-class.

He could achieve the same feat if he removed his pendant but it would put him in a berserk state.

Erina raised the blade made of ice which at some point, turned into Eternal Frost. As if moving according to Erina's will, the incarnation of the Goddess of Frost behind her also raised her hand. He had seen this sight before but at the time, the person's looks were a blur to him.

(A/N: Kai saw the incarnation behind Erina on chapter 63.)

WHOOOSH

Accompanied by a huge gust of wind, Erina's sword along with the incarnation slashed downward. Before her attack even released, Kai had already felt the most danger he had today. If he took that head-on, then let alone bleeding, he would even be cut apart.

Finally, Kai grit his teeth.

"Beast Art: Black Tortoise Shell!"

Kai created Arts but he hadn't used them much. To him who held infinite mana, arts were simply inefficient. He created them for people who couldn't use mana and for Angie to slay dragons.

This time, Kai was the one who had an incarnation. A giant tortoise manifested and blocked the sword's path but it only lasted for a few seconds before starting to crack. Everyone other than Kai, Erina, and the Blind Swordsman were forced to cover their ears over the sound.

Finally, the turtle seemed to have lost all of its power as the incarnation started to become pale and more cracks spread across its surface. Then, it broke accompanied by a cry of pain.

But, the few seconds that Kai bought were enough for him. Erina was so focused on the tortoise and using her incarnation that she didn't realize⁠—at some point, the Eternal Frost covering Kai's left arm was back in his control. It had a huge cut on the portion of the upper arm and he could move it independently from the armor.

Kai raised his left arm from within the Eternal Frost and tried to block what remained of the sword slash's might with the forearm of his armor.

Unfortunately, the principle that the Eternal Frost couldn't touch Erina also applied to her sword. The armor immediately melted into nothing and Kai was forced to take the brunt of the swing with his left arm. Once the attack made contact with his arm, all of his armor melted and he could once more move but he couldn't evade that attack, he was already pinned down.

Kai stomped his foot on the floor and a giant spike protruded from the soles of his foot. Then, he stepped forward with his other leg. Kai positioned his right arm beneath his left arm and his body's power was used to its limit.

"[Body Enhancement: Maximum Output], [Limiter Off], [Limit Break]!"

Kai's body was now enhanced to the point that it passed S-class. He could use Blood Rush to once more increase his body's power but unfortunately, he had to hide the fact that he was a vampire from both the tournament staff and the Blind Swordsman.

Part of Kai's cloak was ripped apart and the skin on his left arm was beginning to tear. He was being pushed meter by meter until he reached the end of the stage but by then, the might of Erina's swing was all but gone.

Finally, accompanied by a small wind, the attack dispersed and the incarnation behind Erina disappeared.

Kai breathed heavily. He was tired beyond belief, he exerted everything he had into blocking that attack just to avoid bleeding. The skin on his left arm was damaged but it could easily be repaired.

Erina's face was pale and she slumped down on the floor. Kai disabled his skills and walked over to Erina, she had no more mana left in her body and the glow in her eyes had faded.

"Looks like I still underestimated you..."

Kai sighed and was about to tell Erina to surrender but she spoke before he could.

"Kai..."

Erina looked up at him with puppy eyes.

"I... want a baby."

Lightning bolts went out in Kai's head as he backed away in a mix of shock and surprise.

"A baby?! But you..."

Before Kai could continue, Erina placed herself in his embrace and parted her mask slightly along with his. Then, she kissed him for a few seconds before biting him on the lower lip slightly.

"Ouch..."

"I win."

After Erina's declaration of victory, Kai stared at her blankly but as smoke rose from his lips, he chuckled.

"It's my loss. Now, about that baby..."

Erina immediately became beet red.

"Wait, that's something I came up with on the spur of the moment but... I mean, if you really want to..."

At first, she was trying to explain but as her voice became lower and lower, the things she said slowly turned ridiculous. She was making excuses to not refuse Kai. Seeing that, he chuckled again and placed a hand on her head, then he faced the referee.

"I concede."

The referee stared at him dumbly for a few seconds, never before had he seen a match that ended with a kiss. Not only that⁠—he also heard Erina say the word 'baby'. Although he couldn't quite hear everything, he managed to at least understand that the two who were fighting were lovers.

The referee coughed awkwardly then shouted, "participant seventeen has conceded! Participant eighteen wins and will move to the semifinals of the winner's bracket!"