A powerful wind swept through the battle ring. This was no ordinary breeze; it was filled with sharp wind blades.

The blades shot toward Sam, but he immediately sensed the danger. Using his movement technique, he vanished from his spot.

In the next instant, Lisa created a wind zone around herself. As expected, Sam reappeared close to her, ready to strike.

Startled by the sudden emergence of the wind zone, Sam instinctively retreated. However, he attacked again just a moment later, unleashing his Fast Slash technique.

The clash produced a fierce impact. Sam felt his sword strike something solid—Lisa had countered with her own wind blade attack.

This didn't frighten him. Instead, he pressed the attack relentlessly, switching to his Illusion Slash technique.

Suddenly, Lisa saw twenty swords converging on her from every direction. Fear flashed through her—until she realized they were all illusions.

But which one was real?

Before she could figure it out, Sam had already struck her shoulder. Pain shot through her arm.

Realizing the danger, Lisa instantly increased the power of her wind flow and multiplied the wind blades around her.

This time, she didn't create the enormous blade-like swords; instead, she conjured smaller wind blades that required less spiritual energy to sustain.

Sensing her escalation, Sam quickly disappeared again. Using his movement technique, he continued to attack from unpredictable angles.

In this situation, Lisa could only keep the wind flow swirling around her, making sure Sam couldn't land a direct hit.

'As expected, she's quite powerful, and those wind blades are dangerous—even for me. Luckily, there's a gap in our power, which is my biggest advantage.

Getting close to her is difficult. I'll have to wait for the perfect moment. Until then, I'll keep pressuring her so she doesn't get a chance to counterattack.'

Maintaining the wind zone required a lot of spiritual energy, and Lisa wouldn't be able to hold it for long.

Besides sustaining the wind zone, she also had to focus on energy recovery techniques. That would be the perfect moment for Sam to strike.

Fifteen minutes later,

Sam finally spotted his chance. The wind zone around Lisa began to weaken. Seizing the opportunity, he rushed in and attacked.

"Boom!!!"

"Ahh!!"

Lisa let out a cry of pain as Sam's strike landed on her stomach. Even with her powerful armor, she felt the impact.

But this wasn't enough to defeat her. In the next instant, she shot a volley of wind bullets at Sam, forcing him to retreat and create some distance.

Sam used his Fast Slash technique to counter the incoming wind bullets. These wind bullets were almost as fast and deadly as real ones.

Fortunately, his keen observation allowed him to track their paths.

Still, he couldn't dodge every blade—ten of them struck him, enough to make him stagger in pain.

'Cough… As I thought, those wind bullets pack enough power to injure me. Fortunately, I'm fast enough to fight back.'

Sam quickly changed his position once more.

Meanwhile, Lisa used this brief window to retreat and recover some lost spiritual energy. However, if she focused solely on recovery without attacking, Sam would capitalize on her weakness.

So she kept firing wind bullets at him, and Sam continued to dodge them.

For ten more minutes, they battled fiercely, neither gaining a clear advantage.

Eventually, Sam closed the distance and launched his Thunder Blade technique.

Everything happened so quickly that Lisa barely had time to react. She only heard the roar of thunder—it was as if a thousand birds screamed beside her.

A split second later, he struck.

"Ahhhh!!!"

Lisa cried out in pain. Even with her armor, the attack left her nearly paralyzed.

Sam wasted no time. He dashed in and punched her, combining it with his Heavy Fist technique.

Lisa struggled to regain control of her body and quickly stabilized herself, barely avoiding being knocked out of the ring.

She steadied herself and pulled back from the edge.

'I have to use my strongest attack, or I'll lose.'

Resolving to finish the fight, Lisa unleashed her most powerful technique. Suddenly, potent energy flared around her, and a tornado formed before Sam could react.

She directed the tornado at him.

A violent windstorm raged across the battle ring, and Sam could feel the overwhelming force of the tornado.

Sensing the threat, he gathered more spiritual energy. In the next instant, he swung his sword at the tornado, unleashing a Thunder Slash.

Though he couldn't fully use his energy coating technique, the Thunder Blade technique still allowed him to channel enough spiritual and thunder energy into the attack.

His strike filled with the thunder element and spiritual energy—enough to physically affect the tornado.

"Boom!!!"

A powerful explosion rocked the arena. The impact nearly blasted Lisa out of the ring.

Not only the fighters, but even the spectators were swept by the shockwave. Dust filled the edges of the arena.

_______________________

The clash between the two attacks was immense. Fortunately, both combatants managed to keep their footing.

Lisa lost control of her tornado, weakened further by Sam's attack.

Its power faded, and before it could reach Sam, it vanished.

The audience gasped in awe at the power displayed by both Lisa and Sam. The stadium erupted with cheers for the fighters.

"Now that was unexpected. I knew Lisa Radus had it in her, but I never thought Sam could pull off such a powerful technique,"

one warrior commented as he watched Sam.

"I think, even without his shadow techniques, Sam's chances of winning are higher,"

Randy said to his colleague.

"He held back during that last attack—I bet he could push that sword slash even further. I wish I could see him go all out."

Others shared this sentiment, sensing that Sam had not shown his full strength.

Even David, watching from the stands, was startled—not by Lisa's power, but by Sam's.

'Would I be able to defend against him?'

he wondered, doubting if he could withstand such an attack.

Meanwhile, Sam was unaware of this. His concentration was locked on Lisa as he used a recovery technique.