Chapter 2080: Sparring With Dana

From a few rows forward, one of the warriors sighed dramatically.

"Everyone looks down on the warriors, I tell you. With our damage output, what are a few golems?"

Dana smiled sweetly at him. "Would you like to spar after this fight? It’s nearly over, and I can show you a thing or two about the advantages of a Golem Mistress who knows how to use a blade."

The whole group around them were fascinated by the thought.

There wasn’t much crossover between the two professions, and even the Battlemages were considered to be a minority niche among the mages. So, combining the arts was a new experience for many of the spectators.

"Gladly. My master told me that one day I would find the mage that could best me in a duel, but I haven’t met one yet."

Dana tried not to laugh. She was reasonably certain that just her Epic Guard, the Obsession Demon type summon that specialized in assassinations, was enough to take this guy out. But telling him that now would only hurt his pride.

It was better for him to find out in the arena.

As Dana had expected, once the fighter transformed, the fight was all but over, and the referee was ringing the bell to mark the end of the fight, while the crowd cheered for the spectacle, or bemoaned their bad luck in betting on the wrong side.

Then, Karl looked at the timer.

One hour one minute and three seconds. It really had gone until the potions had ended.

The Supreme Ranked warriors left the arena, and Dana gestured to the floor. "Shall we? If not, we will have to share the space."

The warrior was instantly on his feet and smiling at her before running for the gates to stop anyone else from entering. Dana just shook her head and looked back at Karl, who was still holding her in his lap.

"Tell the referee to announce us, would you?"

She could actually do it herself. She had the authority. But it sounded more impressive if Karl gave the order.

She left for the waiting room, and Karl rose to his feet, all two hundred and fifty centimetres of snow Weretiger glory. He raised one black striped hand and activated the runes on the arena to amplify his voice.

"We have another challenge coming for you. One of our own, our Beloved Dana Mage, will be fighting an instructional sparring session against a visiting warrior.

This is not something that you will want to miss."

He didn’t elaborate, the crowd would see it soon enough.

The two stepped into the arena, with the warrior changed into ornate silver and golden armour, polished to a high shine. Dana had changed into a deep crimson and gold Hanfu style dress, with a thin veil over her lower face, and golden accessories in her hair.

They were all part of a single accessory, a hairpin that added forty percent attack speed to constructs. Normally underwhelming as a helmet replacement, for a Golem Mistress, it was absolutely sick and wrong.

Even without any actual stat bonuses on it.

The Referee waited for them to get into place, and then began his speech. "There will be no precast spells for this sparring session. The true power of a combatant is in their ability to respond to a surprise.

So, will our opponents please face away from each other and wait for my signal."

Even if they weren’t watching each other, there was little fear of cheating with this many spectators. Though, both assumed that they would sense the other trying to use a skill by the mana fluctuations.

Dana drew her weapon, a simple Peerless Grade sabre that she had made herself. With its thin blade, it would be fast enough that she could easily spin it around with one hand, and bringing out the {Dancing Blade of the Dana Mage} for a sparring session seemed excessive.

A Supreme Ranked Holy Weapon was overkill in most situations.

However, the Guandao Halberd style, essentially a wide scimitar blade on a short spear with a hooked back to catch blades, had distinct advantages.

So, after they turned away, she switched weapons to a similarly shaped one, which made the crowd laugh quietly. The match hadn’t even started yet, and already the mage was playing mind games with the warrior.

"Begin!"

Dana leapt five metres straight up, letting the warrior’s first attack fly under her as she summoned the [Epic Guard] and her eight basic golems. Then, she swung her blade and went straight for humiliation, with [Falling Plum Blossom Petals].

A wave of energy raced from her blade, leaving a trail of plum blossoms behind it.

The warrior contemptuously parried the initial wave as used a blade flurry to knock five of the golems across the arena, moderately damaged.

Then, the Epic Guard attacked, forcing him to frantically block, and turn halfway away from Dana, just in time for the flowers to turn into streaks of energy and come at him from a full semicircle of directions.

[Guard] came up, and was battered apart by the attack, which Dana followed up with [Blade Flurry], to send a dozen more waves of violet blade energy at the warrior, who was already struggling with the Epic Guard, even before the golems closed the circle on him.

To his credit, he was fast, and he managed to completely defeat the [Blade Flurry], while kicking a Golem across the arena and shield bashing another.

But then he had his head removed from his torso by the Epic Guard, and he was instantly transported to the arena’s healing room. Technically, the System didn’t count him as dead, his head was still partially attached, and he was at one point of health when he appeared in the room.

But he still got to feel the pain of the blade slicing through his neck.

"Dammit. She really is strong. But that construct that she summoned is the real danger," he muttered to himself as he got up and headed for the arena floor.

"Again," he insisted.

The crowd roared in approval, eager to see more of what Dana might do in intense combat.

"Alright. You can bring a support member if it pleases you. Even up the odds against a Golem Mistress."