As soon as the attack ended, Asa disabled the Holy ground and fired several needles at Hiroshi. But before it could reach him, he repelled them using 'Rose wind,' a general class defensive spell that could repel physical attacks.
Neither Asa nor Hiroshi had moved from their initial position. Hiroshi had used a lot of mana during the attack early, so it would take him at least five minutes to be able to activate another advanced class spell.
Asa took a long breath as she prepared herself to go offensive. She knew that her frontal attacks wouldn't be able to get past his defenses, but that meant she just had to be faster.
If she was able to get her attack through before he could activate Rose wind, she would be able to weaken him. And in the weakened state, he wouldn't be able to defend himself, so the follow-up attacks would obviously get through.
It was a well-thought plan, but there were two problems. First was the limited time. She had to get the attack through before he could activate the Dance of the steel petal again. And the second was — even though not as much as Hiroshi — she herself was exhausted because of the attack earlier. Using the Holy ground to defend against that chain of explosions consumed a lot of mana.
Asa dashed forward after throwing several needles towards Hiroshi. Those needles were just intended to be a distraction to keep him from charging ahead.
As expected, Hiroshi repelled the attacks using Rose wind. With this spell, he could create a gust of wind around himself and prevent any projectile weapons from hitting him. It consumed low mana and could be activated in a fraction of a second.
He knew what was coming, so he braced himself for a series of attacks. Even though he could activate the Rose winds quickly, he wasn't able to maintain it for more than ten seconds in his state. And after every use, it would take 5 seconds for him to be able to reactivate it.
Hiroshi was vulnerable during those five seconds, and he knew that Asa would try to use that as an opportunity.
He took a step back and tried dodging the next batch of needles that were coming at him. There were only three seconds left before he could use the spell again, but the needles were too fast for him.
They were aimed after considering all the possible movements, and because of that, he got hit by three of them in his left leg. The incoming needles were fast and were easily able to pierce through his skin.
That wasn't the end of her attack. Before Hiroshi could let a sound out in pain, she threw three more needles at his right leg, disabling the movement of both of his legs.
Unable to stand, he fell on his knees.
Asa used that as an opportunity to fire six more needles at him with the movement of her hand. But before it could reach him, he activated Rose wind again and repelled the attack.
On a practical level, those needles were usually filled with poison or drugs that would slow their movement. However, those things weren't allowed according to the tournament rules. If they were, it would have been a game over for him already.
"AAAAH!"
In those ten seconds, he was able to take two needles out. Normally, he should have been able to take all six of them out, but the tips of those needles were designed like arrows. They would go in smoothly and would just feel like being injected with a syringe — a sudden sharp pinch. But while taking it out, it would hurt more like a nail or something even more painful.
The pain he felt was immense, and along with the pain, the bleeding started. He lacked healing capacities, so all he could do was use his magic to stop the bleeding temporarily.
"Ha-ha-ha! You are as good as I expected you to be."
Hiroshi had a smile on his face, but it was apparent that he was trying to hide his pain with it. However, Asa couldn't shake off the feeling that something was missing.
"Bloom!"
Before she could realize what, three petals burst behind her, and the impact made her fall forward.
Hiroshi wasn't foolish enough to go all out at the start and leave himself defenseless afterward. He had left some of the petals unexploded during the attack earlier and was waiting for the right moment to make them explode. Asa took a while to realize this, which caused her whole plan to fall apart.
Asa took a lot of damage during the attack. Even though the explosions were caused at the right distance to make it non-lethal, it still dealt enough damage to keep her down for a while.
Asa quickly activated a self-healing spell in an attempt to recover. Still, by the time she was able to, Hiroshi had already removed all the needles and was in the position to cast another Dance of the steel petal. However, it looked like he was still having difficulty standing.
"You know these injuries won't distract me from using my spells."
"Yes, although I never thought a gentleman like you would use a cowardly trick like that. I guess I was mistaken."
Asa used this conversation as an opportunity to distance herself from Hiroshi.
"I thought I would hurt the pride of a dignified lady like you if I don't fight to the best of my abilities. Was that assessment wrong?"
"No, it wasn't. I was the one who thought you weren't taking this seriously. But it looks like I was wrong."
"Then it's time for one last dance, my lady. Dance of the steel petals!"
Hiroshi bowed a little as he activated the spell.
"Ha-ha! I don't think it's going to be that easy, my good sir. Holy ground!"
Hiroshi pointed the rose towards Asa. "Bloom!"
Even though Asa was able to heal herself, she had used a lot of mana. As a result, she wasn't able to maintain the barrier amid all the explosions.
When the barrier was broken, all the screens around the stage turned red, and a stop signal was given.
"Stop! The winner of this Match is Hiroshi Yoshino."