The icicles shot toward him, shooting in his direction at different speeds, trying to cut his escape away. As soon as he dodged one, it would spin back and attempt to attack him from behind. She closed the distance and attacked him with her spear from outside his reach. Any attempts to grab onto the weapon or attack her would be quickly covered by an icicle, allowing her to back off.
While frustrating, it wasn't an issue; he had already adjusted to her speed, and the annoying icicles weren't fast enough to pose a threat. He had also noticed a few particular things at first. Although all the icicles were covered with her Chi, the amount varied. Some were covered in quite a bit of Chi, while the others were barely covered in it. He doubts she knew he could see the Chi, so the question was. Why did the amount differ?
He already had a pretty good idea of why they differed, and he was proven right when one of the icicles with a low amount of Chi tried to stab into him. He swats it aside with the back of the gauntlet, and the ice didn't seem to spread on his arm. When he found out, he went to work and destroyed any of them with the same qualities.
He destroyed around three of them before they all came undone, and Iza took a step away and waited a few seconds to look at him.
"You're quite the anomaly, and I mean that in the kindest way. I mean, not even me or others with white tunics would dare to start the second step with our brain. The sensory overload and the discrepancy between the body and mind would be too much, yet you are doing that exact thing here. I must say, I have a deep respect for you."
He would have blushed at her words if it wasn't for the fact that she spoke calmly and stoically. Yet the smirk never left her face, making him slightly uneasy. He didn't bother saying anything back since he didn't want to lose his current focus, and she seemed to understand as she retook her stance.
The Chi around her body seemed to lessen as the stage started freezing. He dashed towards her, and just as he was about to step onto the ice, he jumped towards her. He didn't trust that the ice wouldn't spread onto him if he stepped on the ice; he also hadn't ever fought on ic-...wait, why did he decide to jump? Wasn't this the worst choice he could make?!
The spear shot toward him, but he barely grasped the spearhead. She slammed him onto the ground as she pulled the spear back, leaving his gauntlets covered in ice. She watched her walk around him, and he closed his hands, breaking the ice as he tried to get up, only to slip and get hit with the butt of the spear, sending him sliding across the ice and to the end of the stage.
He slammed the claws into the ice, stopping and slowly getting on all fours like an animal. He glared at her, and she giggled at his current state. He would show her; he began running at her on all fours, each time slamming the claws into the ice, creating cracks and at least helping him stay somewhat upright.
The light was once again becoming unbearably bright, and he kept trying to recall the feeling of what he had done in his fight against Haze before. Whatever he had done, it had temporarily blinded the two. He wasn't exactly right, but he could feel he was close enough.
As he got closer to her, he slammed his right hand onto the ice and used the moment to claw at the ground with his left hand and send chucks of ice toward her. He also stopped himself just before he got within range of her spear; despite his efforts, she seemed to dance around his weak attempt at an attack practically; as she closed the distance and stabbed into his right leg, it dug deep into the flesh of his leg before she pulled the spear back and gained distance once again, He didn't have a chance to feel the pain as it froze as soon as her spear dug into his leg. His leg was frozen stiff, and his right hand had decided to lock up.
He dug his left hand as deep as he could into the ice and ripped a big enough chunk of ice and stone to make himself a place to stand. He tossed the chunk at Iza and forced himself to stand. He slammed his fist into his leg, breaking the ice and bringing forth the pain. Despite tears forming in his eyes, the pain cleared his head a bit as he stood on shaky legs.
Iza quickly sliced the chunk of ice with the spear and watched as he stood on shaky legs. She approached slowly, and he patiently waited. His plan was slowly coming to fruition as the light became increasingly unbearably bright. The world past the stage practically disappeared in light, and it slowly spread closer and closer. Iza's figure soon became the only thing he could see; he raised his guard to his head, taking a deep breath.
As soon as she moved to stab into his chest, he brought his palm down onto the blade, sending it to the ground. As his hand began freezing, he closed it into a fist. The world went dark again, and he felt his Chi drained instantly. Despite it all, he moved his body and took a step forward, trying to strike her before she could see. He aimed for where her head was before and was met with nothing; the only thing he felt was something pressing against his neck as he was lifted off the ground.
When color returned to the world, he saw Iza's hands wrapped around his neck. A nervous smile spread across her face.
"That was fun, Charlotte; I hope we fight again soon."
Those were the last words he heard before the ice spread up his neck and once more sunk the world to darkness.