Deadlock

Watching as the Fire Elemental lunged at Barda's opponent, even Lady Maara was shocked. She expected Barda to put a standout performance but she had to admit she didn't expect a win from him.

After listening to the self-appointed commentators, she guessed chances of Barda winning were nil. Moreover, she did not expect such a quick win. Before she could celebrate, Lady Tian produced a foot-wide shield wall, instantly destroying the Fire Elemental.

"Ha!" Lord Jarin smacked his hand in anticipation. He had thought all was lost, wondering if his star student had taken it too easy. As one of her mentors, Lord Jarin had vested interest in the Lady's performance, which is why he decided to praise her within the Queen's earshot.

Seeing his Fire Elemental destroyed, Barda had to admit he was irked. He had grown rather fond of the little thing and was sad to see it go, so he took it out on the elementals she had created, destroying them thoroughly.

To his shock, Lady Tian canceled the conjurations and strengthened her shield wall. Suddenly, 4 ice horsemen seemed to come out of the wall, charging at Barda's Elementals who hadn't fallen.

The horsemen were holding lances and were riding on ice horses that charged Barda across the field.

"So, I can use weapons?" Watching their approach, Barda had a sudden inspiration. To each of his warriors, Barda armed them with bows and had them shoot arrow after arrow at the charging horsemen.

Watching as the rain of 10 arrows descended on the 4 horsemen, Barda expected to see them destroyed, but to his dismay, they took very little damage, which seemed to reform as they continued running.

Barda did not panic and conjured another 10 Elementals. Even from where he was, the Elementals could still fire their arrows, and so they did, bombarding the armored knights coming at them.

"Now that is what we came here to see," Lord Althalos commented as he noticed the fight was intensified.

Seeing that his arrows were proving ineffective, Barda decided to aim at the horses' forelimbs. On top of everything else, Barda was an excellent archer, a fact that had been proven time after time.

Each lead fire elemental shot 2 fire arrows at the horses' legs, and that was all it took to bring the horsemen tumbling down.

Livid, Lady Tian transformed the fallen horses into humanoid Elementals and had them face off Barda's vanguard once more.

Although this was an eight-versus-ten bout, the 8 Ice elementals were more overpowered than the previous ten, giving them an advantage over their competition in terms of basic attributes such as strength and speed.

One of the 8 Elementals swung its sword at Barda's Fire Elemental. Curious of its power, Barda raised his bow to receive the attack. The sword cleaved the Fire Elemental in half, instantly sending it off the field.

Seeing the attack, Barda knew not to meet them head-on as he had done previously. Since he had the numerical advantage, he circled the Ice Elementals with his 10 vanguard Elementals. He then transformed their bows into swords and started hacking away at the ice elementals.

Barda was good with the sword, and when it came to pattern recognition, he was King. He could see through all of Lady Tian's moves and quickly move his Elemental to dodge before meeting the attacker with a counter.

Barda replaced the fallen Elemental with another that was from the reserve. He then regenerated another, keeping the total number at 20 Elementals.

Barda's attack may not have been as powerful, but they were very effective and he hardly missed. Having to juggle control over so many Elementals, Lady Tian defense was full of holes, which Barda fully utilized.

Lady Arnea frowned. When she heard that Barda was in a contest, she had to see for herself. Not too long ago, they - her and Krib - had watched Barda slaughter an entire legion of 10,000 men. She knew how dangerous this man was. Her fear of him only grew.

It had to be said that for someone who had never fought in such a ring before, controlling 2 was a problem. Now she watched Barda fight so smoothly and efficiently with 10. Even facing such disadvantage he still won

"What is that?" Someone exclaimed.

"Is that what I think it is?" The Queen asked, a smile flashing across his face.

All this while, people had been concentrating on the battle ranging in the middle. No one took the time to see what was going on on either side.

Quick calculations told Barda that since he had used 20 Elementals each costing him 4%, he had used up to 80% output. Barda then channeled another 10% into a crazy creation.

The construction had a huge ball burning at its base, and it looked extremely sinister.

"That is a trebuchet, right?"

"What is a trebuchet?"

"How can anyone make a trebuchet?"

"Of course, he is a blacksmith, he knows the trebuchets very well," as realization dawned upon many, they understood that Barda was no pushover.

Lady Tian eyed the sinister invention warily. Part of the rules of the game was that someone should not move from their position since the staff would not let them. In a real battle, the conjurer would be free to move about while remaining within the range of the Elementals. If they wandered off too far, they would lose the connection and the Elemental would become undone.

Suddenly, a ball of fire was shot from the trebuchet heading straight for the shield wall. Seeing the oncoming attack, Lady Tian fortified her shield and braced for impact. A loud steaming sound ensued, and the shield was sufficiently reduced.

Seeing the attack was successful, Barda disbanded 5 of his rear defense forces and created 2 more trebuchets. With the designs in mind, he only needed to imagine it and it would appear. Barda felt like he was now getting the hang of it.

Facing the onslaught of 3 massive fireballs, Lady Tian instantly dispelled 2 of the Ice Elementals and used them to fortify the shield wall.

Tsssst.

Despite the additional fortification, the ice wall was almost worn out completely. However, Barda did not stop there. Having seen Lady Tian transform the horses into humanoids, he also decided to do something similar.

Barda transformed the fireballs into fiery falcons that started bombarding the Ice shield. Every falcon was 1% Energy, and it was a one-use attack. However, Barda had control over how they would attack.

Facing the attacks from the falcons and the fireballs, Lady Tian had to shift her concentration towards defending herself, which led to Barda taking down the remaining six Ice Elementals with ease.

Once they were taken down, Barda commanded the vanguard to charge at Lady Tian. He restored their bows, and so they shot at her as they ran. The good thing was that they had endless stream of arrows, as once the arrow was destroyed, Barda would just conjure up another.

If only real life was like this.

Seeing this transformation, Lady Tian had to use her strongest move. Instantly, 10 massive watery tentacles shot out of the shield, racing towards the vanguard forces. From the power of the attack, Barda knew that if any of them landed, his vanguard would be destroyed.

Ice and water are the same, hence Lady Tian was equally good in both Ice and water. While ice had its advantages in terms of stability and solidity, water was by far more malleable and flexible. She could use the tentacles like a whip which she cracked at the racing Fire Elementals.

Barda continuously his fireballs at the tentacles to slow them down. Moreover, he transformed the remaining backline into 2 semi-automatic ballistae, capable of firing five bolts before reloading. On this battlefield, their ammo was limitless.

Despite his best efforts, 6 of the vanguard forces fell under the onslaught of the tentacles. Barda had to give Lady Tian credit, she wielded the tentacles like a Kraken and her attacks were vicious.

Barda had been able to predict their attacks, but he realized his speed was wanting. With only 4% Energy, they were outmatched by far. When each of the Elementals fell, Barda tried to channel some of this power to the remaining Elementals, and to his joy, he found that he could.

At 10% Magical Energy, the Elementals were invincible as they moved across the battlefield. They hacked at the tentacles, which were also being bombarded by the trebuchets and the ballistae.

However, Lady Tian was not a pushover either. Every time her tentacles were hacked, she would instantly regenerate it or repair it if it was not too badly damaged and continue the attack. She realized that the Fire Elementals before her were her greatest threat, and so she did her best to make sure they didn't get anywhere near her.

Over and over again the tentacles whipped at Barda's Fire Elementals, yet Barda always found a way to evade, block, or counter the attack with the swords on the elementals or with the ranged attacks from his siege towers.

The battle seemed to be tied in a deadlock.