Defeat

Such mastery of the seven-streamed sword technique was legendary, a sign of her status as a Tier 5 practitioner. The very air seemed to freeze in the construct's wake.

But Jolthar's eyes gleamed with an inner darkness. As the ice blade descended, tendrils of shadow began to seep from his sword.

"Void Wrath," he whispered and struck.

The collision shook the tavern.

Where blade met blossom, reality itself seemed to waver. Jolthar's sword, wreathed in writhing shadows, had somehow caught the massive ice construct. Cracks began spreading through the crystalline petals.

"Impossible!" Belan's composure cracked for the first time. "No Tier 4 swordsman could—"

"I am more than mere tiers," Jolthar responded, his voice eerily calm as the void energies intensified. With a final surge of power, his sword shattered her ice construct, sending crystalline shards across the tavern.