Sword God in a World of Magic

Shang was stuck between three choices.

Charge at Astor with his Ice Blast.

Try to evade the strike and counter.

Try to evade with his Ice Blast.

All of them had different advantages and disadvantages.

In the end, Shang went with the second option.

Why?

Because he needed his Ice Blast to end the fight.

He couldn't reliably end the fight by charging in now.

If he evaded with his Ice Blast, he would be on the safe side, but he would lose his best shot at winning against Astor.

Astor's defense was incredible, and without a severe speed advantage, Shang couldn't break through it.

So, Shang ran into the distance.

Astor had already built up his momentum, and he would soon jump forward with his sword.

It was essentially the same situation as when Shang had first fought Astor.

But this time, Shang's instincts had been honed a lot more. On top of that, he had seen that attack before, and he knew of a good way to evade it.

By widening the distance between them, Astor's momentum would weaken on his way to Shang.

And then, Astor unleashed his strike.

BOOM!

The earth cracked beneath him as his body was thrown forward with his sword.

Shang saw Astor approach, and he was sure that Astor was even faster than back then.

Obviously, Astor hadn't unleashed his full power in their first fight.

Shang jumped to the side.

At that moment, water appeared beneath Astor's feet, and he slid to the side while keeping hold of his sword.

Astor had slid more to the side than Shang due to his higher momentum.

Shang could only jump to the ground to let the sword pass above him.

Astor's strike missed, and Shang quickly slashed at where Astor should be.

Yet, Astor had already passed by Shang.

More water appeared beneath him as his body rotated.

Then, the water vanished.

changed the trajectory of his sword while adding more power to

Shang's eyes widened.

he charged at

some water, Astor had been able to completely conserve

Affinity was only useful

jumped to the

beneath Astor's

then, Shang's

time, he was

his left arm at

BANG!

Mana washed over Astor's entire body, but

CRK!

then, Astor's eyes widened in horror as the water beneath him hardened, and in just a moment, it had transformed into

his water, and his feet hit the ground unexpectedly, completely ruining his

shone as

powerful enough to freeze that much

then why had it

had learned

in the Empress Cobra Zone had a

Why?

transform Water Mana into Ice Mana

natural

long as Shang could blast it with a lot of Ice

an Ice Affinity, which meant that he

And it had worked!

ice, and Astor lost

Shang charged forward.

hit the ground as he slid forward. He

Shang closed in.

for Astor to regain control of his sword in a short amount

eyes widened, and he threw his

to rotate, and the

BANG!

his

But he missed!

sidestepped on instinct, and he

released his fist

expected this

weapon

Shang's

years of

habit, Shang dropped

Shang wasn't even thinking about his

by the elbow while

Astor's eyes widened.

His attack had missed?!

habit,

went to Astor's back as Shang pulled his

destroyed again, and

BANG!

on Astor's back while clinging closely to