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.

as he changed the trajectory of his sword while adding more power

Shang's eyes widened.

he charged

using some water, Astor had been

Water Affinity was only

jumped to the

appeared beneath Astor's

then, Shang's eyes

time, he was

pointed his left arm at

BANG!

wave of Ice Mana washed over Astor's entire

CRK!

eyes widened in horror as the water beneath him hardened, and in

his feet

as

definitely wasn't powerful enough to freeze

had it suddenly

remembered something he had learned in teacher

beasts in the Empress Cobra Zone had a partial Water Affinity, they avoided

Why?

Ice Mana as long as there

wasn't natural water, but

with a lot of Ice Mana, it

meant that he wouldn't be able

And it had worked!

water had turned to ice,

Shang charged forward.

slid forward. He was trying to regain

Shang closed in.

for Astor to regain control of his sword in a

he

rotate, and the rotating hilt came

BANG!

hilt with his sword

But he missed!

on instinct, and he was approaching Shang with a

Astor released his fist

expected

always been the one to throw his weapon away. He hadn't met someone else

moment, Shang's

honed over years of

habit, Shang dropped

this moment, Shang wasn't

arm away by

Astor's eyes widened.

His attack had missed?!

habit,

knee went to Astor's back as Shang pulled his

again, and he hit

BANG!

landed with his left knee on Astor's back while clinging closely to his arm with