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.

he changed the trajectory of his sword while adding more

Shang's eyes widened.

Astor before he charged at Shang

by using some water, Astor had been

Affinity

jumped to

beneath Astor's feet

Shang's eyes

time, he

left arm at

BANG!

Ice Mana washed over Astor's entire body, but it

CRK!

the water beneath him hardened, and in just a moment, it had transformed into

lost control over his water, and his feet hit the ground unexpectedly, completely

shone as he

powerful enough to freeze that much

then why had it

remembered something he had learned in teacher Niria's

Zone had a partial

Why?

Mana could transform Water Mana into Ice Mana as long as there was

wasn't natural water, but water

it with a lot of

which meant that he wouldn't be able

And it had worked!

turned to ice, and

Shang charged forward.

slid forward. He was trying to regain

Shang closed in.

regain control of his sword

and he threw his

to rotate, and the rotating hilt came between him

BANG!

the hilt with his sword

But he missed!

had sidestepped on instinct, and he was approaching Shang with

his fist towards

hadn't expected this

had always been the one to throw his weapon

Shang's mind shut

instincts honed over years of training took

Shang dropped

Shang wasn't even thinking about his

pushed Astor's arm away by the elbow while

Astor's eyes widened.

His attack had missed?!

of habit,

left knee went to Astor's back as Shang pulled his

destroyed again, and

BANG!

while clinging closely to his arm with