The Lady's Butler: I Reincarnated To Serve The Villainess

Chapter 206: A Giant Flower For The Saintess

"AND THE WINNER IS ADRIAN, REPRESENTING THE ACADEMY. "

It seemed that the crowd was cheering at the fact that the battle was over rather than in celebration of Adrian winning.

Especially the South.

Though even they had to admit that the last move truly was something else.

A field where one couldn’t escape the enemy’s attacks was quite the cheat....perhaps they could also learn how it worked with their various elements.

Though he hadn’t intended to, Adrian had inspired a whole new set of skills, but that was a story for another time, because soon enough, the herald suddenly announced the next matchup.

"REPRESENTING THE WEST, LADY LINDA,"

The crowd from the west cheered, though no matter how loudly they did, it was almost impossible to cheer louder than the South’s.

"AND HER OPPONENT REPRESENTING THE ROYAL FAMILY, THE SAINTESS NOELLE!"

The reaction to that announcement was immediate and significantly larger than Linda’s.

The Saintess was known everywhere in Avera, not as a fighter, but as a symbol, the Church’s beloved representative, the girl who stood beside the prince.

Most people in the stands had never seen her fight.

Well, save for the survivors, who knew exactly how much of a danger their savior was.

Especially when paired up with the prince, but today, they’d learn how strong she was while alone.

In the preparation area, Lucian watched Noelle walk toward the arena entrance.

She stopped at the door, glanced back at him and smiled, a promise that she’d be fine....well, not that he doubted that she could handle herself in the first place.

Linda, meanwhile, only glanced at Renelle, recalling what she had discussed with her father before letting out a sigh.

It wasn’t that she disagreed with him.

Grand Duke Zephir was many things, but he wasn’t wrong often, and he hadn’t been wrong about this.

The North was rising.

And even she could see that much.

She stepped out of the preparation area and towards the arena.

The Saintess was already waiting with a small smile on her face as she looked at her opponent.

The aura about her felt quite gentle, but Linda was not one to be fooled.

She had seen the Saintess spar before, and although she didn’t reveal much of her capabilities, it was easy to deduce that she definitely wasn’t weak.

"I apologize, Saintess," Linda said as she adjusted her glasses, "but I have someone to impress, so I apologize, but you’re going to lose."

"It’s fine," Noelle said with a smile and the next moment, the herald called out,

"BEGIN!"

Linda made the first move, the moment she heard those words.

She pressed her palm flat against the arena floor, and vines immediately burst from it, spreading outward in every direction at once,

The arena floor was completely covered in seconds.

Noelle lifted off the ground immediately with wind, avoiding the vines reaching for her feet, and launched an ice strike downward at the network spreading beneath her.

The ice hit and froze a section cleanly, forcing Linda to pull those vines back and send new ones from a different angle.

The vines tried reaching up for the Saintess, but again, she froze them completely, turning them to shards of ice.

Linda clicked her tongue in annoyance, a bit of annoyance.

Two elements simultaneously were still two elements simultaneously, and the Saintess was clearly comfortable switching between them faster than most spirit mages could manage one.

So she changed her approach.

Instead of sending vines upward, she focused on the arena floor, thickening the network, layering it until the ground was no longer visible beneath the mass of vines.

In the center of the said vines was a small bud that grew larger by the second, and in just a few seconds, it became a giant, unblossomed pink flower.

Noelle looked at the flower for a while, wondering what her opponent was up to. After all, even with how large the flower was, there was no way it would reach her.

But she soon realized what it was for when the flower suddenly bloomed, and from within came a small vine that quickly wrapped itself around her ankle.

Before Noelle had the chance to freeze this vine, she was forcefully pulled down into the flower, and it wrapped up again, completely trapping her.

The crowd went silent at how fast that had just happened.

Especially the survivors, after all, they were sure that their savior was quite strong.

Linda looked at the closed flower with a small satisfied expression before slowly walking towards the flower.

Having learnt from her spar with Renelle, Linda had ensured that this trap would hold. Besides, there was a little something else within.

"Now then, Saintess, would you kindly give up?" She started as she was a small distance away from the flower, "If not, the flower will start releasing its pollen."

She paused.

"It won’t harm you," she added, adjusting her glasses, "but it will put you to sleep within thirty seconds and waking up from such sleep will not be the most pleasurable experience. "

There was silence on the other end as the Saintess said nothing, so she added as the flower’s petals began to glow faintly at the seams.

The pollen was slowly building up inside.

"I’d recommend deciding quickly," Linda said.

But in the next few seconds, the temperature inside the flower dropped so rapidly that Linda immediately ran outside.

The pollen quickly froze before it could release.

CRACK.

The frost spread outward through the flower’s structure, moving faster than Linda could pump mana into the petals to reinforce them.

The cold was working from the inside out, the same way it had with her vines earlier.

Linda had accounted for ice breaking the flower open, but she hadn’t expected it to be this fast.

The ice spread to the vines on the ground, forcing her to jump back.

A few seconds later, the now ice flower shattered, revealing a completely unharmed Noelle, causing the crowd to cheer again.

"Thank you for the consideration," Noelle said with a smile, "but I think I’ll be fine."