The kick caused Tanya to slide back but she stabilized herself soon enough only for her to be on the receiving end of yet another blow.
Reality warped and their positions changed so that Therese's punch missed.
The Dreg woman just smiles and made a tiny movement with her hand which smacked into Tanya's side.
*Bam!*
Tanya's eyes widened in surprise at the move which she had not expected her opponent to be able to make.
The Elemental Ordinance of water was better described as a fundamental ordinance of fluidity. A wielder of the ordinance of water can be very accepting of whatever comes their way while then proceeding to use it to their advantage by 'going with the flow'.
Therese's attack had not been too fast to follow, it had just been piggybacking on the latent effects of Tanya's reality-warping to attack.
Tanya frowned in annoyance and she made to move when she found that she could not... Her body had become rigid and basically incapable of moving.
Just as Therese could grant herself fluidity, she could also take it away from an opponent.
The sudden rigidity caused Tanya to be trapped in place and in a prime position to receive attacks from the two Harons.
Before she could get the chance to make use of her Abstract Ordinance, the two men were already closing in on her and they managed to land successful hits.ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ ɴovelFɪre.net
*Bam!*
*Bang!*
Ernest and Niel were both at the mid-stage of the Semi-Saint realm while Therese was at the late stage of the realm which made it so that Tanya was already outclassed in cultivation alone.
And then, just like her, they all had Elemental Ordinances which they readily used in combination with their attacks, and that all served to make it also a guarantee that their attacks hit every single time.
Yes, Tanya had an Abstract Ordinance but it was not an all-powerful ability with no counter.
The most important counter was not letting her hit her stride with Reality warping which they were quick to do by settling into a rhythm of consecutive attacks and not giving the princess any breathing room.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtThe three knew well how to fight together and they took full advantage of their numbers against Tanya.
Another counter was by being alert to any slight attempt at reality warping and counteracting it with a combination of their separate Ordinances.
They could override her control over reality as long as they were working in tandem with each other as well as Creten who was staying away from the thick of it all. It was here that their solidarity once again came into play.
Weapons were used, Artifacts came into play and Tanya was constantly pushed back and had now been totally forced into being defensive.
What the three had failed to realize was that their attacks were just giving Tanya more information about them. All through their consecutive attacks, she had her Astral perception trained and was keeping a keen eye on how they moved. What made them a cohesive unit.
She calmly planned her move.
Just lashing out with an attack at them was not satisfying enough for her as she knew they would just combine their attacks and Ordinances to shut her down again.
When the battle had truly begun, Tanya had found the reasoning behind her Father allowing such obvious (to her) cheating. She was now of the mind that it was to test her. It was to give her at least a semblance of struggle.
Anyway, Tanya let them continue for just a while longer, and then she was ready to act.
First, she needed space and distance which she was finding hard to get especially because of Therese who was tagged to her flow and was the main center of the opponents' cohesive movements.
No move Tanya made was not followed but all she needed was space and she got that after using an explosive attack to her benefit and sliding back.
They followed her and launched yet another attack to keep the pressure on. Tanya stamped her feet against the ground and activated a rune circle she had specifically drawn.
The rune circle, whose drawing had been very interrupted and had required focused attention (as much focus and attention Tanya could afford to give) slammed towards the trio.
The trio struck out together at the circle and destroyed it... It took them barely a second to do but that minuscule time and space had allowed Tanya to arm herself with her Reality Ordinance and her Elemental Ordinance.
The mistake she had made at the start was not doing this earlier.
To the trio, barely any time had passed and they just planned to continue as usual with support from Creten, on whose behalf they were fighting but the attack sent at Tanya was met with a change in reality.
Tanya switched places with Ernest who took the attack for her but shielded himself well.
*Bang!*
Immediately, what Tanya had done was clear and as they had done before, they all quickly attempted to work together to nullify her Ordinance use but they failed.
Why?
Well, when she switched places with Ernest, Tanya had also completely exerted her Ordinance on him and now controlled his reality.
When the others worked against Tanya, Ernest worked against them because, in his reality, they were the enemy.
Tanya's use of reality was limited by her comprehension and it would be a mistake to attempt to affect so many Ordinance wielding opponents at the same time as they would resist so she focused on one.
With no one working with him to resist Tanya, Ernest's cultivation and Elemental Ordinance were overpowered by Tanya's Cultivation and Abstract Ordinance.
The only real advantage she had and the only advantage she needed.
With Ernest out of the cohesive efforts, their attempts to nullify Tanya's Ordinance use were unsuccessful and they were quickly on the receiving end of attacks from Ernest.
Any attempts to attack Tanya failed mostly because of Ernest's interference so the Princess could smile and watch the duo of Niel and Therese battle against Ernest.
There was only one way to stop Ernest and that was to knock him out, essentially taking him out of the battle.
Trying to override Tanya's power over his reality was a pipe dream and they were in no shape to do that.
Tanya fought alongside Ernest against Niel and Therese which turned the tables around immediately. Tanya might be unable to make of use her reality Ordinance at the moment due to Ernest but she still possessed an Elemental Ordinance... The Elemental Ordinance of speed.
Now with space to do her thing and fewer Elemental Ordinances acting against her, Tanya could use her speed Ordinance the way she should and it affected every part of her attack.
She focused on Therese and slowed down the Dreg woman's fluidity.
The two began to cross weapons but Therese could quickly tell that she was at a disadvantage.
The advantage Therese had earlier was that she was a part of a cohesive unit but that unit was now broken up.
Tanya outclassed her in every way and for every move Therese made, the Princess had a counter that injured her and cracked a bone or bones in her body.
The final punctuation to it all was Tanya raising her hand upward and casting a spell with her Haron Bloodline energy... The spell formed green chains that bound Therese and then proceeded to form a giant palm that slammed her into the ground with an impactful sound that was heard clearly even outside the arena.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm*BAAAMMMM!*
Ernest and Niel succeeded to knock each other out largely due to Ernest not holding back at all thanks to Tanya's influence on his reality.
Three Creten had brought and three Tanya had conquered.
Tanya turned her sights at Creten whose mouth was open a bit at how fast the tables had turned and how sidelined he became through the whole thing.
His support was gone and as Tanya walked towards him with a focused expression and a wicked smile, it sunk into Creten's just how alone he was and with clenched fists and gritted teeth, he uttered the words to end the duel,
"I surrender"
A blow to his pride and reputation but Creten felt he would be embarrassed in front of everyone even more if he put on a pointless attempt at defeating someone who was so clearly out of his league.
"Coward. You could have at least fought a little" Tanya said with a smirk.
And then, the Emperor's voice boomed from where he was created in the Arena stands,
"It is settled. Tanya is Crown Princess and heir to the Haron Throne!"
Tanya bowed towards her father and so did Creten in acceptance of a decision he could not fight. At least not yet...
He still believed in his hypothetical bright future in which he was sure he would surpass Tanya and prove he was indeed more worthy than she was but until then, he would have to accept her win.
There was cheering from a lot of Tanya's supporters and also from those who were just happy the Imperial feud was over and a future plan for the Empire was in place.
Meanwhile, two figures were in mid-air watching it all happen with passive expressions on their faces.
One of them was a man with slit green eyes and multicolored hair and the other was garbed in Imperial robes and had a gem set into his forehead.
From that gem spread a primal force and it was this primal force that kept the two figures in the air while also masking their presence from all senses.
"Tanya looks happy to have finally gotten what she wants. Creten looks like the disappointment I always knew he was."
"Shall we make an entrance, Your highness?" asked Pietro the multicolored-haired man.
"No," said the Prince, "No need to alert them to what is coming. Let Tanya rejoice in getting promised a throne she will never seat in"