As I signal the start of Alto's and Alyse's match, I slow time as much as I can. I don't want to miss a single thing that's about to happen here. Honestly, I'm dying to know what kind of approach Alto is going to take.
Naturally, turning invisible ASAP and then slamming Alyse with ranged attacks from all directions would be reasonable. However, I already checked, and Alyse is a physical enhancer with even more magic power than Alara. So, I'm betting she'll be lightning fast out of the gate. Alto might not have enough time to turn invisible – it still takes her a couple seconds of concentration.
Most of her elemental spells would also require time-consuming incantations. That is, they would have until recently. As she's learned more physics and chemistry, and gotten more experience thinking about magic like I do, Alto has been able to figure out how most of her old spells work. So, now she has quick, incantation-less versions of them.
The exceptions to that are her old fireball and water spells. Like me, she can't seem to figure out how to conjure actual fire or make large amounts of water. Truthfully, I've had a sneaking suspicion about the reason for that for a while. Now that I know Alto is also running into the same limitations, I'm even more confident that my guess is right.
Alas, that's not today's concern.
I return my attention to the fight, and see Alyse starting to fly towards Alto in slow motion. I guessed she would be fast, based on her magic abilities, but...I don't think I've seen another person with such swift physical attacks.
She might even be faster than Nina, and I can only imagine how much technique refinement that required, given the gap in their magic power.
As Alyse closes half the distance to Alto, I notice that Alto has yet to turn invisible. Instead, I see her starting to launch a large chunk of rock towards Alyse – some kind of earth spell. However, it's moving much slower than Alyse, so I doubt it'll land. Sure enough, I see Alyse's eyes begin to calmly focus on the rock.
But as I continue to watch Alyse, she...trips!? I'm shocked as she suddenly rotates face-forward toward the ground, still screeching through the air in Alto's direction, and a look of confusion infiltrates Alyse's expression. No sooner than I register her misstep, I notice a pillar of earth beginning to rise up from the ground in slow motion. It's ahead of Alyse's trajectory, and on a crash course with her face.
It's at that moment that I realize – Alto must have orchestrated this. To line up that earth pillar to Alyse's face, she'd have to facilitate Alyse's stumble as well. After all, there's no way Alto could react that precisely at these speeds in response to a chance stumble from Alyse. In that case...how did she do it? I don't see any perturbed earth where Alyse tripped.
Son of a bitch...did she use a forcefield!? I taught her how to make those recently, while we were on vacation! That must be it...that sneaky elf made a completely invisible trip wire and planted it on Alyse's path. For good measure, that first earth spell must have been a feint to draw Alyse's focus. That's so dirty...I could not be more proud!
I watch in awe as Alto's earth pillar slams into Alyse's unprotected face. The blow sends Alyse flying upwards while spinning around her center of gravity, until she's slammed into the ceiling. The impact looks so painful to me that I grimace and drop my time spell.
As Alyse begins to fall, I feel a strong gust of wind blowing from her direction. Alyse appears to accelerate unnaturally fast towards the ground, then is crushed into it. If I had to guess, Alto cast a follow-up wind spell on Alyse from above, after that ceiling impact. She's one brutal elf.
"GAHHH!" (Alyse)
Alyse yells out in pain as the impact presses her flat against the ground momentarily. To her credit, it looks like she immediately tries to regain her footing, but she struggles to move. Alto is already holding her hand out towards Alyse as she runs to close the distance between them.
"What!? What is this!? Why can't I move!?" (Alyse)
Alyse is squirming in place, desperately trying to rise from her position, pressed flat against the ground. It takes me a moment to realize why...Alto must have cast another forcefield. When I think about it, that's kind of genius.
Alto can't use gravity magic to immobilize an opponent. She could have tried placing a forcefield 'box' around Alyse from the start, but given their respective magic power levels and Alyse's physical enhancement, there's a good chance that Alyse could break through such a forcefield with a powerful sword strike.
However, when Alto's opening attacks left Alyse momentarily star-fished on the ground, Alto only had to place a forcefield tightly over Alyse's body to pin her there. Alyse is probably crazy strong, but without any room or leverage to strike Alto's barrier properly, she can't generate the force to break free. She's effectively immobilized now, as long as Alto has magic reserves.
While I finish piecing together what must have happened, Alto arrives in front of Alyse and slides her dagger to Alyse's throat in one smooth motion. Alyse, who has been struggling viciously, freezes. Alto's voice resounds across the battlefield.
"Do you yield the match?" (Alto)
A thick silence hangs over the room for several seconds as Alyse glares defiantly up at Alto. Eventually, Alyse rests her head against the dirt, and practically spits her response.
"Tch...yeah, I'm obviously done..." (Alyse)
And just like that, the match is over as quickly as it began. Alto - 1, Alyse - 0.