As the sun rose the streets were already filled with people, all moving to the same destination. There were events running at all hours, but there were always some that really drew the crowds and the mage battles were one of them. Standing in their locker room, Gabe and his two team mates were psyching themselves up and making last minute preparations.

“Got your mana full?” Athena asked.

“As full as it's going to get.”

“Are all your items properly equipped?”

“All the ones we’re allowed to use.” Gabe replied with a grimace.

“Been to the bathroom?”

“God what are you my mom? But... you’re right, be back in a second.”

With a sigh as Gabe race passed her, Athena turned around to look up at the other two members of their mage team. One was Benny, the other was Cynthia, a dusky elven witch specialising in plagues and diseases. Normally she served as part of the guild medical team but they were making do with what they had.

“Okay you two,” Athena began, “I know this isn’t what you signed up for, but I know you can handle this. You’ve got the skills and the experience; you’re both professionals and masters of your crafts. I have every confidence in you that-”

“Athena sweetie,” Cynthia interrupted her voice coarse as if she’d been smoking for years. “We get it, no need to act otherwise, especially while the idiot is out of the room.”

Benny huffed and nodded. “You needed a team of at least three mages to enter, and we were all you had on hand that weren’t too busy somewhere else. Not that it really matters who you had, that damn snowman is strong enough to win alone.”

Athena groaned and buried her face in her hands. “That’s just it, I do need you! Not for your magic exactly, but for the fact you’re sensible, and can be trusted to pay attention and remember what you’re supposed to be doing.”

Benny scratched at his neck. “Figured as much. We’re also the most likely to survive if he goes and does something that blows himself up as well.”

“Okay let’s do this!” Gabe shouted as he started walking back in to the room.

“Go wash your hands Gabe.” Athena said, staring at him as she crossed her arms.

“...Gah, it’s not like there are real germs anyway!” he said, heading back out in a huff.

She looked back at the other two mages. “Do what you can to win, just... try not to let him make us a laughing stock.”

~~~~~~

Bob span in his chair as the lights came on, tuning to face the camera. “And here we are Mindy, for another round of glory, determination, and in many cases, blood.”

“That’s certainly my favourite part Bob, though I'm obviously a tad biased. That reminds me, make sure you check out eastern plaza after the match, there are vendors selling food and drinks of every kind you can imagine. And if any of our staff are paying attention, I’d love a bottle of the red stuff.”

“I'm sure someone can take care of that craving for you, but for those just tuning in, here’s a quick recap of this morning’s events.

The druids of the Verdant Keep put in a strong showing against the pyromancers from the Red Lotus guild. While the end result was as expected given their respective magic, they lasted a lot longer than the bookies thought, and gave people quite the show. Following that, the Heralds of the Dawn guild sent a group of light mages in against the psychics representing the Halls of Madness. That proved to be slightly awkward on our end, since all we could see was glare from the arena until it calmed down and the Heralds were shown to be asleep. We don't exactly how it went down, but the psychics will be moving on to the next round.”

“I still have after images from that fight Bob, but let’s move on to the upcoming third match of the day, the Rising Moon versus the Sea’s Alliance. The Rising Moon has only sent in a three person group, the bare minimum to qualify for entry, unlike the full group of ten everyone else has included. Do you think that’s a sign of arrogance Bob? Or are they just unprepared for the day’s events?” Mindy asked, quietly thanking an aid who passed her a chilled flask.

“Well, normally you’d be right about arrogance, but I’ve looked into it and this isn’t the only event they’ve entered with minimal participants. My guess is that they weren’t fully committed initially but something changed along the way. On the other hand, there’s a good reason for them to be confident about their chances in this event. While two of the players are relatively unknown, they’re being led by Gabe, ‘The Frozen Terror’. If you haven’t seen him before, check out the footage from the siege of Ardenvale, the guy is a real monster.”

“That was him? I remember seeing the city freezing over, but I didn’t think it was a single person. But will that be enough to make up for the difference in numbers? I assume that the alliance have registered the full ten hydromancers as normal?” She asked.

Bob paused. “Well you’d think that, but while they’ve put forth ten players, they’re actually all lighting mages.”

“That’s...unusual. They’re a group of sailors and another sea farers correct? But they don't have any water mages?”

He chuckled. “Oh they have them; they’re just doing things seen as more useful to the guild. So we have their lightning mages, led by Andrew ‘Liquid Power’ Tanner, a mage of some repute and a first time entrant into the games.”

“Well I'm on the edge of my seat to see how they go, so let’s head on down to the arena as the combatants are being brought in.”

As the teleportation arrays fired up, both teams were brought in, the Rising Moon wearing their black cloaks, the Alliance in what appeared to be old diving suits made of iron and copper. Both groups walked forward to the middle were a group of officials quickly went over the rules with them. A balding man held a crystal up, emitting a light that washed over them, before nodding and speaking.

“Ladies and gentlemen, let’s have a clean match. No casting before the bell rings, no magical equipment that hasn’t been cleared with the judges and no curses that last beyond the event. Any questions?”

“I have one, what’s with the back packs?” Benny asked gruffly with a wave. A member of the Alliance removed their helmet before answering, revealing themselves to be the leader, a human with scraggly blonde hair. He grabbed another member by the shoulder and turned them about, showing off the large barrel strapped between their shoulders.

“It’s pressurized salt water, all tinkering and no magic. Unless you want to call us liars and have the officials look again?” he said with a smirk.

Cynthia laughed. “Hey, if a lightning mage wants to strap water to themselves, who are we to stop you?”

The official shrugged. “If that’s all then go to your starting zones and wait for the count.”

Both groups walked back to opposite sides, discussing their plans and strategies. As they reached their places, a glowing count appeared in the sky above them, counting down. Everyone readied themselves as it go towards the end, nerves beginning to be replaced with adrenaline.

Mindy leaned forward in her seat. “And here we go in three... two... one...Go!”

At that, both sides exploded into motion, running sideways to try and make it more difficult to be hit by a quick shot. The arena itself was a wide empty space of flat stone, but when mages were given free rein in a fight to the death, it rarely stayed that way. As they ran, Benny made a few rapid gestures alongside something that sounded halfway between a spell and swearing. In front of him the ground ripped open leaving a deep trench that he, Cynthia and Gabe dove into for cover. The Alliance had the same idea with multiple people striking a single point with bolts of lighting, breaking it open and jumping down into the newly formed crater.

“What’s the plan Gabe?” Cynthia said, panting as miniature storm clouds began to form over head. “I’m not one for running normally, but we can’t stay here or they’ll just blast us from above.”

“Benny, can you dig us a tunnel? I need a bit more time for my plan.” Gabe said, blue smoke twisting his hand as he stared at, forcing it into being.

The dwarf looked at it and grimaced. “More time...? I’ve seen what you can do in an instant, so this better not kill us as well.”

Reaching out Benny touched the stone in front of them, grabbing it as if it were no more than cloth and pulling. The stone folded under his efforts, the ground pushing downwards to create a passage a few feet tall that led deeper down. As they crawled further down, the alliance began their assault, the clouds above barraging their trench with lightning, melting stone under its force.

“And that’s why lighting mages have one of the highest damage outputs around people, look at that destruction.” Bob told the audience. “But while it’s hard to see through the dust, it looks as though the other team have escaped somewhere.”

Sure enough, when a few of the alliance got closer to investigate as the debris settled, there was no sign of their opponents. What was there, however, was a foot wide pustule sitting on the ground, which burst as they approached, spraying out a thin green mist. Most of those investigating reacted quickly enough, channelling electricity through their own nerves to accelerate their movements and get clear. But the one closest wasn’t as fortunate and while their suit was enclosed, it wasn’t air tight, so as the mist seeped in through the cracks they collapsed to their knees, retching.

Mindy winced. “Ooh, I don't know what they just got infected with, because while it won’t be lethal, it certainly doesn’t look pleasant.”

Bob nodded. “With suits like that, they had to choose between being airtight, and being able to cast from inside them. I can safely say that there’s at least one person who wishes they’d chosen the other option. But where has the other team gone? Can we get a visual on-”

Before he could finish his sentence, the ground of the arena erupted, stone being thrown up in to the air as the three members of the Rising Moon rose up rapidly on a pillar of stone. The alliance recovered swiftly, and began blasting jets of waters up at them from hoses connected to their packs. The water carried a charge from the mages, arcing along the spray and over the defences Benny had erected. Cynthia tried to throw up a barrier to block it, but it splashed around the misty wall she made, covering them all in a painful, deadly energy.

Mindy whistled. “Well, I guess that explains what they wanted that water for. Well that’s the end of this round of the-”

“Don't write them off just yet Mindy,” Bob said, cutting her off as he stared at battle intently. “The system says they’re not done yet, and they haven’t thrown a punch yet. I think they were waiting for something, and by what we’re seeing now, I think that time has come.”

As Bob said, there were changes happening at the top of the pillar. Both Benny and Cynthia had been taken out, teleported out of the arena at the moment of their ‘death’, but Gabe still remained. The water that kept being sprayed upwards had made it hard to see at first, but now it had become clear that it was simply freezing around him, forming a round frozen shell. As the assault ebbed, two of the Alliance began climbing up the stone tower, their armour slowing them down as tension began to rise.

Reaching the top, the lighting mages each grabbed one side of the icy cocoon and began sending electricity through it, sparks dancing across the surface. But before the lightning had a chance to have any real effect, it cracked open like an egg, giving one of the camera’s a momentary view of Gabe’s undead visage before he unleashed his attack.

Slamming his palms together, thin lines of energy poured off of him spreading out and homing in on the enemy. They moved swiftly, but the other mages easily outpaced the attack, at least at first. Within the arena, there was only so far to run, and the beams never gave up their pursuit. Each time their chosen target turned sharply to avoid them, the trailing beam would split as it banked around, creating more beams to follow the other mages. What had been a largely empty field had now become a maze of frosty blue smoke no thicker than a finger, yet their constant splitting meant there were hundreds, and after a few dozen seconds of frantic dodging, the first line struck a member of the Alliance.

As soon as it made contact, the player stopped dead as their armour seized up, joints caked in frost that began to spread across the ground around them. When the ice reached their packs, the water inside exploded as it couldn’t handle the rapid change in temperature. The water froze instantly as it left the suit and was exposed to the magic, releasing a sharp icy hail to the surroundings and becoming a jagged mass of ice that ripped through their armour.

First one, then another and in moments all of the mages had been struck, pierced and locked in place by the remains of their own armour. But not beaten, at least not yet, which gave them one last chance to rally and send an attack against the now unshielded warlock. This proved to be a mistake.

As they all had the same idea and gather all the energy they could, none truly took note of their own predicament. Pierced with spikes of metal and ice, the lightning found a much easier path to leave the mages by going through their injuries, and racing along the remaining lines of energy filling the arena. As it travelled and spread it linked to the other mages, forming a circuit before slowly cooking the mages with their own magic.

The smoke glowed brightly, illuminated by the passing magic as the Alliances’ screams of pain grew quieter until going silent, taking their magic with them as they were removed from the arena. With no enemies left to face, Gabe let his own magic drop, the trails fading away as the audience watched in silence at his display, before slowly raising one fist in triumph. The crowd exploded, cheering and screaming at the victory or the loss.

Mindy was cheering alongside them. “That’s some incredible magic Bob, and it’s easy to see why he got his name. Do you happen to know what spell that was?”

“No spell that has a name, that was a custom piece of magic. In fact, by the way it seemed perfectly suited for that exact situation, I’d say he made it up during the fight.” Bob replied, a trace of disbelief in his voice.

Mindy turned to the camera. “Well there you have it people, this round goes to the Rising Moon. And for those of you looking to pick a fight with them to try and reclaim Ardenvale, this is what you have to go up against.”

Gabe promptly ruined this image however, in order to get down from the pillar he stood on. Spraying magic down, he created a thick layer of snow at its base before jumping down, and proceeded to make a snow angel as the world watched.

~~~~~~

Oda groaned as he lay face down on the floor as the others watched the end of the match. “Why Gabe?” he complained, his voice muffled. “You were doing so well. We took some losses which humanised us, but then you won with excessive force that made us seem too tough to mess with. And then you went and did that!”

Jicker patted him on the shoulder. “It’ll be fine, people love that sort of thing. I'm sure there’ll be pictures all over of him playing in the snow.”

Oda rolled over to look at the gremlin. “Publicity isn’t the problem; it’s that he did while basically being surrounded by his victims. Even though they’d already been teleported out, it makes him look less full of childlike wonder, and more like a sociopath.”

“We work with what we have.” Athena said as she walked in, flicking through some notes on a clipboard. “On that note, Jicker, is your girl ready?”

“She’s fine on my end, she’s being managed by...” he turned to Oda. “Barry? Was that his name?”

“You mean Barret.” Oda corrected. “He and a few of the other people with the animal handling skill are all trying to make friends, so she’s being well looked after and is ready to go.”

Athena furrowed her brow. “They’re trying to make friends? I thought we had it under control already, if it’s not ready to go into the arena in a few minutes we’ve got a serious problem.”

“Relax. She’s ready to fight, that much was... ‘Explained’ to her. It’s just a bunch of them want to make her their companion after the games. A creature that strong and smart that isn’t trying to kill you is a rarity, so they’re trying to capitalize on the opportunity.”

Athena looked at Jicker as he tried to get her to relax, and exhaled loudly as she held the board against her face.

“Fine.” She snapped before calming back down. “I believe you. But this is going to be so much worse than the Daggerwings.”

Oda looked up at her. “How so? Those were made to get people attention, this is just to try and win the event.”

“They got attention, but that was because they were new. People like things that are new, it’s a core piece of marketing. But more than that, something game companies have known for years is that people can go crazy for exclusives. We’re about to show the world that we can create new, unique creatures. Things are only going to escalate from here.”

~~~~~~

The arena used for the Monster Duels was just being reset, the damage being swept away as if it had never happened. As things were returned to their original state, more people began to fill the audience, a number of them not out of excitement, but of curiosity about the next competitor.

“-‘re good to go? What? Oh, ahem and welcome back to the Monster Duels. For the next few rounds it’ll just be me, Bob the Brutal, commentating on this particular event, as Mindy has been sent to do the same for today’s rounds of blacksmithing and leatherworking. Hopefully this will get the network to bring in a few more commentators, but for now let’s get stuck into it.

We just saw two heavily armoured juggernauts fight it out, a trained ogre up against an enchanted troll. It was a long and tiring battle, but in the end the ogre’s endurance outlasted the troll’s regeneration, sealing the victory.

Now we have our next battle, one more than a few have become interested in. On one side, the Mountain Kings were happy to immediately show off their entrant, a red wyvern that they caught up near the peaks they call home. It's big, it's fast, and it’ll tear apart almost anything in the same weight class with ease. They’ve sent in wyverns before to great effect, so the Kings are currently seen as having a good chance of winning this year.

As their first opponent they have the Rising Moon, who has been putting forth a strong showing in all events despite having smaller numbers than most other guilds entered this year. I just came from the mage event where they won with quite the spectacle, and even more so with their Minion Melee performance. They seem to have access to a source of some of these new creatures running around recently, so everyone’s curious as to what we are about to see. But we won’t have long to wait as they’re about to teleport in the combatants, so bookies get your numbers ready.”

Moments later both creatures appeared in a flash of light, the crowds getting excited as people started discussing what they thought would happen. The wyvern stood tall, ten feet tall even while sitting on all fours, its leathery wings at its side with no room to stretch them out while contained. Its wings flexed as it lashed out with the attached claws, drawing sparks from the barrier that bounced across its crimson scales. Lashing out with its spiked tail drew a similar result so it settled for roaring at its opponent, its razor sharp teeth glinting as it’s serpentine neck swung around in a display of superiority.

Within the other barrier, there was a much more reserved creature, but no less imposing. Where the wyvern embodied speed and lethality, the Rising Moon had submitted a beast that had more in common with a brick. At almost eighteen feet at the shoulder, the hulking quadruped was almost spherical in its bulk, a thick mass of what seemed to be random off cuts of stone and pavers. If any officials looked close enough, they might even spot that some of it was literal chunks of the street. But other than that it just sat there, seeming a boulder with legs.

Bob spoke up over the crowd. “I’ve gotten a report that, the guild was nice enough to give us a report on their entrant this time as well, which is good because I have no idea what it is. Let’s see here... Gary put this up on display.”

Rubble, the Terra Ursa

Level: 79 (Unique)

This massive bear is filled with powerful earthen energies, giving it increased strength, mass and durability. She uses the unique nature of her fur to collect and maintain a protective coat of armour for an additional layer of defence.

Special abilities: Rubble is capable of minor geokinesis, accelerated healing and resistances to earth, plant and water magic and is immune to most poisons. She can manipulate her coat into a variety of methods of both offense and defence.

Created by: Rising Moon (Guild)

“We appear to be looking at Rubble who, if this is accurate, is in fact a unique creature so for those of you looking to investigate them, now you have another reason. But as to whether a new comer can face off against a tried and true champion of the arena? Let’s find out! Fight!”

With that the barriers fell, and both side sprung into action. The wyvern got some distance at first, stretching its wings and quickly taking to the air, slowly circling as it studied the creature below. Rubble on the other hand remained where she was, but was by no means still, the debris that was her namesake shifting over her, scraping and bouncing around as her appearance changed. She now appeared to be a bear, though an extra thick layer over her back gave a slight impression of a turtle. While even her face was covered in layers of grey stone, as she shook her head she looked up at her enemy and roared revealing a red maw, the flesh and blood jaws inside ones of jagged rock. Emerald eyes peered out from cracks in the armour, tracking the wyvern as it circled above, legs tensing as it got ready to move, crushing the ground beneath it.

Having decided it had waited enough, the Wyvern dived without warning, twisting as it descend towards Rubble’s flank. Claws met stone at the impact, both parties roaring at each other as the reptile dodged out of the way as the bear snapped back in return, jaws narrowly missing its leg as it regained altitude.

A chunk had been taken out of Rubbles side, revealing a coat of shaggy green fur beneath the stone, now bleeding slightly from light scratches from where the claws had gotten through. As the crowd watched, the fur seemed to ripple as piece of stone were passed along from other sections of the body to fill in the gap. Meanwhile strands stretched out around its paws to pick up nearby loose debris caused by the creature’s weight on the stone, the arena itself being added to its defences.

Again the wyvern came down, swooping low as it raked its claws along the bears back, tearing stone away as well as traces of blood. But as it banked around for another pass, Rubble roared and seemed to flex, the chunks along its back realigning themselves not only to fill the gaps, but now layered and angled against the wyverns approach. This time when the claws struck, they struggled to find purchase, skipping over the stonework as much as breaking it.

Again and again it played out, the wyvern unable to do substantial damage, but each time easily avoiding Rubbles attempts to bite and claw in return. After a few minutes the lizard gave up on the tactic, and returned to circling as the bear continued to repair its armour.

Bob, who had been silent during the exchange, took the pause as chance to speak up. “And here we have a real conundrum folks. What to do when neither opponent can handle the other? Well I can’t say for sure about the stony brute below, but I know the red one above still has some tricks.”

Sure enough, the wyvern appeared to reach a decision and flew even higher before getting directly above its prey and diving straight down. For an instant it seemed like it was trying to take them both out, but at the last moment two things happened. First, Rubbles armour snapped into a different position, the plates along its back suddenly jumping up to form long spines point directly up at the diving lizard. Then with incredible reactions, the wyvern pulled up its dive before impact, avoiding the spikes as it desperately shifted to the side, settling for striking out with its tail as it landed heavily a dozen meters away. The tail glanced along harmlessly for the most part, but through either skill or luck, it found purchase in the fine gap left for Rubble to see out through. The roar this time was an honest one of pain, but also of rage, as she turned and thundered towards the grounded beast, blood pouring out from her face.

The wyvern saw its death approaching and franticly flapped its wings to get airborne, taking flight, but not before Rubble’s jaws latched around its ankle. There was brief tug of war as the fought, but the foot gave out before the wyvern did, meat and bone separating as it flew up and got free. With wounds now suffered by both sides, the crowd reached a fever pitch, eagerly awaiting the outcome of the match.

Wyverns were far from being dragons, but they were distant cousins, and the reds were closer than most. Hissing in pain from its leg it took a deep breath, its throat expanding before sending down a blast of intense flame at the bear below. The stone did little to shield rubble from the heat, weakening it, but not enough to stop it from causing injuries. As Rubbles roared in pain, the wyvern sent more blasts of fire down, each heavier as it descended for greater effect. For their part, Rubbles roars had become whines it curled up, pushing as much stone as it could on to its back while shielding its stomach with the ground below.

As rocks began to soften under the exposure to extreme heat, and rubbles wounds didn’t so much bleed as steam, the wyvern drew close for what it believed to be a final blow. But as it came within a few dozen feet and breathed in for the last attack, Rubble flexed. With a single motion, the bear’s entire form seemed to clench as its back shuddered before shooting out, rock turning to a spray of fist sized gravel that shot out like a cannon, directly at the unprepared wyvern. Rubble had thrown their entire collection of armour up in a single burst, the twisting fur firing off like whips in unison to provide near explosive force.

But while the bear had lost its defences, it no longer mattered since the match was all but over. The reptile’s wings had been torn apart, one with massive holes through it, the other being ripped off at the shoulder. There were wounds all over its body, chunks of rock still lodged in some places, falling out slowly alongside gouts of blood. It’s chest had all but inverted at the force, its lungs crushed though it still struggled to cry at its attacker, who slowly stomped towards the dying animal. But before it could deliver the final blow, nature did the job instead, the wyvern bleeding out and vanishing in a burst of light. Rubble cried out, roaring in indignation of being robbed, but also in triumph in her victory, and the audience joined her.