Getting ready to fight a group of teenagers intent on murder was a lot like getting ready for secondary school back when he was a kid. Zahn went over his arsenal, ensured he knew where both knives lived and his armor was properly strapped to his body. Shutting down the dark gym teacher was a fantasy he’d never been able to live out as a teen, but being able to talk shit to the muscled thug training his soon-to-be killers made the Player feel better about the coming fight than he had felt at any gymnasium.

“Got everything?” Ethan sat far less concerned, bent to his pushups as he waited for Zahn to prepare. “Don’t forget, you have armor now but they do too. And theirs aren't welded scraps.”

The Custom flipped him the bird, pumping his arms and feeling his mana cycle around inside. “Not too worried. It’s not like I attack just like the stupid Fodder creatures we’ve been dueling with.” He adjusted the armguard, pulling at a welded spanner. “Hey, reckon if I cover my hand in fire to the elbow, these things would melt right off? Punch and leave a wrench behind?”

The Warlock side-eyed him from the plank position, “Wouldn’t try it. You’re not fireproof, just able to cast creatively. And. Because you forgot.” He paused in speaking to finish the set and sat back on his heels to catch his breath. “Ahh, fuck. Right, so your attack is identical to a specific Monster - remember, the hellhounds? We haven’t been facing them, but they could have been taking any number down these two weeks. If they do have a plan for your specific fire breath, mix that shit up. Boost it, spread it around, whatever it is you do to make the fifth hate you so much just keep doing it.”

Zahn nodded, taking in the advice as he tried to keep his nerves steady. At least they start with one-on-one fights. No sooner than he’d finished the thought, a slight shiver vibrated behind his ear and the other Player responded.

“Right, first up you’re against their two lowest. One’s got a net.”

Rolling his eyes at the world, Zahn stomped over to the stone ring Ethan gestured towards, and met his opponents and their smarmy grins. The left had thick metal gauntlets, while the right bore a net and two-pronged spear. As he neared, the net-bearer twirled his weapon and began to swing the net in low circles to keep it aloft. Crossing the barrier between the fight and the audience, Zahn felt the film of a barrier part and let him pass before the buzz of another broadcast went off behind his ear.

Taking the signal as his que, Zahn stomped the ground and cast from his free hand. His left rotated in a circle as he cast, drawing the spell dagger in his right hand. “Shift!” The quick cast sent the pair of battle-eager teens off their game, letting Zahn enjoy a confused look as he trapped the back foot on the boxer in a stream of sand like the one he’d used to pull his weight back to him. With the gloved boy off-balance, Zahn lunged at the spearman who brought his net around as a shield before stabbing through it, forcing the Player to skip backwards defensively.

Keeping the metal gloved lad in his sight, Zahn panted a quick breath of fire before spitting it into his free hand to pump the spell with mana while he worked. Cradling the odd warm not-egg, he stepped to the side trying to bait the net and was met with a spear thrust that sent him back the other direction, just in time to find the shadow of the net coming for him. Jumping back at the double spear, he kept out of the net’s reach as its wielder lost his focus on the long weapon and fumbled recovering the heavy knotted weave.

Punching out with a dagger in his fist, Zahn was surprised to meet the boy’s face and feel a delicate nose break. The boy fell back with a gasp of pain, and Zahn had to pause and verify his opponent was, in fact, skull-leveled to him. The moment of confusion cost him, as it took his attention away from the brow-beater long enough for the other teammate to finally step from the sand stream and lash out at his back. The metal gloves connected solidly with his lower back, knocking the wind out of him and sending Zahn tumbling to the ground near the barrier.

He blinked up at the world as bright light refocused onto two shadows gathering themselves and the Player struggled to his feet in turn. Facing off against the pair, Zahn panted another breath of fire before the advice he was given the week before leapt to mind. Taking a deep breath, he pushed on the warmth constantly migrating away from his chest and nudged the path upwards to give it purpose. Stepping towards the teens with a mighty exhale, Zahn spat a wave of flame that spread out as it traveled, nearly acting as a flat cone as the triangle sprayed all the way to the sands and kept both opponents at bay.

The two stepped back, keeping an even distance from him as he began to pace to the right in the low sturdy Barbarian fighting stance. The boxer stayed on his left as he nudged the net-wielder closer, so Zahn paused just before he stepped in the stream of moving sand and let the boy spin his heavy rope weapon around. Just before he seemed ready to throw, Zahn pulled his eyes from the boxer and lunged, startling the teen and sending him stepping backwards off-balance from the net. Sucking in air through his nose, he saw the fire breath attack still spewing as it took mana from his chest and nearly enveloped the fallen fighter. Neither spear nor net helped the boy as he flailed on the ground in the moving sand, his feet sliding out from under him each time he tried to rise to his knees. Zahn was ready to pounce and perforate the lad when he felt something heavy slam into his lower back and saw his green stamina bar nearly deplete in a flash of color.

Rolling with the strike, Zahn found himself tumbling over the helpless net boy and found his footing on the other side of the sand stream. Looking up he found the boxer, his heavy metal gloves held up in a guard as he faced down the dreadful Player. The fire stream was interrupted when he’d been struck, and as the spear wielder found the pile of sand at the end he also found his dignity and stood with a huff. Eyeing the fighter pair, Zahn panted and tried to catch his breath as he considered his options. His health sat near full, the strike from behind doing more shock than damage and his burn victim sat happy in the upper two-thirds of his health bar at a glance.

Seeing his green glowing spell at his feet, the Player got an idea. Rolling his hand in a circle, he stepped into the stream of sand and cast again. “Shift.” Intoning the spell under his breath, Zahn wasn’t ready for the sudden increase in cost as the mana leapt out of his legs, pulled into the new spell and sending cold racing up his limbs. He stood shaking a moment in shock as the duelist pair charged, moving in sync as they closed the distance. As they reached two steps away from him and the spear tips aligned for a strike, his spell finally finished sapping his mana and activated with a hiss.

The actual casting was silent as a shiver through the ground, but the mass movement of sand couldn’t be hidden as the straight line he’d carved out before became the front of a new surging mass lurching directly at the Gladiators. The moving ground sucked the feet out from under them and left the duo wide-eyed and scrambling as the surge pulled them away from their target. The boxer fell on his back, flailing like a tortoise as he punched uselessly ahead of the spell’s path. Zahn panted heavily again, gasping as he slapped at his unarmored thighs to try and get feeling back in them. That fucking sucked! I really shouldn’t cast based on other spells, raced through his head as he took unsteady steps and felt tingling warmth fill his limbs once more.

Seeing the fighting pair flailing in the grasp of his spell, Zahn cracked a grin before heaving another great breath. Exhaling the spell, he tried for another wide spray and covered both junior Gladiators in a flat cone stream of red that rewarded him with the sounds of burning flesh and the first noise he’d heard the pair make all afternoon. Their joint cries of pain were short-lived, with the pair rolling in opposite directions at some unseen signal and scrubbing their faces in the sand before jumping to their feet. Neither had lost more than a quarter health, but Zahn was hesitant to step into melee with them just yet. Until I know if they’re stronger than Ethan or not, I could just be signing my own gravestone here.

His hesitation came with its own reward, his opponents charging him from either side of the wide sand stream he’d cast before filling most of their circle. Seeing quickly he’d be caught between his own spell and the curved barrier, Zahn skipped under the flying net and scooted on his ass down the path of his own spell. Turning on his heels and balancing in the ongoing earth magic, the Player got a look of the duo being dumbfounded before jumping at another invisible sign and running to catch him again.

Dismissing the boxer’s short reach, he opted to leave something to slow him down as he focused on the more versatile Gladiator and smirked as he slid into the pile built up from the moving ground. “Shift,” he cast again, seeing the sands still clinging to sparse pockets of remaining Earth mana before they dissolved bloat and grow as power left through his legs again. He kicked out as the spell finished draining him, sending a pulse of scattered sand and small rocks shooting out from his pile into the boxer’s face. The duelist retreated, trying to clear his line of sight as he hid behind his gloves and frantically pawed at his face. Zahn followed up with a quick cast, summoning his Grimoire with a flick of his wrist and opening it to the Earth section. Finding the spell for Spikes was as simple as wanting it, with the pages flipping on their own like some imaginary breeze had the best possible manners until the spell’s page lay open under his waiting hand. Dropping his palm against the pages, Zahn pointed dramatically with his right hand still holding the dagger. “Earth Spikes!”

The spell took, draining the page of color and light as its cooldown started and left a cold nugget in his solar plexus he didn’t quite understand. Casting a spell from the book seemed simple enough, even if the spellform for Spikes hadn’t been spun and rotated until he could easily cast it by drawing a shape. If other casters feel like this with every spell, I’m not sure I even want to use this damn thing. Closing and dismissing the book in a single gesture, Zahn turned back to his other opponent as he closed in and swung the net in a wide arc.

Ducking to the right to dodge the heavy rope, he nearly stepped into line of a quick spear lunge and got a great view of both spikes as the pole weapon shot out. Falling on his back and rolling to the right, he ducked under the strike and kept the shiny iron tips from leaving a pair of puncture wounds through his belly. Finishing his roll and jumping to stand, Zahn found himself in the middle of the Spikes he’d seeded moments ago and quickly tried to skip out of their range. With each skittish step the rocky protrusions seemed to bend out of the way, forming around his footprints without prompting. A glance to the side showed his boxing enemy unable to cross and trying to punch the little spines away, with little success as the hundreds of spikes covered their short strand of sand. Each spike sat at nearly three inches tall, looking like a forest of nails driven through the wrong side of planks and as numerous as a cacti’s spines.

Admiring his handiwork sparked an idea, and Zahn grinned up at his frustrated opponents before he bent to work. “Shape.” Casting quietly and pushing mana through his left hand, he gripped his new creation lightly to get the most out of his Improvised Weapons bonus. The club hung just under four feet long, dripping sand even as it reformed and bore dozens of long rocky spikes along its length. “Oh, yeah. That’s better.”

Turning back to the net boy, he found the boxer had abandoned his ground-pound and was jogging around to rejoin his companion. With the mass Shift still running, the middle area was spoken for and occupied a large square of the ring his opponents couldn’t even cross. But can I? Tempting the thought before logic or speartip could stop him, Zahn stepped out onto the shifting sands with the full intent to remain unbothered - and found the sands pouring over his feet like a retreating tide yet leaving him steady and balanced. Three quick strides across the field let him step into range of the boxer and find his wide eyes unprepared and staring. A heavy swing with his spiked club came around at the perfect height to punch new holes in his dome, only for the spear tips to act as a shield and interrupt the attack.

Even making one punch the other with his own weapon didn’t help Zahn smile as he faced down the fighters, neither speaking as they worked to defend each other. Quite tired of effective team tactics, the Player pushed energy towards his head with a thought and let the Psychic magic boil for a moment. Stepping back from the spear strikes, it was easy to stay within the Shift territory and out of reach even as the duo crudely tried to trap him from opposite sides. When the pair paused, Zahn risked a glance backwards to see both fighters had indeed frozen for a moment before he triggered the magic to finally get some answers.

Purple light sparked into life hanging in front of his eyes, a wide ring clinging to the surface of the organ that covered his natural color and opened additional paths between his mind and the outside world. Immediately, he found a dark purple tangle between his opponents’ heads that also enveloped the other four of their team outside the ring, strangely excluding the larger mind of Burnato. Ripples of pink light raced down the web-like woven mesh wrapped around the teammates, coming from first one the another outside and seeming to end at the heads of the pair he faced inside. He lazily swung his new earth club through the cloud and met nothing, finding the weave around and above him as permeable as air.

Trying to peer into the mess gave him nothing, and another look between the duo he fought showed they remained near their last positions and seemed to be listening to someone. Yeah, fuck that shit. Pushing more power to his head, Zahn stared hard at the mess of purple energy until what looked like a thick knot pulsed and beckoned to him. Feeling himself drawn into the knot felt like sand pulling at his cheeks, like something almost solid gently grasped his face and broke apart the harder it tugged at dragging him closer. Willingly falling up into the mass of woven lights and colors, Zahn found the world overlaid with a cloudy diffusing light, looking similar to what the cosmonauts claimed space clouds looked like. The thin wires pulsing with beads of light grew to be larger than life, so thick and dense he could fit into the vein entirely - and his journey did exactly that. Sinking into the knot of woven mesh was almost getting warmer, his skin tingling with the sensation of energy around him.

“-so try and get the tips under there, you should be able to reach up into his gut if you can get him on his back.”

“Right, and Javred? Your opening shot really took a lot out of his Stamina. He got winded immediately, and went back to casting spells. You need to land as many body shots as you can, so you’ll come off defense and-”

“Somewhat rude to talk about me like this.” Zahn couldn’t keep his flaring temper from chiming in, and decided in a second to fully commit to the role. “I can’t help but hear some annoying little gnats murmuring around, and it’s just you brats.”

The network fell silent, with the spear-wielding teen staring agog at the Player in front of him with glowing purple eyes.

“Nothing to say? Good. Because I want you to. Shut. Up!” Delivering the last statement with a burst of mana, Zahn pulled himself out of the cloud and felt it shivering and vibrating at his passage. Returning to reality took only a breath, long enough to see the network sparking in yellow and pink beads going everywhere before falling dark entirely. The pair he faced off with flinched and grabbed at their heads, with Javred behind him falling to a knee and letting out an audible gasp. Gotcha.

Spinning on his heel and taking a long step, Zahn swung his club around from the left to find the lad on one knee with both hands down, just outside the spiked ground. The boy had time to look up before the strike took him in the head, slamming hard against his cheek and sending him flying to the side to land heavily on the spikes. He’d been hit by a club crafted from magic, enhanced by magical spikes, and boosted by a mana-empowered body that swung at full strength with turning momentum. Back on Earth, he would be dead with his skull broken open and its contents sent scattering across the park. In the magical realm of eternal life and suffering, he remained fully intact and gained enough momentum to flip off his feet and soar most of his body length to land and impale himself on spikes long enough to find his organs.

Zahn watched half-fascinated as the boy groaned in pain with half a health bar left, gasping and hissing as he punched the ground to clear somewhere to put his hands and slide himself up off the offending terrain. Blood pooled beneath him, the trapped ground punching deep into his torso but failing to kill him immediately and thus only leaving the lad with a serious Bleeding debuff condition. Marveling at the ability to improve oneself to nigh-immortal, Zahn was caught off-guard as the spearman recovered from his psychic trauma and threw the heavy net again to ensnare him at last.

The net knocked him to a knee, landing hard on the moving ground and feeling it bunch against him like a breaking tide. Glowering over his shoulder at the guilty Gladiator, he found the spearman had anchored himself by stabbing the current and using the spear as an anchor against the pull. Letting himself be dragged by the sands was as easy as intending the Shift spell to include him, and he enjoyed the sight of the spear lad struggling to hold the net while keeping his footing. The tug-of-war between spell and opponent lasted long enough to leave Zahn without an immediate crisis, a time which he filled by making the boxer’s life difficult.

Pushing mana out the bottom of his feet was easy, the sliding sands doing nothing to hinder the power as it gathered in a cloud within the ground and pooled around the area. Mana seeping through the dirt easily passed the borders of the fight ring, making Zahn briefly ponder the shield keeping them in before he snapped back to task and pushed towards the spikes. The spell that crafted the Earth Spikes had mostly drained, with dregs of the dark green energy lingering just beneath the surface and embedded in the intact tiny forest. As green met blue from beneath, the merger settled to aqua before the vibrant emerald of Earth magic overtook the mild untuned pond and sucked up the free power like a sponge. Pushing at the spell, Zahn tried to reset the field now that little Javred had punched his way around it before the little turd managed to regain his footing.

The victim still standing within the spikes’ range screamed as his health dropped from about a third to under a quarter and began to drain even faster than before. A fresh wave of spikes, longer and thinner than the previous generation, shot up from beneath as if the sandy surface were a firm paperboard canvas giving way to an army of pins. The sudden impact sounded off like a hundred tiny feet stomping just once, and the bellow of pain following only made Zahn’s smile widen from inside the net. An unexpected benefit he found was the field’s borders expanding, growing into the Shift square and creeping along the inside of the barrier like some horrific grass. With the field now impassable and dangerous, Zahn let the spikes grow to surround him and fully snag the net before heaving the thing off and leaving it tangled in the new undergrowth. He sheathed his dagger, the little blade being useless against a long spear and having his right hand free for magic seemed a better plan as he tried to out-think the team.

The half-disarmed spearman pulled his weapon from the sands, standing wide as he glared at the offending Player who dared to ruin perfect teamwork. With his net lost and partner trapped, he took a sideways stance to present as little of his body as possible and held the double-tipped spear in a low guard.

Zahn stepped carefully, keeping clear of the discarded net as he made his way up stream. The lad didn’t follow his circling, keeping himself in place as he fended the Player off from reaching his strip of sand. Behind them, Javred continued to bleed out as he weakly punched the thinner spikes into fragments as he tried to clear a place to stand. With Zahn pushing mana through his feet, he powered both the expanding spikes to regrow and the ongoing Shift controlling the bulk of the battlefield. With a deep breath, he pushed another wave of energy up his neck and began to spew a long steady stream of fire at the spearman. The crackling flames reached past the offered spear, bathing the teen in a constant flame that slowly whittled his health as it crisped him.

The boy bellowed a battle cry as he lunged, running three steps before thrusting with both hands at the source of flame and forcing Zahn to duck beneath the strike. He didn’t chase with a follow-up attack, demonstrating the boy’s inexperience as the Player continued to stream fire at his midsection while he gathered a handful out of the stream into his hand. Continuous fire breathing took air before he’d even fully exhaled, leaving Zahn with a craving for oxygen that had him breathing harder to take in more air than was snatched away - resulting in panting breaths that only fueled the heat.

A whimpering moan sounded from behind, and Zahn felt a vibration behind his ear that indicated the death. He didn’t turn around, keeping the fire stream trained on his opponent as he scooted backwards and tried to keep out of reach from the double spear. As he reached solid ground, he saw the other boy had gained enough distance from the fire that he seemed unaffected as he held the tips of his weapon in the way of the attack. From across the ring, he’d apparently solved the heat problem by making something else take the brunt as he soaked up the remaining damage and by his remaining health the tactic worked.

Letting the flame die from his face, Zahn sucked a cool breath of air as he considered his options and rolled the attack around in his hand. I need to close the distance, that far away the intensity is too low to even burn him. Maybe I need some kind of remote casting, setting off spells from a distance? But what would I mount one to, he could just stab the carving and ruin it. Maybe, it’s more of reaching through his defenses than getting closer? Looking down and behind him, Zahn found the blood-soaked sands between the tiny forest of thin evil trees. Thinner spikes and more of them were enough piercing to make boxing boy bleed out, maybe I need to work thinner shapes instead of hotter flames? New experiment at hand, he turned back to his prey to find the sneaky little fuck had already started across the Shift, letting himself slide sideways into the harmless sides of the spikes and breaking them instead of coming down on the points directly.

“You sneaky little fuck,” Zahn found himself saying as he pulled his right hand back for the throw. “Almost got me too. Catch!” Lobbing his Fire Spit spell out of his hand felt a bit like he’d lost the skin on his palm; cold grew in a patch where only heat had bloomed, and the sudden change in temperature almost had his hand in shock. The spell ripped across the remaining distance, splashing into the lad’s weapon and dispersing into scattered heat. He rocked back with the impact, his feet unsteady as he tried to place them ahead of spikes but recovered before he could fall and gave Zahn another death glare.

Meeting the fury with a raised eyebrow, the Player eyed the distance between them and guessed at his ability to send the lad onto his ass. “This’ll work.” Breathing a long exhale into his cupped hand, Zahn formed another charge over his palm and focused on it, trying to reshape the projectile to be more aerodynamic. Pushing mana into the structure from his hand, he presented the spell forward like he was gently gripping the boy’s forehead in his hand. Heat built as he pumped power into the form, growing brighter until the red package barked with displaced air and launched forward. The oblong missile found its target, the spear brought up defensively as the spell ricocheted off the metal prongs to crack into the barrier and leave a flash behind.

Charging more mana down his arm, Zahn pushed until he could see his absurd mana bar draining into the cast. The flames continued to build, flickering from the other side of his fingers like he held a bonfire only the duelists could be privy to. The light and warmth on his face almost drew the Player into a trance remembering kinder days but Zahn blinked the happy memory away with its tear as he refocused on killing the teenager out for blood. The next cast was easier, launching the shot even faster and hitting past the spear, punching the kid in his shoulder and sending him flat on his ass.

Two shots in a row missed, the spells flinging themselves out of his hand at a constant rate every other second and smacking into the barrier. Where each shot landed, a small red cloud expanded and burned up the remaining fire mana in the charge and was met by an expanding blue field that kept the flames inside. Successive shots rippled the wall, with the two burns leaving hanging reminders in the shield that slowly faded. After two shots went high and wild, Zahn bent the spells to task and shot at his downed foe without waiting for him to stand once more. Shooting him while he was down seemed to work well, with the first hit taking him in the leg and only two more getting deflected by the spear until he aimed at the kid’s hands and solved that problem.

The spear being dropped and carried away into the net was almost as satisfying as when the boxing lad fell, but the Custom already knew not to let up. Don’t stop till they die. Don’t stop till you die. Remembering being buried alive by Brouhaman was enough to harden his resolve, landing shot after shot into the helpless boy’s torso.

The teenager bucked and screamed, flailing as he tried to protect his vulnerable midsection and landing on traitorous ground each time. From spells in his belly and spikes punching through his back, the former threat wailed as his health depleted until he abruptly froze and crumpled in on himself to dust. The vibration went off behind Zahn’s ear once again, and the shimmering distortion of the barrier fell.

Ethan shouted something from the right, charging in and slipping on the shift before grabbing Zahn with both hands to catch himself. “You did it! You won! Fu~uck bro, turn the sand off! Serious, you’ll go down with me!”

Rolling his eyes at the Warlock’s antics, he released the spell holding his club intact and cut the feed powering both his ground effects. The shifting sands slowed to a halt on their own, while the spikes seemed to suddenly wither and shrink in on themselves before they crumbled into sand. Pushing his enthusiastic roommate off him, Zahn stomped his feet on the again steady ground as he looked around the bright fighting arena. He’d won against every Fodder that had been sent against him, but killing off his vile attackers sent to make him powerless felt like he’d won the Collisae already.

“Learn from everything. Especially defeat.” Burnato’s voice rang out from the side, drawing both sets of eyes to his huddle of the four remaining Gladiators. “He moves like a pantar. He spits fires like the borecsent. Changes the ground like a vinebeast. Have to step lightly, quickly, precisely. Need to pull up your stance when he makes the ground swim, else you’ll be in a trap when he springs the next part. Remember to follow-up, if your teammates are down or distant you need to chain your own attacks.”

The little group around him nodded in unison, their heads bobbing at each point as they went over strategy. Their coaching was a tad disturbing, and hearing his own fighting style broken down by differing monsters left Zahn queasy. “Hey, why didn’t we face a borecsent or pantar? Those kids trained for me by facing random shit.”

Ethan shrugged, waving the team off with an extended finger. “Because someone put in specific requests, while we just asked for fire. He demanded them, he can fight them. Dunno what he’s on about with the vinebeast, it just grabs you from underground.”

“Good idea,” the Custom muttered back. “I wonder if it’s just a matter of the right Shape to get that, like with spikes.”

“Welp, good time to find out!” Ethan’s chipper voice and grin weren’t the least bit comforting, making Zahn think he’d missed something important.

Something important strode up from behind, finished their plotting session. “I don’t trust you to fully disperse your little creations, and I’m not about to bother the good Shaman over the likes of you. Next match, you’re facing the other four of my boys two rings over. No casting before the fight.” Burnato’s voice carried the note of finality, and Ethan’s eager nod only sealed the deal.

Catching Zahn’s thousand yard stare as the fifth position left, Ethan clapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, no pressure. You contracted yourself to be de-leveled, so they’re just gonna keep fighting that long. You, brother, have a long day ahead. Fight two, let’s go!”