Mud slithered out of the rings of enchanted stone and was quickly surrounded by excited Delvers. The constructs lack of reaction to their praise and congratulatory slaps on the back seemed to only spur them on further, proclaiming the masked child to be a "stoic badass." On the opposite end of the room, at a wooden table, a very different kind of exchange was taking place.

"OOF!" Cob leaned forward and tipped his chair backward in an exaggerated motion. "That's what you looked like when that kid knocked you over. Gha ha ha ha!" Droplets of beer flew through the air as Cob swung his mug to point at his depressed drinking buddy. The third person at the table, a whispy man with vibrant red hair and a hooked nose assisted in the jeering. "Did you see the look on his face when he got hit with the second Bolt? Blarg!" Sticking out his tongue, the redhead contorted his face into a look of shock and pain, then burst into a new round of laughter.

Head lowered so far it was nearly on the table, Loric grumbled. "Yeah yeah, hilarious. Which one of you two is up next for the chopping block?"

Reminded of the overall situation, Cob and the redhead locked eyes. ""Hah!"" Two hands appeared in the center of the table, one open and the other closed.

The redhead slammed his forearms and head against the table dramatically. "Dammit!" Cob leaned one arm over the back of his chair, crossed his leg, and held his mug aloft smugly. "Looks like you're up, Gene." Grumbling, the redhead stood up and slowly made his way towards the arena.

When he arrived, his opponent was already standing in the arena, smiling wolfishly. Her fluffy locks of hair were an odd color, which meant she was some sort of mage, like himself. Gene wasn't going to make the same mistake as Loric, underestimating someone just because of their age. Before entering the arena, he took off his loose shirt and threw it to the side, leaving him only in his tight-fitting pants. The pants were woven of a special kind of rock that naturally formed into flexible strands, known as asbestos. This was the only material the mage had found so far that could withstand his fighting style, which wasn't prohibitively expensive. His feet he left bare.

Taking his place opposite his opponent, Gene began tainting his mana with the Ideal of Heat, and lowered into a stance with his arms wide. Jabrax simply stood tall with her hands behind her back, seemingly looking down on him.

"Alright, this fight will be the same rules as last time. Any questions deary?" came the voice of the elderly receptionist.

Jabrax replied without taking her eyes off of Gene. "I got it, just start already."

"Alright then... BEGIN!"

As soon as the words left her lips, a burst of red exploded from both combatants. Roaring fire burst from nearly every surface of Gene's, leaving only his face visible. Slowly but noticeable to all present, the temperature in the room began to rise. Where it not for the visible face and stonelike pants containing some of the fire, Gene would appear as a living embodiment of fire.

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At the same time, billowing clouds of reddish-purple smoke burst from Jabrax's mouth and hands, quickly hiding her in a dense haze and spreading to fill the entire arena. In a moment nearly one-third of the arena was already filled, with the smoke stopping abruptly at the arena's edge, forming a clearly distinct wall.

"What is that, poison? Are you planning to hide in that smoke until I choke? Sorry, but that's not going to work!" Circulating the Heat mana in his hands, Gene imbued it with the concept of heat expanding outward, spreading its energy to all available space. If the enemy was going to fill the whole arena with her mana, so would he.

The temperature of the arena began to rise rapidly as the reddish-purple haze continued to spread. Now, nearly half of the arena was filled with dense smoke. Gene wasn't worried though; already the heat was great enough to damage unprotected skin. It wouldn't be long until that girl forfeits.

Thinking such things, Gene barely managed to dodge a concentrated blast of smoke that suddenly came flying out of the mass on the other end of the room, nearly striking him in the face. Reacting immediately, Gene fired a Fire Bolt towards the source of the projectile. As expected, there was no pained scream from the cloud. A mage who fought with a method like this wouldn't make such a stupid mistake. Still, it was worth a try.

And so, Gene continued pumping out heat and dodging blasts of smoke for some time, slowly backing up from the encroaching wall of smoke. Before long, he ran out of space to retreat, and he was inside.

By now, the heat was great enough to cause third-degree burns. If the fight wasn't being watched over by that woman, Gene would be scared of killing his opponent. The fact that she hasn't given up yet was worrying. Since it had come to this, Gene decided to use the trick he had kept in reserve.

Hamming up his inability to see, Gene began walking randomly through the fog, holding his arms in front of himself to feel around. As he stumbled about blindly, a shadow approached from behind him, well hidden by the fog. Got you, thought Gene. In fact, he had known the exact location of Jabrax since the beginning of the fight by sensing her body heat. Up until now, he had pretended to be blind to prepare for this exact moment.

As the shadow reached close enough to touch, Gene suddenly wheeled around, arms wide. With a wild lunge, he wrapped his arms around the teenage girl and held firm, allowing the roaring flames on his body to eat away at her flesh. Hopefully, they wouldn't leave scars when the healers fixed her.

Strangely, though, the nauseating smell, sickly sizzling sound, and screams of pain Gene was expecting did not come. Looking up, their eyes locked. Her maroon eyes glistened in the light of the flames like polished garnet. Her mouth split her face with a wide grin. Her teeth looked sharp. Two dainty hands held the side of his head, and she lowered her face towards his. Gene's mind froze as their lips touched. His thoughts wouldn't start again. Like a puppet with the strings cut, Gene collapsed to the floor.

"Stop, the fight is over! Jabrax wins!"

Confused and disappointed voices came from the spectating delvers. The crowd had circled around the arena to continue watching Gene as the smoke slowly filled the arena, but once the whole thing was filled there was nothing to watch. Simply watching a wall of purple smoke wasn't the kind of exciting display they had hoped for. Still, a newcomer beating an experienced delver like Gene was exciting news. Along with her brother Mud, who did well against Loric, the siblings had caught the attention of everyone present.

As the smoke slowly cleared, the scene did little to explain to the spectators what happened inside. Standing tall with her hands behind her back, in the same place as where she started the combat, was Jabrax the Red. And, snoring peacefully on the ground beside her, lay the still burning Gene.