"It is time for you to be put in your place, Ruveus Sablestaff." 

The arena crowd buzzed with excitement. Murmurs drifted down to the pair of duelists, mostly around the folly of the academy's Rising Star and their preference for using a staff. Especially against Degarin, considered by many of the student body to be the greatest underclassmen.

The tawny haired youth laughed as he continued to stretch. Twisting and bending this way and that, he showed a remarkable amount of flexibility for a mage. It wasn't every day you found a wizard that could do the splits. 

"Duelists, have you completed preparations?" The referee, clad in his yellow and red robes, called from the sidelines. 

Degarin ran a finger along his wand, and gave it a few flicks and swishes. The flair and pomp he was exhibiting drew the oohs and aahs from the crowd, though the sparks flung from the wand meant nothing. "I am ready whenever this bumpkin is."

Ruveus simply hopped from foot to foot, clasping his hands together and rolling his wrists. He shot Degarin a wry smirk, before returning to stillness. The sudden and complete stillness compared to the flurry of his warmups arrested the energy of the arena, dragging the murmurs to hushed whispers and finally to quiet. 

Unclasping his wizard robe, he pulled it off, tossing aside where it landed with a heavy thud unbefitting an ordinary robe. Beneath it he wore nothing more than a pair of loose pants tied at the waist and ankles, a vest, and a pair of simple straw sandals. Rolling his shoulders and swinging his arms forwards and back did much to show off a physique more suited to a knight than a wizard. 

"Wait, Astrum? I thought he said he wasn't going to take this seriously?" A blue haired young woman murmured.

The fiery redheaded young man beside her crossed his arms with a serious air, though his face couldn't help but be stuck in an excited grin. "Degarin is one of the fastest duelists in the academy, Idyora. He could rightfully be counted as a Spellslinger if he was just a bit faster."

Finally, Ruveus grabbed his staff from the crack in the ground he had jammed it in. A simple light brown wooden rod about a hand longer than he was tall. The only embellishments it had was the single length of bright copper wire inlaid to the wood, itself etched with small runes, wrapping its way in a wide singular loop from tip to tip, where it wrapped once before melding seamlessly back into itself. Giving his staff a quick twirl before holding it across his back, tip down, he ran his thumb along his nose and nodded. 

While his stance was serious, his face betrayed the excitement he had hyped himself up with. "I've been looking forward to this for three years." 

Taking that as a signal that they were finished, the ref threw green sparks across the battle stage. Instantly Degarin began an unrelenting assault. Fireball, bolt strike, frost spears, earth spikes. Spell after spell flew from the wand, with every swipe of his arm. His wand shone with the intensity of the focused mana flowing through it. It got to the point where a dust cloud had been kicked up, obscuring vision.

After a blistering onslaught, Degarin finally relented, wand at the ready, but a confident smile on his face. "The best defense is an overwhelming offensive, is what you claimed in class, wasn't it bumpkin? I can certainly see the appeal. Maybe now you understand just how powerful your betters are."

There was a moment of silence as the cloud of dust, ash, and vapor lingered. The crowd began to murmur, and a few even stood thinking it was over. The brightly haired pair stared at the arena, knowing their friend better. 

"Oh, you actually took that advice? Sure! But I guess you didn't understand the part I hadn't said." 

The cloud parted, revealing that Ruveus  looked entirely unscathed. In fact, he was covered in an iridescent shimmering bubble shield of hexagons. Each one had a thin strand of shimmering mana attached to his staff, which he was holding out in front of himself. The bubble dropped as the strands faded away, leaving behind sparkling trails. The light tan wood had changed color to a deep pitch black.

Ruveus' smile somehow had a sinister tone. "Make sure you're the overwhelming one."

He pushed his staff forward, angling it towards Degarin. Thunder boomed as a lightning bolt thick as a Knight's arm streaked towards his opponent. Degarin managed to knock it to the side, where it blasted a hole in the ground the size of a dinner platter. 

Next was a gout of flame, with a roar that overwhelmed even the shocked cries of the crowd. Degarin avoided most of the harm by throwing up a thick wall of ice. One wall, two walls, three. He had to begin chanting just to muster enough energy to create his defenses. 

He didn't see the shimmering ripples of the mana darts until it was too late. He took the first Arcane Missiles spell that flew through the final wave of flames and around the fifth ice wall, but was able to erect a force shield to block the second and third. He had no time to react as a high pitched sonic blast shattered his wall. A cold frosty fog blanketed the arena once more. 

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Oh come on, I can't see anything!" One of the audience shouted in frustration.

Degarin took the opportunity to begin throwing spells back towards the shadow of Ruveus in the fog. He threw a powerful wind gust, blowing the fog away and revealing the staff user. Immediately he followed with his strongest prepared telekinesis, ripping a chunk out of the floor, sending Ruveus out of the ring. 

Degarin began laughing. "Hah! Know your place! You may have strong abjuration, but you forgot to account for the ground itself!" 

After a moment of excited, desperate laughing of one who knew, deep down, they survived an encounter with overwhelming firepower, it began to die off. Degarin looked from the spot that Ruveus had fallen off the platform, to the referee. "Well?!" 

The answer came from Ruveus' voice behind him. "Your confidence is going to get you killed one day."

Degarin staggered forward, nearly tripping over himself as he spun to face Ruveus, launching a bolt of arcane energy at the same time. He couldn’t help his jaw dropping as the shimmering energy flowed around the staff, missing its mark for the simple reason that his target was crouching at the top of his staff.  Not on the tip, but on the staff itself up near the top. One foot hooked under the tip, the other a bit down on the opposite side, and the smug bastard was holding his hands behind his head. 

“What kind of mage thinks only in two dimensions?” 

A bolt of energy burst through Ruveus' front from a sneak attack Degarin conjured behind him, spattering blood on the ground at Degarin's feet. A shocked look overtook the young wizard’s face. Degarin’s look turned from horrified to triumphant, to confusion when Ruveus cracked a bloody smile. Degarin stumbled backwards as Ruveus, and the staff, fell forward before fading away with a visible shimmer. Textbook illusion. He stopped dead when he felt himself bump into… Something. 

“Truly, you’re not listening.” Ruveus’ voice from behind and above him, again. 

Before Degarin could move, he felt the bastard step onto his shoulders. A heavy force pulled on him, effectively freezing him in place. He concentrated on holding his wand, gripping it tight enough he caused his palm to bleed. Gritting his teeth, he mumbled something or other, but it was unintelligible. 

Ruveus, however, seemed perfectly fine. “I said, Overwhelming.” 

Ruveus tapped a finger against his staff, causing a small explosion to occur beneath it. Gripping hold of it tight, he used that initial boost to bring the heavy wooden rod down and right into Degarin’s face. The force that kept Degarin in place prevented the momentum from moving him backwards, taking it all right into his skull. 

Leaning forward, the staff tip touched the stone platform with an audible click as its wielder flipped forward. He landed in a roll, staff behind him, which he pulled using his shoulder as a lever. The other end snapped up, catching his opponent between the legs, just before a gust of wind assisted with launching him into the air. 

The audience, and referee, stared in horrified shock as Ruveus spun around, smacking Degarin again and again into the air. Every time the staff connected, a burst of air would keep the poor sod in the air for another hit. 

“Ruveus is just…. Juggling him.” The redhead grimaced slightly. 

“Even I’m beginning to feel bad for him.” his blue haired companion muttered beside him. 

A whisper caught their attention behind them. “No less than he deserves.”  It was the sulky girl with the abnormally long white hair that obscured most of her face, save where it parts enough to reveal her sunken, large gray eyes. She never blinked, staring at the spectacle in the arena. The two glanced at each other before turning their attention back to it.

With one final hit upwards, Reveus planted his staff, letting Degarin fall onto it. Some thought that his abdomen had been pierced, but no, it was just his lunch that spilled onto the arena floor. Leaning his staff forward, he let Degarin slide off and into his own puddle. 

Lifting it, he twirled it before bringing it down in a two handed strike. Most closed their eyes, expecting some kind of finishing blow. The whistle blew as red sparks filled the arena. In the same instant, there was a sickening crack that echoed through the stadium. 

Dead silence. The sparks faded away, revealing what many knew was going to be a horrible sight. Degarin, broken nose and missing teeth in a puddle of his own filth. Ruveus standing, staff in hand, looking down at Degarin with a frown. Beneath his staff, the splintered wand of his opponent. 

As the healers started to climb the platform, Ruveus muttered something, tapping Degarin with the end of his staff. A soft green-white glow enveloped the defeated youth, healing the worst of his wounds, though he’d be sore for days to come. 

“You were fast, but orc shamans are more of a challenge. Disappointing.”                                          

Only a few people caught what Ruveus commented as he turned on his heel, evoking a cold chill down their spine. Idyora and Astrum were jogging towards their victorious friend with congratulations on their lips. The odd white haired one was nowhere to be seen. 

A rasped “Wait” stopped him from leaving. “How?” 

Ruveus glanced back over his shoulder at Degarin. He considered him a moment, before breaking into a childish grin. “How’d I get so tough? I trusted my partner!” He gripped his staff a bit tighter, running a thumb along the copper wire and light brown wood. “We’ve been through a lot already before coming here. Maybe I’ll tell ya about it someday.”