Wrath's Virtue

Aurelion slowly pulled his fist back, the crackling lightning around it dying down to faint sparks.

He turned his head, his single eye fixing the referee with a venomous glare.

The referee, a stern faced Northerner, met his gaze without flinching. He walked into the center of the arena.

"The fight is over. You win," he stated, his voice leaving no room for argument.

"Now step away from him."

Aurelion's chest rose and fell with heavy breaths. He clicked his tongue in annoyance, the rage slowly receding, replaced by a cold calm.

He turned to retrieve his spear but... as he bent down, he saw Emil's bloody, mangled hand still desperately clutching the shaft.

His nose twitched in irritation.

He looked at the boy, who was groaning in pain on the ground, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

"You..." Aurelion's voice was a low growl. "How dare you still—"

He gripped his spear and pulled.

But it didn't move.

A shell of solid stone had instantly encased the part of the spear shaft that Emil was holding, locking it firmly to the ground. Aurelion tugged again, harder this time, but the spear was immovable.

He whipped his head around, his furious gaze locking onto the referee.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"The fight is over," the referee said, his tone flat and official.

"And Emil is still holding the spear. It's his now."

Aurelion stared at him for a moment, processing the sheer absurdity of the statement.

"Stop spouting nonsense," he snarled. "If you hadn't interfered, I would have torn him to pieces."

"Perhaps you would have," the referee conceded, his expression unchanging.

"But you failed to retrieve the spear before I intervened. By the established rules of challenge in this College, the weapon now belongs to him."

Aurelion stared blankly at the referee, then a choked sound escaped his throat. It started as a low chuckle, then grew into a full-blown, unhinged laugh.

Abruptly, the laughter cut off, replaced by a guttural snarl. He slammed his lightning wreathed fist into the stone encasing his spear.

CRACK!

Fine fissures spread across the rock, but it held. He hit it again, and again, a frantic, desperate rhythm of impacts against the unyielding earth.

As the stone began to fracture, the shattered pieces didn't fall away. Instead, they defied gravity, leaping towards him, clinging to his armor and limbs, rapidly encasing him in a shell of jagged rock.

"I won't allow it," Aurelion roared, his voice muffled as the stone shell crept up his body.

"That bastard didn't beat me! He didn't even come close! He cannot have my spear!"

With his free hand, he snatched the bone spear from the ground and hurled it at the referee, sparks of raw lightning crackling along its length.

The referee simply raised a hand.

A simple, unadorned wall of earth rose from the floor, intercepting the spear with a dull thud. The wall didn't just block it. It swallowed it, encasing the bone weapon in solid rock just as it had done to Aurelion's.

Aurelion felt a tug as he tried to mentally recall the spear, but it was gone, trapped. At the same time, the stone shell around him thickened, his movements growing more restricted. As the rock began to crawl over his face, he turned his head and unleashed a final, furious roar at the stoic referee.

As he did, a new energy began to bleed from him. Pure, Gold-black lightning.

The chaotic tendrils of ligntning writhed over the stone shell, and with a deafening groan, the earth around him began to crack and splinter under the assault of his unchained rage.

The referee watched, his expression was cold and unimpressed.

With a final, explosive burst, Aurelion shattered his stone prison.

He stood panting, his body wreathed in black lightning, and took a staggering step towards the referee.

The moment his foot touched the ground, it sank.

He tried to pull it free, but it was like being caught in quicksand. As he struggled, his other foot began to sink as well. The very stone floor of the arena was turning to fluid earth, swallowing him whole.

He punched the ground, but the rippling stone only yielded, hastening his descent. He was being dragged down, the earth rising to meet his waist, then his chest.

When he was buried up to his neck, he stretched his left arm out towards the referee.

"Get some sleep, kid," the referee said, his voice laced with an weary finality.

"You've caused me enough trouble for one day."

As the darkness closed over his vision, Aurelion entered a state of Void Focus. The Seal on his outstretched palm pulsed with a brilliant, momentary light.

"Damn you to hell!" he cursed and his voice choked with dirt and fury.

And then he was gone, swallowed completely by the earth.

An absolute, stunned silence fell over the arena. Everyone stared at the smooth patch of stone where the elf had just been. The referee turned to the nearby staff.

"Take care of that one," he said, gesturing to the still unconscious Emil. "The other one will pass out in a minute. After that, tend to h—"

His words caught in his throat.

His face, which had been a mask of stoic control, suddenly contorted in a grimace of pain.

He bent forward slightly. Slowly, he straightened up and brought a hand to his mouth. When he pulled it away and looked at his palm, he saw a slick of bright, crimson blood.

As referee stared at the blood on his palm, a voice, sharp with panic, cut through the stunned silence of the arena. "What did you do to him?"

He turned his head and saw a Forest Elf girl rushing towards the spot where Aurelion had been buried. Close behind her were the fox girl and the broad shouldered wolf boy.

"Hey, calm down, Elara," Lyra called out, trying to keep pace. "Just be calm, okay?"

"He buried him!" Elara cried, her attention snapping back to the referee, her eyes filled with a accusation.

"You're going to hurt him!"

Referee ignored the girl's outburst. He raised a hand, and the stone encasing Emil's bone spear crumbled to dust.

With a simple flick of his wrist, the spear flew through the air and landed perfectly in Elara's outstretched hands. She caught it out of sheer reflex, staring at the weapon, then back at the referee in confusion.

Referee raised his other hand. The packed earth rippled and softened, gently pushing Aurelion's unconscious body back to the surface.

"He's fine. Just passed out," Referee stated, his voice flat as he turned away.

"Take him. And this spear now belongs to him."

He walked past the trio and approached Merric, who was looking down at Emil's heavily injured body.

"Master Berg," Merric greeted him with a respectful nod.

Berg quietly sized Merric up. "Did the Giant Bone clan get what it wanted, Merric?"

Merric looked up, confused. "What do you mean, Master Berg?"

Berg gestured towards Emil with his chin. "Are you in possession of what you wanted now?"

He then took a step closer, his gaze hardening. "Did you really think I couldn't distinguish your voices in this crowd, or that I wouldn't hear your little plan, boy?"

His voice was a low growl now. "So tell me. Do you now have enough information to defeat this elf?"

Merric flinched, then sighed. "Emil... did a good job."

Berg turned, retrieved Aurelion's spear from where it had fallen, and strode back, tossing it onto the ground in front of Merric.

"This spear now belongs to Emil," he declared.

"And I repeat again, it belongs to Emil. Not to your clan. When he wakes up, you will give this to him."

He took one more step, towering over the young boy. "Do you understand?"

Merric swallowed hard and nodded. "I... I understand, Master."

Without another word, Berg turned and walked away with swift, heavy strides.

As he pushed through the parting crowd at the edge of the arena, he was seized by a violent coughing fit, forcing him to lean against a stone pillar. He brought a hand to his mouth, and when he pulled it away, it was stained with even more fresh blood.

As Berg disappeared into the crowd, Kael moved to Aurelion's unconscious form.

"Help me, Lyra," he grunted, trying to lift the surprisingly heavy elf.

Lyra grumbled under her breath but moved to help, and together they managed to get Aurelion onto Kael's broad back. Elara stood up, still clutching Emil's bone spear.

Across the arena, their eyes met Merric's. The Giant Bone clan boy was standing over his own fallen comrade, holding Aurelion's spear in his hand.

For a long, silent moment, the two groups just stared at each other.

Lyra broke the silence. "Aurelion is going to go after that spear, isn't he?"

"The Giant Bone clan made the first move," Kael replied, his voice low as he adjusted Aurelion's weight on his back.

"And now they've become his primary target. Look at Merric. He's holding the weapon of the person he wanted to defeat, but he looks... tense."

On the other side of the field, Merric turned and gestured for his clan members to come and carry Emil. As they lifted the injured boy, Lars approached Merric.

"It's not as bad as it seems, Merric," the big Ursine said, his earlier mockery was gone.

"It was clear you were going to lose the fight, but at least you got a weapon for the one you lost. And Emil..."

Merric finished the sentence for him. "He fought well."

"Yes," Lars agreed, his gaze following the trio carrying Aurelion away.

"He fought well. And thanks to him, now we all know exactly what we're dealing with."

Elsewhere, Fendrel stood beside Ylva, watching the scene unfold, his earlier confidence was completely shattered.

He finally spoke.

"So the person you have to defeat is... a monster."