Magma was everything ice wasn’t. It was pure molten chaos, fluid and unstoppable, capable of consuming everything in its path. Where ice froze and controlled, magma flowed and devoured. It was as if water, the fountain of life, had been transformed into a force of mass destruction.
It wasn’t just an element, it was a true force of nature.
The realization hit me like a lightning strike. My breath caught, and for a moment, I forgot the pain in my arms, the blood dripping from my shoulders, and the smug look on Kael’s face below. My heart raced with anticipation as I felt the tiniest flicker of something deep within me, something hot, something alive.
I closed my eyes, ignoring the icy talons of Anivia as they reached for me once more. Instead, I focused on that flicker, fanning it like a dying ember in the cold.
I thought of the searing heat of magma coursing beneath the earth, the unstoppable force that could obliterate ice without a trace. I thought of how magma was both destruction and creation, a force that gave birth to mountains even as it consumed everything in its wake.
Suddenly, a violent surge of heat exploded from my core. It was raw and primal, unlike anything I had ever felt before. My eyes snapped wide open and began burning with newfound energy. The very air around me shimmered as waves of heat rolled off my body.
Anivia shrieked but its approach faltered all of a sudden as the frost coating its wings began to melt away. Even Kael’s confident smirk disappeared with his eyes narrowing in confusion and, perhaps, the first flickers of fear.
[Ding!]
[The primordial entity Quinlan Noir had gained a deep understanding of the deviant elements: magma and ice. The Elemental Sovereign is one who controls all elements of nature, but they must earn the right to do so.]
[Deviant element: magma – unlocked!]
[Deviant element: ice – unlocked!]
I plummeted toward the ground with heat radiating from me like a falling meteor. My pride surged anew, roaring in my mind louder than any icy gale ever could.
I wasn’t going to just fight for the small semblance of honor that would come from at least going down with leaving a small injury on my foe.
No.
I was going to utterly destroy him.
The bundle packages became available, costing me 4 Free Skill Points each, and I spent them immediately. Unlike Kael, I was still in the intermediary state of my elemental spells, I had no access to any advanced ones. Stay tuned for updates on empire
However, I could more than make do with my new acquisitions.
My body surged with the heat of my newly unlocked elements. Ice behaved like a good soldier, it didn’t bother me. It was the element of control, after all.
On the other hand…
The primal force of magma roared within me, demanding immediate release. I felt the molten energy build and churn like a volcano ready to erupt. Anivia’s crystalline form streaked toward me once again with its talons outstretched, but I was no longer the prey in this farce.
I became the hunter.
A sick smile emerged on my features as I parted my jaws wide to euphorically shout; “[Magma Burst]!!!”
The eruption was instantaneous and devastating. A massive wave of molten fury surged from my body, consuming everything in its wake.
The fiery explosion immediately obliterated Anivia as its crystalline body fractured and rapidly dissolved into steam and molten fragments before vanishing into the searing heat.
Magma quickly proved itself to be the true counter to the ice element.
The icy pillar Kael had conjured below me melted just like the summoned bird within mere moments as it was reduced to a bubbling puddle while I descended through the carnage like a living meteor.
The arena shook under the force of the explosion and the multiple protective barriers that were stacked on top of each other to allow even an Elemental Sovereign to go all out began flickering wildly as they tried to contain the devastation.
It was a mighty battle, the organizers likely didn’t account for the introduction of the magma element into my arsenal.
Was I threatening the destruction of the arena once again, despite their precautions?
To be honest, I couldn’t give a damn. If I did, that was on the organizers, not me. I was given the green light to go all out, and that was exactly what I was going to do. I will not stop for as long as my enemy breathes.
The crowd erupted in gasps and cheers as I landed in a crouch.
Kael stood frozen in place with his face becoming deathly pale as he stared with disbelief at the spot where Anivia was a mere moment ago.
His confident smirk was gone, replaced by wide-eyed shock.
“Y-you…” he stammered while gripping his staff tightly. “What did you-“
Despite my hands being broken and useless, I could still aim my spells well enough. The past month of training ensured that. “[Infernal Core]”.
An orb that had a surface full of pulsating magma made of violent heat and glowing cracks materialized near Kael. The ground around it blackened and melted as it began to emit a gravitational pull, dragging Kael closer inch by inch.
“W-What is this?!” Kael shouted with extreme fear creeping into his voice as he planted his feet and tried to resist the pull. He waved his staff frantically and decided to make a counter by summoning a sphere of ice around the molten core in an attempt to contain it.
Despite his presumed significantly higher Magic stat, ice was still no match for magma.
The core flared with an intense burst of heat, melting through the icy prison like a hot knife through butter. Steam hissed and billowed as the molten orb pulsed again, making its gravitational pull even stronger than before.
Kael’s panic was palpable now.
His breathing quickened as he slammed his staff into the ground, summoning thick walls of ice between himself and the core.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight. Ice was control. A Cryomancer who lost his cool and was no longer in control of the situation straight-up looked like a headless chicken.
In the face of overwhelming destruction, Kael crumbled.
The massive glaciers he summoned erupted from the earth, forming a desperate barricade between him and the constantly pulling orb.
I couldn’t help but speak up as I mimicked his earlier antics. “Is this the best an Elemental Sovereign can do?! I seemed to bore you, so here you go. I upped the difficulty just for you! You know what, take this as well while you’re at it! [Volcanic Cage]!”
The ground around Kael erupted in a fiery display as molten walls shot up, encasing him in a prison of magma.
Kael screamed his commands as he summoned more and more ice in a desperate attempt to break free, to stop himself from getting burned alive, but it was futile. The molten walls consumed every ounce of ice he threw at them while the walls began closing in on him as the allowed space in the cage shrunk by the second.
“Stop! STOP!” he shouted in a cracking voice due to his extreme desperation.
His eyes darted around, searching for any escape, but there was none.
Finally, he threw his staff to the ground and raised his trembling hands. “I surrender!”
The arena fell silent for a heartbeat.
Vex materialized in our close proximity, and I saw that her eyes were gleaming with unrestrained cruelty as she observed Kael and his impending doom from close up.
Perhaps the most sadistic grin I’d ever seen in my entire life erupted on her usually gorgeous features while she raised her microphone artifact close to hear tender lips and in a blissful, euphoric voice she screamed her verdict: “Denied!!!”