Jace the Elemental

Jace sighed, shaking his head as if scolding a misbehaving child. With a flick of his wrist, a massive ice wall surged upward, cutting through the roaring wind vortex. The raging gusts slammed into it, scattering harmlessly as shards of debris clattered to the ground.

Giorgi clenched his fists, his body trembling with frustration. Every spell, every attack, Jace countered them effortlessly, sitting upon his throne as if he wasn't even worth standing for.

Gritting his teeth, Giorgi switched tactics. With a powerful gust, he launched himself high into the air, summoning a thin mist of acid that settled over the battlefield like a venomous fog. The faint hiss of corrosion filled the air as the mist ate away at the arena floor. At the same time, dense wooden vines coiled around his arm, hardening into a spear-like structure. He dove toward Jace at blistering speed, aiming to impale him while he was distracted by the corrosive haze.

Jace barely looked up, his expression laced with apathy. With a lazy motion, he superheated the air around him. A wave of intense heat radiated outward, burning away the acid mist in an instant. Giorgi's eyes widened in horror as he flew straight through the rising vapor, inhaling the remnants of his own attack.

His dive turned into a desperate retreat as he gagged violently, hacking up his lungs while his skin burned from the lingering fumes.

Ding. The scoreboard echoed through the arena, marking Jace's effortless defense as a point in his favor. 2-0.

"Come on Gibgib!" Jace shouted. "I thought you were going to show me noble superiority!" He finally stood, stepping down from his throne with a smirk.

Giorgi snapped, still coughing from the acid burn. He slammed his hands onto the cracked stone, and from beneath the battlefield, thick roots exploded outward. Shattering the already damaged stone platform beneath them, causing entire chunks of the floating ruins to break apart. The entire battlefield became an unstable mess.

As the ground shifts and collapses, Giorgi uses Wind magic to keep himself steady. His anger made him blind to the fact he was rapidly running out of mana. Giorgi formed a concentrated light beam, aiming for Jace's chest, his mana coming to an end with that spell.

The light beam soared towards Jace, who reacted by summoning two thick walls of ice and earth. The light beam slammed into the walls but was unable to pierce them. Jace observed that the attack had been nullified, his gaze turning toward Giorgi, who collapsed to his knees.

Without hesitation, Jace cast a small ice bolt, sending it slowly towards the now defenseless Giorgi, striking him cleanly.

Ding. 

The scoreboard updated to 3-0. This time, though, there were no cheers. The crowd felt uneasy from the fight.

"After all that big talk about being superior to others because you're a noble and a higher rank," Jace said, turning around, "you're nothing but a disappointment."

Still fuming, Jace left the arena. When he reached the exit, his team stood there, looking concerned.

"You good?" Ethan asked as he walked up to him.

"I don't know," Jace admitted, taking a deep breath and stretching his neck.

"Why?" Aurora asked plainly. "I didn't think you were the type to embarrass someone like that."

Jace took another deep breath, running a hand through his hair. "A couple of days ago, I had a run-in with him in the kitchen of my dorm. He had another student that he was treating like a slave just because he was a noble of a higher rank. He explained.

"Every single thing he did just kept infuriating me, I just… wanted to teach him a lesson, it won't happen again." He said, putting his head down.

"Good," Aurora said, turning to walk away before pausing. "I don't care that you did it. I just wanted to know why." Then, without another word, she headed back to the arena to watch the rest of the matches.

Jace stood there for a few moments, lost in thought. Even during the duel, he had known he had gone too far. But seeing Giorgi's face, hearing what he had said before and during the fight, he couldn't help himself.