Chapter 7 Part 1

Haider refreshes himself with his new spell. He only just learned to use it under pressure, judging by the look on his face. He's nervous.

"Cmon Haider, get a grip, you got this. Heather went through all that trouble to help me train. I can't let her down." Haider pumps himself up, jumping on the spot, throwing the occasional punch.

The gate opens and Haider sprints out as he hears the MC shout his name. The crowd reluctantly cheers.

(Narrator) That's a little unexpected. But I guess it makes sense. He did beat an adored adventurer without letting up.

Haider's opponent, Maven Kelligan, gracefully levitates into the arena upon hearing her name. Maven receives a much more positive reception at her entrance. Haider thinks he might have acted a bit too sure of himself and that was the reason for his less energetic reception.

"Hello, Haider Longstaff. I see that we will have an exciting match. I look forward to it." Maven says.

"I'm guessing Mana Sense? Or is it Mage Sight?" Haider responds.

"An astute observation. Mana Sense, I was measuring your strength, both physical and magical." Maven gives Haider a soft smile and tries to distract him with her bosom, bouncing them. It didn't work.

Haider shows amusement and addresses the nature spirits' flirtatious attempts. "And here I thought the Dryad's have dignity. Babes I'm gay I'm not even slightly interested in your oversized tits."

The Dryad pouts, putting her arms sulkily under her breasts. "No fair. Fine. I guess I'll take this seriously." Maven takes her stance and the air becomes significantly heavier, like a huge weight was added onto the air.

"Haider's fucked." Heather says.

"Why, what did you see?" Ibun asks from across the room. The entire waiting room of the remaining contestants pay attention.

"Maven just released a seal. That seal was restricting her abilities." Heather says.

"Alright, what exactly does that mean? Woof." Beluf asks, his voice rough and coarse.

"It means, she was holding back in her match against your beta. She's...four, maybe five times stronger?" Heather explains.

"I didn't know someone could do that themselves." Heddwyn says.

"You're forgetting that she's a nature spirit, more specifically a Dryad. She technically aint a person, she's an entity of pure magical manifestation. So it's easy to see that she can limit what she uses. Haider is going to need to surpass his limits with his mana." Heather answers.

"Judging by her personality change, her tactics have changed too. So if we want her out of the competition. He's going to need to notice that and adapt." Christopher continues.

Heather takes over where Christopher left off. Like the two are one hive mind. "And this is Haider we're talking about. He fight's with his instincts. Instincts that aren't developed yet. He's been in maybe, three or four real instances of combat since leaving our childhood home."

"Woof. Stop doing that. It's creeping me out." Beluf says.

Heather and Christopher look at one another and laugh. Heather takes a deep breath. "Yeah I forget we do that sometimes. We may not be blood related, but we've known each other our whole lives."

Beluf gives a little side eye before watching the match that has been going on while they've been talking. "Looks like you two were correct in your assumptions. Ruff"

Back at the match now and a thick layer of dust has been kicked up from the ground. Parts of the floor have been ripped up, cracks have formed around the walls of the arena, and all the pillars have been toppled and broken. A few pires of ice are sticking out from the ground, vines frozen in place and a wall of ice spikes on the entire left side of the arena.

Haider backs off, sliding to a stop. His face, arms and chest are covered in cuts and bruises. He gets back up and wipes a bit of sweat from his chin before making a spear of ice in his hand. The 15 year old throws the spear as hard as he could at the Dryad who dispatches it with little effort.

"Alright then. Let's try old faithful." Haider makes a pair of ice sabres and charges forward at the nature spirit.

Maven matches his pace with a defence of vines, attacking with them occasionally. Haider parries some of the onslaught but takes some damage when the whip-like vines flex around the blades and cuts him with its thorns.

"You should feel honoured boy. I don't use my full power on anyone." Maven says with elegance and grace.

"Oh shut up you tramp. Only the stupid would fall for you. They always have their dicks in their pants. That's the only reason why you do shit like that. To manipulate men." Haider criticised.

"You annoying little faggot! How dare you disrespect me like that!" Maven retaliates with an especially vicious swing of a thorned vine.

"She fucked up." Heather says.

"How come?" Ibun asks, never taking her eyes off the screen.

"That insult. All she would have done by hurling such homophobia is irritate him." Christopher says.

"Meaning, he won't be playing to wound, but to pulverise?" Ibun asks.

"Precisely." Christopher confirms.

"I'm going to make you regret saying that, melon tits." Haider says.

"Are you serious? You haven't put a scratch on me. Yet you look like you've been trampled on by a dragon cub." Maven mocks, chortling to herself.

On the other side of the battlefield Haider holds his staff pointing to the sky. One by one the circles of the spell appear. One. Two. Three. Four spell circles. And with his intense emotional focus he draws in the runes. 10, 20, 40, 50, 60, 100, 150. An unbelievable amount of two hundred runes were drawn in before a flash of blinding navy blue light signalises the spell activation. "Ice thrall." he says ominously.

A flurry of frozen water starts to rain from the sky, dark clouds form above, and hail begins to fall. A strong wind collects the ice in the middle of the battleground. From the bottom up, the thrall begins to form, a will-less husk for Haider to command.

The ice thrall is made from clumps of ice and hail, harnessing the wind to keep its body in form. As it gathers more ice, it grows taller, it's only half way through its summoning towering at a skyscraper height of 9ft. The ice squeezes together, forming a head, a strong thick and spiky torso, and large, thick, limbs to deal devastating blows.

"What the hell has he done?!" Maven screams. She tries striking it during the summoning but the cyclone surrounding it blew the vines away, the wind destroying it before it could get close.

"Can he control such a thing?" Ibun asks, nervousness emanates through a light chuckle.

"I honestly have no idea. When we practised it, the most he could do was probably the size of a large cat." Heather answers.

"The most I could say for certain is that he's driven by his emotions right now. It's possible that could temporarily bring out some of his potential." Christopher hypotheses.

"So what are you saying? Woof?" Beluf asks, somehow still not understanding.

"It means that Haider just gained the fortitude to try and win this match. Not just for him, but for all those that Dryad just offended." Heddwyn explains. Beluf places a hand on his fluffy chest and lowers his head slightly, grateful.

The Thrall of ice, now fully summoned, walks over to its master and stands beside him. "Your name is now Hayle. Got it?" Haider tells the golem.

The 11ft beast of ice makes a deep throaty growl and nods its head. Unprompted, they throw an arm in front of Haider and suddenly something makes an impact. Hayle puts their arm back down and tears off a part of its torso revealing a dense cyclone on wind. It reaches both hands inside and pulls a portion of it out. They then step in front of their master and place the wind above him.

"What are you doing?" Haider asks.

"Protect. Master...Must. Protect. Creator." The thrall lets go of the wind, points, and with its deep and guttural voice it says, "Barrier. Will. Protect. Master."

Christopher starts laughing hysterically. "Holy shit Haider. Way to crawl up from the dust!"

"Do you mind sharing what you know?" Ibun asks, missing what Christopher finds to be an obvious thing.

"That's no ordinary Thrall. Notice that it moves without input from Haider. It moves to defend him from all hostility. And it speaks! No ordinary Thrall can talk. What he's just summoned is a Master Level Thrall. Haider had smashed through his limits and dug deep." Christopher looks around the room confidently. "Maven doesn't stand a chance."

Those still doubtful look to Heather and Heddwyn, the only two people in the room who can use detection magic. They both confirm Christopher's statement with a light nod as the whole room looks at them.

"Fucking ay! I'm not underestimating him anymore! Awwooo!" Beluf howls.