Vonoros had a small smirk of amusement as he saw his bubble pop splash all over the man’s face. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride as he was successful in taking out the young man’s feet from under him. He wasn’t going to beat the other man in a contest of magic, that was just a fact. The other man was way more skilled and knowledgeable on ice magic than he was but that was fine. He was stronger he was a more experienced combatant he was more brutale. Sure he wasn’t aiming to kill the other man but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t trying to win.

He slammed his foot down onto the man’s chest as soon as he saw the other man’s head fall from standing. He smiled in full confidence, “Here’s a tip little dude you always gotta be aware of what’s going on with your opponent at all times”, his voice trailed off as suddenly he felt hundreds of little shards of ice piercing his back, legs, arms.

“Dammit, you little bastard that was good”, he managed to stagger out as he struggled to still stand from the shock.

He then raised his coral lance to the air as to retaliate immediately noticing the other man’s hands missing touching his weapon. The man’s growing hands did make him shake his head wildly looking around for another magic attack before bringing his coral lance down on the man’s right shoulder.

Finding himself prone on the ground, with Vonoros' foot placed on his chest and his coral lance embedded into his right shoulder, Videl couldn't help but let out a shout of pain. This was the first time that he had ever really found himself penetrated by a weapon so the pain had been immeasurable to him. Practically nothing when compared to some of the injuries that he had felt in the past and yet so much worse than he could have imagined.

It was times like this that Videl had regretted not learning how to wear armor. He had always been so focused on increasing his speed that it felt like the armor would work against him. And yet? Here he way, lying on the ground with his ass being handed to him. He was in a very ill situation to say the least and would have to quickly come to his next decision. Should he try and call an end to the sparring match? Frost over the coral lance while it was still embedded within him? Or should he try and go about things in another way?

Unsure of what decision would be the best in this moment, Videl would fall back on ol' reliable. Whilst gritting his teeth, Videl would call upon the moisture in the air before freezing it with his mana. In an instant, a perfectly crafted spear of ice ^{[Ice Spike]} would find itself created within his hand. The moment that the spear had begun to solidify, Videl would just the tip of the glacial spear towards Vonoros' shoulder, effectively aiming to put them both in the same situation.

Regardless of whether or not the spear had actually done its job, Videl would push through the pain to try and repeat his action from before, raising his free hand up towards the coral lance as it had been coated in this glowing blue aura ^{[Cold Touch]}. He had hoped to frost over the lance, even if it was inside of himself, so that it would be less effective moving forward.

The injured triton couldn’t help but laugh as he heard the other man’s scream, he was used to the sound at this point thanks to his occupation.



His expression changes to serious and cold as he stands over him, “Don’t hold this against me alright kid, I’m from the Pale City so if you ever plan on adventuring there then expect the same treatment there too. I’m helping you, you know that right? You’re going to have to fight people like me, people who don’t care about the rules, people who want to hurt you so pay attention. This world will have people even stronger and less friendly than I am so use this as an example, hell I’m taking it easy”.



As the man trailed off trying to drill into Videl’s head how much he needed to be ready to fight people like him he felt a sharp piercing pain enter his left shoulder stabbing it through. He then pushed his lance deeper into the other man’s shoulder twisting it slightly, He then quickly pulled it back as it frosted over surprised that the T’Saya was able to freeze it immediately looking at it ever and noticing that it had lost its edge turning dull even losing about half if it’s the coral tip.



He stood looking over before bursting out into laughter, “Damn man you’re good, here I was goofing off and messing around while you were here learning something. That’s good, throwing an enemy off and taking advantage of their distracted mind is important”.

The fact that Vonoros had come from the Pale City had meant nothing to him. He had traversed to and from the Pale City multiple times in the past and had yet to encounter a situation such as the one that the Triton was describing to him. What he had cared about though was the manner in which Vonoros had been acting. For what was supposed to be a simple training session via sparring, things had certainly gone too far as is. And to be quite honest? That had annoyed the T'saya whom had gone out of his way to teach the damned Triton.

Videl would find himself gritting his teeth as Vonoros had begun to dig the tip of his lance further into his arm, twisting it to maximize the pain that was felt. Once that damned lance had been removed from himself, however, Videl would throw himself into action once more. If the Triton had wanted him to learn to throw people off than Videl would gladly follow suit. With his remaining hand free, the lance having left his grasp, Videl would slam that hand upon the ground. As his hand had made contact with the ground, he would force a large block of ice to mold itself into being directly beneath the Triton ^{[Glacial Wall]}. This was his attempt to knock the Triton into the air and away from him.

Whether he had succeeded pushing Vonoros away from him or not, Videl would perform a prone backflip, making it so that he could roll onto the balls of his feet. That spare hand would gesture its way towards Vonoros after that, hanging in the air and threatening to make things worse. "That's enough Vonoros. If this continues past the point in which it has now, I'll be forced to blow that arm of yours clean off." He had been attempting to indicate the fact that he could shatter the chunk of ice that was embedded into him, much like he had done the glacial wall from earlier. "Don't force me to do something that I'd rather not do."

The triton stood by trying to shake off the frost off his coral lance when he suddenly was caught off guard as he saw the ground from under him erupt and make him rise into the air. He managed to grab onto the wall with his right hand and ride it until it stopped. He chuckled as he pulled himself up and sat down on the top of the glacial wall with a big grin on his face.



He held his hands out dropping his coral lance to the snow below him and said, “Woah Woah there man no need to start complaining now, I was going easy on you little buddy I didn't even bring out my signature weapon. Ah, that’s my bad friend sorry about going so hard there I overestimated you, I can go even easier on you if you want".

He then pulls out a quarterstaff out of his sling motioning towards its lack of point. He then taps his feet (1) and jumps down landing three times his normal distance a little away from the other man.



“You think I was being too cruel huh don’t you well let me tell you something little buddy, what do you think a fight is? All I know is fighting against people trying to kill me, so excuse me for going too far. It's instinct. What do you do against an opponent who's bigger and stronger than you? What would you do if you had to fight a pyromancer who can counter that ice magic of yours? What do you do then?”, the triton asks as he whirls his quarterstaff around and points it to the other man.

Videl's eyes would fall into a squint as he had continued to listen to what Vonoros had to say. Whenever it came to acting appropriately in situations, it would seem as though the Triton would prefer to justify his actions through his words. And yet this wasn't what they had agreed to. What they decided upon was a spar that would allow for the pair of them to learn from one another. Not a fight. And if Vonoros had truly been holding back against him up to this point? Well he was going to have to pull out all of the stops. The kinds of things that he would prefer not to use on another person unless his life was in danger.

"Fuck you. This was meant to be nothing more than a spar between companions. If it had been otherwise, do you really think that I'd just sit here and remain helpless?" There were several things that he could theoretically do in this situation, such as freezing the Triton and leaving him behind until he melts, and yet he had continued to hold those abilities back. The reason for this was simple. He hadn't wanted to seriously injure his sparring companion. At the rate that things were going though, that might have to change.

As if to prove the point behind his words, Videl would focus on the ice that had been imbedded into Vonoros' shoulder from before. Much as he had done before, Videl would call upon the mana within the chunk of ice and would allow for it to shatter into every which direction ^{[Brittle Shatter]}. "If you think that fire is enough to hold back my magic than you are solely mistaken." He wasn't of course. At this very moment, flames were his natural enemy. And yet, with enough time and devotion, he would someday be capable of fighting against such trickery.

The triton couldn’t help but let out a loud laugh as he heard the other man curse him, “ahahahahah”, almost losing his balance before straightening back up.



“Alright, little buddy let me ask you what the hell you think a spar is? It’s a pretend fight between two people to teach or learn from each other. I think I’ve been doing a good job of teaching ya’ so far in my humble opinion. After all the things I’m doing are stuff that you’re going to have to face some way or another by guys that are way more mean and strong than I am. Don’t get mad at me for trying to help ya out kiddo, if I just butter you up and baby you how are you meant to learn? This is the real world dude where not everyone is going to be super nice and friendly, you're going to have to learn to deal with people like me”.



“Now if you want me to take it easy then sure I’ll bite”, he then walks forward slowly about to swing his staff at the man’s opposite shoulder before he stops in his tracks suddenly feeling a sharp pain explode from his shoulder and shoot out towards his body.



“Dammit now we’re talking”, the man says, holding his bloody shoulder and covering his face, “Good work Videl now that’s what I want to see”.



He then continues walking slowly towards the other man with a pride grin on his face as he holds his palm out creating a water bubble.



“Catch”, he says as he throws it toward the other man’s face before swinging his quarterstaff at the man’s other shoulder.

Little buddy. Kid. Kiddo. No matter how intense the fight had grown, Vonoros had continued to treat Videl like a child. As though he had no real experience when it came to fights and as if he had faced no troubles in his life. The more that he had tried to drill that point into the T'saya, the more annoyed Videl had found himself. And to make matters worse? The deranged triton had thought this all a game, claiming that he was only toying around with him. If he hadn't known any better, it would seem as though Vonoros had been sent here to torture him with his twisted ideologies and rhetoric.

If things were going to end without one of the two having been crippled than he was going to have to put a stop to this fight, and soon. He had considered dodging out of the way of the bubble as it had been lobbed his way, given that he had now known what it could do, but ultimately chose to take the blow to the face. The same could be said for the walloping as Vonoros' quarterstaff had been preparing to deal to him. This was so that he could throw himself into a meditative state and call upon the very magic that he had been holding back.

Grunting through the pain, Videl would maintain eye contact with the man before him. A cold bloodlust had started to rise within the T'saya but was being suppressed to an extent. This bloodlust would only remain for a moment though as Videl had drawn upon his mana. "T-this ends now.." Blood dripping down his face, Videl would find himself fully submerged in this meditative mindset. The moment that the connection had been made, a field of flurrying snow would whirlwind the entire area ^{[Path of the Elementalist, Frost Cloak, Snow Globe]}. This snow would produce an obscuring affect, soon blinding the pair if they hadn't had any defenses. And the moment that the snow had become heavy enough to blind the pair, Videl would shoot himself back several feet by making use of his frozen soles.

Vonoros let out another smirk of overconfidence as he looked over his handiwork the kid took it straight on. He was starting to feel bad at this point, maybe he was right, he did take this too far, looked like Videl was shell-shocked and couldn’t move from fear.



He stared into the other man’s eyes silent as he waited for him to do something, anything he was begging to get concerned. Sure he’d tried to mess with the kid and show him what a real fight was but he didn’t want him to take it personally and get that mad. Hell if he’d gotten so upset at a little lance thrust to the shoulder then how was he supposed to survive a brawl in the lower quarters of the Pale City? There were people out there who were some of the most cutthroat people that wouldn’t hesitate to hurt the kid, he just wanted to make sure he would be ready.



He was about to raise his hand and apologize before suddenly the kid yelled out a declaration of conclusion, “Alright, alright we can stop here so..”, he was about to start apologizing before the whole area around them became coated in a frenzied snow.



He placed his hand over his face trying to avoid the snow in his eyes about to walk forward when the entire area around him became covered in snow. Almost three feet at the moment he took another step his legs were up to a bunch of snow.



He couldn’t help but let out another laugh, “Man, you have gotten way stronger than me man. I couldn’t dream of doing anything like this, your ice magic is super impressive, but I doubt I could ever get to that level. There’s a reason I rely on my weapon skills and brutality without that I’m a pretty weak guy. I mean the only magical things I know how to do are summon a bubble and make an ice stick”.



“I concede, I concede you got me completely beat Videl”, he says, letting himself fall into the snow behind him feeling the snow pile on him as he chuckles softly. 

Even as Vonoros had conceded defeat, the indignation that had bubbled up within Videl had continue to rage on. Before he had known it, there was about six feet of snow that had coated the area. Enough to swallow the pair whole if he hadn't put a stop to the storm. If there was anyone that had come by this area at the moment, they would come to learn that there was some kind of natural disaster occurring nearby, or so it would appear. Especially considering the fact that the snow hadn't been letting up.

Slowly losing himself to his emotions, Videl had remained still. He had contemplated continuing on with the storm, allowing for it to reach its full effect and freezing over all those that had inhabited the area. If he could sustain that much than he was sure that he could put an end to the life of the despicable Triton. The man that had continued to torment him despite the fact that this sparring session of theirs was supposed to be nothing other than educational. A fact that Videl had clearly been losing in addition to his mentality.

In this moment, all he had wanted was to frost over the fish and shatter him. To send each and every shard of the mans frozen body into the abyss.. And yet that wasn't the kind of person that he had aimed to be. If Sylvari had saw him now, he could only imagine how poorly things would go. Knowing her personality, she would even go as far as to stop him from continuing on. It was the thought of Sylvari that would help pull Videl from out of the darkness.

Once the snow had reached its peak of six feet, to the point that even Videl had found himself fully submerged in it, Videl would manage to get a hold of himself. The raging mana that had gone wild within his heart had abruptly been brought to an end and the T'saya could do nothing but try and escape from it all. To start, he would pull himself from the snow, resting somewhere inside and outside of it. "No more of this.."

Vonoros just lay within the snow that piled up so much he was completely covered and engulfed in it. He couldn't help but laugh as he kept being piled on with snow, this had been a very funny turn of events. The kid he was trying to help toughen up seemed to have lost it and was trying to bury him. Although he did feel pretty bad at this point for messing with the kid so much and making him slightly lose his sanity. He just wanted to help the kid learn some stuff but he guessed he took it too far. Seems like the kid would hate him now, although it would be good for Videl to hate him. Would make things a lot easier for the triton, he didn’t need to worry about another person getting involved with him. He already had to worry about escaping and running away from THEM but meeting other people and getting them involved in his little private battle was not his intention. He actually preferred having the kid hate him even if he seemed like a cool guy, in the long run hating Vonoros and staying away from him would be a good choice for Videl. Although truly it was very amusing to him, the cold was slightly nice to him. Sent a nice chill through his body that comforted him and reminded him of better times. He felt so comforted that he began to fall asleep, he slowly closed his eyes letting the snow lull him to sleep.

Soon enough after about a minute or two of sleeping Videl would hear loud snoring coming from the large pile of snow that Vonoros was in. 

Thankfully Videl had managed to put an end to his magic before the pair of them had been frozen solid. Even if Videl had managed to find a way out of the situation on his own, he would likely have felt immense guilt after freezing the Triton. Despite everything that had just transpired between the pair, Videl wouldn't be able to live with himself if he had stripped the life of another individual away. The first kill was always the hardest, from what he had heard, and that wasn't the kind of thing that he had been hoping to experience.

"I've called off my magic for the time being so cease your antics and come on out. You've lost, Vonoros."

Having said these words, Videl would find himself waiting in silence for the span of an entire minute. Regardless of all that time that had just passed, Vonoros hadn't made his exit from the six feet of snow. Given that the mass had been heavily packed with relatively fresh snow, Videl had expected Vonoros to make his way from out of the snow any time now. Allowing another half a minute to pass, the Triton had continued to remain elusive to him. Given the context of the situation, there were only two thoughts that had begun to run through the T'saya's mind. Either Vonoros had succumbed to his injuries in addition to having been buried beneath the snow.. or the Triton had found themself frozen from the crystallization factor imbued into his magics.

"..this doesn't make any sense. Not enough time had passed since I cast the spell for such an effect to take place." Worrying that he had indeed crystallized the Triton, a cold sweat would begin to break out all across the T'saya's face. "..but what if his aquatic nature made him more susceptible to the spells effects?" Unsure of whether he had actually committed such a heinous crime, and hesitant to find out the truth, Videl would slowly descend into madness at the very thought. Without having found a solid basis for these thoughts, Videl's naive mind had tricked him into believing that he had killed the man. And a mighty fear starting to creep throughout his entire being, the T'saya would turn on his feet and run from the area. A most unrighteous decision, stripping the man of any honor that he had attempted to hold onto throughout his time since departing from Frost Gale.

Vonoros did not hear the other man’s call to emerge from his snow tomb as he was too busy doing something more important, sleeping. After about twenty minutes of slumber, the triton’s eyes flew open as he sat up realizing how far deep he’d been submerged into the snow from earlier. He shivered his teeth, shaking at just how cold it had been, sure the triton was used to the cold but Videl’s magic was truly something he’d never seen before. He woke and started digging his way out with his quarterstaff thrusting forward until he made it through the front end of the giant snowbed.



He popped out from his hole and jumped down expecting to see Videl around. He yelled, “Hey little dude you around here? Hello? Videl? Don’t tell me you got mad and left after all the teasing I did”.


He then stood by tapping his foot waiting for a response before walking around the perimeter, the younger man nowhere to be found. He stood and started laughing for a bit thinking that Videl had gotten so mad and upset that he just up and left.



“Man, I guess I really should’ve gone easier on him if I knew he was going to throw such a fit about it. Well, wherever he is I hope he’s alright this will be a good lesson for him not to deal with figures like him".

Hopefully, the two wouldn’t run into each other again because if they did Vonoros wouldn’t know if he’d be able to keep a straight face or start laughing again. He then started walking the opposite way that Videl headed down the mountain with his hands over his shoulders as he thought about what had occurred.



“Man, I’m really weak now that I’ve seen Videl’s skill, my weaponry and combat knowledge are pretty well but magically I got nothing. I have to get way stronger if I want to protect myself from them. That means using this battle as a reminder, Videl’s showed me a lot like a real rival”.