George rubbed the back of his head as he walked, still sore from his earlier fall. A bruise was forming and he didn't have any ice in his inventory. Contrary to popular belief, higher vitality than normal didn't stop a bruise from forming. You needed extremely high vitality to completely stop bruising from that kind of stuff, mostly because blunt force trauma is extremely hard to defend against. In the olden days, you could be holding a shield and have full plate armour, but still you try and block a strong enough mace swing and boom. Arm's broke and you die of infection, although Vitality did help a lot with that kind of stuff. Still, George didn't have high enough Vitality for that just yet. He could get some ice from first aid, after he went to class. No way he was going to miss history. From the corner of his eye, he spotted a commotion in the courtyard. There was a large group surrounding two people having a ranked battle. Just before third period started, no less. There was only one person he knew who was bold enough to pull something like that. [b][color=yellow]"Far be it below the great Díno to sweep all the trash away myself, but when garbage falls down at your feet you should at least be thankful that I have the decency to show you your place!"[/color][/b] Díno said, letting his blazer slip off of his shoulders. There were a lot of students watching. Many of them were Díno's 'friends', and the rest were probably the people who wanted to bring him down, random students wondering what they were doing when third period was about to start, and people who knew Díno's track record and just came to watch before they headed to class. His opponent said nothing. He had a look in his eyes that said he was determined to not let what Díno said get to him. He was going to bring Díno's ego down to earth, show them all that Díno was all bark and no bite. George felt almost sorry for the guy. He pulled up his Enlil Interface and set a timer for 30 seconds. When he looked up, the battle had already started. A blizzard was swirling around Díno, and the challenger dashed in close. Looked like he was a Warrior, some kind of brawler type with fist weapons. Normally a mage type would have trouble in this kind of match-up. Brawlers were halfway between Rogues and Warriors, they could dash in fast, and they could take just as much damage as they dealt. Most mages would launch a barrage of spells at the Brawler, and they would eat a few hits but they would be in range and they'd be hitting something soft and squishy. But Díno? Díno was no ordinary Mage. His opponent looked like he thought he knew what he was doing, and maybe he did, but the growing consensus amongst people who had fought Díno was that the ones who really knew what they were doing were the ones who didn't try to fight Díno. Díno dodged the first strike, then the second, and the third. [b][color=yellow]"Tsk, tsk, is that all?"[/color][/b] Díno said, clicking his tongue. 5 seconds into the fight and it wasn't looking too good. The challenger let out a war cry and let loose with a flurry of punches. Díno didn't even have to expend the same amount of effort this time. He simply sidestepped it and planted his fist right into his challenger's face. He staggered backwards but Díno put up a wall of ice behind the poor sod. Díno delivered another punch, which the challenger blocked, but then he kicked him in the side. 12 seconds since the fight had begun. [b][color=yellow]"How foolish…"[/color][/b] Díno said, sighing with disappointment. [b][color=yellow]"You're the one who challenged the great Díno, at least make it worth my time!"[/color][/b] The poor student tried to get up, but he only noticed now that he'd gotten slowed. Díno's blizzard was doing constant [b][color=lightblue]Frost[/color][/b] damage the whole time, but it had the added effect of stacking a slow onto the enemy. That was another indication that the challenger hadn't done enough research. There were only two abilities anyone had ever seen Díno use, which were the blizzard, and Díno's ice forming which he hadn't even used in the match yet. With each passing second the student got more and more desperate. Díno had dodged each of his strikes without even sweating before, but now he didn't even have to try. Finally, when he was encased up to his neck in ice and his fists had slowed to a crawl, he surrendered. "I-I give up…" He said. The blizzard disappeared and the ice shattered. 30 seconds, on the dot. Díno was victorious again. [b][color=yellow]"Hmph, you didn't even have the good grace to take up as much time as I expected you to? Pathetic."[/color][/b] He said, picking up his blazer and draping it over his shoulder. [b][color=yellow]"Now, are there any real challengers for the mighty Díno?!"[/color][/b] That last statement seemed to be more of an insult for his last challenger, but if George knew Díno he'd declared such a thing because there was someone he was keeping his eye on. Somebody who would accept the challenge. Who that was and whether they actually stood a chance, well, that was yet to be seen.