The fingers clicked.

Rykard had a plan. It was a daring plan, a rash plan, many would say a stupid plan, but he had to make a statement. He took a step forward, then another one. Lightning crackled as he advanced, pockets in his hands. It was launched straight at him and he simply took it.

Electricity made his body seize up for a moment. The blue magic kept on streaming, filling his veins with voltage. Gritting his teeth, almost smirking, Rykard pushed on forward anyway. She was strong, no doubt. He was stronger. He could take these tickles without a problem.

“Oooooh? I’m sorry, tough guy, I did not realize you liked this so much,” Maliande shouted over the sound of arching electricity. “By all means, have some more!”

The torrent of lightning never stopped, not even when she drew her hand back and brought it back down in a whipping gesture. The moment the motion reached the point, the light blue lance doubled in intensity.

The smirk on Rykard’s face was forcefully eradicated when the sheer power of her lightning punched him in the chest. He was flung back several metres, both by the kinetic force and the strength of his own, spasming muscles. Pain shot through his nervous system, while skin seared.

‘When was the last time I took a strike like that?’ he thought to himself, moments before landing hard in the dirt. He kept on skidding over the compacted ground, until he hit his head on a particularly thick tree root.

The lightning finally abated. In the place of the high-strung sounds entered sarcastic clapping. “Brilliant strategy, dumb guy!” Maliande shouted with, in this case, fully justified smugness. “Walking straight towards your opponent, what did you think you could do there?”

Rykard sat up suddenly, smiling across. That made the black-haired woman freeze for a moment. The king cleared some dirt out of his ear. “I wanted to shove you against the wall. Usually works for brats like you.” He stood up and dusted off his pants.

“You’re as sturdy as you are stupid, I’ll give you that.”

“And you are sexy as your are loud mouthed, lucky for you,” Rykard rolled his shoulder. “Whew. Got to say, you have to be about as powerful as I was when I was 16, so that’s an achievement.” His smile turned into a crooked grin. “Which means I have to take this halfway seriously.”

“Psh, nice bluff,” Maliande waved her half-staff around. “Go on, show me what you can do, dumb guy.”

“If you insist.” Rykard said and calmly put his hands together. When he tried to pull them apart again, he was met with otherworldly resistance. Eyebrows furrowed, he pushed against the resistance of Conjuration realm. ‘Really, I’m having performance issues now?’

“Not impre-essed!” Maliande half-sung and yawned. One hand on her hips, she flung a little lightning bolt at Rykard. “Come on. You were sooooo haughty about me doing nothing. Come on. You have to be able to do something. Come on, come on!” Again and again, she launched little bolts of electricity at Rykard.

All of them were neutralized effortlessly by his innate magic resistance and passive Restoration. Still, he grit his teeth. ‘This is quite embarrassing,’ he thought to himself, lowering the rank of entity he requested from the Conjuration Realm. If a titanic creature was denied to him, something more modest would have to do.

It was as if the strings keeping his hands together had suddenly been loosened. Throwing his arms out to either side, he opened in front of him a glowing white portal. Three electric bolts flew into it, before Maliande’s demeaning shower of attacks stopped. The thing that stepped forwards growled.

“W-wait a fucking second, you weren’t kidding about being capable?!” the brat yelled, when a panther made of stone and liquid oil strut out into the full moon’s light. “That’s a Depth Hunter!”

Rykard put his hands back into his pockets. “Yes, yes, very impressive,” he agreed, conveniently skipping on the fact that this was the product of a half-botched attempt. He felt like boasting now would invite more bad luck. “Go play with her.”

The Depth Hunter rushed forwards, roaring as it went. It was a guttural, metallic sound, almost harmonic with the cracking of lightning that followed it. Maliande brought down a whip of her bright magic.

The electric aspect of her attack was immediately neutralized, the creature of stone and rubber rejecting the voltage outright. Magic would not have been magic if it stopped at the rules of physics however. Where flow failed, heat and kinetic energy were still transferred.

Not enough of it to make the Depth Hunter stop, however. It budged, for a mere second, then leapt with its powerful, feline legs. The speed surprised Maliande. Fist-sized paws sliced at the woman, tearing gashes into her attractive face.

Before she could be ripped to the ground fully, she turned into an avatar of lightning itself. Zapping up into the sky. She manifested up above. “You got me for a moment there, tough guy!” she yelled, just as gravity began to reclaim her. Her descent rapidly accelerated. Haughty laughter and crackling mixed and she slammed into the summoned entity with the reinforced heel of her right foot.

The head of the Depth Hunter splattered like a ripe melon. The ground below cratered. A series of thunderclaps impacted the ground afterwards. Three times, lightning struck through the form of Maliande.

Breathing heavily, she straightened back up. She was bleeding from the claw wounds. “Want to join the academy?” she offered suddenly, her grin slightly strained. “With that summoning ability, you’d definitely be our number two guy.”

“I don’t do second places,” Rykard answered.

“Too bad - THEN!” Maliande launched a new lightning bolt at Rykard. It was a proper one, not another love tap - but Rykard was prepared and effortlessly stepped to the side.

Bringing his hands together again, as he wove through the cascade of light blue projectiles, he reached out once more. This time, his demand was headed quick and he opened up another portal in a matter of seconds. “I thought you’d like another!” he shouted, just as as a second Depth Hunter charged out of the murky depths of the portal.

“How thoughtful!” Maliande answered and skipped backwards. Her feet created little ripples of electricity where she touched the ground. Each leap brought her further and further away from the Depth Hunter, but the panther-like monster kept on charging tirelessly.

Rykard followed the chase, still standing where he had been launched to earlier. ‘Those are some damn thick thighs,’ he thoughts, marveling at the shifting of muscles and the jiggling layer of fat on top. ‘Thunder thighs, well and truly.’

Gradually, Maliande slowed down. Her stamina was decreasing, while the conjured creature was just chasing her around the ring.

Finally, Maliande had slowed enough that the Depth Hunter could leap at her. Purple eyes widened in horror, when she tried to gain a little bit more distance, stumbled, and helplessly landed on the ground. Rykard’s aid slammed through her, straight into the ground.

The illusion fizzled, exploding into a blinding flash. “Looking for me?” he heard the sassy tone of the mage, moments before the released lightning was sucked into her half-staff.

Maliande, the true Maliande, was right next to the Depth Hunter. Her weapon extended, electricity forming a shaft that she gripped with both hands. The jagged blade glowed light yellow and blue, screaming with the power of supernatural might. The weapon and its wielder turned into a streak of blue, ripping through the beast in an instant - and going further.

Rykard raised his hand, old battlefield instincts kicking in again. The charged blade aimed for his heart sunk instead into the palm of his hand. Blood splattered, sizzled, and evaporated from the heat. Restoration magic kept his flesh from cooking, while the jagged blade kept on pressing against him. The tip, emerged from the back, was mere centimeters from his chest.

“You really do have reasons to be that smug,” Rykard stated.

“Funny, now you’re taking the words out of my mouth, tough guy,” Maliande grinned. In one swift motion, she pulled her spear back and zapped backwards, narrowly dodging the fist he had hurled at her.

Rykard snapped his fingers.

Maliande came to a stop only three metres away. Standing straight, she tilted her head and grinned at him. “Is that how you express frustration, tough guy?” she asked, mockingly mimicking the snapping gesture. “Hope I didn’t ruin your favourite hand there. Would make the consolidation wank that much harder, wouldn’t it?” She laughed out loud.

Calmly, Rykard took a step forward.

Maliande immediately lashed out at him. This time, Rykard side-stepped the powerful thunder. “Wow, so you can learn a little bit!” she stated, then tried to take a step backwards.

She hit a wall.

“Uhm…” Maliande slowly turned her head, looking up at the massive block of smooth black metal that hadn’t been there a moment before. “When did that get there?”

“Can’t you guess?” Rykard asked and snapped his fingers again.

“Uhm… no? No way you remote summoned a block of metal with a snap of your fingers. Come on, dude, be reasonable,” she responded and turned her eyes back to him.

Just as Rykard slammed his hand against the wall, right next to her head. She jumped intensely enough for her braid to bounce. Surprise made her clutch her lightning spear with both hands. She stared up at him.

Now that she wasn’t zapping around, Rykard realized how tiny she was. The top of her head was barely level with his shoulders. He bowed over her, smiling. His intact hand reached for her face. She was still too stunned to move.

“Your first mistake was believing that I was kidding when I said you are as powerful as me almost a decade ago.” As Rykard said that, he healed the wounds on her face. They needlessly blemished her beauty and got him nowhere closer to victory. “Your second was underestimating me after seeing how I summoned two Depth Hunters quite effortlessly.”

“Bull was that effortless, you struggled hard!” Meliande sassed at him.

“Third,” Rykard continued, conveniently ignoring that the brat was right, “was thinking this is a block of metal.” His injured hand gave the wall a gentle tap and a myriad of eyes opened up on its surface.

“A Ferro-Mimic?!”

The realization finally snapped Maliande out of her dazed state. She tried to charge away, but Rykard kept her right there for long enough for a set of tendrils to reach out of the wall. Wrapping around the mage’s arms and wrist, they pulled her taut against the wall, forming shackles harder than any steel and as flexible as rubber.

A desperate discharge of energy was immediately absorbed by the metallic creature and effortlessly dispersed into the ground below. Rykard kept his distance for long enough for that temper tantrum to fade. He healed his palm, at the same time. Then, he was right back to where he had her a moment ago.

“Awawawawawa,” Maliande stuttered.

“You can be pretty cute,” Rykard hummed, brushing some of her hair back. “How about you join my harem, hm?”

“Wha-wha-wha-whaaaaa?” the stammering took on a different tone, if only slightly.

“Hm, guess you need some disciplining first!” Rykard stated. The timer was ticking, so his chances were limited, but he would enjoy it while he had the chance.

A mental command turned the shape of the Ferro-Mimic from a solid block into a stool. A stool that Rykard sat down on, letting the tendrils place Maliande over his lap. “Wha-wha-what are you doing?!” she demanded to know, all of her sass replaced by bratty panic.

“What are you doing - Master!” Rykard chided her.

His hand came down on her national treasure of an ass. Women this small should not have been capable of having a butt that thick, but her hips did not lie and neither did the ripple that went down her thighs. “Ow!” Malianade complained, not quite intensely enough to let Rykard believe that there was only pain in that. “H-hey, how dare you.”

“How dare you speak to your Master that way?!” Rykard returned the question, smacking her ass a second time. His hand lingered a moment after the first impact. He gave that ample bottom a nice knead.

“You’re not my Master, you’re an arrogant asshole!” Maliande stated, her voice gathered up again. Her skin glowed blue from the inside. The air around filled with static. “I’m Meliande, the Thunder of Laughter, and you dare treat me this wwwwwwwwwaaaaahyaa?!”

A third smack had interrupted her, dispersing all the concentration she needed to keep the spell up in the process. Rykard brushed aside the strands of cloth that served as her ‘skirt’ and found a clean shaven cunt presented openly. “Now what kind of woman worthy of admiration runs around with only an enchanted strand of cloth between her pussy and everyone’s eyes?” he asked in the tone of a disappointed teacher.

“Awawaaaaa-aaaah!” Maliande stuttered and moaned, her ass receiving another sharp slap. Redness was beginning to rise from her pale skin. Rykard took great care in working both cheeks evenly - and in adjusting the strength of his smacks upwards each time she moaned. Was that a bit of wetness that glistened in the moonlight, perhaps?

“Apologize to your Master!” he demanded. Fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth smack rained down on her exposed backside in quick succession. A minute was so short. Any second now, Teyla would put an end to his fun. If he kept Maliande in a state of pain and pleasure, she would not notice how close she was to getting out her predicament. “You’ve been a bad brat! Apologize!”

“I-I’m s-s-s-sorry, Sir!” she hostility stuttered.

Rykard halted his hand, before the ninth smack could be delivered. “Sir?”

“Y-yes! Sir! I’m sorry, Sir!” Maliande looked over her shoulder, up at him, with wet and wanton eyes. “You’re totally right, Sir! I am so sorry I’ve given you title, that’s what you wanted, right, Sir?”

Rykard recognized that she was trying to please him without going for the full humiliation he pushed for. Before he could work out whether or not he wanted to point that out, a divine snap whisked his victim away. Hand raised, Rykard sat alone on his very powerful stool.

“What a splendid showing!” Teyla declared. “The winner of the first match is Rykard!”

Standing up, the king gave his limited audience, and all of the gods and mortals that watched from beyond through the great spells, a deep bow. “Always a pleasure to entertain!” he declared, before Teyla whisked him away as well.