Chapter 3: The Duel of Wands and Fists
The courtyard was deathly silent. Snow crunched beneath dozens of boots as students packed tightly around the dueling ring. Breath fogged in the frozen morning air, but no one dared leave.
Everyone wanted to see if Karl Draven, the muscle-born anomaly, could survive a second duel.
Aric Vale stood in the center, wand gleaming with faint blue light. His jaw was set, his pride burning hotter than his mana.
Karl stepped into the circle. His cloak was thin, his shirt plain, his fists bare. But his presence made the air feel heavier than the snowstorm itself.
"This time," Aric hissed, "you won't get away with humiliating me."
Karl cracked his knuckles. "You talk too much."
Gasps and nervous laughter rippled through the crowd.
"Begin!"
---
Aric wasted no time. His wand slashed through the air, and a torrent of flame burst forth like a dragon's breath. The fire roared across the courtyard, melting snow into steam.
Students cried out and shielded their faces from the heat.
But Karl didn't move.
The inferno slammed into his chest, swallowing him whole. For a heartbeat, it looked as though he had vanished inside the blaze.
"Burn!" Aric shouted, his eyes wild.
The flames died down. Smoke drifted away.
Karl stood in the center of the scorch mark, shirt charred black across his chest, skin barely reddened. He brushed a flake of ash off his shoulder.
"That's it?"
The courtyard erupted.
"No way!"
"He tanked it again!"
"Is he invincible?!"
Aric's smirk faltered, but he gritted his teeth and swung his wand again.
Ice shards ripped through the air like arrows. Karl raised his arm. The shards shattered against his skin, leaving nothing but shallow scratches.
A blast of lightning followed. Karl stomped forward, boots cracking the stone floor, and the bolt flickered harmlessly across his body like a spark on iron.
"Magic…" Karl's voice cut through the chaos, low and steady. "…doesn't scare me."
---
Aric's fury exploded. He poured every ounce of mana into his wand, runes glowing blinding white. A sphere of condensed energy formed at its tip—unstable, trembling, dangerous.
Gasps spread through the students.
"He's going to kill him!"
"That's forbidden magic!"
Even Jax and Lira, standing at the edge, went pale.
"Karl—move!" Lira shouted.
But Karl didn't move. His muscles tightened, veins rising beneath his skin. He planted his feet and braced his fists.
Aric unleashed the spell.
The sphere shot forward, screaming with power. The air warped around it, distorting snow into steam and stone into dust.
It struck Karl square in the chest.
The explosion rattled the courtyard, sending students stumbling back. A wave of heat and light rolled over the crowd.
When the smoke cleared, a crater scarred the dueling floor.
And in the center of that crater—
Karl Draven stood, chest smoking, shirt ripped open, fists clenched tighter than steel.
The spell had left a bruise. Nothing more.
Aric's wand trembled in his hands. His knees buckled.
"No… no, this isn't possible—"
Karl's eyes locked onto him, steady and unyielding.
"I told you," Karl said, stepping forward, "strength is enough."
He closed the distance in a blur. Aric tried to raise his wand, but Karl's fist crashed into it—
Snap!
The wand shattered again, fragments scattering across the stone.
Karl's other fist stopped an inch from Aric's face. The force of his punch stirred the boy's hair, froze his breath in his throat.
The courtyard went utterly silent.
Karl dropped his fist.
"Fight's over."
---
For a moment, no one moved. No one breathed.
Then the courtyard erupted into chaos.
"He broke another wand!"
"Two duels—two victories!"
"What is he?!"
Some stared with awe, others with fear.
But above it all, Karl walked calmly from the circle, his fists loosening, his expression unreadable.
Lira caught up to him first, eyes wide. "You're insane. Completely insane. Do you realize what you've done?!"
Jax grinned like a madman. "He's a legend, that's what! Karl Draven, wand-breaker, magic-smasher, fist-thrower—"
Karl gave him a flat look, and Jax wisely shut his mouth.
Still, Karl heard the whispers spreading through the crowd.
The boy who defies magic.
The cursed one who cannot be burned.
The muscle that shatters wands.
Karl tightened his fists.
If this was only the beginning, he was ready.
---
Final Cliffhanger for Chapter 3:
Far above the Academy, inside a shadowed chamber, a council of robed figures watched the duel through a glowing crystal.
One leaned forward, eyes glinting.
"This Karl Draven…"
"…if he can break wands, what else can he break?"
The crystal dimmed, leaving only silence.
And in that silence, a new danger was born.