Along a stretch of mountain, a magma mage raged - his magical fire igniting portions of the mountain in flames. No longer does he live, but his fire still burns. Rocks threaten to fall loose, and some burrows remain from small cryptids known as rock moles. Where they go, no one knows, but prolonged stay down there means a threat of intense trapped heat.

-

Rindheart stepped into the portal and came out into what could most easily be described as a hellish landscape. Raging fire, cracked and jagged rocks, reaching out with his earth magic he felt the ground beneath wasn't much better in terms of consistency. At least he could avoid stepping onto anything liable to collapse and send him crashing downwards. More importantly however... Rindheart peered forward upon hearing a fearsome yell for him, at first unable to see anything. However upon closer inspection as he made his way forward he could determine that there was a small rat in front of him. Given that rats were likely not native to this region and there was nothing one could only assume this was the creature that had called for him and was his competition.

Rindheart raised a skeptical eyebrow and approached until he was about 10 of his own footsteps away from the creature. "Are you named Pumpkin?" He asked cautiously and somewhat incredously. He was to fight a rat? Well he might not be the most impressive combatant but this was surely was an insult of some sort. Though the mouse being here alone spoke of a hidden nature, obviously there was something that deemed it worthy to participate in this tournament. Likely a shape shifter, certainly it must have access to some sort of formidable magic to make up for its size.

-

So that was how it was. The rat immediately took up a fighting stance and Rindheart got a good grip, metaphorically speaking on the ground around himself, ready to react to whatever the rat did. As soon as the rat leapt into the air Rindheart took a step back and swept upwards with both hands, with the combined diameter of about two large plates, section of rock about a hand tall rocketed out of the ground, with a hollow in the center. The makeshift cup of rock would attempt to swallow up the small rat, giving him just under two seconds to think of something, and once it did so Rindheart would close off the top of it and move forward to clasp it between his hands.

-

The rat was fast, alarmingly so, causing Rindheart to do the natural thing and fall back from the blur of movement heading towards his face, a movement he'd already started. This caused the kick aimed at his face to simply not connect, though the cup of earth would rise into the air missing as well. However Rindheart was already planning his next move, as he fell towards the ground he used his right hand to point at the ground where the rat would land, splaying his fingers open, the pocketed rock beneath the rat opening as well. The opening wasn't very deep, merely a foot or so and not much more than his hands-width wide. However at the same time Rindheart moved his left hand and the cup of earth that had passed by the rat now come hurtling down onto where the rat would land. The rat was fast, but shouldn't be able to change his landing position easily nor the speed at which he arrived at it, if all went according to plan the rat was about to become a sandwhich.

-

Rindheart rotated as he fell now that his counterattack was complete, whether it would succeed or not, and landed on his hands, pushing himself back up quickly to keep watch on his opponent. The mouse had gotten a massive amount of distance with the jump, Rindheart's attack had been conducted at the max of his range bearing in mind what he had seen of the rat's speed to try to accommodate for the distance but it had been futile. Rindheart took steady breaths and reached into his cloak, rapidly drawing two simple, even crude daggers only a few inches long, created in a moment with his metal manipulation. It looked like this match would likely be rather difficult. With the rat being so small and quick, his only options for attack were limited. He'd have to wait for the rat to give him a chance.

-

Rindheart made sure he had a firm grip on the ground around himself as he waited for the mouse to get closer, ready to move at any hint of an attack, or one of those leaps turning into an attack. Instead however, a pillar of flame obscured his view of the mouse, then proceeded to fire directly at him instead of continuing upward. Rindheart once again took the defensive, pulling upward with his arms to create a curve earth wall to deflect the flames upward, somewhat like one section of a halfpipe and hopped backwards. Next move? He'd lost sight of the rat, the bugger was fast enough he could be anywhere in moments. Rindheart decided to merely wait where he was, scanning what was in front of him. If the rat was behind him and wanted to launch an attack it would succeed one way or the other. If on the otherhand the rat hadn't managed to flank him it would be best to watch what was in front of him. So Rindheart, around 7 meters from his raised earth, scanned the area in front of him for any signs of another attack. He also pulled out the rest of the metal from his bag, spreading it thinly over his back and sides, covering skin and armor alike.

-

Rindheart had already acknowledged that the rat may come from a different angle so he was moving as soon as he heard the warning rather than making visual confirmation first. He immediately turned towards the voice while moving towards it. He barely saw the mouse as it hurtled towards him. However it was enough to allows his head-butt to solidly collide with the rat. Not only that but he'd used his metal control on his helmet to slam into the rat with even more force. The rat was certainly fast, but Rindheart was hoping it couldn't beat him in a strength contest.