“You will find your volunteers waiting… But be careful, they do bite.”

The plants raised again, slamming around in a random manner. Alrai jumped around, evading the lashes, but becoming unable to go closer to Velvet.

Trying to hit a gambler directly was a lost cause, since the chance of some coincidence happening was high. So hitting in a disorderly way was the best against them.

Velvet called back her figurines, trying to pinpoint Alrai’s location between the plants.

He moves so fast… Not as fast as Siberina, though.

She realized that Alrai was moving a bit weird in some jumps. He had fought someone before, and there was also the aftermath of his fight with Nereus.

I can take him, she realized. As long as she kept on dragging this out, Alrai was going to get tired, eventually making a mistake and getting beaten like scrambled eggs.

She clapped, mocking him. “Well, that was a fan-tas-tic show! But the time to close the curtain has come!”

“I’ll start the final act then!” She saw a few white lights coming from under the plants, mixed with Alrai’s voice, making an enchantation.

He then launched himself up, towards Velvet’s location.

She waited for him a bit, then she jumped, falling on the soft plants she had previously buried.

Alrai slammed the wall, and then turned his body to jump again.

Boom!

A paper figurine that was waiting there exploded, launching Alrai away from Velvet and to the floor.

“Huh, the salamander waste works awesomely…” Velvet made a note to buy some after this… Or maybe just buy a salamander.

She got up, ordering the plants to slam where Alrai had fallen. The plants moved in unison, rushing towards him.

Looking at them, Velvet flinched when she felt some type of ‘click’ in her mind.

It was the way the plants just positioned themselves. A coincidence had just happened. Her gaze met with Alrai’s, nothing between them.

She saw Alrai grin, dashing towards her. Velvet threw herself on the ground, rolling to her right, feeling the wind coming from Alrai's movements over her.

Velvet stood in a crouched position, using the plants to cover herself.

"Nononono, don't run away. Come here." Alrai punched one branch, breaking it in half.

"I'm not running away, I'm playing hard to get." Sliding backwards, Velvet was entering the zone dominated by plants. “Who wants something, costs him something.”

“True. That makes the feelings when you obtain it so much more delightful.” Alrai crushed the paper figurine next to him before it exploded.

Velvet readied her charms. “If you obtain it.”

“Exactly! Say, how does a small gamble sound?”

“Horrendous.”

Alrai extended his hands while stepping over an overly aggressive plant. “Listen to it first! So, how ab-”

“Wow, such an awful idea, atrocious.”

“You didn’t eve-”

“A worm has better insights than you.”

Alrai smiled at her, but there was a tinge of annoyance on it. Velvet grinned from behind the leaves, tossing slowing and weakening charms.

Alrai jumped back, to avoid being affected by them.

"Nononono, don't run away. Come here." Velvet said, in a tone similar to Alrai’s.

Alrai kept on receding, until he lost all the distance he had won previously. Taking a sinuous knife from his pocket, he put it between his teeth.

Then, he raised his hands slightly, opened them up with the palms facing him, and made his thumbs kiss.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Spring’s Gamble. Velvet recognized that spell from Siberina’s familiar.

Gambler’s spells were a pain to use and to deal with, so she hadn’t tried to use any until now. They were extremely hard to use, even more when one didn’t share the Paradigm.

Velvet could use lust spells without barely any problems. At most, the effect was weaker, and her control on the plants was lower than Gertine’s.

On the other hand, gambling spells were based on luck. The effect of using them would be the same, what changed was the chance of failure. Alrai always had from fifty percent or more chance of success, but, if Velvet used the same spell, her chance of success would be twenty five percent or less, and losing a gamble ended up being detrimental.

Spring’s Gamble was like that. It was an enhancement spell that had an increased chance of succeeding against nature based spells. Like plants.

Alrai pulled the knife from his mouth, the spell in effect.

Slash! A plant fell, having been delivered an accurate hit to its weakest part.

Then, he repeated the motion with his hands again, palms facing him with the thumbs touching.

Velvet sent the plants again, but they tangled between themselves for seemingly no reason, being cut down easily again for Alrai.

He did the motion again.

“Are you just gonna use the same trick over and over?!” Velvet shouted at him from the other side of the decreasing plants, walking backwards.

“That’s what being a gambler means!” He answered her, cutting.

“We bet!”

Slash!

“And bet!”

Slash!

“Until the final prize!”

Slash!

“Is standing!”

Slash!

“Right in front of us!”

The last plant fell, and Velvet’s back hit a wall.

Alrai panted, taking breaths. Still, seeing Velvet’s slightly panicked face was worth it.

“Well, well, well, seems like I got you.” He mocked. “What should I do to you now? Oh, do you remember what happens once a shoulder gets dislocated? Once it happens the first time, the second is even easier.”

He grinned when Velvet glared at him, waiting for her answer. She opened her mouth slowly.

“Do… Do you know what the first law of gambling is?”

“Please educate me.” Alrai said.

Velvet looked to her right, taking her sweet time. “Never gamble what you can’t afford to lose.” She looked at him, pointing downwards.

Alrai looked down, seeing a paper figurine stuck on his crotch. Then, he looked back at Velvet.

Her scared expression had disappeared, replaced by a twisted grin. “Say, my beloved gambler, do you wanna see a magic trick? I can make your little friend go poof… or boom, in this case.”

Alrai laughed faintly, incorporating a bit.

“Don’t move a single hair. I am a maiden very faint of heart, get scared easily and pull triggers even more easily. ”

“Alright alright, I’m keeping still, my fair lady.”

They stared at each other for a while.

“Why aren’t you going poof like the other combatants?” She ended up asking.

“I haven’t surrendered and can still fight, obviously.”

“What are you waiting for? I have won. Surrender already.”

“Nope.”

The hell you mean no?! She wanted to scream. “Want me to detonate the paper figurine?”

“You said you would do that IF I moved, which I’m not doing. You want to be a ‘nice’ mage.” He said the nice part with a corny tone.

“Wanna say that again?”

“No miss. But it seems we’ve hit a standstill.”

“Because you’re being a petty ass loser. I can use a second paper figurine and blow your face.”

“Then you better hope it knocks me out, because I’ll use that to escape this little one… And I’ll get back to you.”

I haaate gamblers. Velvet cursed. Was she just supposed to leave Alrai here and run? He would just chase her down.

Wait for another mage? They may just use that to take both of them.

She really didn’t want to ‘blow his balls’. She may hate his sister, but this was a professional arena, and she’d been warned against trying to really harm another mage.

Velvet wanted money, not problems. And now she had a problem with a punchable face.

“Why do these things feel wet?” Alrai complained.

“Shut up, just think it’s Ethra playing with your balls.” Velvet massaged her temples, already tired of dealing with the damn Siberetti.

“You have no idea of the things Ethra does to my balls.”

That made something, or someone, snort, hidden behind the fallen plants. Velvet flinched a bit, but…

“Don’t move, be a good bait and get beaten for me okay?”

She planned on leaving Alrai there, watching from a distance, but her necklace vibrated.

Alrai also received the message, almost scoffing when he saw Velvet’s face change, her eyes shining with greed.

“Are you really that cheap?”

I would have teamed up with you for less… “Shut up, you silver spoon idiot. Let's beat that scavenger!”

The poor hiding mage got hit twice, first with the weakening charms that were still buried, and then with Alrai’s own hands.