The appearance of Igern awoke the flames inside them. Losing to a stranger was one thing, but they definitely didn’t want to lose to him.

He looked like an insufferable winner!

They were also insufferable winners, but hey, better was the evil known!

Also, having bragging rights over Igern looked too tempting to pull any stop. He needed to go down.

Igern seemed to notice the hungry gazes, grimacing.

“You two are really…” He sighed, before proudly composing himself. “I will show you what someone personally picked by the High Queen of Arhontissa is able to do.”

“Careful with what you say, it’s gonna look soooo bad once you lose.”

“Yeah, it also makes you sound soooo full of yourself.”

Igern’s brows frowned, and he looked slightly towards Creftalia.

“They are right, you know… If we lose it’s gonna be so embarrassing…” She said softly.

Igern made a ‘tsk’ noise. “I will not lose against you two!”

“Damn, he is saying ‘I’ when there’s two of them…”

“Poor girl, I feel so bad for her…”

“It’s fine, really…” Creftalia tried to defend her honor… or Igern’s, at this point she was confused.

“Enough!” He shouted. “I’m done with your babbling!” He raised his arm, bringing it down with force. An ice spear formed in his hand, which he used to command a frozen rain against them.

It was when Velvet saw his frozen rain become affected by the penalty, that she realized Igern was stronger than them. Outside the Arena, at least.

Creftalia used some charms to recover the rain’s lost potency, but Igern scolded her.

“You stay back, this is personal!”

She retreated back, looking down.

“Boo! You suck!” Alrai shouted, before ducking to evade an ice spear to the face.

“Damn, he really put us on a siege.” Velvet had used some plants to build a wall, but, without getting closer to Igern, they wouldn’t defeat him.

It seemed the rain used Igern’s as a source, so it didn’t fall right on top of them. Even then, it was slowly chipping away the plants.

Alrai was the first to notice the rain changing direction, turning and kicking Velvet away.

Before she had time to complain, an ice spear stabbed the place where she was before, being handled by Igern.

He is fast! She rose from the floor, noticing that Igern’s gaze was fixated on her.

“I always take down the support first.” He warned… threatened her, twirling the spear in his hand.

Velvet threw him the chaining charm, but Igern jumped away, looking at it with disgust.

So he knows about it… damn.

He then blocked Alrai’s knife with the spear, a few chunks breaking down. Alrai had gotten ‘lucky’ and hadn’t been noticed by Igern until almost stabbing him.

Alrai raised his foot, and kicked Igern’s crotch with enough force to push him back.

Velvet found it strange how he barely reacted, until Alrai laughed.

“Are you wearing a damn protector?”

“Of course, lowly mages like you tend to use those pathetics tricks.”

“I need to get one of those.” Alrai ended up saying. “I did end up grabbed by the balls back there.”

“I don’t care about your personal life.” Igern tried to stab him again, but Alrai was slippery.

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

“C’mon dude. We are bonding.”

He was going to retort when an explosion distracted him. Especially since it wasn’t close to him.

“You!” Now even more angry, he turned to look at her.

“I always take down the support first.” She mocked his previous words.

Igern clenched his teeth, boiling with rage.

He would’ve done the same, but being the one at the end of the defeated support bothered him.

And Velvet's reasoning was clear. If they managed to corner Igern, Creftalia was sure to intervene, ruining their hard work.

Never underestimate an opponent, no matter how weak they may seem. If not, one could end up like Cornelius.

Also, having Creftalia there distracted them, since she was an unknown variable.

So she had to go down.

Velvet saw Igern running towards her, spear ready.

Stopping suddenly, he jumped before stepping on a chaining charm, and then turned to block Alrai’s knife.

Hit by hit, he alternated between blocking Velvet’s explosions and Alrai’s attacks, also having to make sure not to step on any trap.

He really wasn’t joking about his strength… If it wasn’t for the penalties and the fact that we are ganging up on him, on a terrain full of traps, we would lose.

It almost makes me feel bad.

She felt the difference in skill between him and Vibora. Igern was much stronger.

Even then, Velvet kept on attacking and supporting Alrai with charms whenever she could.

Igern started to get tired, panting every now and then, making a few mistakes that ended up getting him harmed.

“You two really…” He gasped when Alrai got in a lucky punch, shattering his ice spear and slamming him against the wall.

“I would love to say that we won, but I’ll be good and do it once you go poof.”

“I will get you two for this…” Igern panted a few more times, before sliding down the wall and to the floor.

Not relaxing, Velvet looked at his long black hair falling in disarray, and at his features.

“When he doesn’t look at you as if you owed him money, he is kind of good looking…”

She felt Alrai looking at her. “I know right?!”

“Your tastes don’t count, you probably have a thing for prideful bastards.”

Alrai grinned. “I know right?!”

“I. Can. Hear. You.” Igern said, still not fainted, making them almost jump.

“I take it back, it only works until you open your mouth.” Velvet got a paper figurine ready, but Igern seemed to really faint at that moment, disappearing.

She waited no time before taking a few steps away from Alrai, getting ready. “It’s now the time when we fight it out?”

Alrai’s grin grew, he looked ready to pounce on her. “No, put the figurine down, if that was the case, no one would team up. We won.” He relaxed his fighting position. “The money is still getting spli- Put that thing down already!”

“Ngh… Okay, fine. But do a strange movement and I'll flip.” She wasn’t going to start trusting Alrai blindly. Not until she got paid.

And also after getting paid, she wasn’t trusting Alrai in her life.

Velvet felt the maze changing, two doors growing in the walls.

“See you at the Mergifari.” Alrai gave his goodbyes, picking one door and leaving.

Velvet entered the other, finding herself in a clean room.

Two other persons, who ended up being nurses, ordered her to take a bath, and to return all the things she had grabbed, before taking care of her wounds. Velvet made sure to ruin the ones from her dream, not wanting anyone to copy them.

Feeling renewed, Velvet went to another room, where the catgirl, Mirrs was her name, was waiting.

“Say~ Did you enjoy my Arena?”

“Depends, how much did I win?”

“Two individual victories, five team victories, one of which was a champion, and winning this battle…” She seemed to be counting.

“Don’t forget the fifty auris for teaming with Alrai. Who even was that LoveandPeaceV guy?”

“I did not forget that! Our viewers' identities are private, don’t ask.”

“Not even for a Meet and Greet?”

“They weren’t a fan of yours.”

“Damn, okay.” So they were Alrai’s fan.

Imagine if it was Ethra, hahaha. I doubt he would choose such a name, though.

“But someone did leave a message for you.”

“Oh really? Only a message? It’s the sender’s name also private? I would like to give my gratit-”

“It’s from fighter Vibora.”

Suddenly less interested, Velvet took the paper that Mirrs was holding out. On it, it was just written: ‘September 7, Maneely’.

That was in two days. Well, she will make a decision later.

“425 auris.” Mirrs concluded, counting the money before giving it to Velvet, who counted it again. “Beating a champion adds 50 auris, or 100 if you were alone, and winning is another 100, 200 if you were alone.”

Velvet was aware that she alone couldn’t have beaten Igern, so she wasn’t that bothered. Teaming up with Alrai ended up being good for her.

“I enjoyed your Arena very much, miss Mirrs! Especially the room with free materials!” Mirrs flinched at that. “I might even come back someday!”

Like that, Velvet left, and Mirrs’ smile twitched.

“I will put you first the next time…”