Free from the risk of being smote for the moment, Mud returned to the waiting room. The arena guide acted noticeably different this time, constantly looking back over his shoulder, a glint of fear in his eyes. Upon entering the ready room, only one other contestant remained aside from Mud. The feather plumed warrior and his raptor.

"Hoh, so you were a beast all along eh?" Although the man wore more clothing than Cob, much of his chest was still exposed by his cross shaped leather harness. His long brown hair was wild and tangled, and his legs were covered with leather breeches and black jackboots.

Rubbing his chin, he leaned down over Mud. "How about working for me? Life can be tough for a beast trying to live among humans, even if you're clever. It's a help and a half to have a human to act as your public face. Ain't that right, Pullum?"

The raptor squawked merrily and stood up as her name was called.

"I refuse. I have already obtained a human."

The warrior smirked and shrugged. "Oh well, worth a shot!" Walking towards the guide, he spoke his parting words. "If you can beat the prince's pet I'll be seeing you in the finals. Later, Muddy." 

Ignoring the odd human, Mud slid towards the other exit to the waiting area. Spotting an arena employee, the golem composed a mental message.

"Bring Cob to me. I need to speak with him."

After frantically looking around for a moment, the employee looked back at where Mud stood behind him. Noticing his form, he let out a small yelp and jumped back. After a moment, he seemed to regain his composure and take a deep breath.

"Ah, Cob? That's one of the competitors right?"

"That is correct. Retrieve Cob."

"But I'm not supposed to leave..." The employee's eyes seemed to linger on Mud's twitching head for a moment before drifting down to the visible meat hooks and knives sticking out of him in various locations. "Right, I'll go get him right away." He then sprinted off in the direction of the stands.

After a short delay, the huffing employee returned with the requested Cob.

Cob looked somewhat annoyed, holding a half-eaten sausage in one hand and a wooden cup of alcohol in the other. "So what's this all about, monster?" Cob took a large bite out of his sausage and looked down at Mud.

"I must take you out."

Cob nearly choked on his bite. With a few pounds to his chest, he finally managed to swallow it. "You what!?"

The arena employee mumbled under his breath, a dumbfounded look on his face. "Wasn't this thing just hitting on that girl earlier? Are monsters just like this...?"

Ignorant of the misunderstanding, Mud continued. "I must take you out. However, I can not leave at the moment. I will take you out after the tournament ends. Do you accept this arrangement?" 

Cob seemed to think it over for a moment. "I don't know, I'm into demi-humans but a magical beast is a bit... Uh, maybe we could go get some coffee as friends? There are some things I was wondering about, actually."

"That is agreeable. You are now my friend."

"Just like that, huh? One-sidedly declaring friendship, you remind me of Bark." Shifting his gaze uncomfortably towards the arena employee, Cob added in a stammer, "it's a shame he vanished and I have absolutely no idea where he is or could have gone. Heh." Cob stopped himself from saying anything else unnecessary with a large bite of sausage.

"I will collect you after the tournament." With that, Mud turned around and returned to the middle of the waiting area, head twitching erratically.

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"So, you knew, didn't you?" Thagi Ghul stood with his massive armed crossed, towering over the older female clerk.

The senior clerk Videre smiled innocently up from the much larger man's shadow. "What ever do you mean, Leader Ghul?"

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"Don't play games." Ghul rubbed down his mustache in agitation. "You registered Mud. You knew he was a construct didn't you?"

"Oh, that." Videre shifted her gaze towards the fight below, where a raptor was currently circling around to flank a mage while a man covered in leather and feathers performed elaborate motions with his outstretched arms, deflecting the streaks of fire shot towards him with little apparent effort. "I might have known something like that. If I did, I would have been under no obligation to report it to you."

Videre quickly returned her gaze to Thagi and looked him in the eyes. "Unless you think I should be reporting the private information about every guild member to you? If that's now the policy of the Geltheas branch, I'm sure my superiors would be interested to learn-"

Thagi held up a gauntleted hand, the other holding his forehead. "Stop, just stop. I get your point." Ghul turned and punched a nearby stone wall, causing a blast of dust and leaving a splintering crack. "I'm so sick of all this bureaucratic nonsense making my job harder! I don't need a complication at a time like this!"

A few diplomats turned back startled at the commotion, but when they noticed who had made it they quickly returned to facing the front, pretending not to have noticed.

"I understand how you feel, but this construct could be a benefit to the Association. The head priest said it himself. These sorts of lifeforms can become extremely powerful in a short span of time. Now that he's being targetted by the Church, he'll be forced to rely on us even more heavily." An evil grin spread on the clerk's face, the eyes of a predator flashing. "This is a perfect chance to bind it to us fully with bonds of gratitude, and convince him of our usefulness. He will be a great tool against our enemies."

Ghul looked down at the clerk. Despite all their years together, the transformation she could make in an instant still unsettled him. He responded in a low voice. "I'm sure you're confident in your ability to keep a leash on anyone, but this isn't a man or a beast. You quoted the priest, so I'll do the same. What will you do if your project goes wrong? How will you take responsibility if the city is destroyed due to your plotting?"

"If he turns against the Association, we'll simply destroy him. I'm sure you can handle it, if that time ever comes." 

Thagi grimaced. Why was everyone around him so short-sighted and greedy? Willing to put others at risk for their own gain... perhaps it was merely Sapient nature. But, what a hypocrite I am, too, thought Thagi. Here I am running some tournament instead of clearing the dungeon, all because of some vague implications of reprisal from the king. As much as  I complain, aren't I part of the problem?

With a short prayer for those soldiers forced to now guard the dungeon entrance, Ghul returned to his seat.

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Eventually, Mud was called out by the guide once more and directed to the arena. There, already waiting on his mark, was a familiar figure. The black-armored samurai, Shin.

As the guide and Mud made their way past the stands towards the ring, a voice yelled down towards the golem.

"Hey, Executioner Mud, catch!" Leaning over the barrier was that loud boy. Clutched in his hands was a bundle of black fabric. As Mud directed his sight towards the boy, he tossed it directly at the golem.

Catching it deftly, Mud examined the object. After unfolding,  it appeared to be a child-sized black robe, with the bottom roughly torn into strips.

"You lost your other one during the fight, so I ran out to get this during the last fight!" A proud smile appeared on the boy's face as he jabbed a thumb towards his chest, boasting.

While there was no longer any need to hide its identity, the robe was still functionally useful. Weapons and strikes could be hidden from sight with the folds, and the hanging ends could be used for grappling.

Swinging the cloak wide, Mud quickly fastened the cloak around its neck. The new cloak turned out to fit much better than the previous one, having been actually designed to be worn and not just a chunk of discarded black fabric.

The boy looked overjoyed that his gift was accepted. "You got this fight, Executioner Mud! No one can sneak up on you with your Mud Shuffle!" With that, the boy started doing a poor imitation of Blind Spot Removal. Ignoring the child, Mud moved towards his designated spot. As he arrived on his x, the boy's voice yelled out once again.

"Hey, I just got a new skill! Blind Spot Removal? Never heard of that."

A curious adult voice soon followed. "Oh? What's the description?"

"Sorry, I don't have an information type ability... I got it pretty fast from just doing like the Executioner, though."

Soon, several nearby spectators were doing a poor imitation of Blind Spot Removal. As word of an unknown, easy to learn skill spread, strangely wobbling heads quickly spread around the arena like an infection.

Shin looked up in bafflement at the many bobbing and swaying heads in the stands. "What is this? Some sort of Geltheas tradition? Shake your head in semi-finals?"

One of the adults that had started earliest rubbed his neck. "Eh, I don't like it much. It makes my neck sore. And some of the movements the Record is telling me to do, I think it would cause my neck to snap."

Another nearby man nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's probably not good for humans. Mud's a monster, after all. Maybe a contortionist could use it."

Similar conversations cropped up among the humans.

At that time, a new announcement appeared to Mud.

[Reward for contributing Skill to Akashic Record: 5 Skill Points]