The air was charged; it was heavy all around you. The steel railing you leaned onto was cold against the palms of your hands, and the smell of wet dirt brought with it promises of a storm. Your knuckles whitened as you gripped the metal more tightly, trying to focus as you glanced at the black-haired woman standing on the opposite podium, a lofty cigarette in her hand and coals in her eyes. She was a hundred meters away, not even the size of your thumb at this distance, and yet you could sense her gaze upon you like a red-hot poker pressing against your forehead.

"For the sake of fairness, I will tell you that the monstergirls that I will use are a Thundrix, a Neigix, a Moriae, and a Mimica," Assistant Erica Garcia spoke, the voice coming out of a speaker right next to you. Your eyes glanced at the button you guessed was meant to allow you to speak into it. "You can ready your monstergirls now, Tamer Rick, you have ten minutes."

With your gaze traversing once the otherwise empty looking dirt-scape that was the hundred-meter wide battlefield, you focused on the corners of the large square that’d been marked with white lines. There were three figures in each, monstergirls you guessed, huddled and talking in lowered voices, each dressed with a white shirt and black pants. A uniform it seemed. You figured they were probably related to the barrier Erica had mentioned.

You turned, taking the capture devices and releasing your girls. Each of them popped with a beam of red light before snapping back shut with a snap; you were left looking down at them from the small metal podium you were standing on. Taking a deep breath, you leaned in slightly. "We have the fight to handle, they have four monstergirls, a Thundrix, a Neigix, a Moriae, and a Mimica."

"Fight!" Monica declared excitedly as soon as she heard the word, eyes moving about in search of who she was going to go up against, practically vibrating as she grinned from ear to ear.

Not wanting to lower her morale, you nodded, turning to the others. "I've read on Thundrix and Neigix, looking up the others. Do any of you know about any of the breeds?" As you asked this, you were already opening the dex to check on the entries.

"Mimica is a living storage monstergirl, weak fighter, undoubtedly their support option," Diane piped up. "She must be loaded on low-grade healing items since high-grade is forbidden for an official ranking match lower than rank five." She paused as she saw your focus on her. She blushed and fidgeted a little. "I don't know much about Moriae other than they're rock types. Neigix are a bit of an annoyance though, ferals are good at swooping in and stealing things when people aren’t looking."

"Moriae is rock and steel," you commented, reading from the dex. "Can't fly, but can phase through the earth, has some troublesome defensive techniques, overall she's more of a sturdy thing."

"So she's the box's protection." Kiara nodded absently, glancing at the arena behind you before frowning slightly. "Not that I mind, but did you piss off this bitch?"

"Why do you ask?"

"This isn't a second rank fight." A scowl and a growl left her.

"Well, I don't care," you replied. "Because we need to win."

The infernal looked at you with a slight scowl. "What's at stake here? It seems like an assistant flexing on you."

"Is it?" The question left your lip and made the three monstergirls hesitate. Well, not Monica, she was completely focused on the nearest trio of monstergirls that were standing outside of the arena. You avoided letting out a chuckle as you focused on the others. "This is effectively our first serious fight." Allowing yourself to frown at them, you meet their gazes one by one. "I have high expectations out of you. Win and I'll let each of you do one of the big requests."

"I want to know where you’re from." The statement startled you- your eyes turned to Kiara as she glared at you, the words having left her faster than you’d ended the offer. "Is that a valid reward?"

A moment of hesitation went through you, and you leaned back as you scratched your chin, trying to force your mind to push itself away from the combat at hand for a second. What would happen if Kiara learned the truth? You couldn't really guess, but you were quite certain it was perhaps the biggest advantage you had against her currently. Watching her meander and blindly shoot in the dark in an attempt to figure you out was equal parts amusing and illuminating. Still... how much longer would it be able to keep it a secret? It would sooner or later slip, the prospective value of the secret would drop, and if she figured it out on her own you couldn’t really hold it as a potential reward anymore.

"Fine." Your words made the infernal's glare turn into a smirk.

Diane looked at Kiara and then at you, concern plastered all over her face. "I... if we win, I wish to-" She hesitated, swallowing. "Have a day of Master..." Her face turned crimson, her eyes lowered to the floor. "...with me in... erm..." Her cheeks reddened further, her next words barely a whisper, but one that made Raven and Kiara look at her in slight shock.

"I didn't hear that last part."

Diane swallowed and nodded. "With me in... charge in the… things."

"Sure." The word came out without a moment's hesitation, which earned the same look of disbelief out of the Succubus and Arachnae. "Though not a whole day, do twelve hours sound fair?" The nurse quickly nodded, squirming a little. Your focus turned to Raven. "And you?"

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She looked at Diane for a long silent second, frowning as she placed her hand against her lips. "I will need time to consider it, Master Rick."

"Fair enough." With that acknowledgement, you took the moment to breathe in deeply and sigh out. "Now, strategy. This needs to be a team effort." You glanced at the three, and then at Monica as her tail kept swishing back and forward; she looked just about ready to pounce towards the group of monstergirls. "Monica, come here."

The feline glanced at the trio one more time and then at you, taking a sigh and jumping, landing lightly on top of the railing on the podium. "Rick?" She inquired, watching you curiously as you took her tail and stroked it. Her purring led her to step down from the railing and hug you.

Raven, Kiara, and Diane cocked a simultaneous trio of brows.

"Hey, I need her attention," you muttered, then sighed. "Look, Kiara's the only flyer, and the roof is pretty freaking high up." Much higher than you'd originally expected in fact. "Any of you can get up there? I doubt Monica does." You looked at the purring smug feline, pointing up. "Jump?"

"No time for demonstrations, we know I'm the only one that can handle the flyers. So I will," Kiara growled, her fists lighting up with black fire. "I just need to land a solid enough hit and their feathers will get roasted."

"With that out of the way, Raven, you will be protecting Diane," you continued. "We know Monica's not really reliable in defence-"

"-or anything that isn't killing."

Your glare was on the infernal, and she shrugged in response. "-so keeping the healer able to fix others up is the top priority. Overall, I'd hope you could help Monica deal with the Moriae and the Mimica while doing that, but I'm rather certain they'll focus on Diane the instant she's left alone."

"I will keep it in mind, Master Rick." The Arachnae bowed her head.

The speaker at the side of your podium crackled to life, and you had to take a moment to look at it, as you heard the assistant's voice through it. "Tamer Rick, are you ready? You will need to hand over the spheres to the arbiters since it is not possible to recall your girls otherwise."

"Recall distance limit..." You muttered, then pressed the button. "I'm ready." A slight pause, a glance to your girls and a nod. "Time to win this."

Your mind shifted towards the question over why the assistant would put this battle at such a level, and you withheld from frowning; that was a bridge you’d cross after this.

The girls began to head towards the arena, but Kiara stopped just as she'd lifted into the air, meeting your eyes for a good long second. There was a moment of confusion in her expression before she moved ahead. You weren't too sure why she'd done that; perhaps she noticed yet something else that was off about you compared to 'normal' humans in this world.

A trickle of concern ran down your spine as you saw her continue into the arena. What would happen once she asked the question and you told her the truth? How much control would you have left? How much would you gain? Information was a tool, maybe it was a mistake to agree at all, but...

"Tamer Rick, the capture devices, please?"

Your attention was snapped out of the four monstergirls about to enter a fight and to the winged monstergirl that was standing next to your podium's stairs, looking up at you with shimmering eyes. You glanced at her pristine white wings and how they almost sparkled. "Pretty." You whistled, forcing yourself to look calmer than you were.

The girl preened a little, her wings rustling. "Flattery will not make me lean in your favour, Tamer Rick, I am to be the arbiter after all." She smiled slightly, nodding as you handed over the four spheres. "Are there any special requirements you would have in mind?"

"Requirements?"

"Sometimes a situation calls for a monstergirl to be recalled and the tamer can't react fast enough," she said. "Are there any limitations you would wish for us to keep in mind?"

"No deaths," you said flatly and immediately. "Unconsciousness, and..." A slight hesitation. "...if they're being tortured."

Her smile faded, and she frowned a little. "No personnel in this building would advocate torturing a monstergirl, even less during a sanctioned match, sir." She nodded. "But I understand the potential concern, I will keep it in mind." Her hand gestured at the box. "In case of doubt or if you wish to have one of the girls recalled either way, just declare so through the comms device. Do keep in mind that any recalled monstergirl will be considered to have forfeited the match."

"I will, thank you."

Your eyes glanced onto the battlefield, specifically, at the monstergirls on the opposite side of the field. There were four in total, and the two that immediately stood out to you were the dark-skinned Thundrix the assistant had released, and the Moriae, who definitely felt like the most dangerous one in the team.

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Nothing about her would initially tell you she was threatening in any way Monica wasn’t already. She was perhaps a meter and a half tall, and the look on her eyes sharp and ready, just the same way as the other monstergirls.

But what instantly raised your alarm was the fact that she’d not stripped the way the other monstergirls had. That alone told you that the clothes she wore were sturdy enough to withstand combat with monstergirls, and no doubt the armour was fiercely expensive. And useful. That pointed towards the short monstergirl being the more experienced one in the team, the one that had been invested on the most. The others were likely younger or less trained in some shape or form.

Your jaw settled; Monica was going to have a tough time with her, no doubt about it. The monstergirl looked just about ready to take the whole team on her own, the way she bounced the hammers making you imagine smashed skulls and shattered bones.

A flicker of focus, and you moved on to the girls that were standing at the corners of the field, in a group of three; they were glowing now, whispered words being uttered and charging around them. You felt the tension in the air as the hairs on your arms stood on end, goosebumps running through you. The air shimmered in front of you, and for a split second everything turned black, enclosing the combat area entirely and cutting it from sight. A crack of thunder was heard, rumbling all around you and rattling the podium all the way up your legs. The next moment it was as if nothing had happened, and you could see the arena, the monstergirls, everything looking normal.

And that in of itself was intimidating in a way. Like watching the gladiators stepping into the coliseum. There was still a lingering scent, a lingering sensation of a charge lingering, tickling at your senses in the same way Kiara’s powers did, invisible to the eye yet clearly somewhere in front of you.

Your grip on the railing tightened.