"Lord Hisha," Vanas called on him in a whisper.
He had red, shoulder-length hair tight in a ponytail revealing a chiseled, tense face. Hollow red eyes, stared at Hisha seeking an appeal.
An old tattoo of a cobra's mouth opened and ready to strike is almost hidden on the side of his left cheekbone leaving an aching memory of his reckless luck.
He needed to get the attention of Hisha before the tournament began.
This wasn't going to end well with one of his people. Fire was one of the banes of vampires and facing off with Solara was like a suicide mission–she was the embodiment of the abomination.
Hisha turned towards Vanas with a twisted smile, he could already guess what he wanted to appeal to and was hellbent on not giving a listening ear.
Vanas felt threatened by the smile and could only cough at the subject. He had finally realized that if he was going to call on the choices, it was as good as challenging the supreme overlord.
Hisha nodded his head when he understood that Vanas got the memo. Instead, he went with a different approach, "isn't the weather just gloomy? We need a little light in our lives."
Vanas immediately deciphered what was being said and clenched his teeth. Hisha was goading on his zeal for his people and knew what the match-up meant.
At first, he pretended not to know what was being said and ignored Hisha, and focused his anxious attention on the arena.
"Don't you agree, Vanas?" Hisha stressed with a hum.
[Host you are sowing discord]
'Does it matter?' Hisha countered, it was the tribal chiefs they were talking about so he saw nothing wrong with his words.
When HTC went mute once more, he smiled and placed his chin on his arm.
Vanas forced a smile on his lips and nodded.
"Why don't you sit back and enjoy the show?" Wae snarled and rolled his eyes.
Vanas let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair, it was pointless butting in.
Hisha nodded towards Kritz so he could make a brief announcement so they could commence.
"With the rules in mind, you may begin!" Kritz called out in a loud voice.
All attention was focused on the two who stood in the middle of the arena, loud whooping calls and cheers erupted from the harem as they picked on their bias.
Hisha had a smile on his lips as he watched them, they were far more enthusiastic about this than he thought.
[Must be nice, seeing these beautiful women fighting for your attention]
HTC mocked and placed a crazy face emoji.
Hisha knew what he was driving at and held back his tongue before he gave a sarcastic reply, he would rather focus on the motive rather than the tournament.
It wasn't just about who won, but who had sparked his interest and was able to prove they could stand by him.
Solara had a twisted smile on her face as she stared at Lilt.
Lilt took a defensive L-stance, her red eyes glowing with a smoky aura spiraling in a circle beneath her legs.
'You think you can defeat me just because of your race?!' She thought in spite as she held the eyes of confidence on Solara.
"It would be best you save up your Sux, it's just about leaking out of you, it's stupid to show your weakness at the beginning," Solara commented, staring down at Lilt like she was some insect.
[Warning» Yandere]
Hisha's mouth gaped open, he couldn't understand if this was the same innocent Solara he knew. She was a different person in the arena and a yandere?!
He sweatdropped at the revelation, having an internal battle on how he had missed that probable part of her.
[Close up that mouth of yours! I did tell you not to be fooled! Let's see how that plays]
Lilt clenched her teeth after the comment, she felt humiliated and bitter.
Tired of taking a defensive approach when all Solara was doing was standing and waiting, she lurched forward for an attack.
Quickly reacting, Solara sidestepped and laughed. "Is that all you got with your ability?!"
She was yet to use her ability and had just relied on her agility.
The crowd cheered, with Zui's voice topping it all, "kick her sorry ass! Light her up goddamnit!!"
For a few seconds, the arena was silent, and all attention was drawn to Zui.
Zui reclined in her seat and whispered, "too much?"
Solara pinpointed Zui's location at the left side of the first row and smiled warmly, this lady who was against her at the onset had suddenly turned into her number one fan.
'You silly witch!' She thought happily.
She was about to focus her attention on Lilt once more when she felt a scratch on her back.
The crowd let out a collective wince of pain in her stead as they saw Lilt scratch with her claws and gave a kick on her side.
Solara tumbled across the open space until she hit her back against the concrete wall of the end of the arena.
A cloud of dust rose in the air, obscuring her situation.
"Did you see that?!" Vanas snickered with joy as he called on the attention of the other tribal chiefs. He looked over to Hisha and had a smirk on his lips when he could pick on the tiny detail of frustration and shock on his face.
Hisha had his hands tightly gripping the armrest of his golden chair.
Crrrk!
A crack appeared on the armrest, he had tried so hard not to react to the situation that it was killing him on the insides.
[Where is your self-control and patience, host?]
He watched with worry as he looked at an approaching Lilt to the cloud of dust. She had a grin and was going to end the duel before Solara could make a counteraction.
"This time, I hope you burn in flames and stay that way." She cackled in a peal of crazed laughter.
*****
A/N
My heartfelt appreciation to those who vote with power stones on my book constantly or happened to devote them currently.
Do use your comments, summoning pens, gifts, votes, and golden tickets to request faster/more updates(I'd respond immediately when we hit the target)
¶ What do you think of Lilt situation, would she be successful?