[I'm not going to call on you to fight, so you can just rest up and finish healing.] I said as I walked away. The gravegyle didn't say anything as I left. However, I felt a wave of confusion and doubt coming from him. [Oh, and keep it down in here. You're not the only evo trying to rest.]
I blinked my eyes a few times as I returned to reality. It took me a few seconds to process the scene in front of me. Sin was glaring at Vaudwell as the man was trying to maneuver around sin in order to talk to me. Sin was't having any of it and looked like he was getting more and more pissed off the more Vaudwell tried. Meanwhile, Vaudwell had a coy smile on his face like he was enjoying seeing Sin, or rather Lady Sybil pissed off and angry.
"Calm down, my dear. A lady doesn't act so crassly." I said in my Damon voice. Sin scowled when I called him my dear, then looked over his shoulder at me.
"Well, look who finally decided to rejoin the world of the living." He said, then turned to face me and placed his hands on his hips.
"Well, sorry, my dear, but my new addition was causing an uproar." I said. Vaudwell smiled and clapped his hands together.
"Well, I hope you were able to calm that uproar and are in the mood to handle some business?" Vaudwell asked. I arched a brown and walked over to Sin and Vaudwell
"Business? Oh yes, my winnings for my bet about my daughter and I becoming king's and queens of the hill." I said, faking forgetfulness.
"What were the odds on us winning during our fight?"
"The odds were…ten to one." Vaudwell replied. Doing some quick math in my head, I smirked as I realized how much I had made.
"So I'm owed five hundred thousand, and another five hundred when we win stay at the top for ten rounds." I said. Vaudwell maintained the same manufactured smile and rubbed his hands together.
"I actually wanted to talk about that, we're willing to allow you to add your winnings from this round to your current bet. You'd be betting two hundred and fifty thousand for the both of you that you'd make it all ten rounds." Vaudwell said. I squinted at him and frowned.
"And our odds?" I asked. Vaudwell looked confused for a second, so I quickly spoke up.
"You can't seriously expect me to put up more of my money that I rightly earned without giving me fixed odds for my bet."
"I see…of course Sir Caldifax, how about fifteen to one odds?" Vaudwell asked.
"I was thinking more twenty-five to one." I said. Vaudells eyes widened considerably, and he looked a little shaken.
"Twenty-five to one, Sir? That's…that's six million and two hundred and fifty thousand a piece and twelve million and fifty thousand together." He exclaimed.
"Yes, a paltry amount." I said with the utmost confidence while Vaudwell looked unsure.
"I need a moment, I'll be right back!" He said, then sureiced off the catwalk back to the betting booth.
<'I'm hopeful it will work. If not, there is always plan B.> I said.
"I'm guessing there is some history between you and that eyepatch guy?" I said aloud and in English so the others couldn't hear. Sin looked at me for a brief moment and then nodded.
"Let's say he's the reason why I have it save my sister and leave it at that." Sin said. I nodded and looked towards the betting booths. Vaudwell was making his way back to us with his usual smile in place. However, it seemed a little less forced now and devious.
"Great news, Sir Caldifax, we're accepting your odds!" Vaudwell said as he stopped on front of me.
"Great news indeed! When's my next fight? The soon we get this over with the sooner I can collect my money!" I exclaimed boastfully.
For a fraction of a second, the devious look that had been creeping behind Vaudwell's face came to the surface, but it had disappeared as soon as it had slipped out. Vaudwell was good at hiding his emotions. Sin and I pretended that we didn't see, and Vaudewell moved to ushered us back to our king of the hill platforms.
"Soon! Soon! We're simply giving our challengers a few moments to prepare for the next round." Vaudwell said.
"Well, don't make us wait too long, I don't like waiting!" Sin grumbled.
"Now, now, patience, my dear." I chastised Sin. He simply frowned at me and crossed his arms.
"Yes, Lady Sybil, patience, I'm sure you will be greatly entertained in the next round…"
***
"Alpa!" I screamed as a titan grabbed Alpa'nagia by the tail and flung him up into the air, only to be slammed back down to the ground.
Alpa'nagia responded with a furious hiss and spat venom into the titan's eyes. The titan screamed in agony and let go of Alpa'nagia's tail and tried to wipe the venom from his eyes. Even from my spot on the platform, I could see the skin around the titan's eyes starting to bubble and peel, it's eyes were a lost cause.
Alpa'nagia didn't hesitate, he wrapped his serpent tail around the titan's wrists to bind them, then coiled around its body and bit the titan directly into its carotid artery. The titain's screams were the stuff of nightmares as it thrashed around for a few seconds before falling face first to the ground and seized for a few moments. Alpa'nagia held onto the titan for a minute before he finally released it and retraced his fangs from his neck.
"WINNER! SIR SIMON CALDIFAX!" The announcer bellowed. "THAT'S FOUR STRAIGHT WINS FOR SIR CALDIFAX ONLY TWO AWAY FROM THE RECORD!"
'Four wins and three of them back to back….' I thought as I looked to Alpa'nagia. He was visibly tired after that fight and had several small nicks and wounds that he'd accumulated over the fights. Unlike the first one, he didn't have a moment to rest. Just as soon as the battle was over, the next opponent was brought out to me.
[Alpa come back now and rest.] I told him, holding my right hand out to him. Alpa'nagia looked up at me with a pleading look.
[Ssssstar Ssssshaper, I'm fine! I can sssssstill fight!] Alpa'nagia protested.
[I known but you're already hurt and getting tired. You need to rest. That's an order!] I replied with as much authority as I could muster in my command. Alpa'nagia complied and quickly returned to my crystal.
[You did well, Alpa, but let's let the master pit fighter take over for a bit.]
I felt a wave of regret and disappointment come from Alpa'nagia but he quickly cut the connection and holed himself away in his biome inside my crystal.
[Alpa, you did amazing. You don't need to feel disappointed that I'm having Bone-lasher jump in. I don't want you to get hurt too badly.] I told him, however, there was no reply.
"WINNER LADY SYBIL CALDIFAX!" The announcer bellowed. "FATHER AND DAUGHTER ARE ON FIRE TONIGHT AS THIS IS HER FOURTH WIN IN A ROW AS WELL!"
I looked over at Sin and saw a few beads of sweat on his forehead. I hurried over to the catwalk to look at his evo and saw that it was in pretty bad shape. Over the course of the fights, it had lost a vast majority of the quills that were protecting it, leaving a bunch of bald spots and weak points. Sin's last opponent had his evo attack those weak points, and even though it was another Hodgepodge, this one was better made than the other ones he'd fought.
"S-honey bear! Recall your evo! Use your spare evo here and let Kylodon heal!" I order him. Sin frowned and shook his head.
"Guess I don't have a choice…" Sin replied. Kylodon returned to Sin's crystal, and he looked at me with a worried look.
[They're going to wear us out at this point!] Sin growled.
[I know, I knew they were going to play dirty, but I didn't expect them it be so good at it!] I replied.
An ear piercing screech echoed from an arena nearby, drawing Sin and mine's attention. It was the arena that the divine gold qolitz was in. We both rushed over in time to see the majestic evo's golden wings being sliced off by some sort of insect evo. I almost would have mistaken it for a Hodgepodge given the myriad of animal characteristics it had, but they all were too well blended together but anything like the Hodgepodges I had seen so far.
"WINNNER! HAMMISH O'KELL!" The announcer bellowed as the divine gold qolitz fell to the ground bleeding heavily from its injury.
"NOOOOOO!" The owner of the evo bellowed and fell to her knees and slammed her fist into the metal flooring of the platform.
"It's a fucking rare evo! How the hell did it lose to a Hodgepodge!"
"It's not a Hawdgepawdge lassie! It's a Kazukal!" Her opponent corrected her with a cocky grin.
"Kazukal? You don't see those thing outside of China and Korea much…." Sin said under his breath.
"You're right…" I agreed. Kazukal's were the odds combination of brown bear, pangolin, and preying mantis. They looked like armored bears with scythes for arms. Both the Chinese and Korean militaries used them as Frontline troops and movable shield walls.
I turned my attention to the Divine gold qolitz and scowled when I saw that it was still alive and seemed to be trying to get help from It's splicer. I cawed softly, it's strained and fading voice barely audible.
"Hey! Lassie, you might want to recall your evo before it dies." Hammish called out.
"Fucking let it! The damn thing had one job! Win! It couldn't even do that right! All the money and favors I spent to get this thing and it lost!" She bellowed.
"Well, since it seems to be unwanted…." I said as I channeled man into my right hand and then sent tendrils of mana out and towards the bleeding and defeated evo. A crystalline structure formed around the Divine gold qolitz as it was levitated and taken into my farm crystal.
The woman, Hammish, and Sin all looked at me with disbelief all over their faces. Ignored them and sought my new evo out with my mind and mana. I felt waves of pain and anguish radiate from the divine gold qolitz in an intensity that I had never felt before, which made sense since it had its wings cut off.
Taking a quick stock of my mana reserves, I was confident that I could at least close the evos wounds. I sent a wave surge of man into the area where the evo had taken residence in my crystal and felt an immediate dulling of the pain as the healing of the evos wounds was sped up considerably. I smiled as I felt a wave of gratitude wash over me, followed by silence as the divine gold qolitz fell asleep to further heal.
As my attention returned to reality, I saw Sin glaring at me. There was a vein bulging in his forehead that reminded me of Iris for some reason.
"STOP STEALING EVOS!" Sin suddenly bellowed. It wasn't until that moment I realized what.