The noise and electricity in the air yesterday couldn’t even hold a candle to the current state of the underground arena. Every single available seat had been snagged by someone in preparation for the big match, and Asher was glad they’d arrived a half-hour early, as the crowd of people struggling to see down from up above looked like it would have been a pain to try and watch through. There were a number of preliminary matches taking place to warm up the crowd and get them ready for the prize fight between Moxy and Brutalizer, and Asher happily watched the unknown fighters go toe-to-toe as they waited for the real event to begin.

  A man with Dagger and Electricity elements named Shock Point took on a woman with Mud and Pain elements who went by Splatter, managing to take her down by sending a current through the arena floor and locking up her muscles. That allowed him to walk over and place a dagger against her throat with ease, which resulted in the judges calling off the fight and awarding him the victory. The following fight paired up two similarly built men, one with the Hammer and Tree elements, and the other with Bear and Ice. The clash between the two of them was powerful enough that Asher began to wonder just what metal the cage surrounding the combatants was made out of, as it managed to withstand both some rather extreme temperatures, and getting smashed by a skill-enhanced hammer strike without so much as denting.

  While the crowd was quite enthralled by these preliminary fights that could have been the highlight of the night any other time, it was clear from the energy in the large cavern what people were really waiting for. Asher spotted runners working for whoever ran the arena going up and down the rows, barking out calls for people to place their bets as they jotted down names and collected shards. He’d thought it was interesting that the arena didn’t charge any sort of admission to get in and watch the fights, but based on the sheer number of shards he saw being thrown toward the runners as people made their bets, he realized whoever was in charge of this whole operation had to be swimming in shards.

  “Are you going to place a bet?” Samantha asked, having to practically put her lips against his ear in order to be heard over the roars of the crowd as the latest two combatants went at one another’s throats, each with only a single element to their name. Curiously, he had discovered that the fighting ring actually had their own form of weight classes, not unlike professional fighting back on Earth. Though rather than dividing people based on weight, they were separated depending on how many elements they had to their name. While challenges could be issued between two fighters that threw those rules to the wayside, something that happened rather frequently based on some of the exhibition fights Asher heard people talking about, for the most part, the fighters stuck to fighting others with the same number of elements. Seeing as each additional element gave up to five entirely new skills to worry about depending on how many had been unlocked, Asher thought it was a fair enough system.

  Not to mention it made the fights far more entertaining. Nobody wanted to watch someone with three strong elements utterly destroy an opponent with only their origin element to their name. But watching two people who each had three elements go head to head?

  Now that was entertainment!

  “You know, I guess I probably should place a bet!” he shouted back, waving down one of the runners as he’d seen others do. A young man with a clipboard darted over, gesturing for him to begin. “I want to bet on the prize fight!” Asher shouted at him, hoping the runner could understand him with the few feet of distance between them and all the noise. “How does this work?!”

  “Odds are two-to-one in favor of Brutalizer!” the runner shouted, waving his clipboard and smacking a woman on the head with it who had nearly hit him when she jumped to her feet in excitement at the current fight going on. “Just tell me who and how much!”

  “Two-to-one odds against Moxy?!” Asher shouted, shocked at the news. “Did you even see her last fight?!”

  “Did you see Brutalizer’s?!” the runner shouted back, laughing at the shock on Asher’s face. “Trust me, it will be a miracle if she lasts twenty seconds!”

  While Asher thought over how much to bet, the runner turned and took the bets of a few other people, giving him some time to think. Having been beaten into the ground time and time again by Moxy during their time together, his gut was telling him to bet every shard he currently had on the deadly warrior. That said, he himself had managed to get the upper hand on her during their very last battle, showing that even as deadly as she was, Moxy wasn’t unbeatable. Hearing an announcement that the prize fight would be starting soon, he shrugged, deciding that at the end of the day, it was only shards. Losing three hundred thousand of them would be a serious blow, but suddenly turning his three hundred thousand into nine hundred thousand was just too good an opportunity to pass up.

  Not to mention they had a massive windfall coming their way the moment the greater demon corpse finally went up for auction. He could afford to be a little reckless.

  Getting the runner’s attention once more, Asher forced himself a little closer so he didn’t have to shout as much. “Is there a limit to how much we can bet?”

  “No limit, but if you want to bet more than ten thousand shards, you need to go do it at the actual booth,” the runner explained, pointing up and past the throng of people. “I can hold your seat for a few minutes.”

  “Thanks!” Asher said, catching Samantha’s eye and indicating that he’d be right back.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Located at the opposite end of the cavern from the actual fights going on, it seemed barely anyone bothered to use the official booth when the runners were constantly going around collecting bets. Walking up to a smiling man with an only slightly worn top hat of all things, Asher cleared his throat.

  “I’d like to place a three hundred thousand shard bet on Moxy for tonight’s fight, if that’s alright.”

  [Bookie] - 3/3 elements

  “Well now, it’s been a while since we had our last noble sneak down here!” the man laughed, tipping his hat toward him and not looking the least bit surprised at the large bet. Asher was more than a little curious as to what was up with the hat, as he’d yet to see anyone else wearing anything like it in this world so far, but the man continued before he could decide whether to ask or not. “Your shards are as good as anyone else's, but for bets of that magnitude, we’ll need the shards up front. Just to make sure you don’t get cold feet after realizing you threw away mommy and daddy’s allowance on a silly bet against our reigning champ.”

  “And what reassurance do I have that I’ll get my shards back along with my winnings if Moxy wipes the floor with Brutalizer?” Asher asked, curious how the whole system worked. He wasn’t that worried about getting his shards back as he was pretty confident in his ability to track the man down if needed, but it would be nice to save himself the hassle if possible.

  “We’ve been doing this a long time, kid. You’ll just have to trust in our good name and honest business sense!” Top Hat winked at him, holding out a hand expectantly as he grabbed a slip of paper. “The shards?”

  With a nod, Asher summoned three hundred thousand shards to his hand, just about everything he currently had in his soul and tossed them over. After absorbing them into his body, the man looked down, recording a quick record of his bet and scribbling down Asher’s name and a description of his appearance.

  While Top Hat was looking down and distracted, Asher used Distortion to create a small tunnel of compressed space, subtly reaching over the man’s head and laying a hand on the brim of his hat. Even if he didn’t think the bookie would try and run with his shards it was always better to be safe than sorry, and he had a feeling being able to track the hat would lead him right back to the man if needed. The action did mean he needed to erase the mark he’d left on the noxious tunnel, but he could always put that one back later.

  It was a good thing everyone’s attention was currently locked on the arena, as otherwise, anyone who had glanced over would have noticed the strange sight of his hand being stretched across a few feet of space without him barely moving a muscle. As useful as the skill was, Distortion was not a very stealthy one when it came to visuals.

  “Here’s your copy,” the bookie said, somehow duplicating the paper with a flick of his wrist and handing it to Asher. “Don’t lose that, as my skill has it linked to this record right here. If your bet falls through, feel free to just toss it, as you won’t need to come back. Though it’ll dissipate on its own within a few hours anyway. Good luck!”

  Nodding his thanks, Asher fought his way back to his seat, where the runner immediately jumped up and ran off to collect more bets upon his return. Giving him a pointed look, Samantha leaned over the moment he sat back down.

  “You bet every shard you had, didn’t you?”

  “Of course I did!” he said, laughing as she shook her head. “Moxy is going to destroy this guy! And even if he cheats somehow, we have the auction winnings coming our way regardless!”

  Before Samantha could presumably tell him he was an idiot, the magical voice boomed overhead, breaking through the roaring crowd as it called out.

  “Ladies… and… gentlemen! It’s finally time for what you’ve all been waiting for! No more baby fights, no more battles within just the origin-class of fighters, it’s time for tonight’s main event!” The voice paused to let the wave of cheering die down before continuing. “Our challenger, having fought for so long over in Whikoga that we don’t actually know her official record before coming to our fair city and immediately making a fool of most of our best, earning fourteen wins, zero ties, and zero losses over the past few weeks, it’s the air slinger herself, the fright of fists, the smiling savage… Moxyyyyy!”

  The crowd cheered as Moxy entered one side of the arena, holding up a hand and grinning at the roaring public as the cage door was closed behind her. The entire arena was only about thirty feet wide, which didn’t lend itself to her usual long-range style of fighting, but she didn’t seem perturbed by that in the slightest.

  “And facing her, it’s a fan favorite. Our own personal champion, with a record of eighty seven wins, five ties, and zero losses over the past two years, it’s the conqueror of clubs, the monster of mayhem, the boss of battle… Bruuuuuutalizer!”

  The crowd had been loud for Moxy, but the eruption of noise actually caused Asher to wince as people all across the arena screamed at the top of their lungs as a true monster of a man entered the arena across from Moxy. The man was large enough that Asher thought someone had snuck a lesser demon into the arena for a moment, before realizing his skin wasn’t a dull red. Even so, Brutalizer had to be nearly seven and a half feet tall, with limbs the size of tree trunks and muscles that looked like they belonged to an ogre. He held a giant, metal studded club that was large enough Asher almost felt like it should have been treated as its own fighter, and he had long, flowing hair trailing down his neck like a horse's mane.

  Part of him wondered why he had such long hair when it could be detrimental in close combat, before realizing anyone who got close enough to try and go for his hair probably would just end up getting torn in half by the man’s massive hands.

  “Strength, Club, and Horse elements, versus Air, Life, and Furs,” he muttered to himself as the crowd screamed themselves out. “Should be interesting.”

  “With this, the betting is officially closed!” the announcer called out, and a sudden hush fell over the crowd as everyone moved to the edge of their seats, waiting with bated breath for the words they’d come here to hear. The announcer clearly knew as much as they drew it out, remaining silent for a few seconds, letting the tension build as Moxy and Brutalizer cracked their necks and stared the other down. Finally, just as Asher began to suspect people were preparing to rush down and start banging on the cage themselves, they shouted.

  “Let the fight… begin!”

  against Moxy? With odds like that, how could you not bet every shard in your soul??

  Patreon

  Discord