"..win?"

"Hmm?"

"What are you thinking?"

Leon was staring at me. I shook my head and looked back at the ongoing match.

"So, who do you think will win?"

In the stadium, two people were fighting. I looked at the large hologram displaying their name and the match.

It was the first match between Tristan and Deathblow.

"Tristan will"

"Why do you think so? Aren't both of them evenly matched?"

"There are reasons. To start with, vampires are sturdier, faster, and stronger than humans. Moreover, they have impressive recovery. The stalemate should be breaking anytime now."

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Leon turned to me. Even though he was wearing a mask, I could tell his eyes must have become saucers.

Because of the invasions, humans have a strict policy to capture any non-human race. After being captured, they are killed, tortured for information, or sold as slaves.

I smirked.

"This is why I said you believe in others too easily. If he was anything other than human, he would've been caught when he registered."

'Well, if he was the one who registered.'

"Yeah…."

We talked a bit more and then I left to find Miller.

"I hope you win your watch because I will win mine!"

Leon shouted while waving his hand from the edge of my vision.

He was in the 7th bracket while I was in the 8th. If everything went according to the tournament, then the winners of our brackets will fight each other.

"You are strong! I want to fight you!"

"Is everyone here a battle maniac?"

I sighed and did a thumbs-up to show that I will. Then he left.

"Sorry, Leon, I don't think we will fight."

I was planning to surrender in the next match.

Betting is allowed in Gladiator Championship.

With the abilities I showed back at the top-16 announcement, I became the likeliest participant, along with the mage, just below Vile reaper, to win the tournament.

So, most people will bet on me winning my match, tipping the dividend in my favor.

In this case, if I bet on my opponent and lose my match, I will earn a truckload of money.

Showing off and then surrendering will earn me easy money with zero effort.

I have some extra money, but that was something I borrowed from Miller's dad for betting. And I'd rather not borrow too much from him. It will decrease my credibility and this can be detrimental to our business.

Elixirs will earn a lot, but it will be slow. Selling Elixir was going to take a while with Miller's stepsister present back at the base.

Anyway, the attack will begin when someone under 8-finalists is fighting.

So, even if Leon and I win, our match won't happen, as our bracket will be fighting at the end. Though it seems Leon isn't aware of when the attack will begin.

But this was understandable. The attack will begin when the third member, the one supposed to cut the power supply, will give the signal.

Only I know the time of the attack and that too because I read the novel.

"Now where is Miller?"

It was rather surprising that, with my luck, I wasn't the one to face off against Vile reaper in the first round.

I sighed when I thought that from 15 participants, Miller had to fight Vile reaper.

"How do I break it to Miller that he isn't allowed to surrender?"

*

"What do I do? What do I do?"

Miller was prancing around in the room that was given to him as one of the 16-finalist. He was sweating all over.

"Can I surrender before Vile reaper kills me? Y-yes I can. It shouldn't be difficult."

If this was any other participant, Miller could have easily surrendered the moment the match starts.

But his opponent wasn't just anybody. It was Vile reaper himself.

Vile reaper has the ability to teleport anywhere within a specific range. Miller feared that he would kill him even before he had the chance to surrender.

"What do I do!?"

"Why are you nervous?"

"Boss!"

Miller snapped his neck in the direction of the voice.

"Boss, help me, please!"

He ran to Nathan, almost tearing up.

If it was anyone that could help him, then it would be his boss. After all, the more time he spent with his boss, the more his boss appeared mysterious.

The first time his boss met him, he had defeated 4 aura users in head-to-head combat.

But in this competition, he used magic.

It was a universal law that you can either be an aura-user or a mana-user, not both.

Yet, his boss could do both things.

Moreover, earlier his boss simply shrugged off a rank 4 magic even though he is only at Iota rank.

And the ability to suppress hundreds of people with his pressure alone wasn't something even an Enma-rank can do. Yet his boss did!

Miller did not doubt that his boss was an Irregular. An existence that is akin to God among humans.

Maybe he was over-praising his boss, but the feats his boss displayed were impossible. Each of them was something that anyone, even with a smudge of common sense, will deem as impossible.

Nathan stared at Miller for a few moments before speaking.

"Miller, do you know about your stigma?"

Flinch-

"W-why are you asking that boss?"

'I knew it. He knows, or at least has an idea, on how to use his stigma.'

Seeing Miller's reaction, Nathan reaffirmed his theory.

Normally, a person can only see his stigma's name on the status screen. After awakening their stigma, people instinctively know how to use them.

Some people know from the beginning how to use their stigma fully, some only know a little bit and learn through practice, while some barely know anything.

Miller's dad and brother seemed to believe that Miller didn't know how his stigma works.

But with his reaction, it was clear that Miller knew how to use it.

Nathan stood near the open wall and gazed at the match between Tristan and Deathblow that was coming to an end.

"Miller, you shouldn't surrender. If you do, I'll cut all my connections with your gang. I don't need to tell you what will happen then, right?"

Miller's body shook.

The black t-shirt gang had been lying low while waiting for Nathan's support. This, in turn, made them lose a lot of areas and power.

If Nathan pulled back at this point, then other gangs will destroy and devour his gang and everyone in it.

"B..but boss, I can't win against Vile reaper."

His voice quivered. In Miller's eyes, Vile reaper was, by a large margin, the strongest participant, if he didn't include his boss in the list.

There was no hope of his winning.

"Then block his attack three times and you can surrender."

Nathan stood up and left without waiting for an answer from Miller.

Nathan finally gave Miller a way out.

For Nathan, Miller was too important to die in the likes of the tournament.

He brought Miller to this tournament because he wanted to make Miller use his stigma.

Nathan already had an inkling that Miller knew about his stigma. But for some reason, he wasn't using it.

In the novel, Miller started using his stigma when he took refuge under Round Table.

This proved that Miller would use his stigma if he had a reason. And what was a better reason than using his stigma as his life was in danger?

Nathan understood that Miller must have a reason for not using stigma. From what he knew about Miller from the novel, he believed that it had something to do with his pride.

"People always say pride this and pride that. They'll act like their pride is the most important thing to them. But when push comes to shove, all of their pride crumbles as if it wasn't there, to begin with."

Surrendering here will not change anything for Miller. It will only delay his death and he will die at the hand of other gangs.

"I already gave you an easy way out."

"And there is nothing more important to a person than their own life."

Nathan did not doubt that Miller would use his stigma to save his life.

////

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