Hisha bit on his bottom lips, refusing to burst into laughter, knowing it was just about hard for Kritz to speak so formally to Mich when calling on his attention.
'Call him by the usual, he doesn't need his title!' Hisha urged in his thoughts.
[You're enjoying this]
'Obviously!'
Mich looked to the Vandrik, raising a brow to his pointed finger below.
There was silence as all harem members had their attention fixated above, keen on the source of the delay in starting the tournament.
'The tournament, I must be delaying the event.' Mich gulped, rushing over to the available seat given to him.
Patting on the armrest, Hisha had a wicked grin as he watched Mich sit at the edge of the chair in an uncomfortable setting, fiddling with his fingers.
"Does my presence disturb you?" Hisha leaned a little to the side to whisper in Mich's ear as he watched Kritz give a brief introduction to the rest of the harem below.
"Disturb?" Mich repeated, his heart pounding with all seriousness.
Caught in a dilemma on what could be the right answer–honestly reply but risk an unpredictable reaction or lie and risk losing a month of his lifespan and the pain that comes with it.
"Just a little," he tried to mellow down on his thoughts.
"Nnngh!"
[2667 years, 8 months, 4 days]
'Gotcha!' Hisha thought as he shook his head, observing he was struggling to keep his composure.
Covering his mouth with his palm, he had managed to hide coughing out blood.
Manipulating the liquid off his body, he was quick to make it trickle across his face and onto the backrest with it depositing his bloody content behind.
'I see, he's got an incomplete hold on blood manipulation because of the augmentation, huh?'
[You had bestowed him with it in the first place, host]
'It wasn't my best moment.' Hisha admitted.
[Duel: 7]
[Number of possible harems participating: 35]
[Victories: 0]
[Points accumulated during the tournament: 0]
'I don't care at this point.'
"For this round, there would be a twist for the first 5 harem members who would be chosen from the human race!" Kritz announced in a loud voice, taking a scan of the females below.
There was a dead silence at the race choice, which would mean they wouldn't have to worry about the use of an ability.
Kritz looked back at Hisha for an assurance of a nod. Once he had gotten that, he smiled and focused his attention back on them.
"The chosen participants will have to rely on anything but eyesight for the duel."
There was a loud gasp of shock at the outrageous condition given to them.
[The condition just got tougher]
Unable to voice their concerns about how illogical that sounded, they stared in silence with grim looks.
Yagami clapped her hands and hollered to the humans she could identify. "You can do it! It's all about using your heightened senses."
There were a series of glares her way as several human harem members all considered her words sarcastic since she had no idea of their limitations.
Raising her hands in surrender, she looked toward the other winners of their respective rounds with a grin. "We are in for a show, aren't we?"
"Shut the fuck up, Yagami. Have some decency." Solara snapped, looking over to Zui who was having a hard time sitting it out with the rest.
It was disturbing enough that Zui had to wait out until she was picked again, hopefully getting a chance to defeat her opponents and be with them.
Yagami gritted her teeth but was skeptical about engaging such an unpredictable opponent.
Alta burst into laughter at Solara's words, she was slowly feeling her rival and friend gain more confidence in her true nature if triggered effectively.
Emi got to her feet pointing a finger at Yagami, "how about you say that to me, we are both in the same league of first-round winners, fox ears!"
Yagami growled at the perceived insult, "that's not something you say to one possessing Sux and a bad temper, human!"
"How about testing if you can keep up with my stance?" Emi clenched her fists, taking a striking pose.
"Just like your sister couldn't keep up?" She countered with a wicked grin.
Emi felt her words strike a healing wound as her eyes blurred with guilty tears.
Yagami's tail swayed behind her as she awaited her reaction by accepting a personalized duel.
"Come on, show me how well you can knock me out with one snap!" She mocked while cackling.
"Enough!" Hisha's voice thundered which caused all to have a jump scare.
Getting to his feet and looking down at his harem, Emi and Yagami immediately sat down as though they had never tried to engage in a battle of wits.
The rest maintained their composure at the sight of him, silence engulfing the arena once more.
"As much as I would love for you all to interact," he looked behind him and at his tribal chiefs who avoided his gaze the moment he laid eyes on them.
Looking back at his harem, he continued. "Anyone who proves to be a hindrance to the set rules of this tournament would be treated as unwanted branches that need to be cut off and destroyed!"
There was a gasp as different harem members had different over-the-top thoughts about his words.
[Wasn't that a bit harsh?]
'If they aren't cautioned now, there might be an unprecedented duel not set from the selection.'
Sharing glares between Yagami and Emi, they scoffed and looked the other way.
[For every successful win of the subsequent rounds, an awarded point of 3000 would be added]
Returning to his seat, he smirked at the new reward update to be gotten from their duels.
'Just what I like to hear and see.'
As expected, the hovering silver cup materialized in front of him, 'here goes nothing.'
Reaching into it, Hisha pulled out five pieces of paper and handed them over to Kritz.
"Lunete Reed, Seraphina Max, Isott Ross, Jana Ganor, and Tatsy Afra." He announced.
Stepping out and unsure of the task given to them, they stared at one another wondering why they had been denied access to use their armor and left with nothing but their weapons strapped behind or in their palms.
"You must be concerned about why you were denied the use of your armor." Kritz deduced.
Raising their heads so they could take a better look at Kritz, having uniform nods in response while cautiously studying their opponent's behavior and stance.
Smiling in his seat, Hisha felt amused by the fact that they all were weary of one another, none acting proud but somewhat calculative and quiet.
'This should be fun.' Hisha leaned forward, his elbows on the arm resting while steepling his fingers and resting his chin on them.
Mich shifted uncomfortably to his right, hoping he would evade the evil glint in the overlord's eyes.
"Sit properly and enjoy the show. Don't make me regret giving you a good spot." Hisha hissed with a warning from the corner of his lips, his eyes glowing slightly before reverting.
Doing as told, Mich immediately adjusted his sitting posture and position, his lips drawn into a thin line.
Vanas on the other hand had his eyes on both, still unconvinced of the choice of his lord and putting it up as Mich's way to humiliate him.
'I will not let this slide so easily!'
*****
"You all wouldn't need your armor as it would be unfair to those who rely on skill and weaponry," Kritz explained.
The ladies had their lips in a grimace, knowing that it has greatly reduced their efficiency against one another.
"The duel would last for thirty minutes, only those who can survive after the time elapses, wins. Those who fail to fight are exterminated!" Kritz said in one final note.
Hisha's grin only widened at the added condition, it looked to him as though there was discrimination against the human race and the perceived weak mechanism.
Even though the ladies chosen from the human race were strong in their own right, there was still the issue of if they could fight just like Emi had and prove there was still inner strength and skill needed rather than weaponry.
He needed a human who could use the abilities or weaponry of the opponents against its user.
They all looked down in horror, there were two sides to the condition, it could mean the majority or minority would die trying to stay alive until the timer elapsed and the other being they all die while trying to maintain that status during the outrageous long minutes.
All they could think about is the fact that they would have to carry out the duel while being blindfolded.
Looking back once more for confirmation from Hisha.
Hisha got to his feet and walked over to the edge, with a snap of his fingers, 2?-inch wide black blindfolds were strapped around their eyes and over the bridge of their nose.
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