A momentary silence filled the coliseum.
The spectators blinked, stunned, as they tried to comprehend the brutal spectacle they had just witnessed.
Then, the silence shattered as the crowd erupted in a deafening roar of applause and cheers. They jumped to their feet, the stands shaking as they shouted Felix's name in unison.
The sound filled the coliseum, echoing back from the tall, imposing walls!
"This is a first of its kind! Avalanche, the five times champions, has been eliminated in the first round of the tournament by the hands of neither Goliath nor Ravager!!" Mr. Sogrus observed excitedly.
"I have to say this is a bit unexpected..."
"He can use even fire...Somehow, I am not shocked. A fighter of his caliber should be at least a duo-elementalist."
From the VIP section, the various sponsors and dignitaries looked on with a mix of shock and awe. Even those who had written off Felix could not help but be impressed by the raw display of power and strategic acumen.
Meanwhile, in the fighters' section, the other contestants watched Felix with newfound wariness and respect.
A chill ran through the remaining fighters as they realized the imposing challenge they would have to face in the upcoming battles.
But, the Ravager and Goliath didn't seem as worried.
'His telekinesis prowess is his weakness. As long as we capitalize on this from the start, he will be easy to handle.'
Both of them reached this conclusion.
While Avalanche was caught off guard and failed to take real advantage, it wasn't going to be the same for them.
After a few minutes, Felix escorted himself outside of the Colosseum entirely as he knew that the quarterfinals would be held in two days.
Sekiro and Karra met him outside and they walked in the direction of the national park.
"You are actually doing it." Sekiro said, his voice carried a tint of admiration.
"Doesn't hurt, master?" Karra asked with a faint concerned tone, still not used to being open.
"It's manageable," Felix replied calmly before coming to a full stop. He turned to the side and walked in the direction of a dark alley.
"Be right back."
Sekiro and Karra were puzzled by his sudden change of direction, but they followed orders.
Felix found himself navigating through the maze of narrow, twisted alleys that spread like a spider web around the coliseum.
A sensation of being watched had gnawed at him, a prickle at the back of his neck that wouldn't leave even while he was in the middle of the battles.
While there were thousands of eyes on him, the looks they were giving him were nowhere close as intense, bizarre, and borderline obsessed as the one he picked up.
He stopped abruptly, turning around to face the follower he knew was there.
"Come out." He ordered indifferently.
"Kikiki, your senses sure are sharper than a blade."
In the dim light cast by a solitary, lantern hanging precariously from a nearby building, he saw her - the same cloaked figure with cat ears that had been watching him before. Her cloak seemed to blend into the shadows, and her cat-like eyes shone with an intense, reflective light.
"You are?" Felix asked, his muscles tensed, ready for any sudden movements.
But the mysterious woman didn't move.
Instead, she let out the same bizarre laugh and said, "Lower your guard, I come in peace."
Felix remained silent, waiting for her introduction.
"Tsk, you're no fun."
The woman removed the cloak and exposed an exotic beauty, accentuated by a sprinkling of delicate freckles across the bridge of her nose, while tufts of chestnut hair peeked out from her ears, adding an otherworldly charm to her visage.
"..."
'No reaction?'
The follower was left surprised as she assumed that Felix would have recognized her face immediately due to her infamous reputation. Instead, he just kept staring at her like a piece of wood.
"Cough, you can call me Miss Sanae. I am the owner of the sole private detection agency 'Spectrum Detection Services'." Miss Sanae introduced formally, changing her entire attitude to a solemn one.
"Detection agency?" Felix frowned, "Is that even a thing in the spirit realm?"
"There are barely a dozen across the entire heavenly plane and most of their services were related to pitty cases. However, my agency is different." Miss Sanae grinned a bit, "I am interested in the big fish and there is plenty of underground trash that needs to be cleaned up and thrown into the law enforcers' clutches."
When Felix thought about it, he realized that the heavenly plane was indeed massively in favor of those in power and authority, which gave them the opportunity to abuse those below them.
The perfect example was Karra's previous heartbreaking treatment by her master and she had nowhere and no one to ask for help...Not even law enforcers could help her if she had no proof or the contract signed allowed her to get abused in such a manner.
"Interesting, I guess if there is a problem, there is always a niche solution for it." Felix inquired, "So, you were hired to make my life even worse or to seek an employment offer to help me out?"
"Neither." Miss Sanae extended her hand and offered with a sincere tone, "I want you to be my servant and help me with my cases."
"Hmm?" Felix was somewhat taken aback by her response.
He never thought he would ever be asked to be someone's servant in his life this directly. But, he wasn't offended or bothered by it as much as he was inquisitive about the offer.
"Why me?"
"If you are smart, you would have figured it out on your own."
"I am a blacklisted spirit who showed to not care about the higher-ups and abiding by their rules. For you to come at me with such an offer, means that you want an assistant who can help with a case or multiple cases against those higher-ups."
Felix disclosed indifferently.
She was right, he figured her out the moment she made the request and he merely asked for a confirmation.
"Kikiki, it's rare for me to be on the same page with another spirit."
Miss Sanae giggled weirdly as she covered her mouth. Then, a split second later her entire demeanor switched to a serious one like she was either a professional actor or a lunatic.
Felix was leading to the latter, but he wasn't in a position to judge anyone.
"Listen up, I wanted to wait until you are done with the tournament before I make my offer so your focus wouldn't be divided, but your sensitive eyes made it impossible."
Miss Sanae addressed, "I will give you until the end of the tournament to make up your decision, and don't bother asking me about the cases you will be handling as they are classified."
"What is it in it for me?" Felix shook his head, "I can earn enough Lumus through tournaments and especially the heavenly plane one. I doubt there is any kind of decent pay in your kind of industry."
No matter how hard Felix thought about it, he couldn't fathom how it would be possible for such an agency to earn a decent wage if they were exclusively reliant on clients' requests.
"That's where you are mistaken." Miss Sanae grinned, her eyes shimmered with unkind wickedness, "My agency obtains at least 50% of all properties and resources of each criminal spirit we brought down to justice."
"Is that so?" Felix's eyes gleamed under the dim light, sharing the same maliciousness in her eyes.
It was like two kindred souls matching together at last as Felix immediately understood that Miss Sanae wasn't going after the higher-up out of the goodness of her heart!
Imagine obtaining 50% of The Red Fangs Organization's properties and assets when bringing them down...Even if the other half went to the government and he merely was given 20% of the shares, he still wouldn't be complaining about it.
"So, what do you say?"
"What percentage?"
"5%."
"Not happening, 20%."
"20%? Even I don't get that percentage as I need to take care of my own people." Miss Sanae counteroffered, "10%, final offer, take it or leave it."
"Not enough to move me." Felix shook his head, "I don't know your targets and what kind of assets they have, how difficult is their case, how long were you working on them, will they ever work out eventually? So many ifs and I would rather not throw away a sure method to secure Lumus for such an offer."
"First of all, you can continue doing your fights, I don't give a crap about them. Secondly, I will be providing you with a house to stay and your servants, which will help you avoid the daily homelessness penalty. Thirdly, I can lend you Lumus and allow you to use my servants to purchase anything you want to avoid the blacklist order."
"10% with such benefits doesn't look that bad, right?" Miss Sanae smiled, knowing exactly what she was doing.
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