Annabell headed to the office while Eros followed her. The hostess was preparing the paperwork for the Redemption Round. The human evolution entered through the threshold. "Is this the place?" Annabell asked as she eyed the area.

"Oh, you're just in time. All you have to do is sign these." Natalie passed the papers to the participant as she read the paper, she also passed the pen to Annabell before organizing the forms for the Boss positions of the Redemption Round. Annabell grabbed the pen before Eros requested to check the paper in question, revising for any clauses. Eros's yellow eyes read and perceived that by entering the Redemption Round was risky. [“The Gladatorium will not be held responsible for any damage the participants will receive nor the hazardous traps that may appear within the platform.”]

"M'lady, are you sure about this?" Eros consulted with her while she signed the papers.

"Sure I'm sure. You said it yourself, this tournament is a good omen." Annabell glanced at him before she put the pen on the desk and passed the papers to the hostess. "I even made a friend here, now let's go. Scale's match will start any minute." She headed out of the office in a hurry while Natalie straightened the papers. The gray haires wizard looked at the hostess while she looked at the computer screen, then he exited the office while she started organizing the matches for the Redemption Round.

Just in that moment, the Venusian entered her office, "How may I help you?"

"I accept your offer for the Redemption Round." Chris cut straight to the point with his participation. The hostess passed the form and a pen across the desk, though the blonde Venusian took out his own pen from his pocket and signed the form.

"The Redemption Round will start tonight at 8. If you have any plans tonight--" She notified before she got cut off.

"I'll manage." Chris replied before he stood up and straightened his blue suit before walking out the door. She added Chris to the line up, thoigh she was indecisive to pair him against Annabell or Phixa.

Hwa Hae Ji entered the office as her heterochromic eyes darted around the room as she saw the hostess thinking who will go against whom, she hadn't noticed Haeji until she sat down. "Redemption Round? Or..."

"Yes." Haeji replied before Natalie passed the papers to the New Korean, she grabbed a pen and signed.

"I won't interfere with your decisions, but if you want to express your complaints, I'm all ears." The hostess said while she looked at Haeji before she spotted the EMCuff on her wrist.

"Uh, thanks." Hae Ji replied, even though deep down she wanted to scream and call out Patricia for what she's doing, if it wasn't for the fact that the blonde receptionist had her and Joon at her mercy.

"The Redemption Round will start tonight at 8." The hostess informed her before the participant replied with an ok and exited the office.

She spotted Ryan and the Deity of Trust nearby, Felin was in all fours as she sniffed for something.

"Felin, what are you looking for?" Ryan asked her before the little lioness stood to her feet.

"I caught a scent blood mixed with something else." Felin replied before she spotted Haeji, waving at her. The Korean thief waved back, showing the EMCuff.

"Hey, Haeji." Felin said out loud, "Where is Mochi?" The deity of trust tried to track his scent but couldn't find him.

"June's watching him." She replied before Felin pouted.

"We were looking for the office to sign up for the Round the host mentioned, but got lost." Ryan shrugged.

"It's over there," Hae Ji pointed her thumb to the open door, "I already signed."

"Thanks." Ryan said just as he got passed her, Haeji opened her mouth to say something but then closed it when the teenage contractor entered the office, then Felin followed him.

"And last but not least is Piros versus Scale!" Hwa Hae Ji heard the announcement.

"Look!" Alexandra said to the hybrid phoenix, "Isn't that the redhead we met a while ago?" The angel asked her.

"It is." Phixa confirmed, though she didn't expect him to be quite... muscular. On the screen he looked liked he was smiling, when she met Piros, he was nervous.

"Why would he omit that he was also fighting in the tournament?" Alexandra cupped her chin as she looked at the screen.

Phixa also had the same question until she noticed something earlier, Herring was on the defensive when they were talking about Piros. "I saw your name under mine earlier." Phixa mentioned.

"When?" Piros asked, Herring's eyes darted at Piros and then at Phixa in a panic.

"An hour ago, when all the names of the fighters were shown in bullets before the tournament started. Are you going to fight as well?" Phixa asked him, looking at him in the eyes.

"No." Piros responded.

"Believe it or not, Piros is a common name, the land where I was born is also named Piros." Herring interjected as he slung his arm around his best bud.

Alexandra snapped her fingers as she caught his drift. "Like Paris!"

"Yeah! She gets it!" That explained why he was acting so suspicious. Phixa thought to herself.

"Unless it wasn't him," Alexandra murmured to herself, "if that were the case, it must've been--"

"HERRING!" A yell snapped them out of their thoughts, the winged women saw Piros trek angrily as Vilma got out of the restroom and ran up to Buid and Grim.

"Did I miss it?" Vilma asked.
"No." Grim smiled darkly.
"You came just in time for the show." Buid replied while his serene smile got creepy.

"Should we go check it out?" Alexandra asked the phoenix hybrid.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Phixa replied before she saw Alexandra open her wings.

"If you say so, but I'm not gonna miss this." The angel added before she flew up to follow him. Phixa was hesitant at first but she then thought, someone had to stop them. Phixa opened her fiery wings and flew to catch up to them.

"HERRING!"

Mochi saw Piros furious, the feline ran up to Haeji to warn her. "Haeji! Where is Herring?" Mochi meowed.

"I don't know, we have to find him." Haeji picked up Mochi and ran, looking for Herring.

"You haven't told him?!" Hae Ji asked him in a surprised tone.
"No, he doesn't know that I signed him up to fight in the match so I'm asking you to keep it a secret." Herring asked her, begged her to not tell Piros.
"You gotta be kidding me. Everyone knows that Piros is going to fight except him. How he didn't find out about this when everyone saw our names on the screen, including his is beyond me." The Daiotu thief was baffled at the absurdity of this.
"Piros can't read HaeJi. We don't come from a world or an era where everyone can read or the blind can read like you or the others. Where I'm from, only the rich and noble could read. Finding a literate commoner is slim to none." Herring told her.
"You have to tell him before he finds out from someone else." HaeJi warned him while she held her scythe as she held it behind her shoulders while June kept an eye on Mochi.
"Don't you think I know that?! He's still traumatized about what happened the last time we participated in a tournament. I just want him to regain the courage to fight again. Duke it out like how we used to, like old times." Herring stated. "When we were sparring near the arena, I could see the Piros that loved to test his strength. Even if he was holding back a little, I could see that he was having fun."

Herring, where are you?

Herring was drinking sake, a real one, instead of the mediocre sakes that the new japanese restaurants were selling. With a satisfied sigh, he put down the sake on the table.

"Finally! Quality sake. You should consider selling your own sake, Master Yin." Herring stated before taking another shot of sake.

"I'm flattered, though I'm more of a trainer than a brewer." Yin admitted.

"I don't know much about sake, but I agree with Herring here. This is really good." Faim agreed as he took a bottle of Yin's sake. "Eimy and Mewmi will love this." Faim grabbed a bottle of Yin's sake and took it.

Just as Faim walked out of the foodstands, Piros spotted Herring and gave him a surprise uppercut as the young fisherman fell down from the chair he was sitting on as he hit his head against the floor before Piros grabbed him by the collar of his tunic and punched him again. 

"Enough! Both of you." Yin used his fingertips to poke the gap between the two of them, releasing a current from his Yamitzu force to seperate them, or at least make one of him dodge his attack.

"What was that for?" Herring asked him, dumbfounded, before Piros grabbed Herring by the collar of his tunic again only this time, he glared at him.
"YOU LIED TO ME! I already told you that I wanted no part in the tournament, and you signed me up behind my back!" Piros glared at Herring. "You took advantage of me because you know I can't read yet you set me up to fight without my consent!" Piros pushed him, hard. Nearly knocking Herring back again. The onlookers where watching them now. Erica, Marie and Brandon caught footage of what was happening. Alexandra landed nearby to see the commotion. "You knew what happened the last time we joined to fight in a tournament. We almost died Herring! DID YOU FORGET THAT!?" Piros reproached him as the young fisherman glared at him. Hwa Hae Ji and Mochi arrived too late, and Phixa just landed to see what was happening.

"No, I haven't." Herring started, taking a good look at him. "I haven't forgotten what happened that day. That's why I have the courage to keep on fighting! I'm not afraid to stand up and keep on fighting again, even when Urdinak broke my bones and nearly killed me, I was determined to stand up against all odds." Herring reminded him. "What happened to you? You were fearless, light, you were the torch that kept fire going. The Piros I know wouldn't have stayed in the dark for long. He would've gone out and got back up to take his stance and fight! What happened? Who quenched your fire?" Herring asked him.

"YOU DON'T GET IT!? I drowned! I almost died, Herring! Urdinak knocked you out cold, he drowned me using his hydromancy against me. I felt the air leave my body while I sank like an anchor. I don't want to fight anymore!" Piros yelled, eyes red and glossy, holding in the urge to cry. "You have no idea how it feels like. I felt my life slip away, every passing second felt like an eternity when I plummeted into the abyss. Not knowing if I will survive or breathe again." 

Buid, Grim and Vilma showed up to see what was going on. Buid stroked his beard, maintaining his serene smirk.

Phixa couldn't stand seeing this, why was no one doing anything to stop this? The onlookers were watching this unfold in front of their own eyes and no one is taking a step to intervene, not even Alexandra, who had stopped the Raptors from ganging up on Haeji stood still to watch them.

"But that's over now, we're here, we're fine, we're in good company." Herring said as he stood next to Master Yin, trying to lighten the mood though the Yamitzu master shook his head in disapproval, knowing well that what the young fisherman did was wrong. 

"Right, who needs enemies when a traitor is standing right in front of you?" Piros remarked dryly, while Grim stole another bag of popcorn as he greedily watched the show.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Herring questioned him.
"I almost forgot that you're just like the infamous general Coral. A fisherman, an ambitious fighter, and a traitor. Same face, same attitude, same blood." Piros sneered before Herring punched Piros in the face.

Master Yin had to stand between them in order to seperate them both.

"Worth every single coin." Grim commented referring to the price of the ticket.

Piros glared at Herring while he felt the blood running down his nose before wiping the blood away with his wrist. "You proved your point." He said before he turned away from Herring. 

"This isn't over! Get back here and face me!" Herring yelled.

"Herring, that's enough! Let him go." Master Yin coaxed him before the Rubrum let out an agitated sigh and looked at the Yamitzu master.

Haeji was speechless, it was one thing to taunt an opponent, but to deliberately break someone's trust was disappointing. She had warned him to tell Piros the truth, but he was too strong-willed.

"I just wanted him to overcome his fear. Is that too much to ask?" Herring stated before he noticed the stares of the onlookers. "What are you looking at?" The crowd that were watching immediately dispersed, except for Haeji.

Haeji stood beside Herring with a sad smirk. "I-uh saw what happened over there. Are you ok? I mean I bet it didn't hurt as much as my punch did but..." She looked down at Herring.

Ryan and Felin had exited the office a while ago after they signed up for the Redemption Round. Though he had been hearing rumors about Herring and Piros. At first they thought nothing of it until they returned to the waiting room near the winged women were conversing.

"I feel bad for the Piros guy. At least we chose to fight in the tournament, but he got tricked into fighting in one. All I wanted was to prove my worth as a Phoenix, but now that I saw him so upset. I don't know." Phixa confessed.

"I still can't believe that there are still people who get a kick out of playing with their emotions and break someone's trust." Alexandra commented. "If someone did that to me I'd be furious."

Breloq was in plain sight before he spotted Ryan and Felin. "Did we miss anything?" Ryan asked, the 10 ft deity looked down on them and unzipped his jaw.

"No, the match hasn't started yet." Breloq responded before the aforementioned Piros entered. His silhouette had an enraged stance before approaching, his features now visible has he glared at the scaly Reptilian.

He clenched his fists, his jaw tightened as he passed by Scale not bothering to give him a glance.

The Reptilian felt something off putting about the red-haired fighter as he watched him pass by the judges.

Haeji took her scythe and hit Herring on the head. "You should feel relieved. At least you don't have to tell him dum dum." Haeji said, putting Mochi on his head, "Here have Mochi now." Herring heard Mochi meow, then they saw Haeji give a close eyed smile. "Well," she let out a yawn, "Imma sleep now. Tell me who is General Coral later." She sat on a chair laid her head on a table to take a nap, leaving Herring with Mochi while they looked at each other briefly before the young fisherman removed the tabby from his head and laid him on the table next to the owner. Mochi curled himself into a ball and fell asleep just as quickly.

Blue and Suzanne entered backstage to search for the room the flyer mentioned. The Velociraptor looked around backstage and spotted the announcers. "Do you know where room 1A is?" She inquired, staring at the announcers before they pointed to the room where Suzanne was standing in front of.

"Found it." Suzanne peered through the room, perusing the room before Blue entered.

"There is no one here." Blue said, but the announcers heard a sharp grating noice coming from the Velociraptor. The hostess entered backstage, carrying the forms for the vacant boss positions. When she entered the room, she didn't expect for the volunteers to arrive early.

"I apologize for the delay," she passed the oapers for them to sign, Suzanne used her claws to pinch the corner of the paper while Blue held the sheet of paper in her human form, "I didn't expect for you to arrive so soon." She passed the pen to Blue.

"About that, I've been meaning to ask. Can I actually boss people around?" Suzanne inquired, brandishing her fangs as an intimidation tactic.

"You are your own boss once you step into the platform to antagonize your adversary." The hostess implied while she looked into Suzanne's red eyes.

"But can I still boss people around?" The dark Indoraptor insisted while she bore into the host's beady eyes before blinking.

"If you have your own lackeys, then yes." Natalie replied.

Blue signed, then passed the pen to Suzanne. The Indoraptor scrawled, signing the form, entertaining the idea of having free food as consolation.

"Welcome to the crew!" The hostess greeted the new bosses, giving them the V.I.P. passes. Blue and Suzanne wore the passes on their necks.

"So when are we gonna get free food?" Suzanne asked while Blue gave an annoyed glance.

"What about the 3 bowls of blood and the bloody shake that you drank a while ago?" Blue asked her while Suzanne shrug.

"What can I say? I get hungry when I'm nervous." Suzanne admitted.

Grim inched closer to the scene, letting his buttery treat melt tastefully in his mouth. He smiled wickedly, as he sensed the fight coming to an end. Scale was soon to be defeated and his reign of power was to commence.

He could hear the screams of his people, as they fell at his knees.

"I can't. Not like this." Piros said as his tone wavered. Scale revealed himself, removing his camouflage as he was inches behind Piros. The red haired opponent turned around and stood in front of Scale who was scuttling in all fours like a salamander before he stood on his own two feet. "I'm not supposed to be here for Rot sake. I only came to watch the fight not be part of it." Piros looked above the arena as he saw a strange screen which he saw for a giant glassy round crystal. "I should've known Herring would do something like this I-" Piros confessed before he spotted the aforementioned fisherman. He glared at Herring before looking at Scale. "I resign."

Scale was overwhelmed with relief, but Grim was enraged, he stormed out with eyes of hell as he felt his plans crumble around him. He knew there were more chances for Scale to fail, but Grim knew his strength would only grow. 

Herring's determined glare changed into disappointment. He frowned, then walked away.