The Mysterious Black Magician

Although Yman was slightly off about the feeling Almina spoke of, he still got the gist of what she wanted to convey.

They were given half an hour of rest before the start of the second half of the finals. While the contestants were resting, the organizers were repairing the stage using a much higher grade artifact. They also upgraded the invisible barrier.

They needed to take proper precautions as it was a battle between the strongest in this competition. 

Everyone was eagerly waiting with excitement in their eyes.

Each of the audience was anticipating the final match. Who could it be? Who among them will be the champion? Everyone was excited to know the result.

The weather was a bright sunny day. Some birds and carrier birds were flying in the sky. They're hovering in and out of the clouds.

Sitting below is the booming city of Human City Zone 7.

However, the streets were strangely empty even though it was a city. But, if you move to the plaza, you can see lots of people crowding the whole area.

Most of the people in the city were watching the finale.

Meanwhile, there seemed to be betting going on.

"100 Gold Points for Miss Almina!"

"100 only? You poor! Getaway your ass here! I'll bet my house and my cheating wife!"

"Dammit, who wants your wife! Get outta here before I kick your ass! I'm going to bet my grandma, she's a virgin!"

"Brooo!"

"Shut Up! We're not siblings!"

"'I'll bet 15,000 Gold Points for Miss Almina!"

"I'll bet 7,000 Gold Points for Miss Blonde! Wetwew!"

"I'll bet 10,000 for Miss Rei-Rei!"

"I'll bet 20,000 for Mr. Fire God!"

"I'll bet my whole career on Miss Julie!"

"I'll bet on Miss Sonya!"

"I'll bet on Miss Josie Finn!"

Some people were shouting enthusiastically to bet their money to their favored contestants.

In that instance,

"I'll bet 10 Gold Points to Crimson!!!" An old man shouted with all his might that immediately silenced the noise around him. However, after hearing his shout, most of the people around looked at him with pity in their eyes.

Actually, he just arrived in this city. He was that old man from before, who bet on the Mysterious contestant in the recent competition held in the Encantasia Empire.

After hearing about the competition in this city, he did not think twice to travel towards this city. Fortunately, he was able to arrive here before the finale ended.

He had no idea about the other contestants. The only contestants he saw were the contestants who fought in the last match of the first half, so he decided to bet on him, using his leftover money.

That's why it can't be helped if he only had 10 GP left in his wallet.

*Huush~!* He sighed.

Out of a sudden, "50,000 for Mr. Kiko the Fire God!"

"..."

Everyone felt like they heard an unbelievable thing in their whole life. They gawked for a second before a late reaction.

WOAH! 50k? SO RICH!!!

Everyone exclaimed in amazement and looked at the person. It was the complete opposite reaction towards the old man recently.

As expected, the guy who betted 50k, looked like someone—- wait! Isn't he Mr. Brando? Everyone said in their minds upon seeing the person.

Right, it was him. The rich merchant, Merchant Brando! Wow, he actually pulled out such a huge amount! 

Everyone was getting livelier when the merchant named Brando bet a huge amount on Kiko.

Right at this moment, *TOIINNNGGGG!" They heard a loud noise that seemed like an echo from the mic. It instantly canceled all the noise as though someone accidentally pressed a pause button.

"Attention everyone. Listen Up! We have bad and good news on our hands!"

Everyone's ears stood upward when they heard a sweet and cute-sounding voice. The voice was none other than Miss Mora Liz's voice! 

Their attention was snapped in a second. They looked at the big monitor where the image of Miss Mora Liz was being displayed. She truly was a cute bunny girl with different colors of pupils in each eye.

Wetwew! Someone whistled at that.

"First is the bad news. Because some of the participants dropped out in the contest, there are only eight of them left. Then, the good news. Rejoice! Our VIPs wanted to join in the fun with you lots. They wanted to bet as well. Remember, these people were the VIPs, so it's right to assume a much higher bet from them!"

The audience felt like they heard an unbelievable thing for once. 

WOOOHHH!!!

They pumped their fist in the air as their shouts reached the sky.

This is great. It only means more prizes they could get. Low bet, but higher return. Who would not feel excited at that?!

"Then. Since the VIPs are joining the betting, the betting process will be done through online betting because we can't reveal these VIPs' identities in the public."

"Now, everyone, look at the monitor, follow the instructions displayed on it on how to bet."

"If you are ready, then take your gadgets and start betting your favored contestants!"

Everyone immediately took their gadgets and followed the instructions displayed on the wide monitor.

"While you are at it, we will be displaying the list of names of the remaining participants in case you forgot their competition names!"

Commentator Mora Liz continued announcing.

The audience then started fiddling with their gadgets.

On the wide monitor screen, beside the list of the participant's names were the total amounts of bets that they gathered.

Currently,

Almina has 75,000 GP; Maena has 45,000 GP; Rei-Rei has 50,000 GP; Sonya has 40,000 GP; Julie Brown has 30,000 GP; Josie Finn has 25,000 GP; Kiko has 150,000 GP, and lastly, Crimson has 6,010 GP.

"..."

It was the 6,010 GP from the old man and someone else. But, it was only the bets coming from the audience outside and wasn't the final amount. The amounts were still increasing every second. The VIPs were yet to send their bets. They must be letting the bystanders first.

"Still, Yman only got 6,010 GP?" Chloe asked. "Isn't that a bit strange after what he showed in the final match of the first half?" Bob and Chloe could not understand why Yman only had 6,010 GP. 5k of that was from Chloe, 1k was from Bob, and the 10 GP was from the old man.

It was strange.