Chapter 198 - 100%

Jaxir stared at Nick for another moment, then a chuckle slipped out of him. He shrugged. Honestly, Jaxir really couldn’t be bothered to care. In fact, in a way... this was almost good news if he played it right.

Nick’s expression got flatter with every second that passed. Whatever reaction he’d been expecting, that clearly wasn’t it.

"Are you serious?"

"No, I’m actually quite relaxed."

Nick’s eyes narrowed at the joke. "What are the odds you win?"

Jaxir rested an elbow on the table and looked toward the window, finally giving the question something close to real thought. The answer didn’t really depend on Maelis to him.

"How much time is there until noon?"

Nick frowned and pulled up his interface. "I dunno, about two hours."

Jaxir’s grin spread from ear to ear. "100%."

**

Two hours later, Jaxir was walking through Marr Town with Niri perched on his shoulders. In her hands was a ball of pink cotton candy that looked almost three times the size of her head.

Nick had disappeared again somewhere between Jaxir declaring his odds and leaving the house. Jaxir had decided to forgive him for it. The man was clearly running from something, though even after everything they’d been through together, he still hadn’t bothered explaining what.

Niri tore off another piece of cotton candy and stuffed it into her mouth as Jaxir followed the stream of people toward the arena district. The farther they went, the more heads turned his way, and the whispers came right after as people compared his face to the posters plastered over half the city.

Jaxir kept walking as though he hadn’t noticed a thing.

Finding the arena wasn’t hard. A massive stone coliseum rose above the buildings around it, so wide that Jaxir could see its upper arches long before he reached the plaza out front.

The crowd outside was even more ridiculous. Players were packed in from one side of the street to the other, and attendants were struggling to funnel them toward the entrances. It seemed threatening someone across an entire city made for excellent advertising, either that or it was the fact a Level 9 was challenging quite a famous Level 27.

Jaxir slowed near the edge of the crowd and looked around for an entrance meant for combatants. However, there was nothing obvious.

Nobody had sent him registration instructions, a room number, or even a message telling him where to go. Thousands of people seemed to know more about his fight than he did.

He pushed forward anyway.

The first few people stepped aside once they recognized him. Deeper in, though, nobody could see past the backs in front of them, and the effect disappeared completely.

Jaxir kept one hand wrapped around Niri’s ankle so she stayed balanced as he squeezed through the gaps. He apologized when he stepped on someone’s foot and ignored the complaints when someone elbowed him back. After several minutes of that, someone finally shoved him.

"Watch where the fuck you’re going."

Jaxir stopped. A broad man was glaring at him from barely 30 centimeters away.

The player had apparently been working just as hard to force his way to the front, and judging by how he puffed his chest out, he was personally offended that anyone else had the same idea. Jaxir glanced past him at the entrance, then back.

"I’m trying to get through."

"So is everybody else." The man jabbed a thumb toward the arena. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

Jaxir chuckled. "Jaxir Chance."

The man scoffed, right up until his eyes properly landed on Jaxir’s face. His expression changed almost immediately, and the person beside him followed his stare before nudging someone else. Within seconds, it had spread through the crowd.

"Wait, that’s him."

"Jaxir Chance?"

"He’s here?"

The broad man’s mouth was still hanging open. Jaxir smiled at him.

"So, about getting through."

After that, space opened up a lot faster. An attendant near the front noticed the commotion, took one look at Jaxir, and immediately started waving players aside while shouting for another worker to clear a path.

Jaxir followed without arguing. Though, the farther he went, the funnier the whole thing got.

He hadn’t registered for a fight, and he didn’t have an Arena record. Until this morning, he hadn’t even known what losing in here could cost him. Yet, the place was packed because of him.

Jaxir looked up at the stands already filling above the outer walls and shook his head. Admission fees, betting cuts, concessions, or whatever other nonsense the arena used to make money, his name was clearly doing a big chunk of the work today.

And yet hadn’t seen a single copper of it.

"Where’s my cut?"

The attendant looked back at him, confused. "Nothing."

Niri leaned down until her chin was almost resting on top of his head. "You should ask for candy."

"At least someone around here understands business." Jaxir muttered.

The attendant wisely decided not to respond. He led them through an interior corridor and stopped outside a private waiting room.

When Jaxir stepped inside, Maelis was already there. She was seated against the far wall with her arms crossed and her head resting back against the chair, and her eyes stayed closed even when the door opened.

Niri immediately stuck her tongue out at her.

Jaxir lifted her off his shoulders before she could escalate things and set her down on one of the empty chairs. Maelis still didn’t react, though Jaxir doubted she had somehow missed them coming in.

He checked the time instead.

11:59.

"Good enough."

Jaxir turned toward the open passage leading deeper into the arena and started walking, without waiting for anyone to tell him what came next. With every step, the roar of the crowd grew louder, bleeding through the stone until he could feel it under his feet.

Behind him, Maelis finally opened her eyes. Her gaze narrowed on Jaxir’s back.

She couldn’t understand where that confidence came from, and it irritated her more than the challenge itself. She had fought him before. She knew what he could do, and she knew how wide the gap between their Levels should be once she stopped treating him like some strange low-Level nuisance.

Nothing about that gap should let him walk toward the arena without so much as looking at her.

Then, Maelis’ mouth curved into a sneer. It didn’t matter.

Jaxir wasn’t the only one who hadn’t shown everything yet. Unlike last time, there would be no guards, no escape route, and no reason for her to hold anything back.

Whatever had convinced him he could win, she would tear it apart, along with that smug smile.

Maelis stood up and followed him toward the arena.