1280 It Is Only Fair Author's Note: Unedited Chapter ------------------- "Hehe, praise me again," Vera was acting like a happy little girl before Gustav. Some of them weren't surprised since they knew only Gustav could bring out this side of her but the others were genuinely shocked as this was the first time they saw Vera had a proper dialogue with anyone. "You've really made good progress, I'm proud," Gustav patted her head again while the vicinity remained loud from battles. Bang! Bang! Boom! Boom! Boom! Some of the most intense battles were ensuing in about five different stages. The most intensive battles were participants from planets who were top twenty. The spectators were even more fired up at this moment as participants they had always wanted to see in a fight were finally battling. "Ghalazer, throw in the towel before i beat you to a pulp," "I'm giving you the same offer, Melthu," 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶 Two figures, one with a large hole in his chest and the other structured like a mechanical bot voiced out before charging towards each other. On another stage two participants rom planet Qivendale and Torin were also facing each other and had laid waste to the surroundings. Since planets participants had been mostly challenging weaker opponents so as to steal points easily, there had only been a few rare cases where the matchup were two powerful opponents of nearly equal standing. This time there were five of them, making the versus battle challenge way more entertaining than it had been at the start. Gustav was sure the Handlers didn't expect this yet since the turn of events so far would have led to weaker planets continously getting picked on till all of their points were lost. Which would eventually lead to the disqualification of weaker ones. No doubt this was how things would still unfold but it was surprising that stronger planets had begun challenging one another already. -"The Phixiq are one of the darkhorses this year," -"Yeah by this time in the last IYSOP they were already disqualified," -"Not just them, albeit weird, the Diaporonians are still in the game," -"Let's not forget Indulus Prime... they were not even close to being this powerful in the last IYSOP," Gustav could hear a group of oldies chattering away on the far end of the arena. It turned out Earth wasn't the only planet who had major improvements. What caught his ears was mostly the mention of Planet Indulus Prime. 'Them again... truly getting more suspicious,' Gustav thought. Other planets high on the ranking currently were usually amongst those who made it to the last stage. Earth always made it to the last stage as well but never won. This was the first time they had ever attained such a high rank. The planet that had won the last time were also currently the hosts, the Ozis. The Draconets had come second the last time but now things were different. Planet Ozious was currently in third position. Almost like the places had been reversed. This time more powerful participants had come from different planets. Captain Strum was an anomaly himself and so many other participants who were considered to be amongst the strongest. Earth was leading now but it was still unknown who would win. Things could take a turn at anytime. As time went by, the expectation of the Handlers played out. At he twenty seventh batch, up to eighty different planets had already lost the last of their points. Up to a hundred others were slowly closing in on the brink of disqualification as well. Even if some didn't lose all of their points, they were still very troubled as the number of points needed to remain in IYSOP was still unknown. Today was the second day and everyone would still have to wait till the third day before the required points would be announced. In a particular part of the IYSOP participants area, a group with horns on their necks seemed to be engaging in a small dialogue. "Captain are you sure we're going to be fine? We only have eleven thousand points left," "The information he gave mentioned that only planets with less than ten thousand points would be disqualified so yes we will be fine," "If that is the case then we don't need to worry much but we should try not to lose more points," "Indeed, the information is credible but we shouldn't lag behind," In another area... "Captain we have only nine thousand points," "We have to make sure we acquire up to ten thousand points before tomorrow," "It will be one hell of a problem if we're less than ten thousand points at the end of today," In another area... "Jumin just won her battle," "She has acquired six hundred extra points," "This means we're in the clear now with ten thousand one hundred points," "What a relief," These were all different planetary group having different dialogues but one similar aspect was repeatedly emphasized. < 10,000 points > These teammates were discussing in very low tones so no one would be able to pick up on what they were talking about. However, even if anyone did manage to pick up on their discussion, it would be difficult to understand what they were talking about unless one was given the full gist of things. Gustav had heard the mention of ten thousand points and was instantly able to tell what it was all about. 'Axiler wasn't kidding when he mentioned that over eighty planets came to him for information...' He thought internally while fighting the urge to smirk. ("Some of them still have beyond it though so they might not get disqualified based on the number required,") The system voiced. 'I know, but a good number of them have relaxed after reaching ten thousand point, not knowing what is coming. They probably won't give it their all in the coming versus battles till after the disqualification period which they think they will ace,' Gustav was really fighting the urge to break out in maniacal laughter right now. Seeing the effects of what Stark had suggested and Miss Aimee implemented by scaring Axiler into submission, he was glad he didn't refuse the suggestion. The misinformation would truly cause issues for those who purchased it. ######### Time went by very quickly and another ten batches had been concluded. During this time frame Yuhiko had been challenged a couple more times and Gustav had her decline all of them. At this point she already looked cranky and gashed her teeth from time to time as her fists remained clenched. 'Now I'm sure he just wants to humiliate me,' Yuhiko thought as she clenched so hard that her fingers sunk into the skin of her palms. Trrihh! Pat! Droplets of blood trinkled down the gloves of her battle suit. Her body trembled slightly as she tried to hold in her anger. Pat! A small pat on the shoulder brought her out of her reverie as a warm masculine voice followed. "You're bleeding," Endric said while passing her a small piece of handkerchief like clothing. "Endric tha..." Just as she was about to show appreciation, Endric face closed in on her left ear. "Trust me, you deserve worse than just simply bleeding," He whispered in her ear coldly, causing shivers to run down her spine. 'I knew it! They truly had it out for me!' Yuhiko froze in place as color left her face. 'They could both easily kill me if they want but didn't... they must want to.torture me,' Endric turned around after the small whisper and began heading forward. "Where are you going?" Aildris questioned with a slightly confused expression seeing as the batch just ended and the computerised systems were still picking out the next one hundred and fifty participants. "It's my turn now," Endric replied. Immediately after he said this... Thrriiihh~ The list of one hundred and fifty participants for the next batch appeared on the screens above and Endric's name as well as his face was included. "How did you...?" E.E was about to question how in the world Endric was aware that it was his turn but Endric was already far gone. "How the hell did he know?" E.E stared at Endric then stared in Gustav's direction with a befuddled expression. Gustav just displayed a clueless smile without responding. "You two are really something else," E.E had ths urge to scream this out. They were two monstrous brothers after all... 'I guess that Time Candidate thingy does come in handy for him,' Gustav said internally while staring at Endric enter a stage. ("You have no idea... The way your perception works on detecting things where you can practically see the actions of an enemy a split second before they perform it during a battle, Endric has something similar as a time Candidate. The difference is, he can perceive things before they happen not just in battle but overall in any event or scenario,") The system explained. ----------------- Author's Note: Update on characters. >> Gustav (Most voted and current readers favourite Male Character) >> Angy (Second most voted and current readers favourite Female Character) >>Miss Aimee ( Third most voted and second readers favourite Female Character) >> E.E ( Fourth place and second readers favourite Male Character) >> Aildris (Fifth place and third readers favourite Male Character) >> Falco (Sixth place and fourth readers favourite Male Character) As for other characters, I haven't added them yet so I apologise if your favourite character is not on the list. Comment the characters you wish to be added. Also remember, more votes decide how fast a character will be illustrated.