The grains of sand he manipulated, danced im the air to build itself into sand people, bowing and curtsying before the mirage of sand people waltzed in circles.

Dirlu enjoyed watching the sand waltz before it was cut short by Astrid's swing.

Astrid brought down her scythe again and missed. This went on for a while and Astrid was getting out of breath.

There has to be a way to stop him. Astrid panted as sweat drizzled down her forehead.

"Are you done now?" Chris asked her leaning on a wall that he made appear.

Astrid glared into the laughing man's face. No matter how much she swung her scythe, no matter how many hits she calculated and aimed, Chris was always out of reach. Always one step ahead of her.

Chris was the mole that kept teleporting from one spot from another. She wanted to leave a mark, a bruise, anything to wipe the smug look off his face.

She frowned and stepped back from him, anger bubbling inside her from his last statement. "Am I done now? What exactly do you take this for?"

His lips curled into a seductive smile. "A 'friendly spar'. Just like you wanted." He winked at her.

Octavia gushed at how handsome Chris is.

"That's Chris for ya, he won't waste a chance to woo the ladies." Tony put his hands behind his nape. "If only he'd stop being a show off."

"How long has it been?" One of the spectators asked.

"Four minutes. Why?" Another spectator asked.

"I'm getting hungry, I wanna see if the hot chick is gonna hit him or not?"

"Nah, I doubt it. The only way she could land a hit is if he got paralyzed somehow."

Octavia overheard the conversation and had an idea.

"Stop him, Astrid!" Octavia shouted.

Stop him? How? I can use her powers to revert the damage to a minimum and slow him down. That's it! Astrid had an idea and let out a smirk.

Chris was curious to know what changed her mood. Unless she had a trick up her sleeve.

Astrid twirled her scythe in one hand and slammed it to the floor, a rush of wind waving the tips of her hair. Her eyes glinted a powerful yellow while the air around them was quickly sucked of warmth. She let loose the peak of her ability; time reversal.

The area in which they were located slowed, leaving the stadium itself and the people inside it to stare in pure awe as Chris's movements rewinded.

"What is she doing?" Tony while his eyes darted at Chris and Astrid

"You'll see." Octavia said smugly as her steampunk glasses revealed what Octavia saw.

Astrid charged, waiting for the right moment to take her shot. An opening showed itself when he was frozen, just for a moment she could see he was quickly breaking out of her ability, so she needed to act quick.

She pivoted her weight onto one leg and used the momentum she had gathered from sprinting to smash the other leg down in a wide roundhouse kick, one of the moves TR had taught her. Her ability lifted just as she did so, and she smiled. She finally got a hit on him-

"I'll admit, you almost had me with that one."

Astrid whipped her head around to see Chris on the other side of the area, stifling a laugh and leaning against a wall he had created.

"But how?" Astrid asked, puzzled.

"You really think I'm going to let you hurt me?" Chris laughed. Astrid then realized that there was no way she was going to be able to get him like this.

She would have to think of something else. Chris just continued to lean against his wall and giggle.

"I'm not going to fight you so why do you insist on fighting me?" Chris asked her.

"Because me being a lady has nothing to do with anything!" Astrid yelled, beginning to get frustrated with him.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, a lady shouldn't lose her temper." Chris stated, wiggling his finger at her. Astrid had had enough! She quickly pulled her dagger out and rushed Chris.

Chris took a surprised step back, but he was too late.

Astrid stabbed the dagger into his stomach and Chris hunched over in pain.

Astrid took a step back in horror! She had broken one of the rules! Not to kill anyone!

Chris fell onto the floor, and Astrid bent down over him and turned him over on his back, but to her surprise the wound was gone!

Chris suddenly disappeared, and Astrid stood up quickly and looked around her but Chris was nowhere in sight.

Maggie stared at the blonde Venusian while she petted Jinx the black feline sound asleep. Some of the abilities Chris displayed reminded her of her of former mentor, Magnus Mac, the Magnificent Magician. Her former idol had a similar approach to his performances though he encouraged a lovely assistant from the audience to perform with him for one night. Is he going to be in the Tryout too? Maggie recalled when she had signed up hours ago. She had read some of the names on seperate forms. On of them seeing his name, and Maori's before Adrian had organized them. She kept her amber eyes on the combatants.

A voice cleared behind her and she turned around to face Chris standing before her, as fine as ever.

Astrid frowned. She's tired out from using her ability to its extent, and this Chris guy's way more powerful than she thought. She's backed into a corner.

"Fine." She sighed and drooped her head, raised her hands above her head and stepped away from him. "You make the first move."

Chris looked at her with an amused smile and a raised eyebrow, his arms crossed over his chest. "My thoughts on this battle still stands, madam. I won't hit a woman, no matter the circumstances."

Astrid bit her lip to contain her rage.

She wasn't known to be stubborn, she very rarely annoyed or even angry, but this man had managed to pull both of those things out of her in one day.

"Well I guess we'll both just be standing here, won't we?" She mumbled harshly, droppef her hands to her sides and leaving her scythe on the floor.

Chris gave Astrid his most charming smile and then snapped his fingers. A chair popped up and he sat down and pulled a sandwich out of his pocket, and started to eat.

Astrid watched him take a bite of the sandwich.

"Oh how rude of me! Would you like a sandwich?" Chris asked Astrid handing her a sandwich.

"No. Thank you." Astrid answered now losing her cool.

"Well, okay." Chris said as he put the sandwich into his pocket.

"Are you really not going to fight me?" Astrid asked him.

"No. I am not going to fight you." Chris said as he looked at his watch. "Now I have much more important affairs to tend to. So if you don't mind." Chris stated as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a white cloth out.

Chris then swung it in the air and yelled, "I yield! Please have mercy on me!" He looked over at Astrid and saw that she was fuming. "Oh I'm sorry. It seems I had a white cloth the whole time." Chris stated with a sly smile.

And what timing, he yielded four seconds before the timer ended.

Astrid rushed Chris with the intent to tackle him, but he teleported out of the arena leaving the empty chairs behind for her to topple over.

"Well that was unexpected." The hostess admitted. Tony wasn't sure if he should applaud him for his performance or smack him for making him look bad. Octavia gave a Cheshire smile, not only was Chris was such a gentleman that Astrid took the victory, but she had the satisfaction of seeing the Venusian sitting next to her, abashed.

"What a match! Let's hear what our judges have to say about that." Johnathan announced before the screen showed the judges.

"I was impressed with Astrid's time altering powers. The funny part is that seeing this live is completely different than playing rewind at an old TV screen. I would like to give her 10 points for girl power, though if I'm going to talk about the real match is that in terms of speed and accuracy you get a perfect score. I would give you 8 and a half points because it took you a while to strike." Marie commented before she gave her a thumbs up. "Chris, I loved your performance. And your laugh is contagious. I don't know if you were using mind control or not, but I'm gonna give you the score: 8 points in total." Marie showed a sign with the number before flipping the sign to the side to make the eight look like an infinity symbol for a second before turning the sign back into the number 8.

"Astrid, your defining moment was when you finally gave a strike at Chris. So you get a perfect score. You didn't get hit, you didn't quit, you gave it your all, and despite not being able to defeat him the way you wanted to. At least you won. I've seen fighters who've used their powers to manipulate their opponents to quit, to walk out of the arena without wanting to. Heck, there was one participant that put his opponent to sleep in the first second of the match with a snap of his fingers. You've earned it." Lizzy commented before showing the 10 sign. "Chris, I like you, but I'll be honest with you. You were being kinda sexist. I know you were being a gentleman killin' it with kindness and all that, but mate, it's a match. Men and women participate to fight on equal grounds. About your performance, Imma give you 9 points in total. Better make that 7 points since you were a tease for eating that sandwich in front of me when I'm hangry." Lizzy critiqued before she showed the seven sign that had a sandwich sticker on it.

"Mrs. Matsumoto, I have to be honest you. Your performance was sloppy to say the least. You showed hesitation, not only that, you allowed Chris to take advantage of your insecurities and you've proven his point by lashing out and flailing your scythe around trying to score at a teleporting whack-a-mole. I know how difficult it was for you to hit your opponent dispite that he chose to yield. What I'm saying is that you have to be prepared in any given situation. You have to be adaptable, not predictable. So you get 1 point in accuracy, 2.5 points in defense, 2.5 points in evasion, and 1.2 points in speed. In other words, 7.2 points in total for your performance." Adrian critiqued before he turned to look at the blonde Venusian. "As for you, Chris, you did an excellent performance. I expect nothing less. However, you made two mistakes: 1) Never reveal all your abilities to your adversaries, no matter how impressive they may be. 2) Do not underestimate your opponent. Hubris leads to folly. And I would like to mention that chivalry will lead you nowhere in the Tryout, unlike the tournament, there will not be a drop out. With that said, your performance was 9.5 in total. 2.5 in accuracy and in speed, 2.3 in defense, and 2.2 in evasion, but by yielding, you reduced your performance to 0." Adrian gave his critique to Chris.

Simon walked towards the Opera House and saw Jane Doe by the entryway, she was talking to Geoffrey before the male receptionist walked away to return to the reception. When she looked outside, she saw a handsome man with ashen blonde hair and a goatee. Her brown eyes ogled at him for a bit longer than she had anticipated, if I wasn't a married woman, Simon was looking at Jane in a suave, seductive manner before he took off his sunglasses. His sky blue eyes glinted as he gave a devious smirk.

"It's a really nice day, it such a shame that I haven't met you sooner." Simon lied whilst Jane blushed at the compliment.

"That's very flattering, but if you must know, if you're trying to get in for free, that it's not gonna happen. The entrance will cost you 30 dollars." Jane warned him.

"Is that so?" He loomed over her before got Jane in a trance. "I didn't come to watch the show. I want you to find Chris and bring him out here, what I say, goes." Simon gave her a command before he snapped his fingers to break her out of the trance. The next thing she knew, the handsome mysterious man was gone.

Ryan and Felin had finished eating their lunch after they watched the match between Astrid and Chris. Faim had also finished eating his ramen during the match with the company of his friends, but after Adrian mentioned that Chris was also participating in the Tryout, he had to stop Mewmi from going after the Venusian. Needless to say, that didn't stop her from catcalling first, then yelled, "COME FIGHT ME, CHRIS!" in front of everyone. At least the blonde Venusian had the courtesy to not give in to her provocations and ignored her.

"Tch, as if a gentleman would give attention to a stray cat." Dirlu said with smug smile on her face before opening her fan to cover her wicked smirk.

"I heard that!" Mewmi yelled before her nails sharpened to look like claws.

Dirlu's smirk faded when she remembered something. Where's the money I invested?

Ratu and Ruben II counted the money that they collected from the wager. "Not bad, runt. I'm almost proud of you." Ruben admitted while he sorted the currency by symbols.

"And the strangest thing is that the plan hasn't gone wrong yet." Ratu said before Ruben smacked him from the back of the head.

"Don't jinx it, ya little rat." Ruben rebuked him while Ratu rubbed the back of his neck.

"Ow!" Ratu winced before they saw four men standing in front of them.

"We want the money that we betted on." One of them said.

"Who did you bet on?" Ruben asked.

"Faim!" The others said, the Cinnabarian recognized that one of them was lying.

"How much did you pay?" Ruben interrogated them, testing each one. The first guy was a tall burly man with a blonde buzzcut said 300 rubles, the second guy was a tawny skinned man with an average build and blue clothing said 1,500 rupees, the third guy was a short redhead with a long beard and fine clothing said 600 coins, the last guy was a lanky man with a corn braid said ₩50. Ruben punched the last guy in the face, knocking his teeth in.

The lanky man fell down on the velvety carpet in with his face bleeding out, his long nose now crooked as he wailed in pain. The onlookers watched as their eyes were on the Cinnabarian and the four men.

"You take me for an idiot!? There is no ₩50. You see this?!" Ruben showed the won bill to the men that were standing, "This is a ₩50,000 bill," the yellow won bill had a face of a woman akin to a geisha, "and that person betted on Herring, dunghead!" Ruben walked out of the stand and yanked the collar of the guy who lied. "I know a face when I see one. Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Ruben shook the lanky man with the corn braid while the lanky man looked at Ruben's round freckled face. "I maybe a fat stiffnecked ginger, but I'm not a buffoon." Ruben showed the bill at him for the man to get a better look at it. "Is this your ₩50?" Ruben asked again before the guy shook his head, scared of him.

Ruben let go of him before he returned to the stand before he collected the money and returned the money to the three men with interests when Dirlu showed up with Eimy.

"Hello gentlemen." Dirlu greeted at Ruben and Ratu, even though Ratu was still a boy. "I would like to receive what I wagered with interests." Dirlu recalled before Ruben gave her the money.

"I didn't have the time to convert the money. You can come join me if you have any doubts." Ruben suggested.

"Oh I'll join you alright, I want to make sure that I'm not getting swindled." Dirlu replied, knowing that they're not real employees.

"Ooohhhh." Ratu made a smug expression, teasing Ruben, before the fat Cinnabarian turned to glare at him. Ruben walked out and Dirlu followed him.

Nour had brought her salad to eat at the infirmary while Joon was sound asleep. When she was halfway done with her lunch, Joon woke up groaning while she was eating. She had to stop eating to attend the patient.

"Are you ok? How are you feeling?" Nour asked, though Joon looked at the Tunisian nurse.

"Hungry." Joon replied though he omitted that he felt parched and that he wanted to see his sister.

"What do you want to eat?" Nour asked him.

"I want kimchi and a sundae." Joon replied.