Alexandra flew back to where the other competitors were, once she saw Phixa crestfallen, the angel walked up to the hybrid phoenix.

"I saw the match. You were great out there." Alexandra said.

"You're just saying that to make me feel better. I bet you couldn't see the difference between him and I."

"I saw the difference by the look in your eye." Alexandra looked at Phixa in the eyes. Phixa let out a breath before she slumoed her shoulders.

"I justed wanted a chance to win one tournament to prove that I can be strong like a full-blooded phoenix." Phixa said before the hostess came into the fray.

"You're in luck, I happen to be offering an opportunity for defeated combatants another chance to stay in the tournament." The hybrid looked at the hostess, a flawed mortal with a natural complexion, small sun spots on the bridge of her nose and partially crooked teeth. Phixa walked a couple of paces in front of the hostess.

"Of all the tournaments I participated, I never heard such an offer." Phixa gave a scrutinizing glance at the host.

"Until now. This is the first time I'm implementing an additional match and I was hoping you would be one of the first contenders to participate. This could encourage new aspiring combatants to compete in the future. With your expertise, you can give insight on what could make this tournament different from the previous tournaments you've partaken in." Natalie said before she prodded for any more information.

Phixa and the hostess saw the nurses take Ratu away to the infirmary while the boy was unconscious.

"Well that was fast." Phixa blurted out.

"We don't usually allow children to participate unless the parent or legal guardian sign for the minor to compete." Natalie explained.

Piros saw Phixa talking to a woman in a grey suit. He couldn't help stare at the phoenix hybrid, from her coppery skin to her feathery waist.

"When I was in Paradise, the Phoenixes would fight over the fire or in very high places. The stadium where the phoenixes fight every year remained flawless, symmetrical. A full-blooded phoenix could fight for a whole day without signs of exhaustion, with my human half, I have a lot of difficulty keeping up with them." Phixa responded.

"Perhaps a full-blooded phoenix can endure extremely high temperatures and intense flames much more than a human, or a phoenix hybrid would, but have you considered using abilities that a full-blooded phoenix couldn't possess?" The hostess suggested.

"What do you mean?" Phixa cocked an eyebrow.

"What it's a phoenix's weakness?" Nat popped the question. "What are the weaknesses that a hybrid like you can use as an advantage?"

Phixa laughed at the question, the idea of a hybrid defeating a purebred phoenix was absurd. Then again, she had been belittling her abilities for so long. As an afterthought she remembered that a phoenix was at its weakest during the dark, the cold, low temperatures. She had been focused on trying to emulate a phoenix that she had overlooked her human side. What made flawed humans so interesting that made a flawless phoenix like her mother fall for a human?

"The dark." Phixa replied.

"This is your chance to fight out of your comfort zone. Who knows? Maybe you'll discover something new about yourself." The hostess shrugged. "The Redemption Round will start tonight at 8. Be prepared."

Phixa saw her walk away, unaware that Piros was watching her. Herring was about to tell Piros that Haeji finally got out of the infirmary when he spotted him staring at one of the winged women.

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 Coliseum 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.

During the commercial break, the Raptor Squad got out of their seats. The hostess placed a flyer nearby that said: BOSS positions OPEN for a limited time ONLY.

Perks:

- Free food for 3 nights

- V.I.P. passes

- Free access to fight against the competitors in the Redemption Round.

- No division necessary.

For further information go backstage to room 1A.

Blue nodded at Hexice, and said, "By the way, wooden man, do you even have Google? Or a phone?" 

Hexice blinked, "Google? Phone? Oh, right. The human stuff that Ryan has. I need not of such mundane items. And for your information, I am not wood. Porcelain if anything." The 7ft deity showed his pristine arms.

Blue nodded.

"Oh yes. You don't have access to the Library of Dinosaurs?" Shadow asked. "I think you might-" Blue stepped on Shadow's toe. "He does not need the Book of Knowledge, you idiot!" Shadow pulled her toe free. Blue's stubbornness when it comes to enemies is really not convenient.

"Well if he has it, he'll dust it," I tell her grumpily. "Porcelain people do not care for valuable books!" Blue said as if were obvious. "Really. You only just learned that," Shadow pointed out. "The Book of Knowledge is something many people seek. He'll protect it."

"The Book of Knowledge," Shadow explained, "is a compilation of all of the world's mysteries."

Hexice groaned. "Gross. You are talking like my brother. I'm quite glad that he's not here. He lives in a labyrinth of a library. Yet, he doesn't read a single book. All the books he has and does nothing with them. And he rarely leaves that place either." Hexice rolled his eyes. "What's that phrase? Bookworms?"

Shadow nodded. "Yes, that's it precisely."

Blue rolled her eyes. "I'm leaving now." Shadow patted her. "Okay then." 

Blue spotted the flyer and went to check it out. The Velociraptor read the flyer and the perks piqued her interest. "Suzanne! You gotta see this." The black muscular Indoraptor came forward to see what made the Velociraptor excited, while she slurped on thr shake mixed with blood though it didn't taste the same. As her red eyes read the flyer, she was skeptical at first.

"Don't you find it unusual? None of these flyers showed up until now." Suzanne surmised.

"Can't you read!? It says FREE FOOD! V.I.P passes! What more do you want!?" Blue vociferated while Suzanne slurped conspicuously as she read for further information part.

"I'm going backstage with you, I wanna know if I can actually boss people around." Suzanne said before she slurped the bloody shake dry.

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.

Blue and Suzanne exited from backstage with the V.I.P. passes around their necks, by the time they regrouped, "Five Apples," Shadow started with one of her riddles, "Five apples are in the basket. How do you divide them among five girls so that each girl gets an apple, but one apple remains in the basket?" Haeji was pensive as she thought of an answer. "And if you're feeling up to it… How many cats are in a small room if in each of the four corners a cat is sitting, and opposite each cat there sit 3 cats, and at each cat's tail a cat is sitting?" Shadow inquired before the purple striped Indoraptor grabbed a severed hand from her stash, a reminder of what happened to her victim—and bit down the flesh.

"Give the last apple to one of the girls on the basket." Haeji responded to the first riddle.

The 7 feet deity rubbed his porcelain chin, "3 cats sit opposite to the perspective of 1 cat. And they are sitting on their own tail." Hexice responded with mild indifference.

"Correct! Both of you!" Shadow declared after swallowing the chunk of human hand.

The fat Cinnabarian followed the Rave Hunters as he saw them searching for the something. As if I'm going to let them take the prize money.

Ruben watched Logan search for an opening, a switch, a button, anything that would lead them to a hidden passageway but they hadn't found anything. Every nook and cranny was solid. Alexander let out a drone to scan the corridor as the location of the drone pinpointed within the hologram.

"This is pointless, there aren't any Rave parts here, if there were, the tracker would've set off by now." TR let out a whine while Octavia filed a warrant directly on her phone and sent it to home base, knowing how long the procedure would take, depending how the time would take within the dimension between the stadium and their world.

"Which it would take a while." Ash reminded him before the green eyed member of the team elicited a disgruntled snarl.

Amateurs. Ruben thought as he searched for a door that said authorized personnel only, and entered. Ever since he could remember back when he lived out on the streets, he knew that large establishments contained one of three things: a storage room, a broom closet, or a loo. The storage contained miscellaneous items, one of them being food, beverages, medicine, transported goods, cleaning products, equipment, supplies, and folded uniforms of various sizes. He took an uniform of a security guard with a randon name tag which surprisingly had his name. Ruben. The fat redhead showed a malicious smirk.

"Anything?" Astrid asked, before Alexander looked at her and shook his head.

"Oi! What are you doing!?" Ruben shouted as he stomped angrily on his way to them.

"What's it to you, fatso?" TR retorted, barring his teeth.

"This is a restricted area, Punakas b-" TR punched Ruben II in the face, breaking his nose as blood came out of his nostrils.

"Dammit Tr!" Ash shouted.

"As if I'm gonna take orders from a fat so--" Ruben punched Tr square in the jaw, "--ow!"

Octavia recorded the fight while Ash and Alex pried Tr off of Ruben, Astrid had to get in the way to separate them.

"Get outta here!" Ruben yelled, gritted his teeth while he was ready for round two before Astrid reverted the damage on Ruben's face, his bloody and bent nose and bruised face got healed.

"You're not even a real security guard." TR blew the red tips of his own hair, before his teammates let him go.

"Shows what you know. Not!" Ruben retorted.

"That's enough, let's go." Logan said before he heard the tracker beep.

"But-" Tr looked at Logan in disbelief.

"Now is not the time," the leader of the team muted the alarm on his watch, "Move out." Logan gestured for his teammates to leave the area while Tr glared at the not so covert Cinnabarian. Ruben crossed his arms, glaring back at the green eyed teammate.

Once the Rave Hunters were back in the halls,  Tr was ready to protest. "What is wrong with all of you!? Can't you see that the fat ginger ain't even a-"

"We know." Logan affirmed.

"You daft! Airheaded! Sonuva- wait, whatcha say!?" Tr backtracked to recap what the blonde leader said, Logan pressed his glasses to the bridge of his nose.

"We knew the whole time." Octavia said while she replayed the video she recorded. "He wasn't wearing a badge, and the nametag is also fake."

"Then why the hell did you make me look like an idiot?" Tr scowled at the video, then at Octavia, boring into her steampunk visor.

"Then stop acting like one." Ash responded before Tr and Ash glared at each other.

"Knock it off, the drone is scanning." Logan notified before displaying a holographic projection of what the drone recorded.

So far, the drone recorded the rooms where some of the employees were, and there was one room that lead backstage. The hostess was making an announcement.

"The tournament is not over yet. Tonight, the defeated competitors will have a second chance to prove their worth to stay in the tournament in the REDEMPTION ROUND. The rules are simple, defeat your opponent. The only difference, they will have to use all of their abilities to stay in the game. They'll have to face obstacles, dodge traps, and best of all... Take down bosses, but the round doesn't end until one of their opponents is defeated. Tonight at 8. Be there!" After Erica ended the announcement, Natalie's shoulders slackened. "How was it?" She asked as she tried to fix her hair, despite that no amount of hair conditioner could contain the dark mane that barely touched her shoulders. Erica gave a thumbs up. "I can't wait to take off the powder, I don't get how celebrities can stand to keep it on. I shouldn't bother hiding the sunspots on my nose." She commented before rubbing her neck and chin, "At least the foundation covered up the stubble." The host picked up the makeup wipe and passed it on her neck, chin and jaw revealing the stubble and a couple of folicles, then wiped her upper lip to show her facial hair.

"Do you really think it was a good idea to give ravenous dinosaurs V.I.P. passes?" Erica inquired.

"Is better to give them access to the food and keep them from eating human parts for a while than to fret over who they'll eat next." The hostess responded.

"If you don't mind me asking, where is this Round going to take place?" Erica asked before she saw Nat's mischievous dimple smile.

"The Gauntlet." There was an awkward silence.

"You do remember that a four-armed giant fell off the platform and-" Erica mentioned before she crossed her finger across her neck making a choked sound.

"This time is different, we don't have to worry about necromancers walking into the stadium and reviving fallen giants and legions. The security guards are using magic blockers on visitors to ensure safety precautions. I'm not letting anyone destroy the stadium. Over my dead body." The host declared.