"No..."
The other octophoid and cephalopoid races were now away from their tables; either gagging or vomiting everything they ate as their eyes tried their best to avoid what was being shown on the four walls of the banquet hall. Suffice it to say, they did not even have anything left in their stomachs — and with how fast the cephalopoids digest their food, everything was... truly a wet mess.
As for the other races, they could really only continue to watch in horror as Riley started to finely slice the burnt parts of Jakol's back... and once again plant him on the seething boulder. This wasn't a hunt at all, not even a massacre. Riley was just playing and torturing his enemy, and it wasn't just him. All members of the Strays were doing it.
Xra seemed to be the one that was having the most fun, as she was seeing how much blood her enemy could release before it loses consciousness...and then returns all of it back inside with all the dirt and dust accumulated outside — infecting the octophoid and polluting its body in an insane rate; to the point that its flesh was already starting to rot and fall off into a muddy paste.
Cherbi wasn't really doing anything. It was just standing there, acting like a vacuum that absorbed everything within its arm's reach, including its opponent who tried his best to crawl away. Cherbi, however, seems to be intentionally letting him go just a few inches away from its reach, but not enough that its body won't be able to rip off and absorb some of its flesh bit by bit. This should be impossible.
Cherbi is not known for intentionally hurting anyone or anything. It was just an entity that floated across the expanse of the universe, devouring planets and stars throughout its existence indiscriminately. It was intelligent, but did not really have a will of its own and just... ate.
But this? It was practically playing with its food, something it had never done before and something it should never be capable of doing... and yet here it was, practically torturing its food in front of everyone. Even some of the Higher Races, including Elder Apo's race all looked at each other as they watch this unfold — they have never hunted or tried to stop Cherbi because they considered it to literally just be a walking black hole... but now that it was suddenly capable of having a real will of its own, perhaps they should start planning how to truly get rid of it once and for all.
The only question is how?
If there was perhaps a silver lining to all of this torture, it was that the final member of the Strays, Delivery, was not trying to hurt its opponent. No, he was just stalking his opponent... without rest, and without pause. The krukux tried fighting, but as soon as it did so, Delivery just disappeared and disappears into nowhere, only coming back as the krukux turns its back... and then he follows his opponent—no, he follows his prey again.
If there was anyone actually hunting within the Strays, it was him. But he wasn't actually hunting, he was just torturing his opponent mentally.
On a second note, no one was really safe.
"Stop this!" One of the humanoid champions from another race stood up; slamming her fist on the table before suddenly rushing toward Ahor Zai. Queen Vania, however, immediately ordered her daughter to protect the Codex.
And it wasn't only Princess Vera who came to Ahor Zai's aid — all of the norinlads stood up from their seats.
[Oh, I appreciate everyone's help,] Ahor Zai chuckled, [But this is just an avatar of mine, even if it was damaged, it will just—]
"...Ahor Zai?" Princess Vera quickly turned around as she heard Ahor Zai suddenly and abruptly stopped with her words, only to see her suddenly looking to the side, not really looking at anything and just nodding her head.
[Hm. Yes, you're right... sorry,] she whispered.
"Who... are you talking to?" Princess Vera started looking around.
[Oh, sorry. I was just distracted,] Ahor Zai once again giggled before waving her hands, [Thank you for trying to protect me, Princess of the Evaniels. I would have been hurt if you did not step forward. I may know everything, but I am not capable of protecting myself.]
"...Right," Princess Vera stared at Ahor Zai for a few seconds, before glaring at the humanoid who rushed at her, "I'll advise you to return to your seat."
"..." The humanoid stood her ground, however, even staring Vera straight in the eyes. But before anything could happen, her people dragged her back to their table.
[You may also return to your seat, Princess of the Evaniels.]
"Of course, Ahor Zai," Vera just nonchalantly waved her hand as she disappeared and returned to her seat."
[Everyone, I have heard of all your requests,] Ahor Zai started clapping, [But I can't just stop the match when it is still ongoing. And the krukux, even though completely overwhelmed, are not showing any signs of surrender at all.]
"..." Everyone looked at the screens, only to wonder if they were watching the same scenes at all. The krukux clearly wanted to surrender, but could not.
[Instead, let us all give the krukux a cheer,] Ahor Zai continued to clap her hands, [Even though they are losing, they are still brave enough not to show any fear. I hope that I also get the same vigor from all of you once it is your turn to face an opponent you could not win against!]
And almost as if in cue to her words, numerous fireworks started to explode on the ceiling of the banquet hall, with the images of the Strays being shown. And not even a second later, Riley and the others appeared back at their table.
[Ah, look at that! Let us all congratulate the Strays for winning their match and moving on to the next elimination round!] Ahor Zai once again started clapping, [But since the Stray's match took longer than expected, I won't have time to do my celebratory dance, so let us just move on to the next match!]
And without even any warning, the champions of two tables disappeared.
[And since the next match features both Normal Races...] Ahor Zai clapped her hands again. And as she did so, several machines started sprouting out from the floor near the walls—some even covering the screens, [...I know it would be incredibly boring trying to watch them, so I added some entertainment outlets from the Higher Races!]
"Is it just me..." Hannah looked at Bernard and the others, "...Or is that AI slowly becoming more and more sarcastic?"
"It's incredibly fascinating," Bernard nodded, "If you are not aware, most artificial intelligence that are programmed to mimic humans will mostly become sarcastic—as it receives most of its information from the internet where humans are... mostly sarcastic."n((o-/v--e-.l--b--I)-n
[And most important of all...!] Ahor Zai stretched her arms to the side, and as she did so, a larger screen emerged behind her.
"Ah!" Hera immediately stood up and pointed at the gigantic screen, "Italian Mafia Reborn!"
[...Exactly!] Ahor Zai also pointed at Hera, [The greatest literature in the entire multiverse—and I am going to share it with all of you, enjoy!]
And with those words, Ahor Zai summoned a seat for herself as she started watching the show, not even taking a single glance at the ongoing match.
"The... greatest literature in the entire multiverse?" Hannah raised an eyebrow as she looked at Bernard, "I guess we know which human she's learning from. And Italian Mafia Reborn... it's not really that good."
"What did you say?" Hera also raised an eyebrow.
"Right, you're one of the voice actors," Hannah winced, "Sorry, not sorry. Just my opinion. Anyway..."
Hannah immediately walked away and started checking some of the arcade machines that Ahor Zai made for them.
"We won!"
And after a few minutes, the race who won the match was warped back to their seats.
"Did all of you see that!? It was so close that we almost—Everyone...?" But alas, as they jumped in joy to celebrate their victory... no one even noticed them as most were busy either watching Italian Mafia Reborn, or were fiddling with the arcade games from the Higher Races.
If there was perhaps a silver lining in all of this, they weren't alone. Ahor Zai just snapped her fingers, and two groups of champions were once again warped into the battlefield. It wasn't until someone from the Higher Races was participating in the match that Ahor Zai took a break from watching and proceeded to remove the machines.
But like Riley's match, the champions of the Normal Races could not even touch their opponent. And as the Normal Races far outnumbered the members of the Higher Races, none of the matches could really be said to be exciting—especially the norinlads.
The norinlads did not really fight, no. They just used their bodies to trap their opponents until they gave up—and it lasted for an entire hour until their opponents realized it was hopeless. It was the same with the themarians, they just stood there and let the enemies attack them until they tired themselves out.
"How does it feel to bully beings you think are lesser than you?" Queen Vania was the first to welcome the themarians back... by sitting at their table.
"I will tell you once we meet at the end of the Tournament," Queen Adel lightly kicked the chair Queen Vania was sitting on, "Get off of my seat, woman."
"Oh? And what if I don't want—"
And before Queen Vania could finish her words, she suddenly disappeared along with the other evaniels as it was their turn to fight.
"...Pft."
