Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Sky Blossom City

"Wager? I want in too," Petra suddenly chimed in, drawing my gaze. The moment I saw the twinkle in her eyes, I recognized it immediately. A gambling addict was a gambling addict, no matter the world.

Petra leaned forward slightly, her eyes gleaming with anticipation as though she had just discovered a treasure chest.

I had seen that look before.

It was the look of someone who wasn’t interested in the outcome nearly as much as they were interested in the gamble itself.

"No! You promised you wouldn’t gamble anymore."

Aqualas, who hadn’t voiced any objection when Veerott accepted my wager, immediately spoke up the moment Petra tried to join.

Petra didn’t refute her. Instead, she merely shot Aqualas an annoyed look.

That alone confirmed my suspicions. Petra had a dreadful gambling history. A very bad one. Bad enough that Aqualas, who had been trying to kill her just moments ago, was now more concerned about her gambling than anything else.

Aqualas turned toward me and pleaded grimly, "Never gamble with her. She’s a sore loser. She won’t accept defeat and keeps repeating the wager until she gets the result she wants and the worst part is that it doesn’t end with her winning."

"No, I don’t," Petra protested.

"What about the Mount Might wager?" Aqualas immediately shot back.

"You were clearly cheating. My ability told me you were lying. Besides, that was only one time," Petra argued without backing down.

"It was not a one time scenario. And you are the biggest liar I know." Aqualas folded her arms. "Every time you gamble, it turns into a fight, and everything around you gets destroyed. It doesn’t even end if we let you win. You just want to gamble again. It’s like the humans say, an itch you can’t scratch. And when you finally can, you don’t stop scratching until you hurt yourself."

Petra looked away and clicked her tongue, which only made Aqualas look even more vindicated.

Listening to Aqualas, I finally understood why she hadn’t tried to exploit Petra’s gambling addiction during their fight. That would have been like throwing fuel onto a wildfire and then wondering why the forest was gone.

As for her calling Petra the biggest liar she knew, now that was news to me.

Petra had always appeared straightforward, almost painfully so. Yet judging by Aqualas’ reaction, gambling seemed to awaken an entirely different side of her. One capable of inventing excuses, finding loopholes, and somehow convincing herself that losing didn’t count.

Honestly, that sounded far more terrifying than the version of Petra that tried to kill me.

"Wyatt, don’t listen to her. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about."

Petra grabbed my arm and pleaded her case. Unfortunately for her, that only made her look more suspicious.

I nodded and said, "Why don’t you go check on Bloodette? I’ve got this."

"No! I want to join the wager too," Petra repeated stubbornly.

By this point, Veerott was visibly losing patience.

The thousand curse fields had no effect on him, but Aqualas and Seraphina were beginning to show signs of severe weakening. A faint strain had crept onto Seraphina’s face, while Aqualas looked increasingly uncomfortable.

The worst part was that Seraphina still couldn’t identify what curses Southern Hope was using. There were over a thousand curse fields surrounding them, yet she hadn’t managed to determine even a single one. It was like trying to decipher an unknown language while drowning in it.

At this point, it was obvious they had no way of overcoming the curse fields. There was no longer any reason to stall. They needed to get out of here before the accumulating effects of the curses wore them down completely.

I stopped paying attention to Petra and used my displacement curse to send both her and the petrified Aero outside the curse field.

Unlike Aero, Petra couldn’t enter the field. The curse field existed in the air rather than on the ground, making it impossible to infiltrate the field like Aero and Aqualas did previously. As such, unless I permitted it, she would remain outside. With that distraction dealt with, I turned my attention back to Veerott, whose patience was waning.

"Let’s keep this short. If you win, I’ll free your friends from my curse field and let all of you leave. But if I win, you’ll work for me for the rest of your life. As payment, I’ll even let those two leave here alive. What do you think?"

The moment the terms left my mouth, Seraphina’s eyes widened.

Unlike everyone else present, she knew me well enough to understand what those terms implied. I would never propose a wager like this unless I was confident I could win. This wasn’t a gamble born of arrogance or impulse. It was a calculated attempt to claim the world’s strongest being as my subordinate.

And that was precisely what terrified her.

If Veerott actually accepted and lost, the consequences would be catastrophic. The one she wanted to turn into the Southern Royal Family’s greatest pillar would belong to me. Their influence, prestige, and military power would suffer a devastating blow overnight.

In practical terms, the Southern Royal Family would be finished the moment I decided to come after them.

"Alright, you have a wager."

Before Seraphina could stop him, Veerott had already accepted both the wager and its terms.

From his perspective, the deal was more than fair. No matter the outcome, all three of them would survive. That alone made it better than any alternative he could come up with.

"Just to reiterate," Veerott said, fixing me with a steady gaze. "If I win, you let me and my friends leave here alive. If you win, I will serve you for life, but you let my friends leave here alive. Correct?"

"Correct."

I nodded and extended an arm, signaling for him to come at me.

The instant the wager was finalized, the atmosphere changed. This time, Veerott no longer bothered concealing his prowess. The pressure radiating from him surged severalfold, crushing the air around him. The air around him trembled, and a violent gust swept outward as he shifted his stance.

Gone was the hunter cautiously probing a predator. What stood before me now was the card world’s strongest being fighting with nothing held back. Then he moved. The space between us vanished in an instant as Veerott charged forward with his full force.

*Boom!*