"I choose Sariel," Jeremy said, startling Paul by pointing to the lady beside Lillith.

"You’re not serious, are you?" Paul asked with a scoff as his heart leaped in joy.

"Why won’t I be? She’s my choice," Jeremy said with a shrug.

Lillith glanced at both of them not believing what she was hearing.

She was in the dark about Sariel strength herself but she couldn’t see her beating Jeremy.

He was the strongest gifted in the world after all.

She still couldn’t see Jeremy losing in a wits battle to Paul so she was curious to see the outcome.

She had faith that Jeremy would win no matter what so she wasn’t particularly bothered.

She watched as Jeremy and Sariel got into the ring to fight, Paul watching intently besides her too.

To her chagrin, she saw that he had a childlike expression on his face; he was excited.

"Pfft, he still hasn’t learned anything at all...," Lillith murmured to herself.

As usual, he had the hasty confidence that he would win and wasn’t taking any loophole or surprise from the Hoarder into account.

One would think that by now, he would know that nothing with the Hoarder was usually that simple.

He was a singular tricky individual down to his core and it surprised her how Paul was still underestimating him.

It was a peculiar situation. If Jeremy won, it was Paul’s victory and if Sariel won, it was Jeremy’s victory.

Jeremy had to lose the fight for Jeremy to win while Jeremy had to win the fight for Paul to win.

Meanwhile in the ring, Jeremy and Sariel smiled as each other as they were prepared for their face-off.

"The rules are simple because it is only one, whoever knocks the other person out of the ring wins. Fair?"

They all agreed to his proposition as it seemed reasonable.

There was an imperceptible nod from Paul to his opponent that the other two spectators didn’t see.

It seemed that there was an unspoken agreement between them on when to start because they rushed each other at the same time.

~BOOOOMMMMM!!!~

The sound of their confrontation echoed across the vicinity sending shockwaves to the earth.

When the dust settled, they saw that Sariel had punched Jeremy into the ground so much that a crater had formed were he had landed.

"Eh...how!"

Paul’s mouth was agape as he couldn’t believe his eyes.

In his earlier fights with Jeremy, he hadn’t even managed to land a single punch on him yet here was a lady casually beating him.

What frightened him the most was that she wasn’t using any skill and that was just her base stats at work.

In his confusion, he looked at Lillith beside him to see that she was also surprised at what she was seeing.

Out of reflex, he wanted to talk to her but remembered her betrayal so he kept mute and continued watching the events unfold.

Lillith casually strolled to were Jeremy fell but before she reached him, he burst out of the ground in one giant leap.

For the most part, he looked haggard and dirty but there was a maniacal gleam in his eyes as he looked at Paul mockingly.

Paul took a step back as he had a sinking feeling in his chest.

He didn’t need the match to be over or the gods to tell him that he was going to lose to Jeremy yet again.

***

In the ring, I cracked my knuckles as I prepared myself to get beaten by Sariel once more.

This was fun.

Seeing the realization of my eventual victory dawn on Paul’s face was even better fun.

While I had mapped out the strategy, Paul had initially been happy about elementary tactics like choosing me as his champion for a fight that I had proposed.

Anyone could have seen it coming and prepared a counter for it.

He hadn’t even known the strength of Sariel before agreeing but that was understandable.

Given my reputation as the Hoarder, it was hard to imagine anyone in the world beating me in a fight.

Unfortunately he hadn’t taken otherworldly beings into account.

Prior to the fight, I had suspended my Administrator authority which gave Sariel the edge in our fight.

When it came down to raw stats, Sariel was superior.

Some of the awe I had for her ability was back as I was surprised at the damage she had caused me by just one punch.

"Do you enjoy pummeling me that much?" I yelled at her as I dusted my clothes from the dust that had settled on it.

"Yeah I do," She responded with a wide grin.

"This is your reward for being a good girl all this time."

Sariel looked away at my words but not before I caught her cheeks turning red.

Damn, she was definitely blushing.

At this point, she was getting too human.

"Are you blushing?"

"Shut up and fight!"

She seemed to be pissed off by the question because she rushed me without any prior warning.

My reflex kicked in just in time to dodge an especially vicious kick from her.

It was a close ranged battle as we fought closely with just our fists.

I spent most of the time evading her blows as that would spell disaster for me.

She kept at it with such intensity that I was gradually been pushed back to the edge of the ring.

I couldn’t appear to give in too easily or not put in effort as that would be unfair.

As Sariel whipped out a knife to stab me, I saw the perfect opportunity.

I used my [SUMMON] ability to switch what she was holding.

One second, she was holding a knife, the next it was in my hand.

I quickly tried to drive it into her abdomen but her speed was off the charts.

She twisted away at the last minute and kicked me squarely in the chest.

For the second time today, I was sent flying only that this time around, I was outside the ring.

I had both lost and won.