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"Did this really...?"

"Did it really happen?"

"It can\'t be..."

The audience was shocked by the outcome of the battle. Wain and Zeta switched roles several times, each dominating this fight from time to time, but Wain proved stronger.

He looked at the brightly shining sun and, with a deep sigh, raised his bloodied fist upward.

The demons didn\'t know how to react. Normally the referee would have announced the winner, but now Zeta lay battered on the ground, struggling to breathe.

Clap.

Suddenly one of the demons began to clap her hands slowly, and within seconds a wave of applause rose.

"The winner is Wain Norheim!" The blue Demon with the long horns exclaimed.

Wain turned around and asked, "How much did I win?"

"Huh, is money more important than the emotion of winning?"

"I just don\'t have much power left." Wain said smiling, and fell to the ground. He closed his eyes and passed out.

The last thing Wain heard was, "Thirty thousand."

...

Wain awoke hours later on a massive bed in a spacious room. Next to the bed was a table on which stood a pitcher of wine and a massive piece of meat that even three grown men could hardly eat.

\'Hmm, is my hand intact?\' Wain clenched his palm into a fist a few times. He didn\'t know how, but there was no trace of his wounds, he was completely healthy and felt even better than before the battle.

"You\'re finally awake." A voice came from the other side.

Wain turned around and saw the blue Demon, the one who wanted to fight him and declared him the victor instead of Zeta.

"What am I doing here, and who are you?"

"This is my home. My name is Ern Lernch, and in case you were wondering, I\'m the one who cured you."

Ern had long black hair and blue eyes, and his horns were slightly curved back.

"How long have I been here?" Wain worried that he might have missed the auction.

"Only a couple of hours. The sun hasn\'t gone down yet."

Wain nodded, "Why did you bring me here?"

"I wanted to talk to you. You\'re a guest, and you beat Zeta, that\'s never happened before, at least not to me. It was a great fight, frankly I didn\'t expect you to win even though I bet a lot of money on you."

"You like to take chances, don\'t you?"

Ern shrugged, "I couldn\'t do it. Otherwise, you bet so many souls, and it was a great gamble, and as you can see, I got lucky. By the way, here\'s your money."

The ring on Ern\'s finger glowed, and seven gray coins appeared in his hands.

"Hmm? What is all this? Where are my souls?" Wain frowned.

"What? You\'ve never seen Void Coins?" Ern wondered.

Wain shook his head.

"Some things can cost millions of Void Souls, and it\'s pretty inconvenient to keep that many souls and pay them off, so coins like this were created. One rank one Void Coin contains ten thousand Void Souls. You bet forty thousand and won thirty, so I\'m giving you seven coins." Ern said and threw the coins to Wain.

Wain caught the coins and moved them to the Ring of Damned.

"What did you want to ask me?"

"Nothing serious. I just want to talk to the winner, but while you were recovering, something changed. I\'m wondering why you\'re pretending to be an Elf. You\'re a human, right?" Ern said seriously.

Wain was silent. Ern exposed him. It was inevitable. He brought Wain here and poured some potions into his mouth, then Ern noticed that Wain\'s ears were not pointed, and Ern was not gullible like Feno that Wain could fool.

"Given your tone and expression, you know the answer to your question. Obviously, I\'d rather impersonate an Elf than tell the truth, it allows me to avoid unnecessary problems, but unfortunately not always."

"Yeah, I managed to expose you, but you did right to hide. The demons would have taken it very actively."

"Well, that\'s not surprising. Many of the Pillars fear or dislike the humans."

"Ah, you seem to have misunderstood me. If you said you were a human at the entrance to town, you\'d get so much attention that you\'d hardly be able to get out of the crowd until tonight."

"What?"

It was strange for Wain to hear something like that. He had long ago recognized that being a human was rather difficult on the relationship side of the races. Some considered them outcasts, some feared them, and some despised them. Some didn\'t care as much as vampires, which was the best option.

"Demons love the humans." Ern said, smiling, "Apparently, you didn\'t expect to hear that, but they do."

"That\'s actually unusual... but why do the Demons have this attitude toward the humans? It\'s strange to me. I\'m used to different things."

"I understand, but the answer is simple, and it\'s our nature. We Demons love the strong, the great, the significant, and epic stories. The humans are strong, and that\'s a fact, as well as you disappeared, which gives mystery to your image."

"So I better not hide my race in the Demon Cities?"

"That\'s for you to decide. An Elf won\'t get any attention from the Demons, but you\'ll quickly become very popular if you reveal your race. I\'d say it depends on your character."

"I see, then I\'d better keep being an Elf, I don\'t like extra attention, it doesn\'t suit me."

"Somehow, I was sure you\'d think so." Ern pointed at the meat on the table, "Help yourself, you need to regain your strength. I hope you\'re not a vegetarian. Otherwise, you wouldn\'t survive in Demon City."

"Demons like meat that much? This portion looks huge."

"Of course, we\'re the most important meat-eaters in the world."

The meat gave off a pleasant aroma of various spices, which gave Wain an intense appetite. He was hungry and proceeded to eat.