Supremacy Games

It was clear that Captain Giovanni ordered that Felix must not set foot in the arena ever again whether he was innocent or guilty.

"What are you implying?" Felix knitted his eyebrows in displeasure, not liking where this was going.

"You have to drop out." Captain Giovanni said, his voice as solemn as ever.

The spirits feared going through the rebirth process since it might ruin their jobs or businesses.

No one would like to remain in a coma for months or weeks at minimum and they would avoid anything that might cause it.

So, if Felix dared to appear in his next games, only a decent number of brave or careless viewers would attune to the Colosseum live.

This was enough to ruin this year\'s tournament as a live audience was a must to keep the excitement alive.

"Are you ordering me?"

"No, as long as you haven\'t broken any rules, the government can\'t order you to do anything." Captain Giovanni changed his tone, "We are requesting you."

Felix placed his hand on his chin, seemingly finding it quite difficult to agree to his request.

\'I don\'t care about the championship title, but I must not show them that.\'

Meanwhile, his mind was processing the entire situation and seeing the best path to earn as many benefits as possible.

"My apologies, but I haven\'t worked my ass off all this time and invested close to half a million Lumus just to drop out." Felix declined the request. "Especially, when I eliminated Nebula, the ten times champion. If I dropped out, doesn\'t that mean other fighters will have a free chance to win the tournament at my expense? How is that fair?"

"This..."

"He got a point."

"I wouldn\'t drop out either."

Captain Giovanni\'s squad muttered among each other, showing indirect support for Felix\'s situation.

They knew that becoming a heavenly plane\'s champion meant more than just winning half a million Lumus.

First, the fighter\'s name would be registered in the history books.

Second, his reputation would skyrocket, allowing him more access to business opportunities as everyone would want to gain advantage of his fame.

Third, receiving permits from the government became much smoother.

There were many more hidden benefits, which would make any fighter do anything to become a champion.

"We understand how difficult our request is and we are willing to make up for all the lost benefits." Captain Giovanni assured.

"Such as?" Felix\'s ears perked up.

"You will be given the half a million Lumus reward in advance in addition to a written recommendation letter to secure the examination of any free governmental position related to the Law Enforcement Department."

Captain Giovanni finished with a confident smile, certain that Felix wouldn\'t reject their offer. Just the guaranteed half a million Lumus was a decent benefit, but the recommendation letter was the real deal.

In the heavenly plane, opportunities to enter the government were rare and finite...Yet, even when a governmental post frees up, not every golden spirit had the right to join the examination.

Each examination accepted a limited number of requests for spirits to enhance their chances of having their request stand out more from the pile, having recommendation letters and other achievements related to that governmental position helped a lot.

It was like pushing out an employment resume and the more remarkable details on it, the better the odds of being employed.

Yet, Felix still shook his head without bothering to even consider the offer!

"At the moment, I have no interest in becoming a governmental official." Felix chuckled emotionlessly, appearing quite menacing, "As you can see, I am still a red-colored spirit. My first priority is to become a golden spirit and I was planning to participate in multiple yearly tournaments to collect the needed resources."

"The only way for me to accept your plea is if you gave me enough Lumus to secure my color upgrade." Felix gave his demand at last.

What a demand it was!

Felix was legit asking for close to a million Lumus if not more depending on the intensity of his red color!

Yet.

"You have a deal...But, you must not participate in any other tournaments." Captain Giovanni agreed at once like such a price was nothing to him.

"I don\'t mind."

Felix extended his hand for a handshake, but he was dying inside as he felt like he could have gotten much more.

\'Don\'t get too greedy, there is a fine line between making an agreeable deal and extorting the government.\'

Felix got rid of those emotions almost immediately. He knew that the authorities could bear to pay a hundred times the price, but it didn\'t mean that they would allow themselves to be extorted.

Felix would rather maintain a positive rapport with the authorities as the moment he fall from its grace, it could be said that his stay in the heavenly plane would be over.

"I like you...You are sensible and strong enough to be part of our department." Captain Giovanni\'s expression finally broke into a warm smile as he shook Felix\'s hand, "I will still write the recommendation letter for you in case you desired to join our forces."

"It will be an honor." Felix bowed his head in appreciation.

"Good, I will call you if there are any openings. For now, it\'s best if you return to the capital as there is plenty of irate capable citizens who want a piece of you." Captain Giovanni advised.

"Will do." Felix nodded in understanding and asked, "Am I free to go?"

"Please, and thank you for your cooperation." Captain Giovanni extended his hand at the door.

Without further ado, Felix left the station and returned to his hotel room.

Felix opened the door to his hotel room, not expecting to find anyone inside. But there, seated on the plush couch, were Miss Sanae, Sekiro, and Karra. All looked up, their expressions a mix of concern and relief.

"How did it go?" Miss Sanae inquired with a solemn tone.

"It ended up for the best." Felix anwsered calmly, "I was proven innocent and struck a favorable deal."

"A deal? With the law enforcers?" Sekiro raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Having nothing to hide, Felix related the details of the deal, leaving all of them with mouths slightly agape in shock.

"You were really paid off by the authorities to drop out from the tournament?! Even Nebula wasn\'t offered such a thing after ten years of domination!" Sekiro expressed.

"I can see where they are coming from." Miss Sanae clarified, "Nebula might have been a force to reckon with, but she was still fighting in the boundaries of the arena. Meanwhile, Felix\'s abilities proven to be powerful enough to ignore the barrier and harm even the audience. The authorities can\'t be taking such needless risk by keeping him around as nothing guarantees that he won\'t do the same with another ability."

"It was much better to get rid of him than deal with the aftermath."

"That\'s true." Sekiro nodded in understanding.

"You also got a recommendation letter from a captain, it\'s really a good deal." Miss Sanae smiled in approval.

"I know, but there are no free posts at the moment, so it will be a while until I can take advantage of it."

"It\'s much better that way, with your current work in my bureau, the more cases you close, the easier for your applicant to stand out and be accepted." Miss Sanae grinned, "So, you better work extra hard on our cases."

"I still owe you a couple more cases, you don\'t have to mention it."

Felix\'s eyelids twitched, knowing that even if he had the necessary amount to upgrade, the contract stated that he had close a set number of cases before he could change his color!