The Stadium

“Now, unlike the previous competitions, we get to see our beloved competitors working in pairs to solve puzzles while being assaulted by monsters!” King Oberon declares, feeling incredibly excited for the competition. “To see them playing what’s basically a game together, sending monsters to attack each other and delay them from-”

“Um, brother,” Nyx suddenly says, interrupting the king and bringing his slightly annoyed gaze towards her.

Before she even says anything though, he notices that the audience is going wild for something that isn’t his words. So he turns to look through the large cube that makes up the arena.

“I don’t think this competition is going to go how you want it, brother,” Nyx comments, sounding unnaturally calm. Almost like she’s suppressing how she would normally react.

King Oberon briefly glances at her to find suppressed amusement on her face that has his eyes narrowing. Then he finally focuses on the one competitor who could change the rules.

And when he sees her, all of the excitement deflates from his body, his jaw dropping open as he stares without saying a word. Meanwhile the audience continues going wild, apparently enjoying seeing their Princess break the Fae King’s spirit.

On the screen, King Oberon sees Scarlet and her cousin, Aria, casually walking through the walls of each puzzle room after destroying them with the Red Plague. Apparently not planning on bothering themselves with the puzzles.

“Is this even…” King Oberon begins, only to remember the exact winning condition that his mother set for the tournament.

To reach the end of the puzzle house first.

It never once said that they had to complete the puzzles.

And if they finish right away, then the ten minute countdown will start, ending the competition ten minutes after they pass to give a chance for second and third place victors.

But since ten minutes isn’t even enough time to finish the first puzzle…

The king stares blankly for several seconds before glancing at his contracted partner, the Demon King. Just to find the Demon King covering his mouth and casually looking away from him. As if he’s covering up his laughter.

He slowly turns back to the cube again, only to look up at the main screen that is now activating to show Scarlet as she casually walks from one puzzle room to another, destroying each wall without bothering with the puzzles. Even devouring all of the monsters inside to raise her level some more.

“I give up…” he eventually mutters, a hint of despair in his words. “The Red Plague is unfair and should be banned from this tournament.”

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“But Your Majesty,” King Arkaz of the Demons states, hiding a snicker behind his words, “your mother set the rules in place, and we can’t do anything about it.”

“Such a shame,” Nyx says, not even hiding her amusement anymore.

The Fae King looks between two of the most trusted people in his life before muttering, “Traitors…”

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Scarlet

So as it turns out, the competition didn’t take very long. We won within just a few minutes of starting it.

I even got quite a few levels out of devouring the monsters on the way to the end.

Although I swear the Fae King looks depressed. Or is that just me?

Tar snickers in my mind as he says, “It’s probably just you.”

But he keeps snickering like he was in the know about some joke that I’m not aware of.

Whatever. Doesn’t matter.

Although I do grow a little confused when I look over at Allen where he is sitting in the same place he has been in the previous competitions amongst the audience to find his fae seemingly talking to him, following which the man sends a sympathetic gaze towards the Fae King.

I frown and tilt my head slightly, wondering just what’s going on.

Which just has Tar snickering.

“Let’s just act like that competition didn’t happen,” King Oberon says without his usual bravado. Almost like he’s sulking.

Huh?

Okay, seriously. What is going on?

Tar just snickers without answering.

Then the description and rules for the next competition appear above our heads without King Oberon doing his usual blabbering about the fights and stuff in the competition.

I blink as I realize that there wasn’t really much for him to comment on. Aria’s idea of just going through the walls proved to work rather well.

Something not many people know about Aria is that she has a perfect, or near perfect memory. So she memorized almost the entire cube when the king showed it to us before, apparently not thinking it would matter.

And with that memory of hers, she just led me to which walls I had to break down and we eventually arrived at the end of the puzzle house.

It did, after all, say that we just had to reach the end. And doing it this way made it so that the others didn’t get any bonus points from clearing puzzles. Since they wouldn’t have had the time to clear puzzles.

So we ended up with the one hundred points while everyone else got nothing.

A rather nice turnout, if I do say so myself.

Tar continues snickering.

Okay, seriously. What’s going on?

He doesn’t answer, so I let out a huff and begin reading the rules for the next competition. Only to blink in surprise after doing so.

Interesting.

Tower Defense

Description: All of the competitors will be placed within their own towers. They will then be able to place a limited number of defenses around their tower, including traps and monsters to defend against the oncoming monsters that will be sent at them by the other competitors. All competitors will have a limited number of monsters they can send to attack other competitors without spending points, and all competitors will have a chance to be the tower defender.

Rules: Directly attacking other competitors is not possible. Directly participating in the attack yourself is not allowed.

Goal: Have your tower core survive the longest.

Rewards: First place gets one hundred points. Second place gets seventy-five points. Third place gets fifty points. And all competitors may keep the points they accrued throughout the competition.

Isn’t this just a tower defense game of sorts?

“I mean, it says it in the title of the competition,” Tar points out.

You know what I mean.