Scarlet

I float right up next to the large screen, which is currently showing just me as the entire sky above me is covered by a literal ocean of blood, giving everything a red tint as the sunlight shines through the blood. And it’s not just the sky I cover in blood. I make a massive cage around the entire stadium just from blood. Not materialized blood, but real blood.

Within the massive amounts of blood everywhere, I proceed to create creatures out of the blood. Creatures that begin swimming through it, occasionally peeking their glowing crimson eyes out of it to look at the crowd down below.

Then I make a large throne made out of pure blood metal and sit on it with a smirk on my face before directly taking control of the blood of every last person in the stadium that I can take control of. Which is most of them. All but Gramps basically. And Nyx.

“I am the Ruler of Blood, the Warden, and I am back,” I announce, still grinning.

I hold everyone still for a few seconds before erasing everything I just manifested in an instant and letting go of everyone, making a wave of gasps echo throughout the stadium.

Then the gasps are replaced with roaring cheers as I float downwards towards the tower that’s located at the very center of all of the towers. The one meant for the current top ranked competitor.

Nyx stays silent for longer than I was expecting, simply giving the others who were watching over me time to arrive. And once they do arrive, she finally says, “Now that the showoff and her family are back, let us begin with showing the rules for the fifteenth competition of the Fae Ascension Tournament.”

As if nothing had just happened, she snaps her claws, and the rules appear high above the stadium for all to see.

System Quiz

Description: All of the competitors and their fae will be placed in a booth inside of a large hall, where the tournament host will be asking ten questions about the System.

Rules: Anything goes. Anti-death clause is allowed. Either the fae or competitor may answer. However, each one may only answer once per question, giving each team of competitors two chances to answer every question.

Goal: Answer the most questions correctly and first.

Rewards: All competitors will be awarded with ten points for each question they answer correctly. Meanwhile the top three teams will be rewarded with one hundred points, seventy-five points, and fifty points apiece. These rewards are cumulative.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I stare blankly at the mention of a quiz as Tar lands on my shoulder, apparently having discovered that my new clothes are made out of metallicized Red Plague rather than normal Red Plague. Albeit softened metallicized Red Plague so that it doesn’t feel like I’m just encased in metal. Which is safe for him to touch without me having to move it from him.

“This round of the tournament will be a quiz,” Nyx says, making me more than a little irritated. But I guess I should’ve expected this. Considering that it’s not a combat competition.

None of the remaining competitions are combat focused ones.

Which makes my new powerups a little awkward since I won’t be able to use them.

“I think this round is rather self-explanatory, so let’s just begin,” she says, startling me with her abruptness before I find myself appearing in some sort of two-part booth with a buzzer in it.

“That’s just how my aunt is,” Tar says. “She’s been doing that for every round now. Probably because she doesn’t want to be doing this.”

Very different from her brother.

And for some reason, the fact that I actually like that about her gets on my nerves even more.

“Why do you dislike her so much?” Tar asks, sounding rather curious.

I’m honestly not sure. It’s just that something about her feels… off. Like it’s fake. Like she’s fake in general.

I didn’t feel this way until after I woke up from that short coma, so maybe it’s just me not feeling at my best right now or something?

Something just feels wrong about her.

“Hmm,” Tar hums for a second before saying, “well, let’s just focus on the tournament for now.”

Right. Good plan.

Unlike most of the competitions of the combat side of things, this one lets us hear the audience. Even though we can’t see them.

Although when Nyx begins to talk, the volume of the audience decreases as if someone was pressing a button on a remote, “Everyone will have five minutes after I ask each question to answer. No one will be able to hear each other’s answers other than the audience. And the audience will be muted until after you answer during each round. If you don’t answer during the round, you don’t get your points. Simple as that. Now let’s start.”

I blink at that before frowning.

Then Nyx glances around at each of us, the sounds of the audience slowly going away until it’s dead silent in the hall. And with a monotone voice, she asks, “Why did the Fractures initially appear?”

Wait… huh?

Is that even a System question?

One of the other booths lights up, making me glance over. But I can’t tell what they’re saying as their face becomes blurred when I look, and not a single word they’re saying comes to me.

It sounds like they’re wrong though considering the red light that shines from their booth before it goes dark again.

Is Nyx also muted during this time?

Well, whatever.

Why did the Fractures initially appear… was it the hypothesis both the humans and demons came up with?

Another light flashes from a different booth this time, only to go red again soon after before going dark. Meaning another team got it wrong.

If it were as simple as a public hypothesis that pretty much everyone here should know, then they’d have gotten it right by now.

And… this is a quiz over the System.

Then does that mean the System was involved in the Fractures somehow despite the evidence pointing otherwise?

“I… don’t know…” Tar mutters.

If it’s true, that would be… hmm.

Is this quiz really just to quiz us?