Scarlet

“And Aria Knight has defeated Valla!!!” Black shouts, his voice echoing across the loud cheers of the stadium. “But will she be able to claim victory in the competition?! The other competitors have already defeated the Captain, leaving her behind on points!”

As if on cue, we all watch Aria immediately begin rushing through the maze killing one demon after another. Yet it’s pretty obvious what her actual prey is considering that she’s making a beeline straight towards the nearest competitor.

Then she slaughters them in an instant, clearly not having any issues with killing.

Huh. Wonder if my influence in this regard has been a bad one?

I watch as she runs around killing one other competitor after another for a while before shrugging.

Meh. Not entirely my fault. Considering how the world is.

This tournament is a thing after all.

Anyways, with the influx of points she’s kinda just stealing from the other students, she ends up back at the top. In addition to the points she got while accidentally slaughtering demons and other students in her battle with Valla, of course.

Because she did accidentally kill quite a few during that.

On another note, I glance down at the area near the base of the arena where already defeated competitors are sent. Or to be more specific, I glance at Valla, who looks… surprisingly calm.

Huh. Interesting.

From what I’ve heard, she’s had a one sided hatred of Aria for a while driven entirely by her inferiority complex to her. Since she’s always being compared to Aria in every single way, and often in a bad way.

My being Aria’s cousin and one of her guardians not really helping.

But she looks… a little startled but not upset right now. Almost like she’s trying to work through something right now.

The girl suddenly blinks before looking up and directly meeting my eyes, growing slightly startled when she realizes I’m looking at her.

Hmm. Good senses.

Out of curiosity, I glance towards Black and send him a telepathic message through his own blood. Or sorta telepathic. Since it’s technically through vibrating something to make a sound in his ear. Something I learned to do at one point.

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Was rather difficult to learn though. And required popping a lot of skulls on accident due to vibrating the wrong bit of blood near the eardrum.

Or I would just burst their eardrum.

The test subject void creatures didn’t seem to mind though.

Probably.

After seeing Black glance at me, then at Valla, then back at me before he nods, I snap my fingers, pulling Valla up into the air next to us as she lets out a yelp. Meanwhile Black shouts, “And it looks like we have a surprise guest up here! Welcome Valla! One of the two splendid fighters amongst the eighth graders!”

Cheers immediately begin echoing throughout the stadium, the people no longer paying as much attention to the competition. A competition that has pretty much just become Aria wrecking shop at this point.

Meanwhile Valla looks around rather obviously surprised for a bit before she grows calmer again and waves. Clearly used to the spotlight.

The only reason I was fine with bringing her up here as a surprise.

I float a little bit away from the two with my arms folded under my chest as Black manifests a mic in front of her and says, “So how did it feel battling it out with your rival in front of everyone, young Valla?”

The girl smiles a little and says rather confidently, “It felt… surprisingly good.” She turns her head to look down at the arena where Aria is still fighting. “I feel like I got a few things off my chest in the battle.”

Black grins and exclaims, “Oh? Then what do you feel about young Aria now?”

Valla glances at him before looking at me and nodding with respect as she says, “I respect her.”

The faintest hint of a smile appears on my face. Then Black backs up a little while spreading both of his arms out on either side of him, exclaiming, “And there you have it folks! The birth of a real rivalry!”

Incredibly loud cheers echo throughout the entire audience, and I let the girl bask in it for a couple minutes as the battle goes on down below. Then I snap my fingers again, sending her back down below to wait with the others again. Following which Black returns to his usual commentary.

There we go. That should help her image with the people.

I’d heard some people didn’t like her for how much she hated Aria. So after seeing that she didn’t seem to hate her anymore, I realized it would be helpful to her to get that clear to those people.

She never did anything to hurt Aria after all, even if she hated her. And she served as a good motivator for Aria to work hard. A good rival to fight with and train against.

I feel I owed her something for that at the very least.

And now that debt is paid.

I can tell the audience loves her.

After all, who wouldn’t love a respectful loser who had just fought a very tough battle that impressed everyone here? A person who can take the loss and move forwards while still respecting the one they lost to.

Still not entirely sure what caused that shift in her thinking though.

Might have to ask Aria about it later.

If I still remember this even happened later, that is.

Anyways, I watch Aria continue rampaging through the maze for a while before the competition finally comes to a close with her winning. But right when I’m about to teleport down to the podiums where she’s on the top level for first place, I feel a strange sensation coming from the entrance of the magical reality outside of the stadium.

Huh.

Guess he got it working there after all.

The corner of my lips quirk upwards before I focus on the podium again.

Well then, time to give little Aria her trophy.