Scarlet

To my pleasant surprise, and apparently King Oberon’s displeasure, the ninth competition is a very simple one, and very similar to a competition that we’ve already had a little while back.

This competition is to hit a wall as hard as you possibly can. But unlike the last time where we could only use our physical strength, this time we can use only our magical or mental strength. Mental being for those mental attackers amongst us. Meaning that one mental attacker. Seeing as there aren’t any more than that single one amongst the forty-one competitors in this tournament.

“Forty competitors,” Tar says, making me frown in confusion. “You killed one yesterday.”

I blink at that before tilting my head, still confused.

“While you were asleep in the eighth competition, a Rogue tried to assassinate you,” he says rather nonchalantly.

And you didn’t think to wake me up… why?

He just gives me a mental shrug through our bond from his place in the void as he answers, “He was already dying by then.”

Oh.

Well… that’s awkward.

He hums in agreement.

I stare ahead as the other competitors all approach the wall and take their turns hitting it with some rather powerful magical attacks. And the one random mental attack.

The one mental attack being from Xyvandra. Considering how the other mind eaters were all too lazy, so apparently the fae royals avoided contracting with them.

And this time around, Amelia scores above Vorgrim and Xyvandra, and even slightly above Leonidas. Which is a very interesting surprise.

I knew she was powerful, but I didn’t realize her magic was that powerful.

Then again, her magic is null magic. Enough said.

Well, anyways, I continue waiting for the others to do their turns before stepping up to the wall as the very last person. And after stopping about five meters away from the wall, I begin to float up into the air before turning my entire body into Red Plague and spreading out. Then I send all of the Red Plague making up my body in a constant loop, going faster and faster as I pick up more and more speed.

All while making sure not to splash any on the spectating competitors and thereby killing them, of course.

Once I feel I’ve built up a sufficient amount of momentum, I begin activating one skill after another to boost my attacking power. And just because the rules don’t ban attacking the other competitors, I go ahead and activate Power Drain as well just to drain them of some of their life force and mana to put into this attack as well.Stolen novel; please report.

Because why not go big?

Then I release everything all at once, slamming into the wall… and shattering it to pass through the wall and straight out of the stadium through the sky.

“And there she goes!!!!” King Oberon declares as if commentating on one of those old world baseball game sports things. “A homerun straight outta the park!”

After that I get too far to hear him anymore, only barely managing to stop myself before awkwardly beginning to fly back down towards the stadium. Which, I’ll admit, takes longer than I would’ve preferred.

Actually, now that I think about it, why does the Fae King even know about baseball?

Tar stays silent.

Please tell me the King of the Fae hasn’t been snooping around on Earth’s old world sports recordings.

“The King of the Fae hasn’t been snooping around on Earth’s old world sports recordings,” Tar says, making me sigh with relief. “Father’s been copying them and showing them to all of the fae for entertainment.”

That almost has me stopping midflight right when I’m almost reentering the stadium. But I manage to continue, albeit with a very judgmental look sent towards the Fae King.

Also, I never actually learned what my points were for that. Other than the fact that I won the competition.

The king continues speaking once I’m back at my tower with my arms crossed and a scowl on my face. But he doesn’t really explain that, making me believe that he already did the usual spiel while I was flying back.

“And now we are finally moving onto the last of the combat competitions!!!” King Oberon declares, making the audience go wild with shouts and cheers of excitement. “We have the tournament!”

As soon as he says that, the rules of the next competition appear above us.

Knockout Round

Description: All of the competitors will be randomly paired together for a tournament with four rounds. The first three rounds will each be elimination one versus one rounds, with the fourth and final round being a battle royale between the last five remaining competitors.

Rules: Anything goes. Anti-death clause is allowed. Competitors may surrender if they so choose.

Goal: Win the tournament.

Rewards: All competitors will be awarded with twenty-five points for winning the first round, fifty points for winning the second round, one hundred points for winning the third round, and three hundred points for winning the tournament as a whole. These rewards are cumulative.

“There will be no more combat focused competitions after this one!” King Oberon declares, his wings spread out to his sides. “It is the peak of the combat competitions and will grant the most points out of all of the competitions so far, just like every other tenth competition within the Ascension Tournament! Now are you ready!?”

The roaring of the crowd immediately hikes up a notch.

“Aaaaarrrrreee yoooooouuuuuu reeeeeaaaaadyyyyy!!!!” King Oberon repeats himself, and the crowd immediately goes absolutely berserk.

Wow. Someone’s certainly getting into this.

“Yep,” Tar mutters, sounding slightly embarrassed for his father.

But the crowd doesn’t seem to feel that way, so…

“Then let us begin!” the king continues while waving his wings once more, replacing the rules with what looks like a large tournament bracket but with silhouettes instead of people’s faces in each of the brackets. “How about we make each matchup a complete surprise until the actual battle?”

The crowd continues to roar their excitement. Excitement that only seems to be building with this little cliffhanger he left them on about who is fighting who.

“Now, to start things off…..” the Fae King says as the very first bracket on the top left corner of the screen moves to fill the entire screen, pushing the rest away. “It’s time to reveal our first two fighters!”