Within the Artificial Universe created for the TournamentA few weeks later

King Oberon sighs as he looks out over the gathered fae royals. All his children.

He was prepared at the very beginning of the tournament for everything that’s happened. Both his mother finally showing her face, the looks of betrayal his own children send him now except for Elara, and the hatred sent his way by the contractors. All of whom had been lied to for a long time now.

And even though almost everything has been going according to the prophecy, according to plan, with the exception of the Void Assaults which were unexpected, he can’t help but feel unnerved by it all. By his mother. By the powerful being they’ve been forging as a weapon against the Voided Overlord. And by how easily he went along with everything just because his mother told him to.

A mother who is actually weaker than he is now due to her only being in a clone’s body.

He raises his head to look at the scoreboards high above every one of the fae royals. And at this point, he’s pretty sure Scarlet and Tarankar have the victory in the bag. Since they have nearly six thousand points while the others all only have almost five thousand, with there only being two more competitions left remaining.

But…

Oberon lowers his head to look at his gathered children.

…it could potentially end up differently. It all depends on Tarankar and Elara at this point.

The only one who could potentially catch up to him and Scarlet by now is his eldest child. The contracted partner of his own contracted partner’s son, Leonidas.

But will she even want to win? She knows what’s at stake. Of course, she could always decide that she wants to become the Fae Queen and in the end teleport the Wolf of the Blood Moon around across the universe, but would she really do that?

He’s noticed that Elara has been oddly motivated for a while now. Moreso than any of her siblings except for Tarankar.

And it’s confused him all the way till this point.

She won’t say a word about it when he asks, so he just leaves it be. But he really wants to know.

Eventually he just sighs and flies higher above the stadium, declaring, “The twenty-ninth and thirtieth competitions will now both commence. They are merged into one with a different scoring over the same actions. All of you will be given control over a territory within the Farshore to govern with no limitations or interference from myself. Each and every one of you will have ministers assigned by me who have sworn an oath to be fair and impartial judges attaching their soul to their oath as they rate you on how well you performed in two different areas. Neither of which will be explained before the competitions begin. Furthermore, the number of bonus points you receive during this month-long competition will be based on the score they give you, along with the victor of the competition.”A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

All forty-one fae bow their heads and declare simultaneously, “As you will it, Royal Father.”

Then King Oberon waves his claw, making each and every one of them teleport back to the Farshore, where they will be competing in this competition.

After a long and drawn out pause, he lets out another sigh, simply watching as the fae filling the stadium all head back to the Farshore themselves. And once they’re all gone, he turns his attention to a screen he makes that shows Scarlet as she lazes around on a throne made of blood metal floating high in the sky while playing chess with her cousin. Who is also floating next to her on a seat outlined in blood metal but has plenty of cushions on it.

“Are you having second thoughts?” King Oberon hears his mother’s voice ringing in his head, but he doesn’t turn around to look.

Oberon doesn’t say anything for a few seconds as he watches the two young girls playing chess. Then he eventually answers, “Yes.” He turns to look at his mother while the screen vanishes. “Don’t you worry about what we’ve done to the girl? Putting aside all of the traumas we’ve put her through, do you really trust her with all of that power? She could become just as bad as the Voided Overlord in the future. Even now she can eradicate entire planets without breaking a sweat. Should we really-”

His words are interrupted when his mother puts a finger to his mouth and quietly shushes him, making him go silent. And without a hint of regret in her voice, she says, “Better the demon you know. And we’ll still have a reality to live in with this one.”

That makes Oberon grit his fangs in the artificial body he’s inhabiting.

But he can’t say anything against that. Because it’s true.

While he feels remorse for everything that the girl has been through, he understands that it’s either that or the end of the universe and the Farshore and every other spirit realm if they hadn’t done what they had done.

There really is no victory in this situation…

Eventually he just sighs and asks his mother, “Did you ever figure out why the prophecy didn’t mention the Void Assaults?”

He’s been wondering about that for a while as his mother never mentioned a single word about them since they appeared other than what exactly they appeared to be doing. And even that was just to appease the humans and demons with an explanation.

She purses her lips for a second before backing away and answering, “It would appear that the Voided Overlord’s presence at the universe’s edge is beginning to warp time and space, veering things off of the direction of the prophecy. So we may be blind from here on out.”

That gives Oberon pause.

After several seconds of staring, he finally mutters a single word in shock, “What?”