Book 5: Chapter 44: The First Competition


    <strong>Scarlet</strong>


    The Fae King continues going through each and every one of thepetitors, introducing them one by one with each one getting less attention than thest. Simply because they arent as well known by the audience.


    And to finish things off, right after he introduces Anthony, that void creature hybrid guy, the Fae King ends with thestpetitor, the lowest level one of the bunch, <strong>Andst but certainly not least, Aria Knight! The daughter of the Blue Knight of Humanity, cousin of the Warden, and niece of the White Knight of Humanity! And her partner, Forty-Eighth Princess, Rowena! The former partner of The Reaper!</strong>


    Oh, right. I forgot about thatst part.


    The audience seems to grow confused at Arias age. Which makes sense to me.


    Aria is only twelve years old now. Shes not even a teenager and shes a Guardian and ispeting in the biggestpetition in our lifetime.


    Makes sense that people would be confused.


    The people who already know about her though arent confused. They cheer instead.


    Mostly humans, since the demons only know that shes my cousin. And they seem to feel conflicted about that.


    After Aria is lowered back down to our level, All of uspetitors are illuminated in crimson light and the Fae King shouts, <strong>Now let this tournament <em>begin!</em></strong>


    A massive screen appears beneath the first. One that looks like it changes orientation depending on the angle that you look at it, with the orientation being specific to you. So everyone can look at it and itll be based on their orientation for them. And on the screen itself, the title and set of rules for apetition shows itself to us all.


    <strong><em>Maze Escape</em></strong>


    <strong><em>Description:</em></strong><em> All Competitors will be ced within a massive maze where they will need to find their way out. There will be monsters scattered throughout the maze that will kill anything in sight, and there will be loot boxes scattered throughout the maze containing points.</em>


    <strong><em>Rules:</em></strong><em> Killing otherpetitors is allowed. Anti-death use is allowed. Killing monsters grants thepetitor one hundred points. Loot boxes grant points ording to their rarity. Common boxes grant one point, umon grants three points, rare grants five points, epic grants ten points, legendary grants twenty-five points, and mythic grants one hundred points.</em>


    <strong><em>Goal:</em></strong><em> Find and reach the exit to the maze.</em>


    <strong><em>Rewards:</em></strong><em> First ce gets one hundred points. Second ce gets seventy-five points. Third ce gets fifty points. And allpetitors may keep the points they rued throughout thepetition.</em>


    <strong>With the exception of the tenth, twentieth, and thirtiethpetitions, allpetitions will give out one hundred points for first ce, seventy-five points for second ce, and fifty points for third ce. They will also all have another way to rue points throughout thepetition, just like this one, </strong>King Oberon exims as the crowd begins to go wild for the description of the tournament. <strong>But dont just take the rules at face value, because <em>every </empetition has a hidden secret! One that youll have to find out for yourself, if you can.</strong>


    My eyes narrow slightly as I fold my arms and watch the King, only briefly ncing to find the smiling Demon King next to him waving at me. Then I look back to King Oberon, deciding not to reciprocate his wave.


    Its too serious right now.


    Thepetition is about to begin after all.


    I ignore the Demon Kings pout, the strongest being in the universe acting like a spoiled child, as King Oberon continues, <strong>These hidden secrets can be a hidden boss that can be defeated for bonus points, a hidden puzzle, secret loot box, or anything you can imagine. All of the hidden secrets will have some level of luck or danger involved, and they will all give arge bonus in points. So tread wisely, young ones.</strong>


    Interesting.


    The Fae King suddenly ps his hands, making all of the towers suddenly vanish while leaving all of uspetitors floating in the air. Then the arena of the stadium begins to shift until it bes a massive maze. One whose paths continue to rapidly change, showing us all that this is going to be harder than we thought.


    <strong>Oh, and I forgot to mention, </strong>Oberonments, sounding amused. <strong>But this maze rapidly shifts itsyout on a regr schedule. So memorizing theyout wont do you any good. </strong>I feel myself suddenly being teleported despite my Red gue clothing protecting me, proving just how powerful King Oberon is here. And without a moments notice, I find myself standing in the middle of a maze. Without even being able to find the location of the exit within the maze. <strong>Oh, another thing I didnt mention. The exit is in the form of a door randomly ced in the maze! Good luck finding it!</strong>


    Okay, seriously, what happened to this guy?


    <strong>He gets excited during things like this, </strong>Tar answers, sounding more than a little embarrassed.


    Uh huh, right.


    Anyways, I couldnt see anything useful while I was up there. And for some reason, what I did see feels blurry in my memories.


    <strong>Father probably put an enchantment over the maze so that thepetitors cant memorize anything about it before entering the maze, </strong>Tar exins as I look around at the moss-covered stone walls around me. <strong>The audience can see us fine though.</strong>


    Yeah, they wouldnt have a reason to be here if they couldnt. But that aside, theres something I kind of want to try.


    Tar appears in front of me with a confused look on his face. Until he reads my mind and understands what Im going to do.


    And to my surprise, he looks excited for it instead of the judgmental look I was expecting.


    Ah, looks like youre finally beginning to understand me.


    He snorts.


    <strong>Guess Ive spent too long around you, </strong>he says, making me smirk in response.


    Then I turn to face the wall and raise my fist closer to my face while transforming it into that of a beast and coating it with Red gue.


    Lets see if this works


    I pull my fist back and m it straight into the wall.