"Way to go, you guys, you did great out there," Celia greeted the participants from the first competition with a smile, as they got teleported back to their waiting room.
She approached Raven, a relieved look on her face as she gave him a hug. He patted her head with a smile, as the others gathered around.
"We had a bunch of screens appear when the competition began, so we saw it all play out. Glad everyone made it out okay," Remarked Akila, right as Kora finally regained consciousness, letting out a dazed groan.
"Wha...? Where am I? What happened...?" She muttered groggily, before her eyes widened as she suddenly sat up with a start.
"Relax, we won. No need to panic," Raven informed her.
"Oh, I see...that’s good. There was a really powerful participant from one of the other teams, he had red hair and black blood-...," She began.
"Yes, the others defeated him," Chimed in Antel.
"Tch, I’m still pissed that we’re being forced to play along with this shit. What a fucking pain," Huffed Lexia irritably.
"Yeah, and considering that we all have to participate at some point, this really sucks...I wanna go home. I should’ve just skipped the party," Sighed Tacitus, right as Kilzachs suddenly appeared in the room, startling everyone.
"Hi, again. Let me start by congratulating you on winning the first competition. The win earned your team thirteen points, five for winning and eight bonus points for the four members you still had in play by the end, two for each member still standing. Pretty good stuff, it was almost a perfect win," He congratulated them with a smile.
"Why don’t we skip the pleasantries? I doubt you’re here solely just to praise up, am I wrong?" Responded Ravella dryly.
"Well, yeah, but I figured I’d congratulate you guys anyway. But fine, guess I’ll just cut straight to the chase. I’ll proceed with explaining the second competition of the tournament. I already picked out what it’ll be, and it’s essentially a race.
Once again, you’ll form a team of five to handle the competition, and don’t forget, you can’t pick anyone who participated in the previous competition. You’ll be dropped into a large, complex maze, and the goal is to be the first team to find and claim the goal, a jewel that I’ve placed in the very center of the maze.
Each of the five teams will start in a different spot in the maze, and to keep it fair, each of the starting points will be an equal distance from the goal. You’ll make your way through the maze and try to get to the goal first. The winning team gets fifteen points, no bonus points in this game, and the losing teams get nothing.
Once again, just like in the last competition, anything goes. You’re free to kill your opponents, that’s another way to win this. If four teams are fully eliminated, leaving only one team still in play, that team automatically wins. But that method’s pretty unlikely to work.
With the way the teams have been spread out, it’ll be a lot easier to head for the center of the maze rather than go after the other teams one by one. But then, feel free to play the game how you want, I’m not going to tell you what to do or what not to do.
Alright, I’ll give you half an hour to pick the five you’d like to tackle this second competition. Your team may be in the lead right now, while all the other teams are still on zero points, if any of them wins this, they’ll take the lead and push you guys down to second place. Anyway, best get to picking your team, I’ll be back shortly before the competition is set to start," Remarked Kilzachs, before vanishing from sight.
"A maze, huh? Well, that’s going to be tough...this competition could take a while," Frowned Rione, following a brief silence as everyone processed the information.
"Let me participate. My Magic is perfect for a maze, I’ll be able to head right to the center in a straight line," Volunteered Akila, a determined look on his face.
"Yes, it would be foolish to leave you out. I’d have liked for Raven to participate too, but unfortunately, that’s not possible...his strong senses may have proved useful in navigating this maze, but I suppose there’s no point in dwelling on what we can’t change. I think the Assassins among us should be well-suited for this challenge as well. So, that’s you two, Colt and Lexia, and I would like to ask you to participate as well, Nero," Remarked Jules, Nero giving her a nod as she glanced at him.
"Yeah, alright. I could use an opportunity to blow off some steam, anyway," Sighed Lexia, muttering to herself.
"Sounds good to me, this should be fun!" Grinned Colt, an eager look in his eyes.
"Alright, so that’s Akila, Colt, Lexia and Nero so far. We still need one more. Who’d be best suited among those that are still left?" Wondered Aster, looking around at the others.
"How about Ravella? She’s pretty stealthy too," Pointed out Raven.
"Hate to admit it, since that’s thanks to the Inquisitors’ training while I was brainwashed, but yeah," Ravella sighed in response.
"Alright, then it’s settled, we have our team for the next competition. While our main priority is survival, that Kilzachs guy will probably penalize us in some way if the five of you opt to just stay put in a one spot in the maze and wait out the competition instead of actively participating, so you have no choice but to try and win," Remarked Rione, after mulling it over.
"It’ll be fine, all I need to do is speed through the walls until I reach the goal, the competition will be over before any of the other teams even get close," Declared Akila with a thumbs up. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚•𝙣𝙚𝙩