Scarlet

Silence fills the arena as the others approach. And it continues even after they reach me without any of them saying a word.

We all just kinda stare for several seconds.

Amelia finally breaks the silence by saying, “Well, that was fun to watch. I’ll just go find a corner to sit in for the rest of this.” Then she walks away under the surprised gazes of me and the others.

Huh.

A faint grin begins to grow on my face as a realization comes to mind.

And so, with absolute dignity and no shame whatsoever, I float into the air and form a large orb of Red Plague around me. Which proceeds to repeatedly devour the image of the crown that constantly disappears and reappears over my head.

Amelia was the only one who can actually nullify my Red Plague, so… if she’s not participating, why not just rest for the remainder of the competition?

“You’re shameless, you know that, right?” Tar comments from the in-between, not daring to appear thanks to the Red Plague that is dangerous even to him.

No idea what you’re referring to. I’m an innocent snowflake.

He starts coughing at that, but I choose to ignore him.

Instead of paying the traitor any mind, I look down below at the Knights who are all discussing amongst themselves about if they can even attack me. Meanwhile Xyvandra gives up right away and finds a corner of her own to take a nap. And Vorgrim walks away too, apparently feeling too thankful towards me to even think about attacking me, regardless of if he’d actually hurt me.

After those two, Purple is the next to walk away. Probably because she isn’t exactly a combat Guardian.

Which leaves Black, Blue, and Red. None of whom seem to know how to get rid of my Red Plague.

Not for the lack of trying either, since they all attack the Red Plague. But it doesn’t really result in much other than them burning their mana.

The only people in the tournament I know can erase the Red Plague are Leonidas, Amelia, and possibly Vorgrim. And two of those three decided not to do anything, while the last lost to me.

Also, something I found rather surprising was that very, and I mean very few people decided to go without the anti-death clause activated. To the point that I think only Amelia and Xyvandra did. Everyone else activated it. Even I did for this round, although that was at mom and dad’s insistence.

I went with it because I’m already in the lead anyways, so there’s no reason not to.

The boost is only a 1.1x multiplier though, so it’s not much of a difference. And the Red Plague has already left me very far ahead.

“Just be honest,” Tar suddenly says, making me narrow my eyes slightly.

Honest about what?

He snorts, “You just had it on because you wanted to fight Leonidas. And you knew he wouldn’t go all out if you didn’t have it activated.”

I stare up at the sky where I imagine the tanuki at for a few seconds before averting my gaze without responding.

“Thought so,” he says with a brief laugh.

So what do you think the next competition will be?

I can practically feel the judgmental stare he’s no doubt sending me right now from the void, but he answers anyways, “I can see it probably being some sort of team competition. It’s currently the fifth competition and we haven’t had any team competitions yet after all.”

Oh, right. I almost forgot that team competitions were a thing.

Uh, I honestly have no idea what I’ll be doing for those. I’m not exactly the best team player when I can accidentally permanently kill my teammates just from bleeding on them…

“That’s…” Tar mutters, pausing for a second, “…true…”

I really wanted to team up with Belle, Aria, Leonidas, and Amelia. A rather unbalanced team, but what the heck.

Then again, we don’t know how large the teams can even be. Don’t know any of the rules about the team competitions.

“Well, you can at least team up with them in the later competitions,” Tar points out. “The ones that aren’t combat competitions.”

True. No risk of bleeding on them in those.

I furrow my brows slightly.

That sounds wrong.

“It does,” Tar agrees.

I glance down at the three Knights when I hear them finally giving up entirely and just going to find their own corners. And then, just as you’d expect, the arena suddenly vanishes and everyone but me is teleported to their towers.

“And the winner of the competition is…” King Oberon trails off.

Huh? Why am I still here when everyone else-

“Princess Scarlet, would you mind removing that sphere of Red Plague?” the king awkwardly comments, apparently realizing that I’m not up on the tower.

Oh. Guess he can’t teleport me when I’m covered in Red Plague like this.

So I absorb it all before immediately finding myself teleporting onto the highest tower.

“And the winner of the competition is the Princess of the Demons, Apex Predator, Warden of the Red Plague, Bane of Corruption,” he briefly pauses to quietly mutter under his breath, “with a lot of Titles,” before finishing just as loudly and grandly as the first part, “Scarlet Art Asger de Archeron!”

I blink as the audience goes wild. But I can’t help but focus on the fact that he referred to Princess of the Demons as if it were a Title instead of just a title.

That’s not a Title. Then again, guess he could’ve just grouped it up with the others since it is still something I’m known as, even if it’s not an official System Title.

Either way, the audience continues going wild for a little while. All while King Oberon shows reruns of my battle with Leonidas on the main screen.

I just yawn, feeling emptied out of mana during this time.

Can I just go now?

Eventually the king finishes going on and on before he says, “And now we have the duels! But since our dear first place and her father went and gave us such a splendid show for the fifth competition, what do you all say about excusing them from judging?!”

My eyes suddenly open wide as my attention fully focuses on him. And when the audience goes wild with cheers, agreeing with that suggestion, I feel actual tears coming to my eyes.

“Then that decides it! Since they were the only ones fighting during this competition, they’ll be excused from judging duels this time around!” King Oberon declares, making me feel relief. “Now to get the duels started!”

Now to get some sleep.