"You did it Kat, you won like me" said Green trying to awkwardly hug Kat around her wings. Kat laughed and wrapped her tail around in response.
"You've still done twice as well as I" said Kat
Green realising what she'd done looked around for a Gareth to hide behind but found that she was in the empty arena and bound tightly by Kat's tail so instead settle from shrinking into her outfit.
Kat laughed at Green's antics and pulled her along back to the group that was currently being lowered as the viewing boxes sunk back into the earth. As soon as they got within a metre of Gareth, Kat felt Green trying to escape her tail but decided against letting her go just yet.
Green pouted at this and tried to use her phasing ability to escape Kat's tail but found a great resistance when she tried. As Green was debating whether to force it or not Kat noticed the uncomfortable expression on her face and let, he go. Before Kat could blink Green was instantly behind Gareth, poking her head out just enough to keep an eye on everyone.
"Great Job Kat, bringing back a win is more than we asked for" said Gareth.
"It was no big deal" said Kat
"Yeah, with powers as strong as yours who even needs to try. Hell I bet I could have done just as good as you without all the crazy powers" said Kress
"I highly doubt as much. Even if you were disciplined enough to reject the offering of food, which you aren't, you would have failed to hold the water, burned your hands on even the first fire, possess no way to see through the illusions and I bet you would have instantly struck out at Jack in the finals. You had no chance" said Nixilei from the side, looking down at Kress looking over her glasses at him.
Kress clicked his tongue "I have plenty of enchantments on my armour, I can withstand the heat"
"Doubtful, that Jack managed to summon around 200kg of stone, which is rather impressive at his age. This was after summoning that defensive wall, and while it was clear he was using the stone in the surroundings it is not a feat a magical cripple like yourself could achieve" said Nixilei
"You want to say that to my face?" said Kress bringing out his sword.
"I just did" said Nixilei sigils flaring over her shoulders.
Gareth stepped in between them and gestured for them to calm down. "Now now, your both being unprofessional"
Nixilei immediately straightened up and inclined her head in Gareth's direction and dismissed her sigils to signal understanding, but Kress just pulled out his other sword and said "Our host clearly doesn't care for ceremony, and he loves a good show, why not give him one"
Kat could see Nixilei's eye twitching and if she looked closely could see sigils glowing on her robes unmoving in the face of Kress' continued provocation. Green took this as her cue to hide behind Kat, because Gareth was in the middle of the fight and she was unwilling to stand her ground.
"You don't mind if I hide behind you right?" asked Green who suddenly appeared behind Kat.
"Sure go for it" said Kat who proceeded to wrap Green in her tail once again and use the end to pat Green's head.
"Now Kress, I do hate to pick sides, but Nixilei's just correct here ya know? This was a challenge, for mages, of which you are not. Is it really such a big deal to say that our swordsman couldn't complete a mages challenge? Do you think Kat can wield a sword?" asked Gareth
"Well she can't use magic either, so how would I know?" said Kress
"You of all people should considering you lost in that spar" said Nixilei
Kress swung his blades aiming past Gareth at Nixilei threatening to cut her straight down the middle. Of course, Gareth wasn't the team's defender for nothing. Raising up he shield and empowering it with mana he expertly caught both blades and deflected them with minimal effort
"Don't let it get to you Kress, it was an unofficial spar, you held back in, it didn't matter. We are teammates" said Gareth emphasising the word team "Fighting amongst ourselves is doing us no favours"
Kress grimaced at this but left his swords resting in the dirt where they had ended up but didn't let them go, and was keeping them ready and his muscles tensed
"He's lying you know" whispered Green even quieter than normal, confident Kat could hear her after the earlier display with Skye and Dusk "Gareth likely knows, but is ignoring it and Nixilei certainly knows, but he was more than trying to beat you in that fight and it wasn't even close"
Kress felt his nose itching for some reason and decided to put his left sword away to scratch it but still held the right at the ready "Still, I am an honourable gentleman and I cannot allow my pride to be dismantled like this"
"Ah yes" said Nixilei "The pride of attacking a healer. One that's been caring for you for years"
"If this is what you call care, I'd hate to see your enemies" spat Kress readying his other sword again.
Just as the argument looked to explode once more a booming voice sounded out "Might I have everyone's attention? It is time to spin the wheel once again"
Thyme gestured to the wheel that had sprung up beside him, though this time it had an additional question mark symbol on it "I've added one more option, that will have some crazy effects for our second last game. Though I'll tell you all about it if we actually land there"
Thyme yanked hard on the wheel it started to spin wildly. Thyme split into five and which each took out drums and started to roll dramatically, speeding up as the wheel slowed down.
About a minute into the spinning the wheel had slowed down a fair amount but was still nowhere close to being fully finished if the past events were anything to go by. Nevertheless the Kress took a step forward away from the group.
"Kress what are you-" Gareth was cut of as Kress reached into his boot and pulled out a knife, and in one swift motion threw it towards the target.
Kat watched the knife sail through the air in a perfect arc, using a bit of her demonic power she could see that it would be perfectly on target. Thyme also saw this and rapidly increased the speed and volume of the drums until…
The dagger impacted the board impaling the wheel and stopping it in it's tracks splinters of wood. Bits of wood flew everywhere as the dagger stopped the wheel on the picture of crossed swords. Kat narrowed her eyes at this though. *I doubt Kress is really strong enough to break anything that Thyme made.*
"Well, it seems somebody has taken it upon themselves to volunteer their role for the next round" said Thyme seemingly angry
Kat enhanced her eyes and saw her that wherever the splinters might have come from it wasn't the dagger. The wheel itself had opened a small gap to allow it to pass through and pin itself to the backboard supporting structure. *Thyme certainly planned this he isn't angry at all.*
Though it seemed a lot of the others missed this as the God Crushers all paled, along with Skye's team. Grace seemed to have noticed but didn't warn the rest and while Green seemed to have noticed that didn't stop her remaining in her hiding place behind Kat.
"The rules just say where the wheel stops. You never said anything about interference" said Kress
"Well then, think your clever I suppose" said Thyme… letting literal venom drip from his mouth and burn away some of the grass at his feet.
A tense moment pass before Thyme's smile brightened "Because you are exactly right. I'm so glad someone managed to take advantage of that"
"Because of you ingenuity and courage I'll be doing a special challenge for you all" said Thyme.
The wheel sunk into the ground swiftly as the Thyme's merged back together. Once together they all stretched up and kept increasing in size as a podium formed in front of Thyme. A wall formed behind Thyme. It was made of the same stone-like wood the maze was, but adorned with four black boxes.
Thyme reached into its pocket and pulled out a large black bomb. The contestants only had a moment to stare before Thyme lit the fuse and through it straight up into the air.
As it left Thyme's hand it sailed for only a few moments until it reached the top of the wall. Exploding in a shower of confetti and streamers the smoke formed into four massive words.
THYME'S
TOURNAMENT
QUIZ SHOW