D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

"Ok, yes, that's what I'll do. Thank you for the input Kat" said Thyme. "Let me just dismiss the illusion around you, and can you stand slightly more too the left? Great right there"

With Kat is position Thyme dismissed the spell on everyone else and continued to speak "Thank you for giving me that moment. Now, as I was saying, we are going to be starting the final round, which I've changed rather drastically from tradition. Normally it'd just be a round robin tournament with each time fighting against each other, but I decided that was boring.

"Instead, we are going to compete in a large free for all" said Thyme spreading their arms out and waiting for a reaction. When mostly confusion was forthcoming the explanation continued. "Right, so, I'll be splitting you all up and dropping you off at random locations in an arena I've made somewhere else

"The goal is to survive to be the last one standing, or alternatively an orb will spawn, somewhere near the centre of the arena. Up to four people can activate it, to transport them to the second round. Here is the catch though, the orb cannot be used by two people in the same team. So, your best bet is to team up with some others from the enemy teams.

"Getting to the second stage will net your team some points as well as a special reward prepared by my personally. The final battle will then be another free for all, in a small arena, with the last man standing being declared the winner. Winning the second round only nets you points for the tournament overall

"Now, I'm before the round officially begins, I'll be giving you a chance to speak amongst yourselves. Once everyone is done speaking, I'll commence the teleportation. When you arrive you will be inside of a tree. This is for your protection. You can knock on the wall three times and it will open up, or if you try to wait for more than five minutes, you'll be kicked out automatically.

"It shouldn't be a major concern, you'll all be separated by quite a distance, you see, I may have commandeered an island for this little challenge of mine, so I have to make the most out of that space. Oh, and it might be just a smidge later in the day when you arrive, the island is pretty far from here.

"So obviously no questions, right? Good? Good! Oh, and while your chatting it will be in soundproof bubbles, we have a few contestants with ears a bit too good" said Thyme as they summoned a small sigil, and covered everyone in a transparent dome, with little blue lights around the edges to mark the limits of the soundproofing

Well, that was quite a lot to get handed to me at once, and I got extra time compared to the others. Kat looked around for some indication of what the others were feeling but it was hard to tell. Green was still hiding behind her, Gareth had a rather neutral face, Kress was still angry but that was probably related to the dress. And Nixilei looked the same as she always did.

Kat let her gaze rest on Gareth hoping he'd have some input but it was actually Nixilei who spoke up first. "So Kress, about th-"

"Not. One. Word" said Kress

"It-" started Nixilei "I said. Not. One. Word" said Kress.

"Nice dress" said Green and Kress whipped around and drawing the swords that had been returned to him towards Kat and Green. *Green don't get me involved in this.* When a wall of earth appeared to block Kress strike.

"Enough, and we'll ignore the dragon in the mountain for now" said Gareth glaring pointedly and Nixilei. Kress let out a huff of air but didn't say anything else.

"Now, is there anything we need think about for this event? We aren't really able to work with each other, so I'm not sure why we've been giving so much time to speak" said Gareth

"I-" started Nixilei once again until Kress turned their swords on Nixilei. In response Nixilei summoned three sigils of her own and kept speaking "I" Nixilei glared down at Kress daring him to interrupt "Believe it's because we aren't necessarily unable to work together"

"Elaborate" said Gareth

"Well, the orb can be used by four people total, and they have to be from different teams, but there is nothing stopping us wiping out everyone else on the island first and then picking someone from amongst us to go to the second stage by themselves" said Nixilei

"Yeah, but that idea's shit" said Kress

"Correct" said Nixilei

"Wait what?" said Kress

"Well, if we did team up, the others can very easily team up against us and then share three spots. In fact, because we are currently in the lead points wise for the overall tournament it is even more likely that given the chance, especially if we meet up as a group, the others will collapse on us" said Nixilei

"Do we care though? We can probably beat them all" said Kress

"Sure, maybe we can" said Nixilei "But the problem is, can we beat them all and prevent one of them sneaking off to grab the orb, or even a couple of them? I'm not quite sure how this orb mechanic is supposed to work, so maybe there is a big time limit on the whole event and they can just stall us"

Kress great his teeth "Dammit your right. So what do we do?"

"Well, first things first I recommend you find an alternative to that dress" said Nixilei and Kress threw his sword in response which was quickly slowed by Nixilei's spell who then grabbed it as it fell.

"I'm giving you serious advice here" said Nixilei tapping the sword against her hand "You have no idea if you will have your clothes returned when we teleport, and you can't run around a deserted island in dress shoes and a ball gown"

This didn't help to diminish Kress' anger, but when Kat looked at his eyes, she saw a small glint of fear as they darted between the sword and Nixilei. *What is going on here?*

"Nixilei's right, whatever else that's probably something you should work on Kress" said Gareth.

Kress growled in response but didn't say anything. Nixilei continued "The second main point is what do we do when we encounter each other. We could fight, or just calmly leave the area instead heading in opposite directions and will this change if we have people with us. Let's say I've teamed up with Grace and we both run into Kat. What is the plan of action?"

"Hmmm" mumbled Gareth "I see your point. I think if everyone is alone running should be the best option. Maybe a short discussion but nothing more, we don't want to give the others a reason to gang up on us"

"I say we fight, who cares if it's two against one. If I have to fight them both I'll go for it" said Kress

"I'll run regardless I think" said Green

"Of course you'd run, that's about all your good at" said Kress

"At least she won her event, oh wait, she won two events. How many did you manage?" asked Nixilei

"Ha, I could have done just as well in her events if not better. Just because I got stuck with that stupid quiz" said Kress who suddenly felt a shiver down his back. Kat looked past Kress and saw time staring at his back.

*Note to self, the noise cancelling enchantment doesn't stop Thyme.* "How would you have gotten through those knives? Plus could you honestly say your as fast as Green when she was navigating the maze" said Nixilei

"I'd just fight them all and steal the orbs. All Green had to do was run" said Kress

Gareth slammed his gauntlets together and spoke "Guys, stop it. We need to make sure we know the plan going into this. Stop getting side-tracked"

"Look" said Kress "Thyme said this event was a free for all, and I intend to treat it as such. I'll attack whoever approaches me and I'll beat them, it's just that simple. Do we really need a convoluted plan thought up by the pixie?"

"Kress, despite everything this is a team event" said Gareth

Kress sighed. "Look man, you're overthinking this. We're stronger than them. We know we're stronger, and if we just take out everyone we see nobody can stop us. It's really just that simple"

"Honestly" said Nixilei "He isn't so far off. Sure we can come up with a few plans, but at the end of the day it will come down to our fighting prowess. As long as it isn't us against all of them, we should have no problems"

Gareth shook his head "If that's really how you both want to play this"