Scarlet

Not long after the roar, I see a large minotaur-like monster from old world Earth mythology charging down the maze corridor while roaring. The thing just plain looks like a humanoid bull, with a bull’s head, bulls legs, and fur over a humanoid torso and arms.

To be honest, the only thing it’s missing from old world Earth myth is a tail.

Wonder why?

I float slightly into the air as the thing lets out a huff of visible air from its nostrils before I identify the thing. Only to find my lips pursed afterwards.

Huh.

<|{Guardian} – Maze Guardian – Level 1933|>

Okay. So I’m not the only one seeing this, right?

“You’re not,” Tar answers.

Right. Thought so.

This minotaur is as strong as if not stronger than the Demon Lords.

“Appears so,” Tar comments as the minotaur begins charging towards us while making a sound that’s a mixture of a roar and a bull’s moo.

I watch the thing for half a second, finding it moving so fast that it’s almost just a blur with the ground beneath it actually cracking in its charge. Then I raise one hand and let out the Red Plague, causing a flood of it to fill the tunnel, sweeping away the minotaur in an instant until it crashes into the next bend in the corridor. At which point I stop it from proceeding further. Meanwhile it attempts to eat through the walls and floor of the maze until I stop it from doing so.

The minotaur on the other hand… wait, really?

I frown as I realize that it’s already dead. Just utterly devoured by the Red Plague.

Huh.

“I told you the combat portions of the competition aren’t going to be any trouble for you,” Tar says in an ‘I told you so’ voice.

Yeah, guess so. But I still won’t be using it against other competitors unless they have death allowed.

Not only do I not want to kill indiscriminately, especially now that the war is over, but I also don’t want to waste our combat potential that could be used against the void creatures. And I don’t want to kill family, obviously.

Well, minotaur aside, I pull my Red Plague back into my body, to the Red Plagues displeasure. And I quickly feel the reality energy and life force of the minotaur filling my body, followed by several level-ups.

A grin stretches across my face.

Okay, I could definitely work with this.

Tar lets out a sigh as I begin flying through the air of the maze.

The Main Stadium

“Dear Brother,” Nyx says, her sweet voice echoing out over the silence of the stadium as most of the audience stares at the red ash covered maze corridor the Warden had left behind. “Would you mind explaining to me how a mortal is able to control the most dangerous plague in existence?”

Oberon scratches his chin with his claw before shrugging and saying, “You know how mother’s System works. No one can control someone’s potential. All the System does is guide you to fulfilling that potential.”

His sister stares at him for several seconds, only to eventually sigh and turn to look at the large screen again, where Scarlet can be seen flying through the maze with ease. Doing what she can only assume is searching for more of the maze guardians to devour.

We really are just trading one disaster for another, aren’t we… just that one of them is sapient and the other isn’t.

The Elder princess lets out a slow sigh at that as her brother quickly explains to the audience everything about the Red Plague.

Or at least, everything except that it’s currently making directly for Earth, targeting the Princess. And that the Princess is the only one that can save them.

Nyx watches the blood lycan princes for a while, ignoring her brother’s explanation all the way until the screen moves to show other competitors, many of whom are fighting with or running from the maze guardians.

Most the latter rather than the former.

The only people Nyx finds fighting with the maze guardians instead of running are the ones Titled Knights of Humanity and Demon Lords. Ignoring the lunatic going around hunting them down to level up.

Something that shouldn’t even be possible. To level up from the monsters in this universe.

Just another broken and terrifying aspect of the Red Plague. It’s simply devouring the energy mother used to make the monsters in the first place.

“Is this even still a competition at this rate?” Nyx mutters as she watches the Warden’s point count raise with each and every monster kill she makes.

Her brother shakes his head out of the corner of her eye and answers, “This is why there are three types of competitions. And the Red Plague won’t help her in the duels.”

Nyx turns to look at her brother with a frown as she asks, “Why not?”

He just keeps staring down at the maze beneath them, ignoring the screen to look directly at the Princess in question. And after a few seconds, he answers, “Because at the end of the day, she’s a good person.”

Nyx frowns at that answer, finding it difficult to understand.

If you have the power, why should you hold back from using it?

Her brother just glance at her with a sad look on his face and answers her unspoken question with a simple statement, “Remember why I was chosen to be the next King instead of you? This is similar.”

That has Nyx frowning harder, only for her to sigh and decide that it’s not something she can understand.

Emotions and empathy were never her strong suit after all.

So she refocuses her attention on the competitors down below, trying to find one that interests her and eventually locking onto a mindeater. One of the Demon Lords. And a powerful one to boot.

The Demon Lord is simply lying still within the dungeon as illusions move all around her, with more rushing through the dungeon. But unlike normal illusions, these can actually interact with things.

She looks interesting.