Scarlet

The other competitors go by just as quickly as the first ones did, with the human competitors doing better on average than the demon ones. Which isn’t really saying all that much since the demon competitors outnumber the humans by a significant number. Not to mention that only around half of the remaining humans did better than the demons, likely having played tower defense games themselves.

Eventually it reaches the top rankers, beginning with the lowest ranked Knight, Purple.

And she does… terrifyingly well. She does better than Anthony, and I can’t help but reevaluate her because of it.

Is she a gamer and I never knew about it? Or did she just cheat with her divination?

Either way, she still loses out to Aria by about twenty seconds, even if she dethroned Anthony for second place.

Then after Purple is Black, who does just a little worse than Anthony. Still far better than the other demons and humans, but not good enough for the top three.

Next up is Red. And Red… I’ll just move on.

After Red is Blue, who does okay. Not top three though. A bit worse than Anthony.

Didn’t realize he was such a good tactician. Since I would be shocked if he actually played video games.

When I entered his tower before he didn’t even have electricity, much less video games.

After Blue is Vorgrim. Who does even worse than Red, which is saying something.

Two peas in a pod.

Although if either of them ever heard me saying that I’m pretty sure they’d try to pick a fight.

Next up is Xyvandra, who does better than Red, Vorgrim, and Black, but worse than Blue.

Then Amelia goes. And I would be disappointed if she does badly, considering how many games I’ve played with her by now. Even if most of those games were me dragging her around since she insisted on playing with me.

She did eventually get more into them herself though. Which was nice.

Always good to have a gaming buddy after all.

What she would think about me calling her a buddy, I’m not sure.

Once she arrives in her tower, I do feel mildly impressed with what she’s made of it. The tower itself is actually very similar to my own in structure, although she placed traps in a different way than I did.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

She seems to be going the monster spawner route. More expensive traps that repeatedly spawn monsters to be used in the defense of the tower, with a maximum number of monsters available. Meanwhile there are defenses and traps set up around those monsters to target any void creatures that get locked in combat with said monsters. And the monster spawner and defenses duo setup is at pretty much every entryway and exit within the building.

Lastly, the exterior parts of the tower have the same pushing traps that my tower has, along with a single teleportation trap at the very end right after the last set of monster spawners.

One that probably sends the void creatures back to the start or something.

No one really used the teleportation traps much. Probably because they are expensive.

King Oberon says something about him being surprised that Amelia has both brain and power, but I ignore him to watch the tower. And I’m pretty sure most of the other competitors are doing the same.

Unlike with Aria though, I do participate in trying to take down Amelia’s tower. Because we’ve already played tower defense games like this together before. Ones where you’re playing against another player and need to defend and attack the towers.

Also, while I consider Aria my family, my feelings towards Amelia and Leonidas aren’t that far yet. I’d say I consider them good friends at this point. Not really parents.

Gramps is different though. Gramps is Gramps.

I glance up to find said Gramps glaring down at the current tower, proving that he still dislikes Amelia just as much as before, curse or no curse. But when he notices me, he smiles and waves, so I just give him a nod and turn back to the tower again.

Come to think of it, if he’s been here this entire time, what happened to the moving the planet thing he was doing before? Did he just give up? Or did he move it far enough away?

Maybe he just trusts me to deal with the void creatures now?

Not really sure. I should probably ask him later.

Also, I think after the tenth competition would be a good time to finally deal with that last issue on Tartarus. Or issues, I guess.

I still need to wipe out the curses completely. Since, while I cleared the Sins curse from the demons alive on Tartarus right now, newborns are apparently still being born with the curse. Newborns I need to clear of the curse.

So to fully erase the curse, I need to use Bane of Corruption on a ritual scale.

Then there’s the technology curse as well. Which I never actually figured out how to remove, since I don’t have anything directly linked to the curse like the demons were.

Maybe if I search into the planet itself? Or something belonging to the Emperor who cast the curse?

Actually, maybe Gramps himself?

Guess I could just ask Gramps about it. He would know more about it than I could likely figure out on my own.

And it would certainly make things simpler, that’s for sure.

My attention returns to Amelia’s tower when some of the other demons begin sending a bunch of Class III equivalent breeders at her tower while surrounded by other weaker void creatures.

Hmm. One other issue with this competition that leaves the higher ranking competitors at a disadvantage.

The demons, who know nothing about this sort of game, learn from the previous competitors how to attack the towers. Which makes things harder.

Part of Aria’s success is also because she went so early one. Before the demons could figure anything out.

I continue watching Amelia’s tower while also sending my own void creatures at it all the way till the tower finally falls, leaving her beating Anthony and taking his place at third, but still losing to Purple. Something that still surprises me.

And next up after Amelia… is Leonidas.

Time to see how that old man will do.

I can’t help but grin from the anticipation.

This’ll be interesting.