Chapter 724

There was a few more minutes of discussion before they presented the idea to Thyme, and it was immediately accepted, contingent on the ‘Men With Hats’ agreeing of course. It took another five minutes for them to signal time they were ready to drop the silencing barrier though. Irwin stood up as the clear spokesperson. “We are willing to engage in a martial contest if a few concessions are met...”

Thyme raised up a hand, halting the speech, to interject their own, “Before that. Your competitors suggested a basic fight, with the twist that each team is able to add five additional rules to the fight. This way you can both try and customise things to your hearts’ content. I think it’s a good suggestion and not too in favour of one team or the other. Are you willing to agree?”

Irwin smiled at the offer. He couldn’t help but be amused by how things had turned out. It wasn’t quite what they wanted but it did sound interesting, much more so, then just a basic brawl. “Sure just give me another few moments to confirm...” Thyme nodded and the barrier went up once again.

What followed was mostly just a round of confirmations. Kevin still wasn’t terribly happy with the idea, but was more in favour then he was before. Merick had changed from ambivalent to very interested with the newly suggested format. So it didn’t take long to confirm they were happy with the idea.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The barrier dropped and Irwin announced, “We accept!”

Thyme nodded and clapped their hands. The two balconies with the ‘losing’ teams were retracted disappearing into the walls as the stadium started to rumble. Kat and crew were moved slightly to the right, while the other team was moved to the left so that they were now opposite each other. The stadium floor rumbled, swapping to a lacquered flooring before Thyme split in two.

One Thyme had a big hat that looked like an impression of Yggdrasil. It had water flowing out of various holes and a few branches, clouds orbiting the construct after about the midpoint. Various little homes, or at least windows with lights shining from them, and a series of pulleys and levers connected to platforms with figures of little Thyme’s on them. This Thyme was actually facing Kat.

.....

On the other hand, the Thyme facing the ‘Men With Hats’ had turned completely red, a spade tipped tail much like Kat’s swung from their back. They had stiletto heels on that seemed to come out of carapace that was covering their legs as if it was boots, even though they looked to very much be part of Thyme. A closer inspection revealed it to be black bark designed to look like chitin, but Kat doubted anyone else could notice, especially with Green asleep.

They had a form fitting blouse on that made it hard to tell if Thyme was going for a male of female body. Their was the slightest hint of breasts but that could just as easily be pectoral muscles, and considering the lithe but chiselled arms that Thyme had showing it just confused the matter more. Especially because the chitin legs hid any muscles they might contain, looking completely smooth.

An androgynous voice sung from both Thyme’s mouths as they spoke the next words. “For the final, and tiebreaker round, we will have a contest of strength. A match to end all matches. It is a match, designed by YOU my dear competitors.

“The standard rules start off like this. Five vs Five, ring size of 100m diameter. You can’t be knocked out of the arena. When you are rendered unconscious that is the end.” Thyme threw up their hands, both sets of them, and gestured all around, “But that’s just the beginning. I will now present each team the chance to add their own rules. You will be able to add one, rule before swapping to your competitors.

“If you suggest something that isn’t one rule but two, I will take the first part of the rule as your answer, and then ask your competitors if they want the second rule or not. If they allow it, it will count as your next turn as well, giving your competitors the chance to add to rules in a row. If they disallow it, it will become a negative rule. A rule that cannot be imposed. So make sure you’re all careful with your wording,”

Thyme smiled a sly slightly seductive smile. It looked very weird to Kat and crew considering they were not looking at the demon Thyme. It looked very out of place and the face that seemed designed for calm introspection. Thyme was clearly unphased by the looks and continued, “Each rule can change 1 thing, and it cannot contradict any other rule made by contestants.

“This means you can say, ‘First rule, the ground is actually lava'” Thyme started to step up and start floating as the wooden flooring turned into a pool of lava. Kat couldn’t feel the heat from it, and neither could anyone else it seemed, though the fact her eyes weren’t playing up did imply it was real lava, “or you could say that the arena is only two metres in diameter” the circle shrunk to the aforementioned measurement.

“You can also dictate other things, such as ‘No weapons’ or, World Tree Forbid, ‘No hats'” Thyme grinned at that as if they’d figured out all the secrets to the universe, “of course, with such freedom there was to be some limits. If the floor is lava, it can’t also be made of wood. Additionally, you can’t make a rule that stops people competing. For example, you can’t say ‘no demons allowed’ or on the other side, ‘no men’.

“I think you all get the basic ideas. If you come up with a rule that toes the line we’ll work it out as things go, considering this isn’t a pre-planned game,” Thyme jumped back to the ground as it swapped back to the old flooring and size. “Seeing as ‘Men With Hats’ took the lead early on they can chose the first rule.”

Irwin stood up as the representative. “The fight will be a series of one-on-one matches” he stated calmly. This was to keep Kat contained to just the one fight. That and any other issues. They may have been a good team, but they suspected that, if you excluded Kat, their competitor had quite good synergy. This killed two potential strategies for their team.

Sadly, it wasn’t Gareth that stood up it was Nixilei. As soon as they saw her smile, they realised they’d made a mistake somewhere. “Each fighter will remain in the ring until they are defeated,” said Nixilei.

Irwin cursed under his breath. Having missed the obvious solution to one-on-one matches. Just let the winner carry on. They didn’t say it was ‘best of five’ or something else smarter. They’d said, ‘series of one-on-one matches. Irwin ran his fingers across the banister, tapping heavily as each hit one after the other. He had a rule, the next rule perhaps, that could cause a headache for the enemy team. He just wasn’t sure if he wanted to introduce the kind of escalation it would invite.

Irwin glanced at his team, and let out a long heavy breath. He wanted to say it. But he was scared. Somehow, he was sure that Nixilei would be able to come up with something worse. Against his better judgement though, he said “Women are not to use weapons,”

Nixilei raised an eyebrow and glanced at Thyme. Thyme with a hat gave an ‘all clear’ sign and Nixilei grinned, realising the can of worms that Irwin had just opened up. “Nobody is allowed to use mana,”

The words hit Irwin like a freight train. He would be fine, he knew he would be fine... but nobody else on his team would be. Kevin used mana to help move his spear, and that wasn’t even getting started on the teams mages. Irwin realised, he truly had made a mistake opening up that avenue of attack for Nixilei. It was bad enough he genuinely considered forfeiting in that moment.

It was only the fact that Thyme would prevent any permanent injuries that he did not. He knew he’d been outplayed at this point. There was nothing much he could do. He did know enough about demons though to say, “Nobody can use demonic energy”

Thyme frowned at that one though, sending a glance over to Kat. “Um... yeah I can’t really stop using it? I mean, I can stop a lot of it, but my regeneration would work regardless of my wishes. I have no way of preventing that,”

Thyme, both of them, turned back to Irwin. “Is that acceptable? Are you willing to keep that as your rule despite most of Kat’s abilities being bound for this tournament and her regeneration something that will continue to work even if you put that rule in place?”

Irwin just groaned and tried to remind himself that conceding wasn’t the right idea.