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Both Thyme’s frowned at the question. “I really shouldn’t be answering this question. I’m not here to give you additionally information about your competition. I want it to be noted the only reason I’m allowing this is because Kat’s situation is rather unique. It caused some problems in the first round, and now it’s causing different problems in the second. The issue, fundamentally, is that I have no way to stop her demonic energy, and she has no way to prevent it from healing her.

“I don’t even really have a way to test if she’s using demonic energy. It just... isn’t mana. I could probably cobble something together, but she emits small amounts of demonic energy just by existing so I’m not sure if they’d be able to tell the difference between active and passive use. The only way it can work is by asking Kat after her match if she used demonic energy or not, and as she cannot lie, we’d know. That’s all I’m giving you for this question,”

Irwin tapped his fingers heavily on the railing as he took in that new information. It was annoying, and really not what he wanted to hear but it was very much a case of ‘nothing to be done’ surrounding the whole issue. Irwin recognised the real mistake was preventing women from using weapons. It probably wasn’t even a good idea in theory.

Irwin certainly didn’t think it was sexist, if anything, it was the opposite. He believed all three women on the enemy team were capable combatants and took steps to neutralise that. Nixilei just took better steps. So that left them with four rules. One-on-one matches, Winner stays in, no weapons for women, and no magic. Great.

So Irwin was left trying to think of how best to maximise his own effectiveness now. He didn’t know if he really wanted to commit to that. He was part of a team and trying to fight everyone all by himself was NOT a good look. He was also a leader though, and it was his job to keep his teammates safe, and to pull out a victory against the odds.

He knew he was the best fighter once magic was out of the question. Kevin wouldn’t be bouncing around like a rabbit hopped up on caffeine and the three mages were looking like they weren’t going to be much use. Only Fir had any martial training at all really and he was very rusty. In fact, Irwin would almost put money on that being a liability. The master swordsman fears not the average journeyman but the complete novice and whatnot.

.....

Irwin’s thoughts suddenly froze. The gears in his head had turned and turned onto a brilliantly crazy idea. “Each round allows the contestants to ignore one rule,” said Irwin.

Thyme’s eyes went wide as they processed the question. “Interesting... very interesting... but... I don’t know if I can allow it. What if one of the contestants decided the rule to ignore was the one you just proposed? That would mean no rules were ignored. It gets messy in other ways, but I think I’m going to have to veto this one,”

“Can... can I make it so that all demons have to fight with a hand tied behind their back?” said Irwin jokingly in desperation.

The fact Thyme nodded and said, “Yup sounds good,” was not part of his plans at all. Irwin’s large mouth dropped down as low as it could go. Kat could hear the jaw bones bottoming out. *Well. That’s a thing apparently. I’m not all that annoyed. Little weird, but not the worst thing ever.*

Nixilei raised an eyebrow at Thyme, “I’m surprised you let that pass,”

Thyme shrugged, “Gotta be honest, I feel a little bad for the guy. You were pretty brutal you know,”

“I could add in the rule that everyone not required to bind another limb has to fight with their legs tied together you know,” said Nixilei, deadly serious tone in her voice.

“Please stop Nixilei, he’s already dead,” said Thyme gesturing and Irwin who looked very much like he was trying to avoid just giving up. Nixilei’s eyes met Irwin, and she saw the odd mix of determination and resignation.

“Hmm... I can see where you are coming from... but isn’t making good rules for your team the whole point? If I was really rude I could have limited it to beastkin considering we have none, or said that everyone has to fight without their feet touching the ground,” said Nixilei with a grin.

Irwin decided he was very outclassed in that moment. The ‘horror’ Nixilei was putting forward was overwhelming. In an attempt to pre-empt anything worse he said, “How about we all agree to start with our legs bound with vines but we’re allowed to break out of it?”

Nixilei raised an eyebrow and turned to Gareth who gave her a look of ‘what you’re the schemer don’t look at me’. Nixilei sighed and voiced the question instead seeing Gareth try and avoid it. “Gareth, as you know, these Tournament matches are public record. Do you want us to be gracious with the rules, or go for full annihilation?”

Gareth sighed, he didn’t want to make this choice. It would have been easier to leave Nixilei off the leash, but... he also felt Nixilei had demonstrated that they really could have won just using the rules part of the fight. “Let’s... remain gracious,”

Nixilei nodded at Thyme, “Ok then... that’s an acceptance for those without any limbs bound to start the fight with their legs tied together with vines. To make things fair, it will be possible to break them using just strength but it will take some time,” explained Thyme.

“Can I take a six metre diameter fighting space?” asked Irwin looking at Nixilei, somewhat for permission instead of Thyme. It was clear who was really running the show this round. When he received a set of nods from both of them, Irwin relaxed somewhat.

Nixilei now had a bit of a challenge. She had to think of a rule that wasn’t completely crippling for anyone on the enemy team. She had to discard a lot of ‘hard’ work to find something more acceptable. She flicked her mind through the options before realising there was one that would work quite well. “You can now lose by being removed from the arena,”

Irwin looked like Christmas had come early when Thyme jotted down the rule on a piece of paper they’d summoned from nowhere. Thyme used an oversized quill to do it in their Yggdrasil hat side and used their tail dipped in ink, suspicious red ink, for their ‘demon’ side. “The final rules lady and gentlemen?”

Irwin wanted to ask ‘where is the lady’ but decided that was tempting fate a bit too much. Irwin thought about his next rule. He knew what he wanted. It wasn’t terribly unfair one way or the other, at least he didn’t think so. It was a nice rule that did give him an advantage but not one he thought Nixilei would be terribly offended by. “I’d like my final rule to be that it is raining inside the arena”

Thyme jotted the rule down and looked to Nixilei. Part of her, that slightly sadistic part, wanted her next and final rule to be ‘the rain is at 100 °C’ or ‘the rain is lava’ or something else equally restrictive that made it only safe for Kat to fight. The lava would probably be rejected by Nixilei knew if she offered that first and then walked back to scalding rain she’d have a better chance of being accepted.

Nixilei was also aware that it was very much too far. At least under the rules Gareth set. Irwin wouldn’t be able to do anything about it, but now that Gareth had made it clear she wasn’t to completely terrorise them they had their word on the line and she’d hate to be called a liar or worse, unable to uphold their end of the bargain.

The other idea the sadistic part of her had for keeping things to ‘fair’... somewhat at least, wanted her to suggest that everyone fight blindfolded. Nixilei had experience with that, it was good training for fighting at night and in caves. Green did as well... though she wasn’t great with it. Gareth would be fine with his heavy armour, and maybe shield? It depended on how that counted weapon wise. Kress wouldn’t have a good time, but she really didn’t care about that. Kat... Kat would probably be fine?

Nixilei just wasn’t sure if that counted as crossing the line or not. After about a minute of thinking, Nixilei found she didn’t really have any rules that both mattered and didn’t cross the line in some way. So she asked, “Hey Irwin do you dislike strawberries?”

“Um what?” asked Irwin confused. Nixilei repeated the question of course, and his response was... “I mean... I guess? I don’t dislike them? Why?”

“Well for my last rule I want the rain to taste like strawberries,” said Nixilei.