She smirked as they came closer, then raised her arms. "Burn in hell, motherfuckers!" She threw her now flaming arms down, and the ichor quickly caught fire and exploded, causing all of the other splatters of ichor to explode. The Nightmares shrieked and dissolved in the flaming chaos.
He nodded to himself, allowing the tension in his shoulders to release. "Nice move."
Tessa hesitantly peeked out from beneath her blindfold, then grinned when she saw that none of the Nightmares were left. The crowd cheered for her as she was dismissed.
Cinthia smiled her herself, shaking her head. "She loves that move–and that phrase."
"Next up we have the promising Princess of the universe and leader of the Myriad Vanguard, Cinthia!" The crowd's cheers grew even louder as she entered the arena.
Tessa jogged up to Runner with a wide smile. "I definitely passed!"
"Gave me a heart attack in the process," he joked, wrapping her up in a quick bear hug.
She snickered. "I nearly had a heart attack myself."
Cinthia stood in the middle of the arena, waiting for her task. "Cinthia, your task is to immobilize one hundred shadows."
Cinthia tilted her head, a plan already forming in her head.
"I'm gonna get shredded," he groaned as he heard the voice. "I'm gonna get, like, 3 Windego's and get pulled to pieces."
Tessa snickered again. "You'll be fine."
The shadows appeared around the perimeter of the arena, but not in cages. Within seconds, however, they were trapped in ropes of light. Cinthia hadn't even moved. The shadows were successfully immobilized within the ropes.
"And the master illusionist strikes again! Wonderful, wonderful!" Cinthia was dismissed. "And next up is one of the participants brought in by recommendation, Runner!"
Cinthia passed by Runner. "Good luck."
"Daw shit," he mumbled, hopping over the wall and walking to the middle of the pit. There are so many people, good lord.
A cloth-covered cage appeared before Runner. "Runner, your task is to kill this skinwalker." The cage and cloth disappeared, revealing a little toddler smiling up at him. It giggled and groped the air for Runner.
Runner squinted his eyes at it, not trusting the facade for a moment. "What the fuck….?" he mumbled to himself, taking a step back.
The toddler whined, then changed. It was uncertain when the change actually happened–just that it did. Now a twelve-year-old girl with ratty golden locks sat on the ground before Runner. Her one cheek was sunken in and heavily bruised. More bruises marred her skin, mixing with the dirt and mud smudged all over. She peered up at him with terrified and watery dark gold eyes. "Please don't hurt me," she pleaded softly in a younger version of a familiar voice.
I can't do anything until it attacks me, he thought, beginning to circle the shapeshifter. But I don't like where this is going…
In the sidelines, Tessa swore angrily. "Why the fuck is it using me? How does it even know about that?"
The girl followed Runner's movements with her eyes, cowering in fear. "Please… Not again…" she whispered.
He blinked a couple times, then stopped, a small fire flaring in his right hand. "Quit using her, you little shit." He was beginning to get more and more frustrated the longer he allowed this to go on.
She suddenly scowled and stood. "I think not," she said. It was still her voice, but she was no longer the cowering and fearful girl. Sunlight burst in her crooked fingers. "I quite like the potential."
He growled. Everything in his body said Kill, kill, kill, yet he couldn't bring himself to do so. Something held him back and it was visible to everyone in the stadium.
Tessa fisted her hands. Damn skinwalkers. They always get in your head. She wanted to tell him to ignore it–that it wasn't real, but she didn't want to get him disqualified.
The skinwalker cocked its head and tossed the ball of sunlight directly at Runner, aiming for his eyes.
The flame began to grow from his hand, travelling up his arm, down his legs, up his neck, until everything was obscured by a blazing fire. "Oh, how wonderful it is to be let out!" Runner said, his voice taking an inhuman accent. His head snapped towards the skinwalker, and a smile could be seen even through the blaze. "Oh, goodie." Tega began to slowly approach, stretching out the time Runner allowed him out as far as he could.
The skinwalker's eyes–a twelve-year-old Tessa's eyes–widened with true fear as it scrambled back. "No!" It screamed, then tripped over its feet and fell. It continued to try and scurry away from him in fear. "No!"
"Oh, yes, little one, yes," he laughed, speeding up his gait to match the skinwalker's mad scramble.
"I yield, I yield!" It turned to the judges, who were hidden behind a dark glass window up above the stands. "I yield!"
"Tsk, should have payed more attention." He finally closed the distance, grabbing it by the face. "They said kill." The hellfire crawled from his body and over the skinwalker, reducing it to ashes in mere seconds. The blaze dimmed over the span of seconds, Tega forced back to wherever Runner kept him caged in his brain. He then looked up at the judges, waiting for the verdict.
The crowd cheered after a short pause. The announcer joined in. "A marvelous display of talent! So glad they decided to diversify the War Games! Runner, you are free to go."
Runner made his way back over to Cin and Tess, shivering as soon as he got over the wall.
"I…..fuck." He looked beyond shaken up.
Tessa immediately pulled him in a tight hug. "You did great." Cinthia nodded and offered a double thumbs up. Someone else was being called to the arena, but neither of them were really paying attention.