Scarlet

Tar looks surprised for a second before hesitating a second. But in the end he answers my question, “All of the proxies will be brought into the in between located between the Farshore and the mortal realm. We will then have a series of tournaments and competitions held there, and the winner will be decided on by whoever accumulates the most points throughout the tournaments and competitions.”

Oh. Interesting.

“Amongst the tournaments and competitions, there will be ones that are to the death, and ones that aren’t,” Tar continues, surprising me at the idea of the tournament not being a pure ‘to the death’ thing. “Of course, the ones to the death are worth more points than the ones that aren’t. And you can surrender at any time during the ‘not to the death’ ones, but you can only surrender once out of all the ‘to the death’ competitions you participate in.”

I feel my pride flare up slightly at the thought of participating in something like that.

This tournament of yours actually sounds a little interesting.

Although do I get anything from winning for you?

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“Yes, you will be given achievements by the System that will help in gaining new skills,” Tar says, adding more incentive towards this tournament. “Not to mention the EXP of whatever demons or humans you may end up killing in the tournament, should you do the ‘to the death’ competitions.”

I grimace slightly at the thought of killing another human, only to shake the thought out of my head a second later as he adds, “Oh, and the entire tournament will be conducted with the population of the Farshore as the audience.”

This statement takes the wind right out of my metaphorical sails.

I’m going to have an audience watching? Now that’s not gonna be fun.

“Yeah, I can see you disliking that part,” he says while floating down and landing on my chest. “None of this matters for a long time anyways. Not when the tournament won’t likely happen for decades or even centuries down the road at the earliest.”

True. But I’d still rather be prepared.

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Also, there’s one more thing that’s bothering me.

“What is it?” Tar asks, glancing at me from my chest.

I look up at the ceiling.

If I did become a full blooded demon, wouldn’t that mean a Fracture core would send me to Tartarus when shattered?

He goes silent.

Neither of us say anything for who knows how long.

Thought so.

The silence extends for a while longer before I eventually ask out loud rather quietly, “Hey, do you know anything about who my parents are?”

This time the tanuki answers immediately, “No. I’ve tried to look into it, but I can’t find anything. The only thing I could find was that your being on Earth likely has something to do with a Fracture that happened sometime around when Allen found you. And I also believe Allen may not have told you the full truth about how he found you.”

Hmm. Yeah, I kind of suspected that a while ago, to be honest. But it’s never really bothered me.

If he’s lying to me about it then he must have a good reason for it. And it doesn’t change the fact that my birth parents abandoned me.

“Unless your birth parents are dead that is,” he suggests, but I just shake my head.

If one of them was a Class V demon then I doubt they’d be dead. And even if they were, then Allen still probably has his reasons for not telling me.

“You’re taking that rather well,” Tar points out while closing his eyes.

Well, yeah. It’s not like I knew my biological parents, so why bother worrying?

He just hums at that, not saying anything in response.

Although if I could meet them, I would like to ask why. Why they had a hybrid child. Why they abandoned me, assuming they did.

Tar hums again.

I can’t help but smile as I feel a warmth well up in my chest at finally having someone to really confide in, even if he doesn’t always tell me everything he should. Since while Belle is a great friend, she’s not all that good a listener. More a doer. Since she tends to just act on whatever fancies she has at the time as long as they aren’t too farfetched, and she won’t just sit in place listening for extended periods of time.

Arthur was better at listening, but I don’t think we were really close enough for me to confide in him. Close friends yes, maybe even close to feeling that he’s like a brother in some ways, yes. But close enough to confide in? No.

Although he’s mostly better at listening because he isn’t that talkative. Rather the stoic type.

Tar hums in response to my thoughts again, not saying anything.

Oh, right. Speaking of Belle.

I begin to sit up, letting Tar roll down to my lap as I reach into my pocket and pull out my phone to find Belle’s contact. Then I send her a text asking how that plan she had going turned out for her becoming a Guardian.

And surprisingly, she answers almost immediately, making me briefly wonder what she’s doing right now.

[Yeah, that didn’t work out. Nothing happened. I was just kind of left there watching dad slaughter a bunch of demons.]

“That was to be expected,” Tar says offhandedly.

I’m just glad she’s not hurt.

Then again, Allen wouldn’t have been acting as he was earlier if she had been. And Cynthia likely would’ve verbally gutted Allen for taking her in the first place.

In fact, I bet she doesn’t even know that he took her. And that when she finds out, she will verbally gut him.

[It was rather stupid to suggest that plan in the first place, just so you know. But I’m glad you’re alright.]

After sending the text, I flop back on my bed again with my phone held off to the side and my arm resting on the mattress.

I am curious as to how Arthur talked to her though. Especially considering that she ended up going through with the plan anyways. Even if she did kind of fail in the process.

My phone buzzes, making me bring it up to my face to read her response. And when I see it, my eyes widen in surprise.

[Arthur wasn’t very happy. And he’s taken a couple of days off to visit despite the large price, so he’ll be here in a couple days.]

“The hell?” I mutter, wondering where in the stars Arthur managed to get the credits to take a trip to a Tier 1 city. Much less where he got the permission to do so.

Then the image of a certain protective father flashes in my head and I realize that Allen is probably using Arthur to ground his daughter in a way right now, since he can’t actually do anything with her being an adult and all.

Interesting tactic.

[Have fun with that!]

After sending her my rather sarcastic reply, I chuckle at the thought of Arthur’s little conversation that he’ll be having with her when he gets there. Since that guy doesn’t mince his words.

Then I just set up an alarm on my phone for about an hour and a half from now and go to sleep, deciding to take a quick nap before the team gathering.