Brot was ready to go.
He smashed those blobs who dared steal his flag in the last round.
Brot did good. Now it was time for Brot to win again.
"Brot do mother proud! Brot win competition! Brot make mother happy!"
Brot looked around him, noticing the change in scenery as he stood in the elevator.
He exited into the area where there was a small room with a garage door and waited for something to happen.
"Brot bored... no people to smash?"
Brot's lips drooped even further than usual.
Suddenly, a conch rang and the garage door began to open.
"Are there people to smash out here?"
Brot stepped out into a corridor lined with bricks. There was a control panel in front of him.
Brot took a look at the control panel.
[He who stares at a woman from afar will never reach her. One must move forward with courage]
"Hm? Brot doesn't understand!!! Time to smash!!!"
Brot brought down his fist upon the control panel, taking half the wall with it.
The wall opened up to a sandy desert.
"Brot do good! Brot solve riddle! Brot smart!!!!"
Brot ran forward at full speed, however he soon came to a realization.
"BROT FEET STUCK!!! BROT CAN'T MOVE!!"
Brot found himself stuck in a puddle of quicksand.
"Ah! Brot smart! Brot know way out!"
Brot started inhaling air into his body, and he puffed up like a blowfish.
Brot's body started to float to the top of the sand as the density of his body decreased.
He slowly shifted his center of mass so that his body was lying parallel to the ground, and then he began lightly swimming, making his way through the sand.
"BROT DO WELL!!! BROT IS WINNING!!!"
He eventually came to the point where the sand was denser and was able to climb out, however in front of him was yet another obstacle.
It was a pit of spikes with a single ladder that was laid across the chasm like a bridge. He was supposed to make his way across the ladder while avoiding falling into the spikes.
"Brot know way across!!!"
Brot was far too heavy to make it across the ladder. It would have snapped long before he made it across.
Instead, Brot reeled back and got a running start.
Brot pushed off for a jump right as he reached the area just before the pit, and his massive blubby body flew into the air like a water balloon.
In midair, Brot realigned his body so that he was facing the direction he jumped from, and let out all the air he took in with a huge breath.
This was enough to propel his body forward even more so that he rolled onto the opposing edge, just barely safe from harm.
"Brot do mother proud!!! Time for Brot to win!!"
However, another challenge faced Brot.
There was an entanglement of seaweed in front of him, completely blocking any path to the exit.
"Brot make it through!"
Brot swatted at the seaweed like it was a cobweb, and the motion of doing so was too much for his body to handle. He stumbled forward, and just as he did so, a multitude of daggers flew right above his head. His own clumsiness had saved his head from being chopped off.
"Brot crawl like little baby! Brot be careful!"
Brot crawled through the rest of the seaweed maze, careful to avoid any more traps- and eventually made it out.
How exactly he was able to squeeze through the tight openings... I leave that to the viewers imagination.
Reeling in victory, Brot stood proud at the end of the seaweed maze.
The time was currently 3 minutes and 20 seconds.
"Time for rest!!! After rest, Brot tell mother how good he do!"
Brot fell to the ground with a snore, before reaching the pedestal right in front of him.
----
"AND WHAT IS THIS?!?!!?! DESPITE BEING THE FIRST ONE TO FINISH, CONTESTANT BROT HAS FALLEN ASLEEP RIGHT BEFORE THE EXIT!!!!"
----
Hugior had a grin on his face that crept all the way down his shoulders and into his lower body.
The gulper eel's massive egg shaped head was more than half of his body, and if one looked at his body frame directly, it would appear to be a fleshy and muscular version of a monstrous Venus fly trap, with arms and legs.
He had been concussed in the previous round by Brot, but after his success in capturing one flag his team was able to make it to the second round, and since he was the only member who had survived aside from Kota, his competition was now down to 3 competitors.
It was a great opportunity for Hugior to show the world just how strong a gulper eel could be.
Hugior rode down the elevator into the garage area where the obstacle course race was about to start. He was not bothered in the least by the fact that Brot had knocked him out, as Brot was surely just a brainless brute.
In other words, Brot would not be an issue if he could think around his mindless strength.
Hugior readied himself, and after the garage door slowly opened, the conch blew.
He was off.
There was no need to hesitate. The first one to finish would survive to the final round.
Hugior dashed forward at a sprint with his massive head bobbing up and down, across a smooth stone pathway. He soon came upon a cliff with a number of parkour platforms made from stone pillars that spread across the overhang.
He would have to jump from pillar to pillar, ensuring that he didn't fall to his death.
There wasn't a single straightforward pathway either.
There were many pillars like an unorganized grid, and he would have to make decisions as to which pillar he jumped to.
He took a running start and jumped onto the first one, barely keeping his balance as he landed- almost falling into the abyss. Now, there were three platforms in front of him which he had to choose.
Hugior didn't hesitate. The one right in front of him was the closest, and he jumped onto it.
Hugior heard a voice erupt in his head as he was about to land.
[He who is greedy and takes the short path will lose everything]
The platform disappeared in front of him, as if it were an illusion the entire time- swirling and dissipating in the mist.
Hugior fell into the abyss.
"AAAHHHH!!!!!"
His smile had turned into a wretched frown as he fell to his death into the bottomless pit.
[1 minute, 3 seconds. Hugior has fallen to his death]
----
Kota was ready to rumble.
His plan to win had succeeded so far.
Kota was bent on taking revenge on Ploritan, and the best way to do so would be to win this competition, become the leader, and order for his revenge to be carried out.
There would exist nobody who would dare go against the tradition and disobey his orders, as he knew well from his year of experience as the chief.
Kota grabbed his side where his scar from the surgery was. It was throbbing with anguish.
He could feel his very heart beating and his blood coursing through his veins as he approached the time in which his revenge could be carried out.
2 more rounds.
2 more round and he would become the chief.
And how perfect it was that Ploritan had also made it into these next few rounds...
As if this were a novel where Kota was the main character, everything had gone his way thus far. He escaped the first round uninjured, and he was the only one who had done so. He was at a major advantage.
However, he was not about to underestimate Ploritan nor the other contestants.
A man who is desperate will show fangs like a true beast when cornered.
Which was why Kota had already set a plan into motion to ensure that Ploritan would not take the throne from him again.
As the former ruler, Ploritan was the greatest threat. Not only had he survived this bloodbath before, but he now had once sat in the throne- and that was not something which can be so easily taken from a person. Kota knew this well as a former chief.
He staked everything to defeat Ploritan in that trident battle, and even with a lung missing fought to his last breath- however with blood entering his oxygen track and completely shutting off his land based respiratory functions, his body gave out.
Kota entered the waiting room, and the garage door slowly opened.
The conch sounded, and he was off.
First in front of him was a pool filled with wild sharks.
'Tch... talk about bad taste...'
Kota dived in with lightning speed, and began furiously taking out his anger on each and every one of the sharks in the tank- ripping them apart with his jaws. The pool was completely stained red by the time Kota exited with ease.
After exiting, he came across a brick wall with a set of torches on it.
There were 3 torches, one on the left, one on the right, and one in the middle.
[One must give their heart, mind, and appendix in order to overcome the challenge], said a sign next to the wall.
"Do they take me for an idiot?"
Kota removed the torches from the left, middle, and right side of the wall in that order, and it opened as soon as he removed the final one.
The heart is on the left side of the body, the mind in the middle, and the appendix on the right.
This was Kota's reasoning, and it was correct.
He moved on with the test, taking note of the arrow dispensers on either side of him. They would likely have gone off if he didn't solve the test correctly.
Soon he came upon what looked like a wall made of totem poles with all sorts of different faces- frowns, blank stares, surprised faces, and smiling faces.
[In order to defeat one's opponents, one must sacrifice happiness]
This one could be interpreted in two ways, which made Kota think for just a moment.
Sacrificing happiness.
If he took this at face value, this would mean to avoid all the faces with smiling expressions as he climbed up the wall.
However, there was another interpretation which came to his mind.
If he stepped on only the happy faces, then he would be disrupting the happiness along the totem pole, and allowing those who are unhappy to remain as is.
'This is likely the answer... a trick question like this isn't exactly my style, but even if I am wrong all I have to do is overcome my limits and rise to the challenge! I will become number one!!!'
Kota began climbing the totem pole, and only stepping in or placing his arms in the holes of the smiling mouths.
Nothing happened.
No traps were sprung.
'Just as I predicted... as the main character, it seems that I am going to survive despite the odds, and win this challenge after a hard final battle... heh heh heh...'
Kota felt another throbbing in his lungs as he climbed.
'Gr.... it hurts, but I have to press on.'
After reaching the top of the tower, raised up on a large stone pillar in the air across a jump from the tower he was on was the platform to complete the race.
All he had to do was make it over.
'There it is... my time has been fast, so I am confident I can win this... all I have to do is perform one more jump....'
Kota braced himself.
He grabbed his throbbing lung once more. It was acting up.
'This isn't good... well, I wouldn't be the main character if I didn't face any challenge... I have to surpass my limits!!!'
Kota bent his knees and lunged forward toward the platform, his heart beating and his lung pulsing with pain as the memory of the trident piercing it flowed through his mind.
He jumped heavily from the tower to the platform.
He wasn't going to make it.
'Shit!! Am I going to fall here?! No! I won't fall!'
Reaching out his hand, Kota thrusted his claw into the ledge, so that his claws penetrated the stone wall and stuck into it.
His strength was not completely sapped, so he slowly began to pull himself up.
'I am the protagonist!!! I will overcome this!!!'
He pulled his elbow closed, and thrusted his other arm on top of the ledge, allowing him to gain ground.
He then pulled his claw out of the crumbling stone edge of the platform, placing the other arm on the platform to pull himself up.
'Huff... huff... that was close....'
In front of Kota was a timer on the platform, which had stopped as soon as he pulled himself up.
[4 minutes, 37 seconds.]
----
The second round was chaotic, and it was impossible for Claire to keep her eyes on the action of all four contestants at once- but she was able to pick out the highlights based on her quick thinking combined with the announcer's comments.
It was an insane match to say the least.
"And in the first few minutes Hugior has fallen off the edge!!!! There he goes, deceived by the illusion of safety on the pillars!!!"
'Serves that one right... he killed so many others in this battle... it feels good to see him screaming like that... heh heh....'
'What are you saying!? A person just died!!! How can you just laugh like that?!'
'You watched him digest those others... everyone here is a cold blooded murderer, and they aren't doing this in a merciful way either... this is slaughter... slaughter for the purpose of survival of the fittest... don't tell me you don't understand at least that much?'
'But he could have been saved!!! No matter how villainous a person is, surely there must be a way to save them!! Even that man....'
'Are you retarded? Or are you just naive?!? It looks like we are getting more and more split as time passes.... I'm going nuts over here just listening to your blather. That man cannot be saved from his lechery. That eel cannot be saved from his bloodlust. There are sacrifices which you must make. You aren't a hero, and you cannot save everyone.'
Suddenly, a change started to form in Claire's body.
Her body felt like it was being torn in two... as if her left side and her right side were rejecting each other.
A black fluid seemed to flow to her left side, and was ejected from the right side, gathering only on her left.
Her skin began turning the shade of tar on the left side, and her left eye bulged disgustingly.
Veins sprouted on her left side, and claws and a horn began to grow as well. A demonic wing sprouted from behind her shoulder, and began flapping back and forth.
On her right side, the wing of an angel sprouted and flapped in synchronization with her demonic wing. Half of a halo floated above her head on the right side, and her eye seemed to mold into a more slick and smooth form. Her skin became a pure white, looking almost transparent, and her composure was that of a beautiful woman. She even glowed with purity.
"What is going on!?!", a deceptive and succubus-like voice said at the same time as a beautiful and angelic voice.
"My body... I... what..."
Claire took a look at her hands, and then started feeling her face, only to find.... a certain spiked protrusion on her left, and a semicircular ring floating above her right.
"I need a mirror... I need a mirror..."
Claire took a look at her reflection in the window of the room.
She was a split creature.
On one half was that of a demon, and on the other half that of an angel.
"WHAT!?!!?"
[You're inner thoughts conflicted too much in order to remain whole]
[Race has been determined: Half Angel, Half Demon]