?


    Twenty minutes into the round Kat was going back for more logs again. Depending on how you counted it could be the third such trip, or something closer to the seventh if you included her first few runs as well. It turned out that once you got the rhythm down? Things could be done exceptionally fast which was great. On the other hand… Thyme was obfuscating who was in the lead. You see, as soon as they filled up the first row of wood… you couldn''t view any further progress. If Kat really strained her hearing she could tell the wood was being stacked up behind the first row… but it was annoying.


    March had actually tried to check. She''d run over to get an idea of how well she was doing… cursed aloud and then ran back to get back to work. Kat might''ve been more worried about March''s frantic pace if she hadn''t heard that it was THYME March was cursing. It made Kat about 90% sure that Thyme was obscuring the results with magic and not just by hiding them behind the logs. Part of Kat wanted to see if her eyes would be able to get through whatever countermeasures Thyme had up… but that seemed a little rude.


    At the other stations, Mauve was really going at it. She was nearly as fast as March and wasparable to Kat''s own speed… but that was just for the chopping. Kat''s setup let her quickly go from log, to halves, to quarters but Mauve was just chopping things into halves, and thening backter which was slowing her down overall. Despite that, her technique was wless. Kat couldn''t be certain that they were all perfect, but they certainly seemed that way. It was better then what Kat suspected her own record to be.


    Kat wasn''t ashamed to admit that she probably bungled one in every forty or so cuts. Which wasn''t ideal, but those one in forty were usually still pretty close. Kat was hoping that meant that the wood that failed to pass Thyme''s rules was closer to one in one hundred and twenty or more… but that might just be wishful thinking. Kat did have a few logs just… implode on her for seemingly no reason so Kat knew she didn''t have a perfect record. Mauve however… just might.


    Asteodia had decided not to risk using her axe as a backstop… but she came up with something that might be better. If Kat didn''t have a tail, she could only hope that she would''ve figured out such an elegant solution. Asteodia had raised her right leg up onto the stump and was using that and her left hand as a way to catch the sliced logs. It wasn''t the best for her chopping form, but it was good enough, and that''s what mattered. Her speed was good, she quickly got down to quarters and was doing quite well overall. She needed to make more trips back to the logs then anyone else, but she also got through her piles quicker, and with less fuss so perhaps that cancelled out.


    March''s progress was good. She chopped through wood the quickest, eclipsing even Kat in speed. It was an impressive site to behold… if it wasn''t riddled with issues. The first is that she spent quite a bit of time going around and picking up the logs near her stump. Sure March was quick, but they were horribly ordered and just all over the ce. Some of the logs March went out of her way to grab were probably best forgotten about in favour of fresh ones. The next problem went alongside her speed of chopping. One of the reason Kat wasn''t just going as fast as possible was to make sure the cuts in her logs were smooth. Straight from top to bottom with no splinters.


    March, did not subscribe to that idea. She practically smashed the logs to pieces. A clean split was not what March was searching for. She used overwhelming strength to get an overwhelming speed of chopping through wood and damn all the splinters it was throwing out. March was lucky if she managed to get half of her splits into a perfect state… only made worse by the fact that she had to chop them twice to get quarters, leading to it being closer to one in four.


    Though, it could be argued that not all the splinters would cause the wood to fail to meet Thyme''s criteria, possibly not even most as despite March''s speed she is quite urate… it just didn''t seem like a good strategy long term. Consistency seemed to be king here. Thirty minutes was a surprisingly long time to chop logs, as it turned out. It made the volleyball matches yed earlier feel even longer.


    Sadly, despite consistency being king… it was about the only thing Nabras had going for him and it just wasn''t working out well. He could clearly tell, if his nervous nces towards his pile indicated anything. Sure they might hide who is winning now but Nabras had continually checked them as the first row of logs piled up and he was far behind. Even at the twenty minute mark, he''d only just now finished his first pile. Which was not a good thing. Not a good thing at all. He was now trying to work out how he coulde back from that. Perhaps not to win, but second ce? Though, his real wonder is if the pile behind him included failed quarters. If it did… March''s dominance might not be so clean.


    Kat for her part, had decided not to really bother with any extra sneaking tactics. Mostly because it was really unclear who she''d even use them on, except Nabras. *I''d only get one shot at SOMEONE before the end, and it might even get me in trouble with Thyme… but I can''t really tell who is winning so I don''t see the point.*


    Nabras however, DID see the point because everyone was ahead of him. He just needed to figure out how. Of course, he quickly deduced that wrecking someone else''s stump would likely be the best way to get them out… he just wasn''t certain that he COULD do that. Mauve was surely deadly with an axe considering it was her weapon of choice… and March… well Nabras didn''t feel like getting snapped in half.


    Realistically though, both kat and Asteodia were just too far away from him. So he''d need to be sneaky if he wanted to grab one of the first two, as the time ticked down. The best idea he coulde up with was to wait for March or Mauve to head off to get more logs then sprint over. The question was one of timing… and if he even had the strength to split one of his enemies'' stumps.


    In between swings, he checked his own… and found it was barely damaged. Sure he''d been actively trying not to destroy it… but he was chopping logs on the damned thing for crying out loud. Nabras frowned, and then, after checking to see if anyone was watching him, sliced down at one of the roots on his log. Into of going clean through, his axe was stuck halfway in.


    Nabras cursed under his breath as he ran to get more logs. "The damned axe didn''t even get through one of the roots! How am I getting through the whole thing?" Perhaps if he could use some magic he could tip the scales… but Thyme said no magic. Nabras paused. "Wait… didn''t Asteodia use magic to clear out that path? Thyme didn''t stop her… does that mean she''s already out?"


    Nabras nearly stumbled as he came to that realisation but he didn''t say anything else. Not wanting to clue anyone in. Nabras did wonder why Thyme hadn''t called her on. Perhaps they were just trying to let the contest ran and make judgements at the end?


    As Nabras plotted, and failed to find ways to execute them, everyone else was chopping away. Trying to secure the lead position as best they could. As the deadline approached, Kat, March and Mauve all grew confident they were in the lead, that they were winning. Asteodia was less certain. She started to get her own thoughts of how to sabotage the other teams but she didn''t want to waist much brain space on plotting when there was logs to chop.


    So that''s what everyone did. They cut, and cut and cut. Nabras tried to spot an opening to get a leg up… but couldn''tmit to it in the end. March furiously sliced through logs. Mauve perfectly cut up wood. Asteodia''s system remained efficient, if perhaps not perfect and Kat felt that perhaps, she could''ve done more. Her energy reserves were full… but there was that rule about magic.


    "TIME IS UP!" shouted Thyme. As they did, all the logs vanished, even the ones that were halfway being cut like in the case of March and Mauve. The stumps themselves glimmered for a moment, and all those who were mid-swing felt like they''d hit titanium as their momentum was fed back into their arms. It was time to find out who won.


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