The Labyrinth Fight:

The four of them pushed through the endless maze. Twisting and turning every which way they felt as though they were getting nowhere. Each of their feet were beginning to ache in pain from the never-ending walking they were doing.

"This is getting annoying and I am starting to feel the fatigue wear on more with each passing minute. This is going to be a gamble, however, if it works, we can get out of here a lot faster. Hopefully, there is no traps of any kind that could harm us if activated." Maximus said to himself. "Hey, everyone, I have a plan to get us out of here." He said to them.

"Oh, now you want to tell us that instead of, oh I don't know, the moment we got here!" Kazuma snapped at him.

"Pardon me about my inaction from the beginning, I was still recollecting myself. That being said, my plan is to draw out that creature once more. I believe it is the sole reason why we have yet to find an end after wondering through this maze for what feels like several days now. Though that could be our minds playing tricks on us, but who knows for sure." He said.

"Okay, so we draw that creature out, but how are we going to do that exactly?" Chris asked.

"Simple, we split up." He replied.

"What!?" Aqua shouted to protest the idea and took hold of his coat. "What do you mean we should split up? I don't want to because if we do that thing will snatch us one by one and who knows what it will do to us when it takes us away!" She continued to panic.

"Well, that somehow got you out of your downer's slop, however, I was being serious about it too." He said.

Aqua froze in place, petrified by the idea of her walking alone within the labyrinth and at the same moment felt a cold stinging sensation on her back.

"Here are your instructions from what to do the moment you are far away." He continued on and zapped the info on what to do via telepathic suggestion.

Chris and Kazuma nodded their heads and proceeded as planned. Aqua stood there and began to shout more. Her voice was echoing down the halls and soon began to intensify, deafening the ears of the creature. Maximus had used his magic to make it raise in pitch several levels as time passed.

After a minute went by, the creature was unable to stand the ringing within its ears and made its way towards them.

Maximus could sense the faint magical presence radiate towards them.

"That did not take too long, I almost thought it did not have any ears at all last time I saw it. Well, I hope it likes this little trick I have for it." He said to himself.

Aqua continued on rambling until she noticed no one was standing there but her.

"H-hey guys, where did you go, why am I the only one here?" She said looking around to try and find the others.

Her eyes began to water up and her face puffed up. The next moment she fell on her knees and began to cry as loud as she could. Her cries echoed more vibrantly as the creature was unable to stand it, becoming furious with her cries.

The next moment its shadow rounded the corner and stood next to her. The bladed arms stretched out and the head peered into the opened space. Its arms were raised high above its head and roared as it swung the blades towards her.

The moment before the fatal blow was to strike, Aqua stopped crying and looked up right at it.

"Gotcha." She said.

Before the creature could react, she latched onto the monster and her body began to glow an orange color. The next instant her body erupted, exploding into a gigantic fireball that extended over a hundred yards wide. The shockwave upheaved hundreds of chunks of debris high into the air, shooting out in all directions nearly three times the distance and more. The walls within the circle were leveled from the face of the flooring and shattered from the wake of the force. The massive dust cloud began to form a mushroom shape and climbed to incredible heights.

The dust moved away with the new wind current and showed the creature still alive, twitching with each passing second. Its body was torn in half with multiple burn marks spanning across the remainder of its body. It laid there unable to move too much, feeling the terrible sensations that felt as though it would fall apart if it moved at all.

"Wow, that did a lot more damage than I first thought possible." Chris said feeling amazed at what she and the others saw.

The next moment the four of them appeared into view as another invisibility barrier hid them from the creature. Aqua was being held by Maximus with one of his hands over her mouth and the other still pressed on her back. He took his hands off her and she was able to move around freely.

"Indeed, I was not sure if the Magical Doll would have enough mana to enact this little trap. Although, what surprises me more is the fact creature fell for it so easily." Maximus said as he approached it.

"I still do not see why you felt the need to hold me in place. Do you even know how cold your hand was pressed on my back?" Aqua complained.

"You would have given it up the ploy the moment we began. Also, my hand only appeared to be cold because I had to numb your senses and a good place to do that is on your back. Or at least the second-best area since your spine is the central highway for your nervous system." He replied and looked upon the creature. "As for you, time to open that gate of yours and let us move along. Each of us have important things to do once we leave this world all together." He finished.

Maximus raised his hand up and pointed his palm at the creature.

"Heaven's Blaze." He said calmly.

Instantly the fires and bolts engulfed the creature and turned it to ash.

The four of them waited for several moments and soon noticed nothing was happening.

"Hey, I thought you said it would let us go after it died, what gives?" Kazuma inquired feeling a little annoyed.

"I can think of a couple of things for why it did not work. One would be this creature never held the way out or perhaps some other unknow factor could be at play here." He waited to inspect the rubble and debris all around him.

"Is something the matter?" Aqua asked stepping in front of him and leaned forward a little.

"Just that the last time I was in a battle within a Labyrinth, it was rebuilding itself and had an encounter with a strange gigantic creature which was not easily slayable. Although, I had a big cheat to help me with that battle, yet it still gave me a run for my money." He responded and waited for a little while longer.

Aqua chuckled nervously. "You don't think we will run into something like that while we are still in here will we?" She asked.

"I would not put it past Maxwell at this point, yet I do not think so. For now, let us concentrate on finding a way out of here." He responded.

"Right." The three of them said and Aqua still had a nervous look in her eyes.

They began to walk towards the edge of the debris field to reenter the labyrinth and Maximus could still sense the creature's essence to his surprise.

"Why am I still feeling as though that thing did not truly die. I can still sense its presence all around us as if the thing were a part of the very walls and floors around us. If that is the case, then I wonder if I should see about putting that theory to the test." Maximus said to himself.

He was about to employ another similar method from before but suddenly stopped.

"No, doing the very same tactic as before may not yield the same results as earlier. Yet I do need to draw it out somehow." He said to himself as he began to think further on the situation and stopped before entering the labyrinth.

Aqua suddenly noticed his presence was not beside her and turned around to see him standing out in the open.

"Hey, Maximus, are you not coming along?" She inquired.

Chris and Kazuma turned around after hearing Aqua call out to Maximus and stopped.

"What is it, are you still thinking of a way to get that thing to come out again?" Kazuma inquired.

"I have an idea and I want to test it out." Maximus briefly said and jumped up into the air.

Once he was at the same height as his familiars had been destroyed, he continued on past the level. He stopped his ascension shortly after and looked around in all directions. He scanned the visible horizon and could see the near endless construction the Labyrinth was in.

"This is too close of a similar situation as the time I was traversing within the Labyrinth of Eternity. Only difference is this labyrinth does not have that feel to it. Anyway, I wonder if we can try to fly around and see about finding the exit or perhaps return to the beginning. I feel we could be wondering around for quite some time. If we do that, I will have to teleport us back and maybe leave a marker here." He thought to himself.

The next moment he made up his mind and took the others back to the beginning. The three of them looked around and suddenly noticed the familiar sight of being before the entrance and seeing the stables behind them.

"Wait, what did you take us back here for?" Chris protested.

"Considering we can fly above this structure now from here, we can have a better chance of surveying its entirety. That is if we were needing to find the end, however, we were already at it. We were too worried and not truly focusing to realize it." He said.

"What do you mean by that?" Aqua inquired.

"Think for a moment, have you ever heard of a story where a wanderer went into a labyrinth and found its end, because I never had, not counting my own mainly because I feel as though that place had an end. So, this labyrinth place is a trap with no real end to it at all. It is meant for you to wander until you die considering there was no end that I could see when flying above it." He explained.

"So, how do we get out of here from where we entered?" Kazuma asked.

Simple, we kill the beast within it and the gate will open." Maximus said walking towards the stables. "Please let this be right, or else I am going to lose it. Being in a never-ending maze is not how I want to spend the rest of my life. Not to mention I now sense the creature again. The path connects these two structures together and is how this thing is moving around so fast. Time to experiment and hope to the High Heavens I am right." He said to himself.

Before they entered, Maximus pressed his index finger on the concrete path and drew a line across it. He sensed the presence had not made a move from the last spot.

"I guess this thing is confident it can take the four of us with no troubles at all. However, Kazuma does not have much in terms of skill to provide any kind of support not to mention he hasn't really brought anything to the table in any fight before. Aqua may be useful in casting some of her magic to give him a boost and depending on what type of creature this thing truly is, that may all she would be good for. We will have to adjust as the fight progresses. Now, my only concern is Chris. I have never seen her fight anyone as of yet. I know she is a Goddess; however, I do not know too much of her abilities within her human form. Could this be a hinderance and if so, how much?" He thought to himself for a moment.

Before he could continue thinking the stables began to open up in half. Soon after they saw the same creature as before but with a bulkier body.

The creature's skin was green with a shade of grey molded upon it. Its arms, now six in number, were still long yet no longer the same small and wriggly limbs as they used to be. They were now the size of tree trunks, five feet wide at the wrist. The torso had expanded out, its muscles ripped. The skin had indentions of what appeared to be a multitude of faces upon the whole torso.

The head was still the same cluster of long razor-sharp blades forming its teeth in a ring that was collapsed towards the center. A dozen of crimson eyes were focusing simultaneously on each of the party members at once. The back of the head had a multitude of snakes, slithering back and forth in every direction, acting as though they were watching its back and sides. The long tail waved as though it were light in weight yet thick as a tree's trunk. The creature moved on all eight limbs like a lizard would.

The whole party could feel the intense power emanating from within it. Aqua, Chris, and Kazuma were frozen in place, unable to move after witnessing the appearance of such a monster.

"Aqua!" Maximus shouted to get her attention. "I need you to increase my physical abilities, now!" He finished.

Aqua quickly regained her composure long enough to enact her spell.

"Right, Blessing." She said raising her hand up.

Maximus could feel his strength increasing by the second. He charged after the monster and slammed his right fist upon its neck.

The moment after he noticed it was not fazed by his strike and it moved the second right arm underneath it at supersonic speeds.

Maximus was surprised and barely dodged out of harm's way, flipping backwards, and landed in front of the party.

"This thing is a lot faster than I first gave it credit for." He said out loud and turned slightly towards Aqua. "I may need that Blessing one more time after that, do it for everyone else as well." He said feeling uncertain about the battle ahead.

Aqua nodded her head and granted him another boost in ability.

"I possibly could use my Angelic Form for this fight; however, I want to keep that in reserve incase the worst should happen. The way everyone else is, I will dare say if they get hit by this thing, they are done for." He said to himself and charged for the monster again.

In mid stride he fired a pair of holy blast upon it and soon noticed little damage resulted. He appeared on the left side of its head and slammed his right leg upon the neck where one of his previous attacks struck. Even with the small amount of damage the muscles were still too thick and tough as metal.

The monster swung it front left arm and slammed its fist upon Maximus, who was caught off guard. The speed was twice as fast from its previous strike and Maximus was sent flying away.

Maximus quickly regained himself in mid air and slid on his boots ten yards. His body began to register the pain of being struck by such a massive fist. His back screamed at him with each pulse from his heartbeat.

"It is not as bad as it could have been, good thing I had her cast that twice." He whispered grunting against the pain.

The next moment his back began to calm itself and he turned around to see Aqua healing his back.

"Don't you worry, I got your back." She said with a smile and winked at him.

"Glad to see she is not totally bothered from earlier, then again our lives are at stake." He said to himself and nodded at her.

Aqua soon saw the creature glow a crimson color as if preparing for an attack. Its body swelled up, inhaling as much air as its lungs could take.

"Maximus, look out!" She shouted.

Maximus turned around in time to see the monster lunge forward and fired a massive beam of crimson energy. He quickly raised a barrier and the attack slammed onto it. Shortly after he saw the cracks upon it expand, webbing out in all directions.

"This is not going to hold out much longer." He grunted and immediately turned around to take hold of Aqua in his right arm and leaped into the air.

At the same moment, the barrier broke apart and the beam continued on, stretching forth into the labyrinth. After traveling ten miles, the attack erupted upon one of the walls within the labyrinth. The titanic explosive force erupted and a powerful shockwave stretched in all directions, upheaving everything in its wake. The fireball that was at the center of the explosion ran across the ground, evaporating everything it touched.

Moments later the shockwave reached them and was nothing more than a gust of wind that barely caressed upon their bodies. The light of the fireball appeared as though the sun was rising over the horizon.

Maximus and Aqua were both captivated by the attack while hovering in the air. Chris and Kazuma joined in the amazement after taking cover to get out of the way from the attack. All four of them saw the long trial where the beam had traveled. The walls it slammed against were evaporated with large amounts of debris around it. The gap made by it was nearly fifty yards wide and seemed to expand as it traveled further into the maze.

"How could that thing have so much power, I call hax, this is bogus." Kazuma protested.

Chris was too frightened to move, shaking from the aftermath.

"If any of us were still standing in front of that, neither of us would have survived it at all!" They all said the same thought and turned back to the creature who was moving slow as if fatigue struck it hard.

"Now is our chance to kill it!" Maximus shouted seeing an opportunity to strike while it was weakened. "Heaven's Blaze!" He shouted and the blue flames and lightning spiraling around it stretched forth from his left hand and slammed upon it.

"It's time I give this a shot as well since you have been teaching me a little here and there." Aqua said and raised her hands. "Heaven's Blaze!" She shouted and the same attack he launched upon the monster.

The lightning electrified the monster's senses, causing them to be dormant as the flames began to form third degree burns across its body. It began to roar out in terrible pain and screeched high-pitched squeals.

After a few moments, the two stopped and he nodded at her and she responded. The two landed on the ground and charged after it. Maximus snapped his fingers and massive spikes as wide as tree trunks formed overhead. The next moment he waved his hand down and each one impaled its wrists of its limbs.

"Now is our chance Aqua, just like we practiced!" He shouted to her and she nodded once more.

"God Blow!" The two shouted in unison and both of their fist shined with their magical power.

Before the monster could react both of their strikes landed upon its chest, striking just over where the heart was presumed to be. Upon impact it began to roar out in more pain as the holy power from them seeped into it. The two of them grunted and soon noticed the effects were not having the same intensity as before.

"Maximus!" She shouted to get his attention and when their eyes met, they both nodded in unison.

"God Requiem!" They both shouted once more.

Immediately after their holy attack began to spread through its body, purifying it inch by inch. Soon the creature began to turn to ash and break apart. Both of them heard the souls of its victims leave its body, crying out in relief. Soon after the monster was completely turned to ash and slowly crumbled against the wind.

Aqua and Maximus took a step back and waited to see if any surprise would happen.

After waiting a minute, and after the monster's body had long crumbled away, the two look at each other and smiled.

"We did it!" Aqua shouted with joy and jumped into his arms.

Chris and Kazuma ran up to them to join in.

"That was amazing you two, nice teamwork." Chris complemented them.

"Well, every once in a while, the two of us would train the other, swapping magical knowledge. This was our first time executing that maneuver." Aqua said scratching the back of her head.

"Seriously, I thought you were going to be useless the whole time, not to mention other times in the past." Kazuma said.

"Why you little twerp, I will show you just how useless I am. Let me at him Maximus, I will teach this little shut-in-neet a lesson he will never forget!" She shouted and was being held back by Maximus.

"As fun as that might be to watch, I think we should press on from here." Maximus said feeling a little annoyed she would waste her time with Kazuma.

The next moment the Stables had a gate form within and they could see on the other side was the inside of the stables.

"What is this trickery, I thought we would be able to get out of here!" Aqua protested and began to cry a little.

Maximus made his way towards it and she soon protested the idea of going through.

"Are you seriously going through there, what if it's another trap? What if we walk through there only to be stuck in this place forever?" She cried out.

"We are stuck here either way or have you forgotten we are within Maxwell's trap as a whole and not just one little section." He calmly said and she sensed his annoyance within his voice.

She stopped herself from continuing on crying and held onto him as they stood before the gate.

"Do you think it is the way out?" Chris inquired.

"Well, usually in games, once you defeat the boss of any dungeon level a gate appears to either take you to the next level or returns you to the beginning to press on from there. I would wager we might end up going somewhere else rather than into another level." Kazuma added.

"Well, there is only one way to find out, unless you wish to traverse into that labyrinth again. I believe we might be done here." Maximus said and pressed on through it.

The moment the four of them were on the other side the gate closed in on itself and disappeared. They soon noticed nothing was happening and walked out of it. The sunlight seemed to shine a little brighter after standing within the shade. They turned to look around and saw the town in the background along with the trees and mountains.

"Yep, I believe we have passed this level and can continue on to the next one." Kazuma said.

"I believe you might be right about that. Well, come along, we have no time to lose." Maximus said and continued on in the direction of the last place to check for the exit out of Maxwell's trap.

"Just one question, why are you still carrying her?" Kazuma inquired.

"Well,"

"Well, you see, it is because I was able to best that beast and deserve a little reward. I am a Goddess after all and should be treated as such." Aqua replied with a little condescending tone towards him before Maximus could answer.

"Tsk, whatever you…"

"God Blow!" Aqua shouted before Kazuma could finish and slammed her fist against his chin that knocked him to the ground.

"How dare you threaten to call me useless when you have not even contributing anything throughout this whole time we have been in here!" She shouted in anger and picked him up shaking him.

Before she could continue, Maximus picked her up once more and pressed on to the forest where their castle laid within.

"As fun as this is to watch, we need to get out of here. Afterward, you two can try and kill each other, deal?" He said before she could protest him.

"Hmph, fine then, but just so you know, this will cost you as well. Interrupting a Goddess' punishment comes at a heavy price." She informed him with her index finger pointed at him.

"Yeah, yeah, save it for later, also, we will see about that so-called punishment for me when we really get home." He said no threatened by her ultimatum. "Come now, there is no telling what awaits us in this forest before we even reach the castle." He said to the others.

Kazuma slowly picked himself up with Chris' help and they soon joined him.