And now, a bit of humor and something a good deal of you have been waiting for right before the final battle. I didn't want to write EVERY LITTLE THING in detail, o I wrote what I thought would be fun to read. Enjoy!
Chapter 38: Risks
"Demons have rules?" Iris stared in disbelief at the signpost. "For a Labyrinth? Dumbest thing I've ever heard." She read through. "Okay… sounds like a deadly playground."
"Only one way to find out," Waka said, gesturing onward. "Shall we, ma cherie?"
"So we just step on the switch to activate this machine…" Iris muttered, "and we have thirty seconds each to cross to the finish line. Seems simple enough… I'll go first." She stepped on the switch, and dashed towards it. Then, as she got closer, the floor began sliding backwards, like a conveyor belt. "Hey! What gives?!" She sprinted, and dove through the door just before it slammed shut. "O-kay, a little more complicated than I thought. Your turn, Waka!" Waka stepped on the switch, and calmly jumped over to the other side, and stepped through.
"I think that was a decent time, don't you?"
"Shut it."
"Yeesh," Iris glanced down at the spikes below the stone panels of the second challenge. "This one's much more forward about being difficult… okay… Now!" She jumped from the switch to the first panel, and quickly stepped off as it crumbled beneath her. The next two did the same thing, and she jumped from the fourth to another set a few feet away. The one she landed on disintegrated, and she grabbed the chain it hung from before swinging to the next, making it to the door with 10 seconds to spare. "Your move!"
Waka followed suit, stepping from one to the other with relative ease, but stopping for a split second as the panels approached the door. "Hmm…" he jumped, landed, and walked through.
"Alright, what's next?"
"…I cannot clear that," Iris said as she looked up at the high wall blocking the door. Waka said nothing, scooped her up – "Hey?!" – and jumping over it, walking through the door with a smug grin. "Say nothing and put me down."
Iris jumped over the saw with relative ease, then the next, and the third one, before dashing through the finish line where Waka was waiting. "I can't believe I survived that."
"Rotating saws?!"
"Finally, some action!" Iris swung her blade through the demonic statues one by one, the ribbon glowing as she did. When the last one fell, she sprinted and jumped for the door, falling on her stomach while the blade landed a few feet ahead."
"Very graceful, ma cherie."
"Whatever."
"Uh…" Iris jumped away from a laser, "can I ask a question? What is wrong with these demons?!"
"HOLY CRAP WHY?!" Spiked walls closing in on the hall, AND saws?!
"My thoughts exactly, ma cherie!"
"Ammy, Issun, where were you?!"
"We got zapped by lasers and summoned a tiger god!"
"Did we already walk through this door?" Iris frowned at the identical doors, all with the same demonic eye - oh, Tobi – painted on them.
"Woof!"
"Huh boy."
Iris stared at the large copper statue as Ammy drew a line from a lightning bolt to it, causing it to start shaking and a door to slide open. "So that's why you needed the tiger god."
"Anybody here afraid of spiders?"
Waka easily jumped from one ledge to the other, holding Iris in his arms again. Ammy whimpered from the first ledge.
"It's okay, Ammy!" Iris said as Waka set her down, "You look around and see if you can find anything that might have been stolen! I'll deal with Ninetails!" The wolf barked, and turned around to the way they'd come from. Iris looked at Waka.
"Are you ready, ma cherie?"
"Let's go."
The way to the arena was full of jumps and climbing before finally they reached a spiraling path, with a sign at the beginning. "THRONE OF NINETAILS" was written in large strokes of dark red. Iris took in a breath.
"Ma cherie, are you alright?" Waka put a hand on her shoulder, and Iris looked at him again.
"Yeah… this is it, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"Think I'll make it?"
"I know you will." Iris bit her lip, rolling the thought in her head.
"Waka," she said quietly, after a moment, "as soon as I go up there, find Ammy and wait here. If Ninetails kills me, do anything you can to kill him." She took in a breath.
"Ye, ma cherie. Is there anything else?"
"…You know those stories about people who, when they go to their death, all they can think about is that one thing they wish they'd done?"
"…Yes…"
"I'm not one of them." Iris reached up for Waka's face, and, gently pulling him down to her, she kissed him, arms slipping around his neck. Waka froze for an instant before returning the kiss, pulling her close, a hand running through her dark hair, and for a moment neither one made any move to pull away. Then, the earth shook with a roar at the top of the spiral, and Iris pulled herself away and ran, towards the roar, looking back at Waka, who stood there. "Go!" He turned, and ran, and Iris looked at the path ahead, the death of Ninetails her singular focus.