Holy CRAP, that took a while to write! I made this one much longer. I hope this is a decent battle scene, I wasn't sure it was long enough... BUT! Did Iris win? read and find out!

It's been such a great run, guys, but after chapter 40 I'm declaring this story closed. Thank you so much for supporting me and Iris through this asolutely awesome adventure. Now happy reading!

-Esmara

Chapter 39: Why it's Called The Poet's Wrath

Iris hesitated at the step right before she entered the circular arena, gazing at the scene before her. Every other post holding up the fencing had a lit torch, and the fire gave off an unholy smoke that snaked towards her, repelled only by the golden comb she had made sure to secure into her hair first thing in the morning. Everything on her – the robes, the comb, even the ribbon wrapped around the handle clenched in her hand, blade gleaming red in the light of the fire – gave off a warm, reassuring glow of faint gold, a glow that blanketed her body in feelings of serenity. Iris looked at the sword, and the ribbon.

There was no fear, not as it had been before. Ascending the stairs Iris had felt fear surging through her veins and boiling her blood, begging her legs to turn around and run back to Waka, pleading with her to be weak and alive. The fear was still in her, but its cries were drowned out by this calmness, this dissonant serenity that had overtaken her body with the last few steps. Thoughts of the last few weeks swirled through her mind – the first storm that had almost killed her, the great tree Konohana and its hidden haven, restoring Hana Valley and the other lands with Amaterasu, struggling to keep up, Waka, the river, the hawk, Tobi and the others who had lost their lives…

Tobi… Iris looked at the ribbon again, and it glowed with a greater intensity, and she could almost hear his voice in her head. You can do it, good woman!, he'd say, I know you can!

I won't let you down, Tobi Iris took in a breath. Queen Himiko… the people who suffered… Lady Ayame… She opened her eyes, and gripped her blade a bit tighter. This is for you. She stepped into the arena, and looked up to the storm that encircled it. "Ninetails! I have come to challenge you for the freedom of Nippon!"

For a split second, nothing happened. Then, the world shook beneath her, and Iris held herself steady as the great form of the nine-tailed demon crashed down from a storm cloud, dark mask smirking at her as Ninetails bared his fangs.

"At long last…" Ninetails growled in an unearthly baritone, "At long last, a worthy opponent, somebody worthy of battle. Your predecessor, Ayame… what a weak, gullible creature she proved to be. I knew as soon as I heard of the vision that she would be no challenge at all." The fox took a step, and began to circle her. "And I do love a challenge. Eliminating her was easy, and getting you here… all I had to do was wait. I tested you, of course, with the demon hawk and the sickness, and my tube foxes." He came full circle. "And now, you have passed my final challenge, the Labyrinth of Oni Island. Congratulations." The fox crouched backwards. "Your death will be my greatest feat!"

He lunged. He lunged, tails propelling him forward, and Iris ducked beneath him, waiting until he was behind her to stab his leg. Ninetails yowled, and Iris glared at the thick black blood that oozed onto her sword.

"Wretched human!" Iris pulled the blade out, and Ninetails whirled towards her. "I will show you what it means to challenge the Lord of Darkness!" He reached over his shoulder, and raised the nine-pronged blade strapped to his back over his head, and the lightning collected around it. Iris glanced around, and ran to a nearby torch, thrusting Poet's Wrath into the flame before running back and ramming it into the demon's exposed stomach.

The roar the creature unleashed was ungodly, and Iris squeezed her eyes shut before pulling the blade down, feeling this flesh it dug into vanish. She opened her eyes, and a copy of Rao swung a smaller blade at her, cutting into what little was exposed of her shoulder and drawing thick blood onto the prong. Iris cringed, and drove her blade into the copy's stomach just as another knocked her in the back from behind. She spun, eyes darting from one evil Rao to the other, all masked and wearing different colors. One, two, three, four… nine in total, and the fox was nowhere to be found.

These are his tails! Iris took a step back, and the first one swung again, blade clanging against her robe and failing to cut it. Iris took in a breath. She looked at the Prayer Ribbon, which was radiating light, several of the symbols burning themselves into her sight within the span of a second. "Prayer Ribbon," she said as the words flooded her, "use your power to fend off these vile spirits and protect the innocent!"

For a fleeting, painful moment, she thought she was Tobi's eye looking at her, a curved line to indicate a smile beneath it. Then, the ribbon flashed, and unraveled where it met the metal, melting into light that circled the blade in a double helix of gold. The Rao doppelgangers all took a step back at the sight of it, and Iris felt herself smile, before bringing the blade down on the one who'd stabbed her.

Another ungodly scream rang through as light burned its flesh, and in staggered back before lunging again, blade held high. Iris drove the sword into its stomach, and it screamed, the light swallowing it and causing it to burst into vile smoke, which soared to the heavens. Iris ignored it as the other eight glowed and recollected, forming the demon once more – sans one tail.

Iris didn't have time to dodge the next lunge, and was knocked to her feet by the force, blade held tight. She brought it up, ignoring the screaming pain in her shoulder blades from the fall, and cut into the leg again. Ninetails hissed as she rose to her feet and drove the blade upwards, into its stomach, tearing open the wound she'd inflicted a moment before.

Another furious lunge, this one a bit unsteady, and Iris was shoved into the fence, metal clanging against her back and causing a barely-audible crack in one of her ribs. Iris grimaced and staggered forward, glaring at Ninetails. Its new wounds from the blessed sword weren't closing, instead slowly burning themselves open and causing black ooze to drip from its stomach and leg. Ninetails was glaring right back at her as both tried to catch their breath first.

She won.

Iris leapt, raising Poet's Wrath, and drove it into the monster's shoulder blade before pulling down. Ninetails yowled, and a long tail swatted her backwards. The blade was still wedged in the flesh, and Iris watched in horror as Ninetails turned to pull it out.

The great teeth gave off an awful burning smell when they met the hilt, the Prayer Ribbon slapping its muzzle away while the metal sunk deeper in the shoulder. The demon cursed and yelled, trying to lunge again, stopping when the fire tore through tendons and ligaments. Iris forced herself to her feet and dashed again, jumping, grasping the blade, and hitting the ground with force that knocked the wind out when it came loose. A splash of black landed next to her, and she rolled away when Ninetails snapped, mask seeming to seethe with anger.

"I will end you!" Iris didn't wait for the fox to recover, and sprinted. Maybe…

Ninetails shook the island with the next scream as Iris sliced two tails clean away, hind leg kicking at her. She was sent flying, and a much louder crack confirmed she'd broken another rib when she hit the fence. She could feel blood beneath the gown, but ignored it.

Six more… She sprinted again, making cut after cut, slicing away another two before Ninetails caught her in his mouth and flung her again. She forced herself onto her knees, and coughed.

Blood hit the ground.

Ninetails staggered toward her, and a tail slammed down, barely missing when she forced herself up. She grabbed the tail, and let go when it raise itself back up, landing on his back and pushing Poet's Wrath into the beast's back.

It screamed, blood-curdling and awful.

"Hurts, doesn't it?!" Iris twisted the blade. "This is what Queen Himiko suffered from you!" She pulled the blade out again, and swung at the tails that spiraled towards her, cutting off the painted tops of two. "Not being able to fight back… this was what all of those innocent people – what Ayame went through!"

"Enough!" She was slammed to the ground, and Ninetails stood over her, body a bloody mess. She couldn't quite breathe. "You will suffer more than any of them did!"

She rolled away, and knocked the mask off with a single swing toward its face. The fox – a hideous, one-eyed thing – growled at her, eye filled with murder.

She stabbed the eye.

Ninetails roared again, lunging for where she was, blood pouring from its face. She dodged its erratic blows, swung at the tails again, cut off another, followed by two more. She stepped back at the mangled form of the Lord of Darkness.

"Wh…why?" It gasped as she held her blade up, feeling her body beg to give in, her knees shaking. "Why do you persevere? Your body is broken!"

"My body," Iris growled, but "not my spirit." She ran forward, and cut into its chest.

It yowled.

"This is for Queen Himiko!" She sidestepped, and stabbed it from the side. "That was for all of those people you killed!" The fox turned to her, miss-stepped, fell over. She kicked it, somehow forcing it to its stomach, and got on top of it. "And this…" she held the blade over its heart, "this is for Tobi."

She plunged the blade deep, feeling darkness fill her lungs and force her backwards, as it screamed in pain, body melting into thick smoke that raced to the sky, while the pathetic form shrunk beneath her, until all that remained was a pool of black. She stared at it in disbelief, her breath ragged, her body screaming and weak, but alive. She was alive, and Ninetails was dead.

She'd won.

In an instant, the island itself shook without its master to keep hold, and in a burst of color, everything around the small island mountain flew up into the sky as a flurry of flower petals. They were fluttering up in the air and raining down onto the wide ocean and the arena where Iris stood, looking at the night sky kissed with pale blossoms of the softest pink. The storm clouds pulled away, and pale moonlight flooded the heavens above her The petals landed around her feet and in her hair, and everywhere else they could reach on the remains of the once-called Oni Island.

"Iris! You did it!" Iris was pulled out of her slight trance, and turned to the source of the voice, feeling herself smile for the first time in what felt like an eternity as Amaterasu and Waka came running towards her. "You did it!" Issun repeated, bouncing up and down, and Amaterasu tackled Iris to the ground with a flurry of happy dog-kisses. She didn't even care about the pain from the pounce. It felt good. She was alive.

"Y-yes, we did! We did it!" Iris laughed as the white wolf slobbered all over her face. "We beat Ninetails!" Ammy let her get up, and she giggled while she wiped the remaining residue from her face.

"You did it, ma cherie," Waka said, and Iris turned to look at him, feeling her face heat up. "That was amazing!" He was smiling at her, a big, goofy and affectionate smile, one she didn't think she recognized. Iris rolled her eyes.

"Waka…"

Waka hugged her, and Iris smiled, pulling back enough to face Waka, who had a hint of red in his cheeks but was still grinning. She wrapped her arms around him, and with the breeze blowing and blossoms falling from the sky, they embraced each other in a warm, happy, victorious kiss, while Amaterasu's victory howl pulled the clouds away and brought down the golden light of the full moon.