“Alright, no more shenanigans! Today we’ll make it to the tower. I can’t wait.” Lucy giddily shook her clenched fists, until she saw the rest were taken aback. “Ahem, I will lead the way. Remember, don’t panic when I run ahead.”

Leaving their items behind, the group followed their young leader out of the hotel, out of Branton, and into the forest. Transforming into the devil, she barreled through bushes and branches, swiping away occasional threats using her spear.

“Oh, so you use a spear too?”

“Yes, but this one grants wishes.”

“Yeah? Then why didn’t you wish us there.”

“Well, it grants a wish. It’s supposed to grant wishes when the flower is in bloom,” the towering figure pointed to the dark green neck around the spear head, a single; the teens could see a tiny flower, alone in a vast green expanse. “Ever since I made a wish a couple months ago, it hasn’t bloomed.”

Once the forest cleared, giving way to a path shooting toward the sky, the devil put away her spear, putting her hands on the grounds and running on all fours. Sprinting up the mountain trail, the group tried their best to keep up, all but Brian and Adriana gasping for breath once they reached the peak

“That way” Lucy pointed northwest, the group’s eyes meeting a cliff that stretched wide. “Beyond that cliff is the tower.”

As the devil ran off again, the dragoon and rogue flew after her, the rest doing their best to keep up. Through more trees and a hard-fought battle with a steep hill, the four joined Brian and Adriana at the top of the cliff, looking down to see a tower in the pit.

Stepping back, the group gave room for Alex and Westin to land from their flight, Lucy appearing between them. With the combined fliers, the group made their way in front of the tower entrance, where the others waited.

“Good luck Matt” everyone cheered the knight as he entered the tower, his heart racing as he followed his sister. The knight made his way up many sets of stairs; with each staircase, anxiety stacked itself in on top of the teen’s heart, matching the height of the structure until they reached the top. The walls of the building rose up high, but the ceiling was open. On both the right and left, there were bleacher, the princess sitting on the left.

“Elizabeth!”

“Hello Matthew. Are you guys going to take me home now?” Had his heart not been threatening to break out of his chest, he would have laughed at how calm she was.

“Not just yet. First we have to fight.” The sister once again summoned the spear, this time leaning into a battle stance. “You better give it your all.”

Unsheathing his sword and shield, the brother charged at his sister, who jumped to the side before attempting to kick him. Blocking the kick with his shield, he leapt back, preventing any follow up. Melting into the ground, Matt watched as his sister’s shadow jumped around erratically. Before she could attack him, he summoned light from his sword. Figuring her ability mimicked Adriana’s ability to hide in shadows, he believed she would pop out at any second; to his horror, she did not. As the light faded, Matt felt himself fly forward, but this time he landed on his feet.

Flipping back around, he saw his sister smugly drinking in her small victory. Charging at her again, the girl hid in the shadows. This time, the knight used surrounding metal to encase himself in a heavy suit of armor. Feeling a thud behind his back, the knight sent the pieces of the armor flying, faced his attacker, and struck her leg with his shield.

Recoiling in a limp fashion while rubbing her face, Matt could see his plan had worked better than expected. “Guess we’ve both learned that one strategy doesn’t last forever.” Taking advantage of the situation, Matt swung at his sister, but she dodged, clinging to the wall above, out of Matt’s reach. “Did you think it was going to be that easy?”

“So, I take it we’re having a five on six?”

“No man, I’m sitting this one out.” The cleric looked at Dustin, the only sin not in their devil form. “I’ll be taking a nap.”

“Well then, shall we start?”

“Let’s.”

Right out of the gate, Adriana attempted to shock the succubus, but her bolt was absorbed by a wall of glass. As the glass broke and shards launched at the group, an ice wall protected the group. Clyde launched himself at the wall, shattering it. The group scattered, Adriana and Jessica heading for Xander and Alex while Brian and Sarah went for Westin and Hayley.

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“I’m not giving you the chance!” Adriana struck at the succubus, her knives meeting steel claws. Jessica had launched ice shards at the giant, but he shrugged them off and slammed her with the broadside of his sword. Upon realizing he had hit an ice replica instead of his target, Xander immediately booked it toward his partner, who was being harassed by both the mage and rogue. Picking up the unsuspecting rogue, he launched her to the other side of the battlefield, but he was too late to save the succubus from being knocked out.

“I’m going to make you even shorter, you little squirt.” The dragoon flew at the seer, smashing the mirror she used to shield herself. Sending the fragments flying at the dragoon, he simply used the wind to send them away. Repeating the strategy, Brian found his wind lacking; looking back, he saw the Gargoyle sucking in the wind. Narrowly avoiding most of the fragments, Brian found himself surrounded by mirrors. Smashing them, he again used the wind, this time sending them at the seer. The gargoyle attempted to stop him again, but he was pelted by arrows and shocked by electricity, giving the dragoon the opening needed. Being pelted by shards and a strong gust, the seer landed next to the succubus.

In front of the cleric, the rotund monster loomed over him. “You ready for this?” Eric shook his head, trying all he could to plant his feet on to the ground. As the glutton pulled the cleric toward his stomach, Eric covered the mouth with water, the suction coming to a stop. His victory was cut short, however, as a blast of air how sent the water and the cleric flying. Regretfully, Eric watched as the sin had sent himself flying toward his team.

Ducking and dodging, juking and jiving, the mage avoided swipe after slice of her opponent’s onslaught. Just as confidence began to well up inside, the mage tripped backward, leaving her vulnerable. Before he could bring down the sword, vines had wrapped the devil down, Jessica looking back to see Sarah creating and controlling the vines. Standing up, the mage focused every bit of her power into creating an ice hammer half the size of the tower. Swinging it horizontally, she hit her target into the pile of knocked out sins, his body landing on top of the tiny girl.

Clyde had attempted to eat the rogue, the latter too exhausted to flee. As he began consuming, the rogue was lifted up, but had not gotten any closer to him. Enraged, he could see the dragoon was canceling out his wind tunnel. Before he could bounce over, he was sent flying by a bit of earth, bouncing on his stomach before landing on the three unfortunate bodies below him.

Realizing he was the last one, Westin flew up, the dragoon following him. Dodging fireballs, the gargoyle hadn’t noticed the giant fowlcrow being controlled by Eric. As the bird pecked his back and destroyed his concentration, the gargoyle took a flurry of fireballs, falling back to the earth, right on top of the other sins.

The group gathered around the pile of bodies, standing proud, knowing their teamwork finally paid off.

“Hey Sarah, you did a good job.” The mage patted her friend on the back. “Worth being on the team?” The mage hugged her. “Yeah.”

“Pardon me for interrupting such a sickeningly saccharine moment, but…could you get these oafs off me?!” The group laughed as the tiny girl flailed, attempting to pulled herself from under the others.

Matthew analyzed his sister’s movements, tension building in his legs as he prepared to jump backward at any moment. Every second the combatants stared at one another, Matt could feel his heart beat. As the devil lunged at him, he jumped back, almost lulled into a false sense of security.

“Alright brother,” a purpled orb began to form in the girl’s hand, “let’s see how your armor fairs against this.”

Matthew pulled the metal from the bleachers, allowing it to surround him completely. From his head to his toes, he was surrounded by a metal barrier, praying it would be enough.

BOOM

A cataclysm explosion rocked the barrier, the knight felt a ringing in his ears. Relinquishing control over the barrier, he could see there wasn’t much left. To his relief, the princess was unharmed, but the ground under him was scorched. Looking around, he spotted his sister, back in human form.

“Looks like that plan went up in flames. Oh well, now things can get interesting.”

The knight raised an eyebrow. As the girl charged him, he readied his shield, only for the girl to turn into lighting, shocking him and sending him flying back.

“Hmph, learned that trick from Adriana.”

“You…you what?” Matt couldn’t believe what he witnessed, what he heard. Reflexively, he narrowly dodged a fireball, which sent him forward via a gust of wind. “Learned that one from Brian.” Landing close to his sister, the knight came to a realization.

“So that’s why you hid as the princess. Let’s see if you can mimic this.” Surrounded himself, he formed a light suit of armor. He watched as his sister did the same, not as refined, but still it confirmed his theory.

The two clashed, Matthew slicing and Lucy stabbing, neither taking damage. In this war of attrition, Matt hoped his sister was tiring faster than he was. With every stab, he could feel his hold over the armor loosen just a bit more, and with every slash he hoped his sister was under the same stress.

Both had stopped, jumping back as their armor gave way.

“One last chance brother. I come at you with everything I got left, you do the same. Let’s see who is stronger, once and for all.”

The girl charged forward, Matthew holding his ground. Sheathing his sword, the brother side-stepped the girl, bashing her into the ground with his shield. Looking down at the defeated sister, he began to worry he struck her too hard, in a soft spot, or both

“You okay Lucy?” The girl stood up, walking away from the knight. “It’s not fair, you always win. I hate you!” Before he could stop her, the girl disappeared into the floor, leaving Matthew with the princess.