"They've just set an illusion for us right on the first floor?" Katsuki asked while walking up the stairs to the next floor.
"Yeah. There was no one on the first floor. That's why I had the time to help you all break free from your illusion!"
"You're such a good girl, Yuuki!" Eijirou patted her on the head, very happy with what she did to save everyone.
"Why don't we go to the next floor? Let's go~!"
However, was there really no one on the first floor?
Shivering on the ground was a spider-like monster with the upper half body of an attractive woman. She was shivering because of Yuuki's aura. She was able to put Katsuki and the others into a coma-like state within an illusion, but she did not dare to do anything to Yuuki.
"S-such evil aura...! How-! I-I've never felt such evil in my life!" She hugged her herself, trying to regain her composure; she made the decision to not fight and let Yuuki and the others advance from her floor because she knew for sure she will lose her life if she dared to fight Yuuki in a one on one. "Such an evil girl! This tower...we're doomed if she makes it to the very top. I hope there is someone stronger than me able to put a stop to her. She is a monster!"
They have made it to the 2nd floor. Red spider lillies filled the floor in a carpet of red and white. The floor boss was nowhere to be seen but there's a wooden sign written in blood. What did it say?
"Would you die together? Or would you rather let everyone advance and one remain and fight?" Neito read the sign. "T-this is crazy! What kind of threat is that?!"
"Now we must do the most rational thing. Do we all die together on the 2nd floor or do we chance it and leave one person to fight the floor boss?" Hitoshi brought up the one thing no one wanted to think about; do they fight as a group or have a quick way to advance?
"We should have came with an army of people...!" Neito complained, "At least bringing someone who is suicidal to start with would have been good!"
"Now that I think about it, why didn't you guys come with an army of people to start with?" Eijirou asked them, "If you had an army of people, wouldn't storming the tower be an easy job?"
"You are right but the wish is limited to one person who slays the final boss so the wish is limited to one person. What do you think people would do in such a huge group?"
"In fighting." Yuuki answered, "And everyone's wishes are different. Unless you have a huge group of people with no greed."
"Keeping the group smaller makes it easier to move and protect one another. But this floor boss is basically asking us to leave someone behind or to die as one."
Everyone kept quiet, especially Neito.
'What do we do? The most common sense thing is to have someone stay behind and fight the floor boss on their own! We barely know each other, I can be in the position to suggest three from the other group to stay- they mean nothing to me. But what if that causes a rift between Tetsutetsu and Hitoshi? I can't be the first one to speak.' Neito thought to himself. He's eyeing everyone, hoping someone stupider than him will say something.
"You can just leave me behind." Yuuki suggested to everyone.
Everyone looked at Yuuki, unable to comprehend what she just said.
"Yuuki..." Hitoshi grabbed her arm, "Do you know what you are even saying?!"
"I do. I just thought there is no one best suited being here other than me. If I am here alone, I can fight without protecting anyone."
"We can't let you do this!" Tetsutetsu shouted, "It's not manly to leave a woman behind and let her cover our asses! Eijirou, say something!"
"Yuuki, I can't let you do this. The risk is too high-" He felt Yuuki put a finger against his lips. She's looking at him with him with her usual smile that told him everything will be okay. "Yuuki..."
"Trust me on this one."
Everyone but him stood still. Katsuki was the first one to make a move. He chose to head for the next floor. He went for the gate on the other side of the red and white spider lillies. The gate slowly opened and a voice asked if they are going to all advance while leaving one to fight the floor boss.
"We're leaving Yuuki behind."
The gate fully opened and they asked for the guys to all come to the other side.
"Katsuki!" Tetsutetsu shouted, "You're cold and heartless! You're just going to leave Yuuki behind?!"
"I am."
Seeing the situation became like this, Neito chose to follow Katsuki. 'I can't believe this guy. He realizes the risk of death is very high for Yuuki and he still went forward. Seems like he wanted the wish really badly. Of course, at the very last moment, I will one up him and take the wish for myself. My Magic is not something flashy like a hero's. If anything, I look like a thief. That's why our group is known as the Phantom Thief!" He thought with a nasty grin on his face.
Eijirou, Tetsutetsu, and Hitoshi followed Katsuki too. The three of them didn't want to leave Yuuki behind but they didn't have a choice; the floor boss made such a decision because they're confident they can kill every single last one of them if they had fought together. However, just leaving one behind meant the others did not need to overexert their Magic. The correct answer was a cruel and harsh one, testing one's rationality and see if there will be a group fighting. The conditions were made to make an inner conflict happen. Yuuki prevented an inner conflict from happening by volunteering to stay behind.
The gate's slowly closing once everyone's gone through it. The others didn't dare to look behind them. If they looked back, they will regret leaving Yuuki behind.
"Yuuki!!!"
However, one of them DID turn back. Katsuki turned himself around!
Yuuki looked at Katsuki and she tilted her head, "Hm?"
He pointed at her, "This is your Master's order! You are NOT allowed to die!"
And how did she respond? She got on one knee, a hand to her heart, "Yes, Master!"
"You better catch up! If I found you've died, I will carry your ashes and make fun of you every single day! You will not be able to rest! Don't die! Don't you fucking die!
And the door finally closed. Katsuki was panting from shouting in order to deliver his words to Yuuki.
'It doesn't seem like it, but leaving Yuuki behind has to be hard on him too.' Hitoshi thought as he looked at Katsuki panting for breath.
"Katsuki..." Eijirou whispered.
"Are we advancing?" Neito asked.
"No. We wait." Katsuki said to him.
"What? This is the perfect opportunity to raid the next floor-" Neito was then grabbed Katsuki. Katsuki lifted him up slightly so his feet barely touched the ground.
"Just because I left her behind on the other side of this fucking door, it doesn't mean I have to advance without her! If you want to go on on your own, you fucking leave! I am waiting for the stupid wolf to catch up!"
"Katsuki...!" Eijirou genuinely thought they will really leave Yuuki behind! "If you had no intentions of leaving without her, why didn't you just tell her?"
"Idiot. When you draw a doll, you don't draw the organs, do you? Even if I don't tell her I am waiting, she will know."
On the other side of the gate, Yuuki as seeing the floor boss. She's a very attractive woman. Long straight black hair, she's wearing a navy blue kimono with red spider lillies embroided all over the kimono, the kimono showed off her bare shoulders and half of her breasts. She's smoking from a pipe and she smirked at Yuuki, "Are you sure you want to fight me, little girl? How harsh for the men to leave a woman behind...this is going to be your grave. What can a mere human do against me, Higanbana of the spider lilly demon?!" Her left eye released a red aura, and it flickered like the flame of a candle.
The spider lillies were releasing the same red burning-like aura too. However, the aura did not touch Yuuki.
"It takes a demon to smell another demon out." Yuuki's not a human. Katsuki and the others did not leave a human behind. They left a demon behind. Just like how Higanbana use Magic to manipulate her aura, Yuuki could do the same thing too.
Higanbana was enraged; Katsuki and the others left a demon behind!
"What is a demon doing on the side of the humans?!" When she blew out the smoke from her pipe, she turned some of the spider lillies rise up as monsters with the head of a red spider lily.
Yuuki was not afraid one bit. Just like a wolf, she tore through each and every flower monster Higanbana brought to life. Her own aura shrouded her body, she moved like a four legged animal as she moved in for the kill.
Higanbana just sat there in the air, calmly smoking as she watched Yuuki claw through the red spider lily monsters. She's not worried one bit about how Yuuki was defeating them one by one until they're nothing but torn up flowers.
Yuuki wondered if it was a bit too easy to kill for enemies. By the time she finished killing the last red spider lily monster, she looked up at the floating demon.
"Congratulations. You've guided all the red spider lily servants of mine to their final destination. Do you know what the final destination is?"
"...death."
"That's right. All living things comes to an end, the cycle of life repeats itself all the time. No one, not even a human can fight against death. Eventually the soul will return as a reincarnation. Rise, my white spider lillies! Avenge your fallen comrades!"
The white spider lily monsters rose up from the ground and they were much quicker, faster, and more bloodthirsty than the red ones.
Yuuki dodged the onslaught of incoming attacks with her speedy reflexes. However, when a red monster came up behind her, she kicked it to death but she received a jab into her side by a white spider lily monster. She pressed a hand to her side, she had been stabbed.
"Hahahaha! The more of the red monsters you kill, you make the white ones more faster and more powerful! Now...dance for me!"
It was getting harder and harder to kill the white spider lily monsters while at the same time avoiding killing the red ones. Yuuki was getting hurt in all directions. If she did not use her aura to keep herself protected, she would have been stabbed to death.
Higanbana was laughing out loud knowing that she will become the victor, "Now that I focus my senses on you...you've only recently become a demon. You might have a demonic aura around you, but you were originally human, aren't you?" Higanbana made a disgusted face at Yuuki, "Here I thought you were a demon just like me but it turned out you are nothing more than a human who sold her soul to come back as a demon. You are an embarrassment to all demons and you will die without your friends hearing you cry or seeing me take every ounce of life from you! My loyal servants, get her!"
Everything felt like slow motion to Yuuki. The worst thing about death was when no one knew you died and you leave behind those who were waiting for your return. She closed her eyes...
Eijirou gasped and he looked at the gate. What's this feeling? This dreading feeling of something terrible had befallen on everything? He walked up to the gate and he pressed his forehead against it. He whispered her name, he's so quiet that no one else could hear it.
"Please be okay...come back. Come back to us."
"I'm going to kill you! Once I killed you, I will make my way up the tower and kill your comrades! I'll mangle your corpse up so they could see how wrong a decision they have made! Ahahahaha!"
No one could hear her scream of death? No one could see her being killed? Everything will be a secret?
...that's a good thing for Yuuki.
Yuuki smirked and she used her Magic to blow her enemies away from her! "I didn't become a demon to come back and die in the hands of another demon. I'll show you what a true demon can do right now!" Yuuki removed the hair tie in her hair and she let it fall to the ground. Slowly, her hair slowly transitioned from snow white to cherry blossom pink.
"Huh? T-this feeling...what is this increase of Magic?! This girl...who on earth is she?!"
She bit her thumb, drawing blood, and under her feet was a magical circle and it blew away all the spider lilies growing within the radius. "Aura Magic: Soul Summoning!"
Eijirou lost consciousness and he fell to his knees. The others didn't think anything of it because they thought he was just being helpless and restless in the wait.
On the other side of the gate, Eijirou gasped at what he's seeing right now. Yuuki's hair color...!
"Y-you..." Eijirou teared up the moment he saw her. He cupped her face and he started to cry. "Is this real? If it's a dream, I don't want to wake up...!" Pressing his forehead against hers, he started to cry. The two of them were in their own little world, the monsters could not penetrate through the barrier she had made.
"Just borrowing you. You'll keep this a secret from the others, right?" She asked him with a smile on her face.
Eijirou slowly parted. His hands rested on her shoulders, "Yeah...as usual."
Yuuki touched his chest, feeling the beat of his heart. "Aura Magic: Soul Pull!"
Eijirou felt a scorching pain coming from his chest. He forced himself to open one eye and he saw her pull out a crimson red katana from his chest.
"Eijirou, you're still waiting for me, right?"
"I'll wait for you forever and ever."
The katana was finally out.
Higanbana could only see the demon wolf but Eijirou was no longer here. 'Where did that guy go?!'
Eijirou regained consciousness on the other side of the gate. He slowly stood up again. He looked at Katsuki and he grinned, "She will be fine. I believe in her." He touched his heart and he closed his eyes with a warm smile, "She can do it."
One cut. One clean cut was able to cut a white spider lily monster in half. The cut was clean and quick, the enemy couldn't see it coming.
'Where did that weapon even come from?! She pulled out a katana out of that boy! Where did it come from?! This is ridiculous!' Higanbana was still in the air. Her instinct told her to not go down no matter what...that blade she's holding, it held a massive amount of Magic inside. 'It's even stronger than having a Magic User infuse their Magic into an object! What on earth is she?!'
The pink haired girl looked at her true target and she focused her aura to her feet so she could move faster than her enemy. She started to make her way up to reach Higanbana. She's going to slay Higanbana with the sword!
Higanbana panicked and she sent more and more of her servants at the now pink haired girl. Higanbana shouldn't be fearful of another demon but she felt something very threatening emitting from the other demon girl.
One, two, three, four, five, and six. She's cutting them with the crimson red blade as she made her way up to Higanbana. While focusing her aura to her feet, she's making platforms to step on in midair. Sometimes she would step on her falling enemy in order to make it to Higanbana. Keep cutting! She told her herself to cut a way out to her enemy no matter what! She had to do it now!
No matter how many servants were summoned to stop the sword wielding girl, none of them were able to stop her.
"You...!" Higanbana was forced to use her own Magic. She created a red wall made up of her own red aura.
The pink haired girl gripped her sword and she hit the wall of aura with all of her might!
Higanbana smirked because her aura wall was able to make rebounds; it hits back at the attacker with the same force used to hit the wall! "I've broken many weapons in my lifetime, little demon girl! Break your weapon and die a painful death!"
But the demon girl had focused aura on her whole body. The rebound did nothing to her or the crimson blade. In fact, she kept pushing it through.
"What?!" Higanbana could break anything with her aura! There's nothing her red aura wall couldn't break! Yet, she's unable to break the crimson blade...why?!
The pink haired girl broke through the red wall with sheer force and she stabbed Higanbana in the neck!
"You think you can break an unbreakable will so easily?! I'll tell you one thing about humans as one demon to another! When humans are pushed to the limit, when they have a lot on the line...they become powerful!" She turned the blade to the side and she cut out from one side before turning the blade the other way to completely decapitate Higanbana's head from her neck.
As the head of the demon lady start to fall, the young skin started to deteriorate to that of a very old woman. "No...no...no! I don't want to become my true form in my last moment...!"
Higanbana's not a beautiful demon. She's born from the ugliness of humans. Legend said she was the outcome of a ugly people committing suicide in hopes of being reincarnated into someone of beauty. To punish these foolish souls, they accumulated to become the demon Higanbana. As her head landed to the ground, her falling body started to turn into ashes. She had lost her vision but she could see Yuuki clear as day.
"Ahhh! Ahhhhh!!!! Ahhhh!!!! What is this aura?! So evil! Y-you...! You're even worst than a demon! You...! You...! You monster! Ahhhh!!!!" She lost her vision but demons could see aura of others...especially the aura of those who were evil at heart. The fact she could see the demon wolf clearly meant-
Her cherry pink colored hair became snow white once again. Yuuki stabbed the head through the temple, making Higanbana lose everything all at once. The sword disappeared when Yuuki let go of it.
"You don't have to be a demon to be evil. Humans are pretty evil too."
The gate opened and Yuuki could see Katsuki and the others. Yuuki smiled and she picked up her hair tie.
Eijirou looked so happy to see her. He ended up crying. It's unmanly to cry, but he did it anyway.
Yuuki walked over to them while tying her hair in a low ponytail again. She felt Eijirou hug her.
"Welcome back...!"
"Hm. I'm back~." She then looked at Katsuki and she grinned, "I held up to my promise, Master!"
"Hmph. I know you did."
Yuuki won the battle against another demon. She also kept her secret safe...she literally killed two birds with one stone.