"The only thing you can do now is run, Traitor!"

     "We'll see about that!"

     I don't have much of a choice but to use my Enchanted Voice techniques.

     Byakko releases another scream to turn me to ash as I direct a bit of my energy to my voice box while the petals go outwards to circle the blast.

     "Disperse~," I said with the sound of my voice being laced with energy as the petals help amplify my energy to be more directed towards the blast that it dissipates. Before I can even refocus another blast was shortly sent my way.

     "Meyome!" My friends call out to me as the petals turn to ash and I quickly jump to the next tower.

     "You may have surprised me but it takes a bit more time to do than my Tiger Scream!"

     That's fine if he knows the weakness since I'm no longer fond of that technique. I just have to make him believe he has me cornered.

     "Now all you can do is run!" Byakko yells and I jump towards another tower in his direction. Each time I land on one, I have to jump off of it or turn to ash like the first one. With each tower eliminated I leap toward the tower in front of him.

     "Had enough! Tiger Claws!" Byakko quickly throws his claws at me and catches me off guard as soon as I landed on the tower. The tearing of skin I feel makes me flinch and I take the stem of a rose out of my breast pocket.

     Think quickly-!

     "Meyome! Switch with me!" Yusuke screams at me but I just focus on my enemy.

     "I've got this Yusuke!"

     "You surprise me! Still fighting despite your frail human body!" Byakko points out when I deny Yusuke's help. I simply send my opponent a smirk.

     "Sorry If I'm not easy to kill like the others," I mention with a small smile, moving toward the left a bit but that small tower is quickly destroyed. Perfect.

     "Sorry, the little ones are easy to overlook. You're trapped just accept it, it'll make your last moments a whole lot easier." Byakko laughs and the whispers from my worried friends reach my ears.

     "Can you reach her, Hiei?"

     "If need be." I hear Hiei answer Kurama which irritates me a bit.

     "Trust me for once! I don't want your help right now!" I call out to them and turn my attention to Byakko again who just laughs at me.

     "Idiot, they were your last chance to survive!" Byakko tells me and starts developing his blast, I get ready to jump. The ball of sparking energy soon comes my way and I jump high as possible toward Byakko's pillar. Every second goes by quickly and before I legitimately fall in the stem grows into a pole vault. The bottom hits the leftover stone and instantly sends me flying upwards toward the overgrown cat.

     "Huh!"

     "This is goodbye!" I call out quickly growing a leaf blade and stabbing it in Byakko's head. He falls backward from the amount of force I exerted, falling toward the lava first. I maneuver my body to turn around and stab the leaf into the stone, clinging onto it for dear life.

     "Meyome!... She can't be. You can't die!" Yusuke screams and I grip tightly to the leaf blade.

     That was too close for my liking!

     I look over the boys near the entrance of this forsaken oven to see them all somber.

     "Hey! Could you guys help me out? Unless you really want me to cook myself alive!" I yelled and just like that, I caught their attention to see them relieved.

     "Uh-, we're coming, Meyome!" Kuwabara exclaims and everyone starts jumping in my direction quickly with a bit of urgency. Once they're in front of me they all look down at me as I pout with a knowing feeling.

     "Are you guys going to help me or just stand there?" I questioned but all of them have a sense of mischief in their smiles which only makes me dread what they were going to say.

     "But we can't, Meyome, didn't you say that you don't need any help, remember?" Yusuke mentions with a grin and everyone else looks down at me with the same damn grin.

     "Yes, it would go against us trusting you," Kurama mentions with the same teasing tone while Kuwabara laughs at the situation at hand. I instantly glare at them with a disapproving frown.

     "Keywords, "right now", as mentioned in my sentence meaning at that moment! So could you please help me before I fall in!"

     "Alright, Alright! Here." Yusuke gives in and offers me his hand, I gladly take it.

***

     We all run up another spiral of stairs once we left that forsaken lava. And when we make it to the top we're in a room with doors all around us.

     "Looks like we made it to the maze part of Maze Castle," I mentioned, and Yusuke turns to me.

     "I guess that makes sense."

     "We must beware it's something of a legend," Kurama tells Yusuke who seems a bit confused by what he means.

     "At the beginning before the barrier wall was erected around the city, hundreds of bounty hunters came in search of the beasts. None succeeded but none of the beats left their tower letting anyone who entered the castle forfeit their lives to this maze." Kurama explains the legend to Yusuke along with Kuwabara who wasn't aware of it as well.

     "They're fifteen doors with fourteen of them leading you to a dead-end and there are no second chances. The traps within those doors are unavoidable within the passageways. So a wrong guess and we can kiss the Living World goodbye." I add on to Kurama's explanation and Yusuke instantly looks at Kuwabara with quite a disturbed look.

     "Okay, Mr. Sensitive, this is all yours!" Yusuke exclaims and Kuwabara starts scanning over all the doors that are around us to sense for anything to get us through this alive. My eyes train on the door onto the second door on the left and Kuwabara's gaze lands there.

     "The second door on the left." Kuwabara and I mention and Hiei eyes the taller boy.

     "How do we know he's not making a mistake?" Hiei questions and Kuwabara walks up to the door he mentioned, looking back at Hiei.

     "Sorry, Shorty. Maybe it's not your style but you're just gonna have to trust me on this one. I know there's something big behind this door." Kuwabara said with pride, opening the door for lo-and-behold there a mouse.

     "Wah! I hate mice!" And Kuwabara instantly stumbles to the ground with Yusuke instantly cringing at the sudden action.

     "Geez, Kuwabara! And that speech of yours was getting so dramatic!" Yusuke said with second-hand embarrassment behind it clearly. and I glance at Hiei with a smile and he shrugs.

     Kuwabara composed himself and we all walked down the very long and musty hallway that slowly comes to an end. We all see two tall pillars with dragons in front of them with a very dramatic big door.

     "Are we supposed to be scared?" Hiei said with an annoyed expression.

     "Perhaps-."

     "Sad to say these blue dragons mean that obviously, the most annoying one is here, Seiryuu." I cut Kurama off and the two junior high boys looked at me in surprise which amused me a bit.

     I guess they haven't been paying attention.

     "let me ask the obvious question here. How the hell do you know the Saint Beasts!" Yusuke exclaims and before I could even answer the doors creak open with fog seeping through. We walk into the room and the doors shut behind us with this dense fog of energy that keeps us vigilant. We walk into the room with the doors shutting quickly behind us and the fog seems to grow even thicker- feeling more alive as it grows.

     "This fog is alive," Kurama mentions, and Yusuke grows frustrated instantly.

     "Come out now, Dragon! This whole hide-and-seek thing is getting pretty lame!" Yusuke calls out then suddenly the fog starts to spark brightly. I cover my eyes and hear a loud explosion of wind knowing who will be in front of us. We all uncovered our eyes to see Seiryuu standing all high and mighty in front of us.

      "As you request," Seiryuu said calmly and Kuwabara freaks out at how tall he is but the beast's eyes met mine with disinterest.

     "Traitor, you dare step foot again here after your defiance against your previous master."

     "And here I thought I would get a warm welcome, Blue Fish." The sarcasm dripped from my words and to no surprise I have hit a nerve with the nickname. Kuwabara and Yusuke look at me with wide eyes.

     "Traitor? You used to work for these guys!"

     "Sadly, part of my many regrets," I answer Yusuke, and Seiryuu glares.

     "It is not wise to say such things to you executioner," Seiryuu mentions before his face shows annoyance instantly.

     "Argh, it appears we have another guest." Seiryuu's words surprise all of us and I suddenly sense familiar energy.

     "Behind us!" I exclaim with all of us turning our attention to the double doors behind us. They open to reveal a very burned and injured Byakko.

     "You must help me, Seiryuu. Please, help me!" Byakko pleads, slowly staggering towards Seiryuu for healing.

     "These cowards- they tricked me in my lair. They hid their true powers from me till the end!"

     "But Meyome knocked him into the lava!" Kuwabara exclaims in horror while Seiryuu's glare becomes even colder.

     "How dare you disgrace us even further-."

     "Please, Seiryuu!"

     "You are no longer welcome here! You are a disgrace!" Seiryuu exclaims as a ring of his spirit energy surrounds him with a hint of frost in the air.

     "Ice Dragon!" Seiryuu yells, delivering a rapid amount of punches to Byakko's body that to the naked eye would just look like he froze the tiger with his energy alone. Once Byakko's body was frozen, Seiryuu kicks his body shattering it into multiple pieces and his head being the only thing intact. The Ice master stands in front of us proudly with an irritating smirk on his face.

     "Hm, you were right about my fog of energy-."

     "When you lower the temperature of the fog to subzero so you can encase your opponents in ice." I finish Seiryuu's explanation only for me to receive a glare but I just shrug it off.

     "You've always been the heartless bastard of the group."

     "He was a weapon and like a cheap sword, he rusted just like you traitor," Seiryuu mentioned just rubbing salt in an old wound and spitting on Byakko's decapitated head along with spitting at my feet.

     How childish... can't blame him for having only one brain cell after being stuck here for years.

     "This race of beasts has no loyalty. Alliances are formed to strictly gain power." Kurama informs everyone but Yusuke seems the most ticked off about it.

     "This guy pushed me too far! He's dead!"

     "Calm your anger. You can take their leader, I insist this fight be mine." Hiei said, stepping forward with a challenging look very much present on him. Walking up to Seiryuu he takes off his cloak and throws it over Byakko's decapitated head which only results in Seiryuu laughing.

     "What was that? Don't tell me you feel sympathy for this amateur. From your actions at the gate of betrayal, I hoped you would have more of a warrior spirit." Seiryuu comments and Hiei spikes up his energy ready to beat the living daylights out of the blue dragon.

Hey, thank you for reading this chapter I hope you have a good day!