Author's Note: Hey, guys! So, this challenge is going 6 ways... literally!
All 6 guests still alive- Gear, Lana, Lizzie, Oli, Zach and Valentina- will be competing in the Demon's Gauntlet. 

I'll try to keep it as detailed as possible as this will have quick pacing and a sad ending. I've never done a challenge this big before, so if characters don't get even screen time, I'm sorry. But, enough talk. Let's get into the six-way smackdown!

Your Author, Marbella. <3

P.S: This chapter is gonna contain a shit load of angst. You have been warned.

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"Because I'm not going down any other way..."

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Gear's POV:

We arrives at the Demon's Gauntlet, and it's really fucking eerie, to be honest.

At the end of it, standing in front of a ritual altar, is the demons we've been facing for the past hour, each of them holding a flaming dagger.

We arrive at the long table and find a note.

Oli grabs it and reads it.

It reads:

'The last person among the six of you to complete the four challenges of the Demon's Gauntlet will be sacrificed to the Delamont Mistress by the demons. The first is the Demon's Chalices, the second is the Demon's Horn, the third is finding the lost soul in a jar and the last is spinning the pentagram off of the rotary post. Only the strongest five will survive.'

Gear: 'So, there are four challenges in this gauntlet. And the last person to complete all four is going to get sacrificed to the Delamont Mistress by these demons.'

Lana: 'The most heartbreaking part of this whole thing is not that I'm going up against my alliance, but I'm going up against Gear. I honestly don't want to die right now because I've come so far in the night, but I also don't want to break Gear's heart when he's come so far too.'

Lizzie: 'As somebody who's already died once, I'm not ready to get myself killed again. I'm surviving this challenge. And I'm surviving it with my alliance.'

Zach: 'And what could be in these chalices, anyway? It can't be that bad, right?

"Begin!" Heidi says, moving her arm.

We all grab the chalices and start drinking. 

To move on, we need to finish all three that are in front of us. 

And I don't care what the fuck's in these things; I'm just throwing them back. I'm not dying tonight!

Lizzie: 'So, here's how we're all taking this: There's Val and Gear, who are throwing this back like its water, there's Lana and Oli, who are basically Gear and Val, but they actually breathe, there's Zach who's really struggling and then there's me, who's barely keeping this down!'

Val and I soar through all three chalices, throwing them back like we're about to die. Which we could.

We're just struck on how to work out the horn when when Oli and Lana catch up to us.

Lana: 'This horn challenge is the easiest thing I've done all night. I did so many stacking puzzles growing up, so I just whiz through it and move on to find this lost soul in a jar.'

Lizzie and Zach move onto the second station just as me, Val and Oli finish the horn and race ahead.

I roll up the sleeve of my shirt and stick my hand in this... oil barrel, almost, to get this lost soul in a jar.

I struggle- it's really fucking dark in here- but I manage to grab it and get ahead to the next station.

And now, I just to spin this pentagram.

And...

Fuck, I've span it the wrong way!

So, I spin it back down and actually spin it the right way this time, getting it off the post and finishing the gauntlet.

After I get there, I'm quickly joined by Lana and Oli.

But... Zach joins us, too.

Lizzie's lost the gauntlet...

Oh my God, not again...

Please, not again.

"Lizzie," Val chokes, tearing up. 

"You're one of the best friends I could have asked for." 

I bullshit you not, I'm actually tearing up right now.

My heart's just been torn apart all over again.

She's gonna die again.
Why did it have to be this way? Why couldn't it be Zach?

I wipe the tears, hugging Lana and rubbing her arm as she cries next to me.

"I love you guys. Get out of here for me!" Lizzie gushes, the demons dragging her away towards the altar.

"There's nothing we can do now, darlin's." Loretta sighs, taking off her hat in respect.

 "We gotta go."

Valentina's having a full-on sobbing fit as we all leave the gauntlet.

We look behind us as we walk away and see as Lizzie is stabbed with the fiery daggers as she screamed out in agony. 

I cover the top of my eyes with my hand and look down, Lana sobbing beside me.

"I can't believe it..." She chokes.

"I killed her again."

"Baby, no. Baby, no, this isn't your fault, you hear me?" I reply, holding her close to me as I stroke my hand through her hair.

"It isn't your fault; last time wasn't either. If anything, this should help us go forward. Let's get out of here for her, OK?" 

"O-Ok." She sighs.

And with that, we walk away and catch up to the others.

***

We all make it to Laceline Rockette's, saddened that Lizzie had died again, so brutally.

She didn't deserve that; it should've been Zach.

Lana places the ring down at the top of the triangle, cleansing the artifact.

 Loretta vanishes in a beam of bright light as the artifact is cleansed.

Well, at least she's free, too.

We go back into the lounge and I place the Ram's Skull on the shelf. 

Zach's smirking at us like the evil prick he is.

Everybody's stopped crying, except for Val, who I think is having a mental breakdown, honestly. But, thankfully, Oli's trying to calm her down.

"Listen, you guys; there's one artifact left to go and we can finally get out of here. But listen, she already died once, and you were... sad. And here she goes and dies again and now you're all are emotional wrecks. She was just a dead-weight slag, so why are you upset?" Zach utters, frustrated.

"Well, if this counts for anything, she was our friend! So, shut it!" Oli growls, still hugging Val

"Well, if she was your friend, why was she being a tired-ass slag who did nothing the whole time she was alive?" Zach demands, stomping his foot and pointing at us.

And... I'm done with this shit.

Zach, congratulations; you're ruining the fucking morale, you're being a fucking dick and I'm honestly on the brink of STOMPING YOUR FUCKING HEAD IN! 

Will you just shut the fuck up for two seconds...

Because nobody cares about what you have to say.

You call yourself a Drama King...

But you're really the villain of your own story.