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 an ending which will probably make you hate me, so please don't. 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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"I think this is where I'm going to die...."

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Valentina's POV: 

We all arrived at the Demon's Gauntlet, and it looked creepy as hell.

At the end of it are the demons we've been facing for the past hour, each of them holding a flaming dagger.

We arrived at the long table and find a note.

Oli grabbed it and read 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 said, 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 think there was blood and organs in it, but I just imagined it was fruit punch.

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!'

Gear and I practically fly through all three chalices and get through them in about two minutes. We're both trying to work out the horn, which is a bit confusing when Oli and Lana catch up to us.

Zach and Lizzie are still drinking as I get the first few pieces of the horn, Lana further ahead of all of us still there.

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 end up moving onto the second station just as me, Gear and Oli finish it.

I roll up the sleeve of my jumpsuit and stick my hand into this... vat of water to find this soul in a jar.

Whilst everybody else was still struggling to find this jarred soul, I just grab it by plunging my hand in there somewhere and grabbing it.

Gear and Lana also end up grabbing the soul and we all ended up spinning the pentagram as fast as we could without breaking one of our fingers.

Whilst Gear's got stuck and Lana accidentally spun hers in the wrong direction, I got mine to come off and raced to the altar.

I realised I had come first in the gauntlet.

And I was safe... for now.

But Lizzie was really struggling on the last stage, Zach close behind.

I was closely followed to the altar by Gear, Lana, and Oli.

And, infuriatingly enough, Zach joined us at the altar.

Lizzie's pentagram got stuck, meaning.... she's lost the gauntlet.

"Lizzie," I choked, tearing up. "You're one of the best friends I could have asked for." I looked around and Oli, Gear, and Lana were tearing up, too. Zach just smirked.

"I love you guys. Get out of here for me!" Lizzie gushed as the demons dragged her away.

A case nearby opened up. Gear raced over to it and grabbed the chastity ring of the fallen nun.

"There's nothing we can do now, darlin's." Loretta sighed, taking off her hat in respect. "We gotta go."

I was having a full-on sobbing fit, my breath shaky and my heart heavy and throbbing as we all left the gauntlet.

As we were leaving, we looked behind and saw as Lizzie was stabbed with the fiery knives as she screamed out in agony. 

It was at that point we finally turned and left.

I noticed Oli trailing behind us, as though he had stayed behind at the gauntlet. 

I ran over to him.

His breathing was shaky, he looked as though he had been startled by a spirit.

"Oli, are you sure you're OK? You were like this earlier." I said, putting my arm on his shoulder.

"Val, I'm fine, don't worry. I'll be OK." He reassured, his hand on his head. 

"I don't think you are." I drawled, still walking next to him.

"No, I am. It's just... I didn't expect Lizzie to be dead so soon. I thought it would be Zach." He vented.

"So did I. But we've got to be strong and escape for her. There isn't much time left of the night." I encouraged, Oli nodding.

Soon, we all made it to Laceline Rockette's, devastated and obviously saddened that Lizzie had died again, so brutally.

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

Lana placed the ring down at the top of the triangle, cleansing the artifact. Loretta also vanished in a beam of bright light as the artifact was cleansed.

Well, at least she was free, too.

We went back into the lounge and Gear placed the Ram's Skull on the shelf. Zach was still smirking at us.

Everybody had stopped crying except me, with Oli trying to calm me down and helping.

"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 uttered, frustrated.

"Well, if this counts for anything, she was our friend! So, shut it!" Oli growled, still hugging me.

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

I was sick of this.

I was exhausted.

I was angry, and I just wanted to go home.

I sat down on the couch and just wept.

I was on the brink of killing Zach myself.

I was asking myself so many questions:

Why is Zach being so horrible?

Could we have saved Lizzie?

What if things had played out differently?

But there was one question I couldn't stop asking:

How am I not dead yet?