Mau frowned as she placed a hand on the grand set of double doors that led into the Demon Lord''s throne room.


    "What should we expect?" Suvdaa asked.


    They had fought the whole way here up to this point. Ogres, orcs, trolls, goblins, abominable snowmen, an annoying demon woman with a horrid laugh. They all seemed so distant and far off in the past now that the team stood at the door to the final boss that has plagued all of Mau''s lives.


    "Normally. I''d be able to easily answer that." Mau said softly as she ran her hand over the polished dark wood. "But this time. I can''t Just be on your toes for anything." She said, drawing in a slow breath.


    Suvdaa''s hand set on her shoulder.


    "I told you, Mau. I''d follow you to the ends of the world to see this through. We all would."


    Andy and Penne nodded in unison when Mau glanced over her shoulder.


    "So come on, what are we waiting for?" The dogman said brightly, tail swishing excitedly behind him.


    "I think we''re waiting for Mau to open the door." Penne pointed out blandly, "But she probably needs a minute. This is a big deal for her."


    Mau nodded wordlessly at the hagling as she looked back to the ornately carved door, running her hand over the intricately done artwork etched into the wood.


    "I..." Mau started to speak, her throat suddenly clenching as her mouth ran dry.


    "Guys, I''m scared." She admitted in a small, tiny voice that would have gone unnoticed if the halls weren''t stone silent.


    Suvdaa''s hand tightened gently, warmly, on her shoulder.


    "Not of the Demon Lord." Mau quickly clarified. "But... What happens after the Demon Lord." She said.


    "Where will I go? What''ll I do...? What purpose will I have after this is all said and done, one way or another?"


    Suvdaa''s grasp tightened even further.


    "Mau. Mau, look at me." The raider said softly as Mau turned to face her. "I''m here. I''m not going anywhere. Whatever we do... We do it together."


    "Come on, Mau. We''ve got your back." Andy added. Penne remained silent but nodded their assent.


    "Alright. Whatever happens... No one die." Mau said firmly.


    Mau pushed open the door. It was heavy at first but gained momentum enough to swing open on its own once it was open far enough. The room beyond was pitch black at first, but the instant Mau took her first step into the throne room, foot landing on the padded carpet, blue fire erupted on either side of the path. Twin lights of pale fire flared to life with every step she took after that, leading down the chamber in a series of guttering illuminations that dimly illuminated the room. She could feel countless eyes on her and saw gleaming teeth in the darkness on either side of the carpeted path; countless monsters the likes of which she had and had not seen before lurked just out of reach as Mau stopped in front of the dark throne.


    "So... You did well to make it this far, hero." The Demon Lord spoke from the gloom. "This will be our final battle. Do you know how long I''ve waited for this? I''ve-" he started to speak as Mau drew the holy blade from its sheath.


    "Shut the fuck up with the monologue, turn on the lights, and let''s get this over with." She spat into the darkness.


    The demon lord clapped once, and light flooded the chamber as the curtains peeled away from vast windows, letting starlight and the clear night beyond into the throne room.


    "... And you''re a catgirl." Vile Darque, the Demon Lord, said, utterly baffled, a look of complete puzzlement fluttering across his handsome, blue-complexioned features.


    "Got a problem with that?" Mau asked tiredly.


    The Demon Lord boggled, reaching a hand up through his long blonde hair to rub at the tip of one of his horns as though it were a nervous tic.


    "You were never a catgirl before." He said, stunned.


    "What if, get this," Mau started to say, "I was always a catgirl."


    The Demon Lord shook his head vehemently as Suvdaa, Penne, and Andy balked. They hadn''t expected him to be surprised by this turn of events.


    "You were never a catgirl!" Vile Darque snapped, rising from his throne with no flourish, just a flummoxed and exasperated scowl as he swung a hand out in an enraged gesture.


    "How dare you come in here looking like that?" He asked. "I could forgive interrupting my monologue. I can ignore that you''ve torn through my elite royal guard. But can you at LEAST take this seriously? How are you going to just show up on my doorstep looking like some stray? This is a fated final battle! Why can''t you let me HAVE THIS?"


    "You don''t have a clue how serious I am," Mau said in a murderous tone.


    Mau took a step toward the throne. Something snapped at her from the darkness as fast as a viper. Mau was faster and neatly clipped its head from its neck.


    "Oh..." Vile Darque murmured. A motion of his hand made his minions slink back into the darkness as she adjusted his cloak. "... So it really is you, still." He said. "Okay. ... Okay, I can work with this. I thought the gods were playing a prank on me here, but you''re just being cheeky. Had I known you''d be playing this little joke for our hundredth battle, I would have respawned as something funny, too."


    That. That made Mau halt.


    "Wait," Andy said, breaking the moment of tense silence. "So Mau hasn''t been fighting a hundred Demon Lords... She''s been fighting the same guy for a hundred lives?" He asked as the realization swept over him.


    "Yep," Mau replied coolly. "He''s like me. He''s from another world. We''ve been at this for far too long."


    Vile Darque''s features lit up, and an expression of wild glee formed on his face.


    "That''s right. We''ve been each other''s nemesis for ninety-nine go-arounds." He said, chuckling darkly as he slowly descended the stairs leading down from his throne.


    "But... You see, while you hated every minute of this and simply went through the motions, I reveled in it. Every battle, every clash, every time our swords rang against one another- every time you killed me-- it was all a work of art. From your first fumbling steps down the path to heroism to now, the grizzled veteran wanting to see things through to the end... I built you up."


    Mau cocked a brow. "You what?"


    Reaching out to his side, a dark sword flew through the air to Vile Darque''s hand, and he drew it from the sheath. It was a jagged and slender blade of black steel or some mystical material.


    "All this time..." The Demon Lord chuckled. "I let you win, hero."


    Mau grimaced.


    "I only need to kill you once for the gods to lose their bet." He pointed out. "How ironic would it be if I did that now instead of when you were staggering around like an idiot child with a wooden sword all those years ago?"


    Mau sighed and rolled her eyes.


    "This isn''t getting on with it. Please just start fighting me." She said, utterly exhausted.


    Vile Darque snapped his fingers. His monsters immediately stood to attention.


    "Kill the hero''s friends. Leave her to me. I want her to see them suffer before I finish things off."


    The room erupted in chaos. Suvdaa took a vaulting leap through the air to evade getting bitten in half by a giant worm-like monster. Andy shrouded himself and Penne in a shield of light to fend off a rain of spears from a squad of heavily armored orcs.


    Stolen story; please report.


    The Demon Lord just appeared in Mau''s face and lunged at her with his jagged rapier. She swatted it aside on pure reflex, and the two were immediately locked in battle.


    "So... After all these years... Have you found a reason to fight yet, kitty?"


    Steel rang against steel as blades slammed into one another, voices raised to shout in ancient tongues and prayers to the gods, as Penne summoned thrashing tentacles to crush a swarm of well-armed goblins, and Andy blinded a troll with a radiant bolt of holy light.


    Mau and the Demon Lord danced. Their fight was like a dance, anyway; well choreographed with moves that both had practiced for a hundred lives. Mau feinted, the Demon Lord jinked, and their blades met in an intricate flurry of parries and near misses. If Mau had anything going for her, her countless lives turned her skill with the sword into something almost... Supernatural. Vile Darque would have cut down any lesser swordsman in seconds, but Mau reacted on instinct and lifetimes of ingrained reflexes to turn his sword aside at each thrust, every slash, down to the last swipe. Sweat began to bead on her brow. Sure enough, she may have been the best swordswoman in the multiverse, but he was putting her through her paces.


    Mau grunted.


    The Demon Lord snarled.


    Their blades sang out in protest as they slid across one another before coming apart violently.


    Mau skidded back on her boots and wiped away the blood that slowly trickled from the cut the demon lord''s sword opened on her cheek. She grinned.


    Because, at the same time, the Demon Lord was dabbing blood off his own face.


    "Are you finally gonna be a challenge for me?" She asked.


    "... They say those who survive a long time on the battlefield start to think they''re invincible..." The Demon Lord replied with a smirk. "I bet you do, too, kitty."


    Mau blinked. Slowly, she lowered her sword.


    "Did you just fucking quote Ace Combat?" Mau balked.


    "I loved Ace Combat!" Vile Darque snapped.


    A ray of divine light lanced past Mau''s head, but she didn''t have time to check on her friends when the Demon Lord lunged at her again. She was immediately on the defensive, a furious assault of that black blade making her backpedal as she parried and riposted as best she could in the face of the demon''s fierce onslaught.


    Mau heard Suvdaa shout something over the din of the battle but couldn''t make out what precisely over her heart beating like a flamenco rhythm in her ears.


    The room was alive with the sounds of battle. For as desperate as they sounded, Mau was relieved to hear Penne and Andy shouting tactical callouts to each other while Suvdaa cursed and spat. It meant that her friends were still alive. Though only seconds had passed, the battle had already felt like it had dragged on as Mau struggled against the Demon Lord''s fury.


    "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck..." The catgirl muttered in a mantra of profanity as she weaved and swatted aside attack after attack.


    That was when Mau''s gut exploded in pain.


    "URK!" She gagged as Vile Darque''s boot slammed into her solar plexus with jarring force, launching her away from him hard enough to smash through one of the room''s supporting pillars. The stone crumbled around a winded Mau, who struggled to breathe, making undignified wheezing noises as she did.


    "It''s pretty ironic..." Vile Darque pointed out. "A couple of dogs like us fighting the last battle. ... And you''re a cat."


    "Sthgop... Qhwuoting... Ace... Chhhhombat..." Mau choked as she pushed herself to her feet.


    The Demon Lord simply leered at her.


    "Are you fired up yet? Come cut me down!"


    Mau wobbled to her feet and flashed a catty grin.


    "When... When did you get so good?" She huffed.


    "I learned from the best. You think I wasn''t watching you every time we fought?" The Demon Lord answered.


    "Not watching well enough clearly," Mau said, pointing for him to look down at himself.


    Vile Darque hadn''t noticed the blood pooling on his dark suit, nor did he feel the pain of several lethal wounds Mau had inflicted upon him while she had been defending against his attacks until now.


    They would have been lethal to lesser men and monsters, but the Demon Lord was made of sterner stuff, and his wounds were already regenerating, though much slower than he would have liked due to the holy nature of Mau''s sword.


    "Tch..." He scowled.


    A shout of pain from over Mau''s shoulder made her ear twitch, and her head jerked to try and see who it had come from, but she didn''t get the chance as the Demon Lord freaking shadow stepped behind her. Mau whirled around, and sparks flew as she deflected the blow that would have killed her, and she immediately had to focus on fighting for her life once again.


    "Concerned for your friends? How very unlike you." The Demon Lord started to speak as Mau''s blade danced with electric energy. Every time she slammed her sword down mercilessly into his defense, lightning jumped from her sword into his body to make his teeth chatter. "You never cared overly much about your allies before... Hmmmm? What changed?" He asked as his arm twitched and jerked, throwing his blade work off and turning the tables as Mau took the offensive from him.


    "They''re my friends." Mau snarled.


    "I''ll remind you..." The Demon replied. "There''s no mercy in war. People live, and people die. That''s all there is to it."


    Their blades danced again, but the last thing Vile Darque had expected was for Mau to haul off and deck him. He knew every one of her tricks and every sword style she had ever used to defeat him. He knew how to counter, parry, and deflect anything she could have thrown at him, being quite intimate with how many times she had used that sword to end his life.


    He sure ate that fist to the jaw like the rude knuckle sandwich it was. The blow was nowhere near as hard as anything he could have dished out. It wasn''t even particularly painful. It was, however, not something that he had expected.


    "What the FUCK?!" The Demon Lord snarled as it gave Mau the opportunity she needed to step back and take a breath.


    Mau was winded. She had trained her whole life for this moment, building up her endurance, stamina, and strength to take on the king of demons, but she was still very much a mortal, and she needed just a second.


    "Need a sec." Mau puffed, planting a hand on her knee. "Truce?" She offered as he scowled at her.


    "No! No truce! I had my next quote lined up, and you threw me off! I was going to say, ''You and I are opposite sides of the same coin--''" As he started to speak, Mau cut him off.


    "When we face each other, we can finally see our true selves..." She said.


    They both fell silent before speaking in unison...


    "There may be a resemblance... But we can never face the same direction."


    The Demon Lord quieted, staring at Mau almost sadly.


    "... I am sorry." He said. "But this time... I have to be the one who kills you."


    Mau cocked her head to a slight angle, curious.


    "My master... Dommon," Vile Darque began, "He''ll be displeased with me if I fail... I don''t want to suffer for an eternity."


    "Sorry," Mau replied. "But if I let you win, countless others will suffer in your place."


    That made him scowl. "Who?" He asked, incredulous. "The people of these worlds you''ve been defending? ... You know they''re not real, right?"


    "What?" Mau asked, incredulous.


    "They''re fake. Made up. NPCs in a game. Only you and I are the real ones here. Every villager, every soldier, every one of your ''mothers'' and ''fathers''... Your love interest? They aren''t real people."


    Mau fell eerily silent, a dark shadow crawling over her face as her expression fell.


    She remembered her mother''s smile; kind, warm, loving, and gentle.


    "... I thought you were like me," Mau said softly. "But I guess you aren''t after all."


    The Demon Lord scoffed.


    "Please," He spat. "You can''t tell me you believe they''re actually people? Have you gone that dull in the head after ninety-nine lives? They live their mechanical lives by doing the same tasks repeatedly and saying the same things over and over again. They can''t be real people; they''re like ants or other mindless insects! They''re here for us to burn with a magnifying glass or crush under our boot for fun. This. Is. All. Not. Real."


    Mau sighed.


    "What human, other than you or I as clearly special cases, doesn''t live a monotonous life full of repetition?" She pointed out tiredly. "It doesn''t matter that these people are elves or dwarves or demi-humans; they''re still people. It took me way too long to learn that, and it''s clear you never did learn that." The catgirl sighed and tipped her head back, closing her eyes. The sounds of battle still raged around them. But Vile Darque was halted, too.


    "... So. What do you have?" He asked. "What do you have to prove to me what you''re saying is real? What do you have to make me believe these are actual people?"


    Mau shrugged.


    "I got nothing." She said.


    "So then, what do you have at all?" Vile Darque snapped as the full moon slid into view through the castle windows.


    "I have a Moon Child," Mau said.


    "A what?" The Demon Lord blinked.


    That was when a silvery arrow embedded in Vile Darque''s throat.


    "Ant? Meet boot." Od Tegri said as she nocked five arrows to her bow. They streaked around the room when she released them, tearing through monsters like the hot sun through a magnifying glass would sear a marching line of ants.


    Mau held up a finger. "I didn''t teach her that line. And I totally didn''t plan this attack to coincide with the full moon," she said, striding toward the stricken Demon Lord.


    "Except I did plan this attack to coincide with the full moon." Mau corrected herself. "Look... Style is important, even if I''m tired."


    Vile Darque struggled as he fell to his knees. He couldn''t, for the life of him, pull the blessed arrow out of his throat, and Mau approached him with a slow and measured gait. She set a hand on his shoulder.


    "I''m ready to end this..." She said softly, resting the tip of her holy sword against his ribs. "Are you?"


    Mau didn''t wait for an answer as she plunged her blade into his heart.


    Vile Darque''s body seized up as the blade pierced him. He shuddered, and with an exhausted sigh, he went limp on his knees.


    Tugging the sword gently from the Demon Lord, Mau turned to face the room. The monsters had all gone stock, still witnessing the death of their lord and master. Andy, Penne, and Suvdaa, as Od Tegri, were soaked in blood and sweat and panting with exhaustion.


    With varied screeches of horror and indignation, the monsters turned and fled, pouring out of the room and panicking all through the flying castle.


    Mau''s shoulders sagged as she sighed.


    "You... You did it..." Andy said in an awestruck whisper.


    Mau nodded.


    It wasn''t the first time this had happened. She remembered quite well. The Demon Lord falling to her blade for the umpteenth time brought no satisfaction with it anymore. Only a grim sort of relief.


    This was the hundredth Demon Lord she had slain. Demon Lord, Devil King, Monster God, they came under all sorts of different names and epithets, but they were all the same. And they all died the same to her blade. Because that''s just how things were supposed to be. The hero always slays the villain. The hero always wins. The hero always pulls through and saves the world. It was just the way of things. It''s what she had always known since she had been born and told, ''Mau, you''re destined for greatness.''


    So why didn''t she feel great?


    ...


    Because Vile Darque suddenly clutched her ankle, that was why.


    "I... Hope you''re ready to laugh..." He rasped as he ripped the silvery arrow from his throat. "Because I''m about to make the last ninety-nine lives look like a fucking joke." The Demon Lord gurgled through the blood pooling in his mouth as he raised his free hand.


    Mau, Andy, Penne, and Suvdaa were all too stunned to do a thing as a bright mote of light formed in his palm, and he thrust it into the floor.


    "If I go down, I''m taking you with me!"


    The castle started to shake so intensely that the party was knocked off their feet.