D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

--- Lily ---

Lily tried to see what was going on below them, but she wasn't tall enough to see around the plane's wings. Marigold, seeing Lily's adorable attempts to watch below, picked up the Memphis and set Lily down on top of her head. Lily let out a small huff but didn't complain too much. She was still close enough to provide mana to her plane, and with a bit of manipulation of her shadow, the mana cost went back to what it was while she was sitting down. 

March was clearly in the lead… though that actually raised other questions. March had made it all the way to the far checkpoint, the one that originally set off the cascade leading to the big finale and the finish line… but nothing was happening. Lily wasn't sure why that was. Perhaps it had to do with how tired March looked. 

Lily couldn't see all the details, but March's hands were covered in blood and steam was still wafting off her despite the fact she was laying down flat on her back and panting. March had to be exhausted… but Lily wasn't entirely sure why that was. *March was able to run for ages while half dead. So… why is she so tired now? Did she push herself too hard so that she could break all the barriers? Why is she just… resting there on the 'final' checkpoint when she's so close to the end?*

What Lily didn't know was that March had actually made an attempt at moving forward. March had been slowing down before the checkpoint and carried on mostly due to her momentum and strength of arms. She'd already fallen, failing to make a jump later in the course. When she failed the jump, it of course sent her back… and it was just too much for March. For now, the walking tank was resting, regaining what stamina she could for the final push, for she too was wondering why exactly the platforms hadn't started to break apart at all. 

It warmed Lily's heart to see that Kat was next. Her girlfriend was just about to start the climb out of the bowl, putting her in second place by a fairly significant margin. Kat looked fine to Lily's eyes, and as a highly trained Kat watcher, those were some pretty damn good eyes. It would take Kat some time to catch March… assuming Kat didn't follow the crazy woman's trail, wherever that was. 

Last was Vanya. She was sticking behind Kat. Clearly following the path the demon was laying out, but staying roughly ten platforms behind. Lily even saw Vanya pause when Kat got into a puzzle box. It was… unclear what the strategy there was. *Seriously what's she trying to do here? She's so far behind Kat that a chance at the win feels low… especially considering the fact that once the 'end game' is triggered that clear path Kat left will disappear in whirling platforms.

So what's the point? Obviously she's following Kat to save some effort but… will it be enough? I don't really see how she can win with this line of thinking. Granted I don't think she can fight Kat either… so what's the plan? Is she waiting to team up with Marigold and I? I could see it… but I'm not sure that will work either. We're going to be landing ahead of her and Kat so she'd still have to get through Kat to do anything… whatever.*

"This is actually pretty neat," said Marigold. Lily tilted her head in confusion and let out a meow. "This spell. The only thing that can let you fly so well is a wind spell, and those are either worse, or cost a lot more mana. Which, ok I know this isn't really flying but it IS pretty close," 

*Yeah but it's still costing me quite a lot of mana. Not a horrific amount or anything, but it sure isn't cheap. I'm almost certainly going to be down below half once we land, I'm just not sure by how much.* "Meow," 

"Don't put yourself down like that," said Marigold with a careless wave. "The fact that I'm riding on this as well is jacking the cost up I'm sure. Plus, you said this was a kludged together spell? That means there is plenty of room for improvement," 

"Meow," 

"Yes I know you have wings," grumbled Marigold. "I get that this isn't a massive priority for you… but this really could become a staple Rank 2 paper spell. It really is that good. With a bit of work you could sell this to people, heck you could sell it to the royal spell archives for a good bit of money. Either a massive lump some or smaller instalments. Which… now that I think about it probably doesn't matter much to you considering you can't spend our currency properly nor stick around to receive the stipend but still it's the thought that counts," 

Lily let out a small chuff, which really sounded more like a squeak. She was still a small kitten so it was the closest she could manage to a proper scoff in this form. It didn't matter too much though, they were coming in for a landing. Lily was aiming for the platform just before the gold checkpoint March was sitting on. 

*It's not worth risking March punching us away. She could totally do it too. Well, not if she's completely exhausted but… she's had at least some recovery time so I just don't think it's worth the risk. Plus, I'm not sure if you need to touch the platform, or just stand above it. Best to land nearby, dismiss the plane above the platform and then jump over. Less likely to end up landing on March that way, and more likely for the checkpoint to count.*

Lily shrugged the thought off and focused on the important part. The landing. It was a little difficult to steer the plane without any physical contact, but she was managing. Lily could see that if they wanted, flying further was definitely possible… not that much further, but skipping a few more platforms certainly. Lily just didn't think it was worth missing out on the checkpoint. 

When they were roughly above the platform she was targeting, Lily dismissed the construct. Marigold and her fell straight down. The elf didn't panic at all, landing easily with Lily still on her head. Marigold planned to continue to the checkpoint in a single bound before letting Lily off… 

Instead, they were teleported to a challenge room. Lily let out a hiss, and Marigold said, "Wait, didn't March pass through here? Why is this still active?" 

Lily hopped off Marigold's head and transformed to say, "I've got no idea. Or well, some ideas. One idea really. Sorry I'm rambling, my best guess is that March was able to take platforms two at a time once she got up to speed. Obviously, her strength fell sharply after that… perhaps she used up all her mana?" 

Inside the room was one hundred boxes, or that was the assumption. They all seemed labelled and it was easy to make out closest ones that clearly counted down from one hundred. The sign off to the side said, 'The numbers have been mixed up at random, show off the quickest guaranteed way to find a specific number inside the boxes'

"What… what sort of a challenge is this!" yelled Marigold. 

"A slightly tricky one," said Lily with a smile. "That is, if you don't know the answer already," 

"Wait you know?" questioned Marigold. 

"Yeah it's a logic puzzle, one that I've done before. What you have to do is pick a number, whatever number and then open the box matching that number. Inside will, likely, be a different number, what you do then is go over to that box, open it, and repeat until you find the correct umber," explained Lily. 

"That… doesn't seem all that fast," said Marigold. 

"Right it's not, but it's the fastest way to be guaranteed you'll find the number you're looking for, which was the question," replied Lily. 

"What if… you just put all of the numbers into one box, and then opened that one? Wouldn't you have the correct number?" suggested Marigold. 

Lily opened her mouth to explain why that made no sense… then she looked over the sign. It didn't say anything at all about not messing with the boxes. Just that they had been randomly assigned, and you needed to show off a method to find a specific number. "Huh… I mean… yeah that would work, and might even be faster so… let's get to work?" 

Lily and Marigold got to work. They worked line by line, taking alternating sets of ten and picking out all the sheets of paper inside. Once they did that, they dumped all the numbers into the first box. They waited for the teleportation out, when Lily opened the box, closed it, then opened it again. Only then were they teleported away.