The Altar of the Azure Dragon, the Grand Finale!

The rest of the challenges went smoothly, free of both water and flowers. Rin was able to conduct herself better even through Max's repeated slip-ups. And now...

"We're here, at the Altar of the Azure Dragon!" Rete announced as they arrived at their final destination at the dead center of the Azure Caverns, facing a sealed gate with a podium in front. "You've gathered 18 Cobalt statues, netting you three minutes inside the Altar! Place them all on the podium, and I'll explain what comes next!"

The Underwood Hunters nodded as they took out all their statues.

"There are four chambers inside, each containing a treasure and a puzzle. Solve them, and the next chamber and the treasure opens up. There's the Bronze Chalice, the Silver Tome, the Diamond Blade, and finally the Jade Scepter!

"But one word of warning. The Azure Dragon still slumbers in the chamber of the Jade Scepter. Taking the scepter should be safe, but..." Rete suddenly dropped her enthusiasm. "Do NOT, under any circumstances, wake him up. Otherwise, I may not be able to keep you safe as I promised. I will also tell you when you have 20 seconds left. That is your cue to start getting out."

"Are you coming inside too, Rete?" Asked Rin.

Rete shook her head. "I have to stay outside in case you get sealed in so I can get you out with an emergency cobalt statue. Now, are you all ready?"

"Yeah!" All three yelled in unison.

"Excellent!" Rete cheered as she placed the final statue on the podium, and the heavy stone gates swung open, unearthing dust as they moved. "Off you go, don't waste time!"

---

The first chamber had several giant pieces scattered across the granite hall, and a table at the center.

"This looks like a giant jigsaw puzzle!" Rin grabbed the blocky pieces, each one having some kind of artwork on them.

"Some of them need to be flipped over." Mikhail quickly ran through the pieces Max placed down, arranging them until an image of a slug-like dragon over the shore of a beach was completed.

"The door's open!" Max exclaimed as both the gate and the lock on the Bronze Chalice opened up, an intricately designed cup that featured similarly carved artwork as the puzzle.

"Save the treasure for when we get out!" Rin called out as Max was about to take the Chalice.

"Two minutes thirty!" They heard Rete outside cry as they entered the next chamber.

The chrome-plated room had bookshelves of varying levels stacked on top of each other. The bookshelf in front of the gate to the next chamber had space for one more book.

"Are we supposed to put in a book?" Rin quickly scanned all the bookshelves. "It could be any of these!"

"Maybe it's that blue one up there!" Max hopped on top of one of the bookshelves and ascended them like stairs, quickly making his way over to a shelf on the second floor that had a silver-blue book with a blue spine.

"Max!" Rin started to protest, "This is not the time to be randomly—"

CLACK

"Boo yeah!"

"Never mind, you were right!" Rin met his hand for a quick high-five, eating her words as the gate opened, and the bookshelf's interior rotated around, revealing one gigantic, atlas-sized silver book.

"That must be the Silver Tome." Mikhail mused as he ran ahead.

"One minute forty-five!"

The third chamber featured a scale in the center of the sparkling, tessellated hall, each side engraved with the number "18".

"This block has an eight on it, and this one has a two." Max sifted through the 8 loose blocks in the room. "These are all numbered from one to eight!"

"...Are we just supposed to make both sides equal up to 18?" Rin skeptically grabbed each block before placing the blocks on each side. 1, 2, 7, 8 on one side, and 3, 4, 5, 6 on the other.

"This can't be right—"

CLACK

"It was right?!"

Rin stood there stunned as the Diamond Sword revealed itself from the scale, and the gate to the final chamber opened.

"Good work Rin," Mikhail praised.

"That was some fast math, Rin!" Max hopped with joy.

"That was just basic math!" Rin retorted. If the Azure Dragon was going to use math as a security measure, shouldn't he have at least done AP calculus?

"One minute thirty!" Rete's reminder snapped her out of her dumbfoundedness as they entered the final chamber.

---

The final chamber was a vast, jade green bridge with a circular pool of water below.

On the other side of the bridge was a large green rod, almost like a bat, resting in front of an oddly white slab with a star-shaped symbol that clashed with the rest of the room.

"The Jade Scepter," Rin noted, her breath hitched at the familiar shape.

Below them in the still waters was a giant motionless silhouette of what looked like a whale-sized salamander with feather-like fins, with one weird piece jutting out of its back.

The Azure Dragon.

A part of Rin thought, with all the liberties Rete took over the adventure, that the Azure Dragon didn't actually exist, but here it was. And absolutely not to be disturbed.

"It doesn't look like there's a puzzle here. We just have to sneak across the bridge, grab the scepter, and get out." She surmised.

Max nodded enthusiastically, while Mikhail...

"Where's Mikhail?" She asked.

A roar suddenly broke out through the halls, and a large eruption of water destroyed the path to the Jade Scepter, and knocked the two over.

But that was the least of their worries right now, as the Azure Dragon was no longer slumbering and was out of the water.

"Finally, I found one of these." A familiar, cool, now irritated voice echoed from up top its back. "I was wondering how one of those shadows ended up all the way here. Of course it was through one of these damn fragments."

"Mikhail?!" Rin exclaimed as she got up. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Getting what I came for." 

He smirked, holding up a bright white shard, so bright she could barely comprehend its shape. "You two can keep the treasures. I just need this."

"What are you talking about, Mikhail?!"

"You don't need to know. But you're probably going to thank us for it."

"Again, what the hell are you—"

"Gah..." The Azure Dragon let out a strained cry, its body writhing.

"I see. This shard was what kept you separated from this body, wasn't it? Keeping you sane and in control. Whoops."

"Rete told us not to wake him up, Mikhail!" Max cried.

Mikhail scoffed. "Why do I need to keep explaining myself to 'stupid kids' like you?"

"Because you're trying to get us killed!" Rin retorted.

He shrugged as he turned around.

"I'll be honest, since you seem to like that. I don't like brats any more than you do. But hey, rest assured. If you die here, the next place you go to will be much nicer than your current kid labor life. I mean that with absolute sincerity."

He snapped his fingers.

"Well, I'll see you around. It was good working with you, Shiya Rin."

"Wait!" 

But he vanished, somehow.

"Ugh..." 

The Azure Dragon spoke once more, but his voice sounded eerily familiar.

More feminine, with a bombastic energy that sounded off.

"...Rete?" Rin softly called out.

"No... I get it!" 

It flew around the Jade Chamber, ranting towards the ceiling with a manic craze that reverberated and echoed throughout the Altar. 

"Things turned out like this because this isn't enough entertainment, not enough fun! That's why you have to get your fix through some bloodshed!"

"Rete? It's me, Rin!" Rin tried calling out once more. But she couldn't tell if it was talking to her or seeing something else entirely.

Its unfocused, beady eyes rapidly dilated as it slammed a fin down, narrowly missing Rin and Max and sending them back into the Diamond Chamber.

"I just have to show..." 

It sounded almost desperate as it rammed its long neck through the gate.

 "I just have to show you that a little good fun can be plenty satisfying! Get you off that negativity loop! Pique your mind with something other than tragedy!"

"We need to run! Forget the treasure!" Rin grabbed Max's hand as she ran out of the chamber.

"Take the sword at least!" Max barely managed to grab it with the Azure Dragon in hot pursuit, as the gate blocking it collapsed.

"You liked the boat, right?! How about we have bigger boats?!" 

It pleaded as it knocked over the scale. 

"A whole fleet of them!"

"Or how about those complicated feelings?!" 

It tried to reach out as it crushed the silver bookshelves. 

"It can be much more dramatic working through that than simply killing!"

"Just let me prove it!" 

It almost sounded like it was on the verge of tears as it crushed the bronze puzzle. 

"Prove that you didn't have to trample over dreams to have quality entertainment! What's a little drop in ratings if everybody comes out happy?!"

"How is that considered boring?!" 

It screamed from the bottom of its heart as the two Treasure Hunters got out with seconds to spare.

"HOW CAN THAT BE BORING?!"

---

"Rete! Rete!" Rin called out for her as they barely made it out of the Altar, the closed gate barely managing to contain the beast thrashing against it with all its might.

But she was nowhere to be seen.

"Rete..." She clenched her fist as the cries of the Azure Dragon behind her devolved into unintelligible cries.

"Rin?" Max clutched the Diamond Sword he didn't end up getting to use.

"MIKHAIL!" 

She suddenly screamed, but stopped. She wanted to curse his name so bad, but she had to keep her chin up.

He took Rete's second chance away, but she still had hers.

"Come on, Max." Rin started heading towards the exit of the Azure Caverns, resolute. "We need to go report this to the guild."

"Okay..." Max huddled close. "What's going to happen to Rete?"

She took a deep breath.

"I don't know how long it will take. But we're not leaving her like that."