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I shut my eyes tight in concentration as I called upon Revali's gale. I felt a familiar surge in power as the Rito Champion's spirit circled me and Link and summoned a whirlwind to lift us from the ground. From there, we were able to slip quite easily through the hole in the roof.

As I went to touch down, I noticed the roof was coated in the hellish, purple substance we'd seen so many times before. The mark of Ganon's corruption. It had grown and festered into a spiraling mess in the hundred years in which Hylians had been absent from the castle. It pulsed menacingly below us as we drifted along, seeming all but impenetrable, save for a single glowing eye hidden almost out of sight.

Link caught sight of its weak point and pulled the bow from his back. Time seemed to slow, as it always did when focusing an airborne shot, while Link drew back his bowstring. I heard the familiar noise of an arrow whizzing past as it struck the monster directly where Link had been aiming. The eye withered and faded away, soon followed by the rest of its grotesque corruption.

Link and I were finally able to land just next to each other atop the roof. I breathed a sigh of relief as my feet touched the ground, grateful that we wouldn't have to wade through the poisonous gunk he'd just expelled. I felt his fingers lace through mine as he brought my hand to his lips. "You alright?"

"Of course," I stated simply. I didn't want to appear too nervous, but I assured him I was grateful for his touch with a warm smile. He returned this delicately, though I could still tell he was on edge as I stroked my thumb lightly against his hand.

"So I suppose we should just walk along here until we find another entrance," I mused, turning my mind back to the task at hand. Link nodded in agreement and took his leave, guiding me alongside him as we walked. "Where do you think this bastard will be though?" Link asked curiously. My eyes widened. I hadn't considered this before. It had been a hundred years since we'd been here. There was a chance that it would take hours or even days to find the place we're searching for. Or, worse still, our destination could be buried beneath mounds of rubble. We would be none the wiser.

"(Y/n)?"

"Sorry!" I said, snapping out of my pessimistic thoughts. "I was just thinking and... I really don't know." Link's eyebrows furrowed as his blue eyes clouded with worry. He seemed to notice that my attention was on him, as he quickly shifted into a more upbeat mood. "Wherever it is, we'll find it. We didn't come all this way to get lost within, or on top, of this castle," he said, gesturing to the roof below our feet. I laughed gently, attempting to lift the tension from my chest. It didn't help too much.

"You're right. Plus, given his size, there can't be too many places for him to hide."

"Exactly and- wait a second..." he tugged his Sheikah Slate from his belt and halted. "Every Divine Beast came with a map... I wonder...." The screen lit to reveal a full map of Hyrule Castle. Entrances and exits were marked, and a large orange symbol glowed just in the center of the map. I figured that was what we were looking for.

Link smiled, clearly thinking the same thing as he tapped against the orange dot. "Here! We aren't even that far away..." he said, falling silent as the gravity of this situation settled on him. We were but steps away from what may be our final battle. Everything we'd done on this journey had led up to this point in time.

I took this moment of realization to press my hand to his cheek, bringing his lips to mine gently. He sighed and pulled me into him, resting his forehead against my own once our lips parted. "Look, I know that you're terrified. I am too. I'm not going to lose you though," I whispered against his skin, feeling his heartbeat calm as I spoke. "Think of all the challenges that brought us here. I'll be damned if those haven't prepared us well enough. This is just another battle. We'll be like this again once everything is over," I promised him, pressing my hand to his heart. He nodded and brought my lips to his once more, as though giving himself the courage to keep moving.

Link finally released me from his embrace and took another glance at the map. If this thing was as conveniently accurate as we'd hoped, there was a place we could enter through not too far from where we stood. We traveled along the towering stone walls and climbed across pillars and discarded rubble, ascending towards the location of our final showdown.

Finally, there it was. A withering entrance carved into the castle walls. We walked inside, still hand in hand, as connected as we had been when we'd battled this creature a hundred years ago. Our footsteps slowed as we took in the sight of the throne room. It lay in a similar state of ruin to the rest of this once magnificent castle. Still, despite the years of age etched into every surface, you could sense the glory that once inhabited these halls.

It was an enormous room with curving staircases cut from marble and other precious materials. Each led to the crumbling throne. Great rugs and tapestries of crimson adorned every corner, shining bright with regality even with their burnt and tattered edges. The walls were lined with windows carved with symbols of power.

The triforce. It was visible in decorations across this sacred place. They stood strong as threatening yellow clouds swirled past the windows as though reliving the night of Hyrule's fall. I couldn't help but feel empowered as I saw their simple shape, still shining despite all that cursed Ganon had tried. It was as though they remained just to spite the creature. All in all, the scene would've brought me hope had it not been for the pulsing blight hanging from the high ceiling.

I couldn't help but be disgusted by the infested mess that hung above us. As we finally stopped advancing, it began to quiver and shake, radiating a pure golden light. Link's eyes grew wide as he stared upwards. "Zelda?"

"What do you-" I couldn't finish my sentence. A beam of blue light shot from the blight above and carved through the intricate landscape. It was followed by a few more, each of which completely decimated whatever they came in contact with. Everything from fragile cloth to more sturdy structures burnt and crumbled as the lasers crisscrossed through the corrupted pouch.

Link and I shielded our heads as rubble fell down from the ceiling. Alas, that was the least of our worries as the revolting orb began to steam and split apart. Something fell from that spot on the roof and came down against the floor quite hard. The ground quaked as fissures opened beneath our feet. I managed to step back just in time. Link, however, was not so lucky. He let out a frightened cry as the floor gave way and took him with it.

I gasped and leaned over the edge of the opened pit. Despite its considerable depth and lack of light, I was going to need to jump down it. I brought the spear from my back yet again and took a running start, knowing I couldn't leave Link down there alone for long.

Soon enough, I saw a hellish light peaking out at the bottom of the hole. I used my glider to drift slowly down, catching sight of Link at the bottom. My feet slid for a moment before I could release my glider. Link let out a sigh of relief as I rested my hand against his shoulder reassuringly and turned back to the absolute horror lying before us.

We were trapped inside some sort of globe composed of ancient Sheikah Technology. Everything glowed a bright red, signifying the corruption that pulses through its circuitry. The only way out was through the same hole we came down from. This was made dreadfully apparent as I turned my head around to scan for other ways out or places to rest behind should we need an escape. There was nothing around us but smooth, completely unclimbable walls... and the curse we'd come to strike down.

The creature itself was far more heinous than I could've ever imagined. It was multiple times the size of any of its minions. It was as though each of the horrors from Ganon's blighted Divine Beasts had been combined, fused into one twisted chimera of tormented tech.

It wielded a variety of gruesome weapons. Each blade shone with blue power, save for a particularly fearsome blade of orange. The smallest, which lined the fingertips of one of the monster's many hands, were easily twice the size of us. The largest would've towered over most of Hyrule's buildings. Calamity dragged it along the ground, making a noise most unbearable like a butcher sharpening their blade.

To our great dismay, those weren't the only weapons in its arsenal. The creature hobbled around on its many legs aided by a spear that could've easily rivaled a tower in length. A pair of clipping blades snapped menacingly as though yearning to behead us. One of its other appendages sported an arm cannon, making its advance look quite awkward as it lurched about. Now that I considered its bizarre body shape, I came to realize how similar it was to some sort of bug. Its body was composed of some grotesque material broken off into parts similar to an abdomen, thorax and of course, a head seeming too small for its body. Its jaw hung open aimlessly as it groaned. Each section of its body was coated in a spotty sort of exoskeleton, completing the insectoid look. I couldn't help but feel it was fitting, as I was going to ensure this bastard died like a roach at my feet.

I swung my spear around, ready to strike, until I heard a faint voice in my head. It grew louder as the confident tone of the Rito Champion rang clearly in my ears.

"Now my moment has finally come... Brace yourself Ganon for the sting of my revenge!"

I turned to Link, hoping he'd heard him as well. Link glanced around the room, making me feel as though he had until he finally called out for his own Champion's powers. "Mipha? Daruk?!" His hopeful blue gaze turned to me. I shook my head and shrugged, nervously to begin smiling too quickly. That all changed as I heard a familiar Gerudo woman speak to me.

"A hundred years in the making... Hold on Princess, our moment has arrived!"

As soon as Urbosa delivered her line, the opening atop the Calamity Ganon's head began to glow blue with a friendly light. A power unlike any I'd ever seen gathered there, growing stronger and stronger as the creature fidgeted in alarm. Before it got a chance to scuttle away, the power of the Divine Beasts came down upon it.

It was though this creature of darkness had been struck by the Goddess herself. Flurry after flurry of bright blue light pierced through its putrid hide and pinned the monster to the ground. Link and I both hid behind our shields as the creature shrieked in pain. Finally, after an explosion of blue, the smoke began to clear.

The monster lay motionless in the center of the room. I could hear Link's breathing quicken beside me. He grinned widely and pulled me into a hug, ecstatic that we had won the fight. I'd wanted to smile with him, but as he brought me to his chest a feeling of dread weighed me down. Yes, as much as I'd wanted to, I couldn't bring myself to return his embrace. I realized that this was for good reason as Ganon rose up beside us with a bloodcurdling roar, clearly more furious than it'd ever been before.

Link released my body hurriedly, only clinging to my hand as he was shocked by its sudden movement. He reached behind his back to unsheath the Master Sword and spin it in his hand. As the blade flashed blue, I gave his hand a squeeze. We had a monster to slay.

Link and I spread out as Calamity Ganon swung its first strike. While I rolled to the side, Link flipped backwards, evading the blade well enough to allow him to punish the creature for its failure. He landed a flurry of strikes before taking off, ensuring that Ganon couldn't lash out and push him away so easily. I joined up with Link and kept up a jogging pace whilst circling around the battlefield.

The devilish chimera attempted to strike again, hitting nothing but air as I quickened my pace and Link slid below the weaponry. As Link stood and regained his running speed, I closed in on Ganon, managing to land a few hits on the beast. It roared in pain and lurched backwards, raising its mighty blade above its head.

Calamity brought the weapon down with such a force, the very floor it struck caught fire. The atmosphere grew hotter and hotter as I ran directly towards the obstacle, knowing exactly what I was doing. A torrent of air had arisen from this sudden flame, allowing me to use my glider to take flight and strike from above. My arrows flew truly, inflicting as much harm as possible as I loosed them from my bow. Link took notice of this distraction and followed suit, striking from the ground so as not to waste a precious moment of the enemy's preoccupation.

This was plenty enough to force Ganon into a temporary retreat. Its malformed body crawled backwards and took hold of the walls, hoisting the brute well above the two of us. I drifted down to the ground and watched it carefully, wondering what attack it could possibly have in store.

I was taken by surprise as a series of icy blocks appeared around it. They flew forward at a great speed, threatening to crush us beneath their weight or burn us with ice as intense as fire. We made a run for it, managing to dodge all but one of the projectiles. As the final one neared Link's body, he raised his Sheikah Slate above his head, using the tune Cryonis to shatter the block before it could cause any harm. It exploded into a sort of light snow that littered the battlefield, but evaporated almost immediately.

The beast wasn't done striking from afar quite yet. It hoisted its spear up and tossed it forward, causing it to slam into the ground directly where I'd been standing just seconds before. I struggled to catch my breath as I noticed a reddish circle on my chest. This was the exact marking Guardians shone onto their prey. This could only mean one thing.

"Run!" Link cried as though I needed the reminder. I moved as fast as my legs would allow, rolling to narrowly dodge the cannon fire. Calamity Ganon, clearly tired of missing us in its attacks, released the wall and slammed its body against the arena floor. The impact caused a blue explosion to arise from the ground, making it quite clear that we would be killed if we stood where it planned to fall.

Despite our efforts, it was clear we weren't doing enough damage with these meager strikes alone. I called out to Link as I continued to circle the monster, hoping it'd be too stupid to understand my meaning. "We need to skewer this thing with arrows!" I announced as I dashed along, narrowly avoiding a grasping claw. I couldn't hear his response. I simply assumed he'd caught my meaning as Calamity took an arrow to the face and shifted its attention away from me.

I closed in on it as Link continued running. I could tell his body was growing tired as he slung arrow after arrow at the beast, his legs having to work quite hard to keep him moving and out of reach of the nightmare. Finally, he couldn't outrun Ganon any longer. The largest blade it held was swung at the blonde hero, coming close to tearing open his chest and abdomen. I managed to dodge the blade at just the right moment, allowing me to return the strikes tenfold. This pushed the creature back just enough for Link to evade evisceration.

The creature screamed in alarm, clearing having taken enough of a beating already. I pulled Link to his feet as Calamity backed away. At first, I thought it was simply going to lick its wounds and sulk for a moment before returning to the fray. I wasn't quite that lucky.

Instead, Ganon shrieked again. The exoskeleton lining the creature began to glow orange with shielding heat. A near impenetrable barrier coated its body as it swung its blade and returned to battle. Link caught my eye, clearly just as worried as I was. He shook his head and pulled the bow from his back, turning to fire it at Ganon. The arrow, though aimed expertly, simply crumpled as soon as it came into contact with the beast. It seemed we'd have to find another way.

For quite some time, all we could do was run. Neither of us had any idea of what to do against this newfound shield. It simply took everything we dished out without even bringing a scratch to our target. I was beginning to worry that there was truly no way to pierce through to Ganon.

Alas, as the creature swung its blade at Link once more, I noticed something. Each time it moved to attack, the shield would flicker. The break didn't last more than a second, but that had to be enough to bring him down.

Link seemed to have noticed as well. He motioned for me to attack whenever Ganon became busy with trying to strike him. I did as he suggested and slashed at Ganon whenever possible. Still, I could only land one or two hits whenever Ganon attacked. Even that was quite difficult. We weren't dealing damage at the rate we needed to if we wanted this to be finished before one of us passed out from exhaustion.

"(Y/n)!" Link called. I glanced over at him. "What is it?!"

"I think I can deal some major damage to him! Keep him busy for a second," Link commanded. I nodded and jumped in, causing Calamity Ganon to focus on me. It did so with zeal, racing after me as fast as it could move. I realized quickly that I was about to be cornered. Once it had me backed against the wall, it unleashed an attack I hadn't seen before.

Two sets of claws and two sharpened blades clicked together as they aimed for my body. I managed to deflect the duo of blades as well as one of the claws as I called out for Link. "Whatever you were thinking of doing, do it now!!" I yelled as the final clawed hand shot forward. It closed around my body from each side, rendering my spear's attacks useless but not quite slicing through my skin just yet.

As I was raised into the air, I heard the familiar voice of Daruk. Link had used his shielding ability to deflect the attack meant to end my life. The hell beast roared and dropped me from its grasp. Though I managed to slow myself slightly with my glider, I couldn't get a proper grip on it. My body collided with the ground with a crack as the wind was knocked from my lungs. I gasped, feeling luckily I wasn't held too far above the creature. I was at just the right height to not die upon hitting the ground.

I slowly pushed myself up from the ground to see Link whaling on the monstrosity, slicing again and again with his glowing Master Sword. Upon clearing the creeping black from my eyes, I noticed the creature's shield was powering up again. I stood up as quickly as I could and backed away, calling out for Link to do the same.