She emerged through the mirror back into the Surface world. Erina went to her apartment and searched through it, opening one cabinet after another. She'd never be able to buy it, so hopefully this would work as an alternative… but she didn't even have any of what she was looking for.

  She walked out of the convenience store a few minutes later with a plastic bag in hand and returned to the Reverse. Erina took out a bottle of rubbing alcohol, tore off the paper seal, and splashed a few drops on the ground. She walked a few paces down the street and then splashed a few more drops on the floor.

  Erina heaved open the lid of a dumpster and poured the rest of the bottle into it. Then, she pulled over the crates and barrels nearby and grabbed a few sheets of metal to put together a series of ramps leading up to it. It was a bit of a rough job, but it would do. She got out another bottle and went down another alley to leave another trail.

  She waited about twenty minutes. She spent that time inside one of the nearby shops. It was unlit save for the window, unstaffed, and devoid of any products, but it was somewhere to sit. She passed the time confirming her calculations again and reviewing her shopping list. When Erina got back up to check on the dumpster, enough time had passed for every tsuchinoko in the area to hop along her alcohol trail and reach the trap.

  Several fat little snakes were scattered around the dumpster. Seeing her approach, they began to hop away and were promptly shot down. Erina peeked over the lip of the dumpster—and sharply drew back as several more tsuchinoko leapt out.

  She hastily slammed the lid shut on the teeming mass of snakes. Ignoring the panicked yelling and distressed chirps, Erina dealt with the stragglers. She felt pretty satisfied; Akira ought to be happy with this.

  Speaking of, Akira hadn't said anything since Erina called. She thought she would've been done by now. If Akira was still busy, maybe Erina should go help. Then again, it would probably be dangerous, and Akira probably didn't need the help…

  "Help! Help!" One more tsuchinoko wriggled out from under the dumpster. Turned out she missed a spot.

  Erina pointed a finger and fired. To her surprise, the beam missed as the tsuchinoko did one more jump and curled up in the air, biting its own tail and rolling away. Cute! And really annoying!

  She ran after it, but the snake wheel was surprisingly nimble. It wobbled back and forth, narrowly dodging her lasers as it picked up speed and then bounced off the wall to round a corner and escape down another alley without slowing down.

  Erina followed it through the streets. Every time she saw it, it was just escaping her line of sight again. She pushed herself to go faster. Closer, closer…!

  A dead snake lay on the side of the alley. Erina ignored it and pushed on.

  More tsuchinoko lay strewn about the further she ran, blood splatters covering the walls and floor. The bodies grew more and more numerous with every alley she saw. Did Akira pass through here? Maybe that explained why she didn't call.

  Erina skidded to a stop. Her prey had finally uncurled itself and turned around, even though there was another bend in the alley beside it. She took aim, relieved to just have a clean shot now.

  Right up until a dark shadow loomed over the tsuchinoko, and a giant rounded the corner.

  It had to be some twenty feet tall. Its skin was an unnatural bright red. With its distended belly, long limbs, a tattered rag of a loincloth, and a monstrous face that better resembled old paintings of dragons than any human, the oni was a grotesque mockery of man. Enormous tusks grew from its lower jaw, matching the huge ivory horns growing from its skull. A blast of steam burst from its mouth as it lowered its head towards her.

  Erina's stomach sank. She took one step back and it took one earth-shaking step forward, crossing a third of the distance in that bound alone. Dragging on the floor behind the oni was an immense concrete beam ripped from a bridge's foundations.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Except it wasn't dragging on the floor anymore!

  Erina sprinted forward and hit the ground, sliding between the oni's legs as it smashed the support beam down in front of itself. The ground shook and windows shattered, shards of glass raining down around her as Erina got to her feet and threw her spear into its back—

  Her heart squeezed tight as her own beam shot by her head, missing by inches to leave a burn mark in the floor behind her. Unable to pierce its skin, the branches of light exploded every which way uncontrollably.

  Her phone. Erina needed her phone. Backing away slowly as the oni turned around, her shaking fingers reached into her pocket and she dropped her phone!

  The oni slammed its foot down, thrusting the support beam toward her. Erina only had time to leap straight up and let the beam pass under her, smashing her phone to bits on the way past. Still airborne, she made eye contact with the oni.

  A spell circle formed in the air, providing a platform to push off of and escape as the oni heaved its beam upwards in a huge arc. The support beam came back down, and Erina ran under it again.

  She barely escaped as its foot suddenly moved, rolling at the last moment as the oni stamped down where she used to be. Erina hurried to her feet again, an array of spell circles forming in front of her. What could she do? Aim for the eyes and mouth? Use the railgun? But the oni wasn't going to sit there and let her charge it!

  Those dreadful bulging eyes rolled in their sockets as the oni stomped forth, its makeshift club scraping behind it. She couldn't keep dodging in this cramped alley. Erina dispelled her seal array with a swipe of the arm, set a larger spell circle at the oni's feet, and focused. It didn't look like it could move that fast, so a tenfold spatial iteration should give her enough time to—!

  The oni suddenly buckled, collapsing to one knee with a deep growl. As it listed to one side, Erina caught a glimpse of several paper talismans affixed to its back.

  A streak of red, white, and black, arriving with a tremendous slash that split the air like cannon fire.

  Asayuki struck from above at a harsh angle and blistering speed, flying past the oni as a vast scarlet arc severed its arm from its body. Erina hastily backed up as the stranger landed, sparks flying from her metallic boots as she landed in a low stance and pivoted to face her target.

  The oni bellowed in fury, switching its support beam to its one good hand and lifting it high into the air. Asayuki drew herself up and paced calmly towards the oni. As the beam came screaming down, she merely brought her hand to the handle of her sheathed blade and struck once.

  Erina was almost thrown off her feet by the earthquake. The upper portion of the beam crashed down behind Asayuki, leaving the oni gripping only a short stub before her. Asayuki jumped onto its arm and allowed the oni to react, using its sudden jerking motion to further propel herself as she made the next leap for its neck.

  It was a perfect stroke. The crimson katana flew from its scabbard, slicing effortlessly through thick hide, sinuous muscle, and massive bone in a single motion. White hair and red scarf trailing her motion, Asayuki flipped in the air, righting herself just in time to land on one knee with her sword out to her side. The oni's headless body caused a second tremor as it fell at Asayuki's back, followed by the head at her front.

  The decapitated head gnashed its teeth, hoarse incoherent sounds emitting from its mouth. Asayuki stood, flipped her blade to hang point-down, and staked it through the head. It stopped moving.

  Erina didn't know what to do. Should she thank her? Should she run far, far away? Dumbstruck, all she did was watch as the stranger withdrew her sword from the slain demon and pried open its jaw. A few more precise slashes, and then Asayuki swiped the blood from her blade and sheathed it. She pulled out the oni's massive fangs before walking around its head, her boots splashing in the blood.

  Asayuki raised her hand to her winged headpiece. The black angular visor that covered her eyes retracted and folded away into the small red headpieces. "Come in. It's Asayuki."

  "I read you." The distorted, tinny man's voice on the other side was just barely audible to Erina. "What's your status?"

  "I have the fangs."

  "What about the rest?"

  Asayuki glanced to the side. Erina glimpsed her face… and the streak of oni blood on it. Another dark red splatter stained her shirt. "Someone got to the tsuchigumo before us."

  "Did they harvest it?"

  "No, but the fangs were destroyed. I could only retrieve its threads."

  "Guess we'll have to make do. Good work out there."

  "Are you done on your side yet?"

  "Wha…" piped up another voice from beside Erina. The tsuchinoko was still there! It hopped anxiously, backing away from the swordswoman that butchered the oni. "What the hell are y—?"

  The oni fangs clattered to the floor. Asayuki crossed from one side of the colossal corpse to the other in less than a second. Her sword flew from its sheath, sweeping the little snake off the ground and running it through right before Erina's eyes. Droplets of blood wetted her face.

  Just as fast as it came out, the sword returned to the scabbard, leaving the dead tsuchinoko to fall to the ground.

  "Hold on. I'll call you back." Asayuki turned to face Erina and touched her headpiece. The visor extended over her eyes, both halves snapping together with a faint red pulse as her hand returned to her sheath. "I missed a spot."