with Goukei's staff swing, the ensuing shockwave sweeping through the sweltering cavern. Every strike was accompanied by the cracking of rock or a deep rolling clap of thunder. Goukei raised one arm to block another kick and then struck back. The end of his staff speared clean through Akira and flung her to splatter against the far wall as she split off from her clone and immediately threw herself back into the fray.

  "Support fire!" yelled Akira between blows. "Back me up here!"

  Erina ran along the edge of the cave, setting up her spells. An orb of light floated into the air and multiplied, covering the ceiling with a cloud of bullets waiting to be fired. The cave air was thick with incredible heat, beating down on her without rest. The rivers of magma glowed an angry orange.

  Erina threw down a spear that compressed into a mine at her feet and then readied the seals for her railgun. Her arm came up, her sights tracking Akira and Goukei as they reeled and back forth across the platform. When she first fought Goukei, she couldn't even see when he moved to throw his devastating strikes. This time, her eyes were able to keep up, if only barely.

  "Nn?" Goukei's good eye flitted over at the green light shining to life at the other side of the cave. His staff parried an inverted high kick and retaliated once, twice, thrice. The first Akira crumpled to the floor, the second was sent careening into the ocean of magma. The third strike pushed her away for real, arms crossed to block the staff as her boots skidded backwards across the rock.

  Goukei's staff cracked the floor as it slammed down. Searing hellfire howled to life in a tall blaze, its glow an unnatural hellish red. He tore his staff back out, and then a very literal howl split the air.

  Erina snapped her aim up and shot down the fiery thing coming at her. Her half-charged railgun pierced through, tearing away a chunk of ceiling as the infernal beast fell to the ground halfway to her. A deep growl escaped it as it shook itself off and locked onto her. Erina found herself staring down a huge flaming three-headed hound, its body conjured entirely out of cursed flame.

  Akira ducked the next swing of Goukei's staff and landed a clean blow. Her side kick blasted Goukei into the wall hard enough to crater him in it. She shouted over her shoulder, "Worry about yourself first!"

  Goukei simply laughed as he tore his arm out of the imprint he left in the rock. Chunks of the wall broke free with him, a manic grin on his face and deranged laughter on his lips as he flew back into the fight.

  The burning dog charged at Erina, ignoring the rain of lasers showering down on it. Erina's sword formed in her grip as she sidestepped the paw that tried to crush her. She felt resistance as she slashed the limb in question—so there was something she could cut under all the fire. Erina jumped away from the bites that followed. Her mine activated, the branches of lightning driving up into the beast from below and smashing it into the wall with a large cloud of dust.

  It came through at her anyway, manic and feral as its jaws snapped at her. Erina took one wild swing at the nearest head with one hand while her other drew a spell circle under her. Matter flowed rapidly from the floor, growing into a tall tree that the dog's three sets of jaws tore into as she escaped. The burning hound ran in a tight circle around the stone tree, barking at the girl trapped in its branches like a lost wet cat. It threw itself repeatedly against the trunk, cracks growing with each slam.

  Getting up amidst the branches, Erina accelerated a spear straight down to strike it just as it came in for another ram. A perfect headshot, the branches of light blowing its head to smithereens—but it still had two more, and they were angrier than ever.

  "I've got your back!" Akira hit the ground, sliding across the rock under the dog's belly before leaping into a rising kick that took one more head. Inky black-green venom flew through the air with her blow, and the cerberus reeled away, its one remaining head whining.

  Goukei was hot on her tail, his staff coming around in a massive arc to slam dunk one Akira to the ground as another kicked off him to slip away. Akira backed up with her remaining momentum, deflecting the next huge swing with a defensive kick. Goukei's arm came out and struck in a wild clothesline that Akira leaned back under, only for that same clothesline to pulverize the base of Erina's tree in one go.

  Erina held in her scream and jumped away as the staff came spinning up through the stone branches. Before she had even hit the ground, Goukei erupted up after his staff, catching it in mid-air and whirling around. A crazed smile filled his face as the staff cocked back for a toss to pierce straight through her—

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  "No, you don't!" Akira followed through the hole he left in the branches and kicked him the rest of the way to the ceiling. Fast, fast, fast! They were so fast! Erina landed and rolled away as the tree crashed down behind her and Goukei peeled himself free to engage Akira once more. The cerberus barked with its one remaining head, paws pounding across the rock to meet Erina.

  She backed up but abruptly stopped. Her heel nudged a few pebbles over the edge into the molten ocean below. She felt like she was standing right in front of a massive bonfire, the heat cooking her back. Erina used both hands to toss one cube and orb in front of her, rapidly multiplying the cubes into a minefield. The dog leapt over them, jaws wide to snatch her up.

  The dragon's curve erupted, a beautiful green pattern punching the dog in the belly and launching it right over Erina's head. It made a pitiful whine as it sailed through the air before landing in the magma, getting just a few steps over its thick viscous surface before its paws got stuck. The dog flailed as it slowly went under, the red flames losing their form and dispersing into the heat haze.

  Erina panted as she turned away from the edge. Being made of infernal hellfire didn't automatically mean being immune to actual fire. Noted.

  Akira's boot collided with Goukei's face and sent him reeling back. Without looking, a blind swing of the staff was still enough to force her to block it and give him room. Running the back of his hand across his cheek, Goukei grinned and closed the distance in one blisteringly fast step. Akira leapt back further as the staff smashed down where she stood, burying half its length into solid rock.

  Goukei tore the staff free with a loud crunch, ripping a massive boulder out of the floor in the process. Akira spun and struck it as it met her, breaking it to pieces—

  "GOTCHA!" Running right behind the boulder, Goukei's hand slammed shut over her face and smashed her to the floor hard enough to pound a crater into solid stone. "Slippery li'l bitch! Shift your way outta this!"

  He took off, grating her across the floor and painting the ground bright red before flinging her into a brand new imprint in the ceiling. The cavern shook from the impact, dust and stray pieces of rock raining down.

  Goukei flicked some of the blood off his hand and turned around, looking for the other girl. Erina hunkered down behind his forge and tried to control her breathing.

  "Erina-chan!" he called out. "Come out 'n play, wherever you are! 'Cause if ya don't…" The earth began cracking at his feet.

  A pebble plinked off his head. Flickering static consumed the body in the ceiling as another Akira burst forth, just as ready to rejoin the fight as ever. She slammed him to the floor with a brutal heel drop, immediately following him as he tried to get back on his feet with another kick to the head that sent him spinning.

  "The railgun!" yelled Akira. "Do it!"

  "Y-Yes!" Erina got out of cover and locked on. One orb split into a cloud and recompressed into a shining bolt at her fingertips. The spell circles glowed to life.

  Goukei drove the end of his staff into the rock and swung his weight, throwing a kick of his own that blew back Akira's with a deep boom. Rock crunched as he landed, his gold eye flaring up with glee as his momentum transferred into hurling the staff straight at Erina.

  Her scream shriveled up in her throat as she hit the ground, a sonic boom cracking the air right above her. The staff sliced right through her bullet and entered the accelerator itself, breaking the sound barrier and vanishing deep into the cave wall over the ocean of magma.

  As Akira pulled Goukei's attention onto herself again, Erina got up in front of her railgun seals and raised her arm—

  "Stay down!" yelled Akira.

  Erina did so without questioning. The staff flew over her head not even a split second later, flying end over end through the air of its own accord on the return trip. It clipped the tall furnace of the forge, tearing a chunk out of it on the way past.

  Goukei threw a whiffed punch that Akira flipped over, so strong that the pulse of air blew away the thin metal dust on the rock floor and stirred splashes of molten rock from their trenches a dozen meters away. His hand closed around his returning staff and smashed it into Akira while she was still airborne with nothing to push off of, sending her careening across the cavern.

  "Can't keep doin' that, Akira!" he warned with a wide smile.

  Akira tumbled across the floor before launching back onto her feet, skidding to a halt as she hauled herself upright. Just because he was bigger and slower than her didn't mean much when he was still almost as fast, and he was far stronger to boot. Akira knew how to roll with the punches. It was one thing to get blown away. Getting gutted or crushed between his fist and a wall was a different story. But no matter how well she took it, Goukei still hit like a 'roided-out freight train. She shook the dust out of her jacket and dashed back in.

  Erina knew Goukei had no intention of giving her an opening to fire her charged blast any time soon. His battlefield awareness was absurd. Did he have eyes on the back of his head, or was this just the result of spending centuries seeking out the hardest battles that could be fought?

  Monster. That was the only word that could even begin to describe him. She couldn't come up with anything else.

  Erina gritted her teeth and cleared her mind. She raised an orb into the air and generated the green cloud. They couldn't do this forever. She had to find a solution to all his madness. One way or another, she had to do whatever she could.

  That was her only avenue, so she had to give it her all!