Akira, meanwhile, had her work cut out for her. All of her acrobatics were put to the test. She jumped off one head, flipping and twisting through the air to deflect herself off of another lunging head, pushing herself away from it to smoothly transition into a powerful kick on a third. The head in question reeled under her blow as she launched away.

  She grunted as a black wall caught her from below and swept up, dragging her along its front. The wind whistled by as Orochi headbutted her high into the air, serving her up for its other heads to gobble down. One took its offering gladly, jaws unhinging to swallow her whole—

  Akira kicked it straight in the mouth, the force of her blow resonating with a deep boom. The head snapped back as she flew with the recoil, rolling onto another neck and sprinting along it. The neck twisted and turned under her as she ran. One head breathed fire, a wall of flame chasing her down the neck as she vaulted over knots and slid under overlapping necks before jumping away, bouncing back and forth between heads.

  One kick after another. Each blow to the head was enough to make it reel, but the dragon was too damn big for her to do any lasting damage!

  Goukei's scythe handle broke in half, the blades snapping into place as twin curved swords. Dashing from one side of Erina to the other in less than a second, he flung one and then the other. Green lasers shot out, sniping them off-course and blasting the dirt behind the running oni. He caught his blades on the return trip and rejoined them, transforming them back into a single scythe. One fiery swing felled a nearby tree. Flaming skulls pulled free of the flare and flew at the airborne girl, followed shortly by Goukei kicking the tree at her too.

  Erina gestured for her cloud to double in size and then flung her arm forward. A barrage of lasers dispersed the skulls. A dragon's curve blasted out, returning the flying tree to its sender. Goukei's scythe cleaved it in two—

  The thrown spear hidden behind the tree struck him head-on. Lightning flashed, branches of light spearing the landscape around him. Goukei's feet carved two small trenches in the earth as he skidded back.

  "Good, good!" Goukei laughed and clapped, smoke rising from the burns on his chest. "Very good, Erina-chan!"

  Erina clutched her own chest, catching her breath as the platform intended for negating falls gradually inched down. She was tired, but she'd realized something—so was he. Lasers that previously did nothing now scalded his skin, turning it angry red under the flowing robes. The spear burned him outright. Every wound faded in seconds, but regenerating again and again cost him something, if not much.

  Resolute determination filled her eyes. Erina had a ghost of a chance at beating him down. That chance was miniscule. One wrong move would spell her end. But Goukei wasn't invincible. She did have a chance.

  Goukei grinned. "I like yer eyes, kid. That's the face of a warrior." He readied the scythe and launched himself back into the fray as a fresh barrage of light rained down. "Akira knew what she was doin' when she scouted ya!"

  Orochi's head turned sideways as it tracked Akira running along its neck before snapping forward to slam shut on her. Akira jumped and found herself rammed to the earth by another head waiting for exactly that. She struck the ground and rolled, bouncing and twisting back onto her feet.

  Her legs buckled. Akira caught herself and forced them to work. Sweat dripped from the ends of her hair. Orochi was glaring right back at her—four of it, anyway. One was watching the other two battle. Three were beating themselves against the ceiling, ripping and tearing at the rift in the Reverse.

  "…There really is no helping it, huh?" panted Akira. She looked up at the towering dragon. "Sorry, big guy, but someone's counting on me today. Gotta try for real, at least a little bit."

  Her breathing labored, Akira extended one arm forward. Her eyes stayed locked onto the dragon glaring right back from far above. Black and white static crackled around her hand. Slowly, as if something was pushing back, her fingers spread and curled like claws, and then she made a wild slashing motion.

  An ear-splitting noise ripped through the air. Every tree swayed with the shockwave. Sweeping sheets of dust rushed in one direction and then quickly reversed, scattering with the blast of wind. The ground shook. Erina and Goukei both turned.

  Orochi's head crashed to the ground, its eyes dull and its tongue lolling out as a pool of blood formed under it. The legendary dragon reared up—its entire gargantuan self drawing back. One neck now ended in a mangled stump, not so much cut as violently crushed and torn apart. A river of noxious blood poured from it, steaming and boiling. Grass, plants, and trees turned brown and withered away around it as it flowed alongside the lines of lava trickling down the mountain.

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  "Oho," said Goukei. "That's yer true nature, huh? So that's how it works!"

  Erina glanced at him. What? She didn't get it.

  Goukei caught her looking and grinned. The double blades of his scythe whirled once in hypnotic flame. "Don't forget who yer facin'!"

  She leapt away from her platform as his thrown buzzsaw shattered it. A barrage of lasers retaliated in kind, and their battle resumed.

  Akira cartwheeled aside to escape Orochi's next lunge. One swipe of her arm, and another head was obliterated from dozens of meters away, its head smashed and its skull pounded to dust.

  Her legs were pulled out from under her. Akira found herself dragged across the ground and flung back into the air by a head that had snuck up on her. It rushed forth to snap her up in one—

  She made another motion and its neck exploded. The lifeless head hit her anyway, carrying her higher still into the thin mountain air. She glanced around to see four more heads encircling her. Looked like she had its undivided attention now.

  Akira leapt off, away from a column of dragonfire. Her boot came around and struck the first head to try and take a bite, only for another to sideswipe her and bat her out of the air. Akira crashed through the treetops, tearing through tree branches to land heavily next to a river of blood.

  She slowly got up, aching all over as Orochi glared down on her. Glimmering shards twinkled down from the cracks in reality. The severed stumps of the dragon continued to flail and convulse. They boiled with unnatural fervor.

  As she watched, the bleeding slowed. The muscle itself bubbled. The severed necks extended out, growing rapidly like a timelapse of a plant. Skin formed, covered by thick scales, fierce draconic features formed, red eyes opened. Orochi regrew its…

  Wait. What?

  Her eyes had to be tricking her. She did a double take, followed by a quick head count.

  "…Eleven?!" Her attention snapped to the oni. "What the hell? That's not Orochi!"

  Goukei backed off from another failed attempt to swat the dark-haired girl out of the sky, his scythe flicking away another salvo of lasers. "Ah? Right, that! I wasn't all anal about which ancient dragon I resurrected. They were all in the same place, so I reached in and took a fistful of whatever I found. Might've gotten a few other things mixed up in there. Didn't exactly have a lotta time before security caught up. Shit happens!"

  "The fuck you mean, 'shit happens?!'"

  Akira didn't get to say more before she noticed Orochi coming in for a bite. Too late—its jaws slammed shut around her lower half. Orochi lifted her high into the air before coming back down, smashing her against the ground. A crater formed on impact under its massive bulk. Head pounding, Akira cracked open one eye. Static crackled at her fingertips, but the dragon flung her away before she could strike again.

  Erina jumped away from another air platform as Goukei crashed through it, her eyes tracking Akira as she flew overhead. Erina glanced back in time to see Goukei's whirling buzzsaw of a scythe flying at her. The katana flashed into her grip and she took a wild swing. The sheer speed of the spin flung her arm back with the rest of her attached, hitting the ground beside Akira.

  Goukei recalled his weapon to his hand and hoisted it over his shoulders, the twin curved blades at his back like a giant hellish halo. Orochi leaned in, extending its many necks to glare down on their prey from every direction.

  Akira's knees shook as she stood up. They gave out, and this time, Akira couldn't get back up. Her breathing was heavy and ragged. Erina got to her feet at her side, her own heart beating so fast she feared it might give out.

  "What do we do?" panted Erina.

  Akira didn't respond. Even if she kept tearing off its heads, Orochi would grow even more back. Actually, forget that; it grew whether they did anything or not. It was undeniably larger than when they started fighting. At the peak of the mountain, the lip of the crater collapsed under its weight and a fresh wave of lava poured out.

  "That all ya got?" said Goukei. He was breathing hard too. Sweat glistened under the cuts and holes in his robes. He gestured for them to hurry up and bring it. "I can do this all day! C'mon, come at me again! Lemme savor this pleasure even more!!"

  Akira struggled to stand. "Really gettin' your rocks off now, huh…?"

  Orochi perked up. Its many heads looked this way and that. Everyone paused as a distant sound reached their ears. The more they listened, the louder it got.

  "That you guys?" asked Goukei.

  "News to me," panted Akira.

  Erina focused on the noise. It was a sharp rumble, sputtering and growling…

  The sound of a running engine.

  A rift tore open in the fabric of reality. Asayuki's motorcycle screamed as she jumped across the barrier between worlds, launching high above them. Her scarlet blade sang as it flew from its sheath. A vast crescent slash tore through the air, announcing her arrival with a spray of boiling blood.

  Her katana snapped back into its scabbard at her hip. Asayuki landed behind Erina and Akira, her motorcycle screeching and spinning across the ground. She slammed her boot against the earth, carving a shallow trench as she pivoted her side to face them and skidded to a halt. Orochi's severed head crashed to the earth behind her as the dragon recoiled, the ground rumbling with its impossibly deep, near-silent roar.

  Erina gulped.

  Akira narrowed her eyes.

  Goukei grinned, baring his fangs.

  Steam rose from the boiling blood at her feet as Asayuki raised her head and the black visor greeted them back.

  The Third Equalizer was on the scene.