Erina glanced up as the gray skies turned even darker and hastily ran as a head took a half-hearted bite at her. Satisfied it had chased her off, the head lowered itself to the trench behind the demolished building and began lapping up the wine pooling in it. More and more heads joined it, tearing open the barrels in the trench to help themselves. Some of them even bickered among themselves, grabbing the same barrel and ripping it in half as they both tugged for it. Others scanned the area, searching for another stray barrels to pierce with their fangs and begin drinking uncontested.

  Asayuki cut through five necks in one go, sliding across the earth as her katana struck again and again. Finally, Erina had come through and given her a clean shot at the base of its necks. One head hissed as it curled under the others, chasing Asayuki under the rest of the necks. It butted her out the other side, boots skidding with her guard.

  Erina still couldn't quite believe it. One woman, with just a sword, certainly not with an oni's might, stood fast before the titanic dragon and simply… blocked it. The head came in for another lunge and Asayuki severed that head as well. Another dropped its barrel to turn its attention to her, but the difference was like night and day.

  Erina shook herself out of it. She called, "Asayuki-san! Wait! Be ready when I give the signal!"

  "What signal?" she said between blows, but Erina was already running off. Asayuki didn't have time to think about it. She still had dozens of heads to remove, and Orochi wasn't going to be distracted forever.

  Hopping onto an airborne seal, Erina held out a hand and muttered a rapid incantation under her breath. A large spell circle formed, encircling Orochi's body just under the arms, and then faded away. She twirled her wrist, drawing another spell circle in the same place, and let that fade too.

  Erina looked up the mountain, feeling an imminent sense of dread rising as she took in just what her plan entailed. Orochi's body stretched so far, it went all the way up to the summit, past the volcanic plume, and then further still. Her shoulders sank briefly, and then she drew herself up and straightened herself out.

  She began her run up the mountain, using her platforms to evade the flows of lava and blood. As she went, more and more spell circles formed around Orochi's length and dissipated, working her gradual way along its entire massive body.

  Akira slipped under Goukei's punch and fired back with a reverse roundhouse to the side. Goukei took it swinging, his scythe forcing her away in a burst of hellfire. As the flames dispersed, Akira and Goukei broke off from each other, both panting for breath.

  "Clever little fucks," spat Goukei. His eyes snapped to Erina, then to Asayuki, and back to Akira. The snarl on his face turned back into a wild grin. "Glad I'm gettin' my money's worth outta that damn snake! Now roll over and die so I can get to the main course!"

  "In your dreams!" laughed Akira, throwing herself back into the fight.

  Asayuki's sword ripped through one neck after another. Heads upon heads fell, kicking up plumes of blood as they landed. Orochi ran out of barrels and ravenously took to licking up everything that remained of the wine. Several heads turned and snapped at each other, bickering over who gets to drink the last puddles, but just as many took notice of the hunter chopping off its heads at alarming pace.

  Asayuki staggered as one swiped her, red blade out to block its fangs. She leapt onto the head and let it spring her to her next target. Two heads in a tug of war over the last barrel were decapitated in one crescent slash.

  Erina backed off as Orochi's tails lashed, knocking over trees and hammering the earth. She kept a respectable distance as she incanted, a double-layered spell circle forming around the base of the tails and then fading. That ought to be enough! Crawling out of the trench she'd taken cover in, she jumped up to the lip of the summit crater and sprinted along its edge, back to the ruined encampment. Orochi's massive body dominated the crater, lava bubbling and smoking below it.

  Orochi's many heads looked again. There wasn't a single drop of wine to be found anywhere. All of its heads hissed, their forked tongues flicking out. Asayuki was forced away from the base of its neck as one head after another dove at her from above. Several twisted around and ripped at each other, tearing free its heads so even more could grow. They multiplied faster and faster as the new heads joined in. Over a dozen of them hammered at the sky, ramming and biting the crack in the sky into a gaping rift.

  Two of Orochi's giant heads swung themselves around and sank their fangs into the edges of the rift. They heaved, the legendary dragon's entire body almost lifting off the ground with the unfathomable amount of strength it exerted. The cracks suddenly gave way, spreading nearly to the horizons as it tore the rift wider.

  Asayuki clenched her jaw.

  She wasn't authorized to do this. She hated explaining to the Association. At the same time, she could see what Goukei was planning with this mythical beast on the loose.

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  She had to do it. One deep cut ripped through reality, or total collapse of the barrier.

  Asayuki focused as she gripped tight the katana in its scabbard and braced down. Her mana crystallized, brought out with such intensity it condensed and peeled away as vivid red snowflakes shedding from her body. The grooves in her sword's scabbard seared to life with a blazing, angry red, power surging forth.

  "Tenjou Tenge," she murmured. "Ittou Zanre—"

  "Asayuki-san!" Erina returned from her round trip to the summit, leaping down onto a spell circle to cushion her fall. She made it!

  One final slash of her arm, and every spell circle reactivated. Glowing seals revealed themselves, surrounding the full length of Orochi's huge body, and then closed in on it.

  A flash of light, and Erina crumpled to the dirt as her body instantly shut down. It was unlike anything she'd experienced. Excruciating pain filled her like boiling oil in her veins as she forced herself to maintain a spell far beyond her capabilities. The world flickered black before she willed her eyes to reopen and stay open.

  Space and time distorted around Orochi. Its heads warped and melded through each other as the spell attempted to reconcile a moving, living being with over forty heads with its eight-headed past self. The gap between one nanometer and the next widened, driving space apart from itself in a distortion field bound to the exact shape of the dragon.

  The glow of the scabbard faded. Asayuki turned off her visor, the halves retracting into her headpieces. Her eyes didn't deceive her. Orochi shrank from a monster of legend that spanned mountains and valleys, to a tiny flailing little thing the size of a poodle. It wasn't even a flea compared to what it was just ten seconds ago.

  "Now…!" wheezed Erina. She could barely stay conscious, let alone get the words out. One violently shaking arm remained extended, green light crackling at her fingertips. "Seal it!"

  Asayuki's eyes sharpened. There was no chance she would pass up such an opportunity.

  She stepped past the downed girl, drawing her crimson blade from its sheath. The ofuda holster at her thigh remained unopened.

  The handle of Goukei's scythe smashed down on Akira's head, dropping her to the floor. He whirled, eyes wide and a roar on his lips as he snapped the weapon in half and flung one blade with all his might. Asayuki glimpsed it in the nick of time, her sword snapping into place to block—

  Metal screamed against metal, and the sword was ripped from her grip. Asayuki's head snapped the other way as her beloved katana went flipping end over end. It landed with its blade embedded in the earth.

  She rolled forward, out of the path of the red-burning blade as it flew back to its owner. Goukei set his eyes on Erina, curled up on the ground–

  His entire body tensed up as Akira threw a kick where it hurt the most, hard enough to make his feet briefly leave the ground. She flipped upright and launched him away with another kick to the chest, stumbling through with the motion before nearly falling over again.

  Asayuki gritted her teeth. She didn't have time to retrieve her sword. She opened the holster on her leg, lengths of talismans unfurling in her grip, and launched it at Orochi.

  A burst of light flared as Erina released the spell with a strangled gasp. She rolled over onto all fours, coughing and retching as wave after wave of nausea washed over her. The spell circles binding Orochi shattered, a blinding light consuming it as the distortion field collapsed… but it didn't grow back to normal size. Drowning out even the blinding light was an even brighter red glow, the countless inscriptions on the talismans shining to life as more and more of it flew from Asayuki's pouch.

  The last of the ofuda vanished from her holster, all of it used up to wrap and bind the legendary dragon in one unbroken chain. The blinding light vanished, drowned under layer upon layer of talismans. Orochi writhed, its heads pushing and pressing at the inside of its mummy-like wrappings, and then slowed, and then stopped. The glow of the talismans faded.

  Orochi did not move.

  Asayuki's boots pounded across the earth. She reached for her sword—

  Glowing red ether splattered the earth. Goukei beat her to it and blew her across the encampment with one massive punch. Asayuki flipped onto her feet just in time to dodge the incoming scythe swing, and Goukei launched a wild reckless offensive to keep her from laying hands on her blade.

  "Akira…" Erina felt a small pair of hands haul her upright. "Now's your opportunity." She stumbled drunkenly, barely able to keep her balance unassisted. "Please take Orochi and run."

  "Without you?" panted Akira. "Take a second and think about what you just said."

  "I know what I said," muttered Erina. She gently pushed away from Akira, wobbling. "It's an order from Patriarch Kano, isn't it? I already owe you so much." She found her balance and took two slow steps, placing herself in front of Akira as the other two fought. Those two steps were as fast as she could go without falling back over. "I want to make myself useful to you."

  Akira rounded on her. "And leave you here? Do you have any idea what the hell you're saying?"

  "I do." Erina looked at her. "We don't have a choice, do we?"

  Akira bit her lip. It was true. She was handed down a direct order from her own superior. The Binding Association was involved now. It didn't matter if it was out of her control; that was a mark against her.

  Even if Orochi was slain here, going home empty-handed would be abject failure to the family—and that wasn't tolerated for either of them. The burdens of the yakuza were on them both.

  "You serious about doing this?" said Akira quietly.

  "I am," said Erina. "Right now… I'm scared. I'm so, so scared. I know I can't win… but I don't have to. I just need to buy you enough time. Like I said before, if it's just that much…" She had to pause, breathless and winded. Erina did her best to straighten her posture and meet her patriarch's eye. "I can do it!"

  Akira stared at her, those golden eyes hard and uncompromising… until she looked away. Her shoulders fell slightly. "Next time I see you," she said quietly. "You better be in one piece. That's an order. Got that?"

  Erina gave her a tiny smile. "Yes, sir."

  Her expression returned to quiet focus as she set her sights on the opponents through her blurring vision.

  Goukei and Asayuki weren't looking at them at all.

  Erina had another deduction gaining more and more traction. Her odds might be better than she thought after all.