A red flurry of slashes filled the air in front of Asayuki, obliterating the barrage of lasers. Her sword snapped back into its sheath and she lunged forward, sparks flying from her boots as she skidded towards Erina at high speed. The distortion field was gone! She was right in front of her!

  Erina snapped out of it. Her leg buckled under her as she tried to move. Her spear wasn't enough. It was a medium for channeling the hundred branches before it was an actual melee weapon. She needed a real weapon to defend herself. Something, anything. She needed something like that sword!

  …She needed that sword.

  Her heart overclocked. Before iteration, before multiplying and dividing her attacks, the first step was always having a grasp of their form. It was a core fundamental. She didn't need any of its properties, she just needed the physical traits. Even a fraction of them would do! Erina poured the last of her mana into it—a grip to fit her hands, a guard dividing handle from blade, a tang to anchor it, and more than anything, a blade that would not break!

  Emerald light sparked to life as she brought her hands together and then swung, eyes wide and a silent yell of desperation on her lips.

  Metal slammed to a halt against metal. Erina's emerald blade screamed in protest as it grinded against fatal scarlet steel, sparks flying in every direction where they scraped together. It didn't feel anything like Erina expected—the entirety of Asayuki's weight backing her blade, the incredible friction of metal that felt as if the blades had glued themselves to each other, her own shaking arms trying constantly to give way despite her screaming at them to hold fast.

  Erina really did yell as she pushed with the last of her failing strength, and her blade shattered.

  Asayuki's blow, aimed for the neck, went high and found only air beyond the fading glittering fragments of transient metal. Erina wobbled as blood spurted from her leg, unable to keep herself standing, and then her heart dropped through her stomach as she went over the edge of the roof.

  Erina banged off a windowsill and spun through the air on the way down. She felt her fall slow as a thin line dug into her back—a clothesline! She managed to get her hand around it to arrest her descent, only for the line to snap and smack her against the wall. She hit another windowsill that knocked her away, had all the air knocked out of her by the distended belly of the dead oni, and then finally rolled off to land in a pool of its blood.

  Erina managed to lift her face out of it, spluttering and spitting as Asayuki hit the ground a short distance away. Weary, tired green eyes watched the swordmaster rise, her scarlet sword poised to strike again—but now cautious, ready for the next trick Erina pulled from her sleeve. The ends of her scarf fluttered down and then settled.

  "There's no meaning behind an empty party trick like that." Asayuki loosened her stance and walked forward. Her sword moved to rest low at her side. "It takes more than a hand and a piece of metal to wield the blade. You lack conviction."

  The red katana snapped forward, its tip hovering inches away from Erina's face.

  "Take this lesson with you into the afterli—"

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Beep beep. Beep beep.

  "Do you read me?" A grainy voice came through her winged left headpiece.

  Asayuki didn't respond. Erina panted on the floor, struggling to draw breath with the blade in her face.

  "Asayuki, come in! Do you read me?"

  The katana vanished into its sheath in a split second. She touched her headpiece and snapped, "What now?"

  "We're done. Time to pull out."

  "Excuse me?" Asayuki turned away. "I'm in the middle of something."

  "We spotted Akira in our zone. Didn't leave anything salvageable of the target. Be on alert, she might be headed tow—"

  Asayuki whirled, her sword flying from its scabbard to block. Erina's hair whipped up in Akira's wake as the blonde girl rocketed past with a flying kick that sent Asayuki reeling with explosive power.

  Asayuki readied her blade, deflecting Akira's next kick to the side while she broke off in the other direction. Akira was right on top of her anyway, throwing a wild barrage of mixed knife slashes and kicks that forced her onto the defensive. Each individual swing of her legs traced an inky trail of venom through the air like a calligraphy brush. Every impact of boot against blade was punctuated with a booming sound, accompanied by the the sword's high-pitched ringing in Asayuki's hands.

  She saw an opening. The crimson blade returned to its sheath as Asayuki sidestepped a straight kick and then retaliated. The crescent swing removed the offending leg in one swipe—

  Asayuki raised her sword behind her head and narrowly guarded the next booming kick, sliding away across the floor. One amputated Akira hit the ground and one Akira kicked off the sword, landing and returning to neutral with Asayuki.

  "You punks think you can walk into my territory and do whatever you want like you own the place?!" Akira clashed her knives together with a harsh noise, a wide humorless grin on her face. "If you wanted to go to war so bad, you should've sent me a letter so I could give you a real welcome!"

  Asayuki straightened up, swiping her blade down to clean the blood. "I'm here for business," she said, sheathing it. "Not you, snake. Not today."

  "Business? Didn't know the Association does unprompted house calls for vermin extermination. You gonna bill me for it too?" Akira's boot left a trail of black and green flame as she scraped it across the ground. "If you didn't cross me then, you sure as hell did coming after my men!"

  Asayuki looked at Erina. "This girl is under your protection?"

  "Do you even take one second to check before you kill whatever moves?" snarked Akira. "She's human."

  "…Human?"

  Aaayuki looked at her. Erina couldn't see her eyes behind that black screen.

  After a long, hard pause, the swordmaster disengaged her visor. She turned away with a hand to her headpiece. "Darius, I'm leaving her to you. Out."

  "Hey!" Akira walked after her as Asayuki drew the tanto from her scabbard and cut open a rift in space. "Don't you turn your back on—!"

  Asayuki left and the rift sealed itself back up.

  Akira kicked the dead oni into the wall with a yell of frustration. Clouds of dust shook loose from the bricks.

  "Maintaining peace and order, my ass…!" she seethed. Akira kicked the oni one more time for good measure before cooling off and coming to Erina's side. "Hey. I got your message. You all right?"

  What a relief. So she did see Erina's lightning tree when it went off mid-fight.

  "I… think so," said Erina. She felt bruised and battered all over. Blood soaked her hair and front.

  "Obviously not. You can afford to be a little more honest, you know." Akira slung her arm over her shoulder and helped Erina to her feet.

  "Those fangs…" Erina pointed at the massive oni tusks on the floor. "She seemed like she wanted them."

  "Oh, did she now? Go figure. Oni fangs are one helluva drug. Great mana conductor even if you don't grind 'em up." Akira's boot crushed them in half, stray shards bouncing across the ground. "Tough luck. They'll have to find more. Come on, we'll get you bandaged up. Tell me what happened later."

  "Okay." Erina's voice was faint and exhausted. "…Akira?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Thank you. You're very kind."

  That gave her pause. Eventually, Akira let out a small breath and adjusted Erina's arm over her shoulders. "Just get moving."