Orochi's head lunged down.

  Gravity wells carved three gashes through reality like massive claws, crushing and tearing all in its path.

  The head crashed down through the roof of a house as the limp neck fell and crushed several others. Static crackled around Akira's hands as she flipped, kicking off another head and twisting around one more's bite before she reached solid ground again.

  Lazarus' cannon blasted a severe burn into the side of the head that hit the earth right beside her. The prongs of the railgun retracted, the telescoping spike unfurled, and the pile bunker turned the entire head over with a loud bang, brain pounded to mush.

  Four heads lined up over them, fangs bared in unison—

  A bright green bolt lanced through them, skewering all four at once. Orochi jolted and then its heads collapsed, twitching.

  "Akira! Mom!" Erina launched through the mess of twisting necks and slid to a stop at their side, kicking up a burst of glowing orbs alongside the cloud of dust. "Are you okay?"

  A crunch from the ruined house beside them. Stray rafters broke away as Orochi's head lifted itself from the wreckage, poison blood still seeping from the grievous wound left by Lazarus' pile bunker. The crushed stump flailing over them boiled and regenerated, two fresh heads glaring down on the morsels below.

  "We're holding out," said Lazarus, "but we can't lay a finger on it!"

  "Damn, that thing's big," said Akira. "Hate to say it, but only reason we get to stand around here is because that guy's got it pinned."

  Brilliant light burst to life and a half dozen of the dragon's heads collapsed, countless glowing blades rammed deep into their faces and necks. Darius rolled across the ground and unholstered his revolver, aim snapping from one target the next with pinpoint precision—not mere bullets of light, but blinding beams of destruction that blasted gaping holes through even the mighty dragon's hardened hide. Their fangs stuck only the earth around him as shells littered the floor at his feet, immaculate coat flapping behind him.

  Orochi moved as one, its many heads slamming together around him. Huge muscles flexed, the serpents coming together and forming a coil around the gunslinger. Sinews thicker than a telephone pole bent to crush the life out of him, one tiny human in the grip of the serpents whose necks spanned any city street.

  Erina shielded her eyes as the sun itself exploded to life in their grip—blazing, blinding, burning away everything it touched and forcing the mythical dragon to unhand its prey. Black scales melted away, exposing the raw pink flesh underneath as the miniaturized star burned out moments later. Darius hit the ground and made it halfway back to standing before he stumbled, dropping his knees to catch his breath.

  Sensing weakness, yet another head swept in. It clamped down over him and dragged him back into the blender. All the while, Orochi's titanic body heaved and struggled with all its might against its restraints. The air clamored with the din of clanking chains.

  "Radiance…" muttered Erina, eyes on the colossal blades pinning the beast. A thought occurred to her and she looked to Lazarus. "I thought you said you took his Affinity."

  "He has two," said Lazarus. Power coalesced in her left hand, darker than black until it brightened and settled into the form of a sleek white disc. She looked at it distastefully. "The power of void was forced onto him as the Affinity of Conquest. His own Affinity is what you see—Radiant Light."

  "So what are we waiting for?" said Akira. "Give it back to him and we're done here."

  "Are you forgetting the part where we've tried to kill each other several times over? I'm not giving this back!"

  "Well, shit, missy, got a better idea? I'm all ears!"

  They all jumped back as a stray jet of fire swept by, scorching the earth black wherever it passed.

  "Can you use it yourself?" asked Erina.

  "Not an Affinity of another Harbinger," said Lazarus. "They needed augments to channel them in the first place. If I could use it myself, I would have by now."

  "Tch." Akira wiped some of the dirt from her cheek. "Didn't you say you can disable Orochi?"

  "That's what control over the soul gets you! And strong as it is, it should still qualify as a feral youkai—not as complex as a formed youkai or a human mind. But I'll need to reach every head, one at a time, to shut it all down."

  "Don't see a better approach," muttered Akira. "Let's get this shit done and over with! Fuck, I'm tired of this damn snake!"

  White light shimmered over Darius as another one of Orochi's heads swung itself into him like a wrecking ball, juggling him back into the air. Powering through the pain and the dizziness as the world spun around him, the gunslinger opened his revolver and slammed a bright glowing round into the chamber. Stray shells scattering around him, he took sight through the spinning and focused on the head rising to meet him.

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  BOOM! There was no more head. Darius glanced off the stump and landed in a tumble, the rest of the neck crashing past him. He began rising to his feet—

  "Argh!" Darius crumpled to one knee as Orochi heaved against its chains, giant blades crunching in the earth. Every movement was another wrenching sensation in his core, his mana burning up to hold the blades down against the monster's strength—and what a monster it was to contain! It took almost everything he had just to keep it down. Darius could only watch as two more heads rose up, glaring down on him with baleful red eyes. "You're giving me a run for my money, that's for sure. That's the first time in a long while…!"

  Then, an orange blur, and a colossal discharge of black-green energy. One head snapped aside with the force of Akira's kick. Launched by Erina's accelerator, Lazarus leapt to meet the other not with her weapon, but her own bare hand.

  Black lightning discharged as Lazarus rammed her hand straight through Orochi's head. It bucked and threw her to the ground, but the damage was done. The head reeled one way, then the other, then fell limp and motionless. It didn't regenerate, and it didn't split. It was rendered totally inert.

  Darius struggled to his feet as Erina ran to his side. He said, "What are you doing?"

  "We can't let it run free." Erina lined up her shot and flung her spear, flinching another head for Lazarus to take down up close. "I don't know what you're planning to do, but you don't want Orochi free either."

  "I don't remember asking for help… but I appreci—"

  Erina yelped as one of the beast's heads rammed him head-on, a wall of scales rushing by her. They crashed through a building, bricks tumbled and thick clouds of dust spilling out. The massive figure of Orochi's head rose, and then descended to smash Darius deeper into the wreckage, and then again.

  "Erina, look alive!" Akira swept in, tackling Erina aside as another head snapped at where she was.

  "S-Sorry!" Erina got to her feet, spear forming, but Orochi had already lost interest. That head went on to join its partner beating Darius into the dirt, pounding him over and over without mercy. "It's… ignoring us?"

  "Priorities," said Akira. "Who's got it tied up in chains? Works for us, anyway! Come on, back to it!"

  "Right!"

  They supported Lazarus. Akira leapt from head to head, Erina firing up railguns and launching spears into open mouths. Both of them served to distract Orochi and force openings that Lazarus could exploit. All she had to do was get within grabbing range, and then one good dig into their skulls brought them down as surely as the crimson blade. One head after another joined the rest, out cold in the ruins of the burning cityscape.

  But soon, Orochi couldn't ignore them any longer. The man in white was too sturdy to break with fang and flame, especially when he could still fight back. Over a dozen massive heads littered the earth because of Lazarus, their long necks piled and tangled over each other. The remaining six raised themselves from the figure staggering in the rubble of the ruined building. As one, they turned their attention to the woman in the lab coat.

  Lazarus' next target jerked back, her hands falling short. A jet of fire met her instead, blasting her down the street awash with flame.

  "Mom!" Erina didn't have time for anything else but to dive aside as a head came after her. She ducked through a restaurant nearby, jumping across the tables and out the back exit. Orochi smashed it to splinters behind her, the ground shaking with its silent roar.

  Akira looked over, concerned. One moment's hesitation earned her a swift death as another head sank its fangs into her. A flash of static and Akira pulled herself out of her fading corpse, still clutching where the fangs had found their mark, and then she was headbutted across the dirt.

  Erina conjured her spear and raised it, hand shaking as another head joined the one looming over her—

  A huge glowing sword impaled them both in one strike. The blade pivoted and rammed itself into the earth, staking the heads in place, tongues lolling out. Darius had pulled himself out of the wreckage, staggering along yet with the white light still glowing at his fingertips.

  A flash of blue light, an explosion, and Orochi's head buckled as Lazarus' railgun shot struck home. The remaining four heads drew back and collected themselves, forked tongues tasting the smoke-filled air as its tiny enemies formed up before it.

  "I'm okay!" Lazarus heaved the Finger into position, twin prongs warming up with a high-pitched whine for another shot. "Just a few more to go and we're done here, is that right?"

  "The damn thing's finally onto us." A bead of sweat rolled down Akira's face. "Don't think it's gonna get any easier from here."

  "The numbers have evened out," said Erina. "We have a real chance at stopping it. Darius-san, if you're willing to fight with us…"

  "Of course," he panted. "When did I ever say I wouldn't—ghk!"

  He reeled as Orochi lifted its entire body, every chain pulling taut to hold it in place. Before the others could stop it, Orochi's heads turned on themselves and ripped at the two held down by Darius' sword. Sharp fangs tore through thick scales, noxious blood sprayed, and Orochi ripped its own necks free of the severed heads.

  "No!" said Erina.

  The stumps boiled and erupted, raw flesh emerging and splitting into new necks. Two severed heads became four, and all of the heads set into their unconscious brethren with renewed ferocity—

  "Fat fucking chance we're doing this shit again!" Akira stepped forth, black and white static surging across her arm as she extended it and slashed down.

  Of the buildings still standing, all of them collapsed at once. Bricks plummeted at unnatural speed. Lamp posts bent and crumpled. The earth quaked under their feet as countless tons of material crashed down. Erina covered her face with her arm as suffocating dust flew out, completely blanketing them. Subject to overwhelming gravity, Orochi's heads slammed to the earth hard enough to form new trenches, buried halfway into the dirt under their own weight. Its incensed bellow shook the world, reverberating through their bones with its fury.

  "Well?!" Akira grabbed one arm with the other, teeth gritted in concentration as power surged through her. "Can't… hold this forever… Hurry up… and do your damn job!"

  "Mom, this way!" Erina drew an array of spell circles before herself and leapt through, accelerated to launch onto the closest head with her in tow. One bare-handed strike from Lazarus, and the head stilled, sinking into the earth with every second as they rushed to the next.

  "Gravity…" Darius clutched at his chest, gasping for breath. With Orochi pinned under Akira's power, he finally had some much-needed reprieve from its constant wrestling against its restraints. "I never knew you could do that. Why can you—"

  "Didn't want to show you of all people." Akira had to force the words through her teeth. Her arms shook with exertion, the sweat rolling down her neck in earnest. "Whatever you're thinking… doesn't mean anything. Forget it…! Forget you're seeing anything right now!"

  He turned away and tried to rise to his feet, only to stagger again. Both of them were too busy forcing their bodies to obey to keep trading words.

  "Come on, you two…!" Akira's voice was a low hiss. "Hurry the hell up, why don't you…!"