As Chikane and Himeko looked on from inside Ame no Murakumo, they saw bright flashes of blue light coming from central Mahoroba. Chikane piloted the giant god down the mountain and into the heart of the city. The closer to the attack they went, the more destruction they saw. Buildings had been demolished, trees were on fire, and many homes had been reduced to rubble. "This destruction..." Himeko said. "Do you think it was...?" "Yes," Chikane replied, knowing exactly what Himeko was thinking. "Take no Yamikazuchi." "Souma..." Surely enough, they found the source of the blue light to be Take no Yamikazuchi's attacks. "It's in its true form!" exclaimed Chikane upon seeing the mech's red coloration. "Ame no Murakumo?" said Souma upon seeing the God of Swordsmen standing over him. "And Mister Himemiya accused me of failing in MY duties!" Chikane's breath caught as she was reminded of her father's connection to Orochi...as well as her own. "You don't seem so confident, Lunar Priestess," said Souma. Ame no Murakumo was just as stiff and tense as Chikane was. Take no Yamikazuchi flew at Ame no Murakumo and knocked it over with a hard punch to the abdomen. Although twice the Orochi body's size, Ame no Murakumo was thrown about like a rag doll. "Chikane!" cried Himeko, noticing that her girlfriend didn't seem to be fighting back at all. "What's wrong, Chikane?" "I still can't believe it," said Chikane. "How could my father...how could I be a descendant of Orochi?" "Don't think like that, Chikane!" the blonde pleaded with Chikane. "If you pull yourself together and fight for what we have, then we can defeat Orochi and we can be happy together." "Happy together..." "Don't give in to the pain. I'm right here beside you. I won't leave your side, Chikane. I'll always be right here beside you. So please, stand up. You'll have both me and the power of Susanou to help you." Chikane looked on as Take no Yamikazuchi charged at Ame no Murakumo again. Her eyes narrowed and she clutched the Lunar Priestess Blade. Faster than Souma could blink, Ame no Murakumo was back on its feet with the blade on its right wrist extended and Take no Yamikazuchi was sliced cleanly in half. Souma teleported away before his other self exploded in a giant fireball. Chikane and Himeko watched as Yokusemi no Mizuchi flew by overhead. "Go for it, Chikane," said Himeko. Chikane concentrated and rockets fired on Ame no Murakumo's back, propelling the giant god after Orochi's high-speed eighth body. Blasts of yellow energy fired at the bird-shaped mech, but it dodged all of the attacks that Ame no Murakumo fired at it. Still, it could not move faster than the mech following it. Even though Ame no Murakumo could not gain any ground on Yokusemi no Mizuchi, Yokusemi no Mizuchi could not widen the gap between it and Ame no Murakumo. "We're traveling west, aren't we, Chikane?" said Himeko. "I think so," Chikane answered. It took a matter of minutes to follow Yokusemi no Mizuchi over the Sea of Japan and into China. However, once Chikane and Himeko made landfall, the flying Orochi body had a drastic change in tactics. It transformed into its humanoid drill form and flew at Ame no Murakumo. Chikane barely had enough time to react and blocked the giant drill flying at her. Suddenly, while preoccupied with Yokusemi no Mizuchi, Ame no Murakumo was hit in the back by a series of white bullets. Chikane and Himeko cried in pain as they felt Ame no Murakumo picked up by a giant whip and thrown into a large building. "What was that?" winced Himeko. Chikane stood up and saw that Izuhara no Tamazuchi had been waiting for them all along and that Yokusemi no Mizuchi had led them into a trap. The priestesses were astonished to see the black coloration that Orochi's sixth body had taken on. "I've got you now, you horrible priestesses!" Nekoko cried from Izuhara no Tamazuchi. Arms extended from the spherical mech's body and yellow beams of light shot at Ame no Murakumo. The Solar Mark and Lunar Mark lit up, protecting Ame no Murakumo from the beams that were fired at them. However, after Izuhara no Tamazuchi had ceased fire, Chikane and Himeko felt the ground shaking, as if something had exploded. They looked in the direction of the vibrations and their eyes widened in horror. The beams that Ame no Murakumo had not blocked had demolished the entire Beijing metropolis! Even the suburban areas had been destroyed! "This is bad," said Himeko. Chikane realized, "Izuhara no Tamazuchi must have been busy destroying Beijing while we fought Take no Yamikazuchi and Yokusemi no Mizuchi." Chikane had another horrible realization. "Oh no. The Orochi are attacking cities all over the world, aren't they?" "We have to work quickly if we're to stop them," Himeko said. The blades on Ame no Murakumo's wrists extended as the huge god prepared to fight the Orochi. Chikane didn't worry about where Ame no Murakumo was stepping because there was nothing left of Beijing to destroy. Ame no Murakumo charged at Izuhara no Tamazuchi and swung at it with its blades. The spherical mech's whips extended and wrapped around the blades, immobilizing the sword god. "I trapped you!" Nekoko cried gleefully. "You fool," Chikane said. "Ame no Murakumo may be the god of swords, but blades are not the only weapons she has." The blue and golden wings of Ame no Murakumo started glowing and then fired a powerful beam of energy at Izuhara no Tamazuchi. There was a large explosion where the beam hat hit, disabling the largest of the Orochi bodies. The whips retracted at it fell to the ground. "No, not again!" Nekoko meowed as she teleported back to Yokusemi no Mizuchi. Ame no Murakumo thrust both of its blades into Izuhara no Tamazuchi's body and the sphere-shaped mech exploded. Yokusemi no Mizuchi had transformed back into its bird form and was retreating again. Again, the rockets on Ame no Murakumo's back fired and Chikane was chasing the defeated Orochi again. This time, the high-speed mech was heading southwest. Most of China was still intact, but as they approached the Indian border, Himeko and Chikane noticed something very wrong. The Himalayan Mountains were completely devoid of snow and ice! It was as if all of the snow had melted away. It was then that the priestesses knew which Orochi they were going to fight next, the only one whose other self had the ability to cause such drastic changes in temperature. It was atop the now-bare Mount Everest that Ho no Shuraizuchi was breathing fire across the vast mountain range. When she noticed Ame no Murakumo headed towards her, Rehko said from within the mech, "It's too late. I've already flooded the Ganges river basin with glacial water. The crops are not doing too well either." Chikane and Himeko looked down from atop the mountain to see that what Rehko said was true. Everything from Delhi to Bengladesh was now submerged and all of the vegetation beyond the new body of water was on fire. "The destruction is even greater here..." Himeko breathed. "Don't feel so bad for the Indians," Rehko said. "They should be thrilled to know that their sacred river has grown so much in size." The thing about Rehko that scared Chikane and Himeko the most was that her usually stoic, unemotional attitude had completely changed. The Fifth Neck now had a demeanor that fit much more with that of an Orochi than it did before, cynical with malicious sarcasm in Rehko's voice. "At this rate, the Orochi will destroy the world before we defeat them," said Chikane. "How can we rebuild the world without being separated again?" "This isn't the time to think about it," said Himeko. "We can defeat the Orochi, I know we can. We just have to believe in ourselves. Like I believe in you." The Solar Mark on Himeko's chest started glowing and Chikane felt the power of the Solar Priestess filling her body, making her stronger. Ame no Murakumo swung at Ho no Shurazuchi, but the blue-colored mech in its true form was faster than before, dodging the larger god's blows. The blades were able to slice off the Orochi body's arms, but the main body still remained intact. Ame no Murakumo was about to strike again when a blast of ice shot at her from Ho no Shuraizuchi's open mouth. With no face plate in front of the mouth, the blizzard was much more violent than it was before. Chikane and Himeko groaned in pain, almost able to feel the tiny ice crystals digging into the Ame no Murakumo's hull. With Chikane and Himeko preoccupied trying to ward off Ho no Shuraizuchi's blizzard, Yokusemi no Mizuchi came up behind them and transformed into its drill shape again. It flew at Ame no Murakumo, hoping to drill itself through the sword god's back. However, sensing the impending attack, Himeko said, "Chikane, behind us!" Chikane knew what to do without even having to look. Ame no Murakumo simply ducked, causing Yokusemi no Mizuchi to pass inches from its head. Not able to stop in time, the drill-shaped Orochi body collided with Ho no Shuraizuchi, destroying Rehko's other self instead. "Nice job, Chikane," said Himeko. "Now, can we use the water from the Ganges to put out the fire?" "We don't have time," said Chikane, seeing Yokusemi no Mizuchi transforming back into its bird form and flying off. Chikane piloted Ame no Murakumo after it. "When the time comes," Chikane continued, "we'll rebuild the world without sacrificing ourselves. We'll find a way, just as Tsukuyomi said." It was not long before Yokusemi no Mizuchi disappeared into a thick cloud of smoke. "What's going on?" Himeko said in fear. "Where did all this smoke come from all of a sudden? What direction are we going in?" "Northwest," Chikane answered. She then gasped and said, "It can't be..." The blades on Ame no Murakumo's wrists started spinning, blowing most of the smoke away. Barely visible in what was left of the smoke was the silhouette of Yokusemi no Mizuchi flying toward a red speck of light in the distance. As they got closer, Chikane and Himeko saw what the red speck of light was. It was a long mountain range of volcanoes, all erupting at the same time. "Just as I thought," Chikane said. "The Mediterranean Sea. Vesuvius, Etna, Stromboli, even the undersea volcanoes seem to be erupting." "Can an Orochi really have the power to cause every volcano in the Mediterranean to erupt?" Himeko asked. "I thought you were never going to make it," a female voice said from the crater of Mount Vesuvius. Himeko and Chikane looked to see what looked like a giant, red centipede crawl out of the mouth of the volcano. It was Ooube no Senazuchi. "But now that you've made it," Korona continued, "I can finally have some fun." "Ooube no Senazuchi must have been crawling around inside the Earth churning the magma, causing it to rise," said Chikane. "Most of Europe and North Africa are being buried by pumice and ash as we speak," Korona said. "Those people that aren't crushed by the earth raining down on them will suffocate from the ash and toxic gases." Suddenly, Ooube no Senazuchi spat its solution at Ame no Murakumo. Chikane dodged, but the solution hit the blade on Ame no Murakumo's left wrist, causing it to dissolve partially. "Then again," continued the Fourth Neck, "the volcanoes are not the only things with toxic chemicals in their bodies." Ame no Murakumo tried punching Ooube no Senazuchi with its left fist and slashing at it with the still-functional blade on its right arm. Chikane was only able to cut off the fourth Orochi body's left arm before it wrapped itself around Ame no Murakumo, attempting to squeeze the life out of it by constriction. "Big mistake," said Chikane. She aimed the blade on Ame no Murakumo's wrist directly at Ooube no Senazuchi's thorax and thrust down with it. However, just inches from Ooube no Senazuchi's body, the blade was stopped from descending any further by the Orochi body's mouth grabbing the blade. "Don't be so cocky!" Korona said. A glowing ball of green light started growing between the pincers on Ooube no Senazuchi's shoulders. "You don't have your blades to cut with, punching won't do any good, and you're completely immobilized." Chikane smiled and said, "Not completely." Ame no Murakumo performed a scorpion kick, the blades of its feet impaling Ooube no Senazuchi's head. The green ball of energy that was growing between the pincers disappeared and its teeth let go of Ame no Murakumo's blade, allowing it to slice through Ooube no Senazuchi's abdomen. With the fourth Orochi body disabled, it fell back into Mount Vesuvius and melted into the lava. Then, Chikane looked up to the sky and said, "Damn it! I lost Yokusemi no Mizuchi." "West," Himeko said. "It's continuing west." Chikane piloted Ame no Murakumo over the Atlantic Ocean. They soon cleared the smoke and the priestesses could see Yokusemi no Mizuchi clearly. "Every place the Orochi have attacked, the destruction is greater than the last place," Chikane noted. "First it was only Mahoroba. But then, it was the city of Beijing, then the Ganges and most of India, and now Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The other three Orochi must have caused even greater destruction by now." Himeko looked ahead and said, "Chikane, is Yokusemi no Mizuchi flying faster than before? We're losing ground." "No," Chikane said mournfully. "We're losing ground because I can't keep up Ame no Murakumo's speed. I don't have the strength to fight off all seven of the Orochi." "Yes you do, Chikane. You defeated all of them before, you can do it again." "I defeated them last year only because I was using Orochi's power. I've been feeling Orochi trying to dig its way back into my body. If I try to use Orochi's power again, it might be too much for me. I'll be consumed by Orochi like I was last year. And with me as the Eighth Neck of the Orochi and nobody left to pilot Ame no Murakumo, there'll be no stopping them." "If we can't catch up with the Orochi somehow, the world will be destroyed anyway, and it will make little difference what we do. Last year, just before the final battle between Ame no Murakumo and Orochi, I was talking with Souma about how we all receive power from others. I got my power from other people's support, and Souma found the power to protect me because of my own power." The Solar Mark started glowing as Himeko's determination rose. "I receive power from you and everyone else, Chikane. If you can accept my power as I accept yours, then use it to protect me and the rest of the world." "Himeko," said Chikane. "Look." Himeko turned back in the direction that Ame no Murakumo was headed and saw that Yokusemi no Mizuchi was closer than before. "We're catching up!" said Himeko with a smile on her face. "That's it, Chikane. Keep going." Chikane found her ability to concentrate grow as her confidence rose. ---------- Meanwhile, Takeshi Himemiya was inside the large chamber below the Himemiya estate, below the vermillion torii that stood there. He had been watching the action from a hand mirror that Miyako had given him. "My dear Chikane," he said. "You may have resisted Orochi's power so far, you may have defeated half of Orochi's eight bodies, but when Gattai Orochi is summoned, you will not be able to win." Takeshi put down the hand mirror and said to himself, "I think it's about time I make my move." He kneeled down in front of the torii and said, "Great Serpent God, Yamata no Orochi. Your vessel is here. Consume my body and endow me with your power and strength. Let us become one, my lord." The torii started glowing and a mass of dark energy emerged from it, coalescing into a whirling, dark aura in front of Takeshi. "You have done well," an evil voice said from the darkness, full of malicious intent. "Now you shall serve your purpose as my vessel." "Yes, my lord." To be continued... --------- OMAKE: Takeshi kneeled down in front of the torii and said, "Great Serpent God, Yamata no Orochi. Your vessel is here. Consume my body and endow me with your power and strength." The torii started glowing and a mass of dark energy emerged from it, coalescing into a whirling, dark aura in front of Takeshi. "Are you ready, my vessel?" Orochi asked. "Yes, my lord," Takeshi said, showing Orochi the baboon suit he had with him. "Excellent," said Orochi. The dark aura engulfed Takeshi. And thus was born the half-demon, Naraku.
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