By the time they had reached the North American mainland, Chikane and Himeko had closed the gap between Ame no Murakumo and Yokusemi no Mizuchi by nearly a third. However, when they encountered the mainland, they also encountered the destruction that awaited them. New York city had suffered the same fate that Beijing had. Skyscrapers had been razed to the ground and everything that could burn was burning. Even the Statue of Liberty had been demolished. As they traveled across the continental United States, Chikane and Himeko did not see anything different than what they saw in New York. Everything under Ame no Murakumo's feet looked like a war zone. The sight reminded them of photographs that they had seen pertaining to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "It's Hi no Ashinazuchi, isn't it, Chikane?" Himeko said. "Yes," Chikane replied. "Only Girochi's Megaton Knuckle causes blast patterns like this." Approaching the West Coast, Chikane and Himeko were surprised to see many of the San Francisco Bay Area's landmarks still intact, including Mount Diablo, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, and the Golden Gate Bridge. "Where's Girochi?" Chikane wondered. "Megaton Knuckle Two!" Girochi's voice boomed. "Chikane! Behind you!" cried Himeko. Ame no Murakumo spun around to confront Hi no Ashinazuchi. However, the god of swords was hit by a blow to the side, dealt by Yokusemi no Mizuchi. Chikane and Himeko had just enough time to see Hi no Ashinazuchi's fist fly by them, blasting through Mount Diablo before Ame no Murakumo hit the ground. The Megaton Knuckle touched down on Yerba Buena Island, producing a blinding light and a subsequent mushroom cloud. The priestesses could only watch as the shockwave from the explosion ripped up the Bay Bridge, knocked over the Golden Gate Bridge, and disintegrated most of the land known as the San Francisco Bay Area. By the time Chikane and Himeko got to their feet, Girochi hand landed in front of them, his other self having come out of its oversized right arm, the color of its body now purple instead of orange. "It's been a while, Priestesses," Girochi said. "You've destroyed the entire continental United States," said Chikane. "They had it coming," Girochi retorted. "You of all people should know the destruction that they've caused. After all, it was your soil that they dropped those nuclear bombs on. I'm just returning the favor for you." "You know that's not your true intention," growled Chikane. Ame no Murakumo rushed at Hi no Ashinazuchi, driving its sword toward Orochi's third body. "Please," Girochi said as he calmly watching the giant mech rush at him. Hi no Ashinazuchi punched the ground with its right fist, propelling itself into the air, straight over Ame no Murakumo. Landing behind the Priestesses, Girochi cried, "Eat this!" Hi no Ashinazuchi shot chains out from its left arm toward Ame no Murakumo. Chikane clutched the Lunar Priestess Blade, ready to counter Girochi's attack. Chikane swung the sword in her hand and Ame no Murakumo swung the blade on its right wrist in exactly the same way its pilot did. The blade spun around the wrist as quickly as its arm swung, Hi no Ashinazuchi's chains cut to shreds in the flurry. "Megaton Knuckle Three!" The Orochi mech curled up inside its right arm again and flew at Ame no Murakumo. The god of swords caught Hi no Ashinazuchi, keeping it from moving. The ground beneath Ame no Murakumo's feet began to crack as the god struggled against the force of Hi no Ashinazuchi's rockets. As Chikane was preoccupied with Girochi, Yokusemi no Mizuchi flew up behind Ame no Murakumo and transformed into its drill shape. "Chikane," said Himeko. "Yokusemi no Mizuchi is right behind us." "Just tell me when," responded Chikane. The drill-shaped mech flew toward Ame no Murakumo. "Tell me when," Chikane said again. "Not yet," said Himeko. Yokusemi drew closer. "Not yet..." The eighth body was inches from Ame no Murakumo's back. Finally, Himeko called, "Now!" Chikane cried out as Ame no Murakumo used all of its strength to lift Hi no Ashinazuchi over its head. "Oh shit!" Girochi cried as he saw Yokusemi no Mizuchi flying right towards him. In a flash, Yokusemi no Mizuchi transformed back into its bird shape and used its wings to brake itself, giving Girochi just enough time to pull up before plowing straight through four of his fellow Orochi. The jet of hot air blowing from Hi no Ashinazuchi's rockets knocked Yokusemi no Mizuchi off-balance, causing it to fall to the ground. A beam of yellow light fired from the spike of Ame no Murakumo's head, hitting Hi no Ashinazuchi, causing it to explode is a giant fireball similar to the one that was produced when it had hit ground zero. Ame no Murakumo turned around toward Yokusemi no Mizuchi and jumped into the air, the blade in its right foot extending. The bird-shaped mech had nowhere to go but up, so it was inevitable that Ame no Murakumo would slice clean through it. However, Yokusemi no Mizuchi used a tactic that none of the other Orochi bodies could use. It transformed back into its drill shaped and dug straight down into the earth to avoid Ame no Murakumo's blade. Himeko and Chikane watched as Yokusemi no Mizuchi, now in its bird form again, flew out from the water of the former San Francisco Bay, and continue flying west. Ame no Murakumo started giving chase again, but Yokusemi no Mizuchi suddenly made a sharp U-turn and started heading southeast. Himeko and Chikane were momentarily disoriented as the high-speed mech blew past them. "What's going on?" cried Himeko. Chikane had to bring Ame no Murakumo to a quick stop before it overshot Yokusemi no Mizuchi by too far. She spun the giant god around and fired its rockets as strongly as they would take. The gravitational forces knocked Himeko and Chikane off-balance, but Ame no Murakumo was now heading straight after Yokusemi no Mizuchi once again. "Are you all right, Himeko?" Chikane asked, seeing that Himeko had fallen over. "You're not hurt, are you?" "No," Himeko replied, standing up again. "I'm fine." "We've been counting down the Necks of Orochi," Chikane noted. "First there was Souma, the Seventh Neck, then there were Nekoko, the Sixth Neck, then Rehko, the Fifth Neck, and then Korona, the Fourth Neck. And now just fought Girochi, the Third Neck." "Does that mean the next Orochi we encounter will be Miyako?" Himeko asked. "I'd bet my life on it," said Chikane. As they continued southeast, Chikane and Himeko could see large, dark clouds looming over South America. Despite the distance from the storm, they could clearly see flashes of lightning streaking down from the clouds to the ground. "I think this is the Amazon," Chikane said. "This could mean big trouble. October is the rainy season in the Southern Hemisphere, so the river is most likely flooded. And since Yatsu no Onokoshizuchi's attacks are lightening-based..." "Then Miyako could electrify the entire river!" Himeko finished. "Here we go," Chikane said as they passed under the clouds. Lightning flashed around Ame no Murakumo as it made its way through the rainforest. The large spike of Ame no Murakumo's head reached high above the trees, acting as a lightening rod to draw the lightening away from the forest, and the god's metal body allowed the electricity to pass safely to the ground so that the priestesses would not be harmed. Himeko and Chikane found Yatsu no Onokoshizuchi in the rainforest at the base of the Andes, its tentacles reaching above the treetops, sending lightening bolts into the sky. "Sister Miyako!" Chikane called. "You made it, Priestesses," Miyako's voice came from the purple mech. "Welcome to my sanctuary." "Is this revenge for the destruction of your church?" Chikane asked. "Destruction of her church?" asked Himeko. "When I was alone in the Orochi realm last year," explained Chikane, "I saw the experiences of all the Orochi that I had defeated. The event that Miyako experienced that allowed Orochi to consume her was the destruction of her church in the Alto Cenepa War between Ecuador and Peru." "There was so much senseless killing," said Miyako. "I asked God how he could let such conflicts continue, but he would not answer. How can I let this kind of a world continue to exist, a world where people kill other people senselessly?" "Isn't that exactly what you're doing, Sister?" said Chikane. "Killing people senselessly?" "I'm ridding the world of the people that killed my family!" Miyako cried, Yatsu no Onokoshizuchi aiming its tentacles toward Ame no Murakumo. "How can I stand by and let these murderers continue to exist?" Powerful bolts of lightening fired from Yatsu no Onokoshizuchi's tentacles at Ame no Murakumo. Chikane raised Ame no Murakumo's right arm, the blade on its wrist absorbing Miyako's electric attack. Even though Ame no Murakumo's metal body acted as a ground for the electricity, Chikane and Himeko could still feel the shock. Chikane shook it off and rushed at Miyako. Yatsu no Onokoshizuchi continued firing lightening and the God of Swords and Ame no Murakumo dodged its attacks. Chikane was about to impale the Orochi body when Ame no Murakumo was suddenly immobilized. Yastu no Onokoshizuchi's arms had extended and had grabbed Ame no Murakumo's arms, rendering its blade useless. Chikane would have hit Miyako with a blast of energy from Ame no Murakumo's wings, but Yatsu no Onokoshizuchi was holding the god of swords with its back to her, so firing would not do any good. Chikane attempted to use the blades on the sword god's feet to cut off Yatsu no Onokoshizuchi's arms, but the drills on the Orochi bodies tentacles deflected Ame no Murakumo's kicks. "Send God my regards," said Miyako as the remaining tentacles opened up, preparing to fire all of its electricity at the priestesses. With Ame no Murakumo suspended, there was no ground to absorb the electricity that was about to shoot through its body. Ame no Murakumo's green eyes shone and the rockets on its back fired. Ame no Murakumo twice the size of Yatsu no Onokoshizuchi, it easily ripped Yatsu no Onokoshizuchi's arms off, allowing it to set its feet on the ground again, making it able to absorb Miyako's electric attack with its blade and pass it to the earth below. As soon as the surge of electricity had passed, Ame no Murakumo jumped onto Yatsu no Onokoshizuchu's head, stabbing it with the blades on its feet. The Orochi body exploded, sending out a shockwave that Ame no Murakumo used to propel itself over the Andes and over the Pacific Ocean after Yokusemi no Mizuchi, which had already departed. "Now comes the hard part," Chikane said "Hard part?" said Himeko. "The only Orochi we have left to defeat is Tsubasa. And his other self, Take no Yasukunazuchi, can fly. That means that he can show up any time, anywhere. Focus, Himeko." "Right." The Solar Mark lit up as Himeko tried to home in on Orochi's First Neck. ---------- As they flew over the Pacific, Himeko and Chikane could see smoke rising from the horizon. "I think we've found Take no Yasukunazuchi," Himeko said. As they approached the smoke, they saw that it was rising from a small speck of land, only a few miles wide, sitting in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. "Where are we?" Himeko wondered. "This is all that remains of the Hawaiian Islands," an ominous male voice said. Himeko and Chikane looked to see Take no Yasukunazuchi fly down and land in front of them, its wings retracting. "This small bit of land that we are standing on used to be the big island of Hawaii." "Then that smoke must be Mauna Loa," said Chikane. "Actually, it's Kilauea," Tsubasa responded. "Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa now both exist about ten kilometers below the ocean." "Well you've been hard at work. Tearing down the tallest mountain in the world with only Take no Yasukunazuchi's swords." "They are the swords that defeated the Take no Yamikazuchi that Souma piloted the last time he and I fought. Let's see how you fair against them." Take no Yasukunazuchi unsheathed the sword imbedded in its left arm and Ame no Murakumo extended the blade on its wrist. Even against a god twice his other self's size, Tsubasa showed no fear as he rushed at Chikane. Take no Yasukunazuchi jumped up toward Ame no Murakumo's torso, the Orochi body's wings extending. With Take no Yasukunazuchi at practically the same height as Ame no Murakumo, the two mechs fought on equal footing. Even though Tsubasa's blade was half the size of Ame no Murakumo's, the influence of Orochi fueled his power, giving his blade the strength to stand up against Chikane's attacks. Himeko remembered Souma easily slicing Take no Yasukunazuchi's blade in half the year before when he was piloting Ame no Murakumo. Orochi's first body had no pilot that time, substantially diminishing its power and ability to stand up against the God of Swordsmen. As they fought, Take no Yasukunazuchi took to the sky and Ame no Murakumo used its power of levitation to follow. The two mechs ducked over and under one another, their swords clashing only periodically. Tsubasa was effective in buying time by evading most of Ame no Murakumo's attacks and blocking those that he could not evade. "Fantastic," said Tsubasa. "You truly are formidable, Lunar Priestess." Take no Yasukunazuchi flew at Ame no Murakumo and swung its sword. Ame no Murakumo caught Take no Yasukunazuchi's wrist and swung with its own blade, only to have its arm caught by Take no Yasukunazuchi as well. "This wouldn't be nearly as fun against someone of lesser ability," Tsubasa continued. "I agree," said Chikane. "We do seem to be equally matched. However, when fighting the God of Swords..." Ame no Murakumo raised its left arm, causing Take no Yasukunazuchi's right arm to rise as well. As soon as the two mechs' elbows touched, the sword still imbedded it Take no Yasukunazuchi's right arm started spinning, slicing off the arm that it was embedded in. The arm, still holding the sword that Tsubasa had been using up until that point, fell into the sea and the sword that had sliced off that arm was firmly connected to Ame no Murakumo's left wrist, taking the place of the blade that had been dissolved during Chikane's battle with Korona! "...a sword isn't the best weapon for you," Chikane finished her sentence. Before Tsubasa could react to what Chikane had done, Ame no Murakumo cut Take no Yasukunazuchi in half. "Wonderful, Chikane!" cried Himeko. "You repaired the damaged blade by taking his!" "Most impressive, Lunar Priestess," Tsubasa's voice said from Yokusemi no Mizuchi. "You managed to defeat all seven of us," came the voice of Korona. "But the battle has not even started yet," said Souma. Yokusemi no Mizuchi continued its journey northwest and Ame no Murakumo followed. "If I can shoot them down," Chikane said, "I can end this right here and now." "Do we really have to destroy them?" Himeko asked. "We don't have a choice," replied Chikane. "I'm sorry, Himeko. I know it's a terrible fate, having to fight our friends to save the world. But when we remake the world, maybe we can revive Souma as well." Beams of light shot from the spike on Ame no Murakumo's head at Yokusemi no Mizuchi. Although it was still able to dodge the shots fired at it, evading the blasts caused the bird-shaped mech to lose ground, allowing Ame no Murakumo to catch up with it. The closer that Ame no Murakumo got, the more accurate its shots were. Finally, after a long time, Ame no Murakumo was able to clip Yokusemi no Mizuchi's right wing with one of its shots. Without a fully functional right wing, the Orochi body's balance was thrown off, and it had to sacrifice more speed to stay on course. "You're mine now," Chikane said as Ame no Murakumo prepared to fire one last shot at the only remaining Orochi body. The Sword God fired and hit Yokusemi no Mizuchi's tail, causing it to spin wildly out of control. "Got them!" Chikane cried happily. ---------- Takeshi opened up his arms, exposing himself to the dark aura in front of him that was Orochi. The ball of energy flew at Takeshi, surrounding and penetrating his body. The man groaned as the power of Orochi overwhelmed his human body and senses. His body started growing in size, ripping his clothes, his spine became visible through his back and extended to form a tail, and spikes started growing on his head. In a matter of seconds, Takeshi's body had transformed into that of a monster. A bright beam of light surrounded the creature that had appeared and shot upward, through the ceiling and out through the roof of the mansion. ---------- "What's that?" Himeko asked at seeing a bright beam of light rising from the ground in front of them. "That's my house!" Chikane realized. Yokusemi no Mizuchi managed to regain its control just long enough to fly directly into the beam extending from the Himemiya estate. As the bird-shaped mech entered the beam, more beams of light shot towards Yokusemi no Mizuchi, orange and green beams from the west, a green-yellow beam from the northwest, yellow and purple beams from the northeast, a black beam from the east, and a blue beam rising from downtown Mahoroba. All of the beams coalesced into one spot, the spot where a monstrous creature with yellow eyes was curled up in a cocoon levitating inside the beam shooting from the mansion. As the eight beams of light merged, Chikane and Himeko could see the eight bodies of Orochi reappear and gather around the creature. A light exploded from that point where the mechs joined so bright that it must have been visible from all parts of Japan. As the light died down and the dust settled, the priestesses could see in front of them the fusion of all of the Orochi bodies; a mechanical beast twice the height of Ame no Murakumo with an evil, purple coloration and glowing, yellow eyes, just as evil as the eyes that Chikane had seen in her father controlled by Orochi's will; the most powerful Orochi mech, Gattai Orochi. To be continued... ---------- OMAKE: The Orochi members did all that they could to keep Yokusemi no Mizuchi on course toward the beam of light rising from the Himemiya estate. The Orochi bodies reappeared within the beam, all of the cockpits merging as Gattai Orochi formed. The seven Necks looked down upon Ame no Murakumo, only half the height of the mech that they were now controlling. "Hey, what's that?" said Souma, noticing an object sitting in Tsubasa's corner of the cockpit. "NYAAAA!!!!!" cried Nekoko upon seeing that it was the magazine that she had seen before. Souma opened the magazine and peeked inside. At first, his eyes bulged, but then they narrowed he looked at Tsubasa and said, "Pictures of me? I never knew you felt that way, Brother." Suddenly, Gattai Orochi started dissolving and the eight Orochi members fell to the ground. "What happened?" Girochi wondered. "Orochi is fueled by hatred," said Miyako. "When Tsubasa and Souma were in total agreement, their other selves broke their combination." "But why?" said Korona. "They aren't Hydra and Akina. Gattai Orochi isn't Akidra! This is a Kannazuki no Miko fanfic, not UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie! Stop confusing Kaishaku's works!"
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