The Great Spirit: Kanna Kamuy
Hello everyone and welcome to the latest edition of the Hokkaido Arc! We've been introduced to our final demon and you better believe she won't go down easy. And, of course, my usual shout outs to LoneTaker, groche9655 and Noble Eight for their contributions to this story as well as a shout out to all my fellow readers who have continued to support this story. Now then, with no guest review questions to answer, we can get right to the story!
Abashiri: Former Prison Turned Demon Castle
"I wonder if the demon came from this prison," Gyomei thought out loud as the group slowly approached and circled around the structure. By the looks of it, the prison itself was mostly one story, or at least it had been before Asir Reia's apparent take over. Now the area that served as what Subaru assumed was the main office was covered with a ton of black ice with multiple spires covering and jutting out at the corners of the prison. The Central and back portions of the prison contained the highest spire, which was surrounded by slanting ice that gave it something of a pyramid shape.
Subaru thought it a rather odd way to fashion a castle given the few Japanese castles he'd seen pictures of. Then again, it was always possible Asir Reia was a foreigner and was attempting to recreate a more European style castle. Whatever the case, they needed a way in and that's exactly why Gyomei was feeling along the icy walls with his hand, rapping his fist on certain areas to see if some parts or even entire portions of the black ice might be hollow. Based on what they'd seen of the ice demon's powers thus far, she didn't seem entirely adept at using them just yet.
This theory was eventually proven right as Gyomei stopped and rapped his fist against the black ice once more, discovering a mildly different harmonic tune from it in comparison to the others. "This is as good a spot as any," he said as he readied his weapons, "stay alert and remember not to let her touch your bare skin."
"I don't plan on letting her get that close," said Yae as she forcibly worked the bolt on her Nagant rifle, "but we'd best hurry this up. Our actions are starting to freeze over here." Subaru didn't add his own comment, but he was certain Gyomei already knew just based on the number of times he'd had to work the lever before reloading the cartridge he'd been forced to eject. Either way, they needed to get this taken care of as soon as possible.
So with that thought in mind Gyomei used Breath of Stone's First form to bash through the ice in their way before heading in first. Even despite knowing they'd probably alerted Asir already with their entrance, the group tried to proceed silently through the prison turned castle by stepping carefully around the ice shards that they'd strewn about the floor. Under ordinary circumstances, Subaru would've suggested they just wait at the entrance for Asir to come investigate the noise before ambushing her, but a few factors made that approach unlikely to work.
The first being that Asir was likely more cautious now after having faced off against them once and with how cold it was, they didn't really have time to spare playing the waiting game on who would move first. The second factor that made an ambush implausible, was Subaru and Yae having to work their actions every so often would give away their positions from the noise of the bolt and lever moving, especially to a demon with likely enhanced senses. And the third and final factor, was something they discovered after moving through the 'castle' known as Abashiri prison for a few minutes. They'd been noting a number of obscurities with the internal layout, namely that it didn't look like the inside of a castle at all. Rather, it more closely resembled a cave.
"This is, very strange," noted Isosange as she kept in the middle of the group with an arrow nocked in her bow, "this looks like the type of cave a bear would use for its den. But why would she make it this way while making the outside resemble a castle?"
"Potentially as a tactic to throw off someone planning an infiltration, like us," said Gyomei, "or it's possible she was less familiar with the actual layout of a castle and decided to settle for something like this instead."
"I'll agree it'd be a little creepy for anyone not familiar with caves," admitted Yae, "but she has to know that something like this won't deter everyone coming for her head." A sudden scraping sound was heard then, almost as if it was in answer to the Matagi girl's statement. Subaru took another look at their surroundings as they came upon some sort of station before realizing where they were: at a split leading into the other cell blocks. And as the scraping sound rang out again, the Rifleman realized what was happening.
"I think she does know," said Subaru as the group looked down both tunnels to see some of the frozen cell doors being forced open, "and that's why she kept a few friends around!" A number of snarls filled the icy cavern of the cell block then as half a dozen demons came bounding towards them from both directions with even more cell doors opening further down.
"Oh not this shi-or crap again," squeaked Isosange before loosing an arrow into the head of one of the more distant demons. Yae was quick to fire her rifle in the same direction as Isosange while Subaru fired down the other corridor, nailing demon after demon in the head or heart. Gyomei stood more or less in the middle fo the formation, swinging either his ax or flail over their heads and striking at any demon that managed to get within his range. It made for a tense few minutes as Gyomei had to swing his weapons more violently whenever Subaru or Yae needed to reload in order to ensure they weren't overwhelmed, which occurred at the same time for the both of them far more often than they would've expected.
As for Isosange, she was starting to run low on arrows and had to pick her shots very carefully, always trying to at least hit her targets in the head. She'd used quite a few of her arrows back at the military base and had only managed to recover over roughly half of them, and this fight threatened to reduce that number even more if the group wound up running. Thankfully, Yae had decided it was a good idea to grab a knife bayonet for her rifle and was now finally able to put it to good use by stabbing the wisteria covered blade into any demons that got too close on their side that managed to avoid getting hit by Gyomei. Subaru, likewise, had equipped his own bayonet and was skillfully wielding it in quick vertical or diagonal slashes with the occasional thrust thrown in for the same situation.
Still, the creatures continued to clamber over their fallen brethren as the pile of snow demon corpses continued to rise, faster than the poison or Gyomei could kill them. It soon got to the point where the group was all practically back to back, shooting, hacking, slashing and stabing at any demon that came too close while Gyomei was reduced to simply swinging his ax over their heads as the distance was too close for him to swing it out on the chain. It went on like this for a few minutes more until they finally saw a decrease in the demon's numbers. And it would continue until, at long lost, Subaru was pulling his bayonetted rifle out of the last of the demons.
"Well," said Subaru between breaths, "I guess we know what happened to the prisoners here."
"Not quite all of them were prisoners, I'm afraid," said Yae as she picked up a kimono that was far too pretty to be found in a prison, "It looks like a fair number of the townspeople wound up here too."
"Strange," said Gyomei with a hand to his chin, "only Muzan and the Upper Moons should have the power to turn people into demons. Has Asir Reia's blood reached that potency already?"
"I think it might have something to do with that over there," said Isosange as she pointed out a body in the distance before walking towards it with the group close behind. Upon approaching the corpse, Subaru found that his eyes weren't deceiving him or Isosange. She'd seen an odd blue stalk growing from the body, while Subaru had been able to see what it was even despite the distance, a blue flower.
"This one is bleeding like that sniper girl back at the lighthouse," observed Subaru, "and like that 'Anastasia' demon, blue blood."
"Yeah, but what's with the blue flowers?" Questioned Yae as she poked one with her bayonet, "I've never seen this species of plant before, and I've most definitely never seen any kind of plant growing out of a dead body unless it was already a skeleton."
"I was under the impression that it was near impossible for most species of flowers to grow in this type of climate," said Gyomei, not really able to take in many details of the plant as touching it might've been risky.
"There are about three species of Japanese flowers that are capable of blooming in Winter," explained Subaru, "but this far North and from dead bodies, no. Whatever kind of plant this is, it's not normal."
"A potential blood demon art then?" Gyomei suggested, "perhaps another demon closer to Asir Reia's level is still lurking somewhere within this castle."
"Well, the only way to find that out for sure is to keep looking," said Subaru as he worked his action again to ensure it wasn't freezing shut. He was glad he and the group had been wise enough to don gloves for this particular venture. Extra cold metal had a bad habit of sticking to bare skin so badly that it required a warm liquid to remove without tearing off any skin. Though that was one of their lesser concerns at the moment as the group continued to move through the cave-like insides of the black ice castle.
As before, they'd kept their guards up in case of any leftover demons that might've been lying in wait for them. Subaru wasn't sure how common it was to run into a demon horde, but he was personally starting to get tired of always being the one to encounter a large batch of them. Fortunately for him and the rest of the group, the mass number they'd cut down on the way in seemed to have been the bulk of the monsters residing in the castle, given that no other demons leapt out at them. Their search would eventually lead them to something rather conspicuous, even in a prison. A spiraling staircase made entirely of ice.
"This is probably the way to go," said Azakeru in Subaru's mind, "I can feel that demon's bloodlust just radiating off of the stairs themselves."
"I guess it makes sense that the head demon would construct their own private chambers," Subaru thought back as Gyomei took a step on the black, icy staircase.
"This appears to be solid and relatively stable," noted Gyomei after testing the first few steps with his feet, "I'll go up first. Everyone, stay about five steps behind the other to keep our weight distributed evenly, just in case."
"I'll go next then," said Isosange as she stepped up after the Stone Hashira, her feet hardly making any sound due to her own small amount of weight. Yae followed after that, keeping five steps behind Isosange as instructed. Subaru made sure to do one final sweep of the hallway before venturing up himself, keeping the required distance between himself and Yae. It took a minute for them to traverse the icy construct given the somewhat shoddy railing it had and the fact that it reached several feet into the air before going through a large hole in the ceiling.
As they climbed upwards and past the ceiling, they encountered something a little unexpected upon passing the roof portion of the prison. Upon reaching the top of the stairs, they noted that there was no sky to see, currently, because the entire roof was covered with black ice that gave it an appearance resembling a cavern. "So, you managed to find me after all," said the voice of Asir Reia as everyone moved and pointed their weapons in the direction of the voice, "I must applaud you for doing so in such a short amount of time. I was hoping for at least another couple of hours."
The group didn't respond right away as they noted Asir Reia was sitting upon a black, icy throne with her mask currently off, though her face was obscured by her hand as she was currently in the process of ingesting something. What was more interesting, her throne was formed around a large metal pole that Subaru and the rest of the group realized was a flagpole. Apparently, the icy demon had ripped it from the central yard of the prison and used it to mark a spot for both her throne and also as a marker for where she'd began her creation of the cavern. "Do not think you'll be able to run away so easily this time," said Gyomei as the group spread out with Yae on the far left and Subaru on the far right, leaving Gyomei and Isosange in the middle, "we're prepared for your tricks."
"I've done some preparing of my own," replied the icy woman as she finished swallowing her meal before slipping her black ice dragon mask back on. She then gripped her throne, letting out a snarl before kicking off of her throne and practically flying towards them, "NOW DIE!" The group of four scattered with Yae, Subaru and Isosange all breaking off to either side while Gyomei leapt into the air to avoid her icy claws.
"Breath of Stone Fifth Form: Arcs of Justice!" Proclaimed the Hashira as he swung both his ax and flail along their chain lengths in a barrage style attack. Asir managed to dodge the initial first attacks, with each miss tearing up the floor around her. What she didn't realize, at first, was that some of the attacks were missing on purpose and creating holes to limit her footing. A plan which succeeded the moment Asir dodged another ax strike by moving backwards where her foot was caught in one of the holes.
It slowed her for just a moment, which was all Gyomei needed to bring his flail flying towards her head. The Yuki-Onna Instinctively raised her arms, forming gauntlets of black ice to prevent the impact from tearing her limbs off. They succeeded but were mostly destroyed as the force of the attack sent her flying backwards several feet before she managed to plant her feet and come to a screeching stop by digging her clawed toes into the ice. It was a short reprieve, though, as a pair of bullets impacted against the sides of her head, nearly digging into her skin with the impact.
A few more rounds followed those, aimed at both her forehead and heart as the snow demon stumbled back a couple more feet. But that was all the effect they had. "Is that really it," questioned the woman as she bared her claws and charged towards Subaru. 'Shit,' thought the Matagi as he managed to roll out of the way of the ice woman's charge, 'either she froze a thin layer of ice over her skin or its somehow tougher than before!'
It was a theory he'd be able to test in a minute, after he was done dodging around his foe's initial, ferocious swipes. Thankfully, another one of Yae's bullets and one of Isosange's arrows impacted against the side of the demon's head, prompting her to pause in one of her attacks. It was all the opportunity Subaru needed to strike back with his bayonet, managing to land a hit where her right arm and shoulder met and weren't covered by the armored plate. His opponent growled in pain as the bayonet cut into her skin and forced her to back away to avoid a follow up strike.
This also proved to be a perfect opening for Gyomei as he sent his ax hurtling right for the Yuki-Onna's head. The demon reacted quickly to the threat, swatting the ax downwards and impaling it in the icy floor. But the Stone Hashira had another trick as he leapt up and over the demon, manipulating the chain to wrap around the demon's upper body and restricting her movements. Asir reacted quickly and began freezing the chain with her black ice, intending to break it once it became brittle from the cold.
Gyomei, however, wouldn't allow that and yanked with all of his strength, succeeding in pulling the demon woman off of her feet where she unraveled from the chain in midair before her momentum sent her crashing into a nearby ice wall. The impact was enough to kick up a mass of ice dust, prompting the group to form up with their weapons trained on the location of their target. The sound of more chewing could be heard as the dust slowly settled before the figure of Asir Reia became visible again. She wasn't in place long before leaping out again, even faster than before and this time aiming for Yae as curved, black ice spikes were now present on her arms and legs.
The Matagi girl was just able to raise her rifle in time to block a blow from the woman's icy claws, the force sending her rolling backwards several feet as her rifle went clattering onto the floor a short distance away. Asir attempted to exploit the opening she'd created, only for Subaru to intervene.
"Breath of the Rifleman First Form: Soaring Thrusts!" Exclaimed the Rifleman as he assaulted the demon with numerous jabs of his bayonetted rifle, pushing the demon back with the ferocity of his attacks as she attempted to ward away his blows with her claws and spikes. But the Matagi had learned from their last encounter and made sure to pull his rifle away quickly after each attack, lest his opponent get a hold of it and try to freeze his weapon.
"Begone filthy vermin!" Exclaimed a now very irritated Asir as she stomped her foot on the floor, causing ice crystals to start rising up and moving in Subaru's direction. This forced the Slayer to end his assault and leap away, firing off a few more rounds from his rifle to discourage his opponent from chasing him. The Yuki Onna was quick to raise her arms this time as her now even denser skin managed to take the impact of the bullets, inflicting more pain than injury on the demon as she attempted to charge yet again. But as before, Gyomei intervened from behind his Matagi companion by swinging both his flail and ax in from opposite sides of Subaru, catching his opponent in a pincer attack.
"Breath of Stone Fourth Form: Volcanic Rock-Rapid Conquest!" Exclaimed the Hashira as both ends of his weapons closed in on the demon from either side. Asir almost laughed as she leapt up, hearing the clashing of metal which signaled her narrowly avoiding the attack. Her triumph was short-lived, though, once she realized that attack had also been meant as a distraction.
"Breath of the Rifleman Fourth Form," Said Subaru as he readied himself in a partial running stance, "Mountain Stride!" The ice cracked under his feet as he rocketed through the air and jammed his bayonet into his opponent's armored chest, his blade puncturing the armor and piercing the skin underneath as his momentum propelled them across the room and into the icy throne she'd previously sat upon.
"Did they get here?" Asked Isosange while delivering Yae's rifle to her.
"I…don't think so," replied Yae, still slightly out of breath from her earlier tumble. Her suspicions were quickly proven to be correct as the stunned demon suddenly started thrashing, forcing Subaru to plant his foot against her chest and push away from her to free his rifle. And it was none too soon as black ice erupted from the hole he'd managed to puncture in her armor. 'I nearly got my rifle stuck in there, and that ice stopped the blade from going to deeply,' Subaru remarked to himself, 'if she manages to immobilize any of us, we're finished.'
An idea she likely planned to implement as she made a grab for Subaru, only to be distracted by one of Isosange's arrows flying into her already loosened mask, knocking it off her face. The Ainu girl went to nock another arrow and was about to pull her bow back before stopping suddenly at the sight before her. The woman hadn't been wearing that mask just for protection, but also because of what she'd been hiding underneath it: a noseless face with no ears. And the curve and shape of her face was most definitely something Isosange recognized. "You're, an Ainu woman," said the girl in disbelief.
"Ainu," said Asir as she withdrew a familiar blue flower from the sleeve of her robes, "I am so much more than just an Ainu now." She proceeded to devour the plant then, slurping it down in one gulp before groaning in discomfort as her body started to change again. Her natural claws got longer on both her hands and feet and her fangs were more defined as actual dragon-like horns began to sprout from her head. "And soon I will become, the solution to the world's torment," she said before falling to all fours and charging right towards Yae and Isosange.
The two girls plus Subaru all fired their projectiles at the demon woman as she advanced, but she responded by cooling the air around her body so much that it actually affected their trajectory and caused them to hit just the slightest bit off target. It also failed to slow the snow demon as she reached for Isosange, only to be stopped by Gyomei dropping in from above. "Breath of Stone Third Form: Stone Skin!" Exclaimed the Hashira as he swung his ax in numerous parrying motions, warding off the demon woman's ferocious claw strikes.
As before, Gyomei attempted to limit his weapon's contact with Asir lest she attempt to freeze it to his hand again. But he quickly noticed something different about this exchange as even a glancing blow against the demon's claws left freezing slash marks on his weapon. What was more, the ambient temperature around the woman's body was the coldest thing the Hashira had ever experienced in his life, to the point where the muscles in his fingers were actually locking up and making it more difficult for him to wield his weapon with its usual dexterity.
It became most apparent when he tried and failed to adjust his grip on his ax at one point, creating an opening for Asir as she finally knocked his ax out of the way and attempted to tear out his heart with a claw strike. Gyomei was lucky the muscles in his legs hadn't entirely locked up as he just managed to avoid the blow itself, taking some freezing cuts to his upper left arm instead. 'She's gotten stronger each time she's ingested that plant,' surmised Gyomei, 'and it's getting more and more dangerous to hit her up close. We need to employ another tactic.'
The sound of thunder outside drew the man's attention as he suddenly remembered something: a storm had been forming ever since they'd entered the castle. If he was counting right, then there was a chance to inflict a crippling blow to their opponent. "Subaru!" Exclaimed the Stone Hashira as he dodged to the side once again and backed away from his opponent, "your fifth form!"
"Got it," responded the Matagi as he moved in, firing more rounds from his rifle.
"Such a useless attack won't work on me!" Growled Asir as she broke off some of her ice spikes and threw them with impressive force towards the Rifleman. Subaru evaded the attack, getting a cut on his right leg in the process, by leaping up and over his opponent before unleashing his breath style.
"Breath of the Rifleman Fifth Form: Obsidian Snow!" The Matagi called out as he dropped a number of miniature explosive orbs towards his opponent. This clearly confused Asir for a moment before Gyomei swung his flail toward the ice woman.
"Be gone!" He exclaimed as his flail scraped against some of the airborne explosives, igniting them and lending quite a bit of extra punch to his relatively basic attack. Asir Reia howled in pain as both the flail and explosion tore into her, destroying her armor and several of her ice spikes while also sending her flying back into her throne once again.
"You had more of those tiny explosives," said Yae as she and Isosange moved over to where Gyomei and Subaru were.
"I keep almost as large of a stash as the Sound Pillar," replied Subaru, "figured I'd carry as many as I could."
"Y-You'll need," coughed Asir as she slowly stood up on her throne, "all of them….and more to end me." She then reached into her ruined robes and pulled out a practical bouqet of the blue flowers which she ingested whole, ravenously chewing every last bite before swallowing. She began to twist and contort then as her body underwent even more changes. "Yes, this is it, the final dose I needed to overcome all!"
"It makes me glad those bombs weren't the only plan we had," remarked Gyomei as a sudden lightning bolt struck the part of the flagpole that had been protruding outside of the icy structure. It was quickly conducted through the metal and ice, all the way down to Asir's throne where she was currently standing. The Snow Woman screeched in anguish as thousands to even millions of volts coursed through her veins, painfully constricting her muscles and making her insides feel like they were scorching. "I'd been counting the seconds ever since the thunder became audible," explained Gyomei, "when I determined it was heading right for us, I realized we had a prime opportunity to let mother nature help us win this battle-what?!"
"You, filthy pieces of shit!" exclaimed Asir as she seemingly forced her body back up to a proper standing position with lightning still crackling around her form, "you dared to think the spirits of nature would turn against me!" She raised her hand then as swirling snow was projected outwards from it.
"EVERYONE MOVE!" Exclaimed Yae as she grabbed Isosange and rushed out of the way. Subaru and Gyomei did likewise mere seconds before a bolt of lightning fried part of the floor where they'd just been, causing the ice to explode from the sudden onset of extreme heat.
"Is that thundersnow?!" Exclaimed Subaru, partially recognizing the rare weather phenomenon he'd caught a glimpse of during his childhood, "you gotta be fucking kidding me right now!"
"I wield all the power of nature granted to me by the spirits!" Exclaimed Asir Reia as she sent out even more bolts of lightning, each one aimed more erratically than the last. "It was this blue flower that granted me my power, the power to exact vengeance upon the inhabitants of this world for my suffering and the suffering they have brought upon nature!" She lifted both arms up then, firing off several bolts of lightning that impacted in multiple places on her throne room's floor and ceiling, causing icy debris to rain down.
"You can piss off with that notion right there," Yae yelled back holding her ground while wrapping her arms around Isosange protectively, "no Ainu in their right mind would ever call this helping nature! You've done nothing but create an uninhabitable frostland that no one can hunt in! That's not the actions of an Ainu, those are the actions of a Wen Kamuy!"
"I will become whatever I must in order to bring this world back into balance!" Declared Asir Reia as her body began to shift and change once again. This time was the most drastic yet as her size actually began increasing several times with her head and legs stretching out and icicle-like scales forming over her skin. Even worse, she began resembling a reptile more than a human as a long tail sprouted from her lower back, quickly followed by one, then another wing. She slammed her arms on the ground, now walking on all fours, and let out a roar, saying, "and to that end, I shall become even the dragon, KANNA KAMUY!"
"Take cover everyone!" ordered Gyomei as the now turned dragonic demon began stomping around the much more cramped space with the occasional bolt of lightning flying from her body. She let out another roar then, snow and ice flying from her mouth as razor sharp ice crystals formed in midair, threatening to impale the slayers and hunters as they hurried back down through the passage from whence they came.
"Well," said Subaru as he pulled a small ice shard out of his left arm that had lodged itself there during their escape, "things just got a lot more complicated."
"I-It's really her," said Isosange as she shivered in Yae's arms, a look of absolute terror on her face, "Kanna Kamuy. And she uses….lightning..…..that monster is the master of thunder…..and lightning?"
"Is she hurt?" Questioned Gyomei, noting the girl's practically petrified state.
"Not exactly," said Yae, "Isosange's been terrified of lightning for years now. I've tried to convince her it's nothing to worry about so long as you're careful, but it hasn't helped."
"Heh, who's afraid of a little thunder," quipped Subaru as he put his back against the staircase railing, "at least that's what I'd like to say. But at this moment, I'm pretty terrified of lightning myself."
"We all are," said Gyomei as he listened to what was happening in the chamber. For whatever reason, their dragon demon opponent was thrashing about, slamming her body into the icy walls of her throne room, shooting off more random bolts of lightning and dropping even more spiked ice shards from the air. "She appears to not be fully in control of her body's new form, at least not yet. If we wait for a moment, it's possible she'll tire herself out to a degree with extended use of her blood demon art."
"How long do you think that'll take?" Questioned Yae as she poked her head up for a moment before quickly ducking back down to avoid more falling debris, "because by the looks of it, that room won't last much longer. The back wall is almost ready to come down."
"The.….back wall," said Isosange, her trembling subsiding for a moment, "if that falls then, no, Subaru, Gyomei! We can't let her breach that wall! If she escapes, she'll threaten the entire world!"
"We didn't plan on letting her go anywhere, don't worry," said Gyomei as he and Subaru pulled themselves back onto the roof as the majority of the debris from the ceiling began to subside, "now let's get back into the fight!"
"Not like we have a lot of options," commented Yae as she stepped up too. Isosange was last and leapt up onto Gyomei's back.
"Isosange," said the Stone Hashira, feeling the trembling that was still present in her body, "don't force yourself. If you're unable to fight right now, just leave it to us."
"I…have to fight," Isosange proclaimed as she readied her bow and nocked an arrow, "this is the land of the Matagi and the Ainu. I won't let it be destroyed by a Wen Kamuy!"
"I guess that settles it then," said Subaru as he took a running start, "let's take this beast down!" A small chorus of affirmatives met his statement as the group split up and charged forward, zigzagging around the rubble and the occasional bolt of lightning as they closed the distance with the now named Kanna Kamuy.
"Still here, wretched vermin," noted Asir Reia as she turned her now dragon head towards them, "I suppose it'd be good to test this body's new limitations, so die and become fodder for my future cleansing of the world!" She opened her wings wide then, a fresh blast of frigid air assaulting the group as the two rifle bearers fired away. The bullets succeeded in making a few chinks in the dragon's scales, but this merely seemed to annoy the beast as she breathed in and let out an intense blast of freezing air.
"Hang on!" Exclaimed Gyomei as he managed to grab Yae and leap off one of the larger piles of rubble while Subaru performed his own high leap. The harsh, frigid blast swept across the floor beneath them, creating a fresh coating of frost on everything before the groupl landed and resumed their charge as soon as Gyomei dropped Yae back onto the ground. Asir didn't waste a movement as she swept her head around in the air, creating even more falling black ice shards that rained down on her prey. "Breath of the Rifleman Third Form: Bayonet Dance!" Exclaimed the Matagi as he moved in front of Yae, twirling his rifle to ward off the falling ice shards.
"Breath of Stone Third Form: Stone Skin!" yelled Gyomei as he, likewise, used his breath technique to ward off the falling ice while still advancing forward. They succeeded greatly in closing the gap, much to the Kanna Kamuy's irritation as she sucked in another large breath.
"I've no more time to play with you little shits, BEGONE!" She unleashed another batch of ice crystals from the air with a sweeping ice breath attack before aiming her head down and releasing an even more intense blast of ice on the floor. The gathered moisture was enough that a jagged ice wall actually began rising up between the dragon and her adversaries. Due to both that and the now very intense rain of ice, most of the group was forced to slow their advance.
"Subaru, we don't have a lot of time before that wall get's too large to jump over," said Azakeru in his mind suddenly, "I can use my blood demon art to get you through this barrage, but you'll have to hurry if you want to get there in time."
"Not like I got much of a choice," Subaru thought back to her, "if I can distract her from using any more attacks, the rest of the group should be able to close in. I guess we don't have time for many other ideas so do it, get us over there!"
"You got it," replied Azakeru as Subaru felt her activating her blood art. As before, a windswept path appeared before him, indictating the best root to take as he ripped off his eye patch to see better. The Matagi then quickened his pace, still deflecting several of the smaller ice shards while dodging around the larger ones. If they weren't in battle, one might have thought he was performing a type of obscure dance with the way he bobbed, weaved, and deflected the lethal ice creations.
Though not everything went exactly according to plan, as he had to slow down again to jump up on the quickly forming ice wall. The hesitation was just enough for a rather large ice shard to slam down onto his rifle, tearing it from his grasp in mid-twirl before burying it into the forming ice. "Subaru!" Exclaimed Yae as she pulled out her Makiri knife and flung it into the air where Subaru was about to jump. The Slayer quickly realized what she had in mind as he pulled out his own Makiri knife and leapt as high into the air as he could, his jump assisted by Total Concentration Breathing as he caught his fellow Matagi's knife in his left hand. Now with a Makiri knife in each hand, the Hunter bared down on the dragon known as Kanna Kamuy.
And thus the battle intensifies as our heroes face down a practical ice spirit in combat. Can they slay such a beast? Let me know what you think in your comments and reviews as well as what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. Be sure to stop in next time for the finale to this frigid arc! 'Til then.
