Zohakuten incessantly struck the drums behind him, his voice cold and merciless as he declared:
"Blood Demon Art— Countless Striking Trees."
The five wooden dragons split into many more, multiplying like a swarm. In the next instant, every wooden dragon rushed at Erika in a massive, wide-range assault.
Erika responded immediately, her ribbons stabbed into the earth as she activated her Noble Art, Terra Gravitas, launching multiple stone spears from the ground.
Zohakuten scoffed. "It's useless. I won't fall for the same trick twice."
Some dragons were skewered by the stone pillars, but most twisted around them, weaving through the gaps as they closed in.
Erika raised earth wall after earth wall, but they broke through each one relentlessly. Dust scattered around her with every impact.
"Selena, what should I do? I can't keep this up for too long", Erika asked telepathically, her voice tight with urgency.
"You know…Erika-Chan". Selena sighed in her mind, sounding both annoyed and amused. "If you had trained properly since you were a kid, your mana capacity wouldn't be this low".
"Selena, now is NOT the time. Just tell me what to do!" Erika insisted.
Selena said, "Just use all your powers and think of a way, you know, like my brother".
Erika thought for a moment. "What would Akira do in this situation…?"
"Well," Selena replied, "knowing him, he'd go full offense and beat the enemy with some cool finishing move. But he's reckless, so don't follow what he…"
Before she could finish, Erika nodded with sudden confidence.
"Then I'll just have to do what he would."
She wasn't that experienced in real battles, but there was one thing she understood better than anyone: all the crazy things Akira would do, and every ridiculous plan inspired by the anime they watched together. If she acted like him, she might actually win.
Selena sounded startled. "Wait, before you do anything, remember my brother is INSANE."
But she didn't get the chance to finish.
The wooden dragons shattered the final earth wall and rushed toward Erika.
Erika quickly raised her hand, and a dome of earth instantly formed around her, enclosing her right before the dragons struck.
Seeing the dome, Zohakuten scoffed. "You think you can hide like that, girl?"
He raised his bone dagger and struck the drums behind him in rapid succession.
"Blood Demon Art: Countless Striking Trees — Echoing Thunder!"
Wood warped around Erika's earthen dome, tightening like roots trying to crush it. At the same time, every wooden dragon surrounding him charged their attacks: Sekido's electricity crackled, Karaku's wind blasts spiraled, Aizetsu's projectiles sharpened, and Urogi's sonic waves screamed.
All of them fired at once.
A deafening explosion swallowed the dome. Dust blasted outward, shaking the forest as the combined attack obliterated everything in front of him.
When the dust finally cleared, Zohakuten clicked his tongue.
"I hope you didn't die. I still have to… huh?"
He froze.
The dome was destroyed… but there was a large hole carved into the ground.
"Where is she…?" he muttered, eyes narrowing.
He sensed movement behind him and turned only to receive a full-force punch to the face.
And before Zohakuten could recover, red ribbons shot out and wrapped tightly around his body.
"Blood Breathing, First Form—Crimson Throne Prison!"
Zohakuten's eyes widened as he saw Erika behind him.
Yes, she had literally pulled the same move Naruto used on Neji.
Watching anime with Akira paid off in the strangest ways.
Zohakuten tried to counter, charging compressed sound waves, but the ribbons wrapped around him first, turning him into a cocoon. His attack couldn't break through it.
inside his throat, but the ribbons cocooned him completely before he could fire. The attack couldn't break through the layered bindings.
Erika raised her hand.
"Blood Demon Art—Exploding Blood!"
The entire cocoon ignited in pink flames, burning Zohakuten inside as he thrashed violently, trying to break free.
"Erika-chan!" Selena panicked telepathically. "I told you NOT to do this! His electricity could…"
"I just have to destroy him before he can use it, right?" Erika shot back, tightening her grip.
"…Yes, but he'll just regenerate! You can't destroy him without destroying his true body!" Selena reminded.
"What if I annihilate him completely?" Erika asked.
There was a pause.
"…That might work", Selena admitted, "but you don't have an attack strong enough to do that".
"I might not have a powerful attack", Erika replied, eyes sharpening, "but I have an idea".
"What idea, Erika-chan!?" Selena asked.
"You'll see", Erika replied.
She tightened her grip on the flaming cocoon, then reduced Zohakuten's weight with her gravity manipulation. Her wings unfurled, and in one powerful motion, she shot upward into the sky, dragging the burning cocoon with her.
"Erika-chan, whatever you're planning, don't let him break your ribbons!" Selena warned frantically.
"What happens if they break?" Erika asked, already expecting the worst.
"You'll pass out", Selena answered immediately. "And in this situation, that would be really dangerous!"
"Don't worry. I won't let that happen".
Erika said as she ascended higher and higher, flames trailing behind her as the cocoon struggled violently. The sky thinned, the wind roared, and then she suddenly felt something change inside the cocoon, an ominous surge.
She glanced down.
Zohakuten was gathering energy.
"Erika-chan!" Selena's voice spiked. "He's going to use his electric attacks, brace yourself!"
A split second later.
Zohakuten unleashed it.
BOOM!
A massive surge of lightning, far more powerful than Sekido's, blasted outward. It tore through the blood-soaked ribbons and struck Erika directly.
Her body convulsed from the hit, but she gritted her teeth, refusing to let go.
Her wings wavered, but she kept them steady.
As a half-vampire, her healing factor was far superior to Akira's, so even as the lightning burned through her, her body knitted itself back together instantly. She pushed upward again, accelerating despite the pain, dragging the thrashing cocoon higher and higher into the sky.
No matter how much he attacked… she would not slow down.
At the peak of their ascent, Erika exhaled shakily and released the flaming cocoon.
Zohakuten burst free, immediately charging a compressed sound wave to fire at her.
But before he could release it.
"Meteor Fall."
Erika's voice trembled, but her will didn't.
Gravity multiplied around Zohakuten, his weight skyrocketing. His body plummeted toward the forest like a blazing meteor, flames trailing around him as he fell, burning hotter with every second of re-entry, and before he hit the ground, he fully burnt away.
Erika watched him drop, her vision swimming.
"That… should do it…" she whispered weakly.
And then the strength left her completely.
Her wings faltered, her limbs went numb, and her consciousness wavered.
She felt herself beginning to fall.
"Erika-chan, wait…!!" Selena's voice echoed desperately in her mind, but Erika couldn't respond anymore. She had used everything, her noble art, her earth techniques, healing, flight, even the meteor fall itself.
Her body simply refused to move.
Still… she wasn't afraid.
She knew that a certain someone would catch her.
And just as she expected, right as her consciousness began slipping.
Something crashed into her midair.
"What in the hell is wrong with you!?"
Akira wrapped his arms around her tightly, hugging her against his chest as they tumbled downward together. He wasn't flying; he couldn't fly here, but he was still there, holding her like he was refusing to let go.
Of course, crashing into her didn't magically stop their fall.
"Akira…?" Erika whispered faintly.
They continued plummeting until Akira grabbed a handful of seeds from his inventory with his damaged hand.
He squeezed.
Blood from his mangled palm soaked into them.
Then he tossed them downward.
And instantly, the seeds exploded into growth, sprouting thick, fluffy cotton plants at impossible speed. Not normal cotton, it's the same enhanced cotton he created for Panchan, ridiculously durable and shock-absorbent.
The plants wrapped around them like a cushion, layer after layer forming in midair.
FWUMP!!
They hit the cotton cocoon and crash-landed into the forest, completely unharmed.
Akira kept holding her even after they stopped moving, then pulled back, checking her. "Are you alright?"
Erika blinked slowly. "Just… tired." She glanced down at his hand. "What happened to your hand…?"
Her eyes widened at the mangled state of his hand.
"Don't worry about it," Akira said. "Just drink my blood."
He pulled her closer, guiding her head gently toward his neck.
Erika was too exhausted to protest. Her fangs sank into his skin, and she drank his blood.
Akira's supercharged blood surged into her system. Her strength and stamina shot back at an incredible speed, her body recovering faster than she could even register. Within moments, her vision cleared, her breathing steadied, and she had enough energy to pull away slightly.
She separated from him, fully restored.
Akira let out a long breath once he confirmed she was truly unharmed.
"…Why did you do that? That was way too dangerous."
Erika looked away for a moment. "I didn't have a choice. I couldn't think of any other way to beat him."
"You did have a choice," Akira shot back. "You could've waited for them to finish the main body. Or for Mitsuri to get there. What you did was insane! You could've seriously gotten yourself hurt, or worse."
Erika gave him a small, tired smile. "But you always do things like that, right?"
Akira clicked his tongue. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean you should. One of us has to be the normal one. Like Skywalker and Kenobi. And besides, you could've been seriously injured or even died from that fall."
"I knew you would save me," Erika said plainly. "So I didn't worry that much."
Akira stared at her, clearly irritated. "What if I was busy? Or what if I couldn't do it? I mean, I can't even fly!"
Erika tilted her head. "But it's you. I figured you'd… I don't know, figure something out. Wait…how did you catch me midair anyway?"
"I used that new technique I learned. It lets me jump really, really high. And I can jump in the air too...Wait, don't change the subject, we're still talking about your reckless stunt".
Then he called out, "Sister, why didn't you stop her?"
Selena's voice echoed telepathically, sounding defensive. "I tried, okay? She didn't listen".
Erika raised her hand sheepishly. "Yeah… she did try. I was the one who didn't listen."
Akira rubbed his forehead. "Just don't do something that reckless without asking me. You could've contacted me using the system, too."
"…I forgot about that," Erika admitted. Then, with a soft, guilty smile, she added, "Sorry for worrying you. I won't do something like that again without asking."
Akira sighed heavily. "Just… don't do it again."
Erika nodded. "Sorry."
But inside, she couldn't help feeling a small warmth. Akira worrying this much about her and scolding her like this was completely unlike him. And somehow… it made her happy.
Then her eyes widened.
"Wait, what happened to the fight?"
"Don't worry," Akira answered. "It should be over by now. Look, the sun's rising."
Erika looked up. Sure enough, dawn light was spreading across the sky.
But then a more urgent thought struck her.
"Wait, Nezuko! She can't step into the sun! What happened to her!?"