Chapter 44: Battle 1 — Terra no Fire no Sasuke (Part 1)

“Alright, be ready, because I’m going to kill you. I am Terra no Fire no Sasuke — I won’t lose to useless things like you. I am the third most powerful warrior of the Demon Kingdom, of the great and fearsome Eien no Shi, the most powerful entity in the universe.” The witch-lamia spoke as if certain she would slaughter us easily.

She began spitting a kind of dark violet acid. We dodged it immediately and saw the ground begin to melt where it hit. We had to be careful. She kept firing acid at us while we continued to dodge and counterattack.

“This can’t be — these filthy humans keep dodging all my attacks! This can’t be happening. I should kill them easily. They can’t do this to me — I’m better than any human!” she raged, disbelief turning to fury.

Then she lashed out with her tail. We tried to evade, but she managed to catch two of the fused teams. Two other fused teams stayed behind to rescue them and shouted to the rest of us — the Ranma fusion and the others — to go on toward the Demon Queen; they would handle the rescue.

“No — we won’t leave them alone. We’ll help. You’re not alone in this. We are a team, and teams do not abandon each other. We’ll do this together,” the Ranma fusion answered, full of resolve.

The lamia witch sneered. “Is that what you think? I think your comrades will die, strangled by my tail. But for you, I have something better: take my Poisonous Dark Fire.” Dark violet flames erupted from her hands and she began hurling them at us.

We dodged as best we could. We needed a plan: while she attacked some of us, the others would strike back. But every time we tried, she responded too quickly and we had to dodge again. It was difficult to hit her from range — whenever a fused team fired from afar, the witch avoided it.

We frantically searched for a tactic. Then I thought of a surprise, multiple-strike plan and telepathically told everyone what we had to do. They understood and prepared. I turned to Ranma and said, “You have to distract her. I know what to do to take down that serpent — keep her entertained as long as you can.”

She gave me a thumbs-up to show she understood. Ranma and the other fused teams engaged the lamia while we gathered our magic. We manifested a giant shuriken — about the size of a Dragon-Potato’s rear end — and infused it with our elemental energies, spinning it at maximum speed.

The lamia was so focused on dealing with the other fused Magical Girls that she didn’t notice our attack. The shuriken flew faster than the eye could track and struck true, slicing the lamia clean in two. The two fused teams that had been trapped in her tail were freed.

The witch rose up, howling with fury.

“You won’t get away with this! You’ll pay for that! I loved that tail — I had it for thousands of years. I won’t forgive you!” she screamed. “Now I’ll transform to fight better. Admittedly that attack hurt, but you won’t get a second chance to kill me. I’ll show you my true form and my full power. This form was only to intimidate my enemies, but since I can’t kill you easily like this, I’ll reveal my true self. Pray to whatever goddess you follow, because she won’t save you from what I will do. I am Terra no Fire no Sasuke — I will show you my true form and my maximum power. When you see it, you will feel pain worse than hell itself. You’ll wish you’d never challenged me or my queen, Eien no Shi. You’ll learn the price of defying your superiors. No one messes with us great and majestic demons! I will kill you one by one, slowly and painfully — hear me, you cursed beasts!”

She ranted with a terrifying ferocity, but we pressed on; we had to kill her if we wanted to advance.

Then she laughed maniacally and began to change. A viscous, oil-like substance covered her as she shifted shape. Her body took on a more human silhouette — about two and a half meters tall, muscular, carrying a polearm whose tip resembled a medieval sword. When the transformation finished she grinned.

“Very well. Let’s begin Round Two, because now I’m ready to actually kill you,” she said — and launched her next assault.