Page 108 of Dragon 7

And they ran in every direction trailing columns of orange, black, and grey. Their shapes still human for three terrible seconds before the fire made them into red-hot horror.

Each one burned differently—some dropping to their knees, many spinning, others still running as though speed could leave it behind until they were limping and melting to the ground. Scorched fabric fell from their crumbling bodies.

Everywhere stank of roasted ham mixed with singed nylon and hot death.

As I pushed the flame forward clearing the path to the stairs, I could taste the ash on my tongue in each breath and the greasy residue of it all and even the heat on my face, hands, and forearms.

Sweat dripped from my forehead.

All of them shed light they hadn't asked to carry, and lit up the fucking battlefield. They were twisted torches of agony. Their screams blended into the roar of the flames that engulfed them. Their bodies writhed in the burning inferno until they were nothing but charred, screeching husks.

And Akiro’s other soldiers—the most cowardly ones—they saw the Dragon’s Breath and ran off into the forest.

And several Silent Ones raced after them.

I swept Totoro left.

Another line of soldiers caught the stream across their chests and collapsed in a writhing pile. The heat distortion made the air above them ripple and the moonlight warped.

I swept right.

Three men dropped their rifles and ran before the flame reached them. A fourth stood his ground and raised his weapon. I held the stream on him until his gun glowed, and he threw it away.

Claws and Fangs saw the flames clearing a corridor and peeled off to the sides. Kaede threw himself right. Kaoru rolled left. Rin, who no longer wore his mask, stepped back four feet and took that moment to yawn.

The field opened.

The burning men created a wide lane of fire-lit grass between us and the plane's stairs.

Bodies rolled on both sides. Smoke rose thick and white where the flames met the wet ground. Intense heat pushed against my mask and dried the sweat across my forehead in two seconds.

I kept the flame forward and advanced.

Hiro matched me stride for stride on my right. His Hannya mask caught the firelight and the horns threw long shadows behind him. He took out his blade with his left hand and his right hand pulled out his gun.

There was no lollipop in his mouth.

Hiro was ready to kill.

Behind us, the Scales surged through the gap I had burned and slammed into Akiro's remaining soldiers on both flanks.

The Silent Ones moved through the smoke in their red hoods, and they were faster than the fire.

A Scale drove his rifle butt into an enemy's spine, and before the man hit the grass, a Silent One landed on his shoulders from above and opened his throat with a short blade. Neither the Scale nor the Silent One looked at each other. They moved on in opposite directions.

The path was clear.

Hiro's head snapped left. He stared through the smoke and the chaos for two full seconds, and then his body loosened in a way I had seen only once before—the moment right before relief collapsed him.

"I see Satoshi!" His voice boomed behind the Hannya. "And Toma! There's Daisuke!"

A breath tore out of him. "Oh shit! They're alive!"

"Good." I kept my eyes on the stairs. "Focus on Akiro."

An enemy broke from the smoke on my left and raised his gun at my head. Hiro shot him between the eyes without turning his body.

The man dropped.