If anyone asked her for a plan to victory, Gui Daiyu would slap them and then imprison them for stupidity. In a situation as life threatening as this, running was the only option.

Her people had failed for the first time in millions of years. If her husband saw her now, she feared how disappointed he'd be. The inability to live with that shame was the only logic that held her back from giving the order.

In many ways, she was thankful how loyal the dragons had been to her. At the same time, she had to question if that loyalty was just an inherent stubbornness stemming from their creator, her own husband.

"Watch out, something's happening to that thing!"

Dragons, and Shinrei class Kami all feared the worse. No one had the calm to count the losses. But all knew it'll rack up if the Yamata no Orochi was to grow even further.

One of its head had its throat expand. The horrid construct of water thrashed around, knocking into an adjacent head.

Contrary to expectations, the thrashing head didn't start blasting an concentrated energy beam. Instead, it exploded water mimicking gore and scales.

"I'm out!!!"

The oni that had not only walked into the maw of the beast, but also granted it a further strength boost quickly backhanded the injured head. The strike rumbled through the universe, containing far more power then any of the trinity.

Shuten Doji, in his own excitement, did not speak with anyone else. He quickly got to work by transforming his body.

"He couldn't do that before right?" Susanoo asked his sister as the oni's body morphed into a pale white snake who appeared similar to one of the heads of Orochi.

"You tell me. You were the one who thought him."

"Your majesty, I might be going insane. But is his aura akin to a Primal Zenith Chaos Immortal?" One of Gui Daiyu's top advisors who hadn't died asked in bewilderment.

"The other half of that sword did remain planted in the ocean depths. Did he absorb it inside the beast? If so, it could prove a boon."

However, Gui Daiyu hesitated to charge in to battle. The oni was a good distraction to relieve her pressure.

"We should coordinate. You dragons can make your formation again correct? Seal that thing!" Amaterasu desperately pleaded.

The dragon elders turned their heads. "A limitless Supreme level is already too much to bear."

"What does that even mean? Do you not realise inaction would only allow it to rampage further? Unless you all…"

"Don't acuse us girl. It wasn't my kind that disturbed what needn't be disturbed," the same dragon bit back.

"Stop fighting please! What's with you celestial beings always fighting among yourselves," a unremarkable kunitsukami cried out. "You cannot let that young warrior do it on his own."

"What is he doing?"

Shuten Doji'a white snake transformation was equally as big as one of the eight heads. Just like them, he thrashed around. He would also bite into them and allow them to bite into him.

Even though he was visibly hurt, he acted as if he were one of them. Even his qu signature was mimicking the chaotic sea monster.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" The white snake cried.

"Oni, coordinate with us. Do not charge in on your own!"

The deities native to the land joined hands to attack the snake. Amaterasu especially illuminated her body akin to a sun, no longer possessing humanoid features.

"No, stop interfering. You're ruining the scene," Shuten Doji snapped.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"What scene, you're barely doing anything to it."

Deep down, Shuten Doji knew they were right. There had not been a change in the serpent at all.

He didn't understand why, the snake's most defining memory should be his own birth. But if he had to choose another.

"Look at me you eight headed bastard." Shuten Doji discarded his own serpentine transformation, pushed a bunch of Kami out of the way, then turned himself into a gargantuan beast.

Pure malice eradicated from it. A primordial beast made not of matter, or Dao essence, but of conglomerates hate. In front of this form, smaller creatures with the cultivation of True Immortals ran around only for the beast to devour them.

"Your majesty, isn't that one of the Primitive World's species?" A dragon asked Gui Daiyu. The turtle empress could only stare wide eyed.

'Strange, this event defined him. Why isn't the consciousness waking up? Is it really impossible to restore a mind from memories alone?' Shuten Doji felt depressed.

As if in direct acknowledgement to his thoughts, the Yamata no Orochi began bringing the sky and sea together. The textures of the universe features were melding into its scales causing it to grow exponentially larger.

Even a large patch was torn from the sky, revealing the form of Takamagahara was revealed on the other side. The only reason it wasn't also being absorbed was because it was originally chaos debris used to make a divine realm.

Gui Daiyu's pupils constructed. "Retrieve our underwater city. We cannot stay here anymore."

While she felt moved by the natives fighting, she could not give the order to remain. And it would seem almost all dragons went along with her.

It was only Ryujin, the dragon representing their interests to the amatsukami who actively disobeyed. "Your majesty, there might still be a way to quell the venerable one. Perhaps…"

"Perhaps what child? All their attacks do nothing. This Chaos World is doomed."

"I meat the oni, Shuten Doji. I don't think he's attacking."

"The young one has a point, correct me if I'm wrong but aren't those species that went extinct before mt ancestor's birth? How does a sword spirit know they exist?"

"I recall seeing a corpse once on the east shore that looked like that."

"And that creature he transformed into."

"Retrieve the city," Gui Daiyu said. "I'll join you all later."

She flew down, carefully avoiding the Orochi and whoever else. Her greater cultivation allowed her to pierce through the primordial beast transformation and pull Shuten Doji out.

"What are you? Right you are my…his disciple's wife."

"If you know all that, then you got some of his memories inside that thing. How?"

"I can't explain the specifics too well, but I'm trying to restore Da Hai. Your interference is not helping."

Shuten, in a display of immense strength, broke out of Gui Daiyu's grip. In that brief display, hints of his Dao leaked through.

'I've not felt this since. Is he really a treasure spirit of Heavenly Cloud Gathering Sword?' She pulled him back again much to his shock.

"What do you mean? Explain yourself."

"Memories woman, I'm giving him that awakening. Or just reminding him who he is."

"There's no mind…"

"I know but the Dao remembers. That dao is sitting there and so is the memory. It just needs to express itself."

"A jolt in the system then?"

"Yes, something like that. But nothing's working."

The turtle empress shook her head. "Of course not. Not if you want a defining enough moment."

"The hell do you know? I am a clone spawned directly from those memories."

Gui Daiyu took a moment to recall everything Zulong would say about his master. "Then why are you choosing those moments. Shouldn't you choose a moment that made the venerable Da Hai who he is?"

"That's exactly what I'm…"

The two stopped as they narrowly avoided a hurricane that was unleashed as a consequence of the Orochi roaring. It was a good thing that the snake was mindless, as these 'attacks' were just it throwing power around. Without a mind to guide, nothing was concentrated.

"That's exactly what I've been doing. My own bir…his birth was through with endless fighting akin to a storm. And what awakened him to the world was seeing all those innate creatures devoured."

However, Gui Daiyu did not feel that was right. She recalled old tales told to her, legends from back when Da Hai was worshipped by her people.

"He was close to the Five Element Daoist who died before my time. Perhaps…" she trailed off, not truly sure.

But it sparked a realisation in Shuten Doji.

"Who here has wine?" He urgently cried towards every person struggling to survive.

It was such an absurd question given the situation, that people did a double take to comprehend what he said.

"Are you insane asking that now of all times?"

"No no no, we need to feed…grah stop swinging your heads. Anyway, we need to feed wine to those heads."

"Would anyone have wine after the land was destroyed?" Tsukoyomi angrily reminded him.

"Takamagahara still has some for the upcoming new years festival," a flustered Kami, Inari answered.

"Do as he says, the undersea palace has some in stock as well. But I don't believe any old wine will work," Gui Daiyu said.

"Even if they're not his recipes, it's still wine."

…

As the merger of sky and sea grew worse, more and more punctures to the outside world appeared. The eternally erratic Chaos Sea was fully visible, with its air corroding onmyoji and exploding yokais.

The Shinrei, Majin, and Tenma class of spirits were the only ones with cultivation high enough to survive on their own. Hence the struggle became even more ferocious.

But it was not as if the Yamata no Orochi was destroying the Chaos World. In actuality, the more it manifested, the more it turned into the Chaos World.

In a sense, all of reality was concentrating back into the eight headed snake to serve as its innards. Its exterior would made of seawater, and sediment, would kick out any independent living beings.

He was so large now, that the previous land of the rising sun could fit in its eye socket.

But both sides of Takamagahara and the underwater palace, now little more then floating citadels converged. Gallons of wine in storage was brought out in gigantic wooden barrels.

"I'll draw its attention," Shuten Doji said. He took hold of his broken sword and kept down. He never seemed to care that no one followed him.

As this was a last ditch gamble, the preparation to run was far more important.

"Come on you. I know you're better then this. Your remnants were my origin."

The Yamata no Orochi did not recognize Shuten Doji as anything living nor dead. To it, the oni was just another chunk of qi that should be absorbed back in.

Darting around all eight heads took a lot of effort. Shuten Doji had to call upon the Dao of Distant Seas to aid in this regard.

Still, for him to feel no resistance to pull so much from that Dao gave a feeling of hollowness for the clone.

When all eight were chasing him, he flew in the of the two floating palaces. Takamagahara appeared more like a world of its own while the undersea palace was really a city.

"Loose!" Susanoo gave the command.

Barrels of wine were tossed out. Its contents spilled into the maws of the serpent. With how big they were, it was difficult to miss.

As it was not comprised of mortal flesh, the orochi had no gaging reflex. There was no hint that the liquid even did anything.

Gui Daiyu closed her eyes with a sigh. The natives of the Chaos World felt despair.

Shuten Doji yelled in frustration as he was swallowed whole again.

Far away, in a place known as the Three Realms. A court was taking place.

In it, the highest of all gods, the benevolent Jade Emperor zoned out.

In the deepest recesses of his mind, where he could physically touched the Dao of Distant Sea. He whispered to the ocean.

"I drink in my own failure because it was all my fault."

The Yamata no Orochi ceased all actions. It's soulless eyes manifested pupils that constricted.

"I."

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