Chi Yan was the first to react, jumping to the fore and parrying the Divine Dog's jaws with his giant black broadsword. There was a shrill squeal as fang met metal, and even though Chi Yan skidded back several feet, the red-haired swordsman held his ground eventually.
Then I struck from the side, flanking it alongside He Shan Jie. The both of us attacked from different directions, me swinging my katana and He Shan Jie throwing punches with his gauntlets while the Divine Dog was still distracted by Chi Yan, his jaws snapping at the red-haired swordsman.
However, the Divine Dog reacted far more swiftly than either of us anticipated. Pulling his jaws away from Chi Yan, he swiped at me first, and then at the slower but stronger He Shan Jie. I managed to parry his claws, but the impact sent me tumbling over. Somehow flipping myself about in midair and landing on my feet, I saw He Shan Jie skidding a few meters away, somehow holding his own against the Divine Dog.
Before the Divine Dog could pounce on He Shan Jie, however, he was struck by a swarm of crimson butterflies. The pink butterflies fluttered into his face and exploded forcefully, sending him staggering. The Divine Dog howled and swiveled toward Hong Yao Yao, but she continued to bombard him with more butterflies, littering the area with detonations.
The Divine Dog seemed unperturbed, his spiky white fur appearing to protect him from the worst of the explosions. Fortunately, that wasn't Hong Yao Yao's intent. She was simply buying time for us to counterattack.
An enormous lotus flame appeared beneath the Divine Dog, enhanced by the Nine Yang Divine Energy. Chi Yan grinned before he engulfed the white Divine Dog in a luminous green fire the shape of a lotus flower, incinerating the spirit beast.
The Divine Dog howled once more before bursting out of the inferno, his tail swishing as if attempting to extinguish it. His white fur was singed, but he didn't seem like he had suffered much major injuries. Chi Yan narrowed his eyes when he saw the state of his target.
"You've got to be kidding me…he withstood my lotus shaped essence flames?"
The Divine Dog bore down upon him, but before his immense bulk could reach the redhead, he was knocked aside when He Shan Jie's new Divine Gaia Golem tackled him. The Divine Dog pawed and clawed at the newcomer, leaving faint marks on the gleaming surface.
"Hmph…I thought it was weird when I lost my spiritual connection to this spirit puppet. Seems like you overrode it and imprinted your own soul control over it."
"I will have to thank you for the gift," He Shan Jie said, placing his hands together to perform mandalas. Responding to his hand gestures, the Divine Gaia Golem attacked, trying to pummel the Divine Dog with its gigantic fists, but the divine spirit beast withdrew swiftly, making use of his superior agility to evade the devastating attacks.
Snarling, he bit down on the Divine Gaia Golem, sending shards of stone flying from the immense force of the bite. The spirit puppet responded by swinging its massive arm and almost sent the Divine Dog flying, but the divine spirit beast managed to flexibly spin about and land on all fours, his jaw curling into a feral grin.
The Divine Gaia Golem didn't feel any pain, being a spirit puppet, and thankfully the damage didn't seem more than superficial. Already He Shan Jie was healing its arm, repairing the damage by infusing qi into his new spirit puppet.
"What a formidable foe," he murmured, eying the Divine Dog warily.
"Don't stop attacking!" Hong Yao Yao commanded, sending more pink butterflies at the retreating Divine Dog. Explosions drew blood from the huge divine spirit beast, splattering the red fluids all over the ground as he whimpered and withdrew. He snarled and bit at the butterflies, and to our surprise, he clamped his jaws shut over a horde of them and swallowed them whole. Hong Yao Yao stared at her target in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me!"
"Just blow them up in his stomach!" I urged her, ducking under a swipe when the Divine Dog turned his attentions toward me. I blocked another strike from his claws with my katana, only to be flung back. Hong Yao Yao shook her head.
"I tried. He…did something to neutralize them!"
"Well, he is the Divine Dog, after all," I reasoned as I evaded another swipe from the Divine Dog. Chi Yan struck from the opposite direction, only to be swatted away by the irate divine spirit beast. He clicked his tongue and launched another lotus-shaped essence flames.
We scattered as the inferno exploded across the mountain peak, the flames unfolding ravenously to devour everything, rock or biological. Within the heart of the lotus essence fire, the Divine Dog howled once more before he swallowed everything in a single gulp.
"Impossible!" Chi Yan growled, holding his broadsword up and swinging it to unleash another blast of flames that the Divine Dog simply batted away.
"He's supposed to be able to devour the sun," I continued, having been interrupted in the midst of my explanation earlier. "I don't think a bunch of butterflies or essence flames will do much to his stomach, considering that he could digest even the sun itself. Or the moon."
"How are we supposed to defeat a monster like that?" Lan Bei Er whispered, her voice filled with dread. She threw up a barrier to buy time for me and Chi Yan to retreat when the Divine Dog neutralized our attacks.
While he continued to pursue us, the Divine Gaia Golem charged at him once more, slamming its shoulder against him and sending him spinning. Whirling about, the Divine Dog snapped at the titanic spirit puppet with his deadly jaws, trying to tear gouges of rock out of its torso and arms. The Divine Gaia Golem retaliated with a kick, but the Divine Dog simply jumped away with lupine grace and landed a safe distance away.
With a kick, he launched himself at the Divine Gaia Golem once more. With a bark, he released a torrent of flames from his jaws, bathing the spirit puppet in jade fire. Under He Shan Jie's controls, the Divine Gaia Golem stumbled back, trying to escape the fire.
"He can do that?!" Chi Yan yelled, and then his eyes widened. "Wait a minute! Those are my essence flames!"
"So he can copy the techniques or the elements that he swallowed," I murmured thoughtfully, cooperating with Chi Yan to attack the Divine Dog from the flanks. He turned away from the staggering Divine Gaia Golem to strike back, but another horde of pink butterflies diverted his attention away. This time, Hong Yao Yao was wise enough to send the butterflies toward an area not near his mouth so that he wouldn't swallow them whole.
Even without swallowing our attacks, the Divine Dog remained formidable. He smacked us away with his paws and then thundered down upon me, his jaws spewing flames. They were stopped by Lan Bei Er's barrier, my wife quickly providing me the protection I needed for a few seconds. Realizing that I might be in trouble, I unsealed my katana.
"Darken, Abyssal Edge!"
My katana transformed into the familiar black sword and I executed a Shadow Sword Strike to keep the pursuing Divine Dog at bay. Then Chi Yan's broadsword dragged across his back, causing the Divine Dog to reel and whirl about to face the new threat. Unfortunately, his thick white fur afforded him some protection, reducing the otherwise lethal strike to nothing more than a graze. A swipe sent Chi Yan hurtling away, and a sudden inhalation sucked all of the butterflies into his throat.
Sniffing the air, the Divine Dog spun about and jumped away just in time to evade a heavy blow from the charging Divine Gaia Golem. While his focus was currently on the gargantuan golem, I struck with Shadow Sword Storm, trying to impale the Divine Dog in several places. As with Chi Yan's Black Ruler, the shadow swords failed to penetrate very deeply. Though red spotted the formerly pristine white fur, the Divine Dog shook the black swords off before slashing the Divine Gaia Golem and driving it back a couple of clumsy, lumbering steps.
The butterflies and lotus essence flames hammered into the Divine Dog once more, but he managed to dodge the worst of them, making use of his incredible agility to weave through the deadly explosons. Moving at a speed that belied his enormous size, he jumped from jagged peak to another, bouncing off them to strike at us.
Fortunately, Lan Bei Er was quicky to respond, conjuring barriers to shield Hong Yao Yao and Chi Yan from the Divine Dog's assault. The Divine Gaia Golem lumbered after the constantly leaping Divine Dog, but was far too slow to keep up with the swift divine beast.
Realizing that I currently didn't have the firepower to bring him down – and that those techniques I did have that were capable of mortally wounding him would be too slow – I decided to hinder the Divine Dog's movements. Sheathing my Abyssal Edge, I began moving my fingers together and chanting an incantation.
"The shadows slither, and the darkness falls. Night calls, and the ruler of the abyss rises from his throne. Chains of shadow, unfettered, unbreakable and indomitable. None may escape their reach. Bakudou 99, Shadow Chains!"
Massive shadow chains erupted from the shadows and coiled around the stunned Divine Dog, holding him down. He snarled and snapped at them, but I had a coil of shadow chains wrap around his jaws to clamp them shut, preventing him from biting the metal apart or swallowing the chains. Knowing his abilities, I wouldn't be surprised if he could swallow my shadow chains in a single gulp.
"…you really…" Hong Yao Yao glared at me in exasperation. "You just can't help it, can you? After hearing sir Shan Jie do it, you want to do it too, eh? Sir Ye?"
"Yeah, well…" I shrugged. "You've to admit, if you're expecting anyone to rip off Bleach, the first person to come to mind would be me, right?"
"I learned it from brother Hei," He Shan Jie confessed even as he took the opportunity to send his Divine Gaia Golem after the Divine Dog. With the divine spirit beast finally pinned down, the slow and clumsy but formidable and powerful spirit puppet could finally catch up with him. Drawing an arm back, it delivered a powerful punch to the Divine Dog's gut, sending him bowling over. The shadow chains rattled as he fell.
"Of all the things to learn from sir Ye, you had to choose that!" Hong Yao Yao threw up her hands in despair. Even as she did, she didn't miss the chance to send another swarm of butterflies to explode against the writhing Divine Dog's body.
The Divine Dog trembled from the multitude of assaults from Chi Yan, Hong Yao Yao and He Shan Jie's Divine Gaia Golem while still being restrained by my shadow chains. Too late I suddenly realized that he wasn't shaking from pain. There was a buildup of qi that crushed down upon us like an oceanic tide…a tsunami, basically, and drove us to our knees. I gritted my teeth, still trying to maintan the shadow chains, but I could see the lotus flames and butterflies flicker out of existence from the sheer amount of qi.
Only the Divine Gaia Golem was undisturbed, obeying He Shan Jie's commands to continue attacking. It swung a meaty fist at the Divine Dog, who managed to twist his body to dodge the blow despite being weighed down by my shadow chains. I understood that my control over my shadow chains was slacking because of the sudden tremendous spiritual pressure.
"I can't…" I growled through clenched teeth, refusing to give up. "…let you get loose!"
The Divine Dog didn't care about my resolve and tore free from my shadow chains. With a jerk of his head, he yanked jaws away from the shadow chains and crunched them between his fangs. Then he slashed the Divine Gaia Golem and drove it back. I heard He Shan Jie cry out in pain behind me, an effect of psychostigmatic feedback.
This wasn't good.
"You've done it now!" the Divine Dog bellowed, knocking the Divine Gaia Golem and stepping on it, pinning it to the ground for now. He glared at us, his eyes glowing and his jaws filling with emerald flames. "I'm going to burn you from existence!"
"Not if we can help it!"
Chi Yan struck the Divine Dog with his broadsword while unleashing another of his lotus shaped essence flames. The Divine Dog spun to confront him, but Hong Yao Yao distracted him with an explosion on his feet with a horde of butterflies, knocking him off balance. The Divine Gaia Golem, as ordered by He Shan Jie, swept up to wrap its thick arms around the Divine Dog and trap him in a crushing embrace.
"Do you think you can restrain me like this?!" The Divine Dog roared.
"No," I replied, already notching a black arrow to my Hou Yi bow. "But it's more than enough for now."
Then I released the arrow, watching the black projectile streaked across the length between us to punch through the Divine Dog's forehead and detonate forcibly.