diff --git a/quaddtype/numpy_quaddtype/src/casts.cpp b/quaddtype/numpy_quaddtype/src/casts.cpp
index 0d03987..659d6da 100644
--- a/quaddtype/numpy_quaddtype/src/casts.cpp
+++ b/quaddtype/numpy_quaddtype/src/casts.cpp
@@ -295,10 +295,14 @@ quad_to_unicode_resolve_descriptors(PyObject *NPY_UNUSED(self), PyArray_DTypeMet
     npy_intp required_size_chars = QUAD_STR_WIDTH;
     npy_intp required_size_bytes = required_size_chars * 4;  // UCS4 = 4 bytes per char
 
+    Py_INCREF(given_descrs[0]);
+    loop_descrs[0] = given_descrs[0];
+
     if (given_descrs[1] == NULL) {
         // Create descriptor with required size
         PyArray_Descr *unicode_descr = PyArray_DescrNewFromType(NPY_UNICODE);
         if (unicode_descr == nullptr) {
+            Py_DECREF(loop_descrs[0]);
             return (NPY_CASTING)-1;
         }
 
@@ -306,14 +310,21 @@ quad_to_unicode_resolve_descriptors(PyObject *NPY_UNUSED(self), PyArray_DTypeMet
         loop_descrs[1] = unicode_descr;
     }
     else {
-        Py_INCREF(given_descrs[1]);
-        loop_descrs[1] = given_descrs[1];
+        // Handle non-native byte order by requesting native byte order
+        // NumPy will handle the byte swapping automatically
+        if (!PyArray_ISNBO(given_descrs[1]->byteorder)) {
+            loop_descrs[1] = PyArray_DescrNewByteorder(given_descrs[1], NPY_NATIVE);
+            if (loop_descrs[1] == nullptr) {
+                Py_DECREF(loop_descrs[0]);
+                return (NPY_CASTING)-1;
+            }
+        }
+        else {
+            Py_INCREF(given_descrs[1]);
+            loop_descrs[1] = given_descrs[1];
+        }
     }
 
-    // Set the input descriptor
-    Py_INCREF(given_descrs[0]);
-    loop_descrs[0] = given_descrs[0];
-
     *view_offset = 0;
 
     // If target descriptor is wide enough, it's a safe cast
@@ -1321,7 +1332,7 @@ init_casts_internal(void)
             .nin = 1,
             .nout = 1,
             .casting = NPY_UNSAFE_CASTING,
-            .flags = NPY_METH_SUPPORTS_UNALIGNED,
+            .flags = static_cast<NPY_ARRAYMETHOD_FLAGS>(NPY_METH_SUPPORTS_UNALIGNED | NPY_METH_REQUIRES_PYAPI),
             .dtypes = unicode_to_quad_dtypes,
             .slots = unicode_to_quad_slots,
     };
@@ -1340,7 +1351,7 @@ init_casts_internal(void)
             .nin = 1,
             .nout = 1,
             .casting = NPY_UNSAFE_CASTING,
-            .flags = NPY_METH_SUPPORTS_UNALIGNED,
+            .flags = static_cast<NPY_ARRAYMETHOD_FLAGS>(NPY_METH_SUPPORTS_UNALIGNED | NPY_METH_REQUIRES_PYAPI),
             .dtypes = quad_to_unicode_dtypes,
             .slots = quad_to_unicode_slots,
     };
@@ -1359,7 +1370,7 @@ init_casts_internal(void)
             .nin = 1,
             .nout = 1,
             .casting = NPY_UNSAFE_CASTING,
-            .flags = NPY_METH_SUPPORTS_UNALIGNED,
+            .flags = static_cast<NPY_ARRAYMETHOD_FLAGS>(NPY_METH_SUPPORTS_UNALIGNED | NPY_METH_REQUIRES_PYAPI),
             .dtypes = bytes_to_quad_dtypes,
             .slots = bytes_to_quad_slots,
     };
@@ -1378,7 +1389,7 @@ init_casts_internal(void)
             .nin = 1,
             .nout = 1,
             .casting = NPY_UNSAFE_CASTING,
-            .flags = NPY_METH_SUPPORTS_UNALIGNED,
+            .flags = static_cast<NPY_ARRAYMETHOD_FLAGS>(NPY_METH_SUPPORTS_UNALIGNED | NPY_METH_REQUIRES_PYAPI),
             .dtypes = quad_to_bytes_dtypes,
             .slots = quad_to_bytes_slots,
     };
diff --git a/quaddtype/tests/test_quaddtype.py b/quaddtype/tests/test_quaddtype.py
index 14ceeb8..86f6f8f 100644
--- a/quaddtype/tests/test_quaddtype.py
+++ b/quaddtype/tests/test_quaddtype.py
@@ -746,7 +746,6 @@ def test_empty_bytes_raises_error(self):
         with pytest.raises(ValueError):
             bytes_array.astype(QuadPrecDType())
 
-
 class TestStringParsingEdgeCases:
     """Test edge cases in NumPyOS_ascii_strtoq string parsing"""
     @pytest.mark.parametrize("input_str", ['3.14', '-2.71', '0.0', '1e10', '-1e-10'])
@@ -5105,4 +5104,31 @@ def test_pickle_fortran_order(self, backend):
         # Verify array is preserved
         np.testing.assert_array_equal(unpickled, original)
         assert unpickled.dtype == original.dtype
-        assert unpickled.flags.f_contiguous == original.flags.f_contiguous
\ No newline at end of file
+        assert unpickled.flags.f_contiguous == original.flags.f_contiguous
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("dtype", [
+    "bool",
+    "byte", "int8", "ubyte", "uint8",
+    "short", "int16", "ushort", "uint16",
+    "int", "int32", "uint", "uint32",
+    "long", "ulong",
+    "longlong", "int64", "ulonglong", "uint64",
+    "half", "float16",
+    "float", "float32",
+    "double", "float64",
+    "longdouble", "float96", "float128",
+    "S50", "U50", "<U50", ">U50",
+])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('size', [500, 1000, 10000])
+def test_large_array_casting(dtype, size):
+    """Test long array casting won't lead segfault, GIL enabled"""
+    if dtype in ("float96", "float128") and getattr(np, dtype, None) is None:
+        pytest.skip(f"{dtype} is unsupported on the current platform")
+    arr = np.arange(size).astype(np.float32).astype(dtype)
+    quad_arr = arr.astype(QuadPrecDType())
+    assert quad_arr.dtype == QuadPrecDType()
+    assert quad_arr.size == size
+
+    # check roundtrip
+    roundtrip = quad_arr.astype(dtype)
+    np.testing.assert_array_equal(arr, roundtrip)
\ No newline at end of file