[Finished] Rise of the Evening Star

[TwilightsCall]

While your writting style can make battles a little slow paced, they were still pretty great. I'm quite curious to see how the battle against Tenshi is going, and what Mokou and Kaguya are talking about.

That is very interesting feedback.  I don't know if I'll have it in me to rewrite the next few chapters to try and smooth it out a bit, but I was trying to aim for a long, drawn out feel!  Hopefully it doesn't detract from the story too much :x

If there's one thing that kinda iffs me, though, is that you seem to put Eirin as a pretty low power char.

This pretty much happened because Eirin was still holding back.  Basically, her strategy was to work Reisen to the bone, while her and Kaguya could clean up and fight Hoshimi at essentially full strength.  As far as being able to beat Mokou easily, she is a 1000 year old immortal, so she's had a lot of time to get stronger!  Not saying your opinion is wrong, per se, but I don't think you give Mokou as much credit as she is due.

And yeah, the characters' strengths were tweaked a bit to make the fight more interesting :x  I think I underplayed Reisen a lot, and if the three of them had just gone all out on Mokou, the fight probably wouldn't have lasted very long at all.

I've been dying to find a fic where this happens, and it could have happened so well here

Maybe this is going to be worked in to my next story  :3  (Though that is literally months away so don't hold your breath XD)



Anyways, as I was writing what was supposed to be the final chapter, it got far too long.  So I've split it in two, and now that gives me the freedom to post this one.  Enjoy!


Chapter 18 ? Heaven?s Offense



Tenshi repelled another attack from Remilia, who was attacking her with her bare hands for some reason, before sighing dejectedly.  Things were not exactly looking up for her.

Her underestimation of the group Reimu was going to bring with her was coming back to bite her.  While her fight was under control, she couldn?t exactly say the same for the rest of the battle field.  Mokou had vanished a few minutes earlier, and Utsuho was now trapped.  At least Hoshimi was still holding strong, and of course Tenshi?s fight wasn?t going so badly, but either way, a fifty percent casualty rate was not exactly something to be proud of.

Using keystones, sharp red lasers, and keystones firing sharp red lasers, she was able to keep at least one of the three she was fighting pinned at a time.  That meant she was generally facing off against two of them at once, however for whatever reason, they had decided to make this a hand-to-hand fight, so keeping them at bay was easier than it probably should have been.

She didn?t have much hope of that situation continuing though.  She had originally expected the groups that had won to press inwards and attack Hoshimi, but they had all fallen back and regrouped instead.  They may still be aiming at taking down Hoshimi, but they could also organize a relief effort for Remilia?s group, and that would be problematic. She was already pressed hard enough with a three on one, she didn?t relish the idea of tipping the odds against her any further.

Remilia closed in delivering another flurry of blows, which Tenshi neatly blocked with her sword.  Almost simultaneously, Sakuya approached from behind, knives in hand, attempting to flank her.  A clean riposte narrowly missed taking off Remilia?s arm, but forced the vampire to disengage.  This bought Tenshi the time she needed to turn and call a keystone to block the incoming knife blade.  Remilia attacked again immediately, so Tenshi had the keystone burst into lasers, forcing Sakuya to retreat.

Remilia launched another series of blows, now noticeably weaker than when the fight had first begun, but Tenshi opted for dodging this time instead of blocking.  Slipping into the gaps between her attacks ? Remilia really wasn?t that skilled at close combat, it seemed ? a quick stab forced Remilia back, but not before landing a shallow cut on her face.

Remilia immediately retreated, this time far enough that it was obvious she was looking for respite.  Tenshi took the opportunity to call out four orbiting keystones, and was soon engaged by Sakuya and Youmu, who had finally shaken off the pin.  The keystones rapidly maneuvered to block Sakuya?s knife attacks without Tenshi paying attention to them, giving her ample freedom to defend against Youmu?s swordplay.

Instead of defend, however, she hurled herself forward onto the offensive.  The quick, powerful slash forced Youmu to block awkwardly, causing her to stagger backwards so she couldn?t counter.  Tenshi followed up with a chain of slashes, forcing Youmu farther and farther backwards while opening up the distance between her and Sakuya.  Tenshi called another keystone to pursue Sakuya for good measure, relieving her of the pressure from behind, and threw the orbiting keystones Sakuya had yet to destroy forward at Youmu.

Youmu dodged upwards, narrowly avoiding the incoming stones, however she managed to ready herself in time for Tenshi?s charge.  She cleanly deflected the incoming slash, smoothly bringing her sword to bear for a counter attack.  Instead of disengaging, however, Tenshi merely twisted to the side, attempting to close within Youmu?s range.  She was a hair too slow, Youmu?s sword grazing her right arm just as Tenshi planted her elbow in the half-ghost?s stomach.  The force of the blow threw her back only a couple feet, but it opened the distance enough for Tenshi to bring her sword up with a rising slash, biting deep into the stunned Youmu?s shoulder.

Sending a couple keystones after her for good measure, Tenshi turned to engage Sakuya once again.  A few artful dodges got her around the knives Sakuya threw, but she managed to draw another one out in time to block Tenshi?s swing.  Tenshi continued the attack, pressuring Sakuya whose knives weren?t designed for defense, until after a few seconds of exchanged blows Sakuya disengaged as well.

Tenshi gladly accepted the break that her three opponents offered her.  She briefly inspected the cut on her arm, as well as the similar grazes on her legs and side.  This was her fifth time taking a hit, but they weren?t bad enough to warrant worry.  She still had to grit her teeth against the stinging pain to keep from complaining out loud.

In contrast to her light wounds, her opponents were in much worse shape.  Youmu had managed to last so far, but that last cut to the shoulder was a bad one, and she doubted that Youmu would be able to stay in the fight much longer without some sort of medical attention.  Sakuya hadn?t taken any decisive wounds, but she had been apparently struck a number of times by lasers, as indicated by the scorch marks on her uniform.

Remilia, however, seemed to have it the worst.  Her hands and arms bore superficial scratches and cuts, a product of her fighting a sword with her bare hands, but more importantly, she was breathing hard, just short of gasping, and her face was covered with a thin sheen of sweat.  Like Sakuya, she hadn?t taken any decisive wounds yet, but it was clear that Tenshi?s nature was getting the best of her.

?Mistress, we need to change our plan of attack.  This isn?t working.?  Sakuya spoke without taking her eyes off Tenshi.  She didn?t know why she was so on guard, it was really to her advantage to draw out the fight as long as possible.

?I don?t understand?? Remilia said under her breath, her composure completely shattered, ?I?ve blocked the sun, why is this so difficult?!?

?I guess I can?t blame you for being unprepared,? Tenshi responded offhandedly, earning unfriendly looks from all present, ?but it seems you?re pretty uninformed to boot.?

?Sakuya, what is she talking about?? Remilia spoke in a tired voice.  It was almost unnerving to see her so worn out.

The one who replied to her question, however, was Youmu.  ?It has nothing to do with the Sun.  It?s because she?s a Celestial.?

Tenshi turned to look at Youmu.  She had somehow managed to make a makeshift bandage out of strips of cloth from her own shirt, and had tied off the wound on her shoulder.  Though she tried to tough it out, the pain from the injury still showed clearly on her face.  Judging by the amount of blood, it seemed the injury wouldn?t be fatal, but it would definitely slow her down considerably.

?Celestials have bodies that are poisonous to youkai,? Youmu continued.  ?Even I have difficulty with her, and I?m half human.?
Remilia and Sakuya turned to look at Tenshi, as if looking at her could confirm what Youmu had said.  Tenshi just shrugged.  It wasn?t her fault she was a Celestial.  A fact she was made painfully aware of very often while spending time in Heaven.

?Well how the hell do I fight someone who is literally poisonous to me?!? Remilia shouted, throwing her hands up in the air.  Tenshi had to admit, as comical as the display was, she did have a point.  How was she supposed to fight her??

?Please, keep your distance, mistress,? Sakuya said as she floated between Tenshi and Remilia. ?I will keep her engaged in close quarters, you attack her from afar.? Remilia seemed unhappy with the suggestion, but she didn?t say anything.  Maybe she was just unhappy in general.

As she watched her opponents prepare for their next attack, she couldn?t help but reanalyze the situation in the back of her head.  Remilia wasn?t going to be an issue.  Her fighting style seemed to rely on overwhelming power and speed, but she had lasted long enough for her nature to tax Remilia beyond her capacity.  She had slowed and weakened enough that, as long as Tenshi kept her wits about her, she wouldn?t be much of a threat.

Youmu was in a similar situation.  She was definitely the better swordsman of the two, but Tenshi being effectively immortal while Youmu was definitely not meant that Tenshi could take stupid gambles that Youmu wouldn?t be able to.  As such, she had managed to inflict a rather serious injury, and that combined with her nature should slow Youmu down enough to make her irrelevant.

The problem was Sakuya.  She hadn?t fought her often, but she had seen her fight before.  She knew Sakuya?s thing was stopping time and throwing knives.  However, for some reason, she seemed hesitant to do either during this fight.  She had never ? as far as Tenshi was aware ? stopped time, and only a couple of times had she thrown her knives.  While that made things easier for Tenshi, it bothered her that she didn?t know why.  For all she knew, Sakuya could at any time just stop time and cut her throat, after all, so it was a pretty disconcerting thing to have hanging over her head.

Remilia suddenly raised her right hand into the air, quickly bringing it down in a spray of danmaku.  The bullets consisted almost entirely of orbs of red light mixed with red lasers, coincidentally very similar in shade to the lasers Tenshi typically used.

Calling out a variety of keystones, Tenshi sent them forward to block the incoming wave of projectiles.  She couldn?t be bothered to intercept all of them, so she settled for rushing forward behind the keystones as they advanced.  As the danmaku impacted solid stone, they shaved off chunks of it the size of fists, but the keystones were large enough to survive through the first wave.  Passing through, she sent the remnants of the keystones off after Youmu, who had begun approaching from the side.

Interrupting her forward advance, Sakuya came forward with a knife in each hand, aiming for Tenshi?s hands and arms with her attacks.  It made it an awful lot more awkward to block compared to attacks aimed for her head and torso, but keeping mobile allowed her to redirect her attacks to more manageable angles.

Tenshi met the next incoming swing with a strong attack of her own, knocking away Sakuya?s incoming attack and opening an opportunity for another attack.  Tenshi brought her sword in horizontally to slash at her stomach, but the maid rolled over the blade, neatly dodging it and cutting the back of Tenshi?s wrist with one of her knives at the same time.

Tenshi disengaged, trying to feel the depth of the wound without taking her eyes off her opponents.  Instinctively, she called out more keystones to harass Youmu, wherever she was, while keeping her eyes forward.  The cut was deeper than the previous ones she had taken thus far, but it was clearly meant as a harrying attack rather than an attempt to take her out of the fight.

This wasn?t good.  It seemed her attacks were getting too predictable, and Sakuya?s incredible dexterity allowed her to dodge and attack at the same time if she knew what was coming. It seemed like it was time to change things up.

Calling out a pair of keystones, she fired a volley of lasers from them while charging forward, doing her best to ignore the pain from her wrist.  Sakuya deftly dodged the incoming lasers, flipping over top of Tenshi as she charged.  She made to come down on Tenshi from above with her knives, but missed as Tenshi continued her charge forwards, ignoring the maid who was now behind her.

Remilia, obviously surprised by the unexpected attack, was slow to avoid, narrowly dodging Tenshi?s first slash.  She attempted to flee from melee range, but Tenshi kept up the pursuit.  She was faster, now that Remilia had been so exhausted, and with keystones keeping Youmu and Sakuya at bay, there was no one left to defend her.

Realizing she wouldn?t be able to escape, Remilia turned to fight.  As Tenshi prepared her next attack, Remilia unexpectedly charged her, knocking back her sword with one hand while clawing at her with the other.  Tenshi attempted to call a keystone in defense, but Remilia blasted through it like it was nothing, her nails raking painfully across Tenshi?s stomach.

Tenshi winced as she grabbed Remilia?s wrist with her free hand, pulling Remilia towards her as she lunged forward with her knee.  She felt her knee impact hard into Remilia?s stomach, but the vampire barely reacted, instead breaking her hand out of Tenshi?s grip and bringing it around for another swing.  Tenshi responded by dropping a keystone on her head, blindsiding her and carrying her downwards with the impact.

As Tenshi followed Remilia downwards, the keystone pushing Remilia towards the ground exploded as Remilia smashed it, and as the fragments of stone cleared, Tenshi could see a bright red light coalescing in her right hand.  The light rapidly took the form of a spear, and Tenshi was barely able to spin herself out of the way as Remilia hurled it towards her.  The force of the throw was so great that, despite not making contact with her at all, it still threw her back a few feet.

Thanks to being thrown back, Tenshi barely saw Sakuya throw a pair of knives out of the corner of her eye, and span to dodge.  The first knife came painfully close, grazing her cheek, though she was able to deflect the second with her sword.  Before she could make another move, Remilia came up from under her, forcing her to dodge to the side.  As Remilia continued upwards, she turned to face Sakuya, but was instead met with Youmu charging at her, sword bared.

Tenshi was able to dodge the first cut, but her second attack was aimed at her sword, rather than her.  Youmu caught the tip of Tenshi?s weapon with her own and flicked her wrist, throwing Tenshi?s blade back.  Using the opening she created, she cut down hard, and thanks to her odd technique Tenshi was forced to block the slash straight on rather than deflect it.  The force of the hit sent her reeling backwards, though she was still steady.

Immediately after receiving the hit, Tenshi called three keystones around her and sent them off after her three opponents, spewing as many lasers as they could.  She needed to buy some time to recover her composure, and thankfully, the density of projectiles was enough that all three of them were forced to fall back.

Having earned a short respite, Tenshi breathed deep, feeling the pain of her various wounds, new and old, come to her.  She was able to suppress the pain while fighting, but if she did so for too long, it would start to crack her composure.  If she lost that during the middle of an exchange, there was no doubt that she would lose the fight instantly.

It seemed she had taken considerably more damage than she had anticipated.  None of her wounds were particularly dangerous, but all of them stung like mad.  The wounds inflicted by Remilia?s claws, while likely the most severe, were also already beginning to heal, a consequence of being a Celestial and taking an attack from a youkai.  Her other injuries, however, were made by swords and knives, and wouldn?t heal any faster than they would for a normal human.  As such, she was stuck with the pain for a while.

The fight had rapidly turned against her.  They had been fighting cautiously before, which had given her the chance to be aggressive and push them back, but now that they understood how bad the situation was, they were starting to get desperate.  Their desperation made them aggressive, and she couldn?t sustain pressure on the three of them while they were acting aggressively as well.

Without being able to pressure them, she would continue to be pushed back into a corner until she eventually succumbed to their attacks.  It was a difficult spot to be in, and it was going to take a tremendous stroke of either luck or genius to turn the battle back into her favour if they kept this up.

As Tenshi?s mind raced, searching for a way to turn the battle in her favour, Remilia and Youmu suddenly charged her.  Using keystones to hold Remilia off, she turned to deflect Youmu?s incoming sword with her own.  As Youmu continued to push, locking their swords together Tenshi responded by calling more keystones.  For some reason or other, Youmu tried to ignore the keystones, but it only took two impacts before she was knocked away.

Tenshi immediately turned to see Remilia already taking a swipe at her.  She brought her sword up to block, just barely in time, but instead of the strong impact of a slash or punch, she instead felt Remilia grab her sword.  Confused as to what Remilia thought she was going to accomplish, she looked up and saw her expression.  She was covered in sweat, bleeding from more places she could count, and breathing hard as if she had just run a marathon.  But even so, her face bore a victorious smile.  She realized too late that she had made a fatal mistake.

She had hesitated.


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Sakuya watched Remilia and Youmu charge Tenshi again.  Gripping her knives so tightly her hands were beginning to hurt, she waited intently for the signal.
As soon as Tenshi noticed their approach, more keystones appeared, seemingly out of thin air, and began to harry Remilia.  Youmu immediately made contact, locking swords with her opponent, but before Sakuya could even consider capitalizing on the opening, more keystones appeared and knocked her away.

Sakuya had to admit to being slightly jealous.  Tenshi seemed to be materializing keystones out of nothing, providing her an essentially unlimited supply.  Normally, Sakuya had no issue with the number of knives she could throw ? she could simply stop time and go pick up the ones she had already thrown when she needed more.  But in this fight, where she was restricted from using her time manipulation, she felt the limit on her throwing knives harshly.

Suddenly, Remilia broke free from the keystones that were harassing her, managing to close the distance between her and Tenshi.  As always, Tenshi?s defence was quick, but Remilia didn?t seem to be attacking.  Instead she just grabbed Tenshi?s sword, with her bare hands.  Sakuya winced as she saw that, unconsciously thinking ahead to the complaints of cuts on her hands Remilia would no doubt voice afterwards.  For the moment, however, she was smiling.

?SAKUYA, NOW!?  Remilia roared as she firmly held Tenshi?s sword in place.  Without a moment?s hesitation, Sakuya barreled forward, knives in hand.  With Remilia holding her sword, she was trapped ? defenseless.  Her only route of escape was to abandon the sword and fly away, or attempt to wrestle it from Remilia?s grasp.  In that time, Sakuya would end the fight.

However, as had happened quite frequently today, things did not go as planned.  A keystone impacted hard into Remilia?s back, and though she still held, Tenshi?s follow up kick to the stomach sent her tumbling away.

Sakuya gritted her teeth.  She would not miss this chance.  She could not miss this chance.  Both Youmu and Remilia had taken hard hits to make this opening for her, she would not let it pass her by.  Without thinking, she finally let loose her power ? and time stopped.

It was a strange sensation, knowing you had to hurry even when time was stopped.  But hurry she did.  Despite everything she knew was coming, despite knowing that stopping time was too dangerous, she refused to let the opening Remilia and Youmu had made for her slip by.

In only split second, she crossed the remaining distance between her and Tenshi, and in one more her knives would find their marks.  But just before they did, out of the corner of her eye, Sakuya saw something move.

Struggling against her own momentum, she barely managed to throw herself backwards as three large, spear-like crystals cut through the air between her and Tenshi.  Sakuya changed directions again as a plume of light erupted behind her, followed by another three crystals and a volley of lasers.  As Sakuya turned to look at the source of the incoming attacks, she immediately heard a voice behind her.

?I thought this was obvious, but I guess I should make it clear.  I?m not going to put up with this today.?  Sakuya turned, and not three feet away from her, Hoshimi floated nonchalantly in the air, tapping her temple with her forefinger.  As fast as she could make her arms move, she swiped at her with the knife in her right hand, redirecting at the last moment to instead knock another crystal out of the air before it impaled her.  Continuing the spin, she narrowly dodged another two crystals before slashing again with the knife in her right hand.

Hoshimi raised a hand to block the incoming knife, and as the blade reached her palm, it shattered like glass.  Sakuya didn?t stop to think, ducking out of the way of another laser and turning to throw her remaining knife at Tenshi.  The instant the knife was out of her hand, she let go of time, and it began to flow again normally.

As the world around her snapped back into motion, Hoshimi instantly vanished, and her knife soared towards her target.  As expected, Tenshi was already in the middle of turning, and the knife only grazed her shoulder as she dodged out of the way.

Sakuya stopped to take a breath, seeing that Tenshi wasn?t pushing to counter.  It seemed they?d managed to exhaust her considerably, and despite the wounds Remilia inflicted closing rapidly, the ones caused by Youmu and herself weren?t healing at all.  There was no doubt she was reaching her limit, but unfortunately, the same could be said for her side.

Honestly, it was ridiculous how fast Tenshi?s reflexes were. For someone who was supposed to sit around in Heaven eating peaches all day, she was able to fend the three of them off ? for the most part ? exceptionally well.  On top of that, if things continued the way they were, she suspected that Remilia and Youmu wouldn?t be able to continue.  Remilia?s condition was rapidly worsening just from coming into contact with Tenshi repeatedly, and Youmu?s shoulder wound was rapidly sapping her of strength as well.

A quick check determined that Sakuya was down to three knives.  Pulling one into her right hand, she raised her guard again.  She suspected they would only be able to make one more exchange, maybe two, before Remilia and Youmu would be incapable of continuing.  That would leave her alone against Tenshi, and as expected, if she tried to use her time manipulation, Hoshimi would step in and interrupt.

At this point, with Tenshi so worn down, a one on one wasn?t hopeless, but if they couldn?t beat her with three at this point, she doubted she?d had much of a chance by herself.

I can?t keep this up, Youmu sent over the telepathic link through the dolls.  The pain was obvious in her ?voice,? to the point Sakuya was impressed she was able to concentrate properly to communicate through the dolls.  Regardless, Youmu had confirmed Sakuya?s suspicions, though to her credit she still formed up and raised her guard.  As Remilia did the same, Sakuya made her final decision.

We aren?t going to last like this, she sent over the dolls.  Of course, she could still go on for a while, but Remilia wouldn?t stand for her to bow out before Sakuya did. We need to end this now.

A few moments passed in silence, as they all watched Tenshi.  Suddenly, she spoke up.

?I don?t know how you guys managed to pull it off on such short notice,? Tenshi said, her voice actually managing to sound petulant despite her multitude of injuries, ?but it?s pretty frustrating to not be able to screw with the weather.?

Sakuya smiled in spite of herself.  Tenshi likes your atmospheric bubble, Miss Patchouli, Sakuya sent over the dolls.  No words came back, but a definite feeling of satisfaction reached her from somewhere far away.  It appeared the dolls were capable of expressing pure emotion across distance.  How curious.

?I know we?ve let you mess around ?til now,? Remilia spoke up loudly, the tiredness in her voice sapping it?s intended condescension, ?but this is it.  Everything ends with this next attack ? you better prepare yourself.?

Sakuya allowed herself the luxury of rolling her eyes.  Remilia wasn?t close enough to see, after all.  It kind of defeated the purpose of making a last ditch effort if you were going to put the opponent on guard before you did it though.

Tenshi raised her sword in a guard stance, a smile coming to her face.  It seemed she wanted to end things quickly as well.

On three, Remilia sent.  She called out the Gungnir again and levelled it at Tenshi.

One?

Time seemed to slow, and Sakuya had to double check that she wasn?t the one doing it.

Two?

The three of them tensed, ready to move on a moment?s notice.  Tenshi responded to their increased tension, tightening her guard as well.

?THREE!? Remilia shouted, and the three of them charged.

As they began to move, four large keystones appeared in the air around Tenshi.  Barrel-rolling out of the way, Sakuya dodged the lasers they fired as narrowly as possible, attempting to keep her course steady.  If they were going to finish this now, they needed to destroy these keystones ? there was no way they?d be able to fight Tenshi with these firing at their backs.

Unfortunately, Sakuya?s knives were built to cut through flesh, not stone, so she had to be more precise than the other two did.  Dodging inwards to get past another laser, she brought herself into a rising cut, flipping herself over the keystone as she did so.  Her knife sliced cleanly through the shimenawa rope wrapped around the stone, and the stone fell lifeless to the ground.

Well, that made things easier, didn?t it? she thought to herself, thankful that her gamble paid off.  Clearing the falling stone, she closed in on Tenshi to keep her attention off the other two.  Thankfully, they had come to the same conclusion as her, as almost simultaneously Youmu cut one of the keystones in half as Remilia obliterated another with her spear.

Sakuya flew in a wide circle around Tenshi, slashing at her with every opportunity.  She didn?t expect to accomplish much other than distract her, and sure enough, Tenshi?s sword came up to parry the knife again and again.  Once she reached the other side of Tenshi, she instinctively dropped below her, narrowly dodging a laser coming from her blind spot from the last remaining keystone.  Sakuya threw the knife in her right hand as she pulled another with her left, the thrown knife cleanly slicing through the rope holding the final keystone aloft.  Just as before, with the rope cut, the stone fell to the ground, no longer firing lasers.

As she turned back, Sakuya was forced to stop herself from grinding her teeth.  Youmu and Remilia approached Tenshi from either side, leaving no room for her to attack.  She watched carefully as they exchanged blows, waiting for an opening to strike.

Tenshi was a blur of motion.  Her sword didn?t come to a stop once as she rapidly parried, span around, parried another, span back, and continued.  On the odd occasion, a small keystone would appear, deflecting an attack from a critical wound into a grazing hit, but for the most part, she stopped almost every attack that came at her with her sword.  Sakuya was once again amazed at her reflexes.  Her fighting style was reckless, yet overwhelming.  She once again reaffirmed the fact that she would not be able to take her alone.

Deflecting another stab from Remilia?s spear, Tenshi threw herself shoulder-first into Youmu.  Using her sword to deflect Youmu?s incoming slash, she tackled into her, breaking her stance.  She followed the tackle with a roundhouse kick, throwing Youmu back, before dodging upwards away from Remilia?s swipe.

Remilia came at her again, despite now having the disadvantage of being below her target, and Tenshi blocked the blow with the flat of her blade.  The impact pushed her back a few feet into the air, opening the distance between them.  Sakuya immediately moved to intercept before Tenshi could restore her guard, coming in just late enough that she didn?t have to dodge the spear that Remilia threw.

Tenshi gracefully twirled away from the incoming spear as she deflected it with her sword.  Sakuya came in fast, aiming to puncture through Tenshi?s guard, but her attack missed as Tenshi suddenly plummeted.  Turning to follow, she saw at the last moment, Tenshi drop her heel into Remilia?s chest from almost directly above her.  The impact sent Remilia hurtling downwards, clearly having lost the ability to stop herself.  As she watched Remilia fall, Sakuya was overcome by an unfamiliar feeling: panic.

Despite Sakuya?s inner yearning to chase after Remilia and save her before she hit the ground, her body moved practically of its own accord, ignoring the panic that was gripping her.  She came down hard with a slash, which Tenshi sidestepped, putting the two of them on equal footing once more.  Sakuya pressed the attack, her knife striking at Tenshi from every angle imaginable as she maneuvered herself around her in circles.

Tenshi was no longer parrying or deflecting.  She used her sword only to block, and when she couldn?t block in time, she dodged.  Sakuya kept attacking.  Her panic continued to grow, and as it did, her actions seemed to become more distant, as if one part of her was trying to run after the injured Remilia while it left the rest of her fighting here.

Tenshi suddenly lunged forward, deflecting Sakuya?s knife and passing behind her.  In a flurry of motion, Sakuya passed her knife to her left hand, span around, and reached for her last knife with her right hand.  As soon as she could see Tenshi out of the corner of her eye, she let the knife in her left hand fly, aiming straight for Tenshi?s head.

Spinning to face Sakuya once again, she was completely caught off guard by the thrown knife.  Her turn however had moved her out of the knife?s direct path, and it grazed her faced a finger-width away from her left eye.  Sakuya couldn?t even feel the disappointment of the miss as she drew her last knife and lunged at Tenshi.

Tenshi blocked the sideways cut Sakuya lunged into with her sword.  Immediately, Sakuya followed it up with a rising cut, which Tenshi narrowly dodged by sliding backwards.  Pursuing, she came in with a falling cut, aiming right where the shoulder meets the neck ? her eyes going wide as the knife stopped short.

Tenshi had let go of her sword with her left hand and punched Sakuya?s incoming knife hand at the wrist.  Following a startlingly late response, a massive shock ran through Sakuya?s right arm, and she could feel her hand go numb.  Using her right hand, Tenshi performed a one handed swing and easily knocked the knife out of Sakuya?s fingers.

Time seemed to slow.  Tenshi brought her sword above her head, taking a two handed grip once again.  Sakuya used her left hand to reach for another knife, which she knew she wouldn?t find.  As Tenshi brought her sword down, Sakuya could do nothing but raise her numb right arm in front of her, hoping that she could deflect the blade enough to stop it from cutting her in half, knowing that there was no time to dodge.

And then she heard a shout.

The last thing Sakuya saw before being violently thrown aside was Tenshi?s eyes going wide, and the angle of her sword change ever so slightly.  She was then spinning head over heels, unable to even recognize which direction she was going in.  After a few seconds that felt like an eternity, she managed to right herself and turn to see what had happened.

It was Youmu.  Both her and Tenshi had managed to completely forget about her, and then at the last second, she had kicked her aside and met Tenshi?s sword with her own.  Youmu brought her sword up in a rising slash, and Tenshi blocked with the flat of her blade.  The impact sent her a few feet backwards, but Youmu was already chasing.  She slashed again, and again, both times her sword being deflected, but before Tenshi could respond, she attacked again with a massive overhead slash.

At the last possible instant, Tenshi managed to bring her sword up enough to deflect the slash slightly to her left.  Combined with her twisting her body awkwardly, the sword narrowly missed her, leaving Youmu with a gaping defense.  Tenshi didn?t miss the opportunity, bringing her sword down hard, almost perfectly mirroring Youmu?s previous slash.

And just as miraculously as Tenshi?s defense had been, Youmu managed to bring her sword up?with a one handed cut.  Tenshi?s face mirrored Sakuya?s surprise as she brought her sword down, sweeping away the weak, one handed attack.  But the attack had done enough ? it had redirected Tenshi?s attack safely to the side?and her left hand still moved.

Her right hand holding tight to her sword that had just deflected Tenshi?s attack, the force of the clashing swords had broken any chance for her to counter-attack.  But Sakuya could see something Tenshi could not.  As Sakuya was behind Youmu, she could see her using her left hand?to pull another sword from its scabbard. Tenshi tried to bring her sword up in another attack, reading Youmu?s lack of a defense as an opening, so she could do nothing but watch as Youmu drew her wakizashi, plunging it into Tenshi?s left arm.

For an instant, both of them froze.  Tenshi, staring in shock at the sword that was now pierced entirely through her arm, and Youmu releasing the short-bladed sword and taking a two-handed grip on her katana once again.  In the span of a second that felt like an eternity, Youmu span in a full circle, using the momentum of her spin to cut horizontally across Tenshi?s stomach.

Tenshi, still stunned by the sword in her arm, didn?t even manage to mount a defense.  Youmu?s sword cut deep through her torso, and blood sprayed.  Neither of them moved.

This time, for real, everything stopped.  The seconds counted by, and neither Youmu nor Tenshi moved a muscle.  Finally, after over ten seconds of stillness, Tenshi turned her head.  She looked once at the wound across her stomach, then rose her eyes to meet Youmu?s gaze.  Her eyes then closed, a smile rising to her face, and Sakuya could her faint laughter coming from her.

Sakuya could see the tension leave her body as Tenshi dropped her sword, and like a marionette with its strings cut, she soon fell after it.


--------------------------------------


Remilia walked slowly, leaning on Sakuya, towards the spot where Tenshi had fallen.  She had worried briefly when she had fallen that Sakuya was going to just let her plummet to the ground without even trying to catch her.  Her worry quickly changed to worrying that Sakuya would come after her, leaving Youmu alone to fight.

Her worries had been for naught on both accounts, however.  Sakuya had stayed in the fight, holding Tenshi back just long enough for Youmu to return, and Remilia had somehow worked up the strength to make a safe landing, despite being on the verge of blacking out.  When she was finally able to get some measure of composure together, she looked up only to see Tenshi plummeting through the air, defeated.

The three of them watched silently as she fell, up until the moment she impacted the ground.  When she still didn?t move, the other two finally left where they were floating in the air.  While Youmu went after Tenshi, Sakuya instead turned to look for her Mistress.  Which she appreciated.

After a brief check to make sure that she wasn?t critically injured, Sakuya finally gave her a supporting shoulder and helped her walk over to where Youmu stood.  Honestly, Remilia was furious.  How had Sakuya gotten through the fight without a single scratch, while she could barely stand? It was ludicrous!  She was too tired, however, to bother giving voice to this complaint, and instead chose to be silently thankful that Sakuya was in good enough condition to help Remilia walk.

Remilia?s wounds were, in all honesty, not very serious.  But the effect of fighting against a celestial was far more potent than she had anticipated ? especially since she hadn?t anticipated it at all.  It felt like, as the fight progressed, her veins had been slowly filling with fire, while were muscles were slowly turning to lead.  As it was now, every breath brought the threat of blacking out, and every step brought the threat of falling without being able to stand back up.  She had no idea how long the effect would last, or if it would ever go away, but she was far from caring at this point.

Finally, after what had felt like a long and arduous journey, Remilia and Sakuya reached the spot where Youmu was standing.  The makeshift bandage she had created was dyed a solid, deep red, and her face was covered with a thin sheen of sweat.  Otherwise, however, her expression was calm, her eyes fixed on the fallen celestial.

?I?m surprised your still here,? Remilia broke the silence, doing her best to keep the weariness from her voice.

Tenshi turned her head slightly, eyes fixing on Remilia, and her lips curled up in the slightest of smiles.  ?I figured after all that?I?d give you at least the chance to finish me off.?

?Hah.  If you can still joke like that, this fight is far from over.?  Remilia briefly looked down at Tenshi?s injuries after she spoke.  She had a massive wound in her arm, as if it had been impaled, and a gash across her stomach that was deep enough that most youkai would probably not survive from it.  Still, as a celestial, she knew that Tenshi could leave the physical realm at any time and return to Heaven, where she could recover from any wound in peace.  Yet here she remained.

?Well,? Remilia continued, ?I?ll make you a deal.  You tell us what we want to know, and we?ll let you go.?

Tenshi laughed weakly.  Even she must have known that her trying to act tough was nothing more than comical at this point, but still she persisted.  ?My, how generous of you,? she finally managed to reply.  ?Alright, what do you want to hear??

Youmu was the one that spoke. ?Why are you working with Hoshimi??  It was the same question as before, but this time her eyes didn?t hold any of the same cold fury.  Now, her expression was relaxed.  Weariness, tinted with pain, all hidden beneath a mask of calm.

Tenshi slowly turned her eyes to Youmu, who she regarded for a short while before closing them.  ?Naturally, to protect Gensokyo,? she finally said.  Remilia struggled to decide whether she was joking again or not.  Her expression said nothing. When none of them responded to her claim, she continued.

?I couldn?t let you guys reach that tower.  If you did?well, I couldn?t.  The best way was to pretend to take her side, fight you guys off.  If I could beat you, stop you from getting there, everything would have been fine.?

?If you were trying to help us, why didn?t you just come join us?? Sakuya spoke up, her voice perfectly composed.  Remilia was reminded of how upset she was that Sakuya was still healthy.

Tenshi smiled bitterly.  ?I found Hoshimi first.  If I had left at that point, she would have just shot me down on the spot.?  Sakuya?s expression turned downcast.  None of them could argue that.

?But it wasn?t just an attempt to save my own skin,? she said, again managing to sound whiny despite being on the edge of dying. ?I figured that if you guys fought me, you?d have a better chance at surviving.  I could hold back, choose not to kill you.  She wouldn?t.?

?So you honestly intended to win? Against all of us?? Remilia was the next to speak up.

Tenshi laughed again, a bit more vigor to her voice.  ?I didn?t think she was telling the truth when she said all of Gensokyo was coming.  Boy, did she make a fool out of me.?  Remilia couldn?t help but smile along with her at that.  It was a pretty ridiculous claim, after all.  If Remilia hadn?t met Hoshimi first hand, she would have never even considered working together with anyone else, let alone everyone.  And yet, here they all stood.

?Alright, one last question, then.?  Seeing no one else was planning on continuing the conversation, Remilia took the lead once again.  ?Why is it that you don?t want us to get close to that tower?  We know it?s a weapon, we came here to stop it.  Why is that bad??

Tenshi?s face turned serious.  ?Alright, listen, and listen carefully.  This is the most important thing you?ll hear for your entire life, so don?t you dare forget.?  Despite the serious look on her face, her words were still as pretentious as ever.  ?That tower?this whole setup, it?s a trap.  She wanted you all to get here, as many of you as possible.  The three of us?the three of us guarding her were probably just meant to slow you down, wear you out a bit before you fought her.?

Tenshi took a shaky breath before continuing.  ?Whatever you do, no matter what happens, do not-?

Tenshi?s voice suddenly cut off.  Remilia, Youmu, and Sakuya?s faces were slow to register what had happened, but their shock couldn?t match that of Tenshi?s.

A small spire of stone, maybe three feet tall, was now sticking up out of the ground before them.  It was small, but very dense-looking, and slick with blood.  And it was protruding straight out from Tenshi?s chest.

Naturally, the stone spire had driven the air from her lungs, preventing her from talking ? it had gone right through them.

As the three standing stood in shock, Tenshi?s face went through a whirlwind of emotions.  First shock, as she stared at the stone piercing through her, then pain, as she struggled vainly to free herself from it.  Finally, unbridled fury, as she turned to look off into the distance ? straight at Hoshimi.

Tenshi struggled to finish what she had been saying, her face finally taking a look of fear, but when she opened her mouth the only thing that came out was blood.  But it was obvious enough to tell just by looking at her ? she wasn?t afraid for herself.  Even being impaled, the light from her eyes rapidly fading, she wasn?t worried about dying.  She was afraid she wasn?t going to be able to tell them what she needed to.

Finally broken from the shock that had frozen them, Sakuya and Youmu rushed to her side.  There was nothing they could do, that was obvious just by looking, but still they tried.  Remilia, on the other hand, instead turned toward Hoshimi.

?You?? Her mind went blank.  Memories from no more than two weeks ago flooded her mind.

Meiling, bloody and broken, little better than Tenshi was now.

Flandre, terrified, crying in her arms as her sight had been taken away from her.

And then Tenshi, dying from a wound caused by someone who was supposed to be her ally.

??you?monster?? Remilia took a step forward.  There was no more room for thought.  She would destroy Hoshimi.  She would rip her apart with her bare hands.  When she was done, she would be begging for mercy, and as she did so, Remilia would squeeze the life from her as slowly and painfully as possible.

??how?could you?? Another step.  Before she could take a third, however, Hoshimi?s voice echoed across the field to them.

?It seems you?ve won, little vampire.  Congratulations.?

?She was?on your side?how?h-how??  Her mind was completely blank.  She couldn?t even finish the question.  She felt Sakuya?s hand on her arm, urging her back to reality, but that was a faraway place.  A place far, far away from her wish of obliterating Hoshimi right here, and right now.

?It wouldn?t do to have her spoil the ending before the play is through, don?t you agree?  Hmm?though maybe I should have picked a cleaner way of doing it.  I hadn?t intended for her to?suffer, quite so much.? Her voice turned cynical. ?Plus, after all that, don?t try and tell me she was on my side.?

At that, Remilia was returned back to reality.  Burning, white-hot rage pierced through the blanket smothering her thoughts, and she was back.  An instant before she took off, off to put an end to Hoshimi once and for all, to give the unbounded anger inside of her form, Sakuya?s voice broke through.

?Mistress, please!? She was all but shouting, but Remilia didn?t care.  Remilia turned to knock Sakuya away, to break her arm from her grip, but as she raised her arm to hit her, she saw Tenshi lying behind her.

Her eyes had lost the light of life, but still she had an arm raised, pointing at Remilia as if trying to warn her of something.  For an instant, Remilia thought she had finally died, but to her surprise, her lips still moved.  There was no sound, as she could no longer draw breath.  But over and over, she mouthed something silently.  Remilia struggled to make out what she was trying to say.  Over and over, she was repeating one word.

Don?t.

Don?t.

Don?t.

With just that, it felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice cold water over her.  She was no less angry, but she couldn?t bring herself to move.  Her desire for vengeance was still burning inside her, but she couldn?t work up the will to put it into action.  Her body felt heavy, her eyes felt heavy, and she was in so much pain.

She wouldn?t even be able to make it to Hoshimi, let alone beat her.  Realizing this single fact was the chain that held back her fury, kept her from rushing headlong into her own death.

?She?s right, Mistress.  If we go now?as we are, there?s just no way??  Sakuya was still trying to convince her, despite the fact she had already figured it out.  How dumb did she think she was?  Ignoring Sakuya beside her, Remilia finally sighed, nodding towards Tenshi.

Tenshi, face still drawn with pain, fear, and regret, finally relaxed slightly, the smallest of smiles tugging at her lips.  As best she could, she nodded back to Remilia, and then closed her eyes.

Almost immediately, her body began to glow with a faint, golden light, and only seconds later she burst into countless motes of shimmering, golden dust.  The glowing dust twisted into a slow whirlwind, defying the breeze that blew past them, and floated gently upwards into the sky before vanishing.

Remilia and Sakuya stood silently, watching the spot where Tenshi had been lying.  Youmu stood up from where she had been kneeling beside her, and looked up into the sky where the golden dust had disappeared.

?It was pretty close, but?her soul isn?t here.  She made it back to Heaven, so she should be okay, though I suspect it?ll take a few months??

Sakuya breathed a sigh of relief, while Remilia just nodded.  She had no idea how many seconds of life Tenshi had left, how long she struggled to stay to make sure she didn?t do something stupid.  She?d never admit it, since no matter what she said afterwards they had been enemies, but Remilia couldn?t help but feel a small twinge of?gratefulness?

No, it wasn?t quite that.  She couldn?t put a finger on what it was, but the fact she had suffered so much longer than was necessary to tell them, then held on to the last possible second to stop her from acting recklessly and getting herself killed, effectively risking her life to save Remilia?s?that created a deep, strong feeling within her.

Remilia turned back towards the small camp where Patchouli and the others were waiting.  ?We?ve defeated Tenshi,? she said aloud, intending for it to go through the dolls. ?We?re now returning to the base camp to regroup.?  She vaguely had a feeling that that?s not how the dolls worked, that it didn?t involve talking out loud, but she didn?t care anymore.  That?s what Sakuya was for.

Though her arms and legs felt twice as heavy as before, Remilia walked, ignoring Sakuya?s offer to help.


Only Hoshimi is left.  Hopefully she can keep us entertained until the end of the story!

I wonder what Tenshi was trying to tell them... :ohdear:

[lightdreamer]

SO... AWESOME!!!

First of all, I thought you'd already abandoned this story since I don't get anymore thread update notification emails for this.

Boy oh boy, I'm glad that wasn't the case.

Well done! You really know how to write fight scenes.  The excitement, the tension, the tactics, it's all there!

And I hope we'll get one hell of a finale since you have to go even further beyond to top all of this!

[TwilightsCall]

And I hope we'll get one hell of a finale since you have to go even further beyond to top all of this!

whoa pressure!


So its the beginning of the end.  This chapter is pretty long, so you might want to go grab yourself something to eat.  Maybe a drink.  Take your time, set up some cool music.  I'll wait, don't worry.

Here you go.  This chapter is split into two parts because it clocked in at 14,606 words.  Far, far too long, I really should have split this into two chapters.  So if you like, feel free to consider part 2 as a bonus chapter :P



Chapter 19 ? Darkness Falls (Part 1)



Reimu forced herself to keep breathing as she dodged out of the way of another volley of crystal shards.  Each was the size of her forearm, and probably twice as thick.  Not to mention sharp enough to probably punch right through her if they hit.

She had to make doubly sure she kept breathing.  It was easy to forget some of the simplest things when you were fighting for your life.

They had already been fighting for far longer than Reimu would have believed possible.  Whether she was taking them lightly, or just fighting cautiously due to the unknown that was Byakuren, Hoshimi hadn?t yet crushed them.  However, in the same vain, their help hadn?t yet arrived, and they were definitely fighting at a disadvantage.

As if to prove her point, Hoshimi knocked away an incoming Master Spark with a bare hand, using her other hand to create a wall of crystal to block an incoming attack from Byakuren.  The attack was easily blocked, and once Byakuren attempted to disengage, the crystal wall shattered into dozens of deadly fragments, each pointing their tips towards her before launching like bullets.  While it was easy enough to avoid, having to do so over and over was beginning to get tiresome.

Reimu attempted to sneak an attack in, but Hoshimi instantly turned to face her, another volley of crystals appearing in the air around her.  Reimu threw a handful of talismans and made to dodge, before realizing the crystals weren?t coming for her.  The talismans stopped short, as they always did, popping with a flash of light before vanishing.  As they did, the crystals now surrounding Hoshimi began to glow with a vibrant purple light.

Of the dozen or so crystals, four turned to face her, and one by one they each fired a thick purple laser.  Reimu continued moving in a circle, leading the lasers, despite logic dictating she should cut between the lasers and close the gap between her and Hoshimi.  As expected, the crystals firing the lasers turned to track her once they had all fired, and she soon had all four of them pursuing her at once.

A few well-placed talismans destroyed the crystals, as well as the others that had been tracking Marisa and Byakuren.  Immediately, a massive volley of tiny stars engulfed Hoshimi, but she could easily tell that those that should have been hitting her were winking out shortly before making contact.

Immediately after the wave of stars passed, Byakuren charged, a wave of thin yellow lasers coming in from behind her.  Curving around, they managed to arc around Hoshimi and come at her from behind.  Hoshimi, without even moving from where she floated, raised a hand towards the incoming lasers.  Immediately, the air crystallized into a thick sheet, once again blocking the lasers before they could even come close.

Turning to face the still-charging Byakuren, she raised her hand again, and the crystal wall span around her to block Byakuren?s advance.  Stopping just short of the wall, Byakuren seemed to pause, as if she was taking a deep breath.  An instant later, her fist hammered into the crystal wall, smashing it and sending the shards flying backwards.  The shards span away from Hoshimi, as if she was in some sort of protective sphere, before falling to the ground below.

A series of crystal projectiles and lasers forced Byakuren away, and once again Hoshimi was safe.  Reimu growled in frustration.  She knew that they weren?t really supposed to be trying to win, only to last long enough for help to arrive, but it was still incredibly frustrating that after all this time they couldn?t land a single hit.

Granted, that went for both sides.  Though Hoshimi didn?t seem the least bit perturbed, none of the three of them had taken a hit yet, let alone become seriously injured.  It didn?t feel like it, but Reimu supposed that made them the winning team so far.

Suddenly, something changed.  She didn?t know what had tipped her off, whether it was a slight change in Hoshimi?s expression, or a tensing of her shoulders, but whatever it was, Reimu wasted no time in charging her.

As if oblivious to Reimu?s incoming attack, Hoshimi turned, looking off into the distance.  Wasting no time, Reimu threw a handful of thin purple needles, preparing to follow up after they were inevitably blocked with a flying kick.  Surprising everyone present, however, the needles flew true ? embedding themselves deep into Hoshimi?s left arm and shoulder.

Hoshimi?s expression seemed more shocked than pained, and she quickly turned to face Reimu again.  Reimu was overcome with a sense of dread, moving far too fast and being far too close to stop her attack, but was once again overcome with surprise as Hoshimi brought her arms up in defense.  Reimu?s kick landed hard on Hoshimi?s block, pushing her back a few feet.

Immediately, Reimu disengaged, preparing to dodge the incoming attack, but none came.  Before she could counter-attack, Hoshimi was forced to turn and defend from another incoming Master Spark, deflecting it towards Byakuren who had also taken the initiative to exploit Hoshimi?s opening.

Continuing to fly in a circle around Hoshimi to make herself a harder target, Reimu tried another barrage of needles.  She had no idea why the last attack had hit her, when nothing before had, but she wasn?t about to complain.  This time, however, the needles spiraled outwards as if caught in a whirlwind, going wide.

Reimu gave a small yelp as the air in front of her suddenly crystallized.  Spinning herself so that she was flying feet first, she landed on the vertical crystal wall, using it to stop her momentum, before pushing off and flying in the opposite direction.  A split second after she kicked off, the crystal wall shattered, the fragments chasing Reimu through the air.

A series of lasers soon cut through the air behind Reimu, knocking the crystal fragments from the air.  A brief glance showed Marisa smiling triumphantly.  Reimu didn?t know why she had decided to cover Reimu rather than just take another chance at attacking Hoshimi, but she supposed she shouldn?t complain.

The fight soon fell into a lull.  Reimu, Marisa, and Byakuren all surrounded Hoshimi, watching carefully for any openings.  Hoshimi, her expression unreadable, positioned herself so that she could keep Reimu and Marisa both in her sights.  Though this meant her back was to Byakuren, they had learned well enough from fighting her so far that this was likely more a trap than an actual opening.

Reimu took the short break to ponder over what had just happened.  Hoshimi, using her bare hands, pulled one of the needles out of her shoulder that had embedded itself there, inspecting it somewhat nonchalantly.  With a shrug, she let the needle fall to the ground, and soon the rest of the needles embedded in her extracted themselves and fell after it.

Why had that attack landed?  Even when Hoshimi had been locked in hand-to-hand combat with someone else, none of her attacks could connect.  Yet, these needles had made it through.  Attempting to follow up with more, however, produced the expected effect of missing entirely.  Was it some sort of defense that could stop any attack she had already been hit by?  If that was true, then there was no reason for Byakuren?s attacks to be ineffective, since the two had never met.

Reimu carefully looked off into the distance.  A moment before she had been hit, Hoshimi had turned to look somewhere, so that was her best bet for figuring out what had happened.  She looked over, and realized quickly what she was looking at.

Remilia, Sakuya, and Youmu looking down as Tenshi?s body scattered into a blizzard of shimmering, gold dust.  Reimu didn?t know what that meant, but knowing what she did of Celestials, she found it hard to believe that she had died.
However, there was one thing she definitely did know.  And judging by Hoshimi?s earlier lapse in focus, she knew as well.  Tenshi was down.  That meant?

?Seems like things aren?t going so well for you,? Reimu said with a smirk.  After so long of feeling like she was at a disadvantage, she couldn?t help but try to rub it in when she noticed the odds were turning in her favour.

?Oh? What ever could you mean?? Hoshimi turned to face Reimu, her expression clearly showing that she was only feigning ignorance.

?Your allies have all lost.  You?re all alone now.  Just one more step along the road to your inevitable loss, I suppose??

?Oh, don?t worry,? Hoshimi said with a smile, ?I?ve planned for even this possibility.  Besides, things aren?t all that bad.?
Reimu just raised an eyebrow, prompting Hoshimi to continue.  ?Well, for starters, I may have lost three allies, but how many have you lost?  By my last count?was it six??

Reimu suddenly felt an oppressive fear overcome her.  She hadn?t been able to keep track of the other fights, only noticing out of the corner of her eye when one each finished.  She wouldn?t have even noticed that the fight against Tenshi had ended if it wasn?t for Hoshimi taking notice of it as well.
That meant that Reimu had no idea how the other groups had faired.  She didn?t have the composure to defend against Hoshimi while watching the other fights, so she couldn?t do anything but hope that they were alright.

But six? She knew they were up against strong opponents, but trading two for one?even if one ignored the implications of whether they were alright or not, it certainly felt like their chances against Hoshimi herself were plummeting.

Reimu shook her head to clear the thoughts from her mind.  This was no time to be worrying about anyone else, and even if it was, she should know better than to take anything her opponent said seriously.  She was more than experienced with the mind games that youkai loved to play with their opponents and victims, so she knew firsthand that she had nothing to gain from taking Hoshimi?s words to heart.

?And besides?? Hoshimi continued, her smile turning sinister. ??I?ve still got one puppet left.?

At that, Reimu was overcome by a completely different anxiety.  Of course, she was right.  They didn?t know how much control she had over her, but it was a definite fact that she still had possession of Yuyuko.  At best, she was a hostage that could be held over them.  At worst, she could manipulate her and force her to use her abilities?specifically, her ability to invoke death in any living thing.

So far, she hadn?t seemed to make any move towards doing such a thing, but it was clear to everyone involved that if she did so, they would instantly lose.

Reimu focused hard on the small doll Alice had given to her.  She found it unnecessarily difficult to communicate with it, and she had no idea why.  Everyone else seemed to be able to talk through the dolls just fine, but for her it was as if she was lacking the talent necessary.  Not a pleasant feeling.

Alright, everyone, Reimu finally managed to send over the link, We need to deal with Yuyuko now or else we aren?t going to win this fight.  Any ideas?

Just relax, okay? It?s covered.  Just don?t die for a little bit. Komachi?s voice echoed quietly in her head, and Reimu had to focus hard to just make out what she was saying.  Relax?  Easy enough to say for a shinigami, but when you were a perfectly normal human, the threat of instant death was a bit more serious.

?Is she really that scary?? Hoshimi spoke, breaking Reimu?s concentration, a puzzled expression on her face. ?I thought she was someone important, but you all keep acting like it?s the end of the world with her around??

Reimu?s eyes went wide with shock.  That?that slip was more than she could let slide.

She doesn?t know! She doesn?t know Yuyuko?s ability! Reimu sent over the dolls, nearly frantic.  We need to do something now, before she realizes what she can do!

She didn?t know how she managed to get this far without knowing, but somehow, Hoshimi didn?t know about Yuyuko?s ability.  They had a chance.  Even with Yuyuko there, they had a chance.  All they had to do was stop Hoshimi from figuring it out.

?Hmm?maybe I should just bring her in and make her fight you, just to see what happens?? Hoshimi pondered aloud, tapping her lower lip with her forefinger.

Before Hoshimi finished talking, Reimu attacked.  Throwing a handful of needles and a handful of talismans, she arced around, trying to get a better angle.

She didn?t know what Komachi?s plan was, let alone if it would work.  But she did know that she needed to stop Hoshimi from bringing in Yuyuko, no matter what it took.

Seeing Reimu?s attack, and no doubt hearing what she had said earlier, Marisa and Byakuren took up action with her.  Hoshimi was instantly beset by a barrage from three sides, and the three of them continued closing in, keeping as much pressure on her as they could.

Before any of the shots reached her, the air around Hoshimi crystallized, forming a perfect sphere around her.  The impact of the shots echoed with a sharp sound, and though none punched through, obvious cracks began to appear in the sphere where the shots had hit.

?or so Reimu thought.  The cracks, however, continued to grow long after the shots impacted, the crystal sphere glowing with a faint light. After a few seconds, the cracks snaked their way around the entire sphere, and it shattered outwards, the glowing fragments hovering in the air around Hoshimi.

?Come, surely you can do better than that,? Hoshimi said, seeming almost to be pouting.  With a wave of her hand, the crystal fragments surrounding her flew outwards towards the three of them.

A spread of talismans intercepted the crystals heading for Reimu, causing them to flash brightly before shattering into even smaller pieces and falling to the ground below.  Marisa attempted to intercept the incoming crystals with a Master Spark, while Byakuren did similarly with thin yellow lasers.  Both of them adopted surprised expressions when neither of their attacks were effective at stopping the incoming crystals, just causing them to glow even brighter.

Byakuren, with a burst of speed that was almost faster than Reimu?s eyes could follow, easily flew between and through the crystals, while Marisa frantically dropped from the sky, narrowly avoiding the impact.  But rather than continue off in the direction they had been fired, the crystal fragments stopped, rapidly changing direction, and began chasing the two of them again.

Reimu moved to help, but broke off almost immediately as a volley of spear-like crystals cut the air in front of her.  Shortly afterwards, a series of thick violet lasers cut the air around her, forcing her back further and further. Reimu answered with a handful of needles, managing to destroy the crystals firing the lasers, though of course the needles aimed at Hoshimi inexplicably changed course and went wide.

As Reimu attempted to close in on Hoshimi again, she noticed out of the corner of her eye Byakuren had managed to shake off the pursuing crystals somehow.  Her next attack was interrupted, however, when she saw a bright flash of light from the other direction, followed quickly by an explosion.

Reimu could feel her heart leap into her throat.  With great difficulty, she pushed down the fear and attacked again, attempting to at least draw Hoshimi?s attention.  Marisa may have been hit, and with an explosion like that, there was no telling how badly hurt she was.  All she could do now though was make sure that Marisa got away safely, in hopes that she was still conscious enough to fly.

As fast as she could manage, Reimu alternated between throwing handfuls of needles and talismans.  Hoshimi just raised her hand in front of her, and all of the projectiles stopped dead in the air in front of her, as if they had hit an invisible wall.  Paying no mind to the unsuccessful attacks, Reimu lunged towards Hoshimi, feet first.  Kicking the wall made of her own projectiles, she effortlessly punched through and kicked at Hoshimi herself.

Hoshimi twisted her body to the side, narrowly avoiding Reimu?s kick, and brought her hand up as if she was going to chop at her defenseless side.  Before she could manage, Byakuren came in from behind at an unbelievable speed, and with a shout, slammed Hoshimi?s back with her bare palm.

As Reimu allowed her momentum to carry her away from Hoshimi, Hoshimi herself careened off into the distance for dozens of feet after Byakuren?s successful attack. Reimu rapidly spun, throwing a handful of needles after her, but they stopped dead in the air in front of her as she recovered herself.

Seeing Hoshimi was well enough to defend, but still too stunned from the blow to attack, Reimu snuck a glance at where Marisa had been.  The light from the explosion had just began to fade, and within it, Marisa was floating on her broom as always ? an embarrassed expression on her face.

Surrounding her was a pale orb of yellow light, mostly transparent.  Just a few feet in front of Marisa herself floated one of Alice?s dolls, arms outstretched as if it was trying to body block something.  The pale orb collapsed inwards on the doll, and with a flash of yellow light, the doll was reduced to a cloud of ash.

Reimu sighed in relief.  It appears Alice?s dolls were working as well as she had promised.  She had secretly hoped they?d last for more than one hit once they entered shield mode, but against Hoshimi, she supposed it was miraculous enough that they were able to stop an entire hit at all.  Regardless, without that doll, Marisa was now vulnerable, not to mention cut off from communicating with the rest of them.

This was going to cause them a distinct disadvantage, but there wasn?t much they could do about it now.  All they could do now was wait for-

REIMU! YOU?RE PULLING OUT!

Suddenly, an incredibly loud voice, loud enough to give her a sharp headache, practically screamed within her head.  It took her a moment to realize it was Alice, and another to realize what she had actually said.

Her first thoughts were that Marisa wouldn?t get the message, and that she would need to relay it somehow.  Before she could move to approach her, however, Hoshimi was suddenly between them again.

A wave of crystal spears fired out from Hoshimi in a ring, quickly reorienting themselves to chase the three of them that were still there.  Reimu threw a talisman in the air in front of her, expanding it into a large barrier before dodging out of the path of the incoming crystals.  The crystals punched through the barrier, but were slowed enough that Reimu could easily dodge them.

Before Reimu could take action again, she noticed a bundle of four crystals hovering above Hoshimi?s hand, held slightly above her head.  The crystals began to glow a brilliant purple, before firing a shot at Reimu almost the size of a Master Spark.  Having noticed the attack coming early enough, she was able to dodge out of the way fairly easily, even after the giant laser turned to track her movements.

Reimu threw a handful of talismans to destroy the crystals at the source of the laser, but the laser simply swept over them, incinerating them before they got close.  The laser then swept around, forcing Marisa and Byakuren back as they tried to close in on her.
Reimu, likewise, attempted to close in.  As dangerous as it was moving into close quarters, they had had the most luck landing hits from up close, so it was the best plan she had.  Was the backup not here yet?  She had been told she was pulling out, but until they arrived, she had to keep up the pressure.

As Reimu closed the distance, the laser suddenly spun back towards her.  Rather than sweeping over her, however, the bundle of crystals split open like a flower, and the one laser became four.  Sweeping around her, the lasers began to come in from all four sides.  Before Reimu could squeeze out through one of the gaps between them, the crystals, and the lasers they were firing, began to spin rapidly, effectively caging Reimu inside of them.

Reimu stopped her forward movement, mind racing.  Because of the orientation of the crystals, the closer she got the less space she had to maneuver, so logically it would make sense to put more distance between them.  She couldn?t help but feel like that was exactly what Hoshimi wanted, though, so she held her ground.
The crystals quickly began to close, coming in around her.  With no way to escape, Reimu looked desperately for help, dismayed to find that Byakuren and Marisa were both contending with waves of crystal projectiles of their own.

Shouting her frustration, Reimu charged forwards.  She couldn?t escape to the side, because of the spinning lasers, and she couldn?t escape forwards or backwards, because the closing crystals would eventually recombine into one giant laser ? with her right in the middle of it.  So, her only recourse was to attack, and hope for the best.

Two talismans to the side created barriers, hoping to slow down the lasers closing in, but they cut through them like they were no more than water.  Reimu tried once more to destroy the crystals from where she was, but the lasers were too thick at the base, destroying the talismans Reimu threw before they could reach.  Reimu charged onwards, hoping that she could tough out the pain of the lasers long enough to destroy their source with a physical attack?

?but she never got to try.  A split second before the lasers bit into her sides, an arrow of light punched through the crystal formation, smashing them to pieces.  The lasers scattered to the side wildly before quickly winking out, opening up the path for her to charge.

Reimu said a word of thanks in her head to whatever miracle had blessed her, spinning herself for a flying kick at Hoshimi once again, desperately telling herself that this time she wouldn?t miss.

But rather than dodge, Hoshimi instead crystallized the air in front of her, using it like a shield.  Reimu kicked hard, and surprised even herself by smashing right through the crystal.  The fragments of crystal floated in the air around her, and she realized a second too late that they had rearranged themselves to skewer her from all sides.  The impact with the crystal wall had slowed her kick down too much as well, and after a short back step away from the incoming kick, Hoshimi clapped her hands together.

The crystals immediately converged on Reimu, who instinctively brought her arms up to protect her head.  But before any of the crystals could strike her, a vicious wind tore through the area around her.  The wind was so intense it was almost visible, wrapping around her like a protective bubble, shredding half of the crystal fragments and sending the others flying off in random directions.

Reimu and Hoshimi bore the same surprised expression, but only for an instant.  As soon as the wind died, Reimu leapt backwards, just before a stream of white bullets like comets filled her vision.

Reimu continued to open up the distance between her and Hoshimi.  Help had finally arrived.  Marisa and Byakuren had similarly been assisted by the same kind of wind-bubble as had protected her, and were now moving to join up with her.

Sanae flew in over Reimu?s shoulder, a grim expression on her face.  ?Just a little more!? She shouted over her shoulder, ?Help us for just ten seconds more!?

Reimu instantly switched directions, leading her advance with a wave of needles.  She didn?t know what was going on, but if she was going to pull out, she could handle an extra ten seconds.  Seeing Reimu?s actions, Marisa and Byakuren turned as well, firing waves of their own projectiles at Hoshimi.

The hundreds of projectiles, from Marisa?s stars to Byakuren?s lasers to Sanae?s comets, all stopped short, but as they kept piling them on, the started inching closer and closer.  Pushing herself to the limit, Reimu stopped throwing needles and took up the stance for a Spell Card.

?Spirit Sign: Fantasy Seal!?

Immediately upon speaking the words, instinct took over.  Seven brightly coloured orbs fired out from where Reimu was floating, circling around her.

?Concentrate!?

With that, the orbs immediately fired towards Hoshimi, each exploding in a brilliant display of light as they impacted.  Obscured as she was by the light of the explosions, she couldn?t tell whether they had managed to hit or not, but as the other four ? actually five, now that Kanako had joined the fray ? continued to pile on the attacks, Reimu went back to alternating between throwing talismans and needles.

Two seconds after Fantasy Seal had landed, Reimu felt?strange.  Something was wrong, not with the fight or with Hoshimi, but with the air around them.  Something had changed, and it bothered her enough just to glance up.  As she did so, a sudden blur cut through the air above the battlefield.
Seeming to be part mirage, part stream of light, it?s movement seemed completely wrong.  As if it was breaking the laws of nature itself to move like that.

It was only hundredths of a second before the moving?thing?came to rest.  Arcing downwards, it stopped just above the tower over which they had been fighting
the entire time.  After blinking a few times, Reimu finally realized what had happened.

It was Komachi.  And she was now only two feet away from Yuyuko.

As if she had realized what happened, a terrible ?wind? picked up around Hoshimi.  Though wind was the closest thing she could compare it to, it was really nothing like it.  Whatever it was, it spiralled outwards from Hoshimi, knocking away the waves of projectiles that were coming for her effortlessly.  However, her mind was clearly no longer on the projectiles.

Hoshimi wasted no time turning to Komachi, and stretching a hand out forwards, she fired a spear-like crystal, glowing a brilliant white, straight for Komachi.  On reflex, Reimu threw a talisman to intercept it, and she could see out of the corner of her eye Sanae had done the same.

By some miracle ? those seemed to happen a lot now that Sanae had come to back them up, for some reason ? the two talismans cut across the path of the crystal before it managed to reach Komachi, both expanding into large square barriers, Reimu?s glowing orange and Sanae?s glowing blue.  The crystal effortlessly punched through the first of the barriers, and was slowed down only barely by the second.  However, the slow was enough, as a massive onbashira fell from the sky at just the right moment, causing the crystal to embed itself into the wood.

The pillar continued to fall, and only a short second later the crystal erupted violently, causing an explosion twice the size of the one that had hit Marisa earlier.  Fortunately, the pillar had carried the crystal just barely far enough away that the explosion missed Komachi and Yuyuko.

With a triumphant smile, Komachi raised her scythe in front of her in a mock salute, using her other hand to grab Yuyuko?s shoulder.  Hoshimi immediately launched a wave of crystals faster than she ever had before, but by the time they had covered half the distance, space warped.

Being able to see her as she did it made the trick look completely different.  Rather than some sort of aberrant moving too fast, it looked ? well, felt ? like Komachi was literally punching a hole through space itself, and stepping through it.  Though she didn?t move an inch from where she was, before the crystals Hoshimi fired reached them, Komachi and Yuyuko were gone, and the strange sensation vanished.

Reimu?s heart soared.  They had done it.  The largest obstacle to their plan had been cleared.  If they had Yuyuko, not only would Hoshimi be unable to use her against her, but if they could get her to come to, they would have the option of using Yuyuko to put a stop to her instantly.

She doubted things were going to be as easy as that, but the fact of the matter was that they had achieved a massive victory.  Yuyuko had been recovered, her three guards had been defeated, and she was now alone.

Furthermore, their relief had finally arrived.  After a long fight, they were finally going to be able to pull back and recuperate ? at least, until their next turn came around.

?That?s enough, Reimu.? Kanako spoke, at some point apparently coming up beside her.  We?ll take it from here, you can go back for now.?
Reimu looked around, seeing Byakuren and Marisa had already started pulling back.  However, aside from her group and Sanae and Kanako, there was no one.

?Wait, where is-?

Before she could finish speaking, an arrow of white light cut through the air beside them.  Hoshimi attempted to deflect the arrow with a hand as she had done to so many attacks before, but the arrow wouldn?t go.  Rather than flying off to the side as Reimu had expected, it stopped, vibrating as if it was pushing against Hoshimi?s hand.

With a grimace, Hoshimi brought her other hand up and managed to finally knock away the arrow.  The hand she had used to attempt to block the arrow was bleeding, the skin looking partially burnt.

?Don?t worry,? Kanako said with a smile, throwing a wave of danmaku at Hoshimi as she tried to inspect her injured hand. ?We have this covered.  Go!?

Not willing to waste any more time, Reimu nodded.  She quickly flew to catch up with Marisa and Byakuren on their way back to the camp that had been set up.

They had done it.  All of Hoshimi?s allies had been defeated, Yuyuko had been retrieved, and relief had come before any of them had fallen.  Despite the amount of time it took for help to come, they had managed to hold Hoshimi back without losing anyone.

She knew the battle was far from over, but she couldn?t help but feel like they had just achieved a great victory.  Things were going well, far better than she had anxiously anticipated, almost as good as things could possibly have been.

All they had to do now was keep it up.


--------------------------------


Reimu sat down with an exhausted sigh on the grass.  Marisa and Byakuren quickly did the same, though Byakuren was a little more dignified about it.
They had returned to the camp set up by the support team, though ?camp? just meant that?s where all of them were standing around.  Reimu looked around to take stock of the situation, Hoshimi?s words coming unbidden to her mind.

Reisen was seriously injured, though her life wasn?t in danger and she had already been treated.  Kaguya and Suwako were gone, though she was assured repeatedly that neither of them were injured or in danger.  Remilia and Youmu were severely injured, and Sakuya had exhausted her supply of weapons and now spent her time helping to tend to the wounded.

Sanae, Kanako, and Eirin were off now fighting Hoshimi.  That meant that, not including the support team, there were six of them that were out of the fight, and six of them still in it.  These weren?t very comforting statistics, but if their reports were to be believed, there were as yet zero casualties on either side.  That alone gave Reimu some degree of comfort.

Noticing their arrival, Patchouli broke off from her conversation with Remilia and walked over to their group, resting on the ground.  She seemed to briefly consider sitting down with them before shaking her head and remaining standing.

?Welcome back.  Good work coming back in one piece.?  Despite the sincerity in her eyes, the boring monotone of her voice was hard to ignore.

?Why thank you,? Marisa replied, unable to keep the exhaustion from her voice.

?I know you would like to rest,? Patchouli wasted no time getting started, ?but there?s no time for that.  We need to talk.?

?I agree,? Reimu said, flopping down onto her back.  ?Talk.  What?s going on??

Though she couldn?t see, she could almost feel Patchouli?s displeased expression.  After a small sigh, though, she filled them in.

?As you already know, all the fights except for against Hoshimi herself have concluded in our favour. Mostly.?

??Mostly??? Marisa interrupted.

?Kaguya sealed herself and Mokou off in what is effectively an alternate dimension.  Suwako is keeping Utsuho prisoner until the conclusion of the fight, which means she can?t leave where she is right now.  Remi?s team defeated Tenshi, who returned to Heaven after being near-fatally wounded, but neither Remi nor her teammates are capable of fighting anymore.  We won, but with a 50% casualty rate?well, I guess they aren?t technically casualties, but they won?t be helping us anymore.?

?That?sounds bad?? Marisa sounded much less playful this time.

?It?s not all bad,? Patchouli continued. ?Thanks to Komachi and Eirin?s gambit, we?ve retrieved Yuyuko, which was one of the necessary steps to ensure victory.?

?Speaking of which,? Reimu interrupted, earning herself another unhappy expression from the magician, ?how is she??

?Youmu is taking care of her for now, but she hasn?t come to yet.  Whatever was controlling her?oh, yes, we were able to confirm that she was being controlled?whatever was controlling her stopped once we took her away from Hoshimi, so there?s no threat of her waking up and attacking us.?

?What about waking up and attacking Hoshimi??

Patchouli pondered for a moment before shrugging.  ?She?s already dead, yet managed to pass out.  I would barely know enough to treat a living person in that condition, let alone a dead one.  It?s anyone?s guess as to when or whether she?ll recover.?

?In a way that?s unfortunate, but I feel like she deserves a break,? Byakuren spoke quietly.  She seemed to be talking more to herself than anyone else, but Reimu couldn?t help but nod in agreement.

?Anything else important about the current situation??

Patchouli took a quick look around before shrugging again. ?Not much that you don?t already know.  Komachi is standing by, ready to leap into the fray in case anyone needs saving.  Sanae, Kanako, and Eirin are off fighting Hoshimi until you three are up to replace them.  Reisen has some special instructions from Eirin to help you guys out when you go back.  Alice is busy dealing with the network of dolls.?

?Oh, speaking of which?would it be too much trouble to get another one of those??  Marisa spoke up sheepishly, and apparently for good reason, because as soon as she said that, the others could feel a surge of not-very-pleasantness coming from Alice through the dolls.

?Maybe?you should wait a bit?? Byakuren spoke up, trying her best not to laugh out loud.

Marisa?s expression turned sour, but it seemed like she knew what Byakuren was trying to say.

Before they could continue, Nitori approached them.  Well, approached Marisa.  Marisa looked up at her questioningly, and Nitori just held out her hand as if she was asking for something.  When Marisa just tilted her head to the side in confusion, she finally spoke.

?I need it back.?

?Huh? What for??

?Adjustments.?

Marisa spoke hesitantly, scratching her head. ?You know, Nitori, we don?t really have that kind of time??

?Do you have five minutes??

?Well?I suppose five minutes??

?Then you have enough time.?

Marisa sighed dejectedly before reaching into her pocket and passing something to Nitori that Reimu couldn?t quite make out.  ?Hurry up.?

Without a word, Nitori took whatever it was and headed off back to the two other Kappa that had accompanied them.  As soon as she got back, they started working fervently.  Reimu couldn?t help being curious, but there was only so much she needed to know.  She didn?t have the battle awareness to plan out everyone?s moves, so the best she could do was hope that whatever it was, Marisa would know the right time to use it.

Seeing that Reimu wasn?t about to ask any more questions, Patchouli spoke up again.  ?Alright, enough about us.  We need to talk about your fight with Hoshimi.?

Reimu sighed.  ?Alright, what do you want to know??

?Everything.?

Reimu?s expression went flat.  ?You?re going to have to be a bit more specific than that.?

Patchouli sighed, mirroring Reimu?s own feelings.  Her expression was somewhat pained, as if it was stressful just dealing with Reimu, but to her credit it the effect didn?t extend to her voice.

?What kind of attacks did she use? Any noticeable patterns? Did you find any weaknesses? What kind of attacks got through?  Anything else that could be of use to beating her??

?Well?? Reimu thought for a moment.  ?Compared to when we last fought her, she was acting completely different.  Most of her attacks involved crystals of some
kind.  Generally as projectiles, but sometimes as familiars that fired lasers.?

?Sometimes the crystals exploded too!? Marisa chimed in, earning a small grin from Byakuren.

?Otherwise, just the usual fare.  Almost all of our attacks would either stop part of the way there, or redirect themselves before hitting their target.?

??Almost all?? Which ones didn?t?? Patchouli perked up ? well, as much as could be expected of her ? at the mention that some of their attacks connected.

?Reimu landed the first hit,? Byakuren spoke up, ?but besides that, almost all of our physical attacks connected smoothly.  Few of them seemed to do any significant damage, but I did land one strong hit.  I definitely felt bones breaking, but she recovered quickly and didn?t seem fazed.?
Patchouli turned her attention to Byakuren. ?Hmm?how did she attempt to deal with your physical attacks??

?She generally created crystal walls between us, otherwise she would attempt to dodge.  The one good hit I landed on her happened while she was attempting to attack Reimu, so she didn?t notice I was coming.?

?You mentioned Reimu got the first hit?what happened there??

?Some of my needles got through her defense and stabbed her in the shoulder.  And before you ask, all of the needles I used before and after that point were completely blocked, like the rest of the projectiles.?

?Any differences between the time you hit and the time you didn?t??

??the only thing I can think of is that Hoshimi had looked away for a brief second.  I noticed, so I attacked immediately.  The needles were really supposed to be a distraction, but they ended up landing true.  I followed up with a kick, which she blocked with her arms, and then all of our attacks started missing again.?

?Anything else??

?Oh, there is one thing,? Marisa piped up. ?When the others came to support us and cover Komachi?s stunt, we showered her in as much danmaku as we could.  Though none of them hit her, the longer we kept it up, the closer we got.  It?s like if she was in a protective bubble, the more we hit the bubble, the smaller it got.?

Patchouli dropped her gaze, crossing her arms in front of her.  It looked strange, Patchouli standing deep in thought, no books to be seen.

After a few minutes of silence from Patchouli, Marisa caught Reimu?s gaze, giving her a wink.  She then sighed exaggeratedly. ?If Eirin or Kanako were here, we might be able to come up with something, but with just us??

Patchouli sniffed condescendingly at Marisa, pulling herself from her thoughts just long enough to do so.  ?Don?t underestimate me.  Those two might be better at planning for a battle, but if you want a technical analysis, you won?t get much better than me.?

?My, how modest,? Byakuren said with a quiet smile, Patchouli pointedly ignoring her.

?Well if you?re so good,? Marisa said with a grin, ?let?s hear it.?

Patchouli gave a small ?hmph? before turning away.  ?Normally I?d ignore you for that kind of provocation, but these are special circumstances.  Don?t think I?ll let it slide ever again.?

Clearing her throat, Patchouli turned back to face them, eyes closed.  She began to speak almost mechanically, as if she was reciting a list from a book in front of her.

?Creation and Manipulation of Crystal.  Extremely high level use of magic, including one particular spell that erases the target on a conceptual level.  Use of low-level familiars.  Low-level mind control.  Manipulation of earth and stone.  Ability to travel rapidly, likely shifting through space via alternative means.  Ability to inflict blindness.  Immunity to time magic.  High speed regeneration.  Almost perfect defense against projectiles and magic.  Next to no defense against physical damage.  Did I miss anything??

Reimu could tell she wasn?t the only one going over the list in her head, trying to piece together the findings to the evidence that spoke to it.  Byakuren was the first to speak up.

?My apologies for interrupting your train of thought, but what is this ?extremely high level spell? you are talking about??

For once, Patchouli didn?t seem to mind the interruption. ?It?s the attack that Oni was talking about earlier, the one made of black light.  I?ve analyzed its effects, and determined what kind of attack it is.  In short, it erases its target on a conceptual level ? no amount of defense or toughness, physical, magical, or otherwise, will have any effect.  The cost is?extreme, high enough to match the effect.  I would be surprised if there were more than one or two people in Gensokyo who could manage it without frying themselves.?

?Sounds?unfair,? Marisa said dejectedly.

?Well, yes.  I haven?t seen it for myself, so I can?t say for certain, but I imagine it has quite the incantation behind it.  As long as you keep constant pressure on her, you should be able to stop her from using it.?

Being that that was already their general strategy, there wasn?t that much complaining going around about that.

?Anyways,? Patchouli continued, ?that?s a list, not an analysis.  The analysis is as follows.?  Clearing her throat once again, she returned to the mechanical voice she had been using before.  ?Given what we know of her, her range of abilities is, frankly, absurd.  It is very unlikely that she has those traits as-is.  What is far more likely is that they are by-products of some other ability or nature that she possesses.?

?The best way to approach is from looking at her combat abilities.  For starters, low-level mind control.  Reimu mentioned earlier, in your first fight against her, that she ?commanded you to fall? and you immediately dropped from the sky.  The key here is that she spoke to get the desired effect.?

?Next, she is practically impervious to projectiles and magic.  Effectively, anything you can use from range is useless against her.  More precisely, however, anything she can see from range is useless against her.  You?ll notice physical attacks worked perfectly fine on her, and I imagine Byakuren?s hit had some magic behind it that was no doubt effective.?

?Next, her abilities involving earth and crystal.  From your reports of the previous fight, plus my own observations of her fighting both now and when she attacked the Scarlet Devil Mansion, she?s not using magic for either of these.  Either she is very good at hiding her magic, or the process is part of some sort of natural ability of hers as a youkai.?

?The question of course becomes, how she is doing this; what ability leads to these effects.  Normally, the conclusion would be that she is just a very proficient Magician, but as I?m sure any Magician will tell you, that is not the case.  The fundamental elements just aren?t there.  So what other possibilities can cover all of these elements?  The number of possible answers is, thankfully, quite small.  Even some of those can be stroked off due to the methods she uses, so in the end??

Patchouli paused.  Reimu aside, even Marisa was staring at her wide-eyed.  Neither of them would have expected Patchouli to monologue like that in a hundred years, and though the points she was bringing was were nothing particularly special, the synthesizing of them ? and the conclusion she was about to draw ? were what was really important.

??there?s only one possibility I can think of.? Patchouli finally snapped out of her mechanical voice, returning to normal speech.  ?Manipulation of Reality.?

Reimu didn?t know whether to be confused, let down, or shocked.  She opted for confused.

?That sounds like it could mean a lot of things, you?re going to have to explain it better than that.?

Patchouli gave Reimu a flat look before continuing.  ?In simple terms, think about it like this.  There are two core components to a physical person ? a mind, and a body.  There are more, of course, but these are the ones that have real, actual effects on the world.  The mind constitutes your ability to ?think.? It governs your beliefs, thoughts, imagination, and the like.  It is infinitely productive, but has one limitation ? it cannot, in any way, impact the outside world.?

?The second component is the body, which constitutes ?action.?  This is the interface between the Mind and the outside world.  By taking action, and indeed by simply existing, the body can alter the current reality, from forcing air to flow around it to building a tower that reaches to the heavens.  Fundamentally, the Body is controlled entirely by the Mind.  However, the body is not infinitely productive, like the Mind is ? it has limits, constraints.  This means that through the body, the mind can impact the outside world ? but only in a limited sense.?

?The existence of magic is an attempt to remove this limit.  By using the body, or ?action,? you connect the mind, or ?thoughts,? directly to the outside world.  While it removes many of the limits of the body, there are still rules that have to be followed.  For instance, you cannot ?decide? to destroy the world with magic, you need a mechanism that can accomplish it.?

?My hypothesis is that Hoshimi?s ability is beyond magic.  The perfect connection between ?thought? and the outside world, completely circumventing the need for ?action.?  Just as we can act with our physical bodies to change the world around us, she can simply ?think? to change the world around her.?

??and thanks to the infinite productivity of the Mind,? Byakuren thought out loud, ?she has virtually no restraints on what she can do.?

?Correct,? Patchouli replied.

The group went silent, only the sounds far off battle echoing around them.  There wasn?t that much information to digest, but Patchouli had used so many words to present it that it felt imposing in its own right.

?Is something like that even possible?? Reimu finally muttered.

?It?s not that far-fetched,? Patchouli mentioned off-handedly, ?if you consider Sakuya?s ability to manipulate time, it only makes sense that there exists somebody who can manipulate space.?

?Wait wait wait,? Marisa started. ?Manipulation of Space sounds completely different from what you just said.?

?It?s pretty much the same,? she replied, ?though not entirely.  Her ability to resist Sakuya?s time control implies that her power extends past just space, but there is no evidence to suggest she can do anything more than resist such phenomena.  We have yet to witness her doing such a thing of her own accord.?

?So the next question becomes,? Byakuren said, ?how likely is it that your hypothesis is correct??

Patchouli stopped to think for a moment.  ?The probability of the hypothesis itself being correct is around?fifteen percent.?  Immediately, Reimu and Marisa gave exasperated sighs.

?What was the point of all that if you aren?t even right?? Reimu said dejectedly.

?Because,? Patchouli said indignantly, ?whether the hypothesis itself is correct or not, that is the effect her ability has.  With the time we have to prepare, planning directly to her nature is impossible ? all we need to do is overcome the effect.  And you have all seen for yourselves that the effect is as I?ve described.?

Grudgingly,   Reimu and Marisa nodded.  Whether Patchouli was right or not, and indeed whether that was even the effect her true ability had or not, if they could come up with something to beat that, there would be virtually nothing Hoshimi could do.  Of course, that was assuming they could come up with a plan that could beat such a ridiculous ability.

?Geez, I knew she was strong, but this is a bit too much?? Marisa complained to no one in particular.

Patchouli gave a noncommittal hum.  ?If that?s what she is doing, she isn?t all that strong, to be honest.?

?What?!? Reimu and Marisa shouted in unison.  Byakuren, though she didn?t shout with them, also bore an expression of disbelief.

?It?s not that she?s that strong,? Patchouli continued, ?it?s just that you all have terrible compatibility with her.  You could think about it like this: her ability is that, no matter what, she has the advantage.?

?I don?t know where you come from,? Marisa said, ?but around here that?s considered pretty strong.?

Patchouli sighed.  ?You are exaggerating too much.  If that?s all it is, it?s much easier to deal with her.  We?ve been working under the assumption that she is practically invincible, but that is nowhere near the case.  Try and think ? with what I?ve just told you, and what you?ve experienced fighting her, what attacks did she stop, and what did she let through??

Reimu thought quietly for a moment, and in the gap, Marisa spoke up. ?She wasn?t able to stop any physical attacks, except by making obstacles in front of us.?

?Good,? Patchouli said, though her expression said otherwise. ?That?s one of the keys.  If we assume she has some sort of Manipulation of Space power, with that we can assume that it doesn?t allow her to influence people themselves.  Of course, we have evidence to the contrary, but the fact she hasn?t been doing so while fighting means it probably takes considerably more effort to do so ? likely, more than she can afford during this kind of a fight.?

?And the other key,? Reimu finally spoke, ?is that she could only stop the ranged attacks that she saw coming.  Though, that sounds more like common sense than a weakness.?

Patchouli actually smiled at that.  ?Not a weakness, per se, but it is the second key.  She can only stop attacks that she sees coming.  While that might seem obvious, it tells us something important ? she hasn?t set up some sort of autonomous shield, she is blocking the attacks individually.?

?With those two,? Byakuren said, actually sounding like she was talking to them instead of to herself for once, ?we can deduce the best method of attack ? physical attacks that she can?t see coming.?

Patchouli nodded.  ?Exactly.  Though, coming up with an attack like that on short notice is easier said than done.?

?Well, we can figure out a physical attack easily enough,? said Marisa, ?but making it unnoticed?her spatial awareness is pretty good.  We?ve tried to sneak into her blind spot at every opportunity, and it?s never worked.?

Suddenly, a cough from someone beside them drew their attention, and a new voice added to the discussion.  Cradling her injured arm in a sling, but face still as vibrant and healthy as ever, Reisen spoke up.

With a sly grin on her face, she spoke with a tone that, for some reason, sounded victorious.

?So, I heard you need to make someone invisible??

[TwilightsCall]

Part 2.  In case any of you were wondering, reformatting all of this so it looks nice on the forum is a massive pain in the ass.  Just thought I'd share.



Chapter 19 - Darkness Falls (Part 2)



Reimu strained to keep herself from breaking pace with the others.  Byakuren and Marisa were flying alongside her, and though they were still going considerably fast, the fact she could have been going faster was beginning to eat at her.

Still, she felt like she shouldn?t be itching so hard to rush.  Just because they had a plan didn?t mean it was going to be easy.  The slightest thing could tip off
Hoshimi as to what they were doing, and the instant she knew, the plan would fall apart.

Not a very good plan, when you thought about it like that.

Still, it was their only bet.  They had only managed a small rest during their break, but she knew the same thing was true for those who had relieved her, so she knew all too well that they needed the back up.  This fact just added to the pressure of feeling like they needed to end everything right now.

Marisa had retrieved whatever it was Nitori took from her, and after much scolding, was able to obtain another communication doll.  Byakuren, after a short few minutes of meditation, seemed to be completely refreshed, and Reimu couldn?t help but feel a little jealous at her ability to do so.  When asked, Byakuren had assured her that the feeling was only skin deep, but it would still be better than not at all.  Byakuren then suggested she come spend some time at the temple if she wanted to learn it so badly.  Naturally, she was forced to refuse.

Something else that was mildly disconcerting was the fact that Reimu had absolutely no idea where Reisen was.  Despite being integral to the plan, she had basically quoted Komachi by saying ?I?ve got it covered.?  She wanted to complain, but since Komachi had pulled through in the end, she couldn?t bring herself to do it.

Finally having approached close enough to make out who was who, Reimu turned her attention to reading the battle going on ahead of her.  Eirin was on the ground, launching volleys of arrows up at Hoshimi, but as with all other projectiles, the effect was minimal.  Which was unfortunate, since it had seemed so effective with those first two shots.

Meanwhile, Sanae and Kanako seemed to be playing at guerrilla warfare.  Sanae would sweep in, covering her advance with stars, talismans, comets, and the like, and an instant before Hoshimi attacked her, she?d drop like a rock, avoiding danger.  The instant Hoshimi?s attention turned to Sanae, Kanako would rush her with the same tactics.  They weren?t able to break through Hoshimi?s guard, but they did manage to perfectly cover each other?s escapes and advances, keeping Hoshimi pressured splendidly.

It was hard to tell from this distance, but Reimu couldn?t imagine that Sanae had the stamina to last much longer.  Neither Utsuho nor Hoshimi were enemies that you could relax against, so she must have been pretty high-strung from the start.  Kanako, of course, maintained her composure as best as possible, but as their movements gradually began to slow, it became obvious that their tactics were taking a lot out of them.

Even Eirin, who rarely had to move from where she was standing, seemed to be wavering slightly.  It might have just been her imagination, but it seemed to her that the time between arrows was increasing.

As for Hoshimi, it was even harder to tell.  Her attacks came sporadically, but that was just as likely to be because of the amount of pressure they were putting on her as it was to be because of her getting tired.  One thing they could tell, however, was that she was not getting through the battle unscathed.  Not including the attacks Reimu?s group had managed to land, there were fresh tears in her clothes ? she didn?t know how, but Kanako?s group had managed to get a few attacks through her defense as well.

Reimu allowed herself a small smile.  She doubted they could outlast Hoshimi at this rate, like their original plan suggested.  She just seemed to have far too much stamina.  But even without their new plan, they might be able to get in just enough lucky hits that they would be able to steer it away from a battle of attrition.

We?re back, but we need you to keep attacking.  We?re going to roll the dice a little bit.

Marisa?s voice came over the doll.  Reimu had since given up on attempting to send any communications through it unless it was absolutely necessary, so she satisfied herself with listening for now.

Where is Udongein? I told her to come with you.

Don?t worry, she?s on her way.  Plans have changed a little bit.

A mild feeling of discontent came through the dolls, but other than that there was no argument.
As they closed the final distance between them and the battle, Reimu took talismans in hand.  The last few seconds passed, and they were within range.

A wave of projectiles flew from Reimu?s group.  Reimu?s talismans by the dozens, Marisa?s stars by the hundreds, and a dozen or so thin, curving yellow lasers from Byakuren raced across the intervening space towards Hoshimi.  Of course, they impacted hard into nothing, giving off bright flashes of light before they disappeared.

As the wave of projectiles vanished, another wave from Sanae and Kanako followed them up, pushing Hoshimi?s guard back inch by inch. 

That?s good! Disengage, but do not fall back! Marisa?s voice came over the dolls again, and Sanae and Kanako flew backwards out of the immediate battle area, cautiously watching from a distance.

As the debris from their attacks vanished, Reimu?s group released another wave of projectiles, this time accompanied by arrows from Eirin.  Hoshimi had managed to refresh her guard, however, and the projectiles began to spiral away from her farther out than before.  Before the projectiles had even cleared her, dozens of spear-like crystals appeared in the air in front of her, half of them flying towards Reimu?s group and the other half glowing in place.

Without a word, their group scattered.  The projectiles were aimed, but not homing, so slipping past them wasn?t difficult.  The actual hard part was the remaining crystals, now turned to point at them and firing brilliant violet lasers.  Slicing through the air, over a dozen lasers pursued the three of them.

In short order, arrows from Eirin began to destroy the crystals around Hoshimi, causing the lasers to wink out one by one.  As the last laser vanished, Reimu threw a volley of needles, matched by Byakuren?s lasers and a Master Spark from Marisa.

A massive crystal wall materialized in front of Hoshimi, blocking the hits without seeming to take any damage.  Instead, the wall seemed to absorb the attacks, and what had once been a translucent, colourless crystal was now opaque, shining with a brilliant white light.

Reimu nodded to herself, taking up the stance for a Spell Card.  It was time for the first signal.  Not in the mood to be creative, she picked the same one as last time.

?Spirit Sign: Fantasy Seal??

The seven glowing orbs ignited around Reimu, orbiting her from a fair distance.  Seeing the orbs appear around her, Byakuren and Marisa immediately broke off in opposite directions.

The crystal wall in front of Hoshimi shattered, it?s fragments leaping towards Reimu.  She thought she heard someone shout over the dolls to cover her, but she was far too focused to pay attention.  The instant she had a clear view of Hoshimi, she raised her hands in front of her, both palms facing Hoshimi.

??Concentrate!?

The seven orbs erupted outwards, quickly arcing around and heading for Hoshimi.  More than one of the orbs passed through the shining crystal fragments that were heading for Reimu, but neither of them seemed to affect the other.

An instant before the crystal fragments tore into Reimu, who had used any time she could have had to dodge to focus on her Spell Card, three massive onbashira fell from the sky, intercepting them.  As before, the crystal fragments exploded violently, tearing the onbashira apart, but they absorbed enough of the shock that Reimu was unaffected.

Simultaneously, Hoshimi raised a single hand, palm facing the incoming orbs of light.  Each one burst into a flash of multi-coloured light only a few feet in front of Hoshimi, leaving her just barely outside the blast radius.

Chatter continued in the back of Reimu?s head, but she ignored it.  The plan had begun, so she had no time to think about anything else.  She had to do what she had to do, no matter what.

Reimu moved to get a better angle on Hoshimi while Byakuren closed in on her.  Using the bursts of light as cover, Byakuren charged straight through the explosions, attempting to take Hoshimi by surprise.  Whether it worked or not, Hoshimi?s reaction was fast enough, and she was able to dodge Byakuren?s incoming fist.

Expecting the dodge, Byakuren stopped, bringing herself to a dead stop.  In place, she spun, bringing a leg up to kick Hoshimi in the stomach.  At the same time, Hoshimi created a small wall of crystal between the two of them and dodged over it.  Byakuren?s kick shattered the wall easily, and she somehow managed to throw the momentum of the kick into another punch, directed upwards towards Hoshimi?s new position.

Hoshimi crossed her arms in front of herself, blocking the blow and sliding backwards several feet.  Before she could recover, Byakuren released a wave of curving lasers and small stars.  The stars stopped just a few inches short of Hoshimi, but the lasers ended up curving around her, and with one swift motion, seemed to redirect back towards Byakuren.

Reimu threw handful after handful of needles at Hoshimi as Byakuren disengaged.  The needles span wildly wide, and as they did, crystals began to materialize in the air around Hoshimi, pointing at Reimu.  Just as they appeared, however, Eirin?s arrows began to take them down, a full two thirds of them being destroyed before they could fire.

Reimu dodged the few remaining crystals while throwing another handful of talismans.  An instant after the talismans impacted into the nothing in front of Hoshimi, Byakuren, who had managed to shake the lasers she had fired, came back into close quarters, unleashing a flurry of blows.  The blows were so strong Reimu felt like she could see the air shake around them, but unfortunately this power slowed them down, allowing Hoshimi to nimbly dodge around them.

If it was at any other time, Reimu would be thrilled about the fact that they had Hoshimi on the run.  Now, however, all she could think of was taking the next step.

Over and over, the process repeated.  Byakuren would close in, attempting to land a physical attack of some sort, and Reimu would cover her escape when she needed to break off.  Whenever Hoshimi managed to go on the offensive, Eirin and Kanako covered both of them, allowing them to break Hoshimi?s rhythm and take the initiative back for themselves.

It was effective, but exhausting.  Vaguely, Reimu was aware of warnings coming through the dolls.  She couldn?t catch the messages themselves, but she could hear from the voices that their owners were reaching the ends of their rope.  They would need to make a decisive play soon, if for no other reason than to open some breathing room for Kanako?s team to rest.

Reimu stopped her circling of Hoshimi and raised her arms to her sides, trying to banish the images of a certain youkai as she did so.  Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath.  They had pushed Hoshimi hard enough to get her on the run, and that meant they could move on to the final step of the plan.
It was time to end this.


---------------------------------------


Reimu suddenly stopped what she was doing, raising her arms to her sides and closing her eyes.

That?s the signal! Everyone, cover Reimu and get ready to push! Byakuren sent over the dolls, trying not to make her voice sound frantic.  As she did so, she launched another mixed wave of projectiles and lasers at Hoshimi, repositioning herself between her and Reimu.

She didn?t really know what Reimu was about to do, but she knew the second Spell Card was the signal.  All she had to do was protect Reimu until it was done.

Kanako and Sanae came up beside her, throwing half-hearted waves of projectiles at Hoshimi while preparing to defend against her impending counterattack.  Sure enough, once the wave of projectiles cleared, crystals began rapidly forming around Hoshimi.  As had become the pattern, half of the crystals flew straight towards them, while the other half fired lasers.

Rather than dodge, as would have been easy, the three of them set up a barrier.  Byakuren and Sanae layered barriers over each other, while Kanako set up a layer of onbashira behind that.  The repeated sounds of impact told them quite clearly that the barriers had been penetrated, and after a few second, lasers cut through the onbashira that were blocking their view.

Shortly after the wooden pillars vanished, Eirin managed to shoot down the last of the laser-firing crystals.  With a deep breath, Byakuren launched another wave of projectiles, this time focusing on stars and ignoring lasers.  Sanae and Kanako sent similar waves, reading Byakuren?s attack and matching it with as dense a wave of projectiles as they could manage.

Immediately after the projectiles had fired, Byakuren charged, leaving Reimu?s defense to the other two.  She couldn?t see it, and she couldn?t hear it, but she knew that this was the moment that would decide it all.


-----------------------------------


MARISA, NOW!

Reisen?s voice came over the doll, practically screaming.  Of course, Marisa was already in the process of going ? she didn?t need a reminder.

The thirty seconds since Reimu began the activation of her second Spell Card had felt like an eternity, but Marisa waited patiently.  As soon as the thirty seconds had passed, she saw Byakuren charge, and simultaneously began pouring magical energy into the mini-hakkero.  The elemental furnace roared to life, erupting with a massive beam of light?directed exactly away from Hoshimi.

Normally, Marisa had restraints in place to absorb the shock of the Master Spark, or else she would be sent flying backwards whenever she launched one.  This time, there were no restraints ? as soon as the Master Spark began, the flew through the air like a bullet.

She had been waiting on just the edge of the battlefield, just barely outside of range, but she figured she could cover the distance between her and Hoshimi in less than three seconds.  The speed at which she moved was downright painful, but Marisa simply shoved the sensation to the back of her head.

One second passed.  Marisa raised herself from her position lying down on her broom, preparing for the attack.

Two seconds passed.  Marisa muttered, quietly enough that the winds caused by her massive speed drowned out her voice completely, the words to a powerful spell.  In her mind?s eye, she could see an image of Byakuren overlaying her image of herself.

Three seconds passed.  Hoshimi finally noticed her advance.  She span rapidly, but it was too late.  Time seemed to slow down as Marisa reached her target.  Her eyes were closed, yet somehow, she could still see the expression of surprise on Hoshimi?s face.

It had worked.

Hoshimi finished turning just in time to face her, but too slow to do anything else.  Marisa raised her right arm, palm forwards, and with a shout drove her hand into Hoshimi?s stomach.

The sensation was mind-numbing.  It was her first time using a bodily-enhancement spell, so she had no idea how it would turn out, but the result was definitely not what she expected.  The impact was like a jolt of lightning, and she could feel her mind turn to ice as the muscles in her arm tore, and the bones shattered.  Vaguely, Marisa was aware that at some point Hoshimi had tried to slow the attack, but she had punched through the impediment as if it was a sheet of paper.

Though she realized the pain was there, she couldn?t feel it.  All she could do was open her eyes, to see the result of her attack.  Her palm was embedded a full three inches into Hoshimi?s stomach, and through the crippling pain, Marisa could feel Hoshimi?s bones shatter just as hers had.

Four seconds passed.  Hoshimi was hurled backwards, carrying the full force of Marisa?s enhanced punch, plus the momentum of her forward motion caused by the Master Spark.  She didn?t fly far, though.  After only a dozen or so feet, she came to a dead stop, Byakuren smashing a hand into her back.

Marisa, mind still completely numb, could see the shockwave pass through Hoshimi?s body from the strike.  Idly, she thought to herself that she had made a mistake ? she wasn?t just supposed to increase the output of her attack, she was supposed to increase the durability of her arm as well.

Hoshimi, now stopped dead, had an expression of shock more than of pain.  As Byakuren?s attack hit her, blood sprayed from her mouth, but before she could even begin to recover, Byakuren mercilessly hammered her downwards with a two-handed smash.

Hurtling downwards, she never quite managed to reach the ground.  About halfway there, an arrow from Eirin, double the size of her previous arrows, took her in the chest, hurling her back upwards into the air.  Five bright red five pointed stars flew in from the sides, pinning Hoshimi between them and stopping her movement completely.  She came to rest for only a moment, however, as soon after an onbashira fell from the sky, hammering Hoshimi downwards once again.

This time, she very much did hit the ground, with a sound that could be heard by all of those on the battlefield.  Marisa suspected that even those at the support camp could probably hear the sickening impact.  What resounded even louder, however, was Reimu?s voice.

?Spirit Sign??  Marisa looked up to watch Reimu.  She had broken her previous stance, now standing with one arm at her side and the other stretching above her head.  The biggest difference, however, was the light.

She was glowing.  Not just a little bit, she was glowing so brightly it was hard to make out the colour of her clothes and hair.  In fact, if she hadn?t heard her voice, Marisa might have doubted that it was Reimu at all.  Reimu then brought her raised arm down, pointing directly at the spot where Hoshimi had fallen.

??Hakurei?s Divine Light!?

The light suddenly burst out from Reimu, forming into four distinct shapes.  For the briefest of moments, it appeared as if Reimu had four massive, brilliantly shining wings.  In the next instant, those four wings became beams of light, Marisa managing to see them impact the place where Hoshimi was pinned under Kanako?s pillar before the intensity of the light forced her to close her eyes.

It hurt.  Even through her closed eyes, even using her arm to cover her face, the light hurt so badly Marisa?s eyes started watering.  After what felt like an eternity, the light finally faded, and Marisa opened her eyes.  Blinking rapidly to try and clear her vision, she looked at the spot where Hoshimi had fallen.

Lying on the ground, surrounded by little more than ash, was Hoshimi.  Chains of light wrapped tightly around her, some anchored deep into the ground, others anchored in mid-air.  She wasn?t moving.

They had done it.

They had, finally, won.


------------------------------------


Reimu slowly touched down, landing between the others who had already taken to the ground.  There was no laughter or celebration going on, but everyone was smiling.  Reimu understood their feelings ? it had been a long day.  They didn?t really have the energy left to celebrate.  Maybe the victory party would have to wait until tomorrow night.

Those present gave Reimu a nod as she approached.  ?Good work everyone,? she replied, not bothering to mask her exhaustion.

?Now, you?ll have to forgive me for asking, but?what was that?? Kanako spoke up as Marisa, the last of the group, touched down to join them.

?A combination of a very good idea on Patchouli?s part, and a very bad idea on my part,?  Marisa said, her voice pained.  Reimu looked her way again and was shocked to see the cause of that pain.

Using her left arm, she was resting her broom over her shoulder.  Her right arm, however, lay limp at her side, bleeding from dozens of places as if the skin had just split open of its own accord. 

?What did you do?!? Reimu couldn?t help but shout.

?Well, uhh?? Marisa hedged a bit before responding, ?I kind of tried to copy one of Byakuren?s spells and?didn?t quite get it right??

Almost everyone stared incredulously at Marisa, for having the lack of foresight to try something new at such a critical moment.  Byakuren just face-palmed.  It must have seemed that much worse when you knew what exactly Marisa had done wrong.

Eirin, somewhat reluctantly, approached Marisa and inspected her arm, clearly taking no precautions to ease Marisa?s pain.  After short inspection, her face turned disconcertingly grim.  ?Well?it?s not permanent, but it?s broken in dozens of places.  The best we can do for it here is stop the bleeding, but we?ll have to practically reconstruct the bone from scratch later??

Eirin continued mumbling to herself as she pulled a roll of bandage out from one of her pockets ? amazing how prepared she was ? and started wrapping Marisa?s arm.

?So, back to my question,? Kanako said, her face mildly amused at the goings-on in front of her.  ?What exactly did you do, and what made you think to do it??

?Well, to keep it short, Patchouli guessed that Hoshimi?s defense required her to focus,? Reimu answered when she realized Marisa wasn?t going to be able to, ?and she was particularly susceptible to physical attacks, so we tried to come up with something that was both.?

?I did my best to hide Marisa ?til the last moment,? Reisen chimed in, ?but you?d be surprised how difficult it is to keep a Master Spark invisible??

?But, in the end,? Reimu continued, ?Marisa was able to get close enough to hit her before she could react thanks to Reisen?s tricks.  After that, it was just a matter of hitting her hard enough that she would be too distracted from the pain to react to the next attack.?

?Which she did quite a good job of, despite the?consequences?? Byakuren added, still shaking her head.

?I see?? Kanako said, looking thoughtful, ??by following up quickly with Hijiri?s own attack, you hoped to shock her beyond defending herself.?

?And it worked splendidly,? Reimu said smugly, ?especially since you all caught on so quick that you needed to keep following it up.  Keeping the attacks going until my Spell Card finished was just what we needed.?

?Speaking of which?? Sanae finally spoke up, ?what was that Spell Card?!?

Reimu grinned mischievously.  ?It?s a little something a cooked up just for her.  It takes pretty much everything I have, but it hits them hard, completely frying them.  If they manage to survive, then it binds them in place.  A perfect finisher, if I don?t say so myself.?

Sanae just shook her head, eyes wide in amazement.  Truthfully, Reimu thought the spell was a bit overkill ? not that it wouldn?t be necessary to use that kind of power against Hoshimi, but more that it was dangerous to use a spell that exhausts her so much.  Either way, it had worked, and she doubted she?d ever have to use it again, so she supposed it was irrelevant.

As the conversation wound down, the people from the support team arrived.  Komachi and Patchouli led the group, with Alice and the Kappa not far behind.  Remilia and Sakuya took up the rear, but Youmu and Yuyuko were nowhere to be seen.

?What did you do with the ghost?? Marisa asked with a wave as they arrived.

?Youmu?s taking care of her,? Komachi replied, ?I took them to the shrine to rest until we were done here.?

?You know, you really shouldn?t use other people?s houses without permission,? Reimu said flatly.  Komachi just gave her a big smile.
Patchouli, briefly inspecting the spot where Hoshimi still lay a fair distance away, spoke next.  ?I see it worked.?
Reimu, Marisa, and Byakuren nodded together.  Patchouli nodded back, a satisfied look crossing her face, but otherwise saying nothing more.

For a moment, they all turned to look at Hoshimi.  She was still lying on the ground, bound by chains of light, having yet to attempt moving.  It wasn?t that surprising ? considering what they had done to her, it would be a miracle if she was even still alive.  A few moments passed in silence as they watched her, before someone finally broke the silence.

?I guess that leaves only one thing left to do, then.?  Eirin spoke, finishing up bandaging Marisa?s arm.

With that, everyone turned to look at the tower.  The massive, jet black crystal structure looked far less imposing than it once had, considering all they had been through to get here.  Without another word, Eirin raised her bow, firing an arrow of light at the tower.

The arrow impacted with a flash, but otherwise didn?t seem to have any effect.

Eirin tilted her head to the side slightly.  ?Well, it looks like I?m going to need some help taking this thing apart.?  That earned a couple chuckles from around the circle, and in short order everyone was preparing themselves to help out.  Everyone except Marisa, who was too busy cradling her injured arm to bother.

?Alright everyone, on my mark.? Reimu raised her arms, ready to go.  True, she had used almost everything she had to bring down Hoshimi in those last moments, and she suspected that many of the others had as well, but that wasn?t going to stop her from helping out in this last push.  With the destruction of this tower, victory would be unequivocally theirs ? she was not going to let that happen without being a part of it.

?Three?two?? Reimu slowly counted down, gathering what little strength she had left.  The faces of everyone else grew tense as they did the same.

?One?Go!!?

A veritable torrent of magic assaulted the tower.  Not just the group that had fought Hoshimi, not just the groups that had participated in fighting at all, even the members of the support team dumped everything they had into destroying the tower.  It was honestly completely unnecessary, but if there was a time for an unnecessary display of force, it was now.

The flood of magic tore into the tower, the flashes and explosions quickly obscuring the view of the tower itself.  On and on they attacked, dumping everything they had.  Stars, comets, lasers, talismans, needles, even a Gungnir or two hit the tower with immense force, and Reimu could feel the air itself shaking from the force of the blows.

After a few minutes of bullets and lasers from all colours of the rainbow pouring into the tower, Reimu had finally exhausted herself completely.  As she petered out, others quickly began doing the same, and soon after the last laser, a shot from one of Alice?s dolls, signaled the last hit.

Breathing hard from over-exertion, Reimu looked up to see the work they had wrought.  But as the light and debris from their explosions cleared, she was met by another wave of shock.

?the tower still stood.  Not only standing, it seemed almost unscratched.  There were a few minor gouges in the massive crystal, but otherwise it seemed perfectly fine.  But there was something worse.

Reimu felt a sense of dread rapidly overcome her.  She didn?t know what it was, or why it was so intense as to make her feel almost nauseous, but the longer she looked at the tower, the more difficult it was to shake the feeling.

They had made a huge mistake.

The tower, which was once a deep, jet black, had changed.  After the debris cleared, it was clear that the tower was, despite being relatively undamaged, quite different.  Rather than the jet black that had characterized it before, it was now glowing with a dull light. But that wasn?t all.

The outer layer of the tower soon started to dissolve.  Normally, Reimu would have considered this a good thing, but as the crystal started to turn to brightly coloured dust, it was absorbed back into the tower ? and the tower?s glow began to brighten.

The faces of those around her seemed to vary, from confused, to grim, to afraid.  But as the tower continued to brighten, none of them could bring themselves to say a word.

?And here I was, thinking I had wasted my time with needless precautions?? The voice that broke the silence?was Hoshimi?s.

Everyone?s gazes immediately snapped to her, just in time to see her finally start moving.  The chains of light strained, and held her in place.  ?Well, these are an awful lot stronger than I had thought?? Muttering this to herself, she attempted to stand again.

The chains strained harder, and one finally snapped, vanishing with a flash of light.  As shocked as everyone else was, Reimu was doubly so.  How could someone break out of those restraints?  They were, quite literally, the strongest thing the Hakurei Lineage could muster ? considering she had relied directly on the power of the Hakurei lineage to create the spell. The fact that they could be broken at all?

Another chain snapped, and Hoshimi was able to rise to a seated position.  With that, everyone broke out of their trance, and unleashed the rest of what they had at Hoshimi.

As per usual, the attacks stopped short.  Lasers curved around her, projectiles stopped as if hitting an invisible wall, and Hoshimi continued to move.  The third chain snapped, and she was able to rise to her knees.

Byakuren charged her, attempting to strike through her defense against ranged attacks.  Before she could get close, a spire of crystal six feet long erupted from the ground.  If it weren?t for Byakuren?s instant dodge reflex, she would have been impaled instantly.  Weaving around the crystal spire, she attempted to close the gap once more, but was stopped by another. And another, and another.

Soon, spear-like crystals appeared in the air around Hoshimi, but instead of launching, each of them fired a thick purple laser.  The mesh of lasers easily forced Byakuren back, while Hoshimi?s defense now, unlike before, protected even the crystals so they couldn?t be destroyed.

As Byakuren backed away, the others stopped attacking, and Hoshimi?s lasers stopped firing.

?I must admit though?? The final chain snapped, and Hoshimi finally rose to her feet.  ?You guys honestly took me by surprise with that last attack.?  Brushing the dirt and dust off of her dress, she looked up and met the collective gaze of those still struggling to understand what was happening.

?It?s a real shame it?s not going to work again.?

As Reimu watched Hoshimi, her feeling of fear descending into one of dread, her eye caught the tower once again.  It had stopped changing shape, and was ever so slightly smaller ? in exchange, it was now shining with a brilliant white light.  Just like the crystals Hoshimi used to block their magic with did.

As if it was overflowing with magical energy.

?How?how can she have such regenerated so easily from that?!? Sanae was the first to complain, but the question was already at the forefront of everyone?s minds.  The attacks she had taken would have killed anyone else.  What?s more, they knew from their attacks that they had dealt massive damage to her.  Yet, here she was, standing like nothing had happened.  Even her clothes had repaired themselves.

Hoshimi simply smiled at them.

Reimu?s mind was racing.  They needed another plan, and they needed it fast.  As if they hadn?t tired themselves out enough from the fight itself, they had dumped an awful lot of energy into destroying that tower ? which had failed.  In sharp contrast, Hoshimi was perfectly healthy, standing in front of them good as new.  She wasn?t even sweating.

And to make matters worse, the tower was now charged.  It was as close to a perfect defeat as she could imagine.

?It really is Reality Manipulation, isn?t it?? Patchouli called out to Hoshimi, her voice sounding as bored as ever, despite the tension apparent in her expression. ?That?s your ability, right??

While this earned a few raised eyebrows and gasps from her own side, Hoshimi herself even seemed surprised at the declaration.

?I must say,? Hoshimi said, her voice genuinely impressed, ?that is the closest anyone has ever gotten to guessing correctly.  Not quite, but you?re very close!  So close the difference is almost irrelevant??

Hoshimi then floated into the air, rising ten feet or so, so she could look down on Reimu and her group.  ?Well, it?s been fun.  There were a couple moments along the way where I was sure you were going to figure it out, especially that moment at the end with the celestial?but it seems that it?s my win after all.  But don?t worry??  Hoshimi?s expression turned from a playful smile to a wicked grin.

?I have no need to take your lives.  You?ve already given me everything I need.?

With that, the ground began to shake, and instinctively everyone on the field in front of Hoshimi hovered into the air.  The tower, already shining brightly enough to light up the entire field had it been night, suddenly flashed brighter, now enough to be blinding.

At the same time, a magic circle appeared above the tower.  White lightning began crackling between the various parts of the magical circle and the tower, and immediately everyone present could feel the massive energy in the tower begin to collect at its tip.

?I expected more energy from you,? Hoshimi yelled over the roaring sound of the tower activating, ?but luckily I worked out a mechanism that allowed the tower to cannibalize its unnecessary components to cover the last bit of necessary energy.?

Reimu gritted her teeth.  She knew she had to do something, and she had to do it now.  But she couldn?t come up with something that wouldn?t just get them all killed.  It was all obvious now, that Hoshimi had been playing with them, luring them into attacking the tower.  She had completely fooled them all.  And now that she had what she needed, she had no reason to let them off easy.

If any of them attacked, she?d respond mercilessly.  On top of that, there was barely any guarantee that it would even be possible to do anything to her, and even if they could, there was no guarantee that stopping her would do anything to stop the tower.

Just as she was about to give up, Reimu saw movement out of the corner of her eye.  Turning, she saw Marisa jump on her broom, take her mini-hakkero in her left hand, and quickly say one thing before flying straight up.

The noise caused by the tower activating had grown so loud that it had completely drowned out whatever she had been trying to say.  But Reimu could tell, by the grin on her face, and the gleam of madness in her eyes, exactly what she wanted to say.

Don?t worry.  I?ve got it covered.


Whoa, look at that progress!  How much longer could this story possibly go?!

Now that NaNoWriMo is over, and tomorrow is my last day of classes, it should be pretty smooth sailling to the end of the story.  I expect to have the whole story finished and posted by the end of December at the very latest.  Ideally, if I can get over this cold with any sense of speed, I hope to finish writing and go into the final editing phase within a week or so.

Thanks for sticking with me so far folks, we're almost done!

[lightdreamer]

Ha! I knew she wouldn't be defeated that easily! 

And indeed! Thank you too, for writing this wonderful, wonderful story! Wish there are more fics like this out there!

Edit:
So, I've been re-reading the Yuuka part of the story

With a frustrated sigh, she once again knocked the attack off course with her bare left hand.  If she stayed where she was, she was going to have to keep blocking attacks like this to stop them from hitting the tower.  It was designed to take some punishment, but now wasn?t the time for that.

Foreshadowing? 

And I wonder if Reimu and the others' combination attack is still weaker than Yuuka's? Reimu's ultimate attack particularly since even though she goes for the kill, it still doesn't finish Hoshimi off.

[TwilightsCall]

I was wondering if anyone would pick up on that


Here's an early christmas present for you guys: a true double-header, instead of a single chapter split into two! 

I hope you guys enjoy sitting down and reading for long periods of time!


Chapter 20 ? Gensokyo?s Eclipse



Marisa flew as fast as her broom would carry her.  Well, not quite as fast ? she had learned earlier that it was a bad idea to go all out on a whim where the physical body was concerned.  Paying almost no attention to her injured right arm, she managed to somehow stay balanced on her broom while stuffing her mini-hakkero into her pocket with her left hand.

DODGE, MARISA!

Before she really understood what was said, Marisa grabbed onto her broom with her good hand and did a tight barrel roll to the side, narrowly dodging a series of purple lasers.

COVER HER, NOW!

Marisa couldn?t help but wince as Reimu?s voice echoed in her head once again.  She had to admit she was a little concerned about Reimu?s faith in her.  After all, the only one who could possibly have any idea what she was doing was Nitori ? anyone else would just have to guess.  Though, considering Reimu?s intuition, having her support was pretty encouraging regardless of how little she knew.

The thought suddenly struck her that she had absolutely no idea if what she was doing would even work.  Unfortunately, she didn?t have time to second guess herself, but she would have time to at least consult an expert.

Yo, Nitori.  I think you know what I plan on doing here, but?I have no idea whether it will actually work or not.  Any thoughts?

Throwing a look behind her, Marisa once again rolled to the side, this time avoiding a volley of a dozen crystal shards.  The sound of fighting behind her was getting intense, but she didn?t have the time to take a good look to see what was going on, let alone help them.

Uhh?I couldn?t really tell you, Nitori?s response came back after a significant delay.  Theoretically there?s no problems but?do you see how much power that tower is holding?  If it shoots it all at once, I can?t even promise your house will be okay.

Well, that was fantastic.  Not even the foremost expert in the field was sure her plan would work.  On the bright side, though, being theoretically possible was a plus.

Finally content with her altitude, Marisa turned and looked back where she had come from.  She was now directly above the tower, about a hundred feet above it, and she now had a good view of the magical array that was forming.  It was hard to tell from below, but from here it was obvious ? the tower was obviously constructed to hold magical energy, and this array showed that Hoshimi was planning on literally firing it all at once.

Even a hundred and fifty feet in the air, Marisa could feel tremors from the tower shaking the air around her.  It was no wonder that Hell had planned such drastic measures to prevent this from firing ? even though they had unwittingly put a huge amount of magical energy into the tower by trying to destroy it, it wouldn?t be enough to cause any sort of panic.  However, the tower didn?t just hold the energy ? it was acting like a lens, focusing and magnifying it.  On top of that, the array forming above the tower would likely amplify the output as well.  If Marisa was planning on destroying the moon, this is probably what she would have ended up with.

Marisa turned slightly to look at the battle that was even now occurring below her, just in time to see another wave of lasers come her way.  Luckily, with a hundred and fifty feet between her and Hoshimi, it wasn?t that difficult to dodge around them.

Meanwhile, Reimu and the rest were swarming over Hoshimi like a?swarm of angry bees.  Though their attacks were of questionable effectiveness, it did keep Hoshimi busy enough that she could only send the occasional attack in Marisa?s direction.

Another powerful tremor rocked the air, signalling that the magical array was close to completion.  Reaching into her pocket again, Marisa took out the secret weapon she and Nitori had been working on.

It was a device the same size as her mini-hakkero.  Actually, it was the same shape too.  At Marisa?s request, Nitori had managed to model the device to look exactly like her mini-hakkero, except for the colouring.  Instead of the warm, wooden colours that characterized her favourite possession, this was made of cold, hard steel.  Instead of the trigrams that characterized the mini-hakkero?s outward appearance, this device had various geometric designs etched into its surface, forming a sharp, angular spiral in towards an aperture in the middle.  The etchings were overlaid with black, giving the device a somewhat sinister appearance.

Marisa pointed the device, which she and Nitori had yet to give a proper name, towards the tower directly below her.  Pouring just a trickle of magical energy into the device, it began to vibrate ever so slightly, activating its warm up cycle.

Marisa typically likened the effect of her mini-hakkero to the roar of a dragon.  The sound it left off, the sheer feeling of overflowing power matched well with the image of the mythical beast.  This, however, felt completely different.  The sound this device gave off was more like a howl, a wail of some sort of creature of the abyss.  As the vibrations of the device grew in strength, almost as if it was trying to match the tremors let off by the tower, the sound also increased in volume.

It was time for an all or nothing gambit, something Marisa was very used to.  Except this time, she didn?t even know the odds ? and even if she won, she had no idea whether it would do them any good.  Marisa shook her head to dispel the needless thoughts.  There was no point worrying about what would happen after.

All she had to do was overcome the now.


------------------------------------



Reimu hurled another handful of talismans at Hoshimi, a small fraction of the massive wave of projectiles that was pounding down on her.  As a gap opened in the projectiles, a brigade of dolls rushed Hoshimi from all sides, getting obliterated by lasers before they were able to get close.  The dolls were quickly followed by another wave of fire, talismans, and other varieties of danmaku too numerous to count, which expectedly burst as they hit an invisible wall a good five feet out from where Hoshimi stood.

?It doesn?t matter if you don?t hit her!? Reimu shouted, desperately trying to keep everyone?s spirits up for at least the last stretch.  ?If we can block her vision, we can do this!?

She had no idea where her confidence was coming from.  Marisa was capable, but she was the last person Reimu would trust without any sort of evidence to back her up.  But she was the only choice they had right now, so they had to do everything in their power to protect her until she?did whatever she was planning on doing.

The tower pulsed again, sending a tremor out intense enough to knock Reimu off balance, despite the fact she was floating in the air.  Regaining her composure, she tossed another couple of handfuls of talismans at Hoshimi, specifically aiming them so that they would impact between Hoshimi and Marisa, in hopes that she would at least be able to obscure Hoshimi?s vision of her.

Suddenly, a howling sound reached Reimu?s ears.  At first, she thought it was the tower, but upon looking up, she realized that the sound was actually coming Marisa.  Marisa was holding out something that looked remarkably similar to her hakkero, pointing it directly at the tower.  Reimu?s first thought was worry that Marisa?s plan was just to Master Spark the tower, but if whatever she was doing could produce enough of an effect to be noticed over the tremors of the tower, maybe even a Master Spark would work.

There was one problem, though.  If Reimu could hear the sound coming from Marisa, then so could Hoshimi.  And there was no way she was going to let Marisa do as she pleased.

?Alice, back me up!? Reimu shouted as she took off after Marisa.  Almost immediately, a dozen of Alice?s dolls chased after her, one by one breaking off from their flight and blocking the space between Hoshimi and Marisa.

As they did, vibrant purple lasers half Reimu?s size began to cut their way through the air towards Marisa.  Barely making it in time, Alice?s dolls managed to intercept the attacks, lasting only a split second before they burst into purple flame and fell to the ground as little more than ash.  Fortunately, their distraction lasted just long enough for the others to destroy the crystals firing the lasers, and before Hoshimi could set up more, another doll would move in to take the fallen dolls? place.

It was working for now, but the dolls were being destroyed far too quickly.  Reimu tried to open up as much space between her and Hoshimi as possible, but she wasn?t even going to make it above the tower by the time the last doll fell.  Alice was sending more, but Reimu could tell they weren?t going to make it in time to be of any help.

Just as the last doll fell, four crystals appeared in front of Hoshimi, attaching together instead of firing individually.  The combined crystals fired a laser almost twice the size of Reimu herself?but it was aimed downwards.  With a sweeping motion, the laser raked across the field where the others were still pouring fire into Hoshimi.  Caught off guard by the sudden attack, despite the fact almost everyone was able to dodge the sudden attack, they were sent sprawling in a desperate attempt to dodge the coming follow up.

As more crystals appeared, firing lasers at those below, the combined crystal turned up to point at Marisa.  Reimu instinctively threw herself in the impending laser?s path, turning to face Hoshimi.  Throwing four talismans in front of her, she brought her hands up, palms facing Hoshimi.

?Dream World: Super Duplex Barrier!?

Light from the four talismans expanded, creating a barrier between Reimu and Hoshimi, just as the massive laser ignited again.  The force of the laser hammered into Reimu hard.  By some miracle, the barrier held, but the force of the hit was pushing both her and the barrier backwards at an alarming pace.  She couldn?t turn to see, but she could hear from the sound of what Marisa was doing that she was getting dangerously close to her.

Mere seconds before what Reimu suspected would have been a collision between her and Marisa, the laser suddenly stopped.  Looking down, Reimu could see Byakuren had closed in on Hoshimi, smashing the crystal the laser was firing from.  Reimu sighed in relief as Byakuren continued the attack, causing Hoshimi to flee backwards.  Even after all that, it seemed she was still vulnerable to physical attacks.  Like this, they would at least be able to-

Reimu?s train of thought was interrupted as Hoshimi?disappeared.  In what could only be described as space folding in on itself, the air wrapped around Hoshimi and she vanished.  Reimu immediately turned, heading for Marisa as fast as she could.  Closing the gap of a dozen or so feet, Reimu passed Marisa just as Hoshimi appeared in the air behind her.

Crystal shards immediately appeared in the air around her and launched towards Marisa.  Reimu created a weak barrier that broke almost instantly, but managed to deflect most of the projectiles.  Throwing another two talismans almost simultaneously, Reimu managed to knock another pair of crystals off course, managing to kick the final crystal out of the way before it hit Marisa.

Reimu prepared herself to make a more powerful barrier as more crystals appeared around Hoshimi.  At the last second, she realized it wasn?t going to be fast enough.  If she was going to launch the crystals like before, Reimu would make it ? but these were turning to aim.  They were definitely going to fire lasers, and there was no way Reimu could make a barrier in time.

Before the lasers could fire, Hoshimi?s eyes suddenly went wide.  For some reason, instead of firing the lasers, she instead began to spin.  Before she could completely turn around, Reimu?s eyes also went wide ? as Komachi appeared behind her.  Placing a hand on Hoshimi?s shoulder, Komachi smiled.

?Not today,? she managed to squeeze out between breaths.  Hoshimi reflexively attempted to back away from Komachi, the crystals turning to face her, but Komachi held tight to her shoulder, and soon space warped again.  Just like that, Komachi and Hoshimi were gone, the crystals floating as if confused.  Reimu immediately threw a wave of needles at the crystals, knocking them from the air, before turning back to face Marisa.

Beyond her, she saw Hoshimi and Komachi appear on the ground beside the tower.  Komachi immediately let go of her and disengaged as a wave of projectiles, led by a brigade of Alice?s dolls, pinned Hoshimi to the ground once again.

?Get behind me, Reimu!? Marisa shouted, her voice almost drowned out by the roaring of the tower and the howling of the fake hakkero.  Reimu got as close to Marisa as she could, preparing a barrier to block the incoming blast.  She knew that it would be futile on its own, but maybe with whatever Marisa was doing, it would be enough?

The magical array above the tower collapsed, as if being absorbed back into the tower.  The roar of the tower stopped entirely, the tremors caused by it becoming a full-on quake, shaking even the air a hundred and fifty feet in the air.  Reimu could barely see due to the constant shaking, but one thing was clear ? the tower was no longer just glowing, it was so bright as to be blinding.

Marisa didn?t flinch.  Pointing her fake hakkero at the tower, she held fast, and soon the wailing of the fake hakkero stopped as well.  The area was cloaked in an unexpected silence, and all eyes ? including Hoshimi?s ? turned to Marisa.


----------------------------------


?Entropy Sign: Ethereal Black Hole!?

The feeling given off by Nitori?s device was so different as to be exactly the opposite of how her mini-hakkero worked.  While hers would let out a roar, magnifying magical energy and releasing it in a blaze of glory, Nitori?s device instead seemed to suck it in like a massive whirlpool.

Soon, a very literal vortex of what could only be described as fluid blackness appeared in front of the device, steadily growing larger and larger as the device sucked in more and more magical energy from the area.  Just as the vortex formed, the tower unleashed all of the magical energy it had stored.

A beam of pure white light fired directly upwards, with the sound that was closer to a dragon roaring than even Marisa?s own imagination.  The beam of light impacted hard into the black vortex, pushing Marisa backwards into Reimu, pushing the pair of them dozens of feet further into the air.

But the vortex held.  And not only did it hold, it began to grow.  As it greedily devoured the magical energy poured into it by the tower, it rapidly increased in size, soon larger than Marisa and Reimu together, and even larger.  Stabilizing at a diameter of almost thirty feet, the vortex began to spin faster and faster, instead of just growing larger.  As it continued to absorb the beam of light, the force against them began to lessen, and soon Marisa and Reimu were holding their ground against it.

It didn?t stop there, though.  As the pull of the vortex got stronger and stronger, Marisa could feel not just the magical energy of the tower, but also hers and Reimu?s being sucked into the vortex.  She knew she was already exhausted, but the feeling of having more magical energy being torn from her brought her close to the edge of unconsciousness.

Biting her lip to keep herself focused, she held on.  The tower continued to fire, and the vortex continued to spin.  There was nothing any of them could do, whether it was Marisa and Reimu, those below, or even Hoshimi, but wait for the exchange to end.

Though it felt like hours, after less than half a minute, the beam of light from the tower began to thin.  Marisa did her best to curb the power of the vortex, but it had gone wild thanks to the massive amount of magical energy being poured into it, so it took everything she had to wrestle any sort of semblance of control over it.  Slowly but surely, the vortex began to slow, the area it covered shrinking, just as the beam of light from the tower.

Finally shrinking to the thickness of a needle, the light from the tower winked out, and with considerable effort, Marisa was able to force the vortex to do the same.  Silence covered the field, no one daring to move.  Everyone on the ground simply stared up at Marisa, and consequently Reimu behind her, while the two of them stared down at the tower.

The tower had returned to being a dark, glassy black.  No traces of magical energy remained within it.

??you did it,? Reimu whispered, as if afraid to break the silence.

?Yeah?I did?? Marisa responded, just as incredulously.  As the reality of the situation came down on her, she realized that she had, in fact, won her bet.  The threat of the tower was nullified.  And she was still alive.  As relief washed over her at her success, a crushing wave of fatigue also assailed her.  It seemed that the effect of the vortex had taken more from her than she could handle.

Marisa laughed weakly, looking up at the sky still covered in a thick red mist.  ?Sorry, Reimu, but?? Marisa felt her eyes droop closed.  ??I?ll have to leave?the rest to you??

After muttering these words, Marisa lost her balance on her broom, blacking out before she could even realize she had fallen.


--------------------------



Reimu touched down softly, lying Marisa on the ground as she did so.  For some reason, she had passed out the instant the danger was over, and Reimu was more than happy to blame that strange hakkero-like thing for that.  Especially since she felt like doing the same.

Though there was a definite feeling of relief that the tower had been stopped, it was fairly short-lived.  Marisa was unconscious, Reimu wasn?t sure she?d be able to get off the ground again, and the others were, to a lesser extent, exhausted.  Meanwhile, Hoshimi?

Reimu looked around, and saw everyone else was tensely watching Hoshimi, who was now standing at the foot of the tower.  She didn?t seem to be doing anything ? just standing there, watching the tower.  As if she was hoping it would still do something.

Reimu considered attacking her, but in the end decided it wasn?t a very smart idea.  She was barely able to muster up the strength to land properly, and she doubted she could fly again.  Provoking Hoshimi, who was already likely to be furious at her and Marisa, was a sure fire way to get herself killed.  And it seemed everyone else shared the same opinion ? the air was filled with tension, but everyone just stood silently watching Hoshimi, waiting for her next move.

Slowly, Hoshimi turned around.  Her face was blank, more of an empty expression than an unreadable one.  One by one, she looked at each of the people standing before her.  Reimu could feel the others? tension growing as Hoshimi?s gaze passed over them.

Finally, her gaze landed on Reimu and Marisa.  After a long pause, she slowly shook her head. ?To think?after all that??
Reimu shifted in front of Marisa, so she was between her and Hoshimi.  As she did, Hoshimi took a step toward them.

?Everything went so well,? she continued, ?everything followed my plan practically to the letter.  I angered you just enough that you wanted me gone, scared you just enough to make you seek as much help as you could find.?  As she took another step towards them, the others began to move.  Surrounding Reimu and Marisa, they took up an impromptu defensive formation, however useful that was going to be.

?I gave you just enough conviction that you would fight me without holding back.  I gathered as supporters those who could endanger the tower, and incapacitated the rest.?  A sad smile appeared on her face as she took another step forward.  ?I made sure they were just weak enough that you could overcome them if you went all out.  And then I fought just hard enough that, after defeating me, you would attack the tower, too tired to think it through properly.?

Hoshimi stopped walking, raising her hands in a defeated shrug.  ?But I didn?t even consider the fact that you could stop the tower after it had been charged.  To think, at the very last possible moment, you found a way to stop something you could never have predicted.  I guess I just have to admit it.  It?s my loss.?

Reimu could tell she wasn?t the only one who couldn?t believe her ears.  Had she really just admitted defeat?  She couldn?t imagine a better possible outcome, and that meant she couldn?t believe that was the case.

?So?you admit you?ve lost?  You?ll give up this ridiculous plan??  Kanako spoke, though like Reimu, she didn?t seem to have much confidence in what she was saying.

?Of course.? Hoshimi said, shrugging again. ?I?ve completely lost.  I never had anything against you people from the start, and now that you?ve seen my hand, there?s no way it?ll work a second time.  There?s nothing I can do but give up.?

Reimu could feel the others around her relax as Hoshimi spoke, but she herself began to tense up.  There was something about Hoshimi?s expression?something dark behind her eyes.

?No matter how well it went, in the end, the plan failed.  There?s nothing to do but throw it away.?  Hoshimi?s face turned somber for just a moment before her anger began to make itself apparent. ?Now?this fight is personal.?

With that, the ground around Hoshimi began to shake.  The tension in those standing around Reimu exploded, and they all took up defensive postures in front of her and Marisa.  The ground around Hoshimi erupted upwards into dozens of fragments of jagged stone, each twice the size of Reimu?s head, and interspersed between them the familiar crystal shards they had been fighting against the entire time began to appear.

Without even time to panic, the stone shards flew towards Reimu.  Half a dozen barriers, made from everything from magic to stone to onbashira appeared in front of them, successfully intercepting the shards of stone.  Shortly after, however, the crystal shards fired their trademark violet lasers, and they easily tore apart each of the barriers.

Luckily, they had bought enough time to act.  Alice?s dolls swarmed over Marisa, carrying her away from the fight, allowing Reimu to run ? unfortunately, on foot ? away from the paths of the lasers.  With those two out of the way, the others scattered, and once the last of the barriers fell, the lasers scattered after them.

Waves of projectiles rained down on Hoshimi, predictably impacting on an invisible wall several feet away from her.  More importantly, however, they managed to destroy the crystals surrounding her.  As each of the crystals was destroyed, a new crystal would appear somewhere else, immediately firing a laser to track the person who had destroyed its previous incarnation.  Luckily, this meant the crystal lasers weren?t attacking Reimu at all, as all she had to do was make sure she didn?t get caught by stray shots.

Another wave of stone shards erupted from the ground, directly pursuing those who were still showering Hoshimi in danmaku.  As the stone shards passed without incident, in some places by sheer luck, Byakuren suddenly cut between the lasers and closed in on her.

Multiple crystals turned to face her, shortly before being smashed by Kanako?s onbashira.  The path now clear, Byakuren lunged forward, her kick just barely falling short as Hoshimi backpedaled away from her.  From seemingly nowhere, Komachi appeared behind her, scythe at the ready.  Without even turning to look, four thin threads of shadow arced out from the folds in Hoshimi?s clothes, curling back behind her and striking at Komachi.

Komachi was able to block the first two threads, but as the second two came for her she was forced to teleport herself away.  As she did, Byakuren closed in again, throwing a punch directly at Hoshimi?s face.

Stop.

Hoshimi?s voice echoed like thunder inside Reimu?s head, and Byakuren froze in place, fist only inches from Hoshimi?s face.  Raising her palm toward Byakuren, Reimu saw something glimmer with light faintly before it exploded outwards, throwing Byakuren away.

Sanae and Reisen came down on Hoshimi from behind, a wave of talismans and bullets deflecting sideways into the ground long before reaching Hoshimi.  They continued their downward movement, attempting to close in on Hoshimi as she turned to face them, but were interrupted by Hoshimi?s shadows.  The threads shot out from her like lightning, three of them mercilessly impaling each of them.  Reisen and Sanae both showed looks of shock on their face, shortly before the threads of shadow snapped downwards, hammering the two of them into the ground.

Hoshimi turned to face forward again as Eirin fired an arrow.  The arrow punched through whatever defenses Hoshimi had effortlessly, and though she narrowly avoided what would have been a fatal hit because of her turn, the arrow still hit her arm ? with enough force to blow it completely off.  Hoshimi didn?t even flinch, raising her remaining arm at Eirin.

As she did so, what Reimu could only describe as waves of stone leapt from the ground around her, enclosing Eirin in rock.  The stone seemed to fuse into one enormous piece as three large crystals appeared above it, pointing down.  In short order, a laser the size of a Master Spark erupted downwards, incinerating the stone prison.

Multiple onbashira flew towards the crystals, attempting to destroy them, but Hoshimi was suddenly there.  Raising her remaining hand towards the incoming pillars, they each stopped a few feet from her before exploding into countless splinters.  The splinters suddenly gathered in the air, launching themselves back at Kanako, but were soon buffeted away by a gust of wind.

Before Kanako could attack again, Hoshimi was suddenly behind her.  Without turning to look, Kanako materialized two more onbashira, attempting to drop them on Hoshimi from above, but they quickly split from their path and hammered hard into the ground below.  As they did so, another explosion of light threw Kanako into the ground after them.

Though it was getting increasingly difficult to follow Hoshimi with her eyes, she had no problem finding her after her next teleportation ? as she appeared directly in front of Reimu.  She tensed to dodge backwards, cursing again the unnatural exhaustion that Marisa?s stunt had put on her, as she saw Komachi appear behind Hoshimi once again, scythe raised.

Stop.

Once again, a split second before her scythe connected, Komachi froze, her face locked in an expression of shock.  As Hoshimi turned to look at her, the space around her missing right arm began to warp and twist.  Threads of shadow from the folds in her clothes circled around the spot, as if they were weaving a new limb out of fabric.  Within a few seconds, her arm had reappeared, even the cloth of her dress undamaged.

?I know it was the blonde girl that stopped the tower,? Hoshimi said, a clear undercurrent of anger in her cold voice.  ?But if it wasn?t for you??  Hoshimi backhanded Komachi with her newly formed arm, sending the shinigami flying like a bullet off into the distance.  ?And you?? Hoshimi turned back to look at Reimu, raising her right palm towards her. ??everything would have been fine.?

Reimu tried to move, realizing too late that she was frozen in place ? just like Komachi, and Byakuren earlier, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn?t move an inch.  She couldn?t even look away as a small orb of light, no bigger than a small fruit, appeared in front of Hoshimi?s palm.

?Good bye, little shrine maiden,? Hoshimi said, no trace of humor on her face. 

But as the small sphere of light trembled, ready to explode, Reimu?s eyes went wide.  In the span of less than a second, the space behind Hoshimi suddenly tore open, revealing an inky blackness?filled with eyes.  The gap expanded to be larger than a person, then moved, and Hoshimi turned in surprise as she was suddenly surrounded by darkness.  As soon as she was beyond its edges, the gap snapped shut, and Hoshimi was gone.

Reimu lost her balance as whatever was holding her in place vanished, and she fell to one knee.  She looked around hesitantly, but there was no sign of Hoshimi.  She was greeted instead by a much more difficult sight ? everyone around her, lying on the ground, unmoving.

?Don?t worry, Reimu,? Yukari?s voice broke her thoughts from racing ahead, ?everyone is still alive.  So far, at least.?

Reimu stood back up again, turning to see Yukari sitting on the edge of another gap, this one coloured a deep violet instead of black.  ?What do you mean, ?so far??? Reimu asked, her voice shaky.

?We?re far from done here,? Yukari said dismissively.  ?I sent her away, but it?ll only be a matter of time before she comes back.  Anyone else, and they would be stuck there until I released them, but her?I doubt we?ll have more than a few minutes.?

Reimu looked around again.  They were in shambles.  The only ones who were still standing were Reimu and Yukari, as well as Alice, Patchouli, and the Kappa who had prioritized getting the few wounded they could reach away from the battle.

As she looked around, gaps suddenly started opening under each of the fallen.  Gently, they slipped below the surface into the violet space below, and the gaps closed. ?I?ll send them somewhere safe for now.?

Reimu suddenly realized that there were a few people missing.  ?Wait, what happened to Remilia??

?She decided she wouldn?t be able to keep up, so her and Sakuya retreated to take care of the injured away from here.  In fact, I?m sending these people to the Scarlet Devil Mansion now so that they can be taken care of properly.?

Reimu nodded, giving a tired sigh.  She was at the end of her rope.  ?Why did you wait so long to help??

Yukari?s expression remained passive.  ?There was no point in helping earlier.  Before the tower fired, you were able to hold her off on your own, and afterwards, she was too ready to deal with anything I could have done.  She let her guard down at the very end, so I was able to save you, but that won?t work again.?

Reimu couldn?t work up the will to argue.  After what had just happened, she had little expectation that Yukari would have made much of a difference.  So many of them had been knocked out so quickly, it was hard to process.  As she struggled to think of anything they could do, she heard the sound of rock crumbling.  Turning to look, the stone prison that had encased Eirin, which was now mostly flat, was breaking apart and falling outwards.

In short order, Eirin emerged, dusting herself off as she walked out towards Reimu and Yukari.  She was clearly in pretty bad shape, but she was a lot better off than most of those who had fought.

?I?m glad to see you?re alright,? Eirin said as she approached.

?I?m glad to see you?re alive,? Reimu responded tiredly.

Eirin sniffed at that.  ?I did what I could to stop the attack, but it wasn?t quite enough.  Luckily, that stone shield she made blocked enough of the laser that I was alright.  What?s happened??

?Yukari?s gapped her away somewhere.  She says she?ll be back any minute now.?

Eirin sighed, massaging her temple with her right hand. ?So, do we have any?? She trailed off, her face blanching, as she looked at Yukari.  Reimu turned to look, and she could feel herself do the same.

Yukari was staring off into the distance, her eyes wide.  It was hard to say whether from fear or surprise, but whatever it was, it was not something pleasant.

?What?s wrong, Yukari?? Reimu asked, a strong sense of urgency in her voice.

?Eirin,? Yukari said, ignoring Reimu, ?can you still use that spell you used before, to seal the Earth off from the Moon??

Eirin paused for a moment before responding.  ?It would take some time, but yes. Why??

?How much time??

?Depends on the area.  If you want me to seal the whole Earth, it?ll take me a few hours.  If it was just this field?maybe ten minutes or so??

Yukari nodded.  ?Take Reimu.  Get out of here and get ready to seal off this entire area.  Something is coming?I can?t tell you whether it?s good or bad, but whatever it is, it feels?very similar to Hoshimi.  Hoshimi has almost escaped, I can feel her coming close, but?this is something different.?

At that, Reimu couldn?t help but gape.  Something else was coming that was the same as Hoshimi?  As Reimu considered the implications, a tremor shook the air.  The holes in the red mist, which had begun to dissipate slowly once Remilia had left, showed that the sky itself was growing dark.  Was this something Hoshimi was doing, or was it that ?something else? Yukari was talking about?

?You realize, if she can break out of wherever you put her, she can almost definitely break out of my seal, correct??  Eirin said, though her gaze was already darting around the field, analyzing it.

?That?s okay. I will be inside, so I should be able to keep her distracted enough to prevent her from escaping.?  Another tremor shook the air, and this time the ground as well, almost knocking Reimu from her feet.

Eirin turned to look at Yukari again, a hard expression on her face.  ?Getting yourself killed won?t help us, you know.?

Yukari gave a short laugh, though it was painfully devoid of humor.  ?I have no intentions of dying.  But us two are the only ones who can do anything at this point, so we have to do something.?

Eirin nodded, grabbing Reimu?s arm and pulling her along as she started walking away.

?What? Yukari this is crazy!? Reimu shouted at her, stumbling as Eirin pulled her along.  ?There?s no way you can fight her by yourself, let alone two of her!?  Yukari continued ignoring Reimu, turning to look at the spot where Hoshimi had disappeared.

?YUKARI!? Reimu shouted, barely noticing when Eirin let go of her arm.  When she did notice, she turned angry eyes at her.  ?You can?t seriously be planning on sealing her away on her own??

Eirin?s expression was hard, determined.  ?Of course not.?  Eirin clapped her hands together in front of her, closing her eyes.  For a brief moment, light flashed out from her, expanding quickly into a sphere that encompassed most of the field, with Yukari at its center.

And Reimu and Eirin just barely inside.


----------------------------


The air cracked like glass.  A screeching sound, like metal being torn apart, filled the air.  The boundary trembled slightly, before exploding outwards, freeing Hoshimi into Gensokyo once more.

Hoshimi looked around her, taking stock of her surroundings.  She was back where she had been standing right before being sent to that?place, with maybe five minutes having passed.  In that time, almost everyone who she had been fighting had vanished completely.  However, in their place, a new youkai stood ? well, floated ? in front of her, her expression unreadable, a parasol resting on her shoulder.

?I take it you were responsible for that little trick?? Hoshimi asked of the new youkai.

The youkai watched her blankly, not responding.  Hoshimi sighed.  The time it had taken for her to break out of that barrier had given her the chance to cool her head.  This woman was clearly quite strong, on the same level as that Yuuka Kazami.  She may not be comparable to Hoshimi herself, but it would only take one mistake for her to lose, no matter how much she outclassed her opponent.

?Ah,? Hoshimi said, the facts finally clicking into place, ?you must be Yukari Yakumo.  I?ve been wondering when you would show up.?  Yukari continued to stare silently at her.  Well, so be it.  If she didn?t want to be civil, then Hoshimi didn?t mind.  Raising a hand towards her, Hoshimi spoke again.  ?Well then, if that?s how it?s going to be, let?s fi-?

Hoshimi barely caught herself from stumbling as the ground shook with a massive tremor.  A feeling of tremendous?familiarity struck her as she regained her composure.  What was that? Her memory was still fragmented and unreliable, but she knew for sure that she had felt this feeling before.

Was this something Yukari was doing?  She had reacted to it similarly to herself, meaning it seemed to have taken her by surprise as well.  Whatever it was, Hoshimi felt like Yukari was on guard against it ? and that confused her more than anything.  Either way, her instincts told her that being on guard was the right decision.  She didn?t remember clearly, but unlike the others she had fought so far, there was a very definite feeling coming from whatever it was ? the feeling that a threat was approaching.

?So, I take it that wasn?t your doing?? Yukari finally spoke, confirming that she as well had nothing to do with it.  Hoshimi then realized that the sky had turned dark ? she hadn?t seen the sky for a while, what with that strange red mist the vampire had released, but now that it had mostly dissipated, she could clearly see the sky had turned?black.  The sun was still there, though it shone faintly, cloaking in the area in darkness as if during an eclipse.

Hoshimi braced herself as she felt another tremor coming.  Whatever it was that was causing these tremors, it was close.  Lightning sparked in the air above Yukari, circling around a particular spot.  As another tremor, even more powerful than the last, shook the area, it was clear that spot was where it was coming from.  This time, both Hoshimi and Yukari had felt it coming from far enough away that they were able to keep steady.

The tremor didn?t subside though.  As it reached its apex, a red-black orb of light, no larger than Hoshimi?s fist, appeared in the air where the tremors were originating.  The tremors weakened as the light expanded into a straight, horizontal line, ten feet across.  Hoshimi and Yukari both watched the phenomenon with their guards up, tensely waiting for what would happen next.

Suddenly, Hoshimi was overcome by a tremendous pressure.  It weighed down on her, like an unnatural fear, as if she was suddenly bound in chains.  For the first time in her life, Hoshimi felt?inferior.

No. No, it wasn?t the first time.  Hoshimi?s eyes widened as she recognized the feeling, vivid memories suddenly jumping to the surface.  Suddenly, it all became clear ? she knew exactly where this pressure was coming from.  She knew exactly what was going to happen next.  Memories of the time before she had been sealed away flooded back by the hundreds, all upon the realization of what was happening.

The line of black-red light expanded outwards, like an eye opening, causing the tremors to briefly intensify.  Lined by that all too familiar light, an eye-shaped aperture, just large enough for a person to walk through, stood in the air before her.

And standing within it was someone she instantly recognized as a Goddess.



Who could it be?!

Next chapter is going up in a minute or two, formatting now.

[TwilightsCall]

THE MOMENT YOU HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR

HAS ARRIVED



Chapter 21 ? And the Dawn Will Come




Flandre gripped tightly on to the gate guard?s hand.

It had been a considerably long time since she had last been able to see.  She had been too distraught to count the days, so she didn?t even know if it had been for very long.  It felt like forever.  Every night, she struggled to sleep, desperately wishing that she?d wake up and everything would be fine, and every morning she woke up to the dreaded realization that she still couldn?t see.  Every day had proved to be an emotional rollercoaster.

Flandre couldn?t help but wonder what a rollercoaster was as the thought crossed her mind.  Apparently, it was a phrase that had been picked up from the outside world ? no one in Gensokyo, according to her sister, had ever seen a rollercoaster themselves.   Whatever it was, it seemed to be a bad thing, if the phrase ?emotional rollercoaster? was any indication.

Flandre took a deep breath.  This is what the others had told her ever since she stopped being able to see ? take deep breaths, try to relax, let your mind wander.  Someday, she would be able to see again, and if it didn?t wear off on its own, then Patchy would be able to fix it for her.  Everything would be alright, all she had to do was be patient.

It was something she had to remind herself more and more often lately.  When her sister had left the mansion to go after the lady in black, she had taken almost everyone other than the fairy maids with her.  The only person who had stayed behind to keep her company was the gate guard, and though she didn?t seem particularly happy to be left out, Flandre didn?t know what she would do if she had been left alone as she was.

Flandre squeezed the gate guard?s hand gently.  ?Hey, Meiling.  How long has my sister been gone??

Meiling gave a quiet hum.  ?Maybe?a week and a half??

?Are they coming back soon??

?Yes,? she said with a strange firmness.  ?They should come back today.?

Flandre immediately perked up.  ?Oh? Are you sure it?s today??

?Definitely.?  Once again, she seemed a bit too serious. She wondered why that was.

?If they are coming back today, can we go outside and greet them??
Meiling gave a short laugh, patting Flandre?s head. ?They will be coming back today, but probably not for another few hours yet.  It takes time to travel, you know??

?That?s okay,? Flandre said, ?we?re just going to be sitting around waiting anyways.  Why can?t we wait out front where we can see them?.err?where you can see them right away??


Meiling paused for a moment.  ?Well, I suppose you?re right,? she said with what Flandre imagined was a big smile.  ?No difference in waiting around in here from waiting around out there.  Come on, let?s go.?  With that, the gate guard tugged on her hand slightly, prompting Flandre to stand up and start following her.

She had to admit the current situation was a little frustrating.  She was finally allowed to go outside, but she was still blind.  She realized she was mostly being allowed out because she was blind, but the situation still irked her.

Flandre heard the sound of a large door opening as Meiling came to a brief stop.  A wave of fresh air washed over the two of them, which Flandre breathed in deeply, expelling it with a great sigh.  She was glad there were some things you could enjoy without being able to see.

Meiling?s grip suddenly tightened.  For some reason, she hadn?t walked through the now open door yet.  Flandre tried to look at her, but obviously, she saw nothing.  She pulled on Meiling?s hand, but just before she could ask her what happened, she felt a sharp pain in her head.

Wincing, she grabbed her forehead with her free hand, gritting her teeth against the sudden pain.  It wasn?t particularly intense, but it was so sudden that it had slammed her train of thought to a complete halt.

Then, something inside her head snapped, like a tightly drawn rope that had suddenly given way.  The sensation lasted only an instant, and as it faded, so did the pain.  Dropping the hand from her forehead and opening her eyes, she was suddenly assaulted by a blinding light.

Instinctively, she winced again, covering her eyes with her arm.  Almost instantly, her eyes went wide with surprise.  She could see.  For no apparent reason, she could see.  Gradually, she lowered her arm protecting her eyes, and though she had to squint, she could definitely make out the interior of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, the front door, and a little further away, the path leading into the garden.

Flandre?s heart soared.  She was at once inundated by feelings of unmatched relief and boundless excitement.  She had been blind for so long, but she could finally see again!  As her eyes gradually adjusted to the light, she let go of Meiling?s hand and slowly, carefully, made her way outside.

She turned to Meiling to tell her the good news, but she froze as she saw the gate guard?s face.

She knew she had been injured earlier, but aside from a bandage or two, she seemed perfectly healthy. What was worse was the expression she had ? one of complete and total fear, mixed with an equal portion of dread.

With the words once again dying on her lips, Flandre turned to see what Meiling was looking at.

Out in the courtyard, she saw a number of familiar faces.  Her sister, the head maid, and Patchy.  All of them were walking towards the mansion.  However, seeing her sister, any sense of excitement at their return died immediately.

Patchy seemed, more or less, fine.  The maid, too, had some burn marks and cuts on her clothes, but otherwise just looked tired.  Her sister, though?

Her clothes were burned and torn in dozens of places.  Her arms and face were covered in cuts, many of which were still bleeding, and she had more than one deep gash on her body.  What little of her clothes remained in good shape had been soaked with blood that she couldn?t help but conclude was her own.  And her face was so tired.  She looked like she hadn?t slept for weeks, and she needed the maid?s help just to stand, let alone walk.

Flandre stood frozen as she watched them slowly make their way towards the mansion.  They managed to cover half the distance before any of them noticed her watching them, at which point Meiling instantly snapped out of her shock and ran down to help them.

Remilia looked up at Flandre with a tired smile.  ?Hey, you seem to be doing better.?

Flandre slowly approached them, still too shocked to speak. As she got close, she opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.  Remilia gave a weak laugh, placing her free hand reassuringly on Flandre?s shoulder.

?Don?t worry.  All of us are going to be okay, there?s nothing to worry about.?

Flandre immediately felt relief flood her.  She couldn?t put it in to words, but she was terrified.  Hearing that her sister was going to be okay was all she needed to help her calm down.  She knew her sister would never lie to her.

??is it over??  Meiling asked quietly, trading places with the maid as she headed into the mansion to get more help.  Remilia?s expression turned sour, but she didn?t say anything.  Instead, Patchy spoke up.

?No.  We managed to neutralize the threat of the tower, but?Hoshimi herself is proving to be a problem.?

?How much of a problem?? Meiling asked, her voice slightly tinted with hesitation.

?Well??

Patchy turned to look at the courtyard behind her, where suddenly a series of large, violet gaps opened up in the air.  Out of each one, a single person was gently lowered to the ground.  Each one of them was badly injured, and most of them seemed to be unconscious.  Flandre was, once again, overcome by shock.

A few moments after the injured started appearing in the courtyard, Sakuya and a flock of fairy maids came flying ? some metaphorically and some literally ? out of the mansion and immediately began tending to them.

Seeing Flandre?s expression, Remilia immediately tried to comfort her.  ?Don?t worry, Flan.  They?re going to be okay too.  Sakuya will take care of them.?

Flandre just shook her head.  ?What?happened??  I thought this couldn?t happen with the Spell Card rules?? she spoke in little more than a mumble, eyes transfixed on the increasing number of wounded appearing in the courtyard.

??we were fighting someone who doesn?t follow the Spell Card rules.  This is what happens when people don?t follow the rules.?  Remilia spoke with an uncharacteristic bitterness, as if she was regretting something.

Flandre, on the other hand, felt something hot and sharp start growing in her chest.  ??who?? she mumbled.  Not getting a response, she turned to her sister. ?Who did this??  Remilia looked away with a conflicted expression, unable to meet Flandre?s gaze.  But she could see the answer in her downcast eyes.

??was it that lady in black?? Flandre all but whispered.  Remilia nodded slowly, her gaze still averted.

The instant she had confirmation, the burning feeling in her chest exploded.

She had hurt her sister, she had hurt the gate guard, even the maid looked a little hurt.  And all these people, so hurt she couldn?t even tell if they were going to survive.  All of this because she just wouldn?t follow the Spell Card Rules.

She knew this would happen.  This is why she had been told so many times how important the rules were.  All of her toys broke, because she didn?t know how to go easy on them.  But as long as Flandre could follow the Spell Card Rules, she didn?t need to worry about the people she was playing with breaking ? the Rules would protect them.  More than anything, that was the one lesson her sister had made sure she learned well.

But this person didn?t follow them.  She didn?t care if people got hurt.  In fact, she probably hurt all of these people on purpose.  It was unforgivable.  She couldn?t understand why anyone would be so vicious, so heartless, and she almost didn?t want to believe it was true.  But every time she doubted, the wounded in front of her reminded her of how true it was.

Gritting her teeth, clenching her hands into fists so tight it was starting to hurt, shaking with anger, Flandre took a step forward.  She didn?t care anymore.  About the rules, about staying in the mansion, about anything.  This person had hurt so many people because she had refused to follow the rules, and Flandre was going to make sure that she paid.

The problem was, of course, that she had no idea where she was.  Turning to her sister, who had apparently been attempting to calm her down the entire time, Flandre met her gaze, and she could feel Remilia recoil slightly as she did so.

?Where is she?? Flandre asked in a quiet voice.

?Flandre, you can?t,? Remilia replied, the familiar firmness returning to her voice.  ?There?s no way we can let you fight her by yourself, not after all we?ve seen her do.  Plus, you couldn?t get there fast enough anyways.?

?I don?t care,? Flandre said, letting her anger show in her voice.  ?I?m going anyways.  Just tell me where she is.?

Remilia?s face hardened.  ?Flandre, I already said-? Before she could finish talking, Patchy put a hand on her shoulder, and whispered something into her ear.  Remilia turned to her with a shocked expression, replying quietly enough that Flandre couldn?t hear what she was saying.  Patchy just nodded, a serious look on her face.

Remilia sighed, crossing her arms in front of her ? an action that required her to let go of Meiling, almost causing her to fall over.  Regaining her balance, she scratched her head.

?But even if we let her go, there?s no way?? she trailed off again, her eyes widening in surprise.  Pulling out an unfamiliar doll, she quickly adopted a mischievous grin.

?Alright, Flan.  You can go.  But it would take too long to fly there by yourself, so we need another way to get you there.?
Flandre was torn between relief not having to disobey her sister, and frustration that there was no way for her to reach the battle in time.

?Oh, but don?t worry,? Remilia said, her grin widening.  ?I?ve got a plan.?


------------------------------


Shinki took a step forward, clearing the portal and setting foot in Gensokyo.

The portal behind her closed with a dull sound.  Turning, she looked over the field, eyes resting briefly on the two directly in front of her. One she recognized as the self-styled guardian of Gensokyo, though she couldn?t say she had personally met her before.  The other, dressed entirely in black, was obviously Hoshimi. Further in the distance behind the two of them were a shrine maiden and another woman who seemed foreign to both Gensokyo and Makai.

She immediately snapped across the field, appearing a few feet in front of the distant pair.  Caught by surprise, the shrine maiden involuntarily stumbled backwards, managing to barely catch herself before she fell.

?You must be the current Hakurei Shrine Maiden, yes??  she asked, making her voice imperious, yet not condescending.  The shrine maiden took another involuntary step backwards as she nodded. She seemed to be completely awestruck, though Shinki had to admit she was impressed that she was standing her ground as well as she was.  Especially considering her current condition.

Nodding to herself, the she continued.  ?You may call me Shinki.  I apologize for the delay, but I have come to?deal with Hoshimi.  I?m sure you have plenty of questions, but they can wait until later.? The shrine maiden could do nothing but nod again.  Seeing her confirmation, Shinki turned to other woman.  Her eyes narrowed, realizing that she was building a rather complex spell of some sort. It seemed to be some sort of massive seal, probably designed to seal off an area rather than an individual.

?I see what you are planning, and it?s a good idea.  I will give you the signal when the most opportune time to activate the seal will be.?

The woman nodded. ?Are you saying you can actually beat Hoshimi?? she asked somewhat tentatively.  Still, the fact she could speak at all meant she was doing better than most.

Shinki gave the two of them an appraising look.  ?I?ve done it once before, so I don?t see why not.  It might be a little difficult to do it alone though?the air in Gensokyo doesn?t suit me very well.? Without a word, she turned and snapped away, back to where she had first appeared.

Almost immediately after she stopped moving, the youkai spoke.  ?Who?are you??  Her voice was tinged with suspicion, and surprisingly, not with fear.  It was rare for her to come across someone that could resist her aura ? she would most likely prove to be a very useful ally in this fight.

?My name is Shinki.  You may have heard of me.?  Shinki smiled inwardly as she saw the youkai?s eyes go wide.  Good, she was familiar with who she was.  That would hopefully move things along quite well. ?I?m going to need your help in defeating this one.  Please lend me your strength.?

The youkai stared suspiciously at her at first, but soon shifted her gaze back to Hoshimi.  ?Yukari Yakumo.  And for the first time, it seems I?m getting caught in something bigger than myself.?

Shinki smiled.  ?Don?t worry, I?ll answer any questions you have later.  First, however??  Turning, she looked at Hoshimi ? and was greeted with a very unexpected expression.

She had expected anger, or fear, or hate.  But instead, all she saw was surprise, shock.  She hadn?t moved from her spot since Shinki had appeared, instead spending the entire time staring at her with wide eyes.

?She?s been stuck like that for a while now,? Yukari said dryly. ?I?d call it an opportunity if I trusted her to stay like that.?

As if on cue, Hoshimi broke out of her trance.  Her surprise and shock were quickly replaced by a vicious expression, her eyes full of hate as they met Shinki?s gaze.

?You?again?why???

Shinki returned Hoshimi?s gaze with a steely gaze of her own.  ?Naturally, it?s my responsibility to deal with you.  Did you honestly think I?d let you roam free??

Hoshimi responded with a low laugh.  ?I remember now.  I had struggled so hard to remember what had happened before I was put in that awful place, but now?just seeing your face, I remember.  I remember!?

Half a dozen shards of stone, each the size of a person?s forearm, erupted from the ground around Hoshimi and flew at Shinki.  Raising a hand, Shinki blocked the shards of rock with a simple barrier, causing each of them to shatter on impact.

Not waiting for Shinki?s response, Hoshimi leapt backwards into the air, this time molding the air into shards of crystal.  In quick succession, each crystal fired a thick purple laser, which bit into Shinki?s barrier.  The fourth laser managed to punch through, though it still went wide, but it was enough to bring the barrier down altogether, forcing Shinki into the air to dodge the follow-up.

Summoning four orbs of red-black light around her, Shinki used them to fire four similarly coloured lasers, each the size of her head, towards Hoshimi.  Two of the lasers crashed into a large crystal wall that formed in front of them, while the other two were deflected away by seemingly nothing.

Hoshimi smiled, likely pleased that she came out of the first exchange unharmed.  Shinki, on the other hand, remained expressionless.  As expected, Hoshimi still fought with the same old tricks.  Fortunately, she wouldn?t have to rely on the same tactics to beat her this time.

?After all that, I was hoping for something a bit more?effective.?  Yukari floated in the air casually beside Shinki, though still far enough away that they wouldn?t collide if they were forced to move quickly.

?How long have you been fighting her?? Shinki replied dryly, ?Even you should have figured out that head-on attacks just don?t work on her.?

?Then what was the point of that?? she replied, her expressionless face doing a poor job of masking the humor in her voice.

?It seems you?re just as weak as you always were, Goddess,? Hoshimi said with a sneer.  ?Are you sure two on one is enough??

Shinki replied with a flat expression. ?You?ve already lost, Hoshimi.  I?m only fighting you again out of courtesy.?  Hoshimi?s eyes narrowed at that, piquing Shinki?s curiosity.  ?Well, that was supposed to be a bit more subtle.  Did something happen before I arrived??

?She attempted to fire a burst of magical energy from that tower,? Yukari said waving idly at the massive black crystal obelisk adorning the center of the field. ?Needless to say, we stopped her.?

?Just the three of you? That?s quite the feat.?

?Well, there were about a dozen of us until just before you showed up.?

Shinki gave Yukari a sidelong glance.  ?I see.?

After speaking, a small violet gap opened up beside her.  Out of the gap dropped a doll, dressed strikingly similarly to Alice.  Taking the doll in hand, she immediately heard Alice?s voice echo in her head.

Lady Shinki! You came!

Shinki couldn?t help but crack a smile at the overly enthusiastic voice.  Not the time, Alice, she sent back, we have work to do.

Right! Though?there?s not much we can do at this point.  We?ll leave the fighting to you two, but feel free to use the dolls to communicate!  With that, Alice?s voice snapped off, and Shinki turned her attention back to the matter at hand.

And her timing couldn?t have been better, as she cast another barrier to block a volley of incoming shadows, needles numbering in the hundreds, aimed at her and Yukari.  The shadows dug into the barrier, but before it could crack under the pressure, Shinki responded with another four lasers, tearing through her own barrier and forcing Hoshimi onto the defensive.

As the shadows dissipated, Yukari crossed her arms in front of her.  ?You know, I think Hoshimi was right.  Fighting two on one seems like a bad idea.?

?Oh? And do you have a third person to join us?? Shinki replied, raising an eyebrow.

?Actually,? Yukari replied with a smile, ?I kind of do.  But before that, since I doubt we?ll have much time to talk once she shows up?what?s the battle plan??

Shinki eyed Hoshimi carefully.  She seemed to still be dealing with the shock of her memories returning ? an advantage she had not expected to have when she first decided to come fight her ? and despite her tough words, she was still cautious of attacking Shinki. Normally, not a bad idea, but in this particular fight, time was on their side, not hers.

?Keep her pinned.  Don?t let her leave this field, no matter what.  I?ll handle the rest.?

Yukari nodded as Hoshimi summoned more crystal shards.  Half of them launched themselves towards the two of them, while the other half fired lasers.  Rather than block the incoming attacks, Shinki and Yukari simultaneously dodged in opposite directions, easily clearing the attack.  At the same time, a larger than normal violet gap opened up a significant distance behind Hoshimi.


---------------------------


Flandre flew.

She had never flown as fast before, mostly because if she had done so in the mansion, she would have been running into walls.  But the exhilaration of going fast was lost to her, as was the unease of flying through this strange purple space, filled with eyes turning to watch her as she passed.  Her mind was focused ? if she kept flying forward, she would find the one responsible for all of this.

Suddenly, a whole opened up in the space in front of her, sunlight streaming through.  Within seconds, Flandre was free of the purple space, and catapulting through an unfamiliar place.  There was one familiar thing about it though ? in front of her was the lady in black.

The one who had made her blind.  The one who had hurt her sister, and all the other people at the mansion.  The one who was trying to kill everyone.  Without hesitation, without even uttering a single word, Flandre reached out and crushed the woman?s ?eye.?

The woman immediately lost her balance, falling a few feet from the air before catching herself.    Her ?eye? had resisted ? something was stopping Flandre from crushing it entirely.  The woman immediately whirled around in the air, but Flandre hadn?t stopped for a second ?Flandre was on her, Laevateinn in hand, slashing with all her strength.  The woman?s reaction was slow, but in time for her to dodge most of the attack, taking only a grazing blow to the torso as she dodged upwards.

Flandre immediately spun, reaching a hand out again.  If she couldn?t destroy her all at once, she?d do it in little bits.  Clenching her fist, she watched with a dark satisfaction as the woman?s arm exploded violently.  Surprisingly, there was no blood, and the pieces simply dissolved away into darkness as they fell.  Similarly, the woman seemed less in pain from the event, and more shocked. 

Immediately after losing her arm, a large number of crystals appeared around her.  The whole group launched themselves towards Flandre, but with a single wave of her Laevateinn, the crystals were carried away in a wave of fire and explosions, clearing a path for Flandre to charge again.  Ignoring the lingering fire from the explosion she had just caused, she immediately flew forward. 

Punching through the cloud left by the explosion, she was once again immediately on top of the woman, who in the intervening time had somehow managed to get her arm back.  Ignoring that, Flandre swung Laevateinn down at her, this time easily striking her in the middle of her-

Stop.

Barely an inch from the woman?s head, Flandre froze.  Her entire body was completely stuck, as if she was trapped in a solid block of ice.  As much as she struggled, she couldn?t move a hair.

?So it?s you,? the woman said, raising a hand towards Flandre.  ?I guess I?ll need to deal with you a bit more permanently this-?

Her eyes opening wide, the woman dodged to the side a split second before four red-black lasers struck her from directly above her.  Narrowly dodging, she turned to look up at the source of the lasers, seeing a woman in long, flowing red robes.  What she did not see, however, was the purple gap that opened up right beside her?and another in the path of the lasers.

Erupting from the gap not three feet away from her, the lasers took the woman completely by surprise, knocking her sideways.  The instant she was struck, Flandre was freed, and she immediately swiped her wand at the spot where the woman was.  Explosions resounded, but she could tell that none of them had hit their mark ? there seemed to be some sort of invisible barrier protecting the woman now.

?Well done, little one,? the woman in red robes said, descending right beside her.  Flandre could feel a strong pressure from her, but it wasn?t enough to dull her anger.  She could be afraid of this person later ? right now she needed to focus.

?How? How do I stop her from making me stuck??  She didn?t know who this person was, but they were clearly out to stop the woman in black as well.  Since she seemed to be able to get her?unstuck, hopefully she could figure out how to do it herself.

?If she stops you, she can?t defend from my attacks.  If she defends from my attacks, she can?t stop you.  Just keep doing what you?re doing, and we?ll win this.?  With that, the woman in red floated away, firing more lasers at the woman in black.

Flandre nodded, ignoring the fact the woman was already gone, and launched herself at the woman in black again.  As she did, she saw the lasers deflect off of the air beside her, and at the same time dozens of tiny, needle-like shadows leapt out from the woman in black towards her.  Flandre almost moved to attempt to dodge, but before she could, a purple gap opened in front of her, and she involuntarily plunged inside.

Before she could even consider what to do now that she was back in the purple space, a whole opened up again, and she was looking down at the woman in black from behind.  Flandre smiled despite herself.  It seemed there were quite a few people working on her side, and it was going to make punishing this woman in black that much easier.

Immediately out of the gap, Flandre reached forward and crushed the ?eye? in one of the woman?s arms again.  As expected, it exploded in a burst of shadows, causing her to stagger again.  Flandre continued her forward flight, slashing with her wand again.  As before, the woman dodged at the last moment, but this time she was intercept by another series of red-black lasers.  Flandre followed up with another wave of her Laevateinn, but again, the explosions were deflected away from their target by something unseen.

Flandre readied herself.  She was used to the woman?s movements now.  She was a lot faster than Flandre had given her credit for, but she was a vampire ? one of the strongest youkai in all of Gensokyo.  Just like her sister said, there was no one she couldn?t beat.  All she had to do was move a little bit faster, hit a little bit harder.

A massive volley of purple lasers fired from the spot where the woman in black was hovering.  Caught completely off-guard, Flandre did her best to dodge, but it wasn?t like the danmaku she was used to.  The lasers were too thick, the spread too wide ? it wasn?t an attack that was meant to be ?fair,? the same way Spell Cards were.  It was meant to be an all-out, fatal attack.

Unable to dodge more than the first two lasers, Flandre braced herself for impact, but instead found herself suddenly suspended in purple space again.  And once again, she emerged back into the real world before she could get her bearings, this time appearing directly behind the woman in red, who was holding both of her hands in front of her to create a magical barrier.  Though it seemed to be doing the job, it was only doing so barely ? even Flandre, who rarely saw any magic other than her own, could easily spot the flaws and cracks appearing in the barrier.

As soon as she righted herself from her surprise teleport, Flandre swung her wand again, causing a series of explosions around the woman in black.  The purple lasers quickly stopped, and Flandre used the opening to barrel towards her once again, this time under the cover of the woman in red?s lasers.

The woman in black quickly recovered from the explosions, and as before, her arm had returned to normal.  A series of crystals appeared around her, aimed at Flandre once again, but they were destroyed by the red-black lasers firing around her.  With a shout, the woman in black threw her arms outwards, knocking the lasers away as she created more crystals, but before they could fire lasers of their own, Flandre had already disappeared into a purple gap.

This time, however, another gap didn?t open up in front of her.  Dozens of them did.  Through each one, Flandre could see the woman in black, now whirling wildly, trying to determine through which of the gaps Flandre would emerge.  Flandre smiled ? whoever was in charge of these gaps was quite clever.  She decided she could throw a little something in to the mix as well.  Before emerging from the gap, Flandre drew a spell card ? Four of a Kind.

Three clones of her immediately materialized beside her, each heading through different gaps.  She herself picked yet another, coming out almost directly above her.  The woman was fast, though, whirling through the air and throwing shards of crystal and purple lasers at each of the clones in turn.  Seeing that she would get to Flandre before she could reach her for the decisive blow, Flandre fell back on her original plan ? she hurled the Laevateinn at her.

Both hands now free, she acted quickly.  As the woman turned towards her, Flandre crushed one of her arms.  The woman didn?t even flinch as more crystals appeared in the air around her, but before they could fire, more red-black lasers cut them down.  The woman saw the Laevateinn hurtling towards her, but before she could make to dodge, Flandre used her other hand to crush the ?eye? in her chest again.

As before, the ?eye? resisted.  She wasn?t able to completely crush it, destroying the woman, but it caused her to flinch.  Whatever it was that she had managed to do, it distracted the woman long enough, and the Laevateinn plunged tip first into her chest.

With a roar, Flandre continued her charge.  As the woman stared transfixed at the wand now sticking out of her, Flandre all but tackled her, grabbing the Laevateinn and driving it deeper and deeper into her.  Using her momentum to carry them forward, Flandre ruthlessly drove the woman backwards, plunging into the ground at a speed that would have crushed the bones of a lesser youkai to dust.

Disoriented from the impact, Flandre held tightly on to the Laevateinn, pinning the woman in black to the ground beneath her.


---------------------------------


Yumeko stood impatiently, keeping an eye on her surroundings.

Though, calling them ?surroundings? may have been pushing it a little bit.  There was honestly practically nothing there but a painfully deep blackness.  The sky, the ground, and even whatever walls might have been there were all an inky black, completely indiscernible from each other.  Yet, strangely, it wasn?t dark.  Yumeko could see herself, as well as Yuki and Mai who were accompanying her, perfectly clearly.

Aside from the three of them, there were only two landmarks that broke the suffocating blackness of the area.  One was a small portal, barely large enough for her to fit through, that led back to Makai.  Through it, she could see the familiar Travelling Grounds in the palace that they had used to get here.

The other landmark was much less benign.  Though there didn?t seem to be anything there to be broken, a small fissure hung in the blackness, leaking a multi-coloured light.  Yumeko could feel the magical energy leaking out of it in a constant stream, heading towards somewhere she couldn?t trace.  Of course, she knew from what Alice and Lady Shinki had told her that it led to Gensokyo.

It was this fissure that Hoshimi was exploiting to materialize in Gensokyo.  Yumeko didn?t know much about Hoshimi herself ? she had been born thousands of years after Hoshimi was sealed in this pocket dimension outside of Makai ? but she knew enough that she knew if Hoshimi caught wind of them being here, it would take only seconds for her to kill the three of them.  Even from Gensokyo.

And so, impatiently, she waited, keeping an eye on the stream of magical energy, still flowing constantly.  The three of them were under very strict orders ? observe, and when they received the signal, and not a moment before, seal the fissure as fast as possible.  She had no idea how long the process would take, especially since the constant flow of magical energy would naturally resist any attempts to cut it off, but that wasn?t her problem to worry about.  All she had to do was seal it as fast as possible, and trust Lady Shinki to protect the three of them from Hoshimi long enough to get it done.

Yumeko?s breath caught.  The flow of magical energy, just for an instant, wavered.  It hadn?t cut off, but just for a moment, it thinned, then swelled considerably.

?Yuki! Mai! Get ready!?  The two, who had been sitting idly passing the time, immediately shot to their feet and prepared themselves.

?We got this, Mai! Let?s do this!?

?That goes without saying.  Hold on, Lady Shinki??

?Hold on, Alice!?

The stream of magical energy wavered again.  The swelling died down, and again it thinned to half of the normal flow ? and stayed there.

?Yumeko, now!?  Lady Shinki?s voice echoed in the tiny space, coming from a small blue crystal at Yumeko?s waist.

With a shout of spirit, Yuki and Mai poured everything they had into cutting off the flow of magical energy.  The flow continued to thin, gradually becoming smaller and smaller, beginning to quake with the signs of a rebound.  Yumeko held her breath and raised her hands.  She was only going to have the briefest of moments, and no one could afford her missing it.

With one last desperate cry, Yuki and Mai slammed the magic block into place, cutting off the flow of magical energy entirely.  Without hesitating for even a fraction of a second, Yumeko immediately slammed a block of her own into place over top of it, and the three of them together began weaving the seal to repair the fissure.

Despite both Yuki?s, Mai?s, and Yumeko?s blocks in place, the barest trickle of magical energy began to flow out of the fissure.  Yumeko gulped, forcing herself to breathe again.  That much of a leak was still within expectations ? as long as it didn?t get any bigger, they could still finish the seal and cut it off permanently.

Yumeko whispered desperately to herself, anxious of the possibility of her own failure for the first time in decades.

?Hold on, Lady Shinki?hold on!?


-----------------------------


Finally getting her bearings, Flandre looked up.  Only seconds after she and woman in black plunged into the ground, she heard the woman in red?s voice shout something, but she couldn?t quite make out what it was.  She had a pretty good guess, though, as immediately afterwards, a strange blue light began to surround the field.

In moments, the entire field was enclosed in a bluish-purple dome, its colour constantly shifting and wavering.  Flandre could feel an instinctive wrongness about it ? she didn?t have that much experience being outside, but she could definitely tell that this barrier was trying to emulate it in a twisted way, forcing a corrupt, wrong version of the outside on the place it enclosing.

More importantly, however, she couldn?t feel anything beyond the edges of the barrier.  Well, she felt something, but it was fake, clearly caused by the barrier itself.  Whatever was really on the other side was beyond her perception now.

Looking down at the woman under her, Flandre couldn?t help but smile.  She had completely won ? the woman was crushed, most of the bones in her body were shattered, if not dust, and her wand still pinned her cleanly to the ground.  There was a startling lack of blood, however Flandre didn?t pay much mind to it.  Instead, she watched as the shadows around her began to coalesce, forming up around the woman in black.

Startled by the sudden movement, Flandre continued to watch as the shadows weaved over the fallen woman?s body, deftly reknitting her broken bones and sewing her torn skin back together.  It struggled briefly at the spot where she was still impaled before giving up and instead reweaving a new arm.

?So, this is how you fix yourself, huh?? Flandre said as she used her free hand to crush the ?eye? of the newly reforming arm.  The shadows instantly exploded outwards, rapidly attempting to reform.  As often as they tried she continued to smash them, determined to stop her from regenerating.

It was then that Flandre realized that the rest of the woman had finished healing.   Opening her eyes, she looked at Flandre with eyes filled with hate, powerful enough to make Flandre freeze.  But before she could do anything, her eyes shifted beyond her, to the sky above ? and the massive blueish-purple dome that now encased them.

The woman?s eyes went wide, and suddenly she gasped, as if someone had just dumped ice down the back of her shirt.  Breaking out of her trance, Flandre attempted to destroy her other arm, but before she could manage it she felt something invisible hammer into her stomach, sending her hurtling away.

Her head reeling from the pain of the unexpected blow, Flandre struck the ground hard, sliding to a stop dozens of feet away.  The attack had hurt, but she was still okay, and with considerable effort, managed to stand.  She looked back at the woman in black, and found that she had been suffering from a similar problem ? having just barely managed to stand up, she tore the still-embedded Laevateinn from her chest and threw it unceremoniously to the ground.  She then immediately dissolved into shadows?and reappeared, exactly as she was, in the same spot.

Her eyes went wide in surprise again.  She looked at her one remaining hand, as if confused as to why she was still there, before a look of understanding dawned on her face.  She turned immediately, her gaze shifting to the shrine maiden and doctor lady ? who Flandre had just realized were there ? and dozens of crystal and stone shards hurled towards them.

The woman in red snapped in front of them, moving faster than Flandre?s eyes could track, and raised both hands, creating a huge magical barrier in front of them.  The stone and crystal shards impacted hard, shattering as soon as they hit the barrier, but also shaking the barrier, causing cracks to start appearing.

Flandre wasted no time, immediately taking off and flying as fast as she could toward the woman in black.  As she flew, she attempted to crush the ?eye? in her chest again, but this time she barely flinched.  Instead, she turned to see Flandre, barreling towards her, and dissolved into a cloud of shadow again, this time not reappearing.  Flandre continued forward, grabbing Laevateinn from where the woman had thrown it, and turned to scan the area.

The woman had appeared far up in the air, almost halfway to the strange dome.  No longer attacking the others, she instead called an absurd number of crystals, pointing them all towards the barrier at different angles.  Flandre rushed as fast as she could, but couldn?t move in time to stop the lasers from firing.

In front of each of the dozens of lasers, however, opened small purple gaps ? just wide enough to completely consume them.  Miraculously, every single laser was blocked from hitting the barrier, buying Flandre the time she needed to act.  With a single swing of her wand, a wave of explosions annihilated the crystals firing the lasers, though Flandre could see at the last second the woman in black dissolved just before the explosions reached her.

Behind her, Flandre could feel the woman in black reappear, turning at the last second to see dozens of needle-like shadows heading for her. A split second before they impaled her, however, she slipped into a purple gap, which deposited her a hundred feet up into the air.  The woman appeared again right in front of Flandre, but this time didn?t have enough time to act as dozens of small purple gaps opened, pouring the purple lasers the woman had fired at the barrier back at her.  The woman deflected most of the lasers, but the overwhelming number of them got the better of her, and soon a number of them punched through her defense and hit her hard.

Flandre took the opening, lunging forward as fast as she possibly could, and planted her fist squarely into the woman?s stomach.  Pouring all of her strength into that one punch, she could feel as much as she could see the woman get thrown backwards, her insides crushed once again by the force of Flandre?s blow.  Before the woman could right herself, the woman in red suddenly appeared behind her, right hand raised above her head.  As she brought her arm down with violent force, a bolt of red-black light the size of the woman herself hammered into the woman in black from above, driving her downwards into the ground.

Flandre watched as the woman lay on the ground motionless.  Shadows danced around her, trying to repair her body enough for her to move.  Flandre readied herself to attack again as the woman rose unsteadily to her feet, shadows racing across her entire form.  Attempting to stand up straight, she stumbled, falling to one knee.   The shadows began reweaving her still-missing arm as she made to stand again, but just before they finished, they suddenly stopped.

The incomplete arm cracked and fell apart, dissolving into darkness.  The shadows racing across her body stilled, similarly dissolving into the air.  Raising her remaining arm up to the sky, chunks of earth and stone erupted from the ground below her, reaching twenty or so feet into the air before losing their momentum and falling back to the ground.

Everyone watched the woman in black with baited breath.  All of them had frozen in place, including the woman herself.  Finally, after what seemed like forever, she lowered her outstretched hand, turning her head slightly to look at Flandre.

With a pained expression, the woman let out a long sigh, collapsing and falling backwards onto the ground.

It was over.



Well, almost over.

With that, the story has drawn to an end - the only thing that remains is the Epilogue, though it is admittedly more like a full chapter than just an epilogue. 

I will say though as closing remarks for this couple of chapters, I'm not a particularly big fan of Marisa or

Spoiler:

Flandre

, so I'm surprised at the rather key roles the two of them ended up playing!

So that's that.  I'll post the Epilogue in a few days, once I've had a chance to let it settle and give it a fair editing pass.  See you then!

[lightdreamer]

...Welp, didn't expect Flandre to be the one ending Hoshimi. Or Shinki being the one who sealed her in the past for that matter.

And too bad we didn't get to see Hoshimi with full power. This is only 20% of her power, IIRC.

[Sagus]

Man, these last chapters were great. My heart was actually pounding during the last battle between Shinki, Flandre and Yukari x Hoshimi. It was an excellent battle, very well written, with great flow.

In fact, re-reading the fic from the beggining, your writting has improved a lot overall from what it was at the start. Congratulations on that!

Really, my only grip was in the fight against Tenshi. I'm pretty sure a Celestial's skin is too tough to be cut by knives (if we go by Sakuya's comment upon losing against Tenshi in the latter's stoy mode in SWR; then again, maybe she didn't mean that literally), but this is very minor. I hadn't thought of a Celestial's body being poisonous for youkai by their mere presence; I always interpreted that line as "if a youkai actually tries to eat a celestial...". This was a pretty interesting interpretation of that property.

Well, now that only the Epilogue remains, I hope we can get some more insight on what Hoshimi actually is. I suppose Shinki will be the one explaining, considering she has a past with her. Really curious about it, can't wait!

By the way, will we discover what was the "very special present" that Yukari had prepared for Hoshimi? It didn't seem that it was used, I think?

...Welp, didn't expect Flandre to be the one ending Hoshimi. Or Shinki being the one who sealed her in the past for that matter.

And too bad we didn't get to see Hoshimi with full power. This is only 20% of her power, IIRC.

I remember TwilightsCall explaining some pages back that it's not that this is 20% of her power; rather, she's divided in 5 diferent parts, with the one that appears in this story being by far the strongest.

[lightdreamer]

By the way, will we discover what was the "very special present" that Yukari had prepared for Hoshimi? It didn't seem that it was used, I think?

That's Shinki, I think. Maybe.

I remember TwilightsCall explaining some pages back that it's not that this is 20% of her power; rather, she's divided in 5 diferent parts, with the one that appears in this story being by far the strongest.

Yeah, that's what I meant. The rest is still sealed.

[Sagus]

That's Shinki, I think. Maybe.

Nah, from Shinki's point of view we discover she hadn't met Yukari before, and Yukari herself is surprised upon seeing the goddess, and didn't even know who she was until she said her name.

[lightdreamer]

Oh yeah, I just realized something. Hoshimi should've killed Flandre back then. Or at least gouge both of her eyes out.

This is what you get for being too lax in your villainy.

[TwilightsCall]

Okay, here's the epilogue everyone.  I've got some replies to your previous comments, but I'm going to throw them into a post after this one to keep this a bit cleaner.


So here it is, the final conclusion for Rise of the Evening Star.  Please enjoy!



Epilogue ? A Glimmer of an Ancient Age




Hoshimi sat in the ?throne room,? quietly watching the goings-on around her.  The room was honestly not very impressive ? it was better than the tent they had been using just a few weeks ago, but the only thing that set it apart as special was that it was the only room with actual walls in the area.  There were no decorations on the walls, or carpets on the floor, and the throne itself was just simple wood.  Still, the bare stone walls did a better job of cutting the wind than the canvas tents did, so she was content.

Patiently, she watched her father as he discussed the latest news with his aides.  He had just returned a few minutes ago, and though she couldn?t make out what they were saying from this distance, it was clear that they were excited about something.  She was dying to know what that was, but she knew better than to pry ? if it was something that they could tell her, her father would no doubt tell her when the time was right.

As if on cue, the group of aides around her father began to disperse, leaving the room with impatient steps.  Despite having no idea what was happening, she couldn?t help but start to share in their excitement.  Once they had finished dispersing, her father gave some orders to the final few that remained before walking over to her, a small smile on his face.  She could tell that he was trying to keep himself controlled, trying to hold back his excitement ? something that made her even more curious.

?Good news?? Hoshimi said as he approached, and his smile instantly grew wider as she did.

?Great news,? he replied, kneeling down in front of her so that their eyes were level, placing a hand on her head and ruffling her hair.  ?Better news than we could have ever hoped.?

?Is the war over?? Hoshimi said tentatively.  She knew she was hoping for too much, but even though she knew that, she couldn?t help but keep the wish alive.

?Not yet,? he said, expression unfaltering, ?but the tools we need to end it have fallen right into our lap.?

Hoshimi?s initial disappointment was immediately washed away.  They had been at ?war,? struggling in a constant fight for their lives, ever since she was born.  In desperation, her father had made an alliance with four nearby Houses, combining their military strength and effectively protecting them from the threat of extermination.  But, being in an alliance of five just made them a target for larger predators.  They had crushed those who caused problems for them before, but the fighting hadn?t stopped as larger factions began to attack them.

?We have reports that a dragon has fallen into our territory.  A dragon, Hoshimi!  It?s old, sick, and wounded, but it still holds power beyond anything we could ever dream!  We already have a plan in motion to put it out of its misery, and take its power for ourselves.  With the power of a dragon, even split up across our five Houses, we?ll be invincible!  We?ll finally be able to find the peace we?ve been searching for!?

Hoshimi finally gave herself up to excitement.  She was sick of the fighting, sick of seeing people getting hurt, sick of hearing news that her friends had died.  She didn?t know much about dragons, but if what her father was saying was true, they would have nothing to worry about.  She would finally be able to relax, to be happy.

?When?? Hoshimi asked, unable to squeeze out any more.

?Time is of the essence,? her father replied, standing upright.  ?We?ll be leaving in just a few hours.?

Hoshimi couldn?t bring herself to mention that he had misunderstood the question, so she just nodded.  He was overflowing with excitement, in a way she had never seen before.  And she was, too.  For the first time, she had real hope that this war would come to an end.

?I have to go help with the preparations now,? he said over his shoulder as he walked from the room.  ?Take care of things while I?m gone!? Hoshimi nodded fervently, watching as he walked out of the room.  As soon as he was through the door, she could hear him begin calling out orders.

Alone, Hoshimi immediately knelt down in front of her chair, clasping her hands in front of her.  Please, dear Goddess, she prayed as hard as she could, keep them safe, and give us this chance at peace!


-------------


Hoshimi sat absent-mindedly, fondling the amethyst pendant around her neck.  Even thinking about it made waves of nausea flow through her, but she crushed them again and again.  It had been too long, she couldn?t afford to let it hold her down forever.
Sitting around the table with her were four others, the leaders of each of the Houses in their alliance.  None of them seemed the least bit distraught, which gave birth to a small bitterness in Hoshimi.  Each of them wore a necklace similar to hers, though the colours on each of them were different.

Hoshimi let herself sigh, attempting to expel the bitterness as well.  She knew she shouldn?t hold it against them ? it wasn?t their fault.  And in the end, they technically did succeed, so she couldn?t really hold their high spirits against them either.

It wasn?t like they killed her father.

She couldn?t even hold it against the dragon that had killed him.  It was just trying to defend itself, just trying to find rest.  To find peace.  She could understand that just by holding the pendant she now wore between her fingers, yet it seemed she was the only one in the room who understood the dragon?s feelings.

And so, she had nowhere to direct her grief.  Her father had been killed, but it wasn?t like he had been betrayed.  And even the one who killed him was just defending themself.  What?s more, she was told that her father?s sacrifice had been instrumental in their victory.  So all she could do was suffer through her grief.

But even then, with both her parents gone, it fell to her to lead the House.  She didn?t have time to get caught up in her own emotions.  Two weeks spent mourning was two weeks too many.

Hoshimi turned as she felt a hand on her shoulder.  Sitting to her right was a woman whose name she didn?t know yet, and she could only really recognize her by the sapphire pendant around her neck.  She squeezed gently on Hoshimi?s shoulder, a sad smile on her face.  Hoshimi did her best to smile back.  At least someone cared.

?I know that it feels like a time to celebrate, to enjoy our victory,? the man with the white pendant across the table from her said, ?but time is of the essence.  We must take action sooner, rather than later, to ensure our people remain safe.?

?I agree,? said the woman with the blue pendant, ?but let us not forget that not all of us are celebrating right now.?  The atmosphere in the room darkened considerably as everyone turned to Hoshimi, some more discreetly than others.  While most of the expressions in the room held expressions of sadness and pity, there were also those unmistakably riddled with contempt.  Hoshimi did her best to ignore those.

?As such,? the blue woman continued, ?I propose that our first course of action be dictated by her.  She has paid the greatest cost to get us here today, I feel it is only fair to her that we give her some sort of recompense.?

?Are you insane?? the man with the ruby pendant practically shouted, ?she?s a child! A kid! She barely knows the difference between left and right!?

?I agree,? the man with the emerald pendant said, ?though I think your tone is reprehensible, I can?t justify putting the future of my people on the whims of a child, no matter how difficult this has been for her.?

The blue woman gave the two bitter looks, but said nothing.  However, unlike the others, the man with the white pendant was quiet ? staring at Hoshimi, as if judging her, measuring her worth.

?Go on,? the woman in blue said, ?ignore what they said. Just tell them what you want.?

Hoshimi looked back and forth between the four seated at the table with her, nervously gripping the hem of her dress.  She knew, deep down, they were right.  She was just a child.  What did she know?  How could she make decisions for so many people?  But even so, there was something she definitely wanted.  Something she wanted more than anything else, especially now that she had lost the last of her family.

Forcing her hands to relax, she raised her eyes, meeting the man with the white pendant?s gaze with a firm expression of her own.  With a shaky voice, belying both her nervousness and her earnestness, she spoke. ?I just want peace.?

The room was quiet.  Even the man with the red pendant, who was so eager to mock and ridicule her at every opportunity was silent.  Hoshimi had little hope that these four, who had gone through such great lengths to procure the power of a dragon, would settle down for peace just because she asked for it.  But if she was to answer honestly, that?s all she wanted.

Finally, after minutes of awkward silence, the man with the white pendant sighed.  ?Alright.?

Four sets of incredulous eyes snapped to him.  ?I know what you are going to say,? he said again, raising a hand to stave off the imminent barrage of objections, ?but the girl is right.  We did not obtain this power to become murderers, we did it to protect our people.  As such, peace is the obvious solution.?

He turned to look Hoshimi in the eye.  ?However, even you must know that peace does not come for free.?  Hoshimi nodded solemnly.  She had suffered through war for years.  Peace was like a dream, a utopia for her.  She knew that it would come at a price, a price she had been paying since she was born.  A price her family had been paying for longer than she could know.

?Unfortunately, we cannot obtain peace by laying down our arms.  We must rise up, and tear down those who would threaten us.  That is the only path to peace.?  The angry expressions in the room turned to grins, while the blue woman?s turned suspicious.  Hoshimi herself wasn?t sure what to think.  She didn?t like the idea of taking peace by waging war, but there didn?t seem to be any other way.

?Tomorrow, we march.  We crush those who would threaten our people, and when none of them remain, we shall truly have the peace that you desire.?  Once again, the man with the white pendant turned to Hoshimi.  ?Is that acceptable, little one??

Hoshimi gripped her pendant hard, feeling its sharp edges bite into her hand.  She didn?t like it, but?there was no other way.  After taking a deep breath, she nodded forcefully.

The discussion immediately turned to the logistics of the coming battles, of which Hoshimi had no interest in.  She had people she trusted to deal with the messy details for her, until she had a chance to learn how being a leader worked.

All she could do now was pray that the Goddess would keep them safe in the coming conflict.


---------------------------------------


Hoshimi watched with tired eyes as her opponent, finally, collapsed.  Though she desperately wanted to believe that it was over, she knew from experience that this was only the beginning.

Stepping sluggishly over to her fallen opponent, she could tell just by looking ? as if seeing the attacks she had used against him wasn?t enough ? that life had fled from his body.  Yet there was no feeling of triumph, no thrill of victory in her heart ? only bitterness at another friend dead.

Unceremoniously, she tore the diamond-white pendant from his neck and placed it around her own, matching perfectly with the four she already wore.  She would need to do something about that ? wearing five identical pendants looked kind of silly.  Maybe she could rework the five jewels into a single-piece necklace?  Such mundane thoughts were the only things she could bear to have occupy her mind.  She didn?t want to think about what had just happened.  Or what was about to happen.

But, of course, her mind turned there anyways.

Originally, the alliance Hoshimi?s House had been a part of ? quickly renamed to the Dragon Soul Alliance, however lacking in taste that was, after slaying the dragon and stealing its power ? had functioned superbly.  They had crushed their oppressors with little effort, thanks to the power of the dragon they held, but their immense power drew even greater envy.  Greater and greater armies declared war on them, and working together, they managed to fend them off.  But greed wasn?t limited to outsiders.

Only a decade after her father had died, Hoshimi, who was the bearer of the Amethyst Pendant and the title of the Evening Star, and the bearer of the Sapphire Pendant, bearer of the title of the Tide Star, were split off from the alliance?s main army in order to defend against a surprise attack.  It had, as she found out later, been a trap ? it wasn?t a surprise attack at all, but a plan instigated by the other members of the alliance.

Outnumbered ten to one, they expected a resounding defeat, but by some miracle the two of them had managed to lead their army to a very close victory.  The cost, of course, had been tremendous, each side losing more than four fifths of their army.  And one of those casualties had been the Tide Star herself.

Acceding to her dying wish, Hoshimi took the Sapphire pendant, adding its power to her own.  And once she had returned to the alliance with it, she was immediately branded a traitor.  Of course, with the power of Insight granted her by the Sapphire pendant, she knew it was just another part of their plan ? an attempt to seize the power she held for themselves.

One by one, the other members of the ?alliance? brought their armies against her, and one by one they fell, not realizing how outclassed they truly were.  And now, only fifty years since the death of her father and the slaying of the dragon, Hoshimi was the last remaining leader of the ?Dragon Soul Alliance.?

Hoshimi hated the suffering that the power of the dragon had brought upon her, and especially her people, but she refused to lose to it.  Fighting that bitterness, she adopted the people of those she defeated ? though others saw her actions as mere conquest, to her, it was an obligation.  She had robbed those people of their leaders, of their protection, so it was her responsibility to protect them.

Hoshimi looked up at the blood-red sky.  Even now, neighbouring enemies who had been watching their internal power struggle would likely be bearing down on them, attempting to crush them in their time of weakness.  With a deep breath, she began walking back to her army.

The power of the dragon, divided five ways to maintain balance, was now united in her.  There was no time for her to rest, even in the wake of this victory.  If she didn?t protect her people, who would?  If she didn?t fight for peace, who would?

Once again, fighting the crushing sense of futility she had grown so accustomed to, she murmured a prayer under her breath to the Goddess.  A prayer that, someday, the fighting would stop, and she would find rest.


--------------------------------


Hoshimi looked out over what had once been a battlefield, now scarred and scorched from the battle that had taken place there.  Once again, with her at the head of the army, she had been victorious.

Centuries ago, she had struggled against tears at her father?s death and accepted a fifth of the power of the dragon.  Looking back, she couldn?t say she had any regrets.  Not of that time, her first step on this journey of seemingly eternal conflict, nor of any of the choices she made since then.  Each choice she made brought her infinitesimally closer to her goal, inches closer to earning the peace that she and her people ? as well as her long-deceased family ? had dreamed of.

And now, looking out over the site of one of the bloodiest battles in the history of the world, she could finally say that her goal was within sight.

Every opponent Hoshimi and her armies defeated gave birth to greater enemies.  As the Houses around her territory declared war, she crushed their leaders and adopted their people.  Soon, her House had grown to the size of a small nation, to which larger nations immediately set their sights on.  And so she and her people were dragged into even greater wars.  But with the power of the dragon in her hands, and the power of her people united behind her, they came out victorious time and time again.

Yet no matter how many battles they won, no matter how many nations they conquered, war was always on the horizon.  But today, at long last, Hoshimi could finally put that behind her.

With her victory today, Makai had been united.  There were no more Houses, no more factions, no more nations.  They were all one people, and they were all under her.

But, even with all of Makai united under one ruler, her people were still not safe.  As if to spite her and her centuries-long wish, peace was still ever so slightly out of her grasp.

Hearing footsteps behind her, Hoshimi turned.  Climbing the rise to stand beside her, one of her Captains surveyed the battlefield briefly before speaking.

?I have a report from the capital,? she said in a quiet voice.  Hoshimi could tell just by looking at her what it was about, but she nodded for her to continue anyways.

?More riots.  More terrorism. The Goddess? followers continue to attack wantonly and destroy large portions of the city.  A number of smaller towns around the capital have been completely abandoned, burned to the ground by more of the same.  Loss of life in the last few weeks alone is totalling in the hundreds.?
Hoshimi sighed inwardly.  Nothing had changed, then.

For hundreds of years, Hoshimi had prayed desperately to the Goddess.  For respite, for intervention, for some semblance of peace in this war-torn world that she had created.  She, of course, had been granted no such thing ? from the moment Hoshimi had been born, her life had been an uninterrupted stream of war and conflict.  It didn?t take long before Hoshimi began to feel the same as the others ? that the Goddess had created Makai for fun, and had no intention of helping any of those who lived there.  That she simply enjoyed watching the conflict play out in front of her.

But she couldn?t argue that the power of the dragon that had fallen into her hands was a miracle.  She had been forced to assume that was the Goddess? answer to her prayer.  That if she wanted peace, she was to achieve it herself, with this God-given power.  And so she struggled ever harder, to achieve the peace that she and her people wanted so badly.

Then, a number of years ago, emissaries from the Goddess herself began appearing across Makai.  Hoshimi had at first rejoiced, finally shown proof that the Goddess cared about her and her people ? until she heard why they had appeared.

The emissaries publicly denounced Hoshimi.  They spread propaganda of her as a blood-thirsty monster, who destroyed lives and crushed peoples out of some sick sense of entertainment, for no reason other than to sate her lust for power.  They urged the people of Makai to rise up and overthrow her as the tyrant she was.

Hoshimi had been heart-broken.  But she knew what it meant to be a leader, and knew she could not afford to be beaten by words.  As the Goddess continued to sow dissent against her, she could do nothing but continue the war.  As the last two of the great nations united against her to bring her down and conquer her people, she could do nothing but rise up against them.  She would not let her people be oppressed and give them over to suffering because of some nay-sayers, even if they were sent by the Goddess herself.

Luckily, success on the warfront was met with trust at home.  The vast majority of the people supported Hoshimi regardless of the Goddess? emissaries, and so they remained strongly united under her.  Unfortunately, the minority who did support the Goddess, despite centuries of divine neglect, became more and more vocal, more and more extreme, as time passed.  Urged on by the emissaries, it was only a few years before they turned to riots and terrorism to spread their message.

Though there remained no nation that could wage war against them, her people were still not safe.  They still did not have peace.  As long as those emissaries continued to incite her people to acts of terrorism, peace would never be theirs.  And so, Hoshimi was forced to push down the overwhelming sense of bitterness inside her and keep struggling towards peace.

?Send word to the army,? Hoshimi told the captain, standing silently beside her.  ?Half are to stay and ensure a smooth transition here, and to see to the needs of the people.  The other half will march with me.  They have three days to prepare.?

The captain blinked in confusion.  ?March?  Where to??

Hoshimi turned, meeting the captain?s gaze.  With a steady gaze and a resolute expression, she spoke again. ?To the last battle.?

The captain stood confused for a moment, but soon realization dawned on her face.  With a sharp salute, she quickly turned and made her way back to the encampment below.

Peace would not be theirs as long as the emissaries continued to incite her people against her.  The emissaries wouldn?t stop until their Goddess stopped sending them.  And so, the best way to deal with the problem, was to tear down the Goddess herself.

Sitting silently in the crystal palace Pandemonium for centuries, she came out from her solitude only to sow dissent and create unrest.  In order to protect her people, in order to finally find peace, Hoshimi would bring down the Goddess herself.

Makai would know peace, no matter what the cost.


--------------------------


Hoshimi?s consciousness returned slowly.  Honestly, she was slightly impressed that it was returning at all.  She had felt the seal slam into place, and could tell that her ability to transfer magical energy ? and her consciousness ? to her current body was rapidly fading.

Staring up at the purplish-blue haze blocking her view of the sky, Hoshimi didn?t even try to sit up.  Ever since that moment when the Goddess Shinki appeared, memories had been flooding back.  Even when she blacked out, she dreamt of the past.  And despite her predicament, she couldn?t help but smile to herself.

She had failed. Again.  She had failed to free Makai of the Goddess? tyranny, and now she had failed to free herself from the Goddess? prison.  She still felt decidedly bitter about the first one, but she couldn?t help but find the second failure ironically humorous.

She had been a hero, carrying the hopes and dreams of all Makai into battle.  She had risked her life so that, at long last, she could find the peace that her and her father had so desperately wanted.  And she had failed, being sealed away for who even knew how many years.  Now that her memories had returned, she finally had the chance to realize, recognize, and mourn over her loss.

But the second failure, she couldn?t bring herself to be bitter about.  She wasn?t pleased that she had lost, but when looking at it from a wider perspective, it was the expected outcome.  She had quite clearly been the villain, after all.  If she had won here, it would have just created another tragic hero story like her own.

Out of the corner of her vision, she could just barely see the tower she had made.  Despite the fact she was rapidly disappearing, it was still standing strong, waiting for its second chance.  Hoshimi sighed.  It would have been nice to leave it as a memorial to herself, as some sort of proof that she was still alive, but she doubted the residents of Gensokyo would let it stay.  After all, thousands upon thousands of souls were still trapped in that crystal ? there was no doubt they would be liberated almost immediately after Hoshimi vanished, if not before.

Without a word, Shinki landed on the ground beside her.  Their gazes met, and Hoshimi was forced once again to admit her loss.

?You know,? Hoshimi managed to say quietly, ?I had thought for sure this time I was going to win.  I had thought for sure I could beat you.?

?Even with only a fraction of the dragon?? Shinki replied.  Her terrifying aura had vanished, surprising Hoshimi.  She had never known it was something she could turn off.

?Ha. I only need a fraction to beat you.  Especially out here.?  Hoshimi tried her best to smile as she spoke.  She didn?t know why ? there was nothing but bad blood between the two of them.  Even so, if she was going to be sent back into the hell that was her prison, she wanted to end her brief spurt of almost freedom on a good note.

Shinki nodded thoughtfully.  ?Yes, you?re probably right.  If it was just the two of us, I?m sure you?d eventually come out on top.?

?But of course,? Hoshimi almost whispered, ?you?re never alone.  Even back then, you had hundreds??

A moment of silence passed between the two of them.  They had been enemies for as long as they had been alive, after all.  Holding a simple conversation was no easy task.

Hoshimi closed her eyes, breaking the silence with a quiet voice.  ??how is Makai??

Another long moment of silence passed before Shinki replied.  ?Makai is at peace.  There has been no large scale wars since the ones you took part in, and no pockets of rebellion for the past couple thousand years.  All of Makai, as it was united by you, now lives peacefully under my direct rule.?

Hoshimi gave a long sigh.  The bitterness that had plagued her entire life in Makai, and that had been reborn with the return of her memories, was finally loosening its grip.  After all she had done, the centuries she had suffered to win her people peace, she had ultimately failed to bring down the Goddess.  But even so, her people had found peace.  Even though her mortal enemy now ruled the kingdom she had created, it didn?t matter.

Even if she had failed in her last battle against the Goddess?she had succeeded.  She had, at long last, won peace.

As relief washed over her, she could feel the world around her starting to go dark.  Her time was running out.  It was a shame ? after all that, she had hoped she would have at least had the chance to apologize to those in Gensokyo of the trouble she had caused them.  Or to see Makai, now that it was peaceful.  She couldn?t say she regretted what she had done ? but she could at least say something, to show she did understand how much pain she had put them through.

Looking up, she saw once again out of the corner of her eye the massive black tower.  No doubt, they would soon find a way to take it apart, and liberate the souls trapped inside.  Even so, it was the least she could do?

Struggling to move at all, she reached out with her mind and pulled on an invisible thread within the tower.  The invisible kill-switch, just in case, for whatever reason, the tower needed to be destroyed.  She couldn?t think of a good reason to include it when she had built the tower, but now she was glad she did.  Even if she couldn?t say anything to them, she could at least clean up this one last mess before she left.

Almost instantly, the tower began to tremble.  Starting from the top, the crystal dissolved, and the thousands of souls trapped within it began to flow out.  The tiny, almost insignificant looking souls whirred around the top of the tower, as if confused, before they slowly began to drift away, all in the same direction.

With that, there would be nothing left to prove Hoshimi had ever been here.  She couldn?t help but feel a little depressed at that fact.  Struggling hard to remain conscious, she gathered what little strength she had left, and forced it into the ground behind her.

A single spire of violet-black crystal, only a foot thick at the base, erupted into the air, reaching only ten feet before it stopped.  Hoshimi laughed derisively at herself ? she had tried to make it as tall as the previous tower, but this seemed to be the best she could manage.  Regardless, at least now there was a symbol of her passing. She didn?t know how she felt, setting up a grave marker for herself when she technically wasn?t going to be dead, but knowing it was there created a small sense of satisfaction in her. Likewise, she knew the people of Gensokyo would have no reason to leave it there after she disappeared, but the act of trying was enough to relax her, at least a little bit.

As the darkness finally closed in around her, as she felt her body start to dissipate and vanish, she saw the shrine maiden approach out of the corner of her eye.  Maybe she was being greedy, but seeing her standing there, there was one last thing she wanted to do before it was over.
She could no longer see, but even so, she turned her face to where she remembered the shrine maiden was standing.


-----------------------------------


Reimu and Eirin approached slowly, on foot.  Hoshimi was lying on her back, unmoving, while the person who called herself Shinki was standing by her side, looking down.  They had been talking briefly, but had since stopped.

Reimu and Eirin paused as suddenly, the tower of black crystal begun to tremble.  Reimu?s heart immediately dropped.  Couldn?t this just be over?  Couldn?t Hoshimi just admit that she had lost already?

As if to answer Reimu?s wish, the tower began to dissolve from the top.  Small white wisps began to pour out of the top of the tower, floating around in a crazed whirlwind of white before gradually flowing off into the distance like a river of snow.

?Spirits of the dead?? Eirin murmured beside her, triggering an ?a-ha? moment in Reimu.  This had all started when the spirits of the dead went missing.  And she had seen Hoshimi building the spirits into the tower before.  She wasn?t sure why the tower had suddenly started falling apart, but she wasn?t going to complain.  It was Komachi?s problem now.

As the last of the tower dissolved, and Reimu and Eirin finally approached within speaking distance, a single spire of black and purple crystal punched out of the ground behind Hoshimi, rising ten feet into the air.  Reimu didn?t even bother to be upset this time.  If Hoshimi was still planning something, Reimu was too exhausted to do anything about it anyways.

Reimu?s attention was then drawn to Hoshimi herself.  Though one of her arms was missing, it seemed the rest of her was trying to catch up ? starting from the tips of her remaining limbs, her body began dissolving into a black mist, which then dissipated into the air.  And yet despite the fact she was disappearing, the look on Hoshimi?s face wasn?t pained, or sorrowful.

It was relieved.  At peace.

While Reimu decided it was best to hold her peace, Hoshimi suddenly turned to look at her.  As their eyes locked, Reimu could tell that Hoshimi could no longer see anything, but even so she definitely knew Reimu was there.

Her relaxed, peaceful expression quickly turned into her usual sinister, dangerous looking smile.  It had lost a lot of its pressure, what with her dissolving as she did it, but it still put Reimu on guard.

?Well done, little shrine maiden,? she said, her voice barely a whisper. ?You win.?

With that, the last of her body, as if it had been waiting for her to say those words, dissolved as one into a thick cloud of black fog, rising into the air and vanishing without a trace.


-----------------------------------


Only a day or so after the conclusion of the incident, Marisa sat comfortably drinking her tea.  It wasn?t often she was an actual guest at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, so she made sure to enjoy the experience while it lasted.

Which was surprisingly difficult to do, considering her company.  Beside her was Reimu, also calmly and quietly sipping tea.  To her other side was Sanae, who was pointedly ignoring her tea while she listened to the conversation going on in front of her.

Besides the three of them, there were also Yukari, Kanako, Eirin, someone named Shinki who Marisa wasn?t familiar with, Alice, and at the head of the table, trying her best to still look important, Remilia. Flandre sat beside Remilia, and Reisen, Nitori, Patchouli, and Suwako sat scattered around the less important seats at the table, while Sakuya and a veritable army of fairy maids served everyone.

Currently, silence pervaded the room.  Shinki had just finished explaining where Hoshimi had come from ? that she was originally a resident of Makai, who had been sealed away, and managed to leak a bit of her power into Gensokyo ? and what her true goal had been ? to break open the seal and set herself free.  The news was dwarfed slightly upon the revelation that Hoshimi had once ruled over the vast majority of Makai, and that Shinki herself ? who, incidentally, was the Goddess who created the place ? had to seal her away herself over six thousand years ago.

And though questions abounded in her head, Marisa was content to sit idly by and wait for others to ask them.

?So,? Eirin cleared her throat to break the silence before speaking, ?why exactly was Hoshimi sealed in the first place??

Shinki turned to Eirin with a passive expression, as she had worn for the entire conversation.  ?She had become a symbol of war, conquest, and rebellion.  She had to be put down for the people of Makai to know peace, and I didn?t have the raw power to kill her.  As you saw from fighting her, keeping her prisoner wasn?t an option, so I was forced to seal her in an extradimensional bubble.?

?That?s?quite the fate,? Eirin said under her breath.

?If you?re the creator of Makai,? Kanako followed up quickly, ?how could she have been strong enough that you couldn?t kill her??

?Her power came from outside of Makai,? Shinki said, ?as best as I can tell from a dragon.?

Gasps resounded around the table.

??we aren?t going to get attacked by said dragon for beating her, are we?? Marisa asked hesitantly.

?No,? Shinki replied, turning to Marisa.  Though her expression was flat and passive, there was no sense of coldness to it. ?She obtained her power by killing the dragon.  Well, she didn?t kill it.  A number of youkai led an army against a fallen dragon when she was young, and she ended up being granted a fifth of the power they extracted from it.  Eventually, she did collect the other four fifths, and that was what gave her the strength to conquer most of Makai.?

Marisa gave an impressed whistle.  Technically, did that mean they had just beaten a dragon? Well, if you ignore the fact that ?they? were mostly Shinki, Flandre, and Yukari.  She really needed to get the details on how that fight went down.

?As she was in Gensokyo, she couldn?t get her full power out of the prison?s seal, so only one of those five powers was able to manifest.  Of course, she chose the most useful one of the five, but if she had been freed the situation would have been much worse.?

?So, that?s what a fifth of a dragon?s power looks like?? Kanako murmured to herself.  Marisa couldn?t help but think she was plotting something.

?The power of the dragon was divided into five distinct abilities,? Shinki continued.  ?The one that she used against you was termed by her as the power of ?Absolute Authority.?  Effectively, reality itself would reshape itself to her whims.?

?That?sounds a little unfair,? Reimu muttered under her breath.

?Unfair indeed,? Shinki replied, her tone slightly bemused.  ?Luckily, she was not an actual dragon, so the power had its limits.  It was exceedingly difficult for her to manipulate beings with free will, meaning she had to focus all of her power on a single individual to pull it off.  Manipulating inanimate objects was much easier for her, hence her prolific use of crystals and stone.?

?That also explains why our attacks were completely ineffective against her,? Yukari mused. ?I guess it also explains why the little vampire could hurt her when we couldn?t.?

?Indeed,? Shinki replied, ?even though we may have been able to keep things under control ourselves, that young vampire was truly the key to our victory.?

?How?? Remilia asked, managing to both sound inquisitive and incredibly proud at the same time.

?Simple, really,? Shinki replied.  ?Her ability to destroy things without any visible action was what did it.  If Hoshimi couldn?t see the attack coming, she had no way of defending against it.  Of course, she could regenerate horrifyingly quickly, since the body she was using was constructed entirely of magical energy, but constant pressure from little Flandre was able to pin her down enough that she was constantly on the run.  On top of Miss Eirin?s seal, and my subordinates? work in repairing the seal on Hoshimi?s prison, Flandre?s work in keeping her constantly injured and on the run is what made the mission a success.?

?So, Lady Shinki?? Alice spoke up, ?what made you change your mind and decide to help us??  She spoke in a quiet voice, as if she was afraid of getting scolded.

Shinki grimaced.  ?I apologize.  I had originally thought that Hoshimi had broken completely free of her prison, and was forced to lie to you to attempt to mislead her, hoping she would take what I said at face value and not prepare for my intervention.  Of course, if I had known that she only had one of the dragon?s powers, I would have told you immediately.?

?How would lying to Alice be of any help in deceiving Hoshimi?? Yukari asked. ?Can she normally read minds too??

?Much more terrifying,? Shinki said somewhat dryly. ?One of the dragon?s powers is what Hoshimi called ?Absolute Insight.? It allowed her to see a person?s entire past, all events that lead them to where they are now, just by looking at them.  Fortunately, she didn?t have that particular ability this time.?

Marisa?s eyes went wide.  If she recalled correctly, the Yama had an ability like that, though she used a special mirror to do it, and it was supposed to be a rather taxing process.  If Hoshimi could normally do that just by looking at people...

?Naturally, if she had that ability, she would have seen that Alice came to me for help the instant she laid eyes on her, and it would be next to impossible for me to provide any help.  It was a long shot, but if she believed that I wasn?t planning on helping, that opened an admittedly small opportunity for me to do something unexpected.?

A brief silence followed, broken by Flandre?s quiet voice.

?So?all she really wanted was to get out of her cage.?

The members of the Scarlet Devil Mansion present turned to her with distraught faces ? well, except for Patchouli, whose face was as expressionless as ever ? while Shinki turned to her with a significantly gentler expression.

?That?s right,? she said quietly.

Flandre squirmed uncomfortably, her face flashing through a series of emotions from sadness, to anger, to confusion.  Eventually, she spoke up again.  ?Will she ever get to come out??

Shinki adopted a far-away gaze.  ?Hoshimi is a dangerous person.  She is completely ruthless, and will stop at nothing ? even a world-engulfing, centuries-long war ? to get what she wants.  Even just being able to slightly influence Gensokyo, you saw what she did.?

Shinki paused, returning Flandre?s gaze.  ?It may be my fault that she turned out this way.  I am willing to accept that responsibility.  And someday, we may be able to let her free.  But as she is now, I fear it would be far too dangerous to do so.?

Flandre nodded quietly, staring into her cup of tea that had remained untouched since it arrived at the table.

A calm quiet settled over the table as the group ran out of questions to ask Shinki.  After a few minutes of silence, everyone quietly tending to their tea, Shinki finally stood up.

?As the Goddess and Ruler of Makai, and as the one who sealed Hoshimi away, it is my fault that I didn?t notice the seal cracking, and that she was able to come to Gensokyo.?  Shinki, facing everyone at the table, bowed deeply. ?My sincerest apologies for causing the people of Gensokyo such grief.  I have no excuse for my failure in this matter, and you can rest assured it will never happen again.?

Marisa could see stunned looks on the faces of the older youkai at the table.  She took it as a matter of course that she would apologize, but she could tell the idea of someone who claimed to be a creator god of an entire world apologizing was something beyond their farthest expectations.

Rising from her bow, Shinki met each of their gazes in turn as she spoke.  ?I would offer you any recompense you require, but as you may be aware, there is a lot of cleaning up to do on both of our ends.  And so I must bid you farewell, that I might begin such procedures.?

Reimu stood from her seat, drawing all eyes to her.  ?As the current Hakurei Shrine maiden, I think I outrank all others here as far as being the representative of Gensokyo,? she said without the slightest regard for the raised eyebrows and smirks around the table.  ?So as the representative of Gensokyo, I will say this.?  Reimu met Shinki?s gaze with a steely gaze of her own.

?Apology accepted.  I look forward to you doing better next time.?

Marisa could tell most of those around the table were struggling to contain some sort of laughter or snide remark ? she sure was.  Shinki herself, with a wry smile on her face, bowed lightly with a quiet ?thank you? before turning away.

With that, Shinki walked away from her seat at the table, walking through the open door onto the small balcony outside the dining room they had been seated in.  Without a word, like an eye opening, space split apart behind her, opening a gate into a black and red mist of some sort.  She gave a short bow one last time before turning to Alice.

?Come visit us again sometime,? she said with a wink, and seeing Alice?s quick nod in response, she turned and walked into the opening behind her.  With a dull sound, the opening closed, and she was gone.


-----------------------------------


Reimu flopped her head down on the table with a massive sigh.  It was finally over, and she was finally home.  And all of the annoying youkai had finally left.
Though truth be told it wasn?t really over.  There was tons of cleaning up that was left to be done, and she suspected that she?d have to deal with a large amount of it.  But as every time she thought about it before, she contented herself by knowing there was always someone worse off.

The vast majority of those who had participated in the fight against Hoshimi had come out severely injured.  Most were going to be making regular visits to Eirin for the next little while, both to ensure they remained healthy and to test the effects of what Hoshimi had done to each of them.  No one had any injuries that were permanent, let alone fatal, so Reimu felt little guilt at priding herself for being one of the few without serious injuries.

Marisa had not been so lucky, though admittedly her injuries were all self-inflicted.  But soon enough she would be good as new?after a few visits to Eirin and a few weeks of rest.

Yuyuko had made a full recovery, meaning she was back to her regular, ditzy self.  Reimu only saw her briefly before her and Youmu went back to Hakugyokurou.  They were worried about her for a while shortly after she woke up, as she had apparently taken the whole situation rather badly, but after an hour or two she had managed to collect herself and her usual personality shone through.
Ran had been much better off.  Some few hours after Hoshimi had been defeated, she woke up complaining of a massive headache, but otherwise she didn?t seem to have any injuries, physically or mentally.

Beyond those who had been hurt?they had managed to drag Kaguya and Mokou out of their self-made prison after a day or so.  Mokou had flown off without a word, and Kaguya returned to Eientei as if nothing had happened.  She assured everyone everything was okay, but Reimu supposed they?d have to wait and see what Mokou decided to do before they would know for sure.

Shortly after the battle ended, they had liberated Suwako from her post of prison guard, and after a few very tense moments, opened the seal on Utsuho.  She had been less than pleased about the whole ordeal, but acted surprisingly honourable about the fact that she had been defeated.  It didn?t seem to help her spirit, though.  She was ?escorted? back to the Underground, but decided to go on what she called a ?journey of self-discovery? before returning to the Palace of the Earth Spirits.  Reimu doubted it would last long, but she still had them deliver word to the Palace that Utsuho was safe and sound, and that she would be home whenever she worked up the courage to apologize.

The last one they had to worry about was Tenshi.  According to the story from Remilia, she had been brutally wounded, to the point her life was in danger.  She was told that Tenshi had managed to successfully retreat to Heaven, but it would likely be anywhere from weeks to months before she was heard from again.  That being said, the small keystone dropped on the front deck of the Shrine was proof enough that she was still alive, so Reimu wasn?t overly concerned about her situation.

Reimu flopped back on to the floor, a small smile sneaking its way onto her face.  The number of souls released from Hoshimi?s tower was astronomical.  As soon as Komachi had come to, and realized what was happening, she had immediately tried to injure herself horribly, but unfortunately for her, the Yama was there and ready to stop her.  And put her straight to work.  At least she wasn?t alone ? a veritable army of Shinigami were at the Sanzu River, ferrying souls across as fast as possible.  Even with so many of them, it would likely take another month at least to return the flow of souls to a normal level. 

Reimu?s smile quickly waned.  Now that the tower was gone, the only things Hoshimi had left behind were a massive trench gouged out of the earth ? which was now in the process of being studied and repaired by the Kappa, thanks to its bizarre, anti-magic properties ? and a single, thin ten foot spire of black and violet crystal over the spot where she had vanished.  She had been told that Hoshimi wasn?t dead, but instead was just sealed away in some other dimension.  Reimu wasn?t sure if that sat any better with her.  She had no reason to like Hoshimi at all, but killing and eternal imprisonment weren?t really the Gensokyo way.  She had wanted Hoshimi gone as much as anyone, but knowing her fate, Reimu couldn?t help but feel a little depressed.

Reimu sighed deeply, at last being able to do so out of relaxation instead of stress.  Whether she liked the ending or not, the incident was over.  Gensokyo, and everyone in it, was safe.  It might take a while before things were back to normal, but that was okay.  Now that their ten-day deadline had passed without incident?

?they had all the time in the world.


----------------------------------------


Marisa sat uncomfortably in her favourite chair.

The chair was not designed for people with broken arms, and she was having a hard time coming to terms with that.  Shaking her head, she repositioned herself once again, propping her injured arm up on one of the arm rests, and the book she was trying to read on her lap.

It was a real pain having her arm so badly injured.  If there was one thing she regretted about the past two weeks, it was definitely regretting messing up on copying Byakuren?s spell.

On the way back from one of her usual trips to Eientei, Marisa had decided to stop by the Myouren Temple and see how they were faring.  The ship they had sent to Makai had since returned, and refugee youkai were returning to their homes in droves.  Similarly, those who had been evacuated to Old Hell had started returning to the surface as well ? Gensokyo was slowly regaining a sense of normalcy.  Well, as normal as Gensokyo ever was.

Marisa shook her head violently.  Spending all of her recent days either travelling back and forth between her house and Eientei, or sitting around the house reading books, she was letting her mind wander an awful lot.  Which was problematic, since being confined to her house for most of the day every day was giving her the perfect excuse to study and study hard, and she wanted to make the best of it.

Her latest flash of inspiration had been from Patchouli?s explanation of Hoshimi?s ability.  Though they had found out Patchouli?s prediction was slightly off, it turned out the real answer was closer to Patchouli?s explanation than any of them had expected.

The mind affects the body, and the body affects the world?the purpose of magic was to compensate for the lack of ability within the physical body, bringing it closer to the infinite productivity of the mind. But Hoshimi had gone a step beyond.  She had taken out the intermediary, so that her mind could affect the world directly, without the body being necessary.

It was truly an astonishing ability, but more than that, it was proof.  The concept was really one that transcended the very idea of magic itself, and Hoshimi was ? is? ? living proof that it was possible to reach it.

Now, Hoshimi did have the advantage of having the soul of a dragon infused into her, but that was beside the point.  What was relevant is that there was proof of a system that was beyond magic itself, and if it could exist, then it was theoretically possible for a person to obtain it.

And if Marisa had anything to say about it, that person would be her.

It was a difficult path to pursue, however.  She was a magician above all else, and that meant she was most adept at working with magic.  If she were to try and discover ? or, as she suspected was more likely, create from scratch ? a system that was beyond magic, her knowledge of magic itself would likely be of little help to her.

For that reason, she had to go back.  Back to the beginning, the very basic core concepts of magic itself.  The mind affects the body, the body affects the world.  Magic serves to close the gap between the infinite mind and the limited body.  If she was going to imitate Hoshimi?s ability, she would need to go in the opposite direction ? finding a way to affect the world by eliminating the need for the body to take action.

In some senses, it was very similar to magic, but in principle it was the exact opposite.  But even these exact opposites all started in the same place and ended up with the same result.  Marisa closed the book she was holding and replaced it with another book that was on the table beside her.  Incidentally, both of the books were borrowed from Patchouli.  She had told Patchouli she was borrowing these ones though, so it was okay...she thought. Maybe.

Opening the new book, she began reading it for the third time that day.  If she was going to build a new system from the ground up, she would need to know the basics like the back of her hand.

The mind affects the body, the body affects the world?


--------------------------------


Shinki stood alone, allowing the portal behind her to completely close.

It had been a long few days since the fight with Hoshimi had ended.  For her, it had been a thing of minutes, not even an hour.  Yet she knew for Gensokyo it was a weeks-long struggle.  There was still a minor pang of guilt in her heart for the trouble she caused them, but there was little sense in dwelling on the past.  Right now, she needed to focus on the present, and the future.

The space around her was completely black.  There was no discernable ground, though she was standing on it, and there was nothing as far as the eye could see except for solid blackness.   It was like she was standing in the middle of the void, like she was in the middle of the night sky that had been robbed of its stars.

Strangely enough, despite the fact there were no sources of light, and there was virtually nothing to see in the first place, there was a strange feeling of brightness.  She was perfectly capable of seeing herself, and there was no feeling of her vision being obscured ? it wasn?t that the place was dark, there was just nothing there.  It was a perfectly enclosed space, no light, no shadow.

Shinki had struggled considerably with her thoughts since the confrontation with Hoshimi.  Though they had been enemies thousands of years before, her encounter with her a few days ago was only the second time they had met.  And both of those times had been desperate fights to save an entire world full of people from Hoshimi?s wrath.

And that was what bothered her.  Her conversation with Hoshimi before had made her doubt her judgment of her.  She had always thought of her as a bloodthirsty tyrant, a murderer on the scale of nations.  Who else would have such drive to conquer all of Makai?  The fact that she had the power to back it up was, honestly, just coincidence.  And that coincidence is what had made her dangerous.

She had no regrets about fighting or defeating Hoshimi, in either of the situations they had met.  She needed to be defeated the first time so that Shinki could subjugate Makai to her own rule, so that she could break the endless cycles of war that had plagued it for centuries after its creation.  If she hadn?t been stopped the second time, at the very least all of Gensokyo would have been destroyed, and who knew where the damage would stop?

Shinki waved a hand in front of her.  A tiny, almost microscopic crack appeared in the air before her, even harder to notice due to the blackness it rested on.  Slowly, a thin, black mist, strangely visible despite the black backdrop, started to seep out of the crack.

She had no concerns about whether sealing Hoshimi away had been the right choice, either.  She was far too powerful ? even Shinki herself could barely hurt her, and even if she could, she was effectively immortal anyways.  Sealing her away had been the only option, aside from letting her win.

But seeing Hoshimi?s face when she had heard Makai was at peace?that look of relief, of release.  It had shown Shinki that maybe, just maybe, she had misjudged Hoshimi.  And if that was true, then she had definitely made one mistake.  Leaving Hoshimi in solitude for these past six thousand years.

The mist seeping out of the crack slowly began to whirl around in a circle, until it finally coalesced into the shape of a single eye.  A dull violet light began to glow in the center, so the eye outlined in black had a glowing purple iris.  The eye searched around briefly, looking almost confused, before its gaze settled on Shinki.

Shinki and the disembodied eye continued to stare at each other for a long few moments.  Shinki?s expressionless gaze, matched by the eye?s cold emotionlessness created a situation in which neither of the two could tell what the other was thinking in the slightest.  Finally, after a long silence, Shinki spoke.

?I?ve been thinking, since our fight a few days ago,? she spoke slowly.  The eye continued to watch her, motionless.  ?I thought that, after six millennia of being alone, you might enjoy some company.?

The eye twitched slightly.  Shinki couldn?t help but smile slightly at what she interpreted was a reaction of surprise.  That being said, surprise could go in either direction.  The two of them had been enemies for as long as Shinki had known Hoshimi existed ? it wouldn?t be surprising at all if Hoshimi was doing all she could to try and spit at her feet.

After another awkward silence, the eye??blinked.?  It was somewhat bizarre to see, as the eye had no actual physical form, but after it did so, it continued to watch Shinki.

She had no idea what Hoshimi was thinking, as she sat trapped in her prison, looking out through a tiny crack to see her standing there.  But she kept watching, and that was a good enough response for her.  Creating a plain-looking chair behind her, Shinki sat down.  The eye lowered itself in the air, keeping at Shinki?s eye-level.

?I know it must be a little frustrating, not being able to talk,? Shinki said, ?but I trust you can understand why that must be the case.  Because of that, I?ll just have to guess what you?d like to talk?well, hear about.?

The eye watched her motionlessly.  She really hoped Hoshimi would learn to express emotion through this medium sooner rather than later.  She felt like she was talking to a magic rock.

Shinki waved her hand, and the air beside her twisted into a wide view of the landscape of Makai.  The eye turned slightly, trying to discern what the picture was.  As it recognized what it was looking at, it actually widened slightly, a gesture Shinki took to be a clear sign of surprise.

?I figured the best place to start would be to tell you how Makai has changed since you left.?



And credit roll.

This is definitely the ending credit theme for this story, shamelessly stolen from Fate/Stay night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjNnsD5VtY8

Thanks for sticking with me until the end everyone.  It's been a blast writing this, and there was little that was as satisfying as coming back to see all your comments.  Even just watching the view count go up was exciting

Some random statistics:

-First draft of Chapter 1 was written September 2nd, 2012 (wow! No, I never posted the first draft of Chapter 1)
-Chapter 2, when I legitimately decided to take writing the story seriously, was written December 15th, 2012
-Thread created February 3rd, 2013
-Total Word Count: 191,971 words!
-Longest Chapter: Chapter 19 at 14,606 words
-Shortest Chapter: The Prologue, at 2255 words
-Average chapter length: 5999.09 words (SO CLOSE AAAAAAAGH)

I have some replies to your guys' comments for the next post.  Stay tuned!

[TwilightsCall]

 

...Welp, didn't expect Flandre to be the one ending Hoshimi. Or Shinki being the one who sealed her in the past for that matter.

That makes two of us :x  I hadn't actually planned to include Flandre until fairly late into the story, so that's why there wasn't much (any) foreshadowing of it.

And I wonder if Reimu and the others' combination attack is still weaker than Yuuka's? Reimu's ultimate attack particularly since even though she goes for the kill, it still doesn't finish Hoshimi off.

In some ways yes, in some ways no.  The thing that really stood out about Yuuka's attack was that it was mostly physical - since Hoshimi's body was made of magical energy, rather than flesh and blood, it was more resistant to magical attacks.  That being said, despite the horrible predicament with Yuuka, she was never really in danger of "dying."  Yuuka could have entirely destroyed her body and torn it into little pieces, but the end result would have just been that Hoshimi would have had to spend the time to build a new body from scratch (which took her about a year to build the first one, for reference).

Against a normal target, the combined attack would have probably been more impactful (both of them would easily kill anyone in Gensokyo), but the fact that a) Hoshimi wasn't using a flesh-and-blood body and b) she was specifically throwing the match, so had taken precautions to make sure she didn't accidently take more damage than she was able to handle served to ward off most of the danger.  She still was considerably injured, but as we saw later, she can regenerate absurdly quickly from pretty much anything.

Man, these last chapters were great. My heart was actually pounding during the last battle between Shinki, Flandre and Yukari x Hoshimi. It was an excellent battle, very well written, with great flow.

In fact, re-reading the fic from the beggining, your writting has improved a lot overall from what it was at the start. Congratulations on that!

Really, my only grip was in the fight against Tenshi. I'm pretty sure a Celestial's skin is too tough to be cut by knives (if we go by Sakuya's comment upon losing against Tenshi in the latter's stoy mode in SWR; then again, maybe she didn't mean that literally), but this is very minor. I hadn't thought of a Celestial's body being poisonous for youkai by their mere presence; I always interpreted that line as "if a youkai actually tries to eat a celestial...". This was a pretty interesting interpretation of that property.

Well, now that only the Epilogue remains, I hope we can get some more insight on what Hoshimi actually is. I suppose Shinki will be the one explaining, considering she has a past with her. Really curious about it, can't wait!

By the way, will we discover what was the "very special present" that Yukari had prepared for Hoshimi? It didn't seem that it was used, I think?
I remember TwilightsCall explaining some pages back that it's not that this is 20% of her power; rather, she's divided in 5 diferent parts, with the one that appears in this story being by far the strongest.

Thank you for the compliments!  I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who thinks I'm getting better at this over time lol.

Re: Tenshi vs Knives, honestly that wasn't something I even know about.  Almost all of my knowledge about Tenshi and Celestials in general was stuff I saw in the relevant PMiSS and SoPM, and since neither of them had an actual article about her, I had to fill in a lot of gaps myself.  As far as the "poisonous to youkai" part, I took the line

A celestial's body is like poison to youkai, and as a result, youkai almost never attack celestials, so they have nothing to fear on earth.

to mean that they couldn't even approach a Celestial.  Your original interpretation is probably more accurate though 8D

Yukari's present, which both she and I had planned on being a much bigger deal when it was originally conceived, was the black gap space.  It was basically a weak pocket dimension that had no connections to Gensokyo, so it would have been a game-ender for anyone that couldn't travel between dimensions.  Yukari was planning on using it as a kind of ultimate trap, to get Reimu out of trouble should the need arise.  Of course, she wouldn't tell Reimu that.

The real intention of bringing it up was to show that Yukari wasn't just sitting back and watching, that she was, at least initially, planning on actively participating in the fight.  Unfortunately, with Hoshimi's acting and stuff, it was a little bit unorthodox, so she never found a good opportunity to come in until the end - which probably worked out better for everyone involved.

Oh yeah, I just realized something. Hoshimi should've killed Flandre back then. Or at least gouge both of her eyes out.

This is what you get for being too lax in your villainy.

I believe the correct phrase is, "Pride goeth before the fall"


I'm going to post a detailed profile for Hoshimi...hopefully soon (both sealed and unsealed versions) for those of you who are curious.  I'll probably accompany it with some random trivia about my decisions during the writing process as well, just for fun.

If you guys have any remaining questions about the story, the decisions I made while writing, the process of writing at all, or...anything, really, feel free to leave them here.  I specifically forced myself to avoid posting before unless I was posting a chapter update, but I don't need to restrict myself like that anymore so I should be able to respond fairly promptly!

[an unmatched sock]

I KNEW IT WAS HER NECKLACE! I KNEW IT EVER SINCE IT WAS POINTED OUT! Why else would there be an off-colored necklace with FIVE JEWELS in it? If it breaks the color scheme, it must be important! Yet no one else paid even a SPOT of attention to it!

Seriously, the necklace was as blatant as a single, glowing eye on a Zelda boss. I'm surprised not a single person even thought about the necklace. Great story, but UGGGHHHH that one detail killed me!

[Failure McFailFace]

Congratulations, the word count of this fanfic is exactly 1334 words longer than Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire!

You sir, have created the 4th longest Doorstopper I have ever seen.


This fanfic was amazing. I hope for more stories like this!

[lightdreamer]

This fanfic was amazing. I hope for more stories like this!

Yep! I definitely want to see more kick-ass villain OCs fighting Touhous with cool fight scenes like this! 

[TwilightsCall]

I can't think of anything else interesting to put in here, so if you want to know more you'll have to ask directly!  For all of you wondering what Hoshimi would be like if she had been freed, well...let's say that there's a good reason she wasn't.  Which should be possible to discern after reading the following


Name: Hoshimi
Species: Youkai
Abilities:  Inherited Spirit of the Dragon, Manipulation of Earth and Crystal
Occupation: Prisoner
Location: Between Gensokyo and Makai

Background:

Long ago, the self-styled Goddess Shinki left the known realms and created a world of her own.  This realm, known as Makai, was as a toy to her ? an entire world that was hers to manipulate and enjoy.  Soon after, she began to create followers ? the demons of Makai were born to be her subjects, in what was to her little more than a game.

Makai had been constructed as a place where magic and the supernatural flourished.  As such, it was not long before youkai from the other realms learned of Makai and began migrating there.  Shinki paid them little mind ? Makai was her world, and she could do with it as she saw fit, but she had no reason to keep others away.  In reality, she was happier to have others come and marvel at the work she had wrought.  Even so, she typically kept to herself ? she had no desire to meddle with the lives of the youkai that now lived there, and she was fully capable of keeping herself entertained while staying out of their way.

The youkai population of Makai flourished, quickly rivalling and eventually surpassing the population of demons that Shinki had given birth to.  However, unlike the demons, the youkai had no form of central leadership.  In a world where their powers and magic were so amplified, conflict soon broke out, and the denizens of Makai fragmented into dozens of small factions.  The fragmentation solved a great deal of the conflicts in the short term, but as was inevitable, wars between factions soon began to break out.  Before long, all of Makai was trapped in a constant state of war, all the while the Goddess Shinki turned a blind eye ? she was not responsible for their actions, so she left it to them to solve their own problems.

It was in this era that Hoshimi was born.  She was a rather unexceptional youkai, born to a mediocre House and raised to be the House?s future leader.  Her House was a member of an alliance of five, and together they fought to defend themselves from the greed of those around them.

Just over a decade after Hoshimi had been born, a ?miracle? occurred.  A dragon, old, sick, and dying from wounds from some unearthly struggle, fell into Makai.  The people of Hoshimi?s alliance immediately took up arms, and after a lengthy and bloody battle, the dragon was slain.  Among the casualties, however, was the leader of Hoshimi?s House, her father.

The alliance decided the best and fairest use of the dragon?s power was to divide it five ways.  Each House in the alliance was given a fifth of the dragon?s power, which manifested physically as an ornate, jewelled pendant.  Since her father had fallen in battle, Hoshimi inherited the seat of power, and despite being just a child, was given her fair share, and bestowed with the title of The Evening Star.

Despite gaining the power of the dragon, or maybe even because of it, the wars around the Dragon Soul Alliance intensified.  Their previous foes were crushed mercilessly, and new, larger foes were quick on their heels, eager to steal the power of the dragon for themselves.  Thanks to that power, the Alliance was able to hold its ground, and was dragged into another series of decades-long wars.

Unfortunately, greed was not restricted to their attackers.  The members of the Dragon Soul Alliance soon began plotting against each other, seeking to kill their allies and consolidate the power of the dragon in themselves.  Following a short series of internal wars and conflicts sparked by an attempt at killing Hoshimi and her closest ally in the Alliance, The Tide Star, the Dragon Soul Alliance crumbled completely, and the last one standing was Hoshimi ? the power of the dragon unified once again in her.

Despite the conflict, Hoshimi took the people of the five Houses under her wing, not turning any of them away, and led them to battle against those who constantly waged war against them.  With the power of the entire Dragon Soul Alliance unified in her, she was quickly able to overcome their opponents and conquer their people.  As she expanded her territory, she took these new people under her wing as well ? her acts of compassion and mercy to those she had defeated earned her tremendous loyalty among those she conquered, and her army swelled larger with every conquest.

Of course, the conflicts never ceased.  Centuries of constant war ensued, each victory heralding the start of a new battle.  After hundreds of years of conflict, Hoshimi and her House had finally done what none had thought was possible ? she had, purely through retaliatory conquest, conquered all of Makai.  At this point, the Goddess Shinki took notice.  Seeing she had power far beyond that which should have been possible for a youkai, and seeing she had been exerting that power for the purpose of conquest, Shinki finally admitted that it was time for intervention.

In an attempt to liberate the people of Makai from their new ?tyrant,? Shinki herself waged war on Hoshimi.  Though it was remembered as a war, it took the span of only a few days.  Fighting was sparse and reserved, culminating with a duel between Shinki and Hoshimi.

Unfortunately for Hoshimi, the duel had been a set-up, and she had walked unwittingly into a trap.  After a brief fight, it became immediately clear that Hoshimi would win a battle to the death, so Shinki?s followers ambushed Hoshimi in the middle of the battle.  Hundreds of demons combined their might, and together with Shinki, managed to seal Hoshimi away with sheer brute force.

Hoshimi remained sealed for over six thousand years, in a small pocket dimension created by Shinki.  However, the seal would not last forever ? events in Gensokyo, starting with the creation of Gensokyo itself and culminating with the liberation of Byakuren from Makai were able to sufficiently damage the seal to allow Hoshimi to return to consciousness.

After her long period of being sealed, her memories had all but vanished.  In an attempt to try and regain her memories, as well as free herself from the prison she had found herself in, she managed to leak a small portion of her power out of the damaged seal, manifesting an avatar of sorts in Gensokyo.


Abilities:

Hoshimi?s abilities are rather widely spread, and thanks to the spirit of the dragon, immensely powerful.  She was originally a simple youkai, with the ability to manipulate and control earth and minerals, taking a specific liking to crystals.  Once she inherited the spirit of the dragon, her powers became much more diverse.

Absolute Dominance: The power held in the Amethyst pendant, originally given to Hoshimi herself as The Evening Star.  The power gave her the ability to perfectly identify the flaws of any person, thing, or idea.  Simply by seeing, hearing, or thinking about any object, she could perfectly identify any weakness within it, giving her unprecedented advantages both as a tactical leader and as a combatant herself.  This power was sealed and unusable within the story.

Absolute Insight: The power held in the Sapphire pendant, originally given to the one with the title of The Tide Star.  This power gave its wielder, and subsequently Hoshimi, the ability to freely see the past of any individual or object she looked at.  Similar to the workings of the Yama?s mirror, she could see anything the person had ever done or said without limit.  Combined with the power of Absolute Dominance, she could perfectly see and understand any opponent?s abilities and plans, as well as all their weaknesses and the best method by which to defeat them, simply by laying eyes on them.  This power was sealed and unusable in the story.

Absolute Defense: The power held in the Emerald pendant, originally given to the one with the title of The Rising Star.  This power gave its wielder, and subsequently Hoshimi, a defense capable of withstanding attacks from even a dragon.  With considerable effort, the effects of the power could even be expanded to other individuals, or concentrated to protect specific parts of the body with an even stronger shield.  In practice, there were virtually no youkai or demons in Makai who were capable of penetrating the defense.  This power was sealed and unusable in the story.

Absolute Power: The power held in the Ruby pendant, originally given to the one with the title of The Falling Star.  This power gave its wielder, and subsequently Hoshimi, unrestricted powers of destruction.  The most ?brute force? of all of the powers of the dragon, there was no defense or barrier that could withstand its attack.  Typically, it manifested as the ?breath of a dragon,? which generally meant fire, though there were some creative applications of it beyond simple fire-breathing.  This power was sealed and unusable in the story.

Absolute Authority: The power held in the Diamond pendant, originally given to the one with the title of The Morning Star.  This power gave its wielder, and subsequently Hoshimi, the ability to issue absolute commands to any living or nonliving thing.  Though it took considerable effort to override the free will of a living thing, non-sentient things could be manipulated as easily as she could think.  Effectively, reality would bend, break, and rewrite itself at her whims, allowing her to accomplish virtually anything she could imagine.  This is the power Hoshimi was able to manifest in the story.

[oso]

One of the Admins might want to move this Thread to the Grand Bookstore, since this story is finished.