A New World (book 2) Complete

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Iced Fairy:
When Maribel awoke again she was in the same bed as Renko. She could almost pretend that the horrible night hadn't happened, but the ache in her heart and the makeshift hospital's walls prevented her from escaping reality.

They'd had a large, if generally uninteresting breakfast, when the woman who had met them at the door walked in, ?Are you feeling better??

?Physically,? Maribel said.

?That's something at least,? Ran said as she entered, followed by a woman with long black hair. ?You two really worried Chen and I. We didn't have a clue where you were until Marisa told me.?

?We weren't really thinking about that,? Renko admitted.

?Fortunately you came back quickly. The radiation levels you were exposed to were probably fatal within 48 hours,? the silver haired woman said. ?Ah, by the way I'm Eirin Yagokoro, as you might have guessed.?

The black haired woman bowed. ?And I'm Kaguya Houraisan.?

The devastation of the past day's events dulled most of the interest Maribel had in meeting the fairy tale princess. ?Thank you for treating us.?

?Don't worry about it,? Eirin said. ?After all, even as exiles I feel a duty to correct the wrongs committed by my fallen countrymen.?

Renko choked at that. ?You mean someone did this intentionally!?? Maribel screamed. To think that someone, anyone could do this....

Eirin winced. ?I'm afraid yes, this was due to lunar influence. We can't seem to get messages too and from the moon anymore, but it seems likely there was a coup d'etat.?

Ran growled. ?Chen found a deserter from the emissaries who survived. The rabbit said that there's a new lunar government dedicated to wiping out any possible annoyances on earth.?

Maribel looked at the three women in front of her. ?Who? Who murdered my family??

She met Eirin's gaze. The woman stared into her eyes then nodded. ?You'll be meeting them soon enough. After all, they'll be coming to remove the impurity of the youkai.?

The words only fed the burning in Maribel's chest. ?Impurity!? How do those bastards have any right to talk about impurity!??

She felt Renko's hand on her shoulder but her anger wasn't abated.

Eirin shrugged. ?Purity is a very vague concept. Gods are usually pure, youkai are always impure. Such is the way of things.?

The thought that youkai like Byakuren and Keine were somehow less ?pure? or less ?righteous? then those who could ignore the deaths of millions burned her mind. She hated the thought. It wasn't right. It shouldn't be allowed!

Such is the way of things.

?Not. Any. More.?

Her vision blurred and cracked. Before her she saw lines, no threads. Threads of words, of thoughts, each connected to thousands of others. One glowed with a bright painful light. A light that sickened her to her very core.

She reached out and ripped that thread to pieces. It hurt and stung, like she was ripping off a scab, but after the pain came a feeling of release. As the strands fell away she grabbed a few of those, then a few loose strands from elsewhere and she pulled together a new thread. One that shown twice as bright, and left her feeling calm and secure.

She found herself back in the hospital.

Then pain ripped through her chest and she sank to her bed.

?Maribel!? Renko yelled as she pulled Mary upright. The pain started to be surrounded by numbness. She couldn't seem to answer.

Eirin just stood there in open mouthed shock. ?What did you do?? asked Kaguya in wonder.

Ran on the other hand jumped into action. The kitsune stepped forward, aimed for a second and then punched her in the chest. The pain worsened, then faded away. ?I told you not to be so careless with your powers Maribel! If reality wasn't so fragile you'd have just killed yourself instead of going into cardiac arrest! Dammit, you just escaped death by radiation poisoning! You need to learn to control yourself!?

?You idiot, Mary, take better care of yourself,? Renko said hoarsely, wrapping her up in a hug.

?Sorry Renko...? she returned the embrace before looking up at the three visitors. ?But I really can't remember what I did.?

Eirin shook her head then laughed. ?Oh those two really should have killed you when they met you. You're far too dangerous Ms Hearn.? The laugh made it merely insulting instead of rage inducing, but Maribel's opinion of Eirin dropped a bit.

?Please explain, Eirin,? the princess said. Her voice was friendly, but still somehow a command.

Eirin smiled and nodded in return. ?She altered the definition of purity. Not really necessary, but I imagine there are a lot of...?

?Problems she's created,? said an authoritative voice.

The entire room turned to look at the person who entered. It was a woman of fair height, with a elaborate crown/cap and a flat wooden rod. One that she was pointing straight at Maribel. ?While I don't care about your issues with the Lunarians, the roles of the gods and Celestials are an important part of the bureaucracy. Your meddling can't be allowed to stand.?

Maribel waited for one of the others to speak up, but Eirin and Kaguya were looking at the woman cautiously and Ran's tails were bristling. Renko just looked confused.

?Your mentor has stated you need to be more cautious with such power, but you have refused to listen. In addition to the sin created by your possession of that power, your willingness to use it in rage and anger are not proper. You must show more responsibility,? the woman said.

?Who are you to judge me!?? Maribel finally snapped.

Ran and Eirin turned to her in disbelief, while Kaguya started laughing uproariously.

?Shikieiki Yamaxandu, chief judge of hell,? the woman replied.

Maribel's stomach abandoned ship. She really wished she could follow. ?Oh,? she managed to squeak out.

?Indeed,? the woman said looking down at her. ?Wrath can be a powerful sin. It consumes the mind and can prevent you from following the proper path. I suggest you learn to control it before it causes you to do something you will regret.?

?Sorry,? she managed to mutter.

Shikieiki nodded. ?I'll want to speak to you more in depth later, but for now take this warning. And don't touch the underpinnings of reality again, do you understand??

?Yes ma'am.?

?Good.?

The woman disappeared and Maribel fell back onto the bed. Renko and Ran gave her the 'I told you so' look, while Kaguya went back to laughing. Eirin just shook her head with a rueful grin. ?Well that will perhaps confuse our foe.? She stood a little straighter. ?As for your original question...? Maribel and Renko both turned their full attention to the exiled Lunarian, ?the people responsible are the world governments of earth. But this new Lunarian leadership must be the ones who pulled the strings.? Eirin's eyes narrowed. ?And the one who's in charge of them is Lord Tenshou. Which means they WILL be coming for you.?

----

Shikieiki watched from beyond the veil of death as the women agreed to meet with the other representatives of Gensoukyo's houses and finish putting the pieces together. Komachi and her newest ferryman Toyohime stood behind her. Shikieiki had noticed a slight glimmer of recollection in the woman's eyes when Eirin walked in, but the new shinigami had easily set that aside.

?I didn't expect you to take it so easy on her,? Komachi remarked. ?She did quite a number on reality there. And making it so that the celestials and gods are always pure again took a lot of energy.?

?Remember it's our duty to judge the dead Komachi,? Shikieiki replied. ?She will be judged properly and fairly at the end of her life, like everyone else. To tell the truth I would have normally had her change things back herself to fully remove the sin, but I could not let the world stand like that if she killed herself in the attempt. In fact I would not have acted directly at all if it weren't for the fact it intruded upon our work. The judgments of hell should not fall upon the living. An unfortunate necessity. Still, she can repent for her foolish actions later.?

Toyohime coughed. ?Um, excuse me your honor, but if we aren't supposed to interfere with the living beyond speeches why did you leave her other alterations in? Her tweaks won't affect many Lunarians, but won't some youkai being pure affect the coming battle??

Shikieiki shrugged. ?True it will. But then to change those back would also be to interfere with the living. Sometimes inaction and action alike will change the course of history. At those points one should choose the path that allows the living the most choice.? She smiled slightly. ?Besides, I admit I approve of those changes personally.?

?That's all kinda confusing,? Komachi said with a yawn.

?Hm... all you need to take away from that is don't get involved in the fighting Komachi.? Shikieiki said. ?Now you two should get to work. There's a lot of souls to ferry.?

As the two shinigami faded away Shikieiki nodded. And there would be more souls to come. Ones that she was looking forward to judging....

Sect:
I'm actually a bit confused on what Maribel even did. I assume that she had done some alteration of the border of "purity" and "impurity", though what exactly purity is to begin with is already fuzzy, if not completely undefined. Plus, Shikieiki's comment "making it so that the celestials and gods are always pure again" makes it even more confusing, since we still have no idea what Maribel did or what purity even means (just from Shikieiki's comment, it shouldn't mean "good", because gods aren't always "good", if they ever are).

I'm guessing, judging by the fact that Shikieiki is actually somewhat pleased by Maribel's altering of reality, it has something to do with creating a tie with "purity" and "fulfilling their intended purpose": if gods are doing what they are suppossed to be doing (such as Okuu creating power, or Hina gathering misfortune), then they are "pure". Though, trying to attach that to Celestials, Lunarians, or humans seems to be a headache, since, as far as I know, they don't have a role to fulfill like gods and youkai do (I'm probably misunderstanding what Celestials are, though Tenshi doesn't give me much hope, and humans seem to have their "resolve incidents" thing, but Lunarians... sit on the moon).

Also, I wonder where Yorihime is.

EDIT: Also, Maribel is totally Chaotic Neutral, with Good tendencies. Just throwing that out there.

Alfred F. Jones:
Did Maribel just--

Oh yessssss. Suck on that, Lunarians! :*

On a more serious note, I was once sitting in Immigration and Ethnicity in American History class, and saw my professor move to write something on the board. He asked us what reasons people had to start up ethnic conflict, and the first one that came up was... well. He wrote "PURITY" up on the board and looked up at us in our seats, and said, "that single word has caused and excused more wars than any other word in history."

That moment just came back to me as I saw just how far the Lunarians were willing to fall in order to preserve their ridiculous concept of purity. This is probably why Maribel's screwing with the definition of purity made me smile. Karmic justice, indeed. No wonder Shikieiki personally approves.

Keep on writing. This gets better and better with each passing post. Kanako returning to the old believers who still had faith in her to make their last moments less painful was especially touching.

Iced Fairy:
Thanks for the encouragement. Always good to hear people are reading and enjoying.

On purity: Maribel's little twisting made purity defined solely by actions, not by their position or bloodline. It used to be that the Lunarians could get away with more because they were pure and their opposition wasn't. Likewise, a youkai could never become pure due to their tainted blood. Neither is true now, though it only affected one current Lunarian. However as pointed out earlier, gods and celestials occasionally are required to be dicks, and thus Shikieiki had to fix that a little.

With Kanako... I actually drew inspiration for Kanako's comments from Tetragammon Labyrinth. Being a responsible god has got to be a pain a lot of the time. Oh yes, and expect more from her the future.

I've kind of canvased over my work and the plans, and book one seems to be a setting, book two part setting and part political piece, and book three will be a whole lotta violence. Hopefully I can keep doing each well enough to keep people despite the shifts.

Iced Fairy:
I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.
It was obvious Eintei had taken out the walls of two rooms to get the space to seat everyone here properly. Eirin was sitting at the head along Kaguya, who was currently exchanging dark glares with Mokou across the table.

Behind Eirin were three Rabbits. Renko knew Reisen and Tewi, but there was a third rabbit as well, who was heavily bandaged, and looked almost as traumatized as Maribel had last night.

Ran and Chen were also at the table along with a fourth rabbit who was staring at the floor with all her might. Ran moved some cushions out to give them seats. Maribel took the one next to Ran while Renko sat next to her. To Renko's right were Flandre, and Alice, with Juri and Marisa sitting behind them. Marisa was obviously preoccupied, and Alice's expression was dark.

Keine of course was here with Mokou, and Hitomi was sitting next to them. There was another open empty space on that side of the table, but as Renko and Mary sat down Eirin clapped her hands lightly. ?I've received word that Byakuren and her followers are too busy attempting to grant aid to those villages and individuals who survived the war outside to attend. However Shou said that she offers the blessings of Bishamonten to us.?

Flandre shrugged. ?That's not the important part. The important part is whether or not those stupid moon people are responsible for this.?

Eirin nodded. ?We've confirmed it beyond a shadow of a doubt. It seemed likely because Reisen, er the younger Reisen, and Hitomi said the assassin who killed the Watatsuki sisters was Jiyuwan. Then Chen found a deserter who survived the incident who confirmed that the traitors that ousted Lord Tsukiyomi are responsible.? She inclined her head at the rabbit next to Chen.

The rabbit sat there for a few moments before Chen said something in her ear. ?Y~yes. After Lord Tsukiyomi left Lord Tenshou told us to exterminate the humans. He said was going to destroy Gensoukyo after that.?

Keine frowned. ?Any chance he'll change his mind??

?No.? Kaguya shrugged. ?Lord Tenshou was arrogant even from a Lunarian's standards. And he's better at holding a grudge then Mokou.?

The immortal made a rude gesture across the table. ?Die in a fire, princess.?

?Not this week Mokou dear. Maybe next,? the princess said sweetly. Her expression turned serious again as she continued, ?Anyway, as I said he bears a grudge because during the lunar invasion an invading youkai killed his father. In any case if he gets it into his head that he's going to do something it would take quite a bit to stop him.?

Eirin raise her hand. ?Forgive me princess, but there's one thing that might be able to stop him. Politically anyway.? She looked across the table. ?Apparently Precia here,? she indicated the cowering rabbit girl next to Chen, ?overheard something interesting. The Lunarians found out Yukari was behind the youkai invasion of the moon.?

?Normally that wouldn't matter, since Yukari is dead, but like any demagogue he's managed to find a way around that little problem. His justifications all hinge on getting revenge against Yukari, and thus, he's mobilized the moon against her successor.?

All eyes turned to Maribel.

Eirin continued, ?Thus if Maribel here turned herself in to the moon they'd lose their excuse for war and be forced to drop the matter for a couple of centuries.?

Maribel took a deep breath. She hadn't even considered that.

?Like hell!? Marisa said. ?They're the ones at fault!?

?Any self respecting youkai would die before paying tribute to those scum,? Ran spat.

Mokou raised an eyebrow. ?Your call kid, but don't worry about hurting our feelings here. I'm not looking forward to a fight, but I like you more then I want peace with them.?

Finally Renko squeezed her hand and said, ?You aren't going anywhere without me, Mary.?

Strangely the angry declarations helped calm Maribel. She turned back towards Eirin. ?They murdered my family because some human, somewhere, was in their way. I'm not going to sacrifice my life to salve their ego further.?

?Good,? Kaguya said. ?You'll need that resolve. I don't want that bastard to achieve any of his goals.?

Eirin looked shocked. ?Princess...?

Kaguya returned her servant's look. ?What, Eirin? I'm almost as angry as the rest of Earth at how much those traitors messed things up, and I know you're furious at them for murdering the poor Watatsukis. We're part of Gensoukyo now, regardless of our differences.?

Eirin blinked at Kaguya for a few seconds, then smiled darkly. ?I suppose that's true.? She turned back to the table. ?Then let me give you all our information.?

?Please,? Alice said. ?Information will be the most important part of this war.?

?Indeed. Then let's begin with troop strength.? Eirin looked around the room. ?The average Lunarian is about as strong as the average Oni, though of course we all know how meaningless 'power levels' become at that stage. Still this will be a battle between the strongest and most skilled. Numbers won't be as important as a few strong warriors.?

?In addition there are those people beyond the 'average.' For example Jiyuwon has already shown his swordsmanship to be the equal of a god's. On the other hand many of the younger Lunarians have no battle experience, and might be killed by a cunning trick from someone like Rumia.?

?Rumia doesn't exactly do cunning,? Chen stated.

Eirin shrugged, ?True, but you get the idea.?

Marisa sighed in relief. ?So then most of them aren't as skilled as those sisters right??

?I'm afraid I won't know until the invasion happens. But it is unlikely.? Eirin frowned. ?Still while we know they only have about 200 citizens left, I can't say whether the strong or the weak left. Only their numbers.? She rested her hands on the table. ?So what about our numbers??

There was a rustling around the table as the various people looked about. Maribel looked about herself. She had no idea about the number of youkai around.

Ran was the first to speak. ?Well you can count on the fairies to play around when the war starts for a little while, but they're only going to be distractions. As for actual numbers...? Ran frowned. ?It's not like we can just get together a youkai army again. I think Yukari had Suika help the last time, and that turned into a complete disaster. It won't happen again.?

?Hm... What about that little oni?? Flandre asked. ?Will she show up??

There was a sudden swirling of mist and the oni dropped out onto the table. ?Yep! I'll be fighting for sure.? She frowned, ?But the other oni don't seem interested. I tried to talk Yuugi into it, but she was a no go.? The oni shrugged, then vanished again.

There was a brief silence after the Oni's departure then Keine shook her head. ?I'm afraid I can't help. I'm going to be protecting the village, and while they're likely to attack on a full moon, my powers can only do so much at once.?

?And I'll be making sure no one gets to Keine,? Mokou said. ?Not that I won't burn anyone that crosses my path, but I'm not going to be actively hunting unless something goes wrong.?

?I have to take care of my daughter,? Hitomi said curtly. ?I'm not going to leave her alone in a warzone.?

Maribel had to admit she was glad to hear that. Marisa and Alice seemed to be relieved as well.

?So do we actually have an army?? Juri asked. ?I am certain Eientei's rabbits will help, but the moon has their own rabbit army. And none of the rest of us can bring in troops capable of making a difference.?

Eirin nodded. ?As Ran's pointed out we can't just tell everyone to join forces. Really there are only three groups of youkai who can help.? She ticked off the groups one by one. ?The kappa, who won't fight alone. The oni, who aren't coming, and the tengu.?

She turned to Ran. ?What are our chances of getting the tengu to join us??

?I don't know. The Great Tengu and I haven't spoken often. I can only hope Aya has enough pull as a senior tengu to help my argument.? Ran sighed. ?I'll get on that right away and inform everyone of their response.?

?So we need the tengu.? Flandre shrugged. ?Or we could just fight them piece meal. They can't win.?

?Don't get overconfident,? Reisen said quietly. ?You're very strong Flandre. But most youkai can't compare with you. And you have a number of weaknesses that come from being a vampire. Most importantly those Lunarians born on the moon tend to have powers that seal or disrupt other people's powers. People with attack powers like my former masters and myself are in the minority, though some have even more esoteric powers as well. There's a good chance someone can either attack your weaknesses or negate your strengths.?

Eirin and Kaguya both nodded. ?Well said Udongein. In addition there's another problem there.? Eirin frowned. ?Lord Tenshou's power.?

?What's that?? Maribel asked. She wanted to know what the man she planed to kill could bring against her.

The thought seemed strange. She had never thought about using her power to kill before.

Things had changed though.

?He has the ability to know exactly where people need to be in order to maximize the success of a plan.? Eirin replied grimly. ?Sadly that power gives him a great advantage against small groups of dispersed enemies. Fortunately he's terrible at it. He'll always ask for something too general and get a plan that only works to the letter of the request. Which is a damn good thing, because if he's ever direct he usually succeeds.?

?Hm... Sounds a little like my sister's power. Which means if he doesn't have enough forces, he'll still be split too thin. And we already have a plan that'll confuse him,? Flandre said with a sadistic grin. The three magicians nodded in agreement.

Eirin shook her head. ?I hope it's good. Is there anything else I should mention??

?Weapon wise I know they'll have guns and shields to make them the equal of youkai. What about things like that damned purifying fan?? Ran asked. ?I don't much look forward to being instantly purified at the atomic level.?

Eirin laughed. ?Ah that? That shouldn't be an issue. Even if they didn't all function differently now, my fail safe will keep them out of enemy hands. You see when I originally designed them we hadn't left for the moon yet, and I didn't want someone to grab that and start purifying all his enemies. So it only works for a pure wielder.? Her smile grew wider. ?I imagine Lord Tenshou is swearing about that right now...?

----

Lord Tenshou swore at how poorly things had turned out. As the noble began to fiddle with his go board Jiyuwon began to guess what had gone wrong.

?Are you certain?? his lord asked the man.

Shimeri nodded. ?None of the mass purification weapons work. At all. In fact many of the purity based defenses seem to have gone offline as well. Our more conventional weapons and magic still work of course, but nothing beyond that.?

Lord Tenshou swore again. And well he should. Their weapons didn't work, they had less people then they should. And Jiyuwon would bet money that all his lord's plans had been built around destroying Gensoukyo.

A place that, due to the barrier's collapse, no longer officially existed.

Truth be told, Jiyuwan had seen this coming for some time. However his lord wasn't listening to his advice much these days. But still Jiyuwan had to admit that he'd focused more on trying to stop his lord's bad ideas rather then fixing them. A flaw of his.

Shimeri cleared his throat. ?My lord. Why are you so worried? Surely our normal weapons will suffice.?

Jiyuwan could see his lord repressing the desire to call his ally a fool in public, so he spoke up. ?While we are stronger then any normal youkai, they have more experience in battle. Also we are outnumbered approximately 20 to 1. Purification weapons would have allowed even the weakest of us to sweep legions of powerful youkai away. Now we must rely on their unwillingness to band together to find victory. If, say, the oni and tengu were to unite as an army to oppose us, we would likely fail. We likely will have to mount several assaults to claim victory now.?

Lord Tenshou finally relaxed a little. ?Fortunately that will not happen,? Tenshou said. He sighed and began rearranging the board. ?Jiyuwan, what's our combat strength??

?All the Lunarians who desired to leave have left. We currently have 70 non combatants, though some of those are old enough to bear arms, 151 people who seek to fight, and one unknown,? the warrior said. He continued because he knew his lord would ask, ?The unknown is Sareseno Watatsuki.?

Lord Tenshou raised an eyebrow at that. ?I see.? His lord thought for a moment then said, ?You should speak to him in the autumn gardens after this meeting. That would be the best.?

Jiyuwan nodded. His lord had not indicated he was supposed to kill the man, so his blade would not be further tainted. He allowed himself to feel relief for that.

Lord Tenshou thought a few more moments then said, ?It seems to me that we might be able to remove two of our foes from the fight before entering the field. Both the Scarlet Devil Mansion and the Temple of Myouren were 'out of play' during the Lunar Invasion right??

Shimeri nodded. ?Yes, they were.?

Tenshou nodded and began filling the Go board. ?Then we can afford to be magnanimous. Find two rabbits to carry messages to those houses. Pick ones who are supposed to be punished but who you're certain won't run away.?

?It shall be done Lord,? Shimeri said before exiting.

His Lord turned to him. ?I'll be returning to my estate to reevaluate my plans. Jiyuwan, speak with the Watatsuki, then get a full accounting of those who are going to war with us.?

He bowed. ?Yes Lord.?

Then he left to speak to the husband of the woman he murdered. It was unfortunate that nothing he said to the man would affect the battle.

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