Author's Note: This is a stand-alone story and has absolutely no connection to the author's other work "Nest of The Phoenix"
An Eternity of The Same Pain
Keine coughed, working hard to breathe the stagnant air. The dungeon had no circulation. Nothing to dampen the putrid smells that wafted through the halls. The air felt heavy, like being at the bottom of a stagnant pond. Faded echoes bounced along the walls, all of them carrying the princess' voice. Every quote and every syllable said during previous visits still drifted through the stagnant air. The teacher tried to block them out, to ignore them, but they always came back to whisper into her ear or breathe onto her skin. Threats and promises alike repeated themselves again and again until they erased all thought. The teacher almost forgot who she was.
But she remembered her captor. The princess who had her taken from her home and imprisoned in this isolation. How she had always hated her. Disliked hearing of her. And an anger welled up within.
Kaguya Houraisan. Lunarian princess of the House of Moon. The one who's special form of magic led to the creation of the fabled Hourai Elixir of Immortality. Branded a criminal for creating such an elixir, she hid from the Lunarian authorities on Earth, with her presence in Japan eventually leading to the death of Fujiwara no Mokou's father. After growing tired of the human world, Kaguya then made her way to the magical land of Gensokyo.
Now, with the schoolteacher captured and imprisoned, Kaguya used her ability of "manipulating eternity" to send her entire castle into a separate pseudo-dimension of time, isolating Entai Castle from the rest of Gensokyo. Time flowed differently in this pocket dimension. While days or weeks passed within the castle, only mere moments passed outside of it. Here in this frozen world, Kaguya would have all the time in the world to do whatever she wanted to her prisoner.
The smug, condescending voices continued to echo along the cell walls. Pain coursed through every inch of the schoolteacher's body. She groaned at her broken limbs. And moaned at her ravaged insides. Her mouth was dry. Throat rough and torn from her own screams. Everything hurt. Absolutely. Everything.
Then the teacher summoned her own magic. Her naked body glowed a subtle green, and then the pain stopped. The snarls and giggles of the princess' earlier visits faded and disappeared. Her broken body did not necessarily "heal", as much as it was restored to how it was before the torture had taken place. A shift through time. Erasing of past events only took took only half of the teacher's power. Her full ability would not only let her erase history, but rewrite it as well. This power was exactly what Kaguya wanted to use on the rest of the world. Kaguya planned on using the teacher's full power in tangent with her own to literally travel through time.
The teacher thought back to the people in Gensokyo. Her best friend, Mokou, would have no way of knowing she was in peril until it was too late. It would be the same for those who protected the balance of Gensokyo. Reimu, Yukari, everyone else who had a stake in keeping the peace wouldn't be able to help her even if they had sensed her peril. As long as she was stuck in this pocket dimension, there would be no hope of rescue.
How long has she been trapped in this world of frozen time? How much longer would she last? Would it even make a difference?
Yet, if she caved in to the princess' demands, everything would be gone. Gensokyo as she knew it would be erased from existence.
The schoolteacher said her name aloud.
"Keine Kamishirasawa"
And the memories of the children she cared for, and of all her friends filled her mind. Gensokyo was a world of magic and monsters. A place where humans and youkai fought on a daily basis. Yet Keine had friends of all races and from all walks of life. There were people who cared for her and who she held close to her heart. She had to keep fighting.
Alone in the dark, Keine spoke to herself over the endless chatter.
"Mokou….You've fought against the princess by yourself for hundreds of years...This is what you've had to deal with all this time? You've endured this pain for so long...Why...why didn't you let me help you?..."
A tear fell down Keine's cheek.
"You..you didn't have to do this by yourself. Just because you're strong doesn't mean you have to be alone."
Then she sighed. Deep breaths echoed through the dungeon, sound lessening as Keine built up her courage. A plan formed in her mind.
"It's okay though. I've seen your history countless times. If you can do it….maybe I can too."
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Light beamed in from the ceiling at the end of the hallway. Two figures descended into the stone dungeon, their faces shadowed by the lights above. The trapdoor closed and lanterns built into the walls lit up, revealing Kaguya and Eiren's presence. Kaguya was the only thing illuminated in the dungeon, and to Keine it looked as though she were floating through empty space.
The lights grew brighter until they took on a deathly appearance. A light at the end of the tunnel, with Kaguya's smug face staring back. Behind the princess was Eiren cloaked in shadow. The doctor walked on the ground this time. The clack of her flat heel shoes creating new echoes that pervaded the dungeon.
Both Lunarians drifted closer until their presence lit up every corner of Keine's cell. Black bars at the entrance. Grey stone roof and walls. Cold, hard stone flooring. Everything plain and featureless. Clean, despite how the cell once smelled of blood and defecation.
The doctor spoke a rapid succession of incoherent phrases and syllables. She brought her hands together, before opening them up to let a ball of light rise to the ceiling. The cell became bathed in the steady glow of silver light.
"Artificial moonlight. With this, you'll gain your full hakutaku form, as well as the power to create the history I want."
Both immortals watched as Keine's body changed in the magic-infused light. Teeth sharpened into fangs. A furry green tail grew at the base of her spine, while her bright blue eyes turned blood-red. On Keine's head two massive bull horns pointed upwards, curving inwards like menacing pincers.
Kaguya raised her chin and stared at the youkai in contempt.
"You talked down to me for disrespecting humans. Yet you're just an ugly beast yourself."
Kaguya raised an eyebrow at the teacher's defiant expression.
"This would be so much easier if you just gave up. You know there's nobody here to help you. Become mine. Give yourself to me. Swear your loyalty. Only then will the pain stop. And when my ambitions are fulfilled I will grant you the greatest of pleasure."
Keine tried to close herself off from the sounds. Tried to block out the princess' influence worming its way into her consciousness.
Sensations from their earlier visits surfaced once more. Tortures that left her screaming and bleeding along the cell door. And not just pain either, but shameful pleasure as well. Tortures that involved tying her up in chains and whipping her back while Kaguya shoved objects into the holes of naked body. Hours or even days in which she'd be strapped to some device that tore at her flesh while being injected with strange drugs.
Yet even within the frozen time, after countless hours under duress, Keine still refused to change the world's history. Kaguya's voice carried a subtle tone of impatience.
"To think I've never thought about your power before. The power to rewrite the past as you see fit. How have you not used it as I would have? Everything you've ever wanted could be achieved by using your ability. You could have had so much more… and now look at you. Just some defiled beast."
Kaguya eyed her captive. Then she frowned. Something didn't make sense. Keine was wincing in a pained expression, but there was none of the wide eyed fear and or pleas for mercy that Kaguya was expecting. In fact, there were no signs of the damage dealt to her body from earlier.
To the naked eye, the schoolteacher was as healthy as she's ever been. Though Keine had been starved, she still had the well-endowed thickset body as when they first brought her in. Long legs ending with dainty arched feet. Hourglass curves coupled with the heavy breasts and pink sunken nipples. Her knee-length silver-gree hair was not the sopping, sweat-soaked mess that normally resulted from such prolonged torture. Keine lay on the floor, trembling but still able to lean up and stare back at Kaguya's face. The princess' usual smug expression returned.
Kaguya's body was nearly the opposite of Keine's. The princess had a petite build, slim but with the wide hips and the buxom breasts of a young woman in her late teens. Now kaguya floated above her, clothed in a pink shirt with loose sleeves and white bows going down her middle. A long, dark, burgundy skirt decorated in yellow flowers and bamboo stalks clung to her hips and flowed down her long legs. Kaguya's hair was a solid ink black, with black bangs cut perfectly even above her eyebrows. Her hair were so long that they went past her feet and brushed against the floor above where she floated. Her milky white skin was evidence of a sheltered life indoors.
"Are you ready Keine? Are we going to have fun again or are you ready to swear your loyalty now?"
No response. The schoolteacher remained silent. Defiant. Her head went down. Behind her voluminous hair her lips were pressed tight. Eyes shut.
"Don't be like that. Remember what I'm offering you."
Her words beat into Keine's head. Kaguya floated over to the schoolteacher's bent form, and lifted her chin between two fingers. They stared eye to eye, their Kaguya's breath on the other's face.
"Don't you know how lucky you are? To be this close to me? To look upon me like so many in the Outside World did? I do not allow people to look at me so casually. I am allowing myself to be seen. I'm opening myself to you. This pain you feel? I can make it become pleasure. I can do anything to you. Make you feel something beyond any being has ever known. Stay with me and we can accomplish so much! This is already happening Keine. Accept it. You belong to me now."
Keine gathered as much mucus as she could from her mouth and spat upon the princess' face. Kaguya flinched, letting go of Keine's head and cringing with clawed hands. The schoolteacher smiled, one weak hand still holding herself up.
Kaguya's expression twisted further. It bent into an ugly clash of rage and disgust. Mouth open, eyes narrowed, teeth bared like a snarling beast. The princess wiped the mucus off her face and slapped her hand into Keine's mouth. She then grabbed Keine's chin with the other hand, forcing her mouth open so she could dig her fingers against her tongue.
The princess twisted and prodded her fingers into Keine's throat, rubbing the wiped mucus back into her mouth. Then she tried to close her fist, making Keine writhe and suffocate on Kaguya's right hand. Magic formed from her left hand, cutting into Keine's skin like broken glass. Blood dripped down her neck, though the cut wasn't deep enough to damage her windpipe. The schoolteacher's weak arms went up and grabbed at Kaguya's arm, legs sliding on the floor. Seconds later and Keine fell back on her side, coughing and nearly throwing up what little she could.
It was then Kaguya noticed how all the old wounds from her previous torturing had disappeared without a trace. The peeled skin on her back had disappeared, as though Eiren hadn't whipped her to tears earlier. The stab marks on her arms and legs were gone. The burns from the rods they had used to electrocute her had vanished. No scars to show what happened.
Kaguya's eyebrows raised, before she tilted her head back and laughed in amusement.
"You may be an old hag, but it turns out you're a clever girl after all. You used your manipulation of history to erase everything we've been doing to you up to this point. If I wasn't manipulating eternity right now, Eiren and I wouldn't have been the wiser."
Keine kept silent. Her youkai body healed the wound, but the pain never went away while in Kaguya's direct presence. Even now she had to fight the urge to choke.
Eiren had been watching silently from the corner of the cell. Arms crossed. Her tired eyes observed the other two without any intention of interfering. The doctor spoke with a passive voice.
"It seems as though this has become a battle of wills, princess. Yours versus her's. I can't do anything. The inner workings of time and space are beyond my abilities."
"Oh? Don't tell me the genius doctor of Gensokyo is suddenly at wit's end. Can't you make a drug to counteract her abilities?"
"There's nothing I can do to stop her from erasing the history of me making the drug in the first place."
"I don't believe you Eiren! Haven't you claimed that you could create a medicine that granted immunity to Sugume's reality bending words? I fail to see how a mere youkai could give you more trouble than a Lunarian god."
"That's different."
"How so!?"
The doctor sighed and closed her eyes. Eiren was immortal like Kaguya, and thus shared the same vitality of eternal youth and an ever regenerating body. Despite this she still held the appearance of a tired elder. Shoulders slumped. Grey-white hair a testament to her continuing age. Eiren spoke in an analytical tone, steady but dispassionate.
"Her power over history is affecting all the objects within the castle. Your manipulation of eternity is stopping her from reaching out and affecting anything outside the castle. She can't escape or call for help, but there's nothing I can do to affect her. This duel is entirely between the two of you."
Her gaze met Keine's, and they eyed each other with a look of disgust.
"Doesn't change the fact that your resistance is useless Keine. What do you possibly think is going to happen? Kaguya was right when she said nobody is coming to help you. The only thing to come of delaying the inevitable is more bloodshed. And I would think between the two of us, we have seen enough violence."
These words echoed through the dungeon as well. They mixed in with Kaguya's, becoming coded messages that played over and over across Keine's ears. The schoolteacher winced, but summoned enough magic to make up a coherent reply.
"If you're bothered by the violence between Kaguya and Mokou then you could have stepped in and put a stop to it long ago. Don't act like the innocent bystander when you're just as much to blame as everything else that happened. You're just as hypocritical as your princess."
Eiren stepped forward from the wall. She still had her arms crossed, head down, but now her eyes were furrowed.
"Don't lecture me about what I can and cannot do. And do not try to insult me for honoring my princess. If her wish is to have her enemy destroyed, then I'll fulfill that wish as many times as it takes. In fact, if it weren't for you, then we could have captured Mokou and made her a permanent slave long ago. You're the one who's been in our way all this time."
Keine had both arms holding her up off the floor. She arched her back, glaring hard at the doctor from behind the fringe of her silver hair.
"Eiren. I respect what you do for the Village. I respect the fact that you know where your loyalties lie. I had hoped that you respected my loyalties as well."
Kaguya chimed in now, eager to make herself head of the situation once more.
"Those loyalties are exactly why you should join us Eiren! If you help me, then we can create a world that's better for everyone! If you're worried about Mokou, then that's exactly what we'll change. Together, we can make it so that she's happy. If you change my past, then you can change her's too. If you help me, then between the three of us nobody will have ever known about us changing history."
Keine hung her head to the floor, tired eyes closing.
"If I change your past, then Mokou's past will change as well. And I will have never met her."
The princess smiled again. Dark eyes flashed in a subtle celebration of victory. A hunter who's trap had just sprung.
"All the more reason to serve me. Do you underestimate my power? For us the instant that we call "now", and the memories of our time will be carried through the aether. The eternity of 'us' will continue to exist even as we travel through time. We won't be 'rewinding' ourselves through time. Instead, we'll travel to that location of it, our sense of selves still intact. But we can only do that if you join me."
Kaguya lay a gentle hand on Keine's cheek again. Her fingers ran through her hair, caressing her neck like a lover.
"Mokou will be there in the past. I will find her, and I will make her mine just as you will be mine. I will love her just as you have loved her. And as I change the world according to my whims, we will share in our love in celebration."
The words layered themselves the instant they entered Keine's head. Her promises droned on again and again like some hypnotizing aura. Behind her words was the promise of being allowed to leave the dungeon, to finally be free as long as she stayed by Kaguya's side.
"Don't you want to leave this place? Don't you want to stop this never ending battle? Admit your fealty to me. If you don't then you will only feel more pain."
If Keine did so, she knew she would lose herself. All it takes is an instant for Kaguya's influence to take hold. If Keine swore loyalty now, the princess would stretch that instant into infinity, forcing Keine's own words to shift her very soul. She'd experience her own resignation over and over until she ended up convincing herself of it's truth. No. That couldn't happen. It was now, when Kaguya was at her most confident, that the schoolteacher had to challenge her own mind against her's.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Battles between individuals with abstract powers were always different from those with physical based abilities. People with physical or even spiritual based abilities, like Mokou's flame, fought while still keeping the laws of nature in mind. Fire would remain fire. Water would still be water. Their willpower could increase the range and intensity of such magic, but nothing changed how it interacted with matter. Their magics were simple in comparison to the abstact and undefined abilities like Keine's "power over history" and the princess' "manipulation of eternity."
A duel between abstract abilities was a battle of creativity, both opponents always trying to bend reality to gain an advantage over the other. Willpower had to be used in a different way. The first one to have doubts, or acknowledge their own defeat will inevitably lack the creativity to adapt to the enemy's manipulated reality. Kaguya needed to make Keine believe, even for a moment, that her situation was hopeless.
On the other hand, Keine needed to make Kaguya lose her composure. Break her concentration so that at least for a single moment, Keine can call out for help through the passages of time.
Essentially, the first one to mentally acknowledge defeat, would be the loser.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Keine spoke with more energy than at any point during her imprisonment. Anger and desperation fueled her words, giving her voice a stinging quality. Behind her outbursts was the knowledge that this would be her last and only rebellion. If she failed to use her magic at the exact moment Kaguya lost control, then it would all be over.
"Liar. I know your history. You're just a brat who makes promises you without any intention of keeping them."
The princess blinked in surprise, before recovering and keeping her smug, condescending tone.
"Oh? And what pray tell in my history would make you think that?"
"Mokou's father, and how your impossible requests were just a lame excuse to avoid getting marriage. How you were too much of a coward to keep your word."
Kaguya's smile disappeared. A ball of purple energy smashed into the schoolteacher's head.
Even though the battle was being fought entirely on the intellectual level, that still didn't deter Kaguya from that satisfaction of beating her physically. Besides, what better way of breaking someone's will than assaulting both their mind and body?
Keine groaned and turned away, clutching the shredded skin at the left side of her face. A moment later, and the youkai's body started healing the wound. Through the pain, she hid her own satisfaction. Her plan was working, and with Kaguya putting more concentration on physical magic, her control over the dimensional magic would weaken. If Kaguya had decided on splitting the jobs, ordering Eiren to be the one to administer physical pain, then all would be lost. But this new ambitious, unhinged Kaguya wasn't thinking on a strategic level.
The princess kept speaking, still trying to keep that smug, pompous tone of voice.
"You are so beautiful Keine. And powerful. You could be so much more. What you're doing here in Gensokyo is such a waste of potential."
"Kind of like the only thing you are is a waste of time?"
Another explosion of magic sent Keine flying across the cell. Her back cracked against the stone wall, blood splurting from her mouth. The teacher's mind blanked as the sensations of her injuries continued, even the cuts into her face flaring without end. Every ounce of pain became everlasting in Kaguya's presence. The school teacher hid her smile. Kaguya was losing her composure. Death glare focused on Keine, eyes wide, eyebrows furrowed, lips frowning and pressed tight in growing resentment.
The forced smile on Kaguya's face widened.
"I do admit that you're lasting much longer than I expected. Youkai or not, you're pretty tough for a schoolteacher. But you know that doesn't mean anything to me. You're just another plaything. It will be just like with Mokou. For all your resentment, you're just another toy that I can break over and over again."
"All that tells me is how much you like to be useless and unproductive. Sentiments like that are exactly why you'll never accomplish anything."
A ball of magic burst across Keine's face. Blood dripped on the floor in soft taps.
"I am trying to acomplish something greater than anything that has ever been done. I am trying to change the world!"
"You're just being lazy and greedy, just like how you were at the Lunar Capital.
Kaguya's eyes furrowed. The corners of her mouth twisted. A smile was forced against her grith teeth.
"Just how far back have you looked into my history?."
Keine laughed.
"You think I've been sitting here doing nothing? You think that after centuries of sifting through Mokou's memories, devouring her history, that I haven't developed a tolerance to pain myself? Face it, Kaguya. The only person wasting everyone's time here is you."
"No, that's you! I'm the one manipulating eternity! You will stay here, trapped forever until you cooperate with me!"
Another ball of magic shattered against the top of Keine's head. Sparks flew acrosss the floor, mixed in with the blood from her head. Keine lay prone now. Dizzy, disoriented, in shock. A strange mix of both pain and numbness, enough of both that there was the legitimate fear that death was close upon her. In reflexive panic, she closed her eyes erased the injury. Yet that very moment of fear was stretched through time, making Keine's shake against some unexplainable form of pressure.
"There it is. That ability of yours. The ability to change history. How do you not understand what I'm trying to do? If we work together, then we can change the world as we see fit."
"..…Bullshit. You just don't want to be held accountable for your own actions. You're just tired of being laughed at here in Gensokyo for being a shut-in hikkomori. You only goal is go back in time to the Outside World just so you can feel superior to people again.
"Think about it Keine. The ability to transport ourselves through time. If I could go back to my past in the Outside world, then I could have been Empress!"
"Empress of the Earthlings you look down on. But you know, for all the power you gain on Earth, you'll never be a match for the Watastsuki sisters."
Another burst of magic cut into Keine's side. She yelled out in pain, clutching at the torn skin and muscle. When she looked down and saw the white of exposed bone, again she devoured the history, bringing it back to how it was.
The princess bit her lip, staring hard at the healing process.
"Do not mention their name"
"Face it Kaguya. The only reason you agreed to the Hourai Elixir is because that was the only thing you were useful for. You were nothing but a lazy brat who complained about being in other people's shadow. People on earth talked about how beautiful you were, but you're nothing but a cold, scared little girl with nothing going for her. Someone living in the shadow of moon. A literal personification of the Lunar Capital's darkside. You were in the Watasuki sister's shadow then, and you still are now."
What came next wasn't an explosion. Instead it was a grind. A ball of magic that started on her chest and slowly cut into the skin, spraying wet chunks of flesh. Keine kept speaking, ignoring the pain.
"During the Imperishable Night incident, you were defeated by a bunch of earthlings. Yet when those same Earthlings tried to invade the moon, they were beaten without effort by the Watatsuki Sisters. So what exactly does that say about you? Those two girls are now the monarchs of the Lunarians. What about you? What have you been doing in the one thousand years of staying here on earth? What have you accomplished? Nothing but tormenting my friend. You're as useless now as you are then."
"Stop calling me useless! Shut your damn mouth Keine!"
"After getting your ass kicked by Remilia, I'm surprised they didn't give you any tips on how to be charismatic. Because right now you're boring me so much that I should erase my own existence just so I don't have to deal with you anymore!"
The princess thrust her face close to Keine's and started screaming obscenities.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Within Time
There in the briefest of moments, Kaguya let her guard down. Keine brought her consciousness across the passages of time, pleading to the mythical beings in both Gensokyo and the outside world. Her ethereal voice called out to any god or noble being willing to help her.
To understand Keine's plea, they would have to be so powerful as to not be affected by both Keine's changing history and Kaguya's stretching of eternity. They would have to exist separate from the very concept of time itself. Neither Gensokyo nor the Outside World had a god that fit that description. All others who heard her cry either did not care or were still subject to the normal perception of time. Nobody spoke back to Keine through the barriers of magic.
No god or noble being answered Keine's message. But something else did.
Something both new and ancient at the same time. It did have a "birth" or "creation" yet Keine could identify it coming from some lost desert civilization. It was a monstrous, formless thing that stared back at her with two blank, unblinking red eyes. It's very presence filled the astral plane. There was no sympathy emanating from that strange thing staring back. Just anger. A fury the likes of which Keine had never thought to exist before.
"N-no… It's not me. It's Kaguya… She's the one who….-
When it got closer, Keine's soul screamed in sheer terror. Her astral form fled, pulling back in complete rejection of the monster before her. The next moment she found herself back in Eintei Castle, arguing with the princess. A chill ran through her spine, before blinked and realized that Kaguya was yelling directly into her face.
The teacher still shook from her out of body experience. Doubt crept into her mind, questioning if following Kaguya was really so bad when compared to facing that strange being within the passages of time. Then she heard the princess' smug voice and immediately thought that yes. It would be worth it. For her to defeat Kaguya she would have to endure pain beyond imagination. Regardless of how Keine changed the past, the Kaguya of here and now would continue to exist. If that monster was the only way to destroy Kaguya, then so be it. No matter how much pain she'd have to endure, this horrible cycle of torture needed to end.
XXXXXXXXXXX
Kaguya was still yelling, pointing a finger at Keine's face as though prosecuting in front of a judge.
"You think I'm the monster here? You think I'M the only one who enjoys tormenting people? Don't pretend you're so innocent. Nevermind Mokou setting my loyal soldiers on fire. Nevermind her torturing me if she wins our battles-"
"You're the one who tortures her. You're the one with the ability to manipulate time. What she does pales in comparison to your sadism." Keine croaked.
Kaguya ignored her and continued with her own rant.
"What about you!? You're the one who enjoys devouring Mokou's memories. I bet you find her painful memories to be even more delicious than her pleasurable ones. If that weren't the case, you would have changed this situation a long time ago! You're as much of a sadist as I am!"
"That's not true."
"Yes it is! If you hate us fighting, why haven't you done anything about it? This power to change history. This power to create your own. What have YOU accomplished exactly? What have YOU done in the centuries of staying in this forest!?"
"I teach children."
"Please. I bet you rape them, like the filthy beast that you are."
"How...DARE YOU!"
"I'm right aren't I? A youkai who disguises herself as a human so people can trust you. You take advantage of those little boys and you wipe their memories so nobody knows what happened. But I've seen you. Your power over history cannot go against my eternity! Your powers have no affect on me! No matter what history you write, I'll always exist in the moment! You say you teach children, but the only thing you see them as is pieces of meat to whet your appetite! I bet there isn't a single person in the Human Village you haven't slept with! Your pedophilia must span entire generations! You're the one living a lie. Beneath that facade of a caring teacher, you're really nothing but a sick, monster slut!"
Keine blinked, trying to come up with a counter.
"At least I'm not an incompetent neet."
A pink ball of magic formed above Kaguya's head, before it slammed itself into Keine's knee. She screamed as the bone cracked and bent in the wrong direction. Rather than using her magic to erase that event, Keine let her youkai body naturally heal itself.
They stared at each other, waiting to see what the other would say next. During that time, Keine realized the only way to escape was to suffer through immense pain. Pain that was experienced by nobody else except Mokou. She needed Kaguya to be angry. Break her down until she lost control over the dimensional barriers that separate Eintei Castle from the rest of world.
Keine was already halfway there. She only needed that extra push to send Kaguya over the edge.
The princess spoke slowly, one hand pressing against her chest as while she enunciated every word.
"I'm a neet no longer. I'm now the one in Gensokyo with grandest of ambitions. And I'm not going to let some filthy mongrel dog like you get in the way of that."
"Little girl. Let me paraphrase what I say to my students who complain and whine and moan about their lot in life… Grow the fuck up. Instead of moaning about wanting to change the past, why not focus on the future? Work hard using what you have, and make something better out of it."
Both Eiren and Kaguya blinked. Their eyes wavered, staring off into some space unseen. Kaguya's lips tightened, before her head bowed into an angry scowl. Eiren sighed quietly and shook her head.
"No. I told you I'm going back to the past. I'm going to become Empress!"
The school teacher scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"Ugh. Who was the failure who didn't teach you any goddamn manners? Wasn't Eiren a teacher herself at some point? HAH! I can see where the incompetence comes from."
Keine turned to the doctor now, grinning wide and and raising her eyebrows in mock challenge.
"Eiren. Isn't it shameful how much you got beat down during the Imperishable Night incident? Your job was to protect your princess, but you let literally every team blow right past you. Hahaha! ? When the Earthlings of Gensokyo tried to invade the Lunar Capital, they were all defeated without difficulty. So what does that say about you two? HAHAHA! It's true what they say about the student being a reflection of their teacher!...… In fact! Eiren! You used to be the Watatsuki sister's teacher, weren't you? They even used to be your prized pupils. And now look at you, stuck with this spoiled brat of a girl. Eiren. Oooh Eiren. Those girls didn't need you after all. You're an incompetent fighter and an even worse teacher! I would feel sorry for you if I weren't so satisfied knowing just how much better I am than you."
Before Eiren could respond, Kaguya stepped in and yelled at Keine with both fists clenched.
"Enough! I said for you to be quiet. You're nothing but a slut bitch! If you don't shut your mouth, then you world crumble into nothing more than pain and the sounds of your own screams!"
The princess spoke soft, head lowered, ready to unleash more bolts of magic. Keine smile widened. She made it obvious. Showed it off for Kaguya to see as plain as day.
"Keine. You bitch. You slut. I'll say this again. If we work together we can change things for the better. We can have whatever we want using this power. If I go back to my time in the Outside World I can become Empress. You and Eiren will be by my side, and after conquering Japan we'll take over the rest of the Outside World!"
The schoolteacher's smile never faded. It curled to one side, forming an obnoxious smirk. Her next words were going to be Kaguya's breaking point.
"Do you know what I'm going to do when I leave this place? I'm going to tell Mokou about how you lied to her father."
"...What... did you say?"
"During your time in the Outside World, when all those men fell in love with you, you gave five impossible requests to five suitors. Each suitor was to obtain a legendary item, and the first one to complete their task would receive your hand in marriage.
"Yes. And they all brought me fakes."
"Liar. One of them was real. One of them actually put in the work and effort to obtain a genuine sacred treasure. Do you remember which one it was? The one brought to you by a man named Fujito Fujiwara."
Kaguya said nothing. Her eyes were starting to go blank, mind fighting to shut out the teacher's words.
"It was the Jeweled Branch of Hourai. All the humans believed that divine beings would give such an item to humans as a sign of peace, or a mark of destiny. In reality, Lunarians viewed the branch simply as a tool to measure impurity. When someone grabbed hold of it, the fruits on the branch will shine brighter based on how impure that person is."
"I know this! Why are you telling me this!?"
"Because when Mokou's father presented the branch to you, the jewels weren't shining. You used that to claim it was just a fake! You were a coward! You even refused to touch the branch of hourai yourself! Why was that!? Were you afraid of finding out just how impure you've become? Or were you just too much of a coward to go through with your own promise? Kaguya! You went back on your word! You're honor is less than nothing! You killed an innocent man based on a lie!"
"NO! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S LYING! The chances of him getting a genuine branch of Hourai are so slim as to be impossible!"
"What if I told you that he did his research? How he visited the same Bamboo Forest where you were found after landing on Earth? What if in that forest, by some miracle of a chance, he found other Lunarians who were searching for you? And they gave him a jeweled branch of hourai without even realizing that it was exactly what he needed."
"You're lying. You're making all of this up. None of it is true!
"I know what's truth and what isn't. I can perceive all history across time. So who exactly do you think Mokou will believe if I tell her this story? You or me?"
"Keine. I'm warning you. Shut. Up."
"You can call your relationship with Mokou a love-hate rivalry. You can call it 'being tsundere'. You can call those fights you have every night "lover's quarrels". Call it whatever you want, but what you can't deny is the possibility that your entire garbage relationship with Mokou was built on a lie! A lie that brought shame to her entire family and led to her father's death! You say you can be empress, but that's impossible for someone like you. You take so much pride in how pure you are, but its so easy to see the sins crawling on your back! You were lazy and greedy in the Lunar Capital. You were a coward in the Outside World. And now you're being lazy, greedy coward here in Gensokyo. You're less than garbage! Nothing but a waste of time and space!
"Shut your damn mouth already!"
"If I was wrong, then you'd be working hard to change the future like a normal fucking person! The fact you just want two rewind time just shows unbearably arrogant you are! Why don't you make yourself useful for once. Fuck your purity. Fuck this haughty attitude. Why don't you hurry up and do what all princesses are meant to do and GET FUCKED!?"
"SHUUT UUUUUP! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!"
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Kaguya went into a wild rage. Energy flowed through her body, a swirl that shifted between every color in the spectrum. Five items appeared from the aether, floating around Kaguya as though moons around a planet. They were the images of the sacred treasures, the same five impossible requests she made of her suitors.
A second later and Keine's limbs blasted off her body one by one. Blood sprayed against the walls and stained the lanterns white light that lit up the room took on a crimson hue. On the ground, the schoolteacher had been reduced to a head and a torso.
"I'm going to flay you alive again and again until the pain is the only thing you remember. I will show you an eternity of hell. And don't think this changes anything. I don't need your body to work. Just your powers. If I have to turn you into a head in a jar I'll gladly make it happen. Eiren! Heal her! Let's see how long she lasts. The time for patience is over. We're not leaving this cell until we have her begging for mercy!"
Eiren strode over to the motionless torso. The blood continued splurting from the torn sockets of her missing limbs. Once again Keine's mind blanked. Shocked. Too much in pain to even form words. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for air, and her eyes winced in insurmountable pain. Then she blinked, and regained her composure as Eiren bent down over her body.
The schoolteacher and Kaguya blinked. Next thing they knew Keine was back to her previous naked form, still healthy and undamaged. She was standing, looking at them with a smile on her face.
"You can cure diseases and heal wounds. But I can make it so that the wounds never happened. How about that? Not only am I a better teacher, I'm even a better medic than you!
Eiren summoned a magical arrow into her hand. She didn't bother summoning the bow that accompanied it. With one swift motion, she slashed the arrow tip diagonally across Keine's face.
Before the schoolteacher could heal it, Kaguya added an extra layer of magic into her eternity. The constant instants of pain continued to wash over Keine.
In that world, where time had no meaning, all the pain Keine experienced lasted forever.
They didn't merely hurt her either. They went back to their old torture methods from before, molesting her even while her arms and legs were twisted out of their sockets. Eiren would staba n arrow into her hands, while Kaguya kick into Keine's groin and stomach. They took turns firing on her, grinding magic against her skin and stabbing into her newly healed chest and limbs. Even through all that Kaguya shamed her, defiled her body by shoving her hands into Keine's mouth or her ass and pussy.
They slammed her against the walls and ground. Beat her mercilessly until there wasn't a single part of her body that hasn't bled or been torn away. When the she fell, the princess would kick her while she's down, stomping and grinding against the fresh wounds before Eiren could heal it back to normal. The two immortals wouldn't stop. They only grew angrier as time grew, the princess smiling in sadistic fury as more and more blood and viscera stained the cell floor.
Though Keine was reduced to a pathetic, quivering husk, anger washed over her spirit once more. An unbridled rage. A fury that threatened to destroy her from the inside out. She wanted Kaguya to experience pain then. Retribution for the eternity spent imprisoned in this castle. She no longer cared what would happen to herself. She'd do anything, as long as Kaguya felt agony too.
Keine finally understood what it was like to desire revenge. Finally understood what it means to hold a grudge. She whispered under her breath.
"Mokou. So this is what its like. I get it now…. This is why you do what you do."
While the princess focused entirely on Keine, she did not percieve her own barrier fading. Did not realize the castle began returning to normal time.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Rider of A Thousand Horses
In those small, unknown instants, Keine sent her astral form across time. There was no need to call out to the beings in the past. What she was looking for was already there.
"You've been watching me this whole time. Haven't you?"
It nodded. Those blank eyes shook at a height more than three times her own. It towered over her like some dreadful monolith. Words like 'stinging' and 'foreign' and 'manlike' settled at the tip of her astral tongue. Electricity sparked out from the edges of the monster's eyes, but the light revealed nothing. Keine stared back trying to get a look at its face. But there was nothing there. As if the beast simply had no face.
There were no lines of history attached to the monster. The only thing she could gleam from its past that it had once come from the lost sands of ancient Persia.
"Her name is Kaguya Houraisan. An immortal whose been tormenting me and my friend for centuries. Now she wants to travel through time. She is the one I called on you to defeat."
It spoke without a mouth. A voice that rattled her spirit. Every part of her started screaming, begging her to get away. To flee. To run. There was no physical plane, yet Keine could still feel the world rumble around her. At first it seemed to be a concoction of words and syllables without meaning. Then her power as a hakutaku deciphered its speech.
".llew sa ytliug era uoY"
"I know. But I'll pay the price if it means she is punished as well."
".eciffus lliw enola ehS .dnatsrednu I .raelc era snoitnetni ruoY"
Her spirit wavered. Yet, an aching curiosity filled her soul.
"What… are you?"
".gnitiaw eb lliw I .sesroh dnasuoht a fo redir ehT .emit fo naidrauG"
The schoolteacher smiled. Her favourite subject had always been history. Now she found something that wasn't bound by its laws. How the children would react to this particular story? At the same time, this story was too dark and violent for young, innocent ears.
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A Momentary Break
The schoolteacher looked forward with a thousand-yard-stare. Her back slumped against the cell wall. Everything about her betraying a sentiment of hopelessness.
It was the expression that Kaguya had been looking for. Had been waiting for since the moment Keine was imprisoned in the castle. With her work completed, Kaguya and Eiren stood up and had to take several moments to catch their breath. Immortal as they were, Keine turned out to be a particularly tough individual to break. With every instant stretched out, spanning across an unseen time, and with Eiren healing her repeatedly without break, both immortals worked themselves to exhaustion.
"Huff… Huff… Damnit! If I knew this is what it took I would have just done this from the start! Damn you, Keine! Even after becoming my slave you're still making me look like a fucking fool!"
An open handed slap to Keine's newly formed face made her wince, but she didn't protest otherwise.
"Really are just like Mokou.…. So. Are you going to do as I say now?"
Keine nodded.
"Good. Remember, if you try anything we're just going to torture you again. Eiren let's get this started."
Eiren spoke from behind.
"My lady. I'm ready to cast the spell."
"Good. Let's begin. Keine, focus on the history of my past. Bring back the moment when I first recieved a castle from my Earthling parents."
Eiren frowned. A subtle, hidden scowl.
"Princess. I though the plan was to go back to our time in the Lunar Capital. Return to before I made the Hourai Elixir."
"What? Why would I do that? You man to tell me you haven't enjoyed being immortal? Being impervious to death? You just assumed I wanted to go back to my old life?"
"Y-…yes…"
"Then you are a fool. You happily agreed to working with me to create the Hourai Elixir of Immortality. Are you regretting it now after all this time? Is this a betrayal, Eiren?"
"No My princess!… I would never… it's just…just that I've missed my home…the people I knew…from back then…"
"Eiren. Do you remember your promise you made to me? How you needed to atone for all the pain you caused me? How every misfortune that fell on me was essentially your fault? You're the one who made the elixir. Remember that you were the one who swore loyalty to me first and foremost."
"Yes…But that's exactly why…I want to go back.."
Eiren was visibly shaking now. Movements slow on the machine. The magic that emanated from her hands started to flicker and shake.
"After all this time…stuck here on this planet…"
The princess rolled her eyes.
"Get a hold of yourself Eiren. Having a breakdown isn't befitting someone like you. Especially now that we're so close. Please continue the spell."
"….Yes my lady."
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Keine's body took on a subtle green glow. A new history took shape within the passages of time, one where Kaguya became empress of all humanity. The princess' magic buffed the spell, allowing Keine to continue using her ability without end. Finally Eiren cast her own magic, bringing the new eternal history into the tangible world.
A portal formed on the cell wall. A black circle with a green blue stripe spinning along its rim. Within the circle was the subtle silhouette of a castle interior. Ornate jewelry and grand architecture surrounding an enormous throne.
Kaguya smiled and turned to Eiren.
"Finally. I'm going to be where I belong."
Eiren didn't meet Kaguya's gaze. Didn't have the look of triumph and relief the princess expected. Instead Eiren looked directly into the portal. Her skin turned pale. Eyes widened. Mouth in a frozen gasp of shock.
The princess turned around and found herself face to face with a shapeless, formless thing. Blank eyes staring at her with an aura of pure malice.
Faster than an instant. Before any of them could even process what was happening, the room flooded with an ocean of black tentacles. Each one was rough like sandpaper and thicker than their arms. The tentacles ensnared them, curling around their bodies and limbs before pulling them into the portal.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Prisoners in Time
They found themselves in what appeared to be an upside down dome. A circular room that rose to a flat ceiling above. A floor that tilted downward, slanting everything to the hole at its center. Strange, cyclopean shapes that none of them could fully process in their minds wer sculpted into the granite walls.
Kaguya stared at the center of the floor. More tentacles burst forth. A fountain of writhing black flesh. Yellow veins pulsating a golden light, growing brighter as the tentacles themselves throbbed and growing bigger with each beat. They covered everything, feeling across the floor and climbing the walls. Soon the three women found themselves surrounded by squirming flesh wherever they looked. A prison of indistinct, groping limbs.
"Keine! Eiren! Where are we!? Bring me back! Open another portal this instant!"
Her words became lost in the endless shuffle of writhing skin rubbing against the stone. And with every moment, her barrier weakened. She turned in the air, trying to find the others.
"Eiren! Get me out!"
She found Eiren several feet away. The doctor's eyes rolled back. Her body twitched as smaller, miniscule tentacles worked their way into her ears and nose. Even then the doctor kept tring to focus forward, arms and legs glowing as multi-colored arrows appeared before her.
More explosions as Eiren and Kaguya fired upon the growing mass. Bolts of magic burst into sparks of purple, pink, and green. Once again it did nothing. Tentacles of all sizes dragged them under. A merciless ocean rip tide that coiled around the body and whipped at their skin. The scent of salt and ancient bone filled their nostrils. Golden light blinded their eyes.
Still protected within her magic barrierr, Kaguya floated herself up to the surface. Eiren still struggled, arm and legs fighting against the slick muscle.
"Princess Kaguya!" Eiren screamed. The doctor reached out with one hand, other hand pulling against the tentacles as if trying to swim through the mess of limbs. Then they dragged her under the current, her one visible hand clenching and shaking in response whatever was happening to her body beneath the surface. The tide swelled, and Eiren was lost. Now a strange liquid splashed up against the walls. A thick and creamy substance that made the salty smell even stronger.
The princess remained on the surface. Her magic ball keeping her afloat and above the flood. She swirled her head, looking around to find the youkai schoolteacher.
"Keine! You treacherous bitch! This is your doing!" Her yell rose above the din of rubbing flesh.
A pair of bull horns rose above the writhing tentacles. Then a face with green hair and red eyes. Keine stood up. Her bare feet stood weightless on the sea of sinew. Green furred tail swinging left to right in graceful arcs. Tentacles wrapped around her body. They stuck between her thighs, sliding down her legs, rising to squeeze themselves between her voluptuous breasts. Smaller ones wiggled between her toes and fingers, and she moved her fingers as if caressing them in return. The youkai's body relaxed. Soft. Not resisting to the molestation at all.
"Keine! You wretch! This is all your doing, isn't it!?" Said the princess.
"Oh no princess. I'm not the one in control here. None of these are mine. I'm in the same situation as you are. I'm simply letting them do as they please with me, because I know it's pointless to resist. Struggling will only make them want you more."
That remark confused the princess.
"You… You damned yourself to get back at me?"
The schoolteacher's eyes lit up. Her lips parted into a wide grin. Kaguya had never before paid attention to just how monstrous Keine's appearance was in her hakutaku form. Devilish horns that rose above her head, the tips curled inward ready to catch and gore her prey. There were also her eyes. So different from the vibrant blue of her human form. These eyes were not the fiery crimson of Mokou's eyes. The red in Keine's eyes was the color of drying blood. Her voice echoed across the chamber, like a mother scolding a child.
"Damned myself? I don't know what your talking about."
Keine's skin became translucent. The wall behind her became visible in the golden light. The princess watched, blinking in confusion.
"What?"
"In fact, Princess Kaguya, I did none of this. You must have gotten here on your own."
More cracks appeared on Kaguya's magical barrier. The spherical walls imploding under the constant rising pressure.
"What are you talking about, Keine!? You brought me here! You knew this was going to happen!"
"Nope. As far as I know, I'm still at home. You never kidnapped me or anything like that. Quit making up strange stories. I know you're a hikkomori, but you shouldn't speak lies."
Keine was almost gone now. The tentacles that wrapped themselves around her limbs detached and joined the others below. Now the schoolteacher simply stood naked, grinning wide. The princess' jaw dropped. Eyes furrowed as though trying to get a better look at Keine's fading form.
"You…You're rewriting history even now? You fool! If you escape then we'll be leaving with you! I'll correct my method and start over!"
The schoolteacher giggled. A soft, bemused sound like a polite person would do after hearing a bad joke. Kaguya looked down at herself. Everything was still there. Immaculate clean clothes. Body still keeping opacity.
A shaky scream sounded out from behind the princess. Kaguya turned to see Eiren rise back to the surface. The doctor was also smiling, eyes roleld back and tongue out in pure ecstasy. What remained of her shredded clothes still clung to her body. Eiren's belly had swollen up. The skin of her stomach stretched, imprinted with the moving limbs of things growing inside her.
Kaguya whimpered and covered her mouth as Eiren opened her legs, knees straight, toes curled, giving a full view of the small, smooth reddish tentacles that squirmed from inside her pussy. They crawled out and leapt to join the others, barreling through the air as if squeaking in excitement. It looked as though the doctor were giving birth.
"AAAAAH" Eiren screamed. "YES! YES! It's so good. Give it to me! Again! Again again agaaiiinin!~"
Eiren's body began to fade. Her body losing opacity even as juices squired out from her pussy along with the strange animals leaping from it.
"Eiren! Stop!" Kaguya didn't bark out an order anymore. Now her voice shook and whimpered, mind trying to piece together everything around her. Keine and Eiren were fading, shifting through time. Yet she remained.
The princess started to panic. She turned back to Keine, now just a blurry patch at the other side of the room.
"Keine.. This impossible.. But how?...If you were never kidnapped then I should be returning with you! I should be fading as well!"
"Oh? Weren't you paying attention? Didn't you say yourself that my power over history doesn't affect you? How the 'instance' of you in the here and now will always remain? You're here now, and you'll always be here, for all this is in an instant stretched out for eternity."
The blurry patch in the room giggled. A dainty, meek laugh like the ringing of a dinner bell."
"Stretched out. Just like how you'll be."
Kaguya was shaking. Eyelids twitching. She couldn't think of a way out. Couldn't figure some way to attack Keine or defend against the beings trying to break through her barrier.
"No. This isn't happening… This is isn't possible."
The schoolteacher's giggling continued. By now the blurred patch that was Keine had disappeared too. A disembodied voice rang out through the aether.
"Let this be a lesson for you Kaguya. Something you can stew on for all of time. The lesson is this: Don't fuck with Keine Kamishirasawa."
Keine was gone. Eiren was gone. And Princess Kaguya Houraisan looked up and raised her hands in complete rejection of what was going on. Keine had defeated her in this duel of mental magic. No. It wasn't just a defeat. With Mokou there were wins and losses. Victories and defeats. This was something else. This was a decimation. A pillaging. A complete and utter humiliation.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Kaguya yelled out in pure disgust. She stared in horror at the bumpy appendages slaming against her sphere. Every strike made the shield crack a little more. Soon the rays of yellow light shined through against as if casting her in a golden spotlight. She raised her hands and focused her magic, strengthening the barrier even as its surface became a tangled web of shattering glass.
At the center of the floor, where more tentacles continued to flood the room, emerged a head with not face.
No face, save for the blank, glowing yellow eyes. it shined an effigent gold, illuminating the horns twisting into a figure eight at the sides of its head. The thing's shoulders emerged. Then it reached a massive hand out to wrap Kaguya's barrier around its fingers.
This new beast was so massive that it held Kaguya's magic barrier at the palm of its hand. As if it were nothing more than an trinket. A cheap hourglass to stare into.
"Eiren...Keine….W-what is this!?"
And it spoke in a voice like grinding titanic plates. The sound of an earthquake splitting the earth.
".won enim era uoY"
Its rough hands squeezed against the magic ball. The tangled web of cracks thickened until it covered every bit of the sphere. A moment of silence. Then a growl from the behemoth, before the barrier dissolved into scintillate grains of sand.
Kaguya screamed. She closed her eyes and let out a shrill, ear piercing howl. The sound of her voice muffled and gagged as an oversized tentacle shot into her mouth and struck against the back of her throat. It was large enough to stretch out her jaw as far it could. Her head turned left and right trying to escape, but only made it jerk into her cheeks and rub against her tongue. She tried to pull on the limb with her hands, but her hands merely slid back and forth along the moistening shaft. The princess winced in pain, her repeated gags became louder and more extreme as she tried to breathe.
Her eyes opened to find the thing staring closely at her with two blank, unblinking yellow eyes. The behemoth had no face. Yet, an unmistakable aura of contempt emanated from the beast before her.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
To Be Continued
The next chapter will be uploaded VERY soon. Thank you all for waiting!
WARNING: The following chapter will have both non-con and some heavy guro in it. If you are squeamish to such elements in fiction then please leave and just consider this the end of the story.
Author's Commentary:
If this story ended up being confusing, random, or too weird too understand, please let me know. I would like any opportunity to improve it as best I can.
I had the same experience writing this piece as I did with my "Biggity Bombshell" story, where I wanted to write a short one-shot but I overdid it and spent so much longer than originally planned.
The Dahaka in this story is meant to be the monster in the game "Prince of Persia: Warrior Within". I didn't name it at first because I tried to make him seem mysterious and otherworldly, though thinking back on it it might be strange considering the kind of place Gensokyo is. I do know I made him much stronger than in his original game. Since this is supposed to be a hentai fic, he'll play the role of a typical hentai monster for this story.
Author's Note On The Next Chapter: (Major Spoilers Ahead)
I personally despise guro and snuff, but I didn't want to pull my punches when writing this. Inspiration for this work came out of me questioning why Mokou gets raped so much in doujins. Since she's my favourite character in the series, it irked me how much hentai artists played favoritism with different characters and different fetishes. Why is Mokou hated among hentai artists? I imagine people who like Reisen, Youmu, or Sakuya would say the same thing. Hell, other series have the exact same problem (Why are Jeanne Alter and Nash raped so much in Fate doujins? Why they specifically targeted so often?)
The funny thing is that the most horrifying part of the next chapter is actually something I saw in a doujin where Mokou was the victim. Since Mokou is my favourite character, I went into writing this story with an "Eye for An Eye" mindset. I'm going to be keeping that mindset if I write more chapters. I guess you could say this was written for the sake of revenge, though there's a level of irony there that I can't really get around. There's so much rape doujins of Mokou its almost maddening, so I'll probably keep adding more to this story so that at the very least there's one person out there who wants to keep things even.
I'm going to keep adding to this story until I've achieved some kind of peace towards how Mokou gets targeted so much, or if I feel things have finally evened out. If I were good at drawing, this would end up as a doujin. I'll stick with the talents I actually have for now.