Double Dealing Character – Reimu vs Sukuna
She's here. Sukuna's heart began to pound as she could sense the presence of the Hakurei miko getting closer. If things go according to plan, Seija should've weakened her and I should be able to defeat her! Sukuna gripped her Miracle Mallet tighter, anticipating the arrival of her opponent.
Reimu arrived battered and exhausted, the road to reach the deepest parts of the Shining Needle Castle proved more taxing than it looked, not to mention the persistent amanojaku which hindered her process thrice, as well as being a formidable enemy difficult to take down.
Nevertheless, it was the Hakurei miko's duty to solve incidents, and this one, which involved many objects turning into tsukumogamis, objects turned youkais, such as the case of Benben and Yatsuhashi, old musical instruments which had become sentient. Even her own purification rod had become wacky since the beginning of the incident, although it had improved in youkai extermination power, sweeping erratically at foes without discrimination, Reimu hardly had control at it. She had struggled in deciding whether to bring it with her or finally abandoning it at the shrine for good, in the end decided on the former since it would also be wise to bring it along to ease the process of questioning the perpetrator. Regardless, the rod had been a great asset in aiding her to her quest, and hopefully by confronting the person behind all these would turn everything back to normal.
Sukuna stood up strong in front of the presence of the red-white miko, she adjusted her black bowl covering her head and took a deep breath. "I knew you would come, Hakurei miko!" Sukuna tried to impose a threatening image, however deep inside she was trembling with fear and uncertainty, and seeing Reimu unfazed only reaffirmed her inner doubts.
Reimu was quick to notice the Miracle Mallet wielded on Sukuna's left hand, the fabled artifact of the inchlings, possessing supreme magic powers within, easily suspected as the cause of this incident. Then, it also came to her that, the little girl in front of her was also…
"Are you an inchling?" still, Reimu decided to ask the obvious, the girl wearing a pink kimono in front of her did not appear tiny as inchlings would be, instead the midget surrounded by a flower-patterned magical border had the size of a normal little girl. Adding to the fact that she did not know much about the Miracle Mallet, knowing it only from the rumors heard from the human village and reading it up from one of the many books found in Patchouli's library, which she may occasionally choose to laze around there a bit especially when her shrine became too hot or cold that the Scarlet Devil Mansion was a much more comfortable place to be. Speaking of books, Marisa was a much better reader than she was, dozing off after reading a few pages wasn't anything rare to the shrine maiden.
This question appeared to excite Sukuna, as her face flushed with anticipation and eagerness, "indeed I am! I am the princess of inchlings residing in this castle! The great Ishun-Boushi, the legendary oni-slayer, was my ancestor!" As she continued, she swung around the 2 tools on her both hands, the mysterious, glowing, golden Miracle Mallet on her left, and the large, shining, silver sewing needle on her right. She also had the habit of using her right hand to adjust the tilting black bowl above her head. "Did you notice these artifacts?" referring to the 3 pre-mentioned objects, "they are the iconic possessions of Ishun-Boushi! Now I am the one who wields them all!" Sukuna said with a prideful tone.
Indeed, the name of the inchling Ishun-Boushi wasn't unfamiliar to Reimu Hakurei, as it was frequently mentioned in folklores, he was the one who managed to defeat the oni, and obtained the Miracle Mallet as well. So that's why she possesses the mallet… several doubts in Reimu's mind had been cast off, and judging from the direction of the huge flow of magic coming from, without a doubt from this very castle itself, Reimu was more than convinced that the inchling princess was the perpetrator of this incident.
But what was her motive? Screw her motive, I will just strike her down first, that will make things a whole lot easier. "Well then, as the shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine, I, Reimu Hakurei, will defeat you right here, right now, in order to end this incident!"
It was only apparent to Sukuna that the battle had already begun, once Reimu had fired her red-colored ofuda towards her.
"Don't worry, with your powers, we can defeat anybody!"
"Se… Seija… are you really sure about this?"
Sukuna's peaceful life as a princess was quickly interrupted by the amanojaku, who was the one who found the Miracle Mallet, and brought it to her, since the mallet can only be used by inchlings, and Seija Kijin, the lunatic amanojaku who always like to think the opposite way as the world, plotted to overthrow the society using the mallet's powers.
"Don't you think this world is unfair? Don't you want to turn things around? The world around us is twisted and wrong, and with our combined efforts, we can overthrow the society!" Seija's maddening eyes were those of deep red, like the color of blood, her facial expressions crazy yet convincing, and the little inchling princess, currently still as small as a thumb and residing in her miniscule room, so sheltered her life was she hardly knew what's going on with the outside world.
Seija had told her the tale of the inchlings being suppressed since the reign of Ishun-Boushi had ended, there were no worthy successors and quickly the entire inchling race was exiled by the oni who sought their revenge, and being so tiny and powerless, many of the other residents of the world would pay no attention to them. Ignored, and utterly defeated, the inchlings, severely tarnished of their pride and power, sought refuge by living in mini craters, behind some rocks, or under a leaf.
Of course, all these were fabricated lies in order to deceive the naive Sukuna and convince her that the world is wrong and needed a total makeover, and the Miracle Mallet would be the perfect catalyst to success.
"The strong are the evil ones in this world… we, the weak ones, should rise and rebel against them! For once, the world shall be unified and ruled by the weak! The weak are more humble, more tolerant, more understanding, we are destined for greatness and able to lead the world to harmony; unlike the strong, they are ruthless, arrogant, meanies who only knew how to feed themselves fatter and oppress the weak! This is the very wrong with this world! With your aid, and the Miracle Mallet… we will be able to make this dream… a reality!" Seija was like a titan passing down sermons to her underling, so imposing and mighty was her presence to the tiny Sukuna. Seija's words crept into Sukuna's mind like venom coursing through her veins, the words were bitter, yet also sweet and pleasant to hear.
Indeed, the life of an inchling wasn't one that is worth boasting about, they were not allowed to exit their shelters, fearing that their miniscule size and frail power would lead to their demise quickly. They were so fragile that their lives can easily be ended should they be squashed by anything larger than them, and theoretically everything in the outside world is larger than them.
Perhaps Seija's plan wasn't a bad one after all…
It came to a sudden realization to Sukuna that the danmaku battle had begun, she quickly descended to dodge the ofuda coming straight at her, tucking her bowl on her head, with her tongue sticking out slightly to the right side of her mouth, the inchling princess began to retaliate.
Here goes...! Swinging her Miracle Mallet a little, a barrage of small circular danmaku, of white and pink in colours, began flying towards the red-white miko. They were random and numerous, Reimu managed to dodge the first wave, but not without effort.
She's good! Those reflexes, she's very nimble! Just as Seija said... The little princess attempts to let out a second wave, but another string of ofuda came soon after and almost managed to connect, Sukuna hastily shifted her tiny body to the left and lost her balance during the maneuver.
Her attacks are relentless as well! She then pulled out a spell card, connected both the tips of her mallet and needle and held them high up, a powerful magical aura surged from both artifacts, strong enough to hinder Reimu from performing another attack, and also push her back further away. Perhaps the shrine maiden did this merely to anticipate the next attack better.
"Spell Card! Small Bullet - Inchling's Path!" As Sukuna finished casting the spell, the same white circular bullets from before now form circular rings and came in steady waves, only a very small section of the circle had a slightly wider gap which was made wide by a larger sized, thorny green bullet. The green bullets were oddballs, as they would stop abruptly as they reached a certain distance from Reimu, then began homing onto the shrine maiden through erratic movement patterns, as such, they moved much more independently unlike the disciplined white danmakus, resulting in a tricky maneuver around the rings. Circles with a single tiny gap allowing passage, such was the namesake of the spell.
Reimu managed to squeeze around the available tiny spaces, even more easier with her smaller hit box. Much to Sukuna's displeasure, she also attempted to increase the frequency and intensity of the spell, making it more dangerous as it progressed.
Yet Reimu would not allow the spell to take full effect before striking the inchling princess with her ofuda and purification needles. Sukuna could barely dodge the attack due to her concentrating to maintain the spell. Struck down for the first time, her spell was also broken and ended.
Guh...! In this case...! Sukuna smacked her black bowl with her mallet, enlarging it into the size of a round boat, in which she quickly rode it and used it as an effective defensive shield against the Hakurei miko's attacks. She did not end it right there, releasing streams of the medium sized, glowing blue bullets towards the shrine maiden. The bullet pattern wasn't too difficult for Reimu to dodge with relative comfort.
Reimu took out her yin yang orbs and launched them towards the giant black bowl, the collision resulted in a huge shock and Sukuna had suffered what it seemed to be a rock in the middle of the ocean hitting her boat. The damage was quite heavy yet the bowl still managed to hang on thanks to the power granted by the mallet. Reimu threw out a 2nd wave of attacks, which includes yin yang orbs, ofuda and purification needles.
The little princess however, was smarter this time as she succeeded in shifting the bowl away from the path of the incoming barrage. Sukuna was delighted for a second, but quickly she was overwhelmed by the same barrage of attack Reimu unleashed, however this time the bullets pack homing properties, and without much trouble they hit the black bowl, and also damage it enough to break the mallet's spell and it reverted back to its normal size.
"So," Sukuna asked, "how do you plan to achieve this?" She found herself somewhat convinced, yet it would be much better to know what the amanojaku had hidden in her sleeves.
Seija chuckled with delight, "using the powers of the Miracle Mallet, we can grant various new powers to the weak youkais and also turn many objects into tsukumogamis, they will immediately be grateful to us and approach us. This way, we could gain many allies to aid us in our goal!" As she spoke, Seija's eyes flared up with maddening intent and determination, she could not resist the marvelous conclusion should this plan truly come to a success. Finally, the distorted, wretched world can be erased, and changed to one more to her liking.
Sukuna could not help herself but be intimidated and frightened at the crazy amanojaku. So crazy her eyes were, her plans were also showered with madness. She would hesitate to help, at first, but as she pondered on the sorry state of her kin currently in, perhaps it wouldn't hurt to agree with the plan.
Something has to be done... We inchlings had been oppressed for far too long! If we can finally turn things around, then it should be me, the princess of inchlings and also the descendent of Ishun-Boushi, who would be able to do it!
"But..." the highly spirited Seija suddenly spoke in a calm and repressed tone, "there is a problem."
"What problem?"
"By creating such an uproar, surely the strong will come and intervene... We must be prepared for that." Seija knew of the major powers residing outside the castle, some of the residents of Gensokyo were no slouch, such as the likes of the vampires who reside the Scarlet Devil Mansion, or the powerful gods who dwell deep in the youkai mountain.
Not to mention the annoying shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine who is famous for solving various incidents and returning peace to Gensokyo.
"Do not worry!" Surprisingly, it was the inchling princess who suddenly became upbeat during this instant. "Maybe they will join us as well, if we have similar goals! There are many who are strong yet they might not be happy with the world... or maybe my ancestor Ishun-Boushi was so famous that there are many out there who knows him and would come to aid us? I believe... that our cause is well and righteous, we shouldn't have problem gaining allies." As she finished her statement, a bright smile emitted from Sukuna herself.
Such was the naivety of the sheltered princess, who also had big ambitions growing in her. Too long, for too long had she lived in the castle and isolated from the outside world. She wasn't one who was overly curious about going outside though, as not only did Seija warned her numerous times, her own kind also mentioned about the dangers faced the moment an inchling stepped outside. Perhaps it was something that was passed down onto so many generations, that the entire inchling community who resided the Shining Needle Castle would prefer to root themselves in their own abode.
Seija gained even more confidence. Her entire body trembling with excitement, boiling to a point where she was unable to contain her maniacal laughter. "Perfect... Indeed this plan would not go wrong... Thank you princess!"
Without further ado, the amanojaku handed the Miracle Mallet she found to the inchling princess. A huge magical explosion was ignited at the Shining Needle Castle and spread across Gensokyo. The power of the mallet was so strong that it also turned the castle upside-down.
As the black bowl exploded, Sukuna infused some danmaku energy in it and it also unleashed a powerful wave of large danmaku bullets as the aftermath of the severing link between the mallet and the bowl. However, Sukuna wasn't quite about to end it just yet, as she began spraying the very same small white danmaku used in Inchling's path at Reimu, lots and lots of them, much denser than her very first attempt.
Perhaps she shouldn't had did that, as Reimu had an easier time trying to dodge what she had experienced just before, the same trick didn't work twice, and quickly Sukuna was again overwhelmed once Reimu began spewing out her own attacks.
Unable to withstand Reimu's barrages any longer, Sukuna pulled out another spell card and began channeling energy from the mallet, drawing more energy from it this time. The shrine maiden was again unable to attack any further due to the inchling princess also becoming invulnerable with all the powerful aura surging and surrounding her.
Let's try this… Sukuna wasn't too sure about this spell, however, at the sight of a formidable foe in front of her, there wasn't a point to hold anything back anymore.
"Mallet - Grow Bigger!" the name of the spell card was pretty simplistic this time, reflecting the childish nature of the little princess. I can use the mallet's power to fight! Sukuna began firing danmakus, at the same time making them bigger using the mallet, bigger means more difficult for the red-white miko to dodge!... and the bullets were made to become bigger the longer they materialized, growing to twice and even thrice as big as the shrine maiden.
The bullets were the blue bullets she had just used before, now larger and glowed with a red aura on its outside due to the effect of the mallet, they formed a simple yet beautiful windmill pattern centering on Sukuna herself.
As the enormous bullets approached, there were still some spaces for Reimu to squeeze herself around, but she mustn't wait too long or else the bullets would grow too big that there won't be any gap left, with this in mind, the shrine maiden kept a distance she deemed best and dodged the humongous bullets accordingly.
That's not enough? How about this! Sukuna puffed her cheeks in frustration, and focused harder to channel more energy to the mallet, adding in another arsenal to her current spell - enlarging blue heart-shaped danmakus. With both bullets enlarging and spinning around, the spaces to graze around became lesser and lesser, and it wasn't long before the wonderful shrine maiden found herself cornered…
Yes! I got her, at last!
"Dream Sign - Duplex Barrier!" in a flash, Reimu pulled out a spell card and within an instant, an intangible barrier of purple and red formed around her and vaporized the inchling princess's bullets, creating a huge opening between the both of them, and Reimu seized that window to great effect, sending down a heavy barrage of ofuda and needles as well as propelling her bewitched purification rod to strike down Sukuna, bringing down and put an end to her spell.
Kyaaaaaaaa~! Sukuna was shot and sent flying, muscling up a huge effort to regain her balance. The breakdown of her previous spell took a huge toll on her body, and she began to doubt herself again, c-could I really beat her? Seija… if only you were here… but quickly she shook her head to deny herself, no! I am the only one here able to defeat her! I have to do it… I must…!"
She looked onto her silver needle on her right hand, and clinched it tight, I am the descendent of Ishun-Boushi! The slayer of onis! I must not fall here!
Spinning her needle around, the strong-willed princess began releasing blue-dagger danmakus and charged towards the wonderful shrine maiden. Haaaaaaa~!
"Marvelous~! I can feel the entire Gensokyo is shaking!" The power of the Miracle Mallet was immense, and it definitely sent the amanojaku goosebumps, and excitement she could no longer hold it into herself.
"Now, useless things would also become useful! Things that people did not want, things that were abandoned, left to rot, are now reborn! What do you think, Seija?" The overly thrilled amanojaku did not answer immediately, still in the state of trance she was unable to contain, she could envision clearly the sight of the world transforming into her desired one.
The first step was to give birth of the tsukumogamis of the forgotten items, it was something that perfectly fits her theory of reverse ideology, the goal to turn the world upside-down. It will begin by turning the useless things into useful things, and rebel against their own owners.
Next, by gathering the tsukumogamis from all over the world, they could easily create an army, powerful enough to run riot and conquer the wretched world.
Perfect… simply perfect...
"Seija… the knowledge of the world… it just came to me," Sukuna said as she closed her eyes to embrace the warmth and gentleness emanating from the mallet, "the knowledge of my ancestors just flowed into me as I wield the mallet." Such was the connection between the inchling race and the Miracle Mallet.
Sukuna was smiling all along, rapidly her mind was full of images of how the timid inchlings will finally rise again and regain their glory days. Seija's ridiculously huge ambitious attitude had rubbed on her rather quickly, and she also, desired to change the world for the benefit of the inchlings.
The power of the mallet also enlarged Sukuna herself and many of her inchling kin to normal sizes, one that was similar to Seija's, and they could finally talk to each other on the same eye level. Sukuna also gained a flower-patterned border, similar to the pattern etched on the mallet itself, and the princess glowed with a majestic aura, fitting of her royal blood and illustrious ancestry.
The Shining Needle Castle was also lifted high into the sky, curiously inverted, perhaps the amanojaku who also possesses the power to turn everything upside-down had managed to corrupt some of the mallet's power…?
It wasn't too long that the entire Gensokyo was disturbed by the awakening of the numerous lifeless items, chaos and uproar spread around and soon after many would pledge their allegiance to the Shining Needle Castle, the source of their power which they quickly acknowledges. Benben and Yatsuyashi Tsukumo were examples of awakened musical instruments that were long abandoned by their past masters.
Interestingly enough, not only the items were rebelling, even weaker youkais began to cause more trouble than they usually do. Most of them did not even pose a threat before, but after the power of the mallet spread across Gensokyo, their instincts had become more wild and vicious, more daring and fearless. The human village, in particular, was in turmoil because of this, once again prompting Keine Kamishirasawa to use her powers to alter history to hide the human village, so it would be protected, at least until someone solves the incident.
Sukuna was flailing dagger danmakus in all directions and charged towards Reimu, hoping to close the distance and put a huge dent on her. Reimu opted to move back as predicted, firing a few attacks, only to be parried off by the daggers.
"Tsk." Reimu then flew around the battlefield, mixing both offense by sending out orbs after orbs which home into Sukuna, and also defending by grazing around the daggers. She even sent her bewitched rod but it was an easy target to hit and unable to sustain much damage before squealing its way back to Reimu.
Sukuna was becoming increasingly confident seeing she was finally beginning to gain the upper hand after all the while being dominated by the shrine maiden. Victory!...!?
"Spirit Sign - Fantasy Seal!"
"Uwaaaaa!" her apparent victory was quickly short-lived, like a flash in the pan, Reimu pulled out yet another spell card to negate most of the dagger danmakus and sent in powerful spirit orbs onto the inchling princess, hitting her hard into the face. Is this how it ends…? Sukuna was totally devastated seeing one of her most trusted attacks being ended just like that, the shrine maiden was simply too powerful, she was outclassed, outperformed, outwitted, the red-white miko was simply classes above of her in terms of experience and skill. Is this the end? All our efforts… were simply in vain?
Sukuna closed her teary eyes as she drifted across the room, already given up on hope.
"This is not the end."
!
"We will lend you more power."
A voice rang inside Sukuna's head, so tender, so touching, giving insurmountable amount of encouragement to the inchling princess. Ishun-Boushi! Is that you? You had come to help me as well... I am glad…
Her eyes were then opened, this time with renewed vigor and determination. After regaining her balance, Sukuna rubbed the bowl on her head, and gripped the Miracle mallet and the silver needle tightly, Ishun-Boushi… I am your descendant, I will prove that I am worthy! Please… look after me! Sukuna then channeled a new spell card with her new-found confidence and power granted by the mysterious voice. She tossed the shining needle upwards, and with the power of the Miracle Mallet, it floated above her and glowed so brightly that it blinded the shrine maiden.
"Spell card! Bewitched Sword - Shining Needle Sword!" Sukuna began the spell by fanning out the same blue daggers towards Reimu, maintaining a constant stream of bullet curtain hell, also she channeled the energies from the mallet onto the floating silver needle, it began to multiply, and towards the shrine maiden they strike with potent speed and power. With quick reflexes, Reimu managed to dodge the first wave, but it soon became difficult as she had to keep in mind that there were a constant barrage of blue daggers all around the battlefield now, a careless maneuver would be disastrous.
A second wave of silver swords came without further delay, and the third one, the fourth one… this spell was more vicious than the previous 2, and Reimu had to be on her toes in every single second.
Sukuna was in full focus during the spell's duration, mumbling the spell with her eyes closed, while maintaining the dual shot types for a prolonged duration.
Unfortunately, it did not took long for Reimu to realize a set pattern from the spell, her accumulated experience in youkai extermination and superb innate intuitive ability quickly allowed her to spot the rhythm of the spell, and dodged accordingly with relative ease. This also created the space needed for Reimu to begin her assault in order to end the spell.
3 of Sukuna's spell cards were taken down, yet with her newfound power the inchling princess did not look to give up just yet, the fire in her eyes were still burning strong. On her next attack, she began to study the knowledge embedded in the mallet, and introduced a new type of shot type - purple rebounding lasers. She fired these at random and they will also bounce of invisible walls around the stage, making it difficult to predict the attack pattern this time.
The shrine maiden had to watch her back at all times as the lasers may come from behind, and from every single direction imaginable. This time, instead of staying defensive, Reimu opted to strike first and rushed towards the inchling princess. A forward charge!? Sukuna quickly reacted by dashing around the stage, still releasing the lasers at regular intervals and let them bounce wherever they wanted. At this stage, it had become a hit and run for both of them, Reimu had to keep dodging the lasers which could come from anywhere, while having Sukuna on pursuit and firing homing ofuda at her. Both of them seemed to be equal in terms of speed, with endurance coming to play now.
Which put Reimu at a disadvantage, having to come here all the way from the Hakurei Shrine, defeating the idiot ice fairy, the mermaid, the rokuro-kubi, the werewolf, the 2 tsukumogamis and the tenacious amanojaku in the process. She could not afford to drag this battle for too long, and henceforth…
"Spirit Sign - Fantasy Seal -Blink-!" Reimu hastily pulled a spell card and spread out both of her arms out wide, gaining invincibility from the lasers, as well as extreme speed in which she utilized to full effect, dashing around the inchling princess and surrounding her with hundreds of ofuda.
What the..!? What is this? How could she suddenly move so fast? the ofuda were white and static when first summoned, and then turned red and began to home in into Sukuna, who were totally in shock and caught off guard. Out of panic, she pulled out another one of her own spell cards in order to save herself.
"The miko is here, Seija! The mallet could sense her presence!" The shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine had become the first major-power visitor to the Shining Needle Castle. Before that all those who came were tsukumogamis and lesser youkais pledging allegiance.
"The famed miko is here… I will go and convince her to join us! If she joins, then our chances of turning the world upside-down would increase by tenfold!" The very name of Reimu Hakurei was famous and feared across Gensokyo, she was very well known for solving incidents and exterminating troublesome youkais, and was the primary concern of Seija's plan at the beginning, but Sukuna had given her some hope that perhaps the shrine maiden can be persuaded to join their cause. After all, the miko was also known to be extremely poor as her shrine hardly has any worshipers. There's a possibility that she might also be unhappy with the current state of things and wanted change.
Betting everything on this, Seija made her way to the outer parts of the castle to greet her. "You stay here, princess! In case the miko did not want to join us, you would have to stop her!" Seija stopped and took a deep breath, "I believe you could stop her, you must stop her. With my powers I am no match for her, but don't worry! I will try to weaken her as much as I can, enough for you to beat her!"
"But Sejia…! If you can't beat her as well… how could I…?" the sheltered princess knew nothing about danmaku battles, trying to stop the almighty shrine maiden seemed totally impossible.
"You have the Miracle Mallet with you, you can create miracles, I am sure of it. Should I fall, you must realize our dreams! Turn this wretched world upside-down!" As she finished her final words of encouragement, Seija headed down the hallway and disappeared from Sukuna's sight. The inchling princess, although larger in size, her courage did not felt larger at all. Being left alone sitting in the deeper parts of the castle, she couldn't help herself but to tremble with fear and anxiety.
What should I do…? Could Seija really convince the miko to join us? What if she fails? What if I am to face to miko? No…. The depressing thoughts kept on flooding into Sukuna's mind, she felt totally lost without any direction to lead her. Her life was always in peace and solitude, without any relationship with the outside world, which all she knew was filled with only fear and terror. Yet with the extra knowledge flowing into her, she felt they had a chance, hopefully…
But now they would not be relying on anything else, but to take down the shrine maiden who would impede their grand plan. "Spell card! You grow bigger!" the card had a rather childish name to it, yet it was in fact straightforward and exactly what it does, making Reimu to grow bigger. The shrine maiden was dumbfounded and confused, experiencing this for the very first time. She had once faced an enlarged Suika, and also the enlarged inchling in front of her (it doesn't matter anyway since she was tiny to begin with), but herself being bigger was totally new to her.
Perhaps being bigger would put her to an advantage, her ofuda and yin-yang orbs would become bigger, and her enchanted rod would also grow so big that it would yield ridiculous power. Reimu tried to attack, but found out the power of the Miracle Mallet somehow prevented her from trying anything offensive.
I cannot attack!?
Sukuna then began to smirk, and laughed for the very first time in this battle. "Now you are bigger and easier to hit! Take this!" just as she said, she began firing blue-kunai danmakus and silver swords towards the enormous miko. The kunais moved steadily and in a fixed, slowly rotating fanning pattern, but the silver swords came in as fast as the previous spell. The danmakus appeared relatively smaller now, but they hurt as well when they hit, and Reimu could not dodge as easily with her entire body 5 times bigger and heavier. Tsk… what the heck is this spell…!?
The giant miko tried to evade the bullets, but was very sluggish and clumsy, finding her own body unable to cope with her intended movements. Interestingly enough, this spell card did not have the same bullet density as the previous spell, and Reimu did had a glimmer of chances to still dodge the attacks.
It would not be long, as the silver knives began to come in shorter intervals, leaving the miko quickly cornered and had no choice but to…
"Great Barrier - Hakurei Danmaku Barrier!" apparently, spell cards still work, and Reimu had to pull this one off as growing bigger and unable to attack was certainly cumbersome. A massive barrier was erected from the massive shrine maiden and warded off every single danmaku Sukuna threw at her. It was difficult to maintain the amount of energy needed to keep the red-white miko enormous, in the end, the duration of Sukuna's spell ran out earlier than Reimu's, bringing this fight to a new stage.
… and Sukuna was totally not impressed that she missed her chance to bring down the shrine maiden.
She did not have many tricks left in her arsenal, despite the increased knowledge and new-found confidence granted by the Miracle Mallet, the shrine maiden still managed to cope with her increasingly powerful attacks. She wasn't sure of winning initially, and as the battle drags on, it seemed more and more impossible to actually win. Every time she thought she finally nailed her down, the miko would just pull out a spell card and rendered her own useless. The shrine maiden was far better in attack, and had almost impenetrable defenses with that unknown amount of spell cards in her sleeves. What else could be done?
"Ran out of ideas?" the red-white miko who did not speak much since the start of battle finally voiced out, her voice was mixed with exhausted panting accumulated from all the fights before.
What else could be done? The miko looked tired, she should not last any longer… thought Sukuna, who was actually also pretty much wasted with all the power she channeled into the mallet, which put a huge toll on her tiny body, not to mention she had to keep herself enlarged in order to qualify herself to step up and fight the miko. Like a pot calling the kettle black, Sukuna did not have the resources to drag the battle for too long either.
Staring at her last 2 spells, Sukuna felt like she had to rest all her hopes of winning onto these 2 cards, please… help me overcome this… oh the great Ishun-Boushi… lend me more of your power!
Without taking a break between spell cards, she decided to pull the second last one right away, putting everything at stake, let's finish this once and for all! "In the name of my great ancestor, I shall defeat you here!
"Wall of Ishun~!"
Sukuna could hear the noisy disturbance coming from the other side of the wall, and it did not seem favorable. Sukuna could not help but feel totally uneasy all this while, doing nothing but just to wait for Seija's return. She needed her to help her make decisions, and without her was similar to missing a limb. The amanojaku was the reason why she even dare to have dreams, dare to be ambitious, dare to make a change. Also, she was the one who granted the Miracle Mallet to Sukuna, which felt like a long-lost heirloom finally returned.
Then an unnerving shriek was heard, and Sukuna immediately could guess whose shriek was that, it was none other than the amanojaku's. No… had Seija failed? And defeated?
Sukuna did not have to wait too long to confirm her doubts, the cunning amanojaku was seen battered and tattered, fleeing towards her direction. "Run!" She yelled, "go deeper in and prepare your spell cards! I will hold off her for a while more… enough for you to beat her! Go!"
Seija was desperate and commanding, the inchling princess could not reject but to only oblige, however reluctantly and fearfully, Sukuna actually did wonder why didn't she stepped in and provide a hand to Seija, perhaps their combined effort could defeat the shrine maiden who did not agree to their plans.
Easier said than done, she was totally not prepared to fight, and the sight of seeing Seija in total defeat only crushed her confidence level to a new low.
Sukuna flew deeper and deeper into the deepest parts of the castle, she had nowhere to run, reality was beginning to engulf her, she had to face the Hakurei Shrine maiden, she must defeat her, Seija had already fallen, and it's all up to her now.
You cannot be serious… I am the only one to stop her now?
Anxiety overflowed her, fear conquered her, and she was trembling inside out. The inchling princess had the harshness of the outside world suddenly slapped into her face, all the while staying in this castle could at least provide her with a safe night's sleep. But now she had activated the mallet's power and created chaos in Gensokyo, someone had to bear the consequences.
Are we wrong? Are we the bad guys? Just because we want to change the world?
All she wanted was to restore the glory of inchlings, that's the sole reason why she sided with the crazed amanojaku from the very beginning. She believed, that as tiny and fragile as inchlings are, they too are a species with pride, with honor, that they must not become a forgotten race. That simply could not be allowed to happen, they were the great descendants of Ishun-Boushi, the legendary oni slayer. If an inchling can defeat the powerful oni, then an inchling should be able to defeat a human as well…
That should not be a problem indeed…
I should be able to beat her… Seija said she will weaken the miko enough… and I possess the Miracle Mallet! I am also powerful!... I can do this!...
Sukuna's head was in a frenzied mix of confidence and doubt, completely unsure of herself. Yet she could not escape from all these, the responsibility was hers to bear, she was ultimately the culprit, the perpetrator of this incident, and it's only logical that the shrine maiden would come knocking at her door.
Rightfully so, she had no choice but to face the rampaging shrine maiden, who could be here any minute now.
She closed her eyes to calm herself down, and to grasp the stored knowledge within the Miracle Mallet, trying her hardest to picture what a danmaku battle would look like, and formulated a strategy.
As the sensation of the miko's presence grew stronger, Sukuna braced herself for what would become her very own ultimate battle.
She's here!
Wall of Ishun was a spell reminiscent of the very first spell card Sukuna used, rings of red danmaku bullets began to expand from the inchling princess, with 4 larger, glowing blue bullets found at the 4 corners of the rings. The red bullets were static and moved only onward, but once again, the blue bullets were erratic, turning red and stopping when Reimu approached it, and then began to home in into the shrine maiden with malicious intent. It did not stop there even if the shrine maiden managed to dodge it, it will fly for some distance, before turning blue again, and repeat the attack onto the miko. Simply put, the longer this card was dragged on, the more erratic bullets would be out and hunting relentlessly at Reimu, not to mention the frequency of the rings being released only grew faster as the spell goes on.
To counter this, the red-white miko opted to stay at a comparable distance from the princess so her assault on her would be continuous, at the same time dodge the erratic bullets with minimal movement, also keeping in mind of the red ring danmakus. It was notably more difficult to handle than Inchling's Path, but still bearable, as Sukuna's spell finally ended after taking sufficient amount of damage.
This could not be her best effort… it's a little too easy…
Reimu was right to think so, throughout the duration of Wall of Ishun, Sukuna was chanting something and powering up the mallet, while only letting out the 2 shot types in a fixed pattern.
It only meant something.
Wall of Ishun was merely a diversion, something to buy the inchling princess time to power up her last attack.
Next up would be her last spell…
Reimu did not have many pleasant encounters with the last spells of her previous opponents, especially the perpetrator of the incident. Remilia's Scarlet Gensokyo, Yuyuko's Perfect Ink-Black Cherry Blossom, Eirin's and Kaguya's Hourai Elixir, Kanako's Virtue of Wind God, Okuu's Subterranean Sun, Byakuren's Legendary Flying Saucer, and also Toyosatomimi's Newborn Divine Spirit. All of these last spell cards proved much more difficult than the other spell cards used by their respective owners, it's pretty much "all or nothing", "go for broke", "throw in the kitchen sink" to them, and not every time Reimu managed to clear some of them in the first try, leading to several defeats, much to her chagrin.
It was still somewhat a smooth sail against Sukuna so far, much attributed to the lack of experience from the inchling princess, who probably did not manage to utilize the full potential of the Miracle Mallet.
This is it! I had prepared everything I could, and gambled everything onto this last spell! Please, Ishun-Boushi, grant me all the strength I need to defeat her! I must defeat her! Or else the inchlings will again be trampled upon and always living in the shadow of other beings.
For the sake of inchlings, I must defeat her!
Without declaring the name of her final spell card, Sukuna began the spell by fanning out rainbow-colored kunai danmaku, although similar looking to the static bullets of Inchling's Path and Wall of Ishun, there weren't any bullets in between the kunais this time.
There should be more to this unnamed spell… Reimu proceeded to dodge the kunais slowly coming at her, with heightened caution and constant observation at the inchling princess, anticipating her next move.
Sukuna then lifted her mallet high up and it shone brightly for a second, and soon after there were 2 doubles of the princess beside her, adding in a new type of danmaku to this spell, rainbow-colored glowing round bullets, they also fan out from the doubles, and each release 6 at a time, the bullets did not stop and home in this time, only going straight from their designated path. It was also notable that the doubles would gradually increase their firing speed and release the bullets faster.
Instead of persistent homing attacks, this spell seemed to rely on bullet density to bring down the miko.
It wasn't too long before another 2 of the doubles emerged from the power of the mallet, now there's 5 Sukunas giving it their all against Reimu.
Five!? It would require an insane amount of magic to maintain these doubles… what is she trying to do…?
Five Sukunas firing at Reimu lasted a much longer duration, an indication of this could be the limit of the inchling's powers. The shrine maiden steadily dodged all the bullets coming at her, it was difficult, but manageable. And this frustrated the princess even more, pouring in more magic into the mallet to increase the firing rate of the doubles. But to no avail.
As this dragged on, the miko began to worry about her opponent, Reimu couldn't help but feel that the inchling princess was pushing herself too far. The added density of the glowing round bullets did prove to be a menace to dodge for the miko, but she wasn't pushed to an extent that a spell card was needed to be pulled out to save herself, not yet.
... and Sukuna didn't seemed happy to see how the miko could still cope with all these bullets going at her.
Why!? How could she still be able to maneuver around all these bullets? What is her limit? How couldn't I strike her down!? Sukuna became more and more agitated, it felt like, despite all her efforts she had put in into this spell, it was still, not enough.
She clinched her mallet tight, and released a desperate yell, immediately she was surrounded by a blinding ray of light, mustering all her remaining powers into this one final effort.
"No~! Are you crazy?" the power gathered around was so powerful, and the miko deemed that it would be too much for the inchling princess, however mighty she might be, she was still an inchling, a tiny species only as big as a thumb, there's no way something that small could withstand such a huge toll on her body. "If you go on like this…. you might…!"
Guide me, O great Ishun-Boushi.
"My final spell card! THE SEVEN ISHUN-BOUSHI!"
As Reimu had feared, the inchling princess had pulled out what could be a miracle out of her mallet, another 2 more of her double emerged and finally there were 7 of them now. This also brought the bullet density of this spell to a whole new level, the amount of glowing round bullets flying around were ridiculous, not to mention Reimu had to keep in check with the kunai rings, and the frequency of the doubles releasing the shots were at a totally new point of quickness. Without a doubt, this was Sukuna's strongest arsenal.
But also one that would break her body should this be sustained any longer.
Reimu was totally aware of this fact. Often times, no matter how evil the perpetrator had done, Reimu had tried her utmost best to avoid extermination. Defeating the perpetrator alone would always be sufficient to solve the incident and remove any trouble looming Gensokyo. She may be brutal, but deep inside, she also has a pure heart that she could not hate anyone, and that very same heart has the mercy of a goddess. This is Reimu Hakurei, the wonderful shrine maiden of paradise.
"Stop it~! If this goes on, you will…!" Reimu released her voice far out to reach the inchling princess, now at the state of uncontrollable trance, "stop! You will break yourself!"
Her voice reached no one, the spell remained vicious as ever and no signs of hesitation could be felt from the spell, the doubles did not rest at all from firing the rainbow balls, and Sukuna herself was still going on with the kunai danmaku and sustaining the impossible.
Reimu had no choice but to keep dodging, she couldn't find any opening to launch an attack, dodging all these bullet hell alone proved to be insanely difficult and there were many times Reimu had very close grazes with the bullets, if it wasn't because of her smaller hit-box, she would had been shot down more than 3 instants.
But how long could she keep this up?
Indeed, it would not be too long before Reimu found herself cornered from every angles.
"FANTASY NATURE!"
And everything was white in an instant…
Finally when everything had subsided, Reimu turned to look at her opponent, the spell had stopped, and the inchling princess was nowhere to be found.
Reimu then looked down, and sighed out of relief, as she had found out the whereabouts of the princess.
She had already shrunk back to her original size, and laid down unconscious on the ground. The Miracle Mallet was lying beside her, no longer glowing, and Reimu assumed that there wasn't any more power being released from the mallet. The wielder ran out of steam, and there wasn't anything left to sustain the powers of the mallet.
By right, everything should be back to normal now…
The shrine maiden brought the inchling princess back to the Hakurei Shrine as the Shining Needle Castle began to collapse without the support of the mallet's magic.
"Where am I?" asked Sukuna, who had just woke up and in a daze. Currently lying in a clear bug box Reimu had prepared for her, she couldn't remember well what had happened during the very last moments of the battle.
Reimu pouted her lips when she saw the inchling princess finally waking up, but a smile of relief came soon after. "You are at my shrine now, everything's fine now."
"Ah?" Sukuna was a bit and shocked and confused at first, then it came to her that, she had lost the battle.
Tears began to flow from Sukuna's eyes, unable to accept the fact that she was defeated, despite how hard she had tried.
"It's okay now, I know you had tried your hardest there," said Reimu as she used her index finger to pat Sukuna's bowl on her head, "it was reckless of you, to push yourself so far."
Sukuna continued to cry for a while, until she had finally calmed herself down, "but now… everything's over… the inchlings, will still be at the same state of being bullied by the other bigger races…"
With this, it was very easy to deduce the motive of the inchling princess, all she wanted was to restore some pride and glory to her feeble race.
"Heeeeey Reimu! Has the little bug woke up yet?" Marisa came barging in with her usual high-spirited tone.
"What little bug!? I am a princess!" Sukuna puffed her cheeks in discontent. How dare she call me a little bug?
"Sorry about that, but when I see Reimu putting you in a bug box, I couldn't help but imagine that, hahah! My bad my bad!"
"Cut it out, Marisa. I do not have anything else I can put her in."
Since what had happened, her purification rod did not act up anymore, and Marisa also had a problem with her mini-hakkero before, now it's back to normal again. However, some of Reimu's spoons and plates and what-not were still wacky and running around, perhaps there were still some lingering magic in them.
Reimu turned to the miniature inchling, "Sukuna, could you use the mallet to recall all the magic out there?"
"But… but…" she was reluctant, now wondering of the current state of her other kin. Did they manage to escape from the castle in time? Where are they now? "Umm… what happened to the other inchlings in the castle?"
"Oh do not worry, when I was trying to rescue you, Marisa here and the maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion had also arrived at the scene, apparently their own tools were also bugging them that they also went to the Shining Needle Castle to investigate. Now all the other inchlings were residing comfortably at the SDM, no worries."
Hearing Reimu said that, Sukuna immediately felt reassured and calm, she knew she could trust the shrine maiden, and quickly she felt grateful for the protection Reimu had given her at her shrine.
"Th- thank you. Thank you!" Sukuna bursted into her tears again. Until some consoling from the combined effort of Reimu and Marisa, the inchling princess settled down and did as requested. She recalled all the magic from the Miracle Mallet back to its origin, and thereafter, there weren't any complaints about household things running amok, or lesser youkais creating troubles. The incident was finally solved.
However, the main perpetrator of this incident, the cunning amanojaku, was nowhere to be found… a bounty was now placed on her head, and many had gone out to hunt her down.
-END-
Hello, folks! endlessdusk here! This is my very first entry in this website, an attempted novelization of the last stage of Touhou 14 Double Dealing Character.
Some of the plot were altered a bit but if you had played through the stage, it should be a predictable read-through.
Most of the story was written with Normal Mode in mind, which is currently my gameplay level, "Wall of Ishun" and "The Seven Ishun Boushis" are spell cards found in Hard and Lunatic difficulties, yet I choose them because I thought that these 2 spell cards would represent the connection between Sukuna and her ancestor better.
Comments and reviews are certainly welcome! Thanks for spending your time reading this!