This one seems to have been longer in the works than other chapters. But that's okay, because come the next chapter, things will really heat up. I'm talking global catastrophes! ^_^ One of the reasons I love this fanfic is because I'll get to be as destructive as I want and avoid using Flandre.

Sanae looked at the little staircase just outside of the Moriya Shrine's building. From the looks of things, it led to something beneath the shrine. Well, Suwako said that this was where sacrifices went, so down the stairs Kogasa got thrown. Once the miko-turned-goddess got to the bottom as well, she opened the door to find that the room already had two occupants. It was just one large room, absolutely nothing filling it other than air and these two. Now was time to add one more to that number. Into the room Kogasa was forced, with Sanae shutting the door soon afterward. Three sacrifices would probably not last long. They needed more…

"That fast?" Kanako could already feel it; a wave of faith taking over the Moriya Shrine. Whatever they were doing over there, they were sadly doing a good job at it. "Reimu," she said to the miko. "You can feel it too, right?"

"Hm?"

"This wave of faith coming over the Moriya Shrine. …Oh, what am I saying? Your shrine doesn't get worshippers, so you wouldn't know what I'm talking about."

"Hey, that's my shrine you're talking about! And who's going to rebuild it?"

"I'll send some of the tengu," Kanako said. "And I'm glad you agreed to help."

"I didn't agree to anything. You forced me to help otherwise I'd be locked in Suwako's old closet, remember?" Reimu didn't really like Kanako's methods, though admittedly, she would have done the same if she wanted information. "I know some people who would probably be more than willing to help."

"Go find them. I need to speak to a young lady about a bird…" Kanako couldn't help but chuckle a bit. It really had been too long since she got to make war preparations. And here, in Gensokyo, where many people of unimaginable power existed, this would easily be the greatest religious war to strike any world. Though, the reasoning within her couldn't help but wonder at the cost in lives. Sure, youkai came back after death, but could the same be said of humans? That was why Reimu had invented the spell card system, wasn't it? Kanako's goal was to win this, and still keep both Sanae and Reimu alive. If she let Reimu die, Gensokyo would collapse no matter which side won, whereas she would never forgive herself if Sanae died. This would be difficult indeed…

"A little to the left," Suwako said. No evil goddess was complete without a sacrificial altar, which even made sacrifices much more convenient…and cleaner. However, when it came to placement of such things, Suwako was hopelessly OCD, and she needed it to be perfectly in the center of the hall, against the wall, across from the front door. "Alright, Yuka, move it about a millimeter to the right…perfect!" Suwako's beaming smile spread across her face now that the altar was in place. To best summarize what it looked like in basic frame, one could easily imagine what would happen if a table and a bathtub had a one-night stand and was placed in a round tub. Then there were the carvings. Such intricate carvings…

Frogs and snakes alike were carved all over the altar's outside, with several grooves on the inside of the altar where the sacrifice was placed. Those grooves led into the lower tub of the altar. Such a wonderful altar that Suwako worked so hard on…

"Sacrifices begin tomorrow," she declared. "We'll be giving a sacrifice once every twelve hours, at seven o' clock. Sanae gets the A.M. sacrifices, and I the P.M. Everybody following me?"

Everybody else in the shrine; all of the believers, nodded. As did Sanae herself. "Do we personally pick out our sacrifice?"

"Well, no. Here's how it works. I had to do some serious magical work on that altar. The amount of blood the sacrifice sheds will be based on how pleased we are with the sacrifices. If they don't bleed at all, just about anybody can bet their soul that whoever was getting the sacrifice, they weren't pleased at all. Whereas if the tub fills up all the way, it's the perfect sacrifice." Looking at the worshippers and disciples alike, Suwako said "Oh, right, you can all go home now. Be back here tomorrow by seven, got it?"

Sanae watched everybody disperse, from the weaker youkai like Mystia Lorelei to some of Gensokyo's most feared beings like Yuka Kazami. "So," she asked once everybody else was gone. "What are we getting from these sacrifices, aside from getting to see somebody die?"

"The corpses deteriorate, and become a mist. That's going to be absorbed into the body of whichever goddess is sitting on that throne above the altar. The mist increases the power of whoever absorbs it, enough so that if you were to absorb just ten people's worth, you would be twice as powerful as you would normally be."

"Fascinating…"

"You bet it is. I used to have an altar just like this, and thanks to it, I was nearly undefeatable as a goddess! Nothing increases faith like a nice sacrifice!"

"But if you were so powerful, how did Kanako beat you alone?"

"Oh, my dear, did she tell you she fought me alone?"

"…I was the one who said she had to be stopped," Kanako said, looking down at roughly where the Moriya Shrine rested alongside Reimu. "Myself, Suwako, and Sanae aside, Gensokyo doesn't have many real gods, but the human world has more gods than anybody can count. Since I was the only one that had an actual army, it was my responsibility to deal with Suwako's followers."

"And Suwako herself?"

"There were five of us. Myself, a life god, one goddess of the ocean, and a fire god, plus a death god. We all fought long and hard, especially those life and death twins…"

"What happened?"

"Even with five of us and an army of my own, we were getting destroyed. Suwako had been picking us off like flies, and even with the powers of life and death, we were no match for her. It was only by the greatest of miracles that I managed to turn the fight around for the few seconds needed to win. My last miko before taking over the Moriya Shrine; bold and tough as she was, stepped in and plunged a knife into Suwako's back. It only distracted her for a second, but…"

"But?"

"…she died." Kanako's eyes began welling up with tears, as she continued "Suwako turned around and opened up the ground right beneath her feet. Nobody ever saw or heard from her again."

"Well, how did you win?"

"Oh, right." Wiping the would-be tears from her eyes, Kanako said "Suwako's back was turned, so I grabbed her and flew up into the sky. Since the earth was too far down to have any usefulness, Suwako was forced to fight me in the sky. Being a sky goddess, I was able to turn things around quickly, but she still put up a tough fight." It was because of the losses of that war that Kanako had the motherly affection she did for Sanae. Those losses…

"Damn you!" Suwako had finally lost the ability to fight. "Well, go on! Finish it. This won't go forgiven, I can promise you that much! My worshippers will find you, and they'll kill you and all of your descendants!"

"I have no descendants to speak of." Gripping Suwako by the collar of her shirt, she said "It would be a disgrace to my miko's memory to kill you. She never did like death, which is the only reason she didn't run that knife through your spine. Instead, I'm relinquishing all control and faith of your shrine. You will remain in that shrine with me, and your daughter will become my new miko." She would do this for the memory of the last Yasaka miko. Shrine maiden…friend…Harumi Yasaka…

"Are you alright?"

"What? Oh, I'm fine."

"Good. We've got company." Reimu pointed behind the two, to the pink-haired youkai of short stature and polite demeanor.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Satori said. "But if this war is going to be as bad as you think it is, this is no time to linger on the past, I'm afraid."

"Your timing couldn't be better," Kanako said. "I was actually preparing to go see you."

"All of my pets were urging me to see you, so I had Koishi show me the way here. And to answer all of your questions, in order, yes, yes, no, and not only would there be consequences, but you can expect them to be severe."

"Can somebody elaborate," Reimu asked. "I'm not a mind-reader."

"Oh, I apologize," Satori said kindly. "Kanako wanted to know if I would help, which I will. I will have all my pets support this cause and put their faith in this shrine, including Okuu, but I'm not letting any of them go into actual battle. And if any of my pets meet misfortune because of this, Kanako will easily be able to expect severe consequences. However, Reimu, I recommend you go talk to those people you were meaning to find; the saint and her comrades. Although, I don't believe they'll be willing to help."

"And why is that?"

"Because I passed them on the way here. The leader was telling herself that under no circumstances were they to get involved, and the others were saying the same thing…minus the jiang shi. Trying to read her mind was…well, difficult." So no help from the Taoists. That didn't mean the Myouren Temple was out of the question, though, as Satori could tell from Reimu's thoughts. "Go ask Byakuren like you're thinking you should. Go on, now, Kanako and I have sensitive matters to discuss. Oh, and would you kindly bring Koishi along? I don't like her going out alone and she lacks the patience to remain here for the entire discussion."

"I suppose."

"Let's think," Suwako said. It was easy to say that Suwako and Sanae were a very intimidating duo as they were, but there were probably still things the Yasaka Shrine could use against them that could turn the tables. "What does Kanako have that we don't?"

"That hell raven?"

"She's an idiot," Suwako said. "I can easily persuade her to join us, as a matter of fact. Thank you for the idea, but I know we're missing something. What on earth was it?"

"Is it…Hisou Tensoku?"

"No, that's our property. If Kanako tried to take it, I would know; I have some very devoted people working down there for me."

"But doesn't it run on nuclear power? The nuclear facility is Kanako's, so we'd need some other source of power aside from nuclear fusion."

"Like a bird who controls such…but we'll only play that card if things become desperate. I don't want the fun to end too soon." Suwako had replaced her old clothing with an outfit that followed the same pattern as Sanae's black and green outfit. Same appearance as her old outfit, but with different colors; black and red with a massive brown hat. "For now, we should continue adding the finishing touches to the shrine. After all, we want it to look as great as possible for tomorrow when the sacrifices start." And with those sacrifices came power. And with power, the ability to spread catastrophe across Gensokyo…

Just to note, Hisou Tensoku will appear later in the fanfic, but I'm not gonna say who will be piloting it. I will say that it will be a team of miko and goddess, though, so at least you know it can be one of two pairs. Global catastrophes, giant robots, semi-daily sacrifices…this fanfic seems to have just about everything :D