Darkness of Illusion

Chapter 7

Jealousy Beneath the Earth's Crust


Kyreth grabbed Flandre's arm just as she was about to close her hand. With her other hand she removed the sword from her chest and tossed it aside.

"No Flandre. Let's hold back on… uh… 'kyuuing' them for now."

"Aww… The game was just getting to the best part though! I don't want to lose the game! Big sis never lets me kyuu stuff!" Flandre struggled for a second and then gave up. "Their broken anyways, what's the big deal? Big sis will just get me a new one."

"They're unconscious. Why don't you drink their blood while you have the chance?" Kyreth suggested, trying to divert Flandre's focus from destruction.

"Eww!" Flandre looked disgusted. "Why would anyone do that?"

"You are a vampire aren't you?" Kyreth asked.

"Yeah. But what does that have to do with drinking blood?" Flandre asked, with complete innocence.

"Because vampires… Then what do you eat?"

"Saky makes me cake and juice!" Flandre said. "You have cake and juice at your place, don't you?"

"Yeah, but why would a vampire… never mind. Just wait by the cave."

Flandre stomped over to the entrance to the cavern, sulking.

Back with the tengu, Kyreth stepped over to them. "I too would prefer to kill you, albeit my manner would have been slow and painful. However, as I said, you'll make a fine gift for an old friend of mine and it will certainly gain her support."

She gestured with her hands and a black circle appeared on the ground beneath each girl. However, unlike before, nothing emerged from the circles. Instead, shadowy hands appeared and pulled them down into the darkness. When it was finished, not a single trace of them remained.

Kyreth headed back towards the cave, towards an upset Flandre. She was trying to look intimidating, but with the appearance of a child, it only succeeded in being rather comical.

"Relax, Flan-dear. I didn't break past that guard girl and free you only for you to sit on the sidelines. Where were going there are plenty of people for you to play with."

Flandre's face lit up. "Really?"

"Yeah. Besides, why bother kyuuing them anyways. The fun ends far too soon. You learned that from your stuffed animals. It's much more fun to drag it out. Now let's get moving. Once we finish our work down here, I've got some friends for you to meet."

"Yay! Friends!" Flandre leaped up and down in excitement, the crystals on her wings swinging and clinking.

The two of them headed into the cavern entrance, not noticing Momiji's camera. It had landed in a tree and the RECORD light was still on.


The darkness of the caves proved no problem for the two of them. Both were creatures who naturally inhabited dark places after all. Kyreth looked at the walls, which were covered in spider webs. Ugh, Kyreth had had enough of dealing with spiders back in the Abyss. That damn Spider Queen was an enemy of hers, always encroaching on her territory and sending her armies to invade.

But now, with Flandre's sheer destructive power under her control, she would not have to worry about any more rivals seeking to gain power in the abyss. She swiped a clawed hand at a web, tearing it to shreds, and imagined her rivals dying slowly and horrible at her hands. First, she would shatter all their limbs, and then claw out their internal organs and then…

"Stop right there! I saw what you did to those tengu outside!"

Someone in front of them shook Kyreth from her blood-soaked daydreams. She found that she had come to large bridge crossing over an underground river. The river was flowing rapidly meaning it would be suicidal to try to swim across. The ceiling was low in this area, forcing all travelers to have to cross the bridge on foot.

There was a single person standing on the bridge blocking passage. She had short blonde hair and deep green eyes. She was dressed quite stylishly, though the expression on her face was one of rage.

"Who the hell are you?" Kyreth asked. "Some sort of bridge troll?"

"I am the Hashihime, Parsee Mizuhashi! I am the guardian of the bridge!"

"Hashihime?" Kyreth asked.

"Oh! That's the bridge princess!" Flandre explained. "Patchy told me all about her when Marissa came down here!"

"Bridge princess? Oh, I've heard of you." Kyreth said. Her voice took on a mocking tone. "Pitiful creature controlled by jealousy."

"What?" Parsee's eyes narrowed.

"Quite the tragic story you have. Once an ordinary human, you had a husband, but he left you for another woman."

"How do you know all that?" Parsee demanded.

"I'm far older than I look." Kyreth said. She slowly walked towards Parsee "You became jealous of the happiness they had together. That envy was corrupted and twisted within you until you became a youkai. Then, you killed them while they were crossing a bridge."

"What are you getting at?"

"And look at you now. Driven underground because the surface worlders could not stand the presence of you and the rest of these youkai. And then they make you guard this bridge. My guess is even the people down here don't like you!"

"I have friends down here! Don't think because I spend most of my time up here that I'm alone!" Parsee shouted, though she was starting to sound unsure.

"Nonsense, why would they care for a pitiful envious creature like you? You manipulate jealousy in the weak minded, and can turn them against each other. They would never trust you." Kyreth stepped closer to Parsee, her eyes glowing. Parsee found she couldn't tear her gaze away from them. "They only pretend as such. They wanted a bridge guard, and they figured giving you the job would get you out of their sight. Why do you listen to them?"

"Why do I…" Parsee's eyes began to dull. "They don't like me…"

"Come with us. This world of Gensokyo holds nothing worth being jealous over. You could be a true princess in the Abyss!"

"I could…" Parsee shook her head. "No! You're trying to trick me! I'm not letting you pass!"

"So be it." Kyreth smiled. "Looks like we have another person to play with, Flandre."

"Hooray!" Flandre cheered. Her crystals began to glow and fire danced along her spear.

A card appeared in Parsee's hand. She shouted. "Jealousy Sign! 'Green Eyed Monster!'"

Green danmaku appeared like a rolling cloud. The spheres of energy themselves remained stationary though the cloud extended towards Kyreth and Flandre. Kyreth leaped out of the way of the attack, only to find that it followed her. Kyreth leaped about the bridge, staying out of the way of the danmaku. She then clenched her fist and fired several blasts of darkness. The darkness pierced the cloud, opening an escape route. She then leaped straight towards Parsee, claws outstretched. Parsee ducked under the attack only to be struck by Flandre. She was knocked against the railing of the bridge and the spell ended. Kyreth moved towards the Hashihime, her claws outstretched.

She raised her hand, prepared to rend the youkai to pieces. As she struck downwards, something stopped her attack. She looked to see that some sort of webbing bound her hand. Suddenly she was pulled backwards, off the bridge and was falling into the raging river. Kyreth gestured with her hands and cast a spell of her own. The water beneath her froze into solid ice, saving her from being carried away. She then leaped back onto the bridge to see another person helping Parsee up.

She also had blonde hair, done in a bun by a brown bow. She wore a brown dress that expanded at the waist. It had six gold colored buttons and black sleeves.

"Another one? Who are you?"

"I am the Tsuchigumo, Yamame Kurodani!" Said the youkai. "I'm not going to let you harm the people of the underground!"

"Tsuchigumo?" Kyreth questioned.

"An Earth Spider." Flandre translated.

"Great… again with the fucking spiders! I'll kill the both of you!" Kyreth's eyes turned from gold to violet as she and Flandre both leapt towards their enemies.

"Trap Sign! 'Capture Web!'" Yamame shouted.

Immediately webbing shot from Yamame's fingertips, binding both Flandre and Kyreth. Flandre dropped her spear and struggled futilely against the bindings. Kyreth was also unable to escape. The webs then moved to anchor against the ceiling and walls.

Yamame didn't waste any time. "Spider! 'Cave Spiders Nest!'"

To Kyreth's sensitive ears, there was the sound of massive amounts of feet moving. Kyreth looked to see hordes of spiders crawling down the webs towards them. Flandre screamed as the spiders crawled all over her, even obscuring the light of her wings. "Get them off! Get them off!"

Kyreth shouted threats and obscenities as the spiders crawled all over her as well. She turned to Flandre. "Destroy these webs! Make them go kyuu!" She felt the sensation of tens of thousands of little fangs biting into her flesh and injecting poison into her.

"Get them off! Big sis, help me!" Flandre was in a panic and not listening.

"Had enough?" Yamame asked. "Leave now and I'll cure the poison."

"Poison? I'm a fucking demon! Poisons have no effect on me!" Kyreth spoke, then spat out spiders that had crawled into her mouth. She began to glow. "You know the one thing about webs and spiders that I actually like? They burn easily!"

Kyreth cast another of her spells and her body was surrounded with a nimbus of fire. The webs burnt away and the spiders were incinerated, leaving nothing but ashes behind. She directed the flame towards the webs binding Flandre, careful not to hit the vampire.

"Now then, let's get back to our game! Flan-dear you go ahead into the city, there's plenty of fun to be had there!"

"Yay!" Flan took off down the tunnel past the others and disappeared around a corner.

"This is all just a game to you?" Yamame said, shocked.

"That's correct." Kyreth said, laughing. "I care nothing for any big 'plan' that might be enacted. I only agreed to come with the baatezu because it looked like I could have some fun here."

"People are suffering because of your actions! You're as bad as that vampire, treating people like toys! In fact, your worse! At least she doesn't know any better!" Parsee accused. "Why do you enjoy causing so much misery?"

"What else are weaklings like you for?"

"Weaklings?"

"Let me explain. I am a being of chaos. Yet even so, beings like me will at least follow one law that is constant throughout all of creation and beyond. The strong do as they like, and the weak will submit or be crushed. Look at you, a weak pathetic little creature, utterly consumed by jealousy of everyone greater than yourself. And a spider, hated for your control over diseases." Kyreth stepped towards stunned youkai, her eyes glowing. "But my offer still stands. Come with me and you will be strong. You won't have to be jealous of anyone anymore!"

Yamame appeared to be unsure of what to do. She looked at Parsee.

Parsee hesitated as well, but then clenched her fists. "No! We're not going to help you hurt more people!"

"What? You chose to be forever weak and jealous?" Kyreth said, not comprehending why someone could turn down an offer like that.

"Yes, I do. Perhaps I am a weakling like you say. However, if I'm going to be jealous of anyone, let it be my friends! I used to be as you say, living alone and miserable. But being driven underground is now I realize the best thing that's ever happened to me." Parsee gripped Yamame's hand. "I met Yamame! I have friends! I have people who I care about and who care about me! If I can't be happy, then at least let them be!"

"Pathetic. The weak band together in an attempt to overthrow the strong, in a gross perversion of the natural order. If you want to be jealous, then you can be jealous of the fact that everyone else is alive while you two are dead!"

"I don't think so. I won't let you hurt anybody anymore! I am Parsee Mizuhashi, the youkai guardian of the bridge. YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"

Parsee lifted her hands and placed her index and middle fingers on her forehead. "Tongue-Cut Sparrow! 'Hate for the Humble and Rich!'"

A duplicate of Parsee appeared and both began firing barrages of danmaku. Kyreth leaped away, avoiding the shots, only for more webbing to trap her. She burned through it, but too late, and the danmaku to strike her, exploding in bursts of energy. Kyreth wasn't down yet. She charged forwards towards the Parsee that was shooting the larger bullets, weaving through the barrage. She struck at it with her razor claws, tearing open the neck. However, her enemy simply faded away. She turned to see the real Parsee moving to put more distance between them. From there she renewed her barrage of danmaku.

"Clever. But not enough." Kyreth said.

A black and red burst of energy struck at Parsee, sending her crashing against a wall. The cavern shook ominously. Kyreth then charged at Yamame, cutting through more webs with her claws. She slashed the spider-girl across the arm.

Yamame rolled to the side to avoid another claw attack and then unleashed more webbing from her fingertips. Kyreth burned through it and then grabbed Yamame by the arm. With her other hand, she clawed a massive gash in Yamame's back. The spider youkai cried out in pain as Kyreth let her fall to the ground. She thought the battle over and was about to continue on to join Flandre in the city. However, she heard the youkai rising up again. "This isn't over!"

"Yes it is." Kyreth said coldly. She fired a blast of darkness from her hand again. However, this one was not aimed at the youkai. She blasted the ceiling and it began to crack.

Parsee recovered from Kyreth's earlier attack just in time. She leaped forwards and pushed Yamame out of the way. The ceiling completely caved in, tons of rock crashing down on her.

Kyreth crossed the bridge leading down into the underworld, laughing.


When the dust settled, Yamame rushed to the rubble. It completely blocked off the tunnel. She could see Parsee, the lower half of her body crushed beneath the stones.

"Parsee! Don't worry! I'll dig you out!" She frantically began shifting the rock but it became clear it would be a futile effort.

Parsee looked up at Yamame weakly. "Looks like she was right."

"What? What do you mean?" Yamame was crying.

"You're alright. It makes me… jealous…" Parsee rested her head against the ground and lay still.


Did I just kill the Parsee? Kyreth's homicidal rampage continues, I guess. And she was another of my favorite characters...

Anyways, thanks for reading! Please leave a review. Tell me what you think. Even one word is fine…

~Dragonexx