Introduction to the afterlife.
In the late afternoon Orin and Sexta was wandering somewhere near base of Youkai Mountain.
"Still, Sexta, how have you found Okuu's reactor? " asked Orin.
"[Latino]Proserpina led me to it."
"Proserpina? Are you sure? "
"[Latino]I knew that it was her because she wore orange and green and had a black hat like a large dinner plate! "
"Is this how she usually dresses? "
"[Latino]Of course not! She wears a white toga." said Sexta with certainty
Orin stared at her. "White? Not orange or green? "
"[Latino]Green is a colour of Mars and orange is daemonic colour. No one loyal to Ceres would wear orange."
"Are you even listening to what you are saying?! You just said that you recognised Proserpina because she was wearing green and orange and that she would never wear them."
"[Latino]The Goddess moves in mysterious ways."
"Have your goddess ever considered making sense? "
"[Latino]She already made all the sense."
"It shows. Why are you even following her? "
"[Latino]Because if I will be loyal to her and die when I'm supposed to, I will live in the court of Mars."
"And if you won't? "
"[Latino]Followers of Ceres live in the realm of Pluto after their death and sinners end up in the Fire Plains of Vulcanus where they are tortured into his servants, unless they are killed by a servant of Ceres. Then they are allowed into the realm of Pluto."
"And why will you go to the court of Mars instead? "
"[Latino]Because I am a servant of Ceres. They go to the court of Ceres after their death and Chosen of lemures are also allowed into courts of their patrons," explained Sexta."[Latino]So, if you not going to follow Ceres, I'll have to kill you."
"And what have I got to do with all this? If I die, I'm just going to be reborn! "
"[Latino]You think so because you don't believe in the truth."
"Let's do it like this: if you win, I'll believe in your Ceres but if I win, you'll help me break into the temple's graveyard. Agreed? "
"[Latino]Win what? "
"The fight, of course! Do you really think that you can kill me without a fight? "
"[Latino]The power of Mars flows in my veins and Ceres is on my side. You cannot hope to defeat me."
"You've already lost to Okuu once. So, do you agree to our bet? "
"[Latino]Yes. I swear by an arrow of Diana piercing the throat of Minerva."
"Alright. Dodge this! " Orin's claws scraped Sexta's throat without even leaving marks. Sexta leaped at Orin and knocked her to the ground, but Orin kicked her away.
"Come on! Can't you hit harder than human?! " she demanded.
"[Latino]No, I usually just rip my enemies apart. Just let me embrace you and Pluto will welcome you." replied Sexta. She leaped again flailing her arms but Orin easily dodged her with needlessly elaborated pirouettes.
"And you're slow too! I expected more from the 'Chosen of Mars! ' It seems that he didn't have much choice! "
Sexta growled in rage. Grass started to burn under feet.
"This looks interesting. Can I join? " innocently asked figure wearing orange and green. "You are forgetting to breathe," she said to Sexta.
Sexta stopped, clawed at her throat and fell. Blood flowed from her throat as she was lying on grass and tearing her trachea open and her diaphragm and ribs wasn't moving.
"This is boring now." said the figure.
"What in the world just happened?! " asked Orin, who didn't notice the interference. "Stop this games, Sexta! Satori-sama won't like this if you die like this! " She rushed in random directions. "What should I do? What should I do? " She sniffed. "Aha! That smells somewhat like Sexta. Maybe she would know what to do." She flew away as fast as she could.
Áviya was enjoying her newfound method of locomotion immensely. She danced in the air, traced every curve she could think about and generally imagined herself an evil demoness.
"Hey, you! The one without a corpse! " shouted Orin.
Áviya sighed theatrically. "I just can't catch a break. I've just dumped a corpse and it's already became my defining characteristic." She glanced at Orin. "Well, if it isn't my favourite kasha. I guess Orin's wheelbarrow transport has finally came after me."
"What? Who are you and how do you know my name? Are you even being serious? "
"I am Áviya, the Sorceress of Pestilence. So, Orin, is there any problem that caused your to appear so suddenly? "
"Well, there is one girl that smells kinda like you and something weird is happening to her! "
"What do you mean by 'smells kinda like me'? "
"I can smell a corpse of every human, youkai or god. But you two are different."
"Okay, show me the patient! "
Suddenly, Áviya found herself in Orin's wheelbarrow carted away at high speed.
"Here she is! " declared Orin after a few minutes.
"What... the... hell... is... this? " said Áviya. "Are you sure she isn't youkai? "
"Yes. An evil spirit can't even control her."
"Okay. Let's see." Áviya kneeled over Sexta. "Green skin covered in scutes... , hands deformed into something resembling cat's paw... , legs of an organism properly adapted to bipedal locomotion... . Could you open your mouth for a second, Orin? Yes, she has carnivoran's teeth somehow adapted to human mouth, like yours... . Also, she has tail and horns. In general, I would say that she looks like a succubus. Maybe she is one of this half-demons who Anima mentioned."
"A half-devil? She said that she is a half-daemon."
"Anima probably had a broken mental phone," said Áviya. "So, how the hell she is still alive if she is bleeding and isn't breathing? " She paused. "I want her body."
"You can take her if she'll survive this."
"What? No, I don't want her, I want body like hers: the one able to survive such wounds. Anyway, the problem is, probably, that her respiratory center isn't working. I think a hard reboot would fix it." She handed Orin her knife. "You have to stab her upward into foramen magnum."
"Into what? And why me? "
"Foramen magnum is the large opening in the skull through which brain stem exits it. There are vertebrae in the way and my strength isn't enough."
Orin turned Sexta on her stomach and lifted the knife. Then she sighed and handed it back to Áviya. "It's no use. Her skin is too tough even for me."
"Seriously? " Áviya slashed Sexta across the neck. She studied the absence of results. "Well, I suppose it's normal for such skin." She took her backpack and produced an object resembling a handgun made out of plastic containers. "Let me try this! " She aimed and a blue dot appeared on the back of Sexta's head. "[Latin]Radius finalis! " declared Áviya and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.
"Is it broken? " asked Orin.
"You can check. There is an invisible beam emanating from the muzzle."
Orin stuck her finger in the beam and immediately jerked it away."Ouch! It's hot!"
"Of course. It's an industrial infrared laser. It's powerful enough to cut steel plates." said Áviya. "And yet this pathetic excuse for a succubus refuses to be damaged by it! " Enraged she pulled a random item from her pocket and stabbed Sexta with it. It sank into her flesh. Multiple bleeding wounds opened on Sexta's body.
"What in the nine hells... ?! " said Áviya astonished. She looked at the item. "Oh, this is a delirium shard." Her grin grew wider. "Orin, would you like to act a control group? Just give me your hand."
Áviya grabbed Orin's hand and pricked her finger with the shard. It didn't even pierced her skin.
"You can't hurt a youkai just with some crystal." said Orin.
"Interesting... . This shows that there is definitely a connection between her and Anima."
"Who is this Anima, anyway? "
"Well, she is... . Um..." Áviya paused for some time. "To put it simply she is the mind of the Earth. But she isn't a youkai, a spirit or a god."
"How is this possible? "
"Look, I can't explain it to you. She is too different from everything in Gensoukyou." said Áviya. "Let's return to our operation." She stabbed Sexta into back of her head. More wounds had opened and Sexta stopped moving. Áviya thoroughly scrambled Sexta's medula oblongata and pulled what had been left of delirium shard out.
"Huh? It melted? Hold her. I'm not sure that she won't start decapitating everybody when she'll finish regenerating."
"She isn't strong enough to decapitate anyone."
"She is able to move with the skin more durable than steel. Also, I burned my fingers with her blood and it's both chemical and thermal burn. So I won't say that she doesn't have any more surprises."
Sexta coughed violently and spat out a clot of her blood. She inhaled and said, "[Latino]Facinore de Iovis! Me fui amitto! Cerere mei fueram desero?! "
Áviya's mouth fell open. "What the hell is this language? My first language may have evolved from something like this but I have no idea what she is saying."
"She is wondering why she had lost." said Orin. "I think we could call that a draw." she said to Sexta.
"You can understand her? What did she said exactly? "
"I hear her like she is talking in Japanese and she understands me somehow. She said: 'Jupiter's deed! I have lost! Had Ceres abandoned me?! ' "
"Ceres? What a fertility goddess has to do with that? " said Áviya. She turned to Sexta and said, "[Castillian]You was incapacitated because someone unscrewed up your respiratory center. Did you understand this or do I have to switch to Catalan? "
"[Latino]Do not blaspheme! I don't understand what you saying but I won't let you say the name of the Goddess in such mocking tone."
"Did you said something about blasphemy? Blasphemy is fun! "
"She doesn't like your disrespect toward her goddess." said Orin.
"It figures. By the way, she was talking about losing something. What were you doing? "
"We was fighting because she said that I will go to some bad place after my death if she doesn't kill me."
"Great. I had found a demoness and she turned to be a religious idiot."
"Yes, she is little obsessed with her goddess. Let's go home, Sexta," said Orin. "Um, would you like to visit Satori-sama? "
"Of course... . I mean I have to go! " said Áviya and hurriedly flew away.
After flying out of sight Áviya stopped.
"[English]Damn it, Áviya are you afraid of having your mind read? " she said.
"[English]Of course I am."
"[English]Especially if a wrong thought is going to be associated with being in the middle of thermonuclear explosion."
"[English]I want to see how Orin's tails are connected to her spine."
"[English]Are you thinking that you are crazier than Marisa? "
"[English]I want to dissect Utsuho's wing joints."
"[English]You are just a weak human."
"[English]You cannot hope to ascend to youkai level."
"[English]I want Sexta's body."
"[English]Utsuho..."
"[English]You are going to die.
"[English]I want her power."
"[English]And then there's going to be next mass extinction."
"[English]And then the Sun going to dehydrate the Biosphere."
"[English]Destroy everything! "
"[English]I am an immortal monster! "
"[English]Kill the human! "
"[English]The Biosphere will survive! "
"[English]That dumb computer doesn't know what she up against! "
"[English]Gods are nothing compared to metazoa! "
"[English]Give me my power! "
"[English]By the nine hells, would you kindly pay attention to the current events!"
"[English]Shut up, Áviya. Stop talking to yourself. It's already almost dark and still have to find a safe place to sleep. This isn't some human city. Youkai are going to digest you with all your bacteria and feral ones will not worry about some harmless pandemic."
