Futo stood aloft her mighty vessel as it shot skyward, her heart soaring together with her ship as they ascended into the heavens. Now, all would witness the might of those who acknowledged Toyosatomimi no Miko as their liege, and tremble in fear! That insolent incendiary would be cast down in her own flames, and the beautiful Princess Kaguya would name Futo her champion! She would finally have the respect that she so richly deserved, and —
"Futo! Stop posing on that flimsy boat of yours and keep your eyes on the battle! We've nearly reached them!" Tojiko snapped, as she continued flying alongside the shikaisen.
Futo scowled. Tojiko just didn't know how to appreciate the importance of an awe-inspiring entrance. The Soga always had been like that, chasing after foreign fripperies and neglecting the true arts of civilisation and culture, something only the Mononobe had managed to bring to full flowering. Alas, never would the world see their like again! No matter; so long as Futo lived, so too did the memory and the glory of the Mononobe. And since she didn't plan on ever dying, so too would the fame of her clan endure for eternity. Now, onto more pressing matters...
"Tojiko, thy mouth may chastise, but thy heart betrays thee. Thou art simply envious of mine magnificence. Now, stand aside, and permit me to demonstrate to thee the might of the Mononobe!"
Shooting ahead of the sputtering ghost, Futo drew a spell card as she prepared to enter the fray. Both Kaguya and Mokou appeared to not have noticed anything, lost in their own little world as they mutually attempted to blast each other out of the sky.
「Inferno Reformation」!
At Futo's declaration, a truly gigantic wheel of fire sprang into being from her windmilling arms. Without missing a beat, she dove in between the two duelers, weaving past every projectile screaming through the air with the nonchalance of someone out for a pleasant day's boating on a calm lake. For a short moment, night turned to day as the flames blazed up, fiercer than any ordinary fire could ever hope to be.
Momentarily blinded, both Hourai immortals hovered in place, blinking away the glare and ceasing their barrages. Futo took the opportunity to position herself between the two, making sure she was slightly closer to Kaguya. Panting a little, Tojiko arrived soon after, floating next to Futo with a distinctly disgruntled look on her face.
As their vision returned to normal and the enormous wheel of fire separating them faded away, Kaguya and Mokou were greeted with the sudden appearance of the two Taoists. Both of them stared blankly at the newcomers for a few seconds before the Lunarian princess found her voice.
"Ah, Lady Mononobe, Lady Soga. What a surprise! To what do we owe this pleasure?"
Mokou was much less polite, turning the full force of her glare on Futo.
"Tch! You simply don't know when to quit, do you? What are you, some kind of masochist or something? Get out of the way now, and I'll overlook the interruption."
Futo pretended not to hear Mokou, instead turning an imploring look upon Kaguya.
"Highness, this humble one beseeches you to allow us to remove this irritant. There is no need for you to exert yourself, and certainly not for yon pathetic lowlife!"
Mokou stabbed a finger towards Futo.
"Alright, that's it. I've had just about enough out of you. I was gonna be content with just killing Kaguya a couple of times, but you've gone and gotten me even more irritated now. A couple of good shots to your head ought to let out a bit of that hot air inside, even if I can't go as far as I can with Miss Perfect Princess over there."
Tojiko desperately tried to rescue the situation, but it was rapidly heading past the point where words would have done any good.
"Miss Fujiwara! Surely there's no need to go so far? Why don't we all just land and talk things over? Futo over there is a bit of a meat-head, and she doesn't always mean all the things she says."
"Perjure not thyself, Tojiko! Mononobe no Futo proclaims no false words, nor is she one who neglects the arts of the mind! Whatever I have said this day is the complete truth, and it shall be proclaimed from the rooftops ere the sun rises. This I swear by the glorious sword of the Crown Prince!" Futo spat, directing a challenging look towards the white-haired immortal.
"Oh, that's the way you want it, huh? Come on, then! Your very own Mount Shigi awaits, Mononobe."
At that reminder of her family's shame, Futo could not help letting out an inarticulate growl, before flinging out her hand in front of her.
"Enough prattle! Have at thee, knave!"
Futo faintly caught Tojiko muttering something that sounded like "That was supposed to be my line," though she could barely make out anything over the blood pounding in her ears and the sudden explosion that engulfed Mokou, sending the white-haired woman plummeting towards the ground.
Wait, what?!
The Taoist blinked a few times, not quite registering what had just happened. A few seconds later, her brain finally caught up and she glanced about wildly for a clue, any clue to what had just happened, before it ground to a halt once more at the sight before her.
The Princess Kaguya descended majestically, silhouetted by the full moon in all its glory. At that moment, she seemed timeless and untouchable, far above all the crawling things of the Earth. It was all Futo could do to not prostrate herself before her. Even then, she immediately dropped to one knee as she would have for her own liege, ignoring Tojiko's gasp.
"I do apologise for interrupting, Lady Mononobe, Lady Soga, but Mokou left herself wide open, thanks to her focus on you. I simply couldn't let such an opportunity go. You both have my heartfelt gratitude. Especially you, Lady Mononobe. You kept Mokou occupied magnificently!"
Kaguya sounded extremely pleased with herself, and by the looks of it, extremely pleased with Futo as well! The shikaisen beamed. Finally, things were going her way.
Of course, that was when Mokou blasted her out of the sky for the second time that night.
The battle had restarted in earnest, with Mokou now duelling Kaguya and the two Taoists simultaneously. She was doing well, but was still slowly being forced back. It was obvious to Futo that it had been a long time since the ruffian had to deal with three opponents at the same time. Soon, she would lie low in defeat and the honour of the Mononobe would be avenged!
A small voice inside her remarked that it was hardly honourable or chivalrous to fight in this way, but Futo simply ignored that voice. Victory covered a multitude of sins, after all.
Mokou grunted as she dodged one of Tojiko's thunderbolts, before retaliating with wave after wave of flames that spread out almost hungrily. Futo dodged all of them with almost contemptuous ease.
"Halt thy foolish assaults, peasant! Such a one as I cannot possibly be harmed by such feeble attempts at flames! Now, cease thy violence at once or face my wrath!"
Futo received no answer from Mokou except a snarl, but she hadn't really expected to get one anyway. This battle would be ending soon, and she was looking forward to seeing Mokou humbled before her. Oh, she was definitely looking forward to that. First, she'd make her prostrate and apologise humbly to her and the Princess. After that, she'd make her acknowledge the superiority of the Mononobe and their mastery of flame and swear never to defile it by using it so casually again. Next, she'd have Mokou swear loyalty to the Crown Prince. She would probably make a decent game-warden, once she knew her place. The fact that this would place her directly under Futo's authority was just a bonus, of course.
"FUTO, WATCH OUT!"
Tojiko's warning came a little too late for Futo, as Mokou took advantage of her opponent's distraction to literally blow herself apart, creating a blast strong enough to flatten a huge swath of bamboo below, clearing the forest nearly all the way to the walls of Eientei. Of course, this killed Mokou, but being a Hourai Immortal had its advantages, and one of them was that you could actually make being a suicide bomber a repeatable tactic.
The explosion sent Futo crashing down, knocking down a few surviving bamboo clumps and carving a deep furrow into the earth. Anyone watching would have sworn that no one could have survived that.
Of course, the shikaisen was alive. It would take a lot more than that to kill Mononobe no Futo. She did, however, have a terribly aching head, and her bruises had bruises at this point. She sat up with a groan.
"Oof...'twas a most unmannerly blow. Still, the incendiary has my respect for't. At the very least, she well knows how to die like a true warrior."
Above, rainbow flashes showed that Kaguya still battled on. Tojiko, on the other hand, must have been caught in the same blast as Futo, since she didn't see any of the ghost's lightning bolts. Allowing herself a slight moan, Futo slowly rose to her feet, panting a little. It might be best if she rested a little while before rejoining the fight. Even the greatest warrior still needed to acknowledge the needs of their body.
Leaning against a stalk of bamboo that had managed to remain upright, Futo gazed up at the battle. The sight was truly magnificent, she had to admit. For all her faults, Mokou could really put up a good fight.
"So, enjoying the show, Miss True Way?"
Futo whirled around at the unexpected voice. Standing there, smirking, was that accursed rabbit, the one who had led her a merry chase round the forest and caused her to humiliate herself in front of the princess.
Keyed up on adrenaline, Futo simply reacted in the most natural way to something that took her off guard. She launched immense amounts of fire at it.
"YOU! The foul youkai rabbit! Perish, you vile creature! The cleansing flames of the Mononobe will rid us of you once and for all!"
The rabbit simply sniggered and vanished from sight, just before Futo's flames would have hit. Deprived of their target, they continued on. Ordinarily, this would just have caused a minor forest fire, but Mokou's earlier explosion had cleared out most of the bamboo that would have been hit. Instead, the flames went on, and on, till at last they smashed into the first thing they encountered. Namely, the left wing of Eientei.
Futo stared in dumb horror. Perhaps Princess Kaguya would accept her seppuku, even if she was immortal. It would be better than whatever Miko would do to her after she heard of the events of tonight.
