Suppression of Darkness

"This time you came with a different intention... I could sense it. What are you up to?"

"I came to make you teach me how to properly use this power," the blond teenager as he straightened his body, gazing at his other self as he spoke, "If I'm able to use this power properly, then I shouldn't worry about losing to my primal instincts again."

"Make me teach you? How do you think you're going to make me to do that?"

"Even if you don't want to teach me, then I'm going to force you with violence."

"Look at you, talking all big like that all of the sudden. Just who do you think you are? Who do you think gave that power to you?" all of the sudden, the blond teenager's body was shaken by a huge killing intent coming from the figure standing right in front of him; who simply grinned as he continued, "What's wrong? What are you scared of? You said that you're going to make me teach you, right? I'm so eager to see you try."

("W-What is this? Wha-What is this huge killing intent coming from him? Even from the first few times I fought him, he didn't emit such strong intent like this...") - the blond teenager thought as he widened his eyes in surprise; beads of sweat starting to roll down from his forehead to his nose, some appear upon his cheeks as he forced himself to stand straight at the sight of his other self, ("Does this mean that if I'm not able to defeat him, I'm going to vanish? He'll took over my body and my personality would die completely...?")

"What's wrong? Stop being a chicken and come at me already," his other self said before giving a 'Tsk', extending both hands to the sides and forming an oversized pair of claws made from blood as he charged forward, "If you're not going to do anything... then you're really going to end up dead, you know?"

. . .

"Kaguya-sama, do you think he's going to be able to make it?" asked the Hourai Pharmacist as she turned her head from the unconscious body of the blond teenager in front of her to the former Moon Princess who are standing by the door and gazing blankly at the full moon upon the sky, "The history of the Dragon Kings are even older compared to the history of the Lunarians. I don't know what could possibly happen, but I heard that there are a lot of candidates who died trying to succeed the power of their predecessors."

"Eirin... do you know what fear is?"

"Fear? It's a distressing emotion aroused by a perceived threat. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger," the Hourai Pharmacist answered with an arched eyebrow, unable to help but wonder what the former Moon Princess trying to tell her as she continued, "In short, fear is the ability to recognize danger and flee from it or fight."

"The moment you encounter something and you realize that it's far more superior than yourself, you'll lose all of your abilities to think straight. Be it fear of heights, fear of fights, and of course, fear of death is included as well," the former Moon Princess said as she turned around to face the Hourai Pharmacist, "Your mind will be filled with nothing but one goal, to survive. The current Ō-Ryū wouldn't be able to defeat his predecessors if he's not going to realize this."

"Then are you saying that...?"

"Everything is up to him. The two of us are able to do nothing but to assist him in mastering his power, just like what he requested," the former Moon Princes slowly shook her head as she turned around once again and gazed up blankly at the moon, "If he dies here, then it is his limits. We couldn't expect someone without power to save himself, let alone helping us saving Gensokyo."

. . .

"Come on, get yourself together. Those things you said before? Was all that shit?" the figure said as he gazed at the blond teenager who's bathed in blood and now panting painfully, "I told you to come at me already, right? Are you afraid?"

"I... I'm not afraid...!"

"Here's a hint. Release your power, you know you're able to do more than something like that."

"Shut up...!"

Clenching his teeth, the figure can't help but narrowing his eyes in rage, "Listen to me, brat. I appreciate that you went as far as visiting this Inverted World to visit me and blabbin' that you're going to force me teach you how to properly use that power. I even went as far as doing this even though I originally don't want to. But what I do get now? Just looking at you, it pissed me off, you scaredy-cat!"

("This is bad... my vision.. it's blurring... I know how to slowly heal my wounds using this power... but if it's like this, it won't be able to keep up...") - the blond teenager thought as he slowly narrowed his eyes in order to get a better view at the figure in front of him, ("I can't lose my consciousness now... not like this...")

"Fine, whatever," the figure said after giving a tired sigh, clenching his teeth as he charged forward and shouted, "If you're not going to release that power of yours, then I'm going to make you go through hell and you'll wish that you release your power sooner!"

Widening his eyes in surprise, the blond teenager unable to help but giving his best to avoid the countless attacks coming from his other self; trying to keep up with him so badly as he try to release counter-attacks from time to time.

("Think! Think! How's he able to stay sane while letting out that crazy killing intent and using that monstrous power?") the blond teenager thought as he hardly managed to avoid yet another attack from his other self, ("I fought him several times and it's no different than the fact that I'm fighting him right now. I observed him, I've been wondering how to do it like him. I thought that by fighting him, I'll be able to figure something out to help controlling my power! I won't let myself lose to my primal instincts, I won't-")

His train of thought came to a stop when he felt razor sharp claws piercing through his body, resulting to him widening his eyes in surprise for a moment before a scream of pain emitted from the back of his throat; echoing through both the Inverted World and the halls of Eintei.

. . .

Hole In My Heart II : The Primal Fear

"Nii-sama, are you sure that Ryuu-nii is alright?" asked the girl as she gazed up at the hand of her older brother that's linked with her hand, taking a moment before gazing up at him as well, "I'm worried about Ryuu-nii... after getting out from the hospital he's been acting weird... not to mention that he ran away from home as well..."

"To be honest, I don't know about it myself, Ai.. I'm sorry," her older brother replied with an apologetic look as he placed his free hand on top of her head and rubbed it gently, "But you know how he is, right? There must be a reason for him to do something outrageous like this..."

"Then how can you be so calm about it? Don't you think that there's a possibility that he's been kidnapped?" Ai replied with a rather distressed tone, tears starting to swell up upon the corner of her eyes and it resulted to her older brother giving a small sigh and rubbed the tears away, "And who was that friend of yours anyway? How could she told us that she met Ryuu-nii when she's not even sure of where he is right now?"

"Yukari Yakumo... she's an old friend of mine and despite how she looks, she's a sage and quite wise as well," her brother replied with a hesitant tone, gazing away as he scratched his cheek with his free hand, "She usually know more than what she revealed to the other people and because of that, for now we have no other option than to trust her."

("Even though Ai has calmed down after knowing the fact that Yukari transported us to the Human Village in Gensokyo... I can't help but feeling worried because of the fact now that she's accompanying me searching for Ryuuji through the Human Village...") - Shunsui thought, ("It's weird... after he ran away, I can't even trace the slightest bit of his aura. Ryuuji... just where are you...?")

. . .

"What was that scream just now?" the blond Sorceress said as she stopped her steps, gazing her head from the left then to the right for a few times to examine her surroundings, "What do you think that scream was, Alice?"

"Obviously, it didn't come from something like wild animals and it was a male's voice," the Seven-colored Puppeteer replied thoughtfully as she tapped her chin, "It could be a human, but knowing that we are within the Bamboo Forest of the Lost right now... it could be a kind of distraction to lure as away from our objective."

"It doesn't sound like Kourin, I can tell," the blond Sorceress replied in return as she scratched the side of her head, arching an eyebrow as well in the process, "Do you think that it possibly came from Eientei itself?"

"Who on Eientei could make that kind of voice, Mari-" the voice of the Seven-colored Puppeteer came to a stop at the sight of a rabbit female dressed in a private high school uniform; about to say something to the rabbit female before a huge killing intent suddenly flew through the area they're in before vanishing as if it's not there from the start.

("Wha-What was that all about..? It's similar but not the same... like the one I felt from the boy I met before..") - the blond Sorceress thought as she blinked, barely able to feel beads of sweat rolling down through her cheek as she tried to stop her body from trembling, ("But this kind of killing intent... is he even human? It's as if I'm going to be killed if I try to take even a step forward...! Until now... I've never been as afraid as this...!")

. . .

"Fear, it's something unimaginable. No matter who you are, no matter what you are, when you encounter 'something' far too great for you, you will be overwhelmed by fear of that 'something'. Even though that 'something' is right in front of you, you wouldn't be able to see it. Your mind prevented you from doing it. Even if you tried hard enough until you're able to see it, you'll eventually lose your ability to recognize it. Your mind will be filled with nothing but two things, to flee or to fight. That is what you call fear."

. . .