Thank you Achariyth1 and Kaiser Dude for proofreading.
Thank you WillieG.R and Captain Vulcan for lending me Minako and Iga to help enrich the setting.
Chapter 10
I think this place was called the Cave of Insects, a place where the little abominations thrive. If the human-sized insect carcasses were anything to go by, I suspect there is truth behind the legend. But at the moment I cared not for the insects rather my own injured self, the Night Sparrow who tried to kill me and the human woman who stood between us.
"I thought it was suspicious when I saw Lord Hieda walking side by side with two Tengu and a Kappa," Kotohime claimed. "So I went ahead and investigated. And what did I find? One of the most important people in the Human Village disappeared with several fake maidservants."
Being a Kappa, and one who wasn't particularly good at war games, I often failed to notice people stalking me from the shadows. But if I recalled correctly, this red haired woman was a human living in the Human Village. That said, she was able to tail us and neither of my Tengu companions noticed her. What was she, a freaking ninja?
The woman looked away from me and back at my attacker, Mystia Lorelei, the youkai who had been tasked to kill me by the disembodied voice.
"I challenge you to a Spellcard Duel," said the red haired woman. "If I win, you go into custody and give me your full cooperation."
Since Kotohime was a human native to the village, she could pull this demand off because of the rules setup to protect the humans living here from being eaten by youkai. However, the other rules behind the spellcard system were set up to protect the environment from being destroyed by powerful youkai when fighting each other.
I was neither a human protected by Gensokyo's laws, nor was I a youkai so powerful that I needed to restrain myself lest I killed a bazillion trees by accident. As a result, a fight to the death between me and another lesser youkai all the way out here in the Insect Nest wouldn't gain the attentions of the Shrine Maiden.
"In that case," Lorelei said. "If I win, you walk away and I get the Kappa girl. Deal?"
"Border of Duel," Kotohime said, indicating that she accepted the terms given.
"FIGHT!" they both shouted and leaped back several feat.
Kotohime opened the fight up by firing a stream of bullets at Mystia. They landed, but the Night Sparrow ignored any sort of pain as she waved her arm, launching an arc of green orbs at the princess.
Kotohime stopped firing and leaped to the air, flying to the side of the bulk of the orbs and through the gaps between the ones spreading out. Five lines of teal orbs materialized, narrowly missing Kotohime, and another arc of bullets were launched out.
"Moth Sign - Hawk Moth's Wingbeats!" the Night Sparrow declared, breaking her spellcard. White orbs shot perpendicularly from her and stopped in mid-air as she fired off a stream of red energy orbs at Kotohime. Kotohime fired a purple wall of energy which slammed into the Night Sparrow, but didn't make her stop her concentration. Suddenly, the white orbs exploded into Purple Arrows being fired in different directions, including at Kotohime.
Kotohime fired off another purple wall of energy, punching through the arrows and hitting Mystia square in the face, knocking her to the ground and bonking her head on the dirt. The Night Sparrow didn't seem to be moving after that, meaning that Kotohime won.
"Alright," Kotohime said. "We have a criminal and a witness. Grab the Night Sparrow and let's return to the village."
"Wait, why do I have to go back with you?" I demanded.
"You're wanted for questioning, I need you to tell me everything you know about the Child of Miare's disappearance. Refusal would be considered assisting the criminal." Kotohime then glared at me. "You do know that you're the only black haired female Kappa that sells wares in the Human Village, correct?"
"You're blackmailing me?" I asked. Wait, did that bitch just roll her eyes at me!?
"No, I'm serving justice and finding a missing person. Besides, I'm sure I know a Kappa family that would be happily willing to contribute to the village's prosperity for exclusive trading rights in return." Okay, now I knew that the bitch was in denial about blackmailing me. But so long as she held the authority of a princess, or police officer, then she could probably do what she wanted since I was a youkai.
If only there was some convenient way to get out of my time being wasted-oh right!
"Wait, I had a partner," I said. "He took a different route than me while we were tracking the kidnappers. He might have found them."
That would be perfect, Little Miss Blackmailer would find her missing person, I might still get those cucumbers I was promised, and I wouldn't have to find myself in the humans' holding pen.
"Then let's meet up with him," the human said.
Leaving the cave was easy. The road, however, was a pain to follow even when it came back. The walk all the way back to the fork in the road was more painful than when I first walked down it. Kotohime seemed fine. I would have ranted, asking why she had more endurance than me, but she was flying. If she had the energy to fly, she should be the one carrying the youkai girl that she knocked out.
We eventually reached the fork in the road where Sasuke and I split up. Going down the route he took, we soon found an exit out of the forest. However, it looked like a fight took place there; large trees had been partially uprooted, while smaller ones were uprooted completely. We could see the hot springs between us and Youkai Mountain.
"Something happened here alright," Kotohime said. "Looks like a storm rolled in."
"Indeed it did!" The woman who spoke was a generic youkai who ran the hot springs. At the moment, she was putting a small tree back into the hole it was torn out of. "A spellcard duel of like which I've never seen before. The Red-White fought a Tengu. Even though it was a spellcard fight, the energy blasting between the two did all this damage. Imagine what would have happened if they were fighting without restraints."
"That Tengu," I said. "Did you happen to see where he went?"
"Hm?" she paused and thought about it for a moment. "I think I saw the Red-White sealing him with her Yin-Yang Orbs."
The Tenma is not going to like that.
It took at least an hour of walking, but we finally made it to the Human Village. Judging from the Sun's position, it was likely High Noon. No matter how many times I saw the place, I could never understand how humans could survive while being so technologically inept. I mean, sure they have some electronics working but it was mostly stuff we Kappa sell to them.
Seriously, if it wasn't for the competitive prices we Kappa had on our wares, the humans would remain in the Iron Age from not wanting to pay the prices for technology. Was Kotohime seriously thinking about denying me the liberty of selling stuff here? I can't deny that I want to make a profit; but the Kawashiro clan members, both Kappa and Yamawaro, are the greediest bastards I've ever known (out of those who are successful, anyways).
"I'm serious," I heard a man say. When I turned, I saw that he had long black hair tied in a feudal hairstyle. As for who he spoke to, it was the white clad maidservant of Akyuu's that I had seen earlier this morning. "I haven't seen her at all today. In fact, you can come by our house and see for yourself if you want."
"No," the maid servant said. "I think I know where she is. Sorry to have bothered you, Iga."
The two went their separate ways after that. I wondered what they were talking about, but then my train of thought was interrupted.
"R-Rokusuke, not here; someone might see us!" a young girl said.
I turned my head to see two humans in a nearby alleyway, a white haired girl wearing olive green and a black haired boy wearing oddly traditional clothing.
"Youmu, we agreed that you'd give me a kiss for every piece of candy I gave you," he said before his lips met hers. By the gods, get a room!
Youmu pushed him back. "And I said only when we're alone!"
"Kappa, stop staring at the lovebirds and keep walking," Kotohime said. I turned away from them to face her.
"Sorry," I said without any sincerity. I resumed walking, following the supposed police officer. At least she had the decency to carry the Night Sparrow when we got to the village. "But since we're in the safety of the village, we can relax, right?"
"While it's true that there hasn't been anything major in the Human Village since the creation of the Hakurei Boundary over a hundred years ago," she said, probably jinxing the whole situation, "We can't be too careful. Especially when a noble woman had been kidnapped out of her own home."
On cue, balls of energy rained down from the sky, exploding on impact.
"What's going on!?" a human shouted as he drew his weapon. "Are we being attacked?!"
Out of the air, a giant creature the size of a house fell and landed on its feet. It appeared to be some sort of giant iguana only with smooth, rippling muscles instead of scales aside from the ice like ones on its back. It stood high on its hind legs as its forearms were non-existent.
"Wait, that's the same monster that Sasuke fought," I said. It was much smaller than when I last saw it, but it was definitely the same creature. But if Sasuke fought it in a lethal duel, why was it alive and well? And how did it get into the Human Village?
The monster's mouth opened, firing forth a rainbow colored stream of energy that tore through the building closest to it.
"The Village is under attack!" a human shouted.
"Someone get the town guard!" said another.
"Where's Kamishirasawa?!"
"Set up the defensive wall!" Kotohime shouted. "We have to stop the damage here!" Large, transparent, purple barriers were suddenly erected between the monster and the nearby buildings. It was like that Kotohime used earlier, only much larger. While hard to see, I could see several humans on the other side as they were maintaining it, including the Maidservant and the man she was speaking to earlier.
"Minako, how long do we need to keep this up?" he asked.
"Either until backup arrives or those inside the barrier deal with the youkai."
The monster turned its head towards me. It recognized me! It opened its mouth again, the energy building up inside. It plans to kill me!
"HOOOORAAAAA!"
A man in red and black spiked armor decorated with skull motifs leaped into the air at the monster, a claw seemed to materialize over his already clawed hand as he swung down, cutting through the giant monster's side. The creature was interrupted by the strike, causing the energy in its mouth to disperse.
Meanwhile, a feminine looking man with teal hair was standing on the creature's head with a broken tree branch in his hand.
"Down goes the colossus!" he shouted as he drove the branch into creature's eye socket. The creature screamed in pain and reeled back, throwing the boy off its head.
"WAAAGH!" came from beside me. I turned and saw a man with red hair and a modern kimono as he conjured water and fired it off at the monster, knocking it over. The armored man landed next to him.
"Hikozaemon, you're able to fight?" The armored man asked. The teal haired man was floating down to ground level as if he was light as a feather.
"Actually, no." The red headed man pointed at the creature's wound in its side. "Shemp's attack on the eye might be able to, but that wound in its gut shouldn't be healing since your weapons are magical. And since it didn't start healing until after I shot it with my water spell, I can assume that it absorbs water to heal itself."
"In that case, take the Kappa and the Night Sparrow and run."
Before I could say anything, the red-haired human grabbed the Night Sparrow and threw her over his shoulder.
"I-I can run by myself," I said before he could pick me up in the same fashion. I doubted he would accept me trying to help take down the monster. Not that I would want to try.
"Rokusuke, I can help," Youmu said as she drew a katana. When did she get here? "The things that cannot be cut by my Roukanken, forged by youkai, are close to none."
"Ha!" the teal haired boy laughed as I and the human carrying Mystia started to run in the opposite direction. "You picked the wrong neighborhood to mess with, bitch!"
I and the human took cover behind a fallen tree.
...
The giant ice lizard lifted its head and opened its mouth. Several glowing, blue orbs launched out of its mouth and into the air, scattering as they fell to the Earth.
The first one to land hit the purple barrier, exploding into ice. I could feel the pressure from over a dozen meters away, meaning a direct hit should be strong enough to kill an unarmored human or kappa.
"Ice Grenades!" Shemp shouted as he dove for cover. Youmu dashed out of the strike zone of the grenades. The man in the red skull armor was knocked flat on his rear when a grenade struck the ground next to him.
"Rokusuke!" Youmu shouted in worry.
"Focus on the enemy!" the armored man shouted as he scrambled to his feet.
The monster opened up its mouth again and fired another volley of the Ice grenades.
Rokusuke curled his upper body into ball as his red armor turned black as a void like his body underneath it. He suddenly opened up his arms and raised his head to the sky, green tendrils shot out of his body and speared through the ice grenades, making them explode in mid-air.
The tendrils broke off at where they were frozen but otherwise retracted into the man's body. His armor took on its red color again.
The creature's left arm, a muscled reptilian claw, grew from a stump to the size of its hind leg in a matter of seconds. The arm swung down, striking Rokusuke and sending him flying into the purple shield.
"Rokusuke!" Youmu shouted as she ran at the monster with her sword poised to strike. Rokusuke scrambled to his feet and also started running at the monster.
Several orbs of energy formed around the monster's arm and fired energy bullets similar to what appear in spellcard duels at the duo. Youmu swung her sword at any incoming bullets, deflecting them as her pace only sped up to a blur.
The two ran for the creature's leg, the man lifted his arms and materialized a claw over each one. The creature's foot lifted as the girl posed her sword to strike it. The foot slammed into the ground, stopping the girl and pushing the back as it struck against her sword. The man struck the ankle with his claw, cutting into it. The girl followed up, slicing her sword into the creature's ankle on the opposite side.
The ankle was still attached despite their efforts.
The man's first claw dispersed as his hand froze over in a layer of ice. He swung with his second claw, cutting into the ankle from a different angle, and its respective hand also froze over as the claw dispersed. The girl swung her sword again.
The lizard yelped in pain and fell to the knee of its injured ankle. Using its good leg and arm, it shoved itself several dozen meters into the air and away from the duo as it started spewing Ice Grenades continuously at them. The creature landed on the other side of the river and started shooting energy bullets as well.
"Go, Youmu!" Rokusuke whose hands were now frozen in ice shouted. "Finish that bastard off!"
Youmu leaped into the air and landed on one of the ice grenades in mid-flight. She pushed off of it and flipped forward in the air, landing on her hand against another Ice Grenade flying at her. She pushed off with her hand and flew to the next grenade. She ran across the air using the grenades shooting out of the monster's mouth as foot holds, all while dodging the other Ice Grenades and Energy Bullets being fired her way.
One last forward flip and her sword sliced through the monster's arm. It roared in as it collapsed to the ground, now no longer supported by an arm and a leg.
The girl landed on the ground, and rolled with the impact. She stood up as and spun her long katana by the handle, probably to show off even after she won.
However, she was wrong in her assumption. With her back turned to the creature, it lunged at her. She spun, but its maw snapped down on her before she could strike it. However, the sharp and sudden pain did not stop her from driving her katana at least a meter deep into the creature's head. It flicked its head while roaring in pain, freeing the girl but throwing her across the length of the village.
Youmu lifted her head to get her bearings. She had been thrown across the village and landed a distance away from the monster. However, she did not cross the river so there was no reason to take to the air. She scrambled to her feet and took off running at the battled that continued without her almost fast enough to break the sound barrier.
The ice lizard launched more Ice Grenades from its mouth; these ones flew almost straight paths as the creature tried firing upon the approaching girl. She swerved to the left of one grenade as it struck the ground, narrowly missing it. She swerved to the right as another was about to strike her path. The giant's mouth fumed with multicolored energies and a rainbow laser burst out, which tore through the village's road as the creature tried to lift its head to strike its target. Youmu leaped over the laser's path and landed the monster, her feet against its forehead. She reached for her katana, the Roukanken, that was still embedded in the creature's head and pulled forward. The flesh holding the sword in place resisted as the creature tried to shake the half-phantom off, but the girl would not let go of the blade.
Fractions of second felt like an eternity to Youmu as she pulled without success, but then the blade started cutting through. Feeling the flesh giving way to her weapon, Youmu started running, refusing to let go. The girl continued to run down the length of the monster's back until she was half way down the tail. She leaped off the giant lizard and onto the ground. The monster's two halves fell in opposing directions, and any flesh that was still attaching them was torn apart by the force.
The girl sheathed her sword, she had won.
Rokusuke's red armor vanished and his body and cloth's color returned to normal. His black eyes were wide in surprise.
"Woah," escaped his mouth as he looked on at the Youmu's handiwork.
...
I could see that the fight was over and the youkai had been defeated. Youkai usually couldn't continue fighting after they've been split into two, even if they were still alive.
"Kotohime?" I called out. The purple force field started to fall, revealing several humans who had been tasked to keep it up. However, the police officer was flying towards near where the battle ended, so I limped in that direction. The human boy carrying Mystia followed.
"Seriously?" the black haired boy asked, poking at the corpse. "How did this thing get into the village?"
"I'll have to ask Miss Kamishirasawa when I can," Kotohime said.
"Are you alright, Master Boozer?" Youmu asked.
"Yes. And you, Miss Konpaku?" Rokusuke asked.
"Good, thank you."
Suddenly, the sound of something tearing itself from something sticky could be heard coming from the two halves of the giant lizard's corpse. I wasn't the only one who turned my head to see what it was.
Out of the corpse's neck was a figure pulling itself out. Once it tore away the last bits of flesh connecting it to the larger body, it then leaped to the ground in front of us, revealing its two to three meter tall human-like form.
"You have not defeated me, worms," it bellowed. "This fight is just beginning! For I am the Frost Giant-"
The red haired boy flew through the air, delivering a swift kick to the Frost Giant's head, and sending it to the ground. The red haired boy landed on his feet and drew himself up to his full height.
"Oh YEAH! That's what you get for messing with our neighborhood, bitch!" The red haired boy started dancing as he proclaimed this. The Frost Giant said nothing as it just laid there, unconscious.
Wait, did a human just round house kick a youkai to the face and knock it out? How weakened was the youkai? How strong is the human?
That was when I felt danger again. A purple tear opened itself in the air up above the icy humanoid.
"What's this? He got back into Gensokyo this quickly?" a feminine voice came from the tear. Somehow, it felt like the tear started looking at everyone else. The only person I could think of that matched what I was seeing was Yukari Yakumo. "I thank you all for putting it down, although it seems defeat is only a temporary measure. This time, I'll send it to the Sahara Desert. Hopefully that will kill it before it can reach Gensokyo again."
Several people present opened their mouths. But before they could speak, another tear started opening, this one was below the icy humanoid. The youkai fell into the hole and it closed behind him. Then the first tear closed.
The giant lizard corpse that had been cut into two pieces was already disintegrating.
"Alright, so we have one destroyed house," Kotohime said.
"REIMU'S HOLY ARMPITS! MY HOUSE!" the red haired boy screamed before he ran off.
"A destroyed road and disturbance of the peace," Kotohime continued. "Judging from the youkai sage's words, the best possible judgment has been given." Kotohime turned to Mystia, who was now awake and standing up. "And you told me you would give me answers."
"I was threatened to do the job," the Night Sparrow said. "If I didn't, they were going to kill me... and wreck my food stand."
"I see, so now that you've failed to kill the Kappa, you're business is dead and you might be too if you don't watch your back."
Kotohime said this, but didn't seem to care. The girl deserved more pity than that. I know that I was the one she was trying to kill, but now that I know the reason...
Ugh, why do I have to be the good guy in this situation?
"Hey, bird?" I asked. "You can control insects, right?"
"Only the winged ones, I can also control birds. Why?"
"We have an operation running in the Great Youkai Forest. I can give you permission to be there within Mountain Youkai Territory and thus protected from outsiders. In return, you can have your insects help with factory construction, perform menial jobs for us, and act as a guard force for minimum wage."
"As demeaning as that job sounds," she sighed, "I really don't want to deal with the scary humans who can easily kill me."
"Great, I'll see what I can do about getting you properly employed there. I'll need to talk it over with the man in charge-"
I stopped when I remembered Sasuke's current situation, as told by the woman working at the hot springs. Yes, I'd need to speak to the Tenma about the most powerful White Wolf's current condition as being sealed inside the Red-White's tools.
"You're not free to go yet," Kotohime said. "We still have to get you two to the police station and verify your stories."