Flame-Soul: Jo!
SorrowfulReincarnation: You've got to be kidding me. You're back?
Chôzen: Well, the food was good...
SorrowfulReincarnation: *vein on forehead*
Flame-Soul: And we got to play videogames for free.
SorrowfulReincarnation: ALRIGHT! THAT'S IT! Not only did you annoy me and eat my food... now you come back! I can accept all that... but no one plays my videogames! You heard me!
Flame-Soul: Does this mean we can't do it again?
SorrowfulReincarnation: ...Run.
Chôzen: I'm already gone *door slams close*
Flame-Soul: Alright! SorrowfulReincarnation does not own Touhou, Team Shanghai Alice / ZUN does. However, SorrowfulReincarnation does own Chôzen Gekido, the flame-soul and Nanatsu no Taizai, characters he has created.
In todays chapter, we're going to see how Chôzen Gekido met one of his closest friends! Yep, nobody else than the mistress of twilight, master of reincarnation... the owner of the most powerful spark of them all! It's Mima!
SorrowfulReincarnation: Okay, enough. Time's up!
Flame-Soul: Here we go again! *flees through window*
SorrowfulReincarnation: ... *jumps after flame-soul*
Chapter 9: Sunset ~ Soul of Twilight
About 800 years ago, Gensokyo - Hakurei Shrine
It was a dark night in Gensokyo, the sounds of storm carried across the land, lightning illuminating the heavens over and over again. For the current Hakurei Miko, it was clear that something would happen that night... wether it be good or bad, she didn't know... but what she knew was that she would not manage to close an eye that night...
..what she didn't know, however, was that that something she was worried should happen right behind the Hakurei Shrine. The cause of the heavy rain, the storm that plaqued all Gensokyo... the cause of such a gigantic disaster... was a flame. A small flame, hovering before a tombstone.
The flame itself seemed tranquil, moved calmly, hovered slightly up and down... but inside, anger was stored. The flame was an angry soul, an evil spirit... a powerful evil spirit without a shape...
Lightning struck through the heaven... and the soul began to move faster. Began to become active... began to glow green from within, brighter than the moon over the heavy stormclouds... and then, stopped to glow, became tranquil again...
...but suddenly, the tombstone began to glow in the same, eerie green light. But also only for a very few seconds, before the light itself vanished... The soul seemed not to be bothered, it remained tranquil, flew before the grave, waited... waited for it to happen...
And it did happen. A green lightning strike burst out of the clouds, aimed directly at the tombstone, hit it, broke it, caused it to explode into thousands of debris... left back an eerie fog... a thick, dense fog laid upon the lands as the evil spirit rose from it's remains...
Suddenly, in the middle of the fog, right where formerly the tombstone had been... green eyes snapped open, took in the surroundings... and an evil grin spread across the evil spirits face as it looked down at its body... the body it had gained, the shape.. the identity...
She was "alive"... was back among the living again... could interact with the physical world, could be seen... could spread her terror... her revenge on the humanity could finally take place... But before, she had to find him...
The lightning above me didn't scare me in the slightest... to be honest, I didn't care what weather it was. Didn't care where I was. Didn't care who I was... or if I was even at all. With the destruction of Nanatsu no Taizai's life, a new chapter in my story had opened... or rather, an old chapter was being repeated. The indifference. The nihilism. I was back to walking the path... or rather, the aftermath... was being the same indifferent asshole as before... and all my doubts had vanished... had been cleansed off me...
I scratched my neck, leaned my head back until the world was upside down... it looked so different, and yet the same... Above me, I saw the cliff... the cliff that I spend my nights in... I wouldn't call it a home... because I don't care about where I am... but back when Nanatsu and I had just met, when I slowly left behind the nihilism... back then, that cave had been my home.
...but now I know that the path of nihilism just fooled me, pretended that I had left it behind so it could shatter the last emotion: The love.
...and though I am back to the nihilism, am back to being indifferent... despite that... I feel guilt at destroying Nanatsu's life for selfish reasons... even if I didn't know I did and didn't want to. But that's just how it is... I am the destroyer... I am not to create, but to destroy... I do not start, I do end... That is how it always was... and always will be...
Distant memories of lives I destroyed, even if only for a second, sometimes appear before my inner eye... Why, I cannot say... But faces like that of Takato Matsuki... Nanatsu no Taizai... they linger within me...
Suddenly, I heard birds in the distance. This was nothing unusual, and I usually did not care about it... but it was the change in the air around me... the change of the aura of the whole land...
Slowly, I rose my head and stared into the direction of the Hakurei Shrine, from where this aura came that changed the whole land... the desire for revenge... eternal hatred... strong enough to cover the whole land... and it was moving directly into my direction.
I remained where I was... something told me that going away was no option... It wouldn't matter where I am... whatever the cause of this aura was... it was after me. And I knew that. Knew it from the second that the birds flew away in a tree near me...
And only a few seconds later, I should see what was the cause of this aura... as she stepped out of the trees, her gaze fixed directly on me. "Chôzen... Gekido...", she chuckled, tilting her head a little. "That I am.", I replied to the greenhaired spirit... if I am not wrong, she is an evil spirit... an evil spirit driven by madness and revenge... by hatred...
"So I found you...", she muttered, stepping closer... her legs suddenly becoming pale, dissolving into smoke... turning into a ghost tail. And she was still coming closer... came closer until she hovered in front of me, a desirous grin on her lips...
"We meet again.", spoke the greenhaired evil spirit, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I don't understand.", I replied. At that, the evil spirit laughed loudly, threw her head back and laughed into the heavens, as if she was laughing at Yukari Yakumo herself... the creator of this world...
"That is sad...", chuckled the evil spirit eventually, her tail turning into legs again. "It is sad to hear that you do not remember me. But I cannot blame you for that... when we met last time, I was merely a shapeless soul...", she continued as she sat onto the ground before me. And I understood. "I see. That green flame by the Hakurei Shrine."
The evil spirit nodded. "Yes... that was me. So you do remember.", she chuckled. "If I would not remember, I would make you special. That cannot be the case, as I have walked the path of nihilism... everyone is the same for me.", I replied. "Hm... yes, I heard about you. My descendant surely is confused by you.", sighed the evil spirit, but the smile remained on her lips.
"So you are really Mima Hakurei." The evil spirit nodded. "I am Mima Hakurei. I am the reincarnation of a human with a dream of a paradise.", she spoke, closing her eyes as she stared to nod. "Then why are you an evil spirit?", I asked. And at that, Mima Hakurei chuckled.
"Well... there is a reason as for why I have reincarnated...", she muttered. "I can feel that.", I replied. "You hatred is over all of Gensokyo." Mima sighed, crossed her arms again. "Yes. I have reincarnated as I saw that my dream is nothing but a failure... instead of the peace, I have found nothing but hatred and destruction... humans and youkai still fight. Still kill each other. Within and outside of Gensokyo.", she replied.
"Then why are you here again?", I asked. "...to end this nonsense. I have not given my life to things to carry on. It was a failure... an experiment gone wrong... I have to terminate it and start over again... this time, with the power of the evil.", sighed Mima as she stood up.
"...and why are you telling me this? What is the reason for you to track me down?", I asked. At that, the evil spirit chuckled, her legs turning back into a ghost tail. Eventually, she turned away from me, turned her back to me... and then, glanced over her shoulder at me. "I want you to join me. I feel a great deal of hatred locked within you... the hatred for humanity... the hatred for the existence... With your powers to end... and my powers to manipulate the reincarnation of things... we could..."
She stopped as I stood up, looking at her with the same indifference as always... but for some reason she looked frightened. Terribly frightened.
"Listen to me... evil spirit that has regained a humanoid shape...", I whispered, stepping closer to her. "...the existence shall remain as it is. It is not time for it to end... the 666th milennium has not arisen. In the 666th millenium, it shall be me to end it all... I do not tolerate somebody interfering with how it was supposed to be...", I growled.
The evil spirit named Mima had rosen an eyebrow and stared at me with something in between confusion and plain fear. "I...I see...", she muttered. "You have now three options... First one: Go back to wherever you were and stay there. Second: You remain here in Gensokyo and do not threaten it how it is in any way... and third:..."
I closed my eyes and crossed my arms. "...you try to end all of this... but be sure, if the last one should be your decision... that I will negate you... make you vanish. As if you had never reincarnated... do you understand?" She stared at me, no distinct emotion on her face.
But instead of letting her answer, I turned away from her and walked back to the stone I had sat on before... and sat down on it again. "And here you say you don't care.", laughed a voice in the back of my head. "Shut up.", I replied. "He is indeed pretty easily annoyed... if it is about his duty, he is serious.", spoke a third voice... that of the split part of my soul.
Looking up, I found that Mima Hakurei still hovered there, looked at me as if I was some madman... and that was who I was... mad. "I... see...", she whispered eventually... and flew off. Distraught. Her plans shattered.
about 700 years ago, Gensokyo - Hakurei Shrine
Mima Hakurei sat on the roof of the shrine in the late evening, stared into the sunset. She had her head leaned onto a fist, a bored and yet sad expression on her face. "What are you thinking about, Mima Hakurei?" She yelped, turned to look aside her... and found Chôzen Gekido sitting there, looking into the sunset.
"Oh... it's you...", she muttered, then turned back to the sunset. "What are you here for? Laughing at me?", she asked. "Laughing? I do not possess emotions. How can I laugh?", he asked, causing Mima to turn to him. "Why are you here? Why do you come here after a century and speak to me?", she sighed.
"Or is it that you just came to look at me... to make fun of me..." As Chôzen Gekido did not reply, she sighed. "You may not know it... but... you are the only person to notice me. Back a century ago, after you said you would not help me... I was angry and tried to let my anger out on the human village... I went there, tried to scare them out of house and home... but they did not even notice me. Couldn't see me... So every revenge is meaningless... I want to be feared, want them to speak my name with caution... but as it is right now, they would just think it is a natural disaster... No one notices me, no one sees me... aside you..."
Chôzen Gekido did not say a thing... something Mima was incredibly thankful for at the moment. The silence... it was refreshing... what she needed... "You know...", she whispered after a while of just staring into the sunset.
"...whenever I watch this... the sun set, the twilight... I cannot understand what I hate at how the existence is... Looking into the sunset... makes me feel comfortable... makes me feel warm... makes me forget every hatred I have... Sometimes I wish I could just extend my hand...", as she spoke, she extended her hand towards the sunset, "...touch it, take it into my hand... and carry it forever with me... to make the burning hatred inside me leave..."
She closed her hand, turned it around, opened her hand... but in her palm lay nothing. "The soothing twilight makes my restless soul feel at peace... should I ever perish... I want to become one with the twilight... want to become one with the evening sun... just look at the world with peace..."
"I see...", replied Chôzen eventually... causing a small smile to appear on Mimas lips. "I cannot understand why you do see me while others can not... But I am happy that you do see me, and nobody else. Maybe I can leave behind this stupid grudge... If I manage to capture the twilight within my hands... With the twilight in my hands... I could finally be at peace..."
"Then I wish you the best of luck, Mima Hakurei.", replied Chôzen, and despite his emotionless gaze and his indifferent voice... Mima couldn't help but smile. "Thank you, Chôzen Gekido. Thank you for just being there."
about 600 years ago, Gensokyo - Forest of Magic
"Alright!", exclaimed Mima, flying high over the forest of magic, Chôzen Gekido merely a few meters away from her. "Lately, more and more people managed to get a glimpse of me... with my power growing, I finally can appear for the mortals!", exclaimed Mima, a cocky grin on her lips.
"But that is not enough! If I truly want to become one with the mortal world again, I will have to master what I recently learned... and you're gonna help me!", she shouted over to Chôzen Gekido. "Lately, I have managed to gather power from the twilight... probably the reason I can be seen again... By becoming more and more one with a natural thing, I, as thing from beyond the grave, can become natural again!", shouted Mima.
"I see...", muttered Chôzen Gekido. "But before, I wish to try my new powers... and I'm gonna do that on you!", she snickered, holding up an orb of twilight energy. "Now that the power of twilight is to my control, I need to know how strong it really is... It took me almost a whole century to create a spell that forces the twilight to my control... to bend like I want...", she chuckled... and then pointed the twilight orb at me.
"Fine.", he replied putting his hands into his pockets, making Mima smirk again. "Alright, here goes!", she shouted lifting her arms, creating a gigantic orb of twilight above her head.
~ Music: Kirby Super Star Ultra - Marx Soul ~
Mima threw the orb with a gigantic grin, but Chôzen avoided with a single movement and threw an orb of his own right into the twilight orb... causing it to become nothing. "Don't destroy the land.", he spoke, then charged at Mima.
The evil spirit sighed, then rose her right hand and it started to glow in twilight energy. Chôzen Gekido eventually reached her, tried to attack her in close combat... when she reached back and tried to hit him. "TWILIGHT FIST!", she shouted and moved her fist forwards... but he rose his own fist and blocked her.
Mima chuckled, before her fist suddenly exploded, sending them both flying backwards. Mima stopped right in midair, her ghostly powers allowing her to do so, while Chôzen flipped and landed on a tree, his feet against the trunk.
"GREEN APPARITION!", screamed Chôzen as he pushed himself off, charged at Mima... and halfways, just vanished. Mima blinked and gasped, then turned into all directions, searched the area for him... until she was suddenly hit by a foot into her side.
She hissed, turned around... and merely managed to see how he vanished. With a quick motion, Mima turned around and catched his foot as he reappeared before her. She grinned madly... until a fist hit her in the back. The Chôzen whose leg she was holding suddenly becoming older and older in appearance, before his flesh turned to dust and revealed a green skeleton beneath... that turned into ash as well. A clone. Nothing that a mere clone. A copy.
Knowing that he would attack any second now, Mima quickly pulled her arms in and gathered dark energy within her. "TWILIGHT COFFIN!", she exclaimed. Just in that moment, Chôzen became visible behind her, aimed a kick at her side... as Mima suddenly grabbed him by the ankle, turned her head to look over his shoulder... and snickered evilly, her green eyes turning crimson.
"Did you know... that the twilight energy cannot hurt me? No matter how powerful?", she whispered. Chôzen hissed as he saw black walls appear around the two of them, building a black box around them. "From beyond the grave, I grabbed your ankle and pulled you down into my coffin... where we can be together forevermore...", snickered Mima... as the corners of the cubus suddenly shot yellow lasers at Chôzen.
Finding himself unable to avoid, he growled and began to gather negative energy... and his eyes widened as he felt none around him. "Twilight can envelop and absorb any other kind of energy...", chuckled Mima... as the lasers connected and the whole box blew up.
(1)
Chôzen landed on his feet, snarling, burns and slashes all over his body from the explosion. He found himself on the ground right beneath where the explosion had been, pushed himself off it and rushed at the evil spirit once more, which turned to him with an evil smirk.
"TWILIGHT SEPERATION.", she exclaimed... before her body suddenly was cut in half, causing Chôzen to stop. The two halves of Mimas body began to change color, one yellow, the other black... and then, turned into orbs.
With a motion almost too quick for the eye, the two orbs shot into heaven... and seconds later, they return, aimed at Chôzen as two bright lasers. He rolled in midair and avoided them like that... and at the point where the lasers crossed, they connected, and slowly became Mima again... what Chôzen used.
"LAST GUIDE!", screamed Chôzen, his body suddenly transforming. His arms ripped apart and revealed two crystal scythes, eight crystal wings broke through his back, two hooks appeared at his feet and a large crystal spike broke through the middle of his chest.
Now transformed, he charged at Mima, who rose an eyebrow in surprise and confusion, then she lifted a hand. "SUNSET FAREWELL.", she growled... causing a gigantic explosion to happen right where Chôzen was. Which satisfied her. "Hm. Not bad. My powers really have grown.", she chuckled, looking down at her clenched fist. "But they could still be a little more powerf..."
Her eyes widened and the world slowed down. Right before her head was a crystal scythe, moving closer, aimed at her neck. In the very last moment, a staff materialised in Mimas hand, blocking the scythe, but the power of it send her flying into the ground, where she impacted with enough force to leave back a crater.
Chôzen did not say a word as he flew there, one of his eight wings shattered, the others with large cracks in them. In the very last second, he had pulled his wings in, which had protected him from the explosion. "Damn it...", hissed the evil spirit as she took into the air again.
"Are you finally done, Mima Hakurei?", asked Chôzen, the same look of boredom as usual on his face. "N-no!", growled Mima. "Fine.", he huffed... the whole crystals on his body shattering, leaving him in his original state. "Then continue.", he spoke.
Mima growled at that, then pulled her arms in. "ROOT OF ALL EVIL!" With this shout, Mima rushed upwards again until she was out of sight... before something quick rushed past Chôzen and hit the ground beneath him.. He looked down at the spot the thing had landed... as a gigantic root shot out of the ground, full with huge thorns.
Feeling one of them impale his right arm, Chôzen growled out in pain... then broke the thorn and pulled it out of his arm, right before a second thing shot past him. He ignored it, knowing that he could avoid them as long as he moved, and ruhsed into the heavens after Mima.
The evil spirit saw him coming... and decided that it was time to use her last attack... something so terrific in power that she had not tried it yet... but against him... "Alright, Chôzen, this is now about life and death... have a taste of THIS!", shouted Mima, lifting her right hand, putting thumb and middle finger together... "THIS. IS. IT.", she screamed, as gigantic black wings extended from her back, covering the sun, putting the whole forest of magic into shadows.
Chôzen stopped right where he was, frozen in his spot... staring beyond Mima as the day became sunset all of sudden, surprising even Mima herself as she noticed it. But there was no turning back anymore.
"Hey, Chôzen! Feast your eyes on this evil spirit who has surpassed the shackles of a mere ghost! The switch has been flipped, too late to turn around now! Gensokyo's final moment of twilight...", shouted the evil spirit as she felt satisfaction slowly rising within her.
"TWILIGHT...", screamed Mima, slowly moving her fingers against each other.
~ Music: Touhou Soccer 2 - Twilight Spark ~
"...SPARK!", she screamed, her gigantic black wings of twilight energy charging up with the power of the sunset... and as Mima flicked her fingers, an evil smirk came across her face. "With him out of the way, nothing stands in my way anymore... That he was stupid enough to fall for this.. that I tried to become his friend... to backstab him in a sparring, to kill him...", she thought as the gigantic spark rushed past her, aimed at Chôzen.
His eyes widened and he rose his hands to block the spark... even though he knew that he would not be able to. Or so Mima thought. But she found herself gapping at him, her left eye twitching, as he struggled against the most powerful spark of them all, was holding it in its place...
...until it suddenly backfired at him and enveloped him completely.
It took Mima a few more seconds to realize what just had happened... but then, she grinned her evil smirk again, watched how he got enveloped completely and faded away, his black shape becoming nothing... leaving Mima highly satisfied.
"That should be it. Now... how do I get rid of the world as it is? Maybe by powering up this spark a little more...", she cackled, turned towards the sunset... and hummed happily. Twirled around on the spot... until she noticed something out of the corner of her eyes.
Turning to it... she felt her mouth open and her eyelid twitch. The spark of twilight had vanished... and left back a gigantic crater in the ground, almost a fourth of Gensokyo in size, which was slowly filling with water from the ocean.
"Uhm.. whoops, maybe I overdid it a little. It doesn't seem that I need to power it up more, I just need to go somewhere a little more away and it is all gone.", she laughed, a sweatdrop on her head... as she noticed the small island in the middle of the crater. And she sweatdropped. "This is probably going to be a lake with an island in the middle very soon.", she muttered.
...and that was how Misty Lake was born...
~ Music stop ~
With an angry expression, Mima threw the door open that lead into Eientei. "Hey, be quiet, okay? Have some respect for the patients.", growled a rabbit in a buisness suit. "Is it true?", asked Mima with a deadpan. "What is true?", growled the rabbit. "That Chôzen Gekido is here.", growled Mima in return.
"Yes. He was just brought here two nights ago by that immortal of fire.", replied the rabbit. "Where is he?", asked Mima, her left eyelid twitching. "Is there anything to kill that guy? I just created a lake in Gensokyo, blew almost a fourth of this land into oblivion and he was right in the middle... and he is still there! How am I suppossed to destroy this damn land if he keeps on being there?"
"Follow me.", sighed the rabbit as she turned to a corridor and to the seventh door on the left side of it. There, she knocked. "Gekido-sama, you have a visitor!", shouted the rabbit. "Let her in.", growled a voice back, causing the rabbit to blink. "Uh... he knows who it is?", muttered the rabbit, but Mima had enough of this, so she pushed the rabbit aside, took a deep breath and opened the door... playing her game again.
With a quick motion, she rushed through the room until she was aside his bed. "I'M SORRY, CHÔ! PLEASE FORGIVE ME! I HAD NO IDEA HOW STRONG THAT THING WAS!", she cried out, forcing fake tears out of her eyes. But Chôzen just looked at her with his emotionless gaze.. and then sighed. "Why is it that even with the perfect balance I cannot have my peace? Yukari Yakumo and you still manage to annoy me...", he growled.
"BUT IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!", sniffed Mima. "Oh god, if I have to keep this up... I'm gonna throw up!" "...tell that to Yukari and Shikieiki Yamaxanadu...", growled Chôzen as he turned away from Mima and pointed to the far wall of the room, where the two mentioned woman sat on chairs... glaring at Mima. Who sweatdropped.
Present, Gensokyo - Garden of the Sun
An evil spirit with green hair flew in front of a window of the Kazami Mansion, Mugenkan. Her gaze was fixed on a graveyard in the distance, an evil grin on her lips. "Oh that Chôzen... Despite all the memories he should have of me... despite everything we went through...", she chuckled, "...how could he forget that hatred is nothing that vanishes? That a grudge is nothing to vanish? An evil spirit will forever hold a grudge... and nothing can change that..."
The door opened behind her, the owner of the mansion stepping into the room. "I prepared breakfast. Do you want some?", asked Yuuka Kazami, a smug grin on her face. "...sure. I'll be there in a minute.", replied Mima, grinning back.
"You're thinking about it... right? Don't worry, everything will go alright. Our friend is suspecting nothing.", spoke Yuuka, causing Mima to grin even wider. "How are the preparations going?", she asked. "Good. If everything keeps going as it is... we are ready in half a year." "That is good... indeed, very good...", chuckled Mima, turning around to face Yuuka.
"...Let's go. After all... there is still a lot to be done...", whispered Mima. "...after all... it shall be an event that Gensokyo shall never forget...", she finished, an evil smirk on her face. And Yuuka smirked back in the same evil way. "...that is true.", replied Yuuka, before she turned around and left the room...but still continued to look at Mima, who followed her.
"...oh Chôzen... how could you forget that I am still evil? That I cannot become nice and friendly? That I tried to kill him over and over again? The evil spirit of twilight with the eternal grudge... will never give up.", whispered Mima... an evil smirk all over her face, her green eyes glowing crimson...
(1) Remember, this fight happens before the spellcard rules were set up, meaning that attacks are indeed still lethal. As you may have noticed, Mima used "twilight fist" and "twilight coffin", attacks she used against Yuyuko Saigyouji in I-NB, but they were spellcards then, which means she has changed her former attacks to fit the spellcard rules. These attacks and spellcards of Mima are completely made up by me.
So yeah... Mima is evil. Was and still is. All that about being Chôzens friend just a lie... If you read this chapter and count one and one together...
Yeah. The rest kinda explains itself, I believe.
I recently came up with the idea of Mima being still evil, pretending to be nice. Wether or not she's going to do something evil... lays in the future.
But yeah. The only thing remaining to say is this: Since no reviews or comments about Lord Tenma followed, there is not going to be a 0-NM update or chapter regarding her... she'll appear maybe, but not as chapter main character. And since any other chapter of 0-NM regarding Chôzens past with a person (and that's what 0-NM is about) can be made at the moment without spoiling anything, next update is only I-NB! Hope that's alright with you.
So that's it! 0-NM will not gain another chapter with the next update. That being said, I hope you enjoyed this slightly different 0-NM chapter and continue to read NBP! Reviews are as always appreciated!
So long!