Chapter 14: The Fall of Heaven
As the state of Gensokyo's barrier continues to rapidly deteriorate in silence, an innumerable amount of folk have gone and gathered in the Human Village as a last desperate attempt to find sanctity from the Phoenix of Destruction. Human and Youkai alike were putting aside their differences just to survive, but alas, the level of fear was so great in size that it drowned out most ideas.
It was so stuffed in the village that many of the people wound up getting shoved into the houses. Throughout this widespread panic, however, a couple key figures from the village were working their hardest to maintain some semblance of sanity.
One is the ninth Child of Are, Hieda no Akyuu, a short purple-haired woman who through a cycle of reincarnation has recorded and archived Gensokyo's abundant history. The other is Keine Kamishirasawa, a human teacher whose Youkai nature only shows under the light of a full moon...Like the one hanging red and ominously in the sky tonight.
Akyuu's small size led to her being swept up amongst the large Youkai as she tried to push on through to the center of the village. Luckily she had the voice of a banshee under stress and could force them aside with words alone.
Upon reaching the center she rammed into the hip of a woman in a green dress with long green-white hair and two curved horns atop her head. Akyuu spun around, shook her fist and started to yell "Watch where you're going!" when the person turned around and with a shocked, somewhat stressed look muttered her name in a dignified manner.
"Ms. Hieda?"
Taking a moment to blink and swipe the sweat off her frazzled face, only some of which was her own, Akyuu said with the grace more expected of her surname, "Keine? ...I didn't recognize you for a moment. Forgive me."
"I understand. You aren't used to seeing me like this." She replied with a modest bow.
"Not only that, but..." Akyuu shifted her eyes towards the crowd but felt no further urge to acknowledge it. Keine hung her head and looked in the same direction she did. Unlike the Child of Are, she had no qualms speaking her mind now.
"This is everyone...Isn't it?"
"It would appear so..." Akyuu said, her voice laced with melancholy. Keine laid her arms down by her waist, her hands shivering.
"And Mokou?" Upon Akyuu shaking her head Keine's hands scrunched up into fists.
"Its funny...We'd always make jokes about her outliving us all. But now..." Her voice cracked as she bite her lower lip and stammered, "It...it just doesn't feel real."
Akyuu had to look away, for if she caught even a glimpse of Keine's tears she didn't believe she'd have the strength to keep going. But as she turned away she saw a familiar face pushing through the crowd with all her might.
"Kosuzu!" Was the name of the girl Akyuu was fond friends with. She was a short orange-haired girl who was commonly seen wearing an apron and helping to run her parents' bookstore. Her power was to decipher any language, no matter how foreign it may be.
Kosuzu broke through the crowd with a shove and upon meeting her friend up close and personal went straight to asking, "Akyuu, I found you! Say, have you seen Mamizou? I've been looking everywhere but..."
"N-Not yet...But knowing her, she's probably gone and disguised herself as someone else!" Akyuu said with an unsteady grin.
"Ok! I'll keep looking! Kosuzu ran past the two and went deeper into the crowd as Akyuu let out a long sigh.
"How could I bring myself to tell her..." She muttered before looking skyward, where the cracks in the barrier were close to converging on the center of the ceiling.
Keine stood at her back and looked up, her eyes still a bit watery, "When that goes, what'll happen to us?"
"I wish I knew. Hieda no Anana, even Hieda no Amu...Neither of them witnessed the creation of the barrier up close and personal. But...I do have a couple theories," Akyuu continued to speak as she turned around and walked in front of Keine, a hand propped up against her chin, "One is that Gensokyo will simply be brought back to the Outside World..."
"It'd give the humans a chance to survive, but the Youkai..." Keine paused briefly then shook her head, "And the second theory?"
"...Gensokyo will vanish altogether, kill us all." Akyuu kept her voice at the lowest pitch possible to avert widespread panic. Keine went dead silent as her skin turned as white as her hair.
"And with the Yamaxanadu gone..." Akyuu's heart shivered and she wildly swung her hands out as she muttered, "No. No forget it...I don't want to even consider it!"
"Excuse me...?" A soft, stoic child-like voice was followed by Akyuu feeling her kimono being tugged at from behind. She turned around and much to her surprise, the tsukumogami Hata no Kokoro was hanging in her shadow.
"Have you seen my mama and papa?" She said with an innocent inquisitiveness.
"Ummm...No?" Akyuu responded with a bewilderingly blank stare in her eyes.
"Thank you...I'll keep looking." Kokoro wandered off and her mask shifted forms. Akyuu laid a hand against the side of her face and whispered, "Tsukumogami's can have...parents?"
"I hope she finds them, whoever they are." Keine remarked.
"Yes, me too. Right now, hope is all that we've got..."
After a brief nod Keine did try to put a light spin on things, "It may not be much, but I did devour the history of the village to try and ward the Phoenix of Destruction off."
"We have to do everything we can to make it through...I just wish Reimu were still here to help." Akyuu felt downtrodden at the slightest mention of the shrine maiden's name.
"Her or Marisa." Keine remarked softly.
"I definitely haven't seen Marisa at all. She must still be up at the shrine..." Akyuu muttered, offering the tiniest bit of pity.
Keine hung her head for a moment but then swung it up and cheerfully declared, "Those two could solve any Incident, even this one!"
Akyuu nodded in agreement and continued, "Reimu may have been a rude, abrasive sloth, and Marisa a lying, hyperenergetic thief..."
"...But we owe them a lot. Perhaps more then they'll ever know..."
As those two reflected upon their unlikely heroes, Kokoro continued to wander around, calling out for "Mama!" and "Papa!" every few seconds.
"Hey! Over here!" But instead she was called to be another voice, one rough and tough and familiar voice. Through a gap in the crowd Kokoro saw that Tenshi waving at her with her head held high and a big goofy grin on her face, in stark contrast to the dour mood everyone else had.
"Tenshi!" Yelled Kokoro as she ran out and threw her arms around the Celestial's waist, nearly tripping onto her knees in the process.
"Whoa there! Ease up a little won't ya Kokoro?" Tenshi gently pulled the menreiki up on her feet and pushed her out to arms' length before patting her on the shoulders and saying, "Glad to see you're still alive and kickin' though!"
"I thought something happened to you Tenshi..." Kokoro said with the most microscopic of frowns, "But what are you doing here?"
"Oh trust me! As much as I'd loooove to hang around all this sweat and musk..." Tenshi's smile cracked as she muttered, "Weeeeell...Lets just say those old farts in Bhava-agra slammed the doors shut and threw away the key."
Kokoro tilted her head and without any other change in expression Tenshi could read that she wasn't getting it, not helped by her saying bluntly, "You got kicked out for doing something bad again, didn't you?"
"N-No!" Tenshi stammered while her eyes shifted about, "I-Its just that none of them are willing to let the apocalypse come a-knockin'. Soooo, long story short, I'm trapped down here with the rest of ya!"
"That's horrible!" Kokoro said with an exasperated gasp.
"Awww its not THAT bad. Least I still got you and my other buddy..." As Tenshi rubbed Kokoro's head she looked around and muttered, "Well...had one anyways. She must've ran off to find her sister or something. Much like how you're looking for your ma and pa!"
Kokoro opened her mouth wide but Tenshi pressed her hand up to her face and said with a grin, "Before you ask, no, I haven't seen 'em. I've been too busy yelling at those selfish old geezers to keep up-to-date on the what's happening."
Kokoro's only response towards that was to cough into her fist quietly.
Suddenly, everyone went silent. It was an unnatural occurrence, like they'd all been hypnotized. They slowly turned their gaze towards the sky except for Tenshi, who thought it'd be more appropriate to crack a joke, "Is this really the time for bird watching?"
It was only once Kokoro tugged at her dress and pointed up that she did so too. Deep in her gut, she knew why this silence had fallen. But she never could have guessed for even a moment that the vilified Phoenix of Destruction would wind up being that one boy she saw in the festival not too long ago...
Alex slowly hovered towards the village, his body as stiff as a scarecrow's. Though his gaze was locked onto the Hakurei Shrine, he found his attention wandering elsewhere upon feeling an icy chill coming from below.
He gazed down upon the Human Village and could feel their discontent. It was as thick as an iceburg. All the survivors were huddled in a cramp space, waiting for their end to come...An end that never would have been had he not dared shown his face back in Gensokyo.
From where he stood their eyes were like dots, and their bodies as small as puppies or cats. They weren't gathered to cheer him on, nor were they looking to fight back. They were cuddled up against each other in fear, and their hearts begged out for him to just go away and leave them alone.
In all the years he's been the Elemental Overlord, he's never known what its like to have the humble folk cheer him on. He's always stood alone, whether in victory or in defeat. He coveted those cheers of triumph, but knew that they would never come...
Yet deep in his heart, he knew he couldn't leave these people to drown in their despair and sorrow. He knew even deeper down that he was not the most fitting person to alleviate their spirits, but he'd try his best anyways.
"That's the least I can do after the crappy hand I dealt them..."
Alex lowered himself a little closer and watched as hundreds nearly collapsed over themselves in retreat. This discord struck hard in his chest like an arrow laced with poison, but he simply bit his teeth down and kept going until he was only a hundred feet over the village. Then he held his hands out and watched as they fell into silence and a state of antsy anticipation.
Sweat trickled down his brows as he quietly swallowed and took in a deep breath, bellowing out loud enough for all to hear, "Citizens of Gensokyo!"
He tried to keep his voice sounding optimistic, but the people squirmed. They could easily sense how forced his tone was, especially Tenshi, who slanted her brows and muttered in disbelief, "The hell is this...?"
"I know you're all frightened, and worried..." Alex closed his eyes, hoping it'd make it easier to speak without their fearful eyes staring up at him, but the imagery of their despair had become fully ingrained into his conscience, making him stumble on his next words.
"B-But there's no reason to be alarmed! Even if Gensokyo is on the brink of annihilation...I swear to you all that I will avenge it!" His voice thundered throughout the village, and was as shaky as the world after a large thunderclap.
"...Is he actually serious with this drivel?!" Tenshi muttered, with Kokoro forcing her hands onto her mouth and shaking her head to try and get her to stop.
Alex winced for a moment and looked down, but upon hearing continuous silence he continued unopposed, "Yukari Yakumo is still the enemy! Our...enemy! Take a look around you! What has she done for you all in your hour of need?!"
He swung his head around with a bitter scowl on his face, "How many of you are only living in this village because she brought you in from the Outside World?! How many of you have lost loved ones because she allowed you to be treated like cattle?! And now that HER world is coming to an end, she doesn't even have the decency to show up and give you the time of day!"
Tenshi's eyes slanted further and she started pushing against Kokoro's arm, mumbling at her to "Let me go!" while the menreiki whispered at her, "Tenshi, don't!"
"But I swear to all that nothing has changed! I WILL find Yukari, I WILL put her down for good! And once she is gone, I will do everything in my power to transport you all safely to the Outside World!"
His voice felt dry and hoarse from running his mouth that long, but he felt his point had been made perfectly clear. After closing his eyes and letting out another sigh he began to turn and move away from the village when he suddenly had screamed into his ears, "NICE SPEECH ASSHOLE! BUT NOBODY BUT YOU BELIEVES A WORD YOU SAID!"
Alex's fists scrunched up and a dull quiver went up in his spine as he twisted his head back and glared down at the center of the village, where Tenshi stood atop the nearest roof and shouted at him with a smile.
"...You." He muttered as though addressing a fly.
Tenshi bounced off the rooftop right as Kokoro climbed up to try and pull her back to the ground. Landing atop one of her rugged keystones, the Celestial pulled her an empty sword handle from her hip and waved it out to the right, flaring up the yellow and red flames that comprise its blade.
Floating ten feet away from Alex with her sword planted between her feet, Tenshi raised the rim of her hat and grinned, "Yeah that's right! Its me! The one and only Tenshi Hinanawi, at your service!"
Alex swerved his body to the right and narrowly glared her down, telling her in no lesser terms, "Ground yourself now, Celestial, before you do something you'll not get the chance to regret."
"And if I don't?" Tenshi grin grew especially smug, "What'll ya do, kill me?!"
"If you'd like to add more reasons to your ever-growing list, then please! Be my guest." Flames started spurting from Alex's fists as he squeezed them.
"Ha! See?!" Tenshi swung her sword up behind her shoulders and waved her free hand loftily in the air, "All that talk about putting our safety first is a load-a crap!"
Alex's heart sank a bit but the fires of anger swelling within kept it aloft as he growled, "If you've got any complaints Celestial, why don't you direct them towards the real villain?"
"I'm telling you to cut the crap!" Tenshi yelled while leaning forward and pressing her fists up to her hips, "Or what, is no one allowed to speak against you, o'mighty Phoenix of Destruction?"
Alex immediately swung his hand up and drew his sword while mumbling, "Where do all of you people get the right to be this smug, I wonder?"
Tenshi stood up and nudged her hat up with just her thumb while responding playfully with, "Heh! Cause I'm not just a Celestial, Gensokyo's acting Guardian Angel!"
Kokoro immediately slapped her face with both her palms and shook her head in embarrassment, while Alex barely constrained a laughing cough and sputted out in glee, "Guardian Angel? YOU?! Gensokyo's really gone down the crapper, hasn't it?"
Tenshi bit her teeth down and swung her sword out to the right, doubling the length of the blade while declaring, "Don't underestimate me! The Phoenix of Destruction will hardly be a challenge for one such as myself!"
After he finished laughing Alex drew his head up and glared at Tenshi with dark red irises and bit his teeth into a scowl as he told her off, "What exactly do you think you will accomplish here, Tenshi Hinanawi? Are you planning to die for a dream, like Suika did? Are you seeking vengeance, like Eirin did? Is this a matter of pride, like what Ran and Remilia died for? Or do you plan to go out a martyr, like Kanako, Miko AND Byakuren did?!"
Kokoro froze up and peeled her hands down off her face, her body trembling as she muttered the words "Mama" and "Papa" in what could only be describe as fear.
Tenshi raised her brows and whispered with a hint of shock, "...You killed them all, didn't you?"
"They all died for causes they thought were worth believing in. So think carefully before you go spitting on their graves, Celestial."
Tenshi swerved her head just the tiniest bit to the left and saw Kokoro shaking with a vacant stare in her eyes. With her lips pursed and a hefty sigh, Tenshi shrugged her shoulders and swung her sword out, her eyes alit by its scarlet energy as she suddenly took up a more serious tone, "Oh, I'm doubly certain of what I'm doing now."
She cracked a smirk that'd scare a dragon off as she whispered a most daring dare, "So bring it on asshole. Hit me with your best shot."
Alex clicked down all seven triggers and groaned as he transformed, "With. Pleasure."
As his golden flames flushed through the skies above the Human Village Alex threw himself as Tenshi the moment she swung her blade. Their first strikes collided and bowled most of the villagers over with their shockwave, while the two locked foreheads and gnashed their teeth bitterly at one another, their faces alit with the flames of war.
THE DAUGHTER OF THE HEAVENS: TENSHI HINANAWI
Alex grinded his blade against the malleable length of Tenshi's Hisou no Tsurugi, sending sparks to brighten the skies. He kept at it until the tip of his blade was about to slip off, upon which he blasted the Celestial back with an explosion and immediately charged forth before she had the chance to recover.
Tenshi whipped her blade up through the air, lengthening it to twenty feet long to create a wave of energy of similar size and depth. Alex rammed through the energy with the help of his shield and cut Tenshi across the chest. The Celestial bled little and grinned at the pain before slicing her blade along Alex's shielded face, dragging him away from where she stood.
She then slammed her blade into her keystone and summoned five smaller ones in a straight line before her. With a gentle glow they fired rays of pure scarlet energy into Alex's body, grinding up against his shield and dragging him even further away until he diverted their flow with a single slash, simultaneously breaking the stones with compacted air.
He leapt forward and dragged his sword down, slamming its emblazoned form against her blade to send her hurtling right off her rock. She gracefully landed upon another and stabbed her sword out to send two keystones straight towards him.
Alex cut the first one down but the other circled behind him and sprayed him with a foggy cone of scarlet energy. It activated his second shield and left his body feeling a bit itchy. Without even looking back he punched the air behind him and shattered the stone, then squeezed his hand and punched out to send the rocks hurtling through the air no faster than bullets would travel.
Tenshi swung her sword up and consumed the stones in its fire, then vaulted straight off her lofty perch and stabbed her blade straight down towards Alex's chest. Outside the village's perimeter she could safely quake the surface and summon a series of large rocky pillars to slam into Alex's back and pin him down between them and her blade.
She burrowed the blade's tip deep against Alex's chest but was continuously met with the resistance of his shield. Laughing off her futility with a hearty cough, Alex swung his right hand up and blasted her point-blank with a flurry of flames.
With merely minor burns on her dress Tenshi flipped and landed upon her original keystone. Then with a vicious swing of her sword to the left she raised and sandwiched Alex between the rocks with a thunderous clap. Alex immediately brust through the rocks with his body consumed in fire and his right fist squeezed as tight as his scowl.
He swung his fist back and punched the air, knocking Tenshi clean off her stone and leaving her feeling a little winded. She was able to call up another keystone to ferry her to safety as she lied momentarily on her back, swinging her sword to fend off Alex's pursuit.
She mustered the strength to keep repelling each of his blows, for he sacrificed power for speed, but even then the gap between them was large enough to worry her somewhat. Tenshi created a curved arrangements of stones to slide back onto her feet and regain a better posture to strike back.
With her wild side shining bright in her eyes Tenshi swung her sword back and threw some rocks in Alex's way to give her the opening she needed. Wearing her proudest smirk the Celestial whipped her blade out, bathing a hundred feet of sky in a bright scarlet hue and throwing Alex back that same distance.
He dug his heels against the molecules of the air until he stopped and then swung his sword up towards Tenshi, shaking his head to chide her for even trying. The Celestial grinned and stabbed her sword into her keystone. Alex heard a cracking sound coming from directly below his chin and looked down to find that his third soul shield was starting to break. Then like a glass window met with a stone, it shattered completely, the shards dissipating into mist at his feet.
"Gotcha...!" Tenshi cheered as she summoned a dozen keystones to surround Alex and blast him with their scarlet rays. A fourth shield came to his aid, but for a moment he did flinch and prepare to block with his blade.
He squinted at the Celestial, specifically her vaunted weapon, with mild annoyance as he recalled its power. The Hisou no Tsurugi can only be wielded by Celestials, but it had the power to convert spiritual energy into the weakness of whatever it was it struck.
But it was merely a blade. Tenshi herself could not perform the same feat. Thus, Alex knew exactly what he had to do.
The Celestial came rushing at him swinging her blade through her scarlet rays, cutting straight past his fourth shield and into his chest. But Alex grabbed onto her wrist midway through and pulled her in as close as physically possible, squeezing down on the wrist to try and force the blade out.
But she proved resilient, aggravatingly so. With a smile everlasting Tenshi squeezed her hand tightly around the Hisou no Tsurugi and pulled her hand free from Alex's grasp, cutting back along the same part of his chest she had before to further burn the wound.
She recalled her keystones and formed a ring before her body, sending the scarlet rays out in a flash to draw out Alex's fifth shield.
His sheer refusal to show weakness led to him lunging straight over the rays and slamming his palm into Tenshi's face to drag her towards the ground. She used her divine power to summon more pillars of stone to cushion her fall, though the impact was still rough on her back.
Nevertheless she used the opportunity to slip out of Alex's grasp and whip her sword towards the back of his head. Alex raised his sword to block it, only for Tenshi to reveal yet another of the blade's tricks by shifting its shape so the blade would curve around his defenses and still go forth with its attack.
Alex let go of his sword and ducked and slid underneath the Hisou no Tsurugi. Taking a note out of a certain someone's playbook, he dragged his fist along the ground and spewed up magma along the way towards Tenshi's feet, where he rose up and smashed her in the chin with an uppercut.
Tenshi returned her blade to its normal size and dropped and stabbed it into the ground, creating large white shockwaves that threw Alex into the air and ruptured the pillars apart. Alex swung a hand out and swept the skies with a series of fiery explosions, hoping to smoke Tenshi out from the debris.
But in a bit of stealthiness on her part she managed to sneak behind him on one of her keystones and wind up her sword for a mighty attack. She took aim towards his neck and whipped the blade out in a second, only for Alex to vanish a moment after.
He used the Gaia Temporis to get above her head and swing his whole body back, kicking both his feet onto the top of her head. She broke through her keystone and dropped to the ground with her knees feeling sore, but Alex simply warped down before her face and lunged his fist into her nose, ensuring it'd be just as sore.
Tenshi fought against her body being rammed through multiple trees to swing her sword at the ground, kicking up mounds of dirt to obscure herself. Alex brushed the dirt away with a swipe of his head and bent the trees to further impede her path.
After her head rammed into one of those trees Tenshi grit her teeth and grabbed her blade in both hands and raised it high overhead. When Alex came a-chargin' she swung it down with all her might, the scarlet energies towering high over the forest canopy.
Alex paused and retracted his punch to instead throw it out to the left, summoning a bluster gale around his body to divert the energies as they flooded the forest like a tidal wave. Alex then swung his fist back and plunged it through the innermost layer of energy.
Tenshi greeted him by plunging the handle of her Hisou no Tsurugi past his fist and into his chest. Though she took a devastating blow that cracked her ribs, she could confidently smirk as the sword unleashed its power upon him, inscribing the scarlet seal of "Fuuin" onto his entire body.
As the seal collapsed upon him, Alex's fifth shield shattered and his body felt like it was attacked from the inside by a single, powerful burst of energy. With a loud "Pop!" he dropped to his knees and slammed his right palm against the ground, panting and sweating.
Tenshi recalled the Hisou no Tsurugi and levitated off the ground, extending her palms out with the handle pressed between them. With the power of all living beings at her fingertips the scarlet miasma condensed into a bright, solidified state and shook all of Gensokyo to its core.
Alex dug up the dirt at his fingertips as he squeezed his hand into a fist and swung his head up, his eyes perfectly reflecting the scarlet light from his irises. As Tenshi fired that massive beam of scarlet energy she was most known for Alex charged into the center of the beam and let both his sixth and seventh shields be burned away just for the opportunity to make the Celestial feel pain.
He burst through the start of the beam and took Tenshi by surprise, followed by punching her square in the face with a flaming eruption of power. She was knocked to the ground but could quickly draw her sword for battle as Alex dove at her to continue his assault.
He punched at her sword and received a cut between his knuckles. He leapt off the ground and swung his arms out, summoning the might of a thousand thunderstorms to smash into her body. Tenshi was burned along the right thigh and stumbled in her support, forcing her to raise a keystone off the ground to ride off into the sky.
Alex high-tailed after her without any misstep, and as the two sped back towards the village Tenshi whipped up a series of keystones to surround him. With a quick spin and the steel of his wings Alex sliced through the stones before they could even glow and then rammed his whole body into the Celestial to knock her off her perch.
He grappled around her waist and attempted to ground her, only for her to shrink her blade to the size of a knife and jam it into his chest. She got so dangerously close to his heart that he let go and thrust twenty feet back in an instant. He swung his hands out and gathered flames into a sphere that he launched out as a beam.
Tenshi whipped her sword out to cut it in twine the moment she landed upon another keystone. Alex's eyes flared wide open and he dove down covered in flames. She swung to the left then the right as he passed and curved back around for another attack. Along the way she tried to cut him with her blade, and successfully snagged his right arm.
He spun around and dove straight back down, this time slamming the fire into Tenshi's body after ramming into her sword. He endured the cuts to his arms in order to drag his hands closer to her wrist, where he quickly grabbed onto and flung the Hisou no Tsurugi's handle far far away.
Before the Celestial had a second to recall it, Alex crossed his arms and slammed them into her neck, driving her towards the ground. She choked as she tried to summon up pillars of stone to slow him down, but he simply barreled through each one and soon rammed her into the village streets.
He dredged up waves of dirt that swept the panicked citizens aside as he dragged her into the center of the village for all to see. Upon stopping at that location he pulled his arms out and slammed his hands down beside her mouth, which was bleeding from the side. She was still smiling, even as he glared at her with the intensity of the sun.
"What's so funny huh?" He growled before digging his knees onto her stomach and swinging his fist across her face.
"What did you think this farce was going to accomplish, HUH?!" He swung his other fist into her face, eliciting a gasp of shock from the audience.
"Did you think this would inspire the survivors to remain hopeful?!" He punched her with his left fist, and then his right, "That this would rally them to make one last stand against their enemy?!"
After one more punch Alex swung his bloody arms out to the sides and exclaimed with his eyes wide and mad, "Look at them! They're still just as scared as before! And you know why?! Because you're not an inspiration...to ANYONE!"
He smashed his fist down on the front of her face, breaking her nose and causing her to gag on her blood. Yet still she smiled, so Alex grabbed her neck and raised her head up. She spit some of her revolting blood onto his face and stared him squarely in the eyes as she told him, "And...and you are? Cause it sure ain't me they're frightened of..."
Alex slammed her head back down and held it down as he pounded away at her face with one hand for a few seconds, drenching his fist in her blood. When he was done, still, STILL she smiled in his face like a hyena.
"Hehehe...I'll take great pleasure in the afterlife knowing that you've sealed your fate..." Tenshi chuckled.
"Afterlife?" Alex's grin slanted and he started to laugh as well, growing louder with every punch he rammed into Tenshi's face, "Do you think...that having a slight change of heart just...SWEEPS AWAY all the crimes you committed?!"
He dropped her head to the ground and bit his teeth down while wailing at her face with both his hands, knocking off bits of flesh and her teeth as he scowled, "You're going to HELL Tenshi Hinanawi! You! Yukari! And every other piece of shit bad guy that stains this universe!"
"You can smile and laugh all you want! But nobody will ever, EVER, listen to a LOUSY!"
"CRACK!"
"DELINQUENT!"
"Scrunch!"
"CELESTIAL!"
…
Alex raised his brows and panted. His final punch had been stopped. He couldn't budge it an inch, even with all his might. He felt something dreadful crawling up the back of his neck and slowly started turning his head back. In spite of her mangled face Tenshi cracked a smile and managed to say, "I...only needed to inspire one...To screw you over...Phoenix of Destruction..."
Kokoro. It was little, quiet Kokoro, who held Alex's arm at bay with just the grip of her left hand and her eyes draped in shadow. She hadn't a single mask floating around her body, and the anger that radiated from her body physically manifested as red wavy flames that lifted the bangs before her forehead and revealed a blank, crying glare that gave Alex a brief heart attack.
"W-What...?"
"Let...go of her..." Kokoro whispered, clamping her hand around Alex's wrist with enough force to crack the bones underneath and make the sound echo throughout the village.
As Alex gasped in pain Kokoro raised her head up high and screamed at the top of her lungs, "I SAID LET GO OF HER!"
Her energy exploded like dynamite going off and flung Alex off Tenshi into divot he carved just a moment ago. He landed on his feet and grabbed his wrist, feeling the pain seering into his nerves while his eyes remained focused upon the menreiki.
"This power is...!"
Kokoro held her arms out and levitated off the ground, the energy she unleashed growing to cocoon her body while violent winds swept throughout the village. Alex was the only one whose body budged in the face of this gale, and after biting his teeth down he watched as Kokoro's energy continued to spiral out of control, with the shell growing and forming into some sort of strange effigy.
"How...could she have this much power hiding inside of her?!" Alex suddenly found himself retreating into the sky and watching from afar as Kokoro's energy quickly spread out to the perimeter of the village and started to rise. Higher and higher it grew with the menreiki suspended in the chest of the forming figure.
An arm formed on each side, its astonishing girth sweeping up winds that nearly tore away the forests as they reached out and caught the air in their fists. In their grasps they wielded a glowing naginata as tall as a ten-story building. The head formed, shaped like the face of a Buddha statue, but was swiftly covered up by a mask that greatly resembled Miko's face, yet looked positively stunning and respectful. Behind this effigy of emotion sixty-six arms unfurled like a blossoming flower and held a different mask in each hand.
As the effigy turned from red to blue, Alex stared at it in both fear and awe. It was a giant, dwarfing all else that ever was and ever shall be in Gensokyo, yet it stood perfectly still atop the Human Village and protected it as its own guardian deity. The beating heart of this giant was the young menreiki herself, whose eyes remained shut within its chest cavity.
She remembered their voices. Their warmth. Their laughter, their joy. Their sadness, their tears. Their hope, their dreams. Everything she ever shared, every memory, every meal, every hug and kiss and words of wisdom, she clung those vivid memories against her heart and swung her eyes wide open. They were crystal clear, as bright and beautiful as radiant diamonds.
"Mom...Dad...Mamizou...Tenshi...Everyone..." She drew her own naginata into each hand and leaned her titanic shell to dwarf her enemy in shadows.
Her eyes trembled with tears as her screams escaped the confines of this wonderful world and echoed throughout the cosmos.
"LEND ME YOUR STRENGTH!"
THE RECLAIMED GODDESS OF EMOTION: KOKORO-NO-OKAMI
Next Time: Last Masquerade