"Uurgh…"

Sendai clutched her head. 'What happened…'

Snapping her eyes open, she found herself staring at a wood ceiling. Despite the lack of lingering pain, she felt groggy and stiff.

Ignoring the soft covers and the smooth blue blanket, Sendai cast herself from the futon. 'Feel like I've been sleeping on a wood beam…'

Reaching behind herself, she pressed against her back with both palms-

crack. "Aa~h…" She exhaled in pleasure from the quiet snap of joints.

'Alright, there we go. Just need to do a few stretches before I start my routine. But…'

Her gaze returned to the futon as she began to articulate her torso, limbs cracking idly as she did so. 'Why was I here?'

Through a nearby window, the holy blue glow of a blooming morning caught her eye. Idly, she rolled her head to work the stiffness from her neck, and moved over towards the dresser.

'I'm still in all my clothes. My ripped up clothes. Nothing's out of place, and…' Her hands brushed her pockets. 'Everything feels in order.'

Sliding one of the drawers open, she looked into the dresser…

Plain blue dresses greeted her. '...I've seen these before. These are Keine's.'

Then, everything came back to her. 'I better go see her right now.'

Shuffling across the floor in her socks- as her sandals had been placed elsewhere- the miko swung the room's door open and stepped into the larger room.

In the back, there was a staircase down. 'Two stories?'

Moving past some tables and small shelves of books and binders, Sendai leisurely advanced down the tiny stairway…

Down here, she saw a beige sofa along the far wall, and a kotatsu rested upon a small lowered landing. Once on the landing and off of the stairs, she looked ahead at the rest of the room, separated only by a counter and a single square beam.

Over there, a table was set up with food on it. Marcus and Rinnosuke looked over at her, along with Keine-

'Wait- what the hell…' Sendai furrowed her brows at the pink-haired individual who was also there. 'Really, now.'

"Mornin'!" Marcus gave her a wave as she neared the table. "Guess what! Real food today!"

Marching into the room through the dividing counter, the miko pointed at Kasen. "If you wanna go again, let's just get it out of the way."

...Kasen smiled patiently at her, considering a response-

"She's actually here to apologize." Keine held an arm up to mediate the situation, half-standing from her seat. "Don't try to kill her just yet."

'Apologize?' Sendai neutrally stared into the hermit's eyes, body stiff and expectant of some kind of surprise.

...Taking in a breath, Kasen decided to stand. "...Yes. Yesterday was… jumpy of me. It was also rather unbecoming. I'm sorry for hurting you, Tsukiko."

...Sendai wasn't quite sure how to process this. 'What's her angle? Yesterday, she talked a pretty big game.'

"What was that, about keeping us out? For the village's sake?" Sendai questioned the hermit's previous intents. "Aren't we stepping on that right now?"

Exhaling, Kasen looked as if she was stricken. "...Well, yes. But… I kind of... did probably even more damage than you would have in one evening, so um… there's not any reason to go about that anymore. Summoning my tiger and dragon, and everything."

'...That's right. She totalled the captain and his men. Not as if that's difficult, but it's hypocritical.'

"So, what now?" The miko continued to question her, relaxing a little. "Have you forsaken the village to… something or another? What were you worried about, again…?"

"...I feel in part the village is already forsaken, to a degree." Looking down at the table, the hermit made an admission. "It was never this bad. No one person, of their own right mind- or of the village guard, the captain even- would be so corrupt, or say such things. Something's amiss… or, perhaps, has been amiss."

'He was pretty outlandish. The last guard captains that I remember were kind of dicks- or dumb kids- but that old clown's kinda shitty. I give him another month, or a few weeks, before he gets himself eaten or assassinated. Sometimes the position just changes fast like that, until someone okay gets it.'

Sitting down, Keine focused on her morning foods again. "It does feel like things have been getting worse. No one's really taking it seriously enough."

...With this matter settled for now, Sendai found a chair at the edge of the table. 'Rice, salmon… some fruit. I'm reminded of how weird the village's produce situation is. We've got plenty of guys who farm rice and wheat, but the fruit always comes from either youkai or almost literally nowhere.'

"Serious stuff, hu~h?" Marcus grinned up at the teacher. "We're the most serious people fer the job!"

...Some moments of consumption later, Keine responded to his claim. "I'm really not sure what's going on with the village, and I really don't think it's a problem that can be solved normally. I would know, by this point…"

'It wasn't spiralling into insanity when I was around. So...'

"We could take a look around, some time." Sendai proposed. "...I've only dealt with the village council a handful of times, but I think I have a lay of things."

'Dealt with them enough to realize they were jerks and not really worth talking to.'

"If you feel like it." Idly shifting in her seat, Keine seemed indifferent to the idea. "...As the head of the village's education, I'm actually on the council, and I still can't really get anything done outside of my jurisdiction."

"They let you on the council…?" Half done with her food, Sendai grinned up at her. "Wow. Do they know you're a youkai?"

"I'm an… 'exception'." Keine put it awkwardly. "It's superficial and dodgy, but the council considers me above other youkai. That's what they say, anyway."

'Now I want to punch them, but that's never gotten me many places here in the village. It gets the guards to leave me alone, but that's about it.'

"...This sounds pretty… dismal." Kasen contributed her thoughts on the matter once she was finished with her food.

'There's a reason Kourin kept away once they kicked him out.' Sendai tilted her gaze up to the hermit. '...I'm glad he somehow got a shop despite everything. Sort of ironic considering the village doesn't seem to have ever formally let him back in, other than for supplies. Or so I think.'

...Once she was finished with her food, Sendai focused on Keine as she moved to stand. "I was gonna ask if we could spend the night here, but it doesn't seem like we had a choice."

Smiling, Keine had yet to finish hers. Adjusting herself, she responded. "Aah. Well, you were quite welcome. I was sort of surprised how much of a number Kasen did on you, but she summoned her dragon, so it figured."

'Yeah- what the hell was with that dragon. I'm gonna be really apprehensive whenever I engage anyone now, because it's a fifty-fifty whether or not they're some elder god, dragon tamer, or some lame part-time crook.'

...Rising from his chair, Rinnosuke decided to become part of the conversation. "Did you really have to summon a dragon on us?"

"No." Kasen shook her head with a smile. "I'd just gotten a little… too annoyed. It doesn't usually happen."

"Didn't know Kourin here was so intimidatin' ya needed a dragon ta fight 'em!" Marcus patted the shopkeeper on his shoulder. "Hehe! Kourin the dragon slayer!"

"...You're selling me a little high there." Rinnosuke slowly moved to brush his arm off-

"Would any of you happen to know about that shrine explosion?" Keine questioned the three. She got up herself, beginning to place utensils and trash from the meal onto her plate...

"Yeah, maybe." Rounding the table, Sendai grinned at her inquiry. "Long story short, my family lineage has also come back to life. You saw my mother in the village the other day, maybe?"

...Keine's brows were somewhere between raised and furrowed. "How do you mean? Your mother? I sure felt that holy blast. It knocked me clean out. I was supposed to be teaching that day."

"That was my mother." Sendai confirmed. "...The shrine thing was me, her, Reimu, and grandma."

Rinnosuke pushed his chair in, before leaning into it with his arms. "How'd all the village youkai fare?"

...Overcoming her surprise, the teacher answered him. "Well. Writhing pain and crippling muscle weakness, which lasted until the same time the next day."

She began to move her plate towards the dividing counter in the midst of her main room. "I spent last night couped up in here grading, even on the full moon. The weakness that hit my body was pretty severe, and I'd imagined most of the youkai had to bundle up to hide. The luminescent traces of the holy magic would have given them away for sure."

'Guess I really don't get a good gauge for that blast. Hakurei techniques favor my body and everything, it seems.'

"...Wow." Somewhat taken back, Rinnosuke simply absorbed this. "That's…"

Turning her gaze to the house's front door, Sendai considered what to do today. '...At least I got some things done that could be called training. Those were some pretty good fights, for what they were.'

...She began to turn back towards the table-

Kasen was now before her, bowing with her arms at her sides. "Let me travel with you…!"

...Sendai blinked. 'Ah?'

"You're trying to figure out more about how you died, right? As well as your revival?" Standing up straight, the hermit pressed her palms to one another. "I'd like to help you."

"...How do you- why would you?" Instantly suspect, Sendai propped an arm to her own hip...

"I read about it in the Bunbunmaru too." Kasen responded bluntly to her first question. "I can't let this mystery go unsolved either. There's no reason for me not to take your side, especially when you need it."

At that, Sendai furrowed her brows. "...I need it? Really now."

...Kasen adopted sassy posture of her own. "There are people with way more resources than me in this land, and if you ever find yourself on the bad side of one…"

"I could take you, if you didn't summon a dragon and a… tiger to square off with me." Stepping forward, the miko made her point assertively.

"Your party members were layering me with debuffs." Kasen countered with what came to mind, leaning forward into the miko's advance. "They bought you time whenever you slipped up and needed a breath."

Energy pumped through the maiden as she considered a counter-response. "...Now that I know how you fight, I wouldn't even have to hold back to begin with."

"I never actually used my magic to fight you." Kasen perhaps less than patiently smiled back into her glare. "...I'm sure you've also seen that I know healing magic."

Sendai felt herself freeze.

'...If we had a healer… I wouldn't need to fork out as much money for potions. Especially a powerful hermit healer. That's a damn convincing argument, actually. Plus, she's no slouch in hand-to-hand, and she can summon those really powerful beasts.'

...Sendai shot a glance to her party members-

"Yes- yes, we desperately need a healer." Rinnosuke nodded energetically in the background. "Please say yes."

Marcus was puckering his lips innocently. "...We need a dragon!"

...Letting herself step back from the hermit, Sendai nodded. "Alright. We've been kinda imbalanced without Keine. You can come along."

'She wasn't necessarily a healer, but she was pretty hard-headed. Literally. She knew some good spells.'

"I'm glad you see my worth!" Smiling brilliantly, Kasen brings her arms before herself and places her hands together. "...We're going to get to the bottom of these things, I can promise you that."

"No funny stuff and we'll be alright." With the terms laid out, Sendai finally managed to gaze across the table…

Keine gave her a nod. "Kasen's a good person. From what I've seen."

Kasen turned to her next with a tilted smile. "From what you've seen…?"

"I'll hold the fort here while you guys…" Pausing, the teacher's expression became inquisitive. "What kinds of things have you fought so far?"

"Eirin." Rinnosuke exhaled.

"That butterfly ghost lady wit' the pudding…" Marcus pointed up, half a deck of cards in the hand he used to point.

"Grandma." Sendai's response was also plain.

...Keine grinned. "I'm not sure how that went for you, but I'm kind of glad I wasn't there."

'I wonder how many of those fights were doable- or easier- if we had another hand to throw potions. Hmhm.'

"...I don't know about that." Matching her grin, Sendai looked to her friends. "What do you guys think?"

"She's better off staying here…" Rinnosuke votes against exposing his friend to the horrors of advanced deity combat.

"The world's a nice place." Marcus nodded warmly. "Fulla' hurt!"

With that, the teacher began to move further into the house, past the counter into the living area. ...Looking over the counter, she gestured outward. "Come by anytime you guys like for snacks or food. There's some drinks in the cupboards, too."

"Will do." The miko smiled at her gesture.

SENDAI HAKUREI NO MIKO MODE

FINAL STAGE - Rumbling Bloodlines

The party proceeded from the village gates with a new assortment of potions and renewed vigor.

'Now we can really get down to training. Before that, I should hit up the shrine so no one thinks I've exploded or anything.'

"Next time we get in a fight, summon your dragon so we can end it instantly." Sendai immediately made a request to their new recruit, as they proceeded in the morning's gold glory.

Kasen pouted at her. "His name is Koutei. I also can't so simply summon him to overkill all my disputes, especially if I can handle it more elegantly on my own terms."

'Guess it would be kinda weird to just use a dragon as proxy for you all the time. Still, it'd save a lot of trouble.' Sendai still wanted to curbstomp all her enemies with dragon magic.

'...This is a pretty nice day, too.' She looked up at the few clouds in the sky. 'It makes me want to do things.'

"You guys are awfully quiet…" Kasen turned back to Marcus and Rinnosuke.

Marcus looked up from a small, half-opened cardboard box he was holding, and slipped it behind his back. "Oh- yeah? Well, when ya get old, ya tend ta prefer… observin'. Yeah."

...Rinnosuke's response was more blunt. "I have a lot of experience in standing still and not saying anything. I should've packed a book, for traveling…"

"...I have a field guide to herbs." Kasen offered sympathetically.

...He gave her a nod. "That should do."

'I should probably be reading up on that new chronicle. Should be a section on alien rabbits from the moon in there somewhere now. Hard to keep track of everything when you get beaten to a pulp every fifty meters. Gensokyo has a lot tougher youkai than I remember...'

While her party members mingled, Sendai saw another Hakurei miko drifting down the path to the village…

'Ah. Reimu…'

Reimu softly floated down to greet them. "Hey, mom."

"Hey there." Sendai waved up at her. "Heading to the village?"

"Mmm." She nodded gingerly… "What's Kasen doing, hanging with you…?"

"You know her?" The elder miko looked back at the hermit-

-who was now right beside her. "I've decided to travel with your mother, Reimu. To help her investigate."

...Reimu leaned at her lazily. "Well, have fun with that. And, yeah. She trained me in some general discipline things. It was alright."

"You should be keeping up with them…!" Kasen insisted, still smiling. "I didn't just take you to sightsee with training themes…!"

"I'm not sitting under a waterfall every week." Reimu shook her head…

At that, Sendai jerked her head back. "...Why not?"

...Reimu stared at her blankly.

"After enough of that, you get more acclimated to the cold, you know." Her mother advertised the benefits of waterfall-sitting. "Helps with swimming, too."

Reimu snorted. "I can fly. It kinda makes swimming irrelevant…"

"Do you freak out when you get water in your face?" Sendai interrogated her skills. "'Cause if you do…"

"Well- not that much." Reimu waved off her insistence. "Look- I'm just gonna go pop into the village for some things. I don't need super waterfall sitting powers to do that, I don't think."

Sendai grinned at her. "Well, I wasn't sayin' that. It'd be good for you, is all."

...Reimu gave her a half-hearted nod. "Well, sure. I don't think I'd make it routine, though…"

'The whole point of it is the routine, though…' Sendai just let her eyebrows raise. "...Oh well. I'll yell at you about that kinda stuff later."

Reimu snorted. "...Sure. See ya, mom."

"Oh, yeah, watch out for the village guard." Sendai gave her a wave as she slowly floated off… "They're a little uppity."

"They're always uppity." With that, she began to leave conversing range.

Instantly pivoting around to to the miko, Kasen beamed. "I didn't know you were confident about training…!"

...Sendai began to grin at her. "You think I got these muscles overnight or something?"

'Speaking of training, I really need a good day to just set up a routine again. I don't think that's gonna happen so much while we're investigating this big sprawling mystery.'

The four were still stationary as the result of the new discussion between the two. Marcus leaned over as he continued to fool with that cardboard box in his hands...

"It's just… I was kind of confused by the fact you don't really use Hakurei techniques." Kasen brought her bandaged arm to her chin. "Aside from that powerful laser… and the ofuda."

"Dark magic's pretty good." Sendai held up her arms-

Fwam. Dark energy billowed through them, her skin becoming ink black. "It's really useful, and really suits my style of just pouring a lot of power into things. The only shortcoming of my fighting style in general is that, nowadays… everyone keeps well out of melee range, and are really good at magic and projectiles. ...It's actually really bad."

...Dort of mystified, Kasen panned herself back and forth idly as she conversed. "I was pretty surprised by your dark focus, yes. While you get by with it… haven't you ever considered holy magic?"

...Sendai shrugged, not giving it much thought. "Honestly? Thought that sort of thing was lost for good. Got no idea how Reimu just knew it."

Chuckling a little, Kasen looked sheepish. "Oh. ...I dread to think what would happen if the Hakurei entirely forgot their holy capabilities."

'So did I. Then I learned how to trap stuff, and then once I was able to punch stuff I got really confident.'

"What was your training like?" She questioned her method of gaining power next. "...Nothing holy, I assume."

"Punched trees and bamboo. Push ups. Ran around all day. Some youkai fighting. Ate well sometimes." Her expression became focused. "Climbed the mountain. Sat under waterfalls. Scaled cliffs with jumps and stuff. That's about it."

...With that, the hermit was silent, expression pensive as she brought a hand to her chin.

'It's a really nice day.' The miko focused her gaze on the nearby trees. 'The breeze is flighty. If only I didn't half feel like I got hit by a truck from last night. Sleep did me good, at least-'

"Humans can get this much stronger just by doing that?" It seemed that Kasen almost couldn't believe such a routine. "How long did you do it for?"

"Ten or twenty years. Probably more like twenty." Sendai figured, before articulating her arms a little. "Took me awhile to get the idea, and took even longer to make it work. Great payoff."

"...Ah." Acknowledging this, Kasen proposed an idea. "Would you consider… trying holy magic now, though?"

'Hmm?' Sendai tilted her head. "Perhaps."

Fwoo~sh!

...The two girls looked over at Marcus. His hair was blown back, and the box he was fooling with was now accelerating up into the sky…

He grinned back at the girls, hands now in his pockets. "...It got away."

...Rinnosuke readjusted his glasses. "So it did."

==== Sendai Hakurei no Miko Mode ====

Within a nearby, sunny forest clearing, the four took in the scenery…

They were in a broad, even clearing, surrounded by unassuming trees on all sides, fit with vegatationless branches as winter's onset was almost fully here.

More accurately, the guys took in the scenery while Sendai and Kasen stood in the clearing's midst. Next to them was the rotted, broken lower half a tree that no longer stood, its top having escaped somewhere long ago.

"So…" Kasen held some Hakurei talismans in her non-bandaged arm. "I can't really use these, but I'll hold them to explain. You can manipulate holy somewhat, right?"

'What's up with her bum arm?' Sendai was still curious about the hermit's arm...

"Mmm." Averting her gaze from it, she agreed, her own ofuda brandished. "I can write magic configurations to them, and that's about it. Otherwise, I slap them on youkai I don't like."

"...So you know a couple things." Kasen considered this information… "You've also been playing with wind magic. I remember that from our last fight. Then there's that big laser attack..."

'Holy magic for me's always been very… either zero or one hundred. I can't be precise with it at all.'

"If you play with these talismans… I wonder if you can try and make the magic flow through your body similarly?" Looking the miko over, Kasen proposed an idea for her to try.

...Although she was skeptical, Sendai tried it. 'This isn't gonna work.' Placing ofuda along her arm, she watched them glow, and tried to focus on the magic that empowered them-

"Aah…" She let out a hiss, the ofuda glowing golden. Their energy burned her flesh lightly, black mist leaking from around their borders.

...Once some moments of this persisted, Kasen had a brow raised. "That's an… interesting reaction. How much of that dark magic is innate? It's like they treat you as a youkai."

'I knew this much already. Traditional talismans don't like dark magic. Happens that youkai always are full of dark magic, whether they're dark elemental or not.'

...Drawing her dark magic away from her arms by channeling it into other parts of her body, Sendai checked to see if the ofuda would cease their aggression…

They fluttered off once there wasn't enough dark magic to cling to. 'Hmm.'

"You create the ofuda yourself, so…" Kasen smiled at her. "Is it possible you could run that same magic through your body like that? The holy element that makes them."

'Except, it's like the ofuda almost draw it out of me when I make them. Not sure if I can just...'

...After focusing on her mana for awhile, she tried to channel the ofuda-creating mechanism on her forearm and shoulders instead of her sleeve or hand areas.

Then, she felt the magic simply expel from her form. 'Ah. Hmm…'

...She again tried to focus it around her torso, preventing actual ofuda from forming and instead focusing on making the holy magic bind to her at all; as if pressing it into her skin with just a margin of restraint…

"What…?" Slowly, Kasen's face shifted into one of confused wonder.

...Moments passed, and Sendai opened her eyes after some focusing.

Where she directed energy, rings of luminescent holy magic revolved around her form, akin to bands of a silk web, except only in semi-perfect, whirling revolutions. They were thin, sharp in movement yet gave off a blurry hue of clean, mind-clearing light.

...As the miko moved her arms, the smaller bands that were around those moved with them.

"Your body's actively repelling the holy from latching to your skin…" Temperamentally displaced, Kasen's brows were raised. "But, your focus is still keeping it there… and it's trying pretty hard to attach. It's like watching oil and water try to come together."

'Maybe it can be forced together if I try hard enough.' ...Focusing herself, Sendai tensed her muscles as she tried to force her mana onto the revolving holy rings-

Fwam! The rings burst outward, her form lighting up for just a moment, and then the magic was gone. 'Ah.'

"I've got it…" Holding up one of the ofuda she had, Kasen made a determined face. "Get there again. I'll try to place a talisman on in that one moment the magic lashes out."

'This is gonna be silly.' Doing as she directed, the miko held her arms out again and began messing with the talisman-summoning magic…

Once the holy rings were around her form once again, she readied herself. "...I'm about to make it lash out."

"I'm ready." The hermit nodded…

...After she focused her magic for long enough-

Fwam! The holy energy lashed out again-

Pap! Kasen practically punched her to make the talisman hit her shoulder in time-

Fvhi~r…! As the talisman lit up with neon grey and white energy, she stumbled back. 'Woah. Everything's sorta...'

Violent, uneven currents and shimmers of holy energy had formed a layer over her body, just barely in contact with her skin. This rippling shell exerted strange forces onto her muscles and her balance, causing her to take more pragmatic posture, arms out and legs spread out. 'This makes me feel heavy. It's also in the way of my eyes, a little.'

...Stepping around experimentally, her steps flattened the grass beneath her. She left sandal-shaped imprints in the soil. 'Wow. I'm not sure how to feel about this, but even moving around is kind of a chore.'

"...Huh." Kasen grinned as the miko stomped about. "It's really not reacting well to you, for some reason."

'For some reason, you say…' The miko inadvertently looked dangerous as she stomped around with her arms out. 'Let's try actually moving and not just stumbling…'

Thoom- thoom- thoom! Her stomps were not well-received by the soil beneath, causing small deep gashes to form wherever she stepped. 'Not… much faster. This might actually be good exercise.'

...Crouching down even lower, she tried to leap-

Whoosh! She didn't manage to gain much height, the ground not visibly sinking despite her force.

Thoom! Landing a moment later, ending up ankle deep in the soil, she furrowed her brows. 'My jump was too much for the dirt. That's… something.'

"Try hitting this dead tree, here." Kasen gestured to the broken trunk beside her. "I wanna see if you can do anything like this."

Thoom, thoom, thoom. Lumbering up to the deceased trunk, Sendai prepared to punch it. 'Let's see… how this works?'

Her darkness magic refused to travel any further into her arm. 'Can't channel my darkness like this. This holy magic's really clumsy.'

Attempting to pull her arm for a punch, she only got it halfway up her torso before thrusting it forward tightly-

CRACK! Her fist plowed into the trunk almost effortlessly, the dead wood crumbling in her way. Particles of holy splashed out from the impact, and cracks began to form along the trunk's entire exterior. 'That was a pretty decent result… even if this tree's hollow.'

Unable to command precision from her limbs, she settled for bringing the arm back, and simply tearing forward with her other hand, not even extending it fully as she slammed it into the trunk-

CRA- CRACK! The hollow side of the trunk began to cave in and tip over, falling towards her-

Grabbing onto the modest, shallow tree chunk, the miko stepped back as she held onto it. 'Ah, shit. Well, it feels pretty light, at least. Thought I did something careless, for a moment…'

...After a moment of continued stumbling back as she hugged onto it, she furrowed her brows. 'Hold on, there's not this much tree to push me back…'

"Hrruu~h!" Sendai thrust back-

The shallow, eight or nine foot tall cylinder of dead, mossy wood hurtled into the air before her-

CRACK- THOOM… It completely shattered upon impact with the soil before her, a dusty cloud of must and unhealthy looking mist blooming out of it, before quickly dissipating in the sun's warm rays.

'I didn't even feel that.' Sendai looked down at her limbs, and at the shuddering, rippling surface over them, and in front of her eyes. 'That's some force.'

...Jerking her limbs towards her shoulder, she moved to take off the talisman placed there-

Fwi- fwam! The moment she did, the holy energy was unleashed from her body like a small explosion. 'Woah.'

...Instantly, she felt her knees buckle. "A- ah…?"

'Oh. Feels like I just landed without preparing myself… and now I can feel where the tree scraped my arms a little. Ugh.'

"Are you alright…?" Kasen began to step towards her-

"Fine…" Standing back up, the miko briefly glanced at her legs, before dismissing them. "It's hard to feel things happen. I don't really feel when my limbs hit something. That holy magic turns off my nerves..."

...Kasen considered this as she circled the miko, moving behind her. "Try putting it back on. I wanna test something…"

...Sendai re-attached the now discolored talisman-

Fvhi~r…! Once again, the holy magic reinitialized. 'A- ah…' Sendai hadn't expected it to snap back so quickly, and found herself off balance for a moment.

...Once she was back into her hunched over, primal-looking neutral posture, she looked around-

"Hup!" Arms wrapped around her waist, and Kasen quickly hoisted her up into the air. 'What…?'

Sendai found herself airborne for a moment, before-

THOOM! Her landing created a crater in the ground.

Thud. Sendai flopped onto the side of it. 'Okay…?'

...Stepping up to the miko, Kasen had a hand to her mouth. "Oh- oh dear. Um…"

"What's up?" Sendai couldn't move her legs. 'Hmm?'

"Heal!" Thrusting an arm into the air, the hermit shut her eyes-

Di~ng! A floral pattern reminiscent of a tablecloth formed around the miko-

Fwoa~sh! Healing energy ran through her body. "...Why?" Some moments later, she raised after demanding her legs to comply again. 'Weird.'

"Uu~h…" Kasen smiled at her sheepishly. "Look down?"

...Once she was up, the miko looked down. A small puddle of blood was in the crater she scrambled out of, crimson spattered upon jagged rocks. Curling over, she managed to examine her now ripped hakama pants. "...Oh."

'I think I broke my legs and didn't even feel it.'

"Yeah, um…" With a sheepish smile, Kasen interlocked her fingers. "Don't fall long distances like that. Actually- to get a good grasp of how much it changes your power, try hitting me."

"Okay." With that-

Thoom, thoom, thoom. The miko plodded towards her-

Wham! She tightly, awkwardly shoved a hand into the hermit's abdomen-

Whack! Then, she used her arm to slam into the hermit, which sent her stepping back. "Aah. Well-" Kasen wasn't too affected-

WHAM! Sendai thrust both arms forward awkwardly and amateurishly, almost pushing herself back more than putting leverage forward-

"Eh…!" Kasen stopped herself from falling back after the arms clipped her torso, previously poised arms now awkwardly at her side as she found herself. "That was some force-"

Hurtling towards the hermit, the miko spun around. "Hora~h-"

BAM! "Eyah…!?" Unceremoniously, the slap of two powerful arms sent Kasen sailing onto her back. "Oof…!"

...Sendai had to stop herself from falling onto her, and her balance almost didn't comply. 'Al- alright…'

Kasen had already flipped back around, getting off her knees and onto her legs. "Impressive strength…!"

'This is more than my regular hits actually managed to do to her… and all I'm doing is flailing my arms and falling towards her like an idiot.'

"Now, if you could direct some of that force…" Coming to a similar observation, Kasen began to move towards one of the live, standing trees in the background. "Even a little bit for now. I could understand if you couldn't…"

Thoom, thoom, thoom. Powering towards the tree the hermit came to, Sendai flexed her arms in a futile attempt to get bearings on her strength. 'There's something great but also terrible about being forced to ignore all the precision and care I usually incorporate. My dark magic keeps me from hurting myself and lessens impacts on my skin. I don't even know whether or not this magic's protecting me, since it makes me numb to everything.'

Balling her fist as she came to the tree, she stared at it through the visual clutter. '...Focus, she said, huh.'

Her knuckles white- only the vague pops of her joints giving her any feedback, she tried to channel as much focus and attention into the arm as she could. 'Let's see…'

...The already unstable holy shell began to crackle and spike violently as she tried to infuse it with her natural darkness. 'Wait… and-'

Swinging it a little, she saw the air currents left by her arm sleeves- when the holy shell wasn't awkwardly making them fidget.

Fwi- fwi~sh. Wind began to spiral around her fist and wrist. An unholy purple emanated, coming from within her skin and the core of her limb, making the holy shell boil like lava or a churning sea…

This combination also brought pain to the forefront of her mind, able to feel the vague burn that was the three elements becoming one right on her flesh. 'Okay!'

Tho- thoom! Stomping into the ground, she reeled her arm back. "Haa~h…!"

Able to tell the arm's positioning from the bright glare and whips of wind that came off of it- and the pain- she lugged it forward in a straight thrust towards the tree.

'It's like I'm wearing a big coat, heavy pants, gloves and boots. It's so hard to feel anything like this…'

CRACK! Her fist punctured the tree's hull-

FWHAM- BOO~M! A moment later, the air she'd gathered had decompressed into a shockwave, and a piercing dark bolt flared from her hand, visible through the tree's other side.

...When the visual clutter had dissipated adequately, the tree began to fall forward, the massive hole left in its solid hull compromising it entirely. 'Oh shit.' As it fell, the miko brought an arm back-

BAM! The falling tree stopped for a moment as she reflexively punched it with a clean jab, her muscles in overdrive to make it happen nearly fluidly.

BA- BAM! BAM! BAM! Gritting her teeth- for reasons not yet clear to her- she worked her body to send overhead, frantic punches at the tree. Her fists glowed with blinding holy light as she slowly slapped her arms towards the hulking lumber…

Quickly, the tree's broadness began to crack and crumble from the repeated hits, the damage spider-webbing along the bark. The more immediate hits chipped away the exterior, sending inner strands raining out.

After enough of this, she tried to simply push against it, and quickly found it winning that battle. 'Fuck-'

Kasen slid up under it, and began to push with her. "Aha~h…!"

Her aid quickly made it become a standstill.

"Try… try punching it again." Curiously comfortable beneath the tree, Kasen offered the miko an opportunity to wail on it. "With that combined punch…!"

'How's she holding it just fine without me…?' Ignoring the hermit's impossible strength, the miko stepped back…

Fwi- fwi~sh. As the wind spiralled around her arms once again, she channeled darkness there until the result was violent and visible.

Once the light blared with a blinding glare and the dark's unholy, purplish tint, she knew the magic was ready to support her next thrust. 'The pain part almost doesn't hurt, since I can hardly feel anything in reference…'

Reeling the arm back, she lobbed it with excessive force towards the slanted trunk, meeting it diagonally-

FWHAM- THUNK! The big tree jerked up and slid down suddenly and randomly, the force kicking it. It met the dirt next to the stump loudly, kicking some of it up. Then, it began to tilt over the cracked stump, eager to fall on the two again-

Sendai and Kasen were able to step out of the way of it now, though.

THOO~M. The clearing was filled with the foliage of the fallen tree, and the ground let a brief vibration meet the girl's forms...

There laid the cracked, cratered, and now soon to be deceased mighty Japanese maple.

Fwi- fwa~m. Unequipping the talisman again with a single, silly jerky motion, the shrine maiden dismissed the holy energy. '...That's pretty alri- oww~!'

Instantly, she looked down at her sore hand, the splintering pain slowly fading in. 'What the- holy shit…'

Her left hand, which she'd used for both combination punches and general battery against the tree, now had an assortment of afflictions. Grey stone marred some of it, while in other places seared blood and exposed flesh were accented with black, crystalized rocks. 'I can… see some of my knuckles. The bone. Ow- shit...'

"Heal." Kasen waved her arm towards the miko-

Di~ng! Once again, the pretty pink pattern bloomed around her-

Fwoa~sh! ...As she healed, the crystalline chunks and stone pieces began to drop from her hand, exposing empty cysts of flesh and blood. Finally, the flesh began to regrow and the indents filled in...

"W~ow…" Letting out a hiss, the miko watched the empty craters in her flesh fill. "What the fuck…?"

"...I hadn't expected you to try something like that." Kasen admitted, watching the skin heal with her. "The results were interesting…"

"Interestingly painful." Sendai retorted…

'This would be outright self-destructive without constant healing, but with Kasen here it should be alright.'

...Once her hands had stopped hurting enough for her to stop focusing on them exclusively, she began scanning the clearing…

"We're gonna have firewood fer weeks!" Marcus had rounded the foliage with Rinnosuke, and was leisurely sauntering towards the two girls…

"Sure." Sendai dismissed his comment promptly. "...I don't think you saw it, but, you know anything about those stones that fell out of my hand?"

Marcus rose a brow and grinned. "Stones…?"

Bending down, Kasen claimed a few from the dirt. "Here they are." Standing again, she proceeded up to him.

Without even touching them, he nodded in recognition. "Oo~h! Aah, villagers come ta me all the time 'bout the gray stuff. Priests that is. Not surprised ta see the black shards either…"

"Why'd it form when I punched a tree?" Looking her hand over one more time, she questioned him.

"Pro'lly 'cause your little dark 'n' holy experiment made the elements go haywire." Coming closer, he looked the hand over himself, and looked back at the stones. "Mmm. Holy can solidify flesh- 'specially when it's left unchecked and goes super hot."

"Super hot…?" The term made the miko think. "I didn't feel any burning. Hurt, but that's different."

"Holy an' dark don't get hot the way like… fire up an' does. Fire's just… sorta always alchemically violent, meanwhile holy an' dark're more or less the most unnatural of the typical suspects. I mean hot in a sorta… technical sense, I guess ya could say. Ah right- what I mean's an elementally- 'er maybe chemically- violent state. The two were all stirred up so they acted real pure, which is destructive." All of this said, he brought a hand to his beard… "Tha' holy shell thing ya had goin' on pro'lly grilled yer hand good, in both flavors!"

...Sendai absorbed this information plainly. "Uh… huh. So…"

He grinned and held up his arms. "Basically…! Hot pan, meet cold water, an' you were the guy dunkin' the pan into the water!"

"I see…" She nodded at him. "So the magic became hyperactive, and my skin didn't fare well."

"Basically!" Satisfied with that understanding, he began to turn… "Alri~ght…!" ...Then, he turned back to the party. "Where was it we were goin' again…?"

Sendai snorted. "We're heading to the shrine."

'I think we've prepared enough for right now. It'd be nice to stop in there for a moment, both to make sure my ancestors aren't doing anything spooky, and get a good bearing of the place. I haven't really spent a lot of time there since I came back… and we could use a moment to think about what to investigate next. We've gotten a little sidetracked with this training stuff, even if this kind of thing's really important.'

"...Your folks aren't going to destroy me or anything, right?" Rinnosuke didn't feel like getting exterminated. "I'm guessing that you've talked that over with them…"

...Sendai stared at him for a ginger moment, before giving him a nod. "Yeah, sure."

"I'm interested to see these Hakurei…" Her response more plain, Kasen proceeded ahead of the three. "If things are as you say… I'm sure we'll find some answers soon."

'If you say so.'

==== Sendai Hakurei no Miko Mode ====

...Arriving at the top of the shrine stairs, the party came towards the closed shrine door. 'This overcast set in rather quickly. Still feels pretty nice out though.'

Sliding the door open, she moved ahead of her party into the main room.

Suika was passed out beneath a kotatsu that wasn't there before. At the back of the room, blocking the rear exit was Kiyoko's throne, with the shrine maiden in question seated upon it. Her oppressive stare reached Sendai from across the room. 'Do you always need to look like someone kicked your dog in front of you…?'

...Once she stopped in the room's midst, her party filled in behind her…

Rinnosuke felt it best not to say anything, so he kept behind the miko he knew.

Marcus casually held his arms behind his back…

Kasen wasn't immediately sure what to make of the seated Hakurei before her.

"An' then I-..." From the floor, Suika spoke a sentence fragment. "Aah…"

"Hi." Sendai decided to break the ice, seeing as Kiyoko wasn't in the mood to.

Kiyoko's gaze shifted across her party members, from the mage, to the shopkeeper, then to the hermit…

"So u~m…!" Marcus felt brave enough to break the ice. "How ya doin'!? I'm from the uh… the village!"

Kiyoko promptly ignored him. Her gaze was locked on the hermit still…

Kasen was still very unsure of how to proceed from here. "...You know, um, Tsukiko-"

"How ironic." Only now did Kiyoko speak, interrupting her.

...Then, she let the room become silent again.

Sendai didn't care for this. "Speaking's an important part of talking to people, you know."

"That another one of the oni would march into here. Alongside a shrine maiden, even. It's been some time since such an event could be so casually repeated." Her low stare didn't falter from the hermit's form. "It has been a long time, Ibaraki."

...Sendai very quickly put two and two together. 'Another oni? ...I mean, that would explain the super strength.'

"...Hello… Kiyoko." Deciding to cut her losses, Kasen spoke to her head on. "Yeah. One hundred thirty years, to be exact…"

"You carry yourself differently now." Kiyoko tilted her head up a couple degrees, which was worth mentioning. "I almost didn't recognize you."

"Tha' truth come out…" Suika wiggled from the floor. "Does Ka~sen is oni…?"

Advancing further into the room, Sendai made for the kotatsu casually… "You guys know each other?"

"Ibaraki here was among the sages present for the founding of Gensokyo." Kiyoko watched her move to sit down. "If you hadn't known that."

"Probably not." The miko admitted. "The agony."

'Aa~h. You can't just see a kotatsu and not use it for a little...'

"...I've been guiding the last of the Hakurei." Kasen brought up her first point sedately-

"That would make sense." Kiyoko seemed to inhale, rising in her seat…

'This should be fun to listen to.' Sendai leaned into the kotatsu…

"After we took the mountain, and your kind went your ways, your half-hearted sentiment was unforgettable." Laying into her, Kiyoko's stare seemed to shift into a glare, gradually… "I turned down your consol once, and yet you persist, so intently. What an inhuman drive to see your end through."

"I waited…!" Kasen spread her arms slightly as she confronted the seated miko. "It was only in these recent years that I've even acted, and not only had you perished for nearly a century by then, but your clan was no longer what it once was. Gensokyo was and is no longer what it once was."

"You see my sentiment corrupted and lost, and your response is to capitalize." Kiyoko remarked simply.

Kasen's brows furrowed. "It's not that simple!"

Crouching down as if he was wading through a war zone, Rinnosuke came up on the kotatsu too…

Marcus crawled alongside him. "Gee~sh. Stiffer than the stiffs back home…!"

"...I'm not trying to be petty." Kasen glanced away for a moment, before meeting her stare again. "But, Gensokyo has… so much potential. As a home, a land of its own, and a place… where everyone can feel safe. I'm not-… I was wrong back then. But… I know that Gensokyo is better off without you."

...

'Holy shit.' Sendai grinned in anticipation.

...At Kiyoko's level stare, the miko let out a snort, and resisted openly chuckling. 'How can she just sit there with that face of hers…?'

"I don't want peace. I want war." Kiyoko announced. "I will not stop until every last youkai has been exterminated. Including you."

Kasen's mouth was agape.

"When the Hakurei are done here… we were to sail to a million lands." Kiyoko tilted her head as she considered this… "However, the outside world has changed, to my immediate knowledge. I'll simply have to see for myself."

"You're not… going there, are you?" Kasen shook her head at her. "You can't."

"I won't." Kiyoko confirmed, to her relief. "I will not set foot outside this barrier until it is done."

'Daily reminder that we should probably do something about grandma at some point.' Sendai simply had her brows raised… 'As badass as she is, it'll stop being amusing once she goes on a rampage and riles tensions up again. Or, heaven forbid, drops the barrier and exposes us to the seven billion outsiders...' She wasn't thrilled by the humans in the village to begin with.

...Marcus spoke quietly to the miko. "Your grandma's crazy…!"

Kiyoko panned her gaze to the kotatsu. "On the topic of youkai, I'm curious about the one you brought with you, Tsukiko. The one that isn't a sage."

...Sendai stared up at her plainly. "Yeah?"

...Kiyoko held her arm up beckoningly to try and goad her into saying more.

While this sentiment reached the miko, she pretended to not know. 'I'm trying to get an idea through to you.'

"Who is he." Tired of waiting, Kiyoko asked the obvious question.

"He's a shopkeeper." Sendai met her bluntness with more of the same.

"And why does he follow you?" Rolling with this answer, Kiyoko pressed…

"He helps me fight youkai." The miko was sure there was no way this could go wrong.

"...A shopkeeper, who fights youkai, and… is a youkai." Kiyoko seemingly sought confirmation for this series of attributes. "Who has chosen to ally himself with a Hakurei miko, whose job is specifically to exterminate youkai."

...Sendai blinked, before nodding. "Yeah. He's a half-youkai, you know."

"Half a human is no human to me." Kiyoko gave the shopkeeper a frown.

'...Well. Okay.'

"It's not like he could kill me if he tried." Sendai reasoned with her. "...Or anyone else, for that matter."

Rinnosuke snorted from his seat-

"His company may not be a fatal error, but his life is evidence of how far the unguided people have fallen. He is the rot from the onset of pestilence." Kiyoko stared down at him as she made this remark. "...I wouldn't put it past him to be the precursor to any number of mysterious inconveniences, either. So too would you have it between the ignorant and maliceful."

"...I don't even live in the village, anymore." Rinnosuke shook his head at her, giving her a frown. "You don't know me."

Kiyoko had nothing to say to that, her gaze towards him unchanging.

'Not even a point in arguing with her.' Shaking her head, Sendai stared down at the kotatsu…

...Sliding out from her seat and sitting up, Suika scratched her head. "Yer always such 'a buzzkill, y'blade-swingin' arm-chair general…"

Drawing her gourd, the little oni tilted her head back-

"Ghk- mmgh- mmh…" Chugging it down, streams of sake spilled from her cheeks as she inhaled the alcohol. "Fwa~h…!"

...Her cheeks a few tints rosier, she gave the miko a warm smile. "Only~ time ya good fun is when yer fightin'! Leapin' an' swingin', an' tha' thrusty attack…"

Sendai grinned at her grandmother. "So why haven't you kicked her out yet?"

"It's going to take nothing short of a ritual." Dissatisfied, Kiyoko shook her head... "Above that, she's sedate enough to not be the most immediate priority."

...Once the maiden's words had settled- as they always required a thick silence as a natural result- Suika turned to size up Kasen… "Looks li~ke ya whole pacifisha' thing ain't workin' out…"

Stirred from her thoughts, Kasen looked away from the nearby shrine wall and focused on her. "What? ...What do you mean?"

"I~ saw ya sic tha' pet drago~n a' yers on the village!" Suika beamed as she waddled over towards the taller oni. "Had enuff 'a their shit, ah?"

...Sendai looked over at Kiyoko, who seemed to clutched her chair at this information.

Cringing at the delivery, Kasen sighed… "We- well… I didn't really mean to-"

"Oo~ hahaha~!" Suika let out loud laughter. "Ya- ya didn' mean ta!? Ooh- sorry 'bout tha' flower pot rack 'a yours! Accshadentally shummoned ma' dragon! Have it fixed up 'n' a jiff!"

"Unforeseen circumstances came up, okay…!?" Kasen frowned down at her fellow oni… "And I didn't exactly use it on the villagers."

"Didn' exactly!? Hahaha~!" Suika slowly collected herself again… "Aw yeah. Bet them villagers thou' it a real unforesheen shercumshtance. Yeh."

"Can you not like… nngh." Kasen shook her head further at her own attempt to silence her boisterous friend. "Y'know you're making me look like a real idiot here?"

Suika grinned up at her. "...Y'mean yer not?"

Kasen glowered back in turn, and it tickled her. "Huhahaha~! Ah- I'm joki~n'! Sure it ain't no sweat anyhow! Y'take one look a' miss metal tits o'er there, an' tell me she ain't undressin' ya where ya stan'...!"

...After giving Kiyoko a mixed look, Kasen frowned back down at Suika. "Alright. Mmm."

...At her sudden lack of engagement, Suika paused too. "...'Alrigh' mmm', is it taday? Y'turnin' off and runnin' off… again?"

"...I'm not going anywhere right now." Once again reserved, she answered concisely.

"We~h. Yer always like this, now…" Twirling her gourd around, Suika tilted her head. "Tryin'a be all shrew~d, tryin'a fool people ta thinkin' ya ain't no oni. Hell, maybe you ain't."

"This is why I stay away from you." Kasen retorted simply.

...After lingering closer, Suika thrust her arms forward to push her-

"Ngh…" Kasen let herself drift into the air, flipping around to stop her momentum. "I'm not going to fight you. Just-"

"We're going to fight you." Sendai raised from the kotatsu and stepped out around it, cracking her knuckles.

"Oho~h…!?" Suika beamed at the miko who stood against her. "Hehe~y, sh'the big miko~!"

...Landing, Kasen whipped her head to the miko. "Um. No… no we're-"

Bam. Bam. "Sh'bout time." Suika pounded her fists together a couple times, the smacks audible. "I've been fixen ta fight you even since I first saw ya…"

"First, we go outside." Sendai gave her some terms. "No damaging the shrine."

"Both 'a you, now." Suika pointed both her arms at them, one for Kasen and one for Sendai. "...An' none 'a these silly boys. They'd only gheh in the way." She gestured to Marcus and Rinnosuke. "Unless ya need 'em ta layer me in shtupid shit ta even have a fightin' chance! Hahaha~!"

"We'll be fine on our own." With this declaration, the miko began to move outside. "C'mon, Kasen."

"But, but…" Stepping after her, the oni was trying hard to object to this. "Tsukiko- wait…!"

==== Sendai Hakurei no Miko Mode: Suika Ibuki ====

...The two girls reached the bottom of the shrine steps. Suika had already rolled down the side of the hill, and was inhaling sake as she lied on her back nearby.

"Mmgh- nnh…" While she lazily gargled down beer, she rolled onto her side, resting her head on an arm. "Too~k yah long enuff…"

"We don't have to fight." Kasen leapt from the steps very early-

Boom! -and touched down hard before the oni.

...At Suika's continued leisure, Kasen repeated herself. "Did you hear me? We don't have to-"

"I~ hear ya~..." The little oni slurred from her comfy nook in the grass. "Y'do~n wan' getcha' cute lil grass tabbard all di~rty."

...Upon reaching the bottom, the miko took in a breath. 'She's an oni… but, Kasen's an oni too. I mean, me plus one oni, against another oni; this should be pretty easy. Numbers and power.' She gave the little one a closer stare… 'She's looks pretty young. That… probably means she's especially powerful. That seems to be how it works now.'

Slowly, Suika wobbled to a stand, looking unsure of her footing. "Hehe~. Well, I kno~w how mu' ya love tha' tabbard, an' I know how mu~ch yer… poli~te shiviltiesh mean ta ya."

...Kasen exhaled. "Um. Are you trying to say we don't have to fight…?"

"Hell no!" Energy snapped into the oni, and she reeled an arm back. "I'm sayin' all that don't mean jack shit!"

WOOSH. Suika threw a huge overhead punch with her tiny arm, her whole body thrown into it. Kasen slid back and away…

"...You really…" Frowning at the oni before her, Kasen held up her fists. "Why can't we just talk!?"

"Ha!" With an almost incredulous face, Suika bellowed back at her, gourd tight in one hand and her other in a fist. "Words, wo~rds, words. Ya'd think wit' how many books ya read, ya'd know s'more ta a conversation than fancy words ta hide behind! 'Er maybe, tha's the otha' way 'roun'..." Looking lost for a moment, Suika looked to the side, before shaking her head and slapping on a grin, her chained ornaments dangling. "I'mma beat ya up, 'cause ya pissed me off!"

Crack. Cracking her one arm's knuckles, Kasen adopted aggressive footing. "If there's no other way…"

Sendai had her arms up, ready. 'I haven't really had a need to quarrel with oni. It takes a lot of care, normally…'

...Her eyes meeting the shrine maiden, Suika began to beam. "He~y. Y'ever tangle wit' an oni 'fore?"

"...Once or twice." Sendai kept her response concise.

Nodding her head exaggeratedly, Suika held up her gourd. "Hehehe~. A'right, lemme jus' take a swig 'a my 'lixer here…" Tilting her head back, she took one big gulp. "Mmgh…"

...Sendai took this moment to lower her guard slightly. 'She shouldn't be too hard to lure around. She's hammered off her-'

Ripping the gourd from her mouth, Suika tilted her whole body forward-

FWOO~M! A jet of flames roared from between her lips as she held her mouth open, a swath of flames stretching to meet the miko. 'Woah holy shit…!'

Bam! Snapping her limbs up to block the flames, Sendai felt herself slammed by the fire itself, sent sliding across the soil-

"Engh…" Rolling onto her back and flipping back up into a standing position, she stared down at her flaming sleeves. 'Fire…!'

"Ooo~hahaha~!" Guffawing gloriously from the hill's base, Suika began to march forward. "Hoho- ya fell for the ol'est trick in tha' book! Ooh, this's gonna be fun!"

Spla- splash… Flailing around a vial of magically generated holy water, Sendai quickly extinguished the violent flames...

"Suika!" Yelling at her fellow oni, Kasen moved into the way. "Really!?"

"Ge' outta my way!" Suika practically fell forward towards her, before entirely losing her balance-

BOOM! A wake of rocks and dirt kicked up as Suika slid across her stomach towards her-

"Hup…!" Sailing over her, Kasen held her arms down. "Gaia Bloom!"

Fwoa- fwoa- fwoash. Airy, musty sigils of earth magic lit up around Suika's form.

As the little oni stood up again, she snorted. "Oo~h… huhaha~! Ya little candy ass drowsy magic ain't gonna work on me! Here's a real spell!"

WOOSH- WOOSH- WOOSH. Rolling her arm back repeatedly, it began to glow with amber light-

FWIIOO~SH! What she lobbed made Sendai furrow her brows. 'What's that…? It's eating light…'

Sounding akin to a falling mortar, it accelerated to an awkward stop before Kasen as she dove out of the way-

KABOOM! The black hole exploded into a huge blast of flaming orbs and rippling air. Once the magma-esque gush of orbs plodded into the floor with all the grace of anvils, they became a house-tall inferno…

Standing along the side of the blaze, Kasen clapped her hands once. "Tornado~!"

FWOO~SH! Sendai stepped back, as a similar-sized whirlwind enveloped the small oni, throwing her clothes about.

"Oo~h…!" In the loud, raging wind, Suika spun around as her balance betrayed her-

Gliding her hands along an invisible pane, Kasen barked another spell. "Spectrum!"

Fwishishi~ng… A rainbow-colored vortex expanded around Suika's form-

The blow it incurred- if any- didn't seem to have any active effect on Suika's form as she spun around. 'This… is gonna be tricky to even jump in on. I can hardly see what's going on in there.'

Suika finally tipped over-

KROO~M! On her impact with the ground, a massive grey blade of stone erected from the soil beneath Kasen. "Ah…!"

As it slowly continued to erect, Sendai ran into the dying whirlwind to engage the oni. 'If she's casting that big thing, she's vulnerable…!'

The wall-esque, crude blade of stone had risen to about tree size, standing rigidly where Kasen used to be.

Kasen herself was now floating down beside it, only a little scuffed. "What was that?"

Suika sat up in the crater she was in. "Aa~h. Ha~h, yeah, the rocks up 'ere kinda suck don' they…"

Bam! Sendai's sandal met the back of Suika's head.

...Suika slowly turned to look up at the miko. "Oh, there ya are! Though' I scared ya off!"

'Not even a reaction…' The miko began to step back-

WOOSH- WOOSH- WOOSH… "Where ya goin'!?" Snapping into a standing position, Suika rolled her arm back once again. "Le's fight!"

FWISHOO~! She lobbed the unnatural black hole-esque projectile forward.

'What…!?' It flew forward, accelerating past Sendai faster than she thought possible of it.

Boom! She stomped against the ground, whirling ahead of the soon to explode mortar lob-

"Think fasht!" Suika lobbed her arm a second time, and a ball of fire as big as her spawned from it, soaring linearly out towards the miko.

'Ah…!' She channeled her darkness to her limbs as it silently flew to meet her-

KABOOM! Sendai shut her eyes for a moment, the orb meeting her entire body as an explosion. "Ahu-"

KABOO~M! The mortar exploded behind her, as she flew back-

BAM- BOOM- BOOM- BAM! Each napalm-esque clump of fire magic became a violent reaction of its own, the miko sent hurtling over the blaze as she curled up into a ball. "Nh- ha~h…!"

As she burned and the world spun around her, she searched her sleeves feverishly for water and a yin-yang orb. 'Ooh- nh- sh- should be able to stop spinning-'

Kasen caught her mid-air, holding the miko upside down. "Stay strong!"

Di- di~ng…! A complex, floral vector pattern expanded twofold around the burning miko-

Fwoa~sh! She felt her flesh regenerate as she burned. "Hh- aa~nh…!"

'Wha- what even got hurt…?' Pain blossomed across her body in tandem with the healing sigil's pleasure and the unique sting of counter-burning. 'Fu~ck…'

The miko felt herself get planted onto her feet, and stumbled to stand. "Wh- well, okay…"

"My healing magic has blessing properties." Kasen informed her. "Once that fire goes out, it should stay out…"

'Once it goes out!? You mean-' Drawing a holy molotov, Sendai chucked it into the air. "Hyd- Hydro Storm!"

Kra- koom! Once the molotov was obscured by the day's light above, clouds snapped in at the miko's request…

Pap- patat- pss~h… Sizzles and thumps were emanated from all around her, as the rain began.

The infernos Suika made began to dim, as she marched through one to reach the two girls. "Heheheh. Tha' fact ya needed ta heal meansh, ya already lost!"

Sendai exhaled. The throbbing, blistering sensation of burns still speckling her body as the holy water put her out. 'If what she says is true, this fire magic should be less of a problem now. I didn't expect an oni to use magic at all…'

Once the miko looked stable enough, Kasen patted her on the back. "Make sure you don't get hit."

'Fucking, sure.' Sendai shot her a dry glare-

WOOSH- WOOSH- WOOSH. Suika rolled up another mortar toss. "Pai~n train! Comin' ri~ght up!"

Sendai waited…

Suika threw her arm-

She sprinted towards the oni. 'Now-'

BWOMP. The black hole mortar slipped out of the oni's hands, awkwardly whirling in place above her without going anywhere. "Whoops!" She grinned at her error-

Expanding a yin-yang orb, Sendai slid to a stop well before the blast radius-

KABOO~M! The mortar blew, a geyser of magma-esque orbs raining down before the miko-

Sliding out from the blaze, Suika had her head tilted back and rested upon one arm, chugging from her gourd as she reclined and moved at the same time-

Bam- bam! Sendai punched the orb she'd used to defend towards the oni. On impact, all it did was tilt her head back.

Her gourd flew from her mouth, but it hung to her neck by a thick, white rope. "Hoo~!" Her mouth was still open wide as she leaned back…

Taking a look around, Sendai saw Kasen running up-

Suika thrust her entire upper body forward, faceplanting her head into the floor before herself-

BAM. "Agh!?" The gourd whipped over her head in the process and slammed into Sendai's-

THUD. "Nhn…!" -in turn slamming her into the mud face-first by the impact's force. 'Holy… shit.'

BAM! Kasen's leg met Suika's head as she rose it back up, sending the little oni sliding away. "This is stupid!"

THOO- THOO- THOOM. Suika snapped back into standing, stumbling with inhuman speed to a ground-shaking stop. "Yo~'re shtupid!"

...Plastered with holy mud, Sendai glared up at the oni as she rose again. 'She's... right; this is fucking stupid…'

While the two oni stared one another down again, the miko wiped mud from her face. 'If regular hits don't work, speedier but weaker hits sure as hell won't either. Then, there's that holy talisman…' She grimaced at her tattered sleeves...

WOOSH- WOOSH. Suika began to wind her arm up again-

BAM! Closing the distance, Kasen delivered a palm to her face. "Not again…!"

"Hah…!" The blow sent the small oni reeling back on one heel… "Jus' now showin' yer claws…"

She sprang back-

BAM- BAM! Both of Kasen's palms thrust into her face as the small oni moved to headbutt her gut-

BOOM! "Ugh…!" Kasen staggered back, her arms and legs giving at the oni's headbutt anyway-

BAM- BAM! The smaller oni flailed into her friend's legs with two slap-esque blows, staggering her back further. As she began to slip and stumble-

BOOM! "Ngh…" Kasen's head tilted back as the result of an abrupt uppercut, and she began to slide sadly to the ground-

BOOM- THOO~M…

Suika fell over after her uppercut. There mere force of her body slamming down knocked Kasen back up into a standing position, allowing her to slide away with an enduring look... "Re- really…"

Fvhi~r…! Equipping her holy talisman, Sendai unevenly took towards the fallen oni like an animal, hunched and primal. 'Let's see how this works…' The moment she equipped it, the serious headache and throbbing burns went away, as did her bodily awareness as a whole.

"Cure!" Kasen thrust her arm up-

Fwoa~sh! Her body glowed as healing energy coursed through it…

Suika sprang into a standing position-

Woosh! Turning her back to the miko, she snapped up towards her position with unbelievable velocity, stumbling fast enough to kick mud in her wake, her chains rattling akin to a bicycle with the ferocity they shook as she came-

Sendai slammed her limbs forward on impulse. "Ha~h!"

Fvhou- fvhou- fvhou! Sparks and fluctuations of uneven, randomly dispersed holy magic slammed into Suika as she whirled to face the miko. "Whoa~h!"

PLAP- PLAP! Stepping back in the mud, Suika felt at her arm, holy magic flooding her system. "Hoohehe~! Some freak out ya had-"

Pap! The miko thrust her left palm into the oni's gut, but Suika only slid back in the mud-

BAM! Countering with a jab at nothing, the oni's gourd slid forward through the air and pounded Sendai's nose, rattling her head and disorienting her vision. 'It's fine…!' Wincing from the implied pain, she brought an arm up to flail-

Suika had closed the distance to retrieve her gourd, even though it was tied to her hand by a string-

Wham! "Hoo~!" Suika flew into the air, letting the slap carry her. "Where'd tha' come from!?"

Feeling confident in this change in tempo, Sendai scrambled after her-

"Spectrum!" Kasen whirled up behind her, staying behind the miko-

Fwishishi~ng. "Wau…"Suika's momentum was halted in the air by the rainbow-colored beacon that erupted from her form… "Dinky tirin' magic…"

THOOM. Touching down unceremoniously and shaking the ground, she reeled up her fist. "Y'never learn…"

Still shambling up to her like an awkward doe, Sendai nearly fell onto her arms, before springing off the ground-

Pap! She jabbed a shimmering, bright fist into the oni's face-

Frowning, Suika threw her one fist forward-

BOOM- BOOM- BOOM!

"Aa- aah…" Sendai felt herself step back, after her entire body vibrated from the gut blow-

"Eah- ow, ow…" Kasen was on the ground behind her. "Ble- bless!"

Di- di~ng! The floral pattern formed around herself, as she scrambled back…

While the pink-haired woman behind her healed, Sendai rigidly trodded forward. 'I... feel weird…'

Suika's eyebrows were raised. "Hoho, wo~w…! I a~h… thought ya were gonna do a pussy teleport outta tha'. Good on ya!"

...Sendai jerked her entire body to look behind herself-

A splatter of blood was on Kasen's form, and Kasen herself was singed, clothes burning and body charred. Beneath her, a line of solidified mud left a trail of the force of Suika's explosive punch.

...Knees buckling, Sendai kneeled down involuntarily. 'What's-'

"He- heal!" Kasen practically fell towards her. "Heal, heal…!"

Fwoa- fwoash! Uneven, sloppy pulses of colorless healing energy penetrated the miko's form, and she found strength in her limbs again. 'What the fuck's going on!?'

...Suika blinked her eyes, and from a glance Sendai could tell her lids were heavier now than before. 'Is she getting tired…?'

...Popping a grin, Suika took this idle moment to pop open her gourd again. "A'right. Chee~rs!" Tilting her head back, she chugged. "Mmgh- mmgh, nnh…!"

"Heal more!" Kasen's hands were on the miko's sides-

Fwoa- fwoash, fwoash…! Clumsy clouds of white, luminescent magic surrounded the two as they healed together unceremoniously.

Gulp, gulp, gulp… Quieter now, Suika focused entirely on her gourd for the moment.

Sendai stood again, the waterfall of blood from her torso ending. "So- so… ho- how ba- bad was it?"

"It wasn't. You're fine." Kasen's reply didn't instill confidence in the miko. "Um- stop her from drinking!"

"Fwa~h…" Parting the gourd from her lips, Suika beamed at the miko before herself with new vitality, her eyes surprisingly alert for being hammered. "Sto~p me from whoa~h?"

Kasen sprang to Sendai's side. "Use water on her! One of those glass things now!"

Sendai reached for her sleeves clumsily. 'Okay…!?' After missing twice, she managed to get her hand in-

"Wha's tha difference…" Pouring a stream of sake into her hand unevenly, Suika held it up for everyone to see, some of it spilling everywhere. "Batween you 'an me?"

Sendai drew her holy molotov with a tight grip-

Like this, the molotov had a yellowish, golden coloration instead of the lighter blue it usually had.

'Let's just item crash it…!' In anticipation of whatever the oni planned, Sendai thrust this new, more bulbous bottle up. "Elixir of Life!"

She cast it into the air-

Woo~sh… From above, a column of golden light shined over her-

Shi~ng! Then, it was gone. '...Wha- what?'

...Looking up, she saw a halo over her head. 'You're fucking kidding me.'

Baring her teeth, Suika flung her open hand forward-

FWA- BAM! The handful of sake particles hit the miko like a shotgun spread, sending her onto her back. "Wo- woah…"

'Shit, this isn't good…' Rolling over, she scrambled back up-

"Manzairaku!" Kasen kneeled, pressing her palm into the floor.

"Ya shtill dunno!?" Suika stepped forward with actual steps, her fists glowing with red hot power-

FWUU~SH! "Uwah!?" Then, she was thrown off her balance, because a seal erupted from the mud beneath her.

Boi~ng! She'd tried to retaliate, but her arm met a beach ball that'd erupted under her, and the force of it simply sent her sailing into the air. "Wohoaa~h…!"

...Kasen let out a shuddering sigh. "Tha- thank you, Manzairaku."

"Arh, arh…?" The seal looked over towards her casually, the clear blue water it rested in visibly out of place from the actual floor.

"Renew!" She flicked an arm out as she rushed up to the shrine maiden. "Also- move, from above!"

Fwoa~sh. The doile-esque healing spell engulfed Sendai's form, and she snapped her gaze up…

...FWSHIOO- SHIOO- SHIOO~...! Black holes began to descend from the air above, raining down on the dirt and grass around the two girls-

Manzairaku the seal descended into his water pool, which closed out of existence.

'Oh, shit…!' Sendai quickly turned away, realizing what this meant-

KABOOM- BOOM- KABOOM- BOOM- BOOM! She and Kasen ran in the opposite direction, as a small tidal wave of magma-esque danmaku gushed from the earth, Suika's black hole mortars rending the path before them.

'I thought this was just gonna be a really dumb fist fight!' Sendai ran as dirt and rock fountained up behind them, propelled by flames and chaos...

"Gather Sign!" As Suika descended, she held her arms up. "Mount Togakushi Toss!"

'Danmaku's so much easier to deal with than-'

KROOM- CRAM- BAM- KROOM! The massive stone blade she erected earlier broke into many smaller boulders, and all of the rocks and fallen trees from this day and previous days of combat snapped into her grasp within a single, loud second.

'You're… shitting me.' Her gaze met the shrine-sized boulder of doom.

WOOSH. The ball of cobblestone sailed forward with scary might-

Sendai curled up into a ball-

Kasen leapt into Sendai's way-

KROOM- BOO~M! As soon as it struck the ground before them, Kasen was slammed into the miko. "Engh!"

...THUD! Sendai was squished against a tree somewhere well far from the shrine's grounds. 'Oni are this powerful…!?'

...Kasen almost fell from her after a moment, before taking a breath. "Bless…"

Di- di~ng! The pink and white, floral magic beset her form once more as she stumbled forward, clothes tattered and hair unkempt.

Fwoa~sh. While the energy audibly restored her, Sendai looked around as she parted from the tree. 'Since when could oni fly, either!? That feels like cheating!'

THOOM. Suika landed on the dry grass of this new locale they found themselves in, between the shrine hill and the Misty Lake in the background. "Now that'sh a shpell! I told'ja tha' sword washa better shphe~ll!"

As they decompressed from the remaining rocks and the tree behind them, Kasen turned to Sendai, looking worn. "Okay- don't ever let her take a long chug. She gets a lot braver when more drunk… and- and I'm pretty sure it cleans her of things."

'If drinking beer healed my status problems…' Sendai shook her head. "I~'m... no- not leavin' this... holy form. Bet I'd bu- be doubled over in pa- pai~n... right now…" 'This makes me talk weird. Lungs are probably stressed...'

...After a still moment, Suika threw her arms out wide and began to joyfully romp towards the two. "C'mere gu~ysh!"

Kasen moved into her way. "Suika! No more! We're not putting up with-"

"Whoap!" Slipping on the grass as she bounded forward, Suika faceplanted-

Kroom! A spike of rock jutting up before the little oni's clumsy landing "Ngh…" Kasen staggered back, having been clipped up the leg by it...

Drawing her rebound stones, Sendai decided to experiment. 'Let's flood these with magic…'

"Judgment!" Compulsively, she kneeled down- more so fell down- and slapped the stones onto the floor-

Fwish. Slowly, an octogram began to draw itself in the soil beneath the smaller oni…

Suika slowly stood, while it spent a good few seconds initializing. "Hoo~... y'know ya really shouldn' knock it! Tha' whole drinkin' as ya fight thing-"

Fwroa~sh! A small, condensed pillar of pure holy energy erupted beneath her-

"Uwo~h!" She soared into the air, aided by the force from it. "Tryin'a weaken me wit'cher holy magic, are ya!? Hahaha~!"

THOOM. She touched down near Sendai-

Balling her left fist again, the miko strafed as she channeled magic into it… 'Is she just invincible, or what? She can't keep this up forever…'

WOOSH. Suika threw her gourd-

CRACK! It hit the tree Sendai used to be pressed against, denting the bark.

"Bless!" Displaced and distanced from their exchange, Kasen pressed her hands together-

Di- di~ng! Sendai received a perhaps less than needed heal from some healthy, pink energy. 'Alright…!' Green magic tinted her body some time after, as she continued to charge her fist with black magic and wind…

Seeing this, Suika let the chain that her gourd's rope was tied to lower, before swinging it up-

WOO- WOO- WOO- WOOSH…! Spinning it around with enough velocity to make it blur, Suika slowly drifted into the air using the chain as a propellor. "Yahoo~!"

Fwoom- fwoom- fwoom- fwoom. A spiral of warm fire began to whip from her heli-chain as she drifted only a few meters off the ground-

Sendai didn't catch on fire, and she wasn't sure why-

Fwam- fwoom- fwam- fwam! -especially considering all of the foliage around her burst into flames as a result of this seemingly innocent fire spell. 'What…'

THOOM! Suika landed on both legs. "A'right! If all ya's gonna do's pussy foot around…" Suika began to raise her gourd again-

Her unholy amalgamation of elements ready on her fist, Sendai galloped towards the oni, only needing one motion, vaguely thrusting her pained arm-

BAM! Her combination met the oni's gut as she began to chug, the fist's impact only beginning to spark a violent reaction. 'Didn't blow. Guess I'll hold it there...'

"Pft- whah…"

Suika sputtered out just a little of her sake, and her eyes widened.

...The two stared into each other's eyes for a moment.

"Rhaa~h!" Then, Suika began yelling at her.

Pap! Sendai slapped her in the face with her off-arm, half on accident-

BAM- CRACK- BAM! Two plain jabs met Sendai's chest, and she could hear things snapping and ripping. 'Holy crap-'

BAM- BAM- CRACK! Two more jabs tore into her, each punch sinking deeper into her flesh as she steeled the fist she had in the oni's gut- 'I'm dying-'

Raising both arms, Suika readied to slam them down-

FWA- BOO~M!

"Ghuh…"

Suika staggered back, the wind, dark and holy cocktail piercing her form with an event horizon of dark purple. Frayed wind danced around their forms before expanding into a shockwave, and blotches of foggy holy could be seen beginning to travel the oni's form.

Thud. Unable to stand anymore, Sendai fell on her side, her body no longer responding. 'He- hey… I can't say anything-'

"Bless!" Kasen yells out another healing spell from the sidelines-

Di- di~ng! Sendai kept trying to move before the spell actually initialized. 'I must look fucked up. This sucks…'

Fwoa~sh! ...Sendai slowly began to raise with the healing magic's aid-

Cra- crack! 'That's good for me.' Sendai felt brave enough to look down- or, compelled to.

Shunk. She could see panes of her flesh click back into place, flushing out blood that'd surfaced over them, as well as cloth and spandex that became intermingled with the flesh. 'Yeah, it's fucking bad. I can almost feel it like this, so it's pretty bad.'

There was a hole in Suika's shirt, as well as a smouldering, grey and black mark where the miko struck. Her gaze was resolute, but she was grinning widely.

"Hah." She let out a little laugh. "Tha' was almost an oni~ punch…!" Beaming victoriously after this statement- "Mghuh-" -she took right to her gourd, chugging it down.

Kasen ran up to her. "Stop! Stop drinking!" Once she was in range, she moved to swat the gourd-

BOOM! The ground shook as Suika's leg met her gut-

KABOOM! Kasen rolled away, the impact resulting in a literal explosion. "Augh…!"

"Ree~la~x." Smacking her lips, the little oni lowered her gourd. "Wasn' gon' keep fightin' a' this rate anyway. Can' barely match me two on one."

...Once again, Sendai exhaled, this time subconsciously; the resulting breath ragged and silly sounding. 'Was the last oni I fought just fucking with me or something? This is… a lot more than I bargained for!'

"Only one 'ere wit' a pair 'a balls is her." Suika jerked a finger to Sendai. "Might be weak ash glass, bu' she'sh damn strong's far as humans're consherned…" She smiled. "Hell, purdy much fights like an oni, too! 'Cept she ain't. Hahah!"

...Everything done, Sendai decided to remove her new talisman-

Fwawoo~sh. This time, the sustained holy energy left her body visibly, coming off like white smoke. 'That's… inter-...'

"O-... ouch…" Tearing up, she fell onto her side. "Nnn…!" Letting out an uncharacteristic moan, she curled up...

Thud. "Um- Tsukiko…?" Kasen watched her fall plainly. "Um…!"

"Oh- hey, watch thish…" Suika held out her arms. "Oni Sign… Missing Power!"

Immediately, she began expanding to about tree size. "Hoohoo~ yea~h! Loo' a' me go…! I-..."

THOOM.She fell backwards, and the entire lakeside shook, a shockwave of wind and earth spreading out from her impact…

...Once the dust had settled, a loud snore came from the sleeping giant.

"Of course the sleeping magic only works now." Kasen huffed. "...Bl- bless." She held an arm out towards the writhing miko-

Di- di~ng. Sendai barely registered the noise in the background, as she pulsed in agony on the floor.

...Fwoa~sh! Her body glowed as the magic set in. It helped a little.

The shrine maiden was crying, her mind aflush with insurmountable pain. A few moments later, and everything became distant from her...

==== Sendai Hakurei no Miko Mode ====

...Sipping from her teacup, the miko who came before warmed up under the kotatsu…

'Not as bad as that time I got nuked.' She reflected on how empty she felt before taking a nice sip. 'Healing magic does bad things to your body. I could eat a horse, now...'

Thwack! Thwack! Reimu repeatedly rapped her gohei on the back of a stout oni's head. Said small oni was leaning into the kotatsu with a warm smile, lazy and covered in ofuda…

Rinnosuke was warily eying the great Hakurei on her throne, Marcus had placed some talismans on broken toaster pieces, and Kasen was looking sheepish across from Suika…

"What was that about the oni being a non-issue?" Seinarubeki shot her mother a level, icy stare.

...Kiyoko was indifferent. "If anything, this aids us. Judgment remains to be declared."

'Fuck it.'

Sendai held an arm out. "Gimme some 'a that sake."

"He~re ya go…" Suika traded her the gourd with a carefree smile.

==== Sendai Hakurei no Miko Mode ====

Tsukiko Hakurei, the Shrine Maiden who Beats People Up

==o==

WEAPON: Unarmed.

==o==

INVENTORY:

Magic Replicable Mana Molotovs - A Marcus Kirisame invention. A simple prefabricated spell that allows the user to conjure holy/water elemental mana molotovs. The liquid creates a swath of holy flames on contact with any non-treated surface.

ITEM CRASH: Hydro Storm - Holy/water elemental rain, though it doesn't burn like the molotov's mixture. Basically a modified rain spell; it lasts a few seconds and can only be used outside. Deals holy damage to youkai.

Hakurei Yin-Yang Orb - It makes a mean pinball when maximized! When at terminal velocity, the orb also does magical damage.

ITEM CRASH: Fantasy Heaven - Tapping into her dark mastery, Sendai temporarily becomes more youkai-like at the expense of her sub-weapons and becoming more vulnerable to holy damage. Her attacks become partially darkness elemental.

Hakurei Talismans - Throwable projectiles. Also referred to as ofuda. Deals holy damage. Most effective on youkai or other greater dark/moon beings.

ITEM CRASH: Thousand Talismans - Sendai throws a lot of talismans at once straight ahead. Cheapest item crash for Sendai to cast, but leaves her vulnerable and is difficult to aim.

Hakurei Axe - An origami axe created from folded talismans and reinforced by holy magic. A heavy weapon that breaks easily, but can deal high physical holy damage when used well. Also able to be thrown as a makeshift heavy projectile.

ITEM CRASH: Thousand Blades - Sendai floats into the air and creates a revolving ring of Hakurei Axes.

Updated Chronicle of Gensokyo - A copy of the Chronicle of Gensokyo, lended to Sendai by the Hieda family. Some magic work from Marcus let Sendai replicate it as a projectile to throw at enemies. Spins around and flails its pages everywhere, which deal holy damage when they cut foes.

ITEM CRASH: Holy Spark - Summons multiple copies of the Chronicle of Gensokyo, creates a magical circle in the air, and fires a huge, rainbow colored laser. Takes awhile to set up…

Rusty Stopwatch - It doesn't seem to work anymore.

ITEM CRASH: It's probably best not to experiment…

Dragon Palace's Flintlock - Shoots a weak stream of electricity which arcs into an enemy. More useful as a distraction or last resort accuracy weapon.

ITEM CRASH: Vol Fulger - Generates a ball of lightning around Sendai's form defensively.

Rebound Stone - A magically replicable stone that bounces off surfaces. Doesn't work well with soft surfaces or open spaces. After awhile, it breaks, too. Deals physical holy damage.

ITEM CRASH: Evil Sealing Circle - A series of rebound stones are cast into the air, creating a shaft above Sendai which is filled with powerful holy energy. Once the attack ends, the holy energy splashes through the entire room. May seal foes.

Holy Salt - It's holy salt. Deals holy damage when you throw it in someone's eyes.

ITEM CRASH: Sodium Geyser - Creates a geyser of holy salt. Sendai'll never run out of cooking salt again!

Eye of Truth Talisman - A talisman used for the Eye of Truth ability. The magical programming it has allows it to probably work for anyone, as long as they're not youkai.

ITEM CRASH: Unknown

Whispers Talisman - A talisman used for the Whispers ability. Crafted by Yuyuko Saigyouji through mysterious means, it allows the wearer to float on the voices of the dead.

ITEM CRASH: Unknown

Invincible Mushroom - A synthesis item, which enhances physical capabilities drastically. Makes young women taller, bustier, and overall more mature. Duration is shortened by how drastic the mushroom changes the body, making it last awhile for already mature women albeit with minimal increased strength or bodily changes. Changes the user's clothing to accent their new features. Enables Marisa Kirisame to use star punches.

ITEM CRASH: Unknown

Eleven thousand, two hundred yen - Money used to purchase goods.

ITEM CRASH: Midas' Rain - Makes it rain money in a wide radius. Value of currency is proportional to damage done on impact. Does more damage the wealthier the user is, up to a cap of one hundred thousand yen. Has more range and duration the wealthier the user is. Deals non-elemental physical damage. Not fun to clean up afterwards...

==o==

GROWTH ABILITIES:

Anti-Step - Tapping into dark energy allows Sendai to travel along 'leylines' in reality. When in danger of being struck, this gives her minimal ability to slip out of the way at the last moment. Requires both knowledge of the incoming blow and able reflexes.

Eye of Truth - With the aid of an enchanted talisman, Sendai can observe ambient mana flow of objects. This lets her detect certain stealth attacks, hidden paths, barriers, as well as treated surfaces and all sorts of magical trickery. If used in magically inundated areas, it just makes her unable to see. Toggleable.

Whispers - With the aid of an enchanted talisman, Sendai can float on the whispers of the dead. Power of flight depends on the density of the voices. Allows the user to hear the whispers of the dead, and the dying words of the late.

Sub-Weapons - Sendai's gathered a lot of stuff over the years that she can throw at people when she's out of ideas. Most of it is just prefabricated spells and basic Hakurei utilities.

Item Crash - Draining attacks that create stronger casts of Sendai's sub-weapons. Usable with any item in Sendai's inventory, although if she's not ironed it out it can be unpredictable…

Basic Danmaku - Sendai has remembered some of danmaku's basics, allowing her to sometimes throw danmaku projectiles. She stills needs to practice and get used to it, however; especially since she only uses projectiles strategically rather than as her focus.

x Youkai Style:

Dark Uppercut - Sendai can uppercut to get to higher places, and also deal high dark damage on impact. Launches foes.

Tengu Rush: Caster - Tengu charging technique meant for casters. While this doesn't innately boost agility, it provides the user with wind blades that increase defense against projectiles and certain physical attacks.

Slide Leap - A sliding kick that Sendai can transition to if she's sliding on the floor. Only rarely useful anymore.

Flash Step - Unlike actual flash step techniques, this one simply lets Sendai move forward while being immaterial to intruding entities for a short time. She can only go at a set distance and speed when she does this, and she's vulnerable afterward. Does not let her pass through walls. Probably some mangled version of the regular Hakurei teleportation technique...

Dark Power - Sendai can reduce damage taken, boost damage dealt with unarmed attacks, as well as micro-manage her blood flow with her dark abilities. Grants fifty percent darkness resistance.

x Tengu Style:

Wind Power - Constantly enveloped by the wind, Sendai moves far faster and jumps higher than normal. Dark resistance is reduced to twenty five percent, and equal wind resistance is granted when this style is activated.

Airy Pockets - All sub-items are slightly modified by the wind element to perform differently. Most gain different physical properties, as well as exchange power for accuracy. No substantial difference on item crashes, except from adding the wind element to them.

x Oni Style:

Holy Power - Engulfed in a shell of holy energy, Sendai becomes immune to pain. She still takes damage like this, and she will feel it later. Incredibly reduces accuracy and evasion, but increases attack power dramatically.

God's Pockets - All sub-items are changed by the holy element to be more powerful, but also more situational. Replaces item crashes and subweapons.

Judgment - Rebound Stone ITEM CRASH. Expert holy magic that can be traced back to various prefabricated and god-created variants. This version may weaken and syphons the target. Basically Evil Sealing Circle, but with more remote usage, and less effective radius.

Elixir of Life - Holy Molotov ITEM CRASH. Grants auto-revive status to self or one ally briefly. Auto-revive will resurrect the fallen with a fraction of their life. Does not cure status-ailments or unconsciousness.

Diamond Flail - Sendai flings her arms forward on impulse, creating a small holy maelstrom between her and her target. Holy magic which may weaken foes.

Thrashing - Marching up to a target, Sendai jabs into them four times, before slamming down her arms on them. Based on a similar technique from an enraged Suika…

Combo Punch - Combining all the elements into her fist, Sendai unleashes a powerful blow into a foe. May weaken and curse foes. May stagger foes. Breaks the miko's hand, reducing her attack power for a little while. Requires a short charging period...

==o==

PARTY:

=o=

Rinnosuke Morichika, the Unmoving Used Goods Seller

WEAPON: Single-Fire Pistol - A really powerful pistol with only one bullet. Allows Rinnosuke to hold people up.

INVENTORY:

Iron Shortsword - A short iron sword. Rinnosuke doesn't really know how to use it.

Sword of Kusanagi - Priceless Japanese national heirloom. Contains exceptional wind power. Performs exceptionally on aerial foes. Boosts the power of wind skills. Very low physical attack power. Grants the wielder fifty percent wind resistance. Can only be properly wielded by Marcus at the moment.

ITEM CRASH: Wingblade - Consume half of Sendai's max mana to turn the Sword of Kusanagi into a magnetic/wind elemental blade. Powerful single target attack that inflicts dispel and magnetism, as well as cleaves through defenses. Due to high elemental affinity, is legendary on those weak to wind or magnet, while incredibly useless on wind or magnet resistant foes. Finishes by granting Sendai wings of blades, which will assault her foe and cleanse it with a pentagram of pure magnet and wind magic.

Quick Amulet - An amulet handed out by Tewi to all newborn rabbits so that they can learn how to use their body as it develops and they grow. Given to Rinnosuke because he's about as capable if not less than a newborn rabbit. Increases user's evasion and agility when they're unarmed, only up to their body's maximum realistic capacity to perform; as such, this equip only benefits the unable.

Health Potion - A potion used to restore health. Basic, but the best choice for human users. Provides heavy health regeneration for some seconds.

(2x) Potion - Low tier health restoration items. Quickly but steadily restores health of an ally on use.

(3x) Ether - Low tier mana restoration items. More than enough for most humans.

(3x) Hi-Ether - Medium tier mana restoration items. Enough mana for even mages to appreciate.

Food and Drink - Some perishable survival supplies.

Magic Wood Wand - A simple magical instrument that Rinnosuke uses to cast his preferred spells. Not a prerequisite for spell casting, but he finds it helps. Crafted from the bark of trees in the Forest of Magic.

(eighteen slots remaining)

SKILLS:

Threaten - Threaten enemies with a gun. Increases presence in the battle and might make the unknowing weary.

Sleep Shot - Inflict a target with heavy drowsiness. Wears off after some time.

Flare Shot - Shoot a blinding flare that lowers accuracy. Doesn't work well on foes that can sense life force or don't need to aim… and also doesn't work well outside of open spaces or corridors.

Ectoplasm - Magic taught by Yuyuko. Shoot a glob of sticky ectoplasm at an enemy to slow them.

Berserk Dart - Magic taught by Tewi. A danmaku dart charged with Rinnosuke's inner rage. Berserks the target and makes them focus on only him; wears off if they successfully engage him or take enough damage. Effect is removed by water or ice damage. Negligible non-elemental damage. Does not work well on enemies resistant to berserking or ones that are already berserk.

Soul Arrow - Magic taught by Kaguya Houraisan, originally developed by Eirin Yagokoro. Holy elemental skill that takes the form of a magical attack when charged into danmaku. Copies the magically-induced statuses of the target to the user, be they positive or negative. Overwrites current statuses. Statuses wear off faster than normal. Limited holy damage. May weaken targets.

Aqua Shot - Magic taught by Wakasagihime. Water elemental danmaku attack, which soaks an enemy by generating a bubble near them and popping it. Wets foes. Deals moderate water 'damage'.

Grass Grease - Magic which wets the target with magically charged wood paste and chlorophyll, leaving them vulnerable to increased and stronger burning.

Swing Sword - Rinnosuke hits an enemy for minor physical damage. Has a chance to make the enemy bleed.

=o=

Marcus Kirisame, the Middle-Aged Magician

WEAPON: Various Gimmicks - At any time, Marcus carries a myriad of toys and trinkets that can act as nasty surprises. In serious combat, he goes largely unarmed and purely casts magic.

INVENTORY:

Magic Bazooka - Collapsible magic bazooka. Can fire lasers in a variety of elemental flavors, but works best with non-elemental magic.

Enchanted Dreamcatcher - A trinket that halves the effectiveness of debuffs when held in the inventory. When equipped directly, can be charged to provide immunity to incoming debuffs.

Gap Rod V-5-and-a-half - An experimental device created by Marcus Kirisame. Operating on only ambient mana, the device allows the user to teleport short distances once per day. Has to recharge using ambient mana from the atmosphere; direct infusion of mana into device causes unintended side effects and spontaneous space-elemental detonation.

SKILLS:

-o- Ice Magic

Glacier - Erect a tall ice blade. Heavy physical ice attack.

Ice Shard - Spawn ice in an enemy's form. Moderate ice magic. May freeze targets.

Ice Shuriken - Spawns a huge shuriken of ice before himself, which spins around and randomly spreads ice danmaku. May chill targets.

Force Blizzard - Expert ice magic taught by Yuyuko, which inflicts stationary targets with a small, powerful blizzard. High chance of freezing targets. Not to be confused with the shotgun-spread type 'Blizzard' spell series.

-o- Fire Magic

Firaga - Lob a short-range fireball mortar. Heavy fire magic that ignites. Preceding tiers are homing fireballs that have a chance to ignite.

Fireball - Generate a fireball in an opponent's form. Moderate fire magic that ignites. Not to be confused with Fira or Fire, mechanically weaker spells that precede Firaga.

-o- Electric Magic

Plasma - Magic taught out of a lunar rabbit combat pamphlet. Hits twice. May reduce the target's evade. Generates an orb of lilac plasma in their form. Basic electric magic.

Thunderbolt - Summon a myriad of thunder strikes to converge on a single target. Advanced electric magic. May stun foes. Hits three times.

-o- Water Magic

Balloon - Basic water magic. Generates a magic, glowing water balloon that floats in a stationary position. Pops when an enemy gets close, and starts to home in after awhile. Wets foes. May stagger foes. May stun the feeble.

Bubbles - Basic water magic. Summon bubbles under an opponent. Gets them wet and stuff. Might lower their physical attack...! Good setup for electric moves, too!

Bubble Burst - Expert water magic. Summons a lot of bubbles under a lot of opponents. Still gets them wet. Also still might lower their physical attack…!

-o- Other Elemental

Quake - Disrupt the earth, and create a not-so-sharp spike of rock. Moderate physical earth attack.

Tornado - Advanced wind magic. Summons a tornado around the target's form, attacking them with fierce, momentary wind. May windsweep those light enough. Reduces target's magical defense.

Mana Drain - When able to access the opponent's mana, Marcus is able to pull it away. Technical magnet elemental magic. Usually initiated by a non-elemental orb.

-o- Non-Elemental

Non-elemental Orb - A flexible non-elemental orb that may explode or simply dissipate. When dissipated, the mana may infuse with enemies and intertwine with their mana pool, allowing for Marcus to follow up.

Magic Resistance - Buffs an ally against magic. Starts at forty percent resistance, but tapers off to nothing over time.

Magic Shield - A non-elemental shield which absorbs all magical attacks, as long as they're not draining, death, or magnet related.

Lucky Star - Non-elemental star that bonks people on the head. Very random damage.

Star Shower - A rain of non-elemental stars which hit a crowd of foes for very random damage.

Cold and Gold - A danmaku non-spell which Marcus can create from an influx of magical energy.

Magic Minefield - Creates non-elemental landmines with minimal damage and high knockback, in a spread around himself.

-o- Ability

Elemental Control - Marcus has general mastery and control over non-elemental and elemental mana manipulation, allowing him to do some freeform manipulation for whatever he feels. Mastery and flexibility of freeform control depends on how many spells of that elemental branch are known.

Telekinesis - Semi-decent magical control of objects and matter; more specifically, spending mana to move objects. Works on clothes, too!

Magical Mastery - Marcus has access to any lower tier of attack he's currently mastered, if he needs to use such for whatever reason. As in, he knows Firaga therefore the preceding levels come innately, etcetera.

=o=

Kasen Ibaraki, the One-Armed, Horned Hermit

STATUS:

Immune to earth and wind magic.

Resistant to holy, dark, water, thunder, and bomb magic.

Weak to ice and poison.

Immune to tiredness, syphoning, dispel and instant death.

WEAPON:

Unarmed.

INVENTORY:

Ibaraki Box of One Hundred Medicines - Endless supply. Heals the target to full. Cures all debuffs and status effects. If the drinker's already healthy, their personality becomes oni-like and they gain superhuman strength. Actual healing from the box turns the user into an oni, depending on how much it's allowed to restore the body.

Shackle of Devas - Extremely durable metal shackle. Grants immunity to tiredness. Grants fifty percent resistance to wind and thunder magic.

SKILLS:

-o- Summons

Koutei - Summons her juvenile pet green dragon, Koutei. Targets all foes with powerful mixed water and wind spells. May wet targets. May stagger targets. Buffs the evade of the entire party by fifty percent.

Manzairaku - Summons her pet seal Manzairaku to erupt underneath a foe. Water attack which launches targets and wets them. Also unleashes a beach ball upon the world.

Houso - Summons her pet tiger Houso to maul a target. Powerful non-elemental attack which cuts.

Kanda - Summons her eagle, Kanda, to gain a height advantage. Allows her to unleash aerial attacks with her legs. Otherwise, the eagle uses wind magic and debuffs accuracy. Dashes towards foes to hit them for accurate non-elemental physical damage.

Raijuu - Summons her pet Mukou, to charge one of her melee strikes with electric magic. Moderate thunder magic which debuffs both accuracy and evade, and tires out opponents.

-o- Magic

Cure - Heals self or an ally for some health. Heals most humans fully.

Curaga - Heals self or an ally for all health. Costly.

Renew - More natural healing than the Cure series, but is slower and less powerful.

Bless - Heals self or an ally for a lot of health. Blesses the target. This blessing prevents all bad status effects from being incurred, including death and dispel (but not straight up stat debuffs incurred on the body or mind). Doesn't remove anything currently active.

Miracle Heal - Heals everybody for immense health, over a large radius. Costs a lot of mana to use.

Spectrum - Expert multi-elemental magic. Kasen creates a rainbow-colored vortex in an enemy's form, damaging them directly with raw mana. Element and effects depend on current weapon. Vortex persists harmlessly to be used as a beacon for her eagle, but will be overwritten if Spectrum is used again.

Light Orbs - Holy orbs that Kasen can create and control. May weaken foes.

Tornado - Advanced wind magic. Summons a tornado around the target's form, attacking them with fierce, momentary wind. May windsweep those light enough. Reduces target's magical defense.

Gaia Bloom - Advanced earth magic. Creates multiple earth sigils in an opponent's form and initializes them, increasing earth's pull on them. Tires the target out.

-o- Other

Rapture - Air-based eruption which targets a wide area with a devastating upward draft. Legendary multi-purpose attack. Costly. Element and effects depend on current weapon.

Monkey's Paw - Non-spell version of the skill. Sending out a dark hand, Kasen

Monkey's Paw! Crush My Enemy! - Spell card. Kasen crushes an opponent with an arm made of spiritual energy. Dark attack. Depletes eighty percent of Kasen's mana.

Hawk Sign "Hawk Beacon" - Spell card. Throwing her arms out, Kasen creates a massive rainbow multi-vortex, pounding the enemy with a massive storm of magic. Element and effects depend on current weapon.

Dragon Sign "Dragon's Growl" - Spell card. Shifting her bandages, Kasen makes a cannon from them and blasts the enemy with powerful holy magic. May weaken foes.

Warp Sign "Prosthetic Arm Proteus" - Spell card. Powerful bind which crushes the opponent, before slamming them away.

==o==

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

suika fight

wasn't sure about the structure but after revising i think it's cool - w -

we don't spend the whole time fighting suika either! just half of it. the other half we give sendai another new 'style' and also introduce the good party member

keine would've been nice but there's something fitting about pairing a hakurei with an oni; one wouldn't understand without really consuming all of my works but hoh

also kasen's got some good reasons to try and get to the bottom of this; while keine would be fun to travel with them, kasen's got the good healing magic

of note also is that kasen's noticeably weaker than suika - w -

this is because kasen's less physically focused as a whole, and suika and yuugi are kinda notable among onis as the biggest bruisers

ironically of the four devas suika'd probably be the tank mage, and yuugi'd be the other tank, and kasen would be the healer for obvious reasons

they do have a dps person but y'know we'll get there maybe maybe not

sendai's been experimenting more with her magic than she's ever had a need to! of the hakurei maidens she's probably had the lowest starting power by comparison to her mother and daughter, having entirely walked parallel to her holy powers and therefore pretty much only benefited from like… the hakurei body, which is just a bit better than a regular human body

it also makes sense that trying to compare her to them makes for a rather strange time - w - although now that we've got kasen seein' this who knows how that's gonna play out yo

sendai is to a normal human as suika and yuugi are to normal oni

so when you try and compare them in brute force it ends up being pretty obvious who wins that,and suika has the precarious art of total density manipulation also making her a damn good mage despite everything

so at the end of this arc, sendai quickly got some tengu wisdom and oni direction on her side, some healing items again, marcus got a couple useful new spells, and rinnosuke learned some fun status debuff things and got even more disciplined by the harshness of war

we're on the way to the plot boys oh boy oh boy lemme TELL YOU SON-

as always, see you all next time!