Here's the second chapter of GATE - Gensokyo. Yeah, months passed by while I was trying to work on my other stories, along with personal life, and I didn't even realize it.
In regards to the first chapter, bobking01 expressed that it was strange that "Yukari [was] having a hard time deciding whether or not lethal force should be used" on the soldiers. To make things clear, Yukari wasn't having a hard time deciding whether or not lethal force should be used. She was upset that the situation forced a kill order, considering Gensokyo's history and how it's relatively peaceful now, as well as the trouble the soldiers would cause. She won't lose any sleep or be hung up over the kill order. She just isn't happy about it.
Also, I'll be using the "Maribel becomes Yukari" approach, so there's a poll on my page for which approach I should take for it, as well as for how to do Sanae's arahitogami (living god) status, so please go vote on it! Your input will be highly appreciated. The outcome, depending on which choices win, will affect a few things later on in the story.
Finally, there's a big AN at the end of the chapter. It explains things in the chapter and why it happened that way. Although you can just skip it, I would recommend at least skimming through it to get a general idea of it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Touhou Project or GATE
Yukari sighed as she left the dungeon, having made her message clear to the invading soldiers. Thankfully, two of the commanding soldiers, Colt Formal and Magnus Pompey if she remembered correctly, were quite cooperative, and the other soldiers didn't raise much of a fuss after she made an example of the soldier who threatened the residents of Gensokyo even while in a cell. Leaving the mansion and walking up to Satori, who was helping with overseeing the cleanup, she asked, "How is it going?"
Without looking at her, the girl replied, "Four thousand soldiers and five hundred monsters. All monsters are dead, and aside from the quarter thousand soldiers held prisoner, we found roughly one hundred seventy-five soldiers injured. Additionally, seven hundred fifty were killed in the battle and the rest of the army escaped. Around two hundred fifty ran off elsewhere into Gensokyo, while the rest went back through the Gate. The tengu, Shameimaru Aya, left as soon as the battle ended to spread warnings regarding the soldiers who escaped elsewhere into Gensokyo."
As if on cue, Aya landed in front of the two. She quickly reported, "I'm back! The Human Village is on lockdown with their best fighters on guard duty, and the kappa and tengu are moving out to find and secure any soldiers they find. Momiji's on her way with a squad of white wolf tengu to help see if anyone's missing. I've also told Rumia and the… hungrier youkai that while human residents of Gensokyo are still off-limits, any soldiers they run into are free game." Pulling out a wad of photos, she handed them over to Yukari. "And since I'm not the best for taking prisoners, I took photos of the last locations of any soldiers I saw, as well as any camps that they set up."
As Yukari went through the photos, Aya quickly ran over to Marisa, who was writing in a book. Without waiting for the girl to say anything, she quickly said, "Kirisame, I saw a small group of soldiers going in the direction of the shop by the woods. You better hurry."
Eyes widening, the Ordinary Witch gasped in horror. "Kourin!" she shouted desperately. She quickly got on her broom and flew towards the shop, going as fast as she could. As she arrived at the shop, she saw the blood on the ground. Landing, she held her broom tightly as she ran to the storefront, praying for her friend's safety. When she saw the scene before her, she didn't know whether to feel relieved or shocked.
Morichika Rinnosuke, the owner of Kourindou, sat on the steps leading to the front door of his shop, covered in blood but uninjured. Cleaning the Kusasnagi no Tsurugi, which was coated in blood, he glanced at her and commented, "I'm guessing that the reason you're here involves these soldiers, Marisa." Lying on the ground at his feet were several dead soldiers.
Gaping, Marisa was about to ask what was going on when the half-youkai quickly stood up and charged at her, preparing to swing the tsurugi. Before she could react, he pushed her to the ground and blocked an incoming strike from behind. Propping herself up, Marisa turned and saw Rinnosuke clash with the last remaining soldier, who had stayed behind to see if his group had been followed.
Rinnosuke gritted his teeth as he fought the soldier, struggling against the more experienced fighter. Despite being one of the weaker citizens of Gensokyo, Rinnosuke was still physically superior to a human due to his youkai blood. The struggle was not in strength or speed, but skill and experience. Additionally, the half-youkai was slightly out of breath from killing several other soldiers. As such, it was difficult for him to land a finishing blow. Taking a deep breath, he quickly slashed at the exposed part of his opponent's arms, leaving deep cuts in the soldier's inner forearms. As the man roared in pain and dropped his sword, Rinnosuke shouted, "Take him out, Marisa!"
Snapping out of shock, the girl got up and jabbed at the man's head with the handle of her broom. Successfully striking the man right above his eye, she succeeded in knocking his helmet off and disorienting him. Taking advantage of the opening, Marisa repeatedly hit the soldier over the head until he fell to the ground, too dazed to even think straight. Turning to Rinnosuke, she blurted out, "What was that? I thought you couldn't fight!"
Sighing as he grabbed a pile of rope to tie up the soldier, Rinnosuke corrected, "I can fight, but not in the same way as you. I just don't see a reason to fight." Finished with securing the prisoner, he said, "I know you have questions, but they need to wait. The tengu reporter told everyone about the incident, and their scouts are here." True to his word, three tengu scouts landed a few feet away from the duo.
"We were securing the survivors of a group that stumbled into a nest belonging to one of Wriggle's hives when we smelled the blood," explained the leader of the trio. Looking around, she commented, "I see we had no reason to worry, and that you managed to take one prisoner too." The soldier, whose eyes had locked onto their wings, began to scream, before being knocked out by a kick to his head. Taking another look at the dead bodies, the tengu awkwardly added, "We'll send cleanup crews. You should go speak to Yakumo Yukari about this at the Misty Lake."
Sighing, Rinnosuke slung the Kusanagi over his shoulder and turned in the direction of the lake when another tengu landed. She shouted, "Get back to the Misty Lake! We confirmed that the escaping soldiers managed to take a few citizens of Gensokyo through the Gate!" Their eyes widening, the group quickly headed back to the Misty Lake, though not before picking up the new prisoner.
Back at the lake, Cirno struggled as she attempted to break free and charge through the Gate. "Let me go!" she shouted, "I need to save Dai-chan!" She kicked wildly, but to no avail.
Sighing, Yukari stressed, "I am aware that you wish to save your dear friend, but I have already sent the Three Fairies of Light to save all hostages the soldiers have, regardless of whether or not they are from Gensokyo. After all, the three of them together are quite excellent at stealth." Turning to the Gate and seeing more people stumbling through, many of them wearing clothes she instantly recognized as Uniqlo and GU, she suppressed a pang of worry and added, "And it seems that Gensokyo was not the only place attacked."
Finally, two fairies exited the Gate, followed by Mystia, a couple of Byakuren's followers, Lily White, and the Three Fairies, who were carrying Daiyousei. As the group approached, Sunny Milk approached them and called out, "We brought everyone back like you said to! We also brought all the people we could find who looked like they didn't belong!" She was distraught, which was highly concerning. "Dai was the strongest of the ones they took, so we saved her for last because we had faith in her. But the soldiers, they…" She burst into tears, unable to speak more.
But one look at the greater fairy was all it took to understand.
Daiyousei, after being put on the ground, was twitching sporadically, whimpering softly. Her wings were torn to shreds, rendering her incapable of flight. Her clothes were torn as well, showing that her light skin was littered in cuts and bruises, as well as highlighting her slightly bulging stomach. Breathing unevenly, she squirmed in discomfort, suddenly stopping when Cirno, who had been released, crouched and rubbed her stomach gently in an attempt to ease her friend's discomfort. However, Daiyousei retched and vomited out a disturbingly large amount of white fluid. The violent contractions surged through the green-haired fairy's body, causing more white fluid to spill out from between her legs, though this time it had a small amount of red mixed into it. The bulge in her stomach shrank, but was still noticeable.
Everyone's eyes widened in in shock, then their faces twisted into visages of rage. The tengu moved to restrain Cirno again, but was too late. A shriek of unadulterated fury echoed throughout the area. Cirno charged at the Gate, screaming, "I'll kill them! I'll kill them all!" Entering the Gate without hesitation, she prepared two icicle swords, ready to impale anyone in her way.
Jogging over, Mokou asked, "I heard the commotion. What's going on?" Taking a look at Daiyousei, her eyes widened. "Shit!" she cursed, "I'll go get Eirin. You go after the fairy." She ran in the direction of the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, before leaping and taking flight, fiery wings bursting out from her back.
…
On the other side of the Gate, Cirno snarled as she cut down another soldier, cleaving him in two. Stabbing to the side, she impaled another through the head before swinging the icicle sword up, tearing through the helmet like a wet tissue and exposing the man's bisected brain to the world. "I'll kill them…" she growled again, glaring at the retreating soldiers that managed to survive the initial icicle storm she unleashed upon exiting the Gate. Flying ahead and floating above them, she raised her hands into the air and recited, "Ice Clump: Great Crusher!"
A giant block of ice formed, and as the fairy added more power, it grew even larger, eventually becoming roughly the size of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. With some effort, she heaved the giant construct, aiming at the retreating army. Needless to say, many of the soldiers were crushed by the ice, and those that weren't were peppered and impaled by an avalanche of incredibly sharp ice shards when the structure shattered from the impact. With that one attack, she had wiped out nearly a fifth of the remaining soldiers.
Hearing a noise, Cirno looked down and saw that a soldier was still alive, his legs twisted at an unnatural angle. As the man let out a wheeze while trying to drag himself away, the ice fairy grabbed him and flipped him over onto his back. After crucifying the man by pinning his hands to the ground with two more icicles, she shoved her hands into his stomach with ease and pulled out his intestines. With a bloodthirsty smile on her face, she wrapped them around his neck and choked him, watching with sick glee as his face turned blue and the life slowly left his eyes.
Walking briskly through the Gate, Yukari saw the fairy. Seeing the brutal kill, she scowled and called out, "That's enough!" When Cirno turned around, snarling, Yukari's eyes widened, and she had to stifle a gasp of horror.
The blue-haired girl's eyes were completely pitch black with red pinpricks of light where her pupils should have been, and her teeth had become rows of needle-like fangs. Her nails turned into sharp claws, which had allowed her to pierce the man's stomach without trouble. However, the biggest change was her skin tone. Though the ice fairy already had light skin, it was now incredibly pale, nearly pure white.
It could only mean one thing – Cirno was turning feral. To make things worse, turning feral was an event that hadn't happened in Gensokyo since the Lunarian War many, many, many years ago.
Taking a deep breath and snapping her fan shut, Yukari attempted to soothe the girl. "I know you're angry, but listen to me. Your dear friend needs you by her side."
Her words had an instant effect. Cirno stiffened, then rushed back through the Gate without a sound. A few seconds later, a large group of tengu and kappa stormed out and quickly started to set up a defensive barricade around the base of the hill, doing their best to ignore the mutilated corpses. They were followed by Rin and a group of kasha, their wheelbarrows at the ready. With a faint nod to them, Yukari went back to Gensokyo through the Gate.
Back in Gensokyo, Cirno collapsed into a chair next to the bed Daiyousei was resting in, ignoring Yukari as the woman walked in right behind her. Slowly, her appearance regressed back to normal. Staring silently at her friend's unconscious form, the ice fairy finally let her tears flow. "She told me…" she whispered after a few minutes of silence, "she told me that she ever did it, she wanted her first time to be special."
"The fact that even fairies talk about sex is something I believe I was better off not knowing." An incredibly tall woman half a head taller than Yukari, who was already impressively tall, stepped into the room. Shiki Eiki, Yamaxanadu strode over to the duo, an almost unnoticeable scowl on her face. "However, the more pressing matter is that the Yama in charge of Japan has reported a similar Gate has opened in the district of Ginza, where there were several times more deaths than there were here."
Yukari's eyes narrowed. Coldly, she demanded, "What else do you know?"
A group of fairies, led by Lily and the Three Fairies of Light, burst into the room, joining Cirno and gathering around Daiyousei in concern. Glancing at them, Eiki said, "Follow me. We'll talk outside so they may have privacy."
Outside the Scarlet Devil Mansion, the two women walked over to Rinnosuke, who was being fussed over by Marisa and Eirin. "I'm fine!" he snapped as he gently slapped their hands away.
Clearing her throat, Eiki stated, "Morichika Rinnosuke, please repeat what you were able to learn about the Gate."
Sighing, the man replied, "Strangely enough, it genuinely is called a Gate, and it is a dimensional portal periodically created by the goddess Hardy to allow the soldiers of the Saderan Empire to traverse into other worlds to do what they want and increase the power of their empire."
Looking to Yukari, Eiki summarized, "And this is why it is a very large problem. If we do not take an active role, this will become an incident more disastrous than the Lunarian War, especially since the Outside World is involved as well. As such, I ordered Komachi to lead a group of Shinigami to divert the souls of all the fallen soldiers slain by those of Gensokyo on the other side of the Gate to the afterlife of our world in order to prevent their deities from being alerted. If we are to confront the goddess Hardy for her actions, we must not let the gods on the other side learn of us too soon."
Interjecting, Nitori ran over and cheerfully informed, "We've finished cleaning up the mess and creating a defensive line around the base of the hill the other side of the Gate is on. We're also making temporary bases for the guards to stay at."
Deciding it was time to finish the conversation, Eiki finalized, "Continue the preparations. There is much work to do. I must leave to sort the souls of the soldiers. Until the next time we meet." She briskly walked away, vanishing as she returned to Hell.
Standing beside Nitori, Momiji reported, "We've established a guard rotation to monitor activity around the hill, and the kappa have set up defensive artillery as well. In addition, there is another Gate on a hill about three kilometers away. It seems the military of the Outside World is moving through and making their own defenses as well. It is likely they noticed us as well and may plan to make their way here. Should we do something about them?"
Shaking her head, Yukari answered, "No, considering that they've faced many casualties on their side, they are most likely focusing on setting up defenses. However, we should be prepared for if they attempt to approach us. For now, we should check on the Outside World prisoners we rescued and prepare an expedition force."
"We're joining too." Cirno approached them, followed by the Three Fairies of Light, Clownpiece, Lily White, and the other fairies. They were all unusually serious, glaring defiantly with bloodshot eyes that were still puffy from the tears.
Shaking her head, Yukari turned them down. "It's too dangerous. We don't know how being in the other world will affect your semi-immortality. If you get killed on the other side, there's no guarantee that you'll resurrect."
Lily White rebutted, "Fairies are avatars of nature itself. There are things you can miss. We can help by seeing how the nature on the other side is."
Yukari stared for what felt like an eternity to the fairies, then sighed. "Very well," she relented, "but if any of you don't take it seriously or show even the smallest signs of starting to turn feral, all of you will be sent back here. Understood?" When the fairies nodded in understanding, she turned to Momiji. "I leave them in your care," she said as she left, entering a gap.
Eyebrow twitching at the new responsibility, Momiji slowly turned to look at the fairies. "Come with me," she stiffly said as she briskly headed towards the Gate. Silently, the fairies followed her.
…
Lucius snarled as he crushed yet another bug that flew near him, followed by twenty men, stumbling over roots as they navigated the foliage. "Damn it all!" he growled, "This was supposed to be an easy victory over some savages! How did they win the first battle? They shouldn't stand even the slightest chance against our vastly superior power and numbers!" Huffing as he cut through what seemed to be the hundredth branch, he was relieved to stumble into a small clearing. He sat on a trunk and called out, "We'll make a camp here for now. Tomorrow, we shall search for the others and teach these primitive barbarians that they have made the error of defying the will of the gods by refusing to become our slaves!"
As the soldiers made themselves comfortable, setting up whatever supplies they were able to salvage when escaping the battle, Lucius looked at the sky, taking note of the late afternoon sun. Though it was still light out, the moon was faintly visible and the sky had turned a vibrant shade of orange. Moving at night in unknown lands was asking for trouble. "Sir," reported a soldier, "after reviewing our supplies we have concluded that we have enough rations for dinner and breakfast the next day, but only if we limit how much we eat. Afterwards, we will have to hunt."
"Bah," grunted Lucius, "we can just take what we need from the barbarians living in this land. It'll be simple enough to get food and slaves at the same time."
"Is that so?" The voice of a girl echoed through the clearing.
Lucius and his men spun around to take a look at the speaker. She was a young girl, somewhere between ten and fourteen. With her vibrant blonde hair and ruby red eyes, they almost mistook her for a noble. She wore what seemed to be a sleeveless black shirt over a white shirt and black dress, with a strange red cloth tied around the shirt's neck. Strangely, she held her arms out straight to her sides, almost as if pretending that she was flying.
Chuckling lecherously, Lucius lustfully said, "Well, men, it looks like we'll get to have a sample of what the girls of this land are like." Drawing his sword and pointing it at the girl, he finished, "Now how about you give up and let us take you in. We promise that we'll… treat you well."
To their surprise, the girl's smile grew even bigger. "So you're the ones they said we could eat. I don't like hunting since it's too much work, so thanks for coming to us!" Her words shocked Lucius so much he didn't notice that her words didn't match the movement of her lips. Then he locked on to the last word.
"Wait, us?" One of his men shouted in shock, and he spun around. The camp was surrounded by a group of girls. Leading them was a child about the same age as the girl before him, though this one was highly androgynous in nature. They had green hair and eyes, and wore a white shirt, black pants that went down to their knees, and a black cape that parted into two leaf-like shapes.
Stepping forward, the child raised a hand, letting a moth land on their finger. Without looking away from the insect, they coldly said, "My friends told me what they saw. You came here to destroy the lives and culture of our land. You killed some of them too." Their voice turning angry, they continued, "So it's only fair that we do the same to you, right?" As if on cue, a massive horde of insects swarmed out of the forest, surrounding the soldiers and preventing them from escaping.
Lucius gripped his sword tightly and ran towards the green-haired child, swinging it at their head. To his shock, a swarm of beetles latched onto his arm, stopping it mid-swing. The blonde girl walked over and stood in front of him. Desperately, he threw a punch at her, striking her in the face before she could do anything. Then he felt excruciating pain. Pulling his hand away, Lucius was horrified to see his detached fingers in the girl's mouth. More beetles covered Lucius and restrained the rest of his body, leaving him incapable of moving. He could only watch in horrified silence as the girl ate his fingers with loud crunching noises echoing through the area.
Performing an elegant curtsy after finishing her snack, the girl smiled and said, "Once again, we're grateful that you came to us." Unbeknownst to all, a door formed on her back before opening. Shadows flooded out from under her skirt, enveloping the clearing in darkness. As he heard the screams of his men as they died, the last thing Lucius saw was the girl's innocent smile becoming predatory.
"Thank you for the food."
To anyone who's surprised that Rinnosuke can fight, don't you love flexible things in canon? Touhou lore states that Rinnosuke "doesn't have any fighting abilities like Reimu Hakurei or Marisa Kirisame do" (direct quote from Touhou wiki). It doesn't say that he can't fight. He just doesn't have the ability to fight using danmaku. Plus, ZUN said that Rinnosuke isn't the type to use spell cards, but he might use them. This implies that despite choosing not to fight, Rinnosuke can fight, or at the very least make magic items that let him fight. Him creating Marisa's mini-hakkero and Reimu's clothes and purification rod say that much. Besides, while Touhou lore also says that he doesn't train, it should be noted that training and exercising are two different things.
It's pretty obvious that the average youkai is a lot stronger than a human, but that's regarding humans from outside Gensokyo. Thanks to how humans in Gensokyo evolved differently, a normal Gensokyo human is actually a little stronger than the average youkai due to developing their innate spiritual power instead of having scientific advances. But youkai vastly outnumber humans, so it's not like being slightly stronger helps at all, especially since there are a ton of extremely powerful youkai too, and powerful humans are scarce.
And while I admit that the soldiers of the Saderan Empire are pretty strong in terms of physical capability, they're definitely not on the level of average youkai. Lower-end youkai, they can probably handle, but I don't see them standing a chance against beings that can destroy boulders with ease, spam energy attacks like there's no tomorrow, and can survive nearly any attack that isn't faith-based.
And even if the soldiers tried killing the youkai in the name of Emroy, it would still be less faith-based and more "excuses to kill for the sake of killing" because even though Emroy's domain includes bloodshed, the soldiers in GATE were clearly killing for their own pleasure. Killing with glee while claiming it to be demonstrating worship to a god, even a god of war, is clearly zealotry and attempted self-justification for mass murder. No faith there. Ancient civilizations that did do blood/death sacrifices to their gods as worship had rituals and ceremonies for it, not indiscriminately slaughtering anyone within sight or range.
Rory and her fellow Apostles, on the other hand, obviously can harm and kill the youkai, considering that… Well, it should be pretty obvious why they can. Lelei, the sorcerers of Rondel, and others who genuinely devote themselves and their faith to a god, can hurt them as well. Well, at least until [REDACTED] (spoiler alert!). And with Gensokyo in the mix, canon's FUBAR will change to DEFCON 1, or "nuclear war imminent/started" for those who aren't familiar with the DEFCON system.
And as for Cirno, well… It's true that she's one of the weaker Touhou characters, but that's when she's being compared to other Touhou characters. You can't really say she's weak when she can instantly freeze any danmaku, create snowstorms, induce frostbite just from physical contact, and even easily break the absolute zero barrier to create explosions.
Plus, she's good enough to beat Reimu, Marisa, Sakuya, Aya, Yuuka, and even Okina in danmaku battles, even though she won only due to certain circumstances. She was the more injured one fighting Aya and Yuuka and ran away in the end. Reimu, Marisa, and Sakuya underestimated her and lost because of that. Okina was holding back because she wanted to see how strong Cirno was with her door opened. And although Cirno won only because of Spell Card rules, it doesn't mean her opponents were going easy on her either.
Besides, when even Eiki admits that Cirno is strong despite being a fairy, you know that it's serious. When you factor in that Akyuu, with her multiple reincarnations of memories related to Gensokyo, says that Cirno is not someone an ordinary [Gensokyo] human can beat, it's clear that Cirno is pretty powerful herself.
Speaking of Eiki, there's something interesting. Despite her appearance in illustrations, she's actually around the same height as Komachi, as shown in the end of PoFV, and Komachi is explicitly stated to be "tall and imposing" in PMSS. The art style in Grimoire of Marisa is what got her the lolification treatment, and her early teens appearance in PMSS didn't help either.
And yes, the Saderan Empire is absolutely going to get screwed in the ass by a foot-long pole that's wrapped in barbed wire and coated in salted vinegar since they managed to make the fairies become serious and drop the childish behavior.
Please tell me what you think, review, constructive criticism appreciated, and NO flames. Keep your insults to yourself. They contribute nothing to the story (unless you're insulting characters that honestly deserve the burns).
