(MATTMAN KNIGHT: SPIDERMAN EDITION)

/ / / / UCHU SHIGUBARU'S PERSPECTIVE / / / /

fwoo. Aah. I needed that.

Folding my shooter forward, balanced with my pinky under the trigger, I bring my hand up, and use it t'lower my smoke. Fer some reason, my thoughts are a bit more… thoughty. Must be the new brand, more nicotine or weird mind-up drugs or some shit.

Time's uh… something-something hours. It's daytime, okay? Lateish day. Uuh. Location's the human village. I'm chillin' out on a roof, near Main. Assignment: recon and shit. Basically, free time, but I set up somethin' cool for HQ to appreciate.

…This's all supposed t'be a quick procedure. Seiga dumps the tyke onto waypoint A, zaps her, then we zap 'er again and throw on the cuffs. Supposed to take place over, what, thirty minutes?

Nothing's in motion yet. Right now I'm just killing time as usual.

On a nearby roof, Mokou's takin' aim at my recon targets wit' a sniper. Y'see, that bitch Mokou came to us for guns, told us she had some business here. And, snooping around myself, I had more than a hunch she was gunnin' after my recon target: that little purple-skinned demon kid.

A pal tipped me off about somethin', so I gave Mokou the sniper rifle as she wanted.

But… I also gave her a heart rate monitor. You know, so she can aim her shots better, knowin' her own pulse? Yeah. Well, it's also so we know when she croaks. It's not a sophisticated-ass one, it's like a fuckin' dinky wrist one, but it should be good enough.

So, here's the deal. We all know Mokou's gonna be a real bitch to that youkai girl, her bein' a walking beacon of eating people and shit. If Mokou dies to her, we jump on the scene and follow through with our own plan.

Y'see, the taoists know this portal shit, which is kinda like the space… things I can do, except not really. Uh. Seiga can teleport people, is what I'm going for. And, she doesn't think we can just teleport the kid cold-turkey, gotta run her around and butter her up first. Is she right? I don't fuckin' know, but if she's not, it'll be a retarded waste of time.

...We got a couple other ideas, in case this doesn't pan out, but whatever. I'm sure it'll be fine.

BANG! ...The fuck kinda noise was that. Someone fired a sniper in the village. Didn't even sound like Mokou, which is why it's surprising.

Bee~p. That sounded like Mokou. Her heart-rate monitor, anyway. Ain't no coincidence it went off just after that shot went down.

"Pftuh." I spit my cigarette on the ground, twirl up my guns, and run off the village rooftop.

As I fall, I flip upside down, and stop in the air. ...From here, I just keep walkin', still upside-down, towards the gunshot I heard.

I'm walki~n on sunshi~ne. Woohoo. Woohoo. Damn, I wish someone was here so I could crack that one. Gonna have to save it for later.

...If there's one thing bad about walkin' upside down like this, it's if ya forget to apply the gravity to more than just yer boots, the blood rushes to yer head, and the ankles get all confused. Really sucks. So does getting whacked by anyone like this.

It's gonna be night in just a few minutes. Shit's getting a little darker…

Oh. Speaking of shit, it's already going down. Seiga's real fast.

WOOSH! One of her jiang-shi ahead push away some stupid looking village guards, with a big wind spell.

Ahead of me's a village road, the big ass Golden Grin on the right, and there's a couple jiang-shi here that probably work fer Seiga. Would be really wacky if they didn't…

Considering how the target kids are on fire, this might be goin' better than planned. Maybe I'll even score a kill…

"Oh? Would ya lookie here?"

fwish. I move fast, appearing above them. "Looks like I won the lottery." I grin down at the small girl-like people.

The kitty-eared one looks like I drowned her goldfish. "Who- sent you!?"

Well, Eientei, specifically. Also myself. "Ain't it obvious? Y'can't go 'round actin' a fool, without your crap catchin' up to ya." Pretty lucky the second or third idea we let loose actually worked. Mokou could've just killed herself, or got her throat slit by some stranger, and we woulda all gathered around a whole lotta fucknothing.

"Kgh- nng- huu…" In the background, Seiga's jiang-shi make jiang-shi noises.

"Thu~h."

KATHWASH- THWASH- THWA~SH! Oh. The two kids got struck by lightning. If the kitty girl doesn't count as a recon target, is it okay to kill her? I mean, not that it'll matter if I find out or not.

"Shikome- let's move." Looks like they're running away. Not a bad idea.

I see a good spot to take potshots across the alley they picked t'run down.

fwish. A~nd I'm already there. "Let's see how ya dance!"

Fwi- Clack! Merging my arrow guns, I take aim…

/ / / / FREE SHOOTER / / / /

Makai-village embassy. That's the place that kitty girl set up a couple days ago. It's now the dead of night. The whole 'fight' was basically just me takin' potshots to try and direct them into a building or something. Ended up working, 'cause they ran into this embassy here. One of the outcomes Seiga speculated.

I stand in the partially demolished backside of it. Kitty kitty already went running, but hunting her down would be a waste of time.

"...Seiga~." Bitch better not have stiffed me, or I'm taking a vacation to stalk her. This opportunity's worth too much to let her just fuck around with it. "Open me a door, Seiga~!"

FWISH. A rainbow crack opens, in the same way the crack that captured the target did. Looks like a kinda different outbound gate, but that's as expected. "Yes, yes. Get in here, you're needed." Her voice comes from the portal.

"Plannin' on it." Don't give me orders, bitch. Ah, whatever.

Time to step into the portal.

fwish. Huh. Less jetlag on that sorta thing than I thought- ooh, no, there it is, fuck. My ears are ringing like fucking church bells- and with ears this big, that's no joke…

"Hey." Seiga gave me a nod. "The show's about to begin."

Takes me a moment to get what she means, being in combat mode and all, but… "This ought to be good."

We stand atop a marble-smooth, grey stone barricade, which surrounds a slightly grassy inlet in the earth-... well, ground. Not sure if this qualifies as the earth, or not...

/ / / / NANAO NOMI'S PERSPECTIVE / / / /

Assignment: subdue and capture. Location: a isolated region of Senkai, gardened specifically for… an event like this, maybe. We weren't told why it was here. Time: twenty hundred hours.

A smooth, marble-like stone wall gardened the borders of wherever we ended up. The sky was alight with an almost artificial, pastel yellow glow.

vuu~m. The entire clearing was alive with the hum of tanks. We are Waypoint A, and we're to weaken the target so that it may be properly subdued when transported to Eientei, at Waypoint B.

Upon the highest point of the marble barricade around our operation zone, I see agent Shigubaru, and one of the taoists who contributed to organizing this.

"Nomi." Ah. Ruru came up to me, from the tank she's going to man the maintenance of. "Here, forgot to drop off these meds. Can't be caught with 'em, so you take 'em." You always sneak me extra painkillers…

"How forgetful of you." I say what I always tell her.

"Eheh." She takes it in stride. Brushing her blonde bangs from her eyes, she hustles back over to the tank's side.

It's one of about twenty models lined up along the perimeter of the marble arena. This is all a special order from high command, and to be honest, it's… a little intimidating. Most of us are underperformers, I know. This team seems like-... it was specifically selected for this.

Special parameter: fight back, hold your ground. Which, I mean, we're in an arena. If we couldn't hold the arena itself with twenty tanks, that'd be… bad.

These tanks aren't all impressive models. Every one of them is a somewhat unused, but neglected variant of the ROMP-15. They're easy to make, but in limited supply, as their original use was to subdue the earthen rabbit forces if they greeted the original Eientei establishment team with resent and force. But, relations went peacefully, so… they became basic security vehicles. Some of these crafts are more than fifty years old.

...Yeah, I'm not very special. I uh, say this in reference to distracting myself with technical knowledge. It keeps me calm… and I know others do it, too. It pays off, because we sort of go crazy with different models that are only situationally useful.

These tanks are largely mounted with high-impact cannons and flamethrowers, of various elemental flavors. Fire used to be banned as a bamboo weapon- since it'd destroy the forest, obviously- so… ironically, most of the flamethrowers throw elements other than fire.

They all have low-propulsion anti-grav thrusters, because-... I mean, driving a regular tank through bamboo is, while admittedly pretty cool and satisfying, far from efficient or easy to do.

In terms of ground troops, there's not many of us. I'm-... well, a gunner, I guess. We've all got energy rifles. There's probably a sniper or two. I know Freeshooter is here for that reason.

Now I have two regulation medkits, two energy grenades, my issued rifle… as about always, I'm ready.

I stare at the sky again, then at the oddly sunset-kissed grassy floor before ourselves. This place reminds me of a nice lawn, or maybe a cookout. There's some areas like this in the bamboo forest, despite all the foliage. Only for specific times in the day, however, considering the height of the bamboo.

Haa~h. I wonder when-

'Positions!' The order comes through our telepathic network.

Cli- click. Fixing the energy stops on the side of my energy rifle, I aim it up. The engineers- like Ruru- move behind the tanks, and the tanks all subtly hover forward a little, throwers and hull cannons aimed.

FWI- THWICRACK- THWASH- FZZT! A flare of spiritual energy is heard in the midst of the field before us.

'Assume defensive posture. If target surrenders, let it. Prepare neutralization techniques, class youkai.' One of the telepathic commands issues more parameters. 'Kaku cannot restrain it any longer than she has, we need to face it now.' What? Kaku arrived on the arena walls just now, though. She's supposed to be really smart at those kinds of underhanded things, right?

WHI- FWI~sh… The flare of white and teal energy dies out before us. A small figure is left there. I can't see it well from our distance, but they appear to be a sort of… mint-purple tint, clad in a kimono.

"You there." One of the higher-commanding officers speaks from her refurbished ROMP-15, which had audio projection built into it for the sake of cross-communications. "Hold your arms in the air. Neutralize your magical signatures, and exhibit signs of submission. Failure to comply will result in forced restraint. Consider this your only warning."

...The figure didn't change posture, or anything. About as expected, really.

"Engage." The commander orders us verbally, so as to incite fear in our target more than anything.

VU- VU- VU- VUUM. The hovercraft all hum louder in unison, as they strafe away from one another, inching closer. We march at their sides, more careful about not getting rammed by accident than we are the single target.

'Magical signature rising. Target is planning aggressive action.' The thought comes to me, from one of our more magically savvy operators. That's when I see it; the gentle green grass that dots the field around us is darkening, decaying at a rapid rate.

CHU- CHU- CHU- CHU- CHU! That's when our rifles begin firing. They're currently set to danmaku, so the cyan bolts that arc forward right now seem hollow in comparison to our standard plasma shots.

Quickly, the target becomes a light show of glimmering impacts, white sparks dancing in the center of the field-

Cru- Cru- Crunch! Roots, like trees without their leaves, erupt from the earth around it.

FWOOM. I flinch. The ground shook once, and the grass all begins to glow.

'Fire everything! Full lethal!' What's- going on!? 'Survive and deal as much damage as possible!'

PATATATAT- PATATATAT. Faster, neon teal plasma rounds start roaring ahead-

POW! KAPOW- POWPOW. The cannons too are fired ahead, at the tree-like shell before the figure.

I start to run back- but then, a patch of grass has my leg. My energy shield flares at it, but it's able to stab through anyway. I aim my gun to fire down, as it's not a huge deal-

KRAKROOM- KROOMKRACK. Then, there's a monumental noise. Protrusions of purple-black matter trail across the entire arena, roaring towards us. They're like spikes of fragmented wood, roaring out from beneath the soil.

VHRUU~M! Some of the tanks move forward to engage the attack, when they're caught by the dark spikes of wood erupting from the ground.

I- I can't keep watching this- it's coming towards me! I move- but, I'm still stuck. Of fucking course…

PATATATAT! I unload into the grass to make it let go of me. In the background, the roar of broken energy shields and smashing metal is audible…!

whish. I dash away from the clearing's midst-

KRAKOOM! Aa~h! "Nn- ah…!" A something- erupted under me. My shield's gone-

Brambles and petals of solid, smooth wood begin to encapsulate my legs- no, no! What the fuck-

tight- tight tight too tight go up go up

CRU- CRUNCH. Nn- no! My- my thighs… I- I can't slide out now-

SN- SNAP. That's-... my-... am I dying? No, this- this isn't how I-... I can't- Ruru, help!

I yell out for her. "A- aa-..."

CRUNCH.

/ / / / RURU ARAYA'S PERSPECTIVE / / / /

What the hell is going on.

FWOOM. From my monitor, I see the flamethrower turret mounted to the tank's top spin around, spreading corrosive mist into the pitch black forest of brambles and dark magic.

"Ruru!" The co-pilot running internal maintenance yells out for me. "Extreme undercarriage damage! We're being breached!"

Ho- holy shit. "Activate the napalm treads!" They told me I was retarded for this augment, but they were fucking wrong!

VROO- VROO~M! Switching to manual treads over the craft's over capabilities, we land on solid ground. Dirt flares into the air in our wake, while our ROMP-15 bobs and pulses, the rotors of the treads turning again. The warm flare of fire accents our underside, and our shield breaks immediately upon regenerating.

I don't think any of the infantry is alive anymore, and I can't hear the commander. Whatever this dark shit is, it's interfering with the telepathic connections.

CLA- CLACK! Some kind of big plant appears in the darkness next to our craft, slapping it lightly with smooth, brown wood petals.

Vrrr~! Our corrosive turret twists in its direction, spraying out a spread of green-brown crap that instantly makes compost of it.

Kr- krack- kri~ck. While it snaps and corrodes to death, I'm still straining my muscles working the sticks inside this tank. "Yoka. How's the undercarriage temperature?"

"Bad!" She pipes back at me. "Napalm's deactivated, between the bio-matter assault and the natural heat, undercarriage is very close to melting." No- no wonder I'm sweating up a storm, all of a sudden. "We have to cool down."

...No. "Turn it back on."

CR- CRACK. The metal under us- it's-

SNAP! Something black thrusts into the tank's hull.

POW- POW- POW! I shoot my pistol into it, breaking it in three shots. "Turn it the fuck back on!"

FWOOM! Oh- holy shit that hole's not gonna be good with the napalm treads now! Fire leaks through the reddening hole, so I just-...

Thud. I toss a small metal toolbox onto it, and fix it there with my foot- hot hot hot ho- holy-... fuck it…

Wincing an eye shut, I keep my boot on the hot box- which doesn't even work in the end, because the tank jerks to the side, and-

Nice hole in the hull, of just, melting metal and fire. The toolbox sunk into it. Whatever, that was the fucking plan anyway- all this melting shit should keep the crap at bay, at least for a little while.

/ / / / UCHU SHIGUBARU'S PERSPECTIVE / / / /

fwoo. Whelp. That's the last of that cig. Time to toss it into the dark maelstrom below.

Kaku had a finger to her lips. "Hmm." As she looked around, she'd noted that the trees outside the stone arena had been pulled into the earth, which was actually really fucking funny when it happened. I can kinda see why everyone wants to get their hands on little-miss-kills-a-lot down there.

I give her a bored look. "Should I go help them?" Leave it to the grunt division to fuck everything up, somehow.

Kaku nodded. "If you'd like to get this job done without me or your boss castrating you, by all means."

Fwi- click. Fwi- click. I summon both my energy arrow guns, one for each hand. I named 'em Sharpshooter, some time ago. Turning around, I let myself fall backwards off of the wall.

fwish. I relocate myself somewhere nice I saw earlier.

I'm walking upside down, gravity boots pressing into the air like it's a pane of glass.

CRUNCH. Ah. To my left, one of the navy-haired grunts has all the fight scrunched out of her. Blood drips from the solid wood petals, the big ass clapping tree thing turning her to cranberry juice.

"Seriously…" How weak do you gotta be? Escaping binds is like, the first thing you learn in the speed and strength courses.

While upside down, I hold my arrow guns together, as if to make them into a combined rifle, but I don't. "Let's see if you can dodge this!"

FWII~SH… My guns charge with a bright teal energy-

FWASH! "Huah!" I fire a combined plasma energy arrow. It's a big projectile of raw, non-elemental goodness.

KASHINK! It cleaves into the root of the wood spoon clapper shit, but doesn't kill it outright.

Ting! I see where it's gonna go, so I have it bounce offa' what I think's a solid surface. At least, from my perspective. Space shit is weird.

KASHINK! The arrow ricochets unnaturally into the leftmost strands of wood fibers. As it comes back for me, it ricochets off of nothing again, and moves for the last strand.

KASHINK! With that, the clapper trap thing is donezo.

spla- splat, splat. From the inside of it, the bunny it captured falls out, now in irritated, red pieces. Nice job.

...Well, I think I'm all warmed up. No time to waste on the small fry.

fwish. There's some lights in the mess of tree-like brambles, so I pop in to see what's up.

KRA- KRACK- KRAAN~G. There's a tank getting raped in the midst here. It's got a pretty good idea of what's going on, with those corrosive guns, but for some reason it's on fucking fire.

"Somebody!" I hear a chick yelling out inside of it. "He- help! We're trapped!"

Fucking amateurs. I mean, I guess it's a ROMP-15, so there'd be no ejecting anythings in it.

KABOO~M! Next to the tank, one of the other tanks that was moving aside it explode gloriously after being folded in half. These idiots were pretty fortunate they didn't just drive onto a tree thing as it grew, or they would've gotten scrunched like that one.

Well, I'll leave them to their melting pot thing they've got going. I'm sure-

BAM- BOOM! -they'll be fine. Or not. On the upside, the plants seem kind of weary of being melted down or burnt near it… or, it's just done a good job at cleaning up. Usually, idiots get in my way, but these ones at least had the courtesy of opening a path for me.

Oh, shit, what do you know. The blonde chick inside the tank is out here now, on the ground below me. "Shi- Shigu-...! You! I- ah-...!"

Let's see~. If I wanted to take potshots at the tyke… I'd need to get her outta that shell first. It's a rather seed-lookin' shell thing around her. If I get a good visual, I should be able to translocate some of the matter in a way that'd let me piss her off. If none of the brambles nab me, I should be able to-... I dunno. Do something?

SHI- SHINK! "Augh- huu~..." Oh, the blonde chick got herself killed. Some purple shit came up and twisted her head off while I wasn't looking. Not sure how she let that happen.

fwish. I appear somewhere in the darkness, near a blasted metal tank that's near the epicenter. A brownish, imperfect shell protects the target ahead.

fwish. Some crap almost grabbed me, so I try again.

fwish. Never fuckin' mind going near tanks, then. I appear somewhere where there is no life whatsoever. A~nd… I'm clear. Good to know I was just gettin' that shit backwards.

KABOOM! A blast of teal and white goes off somewhere awkwardly to the far left of the mess, and suddenly, brambles and spikes erupt from the dirt to attempt piercing it, despite it being an explosion. Is that how this works? Also, kinda surprised the mortar company's still alive, somewhere.

FWII~SH. "Look what came for ya…!" Aiming both arrow guns together, I charge magic into them, and they glow brightly in the dark atmosphere created by the deadly forest.

FWASH! I fire the shot-

SHINK! A tendril runs up my side, under my ribs.

fwish. But, then I'm gone. "He- hahah…" Wow, that kinda stings.

FWAM! Ahead, the piercing energy arrow shatters against the acorn-like shell, only vibrating it. Aw, come the fuck on.

KABOOM! Look, it's great the mortar company's alive and all, but it'd be great if they could aim for something actually useful!

...Well, they still distract the bullshit, at least. I see brambles snap up where the shell went off.

fwish. I appear in the air over the acorn, above the battlefield. Let's see… if I- oh, lookie here, cool spore things. Anyway, if I get close enough, I should be able to undo some of the material rending like I was thinkin' a few moments ago.

fwish. Now that I'm next to the acorn thing- wow-

fwish. Not-... my brightest idea, to be honest. I felt like I was-... that was probably what death feels like.

Thud. I flop onto my knees next to Kaku, now that I'm with her on the stone arena walls again. "He- hehe… damn. That kid's got the whole 'temper tantrum' thing down pat…"

Fwi- fwish. She casts a healing something or another on me, or some shit. "If you don't get in there and do something right now I'm going to turn you into a zombie." Alright, geesh.

fwish. Alright. Always knew I was gonna square off with this kid, so I came more than a little prepared…

CLACK! Slamming the tops of my two laser arrow guns together, I charge them with magic again, now awkwardly above the forest gruel. "Gotcha now!"

FWASH- FWASH- FWASH! I slam fire three of those giant energy arrows out, letting them coast into the dark towards the acorn at an awkward angle.

fwish. As they move, and the brambles rush for my previous position, I unjoin my weapons. They glow with a bright, holy light in the dark of the woods, floating by my sides without my hands on them anymore. "Look what I've saved for ya~!"

FWAM- FWAM- FWAM! As the energy slams against her shell, I appear behind the traveling arrows, and aim both guns forward.

PATATATATAT. Holy, sparkling diamonds jolt ahead with ballistic velocity.

fwish. PATATATAT. I appear to the right now, moving right around the acorn, my bullets streaming into it. On impact, they become storms of flashing, holy light.

PATATATATAT. Now above it, I shoot straight down, moving forward. The acorn thing I'm attacking is now a single light in the dark of the woods.

PATATATATAT. Moving counterclockwise this time, I unload from the opposite of where I was two actions ago.

PATATATATAT! My guns vibrate and shudder, glowing brighter white, almost yellow after every new shot. There's a new hole in the acorn, where the piercing arrows and my barrages slammed down.

fwish. My body shuddering, I appear over her, and throw my arms out, the guns twirling around me. "Let's see- how ya dance!"

FWI- FWI- PATATATATATATAT...! My- mind-...! All around me, the guns fire wildly, and my eyes, my mind- my head hurts as I try to process every bullet. I relocate them all around the shell, making each shot somewhere new. The only methodology I use for this, is that the cloud of bullets revolves counterclockwise itself around my target, coming from mostly above.

To an amateur, I'm making an unavoidable, huge storm of bullets with totally random positioning, crushing my target with them. To anyone with a brain, all these shots can be streamed by just running in a circle.

PATATATATATAT! This storm goes on for a solid minute. Fucking-... fucking, ouch…!

CRA- CRACK! CRACK! The acorn begins to shatter, all of the holy energy and positioning working to slip past the tendrils and dark vines, and dark bark, piercing the blackening shell, and revealing the little shit inside.

Perfect. Now, to just-

KRA- SPLACK. Aah… something black came from her, herself.

Rainbow light-... envelops me.

Thud. I land on the ground, next to Kaku. I-... I can only see outta one eye, now.

Feeling at my face- ow. My- my left eye- it's on fucking fire! "Ghh- ngh- fch…"

Ugh. I spring into standing. "Ka- Kaku, fucking- my eye, thank you!?"

"You'll be fine." You fucking son of a bitch- "You did a fine job buying time." I- whah!? If it was so fine, patch up my fucking eye, you has-been!

Fuck- ouch, fuck! Reaching into my pocket, I take out some Ragnaid shit- fucking- turn the fuck on, you outdated piece of crap! C'mon, c'mon-

Fwi~woash. Aa- ah… fuck. Should've brought regular potions. Ragnaid bites dick. S'not usually me who needs the fucking healing, which is why I bring this crappy, raggedy ass regulation heal item. Only upside's that it doesn't get expended like a potion does.

The healing energy washes over me, but it's more like a biting, hollow pain than it is anything good, like regular healing magic. Ugh.

...Uh. Hmm. All around the stone arena, men and women of varying degrees of dressed-like-a-clown syndrome step onto the stone, beholding the inky black mess before themselves.

"This was your idea?" Oh, it's that caped bitch, the taoist one… "You'd bring something like this into this realm?"

"Oh, be calm, prince." Kaku gave her a smile, and a nod. "It is all under control."

"Whenever you say something like this is all under control…!" The 'prince' barks back at her. "It is typically never under control! The- the raw mana from this- it's unbelievable!"

"Isn't it astounding?" Kaku smiles widely at her. "If we can catalyze this power for ourselves, prince-... well, we wouldn't be gods, but it would be a leap and a bound, surely."

...Frowning deeply, the prince shook her head. Why's she callin' her a prince? There somethin' about her I don't know about? Maybe she's just fucking retarded. "Be grateful the caretaker herself has not decided to intervene, yet. We will have many words after this, Seiga. Be aware that I do not approve of this heavy obsession with dark elemental power."

"Oh, hush." Kaku waved her off. "At worst, this event will fizzle out. At best… well, you'll stop complaining, at least."

The prince guy girl whoever seemed to shake her head, resisting the urge to snarl back. "...Alright. Now, then."

Stepping forward, she held her blade into the air, drawing it from her belt, which was concealed by her cape. "You'd best help out too, Seiga."

Taking a position next to her, Kaku nodded. "Yes, prince. Might I ask what you plan?"

"We're obviously going to attempt sealing this thing." The 'prince' announced. "You see the other hermits of the realm? Many of them are coming to this conclusion as we speak. It will not be the first time any of them have combined seals for something like this. There is little time for communication. In even the worst case scenario, this will at least severely dampen this thing's ability to corrupt the realm any further than it has. Of all the things, Seiga…"

All around the stone arena, lights of various colors lit up from what I assume are other hermits. The magic around the clearing becomes-... incredible. I've never felt power just stagger me like this. It's fucking incredible, is what it is. The pool of dark that I tried to trade blows with, the phenomenal-... holy, is it? It's not totally holy magic. I don't know what it is.

Regardless, all the hermits raise their magical signatures. Some pray, others raise a hand, some raise a weapon or a staff.

Kaku moves twenty meters to the right of the 'prince', raising her hand as she reclines in the air, a pale blue light growing in her palm.

Fvhar- whish- di- ding. Some kinda-... whatever they're doing, it sounds like a wind chime. A really loud wind chime. The light from everyone's hands spirals out abruptly, raising into the air above the arena, coming onto a single point above everything.

Then, silently, an oil-like rainbow light envelops the entire interior of the arena.

I'm blinded.

Fvi~sh. That's- a really juicy sound-

FWARAAAAAAR-

/ / / / MATT'S PERSPECTIVE / / / /

"So, then they plopped her at the HQ pretty sure, where she still put up a hell of a fight, but they've got her under control. I think." Mima nodded at me.

...I'm not sure if I believe all of that, but I suppose I will find out more on my own as things progress.

Anyway. This is my second day on the shores of Makai. Or, well, not necessarily 'shores'. There's a lot of sand, and some definitely-healthy-for-you water, which gives me that impression, but it's not a beach or anything. I'm told it's sort of visually similar to the beaches, however.

Mima has a spell to prevent me from having critical existence failure here. Which, is a bitch, because that means she can just turn it off whenever she wants, and I will become a pile of sand, like the ones I've stepped on to travel out this far.

"C'mon, pick up the pace." She snaps her ghostly fingers at me. "You've only had to walk across-... what's basically my lawn. C'mon."

"Fuck you." I'll walk as fast as I damn well please.

Yesterday, Mima had teleported me to the surface again, after everything had boiled over. Small Packages was… relatively together. The vampire bitches were gone, Rumia's somewhere, but the traps were still around, so it's not like I really lost anything. To my surprise, Vanilla was there too, hiding in that one treasure chest where we kept the crappy deed.

Before I could tie up things the next morning, I woke up back on this shithole of a planet. The sky out this far changes periodically between a serene, pastel purple, and a grueling black-brown. It almost changes depending on what direction you're looking in sometimes, which just makes my head hurt.

"What the hell am I even doing here." All I've done so far is follow her around, and use some magic at her behest.

"A few things." Mima waves a finger before me. "For one, I'd like to introduce you to some… hmm. No, that will wait. Perhaps I'll acquaint you with some locals, eventually. But, for today, we'll do some recon, acclimation, and… I suppose I'll be measuring your magical proficiency."

Sounds boring. "That sounds boring, and for my purposes, relatively useless."

...She gained a more impatient look. "Oh? Well, fuck it, we're gonna go buy beer on the town, then. I'll introduce you to some chicks."

...That's about as she said anyway, except worded more conversationally. It's not like I have a choice, all things considered.

"You sound like you don't actually have an idea what you want to do with me." I voice my concerns to her, since this has been on my mind due to her vague statements.

Her expression becomes a half-grin, as we meander along this-... sandy plain? "Well, I've got some ideas. I wanna take some time an' make sure you're up to snuff, and all that. You're kinda just outsider trash that got duped into-... kittyism by the god here, and especially in this realm, you're even worse off. But, that's gonna be the point."

"If you're going to kill me, just do it already." I remind her. We're in the middle of literally nowhere.

"Fuckin'..." Mima's look towards me at my comment is a flat one. "Look. People are assets. Enemies and crappy competing youkai, not always so much, but others can be. Considering your place in the village, yer obviously not a slouch. When you kill your assets, they're just gone."

I see. I'm no slouch, am I.

"Hii~h." I hiss at her, to demonstrate my non-slouchitude.

...Pursing her lips, Mima hovers closer. "Sksksksksk." Holding up a hand, she rubs her fingers together to make small noises.

Well, that's vaguely rude.

At my unenthused look, she gazes ahead at the range of rough terrain ahead. "...Jus' remember, the best asset a cat's got is its speed." Well. No shit. "Not that it'll probably do ya much good, here."

We're coming up to a rocky, uneven gray pass near the end of this sandy area.

"We ain't gonna take this walk every time we come out here." Mima provides. "Jus' ta get ya used to the area." Yes, sand, sand, more sand, and really huge rocks. Well, poison water too. Not sure if it counts as water, or not.

/ / / / HELL ON WHEELS / / / /

We come up past the rocky pass, and a town of some vaguely european description is in sight ahead.

From here, everything about the town from a distance simply screams abandonment and disuse, which is strange. Sunlight pours from somewhere without a sun, casting an irritating, pale light across the village. The dark green leaves of nearby, odd trees shimmer constantly, and a soundless wind is running through my clothing.

"What would ya do if ya got attacked, right now?" Mima supposed, gazing into the sky.

"Run." Probably.

Giving me no answer in response, Mima just continues forward, along the path we followed out of the rough rocks.

The town ahead has no outer walling to speak of, to protect it from anything. I doubt it needs it.

While we move towards it, Mima drifts further ahead. "At the edge of the town. Do you see that?"

Hmm? Ah. Yes, I see… nothing. "No."

"That fruit stand, smartass." She gives me a grin back. "Or, well… we'll call it a fruit stand."

"I'm from the twenty first century." I remind her.

Her grin widens. "...Well. Here." She reaches into her-... self, and draws some sort of currency. "They don't operate with yen very strictly in these parts."

I receive some red tokens, of some sort. "And with this, I will…?"

"Get beer." She gives me a big, plain smile. "You'll walk into the center of town, walk into the corner store, and grab some alcohol. They come in big jugs, and it's real cheap. Not really good, but it'll wet a whistle, and some types can't tell the difference between wine and rubbing alcohol anyway."

"I don't like beer." I don't drink. "I'm also underaged."

...Mima rolled her eyes at me. "Real fuckin' dainty, aren't ya, kitty? Well. Fine. Buy the fuckin'... PVC pipes they sell there, or something. Whatever you want. Pick me up a small jug, at least."

Hmm. Maybe if they have just… plain, flat-out bottled alcohol. How does fire work here? Is there regular oxygen to breathe? Hmm.

Taking the coins, I nod at her, and continue forward. She doesn't trail me as I move into town.

By the time I'm at the actual first buildings, I look back, and she's nowhere to be seen. She's probably trailing me through the floor, or something.

Well. Let's step inside, then.

Coming up to the town, I step over a threshold that looks like some kind of small storm drain.

Fwi~osh. Oh. Ah, hmm.

The moment I step over the storm drain, the atmosphere is entirely different. The sun's light shines down in the same way as it did before, but it's a much more faint red, and stars are visible in the sky above. Looking back, I can see some light hanging in the sky, pale and red. My eyes aren't hurt by glancing in its general direction.

Ahead of me, there are people.

"Nn~h…" There's a quite stereotypical BDSM-style hooker standing near the fruit stand I'd observed earlier, her hair black and bobby. "Can you believe it? I wasn't invited…"

Across the street from her, a small girl in white robes nodded. "That's-... not exceedingly hard to believe. You're a pretty huge bitch when it comes to that sort of thing."

I march past them, and they don't do too much other than give me idle stares. This seems fortunate, so far.

The starlit, crimson shade over the town doesn't actually look bad. It's a welcome difference from any regular nature, for certain. The vibrancy of the red isn't enough to be annoying… yet.

Di- di~ng. A storefront bell near me rings. A thin girl walks out, one eye of hers green, and the other red. Her skin is a pale purple, and she has some kind of french… european bonnet hat thing. "Catheri~ne. I told you… this brewer doesn't have anything for younger vampires."

"Now, now, Odessa…" The next vampire has a large, pink-purple dress, her eyes the same as the other 'vampire', I'd assume. "There's more than one alchemist in this town. It's not an emergency..."

"I suppose it's not." The thinner one licked her lips. "...And, why do I smell-..."

Their eyes meet mine. It's time to go. I power-walk away with authority.

"Odessa-..." The one named 'Catherine' begins to walk, her heels heard on the stone road beneath us. "Is that- a human?"

"A cursed human." Odessa answered her. "A rather simple curse, at that. In-... why in Makai, of all places?"

woosh. As I power-walk ahead, Catherine appears before me. "Hey- kitty. I have a question…"

"I have a question, too…" Odessa comes up behind me, but stalks around towards the front.

Well. "...And, that would be?"

"How did you end up here?" Catherine steps close, her eyes glowing softly in the darkness of the European-styled road. "You're only human."

"This isn't a place for humans…" At my right, Odessa leans towards me. "You'll be raped and killed."

...Catherine scoffs at her. Her hair is purple, done up in buns. "And you call me blunt, Odessa. You'll scare her."

"Well, I ought to be…" Odessa pouts back at her. "She must've been sent here by accident…"

Their gazes end up centering on mine. Since I'm obligated to answer… "Went around the wrong corner." It happens. "I'll be fine."

Moving to step past them, I-... actually succeed in doing so. Hmm.

"She reminds me of our fledgling…" Odessa comments idly, as I proceed.

"Someone must be looking out for her." Catherine's voice trailed off, as I moved further onto the road. "Perhaps… we won't interfere."

Soon, I come to the first four-way road juncture.

Old, black cast-iron lanterns dot the edges of the intersection. The stone road the town has is relatively illuminated by their hollow glows.

To the right, down the road-...

My gaze lands on a very tall woman. Her hair is long and black, but fairly oddly kempt, almost locked from gravity as it hung behind her. She was at least ten feet tall, her azure eyes locked on my form, and her body was contained by some kind of blue-grey armor.

"Ooh…" An echoey voice was heard on my left. It was from the center path, where there was now another large woman, except more humanly so. Her hair was lavender, and long, her wings like a dragon's. "What a day…"

"Human." The armored, huge pale woman began speaking.

The leftmost road looks clear-

A coat floats down the road, as if worn by someone, but there seems to be no one wearing it.

BAM! There's a slam, a door swinging open with terrifying volume, and something scrambles out from inside. It looks vaguely humanoid, but it escapes the-... store, I assume, and romps into the road.

"Hrrgh-...!" Someone glowing a bright blue snaps out, floating after them. "Bloody beast…"

Well. Let's go down the left road, I guess.

...I start with walking-

WOOSH. A wind storm kicks up around me, the scantily-clad, lavender-haired succubus-esque form snapping into a rotation around me in an instant. "Fufufu~! You…"

BAM, BAM, BAM. The huge, armored woman bounds up to us. "Huma~n!" This is already going very well.

I run. Reaching into my pockets, I draw the sliding scissors.

fwish! Sliding ahead, I move for an alley-

FWI- SWOOSH! The succubus blurs by me, her motion similar to mine. Her eyes draw more attention than her whole face. Lifting me up by the armpits, she gives me a huge smile. "Neko, neko~. So, so lucky~!" She's- pulling me closer-

CLA- CLACK. The armored woman lowers a great lance from her back. "Hra~gh!"

WHA- BAM! Her motion is unreadable, a sudden thrust faster than thunder itself.

"Uu- uu…!" She's stabbed the succubus through the stomach. Blood has exploded onto the floating coat.

Oh. It's also splashed onto invisible limbs. "Nn- nrgh…" White light begins to pour from the face of the invisible, coat-clad creature.

woosh. I slide out of the succubus's arm, since she got gutted-

FVRAR. I'm-... stopped, somehow. The lance-wielding maniac centers her smouldering, blue gaze on me. "Hrr~h. Human-"

SLAP! Her eyes lose their intensity, after the lavender-haired succubus slaps her. "You- damned-... why are arch-dullahan so fucking retarded!?"

"Sod!" The arch-dullahan barks back at her. "I'll stab your sour limbs off…"

When her attention is diverted to her, I can suddenly move again. Huh.

fwi- fwish. With two great strides from my scissors, I sprint off at a speed greater than I could when I was not a cat girl loli.

"Hrgh- hraa- AAAAA!" What the actual fuck-

There's scraping sounds behind me. Whatever that invisible thing is- I can feel it behind me-

fwi- fwish! I start sliding near the side of the road, near a lamp post. It's one of those old-timey ones. Running past it, I keep moving-

CLO~NG. Despite the noise of it presumably smashing its face against the metal, it's probably still after me, for some reason. That wasn't even my blood that got on it, but it's after me for some reason.

There's a stand of some kind up ahead, so I run up towards it. It's unoccupied entirely, like half of these storefront, european-styled 'fruit stands'. More than half, actually. Is it just here for aesthetics?

Coming up to it, I leap onto the top of the counter, and past the four supporting beams at each corner.

BAM- BAM! The invisible creature smashes into the wood, and is locked there.

Looking back at it, I see its piercing white eyes drawing lines in the dim night air, capturing me with how bright they are compared to everything else. These lines of solid white are-... really like nothing else.

I cast my arm up. "Saw!" I forget if shouting helps, but I don't care.

VRRRRR~! A blade arcs down from the air above me, magically generated. It cleaves through the wood, roaring towards the invisible thing.

SPLA- SPLA- SPLACK- KLAKLAKLACK! When it meets it, blood is everywhere. After some splotches meet me, I crouch before the counter's side, to avoid getting any more on me…

"HH- AAA- HIII!" The noise it makes is charming, certainly. Ow.

When I spring back up after a moment of crushingly anxious stillness, I see the red has painted a figure of a female, the crimson-tinted saw blade partially embedded in her form, now stopped by the sheer sponge that was her body.

sqech- splack- splash. Then, she turns into blood entirely, the coat and her hat sinking down into just-... a fucking bath of red shit. What the fuck.

Then-

WHAM. Something-... hits me.

KRABAM!

/ / / / CURSES / / / /

WHAM! I- what-... what the fuck.

Thu- thud! Rolling backwards, across a countertop, I fall off of it, and onto a floor. The house is dark as sin, and-... fucking ouch. I don't know if it's my adrenaline, but I don't feel horrible about-... being launched through a wooden wall.

"Oo~ps!" I hear the succubus's singsong voice echo through wherever the fuck this is. "Sorry~!"

Woosh! I leap up onto a shelf top for no reason. This turns out to be a bad idea, because my torso immediately disagrees with latching onto its side, and I let go. "Da- damn…"

Alright, let's get the fuck out of here. It's like a small store, this place. No one's here, for some reason.

Coming up to the back door, I move to open it up-

Clack. The door removes itself from the wall, and- it's coming for me-

Whap! I barely get out of the way, and it fucking bruises my shoulder on its way in. What.

"Come o~n!" The succubus's wind is heard behind me, so I bolt out-

WOOSH. What- the fuck-...

My vision expands for a moment, and then white fills my vision. Once it's gone, I'm somewhere else, or something.

This shop looks similar to the other, except it's actually manned, there is no hole in the wall from my interaction with it, and the walls have a sort of okay green wallpaper, with a triangular pattern.

...I'm dizzy. That-... succubus. Ugh. My legs, too. Everything. Holy shit, this hurts.

thud. I drop onto the wooden floor.

"Uh…" Someone's in here. "Dude?" Goddammit.

woosh. Behind me, that slutty fucker is here, too. "Aah... there you are."

I'm lifted by my upper chest, like I was an actual cat. "Good evening, Consolatione. I'm just taking my new kitty out for a walk." Just being held by her, in this enclosed space- is suffocating, despite my inclination to not smell things. Her stomach's somehow all healed up from being pierced by that giant, car velocity great lance.

"Very likely story, Alma." The black-haired woman behind the counter is rather conservatively dressed, by comparison to everyone else. She has one of those dumb doile hats, for some reason. "Put 'er down, no shit in my shop, thank you. This includes the stupid voice magic."

...Rolling her sweet- shitty eyes, Alma lets me go. "Hmm. You know, if I were one of the less fortunate ones, such store policy would be very rude."

"Well, you're of the right mind to keep it down. I hate it, 'cause you people like to slur words more like that, and it makes actually selling things to you that much harder." Consta- Constant-... Constantine, that will be her name now.

My vision is spinning, and every puff of air made from Alma tugging on me is-... weird, and good. Probably not a good thing, altogether.

She holds me up to her side, against her smooth skin. "Mmh. Well… I came to see about your wares. Specifically… do you carry mental-alteration tools now? I know Lady Shinki approved of them at the basic level…"

"We sell food here, ma'am." Constantinople's gaze is bored, at best. "If you want drugs, you go to the drug store."

"Ah-..." Alma let out a cute sigh. I mean, fuck. "Gotta any wine? Tonight's gonna be fun, fun, fun."

"Let 'er go." Constantle vies for my freedom.

"Mmm?" Alma tilts her head, and her scent is- just, everywhere. This is-... now that I think about it, being in pain is a good thing. It distracts me from her fucking disgusting scent. "I can't cuddle my kitty, in here?"

One of her hands travels up my officer's coat, moving under it. I feel her warm, welcoming hand slide across my chest, and there's-... something so strange about this feeling. Fortunately, the pain and locale makes this more awkward than anything.

"Put down the pussy." Constalala requests. "Customer's not good if she's high off your fumes. Which, she is, and you can't deny it."

Alma let her eyes roll up. "Oo~h. Awwh. Come o~n. You know you like it, when I pet my pussy…"

Her face nears my right ear, her left arm still searching my chest. "I can pet your pussy… in more ways than one." My ear- how does an ear feel pleasure. What.

I turn, and try to bite her face off-

"Mmm." Her pink lips meet my cheek.

Woash. As a result, healing energy runs up my form, and-...

She shoves my face into her chest. I do nothing to resist.

"See~?" She gives the other woman a victorious smile. "My pet."

However, I hear steps, so I know the shopkeeper approaches despite my vision being occupied.

Ooh- ah. She plucked me from her arms. I struggle against them, because- I want-... I don't know. It's just, Alma is really-... I don't know how I feel about her. I don't remember-

fwish. Constantantanta shoves something into my face. "Achoo~!" I give a high-pitched sneeze in return…

What the fuck was I doing. Oh, right, getting fucking stomped on by the forces of hell.

On reflex, I dart up to the counter, away from that fucking boob monster. "What-..." I wanted to ask, 'what did you shove in my face', but it was probably super death salt or some shit.

Alma's plain gaze lit up. "Oh! Darn. You just had to, hmm." She came towards me again, trotting plainly on the wood floor of the green-walled shop.

Alma's attire was slutty. Her entire torso was essentially exposed, barring some kind of flexible cloth affixed to her breasts, and around her ribs. For her pants, she did have a skirt of a sort, with dark thigh-high stockings.

As a whole, it screamed 'sex'.

When Alma got near, I flicked my arm forward, scraping it across her face.

...She opened her eyes again, expression twice as flat as before, with three new red scrapes down her nose and around her eyes. "...I~ suppose... I'll take the wine, anyway."

Cla- clack. Constahaha put two wine bottles down on the counter. "Here ya go, honey."

Cli- click- click. Alma tossed coins onto the counter. "He~re. Thank yo~u, Consolatione."

"Mmm." It's sort of odd, how Consolatione's dialect contrasts with her dress and appearance. She's a thin girl, with long black hair, and what seems to be a constant flat expression.

"You came here for a reason?" Instantly, as Alma departs, Consolahoolahoop interrogates me. "Or, are you on the run? Keepin' yer head low, all that."

"...Is this the corner store?" I really can't fucking tell. How did I get here. What the fuck is Makai.

She let her eyes flick up. "Yes. This is the corner store, one of them. I'm one of the moderately powerful food vendors in town. Many doors lead to me. Typically, the green trigram-marked doors. Make sure you read the magical signature, or you could end up in a trap."

I'm glad I don't know how to read the magical signature. "...I need-..." Actually. I need to ask about alcohol for various uses, and what their highest proof beer is.

"They'll keep coming for you." She remarks. "...They can sense your light. If I wasn't a vendor, you'd be my slave, too. Your blood, your soul- your very essence screams earthen human. Your kind… you are a delicacy. It'd be such a shame, for those with natural anti-human inclination to simply slay you. But, I've no need for you myself. Once you walk out of here, you won't live long. As long as you live, they will come for you. We always know where you are." Oh.

...While I stare at her, she speaks again. "My doors reach all over Makai, and I don't want to hold your hand as my lines grow. Make your purchase soon, chew toy."

Sure. "Do you have any raw alcohol, or is it only wine and beer? If so, what is the price of your highest-... highest proof alcohol?"

"Some. For the oni-types." She remarked. "Also, those who do not process taste, but may process alcohol. Is that what you desire?"

I place my red tokens on the counter. "Give me something that I can carry."

In not even a few moments she places a huge, grey canister onto the counter. "Here. Pure alcohol." What the fuck. "Don't let any black slime see you." How racist. "They'll take you into them, and you will burn a toxic death." I didn't realize they became that bad. Now, the next time I walk into a ghetto, I'll have to worry about toxic assimilation. "They're tempted by raw alcohol and poisons."

...I take the huge ass canister. "Thank you, I think…"

Turning around-... ah. I see. There is suddenly a crowd of women of various levels of clothing behind me. Dark-haired, blonde-haired, the tints of the rainbow…

Facing the counter again, I set down the raw alcohol. "I think I'll have a burger, too."

thump. It comes out of fucking nowhere, landing on the counter before me. "On the house. Door'll take you back to where you first came in, by the way. Have fun with Alma. Don't let her get bored of you."

...Taking the burger, I pocket it, since it's cooked and wrapped, apparently. Still very warm, too; almost enough to burn my dainty loli hands.

Clapping my arms around the big damn alcohol drum, I get moving.

Moving through the somewhat cluttered line, I shuffle to the door in the back.

Slap. A buxom, blonde girl slaps my ass on the way out. "Hehehe. Hey- kitten. Hey!"

I face her briefly. She has cat ears, too.

Immediately, I move to leave. I will not be enticed by a fellow feline. "Wha- hey-"

Fwio~sh. My vision expands as I walk out the door, into a nebulous, road-like space.

Then, I'm back outside that one store I got smashed through. Good. When I look back, I see the green trigram-marked door inside the dark store, for some reason.

Across the street from here, there's a girl with evenly-cut, bobby black hair which ends in a pink gradient at the tips. Upon seeing me, she smiles wider, and saunters forward.

"Hey, hey." Her voice is sort of medium, despite being a loli like me. "Kitty~."

I will bludgeon you with this alcohol barrel, motherfucker. "No."

"Aaw." She's instantly at my side, as I try to march away. "No- hey, look, hear me out."

Her arms have tight pink sleeves, which end along her 'biceps' and at the midst of her fingers, showing off her pink nails and smooth skin. She's mostly naked, a huge midriff existing between her small white top and fucking tiny white skirt.

"Not t'be upfront…" Coming close to me, I can smell her vanilla perfume. "You got a bo~yfriend?"

Well. "Sure." I don't trust anyone where, and especially you.

"I bet he doesn't fuck you." She holds a finger to my chin, somehow keeping her body steady as we both march at full pace. "My dick tastes like candy~."

A trap, then, is it. At this point… "Do you people think about anything other than sex."

"Well, yeah…" He has a thin arm around my waist, pressing his cheek against mine. "What's wrong with sex, though? I'm just saying hello. Ah- slow down..." He tries to slow me down with his arms.

"No." I refuse. "Fuck off." Damned trap.

"Bitch…" She- he frowns at me, trying to pull harder. "Fi~ne. If you don't want to be friends, how about just a quick fuck? Come o~n. It's not good to repress yourself."

"I'd like to not get super AIDS." Among other marks upon my dignity. I'm also not gay. "I'm not gay."

...He sighs, and lets me go. "Alright, fine. Not into cute boys, huh. Is it 'cause I look like a girl…?"

"No. Yes." Let's hustle. "Get away from me." Begone, confusing freak of nature. "I'm lesbian. Fuck dicks."

"Oo~h. Damn it…" He looks displaced. "Wait- but you said, you weren't gay- what…"

Soon, he's too far away for me to hear him. What an adventure that was. Let's get out of town before this burger dies.

Romping down the road with my alcohol barrel, I keep on lookout for anything that might blindside me and gib me instantly.

"yhou" Whispering is emitted from somewhere nearby. As expected, at this point. "i see yhou"

I turn, and- upon seeing what it is, I start to move away.

sh- shlick, shlick. Black smog begins to roll from a nearby alley, its eyes a piercing but dim yellow. When it enters the pale scarlet light of the evening, it reveals itself to be a being of constantly evaporating and recombining ooze.

"Bhu~hp." Despite being shaped like a long-haired woman from the waist up, it belches, navy-colored bubbles rolling from its inky maw. "gimme"

It seems slow. I begin to bound away, because fuck off.

My shoes click and clack against the stone roads as I run, my form bobbing under the weight of this big goddamn alcohol tub I'm carrying…

Under me, I see a round shadow swipe forward, passing me. I slow before it.

bloo- blup, bloop. The road begins to bubble like tar where it stopped, and the two yellow lights of the black slime girl slowly transition into being from it.

Thump. Let's hope this fucking works. I place the alcohol tub beside myself, and search my being…

Drawing my fire scissors, I point them forward. "Fu- fucking, get lost. I'll burn you away."

As the slime 'stands', it simply peers at me unintelligently. "ufuh"

Alright, then. Swirling the scissors around, I-... what could I cast with them? Fire, Hellfire… right.

"Hellfire!" Shifting slightly away from the slime, I cast an arm up, as if lashing it out at it.

Fwoom! From myself, three fireballs bloom out, in a vertical line towards it. One hits the floor immediately, but the other two slowly proceed into her form, a trail of amber drawn in the air as they go.

FWAFWOOM! The reaction is immediate. "Hwuh- HWAAOO~!" My ears are ringing.

Howling, her entire form is a mix of black, white and red, smouldering and combusting. She's now a jiggling blob of pure napalm, the heat from her enough to make my hairs stand on end from the sudden intensity and discomfort.

CLACK- POP! The mobile bonfire starts to wiggle towards me, so as I slip my scissors away, I wrap an arm around the barrel. I lift, and once I have just a basic hold on it, I start to sprint.

FWOOM- FWISH… As I hustle away, the surreal smouldering noises of the slime behind me are audible.

I take a look back-

KABOOM! The black slime explodes, a rolling fog of bright blue and greyish black spattering out from it and into the air.

Embers and falling tar clots near me, so I begin to run in the opposite direction faster. Perhaps I'll take an alley- no, that's a bad idea.

I shield the barrel with my body.

sss- sss. My skin sizzles, a patch of tar meeting my shoulder, searing through the coat immediately. Fu~ck.

pla- pap plap- splat. Black shit splatters everywhere around me, embers and black particles washing down from the air above to make everything more terrifying.

"Aah…?" From around a corner ahead, a brown-haired, young guy in green armor steps out. He's carrying a soft yellow lantern, attached to a big wooden stick.

I avoid him too, because fuck him, and fuck everyone in this shitty town. My shoulder burns. Taking a look at the afflicted shoulder, I can see that the ooze has irritated a lot more skin than it even touched.

KABOOM! An already half-shattered wall ahead of me explodes. "You'll never escape…!" The arch-dullahan from earlier steps away from it. According to the movement of embers in the air, she'd thrust into it faster than my eyes could see, having roared across the street before myself.

Let's keep sprinting. Instead of keeping to the left, I sprint forward between the guy and the arch-dullahan.

CRACK! As I pass by, the man tosses his lantern on the ground.

KAFWOOM! It explodes into a pillar of fire.

FWAFWOOMFWOOM! The sky over the town becomes a roaring blaze, the poisonous tar and gas lighting even higher, heat bellowing at an ironically safe distance over everything.

"Human." His voice is deeper now, and his form is gone. "You disrupt this place." I think this place is disrupting itself…

The black-haired woman reaches her gauntlet-clad hand up to her head.

WOOSH! Casting the arm out, her head whirls from her neck, black hair whirling like a wild blade. "Fu- hahaha~!"

"Saw!" As I strafe back, watching the nearing air glaive, I cast my free arm down, barely holding the barrel with my other.

VRRRR~! The metal blade roars down from above.

KRRII~NG! The hair and the blade meet, great white sparks exploding off of the impact, the saw and the arch-dullahan's head both deflected off one another, somehow.

FWOOM- FWOOM! Small pillars of fire bubble from the stone road around me, and I see the man's form now, all of his human features gone. A skeletal demon of fire hovers in the air over me, holding a great pitchfork. What the fuck.

KLACK! He thrusts his trident-like fork down at an awkward angle, embedding it in the stone nearest me. With the barrel firmly over my head, I continue moving, strafing the shallow eruptions of fire in the street's midst.

He moves to claim it, and I yell out another idea. "Gr- Gravity!"

Fwoa~sh. The orb of dark energy comes down from the red sky above. The huge blaze has died out, with only bubbling black fumes left in the sky over the town.

It envelops his form, and as he lifts his pitchfork from the ground with his malformed, horn-like finger appendages, the implement is drawn from his grasp, bouncing simply on the floor. "Hh-... insolence…"

"Houh!" The roar and smashing of metal is heard, the arch-dullahan girl leaping ten feet into the air.

KABOOM! She thrusts her lance into the ground, piercing it halfway in.

KRING- KRING- KRING- KRING! A sea of swords begins to bloom from the stone walkway. Holy shit- let's go!

I'm running between flares of heat which erupt from the smouldering stonework below, swords exploding in my path while I just fucking book it.

"Hu~fh- nnh…" My body pulses with adrenaline and pain, just from running. The tar on my shoulder bubbles unnaturally, vibrating. What the fuck is it doing.

When I sight it again, I notice a dim yellow light in the midst of it, as it writhes. Holy shit. Wait…

Keeping one arm on the barrel- I try to part a hand from it, to dig into my pockets, but-

KRING- KRING- KRING! Fucking swords! Let's- just keep running-

Fwoom! Almost eating shit as I stumble out of the way of a fire draft, I just- fucking book it. "Nngh- fuckh…"

Soon, I near the edge of the town. Thank fucking god. Hopefully I don't get my ass eaten out immediately when I walk outside.

It's still a great distance away, but with my speed, I'll get there- in just, thirty seconds at the most…

Running. Go, go, go. The threshold is still so far.

BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM! I hear the arch-dullahan running, too-

KRIK- VRRRRR~! From above, a huge azure laser slams down, striking somewhere behind me. "Aau- auugh!" That sounded like the dullahan eating shit.

FWAP- FWAP- BOOMP- FWAM. Small, azure-tinted energy balls of some sort roll into the fire demon who's tailed me, piercing his form. "Hukh- nnh-..." Wordlessly, he retreats into the air, and vanishes.

The swords have stopped. So have the fire plumes. Now that I have a moment, I immediately plop the barrel down, take my holy scissors out, and take them to the black blob that's jiggling on my shoulder.

SSS- SSS~! It immediately smolders and sizzles violently, its form popping and retreating as I cut into the parts of it just above my skin. "hh- hh" Why is it making whispering noises.

splat. After cutting all around it, it rolls off of my shoulder. Where it was, there is a seam of bloody red in my flesh around the edges, and the center is brown and red. Some patches of skin are missing, but all the blood is clotted and a dark brown already.

...Anyway. I assume Mima finally decided enough was enough, or some shit.

Cla- clack. On the ground before me, a figure lands. She is six feet tall, her hair long and navy blue. She's clad in some kind of technical, navy and black armor.

"This wind's whispers were right." She opens her eyes, which are, unlike everyone else's, a normal brown. Normal eye colors are actually special here. "A human bearing the cat's curse."

Yeah. The wind's whispers were right: another long-haired bitch who wants to steal my soul has spawned from the aether.

"That's-... that's me." It's hard to speak, between fucking… everything. "I'll- claw your goddamn eyes out."

Her face is just as cold as every other face I've seen here. The faces of the non-perverts, that is. I'm not sure if the perverts even qualify as warmth.

...After a moment, she raises an arm at me. This one's affixed with an arm cannon. "I see. My curiosity is sated, then. You've done well at surviving."

Ti- tink- click. Her hair merges into her armor, and a thin helmet is fitted across the rest of her features, a deep blue pane of cobalt containing her face.

"Hh-..." She breathes out of the helmet-mask hybrid. "You'll be safer- in me." Uh.

Her cannon flares with light, and I get out of the way.

Pat- tat- tat- tat! Swinging it towards herself, then back out, she fires an array of azure bolts which snap towards my form. Ah, shit-

fwish! I try to slide out of the way, drawing the right scissors.

PAP- SSPAP! Ow- holy fucking shit. The bolts that did hit me blew into my clothing- gh…

"Hh- hh…" Her breath comes closer. She's now next to me, appearing from a flash of odd, blue spatial light. "Ha~h."

Choom! A point-blank flare of light power splashed from her gun arm, intent on blowing into me. She's between me and the alcohol barrel now, and I'll be damned if I abandon that shit, after coming this fucking far with it.

"Saw!" I cast an arm down, and almost fall on my ass as I slide out of the way right after casting.

VRRRR~! The blade comes down towards her, ready to impact her armor.

Vrr. Oh. A beam comes from her arm cannon; not the attack kind, but a thin, curvy trail of light which stops the blade in its tracks. Wait- holy shit-

WOOSH. Ducking, I feel the saw blade graze my ears. She spun around, and tried to whip it into me. What part about this is assimilation.

I come up to the barrel-

WHAM! the- the fuck-

Thud! Landing on my side near the road's edge, I struggle against it to get back up. "Ngh…" She just punched me with the arm cannon itself. Son of a bitch.

Vrr. I-... she picked me up with the beam this time, what the fuck- no, no-

WHAM! "Gfhu- kuh- kaugh…" She slammed me across the road. I'm now twenty feet away from her, in a heap next to the siding of one of the many old houses.

"Hh-..." Looking up, I see her snap into position next to me. "Huu~..."

"Gravity…" Thrusting a palm up- I cast a spell. When this surprises her- just fucking slide back-

Fwoa~m. The dark, spatial orb rolls down, coating her.

Fwoa~sh. Her form lights up with healing energy, and nothing about her posture changes.

Fwish! Sliding back along the ground, I- just, roll over, and try to get up-

WHACRACK! "Ouhn…"

Fwio~sh. Thu- thud. O- ough… fuck… she punted me. She punted me outside.

Oh, hey. The alcohol barrel made it. It's lying on the path ahead, still intact, albeit smudged.

I'm on my side. I think I'm crying, but I can't really tell. No, wait, I am, it's pretty hard to see. Fuck.

You know, I kind of wish Shikome were here.

"Hh…" I'm lifted by the scalp- fuck, it hurts- "They said- Makai was no place for humans. They were wro~ng."

Kra- krack- krack. Her gun starts to flare with a new, red energy, unlike all her other magic. "Makai-... belongs to-"

WHUNK. A really big rock hits her in the side of the head.

Crack. Her cobalt visor cracks.

KABOOM! Instantly, the force blows me out of her hand. "Ngh- kaugh- unh!" I'm sent bouncing away like a fucking action figure, against the dirt and grass.

"Hh- krhh…" Staggered, still standing where she was, the armored girl turns-

"Master Spaa~rk!" Mima's voice blares over the rumble of shattered rock and dust.

VRRRRRRRRRR~

Instantly, the entire path is neon yellow. The pure light energy from the laser blinds me entirely, making it impossible to see. The ground shakes, the trees shudder, and the sky itself loses a margin of if its illusionary definition at the sheer magnitude of the yellow beam.

It was aimed up so as to not scar the ground, because of the few trees that were clipped, they were gone. This was no danmaku; it was the real deal.

RRRRRrrrrr… It took some moments for the expression of sheer power to die down. When it did, I was able to see the broken trees.

The shattered armor of the dark-elemental girl who engaged me was ahead. She rested on the ground now, form crackling with yellow and teal energy. "Kgh- kaugh- nngh…" Her gaze shot to us. "He- her…!?"

"Hey, sport." Mima gave her a casual wave. "How's life treatin' ya?"

Cla- clack, clack! Scrambling against the ground, the armored chick began to crawl away at first, before snapping into a stand.

fwish. Then, she was gone, teleporting away in an instant.

...Mima shook her head. "Awh. She's a shy one, y'know?"

My ribs are broken. "Kh- kaugh."

In the irritatingly bright light outside the seemingly desolate town, Mima folds her arms. "Oh, right. Cure." She waves one of the arms about.

Di- di~ng. Fwoa~sh. Healing light jolts up my form, and-... holy shit…

kra- krack. The decaying of my shoulder stops, and is reversed. My chest and limbs all churn for a moment, and my balance is lost… but, after a moment, everything is fine, again. All this healing-from-the-brink-of-death shit can't be good for me…

"Now that she's seen you, that pro'lly won't be the last 'a her." Mima nodded at the distance, where that girl used to be. "She used ta be human like you, y'know?"

"Used to be…" I wonder aloud. "What-... is she, now?"

Mima shrugged. "Beats me. Some years ago, she started eatin' other humans she came across. Seems like she can take their souls inta hers, now. She's real determined to fuck shit up, 'cause Makai scared her when she was younger. I think it's sorta like-... since she's made up of all human souls, she pro'lly thinks of herself like a superhuman, 'er something."

What a charming little tale. "...You're familiar with her, I take it." Standing up, I brush myself off. Man.

She snorted. "I mean, she was a real popular news story. She's tangled with vampires an' shit, and runs assassinations for coin and supplies. But, y'know, some people stopped caring, 'cause she seemed less and less human to them."

...I frown at her. "This would have gone smoother, if I had a way to conceal that I was human."

Mima shrugged. "He~y, that kinda shit only goes so far. It'd get dispelled half the time too, and no one knows when that could happen. Figured it'd be healthier ta let ya get a little frisky wit' the civvies. Didn't really think Haven would roll up and try ta snack on ya."

Haven, huh. "...So, the intention was to get me hurt."

Snorting, Mima moved to pick up the alcohol barrel. "Well, no. Wanted ta see if ya'd adapt to all the shit. I woulda bailed you out if you were about ta bite it."

Hefting it up, she began to look it over, seeming somewhat unimpressed by it. "Or, y'know, if ya got lost in that arch-succubus's tits. She's really soft, ain't she? Alma-Elma, I mean. Y'know- it's funny, actually! I went ta a party wit' 'er once!"

Really nice. "Funny. You know, I kinda want to never go to Makai ever fucking again."

Mima just snorted, while holding up the metal barrel. "Also, was real lucky of you ta stumble inta MakDonarudos. Not every shop's got a 'no fuckin' destroyin' each other' policy."

...MakDonarudos. Somehow, that makes sense. Ah. That reminds me.

Reaching into my pocket, I draw the burger I purchased. It's still warm, and only a little smashed.

Unfolding it, I cast away the wrapping. Fuck you, Makai. I hope this wrapper poisons the environment, or something.

Fzz~t. Once it's far enough away from me, the wrapper disintegrates into particles of light. What, no.

"Om." I dig in. Despite everything, I really just went up and took a solid bite. My mind instantly regrets it right after-... but, hmm. It's actually not bad.

I continue to eat it, because it's actually alright. Mmh. Is that bacon, I taste? That's not so bad either. In fact, it's pretty good.

Mima doesn't give me any disturbing facts about the meat either, so it's probably-... actually just a burger. Huh. Of everything, this has to be the one constant so far. Can Shikome even eat normal food?

"So." While I eat, Mima gingerly hover up to my side. "Why'd ya buy a whole barrel 'a fuckin' raw alcohol. I can't drink this shit."

When I frown at her, she holds up a finger. "Aa- provided, I'm impressed ya got this shit out here at all, at least. Yer senses are a little sharper than I'd have thought, and yer a little versatile. Even if it's all your gear, and not you."

"Considering how strong other Makai denizens are…" I just really don't get why she cares about me. "Why do you obsess over me?"

...Mima lets out a huff. "Do I hafta spell it out? That little demon that listens to ya. Moment I saw her, I felt kinda curious, but it took awhile fer me to get really curious, 'specially the difference in power between each time I saw 'er. She ain't no garden variety demon, that's fer certain. If I got yer ass iced, well, it'd be kinda inconvenient. Plus, you actually do got village connections and shit. Yer whole problem oughta keep me more engaged than some fuck boy villager's."

Thoom. She slams the alcohol barrel down on the ground. "Unh."

Hmm. I guess there's value in the novelty of my misfortune. At least, enough to get me not killed, for whatever that's worth.

She jerks her head to the side, levitates the barrel up with her magic, and begins moving along this new path we found ourselves on. I hadn't exactly taken the same road out of the village in my terror-induced stupor.

"C'mon." She beckons me. "We're gonna go somewhere."

/ / / / OPEN SKY / / / /

We've traveled a gravelly road up through the odd rocky divides that exist in this area of Makai.

"This area should be safe enough." Mima nodded at the plateau of pink grass and shiny gravel we found ourselves on. "Any further and we'll be in the outlands-noxious border."

"The what." I'm tired of fucking walking. The only thing that's made this interesting is how the day and night cycle can't make up its fucking mind. Sometimes there's even two suns.

"Basically, lotsa cherry blossoms and pink shit're past this peak." Mima gestured ahead to a large expanse of the same desolate purple rock. It's not dissimilar to the twenty other purple rock ranges we've passed. "Someone like you'd just die by existing there. Past that's this field of flowers, similar to the one that guards the castle. You'd also die by just existing there, 'cause those flowers're both intensely toxic, and also not friendly."

Sounds good. "Excellent. What is our business up here, then?"

"Trainin'." She gained a small smile. "'Cause fuckin'... gravity and saw blade aren't gonna save yer ass against big shit. Yer hardly a mage, let alone anything actually useful."

...She's not wrong, in that respect.

Still. After tracing the dawn-like atmosphere of this mountaintop, I ask something that's lingered on my mind. "What is-... this cat curse, which demons speak of, in detail?"

...Mima raises her brows at that, in a smarmy way. "Mmm? Already wondering about that, are ya? I mean, it doesn't take rocket science. Shinki took an easy way out, dealing with you. If you ask me, she did a bum job, but y'know… considering you, it'd be sufficient. She's… somehow not as unkind as her uh, 'descendants', you could call 'em. Or, people?" She put a hand on her chin. "...I don't really think about that shit too hard."

"If it's a curse… could it be lifted?" I wonder. Provided, the 'cat' part of the curse… was no curse, it was genetic modification. I suppose it should just be called the 'loli curse', then.

...Mima smiled at me. "Hmm. Maybe."

She's not going to be helpful, is she. "What do you know about it?"

You would have thought Shikome could simply undo the energy of a curse-... or, hmm. Provided, it keeps me as a loli, so… she might not. Considering it was also a godly bargain, the related contract I was shown might be an instrumental step. That moment when a paper contract is considered an occult item...

"I'm not gonna tell you." She seemed to take pleasure in this. "Not even a hint. Consider it incentive fer bein' adventurous, out here. Ask other people, but don't ask me. I mean, you can ask me, but it ain't goin' anywhere."

Nice. "Thanks for nothing."

She snorts. "Alright. I think it's time ta get started. What do ya know about magic?"

"A lot." I lie. "Nothing." I also lie. "A little."

Flicking her gaze up for a moment, Mima then gives our crappy clearing a look. "...Guess we'll start with fire, since ya got that toy that helps wit' fire magic. Should probably practice physical arts too, since y'know… agility might be pretty kingly compared to takin' hits raw."

"How about healing magic." That shit's really useful, I figure. Please start me with Cure, or something.

She shook her head. "Fuck no. You gotta earn that shit, kid. Go buy potions if you wanna heal without my clear."

...She turns to the alcohol barrel we have. "Also, lemme guess. The idea behind this was bombs, or fire bombs, or somethin'?"

"Yeah." Admittedly.

She nods. "Good idea, actually. Leads into my drawling about fire quite nicely, actually."

woosh. As a breeze rolls across the purple, pink and grey mountain summit, Mima begins to float around me. "So, I'm sure you've already seen, how the destructivity of fire's pretty much fuckin' everywhere. It's really useful against some monsters, and it's really useless against others. Fire against ice is almost as potent as light against dark."

"Fire burns people." This is already understood. "I know."

Mima snorts. "Yeah. Get out that fire toy you've got."

Drawing my fire scissors, I snip them aggressively in her general direction.

"Cast a regular fire spell." Mima requests, folding her arms. "No Hellfire, no dark fire."

...Bracing myself, I swing my arm out. "Fire!"

Fwoom! A flume of incendiary energy roars out from my scissors, rolling towards Mima at an awkward angle.

fwip. She caught it in her hand, and extinguished it. "Neat. Now, do it without the scissors. Or, at least, theorize how ya would."

Clap your hands. Rub two sticks together. "...Breathe really hard."

Mima snorted. "Yeah, not really a fair request, was it. Let's get started wi~th… mana manipulation, then. 'Cause if ya don't get that shit down, god fucking help ya."

"So, breathe really hard." I summarize the practice without knowing anything about it.

Mima rolls her eyes. "Yeah- basically. First, I want ya to close yer eyes."

...Against my better judgment, I decide to do as she says.

"Breathe in." She's begun regulating my breathing, apparently. "...Now, out." Done.

Some moments later, she continues. "What do you see?"

"Dark." My eyes are closed, arch-ghost-thing. "You had me close my eyes, if you remember."

Fwoom. I hear something ignite. "Now, what do you see?"

Well, the darkness over my eyes is a little less, because of the warm glow of the fire she started, but otherwise, nothing. "Zip."

"Mmm." I can feel the heat of the fire as she sways it around. "...Oh, right. I remember how I did it, now." Hmm?

The fire goes out. Hmm.

Suddenly, my arm is held up for me. I open my eyes, but they close again despite my will. "Wh- what-..."

"Relax." My own voice speaks to me, after a brief pause in which my control was taken from me. "Also- keep ya damn eyes closed. Man, yer voice is really-... aw. Meow would a mewdonalds mewnager-... meownage a meowllow-... ah, shit." Would you get on with it.

After a moment, I realize Mima only has control of my one arm, my head, and some of my upper torso. My one arm is raised-

Suddenly, I feel it. I can-... see it. But, my eyes don't see it, and I see no colors, or anything. But, I know, there is something feeding out through my body, through my arm…

"Mro~w!" My body makes a victorious declaration. "Mewhold! Pale Horse!"

FVRER- RAA~R! Ho- holy, shit. Something-... some entirely new and strange sensation roars through my whole body. A pale beam of teal and white flared from my arm, lashing out at the grass before myself.

When I open my eyes, I see the smouldering, blue and white flames dancing, but refusing to take the grass with them as they fizzle out.

"That shoulda jump started things." Mima had her arms on her hips. "Amazing, how even like that ya can't fuckin'-... whatever. Also, magic and shit's easier to perform here, for reasons ya can probably guess."

Yeah, hell world, mana's everywhere. "...How did that help me."

Mima smirked. "Close yer eyes again." Fine.

Fwoom. After I do so, she ignites the fireball again. And-...

There's some sort of immense feeling, coming from her. What is this…? In her palm, I can barely sense it, but from her herself, it's like-... an aura, and it's huge.

"Aa~h." Mima let the fire in her palm go out. "Now you get it."

...I can sense something similar in myself. It's not nearly as fuck huge, but it's there.

Right. So-... I want to make it move. And, by my will, it moves… sort of. It sort of jiggles, I guess.

Along my arm. And, as I believe it so, it sort of travels along my arm. I'm-... a little tired from doing so, but I succeed, vaguely.

Dropping the scissors I held, I thrust my hand out. "Fire!"

Nothing happens. I will my arm's mana to move forward, so it moves forward, and-... I guess it disperses. Goodbye, mana. No one needs you anyway.

Mima lets herself lean back at my actions. It looks particularly awkward, because she just leans her entire body back. "Oo~h. Good guess. Nah, you gotta learn to actually transmute mana into, like, elements. Otherwise, at its most basic, you got non-elemental. Which can include just, droppin' fuckin' metals on people, made from thin air, 'cause yeah."

This whole process is altogether… both more and less accessible than I gave it credit for.

So. Fire. "How do I fire."

Coming up to me, Mima held up a hand.

fwi- fwi- fwish. A whirling-... something formed there. It's like a whirling mass of dust and wind. "Here's a kedama. Get ready, boy!" What.

/ / / / TRIAL OF FIRE / / / /

After the dust has innocently lapped against my face enough, I step back and out of the 'kedama'. I have to wipe some of it off of my face, too…

Mima suddenly shifts up next to me. "So! For the fire prefab, the hard way of learnin' that would be~... well, first, makin' fire. You gotta know how ta, essentially, combust oxygen. What we're gonna do, is make a hot snap in the air. We'll worry about the homing part of it later."

A hot snap. If this takes complex math… I'll do it, but I won't like doing it. I'm not really in the mood.

"So, first, move yer mana to yer hand." Mima requests of me. "Get a bi~g pool of it, just right there."

I focus on this without closing my eyes, and I can still feel the energy, just not as well. In my hand, there's such energy, and it-... it sort of tingles.

Keeping it there's also a unique trial. When my focus becomes vague, I start to lose track of it, and it begins to either-... I don't know, it goes somewhere. Strange. Is it like heat? Not-... quite? What the fuck is this shit.

"Imagine fire." Mima prods my ability to visualize. "The heat, the combustion of manner. Imagine your mana, again. You control it, and so, you can destroy it. If you have enough force in crushing it, you should be able to make a snap of force of the right kind to make some fire. And, once ya get a feel for the fire itself, you might be able to make it with different motions. Magic's about adaptability, innovation… and having enough mana to do it."

That's nice. I bring up my arm, and flex the fingers. The power of magic, of the mystic.

I crush my hand shut, clutching the mana forcefully. From within, I feel a surge of energy. And- ow, ow…!

"Pft-..." Mima- you fucker, don't laugh- "Ya- ya lit yer damn hand on fire, huh…"

"Pu- put it out- fucking put it out!" It burns- fuck it burns- ow, agh- fuck!

fwif. Without doing anything, Mima puts it out by staring it down. My hand is charred, throbbing pain still searing my senses. Aagh-... fuck. Fuck. Why did we start with fire? Fuck! We should've picked-... ice, or something… or not. I don't imagine ice would be the most useful at the basic levels.

"Funfact…" Mima bobs closer to me in the air, for some reason. "This is why lower level magi like foci. The rod of a staff or wand is affixed to not wear under the flow of magic. Alternatively, they could cast through their hands, but they'd have to channel from their skin. You're lucky we're in Makai, or that'd be that until we got you a wand."

"Should we start with ice, then?" Something that won't burn me. The saying is 'don't play with fire', you know.

Mima grinned. "A mishap like that wouldn't've been any nicer with any other element, by the way. Ever hear 'a frostbite, kid?" Hmm. I suppose she's right. Although, frostbite at least wouldn't actively burn my flesh.

"That does remind me…" Mima looked up at the gold and azure morning sky. "Most of this place is snow and rock. Forests an' flowers were actually a rather recent development. Shinki thought she oughta lighten up the place a little, 'specially 'cause, y'see… her daughter had this thing for flowers in her own personal realm, when she was still at home. S'probably why she sent her ta Gensokyo, 'cause that place's like, ninety percent flower."

"You like to talk." It seems to be a trend for her to just go on monologues for no reason.

...She smiles at me. "Yeah, when you get to be fuckhundred years old, you tend ta have a lot to talk about."

She holds her hand up. "Anyway. When ya fire the fireball, imagine moving the mana outta yer hand, applying a specific force to it. Y'gotta be real intricate about it, if ya forget one step, maybe it'll flop, maybe it won't leave the hand at all-... a lot can go wrong, y'know."

Good. So-... I have to imagine crushing the mana, pushing it forward

Driving my arm up and forward, I crush the mana in my grasp. "Fire!" With an exclamation, I cast it back out- ow-

Fwoom! From my hand, the clump of fire splashes out into the air, before going out immediately. Fucking- ouch, my hand…

fwif. Mima puts out my hand, again. "You got balls ta just try that again, like that. You don't got anything that'd work as a focus…?"

...I take out my plain steel scissors. "Well. These."

"Not fancy, but it'll work." Mima summarizes these past twenty thousand chapters. "...The subtle scent 'a blood on them won't mean shit either, 'cause you're gonna be bleedin' a whole lot more than anyone ya ever killed. People're like sharks, over here. As ya've seen, some don't give a shit, some shit themselves when they see a human, and other's're just fulla shit."

"I get it. Shit." This'll be a shitty time.

"Exactly!" Mima beamed at me.

fwi- fwish. Ack. The kedama fluffed up into my face again, and it's making me want to sneeze…

Backing away, I hold up my already fucked up hand, with the scissors grasped. "Fire." Wait, I didn't focus enough, nothing happened.

I stream my mana through my arm, and into my hand. Then, I'm able to sort of… imbue it through my scissors.

Once it's there, I snip them forward like a maniac. "Fire!"

Fwoom! A tuft is created, flaring into the air. My- hand stings a little from the heat that flared into the scissors, but otherwise, it's a marked improvement.

"Notice how it keeps goin' nowhere?" Mima held her arm out, as if I didn't grasp the limited range already. "You gotta focus on the mana in the fireball, too. That way, you can sorta make it like a-... you know those homing rocket launchers?"

"Yes, actually." I'm surprised you know about them. "So, I just visualize my mana traveling like that, then?"

"Somethin' like that." She confirms. "Just understand, it'll move at a set rate 'cause you can't just give it phenomenal or profound power or anything. That takes better understandin' 'a how to mobilize mana." Hmmh.

Snip. I thrust my arm forward, clipping the steel scissors shut. "Fire!"

Fwoom! The tuft of flames lights into the air. As it rolls forward, I imagine my expectation, and keep a visual on the mana as it moves. With it still on my mind, it seems to trace towards the kedama, since I made it my reference point.

Fwam! When it struck the kedama, it exploded into flame. The dust smoulders in the air for a moment, before dropping onto the grass and becoming a small fire.

Mima claps her hands twice. "Woo~. Kinda expected that to take longer, but you did it. I'm surprised, actually."

Snip! Facing her, I thrust my arm forward, launching a magical attack upon her.

Fwoom! The fire rolls from my blade at my beckoning, and advances on her.

fwam. She lets it hit herself, but nothing happens. It just kind of fizzles out.

"The bigger stuff takes some book smarts, though…" She begins to smirk at me. "So, one of these days, I'll just be tossin' books at you. I know some easy reads, lemme tell ya, but y'know, the better ones are typically the harder ones."

Riveting. One thing I'm glad for, is that the temperature here is quite temperate and warm. She said there's a lot of snow, but… how does that work? Provided, I can't tell if the water is actually water or not, so it could freeze a lot easier, for all I know.

"As a preface," Mima held up her arms, "Magic and belief are more powerful, here. 'Cause of that, the two have gained a tendency to mix a bit. While in Gensokyo, they're more like regular forces of nature, here in Makai, issa bit… independent. Has a mind of its own, y'could say. Several in fact, from how many beings 'a pure magic hang around here!"

"I feel as though Gensokyo has elementals of its own." If fairies are anything to go by…

She considers that, but replies immediately. "In Gensokyo, they're more like personifications that result for, like… similar reasons to here, but over here they're a bit more free. That's to say, how earth's elements are regulated is a lot more orderly by comparison ta here. Hence the everything's-gonna-kill-ya nature of the landscape." Ah. So, all the elements don't really give a shit, then.

She drifts back from me, holding up her arms. "As one gains more magic power… it'll start takin' effect on your body. The more magic you have, the more your mana will boil here. If ya happen to die here, wit' enough mana, your magic will keep yer body together, turnin' you into some kinda zombie… or, a ghost like me."

Oh? That sounds like fun, though. Or maybe not, if I'd become as much of a grandma as she is.

"Worst case scenario!" She points a finger at me. "Your body just fuckin' explodes, and your magic runs off ta become the shit it always wanted to be! So, ta counter that, you've gotta be varied with yer mana. You gotta always be usin' it, and preferably in different ways. See- this is why humans, even the better prepared ones, typically don't last long in Makai. Citizens here got no problem, 'cause their bodies live and breathe magic, they're already way over human level.

"But you humans…" She drifts closer to me again, meeting my gaze as I try to look around idly. "You don't exude magic power. Yer almost anything but fuckin' magical. The only things less magical than you might be like-... modern earth air, or specific rocks. Household appliances too; but those can at least become youkai later, after enough focus, even! Hell, humans practically generate mana, only fer it to leave 'em immediately!"

"So, what you're saying is…" With the way she puts it, "I should always totally empty my mana pool? Unload everything on the next asshole I see?"

Mima paused, before shaking her head. "Eeh, no~. Magic power loves bein' used… but, especially for things it's never been used for before. Think of it like a symbiotic relationship. If you don't listen to yer mana pool, it'll start fuckin' off, or in the worst case scenario, rebelling."

Coming up to me, she stares at my loli tubbiness, for some reason. "Right now, thanks ta yer low mana pool, s'about as sentient as a baby. But, that'll all change very quickly once mana starts flockin' ta you, and yer capacity increases."

click! She snapped her fingers. "Oh, right! I should teach ya about how mana regeneration works here. Y'see, this place has a fuckton more mana than Gensokyo. So, lemme just…"

Fwoam. She- plunges her ghostly hand into my chest, where my heart would be-

fwish. She draws it back out. Suddenly, the aura I felt within myself is gone.

I drop onto my knees. "Nn- uh…"

"I just punched out literally all of yer mana." Mima casually states. "But! I want ya to focus fer a moment, there. Bring yer hand ta yer chest, or something, and-... s'gonna sound funny, but I want ya to think of the land, and think 'a Shinki."

This sounds like some kind of cult practice. I start to follow her directions just because it sounds so outlandish, but also because she hasn't really been wrong up until this point. She's been an asshole, but not wrong.

Think of Shinki, huh. That bitch who turned me into a cat girl, without any way to turn back. This place is also about as dumb as she is-

FWISH! Suddenly, my form flares with purple energy. My aura is visible for a moment, before the horizon-like flare of energy flicks out of existence.

I begin to stand. "That-... was…?" I feel like my mana's entirely back, even.

Mima nods at me. "Think of it like reloadin' a gun. Anyone who's anyone knows how to do that here, and I'm pretty sure elementals don't even gotta worry about it. Every time ya do it, it forces li~ke… eighty percent 'a yer mana back into yer system. Just don't abuse it, 'cause every time, the prayer takes longer, and you get less mana back, until you're gettin' less than if you just got outta a fight and let yerself recoup fer a day."

woosh. The wind picks up around the plateau clearing, for a moment. "Oh! Hello, Mima!"

fwi- woosh. Before us, a blonde woman clad in a white dress, with a white sunhat, touches down.

"Oo~h!" Seeing me, she smirks. "Training Marisa again today, huh?"

Mima gave her a flat look. "I haven't trained Marisa in like six 'er seven damn years."

"Right?" She paced up to us, folding her arms. "That's why I was so surprised. It's like, a daily occurence. I think…?"

"Girl- no, look…" Mima shook her head at her, bringing a hand up to vaguely facepalm. "When did Marisa have freakin' black hair. When was she a cat."

She pursed her lips, looking focused about these questions. "...Okay, you have a point, but I kinda figured she went the route of those who desire to change their appearance. But- if this isn't Marisa, who is it…?"

"She's, uh…" Mima paused. "Hmm. I named her kitty."

"Matt." My name is Matt, you alzheimer's-possessed spirit.

"Ooh!" The blonde lady perked up at that. "You're one of those bible-mocking types, I see! I've met a few 'Saint Matthew' types before."

...Now that I think about it, that is really ironic.

"Anyway." Mima gestures between me and her. "Matt, meet Louise. She's a holy demon, wit' ice and fire shit. She likes tea and sweets." A what. "Louise, this is uh, Matt. She likes-... magic, and death."

Louise snorted. "You'll have to narrow that down. But…"

The blonde lady steps up to me. "She's a human, isn't she? And, quite a nice one, at that. Does she bite?"

"Kinda." Mima smirked back at her.

"Since she's not Marisa…" Suddenly, Louise has me by the shoulders. "Would you mind if I…?" What do you want from me.

Mima floats behind her, and makes a kissy motion. Is that what this is…

"Nn- no." Fuck off, bitch. "Why…"

"'Cause you're so damn cute." Louise caresses my cheek with her hand. "Provided, we could never truly love one another, you being a human, but I'd be content with a little sex, if you were so inclined."

"Fuck off." Why is everyone horny.

She lets me go, sighing contently. "Alri~ght. I was just asking."

"Yeah, she's kind of a prude." Mima nodded at our interaction. "But, y'know how humans are, especially tykes."

"Yeah." Louise steps back, and brushes back a lock of her hair. "Would you two mind coming over for tea, at any rate? I have a home on the crest of the snowfield."

Mima smiles at her offer. "Y'know what, sure. It'd be good excuse to show the tyke some Makai snow." I'm sure it will be as volatile as napalm, at any rate.

/ / / / FREAKIN HAKUGYOKUROU / / / /

END OF CHAPTER 94.5

PROTAGONIST: Matthew, the Debatably Sane Outsider, Lord of Edges, Scissor-Slinging Slasher, Insurance Fraud Expert, Used Goods Reseller, Evil Spirit Cultivator, Shrine Maiden Evader, Professional Youkai Developer, Legitimate Business Man, Transfeline-Loli

=o=

SKILLS:

Gravity - Basic space magic. Slowly expands a dark, spherical field from above the target, which weighs them down when fully initialized. Only works on the feeble at the moment.

Saw Blade - Advanced non-elemental attack. Summons a saw blade to fall from directly above the caster, which whirls forth into infinity before dying. Very effective slicing on those not resistant to it.

Fire - Small, homing fireball of doom. May ignite foes. Doesn't do much damage.

Magic Mark - Magical residue. Of unknown purpose, but likely related to Mima.

=o=

PRIMARY WEAPON: Dash Scissors - Succubus training tool. Doubles as scissors for kinky, cloth-cutting occasions. Or stabbing. Sleek, black design.

SKILLS:

Succubatic Slide Dodge - Slide artificially in a horizontal direction of the wielder's choosing. Spammable, but makes the wielder tired with excessive use.

=o=

OFFHAND ITEMS: [A Single Rubber Glove] - For those moments one needs to touch a live power wire with one hand and fap with the other. Protects hand from zaps.

INVENTORY:

Pocket Mirror - For admiring my loli-ness, and other mirror-related activities. Contained in suit pockets.

[Bag of Holding] - Takes up no inventory space, because it is the inventory space. Has nine slots, and is easily accessible.

Steel Scissors - Sharp, shiny, and to the point!

Quick Scissorang - Non-elemental scissors that are enchanted to return to the owner with ferocity. Not that powerful of a weapon, but combined with strong string it can be used like a powerful grappling hook. Looks like it belongs in a Barbie catalog.

Shadow Hell Scissors - Red scissors accented with elemental gems. Fire elemental weapon. Ignites with every swing. Boosts power of fire spells.

SKILLS:

Fire Aura - Confers forty percent fire resistance when equipped.

Fire - Small, homing fireball of doom. May ignite foes. Doesn't do much damage.

Fira - Sizable fireball with less effective homing and speed, but greater ignite chance and initial fire damage.

Dark Fire - Basic dark and fire combo spell. Very slow, tight homing black fireball. Does both dark and fire damage. May ignite foes.

Dark Fira - Moderate dark and fire combo spell. Even slower black fireball, with even weirder homing. May ignite foes. May reduce target's magic defense.

Hellfire - Low-tier vampiric fire spell; less effective when used by me. Vertical wall of three fireballs, with no homing. May ignite foes.

=o=

Blessed Steel Scissors - Stained lightly with dried blood from a young human female. Sharp, shiny-ish, and to the point! Also blessed...

Steel-alloy String - An experimental item provided by Alice as part of her testing. She uses these herself to manage her dolls, or so I'm told.

A Tuft of Cloth Strings - Pink, regular cotton string. It's soft, and clean.

Danger Scissors Plus - Let's get dangerous. Randomly spawns anything from anywhere at any time at all, dependent on the power of the party or people around it while it is equipped.

(one more space remaining)

[Backpack] - Allows extended inventory, of twenty slots. Can hold larger items, but it takes longer to pull them out. Items inside are safer. It's also baby barf green.

Hedge Cutters - Rusty lawn pruning tool used by farmers to keep the vile hedges at bay. They're also sharp, so they've probably been used more than once in self-defense.

Teal Stone - Cool and refreshing to hold, exuding power of the wind. It's sort of shiny, too. Perhaps usable as a reagent.

Hackjob Rifle - A pseudo-railgun, made from an AK-47 barrel and a mangled toy gun. Laced with duct tape and wires to function, powered by electrical scissors, and uses small iron pellets as ammunition. Explodes violently if fed anything non-iron as ammo. Outside is coated with vegetable oil and must be wetted regularly to avoid violence upon powering up. Quite powerful.

Water Scissors - Scissors that continuously produce water. How troublesome.

Goldfish Snack Crackers - They're smiling. They might make a good snack...

Modern-ish Surge Protector - Protects against surges. Not very useful without unified electrical practices in housing. Can still be used as a paperweight and a brick, though.

[Rubber Pouch] - Stores electrical objects safely. Too small to add extra inventory, but doesn't take up any space when it's filled. Currently holding electric scissors.

Electrical Scissors - Must be held by gloves at all times, lest they cause electrical fires. Can cause severe shocking and electricity-induced stunning in individuals susceptible, including myself if I'm stupid. Unable to be turned off.

Holy Pot - A torso-sized holy pot used as a vehicle by flufflekind. Has holy properties and resistances for obvious reasons.

Financial Officer's Card - A card handed to me by the chief financial officer of the human village. Bears a complex triangular insignia and shines depending on the angle you hold it. Has some Japanese printed on it.

Love Dart - Some dart with strong aphrodisiac mixed into the tip, which pierced me.

Red Organ Cooler - Secure cooler capable of storing ice for great periods of time, as well as organs. Small, but big enough to get a single job done easily.

Officer Hat - Nazi officer hat. Has a skull ornament on the top.

STATS:

50% darkness resistant.

Wearer is immune to instant death.

=o=

Officer's Coat - Nazi officer coat. Comes with pants and boots, too. Has the red armband, too. Not much as far as meaningful medals to make it look pretty, which is appropriate, I suppose.

STATS:

50% darkness resistant.

Wearer is immune to being cursed.

Slightly boosts defense and magic defense.

=o=

Child Eater's Yukata - Navy blue yukata, with warm cloth. Smells of sweat and curves. Really big on me.

STATS:

50% moon resistant.

Wearer is silencing immune.

-50% wind resistance.

Boosts the power of Pizza used by the wearer. Slices of pizza now heal health and mana when distributed and used.

=o=

Mother's Pendant - The pendant of that one child, who was abducted. Brimming with holy energy. Maybe useful as a reagent.

STATS:

50% increased chance to encounter and attract mature women.

=o=

Sigh of the Moon - Unremarkable looking moon-elemental ring, which glows with ominous energy and expands when equipped. Seems to be some kind of strange technology. Found in the yukata that slut gave me.

STATS:

100% percent moon resistance.

Silencing immunity.

Increases defense moderately.

(three more spaces remaining)

==o==

PARTY:

Mima, the Evil Spirit, Ghost - Piece of shit ghost. Versed in a variety of spells, but of unknown strength.

STATUS:

Halved damage from magic attacks.

Immune to purely physical damage. May be struck by enchanted weaponry, but holy and dark arms work best.

Halved duration of all status effects.

Immune to poison.

Immune to magical binding.

Immune to silencing.

Immune to cursing.

Immune to electrical stunning.

Immune to freezing.

Immune to burning.

Immune to tired.

Immune to various other statuses that wouldn't affect something without a body.

Immune to most time statuses.

Immune to spatial statuses.

SKILLS:

Θ Fire Magic

Fire - Slow fireball that roars straight ahead. Weak, but may ignite foes.

Fira - Thicker fireball which homes. Has a higher chance of igniting foes.

Firaga - Dreadfully slow magic bomb, which explodes into a swath of flames on impact with an enemy. High chance of igniting foes.

Firaga * Mortar - More upward shot version of Firaga. Includes a bigger but weaker explosion, more apt for igniting groups of enemies.

Firaga * Swath - Melee-range tornado of flames that protects the user, meant to stagger enemies with intimidating, painful flames. Wasteful, but utilitarian.

Eruption Surge - User creates three geysers of flame to surround themselves, and repel foes.

Ignite - Guaranteed to proc burning on a single enemy. Weak status spell.

Hellfire - Vampiric magic. Summons a swath of flame from a vampire's wing to lay wrath onto their foes. In Mima's case, she just replicates it with a wing of black for this one spell.

Fire Manipulation - User may freely manipulate fire for a number of non-prefabricated fire spells.

Θ Ice Magic

Blizzard - Shotgun spread of chilly, biting cold. Weak, but may dissuade opponents and has immediate crowd control capacity. May chill opponents.

Blizzara - Shotgun spread of huge, icy chunks. Stronger effect, and each impact spreads cold at a superior rate to the last spell. May freeze and chill opponents.

Blizzaga - Immense cone-shaped burst of explosive ice bombs. Has a huge chance of freezing foes, and always chills for a long time. Even clipping foes with the magic has devastating ice-based effects.

Blizzaga * Point - Blizzaga, except all the magic is condensed into a single ice block that becomes a cataclysm on impact with an enemy. Always freezes, for a long time. Chills enemies near the impact.

Force Blizzard - Isolated snowstorm, which encapsulates one foe. High chance of freezing, but only works consistently on still foes. Low power.

Freeze - Freeze a single opponent. Very, very low power, and doesn't last long, but may set up other spells.

Snow - Makes it snow locally. May randomly freeze anyone on the battlefield. Lowest ice damage possible. Stronger in winter.

Ice Manipulation - User may freely manipulate ice for non-prefabricated ice spells.

Θ Thunder Magic

Thunder - Random arrangement of thin electric bolts from above in a small area. Random chance to hit, but extremely accurate when it will hit. Random damage.

Thundera - Wider arrangement of random bolts that explode on impact with the ground. Extremely accurate when it does hit, and does immense electrical damage. May stun foes.

Thundaga - Terrifying electric magic, where randomly descending columns of electricity explode into linking storms on the ground. May stun many foes, and does not discriminate between friend or foe. Lethal to most human-tier biological creatures.

Thundaga Swarm - Once cast, powerful bolts will continuously spawn above all present foes, and also randomly in a grand area around the battlefield.

Thundaga * Zeus - Condenses all the strength of Thundaga into one bolt. Really fucking powerful column of thunder, which may stun if it doesn't just kill something. More powerful as a combo finisher.

Plasma Cage - Very weak thunder spell, which is almost guaranteed to wrap a foe in a cage of plasma, then zap them. Very high chance to stun.

Thunder Manipulation - User may freely manipulate electricity for non-prefabricated spells.

Θ Earth Magic

Gaia Seed - Airy earth spell, which enacts a faint bloom of the land's energy in a foe's form. Weighs them down a little, and makes them tired.

Gaia Bloom - Series of earth-attuned magic circles that release earthy energy all around an enemy, strengthening the land's pull on them. Higher chance to make the enemy more tired for longer.

Gaia Blossom - Lovely bloom of earth magic all around a crowd of enemies, making them all more tired, and sprucing up the neary wildlife.

Earth Shamanism - Free manipulation of earth magic.

Θ Water Magic

Water - Wet orb that douses a target. Very simple status spell.

Watera - Big, deep blue water orb that might stagger a target, and extremely wets them. Useful for fires.

Wateraga - Intimidatingly deep orb of scale similar to a small house. Drenches the being of who it encapsulates, and has a chance to asphyxiate enemies, or bind them inside of it before it breaks.

Hydro Storm * Forest - Non-holy variant of the Hakurei-created spell. Atmospheric water condenses over the user, before roaring down in a torrent that feels like knives or bullets.

Water Manipulation - Free use of water magic. Sees more use in staggering or launching opponents than it does actually hurting anything.

Θ Healing Magic

Cure - Heals most wounds. Strong enough to heal humans to peak performance in most cases. Doesn't work on broken bones, or newly lost limbs, however. Works by making a caring wreath above its target, the relic a surrogate transmitter for a confusing blend of spatial, holy, non-elemental and blood magic.

Cura * Rejuvenation - Slower than Cure, but regenerates more health over a ten minute period, rendering many human users invincible for a short time. Costs an insane amount of mana to use.

Curaga - Heals all wounds. Too powerful for most humans, resulting in accelerated hyper cancer or malformed pieces. Heals the soul, too. Mends newly lost limbs, and broken bones. Works on ghosts. Uses a lot of mana.

Curaga * Sanction - Creates a field of healing energy on the ground, wasting a lot of it, but allowing any being to enter the field and become quickly restored. Safe for humans, at the rate it wastes and distributes its energy. Uses a lot of mana.

Esuna - Cleans statuses from a target. Works when silenced. Does not work on syphon, or Hakurei sealing. Youkai-originated healing spell.

Purify - Cleanses statuses from a party.

Cleanse - Removes all statuses and debuffs from a target.

Θ Spatial Magic

Gravity - Basic space magic. Slowly expands a dark, spherical field from above the target, which weighs them down when fully initialized. Only works on the feeble.

Gravira - Expanding sphere of darkness, which expands over a huge plain, crushing most foes into the ground. Consistently weighs down and wears at any foe, for the most part.

Graviga - Giant world of dark magic which descends upon foes. Is stronger the more health the enemy has. Crushes many environmental aspects into the earth, as well. Ironically works worst on feeble foes.

Force - Weighs down on one foe. Works best on feeble foes, but may be used to debuff any foe for a short time. May shoe-glue the opponent, restricting them from jumping. No dark magic required, either.

Zero Graviga - Removes gravity from the battlefield for awhile.

Telekinesis - Like most users of any magic at all, Mima can move objects with her mana instead of having to use her hands. Pretty important for a ghost. Works a little on foes, too...

Θ Holy Magic

Holy - Orb of holy energy. Not Mima's favorite thing in the world. Homes in an opponent and eats into them spiritually.

Holy Lightning - Summons a weaving, churning grid of lightning from the sky to rotate around the user, defending them and making approach difficult. Launches most foes on contact.

Θ Dark Magic

Dark Firaga - Churning black meteor, which slowly crawls through foes and pierces, dealing both dark and fire damage. May ignite foes. May curse foes.

Dark Blizzaga - Horizontal-restricted spread of sleek black ice that passes through everything. May curse foes. Makes the enemy tired. Chills foes.

Dark Thundaga - Single bolt of unholy, black lightning. May curse foes. Deals dulled damage, more of blunt pain from the dark element than anything electrical.

Terror - Localized spell of horror that frightens foes and lowers their magical defense. Basically a jump scare…

Dark Inferno - Vampiric magic. With a flourish of a bat's wing, magma meteors are unleashed to sear foes and tear through defenses. In Mima's case, she just replicates the magic herself. Really a fire spell, but is constructed through dark means.

Screamer - Party-wide jump scare that lowers magic defense. Mostly an illusion, which wraps around the vision of many enemies and invades their minds just to scare them.

Pulse - A breathing, throbbing pulse of dark energy that erupts from an opponent's being and draws from their essence.

Pulsar - Terrifying dark spell which forms a proto-black hole, crushing space itself and pulling everything around it into it. Group-oriented version of Pulse.

Curse - Curses foes for a little while, making them more vulnerable to holy magic, and slowly whittles away at their defenses. Very weak status spell.

Blind - Blinds a foe with dark magic. Wears off, after some time.

Black Hole - Not a real black hole. Mima's most powerful dark spell next to the Twilight Spark. Creates a pulsing, growing hole that eats light itself. May instantly kill anyone on the battlefield nearby, regardless of friend or foe.

Darkness Manipulation - Free use of dark magic. Practically, it takes the form of cursing objects, removing holy affinities, and casting shadows in the world. Otherwise, it gets complicated.

Θ Non-Elemental Magic

Reflect - Non-elemental magic that temporarily reflects damage. It does this by preventing all damage, then returning a set amount in the form of the barrier exploding after use.

Reflectara - Non-elemental magic that reflects more damage, and explodes in a wider radius.

Reflectaga - Extremely powerful non-elemental magic that explodes into a maelstrom of glossy fragmented magic, that also explodes, making more shards that explode. It explodes.

Bind - Non-elemental spell. Traps weaker foes in place horizontally, restricting them to vertical movement for a short time.

Lucky Star - Single star that bounces off an opponent, dealing raw magic damage. Random damage.

Star Shower - Rain of solid star shapes that bounce off of many opponents. Random damage.

Master Spark - Beam of yellow, non-elemental energy that erases many foes with sheer pain. Exhibition of raw power.

Mana Manipulation - Mima knows how to manipulate raw mana.

Θ Makai Magic

Seduction - Seduces a target. Renders them entranced or aggressively lustful for the caster.

Sorare's Flare - Searing red flare that emulate's Makai's changing sun. Weakens holy beings and humans. Makes youkai and demons stronger for some time.

Glass Gas - The gas that fills all of Makai, in spell form. Incapacitates humans and regular animals. Youkai are immune to the biology-searing, mind-rending effects of this substance.

Pale Horse - Azure beam of spark-like energy. Behests the shade of Makai's moon, ramming beings with raw, realization-inducing power. Silences foes. Very costly.

Destruction Ray - Vampiric ability. Summons blighting, flesh and bone-vaporizing drops of violet magic to descend linearly down on a target.

Θ Legend Magic

Pluto - Nearly invisible orb of reality that floats into person's being and makes them less. Does 3% of a target's max HP, but is very costly mana-wise. Nil-elemental magic.

Whirlwind to the Void - A wind spell that temporarily makes a foe forget learned magic and skills.

Doom - Instant death magic. Curses a target, putting a time limit on their life. If it's not purified by the time it runs out, the person afflicted dies instantly. Can be circumvented with auto-revive, a blessing, purification or cleansing.

Possession - Mima possesses a target. Allows her to override their conscience and use their body, including their skills, even until death.

Twilight Spark - Mima's ultimate magic. Huge beam of dark and holy energy that can dig into mountains. Also does Nil damage, for 30% of an enemy's max HP, in addition to the raw holy and dark power.

Other Magic - Mima probably knows a lot of other skills.

==o==

ACTUAL AUTHOR'S NOTE:

matt man

DESPITE THE ABSENCE OF MATT, i think this turned out pretty well - w -

he probably wouldn't have been happy that this chapter was mostly just moving him around, but it seemed narratively strong - w -

it does however do some of what i THINK he would've appreciated, and that's that it does a deeper job of showing off how shikome got snagged, and it was basically what i had in mind before even writing the last chapter, bu~t he wasn't having any of that so rip

ADMITTEDLY THE TRANSITION COULD'VE BEEN HANDLED SMOOTHER but the communication errors ran deep dude

but, it serves as a good lesson for next time, should this kind of situation ever be able to happen again!

also college kicked my ass and basically wasted two months of my life

anyway more about the chapter and less about useless trivia stuff

i liked being able to show off a GENERIC MAKAI SETTLEMENT near the outlands (but not too near them). my creative team's always been really hype about the idea of showing the place off, so i figured a brief wave-stuff-about-in-the-reader's-face period would be COOL

also, wows matt's character into being like "yeah THIS SHIT AIN'T KANSAS ANYMORE"

i also wanted this to be the period where he actually begins building some of his skills; he was always kinda "i must MIN-MAX" as a character himself, so mima's basically giving him an excuse to dig into some books and spend off-screen time developing himself; or maybe he was just really prolific and not too much about the touhou setting (i didn't like force him to learn anything at any point aside from maybe the SDM but the SDM was a well-established thing)

i thought this natal training moment deserved special mention since it showed off some of mima's ambitions and what she's been doing in the whole lot of nothing period where brad's just been meandering around, and was also the first instance of matt really adapting to new training and learning

that and this training's not as lazy as "here lemme give you a prefab", it's actually learning magic stuffs

ai don't have too much else to say- oh wait

catherine and odessa are based on personalities made by AuracleASMR! them being here was mostly a cameo because that ASMR series is fun

yes i listen to ASMR i'mma freakin' pseudo new age retro hippie bite me yo

that and in their narrative knowing makai exists wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility!

otherwise, uu~h… the arch-dullahan isn't based on anyone, but some of her moves come from rondo of blood's dullahan, which were mostly pretty GENERIC DULLAHAN ATTACKS

alma-elma has APPEARED BEFORE, and is a MONSTER GIRL QUEST CHICK

constantahooha is based on no one, her name is latin for 'comfort', which i found out after a quick google search!

louise is an actual touhou character from the pc-98 era. she met mima while flying through some space in the midst of a gate between makai and gensokyo, and mima kicked her ass, and she was like "damn"

a few other characters also kicked her ass, included young reimu, young marisa, and YUUKA

her title is "makai person" :3

mima's explanation about makai's mana also justifies how quick-on-the-draw noobs are when it comes to being horny and spamming magic

instead of running out of mana and being done, you can just get 80% of your mana back at any time, and then 60%, and then 40%, and then 30%, and then like 20%, and then 10%...

it probably stops at like 1% but at that point something other than fighting should probably be the solution

i think that's everything i've got to SAY…

as always, see you all next time!