A/N: Good day everyone! Today's we have a new chapter in Touma's adventure in Gensokyo.
WARNING: On a sidenote, this chapter will have graphic depictions of gory details, so if you're averse to such things, beware.
Good news for Index fans, NTR22 will be released on July 10. And here I'm just wondering what the hell Kamachi is trying do with that cover. It was nothing like what I expected. Those purple and green borders on Touma is pretty jarring and eye-catching, that's for sure.
Purple is the color of the noble, the throne, and kingship. It represents wealth, luxury, waste, and refinement. It also represents sorcery, mystery, and power.
Green is the color for nature and health worldwide. It means new life, growth, goods and security. Because the god Osiris is a god of resurrection and breeding, Osiris is often symbolized in green. Green is also the next color to be used for the color of hospitals and nursing wards.
We all know which color represents Touma better.
Review Responses:
Mrcrazyman94: I very much appreciate the compliments you've given me. The Berserk part was more played for jokes than a derogative tone. Othinus' appearance will happen in due time, I assure you.
Shiroryuu012: I'll make sure that future chapters will have enough quality for you to read at one go. I aim to please both myself and my audience.
Shroom Crab: Aw shucks! You're making me blush. Now I have to work even harder. I've also been following your story and I could learn from how you write. And keep anticipating, because, for my idea of Imagine Beaker, IT, and greater power will leave you sitting on the edge of your seats.
M1nhTre37: If this is enough to leave you speechless, then you might want to buckle up even more.
WilliamZO: Tanin'iver is going to have an aneurysm for sure.
Oh ho ho, there will be hints to what Flandre's unexpected helper will be this chapter.
Youkai supposed super strength for lesser species was never defined with a real definitive scale. That's why I'm using creative liberty to classify the average run-of-the-mill youkai in terms of power to have an average human adults' strength. Special ones like vampires and oni obviously have super strength. That might be disadvantageous for Touma, but then again, a normal human's standard of strength really doesn't apply to him.
Sometimes Imagine Breaker works, sometimes it doesn't. You'll just have to find out what will happen when he meets with Okuu.
Touma's words for Cirno will have an effect later tonight. You'll never see it coming.
Tanin'iver can generally be the Deadpool of this fic, but he'll break the fourth wall with moderation.
I had a similar idea from the start with Nidhogg and Onikimura what with his familiarity with the Four Devas. It also helps that Nidhogg was used as a name for a sword. And I have another idea of what purification will mean for Touma and Imagine Breaker.
StrangerGuy: Birdway indeed will be pissed.
KRKing: There's going to be more moments where Touma will have contact with the female body. But I wouldn't call it steamy for sure unless it's someone's fetish which the possibility isn't unfounded.
Guest: Thank you. Generally, drunk Touma will still be Touma for sure.
awaredall: I love your response and am extremely grateful for it! I hope to keep up the quality of writing to be equal and more in the future.
Disclaimer: To Aru Majutsu No Index belongs to Kazuma Kamachi, and Touhou Project belongs to ZUN. I don't own either of these properties.
Chapter 6: First night in Gensokyo VI
"Koishi! Hey, you alright? Why'd you run off like that?" Touma asked in concern. He jerked his left hand on her shoulder to jolt her awake.
Touma had found Koishi poking her head out of a tree, gazing at him from behind. The sudden memory loss he experienced reminded him of a similar time to when Izzard wiped his. And much like back then, he only needed to bring his right hand to his hand to dispel the lock preventing his memories of Koishi from resurfacing.
"Running off and leaving me behind is no good! There's no telling what would happen if you don't stick with me. Listen around you, there's no sound of movements, nobodies near us. That's really creepy y'know? And how am I going to find my way to the shrine on my own?" Touma ranted to Koishi, feeling responsible for her within reasonable concerns for their current environment.
But Koishi wasn't paying any attention, she merely blinked like she was brought back to reality. After her gaze landed back to Touma's, she smacked his hand off her, spun around, and ran away like hell.
"Wait! Koishi, what's wrong!?" Touma said with even more concern from her erratic behavior. He gave chase in response to her form of desperation. He had seen a brief moment of panic in her eyes like they were almost ready to burst open with tears. He assumed she must have seen something off within the forest, scaring her. "What did you see!?"
Touma continued to shout at her to halt, but his efforts were in vain. Nothing he said dissuaded her to slow down or stop.
"Wait up!" He continued anyway to reach out to her. But as his uneven steps couldn't make up for their disparity in speed, the distance between them increased. Soon after, she was out of his sights.
"Damn it!" He cursed, feeling frustrated from having to be in the dark all alone now. His blurred eyesight gave no assistance with finding her.
(It's not good in my position to lose my cool. Think, how am I supposed to find her if my eyes are of no use?)
There was also the problem for why she ran away from him. He imagined he had done something to scare her, but for what reason eluded him.
(Maybe…instead of relying on thinking, I'll have to use pure instinct coupled with my senses.)
Touma closed his eyes, ending his racing mind from trying to concentrate. The moment he did so, his body felt a presence not close to him but wasn't far away either.
"I'm locked on to you now." Touma said. Though closing his eyes left him feeling slightly drowsy. With his eyes remained closed, he teetered towards the movements he sensed. He also didn't forget to leave his right hand on his head.
He took into consideration for changes in the environment and felt a ping of a familiar sensation. Magic, a spell was cast nearby.
Touma's steps became into full blown running. He staggered and rammed his forehead onto a tree trunk, reeling back with a hand clapped to his forehead in pain.
"Krrrrgh!" He moaned, feeling the drawbacks to his strategy quite literally. Wasn't the smartest decision ever, but it was the best he got under the limitations to being drunk.
Then he felt a change in movement. Touma, keeping his eyes closed and his hand on veered off to what he felt like clumsy motion.
He inched closer, and in time he heard the shriek of glass breaking. His right hand had destroyed something, and he felt the magic earlier dissipate.
"I've got you now!" Touma lunged his left hand and grabbed a thin arm.
When he opened his eyes, the person he expected to find was someone else. Instead, it was a blond girl in her early teens (10 to 14 years) hovering above the ground in a 'crucifixion' pose.
An awkward silence imposed upon them. They stared at each other with rapt confusion. Both each took the time to measure the other.
This new girl he encountered had short blond hair with a red ofuda tied to the side as a ribbon. She stared at him with his blue eyes while she did the same with her red eyes. Her choice of clothing comprised of a black vest over a frilly white blouse with long sleeves and a black skirt. He also took note of two red beads on her red tie. And when he looked down, she was wearing red shoes.
"…Uhh, who are you?" Touma asked.
"Who are you?" The girl threw back his question.
"Kamijou Touma." He replied so they can get a move on from the imposing silence.
"Never heard of you. Rumia." She introduced herself short and blunt. She took a sniff and went on. "You human? You're either brave or stupid venturing into the woods at night."
"Uh, yes, I had important business that required me to go through here first." He explained. He wasn't lying, but he didn't give the full truth.
"Sucks that you're not an Outsider. I haven't had a good meal in a while." Rumia bemoaned, her head downcast slightly.
From the way she spoke and her forward attitude concerning her diet, Touma figured she was definitely a youkai who had no reservations in eating humans. He made no plans to correct her, leaving her presumption as is.
(Thank you rain cloak.)
"First, let go of my arm." Rumia started when she looked back at him. Touma complied and she dropped her 'crucifixion' pose and dusted her skirt. "Second, I've got several questions."
"I'll only answer if you answer mine." He negotiated a simple trade of equal value to both. She nodded and he did the same.
"Where did you come from?" Rumia asked.
"Some… shabby looking store with a glasses dude." Touma took a few seconds to gather his thoughts and answered.
"Hmm…Kourindou? Kourindou." Rumia took a second to think and affirmed her thoughts. Touma nodded to confirm her thoughts true.
"You've seen a girl your height that's green and yellow?"
"Uh-uh. I barely feel anyone around me lately. Usually, youkai stumble upon my dark space when they're active during the night. It's kinda creepy." She shuddered.
Touma didn't have much input earlier to his little theory, but now he can confirm something was up with the forest and its inhabitants vanishing.
Rumia went on to her next question. "Speaking of which, what did you do to the darkness I surrounded myself in? How did you even find me in all of this darkness?" She illustrated by gesturing to the forest.
"I closed my eyes and ran really really fast." Touma answered his simple plan, which she reacted by giving him a dumbfounded look.
She was starting to believe he was a genuine dumbass, but apparently, his idea worked quite effectively since he founded her.
"That still doesn't answer what you did to my magic." Rumia pointed out.
"You asked two questions and I only need to answer one. It's my turn now." Touma reasoned. Rumia relented, albeit with some hesitation and allowed him.
"Which area of the forest am I in?"
"You're at the very center."
He was only halfway to the shrine. So why did the back of his head felt like the path lengthened instead of closing as it should be?
"I'll ask again, what did you do to my darkness?"
But Touma was no longer paying attention. His attention span depleted, and he was looking over his surroundings. He spun around, leaving his back facing her.
Rumia's face morphed into a scowl. "It's rude to walk away from someone when they're in the middle of a conversation."
Her words didn't register to his ears. Rumia gritted her teeth from being ignored. Such disrespect to her as a youkai was irritating and by a human no less.
She didn't feel much pride in being a youkai, not like she used to during her prime. She only lived her life in Gensokyo through the motions and impulse rather than one who dealt with serious concerns or decided for themselves how to live. In short, she lived a lazy, almost nihilistic lifestyle where the food would come to her and she refused to put effort into hunting.
But a complicated feeling in her heart ignited in anger from such a display of disregard. This human felt not an ounce of fear from her.
"I said! Pay! Attention!" Rumia shouted and swiped an arm that fired a dark bullet at his head.
Touma said nothing, nor did he react outwardly. He only tilted his head slightly where the bullet grazed past him by an inch.
"Turn around and face me now!" Rumia ordered him. As if nothing was out of place, Touma continued to look above the tree branches.
He heard a distant hum.
Veins popped all over Rumia's face and she put up a strained smile. With a twitch of her eyebrow, Rumia spread her arms to the side and summoned ten bullets and fired them.
They crossed the distance and converged on him.
With no waste in movement, Touma used the most minimal effort to tilt and shift his body to dodge them by a hair's breadth without lifting his feet off the ground.
Rumia gaped in shock.
"Who the hell would want to live in a forest like this? It's soggy, dreadful, and gloomy. You're either a weirdo or a sad man with no friends." Touma frowned in his evaluation of the forest as a poor choice for home real estate. He behaved like usual without any regard to what happened earlier.
"Wha-!? Rumia couldn't find the right words and sputtered incoherently.
"What? Oh hey, you're still here." Touma turned around, finally noticing the girl he had completely forgotten about. "Who are you again?"
"How did you forget under a span time of a minute!?"
"It's Lumia [1], right?" Touma guessed, not feeling convinced suggested by his confused face.
"It's Rumia! RU-MI-A!" She corrected him, accentuated the syllables in her name.
"They sound the same but whatever. What do you want, Lumen?" Touma called her name wrong again and she couldn't tell if it was on purpose. He even forgot a syllable at the end.
"Mmmph!" Rumia fumed by pouting and making muffled sounds behind her cheeks. She didn't care about what he did to her magic anymore, she only focused on one thing. "What's with that nonchalant attitude around me!? I'm a youkai who eats humans! I eat you humans like its easy pickings from a single yen coin on the road! You should fear me!"
"I feel so sorry for you." Touma commented helpfully. To him, finding a single yen coin on the road was as common as finding the leprechaun's gold. "I also think you should stop eating humans."
"Shut up! I don't wanna listen to some human who begs!" Rumia put her hands to her side.
"I wasn't begging, I was asking. Geez." Touma quipped, failing to take in the gravity of the heavy subject they were talking about.
"Why do you not rightfully fear who I am!?"
"Well…stuff like human-looking monsters eating humans…it's not the worst I've heard. Nothing like that time I wandered inside a trichiliocosm and needed to break a Buddha's nose. And that one time I was inside a frost giant's stomach and only had two exits, the mouth, and his sphincter…or I make my own." Touma sidetracked into another world where the subject didn't even sound remotely similar to the previous one at hand.
Rumia gaped at him, giving him another look that held disdain, but also a little bit of fear somewhere.
"I mean it doesn't make you eating humans suddenly become a good thing. Two negatives don't make a positive you know?" Touma amended his argument.
"Not a good thing? Hah! Maybe to you humans, but how is it any different from you raising cattle, only to slaughter them for food? You're no better than us!" She sneered with contempt, finding that human morality of his to be disgusting.
"That's not a very good comparison or justification. Humans can recognize when something has sapience or logical thoughts. We have a lot of empathy." Touma paused for a moment to gather his thoughts and continued. "Normal humans don't go out of their ways to kill and eat other humans, or other sapient intelligence I would hope. A heavy understatement to the normal by the way. I would expect most would puke from the thought of eating one. We grow our own livestock out of necessity and because it's more proficient compared to older methods of preserving food. We advance out of survival and because nature is harsh. Not out of cruelty or sadism."
Something told Rumia that this human was dangerous. His way of thinking was unlike the others at the village. They lived with begrudging acceptance of their situation and were prevented from improving their quality of life without jurisdiction from the youkai. They weren't allowed to expand beyond the borders of their village and were mostly used as chess pieces for youkai to influence and gain power.
But this human here held something that struck fear into youkai if left unattended. To rationally think and reason. The power to observe natural phenomenon and find logic behind it. It was a power that attracted others to gravitate towards him. The leadership needed to accumulate individuals to work together instead and cause explosive growths in progress.
(A human leader!)
The one concept all youkai feared in Gensokyo. If a human were to take the rein and lead the humans into a brighter future, the endangerment for youkai would accelerate.
Rumia broke into a cold sweat. She held steadfast to stop this human from growing any more dangerous than he already is. The thought had crossed her mind – Never let this human reach the village.
Rumia took a deep breath. "Hmph. Then we youkai feast on humans because it's our nature to do so. It's all necessary you see." She smugly grinned.
"Is it really? I'd like to distinguish something here. Do you eat humans because it's a 'need' or is it because you 'want' to?" Touma raised an eyebrow.
"I-it's a youkai's job to feed on humans!" She lost her cool.
"A job? By who's definition?" Touma squinted his eyes at her.
Rumia raced her mind to try and come up with something, anything as an argument. "It's just something that comes naturally to youkai!"
"I feel like you need to be the one who decides how their life should be, not having others decide for you." Touma advised her.
"Ugh, that sounds like a royal pain in the ass…" Rumia groaned.
"I see now…you're the type of person who has no aspiration for the future and instead more or less satisfied with the way your current life already is…" He said utterly deadpan. The way Touma sounded when describing her nature held a good amount of irreverence.
"It's just easy okay!? First, I catch a human, kill them, and then devour their flesh! And my stomach is filled!" She admitted that she wasn't a firm believer of her role as youkai, but only because it was easy doing something for what you are.
"But it's not so easy anymore now, is it? Because of the Spell Card Rules." He pointed out.
"Hah! There's a loophole that everyone knows! We're allowed to eat Outside humans!"
"But the rules don't exactly allow you to, they just don't extend to them."
"Is there even a difference?" She looked at him skeptically.
"Yes, there is. It's easy to think that because the rules only apply to humans already living in Gensokyo, it would imply outside ones are fair game. But thinking about it, there's no explicit saying to it. A loophole is just a loophole. Maybe it's a flaw that hasn't been addressed yet." Touma said, placing his left hand to his chin. He knew it was nothing more than wishful thinking and optimism, but he needed this to be addressed. "I need to view the rules in person to see if what's being written was native humans, or just humans in general."
Things weren't looking so good for Rumia at this rate. He was starting to get suspicious of the rules and might influence others to do the same. She never gave the rules a closer look before, but the rules never really did explicitly say outside humans to be allowed as food.
"Tell me." Touma kept his eyes on her. "You said it's been a while since you had a meal. When was the last time you did? Approximately how long ago was it?" He pestered unceasingly.
"W-well, three months." She disclosed nervously.
"So, you can survive for three months without meat." Touma let go of his right hand on his head and crossed his arms.
"But not before I begin to uncontrollably crave meat for dinner after that time period. In fact, it's starting to get a bit close to that time." She smirked menacingly at him, licking her lips slowly. She planned to try and scare him, leaving his thoughts out of sync and stopping him from going any further.
Touma did not bat an eye at the subtle threat and continued to question her. "Tell it to me. Describe it in full detail what that felt like. Don't spare a single moment from me."
Her eyes glinted. This was an opportunity to fish out this human's primal fear of the unknown. With her dark motives set, she moved on to telling of her experiences when confronted with the need for human flesh.
"The first thing was my teeth gnawing incessantly. That grinding noise I couldn't bear listening to. Then my eyes would stay wide-awake constantly, I couldn't sleep for days." Rumia adopted a chilling smile like a crazed animal turning feral. "My vision starts to turn blurry and the hunger begins to kick in." The rows of teeth had their edges sharpened. "I lose all reason and attack anything that moves near me. I attack anything under me until I feel no more movement." Her eyes glowed a baleful red. She hovered towards Touma until they were nose to nose. "When the scent of blood reached my nose and its final squeal, only then did my sanity returned. When I awoke, my lips tasted iron. I had a liver inside my mouth and my hands were squishing a pair of lungs in a spiral. That's when I noticed it, a heart was missing from the corpse."
Rumia then incorporated her magic to surround both of them into her dark space. Only for the shrill cry of glass breaking to sound out, casting light from inside the sphere, sending cracks that spread thoroughly all over sparing nothing.
As Rumia went wide-eyed, Touma scrunched up his face.
"Achoo!" And sneezed right at her face.
"…"
"Urgh…"
Rumia's smile froze while Touma wiped his nose. He took a few steps back to gain distance.
After having his bearing back, Touma looked back at Rumia who was still frozen in shock. "Alright, now for the final nail in the coffin. What animal did you killed?"
"…Hah?" Rumia let out a dumbfounded response, still not quite finished having been sneezed at.
"Don't be so coy now, say it." He encouraged her, glancing back to her face.
"…" Rumia gritted her teeth so hard, Touma could hear audible clenching sounds. "…A wild boar."
His immediate reaction was to slam his palm on his face.
"The way you described it was more like an act of desperation from starvation. Did you eat anything beforehand between the boar and your previous meal? That's a bad habit. Bad habits are meant to be broken y'know. That's why they're called bad." Touma remarked.
"How did you know I didn't eat a human? What gave it away?" Rumia asked.
"When I asked you for the last meal you had, I didn't imply you ate a human. That's when you loosened up your tongue a bit and didn't confirm you needed human meat to suffice. By the way, humans don't have spiral intestines."
Rumia had no response to that. He deducted and played with her the whole time.
"Now I have proof that for youkai, eating humans is not a need, only a rare delicacy." Touma couldn't celebrate so early, so didn't feel a bit of pride in his accomplishment. This only applied to one youkai he's met so far.
Having finished his business with Rumia, he turned around again and made his way.
"Farewell, Lumen. I'm heading over to the village." Touma bid his goodbye. The words he left caused Rumia to feel dread and regret.
Rumia watched his retreating form, left with nothing but bottled frustration. The human she interacted with was full of mystery. And that cunning characteristic of his spelled danger to the whole of Gensokyo if nothing were to be done about him.
She has to think fast and stop him from taking a step further.
"Wait a minute…" Rumia muttered out, lost in thought.
She began to pick up the pieces and a few holes he left behind. There was the fact that he never saw a hard copy of the Spell Card Rules. Almost no human would ever visit Kourindou save for a select few, so he was an uncommon face. There were also those foreign words she never heard of. And if he truly needed to go back to the village, why did he go the opposite direction at Kourindou?
Rumia smiled with suspicion and called out to him. "Hold it. You're hiding something from me."
Touma glanced back at her over his shoulder.
"You act like you know nothing about the Spell Card Rules when everybody in Gensokyo should know them by hand. Especially a human like you since it's the only method of defense you have for youkai." Rumia smirked smugly.
Touma was quiet for a moment. "I don't play it very often, I just heard about it from hearsay. I usually keep to myself."
"Then why not play with me? I'm not finished with you just yet. I have something you want." Rumia's eyes glinted with malicious intent.
Touma hesitated a bit to respond. He suspected she was on to him from how calm she was acting.
"I know the way to the village." Rumia said. Her offer played into Touma's desire.
It was an enticing deal for Touma that he could not ignore it. He had little choice in his mind on what his next action should be.
"What do you have in mind?" He accepted, turning around to face her again.
Feeling satisfied with turning things over in her favor, she began to discuss the deal they will play. "Since you don't play danmaku a lot, I'll go easy and let the duel go for about two hours. We can only use one spell card and the loser is determined by taking two pinchus."
"Then I'll win when I punch you twice." Touma merely commented, having misheard the last one for broken English.
Rumia arched an eyebrow from his answer. He must be creatively bankrupt if that's his method of winning danmaku. The sheer ignorance he's been displaying had made her even more convinced that he wasn't the person she initially suspected.
"Next is what we're betting for our victory. I'll tell you where to find the Human Village if you win. But if I win," Rumia grinned widely enough to split her face. "You'll tell me who you really are."
And her words confirmed his suspicions of her. She was now unconvinced of his false identity as a native of Gensokyo. Touma was treading on a thin line at this point. Who knows what could happen when she does find out.
Even when such a disastrous possibility opened itself, Touma still kept his cool and examined everything that could be put to his favor.
Despite the danger presented itself in Rumia, she was still someone who could be reasoned with. Her attempts to scare him despite under the notion that he was a native only amounted to that. To scare, but not to kill.
"I'll play the game. On one condition." Touma played his hand.
"And what will that be?"
"A little revision to what I'm going to win. I've already taken care of how I'm getting to where I need to be." Touma paused for a bit to examine her expression. He continued when he made sure Rumia held no protest in her eyes. "I want you to promise me to never eat a human again."
Rumia sneered at how pretentious he was. But she couldn't fault him for his efforts to protect future victims if he had the chance.
"Fine by me." She reluctantly accented to his demand, having the confidence of her victory beforehand. A complete novice like him against a veteran at danmaku was a no-brainer.
Touma nodded. They would soon separate themselves for the opening act, but not before he had something to say. "There's just one last thing we need to make clear about." he abruptly interrupted. "I don't have any spell cards on hand."
"…Huh?" Rumia titled her head bewilderedly.
"I don't play danmaku a lot remember? That's why I lose my cards very often." Touma said without missing a beat.
Rumia trailed a hand from her temple to her chin in exasperation. She really did find this human an idiot. He must have been aware already that his act was falling apart, so the fact that he kept trying to hide it was dumb. She found it cute how he was still trying to be subtle about it though.
"Give me a moment." Rumia rummaged around her skirt until bringing out a blank piece of paper. "One fresh, blank spell card ready to be imprinted. I had this just in case whenever I need it. Here use this." She handed it to him.
"Okay…how do I do this again?" Touma asked innocently.
"You're kidding me." Rumia chuckled from his stupidity. "Do you really want to keep pretending?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." He deflected. "Anytime is a good time to review the rules."
Rumia sighed. "Just think about what makes you 'you' and squeeze it on the card." She advised, putting some distance between them and adopting her 'crucifixion' pose. "If your spell card is ready, then we'll duel immediately!"
Touma fell down into a nervous breakdown.
(This is bad! This is really bad! How am I supposed to imprint my mana into this without Imagine Breaker interfering!?)
Kamijou Touma has never - in his life – utilized his mana. To project magic into this card was beyond his expertise.
He no longer had an escape route past this point. It was his decision, and so he must walk down this path to the end. He'll just have to wing it.
Cooling his head, he held the card in his left hand, closed his eyes, and concentrated.
The headache searing inside his brain ached him. His concentration disturbed. Focusing all of him inside the card was impossible at this hour. The intoxication may have dissipated slightly, but he was by no means sober.
"Hey, is there another method to doing this?" Touma asked sheepishly.
"Pfft, do you want me to hold your hands as you finish the basics?" Rumia remarked snidely. "Instead of thinking about yourself, think about what you want. I've seen people use spell cards that had absolutely nothing to do with them." She held a hand to wave off.
(What I desire…)
Touma looked down on the card in his hand. There were numerous things he wanted that lead up to his current situation: To go home; to stop the dragons; to find that one person missing from his memories. And he had had dozens more before arriving in Gensokyo.
But he had to focus on the now. The present called for him to wish for what is most important. Touma glanced at Rumia again before giving his attention back to the card.
"Alright, I've made my decision." Touma narrowed his eyes to remove their glaze. He glared deeply into the card in his fingers and closed his eyes.
(I want this youkai to stop eating humans.)
As Touma projected his desire, Rumia watched him intensely. "What's he gonna do?" She whispered softly.
A minute turned by without him noticing, and the feeling of rustling came from his hand. When he opened his eyes, he saw the once blank card been given more life imbued to it.
"An egg?"
The borders of the card had a swarm of black tendrils that carried the illusion of movement when he tilted the card in any direction. They lack the general outlines of tentacles and were purer in their simplistic shape. But the most eye-catching was the egg at the very center. It was triangular polygonal in texture. But Touma thought his eyes were playing tricks. The triangles would flicker into having more than 180 degrees, which was utterly impossible. The entire egg would flicker out of position, creating afterimages that would sporadically leave the flat surface of the card and float above the surface by an inch.
It frightened Touma so he shook his head. He didn't understand how this came to be. He presumed Imagine Breaker wouldn't allow for this to occur.
He rushed into action and snatched the card in his right hand. A sickening crunch rang out, and the texture and egg dissipated like mist to reveal the pure emptiness that was lost a minute ago. He pocketed it and decided the time to look over it can come after the danmaku match. Touma raised his head and matched with Rumia's gaze as she hovers.
Touma took one step forward then dashed onwards.
"Hraaaah…goodness, at this rate I'll die of boredom before Kamijou makes it to the shrine. Not the most thrilling way to die, but…eh, anything to leave this rock sounds pleasant."
A tired and bored voice somehow traveled the airless void of outer space. Blinking a few tears away, the person chewed on a peach.
"The human body seems to be very lacking in the other 50,000 taste buds and more from my original body, and a few other dimensions too."
Sitting on the moon was Tenryuu with one leg raised and the other flat on the ground. Unlike before, the new look she decided was to wear a hospital gown and pants. It was the choice she found best appropriate for the occasion.
"Time for an inspection." With a smack to her lips, the humanoid dragon scrutinized a few areas within and outside Gensokyo.
With half-lidded eyes, Tenryuu lethargically watched a forever-burning dragon remain submerged in the Sanzu River where the border of Gensokyo was out of reach.
Blue will-o-wisps danced across the surface of the river, populating the once barren air.
A serpentine form trod deep below. Its body burned with blue ghost fire. As it broke the surface, the now exposed head burned anew with bright red flames.
"Denwen's surprisingly obedient this time. It's been hours and the thing hasn't burned the world first notice. Heh, my compliments to Denwen. Although, I wonder why it's decided to stare at my direction…They're not known for being smart, but they are sharp."
As a precaution, Tenryuu looked over her shoulder to see nothing amiss across the endless ocean of stars.
"…I must be getting paranoid. Am I even capable of being paranoid to begin with?" Those thoughts were shaken away, and Tenryuu resumed her duty as an observer of the current project.
Around the forest of Muenzuka where the barrier to the outside world was thin, Kuzuryu surveyed the junk piled all over the graveyard. The unique dragon of four eyes collected numerous items for an unknown purpose.
"Ahh yep…Nothing wrong over that front. I'm starting to get tired of these peaches too." Tenryuu complained, having finished the 135th fruit in her hand.
The duty continued with the next area coming to view. Within a meadow of purple and white lilies, a dragon with a giant sole eye was stationed at a nameless hill.
It saw everything within its clairvoyant eye. Disinterested by all the commotion arising from every place in Gensokyo, its attention fell over to a pit of bones belonging to deceased babies. Its body coiled around the hole to shelter and protect them from the chilling wind.
The next area for inspection came to be the lake settled right next to a very familiar mansion. Within the deep trenches, the dragon bolded with demon wings appeared to have set up a prank for the unsuspecting soul unluckily enough to pay it attention.
A peeling sound came from its forehead, and a small light glowed in the dark like a match.
And much like her prediction foretold, the light, like a lure, attracted a gallivanting mermaid to come closer. When she approached a good enough distance, the dragon snaked out and trapped her in its mouth. The mermaid struggled futilely until the dragon spat her out with enough force to drive her miles away.
It was sight having been seen thousands of times in the past, unnoteworthy of raising an alarm or even deem important enough to raise an eyebrow. But what did happen afterwards was eye-catching.
Tenryuu had came to witness a group leaving the front gates of the mansion, and the Demon dragon did nothing to prevent them. The gatekeeper who remained behind was on edge, tension building up all over her body in response to the chaos marched inside the enclosed barrier.
Not a good position to be had when near that particular dragon.
A shock rampaged inside the gatekeeper, and she fell to the ground asleep. Obviously, the Demon dragon's machinations were to blame. The next surprise was the raining clouds being silenced. Another aspect very familiar to the dragon stationed down the depths of the Misty Lake.
And in perfect synchronicity, a blonde girl with Christmas tree lights following behind her came rushing out from the front window and into the forest.
"…That bastard is planning something." A frown naturally snaked its way to Tenryuu's face. Her intense glare pointed to the Demon dragon was by no means weak even with the distance between from where she sat on the Moon to the Earth, yet she was callously ignored.
The cherry on the top of all this was the emergence of Demon dragon. With the intense light spilling from its forehead, a projectile burned through the air and embedded itself on the side of the mansion.
The mansion belonging to a vampire lord was now a salt structure.
"Was that really necessary?" Her terse question went unanswered as any telepathic call she made was denied by the recipient.
With a deep sigh, the woman sitting on the moon decided to look elsewhere, making certain to keep the previous player on high alert.
In a sea of charred bamboo, a dragon of opal oversaw its progress. Looking to its front were ten monoliths being erected like they were built inside a 3D printer. Off to the side were dark steeled, futuristic caskets stationed. When the lids slid open, what walked out of them was dark blue scaled bodies modeled with a human anatomy. They were large with the size of 200cm and a slender build. Their heads were round combined with a smooth face with no mouths, nose, or eyes sockets. An eerie light instead shined from two holes synonymous to eyes for these machines.
Behind the serpent of minerals were hundreds of them in formation. Without glancing back, the dragon gave out the order for them to disperse.
"Seems like my senior is the only diligent individual taking this seriously. And what about that one monitoring the Hakurei Shrine?"
Tenryuu cast her gaze over to the shrine where the host, Hakurei Reimu, did nothing to de-escalate the situation. The volatile girl looked more ready to throw down the glove on every attendee instead. The resurrection plant which laid limply on the shrine was uncaring for them all.
"Doesn't seem to have been turning out so well. The amicable mood was expectedly short-lived, and tensions are reaching boiling point. Damn, where has Yukari gone? Why is she not present over there?"
It wasn't as if the dragon of flow and stillness had any means to control that unpredictable spectator known as Yukari. The serpent was not the most skilled in negotiation nor an expert in keeping tabs with wildcards. Finding an opening into her gap space was too much of a hassle and trying to do so on the moon where Yukari can't even reach without under very specific circumstances meant trying to pick apart roof tiles on a flat-headed building.
"Ah, I forgot the Yama happened to be there too. She seems to have things under control." A sigh leaked out from the bored dragon. She tapped out and leaned her back ungracefully onto the rough surface of the moon. "Wish something could happen already to be worth watching…"
A feeling known as fatigue slowly crouched onto her eye-lids. New feelings and experiences constantly surged the more accustomed she became with the crafted human body. This was fine. Her role on the moon was nearing completion; there was no more for her to do but wait for the inevitable.
Suddenly-
"Hagh!"
Tenryuu grunted loudly, feeling the deep core of her existence singing in response to the master's command. A hand clutched her chest tightly with such force it almost threatened to crush the heart. And when she resisted, her heart still experienced jubilations from being ordered by the master knowingly or not. She craved it, the satisfaction in fulfilling her purpose for existence. But this was not the time to lend an ear to the other leader, the situation was far too delicate for a new command to take shape.
"That's not supposed…to happen. How is that even possible?" Tenryuu croaked, contorting her face in both pleasure and defiance. She bore witness to Kamijou Touma crushing a card after strenuously standing upright. "How can Tanin'iver allow this to have happened? Where the hell are you!?"
With seething impatience, she saw the aforementioned serpent flailing on the ground in pure surprise.
"Well, I knew the process was moving too smoothly in my mind. They've already committed to the job, so this is their mess to fix." The incessant ringing did not cease. Every dragon had heard the message, some almost fell into temptation to return to their rightful master's side. However, they all calmed down enough to prioritize the job they've already been commissioned before marching into Gensokyo.
Just as Tenryuu regained her posture and complexion, a passing figure happened to be spotted within the corner of her eye. A bird of prey had left the Earth's atmosphere and loomed closer to the Moon.
Nothing was done to prevent the crow from reaching the domain of the Moon under her control. In fact, it was a stroke of fortune for the crow to appear in a time of need. With open arms, the crow was allowed entry and descended to perch a steel beam in front of Tenryuu with a cold gaze.
A small smile crept Tenryuu's face as she bowed. "To what do I owe the pleasure in standing before a god?"
The cold abyss of space stood attention in the background as the stare off between the benign dragon and the lukewarm servant of one of the most renowned gods in mythology commenced. The thick atmosphere was dispelled from the mere utterance of the crow's tongue.
"State your purpose, worm." A voice of the utmost level of authority caved immense pressure onto Tenryuu's shoulders. The dragon continued to smile despite the danger.
"Hehe, that can be arranged. Although, if you were to humor me, it was no surprise you hid your last remaining strength as a Magic God. There was no doubt considering your aspect of being a god of deception."
"Brave, aren't we? Or are you just audacious like the rest?"
"I do not fear death like the mortals thriving on that tiny planet they call Earth. Death is no different than from a cold you catch from the change of seasons. It'll wear out in time."
"Your tongue is far too unsteady. It will find better use as feed for my crow." There was no hesitance in her words. The wing of Huginn raised slightly to smite the bowing dragon before it.
"Speaking of crows, I'm actually impressed by the lengths you've taken just to search for Kamijou." Tenryuu spoke again, cutting through the sharp tension as Huginn almost laid waste to her.
"..." The wing of Huginn paused briefly in attention.
"There's no cause for being so impatient. You don't expect me to just let him die, do you?" The crow found itself lowering the wing as an act of mercy. She had succeeded in holding the conversation for a few more minutes. "You are intimately aware of the dangers in utilizing your powers as a magic god. The paradox of omnipotence will hand you a coin to flip between 50/50 chance of succeeding or failing any action you intend to act on. Despite this, you not only summoned your beloved crow, but attempted to escape the atmosphere of the Earth after noticing the irregularity of the Moon and even had the intent to destroy me as a threat. That was reckless, far exceeding the limits of self-preservation, something I can only call praiseworthy."
"...You speak fondly of him, so what does that make of your allegiance?" Othinus had given her a chance.
"It is...complicated." Tenryuu smiled wryly. "This project has been established and then frozen for eons in the making. It's not as if I'm strictly loyal to the cause, my thoughts merely serve no input, thus I am obligated to obey without a word."
"...You are the blackbox hidden away inside the Imagine Breaker? You are pitiful beyond belief." Othinus replied.
"That is a matter of perspective. Trust me when I say I did not acquire sentience so I can complain about it." A solemn face naturally marked Tenryuu's face. "If Kamijou had awakened to his true power, none of this would be possible in his era. His continued negligence only served to ire us."
"So a tool would find comfort in licking the soles of another?"
"Urgh…!" A pained expression spread over Tenryuu's face. "I do not wish nor decide who I serve. Irregardless of my reservations, an underling must serve to their very limits no matter what."
"Mere excuses." Othinus denied coldly with a disparaging sneer on Huginn's face.
"It cannot be stopped. It would've happened even after Kamijou's generation. From my very core as an ability, I will not leave any job unfinished." Tenryuu retorted firmly.
"Hmph, continue to convince yourself of that. It will only serve to create a demon in your heart."
Exposed to her words, Tenryuu could only laugh in self-derision.
"My benevolence runs thin. You may speak once more." Thus Othinus spoke sharply.
Prepared to hand out her convincing argument, Tenryuu closed her eyes and breathed deeply. "Would it not serve better to your advantage to appear in your regular size before I lead you to him?" A confident grin flashed over Tenryuu's face.
The deathly glare bequeathed onto the dragon would send any weaker-minded mortal in a stupor. As an irregular element in the world, the malicious intent of one god was nothing special and was brushed aside.
"You live in-between opposing realms as we speak. You rule above the cosmos as a Magic God, holding vast powers breaching infinity, and yet you remain stuck on this material plane as the lowest of spirits, a fairy. These two elements cannot coexist naturally yet they do so anyway within you." She continued her pitchsell with increasing success at gaining Othinus' interest.
"You dare propose a solution for my physique where I couldn't despite my vast possession of knowledge pertaining to this world?" The blunt words of Othinus only made her own irritation grow rather than cause nervousness to the ever-smiling dragon.
"And yet you continue to humor me and my bold claims. Even after being reduced to that state, your craving for knowledge as a Magic God and a god of wisdom had not faded. You may think I am a mere jester, but I couldn't be more serious." Tenryuu spread her arms in bold opposition.
Even though Othinus had proven to hold enough power to crush a dragon into dust with her bare hands, Tenryuu continued to defy her.
"...Such a gesture does not go without an exchange. Be quick and make it worth my while." The crow, Huginn, spread its beak and wings in an act of intimidation. It only made the scene cuter.
With permission received, Tenryuu shifted her head to the stars above, peering into one specific star amongst billions.
"The Veraldar Nagli." Those whispered words were loud enough for Othinus to perceive and tighten her features in response. "The name of the North Star in Norse mythology. It is the world spike embedded in the center of the universe surrounded by fire from Muspell acting as stars inside Ymir's skull. By the hands of Odin no less. It's also called Odin's eye by some as well." Tenryuu did not even need to glance at Huginn's stupefied expression.
Huginn too wrestled its eyes away from Tenryuu to stare at the unblinking star in the night sky. Sure enough, that star was quite familiar to Othinus. It was the first spring where she sacrificed her original eye to create the first phase for her debut as a Magic God.
Tenryuu raised her arm to point at the current North Star, Polaris. "You crafted the Earth, the sky, and the stars out of Ymir's corpse. That spike is the foundation of the new universe created by Odin. The brightest star in the sky and the very center of the universe, the North Star. That is true on almost every level. On a physical level? Not even close. But I don't care very much about the physical world, what is truly needed is that symbolism. But," Her hand made a fist and tightened fiercely so that it whitened. "thanks to the machinations of one troublesome Impure Magic God, my influence over that star has been lost since Thuban was replaced with Polaris."
"Get to the point." Othinus sharply remarked in a composed tone.
"Not much of a conversationalist, eh?" Tenryuu hung her arms to the side and shrugged. "You can neither go above a Magic God nor below that of a fairy, so we'll harmonize that mixture in the middle. Perhaps the eye of Odin in this phase might not be adequate, but with the original this should solve almost any uncertainty." Tenryuu stared deeply into the eyes of Huginn. "You will revert to being nothing more than a human, you will return to your previous status as a normal magician, and lose all your privileges as a Magic God. But that's nothing to cry about, right?"
The crow let out a begrudging grunt. Everything spoken by the dragon was right. She would not miss much out of her lost powers as a Magic God. Despite having limitless power, despite being able to accomplish anything, she was far more limited than anyone in the world because of it.
But she would not give them the satisfaction. As a seasoned warrior and an excellent judge of character she could tell the deal lacked the distinct smell of deception and inherent intent, or poison to exploit for personal gains. Admitting to their claims and promise would be no different than admitting defeat. Her pride would not have it, it was they who should submit to her.
As a god of deception, she would squeeze out every bit of information she can from this dragon without suffering the humiliation of unquestionable compliance.
"You honestly expect me to agree with this? You have not proven your worth. What right have you to assume I would willingly trust you?" Othinus retorted disdainfully.
Tenryuu drew a long sigh. If that was how Othinus wished to play then she'll be most disappointed. "You underestimate me far too much."
"I would sooner plunge my spear to my hide than turn my back to you." Resolute and stout with pride, Othinus broken out from the feathers of the crow. Her tiny body stood proud above the head of Huginn. Her blonde hair, the raven cloak draped across her body, that eyepatch over her right eye, none of her splendour as a god was lost in such a tiny body. Her words were not full of bravado either. That sewing needle in her hand was just a normal, dull item found anywhere in any knitting set. But in her hands, that mostly dull tool could pierce a dragon's scales and kill them.
"Your pride as a god nauseates me. I will not draw the conversation any longer." Tenryuu crossed her arms, irritated by the fairy enough to tighten her eyes in strictly. "I can't say for certain about my fellow comrades. For me, I don't care what the ends will become of my actions. I only strive to work to my limits with any means as I please. That is what I truly value."
With the answer finally pried out of Tenryuu, the one-eyed fairy closed her eye to contemplate. The background was already deathly still, yet her thoughtful pose dropped that stillness into another level. After a few moments that felt like minutes, Othinus reopened her eye, almost like a wink.
"No. No I don't think I will acquiesce to your proposal. You've wasted my precious time enough. You will find my wrath speak more loudly than you ever did." Othinus declared decisively.
With the sewing needle brandished in her hand, Othinus was prepared to javelin it. As witness to Othinus' madness, Tenryuu raised her arms in surrender.
"Have it your way." Tenryuu, acknowledging her failure, tapped the ground by her feet in resignation. Water all around them churned into a mirror below their feet. The image sparked to life and reflected the overhead view of Gensokyo. "You'll find him in Gensokyo."
Wordlessly, Othinus climbed down onto the back of Huginn and readied for departure.
Filled with disappointment and dissatisfaction at how poor the exchange turned out, Tenryuu stared while contemplating on how to turn it around. A peach was spun on a finger as she danced around ideas in her head.
"Surely, you must wonder who I am currently serving and if I'm not the only one." Her lips lifted into a confident grin when Othinus' body jolted. "You may strike me down and survive, but are you confident enough to crush all of us with those odds you have?"
Still remaining on Huginn's back, Othinus glared contemptuously at her. "Be it a hundred, or thousands of you, I will not spare a single one baring their fangs at the human."
"It won't be just us. You have the youkai and other contemporary creatures running amok down there, each unique with their own agendas." The surface of the water below them pulsed into view of the Hakurei Shrine.
"If I am leading him, there is nothing he can't overcome."
"I don't doubt that. But I'm afraid one Magic God won't be enough to overturn his position. I can see it now that he'll be used by that detestable Yukari Yakumo. And we don't want that, do we?" Subtly did a pinch of venom blemished Tenryuu's voice.
The sewing needle was flourished, spinning in Othinus' hand who contemplated throwing it and be finished with her time on the moon. The name Yukari Yakumo was familiar and caused her to gingerly handle the needle with more care.
Othinus made her decision. She retracted the sewing needle away. "...I will ask only once more. State your purpose, dragon."
Having somehow turned the situation into a her favor, Tenryuu's expression tensed solemnly. "The world begs for a new frontier. Don't you find it lonely?"
Othinus widened her eye. That was the most she had reacted since the start of the exchange.
"Am I to assume we have an agreement?" The words softly spoken sounded amiable, but one couldn't help but feel a moment of discernment and alarm from how ominous they seem.
With great hesitance, Othinus slowly nodded without letting up the frigidy in her cold stare.
Delighted, Tenryuu grinned. "Climb aboard. I shall pave the way."
By the orders of Othinus, Huginn generated an updraft to land neatly on the horns of Tenryuu.
"Hehehehe. This might take awhile, so I'll leave one of my comrades to overseer Kamijou while I'm gone from my post."
There was no significant action having been taken. The woman did not so much lifted a finger.
She only blinked.
The trigger was pulled. Lights which flew everywhere from the limitless abyss changed direction. The source, the giant bodies of gas and rocks called planets slowly limped.
Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands. Nothing seemed to stop. Just how much concentration and precision did one need to command gigantic bodies magnitudes above the Earth in mass?
Movement of galactic proportions. Gravity blended out of alignment. Such a feat was outside the realm of thought, yet the unthinkable proceeded to laugh at the scales of possibility.
A system of stars marched at the beck of one dragon. They converged into proper form.
Pioneered at the forefront of them all was the head of the serpent, Thuban.
The elusive shape finally came to bare. The constellation of Draco finally looked proper and alive. The great maw with size beyond the human eye snapped open, telegraphing its purpose.
"Hmph, you don't believe I would be impressed with that?" Pompously, Othinus remarked to show how unimpressed she was. An opinion not shared with the rest seen below on Earth.
"Hehe. I suppose not. A shame I won't get to see the faces of those below." With her time finished on the Moon, this would be a good plan to drive off attention from it with an arrogant thought as to how anyone would think to oppose this.
A cracking sound popped for all ears. Tremors and mean clefts surfaced to the feminine body of Tenryuu. Without further delay, the human shell burst into glorious pieces like a glass figure. The serpent which lived in the nightmares of all Lunarians broke out into the world once more.
Othinus sat cross legged in boredom on the back of Huginn while the latter was perched on the left horn of Tenryuu.
The serpent body stretched and contracted its muscles, creating disturbing noises not appropriate for human ears. With head faced to Thuban, the serpent burst into movement without concern for a proper take-off.
From there, the celestials bodies not associated with Draco would carve a path to the current North Star, Polaris. And the open maw of Draco stood silent in anticipation.
Omake
Filled with disappointment and dissatisfaction at how poor the exchange turned out, Tenryuu stared while contemplating on how to turn it around. A peach was spun on a finger as she danced around ideas in her head.
"Aaaah, this could prove troublesome. Troublesome indeed." The dragon talked to itself as it leaned down to view the image. She glanced over to Othinus to find any reaction. Not finding any visible changes she continued with an even more obnoxious voice. "That youkai really wasn't lying after all. The ratio of men to women really is 2:8 like she said."
So subtly did Othinus jolted.
"And what do you know, the childhood friend just so happens to be living in Gensokyo as well. What a shocker!" Tenryuu raised her voice, glancing back again to see Othinus' movements slowed to a crawl. "Not to mention there are sooooo many onee-sans, and they're really bouncy too! I doubt any girl who's lacking in height and sex appeal could capture his heart at this rate, mhmm. What a shame, and I find myself rooting for the teenage girls. What a shame indeed."
All composure was abandoned - Othinus demanded Huginn to strike Tenryuu in the face and claw her eyes out. The dragon raised her arms to grasp the crow's legs as it struggled to rip and tear her face off.
"What are you trying to pull?" Othinus' icy cold tone and thick killing intent made the air even harder to breathe.
Undeterred by the crow currently trying to gauge her eyes out, Tenryuu responded in kind innocently. "Eh? Me? I'm not pulling out any trump cards or threatening you, no." She chuckled. "To insinuate so would be inviting death."
The hand that held the needlestick relaxed just a bit. Othinus still remained vigilant as the space between the two shortened.
"By the way, is there possibly a way for a person to have two understanders?"
The slaughter which happened on the moon was unspeakable. There was little doubt that there was no language to properly describe the carnage coming from those disturbing noises.