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Ch. 42: Surprise!
"… W-Woah…"
"… Oh wow…"
"O-Okuu… You…"
Three voices muttered in awe at the scene before them, brought forth by the black-winged girl kneeling on her knees in front of them. But their wonder could not match the kneeling girl, whose breath was ragged and whose now fiery-red eyes stared glossed with tears of happiness.
"… Oooah… This… This…!" Reiuji Utsuho, a.k.a Okuu clasped her shaky, pale hands to her sternum, just above the giant red glass orb affixed in the centre of her chest, a slow and deliberate gulp making its way down her throat to her slender collar bones. The orb was dull now, as if all power had been drained from it, but the heavy exhaustion that Okuu felt did not matter.
"Ah… A-Ah…!" Okuu breathed, her skin sticky with sweat and control of her legs completely lost to her. All she could do was kneel and lose herself to this… this…! What was this delightful feeling…? ! And… and this beautiful image…? !
For before Okuu, Orin, Yuugi and Suika were a straight, imposing line of ice like structures not unlike that of a full sized mountain range. It stretched from the floor of the massive cavern to a few feet shy of the ceiling, and had blasted apart the etire of the opposite wall. On either side of the ice mountains were deep and wide trenches blown away by the force of the attack alone, huge chunks of broken rock and crystal lying about the bottom as numerously as sand in a desert. Flanking the trenches were parallel, lesser mountain ranges of crystal pushed up by the tremors. The only part of the cavern that remained untouched was the little patch that the group was located on and the exit behind them. The rest, Okuu had terraformed into her own little private Himalayas.
Needless to say, if there was a goddess buried within the mountains, they could not see. Which is kind of ironic, given what sortof goddess Kanako was…
"… Okuu…" Orin stared at her friend kneeling on the ground. "You… You may have killed Kanako…" she uttered, as she slowly turned to the Oni with a shocked expression. Yuugi and Suika looked back with similarly shocked expressions.
The corners of their lips tugged upwards.
"… You… You may have killed her!" Orin said ecstatically as she threw fell to the ground next to Okuu and threw herself around Okuu's neck.
"Whoo hoo!" Yuugi punched the air behind them inm celebration of this glorious occasion.
"I'll get the sake!" Suika busied herself with her gourd.
"Hah… Hah…!" Okuu's thighs remained locked and tightly squeezed together under her slack body, her mouth open and her tongue sticking out as Orin and the Oni started their impromptu celebrations.
"Okuu! Okuu you did it! You did it!"
"Yeeaah! Score one for the hell raven!"
"Here! Glasses all around!"
"Hah…! H-Hah…!"
"C'mon Orin, have a glass!"
"W-Wait… Suika… Where did you get those glasses…?"
"Hey! Thanks Suika! Cheers!"
"Cheers! Hey, Yuugi, cheers to you too!"
"Ah what the heck! Cheers, my friend!"
"Hah… Hah…!"
"He-Hey~! How about the hell raven? We haven't given her a glass yet!"
"Oh! You're absolutely right, Yuugi! Pass me a glass of sake, Suika."
"Here you go, Orin!"
"Thanks! Here Okuu! Drink up! You deserve one-"
The glass in Orin's hand suddenly shattered as a kunai-like danmaku whizzed past the heated raven and the festive youkai, sake splashing all over Orin's nonresponsive, dreamy face.
"Celebrating over my death, are we…?" came a chilly, knife-edged voice from beyond the void. Immediately, the celebrating trio reacted defensively as a portal-like gap in space opened up before them, intent to kill pouring out of it like mud out of a sewer; thick, pungent and poisonous. Hands bearing the shredded remains of industrial gloves gripped onto the sides of the gap, and a head of messy blonde hair pulled itself out, followed by a tattered and torn trench coat.
"…! Wh-Wha…? !" Yuugi, Suika and Orin could barely believe their eyes. Returning from the brink of death was not Kanako, but-
"Y-Yakumo Yukari? !"
All three of them bared their claws, fists and spell cards, their teeth gritting. But it was more uncertainty than hostility that they felt towards the emerging ancient youkai. Yukari… Wh-What is she doing here? !
"Yakumo Yukari, in the flesh…" Yukari, now fully emerged, gave her long blonde hair a toss. The face mask was gone now, fully revealing her thin, pale lips, which were curled with great disappointment. "Hmph…" her violet eyes looked at them from over her upturned nose, "You'll have to do better than that if you want to kill me," she quietly declared.
"Y-You…!" Suika stammered, "But we thought-"
"You thought that I was Kanako?" Yukari raised a similarly thin and well-shaped eyebrow, her violet eyes staring at the group before her sneeringly. "You thought, perhaps, that it was Kanako that gave the hell raven such great powers? Her?" the great sage of Gensokyo sneered even more at non-present goddess, "As if that woman would be capable of doing such things…"
"But…! But…" Yuugi frowned. But wait… Yukari was hidden under her coat and mask this whole time… Were they mistaken right from the beginning? !
"But it was Kanako that gave Okuu her nuclear powers!" Suika said, "R-Right?" she turned to Orin.
"Of course it was Kanako that gave Okuu her nuclear powers!" Yukari answered for Orin. "Such an incomplete and crude ability… That was all she could manage, so of course it is her! But to elevate such an incomplete ability to such a pure and destructive state…" she gestured about the mountain ranges of energy, "Now that? That takes realcapability…" Yukari next gestured shamelessly to herself as she lay a self-flattering hand above her chest.
"Er… Yeah, well… Okuu nearly killed you just moments ago…" Orin pointed out dryly.
"…! Er hem! That was… er… a mere miscalculation, yes!" Yukari stumbled a bit sheepishly, "A-And in any case, i-isn't that proof of my own ability? To so greatly increase her potential? Ah, but never mind that now! All of that is past us! Now-"
"Hah… H-Hah…! A-Ahhh... Hyaaahhhh! ! !" suddenly, the tense exchange was interrupted as all eyes turned to Okuu. She had collapsed on the floor, her eyes closed and her body twitching. Steam was escaping from her deliciously parted lips and her radiant face was aglow with pleasure.
"… What's wrong with her?" Yukari sweat dropped. She was not the only one to, as Yuugi and Suika were looking on awkwardly, and Orin had her face buried in her hands.
"Too… much… destruction…" Okuu muttered without regret as her body finally started to relax from the release.
"… Hmmm… It appears that in any case, Okuu is out of commission for now…" Yukari scratched her chin, "She must have expended too much of her stamina in that last attack… But now!" Yukari turned coldly towards the remaining three, "Now… Now I take care of you three!" she raised her hand.
"Grrr…" Suika raised her fists in response, "Do you intend to fight us? Hmph… Well, it's not like I'm complaining!" she flashed Yukari a grin.
"Yeah… I think we ought to get back at her for making us run around like cowards before, huh?" Yukari similarly readied herself for a brawl with a big smile on her face.
"Not to mention we must make her pay for what she did to Okuu!" Orin had sunk down to the ground with her claws out, fully showing the predatory nature of her cat half.
"Hmmm….! Don't get ahead of yourselves!" Yukari tore away her now useless and cumbersome trench coat to reveal her usual white and purple dress, flinging the tattered trench coat away like a starting flag…!
At once, Oni and kasha rushed forth, a dense and wide wave of colourful danmaku preceding them like artillery shells before a cavalry's charge. A one-two strike of lightning and thunder!
But such a simple attack would not work against the mistress of the phantasmagoria, for she merely tore a gap in space and slipped into it. The danmaku flew past harmlessly and blasted into the crystal mountains, throwing up a lot of dust and smoke, but otherwise barely scratching the impregnably solid energy masses.
However, the charging trio halted their advance immediately and spun 180 , as if to anticipate an attack. And sure enough, a tsunami of kunai shaped danmaku like before spread out towards them, the matriarch Yukari behind them. From the start, the wide ranged attack and charge follow up was not meant to hit Yukari, but to force her to dodge through her portals in a manner that was predictable. Simply put, Yukari had nowhere else to go except behind them…!
"Take this!" Orin and Suika yelled in unison, and from them barraged forth a storm of rock and needles.
"Hmph…!" Yukari, however, coolly faced the incoming wall of danmaku head on, and soon it became apparent why. The hellish storm of needles and brutal meteor swarm crashed with explosive noises as soon as they reached Yukari, the hundreds upon hundreds of impacts they made shaking the cavern with its internal mountain range.
But when the danmaku barrage finally ended, Yukari was still where she was, not having bothered to take a single step to dodge the attack. Her face was impassive, almost bored, and her right hand was outstretched before her. In it, she held a paper thin fan, and before that fan, was an equally paper thin, tiny barrier that looked like overlapping squares. The barrier was small, and was just barely enough to block the front of Yukari, but it had resisted and indeed nullified the hail of danmaku! Yakumo Yukari... If there was one person the legendary shrine maiden Hakurei Reimu was second to in terms of barrier magic, it would be this woman…!
But of course, such a famous reputation should be known by all youkai throughout the land, right? Which is surely why…
"And, cue the surprise attack…" Yukari pushed off elegantly on one foot. The distance she had leapt back was a mere three metres, but that was enough to avoid the missile like Yuugi, who had rocketed right past her, massive fist first. She was moving so fast that she was leaving a wake of air after her like that of a hurricane.
"T'ch!" Yuugi clucked her tongue, and with a desperate wave of her hand, the living missile released many more bomblets of danmaku, which Yukari merely avoided by disappearing into another gap and reappearing safely some distance away.
The one -horned missile, having missed its mark and being unable to stop its incomprehensible momentum, smashed straight into one of the cavern walls with a boom! Instantly, the entire wall collapsed, shaking the cavern once more. When the smoke cleared, a lone, disappointed figure stood among boulder sized debris.
"T'ch, I missed…" Yuugi clucked her tongue once more in annoyance, her red eyes narrowing at Yukari irately.
"Haha… Did you really think you could outsmart me like that?" Yukari gloated. "Did you really think I would not notice that you had vanished from that second wave of danmaku? You'll have to set up a better diversion than that!"
"Heh... And what makes you think that Orin and Suika were the diversion?" Yuugi suddenly smiled.
"… Ah!" Whipping around, Yukari saw that she was surrounded in a circle by white, ghostly fairies. Death fairies…!
"… Grrr… Familiars? !" staring past the army of fairies, she saw Orin with a spell card out.
"Cursed Sprite: 'Vengeful Spririt: Possessed Fairy'!" she proclaimed the name of the spell card, and immediately the fairies tightened their circle towards Yukari, ready to spray her with merciless danmaku.
"That's not all!" Yukari quickly looked up to see Suika hovering in the air above her, a gathering white mist in her hand. With an action that looked as if she was pushing aside the air around her, the mist spread out to form eight large, white orbs that reminded Yukari of her own portals.
…! White holes! Suika's own portal-based spell card that spews out numerous extra-dimensional energy shots. "So… They intend to surround me as best as they can instead of attacking me head on…" Yukari murmured to herself with grudging respect, "Admirable, as this is the most feasible strategy they can use against someone like me… But still…" Yukari clasped her hands together. If she cannot simply teleport out of the way, then…!
"Harrgghh! ! Arcanum: 'Danmaku Bounded Field'! ! !" she declared, and immediately rings upon rings of danmaku issued forth and solidified into layer upon layer of fortress like barriers! If she cannot dodge the incoming attack, then she will simply stop it outright!
"Arrgghh! ! !" Orin and Suika yelled in unison as they launched their attacks, blinding white orbs and deathly gray ones rushing forth to test the barriers' strength.
"Hey! Don't forget me!" Yuugi who had recovered from her earlier attack, now charged forth with what looked like light gathering in her fist. But instead of rocketing straight into Yukari's barriers, Yuugi instead stopped her charge several metres before her target and dug her feet into the ground. Her unstoppable momentum did not slow down though, and in fact her feet were dragged through the rock by her own inertia as she pulled back the fist with the light in it like a slingshot.
"Here I go! Oni's Voice: 'Annihilating Roar'! ! !" she roared as she released the scatter of danmaku just inches away from the barrier. The scatter quickly spread out to become an unrestrained explosion of brilliantly white-hot danmaku that collectively resembled a giant pinwheel firework: captivating but utterly destructive.
The combined attacks crashed into the barriers, and for a moment the cavern was blinded with a light that nearly rivalled that of Okuu's last attack.
"… A-Ah…" Suika groaned as she lay bruised on the ground. Straining her neck, she could see Yuugi and Orin in a similar state. So… Their attack could not breach Yukari's barriers after all…
No, it was not that the barriers were not breached. Yukari was not even defending in the first place. Her spell card, Arcanum: "Bounded Danmaku Field" was not even a defensive spell card. No, the barriers were simply shelter to provide the caster the space needed to prepare her own barrage of danmaku. And as soon as the counter attack was ready, the gates were opened to overwhelm the attacking forces.
And Yukari herself? Suika raised her head to see Yukari standing triumphant over her, her fan out and held over her mouth so as to hide the lower half of her face. And yet Suika could see haughtiness in Yukari's eyes. Hmph… Of course the gap youkai would be unharmed. She merely needed to teleport away at the moment their attacks were nullified by her own…
"It's my victory, Suika-san…" Yukari narrowed her violet eyes. "Now…" she snapped her fan shut and pointed it at Suika, "To have you pay for humiliating me!"
"Hu…militating you….?" Suika asked, confused.
"O-Of course!" Yukari pouted, "You were the one who asked Utusho to point her cannon away! You almost had me die in such a shameful and comical manner!"
"Ah yeah… That… would be pretty embarrassing!" Suika smirked, "Imagine that, getting blasted in the face by your own creation!"
"Sh-Shut up!" Yukari's face turned red, "N-Now! To formalize my victory over you three twerps!" she jabbed her fan in Suika's direction again, showing her intent to make the three of them go pichuu~n.
"Get ready Suika, because you're about to-"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? !"
"Eh?" Yukari turned around and WHAM! saw only the side of a eggplant coloured umbrella before the lights went out. Without a word, the great Yakumo Yukari sunk limp to the ground. Suika lifted her head again and startled at the image that greeted her eyes.
A fuming Kogasa, her umbrella to her side as if it had just been swung like a sword, standing over the slain Yukari who had an ominous red band over her eyes. Behind her stood a stunned Parsee as well as an awkwardly smiling Satori.
"Get… away… from MY SUIKA!" Kogasa shouted at the unconscious gap youkai.