Chapter 15: The Fall of Hope
The world isn't without a voice. Quiet though it may be, its a voice that is as full of life as you and I. The world watches us, it serves us, and all it asks in return is that we don't hurt it back.
A world breaks, and it cries and moans in silence, quaking the ground we walk on. A world cries, and it fills the sky with its tears. But what happens when a world experiences surprise, or awe? They say that if something can surprise an entire world to the core, then everyone who stands on it, whether aware of this event or not, join together in a collective gasp in place of the world's inability to express it.
That is what Kokoro's defiance has inspired. It is more than I ever could have hoped for. But do not fall prey to arrogance young one. You have the strength to turn despair into hope, and protect those who fear the call of death. But even hope...is something that he can destroy.
Alex had never felt so small in all his life. His body alone was dwarved by the tip of the one of the colossus' fingers. He grabbed onto his chest and felt his heart racing as his body trembled. He stared straight at Kokoro floating in the chest of this titan and scowled. He remembered about what Mamizou had told him...How Yukari held Kokoro in great interest, and it was plain to see why.
"How do I even begin to fight this thing...?!" Referring to its size moreso than its power, even though Kokoro was now no slouch when it came to that either.
His first response was expected, yawn-inducingly predictable in fact. At the first sign of a struggle, he yelled bitterly at his opposition like they were the ones who were insane, "You're doing what she wants! You're Yukari's PUPPET don't you get it?!"
"I don't care!" But with an echoing defiance Kokoro steeled her gaze with rage and bellowed to the heavens, "She was right about you! Right about everything! You need to be stopped! You HAVE to be stopped!"
Alex bit his teeth and was thoroughly disgusted by what he was hearing. Such blind obedience...She was not better than a puppy on a leash in his eyes. She wasn't thinking. She was being guided along by pure instinct.
"And she KNEW it'd go this way...! Just like everything else..." Alex's hand went from his chest to his head, which felt it was being pressed between hot iron.
"I was wrong about them..." The sense of kinship he felt towards Flandre and now Kokoro was little more than childish optimism...
"I told you didn't I? We can't trust anyone."
That vile voice echoed in his head until little more than a whisper remained. Then his irises turned fully red, as he dragged his fingers down the front of his face and swung his hand out from his shoulder to draw his burning blade.
"You're blind..." The fire from his blade exploded with the force of an erupting volcano.
"And a fool!" He then dashed forth, scarring the fabric of space-time with a twisted crack on the warpath towards the titan's chest.
She steeled her gaze upon him and brought her titan to life. The slightest budge of the right naginata shook the air on its way towards Alex. He kept moving forward and was punished rightfully by the weapons' turbulence as he failed to dodge it in time.
Before he could realign himself the other naginata rose to meet him. He swung to the left and was tossed around like a fly in a storm, putting him far away from the center of the chest. Upon swinging his arms to stabilize Alex charged straight for Kokoro yet again.
The tsukumogami closed her eyes and crossed her arms before her chest, her body become alit like a newborn star as energy gravitated towards the core of the titan.
With a swing of her arms she sent dozens of fogged comets flying forth from the titan's chest and peppered Alex's body during his vain attempt to evade them.
A few of his shields were shaved off on top of his body briefly experiencing intense feelings of emotion. Joy, sorrow, and laughter were but a few of them. He gasped and briefly froze up, allowing her right naginata a chance to force itself straight into his body and shove him away.
The air pressure wrapped around his body thicker than water as he felt like a bug smeard upon a car window. He dug his fingertips into the blade and fought against the tear of his body with a blood-curling roar.
It was a slow, arduous attempt but soon the weapon stopped and Alex retained a strong grasp on its tip with all his might. He tried to force it out of Kokoro's grasp, so she responded by swinging her other one up. Alex flew away and the weapons banged together, throwing sparks around like fireworks.
Alex saw his chance and sped between the staffs, his body screaming with fire. With each time his body let out a boom, the cone of flame grew larger until it overshadowed the titan's head in size. Alex smashed into its chest and watched as the flames rippled across its goliath frame and forced its head back a few yards.
But even after a couple further punches he could not break through, so he made a hasty retreat and swung his arms out with flames fully formed in the palms.
Kokoro closed her eyes and gathered her own energy within her body, and when his attack was unleashed in a widespread burst she was ready to meet him with a concentrated beam no bigger than her own body. Her beam struck the center of the devastating flames while she remained floating with the serenity of an enlightened angel.
The clash of strength seemed to be in Alex's favor for the first few seconds, but then it started to become a stalemate before swiftly having the flames point-blank in Alex's face. He grit his teeth as the flames broke apart and Kokoro's energy smashed into his gut hard enough to wind him.
The beam dragged him far, far away in a mattter of seconds. His attempt to push and divert the energy with his fingers backfired splendidly, as he was overwhelmed by feelings of sadness buried within the beam. Though it weakened him, he still managed to shove the beam aside, and felt a tear trickle down his agape face.
He shook his head, forcefully rubbed the tear on his sleeve, then bit his teeth and lashed his left arm across his chest. Dozens of gargantuan lightning bolts pierced the sky with flashing light on their way straight towards Kokoro, each of which were met by the defiance of her naginatas crossing together.
Alex rammed his body into the center of the weapons and managed to open a gap between that he wedged himself into and began pushing them aside with his hands. His arms throbbed in pain as he squeezed his hands around them tight and tried to rip the weapons free from her grasp.
He only made a few yards worth of progress before Kokoro retaliated with a sweeping laser from the titan's chest, which forced him to pull out. Another laser swept his way and he dodged down, then flew up and forward as yet another took its place.
He glanced over his shoulder at the naginatas and saw them sliding back into her grasp. Not wanting his progress to be wasted he spun around and bolted for the right weapon, evading the web of beams that fired out in his path.
He took his fist to just below the naginata's blade and successfully dislodged it a bit from the titan's grasp. Another punch would have been all it took to force it out all the way. Yet with his fist inches away from the success of this goal the other naginata was swung into his face and drove him straight down onto the back of the titan's right wrist.
Her only error was allowing him the use of his legs. With their full support at his behest Alex kept the weapon from squishing him flat and was allowed a prime opportunity to strike back. Once he felt the pressure of the naginata wouldn't be his undoing, Alex bolted forth along the titan's arm at mach speed.
The naginata scraped up the arm in pursuit but could only keep up via the merits of its size more than its speed. Alex quickly scaled up the shoulder and backflipped over his pursuer, his gaze locked onto the other weapon that was slowly sliding back into the grip of its hand.
He flashed a smirk and charged down near the wrist the wobbly naginata was in, slamming it with a furious burning punch. The wrist was forced open just enough that all it took was a single punch for Alex to send the weapon spinning through the air. It stabbed the ground hundreds of yards away and brought widespread devastation to the surrounding forest, as though it even mattered at this point.
Kokoro brought the remaining naginata down post-haste but Alex stood his ground and let the weapon smash into him. His body didn't budge from that spot but quivered like mad for a few moments. He held up against the naginata with both his hands and pressed to overwhelm its strength. When he felt it was growing docile and weak, he let go and pulled back with sword drawn.
He held it down by his left hip and swung his whole body to the right as he made his attack. The first blow made barely visible cracks appear along the staff, which grew upon the second strike hitting them. The third blow chipped large chunks of it off, and with one final slash that left a glint of red across the sky he sliced the blade off from the rest of the staff.
He quickly rose and delivered a spin kick to the broken bottom, firing it towards Kokoro's chest. She blocked the blade with the back of the titan's left hand and threw it skyward, then began firing tons of beams in multiple directions. Alex sped towards the broken blade and was scraped by the beams, feeling burning pain on top of whatever emotion Kokoro dared to inflict upon him.
Yet he trudged on undeterred and snagged the blade in both his hands. He dragged himself straight down and used the blade to tear the titan's mask in twine and wound the goliath's chest with a splitting gash that spilled out energy in a burning flash of azure light.
The titan screeched and flailed its arms back in pain, while Kokoro grabbed onto the sides of her head and trembled. Alex flew into the gash and squeezed his hands into the center, tugging at its sides to force his way deeper inside.
Kokoro floated eerily still for quite a while as it seemed as though Alex would succeed in his task. Yet as the pieces of the titan's mask crashed to the ground, she gently closed her eyes and took in a long, deep breath. Her face was now dried of tears as a mellow wave of green spread out from her body.
Alex felt his arms caving in as the gash was pressing back together and quickly retreated back outside. He looked up and watched as the titan became fully green in seconds, with the arms that were suspended behind it spreading to both sides of its back to form a pair of wings. The Buddha's face morphed into a blank canvas covered up by a question mark, only for it to then be veiled by a mask shaped like a raccoon's face, but with its eyes squinted shut. Then the head was topped off by a hat with something resembling a peach at its rim.
Kokoro opened her now dazzling emerald eyes and held her arms out, with the titan obeying without question. It gathered energy in its palms and clapped them together with Alex near the center, letting out a silent clap that sent him tumbling hundreds of feet away in seconds.
He spread his wings and looked towards the titan, which flapped its heavy wings without making a sound, nor did it disturb its surroundings. The many masks they carried lit up and sent dazzling balls of light into the sky. The floated there, seemingly without cause to attack, until Alex suddenly found one speeding past his body faster than the speed of light.
His body felt weakened, yet without the pain that came with it. He grit his teeth and sped towards the titan post-haste, aiming to breech the weakened chest. He evaded the orbs flung in his way with narrow timing and rammed his burning fists into the spot he penetrated before. Try as he might though, his knuckles grinded against an impenetrable wall.
He drew his sword and buried the tip into the chest, using both his hands for better leverage. The blade slipped out and he nearly fumbled it trying to retreat from the descending orbs. He swung his blade aside and cut more of those orbs down, surrounding himself in a flurry of slashes so fast that none could perceive his arms.
So focused he was, that he missed the glint of light radiating off the titan's wrists. Many beams shot off from them in a radial pattern and spun around atop her palm, intertwining on occasion. Alex was swept up by a couple of them before realizing they were there, upon which he quickly flew back out of their range.
This put him at the mercy of the endless orbs, but he continued to cut away at them while building up energy for a large flaming slash that burnt past the lasers and struck the titan in the chest. It stirred ever slightly in annoyance as it twisted its wrists and spread its payload of beams across the sky.
Alex reached into his pocket and used the Gaia Temporis to stop time and create an opening between the beams. He sped towards the titans' chest as time resumed and impaled his blade into it. He managed to get just a little bit deeper in and tugged up with all his might.
His body's flames burst off as he ripped a scar into the creature's frame all the way up to the bottom of its chin, but tragically it was nowhere near big enough for him to have any hope of breaking through with his hands. He snarled his teeth together and used the Gaia Temporis against to get away before the beams locked back onto his location.
Kokoro squeezed her hands shut and the light quietly disappeared into her fists. The wisps of emotions unleashed from her wings whittled down, and from her hands she drew blades of pure, mint-green light. With greater ease than her prior weapons she swung one blade above her head and brought it down. A gentle breeze kicked up as a wave taller than a skyscraper glided along the ground towards Alex.
He zipped to the right of it and drew his blade as the second wave came crashing down immediately after. He swung at the wave with all his might but found the dull edge of his blade rammed into his chest as his whole body was dragged back until the titan looked just as tall as him.
He mustered the strength to prevail and cut through the energy wave, but was panting many a tired gasp afterwards. He clutched his mouth shut and breathed out his nose, squeezing tightly around his blade before beginning a valiant charge back at the titan.
Kokoro continued to swing the blades in various directions with such fluid ease of movement that it was almost like she was wielding giant feathers. Each attack refused to make a sound and was filled with warmth, similar to a spring breeze.
Yet whenever Alex failed to cut or evade them, he felt weaker. It wasn't as though he was getting hurt. Rather, his will to fight was being peeled away bit by tiny bit. He trembled as he forced his heart to race and dragged his body through the sky towards a fight it was losing the desire to want.
But his mind refused to yield to this mysterious power. It raged like an inferno, wishing nothing more than to clear this obstacle from his path. It was also burdened with a weariness from this constant fighting, and wished these humans and Youkai would stop throwing themselves in this way.
Yet on top of this already volatile cocktail of emotions was an eagerness to see this battle end, because when it was through Yukari would have no more cards to play. She could no longer run or hide. She'd surely have to face him at long last.
And that emotion was the strongest of them all. Its invisible grasp pulled his mouth to the sides in a wide, toothy grin as he widened his eyes and kicked up the pace to double, no, triple his speed! He bolted straight forth like an arrow and punctured the attacks Kokoro shot forth, eliminating their irritating hold on him as he rammed into the titan's chest not a moment after.
The whole heaving creature was made to lean back, its arms thrown towards the sky as it let out a quiet howl of pain. Alex hammered his fists into the creature's chest wearing that same grin he assailed it with, and quickly chipped away at its skin. The flurry of strikes kept the titan from rising up, and it seemed that Kokoro could not help it along no matter how hard it tried.
Down in the village, everyone watched on as she fought as their last line of defense against their imminent destruction. They were dead silent, their eyes no more full of life than that of a fresh corpse. They squirmed at the sight of their protector standing helpless against his undying wrath.
But after watching their aimless gazes for so long without a word, Tenshi fought past the excrutiating pain inflicted upon her face and coughed loudly throughout the crowd, "What ya'll standing around for dumbasses?!"
She spit up a good amount of blood and weakly raised a hand towards Kokoro as the crowd shifted their gaze upon her, "S-She needs help...?!"
"But what can we do...?!" A voice meekly yelled from a distance.
Tenshi barely had the strength to slap her forehead, but did so with the force of a hammer as she grunted angrily at everyone, "Look I don't fully get it myself...B-But I'm pretty certain Kokoro's pretty much a goddess right now! So...do what you do with other goddesses and give 'er your faith!"
They all widened their eyes and were struck with the same feeling over how obvious this should have been to them. Akyuu led the efforts by slamming her palms together and squeezing her eyes shut, working her brain into overdrive to deliver her prayers towards the sky.
"Please...save us all!" She begged with all her heart. Everyone else began to follow her example and closed their hearts to pain and suffering, replacing these feelings with a pure, unbridled hope.
Alex was making leeway on breaking through to Kokoro's location. With a few more punches he found himself a couple feet away from ripping the menreiki free from her shell. But then his fists smashed upon energy he could have sworn he'd already broke through, and he found that he was only getting further away, not closer.
"What's going on...?!" He cried out as he was flung out of the titan's chest, which rose back to full height with its body radiating with an intense, wavy aura. Its power pulsated like a mirage and reached for the skies. For the briefest of moments, Gensokyo was saved from the horrors of its demise, as the scars across the barrier crawled away from the center like a group of snails.
Kokoro opened her eyes wide and her heart felt heavy for reasons she could not describe. It was such a wonderful, overwhelming feeling of joy that brought her eyes to tear up once more. Yet there was something sorrowful mixed in, and she could feel a single life lose draw its last breath.
But that person, having performed the single most selfless act in her entire life, fell to the ground with a wide, satisfied grin. Kokoro's eyes trembled and she squeezed her fists tight. Her whole titanic shell lit up to cover all of Gensokyo in a flash of blinding light, then gathered all that energy into its fists and swung them high above.
Alex widened his eyes as the fists came crashing down upon him faster than he could blink. He was hammered into the ground and as the fists rose right back up he bounced up slightly with his body lurched back and blood spilling from a cough he produced on reflex.
He bit his teeth, the blood trickling between his gums as he exploded with raw energy and rammed himself up into the fists. He battered them multiple times to force them up, spreading burning, widespread devastation throughout the forest until entire trees were deprived their leaves.
After getting in range of Kokoro's chest he smashed his fists up in an uppercut to repel her arms and then charged straight at her. She widened her eyes and summoned all the energy she needed in a second to hold him off with a beam as big as her.
Alex pounded both his fists together into the center of the beam and knocked it to the ground, only for her to fire another off and drag him yards away. She followed up by firing a series of orbs from her wings and tossing them into his body.
A few met their mark before he drew his sword. The attacks were stronger than before, forcing his heart into a more docile state of mind. He grit his teeth and lashed out at the orbs with all his might while advancing closer to the chest. Kokoro kept her beam up, concentrating on him and nothing else.
He leapt over the beam and dove straight for her chest, impaling his blade into the thick energy comprising the skin. But a geyser of energy gushed out and swept him away, like he had just popped a balloon filled with water. The energy was full of the people's hopes and dreams, their intense faith scouring the gristled rage off Alex's heart for a few brief moments and reminding him of what he once had.
Yet the longing for what used to be and what could have been only made him angrier towards Yukari, who robbed him of his possibilities for the future. He grabbed his sword in both hands and flung himself towards the titan roaring at the top of his lungs.
He stabbed his blade into the geyser and quickly slashed upward, divert the energy's flow straight up the chest and across the titan's face. The mask split down the middle and slowly fell apart. Alex dug his sword in deeper until the whole thing was wedged into the titan's skin, forcing flames deep within to attack Kokoro.
As she was roasted alive by those flames she wore a terrifying scowl and squeezed her fists tight. The titan's broken mask crashed to the ground, revealing her own face behind it. The hat burned off, and the flames covered the front of her face to transform into a wolf's mask.
"RAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!" She let out a blood-curling scream as red energy shot forth from her body and overloaded the titan, causing it to generate its own heat that left Alex in a sweat as he was forcefully thrown back.
He dropped atop on of the still standing trees and was dwarved under the shadow of the raging titan, whose "wings" parted into a set of nine tails that each wielded their own trio of naginatas. The titans hands grew sharps claws, and hunched over like a beast on the hunt. The skies of Gensokyo roared with thunder, and clapped to the beat of its own drum.
"You'll pay...YOU'LL PAY!" Kokoro's voice was more god than Youkai at this point. Her rage shook the heavens of this dying world, and left the ground splitting open and spewing fire into the air.
Alex swung his sword to his hip and faced the goliath without a hint of fear in his eyes. His body burned bright with fire as he leapt towards the monstrosity, unbridled in his determination. The titan madly swung its claws at him, ripping and tearing through the sky like paper as lightning crashed down around it.
Alex paused for milliseconds at a time and sped between the gnashing claws. He got closer and closer, believing that this rage would have weakened the titan's defenses. But then the claws bridged together before its chest and pulled apart, throwing him far back with its burning hot pressure.
Alex swung his wings back and charged again. This time one of the tails stirred and stabbed its naginatas down where he was. He flung back and kept his distance as the naginatas sent waves of energy across the ground upon impalement. Waiting for his chance to strike he cut along the sides of the energy to build up heat, then slashed out with all his might, cutting through all the weapons' staffs along with the tail that twisted around it.
The beast dragged its tail back with a screech and slowly reformed it to full size. It drove more of its tails into the ground and riddled the grounds of Gensokyo with its energy. Alex tried as he could to avoid them, but they were so big, so numerous, it was factually impossible to do so.
But he just kept coming back for more. He cut the tails off with his blade and looked no worse for the wear. His body was sore, but he denied all the pain. His heart was ready to burst, so he forced it to stay together.
It should have been obvious to the survivors from the start that this was no longer the Gensokyo they knew. It was now a battlefield for these two rage-filled juggernauts, whose tireless war was waged without an end in sight.
Was this really the end that was desired? Was this world always meant to end this way? How could fortune be so unfavorably to these folks who only wished to live and survive day by day? Cruelty comes in many forms, but this may perhaps be one of the worst ways it has chosen to manifest itself.
Alex threw his hands back and charged flames that grew to be twice as large as his body, and fired out a massive beam that covered the titan's whole body. The beast used all nine of its tails to cut the flames down to trite embers and then let out a roar.
Alex bit his teeth down and reached his arms towards the heavens, dragging the lightning down at the monster's sides. He clapped his hands together and forced the lightning to meet together, creating a gigaton lightning bolt that covered the entire surface of Gensokyo with prickling static.
But the titan stood tall, using its tails to absorb the lightning into its naginatas. It threw them into the sky, where they crashed down in a single line in Alex's general direction. He was caught up in their descent and pinned to the ground, where the lightning burst into the sky and the naginatas faded to dust.
Alex coughed and wheezed as he dug his hands into the ground and pulled himself back up, his arms swaying around as he panted and firmed his glare towards the towering titan. He squeezed his hands tight and ripped the ashen trees from the ground, throwing hundreds of them all at once into the beast's body.
They crumbled to splinters as they grinded up against the titan's skin, then became wooden dust in the wind as he pressed them further down. Alex threw a massive fireball over his head and ignited all the dust, consuming the titan in flames once more.
It wreathed itself in those flames and let out a melacholic howl as it reached out and plucked Alex out of the sky. He pushed out with all his might as the claw raised him up high and smashed him flat upon the ground. It then dragged its claws back, preparing to scrape him along the way.
Alex reached into his pocket and used the Gaia Temporis to stop time right as the claw rubbed up against the back of his skull. He flew high above and resumed time the second he dove straight at the titan's chest. He threw a right hook, then a left hook, then pounded away one punch at a time.
Every punch he heaved. Every time he pulled back he felt his lungs ready to cave in. He was physically and mentally exhausted, but somehow was able to keep striking with all his might. His knuckles were bleeding profusely and the skin peeled down to the bare bone. He saw Kokoro's crimson, rage-filled eyes gleaming at him through the beast's thick skin and found himself getting angrier at their sight.
"I won't die...I WON'T DIE!" He screamed raspily into the night as visions of the one he loved burrowed into his mind, pressing him further onward.
The visions started to shrivel up and become static-y in appearance, and as a bitter quiver riled up Alex's heart he closed his eyes partway and let out an anguished gasp. The titan squeezed Alex in its grasp and held it before its face, staring deep into his soul with its penetrating, lupine eyes.
Alex exploded with electricity and forced the claws aside, then rammed into the mask with a single punch. The head cracked and creaked as it turned to put its gaze level with Alex's body. He shriveled up and slowly staggered back as found himself no bigger than its pupils.
His heart raced as he knocked to the ground with a single punch, and the beast threw its naginatas to the sky once more. Alex pitifully rolled to the right while coughing up blood, his body tossed around by the shockwaves the weapons made upon the ground.
He bounced around, crashing through the few trees that remained in the forest until finally falling flat on the back in agonizing pain. He breathed heavily and gasped for air as he looked towards the sky. The cracks in the barrier were slowly turning red. The world had less than half an hour left...
And it appeared to him, that he had even less time than that. He couldn't fight rage with rage. It was like fighting fire with fire. All his attacks could do no harm because by the titan's very nature it was made of the same emotion that he was striking it with.
But he was filled with nothing but rage. Rage, and anguish. He bit his teeth and squeezed his fists while attempting to stand on his own two feet, only for his right leg to drop on its knee and his coughed up blood to splatter atop his left knee.
The titan grabbed onto him once more and this time, Alex didn't resist as the beast squeezed and dragged him towards its chest. It pushed him inside itself, where his body drifted through the thick, murky red energy until arriving at Kokoro's mercy.
The menreiki's red eyes still trembled with tears, and her lower lip was curled up ever so slightly. She raised her right hand up high, summoning a single mask into her grasp. Alex was on his knees, his arms too limp to even move. The paralyzing fear drawn out by Kokoro's rage kept him too weak to put up a fight.
He stared at her, and found this sight pitiful.
Everything was wrong. A girl like her didn't look fit to wield the power she did, nor was this rage a welcoming emotion to one so innocent of mind. But that was just the truth of the world now. Everything was wrong. Gensokyo had been transformed from paradise into an inhospitable Hell...And he knew that he was partially to blame for this.
Driven by a lust for revenge, Kokoro tightly wrapped her fingers around that mask and forced it onto Alex's face while screaming, "THIS IS FOR MOM!"
The mask shattered and its energy was absorbed into Alex's body, making it shake and quiver like mad. She summoned another mask in her other hand and did the exact same thing as before, "THIS IS FOR DAD!"
Alex's heart sank to his stomach as the menreiki went on to force two more masks upon him in quick succession, "THIS IS FOR TENSHI...AND MAMIZOU...!"
When finally, she raised her hand up high and tightly wove her fingers around one final mask, bitterly ramming it into Alex's head and nearly breaking his neck in the process, "YOU...WILL FEEL THE PAIN...OF EVERYONE YOU HURT...EVERYONE YOU KILLED!"
As that final mask broke, Alex's head sagged to his chest and Kokoro squeezed her fist up against the front of his face before slowly drawing it back, trembling from head-to-toe.
"But you...you don't feel anything...You're just a horrible! Heartless! MONSTER!" She grabbed onto his neck and forced his head up, only to be stunned by the tears that came flooding out of his blank eyes.
"...N-No..." She didn't want to believe it. She threw her hand away from his body and swung her fists down, stamping the ground, "No no no! You're lying...! You don't feel anything! How could you possibly feel sorry for what you've done?!"
Alex whispered a response, "Do you think...I wanted to kill any of them?"
His body rose to its feet like a marionette as his eyes refused to close and continued to shed numerous tears, "They decided what the rules were going to be from the very start...My life...or theirs..."
"I respected some of those people I had to kill...Like your 'father'...and your 'mother'...Do you honestly...honestly think any of this was easy for me...?" He hadn't the strength to yell, even though deep down he wanted to scream.
Kokoro shook her head and continued to yell out in rage, "I DON'T BELIEVE YOU! Y-You enjoyed it...every last bit of it!"
"...Even I don't know what to believe about myself anymore...B-But...I do know one thing..."
"Ghhhkk...!" Kokoro's head lurched up, as silently Alex snuck his blade through her chest and propped his limp hand around the back of her neck, pulling her in close so he could whisper in her ear, "I can't be stopped now...If I die here, without taking Yukari with me, then everyone I killed will have died for nothing. So even if the weight of your souls is enough to drag me down to Hell, I don't care...As long as she can live the rest of her life in peace, then my existence will have had meaning."
Alex ripped the blade free from the tsukumogami's chest and felt the guilt depart from his body as he murmured, "Farewell...Hata no Kokoro..."
Kokoro's eyes remained widened in stunned silence as her body fell back, bleeding upon empty air. Alex flew out of the titanic shell as he felt the power within begin to swell. He quietly turned around and watched as, without anything to channel and control its power, the lupine titan's energy spiraled out of control.
Energy geysers erupted all across its gargantuan form, as with its last breaths the titan howled into the dark of night with nothing but remorse. Alex stared blankly down at the village, failing to notice the menreiki's blood splattered on his face.
He could only imagine how many of them cowered to the ground, trembling with a paralyzing regret as the titan exploded, vaporizing the entire village and leaving behind a crater that burrowed into the bottom of Gensokyo, where only the starry void of space resided...
Alex lowered his sword and dispelled it, then closed his eyes and swerved away. Leaving this wasteland of a world at his back, he descended for the final location with any speck of life remaining...The Hakurei Shrine.
Population of Gensokyo:
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