GENSOKYOBOUND

by SKOOLATOON

Hikari Hakurei is Reimu's own daughter of eighteen years. Her quiet demeanor's brought by social inexperience and natural introversion. Night of Gensokyian New Year party, Hikari wakes to a strange meteorite falling from the sky. While many of Gensokyo's finest are in drunken comas in the shrine, Hikari takes it upon herself to investigate. It'd be a long time before she gets home.

32. H,,,A,,,K,,,U,,,R,,,E,,,I

Marching out of the tunnel, the party found themselves able to progress down the lower plain, as it was now free of enemies… for the time being.

'It can't get any harder than that…' Hikari unintentionally lampshaded that things were going to get harder.

"Like... was that our boss fight? Can we go home now?" Grumbling, Osamu folded his arms. "I mean, that looked like a Giygas…"

Rolling her eyes, Marigold turned to him. "Oh, hush. I got struck by lightning, twice. That doesn't even include the one that my shield stopped… and thanks for the shield, by the way."

"Yeah, well- you're welcome- but I, got thrown around... a bit." His sentence fell apart due to how it was awkwardly structured. "I mean, it hit me once!"

"Ahead." Pointing her mace, Hiyori focused everyone's attention on the oncoming enemies.

In the foggy distance, the party could see the form of large, round robots. White lights attached to their middle seams pierced the fog.

"More exploding robots…" Hikari felt reluctant, her expression falling.

"All they do is shoot lasers, right?" Marigold began sidestepping around with a raised brow in order to get a better look at the slowly approaching Nuclear Reactor Robots.

Osamu snorts. "Oh, yeah, no big deal. They just shoot fucking death lasers. Not a problem."

"Ro~uh, hyo~rr!"

Two large, cyan lights shimmered over the robots. Fog dispersed, as the form of a Wild 'N' Wooly Shambler hobbled through it, slowly following behind the surge of robots.

...Gaping, Osamu pointed at it. "Holy fuck."

The twenty foot tall robot was clad in white wool, it seemed. Two highly reflective, chrome tentacles flailed and wiggled wildly at each side of it, the huge appendages producing loud slams once they collided with the dusty hide of the shambler.

"Didn't we fight something like this before…?" Marigold squinted at the oncoming form.

"...I think?" Tilting her head, Hikari thought back…

'We fought a lot of things… but I kinda recognize the flailing tentacle arms.'

The two cyan spheres the shambler used for eyes were on a vertical alignment, encased by rounded, grey metal.

Ball-like appendages composed the legs of the creature, allowing it to hobble forward by tensing its torso and lower muscles repeatedly, lurching along. For the most part, they were covered by the creature's wool.

"That shit looks like it'd burn real easy." Turning to Hiyori, Osamu gave a not-so-subtle hint to use fire magic.

Hiyori grimaced. "If those four robots explode, we'll probably die. The fire spell's not known for precision."

'...Yeah.' Hikari eyed the robots carefully. Though they were comparatively smaller than the shambler, they were still twice as tall as the party, and at least four times as wide.

"...Shit." Osamu was stumped.

From the distance, the four Nuclear Reactor Robots fired their lasers, hardly regarding accuracy.

Vzzt! Vzz-Vzz-VzVzVzzt!

Everyone tensed up as the bright light show of amber lasers threatened to to pass over their forms-

"A-aah!" Crumpling onto one knee, Marigold clutched her side, wounded. "I-it…"

Hikari tried Lifeup γ!

...The deep, gushing gash in Marigold's side quickly began to close. "Ow- ow ow ow…!" Marigold took her hand from the wound, having noted the the hand was further into herself than she realized…

Wincing, Hikari felt her own side. 'That… had to hurt. A lot.'

...Once the wound was healed, Marigold's arms shakily wiped water from her eyes. "O-ooh…"

"Damn. You alright?" Osamu awkwardly turned to her.

"Ye-yeah…" She gave a half smile. "Kinda."

Fwam! Fwam!

Two immense, cobalt lasers traveled along either side of the party, leaving a trail of ice in their wake.

"Ah…!" Hikari backed up, getting closer to the other party members and away from the path of ice.

"Fuck me…!" Osamu stumbled back, observing the sharp icicles that stood on either side.

...Marigold glanced at him. "I'd rather not."

...Furrowing his brows and grinning, he turned to her, searching for a response.

'What should I do…?' Hikari pensively examined the oncoming front of enemies…

Osamu tried PSI Shield Ω!

The party was protected by the psychic power shield!

"There." He clapped his hands. "No more stupid laser bullshit."

"Roaa~h! Hohohoa~!"

In the air over the robots, a pair of purple eyes and a jagged crimson mouth formed in the air, slowly encroaching upon the party. "Ebajebajoka~h!"

'What…!?' Furrowing her brows, Hikari considered retreating towards the tunnel, again. 'So many enemies…'

The creature's eyes and mouth seemed almost two dimensional, more reminiscent of floating tears in reality rather than anything else. Inside each was whirling, moving patterns of colors.

"Fucking…!" Osamu grinned up at it. "It's a purple people eater!"

"Back into the tunnel, again…?" Expression dry, Marigold contemplated retreat, again.

...Hikari was reluctant, however. "We'll do that if they get too close, or if we get too beat up. We have to move forward, after all…"

'I don't know if there are just infinite enemies passing towards us or what… but I think we should keep pressing forward.'

"Hahahoo~!" The floating demon face laughed, before yellow arrows shot from its eyes, in a direct line towards Hiyori.

Hiyori guarded.

The attack didn't collide with her, instead colliding with her shield. Once it did, her shield flickered out, the electric arrows instead harmlessly colliding with Hiyori's kimono.

Eyes widening, Marigold noticed a similarity. "Those are shield killer arrows!"

'Oh, good.'

"Shit." Osamu wiggled his fingers. "Well, that thing ain't gonna be shield killin' for long!"

Osamu tried PK Freeze γ!

KaKaKa~...

A snowflake shaped pattern of icicles began generating within the odd face's two-dimensional plane, as if attacking its existence. It didn't react to the freezing and thawing procedure it did.

Boom!

The final blast of icy air didn't seem to do anything.

"...Did… that work?" Tilting his head, Osamu was unsure.

The face's eyes flashed a bright pink and cyan repeatedly.

Squatter Demon tried Hypnosis α!

Energy rippled around Osamu… "Wo-woah…"

...Then, he fell backwards onto his butt, falling asleep.

Hikari snorted. 'Wow.'

Double-taking, Marigold began searching for her Charm of Sleep. "Here…" Taking it in one hand, she chucked it at him. "Wake up, you lazy bum."

It bounced off his face. Moments later, his eyes fluttered open…

Vzzt! Vzz-Vzz-VzVzVzzt!

A better aimed barrage of lasers passed towards the party.

Marigold's pupils contracted, a thinner laser passing right by her face. "O-oh, my…!"

Hiyori was hit by one dead-on in the center of her chest. "Ouh…!?"

As a beam passed through Hikari's shield, she noted that it got a lot thinner once it made contact with the shield's surface.

One of the last lasers clipped Osamu's butt, waking him up. "Holy fuck! M-my ass! It roasted my ass!"

...Moments later, the psychic shields around everyone except Hiyori retaliated. Tracing beams of cobalt energy rushed forth to uselessly dent the broad flanks of the Nuclear Reactor Robots.

Cli-clink-clang, clonk

Then, the Wild 'n' Wooly Shambler's two large beams began.

Fwam! Fwam!

Cyan-tinted beams crept across the floor to the party.

"Move!" Hikari threw herself between the beams, sliding across the oddly textureless floor on her stomach. "Oof…"

The beams passed right behind her-

"Aaauugh!" Osamu roared.

"Wa-wha~!?" Marigold made awkward noises.

'Oh, boy…'

Turning around, Hikari observed the state of the party…

Osamu had an ice spike inside of him. "Ackh..." Blood leaked down the white crystal in streams.

Marigold was half-frozen, staring at Hikari. "...He-help."

Lurching over to Osamu, Hiyori attacked the ice pillar holding him with a very delayed swing.

Cra~ck! The icicle shattered, the chunks breaking away and leaving a gaping hole in Osamu's chest.

"Huu~...!?" Osamu took an empty breath, his eyes fluttering…

Hikari tried Lifeup γ!

...As he crumpled to the floor, the wound rapidly began to close. Even so, he managed to slip into unconsciousness before it was fully healed.

Hiyori tried Healing γ!

...Marigold shook the ice from herself, breaking from the chunks that formed on her. "Th-thanks…"

...Bringing up her heavy bazooka, she aimed it at the face of the wooly shambler, and fired.

Fwoo~sh! The amber rocket's glow was a stark contrast to the white and grey expanse that the party began to tire of.

Boom!

"Hyoo~rk!?" The shambler lurched to the side, its cobalt orbs flickering malevolently as gold flames washed over them. It wasn't pleased with being shot in the eyes.

The Squatter Demon opened its maw, and progressed towards the party. "Ehehehe-" SnapSnapSnapSnapSnap!

Rapidly accelerating with its mouth quietly but audibly snapping, Marigold stumbled back, trying to keep back from it. "Ahah- no no no…!"

Hikari moved to try to intercept it with her gohei. Leaping, she swung-

Snap! The maw came down on half of Hikari. Instead of bisecting her, though, it was more like the creature faded once it bit her.

"Aaa-aaaa~h!" Arching back, Hikari felt holes open on her body where the jagged tips struck.

"Hi-Hikari!?" With gritted teeth, and blood flowing from the previously made laser hole in her torso, Hiyori turned her attention to the miko.

Hiyori tried Lifeup γ!

...The holes on Hikari's body began to heal. However, she was still in great pain. "Ow- ow, ow…" Kneeling, she held her limbs, searching for whatever hurt, only to find everything aching.

"Are you okay…?" Marigold stumbled up to her, expression worn.

"A-ah…" Hikari turned to her… before she threw up. "Bwaa~h!"

"Hi-Hikari!?" Stepping back, Marigold's eyes widened. "Are you okay!?"

'Pro-probably not…!'

Holes began to open on her skin, again. "Aa-aah- my- my…" Panic crept into Hikari, seeing her skin begin to disintegrate. 'Th-that's…!'

Hiyori tried Lifeup γ!

...The bloody holes began to close up, keeping Hikari's skin intact. "Ss~h…" She hissed between bared teeth.

'St-stop…' She felt the process slowly begin to repeat itself. 'It burns…'

Vzzt! Vzzt!

A lesser barrage of lasers began passing over the party again, quickly encroaching upon Hikari.

One passed through Marigold's thigh, the effect lessened by her psychic shield. "Ach… u-ugh…"

Reaching into her backpack, she took out the Neutralizer…

Wild 'n' Wooly Shambler tried PK Flash ß!

Blinking, Marigold noticed her glasses dim to block out the flash. "Oh…?"

"Wo-woah…" A strange sensation washed over Hiyori…

Hikari was unaffected, but still crippled with pain, at the moment. "He-help! Help me!"

Looking through blurry lenses, Marigold pressed the padded button atop the Neutralizer. Then-

A pale blue flash came from the device.

The party's psychic shields were gone!

Hikari's skin stopped tearing itself a new one. "...A-ah…"

The Squatter Demon froze in place, for a moment. "Echk!?" Its inner patterns of color froze with it.

All the beams that were currently active were forcibly shut off.

…For a moment, the battle had come to a complete halt.

'Oh?' The powerful poison that was affecting Hikari's skin stopped acting. 'Thank goodness…'

Fwam! Fwam!

Two more icy beams came from the Wild 'n' Wooly Shambler.

Marigold grunted. "Really…" She pressed the button on the neutralizer, again.

After it flashed, the cobalt beams were now gone.

...Again, the battle was still.

"Hey…" Hiyori put a hand on Marigold's shoulder-

"Eep!?" Marigold mashed the button, making another pale blue flash.

The oni snorted. "...Sorry. Actually…" Turning to Osamu, Hiyori saw the Charm of Sleep lying uselessly next to him. Moving over to it, she picked it up and pressed it to his face.

…After a few moments, Osamu finally woke up. "U~gh… what the fuck happened…?"

Hikari slowly sat up, her body aching all over. "...A-a lot."

...Looking up at the Squatter Demon, Hiyori considered her options.

Marigold rifled through her backpack, her arm searching through the weapons. Noticing Hiyori's contemplation, she spoke. "Ju-just burn it. With fire."

...She shrugged in response.

Hiyori tried PK Fire γ!

Krack! A surge of red immediately homed in on the Squatter Demon-

Boom! Then, there was a huge blast of fire in the sky where it hung, lighting up the entire foggy clearing.

Quickly, the blast fizzled out. On the other side, the monster's face remained. It was now much more sad, and its features hung awkwardly as it seemed to burn two-dimensionally.

Staring up at it, Hikari had a brow raised. '...So it doesn't like fire, I take it. It looks so weird… what is that thing?'

"Eu~gh…" The floating face began to curl up and blacken, its flat, paper-thin features crinkling like actual burning paper. "Eachabaa~..."

Marigold aimed her bazooka at it, and fired.

Fwoosh! The amber projectile soared for it-

Boom!

The form of the Squatter Demon was no more, its form ripping into multiple particles of purple energy. In the air, they crackled and popped, exploding into purple shards that rained to the ground below. The being had become a gravel of dark shards.

As they clinked against the textureless floor, Hikari's posture slowly slipped. 'That noise is so weird…!'

...She also began rubbing her neck. "Hn~h…"

'My joints hurt…'

Vzzt! Vzz-Vzz-VzVzVzzt!

Once more, everyone was surrounded with a hailstorm of laser death.

Hiyori was pierced, again. "Gugh- hhk…!?" This time, she found it hard to breath. "He-hak…"

"Oh, fuck, no!" Frightened, Osamu leapt into the air, and flailed his legs, trying to avoid a nearby laser. "Shit, shit, shit!"

Osamu tried PSI Shield Ω!

The party was protected by the transparent blue psychic power shields!

Sighing, Hikari opened her mouth, only for a laser to pass over her legs, scalding them as their power was syphoned by the shield. "Ha-hah!?"

Hiyori dropped to her knees, her kimono's front stained red with blood. Marigold noticed, and called for heals. "Hi-Hikari! Hiyori!"

Tensing, Hikari turned to her, then to Hiyori.

'A-ah! Hiyori!'

Hikari tried Lifeup Ω!

Within moments, the entire party began to feel better.

'...Wo-wow…' Hikari felt her head begin to grow light. 'I-I really used up that much mana…?'

By now, the party's space was being encroached upon by the four Nuclear Reactor Robots. The form of the Wild 'N' Wooly Shambler was also very close, too.

"Hyork, hyork, hyornk!" Rocking as it produced its noises, it fired two more beams.

Fwam! Fwam!

Marigold was caught dead-center in it, promptly frozen solid.

Hiyori shut her eyes, the beam washing over her. The bow on her horn glowed a bright teal, the item reducing the frost's elemental effects and rendering her only partially chilled.

"Alright…" Putting away her bazooka, Marigold pulled out her big freakin' gun. "I'm gonna go around the side. I'm not sure if you guys wanna attack the eyes of this thing, or what... "

Pulling one of the potions that Hiyori gave her from her pocket, Hikari popped it open and chugged. 'Mmm~... this tastes terrible.'

Moving forward, Marigold weaved past the clunky nuclear robots, moving to get to the side of the oversized shambler. The robots only very subtly acknowledged her presence, the few she passed by slowly rotating in an attempt to face their viewports towards her, again.

Osamu ran along with her, intent on weaving out of the way of damage. "I'm comin' with ya!"

...Hikari looked up at the shambler's cobalt 'eyes'. 'How am I supposed to do anything about those? Unless I use my big attack, but…' She eyed the exploding robots. 'Ugh. Strategy…'

Hiyori tried PK Thunder γ!

Thwa~sh!

Clo~ng. One of the robots turning towards Marigold was struck.

Thwa~sh!

Clo~ng. Another robot, this one facing Hikari and Hiyori, was struck.

Thwa~sh!

The lightning struck Marigold, whose ring flashed upon impact. Her form lightly glowed, for a moment. "O-oh…?"

"Wo-woah!" Osamu leaps back. "Holy shit! You, uh…?"

...Turning to him, Marigold shrugged. "I don't know what just happened, but it felt good." Her form was almost completely unchanged, if a little less scuffed than before.

Expression dry, Hikari turned to Hiyori. "...I thought the idea was to not hit the exploding robots."

Nodding, Hiyori pointed at them. "Look."

Vzzt! Vzz-Vzzt!

The robots who were injured took time to drip that healing liquid on themselves, whereas the few uninjured continued to fire at the party, this time largely unsuccessfully.

"...Huh." Hikari couldn't deny the effectiveness of that strategy. "Keeps them from attacking…"

"Mmm." Hiyori looks up at the cobalt eyes of the shambler. They began to glow. "Hikari, move!"

Hikari froze. "Wh-what?"

Fwam! Fwam!

Hikari froze, this time literally.

…

She was still conscious, though, staring at Hiyori from inside her icy prison.

'U~h… huh.' She surprisingly didn't feel cold, at the moment.

Hiyori said something that she couldn't hear.

Hiyori tried Healing ß!

...The ice cracked open, allowing Hikari to smoothly break from it.

"A-ah!" She hugged herself. "Co-cold…!"

Hiyori moved up to her side. "I have an idea…"

...Curious, Hikari continued to shiver. "Wha-wh-what?"

From there, Hiyori proposed her crazy plan. "What if I threw you up there?"

…

'That…' Hikari considered it. 'That might work. Infact, I think I like it. I suggested something similar awhile ago, I think...'

Smiling, Hikari nodded. "Yeah. As long as, uh, you try to catch me, afterward. It's not like a UFO, and I have to hit those eye things. There's really nowhere to hang onto."

Confident with the terms, Hiyori grinned. "No problem."

Lowering her arm, she offered it to the miko. "Hop on."

Hikari promptly did so.

...Backing up, Hiyori reeled her arm back, and looked up at the tall, wooly shambler.

Wild 'n' Wooly Shambler tried PSI Shield ß!

It was protected by a psychic power shield!

"Woa~h!" Marigold leapt back from the newly formed shield's exterior. "So big…!"

Chuckling incredulously, Osamu backed up, as well. "Jeez, dude. Y'got a big enough shield, there?"

Hiyori swung her arm. "Hra~h!"

Hikari flew towards the face of the huge shambler. 'Woah!'

Her speed slowed as she neared it, and gravity kicked in. She managed to get within striking distance of the eyes-

Clink. Her sandals loudly landed on the metal interior of the large socket that held both crystal eyes.

'I have to be fast about this…'

From there, she started striking the lower orb with her Jet Black Gohei.

Thwa-thwack! She spun around on her heel to induce two strikes in rapid succession, the orb shaking as darkness from the gohei spread into the air with each strike.

"Ra~h!" Hikari did a small leap, to accent her finishing blow.

SMAAAA~SH!

The orb glimmered as it shook violently, out of sync with the top orb this time.

The hair on the back of Hikari's neck stood up. 'I-I have to move, it's about to-'

Fwam! Fwam!

'Aaa-aaaa~h!' Hikari couldn't vocalize the sudden freezing sensation's pain, because she was frozen.

This time, she couldn't see anything. She couldn't hear anything, either.

…

…

Hiyori tried Healing γ!

The ice cracked open, allowing Hikari to push herself free. "A-ah… wo-woah…" Stumbling around, she found her balance after a few moments. Then, she sat down, hugging herself again. "So-so… cold…"

"...I didn't think it'd attack again so soon." Hiyori admitted.

'Ye-yeah…'

...Reeling her arm back, Hiyori decided to use her mace as a ranged projectile, this time. "Hra~h!"

It whirled towards the upper orb, spinning through the air.

...Eventually, it struck-

BOOM

"A-ah…" Hikari reached for her ears a few seconds too late. "...Ow~."

"Hyoo~hohoho~!" The shambler violently recoiled, stumbling about. "Hyo~ hyo~ hyork!"

The mace clattered to the floor ahead, the disorganized nuclear robots slowly rotating in place around it.

Running up to it, Hiyori grabbed it and darted back away from the robots with little trouble-

Vzzt! Vzzt!

The lasers came out too late to hit anything.

Behind the mammoth-sized creature, Marigold and Osamu strategized.

"...Do you think we can climb it?" With narrow eyes, Marigold's hopes to execute such a plan dwindled as it violently rocked back and forth.

Osamu snorted. "Yeah, no."

"Darn." ...Marigold hunched over. "It's not like I can shoot it, either… I think my bazooka's damage would just be reflected back at me."

Furrowing his brows, Osamu realized something. "Doncha have that Shield Killer thing?"

...Marigold rolled her eyes, berating herself mentally. "...Thanks."

BOOM

However, the final eye of the monstrous shambler was destroyed by another ranged strike by Hiyori's mighty mace.

"Hyo- hkh- hork- hork…" The shambler stumbled about, doing off to the side awkwardly…

...After a few moments, it went too far, and thrusted itself off the ledge. "Hyo-hyok hyok hyok!"

Its slow tilt off the edge was accented by the loud sound of cloth flapping in the air and against the interior metal of the machine, before it was fully over. Moments later, the mighty half-machine beast was gone.

…

Vzzt! Vzz-vzz-Vzzt!

"God, fucking…" Osamu almost fell out of the way of a laser. "Can we just leave these explodin' robots!? 'Cause I ain't shootin' these explodin' robots!"

"Mmm." Waiting for the other two, Marigold nodded. "I think that was Hikari's plan…"

...After a few moments, Hiyori and Hikari ran up to them.

"Let's go." Beckoning her friends to follow her, Hikari ran ahead, intent on ditching the slow robots.

"Yeah!" Osamu shot his fist into the air. "About fuckin' time!"

Everyone ran ahead into the foggy distance, leaving behind the four nuclear robots.

…

Clink. Two of the remaining robots walked into each other as they tried to turn around.

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

…

'So… much… nothing…'

Exhausted from running, some of the party caught their breath as they walked along the long, barren, grey plain.

"...This dimension fucking sucks." Osamu concludes.

Marigold was somehow not winded. "Yeah. I agree."

...He turned to her. "...How, the heck… are you not tired?"

She grinned. "I have a far lighter backpack. I'm pretty sure that last one I had made for a good endurance builder."

Hiyori was not winded, for obvious reasons. "Really?"

...Surprised by the disagreement, Marigold turned to her. "What do you mean, 'really'? The thing was almost as big as me."

"...Oh, right." Hiyori grinned sheepishly. "...I forgot, uhm… mages and humans aren't that physically fit."

...Marigold shrugged. "Yeah. Come to think of it, if you hang out with a lot of youkai all the time, it would seem pretty jarring to hang out with people with human strength."

Eventually, the party came to an incline.

"Fuck greyland." Osamu protested.

...Blinking, Hikari glanced at him. "It's not that steep."

Her response only fueled his frustration. "You're not that steep."

…

Hikari snorted. 'What does that even…'

"Wo~w." Marigold chuckled. "Uh oh."

...Osamu backtracked at light speed. "Th-that just came out! I didn't mean it!"

'What?' Hikari blinked, turning to them.

...This made Marigold curious, too. "...She's not mad?"

…

Sighing, Osamu let his posture slip. "O-oh. Cool."

"What did that mean?" Hikari now really wanted to know.

"Nothing." Osamu looked away.

"He meant you had small boobs." Marigold translated.

…

"Well, they're not big." Compromisingly, Hikari nodded her head back and forth. 'But they're not small…' She looked down at them, then over at Hiyori's.

...Hiyori blinked.

The four approached the top of the incline.

"...That's true." Marigold stepped closer to Hikari. "They're pretty average."

Such a description made Hikari sheepish. "...It sounds bad when you put it that way."

"Are- are we really gonna talk about boobs?" Osamu seemed incredulous. "...'Cause I'm alright with that!"

At the top of the incline, the party saw the eight-foot tall figure of a starman.

It slowly turned around, in spite of its legs not doing anything to perform such an action. "I~... am the ultimate starman!"

…

"Can we keep talkin' about boobs?" Osamu proposed.

Casually, Marigold shook her head. "No."

"Damn it."

"And no~w…!" The starman's visor glimmered. "I shall extinguish yo~u!"

…

"Roaa~h!"

From the fog, a large, pink robot appeared.

It was long, and snake-like. The pink metal that made up its body shimmered with unnatural glitter as it opened it ferocious, neon-green maw.

Then, it bit down on the Final Starman.

Crunch!

…

Boo~m!

The party could hear the starman explode within the beast's mouth.

The Bionic Kraken swam in the air before the party, its long body curling up before them. Its neon-blue tail shimmered in the light, as its body slithered along.

"This quest's gettin' weird…!" Osamu found himself backing up, again.

Raising her heavy bazooka, Marigold lined up her shot… "That didn't occur to you a week ago…?"

She fired.

Fwoo~sh! The glowing projectile soared for the Bionic Kraken's form…

Boom!

It wiggled a little in response.

"...I don't think brute force will work." Marigold admitted outright.

Osamu tried PK Hydro γ!

A huge shuriken of water formed over the form of the Bionic Kraken, raining down water all over its form.

"...Are you trying to drown it?" Hiyori wondered aloud. "...Actually it is a robot…"

"We're gonna fry its shit!" Osamu grinned widely. "Old style!"

...Hikari furrowed her brows. 'Old style…'

Swiftly, the giant metal machine spun around in place.

Bionic Kraken tried PK Wind γ!

Immediately, a tornado began whirling where the party was.

"Wha-woah, woah, woah…!" Within moments, Hikari found herself swept into and suspended in the air. Marigold hovered next to her with her bazooka held tightly.

The dust and fog kicked up by the tornado didn't allow for anyone else to be made out easily…

Then, the kraken's head poked inside the small bubble of visibility the two girls had.

Marigold freaked out. "Ge-get away!"

Fwoo~sh! The impulsively fired shot went for the very top of its head-

Boom!

"Ree~her!" The Bionic Kraken made a whirring noise as it cringed back into the dusty wind.

Hiyori tried PK Thunder γ!

Osamu tried PK Thunder γ!

Thwa-Thwa~sh!

The thunder arced around randomly in the tornado.

'Good going, guys!' Hikari spun wildly through the air, trying to avoid the electricity. 'I-I don't know if this is even helping…!'

Thwa-Thwa~sh!

A bolt struck Marigold. She glowed a light yellow, "Ooo~..." as the electricity dissipated.

'...Um?'

"Raa~oouuh!" The kraken yelled somewhere in the air above the party.

'What's even going on!?'

...After a few moments, the tornado ended.

Thwa-Thwa~sh!

The two thunder bolts struck the sides of the battlefield, accomplishing nothing.

...Hikari fell from the air. "A-aa~h!"

Marigold looked down. "...U~gh."

They landed in moments.

Hikari chose to belly flop, while Marigold seemed to resign herself to breaking her legs.

Cr-crack!

"Ah-ahn...!" Hikari whimpered. 'M-my nose… a-and my ribs...'

"Aaaaa~h!" Marigold wailed, her legs now bent awkwardly.

Hikari tried Lifeup Ω!

...Slowly, she climbed from the floor. "Th-there…"

Marigold was crying. "A-aah… e-ehn- ow…" Slowly, her legs shifted back into correct posture. "Ow~!"

Hikari looked away. 'Woa~h, nope, nope, nope. Don't need to see that.'

...Osamu stood up from the fog, looking pissed, which wasn't entirely new. "It's fucking go time, dude!"

Osamu tried Defense Down α!

Cla~ng!

The kraken's metal creaked somewhere in the distance, away from the party.

Hiyori ran over to the two. "Get ready…!"

…

Hikari blinked. "For what…?"

The kraken shot out of the fog like an arrow, heading for the three with its forehead.

Hiyori ran towards it, and brought her mace down. "Ha~h!"

Bam! The mighty blow dented its head, and slammed it into the textureless floor. From there, the kraken retracted its head, and let its body catch up with itself, before opening its mouth.

Bionic Kraken tried PK Fire γ!

Krack! Red, hot energy began to home in on Hiyori…

She braced herself, only to recognize the spell when it was a bit late. Eyes widening, she turned to the other two girls-

Boom! Fire blossomed outward from her form, which proceeded to lick Hikari and Marigold's forms.

"Aaa-aaaa~h!" Marigold didn't like fire that much.

"Hnh…" Hikari felt herself catch. '...It's actually not that- ow ow nevermind ow!'

Osamu tried PK Hydro Ω!

...Heavy rain poured across the entire battlefield, quickly snuffing the flames out.

Hiyori turned to the burning party, and acted.

Hiyori tried Healing γ!

Hikari tried Healing γ!

...Promptly, they were both put out, left with minor burns. '...Minor because we can heal them.'

Hikari tried Lifeup α!

...Her burns healed.

Hikari tried Lifeup α!

...Marigold sighed in relief. "I was just about to ask, too. Thanks."

Osamu tried PK Thunder γ!

Thwa~sh!

"Rro~h!" The kraken recoiled from the electric shock.

Thwa~sh!

Marigold was stricken again, her wet form glowing brightly this time. "O-oo~hn…!" She moaned. Once the electricity dispersed, she had a dazed expression on her face.

Staring down at the ring, Hikari saw it flash. 'That must be attracting the bolts. It seems to make her immune to electricity, or something, too…'

Thwa~sh!

"Rra~hn!" Once again, the kraken roared in response to the abuse it received from the electricity.

It rose its tail into the air, which began shaking. After a moment, it glowed a pale blue…

The rain stopped, and all the water disappeared. The faint psychic shields that still held on around the party also vanished.

'Those drained to the point I hardly noticed them…'

...Blinking, Marigold looked around. "...Did it just neutralize everything?"

"What!?" Osamu's jaw dropped. "It got rid of my rain like fucking…" He snapped his fingers. "Like that!?"

...Marigold nodded. "Yeah."

Osamu tried Offense Up Ω!

The party felt strength well up inside them…

'Hey, now…'

Hiyori huffed with newfound power. "We~ll…"

"...Maybe that wasn't such a good idea…" Fumbling for his mana potion, Osamu sat down.

Bionic Kraken tried PK Thunder ß!

Thwa~sh!

Glowing brightly again, Marigold squirmed. "Wa-waa~h…"

Thwa~sh!

Bam!

Hikari knew pain.

==== GENSOKYOBOUND: MARIGOLD'S VIEW ====

Snapped from her electricity-induced comfort, Marigold stared at Hikari's charred from as it slowly dropped to its knees.

"Uh-uhm, Hiyori!" Marigold yelled for the other healer.

...Hiyori turned around, and realized the situation. "Ah…"

Hiyori tried Lifeup γ!

...Hikari's form improved, quickly healing back to healthier skin and hair.

'...She's still out cold, though.' Marigold stared down at her form. 'Wait…'

"Does anyone have that Charm of Sleep!?" She yelled out.

"Yo!" Osamu yelled back from across the clearing, holding it up.

Bionic Kraken tried PK Wind γ!

Like that, Marigold found herself suspended in the air again.

'Of all the rotten…' Reaching for her backpack, Marigold drew her bazooka again. Looking to her side, she saw Hikari's form limply float in the air with her, so she reached out to grab onto it.

"Hang on, Hikari…" She scanned the fog for the head of the kraken, keeping her eyes open…

Wind violently lashed around at her as she stared intently into the dusty gusts…

"Woaa~h!"

She watched Osamu soar by in the opposite direction.

"Hey!" Marigold yelled out for him, but he was already obscured by the dust and fog.

...Moments later, she saw the kraken's head creeping through the fog, not paying attention to her and Hikari.

"Now!" She fired.

Fwoo~sh! The fiercely glowing projectile went on a straight course for the metal creature's head-

Boo~m! "Reheer!" The machine whirred again, as it sunk beneath the dust.

...Then, the tornado came to an end. This time, Marigold and Hikari weren't too far from the floor.

They fell some feet, and landed loudly and awkwardly against the textureless floor.

"Ow…" Marigold winced. "That's gonna hurt in the morning…" She was on her side, Hikari sprawled out next to her, lying awkwardly on an arm.

"Aaaa~h!" Osamu dropped from way above, and Marigold looked up to see him falling.

"Ah, geez…! Hiyori!" Marigold tried to get the oni's attention.

Hiyori looked away from the kraken who had rested before her, and looked over at Marigold, then at Osamu.

...Once she assessed the situation, she began running to catch him-

The kraken whipped its tail at her, slamming it into her back.

Clang!

"Hah!?" Hiyori exhaled suddenly, being pushed closer to her destination by the attack, but otherwise not particularly harmed.

...The Bionic Kraken slowly panned its head to examine its dented tail.

Rifling through her bag for something that would help, Marigold pulled out a few miscellaneous items.

'Let's see… Shower thing, key machine… Horn thing.' She paused at the horn. '...Why do I still have this?'

Hiyori caught Osamu. He grinned. "...Fancy meetin' you here."

She promptly dropped Osamu. "Oof..."

Looking through her items, she pulls out the Shield Killer. '...Wait…'

Bionic Kraken tried PK Thunder ß!

Thwa~sh!

Hiyori lit up, briefly, before her shackle glowed to eat most of the electricity. "Hnh…"

...Marigold stared at her. 'Electricity seems to… make me feel good, for some reason.'

Thwa~sh!

The other bolt hit somewhere in the distance.

...Taking her Shield Killer, Marigold began shifting the prong, taking off the part that makes it fire the harmless electric arrows. Then, she flicked it on.

The taser produced a low hum as it lit alive.

'I… should wake up Hikari before I test that out. Don't wanna wind up in a coma just because I thought electricity healed me, or something.'

She flicked it off again.

The kraken moved towards Hiyori again, displeased with her previous resilience.

Hiyori tried PK Freeze γ!

KaKaKa~...

As the ineffectual ice spell generated around the kraken's armored exterior, Hiyori sighed, and reached for one of her canteens.

Boom! The kraken, as a whole, was unaffected.

Marigold decided to blow into the horn for funsies.

Bwoo~!

After she blew into the Horn of Life, the entire party glowed, for a moment. Then, the white glow faded.

...Hiyori drank from her canteen, downing it in a few simple gulps. "Ha~h…"

...Hikari sat up. "Hello, world."

She startled Marigold. "Wo-woah… when did you wake up?"

"Just now." Standing up, Hikari raised her gohei. "...I feel great."

...Marigold nodded. "Huh."

Cr-crack!

The horn in her hands began to crack. She gingerly looked down at it, observing it until-

Krack!

The horn become white dust, which vaporized into nothing.

"...It was such a cute little horn, too." She seemed crestfallen that it was destroyed.

The kraken lurched down to headbutt Hiyori, but she readied herself. Once it lunged forward, she brought her mace down-

Bam!

Retracting its head, exposed circuitry showed through the new hole made by Hiyori's mace.

Marigold held up the taser. Turning it to 'arse blaster', she prepared to poke herself with it. "Hikari, if this fries me, heal me."

Hikari instantly looked worried. "...What are you doing?"

Then, Marigold tazed herself.

Zazazazazap!

"Oh-oouu~h!" Shutting her eyes, Marigold let her posture relax fully. "Ye-yes...!" Her ring flashed repeatedly.

'So- so good! So goo~d!' A blissful state of relaxation washed over her body as she rubbed the taser across herself, all the normal effects of electricity nullified.

...Hikari blinked.

==== GENSOKYOBOUND: HIKARI'S VIEW ====

'Oh. Okay, then.'

...Turning away from Marigold's pleasurefest, Hikari focused on the Bionic Kraken. 'How are we gonna get this thing to turn off?'

Hiyori huffed. "Alright…"

Hiyori tried PK Starstorm α!

Bionic Kraken tried PK Fire γ!

Krack! Red energy began to form around Hiyori…

Osamu got away from it, recognizing the spell. "Woah, fuck no!"

Boom! Hiyori was once again immersed in fire, which was as ineffectual as it usually is against oni.

Then, the stars she summoned came crashing down upon the mechanical beast.

Clink-cla-clan-clank-clank! Yellow and white stars bombarded the pink armor.

It shifted to the side with a smooth sliding motion, only for the yellow stars to trace its movement, and crashed against the side of it.

The metal menace now had loose plates all along the side of it, its armor gradually coming undone as the magical energy continuously bombarded it.

Osamu tried PK Thunder ß!

Thwa~sh!

The bolt struck the Bionic Kraken-

BOOOO~

'Wo-woah! Ow, ow, ow…!' Hikari covered her ears, but it didn't help.

A huge pillar of flames stretched from the upper part of its snakelike torso into the sky, the head vaporizing in the flames after it was blown off from the electrical damage.

-OOooo~...

…

Hiyori tried Healing Ω!

Hikari's hearing came back to her. "A-ah…" She rubbed her ears, curiously.

Then, she turned to Marigold…

Zap! Za-za-zap!

"Ooo~!" Marigold smiled deviously, as she poked her upper torso with the taser. "Hehehe…"

...Hikari's stare was dry. "Hey."

"A-ah!?" Marigold jumped, blushing. "He-hey!" ...She hid the taser behind her back, and after it gave her a few zaps, she turned it off. "Eh-eheh…"

...Osamu and Hiyori walked towards them.

The kraken's body flailed about, the head having apparently been wiped from existence by the blast. After a few moments, it fell over and stopped moving, the inside revealed to be curiously hollow.

...The party stared at the smouldering, crackling remains of the Bionic Kraken.

"Thing looked like an oversized toy." Osamu strutted towards the giant metal tendril, and Marigold followed along behind him.

...He tried to place a hand on the seam where the metal was disconnected from the main body-

Zap!

"Fuck- ow…" Retracting his hand, he began sucking on the burned part. "Grr~h…"

Marigold spared him a dry glance, "Electronics do that." before she decided to step foot inside herself-

Zap, zap! Zap!

"A-aah…" She sighed. After keeping her foot down for a few moments, the metal exterior of the metal shaft ceased crackling. "...Huh."

...Reluctantly, Osamu put his hand on the seam again. He retracted it again after a light charge shocked him, but he didn't swear like a sailor from the sensation. "How the hell did you do that…?"

Smirking, Marigold held up her ring-bearing hand. "This ring's super powerful."

'...Huh.' Hikari slightly wished she didn't hand it over.

Hiyori stepped eventually moved inside the shaft-

The entire passage creaked and groaned, the spot she stepped on sinking down slightly.

"...Whoops." She proceeded further inside anyway. Her shackle glowed lightly as she progressed, the soft glow getting brighter the further she went.

...Hikari stepped inside after them, her feet slightly tingling. "Weird."

Inside, lots of smashed crates and small boxes laid around the interior, many smashed open and others bolted into place.

Marigold was unsure what she was looking at. "...Was this a cargo-carrying… hydra thing?"

"Apparently…" Osamu carefully stepped in, looking at his shoes as he experimented with the statically charged floor. "Dude had a craving for freakin' crap…"

Pushing forward, Marigold looked over the many boxes carefully. Towards the more inner ends of the kraken's body, the sheer amount of box fragments blocked the way. There was also-

"Request-Request-Requesting ba-ba-ba- Error, one-seven-nine-two~! Critical system malfunctio~n! Could not find- Could not find- Help! Request-Request-Requesting ba-ba-ba…"

The mangled form of the Final Starman sat in the back, droning on about errors and backup requests in a loop.

'I can't hear myself think…' At the same time, Hikari was impressed how well the outside of the kraken buffered noise.

...Leaning over a box, Marigold tried to bring her arms around it, to move it… only to find it surprisingly heavy. "Wo-woah…"

Hiyori came over and lent her a hand, smoothly ripping the box's side open.

Crack!

Loaves of bread began spilling out.

"...Why?" Hikari was mystified.

"Dude, evil robots have to eat, too." Osamu jeered. "Maybe this thing was a-"

"REQUESTING BA- Requesting ba-ba-ba-ba-ba…" The Final Starman loudly interrupted.

The entire party jumped, before turning to it.

"...O~kay." Marigold slowly turned away from it, idly moving to the side. Then, her foot hit something. "Oh? Oh, hey, there's a box, here…"

Hikari wanted a closer look. "What's in-"

"Critical system malfunctio~n!" The Final Starman interrupted loudly, again. "Requesting back- back- back- back- backbackbackbackbabababababa-aaaaaaaa~..."

The repeating word quickly devolved into a droning, constant sound.

"Wh-what the heck…!" Marigold contemplated covering her ears. "What's wrong with that thing!?"

Osamu furrowed his brows. "Fucking- here, lemme-"

"-aaaaAAAAaaaa~..." The starman's droning got louder for a moment, forcing Osamu to cut off his sentence.

"That's it!" He reached for Hiyori's mace, and tried ripping it from her hand. After a few tugs, she noticed, and decided to let go of it.

It promptly dropped to the floor, Osamu being unable to lift it. "Wo-woah!" In fact, he fell with it.

The starman slowly rose in volume naturally. "Aaaaa~aaaaa~...!"

Final Starman tried PK Starstorm Ω!

But it failed!

Boom!

The party jumped back, the being destroyed in a contained blast.

…

"Finally…" Marigold sighed. "Now we can loot in peace."

'Guess that sorted itself out…' She wasn't sure how she was going to go about trying to whack it inside this somewhat claustrophobic shaft.

Looking to the side, Hikari decided to pick at a nearby box. It was on the floor, rather regular, but had some kind of paper stuck to the top.

'It looks like a letter…' Hikari looked over it.

'Hey!

I don't know where you are… but I baked you some cookies!

I'll send them to you by snail-mail, Mari-chan!

Best of love!'

At the bottom, there were two signatures. One was in nearly illegible English, and the other was too fancy for Hikari to properly make out.

'Mari-chan?' Hikari furrowed her brows. '...This might be addressed to someone I know.'

"Oh, he~y…!" Marigold lifted something from the box she opened up. "...A box full of… logs. Wow."

"This one's full of fuckin' water." Osamu complained over his large crate, Hiyori aside it with the now broken lid. "They're all in these weird bottle things, though…"

Hiyori took a couple discreetly.

Hiyori obtained two Processed Water Bottles!

"Marigold, over here." Hikari patted the box she was looking at.

...Marigold moved over to it, and glanced over the note. "...Oh, wow. How did this get in here…?"

Moving her hand over the cardboard box, she opened the top. Inside was genuinely nothing but cookies.

...She dug through the cracked and crumbled ones on the surface and around the sides, and got to the safe ones in the center. Hikari began digging, too, munching on a few as she did so.

Then, Marigold pulled out a single, isolated packaging peanut.

She gave it a good, long stare, before grinning and shaking her head. "That fairy never ceases to confuse me…"

Osamu stood up from the floor, nearby. "Dude, I found somebody's mail."

Hikari snorted. "Whose?"

He shrugged. "Fuck if I know. Blank on the outside. Here…" He handed it off to Hiyori, before moving to look at more stuff.

Hiyori did her best to delicately open the letter, rending a very minimal amount of paper in the process as she did so. She took out the very worn piece of lined notebook paper, and skimmed it. "...Normally I wouldn't care to read these sort of things out loud, but… I don't think it matters right now."

Marigold waved it off, her mouth full of cookies as she stuffed the message from her fairy friend into her backpack for safe keeping. "Hoo ca'hs? Wuh li'... firty y'rs in th' futer…"

...Hiyori gave her a dry stare, before continuing. "...Dear… Keine."

Osamu lit up. "Oo~h! A love letter to the big bad teacher girl!"

...Handing out another dry stare, Hiyori continued. "Today this rabbit said she could fly to the village, and we might be able to… talk like this. Her name is Isaki, and she's been real good, so treat her okay, okay? If I don't hear back from you guys, I understand, paper is probably limited. That, or Isaki died."

Hikari and Marigold turned to her, focusing on the letter's contents, now.

"I just wanted to write to you and let you know I really miss talking with you. I don't have a lot else to write about. Please write back soon, Keine." Hiyori finished.

...Slowly nodding, Hikari proceeded to look for more loot. "I wonder if Keine ever got that letter."

"Considering it was in here…" Hiyori was doubtful, "I'm betting on 'no'."

Carefully, Osamu looked over a somewhat stout box he was thinking of tearing into. "Well, shit." With that, he tried to tear at it, only for a curious adhesive to get in his way. "What the hell…"

Hiyori put the letter aside gingerly, stepping towards him. "Cardboard too much for you?"

"Apparently!" He tried to claw at the tape with his short nails, which went about as well as expected. "Did they want people to just not open it!?"

Reaching for it, Hiyori grabbed onto an upper edge of the box-

Rip! Ri~p…

She pulled off the entire section of cardboard that held the strip of tape in one tug.

Osamu chuckled. "Fuck yeah…"

Now that it was open, he reached inside, finding curiously shaped objects, and a very worn piece of paper. Slowly, he lifted a large, long grey object from the box. It resembled a club, but had many metal panels and odd seams on it, the spaces between the panels dark.

"Geez, it's heavy…" He took the club thing, and handed it to Hiyori. "Yo."

She grabbed it with one hand. "...What is this?"

"A fucking super dildo." Looking back that box, he dipped into it to grab the worn letter, "We also got more mail." before shoving it into Hiyori's hands.

Hiyori backed away to let herself put the huge grey rod aside, so that she could read the letter.

"...Hey, Reimu." She began reading. "Can't stick around for long, so I'm leaving you a letter instead. I brought you some tea from the mansion, and cooked up a little something extra, I think you'll like it. Especially since skies these days are pretty… crazy." Squinting her eyes, Hiyori ad libbed the few words that were illegible, profane, or both. "By the way, you gotta fill the gohei with holy magic to turn it on, and don't get your hands caught in it, either. Love you, Marisa Kirisame."

'...I don't think Mom ever got that letter.'

...Slowly, Marigold moved over to the box herself. "...I, huh. Reimu… didn't get that, huh..." Her words came out somewhat awkwardly.

Casually, Hikari meandered towards it herself. "Gohei, huh?"

Looking inside the box, no one saw anything that really resembled a gohei.

'Where?'

"...I think it's this." Hiyori raised the large grey club-like object. "She wrote more about it, here, but I skipped over it because it was a bit long to say out loud."

Stepping over to her, Hikari took the letter to read for herself. Marigold scooted up beside her, intently reading it.

'Hey, Reimu!

Can't stick around for long, so I'm leavin ya a letter instead!

I brought ya some tea from the mansion and cooked up a lil something extra I think you'll like. Specially since the skies these days are pretty batshit.

By the way, you gotta fill the gohei with holy magic to turn it on, don't get your hands caught in it, either.

I'd like to call it the Aether Gohei! It's super heavy duty super ass kicking super machine! Basically, it's really dynamic to lettin ya do whatever ya want with it magically once its on. I tried to make it light but it was kinda hard when ya work with adamantite and all that crazy shit. It also amplifies hitting stuff so you'll love it!

Also, to work this tea set, you gotta-'

Hikari glazed over the part about the tea set, since she was pretty sure she wasn't going to use it anytime soon.

'Love you,

~~~Marisa Kirisame'

...Nodding, Hikari folded up the letter and stuffed it into her pocket. 'I'm going to assume it's the giant grey thing.'

"...Oh." Marigold was crestfallen. "So… she probably died in here, huh?" She took the letter from Hikari, looking it over fully again...

'...I didn't really think about it.' Hikari suddenly felt sad, herself. 'Marisa didn't deserve this.'

Then, she snapped back into reality, noticing Hiyori offer her the club-esque gohei with one hand. It was accepted with her two hands-

Hikari obtained Aether Gohei!

"Ah…?" Hikari nearly dropped it, before getting used to the weight. "It's heavy…" Lifting it up, she slung it over her shoulder.

Osamu grinned. "It'd probably hurt like a son of a bitch, though."

Holding the four or five foot long club outward, Hikari focused on it. '...Let's see if I can pour holy magic into it…'

Cli-Cling!

Nearly dropping it again, Hikari's arms shook as the club opened, exposing its interior. Three segments expanded outward, and inside were numerous metal crossbeams that attached the three grey outer shell parts to the interior of the gohei. However, the inside of the gohei was also bright- not so much that Hikari couldn't stare at it directly- but it glowed in a lively, uneven manner.

Electricity- or what Hikari thought was electricity- crackled from the inner depths of most of the gohei, some sparks arcing out and traveling along the external shell.

She looked at her hands, and saw that where she was holding was very padded and didn't open like the rest of the gohei for obvious reasons. The very bottom had a tiny, rounded spike on it.

'...Now it's even heavier.' Hikari held it up in a regular stance. 'I can't sling it over my shoulder… I think.'

Experimentally, Hikari slung it over her shoulder, allowing the slightly live looking shell to rest against her shoulder. She didn't get shocked, however.

'...Huh.'

Bringing it out into a normal stance again, she held it steadily. 'There's not a lot of room to swing it, in here.'

Looking over at her party members, she found them observing the massive weapon curiously.

"...That actually looks like a weapon." Osamu slowly grinned.

Hikari snorted. "Yeah. I guess so. I don't really have any room to swing it around, so I couldn't really say whether or not it felt like one."

Stepping forward and into the main aisle, Hiyori held up her mace in a blocking position with both arms. "Try swinging it at me, then."

Raising the bulky gohei, Hikari brought it down on her friend's mace-

SMAAAA~SH!

The impact caused Hiyori's arms tense, her mace shaking from the impact-

Kri~ng! The energy inside the Aether Gohei flared outward from the point of impact, traveling along the mace and into Hiyori's arms.

"Hnh…" Furrowing her brows, Hiyori found the sensation curious.

Hikari swung again with renewed vigor, finishing her combo-

SMAAAA~SH!

Hiyori slid back slightly, the shaft they were inside creaking from the force of the blow.

Kri~ng! This time, the oni was able to see some sort of blast expand with the pseudo-electrical energy.

Woosh! Wind traveled up along the gohei, and expanded to engulf Hiyori. It spun around somewhat assertively, but didn't do anything to budge Hiyori.

After having felt the impacts, Hiyori nodded approvingly. "...I'd have to say that's pretty powerful, for a weapon you'd use."

Hikari tested another short combo. She brought her gohei down again-

Cla~ng! This strike wasn't as powerful as the others, hardly requiring Hiyori to tense her arm much at all.

The miko reeled both arms back, and swung again-

SMAAAA~SH!

Once again, Hiyori found herself surprised by the force in comparison to the last swing.

Kri~ng! Energy flared out at her superficially. Wind traveled up the gohei and proceeded to lightly assault Hiyori again.

Grinning giddily, Osamu was hyped. "That's gonna fuckin' destroy 'em, dude!"

Marigold was digging through the rest of the box Marisa had constructed. "It's so loud…" Holding up some fragments of an included tea set, she half-smiled. "...Tea. Not much use, now."

Then, something inside caught her eye. "Ooh?"

Reaching into the box, she pulled out a small, transparent yellow rock, in the shape of a star, as well as two unshattered mana potions.

"...I wonder…" Taking the items, she backed away from the box.

Digging into her backpack, she pulled out her now seldom used Spectrum Shotgun, and inserted the two potions she found.

'I'll have to remember that she found those…' Hikari observed her friend's inventory management.

"Oh, thank fuck." Osamu commented on the potions. "We definitely needed those. Even if they taste like garbage."

Holding it by the barrel, she took the prism stone that was at the front, and carefully slipped it off. Then, she replaced it with the star-shaped stone.

"I'm not sure if that's how it works." She admits.

'I don't think it could hurt, at this point.'

Once she looked away from her weapon, she noticed Hikari trying to hand her the Jet Black Gohei.

The miko made a request. "Could you store this? Grandma's… persona is in it, and everything."

"Sure." Gingerly, Marigold rotated, allowing her backpack's side panel to glow. "Stick it in."

...Hikari stuck the Jet Black Gohei inside, and it was stored with the rest of Marigold's stuff.

…

With all of that said and done, the party members took a few bottles of water from inside the one crate they found.

"Water's boring." Slowly, Osamu drank his water…

"Probably better than that fizzy stuff." Hikari countered.

Crumpling up her finished bottle of water, Marigold grinned. "They're carbonated drinks, Hikari… and generally no, they're not good for you."

...Hikari decided to crumple up her empty bottle, too, even if there was no real reason to. '...Plastic is weird.'

Hiyori hadn't started her bottle of water yet.

...Marigold looked over at her. "You gonna drink that?"

...She blinked. "Oh, right." Bringing her hand up to it, she-

Crack!

-tore the cap and the attached plastic right off, drinking the water directly from the new opening. Within seconds, it was all gone. When she tried to crumple it-

Crack!

-it shattered into multiple shards of plastic, which fell to the floor.

'Pffft…'

...Amused, Marigold began to move for the exit of the Bionic Kraken. "Whatever works."

'Everything else in here is either kinda junky, or just broken. We can probably leave, now...'

Quickly, Osamu gulped down the last of his water, taking the bottle with him as he moved to follow Marigold. The other two girls followed closely behind.

…

A short distance away, Marigold reached into her backpack, and pulled the letter back out, reading it over one more time.

'Marigold...' Hikari wasn't sure what to do.

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

After they'd left the Bionic Kraken and walked for some time undisturbed, they came to an abrupt, steep rectangular wall.

'That reminds me of the walling from when this cave place was actually a cave… and a place.'

"That looks awfully familiar…" Bringing a hand to her chin, Marigold's thoughts were similar…

In the middle of the large, jagged block that stuck out of the land, was a rectangular, cave-like opening.

'Could this be one of the caves that lead out of the cave?'

"Looks like one of the ways out…" Hiyori considered.

"Oh, finally." Glad to hear that, Osamu slouched. "Aside from that room full 'a postage, this place's just been a bunch of bullshit."

The four moved for the cave opening, approaching it. Then, they entered the relatively similar darkness, which obscured the other side's presence.

Hikari passed through first, holding her gohei high.

…

On the other side, there was more darkness. The floor was uneven, and composed entirely of weird pipes. Hikari's sandals didn't clack on the beige pipes, however.

'What… what is this?'

"Where… are we?" Marigold looked around, curious herself.

Osamu froze once his eyes met the look of the place. "...What the fuck. Are we in hell?"

Hiyori snorted. "...I don't think so."

Taking his water bottle, he tossed it into the darkness off the edge of the platform. It faded into the darkness instantly, and quickly produced a very light impact sound, as if it landed on something in the darkness.

"...Woah." Marigold jerked her head back.

Carefully, Hikari reached a foot out into the darkness…

She saw it vanish completely, but upon lowing it she felt it press down against some kind of surface-

Clack.

'So there's metal off the edge, here…'

Hiyori walked forward along the pipelines that stayed lit. A few deviated off into the darkness, and some looped back around to the main path of veiny, beige pipes.

"I'm not sure how to feel about this place." Hikari decided.

Looking down at the floor again, Osamu snorted. "Yeah, you and me both. Is- is this shit skin? Just a cozy little hellhole, huh?"

The party continued forward on the veiny path. Eventually, they came to a structure very reminiscent of flesh. It was a some kind of chunk of systematically organized tendrils, all centered around a fleshy, round core with the beige tint of skin.

Just below the fleshy core was a mound of folds, where the center held a small, slit-shaped hole. It twitched and writhed sporadically.

"...What have we found?" Hikari was awed by the sheer bizzarity of the sight before them.

...After a moment of nothing, Osamu slowly grinned. "Boy, did we go way the fuck off the beaten trail-"

The pipes beneath them pulsed, causing everyone to jump.

'What…?' Hikari tensed up, expecting something to jump out at her.

The pipes continued to pulse, making their footing unsteady.

Before them, the fleshy orb shifted, and shook. As it did, the skin facing the party began to pull back, revealing an almost glass-like, foggy grey orb within it.

As the skin peeled back a little further, the orb subtly pulsed, growing a brighter tint.

An image flickered to life on the glass orb, taking the form of a woman's face.

'...Who… is that?' Hikari stared intently at the face, before she was able to make out the subtle details of a Hakurei ribbon in the depicted image, the red not translating well to the very monochrome color set.

"...I'm not sure what's going on." Marigold made her confusion known.

Fwi~sh…

Looking up at the noise, Hikari and her friends quickly backed up and away from the slowly lowering, gradually materializing object…

"Hikari! Are you surprised!?"

She blinked at the grainy voice that came from the floating craft's speakers. "Wh-what?"

As that device lowered, the four could see the chubby kid who sat inside of it. His skin was a sickly, pale, almost mint color, and his hair was darker than it used to be.

"It's me, Porky." From inside the saucer-esque craft, his chewed-up lips smiled smugly. "I assist only the strong and able. That's me, Porky."

...Osamu blinked. "Wait. This dude… Were you that runt we saw, at the temple? With the paint and shit?"

Hiyori turned to him curiously.

Marigold lit up. "Oh, yeah! You're that guy who... turned his dad into a killer cyborg. I remember now."

"...He's not remotely friendly, I take it?" Hiyori assessed.

Abruptly, Porky laughed. "Hehahaha~h! You guys look pathetic!"

"Just as much of a jerk, as you always were." Hikari got vocal. "What are you even doing here, Porky?"

"Hehehehe~..." He took a moment to giggle to himself. "...What am I doing here? Aa~h… you see, the eight purple clouds made a prediction..."

...Hikari slowly tilted her head. "The what?"

"But I won't let what she predicted take place." Porky shifted in his torn up chair, his voice slowly raising… "You will be beaten by Giygas. Giygas will be a stronger, more powerful entity than any other!"

Hiyori was very doubtful. "You're very certain of that, aren't you?"

...Seconds after her response, Porky snorted. "You wanna know why, huh?"

'I don't think that'd help, at this point…'

Spreading his lips, Porky gave a yellow-toothed smile. "'Cause of me. I was led by Giygas, and now I'm here. The eight purple clouds couldn't predict this."

Osamu rolled his eyes. "No shit."

...Slowly, he hobbled around in his craft, turning to gesture to the big fleshy orb behind him. "Master Giygas…" He awkwardly jerked his neck at a backward angle. "No… Giygas is no longer the wielder of evil. He has become the embodiment of evil itself… which he cannot control on his own. He is the evil power."

'Is that… thing Giygas?'

"Sorry, dude, but Giygas looks like a she." Osamu jeers.

"If Giygas is really so evil, that's too bad." Marigold decides to mock him, too. "We've got a miko, here."

...Slowly, Porky hobbled himself back into proper sitting posture, before staring at the party.

…

Hikari rose her big, unwieldy gohei, getting used to its weight. "What's your plan, now, Porky? You're not gonna scare us away with some melodramatic speech about how evil Giygas is."

Porky's hand shook. "...The eight purple clouds couldn't predict this."

Raising it, he slammed it down onto the inner panel of his mech.

Shink! Shink!

Two long, grey legs shot from the front of the hovercraft, causing the party to step back.

The darkness around the five began to lift, revealing the room to have a large, circular shape. Red metal composed all of the flooring not covered by tendrils, and the very edges of the arena had black and yellow caution patterns printed onto them. The tendrils stretched from the machine, up into the black, featureless sky to an undetermined extent.

"...Woa~h." Hikari was awed by the massive space.

Cli-cli-cli-clink…

The two legs began to articulate, bending and revealing the drill tips to them.

Shi-shink! Shi-shink! Shi-shink!

Six more legs shot out from the back, which also began to loudly articulate.

The party quickly fell back and got off of the pulsing segment of the floor, settling for the more stable metal…

Bam! A large patch of black and yellow metal slammed in place over the cave's exit.

"Can't you just make things easy for once, Porky…?" Hikari tiredly stared at the spider mech.

'It's admittedly menacing looking… but it's just metal. We've been beating up robots all day.'

Marigold raises her modified Spectrum Shotgun. "Time to see how this goes…"

"About time we get to kick his ass!" Osamu cracks his knuckles.

Hiyori slightly lowers her weapon as she backs up. "...Is there any way we could just talk about this?"

Porky chuckles. "Lemme thi~nk..." Looking down at his control panel, he presses a button. "No."

A latch opens on the front of the mech-

Fwoo~sh! A rocket flew out towards Hiyori.

Hiyori guarded-

Boom!

Porky laughed. "Hehahaha~h! How's it like seeing your friends die, Hikari!?"

...As the dust settled, she was revealed to be mostly just scuffled.

Porky double-took. "Wha~h!?"

Hiyori grinned. "Oni are a little tougher than that, you know."

...At that, Porky smiled. "I know. How do you think I killed so many before?"

"...What?" Hiyori rose a brow.

Porky grabbed the two control sticks of the robot.

And then-

Woosh! His device ripped through the air extraordinarily fast, Hikari's eyes widening as the device rapidly spun towards Hiyori, all drill legs extended.

Having already been blocking, Hiyori reinforced her posture-

Cla-cla-cla-cla-cla-cla-cla-cla~ng!

Hiyori was nearly pushed into the wall from the numerous, lightning-fast impacts against her mace.

The heavy machine whirred in protest as Porky forced it to leap back.

"I call this the Youkai Eradication Beam!" Porky grinned widely. "Bye bye, oni~!"

Two drill legs shifted to be above the glass dome Porky was within. Between them, a colorful ball of magical energy began to generate…

Zazazap! Immediately, electricity arced from the orb to Hiyori's figure.

Her shackle glowed, absorbing the arcing bolts.

From within the orb, three large beams spread out, all of them quickly reuniting over Hiyori's figure.

Her bow glowed as the harsh, pale ice elemental rays engulfed her completely.

"A~nd die!" Porky pressed a button.

The orb shot from between the two drill legs, which returned to their normal positions as the projectile homed in on Hiyori.

It collided with her mace-

Boom! Flames, snowflakes, and static all blossomed outward from one massive elemental blast.

"O~kay!" Osamu chuckled. "He remembered to bring weapons this time!"

...Hiyori's glowing form marched out of the blast, her clothing shimmering in the dim light of the battle arena.

"Wha~h!?" Porky was surprised for real, this time.

Abruptly, Hiyori dashed forward and leaped, intent on attacking the glass dome with her mace. "Hra~h!"

Reacting quickly, Porky tilted his machine back-

Cla~ng! Hiyori's mace bounced off of the front of the metal machine, barely denting the base of it.

"Hahahaha~h!" Porky laughed smugly as he made his machine march backwards. "Do you really think an attack like that would work against the mighty Porky!? I eat oni for breakfast!"

'...I'm not sure if he's joking.' Hikari furrowed her brows.

The form of the shrine maiden on Giygas' exposed bulb began to flicker rapidly, the form of it becoming distorted, for a moment.

A weird, comfortable sensation washed over Hikari. "U-uh... " She looked over at the flesh-covered bulb. "What's with you?"

Giygas tried PK Fantasy α!

Then, the party was bombarded by drops of technicolor energy.

Fizzle!

"Woah- Ouch! Shit!" Osamu's jaw dropped, the bright energy traveling up his form. "What the fuck!?"

Fizzle!

This process repeated itself a second time, causing the entire party to writhe in rainbow-colored agony.

"Wow- ow, ow, ow…!" Marigold stumbled about, trying to avoid as much damage as possible, and failing at it.

"Ugh…" Hiyori grunted from the sheer magical damage, even if it wasn't excessive.

Hikari saw the shrine maiden in the bulb staring at her, instead of into space.

Bwa~sh!

The final blast of psychic energy launched Hikari weakly. "Augh…!"

...Porky looked around wildly. "Wh-what the…!? What just happened!?"

Hiyori tried Shield Σ!

The party was protected by the power shields of light!

"Grr~h…" Porky banged on his console. "Whatever stupid magic you're casting, it won't work!"

Osamu cracked his knuckles. "Ya sure about that, asshole!?"

Osamu tried PK Thunder γ!

Thwa~sh!

The lightning bolt struck Giygas' orb-

Ti~ng!

The lightning bolt was gone.

Osamu jumped back, baffled. "...The fu-"

Bam!

His form suddenly flashed with electricity, catching Hikari's attention. Then, he fell over.

'Oh, good.'

Thwa~sh!

Porky's mech was struck, forcing it to jitter violently. Even so, he grinned. "...Wa-was that it?"

Hikari tried Lifeup γ!

...Osamu gradually rose his head from the floor. "Oo~h… my-my head, dude…"

Thwa~sh!

The bolt struck GIygas' orb-

Ti~ng!

"Oh, fuck…!" He panicked, quickly raising from the floor and flailing his arms.

Osamu tried PSI Shield ß!

Osamu was protected by the blue psychic power shield!

...Bam!

His form glowed softer, this time, as his shield fizzled out from the electrical energy. "...Fucking… ow."

The shield shot a beam of magical energy at the Giygas orb-

Ti~ng! It traveled straight back towards Osamu, before striking him in the gut.

"Fuua~h…!" The wind was knocked from him, and he curled up into a ball on the floor. "Hi-... Hikari~..."

'...I guess attacking Giygas isn't a good idea, right now…'

Hikari tried Lifeup ß!

...Osamu slowly got up, again. "...I-I'm comin' back…"

Marigold aimed her modified Spectrum Shotgun at Porky. "Here goes…!"

She pulled the trigger-

ChuuChuuChuu~! Her arm shot around wildly, firing three star-shaped projectiles in wild directions, which proceeded slightly home towards Porky's large mech.

"Wo-woah…!" Hardly able to control it, she held the trigger down, three more projectiles being emitted towards Porky as she steadied the gun…

The six total bullets harmlessly pattered against his mech. "...Hehehe~! What a useless-"

FwiChoo~m! A thin, yellow laser stretched out towards the mech, which made it shake on impact.

"Huwoah!" Porky rocked in his seat.

FwiChoo~m! Another thin, yellow laser was fired, accomplishing slightly less impressive results, the mech not shaking nearly as much.

...After a moment, Porky shook his head. "That's nothing!"

Shrugging, Marigold shoved the gun into her backpack. "I should've just stuck with that bazooka…"

As Porky's mech slowly treaded towards the room's bulbous centerpiece again, it turned towards the party. "A bazooka, huh!? Lemme show ya a real bazooka!"

Latches opened all over the front of the large mech.

"Oo~h, no that's okay…" Marigold started moving towards Hikari…

"Yeah dude just uh… chill out." Osamu followed in Marigold's footsteps.

FWOO~SH

From the many slots, an immense barrage of rockets emerged, well more than ten moving straight for the party. Hiyori, however, was still near the mech's side, readying to get a blow on it…

Hikari's eyes widened. "A-ah…!"

'Wh-what can I do…!?' Hikari's mind raced. She thought about everything on herself- 'my ofuda…' -when the realization came to her.

"Cautionary Barrier!" She threw her arm outward.

A square barrier was erected before her-

Boom!

The few correctly aimed rockets that hit the barrier shattered it, throwing the three back. "Enh…!"

The rest of the rockets soared into the walls behind the party.

Boo-Boo-Boom!

Porky laughed at the smoke cloud. "Hahahaha~! Yeah, yeah! Fairy Harvesting Device, go go~!"

A large panel folded open on the back of the mech as the rocket panels closed.

It emitted a sound reminiscent of a vacuum cleaner, as a vortex of wind extended out and sweeped the nearby area around his machine.

It only caught Hiyori, which did nothing because oni are significantly heavier than fairies.

...Porky scratched his head. "Aw, right. No fairies to kill in Giygas' place…"

As the smoke cleared, Hikari and her friends stood there with their weapons ready.

Porky rolled his eyes. "That's really getting old, you stupid-!"

Bam!

"Aaa~h!" Porky flailed his arms, before reaching for the controls. "Ge-get off!"

Hiyori rose her mace after a successful strike against the glass dome atop the machine. However, it only very slightly cracked as proof of her effort…

She was taken aback. "What is this made out of…?"

The meach leaped, then flipped upside-down, throwing Hiyori off of it. It then flipped again, then tried to slam down fast enough to crush her, having not anticipated that she wouldn't stuck to a directly vertical descent.

Even so, Hiyori blinked as the machine loudly landed before her. "So fast…"

Hikari felt herself relax, again…

"Ev-everybody…" She tried to warn them, her voice suddenly cracking for reasons unknown to her. "Brace yourselves…!"

The face on Giygas' bulb flickered.

Giygas tried PK Fantasy α!

Her friends didn't have time to think over her exclamation.

Fizzle!

"Aw, geez…!" Osamu tried to pull his wizard hat over his head to block the pain, which went about as well as one might expect. "Fua- aa~h…!"

Fizzle!

More technicolor particles washed across the entire party, turning them into a light show.

"Th-this is gonna suck…" Marigold was already tired of the pain.

Hikari felt herself compelled to look towards Giygas.

Giygas looked back at her through the miko projection's eyes.

Bwa~sh!

"Guh…!?" Hikari was flung into the air, again.

'Th-that stings a lot more, now…'

"Damn that attack is annoying…" Osamu grumbled.

Porky slowly marched the giant spider mech towards the party. "La~ter la~ter, alliga~tors!"

'...If you told me about this situation when I started this quest, I'd've called you insane.'

Since he was getting closer, Marigold decided to take out her big freakin' gun. "Oh, no. He's getting closer. Whatever shall I do."

This made Porky grin. "Hehehe~! Magicians are so stupid!"

Marigold couldn't keep herself from letting out a strained giggle at the reaction.

After observing the increasing proximity of the mech, Hikari turned to Osamu. "Give me a boost…"

Osamu tried Offense Up α!

...Hikari felt strength well up within herself. 'Not that kind of boost, but that works too…'

Running around the side of the device, Marigold aimed her gun. She pulled the trigger, letting the shot charge up...

Porky began turning towards her. "Magi's gonna get i~t! Magi's gonna-"

Fwam! The orb of lime-green energy drifted towards the mech…

"Woa~h!" Porky gaped. "What kinda gun is that!?"

Electricity arced from the orb, attacking the armor of the machine and making it vibrate. Once the orb got close to the cockpit window, it was slowly repelled off of it, drifting at a slow rate upward into the air. The window still jittered violently, and Porky-

"Aaa~h! Holy- woah! No no no~!"

-was freaked out by the few shocks that got inside the cockpit.

Then, the gun underwent cooldown…

It vibrated rapidly, the weapon shaking in Marigold's arms as the air before it began to pop and sizzle from the unnatural radiation…

Clink! Ka-clink-clonk.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Porky's expression flared as some of the radiation burnt through his reinforced window. "You- you idiot! You hurt me!"

He fumbled with the controls, the mech stumbling back awkwardly, before it bumped into Giygas-

Ti~ng!

-and was sent stumbling forward instead.

"Good!" Marigold shouted back. "Maybe you'll stop hurting us!"

...Porky frowned. "You deserve to die!"

Osamu chuckled incredulously. "Wo~w."

Hikari got a running start, aiding herself with the wind available, before leaping- "Huap…!"

-and, clearing the drill legs, touching down on the uneven surface of the mech.

Porky jerked his head back. "Aah! Stupid miko…!"

Hikari rose her gohei that was shaped pretty far from a gohei, and brought it down on the glass dome with a heave. "Hru~h!"

SMAAAA~SH!

A tiny crack accented her effort-

Kri~ng! Energy traveled onto the dome superficially, but it freaked Porky out anyway. "Oh my God- that's gonna destroy me!"

Bringing the heavy gohei along her side, Hikari swung wide. "Ho~h!"

SMAAAA~SH!

This crack was bigger than the other two, but still pretty insignificant.

Kri~ng! More superficial but fancy energy traveled up the dome's side. Wind also began to softly caress the sides of the mech, something that only Hikari really was able to acknowledge even happened.

'I kind of thought this was going to do a little more… but I hit really hard!' Hikari grinned.

Displeased, Porky made the mech bounce lightly-

"Woah!" Hikari slid backwards and off of it, flung by the motion.

Breaking into a grin, Porky rose the two front drills of his spider mech, preparing to perform a basic combo. "Now cry for mommy to change your band-aid diapers…!"

'My what?' Hikari would have given him a dry stare, were she not preparing for whatever potential attack he planned.

Charging towards Hikari at a faster pace, Porky had his drill appendages ready. "Hehahaha~!"

"Cautionary Barrier!" Hikari erected a barrier before herself.

The two front drills jabbed into it-

Vrr-vrr! Vrr-vrrr!

Kra~ck! Four jabs was all it took to shatter the barrier.

Hikari tried Shield ß

Hikari was protected by the power shield of light!

Porky whipped two drill arms from each side at her, one side at a time. The left side slammed into her-

Bam! "Aaagh!" Hikari was sent soaring to the floor a few feet away.

Woosh! The right side's swing hit nothing at all.

As Hikari tried to get back up, the mech spun towards her, the drills spinning wildly as it spun. "O-oh…!"

The mech slammed into her, a drill powerfully slamming into her figure and spinning.

"Gua~h!?" Hikari felt her clothes and skin rip around her stomach, as she was sent flying.

"Hikari~!" Marigold yelled for her.

...Many feet away, Hikari landed on the other side of the arena. "U-uugh-euh…o-ow..."

Hiyori tried Lifeup γ!

"...Th-there…" Slowly, Hikari began to sit back up…

A beam shot from her power shield of light, roaring after Porky's mechanical spider…

Cla~ng! It hit the base, leaving a big dent in it.

Porky's basic combo continued, following up with another spinning motion that tried very hard to close the distance between itself and Hikari, but also failing very hard to do just that.

It leaped into the air for one final attack-

Boom! Its massive form slammed down into the arena floor, releasing a shockwave that extended outwards-

"Aa~h!" Marigold was weakly flung by it. "Oof…" She landed a short distance away.

...As Hikari rose from the floor, she felt a sense of comfort wash over her…

'Oh, whelp… bottoms up.' She rolled her eyes, a glance of Giygas' form revealing that the image on the bulb was flickering.

Giygas tried PK Fantasy α!

Nobody was ever really prepared for this attack, because it just happened.

Fizzle!

"Oh, come the fuck o~ho~ho~n…" Osamu whined, kneeling from the pain.

Marigold hissed. "Hu-hurts… so-so…" She dropped to her knees, too…

Hiyori huffed. "Hoo~..."

Fizzle!

Hikari and all her party members flashed bright blue, yellow, and red colors.

'...It's not so bad after you've been healed to full.' She discovered.

Her head jerked to lock eyes with the miko depicted in Giygas' orb-o-vision.

Bwa~sh!

"Gehn…!" Hikari flew a foot into the air, before landing on her bum. "Oof…"

...Noticing her party members in a state of disrepair, she decided to help them.

Hikari tried Lifeup Ω!

...Osamu got back up, steadying himself. "Alri~ght, I'm comin' back…"

Marigold took a deep breath. "I guess this isn't gonna end until all of us've been impaled by a drill at least once."

Porky was confused. "...How're you all getting back up!? You're supposed to die, or cry! Or both!"

'...I don't think he really prepared for us, specifically.'

Aiming her heavy bazooka at the machine, Marigold fired.

Fwoo~sh! The amber projectile once again made a debut as it zoomed towards the mech-

Boom! It rocked backwards, the blast making the machine stumble.

"Wo-woah!" Porky gritted his teeth. "...Man, when I kill you, I'm gonna have a ton of new guns to play with!"

Hiyori tried PK Freeze γ!

Osamu tried PK Freeze Ω!

"Not if I set yer machine to 'freeze', dude…!" Grinning widely, Osamu snapped his fingers.

...Slouching, Marigold shook her head. "Really…"

KaKaKa~...

At first, a pattern of snowflake-shaped ice crystals began assaulting the glass bubble Porky was encased inside of. "...Hahaha~! I got temperature control, dummies!"

Kookookoo~...

As they rapidly froze and thawed, a larger box of ice began to materialize around the cockpit, trapping it inside.

"He-hey!" Porky began mashing his controls. "I can't see! I can't see~!"

Random slots on the sides of the machine opened, various colorful lasers of different elements shooting in random directions, and rockets randomly taking to the air.

Boom! The snowflake pattern Hiyori summoned exploded, straining the glass.

Kra~ck! The frozen cage then began to shatter, causing tiny cracks to form all across the dome.

Blam! Once the cage was outright gone, the final blast caused the cracks to grow even larger.

"Wh-what!?" Porky recognized it, too. "Wha~t!?"

'...I should see if this works.'

Hikari tried Hypnosis α!

His glass dome shimmered unnaturally, but nothing else happened.

'Yeah, I figured.'

...Looking over at Giygas, Hikari had a similar idea.

Hikari tried Hypnosis α!

But it failed!

…

'...Nothing even happened.'

Hiyori managed to navigate near Hikari. "Are you alright?"

"Mmm." Nodding reassuringly, Hikari raised her gohei.

The jeer Marigold made earlier ended up coming true, as Porky directed his machine to jab towards Osamu. "Hahahaha~!"

Shink!

The drill pierced through Osamu's torso entirely.

"Gu-...ouh!?" Knowing exactly what to do, Osamu put his hands on the drill in an attempt to thrust himself out of it-

Vrrrrr~! It whirred to life.

"Aaaaa~h!" Osamu wailed like a banshee, blood spattering the length of the drill and the ground around himself. As it rose back into the air, it flung his body aside.

Hikari tried Lifeup γ!

Hiyori tried Lifeup γ!

...Osamu's body rapidly began to close up the gaping hole in his chest where his ribs and other assorted organs were supposed to be. His eyes were open during the processing, darting around as tears streamed from them.

'He has that Charm of Sleep on him still, doesn't he?' Hikari figured. 'Ow.'

...After a few moments of recovery time, he sat back up, his body contorting weirdly as it returned to its normal proportions. "Oka~y… I'm comin' back…"

"No! You're not coming back!" Porky barked at him. "Just die, already! Die, die, die!"

'I still want to know if he comes with an off button.' Hikari was offput by just how childish Porky was during the length of this battle…

Osamu tried PSI Shield Σ!

The party was protected by the pale blue psychic shields!

Once again, Hikari felt herself slow down and relax…

'Giygas, no. You don't need to spam it…' Slowly turning to the orb, she saw the miko's face flickering again.

Fizzle!

The party's psychic shields made the energy particles disappear as they neared. The ones that managed to touch down were in places the party members weren't.

'Th-this works!?'

Fizzle!

The other rain of technicolor drops was completely ineffective against the party.

Even so, Hikari found her head pulled to look at Giygas' miko-esque face again.

Bwa~sh!

"Ugh…" Hikari was softly thrown by the painful blast. "Gu-guess it doesn't block that…"

Osamu tried Defense Down α!

Cla~ng… Porky's machine creaked woefully.

"Yeah! Fuck you." Backing up, Osamu stuck his middle finger up.

"What!?" Porky jerked his head back. "Nuh-uh! No, you!" He stuck his own middle finger up.

Pulling out her Spectrum Shotgun, Marigold took the moment to switch the star crystal out with the prism gem. "Alright… there we go."

Hiyori tried PK Freeze γ!

KaKaKa~...

The snowflake-shaped pattern of ice crystals generated around Porky's glass dome again, rapidly freezing and thawing.

"U~gh, ice magic is so retarded…" Porky grumbled, frustratedly messing with the controls as the ice blinded him-

Boom!

The cracks on the glass shield intensified.

Hiyori pulled out one of the plastic bottles of water she brought along. Ripping the top off, she proceeded to guzzle its contents, some of the water streaming down her chin due to her little regard for precision at the moment.

"That's it! You stupid miko people are really gonna get it now!" Bringing his hands down in an attempt to be menacing, Porky pressed eight buttons at once.

Eight slots opened, four on either side of the machine.

...Awkwardly, Porky brought his chubby elbows inward to try and use the control sticks as he held down the eight buttons. "E-eh… Ehn!"

Fwoosh! From the eight slots came eight grenades, aimed at random angles.

Eyes widening, Marigold rapidly backtracked away from the large machine. "Wo-woah, no… no, no, n-"

Boo-boo-boom-bo-boom! They all exploded nearly simultaneously.

"Aaa~h!" Marigold was thrown from the machine's side, the blast's effect reduced but not by any means nullified by her psychic shield. Now a few feet away, Marigold rolled to a stop on her side, awkwardly resting on her arm.

Hikari tried Lifeup γ!

'That looked like it hurt…'

Fwoosh! Eight more grenades were launched outward. The mech awkwardly jerked around as Porky did his very best to move and fire at the same time.

Boo-boo-boom-bo-boom! The grenades exploded, this time being near no one.

Fwoosh! It seemed Porky was just going to keep spamming grenade barrages, for now.

Hikari felt comfort wash over herself, again. 'Yeah, yeah, keep doing that…'

The miko's face on Giygas' orb flickered.

Giygas tried PK Fantasy α!

The party jerked their heads back as the colorful particles disintegrated against their shields.

Fizzle!

"Didn't know shields worked this freakin' well against this…" Osamu tilted his head.

Fizzle!

Hikari decided to just stare at Giygas, managing to catch it before the miko it depicted on its orb stared at her.

Bwa~sh!

"Ahn…" Hikari let herself be thrown into the air, intent on landing after the pain flowered across her body.

Boo-boo-boom-bo-boom! The grenades launched earlier exploded, adding to the room's noise.

Fwoosh! Porky was still doing this, apparently.

Hiyori managed to grab one of the grenades that flew out far towards her, and tossed it back at the huge spider mech.

Osamu tensed up. "Oh, shi-"

Boo-boo-boom-bo-boom! The grenade Hiyori threw exploded next to the machine's cockpit, causing Porky to jump and release his buttons.

"Aaaa~h!" Osamu was sent flying across the room, before landing loudly on his back. "Aahaa~h…"

Hikari tried Lifeup ß!

...Stiffly, Osamu sat up. "I-I'm comin' back…"

"Stop coming back!" Staring at his shaky, abraded hands, Porky sneered. Gradually, he turned the mech around, to face Hiyori and Hikari. "You… You're working some dumb Hakurei super magic, aren't you!?"

...Hikari tilted her head. "Maybe."

Back on her feet, Marigold aimed the Spectrum Shotgun at the heavily armed Porky. She pulled the trigger-

FwiChoo~m!

Seven rainbow lasers extended outward at wide angles, immediately pushing her back. "Wo-woah…!"

Hikari guarded, holding the fort in place as one of the beams briefly passed over her. "A-ah…"

Within moments, Marigold was back against the caution-colored wall. She found it to be strangely concave, curving inward a little for unknown reasons. Her back met the diamond-plate metal roughly. "Oof…"

A few of the beams passed over Giygas' form, briefly.

Ti-Ti-Ti~ng!

"Aa-aa~h…!" Gritting her teeth, Marigold seethed her way through the reflected pain directed upon her immediately.

Eventually, the beam came to focus on Porky's command deck.

"Wha-wawawa~!?" He was awed by the laser that came together to pound the glass of his device. "N-no fair! No fa~ir!"

Cr-crack…

The glass it was striking began to crack, the damage webbing out from where the beam was in constant contact with, as if creating a spider web.

Grinning, Osamu hoped one of the other party members would catch on with his plan...

Osamu tried PK Hydro ß!

A shuriken of water formed above the heavily armed machine, quickly wetting it with a flurry of water drops.

Hiyori noticed the seemingly useless spell's usage, and proceeded to follow up with an attack that would compliment it.

Hiyori tried PK Freeze γ!

KaKaKa~...

The freezing and thawing snowflake of ice generated around the glass dome, rapidly freezing all the ice on the outside, even under the beam's heat…

Boom!

All the ice shattered at once, a slew of new cracks forming on the glass.

'I wonder…'

Hikari tried PK Flash γ!

Fwa~sh!

The brilliant, blinding light did nothing, Porky's glass darkening to filter out most of it. "He-hey! What gives!?"

Giygas did not react at all.

Hikari felt herself relax, again. '...You know, this is kind of nice, minus the whole painful explosion bit…'

The sensation persisted for a moment. '...Wh-what?'

She looked over at the miko image, which began to distort into basic colors.

Giygas tried PK Fantasy ß!

Suddenly, technicolor projectiles shot from the fleshy orb, surprising Hikari.

FwOwOw!

"Woah!" Hikari nearly fell out of the way as the seizure-inducing polygon rocketed past her.

FwOwOw!

The next one hit her dead on, its impact lessened but not prevented by the psychic shield. "Agh!" She was thrown a few feet ahead, sliding to the floor.

'That hurts…!'

Next, the technicolor particles bombarded the party from above.

Fizzle!

Again, they stared at the world around them in semi-dazzled awe as the colorful drops failed to impact them, the psychic shield working wonders against the lesser psychic projectiles.

Fizzle!

Hikari braced herself for the incoming pain rush. 'U-ugh…'

Suddenly, she forced herself to sit up, to get another glance at Giygas, who was staring at her through a miko's expression, again. 'Hello to you, too-'

Bwa~sh!

"A-agh…" Hikari was propelled lightly into the air, enough so for her to land on her sandals.

'Hah…' She grinned back at GIygas, before nearly stumbling onto her bum again. 'Wo-woah…'

Hiyori tried Lifeup ß!

...Regaining her balance, Hikari looked behind herself to see Hiyori there. She gave the oni a thumbs up. "Thanks."

"Mmm." Hiyori smiled back at her, giving a nod in return.

Marigold released the trigger of her beam, after a while. "A-ah…" She proceeded to caress her aching arms.

...Grinning from within his cracked dome, Porky leered at the party. "Don't you idiots get it yet!? I'm unstoppable! I've killed like a million zillion youkai!"

'...How many did he really kill? Aside from… the ones here, maybe.'

Osamu tried PK Hydro ß!

"How fucking tough is that glass!?" Osamu was incredulous at the dome's fortitude, at this point.

Exhaling, inhaling quickly, Marigold traded out her Spectrum Shotgun for her heavy bazooka. Bringing it up, she aimed it ahead, and fired.

Fwoosh! The amber projectile rocketed towards the wide machine-

Boom!

Shatter!

"Aaaa~h!"

The machine promptly dropped to the floor, the drill legs spazzing out as Porky held resolutely onto the control sticks.

'Finally!' Hikari pumped an arm into the air.

...As the smoke cleared, Porky sat in his machine, arms shaking and his hair full of glass. Water invaded his control deck from above, his wet hair cast over his face, and his form soaked.

"Are you done, yet!?" Hikari yelled over at him. "One attack from us, and you'll be sorry!"

"Ain't got no stupid glass dome now!" Osamu smiled widely. "Give it up, dude!"

From behind Hikari, Hiyori spoke boldly, as well. "You don't have to fight us. We're only defending ourselves."

...Marigold yelled over from the very edge of the arena. "I have bigger guns!"

…

'I can't believe this kid was just the captain's stupid son just weeks ago…'

The mech slowly stood, rotating itself to face Hikari, as per Porky's twists of the control sticks.

"Don't do this, Porky." Hikari held her gohei high. "We don't have to hurt you."

Once again, Porky grinned. "...What's all this stupid stuff about 'not hurting me'? You've been hurting me since day one! I can't stand to look at you!"

'You're really not making this easy…!'

"All 'cause of you…" He trailed off. "Hahahaha~! Shut up, Hikari!"

Raising his arms up, Porky slammed them down on his command board, holding them there. The specific array of buttons he pressed made the mech tilt forward, towards Hikari.

Hikari held her gohei in a guarding position, and Hiyori readied herself behind her.

Cli-clink! The two frontmost drill legs articulated to face Hikari, and-

Fwoo~m! Roaring flames erupted from the back of the machine, two panels being blasted off the machine in the process. The huge flames forced Osamu to cringe back.

The six other drill legs folded in, skidding across the floor. The giant mech roared towards Hikari unrealistically fast, the two drill arms jabbing for her torso-

'Ah-' Her eyes widened.

Cla~ng! The drills met the metal gohei before she could blink, the energy inside flailing out at the drills and traveling along their form.

Osamu tried Offense Up Ω!

The party felt strength well up inside of them!

The machine's mass quickly pushed Hikari back into Hiyori- "Aah!"

Hiyori's eyes widened, and she slammed her sandals into the metal floor. It echoed loudly, but her efforts to make them slide to a stop were in vain. Her force did nothing to stop the roaring mech as it pushed them towards the curved-inward, black and yellow wall.

'Wo-woaa~h!' Hikari's arms began hurting within seconds.

Vrrrr~! The drills whirred to life, sparks flying from her gohei as they tried to cleave through it.

Hiyori bent her legs to accommodate the curves of the wall as they were pushed towards…

All it took was no more than two or three seconds for the two girls to end up in this situation. From here, they were pushed along the length of the curved wall, the giant mech also rotating onto the wall's form with its compact, folded legs, skidding along with the two.

Sparks rained from the wall behind the mech, and from the gohei as it was being drilled into.

"Woah- aah!" Marigold dove out of the way, barely avoiding being clipped by the top of the mech.

Like this, the three went in circles around the arena, Hikari and Hiyori pushed along the inner side of the wall. This feat was only possible through the machine's sheer power.

"Hehehahaha~!" Porky laughed like a maniac. "Cry! Cry!"

Klack, klack! Hiyori's sandals were vaporized by all the abrasion against the diamond-plate wall.

"Holy fuck!" Osamu spun around, trying to track the three. "It went into maximum overdrive!"

Aiming her bazooka, and backing near the center of the room, Marigold had doubts she could hit the mech. "Wo-woah…"

Osamu tried Offense Up Ω!

The party felt strength well up inside of them!

The aching in Hikari's arms was somewhat reversed, allowing her more endurance against the two advancing drills.

"Haa~h…!" She was still really feeling it, though.

Fwoosh! One of Marigold's rockets traveled towards the wall-

Boom! It exploded way behind the three.

"Darn…" Marigold huffed.

Hikari felt herself relax…

'It's still doing that!?'

Giygas tried PK Fantasy α!

The rainbow colored particles made the arena light up, again.

Fizzle!

Hikari froze. 'The- the blast! That's going to suck…!'

Fizzle!

The second rain of technicolor drops didn't do anything, either.

As Hikari passed the section of wall frontmost to the orb's miko face, she was forced to look towards it.

'Here it comes…!'

Bwa~sh!

"Aaaa~h!" Hikari yelled out in pain, her arms starting to fold…

Hiyori tried Lifeup γ!

Her vision blurring, Hikari slowly extended her arms again. "Hraa~h!"

Marigold tried to aim another shot, becoming increasingly flabbergasted at the speed the three revolved around the arena.

...Hikari had an idea, though.

Hikari tried Shield ß!

Her form was protected by the power shield of light!

The shield expanded enough to include the drills.

Scree~! The noise they made against the shield's magic was horrible.

However, the shield ended up slowing down the rate at which the three were pushed along the wall, allowing them to almost slide off of it and back onto the horizontal section of flooring that comprised the arena's midst.

With that slower speed, Marigold lined up her shot. "Fire!"

Fwoosh! The projectile traveled towards the three-

Boom!

"Aagh!" Hikari winced as it struck the front of the mech, forcing her to shut her eyes. Some of the blast briefly expanded to include her, but the rate at which they were pushed quickly got her out of the fire.

Porky, however, was not so fortunate, the command board now in ruins. His arms were forced out of the position he held them in, the mech's advanced function now inoperable. "Aaaa~h!"

Bam! Boom! The control panel started exploding in his face.

Blam!

"Aaaa~h!"

Porky was launched by the blast, soaring across the room, away from his machine.

Quickly, the machine and the girls began slowing down-

Bam! Boom!

The machine was thrown from the wall, explosions on its undercarriage throwing it back into the midst of the arena, and flipping it upside-down.

Kaboom!

Some of the drill legs were blown off by the final blast.

"Augh…" Porky finally landed, next to the bulbous mass of tendrils in the center of the room.

Hiyori slowed to a stop, her feet bloody after being pushed along the harsh, diamond-plate wall for so long. "A-ah…"

Hiyori tried Lifeup α!

She sighed in relief. "There…"

…

Taking their time, the party gradually gathered towards Porky's intensely breathing form near the room's centerpiece.

"Happy?" Hikari frowned at him. The four still kept a good ten feet of distance from him.

...Slowly, Porky began to stand. "O-oww~!" He grabbed his arm, before standing fully. "...Yo-you meanies hurt my arm."

Hikari's expression didn't change.

Backing towards the central mass of tendrils, Porky smirked. "So- so… I understand you guys're already thinking you're all bi~g heroes, huh?"

"Dude, we fought like, a robot dragon." Osamu grinned, shaking his head. "We're like, legends."

"...If we can stop more harm from coming to this world," Hiyori nodded. "I guess we'd be considered heroes."

"I just want this Giygas thing to stop ruining my day." Hikari decided, staring at Porky tiredly. "Can you give it a rest so we can just break it?"

Porky held himself with his good arm. "Hahahaha~! It-it's a gazillion years too early for you to oppose Giygas!" He threw his bad arm outward to accent his point, wincing as he did so.

Stumbling back, he leaned against the mass of tendrils. "I mean… you must feel pre~tty stupid for fighting… without even knowing what Giygas looks like! Hahaha~!"

"Give it a rest." Marigold interrupted his laughing. "Nothing some bombs couldn't do to fix that mess behind you."

Porky seemed to want to genuinely argue that point. "If-if you actually saw what Giygas looks like, you'd be so petrified with fear, you couldn't even run away!" He grinned wildly, patting the side of the tendrils. "That's how scary it is!"

"...This Giygas is starting to sound more like an imaginary friend than anything else." Hiyori folded her arms.

"Mmm…" Hikari glared at Porky. "We're going home, Porky. Then you can explain what… all of this is."

Tilting his head slightly to the side, Porky sneered. "So… do you want me to turn off the 'Devil's Machine'?"

"Preferably, yes." Hikari decided. "If that shuts down whatever this is."

"Well, prepare to be amazed!" With that, Porky ran around the side of the mass of tendrils.

'What is he-' Hikari acted immediately. "Don't lose him!"

The four rapidly ran around the length of the mass. At the front, they saw Porky kneeling down, shoving his whole arm inside of the folded mass of flesh under the central orb. As he did, the miko's form on the orb began losing focus, rapidly flickering.

And then-

Crack.

The image of the miko blinked out.

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

The room's dim lighting immediately went dark.

'I can't see…'

From where the room's central orb was, light was created by a thin, red mist that began to spread out.

'Is- is that light…?' It allowed Hikari to see things it passed over, at least. 'I'm not sure if that counts… but it glows in the dark, I guess…'

Then, fear.

'A-ah…!' Gasping, Hikari felt her heart start racing. "Wha-woah…"

'Wh-where'd this come from…?'

Osamu yelled. "Aaaa~h!"

Marigold jittered. "O-oh…!"

Hiyori froze in place.

…

"Isn't this terrifying…?" Porky's voice quietly echoed through the room, accented only by a very subtle shifting noise in the background. "I-I'm te-terrified, too…"

The party was suddenly able to see each other, red mist gathering around each of them. It whirled over their forms, as if trying to convene at each of their heads, only to dissipate. Everyone appeared as a flat crimson against the black background of the room.

"Gi-Giygas cannot th-think rationally, anymore…" Porky's lips slowly curled upwards, again. "He isn't even aware of what he's doing now…"

Haphazard clouds of red began to form all around the party. When they glanced down, they could see clouds below them as if they were floating in the midst of a vast, empty space.

'How far…?' Hikari couldn't judge their distance.

"His own mind was destroyed by his incredible power…" Porky slowly nodded, resisting the urge to laugh. "...Wh-what an almighty idiot! Yep, that's... what he is...!"

Taking his arm from the fleshy slot at the base of the machine, he-

Thud. Porky fell forward.

"He-heh… heh heh…" He breathed out his laughs in a strained fashion. "And you… you will be…"

He gasped, his form shivering violently. "Ju-just… another meal to him…"

'U-ugh…' Hikari's head began to hurt slightly, her mind going to weird places. 'Tr-trees…?'

Fwoom!

Porky's form instantly lit ablaze.

"Aaaoouu~h!"

The dimmed flames revealed his features perfectly, as his skin melted and he curled into a ball as best he could.

"Po-Porky…!?" Hikari stepped back, her heart skipping a beat.

"O-oh, shit… o-oo~h shit…" Osamu stepped back, too.

"Fi-fire!?" Marigold's eyes widened.

"Aa-aah…?" Taken aback, Hiyori gazed at the flames…

…

…

Porky's form started to go out. As the light faded, so did the crimson around his form. His limp body faded in with the darkness of the room, rendering him invisible.

'I'm h...a...p...p...y…'

'Wh-what!?' Hikari looked around, her eyes wide, unable to make out anything but mist and the outlines of her friends in the darkness.

'...Hikari…'

Hikari cannot comprehend the true form of Giygas' attack!

In a brief moment, the entire space around the party was pitch-red. A ring devoid of this red overlay pulsed outward, causing Hikari's head to throb as it expanded and passed her.

'What's going on!?' Eyes wide, Hikari scanned the single tone of color, freaking out as her senses momentarily felt no stimulation. It was if she was drifting in space…

Then, the color vanished as fast as it appeared, and the shrine maiden felt normal again. She couldn't read her friend's faces in the monochromatic lighting.

KaKaKaKaKaKa~...

Snowflake-shaped patterns of ice crystals generated around the entire party, catching everyone by surprise. Many, many more snowflakes began to generate in the air around and between them, but targeting nothing in particular.

Then, they began freezing and thawing.

Hiyori's bow glowed dimly in the darkness. "Hnh…"

"A-aah! Aaa~h!" Marigold began screaming, terrified.

"Fuck! No!" Osamu tried to punch the ice as it froze and thawed around him. "I command you! I cast ice spells!"

Hikari hugged herself. "A-ah…"

Boom! Bam-boom-boom-bam-boom!

The snowflakes all exploded at once, the huge amount of ice damage washing over the entire party.

Osamu and Marigold were both frozen solid.

"To-too… co~ld…" Hikari curled up in a ball on the floor, nearly frozen herself.

Hiyori, however, was only partially frozen, patches of ice stuck to her in places she couldn't see, but could feel.

Hiyori tried Healing Ω!

Hikari was no longer stiff, but still really cold. "A-ah…"

Osamu and Marigold broke from their ice. "Fu-fuhuhu~ck…" Osamu began rubbing his hands together.

"...Be-better… than burning." Managing a sentence, Marigold slowly dug through her backpack.

The cave now quiet, the party had a moment to figure out just what was attacking them.

'Where… who?' Hikari looked around in the dim, black space.

Her eyes caught sight of a whirling mass of red mist. It seemed that wherever it passed, the sporadically generating clouds joined it, although it never got any bigger from all the clouds it linked with. The mist swirled around in a vortex around a central cloud. Hikari couldn't make out if anything was in the center, though…

"Ev-everyone…" Hikari spoke weakly, the cold having weakened her vocal cords, "attack the… big mist."

Double-taking, Osamu described what he saw. "It-it's a giant fucking skull!"

Marigold aimed her bazooka at it. "It-it…"

Not commenting, Hiyori rose her mace menacingly.

"St-stay back!" Rapidly backpedaling, Marigold fired-

Fwoosh! The projectile was a simple solid red in this realm, its glow dimmed and dulled to the point of simply making it look bigger.

Boom! It struck something, its flames flowering outward as grey shades that momentarily discolored the red mist.

'...So we can hit it?' Hikari wasn't certain.

"Return to sender!" Osamu threw an arm outward.

Osamu tried PK Freeze γ!

KaKaKa~...

The crimson-tinted pattern of snowflakes generated within the red mist. As it froze and thawed, it displaced it, only for the red mist to fill back in where it was displaced from slowly.

Boom!

The final icy blast made the mass of mist ripple.

Hiyori tried PK Starstorm α!

Looking up, the party saw the stars generate in the black sky above, their solid red forms either homing in on the swirling mass, or falling haphazardly and without aiming.

Eventually, they closed in on the mist.

Bam-boom! Blam-boo-bam!

The star's yellow and white blasts caused color to flash near the mist's form, but for only a few moments.

'...Light!' Hikari was reminded of something she could do.

Hikari tried PK Flash Ω!

Fwa~sh!

The area around the party lit up, allowing them to see the red metal floor once again. The areas where there used to be the beige tendrils were now flat metal, as well, and stained a deep crimson.

Light didn't extend more than a few feet out from each party member, nor did the flash affect Giygas.

'...friends…'

The mass of red mist began to drift uncomfortably close to the party, revealing its actual size to be something well over twenty or thirty feet.

Hikari cannot comprehend the true form of Giygas' attack!

Once again, the entire room was bathed in a solid, red color, before the only ring of space free of it expanded outward again.

'O-ow…' Quickly, HIkari rubbed her forehead, the feeling making her briefly lose focus again.

Her vision returned. With her friends now illuminated, she could see their similarly panicked expressions clearly.

Thwa-thwa-thwash!

Hiyori, Marigold, and Osamu lit up with electricity, their forms glowing brightly in their small illuminated spaces. Their psychic shields were demolished by the lightning strikes.

Freezing up, the sight took Hikari by complete surprise. 'No…!'

"Agh…" Hiyori's shackle responded, as she quivered under the shock's might.

"Oo~hn!" Arching her back immediately, Marigold felt her mind melt in pleasure as her previous frostbite was reversed. "Wo-wow…"

Bam! "Aaaa~h!" Osamu quickly crumpled up into a heap after the lightning struck.

Hikari acted quickly. 'So-so fast…!'

Hikari tried Lifeup Ω!

...Osamu's form, still crackling with static, began to unfold from the floor. "O-ow…shit..."

Marigold was already nearly fully recovered. "...Thanks, Hikari."

Fixing her posture, Hiyori began to run towards the swirling form of Giygas. Raising her mace above her head, she brought it down once she was sure she was close. "Hra~h!"

It flew straight through the mist, displacing it as she swung through it. It rippled gradually in the wake of her strike.

Hikari leaped towards it, intent on attempting to attack it, too. In the air, she swung wide-

Fwoosh. The swing of her gohei didn't do anything she could really recognize as damage…

As she fell, she swung downward-

SMAAAA~SH!

'Wh-what did I hit!?' Even though the loud noise rang out, Hikari didn't feel her weapon hit anything.

Kri~ng! The energy of the gohei traveled along the mist, making some of it vanish, for only a moment. Wind energy traveled off of the gohei, too, but it completely vanished once it got to the red mist.

Osamu tried PSI Shield Ω!

The party was protected by the blue psychic power shields!

Bringing out her Spectrum Shotgun, Marigold quickly switched the rainbow prism out for the star-shaped topaz. Then, she aimed it-

ChuuChuuChuu~! She shot out three small, star-shaped projectiles in random directions. They promptly arced around to pass through the form of the mist, making tiny ripples in it.

'I feel g...o...o...d…'

Hikari felt like her head hurt again. 'Th-this voice…'

"Ugh…" Marigold sighed. "My-my head…"

'It's not just me, then…'

Hikari cannot comprehend the true form of Giygas' attack!

The entire room was once again one color, before a ring of contrasting darkness stretched outwards in spite of it.

When it stopped, Hikari found herself looking in all the wrong directions, for only a moment. "A-awah..."

Boom! Bam! Boom!

Implausibly large spikes of rock shot from the floor, knocking the entire party away from one another.

"Aaaa~h!" Osamu was flung somewhere.

"He-he~y!" Marigold's voice came from above.

Hiyori didn't exclaim anything Hikari could hear.

As for herself, Hikari was sliding down a jagged section of rock, her clothes scraping sharp edges on her slide down the side of it.

"A-ah…" She winced, before glancing at her arm, only to see the sleeve ripped, and blood oozing out from a fresh wound.

Kr-kra~ck…

The spike of stone retracted into the earth, leaving no visible hole as it vanished entirely.

"He-he~lp!" Marigold fell from above, accelerating towards the floor.

Hiyori was rapidly running towards her form, but didn't look like she'd make it in time.

Hikari felt her heart skip again. 'Wh-what… do I do!? Ma-Marigold!'

Hikari tried Shield ß!

Marigold was protected by the power shield of light, over writing her psychic shield.

She hit the floor-

Cr-crack! "Aaa-aaaa~h!" Once again, Marigold found her legs woefully and gruesomely broken.

Hiyori stopped before her, eyes wide. "No…!"

Hiyori tried Lifeup γ!

Similar to the last time Marigold was healed from this position-

"A-aah-aah…" Her eyes widened. "Ow ow ow ow~!"

Hiyori grimaced as the girl's legs snapped back into their correct postures and positions…"I-I'm so sorry- I-I…"

"It- nh- it-it's okay…" Tears streaming down her face, Marigold gritted her teeth through the rest of the pain. "It's okay…"

Osamu tried PK Thunder γ!

Thwa~sh!

It struck Marigold. "Wo-woah…" Feeling pleasure right after she felt pain completely threw her off-guard, leaving her in a weird middle ground.

Thwa~sh!

The electricity arced through the red mist, briefly causing it all to scatter, before it clumped back together.

Thwa~sh!

...Despite looking around for it, Hikari couldn't find the bolt in the darkness.

The mist moved towards Hikari, slowly.

'Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari,'

"St-stop…" Hikari retreated away from the mist as it neared her.

Hikari cannot comprehend the true form of Giygas' attack!

Everything was once again red.

'Ju-just…' Hikari shut her eyes, but nothing changed.

The disorienting ring of negative space traveled along the arena once again, before the red overlay finally lifted. Then-

FWOOSH

Everything within the party's light was pale blue, a massive shockwave of lunar energy sweeping everyone off their feet and onto their side, Hiyori included.

"Ah…" Hikari looked at her arms, and her legs. "I-I'm…"

Hiyori tensed up. "This is…"

Hiyori tried Healing Ω!

But it failed!

"My- my mana…" Hiyori slowly moved to get back onto her legs.

Osamu tried PK Hydro ß!

But it failed!

"Fuck! What the hell, dude!" Osamu stared at his hands, which were engulfed with pale-blue flames. "We got stinted or something, dude!"

...Marigold glanced at him, half-smiling. "It's silencing."

Small beams of magical energy finally responded to the slight magical damage everyone took from the moon-elemental shockwave. The beams traveled into Giygas' mist, and vanished.

Not bothering to stand up, Marigold pulled the Neutralizer from her backpack, and pressed the button on the top.

It flashed, and then all the blue flames dissipated, along with the party's psychic shields.

"Fucking…" Osamu was annoyed by that.

Osamu tried PSI Shield Ω!

The party was protected by the blue psychic power shields!

...Hikari turned around, seeing the mass of red mist floating behind her. For some reason, the way it did so came off to Hikari as ginger, almost casual.

'Wh-why… do I feel like this?' Stumbling back, Hikari considered getting away, before her instincts told her otherwise.

Leaping into the air, she attacked again-

SMAAAA~SH!

Kri~ng! Bright yellow energy illuminated Giygas' red mist, as the powerful gohei flew through it.

Bringing the gohei around her shoulder, Hikari swung again-

SMAAAA~SH!

Kri~ng! The finisher to Hikari's short combo was also a critically loud blow, despite Hikari not feeling her weapon recoil against anything. The swing's momentum caused her to twirl back to the floor, allowing her to land on her sandals. "Ha~h…"

Putting away her Neutralizer, Marigold had time to raise her Spectrum Shotgun again. "I hope this actually works…"

ChuuChuuChuu~! Three yellow, star-shaped projectiles flew from her gun at random angles, moving to meet the red mist.

ChuuChuuChuu~! Letting the recoil take her arms wildly, Marigold's additional shots ended up tracing themselves to the red mist anyway.

Steadying her arm, she pointed the gun at the swirling mass as Hikari backed away from it, for fear of getting caught in the crossfire. The gun shook, the energy pooling up in the topaz-

Choo~m! A thin but solid yellow laser shot out, piercing Giygas' mist, and creating a momentary hole in it.

Choo~m! Her second shot yielded similar results.

"Aah…" She released the trigger, shaking her hand from the strain the gun's power put on it.

Taking out another bottle of water, Hiyori ripped it open and chugged it. "Mmh…"

'I'm h...a...p...p...y…'

Hikari took a deep breath. 'We have to be doing something to it…'

'...friends…'

She shivered.

Hikari cannot comprehend the form of Giygas' attack!

Red blinded the shrine maiden again, straining her eyes.

'En-enough, already…' She was starting to get a headache…

She hardly acknowledged the process it went through with the negative space, before the red faded.

Kr-Krack, krack, krack…

Hikari suddenly broke out in sweat. "Uh-uhm…?"

"Oh, shit…" Osamu gasped. "Dude-"

Marigold froze up.

BOOM

This time, all Hikari saw was the warm colors of flames, the heat's intensity being suppressed only a margin by their psychic power shields.

In only a second, with the color of flames came the sensation of heat, and with it, intense, searing pain.

The pain instantly caused Hikari to stretch her limbs. She couldn't tell if she fell, or if the heat simply fluctuated.

She couldn't tell if she was on fire, if the explosion was still happening, or if she was lying in a smouldering heap on the ground.

Hiyori tried Healing Ω!

The reversal of the fire and the charring reminded Hikari that she was still very much alive… and in very much pain.

All the non-oni party members opened their mouths in silent, horrified wails, their voice boxes momentarily silenced.

'A- my- a-ah… he-help…' Hikari's mind was scattered, her ability to reason lost for the moment.

"Hi-Hikari!?" Hiyori yelled, noticing no one getting up. "...Marigold! Osamu!"

Hiyori tried Healing Ω!

…

'I-I…'

Hikari tried Lifeup Ω!

…

Ever so slowly, Hikari threw her limbs forward.

Osamu was still conscious, to his own chagrin. "...Kauf, kauf, kauf…" His lungs were still healing.

Though Marigold was unconscious, having collapsed from the pain, she was healing along with everyone else.

"O-oh…" Hiyori almost dropped to her knees. "Ev-everyone…"

No one really had time to act for awhile, all too busy trying to withstand the horrible, overwhelming pain that would break those of less willpower.

Thick beams shot from their psychic power shields. They homed in on Giygas' mist and tore straight through it, creating large disruptions as they did so.

'Argh…'

Hikari felt everything about herself ripple. 'A-ah…'

Hikari cannot comprehend the true form of Giygas' attack!

Her eyes desperately wanted to filter out the harsh red as they healed, but regardless of whether they were open or closed, they still saw red.

The red stopped, and she was relieved.

…

Woo~sh!

Finding herself in the air, Hikari floated aimlessly as powerful gusts rotated her. As her body healed up, she found herself anxiously staring down at the now far mass of red mist…

Looking around, she even saw Hiyori caught in the gust, her kimono flapping wildly in the wind.

'This is gonna hurt…' Hikari felt mentally drained.

...Unable to do much, Hikari let herself ride the wind.

Osamu tried Offense Up Ω!

But it failed!

"Sh-shit…" The powerful winds took his breath away when he opened his mouth. "Aa-ack…"

…

As the typhoon of powerful gales ceased, instead of being unceremoniously dropped from pelvis-crushing height, the wind abruptly pulled everyone downward, smashing them against the metal floor.

Crack! "Ha-ah!?" 'Aaaaa~h!'

Hikari shut her eyes, her arm now dangling behind her, the shoulder removed from its socket.

She rolled across the floor as the wind ended, bouncing against it. "Enh- anh…"

Once again, she shed tears from the pain.

'He-here… goes…'

Hikari tried Lifeup Ω!

But it failed!

Hikari froze.

'...N-no… no, no no! No!'

Hikari tried Lifeup γ!

Her arm snapped back into its socket.

"Aaa-aaaa~h!" She let out what might be mistaken as a primal roar in the wrong context.

Hiyori tried Lifeup γ!

Osamu scrambled up from the floor, limping on his healing leg. "Ma-Marigold… wh-where's Marigold?"

They saw the light that still hung around her, the magi unconscious and her limbs bent out of shape on the far side of the arena.

Hiyori tried Lifeup γ!

"She-she's over there!" Hiyori yelled, pointing her arm at the unconscious magi.

"I-I'll wake her the fuck up…" Osamu sprinted as fast as he was able, as his leg slowly healed to strength again. "Hang in there, Marigold!"

Hikari slowly stood, tears dropping from her chin. "O-ow…"

Hiyori hurried over to her. "Are you okay!?"

"...N-no…" Hikari sobbed. "I-I'm… out."

"What do you mean…?" Trembling, Hiyori moved over to Hikari, and picked her up carefully.

"Of ma-mana…" Her voice cracked, the force from before now drained and empty.

...Carrying Hikari, Hiyori dashed towards where Osamu and Marigold were…

'Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari…'

'Shut up! Pl-please, just…'

Hikari cannot comprehend the true form of Giygas' attack!

Red filled Hikari's vision. She furrowed her brows, but had no will to get angry anymore…

…

After a few moments, the red vanished, and Hikari felt the rhythmic movement of Hiyori's running again, before she stopped.

"Is- is she alright…?" Hiyori breathed heavily.

"Ye-yeah…" Marigold sat up, her limbs fixed. "Well… no, but yeah."

The floor shook, vibrations rocking the solid platform the party stood on.

Eyes wide, Hiyori moved to scoop up the other party members as a sea of crimson rushed towards them.

"Y-yo…" Osamu protested weakly.

"Ah…?" Marigold rose a brow.

And then-

Fwam! The four were slammed by a huge wave of water, the color revealed to be a more natural blue within the party's light. Hiyori felt herself get swept into the tide, momentarily, but eventually got to a point where her feet touched the floor again.

Hikari kept her mouth shut, water fiercely slamming against her face. 'Ou~ch…'

…

'I-I can't breathe…!'

"Mmm! Mmh!" Hikari protested the roaring current, the fluid tides drowning out all other noise.

Hiyori crouched down… then she jumped.

Fwoom!

Her powerful legs shot her up. They were caught in the current- something preferable to being slammed by it- as they slowly ascended…

Briefly, they cleared the water.

"Ha~h!" Everyone took a deep breath.

Splash! They sunk deep into the dark tides again, the water's power amplified by the relief they had just moments ago.

'Ma-make it stop…' Hikari shivered, her body surrounded by icy water.

Hiyori touched down on the bottom again. Slowly crouching, she propelled herself up again.

'I-I can't hold it…' Hikari felt the need for air. She opened her mouth as they rose. "Gughumf-...!"

Splash! They cleared the surface of the water.

"Ha~h!" Everyone except Hikari inhaled.

"Kauf, kauf, kauf!" Her lungs were filled with water. "I- Kauf! Kau~gh…!"

As they sunk-

"...!" Hikari's mouth failed to close in time. 'Aaaa~h!'

-the water lowered rapidly.

Hiyori was slammed against the bottom of the pool-

Cla~ng! Her bare heels hit the paneling loudly.

-as the water receded.

Within moments, it was all gone.

"Ha- Kaugh! Kauf!" Hikari coughed up water. "Bwaau~gh!" Then she threw up.

Hiyori tried Lifeup ß!

...Hikari felt her airways return to normal instantly. 'Ye-yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes!'

Hiyori let everyone go.

Hikari dropped to her knees, while everyone else landed on their feet.

Turning to her, Marigold crouched next to her. "Hi-Hikari? Are you okay?"

...Hikari stared forward, looking at the swirling mass of Giygas.

"...Sp-speak to me. Hikari? Hikari?" She shook Hikari's shoulder. "Sp-speak to me!"

"A-ah…" Looking over at her, Hikari blinked. "Ma-Mari…"

"What's wrong?" Marigold stared into her eyes.

Hiyori spoke. "Out of mana."

...Marigold lit up. "Ooh! Ooh, ooh, ooh!"

Reaching into her backpack, she took out one of the mana potions from earlier. Popping it open, she shoved it into Hikari's mouth.

Hikari let her friend force-feed it to her, shutting her eyes to drown out the horrible taste…

…

Then, she opened her eyes.

'...Wo-woah!' The rush of energy hit her like a freight train. '...I'm alive!'

She stood up, shook her head, and stretched her arms. "...I've had enough of this stupid Giygas thing!"

"There we go!" Marigold pumped her arm in the air.

"Du-dude…" Grinning sheepishly, Osamu shook Marigold by the shoulder. "I need one, too…"

"Ah…" Reaching into her backpack, Marigold took out the last mana potion. "Here…"

Snatching it out of her hands, Osamu pried it open, "Th-thanks!" and guzzled it.

Looking over at Giygas, Hikari rose her gohei. 'It's all or nothing…!'

Hikari tried PK Fantasy Ω!

Throwing both of her arms outward, she sent two technicolor polygons out at once.

FwOwOw, FwOwOw…

Zooming in on Giygas, they rotated rapidly, zeroing in on the gaseous zone in the midst of its red mass.

FwOwOw…

The colorful reticle stopped somewhat engulfed within Giygas' form.

Hikari's eyes were forced to stare straight into the reticle, and into Giygas. From there, her attack continued on its own. For a moment, her mind went blank.

KABOOM, Boom, boom…!

Yellow energy brightly engulfed the misty form of Giygas. The party didn't bother to cover their ears, finding themselves not terribly off-put by the sound, by this point. Though the light was dimmed by the darkness Giygas cast upon the room, the colors of the attack still shone beautifully. It was a stark contrast to the sheer amount of red they were seeing.

Boomboomboomboom!

A gridwork pattern of round, red yellow and blue particles whirled around. Features of the arena, and the featureless nature of the tendril-less sky above, was revealed by the pure, unfiltered technicolor energy. The particles washed across the battlefield.

Bambambambambam!

As the blast spread out, briefly illuminating everything, Giygas' mist was momentarily scrambled, reducing it to a thin, barely visible color.

Boo~m…

A final explosion echoed in the distance of the strange realm. Soon, darkness followed, the arena once again monochromatic and otherwise pitch black.

The light the party members had was still around them, though.

Giygas' form began gathering again, except this time a little bigger…

It expanded outward rapidly.

Hikari swung-

Clang! Her gohei hit the floor.

'What…?'

The space around them was filled with a far more dense assortment of red mist now. Masses that appeared similar to the one they were attacking materialized all around them, slowly growing in quantity and size…

"What the hell is this thing!?" Osamu finally got the chance to criticize the unspeakable horror they found themselves up against.

'It hurts, it hurts…'

'...Hikari…'

'You're in for it…!' Hikari looked around wildly for anything that looked like a target.

Hikari cannot comprehend the true form of Giygas' attack!

Once again, the space all around Hikari was a solid red. This time, as the ring of negative space stretched outward, Hikari braced herself.

'Stu-stupid…' She was really in the mood for ruining Giygas' day.

KaKaKaKaKaKaKa~...

The air around the party froze and thawed rapidly. Everyone was frozen solid as the air turned from a gas to a solid in rapid succession, and with great repetition.

BOOM

The final icy blast didn't do anything to the already frozen solid party.

Everyone was left encased deep within a single, large chunk of ice.

…

Hiyori's bow still glowed inside, and quickly she found herself able to move within the large ice chunk. By wildly exerting force with her arms-

Cr-crack! The ice began to break.

"Ha~h…" She took a moment to pull out her last swig of water, downing it in quick gulps.

Hiyori tried Healing Ω!

Crack! Cr-crack!

The party broke from the rest of their icy prison, the large chunk slowly splitting apart and dissipating due to the healing magic's effects.

Shivering, Marigold held up her Spectrum Shotgun. "Th-this sh-should do…"

ChuuChuuChuu~! The wildly aimed star-shaped bolts flew into the red mist. To Marigold's dismay, she was unable to track where they went, once they left the space immediately before herself.

"S-so much mist…" She glared at the red mist that flooded the air.

By this point, it was getting hard for Hikari to make out anything that wasn't herself or her friends in the mix of black and red space.

Thick beams shot from their psychic power shields, traveling off into the red mist around them in response to the earlier ice attack.

The mist wiggled in response, as the beams shot off in wildly different directions.

'Is… it all around us?'

"Dude, let's shock its shit." Osamu beckoned Hiyori to zap their intangible, potentially omnipresent foe.

Briefly debating with herself, Hiyori decided to comply. "...Alright."

Osamu tried PK Thunder Ω!

Hiyori tried PK Thunder γ!

Thwa-thwa~sh!

The mist began jittering around the party violently, causing everyone to lose their sense of direction.

"A-aa~h…" Looking to her friends for something solid, Marigold stumbled about. "Woaa~h…"

"Tr-trippy…" Osamu fell over, losing his balance.

Thwa-thwa~sh!

'Argh…'

The rapidly shifting pattern of solid red and black caused Hikari's head to hurt…

'Yeah, 'argh' is right…'

Thwa-thwa~sh!

Then-

Hikari fell on her bum, pushed by a mysterious force.

'Wh-wha~t was that!?'

"A-ah!?" Hiyori felt herself get dragged into the air for a moment, only to drop back down to the floor, on her stomach. "Ah…"

"What the fuck!?" Osamu slowly got dragged in a circle. "The air is fucking alive!"

Thwa~sh!

'Yaargh! Aa~rgh! Argh!'

'It hurts, it hurts…'

'...friends…'

Hikari felt herself black out, for only a moment. "Wha~h…"

Hikari cannot comprehend the true form of Giygas' attack!

Red filled her vision, and as usual, she waited out the moment. It was less jarring due to the abundance of red mist, now.

Once it faded-

Fwa~sh!

A bright, brilliant light washed over the party.

Marigold's glasses darkened, rendering her blind for a moment. "Wo-woah…"

Osamu went limp, his form paralyzed.

Hiyori began crying. "Wh-what…?"

Unaffected, Hikari looked around tensely. She was braced for another impact of highly magical pain, but didn't receive any.

'What was that…?'

Wiping her face, Hiyori found it hard to focus her vision. "My-my eyes, th-they're…"

'Hi-Hiyori's crying!?' Hikari was surprised. '...What did it do to her!?'

Hikari tried Healing ß!

...Hiyori stopped crying, taking a moment to expel the last of the snot on her nose onto her kimono's sleeve. "U-ugh…"

'...Oh. It was that kind of crying.'

Aiming her Spectrum Shotgun into the air, Marigold backed up towards Hiyori. "Hang onto me, Hiyori." Quickly, she swapped the prism on again, putting away the star-shaped topaz.

Complying, Hiyori kneeled and wrapped her arms around her-

Choo~m! The seven lasers shot off into the mist, most of their length not visible to the party as they spiralled into the mist.

The portion of the mist the lasers spun around in writhed and pulsed violently, some of the mist actually dissipating away from the vague area it fired. However, as the beam condensed, the mist rapidly rushed towards where the beam traveled, and became more dense.

"...I don't know if this is doing anything." Marigold spoke under the slowly growing shifting sounds of the mist, and the loud roar of her laser gun.

Once she noticed Hiyori getting pushed back, she let go of the trigger.

Hikari looked to the ground where Osamu was still getting spun around in circles.

"Osamu…?" Hikari noticed he wasn't moving. She took a step towards him-

"Ouch…" -only to fall on her stomach, something unseen tripping her.

Hikari tried Lifeup α!

It didn't seem to do anything…

"Osamu…?" She tried to get his attention again.

Osamu tried Defense Down α!

...The mist convulsed, for only a moment.

'It's not right… not right… not right…'

'Hikari!'

'Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari,'

'Shut up! Shut up!' Hikari glared into the mist. 'Shut up!'

Hikari cannot comprehend the true form of Giygas' attack!

'This red thing is really getting old…' On the floor, she felt her eyes get berated by the monotone color once more. 'So weird…'

It faded, promptly replaced by another magical attack.

Fwa~sh!

Marigold's glasses darkened again. "Again…?"

Osamu began crying.

Thud. Hiyori loudly collapsed…

'U-ugh…' Unaffected, Hikari unsteadily stood, unknown forces pulling at her limbs in all directions.

Looking at her friends, she noticed some problems.

"O-Osamu?" She was getting worried, now that he was crying and still immobile.

Hikari tried Healing γ!

...After a moment, he stood back up. "Ba-back in action, baby…"

"Hiyori!" Marigold shouted, having noticed her collapse behind her. "...Hi-Hikari! Hiyori's down!"

Hikari tried Lifeup γ!

...Hiyori didn't get up.

Hikari tried Healing γ!

...This time, the oni groaned. "Uu~nh…"

'I.. think she's okay.' Hikari sighed.

Osamu tried PK Thunder γ!

Thwa~sh!

"This shit seems to work…" He breathed out, his robe coated in sweat and char marks.

Hikari looked down at her own clothes, briefly acknowledging the fact they were almost completely gone.

Thwa~sh!

No one could really tell if the thunder was working, as all around them was whirling, loudly shifting masses of red mist.

Thwa~sh!

'Ahh- Grrh, oo~h…'

'It's not right… not… right…'

'I'm...h...a...p...p...y…'

'Quit… doing that!'

Hikari tried PK Fantasy Ω!

FwOwOw, FwOwOw...

Her polygonal, technicolor reticle traveled outward into the mist. Even as it went far into it, she could still see it clearly…

Hikari couldn't comprehend the true form of Giygas' attack!

FwOwOw...

When everything was solid red, she could still see the blue and yellow flashes of her technicolor reticle. It had stopped, and her eyes were locked into place. Then, for a moment, she turned her mind off, which was a sweet release from the confusing mash of sensations that the battle currently was.

KABOOM, Boom, boom…!

Once the red vanished, the party was instead blinded by the intense yellow explosion that took its place. The energy blossomed forward in the mess of red and black, becoming another color added to the visual throwup.

Boomboomboomboom!

As the gridwork pattern of technicolor particles spun and rotated outward from the powerful blast, Giygas' own cast of magic took effect.

Thwa-thwa-thwa-thwa-thwash!

Bambambambambam!

Everyone could hardly see, their eyes assaulted violently by everything around them.

Bam! A lightning bolt struck Osamu's power shield. It dissipated, shooting a large beam into the darkness as he jittered violently from the residual static…

Bam! The next bolt struck Marigold, ridding her of her power shield, as well. "Oo~h…!" Euphoria replaced pain, due to her resistances.

Bam! Hiyori's power shield was struck and destroyed. The rest of the damage was soaked up by her shackle. "...Hmm."

Boom…

The final explosion of Hikari's cast was unheard, as Giygas' shifting was now loud enough to drown out regular speech easily.

Bam! Hikari flailed her arms, surprised by the lightning bolt that struck her power shield. Within moments, however, the lightning was gone and so was her shield, leaving her with only a nasty shock. "Agh…"

...Once the attack was over, the party-

Bam!

Electricity traveled up Hikari's form, filling her with sudden, intense pain. 'Aaaa~h!'

Hiyori tried Lifeup γ!

...

"O-oo~h…" Hikari whined on the floor. She cried naturally in response to the immense amount of damage she just took. On the positive side, her body slowly reversed the charring and cooking process…

'This sucks…' She wasn't very happy about getting sniped, though. That, and her increasing mana exhaustion from spamming her strongest move.

To everyone's curiosity, colors of yellow still hung in the air, the mist around them now so loud that everyone could hardly hear themselves think.

Osamu tried PSI Shield Ω!

The party's psychic power shields were restored!

Hiyori tried PK Starstorm Ω!

Suddenly, the mist began billowing, as if large bubbles were forming within it.

Boom! Bam-boom-blam-bam-boom-blam-bam!

The stars all exploded somewhere inside the mist the moment the were generated.

"Ho~ly shi~t!" Osamu tried to yell over the deafening roar that came from the mist.

Loud beeps and siren-esque noises came from the mist. Infact, there wasn't really mist, anymore; the party was in large part surrounded by what was now more like colors. Yellow, red, and black comprised the colors, but they flashed rapidly and without organization.

"What's going o~n!?" Marigold couldn't hear herself think.

"I don't kno~w!" Yelling back to her, Osamu felt his vocal cords strain.

Violent pulls of gravity pulled the party members around…

'...go...b...a...c...k…'

'It hurts, Hikari…'

'Hikari!'

"Sto~p!" Hikari yelled out loud at the voice she thought was in her head.

Hikari cannot comprehend the true form of Giygas' attack!

The red monotone was pierced by how bright the yellows were underneath the color, the mass that encapsulated the party brighter than this procedure Giygas performed.

Fwa~sh!

Bright white light was added to the mix, for only a brief moment.

Osamu was frozen solid, encased in ice.

Thud. Hiyori loudly collapsed, again…

'N-no!' Hikari saw Hiyori drop. '...I-I can't just keep healing everyone. I… need to finish this.'

"Ah…!" Marigold noticed the team's oni drop, too, as her glasses lightened again. "Hikari! We need another heal, over here!"

Hikari tried PK Fantasy Ω!

FwOwOw. FwOwOw...

The reticle of technicolor energy shot into the mess. Hikari couldn't make it out.

FwOwOw…

Her eyes locked to where it was, anyway.

KABOOM, Boom, boom…!

The mess of colors got worse, more yellow added to the mix.

The pushing, pulling, tugging and twisting induced by the distortion of space around the party worsened as more and more problems were added to the unholy concoction around themselves.

"A-ah!" Marigold put away her gun, and grabbed Hiyori's legs, as the force tried to pull her away. "Hikari! What are you doing!? We need a heal!"

Bambambambambam!

Osamu still sat in place, safe and sound within his block of ice, even if he was pushed around a little by the violent force.

Boom…

Now that her magic was finished, Hikari was forced to fight the currents of the catastrophic disaster that was happening around her.

'Wh-where is…!?' The colors had gotten so bright, she couldn't see anyone.

She moved in their direction, before walking into a block.

Marigold had one arm around the frozen Osamu, and one arm held onto Hiyori's leg. "Hikari~!"

'I-I should've healed them!' Hikari was rapidly regretting her previous strategic move. '...Bu-but…'

'Aarrgh! Yaaegh! Grrh!'

'Hikari!'

'It hurts, it hurts, it hurts...'

Hikari cannot comprehend the true form of Giygas' attack!

Red filled her vision.

'A-ah!' She was stricken with indecision, torn between healing her friends and trying to kill the force attacking them.

...However, the moment of eye damage let her consider her options. 'Either I win this… or I run out of mana, and we… could die…'

The red vanished.

Fwa~sh!

Hikari began crying, not of her own will. 'Wh-what…? No!'

Osamu was paralyzed within the ice.

Hiyori was unaffected, unconscious from the sheer pain she took from the last cast.

"Hi-Hikari…!" Marigold's voice cracked, but that wasn't from the magic.

At this point, the miko wasn't sure if they were moving or not, but she held tightly onto Osamu's side. She desperately made certain not to lose sight of her friends.

To keep herself attached, Hikari decided to continue attacking, using the least involved cast she knew that still dealt damage.

Hikari tried PK Fantasy α!

Fizzle!

She doesn't know if it activated.

Fizzle!

'I-I'm sorry…'

Bwa~sh!

Her eyes hurt.

"Hi-Hikari…" Marigold's arms hurt, too. The force around them wiped the tears from her eyes for her.

…

HIkari tried Lifeup γ!

…

'Mo-mom…' Hikari's arms hurt. 'I'm sorry…'

…

Hiyori writhed on the floor, if she was on the floor.

'...go...b...a...c...k…'

'...friends…'

'It's not right, it's not right…'

Hikari cannot comprehend the true form of Giygas' attack!

Red filled her vision.

'I love you, Mom…' Hikari was crying. 'I should have listened to you…'

Marigold closed her eyes, holding on.

KaKaKaKaKaKaKa~...

The sporadically generating ice chunks rapidly spawned in the air around the party, generating with little rhyme or reason. Most of the ice chunks got ripped away in the air by the violent maelstrom of colors, but some stuck around-

Boom!

Marigold was frozen solid, her ice partially engulfing Hiyori's legs, keeping the oni attached.

"Agh…" Hiyori was awake, through, and eyes wide and heart racing.

Hiyori tried PK Starstorm Ω!

...Bam, boom! Ba-bla-boom-bam-blam-boom!

Hikari felt the force of the colors press against her skin from all directions. 'Mom…'

'...friends…'

'...go...b...a...c...k…'

'Hikari!'

Hikari sobbed. '...Go back?'

HIkari cannot comprehend the true form of GIygas' attack!

Red filled her vision.

'We… we can't teleport like this. I…' She tried to move her leg, but couldn't. 'I can't move.'

The red was gone.

Fwa~sh!

Hiyori passed out…

'Wh-what… would Mom do?'

…

"Ca-Cautionary Barrier!" Hikari tried to stretch her fingers.

Cra~ck!

She heard the barrier shatter instantly.

'M-my ofuda…'

...All things considered, she was naked right now, her clothes having been either torn off or vaporized by potent magic.

…

'I really should've listened to Mom…'

…

'Hakurei…' Hikari pondered her family name. 'Why me?'

She felt like she wanted to throw up from all of the momentum she was experiencing at the moment.

'I-I can't do any of the stuff Mom can…' Hikari closed her eyes, the colors piercing through and making the action offer little relief. 'I can't fly. I can't smash stuff with orbs. I can't… well, I guess I can make barriers, at least… and make stuff blow up. Go me.'

'Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari, Hikari,'

…

'...friends…'

'No, we're not. I hate you.'

Hikari cannot comprehend the true form of Giygas' attack!

Red filled her vision.

'Osamu, Marigold, Hiyori… I'm sorry I got you stuck in this.'

…

The red vanished.

…

Hikari suddenly felt herself experiencing a lot of pain. "A-aah…"

'Aaaaa~h!'

Hikari tried Lifeup α!

...Her sense eventually returned to her.

'Ha-Hakurei…' She darted her eyes around rapidly, desperate. 'Why was I born a Hakurei!? Why am I supposed to do this!?'

…

'Am I supposed to die here?'

…The thought made her feel like she couldn't breathe, for a moment.

'Th-there's a way out...' She tried to smile. 'There has to be. There always is!'

…

'A-agh…' She was actually legitimately having trouble breathing. 'N-no…' The force was pressing her tightly.

…

'I-if there's really a Hakurei god…' If she was going to go out like this, she was going to go out criticizing her luck. 'Why won't it ever help me!?'

Hikari's eyes shut, as the bright colors around her began to peacefully fade out.

…

…

…

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

…

…

…

The Hakurei Shrine was still, and silent. Wind softly echoed through the wood. Sunlight shone through the open doors, and through the windows.

'Where…' Hikari looked around, sitting up in her bed. 'Where am I?'

…

'Home?' She blinked.

…

'Am I dead?' Her heart sank. 'No…'

…

'I should look around, first.'

Throwing off her covers, Hikari rose from bed. She was in a proper shrine maiden kimono, although it still had the detached arm sleeves.

'This is new.'

She went over to the window, and looked outside.

Instead of the Hakurei hillside, she saw forestry and grass immediately outside the window.

'That is also new.'

Curious, she leapt into the window frame, and leapt outside.

To her surprise, she fell through the ground.

'Wh-wha~t!?' Her eyes slowly widened as she fell down into the white space below…

…

Then, she was back in her room-

Thud! "...Ow."

'At least my legs didn't break…' They actually didn't hurt much, to her wonderment.

Getting back up, and looking around her room, she didn't see anything else interesting, or out of place. Satisfied with the state of it, she proceeded out of her door, and into the shrine's main room.

The main room of the shrine had the kotatsu setup.

There sat Sendai Hakurei no Miko, who was enjoying a cup of tea. "...Hey."

'...I-I might really be dead!'

"You look like you've seen a ghost." She grinned at Hikari.

'Oh, no…'

...Slowly, Hikari progressed towards the kotatsu, and took a seat across from her grandmother.

Sendai's brow was raised. "What's with the long face?"

Her response was blunt. "I'm dead."

...Wobbling her head back and forth briefly, Sendai brought her tea to her lips. "...Not really."

…

"What?" Hikari wasn't sure what she meant.

"You're not exactly dead." Sendai remained vague, staring at Hikari blandly.

"...So I'm alive, then." Hikari tilted her head.

Jerking her head back, Sendai promptly replied. "Oh, no. You're dead… but not quite."

…

"I wouldn't be good at explaining it." Sendai put a hand up, before bringing it back down. "Lazy bones in the sky up here'll be here any minute now. She- it… it'll do a better job at it, I can tell ya that much."

…

She stood up, ofuda flowed from her sleeve to slowly make one of her giant axes, causing Hikari to lean back a little. 'Woah…'

Sendai poked the ceiling with it. "If. It. Gets. Down. Here. I know you can hear me!"

...Hikari suddenly felt a comforting sensation wash over herself.

Before her, to the right of the kotatsu, a form began to generate. It slowly faded into existence, the texture of it pure white and glowing. As the featureless humanoid sat, it took a vaguely miko-esque look to it, sporting what looked like long hair and a bow in the back. Its chest puffed out a bit, but was purely a bulge of light, and not much else.

...Hikari rose her brow at the pitch-white being. "...Hi."

The elder miko stared at it sardonically. "Feel like one of us, today?"

"I have taken a form Hikari would be most comfortable with." The pitch-white being spoke with a loud, inexpressive but not completely monotone voice.

"What, didja have to put on makeup?" Grinning, the elder miko leaned towards the figure.

"I simply thought you might have appreciated some quality time with your descendant." The probably-a-woman's voice spoke.

'It sounds like a she.' Hikari decided.

...

Sipping from her tea again, Sendai sighed.

"Didn't think you'd actually go through with this." Sendai turned to the neon-white figure.

"I didn't believe I could go through with it." Turning to meet the miko's gaze, the being gave a slow, isolated nod. "...I had lost faith in Gensokyo myself, since the collapse of the barrier."

"You're… the Hakurei God?" Hikari assumed.

"Indeed." Turning, the god addressed her. "Due to my absence of faith, I could never meet you or your mother in person-"

"Technically." Sendai muttered.

"-but I've watched over your mother closely."

...Hikari took in the information. "I find it hard to believe that."

The elder miko smirked.

The god didn't emote, but was surprised. "Why is that?"

"Considering Mom has a ton of awesome holy powers, I feel like the least you could be able to do is appear before us." She felt a little wrong criticizing her god- or goddess- like this, but… 'I pretty much just died, I think I deserve a little elbow room.'

"...I am a being of great power," The Hakurei God responded tactfully, "but not one of great faith. Not anymore."

…

'I guess that makes sense.' Hikari didn't have much to add to that.

"Those who believe in me, and hold the Hakurei blood, can be granted great power." Nodding slowly, the Hakurei God informed the miko. "There is little I can offer for those not of Hakurei blood but my blessing… which makes things admittedly difficult. Especially so now, since your mother is lost, hurt, and confused."

Hikari instantly felt guilty. 'Mom…'

"Once she dies, this place will likely go with it, unless Yakumo has other plans." The Hakurei God looked around itself for a moment. "...I've not heard from her in awhile."

"Why would this place vanish?" Seeking clarification, the miko asked a question.

The Hakurei God responded. "Without the faith of any living being, I will cease to exist entirely. This includes all manifestations of my power."

"But…" Hikari furrowed her brows. "I'm technically not dead, right?"

...The god glanced at the elder miko, before clarifying. "Technically. Although, you could not support me."

Hikari was confused. "Why not? I'm a Hakurei."

"You're not of this universe." The god shook her head. "The real Hikari Hakurei was last seen thirty years ago. I believed that she was dead, but since her soul had vanished as well, I was unsure exactly what happened."

The elder miko sipped her tea calmly.

'...I wish I had some orange juice.'

"Your presence is an enigma." The Hakurei God continued. "You seem to have arrived with your original goal of thwarting Gensokyo's previous threat… unfortunately many years late."

"Time travel." Hikari summarized.

"...Understandable." The god turned away from her, staring into space.

"Understandable!?" Sendai was less than pleased with the answer. "Time travel!? Why?"

"...It's a long story." Not feeling like recounting her entire journey, Hikari trimmed down the details.

"Oh, I'm sure it is!" Folding her arms, Sendai glared at her.

…

Her glare became dry. "No, really, why?"

"Well…" HIkari wasn't sure how to start. "Basically, I learned that I'm not from this timeline."

The god turned to her, intrigued. "Timeline?"

"Mmm." Hikari nodded. "I'm from one where I… supposedly come back alive. I think. I hope." She looked worried, for a moment. "The versions of me from this one… never came back, apparently. And probably never will, at this point."

"...I see." The Hakurei God gave a single, affirmative nod. "May she find peace."

The elder miko frowned at the kotatsu top.

"Your fight is not over yet." Speaking out, the god slipped out of the kotatsu, and stood up. "I was able to bring you here by the power of faith."

...Hikari blinked.

"Bullshit." Sendai grinned at the god. "I know you're stressed, but that was kinda a stupid statement, coming from you."

"...The faith is not of this world." The god stared into space.

"Not of this…world?" Sendai blinked. "Okay, I'll bite. What're you talkin' about?"

"Around the same time this Hikari came to this world…" The god liked to pause a lot. "She, herself, supplied probably the least faith of any Hakurei miko, likely bordering on none."

'Oh, good.' Hikari blinked. "...Why?"

"Did you believe in me?" The god retorted.

...Hikari shrunk back a bit. 'Not… very much. Mom never really went over you, other than the fact you existed and did nothing useful.'

It took her silence as a 'not really'. "...Admittedly, part of this was the fault of this strange entity that attacked your world. Further, I would not place the blame on yourself, or your mother. Considering the current size of the Hakurei clan, I wouldn't have been surprised if I had ceased to exist within a few more generations. I don't think the Yakumo would have allowed such, however."

It continued, "When Hikari arrived, there was something else. It may have been present before her departure, but if it was, I hadn't felt it… it was the will of many people. It was not belief in me, but it was belief in you, Hikari."

Hikari felt awkward. "Belief… in me?"

"Yes." The god nodded once.

…

"Was it my friends?" Hikari speculated.

"Yes and no." The god was prompt. "The faith was far greater in quantity than what they could offer. I would say that it is certainly stronger than the faith you left this world with, which you had simply accumulated from your family friends, and friends." The god's mouth did not even move for speech, and considering the coloration, Hikari couldn't tell if it had a mouth.

"What're you tryin'a say here?" Sendai was perplexed. "Did she just find some, or something? I'm pretty sure that's not how it works."

"I have reason to believe the faith is from beyond our universe. Somewhere, our circumstance may be being recounted as a tale, or as some other form of folk lore." The god couldn't elaborate further. "That is all I know. It is also what allowed me to intervene."

"Right before- no, right as I died." Hikari smiled bittersweetly.

"...I could have tried to reach out earlier," the god considered, "though I would have expended all of the faith collected. I may call the amount great, but that is only in comparison to what I've been working with for over the past century."

…

"Here." Moving fluidly in excess for the first time, the Hakurei God gestured towards Hikari with one arm…

A cup of orange juice materialized before Hikari.

'...Huh.' She gave it a long, curious stare, before slowly moving to grab it.

With that, she moved onto a different topic of discussion. "How does this whole 'dead not-dead' thing work?"

"I return your soul to your body, heal you, and attempt to grant you the power you need to survive." The god explained, once again inexpressive and stiff as its arm returned to its side.

"Oh." Hikari blinked.

"...I would recommend finding a way to escape." The god advised her. "My power likely wouldn't last long, considering the faith pool."

'Fair enough…' Feeling herself relax, Hikari stood. "Um… do I do that now?"

The god shook his- or her- head. "No. I am going to do my other self a favor, and teach you how to properly worship me again."

...Such wording made Hikari slightly skittish. 'Uhm…?'

...Noticing her reluctance, the god did its best at expressing comedic disdain. "You'll also learn to better hone your powers in the process." The tone wasn't that different from its normal tone.

'Well, in that case…'

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

Hikari stood before the Hakurei God, in the shrine's dedicated worship room.

...Which was still the main room, they just moved the kotatsu to the side.

"Didn't we have an actual worship room, at one point…?" Sendai lazily leaned against the wall, out of the way.

"It was a different building." The god reminded her. "It is gone now."

She looked to the side, away from the two. "Ah. Right."

...With that, the Hakurei God folded its arms.

"You're a she, right?" Hikari confirmed, unsure.

"...If that's what you're most comfortable with." The god decided. "Over a century ago, I took on the form of a male, but through these many trying years, I've felt less and less obligation to bother with personification except where absolutely necessary."

This just made Hikari more unsure. "...How?"

"You're talking to a god, sweetie." Sendai annotated from the sidelines.

'...Yeah, that's true.'

The god elaborated. "Us gods may change our physical forms at a whim. We do not obey biology."

'Well, there we go. I guess they're beings of faith and stuff, after all...'

Standing in the center of the room, Hikari began looking around idly-

Then, small, runic boxes of yellow energy surrounded her, sitting on the floor at various disorganized angles.

The god began going over the steps to a basic summoning. "First, set up the chamber relics."

'The what?'

Then, there were candles around the relics. "Set up holy candles. Two to three around each relic would suffice."

Then, a hexagon began glowing around Hikari, the lines of it drawing across the floor.

"Then, pray. It is a much more effective method of contacting me than meditation."

…

"Where do I get the relic things and the candles from?" Hikari tilted her head.

…

"You've never seen them, then?" The god tilted her head.

Hikari shrugged.

...It was at a loss for words. "Oh."

"I left 'em in the praying room underground." Sendai provided. "...I dunno if I ever told Reimu where they were."

"...Right." Refusing to linger on that, the god continued. "The candles, if you were wondering, can be made from normal candles if you apply a blessing to them. Otherwise, you'd likely have to hunt for them from holy youkai and other gods, but I wouldn't ask you to do such things."

'Mom's got holy candles, I'm pretty sure.'

"In addition, if you ever need my power in a time of need and have sufficient mana or faith to fuel a link between us, it simply requires a focused prayer. As you are a Hakurei descendant, you and I have the most optimal means of communication and power transfer accessible to us." It really was very motionless.

Putting her arms behind her back casually, Hikari confirmed what she heard, "So, when you send me back, I just need to… pray really hard?"

"Yes." Giving another simple, slow nod, the god began to walk for the shrine's door. "Leave through the front door when you are ready. Take your time."

After it paced out the door, it was gone.

…

"Real party animal, ain't she?" Grinning, the elder miko stopped leaning against the wall, and started stretching. "Ha~h… it's something how you can be dead but still feel the need to stretch. It might've just been a habit, or something…"

...Curiosity piqued, Hikari began questioning her. "How much do you know about me?"

"Yer my granddaughter who was supposed to be dead but apparently just traveled through time." Sendai revealed all she knew. "...That's about it."

'Ah…'

Hikari smiled. "That gohei you left us really came in handy."

Sendai jerked her head back. "Wha~, no shit? Reimu still has that?"

...Scratching her cheek, Hikari continued. "Well, I found it in the underground place, left lying on the floor in some dark room with ghosts and stuff."

...Sendai rolled her eyes, becoming unenthused again. "She never found it, then, huh…?"

"No, Mom found it." Hikari corrected her.

She looked at her blankly. "And left me down there?"

"Apparently. I never asked why." Stepping closer to her, Hikari looked up and down at her costume.

Sendai folded her arms, and rose a brow, but refused to comment on her actions.

"...I may've gotten your outfit vaporized." Hikari remembered that her clothes disintegrated on more than one occasion.

"...How?" Grinning from the unexpected remark, Sendai questioned her. "Wait- you can use my gohei? Did you actually beat me, in there?"

Hikari nodded. "I kinda did it the cheap way. I used my strongest spell over and over again."

...Sendai grinned wider. "What the hell kind of spell is it that you can just use it over and over and beat my ass with it? I don't think I was that crappy of a fighter when I was alive…"

"Not a very fair one." Hikari bluntly decided. 'I would know. I've been on the receiving end a few times…'

...With that, Sendai moved for the door, too. "I shouldn't get too familiar with ya. Good luck with the whole time travel thing… and try not to die again. Nice meetin' ya, Hikari."

Hikari watched her go. "Bye, Grandma."

...Pausing, Sendai turned to her, before shaking it off, giving her a wave.

She grinned. 'Got away with that, too.'

…

Hikari looked around the empty shrine. The door to her room was gone, and all the remaining open doors seemed to lead outside, which meant this shrine apparently had only one room.

'Weird…' Hikari decided to walk for one of the side doors-

The door shut before her, as did all the doors that weren't the front door.

'Okay, okay…' She got the message.

Moving for the front door, she took a deep breath.

Then, Hikari stepped outside…

…

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

When Hikari's eyes snapped back open, everything felt like hell again.

'Woaa~h!' Hikari felt her body get pushed and pulled in all directions, intense physical pain coursing across her entire figure. She felt like her free arm was being pulled away from her.

However, the feeling of Osamu's frozen arm still vaguely connected with her other arm, giving her hope.

The bright colors made Hikari dizzy, like she was going insanely fast. "Uh-uoh…"

The noise of the color around her was violent, rending. The constant loop of siren noises and high-pitched chirps made her skin crawl, and her head ache. 'Th-this… is terrible…'

Shutting her eyes- which didn't help block out any of the color- she began praying. 'Hakurei God! Hear my plea- or something- help!'

She felt herself getting crushed tightly again.

'Hakurei God! Hear my plea! I need your power!'

Hikari prayed with all her heart.

…

Her vision began to fade, her throat getting pressed tightly together by the colors. 'N-no…!'

Then-

Fwa~m!

She glowed softly with holy power, something mostly offset by the insane color storm around her. With it, she felt her power increase.

'Wo-woah!' Her throat, while still being crushed, didn't result in her being choked to death anymore. 'Th-this-'

Fwoo~m!

More power poured into her. "A-ah…!"

Feeling the pain ease and her senses sharpen, she stared into the colors around her.

She now realized that the party wasn't being crushed by a blanket of color, or a wall of some kind, rather, the density of the space around them was condensing entirely. With her sharpened eyes, she could see that the color moved in a constant, untraceably fast current. Only a few moments let her see direction within the mess, but she saw it.

'Th-this is insane…!'

Unexplainable squiggles of yellow formed everywhere in the mess, along with particles of black and red.

'Argh! Yaagh! Grrh!'

'It hurts, it hurts…'

'...Hikari…'

Hikari cannot comprehend the true form of Giygas' attack!

She saw red, and once again it overwrote everything she saw, somehow usurping her sharpened senses.

'Wh-why~?'

The ring of negative space traveled outward, Hikari's eyes following it as it moved. She notice the red behind it lag a little. 'Why is that…?'

When it disappeared, particles of electricity ran through the air, from the jagged yellow lines Hikari saw in the mess of colors.

Zazazazap! She felt her form light up with electricity, but wasn't too harmed by it.

"O-ow…" Physically, anyway.

'I-I need to act now!'

Hikari moved her arm, and felt her gohei still in her hand.

'C-c'mon…' She tried to swing it-

SMAAAA~SH!

Kri~ng! White energy flared out from the swing. The party's rapid momentum it held while accelerating in the crazy, physics-defying space seemed to change, to allow a pocket of free movement where Hikari swung.

'There!' Seeing a way to move forward, Hikari swung again-

SMAAAA~SH!

Kri~ng! White energy flourished outward again.

Like this, she slowly but surely made progress by flailing her club-esque gohei wildly.

SMAAAA~SH!

Kri~ng!

At this point, she stopped trying to track what weird ways their momentum changed. If one were to see the party from a static position in space- and had the ability to see through the color storm- they'd see the party rapidly spiralling in place, or moving in large circles at remarkable velocity.

SMAAAA~SH!

Kri~ng!

Hikari slowly carved a tunnel forward, using her newfound strength to drag her party members behind her through the tunnel she carved.

'We need to teleport…' Hikari didn't know if she could make them move faster. 'Maybe if I…'

Hikari tried Teleport ß!

She accelerated forward-

'Ow ow ow ow~!' Hikari was quickly pressed against space she hadn't modified with powerful strikes. Sluggishly pulling her gohei into the hellish space, she swung it with all her might. "Aaaa~h!"

SMAAAA~SH!

Kri~ng!

This created part of the circle that she needed to revolve in. As she moved forward-

SMAAAA~SH!

Kri~ng!

-she continually kept inflicting critical hits on the walling and immediate busy space.

SMAAAA~SH!

Kri~ng!

"Hraa~h!" She cleaved through the space with mighty swings, as she progressed faster and faster. Her feet didn't need to be on solid ground as she spun, the god's power taking care of the flight for her.

SMAAAA~SH!

Kri~ng!

While sparks violently lashed out against the colorful space, and Hikari easily saw how she could've mistaken the texture of the busy space for a blanket or a wall.

The more room she cleared, the slower the party's speed got in as they were thrown around in the weird dimension. However, their speed within the slow space was quickening further and further...

And once they were fast enough-

SMAAAA~SH!

Kri~ng!

'Co-come on…!'

Hikari pulled through.

KraKoo~m!

…

The space where the party was closed in on itself, and then-

,;'.';,.';,.'the space ;,';.',;.';,.';,.';,.',;.',.;,';.,.;;,'. ',.;;',.';,.;',;.';',.;',;.',;'.';,.';,.'; colors flashed ,';.',;.';,.';,.';,.',;.',.;,';., without core.;;,'.',.;;',.';,.;',;.';',.;',;.' folded in ,.;',;.',;'.';,.';,.';,';.',;.'; ,.';,.';,.',;.',.;,';.,.;;,'.',.;;',.';,.;',;.';',.;',;.',. friends;',;.',;'.';,.';,.';,';.',;.';,.';,.';,.',;.',.;,';.,.;;,'.',.;;',.';, .;',;.';',.;',;.',.;',;.',Hikari Hikari Hikari Hikari;'.';,.';,.';,';.',;.';,.';,.' ;,.',;.',.;,';.,.;;,'.',.;;',.';, .;',;.';',.;',;.',.;',;.',;'.';,.' ;,.';,';.',;.';,.';It hurts,.';,.',;.',.;,';.,.;;,'.',.;no more;',.';,.;',;.';',. ;',;.',.;',;.',;'.';,.';,.'; ,';.',;.';,.';,.';,.',;.',.;,';.,.; fell apart ;,It hurts'.',.;; ',.';,.;',;.';',.;',;.',.;',;.',;'.';,.';,.';,';.',;.';,.';,.';,.',;.',.; ,';.,.;;,'.',.;;',.' ;,.;',;.';',.;',;.',.;',;.',;'.';,.';,.';,';.',;.';,.' ;,.';,.',;.',.;,';gravity.,.;;,'.',.;;',.' ;,.;',;.';',.;',;.force',.;',;.',;'.';,.';,.';,';.',;.';,.' ,.;',;.',;'.';,.';,.';,';.' ,;.';,.';,.';,.',;.',.;,';.,.;;,'. ',.;;',.';,.;',;.';',.;',;.' ,.;',;.',;'.';,.';,.';,';.' ,;.';,.';,.';,.',;.',.;,';.,.;;,'. ',.;;',.';,.;',;.';',.;',;.' ,.;',;.',;'.';,.';,.';,';.' ,;.';,.';,.';,.',;.',.;,';.,.;;,'. ',.;;',.';,.;',;.';',.;',;.' ,.;',;.',;'.';,.';,.';,';.' ,;.';,.';,.';,.',;.',.;,';.,.;;,'. ',.;;',.';,.;',;.';',.;',;.'.;no more;',.';,.;',;.';',. ;',;.',.;',;.',;'.';,.';,.'; ,';.',;.';,.';,.';,.',;.',.;,';.,.; fell apart ;,It hurts'.',.;; ',.';,.;',;.';',.;',;. ',.;',;.',;'.';,.';,.';,';.',;.';,.';,.';,.',;.',.; ,';.,.;;,'.',.;;',.' ;,.;',;.';',.;',;.',.;',;.',;'.';,.';,.';,';.',;.';,.' ;,.';,.',;.',.;,';gravity.,.;;,'.',.;;',.' ;,.;',;.';',.;',;.force',.;',;.',;'.';,.';,.';,';.',;.';,.' ,.;',;.',;'.';,.';,.';,';.' ,;.';,.';,.';,.',;.',.;,';.,.;;,'. ',.;;',.';,.;',;.';',.;',;.' ,.;',;.',;'.';,.';,.';,';.' ,;.';,.';,.';,.',;.',.;,';.,.;;,'. ',.;;',.';,.;',;.';',.;',;.' ,.;',;.',;'.';,.';,.';,';.' ,;.';,.';,.';,.',;.',.;,';.,.;;,'. ',.;;',.';,.;',;.';',.;',;.' ,.;',;.',;'.';,.';,.';,';.' ,;.';,.';,.';,.',;.',.;,';.,.;;,'. ',.;;',.';,.;',;.';',.;',;.'

.

.

.

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

KraKoo~m!

Hikari skidded to a stop in front of Eientei. Her form was still glowing, her eyes momentarily a grey instead of a brown. She had no clothes on.

'Uh…' She dismissed that, for now.

...Her eyes caught her gohei, which was crackling with immense holy energy, sparks running all along its form. 'Cool…'

Turning to her friends, she surveyed their status...

Behind her, Osamu sat in a chunk of cracked ice.

Marigold was frozen solid, too, but she was also naked, her clothing having also vaporized. Her backpack was still with her, as it was metal.

Hiyori was simply unconscious, it seemed, her deva items scuffed, charred, and ripped.

...Looking around idly, Hikari sighed.

'It's over. It's finally over.'

…

She looked over at her frozen friends. 'I should probably do something about that.'

Hikari tried Lifeup Ω!

Hikari tried Healing γ!

Hikari tried Healing γ!

…

Cr-crack!

Marigold fell from her ice. "Oof…"

Osamu launched himself from his ice. "Wh-whoah- lemme the fuck at 'em! Lemme-..."

...Looking around, he scratched his head. "Where the fuck- oh. Eientei…?"

Sitting up, Hiyori wiped her forehead. "O-ooh…"

...After looking around, everyone eventually settled their gaze on Hikari.

...Osamu slowly beamed.

"We made it out, everyone." Hikari smiled widely. "We did it!"

"We-... we did?" Marigold slowly smiled. "How?"

Fwish. Hikari's eyes went back to normal, and she stopped glowing.

"Very carefully." ...After a moment, Hikari elaborated further. "I finally got in contact with the Hakurei God."

Osamu jerked his head back. "Who?"

'...I never got its name. If it had a name, anyway.'

"The god of my shrine." She put her arms on her hips.

Grinning, Marigold decided to cut in. "You'd think her last name being involved would've clued you in…"

Osamu snorted. "Dude, I just got my ass torn inside-out by some reality destroying asshole. I think I deserve a 'lil leeway…"

"Yeah- I was there." Marigold gave him a very enthused expression.

Standing up and brushing herself off, Hiyori looked over everyone. "...You know you two are na-"

BooOOO-,.;',;.',;'.';,.';,.';,';.' ,;.';,.';,.';,.',;.',.;,';.,.;;,'. ',.;;',.';,.;',;.';',.;',;.'

Jumping a foot into the air, Hikari ,.;',;.',;'.';,.';,.';,';.' looked,;.';,.';,.';,.',;.',.;,';.,.;;,'. spire of grey and yellow',.;;',.';,.;',;.';',.;',;.' Then, the spire closed in on itself, before fading out completely.

…

'I think that was actually it.'

With the blast came a pale blue glow to the sky, a stark contrast to the oppressing red that covered the land previously.

...To Hikari's surprise, without there being any clouds, it began snowing.

"Jee~z…" Looking up Osamu saw the snow. "He~y…!" He stuck his tongue out.

"...I think that was Giygas." Marigold voiced.

Hikari casually agreed. "I think so, too."

Looking over at the temporal gate, Hikari was reminded her clothes were gone, and so were her pockets.

'...Uh oh.'

Turning to Marigold, she smiled sheepishly. "Um… did I give you the key for the gate?"

...Marigold shook her head.

'Oh boy.'

...Hiyori blinked. "Isn't Eirin here?"

…

Osamu exhaled in relief. "Dude, I like, died."

'I actually died.' Hikari restrained herself from making that joke.

The party moved to the door of the clinic, intent on paying Eirin one last visit.

…

"You two are naked." Hiyori finally finished her sentence from earlier, now having the moment. "I'm… not sure if you noticed."

...Marigold finally acknowledged it. "A-ah, right… uhm…"

"I don't really care." Hikari was just happy the quest was almost over.

"I do." Aside from the whole 'almost eaten by an eldritch abomination' thing, Osamu was having a good day.

"Mmrm…" Marigold held her hands over her sensitive areas. "Eirin better've made clothes or something…"

The party began walking up the purple steps inside the clinic. The torches were now lit with orange flames, instead of the pale blue ones Marigold left them with earlier.

"Why would she?" Hikari questioned. "She probably didn't expect to see us, again."

"...Doesn't she think we're supposed to live, though?" Marigold was confused.

Hikari clarified, "I mean, she probably expected us to just jump out, and not lose the key by getting burnt alive repeatedly."

"Aa~h. Yeah." Marigold was satisfied with that answer. "...I-I mean… ga~h…" She wasn't satisfied with what it meant, though.

After some moments of climbing up the stairs, the party made their way to the large room at the top.

Eirin was seated at a bent, metal chair, staring at the open sky that was revealed by the broken roof over the stairs.

Once the party came over the apex of the stairs, she turned to them. "Ah, you fou~r…" She trailed off, noticing Marigold and Hikari's bare state. "...Was there some radiation in the atmosphere I was unaware of?"

Hikari snorted. "Well, no. We almost got vaporized, and the clothes couldn't heal like we could, so…"

Eirin nodded. "Ah. I take it you've fought Giygas?"

"Mmm." Hikari confirmed. "We lived."

"Do you have any clothes?" Marigold was desperate to get decent. "I could really use some clothes…"

"Not that I'm aware of." Tilting her head back and forth, Eirin glanced at the potion rack next to herself. "...My ship has a few chest plates on it, but those aren't necessarily meant for you four. And, considering your task is complete… I don't think you'd necessarily need them."

'...That would've helped. I think.' Hikari would've liked more than a cloth vest, even if it was pretty sturdy.

"Gah…" Mokou pulled herself up from the ledge outside the smashed doorway Eirin opened earlier. "Di-didn't find anything…"

...She saw the party, noting that half of them were naked. "Eirin, the fuck did you do now?"

"I made evil clones of the kids." Eirin monotoned. "Little did you know."

Mokou rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah…"

"The key we had for the gate was vaporized, too." Hikari stated. "So, uhm… help."

"Ah." Eirin promptly stood up. "Let us go, then. I'll reactivate it."

'Cool.' Smiling, Hikari and her friends began to follow Eirin down the staircase, and out of the clinic…

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

As always, time slowly ticked by at the Hakurei Shrine.

Restless, Reimu sat inside, looking at the new hole she made in the roof from launching her previous guests. She considered getting more water, or walking around, but didn't really feel like it.

Satisfied with the hole's state, she stared at a random section of walling.

…

Then, snow began flowing in through the hole.

…

"What...?" She uncrossed her legs, and began fighting gravity to get back onto her feet. "Hn~h…"

Walking over to it, Reimu held out her hands, looking up.

The sky was a dim, faded blue. To Reimu, however, it was as if the sky was a bright blue in the first time since its color was lost many years ago.

A few scattered flakes landed in her hands.

"...It's… snowing."

She moved to walk outside the shrine, moving through the door her daughter's oni friend had smashed open not too long ago.

Outside, the faint blue took her breath away, as did the sudden sensation of cold.

"A-ah…" She hugged herself. "...Did… she do it?"

Floating into the air, Reimu looked around, able to see farther than previously allowed by the slight fog and the red atmosphere.

…

Before going to explore, Reimu drifted towards the shrine to see if she still had any warm clothes.

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

The howling wind made the remaining boards of the Scarlet Devil Mansion creak.

A jagged island hung in the air some distance out from the three central ones, and it held the remaining half of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. It was the right side of it- right as if one had the perspective of walking up to the gates. It was split down the middle some time ago.

It had no walling around it, and since no spatial manipulation was taking place inside anymore. The disjointed rooms inside reflected this, the few remaining rooms all walled off from one another and full of disorganized piles of furniture. The entire island was tilted, the remains of the mansion hanging loosely off the side.

…

"Hhh~..."

Between all of these disjointed rooms, many of which walled off one another, holes exposed their inner contents to one another, and the outside.

"Hhh~..."

The mangled, enlarged front lobby of the manor was a sight to behold. The front door hung open, the interior full of the cracked fragments of walls, and the remnants of the second floor landing.

"Hhh~..."

For the first time in a long time, Flandre Scarlet opened her eyes, finding herself in a dark, dusty pantry. Some ripped up, scarlet towels sat next to her.

"Hhh~..." Inhaling deeply, she forced herself to move.

Click, click. Her ruby red claws clicked against the tiles of the pantry floor as she worked her way out of it.

Eventually, she found her way to the front lobby, where the mangled, grey remains of the fear device sat. It still crackled with pale blue sparks now and again, but it hadn't worked correctly in many years.

Next to it, a table sat. The table had a notebook open, the pen that had written on it still lying on its pages, no longer in use.

Pink and purple clothing were strewn about the floor next to the broken fear device.

…

Clack. A piece of wood dropped from the bent section of some broken flooring above the lobby.

"Raa~gh!" Reacting on instinct, Flandre swiped her claw towards the direction the noise came from-

Bam! Red energy lashed out and blew a crater in the lobby flooring.

…

"Hhh~..." Inhaling deeply, Flandre pushed ahead, moving on her hands and knees as she did to get into the lobby. Her piercing, glowing red eyes slowly stopped glowing as her body disengaged itself from combat mode.

Cree~k. She nudged the loose front door aside, and looked out into the muted blue sky.

"...Aa~h." She breathed out happily.

With that, she took to the front yard to scout around, because she didn't know what to do with herself.

The few spots of snow on the ground outside didn't hinder her four-legged trek around the wilted garden, her powerful claws rending dirt to get her where she wanted to go.

That was just it, though. She didn't know where she wanted to go.

Aimlessly, she proceeded around the side of the house, towards an uprooted awning that hung a few feet from where it used to be mounted in the foundation. Instead, it now hung loosely from the side of the mansion.

…

"Nnh!" Flandre got onto her hind legs, and leapt up onto it.

Something was missing, and she could feel it.

…

Allowing herself to fall, she let her long claws skid off the side of the awning.

"Ahn…" She landed on her butt. Quickly rotating around, she had an idea…

…

Shakily, she put her hind legs under herself, and tried to stand on them. The bone-thin legs shook as she tried to stand on them-

"Aah!" She fell forward again.

Her numb legs didn't feel the new scrapes they sustained.

…

Spontaneously, Flandre changed her mind, and decided to go inside, for the time being, even if it was really pretty outside.

Crawling away, Flandre dug into the side of the mansion, making herself a way in.

On the inside, she continued this process, making her way to the very left end of the mansion. There was something she wanted to see, something she couldn't remember, but she knew where it was. On her way, she passed many rooms, most of them filled with ruined furniture, wall debris, and weather damage.

Bam!

Her powerful arms rended the woodwork keeping her from the large room.

Cracked columns sat on the right, while the left of the room was exposed air, the sky's blue showing outside. The room was at an angle that any regular human would slip and fall into the void below.

Flandre, however, remembered this.

Crack! Crack! She inserted her claws into slots she made long ago. Too long ago for her to remember.

Hanging from these slots she made, she looked around the large room. A throne was still mounted to what was technically the precise middle of the room.

Next to it, a space was marked for Flandre- that much she knew- but had nothing there.

That must mean the space next to it… was important.

…

Flandre remembered her sister.

Her wings brightly glowing, she thrust herself through the already open hole above the slots, repeating a process she'd repeated before- something she also remembered.

Bam! Boom! Blam!

She began reducing more of the inner rooms to rubble, her limited reason giving way to rage, once again.

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

Sitting nostalgically under an umbrella-adorned table, a tired Keine smiled at the pale blue sky. "...I don't know what happened, but it's snowing again."

"Oh?" A woman sat across from her, looking up from her spell tome. "...Wo~w. I haven't seen that since… wow."

The kids of the village- the few there were- ran around, playing with the cold, white substance that fell from the sky.

"What is this stuff!?"

"Dude- when I was one this happened! Du~de…!"

"Mom told me about this…"

...

"Hey Kosuzu, how many more days until you think everything blows up?" Keine jeered, before slowly rubbing her face with her hands.

"I dunno, Keine." The well-aged Kosuzu smiled at her tome again. "I was gonna give it ten more years, but at this point I really can't say."

...Things fell back into silence as Keine went back to watching the kids play, making sure there were no more assassinations.

…

Then, Keine saw something in the sky. Her brows furrowed.

…

As the object closed in on the village, Keine could tell it was a humanoid.

"Hakurei…?" Keine's brows raised. "Another one of those Hikari-bots, I'm sure."

Keeping still, she waited for the Hikari-shaped droid to close in. With any luck, it would be fooled into thinking she trusted it, so that she could swiftly deal with it in private.

…

Once it touched down on the village roads, however…

"That doesn't look like a regular model…" Kosuzu scratched her cheek.

They let the woman's figure walk towards the table, after it caught its eye. Keine relaxed, noting it wasn't heading straight for the kids, like some Hikari-bots were known to do.

Finally, the aged-looking woman stepped up to the table. "Wo~w. Is that you, Keine? I didn't think youkai aged that badly…"

Keine jerked her head back. "Do I-... know you?"

She jerked her head back. "...We-well, it has been, like… twenty years." She composed herself. "...It's me, Reimu."

…

"Why would you fly here?" Furrowing her brows, Keine was still very skeptical. "You know you can't do that. You'd be shot down."

"That's just it. I didn't see anything on the way here…" Reimu was momentarily thrown off by Keine's hostility, before shrugging it off.

With that, Keine was pretty adamant. "...I don't think you're Reimu."

...

She blinked. "Wh-what?"

"You're not Reimu." Getting up, Keine took a fighting stance, as Kosuzu quickly leapt away from the table, floating away. "Reimu wouldn't do something so careless as fly here in her old age, even if it is snowing again."

…

Reimu smirked. "If you want a fight, fine."

With that Keine ran at her-

"Cautionary Barrier!" Reimu summoned a barrier.

Ti~ng! Keine punched it.

"A-agh…" She shook her hand. "I guess that's still holy magic, then..."

"But!" Tiredly, the elderly Reimu held up her finger. "We do this Gensokyo style."

…

"What?" Keine wasn't sure what she meant by that.

"Four cards." She expected Keine to follow. "You know, spell cards? I'll leave if you win."

…

"Alright…" More unsure of her previous assumption, Keine awkwardly grinned. "...I, um, can't really fly well, anymore. If I fly too long, my power will-"

"I'll use my easy cards, then." Reimu smiled. "C'mon."

…

With that, the two began walking off to a more remote area of the largely abandoned village to have their spell card duel.

...Kosuzu watched on from the sidelines, curious.

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

"There…" Eirin stood from the temporal gate's side. "You four should be all set to go. I don't have to change any settings, the gate is just as I left it thirty years ago."

"Alright." Confidently smiling, Hikari moved for the gate. "Thanks a lot, Eirin."

"Oh, don't thank me." Eirin grinned. "Thank the other me."

...Stopping, she turned to the doctor again. "Will the land ever fully recover?"

Her smile turned more natural. "While those that are dead will never come back, and those alive will never forget, seek solace in that you have saved this timeline from a far worse fate."

'I see…'

"Cool." Osamu nods. "We actually fuckin' did something, for once."

Marigold snorted at his comment. "...Well, I think we're a little more useful than that."

"I'll never forget everything I've seen here." Hiyori smiled. "Or on this journey, either."

…

"Well." Hikari looked into the temporal gate. "Let's go."

"Aight." Osamu moved next to her.

"Don't think too hard, Eirin." Marigold waved at the doctor, moving next to the two.

She snorted in response. "Thinking has never been hard for me."

"Alright…" Stepping up behind the three, Hiyori stood tall.

…

Then, all four moved at once, nimbly running for the portal and leaping in-

Fwoaom!

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

A gap hung open before Yukari Yakumo. Inside, she saw Eirin move to de-activate the portal, now that the party had traveled back to the past.

"...We have a lot of work to do, Ran."

Behind her, her trusted shikigami was carefully inspecting the immense damage their house had taken in their absence.

"Indeed…" Ran sighed. "The barrier has been shattered for some time."

...With that, Yukari closed her gap.

Chen was attempting to sit at a three-legged chair, using her legs to stop herself whenever it tilted to drop her. "How're you gonna fix Gensokyo, Yukari-shama?"

...Slowly, Yukari brought up the cup of water she had fetched for herself up. "Right now, there is little that can be done. Especially since all the land was somehow obliterated."

...The response made her shikigami's shikigami pout. "Awwh…"

"Our best bet…" Yukari considered, "is to wait, for now."

Ran looked over from the smashed stove she was inspecting. "...How long?"

"For mankind to rebuild. Just a little." Yukari slowly nodded her head. "...Perhaps we could stake a claim on the grander scale, this time. It will be a long time before we find a clan similar to the Hakurei that can support our endeavors, I'm sure… though, perhaps I could find some way…" She opened another gap.

Within it, she saw Reimu and Keine leisurely flinging danmaku at one another.

"Perhaps…" Yukari grinned. "The Hakurei might have not outlived their usefulness, yet. It truly is a miracle that Reimu is still alive."

"...I see." Ran nodded, staring at the gap from behind Yukari. "I trust your judgment in this."

…

"I'm just happy our house is still here!" Chen got off the broken chair, and looked around. "...Even if almost all the walls are missing, and the furniture!"

Outside their very smashed kitchen was largely piles of wood, plaster, drywall, and metal. Beyond that was the mounds of overgrown, uneven dirt piles that were kicked up many years ago, and beyond that was the fragmented edges of the pocket dimension, which were there due to the barrier's shattering.

"...Me too." Yukari nodded.

==== GENSOKYOBOUND ====

END OF STORY

Protagonist: Hikari Hakurei, Disciple of Paradise

-Inventory-

Weapon: Aether Gohei - Vastly powerful weapon constructed by the alternate timeline's Marisa Kirisame, who was killed trying to deliver it to her friend Reimu. Immensely increases chance to deal critical hits. Not very agile to use, as it's large and made of many powerful metals. Allows Hikari to jump without interrupting her combo. Inflicts minor wind damage on targets upon combo finisher, potentially air-tossing them. On critical hit, energy lashes out from the gohei to deal damage that bypasses defense to deal direct pain to enemies.

Arms: Nothing

Body: Nothing

Misc: Nothing

-Skills-

Attack: Quickly! Swing your gohei at them for massive damage! Sometimes happens twice from the Jet Black Gohei's dark impulse. Has an additional strike due to Hikari's Shade Sleeves.

PK Fantasy α, β, γ, Ω - Bombards the enemy with pain in the form of flashing colors. Deals magical damage. Heavy mental strain that increases with each tier. Third tier forms a barrier, which breaks upon moderate damage. Final tier is a non-elemental nuke of immense magical power.

PK Flash α, ß, γ, Ω - A bright flash that distributes very random status effects to enemies. Usually makes people cry. Higher tiers increase chances, and introduce possibilities of fainting or dispel. Higher tiers can instantly destroy more varieties of foes, and make people feel weird.

Hypnosis α, Ω - Puts weak enemies to sleep for a short time. Works better on tired or exhausted foes. Can also be used in a far more costly form that works on multiple opponents.

Shield α, ß - Halves damage the target takes. Only works against physical attacks, and enough strikes, or powerful strikes, will dispel it. Higher tier turns it into a power-shield that protects even better and even reflects a fraction of protected damage.

Lifeup α, ß, γ, Ω - Heals target a little. Higher tiers heal more grievous wounds, like bone fractures. Highest tier heals everybody in the party.

Healing α, ß, γ - Heals basic status ailments. Higher tiers can cure more dire effects, like burning alive.

Teleport α, ß - Allows instant transport to the general location of an area remembered by oneself or one's party members. Requires a long, fast run-up to execute, however. Higher tier allows a circular motion to control the run-up instead, giving Hikari more control over the teleport.

Ofuda Toss - Throw a holy ofuda that does massive holy elemental damage to youkai and dark elemental foes. Effect lessens the more holy the thing you're attacking is, to the point of healing holy things. Only works if you actually have ofuda, though.

Cautionary Barrier - Summon a barrier that deflects attacks and magical attacks of all elements. Can be broken by stronger attacks, and is holy elemental.

Lightshine Ofuda - Two ofuda which explode into orbs of light. Area denying holy attack.

Summon Koishi - Using the Heart Gem's power, Hikari summons Koishi Komeiji. Casts three random HK spells on enemies, before using a higher tier one that depends on her current mood. Typically can manage two uses before she's out of mana. Costs sizable mana. Doesn't work across time, apparently.

God's Blessing - With direct prayer to the Hakurei God, Hikari can receive vastly increased abilities in any situation. The time and effect of this form depends on how much faith the Hakurei God has accumulated to spend.

Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω

Mage: Osamu Katsumi, the Wannabe Mage

-Inventory-

Weapon: Lunar Riot Baton - A lunarian riot suppression armament. It saw use in the Genso-Lunar war, and then proceeded to see further use in rebellion suppression and the Giygas-Lunar conflict. Allowed largely only in the lunar capital, and under normal circumstances loses power when not on the civilization's electrical grid, though Eirin knows how to get around this. Deals electrical damage. You can hit yourself with it like an idiot, too.

Arms: Imperial Bracelet - Gives slight knockback resistance. Doubles the strength of the last cast of magic used before running out of mana.

Body: Super Rugged Robe - A sturdy robe enchanted to resist damage. Made partially with sturdy cloth from deep underground. Grants fifty percent resistance to fire elemental damage.

Misc: Rugged Red Mage Hat - A red colored mage's hat made from cloth in the Human Village. Minor resistance to thunder, ice, and fire magic from its well worn usage in the past. Didn't see much action… until Osamu bought it! Grants ten percent resistance to fire elemental damage.

-Skills-

PK Thunder α, ß, γ, Ω - Very random thunder attack that deals limited damage. Higher tiers increase number of bolts, and sometimes power.

PK Hydro α, β, γ, Ω - Gets everyone wet. Usefulness with PK Thunder and PK Freeze depends on whether you hit yourself or not! Creates whirling water spirals at higher tiers.

PK Freeze α, β, γ, Ω - Generates ice crystals at the target's location. Medium damage and effect; may freeze some targets, especially wet ones. Highest tier has a near-guaranteed freeze chance and immense ice damage, at the cost of being very taxing.

Fireball - Manipulate mana to make a shoddy fireball. Low damage and effect.

Static Hands - Not a real spell. Result of a very undercharged PK Thunder that can accidentally go off.

PSI Telepathy α - Speak to friends you haven't met yet! Unstable connection and only works if they have the skill or are asleep.

PSI Shield α, Σ, Ω - Halves damage from magical and psychic attacks. Thunder spells fry it instantly, and harder blows dispel it. Second tier applies basic shield to entire party at higher mana expense.

PSI Magnet α, Ω - Costs no mana to use, and steals a very tiny amount of mana from the enemy. Enemy has to have mana in the first place for it to work, though.

Offense Up α, Ω - Get pissed! Boosts strength and confidence depending on caster's power and receiver's power.

Defense Down α, Ω - Throw the enemy off their game. Makes them slightly more vulnerable to physical attacks.

Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω

Inventor: Marigold Knowledge, the Tri-Magi Love Child

-Inventory-

Weapon: Big Freakin' Gun - A Marigold Knowledge invention. Uses a NF Burst Gun as the base, which irritates the energy core with an inner Pop Gun. Spamming the trigger doesn't make it go any faster, unfortunately. The batteries inside are only there for mana circulation, meaning their power is really inconsequential. The addition of extra parts, blast shielding, and the energy cored turned this into a vastly powerful weapon, capable of shooting a non-elemental arc-lightning ball. The weapon's cooldown is more dangerous than its projectile, the exposure of which rapidly causes enemies to go through violent chemical reactions.

Arms: Stolen Thunder - Electric elemental ring crafted sometime in the distant future. Forged from mysterious, electrical gems and adamantite, it provides one hundred percent electric resistance, granting immunity to electrical damage.

Body: Nothing

Misc: Sun Swirly Glasses - Lets Marigold not be blind. Grants immunity to the effects of PK Flash, and to blinding light attacks. Allows Marigold to stare straight into the sun.

LunarStorage: Recreational Model - Allows extended inventory. No weight limit, but has a huge size limit. Allows Marigold to draw any item she wants, at any time.

Unnamed Lock Opening Device - Opens locks very precariously. Made with steel, burnt cloth, packaging peanuts, thumbtacks, string, and wooden wheels. Don't even ask…

Ruler - Lets you measure the world around you!

Protractor - Lets you find the angles of anything ever. Totally overpowered.

Scotch Tape - Transparent adhesive from the outside world. Weak, but handy!

Deck of Cards - Allows Marigold to play Strip Poker with the party. Just kidding… or am I?

Shield Killer - Electrical device used to subdue harassers. Has settings ranging from Tickle Torture to Arse Blaster. Fires electrical projectiles, of unknown power.

Holmes Brand Designer Hat - Village swag! A retro village hat that ceased production ten years ago. Sells for a pretty penny nowadays, but it's pretty useless otherwise.

Slime Generator - A bulky box that shoots a small splat of slime. Doesn't seem good for much.

Counter-PSI Device - A weird device Marigold found from a flying saucer. Works in strange ways, and seems to disrupt everyone's concentration. Marigold is immune to its effects.

Charm of Sleep - Grants immunity to sleep while equipped, or held. Can be equipped to Arms or Misc.

Moon Beam - A Marigold Knowledge invention. Constructed with a controlled flame crystal and metal parts, it fires a beam of sustained microwave energy that cooks biological foes alive. Fire-elemental at its core, it's also very inefficient against machines. The lens used in it was switched with a Moon Lens, allowing it to instead deal moon-elemental damage and silence foes. Silenced foes are unable to use spells.

Defense Shower - A Marigold Knowledge invention. Made of a broom, a showerhead, some magnets, and uses jars of water as ammo. Slapped together with ofuda, giving it a holy defensive effect. The jars are usually filled with Talcum Powder, for alchemical purposes. The liquid that is dispensed becomes auto-applying lotion.

Heavy Bazooka - An invention developed in part by Kappa Tech and Marigold Knowledge. It shoots heavy fire-based blasts of fire magic, and deals high knockback. It was constructed by stuffing some fire and gravity stones into a tube, adding a cap on one side to direct the fire, and hooking a magical wire to the handle. Nitori did most of the work, though…

Eternal Band - Band made from a time transistor. Allows melee attacks to deal time-elemental damage and statuses.

Spectrum Shotgun - A Marigold Knowledge invention. Filled with foil chip bags to conduct the mana, and it is transmitted into a wind stone. Upgraded to draw mana from a simple wooden block filled with immense magic reserves, giving it virtually unlimited ammo. The addition of a battery and a prism allow it to fire seven rainbow colored beams at a wide spread, which deal non-elemental damage. Firing long enough allows them to focus and deal incredible damage, at the cost of insane recoil and instability. The use of a topaz instead of a prism allows it to fire star-shaped bullets and non-elemental, aimed lasers.

Neutralizer - Unused component of the Fear Irrigation Devices, and invented by Eirin Yagokoro.. When activated, all PSI and magical effects on the battlefield are wiped, including area-denial spells, status effects, buffs and debuffs… everything. Levels the playing field! Affects party members, too.

Jet Black Gohei - The gohei once wielded by Sendai Hakurei no Miko. Theoretically, anyway. Boosts attack power, and critical hit rate. The dark impulse of the gohei frequently allows Hikari to strike twice instead of simply once, even when unprepared. Given to Marigold to hold onto by her friend.

-Skills-

Helped Kill an Eldritch Abomination - ...I mean, that kind of speaks for itself!

Invaded Giygas' Barricades - Not… that he had any.

Struck Her Blade - She doesn't wield a sword-

Saved The Maid - That's not really accurate!

…

Very Skilled - She… she's got a lotta skills, yo, lemme tell ya… I dunno, dude- I dunno if I can list all the skills she possesses!

Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω

Fighter: Hiyori Hashimoto, the Buddhist Oni

-Inventory-

Weapon: Mace of Devas - The last of the four treasures held by the Devas of the Mountain. Ability to whack stuff really hard. Increases critical hit rate by lieu of being a really big, blunt, spiky weapon. Allows partial blocking of magic attacks.

Arms: Shackle of Devas - The first of the four treasures held by the Devas of the Mountain. Grants immunity to sleep-inducing magic. Grants fifty percent resistance to wind and thunder magic.

Body: Kimono of Devas - The second of the four treasures held by the Devas of the Mountain. Grants immunity to paralyzing magic. Grants fifty percent resistance to fire magic. Insanely durable. Has a floral design to it…!

Misc: Bows of Devas - The third of the four treasures held by the Devas of the Mountain. Grants immunity to confusion-inducing magic. Grants fifty percent resistance to ice magic.

-Skills-

PK Starstorm α, Ω - Summons forth the stars from the night's sky to rain down upon enemies. Hits all enemies, and deals high magical damage, at the cost of being highly mentally taxing. Can hit allies if they're in the effective area, as the white stars don't have homing properties. Power proportional to amount of enemies, as well.

PK Fire α, ß, γ, Ω - Creates an igniting blast of flames at the target's location. More impact comes with higher tiers.

PK Freeze α, β, γ - Generates ice crystals at the target's location. Medium damage and effect; may freeze some targets, especially wet ones.

PK Thunder α, ß, γ - Very random thunder attack that deals limited damage. Higher tiers increase number of bolts, and sometimes power.

Shield α, ß, Σ - Halves damage the target takes. Only works against physical attacks, and enough strikes, or powerful strikes, will dispel it. Higher tier turns it into a power-shield that protects even better and even reflects a fraction of protected damage. Highest tier applies a basic shield to the entire party.

Lifeup α, ß, γ - Heals target a little. Higher tiers heal more grievous wounds, like bone fractures.

Healing α, ß, γ, Ω - Heals basic status ailments. Higher tiers can cure more dire effects, like burning alive. Highest tier heals entire party, in addition to dire illnesses and ailments.

Teleport α, ß - Allows instant transport to the general location of an area remembered by oneself or one's party members. Requires a long, fast run-up to execute, however. Higher tier is largely automatic and requires little room to execute.

Martial Arts - Skilled in hand-to-hand combat.

Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω

Author's Note:

well folks

here we are

this is the end of the REGULAR CHAPTERS

(...there's an epilogue coming, so don't touch those dials!)

also extras but don't count on 'em… and they'll likely be cheeky non-canon stuff anyway, like slice-a-lifey things or uberbosses

So… how'd I do, yo? Both on this chapter, and on the whole story thing. 'Cause this story's been a pretty big freakin' journey…!

My first time writing something with an actual planned ending. Can't believe back in like, october of 2015 I was debating writing this after thinking up Hikari for like a few months, but then was like "you know what this has to start existing". And, here we are!

Also, hope this chapter didn't like, kill you, 'cause it's pretty much three times as long as a standard chapter… and the standard chapters ain't slouches in terms of scale, either!

Some things I really tried to do with this fic were incorporate game mechanics and stuff, because I always was into translating the craziness of RPG battles into like, literature I guess, or at least a more literal sense. There's some sort of neatness to it…! I'm really into arcadic things.

The boss fights in here probably kinda took forever, both to write and probably to read, but I think that goes hand in hand with Earthbound's pacing by that point. Although, you probably nuke Porky and Giygas a lot faster than in here because they're the enemies you're saving up the big kaboom for.

I decided to make the Giygas fight as grueling as possible because, when you don't know to pray and you get bad RNG, this is basically what happens, except you die instead of getting saved by a god. Originally, when I was writing this for awhile, I really wanted Hikari and her friends to kill Giygas with just brute force, but close to fighting him I was kinda like "...well, not only is that not really possible, but I also literally didn't have any major plans for this fight despite thinking about it a lot". As a result, it was ki~nda ad lib most of the time! I wasn't sure how I'd write Giygas, how I'd make him interact with anything, or, well… anything. Freakin' eldritch abominations, yo. That, and I had no idea how I'd get the party out of the whole 'Giygas goes nuclear' thing at the end, especially since I wrote out the robot bodies thing from Earthbound. I'm satisfied with the pray thing being replaced with the Hakurei God interaction (...and the fourth-wall molesting it did!) because it wasn't quite how Earthbound did it. I basically didn't want it to be like Earthbound's, mostly because the party traveled to the future, and everyone praying for the party in the future didn't really make sense. At least, not in-universe… Earthbound has a lot of different feels than this work does, 'cause I touch upon the darker side of things a bit more here, being able to acknowledge it sorta literarily, while at the same time presenting it objectively to the audience.

Porky, however, I had plans for, because 'giant mech' gives me something to work with. Although, the only part of the fight I really had planned was the bit where he charges into Hikari and Hiyori and makes them skid along the round arena's walls in a loop for awhile, because 'Porky Means Business!' made me think of that during one of its segments. Oh, yeah- that also gave me the idea for the thing where he walked around jerkily and threw grenades everywhere. Everything else was pretty on-the-spot.

The bionic kraken was just kinda what it was, I thought about it a little beforehand and decided "yes we'll beat that up". I originally planned for them to fight the Final Starman, too, but I figured that'd make things too tedious. We really didn't need another chapter right before the final boss. Oh- my proofreader just reminded me- we pretty much turned the bionic kraken into a boss fountain, partly to make up for everything not dropping loot, and because I wanted some way to shoehorn in the Gutsy Bat / Aether Gohei. He gave the idea for there being more loot inside of it than just the gohei, and I just rolled with it and was like "you know what we're DOIN' THAT YO". So, yeah, we accidentally adapted boss fountains into literary form!

As I write this, I still haven't reread the entire chapter for any critical errors so I've still gotta do that. Honh.

My proofreader's also been a pretty big help with constructing this, in terms of checking ideas and keeping a watchful eye on things. He's also had some pretty good ideas, too! Now that I take a moment to think about it, he was pretty integral to the design of Marigold and Hiyori's characters- pretty much all of Hiyori's conceptualization prior to me writing her. Marigold was a character I obsessed over prior to writing, kinda like Hikari, but my proofreader also had some ideas for her, so that was fun.

So, the rest of this chapter… it was pretty much wrap-up and declining action from the big boss battle. We get to see a freakin'... feral Flandre, and the somewhat blown-away other places of Gensokyo that remained.

I'm not sure how strong my prose has been outside of dialogue, but I'm confident in my dialogue! By that, I mean I'm worried about my prose… but I'm always worried about my prose, so that's not really something new here at all.

I've been writing this chapter for like, the past week.

Now, in terms of all the characters… foreword from here: I'm gonna be talking about the entire story in general now!

When I started writing this, I'd made Hikari very similar to myself, but moreso similar to… I dunno, my real-life identity? Whereas the version of me in Brad in Freakin' Gensokyo was kinda more like my idealized version of myself that I often act like on the internet, I projected kinda a lot of who I was in real life onto Hikari. That's why she swore a bit, and that's where she got some of her sorta blunt humor traits from. As the story went on, I kinda drew more lines between myself and her, partially in the creation of Osamu- more on him later- and generally throughout just playing her role straight in the writing. I wanted to allocate more of her personality into this sort of really cute frankness she has about her, and less into the other things that make me me… because she's not me!

Osamu originated from an innate desire I had to put myself into the story- my Freakin' Gensokyo me. Instead of doing that, because that would've been terrible and super super hard to do with any amount of tact, I went for some nobody instead who kinda acted like a maniac, too. Although, I stripped him of the resourcefulness and the other traits I allowed my other character, and made him more like the kids from my school in that regard. When writing him, I had jocks in mind, Eddy from Ed Edd N Eddy, Donald Duck from those disney shorts, so forth… pretty much short fused characters in general. In this way, he kinda became the dedicated comic relief, which I wanted from him. So, in the end… he turned out to not be terribly like me at all!

Marigold, as I said earlier, I obsessed over the design of. Months prior to writing her in, I'd be listening to Winters' White and some covers of it- particularly that Brentalfloss one for awhile- and sort of visualizing and imagining a believable scenario. As I listened and imagined, I'd connect the dots. Like, "okay, we've got a lonely child in winters- who could be the neglectful parent? would it be someone within the mansion, or outside of it? which fits more thematically?" It's a sort of weird process, but eventually I iron everything out and once I'm really satisfied and pleased with it, I'm just super compelled to write it. I decided to solve the great magi love triangle of Touhou by just making it a threesome. I dunno why it's not always that simple. But anyway- that created a very interesting dynamic of custody, and I decided to amplify Marisa's fickleness and pettiness by having her totally just ditch responsibility for her, for the most part. I suppose I created a pretty screwed dynamic in the end- but that's pretty realistic, I think. I like that.

Still talking about Marigold! I decided to give her super-resourcefulness, which also comes inherently with a ton of inventory space. When I think about it like that, it might seem like I was transferring my Freakin' Gensokyo guy's mechanics over, but I actually had Jeff from Earthbound more in mind when doing that… mostly because Marigold's smarter than me when it comes to science and magic pretty much all the stuff that goes into building makeshift guns in Gensokyo. This is what an actual education from Patchy can get you! Although, the crazy improvisation definitely came from her own volition. There's also the fact I made her not able to use magic to keep in line with Jeff, because I thought that was pretty neat. That actually has an explanation, too, although since I never explained it in-story I don't think, you can probably consider it a "just because" thing.

Hiyori~. When it came to making a fourth party member, I had no idea who I was gonna put in that slot. My first idea I liked was perhaps someone from Hakugyokurou- maybe Youmu's potential daughter, or something. I was about to say my proofreader suggested that, but then he informed me that he didn't! Aaa~h! What he did suggest, though, was an oni. At first I was thinking to myself, "how the hell would that work", but considering Poo from Earthbound comes from literally bumfuck nowhere, I was like "actually that WORKS". Provided, she's not a kid/late teen; I wrote around that by giving her a severe alcohol addiction! Them oni, yo… but for clarification, I'll say that she didn't have any real alcohol problem (compared to oni norms), but she didn't like how getting shitfaced kinda made her shitbrained too, so she got out. That, and the oni city doesn't have a lot of books. Or schools. It's more accurate to say she's a recovering alcoholic now, I'd suppose.

I also got no idea why they've not somehow evolved to be super geniuses with those lifespans. I didn't write Japanese folklore, yo…

Hiyori ended up with a variant of blunt humor a lot of stoic characters get. It's fun. Oh, yeah- oni can actually cast magic and spells and shit, they totally have mana pools- decent ones, too- but y'know… when you can lift entire buildings over your head and chuck them like boxes, you don't really need to know a lot of magic! That said, Hiyori admittedly has a bit less physical strength than notable onis. She's more or less on par with the garden variety, if not a little under since she hasn't been keeping up with strength training and is more into trying to get into magic, now.

...Now, then.

I've looked back at my first chapter!

Boy, was I shit when I first wrote this. I remember being proud of that chapter, too! And I still am- I think it's that opening- but I've revised it because I couldn't live with the rest of it. Plot's all the same, I just added different flavor and made things make more sense and took out times when thought/my mannerisms bled into the prose.

Also, PK beam no longer exists there, yo. It will be missed.

The revised chapter's been uploaded, by the way, but it's not really worth checkin' out for the sake of checkin' it out. At least, I don't think so.

That reminds me- I wanted a good Porky quote in my first chapter to book-end with Porky's appearance here, but I couldn't find one. I made him say a lot of things that needed to stay in their respective contexts!

I still need to probably revise like the first seven chapters of this, which I'll do eventually, just to see how I can improve on my old crap, and to boost reader retention.

...So, yeah.

Plot pacing: look in vague direction of where it's supposed to go in terms of Earthbound's plot, and then try to steer things and characters in that direction. Tha~t's about it.

Oh, yeah! I should talk about all the chapter titles, up until now. Just to explain their madness to those curious.

Rise And Shine, Hakurei - "Rise and shine, Freeman" - G-man, Half-Life 2

One Small Step for Hakurei - "One small step for man... one giant step for mankind!" - Neil Armstrong, moon landing.

Hakurei Fight Night 2016: Starring Noobs - I~ did not derive this as a reference to anything, except maybe stereotypical WWE fight titles or something. It amused me, yo...

Happy Hakurei Blues - No real reference, except maybe to Blues. Just a generic original title indicative of chapter content.

On The Highway To Hakurei - "We're on the hi~ghway to Hell!" - AC/DC - Highway To Hell.

Hakurei Hospital: Dead from the Neck Up - Reference to the saying I heard repeatedly in Ed Edd N Eddy, "dead from the neck up". Also a reference to generic hospital horror-esque names.

Hakurei of the Hill - "King of the Hill", common game mode title and also a show.
Of Magi and Hakurei - "Of Mice and Men", a book by John Steinbeck about some doofs in old America.

Hakurei Hideout - I don't think there was a reference here...?

Natural Hakurei Exterminator - Natural Killer Cyborg, an enemy in Mother 3... I'm pretty sure everyone got a lot of these!

Super Hakurei Sunshine - Super Mario Sunshine, yeah.

Hakureivania: Symphony of the Afternoon - "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night", an awesome game by Konami and developed by the mighty Koji Igarashi. S'good!

Hakureivania: Dance of Illusions - A nod to Dracula's boss theme in the Castlevania series, because Remilia got beat up this chapter.

Hakurei: Microwave on High - Microwaving instructions!

The Hakurei in the Sky keeps on Turning - "The Wheel in the Sky keeps on Turning", a song by Journey. Heard it in my car radio incessantly, but it's okay I guess.

The Sky, The Earth, and the Hakurei - Oof, typo in grammar... but there was no real reference in mind. Does make me think of a similarly named name to a Katamari Damacy OST.

Hakurei Metal - "Heavy Metal", the genre.

Heart of Hakurei - "Heart of Fire", Julius Belmont's theme in later Castlevania games, and also the same name of a different track that inspired that song in the previous classicvania games.

Hakurei on the Rocks - "X on the rocks" is kinda a common generic phrasing for drinks served at bars. It means the drink has ice in it!

Mind, Heart, and Hakurei - No real reference, aside from generic "mind heart and body" phrases as inspiration.

Hakurei Fried Chicken - Kentucky Fried Chicken, yeah. Freakin' Okuu, yo.

Hakurei Sobriety Patrol - "Samurai Abstinence Patrol", a song by Ninja Sex Party. Yeah.

Achievement Hakurei - "Achievement Hunter", the~... people who play games and might be a company! They hunt achievements, as their name might suggest...!

Hakurei in the Lamp - "Genie in the Lamp", stock thing.

Hakurei Tracking - "Backtracking", the game concept. Eheh...

Travels To The Hakurei - "Travels to the North", a song by Phyrnna for Epic Battle Fantasy III. Fun game!

Fragments of Hakurei - "Fragments of Sorow", a song in Kingdom Hearts I and II, played in the End Of The World section in one, and I totally forget where in two.

The Cliff That Hakurei Forgot - "The Cliff that Time Forgot", theme of... its namesake, in Earthbound.

We Dream of Hakurei - "We Dream of Booty", another song by Phyrnna for a sea area in Epic Battle Fantasy III.

Hakurei to the Future - "Back to the Future", the movie.

Hakurei Utopia - "Private Utopia", a really grim and atmospheric MMD short about Satori and Koishi after the world ended, it seems.

H,,,A,,,K,,,U,,,R,,,E,,,I - Reference to how Giygas talks. I wanted to use periods, but the site obliterates them, so I had to not.

...I've run out of things to say, for now! I'm gonna let my proofreader speak. By the way- don't forget to catch the epilogue!

Ω-Ω-Ω-Ω

Actual Proofreader's Note:

I like how the google doc for this got so big that it lags every now and then.

Proofreading this was fun, mostly because I got to add my own ideas quite a lot, and influence the story several times. As a reminder: if I wasn't proofreading this, there wouldn't be bits of Marigold's backstory, the Microwave Gun, Hiyori would probably be something else entirely, large chunks of certain chapters and dialogue would be different or not be there, and the Mr. Saturn replacements would fluffles instead of yukkuris.

Yeah.

For the characters, I didn't have much influence in Hikari or Osamu, my contribution in Marigold was mostly that she does have an incredibly large mana pool but due to the… circumstances, of her birth, she was born with a birth defect where she can't conduct magic, rather than just straight up having no magic.

But Hiyori was almost entirely me, she was born out of my like for characters that go against their racial traits for the most part, and you can't get much more different than a buddhist oni. Sometimes I feel like the author doesn't quite represent how I imagined her, mostly in her dialogue, but it's whatever. For a definitive idea on what her horns look like, they're supposed to look like oryx horns. One of our friends actually drew art of what she looks like but is a bitch when it comes to linking shit, maybe we'll put it on that website that the author is making, oh yeah, by the way, the author is making a website.

It was nice doing this for you guys, I am going to miss proofreading this, and if anymore of you actually read this, I hope you enjoyed it, laters.

==== and now the author is talking again ====

I suppose this is goodbye for now, yo. As always, though, I'll see you all… next time!