Chapter 18: Gensokyo's Kokoro
An all-out brawl between the rescue squads for Kokoro and Yukari's forces continued to occur across the foggy realm of the Mayohiga. With no end in sight, each side pushed themselves to their absolute limits. Some fought for the one they cared for, others did it out of loyalty towards their master, but the strongest emotions came from one Tenshi Hinawani. With her blade, the legendary Hisou no Tsurugi, she sent a flurry of cuts towards the phantasm Yukari, trying to send her off of this plain of life to rescue Kokoro.
But Yukari was crafty, using gaps and simple glides across the air to dodge each attack no matter how widely they were spread. She did not acknowledge Tenshi's presence with anything more than a lax glance and a smirk, refusing to fight back. Tenshi was trying her best, of course, but Ran's earlier assault had weakened her swings.
"Celestial…I'm waiting for you to try." Yukari playfully said after a minute of dealing with this futility. Tenshi grit her teeth and with blade bright and holy she swung straight down with enough force to cleave a skyscraper, but with a widened smile Yukari disappeared into a gap and put Kokoro in the path. With a jerk of her arms the blade was stopped inches away from the head of the menreiki, the energy dispersing in sparkles.
Tenshi's wobbling grimace stalled her enough for Yukari to appear behind her. Launching her first attack from the same gap, Yukari watches as Tenshi was blown forth by a swirling crystal blue laser. After she tumbled along the ground for a few seconds, the Celestial swung around and landed on her feet. Smoke smoldered from her back and she looked at Kokoro, who Yukari turned around with a swing of the hand.
Her face was blanketed with stoicism, but Tenshi knew better when looking into those eyes. She was in pain, the ghastly hands lodged deep into her skull. The Celestial wanted to free her from the pain, but with her body scarred and Yukari with nary a scratch the hope on Tenshi's face slowly sank away. She did, however, have an idea in mind…
"Kokoro! Damn it all…! I know you can hear me! You have to fight back with everything you've got! I can't do this alone, and everyone else is struggling to fend off this witch's forces! Your mother and father have been turned into abominations for gods sake!" Tenshi emphasized her anger by swinging her free arm out, painstakingly yelling out to her friend. Yukari flew between her and Kokoro and said "Why do you assume…that your words will reach her?"
Yukari then unleashed a barrage of lasers from dozens of gaps, forcing Tenshi on the defensive. She could only swing her sword out until a stray laser grazed her leg and brought forth enough pain to drop the Celestial onto her gut, the remaining lasers bombarding down without mercy. From behind Yukari, Kokoro's right eye suddenly twitched.
As Tenshi kept losing ground, things were a little more optimistic for the other combatants. With their bodies tiring to the point of lines showing up under their eyes and their clothes drenched in blood and sweat, the Buddhists and Taoists had managed to weaken the 'Shadows' of Byakuren and Miko enough that anything could topple them over. With a combination of a screaming echo from Kyouko and a punch from Unzan, Byakuren's Shadow collapsed hardly onto the ground and heaved up a ring of dirt.
Then, it was Futo and Tojiko's flames and lightning that struck Miko's Shadow so hard that after a prolonged screech the titan fell face first. Their bodies covered by a hollow swarm of darkness, the 'Shadows' disappeared and Byakuren and Miko laid in their place. They both kneaded at the ground and weakly pushed themselves up. Once on their knees they were greeted by Shou and Futo respectively.
"S-Shou…? When did you…Hrggh!" Byakuren grips her right hand arm tightly and wobbles to the side, the tiger holding her up with shaky hands. With some tears in her eyes Shou stated "D-Do not move Lady Hijiri. Let me use the last of my strength to tend to your wounds."
The tiger's magic went into effect as Byakuren surveyed the area. The conflict going on behind alerted her of what was going on. "The vampire…? H-How badly has this gotten, Shou?" She inquired, hesitant to see where Kokoro was. Shou bit her lower lip and replied "We appear to have received some help, but…We've made no progress in saving Kokoro."
With head hung Byakuren said "All because my heart was weak…That witch exploited it, turning me into that monster that could've nearly killed all of you. Shou, forgive me, I do not deserve to be a Buddhist…" Shou exclaimed "I will hear none of that from you of all people, Lady Hijiri! We have not lost this fight…We have not lost Kokoro!"
Byakuren looked around and saw that her other followers could barely stand. When Shou was done, her and Miko would be the only ones able to fight from this side. Byakuren looked over her shoulder and with a frown said "We just charged into this battle for Kokoro's sake. I didn't expect it to go this badly…Perhaps we should've asked the Hakurei maiden for help."
"H-Heh…You think she would've? This is no 'incident', Hijiri. This is our problem, this is what WE have to deal with. B-But…Hrk…" Miko gripped her left shoulder as Futo used magic on her wounds, and with a chuckle the Crown Prince mentioned "Let us heal up first. I have faith in the Celestial standing up for Kokoro until we can join back in."
"Lady Mamizou has brought a weapon that could potentially destroy Yukari…But she's being stalled by the kitsune. It might be better to try and offer assistance than attack the witch directly, Lady Hijiri." Shou offered with a respecting bow, and Byakuren and Miko both agreed to that plan.
Though as far as Mamizou was concerned, she was keeping up with Ran's onslaught of attacks despite having one arm to move. Ran swept back and forth around the tanuki's body, trying to strike the arm holding the spear. Mamizou spun to swipe with her sword, deflecting every blow perfectly and even breaking a couple of Ran's nails.
The kitsune flipped back and lashed a claw out, exclaiming bitterly "Yet again you prove to be a pest for Lady Yukari! Damn you, tanuki!" Mamizou smiled as she spun the spear behind her, commenting with a bit of arrogance and joy "I do have a name, ya know. Also, if you really think even this spear makes her flinch…Then you are more ignorant than I thought, doggy."
Ran thrust forward and went for Mamizou's neck, but she dropped her sword and grabbed the wrist. After a twist to break the bones the tanuki threw the kitsune against the ground and spun to pick her sword up, remarking "Yet again you just yip yip yip…Maybe if you spent less time barking and more time thinking, you'd realize what a fool you are."
Ran pulled herself up and swiped the blood from her wrist, gritting her fangs and saying "With the explicit warnings Lady Yukari dared to give you, you truly have the GALL to call me the fool. You wish to damn this world?!" Mamizou lowered her head and her eyes hid behind the fog on her lens, denying Ran the ability to fully grasp her expression.
"Even if that witch is right, and destruction is coming to this world." Mamizou raised her sword in front of her and said "I shall take this sword and spear, and stab the destroyer through his burning heart! …And of course, I will do this after I paint it with the blood of your master."
"Heheh, and then there'd be nothing stopping you from making Gensokyo YOUR paradise, isn't that right tanuki?" Ran said with a sly grin, and Mamizou shrugged before replying "I love Gensokyo as much as anyone else who accepts it."
"Right…Keep telling yourself that lie." Ran said before continuing the battle with haste and determination. But as she charged for the tanuki she was blasted with a massive thunderbolt from above. The sky spasmed with light as Ran's fur was briefly fried, then the kitsune looked right and saw Patchouli standing with her book at the ready. Her pajamas were ripped quite a bit and Chen was on the ground beside her unconscious. The librarian's presence got a smile from the tanuki.
"Ah, I didn't necessarily require the back-up."
Patchouli replied with some snark "You get it anyways" and then raised a hand to the kitsune, who scowled like the cornered fox she is.
"You can try to claim you are on the side of justice, but then you had to go and kidnap a child…" Patchouli said, but after a dry snicker Mamizou said "Perhaps a vampire's friend should not be mentioning that."
"…You know, we could play for the other team at any time." Patchouli said calmly, and after another snicker the tanuki rolled between the librarian and the attacking kitsune to stop her with an uppercut to the chest.
"Eh, lets worry about what matters." Mamizou blew the kitsune away after that casual but pressing comment, and Ran was thrown through a couple houses. Along the way she passed between the battle against Remilia and Yuyuko, which was of course going in the vampire's favor. With her divine spear Gungnir, the vampire had the advantage in range and was able to pierce all the butterflies Yuyuko sent her way.
Yet throughout the battle, in opposition to Remilia's enjoyment and frenzy, Yuyuko smiled and loftily floated around, taking every hit in stride no matter how painful it appeared to be. Waving a bright fan before her face, Yuyuko remarked as Remilia continued the assault "You know, I must take grievance with you choosing this course of action, Remilia."
"Heh, yeah, I'll admit this is going to make it harder to get a steady supply of food, but it was either this or see my sister cry cause she lost her buddy. Personally I'll make do with some starvation, especially since it'll put that stupid witch in her place." Remilia said while rapidly swinging her spear around, slicing apart the houses while the only defense Yuyuko could offer was a swarm of exploding butterflies to put a slight distance between the two.
"You're going on the mentality that Yukari needs to be punished for something. What she's doing isn't necessarily 'wrong', persay. Even from a vampire's perspective, you could not comprehend what her mentality is." Yuyuko said before landing atop a rickety roof, and Remilia swung her arms and wings out to proclaim "Blah blah blah, that's loser talk!"
With a swing of her spear she throws it right ahead, ripping apart the fog and forcing Yuyuko to flip over it. The ghostly princess landed on the ground and strolled towards the vampire with the fan hiding her pondering expression.
"What's ultimately 'right' for Gensokyo is more important to her than what's 'right' in the sense of black and white morality. You'd perhaps be wise to take that into consideration before you make a mistake you'll regret for the rest of your long life." Yuyuko stopped just perfectly away from the length that Remilia's Gungnir could reach as it was recalled. When she folded her fan up, the ghost princess commented "I'll be honest…We were hoping to use your sister as an asset to stop the coming threat, but I suppose you have made that almost impossible."
Remilia's eyes widened and then she thrust Gungnir into Yuyuko with all of her might, smashing the spear apart and creating a massive crimson explosion that the ghost was blown out of right away. She was thrown against the side of a building, wobbling on the ground once she pulled off. With a slight smile Yuyuko lifted her head up as Remilia charged out of the smoke enraged. All it took was a swing of the arms to summon forth a magical seal that protected Yuyuko from the attack, discharging pink electricity that left the vampire paralyzed.
"G-Ghhhhh…!" Remilia was frozen in place as the seal vanished, but her tenacity was undoing the paralysis very quickly. Yuyuko gently laid her fingers on the vampire's arms and said "Well, I've said all I needed to. It was nice to get out of the house for once, but I must get back before dinner time. Oh, but before I say farewell vampire…"
Yuyuko's fingers released a seal of energy that crawled across Remilia's arms and glowed bright pink, and a moment later the skin began to crack apart. A moment later, Remilia was blown away by her arms being destroyed, the explosion cast in a pale radiance that shadows the lack of emotion on Yuyuko's face. Remilia experienced genuine pain as she skid along the ground and looked at the stubbles that were now left of her arms.
As the vampire looked at her Yuyuko held a fan out and commented "I would rather your regenerative abilities not be a thorn in Yukari's side for the moment, so I have temporarily 'killed' your arms. You can express your frustrations about it later, sorry to say." Yuyuko quickly glided off to pick up Youmu, who had managed to knock Sakuya out before falling unconscious, and Remilia was left with an unbearable amount of pain in her arms.
"S-Shitty ghost princess…C-Can't believe you pulled this on me." Remilia scowled for a little bit as the pain brought her to her knees, but then she grinned and started laughing in a slightly unhinged manner "B-But if you think that this'll keep me down, then you underestimate Remilia…Q-Queen of…the…Niiii-" The vampire collapsed onto her stomach a second after. Her comrades had already fallen as well, leaving just Mamizou, Byakuren, Miko and Tenshi to stand against Yukari.
However, to say Tenshi was a combatant was a hopeful gesture towards the outmatched Celestial. Yukari was still unharmed, her trickery able to match every ounce of brute force that Tenshi offered with her blade. The Celestial was too tired to even be frustrated, yet she continued to fight a battle for reasons even she was beginning to call into question. Yukari saw the confusion mixed amongst the frustration and remarked coldly after slipping into a gap.
"Is your life really worth more than the menreiki's safety? Are you truly willing to die for the freedom of another?"
Tenshi paused and caught her breath, answering to the best of her ability between each inhale and exhale "O-Of course not! Why the hell would I ever want to die?! T-That's why I'm taking Kokoro back with me!" Blood was dripping from her forehead and the sides of her mouth, yet her determination was stronger than any laser or mind game Yukari could play.
With a brief survey, Yukari could see who still stood amongst the battlefield, including the approaching Byakuren, Miko and Mamizou. Then she closed her eyes, putting her parasol within a gap and then folding her hands atop her lap as she sat loftily atop another gap and kept Kokoro directly behind her. The tanuki grimaced and she held the spear tightly, murmuring to Byakuren and Miko "You will need to get her out of the way…I cannot guarantee this not also hitting Kokoro."
Yukari quickly said "Scheming yet again, tanuki of Futatsuiwa? Well let me just mention that I have no attention of peeling the menreiki away from me, seeing as you hold the one thing that could kill me in your hand. So perhaps, instead, you should shut up and listen to what I have to say…Or rather, what I'm going to mention again since you have failed completely at bringing this up to the others."
"Pfff, you're choosing to pin the blame on me for not believing your maddening fairy tale. Fine, if you're going to be that way, then I'll be the one to speak out." Mamizou said as Byakuren and Miko looked back at her.
"You see, the witch firmly believes that a being called 'The Phoenix of Destruction' will come to Gensokyo sometime soon and bring about the end of everything. I'm going to guess she already gave you some spiel about Kokoro's power being necessary to stop this mythical being?"
"W-Well about that…When this is said and done, we're going to have to catch you up on the fact that Kokoro's an incarnation of a goddess." Miko commented weakly, and Mamizou widened her eyes and said with some exasperation "…E-Excuse me?"
"Fufufu, yes, yet again something slipped the grasp of your understanding. At this point I can't even find that commendable but rather pathetic, Mamizou." Yukari said with scorn unlike what she usually uses.
"That doesn't matter right now! How could you claim that something is going to come and destroy our world?!" Byakuren proclaimed with an arm swung out, and Yukari responded as gently as she could "Claim? …I am growing weary of being called a guesser, a false prophet, or perhaps the cruelest of all…A liar. Do you believe that we'd be standing here facing each other down if I was acting on paranoia?"
"He WILL come. And you can either lie down and wait to die like a dog, or you can accept my warnings and allow me to give us a fighting chance." Yukari said, though her mannerisms were not that of a woman begging.
"Shut up! You're out of your goddamn mind if you expect us to believe that you're fighting for anything but your own selfish ends!" Tenshi exclaimed, and Yukari brought a laser down before her to scare her off.
"Enough of your insults, Celestial. I have grown tired of these games. Have I EVER been against Gensokyo? Did I not put a barrier around this place to keep the Youkai from disappearing? Was it not I who helped forged the Spell Card Rules that keep death to the barest minimum? Was it not I who stood twice against the Lunarian menace and survived? Gensokyo is my home, I love it with every fiber of my being…"
"And you can keep loving it as much as you want, but you'll do so in whatever Hell the Yama will provide to you. We're taking Kokoro back, and you'll never use another one of us as a pawn again." Mamizou firmly said, nudging forward only for Yukari to remind her of Kokoro's presence with a gesture. Then the tanuki stalled, with Yukari stating coldly "…It's really saddening to watch you fight the truth like this. Kokoro will not be let go, there is nothing you can do unless you accept my offer to give up."
"NEVER!" The four said together, and Byakuren proclaimed right after "Kokoro is my daughter! I have been a fool to not treat her better as a mother should…I ignored what was going on and because of this she suffers at your hand!"
"As the Crown Prince, it is my duty to care for one's people as though they are your children…As a father, it is my duty to give as much care and attention to a child as I can without suffocating them. I was also a fool, even more so than Hijiri, for ignoring Kokoro as much as I had. This is not just a rescue mission, but a chance to start making things right for my daughter!"
"And you already know my side of things, you damn witch!" Tenshi proclaimed, her Hisou no Tsurugi brightening enough to dwarf the sun in the sky, and the fog cleared. Yukari shook her head and opened up dozens of glowing gaps around her, remarking with quiet bluntness "Then I'll save you the trouble of dying later, fools."
Once more, Kokoro twitched, but if one were to look inside her consciousness it would be clear why that is. Her mind, represented by her paling body, was wrapped in a chrysalis of Yukari's phantom hands, forced to watch through a hazy screen as those who cared for her were attacked without mercy by Yukari's incredible power.
Kokoro's eyes were blank and she could let out a whimper of "M-M-Mommy…D-D-Daddy…M-M-Mamizou…T-Ten…s-shi…" She couldn't move her arms or legs, her mouth was stiff and useless for little beyond breathing. Her body perfectly mirrored what she could and couldn't do outside, and the atmosphere for her mind was cold and lifeless.
Lowering her head, Kokoro could only offer a single word "S-Sorry…" and slunk into the farthest reaches of depression. As her eyelids sank though, a faint voice echoed into her mind.
"I know you can hear me…You have to fight back!" For a moment a spark of life got Kokoro to raise her head just a bit, murmuring the person's name "T-Tenshi…?" before the phantom hands gripped tighter. With a weak grunt, Kokoro was to sink back into depression before more voices called out.
Byakuren, Miko and Mamizou's words rung true in her mind, leaving no doubt of how strong their desire to fight was. And from this desire, from these strong emotions, Kokoro felt a bit of energy pouring into her. She was able to lift her head up enough to watch as Byakuren and Miko were blasted away by a particular powerful laser, yet even still they pressed on. Byakuren activated her Superhuman spell and charged Yukari, actually managing to land a punch on her face and blowing her to the ground.
Kokoro could not observe the pursuit, but the fierce determination in her mother's eyes was inspiring and got her to raise her voice and say "G-Go get her mom!" with noticeable emotion. But then Byakuren was blown back and Yukari quickly appeared back where she was before using a gap. Kokoro's strength waded again, only brought up by Miko and Tenshi slicing Yukari simultaneously.
"Y-You can win! P-Please, you have to win!" Kokoro exclaimed with more energy and emotion than before. Then the phantom hands loosened just enough for Kokoro to weakly hold a hand out towards the screen, but when the phantom hands had their energy again they forced the hand back in. Kokoro could only offered a light struggle until the hands gripped her tightly.
"Hrrnnngh…They're fighting so hard…All for a fool like me…" Kokoro bemoaned without emotion as she hung her head.
"Hey hey! Kokoro, what happened to all of your energy? You're not going to do anything just being a mopey mopey menreiki!"
Kokoro lifted her head up and murmured "F-Flandre?" and saw the little vampire hovering a fair distance away, arms held behind her back and the cutest smile on her face.
"H-How are you here?" Kokoro inquired, and the vampire replied to that inquisitiveness with a flutter of her wings and a cheery remark of "Silly, this is your mind. I'm just a fragment of your conscious! I guess since you chose me, I should be flattered!"
"But how…?"
"You shouldn't be asking how I got here, you should be asking how you're still stuck in this mess." Flandre said with a finger before her grinning fangs.
"I-I'm not able to escape. And I deserve to be here…I was useless, just another obstacle dragging my friends and family into trouble because I can't make the right decisions." Kokoro slunk her head and Flandre quickly responded "I didn't come here for your pity party Kokoro. You have to fight back, you have the power to get out of this!"
"M-My power…?" Kokoro remembered what she used against Tenshi and Remilia, and with a biting of her lower lip she quivered and said "It's frightening…"
Flandre raised her brows and murmured "Really? You helped me accept my powers more and you want to pull the 'fear' card on me? Why should you fear your power? Because you act differently than you usually do? So maybe you're a little angrier and fiercer…" With a shrug of her shoulder and wave of the arms she continued "But everything else about you is still the same! Just that kind-hearted if not a bit naïve Hata no Kokoro…"
"But I don't want people to think of me as something to fear!" Kokoro exclaimed suddenly, widening her eyes as Flandre paused and let her speak out "I-It's…It's just that I caused two incidents already. I keep trying to say that the things I do are to make up for that, b-but I'm just worried about how they perceive me."
"They don't perceive you as a threat Kokoro! If they did, why would you have so many strange and wonderful friends?!" A new voice called out, this time it was Koishi floating down beside Flandre, flapping her arms at a rate faster than a birds' wings. The satori stated while folding her arms back "You can't let your fears get the best of you! After all, I can already see that you planned to see and make a friend out of me! How can you just give up when you have that to look forward to?"
"Koishi…" Kokoro was surprised by their presence and the warmth that accompanied their otherwise empty form. But with head yet again hung she whispered "It's not right…Someone so blind to this trickery doesn't deserve to see you."
"But you are seeing me. Everyday I'm a part of your memories, just like Flandre, just like your mother and father, just like everyone else!" Koishi floated over and swung her arms up, wanting to hug Kokoro but the phantom hands pushing her back. After a surprised expression Koishi stated "So how can you be useless? How can you be feared? A person with so many friends and all these memories to carry them on couldn't possibly be either of those things!"
"K-Koishi…?" Kokoro said after thinking for a bit, with the satori saying "Yah?" and the menreiki remarked "H-Heh…It's true, you're probably right."
"But this power…I could unleash it, but then what if I can't control it? I-I'm…" Flandre and Koishi approached the menreiki and held hands. With a gentle glow surrounding their bodies that was filled with warmth, they approached the barrier around the phantom hands and pushed through it, the barrier rippling at the seams as the two touched the hands.
"You're someone with a lot of people who can help. We'll all be there…To help you, or to stop you. If they were going to give up on you, they wouldn't be here." The two said in unison, and for the first time in a while Kokoro looked up at the screen and saw that even with their bodies breaking down from the strain of fighting Yukari's overwhelming might…They still stood. Their knees did not give in, their fists and weapons were still raised, and their voices rang out for Kokoro to hear.
She did not need to register each and every detail. Their love was clearer than the light of the morning sun and their warmth just as great. They cared for her, and by god she cared for them just as strongly. With teeth clattering in a frown of disappointment, Kokoro sniffled and said "I-I was about to give up…and let all their efforts go to waste. I was counting on them, b-but they are counting on me too! This isn't just their fight, it's mine…no, all of our fight!"
Some blue fire radiated around Kokoro and pushed against the phantom hands as they squeezed tighter than ever before. With an expression of fiery determination Kokoro exclaimed "Get off of me! My family and friends are waiting!" Koishi and Flandre grinned and said with a fiery in their eyes matching Kokoro's own "Don't worry about that detail! Like you said, this is OUR fight!"
Flandre clenched her hand tightly and some of the phantom hands exploded immediately. Koishi tugged at more of them but her strength was not suited for this. Kokoro watched as more hands lashed out to restrain her, including wrapping around her mouth to silence her cries of rage. But then the phantom hands were ripped apart, tugged from their location by the last bastion of hope that the menreiki needed.
Every person she had seen and cared about, including the likes of Remilia, banded together to tear apart the phantom hands. All these forces working together ripped through these defenses in a matter of seconds, but once their job was done they could only give Kokoro a brief smile before vanishing from her mind. A pale blue light filled the space as Kokoro, with aura flaring with emotion, landed on the ground.
She lifted her head to find the sight of a familiar mask in front of her.
"T-T-The Mask of Hope?" Kokoro couldn't believe what she was seeing, when she held her hand out to touch the mask it floated away, ending up in the cribbed embrace of the last person Kokoro was expecting to see.
It was the person Kokoro had seen in the reflection of in Kuriya…Rather, Yukari's mirror. This beautiful and lithe figure was Kokoro's future self, yet as they lifted their head up they gave a name in the most elegant of voices "Kokoro-no-Okami."
"…Huh?" Kokoro muttered as the person cradled the Mask of Hope under their right arm and said "That is my name, is it not? Though, even as my incarnation, you would not remember that even after I told you."
Kokoro paused, words fleeting her mind and thus unable to reach her lips. The person waved the Mask of Hope out and commented in fascination "To rebuild an entire mask…You have truly found a hope stronger than what you originally before, Hata no Kokoro."
"Wait!" Kokoro's sudden exclamation got the goddess to lift her head up and smile, listening as the menreiki asked "I-I thought you were my future self? That's what the mirror showed…"
"Past, present, and future…What an ethereal thing for a goddess to worry about." Said goddess brushed the side of her hair and continued on to say "But to be specific in this example, the mirror you saw shows people their past. It just so happened to work in Yukari's favor."
"…You know her?" Kokoro inquired with a cautious glare.
"Even to those who existed at the time when faith was at it's strongest, Yukari was right to have her title as the Phantasm of Gensokyo. But, I do not wish to bore you with a history lesson, not when your friends need your help, Hata no Kokoro."
"You can't just show up and leave it at that! Why do you look like me? Why are you here?!" Kokoro swung her hands out begging for answers, yet the reply came swiftly as the goddess lifted her arm and pushed the Mask of Hope out "I look like you because I was the you that existed before now…But to be fairer as an explanation, you should know what an incarnation is, right?"
When the menreiki nodded her head, the goddess continued "As for why I'm here, your abundant hope is to thank. As I said, it is impressive that you were able to construct your own mask after it had been thought lost forever. But of course, if your emotions are strong enough for that purpose…" Suddenly a pike shot forth from the goddess' hand and pierced the Mask of Hope, shattering it to nothing.
Kokoro's devastated expression could barely be described, and yet deep down there was this almost relieved look in her eyes. The goddess smiled and finished "…Then you don't need the mask." The energies of the mask went into her spike, turning it golden with a radiance beyond imagination. Then the pike was given to Kokoro, who took it and held it's raw power without flinching.
"Right now though, your friends need you to channel that hope. Use it, and save them all from their fate." The goddess put her hands back and smiled, and with Kokoro lifting her head up she nodded and proclaimed "I will…! Mommy, daddy, Tenshi, Mamizou…Everyone will make it through this!"
The goddess closed her eyes and said "Thank you then, for not giving up. You have grown to be your own person, Hata no Kokoro, and as much as I'd like to return to this world and share emotion with all who live in it…That wouldn't be fair to those bonds you've built, the lessons your learned…The identity you forged with those two little hands. Continue to grow Kokoro, and never lose that precious sense of self. After all, you have always had plenty of 'Heart'!"
That voice echoed as Kokoro carried herself back to reality with a smile that turned into a determination within seconds…
In the Mayohiga, the fog dispersed away, blanketed by flashes of blue light coming from behind a surprised Yukari. Everyone still standing gazed in awe as the phantoms hands binding Kokoro cracked and then shattered into nothing, a powerful blue flamed aura forming around the menreiki as her eyes were no longer devoid of emotion. A fire burned bright in them that matched her aura, and grasped in her hands were two pikes. The golden pike of Hope and the crimson pike of Rage were her weapons of choice as she stood tall in mid-air and glared down at the turned Yukari.
The Youkai said naught a word as the menreiki grit her teeth and started off with quiet bitterness "You're done playing with people like they're your puppets…!" Then her rage exploded in a powerful echo, her aura spreading out so fiercely until it smashed against the sky of this strange realm. Then, Kokoro exclaimed with a frenzy that goes completely against her nature "YOU WON'T LAY A HAND ON MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY AGAIN. YOU'RE DEAD, YUKARI!"
Next Time: One Versus Sixty-Six