"W-who are you?" Kisume asked, popping her head out of her bucket, looking scared.
Rumia figured it made sense that Kisume didn't recognize her. She hadn't gone underground to see Satori and Koishi and the others since the Shinki Incident itself.
"I'm Rumia. I came down here with Koishi about two years ago." Rumia said. "I just grew up a bit."
Kisume popped her head out of the bucket fully, and looked at Rumia carefully.
"Hmm... yes, I remember you. You're not that scary!" Kisume remarked, before she said, "Make sure an Oni doesn't paste you down there or something!"
It was on a whim that Rumia went Underground, to surprise Koishi and Satori. However, she also wanted to see what was going on underground. Since the Humans and Youkai became closer, the Underground youkai had been coming to the surafce more often, curious, and some curious youkai had gone Underground. [Although no Tengu or Kappa dared near the blowhole, let alone enter].
The first thing she noticed was before she even reached the city itself, however. Parsee was not on her was strange, since she had always heard Parsee did not leave the bridge.
As such, Rumia went into the city without needing to get past the bridgekeeper.
The City of Former Hell was a totally different place from when it was war-torn. The city was bustling with Oni, and other powerful or strange youkai. Many did not use their human guises. Lights from candles, will-o-wisps and torches lit the large cavern. Music and merriment filled the air as much as the smell of sake and blood.
Rumia could see why the Oni loved this place so much. The atmosphere of the entire city was of festivals.
Rumia flew around the city, looking around at everything going on, and being careful to avoid any Oni that were brawling, lest she get caught up into it. After a while, she heard a strange instrument, some strong instrument she had not heard elsewhere in the city, from above her.
She flew up, and saw Parsee sitting on a roof, holding a strange, guitar-like instrument.
"Parsee? You're not on your bridge?" Rumia asked.
Parsee looked up from her instrument,and did something that Rumia did not expect. She smiled.
"I do not need to guard the bridge anymore. Not only is Hijiri back, as I vowed I would guard that bridge until she returned, but news is that the humans no longer persecute youkai indiscriminately. There is no reason to guard anymore. Not that I don't like being at the Bridge every now and then." Parsee said. Her voice was not laden with envy like before. She sounded soft-spoken, and a little awkward.
"It's been over a thousand years since I've been in society, but interacting with others on a regular basis has made me feel things other than rage and envy. I was so rude to everyone out of a mixture of duty, rage and envy, all with my own manipulation of envy mixing it up inside me, with no-where else to go, it just built up. I just let it all out over a couple of months here, and then... settled back into society." Parsee explained, noticing Rumia looked confused.
"So... you were a victim of your own power?" Rumia asked.
"Basically. With no-one else to direct envy at, it just built up and up inside me, it made me a little insane. Satori helped a lot." Parsee said, before playing her instrument again.
"What is that? You're pretty good with it." Rumia asked.
"It's a Tar. It's an old Persian instrument. It came through the border a few hundred years ago, and somehow ended up near my bridge. I took it, since it reminded me of my home, before I came here, before I was saved by Hijrii" Parsee said.
"Ah." Rumia said. "Well, I'll leave you to play more Parsee, I'm gonna see Satori."
"Koishi's not in. She's above-ground doing who knows what." Parsee said.
"Thanks. I'll just see Satori and the others too." Rumia said.
Rumia approached the Palace of the Earth Spirits, when, without warning, a rough voice called out to her.
"Heeeey! You're that person who had some seal thingy and fought Shinki, ain't ya!"
Rumia looked to the roof, and noticed Yuugi was laying on top of it, sipping sake from her dish.
"I didn't see you there Yuugi. We didn't really get to talk last time, did we?" Rumia asked.
"Nope. Was too busy fighting monsters from another dimension or something. No offense." Yuugi said, before she jumped off the roof, and began looking at Rumia.
"Well well. Someone's a lot stronger than before." she said.
"Yeah, I've been training." Rumia said.
Yuugi seemed to think for a moment, before she grinned, and put her arm over Rumia's shoulder, slapping her back lightly, swinging from in front of the youkai to her side in the blink of an eye.
"I got a proposition. I wanna know how strong ya' are right now. What do you say to a little test of strength?" Yuugi asked.
Rumia suddenly got nervous.
"I... I don't think I want to fi..."
"You know what Oni do to cowards, don't you?" Yuugi said, suddenly making Rumia feel like her life was in dire peril, as her eyes locked.
"Uh.. ehehehe... what test?" Rumia asked.
"That's the spirit!" Yuugi said, giving Rumia another slap on the back, before she swung around in front of Rumia, and took a step back, before she took a relaxed stance, and took a sip of her sake dish again.
"Gimme your best punch. To the gut. That's it. I wanna feel your best punch. If your best punch at full power was enough to make that god flinch, I wanna feel what you got now." Yuugi said. "Don't matter how hard it is or anything. I don't care if your best punch is like a fairy's, I wanna feel it. Don't hold back. Very few Oni can even make me spill a drop from this dish with their best punches."
Rumia looked at Yuugi, and nodded, before she clenched her fist, and breathed in.
While Futo had not specifically taught her power, but technique instead, she did have another slight inspiration when it came to raw power. She had seen China enough times, and had enough knowledge of Qi, or as Meiling called it, by it's alternate name, Chi, that she could use her Chi to increase her physical power into one mighty blow as well. She hadn't learnt how to combined her Chi and Dark Energy at the same time yet, so just focused her Chi. Especially since if she used Dark Energy there was always the risk it would explode due to it's unstable nature, and take off her own arm if used to empower a punch.
Rumia focused, thinking only of striking Yuugi. She hadn't given Rumia a time limit, so she focused her energy for a while, at least thirty seconds, before her fist flew, glowing faintly with a rainbow light.
It slammed into Yuugi, and not a drop was split. However, for a slightest moment, Yuugi's calm, confident smile faltered. The Oni slid back not even half a millimeter, but she did budge.
Rumia looked, noticing the tiny gap between her fist and Yuugi, but before she could say anything, Yuugi swung around to her side, and slapped her on the back again, chuckleing happily.
"Oh wow! I'd say that punch would have given some of the weaker Oni some trouble! Not that they'd give you that long to prepare, but that's not the point!" Yuugi said heartily, before offering Rumia a drink from her dish.
Rumia knew better than to refuse an Oni offering you a drink, and drunk the sake Yuugi put in it. It was the best tasting Sake Rumia had ever had, even if she didn't drink often at all.
Yuugi then pushed her foward.
"Go see Satori like ya wanted to now. I ain't gonna keep you around here any longer. Just be warned, there were a few of visitors about half an hour ago that haven't left yet. I didn't expect any Rabbits to come down 'ere. They're usually all up above with some Princess or something."
"Rabbits?" Rumia asked.
"Yeah, rabbits. There were three. Ears right up and perky, looked almost like they were buttoned onto their heads. They all wore some uniform too." Yuugi said.
"That doesn't sound like the rabbits I've heard of. Although I've never been to Eientei." Rumia said.
"Well they were rabbits for sure." Yuugi replied.
Daiyousei was in Voile. She had been keeping the reason for her visits to the Scarlet Mansion a secret from the others, but she had began apprenticing under Patchouli to get stronger, so she could use magic to protect herself. She wasn't that good at it yet, and the Metal Sign was a complete dead-end for her, she was incapable of using it, making Patchouli's 'Seven Elements' impossible for her to achieve, as the lesser five were required for one to learn Sun and Moon.
As such, she had began researching other elemental systems, so she could make her own style of elemental magic.
However, Daiyousei saw a shadow.
The shadow of a rabbit.