"Ugh..." Shinki groaned as the seals multiplied, as she broke them, before she looked at Yorihime.
Yorihime by now was starting to pant with the exertion she was outputting.
"I have to admit, I was worried for a moment. But it's all over your face, to create enough seals to hold me back is taxing on you. Especially when I am eating away at the seals, requiring you to place new ones. You'll have to finish me off quickly~" Shinki said.
"Toyohime?" Yorihime asked.
"Very well, although if I was unleash my strongest attack, the collateral damage would almost certainly flatten the Darkness youkai." Toyohime said.
"Just do it! I don't care about humiliating her right now! This... thing is strong, and the priority is to be rid of it!" Yorihime gasped.
"Rumia... hide behind me." Shinki said.
Rumia didn't hesitate, and did what the God told her to do, before Toyohime's voice rang out.
"Connection of the Mountain and Sea eats away at the land, and leave trails behind. Even when the connection is severed, these trails remain..."
Rumia felt the winds gusting, and could see them channeling around, towards Toyohime.
"Ultimate Fan Technique: Ravine Gouging!" Toyohime declared, before she swung her fan with tremendous force. Rumia felt herself being buffetted from the wings, she couldn't even take in the air as it rushed past. She saw the moon's surface being ripped apart, massive chunks of rock flying past. The youkai had to close her eyes, lest the flying rocks and dust catch them.
Then, the roaring winds stopped, and Rumia opened her eyes, to see her and Shinki standing on a podium, a huge canyon having formed all around them, at least 500m deep.
Rumia popped her head from behind Shinki, and was in shock.
Shinki was completely unharmed. Toyohime looked in shock, and exhausted.
"I-i-i-mpossible. That attack has the power to reshape the very surface of the moon... and you're not even grazed!" Toyohime said.
"Of course I am not harmed. I am a God. Only the Divine can harm the Divine. However, for your sister to do that, she has to forsake one of two things." Shinki said. "And I'd wager she only has... thirty more seconds to decide before I overwhelm her seals completely. I'm sure you've noticed I'm breaking them quicker, as I get used to their general makeup."
"An attack like that would have flattened me... no, anyone in Gensokyo would have been flattened." Rumia said, looking at Shinki in awe. She knew when she fought her with her full power briefly before that Shinki was on another level from her, but Shinki made Rumia feel weak even when powered-up by the Elixir.
"Yori... we can't win..." Toyohime said.
"Yes, we can. There's a window, and one thing which I can do. One last shot." Yorihime said.
"It's too risky! You're tired and she's still under the effects of the Elixir! If you're not quick enough..."
"I cannot let her actions go unpunished! I'll lay my life on the line if I have to, sister, to protect the honor of the Moon! I'll channel the God of the Moon itself!"
Toyohime sighed.
"Very well, if you're that resolved, even my words cannot stop you, sister."
Yorihime smiled.
"Thank you for trusting me, Sister."
Yorihime raised the arm she had been using for Amaterasu-ōmikami the whole time, and closed her eyes, glowing with a faint, silver aura. The light began to die down, shadows returning, slowly, as the light began to receed.. but there were none around Yorihime yet. Rumia waited.
'The moment when the shadow returns around Yorihime, before she is ready to attack Shinki, in that narrow window, I have to stop her!'
"I call upon the God of the Moon! The god of many names! Diana, Artemis, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, the wisdom of the moon, and the hunt, the bow and the arrow, let the divine, reflected light pierce the hearts of those who oppose me!" Yorihime cried, as energy began to swirl around her, before there was a bright flash, a ray of light, shining on her.
'This one's different to the others! It's far stronger!' Rumia thought.
The light faded, and the shadow returned. Rumia caught a glimpse of Yorihime before she dived into the shadows, rushing behind her. Yorihime's attire had completely changed, wearing a white and purple kimono, with various flowers patterning it, with a white cloth, like a toga, going across it, a mixture of Greek and Japanese. She wielded a glowing bow of energy, the same coulor as the full moon from earth, which seemed to extend her her arm.
The form bestowed upon Yorihime, channeling the power of the Moon's goddess herself, the goddess she was clearly most favored by, was in a word, beautiful. A sparkling arrow of sliver energy, as if made of stardust, began to form along Yorihime's arm, as her other arm pulled back a golden string.
The beauty of the attack being prepared made Rumia almost feel like it would be a waste to stop it as she leapt out of the shadows behind Yorihime.
Almost.
Rumia grabbed Yorihime's bow-arm, which the arrow was formed along, and wrenched it as hard as she could, as Yorihime fired. Rumia failed to move the divine bow much, but it was enough that the arrow whistled past Shinki's head, leaving a trail like a comet, as it flew off into the distance, not stopping, or moving with the horizon. It just flew into the void beyond.
Yorihime blasted Rumia off her, with a pulse of pure energy, before she readied another arrow. But Shinki had broken free of the seals, as Yorihime rapidly fired arrows at the Goddess, who deflected the arrows, with some visible effort on her part, which was the first time Rumia had seen that happen. Shinki just walked closer, as Rumia flew back to Yorihime's behind, forming a blade from dark energy.
Rumia slashed Yorihime's back with the blade, but it just broke on contact and exploded, throwing Rumia away again, and doing nothing to Yorihime. So Rumia decided she would just throw everything she had. Shinki had stopped advanceing, Yorihime's barrage getting faster and faster, slowly pushing the Goddess back.
Rumia formed a huge sphere of dark energy above her, using very bit of her power, before lunching it towards Yorihime's back.
"Dark Bomb!" Rumia cried, as she threw the sphere, which slammed into Yorihime's back, and exploded with with enough force to stop her trance-like barrage.
Shinki did not waste a movement, as she flew in, her staff crackleing, and slammed Yorihime in the jaw with an upper swing. Lightling coursed along the Lunarian, as she returned to normal, and slammed onto the ground.
The goddess pointed her staff at the fallen Lunarian, and began gathering a sphere of dark energy of her own accord, her wings turning into their true, daemonic forms.
"And now, for the crimes of using God's powers for your own whims, and threatening one of my creations, I shall mete out divine retribution." Shinki said. "You shall pay the ultimate price."
"No, she won't." Rumia said, causing Shinki to hesitate.
"She's just trying to protect her people, and the way of life they know. She just got angry, and wanted revenge. Besides, killing her will just spur full-out war between Gensokoyo and the moon, and that will put me, Alice and Koakuma in danger, wouldn't it? Revenge leads to more revenge Shinki. Leave her be." Rumia said.
Shinki's wings vanished, and the dark energy she gathered vanished.
"... Very well. However, I cannot trust they will leave you alone for the three days it will take Yukari to be able to come here and rescue you. So you are coming with me." Shinki said.
"Eh." Rumia said flatly.
"You're coming with me. To Makai. I can take you back to Gensokyo in two days when I'm due to see Alice again." Shinki said. "Besides, it's as good a time as any to... speak privately in Pandemonium, my castle."
"That... sounds like a good idea." Rumia said. "I don't remember Makai though."
"You wouldn't, most likely. Your evil self was too busy murdering everything. Speaking of, while in Makai, the energies will likely... re-invigorate your evil self. As such, I'll hand you over to Yumeko for most of the two days. She will see that your evil self isn't re-charged too much, and takes over. You are a being of Gensokyo, so are sustained by the magic energy of there, but your evil self is a being that uses Makai's energies as fuel. I expect she looked like skin and bone, away from Makai for so long, and was in a weaker state than usual."
"Uh, yeah, she was skin and bone..." Rumia said.
"The good news, however, is since you have her powers, as she recovers, provided you can hold her back, you should return to Gensokyo even stronger." Shinki said. "In a way, you are a being that uses the magical energy of both Gensokyo and Makai. Like Alice after she became a youkai, or Koakuma thanks to her magical contract. Most beings of Makai run out of energy eventually outside of Makai, unless they adapt to use other forms of energy."
"Uh, Shinki, shouldn't we be talking about this in Makai. You know... before Yorihime and Toyohime recover?" Rumia said.
Shinki blinked.
"I guess so. I just got distracted by the scenery." Shinki said.
"What scenery?! We're on the moon!" Rumia shouted.
Shinki just stuck out her tongue as she opened a portal to Makai. "You don't see what I see, as a God."
Notes:
I decided to have several moon gods and goddess technically be 'the same god', just worshiped differently by different cultures. Yorihime's transformation when channelling this goddess was brought about because this is the god that favors Yorihime the most. Yorihime can bring about the full power of the Moon Goddess, to the point when calling upon her power, she transforms into the avatar of the moon goddess herself, instead of simply gaining some power.
The was somewhat hinted at by Shinki, when she mentioned she 'Goes by many names'. The way gods work will be elaborated on in later arcs.
Speaking of, Arc 4 is almost over, the next chapter will be Arc 4's finale.