Note: This is gonna be an extra long chapter to make up for the fact that there probably won't be many, if any updates for at least a month due to my final year university exams upcoming.
"As much as I like Gensokyo being safe and everything, I gotta admit something." Rumia said.
"I think I know what you mean ~ze." Marisa said, flying from bookshelf to bookshelf. By this point, Patchouli had either outright given up protesting or outright tolerated Marisa's antics. Especially since the librarian was floating nearby listening to Rumia and Marisa anyway, and occasionally giving her two cents.
"It's so... boring. There's not been an actual incident for over two years now." Rumia said. "It's getting to the point where if something doesn't happen soon I might have to make something happen just for the hell of it."
"Then me and Reimu would have to kick your butt." Marisa said, before the young woman paused, and admitted "Wouldn't be easy however. I'll give you that much."
Rumia nodded, before she indicated to a shelf to Patchouli.
"Fifth book from the right." She said.
Rumia was looking for a book which contained information about Seiga mentioned a few days ago. Seiga mentioned something about 'The first youkai', when she was talking about the few things which kept her attention. The list was very small, but included Rumia, Miko and Yoshika, two of which she had taught, and the third she literally kept alive. Which raised Rumia's interest in this 'First Youkai'.
She pulled it out and showed it to Patchouli, who looked irritated.
"Koakuma must have moved it when she dusted this section. She tends to forget the exact positions of the books when she puts them back. It'll be somewhere in that area." Patchouli said.
"Well if you cleaned this place yourself Patchy you wouldn't have this problem." Marisa snarked.
"The dust sets off my asthma really badly." Patchouli protested.
"It wouldn't if you kept it clean, ~ze."
"She has a point." Daiyousei said, who was flying near Patchouli, reading a book about wind magic.
A few books later, and Patchouli nodded that the book Rumia pulled out was the correct one. It was a very old book, it did not even have a title. Rumia was very careful with the pages as she read. It was filled with youkai folk tales and myths of a time long past, the language was very old-fashioned, making it somewhat difficult to read.
However, eventually, Rumia found the tale she wanted. An ancient myth between Youkai about their origin. There was once an proud, great animal, who was the leader of a pack of ancient beasts. However, ancient humans hunted her kind, and her pack and family were killed one by one. Driven mad with an urge for revenge, she awoke a power deep within her, magic. She became the first youkai, one with such terrible power that she threatened to wipe out the fledgeling human race entirely in her vengeance. Indeed, several races of pre-humans were rendered extinct by her wrath, including the Neanderhals.
Eventually, according to the tale, the Yama and the gods could not allow the humans to go extinct, and the beast's sins were too great. The Yama themselves intervened, the only time in history they had directly intervened, and killed the youkai, but in a final act of defiance, she released magic into the air, creating more youkai from different animals, even humans. This was the origin if youkai, and the hatred of the first youkai carried over to every youkai after her, which is why youkai and humans hate each other
Rumia looked at Patchouli. "So, how much of this do you think is true?"
Patchouli sighed. "I do not know. This tale is about ten thousand years old, written by ancient youkai, and the time it tells of was almost two million years ago. The only ones who would know the truth about it are the ancient gods, the Yama, and possibly Keine, with her power over history, although I do find it worrying that the Necromancer stated to have an interest in this tale."
"I agree Patchouli." Daiyousei said. "If Seiga has an interest in this youkai, it can only mean that she has an interest in resurrecting her. I mean, Rumia said she also said she had an interest in Rumia, Miko and Yoshika, all of which in some way form a power base for her."
Rumia sighed. "I've always been curious about what exactly Seiga is up to. I can't read her. She's obviously up to no good, but I can't tell what her plans are. What does her interest in this fable have to do with her reading up on Makai, for example? She keeps pestering me to let her meet Shinki too..."
"It intrigues me as well." Patchouli admitted. "I find it more strange that despite easily defeating the Shinigami and Kishin sent after her, she declines to become a Celestial as well."
"No, she says she can't because she's a wicked hermit. Although she also says she wouldn't even if she could anyway." Rumia added. "And not even Miko can read her desires. She keps them that well hidden."
"Well, maybe if you are so worried about Seiga you should go beat the answers out of her." Marisa said, nonchalantly floating upside down on her broom at this point in boredom.
"Marisa, it doesn't work like that. Especially with Seiga. She's hard to find at the best of times, and even then, she knows everything about my powers and can use her hairpin to just escape if cornered." Rumia said.
"Well maybe I should blast her then." Marisa said. "I wonder if Seiga will show up if I beat up Yoshika."
"Marisa... don't drag Yoshika into this." Rumia said. "What did Yoshika do to deserve that?"
"Well she'll probably get dragged into it by Seiga anyway. Yoshika is really dangerous. Really, really dangerous. She's probably as dangerous as Yuuka, if not worse." Marisa said.
"Yoshika is dangerous?" Rumia asked. "She seems so nice and kind. She's just derpy."
"Jiang-Shi serve their master's will, Rumia. The bite of a Jiang-Shi will temporarily curse whoever was bitten to also become a Jiang-Shi, who also serves the will of their master. Combined with their incredible durability and lack of feeling pain, as well as absolute devotion to their orders, if Yoshika bit someone under Seiga's orders... the results could be cataclysmic." Patchouli said. "It could be a chain reaction. Yoshika bites you, then you bite your friends, then they bite other people... and suddenly everyone in Gensokyo is under control of Seiga."
"And that's not even going into Yoshika's ability to devour anything." Marisa added.
"Yeah, but Yoshika is really slow, and awkward, you'd have to be an idiot to get bitten by her." Rumia said.
"There are a lot of idiots in Gensokyo." Daiyousei said. "Like Cirno, for example."
"Actually I think that fairies are immune to the effects of a Jiang-Shi bite, because they cannot die. A Jiang-Shi is a form of undead." Patchouli said. "Just like the Scarlet Sisters would be immune, as a vampire is technically a form of Undead already. I don't think your karakasa friend can be infected by a bite either, since she is an umbrella."
"So it's safe for Kogasa to hang around with Yoshika. That's good to know. And I guess if Yoshika ever became a problem Byakuren would put a stop to her very quickly, she does live in the Myouren Cemetery after all."Rumia said.
Patchouli nodded. "Yoshika is not a danger now, but you should always be on guard around her, and Seiga, for that matter."
"Be on guard around who~?" a familiar voice said, before Rumia looked up and saw Seiga hanging out of a hold she had made in the roof, before she dropped down into the middle of Voile.
"Ah!" Daiyousei cried, surprised as the hermit floated down past her. Marisa pulled out her Mini-Hakkero.
"Now now; no need for that little toy." Seiga said.
"I don't trust you as far as I can throw you." Marisa replied, causing the hermit to pout.
"How rude. I only came by to borrow another book, and here you all are, talking about me and my darling Yoshika behind my back." Seiga said, sounding insulted.
"Well maybe if you were not so cryptic and self-proclaimed evil people would trust you a lot more." Patchouli said. "Not everyone goes about proudly calling themselves 'wicked'."
"... I have a tendency of running into self-proclaimed mad scientists and wicked hermits." Rumia admitted.
"Oh, but I call myself wicked with good reason. You certainly shouldn't trust me, and you are wise to not do so. But that doesn't mean you should be rude and talk about me behind my back." Seiga said.
"Fine. Then what are you up to?" Rumia asked.
Seiga smirked a little. "I guess I can tell you know that the gears are set in motion. I have everything I need prepared. A week from today, I will become greater than a Hermit or a Celestial. I will go one step further, and I will become a God."
"Become a God?" Patchouli said calmly. "So that explains why you never wanted to become a Celestial... a Celestial who tried to become a God would be thrown out of heaven, like Lucifer. But you're a hermit. You don't need to be worried about being cast down to Hell for your actions, not unless the Yama's underlings get you."
"Exactly. Everything has been building up to my ascension." Seiga said. "Then I will be free to do as I please, create a world which keeps my attention."
"Wait, so that's why you've been reading up on Makai! You want to become a God of your own realm like Shinki!" Rumia said.
"Yes, and you may want to stop talking about her so highly. Some of the things she did to become a God herself would make you hate her." Seiga taunted. "More than one world was left a husk as a catalyst for her world's creation, billions upon billions died, worlds are still suffering the repercussions of the disasters Shinki's selfish desires brought."
"Don't talk about Shinki like that..." Rumia said, clenching her teeth and rolling her fist into shape.
"Oh yes, striking a soft spot, my apologies. I forgot that you are like an adoptive daughter to her." Seiga said. "Well, ask her yourself. Ask her what she did. And take a good look at the look on the devil's face when she thinks about it."
Seiga suddenly had to duck to the side to evade a Moonlight Ray fired from Rumia's hand, aimed directly at her face.
"Hey, that might have actually hurt. I may be a Hermit that can only be killed by a Shinigami, but that doesn't mean I don't get hurt." Seiga said.
"You think I don't know that?" Rumia said angrily.
"Oh dear... she's blown her top..." Daiyousei said, looking at Patchouli. "Can Marisa blow a hole in the wall of the mansion with her Spark?"
"Yes." Patchouli and Marisa said at the same time.
"Then we might want to make these two take it outside, or else Rumia might demolish the entire library in her anger. It's not easy to make her really mad, but when she is..."
"That won't be necessary." Seiga said, dodging another blast from Rumia as she approached the ceiling. "I'm leaving now. I have no intention of fighting."
"Get back here!" Rumia shouted, flying at Seiga as she swiftly opened a hole in the ceiling and flew through, before it closed. Rumia bounced off the ceiling, quickly reinforced by a spell by Patchouli, before Daiyousei placed her hands on Rumia's back, glowing a faint green.
"Calm down..." Daiyousei said, as Rumia relaxed.
"Seiga... I know Shinki did things she isn't proud of, I don't know what, but that's no reason to rub it in my face... and Koa's here too. Not to mention insulting Shinki like that, calling her a devil."
"We know Rumia. Hearing Seiga go on like that made me angry too." Marisa said.
"Still... she wants to become like Shinki. That might be dangerous, or it might not even matter, since that would mean Seiga would create her own dimension, like Makai." Patchouli said. "The only way to be sure would be..."
"To ask Shinki herself what she did to create Makai." Rumia said. "And if I recall, Shinki should be visiting Alice tomorrow anyway."
Shinki was in one of her playful moods. This much was evident because she was using her powers to play around, having reversed time and made Rumia look like she was way back during the Scarlet Mist incident, Alice look like she did when she lived in Makai, and even made herself into a Chibi version which flew using it's out-of-proportion side-ponytail. Because she was bored.
Which made it all the more difficult to bring up the topic. Even then, Rumia didn't want to bring it up in front of Alice anyway.
Alice attempted to control her dolls, but was having some difficult controlling as many as she usually did, simply because her fingers were smaller. "You know, I feel that I'm getting close to a breakthrough." Alice said. "In making my autonomous doll with it's own soul."
"Interesting." Shinki said. "It's no surprise you should be able to imbue life into things if you try hard enough to do so, you are one of my creations, after all. It would not be too farfetched to believe that since everything in Makai is technically an extension of myself, that a slither of my own power is within every denizen of Makai, they just have to tap into it. Creation of Life might just be your inherited power. Like Yuki has the power of Ice, and Yumeko has the power of Space."
"I wonder what Koakuma has hidden within her then." Rumia asked.
"I'm not sure lesser familiars like her have enough energy within them to be able to have inherited a trait of my power." Shinki said. "That said, if I recall, she is one of the stronger familiars I created for magicians who made contracts, as Patchouli was one of the strongest magicians who made a summoning contract."
Shinki then put on a childish smile.
"By the way, how are things going with Marisa and Rika~" she said in a very suggestive tone. Alice went bright red, and Rumia gave Shinki an angry glare that came more across as a cute pout because of her current form.
Shinki started laughing, closing her eyes and throwing her head back, when suddenly, the shattering of glass made her stop. Alice screamed, and Rumia saw Shinki suddenly shift back to her normal form, murder in her eyes. Rumia noticed herself return to normal size, and turned to see Yoshika sinking her teeth into Alice's shoulder, Alice's eyes going empty. Seiga was visible over Yoshika's shoulder.
"Why you!" Shinki howled.
"Wait; Shinki, Alice is connected to Yoshika right now by a curse! You don't know what will happen if you kill Yoshika, and besides, Yoshik isn't the problem, look carefully at her." Rumia said.
Shinki stopped, and noticed. "She's crying..."
Yoshika was indeed crying. She stopped biting Alice, and whimpered.
"Yoshika is sorry, Yoshika doesn't want to hurt anyone... but Nyan-Nyan made me do it..."
"Binding a soul to do something against it's will, that makes me sick..." Shinki said, as Alice began to hop towards Shinki.
"Don't let her bite you!" Rumia shouted to Shinki, as the god used a binding spell to hold Alice in place.
"Yes, that would be horrible." Seiga said, caressing Yoshika's head, before whispering to her, "I command you to stop crying."
Yoshika stopped crying, but still looked miserable.
"Anyway, you should get used to not interfering, Shinki. I made a little enhancement to Yoshika before this, you see, one specifically to stop Shinki from interfering. Anything you do to me, your precious Alice will also suffer. Seeing as you were willing to rip Gensokyo apart for her, I highly doubt you can bring yourself to harm me, knowing it will harm Alice."
Rumia looked at Shinki, and the look of hopelessness on her face said that it was true, Shinki could not bring herself to harm Alice, and she probably would not let Rumia attack Seiga either.
Then, Rumia saw a Spark roar past the window, Seiga drifting out of the way, before Marisa flew into vision.
"Darnit, I was too late. I saw Seiga lurking around and thought nothing of it until I realised today was a Shinki day, meaning the portal to Makai would be open..." Marisa said.
"Don't attack Seiga, Marisa, or you will have me to answer to!" Shinki commanded, causing Marisa to stop and look confused.
"She's linked herself to Alice with a curse. Anything you do to her, Alice will suffer as well." Rumia explained. "I'd have kicked her rear five ways myself already if it wasn't for that."
Marisa tipped her hat over her eyes. "Shinki, she wants to become a God like you. She's been reading up on Makai and gathering knowledge to do so."
Shinki suddenly looked worried, and conflicted.
"That cannot be allowed... but I can't hurt Alice..." she said.
Seiga opened a hole in the wall and joined Alice and Yoshika, before the three moved slowly towards the portal to Makai.
"Alice's dolls control the portal from this side, Shinki, and she is under my control. Even then, if you were to seal Makai away from yourself, there is no telling what would become of Makai. There really is nothing you can do, you can't even close the portal to Makai to stop me." Seiga explained, sounding triumphant. "This is the power of my preparation! I know all the weaknesses of the 'invincible' Goddess!"
Seiga did her trademark irritating laugh, the stereotypical noblewoman's laugh, before she passed through the portal to Makai.
Rumia looked at Shinki, as did Marisa, and the fury on her face was even worse than when she attacked Gensokyo.
"I... can't..." she said. "I cannot harm one of my own, and I cannot allow it to happen again... that disaster cannot repeat..." she said, her voice breaking.
"What happened Shinki? What happened when you became a God? We need to know what Seiga is going to do!" Rumia demanded.
Shinki turned to Rumia, she was crying. "Forgive me..." she said weakly. "What I caused with my lust for power cannot possibly be forgiven... but please, despite that, I want you to forgive me... I didn't know... I didn't know..."
Marisa backed away. "Hey... it dosen't look right seeing a God like this..." she said.
Shinki reached out and put her hand on Rumia's head, speaking with telepathy just to her, as she sobbed. Words and visions.
Rumia saw a world of darkness, with strange energy swirling around, and bright lights scattered around. She saw two angelic figures, approaching six round stones. One of them picked up one of the stones, provokeing a massive barrage of energy in retaliation from the others, but the two angelic beings escaped, one of them, slightly smaller, clutching the sixth stone, which seemed to be attempting to incinerate the holder, turning into a sphere of blue flame.
"Shinki, you must do it now, or else the power of this realm will likely be turned upon us in it's full wrath!" the other angel said.
"I know!" the angelic Shinki said, before huge amounts of the blue energy began collateing around both Shinki and the sphere, into both of them and forming a link between the two. Shinki howled in agony, and Rumia saw the blue energy coming from the pinpoints of light, some far more heavily than the others.
"I stole a scared crystal of the world that is the very origin of all worlds, of all magic. Using it's power, I tore energy from the other worlds, into myself and the crystal. And, using that massive energy as a catalyst with the crystal and myself..."
Shinki's wings began to change into their daemonic versions, not instantaneously, but instead from the tips. When they were half-changed, she and the crystal erupted into a massive red and purple nova, consuming everything.
"And that caused an event similar to what is known as 'The Big Bang' here, creating the dimension of Makai." Shinki's voice said. "Only millions upon millions of years later within Makai's timestream would I learn of the repercussions this action had. I ruined the magical balance of many other realms in my greed. I am sure that I was the cause of the sudden loss of magic of Yumemi's world when I heard of her plight. It is why I willingly did whatever I could to lessen the strain on other worlds. Atonement. I may even be partially responsible for the decline of magic in this world, if I disrupted the magical balance. By doing what I did, I probably ruined countless worlds, killed billions, if not more... and I became a God halfway through falling for my sins."
The vision ended, and Rumia looked at Shinki. She felt repulsion at the revelation. She understood why the past Rumia, the one before her corruption into the Darkness she was now, would have called her an abomination. Yet, despite this she felt pity more than anything. Shinki had done whatever she could to fix her mistake, and she seemed to not know what her actions would have done, yet she still caused such suffering. Her intentions were probably good for creating her own world, seeing how Makai had turned out and how she treated her people.
Rumia looked at the Goddess.
"There are two major differences between you and Seiga, Shinki, and that is why I shall not judge you." Rumia said.
Shinki looked at Rumia.
"The first, is that you did not know what you would cause. Seiga does know, but intends to do this anyway." Rumia said, before she hugged Shinki.
"The second is that you're basically my mother too, even if not like Alice." Rumia said.
Shinki's eyes went wide, and she began crying again, but this time, happiness, before she got up.
"Marisa, Rumia, you have to stop Seiga. If anyone can stop her without hurting Alice too much, it's you two. She'll be heading for the furthest reach of Makai, the Ruins of Vina. There is a portal to the Magic World there. I shall send Yumeko to help you, but I must warn you. The Ruins of Vina are an exceptionally dangerous place, the three who live there are instructed to not allow anyone, even me, to go there due to the powers in the Magic World. Not even I can raise a hand against these three, so you are on your own."
"Three in Makai you cannot raise a hand against?" Rumia asked. "That's impossible!"
"Two of them are not of Makai, and are the 'adoptive children' of the third. You saw them when I attacked Gensokyo. However, the reason I cannot raise a hand against them is simple. The third of them is the other angel you saw. She is my own mother. I can no less raise a hand against her than anyone in Makai can raise one against me, even though I am far stronger. She is the only one who can guarantee to stop me if my lust for power ever strikes again and threatens to cause another calamity." Shinki explained.
"Y-Your mother?!" Rumia exclaimed.
"Well what? Did you think I just appeared? That I just appeared with such motherly instincts? Of course I have a mother. I learnt from her. She helped me in my ambition, like I help my children." Shinki said.
"There's no way Seiga will be able to beat beings that powerful however!" Marisa said.
"She won't need to." Rumia said. "She can probably outwit them and elude them with her chisel. But that takes time. We will have to reach the portal first and stop her there, hopefully we can avoid fights with the three who guard it."
Shinki nodded. "Right, so then, are you ready to begin your journey to the edge of Makai?"
Author Notes: Arc 7 is was rushed in the original roleplay because of the dying playerbase, so there's a lot of new content here that I made up. This is the last arc that has a heavy focus on Makai and Shinki. All the stuff that happened in the side arcs is buildup for the Finale, Arc 8, which happens literally right after this one in the timeline.
Arc 7 will bring more information about what life is like in Shinki's Realm, as well as more about this 'Magic World'. Shinki is using her name for the world, it's not the same as what the beings of Gensokyo call it, although both are technically right.