Rumia flew towards the abomination. The sketetal beast made of various different degrees of black, as she got closer, she could hear it's roars, a mixture of anger and pain, before she landed in front of it, no fear towards the beast.
The beast seemed to hesitate for a moment, before its mouth moved, and a voice came out. A familiar voice, the voice of the Heart.
"I do not feel my creation within you. What did you do?!" the beast roared.
"You know Yukari Yakumo? The one who was inside my head back when we last met?" Rumia spat. "Well, it turns out the other me killed her. So do you know what happened shortly afterwards? Her insane daughter used her powers to literally rip her out of my head. Then she died, she was killed! The monster you created doesn't exist anymore!"
The beast roared. "You lie!"
"Oh, I don't lie. And do you know who killed her after she was ripped out of my head? Rika. A victim of one of the very abominations you created! You are an avatar of your own failures!"
The beast laughed.
"The first time the unstable rifts swallowed an abomination I created, I was unhappy. The monster I created to cause Shinki pain had left Makai. But then I could feel what the monsters wrought in other worlds, and began to actively send my creations through the rifts for my amusement, and to see Shinki wallow more and more in guilt. While it is annoying that my finest creation was done in ultimately by my own actions, I have an eternity to kill Shinki and exact my vengeance."
The monster's claws twitched.
"But first, since my creation is no longer within you... I see no harm in having you ripped to pieces."
The monster lunged, it's massive claws rakeing the ground as they drove in, but Rumia simply dodged.
"Can you understand a fighting style that isn't raw power? Anyway, I just wanted to tell you, you have no hold on me anymore. I have nothing to fear from you; father." Rumia said, spitting the last word in a very venomous tone, before she turned her left side to the beast, which charged again, and she raised her arm.
"Allow me to show you what I can do when I don't hold back. I always worry that I might hurt someone, but releasing whatever this thing was before from your grip is a far kinder action." Rumia said calmly, as her arm rose, and the shadow it left moved, spikes erupted from the darkness, impaling the spine of the beast.
The beast yelped and cried as it tried to move, but the lances of shadow held it still. Rumia then floated above it, gathering Chi in her fist, before she shattered it's skull, and it fell, it's body being forced further down the spikes, shattering into pieces. The monster began to turn to ash, and Rumia felt a rush, she couldn't help but smile.
Rumia knew she had it. She was still a demon, she was still a youkai. But she didn't know it felt this good. The surge that she felt when she took a life. It was part of her biology, she had been resurrected to kill, and the rush of glee was a natural reaction, to keep her killing. It was a dangerous feeling, addictive.
It was something she resolved to never get addicted to. The 'killer's high'. If she allowed herself to succumb to it, she would be no better than what she used to be.
Rumia flew in the direction Marisa and Yumeko did, and, after a while of flying, found the two having stopped. The wasteland just... stopped. There was literal nothingness before them.
"Ah, there you are." Yumeko said.
"We've been waiting here for more than a minuite." Marisa complained.
"Sorry, turns out the Heart decided to have a little chat with me. So I gave it a verbal smackdown." Rumia explained.
"Well, anyway." Yumeko said. "As you might be able to tell, this is the Edge of Makai. Unlike your world, Makai is flat. It is a ring made from Shinki's energy, with Pandemonium as the centre."
"So, where are the Ruins of Vina?" Marisa asked.
"There are areas which do not exist on the main plane of Makai." Yumeko explained. "The first is the Core. The second is Vina. To get to Vina, you must... fall off of the edge of Makai."
"You're kidding, right?" Rumia said.
"What better defence for a place where people must not go than to put the fear of falling off the world itself into them to dissuade them from going there?" Yumeko asked.
"So, we just jump off?" Marisa asked.
"Yes, it's that simple. And if you fall off Vina, you fall back to mainland Makai." Yumeko said. "Vina is not very large, but Seiga's objective is at the core of Vina, the Ruins."
Yumeko paused.
"I warn you, Vina is simultaneously Makai, and not Makai. Shinki is not the authority of Vina. Sariel is, and due to her duty that she has, she will see us as her enemies as well. Sariel does not allow anyone in the ruins. What is held there she and Shinki see as so dangerous that Sariel does not even allow Shinki there. If you want to go back..."
"No." Marisa and Rumia said together.
"Fine, then jump with me." Yumeko said, before the maid jumped off the edge of Makai, and vanished. Marisa got off her broom, due to the specification of 'jump' and held it, before she jumped and vanished, and Rumia landed before jumping off herself.
Rumia was surprised when there was a flash of light, before she felt her feet on ground again, and noticed a rocky terrain, which seemed to be predominantly hilly, like the rest of Makai. Unlike the rest of Makai, the land was blue and white, instead of red and black.
But that was not the key thing. The key was the massive feeling of power, only a few miles away. Magical power so strong it made even Rumia and Marisa a little overwhelmed by it for a brief period.
"That energy is our goal. Sariel will be at the site. She is only slightly weaker than Shinki, one could call her the Demi-God of Makai. But hopefully we will not have to fight her." Yumeko said. "Be on guard, for there are two other beings here who are very powerful."
The three began to proceed, but they only got over a few hills before Yumeko shouted for the others to get down, and a bolt of lightling shot past them.
"Well well. What do we have here? Yumeko and two others. You of all people in Makai should know you are not allowed on this sacred ground; Yumeko." A voice said.
A young-looking female flew over the hills, and floated above the trio. She wore a light pink top which looked almost like a miko's top, complete with detached sleeves. Her blonde hair was tied in a ponytail, and she wore red pants.
However, what drew Rumia's attention was the five purple orbs dangling from her belt, bound to it by chains, with numerous seals on them. Rumia could make out a single line in the centre of each.
"YuugenMagan, we need to see Sariel." Yumeko said.
The girl shook her head.
"Nope. Shinki said no-matter what the situation, no-one was to approach the Ruins. No matter how much even Shinki herself begged." YuugenMagan said, before she noticed Rumia. "And besides, I remember during that invasion of Gensokyo, she managed to strike me. I owe her one. After all, I am far stronger in Vina than in my old home."
"Your old home? You're from Gensokyo?" Marisa asked.
"Why yes. I'm from Gensokyo, but found my way into Makai through a very special route. I came into Makai through the backdoor, if you would, long before the Barrier." Magan said. "I guess since you... one and a half are from Gensokyo; I can tell you a little more about myself. I don't get to talk to others much, and maybe knowing what I am will make this end without violence."
Neither Rumia or Marisa spoke, so Magan just shrugged and spoke again.
"I am a Raijū, a youkai of lightling. However, I am a bit more than that. You see these five spheres?"
"Yeah, if I recall, your form when you are using your powers is greatly different from your current one. You become an outline like Yumeko can, but you gain five massive eyes." Marisa said.
"Wait a second… you're from Gensokyo… five magical eyes… those purple orbs… they can't be…" Rumia said, "Are those Third Eyes of the Satori?"
"Bingo." YuugenMagan said. "I'm a little surprised you know what a Satori is, I would have expected that wretched race to be extinct by now. I was often hired to kill them. I was a bounty hunter you see, and I kept their Third Eyes as trophies and signs that the deed was done. That, and my lighting could stimulate the eyes back to life for a short time. Their power was limited, of course, but it still gave me a very slight mind-reading ability. With the miasma of Makai reacting with my powers and the re-animated eyes, they… mutate into those five eyes you saw before, and their powers grow. My precognition allows me to tell when someone is attacking me and how, even if I do not see it."
"So, that's why no attack affected you except the one I aimed at Cirno. You couldn't tell that one was coming."
"Yes, but I wasn't in Vina. My powers were not complete." YuguenMagan said. "I must fix that insult by striking you harder!"
"Fine, just, a question before you fight if we must." Rumia said.
"Very well."
"Have you seen a blue-haired woman pass through?" Rumia asked.
Magan looked proud. "Yes, I did, she left when I told her to without conflict."
Rumia looked at Marisa, and Marisa gave her the same knowing looked back.
"She probably went under the hill with her chisel, didn't she?" Rumia said.
"Yep. That sounds like Seiga. Evade the fight she doesn't think she can win, and make Magan think she won."
"The ground is the last place that a being of lighting would look for an enemy." Yumeko admitted.
Magan looked irritated. "Well, even if she did pull a fast one, Elis or Sariel will stop her. The fact that there may be an intruder deeper inside makes it even more vital that I do not let you pass!"
The air felt charged with electricity, the hair of the three blondes standing up a little, as Magan started to wildly spark, the five eyes opening and morphing, floating further and further away from YuugenMagan. Then, Magan turned into pure electricity, positioning her eyes so that they surrounded the trio on the hill.
Rumia threw a sphere of dark energy at Magan and each of her eyes, but they just passed through her, each impact point getting a little lighter and more transparent just before impact.
"Direct attacks will not work!" Yumeko said, forming a ring of swords above her, pointing towards the ground. "Her weakness is indirect attacks!"
Yumeko made a downward motion with her arms, and the swords fell to the ground, bouncing off at various angles, one of which making Marisa have to make a wild dodge and shout some particularly colourful language at Yumeko.
However, the attacks just phased through Magan, just like Rumia's.
"You know, when your intent is so obvious, I don't even need to use my precognition to prepare myself to allow the attacks to pass through." Magan taunted, before each of her eyes fired a stream of lighting towards Yumeko, who elegantly evaded each of them. The eyes then turned to face the sky, and fired upwards, before a rain of smaller bolts came down, forcing Rumia to form a wall of dark energy over them as a barrier.
"Marisa, now!" Rumia shouted. "Blast the barrier!"
Marisa blinked for a moment, confused, but pulled out her Hakkero anyway. "You don't need to tell me when to shoot!" she said, before unleashing a Master Spark at the wall of Dark energy Rumia formed, blasting it up towards the main body of Magan.
Rumia snapped her fingers, and the wall exploded, with the spark ripping through the explosion.
"Let's see you phase through an attack of that magnitude." Rumia said, noticing the eyes retracting towards the centre.
The smoked cleared, and Marisa's spark died down, and Magan was floating there, sparking wildly and flickering, looking angry, with her eyes close to her. It seemed like the attack did harm her.
"Why you... that laser had so much power behind it... it was enough to disrupt my energy form..." YuugenMagan said.
"Ah, so that's it. You turn into pure energy to evade attacks, rather than actually becoming intangible like I do." Yumeko said, before she grinned sweetly. "Well, if that is the case, I know exactly how to defeat you."
"You're bluffing." YuugenMagan said. "There is nothing that can stop me that you can do, not with my energy form. Maybe if the witch could fire a blast a few calibres higher and combine it with two or three times more dark energy..."
"Don't tempt me." Marisa said. "That was a Master Spark, you ain't seen a Final Spark yet."
"We'd rather save your energy to stop Seiga however. If Yumeko knows a way to beat Magan herself, I think it is best we let her do it." Rumia said, before Yumeko got on her knees, and took a prayer stance.
"Are you praying? What good will that do?" Magan asked, forming a sphere of electricity between her five satori eyes. "I'll erase you from this holy land! This is the price of trespass! This lighting will strike far longer than you can phase out for; Yumeko..."
Then, Magan shut up. Everyone did, as a giant sword pierced through her, and slammed into the ground. The Raiju sparked wildly, the blade effectively splitting her in half, as well as the hill itself.
"I-I-I-can't... keep my form..." she spluttered, lightling coursing from her body down the sword into the ground.
"Of course you cannot. Metal is an excellent conductor. I have effectively bifurcated you with a giant lighting rod." Yumeko said calmly. "This is my greatest attack, you should feel honoured to face the Divine Blade of the Goddess."
"Yumeko..." Rumia said, watching Magan with a worried look on her face, as the Raiju sparked more and more, and became less and less stable.
"What is it?" Yumeko asked.
"If you leave her like that, she'll die. She said she can't keep that form. She'll return to her solid form... with a giant sword splitting her in two."
"So what? She is not one of Shinki's kin, and she got in my way." Yumeko said coldly.
"You almost make us sound like the bad guys here." Marisa said.
"Even then, I cannot save her even if I wanted. The sword does not leave until I call it somewhere else."
Rumia said nothing for a moment.
"I'm going to have to break your sword then. There's no way Sariel is going to side with us if we kill Magan. She may be a murderer herself, but killing her isn't going to help."
"You can't break that sword... it's blessed by Shinki herself." Yumeko said.
Rumia flew to the part of the sword where Magan was, and gathered her strength.
"You're forgetting something Yumeko. I was made to kill Shinki. Breaking a sword blessed by her? That's nothing." She said, before she punched the sword, and kept punching it. Marisa flew up and watched, and when there was a crack and Rumia needed to catch her breath, she fired a spark, at it, which made the small crack even larger.
"These two... not just Rumia, but the witch's Hakkero too... they can damage that sword..." Yumeko said, stunned. "How strong have they become?"
Rumia looked at Magan, who looked at Rumia confused, and clearly in pain.
"I can't hold on much longer..." she said weakly. "Don't waste your energy."
"Shut up." Rumia said, before she redirected her strength to her foot. "I just had an idea. I've not tried this one before... they say kicks are three times stronger than punches!"
Rumia lashed out with the sharpest kick she could, enhanced by Dark Energy and Chi, and the crack in the sword splintered fully, shattering it into two halves, and freeing YuugenMagan, who fell to the ground and changed back to her normal form, the eyes closed, and unconscious. She was clearly hurt from the experience, bleeding from a gash on the back and the front. Rumia checked the wounds, and decided they were not deep enough to be fatal, although they were close.
Yumeko just looked at the two, her usual calm visage shattered. She looked almost scared.
"That sword was blessed by Shinki herself... and they broke it... to save someone who just tied to kill them." Yumeko thought. "Rumia... you are a scarier monster now than when you killed me. Back then, I felt no fear, but now..."
Author Notes: Exams are over. While Marisa still uses mostly the same tricks, she's more powerful than before. As evidenced by her spark being strong enough to disrupt and damage Magan even when she turned into pure energy.
Magan kinda has three states. Her 'normal' form, her 'true' form [What she is in-game] and her 'energy' form [which she uses to phase through attacks]. She can't attack in the latter form however.