Chapter 8: Memoirs of the Battlefield
The battle lines between the Moriya Shrine goddesses and Alex and Shina had been drawn. Suwako dragged Alex all the way out back, while Kanako guided Shina and Sanae on a casual stroll to their lake. Sanae hovered between her new friend and the goddess she swore loyalty to, hopping around with her hands tied up behind her rear.
Kanako walked slowly, but every step was as normal as a human's. For all the divine privilage her title entitled her to, her behavior was just as mortal as those who worshipped her. But Shina couldn't shake a strange, familiar feeling the goddess' aura had. Hardened by battle, warm and understanding, there's no mistake that Kanako would get along with her mother, at least in Shina's eyes.
It was starting to feel surreal how both Kanako and Sanae were reflections of the Aurora family in general, despite being born galaxies apart. Though the odd one of the bunch, in more ways than one, was Suwako, who didn't share a single trait with Shina's sister besides their childish appearances. Thinking about all this made it harder to want to face Kanako, but she couldn't raise an objection now.
So instead she looked to Sanae in hopes of distracting each other for a bit, starting off with a poke of curiosity, spoken in such a way that it sounded like a rhyme, "Everything okay, Sanae?"
The perky maiden shot upright and spun at Shina, but almost struggled not to take her eyes off Kanako as they rounded the stairs to the lake.
"I wish I could split off like Lady Kanako and Lady Suwako can so I could watch their battles. But alas, I'm only a human with the blood of a god..." Her thoughts voiced with a droopy sigh led to Shina sympathizing with her.
"It musta been hard to choose..." She said with a couple short nods.
"Not when you're involved..." Sanae admitted without pause, followed by glancing over Shina's shoulder as though they were being pursued. She then trodded closer and leaned out to whisper, "Truth be told, your friend scares me..."
"Yeeaaaah...he gets that a lot..." Shina could only giggle and pretend to itch the side of her face, "But he's not that bad...once you get to know him."
"You're known him for a while, yeah?"
"Almost two years!" Shina yelled triumphantly with pride.
"So you're...friends?" Sanae tilted her head and fluttered her eyelashes.
"Well...duh?" Shina spat out as though that'd be obvious.
"No no no..." The maiden leaned even closer, putting her head inches away from her friend's ear lobe to whisper, "Are you...friends?"
As she backed off, things clicked in her head like a set of clackers and made her gasp, "Oh! Oh yeah! We're that close, definitely!"
"Wow, I never would've imagined..." Sanae nodded a little, but her understanding was definitely a farce, "But...if you know someone long enough I guess anything's possible."
"Sooo...who ya gonna root for?" Shina inquired with a sly smile.
"Lady Kanako of course!" Sanae pumped her fists up but then fluttered her eyelashes some more and waggled her hands around, "N-Not that I don't WANT to root for you..."
"Tee-hee...Religious loyalty comes first, ya?" Shina hastily finished the sentence without being offended, causing Sanae to ease herself of that troublesome issue.
"Right! I won't be mad if you somehow win though. Cause truth be told..." Sanae squinted back for a second then leaned back at Shina to say, "Lady Kanako hasn't done very many spell card duels."
Caught unaware by her rear end ramming into a solid object, Sanae thrust upright, her head hitting the front of Kanako's chest. She spun right around and saw the goddess' minimalistic smile, clearly displeased. Flustered, Sanae hopped back behind Shina and swatted her on the left shoulder to push her forward. Shaking one fist up in the air, the maiden then hollered with abundant energy, "Good luck Shina!"
Tipsily regaining her balance while looking back, Shina then stared straight into Kanako's eyes without fear and asked while again trying to rhyme, "So, ya ready to go, Kanako?"
The goddess stretched a pair of pressed fingers beside her face and gleamed back at the lake's surface, "Just about..."
With a snap loud enough to ripple the lake, the divine waters began to bubble over. From the depths too pure to even look at rose an octagon ring of metallic onbashira, each evenly ten feet long and wide, and standing five feet off the surface. There were three on each side, making for 16 total in the perimeter. Some more onbashira appeared in the center, making the grand total come to 23.
"I'll head to the farthest one, you can start at the closest." Without another word Kanako leapt and glided through the air to the centermost onbashira in the back.
She landed as though standing the whole time she flew, then crossed her arms under the chest and declared certain victory with her grin. The light of the setting sun reflected off the dew dripped shimasawa and turned it into a bright halo, providing that little more intimidation to Shina as she hopped right to her designated spot.
Kanako spoke the moment Shina landed, her voice as power as a thunderclap, "Now, there are a few rules I must establish before we can begin."
"Eh? I already know the rules though?" Shina murmured with a dull tilt of the head.
With eyes creased shut the goddess' voice grew apologetic, "Things shall be a little different than what you've grown accustomed too."
She then thrust her right pointer finger out and decreed, "First, this is a battle that'll be restrained to these onbashire. Jump and run all you want, but there'll be NO flying."
Then her middle finger sprung right up as she continued, "Second, if either of us fall into the water, its an automatic defeat."
Finally rose her ring finger, "Last of all, your victory can also be achieved if you manage to beat both my spell cards."
"So, keepin' yer balance's the name of the game eh?" Shina's heart fluttered with excitement as she intently heard Kanako through to the end, and with her eyes sparkling like the water's surface she leaned out and pumped her fists up near the chest.
"You musta spent a long time comin' up with this variant to the Spell Card duels!"
"Yes. I thought it might be more fun for the denizens of Gensokyo if there were more ways to play Spell Card duels than the norm," Kanako lifted her head up and closed her eyes as though reminiscing, "And a duel like this is far more suited for the likes of me."
As her eyes dilluted Shina tilted her head and murmured a brief 'Eh?', and the goddess responded in turn with, "That's a talk for later. For now..."
Kanako flicked her right fingernails straight out towards the horizon and winked one eye shut. The winds gathered at the center of the lake and rippled their waters out, where they splashed against the edge and dampened the air with their divine power. The winds were cleansed of impurities, and eased the minds of those who surrounded it.
For a couple seconds, Shina only heard that gentle breeze enter her ears. It was like being in the middle of a battlefield between two meeting armies, the calm before the storm of war. The atmosphere befit the goddess, who represented not just the blessings of the divine wind, but was once that terrible, terrifying iron wall that thousands of soldiers could never hope to penetrate.
Shina swung her arms out from a cross, tapping the stone of the Gunslinger Drive as the hands and wrists crossed paths. Transforming with the guns at the ready, she once more left the onlooking Sanae captivated by the mystery of who she was, and the maiden's interpretation of her awe left Shina humored in its bluntness.
"S-Shina...you didn't tell me you're a magical girl too!"
Shina glanced back and smiled brightly at her new friend, telling her with a general confidence, "Its nothing like that! But I'll show you something cooler than one of those!"
She spun her guns around and licked her lips while facing Kanako, "Just don't take yer eyes offa me Sanae!"
Kanako crossed her arms beneath the chest once more and steadied herself atop the onbashira of her choosing. Her legs locked in place, and her body became a statue untouched even by the winds surrounding her.
"Then let us enjoy this battle...Shina Aurora!" A pair of thinner onbashira were summoned to Kanako's side as a spell card appeared above her head, spinning around with trickles of water dancing in a spiral. Shina gripped her weapons tight as the onbashira sliced right through the spell card, and the goddess declared her first move.
"Ceremony of Divine Blessings!"
Kanako started off with a powerful sweep across the battlefield, sending out three waves of solid light-green head-sized spheres. They started off fast, but upon traveling halfway through they slowed to a crawl. Shina tapped her right foot on the ground and took the time to see what onbashira would be safe to hop to. Sticking to the perimeter seemed like the wisest choice, as that's where they'd begin to spread out the widest.
With a short hop to the right, she landed between a couple of bullets and took aim at Kanako, fighting back with her own barrage of bullets. The pellets bounced off Kanako's body without fazing her, so Shina quickly pulled out the tougher arsensal in the form of her sniper rifle. Armed and ready in both her hands, she hoisted the weapon up so the scope was level with her right eye.
As she took aim to fire, Kanako sent out a condensed spread of foggy blue knives to the left, and foggy green ones to the right towards Shina. She leapt off and the bottom of her feet grazed the top of the knives. Landing on the nearest onbashira with a roll, she propped the rifle on her right knee and locked the crosshairs on the goddess' chest.
The same knives she just avoided returned and pelted her on the back and arms, making her bullet scrape the side of Kanako's left shoulder instead. She stood right up and spun back with eyelids fluttering in bewilderment. Sure enough, the onbashira she had used was raised to reflect the knives. She was just unfortunate to be in the perfect spot for all of them to hit.
"That's not good..." She turned back to Kanako and watched as she flung another wave of green spheres along with two sets of knives in quick succession. This time the next onbashira clockwise and counterclockwise in the perimeter rose up.
While hopping to the very center of the arena Shina thought, "Have to keep my distance away from the perimeter for now..."
Her next move upon landing was to pay the goddess back for that clever little trick of hers. So she whipped out the ol' SMGs and began assailing the goddess with a rapid-fire string of bullets. Sacrificing power for speed was the key to victory, Shina figured.
She kept up the assault for two seconds before glancing back to see where the knives were heading. A couple neared her ankles, so she performed a short hop to let them glide harmlessly by. Kanako sent out more green spheres, their speed forcing Shina to leap back in a second or take many of them to the body.
But a straight leap back would put her smack dab in the middle of the lake once gravity decided to take hold. With quick timing she whipped out a shotgun, pressed the back against her chest as though giving it a hug, and fired to the right. Her body launched to safety on a left onbashira and slid across the surface. Her heart started racing when it seemed she'd teeter right off the edge, but she picked herself up and hopped back to the center pretty quick.
Luckily, she was in the prime position to just slip between the Danmaku no problemo, so she was easily able to shift focus back onto Kanako. The knives flew to the east and west and bounced off in a perfect wave across the battlefield, whereas Kanako proceeded to fire off more green spheres.
Every square inch of the battlefield had at least one bit of Danmaku in it at this point, making navigating the onbashira a little harder to manage. Busting out the SMGs once more, Shina decided to tackle the harrowing battlefield like she imagined she would skip along stones atop a creek.
With swift, tiny hops and careful alternating of which leg was raised she crossed the lake and ended up on the platforms directly in front of Kanako. Even a goddess had to obey the pattern she crafted, and as she flung the knives their separate ways she nevertheless smirked as Shina cocked a shotgun straight at her.
The knives bounced off the onbashira to the left behind the girl, some of them grazing the sides of her body as she fired her shot. The recoil when combined with this slick surface pushed her to the edge of the platform, and she let out a gasp as her body leaned back.
Kanako fired her next wave of green spheres at the perfect time, as just one was enough to knock Shina off. The next two bullets rammed into her chest and face in that order, pushing her further away. But what seemed like the decisive checkmate was actually a blessing in disguise, for now she was far enough away to try and save herself with a quick, but risky, maneuver.
She took aim with her shotgun towards the edge of the onbashira and fired before her body fell completely flat. The force ricocheted her towards the closest onbashira, where her calves suffered quite the impact before she slid onto the surface.
"Ow ow owie!" She treated the throbbing pain like a minor bruise and squeezed her eyes shut. This wasn't the kind of pain that would go away when the duel had ended, unfortunately.
"S-Smooth...Shina...S-Smooth..." She tried to stand back up only to flatten herself right down and puff in her chest as the knives came flying overhead. Though doing this wouldn't work with the spheres, so pain or not, she had to stand up.
Getting up was the easy part, moving after that...not so much. Applying weight to the calves increased the intensity of the pain, and jumping was definitely a one-way ticket to making that pain flare up worse than touching a burning stove.
"...And I don't wanna feel that kinda pain again..." She murmured internally as though it was a casual memory. Biting her teeth down as the spheres came flying, she dispelled the guns for now and leapt back, curling her leg up and rubbing the calf with her aura covered fingertips.
She stumbled about as she landed on a safe platform, but that served to hasten the healing she applied to her muscles. It may prove to be a hack job in the end, but all that mattered was surviving through this duel.
Kanako watched on with an impressed gleam in her eye as she threw out another dual set of knives, then dropped her statuesque pose to spread her arms like an eagle's wings and summon four thin onbashira to her sides.
"This duel has only just begun...Now begins the second wave of my spell card!" Erupting from the tips of the onbashira were dozens upon dozens of purple and red arrowheads in thin, stringy waves, which quickly appeared ready to cover the entire battlefield.
Shina's eyes widened to the size of nickles as she swapped over to the other leg and started hopping around like a rogue pogostick, desperately trying to avoid the newly introduced Danmaku.
"C'mon c'mon! Faster! Faster!" She rubbed the aura deep into her pores so quickly that the friction of it reddened the skin in seconds. Her body was pelted with Danmaku from all sides, and Kanako made matters worse by throwing in her sphers and knives to the chaotic blender of bullets.
"Oh forget keepin' my balance! How the bloody hell am I expected to dodge all this?!" Satisfied enough with her self-service, Shina shook her leg out as though it was meant to dry and then planted it down with SMGs drawn.
The battlefield was now a mess of bright colors, and Kanako barely stood out in the middle of them all. The goddess was smiling and remained resolute in her victory, and Shina could not blame her for that. Her performance thus far's been pretty crappy, an unworthy display for one of Kanako's status.
Shifting herself around in some vain attempt to escape the bullets' assault, Shina narrowed her eyes and reached deep inside to ignite the fire in her heart.
"Alright...time to kick into overdrive!" A fiery crystal blue aura surrounded her body like a haze as she swung her arms up and summoned a grenade launcher, enduring the assault of the Danmaku just a little longer.
The reticule was pointed at Kanako for just a second, but right as Shina pulled the trigger she shifted aim to the center platform. The grenade that fired unleashed a ten foot wide explosion that wiped out all the Danmaku in its path and freed up enough space for Shina to make her next move.
She leapt to the center onbashira and then stuck tiny jets to the sides of her boots. Switching out for SMGs, she gauged the travel path of ALL types of Danmaku as best she could in the second alotted and then licked the side of her mouth.
"Yeah...yeah that oughta do it!" She leapt up and laid her body out with her arms stretched past the head and legs pressed in perfect alignment. The jets she created fired off in opposite directions and kept her body suspended by spinning her around. She closed her eyes to avoid dizziness and relied on her aura powers to make certain she had made the right decision.
The Danmaku started flying in earnest from Kanako's body and attachments, but thanks to her quick and clever idea Shina had managed to find something of a rarity in spell cards...A safe space. All these bullets flew around like a swarm of panicked bees, but not a single one could come close to grazing her as long as she maintained this position. The knives and spheres were too low, and the arrowheads too high.
But as Sanae was quick to proclaim, "Hey hey hey! Shina! You're not supposed to be flying!"
"This isn't flying!" Shina merrily declared while continuing to funnel bullets into Kanako, "Its floating...WITH STYLE!"
The goddess closed her eyes and kept the futile pattern going with a smile for the few seconds that remained. When her Spell Card shattered, the winds died down by gently caressing her hair. She laid her arms down beside her dress and waited for Shina to land on the onbashira to lay a hand upon her chin and murmured to herself.
"Hmmm, I guess I need to fix that flaw later..." She glided her hand against the side of her face and smirked, then congratulated Shina with a slow, steady clap of the hands.
"Bravo, Shina Aurora. I must commend you for your ingenuity in the heat of battle."
Shina blushed and laid a hand against the back of her head, humbly taking in the praise, "Awww schucks, I didn't do anything that cool. I was fumblin' around like a dope half the time there..."
Kanako laid her arms between chest and abdomen and tilted her head aside to comment, "The fact that you can say that about yourself is why I offer my sincerest praise."
"Huh?" Shina perked up with puzzled eyes as the goddess continued with a peculiar question, "So...what is your race like?"
"The Aurians? Well, I reckon I don't have the time to tell you everything I know..."
"If I had to take a guess, your race prides themselves on being warriors," Kanako gently turned her body and stretched her right pointer finger out to point at Shina's face, "That can easily be discerned from that look in your eyes."
Shina's blush darkened, and Kanako chuckled while withdrawing her hand and closing her eyes, "There is no shame in that. The instinct to adapt on the fly is crucial to every day living as well as battle."
"N-Not that...Its just really really weird to be getting complimented by a literal goddess." She replied while rubbing the back of her head.
"Nonsense, there's no need to be embarrassed," Kanako's face tensed up a little as she laid her hands under the chest, "We're both warriors here...Though I suppose in my case, that time has long since passed."
With a nostalgic smile she lowered her head and remarked, "It was millenia ago, when all the earthen gods and goddesses fought to claim the territory of the mortals. It was during that period that I claimed the Moriya Shrine by conquering Suwako in battle."
She laid a hand up beside her face and wiggled her head with a dry sigh, "A part of me misses those chaotic days, but there comes a time in every god's life when they must accept reality for what it is."
She opened her eyes and through their reflection Shina could visualize the journey of Kanako's life unfolding in seconds, "Humanity owed plenty to the gods in the olden days, but the opposite applied as well. Gods are born of faith, and die from lack thereof. Because of the blessings we granted humanity, they were allowed to prosper and grow as a race, even though their fertile hearts would eventually grow the seeds of terrible sin."
"War changed. Humans used the blessings of the gods to forge weapons and fight each other, tainting the surface with their blood. Once they had a solid understanding of how to forge on their own and craft barracks, stables and walls, the need for gods dwindled. Soon they had machines to tend to their everyday needs, and many gods began to perish due to a lack of faith. As representatives of nature, Suwako and I held out longer than most, but we knew it'd be a fool's gambit to expect that to last."
"So you decided to come to Gensokyo..." Shina remarked.
"Yes. This land, trapped in the era of the gods, was the perfect place to start anew. And here I have been able to take what I have learned from the outside world to provide humanity with technology they've never seen."
"And they give you faith in return?" Shina deduced.
Kanako laid her hand out towards the horizon as the sunlight glistened off her shimesawa, embuing her with heavenly prestige, "All because I trusted my instincts and adapted to the situation."
Her eyes shut and she became at ease while mumbling with a tinge of regret, "There are times I miss those old days. Humanity was cruel and barbaric, but there's a certain elegance to that simplicity that you can't find here in Gensokyo."
She laid her hands out and smiled, "Spell Card duels, however, allow me to experience the splendor of battle without the fear of harm. Yes! Truly, Danmaku is the perfect expression of one's inner self, past, present, and future!"
The passion in her voice gushed forth like a waterfall and swept away all other words Shina may have wanted to say. It was unlike the goddess to appear so excited, and it made her come across as a grandma remembering her youth. And it seems she was aware of the comparison too, for with a cough and brief blush she crossed her arms under the chest, summoned the thin onbashira to her side, and summoned another Spell Card.
"Forgive my ceaseless droning...Shall we continue where we left off?"
Shina smiled and nodded, and Kanako laid her right hand out and remarked, "Wonderful. Allow me to show you...the divinity of my Last Word!"
With a flick of the wrist upward the perimeter onbashira save for the one she stood on rose twenty feet out of the lake, greatly decreasing how much room there was to move. Shina stood her ground and kept the goddess in her crosshairs as she sliced a diagonal cross through the Spell Card with her onbashira.
"The Venerable Ancient Battlefield!" She proclaimed its name with pride, and Shina bombarded her with a string of bullets before the goddess could start hers off.
Shina attacked for at least three seconds straight with no signs of retaliation from her opponent. So she immediately looked back and saw a trio of rings emerging from the back corners of the arena. The rings came out in three tiers and were made of raindrops, emerging fast at first but slowing down as they approached the center.
Shina hopped back and ducked under the middle ring before landing safely. But in that time Kanako was preparing another set of Danmaku around her. Dozens of red paper seals spun around in a blur to protect her until she swiped her left hand out and sent them forth in a condensed, lightning fast wave.
Shina leapt to the left but the seals curved on the spot and followed after her, a couple scraping the right side of her calves. She grimaced but held her ground to fire at Kanako once more. She set up another barrier with the calm raise of the hand and deflected all bullets, which grinded against the onbashira and set the sky ablaze with sparks.
As the first rings of raindrops dissipitated into a vision blurring mist, and Shina closed her eyes to concentrated on the aura the seals had. Their holy power was overwhelming to her visionary receptors, but she clung on just long enough to make the brave leap to the platform to the upper left.
Focusing on the seals left the second rings of raindrops able to run into her right as they emerged, but at least she had managed to avoid the seals, which seemed more dangerous. She took a few shots but another barrier came right up to replace it.
Shina made two quick hops to the right and twirled around each time to avoid the rings of rain, which grew in number to include a third. Like the onbashira reflecting the knives, the rings were emerging in a clockwise pattern to the left and a counterclockwise one to the right. Figuring that out SHOULD have made them easy to avoid, but the homing properties of the seals were greater than any tactical missile. Not to mention the compact space...
Shina's adrenaline was pumping as she was kept on the run from the rings and seals, leaping between each onbashira she could per second. Her flips were in perfect form like a gymnast's, and she managed to avoid all the Danmaku that came her way.
But that was just it. She could dodge to-and-fro until the sun don't shine, but that would just be stalling things out. And considering the last Spell Card, Kanako may be hiding some tricks up those puffy sleeves of hers. The rings were starting to emerge close to the goddess, so Shina leapt away to the back row and rapid fired bullets into Kanako's body while the seals were down.
She then leapt forward with a tuck 'n roll and landed on the center, the seals grazing her from underneath. When she landed she started to feel the first hints of fatigue, but it came as a surprise to her. She didn't even feel all that weaker, if she had to be honest.
"Remilia was right, you do get used to it...eventually." Though it was relieving to know that, that didn't mean she could let her guard down. After the rings ended next to Kanako, Shina expected them to restart from the beginning and decided to stay in the center.
However, Kanako's thinner onbashira began to lower at her sides, aiming for edges of the arena. With the sleek smile of a snake, the goddess unleashed high-pressured streams of water from each onbashira. Shina widened her eyes and made a quick getaway back.
But the rings of water started flying out from ALL the onbashira at triple the speed as before. The streams started closing in nice and slow, quaking the battlefield. Shina was forced to squint her eyes as the water splashed against her body like the morning dew, and then advance towards Kanako.
Sticking to the center was the easiest way to avoid the rings while the streams started crossing, but if they even one of them hit Shina would lose immediately.
However, the cost for this great offensive was a lack of defense, and thus Shina summoned all her strength into a rocket launcher and fired two rockets into the goddess. Each blast was bigger than her body, but did not halt her assault in the slightest, nor did it make her flinch.
When the sparkling smoke faded, Kanako crossed her arms and smirked, waiting for the streams of water to finish the job. Yet even milliseconds from defeat, Shina mimicked the iron wall's strategy and refused to yield. She leapt forward and aimed her rocket launcher down, firing right as her feet hit the ground.
The explosive load yielded the power to twenty tons of TNT and propelled her back into the air just right over the deadly geysers. Her body spun around, and she couldn't see where she was landing. Now, all she could do was hope and pray that lady luck was smiling her way.
Her legs bent down upon connecting with a hardened surface, and upon opening her eyes she saw the left most back onbashira beneath her feet and breathed in relief. Kanako rested and clapped her hands quietly beneath her chest a couple times then resumed the pattern from the beginning.
Shina breathed in deep and squeezed her eyes shut. Leaping over to the center platform, she managed to evade the rings, then with a side somersault left she avoided the seals. All the while, she was working on a plan to defeat Kanako's Last Word. She couldn't hope to run that same play twice if the water streams returned, for it expended a ton of energy.
"Think think think...Gotta take her down somehow!" Her eyes focused towards the onbashira to the left of her, then back over to Kanako.
"She has to stick to the pattern, so that means..." It was yet another risky gambit to add to the pile, but Shina's mischievous mind just couldn't stop concocting them.
Before the rings made their way to her target onbashira she leapt right at it and created a clawshot, firing it at the top. The surface was too slippery to latch onto, but she wasn't going to give up. She turned the claw into a lasso and guided it around the pillar nice, neat, and tight.
She pulled herself in and kicked the rockets on her boots into overdrive, spiraling around and around and around the onbashira as the rope slipped towards the lake. Kanako kept watch as the girl's body became a pure ring of light from how fast she spun, then tightened the fold of her arms closer to the chest.
Though the world was spinning out of control, Shina could feel Kanako's heavenly presence as clear as day. All she had to do was be patient and not launch herself too soon, and this plan would go off without a hitch.
Then came the critical moment, the exact millisecond where she was level with the goddess. When the full rotation had been complete, Shina launched herself straight out like a blazing rocket, only for Kanako to duck her body back and let the girl fly harmlessly overhead. For a brief moment, Kanako could see the girl's flabbergasted expression.
She stood up and closed her eyes with a smirk, but kept a humble attitude about her as she remarked, "A bold move, turning your own body into Danmaku. Perhaps with some work, it'll-"
Kanako shut up and looked at the battlefield, where her Danmaku still flowed at the same pace as before. Her eyes narrows, then widened with the emergence of a blinding flash from behind. She glanced over the shoulder and found Shina with her feet pinned to a square platform of aura and her body aimed straight at the goddess' waist.
She curled back and charged her jet boots, pounding the aura with furious bursts of energy as she declared, "I ain't done with ya yet Kanako!"
She sprung forth without a second's hesitation, smashing the platform to feeble dust as her power rippled down the mountainside and could be felt in the Tengu Village. Kanako had time to blink and little else as Shina rammed straight into her body.
The energy broke around the girl's body and she collapsed atop the onbashira that Kanako toppled off of. The goddess closed her eyes and murmured as she fell back, "The cost of hubris, eh?"
Though accepting her defeat with grace, she couldn't bear to be exposed to the waters and swung her arms out to create a cushion of wind to descend like a feather upon. The onbashira dropped back down on an even playing field, and Kanako crossed her arms under the chest and looked down at Shina with a smile on her face.
With a humored chuckle she closed her eyes and remarked, "I see there are a lot of kinks I must iron out with my Spell Cards. But even so...I wasn't expecting you to defeat me like this."
Shina stood up and fluttered her eyes in confusion, but then winced in pain as the insides of her head rattled, "Ow...shoulda protected my head..."
As she gave the sour muscles a quick massage, she kept one eye open and asked Kanako, "Wait, whaddya mean 'like this'? Were you...holding back?"
"I won't divulge whether that's the case or not, because it is ultimately unimportant." Which was basically an admission that Shina's assumption was correct.
"Hehehe! It was still a lotta fun regardless! You really kept me on edge the whole time!"
Kanako opened her eyes and laid a hand on the chin with a mature poise to her, "Yes well...Even if it didn't matter, I still wished to win. That's the mentality of all who partake in Spell Card duels."
"Ya, guess I'm in a similar boat. Though in this case...ya DID promise to tell me about the Cosmos Drive, soooo..."
"And I shall not be rescinding on that promise. However...I do wish to see how Suwako has fared first."
"Oh, right! I almost forgot about Alex!" Shina perked up and changed back to normal, a hand laid before her gasping agape mouth.
Kanako stretched her hand towards Shina and commented, "Well then...shall we?"
"Mmm-hmm!" Shina laid her hand down upon the goddess' cold skin and allowed herself to be carried to the lake's edge, where Sanae rushed to their side with her eyes ready to bulge out of their sockets.
"Lady Kanako, you lost?!" She gasped in utter disbelief.
"Lost in some measure of the word, Sanae, but victorious in other ways." Kanako's smile crossed the face as she chuckled.
"I'm kinda wondering if you REALLY defeat Lady Suwako...considering your track record." Sanae's bold comment did not go unreprimanded, as with the subdued fury of a dormant deity Kanako's snaky eyes peered through the crease in her eyelids and burned themselves into the maiden's retinas.
"Perhaps you'd like to spend tonight cleaning off all my onbashira, Sanae."
"N-No! Anything but that! Especially not tonight!" Sanae backed off with troubled pleas of reconsideration, and the goddess yielded in an instant.
"Then shall we go check up on Suwako, and see how she performed?" Kanako began to walk towards the back of the shrine, and after a supportive pat on the back from Shina her and Sanae joined her in their stroll. It was hard to imagine how Alex was faring at the moment, but a towering splash of steaming water far away might give some the trio a hint...
Next Time: Nature vs. Nature