Chapter 22: Scorching Fury
Alex and Satori made a mad dash for her courtyard, which she explained as being the source of that primordial screech. Alex, unfortunately, had to keep up with her slower pace, as she wasn't exactly qualified to be called "fit" or "healthy" like he was.
But it was a grueling effort on his part to be patient now. He sensed something terribly amiss burning deep in the farthest recesses of the Underground. Its power reminded him of Kanako and Suwako's, only wilder and much, much hotter.
And if trouble had followed them here, then Shina had likely seen it start. That made it all the more imperative to get there sooner rather than later. Yet here Alex stood, waiting as the satori ran her breath ragged going to the Hell of Blazing Fires.
Satori looked up at his face, whose features were doing a terrible job concealing his frustration at her. Even without a scan of his mind, she knew how to respond, "You're right...It is a burden to us both to continue proceeding like this."
Alex grit his teeth and scratched the side of his face, "Then why are you even coming along?"
"Because this concerns me as much as it does you." She said in a defiantly blunt tone. Alex couldn't exactly bring himself to give his usual snark after that.
He moved his hand to the back of his head and growled a bit, then slowly turned around and bent down, forcing himself to say with prolonged strain, "Urggh...Get on."
Satori closed her eyes and remarked, "Ah, so there's traces of a gentleman in you after all."
The palace trembled violently, and a herd of many different animals sprinted past a somewhat terrified Satori. Alex deeply stressed not clowning around by yelling to her, "Will you just mount me already?!"
She had already hopped onto his back and slipped her legs around his waist by the time he said that. She then wrapped her arms around his neck with a skin both cold and sweaty.
"Hrr..." Alex stood up and dashed straight for the courtyard as she squeezed hard onto his neck to hold on. He didn't even feel her, and carrying her was like lifting a pin. It was honestly a little pitiable how bad of shape she was in.
"I don't recall asking for your pity..." Satori said, sounding a little embarrassed.
"Then stop reading my mind!" He yelled back. Then he stopped, having arrived at the chasm leading to the Blazing Hell.
"Alright hold still, its about to get chilly." Alex started to envelop his body in a compact cold wind, only for Satori to pinch the side of his neck and break his concentration.
"Ow! What the actual hell?!" For a frail girl, she certaily had a pinch of steel.
"I'm a denizen of this palace. Do you think me so weak I can't handle a little heat?" She said with her head stuck up a bit.
"Little heat?" It feels like we're gonna dive into a goddamn supervolcano!" Alex felt her resting her head against his neck, and thus with a growl he grumbled "Oh forget it..." and leapt right into the chasm.
He dive bombed his way straight through with Satori holding on tighter. The power of the monster waiting for them gushed out, trying to hold them back. But it was a mere gust of wind to Alex, who pushed on and triumphed to their destination in seconds.
His first impression of the Hell of Blazing Fires would have to wait, for what lorded over it grasped ahold of his entire plane of vision.
The heat had risen much in the Hell of Blazing Fires, creating an updraft of hot air that blurred the presence of the crimson raven and made it appear as a mirage. But oh, it was real. Very, very well. As too was the person it engaged in battle.
The crystallic streak of light that glided around the mighty bird as it flailed about was undoubtedly Shina's. She bombarded the monster with all ammunition she could let loose, yet it showed no signs of pain even from explosions.
With but a swing of its wing the bird launched Shina into the leftmost wall, and then attempted to incinerate her with a shapeless breath of nuclear flames. She escaped swiftly and remained quick on the draw, launching a macross of tiny missiles into the beast's maw.
It repelled the beast in-so-much as forcing its mouth shut, and from there Shina zipped clockwise around the beast in order to make it lose focus as she attacked. She held the speed advantage, but her power seemed to be doing nothing to harm the beast.
Alex watched this battle unfold with vested interest and some concern, while Satori had been frozen stiff, save for her right hand shaking atop her Third Eye. "Okuu..." She whispered in pain as her eyelids squeezed partway shut, reacting to the strain her mind was enduring.
"Lady Satori Lady Satori!" Rin flew herself in the way of her master's line of sight with her eyes pale white and her face flushed of all color, though that was a detail that was hard to notice due to the lighting.
"Orin?" Satori felt a bit more relaxed in her presence and let out a sigh, "Thank god you're ok..."
Rin was tense and sweating profusely, and she swung her right hand out towards the massive bird, "I'm fine, but Okuu...Okuu isn't! P-Please help Lady Satori, I-I...don't know what to do!"
"You can relax..." Satori used the hypnotic powers of her Third Eye to quell Rin's chaotic mind just enough for her to speak clearly the question she asked, "Tell me everything from the beginning."
"...Shina and I were looking for her thing, but when that didn't work I asked if she wanted to play with me and Okuu...Okuu looked funny while we were playing, but I didn't think it'd turn out like this..." Rin's ears drooped as she pouted.
"Its not your fault Orin..." Satori petted her gently behind the ears, her fingers tense but gentle. Rin purred, and she did Satori swiveled her head towards Alex.
He slapped his chest and exclaimed in exasperation, "What?! You think I did this?!"
"No, we both know who the culprit is..." Satori faced the unfolding battle and spoke vaugely on purpose, "That 'mastermind' of yours is responsible for reawakening the power dormant inside my pet."
Her posture remained the same, but Alex could feel her anger swelling up inside.
"The power of Yatagarasu..." He spoke, a lump forming in his throat that he unconsciously swallowed. Knowing which god they faced made Shina standing up to it with just her Gunslinger Drive all the more impressive in his eyes.
"Hrmmm..." Satori hummed deep in thought, piquing Alex's curiosity.
'What's wrong?" He asked dryly.
"Okuu's mind is still in there...Its a flicker of light in a raging inferno...Muted, but alive," Of that much she could speak confidently, "She is holding on as best she can. What a good girl..."
"Soooo what you're saying is...Yatagarasu hasn't taken full control of her?"
"Exactly..."
Alex looked at the mighty crow, and found it right to voice his suspicions now, "Now that you mention it, there is something off with its power..."
"Oh?" Satori perked up to listen.
"Like...there's a bunch of holes in it, and its power is being forced out like geysers. That'd mean Yatagarasu's incomplete in that vessel, but why?"
"Most likely due to Okuu having been fed the deity's corpse. Yatagarasu's almighty power had to have decayed immensely over the centuries."
"Immensely? Lucky us..." Alex sighed, not even wanting to imagine how strong the sun devoured would've been in its prime.
"But the longer Yatagarasu remains in here, the more it'll feed off the vengeful spirits to regain all its power. And if it were to do so..."
"Then bye-bye Gensokyo..." Alex felt the weight of the situation fully now, and his knuckles began to buckle down into fists. He grit his teeth, cursing the mastermind once more.
"Stay back you two. I'll free your pet from this nightmare as soon as possible!" His body ignited, and he mustered up his bravery to fight.
"A-And how are you going to do that?" Rin asked, trembling up next to her master for comfort and protection.
"The same way I always handle things..." Alex projected a big confident smirk their way.
"By punching the problem until it goes away." Him AND Satori said at the same time. He looked at her, shaking his hands out as though to say 'Seriously?' Then faced the battlefield and cracked his knuckles and neck while growling, "Way to take the wind from my sails..."
He focused on his target's goliath frame and watched as it cast a wide, contempuous shadow over Shina with its wings. She continued to pelt its chest with bullets to seemingly no avail, and the monster was growing weary of that. It readied its talons over her body, prepared to dunk her straight into her magma.
Alex's eyes widened and he shunted right off the tunnel's edge. Before the crow could move or blink, Alex had smashed his left shoulder straight into its gut. A ripple shook through the god's flesh, and then it was launched back into the wall like a nail hammered into an oak board. The impact disoriented Yatagarasu and it slowly began to slide down the wall.
Alex grabbed his shoulder. It was burning, a little sore, but all totally worth it. "That'll hold you off a bit..." He growled smugly.
"There you are, finally!" Shina flew right up to him. He took a quick glance back at her body, and besides some scuffing here and there she was in good shape.
"How you holding up Shina?" He felt was still necessary to ask.
She put on her usual smile, but it was a bit rocky to maintain, "I'm doing fine, thanks for asking!"
Squinting more, Alex saw sweatdrops as big as rain drenching her skin and clothes. Her face was red too. Maybe she could've been embarrassed from being in this mess, but Alex knew not to put much merit in that.
"Shit...Shina, you're hot."
She reeled back and said with a wiggly grin, "G-Gosh Alex, is it really the time for-"
"Not like that!" Alex planted his hand on her forehead and told her firmly, "You're burning up. You need to back away and cool off a bit."
Shina shook her head and playfully responded, "Keep me in coach! I can handle it!"
It was admirably that she kept a happy tone right now, but Alex refused her request while playing along, "Negative Shina. I'm benching you for the time being. You're sweating and basically firing peanuts at a raging elephant right now."
Shina closed her eyes a bit and looked away, then admitted a troubling quibble, "But its kinda my fault for not noticing-"
"Its never out fault Shina. Don't let the mastermind get to you. That's what sh-...they want." Alex looked her square in the eyes and put a hand on her shoulder, "A couple minutes. That's all I'm asking...Please."
"Oh...Alright, you win." She said with a giggle.
Yatagarasu began to stir, dragging down part of the wall with it. The two flinched, then Alex swung his hand back and threw a bubble of cold, wet air over to where the tunnel is.
"Go!" He yelled, and Shina rocketed right on over to safety.
Alex waved both his hands energetically towards his body and yelled "Come on!" to the wild god. It seemed a good idea at the time to grab all of Yatagarasu's attention, but as he'd find out in a moment or two...His taunts were unnecessary.
Yatagarasu peeled away from the wall, which was melting as easily as glass, and glared towards Alex. Its glare penetrated his body and pushed his soul right out for a brief moment, causing his body to slack back and feel a smidgen of fear. Then with a single humid gust from its wings, the crow lorded itself inches over his body,
He quickly remembered what Hecatia had said, and whispered in a brief realization of his idiocy, "Oh son of a bitch..."
Yatagarasu dove at him screeching at the top of its lungs, its anger turning the cauldron of magma into a sea in the middle of a storm. The hot liquid splashed about against the walls and flew into the air, droplets of it colliding with it and Alex.
He thrust his hand out and used a blast of air to escape the god's wrath, then set his hands on fire as he'd usually do and launched a beam as big as its chest straight into its demonic eye. The eye glowed bright, and the crow fought fire with fire. Its searing white flames collided and twisted together with Alex's crimson ones, slowly forming and expanding a sphere in the center of the arena.
Yatagarasu flapped its wings, sending waves of hot air to throw Alex's concentration off. But he could handle anything it threw his way, cause if there's one thing he can beat a god of the sun at, its being a hot-head. He poured on more power, increasing the beam's size by twenty percent, and managed to drive the colliding forces back towards the crow.
The impact forced its wings out and spun it around twice, where it then swiftly recovered and charged straight at Alex. He sped to the left, grabbing onto his right shoulder and giving his arm a swivel as the crow passed by. Then he thrust forward and punched it firmly in the armpit.
Yet he was the one who failed, for the crow brought its wing down and snatched him up, then spun around like a twister to keep him disoriented before flinging him at the magma. Alex instinctively pushed his hands around and created two hot flame jets from his palms to keep himself leveled a foot above the surface.
A bubble popped and sizzled in his ears, and he felt a drop of sweat disintegrate into mist on his forehead. Quite frankly even an Elemental Overlord deserves to be afraid of swimming in hot magma, at least in his opinion. But this wasn't the time to be concerning himself with minor details, for Yatagarasu was coming in hot.
He thrust back and the crow smashed the magma's surface, standing atop it with its three legs and leaning forward to stare him down with its hollow, rage filled eyes. It drew its wings back and launched forward with all it had, ramming its magma drenched head into his stomach.
Alex spat forth blood that lasted a second, then grabbed onto the sides of Yatagarasu's head and drew on all his strength to turn the god's efforts against it. He twisted his body, painfully feeling every muscle in his arms and waist as he hauled the crow's massive girth around and slammed it against the wall it had planned to force him into.
Alex dropped his arms to give them a quick rest, "Satori needs to put her pet on a diet, god damn!"
Yatagarasu squirmed as it pulled away from the wall and wreathed its wings in searing white flames. It lashed them out, sending the flames out in a furious storm that swept up Alex like a twig. He was battered around inside of it for a few seconds and got carried away to the opposite side of the arena, the heat combined with the gale proving difficult to get his bearings within.
So in an attempt to make things easier for himself, he tried to go with the flow so when he does hit the wall, his feet will be what braces the impact. The gale kept persisting a few seconds after he did so, but his legs held up under pressure just as he had faith they would.
He had every right to smirk in the face of danger, and after tugging his arms out to build up pressure underneath his legs he charged straight at the incoming Yatagarasu. The two rammed each other stubbornly, him matching its vengeful heart with the pure ferocity of his.
The two repelled away then went flying back in, smashing into each other a few more times with shockwaves that broke off parts of the ceiling. Yatagarasu stopped this futile assault by firing a spinning star of fire as big as its body, which Alex defied through the sheer slicing power of his blade.
He then grabbed his sword in both hands in swung it overheard, leaping twenty feet over the god in a single movement. Lightning erupted from the glistening amber and he brought it all down like Mjolnir upon Yatagarasu's head. The god's eyes widened and it fell on its back into the magma, splashing about like a child struggling to swim.
Alex used his blade to slash thick waves of air downward multiple times, hoping to keep the monster down. But someone like him should've understood the severity of such potent rage. Yatagarasu got back upright and lurched amidst the magma, letting out a roar so mighty it forced it all the magma against the walls.
Alex crossed his arms and held on, his skin feeling as though it'd peel off under this insurmountable pressure. It made him want to use more power to fight back, but doing so would risk the demise of Utsuho, the helpless victim in all this madness. And he wouldn't give the mastermind the satisfaction of going against his moral code.
So Yatagarasu was welcome to madly flaunt its power until the seas of Hell burned dry, but he wouldn't budge an inch. He vowed to stand against its might and beat it the way he was now. "So come on you damn crow..." He funneled wind after wind into his arms until miniature tornados were swirling hundreds of miles per hour around them.
"Bring it ON!" He screamed, overpowering the god's angered cries as he counteracted its winds with some of his own. He then punched his fists back, bearing down his knuckles against the empty air, and fired himself straight at Yatagarasu's head.
The magma, which had started to settle back into place, was forced away as Alex smashed his right fist into the crow's skull. He dug his knuckles in deep and forced the monster's whole body to the ground, the force of his blow leaving him spiraling for a bit after.
He stabilized with his back to the ceiling and all focus on the crow forcing itself up. Every movement it forced itself through made it seem as though it was breaking its bones to do so. He could only imagine the agony being inflicted upon both it and Utsuho, as he had felt similar pain in the past.
The enduring struggle to stand showed the lengths Yatagarasu was willing to go to exact its vengeance. If it was willing to destroy its own body this quickly after coming back to life, then there was no simple way to go around it. Yatagarasu could only be stopped the way Alex was handling it, through pure brute force.
He didn't wait another second to attack, and dove down to punch its head once more. Yatagarasu retaliated by rearing its head back with all its might, knocking the boy away like a fly before he could strike. It flapped its wings and set the sky ablaze with wild flames, then threw them all towards Alex.
He shook his head then drew his sword, quickly cutting down all the flames that came his way. Then he planted his feet against the ceiling and reeled his hands back with both on fire. Yet as he prepared to strike back, the crow flew straight up and bashed its skull into him, breaking the ceiling by using him as a thick nail.
It smashed its head into him repeatedly without pause, eventually drawing blood from his mouth. His brain was rattling inside his skull, making it impossible for him to fight back. After multiple bludgeonings Yatagarasu pulled back and drew flames into its demonic eye, with Alex dead center in front of it.
He was stuck to what remained of the ceiling with his arms feeling like they were bound with super glue made out of a demon's hide. He clenched his fists and tugged, ripping the hairs off his arms and burning the skin but slowly making progress to free himself. But he wasn't going to make it in time. The attack had no possible chance of killing him, but it would hurt. A lot.
Then a familiar looking bright rope wrapped around the pit of Yatagarasu's left wing, followed by its right one. The ropes were thicker than a fully grown oak trunk, a necessity for reigning in a monster this gargantuan. With one mighty tug, the ropes snapped into place and forced the beast's wings back.
"Shina!" Alex yelled in a mix of relief and surprise.
Far behind the god she was holding onto her rope firing guns for dear life. Her head was pulled back as far as her neck allowed, and there were a few veins popping out of her hands. She grunted and groaned and told that monster off angrily, "Get yer dirty mitts off my boyfriend!"
This would normally be one of those moments where the strength of one's resolve would equate to gaining newfound physical strength...Buuuut sadly for Shina, Yatagarasu was one hefty crow. When all her efforts amounted to was delaying its attack, she nervously went, "Hehehe...whoops..."
She'd get a quick re-evaluation of her efforts, however, when that delay allowed Alex to break free and attack Yatagarasu's chest head-on. Shina broke the ropes and flew aside as Alex rammed the god into the magma and wailed it with a few hard punches as payback for earlier.
The crow's energy hadn't diminished in its chest, and it blasted him point blank with a concentrated laser of heat. He crossed his arms and dug his feet into the air, holding the power at bay and even forcing it back a few inches at worst. After Yatagarasu charged more power, however, he was unable to keep it up.
He swung away and caught his breath while gazing at the flames that burned through to the ceiling. Upon realizing how bad it'd be if they somehow breeched the surface, Alex grit his teeth with closed eyes and flung himself back into the flames to act as the barrier holding them back.
While he did so, Shina covered him by launching a quick string of several rockets around his body into Yatagarasu's chest to disrupt the flow of power. When even the slightest opening was felt, Alex lashed out against the flames with all his might and forced it back into Yatagarasu's eye.
Its chest jolted up in painful recoil, yet it spread its wings and flew straight at him with little care. Shina got between him and the crow and slammed her feet into its stomach. She cushioned her back with aura for Alex's sake, telling him hastily to "Hang on tight!"
He hugged the cushiony aura with his own back and let Shina do her thing for a bit. Her legs were being forced against her waist, yet she grit her teeth and wildly started kicking Yatagarasu's body with her rocket boots. Each impact gave her more space to kick, and thus increased the power of each individual blow.
Yatagarasu quickly lost the strength necessary to force them back, and with its speed decreasing Shina used the last bit of force to propel herself high with a leap and then pound the crow with both her feet at once. Alex then rolled out from behind her and surrounded his fist in lightning, diving down to strike Yatagarasu in the chest.
After pushing it away he spread his fingers out and blasted it with a lightning bolt. He extended his other hand out and grabbed onto Shina's, then threw her straight at Yatagarasu the moment his lightning subsided. She pulled out a shotgun and planted the barrels firmly in its face, gave it a wink, then blasted it without hesitation.
As the crow was drenched in magma once again, Shina cocked the shotgun over her shoulder and lifted the left side of her lip, wondering to Alex as he got closer, "Its not going down easy, is it?"
"It desperately wants to get revenge against the original Overlord, that's why," Alex admitted without cause for pause, then swung his fist out and declared, "We're going to have to keep hitting it with everything we've got right now if we want to free Utsuho!"
"Huh?" Shina gave him a strange blank look, and he said to her, "Huh? What do you mean 'Huh'? Am I wrong?"
"...Oh! Right, that's her name! I was getting really used to calling her 'Okuu'!" Shina stuck the tip of her tongue out and Alex shook his head and groaned her name, admittedly charmed by her goof.
Yatagarasu screeched and flew out of the magma to wind up right in front of them. It didn't give them a chance to react before swatting Shina away with one hard swing of its wing, forcing her head first into a wall. When Alex spent a second worrying for her, Yatagarasu grabbed him tight in its middle talon and forced him straight down into the magma.
It held its wing aloft and dragged him along the surface for a few seconds, most of it flying into his mouth. He was really really REALLY appreciative of his powers right now, causing otherwise this 'hot sauce' would be frying his innards alive. To escape this situation though he'd have to try something crazy. But unfortunately for the crow, crazy was his middle name.
He stretched his arm towards the magma and forced a pillar of stone to arise in his path. He then hastily transformed the stone into cobalt so it'd survive the temperatures, and tried to grab on. He just missed his mark by an inch, then clenched his fist and went "Damn!"
He tried again, this time making the pillar bigger, but by then Yatagarasu had grown wise to his trickery and rammed him head first into his own pillar. Alex's brain felt like it came ajar, and he stopped moving temporarily. An inescapable victim to the crow's wrath, Alex was dragged through the magma for another twenty seconds before someone made an effort to stop this injustice.
A few hardy spikes sped through the air like lightning bolts, fired from a nail gun Shina held in both hands that was way bigger than her body. The spikes either scraped the sides of Yatagarasu's body, or penetrated its wings. She hoped mostly for the latter to happen, for the propulsion of the spikes was hard enough to nail the creature's wings to the walls.
She kept firing without a care because the monster itself didn't care about her. She squinted her eyes and guided her aim straight and true, keeping her cool the whole time. She didn't have to worry about Alex's safety for now, he could handle whatever Yatagarasu threw at him.
Finally getting in a lucky shot, Shina watched as the bird's left wing wrapped around the front of its body, surprising it the moment before it got pinned to the wall so hard it was forced to let Alex go. Shina fired a few more spikes into the wall below it to give Alex a safe zone to roll onto, then kept bombarding Yatagarasu's wings to keep it down.
The crow revolted with explosive strength, blowing up the spikes and latching its talons into the wall to push out in one thrust. It then spun around and dove for Alex faster than Shina'd be able to get a spike out. She clenched her gun tightly and exclaimed desperately, "Alex!"
"Alex!" Her voice echoed inside his shaken mind and renewed his strength. He thrust his eyelids open and pressed his hands against the makeshift floor, raising and slamming his feet into Yatagarasu's foot.
He then pushed his body off the ground and twisted around in a spiral to force the god off him before it'd get the chance to make him its prey again. He then spun back and thrust his palms out to propel away with air, flying fifty feet away and being caught around the waist by Shina, who chipperly proclaimed, "Gotcha!"
He got off her fast and watched as Yatagarasu was starting to pull away from the wall still looking no worse for the wear. He scowled and grumbled, "You've got be kidding me. Can we even take this thing down like this?!"
"Ya know, I was thinking..." Shina threw in her two cents calmly, "But...what if we should be focusing on the eye?"
He glanced back at her and she shrugged her arms up, "I mean...Ain't it Yatagarasu's most defining feature? Everything else's just borrowing off Okuu's appearance."
He stared with mouth agape for a moment, then snapped his fingers up and softly spoke, "You're a genius Shina."
"Awww schucks..." She rubbed the back of her head and blush, but he promptly ignored that and faced the wild god's demonic eye.
"If we focus our efforts into attacking its eye, then that should be enough. And I got just the plan to do so."
"Sweet, what is it?" She leaned closer to his face to hear it clearly.
"Just keep Yatagarasu at bay for about...twenty seconds, and then once I do the thing and give the signal you'll coat my hands in aura. Got it?"
"...Uhh, kind of?" She said with her eyelashes fluttering. He patted her on the shoulder, flashed a smile in confidence, then flew to the very center of the cauldron.
Yatagarasu tried to pursue, but Shina raised a shotgun to its face as she got in its way and fired to repel it. The god kept charging, so she swung her right leg up and propelled the rockets on her boots at full power. Her leg felt like it'd come right off if she did this wrong, and while that was a little frightening the possibility of losing Utsuho to the mad god was even more so.
She rammed her leg into the side of Yatagarasu's face then screamed "HYAAH!" as she spun around and repeatedly struck the crow with a pinwheel of kicks. It was annoyed like a tick had been bothering it, and treated the matter as such by opening its mouth and attempting to roast the nuisance with fire.
Shina coated herself in aura to fend it off as best she could for a while, but the truth was that Yatagarasu wanted this to happen so she'd be pushed away from Alex. When she was far enough, it flew straight for him. She firmly slanted her brows down and growled, "Oh no you don't!"
She rocketed forth with one thrust of her boots, then fired down and crossed her arms to nail the crow in the back of the neck. This changed its flight trajectory to go underneath Alex, and she followed up on this by blasting it away with a point-blank rocket. The blast flung her back to Alex, where she looked back and hastily asked, "How's it coming along?!"
He was draining the magma and converting it a giant chained cobalt shackle before her very eyes, and his effortlessly in the matter left her awestruck. Yatagarasu's roar couldn't even break his concentration, but it made her gasp. She faced the god and assaulted it with bullets, yet it spun around like a violent tornado to deflect each and every one.
It affirmed its gaze straight onto its target and kept flying, refusing to be stopped. Shina was running through her reserves of aura at this juncture, and no longer had the capability to create weapons strong enough to repel its charge. Yet in this desperate moment, Alex triumphantly declared "Get below me Shina!" and she smiled knowing that he was ready.
After she had followed his command Alex spun around and brought the completed shackle to Yatagarasu. He guided its movements perfectly, opening and snapping the shackle shut around its neck. Having blasphemously bound a god like a leashed dog, Alex channeled all his strength into throwing the crow into the wall. The impact jolted the god, but he wasn't done there.
He spun his body around and around, dragging Yatagarasu ragged through the walls and building up speed to ludicrous degrees. Shina was frozen stiff, knowing that the slightest movement would leave her diced up in this wild and crazy blender.
"Well at least the place's getting a nice renovation..." She joked to pass the time.
Alex then suddenly let go of the chains and reached right down for the Gaia Temporis. He knew exactly where to go after stopping time, and sped forward to that location. He cracked his knuckles, looking behind to see Yatagarasu about to start another rotation around the walls. Then with a grin he clutched his fists by his hips and let time resume.
The crow made it back around in a couple seconds, and Alex perfectly timed ramming his fists straight into its eye while yelling "SHINA! NOW!"
Between the momentum Yatagarasu had built up and the refusal to budge as his full force punches collided with it, it was some wonder that the whole Hell of Blazing Fires didn't collapse right there. Alex was holding onto the integrity of the walls with all he had, and after reorienting herself to where he had gone off she held her arms out and poured the last remaining aura she got into his hands.
A pair of spiked grieves formed around his fists, and he complimented them in his head as he swung the right one back and took aim at the center of Yatagarasu's eye. He smashed his fist in deep, failing to penetrate the eye but making the crow screech loudly in pain, and a bright, magma-like blood to ooze from its mouth.
Alex held on still, but as he prepared to hit it with one final punch a set of images began to form in his head. Connecting to Yatagarasu on such a personal level caused him to experience the god's final moments. It laid on the ground with blood drenched eyes and stared into the face of a blood soaked man in his mid-twenties, who raised a diamond katana and plunged it into its body without hesitation, and at the last second the crow cursed the person's name.
Alex hesitated only for a second, for as he told the mad god, "I ain't responsible for his guilt."
He plunged an uppercut deep into Yatagarasu's eye and yelled out as the grieves her wore shattered, "But you're responsible for that body you're possessing! Now go back to being dead already and give it back!"
A single crack formed in the eye as the crow was forced through hundreds of feet of stone in an instant, silent all the while. Its back slammed into the ceiling and its eyes were forced shut, upon which it let out a whimper and then became wreathed in fire. The fire burned through its body, flesh and all, until only a little raven with a strange eye on its chest remained.
Alex flew up and caught it in both his hands. It was unmoving, and distressingly silent. His heart started racing, even more so as Shina flew right over to him and yelled, "Hey hey! Is Okuu..."
She was stunned into silence by the sight of her unconscious body. A tear naturally formed in her eyes, and she was ready to mourn the tragic loss here today. Then Alex felt a movement, a single breath if you would, and peeked down to find that Utsuho hadn't been killed...She was merely tired, and needed a gentle nap.
"Hey, Shina..." He raised the sweet little raven up to her face and smiled, "Look...Its going to be alright."
"Oh thank god!" She gasped all at once, "I dunno what I woulda done if she died..."
They then returned to Satori lickity-split. She was cradling a tired Rin in her cat form, and she was content with snoring her stress away. Satori looked up and smiled, just a tiny bit, but it made her appreciation all the more pronounced.
"Is she...?"
"Yes, she's fine." Alex held Utsuho out, and Satori peered at her for a while before saying, "She'll be fine after a long, quiet nap."
She then closed her eyes and gave a courteous bow, "Thank you, both of you. I shall forever remain in your debts."
"Uhhh...That's fine, I think we caused you enough problems already." Alex remarked while rubbing the back of his head.
"I'd rather live in a ruined palace than an empty one," Satori gently stated, then looked at Shina and asked, "If its not too much to ask, can you carry Orin back up? Today has left me...tired."
"Sure thing!" Shina said with both arms already out. After taking Rin she made her way for the tunnel, and Alex wished to follow but was stopped by Satori.
"Before you go, there's something you need to know..." Alex turned over his shoulder and let her speak. But he wasn't prepared for what'd come out, "I appear to have...forgotten what you wished to hear."
Her honesty was undeniable, but the cause for it made zero sense to Alex, "Forgot? How could you just forget?"
"I wish I knew. One second it was there, the next it was not...But I cannot forget who was responsible."
And neither would Alex. Now it was clear as to why Hecatia had guided him here. It was a personally laid trap for the mastermind, one that'd force them to act in desperation to cover up an important truth. Yet ironically, by doing so, the mastermind had confirmed to Alex beyond a shadow of a doubt as to who they were.
"Yukari Yakumo...She's our enemy." Alex's heart became strained from an incalcuable degree of rage as he clenched his fists tight.
But as Satori remarked, "And she's a dangerous enemy at that. You'd be wise not to underestimate her, Alex Whiter."
Alex could quell his rage only so much, but she was right. Anger'd solve nothing now. At the moment, he needed to regroup with Shina and plan out their next move. After getting back to the palace he handed Utsuho over to Satori and him and Shina said their goodbyes to her.
Alex was silent as they left the palace, thinking deeply about his journey up until this point. While Shina, not out of concern for his sudden quietness, spoke hesitantly, "Umm...Alex?"
"What?" He barely responded.
"I was thinking...When we fought Junko's Shadow and Yatagarasu...Ummm, it was like...Something else was really, really close by."
"Something...else?" Alex swiveled his head a bit towards her.
"Yeah, like...Maybe the mastermind?"
She was more on the nose than he'd be willing to let on, "The mastermind's always been close by, whether we like it or not."
"...Yeah, true." She turned away and seemed dissuaded from saying more about that, "Sooo...We just got two places left to check ya?"
"The Netherworld and the Ministry of Right and Wrong..." Alex remarked, then started to think aloud to himself, "Or maybe the Cosmos Drive isn't at either place..."
It was the worst case scenario, but with the lowest chance of being right. The artifact led them here. It CAN'T be lying. So maybe, considering the evidence, this meant...
"...Yukari...has the Cosmos Drive."
All the facts lined up. She'd been in possession of the artifact pieces when she handed them out to the other villains, so wouldn't it make sense that she'd be holding the Cosmos Drive hostage too? Alex wished there was another answer, but nothing else sounded right at this point.
"Son of a bitch...! Then that means the Netherworld's a bad idea. We'd basically be charging headfirst into enemy HQ..."
But they had to confront Yukari eventually in this case. So why did Alex find himself feeling too scared to deal with that problem himself? He could beat her. He CAN...beat her. Yet...maybe, just maybe...
"It'd be wise to bring back-up..."
He thus suggested to Shina, "Lets go to the Ministry first."
"Ok! Sounds good to me. We get there via the Garden of the Sun, I think?" As Shina distracted herself with that, Alex planned out what he needed to do...
"There's one person in Gensokyo who'd be capable of dealing with Yukari...Shikieki Yamaxanadu. I'll just have to hope and pray that she'll be willing to assist..."
Next Time: Judgment Day