Final Chapter: Necrofantasia ~ The Boundless Boundary
...So it has finally come down to this. I have waited so, so very long for this day to arrive. Now its just me and the Phoenix of Destruction, locked together in a grueling duel to decide our fates. Will his ferocious denial of who he truly is triumph over my steadfast refusal to lose the one thing I cherish most?
Its a rare occasion for me to stretch my muscles like this. Usually my matters are settled with subtlety and a flexing of the mind. This garish kind of combat is...a little beneath me and yet? I feel my adrenaline pumping so viciously through my body that everything hollow is made to feel alive again.
All these times fighting to stop the Phoenix of Destruction and yet funnily enough, this is the first time I've actually fought him directly. Though, pardon my use of cliches here...I can read him like an open book.
To make an example of that, I shall start by using six slightly widened gaps to pepper the boy head-on with lasers. The first of his Soul Shields, the green one to be precise, blocks all of my attacks with perfect deflection. The left of his lips begins to twitch, and with how tense his body has become even an act as paltry as that causes me to feel a jolt in my body.
I slide into a gap to my right the very instance he charges towards me. The flames he drags in his wake splashes me as I seal the way shut, and the tremors of his power frighten the very realm I stand in. I keep in hiding for a bit, poking the air before me with the tip of my parasol, and etching a glyph into place.
I wait roughly seven seconds, enough time for the first Soul Shield to burn itself dry, then use my glyph to launch streams of black lightning between dimensions. He turns to where I am and bashes the lightning away with a single swipe of his hand, sending out a wave of fire that crashes into the glyph's entry point and shatters open a pristine view of where I am.
In the midst of this tense battle playfully wink at him and press a pointer finger to my lips, which he responds to by brutefully coiling vines around my waist and hoisting me out. I keep my cool, even after his vicious tug separated me from my parasol, and reach left towards a gap no thinner than my fingernails.
He wrenches his left hand around my wrist as it slips into the gap, and burns his scowling face into my eyes' reflection as he brings down a seering hammer of magma and brimstone into my gut. The joints in my left arm crack to the breaking point before he lets go, and the impression of his knuckles is seared into my skin like a blister from touching a hot stove.
As my body plummets down this empty realm, he dives down at me at a screaming velocity with both his fists held out. The friction from his speed naturally deepens the volume of his flames, turning him into a living meteor. I gently extend my arm to the right and use a gap to grab my parasol from afar, then hold it up and open with my one arm as support.
His body collides head-on and the flames disperse around the breadth of my parasol, obscuring my view of everything but myself. He doesn't stop there. He pounds away at my parasol with a flurry of punches each stronger than the last, building up to one final smash with both his fists at the headway.
My parasol holds up under all that scruntiny with little more than a couple burn marks, and as I am propelled through the starry void I twirl back around and let myself fly into a large gap. In such a realm I can remove the properties of momentum from my body and land softly upon an empty space as though I had finished gliding through the sky like Mary Poppins.
I turn around and close my parasol as I point it upward. With a little parsing of the battle I pushed open a series of gaps surrounding the flummoxed boy and tried to pin him down with a wide arrangement of lasers. His second Soul Shield kept him protected, but the pressure from all the lasers acted as titanic nails to keep him from moving.
He flexes his arms with the grunting of an ogre in heat, shattering the lasers bit by bit. I figured it would be a simple task for him to accomplish, but that's fine. The real attack requires just a little more preparation on my part.
I remain within the boundary as I channel a substance through my parasol that the fledgling Phoenix of Destruction would be a bit familiar with. Though it had been a few years, so perhaps he might not. I can't rely on this much, but it should serve to rip through a few of those pesky shields.
As he breaks through my pitiful restraints I emerge ten feet in front of him and point my parasol forward. A glimmer of black light pierces through his vision before a laser emerges to drown his body in a tidal wave of foreign energy.
His eyes widened, exposing a glint of vulnerability as he swung his whole body aside to try and evade it. The laser brisked him just enough to shatter two of his shields. I admit to being a little rash. Had I waited just a second longer, I could have gotten through four of his shields total.
His eyes narrowed to a pinpoint, scorching rage while he growled a single word, "Subspace..."
Yes, Subspace. The otherworldly power wielded by the man who called himself Tabuu. There wasn't much left to scavenge after his last defeat, especially after that pitiful Cackletta had her fill to create her puppet, but it was worth the trouble just to see that brief glimpse of shock on his face.
"You BITCH...!" He snapped at me more violently than even I could've anticipated.
He thrust his palms out and bombarded me with giant fireballs for a few seconds, where I used my open parasol to deflect them all, feeling naught but the hot wind against my hair. The breeze shifted around my back, and I glimpse over my shoulder to see that he has dashed right behind me.
He swings his right hand out and latches onto the back of my head, his fingertips forging tiny cracks in my skull. He then jerked back around and swung me overhead, leaping into the air while creating a platform of diamond to slam me down upon, causing it to shatter immediately.
He then let me go. A foolish decision I'd quickly make him regret. I plant one hand down and twirl my body around like I'm breakdancing, coating the tips of my feet in the last remnants of Subspace I had available. My kicks connected two times with his legs, slicing through just as many shields and ripping through his jeans to draw blood.
He grimaced only slightly and wrenched his body back, swinging his arms out as far as possible while charging them with a hundred gigavolts of electricity. With a thunderous clap of the hands he swung his body forth and let loose a storm of lightning in a spherical field miles in diameter.
Nothing I could really do but stand there and take it. My body lit up like the brightest christmas tree, and smoke sizzled up across the length of my arms. Yet my delicate features bore no scars. Perhaps one of few benefits to being one with the boundary, if I am to be honest.
This allows me to stand right up and gesture my left hand up high, creating a plethora of gaps to surround the boy from above. From these I send out hundreds upon hundreds of small red lasers as a distraction. He draws his sword and spin around like a tornado, twirling his blade to deflect every laser precisely.
He was purely on the defensive for now. Fear was the one thing that could hold back his mighty rage, and it was only after everything that had occurred to him thus far that said fear was at its strongest. Five shields were down, two to go. Hmmm, how will I go about removing them?
Subspace wasn't the only foreign substance at my disposal, but it was certainly the most efficient at surprising him. Anything else simply won't measure up, especially if I were to toss them out all willy-nilly. No, I need to time my next move juuuust right.
One thousand or so lasers were a nice distraction, if not difficult to maintain. Sure enough, when Alex found his opening, he batted one of the lasers at me faster than a baseball pitched by a pro. I dodge it by turning sideways, then close the gaps immediately. Can't let him get out of hand there.
But alas, the bird's now free from his cage, and his first move is to spin his sword like a buzzsaw and throw it straight towards me. I use my parasol to block it, then slip away into a gap as its let go. Right as I entered the darkness he charged to my location and slashed the air with his burning right hand.
He paused a second then called his sword back, peering to the left. His eyes sent shivers down my spine, while his nose twitched as though privy to my scent. The gap between dimensions would soon not be enough to keep him from me, that much I could ascertain. If I moved even slightly, he'd smash through the boundary and rip me right out.
But...why would I do that? What worth would there be in just rolling out the red carpet and waltzing right into view? No, there was a better way to handle this. Acting as thoughI was one with the air I breathed, I floated silently around the boy until in front of my parasol.
It was hard to resist giggling during this act of mischief...But you can obviously tell that's a lie, right? But its just a little, little white lie, nothing to fret over. Soon after I create a gap just big enough for my hand to slip through...
"SHINK!"
And his blade was there ready to cut it off. He didn't stab it. He threw it, cracking my gap wider open and burning the pitch black darkness as it struggled to slip through.
But I wasn't there. I was behind him, opening a gap for myself right as he threw his sword. By the time he noticed my deception, I had called my parasol back and used it to attack his back with two diagonal grazing blows. His sixth shield didn't even let my attack touch him with the delicacy of a feather.
He unflinchingly twisted his head back and stiffened his shoulders, his knuckles buckling down tight to the point I wondered how the bones didn't penetrate the skin. He then spun around and cut me down the chest with his sword before I could blink.
It hurt. A lot. I could feel my blood flowing like lava, my sweat boiling like a geyser, and my skin searing like the surface of the sun. In time this agony would subside through the efforts of the boundary, but for now I'd just have to grin and bear it. And besides...Everything went exactly as planned.
See, there is another way to introduce foreign substances to the universe beyond creating new forms of energy. Say for example...opening a way to another realm?
"Heeheehee...!" With a playful giggle I perplexed him enough to create the opening I need, and the walls between dimensions tore open in the same pattern I carved with my parasol.
With Alex in the direct center, a way to the boundary, shaped like an "X", was ripped wide open one slice at a time. His sixth shield was obliterated, followed up with his seventh. And I stood back and watched, laying peacefully on my stomach within a partially opened gap.
I couldn't draw blood this way, but the psychological scarring would more than suffice. Its not as though there were any pieces of sanity left to break at this point, right?
He staggered back, draped his arms out, and started panting. The flames flickered around his body akin to a lighter trying to be started. He then looked up at me with his heart pounding visibly against his chest. I laid my hands upon my cheeks and then said to him cheekily, "What will you do now?
He was gasping for air, but his mind was still clinging on tightly to those itty-bitty fragments of sanity. He worked out a plan of attack, or rather, a plan of defense. He was vulnerable for a full minute, and there was no one to provide him back up for that period.
At least, no one he could talk to directly. There was still that little stone tucked tenderly in his right pocket, the stone of which he truly knew little about. But what he did know, was that it could stop time. The moment his eyes darted for that pocket, I had already long predicted his next move down to the millisecond.
He had gotten far too complacent using that stone as a "Get out of death free" card, even if it was not of his free will that his life had been spared. But that is of no fault of anyone but that puppetmaster of an "Author". He purposefully threw him into worlds where his ability to freeze time would have no counter.
But not only could I counter it, I could do so in just five words. Though first I must wait for the exact nanosecond in which he activates it. He slipped his hand in deep and gripped the stone tight, awakening it from its brief, peaceful slumber.
I close my eyes and whisper the words "Border of Time and Space" and feel his presence vanish only for the exact measurement of time I described before. Then the next second, I am floating amidst a colorless void. The beauty of the stars is painted over with a monochrome shade, and me and him are the only ones left to bereft its loss.
He let go of the stone and drew his hand up to summon his sword. But the moment he looked at me his jaw dropped and his pupils shrank. My smile gave him shivers, and as I position myself upright I wink and place a single finger upon my lips.
"There's nowhere to run, didn't I make that clear?"
He grabbed his sword in both hands and pulled it back. After I go "Oh?" with the faintest curiosity he slashed down then right back up in a single stroke, firing a blade of compressed wind my way. After floating to the right I lean back and brandish my parasol, firing a series of curved lasers from an orb of golden light.
They all home in onto his location and force him to evade, but I am able to keep pace if not outspeed him entirely. He kept an eye on their bewildering flight and cut them down one-by-one. While time is stopped like this, I unfortunately cannot open my gaps.
That's fine. I have plenty of other tricks up my sleeves. For starters, I send my parasol twirling upward, where from the tip a rain of sparkling stars goes flying across the area. Each of them move faster than plummeting comets, but aren't worth much in the way of damage.
Peppering Alex with some of them suffices for now while I prepare my more fatal magic. I stand up and cross my arms, then start making motions to etch a large pentagram in front of me. He doesn't give me the chance to finish it, as he comes charging right in and smashes it to pieces with a single punch.
...Oh well, there's always another opportunity waiting around every corner. But for now, I glide out of the way of Alex's bull-like charge and snap my fingers, coordinating the shattered magic to converge around his left arm. The magic wraps itself around it as snug as a glove and holds it in place.
He tried clenching his fist, he tried pulling it out. Neither method would work, for my magic was beyond even his god-like strength. I pull my parasol down and close it, then wind it up like a baseball bat. His eyes widened, perhaps taken off-guard by how silly my choice of attack was, and was then bludgeoned clean in the nose. The impact scattered stars in the air, lightening up this dismal mood, and shattered his restraints to let him tumble away.
He swung his wings out to cushion himself and shook his head. His nose was bleeding, and his face around it was bright pink. And now my parasol is stained. This really has been a terrible day for one of us, hasn't it?
Shaking my accessory dry instead of fighting sent him hurtling right back towards me in a rage. I glide out of his way then kicked him firmly in the gut. He staggers and spews spit and blood from his mouth, grabbing onto his abdomen with both his arms right away.
So I am quite a bit more delicate than my peers, but my physical strength is still that of a Youkai. If I felt a need to, I could match blows with an oni or a vampire. But then that would ruin my best gloves, and really, why should I go through the trouble of replacing them?
Now then. Time to deliver the coup de grace on this little show of humility. My parasol, all prim and proper once more, is pointed to his back with a laser focused down to a fine, pin sized tip building up there. I smile and ready myself to puncture his body whole.
But then he spins around and smashed the blunt side of his blade into my parasol, deflecting the laser skyward and forcing it out of my hand. He then reached for my face and wrapped his glove around, striking me with a point-blank explosion.
It'll be a little tougher keeping track of what happens for a few seconds, given the smoky state of my eyes, so bear with me for a bit. I could feel his fist pounding into my gut like a hammer dipped in the magma of a dwarven forge, my body steadily rising higher until it was laid out flat in mid-air.
He then pulled away and thrust his hands down, bringing forth a mighty bolt of lightning to strike my back. Not content with hurting me that much, he had the audacity to smash my body through three plates of steel. They weren't even thin either. Each one was thicker than my head.
It was a time to be grateful for my otherworldly endurance, otherwise my head would've been split wide open like a grape. And while you're thinking about that gruesome sight, I gracefully lean back and leave myself adrift in the frozen time, with my sight having been returned clearly enough to fight back.
But...it has been a minute, hasn't it? Then it is time to stop playing around like this. With one more brief shift of the Border of Time and Space, time resumes for us both. I immediately open fire with a series of darkness lasers from a dozen gaps, awakening the eighth shield to protect the boy as he dove straight at me.
I swiftly etch some glyphs into the air to act as barriers. He smashes through them like paper, naturally, but those precious milliseconds they gave shall not be wasted. I etch a larger glyph in my path, one with a crimson hue and symbols that the boy would find familiar were he not blinded with rage.
His punch collided full force with this glyph, but this one would never yield. Now, Phoenix of Destruction, you shall see that vast reportoire of techniques isn't just anchored to this world.
"Empty Sky Form..." I whisper with a little giddiness as time froze for a brief moment, allowing me to capture the exact second that Alex lost himself to shock. Then at my declaration of "Winter's Riposte" my barrier disappeared, and a powerful single strike of snow white energy lashed against the front of his body and sent him hurtling far away.
The ninth barrier saved him, but just barely. The time to follow up on this bewilderment was now and only now, so after mustering up the strength to stand I point my parasol at the ground and send ripples through my surroundings.
I become one with my own spirit and transcend the boundary of man, concentrating on an energy that lurks beyond the void of life and death. Then with my soul connected perfectly with this power, I incite the incantation necessary to summon forth a binding technique.
"Carriage of thunder, bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six! Bakudo Number 61..." My unconscious body raises its right index fingers towards the sky as I declare its name proudly, "Rikujokoro!"
Six thin, wide beams of light slam into Alex's midsection and hold him in place, even with the tenth shield acting as his protection. He could not move his arms, legs or even his mouth. He was frozen with a bitter scowl most delightful to watch try and squirm.
I then return to my body and turn around, pointing my parasol at my captive enemy and squinting my right eye shut. The incantation of this next technique revolts me a little, but luckily it is not a requirement to say. I'll just skip straight to the point, "Hado Number 90...Kurohitsugi!"
A large torrent of powerful gravity envelops his body, then surrounds him in a massive box of black energy covered in several spear-like protrusions. As I prepare to lacerate his body and tear all his remaining shields to shreds, I feel a tremor rip through the dimension.
Cracks form in the coffin, each burning with bright, bloody hatred, and then the whole thing explodes like I had just foolishly attempted to contain a supernova. He dives right at me and I raise my parasol in defense, only for him to curve straight around it and smash his fist into my hip.
The bones crack as I'm sent flying, and I quickly open a gap to make a hasty retreat. It may appear like I have the upper hand in this battle, but that is simply because I have a good poker face. All things have their limits, even me. And I would rather not risk dying this soon.
But as I felt safe in my boundary, he turned the tables by showing me fear through the brutal act of tearing his way through with his bare hands. My heart pounds against my chest as he grabs me by the neck and rips me out of the boundary, tearing through the dimensional wall using my body as his means.
He drags me through faster than it can repair, building up momentum to the point that I had to close my eyes before I get dizzy. The heat increased, boiling my blood, and soon I was swept up within a burning ring of fire. I felt I was going down, down, down while the flames went higher.
After throwing me fifty feet into the air he sucked the flames into a condensed orb, pulling me in as well. My back pressed against it and caused my entire body to curve, putting my face next to his. I still keep smiling on, because I know it angers and makes him act rashly.
He took a second to widen his scowl, and with that brief respite I was able to open up a gap directly on my back to swallow all the flames. It made them angry, but they'd just have to get over it. I then quickly twirl around and kick him in the face, activating his eleventh shield. Three left to go, then he'd have nothing to protect him from the harsh truths of the world.
He doesn't flinch though, and roughly grabs my ankle while staring stoically at my face. He pulls me to the ground of steel he just made, and tethers me down with poison ivy. Scratchy stuff, but it does taste good on a salad sometimes. He then draws his sword and goes straight for the neck. I summon a gap to intercept the cut, then chide him with a click of the tongue.
So he instead stabs for my heart, and I repeat the same process. I am not your pincushion, boy. If you want to express your anger, there are better outlets to do so. Two failures seemed to be enough to get him to try something else, as he quickly raised his left hand and wrapped the steel around me.
He really does like leaving me blind, doesn't he? Whatever, my other senses haven't dulled in my old age. I can feel the heat boiling down at me very close. He intends to broil me alive, like I'm some kind of Thanksgiving turkey. But between that and the thick steel, any noise I'd make would fail to reach him. So this is actually the perfect chance to dabble in a little more dark magic.
Lets see here...How about a demonic twist on an old favorite?
"I, who stand in the full light of the heavens, command thee, who opens the gates of Hell. Come forth, unholy lightning!" While he was so absorbed in trying to kill me, he failed to notice the sky above him rip apart with a blood red series of glyphs stacked in a tower concentrating a million volts of black electricity on his location.
"This ends now!" If only.
"Dark Indignation!"
Cast with the fury of the underworld at my side, the black lightning bolt smashes into Alex's body and breaks his concentration. His body could weather the shock, but his shields were not so lucky. Two more shattered, but not the last. Unfortunate.
The heat of lightning melts my way to freedom, and I unfurl my parasol to divert its molten flow while poking his face with a smile and giggle. He finally does what I had expected to from the start and grabs my parasol, then burns it to ash with a thought.
...Good thing that wasn't my favorite one.
He then grabs the collar of my shirt and punches me in the face. He grabs me and repeats the process. Then again, then again, then again and again. Finally he breaks into tears and screams into my ears, "Why won't you fucking DIE?!"
It hurts, doesn't it? To want something dead so badly, yet the universe curses you to fail every time? And its not even me you despise cause of this. You hate yourself too, Alex Whiter. But you can't blame me for that. Its all the fault of that clingy one in your right pocket.
...But not as though admitting that to his face would draw that little one from her hiding place. No, my time is best served putting an end to our little game. So I smile, and draw my right hand back to perform my greatest act of defiance.
I slap him across the face, dirtying my hand. This pops the fourteenth and final shield, and causes his eyes to start trembling and well up with furious tears.
He casts me aside, and I tell him bluntly, "We're connected, you and I...It is our fate to fight forever, whether through you, or through your 'Author'. And-"
"Shut up...Shut the HELL up." He raised his gloved hand up to his face, with his expression drowned in the shadows cast by his flames.
"I'm severing this connection...ONCE AND FOR ALL!" He bellowed out a mighty roar as he reached for the lip of the glove and viciously declared, "Recognize Password...Lumina and Abraham Whiter!"
The glove came right off at his beck and call, unleashing a cascade of bright rainbow flames more beautiful than an aurora borealis, and more deadly than a collapsing star. The flames spread out across his entire body, consuming the remaining ashes of sanity in his soul.
Then before I could smile, blink, or react in any manner whatsoever, he smashed that burning fist into my chest. He hadn't the strength of will to yell its name. He put everything he had into punching me repeatedly. From my head to my legs, he made me feel his rage.
It wasn't long before I lost the ability to feel, as my body as consumed in an inferno. These flames were unlike any other. They were fueled by the souls of the dead, and thus could burn that deeply. I lost track of where I was, and how to think.
Fading...my consciousness...Consumed in fire...A world of destruction...My life...for this cause...I am...
…
…
…
Alex floated there with dark smoke rising across his body. His wings lost their luster, and turned to ash. His hand, which had housed the deadly flames, looked wrinkled and crusty like a mummy's flesh. He panted, exhausted of all his elemental energy. He put everything into killing Yukari Yakumo, and now all that was left of her was a wisp of smoke that would soon flicker out.
He could smile easy, as he proudly yelled to the high heavens, "That is what you get...for messing with us...You senile bitch!"
The simplest insults sometimes are the most satisfying. I can confirm that to be true.
"Ouch, that definitely looked like it hurt. I feel so sorry for myself...Dying in such an undignified manner." Before I waltzed out of a gap, I saw Alex's face turn pale, and the life drained from his eyes.
I hold my parasol over my shoulder and smile down at him, then decide to lounge atop the gap I just walked through. Its been a tiring journey, and my feet are tired. A shame this Ran is currently occupied. I could use a massage.
"H-How..." He gasped while falling into a slump. He tried to push himself up, but its pointless. He'd need crutches just to walk right now, let alone fight.
I giggle profusely, and lean back into a state of full relaxation as I begin to explain, "Don't be too upset. Officially, the Yukari Yakumo of this timeline is dead...Well, to be precise, the Yukari Yakumo that had to occupy this timeline is dead."
He went silent. How else could he respond to such absurdity? But its quite simple, really.
"You never did solve the mystery of how I could have died in this timeline, yet still be alive while evading the Yama's judgment, did you? That's because of the boundary. To be precise, the nature of the boundary."
"See, the boundary exists in the space between universes. So in essence, it acts as a tunnel between timelines too. That's how in spite of there being multiple timelines, one Yukari Yakumo eventually comes to learn everything her other selves did. Not just that, but a parallel Yukari can enter the prime Yukari's timeline...Assuming that the prime Yukari has died."
"So first the Celestial used that spear to kill the prime Yukari, and so the Yukari you just killed came to replace her. That Yukari had actually traveled from the timeline where you instigated the plan to kill all the villains on the BlazBlue world, but ended up annihilating the whole world in rage. I, on the other hand, came from a very, very recent split. It was the timeline where Yuyuko killed you and Shina Aurora."
I lean my head back and glanced at him with a tired smile. He was losing it. I could see his body and mind breaking from the way he shook so viciously like an earthquake.
"Do you understand now how serious I am about overcoming the 'Author'? That I would let myself die not just once, but twice, in order to accomplish my goals? You're welcome to try and kill me for good, Phoenix of Destruction...But there are maybe...thousands of me out there? And you've drained yourself dry just to kill the one. And sure, you could recover your energy, but the longer you wait the more divergences will occur."
So I close my eyes and ask him prudently, "So what will it be? Do you understand your pitiful lot in life now? Or does this bird still have its talons to bear at me?"
"Kill...Kill you...!" He dug his feet firmly into the 'ground' and refused to yield. His veins bulged across his skin, and caused the dimension to tremble. He devolved into a screaming, snarling creature that could only say the same thing over and over again.
His eyes became filled with red light, and the black space around him twisted and molded around his body. I smiled, not at his defiance, but at what it meant. Nature, Water, Wind, Electricity, Earth, Ice and Fire...He could no longer rely on those elements to fight for him. But little did he realize that he could dip his toes in an eighth element this entire time, and it was only through desperation that he'd do so now.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" His throat was torn to shreds as he screamed, and his body erupted with a disgusting, primordial darkness. It was pitch black, and only the glow from his eyes made him visible.
This would normally be a turning point for the worse, where the 'hero' dives into darkness to overcome a terrifying threat. But instead his rage broke, and he stared blankly at his hands that were filled to the brim with darkness. His mouth stood agape, and he trembled like a child.
I sit up and lay my hands on my lap, then shake my head in pity.
"You boast that you know who you are, Alex Whiter...But not you don't. You know nothing. Worst of all, you don't even know the truth about who or WHAT your 'parents' actually were."
I then reach my cold hand out and twist it around while snapping my fingers, "But I do not have anymore time for games. I've gotten everything I set out to accomplish."
By playing with the Border of Light and Dark, I robbed the boy of all his newfound power instantly, leaving him a frail and broken husk of a 'person'. I then hover closer to him, the gap behind me stretching ever wider as their hollow eyes stare deeply into what remained of his soul.
"Now...I will not kill you. But I will have you experience only a fraction of what the boundary is capable of. Maybe then you'll realize..." My eyes and voice both lose all traces of emotion, "That you never stood a chance of beating me."
...
...
Meanwhile, in the Netherworld...
Ran falls at last, on knees cut and bloody. Her fur was ruffled and dark red, and her tails looked ready to come apart. She dugs her claws into the ground, struggling to draw on some more energy to fight. But she had nothing, not even a drop.
"H-How is this possible...? First the tanuki, then a detestable Aurian...!" Her pride was wounded more than her body, and the shame weighed so heavily upon her shoulders that her head drooped. Shina stood in front of her, looking just as worse for wear as the kitsune, though with less blood in her hair. She kept a firm grip on her sword and watched as Ran groaned in dismay.
"How will I ever recover from this...shame?!"
...Perhaps I ought to have told her more about the girl's powers. But if she couldn't figure them out on her own, then that is her fault, and I shall reprimand her accordingly.
"You should worry about more than just your shame, Ran." I scold her softly as I slowly emerge from a gap behind the frightened Aurian.
She turns around, and I deliver her a "gift". Alex's body is thrown onto the ground like a discarded doll. His skin is cold and pale, and he's shaking terribly...He was only in there for fifteen seconds, but it must have felt like fifteen days.
Shina dropped her sword immediately and tried to pick him up. There were many wrinkles under his eyes, and he gasped pallidly for air. He put one hand on her shoulder and muttered her name in a barely audible whisper.
"H-Help me...S-Shina..."
...There I saw it. Even this deep into despair, just being in her presence restored a flicker of hope in those eyes. But it was pointless. All mortals have their limits. Through all the perils that she has had to suffer, this would prove to be the last straw for Shina Aurora. Between her family and Alex Whiter, she would choose-
"FWOOSH!"
A cold wind caressed the side of my face as I find the girl's blade pointed at my face. The tip was but an inch away, yet felt like it had already cut me. On the opposite end of that blade was a stare that could melt all ice in the universe, and made me feel...nervous. This is a curious feeling. A very, very bizarre and curious...feeling.
She was cradling the rattled puppet in her left arm, and defying me even though she doesn't look to have the strength to walk. Slowly, Alex's broken mind was healing.
No. No, this is not how this was supposed to go.
It was hard to keep my lips stiff in a smile under these circumstances. I wanted to chide her for her foolishness, but she had something to say about that.
"Are you happy with yourself? Are you satisfied?"
…
"Hand over the Cosmos Drive. Now."
She had no cards to play. There was no leverage to overpower me. All she had was a firm voice, and those fiery eyes. So why am I...
"...Hmmm..." I close my eyes and gently flick my right fingers up to create a gap a few feet to the left of them. Its an open passage to outer space, on the opposite side of Gensokyo to be precise. As humorous as it must be to imagine me throwing them into the cold vacuum of space out of spite, I'm not that direct.
On the other side of the gap was a bubble of air similar to the ones they've used to traverse the universe. After presenting it to them, I relayed my intentions in a relaxed tone.
"I do not have the Cosmos Drive. You have been thoroughly deceived. But...You are not far off from it. This bubble I've provided will take you to your destination. Eventually it will break, but...By the time it does it will no longer be necessary. You'll see why."
I was most sincere, but not like that'd ease her rage. She just gave me a dry laugh and said, "That's it? That's it?!"
She bit her teeth down and raised her voice higher and higher, "You did all this, all THIS?! ...And we're expected to just go along our merry way like nothing happened?!"
The sword was now centimeters away from my neck as she made her demands, "I want your word, Yukari Yakumo, that you will not lay another hand on Alex ever, EVER again. Cause if you do, I swear to GOD I will hunt you down the moment I have the Cosmos Drive, and make you wish you were never born!"
Swearing to 'God'...If only she knew the irony of that. Hrrmmm...
"...Very well. I agree to your terms. Neither me nor my contemporaries shall ever lay a single finger on the boy again," I then gently peer my eyes open and remark cheerfully, "Well then, I hope you enjoy the rest of your journey."
She stared at me for a while as she stood up and took cautious steps towards my gap with Alex in tow. She shifted between looking out to space and then back at me, before finally she stepped all the way through and I sealed the gap immediately.
Ran threw her arms towards me and yelled, "Y-You're letting them go?! Why isn't the Phoenix of Destruction-"
"Ran, you shall tend to the Netherworld's gardens for the next month as compensation for your failure today." I remark stoically.
"B-But-"
"Shall I make it two?"
She shuts up, finally.
"Now, tend to your wounds and get to work."
She limped off, giving me a brief scornful glare before disappearing from sight. Then I hear a deep yawn from behind me, and turn around to find my dear friend Yuyuko stretching her arms as though just getting up from a brief nap.
"Ahhh, good morning Yukari. How are you doing?"
Her smile brightened my mood like the sun. I turned around and giggled, "It is still the same day, Yuyuko."
"Oh?" She gave me a ghastly look of surprise and raised the tip of her right sleeve to her mouth. Then she closed her eyes and chuckled back, "Dear me, so it is. I awoke feeling hungry, so I had presumed it was breakfast time."
"Heh. I'll make you a meal in a little bit."
"So, I'm guessing its all over now?" She asked me innocently.
…
I turn away and open up a gap in front of me, answering with a firm but quiet "No" before I slipped through it. You've always been good at reading me, Yuyuko, but this is not a matter I can discuss with you anymore...Forgive me.
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…
...
"Well well, you've finally returned. How did it go?"
"Don't give me that smile. You know exactly how it went."
"It would have been cheating if I told you you were bound for failure, old friend."
"...Or rather, you are struggling with the fact that you know what my failure leads to."
"...You are really going to ask me to do that now, aren't you?"
"You're the only one who can."
"...I refuse."
"..."
"...Is what I wish I could say. But she already despises me enough as is. There is nothing I can do to change that. You have forced me down this road, old friend."
"...I'd say 'sorry', but that would be a lie."
"And you don't do lies. That's why you agreed to the girl's terms so...precisely."
"And I shall uphold my end of the bargain to the very end. The Phoenix of Destruction shall be dealt with. I won't lay a hand on him, and neither will my contemporaries."
"Yes. To the girl, I will be naught but a stranger in the night. By the time she learns of our connection...It will already be too late."
"Indeed."
"...If I may voice my opinion a little."
"What is it?"
"You are so overly concerned with causing the boy's mental state to decay, yet seem to pay no heed to the girl's own mind. Need I remind you that she does need to still reach the Cosmos Drive, yes?"
"She'll be fine. This'll hurt, as all things in life do, but she will be fine."
"...Hrrmm..."
"Do you know something I don't, perhaps?"
"No...No I do not."
"...You are a terrible liar. But I suppose I will leave those consequences in your hands."
"How incredibly kind of you, old friend."
"I aim to please~"
"I shall miss this fine wit of yours, Yukari."
"And I the same. But now...I must tend to the final preparations. We shall meet again in a month from your perspective."
"Aye. The fated moment fast approaches. The time of the Phoenix's reckoning draws close."
"And though I shall play my part to the very end, even I must admit...It is fitting that you be the one to ultimately put the final nail in his coffin. After all, you have plenty of experience playing with the hearts of Elemental Overlords, don't you...Justek Arcavira?"
Clash of the Elements Part 4 EX Final Story...
THE END...?
Yukari's Notes:
Congratulations on clearing this story on Hard Mode with 1CC. You have unlocked the Extra Stage.
Girls do their best now and are preparing. Please watch warmly until it is ready~
...I shall see you all again very, very soon.