An enormous hemispherical ward was shining before our eyes, covering the entirety of the island before us.
"Is that the barrier sealing saint Byakuren?" Shou asked in wonder as she turned to stare at it.
"Oh, can you see it too?" I asked turning to her.
"Even I can see it!" Renko said from beside me, full of excitement. "Is this what they always look like to you, Merry? I think the light of that pagoda reflects off of whatever the barrier is made out of. Or maybe the pagoda is emitting some kind of energy that interferes with the barrier, exciting its waveform until it gives off visible light! We should study this, Merry! It might reveal what a barrier actually is."
"It looks just like Tokyo Jupiter!" Sanae said from beside her in a tone of awe. "Maybe this living saint is actually a blue-blooded Mulian!" I had no idea what she was talking about, but this wasn't the time for an explanation.
"The pagoda doesn't seem to be doing anything more, just illuminating it," Nazrin said, staring up at where the pagoda was hovering surrounded by the storm of curving lights and bits of wood. "I think if we want to go through, we'll have to break it ourselves."
"Do you know some way of passing through it, Lady Shinki?" Ichirin asked, turning to her.
"I wasn't here when the barrier was made, but I was told the Hakurei miko had created it so that it would always let me through, which is why I started visiting miss Byakuren -I thought that was a neat trick. I don't know how the barrier works or how to break it though, and it won't let anyone else pass through it in either direction.
All eyes turned to Reimu. She looked taken aback at the attention focused on her. "Why are you all staring at me, are you expecting me to break it?"
"You're probably the only one who can, Reimu. That was a barrier set up by the previous hakurei miko. Or is breaking wards and seals just a shrine maiden thing?" Marisa asked, turning from Reimu to Sanae.
"I've never seen anything like that," Sanae replied. "It doesn't look like any of the barriers I've seen Lady Kanako set."
"Well maybe it's a magic barrier then." Marisa reasoned. "Patchouli does all sorts of stuff with wards and circles. It's not really my area of expertise though. This saint was supposed to be a nun and a magician right? Maybe it's like both kinds of ward combined. It would kinda have to be if whoever made it wanted to seal her in, right?"
"How could the Hakurei miko of a thousand years ago have erected it then? I don't think any of the previous miko were magicians. They've all been humans, and normal humans don't use magic." Reimu said, glowering at Marisa.
"Mastering magic is a commendable practice, it doesn't make one a bad person," Ichirin said, "But I think you're right. A Hakurei miko couldn't have made something like this. Not on her own, any way. Byakuren invested her power in many tools, however, much like this ship and the pagoda. Could the Hakurei miko of a thousand years ago used one of those tools against her to make a prison for her?"
"Nah, that doesn't make any sense either," Marisa replied. "Lots of magicians use magical tools, but you can't just give them to someone else. If that worked I'm pretty sure Renko woulda had me make her a broom already."
"Ooo, is that an option? Could you make one I could fly?"
"'Course not, you're not a witch. That'd be like if Alice gave you one of her dolls. You might be able to pull it's strings, but you wouldn't know how to put power into it, or make it do anythin' useful like fight or fly. Believe me, I've tried. Any of her dolls I try to play with just end up explodin'."
"Alice still makes dolls?" Shinki asked, delighted. "How adorable. I remember when she was trying to perfect her recipe for gunpowder for the first time, it was so cute the way she would blow up the library!"
"Lady Shinki, I don't think now is the time for reminiscences," Yumeko said wearily, laying a hand on her shoulder.
"It's the same idea though, if I gave my hakkero to Reimu, she couldn't do anything with it. Spiritual power doesn't work like a spell, so even if this saint lady left behind a bunch a' magical tools, they wouldn't do any good for anyone but her, or maybe someone with the same sorta trainin'. So either the Hakurei miko of a thousand years ago was a magician..."
Reimu shook her head. "That's impossible."
"...or your saint put this barrier up herself." Marisa concluded.
I tumbled the idea over in my head. Neither possibility seemed terribly likely to me. If Byakuren had created the barrier herself, why leave the keys to it - this ship and the pagoda Shou was holding - out where they could be found? If, on the other hand, someone else had sealed her, it would have to have been someone with the same unique blend of magical and religious training who created the barrier. How many skilled practitioners of that sort could there be in the world?
"That can't be true," said Murasa, shaking her head. "Why would the holy mother want to seal herself away from the world? From us?"
"There's another detail that doesn't make sense about that theory, Marisa." Renko said, turning to her. "If that were the case then it would mean that this ship would have to rely on Murasa's power, and not Byakuren's right? Otherwise, how would it be flying?"
"I figured that was already the case and she was just lyin' about it. Are you sayin' this ship really is a sacred relic?"
"Absolutely! It used to be a temple before saint Byakuren made it into a ship. I haunt it now, but it flies with the holy mother's power! I couldn't lift something this big!"
"But by your theory that shouldn't be possible, right Marisa? You're saying that Byakuren should be the only one who could direct this ship, but we know Murasa was flying it all around until the tiller got broken, right?"
"Yeah, as far as I know, magic items don't work that way. I've never had one of mine get haunted though..."
Any further discussion there might have been was cut short as the light from the pagoda suddenly intensified. The cloud of wooden fragments dancing around it had shrunken into a compact spherical shell, blocking out most of its light. All at once, however, the wooden fragments stopped glowing and froze in place, their orbit around the pagoda arrested. Then there was a terrible ripping sound and a shock of light and hot air from the pagoda, intense enough that everyone instinctually covered their faces as the back blast from the blinding light washed over us.
When the glow had faded enough that we could open our eyes again, a large glowing crack had appeared in the barrier surrounding the island. As we watched, the crack spread, spiderwebbing its way across the surface of the hemispherical dome. There was a deep thrumming from somewhere beyond the limits of the barrier and pieces of it began to fall away, crumbling into motes of glittering energy, then disappearing altogether as they fell. As the breach widened and more of the shell crumbled, we could make out details of the island below. The first and most obvious point was that whatever the pagoda had emitted had clearly pierced clear through the wards as there was a long strip of the island that was engulfed in flames. Everywhere we could see there was no foliage, nor any hint of life, which made the fire all the more disturbing. Judging from the way the edges of the deep scar in the land were glowing white hot, it appeared the rock itself was burning.
Everyone on board leaned over the rails, staring at the trail of destruction before us as the rest of the barrier crumbled inward. There was a clattering as the broken shards of the mast, no longer glowing, rained to the deck. The stone pagoda floated shakily downward, coming to rest in Shou's hands, its light greatly diminished.
"Whoa, that's a heck of a blast. Lady Shinki was there anyone beside Byakuren living in the Realm of Truth?" Renko asked.
"No, Byakuren is the only person kept here. I hope she's alright."
"I'm betting she's just fine. Look!" Renko extended her arm, pointing to a spot between us and the glow at the center of the Realm of Truth. There, a single human figure was slowly flying towards us through the air. As she came closer, I could make out a few details of her appearance. Her long hair was mysteriously colored, graduating from a deep purple near the roots to golden at the tips, looking like the sky at dusk. She was wearing a black dress with cords crisscrossing her chest and sleeves and holding something that resembled and moved like a scroll but appeared to be made of scintillating rainbow light in her hands.
With a voice that seemed to possess an infinite sense of calm and tranquility she called up to us as she flew nearer. "You've filled my Realm of Truth with a glorious light. Who are you to have freed me from this prison?"