A terrible rumble echoed across the land, accompanied by the crack and squeal of splintering wood as trees toppled and a night-black shadow loomed over the world. The earth-shaking vibrations continued in regular bursts -slow, heavy footfalls landing in an unhurried stalk, each impact compressing the soft loam of the forest, tearing foliage from the ground and sending birds scattering into flight as the evening sun was blocked out by the absolute darkness of a massive, eclipsing form. From the perspective of any animal standing on the ground, the shadow would have looked like an imposing, impossibly large humanoid form -two legs, terminating in heavy, crushing feet that could easily have smashed a human like a bug, a body large enough to blot out the sky and two arms, each carrying a fearsome, razor-tipped sword. Long, golden hair cascaded like a waterfall down the shadow's back, tied in place with a brilliant red ribbon and swaying faintly in the evening breeze. The enormous figure wore a dress with a lacy apron that might have been cute if not for its enormity. Above it all, a pair of glassy, river-blue eyes stared down impassively from a dizzying height of nearly a hundred meters, without any hint of emotion or remorse. They were the eyes of a hunting dog, calm, impassive and merciless, seeing only the soft throats of prey animals before it. With the giant's every step the earth shook, underbrush was crushed or pressed aside, and the emotionless face looked on stoically as the twin swords dragged through the canopy, severing the boughs of ancient trees.
The movement of the giant ceased as it came to a halt not far from the western gate of the village. Towering over the walls of the settlement, it wordlessly raised one of its swords, the gleaming point reflecting the fiery glow of the sun as it was leveled towards the wooden palisade.
"Daidarabotchi is attacking! It's coming right for us!" someone shouted in the street.
All at once a wave of panicked cries went up and people began to scramble, rushing to flee from the western edge of the village.
"No, don't run!" An amplified voice shouted over the mounting chaos and wails of fear. "Don't run away! Pray! Pray to the gods to be protected from the terrors of the night!"
People stopped in their tracks and listened. The voice seemed to have been heard by everyone at once, but no one could identify who had spoken or where it had come from. It was as if the wind itself had called to them.
"Pray for salvation! Pray for the future of the village!"
One by one, villagers began to pray in the street.
-.-.-.-.-
As the daidarabotchi stood, posing menacingly outside the western gate, its weapon raised in defiance, the people's prayers were almost immediately answered. A gust of wind washed over the road, stirring a cloud of dust off of the earthen path and sending it twirling into the air.
The suspended particles caught the sunset light, forming into a narrow cone, lending the appearance of a spotlight as the rays coalesced to highlight a lone figure standing in the middle of the road leading out of the village, her back turned away from the humans, skirts billowing as the dust devil swirled around her. She was standing in front of something like a large hole in the earth. A perfectly circular opening in the path that certainly hadn't been there the day before. Amidst the drifting cloud of dust it was difficult to make out anything but her silhouette. Despite that though, and despite her distance from the village and the panicked noise of those people who were still rushing away from the western gate or carrying the news through the streets, her voice carried perfectly clearly, booming on the wind and echoing over the whole of the village as she raised her hand above her head, clutching tight to a thin, reedy wand topped with a rectangle of sacred paper.
"Hisoutensoku, showtime!"
-.-.-.-.-
There was a rush of compressed air and a lonely, mechanical howl. All at once something emerged from the earth, rocketing skyward, until it stood proud and erect, a solid and unconquerable fortress of peace, tall and unmoving before the gates of the village. A hundred meters high, glinting with metallic red and gold highlights over its invincible-looking black body, the figure of an armored warrior had appeared from nowhere, interposing itself between the insatiable monsters of Gensokyo and the helpless people of the village.
"What is that?" shouted someone watching in the street.
"It's the guardian god of the Moriya shrine! The protector of the meek and the innocent, Divine Protector Hisoutensoku!" The voice on the wind boomed, sounding almost giddy with excitement.
Once more the people in the street looked for the source of the voice and after a moment someone pointed, excitedly.
"Look! There on its shoulder! It's that miko from the town square!"
"The weird-looking one? With the hair?"
"She's a 'wind priestess,' I heard, whatever that is."
"What's her name?"
"I am Sanae Kochiya, miracle worker of the Moriya shrine and protector of this village! In the names of the goddesses Moriya and Yasaka, I will stop your rampage here, monster!" cried the bellowing voice on the wind.
As those words rang out, a hatch opened on the armored figure's jaw and the girl could be seen slipping inside. The twin doors of the airlock she passed through lead her inside the empty chamber of the giant warrior's enormous air-filled head, where she settled into her seat inside a rickety and hastily assembled cockpit snaked with extension cords and exposed brass pipes. Seating herself on the plastic lawn chair screwed into the unfinished wooden planks of the floor, she looked over the familiar grips of the controller in front of her then got to work on the startup sequence. The panels of switches and knobs surrounding her illuminated as she secured an alligator clamp around the car battery under her chair. Then, after flicking several toggles on, she tugged on a cord hanging overhead, sliding a pair of rubber stoppers back and forth along a brass tube in front of her as the whistle of compressed air reverberated through the pipe.
The eyes of Hisoutensoku suddenly glowed, an unflickering, divine light shining outward in twin beams. Jets of compressed air rocketed out of either side of its immense head, whistling with a low tone which, as its pitch shifted up and down, almost came to resemble human speech. In a voice that was wheezy and mechanical, but loud enough to echo for a dozen kilometers over the countryside, it cried out.
"CAST IN THE NAME OF GOD, YE NOT GUILTY."
Following that tremendous, echoing blast, a silence fell over the village.
"What was that?" someone said, slowly rising up from where they had been crouching, removing their hands from covering their ears. Somewhere, a baby began to cry.
"Oh, uh, that's an activation phrase, I think? It means Hisoutensoku is ready." Renko suggested, from her position in the middle of the crowd.
From inside the armored god, Sanae's voice called out again, amplified by her control over the winds. "Hisoutensoku, action!"
-.-.-.-.-
Moving with all the speed its godly power could muster, but still seeming ponderous and slow due to the sheer scale involved, Hisoutensoku's left fist raised up and swung in a wide haymaker punch for the face of the daidarabotchi.
The doll-like giant reacted much faster, crossing its swords in front of its face to block the attack. The force of the punch was so intense we could see Hisoutensoku's fist deform and compress as it collided with the blades, then spring back outward. The daidarabotchi was thrown backward by the impact, skidding a meter backward on its heels and stumbling, just as if a rope attached to the small of its back had suddenly been tugged.
Hisoutensoku followed up, raising one leg and lunging forward to swing another wild punch with its right arm. The daidarabotchi parried with the sword in its right hand, then brought its other blade around to slice at Hisoutensoku's over-extended arm. The armored god's limb was only saved at the last second by a timely swing of its left arm, catching the daidarabotchi's blade between the prongs of its gauntlet and throwing off a shower of bright sparks as a metallic clang rang out.
Inside Hisoutensoku's cockpit, Sanae wiped the sweat off of her forehead and gripped the plastic ball of her control stick tighter. "Oh, that was close! Okay, which one of these shifts the auto-balancer bias into reverse again?" she asked of no one in particular. Behind her, a voice responded, seeming to come from the sacred artifact tucked into the tiny portable shrine wedged behind her seat.
"Sanae, there's no time to relax. Even with all the compressed air you built up, we only have three minutes of power, tops!"
"I understand, Lady Suwako. It always seems like a waste when the fight goes straight to the finishing move though."
Outside of the cockpit, visible through the thin, transparent nylon of Hisoutensoku's outer shell, the daidarabotchi was moving again, floating up off of the ground and rushing forward with a grace and speed that seemed unthinkable for something so large. The enormous youkai lifted both of its swords above its head and drove them down in a flashing arc.
Hisoutensoku reacted, catching the blades with its gauntlets again as it crossed its arms over its head, but the force of the blow was so great that the legs of the armored god seemed to compress, then suddenly spring back upward bonelessly, causing the immense form of the divine warrior to lose its balance and tumble backward.
In the streets of the village, someone screamed in horror as they watched their protector reel. The moment was so surreal, the tension so high, it almost seemed like Hisoutensoku made no sound but a faint 'phlumph' as it crashed backward onto the ground, scattering a wave of dust, its left foot the only part of it still standing upright.
The daidarabotchi sauntered forward with leisurely steps, giving Hisoutensoku enough time to rise up to one knee, but it seemed to be unable to regain its feet.
"Sanae, stand up! Hurry!" came the divine voice from behind the lawn chair Sanae was sitting in.
"Hold on, the valves for the legs are stuck! I can't get any more pressure. Tell Alice to stop, this wasn't in the script!"
"I can't talk to her from here. She must be ad-libbing!"
The crowds gathered in the street watched in terrified silence as the daidarabotchi looked emotionlessly down at the kneeling guardian god then raised one of its blades to the side, poised to deliver a beheading strike against Hisoutensoku's unprotected neck. Sitting in the cramped cockpit, Sanae button-mashed wildly, trying to dislodge the stuck valve controls, then flinched and shut her eyes tight.
Suddenly a fierce and wild cry rang out, an ululating kiai, shouted sharply as the silhouette of a lone figure leapt up from the ground and struck the daidarabotchi's descending blade with a whirling airborne kick. The force of the strike was enough to deflect the blade downward, bringing it crashing down into the dirt beside Hisoutensoku's left shoulder.
"Wait, is that...?" Sanae cried as she stared through the gauzy material of Hisoutensoku's head.
Vaulting off of the place where he kick had connected with the blade in midair, the new arrival twisted acrobatically, rotating themselves to find their feet as they landed gracefully on Hisoutensoku's shoulder. Dyed by the colors of the sunset, her red hair waving in the breeze like a defiant banner, the figure's identity became clear as the dust of the blade's impact settled. It was none other than Meiling Hong, gatekeeper of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
"Hear me, Taisui Xingjun!" She bellowed. "You may be a god of destruction, but I will not allow your evil to go unpunished! The fires of heaven are burning within me! They shine in rainbow colors from my fists! They scream and roar for me to protect the people of Gensokyo! So long as I, Meiling Hong draw breath, I will oppose you!" She paused for only a moment to take a deep breath, then, with a fierce yell, began running along the arm Hisoutensoku had raised in a feeble attempt at defense. Upon reaching the elbow joint she leapt from the arm and landed, with eerie precision, along the edge of the daidarabotchi's blade where it lay partially buried in the dirt. Then she began to sprint up its length at an inhuman speed, racing toward the giant's head.
A voice called out in the crowd. It belonged to someone who hadn't spoken yet, and who I wouldn't have expected to hear. Proud and forthright, Kanako Yasaka called out over the huddled masses, speaking from an alley near the western gate.
"Everyone, Hisoutensoku needs your support. Give your faith to the protector of the village! If you believe she can save you, then miracles are possible! If we cheer, Hisoutensoku will find the power to stand. A mere youkai like that daidarabotchi is nothing before the power of the gods!"
The faces of the assembled crowd turned toward her in shock. Not a single voice other than her own was raised.
"Cheer, you ingrates! Cheer to save your village! Is your faith too high a price to pay for your safety!?"
Timidly, one young voice called out from somewhere near the gate.
"Go Hisoutensoku! Do your best!"
With that trickle the floodgates began to open.
"Stand up, Hisoutensoku! Don't give up!" A man cried.
"Hisoutensoku! You can win!"
"We believe in you!"
"Fight, Hisoutensoku! Fight!
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
Outside of the village, the burgeoning cry of the villagers' chants were rising like a tide, louder and louder as the chorus spread throughout the settlement. It was already loud enough to be heard in the cockpit where Sanae was sitting, despite the hiss of the pipes surrounding her.
"Sanae! You can't last any longer, the tanks are at their limit!" cried Suwako's tiny voice from the portable shrine.
"No, I can do it. With the faith of the people we can continue. Miracles are born from faith such as this!" She gripped the control stick and closed her eyes as all around her, the cockpit began to glow with blue-green light from the pentacle that was blossoming beneath her feat.
"Lady Yasaka, Lady Moriya, hear my prayers. I offer unto you the native faith of this land. Lend me your power and smash the evil that threatens those who praise you!"
There was a metallic ticking sound from somewhere far below, followed by the sharp whistle of escaping air as a dented and battered stopper popped open. Hisoutensoku's legs began to inflate, and the armored protector god rose once more to its full height. Still, an intense blue-green light shone forth from within it, silhouetting Sanae through the thin, pressurized material of the god's outer skin as she rose to her feet, her wand raised high.
At that moment, Meiling had just reached the top of the daidarabotchi's shoulder. The giant had turned its other blade toward her, thrusting its vast river of glinting steel forward to skewer her on the point, but Meiling leapt gracefully, weaving her way past the hurtling blade and delivering a punch that struck with the force of a thunderclap against the face of the giant.
The daidarabotchi dropped one of its swords and reeled backward, twisting from the blow before regaining its balance. By then it was too late though. By then Hisoutensoku was standing, arms raised above its head, a blinding blue light shining out from its head. With her voice amplified by the wind and twinned by the low, inhuman whistle of the compressed air issuing from Hisoutensoku's head, Sanae cried out.
"FINAL STRIKE! METEORIC ONBASHIRA!"
Where exactly the enormous limned and peeled log had come from, I couldn't say. It must have at one point been one of the larger trees in the Forest of Magic, or perhaps it was once a truly prodigious pine, lifted from the slopes of Youkai Mountain. When it descended though, it did so from the west, dropping out of the sky at such an angle as to appear to have come straight out of the setting sun. It was unthinkably large, and must have been impossibly heavy, far beyond the weight of what a air-filled balloon like Hisoutensoku could have hoped to lift. As it was though, Hisoutensoku didn't have to lift it. The pillar of sacred wood, ringed by a pair of equally enormous shimenawa, shot downward at a perfect trajectory toward the daidarabotchi. All Hisoutensoku had to do was grab it at the precise instant it passed overhead to deliver a downward blow like a piledriver, an impact which smashed into the daidarabotchi and continued without slowing down for an instant, driving into the earth and exploding a hill will such force that a wave of dust and loose earth rippled outward and cascaded like water. There was a terrible roar as the tremor of the impact ripped through the village and shook shelves and door frames. A plume of dust exploded violently into the air.
Then there was silence.
The cheering ended as every voice in the village was held in anticipation. A breeze picked up and dispersed the cloud of obscuring dust over the village. As the particulates dispersed, the ruddy light filtered through the dust, casting everything into a monochrome tableau of red and black. Amidst that hellish scene, the form of Hisoutensoku still stood, as did the daidarabotchi, though this latter figure was impaled through the chest, the Onbashira jutting harshly through it to poke out of the ground at a 45 degree angle. Hisoutensoku raised up, its broad shoulders rotating as it turned to face the village, its shining eyes the only bit of its body still clear through the dust. Then the daidarabotchi moved too. Dislodging itself from the pillar that had run it through, it swayed, spinning unsteadily on one foot until it was facing the opposite direction from Hisoutensoku, away from the village, towards the edge of the Forest of Magic. All at once, it toppled, pitching forward. The moment its gigantic body collapsed to the ground, its appearance was instantly lost in a fiery explosion as the vast store of gunpowder within it detonated, releasing a short-lived but towering fireball into the darkening sky.
-.-.-.-.-
As the din of the explosion wore away, it was replaced by cheers of joy, rising from the throats of nearly every inhabitant of the village. Above us I could see the forms of Kanako and Suwako darting about in the sky, intercepting and redirecting rocks and chunks of debris that might have otherwise fallen on the village. No one in the crowd seemed to notice. All the eyes of the assembled villagers were watching as Hisoutensoku raised both arms above its head in victory, then, the very moment that Sanae emerged from the hatch to stand on its shoulder, with another loud and whistling howl it suddenly withered away to nothing, disappearing back into the earth. Sanae hovered in the air for a moment as the wind billowed out around her, settling and dispersing the airborne dust, clearing away the dingy red fog, and leaving only the clear skies of a beautiful sunset. As the haze cleared away she waved at the villagers, soaking in their cheers and waving at the children who were flooding out of the gate, some of them calling her name. She smiled brightly, then turned and flew off toward Youkai Mountain.
-.-.-.-.-
Thus was the peace and order of Gensokyo preserved. It was a momentous event, and the talk of the village for several weeks afterward, but being as it had nothing to do with the Hakurei Miko at all you won't find any record of it in the Gensokyo Chronicle. If, by some chance, you weren't around back then, dear reader, just ask anyone in the village about it. I'm sure they'll remember.
The threat of the daidarabotchi was defeated, and Hisoutensoku returned to sleep beneath the road leading out of the village, just beyond the western gate. It is said that even the kappa, grateful for Hisoutensoku's protection, came and assisted with the reconstruction of the road out of the village, burying all of the strange metal devices that had been found ringing the pit Hisoutensoku had emerged from, filling in the hole and resurfacing the footpath in a single night. The next morning a few inquisitive villagers had gone out to investigate, but even after digging beneath the ground under the path to the Forest of Magic, no trace of the armored god could be found.
If you ask the children about the village's protector, however, you might hear them tell you something very strange. Something that neither we, nor Sanae, nor either of the Goddesses ever said to them. It's just a rumor, passed between acquaintances on the playground of the temple school during lunch breaks, but the gist of it is this:
If ever the threat of an enormous, oversized youkai should cast its shadow over the village again, Hisoutensoku has promised to return. To watch over and protect the humans of Gensokyo, and defend them against the apparitions that stalk the night.
And so, let us all give thanks to Hisoutensoku. Let us all have faith that in our hour of need the village's divine protector will return, and fight, and win against any threat. Let us only have faith, and of this, we can be certain.