A/N: Sorry for the late update! I need to change chapters 3 and a little bit of 4 and 5 as it seems that Bunbunmaru Newspapers are not supposed to be published in the human village until 2015, which is years later. If you don't want to read the edit then let's just say that the guard instead of coming out 1 leg short, there is nothing left of him after Regulus is done with him.
Anyway, let's get onto the chapter.
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Chapter 6: History and Time
5 Minutes Prior.
Keine Kamishirasawa P.O.V
Today is a good day, it wasn't particularly cloudy today, and there wasn't any sign of trouble I could see. In the morning I even checked the dragon statue that can prophet a future incident before it can even happen and saw that it was green, indicating that today will not have any incident that can affect all of Gensokyo, and so today I do what I usually do and teach the future generation of the human village of the danger of the youkai as a proper history teacher. You can say that as someone who is also the guardian of the human village, this is my way to protect these humans from the malevolent youkai by passing down the history of them.
"... Now let's talk about Gashadokuro. But before we talk about it, can any one of you raise your hand if you have ever heard of this particular youkai before."
After I questioned the class, only one kid raised their hand.
"Ah yes, Kenji-kun."
"Umm, I think I remembered that Gashadokuro is a giant skeleton or something."
Hearing that answer, I smiled and replied, "That is right Kenji-kun. From the scroll of 'The Night Parade Of One Hundred Demons', it is said that Gashadokuro is a giant skeleton that was formed when people, warriors to be specific, are not being given a proper funerary rites. They are the type of youkai who go out at night and eat humans just for the fun of it." After I stated that, I began to poorly draw a giant skeleton on the chalkboard behind me. "This is Gashadokuro, this particular species of Youkai had not been seen since the creation of Gensokyo, but if the warrior of our village did not got their rightly deserved funeral, this youkai might come back to bring back the terror of the Gashadokuro once more—." But before I could finish my long lecture, there was a faint explosion sound in the distance that I could hear.
With that startling noise, my eyes instinctively traveled in the direction of the sound I heard, even if I knew that my eyes would only meet with the school wall. And what follows after that is yet another sound of an explosion.
Hearing that, I started to panically look back at my students, and when my eyes met their current state, my panic-filled gaze immediately turned into worry as all my students seem to be there frozen in their seats in fear (the fear that mostly stemmed from confusion), and seeing that fear in their eyes, I couldn't help but clench my fists in anger at the person who causes the commotion to happen in the first place.
But I will force that feeling down for now as I need to take care of the children before me, and so I began to say in a calm and collective voice as if I was in control of the situation, "Dears, please calm down. Everything is going to be alright. I will take care of this so please follow the protocol that we have been practicing up until now."
After I said that, they seemed to be a bit reluctant to follow my safety precautions, but maybe because of their fear, they all comply with my safety protocol anyway in the end. But even if they all comply, they all still have the desire, no matter how small, to run home to their respective guardian for comfort, which is quite obvious from the look on their face.
Seeing that, I bit my lip a little, knowing that I can't help them any more than I already have, and so I began to say begrudgingly, "… It will only take a couple of minutes so please wait here for the time being. It's going to be quick so please be patient and be a good boy and girl, will you?" After I said that gently, I left them with my most trusted faculty members in the temple school, and quickly went to check out the commotion outside in the hope of clearing up the commotion faster for the sake of the children and everyone.
What I saw when I got outside of the temple school was chaos as people were running around like their worst fear had come true, and what I presume those fears are is the fear of youkai attacking the village, which is understandable as the fear of youkai ran deep in their veins.
That fear is not unfounded, however, as it is within youkai nature to cause fear and terror, killing and destroying, and they do it as naturally as they breathe. Even if there are rules that were established by the Youkai Sages to make youkai not attack the humans of the human village as it is crucial to their existence due to them needing faith, like fear, to survive, their indomitable nature still sometimes gets better of them to cause unimaginable chaos, and for that, I took it upon myself to protect this village.
Seeing this turmoil, I began to take control of the situation by announcing my presence via shouting with a voice filled with both power and authority, "Everyone please calm down! Can anyone tell me what is going on?" After I said that, everyone in the area seized what they were doing for a moment, and after that momentary halt, everyone's face began to gradually brighten in hope, but even so, there is still a hint of fear lingering on their faces.
And a moment after, one man, who I know so well around the neighborhood, began to walk forward and began to address what's going on in the place of others, "O-oh, if it wasn't Miss Keine. The thing is, there is a white hair guy who is flying and destroying a section of the village just now. You got to do something, Miss Keine!"
Another villager steps forward and adds, "I-I was there when the man caused an explosion. The shrine maiden seems to be fighting the man."
Shrine maiden, huh? So she is finally doing her job for once. Normally she will not do anything unless something big happens. Anyway, "Thanks for those pieces of information, I will definitely do something about it, so please get in the shelter and I will take care of the rest… I already have things under control."
Which, I really did as just now, I had erased the entire history of the human village, erasing it from the face of reality as history is reality when seen from a single point of view. But even if I say that, erasing history is just concealing history from outside perception. Still… If only I had known about this and I would have erased this from happening in the first place.
"O-oh, thank god. Things like this haven't happened for a very long time now, so I got a bit worried."
"Rest assured. As the guardian of this village, I will not let any harm fall upon you guys." After I reassured him and everyone in the surrounding area, the man pointed me toward the direction where he last saw him, and after that, I began to fly in that direction.
And when I was at a mid-way point toward that pointed direction, I stopped my flight and looked at the destruction before me in shock. What I saw was a scene that could not possibly be produced by any normal means, it was a picture of every house in that area getting punctured by something, I'm not sure, causing the area to have an uncountable number of holes that even I can't see the end of. I even saw a couple of unrecognizable villagers' corpses lingering on the ruined road. With that being presented in my views of vision, I grew angrier and angrier as I continued to fly toward the village gate.
After I flew a bit further and reached a gate, my anger reached its peak as I saw another brutalized corpse, but this time I was able to recognize them as one of the village guards. And what I see further away from this sight of carnage is the figure of the shrine maiden, the witch lookalike, and the white haired man standing on the clearing that was quite a distance away from the gate. Seeing the white hair man, I swiftly grabbed a spell card, knowing that he was responsible for the massacre. Eventually, I declared, "Ending Sign "Phantasmal Emperor."
After I use the spell card, it begins to shine for a second and creates 3 very condensed energy balls in the air next to me that continuously create many slowly-moving lights of high frequency making the man in white to be completely engulfed by a divine light of ethereal blue when it hits him. The spell card also makes many energy-like projectiles around me that shoot in all directions.
While the 3 condensed energy balls are doing their work and producing a lot of high-energy visible light, and many projectiles is also being kept manifesting into the physical world beside me, I flew, but not too close, to the location of the shrine maiden and the blond witch, who was surprised at the turn of the event and who were dodging my spell card that didn't distinguish between ally and foe.
When I was in a good distance between them, I began to speak to the shrine maiden while suppressing my anger toward the white hair man for the time being, "Oh, if it wasn't the shrine maiden who sided with the youkai." After saying that, I began to direct my attention to another presence beside her and said, "... And, I assume you are her friend."
Hearing me, both the shrine maiden and the witch turned their heads and looked at me, and the shrine maiden began to speak, "Eh? Who are you?"
After the shrine maiden questioned that, the witch beside her also began to add her own input as well, "Maybe she is comin' to help us-ze?"
Seeing that they are confused about who I am, I began to introduce myself, "Oh pardon me, I am the guardian of the human village, Kamishirasawa Keine." After I stated my name, my attention began to shift elsewhere, "… Let's talk later, as we seem to have a more pressing matter that we need to attend to." And that pressing matter is the white haired man who is currently bending my visible light attack with the most frustrated expression I have seen today.
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Marisa Kirisame P.O.V
As I was fighting this white hair guy with Reimu, he suddenly got hit by a blinding light that would definitely blind a normal person. And not only that, but I also seemed to be in the crossfire as I was also at risk of being hit by other smaller balls of energy that fly toward all directions, which included mine unfortunately, in a pattern of danmaku.
After a moment of dodging these danmaku, a voice of an unfamiliar woman rang out in a cool tone, "Oh, if it wasn't the shrine maiden who sided with the youkai." I could hear her pause for a second, and speak again, "... And, I assume you are her friend"
Hearing that, I began to look in the direction where that voice came from and I saw a woman with long whitish blue hair who seemed to be focusing on Reimu and on me while she was still shooting danmaku at us indiscriminately, which couldn't be helped really as spell cards produce a designated pattern of the magical bullet upon use.
Anyway, while I was dodging the woman danmaku, Reimu seemed to not be bothered by it at all, which to be honest, if my past self were to see that, she would be very jealous and bitter 'bout that as Reimu didn't train to gain that power at all, but now, I just see this display of strength and ability as my goal to strive toward. And because Reimu doesn't seem to be bothered by the unknown woman danmaku, she nonchalantly said, "Eh? Who are you?"
After she said that, I began to follow her example and began to speak out as well amid the bullet curtain because I don't want to lose to Reimu, "Maybe she is comin' to help us-ze?"
The moment after I said that, the mysterious woman seemed to remember something and began to introduce herself, "Oh pardon me, I am the guardian of the human village, Kamishirasawa Keine." After she said that, something seemed to catch her attention, causing her to say, "… Let's talk later, as we seem to have a more pressing matter that we need to attend to." Hearing that, I began to focus on what she is focusing on, and upon seeing what she is focusing on, I began to think about how I need to prepare an even bigger Master Spark as what greets me when I look at the direction of the place that had been floated with divine light earlier was the completely undamaged human-rights-appreciator guy, I forgot his name.
"You you you! Who the fuck are you! Why did you attack me me me when I didn't do anything to you?! Just why the fuck did you assault me when I didn't do anything!? Tell me, just tell me what did I do to deserve this treatment? Nothing! Yes, nothing! Attacking me like that for no reason is downright evil! It is such a senseless act of violence! It is an act of aggression that does not solve any problems and only creates more problems! Apologize to me now! Apologize, bow down, prostrate! If you do that I might consider your apology and accept it!"
There he goes again, another long rant that I need to listen to. How did Reimu deal with this? She just stood there like the rants didn't affect her at all, and seeing that she still kept her cool, I began to doubt if she really is a human as even I, who is a human, started to have a hard time holding my cool after listening to him for this long. Hell, I didn't even have a state of mind to talk while listening to this guy as it would be instantly drowned by him.
And while I was doubting Reimu's humanity, the silver-haired girl began to speak in both seriousness and anger, "I will not be respectful or even apologize to someone like you who murder innocents! As the guardian of the human village, I will have to ask you to surrender peacefully!"
"Tch, talking all and mighty like you have the authority to order me to do something. And me murder innocents? Don't mess with me! They are not innocent at all as they violated my rights! Rights are something every human is born with, discarding someone's rights is like discarding their most sacred possession! Discarding my rights is like discarding the baseline level of my basic human dignity! For that reason, those inhuman sons of a bitch deserve what's coming to them! And what's this about surrendering? Are you planning to put me in custody? You bitch, shouldn't I have the right to my liberty!? So shouldn't I be allowed to roam whatever place I want to be? You don't have the right to discard my right to my freedom like that!"
"... You done? I thought that you have something good to say, but instead what I hear is words from a delusional madman. So you are not a youkai but a human? An outsider perhaps? Regardless of that, it still wasn't enough of an excuse to cause a massacre!"
"What the fuck did you just say? Me, a madman? Bitch! Did you just call me a madman!? Don't lump me into that category and don't ever refer me as such! Don't you know that by calling me something I'm not is a violation to my right to my individuality?! And also, don't dare call my action a 'massacre'! Massacre means an act of senseless slaughtering of a lot of people, which is not what I just did! Killing the scum of the earth is the right thing to do and makes the world a better place so it is not senseless, and thus you shouldn't call my pure act of goodwill a 'massacre', you should call it a 'purification' instead!"
…
"Did he just try to justify his action as an act of good will-ze?" I said in incredulity.
"*sigh*" Reimu exhaled audibly and began to say, "That is why you shouldn't bother talking to this guy."
"... I can see your point, shrine maiden."
After Keine said that in an uncontained disdain toward the white hair man, Reimu began to speak up again, "Oh, by the way, this guy didn't know about danmaku so you don't have to use it against him. You also don't have to follow the spell cards rule either. And maybe also close your ears whenever he talks or something as it's quite annoying and it's not like he will actually 'listen' to us."
"I will consider that." Keine responded in acknowledgement.
"Yeah, like Reimu said, miss Kamishisa-and-whatever-the-rest-of-your-name-is, he will not listen to what we have to say so we should just kick his ass instead to let our words pass through him!" I smirkingly commented.
After I cheekily said that, Miss long name shot an annoyed gaze at me for a second but didn't say anything, which I internally pouted. Anyway, when we were having a small chit-chat, the man didn't seem to like that as he began to reach down to the ground to grab many grains of dirt to try to kill us again.
I didn't let him of course and beat him into it by using another Master Spark, but since I know that just a master spark wouldn't be enough to hurt him, I decided to Double Spark the crap out of this guy. Thus I announced, "Loving Heart "Double Spark"."
After I chanted that, the mini-hakkero began to grow in a multi-color light, and after a moment, it ultimately produced two sparks from it, making it double in size, blanketing the whole area in front of me, efficiently stopping the man from grabbing another handful of dirt.
And while I was doing that, Keine didn't slack either and began to prepare her attack just in case my attack didn't deter him, and that is what happened much to my shock as my freaking giant magical laser can't penetrate his unbreakable defense at all!
This can't be a simple defense ability!
And after my Double Spark, Keine began to throw out her attack after me by declaring its name, "Great Fire "Flower of Edo"."
When that name is utter, fires start to appear little by little, fizzling into existence gradually and progressively until it becomes what it describes to be in its name, the great fire that encompasses the big part of the sky that can be seen hundreds of acres of land away like the great fire of edo that was comparable to the fire once generated by the gods of fire Shukuyū. The sight of this (near-)impossible spell card makes me gawk.
This is much much much stronger than her previous spell card considering the fact that she actually listens to Reimu advice of not having to follow the rule of spell card against him.
But this is not a time to gawk as that said great fire is also reaching toward me at a terrifying pace, I feel like if I were to get caught in the fire, I wouldn't be able to escape it, thus I ready my mini-hakkero and try to escape it using one of my spell card, ""Blazing Star"!"
With that spell card being said, I ride along the wind by firing a Master Spark backward, using it to repel myself upward toward the sky, effectively escaping the great fire of edo. The Master Spark I shot backward is also hitting Regulus, so this can be said to be hitting 2 birds with 1 stone. And while I was doing that to escape, Reimu seemed to have already used her fantasy nature to escape the fire of Shukuyū long before I did.
Following that, I began to look back after the effect of my spell card was over and without any time wasted, I cried out another spell card from this relatively safe distance, "Star Sign "Dragon Meteor"!"
With that spell card declared, yet another Master Spark fell from the sky, enveloping the man's location like a star falling on that location. After that attack, I began to gradually float down to the ground, but still away from the fire.
After everything I and Keine threw at him, I seriously began to doubt that his defense still holds on from all those firepowers. Hell, I even began to doubt if he's still alive in there since If a normal man were to take those devastating attacks, they would no doubt be reduced to cinder 10 times over by the mere heat and powerful stream of lights, not to mention the actual direct damage.
Yike, I sure don't want to be him right now.
But I quickly retracted those words as after the smoke cleared and the great fire of edo disappeared, I saw the man standing there on the smoldering ground perfectly fine, like nothing had happened, with his intolerable smirks looking up toward me and Keine that seemed to be saying, 'Huh, is that it?', and all while giving me and Keine that look, he also began to speak, "Now now, don't you know that treating someone as a target dummy is a form of psychological torture? As when someone is constantly under attack, whether it be physical or verbal, it takes a toll on their mental health, and so shouldn't you consider mine? Treating me as a target dummy like that is a violation of my right to physical safety! Don't you ever wonder how they feel, and how I feel when I was constantly being under attack? Don't you think that someone who never considers other people's feelings and also discards people's right to their safety should be punished for their actions? I don't know you but I think that it is fully justified for me to get my just revenge, so now accept your—." "Great Barrier "Hakurei Barrier"!"
But before he could finish talking, however, he was engulfed by a giant square dome of relative size and another smaller one. The two domes came from Reimu, who had been silent up until now, waiting for an opportunity to strike, and is also who is currently inside the enclosed space she created.
The giant cube that covered Regulus' entire being is a barrier technique that consisted of stacking two barriers inside one another to incomprehensibly erase the very thing that kept the universe from becoming a singularity. It was a barrier technique that made everything inside the barrier become something akin to a world with no boundaries, a world where there is no difference between anything.
Don't ask me how that works as I don't know myself.
After Regulus got caught in that barrier, where time and space are being turned over and inside out, Reimu who is inside the barrier itself, began to manifest a scarily amount of yin yang orb and began to shots many tendrils of energy with them that swayed left and right in an exotic fashion that upon hitting the first barrier, it began to come out from another opposite side of another barrier, and repeating the same motion over and over again, which is extremely confusing to watch since a phenomenon of turning space inside out isn't something scientific in nature.
Just thinking about all the 'how' is hurting my brain!
And like it wasn't enough, another voice rang out, ""Deflation World"."
And afterward, a glittering knife whistled through the wind toward the great barrier. Normally, the knife would simply go on its intended path, but this wasn't so simple as wherever the knife go, another exact same knife would manifest behind it, following the same trajectory, and another exactly the same knife would appears behind it, and so on and forth, until that exact same knife is all over the sky, more than I could count, that are all making its way toward the direction of the great barrier.
This isn't something cheap that can be created by throwing a bunch of knives, in fact, the over hundred of knives in the sky were the product of 1 knife and 1 single throw. It is a spell card I knew so well from someone who is so familiar. It was a spell card that compresses the world flow of time, which is essentially the same as compressing the entire universe instead of letting it inflate, making the past and future to exist in the present, so those knives in the sky are just essentially the same knife from all times that is being compressed to exist in the current moment.
And the one doing the impossible is not even 10 meters away from me who sported the perfect picture of an elegant maid, and it was then that she began to speak, "As a request from the mistress, I will lend a helping hand on defeating this Anomaly."
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A/N: Have I ever told you that writing Regulus is such a good stress reliever?