After the unexpected intrusion of Yukari Yakumo and Okina Matara six months prior, Eirin had hoped that those two would be the last visitors to bring grim tidings to her doorstep. That she could focus her time and effort on ensuring she and her princess got through the oncoming cataclysm rather than be distracted by lesser matters.
Unfortunately, when Eientei's defensive wards altered her that there was a pair of Lunarians standing outside the front door in the middle of the night; she knew that another mess had found her. The fact that those two had turned out to be her former students was just icing on the proverbial cake.
After deactivating the warnings, and confirming that they hadn't woken Kaguya, she brought the two inside. Whatever drove the Watatsukis to come here in the middle of the night, and with such despondent expressions no less, would be best discussed over a hot drink.
"I would say it's nice to see you, but the look on your faces tells me you aren't here simply to catch up with your old teacher," Eirin stated, reaching across the kotatsu to pour each of the Watatsuki sisters a cup of tea.
"No, though I wish that was the case," Toyohime admitted, a sorrowful smile on her face. "Rather, we're here because there isn't anywhere else for us to go."
Yorihime's fists tightened, the younger sister visibly struggling to retain her composure at the reminder of their current situation.
"Are you telling me you've been…?" Eirin asked, trailing off as her mouth refused to pronounce the conclusion she had reached, unable to believe that the Lunar Capital could have fallen so far so quickly.
Unfortunately, her fears would swiftly be vindicated.
"We were exiled," Yorihime growled, slamming her fist onto the counter with enough force to shatter the wood if it hadn't been locked into a single moment. The rage that had simmered beneath the surface flaring back to life at the memory. "For 'rabble-rousing' after we and Lord Tsukuyomi tried to carry out your warning."
"Since we were already on thin ice after Junko's attack, it was enough for the court to overrule Lord Tsukuyomi and deem us traitors to the moon," Toyoihime explained mournfully, staring down at the kotatsu.
Eirin took a deep sip of tea to fortify herself, before setting the cup down and looking at the sisters. "Tell me everything"
The Watatsuki sisters exchanged glances, using that special brand of telepathy inherent to siblings to plan out their explanation.
Finally, they turned back towards the once-teacher, Toyohime taking the lead.
"It began two days after we received your letter…"
Like much of the Lunar Capital, Tsukuyomi's home had been destroyed in Junko's rampage. While still beyond anything the residents of the world below could hope to create, the sight of its comparatively ramshackle replacement made the sister's hearts feel a little more leaden.
Where once there was a brilliant palace at the center of the Capital, constructed from the moon itself and the shining symbol of purity in form and function that the Lunarians had sought since time immemorial, now stood the shell of a mansion a ways off to the side.
Despite their recent decline in status and reputation, the two remained trusted allies of the moon's leader, who had made it clear that they were to speak with him if they felt there was a matter warranting it. Going so far as to give them a writ for that very purpose.
A single glance at the paper, and the seal/signature on it, and the front guards allowed them to pass without a second thought. A benefit of them being trained for absolute loyalty. If Lord Tsukuyomi put his trust in someone, they would respect that decision without question.
It was the work of minutes to make their way to the destination, the long hours spent frantically planning in the wake of Junko's assault making the route second nature. They came to a halt before an alabaster door, one of the few pieces of the palace that could be salvaged, and after a quick knock, waited outside for the response.
"Come in," a regal male voice called through the door.
Permission granted, Toyohime and Yorihime opened the door and strode into their leader's makeshift office.
As befitting its status, the room contained some of the most priceless objects on the moon. Magical artifacts capable of viewing events anywhere on the planet or moon, knowledge lost to the world below millennia ago, and more. The remains of a collection greater than any other.
Tsukuyomi himself was seated at his desk, pouring over the latest reports on the capital's reconstruction efforts. In the face of the immense workload, it was critical that resources be directed towards only the most vital operations until the situation could improve.
Though, judging by his frown and furrowed brow, not everyone had gotten the message.
Tearing his attention away from the pile of paperwork, he looked up at the new arrivals, faintly-glowing silver eyes analyzing them with inhuman precision before softening minutely.
"My apologies for skipping the pleasantries," he began, weariness seeping into his tone. "But there is a great deal of work that must be done and far too little time or resources to do it. So, what is the matter you need to bring to my attention?"
The Watatsuki's exchanged glances before Toyohime reached into her pocket and produced the letter Eirin had sent them. "Two days ago, we received a letter from our former teacher," she explained, handing it to Tsukuyomi.
"The contents were… unnerving," Yorihime admitted. "I understand if you wish to punish us for violating the exile laws, but if that can help avert what the letter stated was coming, it's a small price to pay."
Remaining silent, Tsukuyomi unfolded the letter and began reading. His expression steadily grew more and more grave as he went through. It seemed enough to give him grey hairs if his locks weren't already pure white.
Finally, after several minutes, he set the letter down on the table and looked up at the sisters. "And you've received no further messages?" He asked, in the manner of one who already knows the answer but secretly hoped they were wrong.
"No Lord Tsukuyomi," Toyohime shook her head. "Given the situation, I imagine our former teacher is busy working on the project she mentioned. She's given us what information she can, now her focus lies on her and Kaguya's wellbeing."
"Indeed," he signed. "Leaving us with one crucial question: are these methods viable in our present state?"
"I'm not sure what you mean my lord. How could sensei's plans be anything less than effective?" Yorihime asked, confusion written all over her face.
"I agree," Toyohime chimed in. "I've never seen a plan of hers that couldn't be carried out without issue."
"And under almost any other circumstances, that would be the case here," Tsukuyomi nodded. "But Eirin left the moon long before Junko's attack, her plans centered around the court being reasonable enough to be convinced. As the two of you can attest, that is no longer the case."
The sisters looked away, torn between their admiration of their teacher and the harsh reality they had experienced.
"It's not a mark against her abilities," Tsukuyomi elaborated, noticing their conflicted expressions. "What happened was beyond anyone's calculations and the fact she could devise plans of such quality without ever laying eyes on the aftermath is a testament to her skill."
He let out a resigned sigh and looked back at the letter. "But the shift in the populace's mentality is beyond what she could have imagined. The attack has scarred their souls and few retain their original nature."
"But…" Yorihime began, only for Tsukuyomi to cut her off.
"You remember the battle against Junko," the god of the Moon stated. "You felt the same crushing impurity and despair that every other resident of the moon did. However, unlike the rest of the moon, we were able to oppose and even slay her. She was a monster unlike any we've seen, but still a person with exploitable flaws."
"To those who could only watch and struggle to survive, she was nothing less than the embodiment of the ruin our people have so long believed ourselves triumphant against. Combined with the sheer loss many of us faced that day, a tragedy on a scale far beyond the Lunar Capital's past experiences, and it is understandable that so many have been unable to cope."
"And the unprecedented amount of impurity she was throwing around can't be helping," Toyohime stated, unconsciously gripping her right arm. "The clean-up efforts seem to have been enough to prevent total contamination, but we have no way of knowing how deeply the exposure affected everyone. I know that it took you and me almost two months to properly recover, sister, and we're among the best prepared to handle such situations."
The purplette grit her teeth in frustration but reluctantly acknowledged the point. While few threats had managed to reach the moon before Junko, the Watatsukis were, by virtue of natural ability and equipment alike, prepared to battle impurity in a way that the rest of their kind, barring Lord Tsukuyomi, simply were not. And, as the flare of pain from her midsection reminded her, they hadn't come out of that fight in one piece themselves.
Despite possessing the knowledge of impurity and how to fight it, many Lunarians had simply grown up in a world where impurity was a distant concept, something that they understood existed elsewhere but could not truly imagine encountering. Even if they could have potentially fought back that day, total psychological defeat had set into the minds of the populace the moment that wave of darkness tore across the horizon...
The day had started like any other, with the sisters manning their posts. Due to the sheer distance between the Moon and the world below, as well as the difficulty of opening portals to the True Moon, this largely consisted of them sitting in their offices and letting their finely-tuned senses and security sensors warn them of any intrusions.
This was helped along by a quirk of the True Moon's nature. Due to its status as a Pure Land, and the Lunarians' innate attunement to said environment, any impurity stood out like an inkblot on a masterpiece painting. Something so obviously out of place that anyone who missed it would have to be actively ignoring it.
As such, the pair could afford to take the time to focus on other matters without compromising their vigil.
"Just drop it next to the rest," Yorihime ordered Reisen as she stumbled into the former's office with a stack of papers cradled in her arms, not bothering to look up from the repair request she was filling out.
"Remember, a single sheet out of place and it's the flaming chestnuts for you. And if you take too long, I'll throw in the feather course."
"Yes, Lady Yorhime!" the panicked Moon Rabbit spouted out as she rushed towards the desk, mindful not to do anything that would incur another punishment session. Her efforts were rewarded with an absentminded nod and a "good job" as the papers thunked onto the desk, all perfectly in order.
Taking the approval as a sign to attend to business elsewhere, Reisen quickly bowed to her younger master and ran off as fast as she could without giving offense swiftly vacated the room.
"Honestly," Yorihime chuckled, a faint smile on her lips. "Almost a century of intense personal training under the students of the greatest mind the Moon has ever seen and she still panics like that. She's lucky she's so adorable." She looked back at the form, more specifically, the list of items requiring replacement after a group of Moon Rabbits went on a drunken rampage through the south wing.
"Then again," she gritted out through clenched teeth, eye twitching at the memory. "It certainly seems like the other rabbits could learn a thing or two from her example." She took a moment to actually ponder the viability of such an option, before dismissing it entirely.
For better or worse, Reisen was the most skilled, or at least disciplined, of her kind. Forcing other rabbits through her training would just leave Yorihime with a pile of broken minions. Which, while a potential option if she ever needed to cut down on the number of hands to manage, wasn't an outcome she was interested in right now.
Refocusing her attention on the paperwork, which she had continued filling out while lost in thought, she resumed her previous level of productivity. Dealing with the Lunar Defense Corps' perpetual chaos could wait.
Naturally, it was at that moment that her older sister barged into the room with a mischievous grin plastered across her face. If past experience was any indicator, this meant that she had gotten bored with and/or completed her handful of tasks and was here to rope Yorihime into another of her schemes.
As the younger sister had learned, dIssuading the elder Watatsuki was effectively impossible when she was like this. All she could do was hope that whatever Toyohime had planned was more akin to her impromptu Moon Rabbit training sessions than that time she hid a human in her home for three years.
"~Oh, sister dear,~" the elder Watatsuki called out to her junior as she waltzed towards Yorihime's desk. "Would you care to lend your lovely sibling some of your time?"
Yorihime sighed internally at the sight and set aside her paperwork before turning her full attention onto her unexpected guest. "Toyohime, we've talked about this…" she groaned, sheer will the only thing keeping her from facepalming.
"Why my dear sister, I'd almost think you didn't want me around," Toyohime exclaimed dramatically, gesturing at her heart as if the organ had been pierced by Yorihime's words. "Here I am taking time out of my day to visit you and this is how I am repaid."
"You have so much time available because your workload consists almost entirely of telling the messengers what to do. In case you haven't noticed, my responsibilities require a bit more dedication," Yorihime deadpanned. Hoping that her sister would take the hint and let her focus on work for now.
Sadly for her, no such event came to pass. "As if you can't get all that done in an hour or less," Toyohime scoffed. "Spending some time with your big sister won't even come close to hindering your performance."
Before Yorihime could begin articulating her counterargument, the two felt a strange presence emanating from outside. All thoughts of their argument forgotten, they rushed outside to confront who or whatever had transgressed on the sanctity of the True Moon.
However, all that awaited them once they were through the exit was the standard sight of the Moon's beauty and tranquility, without another life to be found beyond a handful of rabbits wandering around. Yet the presence remained, a sense of darkness, destruction, and inhuman impurity throbbing the back of the sisters' minds And if the pained expressions of the nearby individuals were anything to go by, the minds of those around them.
For a moment their minds blanked, caught between the contradiction between what they saw and what they felt. Yet, within moments Toyohime reached a conclusion that could explain everything.
"They're on the False Moon..." She whispered, mind racing as she tried to understand how this sensation could have bridged the space between the two sides of the coin. The two sides were not merely separate realities, they were diametrically opposed existences. Nothing from the mundane side should be able to reach the fantastical, it was simply how her power worked.
"How?!" Yorihime demanded, a tiny hint of panic and confusion tainting her voice. "You had me test that barrier myself and it took everything I had to force a connection between the two sides. What could possibly be powerful enough to not only tear a hole to the True Moon but alert us to the perpetrator from a reality away?"
It was absurd. The Lunarians might not have been the absolute pinnacle of power in the whole of existence, but they could comfortably claim to hold a spot in the top 5. The only beings who should be able to so thoroughly outclass one of their strongest were constantly monitored, with no signs that any of them were planning anything against the Lunar Capital. Or even that they had left their preferred territory.
Yet somehow, an unknown existence was piercing the barrier between the sides of the moon and forcing themselves through. Now that she knew what to look for she could sense it, a point where reality was tearing like wet paper.
Fortunately for them, the incursion point translated over to an area four miles outside the Lunar Capital, well within interception range for the Watatsukis, who had begun sprinting towards it the moment they realized its location. Though that still left the question of what could have the power to carry out such an act.
A question that would seemingly be answered soon enough, as their target appeared on the horizon. It was very much like you might expect a hole in reality too, consisting of impossibly deep darkness with purple trim radiating out of cracks in the air as reality seemed to stretch like rubber against the unseen hands of the intruder.
Where lesser beings would have gone mad at the sight, Yorihime and Toyohime simply analyzed the situation, trying to deduce what they could of what force was responsible.
"It's almost through," Toyohime noted, the statement punctuated with a sharp hiss. "I don't think there's anything that we can do to stop whatever this is before it breaches the last of the barrier."
"Then we'll just have to put it down before it can harm anything" Yorihime replied, her voice hard. "I can't quite place it, but this power feels familiar. Like my entire being is instinctively crying out against its presence. Whatever it is, I know that If we don't stop it here, this thing will cause a tragedy like nothing the moon has ever seen."
That said, they came to a stop twenty feet away from the distortion. Taking defensive stances and readying themselves for whatever might emerge once the last of the barrier falls.
They did not have long to wait.
Within moments, the cracks shattered, the barrier between the mundane and fantastical versions of the moon giving way under the intruder's unrelenting force. Yet, this would not be the end of it.
Whatever power had punched a hole in the barrier didn't stop there, taking the weakness they'd created in the structure and tearing it wide open. Ripping apart every last thread of the magical construct as the Watatsukis watched in shock and horror.
For all its strength and craftsmanship, the barrier had never been designed to deal with a situation like this, the stranger's power somehow breaking down its components like it was nothing.
By the time Yorihime and Toyohime made their moves, the former channeling the power of Ame-no-Mihashira-no-Kami to create a deadly wave of cutting winds and the latter unleashing a purifying wave with a swing of her fan, it was already too late. The barrier crumbled to nothing and the False Moon was wiped away as the True Moon returned to conventional reality.
With all separation between the two moons erased, the culprit had appeared where the hole once stood. Either caught by surprise or simply unconcerned by the oncoming attacks, they remained still even as the winds of divinity and purification bore down on them.
What happened next quickly established that it was the latter. The moment the attacks closed in on the figure, they were wiped away by a burst of the same energy that had been seen emanating from the hole.
Once the dust had cleared, the Watatsukis got their first look at the mysterious being who had torn down the Lunar Barrier. They didn't look intimidating at first glance, being a reasonably attractive woman with long orange hair, clad in a black dress with a red and yellow tabard and with a dalachi adorning her head. Looking more like a lost member of high-society, by non-Lunarian standards, than the being responsible of such destruction.
Yet one look at her blood-red eyes instantly dispelled any doubts the sisters might have had over the threat posed by this figure. There was nothing resembling life behind those orbs, merely an unending pool of malice so deep that it had become a fact of existence.
Both of the sisters recognized the intruder, having memorized every report involving the denizens of the world below. Even one as inconsequential as hers.
Junko, the woman whose son had transformed into a star and had been one of the eight suns shot down by Hou Yi for the crime of disrupting life on the Lunar Capital with their light, who had purified her grudge until it turned her into a spirit of pure vengeance with an unending hatred for Hou Yi' and, after his death, his wife.
There remained not a single aspect of her being that was not devoted to her revenge against Chang'e, her entire personality built around this one goal. In light of this, it made perfect sense that she would attack the True Moon if given the chance.
However, the question of how she could have gained the means to do so remained frustratingly unclear for the Watatsukis. Junko's ability to purify, as in refine, existences was powerful but nothing that would allow her to destroy the barrier. Even if she transformed herself into the greatest state she possibly could, her existence simply could not reach the levels of power necessary. A consequence of her comparative inferiority to Lunarian nature.
Every material eventually reaches a point where it cannot be further improved, where there is no better form remaining. The materials of the world below, no matter how refined they are, will never match up to what exists on the heavenly satellite. It was like comparing lumps of copper to adamantine, there was simply too great a gulf between the two for any amount of treatment to overcome.
Yet here Junko was, employing power that defied everything the sisters knew about her and her capabilities. The only conclusion was that she'd had contracted some manner of outside help for this endeavor. But what being would have both the power and the desire to aid her in her crusade?
A question that would have to be answered another time, as their musings were interrupted by a derisive scoff from the spirit. "I come to this wretched moon bearing an unprecedented catastrophe, yet this is the best welcoming party the Lunar Capital could send? A pair of foolish sisters rushing to their ends? Truly the people here are lunatics of the highest order."
"Oh?" Toyohime asked, her casual tone at odds with the edge to her voice and the teeth in her smile. "Someone's got a high opinion of themselves for a jumped-up spirit."
Junko lazily raised an eyebrow at the retort, unbothered by the Lunarian's mocking words. "I would say the same of you. When it comes down to it, is your entire race not little more than a failed project?" She droned out, boredom overflowing from every letter. "It seems more than a little hypocritical for something incapable of reaching its creator's standards to preach its' innate superiority."
The Watatsukis flinched, the verbal arrow striking the one place they could not armor, before steeling themselves. "And it's even more foolish to waste time arguing with a tool," Yorihime shot back, taking her preferred combat stance. "It's time for us to put an end to that centuries-long tantrum of yours."
Toyohime nodded at her sister's words, the elder sibling readying herself to swing her fan at a moment's notice.
"I suppose I can spare a minute or two to deal with you before I get to the main event," the spirit declared smugly, a wicked smirk spreading across her face. "The sight of her people's guardians torn apart like livestock… yes, that is a fitting preview for the fate awaiting my mortal enemy."
Junko raised her hand, a small black orb surrounded by a translucent purple shell appearing above her palm. "Try not to be crushed too quickly. There are quite a few things I wish to try out before the show truly begins and finding other dolls durable enough for my needs would be more effort than I wish to exert."
With that said, she flicked her hand towards Yorihime, launching the sphere at her with such speed that, to any observers, it would have seemed to become a solid line.
Fortunately for her, Yorihime was ready for such an assault and, channeling the power of Ame-No-Mikage-No-Kami through her blade, deflected the attack off to her right.
Upon impact, the collision between the orb and the ground blew a hole twenty meters wide and fifteen deep into the ground where the attack landed.
Seeking to take advantage of Junko's focus on her younger sister, Toyohime swung her fan once more. Unleashing a wave of purifying winds towards the spirit while she was distracted.
Or so Toyohime thought.
Junko simply held out her right hand, a burst of dark energy rushing out of it to slam into Toyohime's attack. For a moment it looked like the gale might hold, only for the elder Watatsuki's blow to crumble under its opponent like a sandcastle before a hurricane.
Her attack, a product of the pinnacle of Lunarian weaponry, a force that breaks down anything impure on the atomic level and was capable of wiping away entire forests in a single swing, had been crushed with as much effort as an Oni squishing an ant.
Before Toyohime could continue pondering the absolute absurdity of the situation, the parts of her brain more concerned with immediate survival screamed at her to dodge. She darted to her left as fast as her body could manage, making sure to remain far enough from her sister to avoid presenting Junko with the opportunity to blast them both, the umbral storm shooting by and tearing a deep trench in the ground behind her.
Meanwhile, Yorihime was halfway to Junko and closing fast, her sword drawn back and ready to swing the moment she came within range of the spirit.
Aware that those black and purple projectiles contained extremely powerful impurity, she had switched to channeling Ame-No-Uzume, whose protection from such forces would ensure no further attacks should be able to reach her.
A seemingly prophetic decision in light of what came next.
"Well, that level of effort is useless," Junko noted. "Then again, it would have been quite disappointing if that had been enough to kill the Lunar Capital's best."
"Let's see how long you can hold out, shall we?" She asked. Several dozen of those black and purple spheres formed around her, launching themselves at Yorihime. With A handful veering off towards Toyohime.
The younger Watatsuki didn't even slow down, charging right at the oncoming barrage. The first shot was deflected off to the side, Yorihime twisting around to maintain her momentum against the sheer force of the attack.
The second and third were similarly dispatched, but by the fifth, her footing had begun to suffer. The attacks reached her before she could finish transitioning from stance to stance and disrupted her rhythm.
She fought on, dodging and parrying another four attacks with such grace that most onlookers would label the battle a dance routine. Yet it was clear that she was steadily losing momentum. The goddess's power unable to repel the impossible dense impurity of the attacks as it should.
Each step forward was smaller than the one before, more time and energy being tied up in defensive maneuvers. Despite her skill and power, Yorihime simply couldn't meet these attacks head-on, nor could she dodge all of them due to their sheer speed and number.
Every block bled a little more of her momentum away as her blade clashed against the dark power. Each dodge moved her a fraction less close to her target than before. Moment by moment her position worsened, a seemingly inevitable march towards defeat.
Toyohime wasn't much better off. While her sister was facing Junko's assault head-on, her lack of divine assistance necessitated a less direct approach.
First, she sidestepped the initial orb, making sure to move away from the site of her sister's struggles to avoid drawing fire that neither could afford. Then, calling upon her magic for the first fight in over a century, she weaved a shield of distorted space in front of her.
She doubted it would be able to fully displace the attacks, everything that the sisters had observed and Toyohime could sense pointed towards them breaking down magic as easily as the lunar surface, but, with luck, they might be able to alter the course of the projectiles just enough to improve her odds.
This was not the case.
The shots passed through the spacial barriers like they weren't even there, forcing Toyohime to frantically duck, sidestep, and even slide under the next half-dozen attacks. Despite managing to avoid any direct impacts, she still took a few glancing blows from the experience.
By the time she had cleared enough obstacles to cease dodging there was a darkened patch with layers of skin seemingly sheared away where her right arm grazed an orb, chunks of her hair missing, and a series of holes and tears blown into her lower skirt.
Her eye twitching furiously, she quickly reared back her fan and slammed the next shot to the side with a spirited swing. The sheer power of the weapon, while unable to halt or destroy the spheres, was more than capable of altering their paths with a well-aimed attack.
Using her newfound breathing room, Toyohime conjured up four doppelgangers of herself. The various copies of the elder Watatsuki immediately scattered to avoid being wiped out in one burst.
To her unpleasant surprise, the remaining blasts split apart to follow them, each Toyohime now faced with anywhere between five to seven orbs chasing them down.
One tried to keep ahead of the pursuit, even using magic to boost her speed, only for the orbs to suddenly accelerate to twice their previous speeds. Unable to react in time, she was blown apart and vanished into the ether from which she came.
The second opted to generate a concealing haze around her in the hopes that it might confuse Junko's aim. Whether or not her efforts succeeded were a bit unclear. On one hand, the blasts began to fly less straight and smooth, on the other, several of them ended up colliding as a result. Triggering an explosion that obliterated the unfortunate Toyohime and added yet another crater to the lunar surface.
The third and fourth, having the bad luck to retreat in directions that gave their respective pursuers a clear line of fire, didn't last long. The former tried to slow time around the blasts while the latter tried to reflect them with what appeared to be a miniature full moon. Neither approach was met with anything approaching success, as the dark energy completely ignored the slowed time around it and punched through the moon shield like an arrow through paper respectively.
The fifth and final one took a different approach entirely. Rather than try to outrun or hinder the spirit's attacks, she focused her gaze on scanning her surroundings, only paying as much attention to the orbs as was needed to avoid being caught.
Even as the oncoming doom closed the gap between them, she kept her mind focused. Devoting her full attention to what would come next.
"The sea embraces the mountain just as the mountain anchors the sea," she muttered under her breath. "Isolate the probability and..."
The second, no, the very instant before the lead orb would tear through her form, Toyohime vanished into thin air.
"Oh?" Junko asked, raising an eyebrow in bemusement at the sight. "Has your precious sister decided to cut her losses and abandon you? She asked Yorihime. Who simply grit her teeth at the mockery and redoubled her efforts to break through the storm of attacks.
Unfortunately, the taunt had thrown her mental equilibrium off enough to ever-so-slightly disrupt her focus. A vulnerability that was swiftly capitalized upon by yet another umbral cannonball slamming into her guard.
While she was still able to deflect the sphere, her imperfect stance ensured that she was unable to properly bleed off the force behind the blow. Leaving a fraction of that power to carry into her form and knock her off-balance. Wide-open for any further blows.
And while the younger Watatsuki had done an admirable job of weathering the storm of attacks, she had not yet cleared the whole of it. One shot remained, racing its way towards its target at incredible speeds even by Lunarian standards. And it was aimed right at her head.
For Yorihime it would be inaccurate to say that time slowed at that moment, for Lunarians such as herself could perceive every instant as they occurred, but her mind raced faster than ever. Countless possible options were raised and discarded as the blast crept ever closer, none yielding a solution that she could implement before Junko's attack put an end to her.
The attack was simply too powerful to block, her footing was too unbalanced to deflect it, and she didn't have time to move or channel a god capable of warping her away before it was too late. With a single sentence, Junko had sealed the younger Watatsuki's fate.
With all her plans to survive dead in the water, Yorihime's thoughts turned to the one path left open to her: mutual destruction.
If she could not survive, then she would be damn sure to take Junko down with her.
She cast her awareness out beyond the confines of her physical form and into the sea of deities from whom she could draw power. Her personal favorites, the Shinto pantheon, were the first to answer the call. Several of their number having already been summoned for the battle.
Yet this would not be enough. The power she needed could not be found here. And so she pushed past them, feeling countless deities from across the world brush against her awareness. The Greeks, Egyptians, Hindus, and so many more deities flashed through her mind. But she needed something greater.
Yorihime forced herself ever deeper into the well of divinity, feeling the mental pressure mount as she drew closer to her destination. The heart of this space, where the Gods themselves dwelt.
Soon enough, the gods began to fade away, her surroundings being overtaken by an ever-growing light. Each step brought with it greater weight and even a steadily-growing burning sensation, like she was approaching the sun. Given her destination, the comparison was not inaccurate.
After what felt like days, but could not have been more than a handful of instants, she stood on the threshold of her destination. A blinding light shining at the heart of a verdant paradise.
She knew instinctively that touching it would burn her up from the inside out, that this being's power was not something that any mortal could ever hope to harness more than a fraction of without being overwhelmed. Even her, a being made in this entity's image and born with a body built specifically for drawing on the power of the divine, wouldn't last more than a few seconds under its weight.
Yorihime didn't care.
She thinks that she understands a little better how those insignificant, and oh-so-inferior, beings on the world below so easily accepted living such fragile lives, how they could throw away everything they have and are like she discarded Reisen's early attempts at cooking.
Because they live with this sensation every day. The knowledge that something dark and terrible can/has come to take away what they value, whether that be possessions or lives, and they don't have the power to stop it. But they still try, struggling desperately for the slightest chance that they might hold onto their insignificant treasures a little longer or fulfill some short-sighted desire.
If she fell here, Junko would keep going. She would kill her sister, kill Reisen, and keep destroying everything around her until all that remains of Chang'e and her people is ruin and death.
Standing here, in front of the force that her people owed almost everything to, Yorihime realized just where Junko's new power had come from. After all, without light, you couldn't perceive the shadow.
Toyohime wouldn't be able to stop her. Even Lord Tsukuyomi wouldn't be guaranteed victory against someone imbued with the power of the God of Darkness. Let alone a being that had refined whatever amount they had been given to the degree Junko undoubtedly had.
The slightest chance of stopping such a thing is worth more than her life ever could be. And even if she achieves nothing, if her sacrifice fails to protect anyone, she wanted Junko to hurt. Because in the end, she would rather be devoured by impurity a thousand times than allow the spirit a moment's triumph.
"I'm sorry sister," Yorihime said softly. "But it looks like you'll have to go on without me." She took a deep breath and looked at where the orb of light floated, ignorant of her presence. For why would the God's attention be required when all that is ever required is the merest scraps?
Tears gathered at the corner of her eyes as she steeled herself, cupping the representation of the God of Light in her hands. "Make sure to take care of Reisen, to live a long and happy life," she smiled fatalistically. "If I'm going to give mine up, it had better be for something worth it."
With her peace spoken and time running out, Yorihime moved to close her hands and open the full connection to the God.
However, just as her fingers were about to brush against the outer layer of the light, she heard her sister's voice echo across her mind.
"Get ready!" A vague sentence, but one that told Yorihime one very important thing: her sister had a plan.
She didn't have to die.
And so, she pulled her essence away from the God of Light and back into her physical form. A sense of burning determination swelling in her breast where grim resignation had previously dwelt.
The orb was barely five feet away at this point. Mere instants away from reaching its target and putting an end to her.
It didn't matter. Toyohime had a plan.
Yorihime's brain immediately began sending new orders to her body, abandoning her initial efforts to recoup to a defensive position in favor of prepping the beginnings of a counterattack.
Four feet.
Her back foot touched down on the ground, her right arm, and the sword held within, moving into position for a swing.
Three feet.
Her stance was almost ready, the limbs nearly in place for a charging blow.
Two feet.
Right as Yorihime's muscles began to tense, Toyohime appeared out of thin air, unleashing a wall of air and silver light upon the orb's side to alter its flight path and cause it to fly harmlessly by its would-be target.
With her dynamic re-entry securing the sisters a momentary respite from imminent death, Toyohime flew towards her sister, hand outstretched to grasp her by the shoulder the moment she was within reach. Even as her other hand reached into a pocket of her dress to retrieve something.
The moment she made contact, she grabbed on for all she was worth. Simultaneously ripping her other hand out of her pocket and hurling something towards Junko.
Yorihime managed to catch a glimpse of rounded edges and stone before her attention was drawn back to more important matters. Namely, that she and her sister were now two feet above Junko, Toyohime having used the pebble she threw to anchor a teleport right past the spirit's guard.
"Now!" Toyohime yelled at Yorihime, desperately hoping that her sister had used the time since her message to prepare something extraordinary.
Fortunately for the two of them, that was exactly what had occurred.
Yorihime had begun channeling before the signal was even spoken having called out into the divine sea for help even as she returned her focus to her physical form. For someone, anyone, who could meet this darkness and beat it back.
And her prayers had been answered, her sword igniting in a radiant blaze of holy light as a new god's power filled her body. The sheer weight of it's existence drawing a pained hiss from Yorihime as she felt her body strain to contain the new flow of strength.
However, she refused to falter here, forcing herself to keep moving. And so, as her muscles screamed in protest for the first time in centuries, the holy sword descended upon Junko like an executioner's guillotine.
The spirit reacted quickly, erecting a barrier around herself before the strike was even halfway to reaching her. A surging wall of darkness surrounding her form.
The holy sword crashed against the shadowy aura, the two forces battling it out for supremacy for what felt like an eternity but couldn't have been more than a handful of instants.
Despite her foes having closed the distance between them and succeeded in landing a blow on her, Junko's expression remained one of aloof boredom. Confident that no power, not even the gods themselves, could hope to withstand the Divine power that she had been gifted.
Yet, despite her assumptions, the blade did not crumble. Quite the opposite; the light seemed to be pushing the darkness aside before it could latch onto the sword.
Unbeknownst to Junko, who had largely ignored anything not related to her vengeance, there was indeed a god capable of standing up to the God of Darkness' power. Or at least a sizable fraction of it.
Many years ago, the people of the world below had come together in a celebration of life and its triumphs. A testament to humanity's ability to overcome the obstacles they had faced and thrive.
Of the events making up the festival, one of the most important was the trial of the hunt. Where the greatest of those assembled came together to face monsters of incredible power.
The God of Darkness, never one to pass up the change for 'entertainment,' had previously created a number of these beings for the contest. However, this time he took a more direct hand in things and manifested an avatar.
It was a little thing, barely containing a single percent of his power, but it was an avatar nonetheless.
Many of the attendees tried their hand at overcoming the God's power, only to fall short of their goal. Until finally, a certain group took up the challenge…
Despite hailing from around the world, despite their differing interpretations and convictions, each and every member who had come together worshiped some facet of the same deity. A god who was known for opposing supernatural threats to humanity, no matter how great or small.
Due to the nature of gods, those old and renowned enough to have acquired multiple sets of titles and identities often became split into their components. The belief behind them stretched thin enough by the varying faiths that pieces would break off and assume their own semi-independent existences.
However, this raised a question. What would happen if multiple aspects of the same deity were summoned together? Not as individuals, but as unified aspects of the greater whole.
With each branch, every offshoot of the god once known as "The Companion," gathered together, a miracle was performed. The true incarnation of a god in all their glory.
Limited to an infinitesimal fraction of his true power, the God of Darkness quickly found his avatar caught off-guard and overwhelmed by this new foe.
Not one to suffer defeat lightly, he pumped more of his essence into the construct until it was twice as strong as before. This amounted to an extra few minutes before he found himself cornered again. The Companion's skillset perfectly suited to negating his power of Destruction, to say nothing of their superior skill.
Refusing to accept such a one-sided loss at the hands of his playthings, the God continued to increase the flow of power into his avatar. Each time, he would strike back with renewed vigor only for his foe to somehow counter his efforts.
This continued for another half-hour, the cycle repeating over and over and the God grew more and more irritated at his continued failure. By this point, he had placed just over forty-five percent of his power in this avatar, and yet the god had not fallen. Or even suffered more than minor injuries.
Raw power was countered by martial skill, Destruction repelled or evaded through arcane wonders, and any creatures he conjured up to occupy his foe were sealed or exterminated as quickly as they came. The divine essence within the challenger uniquely suited for opposing him.
And so, fueled by the burning desire to wrench victory from the lesser being that dared to mock him with its efforts, the younger Brother crossed the threshold and transferred over half of his power.
No longer was this an avatar. Now, the Companion stood before the God of Darkness himself. Albeit in a reduced form.
Unfortunately, the following clash was short-lived. The God of Light interrupted the fight before more than a handful of blows could be exchanged, claiming that the challenge had been between the god and the avatar and that by manifesting the majority of his essence, the God of Darkness had forfeited the contest.
Even if it hadn't been his full power, the Companion had, through the efforts of many mortals, taken on over half of the younger Brother's power and come out in one piece.
And whatever the faiths of the world below could do, Yorihime could do better.
The light of the holy sword sundered the dark barrier, the blade continuing its descent towards Junko's form.
Shocked at this course of events, and with too little time left to react, the spirit was unable to stop the sword from cleaving her torso in two.
Yet, rather than react with pain or horror at her grievous injury, she simply clicked her tongue and fixed Yorihime with her ever-dull gaze.
Having committed her entire momentum to that strike, the younger Watatsuki was unable to move away as Junko's upper half calmly pointed her right hand at the Lunarian's chest. Another projectile forming within the spirit's palm.
In a desperate gambit, Yorihime focused as much of the divine power she was channeling as she could towards her chest in the hopes that the energy would blunt the oncoming attack.
It didn't work.
The dark orb compacted, pulsating chaotically for an instant before lancing out in a burst of destructive force. At this range, with Yorihime unable to pull back from her attack in time, it closed the distance before either of the sisters could begin to react.
One instant, Yorihime was girding herself for the blow. The next, there was a purplish-black ray of darkness piercing through her chest and well on its way to the horizon.
"Sister!" Toyohime cried out. Horror and confusion warring for dominance in her voice as she watched Yorihime's body begin to go limp and begin to fall to the ground. Junko watching the scene impassively as the separate pieces of her body turned to shadow and began to merge back together.
With the speed of the truly desperate, Toyohime charged towards her sister. Using every spell and technique that raced through her frenzied mind to accelerate her efforts.
The steadily spreading cracks of darkness in the moon's once-pristine surface did not matter. The vengeful spirit who had somehow survived bisection via holy sword did not matter. All that mattered was getting to Yorihime before it was too late.
Toyohime's mind reached out once more, urging her magic to take hold of her sister and carry her to safety. Even as the one responsible drew her arm back in preparation for the coup de grace.
The elder Watatsuki quickly aborted her efforts to pull Yorihime away from Junko, conscious of the fact that no spell in her arsenal would be able to move her sister away in time to avoid the coming blow.
Instead, she cleared her mind, pushing away even the omnipresent analysis of her surroundings that had long since become instinctive, and devoting her entire mental capacity towards the only course of action left that might yield success.
The vengeful spirit had fully healed at this point. The only sign that the injury had ever occurred was the large tear in the front of her dress, and even that quickly vanished as the hole was filled with what appeared to be solid darkness.
A similar substance, albeit less solid, had begun to emanate from Junko's hand. Umbral sparks pulsated chaotically around the limb and into her palm as power continued to build to a crescendo.
Toyohime's speed tripled, the Lunarian abandoning every defensive or offensive effort and focusing every last iota of mana that her body could channel into raw acceleration. To any mortal observer and most immortals, it would seem that she had simply vanished into thin air. Their eyes unable to comprehend her movements.
It was a race between the two transcendent beings. Would Junko unleash her attack first, scouring the land and almost certainly killing both sisters? Or would Toyohime manage to reach her sister in time to avert this fate?
Junko squeezed her hand shut, fanning the dark power into a roaring inferno.
Toyohime threw herself forward, her arms reaching out to grasp the falling figure mere inches away.
In the end, Toyohime was the winner by a scant few instants. Her body slamming into her sister's form.
However, this left her easy prey for Junko, who immediately swept her arm out and unleashed a wave of death.
Unlike her previous attacks, which had been precise and controlled, this was raw Destruction. For a brief moment, everything within Junko's view ceased to exist. The heavens were blotted out, the lunar surface buried under waves of darkness, and the far-off mountains obscured by the towering surge of power.
After what felt like minutes, the smoke cleared to reveal a broken desolate wasteland.
The moon was torn asunder, an immense trench with a width measured in miles, one that stretched out towards the horizon for as far as the spirit could see.
Wherever the attack had touched only fractured and crumbling land could be found. Each crack filled with unnatural shadows, the power that was unleashed having seeped into the moon itself through the satellite's innumerable wounds.
Of the Watatsukis, not a single trance could be found.
With a satisfied smirk on her face, Junko flew off towards the Lunar Capital. Her mind already going over the pros and cons of possible strategies for making her hated foe suffer. So far, she was leaning towards wiping out all but one of the Moon Rabbits and then forcing Chang'e to watch as she tore apart the last survivor with agonizing slowness. Letting them beg their beloved creator for aid, only for Chang'e to be unable to do anything but sit and watch.
Perhaps they might even use their last moments to curse their creator for their failure. If the mother of the Moon Rabbits cared at all about those things, such an event might even give Junko the pleasure of watching her break down before she even starts taking her pieces of flesh.
The residents of The Bamboo Forest of The Lost were no stranger to odd individuals showing up, between the borderline eldritch geometry of the location and the ever-present thinness of the veil it wasn't considered uncommon to see people from years or even centuries prior stumbling through the forest. Even some unlucky few who wandered in from somewhere else entirely. Time and space were simply more fluid here than most locales.
So when a worker rabbit stumbled across two women lying unconscious in a clearing, the purple-haired one sporting a fist-sized hole in her chest that the blonde seemed to be trying to stabilize despite being unconscious, she simply wondered if she could just leave them here and get on with her day.
Of course, those two seemed interesting, definitely not humans or youkai, and the boss had made it pretty clear that she wanted any interesting business run by her. So, with a mournful sigh at the prospect of extra work, the rabbit grabbed each of the unconscious women by their collars and started dragging.
It was a long way to Eientei after all.
And so, the first half of this side story is concluded. The fall of the Moon is both insignificant in the greater picture and a Big Deal, so I wanted to show what went down before we moved too far beyond it. Any thoughts on how that's worked out? The fight scenes felt a bit short, but that was largely down to Junko's canonical refusal to do anything less than go for the throat and the Watatsuki's being blindsided by a massive Outside-Context Problem.
Admittedly, part of this is so that I can flesh out Yorihime and Toyohime's characters for later, not only because what happens here is a major part of their journey, but also because canon doesn't really give that much on them.
I've opted to go with the idea that they're not bad people, but ones whose perception of the world has been skewed by being factually superior to almost everyone/thing and knowing it. Not to say they don't have good points, they're incredibly loyal, genuinely care about protecting the Lunar Capital's people, and do lean more towards helping others than harming them, but they aren't necessarily good people either.
In canon, we get to see Yorihime being completely chill about the attempted invasion and happily playing around with the Gensokyo forces. Meanwhile, we also get Toyohime manically gloating about Yukari's inferiority and almost gleefully threatening to obliterate an entire forest and everything in it.
With that in mind, I see them as people who don't hold much malice towards those lesser than them, but who also are equally willing to play with and destroy such beings depending on how much of a nuisance they are. Sort of like how plenty of people will happily stop to play with an adorable puppy, but those same people would put down a violently hostile dog without a shred of guilt.
They have a sense of total security, safe in the knowledge that they are just that far above pretty much everything else. Which really doesn't lend itself to empathy towards non-Lunarians.
Just look at their relationship with Reisen. They genuinely seem to care about her, more so here than in canon, but she's ultimately their pet. Someone who they can toy with as they wish and even replace.
Of course, as this chapter hopefully showed, Junko's taking an exploding sledgehammer to their sense of security. So that attitude might not hold as much water as they would like. And the Watatsukis are far from the only Lunarians facing down such a paradigm shift. The whole Moon's in for a reality check and not all of them can cover it.
Fun fact: I was originally going to kill Yorihime and Toyohime in the Apocolypse. Just a quick shot as the God of Darkness ended the world.
After that, I came up with the idea for Junko and the Fall of The Lunar Capital but still intended to just let the whole thing just be this background event that I would try and make a short but plot-irrelevant side story out of at some point. The Watatsukis would get a chapter or so of struggle before dying/sacrificing themselves to help kill Junko.
But then I started thinking about what it would be like for them to survive such an event and what character relationships I could strike up around them, and how they could shape some events I have planned. And I decided I liked it enough to keep them among the living.
Time will tell how good an idea that was, but I'm cautiously optimistic about my abilities to drag them kicking and screaming towards decent characterization and roles.
As always, constructive feedback is highly appreciated, I'm still looking for a beta, and thanks for sticking with me! The next chapter should be for the main story and cover the sabotage teams, which shouldn't take too long since I nearly finished it while I was working on this.