50

I was woken up by the pitter-patter of feet moving around my bedside. Blinking slowly, I looked over to where I heard the sound. As I rolled over to face the rest of the room, I heard a yelp and the blanket drop down from where it had been lifted.

I felt a twitch of anger and an urgent need to get going and start working on my magical bomb. Taking a moment to breathe and reapply my Self-Hypnosis, I relaxed.

Shifting myself so my torso was over the end of the bed, I twisted my body so I could peer under the bed. Staring back at me was the figure of Komainu, who shuffled further back when she saw me looking at her.

Laughing loudly for a bit, I lifted myself back in bed before speaking loudly to her. "Come on up; I have time to spare. We can relax for a bit."

A few seconds later, I was almost tackled by the small brown-haired figure of Komainu, who quickly scampered under the thick covers and latched on my side like a koala.

Running a hand through her hair, I relaxed against the pillow and allowed myself to close my eyes and just breathe. We stayed like that for another fifteen minutes before I finally shook her awake.

"Sorry, but I do have work to do today, and I can't lounge about all day," I said as she slowly woke up. Grumbling slightly, she staggered out of bed and shuffled out of the room.

"I'll make breakfast. Just give me a bit!" I shouted as I got out of bed and appropriately dressed. It was my regular clothes, black shorts, a white T-shirt and my red dress/robe.

Casting Alter Self to cover up my Dust-coated skeletal form, I walked out of my room and towards the forge. I wanted to try my hand at a bit of cooking, which meant I needed supplies, and the easiest way for that was Dust.

I didn't have electricity, but I trusted my skills, and Grimoire granted skills to help me pull off a decent meal. Hauling one of the large bags of Dust, I went about conjuring the necessary supplies for pancakes as well as grabbing the tools that the house came with.

It took a while, as well as a few false starts, as despite the skills that the Grimoire granted me, knowledge of how to make pancakes from scratch was not among them.

However, almost an hour later, I had a stack of pancakes that I slid in front of Komainu. Blinking in surprise, she shook herself out of that half-state of sleep she had been in and prepared herself to dig in.

"I think you're forgetting something," I said as I tapped the table with a knife and fork. Komainu was great, and it was a joy having her around, but I would be dammed if she ate her food like an animal.

"Fineeee," She groused as I handed her utensils and napkin. I heard the sounds of eating as I returned to cleaning the dishes I used to cook. I didn't have a dishwasher, so I was forced to clean them by hand, which, while time-consuming, was fairly easy.

Soon the dishes were on the counter drying, and Komainu was about to dart off; before she could leave, I handed her 80,000 yen. It was likely a bit much, but I wanted her and her friends to be able to have a good time and not pinch pennies.

"Now, Komainu, I'm giving you this money to spend how you like, ok, but I still want you to make good choices, alright? Don't go blowing all it on cotton candy or something of that sort." I said.

Nodding, she tucked the money away and darted towards the Path. Twisting it so that it was outside Mystia's stand, I dusted off my hands as the mention of cotton candy brought up a fond memory.

My sister had always been impulsive; one night, at the company baseball game my father had to go to, he brought us along. He decided that it would be an excellent time to splurge and told us that we each had twenty dollars we could spend on anything.

We would still get dinner, but if we wanted something else, like a snack or souvenir, that was what the money was for. My sister had beelined for the massive cotton candy sticks and burned all her money in the first half hour.

She had promptly devoured the cotton candy and spent the rest of the night sick as a result. My smile faded into a choked sob as I remembered that she was gone.

Sliding down the wall, I put my head in my hands and took a moment to breathe. While I knew there were other me's and their sisters due to the nature of the multiverse, it didn't make it hurt less. I couldn't go back and save them, but I could keep moving forward.

Breathing deeply, I pushed aside the lump in my throat and returned to the forge. Retrieving the large gem I had been given, I was startled when I felt it brimming with mana. Looking around, I saw one of my simulacrum approaching me.

"Hey, we decided to get a head start on filling that. It's got a ton more room, but a little bit helps." He said in response to my unspoken question.

"Thanks for that; I want you guys to head to Earth Bet and drain Coil's shard into it. That should be enough energy." I said as I handed off the mana battery.

Giving me a salute, he grabbed another simulacrum and Coil. He then trotted off as I moved the Path back to Earth Bet. Picking up a sack of Dust and allowing my Self-Hypnosis to drop, I felt the Grimoire grow.

I took a moment to breathe in as the brain-tingling madness took hold. I then started going over exactly what I wanted this bomb to accomplish with The Inspiration of Madness, helping to connect the disparate threads of my ideas.

I was making a bomb that could kill Scion, which meant it needed to be planet-busting at the bare minimum. I couldn't destroy him because his body was spread across countless Earths, but I could blow up the Earth he had his brain on.

I could accomplish that by opening the portal he used to transmit his signal to the puppet body and travel through that. While that would let me arrive at the world, I needed to be as quick as possible because I had no doubt that he had defenses in case of a sneak attack.

With the plan to get on his brain out of the way, I needed to make the bomb. I would be using the Carcass Spark as the basis, which would allow me to construct a better bomb than any nuclear bomb ever could be.

The casing would be formed from an inner layer of mithril to slightly enhance the magic bouncing around inside it and be a generally resilient metal.

The outer layer would be hihi'irokane, a metal that enhanced magic when run through it and produced its own heat. I would crib a fair few ideas from the Mini-Hakkero to make the blast yield even bigger. If that device could turn a mortal mage into somebody with the ability to reduce mountains to ash, what could it do on a mystical nuke?

The true meat of the project would be the crystal on the inside that would act as fuel. The main issue was getting the magic to react explosively. In most cases, magic was much closer to a wood log than gunpowder when it came to fueling magic. It would burn slowly and steadily.

However, I did have a lot of knowledge about manipulating magic itself, and one use of that was slamming minuscule amounts of magic together to cause spells to unravel.

This would allow a chain reaction inside the crystal so long as nobody stabilized it. That chain reaction would fuel the Carcass Spark and explode with the force of a dead sun god.

It would also be helped by the symbolism that the act enacted. A nuclear blast has been compared with a sun, and every star was powered by nuclear fusion, which, while not adding much to the explosion, would act as a metaphysical stick to smack Scion with in case he had any defenses against magic.

The only issue would be timing. The Carcass Spark, if left alone, would burn through everything, and the only reason it hasn't right now is that I had placed it in the Gap where there was nothing to burn.

That meant I needed a method to slot in the Carcass Spark moments before I wanted to use the bomb. Grabbing Dust and tools, I let the potential ideas flow through my mind as I conjured various metals and tools to construct this device.

The casing wasn't all that complex. It was two overlapping layers of metal inscribed with various runes. The only major challenge was designing it in two species so I could add the crystal as well as a loading method for the Carcass Spark.

It ended up being slightly larger than my head with a small slot that would fit a metal rod containing the Carcass Spark. It also held a tiny thread of orichalcum that I could run my power through to start the reaction.

Taking a step back, I could feel my fingers twitching with the urge to continue tinkering and building more and more devices, but I tamped down on that with Self-Hypnosis. Checking my mental clock, I saw it was a little past six.

Komainu had woken me up around elven, and breakfast had taken an hour which meant that building the casing alone had taken six hours.

That did mean that the vast majority of the work was done. All I needed was to add the mana crystal, and then the bomb was good to go. Rolling my shoulders, I remembered that I had promised to show Patchouli the ritual.

That was a slight problem, given the fact that it was less a ritual and more a bomb. Pacing back and forth, I tried to think up ideas so she could witness the explosion without dying.

The bomb was a potential plant buster, but all that meant was that we couldn't be on the planet. I could travel to space extremely quickly by folding space in front of me; I only needed to bring her along for the ride.

The other issue was, of course, the fact that space was incredibly hostile to life and liable to kill her without protection. That meant I had to drop by and let her know we would be heading into space so she could develop the appropriate countermeasures.

Sighing, I pinched my nose; it felt like I was traveling to the Scarlet Devil Mansion multiple times a day. It felt weird going to somebody's house, leaving, then coming back a few hours later.

Walking back inside, I sat down and wracked my brain for anything else I might need while meeting with Patchouli. I couldn't find anything else, which meant it was time for me to head out.

Flying out of my home, the Grimoire grew as I twisted the Path to lead outside the manor. As I flew down, I straightened my robes and cast Prestidigitation to ensure I didn't have any grim or other shmuck stuck on me.

"Hello, Miss," I said as I waited outside the gate. "I'm looking to talk to Miss Patchouli about some work." Nodding, she turned and pushed open the gate while speaking. "Of course, have a nice night."

Nodding politely, I walked inside the manor grounds and then into the mansion proper. While the space inside was all twisted around to make the building much bigger on the inside, my knowledge of space and where the library was allowed me to find my way quickly.

The walk was calm as the house was dead quiet except for the small flickering of the candles and the sound of my footsteps. As I neared the library, I almost ran into a small figure I hadn't seen before.

She had blond hair styled up with one side in a sort of ponytail. Her eyes were the same shade of red as Remilia, and she had a pair of wings made from metal rods with crystals dangling from them.

She was yawning and rubbing her eyes as we passed by each other. Giving her a polite nod, I continued on my way as she nodded back in that manner everybody does when they're just following along.

I was then forced to teleport out of the way as she dashed towards me from behind. As she landed where I was, she narrowed her eyes at me, and her hands twitched slightly.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" She asked as I shifted myself to teleport away in case this became a fight. "Nice to meet you, Miss. I'm Aidan, and I'm here to meet Miss Patchouli and discuss magic."

Hearing my response, she relaxed completely. "Ok then." She chirped in a 180 of her prior suspicious mood. "I'm Flandre. Nice to meet you." She said as she reached out her hand for a shake.

I shook her hand, causing her to pull me behind her as she left. Stumbling for a few steps as her ridiculous strength for her size pulled me along, I Reinforced myself and planted my feet, causing her to come to a grinding stop.

"If you don't mind me asking," I said as she turned back to look at me. "Where and why are you pulling me along?" Blinking for a moment, Flandre took a breath before launching into an explanation.

"I thought it'd be great if you ate breakfast with me and sis, you can always see Patchouli later, but you're new here, so I want to know you better and maybe play later."

"I see," I said in response; that wouldn't be a terrible thing to do, and meals rarely took longer than an hour which meant I would have plenty of time for Patchouli. In addition, depending on how Flandre was, I could introduce her to Komainu as a possible friend.

"I suppose I could take some time to eat." Letting out a barking laugh as I remembered that besides the dinner I had here, and at Mystia's stand, I haven't eaten in months.

It was strange before I was changed; food was both a chore and something I indulged in. Now it was something I didn't even remember to eat; I suppose, given the lack of hunger signals and how busy I usually was, I simply forgot to eat.

Flandre looked at me, confused, as she pulled me along. "Just remembered that it's been a long time since I've eaten regular meals," I said, causing her to nod and continue skipping along.

We soon arrived at the dining hall, where a small spread was placed across two seats. In her customary position at the head of the table was Remilia drumming her fingers impatiently as Sakuya finished pouring her a glass of my sake.

As we both entered the room, Remilia looked up and opened her mouth to speak when she spotted me and tilted her head at me in confusion, allowing Flandre to talk first.

"Hello, sister! I met Aidan while he was going to Patchouli and invited him to breakfast." She said as she dragged me into the seat next to her as she sat down.

Blinking, Remilia looked over at me seeking verification, and I just shrugged in a 'what can you do' motion causing her to sigh slightly before whispering to Sakuya.

"You can't just invite people to breakfast like that, or at the least; you should inform us beforehand so food can be prepared." She lectured, causing Flandre to slide down in the chair before in the motion of chastised children everywhere before nodding in acceptance.

Turning to face me, Remilia spoke, "If you don't mind me asking, why exactly are you here?" Turning from where I had been looking away and politely ignoring the small lecture, I faced Remilia.

"I was going to Miss Patchouli to inform her about conditions she would want to prepare for when I showed her the ritual I promised to," I said. Remilia then frowned slightly before asking a question.

"Do pardon me for asking but given that Patchy is a member of my household and I would be remiss in not asking about something that could bring her harm."

That was a fair question to ask, so I started to explain what I was doing. "A few dimensions over there is a being planning on destroying many Earths. I don't want that to happen, so I'm killing him."

This response caused her frown to intensify, and she rolled my wrist for me to keep on explaining. Seeing this I continued. "I'm building a bomb that will be able to kill him; however, we're going to be in space so that we aren't harmed by it, so I thought I should let her know what to prepare for."

Her frown eased up slightly. However, she gave me a sharp glare that pinned me in my seat. "If anything happens to Patchy during this excursion, we are going to an issue, understand?" She stated.

At this moment, I realized that despite her small stature and relaxed form outside of negotiations, she was still an old vampire who held power over fate, and while I could likely fight her off, a long-term fight between us would end with me having to flee Gensokyo.

As I opened my mouth to respond, I felt the Grimoire grow and fade back down. "Of course, I'll do my best to keep her safe. I already have other preparation just in case anything goes south."

Those preparations mainly consisted of me tossing the both of us into the Gap and booking it. Molifed by my response Remilia stopped asking me questions just as Sakuya arrived with another plate of food she placed in front of me.

The conversation slowed as we started eating the masterfully crafted food. It was a plate of french toast topped with butter, a copious amount of syrup, and a cup of my blood-infused sake on the side.

I did my best to keep my frown in as Flandre demolished the food spreading a large amount of it on her face; she slowed down when Remilia coughed slightly and gave her a look.

For a while, there were no sounds except for the clinking of utensils and food being eaten. As we finished and the plates were taken away, Flandre grabbed onto my arm and tugged me out of my seat and towards the exit to the dining room.

"Come on; I want to play!" She said as she pushed the door open, and I looked back to Remilia, seeing only a tiny smirk and her raising her glass in a mock salute before the door closed.

"Listen, I would love to play later, but I do have plans tonight," I said as I repeated the prior event of me Reinforcing myself so we could talk.

"I have to meet with Miss Patchouli to talk about preparation, and I'm picking up Komainu around ten later tonight." I said while checking my mental clock; 6:47:23. "It's fifteen to seven, meaning that assuming talking to Miss Patchouli takes an hour at most would give us over an hour to play." I explained.

The explanation caused her to tilt her head to the side as she ran through the math before nodding and letting go of my hand. "Alright," She chirped, "I'll meet you outside then, and if your late, I'll make sure to drag you out." Nodding to herself, she then flounced away.

She was a bit strange girl and very excitable, but a bit of playing wouldn't hurt might be a good time to bring up the topic of her meeting Komainu. Shrugging, I strolled towards the library and knocked on the massive doors.

Twisting my parasol in my hand, I watched the massive doors shudder open. My nonexistent heart always beat a bit harder when I saw the enormous library filled with countless books.

Following the same path I always did to the center, I soon arrived to see the business as usual. Patchouli slumped over the table, reading a book with several dozen around her while Koakuma moved back and forth, retrieving books and cups of tea.

Giving a wave as I approached, I started to speak. "Hello, Miss Patchouli. I'm coming here to let you know that I have most of the components for the ritual ready, and I plan on doing it in a few days."

Closing the book she was reading, she took a sip of tea before looking up at me. "Alright, is this only a courtesy call, or is there something else you want to tell me?" She asked in a voice devoid of the rasp that I had heard every time I talked to her before.

Taking a second look, I could tell that she was healthier than the other times I had met her. She hadn't looked awful, but there were a few clear signs that she was not healthy most of which had faded or were gone.

"It's less a ritual and more of a bomb," I said before holding back a flinch at the deadpan stare of annoyance Patchouli gave me. Scratching the back of my head with the hand not holding my parasol, I continued.

"I have a plan; we'll be up in space so you can watch it safely, and if worse comes to worst, we'll just head into the Gap." The look continued for a few long seconds before she spoke. "Understood; I'll prepare countermeasures for outer space. Is there anything else?"

When I shook my head no, she faced Koakuma and started ordering her about. "Koakuma, go fetch A Magician's Guide to Outer Space and Quam non-Mori Spatio." Nodding, Koakuma vanished in a puff of red mist.

"Well, I'll be taking my leave," I said. "Have a nice day Miss Patchouli." Humming, she nodded goodbye as I left and closed the massive doors behind me.

"So you ready to play?" Flandre asked loudly, startling me. Jumping back, I hit the massive library doors before holding my hand over where my heart would be. "You scared me," I said, panting slightly despite the lack of lungs.

After thinking for a moment, Flandre responded. "Oh, sorry." Waving my hand, I said. "It's fine; anyway, what game are we playing?"

"Danmaku!" She said excitedly as she gestured for me to follow her as she flew off. Chuckling as I scrambled after her using my method of folding space to keep pace. Although she was likely much older than me, she was still enthusiastic about games and appeared cheerful, if not somewhat awkward, which was nice.

I didn't know what game Danmaku was, and I vocalized this as we arrived outside under the non-existent light of the new moon. "I haven't played Danmaku before you mind explaining the rules?" I asked.

Gasping, Flandre turned from where she had been floating. "You don't know what Danmaku is?" Continuing without giving me a chance; she said. " It's very simple; the person to tap out loses." As she finished speaking chanted, "Taboo: Lævateinn!" which conjured a strange weapon shaped like an hour hand covered in a flame that felt similar to Celestial Fire.

With this weapon grasped in her right hand, she charged toward me, the fire growing around him. At the same time, I felt a strange burning sensation deep in my chest as the Grimoire grew.

Backpedaling as she approached me faster than I could retreat, I raised my parasol and Reinforced it and my arm, allowing me to block the blow. It was clear from the hit that she was stronger than me without reinforcement.

Strangely, the magecraft was more effortless and powerful than the middling skill that Magus Education should allow. Grinning, Flandre kept on the attack, not allowing me a moment of breathing room until I slammed my parasol into the tip of her weapon, knocking it away and preventing an immediate follow-up. I used this free space to teleport a few dozen feet behind her in the air.

Raising my parasol, I conjured the Gate of Babylon and loaded dozens of blades. None of them were anti-vampire, as this fight had resurfaced memories from the first Touhou game I had played.

Danmaku was both the game genre and the characters' fighting style. It was non-lethal and prevented permanent death, but I didn't want to test Spell Cards against weapons designed to slay vampires.

What I could do was engage in the tradition of naming your attacks, and I had a soft spot for stupid names, as proven by Cadalbog Three-Thousdand. As weapons fired out, I grinned down at Flandre and shouted. "Gate of Baboyln: Humanity's Unending Well of Treasures!"

Laughing back, she practically danced between the sword blades and returned fire with red orbs that forced me to bob and weave between them lest I be hit.

Dodging in between blades, she swung her weapon and sent out a stream of fire as well as several orbs forcing me to open a gap to block the stream of fire and allowing me to use Blessing without End to see the weak point in her attack.

This, combined with Absolute Configuration, allowed me to easily weave between her attacks as I returned fire with White Magic. Charging forward, she slipped between several blades and swung her weapon toward me.

Reinforcing myself and the parasol, I blocked it and retaliated, forcing her to abort her magical follow-up and slam the clock hand into my parasol. The fire from it sparked up and down the plant matter that made up my weapons, attempting and failing to find purchase.

"Your strong!" Flandre shouted as she waved her hand and sent out another dozen orbs of red energy. Weaving between them, my smile grew wider as laughter bubbled free.

The circumstances were very different, but if I just for a moment let my eyes fuzz over, this brought me back to years ago. I was always scrawny with a mouth that wrote checks I couldn't cash, which got me into scuffles with my brother.

It often ended with him beating the snot out of me, but we both knew it was in good fun, and it never escalated into genuine fighting. I would often laugh as we fought because, despite the fighting, the conflict was hilarious.

This was similar despite it being with magic; I could still feel my heart pounding in my ears and a smile stretching across my face. This wasn't a fight for the world or with my life on the line; it was simply a scuffle between two people.

"Of course I am!" I shouted back, stretching my arms wide as a lull in the combat stretched out. "Give it your best shot!" I continued, ready to block or avoid her next blow, my smile still wide.

"Alright!" She shouted back as she reached out with her hand, not holding her strange weapon. As her hand started to close, I felt a strange shiver down my spine. It felt like when I had stared Destruction himself in the eyes. However, I still kept my smile on and arms outstretched; whatever she sent my way, I would dodge, as even an all-powerful attack was useless if it couldn't hit.

All my plans were for naught; however, as her hand closed, I felt a crack in my chest before an explosion ripped itself free from my sternum, and everything went black.

Waking up, I looked around and saw that I was stark naked in my bedroom next to my soul gem. Patting myself down, I noticed that I had nothing and was just a skeleton with flaming green eyes.

Fishing my soul gem out of my sock drawer, I saw it was a little over halfway corrupted. I had no idea what Flandre did, but it was enough to kill me outright, and that was hard to do with Arcana Of Renewal healing me rapidly.

Summoning my robes and parasol back onto me, I cast Alter Self to cover up my skeletal form. I decided to head back to the manor as I didn't want Flandre to think she had killed me after I invited her most potent attack, but I would avoid getting into another fight if she were to kill me again; I would turn into a Witch.

Opening a gap twice in quick succession to get me into the Gap and where Flandre and I had just fought, I emerged to see the small girl crouched over my ruby and linked ring.

"That was quite strong; I think that is your win!" I shouted over at her with a manic grin as I kept open the gap to ensure I didn't collapse due to being far from my soul gem.

Whirling around, Flandre seemed in shock as her red eyes scanned me up and down while the Grimoire pulsed in my body before fading back. In a flash, she was near me, and it was only due to my perks that I could track her and was able to Reinforce myself.

Grabbing me around the waist, she lifted me in the air and twirled me around while giggling. "Your intact!" She shouted, her voice full of mirth. "You exploded, but now your back." She continued as I felt a few ribs crack and repair themself in sparks of agony-fueled flame.

Teleporting back out of her grip to prevent more damage, I squatted down to her level and spoke, my grin fading to something more small and wry. "I do admit that was quite powerful, and I would like if you didn't destroy me like that again. I doubt I would survive that again," I said, causing her impromptu dancing to slow down while she looked at me.

"Only if you promise to come by and play again soon." She demanded before her tone softened, "please." Placing a hand on her white and red hat-covered head, I mussed up her hair. "Of course, a scuffle now and then to work out tension sounds lovely," I said before striding over to recover my items that had been dropped when she had destroyed me.

Tucking both in my robes felt the ruby link up to my pitifully small mana pool and provided me with more energy and was able to drop the gaps and allow the rings to link me to my soul gem.

"It is regretful," I said while checking the time. "However, I must be on my way as I did have a prior appointment, Miss Flandre." This caused her to pout before she bounced over and gave me another hug that would have broken me in half if I didn't Reinforce myself, and it still cracked a few ribs.

"Alright." She whispered before raising her voice again as she let go of me. "But come back, ok; we can even do other stuff besides play!" Giving her a nod and a wave, I took to the air as she waved franticly goodbye.

I started flying towards where the concert would take place. It was a spur-of-the-moment choice after I fought with Flandre, but there was no harm in surprising Komainu by showing up early. I would even suffer a crowd of idiot concertgoers if it meant brightening her night a bit, besides how bad could it be?

I landed in front of a large mansion that was very different from the one I had just come from. This one was teeming with stands and other things outside, and I could already hear the faint sounds of music from inside.

It appeared that the concert had already started as the people outside were the various workers of the stalls and a few latecomers or people wanting a breath of fresh air.

Strolling up to the door, I was stopped by a person dressed in somewhat fancy Japanese clothing I didn't know the name of and a sword.

"I'll need to see your ticket, sir." He said in the bored tone of every worker after a long night. "How much are the tickets?" I asked as I twisted my parasol slightly to open a small portal to my home.

"7,500 yen," He replied; hearing the response, I stuck my hand through the portal and grouped around for a few seconds before I grabbed the money I had set aside.

Pulling out the money, I closed the portal and turned back to face the wide-eyed guard. Handing him the money gave him a nod, and walked past him inside the building.

I winced slightly at the noise as I saw the massive crowd sitting down. The three people up on stage were clearly talented. The first was wearing black with red round buttons and playing the violin. The second was clad in all white, playing the trumpet, with the last dressed in red with green buttons, playing the keyboard.

The strange mix of instruments shouldn't have worked, but somehow, they combined the different instruments into a beautiful melody. Looking around at the crowd, I attempted to see Komainu so I could sit next to her.

I managed to spot her after a few moments of looking around. She was sitting next to Wriggle and Crino; however, the ice fae was slightly antsy but seemed to be slowly relaxing as I watched.

Unfortunately, there were no open seats which meant I would have to stand. Looking around, I saw two other figures standing on the outskirts. The deep blue hair and a strange dress covered in tags with Japanese writing caused me to chuckle as, despite how similar this was to the few concerts I had been dragged to as a kid, these people were not human.

It was reassuring that no matter what species these people were, human or youkai, they all seemed to be enjoying the concert. Approaching the row where Komainu was sitting, I waved my hand slightly to catch her attention.

When she looked over, I grinned and gave her a jaunty wave causing her to bounce in her seat excitedly before I gestured for her to settle down and watch the concert.

Leaning back on the wall, I placed my parasol on the ground and rested both hands on top of it. The music was relaxing, and I closed my eyes to enjoy it. I was startled out of my relaxation by the Grimoire growing.

Looking around, I saw that the performers had finished their songs and were receiving applause from everybody. The one playing the keyboard took a few steps forward and gestured for everybody to quiet down.

"Thank you for coming today!" She shouted and received cheers. "We have one more song, and we thought we should finish it with something slower." When she finished speaking, she returned in line with the other musicians and started a new song.

This song was slow and melodious but no less skilled. My shoulders untensed as my eyes grew heavy. Good slow music always had a talent for putting me to sleep. I couldn't sleep as I needed to take Komainu out of there, but closing my eyes for a moment couldn't hurt either.

I resolved to close my eyes and just listen to the song, but I placed my hand under my arm slightly in front of my armpit, where a pinch would shock me back awake. Settling in, I simply relaxed and enjoyed good music for the time.

Fallen Goddess

You didn't come down to this world without picking up a bit of extra spark along the way. You're a former Goddess now, a divine being that has lost a large portion of its power but still retains incredible abilities and varied powers. Just for being what you are, your beginning stats in this world are far higher, equal to an end game adventurer. You are also able to draw magical energy from any who worship you in this world, though this particular trait won't persist past this world without a certain perk. As a Goddess, you also have a series of purviews over which you hold divine power. You may pick up to three different things to hold power over, such as Water, Luck or The Arts. You'll find yourself blessed in regards to these things, effortlessly skilled in anything relating to them and with vastly more power when you use magic associated with your purviews.

You also have an innate affinity to your purviews which may provide passive abilities, such as being immune to heat damage if you pick Fire. You will also choose whether you are a good or evil Goddess, though this won't affect your actual morality. Instead it will give you either a Holy or Unholy attribute, respectively. You'll gain an immensely powerful aura for which attribute you choose, such that a Holy Goddess could kill high level undead with a single tear due to the holy energy infused within or badly harm them with a touch. It will empower any Holy or Unholy abilities greatly too. Lastly, buying this will boost any capstone perks or items that you purchase, as detailed in the notes section at the end of this document.