53

"Gnarly," I said while staring him down. Snarling, he turned to face me as the ember in my chest burned hotter. "What did you do to me?" He not quite shouted as his form flickered.

"I've come to bargain." I continued, it was a stupid line, but I was currently facing down a fragment of Nyarlathotep which meant I needed all the bravado I could get, and stupid movie lines helped with that.

"I want you out of my soul, the Grimoire may have changed me, but that has protections while you do not." I continued as Gnarly glared at me before the flickering slowed and his form stabilized. "You sure you want to throw down the gauntlet?" He asked in a casual voice that hid an undercurrent of rage.

In response, I opened several gaps around his form and let the fire of the Carcass Spark spill loose. While before, I could only use light touches to guide the flame as anything more would provide a foothold, I now had the skill to push around the fire and coat the mana to prevent the fire from consuming it immediately.

"I'm going to be blunt." I stated over the roaring of the fire, "I want you out of my soul and not causing problems for me and mine. If you can't abide by those rules, then I'll simply burn you to bits."

His face twisted from his typical, somewhat jovial mask to a sea of deep-set anger. "You think that you can challenge me? I own your soul, I forged that book you cling so desperately, and I will not be challenged by a mere mortal, not even a full man!"

"I'm not a mortal; I haven't been one for months," I said as I raised my hand and pushed the Carcass Spark's flame in. With a crackle and loud whoosh of flame, it descended on the form of Gnarly.

I then felt a stabbing pain as a hand plunged into my back and wrapped around my spine. With a strangled yelp, I felt a large portion of my spine and lower back disappear as it was pulled free, while another chunk of my pelvis and legs vanish into dust.

Collapsing on my face, I teleported away and turned to face my previous location. I then shoved the still crackling flame back into the Gap as I faced down Gnarly.

He held a chunk of my spine and lower back in his hand; however, as he went to lick it, the fake flesh from Alter Self slowly faded away now that it was away from the spell.

Ignoring the burning pain that was rushing through my lower torso and legs as the flames of agony burned merrily while healing me, I raised my left hand and my parasol.

I joined the tip of my pinkie and thumb into the Elder Sign and gestured it towards Gnarly. He recoiled back and snarled as he flicked his hand, and the burning ember in my chest got worse.

As spears of pure black light formed, I was forced to abort my initial plan to attack him with Warlock magic and cast Wall of Force. The spears slammed into the wall fruitlessly as I opened the Gate of Babylon.

While Gnarly danced around the blades, I peered deeply into his being with the sight provided by Blessing without End; however, distressingly, I couldn't see any weak point.

Gritting my teeth, I noticed Gnarly no longer dodging between blades and threw myself to the side. Looking back, I saw the form of Gnarly distorting as tendrils grew out of him, and his hand retracted from where it would have hit my head.

Unleashing the scintillating storm of magic that resided inside my soul, the environment rapidly changed and twisted as I waved my parasol to send out a salvo of Eldritch Blasts. While he managed to dodge three of them, the last one slammed into his right leg and detonated, consuming a large portion of his body.

Collapsing to the ground with only his left arm, upper torso, and head, I sent another salvo at him. He countered that when his form bubbled, tentacles emerged from him and the surrounding area to throw him out of the way.

The burning in my chest grew worse as my vision blurred and I stumbled. "All you had to do was submit!" Gnarly shouted. "I could have shown you all you wanted to know, you could have seen your family again, but now I'll just have to hollow you out until your properly useful."

The burning abruptly disappeared as the Grimoire grew, and Gnarly's formed flickered while he snarled in anger. The burning, however, returned and only grew more painful and larger as I felt my fingers grow numb.

I didn't know what he was doing, but I had no doubt it was no good for me and likely involved my soul. Dismissing Alter Self, I peered inside my chest and saw two weak points, both located on the small hovering pure white soul chunk.

Looking back up, I raised my hand and cast Shield, causing the massive black spear he sent flying my way, spiraling off course. I needed a moment to examine my soul, but Gnarly was intent on not letting me get that time.

The burning intensified once more as Gnarly vanished and reappeared in front of me. The tendrils that formed most of his lower body unraveled and attacked me.

In response, I flicked my parasol and cast Armor of Agathys just before the tentacles hit me. The resulting blowback froze a large chunk of the tendrils, causing them to shatter as I pushed my advantage.

Thrusting my parasol through his chest, I ripped it sideways and was almost blinded by the viscera. Shaking my head, I saw the few tendrils that reminded unharmed rapidly growing to replace his missing chest.

Coughing up black blood, Gnarly's storm-grey eyes focused on me. As he started me down, I stumbled back as I felt a wave of coldness sweep across my lower back as the Flames of Agnoy died.

"Shut that down." He coughed as he gritted his teeth and conjured up another massive spear. This time as I tried to twist my parasol to cast another spell, my fingers twitched, and it fell from my grasp, allowing him to slam the spear through the sternum.

He then started running, and I was dragged along like a stuck pig as he slammed me through the side wall of the house. I felt numerous ribs vanish into dust as he pulled out the pitch-black spear and loomed over me.

"I guess your just a stupid child in the end," he said while shaking his head and raising the spear. As he brought it down, I opened a gap under myself and rapidly closed it before he followed me.

Scrabbling for one of my health potions, I numbly realized that the Flames of Agony were still not working, which was concerning. Drinking the potion, I felt a vast majority of my body reappear; however, I was forced to down another before I was fully healed.

Reemerging back in my house, I saw that in the scant seconds, I had been gone, Gnarly had disappeared. Creeping forward, I summoned my parasol back into my hand while I kept my ears open.

Hearing a rustle behind me and the burning in my chest flare up, I teleported further outside into the sunflower field. Looking back, I saw the spears that he liked to use had slammed through the broken wall and further inside the house.

Sneaking to the edge of the sunflower field, I could see Gnarly pacing back and forth with his chin in hand as he muttered to himself.

This might be the only time I get, so I gently pulled out my soul fragment and looked at the weak spots. The first predictably led back to me, while the second led to Gnarly. I didn't know a reliable method to put him down permanently and couldn't trust any of my Grimoire-granted power as he had proven he could short them out.

Running through my mental catalog of spells and weapons, I remembered something that might help. Conjuring Rule Breaker, I hesitated before hiding it in my robes and stepping out of the sunflowers.

Creating a sword, I let it float in the air as I warped space around it so that it could rapidly accelerate. With a sonic boom, the weapon shot off and slammed into Gnarly's back, sending a spray of blood across my bedroom floor while throwing him into the wall and denting it.

Stepping forward, I breathed in and waited for his response. Sure enough, he stormed out of the house pissed and with a large spear in his right hand.

Pulling a trick from his book, I teleported in front of him and swung my parasol toward him. He blocked it with his spear and riposted, forcing me to jump back. He followed that up with a broad sweep which I counted by leaping over with my parasol outstretched toward his chest.

Catching it with his offhand, he was unable to prevent the rest of my body from slamming into him and sending us both to the ground. Collapsing back, I withdrew Rule Breaker and slammed it into the side of his head.

His form flickered once again as the burning in my chest vanished. I screamed as the Flames of Agony returned, burning away my wounds. Unable to swing his spear, the slowly disappearing Gnarly punched me in the chest, cracking the bone and causing a few ribs to collapse into dust.

Letting go of my parasol and Rule Breaker, I grasped the sides of his head. Everything had mana, and with the right skill set, you could pull it out of something. In combat, it was normally impractical as people had resistance to that sort of trick, but Gnarly didn't have those protections, not when he was more phantom than human.

It meant when I pulled on the mana that was rapidly being spent on maintaining his existence, he thrashed about and faded faster. His almost overwhelming strength of earlier faded until I was quickly able to prevent him from landing another blow.

"You damm fool; I could have given you everything. You could have seen your family again, get revenge on her for pulling you from them. Unlimited power could have been yours, you idiotic child," He rasped out as he vanished, causing me to collapse on my face. Rolling over my back, I coughed as the Flames of Agony spread up my chest.

Retrieving another health potion, I drank it then let the bottle drop from my hand. The pain was rapidly fading as I was healing, but I was still mentally tired. Closing my eyes, I took steady breaths for a few seconds before I heard the sounds of somebody flying through the air.

Groaning, I opened my eyes and saw a young woman with blond hair dressed in the black garb of a witch with a white apron thrown over the dress with a few stains.

Pushing myself to my feet, I ignored the Flames of Agony as they sputtered out with my wounds fully healed. Marisa then floated down on top of a broom and gave a wave.

"Hello!" She said as she settled the broom a few feet above the ground, high enough up that she could look me in the eyes. "You a skeleton now? Cuz that looks not for another few months."

"What?" I rasped out, confused as the Grimoire grew without the burning that had accompanied it when Gnarly was around. Headless of the internal growth, Marisa continued. "It's a thing around here called Halloween. It's a rather local thing, so it makes sense why ya wouldn't know it."

Raising a hand to forestall any further words, I replied slowly, my brain trying to catch up to the current events. "I know what Halloween is. I'm just a bit surprised you have it here."

Laughing, Marsia responded. "Ha! I'm just messin' with ya. Anyway, so why the skeleton getup?" Leaning on my parasol, I sighed while rubbing where my nose would be before scowling and casting Alter Self to replace my lost human form.

"To answer your question, I normally look like a skeleton, but people get nervous when you walk about sans skin," I replied as I started walking toward my house. My bedroom had been caved in, and while little else of the house had been harmed, it would still be a pain to fix.

Marisa followed after me, drifting along on her broom before she asked another question. "So, who'd you get into a fight with to wreck the place." Sighing again as I stepped inside the ruined room, I suppressed my anger. It wasn't right to be annoyed at her, but I had just been in a big fight, and her endless questions were a bit irritating.

"I fought a fragment of an elder god," I said before turning around to face her. "I do have a question?" I asked, causing her to stop her broom with a quick tug on its front. Facing me, she hummed in acceptance to me, asking a question.

"How did you find this place, it's another dimension, and I doubt you could find it, so how did you enter?" I asked while leaning on my parasol. Brightening up, Marisa started to speak quickly.

"I was on my way to Remiu's shrine to help with the party; I bring the shrooms." She then grabbed a bag hanging on the broom and opened it, showing me it was filled to the brim with mushrooms of various kinds.

"Anyhow, I noticed a new path headin' off the stairs, so I had to explore." Blinking at that, I slumped my shoulders. I had been acting like this was an impossible place to get inside, but as Marisa had just proven, dumb luck could be the only way to get inside.

"Thank you, however, I'm going to be very busy as I have to fix this place up and set down some warding, so do you mind leaving? I'll be at the party tomorrow if you want to talk, and I'm bringing some sake as well."

Humming while she rubbed her chin Marsia nodded. "Alright." She said before darting down on her broom and grabbing a plank of wood. She then zoomed off, cackling while she shouted behind her. "Thanks for that magic wood. I'll see you tomorrow!"

I stood there stunned at the absurdity of a human girl brazenly stealing from somebody who had just faced down and beat a fragment of an elder god. Laughing, I let her go, I didn't need the wood, and it was just regular wood that could be replaced easily.

Shaking my head, I waited until she turned off the Path then I moved it to my home earth in the woods. Nobody went out there, which meant it would be unlikely anyone would stumble on it and interrupt me.

I then decided to try something I had used earlier; I used Yuuka's Parasol to gain control over flowers as well as the pocket dimension, I knew the one I resided in was a mix of Secret Home and Yuuka's Parasol, but I didn't know if the alteration of the pocket dimeson would carry over to the house.

Walking outside the ruined room, I raised my parasol and focused on how it looked before the fight. I opened it and swung it down. As the parasol passed over my sight, blocking the house, I felt a slight shift in the ground, and as I closed the parasol, I saw that the surrounding area was completely fixed.

Grinning, I swung my parasol on my shoulder and gave it a quick pat. Striding over to the makeshift area by the Lunar field where we had set up our preparation for Eye of Light and Darkness, I saw that one simulacrum was hauling the dozens of barrels out of the purity field while the other was double-checking a piece of paper and a massive stone eye in front of him.

"Sorry about the disturbance," I said, causing both of them to look up at me. The one looking over the eye stood up and dusted off his hands before speaking to me. "The eye is done, all we have to do is wait for the blood to finish and the sun to fall."

With a fake grunt and wide grin, the other simulacrum set down another barrel filled to the brim with blood; it was strange and seemed to shimmer under my gaze. "A good chunk of the blood is done; I'd give it an hour or two before we're ready to go."

Following the blood being purified, we would only have to wait until the precise time when the sun set and the moon rose. I would then have to bend all my magical might to change the moon from new to full in this pocket dimension. Thankfully the ritual itself was not magically intense and only required precise materials and timing.

"I'm going to take a nap," I said, giving them a wave. "Wake me up around thirty minutes before the sun sets." They nodded and returned to their work as the Grimoire pulsed and grew.

I could feel the raging storm in my soul react to the utterly strange magic the Grimoire was made from. It surrounded the spark of energy and absorbed into the swirling chaos before that energy was passed into me. I didn't know what the Grimoire was made of, and I only had a few clues, but I would figure it out someday; first, however, was a nap.

Walking inside my bedroom, I dismissed my robe and parasol before pulling off the rest of my clothes. I then rummaged around for my original pajama pants, and after finding them, I put them on. Lifting the bed cover, I slipped under it and closed my eyes.

Following the breathing pattern that I had followed even before I found the Grimoire, I fell asleep in just a few minutes. My sleep was dreamless, and I was woken up what felt like a few minutes later by somebody shaking my arm.

Disoriented, I waved my hand in the general direction of the person who had woken me up. I then stumbled out of bed and went through my ritual of casting Alter Self, getting dressed, and summoning my magical girl outfit.

Ignoring my simulacrum as he left, I looked into the mirror and increased the length of my hair from its curly mess that went down to my shoulders into a larger mess that descended to my mid-back.

My hair, combined with the youthful look and perpetually rosy cheeks of my fourteen-year-old self I had used for Alter Self, made me look like an especially tall girl. Combined with the half dress, half robe, and literal flower for a parasol, it only enhanced the look.

One of the more funny events had been people mistaking me for a girl from behind or even, in some cases, from the front. My broad, stupid smile dimmed into a nostalgic grin as I remembered one night when we were out at dinner, and the server asked what the two sisters and brother could have for dinner.

Chuckling, I pushed the memory away and reverted my hair back to its top-shoulder height, and walked towards the location we had set up the eye and barrels of blood.

"Alright," said one of the simulacrums as he gently tapped the drum softly enough to cause naught a sound. "I'll be hitting the drum with a stick every other second, correct?" I nodded at him, then turned to the other simulacrum waiting for him to trim his part of the plan.

"I'm going to be using some magic mojo to dump a barrel of this blood across the top of the eye every time you make a drumbeat." Nodding again, I cleared my throat and stood in front of the eye, ready to start chanting.

However, before that, I had a quick thing to say. "Good luck, everybody, and if anything goes wrong, I'll be holding you accountable. You can expect your wage to be docked in that case." That prompted chuckles before I slowly let go of my Self-Hypnosis, transforming my steady pose and careful breathing into hopping from foot to foot as my mind buzzed through ideas to modify this ritual.

Shaking my head, I focused my scattered attention back on the ritual and altering the moon. It was only because I was in this pocket dimension that I could change the moon phases.

In Gensokyo, I would have to contend with other gods, such as Tsukuyomi. While I didn't know if other gods like Artemis and Chang'e were still around, I did know that Shintoism was still the most prominent religion in Japan, giving their gods great power.

Even on my home Earth, I would be hard-pressed to change the moon as while there are no gods to oppose me, the belief of people still had great power and a god with no faith behind them could not overcome common consensus.

However, here in this closed-off dimension where I was able to alter it according to my whims and the only belief was coming from my simulacrum and Komainu, I would receive no pushback to using my godly authority to change the moon for a night.

Hopping from foot to foot, I raised my hand and parasol, pointing my parasol at the tiny sliver of a moon. I narrowed my eyes and pulled on my authority over the moon and the ability to change the pocket dimension Yuuka's Parasol gave me.

Magical energy poured out of me as the moon flickered like a bad animation as it went from new to crescent and speeding up before it ended. Hanging in the sky was a full moon, and its lights were pouring down on us as a drum beat sounded out, and I started chanting.

Every time the drum sounded out, I could hear the faint sound of splashing as the other simulacrum poured the blood over the stone eye. The mana flowing from me slowed to a crawl as the most taxing part of the night ended.

However, we still had a full twelve hours to work, and it wouldn't get any easier. We couldn't get physically tired, but mental exhaustion was still a thing. However, for one night, we would be pushing past that to prevent any meddling outer gods from descending on my sanctum.

Interestingly enough, the chant was not in Latin like most other magical chants. In fact, the entire book was Arabic, as its creator had lived before Latin as a language was even a thing.

Continuing the chant as hours passed, I could slowly feel a film start to develop over my home. It was weak now, but as time passed, it grew stronger as the drum beat sounded out and blood was soaked into a massive stone eye.

As morning approached, the beating of the drum slowed, and my chant, which at this point had faded slightly from the firm voice it was earlier into a softer, casual speak, stopped. The blood had also almost run dry, and when the sum arose over the treetops and the moon vanished from sight, I felt the veil snap in place.

The drumming immediately stopped as the few raming barrels of blood were set down from their magically held perch. I felt the Grimoire grow as I opened my Magesight and peered into the surrounding area.

Grinning, I turned to face the simulacrum. "Well, boys, we did it!" I shouted as the smile threatened to split my face in two. "Get some rest, lads; you did great." I continued before walking back towards my home.

I would be taking another nap as well, I didn't know how Gensokyo partied, but I wanted to be in top form, and I had just conducted a magical ritual for ten hours while changing the moon, so I thought some sleep was warranted.

Walking into my room, I performed my nightly ritual of getting undressed, then reclothed in my pajamas; before I could crawl into bed, I saw the brown hair of Komainu poking out from under the bedsheets.

I chuckled as I crawled in next to her, she had her own room, but it seemed she preferred to sleep in my bed. Tucking an arm under her neck, I rested the other across my chest and closed my eyes, ready to sleep.

Despite falling asleep quite easily almost every time, both before and after the Grimoire, I lay there for over precisely forty minutes and twenty-four seconds before deciding that this wasn't working.

I didn't want to wake Komainu up, so I teleported a short distance away and opened two gaps quickly to portal myself outside. I managed to get my feet under myself and prevented an embarrassing faceplant.

Shaking my head, I summoned my parasol and robes and walked back to the porch. Running a hand over it, I marveled how well Yuuka's Parasol could alter and fix the pocket dimension.

Curling up in the rocking chair, I observed the rising sun and, in a moment of melancholy, summoned a lick of flame from the Carcass Spark. Forcing my will on the flickering, all-consuming fire, I compared it to the distant star.

I could see the similarities; however, no matter how cliche it was to say it, the fire from the Carcass Spark held colors that man did not have names for. The edges of the flame burned with a strange orange-red that appeared similar to vermillion but somehow more vibrant, and the core was a blue-white that hurt my eyes to look at.

Pushing the flame back into the Gap, I stood up and paced across my porch, trying to find what exactly was preventing me from sleeping. It was not mystical in nature as even the nights after being transformed into a Monster; I still fell asleep quickly.

Running over my day, I felt the false flesh of my face morph into a frown as I recalled what Gnarly had seen when he vanished. He had said he could have helped me see my family again, get revenge on somebody who orchestrated the event or even obtains unlimited power.

However, running his final words through my head, I kept returning to see my family again. No matter how often I shoved the thoughts aside or distracted myself, my mind always returned to them and the harsh facts.

They were dead, no if and or but about it. Whatever had dragged me and my house into the NeverNever had killed them, and in my delirious state, I had fled my house and eventually ended up on Earth Bet.

I wanted to turn the clock back and see them again, just talk with my father, hug my mother, or even shoot the shit with my brother. However, no matter what I wanted, I didn't have the power to go back and see them again.

Even if I gained the power to turn time back, the very act of that journey had changed me, and despite my wishes, I could not remove what I had done and learned. A small part of me also rebelled against the idea of giving up all this power; it whispered to look at what I had done versus what I was back then.

I had faced famous legends, sealed away the source of all evil, and sparred with a vampire with the ability to destroy anything. Even the calmer moments, such as waking up to Komainu sleeping next to me, were things I would never experience back as an average seventeen-year-old.

I swallowed and ignored the lump in my throat as I stood up. It wouldn't do to dwell on the past when I had a party today. Floating over to the Lunar field, I entered it and started to pursue the pallets of sake; we had around half a dozen pallets, with each one holding close to two dozen bottles of sake.

Walking behind the simulacrum who was bent over the purifying machine, I spoke. "So, how is the sake coming along?" He jumped and almost fell over before placing a hand on the purifier and taking a few deep breaths to steady himself.

"It's coming along well." He said while standing off the device and brushing himself off. "It's quite boring, but I believe that we have plenty; I'm just making a few extras in case."

"Well, thank you," I said before walking off and wandering around the sunflower field. Looking over it as the sun rose, I felt a faint twitch in my fingers as I imagined dozens of alterations to the plants, whether that be utilizing the Carcass Spark for them to shoot lasers or raising them to sentience and having them act as guardians.

Shaking my head, I pushed those thoughts aside and returned to my bedroom. Dismissing my parasol and robes, I crawled into bed and rejoined my position by Komainu's side with my arm under her head.

She shuffled and grabbed onto my side like a koala, and I could even hear the faint snores as her head shook and her nose twitched before burrowing her head deeper into my chest.

Taking my other hand, I ran my finger through her hair before settling into a comfortable rubbing pattern. Ignoring the Grimoire growing again, I closed my eyes and settled down. This time, however, I fell asleep very quickly, and my sleep was deep and lacked dreams.