54

Waking up was a slow process that was sped up by the lack of the warm body that had been draped over my chest when I fell asleep.

Blinking, I saw that Komainu was gone. Slowly crawling out of bed, I checked my mental clock as I got dressed. It was 6:37 in the afternoon, which meant I had gotten a good ten hours of sleep, which, combined with the few-hour nap I had the other day, meant that this was the most sleep I had gotten in months.

Swinging my parasol on my shoulder, I returned to the Lunar field I had inspected after being unable to sleep last night. Walking over, I could see that the simulacrum I had placed in charge of brewing sake was muttering to himself as he continually rearranged the half a dozen pallets.

"Good afternoon," I said as I walked up next to him, causing the simulacrum to turn around and give me a polite nod. "Well, we have 144 bottles of sake which should be plenty for a party, and if not, tell the folks too bad." He said while chuckling before continuing. "But in all seriousness, I noticed something about the Lunar field I believe you should know."

Without waiting for confirmation of any sort, he continued. "The Lunar field is growing more established, I believe is the right word for it." Turning to face him now listing fully. "What do you mean," I asked, a few disaster scenarios flickering through my mind.

The purity that the devices made were antithetical to normal life, and while for most healthy adults, they could withstand being purified and it would improve their lifespan and general health so long as they stayed within the pure area. However, most plants, children, and sickly adults would die as the impurities were forced out of their bodies.

"It's growing more and more permanent. The last time I attempted to shut off the field, it took almost an hour for the purity to drop to a safe level. If a normal person entered the area, they would have at most thirty minutes before they were purified, and I doubt that process would leave them cognizant enough to escape."

Frowning, I thought over who might get trapped. While I knew that my simulacrum had a much higher tolerance bordering on near immunity and Komainu would avoid it if I asked her to and explained the dangers, the issue was Marisa.

I didn't know anything about her except what I learned from interacting with her, and from my first interaction with her stealing from Patchouli's library, I could tell she was heedless of the danger that some things could cause.

This perspective was only reinforced by her stealing the wooden board from me. While Gensokyo had the Spell Card Rules to ensure no death while fighting, I had still fought off a fragment of an elder god and told her that. Her brazen response to nick something of mine while right in front of me meant that she didn't fear retaliation or at the least was confident in her skills to avoid harm.

All of those facts meant that she was likely to enter the Lunar field due to curiosity. She would then be incapacitated due to her nature as a human, and after being purified, she would be prevented from leaving it lest the impurities from the world kill her.

"Alright, I'm going to the party as I already promised to show up. However, I need you and the other simulacrum to put your head together and see if you can't figure out a way to prevent unauthorized people from entering the field." I said after thinking for a few minutes.

Looking at me seriously, he placed a hand on my shoulder and shook his head morosely. "I'm so, so sorry. I offer my condolences for having to go to the party," He said, and after a few moments of me blinking at him, befuddled at the quick change in conversation topic, he burst out into laughter.

"Nah, I'm just messing with ya." He said as his laughter slowed, and he theatrically wiped away tears before growing more serious. "But yes, I'll get the council together and figure something out."

"Thank you," I said as he nodded and walked off. Slumping my shoulders, I sighed at the fact that despite this supposedly being a vacation, I had already been involved in fighting off a mass robbing. Now I had to prevent an over-eager witch from possibly killing herself through purification.

Shaking off the thoughts, I turned, ready to tackle the new challenge of carrying over a hundred bottles of sake without breaking them; after thinking over a few ideas, including attempting to lift them with Telekinesis, I decided to use the most basic solution.

Opening a gap, I let the pallets drop inside the space between spaces. I then opened another a few inches above the ground, and it fell out of the Gap with a small thud and clinking of glass knocking together.

Returning it to the gap, I smiled as I floated to the Path. Twisting it to just outside the gate, I left my pocket dimension and saw Remiu's shrine.

Darting back and forth was the black and white clad form of Marisa, who seemed to be setting up a few tables and had dropped off a couple of bowls of strange food, most of which seemed mushroom based.

"Hello," I said, giving a wave while walking inside the shrine and noticing Remiu sitting on the stairs towards the inside of the shrine proper, sipping a cup before she stood up.

I shifted the Path away before I could forget, and by that time, Remiu had walked up to me and was speaking. "You said you brought sake, right?" She asked in a faintly hopeful tone.

A smirk worked its way into my lips as I decided to play a quick joke on her. "I already sent it ahead; didn't you get it?" I asked while tilting my head in faux confusion.

At the same time, I removed the sake from the Gap and sent them gently next to the tables. Remiu's face turned into confusion and a bit of annoyance. "I haven't got anything? Who did you get to bring your sake?"

Stifling a chuckle, I felt the Grimoire grow, and my bones shift suitably underneath my false skin. Ignoring that change, I looked over her shoulder at the sake. "Ah, there it is. I don't know how you missed it."

Looking over her shoulder Remiu blinked in confusion before looking back at me and then back to the area that had been empty moments before.

Marisa looked back and forth between me and the sake before holding a hand over her mouth to stifle laughter so Remiu couldn't hear it.

"Anyway, since I'm early, how can I help you set up?" I asked, causing Reimu to look confused for a few more seconds until she sighed and moved past the appearing sake.

"Honestly, we've got pretty much everything set up, but if you could go grab Tenshi from inside the shrine, that would be great." She asked. I could see her lips quirked up when she made the request; however, I didn't have any reason to refuse, so I nodded and walked past her inside the shrine building.

Looking around the interior of the building, I could tell that despite its bare nature, it was clearly well cared for. The few pieces of furniture had been lovingly maintained and fixed, while the worn floors were clear of any stains or other flaws.

I could see, slumped against one of the walls, young women dressed in what would be absurd and impractical clothing anywhere else was reading.

The dress was well crafted and was a mix of blue around the skirt area with a white shirt and that white coloring descending down the front and covering the blue area. Underneath the white color was a rainbow trim, and topping off the strange garb was a black hat with a few peaches on top.

All and all, it was strange, impractical, likely a pain to get on, and I thought it was great. While anywhere else, I doubted it would work due to the sheer time required to ensure it was well kept. Here in Gensokyo, it was different, the outfits were something from inside a fantasy novel, and I enjoyed it.

Turning my attention back to who I presumed to be, Tenshi, I cleared my throat. "Hello, are you Tenshi miss?" I asked politely. The woman's eyes darted up at me, and she quickly closed the novel she had been reading. Then she floated to her feet and took an indignant expression.

"Yes, I am Tenshi," She boasted, "and what is it you require, insect?" She asked; however, her voice held no real venom in her voice, and it was clear this was just her way of speaking.

"If I'm an insect, what does that make you, and if you are so above me, what are you truly?" I asked curiously, ignoring the insult. I had been online before, and she would need worse insults to elicit irritation from me.

"I would be a bird flying free high above you, and can you not truly see what I am." She said before scoffing, "I see you are foreign, so I will grant you pity. I am a Celestial," She continued before finishing with a wide cocky grin.

I knew very little of what a celestial was in Japanese mythology, but I felt it safe to assume they were powerful divine creatures below the gods. I didn't know how powerful Tenshi was, but after peering closer and opening Magesight, I could see a veritable vortex around her, proving her powerful magical nature.

"Well, Miss Tenshi," I said respectfully, "Your presence has been requested outside by Remiu." This caused the Celestial to stop for a moment before breezing past me without a further word.

Following behind her, I managed to catch what she was saying. "I see that you have called upon my aid, lowly worm!" She thundered, and as I exited, I could see her in front of Remiu with her chest puffed out, floating so that she was looking down at her.

Remiu, on the other hand, looked tired and spoke slowly. "I simply needed you outside my shrine so that when you inevitably get into a scuffle tonight, you don't bury the shrine, like you did the first time we met."

In response to the accusation, Tenshi laughed before speaking further. "Well, of course, you lowly mortals here are quite wonderful fighters, and there is nothing better than a fight to go along with a party."

"That is fine," Remiu said in the manner of somebody with the tiredness of somebody who was dealing with this opinion all the time. Looking over, I could see that Marisa had finished and was simply leaning on her broom and watching the back and forth with a grin.

She then opened her mouth and shouted at Tenshi. "Hey, I heard that bones here is a good fighter. Heard that he fought off an elder god." I sighed and dropped my head into my hands as Tenshi's head snapped over to me, and her amber eyes narrowed at me.

"I wouldn't be against a spar," I said after removing my head from my hands; however, before I could continue, Tenshi lunged towards me with a red sword forcing me to take a step back and block with my parasol.

Following the first blow, the sword started to ooze a scarlet mist. "Well then," I said, a smile slowly forming on my face, "I suppose a spar we shall have." I then felt the Grimoire grow as we slowly floated up and waited for the other to make the first move.

Taking the lead, Tenshi raised her hand, and with a flick of her wrist, the scarlet mist that swirled around her sword split off into small pellets that darted toward me.

Dodgin around them, I snapped the fingers on my left hand and twisted space around me. Tenshi then charged forward; however, she fell into the zone of twisted space and was sent around me, facing away.

Turning around, I swung my parasol at her ribs; however, she managed to turn around and catch my weapon with the flat of her blade. Grinning, she forced my parasol away despite my strength and lunged for my ribs.

Floating back, I could not move fast enough due to my slow flying speed, which forced me to catch the sword with my hand. For a moment, we both looked at each other before I swung my parasol at the side of her head.

Moving her free hand up, she knocked it aside, and utilizing her prodigious strength, she tore her blade free and managed to cut off a finger with the razor-sharp edge.

Gritting my teeth as the Flames of Agony surged to repair the missing appendage, I teleported back just in time to avoid her blade as the scarlet mist surrounding it vanished.

The mist slowly reappeared as I raised the parasol and cast Hold Person. To my surprise, it didn't even slow her down as she exploited my confusion to close the distance and attack with a flurry of blows.

In the few moments my Clairvoyance allowed me, I could tell she was a skilled swordsman, much more than the brute strength I used with my parasol could compensate for.

So I decided to cheat, and I reached out to her timeline and stretched it out, allowing me to easily step around her blows as she slowed down.

I then slammed my parasol into the side of her head and the tip into her gut. Neither blow had any effect except for pushing her around slightly.

"Geez, what sorta thing are you on?" I asked while returning her timeline to normal. "Peaches are quite the meal!" She said while grinning, and we both took the slight reprieve granted by us talking to float around and watch each other.

"Are you talking about the Peaches of Immortality?" I asked; that was the only famous mythical peaches I knew about, and while that would fit with her nature as a celestial, I doubted the few she could likely get every three-thousand years would enhance her to the level of ignoring my not-inconsiderable strength.

"Don't know if that's what you call them, but the banquet was quite good, even if the stuffy officials got a bit annoyed." She said, and before I could contemplate the absurdity of eating an entire banquet of those peaches, she charged toward me and knocked aside my parasol before sliding the blade between my ribs.

We both looked at each other for a moment as nothing further happened, and only a few drops of blood slipped out that vanished once they got more than a few feet away from me.

I grinned, and before Tenshi could recover from the shock of impaling somebody and it doing nothing, I held my hand in front of me and sent out four Eldritch Blasts towards her.

Despite the less than a foot difference between us, Tenshi managed to pull the blade free of my pseudo-skin and avoid two of the crackling beams of energy. However, she was unable to dodge the remaining two, of which the first skimmed her sword arm tearing off a large chunk of flesh, and the second hit her in the chest.

The second did considerably more damage, and with a spray of blood and viscera, I could see that her skin and most of the muscle underneath had been blown away, leaving only scraps of tattered flesh and bone.

"Nice strike!" She shouted, still with a massive smile on her face despite what would be lethal wounds on anybody else. While I had been using Spell Cards to tone down my attacks to non-lethal, her still being awake and alert meant that this wouldn't have killed or even severely harmed her.

This was proven when she sped up even faster and, in a motion too fast for my eyes to track, scored a hit across my chest. However, this time, there was no pain, and so despite the long gash across my sternum, the Flames of Agnoy did not appear to heal the wound.

Laughing as I teleported back, Tenshi shouted. "Alright, your quite good for incest, but I think I should show you the true difference between us!" At the end of her taunt, she held the sword pointing up towards the sky, and moments later, half a dozen massive stones ripped themself out from around the shrine grounds.

With a swing of the blade, they came rocketing towards me, and as they approached, each stone split into over a dozen smaller intracity carved rocks, all heading toward me.

Casting Wall of Force in front of me, the rocks slammed into them; however, a moment later, the wall disintegrated under two blows from Tenshi. However, a few seconds was all I needed as I focused on the second most potent spell innate to my soul gem granted power.

I had Summon Elemental cranked up to its most potent. At the cost of filling my Soul Gem massively, the miles-wide storm of an Elder Tempest appeared in the air as the howling winds heralded the exitance of an ancient elemental on the mortal plane once again.

Tenshi blinked as I swung my parasol down and commanded the Elder Tempest to call down a lightning bolt. As the winds howled, a massive bolt of pure energy slammed through Tenshi into the shrine beneath her.

"I think you should see my true power, Miss!" I shouted back over the roaring of the storm. Headless of the lighting that had just hit her and the massive storm that was enveloping both of us, she prepared for another assault as the stones reformed into their half-a-dozen original forms, her enormous smile only growing larger.

We were both cut off as a few dozen needles slammed into both of us. While they didn't do much, they caused both of us to turn and face the drenched and thoroughly pissed-off face of Remiu.

"Are you going to turn off that storm and fix my shrine, or am I going to be forced to come up there and make you!" She shouted, gesturing at the shattered roof of the shrine that had been broken by the lighting as well as the damage to the yard caused by Tenshi ripping out the stones.

Tenshi and I looked at each other, "Continue this later?" I asked, and after a bit of thinking, Tenshi nodded and started sending the stones she had summoned back into the ground.

Following suit, I dismissed the Elder Tempest and floated down to the ruined shrine ceiling. As I looked over the damaged building, I felt the Grimoire grow and winced as Tzeentch screeched in my ear.

"No! I will not allow it. You aren't even one of us, not truly, not yet!" I then heard another voice with a faint tinge of something higher pitched to it. "I'm afraid you have no power over this mortal. Take this gift and know that I shall be watching you closely, yes-yes."

With that statement, both voices faded away as they continued squabbling, so I shook my head. I didn't know who the second voice was, but I had my suspicions, and they weren't pretty.

However, I was currently on the hook to repair a roof, so I didn't have time to contemplate a new voice rattling around this fragment of my soul.

I very carefully removed my Self Hypnosis to see if Inspiration of Madness had an idea of how to repair the roof, and as I rubbed my hands together, I settled on a thought.

Reaching into the Gap, I retrieved a sack of Dust and then strode quickly over to Reimu. "Hello," I said quickly, "If you want me to repair your shrine-home quickly, I'll require a drop-dash of your blood." Finishing my sentence, I leaned on my parasol and twisted its tip around in the dirt as I waited, my fingers tapping the handle impatiently.

Narrowing her eyes at me, she slowly retrieved another of her needles, pricked a finger, and offered the welling drop of blood for me to take. I cast Telekinesis to grab the small drop of blood and nodded before looping back to where I had dropped the Dust.

Walking inside the shrine, I dumped out around half the Dust on the floor in a vague circle pattern. Following that, I carefully placed the single drop of exceedingly potent blood in the circle's center. This was vaguely a ritual, but I would be pulling much more heavily on my godhood to pull this off.

I could tell that her blood had something to do with the bones of this area, and from what little I knew about Touhou, this shrine was crucial to Gensokyo. Those facts combined together hinted at her bloodline being essential to the integrity of this land.

For a few moments, I was taken by the fancy of taking more of her blood and seeing what I could do with a bloodline that was the marrow of this fantastical place. Shaking my head, I returned to work and tabled the thought of asking for more blood right now.

Holding out my hand, I started to mutter a prayer in German. The words were not important so much as the hope, the fantasy, the belief that this shrine would be fixed when I looked up.

While that would be easy for a god to accomplish, I wasn't a true god as I lacked worshippers; however, I was taking a few shortcuts. Repairing this shrine instantly utilizing a ritual fell under my domain of Magic and Fantasy. I enhanced it further by using Dust to create the materials, and a drop of blood willingly given permitted me to act inside her home.

A few seconds passed without anything happening, but when I opened my eyes, I could see that the blood and Dust were gone while the roof was completely repaired back to its slightly rundown appearance.

Recasting Self-Hypnosis on myself, I walked back outside to see Tenshi land in front of Remiu and gesture around to the repaired courtyard. Whatever Remiu was about to say was cut off by the first guests' arrival.

The familiar forms of Remilia and Flandre approached the front of the shrine, holding ladylike parasols to block out the fading sun. Flandre introduced them by thrusting high a covered plate. "Hi, we brought some pie!" She said while Remilia walked over to Remiu and handed over one of my sake bottles.

Marisa moved to talk to Flandre as I approached Remilia and Remiu. "I already have quite a few bottles of this sake," Remiu said bluntly while jerking her head towards the half a dozen pallets of sake I had brought. "But I'll still have it," she added hurriedly before Remila could make any motions to retrieve the gift.

Turning to the face over one hundred bottles of sake I had brought, Remilia's shoulder slumped for a second before turning to face me with a faux-betrayed expression on her face.

"I got the shrine fixed, Miss Remiu." I said, then gave a polite nod to Remilia, "It's good to see you, Miss Remilia," Curtseying a smidge, Remilia replied. "It is good to meet you as well; I hope your day was well."

Thinking back to what had happened in the past few days, I frowned then replied honestly, "It's been an ordeal, but I've solved the issues," I was then promptly pulled from further conversation by Tenshi grabbing on the collar of my robe and pulling me away from both women.

I scrambled in her grip for a few moments as the Grimoire grew before she let go, and I readjusted my robes and glared at her. "What was that for?" I asked, my tone slightly annoyed.

"What are you? No mortal could have conjured what you did, and despite these insects' power, they are not on that level." She asked bluntly, her haughty tone fading slightly as she leaned in close.

I took a minute to weigh my response; on one hand, telling her I was a god could get me involved in celestial politics; however, she could already tell I wasn't human, and I did not doubt that proper gods with worship could figure me out in a snap.

That meant I could use this as a chance to cut off any issues by being a god with no worshippers and who didn't want any. It also would be funny to inform Tenshi I was a god after she called me mortal and insect under her.

Clearing my throat, I spoke in my most regal voice while still being somewhat quiet. "I am Aidan, god of magic, fantasy, and the moon."

Tenshi froze for a moment and then squinted and looked closer at me. We both stared at each other for a long few seconds before she threw her head back and laughed loudly with no care if other people heard her.

Remilia, Flandre, Remiu, and Marisa looked over before returning to their conversation. However, I could see that Flandre was keeping a side-eye on us despite still talking with Marisa.

"Your coming up to Heaven with me soon," She said, still wiping away tears, "Can you imagine them having to deal with a new god and not one of technology or anything modern," She gasped out, still recovering her breath. "It's a baby god of magic!"

That sent off another round of hysterical laughter that had me leaning on my parasol, waiting for her to regain control of herself. "Sorry, I don't plan on heading up to Heaven. I don't want to get involved in godly politics, and I have a pretty full schedule." I said once she was finished laughing.

"Oh," she said, tilting her head, "What are you doing?" She asked with unbridled curiosity. It seemed that my status as a god had elevated me a step above others in her eyes as she had dropped calling me an insect or a mortal, which was slightly amusing.

"I'm doing magic," I stated flatly. Tenshi seemed like the type of person to want a first-hand sight of me detonating the Dawnbreaker, and I was already taking a risk by bringing Patchouli, but that was part of a deal, so I was willing to take that risk.

Crossing her arms and humphing, Tenshi glared at me, but I stayed firm, so we both looked at each other, neither willing to back down. This stalemate was broken when I heard a slurred shout from the shrine entrance.

"Alright, let's get this party started!" A young girl's voice shouted. I turned my head, breaking the ongoing stare with Tenshi to look at the newcomer. She looked young, around Remilia or Flandre's visible age.

The most noticeable thing about her was the two horns that grew slightly crookedly from her head. That, combined with the gourd she was drinking from, led me to believe that she was much older than her visible age would suggest and likely not human.

"Well, I should go over and greet the new guests," I said before giving Tenshi a polite nod. "Have a good day Miss Tenshi," However, before I could leave, she grabbed my arm.

"Just call me Tenshi. I get enough of the miss talk upstairs; also, I want another fight soon." She said with an expression that dared me to say no. I grinned, and as she let go of my arm, I gave an overdramatic bow that hid my shit-eating grin, "As you say Miss Tenshi."

I then folded space, took a step, and arrived next to the pallets of sake, quickly reversing the change I made to avoid Tenshi's attempted grab.

The young-looking girl stumbled over to the large pallets of sake and peered up towards the top bottles that were a few feet above her head.

Grabbing a bottle, I passed it to her and decided that now was a good time to introduce myself. "Nice to meet you, Miss..." I said, trailing off so she could give me her name. That didn't happen as she drained the bottle dry before wiping her lips.

"Sukia," She eventually said after floating up to grab another. This one she drank around half before looking over at me. "You're new; you make this?" She asked while her eyes narrowed, and her drunkness faded away slightly.

"I did make it. Do you like it?" I asked, causing her eyes to narrow further before she took another swig from the bottle and patted me on the lower back. The pat was less a pat and more a strong slam that sent me stumbling a few steps forward and reaffirmed my opinion that she was not human and much older than she looked.

"It's great reminds me of some drink me, and few other folks stole." She said before grabbing another two bottles and walking off, stumbling slightly but never falling.

I pursed my lips as I thought over what she said. I made it from Lunarian technology, which should be something out of context for Gensokyo as it was based around Japanese mythology. A utopia on the moon was not even close to either Japanese or any myths I knew.

The Grimoire grew as I shook my head and pushed those thoughts aside. It was likely there was some powerful youkai or mage who could manipulate purity, and while that was concerning if Sukia stole from them, I doubted this mystery person, who may or may not be real, would be trying to cause trouble.

Rolling my shoulders, I looked towards the shrine entrance and noticed more people arriving. I decided that I should at least go and introduce myself; swinging my parasol onto my shoulder, I walked over, ready to meet some new people.

Powers Gained

Graveyard Rose

Most of your Order are scrawny and pale, with voices the dusty tone of the long dead. And yet, one among you is known for her terrifying allure. Like Elspeth von Draken, the energies of death which now suffuse your form have made you beautiful in a grim and chilling way. Those who look upon you will at once be rapt in admiration and shaken in terror.

Favor of Lords

The Grey Seers keep, tightly locked under key and claw, the secret to creating the gnaw-holes into The Horned One's realm. To call forth the greatest of the ratfolk in existence, the Greater Daemons of The Horned Rat - The Verminlords, as great and powerful as any of the northmen's Princes. The Seers keep this tool not only to cow a clan or five with the threat of summoning one such Lord to the material realm - but also because the Verminlords are bloodthirsty and murderous creatures with their own millenia-long schemes and plans. The risk is always there that the first to die to a Verminlord is the Seer that summoned them.

Funny that the same doesn't go for you. You, Seer, start out on "amicable" terms with the Verminlords in the Horned One's Realm (as amicable as can be said for skavendom). You can contact the Lords for assistance or advice without need of lengthy and convoluted rituals, and can indeed summon them onto the field of battle without risk of being the first victim or meal. As well, you'll find that this friendly relationship can be cultivated with other daemonic, aetherial, and similar otherworldly creatures with remarkable ease - such as the Greater Daemons, Daemon Princes, and servitors of the greater four Gods of Chaos. Though you may come to factor into their own plans and schemes as a pawn or goal, you'll never need fear horrific death or torture at the hands of your newfound "allies."