59

Stepping to the side as a volley of massive thorns flew where I had been moments ago, I opened the Gate of Babylon. Sending out blades, I retreated under the golden glow of the portals.

As Yuuka floated serenely through the blades as if she was taking a stroll, I raised my parasol and sent out a salvo of Eldritch Blasts. Her red eyes flicked over to my position, and she raised her parasol, flicking it open as the four blasts slammed into it and exploded.

Not believing for a second that Yuuka was out of the fight, I attempted to take a step back. I was stopped by sunflowers growing around my feet and pressing into my skin, drawing drops of blood.

Fruitlessly attempting to remove my feet, I summoned a sword and cut through the stems before glancing up. My eyes widened as I raised my parasol to block Yuuka from hitting me.

The force of the blow knocked me back and off-balance. Teleporting behind her, I swung for her head which was foiled by her quickly turning around and smacking my parasol into the ground tip first.

Before I could retrieve it, she stepped on its tip, preventing me from pulling up and using it. Letting go, I ducked under another swipe and teleported back half a dozen feet while dismissing the Gate of Babylon.

It was clear that I couldn't face her in melee, my strength couldn't compare to hers, and she had much more experience fighting, which meant the chance of me landing a blow was unlikely.

The Gate was also a somewhat poor choice due to her ability to weave in between the blades easily, which meant it would have to be reserved for careful precision shots as opposed to blanket bombardment.

Casting my gaze back over to Yuuka, I saw that she had picked my parasol up and was looking it over. Snapping my fingers, it vanished and reappeared back in my hands, resulting in her turning to look back up at me.

Holding out a hand, she focused for a split second and fired out dozens of flower petals. Holding up my parasol, I blocked a vast majority and managed to move around the few that would have slipped past my protective cover.

Flicking it closed, I was forced to hurl myself to the side as Yuuka repeated the same attack from earlier and attempted to spear me. As I retaliated with a small swarm of White Magic pellets, I felt the vines of plants attempting to grow around my ankles and trap me once again.

I gritted my teeth and coated my feet in Celestial Fire, burning away the sharp vines, carefully keeping the fire from touching my feet. I then took to the air so that she would be unable to trap me with plants again.

Floating above her, I raised my parasol and pointed it at her summoning the Gate of Babylon once again. This time as it fired, I intermixed it with Eldritch Blasts and a few pellets of White Magic.

It seemed to do very little as Yuuka dodged what she could with small movements as she floated and blocked the remainder.

I frowned as she steadily approached me, firing off a few razor-sharp petals and thorns that were either torn apart or I easily dodged. It seemed that I was going to have a hard time landing a hit on her, so I decided to ramp it up a notch.

Retrieving Hrunting from the Gate, I fired it off, and like before, Yuuka easily dodged it despite it moving at speeds that would appear a blur to most. However, she was unprepared for it to fly back after passing by her, and despite knocking other projectiles aside, it scored a glancing blow and tore a massive hole in her arm.

She laughed loudly before shouting up at me, heedless of her left arm hanging on by a thread. "Nice shot, my turn!" My eyes darted around as I waited for something to happen, and when nothing, my shoulders untensed slightly.

However, I was unprepared when Yuuka blurred forward as her body shifted into bright light. She was in front of me in a split second, swinging her parasol in broad arcs.

Whereas before, she had lazily made a few swipes, now it was clear she was upping the tempo as I barely managed to parry the first few blows. However, the force beyond her blows was stronger than before, and I could tell that continuing in melee was a bad prospect.

The issue was that I needed a second to teleport, and she wasn't letting up. This was further compounded by the fact that I was in a dream realm which meant my spatial sense, which would let me teleport much quicker without telefragging, was not working either.

I decided to resort to a painful method of separating us. As Yuuka slammed her parasol into mine, I floated back a few inches, creating a curtain of Celestial Flame between us. I then used that as a smokescreen to teleport behind her and conjure Caldolbolg, as withdrawing it from the Gate would take too long.

Driving it into her back, I teleported away and detonated it, enveloping her in an explosion. A salvo of Eldritch Blasts followed that up while she was off guard. She was hit full in the chest and leg by the first two while the second two exploded on her parasol harmlessly.

She was clearly wounded with a small but bleeding hole in her chest and right leg; this was only compounded by the slowly healing wound, almost cleaving her arm in two. I couldn't let Yukka regain tempo, so I decided to up the pace.

Holding my parasol up, I chanted while calling upon the second most powerful spell available to me. "I call upon you, calling upon a storm anew powerful and lighting true; Summon Elemental: Elder Tempest!"

As my chant finished, a storm started to grow above me as a massive feathered being formed of swirling air and lighting roared with the sounds of thunder. My smile grew wider as manic energy overtook me, and I could feel my Self-Hypnosis shuddering as it failed.

"Come face my storm!" I shouted, spreading my arms as Yuuka grinned back in response and floated closer to the Elder Tempest. I would let those two fight while I recovered some mana and let my grief fade a bit.

I had just used the equivalent of a ninth-level spell which, while I could pull out another that would push me too close to witch hood for my liking. My mana was also dropping rapidly low due to my teleporting around and firing hundreds of blades from the Gate of Babylon.

I felt the Grimoire pulse and grow as a lightning bolt came down from the skies and barely missed Yuuka as she danced between swipes from the living storm.

I cackled as I watched Yuuka fight the Elder Tempest, it was hard to tell which way the fight was going as Yuuka had only been hit a few times, but her blows did very little to the Elder Tempest. However, my laughter was cut off when I felt a piercing pain, and the point of a parasol exploded out of my chest, shattering my breastbone.

I coughed up blood as the person behind me used the parasol as leverage to throw me off of it and onto the ground. Slamming into the ground, I felt ribs crack as I lost my grip on my parasol.

As the Flames of Agony started to simmer and burn, I stumbled to my feet. I would need at least a minute to fix my breastbone, but I knew I wouldn't have that time which meant I needed to make it. Looking up as I summoned my parasol back to my hand, I saw Yuuka.

Casting a quick glance over to where the Elder Tempest was, I saw that Yuuka was still fighting it, which meant that Yuuka could clone herself to an extent. Raising her hand, I saw a white glow building up, not unlike my own Master Spark.

That meant I needed to get the hell out of dodge. However, as I prepared to teleport away, I felt another pulse of pain as two sunflowers dug into my back, quickly digging through the thin shell of skin that Alter Self provided. From there, they promptly grew around my ribcage and up my spine rooting me place while carving grooves in my bones and smothering the Flames of Agony.

Shuddering in place, I attempted to move or teleport; however, the plants were inside me and linked to the ground preventing me from teleporting. As the sunflowers grew up into my skull and burst out my nose and eyes, I screamed as the Flames of Agony redoubled their attempt to close my wounds; however, it was too late as even with plants blocking my sight, I could see that Yuuka had fired two massive white lasers.

The first was from her original self and towards the Elder Tempest, while the second was aimed directly at me. Slamming into me, it felt like a massive burning weight had hit my head on, and I attempted to move or even shift my parasol up, but the flowers growing around my bones prevented that.

What felt like minutes later, but what I knew was only a few seconds, the laser ended, and the plants withdrew. Collapsing to the ground, I could tell that my Alter Self was gone, and my bones had been scorched black while quite a few disintegrated, leaving most of my right gone and missing most of my left arm.

Laying on my back, I saw clear skies above me as I attempted to get to my feet. I then felt pressure just below my shattered breastbone, and looking at it, I saw the tip of a parasol.

"I do believe that is my victory," The slightly raspy voice of Yuuka said just as pleasantly as earlier. Laying back down, I sighed and looked up at the youkai.

She had lighting burns traveling up and down her body as a good portion of her front had been burnt deeply by the Celestial Fire. The hole in her chest exposed a slowly beating heart, and her arm was entirely disconnected while she leaned on her less harmed leg that didn't have a hole through it.

Removing her parasol from my chest, she reached out with her missing hand; however, by the time it was fully extended, it, along with her other wounds, had healed.

"What kind of tea do you like?" She said as I grasped her hands and was pulled to my feet, still wincing as the Flames of Agony whet to work healing me.

"Mint is the best, yes-yes," I said before shaking my head and reapplying my Self-Hypnosis to prevent any issues my unsuppressed madness could cause. Yuuka then started walking towards her manor, clearly anticipating me following her.

I did so as my limbs slowly regenerated. She then easily pushed open the doors and strode through the entrance into a much too-small parlor to be the only room in the manor; however, no other doors would lead anywhere else.

When we sat down, I noticed a pot of tea along with two cups were placed out; taking a sip, Yuuka relaxed into her chair as she waited for me to try the other cup.

It was quite good and brought back memories of being curled up with a good book for hours. I swallowed heavily and set down the cup with a slight clatter before looking up at Yuuka.

"It's quite good," I said as I retrieved a health potion and downed it feeling bones reappearing and grievous wounds healing; it was then a matter of moments for the rest to heal, leaving nary a mark.

Picking up her tea and swirling it gently before taking a sip, Yuuka spoke, "While quite powerful, you are untrained and weak, lacking the instincts of even young youkai." Setting down her cup, she was about to continue when I felt the Grimoire pulse and heard a giggle just over my shoulder, along with the smell of sour wine.

"I do believe we have another guest and one that I haven't seen in ages," Yuuka said, and as she grasped the air to pull out a chair, one appeared with a girl sitting in it, leaning forward, arms resting on her knees, and a teacup held loosely in her hand.

She was clad in a loose grey shirt that hung open and was arranged to barely cover her, while her similarly grey pants were ragged at the ends, and she wore no shoes. Her right eye was green with gold flecks, while the other was solid blue. Darting around like a puppy eager to explore new terrain was her shadow with weight and reality that I had never seen.

"I do apologize," she said in a voice that sounded very familiar, like something I heard spoken before. "I am unable to fulfill my end of the promise I made to your benefactor." She continued, genuinely sorrowful.

My eyes flicked over to Yuuka, confused at who this person was; she could be related to the Grimoire, but so far, only Destruction had come to meet me in person, and while something about her seemed familiar, I didn't recognize her.

"However!" She shouted, now joyful in a one-eighty of her prior mood, then she sprung to her feet and, in a single motion, pulled me free from my chair and enveloped me in a hug, her chin resting on my shoulder.

"I may not be able to gift you the endless joy and optimism of my younger self. Instead, I shall ensure that no matter what, you remain you," After finishing her whispered sentence, she took a step back and placed her thumb on my head.

I immediately felt like a weight had fallen off my head as my Self Hypnosis faded away, and despite that, my Skaven-esque madness didn't come back.

"Come explore my garden if you want!" She shouted, grinning ear to ear before cocking her head to the side as the sound of a singular dog barking was heard. "Barnabas, I'm coming," She said before placing a hand over mine. Her face shifted in a grimace of pain, and she spoke without the familiar changing tone and inflection.

"Good luck," She said solemnly before her whimsical expression returned, and she burst into a collection of butterflies that spun about before vanishing, leaving only a vibrant yellow marigold in my hand that I tucked behind my ear.

Looking towards Yuuka, I sat back down in my chair and took a slow sip of my tea so I would have a moment to think over what the hell just happened.

"Yuuka, do you know who that was?" I asked as my hands set the cup down, ready for her explanation. She had said that she had met her before, and I was curious about who Yuuka had met if they hadn't seen each other in a while and were connected to the Grimoire.

"That is Madness, I have not met her directly, but like many long-lived folks, my life is steeped in her influence." She said calmly before finishing off her cup of tea and pouring another.

"How are you mad?" I asked, quirking my head; while she was slightly strange from my perspective, it was because she was a youkai and long-lived.

"Once anybody gets old, if they have a human perspective, they go at least a little bit mad; a few examples would be me and my garden, Yukari and Gensokyo, Mokou's and Kaguya's steamy relationship. All people that once thought along the lines of short-lived mortals."

"I see," I said, pushing the thought of how exactly Yuuka knew about somebodies relationship out of my mind as I finished my cup of tea. My eyes locked over Yuuka's shoulder, mind whirling with the new information revealed to me.

"I do believe we should continue what I wanted to talk about before she showed up," Yuuka said, pouring me another cup of tea, "You have incredible potential, and I would like to help you nurture it. If you would be willing, you could come here every few days, and I would teach you how to fight properly."

"What would you be getting out of this?" I asked, taking another sip of my mint tea. "I would be getting two things, good fights and the enjoyment of seeing a young god bloom." She replied.

Tapping my fingers on the table, I thought over her offer. It was quite good; I would get combat experience and a teacher who was very old and experienced.

"I accept," I said with a shrug of my shoulders, and like that, Yuuka relaxed and moved into a much more casual conversation. It seemed that Yuuka had quite a bit to talk about concerning flowers, and while I was no expert, I had enough knowledge to understand most of what she was saying.

It was hard to tell how long we had been talking as even my time sense was on the fritz because this was a dream realm; eventually, I decided to get going.

"Well, Yuuka, this has been a fun day," I said, standing up. "If you ever want to see my sunflower field feel free to come by. It's usually off the side on the road to the Human Village."

"Of course," She said, standing up as well. "I do expect you here the day after tomorrow for training; the earlier, the better." She said sternly before it melted into a small smile. "Have a good day, and take care of that marigold." She said, pointing to the one behind my ear.

"Absolutely," I replied, giving her a nod before turning and leaving. She walked with me in silence as we passed through the gates to her manor, receiving polite goodbyes from Elly.

Reaching the end of her dream world, I nodded politely and stepped back into her garden in the real world. Taking to the skies, I could see that it was late; it seemed that time in the dreamworld was mostly one-to-one, or at least Yuuka kept it that way.

As I flew back home, I felt the Grimoire pulse once and settle down. While I didn't feel anything directly, the hairs on my reapplied Alter Self stuck up for a moment before settling down.

Shrugging my shoulders, I continued on my way home while reviewing what I planned. I had to go back to Yuuka's the day after tomorrow; fighting Tenshi again was also on that list, and heading to the Moriya Shrine to talk to the gods there.

I also had a faint plan to talk to Patchouli again, as she did ask for my help in some experiments. Walking inside my home, I started marshaling my thoughts and devising a proper plan.

Tomorrow, I would head to Moriya Shrine and talk to the gods there, then if I had time would talk with Patchouli. That would likely take the entire day, meaning Yuuka's training would be next, followed by Tenhsi's fight if I had time.

Nodding confidently, I entered my house before freezing as a few thoughts came over me; I didn't need to sleep, and to be honest, that fight with Yuuka had revealed quite a few flaws with my gear which I wanted to get fixed.

I took a minute to retrieve the underwear I had used as a base to enchant a teleportation spell. Looking at it now, I scowled at how awful it was.

It had taken me days to make this shoddy enchantment, and while it had worked quite well, it had significant issues. The biggest was the issue of telefragging, and if I teleported any farther than twenty to thirty feet, the accuracy became even worse. I was lucky that I hadn't gotten fused with the ground.

It was also the fact I used cloth as the base, which only exacerbated those issues. My skills, combined with my divine nature, allowed me insight into what would work best. There were several gems and stones that would be acceptable; however, the best was moonstone.

I then had a quite mad idea; I knew that moonstone was a gem, but what if I used an actual stone from the moon? I could get to it easily and didn't need to breathe.

My smile broadened as that thought as I picked up my parasol and strode out into Gensoyko, it was approaching nighttime, and I could see off in the distance the human village settling down for the night.

One strange thing was that despite the sun setting, it was still very bright, but I shrugged that off and continued on my way. I didn't want to travel to either Earth Bet of my homeworld to head up to the moon as they both had issues.

The first was because no matter how powerful I was, I did not want to face the Simurgh without preparation or some other instant kill move. The second was because I didn't know if my home's moon would have enough magic for the moonstone to work with my enchantments.

However, I didn't have any method of traveling to space inside of Gensoyko because my method used folding space, and Gensoyko was enclosed in a barrier.

That meant I needed to head outside for a bit, but I had never been there, which meant I needed somebody's help to head outside.

I think my best bet was Reimu, as she was the shrine maiden, at least partially in charge of the barrier. I was pretty sure that was the case; it had been a while since I had played any of the Touhou games, so I could be wrong.

Flying over to the shrine, I noticed that nobody was outside, which likely meant that Reimu was inside having dinner or something. I didn't want to bother her, but I'm sure a donation and assurance that I only needed it this time would help smooth things over.

Walking up to the donation box, I reached inside the Gap and retrieved ten thousand yen. It was the equivalent of a hundred dollars, something I would never have considered before I found the Grimoire. I could be more generous now that I didn't need money for things and had a good source.

Placing the money in the box, I knocked polity at the door before stepping back and resting my hands on the handle of my parasol that I put into the dirt tip first.

A few minutes later, I heard the sound of shuffling feet, and the half-clothed form of Reimu emerged on the doorstep, eyes blurry as she clutched the strange ribboned wand in her hand.

"Apologies, but I am requesting your assistance to cross over the barrier," I said politely as I winced internally; I didn't know she was sleeping, but if she could help me, this would be quick.

Looking at me dumbly, she rubbed her eyes with her free hand. "You woke me up to transport you across the barrier? You came here. It's mostly a one-way trip." She grumbled, evident irritation in her tone, which caused me to marshal my thoughts for a rebuttal.

"I simply wish for you to assist me this once I do not require any more aid after this," I replied calmly, causing her to groan and gesture with her ribbon wand.

"Alright, leave; if I catch you causing any problem, I'll track you down and exterminate you, understood." She threatened me in a manner that would have been more threatening if she hadn't been half-dressed and sleepy, but I nodded solemnly all the same.

"Of course," I said, stepping through the small shimmer in the air as the Grimoire grew; it faded as I emerged in a dilapidated shrine that, once repaired, could have looked almost identical to the once in Gensokyo.

Walking outside the shrine, I looked up at the sky, seeing the stars and the moon slowly rising. Breathing, I focused and folded space dozens of times until I could take a single step and arrive on the moon's barren surface.

Allowing space to stretch back to normal, I took a gasping breath. I had folded space like this before, but this was so much bigger than any other time I had tried; I had managed to travel over two hundred thousand miles in a single step, and the effort was tiring.

The atmosphere was thin, and as I walked, I had to put effort into not bounding across the surface. Turning around, I faced the Earth, and the sight stole my breath away.

I had always loved space and the vastness of what could be out there, and now I was standing on the moon, supported by my own magic and nothing else.

Bending down, I started retrieving rocks and clumps of moon dust; I was taking my time to simply walk around and grab a few here and there, but due to the abundance, it still didn't take much time.

Walking on the moon's surface, I could feel my divinity like a cloak hanging around me. It was thick and almost solid. I hadn't experienced anything like this before and luxated in that feeling.

It was like being surrounded by a warm heater in the middle of winter. There was something about the moon that invigorated me, and I knew leaving would suck.

I decided to enjoy my time here a bit longer and resolved to bring Komainu here to explore the moon. While there was little to see, I knew that the simple act of peering down on Earth should prove to be a great experience.

Standing back up after collecting another handful of moon dust, I decided that it was time to go home. As I was about to fold space for my return, I froze, feeling a faint trickle of higher-than-usual purity off in the distance.

The moon was very pure; however, even up here, there was a small amount of impurity that saturated the surface. However, I could sense that on the dark side of the moon was a much higher concentration of purity.

I had been ignoring it because, to me, the moon was practically wholly pure, and a slightly higher amount of purity didn't mean much compared to the Earth's natural state.

However, as I adapted, I could tell that off in the distance, it wasn't simply a higher purity concentration. It was more like my Purity Genreater in the sense that there were no impurities whatsoever.

Folding space, I traveled to the far side of the moon relatively quickly and felt a massive pocket dimension that resided there. This was something beyond the level of Gensoyko and anything I had ever seen. The outpouring of purity was so intense that, barring sufficient protection, most people would be unable to leave after only a few seconds.

I carefully opened a small hole in the barrier that enclosed the pocket dimension and slipped inside. Looking at the world, I was dumbfounded. This was an entire city identical to old ones on Earth.

Placing my parasol onto the ground, I marveled at the sight before me. Despite its old style that should not support such heights, this city was massive and towered to heights only skyscrapers could have.

Beneath my bare feet, I could feel the grass and saw an ocean off in the distance despite the fact we were on the moon. Whoever built this place was a genius, and it sent my inventor instincts running.

However, as I took a step forward, I felt a shift in space, and moments later, a woman was standing in front of me, a sword pointing at my chest.

She had faintly silver hair with a yellow ribbon tying it back into a low ponytail. Her dress was red with a small white shirt that appeared to be attached to the dress.

"What is your purpose here?" She asked bluntly as her long blade scraped my chest, not breaking the skin but presenting a threat nonetheless.

"I simply saw the pocket dimension and massive amount of purity, so I was interested. I do apologize for any problems I have caused." I replied, my hands staying on my parasol, not moving. I wanted to avoid testing her reaction time; being impaled would be painful and possibly lethal.

Her eyes narrowed as she searched my face. "Dismiss the illusion," She demanded in that no-nonsense tone, causing a bit of surprise. However, I did as she asked, revealing my skeletal face and burning green eyes.

At this, her face narrowed even more, and she frowned. "Apologies," She said as she pushed her blade into my breastbone, and then I could feel a gossamer-thin cloak of divinity drape over her as lightning exploded out of her sword.

While most people would lock up as their muscles spasmed, I didn't have any, so I managed to pull myself off the blade even as I felt ribs and other bones disintegrate as her barely there murderous intent still hurt me.

Coughing, I stepped forward, ignoring the women's sword slicing into my arm and decked her in the face. Brilliant scarlet blood trickled down her nose with a loud crunch as she stumbled back, stunned. Twisting my wounded arm, my parasol swung around for another shot at her head.

Despite being stunned by a blow to the head, her blade effortlessly parried my parasol and, in a twist, forced it out of my hand and managed to chop off the tips of my ring and pointer finger.

Snarling as stinging pain started spreading from my right hand, I swung that hand up in time to block another swipe that took my hand off at the wrist. However, as she prepared for another swing, I opened a gap and pulled out the flames of the Carcass Spark.

Directing them at the women, her eyes widened as she hopped back. The fire howled as it devoured air, purity and even managed to snag the edge of her cloak of divinity. Starting to climb its way up her body, she dismissed the divinity causing the vast majority of fire to vanish; however, the remaining started to expand and consume the surrounding air.

As the Flames of Agony surged and started to heal my wounds, I recalled my parasol into my left hand and tore a hole into the barrier separating the city from the moon's surface. As impurity began to rush in, I teleported back even as I could see dozens of figures emerging from the gates and running over to the woman I had just fought as she attempted to extinguish the fire that was continuing to spread.

I felt the Grimoire grow even as I fled, opening my Path and returning to my home. Quickly shifting it behind me back to the path that led to the Human Village inside Gensoyko, I ensured nobody from the moon could easily follow me.

Flying past my sunflowers, I slumped into my rocking chair, panting in fading shock and pain as the Flames of Agnoy did their painful work.

Sighing, I rubbed my brow as I decided to take a nap; it wouldn't be a full sleep, but from that stressful encounter, some relaxation was needed.

Standing up, I walked inside and saw the now regular sight of Komainu sprawled out in the bed. I knew I was pushing off my improvements, but I didn't want to be forging when I was tired and wanted to reflect on what I had just seen.

Ditching my new fairy clothes, I put on my original pajama pants and climbed into bed. Setting a mental note to get up early, I quickly fell into a deep slumber free from nightmares.

Powers Gained

Blessing without End

Blessing of Delirium: Once Delirium was known as Delight, but some event forever altered the youngest of the Endless into a twisted form. With the favor of Delirium, you never need fear this same fate. Your mind is a rock upon which madness breaks. Nothing, be it the passage of eternity or staring into the eyes of the Old Ones, may so much as scratch your sanity.

Friend of Fairies

Fairies, magical nature spirits that favor the light, though fickle and unorganized beings with no shared culture or civilization. The threat of their magic potentially supporting Zelda's armies was enough to have Cia begin hunting them at the dawn of the war.

In this world, fairies can be roughly divided into two groups of beings. Normal fairies like Link's speaker Proxi resemble small girls that could fit in the palm of your hand, each with insect wings and a magnificent glow that makes them appear as balls of light to those not close enough.

The other kind are Great Fairies, resembling giant red headed women with bizarre, revealing clothing and aquiline noses. Normal fairies live in the woods, while Great Fairies reside within fairy fountains and appear when prayed too.

Now, they and any other nature spirit you may find just loves you. Outside of just not being tricked by the more mischievous ones, you'll often find them coming to see you and generally being friendly unless you go out of your way to upset them. This is great, since both types have powerful magic, with Great Fairies turning the tides of numerous battles in the war.