Am I real or just an illusion? ~The Night Terror Incident

This collab is long as all hell, just saying.

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"Love Sign [Cupid's Enticing Arrow]!" The blonde witch declared a spellcard, and with it a bunch of heart-pointed arrows flew towards the winged devil at a very high speed. "Nuh-uh~. Sorry to tell you, Ms.Winged Devil, but I think you're going to have to deal with more opponents than just Ms.Hermit over there. I mean..." she cracked her knuckles. "I'm not all too happy about you almost killing me, you know? Although..." she looked around. "Now that I think about it... You're quite outnumbered, aren't you? I mean, we're 2 witches, 1 oni and 1 vampire against... well. You." she winked towards the makaian witch.

If the devil had easily avoided Flandre’s danmaku, in Ellen’s case she didn’t even look at them. Eye still locked on Kasen, smirk plastered on her face, she slammed her remaining wing against them, swatting them away as if they were insects.


“Amusing. Ants are ants. One of them, two of them, three of them… It doesn’t matter. Then can all be squashed with just a single stomp.” She grinned at the oni in front of her.

Then a red light engulfed her, quickly building up until it exploded with a deafening boom. Gengetsu jumped back, the fabric of her shirt had melted itself with the skin in her arms as she had shielded her face from damage. The remaining wing had been half exploded in the process.

Letting her arms slump down, the devil’s eyes finally removed themselves from Kasen and stopped on Yuki.

The flames hugging the witch seemed to grow more intense each passing second. “What happens to flies, then, when their wings are plucked away?” Her voice was tinged with barely contained anger. “Aren’t they as easily squashed?”

Seizing the opportunity, Kasen lunged at the devil once again, a claw starting to twitch away from the bandages, but as she swung her arm, she lost balance and swaying to the side she clumsily fell on the ground in what would’ve been comical if it wasn’t for the situation they were in.



The young vampire took out a spellcard and charged straight towards the devil. "Demon Sword [Dáinsleif]!" her trademark weapon coated itself in a scarlet aura, gaining the shape of a long sword. She grasped the scarlet-colored sword with both hands, and swung it at Gengetsu with all the strength she could muster.

The blonde witch sighed upon seeing Flandre materialize that sword. 'Ah... It's at times like these when I wish I was a more combat-focused witch...' she thought, before quickly creating a bunch of magic circles that began firing lasers and heart-shaped bullets towards the winged devil.

Gengetsu was expecting Flandre’s attack and she jumped back to avoid it. Or so was her plan, but a strong bandaged hand grabbed her ankle and she lost balance, the sword swiftly zipped down slashing her across the chest and the ground bellow. Blood splattered all over while the devil’s eyes trembled in a silent scream. Gritting her teeth in pain and anger, she pointed her hand as she was falling, still, and shoot an energy blast point black at the vampire.

Red, fire runes danced in front of Flandre and as the blast connected to it, it quickly deflected the attack back at Gengetsu, sending her frying off for the second time.

"[True Divine Spear: Blue Tierce]!" The scarlet sword Flandre was carrying broke into small, scarlet-colored, fragments of energy. The fragments morphed into small spears, a few of them changing colors until forming a small rainbow. With a movement of Flandre's hand, the spears all flew at high speed towards Gengetsu.

"Alluring Mist [Love Token]!" The moment Ellen declared the spellcard, a spinning magic circle formed right under the winged devil. The circle began creating a thick pink mist all around her, clouding her vision.

Yuki stood in there, looking at the charging vampire, her chest going up and down as her breathing good progressively more labored. No, it wasn’t right. This wasn’t right. Something was surely off. This was easy, too easy.

“Hey, Kasen… What did you do to Mugetsu’s…” Her eyes shifted to the hermit who was now on her knees baring all the looks of someone that wasn’t alright. Hand over her pale face, there was droplets of sweat freely sliding down her face. “H-hey… are you ok?”

“I don’t think so… I don’t…” She felt sick to her stomach.

A yellow dome formed around Gengetsu, effectively shielding her fallen form from the spears. The sharp objects broke through the thick mist and rained on the shield, cracking it slowly as the devil sit up, cleaning the blood from her broken mouth.

Yuki hadn’t sensed anything, no magical interferences, no spells. Then, what would…

Eyes widening as the pieces connected in her head, she rushed to the spike Gengetsu had summoned earlier. It wasn’t even needed to look at the tiny, green droplets trailing down the tip, the melting rocks on the ground were indicator enough.

Ellen clenched her fists as she watched the scene. She turned her head slightly to look at Yuki, and spoke to her in a low tone. "Yuki... What do you need to seal that winged devil?"
Gengetsu stepped out of the mist, chuckling lightly.

Clenching her hands into fists, Yuki grit her teeth.

She knew what it was needed...

“Mai, Good morning!” Came Yuki’s cheerful voice followed by the obligatory hug.

“Good morning.” Was Mai’s usual unenthusiastic greeting as she lost count to the times she wondered if the blonde had ever been introduced to the concept of personal space.

Time continued to pass and Yuki had gotten used to Mai’s cold demeanor, and Mai to Yuki’s bubbly and clingy nature. To anyone’s eyes the two girls had become inseparable.

It was a symbiosis of two pole-opposite people.

Yuki was the happiest she had ever been. Her bursts of auto-combustion had ceased completely, she had no idea if the lack of control on her part had been something emotional or mental, but her gut told her that Mai balanced her out. It turned out that the blue haired girl was a witch well versed in ice magic and the coldness that naturally exuded from her body had become a foil to the blonde’s wild fire power. And suddenly she didn’t need to worry she’d accidently hurt someone, Mai included.

They formed an amazing team, together they were a force to be reckoned with and when sparring matches were up no one wanted to face the ‘Freezer Burn Duo’. When fighting, they had a synergy that was rare to find, almost as if they read each other’s thoughts and moved accordingly.

And that was why, when Gengetsu and Mugetsu ran amok with Lady Shinki away, they were the ones tasked with sealing them. None else could. Not Yumeko, not Louise. Together as one they were the only ones who could manage.

“Do you know any immobilizing spell?” Yuki started lowly, eyes fixated on Gengetsu.

Ellen nodded slowly. "It's thunder-based, so it might sting her a bit, but I don't think you'll mind that much~. ... It's quite basic, though. So if you need something advanced..."

“As long as it works, it gives me time to prepare the sealing spell. When I start it she’ll get immobilized anyway and you can focus on sealing her too then.” The makaian witch replied as she narrowed her eyes.

Gengetsu looked at them and raised her hand to her shoulder level and shoot another of her beams.

“Look out!” Yuki jumped out of the way as she saw the devil looking at her in the eyes, smirking amused.

Ellen took off to the skies as soon as she saw the beam firing. Once she was high enough, she put her right hand behind her back, two fingers out, and began tracing a magic sigil in the air with it, all the while she was muttering some words under her breath. Her left hand was holding a spellcard. 'Let's hope this works...'

Yuki started running towards Gengetsu as she pointed her index finger at her. She said something in makaian and fireballs started raining down on her.

The devil dodge someone them and blew the others apart with her left hand, pointing the right at Yuki once again. “Just give up. I’ll give you all a quick death.”

Ellen finished tracing the magic sigil, and immediately snapped her fingers.

A golden magic circle formed under Gengetsu, and almost immediately, electrical surges at high voltages started to run all over her body, paralyzing it. Ellen landed quickly near Yuki. "I dunno how long the spell is going to last so start sealing her already!"

Gengetsu clenched her teeth as electric surges danced all over her muscles, she fell to her knees and her anger filled orbs looked at both witches.

Without so much as a nod, Yuki started whispering something, the flames around her whirled wildly generating a gust of warm wind, warning Ellen it was probably a good idea to stand back.

The sigil she had casted the first time reappeared under Gengetsu and it started glowing, the glow increasing to each pronounced words.

The devil, however, chuckled despite the painful shock. “Again? You’re too weak!”

But Yuki refused to listen, she kept enunciating her incantation.

Ellen took a few steps back when she saw Yuki starting to cast the spell. She then turned to face Gengetsu, a hand on her hip. "She may be weak, yeah. But she's not the one being shocked and unable to defend herself, is she~?" she giggled.

The sigil started glowing stronger with Yuki still whispering words, her flames starting to increase even more and strain plastering itself on her face. Her limbs were trembling and she was visibly having more difficulty to keep the spell going than she had had the first time.

Gengetsu chuckled as her body regained its control. “Has no one ever told you to gloat only when you’re absolutely sure you’ve won?” The devil looked completely unaffected by what was going on.

Ellen gritted her teeth as she saw Gengetsu starting to break free from the spell she had casted. Her eyes shifted to look at the makaian witch. "Yuki, please hold in there a little longer...!" she turned over to look at the winged devil again and began drawing a magic sigil in the air as fast as she could, attempting to strengthen the paralyzing spell.

Gengetsu looked at Yuki, who was closing her eyes with effort, getting harder and harder for to keep focus. If it wasn’t for the flames around her, she would be drenched in sweat.

Kasen had attempted to stand up but she really couldn’t anymore. Her head was hanging down, her limp hands still feebly holding the young vampire’s.

Inseparable, that was what everyone thought they were.

Maybe Yuki herself had thought so too. But when they finished their studies, Mai became more distant and despite her efforts to stop it from happening, the blue haired witch didn’t seem too keen on that.

And so she decided to go live in the lighthouse near the sea. No one lived nearby, the air, filled with humidity, helped make her flame outbursts less frequent and she enjoyed the sound of the waves. They were calming.


“You thought… I was too cowardly for that?”


Being alone was a matter of getting used to… once again. She had figured.

But now she couldn’t get used to it. She didn’t know what it was or why it happened, something inside of her hurt. It was the kind of pain that wasn’t searing, but was always there, hurting faintly yet ever present. It hurt.


Tears started trailing down her eyes but she forced a victorious smile.

“Didn’t you imply I had no friends?”


Mai came to visit from time to time. It was a rare occurrence.
The girl would find her no matter where Yuki was, she didn’t know how she did that and never bothered asking.

The ice witch would barely utter a word, letting Yuki do the monologues and then leaving.

Yuki wondered why she bothered to visit at all.

And it still hurt. And Yuki had nothing to do to stop it from hurting.

She valued their friendship so much and yet… yet…
Maybe it was just her.

She hid herself behind a mask of cheerfulness and decided to never leave thinking that, at least… at the very least…

It had been fun playing friends with Mai.


“You’re right… I don’t…” Yuki forced a bigger smile, the tears never stopping. “So… tell me… what would stop me?”

The blonde witch's whimpers stopped the moment Gengetsu dropped to the ground... But her terror increased tenfold the moment she recognized what the red sigil beneath the winged devil's meant.


"Hey, Ellen." a young blonde girl in a blue dress said, while looking at an open book filled with words she didn't understand. "What are these spells about? They have this weird liquid coming out of the pages..." and as she said that, she used her finger to catch one of the red drops coming out of the book, and brought it to her mouth to have a taste of it... When suddenly, a hand kindly grabbed her arm, stopping it.

A blonde witch-in-training shook her head in disapproval, as she closed down the book the girl was looking it. "Jeez... I should lock this one, but it's so hard when the chains keeping it sealed get oxidated because of the blood..." she let out a sigh. "Those are Blood Magic spells. Remember how I told you that advanced healing spells required a lot of energy from the user and could end up in negative effects?" the witch received a small nod from her friend. "Well, these spells are like that. They use blood as a catalyst, and every time you use one, an amount of your life energy is taken out from you, proportional to the power of the spell used." she explained slowly, as she put the grimoire back on the shelf it belonged. "They're another kind of forbidden spells, like Necromancy, if only because of the devastating spells they can have, both on the targets and on the caster. But, to be honest, the most powerful spells involve the death of the caster, and most magicians don't have the guts to actually spend their life on one shot that can be nullified or protected against. So, the only people who really use these kind of spells are vampires and demons. The kind of stuff you shouldn't worry about, basically, as they're too stupid to even kill a fly." she giggled slightly.


"Yuki, stop it! You're going to kill yourself if you finish casting that spell!" Ellen yelled towards the makaian witch. "Don't throw your life away like that, you idiot! You still have a lot to live for! And you do have friends who would miss you, I'm sure of that!"

“We… have no more…choices left.” Yuki said. “…I can’t…seal her…alone… nor with your help… Mai is… Mai was…” She didn’t continue. It didn’t matter.

The witch’s body trembled in pain, and fear and because of her sobs. “You… got dragged into this mess, I can't let anyone else... die. She should’ve… never left the Dream World… it’s Makai’s fault.”

She looked at Gengetsu as she struggled futilely against the spell.

“This is our problem to fix.” Yuki said, inhaling. “And this is our only option…” Her hand trembled, she urged it to stop, she urged her brain to stop hesitating, to stop being afraid, to simply stop. Her teeth clenched and her tears were still clouding her view. Deep inside she apologized to Lady Shinki, she apologized time and time again. She had always been the only who genuinely cared.

"No no no no! Stop it!" she yelled towards the makaian witch, hurrying over in her direction but stopping quickly. Entering the range of the spell would get her killed as well, and she knew that. "Stop it, Yuki! Don't you dare finish that spell! If you do, I'll grab your corpse and hit it until your life energy comes back, you hear me?! And after that, I'll drag it over to Makai so that you can apologize to that Shinki lady for being an idiot and sacrificing yourself!"

“Ahaha…” Yuki closed her eyes, smiling for a moment, listening to her own heart beat hammering in her ears, the ultimate proof she was alive.

And she could hear the wind, could feel the setting sun… and almost, almost feel the waves hitting the rocky cliff next to her home. She opened her eyes, looking at Gengetsu.

Alive too, still. A creature not much different from herself.

Ironic that something as precious as a life could be snuffed away in an instant.
There would be nothing left of the devil. Her body would die, her soul would be destroyed and she would never be ever again.

And that was what it should have been.

Yuki smiled, calmly. In the end, at the very least, she had served a purpose.

“Please… tell Lady Shinki I’m sorry…” Her eyes narrowed and the sigil activated.

The blood floated around the devil, it glowed in a deep red.

The devil twitched and hugged herself, finally screaming in pain despite the fact that nothing seemed to be harming her on the outside, but any other magician would know Gengetsu’s very blood was boiling. Her heart would soon explode inside of her chest and it would kill her.
Yuki could feel it all, the winged girl’s boiling heart, the pressure increasing.

And her sight, covered in dark spots, getting darker and darker.

It was scary. But it would be over soon.

It wasn’t flashy, it wasn’t impressive in any way. Gengetsu stopped writhing and with her eyes rolling to the back of her skull, she fell limply to the ground, her screams dying out completely and being replaced by a cold, stilled silence.

Yuki watched her final moments, listening to her own breathing subsiding slowly but unavoidably. She closed her eyes. The sigil dispelled itself into tiny pools of blood.

‘I’m sorry… Lady Shinki…’ Was her last thought.

And then darkness came, and along with it nothingness.

The blonde witch stared at the corpses of both the winged devil and the makaian witch. Her own eyes seemed lifeless as well. 'This... is all my fault... If only I had listened to her, she would still be alive... None of this would have been necessary... And now...' she looked down to her feet, tears falling down to the ground. But, after a few whimpers, she stopped and raised her head. She wiped the tears off her face. There was something else more important to do right now. Ellen rushed over to the winged devil's corpse and searched through her entire body and clothes, not leaving a single part out. She needed to find that antidote, or else what Yuki did would have been in vain.

And there it was. On the winged devil's waist, inside a tiny pouch. Ellen carefully took out a very tiny vial, not much larger than a match. Had she not looked thoughtfully, she could have very well missed it. She let out a sigh of relief, but it was not over yet. Hopefully Kasen was still alive. She rushed over to where the hermit was, and gently forced the antidote down her throat. 'Please... please... Please let this work...'

Slowly the hermit’s eyes batted open, they automatically adjusted themselves to Flan’s slumbering face, still laying on her lap. She took a few moments to remind herself what was the last thing she remembered from her last moments awake and then, with a gasp, she looked around.

“Elle…!” She trailed off, looking to a make shift fireplace the witch had built to fend off the coldness of the night. Ellen was sitting in front of it, absentminded.

The blonde witch shifted her eyes slowly to look at the hermit. "Oh. You've finally woken up. Took you some time, Ms.Hermit." her face seemed completely devoid of any type of emotion.

“Ellen… are you hurt?” She looked worried. “What happened? Where’s Gengetsu? And Yuki?” Kasen’s eyes looked around, she couldn’t see much in the dead of the night but she tried to anyway.

"Dead. Both of them." she said, rather coldly. "And it's my fault."



“What…?” Kasen trailed off. The words caught in her throat and the palm of her hands felt sweaty. Her hand holding Flan’s more strongly now. “…What… happened?”

The blonde witch stared at the fireplace in absolute silence. "We had managed to lock Gengetsu down, and Yuki was starting to seal her... But then she started taunting me... I thought she was breaking free from the spell I casted to lock her down so I tried to strengthen it and... I messed it up and the winged devil got free." she said, in a monotone voice. "Yuki got impaled and I thought that Gengetsu was going to kill me... But then Yuki managed to get free and..." she lowered her head. "She casted a Blood Magic spell to bring Gengetsu down with her... I tried to stop her, but... Yeah, you can guess that I didn't manage to do so."

The hermit clenched her bandaged hand. “How long was I unconscious?”

"A few hours, probably. I didn't count the time that was passing." Ellen answered, her coldness never going away. She didn't even bother to look towards the hermit, for that matter.

Kasen looked at her bandaged hand. “I see…” She looked at the young vampire on her lap and gently laid her on the ground.

The hermit stood up and walked to the middle of the cemetery.
She shut her eyes and inhaled, then extended her bandaged hand forward.

“From the darkness I must enter into a dark path. Shine afar, moon on the edge of the mountains.”

A strong gust of wind blew past the hermit, making the flames in the fireplace sway and crackle.

Around her, hundreds of tiny little orbs of flames appeared, burning faintly amidst the darkness of the night, some of them light blue, others a murky purple, others a sick green. They all seemed to have life of their own and despite their lack of eyes, they all seemed to be staring at Kasen intensely.

Ellen shifted her eyes to look at the hermit. "Kasen? What are you doing...? Are you trying to summon some evil spirits or something?"

The hermit said nothing, she looked at the fire orbs floating around her analyzing them, she kept walking until she found a very weak, almost extinct orb, burning feebly in blue.

Kasen exhaled, she whispered something to it and then closed her bandaged hand over it, making it disappear as if by magic.

She turned to Ellen. “I can’t summon anything but my pets.” Her arms stopped at her waist as she walked back. “In a place like this, you don’t need to. They’re everywhere already.” Her head turned to look at the orbs. “I just made them visible.”

The blonde witch looked at Kasen's bandaged hand. "And why exactly would you do such a thing? Didn't you say these things were dangerous?"

“Muenzuka…” Pink orbs looked at the vastness of the cemetery. “…a place where resentment, anger and despair reigns. A place for wraiths and…” She closed her eyes. “lost souls.” Her bandaged hand glowed blue for a second. “Not all of them are dangerous. Some of them are just confused, unable to return to where they belong and... inevitably doomed to either turn into vengeful spirits or simply or eclipse to nothingness.”

"Wait... So that soul you grabbed... Is it...?" Ellen stopped herself and bit her own lip. "Great, as if the guilt wasn't bad enough already..."

Kasen approached her and smiled, there was a look of understanding in her eyes. Her bandaged reached and petted the witch’s head warmly.

“You only figured part of it.” She looked at Ellen’s eyes, a more serious expression on her face. “Souls that don’t belong here aren’t bound by the same rules we are. We can’t argue against the Yama or how the old gods decide things but… Yuki is from Makai and Makai has its own goddess.”

Ariezza Pls notice me so we can collab- Pikmin is now desperate!

The girl continued to patrol on the steps of the Myouren Temple, acting like the personal guard for a temple that didn’t need guarding. After having her little episode to herself, she had gathered her thoughts and was ready to go exploring once again.

“This above ground sun is becoming rather harsh…” The gothic girl explained to an invisible audience, who treated the situation like they were controlling her movements, making her suffer, making her have sudden flashbacks after big events.

But she was growing tired of treading her past, it was time to spread her wings.

“I did promise herthat I’d return to herdominion in hell. “She explained out loud as her feet lifted up, followed by her body as the girl was now ready to move to the place she always belonged.
Hell.

It's everyone's favourite collab duo!

what. I'm running out of ideas to put here.

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The green-haired sprite landed in Muenzuka, reaching the place after following the directions from some fellow fairies who spoke of a danmaku battle going on in the area. 'Yuki wasn't in the forest so I imagine that she should be around here, but...' she looked around. 'I don't see her... Or any battle for that matter. Maybe I was too late?' she spotted a fireplace not too far away from her position. 'Hmm... I wonder if...' she slowly started walking towards the fireplace, just to see if there was anyone there that could tell her where the makaian witch had gone. "Uh... Hello?"

For a split second, there was a huge claw under the fairy, ready to crush her into bits, but it dissipated itself, almost as if it had been just a trick of the mind, as soon as Dai spoke.

“Who’s there?” Came a question.

'How do I manage to keep getting myself into trouble...' Dai sighed. "Uh... I'm Daiyousei, a sprite. I'm looking for a witch named Yuki..."

The hermit thought for a second and was reminded that Flan had mentioned the fairy before.

“I know who you are then.” Kasen closed her eyes, her voice a lot more welcoming than before.. “You can come closer.”

Dai was hesitant to get closer. How did this person know who she was? What assured her that this person was not in cahoots with the ripper, who might've known about what happened in the Dream World by now? She put her hand over where she was keeping her spellcards, ready to counter at the slightest threatening movement, and walked over to where that person was. Once she was near enough to get a better look, the fairy let out a small audible gasp upon seeing the horns on the pink-haired hermit's head.

*BGM: Gloomy Feeling (Phantom Brave)*

A faint smiled showed up on the hermit’s lips.

“I’m sorry if I scared you. But…” Her eyes went from the barely lit body of the makaian witch to Flan and Ellen. “At this point, I can’t take any more chances.” She added weakly.

"I... I understand..." The sprite looked in the direction of the makaian witch's body. '... Please tell me she's just...' she sat down in front of the hermit. "Uhm... What happened? I heard from other fairies that there was a battle going on..."

“We fought Gengetsu, the one behind the attacks on the Village.” The pink haired woman looked at the fire. “We had a hard time fighting her but…” She went quiet for some seconds. “Thanks to Yuki, she’s now gone for good. She won’t trouble anyone any longer.”

Deep in her mind, she tried to shove away the voices yelling at her about how useless she had been in the fight and that maybe, maybe if she had been more cautious, Yuki wouldn’t have had to lose her life to save them all.

"I see..." The fairy looked straight into the hermit's eyes. "I'm glad that that person has been dealt with... And I suppose everyone came out alright?" she noticed the hermit's sad expression. "... They did, right?"

Kasen nodded negatively. As she quietly looked at Yuki, she hoped the silence was telling enough.

The fairy lowered her head. "I... I see..." she rubbed her eyes. "Uhm... I don't think I quite got your name...?" she said, desesperately trying to change the conversation's topic.

“Kasen.” Her eyes focused on the fairy’s. “Kasen Ibaraki.”

The hermit seemed to be pondering something as she looked at the green haired girl in front of her. “You’re one of Flan’s friends, aren’t you? She talked about you before.”

The ascended fairy looked at the vampire that was resting on Kasen's lap. "Well... I did say I would be her friend..." she looked back at Kasen. "I just so happened to meet her while I was looking for Marisa, and I had to calm her down when an ice fairy friend of mine made her want to kill us both." She said, scratching her cheek. She stared at her hands for a few moments. "That's pretty much it, though. We kind of separated after that and I... well. Let's just say I got in quite a bit of trouble..."

“And now you came here checking on a fight.” The hermit breathed out. “I think this Incident already has enough people involved. You are just going to get into more trouble if you involve yourself further.”

Kasen closed her eyes for a moment. It wasn’t something that happened often but she was feeling tired. “Marisa ran off with Alice, for better or worse I don’t think that will miss her this time around.”

Dai let out a nervous laugh. "I think it's too late for me to not involve myself further, Ms.Ibaraki..." she sighed. "Just until recently, I've been captive in the Dream World, you see. I trusted someone way too much and then I got betrayed and well. The culprit threw me into a cage." She forced herself to smile a little, trying to reassure herself. "Besides, I'm a fairy. Death is not too much of a problem for me!"

Kasen opened her eyes, surprised. “The Dream World? How did you get there?” She nodded negatively. “What did you see there?”

Dai looked to the side. "I thought that, since the culprit could take the form of one's fears and nightmares, maybe I could find out something if I went to the Dream World. I met someone, a youkai named Yuuka Kazami who told me that she knew how to get there. I followed her and... well... I already told you how that ended." she turned back to face the hermit. "As for what I saw, well. Sadly, I didn't see much of the Dream World before I got taken captive. I fell unconscious and when I woke up I was already in a cage. Moreover, I couldn't see the culprit's face so. If there was anything of note back there, it was--" she bit her lip, stopping herself. "... Nevermind, it's not important."

“No, it is important. Any new information is.” The hermit’s eyes frowned. “What did you see?”

Dai stood silent for a few minutes. "There... There was another girl in the culprit's lair. A poltergeist. Her name was Layla. She...." the fairy hesitated a little before going on. "The culprit was using her as a link to get into Gensokyo."

In her mind, the hermit put all the pieces together. She finally understood how something that didn’t belong to that world suddenly had.

“So… that how it is…” She focused her narrowed eyes on the sprite. “And since you were hesitant about sharing the information, I reckon she isn’t simply a victim but also a perpetrator.”

The sprite simply nodded. "But... She's not really at fault. I heard the whole story from her... The culprit just tricked her..."

“I understand it…” Kasen eyes looked at the sky as the morning sun started to rise. “People make mistakes and some of them aren’t easy to forgive or even forget. Every single creature in this world has to bear their own sins.” She looked back at Dai. “That being said, you shouldn’t be that trusting of people, you’re clearly too nice for your own good. Nice people are easily tricked.

The fairy lowered her head. "Yeah... I don't think I'm ever going to forget that lesson after all of what's happened."

“So, you were trapped in a cage… in an unreachable place… And yet you are out. How did you manage that and where is the Layla girl?”

"Ah, that. Well, I had an idea. Basically, since the culprit was using Layla as a way to get into Gensokyo, I thought that maybe, I could exploit the link to nature I have as a fairy with her help and use it to contact some other fairy who could maybe ask for help. And it worked, I managed to contact a friend who told Reimu about what happened." she sighed in relief. "Reimu eventually came over to the Dream World and got me out of the cage. As for Layla... It would be too dangerous if she were to enter Gensokyo since the culprit was still around and it could easily take control of her, so Reimu stayed in the Dream World with her."

“Reimu what…?!” She would’ve face palmed if she could. “What is that idiot doing, going there by herself? Who knows what can happen! If the ripper is powerful here, it only gets worse there!”

"But the ripper wasn't in the Dream World by then! And regardless, she has dealed with this kind of stuff before, hasn't she!? She'll be fine!"

The blonde witch groaned a little. "Stop yelling, I wanna sleep..."

Kasen’s brow twitched. ’Well, at least she’s feeling better…’ She frowned her brows and kept talking in an angry whisper. “But there hasn’t been an Incident like this before!”

The fairy lowered her tone as well. "Well, yeah, but still...!" she started biting her nails. She had talked more than she should've and messed up.

“Aah… this is bad…” Kasen growled to herself.

In the hermit’s head, trying to come up with a priority for the things she had to do was becoming increasingly hard, and seemingly impossible.

They had to take Yuki to Makai as soon as possible, a soul couldn’t simply remain outside its container indefinitely, with time it would feel more and more disconnected to its body until it no longer recognized it as its own. And that would be it, the soul would have to be released to be judged by the Yama or simply destroyed so that the reincarnation cycle would forever be avoided.

Marisa’s situation was problematic, and it too relied on a time limit. A limit she wasn’t certain they had already passed. If they didn’t hurry, if they failed, then the witch would no longer be herself and, in the worst case scenario, her soul would be consumed and lost forever, she would die in the most final definition of the term. But at least she now knew where she was headed, or at least she hoped she was right.

And Reimu, the person responsible for Gensokyo’s balance, its existence even, had put herself in the wolf’s mouth, cockily, no doubt, thinking she could solve it on her own. If the culprits’ goal was to destroy Gensokyo, that would be the best opportunity to achieve it, given to them on a silver platter.

“Do you know what the ripper’s goal is? Did it mention anything?”

Dai shook her head. "No, I have no idea of what its goal might be. Other than it wants to get out of the Dream World."

“Damn it!” She gritted her teeth. “Damn it, Reimu, you stupid idiot!” Her eyes focused on the sprite again. “Do you know how to get to the Dream World? I mean, did Yuuka show you how to do it?”

Dai rubbed her chin. "Well, I was present when she opened a pathway to the Dream World so... Yeah I think I can get there. ... Wait, what are you thinking of doing?"

“The Dream World is vast but… If we at least now how to get there, we will just need a way to locate the place.” A pensive look was now plastered on her face. “I can’t let Reimu die, Gensokyo would likely die with her…”

The sprite looked at Kasen worriedly. 'I... I shouldn't have left Reimu and Layla in there...' "So, you're planning to go to the Dream World?"

“I have no choice.” She answered. “I need to find a way to locate the place first… Marisa might now about it.” Her eyes fell on Yuki again. “But I need to go to Makai…”

If there was something Kasen had learned during her long life it was the undeniable fact that she couldn’t save everyone. Life always came with difficult choices, and for an Oni standing in the middle of a battlefield, the pragmatic credo that choices had to be made ‘for the greater good’ was always the first thing to remember.

But now, she wasn’t standing on a battlefield alone. She had friends she could trust.

“If we want to save everyone, we’ll have to work in separated teams.”

Dai nodded. "I think I know what you're thinking of, but..."

Ellen and Flan snored almost simultaneously.

"You might want to wake them up or else you're going to have to explain the whole thing twice."

The sound of the sea hitting rock was now audible as they approached the lighthouse that Yuki had used as her home.

“I’m not looking for Lady Shinki.” Kasen started. “Unlike everyone would usually expect, she’s a gentle and sensible person. One of the few that harbor no hard feelings for us.”

Opening the door to the house, she whispered a respectful ‘sorry for barging in” and continued inside. The most immediate room was the kitchen, it had all the signs of someone that had to rush out of her home but had planned to return soon: the breakfast dishes were still in the sink, there was an half empty glass of tea on the counter, a to do list was hanging on one of the cupboards in emphatic bold letters.

“What kind of person would I be to tell her that someone she cared about has passed while holding her body in my arms?”

The fairy looked at the makaian witch's corpse. "Yeah, I see what you mean. You plan on leaving the body he--?" her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of steps entering the house and a voice speaking.

"Hey, Yuki!" as soon the voice spoke, the temperature inside the room seemed to drop a little. "The door was open so I know you're here. Where the hell have you been for the entire..." it was at that moment that the person who entered the house, a blue-haired witch with white wings on her back and carrying an ice spear, noticed the two beings that were already inside the house, and most notably, the familiar body that the pink-haired woman was carrying. She didn't even need to try and detect life energy with a spell, or take her pulse. One look at the corpse was all the witch needed.

Silence filled the room for a few moments.

*BGM: Lights Out (7th Dragon 2020-II)*

The oni did nothing but silently look at the ice witch’s eyes. She seemed absent-minded, the kind one tends to be when they have someone whispering in their ears.

The pink haired then turned on her feet, looking to a semi-opened door leading to a room where she had spotted a bed and then proceeded to walk there, laying the body down on the messy bed the witch clearly had had no time to compose before she left.

The fairy looked at Kasen as she was laying down Yuki's body, then turned to look at the still frozen in place witch. She walked slowly over to the winged girl. "H-hey, are you okay...?" Once the fairy got near enough, the ice witch quickly thrusted with the spear she was carrying, directly towards Dai's chest. The green-haired sprite was quick enough to react to the attack, but not quick enough to dodge it completely. The spear scrapped her arm, making a small cut on it. The fairy backed away and put her other hand over the cut. 'No, of course she's not okay. What was I thinking...'

A bandaged hand clasped the spear. “If you’re going to hurt my friends, them we’re going to have a problem.” She pushed the spear back. “If you have something to say, then say it. Or are you just confused as to who you’re angry at?”

The spear vanished with a cloud of ice dust. The ice witch looked straight into the hermit's eyes. "Do you or the stupid gensokyians who came here last time have anything to do with it?" she asked, rather coldly, as befitting of her element.

“If I said I did, what would you do, exactly?” Kasen asked nonchalantly, her coldness matching Mai’s.

"Is your strength compensating for your tiny brain, oni?" the witch said. "It's not hard to guess what I would do should you be involved with it."

“Oh, yes, I’m a dumb, idiot oni.” Kasen smirked. “Yes, we were involved. Oni tell no lies.” She approached Mai. “Maybe you can explain what you meant better now? Easily enough so I can understand.”

With a quick movement, the winged witch grabbed the hermit's neck. Yet, for some reason, she didn't actually made any kind of force on it. Instead, the ice witch started trembling.

The fake smirk Kasen had put up was replaced by her previous expression, her eyes softening up. She did nothing to remove the witch’s hand from her neck. “She kept talking about you, you know? Made you look like a fun person to be around. But whenever she did, there was always a sliver of sadness in her eyes.” She could feel the blue haired girl's hand shaking. "And yet, here you are, a magician devoted to the coldest of the elements, trembling." Her shoulders slumped slightly. "If you cared so much for her, why didn't you show it?"

The ice witch removed her hand from Kasen's neck. She then walked over to the room where the makaian witch's body was lying and looked at it for a few seconds, before turning back to the hermit. "I imagine that Gengetsu also had something to do with this?"

Kasen nodded, wondering how the witch knew about it. "Yuki killed her, she will no longer be a problem now." She frowned, that sinking feeling of uselessness forming on the pit of her stomach once again. "If it wasn't for her, we would've all died." Unconsciously, her hands clenched into fists.

The winged girl chuckled slightly. "I guess she finally did something useful, for once." she turned around to face the corpse of her companion. "Yuki was always a hindrance. She was way too careless and whenever we had to fight together, her inability to control her magic properly made me have to work double to fill in for her mistakes. Every day, I treated her like if she was scum, or a punching bag. I hoped that maybe if I kept treating her like that, she would stop bothering me and I would be able to work without any failure of a witch holding me down. But no, she never did. At the next day, she would always say 'good morning' with a big dumb smile on her face." the cold statements coming from the witch's mouth carried a sad tone with them. "Back when you Gensokyians invaded Makai, me and Yuki had to confront a bunch of them. ... I was the first one to be defeated. Yuki got enraged due to this and tried to single-handily take on the invaders. She lost, obviously. ... That time, it was the only time where I actually regretted treating her like how I had been treating her." she chuckled. "I should've apologized sooner."

“She considered you a friend.” Kasen crossed her arms. “When you care for someone, that’s what you do, even if they keep pushing you away.” She looked at Yuki. “You go after them because you don’t want them to be alone, you get angry when they get hurt, maybe more than you would if it had been with you.” The hermit looked at Mai. “But they usually don’t when they know the other person doesn’t feel the same way.”

Keeping souls didn’t unlock their memories to the keeper, it wouldn’t magically transfer their thoughts and past to them. Souls, were untamable. But the feelings and emotions alone vividly flowed to the keeper and with practice, you’d understand them even if you didn’t know who they were or had been.

“Have you ever asked why?”

Because she could feel that despite her cheerfulness, Yuki wasn’t, and probably hadn’t be in a long time, happy.

The ice witch didn't even bother to acknowledge the question. "What was your intention when you brought Yuki's body here?"

“Leave her in her home and then give the news to Lady Shinki.” The hermit looked at Yuki. “When people die, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are automatically gone. I’m sure even Makai inhabitants know that souls follow a cycle, as long as they don’t get destroyed. But each soul belongs to their own place, and a makaian soul would simply stop existing if it was left to wander Gensokyo.” Her bandaged hand opened its palm, and over it a tiny, ethereal flame hovered. “It wouldn’t be past Lady Shiki’s powers to bring her back.” She gently put her other hand atop the bandaged one, covering the flame. “Souls can’t be tamed. Not even by gods. They are their own owners and in only them rests the decision to return.” Kasen turned away and started walking away. “I have found the answer.”

The ice witch didn't even look at the hermit as she was leaving. She continued to look at her old companion with a sad expression on her face.