EPISODE EIGHT: TEARS OF THE LAST FULL MOON.

 

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Oogami Souma was deeply immersed in a disturbing dream that replayed the scene at the beach, where his childhood friend firmly rejected him, when electric shock rippled along every fiber of his existence and woke him up in a violent start. He fell from his bed in a loud thud. The pain that swept out from his back upon crashing against the wooden floor, however, was nothing compared to the sensation that was tearing his body into pieces. He was under the impression that a thousand needles were nettling his skin and an equal number of swords piercing his heart. He wanted to scream out so badly to release the mind-numbing pressure that was building rapidly inside him... yet he couldn�ft, for a lump was smothering any sound trying to come up his throat. Thrashing like a fish out of water on the floor, he could only clutch at his chest and wondered in pain and rage why such a thing like this was happening to him.

All of a sudden, his hands started to glow brilliantly purple in the dim light of the morning coming into his curtained window. From them the lightning came and concentrated into one single point in the confined space of his room. In one flash of ominous light, Raien the Lightning Blade came into existence. With the appearance of the Sword, his physical agony increased ten-fold. He found himself fervently wishing that the Elemental Blade had run him through instead.

Damn you, Raien! he cursed bitterly. It would seem that his worst fear had come true. Paying absolutely no heed to the advice of the High Priest – which he couldn�ft possibly follow given his situation anyway – he had tapped far too much into the power of the Lightning Blade. Now he had to pay the price for letting the soul of Raien invaded his own body. With his own soul, of course. He could feel the suction force the Sword was exerting upon him. He could hear its seductive voice singing softly in his head, urging him to let his guard down and allow it to unite with him while trying to pull his consciousness into its folds at the same time. He never imagined that Raien could be so shrewd a Sword.

You�fre not getting my soul today, or ever! he snarled fiercely in his head.

He focused his willpower into holding his ground against the Sword. After a vicious struggle with the cramp that had been ravaging his body, he managed to roll onto his stomach. Then he wielded every ounce of strength he could conjure to crawl toward the Sword while feeling as though he was carrying a boulder on his back. He knew that if he could just snatch the damned weapon, he might be able to impose his will upon the thing, seize control over its soul, and end this torment. Of course, it also involved the risk of having his own soul sucked into the Sword and imprisoned in there forever while that of Raien itself walked the Earth in his own body. The thing would probably return immediately to the side of its Master the Dark God and aided him in destroying the world. It was a scary thought, he must admit, but it wasn�ft as though he had a choice.

Souma never managed to discover what could have happened, it turned out. When he, after having advanced at the speed of a snail during the last fifteen minutes, had his right hand but an inch away from the blade of the Sealed Sword, the thing pulsed fiercely with flashes of purple light and hurled him against his bed. Souma gritted his teeth in utmost pain a swarm of colorful butterflies stormed across his vision. Damn you! he cursed again. Now, hopelessness rather than anger was welling in him. He could hear the footstep of doom coming nearer and nearer within every second that passed. His soul was slipping slowly away from his grasp. In but a few minutes, it would no longer belong to him.

It was only then did he realize that he was not alone in the room. Sitting cross-legged atop his desk at this very moment was a girl he had never seen before in his life. She was beautiful with her heart-shaped face, with her gray eyes that could suck in a man�fs soul and keep it there forever, with her long platinum-golden hair that parted somewhere behind her back and wreathed around her slender body like living water streams. The stiff collar of her long and snowy cape, lined with golden and silver threads and fluttering gently in the room despite the deathly stillness of the air, bore a crystal brooch in the shape of two pairs of angelic wings on either side. Souma sensed his stomach lurch. Although this girl was good-looking enough to make Himemiya Chikane look plain in comparison, she instilled something fear into him rather and admiration and worship. In front of him now was a Goddess carved from eternal ice and not a single scrap of human emotion. In front of him now was a doll that could strike fear out of the bravest heart.

It suddenly struck him that perhaps the supplier of his trouble this morning wasn�ft Raien after all. Tortured as he was, he could still feel the faint resonance of power between the stranger girl and the Sealed Sword. Yes, there was no mistake. In one way or another, she had succeeded in wrestling the control of his own weapon away from him and decided that she would use it to finish him off.

�gIt would seem that you prefer to prolong your suffering, Seventh Child of the Orochi,�h the girl said, her voice carrying the full force of an artic wind. �gToo bad, I have not the time to play with you.�h Her gray eyes became alight at the same time that power erupted within the Sealed Sword. �gThis is farewell.�h Her words rang across the room like the tolls of the bells of judgment while her right hand made a soft but sweeping motion from left to right.

An invisible force lifted Souma up from the floor, slammed him against the wall behind his bed, and pinned him there. Although the impact hurt him so much he could only let out a wordless cry, he was still able to realize how feeble he was against the platinum-haired intruder. Unseen binds were restraining his limbs. Raien�fs influence was disrupting the flow of his power, depriving him of the ability to save his own hide. All he could do was watch as the Lightning Blade, now balanced horizontally in the air, drew nearer and nearer toward his heart. Hopelessness all but seized him when the tip of the Sealed Sword touched the fabric of his sweat-drenched T-shirt.

Raien suddenly rang visibly in the air and hurled itself sideways, consequently making a cut on Souma�fs shirt but failing to inflict any wound upon his skin as it traveled to the other side of the room and plunged into a wall afterwards. The girl�fs gray eyes widened a fraction in surprise. She had to be realizing that whatever spell she had cast from the beginning of it all was being undone. She had to be noticing that torrential power was returning to Souma�fs body again while his bindings were being unraveled as quickly as they had been made. Her delicate mouth thinned into a straight line in anger. It was odd, seeing emotion on her stone-cold face.

�gRaien!�h he roared as he swung his hand toward the Sealed Sword. The Lightning Blade pulled itself out of the wall and flew back into his grasp. Incinerating the final restraints on his body with his weapon�fs fine lightning flows, Souma landed on his feet upon the bed, ready to launch his most deadly attacks against his enemy. He wouldn�ft mind if he ended up destroying in own room in the process. The only thing he cared about at the moment was the elimination of the stranger girl, who seemed to be able to control Raien at will. Yet, when he looked up again, she was no longer there. The room was once again empty save for himself. There was no trace left of the person who had just attempted to remove him from this world.

�gSouma, Souma!�h Kazuki-nii-san�fs voice called urgently outside Souma�fs room. �gYour sword almost poked my eyes out in the hallway. Are you alright?�h

He let Raien melted back into the air before he walked dejectedly to the door and opened it for his brother.

The High Priest, his tall frame clad loosely in his usual yukata, face white as a ghost, stared at the cut on Souma�fs shirt as he spoke breathily, �gWhat in Heaven�fs name....�h

�gDon�ft worry about it, nii-san,�h Souma replied darkly as he walked back to his bed, feeling pain jolting in his muscles with every step he took. �gEverything�fs fine,�h he lied.

�gBut....�h A shake of Souma�fs head cut the older man short. �gVery well,�h his adoptive brother said in resignation in the end. Terribly curious he might be, he still knew that if Souma didn�ft want to talk about something, nothing could force him to.

He sat down in a slump on the bed, his head spinning from the slew of questions blaring noisily inside. Who the hell was that girl? And why was she aiming for his life? And what had happened that stopped her from succeeding? He didn�ft think she was an Orochi. All seven of them he had already met. Each and every of their faces were already carved into his memory too deeply to be forgotten. True, he never discovered the real identity of the Eighth Head... but he was fairly certain that this girl was not her. The senses of power they gave out were heavens and earth apart. But then, with that reason excluded, he couldn�ft really understand why someone out of the ranks of the Orochi would want to kill him. It didn�ft make sense at all.

�gSouma, now that you are already awake, there�fs an errand I�fd like you to run for me,�h Kazuki-nii-san said, his voice strangely serious. Souma had a feeling that it was no coincidence that the man was outside his room when he was being attacked. The older man must have been about to wake him up for the errand he just spoke of. He glanced at the clock on his desk, which read seven in the morning, then turned his attention back to the High Priest, who was looking straight at Souma with an odd expression on his face.

�gWhat is it, nii-san?�h he asked. He barely succeeded in keeping the suspicion out of his voice.

The High Priest then dumped another puzzle on Souma�fs already mountain-high pile by telling him what he needed to do and where he had to go. Honest to the heavens above, the action Souma had to undertake and the name of his destination did not sound even remotely well together in light of what happened during his date yesterday. Still, what disturbed him most of all about this so-called errand was the last line his brother had told him before the man left his room, �gMay the Gods be with you.�h Chills slithered down Souma�fs spine.

 

***

 

Upon re-materialization atop the tiled roof of Shingetsu�fs Grand Hall, Rinne found herself being thoroughly scrutinized by two girls who stood but half a dozen feet away. The twins – no chance they were not, for they resembled one another like two petals of the same flower – had slender builds, long dark hair that fell to their waists, identically pretty faces, and a pair of penetrating dark eyes that were radiating too much defiance for their own good.

Insolent meddlers, she thought. Had it not been for them, she would have succeeded in taking the soul of the traitorous Orochi Seventh Head. Had it not been for them, she would have been one step nearer to her own goal. She could not believe such a good opportunity had slipped out of her hand just like that. Now that Raien was safely under the traitor�fs control again, there could be no telling when it could rise up once again against its owner so that Rinne could be given one more chance at eliminating the little eyesore. Furthermore, once Oogami Souma had learned of the consequences to his tapping too far into the Sealed Sword�fs powers, he would take steps to prevent them from happening again, Rinne was sure. Anger erupted in her like the content of a volcano that had been fuming for weeks.

Her gray eyes fell upon the meddlers again. Maybe if she could take out her anger on the twins, she could feel somewhat better. A quick assessment of their celestial strength, however, disabused her of the intention. Despite being slightly weaker than either of the Goddesses Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi, they were still too powerful for Rinne to handle. At the moment, they could snuff out her existence anytime they wished.

�gSei no Tsurugi no Rinne, I presume,�h spoke the girl on the left.

Rinne was surprised the moment she heard her full true name issued by a stranger. No matter who the twins could be, they were definitely dangerous. She only wondered if they were from Izumo. Probably not, she decided quickly. There were very few High Immortals in Heaven who could match either of the twins in power, and Rinne knew them inside out. Besides, the residents of the World of the Gods could have no business with her, the exile, the Eternal Sinner who was hated with a passion by their liege Lord.

Well then... that only leaves... she concluded, the Underworld.

�gI am Tsukazaki Haruhi,�h the girl continued. This is my sister, Fuyura. We are called the Crystal Rose Guardians, Chancellors to the Regent of the Underworld.�h

Chancellors to the Regent, Rinne repeated in her head. The two most powerful officials in Reiha, serving directly under the Mother of All herself. Rinne instinctively took a step backward at a thought of the female Maker of the World, at the explanation that just dawned upon her, and at the possibilities that it unleashed. It was no secret that given her kind-hearted nature, Izanami did not exactly take a liking to the way Rinne had been operating and scheming in the darkness of the Human World, pulling on strings of mortals and Orochi Heads alike. Worse, since the Regent was not as inflexible as Izanagi with regards to the rule forbidding divine intervention to human affair, she could easily ignore it and go after Rinne herself. And if Izanami decided to do just that.... Rinne shivered.

�gDo not fear,�h spoke Fuyura. Even her voice had the same pitch as her sister�fs. �gWe bear no ill will toward you and your puppets. You can be assured that we will do nothing to harm you or them.�h

�gBy the order of the Regent,�h Haruhi picked up smoothly where her sister left off, �gdo we come here to deliver this message. Receive and obey.�h From the girl�fs upturned palm an orb of light rose up and balanced itself firmly in the air. After a small gesture from the Crystal Rose Guardian, the thing flew toward Rinne and stopped upon reaching her hand.

�gNow that our goal has been met, please excuse us,�h said the twins in unison, seemingly aware of what one another was thinking in their head, as they offered Rinne a slight incline of their heads. Their appearance began to blur in the light of the dawning sun.

�gWait,�h Rinne commanded. �gYou have yet to explain why you saved Oogami Souma.�h

�gIt is quite obvious, actually.�h Haruhi smiled. �gWe saved him because he is still of some use. No need to let him die just yet.�h

�gOf use? To whom?�h Rinne frowned at the twin, whose transparent figures allowed her to see them through.

�gSomeone you have been watching this whole time, of course.�h Fuyura, too, smiled as she and her sister turned sideways and melted into the empty space beneath the cloudless heavens. �gPlease give our regards to the Dark God Yamata no Orochi, Rinne-san,�h their voice still lingered in her head.

 Rinne ignored that last sarcastic remark. Was the �gsomeone�h the two of them just referred to supposed to be the Priestesses? Which one? Himemiya Chikane? Kurusugawa Himeko? Or both? Rinne sighed. Fun as speaking in riddles might be sometimes, it was absolutely not so at the receiving end. She then looked at the orb floating above her palm. What could the absolute ruler of Reiha possibly want with her now after such a long time of letting her have her way?

 

***

 

From the top of the stone flight of stairs leading to the Grand Shrine of the Sacred Moon, Oogami Kazuki watched his little brother speed away on his motorbike. With his hand rubbing his forehead, he began to grow weary and disturbed at what he had seen and heard in the Enshrinement Chamber the night before. Less than eight hours ago, he had thought that everything was still going as planned, albeit a little slow due to the lack of recovery on the Kannazuki Priestesses�f part. Now, he didn�ft think so anymore. The whole thing had been blown way out of proportion... and his ability to exert influence upon how the events were going to unfold was as good as gone. He only wondered what the Immortals of Heaven would say once they learned of it.

Not something nice to hear, he imagined.

 

...

 

�gI, High Priest of Shingetsu Grand Shrine, welcome you back.�h Kazuki fell to one knee in front of the Priestess of the Moon. �gKannazuki Aoi-sama.�h

�gHow long have you known the truth, High Priest?�h Kannazuki Aoi, the Original Priestess of the Moon said to him in a voice that would make her eyes, ice-cold as they were already, seem friendly and warm. He shuddered from both the irrational fear that had sprung up in him at the sight of the master he had vowed to serve and the sense of power that was radiating in waves from her.

�gSince I was little, Aoi-sama,�h he replied after swallowing audibly. �gA secret Instruction has always been passed down the Oogami Clan, informing every generation of what we have to do for the day to come.�h

 �gAnd you think nothing of it?�h Aoi took a leisure step toward him. Kazuki began to panic. Twenty years of authority as High Priest of Shingetsu, revered by most, feared by some, had just been washed down the drain by the Priestess�fs overwhelming presence. The atmosphere around them had turned so intense and murderous that he couldn�ft help but feel the same way a rabbit would when stared down by a fox. He lowered his gaze to the rocky ground, where he held it. Keeping eye contact for another minute and his heart might just give in.

�gThe Oogami are ever faithful Servants of the Lunar Shrine,�h Kazuki declared with a weak, trembling voice. He could hardly be firm when he knew that he and his entire clan was in no position to claim that they were not in the wrong in the least bit. �gPlease understand, Aoi-sama, what we think is irrelevant to our mission.�h

�gIs that so?�h the Priestess mused softly almost to herself, her tone expressing just how disgusted she was by Kazuki�fs words. �gI thought Servants are supposed to put the safety of their Masters above all else.�h

�gYes, but....�h Words failed him. There was no excuse he could use to defend himself.

�gMortal, you are no Servant of the Lunar Shrine, least of all faithful,�h Aoi said, her voice heavy with contempt. �gYou are but a lowly creature of Heaven, a watchman to check on us Kannazuki Priestesses.�h

�gIt is as you said,�h Kazuki admitted grudgingly. An insult it might be, it was still the truth.

�gIn that case, give me a reason why I should prolong your treacherous life.�h A swift movement of the Priestess�fs hand put the Eye of Heaven next to Kazuki�fs neck. His eyes went wide as the cool aura of the sword, despite being fully sheathed and restrained, enveloped his entire body and froze all his movements. He knew what an Eye of Heaven was capable of... and he dreaded the knowledge that a twitch of her finger could blow his head away any time she felt like it. Not just that, though, should Aoi wish it, no one on Earth would ever know why the High Priest of Shingetsu had disappeared overnight. He stole a glance at the five Shinken hovering around the ice pillar and grimaced. He doubted they could save him now.

�gKilling me won�ft change anything, Aoi-sama,�h Kazuki pleaded. �gI am at the lowest level of authority in the Project. My death means little in the grand flow of destiny.�h

The Priestess silently watched him for another while before withdrawing the sword.

�gJust so you know, High Priest,�h Aoi spoke, eyes fixed on him to make sure her words were driven home. �gAs of now, the objective of the Project has changed. I will not let them toy with my life any longer.�h

�gBut it�fs treason against the Gods of Heaven!�h Kazuki burst. This was ridiculous. �gYou could not possibly be....�h

�gI am.�h A tap of the Priestess�fs finger on the hilt of her sword snapped his mouth shut. �gAnd you would not stand in my way, would you?�h

�gNo, Aoi-sama.�h Kazuki swallowed. The girl was serious, he knew. He had no other choice but to go along with what she desired. Even if he had had the gall to answer otherwise, the outcome would still be the same, except that the Priestess would use any means possible to make him obey, and that perhaps included endangering the lives of every person in this Grand Shrine in the process.

�gVery well.�h

 

...

 

You do realize how cruel it would be to her, do you not, Priestess of the Moon? Kazuki thought and sighed. But then, he had to admit the truth. Aoi, too, did not really have a choice in the matter. He shook his head in exasperation. Although he never had the courage to voice his disagreement against the honorable Immortals of Heaven, deep down, he knew for a fact that they never gave a damn about other people�fs feelings when they devised that inhumane Project.

 

***

 

Izanami the Regent of the Underworld treaded softly upon the verdant hill on which the Rosenkyuu – the massive palace complex in the shape of a crystal rose that was her home, where the power of the entire Heart of the Underworld concentrated within – was built. Beneath the shadow of an ancient tree Amaterasu sat, her arms hugging her knees tightly, her golden eyes gazing toward the far distance, upon the vast vicinity of the City of Reiha. Izanami settled down next to her and gently stroked the little girl�fs head.

�gThe cool air of Reiha is not the best thing for your health right now, Amaterasu. I wish you would obediently stay inside your room and rest.�h

�gIt�fs okay, Izanami-sama.�h Amaterasu gave her a little smile. �gA little breeze can�ft make my condition worse than it already is. After all, my life is but forfeited.�h

�gMy child, do not talk like that.�h Izanami sighed. �gAt least have a little faith in me, would you? I will find a way to get you out of this predicament, I promise.�h

�gPlease don�ft overexert yourself over me, Izanami-sama.�h Amaterasu shook her magnificent head. �gIt�fs pointless trying to save someone who doesn�ft want to live.�h

Exasperated, Izanami propped her chin on her knuckles and studied the golden-haired girl in silence. Amaterasu was known across Heaven for being a cheerful and childish Goddess, one whom sadness and grief could never seem to lay a finger on. Who would believe that the very same person was sitting here now, acting as though the world had already ended? Well... perhaps for her, it had. She seemed relaxed and calm, though, despite knowing the exact moment she would break down and draw her last breath. Izanami understood perfectly why. For Amaterasu, death was an eternally peaceful rest and a salvation to a meaningless life where she could not be loved in return.

�gWhat do you think of my Reiha, Amaterasu?�h Izanami decided to drop the depressing topic. �gIs it not the first time you came to the Underworld?�h

�gIt�fs much more beautiful and comforting than the Holy City itself,�h Amaterasu answered. �gHere, the people, even the condemned souls from the Human World live so peacefully without any fear and reservation. In Izumo, the Gods and Goddesses always have to mind their behaviors and their conducts because of the strict laws father made. I don�ft think they will take a breather until they retreat into their sanctuaries, if there.�h

Izanami smiled. The Goddess of the Sun was praising her domain, yet her tone and expression belied her words. No matter what she said, Izumo would mean a lot more to her than any Immortal inhabiting it. Amaterasu�fs beloved lived in the Holy City after all. It was perfectly understandable that she would favor it over Izanami�fs home world.

�gSuch is one of the major differences between your father and me,�h Izanami murmured. �gIzanagi is always uptight and inflexible the way he focused too much of his time and effort trying to make people act in a manner that he deems worthy of a deity. And he is very old-fashioned and resistant to inevitable changes.�h She chuckled. �gYou must be aware how many times we went into arguments just because of that.�h

�gI�fve noticed how shouting battles always occurred when you two were in the same room.�h Amaterasu grinned. For a second, she returned to the way she had always been, an Amaterasu who liked to laugh and smile. Yet, that moment faded away quickly as she reassumed her indifferent attitude. Izanami resisted the urge to sigh again. Perhaps it was of no use trying to cheer up someone who had willingly staged her own death.

�gBut still, despite all your quarreling, you stayed in Izumo for the eighteen years after you brought Yue there after her Soul-Birth, Izanami-sama,�h Amaterasu observed. �gThat, I still find puzzling.�h

�gIt is not as though I had another choice, Amaterasu,�h Izanami muttered. �gTsukiyomi was born to become the Goddess of the Moon. Those eighteen years in Heaven was vital to her receiving its Sacred Blessing and Acceptance. I could not very well leave her there alone in the care of your cold-hearted Father now could I?�h

�gI don�ft think it�fs fair to call him cold-hearted,�h Amaterasu pointed out.

�gWhat else to call then, child?�h Izanami smiled. �gDespite having given birth to all his children by Partial-Fragmenting his soul, he never cared about them properly. I doubt he ever exchanged a warm word or two with you in the last few thousand years. Furthermore, the way he treated Akira and you is just....�h Anger surfaced in Izanami�fs heart. Her smile died away.

�gThen probably you haven�ft seen Father around Yue, Izanami-sama,�h Amaterasu said absent-mindedly. She sounded as though she did not care about all the terrible things that Izanagi had done to her and her beloved little brother. Perhaps not. The word father Amaterasu used to address the bastard now was absolutely empty and vested with no emotion whatsoever. No one could even tell whether she was talking about her parent or a mere stranger who never made any impact on her life.

�gTsukiyomi is... a different story, child,�h Izanami allowed quietly, making sure that her tone told Amaterasu she did not really want to discuss this issue anymore. There were things that Amaterasu should not learn. There were secrets better kept away from her forever. Besides, it was Tsukiyomi�fs express wish that Amaterasu remained unaware of all the things her daughter had told her the day before. Izanami was against such decision but....

�gAbout Yue...�h Amaterasu hesitated. �gShe was there when I collapsed. Did she... come to Reiha with me?�h

�gNo, she did not,�h Izanami lied. It was part of the instructions from her daughter. Although Izanami detested lying, she could but agree when the girl practically sank to her knees and begged.

�gHardly unexpected of her.�h Amaterasu smiled sadly. �gYue still can�ft stand being near me after all.�h

�gNot that, my child.�h Izanami gently patted the girl�fs head. �gShe has something urgent to take care of at that moment. That is all.�h Izanami was quite disgusted with herself now. Her second lie tasted quite vile in her mouth. She only wondered how long it had been since she last spoke an untrue word during her entire life. She doubted it was after she had moved to this Star System upon her election to one of its Regency offices.

�gShe only said that to get away from me, Izanami-sama.�h Amaterasu�fs voice broke painfully. �gI�fve known all along that she hates me but to think she never cares whether I am alive or dead.... But even so... even so... why can�ft I stop loving her?�h

�gAmaterasu....�h Izanami panicked as the little girl sitting next to her burst into tears, something she did not expect her to do from the moment the latter contacted her from the Human World. To her, Amaterasu had been one unflappable Goddess, one undaunted by the fate awaiting her at the end of the line. Izanami admired her and loved her for it. Never in her wildest dream did she think that a girl with such incredibly strong will would shed her tears uncontrollably so. On the other hand, however, her emotions were hardly unjustified. Tsukiyomi the Goddess of the Moon was ever Amaterasu�fs weakness. If Izanami�fs daughter wished it, the Goddess of the Sun would probably serve her head on a tray even before the former could finish delivering her order. She just loved her that much.

�gCry no more, Amaterasu, please,�h Izanami pulled the girl into her embrace and whispered soothingly into her ear. �gTears do not belong on your face.�h

�gWhen I opened my eyes, the first person I had wanted to see was Yue.�h Amaterasu only wept harder. And with every word she uttered between the sobs, Izanami�fs heart contracted painfully in her chest. The golden-haired girl was as much her daughter as Tsukiyomi now, so the despair that was devouring her inside out was doing no less damage to Izanami�fs heart. �gI was thinking how nice it would be to have her call my name and ask if I was alright. But she wasn�ft there.... It hurts, Izanami-sama, it hurts much more than the Curse ever could....�h

Izanami�fs eyes stung. For millennia, the golden-haired girl had been suffering in silence as she received heart-shattering wounds from Tsukiyomi on a daily basis. No knife could have hurt the former more than cruel words from the one she loved, which she handed out quite freely and enthusiastically.

Tsukiyomi was not to blame, nevertheless. The child was simply doing her best to uphold her end of the deal. Plus, she was absolutely unaware of what kind of pain she inflicted on her most important person every time she humiliated the Goddess of the Sun just so that she could keep her safe. Izanami could only imagine how deeply both of the two girls were hurt. One of them thought she was hated by the one she loved most, the other one knew full well she could never be with her the way she always wanted. Rage twisted Izanami�fs mind. Izanagi had better prayed that the next time they met, Izanami could keep her calm, or she would rip his heart out to see whether it was flesh or metal! This suffering hell could all be laid at the damned man�fs feet!

 

...

 

As Izanami departed from Izanagi�fs study in the Heavenly Palace, her head was still spinning from the proposal he made to her but less than fifteen minutes ago. It was certainly unexpected. Carefully, she weighed the good and bad sides of the proposal against one another so that she could get a clearer view of the big picture. She surely was not going to accept or reject the man without thinking about the consequences first.

Indeed, Izanagi was correct when he claimed that it was going to be a union that would bring the two Makers of the World closer together despite their differences in political policies and personal beliefs. Sure, it would also benefit the Underworld greatly as a result. Since Reiha was not exactly the best place in the Three Worlds to live in – a large portion of the city was still unexplored wilderness – not many Immortals had considered immigrating there, thus creating a serious underemployment problem within her Soul Administration Bureau, the employees of which were vital in dealing with the immense flow of fallen souls that were being pushed into Izanami�fs domain at a neck-breaking rate. A word from Izanagi could fix all of that. He could certainly issue a decree to the Celestial Assembly, which would in turn give her the immigrants and the resources she needed to build her own world.

Delicious as the offer might seem, however, the price she must pay in return was by no means little. When it involved one�fs happiness, she knew she had to exert utmost care. Furthermore, were she to accept this arrangement, it would mean that she was paying for her own gains with something that she believed she had no control over. Love was hardly a bargaining item in her mind. Sighing, she wondered for the first time why the Ruler of Heaven had to pose such a difficult question to her. Of course, everything would be well if she agreed to his proposal. The problem was what would happen if she did not.

The sudden sounds of footsteps falling hard cut off Izanami�fs train of thoughts. She was surprised. Izanagi was a pain in the neck when it came to rules and regulations – she suspected that the man had a very extensive list of punishments ready for those who violated any of his precious Laws – so she could only wonder who had the gall to run in such a loud manner near where Izanagi resided.

Upon turning her head to the left, she saw her daughter, the eighteen-year-old Tsukiyomi the Goddess of the Moon, being dragged by the wrist by a very excited Amaterasu, who was running at top speed with a brilliant smile on her face. As Tsukiyomi noticed Izanami�fs presence, she raised her vacant hand and waved to her while a smile no less brilliant than that of her childhood friend curved her own lips. Curiously enough, the child did not seem to mind Amaterasu although anyone else who dared lay hands on her that way would regret it for the rest of their natural life. A heartbeat later, what remained of them were two little shadows, slowly fading into the lush green of Izanagi�fs back garden. Izanami chuckled. Those two were certainly close.

The smile slid off her lips. She was distracted when she could not afford to be. A decision that would bind Heaven and the Underworld for all eternity, or to split them even further apart, was waiting to be made. She had not much time. Izanagi was an impatient man at his best. If Izanami did not give him a reply soon, he would keep pestering her over and over again. She wondered if she should ask what Tsukiyomi and Amaterasu would think about the man�fs proposal. After all, such decision would affect their lives the way a meteor would the Earth. Yes, it would be a good idea to ask, definitely.

Izanami levitated her body off the ground and high into the cool air of the Holy City. There, she detected traces of Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi�fs celestial powers. They were currently at the east side of the Glade of Wonders, the vast and luxuriant land behind the Heavenly Palace where Izanagi had taken much time and effort to capture the beauty of nature in its entirety. Izanami must say that the place�fs haughty name was a very good description of what lay within it. The way he arranged the waterfalls in every possible size, the numerous kinds of flower beds, and the tall forests of green trees was simply incredible. Much as it pained Izanami to admit, Izanagi�fs aesthetic sense was unmatched.

A flicker of Izanami�fs hand transported her to the airspace directly above Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi�fs heads. They were in the Water Vale, one of the eight subdivisions of the Glade of Wonders, where only the prettiest and rarest flowers were kept and nurtured by Izanagi�fs most talented experts.

The two girls were huddling over a small patch of land, where a single flower lived. She recognized the thing. It was a rare breed of something humans named lily, whose long petals were as white as the falling snow. After one of the young Goddesses�f most recent excursions to Onogoro, Tsukiyomi had brought back the thing because she said she liked greatly she could not part with it. The only problem was that the flower itself had been living in the tainted land of the Human World for so long it could not bear the purity of Izanagi�fs soil. Such was the very reason why it had been withering despite the gardeners�f efforts to keep it alive per Tsukiyomi�fs request.

Strangely though, Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi seemed to be arguing among themselves. Izanami�fs daughter looked like she was trying to persuade the young Goddess of the Sun out of something, like she always did when Amaterasu was about to pull some of her tricks on other people. The golden-hair girl, on the other hand, kept waving Tsukiyomi off and tried to assure the girl that everything would be okay, again, like she always did before her mischief made an infuriated Izanagi take her by the scruff of her neck and throw her into her own room.

Izanami started her descent toward the two girls. She stopped short a second later in horror, however, when the young Goddess of the Sun pulled out something she hid in her white hagoromo. It was a mirror unlike any other in the world. The object had two faces, one shinier than the surface of a pond in summer, the other blacker than the darkest ink. Around its circular rim was a ring of diamond, carved with ancient characters that spelled out one of the most dangerous incantations ever made. Even high in the air, those words were as visible to Izanami as day. Goosebumps rose all over her skin as Izanami recalled what they meant, what they could accomplish, and what tasks they were given the moment the mirror was forged with both Izanagi and Izanami�fs powers

 �eInochi no Kagami, the Mirror of Life!�f Izanami mouthed the scary object�fs name wordlessly. She could only wonder in shock as to how the little girl managed to get a hold on First Supreme, the ultimate magical entity in the Creation Realm. Izanagi was supposed to keep it safe amidst the Memories Sea, where no hand save the Keeper�fs could touch, as far as she was concerned. The reason dawned on her quickly. The Keeper of the Memories Hall, an ancient Immortal whose powers were not enough to sustain his youth, was nearing retirement, so he allowed his Apprentice, Susanou, to rule in all but name. The young God of Storms, idolizing his elder sister as he was, must have handed the Mirror to Amaterasu without a second thought.

Izanami hurried to the two fearless but ignorant Goddesses, who never seemed to notice her presence. If she failed to stop them before they unleashed the power of the Mirror of Life, there was a good chance that they would end up killing themselves in the process. First Supreme was not something even High Immortals of their caliber should trifle with, in any event. In the beginning, the two Makers, Izanagi and Izanami herself, created the object to guide the passages of the human souls and to guarantee them an uninterrupted Cycle of Death and Rebirth. For that purpose alone, Inochi no Kagami had been granted so much power that its scope now encompassed the grand flow of every living being�fs Fate. The Mirror�fs name was not just for show, for it was truly up to First Supreme to do with mortals�f lives as it wished.

The most troubling thing about Inochi no Kagami was that it possessed no emotions or even a brain to distinguish between good and evil or right and wrong. The Mirror only acted accordingly to the instructions with which it was given from the Celestial Assembly and never bothered what consequences it would wreak upon the Human World. Ever fearful of a future where someone would seize the Mirror and plunged all Three Worlds into eternal darkness, Izanami had regretted making First Supreme not long after its completion. That was why she had come to Izanagi and suggested to him a solution, which was threatening the two stupid girls�f lives right now.

  Despite Izanami�fs determination to stop Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi, she was too late. A powerful rainbow aura emerged from First Supreme and stopped Izanami dead in her track. The young Goddess of the Sun had already raised Inochi no Kagami overhead and recited the forbidden incantation.

 

�gI am the Master of the Grave, Weaver of Man�fs Destiny,

 The Herald of One�fs Beginning, the Bringer of One�fs End.

 Together, let us bind the Dark, let us trap the Light.

 In My name, condemn the Living, awaken the Dead.�h

 

With Inochi no Kagami floating in front of her, Amaterasu used the forefinger of her left hand to slash at the palm of her right. When her skin opened a fraction of a heartbeat later, the holy blood of the Goddess of the Sun began to flow. The girl then pressed her hand onto the black side of the mirror and delivered the ritual�fs final and most decisive words,

 

�gFor my Wish, I Pledge my Blood, I Pledge my Life!�h

 

The archaic runes on Inochi no Kagami glowed brilliantly as its diamond rim turned about. The rainbow aura that had been spreading in the air around them thinned into a single beam of light that focused upon the dying flower. Slowly, yet steadily, the withering petals regained their texture and strength. When the Mirror of Life fell silent afterwards, the lily was standing in all of its brilliance amidst the green patch of land. And no wonder it did. If First Supreme could manipulate a person�fs life force as it willed, saving a little flower was by no means a difficult task. Yet in that knowledge lay the danger. People, too fascinated by the magical entity�fs powers, failed to realize that everything had a price, and that the Mirror of Life was no exception.

First Supreme dropped to the ground from the Goddess of the Sun�fs hand and rolled off until it fell quietly on one side while Amaterasu slumped down on her knees and struggled fiercely for breath. Frightened out of her wits, Tsukiyomi shook Amaterasu�fs shoulder urgently and asked in utmost concern, �gYui-chan, Yui-chan! What�fs wrong?�h

�gI think I pushed myself a little too hard this time, Yue-chan.�h Amaterasu tried to smile. All she could manage was a quirk of her mouth�fs corners.

Pushed herself a little too hard? Izanami sniffed in irritation. Amaterasu had no idea what she was talking about. The eighteen-year-old did not take the last line of the incantation seriously when it meant exactly what it said. Yes, that was the solution Izanami had brought before Izanagi to prevent some individual from abusing First Supreme for their selfish desires. Anyone save the full Chamber of the Celestial Assembly who wished to use the Mirror of Life had to pay an insane amount of their own life force in return for the thing�fs Life-Giving and Death-Granting powers. The greater the action, the greater the cost. Although Amaterasu was a powerful Goddess, even though she only prolonged the span of a measly flower, First Supreme had at least halved her vitality. Had she tried to save someone�fs life instead, she would surely have lost her own.

�gThat�fs why I told you it�fs a bad idea, Yui-chan. Why didn�ft you listen to me for once?�h Izanami�fs daughter was on the verge of bursting into tears now.

�gBut I thought you didn�ft want the lily to die....�h If anything, the young Goddess of the Sun only sounded puzzled.

�gThat�fs another story!�h Tsukiyomi cut her off. Izanami had a feeling that the girl was trying not to yell at the Goddess of the Sun with all her might. �gYou�fre mad, Yui-chan, risking your life for a flower like that!�h

�gYou�fre wrong.�h Amaterasu held up her right hand, the wound on which had already closed due to her Goddess�fs Healing power, and gently stroked Tsukiyomi�fs head. �gNot the flower.... I only do it for you.�h

In a moment of shock, the silver-haired girl only stared at the Goddess of the Sun, speechless. Then a light pink color gradually crept onto the Goddess of the Moon�fs beautiful face as she took Amaterasu�fs hand into both of hers and held it against her smooth cheek. Izanami lifted an eyebrow in surprise. This did not feel right at all. While she knew they were close enough to be mistaken for blood sisters, she was also aware that no sisters behaved the same way they did. If anything, such a weird atmosphere they were giving off only made them look like a pair of lovebirds who were not aware that they were not alone.

�gWhat am I ever going to do with you, Yui-chan?�h Tsukiyomi asked gently. Her tone, sweet and loving, implied that no response was really needed. �gKeep saying things like that, doing things like that and I... I�fm not sure I can hold back any longer, you know?�h

�gHold what back?�h Amaterasu said, confused. �gEh?�h the Goddess of the Sun stammered, suddenly realizing how infinitesimally far apart their faces were. Tsukiyomi tilted her head with a smile as she moved in even closer, put her hands on either side of her friend�fs face, and claimed her pale lips. Not forehead, eyelid, nose, cheek, or any of a dozen other places people placed a kiss on to express gratitude or affections. Lips. Izanami felt her mouth hanging open in shock.

�gThat,�h Tsukiyomi replied as she pulled her deeply flushed face away afterwards. Her hands remained firm on the golden-haired girl�fs cheeks, however. Izanami did not think that her daughter intended to take them away. If anything, she only seemed as though she wanted to offer her childhood friend another kiss... on the very same place she did last. The golden-haired girl, now, despite the disbelief and astonishment written across her face, did not seem as though she would mind were that to happen.

�gYue-chan...�h was all the Goddess of the Sun could mutter before she went crimson in the face and finally fell unconscious over the silver-haired girl�fs body. It could have been the after-effect of First Supreme that knocked her down... or not.

Tsukiyomi only chuckled as she cradled the other girl into her intimate embrace. Amaterasu�fs head was on Izanami�fs daughter�fs shoulder, her waist encircled by the latter�fs loving arms.

�gSleep tight, my beloved Yui-chan,�h the Goddess of the Moon whispered as she rubbed her forehead affectionately against that of Amaterasu, as she let her hand caressing the other girl�fs cheek. �gLet me be in your dreams the way you are in mine.�h

They continued to stay in the same position upon the lush lawn, one sleeping soundly, the other never had a clue Izanami was hovering above their heads, dumb-founded by what she just saw with her own two eyes. She could not believe it. For a while now, she had suspected that something strange was happening to Tsukiyomi the way the young Immortal sometimes sat by herself and chuckled at nothing and the way she seemed to doze off into her daydreams while her eyes were still open wide. Izanami had guessed that someone had stolen the heart of her dear daughter, too, but honestly, she never thought Amaterasu to be the culprit. It was not that she had any objection to such an unusual pairing, though. Izanami was only caught off guard by this revelation.

She smiled. Since she had always liked the little Goddess of the Sun, nothing could make her happier to know that soon, the girl would become her second daughter. A lovable one, no less. Izanami turned around and warped herself back to the ground in front of Izanagi�fs study. She already had the answer for him. She had an inkling the man was not going be pleased about her decision, though.

No, she did not think he would.

�gWhat did you just say, Izanami?�h Izanagi glared at her with a thoroughly blended mix of anger and disbelief. Just as she thought, he did not take it well, at all. It was kind of funny to see him so, in any case. Another time she would have laughed at his expression – everyone knew she was not fond of the man – but right now, doing so would result in disastrous consequences.

�gI said I rejected your proposal to my daughter, Izanagi,�h Izanami calmly repeated. The other Maker looked like he was going to explode right then and there. She wondered if she should stand back and erected a Shield around herself just in case.

�gYou do not have to be so hasty in answering me. I gave you three days for consideration, did I not?�h

�gNo need.�h

�gYou must be joking.�h Izanagi sat down on his armchair, hand clenched on top of the desk in front of him. �gYou were not even sure fifteen minutes ago!�h

�gI am now,�h Izanami replied.

�gIs it because of the age difference?�h the man demanded. �gI know I am much older than Tsukiyomi herself but we are eternally youthful, are we not? I did not think you would mind.�h

�gNo, not really.�h

�gIs it because I am on the same level with you that you feel weird about it?�h

�gNot that, either,�h Izanami declared impatiently. If anything, she was feeling very uncomfortable the way this conversation went.

�gYou are not helping, woman!�h the Lord of Izumo said in exasperation after he gave several more of the reasons he thought of, all of which Izanami only replied with an indifferent �eNot that�f. �gAt least tell me what Tsukiyomi feel about my proposal, will you?�h

�gHow should I know? I never ask.�h

�gWhat?�h The Ruler of Heaven pounded his fists on the desk. �gThen why in hell do you reject me when you do not even know what Tsukiyomi would say?�h

�gLet me remind you that she is my daughter, Izanagi.�h Izanami frowned at the other Maker of the World, annoyed. �gWhen I say that she would not agree, then she would not! Give up. She never had eyes for you anyway.�h

�gThen whom does she have eyes for?�h the man growled dangerously. �gI know you well. You would never be so certain unless Tsukiyomi loves already someone else. Spill the bastard�fs name!�h

�gNone of your business,�h she replied coldly. There was just no way she would tell him the truth. After all, she had been in too many arguments with him, far too many of them heated, to not know what Izanagi intended to do and what he would do once he learned the name of her daughter�fs lover. She would say that the last thing Amaterasu need to be afraid about was the loss of her own life.

�gFine. I could still figure it out without you,�h Izanagi tapped his lips and began to speculate out loud. �gTsukiyomi is not at all friendly to people around her. Men that could get near her could not be counted beyond one�fs little finger. Let see....�h

�gI told you it was none of your business, so quit it, Izanagi!�h This was getting out of hand. Much as Izanami hated to admit, Izanagi was quite smart and sharp despite being a thoughtless creep most of the time. Should she allow this to continue, he might just be able to guess who his rival was. She certainly did not want that.

�gSusanou and Kagutsuchi? No, they are only twelve, could not be. Ame no Murakumo is ten, he is out of the question�h As though the man never heard what Izanami said, he went on, undisturbed,. �gBut then, there is no one else! What she does every single day of her life is hanging out with Amaterasu, is it not?�h The creep�fs eyes widened. �gThen could it be....�h

Izanami slapped her forehead in frustration. Now the cat was out of the bag. If only you were a tad less obvious, daughter, this would never have happened, Izanami thought dryly. What should she do now?

�gIt is Amaterasu, right?�h Izanagi watched her closely, his temper completely out of sight. Yet, on the man�fs face now was a dark shadow that spoke volumes of his anger that was boiling within. �gRight?�h he shouted, a mountain of knives hiding in his arctic voice.

�gSo what? If it is indeed she, so what?�h Izanami confronted the jealous creep and said with all her authority as the Regent of the Underworld.

�gIt is unacceptable, that�fs what!�h Izanagi roared. �gTsukiyomi could love anyone she wanted to, but not Amaterasu! Such revolting acts could not be allowed!�h

 

...

 

That had been how the fight started. That had been how their voices shook the whole Heavenly Palace in their shouting battle. That had been how the Great Conflict came into being, too. Meaningless as the conversation was, it helped Izanami realized that the more she prolonged her stay in Heaven, the more dangerous it would be for both the Goddesses of the Sun and Moon. Izanagi would not leave them alone once he had learned of what was going on behind his back. And it was all the more disturbing when he had developed a hatred for his own daughter. Well, that was a bit far-fetched. The creep had never seen Amaterasu as one. To him, she was the Goddess of the Sun, an object he made to control the light of the celestial star, and now an obstacle in his path. Nothing could possibly stop him from deciding that he did not need a rival. The man was capable of far more evil than Izanami ever could, since he was the kind that would destroy what he could not have. She would not put it past him to stage both of the girls�f death.

The very next day, while Amaterasu was still out cold due to the fatigue, Izanami took Tsukiyomi back to Reiha, relying on the excuse that her daughter had received all the necessary Blessing and Acceptance of the Sacred Moon. She could not take Amaterasu, though, for the girl could not survive in her domain. She could stay there for a while, a week�fs time perhaps, but not her whole life. Since Amaterasu was not a Reiha-born Immortal, she needed time to grow immune to the power of the Crystal Roses. However, she would die before it could happen, for the Sealing Field cut her off from the Sun, which was the source of her vitality. Merciless to his family, Izanagi had tied Amaterasu to the Sun by all means possible to make sure she would not forget her duties to Izumo, to Heaven, and to him. Although Izanami had had to abandon Amaterasu, she had left something with the girl, to make sure her father could not harm her out of anger and jealousy. Izanami had entrusted to Amaterasu her greatest weapon, Enishi, the Red Thread of Fate. It was a pity that the girl was not strong enough to use the Thread against what inflicted the Curse on her body.

In so doing, Izanami had made two major miscalculations. First, Tsukiyomi loved Amaterasu too much to be separated from the latter. In the beginning, Izanami only wanted to retreat to Reiha to find a way to reunite the two children later. As time went by, no plan appeared in her head. Meanwhile, the lovesick Tsukiyomi�fs health degenerated badly. Her daughter was practically dying right in front of her eyes while she could do nothing to help.

It also had been that time that Izanagi chose to intrude into the Underworld all by himself. From what she could gather, the man�fs purpose was not to save the world because of the sudden cool-down of the Sun. The creep only came into Reiha to take back Tsukiyomi. The Lord of Izumo was not aware of the Sealing Field�fs existence, though, so he ended up in her custody instead. Izanami then decided to detain the despicable creep, hoping to force him to agree to the arrangements she made for Tsukiyomi and Amaterasu. Izanagi was too stubborn, however, so she had no choice but to keep him there until he bent down to her will.

That was when the second miscalculation came into the picture. Izanami had not paid enough attention to Tsukiyomi and her feelings. She was too busy to let the young Goddess of the Moon into the plan. Consequently, the girl was kept in the dark. She probably thought that Izanami was imprisoning Izanagi because of her own anger, not Izanami�fs love for her. The only logical solution she could think of at that moment to go back to Amaterasu was to free Izanagi... which she did. Come to think of it, such incident was partly Izanami�fs fault. Had she told her daughter everything, perhaps Tsukiyomi and Amaterasu would not have had to suffer so.

Izanami looked at Amaterasu, whose head was resting on her lap. The little girl had stopped crying. Now, she was merely trying to calm herself down after the uprising of her grief.

�gI only want to know something, Izanami-sama,�h Amaterasu whispered in a tattered and broken voice. �gWhat had changed Yue into the person she is now? Why did she act as if she never kissed me and gave me hope that I could be loved? Why is it that she has to hate me to stay alive?�h

�gWho told you that, Amaterasu?�h Izanami asked, frowning.

�gRinne-chan,�h the golden-haired girl answered. �gShe knew a lot of things, but she refused to share her knowledge no matter how hard I begged her to.�h

It is no surprise Rinne knows, my child, Izanami thought. With that girl�fs powers, nothing in Heaven could escape her eyes and ears, which included even the best kept secrets in Izanagi�fs vaults.

�gBut it doesn�ft matter much now,�h Amaterasu muttered. �gEverything will end soon. My life, my suffering, my love for her, everything. At least my death has a meaning, now. Enishi would use it to help me grant Yue�fs one final wish.�h

Izanami combed her hand through the Goddess of the Sun�fs tresses of glorious golden hair. Dear Amaterasu, I hope you will never learn that the day you fulfill it is also when you destroy her other wish, she thought bitterly.

 

***

           

Thousands of miles away, in the Human World, in the castle that was the Himemiya Mansion, Kurusugawa Himeko awoke with sweat drenching her face. To her, nightmares were indeed one of the things she feared most. They seldom visited her, thankfully enough, but when they did, they usually scared her out of her skin. The one that she just woke up from, in particular, was much more frightening and disturbing than the one in which Oogami Souma, her childhood friend, ran her through with his glowing Sword. Of course it was... for it concerned Himemiya Chikane, her blue-haired princess, the Priestess of the Moon, and Himeko�fs one and only love.

The dream, while being full of sorrow and agony, was impossibly realistic.

 

...

 

�gHimeko. Wake up, Himeko,�h a voice whispered into Kurusugawa Himeko�fs ear and gently roused her from her sleep. When she opened her eyes drowsily about fifteen seconds later, she realized that she had fallen asleep while sitting in front of the door to the private chamber of her sweet heart, Himemiya Chikane, who was now squatting before her with a kind and heart-warming smile on her breath-taking face. The light of the morning sun was flooding into the spacious hallway, its blinding radiance appearing to be gathering around the slender figure of the blue-haired princess and making her seem as resplendent as an angel on Earth.

At the sight of the one she loved, the bundle of emotions within her, which had been kept under a tight lid since last night, began to expand and threatened to overwhelm her. Tears welled in her eyes. �gChikane-chan...�h she sobbed.

�gI told you to do something about your crying habit but you never listened,�h the other girl gently took Himeko into her arms and whispered. �gIf you cry now, how are you going to react when you learn that I am already gone?�h

�gWhat are you talking about?�h Himeko blinked at the Ojou-sama, sensing tears rolling off her cheeks. �gAren�ft you right here with me, Chikane-chan?�h

Chikane-chan only smiled at Himeko and pulled away from her little bit to watch her more closely. There was such a sorrowful glimmer and such a longing look in her sapphire eyes that Himeko�fs heart began to race in panic. In that dead silence, the blue-haired princess put her hands on both of Himeko�fs cheeks as she leaned in to place a soft but lingering kiss on her forehead.

�gFarewell, my beloved friend,�h Chikane-chan said and pushed Himeko off of her. While she was still shocked by the unexpected action from the one she loved, the other girl�fs body quietly rose in the air and stayed a couple of feet above the carpeted floor while her every particle  shone with an intense silver aura.

�gNo, Chikane-chan,�h Himeko cried. �gWhat are you doing? Please, come back. Please....�h

The blue-haired princess�fs eyes drew shut as her arms hugged her body tight. One last smile was still crossing her lips when a blade of a sword suddenly emerging from somewhere behind her back ran her cleanly through. Blood, shining bright red in the light of the morning sun, spilled onto the ground out of the wound on the Himemiya Ojou-sama�fs chest and her mouth, from which sound came no more. The Priestess of the Moon, face contorted by physical agony, exploded into thousands of sparks of silver light afterwards. The bloodied sword, after suspending for a few seconds in the air where Himeko�fs sweetheart once was, vanished.

Her mouth could only work soundlessly as she shook her head and refused to believe what had just happened. Yet, as she watched the sparkling stars, what remained of the one she loved most, fall to the carpet and melt away, she knew that it was the truth. An uproar of emotion rushed into her head at the dawn of the realization. A terrible pain pulsated across her body as streams of tears thundered down her cheeks.

�gNo!�h A heart-broken wail finally escaped Himeko�fs mouth after it erupted from her vocal chords and burned its way up her throat.

 

...

 

What was that? she thought in distress. And why does it seem... so real? Right now, she could still feel the lingering warmth from the blue-haired princess�fs hand, which had been placed upon her cheeks in the dream. Right now, she could still sense the taller girl�fs lips on her forehead. Right now, she could still hear her sweetheart�fs words whispering in a saddened voice in her ears. No dream she ever had before in her life seemed a tenth as realistic as this one. Could it be that it was some sort of... warning? a discordant thought drifted across her mind.

Himeko immediately gave her head a firm shake and told herself that the dream, no matter how real it might have seemed, was but a result of her worries toward the one she loved. It was only then did she realize where she was. She was sitting on her bed, in her own private chamber in the Himemiya Mansion, which was a little bit strange. As far as she could remember, she had been sitting with her arms around her knees in front of Chikane-chan�fs door before she fell asleep last night. After thinking about it a little bit more carefully, she decided that one of the maids or more must have brought her in here. There was no other explanation.

Using the sleeves of her shirt, Himeko dabbed at her face and cleaned up her dry tears before she climbed off the bed and walked out of her room. Without paying much attention to her rumpled and slightly smelly clothes, she roamed the Himemiya Mansion in search for the one she loved once she realized that the princess was not in her own chamber. The name of the blue-haired girl was the only thing that her head embraced as Himeko ran from room to room, hallway to hallway, and flight of stairs after flight of stairs. No one was in sight. Not the maids who usually giggled behind her back as they tried to figure whether she was their young mistress�fs secret lover, not the menservants who often exchanged unreadable glances as soon as they saw Himeko and her sweetheart in the same place, and not even the Head Maid Kisaragi Otoha who always tried her best to sneak shiitake mushroom unseen into Himeko�fs food and who would stop at nothing to spoil Himeko�fs effort to spend time alone with the one she loved. Not that the absence of all these people bothered her more than a fly would a rock. She was not afraid even though she was alone in this gigantic Mansion. As long as her sweetheart was somewhere in here, as long as Himeko could find her afterwards, everything would be fine.

After spending another half an hour looking for her sweetheart, Himeko was no longer so sure.

Standing in front of her own room, which was where she had started, she felt as though her heart had dived into her stomach. Pulling out her cell phone once again – she had many times during her thorough search of the Himemiya Mansion – she redialed the number of the Himemiya princess. The monotonous message that answered her immediately had never changed. �gThe mobile you are calling is not available. Please try again later,�h it had said dully to her before it disconnected. Her heart throbbed in alarm. When Chikane-chan presented the cell phone to her as a gift, the blue-haired girl had promised her that no matter what happened, she would always be there to answer Himeko�fs call. This would make the second promise that Himeko�fs sweetheart had failed to keep.

What could have happened to her? she thought worriedly. Why would the blue-haired princess, who had never gone back on her words even once during the one year that Himeko knew her, would break two promises in the same day?

�gHimeko,�h called the voice that belonged to her childhood friend, which destroyed the dead silence that had been shrouding the great castle that was the Himemiya�fs ancestral home and made her give a start. Turning to her left, she saw Oogami Souma, in his Ototachibana uniform, face grimmer than she had ever seen, standing a few feet away from her in the spacious hallway. The sight of him, however, lit up a flame of hope in her heart.

�gSou-chan!�h she said and felt a huge smile splitting her face into two. The boy, however, only seemed shocked as he stared at her in evident surprise. �gYou told me once that you could sense the presence of a Priestess no matter where she was, right?�h

�gYes.�h Her childhood friend nodded.

�gThen can you tell me where Chikane-chan is, please?�h Himeko pleaded and almost wished that she had not the moment she noticed the dark shadow stealing across his handsome face. He seemed hurt, too. She didn�ft doubt that he was. After all, she had been quite heartless and inconsiderate in asking him to find the one she loved right after she rejected him out right yesterday. Even the meekest man wouldn�ft take very kindly to that. But then... she didn�ft have a choice. If there was one person in this world who could unite her with the blue-haired princess, that would be him. She didn�ft think the High Priest Oogami Kazuki would know how... and she doubted the other Orochi Followers would be willing to help. Of course, if they didn�ft flay her into slices as soon as they saw her.

�gI am... sorry, Himeko,�h Sou-chan answered after a deep sigh. �gI don�ft know where she is.�h He scratched the side of his face in what appeared to be frustration. �gSince last night, her presence was no longer in my mind. It was as though she was....�h He closed his mouth with an audible click of his teeth. Dead was what he would have said had he not stopped himself in time, Himeko was sure.

�gShe�fs not!�h she heard herself declare with an unexpected amount of heat in her voice. It made the boy step a step backward in shock. Somehow, she knew that what she just blurted out was true. Somehow, she knew that her beloved princess was still safe and sound. In time, she had learned to trust her intuition... and they had never failed her in her life. They would not now.

�gI didn�ft say she was!�h Sou-chan waved his hand hastily. �gCalm down!�h

�gI�fm sorry...�h she murmured apologetically after a few heartbeats of staring at her childhood friend.

Silence ensued. Neither of them seemed to want to look directly into the other�fs eyes. Both of them appeared to be quite reluctant to open their mouths and speak. After a few minutes of uncomfortable quietness, her childhood friend gave his head a firm shake and decided to talk, �gAnyway, Himeko, I need you to come with me.�h

�gWhere?�h she blinked at him, wondering whether the boy had given up his quest for her love. She thought she had refused him very firmly yesterday....

�gThe Grand Shrine, my house,�h Sou-chan answered. �gMy brother needs to speak with you. Urgently,�h he added.

�gI�fm sorry, Sou-chan.�h She shook her head... and heard him groan softly under his breath. He seemed to have predicted that she would not comply. �gPlease deliver my apology to the sensei and tell him that I�fm going to stay here and wait until Chikane-chan comes back.�h Nothing else in the world was as important as the one she loved. Not even the world itself.

�gI�fm afraid I can�ft let you.�h He grimaced. �gMy brother charged me to bring you back to him at all cost.�h Even at your insistence to disobey, his dark, determined eyes sent the rest of the message.

�gWhy?�h she asked, feeling quite worried. If the boy decided to resort to force, she would have no choice but to be carried to Shingetsu Grand Shrine like a sack of grain. Although she seldom thought of him as an Orochi ever since she learned that he was her long-lost childhood friend, she was also aware of his power. In front of him, she had as much chance as a kitten would against a leopard. She only wished a little bit of her Priestess strength, claimed to transcend that of any living Orochi by the High Priest himself, had returned to her the way they had to her beloved. Her words would have carried a little more weight in that case.

�gI have no clue.�h He shook his head. �gAll that I know is that my brother wants you in the Shrine immediately. He refused to tell me why,�h he added.

She was trying to find a way to persuade the boy out of bringing her to Shingetsu when she suddenly felt a terrible pressure on her shoulders. Against such invisible weight, her legs shook and every muscle on her body gave signs that they were going to turn into jelly. Just before her knees gave in, Sou-chan extended his hand and helped her stay on her feet.

The boy was frowning at something overhead, face so grim Himeko thought that he expected something to leap at him from the ceiling. Then his expression turned sour before he swung his vacant hand toward one of the windows on the hallway. Lightning danced from his fingertips. The glass along with its steel frames was blown to bits in an instant, showering the fine-shredded splinters out of the house. Then her childhood friend picked her up and leapt out of the window, now only a burnt rectangular hole on the wall, onto the front yard of the Mansion.

As soon as the boy�fs feet touched the grassy ground, the deafening sound of an explosion roared behind their backs. Hit by a powerful shockwave hot as the sun, Himeko and her childhood friend were blasted apart from one another. Both of them fell hard on their stomach, she with a painful yelp, he with a loud grunt. Horror struck her as she gingerly rose to her feet and realized what had just happened. A part of the Himemiya Mansion now lay in ruins. The corner where the hallway had been was reduced to an unrecognizable heap of stones blackened with soot. There, smokes billowed. There, fire still burned.

�gWe�fve no time to waste, Himeko,�h Oogami Souma said while his hand brushed the dirt off his uniform. His voice was urgent, his face firm, his eyes disturbed. �gLet�fs go. It is too dangerous to remain here.�h

�gNo! That had to be an Orochi�fs work. What if Chikane-chan comes back and falls into their hands?�h she argued almost heatedly, which earned her a frown from the boy who had just saved her life. She felt bad for giving him trouble when he was just doing what he was asked to... but he had to understand that she wasn�ft going to let any harm befall her blue-haired princess. �gYou said it was dangerous yourself, didn�ft you?�h

�gIt�fs not an Orochi.�h The boy gave her an exasperated look. She had a feeling that he knew much more than what he had chosen to reveal. �gAnd Himemiya would be fine on her own. Forget about her.�h

�gI�fm not going anywhere until I know that Chikane-chan is safe, Sou-chan,�h Himeko declared in exasperation. She couldn�ft help but fervently wished that her childhood friend would realize that she valued her sweetheart�fs life much higher than she would her own.

�gThen so be it.�h He heaved a deep sigh, sounding equally exasperated. The boy then held out his palm so that his fingertips slightly brushed against her forehead. �gPlease don�ft hate me for this.�h

A purple flash of light emerged from the hand of the High Priest�fs younger brother so quickly that it knocked her out before a feeble �gNo!�h could leave her lips.

 

***

           

Standing on the roof of the Himemiya Mansion, the watcher silently observed as Oogami Souma walked into a Dimensional Portal with the other girl lying unconsciously in his arms. Once the silvery surface thinned to a line in the air and vanished, the watcher�fs eyes fell upon her right hand, which was still shimmering with a silver light harnessed out of her own powers. Finally, she turned her gaze toward the black column of smoke rising out of the ragged hole several feet from where she stood. She did not miss by much, it appeared. Had the watcher increased her output by another fraction, had she moved her aim one inch to her left, the two of them would have been burned to cinder. Having good reflexes as Oogami was, he would not survive that. Oogami Kazuki, Oogami Souma. She broke into a rain of sparkling stars.

           

***

           

Alone in the Audience Hall save for the Crystal Orb that housed the body of Yamata no Orochi the Dark God, Sei no Tsurugi no Rinne was leaning her back against one of her wooden walls while her eyes gazed out of the open window and at the lone figure sitting in the verdant back garden of the Temple of the Dragons. It was a girl of average height who wore a cape black as the night, who had short brown hair framing a face many would consider more than good-looking but not quite beautiful, who had a toned and lithe body fit for a track-and-field athlete. That same girl, now, was sitting on a chair with her elbows propped on the table in front of her and with chin rested on her interlaced hand, appearing deeply immersed in thoughts. Her eyes, which bore the color of emeralds, seemed very troubled, though.

Rinne only wondered why Saotome Makoto, the Orochi Eighth Head herself, looked the way she did. Yesterday, when she started to sense the life force of Girochi Tokiya and Girochi Miyako being snuffed out by the Priestess of the Moon, she had rushed to where they were immediately while hoping fervently that she could be in time. Not that she cared whether they lived or died, of course. What she was concerned about was the fact that Himemiya Chikane�fs celestial powers were more than capable of annihilating the disobedient Followers�f souls! Rinne needed them intact. The Dark God needed them intact. Which was why she was infinitely relieved upon arriving at the Garden of the Roses in Ototachibana Academy, where she found the Girochi siblings thrashing on the ground, next to the broken shards of their Swords. Towering over them then was the Priestess of the Moon, face colder than eternal ice, eyes blazing with lava-hot anger, and hands raised high over head, ready to deal the finishing blow.

Needless to say, Rinne extended a hand without a second thought and delivered the Second and Third Heads out of the mess by opening a Dimensional Portal right beneath them. To her surprise, though, she almost ended up in hot soup. Himemiya Chikane, despite being caught off guard and having failed in recapturing the Heads before they vanished into the silvery surface, realized that the person who wove the Portal was still there. The girl then immediately established an immense Sealing Field upon the area in an attempt to catch whoever that was. Had Rinne not reacted quickly, she would have been turned into a fish in a net. That would have been extremely dangerous, for she had not regained enough of her strength to hold her own against the Priestess. When she did, however, it would be a different story.

Upon returning to the battlefield shortly after that, she found the True Form of the Lightning Blade slithering in the sky and Oogami Souma emerging victorious over the other three Heads. Saotome Makoto, appearing wounded, did not have any other choice except fleeing from the scene and leaving behind Kurusugawa Himeko, whom she failed to seal and protect. She had looked she same way she was now ever since. If anything, she only grew much more disturbed when she returned to the Temple of the Dragons and found the Second and Third Head dying on the bed. Had Nekoko, the owner of Arashigumo the Wind Blade, come back just a bit later, they would have. None of them was particularly pleased to learn that the Priestess of the Moon was the culprit, though. Rinne, observing them in secret as always, could see what they were thinking just by looking into their eyes. If Himemiya Chikane could empty-handedly defeat two armed Orochi at the same time... what is going to happen when she reclaims her sword?

Death to all Followers, no doubt.

Whatever the Children of the Dark God were thinking, Rinne was not displeased with this unexpected turn of events. Himemiya Chikane had regained her powers, which was what Rinne wanted. Now, all she needed was that Kurusugawa Himeko did the same. Once that happened, her wish was going to be granted.

A sudden flickering movement at the edge of her vision brought Rinne back to the back garden of the Orochi�fs lair. She was barely in time, in fact, to see the hem of Makoto�fs cape before it vanished into a Dimensional Portal, which winked out of existence one heartbeat later. Rinne gave her lips a thoughtful tap. Unless she was terribly mistaken, she had just caught a glimpse of Izumo, her old home, in the silvery surface. Not just anywhere in Heaven, but the fabled Hall of Memories itself.

What did the Priestess of the Sun do to the girl that she had to go there of all places? she thought. Is it the Priestess�fs memory that she seeks in the Kiokkai... or someone else�fs? She was slightly worried. The Memories Sea was the one place in the Three World that could reveal the truth to the wielder of the Twilight Blade. It could tell her that she, along with her comrades as well as her liege lord, had been puppets dancing on a string, to the tune that Rinne played through her devious schemes. Not exactly the material that the girl should be privy to, of course.

She gave her head a light shake. Heh, what am I afraid of? Even if Saotome Makoto learned of the secret, there was still nothing she could do to impede Rinne�fs plan. Besides, everything had been quite predictable so far. Some unplanned surprises would not hurt.

�gDo you not think so, too, my dearest?�h Rinne said to the glowing Crystal Orb, in which the body of Yamata no Orochi was immersed in a deep slumber. The thing only glowed in the silent darkness. Rinne laughed aloud.

 

***

 

Standing in front of the Memories Hall of Heaven, which stood in the middle of a large square the name of which was unknown to her, Saotome Makoto felt fear lurching her stomach. She wanted to know the answer to what she had seen in the red light, which had spoiled her attempt to seal the Sun Priestess, yet she was also aware that what she sought might just broke her heart in the end.

Her lips thinned into a straight line in determination, she decided to be brave and face whatever the Sea of Memories could throw at her. Once she had Tasogare the Twilight Blade summoned into her hand from her shadow, she walked toward the Memories Hall without so much as a care for the barriers blocking her path. She stopped abruptly, however, when she heard a thunderous noise echoing endlessly above her head. Looking up, she saw a Moon Crest spinning in the cloudless blue from which a thousand bolts of silver lightning were jabbing out and ripping the sky to pieces. She blinked. The Moon Crest? Himemiya?

Her question was answered immediately when a figure emerged from the Crest. It was a young woman perhaps a few years older than Makoto herself, who wore a snowy hagoromo robe that was purer than any shade of white ever made, who had a face so beautiful she could make any man�fs throat run dry with desire, and who also looked so murderous at the moment that she made Girochi Miyako seem innocent and harmless. A Goddess, and an infuriated one at that, no doubt, she thought. Makoto would hate to meet such a woman at night on the street, whatever power she held as an Orochi Follower.

She only wondered what in goodness�fs name could tick off an Immortal this badly, though. Eyes tracing the descent of the woman in the snowy hagoromo, Makoto hoped the people who resided in that ridiculously huge palace in the middle of Izumo was prepared for the arrival of someone who looked as though she was going to kill whoever stood in her path.

 

***

 

�gSo, all in all, my Lord,�h Yuusaku the Chief of the Holy Messengers concluded his financial report on his own Division to an apparently bored Maker of the World, who was sitting in his armchair, back facing his humongous closed window. �gThe resources for the Division are quite lacking in this fiscal year. Unless the Celestial Assembly agrees to give us an additional amount of budget, a decent one may I add, I fear the Messengers would be hard-pressed in keeping up with their duties.�h

�gShould you not be telling the Assembly that instead of me?�h the Lord of Izumo said dully.

�gThat is exactly what I cannot do, Lord.�h Yuusaku sighed. �gAs you recall, the Division has been spending a great deal on you-know-what during the last week. And since you have specifically asked your lowly servant to keep the full Chamber unaware, I could not very well waltz in there and demand more fund, now could I?�h

�gHow much does it cost?�h

�gSeveral millions just for providing the secret pathway connecting Shingetsu Grand Shrine and Izumo, approximately.�h He tapped the ball of his pen on the PDA and showed the older and infinitely more powerful man a holographic screen of statistical figures. �gIn order to secure a Dimensional Portal that is impossible to detect in a place full of spiritualists, we have to get the whole R&D Division on it. And I wish my Lord knew how much bribe money we had to use to stuff those blood-thirsty researchers�f mouths so they wouldn�ft come running to the Assembly when we�fre not looking.�h He uploaded another screen. �gAnd then we have to pay the Messengers overtime, too, to make sure the spies of the Underworld were too busy to keep an eye on the Shrine. I hate to say this to you, my Lord, but my men are but exhausted. They need some kind of encouragement to continue such a tedious job.�h

�gFine, fine,�h declared the Ruler of Heaven in a slightly irritated voice. �gI will issue a decree to the Assembly that will increase your Division�fs budget.�h

�gMy gratitude to you, Lord.�h Yuusaku bowed where he stood and surreptitiously heaved a sigh of relief. With this, his subordinates shouldn�ft be coming to him and complaining about how little they were paid despite their murderous schedule anymore. Well, or so he would hope. His employees were as much bloodsucking leeches as any other in the Three World. Their greed, unlike their competence, knew no bound. He sometimes caught himself wishing he could fire the whole lot.

�gWhat now?�h The male Maker of the World raised an eyebrow at Yuusaku when the man noticed Yuusaku still had something on his mind.

�gIf I may inquire,�h Yuusaku said, �gwhy do you insist on keeping the Assembly in the dark? I could not imagine what harms it may bring but I could certainly see how much we could save were we to....�h

�gStop worrying about budgets for one second, will you? Do you not get it?�h the dark-haired man, who looked as though he was old enough to be Yuusaku�fs younger brother, muttered darkly. �gThose senile Immortals are too old-fashioned to deal with. They will make a fuss should they realize someone like Yukihito is acting alone in Onogoro.�h

Old-fashioned, Izanagi-sama? Yuusaku thought in amusement. Wouldn�ft that be the pot calling the kettle black? You people are all the same! He held his peace, though. The Lord of Izumo, despite proclaiming democracy and freedom of speech over his Realm, appreciated those kinds of opinion as much as he would the Goddess of the Sun. Of course, that was to say, not very much.

�gAlthough I do agree with them at some point that it is indeed a scandalous issue, Yukihito�fs presence in Onogoro is still necessary,�h the Father of All declared, his voice sounding not exactly persuasive. He didn�ft even seem to believe half of what he said.

Necessary? What is? Yuusaku mused to himself. You don�ft even let me, your long-time confidant, know why the heck you allowed such a thing to happen and you talk about necessity?

Shaking his head slightly, he turned off the PDA and put it back inside his pocket, preparing to leave for his office. Before his could ask for his permission to go, though, the shoji doors of the Maker�fs study slid sideways violently to admit Tsukiyomi the Goddess of the Moon, who seemed furious enough to chew through rocks. He gritted his teeth and began to ask himself why the woman had to show up on such a beautiful day... and when she would crawl away and die like a decent human being.

�gHave you no manner, Goddess of the Moon?�h Yuusaku demanded with all of his authority as the Chief of the Messenger Division, the person who enforced Heaven�fs customs and laws. �gAre you not aware you are in the presence of the Great Father? Kneel, now!�h

�gSilence, pitiful insect! Leave before I feed the fish with your remains.�h Tsukiyomi glared at him. He backed up one step. Since the woman was brimming with more than enough powers to carry out her threat and all, perhaps he should not try to remind her of his animosity toward her at this specific time. Yuusaku knew too well that maybe the Maker of the World would not stop the woman from doing that, considering how he felt about her even after all those years.

�gYuusaku will stay, Tsukiyomi,�h Izanagi-sama said quietly. �gThere is nothing that cannot be discussed in front of him.�h

�gFine!�h she shouted.

�gSo foul a mood you are in, daughter.�h The older man, who refused to look his age, frowned at the silver-haired woman. �gWould you not tell me the cause?�h

�gWhat have you done to Yui behind my back?�h Tsukiyomi demanded heatedly. �gWhat have you done?�h

Yuusaku smiled. So the secret was finally out. This should be interesting to watch.... He moved to a corner in the far side of the room for safety measure, though. The other two were speaking loud enough to be heard from there anyway... and besides, by staying as far away from them as possible, he ran much less a risk of being struck by the spells that they might just throw at one another in their anger. It was certainly more than likely in his mind. 

�gWhat do you mean, Tsukiyomi?�h replied the adoptive father of the Goddess of the Moon. Yuusaku resisted the urge to scoff aloud at the other man�fs attempt to feign ignorance and wondered why he couldn�ft just take it and admit the truth like a real man. On his second thought, though, he began to understand why the Ruler of Heaven couldn�ft bring himself to. It couldn�ft be helped, really, for this one Maker of the World was still head over heels in love with the girl whom he coerced into swearing an oath to become his daughter... and sister to the one woman she didn�ft want to be. Everybody knew that the bravest man would turn to jelly in front of his love, after all. To such a rule, an Immortal was no exception, even if that same Immortal ruled the Heavenly Palace.

�gYou know better than anyone, father,�h Tsukiyomi snapped. �gI�fm talking about you violating our pact! You promised me that if I played the role of an obedient daughter well, if I stayed away from Yui, you would not harm her, did you not?�h

�gI did,�h the Lord of Izumo admitted, his face darkening, his hands clenching into fists atop his humongous desk. The man was taking this better than Yuusaku expected. Had it been any other person, woman or no, the Ruler of Heaven would have burned them into ashes where they stood.

Holding his hand over his mouth, Yuusaku chuckled softly enough to not be heard. This show was very amusing indeed. The silly pact they spoke of, agreed upon several millennia ago, had been what tormenting Tsukiyomi every moment she woke, and Yuusaku was grateful for it. Since Izanagi-sama was pretty much driven insane by the jealousy for his own daughter, the Goddess of the Sun, it did not help much to learn than the silver-haired woman only saved him because she wanted to go back to the former. That was like pouring oil into the already roaring fire, Yuusaku guessed. The Maker of the World had tried something very drastic then. The man threatened Tsukiyomi that unless she wanted to see Amaterasu killed, she had better make sure the latter would never learn how much she loved her. That was why Tsukiyomi had been playing the good daughter up until now, why the golden-haired woman still lived despite the hatred her blood father had for her.

Despite the fact that Yuusaku himself would never use such an underhanded and dirty method to separate the two, he couldn�ft deny that it did the job. After all, his liege lord�fs will had been thoroughly carried out, his message that perfectly conveyed to the woman he loved. She knew now that if she refused to belong to him, she would be to none. The other man made a mistake by not killing both of them, though. Thanks to his weakness, he was forced to see how Tsukiyomi�fs love for the Goddess of the Sun never stopped growing. Perhaps he had succeeded in making the silver-haired Goddess suffer, he failed in stopping himself from doing the same thing. The Lord of Izumo, reduced to a sop whenever it came to the woman who rescued him from the Underworld, couldn�ft see how revolting those two daughters of his were the way they clung onto their abnormal love. He couldn�ft force himself to destroy them, either, as he was supposed to. All he could do was keeping them away from each other while his heart�fs wound bleed more and more within every passing day.

Pitiful was what he was.

�gThen why is there a Curse Mark on Yui�fs body?�h Tsukiyomi slammed both of her hands upon the top of the desk, her whole body trembling in rage. �gWhy?�h

�gAmaterasu told you?�h replied the older man in a calm voice, the same one that he used whenever he thought of murder. Yuusaku had been in his service to far too long to not know that. If Amaterasu had an ounce of common sense, she would find a way to escape from the Three Worlds and never return. Not that he would give her such an advice, of course.

�gShe did not,�h the Goddess of the Moon declared, looking as though she just wanted to reach for her father�fs throat and rip it off with her bare hand. Judging by his reaction, which involved the Ruler of Izumo reclined a little bit more against his high-backed armchair, he obviously believed that she would. �gHad I not found her collapsing and almost burned to death, I would never have known. Now, father, answer my question!�h The unvoiced �gor else�h part whispered across the room.

�gCollapsing... almost burned to death....�h the Maker of the World murmured softly as he gave his lips a thoughtful tap. At which point he turned to Yuusaku, eyebrows raised in puzzlement. He sighed before he sent the other man a telepathic message that consisted of only one phrase, Internal impacts. �gOh, I see.�h Any other man in the Lord of Izumo�fs place would have pounded a fist onto his hand and exclaimed as though struck by divine revelation.

�gFather!�h

�gWhat are you making it a big deal for? She is not dead yet, is she? I upheld my end of the bargain, I believe.�h A smile crossed the man�fs lip. Nothing could have pleased him more than the knowledge that his spell, cast a few thousand years ago, had managed to torture the person who held the heart of the woman he loved. Not that he ever expected such a thing to happen when he planted the Curse upon Amaterasu�fs body, of course.

�gYou call torturing Yui upholding your end?�h Tsukiyomi snarled viciously at the man she rescued from the impenetrable fortress of the Underworld. Yuusaku was willing to wager his next month�fs salary that the woman had come to regret her action ever since. �gHow dare you?�h With her silver aura suddenly blazing around her hagoromo-clad frame, she seemed more than ready to unleash her powers and destroy the Lord of Izumo where he sat. Yuusaku could even sense energy building up within the latter. His liege lord obviously was preparing for the worst case. He himself considered leaving the room without permission and putting as much distance between him and the Heavenly Palace as he could.

�gMind your language, Tsukiyomi,�h the Ruler of Heaven whispered dangerously. �gDo not assume that I will tolerate your behaviors more than I have to.�h

�gSomeone who goes back on his own words is in no position to tell me that, father.�h The woman sneered at her last word.

�gFor your information, that Curse has nothing to do with out pact. It is but a punishment.�h

�gYou punished your daughter by endangering her life?�h the silver-haired High Immortal shouted. �gFor what?�h

For trying to sabotage Project Kannazuki, don�ft you know? Yuusaku thought. Again, he held his peace. One word out and losing his tongue was the last thing he would need to worry about.

�gIt is none of your concern,�h Izanagi-sama said coldly.

�gOf course it is!�h Tsukiyomi yelled at the other man at the top of her lungs. �gI have been living for no other purpose than keeping her alive for my entire life! Are you too blind to see?�h

Just as the drama was getting to the good part, a showdown between the alleged father and daughter, a message arrived in his PDA and made it tremble in his coat pocket. When he pulled the device out and examined the sender�fs identity, he realized that it was from the Intelligence Directorate of the Division of which he was in charge. He frowned. It was indeed unusual that his subordinates didn�ft wait until he got back there to deliver the news. It had to be something very urgent then, he decided. When he was done reading the message, he felt his mouth hanging in shock.

�gMy... my Lord,�h he stuttered, �gsomething�fs wrong with the Priestess of the Moon. She�fs not following the guidelines of the Project anymore!�h

�gWhat?�h Both the Maker of the World and his so-called daughter whipped their heads toward him. Under their penetrating gazes, one hotter than molten lava, one colder than arctic ice, he wished he had not uttered a word.

 

***

 

After half an hour fiddling with the functions of the One Terminal without any positive result, Saotome Makoto became deeply frustrated. Although she located the memory sphere of Kurusugawa Himeko, her former roommate and her secret crush, as easily as she did Sei no Tsurugi no Rinne�fs the last time she was here, she failed to access it. Every time her consciousness forced its way into the sphere to read its content, it exploded immediately and splashed the water all over her cape. Although she dried it off with her powers the first few times, she stopped eventually upon realizing that she was just wasting her power. Now, she was soaked from her head to her toes... while her temper was burning like wildfire within her body. If she didn�ft find something to vent her anger on soon, she might just explode where she stood.

Her eyes fell on the One Terminal, the sole object on this floating platform.

�gDamn!�h Makoto kicked the block of crystal as hard as she could.

�gThat is exactly why we do not let people use the Terminal without supervision,�h a man�fs voice said coolly behind her back. �gWhen they get mad, they hit it.�h

Startled, she drew Tasogare from her shadow and made a spiral slash while spinning on her heel. To her shock, her sword stroke couldn�ft do anything to the mysterious man, for he managed to catch Tasogare�fs blade between his thumb and index finger with contemptuous ease. The intruder was a very handsome young man who was taller than her by a head, who could made Oogami Souma look like a grain of sand beside a sparkling diamond. Short but glossy black hair framing a face so cool, calm and collected that he appeared as unshakable as the building within which they now stood. And if Makoto was surprised by his good looks, she was frightened silly by the powers she sensed within him. Weak as he might seem, he had more than thrice the amount of her powers. If he so desired, he could crush her like an insect.

�gUnlike Kagutsuchi-san, I do not think violent girls are cute,�h the man announced in a calm voice. Listening to him alone, no one could have thought that he was empty-handedly facing someone with a Sword. �gAnd be warned, I hit anyone who hit me, woman or not.�h He released her Sword and acted as though it wasn�ft there. The Twilight Blade, sharp enough to cut through cold steel and had sufficient power to level a city to the ground, might as well never have existed.

Knowing that Tasogare would do her no good against such an overwhelming opponent, Makoto let it sink back into the shadow from where it came while fixing her eyes on the Immortal who had caught her off-guard and made her feel like a criminal who was facing the noose. The thought invoked the anger that had been nettling her heart ever since her failure to access Sun Priestess�fs the memory sphere.

�gWho are you, sneaking up to me like that?�h Makoto demanded as she glared at the man.

�gRude,�h the man commented. �gIs that how mortals behave nowadays, not introducing themselves before they ask for other people�fs name?�h He pinched her nose playfully afterwards, much to her shock.

Furious, she tried to slap the back of his hand. Since the man withdrew it in time, she missed and made a fool out of herself while he laughed out loud. Her hands curled into fists. Were he not a more powerful opponent, she would have... she would have....

�gI am Susanou, the God of Storms, also the Keeper of this Hall,�h he announced. �gYou may address me without any honorifics.�h

�gI don�ft give a damn who you are.�h Makoto blushed when she noticed the man�fs widening smile. His eyes, dark and penetrating like the tip of a sword, seemed to be saying, �gAre you not contradicting what you said earlier?�h �gNow make way, I want to leave,�h she said in sheer stubbornness while feeling as though her face were on fire.

�gAs you wish.�h He stood aside, giving her full access to the silvery surface of the Dimensional which he blocked just a heartbeat before.

Makoto was surprised by the man�fs action. Letting her go this easily was not what she expected of him, despite the fact that it was what she demanded. After all, he was the keeper of this place and she an intruder. He should be doing his best to destroy her instead of treating her like a guest. Not that she wanted him to, of course. She still valued her life... and she still hoped that she could win over Himeko�fs heart. She couldn�ft die here. Head buzzing with questions, she started toward the silvery surface.

�gBut do tell, kiddo, are you not interested in what lay within the memory of the Priestess of the Sun?�h Susanou said just before she managed to walk past him, sounding as though he was musing to himself. His eyes were riveted on her, though, while the corners of his mouth curved upward to form an almost smile. She stopped dead in her track.

�gYou... you have been watching, haven�ft you?�h Makoto demanded. �gAnd don�ft call me kiddo!�h

�gWhat can stop me?�h Susanou, who was now standing less than a foot away from her, said, obviously enjoying himself. Up close, he even appeared even more handsome, if that was possible. Despite her irritation toward the man, she still sensed her heart skipping a beat. �gHave you any idea how old I am?�h

Makoto couldn�ft say anything in response. She really had forgotten that she was dealing with an Immortal. The man must have lived for at least thousands of years already, so to him, she was no different from a kid.

�gAgain, are you interested?�h It took her a few seconds to realize what the man was referring to.

�gI am, but... I can�ft view Himeko�fs memory,�h she admitted grudgingly.

�gYou never bothered to read the instruction before you tampered with the One Terminal did you, child?�h the God of Storms answered, his smile growing broader and much more amused. Makoto gritted her teeth in anger as she shook her head.

�gNo wonder, then,�h Susanou said and tapped his finger gently on the surface of the crystal block. A blue holographic screen scribbled with a lot of words flashed into life above it. �gFeel free to read, little one.�h Makoto chew on her underlip and decided that she wasn�ft going to let his taunts get on her nerves. It was much more difficult than she had thought, though.

After she had moved closer to the screen, she began to read. She didn�ft trust the Keeper of the Hall a hair more than she did when she first saw him, however, so she spared a few seconds once in a while to watch him. Susanou did nothing but studying her, however, smiling as though he was amused by that he was looking at. Well, much as it irritated Makoto, she soon forgot about him altogether as she realized what conditions must be met if someone wished to view a person�fs memory in the Kiokkai. Her eyes widened as far as they could at the newly found knowledge. According to what was written here, the Dark God couldn�ft possibly use what he had ordered her to retrieve. Unless.... A very horrible explanation dawned on her.

Makoto touched the Terminal again and entered a new search phrase. The result, which came back in the blink of an eye, left her mouth hanging.

�gImpossible.... Impossible!�h she muttered, feeling cold sweat run down her back.

�gIt indeed is.�h The Keeper of the Hall laughed softly at seeing her expression. �gSo do you see now that it is impossible for you to seek the truth through the Memories Sphere?�h

Still under the shock of the revelation, she could only nod.

�gWhat would you say, however, were I to inform you that there is another way for you to learn what you wish to?�h Susanou asked, his dark eyes riveted on her, demanding for answers. Somehow, she was under the impression that he had already known what it was going to be.

Struggling visibly with herself, she forced her mouth to form the words, �gI... I would ask you... humbly for it.�h

�gThat would not do.�h The man shook his head. �gThere is nothing free in this world. There is a payment for everything. If you desire my knowledge, you must pay my price.�h His dark eyes glittered and the corner of his mouth quirked upward in a satisfied smile. He seemed to believe that Makoto would pay no matter what.

Suddenly feeling a pang of fear in her heart, she swallowed audibly. There was but a few things a man could want from a woman, especially if said man and woman were alone in a place none other was going to visit.

�gWhat�fs your price?�h she demanded.

�gYour name,�h Susanou said simply. She gaped at him. That�fs it? she thought.

�gMakoto,�h she muttered grudgingly in the end. �gSaotome Makoto.�h

�gPayment accepted.�h The handsome Immortal, whose smile never left his hateful mouth, placed his palm atop the One Terminal, into which it sank until the man�fs hand was inside all the way to his wrist. �gUsername: Susanou no Mikoto. Authorization Level: Keeper of the Hall. Requesting access,�h he said in a commanding voice, which boomed in the dimensional space confined within the Memories Hall. Makoto suspected that Susanou was showing off, for he winked at her afterwards. Whatever the man was thinking, she was neither impressed nor amused.

�gVoice confirmation matched. Access granted,�h a dull voice replied from within the rectangular Terminal.

Now Makoto was impressed. From beneath the endlessly vast ocean before them, an obelisk-like structure rose up high into the sky and sent crashing waves everywhere in the process. It was made purely of crystal, five times as wide as the platform on which Makoto and Susanou stood and a hundred times as high as it was wide. Midway up its shaft, there was a huge platinum ring bearing two vertical and circular plates opposing one another, one carved into the shape of the Sun Crest, the other, the Moon. Without the slightest sound, the massive ring slowly revolved around the obelisk, which gleamed brilliantly in the light of the Memories Sea. Slabs of smooth stone extended from the platform then, forming a bridge to the crystal structure.

 �gWelcome to the land of dark fairytales, where there is no Prince to save Snow White from her death, where there is no Knight to wake Sleeping Beauty.�h The Immortal offered her a deep, formal bow while his hand made a flourishing movement over his head. �gWelcome to Kannazuki. Welcome to the Tower of Agony.�h

 

***

 

Pacing the length of the Enshrinement Chamber of Shingetsu, Kurusugawa Himeko was deeply disturbed. Upon awaking about half an hour ago, she had found herself inside the stone chamber, which was empty save the Shinken Seals and the eternal ice pillar that they safeguarded. Of course, since the first thing that came to her mind was the safety of her blue-haired princess, she immediately started for the exit so that she could leave and start looking for the love of her life. She was stopped in her track as soon as she reached the stone slight of stair leading back to the surface, for the High Priest was there, blocking her way. His expression, stern and knowing, showed that he was fully aware of her intentions... and that there was no way in hell he�fd let her do as she wished. It was then that she discovered how immovable Oogami Kazuki could be when he had put his foot down.

What�fs wrong with them anyway? she thought. Tried as she might, she couldn�ft figure out why the Oogami brothers did everything in their power to stop her from looking for her sweetheart. Of course, with the both of them keeping their mouth shut as vigorously as a mussel when she demanded to know why she had to be kept here – she had elected not to use the word imprisoned despite its being more accurate – or where Chikane-chan was, she doubted that she would learn it any time soon. She muttered darkly under her breath. The only thing that Oogami-sense deigned to tell her was that she was in great danger and that she had to stay here until it was safe again. When she asked him when that was going to be, he only gave her an ominous look and leave.

Determined to find the person she loved, she had tried to sneak out despite the High Priest�fs warnings. To her unpleasant surprise, there were guards sitting every dozen steps or so on the stair leading to the surface. Oogami-sensei was serious about confining her in the Chamber, it appeared.

Tired, bored, exasperated, frustrated, and worried for the sake of her sweetheart at the same time, Himeko squatted down in a corner and buried her face in the curve of her arms. Chikane-chan, where are you? she thought.

As if it was a summons, she heard the sounds of footsteps echoing in from the dark stairway. A heartbeat later, the slender figure of the blue-haired princess emerged from the entrance of the Enshrinement Chamber, her face worried, her sapphire eyes filled with concerned. Himeko�fs heart leapt into her throat. Joy overwhelmed her.

�gChikane-chan!�h she called, sensing tears welling up as she bound to her feet and hurried toward the girl she loved. She almost fell a few times before she found herself cuddled in the blue-haired princess�fs heartwarming and gentle embrace. �gChikane-chan!�h she called again as tears streaked down her cheeks, as she put her arms around her secret crush�fs back and hugged her as tightly. Not saying anything, the taller girl simply held her and combed her hand through Himeko�fs golden tresses. �gThank the Gods you are okay, Chikane-chan,�h she sobbed. �gI have so many things I want to tell you.�h Before she could open her mouth again and tell her sweetheart how much she loved her, though, a gentle finger was laid against her lips. She fell silent, then.

�gI regret to say that this is not the time,�h said the heiress of the Himemiya while releasing Himeko from her embrace. Her facial expression was grim, her jaw set with determination. Standing with her body less than an inch away, the blue-haired princess seemed almost afraid.

�gWhy?�h Himeko asked, still hearing every particle of her existence ringing out in the need to hold, to touch, to caress, and to kiss the one she loved. She barely could control herself. Ever since last night, when she first returned to the Himemiya Mansion and found that Chikane-chan wasn�ft home, she had been thinking about what she wanted to say once she found the light of her world... and what she wanted to do once she had gotten her feelings across. Never once did she imagine that nothing went according to plan. Their reunion did not happen in the princess�fs room, where she hoped to receive her first kiss, where she hoped to spend the first night together with the person with whom she was going to spend the rest of her natural life. Their reunion had to happen while she was confined in the secret Chamber of Shingetsu Grand Shrine, where she was kept against her wish.

�gShingetsu in under siege,�h Chikane-chan replied in a grave tone. �gThe Orochi have arrived and they mean to take us. We must leave at once.�h

�gBut... but...�h Himeko stuttered, �gthe sensei told me to remain here at all cost!�h

�gHe sent me here with a different order, now,�h said the taller girl. �gCome with me quickly before the Orochi find us.�h She took Himeko�fs hand and pulled her toward the far side of the Chamber. She blinked.

�gAren�ft we going the wrong way, Chikane-chan? The exit is over there!�h

�gWe cannot use that route.�h The Himemiya princess shook her magnificent head. �gThe Followers would be right on top of us if we do. I know of a safer passage to get us out of here.�h She stopped in front of the tall, rocky wall the surface of which was torn by cracks. More disturbingly, Himeko noticed that all those cracks, sharp, deep, and spanning out from one single point, resembled the jagged shape of lightning bolts. They seemed as though they were just formed recently, too, so she could only wondered what could have inflicted them upon one of the walls of the Grand Shrine�fs most secret chambers.

Appearing oblivious of the cracks, the blue-haired girl placed her right palm upon the wall and pressed. Surprisingly, a circular part of the wall sank in at the contact at the same time that thunderous noises filled the quiet chamber. Several seconds afterwards, a slab of stone swing opened a few feet to their left and revealed a flight of stair leading upward. Himeko gasped. It had to be some sort of emergency escape root, she was sure. What she didn�ft understand was the fact that the High Priest never informed them of its existence. Maybe he never thought that we had to use it one day, she decided.

�gHurry!�h Chikane-chan urged.

Wasting no more time, Himeko began climbing the stairs with her sweetheart. The higher they went, the further they ran up the steps, the more tired she became and the more she wished that she had been exercising instead of reading manga and magazine all the time. Ahead of her was the Priestess of the Moon, who didn�ft seem to have any trouble running at top speed. While Himeko�fs breathing was heavy and irregular, the princess�fs was calm and even as though she was but taking a leisurely walk. Chikane-chan sure is strong, she mused to herself.

To Himeko�fs relief, the sun light emerged after a winding turn of the stairway. A dozen more steps brought them out of the passage and onto the surface. Himeko found herself standing in a luxuriant glade surrounded by tall trees that made up the forest behind the Grand Shrine. On high, the midday sun was shining amid a deep azure sky scarred by no cloud. Down low, a gentle wind was blowing across the land and caressing her golden tresses. The air was cool and still, completely undisturbed by any sounds save the chirping of the birds and the rustling of the leaves. When she turned her head and looked, she found the tall roofs of Shingetsu, upon which fire didn�ft burn, smoke didn�ft billow, and light didn�ft flash the way they always did when the Followers decided to demonstrate their might.

There was not a single sign of an Orochi attack.

When Himeko�fs attention once again settled upon the one she loved, she realized that the blue-haired princess was studying her openly with an unreadable expression on her face. Her sapphire eyes, once troubled and tinted with fear, now seemed cold enough to freeze water. She gave Himeko the creeps.

�gChikane-chan?�h she said. It suddenly occurred to her, however, that despite her calling her sweetheart�fs name many times since she first appeared in the Enshrinement Chamber, the other girl never did hers even once. �gAre you sure that the Orochi is laying siege on the Shrine?�h

�gThey are?�h the heiress of the Himemiya asked, sounding surprised. �gWho told you that?�h

Himeko blinked and answered slowly, �gYou.�h She could smell the wrongness permeating the air. She could sense danger lurking behind every tree. She could feel powers stirring within the blue-haired princess. Suddenly, she could no longer hear the birds�f songs. Even the winds had stopped blowing. The atmosphere, once soothing, now seemed heavy as a boulder of rock.

�gDid I?�h Chikane-chan gave her lips a thoughtful tap. �gPerhaps. I am sorry.�h To Himeko�fs shock, malevolence curved her sweetheart�fs mouth into a smile cruel beyond any description. She instinctively took a step backward while feeling her heart quickening and cold sweat running down her back. Never before had the blue-haired girl seemed more frightening. Never before had she appeared more murderous. �gI lied.�h

�gYou�fre joking, right?�h Himeko gave a nervous laugh. She hoped that the love of her life was.

�gYou truly believe that I am?�h said the Priestess of the Moon, who walked toward Himeko as she spoke.

While the girl seemed to be enjoying herself immensely, Himeko was not. Her body was tense, her mind was racked with fear, and her heart was galloping fast enough to beat a race horse. For reasons that she failed to comprehend, however, she was unable to move a muscle. For all she knew, she could have been a tree rooted deeply into the ground. A tree that her princess appeared to want to cut off.

�gYour innocence never ceased to amaze me,�h said Chikane-chan, who was now standing in front of Himeko, their body but an inch apart. The former, unexpectedly, raised her hand to trace Himeko�fs eyebrows, caress her cheeks, cup her chin, and finally lift it up. The taller girl�fs lips, now opening slightly to reveal two perfect rows of white teeth, began to brush against Himeko�fs forehead while her vacant hand placed firmly on her back and trapped her within the curve of a steely arm.

Despite having desired physical intimacy from the girl she loved most for nearly as long as she knew her, Himeko didn�ft feel particularly happy under Chikane-chan�fs touches. Sure, her caresses were gentle and sensual, her voice alluring enough to belong to a girl who was whispering words of love to her sweetheart, but they far from produced the effects that Himeko thought they would. What coursed in her veins right now was neither pleasure nor comfort... but terrible fright that kept urging her to run away. Perhaps she would have... had she figured out why her legs refused to obey.

�gI know.�h The blue-haired princess�fs smile grew broader and much more vicious as her face drew nearer still. �gI will give you a reward for your being just so cute, my dear A-ka-ri.�h She kissed Himeko fully on the lips.

Her eyes sprang open in shock at the contact. Conjuring every ounce of strength in her body, she pushed the blue-haired girl away. Afterwards, she collapsed onto her knees with hands clutching her neck tightly enough to break it. Her lips were on fire, her throat in flames, and her eyes infested with a dizzying amount of colorful butterflies. What the blue-haired princess had just offered her wasn�ft a kiss, but a heavy dose of sheer malice and darkest intentions. During the split second that their lips touched, a current of frightening visions from the other girl had swept through her minds, informing her of what the blue-haired princess was thinking of in her head. Himeko�fs stomach heaved and threatened to empty itself. What she had seen included images in which her most important person was either tearing her clothes apart or ravaging her naked body while she screamed out in horror and pain and begged the other girl to stop. She never did.

�gHow unsightly,�h commented the Priestess of the Moon, whose feet, adorned with white stockings and a pair of tabi sandals, were the only things that Himeko saw. Looking up, she found the towering figure of Chikane-chan, whose slender body was graced by the white chihaya and the red hibakama of Himeko�fs Priestess outfit. Her face was icy and steely. �gIs that how you would react to a kiss from your lover, Akari? Do you know how much you have hurt my feelings?�h She did sound offended... yet her sapphire eyes, which made her face seem warm, sent a completely different message. They were smiling.

�gAkari?�h Himeko repeated, feeling a strange sense of familiarity at the name she just uttered. She couldn�ft understand why the blue-haired princess called her that, though.

�gYou are not going to tell me that you have forgotten your own name, are you?�h said the taller girl, her voice containing the full strength of an arctic blast. She made Himeko want to run her hands up and down her arms to warm herself up.

�gI... don�ft understand what you meant, Chikane-chan,�h replied Himeko, who was trying not to cry. What has happened to her? she thought while rising to her feet. Her wobbly knees made it a very difficult task.

�gI see. Your memory of the past is no longer there, is it?�h The heiress of the Himemiya gave a deep disappointed sigh. �gHow sad.�h

�gThe past?�h Immediately after she had spoken, she found herself wishing that she had not. Her internal organs turned into ice at a sharp look from the blue-haired girl. Had she not been having trouble standing erect, she would have stepped back to shy away from those fierce and prickly sapphire eyes. She began to panic. The Chikane-chan she knew always looked at her gently. She always treated her with friendship more valuable than gold and respect due a princess. That Chikane-chan, at this very moment, was gone and replaced by an imperious girl whose soul seemed to be carved from ice.

�gYes, a past where you and I were once inseparable.�h Her hands rose in front of her chest, her palms facing one another while her fingers curled inward as though she was holding an invisible sphere. A second later, a flash emerged from within her grasp and formed a sphere of silver light so bright that it made the midday sun look dark. At the appearance of the thing, winds began to blow again. They sang softly in a sorrowful melody into Himeko�fs ears. They wreathed around her sweetheart�fs body, brushing her luxuriant blue hair and caressing her Priestess outfit. Seemingly unaware of what was happening around her, Chikane-chan simply fixed her eyes upon the sphere of light, face so dreamy that anyone could have sworn the girl was looking at a picture of her lover. �gA past where we spent our days in endless joy, where we lived our lives in eternal blessing.�h

Her sapphire eyes turned to Himeko while she held the sphere closer to her heart. The wind died.

�gBut then, it is also a past where you betrayed me by breaking our vows, where you tortured me by smothering my hopes and dreams.�h the Priestess of the Moon spoke softly, her voice containing a mountain of knives, a sky of thunder, a sea of fierce waves. �gIt is I, Kannazuki Aoi, the one whose life you shattered, whose future you destroyed.�h Her sweetheart�fs grasp tightened... and the sphere exploded.

�gNo... it�fs not true!�h Himeko screamed. �gIt�fs not true!�h

The taller girl only threw back her head and laughed.

 

***

 

Standing inside Kannazuki, what he himself dubbed the Tower of Agony, Susanou no Mikoto the God of Storm quietly observed the Orochi Follower who had willingly stepped into his office to seek an answer that she was not supposed to know. Saotome Makoto, clad in a cape the color of which was too dreary for a girl her age in his opinion, was looking at the interior of the Tower with open horror on her youthful face. The more she studied its walls, the more frightened she grew, and the paler she looked.

She is sharp, he mused to himself. The brown-haired, emerald-eyed girl, seemed to have noticed the existence of something whose powers penetrated every particle of the Tower of Kannazuki the way she tried to scan every direction at once. A few minutes later, she managed to locate it. Once she raised her head and directed her gaze upward, her jaw fell and her eyes became two large pool of emerald light on a face stricken with terror. As expected of the wielder of the Twilight Blade, she managed to locate the whereabouts of the engine that empowered the machinations of this Tower, something not even a fraction of Izumo�fs populace was capable of.

�gWhat... is that?�h she mumbled in a trembling voice. Despite having a pride fit for a Goddess, she could not help but feel intimidated by the presence of the most powerful magical entity in the Creation Realm, it would seem. Not that he would look down at her for that. For goodness�fs sake, he himself did not fare any better the first time he walked in here with the former Keeper of the Hall and saw for himself what it was that kept the Kiokkai functioning. When he came back to his own room in the Palace, he had fallen sick for a full day.

�gIt is called the Mirror of Life, youngling,�h he answered, �gthe energy source of the hidden Dimension inside the Hall, that which draws in the memories of all living beings in the Three Worlds.�h

�gMemories?�h she blinked at him, evidently surprised. �gWhat does the Mirror of Life have to do with memories?�h

�gBecause one�fs memories are the proof of one�fs existence,�h he took up his favorite lecturing tone, which did not seem to improve the girl�fs opinion of him in the least bit. She sniffed disapprovingly at him in response. �gWithout a record of what one goes through in life, a person is but an empty vessel wandering through the dark eternity.�h

She sniffed again, clearly trying to demonstrate how much she cared for his explanations. Her eyes, intently on him, told him how much she was interested. He chuckled, which earned him a hard stare from her, and thought that perhaps all women were never true to themselves.

�gTo put in layman terms,�h he continued, his tone unchanged, �gInochi no Kagami is the Entity that controls a mortal�fs life, which in turn oversees its core, memories.�h

�gControl our lives?�h she said dangerously, her voice bearing the quality of the sound of an unsheathing sword.

�gBy that I mean decide one�fs path when one stands at the crossroads of destiny,�h Susanou answered. �gWhen a man dies, his memories shall be judged by the Celestial Assembly. They are those who will pass the final judgment whether that man will return to the Cycle of Death and Rebirth, fall into the depth of the Underworld for repentance, or in some rare cases, elevated to the ranks of the Gods. Once the decision has been made, it shall be carried out by the Mirror of Life.�h

�gIs that so?�h Saotome Makoto muttered noncommittally.

�gWhat you are concerned with is not the main function of Inochi no Kagami, Makoto,�h he reminded her and received another sharp look. He could see that she did not like being addressed by her given name. Not that he was about to stop, though. �gTell me, child, what are those things that revolve around the Mirror?�h

�gTwo large crosses locked in chains,�h she muttered. He was certain that she had noticed that those chains she mentioned were directly connected to First Supreme, too.

�gAltars,�h Susanou tutored. He even began to think that those pointed looks she kept throwing at him were cute. �gThey are the tools with which the Immortals of Heaven used to bind a certain couple, seal them, and lock them in here until the time comes for them to walk the Human World once more. Care to guess who?�h

She gasped, and he smiled. The girl was indeed intelligent. She had figured out the identities of the couple he just spoke of. He wished he had someone just as smart in the Battalion that he controlled.

�gThat is correct, Makoto,�h he intoned as he raised his hand so that his palm now faced upward. From it, a sphere of white light emerged. In it was an image of what was once here seventeen years ago, before the rebirth of the Priestesses of Kannazuki, the Maidens of the Swords.

A gasp of horror escaped from the Eighth Head�fs mouth the moment she laid eyes upon the content of the light sphere he held atop his hand.

�gAre you ready for the most inhuman secret of Heaven, little one?�h he asked. �gAre you prepared to learn the reason to the Priestesses of the Sun and Moon�fs existence?�h

She nodded, for the first time ever appearing truly interested in what he had to offer.

Pleased, he told her the truth. When he was done, he found tears trickling uncontrollably down her cheeks. When he revealed to her what was going to happen in the near future, she let out an agonized wail and ran toward the exit. He left the Tower of Kannazuki just in time to see the girl vanish into the Dimensional Portal. Placing his hand atop the One Terminal again, he commanded it to let the Tower sink back into the depth of the Sea of Memories. As the crystal structure slowly submerged beneath the waves, he put his hands into his pocket and walked out of the Hall. His office hours had just ended, right on cue.

Saotome Makoto, such a lovely name, he thought.

 

***

 

Her eyes riveted on the face of the girl who was now standing opposite her, Kannazuki Aoi found herself smiling in satisfaction. Kannazuki Akari, the Priestess of the Sun, the reincarnation of Aoi�fs past-life beloved, the one who now called herself Kurusugawa Himeko, the girl who once shared a family name with Aoi despite them being not related by blood, was still shaking her head in denial. The girl did not seem able to believe a word of what Aoi had told her. More like she was forcing herself not to, Aoi supposed. She should definitely try harder, then. After all, since she had made decision, there was no other way for her except following it through. The tragedy that had lasted three thousand years and spawned agony beyond belief... it was high time it ended.

�gYou seem unwell, Akari.�h She smiled. At the speed of a bullet, she allowed her body to traverse the space between them. In less than the blink of an eye, the golden-haired girl�fs tender, warm, and fragrant body fell into the curve of Aoi�fs embrace, unable to escape. Slipping an arm around the little angel�fs slim waist, Aoi cupped her delicate chin and gently lift it up. Upon a face that was radiating utmost fear she found a pair of amethyst crystals more mysterious than the dead of night and deeper than any ocean on Earth. �gWill another kiss help?�h A face drew closer.

�gNo!�h she screamed and struggled to set herself free, struggled to avoid being kissed. From the way she acted, anyone could have sworn that Aoi was some sort of fatal disease.

She only spared the golden-haired girl an annoyed look before she withdrew her arms and let go of her prey. As a result, Akari lost her balance and fell on her face upon the soft grassy ground. When Aoi squatted down near the golden-haired little angel, she heard soft cries escaping the girl�fs dirt-ridden lips. She found herself smiling again. Those faint mutters of a hurting soul, those painful whispers of an agonizing heart... sounded adorable coming from the reincarnation of the person she loved. Those sparkling tears flowing down the Priestess of the Sun�fs stained cheeks, those liquid crystals shinier than any diamond made by the hands of mortals... were just lovely enough to drive any man delirious with desires.

�gNe, Akari.�h She used a white piece of cloth, which she wove from a flash of silver light, to dab at the other girl�fs face and lips. �gWhat are you crying for?�h she asked in a calm yet dangerous voice, the voice she never once used to address the girl to whom she once pledged her heart and her immortal soul. Much had changed during the course of three thousand years, of course. �gAnswer me, will you?�h

�gI ask what you are crying for, do you not hear me?�h She grabbed Akari by the collar and hauled her to her feet. The Priestess of the Sun only looked at Aoi with her teary amethyst eyes in response, her lovely mouth unable to utter anything except for unintelligible words. Judging by the way her lips were moving, though, Aoi would guess that the little angel had meant to say, �eWhy are you doing this, Chikane-chan?�f Why indeed....

�gThree thousand years have come and gone, Akari, yet you are still bawling like a baby just as you were when I saw you last,�h she commented, her voice growing colder with every word she spoke. �gYou never change, do you? Childish, selfish, and uncaring of the feelings of others. Why do you cry now, when the person who should be doing that is I? Answer me!�h

�gI don�ft understand... Chikane-chan...�h the Priestess of the Sun managed between her sobs. Her hands, which one hung limply at her side, rose up in an attempt to reach for Aoi�fs cheeks. �gI don�ft understand any thing at all....�h A flare of silver light mercilessly hurled those trembling hands away before they could touch her. From the way the little angel closed her eyes, from which tears spilled out in streams, and bit on her underlip afterwards, Aoi would say that it must have hurt. Not just physically, of course.

�gI forgot,�h Aoi whispered coldly. �gYou are but a shadow of your former self and no more than a vessel devoid of your past-life memory. Let me remind you, then, of what was, is, and will be happening, to you.�h

She unlatched her fingers from the golden-haired girl�fs collars. Against gravity, her body started to rise and did not stop until her feet were dangling at least a dozen feet above the grassy ground. Out of nowhere, thin ribbons made from silver light emerged, tied themselves onto Akari�fs arms and legs, and then pulled them wide apart. A little bit more strength put in those ribbons, a little bit tighter they should tug, and the little angel would be ripped into five pieces. Not that Aoi wanted that to happen, however. The game had just begun... and besides, her goals had yet to be achieved. Until they were, there would be no killing. Until then, no one was going to die.

With a sphere of light hovering atop her right palm, she elevated her body to the same height as that of the reincarnation of her sweetheart, whose round, shiny tears were still dripping off her stunning face.

�gListen and listen well, Akari,�h Aoi commanded. The sphere began to shine more brightly than ever as a faint whisper echoed across the land,

 

�gUnder this starlit night, by all the constellations reigning the beautiful sky, to one another we pledge our hearts, we offer our souls. Until the end of time, we vow to stay as one, in life or in death, in sickness or in health. There shall not be a moment in which we part. There shall not be a day in which our love is gone. May our earnest wish be granted by the Gods above, may our Fate be tied by the Weaver of Destiny, forever and ever�h

 

�gThat is... that is....�h Akari muttered in plain disbelief. She had realized that what she just heard was recited by two distinct voices, one of which was the same as her very own. It was as though she herself had said it.

�gVoices of the past, yours and mine.�h Aoi undid the orb of light. �gRecorded from three thousand years in the shadow of the ages. Under the warm roof of the Lunar Shrine, under the care of our motherly mentor Tsukiyomi-sama the Moon Goddess, we grew up as childhood friends and sweethearts. We were so happy then, two maidens too fascinated with one another to resist the ever-growing feelings inside our hearts. It was inevitable. Yet, along with love came the anxiety. We knew it was forbidden by the Laws of Heaven for two girls to fall in love. We were but aware of the disaster waiting to snatch us into its midst should we be found out. There were times I cried by myself in the dark, fearful of the day the Immortals killed us both for our grievous sin, of the day they took you away from me. Yet, you were there, my beloved Akari, the center of my world, the heart of my light.�h

�gYes, you were there for me,�h Aoi murmured as she leaned in to kiss the other girl on the cheek. The way the Priestess of the Sun shied away from her afterward and the way she shivered as though she had just been stripped naked in the heart of winter told Aoi that the amount of malice she put into the kiss had not gone to waste. She smiled. �gThe only thing Kannazuki Aoi was good at was acting strong while deep down, she was but a weakling who kept worrying herself into depression. You, on the other hand, shone bright in your simplicity. You might bawl over laughable matters but once you decided on your wish, you put all your efforts into making it come true. You told me that you loved me, and that was the end of it, you would not care about anything else. You held me when I cried. You kissed me to make me feel better. You were the only one whose mere words could mend my spirit, dear Akari.�h

�gI admired you so. I loved you so,�h Aoi whispered into the little angel�fs ear while her arms once more snaked around her waist. As she buried her face in the crook of the golden-haired girl�fs neck to place her lips on the pulse on her throat, one hand of hers slipped inside the gap of Akari�fs shirt, traveled up her smooth belly, and enfolded her left breast. At the contact, redness flushed the Priestess�fs cheeks and a whimper, either from pleasure or apprehension, maybe both, was given voice by her delicate mouth. Oh how Aoi had treasured those sensual touches. Oh how she had cherished the warmth of her sweetheart�fs tender body through the fabrics of the chihaya every time they held each other tight.

�gEvery moment of my time was for thinking of you, trying to find ways to make you smile, to have you reward me with a kiss,�h Aoi murmured while her hand continued to caress the firm, shapely orb of flesh. The whimper grew louder, within which pleasure began to drown out fear. �gMy life was filled with boundless joy because you always supported me with all you had. And that unforgettable day finally came, when we knelt before the Altar of the Silver Moon in the Shrine and recited the Prayer of Hope. Do you remember the Prayer we showed the numerous couples who came to the Moon to ask for our blessings? That night, you became mine. Since our Priestess powers are bound to our Innocence, our earthly bodies could never become one. Even so, our hearts did. I doubt you could ever imagine how happy I was.�h

Her voice grew sharper, harder, and much more murderous. �gBut then, despite my love for you, despite the bond we shared, you still betrayed me in the very end.�h She slapped the Priestess of the Sun as hard as she could. The other girl�fs cheek was now imprinted with a red, swollen mark in the shape of Aoi�fs hand. She did not seem able to believe what just happened. Aoi would not blame her for that. After all, her friend Himemiya Chikane had always treated the girl with love and respect. Despite her complete lack of caring toward others, the Himemiya heiress had never been one who could force herself to speak one harsh word to the girl she loved most, let alone strike out at her.

�gWhy did you sell me out to Ame no Murakumo, Akari? Why did you sacrifice my feelings for your selfish purpose? Why is it that at the end of the line, one of us died and one lived?�h she grabbed the little angel�fs throat with both hands and snarled at her face. �gWhy is it that one of us was killed by the hand of the one she loved most? What had happened to our vows? What had happened to the promise to stay by my side forever? Tell me!�h

�gI... don�ft know... Chikane-chan.... I don�ft... remember...�h Akari croaked as she struggled against Aoi�fs tightening grasp.

�gAt least say my name correctly,�h Aoi said coldly, took her hands away, and allowed her prisoner to desperately gasp for breath. �gI am Kannazuki Aoi, the Priestess of the Moon.�h

�gNo, you�fre Chikane-chan!�h Akari insisted stubbornly. �gYou�fre still my kind and gentle Chikane-chan no matter what!�h

�gThat girl is already dead.�h Aoi laughed. �gI killed her.�h

�gYou�fre lying!�h the other girl cried out at the top of her lungs and earned herself a sharp, dark glare from Aoi. Although the little angel shied back afterwards, the light of defiance never stopped shining in her beautiful amethyst eyes.

�gI am not.�h Aoi chuckled in great amusement. �gDo you not know that I have been sealed inside her since the very start of all this? The first time I saw you through her eyes when we were awakened on our birthday, I had wanted to get out and exact revenge. To my dismay,�h her eyes narrowed dangerously at the reincarnation of the girl she loved, �gshe managed to hold me back. Although she never knew something within her was stirring, her devotion toward you had helped her imprison me within her soul. She had been a strong girl to be able to delay my return for the last several weeks, I must give her that, but as a mortal, she had limits. Last night, the chains that had been binding me were broken, and I was set free.�h

�gLast night.... It couldn�ft be....�h

�gHer soul was sweet and filled with so much love and affection,�h she ignored the other girl and continued. �gI could have spared her, I guess. I could have reduced her to only a voice inside my head. But then, you are to blame, dear Akari. Had she not been your closest friend, she would have lived for a little while longer.�h

�gThat�fs not true!�h the Priestess of the Sun cried. Although tears never stopped rolling off her cheeks, Aoi�fs prisoner was still gazing at her with a pair of beautiful eyes unstained by the color of hate. It would appear that despite her harsh treatments, the girl was never once enraged the way Aoi had expected her to be. It was troubling and puzzling at the same time, in any event. �gI can still sense you in there, Chikane-chan. Please, tell me the truth. What have I done to make you so angry with me? Please, tell me.... I don�ft want to make you mad. I don�ft want to be hated by you... because... because I... I....�h

�gYou think your friend still lives, Akari?�h Aoi whispered icily and cut the little angel off. �gI shall prove otherwise.�h

Aoi extended her right hand and let her palm hover above the ruby ring on the ring finger of the Priestess of the Sun�fs left. It was the present Himemiya Chikane had given to the girl, hoping it would get her feelings across. Foolish and futile was what it was. If it had done a fraction of what she had wanted it too, Kannazuki Aoi would not be standing here right at this very moment, torturing the person Himemiya Chikane loved most. She chuckled. The Himemiya of that day would be horrified to death should she learn what Aoi intended to do with the ring. Indeed, it was now the best tool for Aoi to use and carry out her wishes.

�gDo you think Himemiya Chikane has the heart to do this, little Akari?�h She unleashed her powers.

The golden-haired girl began to scream. Yet, the more heat wafted out from the ruby ring, the more Aoi put in. The thing now glowed brilliantly red as though it had been tossed into an open fire and heated to near melting. Smoke began to rise from Akari�fs finger as the sizzling sound punctuated the howls that pain was strumming off her throat, and as the stench of burning flesh permeated the air. While the Priestess of the Sun�fs body was continuously ravaged by convulsions that the unbearable heat was causing, Aoi found herself throwing back her head and laughing in utmost delight.

The torment continued for quite a while until Aoi decided to withdraw her powers. She chuckled in satisfaction as she saw Akari�fs head fell limply to one side. The girl�fs lovely face was dripping with sweats and tears, wrung dry of blood, drained of any color. Her golden tresses, now in complete disarray, stirred in the cold winds which made them even more of a mess. Yet, the girl could still move. Slowly, she lifted her head. Steadily, she showed Aoi her face, which shocked her to the base of her foundation. The Priestess of the Sun was not brimming with hatred as Aoi expected she would. She was not looking at Aoi with the eyes clouded by the anger Aoi thought she would see. It was the furthest thing from the truth. The thin ribbons binding the little angel trembled as her arms slowly moved inward, as her whole body reached for Aoi as though wanting to pull her into an embrace. Her lips, dry and bloodless, opened as though wanting to speak.

Aoi�fs mouth tightened.

She softly landed on her feet upon the ground, where she raised both of her arms so that they aligned in a straight line with her shoulders. She then turned the tap that had been holding her potential back. She flipped the switch that had been keeping a limit on her godly strength. The winds intensified and howled with the voice of a thousand wolves. Silver light spilled out from every particle of her existence and wove a hurricane that soared forth into the cloudless sky. The earth trembled from her heartbeat. The trees around them began to lean outward as though being bent by the scope of her powers.

Her hands moved.

Her fingers, deft and skillful, picked out fine threads of silver from the brilliant light wreathing around her body and wove them meticulously together to form a large bow. Holding the projectile weapon with one hand, she conjured an arrow, also made with silver light, with the other. Her feet settled into her shooting stance, her hand draw the arrow, and her eyes fell upon her target. She could feel a cruel smile curving her lips. She could hear her powers urging to be released. She could see the horror being written across the golden-haired girl�fs gorgeous face. Since the Priestess of the Sun was turning her head toward the right and settling her gaze upon the shiny ruby ring given to her the day following her birthday, Aoi would say that she had realized what Aoi was aiming to break.

The magnificent head of the little angel whipped around.

�gPlease! Chikane-chan, please don�ft!�h she pleaded while her whole frame shook in an attempt to decrease Aoi�fs accuracy. She was simply wasting her efforts.

Aoi loosed the arrow, which flew true and shattered the ruby ring into a thousand pieces. One of the fragments, a piece of ruby that broke from the precious stone, made a deep scratch on Akari�fs cheek during its flight across her face. Despite the blood trickling down her skin, she simply stared at her ring finger, where the only thing that remained was a mark of burnt flesh. Tears again welled up in her eyes while unspeakable grief and agony contorted her pretty face. She was a crybaby to the bone, but a fool she never was. She should be able to figure out what Aoi meant to accomplish by destroying the only thing that she had left from her best friend and comrade.

�gFace the truth, Akari,�h she said coldly. �gHimemiya Chikane is no longer alive.�h She drew another arrow. �gNeither will you be once I am finished with you, of course.�h This time, she aimed directly at the little angel�fs heart.

�gStop, Himemiya!�h the voice of Oogami Souma, full of fear and rage, bellowed from a distance and made her look up. From high in the sky, the boy was rushing down toward them with the Sealed Sword Raien gleaming in his clutch. She smirked. Just when she started wondering where Akari�fs prince on the white horse was....

�gLet go of her, now!�h he roared at the same time the Elemental Blade in his hand swung from left to right in a wide horizontal arc, which in turn unleashed a horde of purple lightning bolts crashing down upon her head. She narrowed her eyes at the boy, who seemed to be too concerned with his princess�fs safety to keep a cool head. She doubted that he was aware the output of his attacks was large enough to blow both Aoi and his beloved to bits. Fool, she thought. Kannazuki Akari was her prey and the target of her vengeance. She would not allow the girl to be killed by any hand other than hers.

Using her right heel as a pivot, Aoi made a full turn of her body and swirled the wide and long sleeves of her chihaya around as she lifted them upward. Silver light acted immediately at her command and gathered into a large sphere that stood between them and Oogami�fs attacks.

�gHeart of the One True Moon!�h she intoned before her fingertips gave it a gentle brush.

The sphere became a glorious pillar of light that rushed straight toward the incoming lightning bolts. Those pitiful things were swallowed up in an instant, unable to delay even a fraction of a second the pillar�fs advance toward the person who loosed them from his Sword. Face painted with shock and horror, the Orochi boy had no other choice except erecting a shield about his person and received the blast head on.

The second after the moment of contact, a loud explosion rippled across the cloudless skies. Like a kite whose string was cut, Oogami Souma fell headfirst toward the ground. Fortunately for him, he managed to regain his balance midway and land safely on his feet. From the glimpse that she caught of his face afterwards, she would say he looked someone who had just seen a ghost. She smiled. He should have been disabused of thoughts of invincibility by now. He should have realized that his power was nothing compared to that of a Priestess. Maybe he would even find humility after this. If he managed to survive today�fs meeting with Aoi.

If.

�gRun away, Sou-chan!�h shouted the Priestess of the Sun, whose body was still being restrained on high by Aoi�fs silver ribbons. �gForget about me and run!�h

�gToo loud, Akari.�h A wave of her hand pasted another ribbon right atop the golden-haired girl�fs mouth. She immediately became dead silent.

�gIs that how you treat a friend, Himemiya?�h Oogami Souma said acidly. �gIs that how you treated Himeko after all she had done for you?�h

�gIf indeed it is, so what?�h she replied in a calm and amused tone.

�gListen to what you just said, Himemiya!�h the Seventh Head of the Orochi snapped. �gHow dare you utter such inhumane words knowing all the while how Himeko loves you and how she always wants you to be happy? How dare you?�h

�gPlease.�h Aoi smiled. �gTo me, she is but a toy to do as I wish. A pet to kill time when I am bored, if you will. Why, I can even do this.�h She drew an arrow from her ever glowing aura and sent it piercing through Akari�fs left palm. The girl�fs slender body shook in unbearable pain while her amethyst eyes tried to bulge out of their sockets. Yet she was unable to cry out or to do anything except to watch blood trickling down toward the earth. �gI am not the kind that would cry over a broken toy or a dead pet, Oogami-san.�h

�gDamn you!�h The traitorous Follower lunged fiercely at her and brought his shiny blade, around which coiled thin wires of purple lightning, upon her head.

�gYour master needs you now,�h Aoi whispered as her hand rose fluidly toward the boy. �gKagetsuki.�h

 

***

 

Oogami Souma had thought that in close combat, none surpassed him and his Sealed Sword. He was disabused of it violently now, when he saw a blinding flare of silver light slamming against his front and felt his entire body being hurled backwards. Despite his desperate efforts to stop himself, which involved digging his heels and Raien�fs blade into the grassy around, he could only achieve his goal when his back crashed painfully into the trunk of a large tree. A wordless scream escaped his mouth. Stars erupted in his vision. Every muscle in his body were vibrating like guitar strings struck by a thimble. When his eyes returned to normal, his jaw fell. In front of him were three deep tracks, all of them fuming with smoke. At their far end stood Himemiya Chikane, in front of who floated a katana sheathed in a blue scabbard. On it shone the Moon Crest, around which silver light was gathering like winds would the eye of the storm.

�gKagetsuki!�h he breathed the sword�fs name in shock.

It was one of Ame no Hitomi, the fabled Eyes of Heaven, the legendary pair of God-forged weapons rumored to possess powers far greater than any of the Sealed Swords. Why the hell is it here? he thought in alarm. They were supposed to be Sealed within the ice pillar in the Enshrinement Chamber of Shingetsu. They were supposed to be safely guarded by the Shinken Swords. His Kazuki-nii-san had assured him as much a few days ago. How on Earth did she get it past the Seals? He shivered.

�gYou are awfully quiet, sir Knight,�h Himemiya said mockingly. �gWhy are you standing there looking so dumbstruck while your princess is in my hand, waiting to be killed? Should you not be baring your puny Sword at me for having harmed your childhood friend, whom you swore up and down to protect?�h Her voice was heavy with contempt. Her sapphire eyes, cold and imperious, made her voice sound neutral.

�gDo not provoke me, Himemiya!�h he warned, his hand pointing the tip of Raien in her direction. Fine lightning flows once again obscured the Sword.

�gFor one who calls himself Knight, you are all talks.�h The rich girl, whose body was clad in the outfit of the Priestess of the Sun, chuckled.

�gNever assume that I will not harm you because of Himeko, Himemiya,�h he said dangerously. As if mirroring his mood, the Elemental Blade in his hand pulsed with its vicious purple light. �gBase on what you have done today, I could kill you right here and now without feeling any remorse. You were the one who attacked us this morning, aren�ft you?�h There could be no mistake. The deadly pressure that was rolling off of her in waves right now matched that which he had felt this morning in the Mansion of the Himemiya. She was the culprit.

�gIndeed.�h The Priestess of the Moon nodded in a most casual manner. One could have thought that he had just asked her whether she had had lunch. �gBut it is your fault, Oogami-san. Had you not waltzed into my house and attempted to take my prey, I would not have lifted a finger.�h The accusing glare she sent his way would have knocked any other man off his feet. It brushed off him like a gentle breeze.

�gHeed my warnings, Himemiya. If you do something like that ever again, I shall kill you even if Himeko may hate me her whole life for it!�h

�gYou are not honest with yourself.�h She smiled. It showed too much teeth for anyone�fs comfort. The girl only looked creepy in his eyes. �gListen to your hostile voice. Look at your reddened eyes. Feel your shaking hands and heart. I am willing to wager that what you desire most at this moment is to dismember me.�h She shot him a knowing glance, which made his mouth tighten. What she said disturbed him very much, but she wasn�ft in the least bit wrong. He truly wished to chop her into pieces. He suspected that Raien�fs darkness played no small part in invoking his anger, though. �gYou should not keep your hatred bottled up like that, you know. Here, allow me give you a good excuse to vent it.�h

�gWhat?�h he demanded.

�gKill or be killed, eyesore of an Orochi Follower,�h announced the Priestess of the Moon, whose hand had just wrapped around the hilt of the Eye of Heaven floating in front of her. �gI release you, Kagetsuki!�h

The glowing Moon Crest on the scabbard started to turn clockwise as the rich girl unsheathed the shiny one-bladed sword. The silver aura around her now intensified and the winds began to screech and howl. To Souma�fs surprise, he found himself experiencing an urge to step backward although he knew that he didn�ft want to, despite the fact that a tree was blocking his way. Perhaps it was because of the sense of power that was growing exponentially within Himemiya Chikane�fs body. Perhaps it was because of the endless waves of pressure that were washing fiercely over him. Perhaps it was the cold and murderous glare that the Priestess of the Moon had placed upon him. Or perhaps it was because of all of them, he thought.

Much as Souma did not want to admit it, he was freaking out. It wasn�ft as though he had never felt fear. On the contrary, he did quite a few times... yet never before in his life did he find his limbs trembling, his heart quivering, and his mind completely overwhelmed by terror. Never once before did he feel the power of Raien, that which helped him defeated his foes and saved his life many times over, so feeble compared to that of Kagetsuki, the Eye of Luna.

When he heard a thunderous noise resounding overhead and looked up, he saw something that ultimately shattered his confidence. The sky, the vast and seamless cerulean cloth, was undergoing a drastic change. The sun itself... was dying.

 

***

 

Yui the Goddess of the Sun was sipping tea when the sunlight, which had been flowing into her room through her open window, began to soften in a most unnatural way. It was not the dimming of the light when the great orb of golden light started its descent into the horizon. It was more what happened when the sun was experience a total eclipse.

�gThe Priestess has finally made her move, Yui-sama,�h commented Tsukazaki Fuyura, who had been attending her since she regained her consciousness. Despite her insistence that she was quite fine and capable to taking care of herself, the raven-haired girl refused to leave her side. One of the two reasons was that she had received an order from the Regent of the Underworld... and the other was that the girl wished to ask for Yui�fs advice in conquering the heart of the one she loved. Yui had told Fuyura in a very sad voice if she herself couldn�ft even talk to the heart of her light, how could she help the girl? The Crystal Rose Guardian had been most disappointed.

Once she had put down her cup atop the table, he rose to her feet and walked to the window, where the raven-haired girl was standing. As she looked up to the sky above Reiha, the Heart of the Underworld, she witnessed what had to be the most spectacular scene she ever did in her life. Encompassing the morning sun was a gigantic Moon Crest, which was accompanied by five smaller ones that set up a silver pentacle with the largest one at their heart. From all directions, white clouds were gathering around the massive pattern and roiling inward like a raging whirlpool. The light of day waned as a result. A few seconds later, it was completely murdered. Darkness curtained the cerulean blue and everything below it for at least several minutes before a flash of silver light tore it apart and restored the heavens to its cloudless state. Yet, only the cloudless state. Day had changed to night, glorious light traded in by that of the full moon reigning in the sun�fs spot.

An incredible feat, no doubt. Little Aoi had proved once again that she was the most capable master of the Eye of Heaven, and that she was worthy of the most dangerous weapon in the Three World. In her hand, Kagetsuki had become much more powerful than its maker could ever have intended, Yui was sure. Now, the Orochi would be hard-pressed to stop the girl from doing what she wished to. And if for some reason they insisted in barring her way, death would be the only spoil that they would find in the bitter end.

�gWhat should we do now, Yui-sama?�h Fuyura asked.

�gNothing, Fuyu-chan.�h Yui settled down on her high-backed, fully cushioned chair and took up her teacup again. �gThe time for us to act will come soon, so let us be patient and wait.�h

�gAs you say, Yui-sama.�h The young Chancellor gave her a respectful incline of her head.

So, you have done exactly what I think you would, dear Aoi. Yui raised her cup toward the majestic moon in the heavens. Let me give you a toast. Let us see who shall emerge victorious in this gamble against destiny. Let us see the extent of your will to change that which binds your Fate. All the players are present, our souls are but wagered, and the dice is cast. Let the battle begin.

 

***

 

With every shred of his body soaked in fear, Oogami Souma had to put his left hand on the wrist of his right one to stop it from shaking. Having faced Tsubasa-nii-san and the Orochi Eighth Head in combat, he had thought that no one could be stronger than them. He was wrong yet again. Standing in front of him now was a girl whose power certainly outstripped the Orochi First Head and the wielder of the Twilight Blade. Standing imperiously in front him now was a Goddess clothed in the flesh of a mortal, against whom he wasn�ft sure he stood any chance. Raien seemed like a child�fs toy compared to Kagetsuki. The Sealed Sword�fs Voice of Sorrow didn�ft have any effect on either the Eye of Luna or its master the Priestess. Unless fortune truly favored him, he wasn�ft going to leave this place in one piece.

�gLook at you, Oogami Souma,�h said the princess of the Himemiya in a voice that belonged on a judge who was passing out death sentences. �gPathetic, you cowering in fear that is. Face the truth. You, a failure of an Orochi, are unable to finish us Priestesses who are destined to annihilate your kind. Worse, you are much more useless as a mortal, for you cannot even protect the girl to whom you swore your heart. Someone whose existence is meaningless like yours should just disappear!�h

The rough soil of the earth vanished, its brown texture forever gone. Stretching across the land was now a surface as shiny as any mirror, one that reflected the whole image of the night sky above. Within it, there was a moon just like the one that was radiating its silver luminescence to the furthest corner of the horizon. A scary thought crossed Souma�fs mind. Why was it that the image of the real moon was directly beneath his feet? And why were the two of them glowing brighter and brighter at the same time? Oh no!

�gMoonlight Symphony.�h The Priestess of the Moon pointed Kagetsuki at him, a smile crossing her lips.

Souma leapt into the air barely in time to escape the two beams of light that came from the two moons above his head and below his feet, which rushed into one another an inch from his body and exploded. Shockwaves beat fiercely on the barrier he had woven around himself beforehand for protection. He looked down, feeling cold sweat soaking the back of his shirt. A good chunk of green trees in the wood had been cleared away as cleanly as chalk wiped off the board. Had he been struck by that attack, he doubted he would have been able to see the dawn of day every again.

�gNever take your eyes off an enemy, especially in a fight, Seventh Head,�h Himemiya Chikane whispered and reminded him that she was still there. The moon of illusion was now glowing right beneath her feet and enveloping her slender body with its eerie light. The girl, on the other hand, was holding the hilt of the Eye of Heaven in such a way that the blade�fs tip pointed downward. A heartbeat later, she let it go. Upon being struck by the one-bladed sword, the moon trapped beneath the shiny surface broke into a million sparkling fragments that drifted further and further from her until together they formed an ocean of stars far more beautiful than anything that he ever had the chance to behold.

�gRise, Tears of the last full moon,�h Himemiya�fs words rang across the silent night. �gFarewell, and may Heaven have mercy on you.�h It resembled a prayer one would read to the dead too much for his own comfort.

The star ocean became alive as each and every one of its denizens left the surface that kept them bound. Then, to his shock, they came straight at him. Hastily, he strengthened his lightning barrier to shield his body from the heaviest rain that had ever pummeled the earth. Barely a heartbeat had passed before he began to ask himself why he bothered to do so. Every hit by those tiny-looking stars sent shock rippling across the surface, which resulted in the terrible tremors that traveled the length of Raien�fs blade and rocked Souma�fs hand the way an earthquake would a city. Not even five seconds after the assaults began, his barrier shattered and his Sealed Sword was knocked away from his grasp.

Despite his effort to avoid being hit by gliding in a jagged path in the air, he still couldn�ft make his escape. First, one spark struck his arm and made him felt like he had been hit by a thick steel hammer, then another exploded on his left leg and knocked him off balance. The rest of the stars seized the chance and hit him one after another. Souma didn�ft have time, or even the strength to scream out loud as his whole body was thrown violently from one place to another in the sky just to be slammed face down on the grassy surface of the earth in the very end. With his face half buried in the ground, he felt his muscles and his nerves unravel. He felt numb, he felt cold, but he couldn�ft even see the blood that he knew was pooling around his head. Thinking to himself that this was a terrible way to end his life, he passed out unconscious.

 

***

 

Kurusugawa Himeko, whose body was still being caught in the clutches of the silver ribbons on high, could only watched as her childhood friend, all bloodied and tattered, fell silent atop the ground. For all she knew, the boy could have been dead. And if he were, she was the one who would be responsible for his death. He had followed her here to save her. She had led him here to die. She felt tears flowing down her cheeks again. Her childhood friend... felled by the person whom she loved most. How this did happen? she thought bitterly in her head.

�gDid I not tell you to kill or be killed, Oogami Souma?�h remarked the Priestess of the Moon in a voice that held neither emotion nor remorse, whose foot was resting on the boy�fs back. He did not move in response. �gBut then, with your pathetic strength and your pitiful sword, what can you do but accept your fate?�h The blue-haired princess raised her hand, which was holding her sword, and prepared to plunge the Eye of Heaven into his unmoving body.

�gNo! No! No!�h Himeko screamed wordlessly into the ribbon that bound her mouth. The sword only drew closer to her childhood friend�fs skin.

�gBetter wish that you can be born with more power next time, Orochi Seventh Head.�h Chikane-chan laughed.

�gShinken Sealing Field!�h bellowed the voices of many men, one of which was the High Priest of the Grand Shrine of the Sacred Moon.

A wave of pure white light traversed space and hurled the tall girl away from the person into whose body she was about to drive her sword. A large dome of the same light now separated the former from the latter, rendering the Priestess of the Moon incapable of dealing a finishing blow. The blue-haired princess, who was now standing outside the protective layer after she had regained her balance, frowned slightly at the sight of the emerging fifteen or so Shingetsu Priests, led by Oogami Kazuki himself. Her mouth thinned in irritation when the sensei raised his hand toward Himeko and said something she couldn�ft hear. She narrowed her eyes dangerously at the middle-aged man when the thin ribbons that had been holding Himeko loosened and put her gently back on her feet. The Himemiya princess tsk�fed and sheathed her sword when those ribbons melted into the air.

�gSo you do want to oppose me after all, traitor,�h Chikane-chan said coldly afterwards. �gYou do have guts activating the powers of the Shinken behind my back like that.�h

The High Priest chose to ignore the Himemiya princess and turned his full attention to his little brother. The other men, face worried and troubled, took it as a cue and put their hands several inches above the boy so that they could work their healing powers on him. To Himeko�fs relief, her childhood friend�fs body began to stir, signifying that he was still alive. All her worries were immediately laid to rest.

Ignoring the terrible pain jolting out from her left hand with every step she took, she quietly walked toward her beloved Chikane-chan until she reached the edge of the dome. There, she leaned her front against the wall of white light that was separating her from her sweetheart. Yet, before she could open her mouth, the Priestess of the Moon gave her a frosty smile and said, �gIt was a shame that our reunion party crashed, dear my beloved. But worry not, for next we meet, I will take your life for sure.�h The smile grew wider and much more malicious before she turned and walked away.

With every step her sweetheart took away from her, a portion of Himeko�fs world died. When the blue-haired princess�fs shadow had completely faded into the distance, absolutely no thought remained in Himeko�fs head and no feeling whatsoever was left in her heart. No longer able to hold herself erect, she collapsed onto her knees. Even at the very end, Chikane-chan had not said her name once. All that the heiress of the Himemiya cared about was the reincarnation of the Priestess of the Sun, the one what Himeko was supposed to be. She really didn�ft know what hurt more, the heart of her world wanting to kill her or the girl ignoring her existence. Yet, despite all that had happened, despite the searing pains that had been inflicted on her body, she still loved her more than anything in the world.

�gCome back, Chikane-chan, please!�h Himeko cried out at the top of her lungs.