Darkness and flame crashed against the silver sphere, making Himeko flinch, but Chikane gripped her hand tightly and the barrier that was Ame no Murakumo's power repelled the dark energies assaulting it. They retreated, flying back away from the shrine. Orochi hovered there, like a guardian watching over its final vessel.
Yokusemi no Mizuchi had been immense, but the complete god dwarfed it. It vaguely resembled the hydra of Greek legend, with a body that was somewhat reptilian, but there was nothing clean or neat in its chaos. Chikane could actually see bits and pieces of the eight lesser gods making it up. A row of chitinous legs ran along its underside, clearly taken from Ooube no Senazuchi. The black wings of Take no Sukunazuchi sprouted from its back. The tentacles of Yatsu no Onokoshizuchi were recognizable as the long, writhing necks of the monster, flexing around a central maw in its "chest" that was the ever-changing face of Ho no Shuraizuchi. Armored plates like Take no Yamikazuchi's lined its back, the mismatched arms of Hi no Ashinazuchi sprouted from its sides, flexing and clawing above the hawk-talons of Yokusemi no Mizuchi, while its tail wasn't serpentine but mammalian, like Izuhara no Tamazuchi's but tipped with a black barb like its first god's sword. Eyes and mouths opened randomly, then closed and vanished within the seething chaos of its body, and none of its leering draconic heads matched any of the others in shape.
This was the Gattai Orochi, the Eight-Made-One, the complete body of the god of destruction. The eight lesser deities had been combined, their substance and their power melded as one under the awakened will of Yamata no Orochi.
It was this thing, Chikane thought, that was ultimately responsible for all the pain she and Himeko had suffered, not just in this life but through all their existences. The absolute need to defeat this abomination regardless of the cost had shaped their choices and spawned their suffering. She hated it beyond measure. And yet, ironically, feeling the warmth of Himeko's hand in hers she wouldn't have given up a moment of that time.
"Are you all right?" she asked Himeko.
Her beloved nodded.
"I was just a little startled at first. Orochi is really scary, you know!"
Chikane couldn't help but chuckle.
"Only you," she said, "would see destruction incarnate precisely that way."
"You're terrible!" Himeko said with mock offense.
How strange that we can be so relaxed facing this horror, Chikane thought, just because we're standing together at last.
Only...
Yamata no Orochi reared up above them, its immensity seeming to block out the sun and stars so that the only light came from the violet haze that surrounded it and the silver radiance of Ame no Murakumo. The misshapen heads screamed out their defiance once more and Chikane could feel a sudden, answering surge from the divine power protecting them. The two ancient rivals, each confronted with their mortal enemy, trembled with the urge to join in battle.
Chikane was about to answer that urge when a spark of light from below caught her eye. Glancing down she realized that it came from Minako's solar mark, a harsh, cruel light like the noonday sun on the desert sands.
"The Solar Priestess..." she murmured.
"What is it, Chikane?"
"Professor Ohgami is the Solar Priestess. She can use her power--Ame no Murakumo's power!--to support and enhance Yamata no Orochi. She'll tip the scales, making it stronger than Ame no Murakumo."
"We'll lose? But what can we do?"
Chikane's mind whirled, facts and memories falling into place as she analyzed the situation. In seconds, she found herself smiling.
"If she wants to imitate me and combine priestess and Neck in one body, then she can lose the same way."
"Huh?"
"One person can wield the power of Ame no Murakumo against the Gattai Orochi. You proved that with Souma last time. He was able to match it evenly despite his body being consumed from within by Orochi's curse. You don't have that burden. While you fight Yamata no Orochi, I'll descend and comfort Minako face-to-face. With her attention split she won't be able to support the god with her power. It gives us a chance--no, more than a chance."
"But why?" Himeko asked at once. "Why do you have to be the one to risk your life?"
Chikane chuckled at her earnestness.
"I'm asking you to fight alone against the incarnate form all of all of humanity's hatred, and you're worried about me risking my life?"
Never all that good with irony, Himeko answered the question with the plain truth.
"Well, you are, aren't you?"
Chikane sighed.
"Even without Yokusemi no Mizuchi at her call, she's still both the Eighth Neck and the Solar Priestess, with the enhanced physical powers that brings. As Lunar Priestess, I at least have some personal power of my own."
"And I don't," Himeko said, sighing back. "I hate it, but you're right."
The Orochi screamed again, and once more Chikane felt that terrible pressure, the two gods eager to engage one another in the next round of their eternal battle.
Himeko took Chikane's other hand as well, so that they were standing face-to-face.
"I know this may be our last time together, because it cost Souma his life when he did this," she said, "but I promise you again, Chikane: even if I'm not someone special, even if I'm not a priestess any more and we can't share eternity together, I won't let you be alone. I swear that I will find you again and keep finding you for as long as you want me."
Her eyes shone brilliantly violet, shimmering wetly in Ame no Murakumo's silver light, and then she leaned in to kiss Chikane hard and deeply, a farewell-but-not-goodbye kiss that Chikane gave herself over to utterly, committing every moment of it with her to sustain herself.
They were both crying when they parted and released each other's hands.
"There! Now go and--" Himeko broke off, blushing and stammering from what she intended to say. "Like Marika would have put it, g-go and k-kick her ass!"
A laugh bubbled up from Chikane despite herself. She used Ame no Murakumo's power to link the sphere where they stood to the shrine below, then let herself drop into the connection, arrowing down towards the surface. One of Orochi's heads caught the movement and dove towards her, spitting fire. Just before it connected, though, a bolt of silver light crashed into the side of the head and knocked it away from Chikane. Himeko! The head turned away from the lone priestess, its attention fully claimed by the attack from its ancient enemy. Nothing could restrain Yamata no Orochi now, and before Chikane's horrified eyes the great bulk shot forward, its central face opened its mouth, and it belched out a cloud of pure blackness that swallowed up the silver glow like an eclipse blotting out the sun.
"No! Himeko!" Chikane screamed out, terrified. Her feet touched the moon's surface, and her distraction made her stumble slightly.
"You're late," the purr of Minako's voice caught her attention, and her own battle was upon her.
-X X X-
Darkness swallowed up Himeko, seething, roiling waves of hatred and despair. Without Chikane's presence, the barrier of Ame no Murakumo's power had shrunk from a sphere to a glow that veiled Himeko's body. She'd have really liked the sphere better, so it could keep Orochi's assault farther away from her body. This way, it was as if she was lost and alone in an eternity of night.
Useless thing! the mad voices of Yamata no Orochi keened all around her. Worthless child! Not even fit to be Solar Priestess! The gods' joke is over at long last! No longer will the Lunar Priestess have to bear the burden of supporting you!
Himeko flinched from Orochi's words. How many times over the past week had they echoed in her own heart? No, they were from her own heart, that little piece of doubt and despair that was Himeko's contribution to the accumulated malice that made up the dark god. How many times had she wondered in the depths of her soul what Chikane saw in her? What was it that brilliantly intelligent, stunningly beautiful, kind, elegant, poised, and witty Chikane could find to treasure or love in foolish, silly, clumsy, ordinary Himeko? They were good questions, questions she doubted that she'd ever find answers for.
They were also questions she'd stopped asking.
They were pointless.
Himeko loved Chikane and would do anything to insure her beloved's happiness. And since by some miracle Chikane had decided that her happiness lay with Himeko, that settled the matter. She might never understand why, but she had no doubt whatsoever about if.
The light of Ame no Murakumo shone out brightly, burning away the darkness like the sun's rays parting the morning haze. The former priestess called upon the power of the God of Swords and it answered in fitting fashion, a towering blade chased in gold and silver and shining radiantly, then a second and a third, until a dozen or more blades, a veritable forest of swords flashed around Himeko.
"Chikane trusts me to win this fight," she flung into the teeth of the demon, "and I will never, never, ever betray her!"
Flame roared, bursting from eight throats as the swords dove towards Yamata no Orochi.
-X X X-
"Curious, isn't it?" Minako said casually. "Here we stand on the surface of the moon, and yet we can breathe freely, sound travels normally, and even gravity is Earth-like. Of course, this isn't really the moon's surface, but a sealed space created by the gods paralleling this area. It's a fascinating concept, really; I can't begin to imagine how one could start breaking down the mathematics."
"How can you just stand there chatting like this was some kind of tea party?"
"And of course the daughter of a construction foreman knows all about tea parties. I would think all those multiple lifetimes would get confusing after a while. But at least you won't have to worry about that problem after today."
"I won't let you destroy the world, Minako."
The Solar Priestess smiled.
"Over your dead body, as it were? Well, bodies, counting hers." She gestured upwards at the battle raging above them.
"Damn you!" Chikane shouted as if it was a kiai and charged the professor. Minako smiled thinly and reached for her own sword. As Chikane slashed, her enemy's blade flickered out in an iai draw that deftly parried the Lunar Priestess's attack and nearly cut her in return.
"You've been in my house often enough; didn't you notice the kendo trophies? I was prefectural champion all three years in high school, nationally ranked every year in college, and I'm still the university team's faculty advisor," Minako said dryly as their swords rang together. "Of course, that's nothing compared to all those years you have as a sword priestess, but then again, you aren't a Neck of Orochi any more, so that gives me the extra strength and speed to make it up."
She's right, Chikane thought. Steel rang against steel as they engaged one another. I'm the more skilled fighter, but she's faster, stronger.
"You shouldn't have to make it up," Chikane shot back at her. "If it wasn't for your arrogance, you wouldn't be fighting me now. You should have killed me at the shrine while you had the chance."
"Oh? Why is that?"
The blades began to glow as the duel went on, Minako's in a harsh gold, not the gentle warmth of Himeko's sun but a cruel heat corrupted by the professor's Orochi nature. Chikane wondered if, had she fought like this in her last life, would her own moonglow have been equally corrupt instead of its soft, pale light? She launched another attack, age-old patterns from centuries ago singing up to her through the sword, memories of battles long ago, Solar and Lunar Priestesses dueling together once again in that timeless dance of blades fought so many times before.
Solar and Lunar Priestesses...
No! She can't be--?
"Ah, so you've figured it out at last!" Minako said delightedly and forced an disengagement. "I so hoped that you would. It's so trite, for a villain to have to explain her actions in painstaking detail just to show off her ego."
"You planned this! You left me alive on purpose, and Himeko too, because you wanted us to come after you!"
"If I'd wanted you dead, it would have been easy enough while you were under the impression I was a friend."
"Then everything that's happened...the defeat of the other Necks, the freeing of Yokusemi no Mizuchi, the summoning of Ame no Murakumo, this was all because of your scheme, right down to this duel."
"Well, yes and no. My doing, absolutely, but it's not my plan, Chikane."
She launched herself into another whirlwind attack that Chikane barely blocked, the force of it jarring painfully up her arms.
"It's yours."
-X X X-
Himeko never saw where the head came from. It was hard to keep track of them all, to say nothing of fiery breath, bursts of violet lightning, or bolts of pure, corrupting darkness! She felt sure that Ame no Murakumo must be helping to guide her, else she couldn't imagine how she could control all those swords while dodging as much as she could. But she'd made a mistake after all, and the monster's enormous jaws slammed down on her with titanic force.
And were stopped.
Teeth larger than Himeko's entire body were halted just short of her skin by the veil of light protecting her. Physical size wasn't relevant; this was a matter of one god's power meeting another's. The head worried at her like it was trying to rip a piece of meet off a carcass, making Himeko nervous about how much damage the barrier could take. But by biting her the Orochi head had made a fatal mistake, keeping itself fixed in one position relative to its opponent. A half-dozen silver swords dissolved into bolts of brilliant white lightning that blew the head apart.
Just a little longer, she thought, breathing hard from the strain of bearing the power of the god. Even if it's just this once, let me be able to protect Chikane!
-X X X-
"My plan?" Chikane said incredulously, barely fending Minako off. The Orochi was too fast to be countered normally; only by reading her body language and combining it with her knowledge of swordplay could Chikane react in time to do what she wanted in the fight instead of constantly playing catch-up. Talking disrupted the concentration she needed, which was probably why Minako was doing it.
The bait she dangled, though, was almost irresistible.
"It's true that I never believed your stories about being the reincarnated priestesses," Minako said. "That didn't mean that I wasn't listening."
She was relying on speed and reflexes more than her skill. Conversation didn't bother her at all.
"When I awoke as an Orochi, I didn't waste my time worrying about the sudden shock to my worldview. From the lore handed down in my family and the stories you and Himeko told, I knew all about how the system worked--and I knew how I could accomplish my goals."
"Your...goals?"
"Of course. I may despise the world that we live in, but I don't want it destroyed forever."
Chikane tried a complex series of strikes to attempt to confuse Minako about where the real attack would come from, but the Solar Priestess broke it up with a lightning riposte that left Chikane scrambling back on the defensive.
"It's the gods that I truly despise."
That was when Chikane started to understand.
"That's why you set it up for us to call Ame no Murakumo. You want Yamata no Orochi to lose!"
"Yes, and I think we can trust your sister to handle that. She's all but useless at ordinary things but she does have quite a way with the impossible. No doubt that's why Ame no Murakumo picked the two of you in the first place, since you fit together with each other so well." She chuckled and added, "You should be glad that I killed the Second Neck; he'd have made four dirty jokes out of that line."
"Don't you dare talk about Himeko!"
"But why? I'm not going to hurt her. It's true, of course, that I stole the mantle of Solar Priestess from her. I'd mastered all the arts of the Ohgami priests, after all, which use the power of Ame no Murakumo. That taught me how to manipulate the god's energies. What the priesthood's magic always lacked was simple power--and as an Orochi I had that. So, before the two of you awakened, I did exactly what Marika guessed was done. I 'swiped' the role of Solar Priestess. It took fairly unique circumstances: the power of a Neck, the Ohgami Shrine knowledge, the fact that I knew you personally and so could properly direct my will, all applied during that short gap between the Orochi's awakening and your own. But it worked! I am the Solar Priestess of Ame no Murakumo."
Chikane felt herself giving ground; not only was Minako's talk distracting her against her will but it seemed to be working the Solar Priestess up emotionally on top of that.
"Which means that once Orochi is defeated, I will complete the ritual of rebirth by killing you, the Lunar Priestess. Your life will be used to restore the world, and I will have the choice of the next world. I'll use that choose to do exactly what you wanted Himeko to do last time: I'll choose the world that ends the cycles forever, one with no Orochi, no Ame no Murakumo, no reincarnations or miko or gods!"
In spite of herself, Chikane gasped.
"But why would you...?"
Professor Ohgami arched an eyebrow.
"Of all people you can ask that? Ame no Murakumo's faithful servant through multiple lifetimes, whose reward for diligence and loyalty was to be condemned to find your beloved, only to have to kill her at the end of it all, be separated until Orochi was ready to break free again, rediscover one another, then be torn apart all over again, repeat ad nauseam? Until you tried to make her hate you so much that she'd wish for a world without you in it just so she would be free of this hell?"
But Himeko wouldn't accept it. Even without any memories of our past she saw through the worst things I did, and she...
"It...isn't hell anymore."
Minako feigned a yawn.
"Yes, yes, true love conquers all and so on and so forth. Very nice for you, I'm sure. Meanwhile the rest of us do so enjoy being blown out of existence and having our lives rebuilt and reshaped to match whatever emotions a couple of teenaged girls are feeling at the time. So I'm going to get rid of it all. Even your darling Himeko will get a new life free from her accursed destiny. Of course, you'll be locked up alone in the Shrine of the Moon for, oh, all of eternity, but nothing's perfect. And besides, Chikane, it is what you wanted for you both before Himeko figured out how to game the system in your favor."
With that, she pressed her attack again. The flashing blade snipped a bit off one trailing sleeve, grazed Chikane's side almost delicately, and re-opened the cut on her cheek that the Fifth Neck had inflicted.
And what happens if I win? Chikane thought. If I kill her, I remake the world--and then what? She'll still be Solar Priestess for the next incarnation. And Himeko...
Himeko had known, had understood what they were getting into. As always, she saw the big picture while Chikane was lost in the details.
Their swords clashed again; Chikane was forced to block directly, jarring her grip. Minako's foot swept up under the crossed blades and buried itself in the pit of Chikane's stomach. The Lunar Priestess went one way while her sword went another.
A tremendous bellow echoed out above them, a scream of rage and frustration that seemed to echo to the corners of the universe. Even as Chikane struggled back to her knees she couldn't resist a glance upward where the immensity of Yamata no Orochi was dissolving into a cloud of darkness that in turn dissipated around the blazing silver star like smoke on the wind.
"And that, I think, finishes that," Minako said smugly, thrusting at Chikane's heart.
Her sword didn't get there.
"Himeko!"
The former priestess's hands had clapped together, catching the flat of the blade between them, only her timing had been off. The blade had already pierced her body by the time she caught it, the tip emerging from her back.
"I'm sorry...I'm late...Chikane," she said, then coughed, a trickle of blood spilling over her lip. The Solar Blade had obviously punctured a lung.
"Oh, please. Now I have to kill you to get to her? Can this possibly get any more trite?"
"That's...not it..."
Himeko smiled serenely, her eyes closing.
"And what do you think you can do? You'll bleed out in minutes, or drown in your own blood."
Then the symbol of the Solar Priestess blazed up brilliantly. It stunned Chikane--but then she realized that Minako, too, wore a look of complete surprise. Then the Solar Blade began to glow with a brilliant golden light, spreading out from Himeko's palms to encompass the entire sword.
And Chikane understood, and laughed out loud.
"Don't you see, Professor? She carries the full power of Ame no Murakumo, and you aren't protected by Orochi any more!"
As the sword's glow grew brighter, the shine from the solar mark dwindled away until it went out at last. A single tear trickled down Himeko's cheek.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
Three bolts of silver light descended from above, striking the Eighth Neck with force that could obliterate mountains, blasting Minako Ohgami's body to ash. As if the other woman's grip on her sword had been the only thing holding Himeko upright, the blonde sagged to the ground.
"Himeko! Himeko!" Chikane scrambled over to her, cradling the wounded girl in her arms. "Himeko! Oh, Gods, please don't let this happen!" The breast of her white robe was drenched crimson from the wound and Chikane started to rip it away in the vain hope that there was somehow something she could do to stanch the bleeding.
"Sorry. I...messed up again," Himeko said with an embarrassed smile. "I heard...what she said to you."
"You heard all that?"
"Ame no Murakumo..." she answered the unspoken "how?" Her smile turned tender and she added, "Couldn't let her...do that...to you..."
"Himeko! I don't want you to sacrifice yourself for my sake!"
She didn't blush.
"It wasn't just to protect you."
Is her voice getting stronger?
"I was selfish too, Chikane. I don't ever want to be part of a world without you."
"But to throw yourself in front of her sword..."
"I wasn't trying that. I was trying your sword-catch, but I didn't get it right," Himeko admitted. "But I had to do it in person. I didn't think a barrier would work."
No, it wouldn't. The Solar Blade had pierced the silver veil around Himeko like it hadn't been there; the sword was as much a manifestation of Ame no Murakumo's powers as that which Himeko had wielded. The barrier wouldn't stop itself from crossing.
"But I was clumsy. I...messed it up...again." Her voice started to fade again and terror stabbed at Chikane's heart. The silver light began to ebb and then flickered out.
"No! Himeko! Himeko!" Chikane screamed.
Lunar Priestess.
The sigil on her back burned, and her head jerked up. It was a voice she knew all too well. The God of Swords acted more like a weapon than a deity while Orochi was active, its will awakening only when the dark god was beaten.
Lunar Priestess, time grows short.
It was there, towering over them, a great armored figure like a Western knight in elaborate bright-golden armor and haloed by a ring of fire. Its breastplate shone with the combined symbols of sun and moon, the sigil seemingly graven there in pure light. One great hand was outstretched, its gauntlet immense enough that it could have easily cupped both girls in its palm, and before Chikane's eyes the Lunar Shrine began to rebuild itself: the elegant building in traditional style atop its six-pillared platform, the long staircase ascending to it, and the two prayer gates at its base, all intact and pristine.
"Time? Himeko is dying!" Chikane cried.
Yes. The Solar Priestess has sustained a mortal wound.
"The Solar--But she's not..." Chikane looked back down and saw what she'd missed before. The mark of the sun was glimmering faintly from its accustomed place atop the cleft between Himeko's breasts. "But how?"
Himeko smiled at her.
"I...took it back..."
Through me, the Solar Priestess reclaimed her rightful role. However, the usurper's work has created an imbalance. It lies with you to act, Lunar Priestess.
"An imbalance?" Chikane could barely think, things were happening so fast.
The false Solar Priestess has mortally wounded the true one. When her life ends, there will be no one capable of reviving the world.
The ritual of rebirth. That damned ceremony, Chikane thought, understanding. Just as Minako had tried to carry it out in her fight with Chikane, she and Himeko had actually done it as they passed the position of Solar Priestess between themselves. The Solar Priestess had struck the blow. The Solar Priestess was dying from it. The energies released by Himeko's death and imprisonment within the shrine would be the spark that kindled the revival of the world to come, a world chosen by her slayer.
Only, Minako Ohgami was dead. She wasn't capable of choosing anything.
You must act, Lunar Priestess. My power sustains the Solar Priestess's existence beyond what could commonly be endured, but her time is finite. You must repeat the ceremony while life still remains to her.
Chikane's gorge rose; she seemed to be choking as she realized at last what Ame no Murakumo was truly saying.
"You...you mean that if I kill Himeko now, before she bleeds to death, then the ability to choose the new world will be transferred to me."
That is so.
"No! You can't ask this of me! Not again!" Of all things, to take Himeko's life with her own hands...I can't bear it again! I can't!
It must be.
"But in our last lives, Himeko wasn't the one who killed me! I was wounded in my fight with the other Necks and once Orochi was sealed bled out without its regenerative power, but Himeko still got to choose then."
Your wounds were not inflicted by a priestess. The role of choice had not been claimed and could be assumed by the Solar Priestess in the absence of a prior claim. That is not so in the present.
"Please...Chikane..." Himeko's voice was starting to grow weaker again, barely louder than a whisper.
"Himeko!" She was sobbing now, the tears streaming down her face. "I can't do this to you again!"
"I'm so sorry. If only...I hadn't been...so clumsy I'd...have spared you this....But now you...have to--"
"No!"
"Chikane, please. I...I trust you..."
Oh, Himeko!
Lunar Priestess.
She had no choice. But when had she ever? This was their fate, the destiny of the priestesses of the Godless Month, their own inescapable prison. Gently, she wrapped her fingers around the hilt of the Solar Blade and pulled it as smoothly as she could manage from Himeko's body. Despite her efforts, Himeko winced and gave a little cry, making Chikane's stomach clench from her shame. Himeko wasn't strong enough to kneel upright, so she supported herself with one hand while the other tremblingly pulled her long, blonde hair out of the way, baring her neck for the strike.
Chikane wiped the tears from her eyes on her sleeve--at least she could make it a clean cut--raised the sword, and brought it down in a lightning-swift motion.
It is done!
"Himeko..."
With a wordless scream of fury she hurled the bloodstained sword away with all her might; it sparkled in the golden light emanating from the god. Chikane dropped to her knees and reached out to take the corpse in her arms, but before she could touch it the body and severed head alike were wreathed in that same bright gold, dissolving into firefly motes that swirled up around Chikane. A wind seemed to blow out of nowhere, making Chikane's hair and her trailing garments swirl around her, sweeping the glimmering lights away towards the shrine. Did she see--just for an instant--the image of a figure on those stairs, looking back over her shoulder with sorrow in her eyes?
The choice now lies with you, Lunar Priestess, of which of eight possible worlds to be revived.
Eight worlds, or eight million? There were eight basic structures, eight frameworks establishing the relationships between humans and the gods, but so many gradations within them, shades with which to color that choice. It was the heart of the priestess making the selection that shaped the revived world for good or ill. They'd seen that, how the last world revived by Chikane had been tainted by her despair and longing and fell all too soon to Orochi, while that selected by Himeko had been marked by a weakened demon.
"My love..." she whispered. "Why couldn't this decision be yours?"
Choose!
Chikane, I trust you.
Himeko's last words.
I've murdered you, sentenced your soul to be imprisoned alone, deceived you, raped you, manipulated and tormented you, and now murdered you yet again. And still you call this love? Still you trust me? Who could believe such a thing?
"Why did this have to happen again?"
We are, all of us, bound by necessity.
Was it her imagination, or did the god's voice sound almost sympathetic?
Should this pain be too great to bear, you need not endure it again.
That had been Minako's wish. It had been Chikane's own plan in her past life.
Chikane, I trust you.
Tears trickled freshly down her face, hot against her skin.
"I've decided."
She took a deep breath.
"The world I choose is--"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A/N: I suspect that Chikane would take Himeko's confusion over why Chikane loves her and toss it right back: why would sweet, innocent, gentle, kind, Friend-to-All-Living-Things Himeko love a sadistic, manipulative, deceitful sociopath like Chikane? But like Himeko noted, it's the fact of it that matters, not the reasons. Love's like that.
Incidentally, in case anyone's wondering, I did note that one possible ending would be for Himeko to just blast Minako away from the air rather than trying to block the sword. Since Himeko wouldn't reclaim the Solar Priestess status then, it would give Chikane the choice of world. Then, if Chikane picked the no-Orochi world, Minako would have been locked up in the Shrine forever and ever while Chikane (as surviving priestess) and Himeko (as a normal person) would have been reborn into their lives and could have lived them out together as ordinary happy people, freed of the cycle forever. As you've probably noticed by now, though, that isn't Chikane's ideal happiness, and Himeko's thoughtful that way. Unfortunately, she was a little slow in the rescue, meaning that you all get one last cliffhanger.
You'll now notice why it was that I made a point a few chapters back about talking about the priestesses' ability to resist (though not regenerate) the effects of physical damage. It's why Chikane held on so long in the original series (especially the anime), and it keeps Himeko alive long enough for the conclusion to happen here.
And yes, if Himeko hadn't been so weak, she could have been the one to kill Chikane and pick the new world here; unfortunately there was no way she'd have the strength to bear the spiritual weight of all the energies of creation...or the physical capacity to actually kill Chikane.
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