Ahhhh! After Ten Thou-er...TEN Years, I'm FREE! It's Time to Conquer GENSOKYO!

[Alexander]

...On a completely different note; who wants to know who the Hakurei God is in this quest? Cause Mima actually knows this one, and it's something that actually frightens her when she thinks about it...

Click to shrink...

I want. Cause I want to know how pissed he is at Reimu for forgetting his name.

 

[kinglugia]

@EOW
Of course I would like to know the name of the Hakurei God of this quest, hora~

 

[Heaven Canceler]

...On a completely different note; who wants to know who the Hakurei God is in this quest? Cause Mima actually knows this one, and it's something that actually frightens her when she thinks about it...

Click to shrink...

Of course the god is Binbougami. Since she is lazy, she never gets any money from donations and lives in poverty, but still helps others. Thus she is the Shrine Maiden closest to Binbougami, the god of poverty.

I don't think it is Dragon, though he would be a pretty obvious smuck bait. I think it would have been stated if one of the creators of Gensokyo was the Hakurei god.

 

[Redon]

As long as somewhere along the way we troll Reimu with the knowledge, I'm fine with it.

 

[EnderofWorlds]

Of course the god is Binbougami. Since she is lazy, she never gets any money from donations and lives in poverty, but still helps others. Thus she is the Shrine Maiden closest to Binbougami, the god of poverty.

I don't think it is Dragon, though he would be a pretty obvious smuck bait. I think it would have been stated if one of the creators of Gensokyo was the Hakurei god.

Click to shrink...

Funny; but no, a Binbougami is nowhere near powerful enough to power the yin-yang orbs or actually intimidate Mima.

I want. Cause I want to know how pissed he is at Reimu for forgetting his name.

Click to shrink...

Not very; it actually manages to garner faith regardless of how many or few people worship at the Hakurei Shrine. It's more annoyed than anything else, and part of that is because it can't do anything about Reimu not knowing it's name.

Anyways; the god of the Hakurei Shrine is Ame no Minakanushi no Mikoto, Deity-of-the-August-Center-of-Heaven, The Originitating Hub That Created and Divided Heaven and Earth, The Omnipotent and Omnipresent Force that Unites, Separates, and Defines All Things. First of the zōka sanshin (three gods of creation) and kotoamatsukami (distinguished heavenly gods); its domain is boundaries and creation, by virtue of springing forth from and creating the divide between heaven and earth, its birth brought forth all of creation in its wake along with the beginnings of the kami.

By virtue of existing, it is the backbone from which Shintoism was born and thus so long as Shintoism exist, so too will it; fueled by the faith the religion garners. Likewise, the same applies to the manyfold kami; as long as they exist, so too will it for the faith they garner to fuel their existence will also fuel it, for it is what they ultimately owe their existence to.

It is a solitary existence who's magnificence places it above all others, who's immaculate power leaves it incapable of action; for to act among the court of the heavenly host would lead to ruin. The omnipotent existence that maintains all of existence is absolute, so if it were to take a side in the machinations of it's kin, it would ultimately lead to shifting the fundamental foundation of reality itself. Not to mention the sheer strife and conflict that would arise with it favoring one faction of kami over another. As such, Ame no Minakanushi no Mikoto is passive and impartial in all things, treating all equally and distantly; favoring none and letting nothing enter it's heart as to potentially alter it's neutrality.

Yet despite all of this, it ultimately loves all of creation and all who inhabit it; be it youkai, human, or celestial alike: as the creator of all that is and the divider of heaven and earth, of the pure and impure, it see the value and worth of all and can only cherish it. Despite being utterly separated from all things, it can't help but love and hold all things dear to it's heart; even as it must steel itself and divorce everything from itself as to ensure all things are safe and in balance. Even as it is distant to all things, it gives those very things a smile full of joy and happiness; for it celebrates every day the wonder that is existence.

...Although, technically the Hakurei Clan had made the shrine in devotion to the kotoamatsukami; it is only Ame no Minakanushi no Mikoto who has the time to answer their prayers. Even then, all it can do is loosen the boundaries between Earth and Takamagara so that the Hakurei can channel the divinity of the realm of the gods to purge their foes.

 

[SolipsistSerpent]

[X] "You're introducing us. I'll provide liquor this time, I'm sure there's a bottle of something old and venerable enough to fit the bill laying around somewhere. Maybe not in my place, but I'll make do." Time and place for everything, the last thing you need is to charge face-first into the discovery that the security is shitty only because the Unmoving Library is harboring a lady-boner for your cute little apprentice. That's the sort of thing that ruins days.
-[X] "You don't read this language at all, do you? A for effort, anyway. For the meantime, why don't you show your Master what you've learned in the interim, huh?"

Click to shrink...

I'll vote for this plan but with an addition:

[X] Pocket the Atlantean book for later, in case it really does contain a method of usurping Divinity.

 

[Alexander]

Not very; it actually manages to garner faith regardless of how many or few people worship at the Hakurei Shrine. It's more annoyed than anything else, and part of that is because it can't do anything about Reimu not knowing it's name.

Anyways; the god of the Hakurei Shrine is Ame no Minakanushi no Mikoto, Deity-of-the-August-Center-of-Heaven, The Originitating Hub That Created and Divided Heaven and Earth, The Omnipotent and Omnipresent Force that Unites, Separates, and Defines All Things. First of the zōka sanshin (three gods of creation) and kotoamatsukami (distinguished heavenly gods); its domain is boundaries and creation, by virtue of springing forth from and creating the divide between heaven and earth, its birth brought forth all of creation in its wake along with the beginnings of the kami.

By virtue of existing, it is the backbone from which Shintoism was born and thus so long as Shintoism exist, so too will it; fueled by the faith the religion garners. Likewise, the same applies to the manyfold kami; as long as they exist, so too will it for the faith they garner to fuel their existence will also fuel it, for it is what they ultimately owe their existence to.

It is a solitary existence who's magnificence places it above all others, who's immaculate power leaves it incapable of action; for to act among the court of the heavenly host would lead to ruin. The omnipotent existence that maintains all of existence is absolute, so if it were to take a side in the machinations of it's kin, it would ultimately lead to shifting the fundamental foundation of reality itself. Not to mention the sheer strife and conflict that would arise with it favoring one faction of kami over another. As such, Ame no Minakanushi no Mikoto is passive and impartial in all things, treating all equally and distantly; favoring none and letting nothing enter it's heart as to potentially alter it's neutrality.

Yet despite all of this, it ultimately loves all of creation and all who inhabit it; be it youkai, human, or celestial alike: as the creator of all that is and the divider of heaven and earth, of the pure and impure, it see the value and worth of all and can only cherish it. Despite being utterly separated from all things, it can't help but love and hold all things dear to it's heart; even as it must steel itself and divorce everything from itself as to ensure all things are safe and in balance. Even as it is distant to all things, it gives those very things a smile full of joy and happiness; for it celebrates every day the wonder that is existence.

...Although, technically the Hakurei Clan had made the shrine in devotion to the kotoamatsukami; it is only Ame no Minakanushi no Mikoto who has the time to answer their prayers. Even then, all it can do is loosen the boundaries between Earth and Takamagara so that the Hakurei can channel the divinity of the realm of the gods to purge their foes.

Click to shrink...

lol. The Hakurei worship one, if not the most powerful of all Japanese Kami. Who also happens to be one of the most obscure and less known beside scholars. So practically they worship a god no one know.

Does this make them country bumpkins? )

 

[EnderofWorlds]

lol. The Hakurei worship one, if not the most powerful of all Japanese Kami. Who also happens to be one of the most obscure and less known beside scholars. So practically they worship a god no one know.

Does this make them country bumpkins? )

Click to shrink...

Sorta? Minakanuishi is one of those gods who's simply so there that just by recognizing his existence you were giving him faith back in the day, so worshiping him was kinda moot. It's why the Hakurei were a bit tight-lipped when it came to just who their god was, because nobody would feel that their god actually needed additional worship beyond merely knowing he existed. And to be fair, they're completely right.

And frankly, them getting Minakanushi to even bother was a miracle; the only reason it did was because it saw an opportunity that would come to pass in the future and immediately jumped on that shit. It was by all means a long shot, and took plenty of subtle manipulation; but it's just now starting to bear fruit.

 

[Alexander]

Sorta? Minakanuishi is one of those gods who's simply so there that just by recognizing his existence you were giving him faith back in the day, so worshiping him was kinda moot. It's why the Hakurei were a bit tight-lipped when it came to just who their god was, because nobody would feel that their god actually needed additional worship beyond merely knowing he existed. And to be fair, they're completely right.

And frankly, them getting Minakanushi to even bother was a miracle; the only reason it did was because it saw an opportunity that would come to pass in the future and immediately jumped on that shit. It was by all means a long shot, and took plenty of subtle manipulation; but it's just now starting to bear fruit.

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Reimu? (I know, I know: it's sorta the obvious answer, but that's why an alternative is also possible)

Bah, who care about what this god's agenda. We have rape and pillaging to do! Onwards to the Scarlet Devil's Library!

 

[Heaven Canceler]

Funny; but no, a Binbougami is nowhere near powerful enough to power the yin-yang orbs or actually intimidate Mima.

Click to shrink...

Meh, maybe I have been reading to much Noragami for that thought to work for me. Wasn't thinking of a Binbougami, but 'The Binbougami', the original one that holds all the power or something like that.

That god is pretty interesting, it is Kind of like the Chaos in Greek Mythology or something similar.

 

[Jaertin]

[X] "You're introducing us. I'll provide liquor this time, I'm sure there's a bottle of something old and venerable enough to fit the bill laying around somewhere. Maybe not in my place, but I'll make do." Time and place for everything, the last thing you need is to charge face-first into the discovery that the security is shitty only because the Unmoving Library is harboring a lady-boner for your cute little apprentice. That's the sort of thing that ruins days.
-[X] "You don't read this language at all, do you? A for effort, anyway. For the meantime, why don't you show your Master what you've learned in the interim, huh?"

 

[cross_grave]

[X] "You're introducing us. I'll provide liquor this time, I'm sure there's a bottle of something old and venerable enough to fit the bill laying around somewhere. Maybe not in my place, but I'll make do." Time and place for everything, the last thing you need is to charge face-first into the discovery that the security is shitty only because the Unmoving Library is harboring a lady-boner for your cute little apprentice. That's the sort of thing that ruins days.
-[X] "You don't read this language at all, do you? A for effort, anyway. For the meantime, why don't you show your Master what you've learned in the interim, huh?"

Holy crap, Reimu has some serious backing upstairs. I wonder what her reaction would be if she knew. Still, you'd think something of that importance would be passed down the Hakurei clan... How the Hell did it get forgotten?

 

[EternitynChaos]

[X] "You're introducing us. I'll provide liquor this time, I'm sure there's a bottle of something old and venerable enough to fit the bill laying around somewhere. Maybe not in my place, but I'll make do." Time and place for everything, the last thing you need is to charge face-first into the discovery that the security is shitty only because the Unmoving Library is harboring a lady-boner for your cute little apprentice. That's the sort of thing that ruins days.
-[X] "You don't read this language at all, do you? A for effort, anyway. For the meantime, why don't you show your Master what you've learned in the interim, huh?"

 

[Crow]

[X] "You're introducing us. I'll provide liquor this time, I'm sure there's a bottle of something old and venerable enough to fit the bill laying around somewhere. Maybe not in my place, but I'll make do." Time and place for everything, the last thing you need is to charge face-first into the discovery that the security is shitty only because the Unmoving Library is harboring a lady-boner for your cute little apprentice. That's the sort of thing that ruins days.
-[X] "You don't read this language at all, do you? A for effort, anyway. For the meantime, why don't you show your Master what you've learned in the interim, huh?"
......Allright now i understand why Reimu is so OP.

 

[Deathwings]

[X] "You're introducing us. I'll provide liquor this time, I'm sure there's a bottle of something old and venerable enough to fit the bill laying around somewhere. Maybe not in my place, but I'll make do." Time and place for everything, the last thing you need is to charge face-first into the discovery that the security is shitty only because the Unmoving Library is harboring a lady-boner for your cute little apprentice. That's the sort of thing that ruins days.
-[X] "You don't read this language at all, do you? A for effort, anyway. For the meantime, why don't you show your Master what you've learned in the interim, huh?"

Holy crap, Reimu has some serious backing upstairs. I wonder what her reaction would be if she knew. Still, you'd think something of that importance would be passed down the Hakurei clan... How the Hell did it get forgotten?

Click to shrink...

Well, Reimu do seems to be an orphan. The closest thing she has to a mother is probably Yukari, so that should tell you everything you need to know.

 

[EternitynChaos]

You know, with the Shippers-Goggles Our version of Mimas has where her apprentice is concerned what I'm really looking forward to is finding out who's interested in HER that she's completely missed /laugh

 

[mc2rpg]

[X] "You're introducing us. I'll provide liquor this time, I'm sure there's a bottle of something old and venerable enough to fit the bill laying around somewhere. Maybe not in my place, but I'll make do." Time and place for everything, the last thing you need is to charge face-first into the discovery that the security is shitty only because the Unmoving Library is harboring a lady-boner for your cute little apprentice. That's the sort of thing that ruins days.
-[X] "You don't read this language at all, do you? A for effort, anyway. For the meantime, why don't you show your Master what you've learned in the interim, huh?"

 

[Biigoh]

[embed=425,349]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYnzEeIbWjs[/embed]

 

[cross_grave]

Well, Reimu do seems to be an orphan. The closest thing she has to a mother is probably Yukari, so that should tell you everything you need to know.

Click to shrink...

Everyone, with me:

God damn it Yukari.

 

[ShadowAngelBeta]

Well, Reimu do seems to be an orphan. The closest thing she has to a mother is probably Yukari, so that should tell you everything you need to know.

Click to shrink...

I know this has nothing to do with the current discussion but now I want Rumia to be the Osamu Reimu version.

 

[Crow]

I know this has nothing to do with the current discussion but now I want Rumia to be the Osamu Reimu version.

Click to shrink...

I dont really follow?, could you please explain?.

 

[Redon]

I dont really follow?, could you please explain?.

Click to shrink...

Look it up on Youtube, it's a translated series after all... Also get your insulin shots beforehand.

 

[Deathwings]

Is it the doujin series where Reimu is mute ?

 

[Redon]

No, it's the video series where Rumia is an adult watching over Reimu as a very young child, while being a sealed voracious man eater from the previous Hakurei maiden whom is still around for the first series... and yet it's diabetes inducing.

 

[ShadowAngelBeta]

I finally got around to watching the entire series (I saw a couple of episodes before)... Dammit! My Feels... on so many levels.

Having this be a thing that happened while Mima was locked up would be... interesting. (We were locked up for a decade, right? That would be right about the right time-frame for a back-to-back on the two with Mima going first and (potential spoiler) explains Reimu not telling/knowing pretty neatly as well.)

 

[Happerry]

[X] Steal the library itself, all of it

 

[FelSpite]

[X] "You're introducing us. I'll provide liquor this time, I'm sure there's a bottle of something old and venerable enough to fit the bill laying around somewhere. Maybe not in my place, but I'll make do." Time and place for everything, the last thing you need is to charge face-first into the discovery that the security is shitty only because the Unmoving Library is harboring a lady-boner for your cute little apprentice. That's the sort of thing that ruins days.
-[X] "You don't read this language at all, do you? A for effort, anyway. For the meantime, why don't you show your Master what you've learned in the interim, huh?"

 

[EnderofWorlds]

[X] "You're introducing us. I'll provide liquor this time, I'm sure there's a bottle of something old and venerable enough to fit the bill laying around somewhere. Maybe not in my place, but I'll make do." Time and place for everything, the last thing you need is to charge face-first into the discovery that the security is shitty only because the Unmoving Library is harboring a lady-boner for your cute little apprentice. That's the sort of thing that ruins days.
-[X] "You don't read this language at all, do you? A for effort, anyway. For the meantime, why don't you show your Master what you've learned in the interim, huh?"

It wasn't even a question of if, but of how; and in this case, you decided that it would be better to err in the side of caution and respect. You know from personal experience that Marisa has a sort of...charm and charisma to her, one that you can very well imagine affecting even the Unmoving Library; making the Magician's Magician lower security and go through with a farce of larceny and security simply because little Marisa's caught her fancy. A test, so to speak, to see how far one mortal girl can go.

To be honest, you're starting to get curious as to how far 'one mortal girl' can go as well; it's been a decade since you've seen her and you can tell that Marisa's improved leaps and bounds. You just don't know how far those leaps and bounds go.

As for dealing with Master Knowledge herself; well, it's about time you dusted off you old titles and all the prestige and the traditional pomp and circumstance that they come with. You are the Witch of Twilight, scourge of the West who brought Europe to chaos and madness with her dark powers. Founder of the Midnight Society that scourged America in colonial times, sister by blood oath to Koschei the Deathless; who pioneered the art of dividing the soul from the body to evade death. It is from his accomplishment that all other soul derived arts, like the soul jar, are based off of and are poor imitations off.

With his death, only one other knows of how to truly divide the soul from the body without ill repercussions to either; and that is you. Dear Koschei never trusted his greatest life's work to the written word, only divulging his secrets to you so that you may aid in his eventual resurrection were he to die despite his safeguards. Something that's unfortunately still a work in progress...

Regardless; though you rarely enter the doldrums and tedious political games of your peers, deciding that such matters are beneath you and your pursuit of the greater call of magic, you still can play those games if necessary. Especially if they're to your benefit. The Witch of Twilight's renown and prowess is nearly as widespread and renown as the Unmoving Library's; if not in knowledge then in devastation. You have the prestige, you have the knowledge; due to your blood brother, and as for the tribute...

With a flick of your hand an orrery pops into being, serving as a keystone to a portal; you own personal 'bag of holding' so to speak. A pocket dimension that holds everything you deem 'useful', 'important', or 'interesting'. Reaching in, you dig around for a bit before finding what you're looking for; a decent sized bottle of Witch's Brew. A magic infused alcohol that varies depending on the magic used to make it and the skill of the magician who's its brewer. This was a personal brew; made in colonial times and using a fine vintage as a base. It should suffice for a proper first greeting. Ugh, you haven't even met her and you're already starting to tire of these useless traditions and customs.

As for the tome your apprentice found, you pocket it away for now and tell her such, "As for this, I'll be holding onto this for now; quite frankly it's obviously useless to you, given how careless you are with it and what it actually is-"

"I know what it is!" Marisa retorts, though she falters a bit afterwards, "Well; for the most part...kinda-sorta...maybe-look, it's some variant of Greek and has to do with water! I'd have more translated, I just...haven't gotten around to it."

"Impressive," you reply back, complimenting your apprentice, "Most would take longer to decipher Atlantean using Greek as a cipher; the two languages are similar enough to seem viable to translate between, but different enough to make it a pain in the ass to actually do so. Fortunately for you, I do know the language and can help translate this little tome for you.

Of course, before I do, I'll need to-" You don't even get to finish that sentence right as a barrage of stars and energy bolts come hurtling at you. You counter by calling forth your orreries and invoking a protective alignment with them, forming a barrier around you to defend yourself. Hmm; wide area-of-effect, multi-burst with barrages of small yet powerful attacks, and invoking the Milky Way as the conceptual backbone of the spell: you're somewhat impressed that cute little Marisa can use such a spell. Most usually take decades to reach that level of skill, finesse, and raw power to accomplish something similar.

Granted, it's still not enough to take you down; you barrier casually diverting away the multitude of magic bullets with nary a second thought from yourself. The spell itself lacked power, clearly meant to take down foes who relied on evasion rather than raw power to-

Immediately you feel something splash against you and burn at your...well, not flesh, but close enough. Barrier riddled with holes, you switch to a different array and launch a Nova Burst to blow away your apprentice's spell and buy yourself some space. You examine the damage done; arms and ghostly tail looking as if moth-eaten, still burning from what Marisa did. You also know exactly what she did to boot: Alkahest, the universal solvent. A substance only crafted by alchemist of great skill and prowess, capable of breaking anything down to it's component parts; assuming one has the skill to make it to those standards.

Alkahest capable of dissolving the soul was pretty high up there, standard-wise. Any defensive measure you could come up with wouldn't be able to hold against alkahest of that grade. Meaning it was time to put the tried and true defense of dodging to the test. Thankfully, the well trained and honed instincts and skills from living in Gensokyo; Illusory Paradise of Bullet Hell, didn't degrade while sealed.

That didn't mean you had to like it though, and Marisa's continuous waves of stars didn't help matters. Seriously, as far as you knew it was only Gensokyo that followed the adage of 'quantity over quality' when it came to magic-based combat. Fun if you on the dealing end, not so much on the receiving. You blast apart the star waves with the tried and true method of endless lasers at full power, cutting through them like how the Kusanagi cut through grass. If little Mari wanted a battle of attrition, then she got one.

Of course, that's when the crafty little girl revealed that not all the 'stars' were really stars, but that some were instead spell circles to fire lasers of her own. Again, clever; but not enough. Compared to your own, it was like comparing a candle to a bonfire. The raw power of you lasers overcame and destroyed her spell circles, leaving the battlefield clear of her impressive looking yet ultimately futile attack.

The slight reprieve gave you a moment to continue your evaluation; Marisa's skills have clearly grown, and the years have added that undertone of treachery to her skills and youth. Her powers grown in spades as well, you admit to yourself. Before, you wouldn't have needed to use the orreries to create that barrier to protect yourself, and you had to actually try with the lasers to destroy her barrage. Granted, you didn't have to try too hard, but you still had to try.

For a mere slip of a girl to force a soul existing since the Middle Ages to actually try, that was pretty impressive. Too bad that it was as far as she could go, all things considered. Frankly, you were surprised she could get this far as she was. Not by any fault of her own, of course; it's simply a matter of human limitations and the fact that they can only push those limits so far. Not without becoming something...more.

You pull yourself out of your musing by pulling your orreries into a new arrangement, this one meant to act as a standard 'spray and pray' spell formation similar to Marisa's 'Milky Way' spell. Now the shoe was on the other foot as Marisa was bobbing and weaving through the cloud of stars, calling on her own orreries and using them to channel several lasers to fire around her in no specific direction; simply focusing on destroying the salvo of starlight trying to take her down. You switch your orrery formation yet maintain the spell yourself, preparing for Marisa's next move.

And Marisa doesn't disappoint; she pulls out a focus of some sort, one that generated a metric fuckton of power and lets her launch an even larger starstorm. Followed by a laser. A really big laser. A really, really big laser. A really, really, really big laser that looks a lot like-

"MASTER SPARK!!!!"

It's only a highly honed self-preservation instinct and well-trained habits that save your ass from getting vaporized; by reflex you cast a teleportation spell already set by the current formation of your orreries, ending up right behind your apprentice. Then, you follow that up with the instinctive response trained into your body and soul by centuries of experience.

You pull out your athame, grab Marisa by the neck, and slit her throat followed by breaking her neck.

Ah shit, you didn't mean to do that, but the sheer power of a Master Spark followed by centuries of habit and experience made you simply...react. You weren't expecting little Mari to actually be able to draw on enough power for a Spark, it was something that took time far beyond the mortal coil to pull off properly unless you were especially attuned and inclined to that element. And besides, that Master Spark would've hurt a lot if it hit; enough to grievously injure or maybe even kill you. Well, kinda kill you; it's complicated.

Eh, you shrug, it's not like it's the end of the world; you've put the brat through worse. At her current state she's probably mostly dead, which means she's alive enough for you to fix her up. Yeah, just gotta shove her glowing blue blood back into-

Wait. Human blood isn't blue and it sure as hell doesn't glow. You immediately notice that Marisa's body was gradually dissolving into blue motes, fading away into nothingness. She tricked you with a double. A fucking body double.

That conniving bitch, she took your lessons to heart. You're so proud. Still gonna beat the ever-loving snot out of her though, throwing such powerful attacks at her master and threatening her life; how shameful! It's supposed to be the other way around.

And that's exactly what's going to happen, because you're going to- what's that buzzing sound?

It was at that exact moment that you were rammed into by a 100 lb. girl going at around Mach 12, surrounded by a corona of pure magical energy and flying under the power of a Master Spark. It was arguably one of the stupidest, psychotic, bone-headed, borderline suicidal things any mortal being has ever done.

You've never been prouder of you apprentice; Marisa truly has come far, to be able to pull something like this off. It almost brings a tear to your eye, seeing your pupil rise to such heights, in no small part due to your teachings.

Shame you're about to render it all moot, but hey; the master has to prove their stature somehow.

You cast a spell on yourself to become as transient as the light in the night sky, as weightless as the dust in the void. And so you became as such; the force from Marisa's attack sending you flying from recoil alone but buying you plenty of space as you soar ever farther and faster away from her. You dispel the self-enchantment once you stop seeing clouds, Marisa still hot on your tail; eta of fifteen seconds.

More than enough time for what you're about to do.

You pull on all the power that you can; ebony black wings flecked with miniature starlight adorning your back. There were no spell circles, no chants or rituals; not for this. For this spell, only intent mattered; only ironclad will and unyielding focus could pull upon the force you were pulling on right now. Well, that and a ridiculous amount of power; that was always a necessity.

You reach out with your conscience, you will, beyond the reaches of reality and into something more. Something greater, something beyond comprehension. Boundless power with a single purpose, uncontrolled and untamed. Something transcendent; above the reach of gods and demons alike, it was not a force meant to be used by anything but itself.

Yet you dared; like Prometheus you dared to trespass into this Olympus and stole from this forbidden flame. Nothing much, just a single spark; but what is a spark from something so great to those who are so small?

Even a single spark held much power, wild and untamed it begged to be unleashed; to be set loose upon the world and spread into a whole new flame. But your will was greater, your power more refined, and so the spark was bent to your will. Coursing through you, the spark was shivering just underneath your skin, begging to be let free and set aflame all that it could.

So you did; your power and will guiding the spark but not controlling it, letting it free upon the fabric of reality and hurtling towards your apprentice. A ray of brilliant energy that outshone the sun itself erupted from your staff and struck Marisa head on. Your apprentice hurtling skyward like a blazing star against a spark of the Flame of Creation unleashed.

...Needless to say, your apprentice lost. Still, she managed to not die from the attack; her spell and momentum allowing her to pierce through the Twilight Spark before it rendered her into complete nothingness. That was still quite the feat, both surviving and Marisa's overall performance in general. You though it'd take her several more decades before she got that good. You of course grab little Mari from the sky before she became a pancake and patched her up as best you could. No point in letting your cute little apprentice out of your grasp that easily.

Besides, you still needed to meet up with the Unmoving Great Library. So you haul the sorry carcass of your cute apprentice and lay her down on the most confortable pile of junk in her cottage, waiting for her to wake up.


Marisa's always been a fast healer, you recall, as it only took an hour for her to wake up compared to the days you were expecting her to need. She still looked like shit though, your healing only able to do so much. She groans and cradles her head, while you decide to give her the results of your little evaluation.

"So first off," you blithely start lecturing to her, "The good news is that you've managed to reach a point that I'd expected you to take decades to reach. Alchemy's great, Astral Magic's looking peachy-keen, and the amount of power and control you have over your magic is staggering considering your age and experience. So kudos, you've somehow managed to compress what's usually half a century of progress into a little over a decade.

The bad news, is that that's it; that's as far as you can go. You've hit the glass ceiling; you won't be getting any stronger, there's not much more you can eke out control and precision-wise, and once you hit middle age it's all downhill from there. Sure you can learn more spells and improve your versatility, but even that can only go so far given how hard it is to find old and forgotten spells or discovering and creating new ones. You'd probably be able to create...five to seven spells in your given lifespan. Finding musty old tomes to learn from is easier, but all the good stuff will take about as long to find and acquire as making new spells wholesale.

So....yeah; welcome to the one percent, kiddo. You've officially made it into the highest echelons of human magicians, and at the tender age of around twenty or so. Congrats; how do you feel?"

Judging from the vacant look of her eyes and the 'crushed and shattered hopes and dreams' expression plastered onto her face, she's taking this about as well as you expected. As in, not at all.

"B-but, there has to be some way to break those limits, something to enhance a person further! Another focus, or maybe rituals to modify a person. Just...just something-ANYTHING to...to-"

"Marisa," you interrupt her, "That is counting such methods; either on purpose or by accident, you've managed to reach the human peak of potential through your self-study and experimentation. Whatever avenues you haven't tried yet as a human will have minimal gains."

"But...but..."

You again cut her off, "But Marisa, that's your limit as a human. As a mortal, frail and bound to a brief existence upon this world; gradually shriveling away as bones become brittle, flesh atrophies, and the mind degenerates to nothing. Like a wand or any other focus, the bottleneck isn't with the magic, but with the vessel."

Little Mari was always smart and perceptive; now wasn't any different as she caught onto your implications. "You mean-"

"Yes." You stare at her intently as you tell her the only real avenue she has available to her, "Abandon your mortality, throw off the shackles that are your human nature and becomes something more. Something greater, something without the frail limitations of mankind; capable of ever changing and growing. Power uncapped, control unmatched, and with all the time the world has to offer to improve upon yourself.

It's the final obstacle that all mortal magicians face, and the one that they must overcome if they wish to become truly great. Whether it be by becoming a youkai through Shashoku and Shachuu, an outside source like a Philosopher's Stone, or...other means. All that matters is that you choose the path and follow it to it's natural conclusion."

You weren't hinting at your own method of immortality; nope, no siree. It's not like you actually cared whether or not your apprentice decided to follow in your footsteps, not at all. Even if it was the best method available. You weren't the mushy or sappy sort.

Marisa's silent; as expected given the heavy news you dropped on her, not to mention everything else that's happened. Hmm, probably best to put this out of sight and out of mind for a moment; distract her with the Book of Poesidon and other things, at least long enough for you to broach the topic later on.

Speaking of other things, to keep your cute little apprentice's spirits up, you'll...

[X] Bring up Miss Knowledge; get some more info on her and head out to rob meet her. You meant meet her.
[X] Move all the negative emotions to a different target. A red-and-white target.
[X] Booze solves all problems, and you have more then enough of the stuff back home
[X] Terrorizing someone's always a good way to keep entertained; maybe Shinki's brat still wets herself when in your presence
[X] You know what gets rid of depression? Terror, sheer overwhelming terror. And you know just the youkai for the job...
[X] Write-in

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

Ho-ho-ho!

Now THAT was a fight scene. Very enjoyable, been a while since I've had a good high flying magical duel that could destroy a small country with its collateral damage.

On criticism side, kind of abused turns of phrase a few times too many in one snippet. Metric fuckton or "Expected to take decades or centuries." Kinda loses its punch through repetition, though I still enjoyed it.

 

[EnderofWorlds]

Ho-ho-ho!

Now THAT was a fight scene. Very enjoyable, been a while since I've had a good high flying magical duel that could destroy a small country with its collateral damage.

On criticism side, kind of abused turns of phrase a few times too many in one snippet. Metric fuckton or "Expected to take decades or centuries." Kinda loses its punch through repetition, though I still enjoyed it.

Click to shrink...

I'll probably fix that later; I'll admit that most of this was written at 2 in the morning and nobody's brain really works that well at such an ungodly hour.