Something had changed, something I do not understand. It happened the second these fingers wrapped around the hilt of a blade of crimson and rippled through my veins to that unforgettable chord of pure perfection—hand on my belly clenches. What is your plan, Sekai, my lovely time traveler?—words of guidance. Catching Reimu’s Gohei and trampling over the strongest human power ever conceived came as effortlessly as breathing. Yet… this sword bore no such purpose, at first that is.

Eyes flicker over its frame as I walk towards the huddled, miserable things, watching the red of the blade flow like a waterfall, liquefied souls occupying the place of droplets of water. They moved from the tip down to the habaki, disappearing to mercurial tones, just like they’d appeared as when I and Kasen had planted its seed.

All it’d take to enslave Kasen was to slash her…

… I lay commands in the silence of my mind, ushering Kasen to leave the lake and turn against those who bite the hand that feeds. The sword denies them.

Humoring Seija had wielded no fruits, no answers to what’s happening. Had that morbid rite done to the blade changed it in any way…? No. I cleansed the lake from any sort of impurity, enthralled a dragon to keep it safe—not a single Gap fired after that day. Douji’s revival changed it? Ibaradouji and Kasen are the same; to split them is to entertain delusion.

Nothing could’ve changed its purpose of enslaving souls.

Then why does it rather… echo them?

I stand behind the huddled things, lowering the blade to rest upon the man’s shoulder. Seija stares burning coals at me, trying to shield those parasites of hers. They tremble like leaves in heavy wind. “Do you have regrets? Of standing against me—throwing pebbles at my plans?” I am void of emotion, a heart shattered and atrophied. Gaps sprouted over my body as I spoke, the sword eating away the scourge of Hakurei on Youkai flesh and giving me free rein over myself: purple dress mends by itself, wounds disappear and leave behind only fair skin, not an ounce of dirt swamps my hair. It was as if I had not experienced a second of tribulations… But I have, and no Gap can heal a broken heart. Time shall do; the circumstances shall do. When there’s nothing but I, him and our daughter, what else would he love?

“… They’re your g-grandchildren…” The woman tries through teeth clenched shut, a sprout of sheer anger there amid desperation, hoping to introduce gravitas to her words.

I cannot introduce revulsion to my voice, though it’d not be misplaced.

“They’re nothing.” I shift the sword. Like a knife on butter, it runs down flesh, cutting it methodically; an incision, even. The man does not scream. “I have nothing. Had nothing I could call real—mine.” A moment of pause, something I cannot explain, washes over me; it aches, pulls. It dies in the confines of a broken heart. “Goro, Seija, you were never a part of me. All I have ever had that is true is pain.” With a weak thud, the cut arm falls to the gravel and to the mud, disappearing in a droning red mist. The sword feeds off the man’s power… and my brow creases. He’s no thrall, yet the sword now echoes what he is.

So it isn’t unique to Kasen.

Their tears are falling, and I can hear the pleas embedded in their throats; they matter not. “That’ll change soon. You have no place in my world.” A strike, aimed to kill the four.

From the past, a hiss of death, the sword adjusting places to meet the Gohei that explodes from sheer nothingness. Kasen’s power blossoms and prevents the sacred wood from smothering the death-fermented metal. Arches of flame come next, another Gohei that is caught immediately upon its descent, feet thrown back. Gaps open to bloodcurdling screams yet Hakurei flames target them like automated turrets, a similar effect to Flan’s destruction but with whispers of godhood. My hand holding the blade falters, though microscopic Gaps right the shattered bones and ligaments within the second…

Two blows from Mother and Daughter, enough to send me reeling. Eyes meet the lot of them as, behind, a Backdoor seized the huddled things, their eyes on mine before they’re consumed by darkness.

It aches, briefly.

My Sister Sage completes their little trio, throwing her hand back towards the tearful shikigami and my husband—the man who broke my heart. A heart that swells with undying love and… rage.

How could you have turned your face away from your pregnant wife…? I-I was almost…

Wrath buds like a solar storm.

The blue lake shimmers as a denied nuclear explosion pulsates, waiting in the belly of an impressive beast. Manipulation of Boundaries could easily have detonated the bomb, despite the huddled things’ best efforts…

… But this anger, this all-consuming anger.

Am I not good enough, Anon? Your Sekai is not good enough…?

Our family…

You hug the shikigami close, shielding her, a backdoor about to consume you.

Why won’t you love our f-family like that, Anon?

WHY WON’T YOU LOVE US?!

The rage erupts.