Yukari meets that power head-on, her own Danmaku flourishing to the singing tune of Sakura petals and blood droplets. The very foundation of her power shifted into a pained cry, a remembrance etched in the flesh that clings to her bone. The water shimmering in radiation shifts with every exchange of blade and foot and horns, the ground below cracks under the power of two Sages, and the atmosphere buzzes with the booming drums of breaking chains. It mattered not to a bloodied fist that sailed through the air heading towards Yukari’s face, the blade meeting it flat before it had to move again to meet my double dragon kick, Yuugi’s visage a true demon—bathed in blood and scars yet smiling wide, golden hair flowing maddeningly as she threw her all over Yukari. “FIGHT ALONGSIDE ME, KASEN!”

She hollers, and this body responds.

Fire scours every bone, every inch of flesh and blood.

A goal moves me.

Yukari hisses. Manipulation of Explained Phenomena yields her almost complete nullification of physical injuries, her understanding of their reach and intricacies leagues above mine; the inertia dissipated into thin air, and the ground and energy of our surroundings went ignored. In the hands of someone as intelligent as Yukari and who also possesses the Gap, such power spells doom… Yet, her Gap was absent, never once popping up as Yuugi advanced and trashed, my blows following in a recreation of what our enemies so many hundreds of years ago would experience. Pink lightning followed my waves of Danmaku and crowned every swipe and every thrust of my feet towards her, and purple lightning just as powerful would meet them halfway there, Yuugi bathing in the sparks which swept her body, cackling as if mad. Watching as she dashed through it all, glimmerings of vengeance curdling behind her eyes, many would think so. “I’VE WAITED A MILLION BATTLES FOR THE SINGULAR DAY I’D FIGHT ALONGSIDE MY SISTER AGAIN!” She weighs in.

“I am here!” I yell, Yukari suppressed towards the lake.

Blood pumps, we charge together. The sword is kicked away as Yukari descends it upon us, biting for an opening, and Yuugi’s fists could crack a mountain open with ease. The blade devours the potency behind them; the blood from her many wounds flies like rain, and reddened flesh, sick with radiation, gashes open with visible effort. She doesn’t show it, yet the effects are there—pain, tiredness… She fights tall and valiantly, meeting Yukari in the melee and dodging, the purple eyes wide and bloodshot, locked with Sekai’s clover floating above my shoulder.

That lack of awareness ends with a haymaker sinking into her face, Yuugi’s rhythm never diminishing, no matter how mortally wounded her body was. Damage was minimal, yet it hadn’t been the point of it, my body rematerializing above Yukari and two feet together sinking into her abdomen, the half a second enough for the woman to try defending it, mitigating slightly the damage dealt by the surprise attack. We perforated the lake like missiles; the radiation shrugged off. Strong and ancient Youkai she is, Yukari recuperated and was once again on the offense, pink lightning and purple lightning meeting in a flow-like manner that vaporized the surrounding water into simmering bubbles. The unexplainable beast keeping that bomb controlled roared at us, its impossible shriek quaking the whole lake.

At every twist and turn, I aimed for the sword.

The moment Yukari loses hold of it and thus access to the echo of my manipulation, she’ll die of radiation poisoning, or at least get severely injured. She just needs to lose her grip—had the power… changed? It was supposed to enslave…

Douji was the first to swing it, to touch it. The moment it was born, it was connected to me and to the dead girl nestled in my mind.

Stroke by stroke, a picture was painted.

Yukari must’ve noticed my intentions, Bloody Sakura Danmaku rolling all around us towards me, Manipulation of Explained Phenomena having it brush off harmlessly. Body rematerialized by her—

—She was nowhere to be seen.

Eyes widened within the second, shifting below. She closed towards the nuclear bomb without hesitation; the massive and shapeless snake, a thing of embodied hatred and rancor, coiled, hissing at Yukari. Above the surface, Youkai Mountain. Hana, Reimu, and Anon. I sprang in sheer desperation, my body rematerializing with understanding of placement, something Yukari seemingly couldn’t replicate perfectly, and jagged horns aimed to impale the woman through her belly—

The creature lunged at her, its maw open.

—Yukari turned towards me, grabbing me by the horn and launching me at the serpent as it lunged. It recoiled as I skidded on its tongue; lasers upon lasers of Danmaku bloomed, singing the water. Its role in all this—in keeping the bomb from going off—escapes me, yet it’s clear if this serpent-looking creature dies or ends up dispelled, a nuclear explosion shall occur.

The Gap Sage turned tail immediately, torpedoing to the surface.