Chapter Forty-Five: The Return of the Scarlet and White Shrine Maidens—Instant Annihilation

He was only asking casually, not really expecting an answer, and summoned the Wonder Codex on his own, unconcerned that his opponent might seize the chance to attack—after all, there was no way to dodge now, even if he wanted to.

“Why did the difficulty suddenly shoot up so much? Did it jump straight from easy mode to hell mode?”

“Sorry... the number you have dialed is powered off, please try again later. So sorry...”

“…Damn it.” The lunacy of it all: swallowing so many things just to deliver some basic information from a mother he’d never even met—he could endure that. But now to be saddled with a kill-or-be-killed mission? Did they want him to take out Takeo Gonda before Yamata no Orochi emerged? But if he did, wouldn’t that unleash Yamata no Orochi? Such self-contradictory logic was enough to kill him.

Even a single pill to restore his spiritual energy would be better than waiting for death. He deeply regretted not redeeming more bottles and jars from his old storage pouch, or he’d not be in this predicament with not a single pill to pop. He could still redeem them now, but there was no time to figure out which bottle was for restoring spiritual power.

Thinking back, in the past he always had excess spiritual power when not in battle, so he’d stuff it into the Wonder Codex, only to find himself short when the fighting started. If only he could tap into that surplus at a critical moment like this. Pity... but perhaps, just perhaps, it was possible.

In this moment of despair, Qi’s sharp mind spun furiously, calculating like a computer at full speed. Though he thought a lot, not even a second had passed in reality. As Yamata no Orochi paused at his words and then lunged to bite, Qi’s handsome, sunlit face broke into a radiant grin. The diamond armor that had dulled now blazed again, illuminating his smile and greatly irritating the great serpent.

Whoosh—sharp fangs snapped on empty air with a clatter of teeth. The spiritual power Qi had once stored in the Wonder Codex flowed back into his body at double value, revitalizing him and letting him burst free from the serpent’s jaws.

Even with his energy restored, Qi had no intention of fighting Yamata no Orochi head-on. At most, he’d play a game of cat and mouse, unable to even stop the beast from descending to the ground and devouring humans. The only small comfort was that Chiba Prefecture was still some distance away, so the people he cared about wouldn’t be eaten, and thus he had no reason to risk his life.

Yamata no Orochi roared in rage. The lowly insect he’d been toying with had inexplicably regained the power to escape. Eight heads thundered as one, the sound echoing across half of Japan. Provoked, the serpent finally unleashed its full strength.

Eight heads attacked simultaneously. A blood-red barrier blocked Qi’s path, and then, except for the head that could heal, the other six opened their gaping maws. Scalding crimson water, icy Luo River water, deadly emerald poison, heavy dark water, corrosive Yellow Spring, and at the center, soul-dissolving blood tears.

As an ancient beast that brought floods, Yamata no Orochi’s full assault left Qi, even with fourteen times his normal speed, nowhere to hide. To be touched by any of these attacks meant certain annihilation—there would be no escape.

At this most perilous moment, Qi prepared to use Ashen Sky once more, hoping to reverse his fate. Silver gleamed in his left eye, blackness swallowed his right; before the six attacks of different colors could reach him, he had already assumed the stance.

“Why are there monsters causing incidents outside Gensokyo too? How irritating, being disturbed while drinking good tea by the hearth. Wait, isn’t that the rich Mr. Qi who helped me out? Why do you have wings now? Are you also here to exorcise monsters? Being rescued by someone feels so nice, I almost don’t want to go back to Gensokyo.”

Hearing such a familiar, shameless voice, Qi’s carefully prepared stance faltered. How could he possibly run into that incorrigible, sleeveless shrine maiden—Reimu Hakurei—here?

But wait, this was ten thousand meters in the sky. How could he hear the shrine maiden’s voice here? His mind spun, but his body moved, resetting his stance to unleash Ashen Sky. He just hoped the state wasn’t disrupted—surely this tactless shrine maiden’s words wouldn’t cost him his only chance at survival?

He needn’t have worried. Before he could truly activate Ashen Sky, a jade talisman whizzed past his ear, intercepting the six streams of unknown liquid. “Demon Sealing Array!” came the girlish cry.

Upon contact, the talisman instantly became a huge, rune-covered formation, and all the attacks vanished the moment they touched it. Its effect was like Ashen Sky magnified a hundredfold, leaving Qi dumbstruck.

“Rich Mr. Qi, are you a magician? Or an exorcist? Maybe a youkai? But there’s no youkai aura… I heard there’s hardly anyone like that outside Gensokyo now.” Reimu floated lightly in the air, two yin-yang orbs orbiting her like satellites, and finally drifted to Qi’s side, tilting her head and eyeing him curiously.

“Uh, you… are you really a shrine maiden specializing in exorcising youkai?” With his mind reeling, Qi could only ask a rather foolish question.

After all, just yesterday this girl was a lost, hungry, chuunibyou shrine maiden wandering out of a mountain village. Now she was an unparalleled master who could instantly obliterate him (or at least block in a single move all the attacks that could have killed him). The contrast was simply too great to process.

Besides, with his own senses, how could he have failed to notice her massive spiritual energy yesterday?

“Yes, as I said, the shrine maiden of Hakurei Shrine’s duty is to safeguard peace in Gensokyo, to stop all the incidents caused by unruly youkai, and then exorcise them. I never thought there’d be youkai outside Gensokyo daring to cause incidents in the real world. Normally it’s not my business, but this damned incident kept me from enjoying tea and moonlight by the hearth, so I had to come check it out.” Reimu complained, not even sparing a thought for the fact that Qi had wings now.

“Let’s exorcise the monster first, then. That’s Yamata no Orochi, a legendary creature—be careful,” Qi quickly said, realizing she really was an expert exorcist. He was eager to team up with her to end the threat as soon as possible.

“Yamata no Orochi? I don’t think we have that kind of youkai in Gensokyo. And it can’t even take human form. Its body is big, but its youkai power is weak. In Gensokyo, it would be just an average mid-level youkai. Actually, the real world makes me feel stronger, not weaker. Anyway, this little youkai is way too weak. Let’s wrap this up quickly and go have tea together.” Reimu’s cute little head wobbled as she struggled to express her feelings, the big red bow on her head fluttering adorably.

“Gensokyo sounds terrifying. If it’s just a little youkai, then you should handle it. I won’t need to lift a finger. When you’re done, I’ll make tea for you—I’m a professional,” Qi said with a light cough, folding his arms and striking a lonely master’s pose. He seemed to have grown fond of the word “professional” lately.

“No problem. We’ll enjoy the moon together, though it’s a shame we’re not at the shrine with cherry trees all around to make it even more atmospheric,” Reimu replied, utterly lacking any sense of shame or nervousness about bringing a boy home at night—never mind that she was staying in a hotel.

“Dream Seal!” Without waiting for Qi’s reply, Reimu flicked another jade talisman toward Yamata no Orochi, who hadn’t dared move or make a sound since the confrontation began.

No matter how hard Yamata no Orochi tried to shrink his presence, his vast bulk revealed his location perfectly. Now, faced with Reimu’s decisive attack, the serpent finally roared, six heads clustering around the soul-melting blood tears, the other five attacks swirling as one and surging at the tiny talisman.

A massive, multicolored water pillar—dozens of meters thick—collided with the palm-sized charm. The talisman split into ten radiant orbs, each several meters in size, which shot forward without pausing, unaffected by the torrent. Eight orbs veered toward the serpent’s eight heads, two toward his body.

As light flooded all of Japan, the explosions finally sounded. The once-mighty, terrifying final boss who had chased Qi like a stray dog was, with a gesture from a thirteen-year-old shrine maiden, obliterated without a trace.

Gensokyo was simply too frightening. Qi swallowed, sweating bullets as he marveled again at the thought. At least something was left behind—not everything was utterly destroyed. There remained the eight tails of Yamata no Orochi, and Takeo Gonda, who had miraculously survived, lying atop one of them.

Delighted, Qi rushed over to seize the eight falling tails, joyfully and somewhat regretfully storing them in the Wonder Codex. Especially when he saw the energy value—eight thousand—he sighed even more that the main heads and the youkai core hadn’t survived; those would have been even more valuable. In his eyes, energy was as good as money.

“What about this human? Since he was on the youkai’s tail just now, I didn’t attack it. But that youkai was so weak, didn’t even follow the spell card rules, couldn’t withstand a single Dream Seal, and still dared to cause incidents. Huh, where did the tail go?” Having exorcised the monster, little Reimu showed no particular emotion, but floated over to study Qi with curiosity, as if wanting to see where he had stashed the hundreds of meters of serpent tail.

“Don’t tell me you have the power to open gaps like Yukari? Otherwise, how did those massive tails just vanish into thin air…”

“You… you’re Hakurei Reimu?” The sudden voice interrupted Reimu’s question, drawing both their attention to the speaker.

(Please vote for Reimu—recommendation votes, please! Or she’ll cry.)