/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Old Hell was just as lively as usual, like a never ending pub crawl, but since our visit the lake had become a sort of morbid place of worship. The Oni, typically irreverent and too boisterous for religious practice, were actually making pilgrimages to the things and kneeling at the solidified lakes edge, praising the sword that fermented beneath it.

I sat with Goro on an overlook, hidden from the crowds, his eyes were shut as he was reading the thing from afar. It was a practice he developed since talking to Hijiri, letting energies flow through him and measuring the change between his normal, resting state, and the outside influence he let in through the cursed bracelet's channel. It was all very Buddhists and, although I got excited when 'reflection' was mentioned, I quickly lost interest when he started to yammer on about the applications of it.

What worried me was that, while his abilities to analyze and feed me fulcrums had gotten much better, Goro was also growing unstable. The more he looked at legendary creatures and accursed constructions like the HSE, the more he'd lose it for a bit after the fact. Never during a fight, no, I bickered about how little opposition the Underground threw at us during this little incursion and he agreed with me, even joking that 'I wish Yuugi was around.'

It was exciting, seeing his battle lust slowly ferment and that we'd likely have to throw everything on the line at the solstice, but I felt a creeping doubt. What if we went too far?

'All these heavy thoughts weren't for me' I thought, wrapping Goro and myself under a blanket. We'd survive and our kids would be born safely.

"Vile, nearly incompressible, and yet so simple in purpose and wide in application. Definitely Sage magic." Goro said, opening his eyes.

"I could've told you that without sitting on our asses for half an hour." I said to him, drilling my horn into his shoulder.

"Oh, well I guess you wouldn't be interested in some of the findings I can use to improve our own attacks then. What a shame." He said with a wicked smile.

"Hells, I really hate it when you get like this." I said, before I felt a shimmer in the air.

One of the consequences of Goro's tour book of horrors was recognizing the less perceptual parts of some abilities. In this case, it was discovering that Yukari couldn't open gaps in space without messaging the geometry a little, which gave you about a half second more to react.

"Hello Yukari-Sama." Goro said, just as the gap opened.

Yukari showed a pang of surprise, then a look of satisfaction. "Seija and Goro, my two favorite little upstarts. Tell me, how has that task I set you two on faired."

"It fairs well. We found Tenshi, figured out she smuggled Yuuka into heaven, we met with Yuuka, and she said she was looking for a gift, which I surmised she found. Probably a flower given her disposition" Goro reported.

"My, My, you survived meeting Tenshi AND Yuuka? I had thought you would have taken a more indirect approach, color me impressed." Yukari said with the utmost flattery.

"The Bratty Celestial can't see beyond the bridge of her nose and the Flower Woman is more chatty then you are." I grumbled.

"Really Seija, I am proud of you!" She said, brushing my hair. "I would've thought with that attitude Yuuka would've made a doormat out of you! Maybe Goro's manners are starting to rub off on you?"

"And Goro, or should I say, little Yukari? You must had been rather tactful to survive such encounters hmm?" She continued, rubbing Goro's blonde hair.

'Little Yukari?' What was that about....

"Those matters of espionage aside, what do think of Kasan's and my little masterwork in the making?" She asked, pointing to the lake.

"Why a sword?" Goro asked.

Yukari blinked and then answered. "Not all accursed weaponry needs to be jewelry my dear little servants." She said, rubbing the bracelet. "Sometimes the more crude seeming forms of violence betray a lost subtly and symbolism. The channels and holes you create to your target, or the flippant manipulations you concoct Seija, these are not the creational forces I require to decisively win this fight. A sword however, creates an entire world by severing a whole into two parts, ending an era, or cutting aside the fog to give way to a prosperous new future." She babbled on.

"Oh, but look at me prattling when I'm the one who asked a question!" She said, shooting a half-hearted glare at Goro.

"It's to cut souls right? Modeled after an Oni-slaying weapon that makes all strength and evasions meaningless in it's arc. Or that's what you designed to be, I suppose." Goro remarked.

(1/3) I'm gonna get dangerous and not proof read any of this, be forewarned.
After all this time being on the receiving end of their effects, neutralizing Yukari’s gaps felt good.
I didn’t even need to close them, sometimes it was enough to flip their border and they’d collapse on their own, other times making exits into entrances sent whatever projectile right back at the Sage Hag, but by far my favorite was when she’d project a series of gaps using star light, only for those rays to be flipped relocating the gaps to some forsaken location I couldn’t image.
The one issue is that the bitch in purple just kept opening them time after time without breaking a sweat and I could tell it was taking a tool on Goro who was floating behind me.
‘he’s your cheat item’ she had said, ha! It was better then those lousy things, all those little trinkets were like toys, what I had with this man was on a whole other level. It was as if I could just think things and they would happen, like all I had to do was a turn a key, and better yet the possibilities just kept flying into my brain.
“Poke!” I felt a light touch on my midriff.
Looking down, I saw Yukari, ideally rubbing her finger on my waist.
“My, how soft for such a rough girl!” She teased.
I tried to punch her, but she slipped back into her gap and in a moment both Goro and I stood in front of Yukari and her Fox slave.
“I’d say about 3 points this time, your thinking was a little more creative and the two of you are more in sync, but it’s still quite a way off. What about you Ran?” She asked the fox.
“If were discussing orders of magnitude Yukari-Sama I would say 2 points.” Stingy mutt. “4 points when Goro is able to remain stationary and unmolested. The issue arises when the two-way, multiplex communication between the two must also bear a PID feedback loop so that Goro remains in proximity to Seija, that, as well as wasteful operations in the target analysis step and error prone wholesale communication of target information limit both the capability and speed at which attacks can be performed.”
“And what does that mean in plain speak you emotionless vixen?” I asked.
“It means keeping me floating besides you is slowing us down, I’m redoing work finding new targets, and feeding you target data as one complete set can fail, so I have to send It-agh, again.” He says, leaning against me.
I’d never admit it but having him act all pathetic and worn out like this after our little sparing session was my favorite thing. Bet this scholarly fox woman didn’t have anyone like this in her life.
“I’d recommend you find better ways to encode target information so it can be re-used and granularize firing instructions so you can send partial solutions.” The fox said.
I narrowed my eyes.
She sighed. “If Goro’s able to re-use old targeting data you’ll be able to swap faster the longer a battle continues and if you, Seija can remember old solutions Goro need only send a minuscule amount of information to modify them.”
“You’ll have to pull your weight to Seija! No slouching!” Yukari said in a sing-song voice.
“Aren’t you supposed to tell us about the HSE? Why don’t we skip the whole technical lectures and get to the useful stuff?” I ask.
Yukari disappears, then from behind, two white gloved hands embrace mine and Goro’s neck.
“Because dear child, I need to properly groom your minds first! If you two are going to be my little guard dogs, I can’t have you lying catatonic in your own drool! Isn’t that right Goro-kun?” She said.
“Yeah.” Goro uttered. “Wouldn’t do for us to not fulfill our end of the bargain. However, Yukari-sensei…” He trailed off, whispering something into her ear.
“Oh my, how greedy.” She smirked, before once again teleporting to appear in front of us.
“That’ll have to be it for our little session today, but don’t feel too lonely, I’ve found a fun playmate for the both of you!” Yukari said with a small wave of her hand.
In front of her an opaque gap opened. For the briefest moment, I saw Ran’s face change expressions. Was it longing? Pity!? Did she think we were just gonna be a lapdog like her? No, something told me it was envy. I smiled, letting myself feel a little better for making her feel worse. That was, until the gap covered her as well and popped out of existence, revealing a small blonde child in a short red dress.
“Ah! Are you two my new playmates!” She said, skipping over to us.
The pale girl shone like a ghost in the star light and those red eyes of her’s glimmered like rubies. I thought in that instant to run, but Goro gave my hand a soft squeeze and I stayed. He had some kind of plan.