/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>45015046

Kokoro 2

---
They could hear and smell Old Hell before they could see it. The partying was constant, and it echoed throughout the caverns of the underworld, morphing into ghastly wails and screams. At the same time, the stench of alcohol, bodies, sulfur, and waste formed a foul stench one could only ignore if an oni, or sufficiently inebriated.

“You!” screamed the bridge youkai, pointing her finger at Cirno. “Do you know how much I owe those rabbits in medical bills!” Cirno tilted her head in confusion, ‘Isn’t Eienti pretty cheap?’ At the very least, she had never known Tewi to be stingy, ‘Just what had this strange youkai done.’

Of course, as Cirno was lost in thought, the green-eyed youkai continued to rant, and Kokoro stood awkwardly, not feeling threatened but also not wanting to be rude to such a distressed individual. “-And that’s why I hate people like you, always so jealous of what others have!” Cirno tried to say something when the youkai finished, only for the blonde to start again. “Maybe if you just lived for yourself for a little while instead of being such a bitch men would go out with you having to force them!” This sounded really personal to Cirno and also pretty awkward. Why do random third-rate youkai always go on these sorts of rants anyway?

Kokoro coughed politely, trying to interrupt the youkai as inoffensively as she could, only to be greeted by her own overly personal lecture from the miserable bridge youkai. “And ano-”

She was interrupted as Cirno flung an icicle spear at her. “I’ll take care of this.” Said an annoyed Cirno as her geometric ice familiars formed around her. Kokoro’s mask turned to a curious one as Cirno advanced.

“What you! [Jealousy Sign: Green-eyed Monster]” The youkai said, clapping her hands together as she sloppily formed a large dripping green familiar around her body like armor. Whatever it was, it was sloppily made, but she stank of instability and mental manipulation, although Cirno had only recently been able to smell either. At the very least, she was using danmaku. She might actually be dangerous if she attacked indirectly.

The green familiar shot forward from its master, who disappeared in its wake, ‘ah, I really hate time-out type spell cards,’ Cirno thought, ‘Luckily, I’m not playing by her rules.’

Dodging past the rippling wave of unstable Danmaku spat by the monster, Cirno wasted no time and jolted forward, ejecting four of her six familiars as she avoided her opponent’s familiar.

Hitting a set point, each of the ejected familiars shoots pillars of ice upwards and in between each other. Cirno ducked under a punch delivered by her opponent’s attack as she spewed danmaku in her direction.

Her four familiars sent a pulse of ice magic throughout the area as they fired off some stray rice-type bullets. “[Zero Sign: refrigerate]” It wasn’t a spell card meant for fighting, really, more like locating things

Finding her target, Cirno dropped her spear as she reached forward with both hands. “[Perfect Freeze],” Cirno said as she grabbed hold of the bridge youkai by the throat, freezing her. Letting the body fall onto the now-frozen bridge. The whole sequence only lasted about seven seconds, by Cirno’s own estimation. “Don’t worry, she survived the last time this happened,” Cirno said, disregarding that she only learned that a short while ago as she flew past the frozen youkai and to the crest of the bridge.

All Kokoro could do was shrug and try to avoid the accusatory glares of the now ice sculpture as they descended into the former capital of old hell. But one thought did come to mind. ‘She definitely wasn’t this strong before.’

From the top of the bridge, one could look down and see old hell, its buildings, rings, and layers, half-abandoned structures of an ancient civilization, massive unused and unmaintained torture devices, and countless bodies wadding through the sea of partying. It wasn’t entirely chaotic all the time, but it would only really calm down if the vengeful spirits started acting up or one of the former big four demanded people’s attention.

Kokoro sighed. At the very least, the main road that led to the palace of the earth spirits was relatively peaceful, with only a few dozen brawls taking place, at least from what she could see. “Let’s go,” Kokoro said resignedly as she walked downwards.

Cirno stayed at the peak for a few seconds longer. While not entirely unfamiliar with it, she had never gone with the other fairies to Old Hell, although she did buy a zombie costume from one who did. “M’kay,” she said absent-mindedly as she flew behind Kokoro, feeling lucky she had a guide.