Intertwined Cherry Blossoms ~ Fifth and Sixth Bell
Ylamona
Konlulu~
Mokou peered into the dimensional breach, watching purple-tinged darkness swirl beyond the ragged edges of reality. Strange branches twisted through spaces that shouldn't exist, their surfaces carrying an unsettling sheen that made her immortal eyes ache. "You know," she said with forced casualness, "when I woke up this morning, I really didn't expect to be staring into the void between worlds."
"None of us did," Marisa replied, adjusting her grip on her broom as she studied the tear. "Though at this point, I'm just glad we can actually see where the problem is, ze. Better than chasing an endless winter around."
"We cannot simply rush in," Cirno's mature voice carried quiet authority. The transformed fairy turned to Shizuha with respectful acknowledgment. "Lady Aki, you've experienced similar journeys before. Would you agree that even with your borrowed authority, the paths between require careful navigation?"
The autumn goddess nodded, her borrowed scythe gleaming with borrowed death's own power. "Indeed. The spaces between realities aren't meant for casual transit. Even my brief summoning months ago showed me that much."
Mokou absently fingered the matches in her pocket - Elma's last gift before she'd left to check the incident. She still wasn't sure why the match-seller had insisted she take them, but something about Cirno's knowing glance suggested the ice knight had answers.
"I propose Lady Aki and Mokou take point," Cirno continued, her crown catching impossible light as she gestured at the breach. For a moment she paused, eyes falling meaningfully on Mokou's pocket. "Lady Aki's domain should provide guidance as out adversary essentially invite death itself, while lady Fujiwara's immortality might meant she's the safest amongst us.
"I'm coming with you."
The quiet declaration drew their attention to Yuyuko. The ghost princess still looked drained from her earlier possession, yet her eyes held surprising clarity. Beside her, Youmu straightened despite her obvious exhaustion, ready to support her lady's decision.
"Absolutely not," Reimu started, her tone brooking no argument. "You just broke free from whatever was controlling you. You need to rest and-"
"I need to know." Yuyuko's voice carried weight beyond her usual playful demeanor. "What twisted myself and Youmu. What reached through my own connection to..." She trailed off, one hand pressed against her chest as if feeling something the others couldn't perceive. "There's something there. Something I almost remember, ...I must know about it."
Marisa moved to object but paused, studying the ghost princess's expression. "....We can't really stop you huh?"
"Yes." Yuyuko smiled, but the expression held none of her usual mischief or the hollow smile from before. It was a simple, determined smile.
"Lady Yuyuko," Youmu stepped forward, her phantom half swirling with protective concern. "If you go, then I must-"
"Of course." The ghost princess's smile warmed slightly. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
Reimu looked at the two, then to the others before sighed, "Fine, I don't care. Just do whatever you want. We might even be able to finish early with your help...just keep yourself safe, hmph"
"Then it's settled," Mokou interjected, her fingers brushing against the matches that seemed to pulse with gentle warmth.
Marisa grinned, readying her mini-hakkero. "This is probably a terrible idea, but hey, beats letting some otherworld tree eat all our spring, ze!"
"Just try not to blow everything up at once," Sakuya sighed, but her cape flared with protective power.
Following the twisted branches through the void felt like walking through a dream - if dreams could hold entire realities in their shadows. Scenes unfolded in spaces that shouldn't exist, each one a window into possibilities that danced just out of reach. They caught glimpses of themselves solving this same incident in countless ways - sometimes Reimu led the charge, other times Marisa took point. Each window showed subtle differences in their approaches, their relationships, their very natures.
"...Am I that chubby?" Squinting, Reimu looked at one of the worlds where she apparently fought a yuki-onna while wearing what looked like winter festival clothing.
"Clearly you need to work out more, ze!" Marisa grinned, before pointing at another window. "Though look at this one - since when do I wear something that fancy? Is that actual gold trim?"
"At least you look dignified," Sakuya commented dryly, watching a version of herself perform an elaborate magical girl transformation. "I refuse to believe any version of me would willingly wear something so... sparkly."
"Oh? But it suits you!" Marisa teased. "Look, that one even has a catchphrase about love and-"
"If you finish that sentence, I will find a way to stop time permanently around your mouth."
"Hey, Reimu!" Marisa quickly changed subjects, pointing at another scene. "Check it out - there's one where you actually maintain the shrine properly! And is that donation box actually full?"
"Shut up," Reimu muttered, though she couldn't help staring longingly at her alternate self's apparently prosperous shrine. "That has to be some kind of trick..."
Mokou watched their banter with quiet amusement, though her attention kept drifting to scenes showing different versions of Keine teaching at the village school. Some looked peaceful, others carried hints of darker times. One in particular caught her eye - a Keine who seemed to share her immortality, though the implications made her quickly look away.
"There's one where the library is actually organized," Sakuya noted, watching a scene in the Scarlet Devil Mansion. "Though why that version of me is allowing Marisa to freely borrow books..."
"See! Even other-you knows sharing is caring, ze!"
Their lighthearted exchanges died as they passed more serious scenes. One showed Reimu failing to maintain the barrier, watching Gensokyo dissolve into chaos. Another revealed Marisa consumed by darker magics, her usual cheer twisted into something cruel. Each window carried weight of choices that could have gone terribly wrong.
"I remember this day... or I thought I did," Yuyuko murmured, watching her living self laugh at something Yukari said. "But it's different somehow. The trees weren't blooming when we had this conversation. And Yukari never..." She trailed off, one hand pressed against her chest as if feeling a heartbeat long stilled. "This must be from another world. Another choice. Another us."
The scene shifted, showing more moments between that living Yuyuko and Yukari - each one achingly familiar yet subtly wrong compared to her own memories. Their friendship seemed to carry different weight in that reality, emotions that hadn't quite manifested in her own past.
The scenes grew darker as they progressed. They watched a tournament in a different Hakugyokurou, where a black-garbed Youmu far more skilled than their own cut down challengers from across realities. Her will resolute, to protect her mistress at all cost and keep the Saigyouji Ayakashi sealed even as she needed to cut down some innocent fairies, causing them to slowly leaked out temperament and losing everything that made them, them.
"Lady Yuyuko..." their Youmu whispered, watching her counterpart's cold efficiency with obvious discomfort. "I would never..."
"I know," Yuyuko replied softly. "That's why you're my Youmu."
Throughout their journey, indistinct shapes flickered at the edges of their awareness - false spirits formed from leaked essence, yet lacking the coherence to truly manifest. They dissolved at their approach, unable to maintain form with the effect of the bells still felt even here
Then they saw it - the thing that only looked like a tree in the way a child's crayon drawing might resemble its subject. It rose from a chunk of Netherworld ground now floating free in the void. Branches and roots spreading across the voids and into the various worlds, whether physically or through countless dimensional breaches.
"Well," Marisa broke the stunned silence, "that's definitely going to be a hassle to deal with, ze."
Stolen spring, vitality and temperament flowed through its form like sap, feeding whatever waited at its core. Its branches and trunk twisted and turned, creating a strange shape that almost looked like two bodies entangled with each others. Similar, yet far less disruptive than the three-headed abominations, space-time seemed to stretch chaotically around it protectively.
"Anyone else getting a weird feeling about this?" Reimu asked, frowning. "Something about it feels... familiar."
"Like we should know it," Marisa agreed, squinting at the tree. "But every time I think I've figured it out, the thought slips away."
Beside them, Yuyuko had gone very still. Whatever insights she'd gained from her earlier connection, she kept them to herself, though her expression suggested complicated feelings about what she saw.
Humming, Cirno looked at the situation with her crown gleaming. With a raised hand, reality split open around them. Through each tear poured her army, their enhanced vitality lighting up the strange space. Their formations held as they took positions around the group even with their excitement of wanting to go out there,
"Secure our position," the ice knight commanded . "The tree's influence stops here." She turned to the others. "Shall we begin?"
"Just like a normal incident," Reimu nodded, raising her gohei. "Even if it's trying to be clever about twisting things around."
The tree's movements changed suddenly - no longer lazy or testing, but precise with deadly purpose. Its branches wrote new patterns across reality as gaps appeared with mathematical precision. Each alteration grew more pronounced, not larger but somehow deeper, as if finally taking them seriously.
"Something's not right," Yuyuko called out suddenly. She'd been holding back, still recovering from earlier, but her eyes tracked something the others missed. "It's not really fighting us properly. This is more like..."
"It's not even trying," Cirno finished, her crown pulsing as she directed another fairy charge, "It's like someone half-asleep swatting at flies."
Through one of the gaps, they caught a glimpse of another Hakugyokurou. Another Yukari stood before its cherry trees, her expression carrying weight of choices about to be made. The image lasted only a moment before reality curved away, but something about it struck them all as important.
The tree's branches moved in languid patterns that grew increasingly familiar - each spatial manipulation following rules they'd faced countless times before. Not Yukari's precise boundary manipulation scaled to impossible levels, but something that remembered those techniques imperfectly, like a child mimicking a master's dance.
Yet somehow that made it easier. They'd all faced these tricks before, learned to navigate these patterns through years of practice. Even if this tree wielded that power on massive scale, it still followed rules they recognized.
"It's strengthening," Yuyuko called out suddenly, her voice carrying strange certainty. "Not its power, but its... conviction? As if seeing us makes it remember something..."
With a blast of energy, the aura around the tree seemed to flare up as the tree began to attack in earnest. The six incident solvers realised the familiar feeling of reality and fantasy being manipulated, as the tree tried to muster its power more to protect itself. However, the attempt seemed to achieve nothing, even as they could feel the tree tried harder and harder each time it failed.
"Anchors one to twelve set!" "Connection with Wind, Earth, Wing and Rain towers stabilised!" "We might not be able to deal with that fancy smancy power, but we can disrupt the thing you used as energy you overgrown tree!"
Twelve groups of fairies scattered around the battlefield, each guarding a needle-like contraption that pointed at the tree as it shined with power. As she passed near one of them, Mokou felt like her body more energised and matches in her pocket grew warm. When she lit one of them, she could feel life itself seemed to surged into her, causing her fire to become more powerful as it beat back the twisted branches and roots.
"...Was that Rina? I swear I saw that helpless tengu..." Reimu muttered as she flew around the battlefield above Mokou, before had to immediately changed course as the skies quickly filled with danmakus, "Tch! Seemed like it just throw away any attempt at being clever and decide to beat us back with raw power!"
"Deep Rangers, maintain the barrier!" "Border Explorer, we're still fine here!" The fairy squadrons' calls rang out as they fought to keep their disruption fields stable. Each crystalline needle hummed with power drawn from the distant bells, their light disrupt the tree attempts further by amplifying and causing chaos to the vitality that fuelled it.
The tree's aura flared again, this time with intensity that made even Cirno's crown pulse in response. Where before its attacks had been elegant and precise, now raw power poured through every gap it opened. Waves of danmaku filled the void between worlds, each pattern carrying force that spoke of desperate necessity rather than practiced grace.
"Well, guess subtlety's out," Marisa commented, weaving through a barrage that would have impressed even Remilia. "Though I didn't expect it to just start throwing everything at once, ze!"
"Focus, this only meant it approaches its end!" Yuyuko called out, her voice carrying strange certainty despite her exhaustion as she blasted a building that almost crushed some fairies.
The tree's response was immediate - a surge of power that temporarily overwhelmed the fairies' disruption field. Reality buckled as pure force pushed against their defences, winter brought back into the Netherworld as cold-feeling of death covered the tree. The fairies that were nearby quickly scattered as they felt the vitality granted to them quickly drained away, while the mortals felt the threat of death did the same.
"Careful! Whatever this is, it's like Yuyuko's power but worse!" Marisa called out, feeling the drain even through her magical barriers.
Sakuya's temporal manipulation created pockets of frozen time around her allies, giving them precious moments to escape the spreading death aura. Her perfect timing let her predict where the effect would spread next, creating safe corridors through which others could navigate. "Move through the still moments," she commanded, knives tracing silver arcs that somehow held back the creeping cold. "I can't maintain them for long!"
"This corruption..." Shizuha stepped forward, her borrowed scythe singing with death's own authority. Where the blade cut through the aura, proper endings reasserted themselves - not the hungry void of the tree's power, but natural transitions between states of being. "It tries to claim authority over death itself, yet understands nothing of true endings."
The autumn goddess moved with graceful purpose, her domain over the transition between life and death creating paths through which even the fairies could safely retreat. Each swing of her scythe carved spaces where proper cycles could flow, turning the tree's twisted power back on itself.
"Lady Yuyuko!" Youmu darted to her mistress's side as the death aura pressed closer. The half-phantom's swords glowed with spiritual energy as she carved protective boundaries around them.
"I am fine, Youmu..." Yuyuko's voice was strained but steady. "It just brought some bad memories..."
Only the goddess who touched the domain of the end feared not the change, and the immortal who no longer only felt slight cold, which even then fade as Mokou felt the matches pulse with growing warmth in her pocket. Something about their heat reminded her of Elma's determined smile when she'd pressed them into her hands. "Even in the darkest winter," the match-seller had whispered, "hope burns brightest when shared..."
The fifth bell began to toll across realities, its sound carrying pure truth that made the tree's desperate assault falter. In that moment of clarity, Mokou understood. These weren't just matches - they were crystallized hope, every scrap of defiance humanity had ever kindled against winters that threatened to consume all light.
Mokou struck the one final match.
Fire exploded outward - not her usual immortal flame, but something that carried essence of every light ever kindled against darkness. The fifth bell's toll resonated with Elma's crystallized hope, creating fire that burned with meanings beyond mere heat. A fire fuelled by eternal soul and wish for a better day.
The void between realities shuddered as the tree lashed out with raw force rather than subtlety. What had been precise manipulation of boundaries became brutal tears in space itself. Through these ragged wounds in reality poured fragments of other worlds: a train screaming through impossible angles, office buildings tumbling through the void, entire sections of city streets suspended in chaos.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Marisa shouted, barrel-rolling her broom to avoid a subway car that curved through space like a missile. "Since when could it do that, ze?!"
"Focus on protecting Mokou!" Reimu called back, her spirit dress flaring as she wove between falling debris. "I don't know why but it's getting desp-" She cut off to dodge as a skyscraper phased into existence directly above her, its windows reflecting countless wrong possibilities.
Youmu's blades flashed in perfect arcs as she darted between the falling structures, her phantom half creating impossible angles of counterattack. Where Roukanken struck, physical threats dissolved into spiritual essence. Where Hakurouken followed, even that essence dispersed into harmless light. The half-phantom's masterful swordplay turned defense into graceful offense, each movement protecting allies while threatening the tree's manifested chaos.
"Lady Yuyuko, the pattern!" Youmu called out as she bisected a falling train car, her spiritual awareness catching something the others missed. "It's like your Cherry Blossom Spiral, but twisted!"
"Indeed." Yuyuko's voice carried grim recognition as she directed her own butterflies to counter the tree's assault. "It remembers our techniques, but uses them... wrongly. Or perhaps..."
The fairy squadrons scattered as massive roots burst through their carefully maintained formation. Each one moved with impossible speed, their bulk belying terrible grace as they sought to crush anything in reach. Youmu's blades sang as she carved paths through which the fairies could safely reform their lines, her phantom half detecting safe spaces moments before they manifested.
"Order of White Rose, hold the line!" Cirno's voice carried over the chaos as she parried a root thick as a house with her ice blade. "The flames need time to spread!"
Sakuya's knives traced silver arcs through the madness, her perfect timing letting her predict where the next breach would open. Her temporal manipulation created moments of stillness through which Youmu could strike with maximum efficiency, their combined efforts protecting the fairy formations from the worst of the chaos.
"This is more like it!" Marisa grinned, though sweat beaded on her forehead as she unleashed another Master Spark. The beam curved impossibly around a falling office building before splitting into multiple angles. "The death aura thing is annoying but no more fancy boundary stuff, just good old-fashioned danmaku and... is that an entire amusement park?!"
Indeed, a Ferris wheel spun through the void, its lights still somehow on as it spun and shot its own danmaku The tree wielded it like a massive throwing star, forcing them to dodge both the structure itself as it bounced in and out of several portals.
But Mokou's flame spread steadily despite the chaos. Each match-born spark carried not just fire, but memories of hope itself - every candle lit against long nights, every hearth maintained through bitter winters, every desperate light kindled when darkness seemed absolute. Where it touched the tree's physical form, that pure defiance burned away corruption that mere heat could never touch.
"It's working!" Reimu shouted as she sealed another gap with a cascade of ofuda. "The core is-"
The tree's response silenced her. Its entire form convulsed as it abandoned even this level of attack. Branches larger than Gensokyo twisted and forming limbs to pierce its foe.
"Scatter!" Cirno commanded as a root thick as a mountain range swept through their formation. "Maintain the anchors but don't let it-"
She cut off as something vast moved through spaces between spaces, branches across worlds receded and returned back to its main body, becoming formidable bulk larger than anything everyone here had seen against the spreading fire.
Yet still Mokou's flame spread, strengthened by the fifth bell's pure note. Where physical mass tried to crush them, hope itself burned through corruption. Where the tree tried to overwhelm with sheer scale, countless small lights reminded it of what it once was...
Mokou felt the remaining lit match pulse with increasing urgency in her hand. The flame she'd already kindled responded, spiraling higher as it recognized something in her immortal nature. Not just eternality, but the cycle of death and rebirth itself - phoenix fire that could burn away old forms to reveal new truth.
"The anchors!" Cirno's voice carried over the chaos as she directed her remaining forces. "Focus all power through the disruption field! Buff her up ladies"
The fairy squadrons responded instantly, their crystalline needles humming with impossible harmonics. Each one pulsed in time with Mokou's spreading flame, creating channels through which purer fire could flow. The distant bells' power resonated through their network, turning simple disruption into something that could touch the spaces between spaces.
"Everyone back!" Mokou called out as she felt power building within her. This wouldn't be her usual immortal flame, or even the hope-fire from Elma's matches. This would be something else - a burning that could reach through all realities to touch what waited at the corrupted core.
The tree sensed her intent. Its entire form erupted with new animation, countless branches grasping hands and tendrils hellbent to snuff the flame.
"We'll hold it!" Reimu's spirit dress flared as she created barriers of ofudas between Mokou and the tree's desperate assault. "Just hurry up and-"
"Don't rush art, ze!" Marisa added as she unleashed a Master Spark that curved through multiple spaces to intercept a tendril larger than mountains. "Though maybe art could speed up a bit!"
Sakuya's knives traced perfect arcs through the chaos while Shizuha's borrowed scythe sang with death's own authority. Together they carved spaces through which the fairy army maintained their disruption field, each one adding their power to the building flame.
Mokou felt fire unlike any she'd known begin to flow through her immortal form. Phoenix flame mixed with crystallized hope, creating something that could touch the truth buried beneath corruption. Images flashed through her mind - Elma's determined smile as she struck matches against winter's dark, countless humans kindling lights against endless nights, Keine teaching children about fire's gift to humanity...
The tree gathered its corrupted mass for one final assault. Branches thick as mountains twisted into grasping limbs while gaps large enough to swallow cities tore open around them. The very fabric of reality groaned under the strain as it prepared to crush this defiance.
"Now!" Cirno's voice rang with winter's authority as her crown pulsed in harmony with the disruption field. "Let it burn!"
Sakuya's manipulation created a perfect moment of stillness - not just of time, but of space itself. In that crystallized instant, Shizuha stepped forward, her borrowed scythe carving paths through which purer fire could flow. Where autumn's authority touched the corruption, proper cycles reasserted themselves. Death was no longer a hungry void, but a natural transition through which new life could emerge.
"The ending comes not as hunger," Shizuha declared as her scythe sang with borrowed death's authority, "but as renewal!"
Youmu's blades danced in perfect harmony with the goddess's strikes, her phantom half sensing the proper paths through twisted space. Together they created channels through which Mokou's flame could reach deeper, past the corruption to touch what waited at the core.
Reimu's barriers of ofuda and Marisa's precisely curved Master Sparks protected these openings as Mokou spread her arms. Phoenix fire exploded outward - not just flame, but pure renewal, the kind of burning that cleared away old growth so new life could begin. Hope crystallized into wings of light that spread across realities themselves, each feather carrying promise that spring would always follow winter.
The fairy squadrons maintained their positions despite the overwhelming pressure, their crystalline needles humming in harmony with the distant bells. "Deep Rangers, hold the line!" "Border Explorers, maintain the field!" Their enhanced vitality created a network through which the purifying flame could spread.
As phoenix flame spread across the void between worlds, the tree's corrupted mass burned away - not to ash, but to reveal something that made them all pause. Its core pulsed with stolen spring essence, shining pink and purple in ways that defied normal light. The fire stripped away pretense, revealing a shape that somehow existed in all realities at once: a towering figure formed of burning branches and twisted gaps, its dual nature unmistakable despite its corruption.
"Oh," Yuyuko breathed, recognition filling her voice as the massive form took clear shape. Her ghostly essence resonated with something in that burning core. "So that's what we..."
Where before stood merely a twisted Saigyou Ayakashi, now its true self emerged. Branches wove into flowing hair that shifted between blonde and pink, while gaps opened like eyes that held both mischief and gentle wisdom. Its entire being radiated power gathered across countless worlds - every spring stolen, every life consumed, every memory twisted to feed its endless hunger.
"Well," Marisa commented as she readied her mini-hakkero, her usual bravado tempered by genuine awe, "guess we know why it felt familiar, ze. Though this is a bit much even for-"
The figure's response cut her off. Space itself screamed as it unleashed everything it had gathered. Not elegant manipulation or desperate physical assault - just pure, overwhelming force born of love twisted by endless hunger. Gaps large enough to swallow worlds opened across the void while cherry blossoms that carried death's own invitation filled every space between.
Sakuya's temporal magic strained as she created safe pockets through which they could navigate. "The spaces between moments grow thin," she called out, blood trickling from her nose with the effort. "I can barely maintain-"
"Hold position!" Cirno commanded as her fairy squadrons' formation began to buckle. "Deep Rangers, channel all power through the anchors! Dawn Office, maintain the disruption field!"
"Lady Yuyuko," Youmu's voice carried worried recognition as she deflected a wave of corrupted cherry blossoms, "these patterns... they're yours, but also..."
"Yes," Yuyuko answered softly, her own power resonating with the twisted force before them. "Something reached through all realities, found every version of us that made different choices, and..."
Shizuha's scythe sang as she carved through waves of corrupt essence, her borrowed authority creating paths of proper transition. "Even this twisted ending must follow natural law," she declared. "The cycle cannot be denied!"
"This..." Reimu's voice caught as she felt the sheer weight of what they faced, her spirit dress flaring against waves of power that threatened to unmake reality itself. "Even with all of us..."
Indeed, the odds seemed overwhelming. The figure's power dwarfed anything they'd faced before, its very existence an affront to proper reality. Mokou's phoenix flame still burned, but even immortal fire seemed insignificant against something that had consumed so many worlds' worth of life and memory.
Cherry blossoms carrying death's invitation filled every space between realities. Gaps large enough to swallow mountains opened in geometric patterns that hurt to witness. The towering figure - this twisted fusion of gap youkai and ghost princess - gathered power that could rewrite worlds themselves.
Just as despair threatened to take hold, the first bell's toll shattered the silence.
The first bell's pure note hit like physical force, dispelling the creeping despair that had begun to cloud their hearts. Where before they'd seen only overwhelming power, now they recognized the fractured being before them - not just as an enemy, but as something that could be saved.
The second bell rang deeper, resonating through memories across realities. Images flashed through their minds - not just their own experiences, but glimpses of other choices, other paths. Yet unlike the tree's twisted reflections, these memories carried weight of genuine connection.
The third bell resonated with merit earned through trial and triumph - not just power granted, but proof of worth gained through genuine struggle. Each of them felt the weight of their journey recognized.Reimu's spirit dress flared as she remembered choosing to trust rather than forget, to face her own failures and grow stronger through them. Marisa's magic blazed brighter, carrying pride of a human who'd carved her own path to power through relentless study and determination. Sakuya's perfect timing sang with authority earned through centuries of dedicated service, while Youmu's swords gleamed with conviction born from choosing her own way to protect. Mokou's flame reminded of her own immortal journey and how she still managed to be herself all these time. The fairies' own earnest struggle in their own way.
Through it all, they felt echoes of everyone who'd helped them reach this point. Alice's careful preparations, Mokou's immortal flame carrying Elma's crystallized hope, the Aki sisters rising to defend their season's proper flow, and countless others working to protect their home.
"Forward!" Cirno commanded, her mature form radiating authority she'd proven time and again. "Show them what we've all become! What Gensokyo's children can truly achieve together!"
The fourth bell carried truth beyond mere fact - reality itself remembering what should be. The figure's burning branches reached toward something only it could see, its movements carrying weight of recognition beyond mere memory. Through the gaps in its form, they glimpsed what was: Yuyuko and Yukari beneath blooming cherry trees, their bond pure before twisted choices corrupted it.
"So that's how it was..." Yuyuko's voice carried quiet understanding as pieces fell into place.
The fifth bell sang of promises - not just hope, but certainty that sparkled in fairy eyes. Ancient prophecies stirred as cracks began appearing in the void itself, each one spilling impossible light.
"The prophecy is true..It's real!" "This is what was promised!" "Oh yeah baby, that's what we're talking about! Whooo"
Then the sixth bell reached full crescendo, and pure radiance poured forth. Not just light, but divine illumination that made even gaps between worlds translucent. The void trembled as something vast stirred beyond the thinning barriers - not from the corrupted tree's paths, but from spaces where fairies' essence originated.
Wings of impossible scale cast shadows through the radiance. The fairy squadrons' cheers reached fever pitch as cracks spread across reality itself, their formation shifting instinctively toward whatever approached. Even Cirno's crown pulsed in resonance with this greater presence.
"Fear not, children of man and nature. I am here"
The voice held warmth of summer gardens and eternity of natural law itself. A massive hand wreathed in butterfly scales reached through the light, and more fairies began pouring through the widening cracks as boundaries grew thin in a very different way.
The promised time came, for this threat against the world, to end.
"None of us did," Marisa replied, adjusting her grip on her broom as she studied the tear. "Though at this point, I'm just glad we can actually see where the problem is, ze. Better than chasing an endless winter around."
"We cannot simply rush in," Cirno's mature voice carried quiet authority. The transformed fairy turned to Shizuha with respectful acknowledgment. "Lady Aki, you've experienced similar journeys before. Would you agree that even with your borrowed authority, the paths between require careful navigation?"
The autumn goddess nodded, her borrowed scythe gleaming with borrowed death's own power. "Indeed. The spaces between realities aren't meant for casual transit. Even my brief summoning months ago showed me that much."
Mokou absently fingered the matches in her pocket - Elma's last gift before she'd left to check the incident. She still wasn't sure why the match-seller had insisted she take them, but something about Cirno's knowing glance suggested the ice knight had answers.
"I propose Lady Aki and Mokou take point," Cirno continued, her crown catching impossible light as she gestured at the breach. For a moment she paused, eyes falling meaningfully on Mokou's pocket. "Lady Aki's domain should provide guidance as out adversary essentially invite death itself, while lady Fujiwara's immortality might meant she's the safest amongst us.
"I'm coming with you."
The quiet declaration drew their attention to Yuyuko. The ghost princess still looked drained from her earlier possession, yet her eyes held surprising clarity. Beside her, Youmu straightened despite her obvious exhaustion, ready to support her lady's decision.
"Absolutely not," Reimu started, her tone brooking no argument. "You just broke free from whatever was controlling you. You need to rest and-"
"I need to know." Yuyuko's voice carried weight beyond her usual playful demeanor. "What twisted myself and Youmu. What reached through my own connection to..." She trailed off, one hand pressed against her chest as if feeling something the others couldn't perceive. "There's something there. Something I almost remember, ...I must know about it."
Marisa moved to object but paused, studying the ghost princess's expression. "....We can't really stop you huh?"
"Yes." Yuyuko smiled, but the expression held none of her usual mischief or the hollow smile from before. It was a simple, determined smile.
"Lady Yuyuko," Youmu stepped forward, her phantom half swirling with protective concern. "If you go, then I must-"
"Of course." The ghost princess's smile warmed slightly. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
Reimu looked at the two, then to the others before sighed, "Fine, I don't care. Just do whatever you want. We might even be able to finish early with your help...just keep yourself safe, hmph"
"Then it's settled," Mokou interjected, her fingers brushing against the matches that seemed to pulse with gentle warmth.
Marisa grinned, readying her mini-hakkero. "This is probably a terrible idea, but hey, beats letting some otherworld tree eat all our spring, ze!"
"Just try not to blow everything up at once," Sakuya sighed, but her cape flared with protective power.
Following the twisted branches through the void felt like walking through a dream - if dreams could hold entire realities in their shadows. Scenes unfolded in spaces that shouldn't exist, each one a window into possibilities that danced just out of reach. They caught glimpses of themselves solving this same incident in countless ways - sometimes Reimu led the charge, other times Marisa took point. Each window showed subtle differences in their approaches, their relationships, their very natures.
"...Am I that chubby?" Squinting, Reimu looked at one of the worlds where she apparently fought a yuki-onna while wearing what looked like winter festival clothing.
"Clearly you need to work out more, ze!" Marisa grinned, before pointing at another window. "Though look at this one - since when do I wear something that fancy? Is that actual gold trim?"
"At least you look dignified," Sakuya commented dryly, watching a version of herself perform an elaborate magical girl transformation. "I refuse to believe any version of me would willingly wear something so... sparkly."
"Oh? But it suits you!" Marisa teased. "Look, that one even has a catchphrase about love and-"
"If you finish that sentence, I will find a way to stop time permanently around your mouth."
"Hey, Reimu!" Marisa quickly changed subjects, pointing at another scene. "Check it out - there's one where you actually maintain the shrine properly! And is that donation box actually full?"
"Shut up," Reimu muttered, though she couldn't help staring longingly at her alternate self's apparently prosperous shrine. "That has to be some kind of trick..."
Mokou watched their banter with quiet amusement, though her attention kept drifting to scenes showing different versions of Keine teaching at the village school. Some looked peaceful, others carried hints of darker times. One in particular caught her eye - a Keine who seemed to share her immortality, though the implications made her quickly look away.
"There's one where the library is actually organized," Sakuya noted, watching a scene in the Scarlet Devil Mansion. "Though why that version of me is allowing Marisa to freely borrow books..."
"See! Even other-you knows sharing is caring, ze!"
Their lighthearted exchanges died as they passed more serious scenes. One showed Reimu failing to maintain the barrier, watching Gensokyo dissolve into chaos. Another revealed Marisa consumed by darker magics, her usual cheer twisted into something cruel. Each window carried weight of choices that could have gone terribly wrong.
"I remember this day... or I thought I did," Yuyuko murmured, watching her living self laugh at something Yukari said. "But it's different somehow. The trees weren't blooming when we had this conversation. And Yukari never..." She trailed off, one hand pressed against her chest as if feeling a heartbeat long stilled. "This must be from another world. Another choice. Another us."
The scene shifted, showing more moments between that living Yuyuko and Yukari - each one achingly familiar yet subtly wrong compared to her own memories. Their friendship seemed to carry different weight in that reality, emotions that hadn't quite manifested in her own past.
The scenes grew darker as they progressed. They watched a tournament in a different Hakugyokurou, where a black-garbed Youmu far more skilled than their own cut down challengers from across realities. Her will resolute, to protect her mistress at all cost and keep the Saigyouji Ayakashi sealed even as she needed to cut down some innocent fairies, causing them to slowly leaked out temperament and losing everything that made them, them.
"Lady Yuyuko..." their Youmu whispered, watching her counterpart's cold efficiency with obvious discomfort. "I would never..."
"I know," Yuyuko replied softly. "That's why you're my Youmu."
Throughout their journey, indistinct shapes flickered at the edges of their awareness - false spirits formed from leaked essence, yet lacking the coherence to truly manifest. They dissolved at their approach, unable to maintain form with the effect of the bells still felt even here
Then they saw it - the thing that only looked like a tree in the way a child's crayon drawing might resemble its subject. It rose from a chunk of Netherworld ground now floating free in the void. Branches and roots spreading across the voids and into the various worlds, whether physically or through countless dimensional breaches.
"Well," Marisa broke the stunned silence, "that's definitely going to be a hassle to deal with, ze."
Stolen spring, vitality and temperament flowed through its form like sap, feeding whatever waited at its core. Its branches and trunk twisted and turned, creating a strange shape that almost looked like two bodies entangled with each others. Similar, yet far less disruptive than the three-headed abominations, space-time seemed to stretch chaotically around it protectively.
"Anyone else getting a weird feeling about this?" Reimu asked, frowning. "Something about it feels... familiar."
"Like we should know it," Marisa agreed, squinting at the tree. "But every time I think I've figured it out, the thought slips away."
Beside them, Yuyuko had gone very still. Whatever insights she'd gained from her earlier connection, she kept them to herself, though her expression suggested complicated feelings about what she saw.
Humming, Cirno looked at the situation with her crown gleaming. With a raised hand, reality split open around them. Through each tear poured her army, their enhanced vitality lighting up the strange space. Their formations held as they took positions around the group even with their excitement of wanting to go out there,
"Secure our position," the ice knight commanded . "The tree's influence stops here." She turned to the others. "Shall we begin?"
"Just like a normal incident," Reimu nodded, raising her gohei. "Even if it's trying to be clever about twisting things around."
The tree's movements changed suddenly - no longer lazy or testing, but precise with deadly purpose. Its branches wrote new patterns across reality as gaps appeared with mathematical precision. Each alteration grew more pronounced, not larger but somehow deeper, as if finally taking them seriously.
"Something's not right," Yuyuko called out suddenly. She'd been holding back, still recovering from earlier, but her eyes tracked something the others missed. "It's not really fighting us properly. This is more like..."
"It's not even trying," Cirno finished, her crown pulsing as she directed another fairy charge, "It's like someone half-asleep swatting at flies."
Through one of the gaps, they caught a glimpse of another Hakugyokurou. Another Yukari stood before its cherry trees, her expression carrying weight of choices about to be made. The image lasted only a moment before reality curved away, but something about it struck them all as important.
The tree's branches moved in languid patterns that grew increasingly familiar - each spatial manipulation following rules they'd faced countless times before. Not Yukari's precise boundary manipulation scaled to impossible levels, but something that remembered those techniques imperfectly, like a child mimicking a master's dance.
Yet somehow that made it easier. They'd all faced these tricks before, learned to navigate these patterns through years of practice. Even if this tree wielded that power on massive scale, it still followed rules they recognized.
"It's strengthening," Yuyuko called out suddenly, her voice carrying strange certainty. "Not its power, but its... conviction? As if seeing us makes it remember something..."
With a blast of energy, the aura around the tree seemed to flare up as the tree began to attack in earnest. The six incident solvers realised the familiar feeling of reality and fantasy being manipulated, as the tree tried to muster its power more to protect itself. However, the attempt seemed to achieve nothing, even as they could feel the tree tried harder and harder each time it failed.
"Anchors one to twelve set!" "Connection with Wind, Earth, Wing and Rain towers stabilised!" "We might not be able to deal with that fancy smancy power, but we can disrupt the thing you used as energy you overgrown tree!"
Twelve groups of fairies scattered around the battlefield, each guarding a needle-like contraption that pointed at the tree as it shined with power. As she passed near one of them, Mokou felt like her body more energised and matches in her pocket grew warm. When she lit one of them, she could feel life itself seemed to surged into her, causing her fire to become more powerful as it beat back the twisted branches and roots.
"...Was that Rina? I swear I saw that helpless tengu..." Reimu muttered as she flew around the battlefield above Mokou, before had to immediately changed course as the skies quickly filled with danmakus, "Tch! Seemed like it just throw away any attempt at being clever and decide to beat us back with raw power!"
"Deep Rangers, maintain the barrier!" "Border Explorer, we're still fine here!" The fairy squadrons' calls rang out as they fought to keep their disruption fields stable. Each crystalline needle hummed with power drawn from the distant bells, their light disrupt the tree attempts further by amplifying and causing chaos to the vitality that fuelled it.
The tree's aura flared again, this time with intensity that made even Cirno's crown pulse in response. Where before its attacks had been elegant and precise, now raw power poured through every gap it opened. Waves of danmaku filled the void between worlds, each pattern carrying force that spoke of desperate necessity rather than practiced grace.
"Well, guess subtlety's out," Marisa commented, weaving through a barrage that would have impressed even Remilia. "Though I didn't expect it to just start throwing everything at once, ze!"
"Focus, this only meant it approaches its end!" Yuyuko called out, her voice carrying strange certainty despite her exhaustion as she blasted a building that almost crushed some fairies.
The tree's response was immediate - a surge of power that temporarily overwhelmed the fairies' disruption field. Reality buckled as pure force pushed against their defences, winter brought back into the Netherworld as cold-feeling of death covered the tree. The fairies that were nearby quickly scattered as they felt the vitality granted to them quickly drained away, while the mortals felt the threat of death did the same.
"Careful! Whatever this is, it's like Yuyuko's power but worse!" Marisa called out, feeling the drain even through her magical barriers.
Sakuya's temporal manipulation created pockets of frozen time around her allies, giving them precious moments to escape the spreading death aura. Her perfect timing let her predict where the effect would spread next, creating safe corridors through which others could navigate. "Move through the still moments," she commanded, knives tracing silver arcs that somehow held back the creeping cold. "I can't maintain them for long!"
"This corruption..." Shizuha stepped forward, her borrowed scythe singing with death's own authority. Where the blade cut through the aura, proper endings reasserted themselves - not the hungry void of the tree's power, but natural transitions between states of being. "It tries to claim authority over death itself, yet understands nothing of true endings."
The autumn goddess moved with graceful purpose, her domain over the transition between life and death creating paths through which even the fairies could safely retreat. Each swing of her scythe carved spaces where proper cycles could flow, turning the tree's twisted power back on itself.
"Lady Yuyuko!" Youmu darted to her mistress's side as the death aura pressed closer. The half-phantom's swords glowed with spiritual energy as she carved protective boundaries around them.
"I am fine, Youmu..." Yuyuko's voice was strained but steady. "It just brought some bad memories..."
Only the goddess who touched the domain of the end feared not the change, and the immortal who no longer only felt slight cold, which even then fade as Mokou felt the matches pulse with growing warmth in her pocket. Something about their heat reminded her of Elma's determined smile when she'd pressed them into her hands. "Even in the darkest winter," the match-seller had whispered, "hope burns brightest when shared..."
The fifth bell began to toll across realities, its sound carrying pure truth that made the tree's desperate assault falter. In that moment of clarity, Mokou understood. These weren't just matches - they were crystallized hope, every scrap of defiance humanity had ever kindled against winters that threatened to consume all light.
Mokou struck the one final match.
Fire exploded outward - not her usual immortal flame, but something that carried essence of every light ever kindled against darkness. The fifth bell's toll resonated with Elma's crystallized hope, creating fire that burned with meanings beyond mere heat. A fire fuelled by eternal soul and wish for a better day.
The void between realities shuddered as the tree lashed out with raw force rather than subtlety. What had been precise manipulation of boundaries became brutal tears in space itself. Through these ragged wounds in reality poured fragments of other worlds: a train screaming through impossible angles, office buildings tumbling through the void, entire sections of city streets suspended in chaos.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Marisa shouted, barrel-rolling her broom to avoid a subway car that curved through space like a missile. "Since when could it do that, ze?!"
"Focus on protecting Mokou!" Reimu called back, her spirit dress flaring as she wove between falling debris. "I don't know why but it's getting desp-" She cut off to dodge as a skyscraper phased into existence directly above her, its windows reflecting countless wrong possibilities.
Youmu's blades flashed in perfect arcs as she darted between the falling structures, her phantom half creating impossible angles of counterattack. Where Roukanken struck, physical threats dissolved into spiritual essence. Where Hakurouken followed, even that essence dispersed into harmless light. The half-phantom's masterful swordplay turned defense into graceful offense, each movement protecting allies while threatening the tree's manifested chaos.
"Lady Yuyuko, the pattern!" Youmu called out as she bisected a falling train car, her spiritual awareness catching something the others missed. "It's like your Cherry Blossom Spiral, but twisted!"
"Indeed." Yuyuko's voice carried grim recognition as she directed her own butterflies to counter the tree's assault. "It remembers our techniques, but uses them... wrongly. Or perhaps..."
The fairy squadrons scattered as massive roots burst through their carefully maintained formation. Each one moved with impossible speed, their bulk belying terrible grace as they sought to crush anything in reach. Youmu's blades sang as she carved paths through which the fairies could safely reform their lines, her phantom half detecting safe spaces moments before they manifested.
"Order of White Rose, hold the line!" Cirno's voice carried over the chaos as she parried a root thick as a house with her ice blade. "The flames need time to spread!"
Sakuya's knives traced silver arcs through the madness, her perfect timing letting her predict where the next breach would open. Her temporal manipulation created moments of stillness through which Youmu could strike with maximum efficiency, their combined efforts protecting the fairy formations from the worst of the chaos.
"This is more like it!" Marisa grinned, though sweat beaded on her forehead as she unleashed another Master Spark. The beam curved impossibly around a falling office building before splitting into multiple angles. "The death aura thing is annoying but no more fancy boundary stuff, just good old-fashioned danmaku and... is that an entire amusement park?!"
Indeed, a Ferris wheel spun through the void, its lights still somehow on as it spun and shot its own danmaku The tree wielded it like a massive throwing star, forcing them to dodge both the structure itself as it bounced in and out of several portals.
But Mokou's flame spread steadily despite the chaos. Each match-born spark carried not just fire, but memories of hope itself - every candle lit against long nights, every hearth maintained through bitter winters, every desperate light kindled when darkness seemed absolute. Where it touched the tree's physical form, that pure defiance burned away corruption that mere heat could never touch.
"It's working!" Reimu shouted as she sealed another gap with a cascade of ofuda. "The core is-"
The tree's response silenced her. Its entire form convulsed as it abandoned even this level of attack. Branches larger than Gensokyo twisted and forming limbs to pierce its foe.
"Scatter!" Cirno commanded as a root thick as a mountain range swept through their formation. "Maintain the anchors but don't let it-"
She cut off as something vast moved through spaces between spaces, branches across worlds receded and returned back to its main body, becoming formidable bulk larger than anything everyone here had seen against the spreading fire.
Yet still Mokou's flame spread, strengthened by the fifth bell's pure note. Where physical mass tried to crush them, hope itself burned through corruption. Where the tree tried to overwhelm with sheer scale, countless small lights reminded it of what it once was...
Mokou felt the remaining lit match pulse with increasing urgency in her hand. The flame she'd already kindled responded, spiraling higher as it recognized something in her immortal nature. Not just eternality, but the cycle of death and rebirth itself - phoenix fire that could burn away old forms to reveal new truth.
"The anchors!" Cirno's voice carried over the chaos as she directed her remaining forces. "Focus all power through the disruption field! Buff her up ladies"
The fairy squadrons responded instantly, their crystalline needles humming with impossible harmonics. Each one pulsed in time with Mokou's spreading flame, creating channels through which purer fire could flow. The distant bells' power resonated through their network, turning simple disruption into something that could touch the spaces between spaces.
"Everyone back!" Mokou called out as she felt power building within her. This wouldn't be her usual immortal flame, or even the hope-fire from Elma's matches. This would be something else - a burning that could reach through all realities to touch what waited at the corrupted core.
The tree sensed her intent. Its entire form erupted with new animation, countless branches grasping hands and tendrils hellbent to snuff the flame.
"We'll hold it!" Reimu's spirit dress flared as she created barriers of ofudas between Mokou and the tree's desperate assault. "Just hurry up and-"
"Don't rush art, ze!" Marisa added as she unleashed a Master Spark that curved through multiple spaces to intercept a tendril larger than mountains. "Though maybe art could speed up a bit!"
Sakuya's knives traced perfect arcs through the chaos while Shizuha's borrowed scythe sang with death's own authority. Together they carved spaces through which the fairy army maintained their disruption field, each one adding their power to the building flame.
Mokou felt fire unlike any she'd known begin to flow through her immortal form. Phoenix flame mixed with crystallized hope, creating something that could touch the truth buried beneath corruption. Images flashed through her mind - Elma's determined smile as she struck matches against winter's dark, countless humans kindling lights against endless nights, Keine teaching children about fire's gift to humanity...
The tree gathered its corrupted mass for one final assault. Branches thick as mountains twisted into grasping limbs while gaps large enough to swallow cities tore open around them. The very fabric of reality groaned under the strain as it prepared to crush this defiance.
"Now!" Cirno's voice rang with winter's authority as her crown pulsed in harmony with the disruption field. "Let it burn!"
Sakuya's manipulation created a perfect moment of stillness - not just of time, but of space itself. In that crystallized instant, Shizuha stepped forward, her borrowed scythe carving paths through which purer fire could flow. Where autumn's authority touched the corruption, proper cycles reasserted themselves. Death was no longer a hungry void, but a natural transition through which new life could emerge.
"The ending comes not as hunger," Shizuha declared as her scythe sang with borrowed death's authority, "but as renewal!"
Youmu's blades danced in perfect harmony with the goddess's strikes, her phantom half sensing the proper paths through twisted space. Together they created channels through which Mokou's flame could reach deeper, past the corruption to touch what waited at the core.
Reimu's barriers of ofuda and Marisa's precisely curved Master Sparks protected these openings as Mokou spread her arms. Phoenix fire exploded outward - not just flame, but pure renewal, the kind of burning that cleared away old growth so new life could begin. Hope crystallized into wings of light that spread across realities themselves, each feather carrying promise that spring would always follow winter.
The fairy squadrons maintained their positions despite the overwhelming pressure, their crystalline needles humming in harmony with the distant bells. "Deep Rangers, hold the line!" "Border Explorers, maintain the field!" Their enhanced vitality created a network through which the purifying flame could spread.
As phoenix flame spread across the void between worlds, the tree's corrupted mass burned away - not to ash, but to reveal something that made them all pause. Its core pulsed with stolen spring essence, shining pink and purple in ways that defied normal light. The fire stripped away pretense, revealing a shape that somehow existed in all realities at once: a towering figure formed of burning branches and twisted gaps, its dual nature unmistakable despite its corruption.
"Oh," Yuyuko breathed, recognition filling her voice as the massive form took clear shape. Her ghostly essence resonated with something in that burning core. "So that's what we..."
Where before stood merely a twisted Saigyou Ayakashi, now its true self emerged. Branches wove into flowing hair that shifted between blonde and pink, while gaps opened like eyes that held both mischief and gentle wisdom. Its entire being radiated power gathered across countless worlds - every spring stolen, every life consumed, every memory twisted to feed its endless hunger.
"Well," Marisa commented as she readied her mini-hakkero, her usual bravado tempered by genuine awe, "guess we know why it felt familiar, ze. Though this is a bit much even for-"
The figure's response cut her off. Space itself screamed as it unleashed everything it had gathered. Not elegant manipulation or desperate physical assault - just pure, overwhelming force born of love twisted by endless hunger. Gaps large enough to swallow worlds opened across the void while cherry blossoms that carried death's own invitation filled every space between.
Sakuya's temporal magic strained as she created safe pockets through which they could navigate. "The spaces between moments grow thin," she called out, blood trickling from her nose with the effort. "I can barely maintain-"
"Hold position!" Cirno commanded as her fairy squadrons' formation began to buckle. "Deep Rangers, channel all power through the anchors! Dawn Office, maintain the disruption field!"
"Lady Yuyuko," Youmu's voice carried worried recognition as she deflected a wave of corrupted cherry blossoms, "these patterns... they're yours, but also..."
"Yes," Yuyuko answered softly, her own power resonating with the twisted force before them. "Something reached through all realities, found every version of us that made different choices, and..."
Shizuha's scythe sang as she carved through waves of corrupt essence, her borrowed authority creating paths of proper transition. "Even this twisted ending must follow natural law," she declared. "The cycle cannot be denied!"
"This..." Reimu's voice caught as she felt the sheer weight of what they faced, her spirit dress flaring against waves of power that threatened to unmake reality itself. "Even with all of us..."
Indeed, the odds seemed overwhelming. The figure's power dwarfed anything they'd faced before, its very existence an affront to proper reality. Mokou's phoenix flame still burned, but even immortal fire seemed insignificant against something that had consumed so many worlds' worth of life and memory.
Cherry blossoms carrying death's invitation filled every space between realities. Gaps large enough to swallow mountains opened in geometric patterns that hurt to witness. The towering figure - this twisted fusion of gap youkai and ghost princess - gathered power that could rewrite worlds themselves.
Just as despair threatened to take hold, the first bell's toll shattered the silence.
The first bell's pure note hit like physical force, dispelling the creeping despair that had begun to cloud their hearts. Where before they'd seen only overwhelming power, now they recognized the fractured being before them - not just as an enemy, but as something that could be saved.
The second bell rang deeper, resonating through memories across realities. Images flashed through their minds - not just their own experiences, but glimpses of other choices, other paths. Yet unlike the tree's twisted reflections, these memories carried weight of genuine connection.
The third bell resonated with merit earned through trial and triumph - not just power granted, but proof of worth gained through genuine struggle. Each of them felt the weight of their journey recognized.Reimu's spirit dress flared as she remembered choosing to trust rather than forget, to face her own failures and grow stronger through them. Marisa's magic blazed brighter, carrying pride of a human who'd carved her own path to power through relentless study and determination. Sakuya's perfect timing sang with authority earned through centuries of dedicated service, while Youmu's swords gleamed with conviction born from choosing her own way to protect. Mokou's flame reminded of her own immortal journey and how she still managed to be herself all these time. The fairies' own earnest struggle in their own way.
Through it all, they felt echoes of everyone who'd helped them reach this point. Alice's careful preparations, Mokou's immortal flame carrying Elma's crystallized hope, the Aki sisters rising to defend their season's proper flow, and countless others working to protect their home.
"Forward!" Cirno commanded, her mature form radiating authority she'd proven time and again. "Show them what we've all become! What Gensokyo's children can truly achieve together!"
The fourth bell carried truth beyond mere fact - reality itself remembering what should be. The figure's burning branches reached toward something only it could see, its movements carrying weight of recognition beyond mere memory. Through the gaps in its form, they glimpsed what was: Yuyuko and Yukari beneath blooming cherry trees, their bond pure before twisted choices corrupted it.
"So that's how it was..." Yuyuko's voice carried quiet understanding as pieces fell into place.
The fifth bell sang of promises - not just hope, but certainty that sparkled in fairy eyes. Ancient prophecies stirred as cracks began appearing in the void itself, each one spilling impossible light.
"The prophecy is true..It's real!" "This is what was promised!" "Oh yeah baby, that's what we're talking about! Whooo"
Then the sixth bell reached full crescendo, and pure radiance poured forth. Not just light, but divine illumination that made even gaps between worlds translucent. The void trembled as something vast stirred beyond the thinning barriers - not from the corrupted tree's paths, but from spaces where fairies' essence originated.
Wings of impossible scale cast shadows through the radiance. The fairy squadrons' cheers reached fever pitch as cracks spread across reality itself, their formation shifting instinctively toward whatever approached. Even Cirno's crown pulsed in resonance with this greater presence.
"Fear not, children of man and nature. I am here"
The voice held warmth of summer gardens and eternity of natural law itself. A massive hand wreathed in butterfly scales reached through the light, and more fairies began pouring through the widening cracks as boundaries grew thin in a very different way.
The promised time came, for this threat against the world, to end.
Like second and third chapter, this one fought me real hard, though in different way. So expect many mistakes, repetitions and inconsistencies from mixed drafts. On brighter note, this madness train will end soon so cheer up those who mad enough to follow along!
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