/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>46316719
—
Her words didn't make sense at first—Sekai, Remi's power? W-Why'd she do that? Shatter what…?—, crimson overtaking my face as I phased inside the shrine, turning my eyes away from Anon and Yukari sitting on the ground and…

… Crying?

It was unexpected and quite jarring: Every time Yukari was here, she was either the usual smug, serious, or, uh… having s-sex, but I'd never stick around for that. Frowning, I turned to Patchy, who didn't pay Yukari a second glance as she marched towards Anon with an intense determination, my skin shivering from this sudden phantasm wind. “Oi, Patchy, what are you gonna—”

She ignored me and stopped in front of Anon Hakurei—between him and Yukari—; joined her hands, a strange magical aura surrounding her and floating her hairs—something I've become quite acquainted with this past 'year'—, and whispered, opening her hands, “Silêncio.”

—A dome of thin, transparent purple mist followed, encapsulating the whole fake shrine as if shrouding it in a cloud… I've never seen this spell.

“Hata no Sekai won't be able to listen to us or our thoughts inside here—at least, I suppose; it's impossible without a concise enumeration of her powers,” she says, kneeling in front of Anon, not even bothered with the sweat covering his scarred body or his member in full display, extending her hand forward towards his chest. “Remilia's actions over fate are, if I'm not misremembering, mostly unknown to her. She puts forward guidelines fueled by her desires and somehow it happens… But she doesn't know how everything goes or what events will transpire so her goal is achieved—Sekai might not be aware of that, only that fate will happen the way she wants. I'm betting on that to force her to finally talk to us.” Red-blood sigils form in front of her outstretched palm before moving on their own to glue onto the man's chest. That spell I immediately recognized: the spell that sealed our souls in this barrier… But reversed? T-That means instead of sealing the soul, it would—

Frigid waters run inside my veins, my posture flinching. Anon's and Yukari's conversation in the background is extremely hard to hear for some reason. “Patchy…” I don't even have words. She's challenging what's essentially a god, threatening Sekai's family and for what…? Answers, of course. “Is that worth it? What’s to say Sekai won't just kill us on the spot?”

“She needs us.” I frown. “That portal I created was premeditated; your talk to Anon, failing two times and only understanding it now—premeditated. Everything we've done, accomplished, even this sigil of death I'm planting on the man, was perhaps premeditated and serves a purpose in achieving her goals.” She rotates her hand, the symbol growing and becoming more complex, something akin to a clock surrounding it—instead of numbers, glyphs were being manually added by the magician. “We're playing a game where our only knowledge is that we are playing a game, Meiling. What's coming next? For how long are we staying here? Two more years, four? If everything is premeditated, then even if I'd lay in the ground and refuse to move, that'd still follow Sekai's plans… This cannot continue, Meiling.” She frowned with a profound bitterness without name, and I couldn't help but recall her focused eyes when I went to find her—running in the forest, smiling a little, enjoying exercise; Patchouli Knowledge of all people… Sadness comes with realization, but I chuck it to the bottom of the barrel.

Actions predetermined, an entire year of suffering and watching suffering, building empathy towards the poor man—all that, somehow, would further Sekai's plans; plans beyond those she told us when she brought us to her world…?

Tsc, what a troublesome child; why didn't she just ask for help if she needed it? To live in a world where people are straightforward with their desires—is that asking too much…?

… I'd never have thought of such if Patchy wasn't here.

I let out a sigh as I watched her fiddle with the reverse spell. “You think she'll react to this…?” I point at the almost complete sigil clock, too sophisticated for me to understand anything but its energy—so anxiety-inducing…

Though it makes one wonder: how did she do the normal version in a rush…?

Patchy gives me a slightly confident grin, never losing her focus. “Of course she will react; otherwise—” She reaches the final glyph. “—I'll kill her fathe—”

It was pure instinct.

The HSE's weird ki abruptly aligned, my pupils dilated, and this red-blood of dragons screamed. I moved with every ounce of my speed, and yet it was barely enough, towering over Patchy, two fingers together pointing up—

—Just as a harrowing, pinkish thunderbolt exploded half the ceiling in a rain of ghostly glass, aimed straight at Patchy's head, instead striking my fingertips, flowing as if a dance through my seven chakras and, just as quickly and destructively as its arrival, discharging through my other hand…

… Leaving in its wake a torn, bloodied arm.