65

Walking past the entrance of the shrine and into the courtyard, I waited for a moment to see if anybody would come to talk to me; after a few moments, I shrugged and went into the shrine proper.

Peeking around, I saw a distinct lack of Reimu or anybody, which likely meant they were out doing something. Humming under my breath, I thought about how exactly I would find Tenshi; I didn't have her hair or really anything useful that could be used to lock on Scry, which meant finding her the old-fashioned way.

However, I was thankfully saved by Reimu stumbling out from the depths of the shrine I had not poked around in out of respect for her privacy. "Hello?" she asked while rubbing her eyes, clearly just having woken up despite it being mid-morning.

"Greetings," I said with a polite nod, "Do you know where Tenshi is? I am looking for that rematch I promised," I ask her, to which she shakes her head somewhat grumpily, "Do I look like I know where that celestial is?" she asks, raising an eyebrow before yawning, "She'll either be in Heaven or flying around picking fights, shes consistent like that," Reimu tells me before gesturing me away in half-hearted shooing motion.

I merely give her another polite nod before hopping up into the air and heading out. Trying to find Tenshi in Gensoyko would be like finding a needle in a haystack, impossible unless I had a magnet.

In this case, I didn't have a magnet so much as an Atlas; opening a Path back towards my home, I drifted down the grassy area before entering the sunflower field and then my house.

Grabbing the Atlas from where I had placed it in my room, I headed back outside and sat in my rocking chair before cracking the book open. Muttering under my breath, I guided my finger along its pages. At the same time, I referred by my blossoming godly senses as my finger soon settled nearbye the human village that the Atlas showed.

Of course, the Atlas was not perfectly accurate as it tracked dreams, and they only had a loose relation to space, but it was good enough for a start.

Snapping the thick book closed, I stood up and, with a flick of my wrist, sent it through a Gap and back inside my house. I then stepped off the porch and flew off toward the human village.

As I approached it, I altered my course to pass by it, carefully watched by the guards, who relaxed somewhat when they saw that I was not intent on entering the village.

I rolled my eyes with a huff when I saw that the Atlas had been pointing me toward my new shrine; from what little I knew of her, Tenshi was interested in new things, so of course, a shrine popping up in a few minutes would interest her.

Landing in front of the shrine, I entered the unsurprising sight of Tenshi lounging in one of the pews, her booted feet kicked up on the one in front of her with her strange dress splayed out around her.

As she heard me enter, her red eyes flicked over to me, and a smile blossomed on her face. "I was wondering when you would get here!" she shouted before hopping to her feet, "Well, let's get this fight started," she stated, her smile shifting from a somewhat smug smirk from being proven correct to a more bloodthirsty grin of a fighter ready for an upcoming battle.

"You want to start now?" I asked, to which she merely nodded in reply, "Of course, we got interrupted last time, and after we fight, we can do all the tea and talking stuff you folk enjoy so much," she said, tapping her fingers on her forearms making it clear that she was ready to start now.

"Fair enough," I said with a grin of my own, "After you." I continued gesturing her outside, which she did. When we were out, she clicked her fingers, conjuring that flaming blade she had used before.

We both took a moment to assess each other as we floated into the sky before the fight was on. Tenshi blitzed towards me with that obsence speed of hers; however, I reached out and stretched her timeline out. It wouldn't last all that long, but it was enough for me.

I then gestured with my parasol and cast a Wall of Force surrounding her in the invisible wall that could not be broken through unless you had disintegration effects on hand.

I then drew upon my sense of Destruction and primed four Eldritch Blasts along with Caladbolg as Tenshi slammed into the wall first to no effect however, her sword flickred, and her second broke the wall like it was not there.

However, as she continued her charge toward me, I sent out the Caladbolg, followed by the blasts. The twisting sword spun towards her as she parried it with her blade, the mist around it flickering once again, allowing her to cut through Caladbolg. The beams of purple and blue energy then slammed into Tenshi; however, even caught up, she managed to dodge the first and second.

Thankfully, the others hit her, carving groves across her arms, and the only one that I cared about blew a crater in her wrist, forcing her to drop her blade. Her red eyes locked on me as she flicked a finger, sending massive rocks towards me. However, Yuuka's training meant that such a surprise attack was much less effective, allowing me to teleport out of the way as the Grimoire grew.

I could feel another item appear in my hand; however, I quickly shunted it away with a Gap. I couldn't be distracted by new items in the middle of the fight. Unforantly, that split second I had been distracted was enough time for Tenshi's sword to be back in her grasp as her wounds were mostly healed.

Pulling upon a good chunk of my reserves, I reached out my hand and slammed stop on the area surrounding Tenshi. This ability was tiring but should allow me around thirty to forty seconds to prepare as time itself was frozen in a fifteen-foot sphere around the celestial.

Reaching into a Gap, I stuck my hand in one of my many bags of Dust and drew upon its innate magical energy, causing it to vanish as I refilled my stores.

I then opened the Gate of Babylon wide and primed it with dozens of weapons, primarily mundane but with a few more exotic such as Caladbolg or Huntring. Following that up, I held out my hand, not holding my parasol, and cast Darkness around Tenshi; that should help prevent her from dodging if she couldn't.

I knew I had another spell or two left before the time stop ended, so I reached down and grabbed my shadow, pulling it out of the ground, ignoring the faint fuzz I could see at the edge of my vision from this spell.

It was Resonant Echo and allowed me to pull up my shadow to cast a spell on my behalf. As my Echo focused on its own Eldritch blast, I tapped my chest and applied Armor of Agthays before preparing my own Eldritch Blast.

The time stopped and then fizzled out, leaving Tenshi disoriented and confused, but she seemed to be able to see through the Darkness spell just fine, which, while annoying, was not the end of the world.

However, before she could do anything, the arsenal of swords flew out of the Gate of Babylon, and while Tenshi was able to bob and weave around a decent chunk of them, the sheer mass meant that she accumulated scraps and cuts.

The more significant issue for her was the exotic weapons littered throughout the mass that required a decent chunk of her focus to deflect or escape damage as unharmed as possible.

Unfroantly for me, it seemed like her blade allowed her to slice through even the more exotic blades even if she emerged from them battered and bruised in such a manner that even her regeneration would need time to heal.

My Echo and I then sent our combined salvo of purple and blue energy at Tenshi, whose sword clashed against the first, then cut through the second and third as her body moved around the fourth. However, I then tugged at her timeline, stretching her out, allowing the remaining four to slam into her torso and blow a hole through her chest.

I stopped as she threw up her free hand, even as iridescent blood trailed down the hole in her chest that was quickly stitching itself closed. "Your win Godling!" Tenshi shouted with a smile on her face even as she wiped away some of the blood that she had coughed up as we both floated toward the ground.

"I must admit you have skill; that time stop was inspired!" Tenshi praised even as her wounds fully sealed itself with nary a mark, and her clothes regrew shortly after, something I did make a mental note to ask about later.

However, I focused my mind back on the talk, catching up to what she said. I chuckled slightly as I rubbed the back of my neck. "I'm going to be honest: if I let you get momentum, I was not sure I was going to win," I told her, and that was the truth. She was powerful, but it was clear that she was a melee-focused combatant bolstered by her control of the earth. That meant if she was able to get up close, that sword of hers would let her do nasty work.

"If you don't mind me asking, what is that sword?" I asked as we entered my church and then traveled through the Path I had set up toward my house. Tenshi grinned at the question, clearly existed to be able to boast about her weapon.

"This is the Sword of Hisou, and after just one strike, it allows me to defeat anybody with a single blow!" She boasted as I finally arrived at the sunflower field, causing Tenshi to freeze as she looked around before continuing onward with me pushing open the door to my house open for her.

I then gathered the ingredients for mint tea and quickly brewed it, helped by my speeding up the water's timeline so it would boil faster. I then sat down at my kitchen table and poured both of us a cup.

Taking a long sip, I relaxed into my chair as Tenshi took a sip and then took another hesitant sip before setting it down, clearly unsure what to think. "So what normally happens in these after-combat talks?" I asked. I didn't have any plan for this talk or not having this sort of thing done in the past.

"Normally, it's a lot of drinking and partying," Tenshi said as she leaned on the table with her elbows before picking up the tea to take another sip. "Huh, well, I suppose I'll ask what Heaven is like," I said, provoking a slight scowl from Tenshi as she set down her cup with a harsh clink.

"It's boring, filled with nothing but fuddy duddys who say 'do this, do that, oh don't have a full plate, oh don't make an earthquake,'" she says, raising her voice in a clear imitation of somebody.

"I thought Heaven was supposed to be idyllic?" I said, tilting my head in confusion, "That's the problem," Tenshi complained as she sighed, "I have a bunch of people who have done nothing but sit around for years with nothing important to do, so they start finding things to do, and it's all boring things," she said rolling her eyes as my Grimoire pulsed and grew.

I blinked as my head was filled with a strange recipe for Butterscotch Pie. Tilting my head, I pushed that aside; even if the mental recipe was making me drool, I was talking with somebody.

"You know," Tenshi said, tapping her finger on the table thoughtfully, "Let's go to Heaven!" she shouted as she lunged forward and pulled me out by the wrist out of your chair, "I think it'll be great!" she said with a broad smile as she pulled me along. At the same time, while she was clearly excited by the idea, she was still not pulling all that hard, allowing me to slip out if you wanted.

"Sure," I said with a shrug and faint smile of my own, "I've always wanted to see Heaven," you continued; of course, the original idea was that I would see it after my death, but you weren't going to turn down the prospect of seeing it now.

So, pushing off the ground, the two of you headed out of your home and towards the Youkai Mountain, ready to make the ascent toward Heaven.

Powers Gained

Sand Wand

This lovely little wand here has a magical ability to control sand, though admittedly only in a handful of preset forms. First off, it can cause sand to levitate, usually in the form of a cube. Basically, it slides it upwards a short distance, albeit only for a few seconds at a time. The range on this is quite nice, anywhere you can see AND, if you're absolutely certain that there's sand on the other side, even through walls. If you have magical energy to spare, it can even summon some sand for you to work with.

Butterscotch-Cinnamon Pie Recipe

This is a recipe for home-made pie- Quite possibly the best pie ever made. If made using monster cooking techniques, a single slice of this is delicious enough to fully restore the consumer's vitality. However, the ingredients are rather specific, and to bring out its true potential, the pie must be home- cooked with fire magic. But the results... You simply can't argue.