Act 1: A Divine Encounter[]
A man fell through the still surface of the sea, the sheer force of his descent launching a torrent skyward, water parting violently before closing over him.
A woman followed with supernatural grace, slicing through the air and penetrating the water's surface without so much as a ripple. Her smile remained fixed and predatory as she moved through the depths with impossible speed. She seized his throat with delicate fingers and monstrous strength, driving him down until his body broke against coral formations, then slamming him against the submerged cliff face.
"And you're supposed to be Father's chosen?" she taunted, her voice somehow perfectly clear despite being underwater. Her pout carried an almost theatrical disappointment as she tunneled him upward through the stone. "How very disappointing, Ritsu." She propelled him back to the clifftop where their confrontation began, his body arcing through the air before crashing unceremoniously against ground.
Ritsu rolled to his feet, blood trickling from his wounds, his breathing labored. Nothing could had prepared him for her.
"What are you?"
"I've told you already, silly little brother." She performed a mocking curtsy, the gesture somehow making her more threatening. "I am Rāga, Daughter of Māra."
"That doesn't really answer the question, don't you think?"
There was an annoyed upturn of her lip.
"You really don't understand, do you Ritsu?"
Rāga placed one hand across her heart.
"Take a look around you. A real look. Use those precious eyes of yours. For all your taken life, you clung to your idea of 'righteousness' like a babe to a breast..."
She was suddenly next to him in a single movement, her voice a whisper in his ear.
"But I embody passion. Obsession. I know what now simmers in your tainted blood. What now burns in your wretched heart. And you, little brother, are already on your last legs."
Ritsu's eyes began to glow as their surroundings melted away, leaving the two in the middle of a naval ceremony - the Rear Admiral preferment ceremony, in which Ritsu was one of the honored. He had just received his medal and they all stood at ready to hear the Fleet Admiral's speech.
"Oh Rear Admiral Ritsu, how stern you look! How noble in your soiled uniform."
The stage changed, this time with Ritsu floating in darkened waters, blood seeping from the holes in his side and chest. Banri and Admiral Kase leaned across the railing of their ship, sharing a flask with smiles on their faces.
"All that you did for them, all the good you've done and would have done - just for this to be the outcome. And not a single person alive left to care. It's no wonder that you're rotten as you are now."
"I... I'm not-"
"Sure you are. Tell me, when you gore your enemies, do you pretend it's duty that makes your pulse race? Or maybe you view yourself as some sort of justice? No, I would say it's that you adore it! The way their eyes widen when they realize you are the last thing they'll see, how delicious. Isn't it really why you killed Sora? Why don't we stop pretending altogether, hm?"
The scene shifted again - now they floated above the Land of Springs and Geysers, the air thick with smoke and the screams of the dying. Buildings fell across the nation and ash littered its streets. As far as the eyes could see, the entirety of Nishino seemed to be burning and the culprit was none other than a facsimile of Ritsu, who stood before the smoldering headquarters of naval operations.
"There it is," Rāga purred. "You've imagined this so many times."
Naval personnel poured from the building, many seeming to recognize the Rear Admiral and begging for him to stand down. Instead, Ritsu extended a hand towards them at which dozens of pipes and rods eviscerated the poor men and women, leaving mauled, bloody corpses. He flew through the windows and the same fate was for those inside. There was one man he was looking for.
Banri.
The sensation of blood crept onto his hands, sticky and hot. He was both demon and deity to these mere mortals.
The actual Ritsu's voice cracked. "This... this isn't-"
"Real?" Rāga's teeth gleamed. "What is real but what we believe to be real-"
"Stop it!" He admonished, voice echoing from atop the locale.
The illusory world shattered into a thousand shards of thoughts and memory. They were back on the cliff, storm clouds gathering in the distance.
She grimaced, taking a step back, and pressed her hand against her head. The first show of weakness their entire encounter.
This was his chance.
The space above Rāga shimmered momentarily, space itself folding aside as a massive mechanical gear materialized from nowhere, plummeting toward her with impossible speed.
"Oh—" was all she managed before the colossal object crashed down upon her with earth-shattering force. The impact sent fractures racing through the cliff face, the entire structure groaning then collapsing into the sea below.
Ritsu approached the edge cautiously, his eyes scanning the chaos of water and stone. A being of her nature wouldn't be so easily kill would she? Yet as moments stretched into minutes with no sign of pursuit, uncertainty crept in.
What was that?! Everything felt so real. A Daughter of Māra... was this some... test? Why reveal herself now? She never even mentioned what she wanted. More importantly, what did Māra want? Since his resurrection, he'd had not even...
Ritsu exhaled a breath he wasn't even aware he was holding then ran a hand through his salt-stiffened hair. He still didn't understand why he'd been brought back at all. And now this?
So many questions, yet still no answers.
And everything to lose.
A horned being appeared before a bend in reality, a machination of what one may call a goddess. To the eyes of all, it appeared to be nothing more than the mouth of a cave, a sword planted in the ground nearby.
This was what Inseishiki searched for. Proof of divinity - the true, supreme divinity that nearly all Ōtsutsuki sought to achieve.
“It’s… exquisite.” Said the being’s companion: a young God Tree. “Don’t you think so, teacher?”
”That is because it was made by a Celestial Being, Isshin. Forged directly from her body it would seem.”
“How can you tell a female did it?”
”With my eyes, I may perceive all that is and has already occurred. It is how I knew that here was where we had to go.”
He paused as they neared the entrance to the cave. A shiver of doubt crept up his spine but excitement soon washed over him.
“But I don’t know what exactly she encountered while in there. It’s… unclear to me. Somehow, some way.”
“Knowing that… would you still like to find out with me?”
Isshin nodded. “Of course, teacher.”
And so the two went into the cavern, their footsteps bouncing across its stony walls. It seemed to be just that - a simple cavern.
A whisper would float through the air and tickle the pilgrim’s ears. It was a chilling sound, something like a chitter of teeth echoed through the cave.
The entrance to the cave darkened. Even though the pair hadn’t made it very far, it were now as if they had reached its deepest section. Their surroundings were now shielded by the inky blackness of a cavern that gave off no light.
Water now touched the bottoms of their feet.
Inseishiki could not see through the darkness nor make sense of what caused it.
“What’s happening?” An edge of fear was in Isshin’s voice.
Slowly, things around them began to light up as small wisps of white began to rise upward from the water. It became apparent they were no longer within a cave.
Few centimeters deep water spread in all directions, and traveled as far as the eye could see. There were no walls, pillars, or any type of obstructions blocking their sight aside from the darkness itself. No landmarks or anything that helped them confirm where exactly they were.
Nothing, except the large body of a samurai that sat in front of their feet - the corpse of Kamatari Fūjiwara.
“I must be popular today.” A woman’s voice called from the ether. “Two visits in one day? This hasn’t occurred in millennia.”
A faint red glow overtook the white light that emanated from various points, adding to the eeriness of the realm.
“Enemies of my pet, are we? Have you come in hopes of desecrating his grave?”
Isshin’s eyes focused on the dead body at their feet, his Rinnegan baffled by everything occurring. With it, he could at least tell that they were no longer in the realm of the living - this one was spiritual in nature but lied on a boundary.
“No,” said Inseishiki, surprisingly calm despite their dilemma. “We’ve come to witness you, to understand you, Tarabosatsu.” He stepped forward, his feet making no sound in the water. “Will you enlighten us on your nature?”
The water below began to churn. For a moment, the only noise within the space was the rolling waves of the disturbed liquid.
“I know.” Said the voice.
A handful of souls began to crawl from the watery firmament below, slowly rising towards a fixed point just a few meters in front of the two trespassers. The dozen will-o-wisps began to circle each other and writhe in the air. This created a faint humming noise that reverberated.
”Do you have nothing better to do?”
”What better thing is there to do than further understand the nature of divinity?”
The air around Inseishiki seemed to shimmer, the light refracting around him in some places.
“You see, Tarabosatsu, I once had a partner. A fellow Celestial Being who, like I, defied the Ōtsutsuki Will. Yet he still became a true god.”
”I didn’t ask.” Was her curt response.
”Indeed you did not,” he replied, arms now folded behind his back. “But you asked if I had nothing else better to do. I am explaining why I do not.”
“Have you knowledge on akashic records?”
Silence. It did not seem that she was interested in answering that question.
The souls before them seemed to fuse, and a white light returned - reflecting off of the surrounding red.
Tara Enenra appeared.
She floated in place, lying on her side and resting her head against her palm. The pose she took on resembled one of seduction - or ignorant comfort. Her other hand, which rested on her hip, held a cigar.
“Such a boring, loathsome lot you Celestials are.”
Now that she had materialized her strange appearance was visible to the two. Her light-purple hair that spiked and ruffled in all directions, curious red horns, soft, yet somewhat stern face, and deep black sclera sporting yellow irises. Tara’s pupils were slit, like that of a cat or snake.
Her figure itself was quite curvaceous, and she sported the ideal feminine physique, framed nicely by a beige bundle of cloth that seemed to be a manuscript. It wrapped around her in various ways, and somehow had the same configuration as a kimono. The texts were inscrutable.
”Why should I refrain from striking you down, boy?” She said softly.
”No reason at all. By all means, if that is what you wish to do then who am I to stop you? After all, this is, or rather, you are this dimension.”
Isshin, who had remained silent the entire time, was a bit confused. This woman was the dimension? How would that even work? And the fact she didn’t reply to question about akashic records seemed to imply that maybe she didn’t know about them - was she really a goddess?
”I do not consider myself a goddess, Shinju.” Said Tara as her eyes drifted to Isshin.
Inseishiki’s body dropped into the water below.
“Divinity is subjective, dear.”
Her eyes began to slowly turn red as she started drawing near to where the Celestial had fallen.
“Though, this was rather suicidal of you. Using your newfound sentience to waddle behind another is silly.”
Panic began rising in Isshin. Inseishiki was powerful, absurdly so, how could he be defeated so easily?
”H-he is my teacher. Without him, I-I’d still be wandering and a slave to my b-base instincts.”
Why was he stumbling over his words? Why was he so nervous? Inseishiki seemed so confident coming here, could he have actually been wrong?
Were they actually going to die?
”No, I will not kill you, Isshin.” Was her reply to his thoughts.
“You, a newborn Shinju-Human, are like a child. You are pure.”
She slowly sat upright, crossing her arms underneath her breasts and bringing a hand to her mouth. Tara puffed the cigar and eyed him curiously.
“Akashic texts, I’ll humor you. What do you want?”
“I… I’m not sure anymore.”
Inseishiki’s body remained face-down in the water. Tarabosatsu blew smoke Isshin’s way, and Inseishiki would materialize from it.
”He’s useless. Nothing special going on in that mind of his. Speak, Fūhaitsu.”
The Celestial’s wispy soul seemed both astonished and enraptured, despite his situation. He was dead, that was certain. The sunken face of his corpse had one of serenity, his hair pooled around him in a beautiful pattern.
“You chose to strike me down and with such ease manipulate my very soul, far beyond the scope of what a mere Rinnegan could do.”
”Divinity is subjective.” Tara repeated. Her usually whimsical or sarcastic smirk had disappeared.
“There’s always a bigger fish.”
”Yes. However, divinity cannot be entirely subjective, no?”
“I am a Celestial Being. Yet I do not pursue the life energy of worlds, but instead, we… I may examine and commune with the lives and histories therein, the fruits of the spirit rather than of the flesh - akashic records was the name revealed to me. Is that not divine?”
“I have no beginning, at least, in the conventional sense. I was not born to a mother nor a father, I simply am. Is being born of the very essence of the cosmos not inherently divine?
“You have no form, that much I can perceive, this is nothing more than a projection or avatar of sorts. Is such achievement of the spirit not superior to that of the flesh? Why is it that you don’t consider yourself a goddess?”
The Matriarch pointed to Inseishiki’s lifeless body.
”There is nothing divine about that.” She replied, drawing in more smoke immediately after before continuing.
“If you were truly a god, or ‘divine’ you wouldn’t be lying at my feet. On the same note, if I were truly a goddess, why would I waste my time with the likes of you?”
She shrugged, flicking her cigar ash into the dry spot on the body’s head.
“You’re only claiming divinity because you aren’t orthodox, and because your power supersedes those around you. That being said, your lingo and speech is like that of every other damned Fūhaitsu.”
There was extra emphasis on the “u” sound. Distaste littered the ancient slur.
”You white wretches can’t open your mouth without those ‘I’ and ‘me’s. Every paragraph is an autobiography one would rather not indulge in.”
Her eyes slowly faded back to yellow.
”To answer your question; again, it is subjective. Others may perceive you as a holy entity.”
She smiled.
”I see nothing but a physically ancient, mentally middle-aged man who’s having a midlife crisis.”
Inseishiki offered a grin of his own. This one a stark contrast to his previous attitude.
“Y’know, I assumed what you were and thought your idea of respect would be talking like a ‘white wretch’ as you put it. But I understand you now…”
An emanation of power began to seep from Inseishiki’s corpse and then leaked over to his soul, a sensation not unlike gravity but also something evidently greater.
“You’re right - you’re no goddess. Inexpressibly powerful, yes, but not what I’m lookin’ for.”
She nodded.
“Agreed. So why don’t you make your way to the door for me, dear?”
”Wait,” interrupted Isshin. “How would he do that? You… you took out his soul!”
Inseishiki shrugged, seemingly unbothered.
“My body still could leave, believe it or not. There’s the issue of my soul, however, Tarabosatsu. Do you actually like me enough to keep me here with you?”
She ignored him, drawing the smoke back into her mouth. Inseishiki was now clustered in with the rest of the souls. Tara didn’t plan on keeping him for long.
This one seemed more interested in maintaining an image - code-switching to try and prove a point. A pauper’s game.
Seeking divinity, but openly pandering. How hypocritical.
”Isshin, dear.” Tarabosatsu cooed, eyes sharpening with interest. “I promise not to hurt you, okay? Since you’re just an innocent little sweetheart, I’ll set your ‘Teacher’ free and send you both on your way.”
Her smile began to spread.
“There is nothing for you to fear. You’ve been very well-behaved.”
Tara was now standing directly in front of him. Despite her power, she was quite short. The Goddess Enenra looked up at the Shinju with a soft gaze.
”You’re interesting. Unlike any being I’ve seen.”
Her index caught the bottom of his jaw, thumb pressing against his chin for a moment before withdrawing.
“I’m going to share something with you, okay?”
Isshin trembled from her touch. The collective that made up his consciousness seemed to respond to her as well.
“W-what is it?”
The Enenra poked his tummy. When she did, the Shinju seemed to lose control of his Kekkei Genkai. Little branches began to slowly grow from his exposed skin, working their way a few centimeters away from his form.
After reaching their maximum height, bright pink flowers bloomed across their surface. Tara chuckled.
“That’s it. Surprise!”
She threw her cigar into the water, restoring Inseishiki’s soul to his body.
”I’ll let you go, since you made no move against the child. You and your Teacher can leave now.”
Her form rose into the air, rising up and away from the two. Tarabosatsu slowly faded to black.
“You two will maintain the favor of one ‘divine’, so long as the girl remains untouched.”
”Go.”
After an ominous screech tore through the air, the scene changed. The two were back in the cavern, and Tara’s presence had been totally erased.
The strange encounter had come to a close.
”She’s gone,” said Isshin as he dealt with the branch protruding from abdomen. He then tilted his head quizzically. “I feel… weird.”
Memories of all the women he’d met beforehand flashed through his mind. A few of them stood out more to him than others. He recalled a young woman he once spent several weeks with, exploring ruins and learning the past. His mind focused on her bosom and mischievous smile, making his heart race and his cheeks flushed.
“… What’s going on? What is-“
A thought from his collective answered his question.
This was attraction. Followed by arousal.
Inseishiki paid no mind to what was happening with his student. He was instead taking in what he just experienced.
Death, or rather, soul sundering was not something foreign to him. After all, he had travelled to realms beyond the flesh and seen things no mortal mind could begin to grasp. But this was different.
Tarabosatsu was right. He was having a midlife crisis as she put it and indeed physically ancient.
And that she was no goddess. In fact, she seemed to find such distinctions contemptible, a stark contrast to what Ōtsutsuki believe.
Would a god, a true god, even bother with such things as she said? When they could do whatever they please?
For one who may know all that has and is…
He really knew nothing at all.
Enjaku was sitting on the steps leading to the throne - he and Hachiman were still in Takachiho. The broken palace had superb lighting, since it was missing a ceiling and all. Since they had arrived, he couldn’t help but notice a lot of the rubble had been cleared in the surrounding area.
Four had made it apparent they were tasked with “cleaning”, but it had never been made clear why. Seven seemed to have a completely different assignment, and vanished after completing Hachiman’s training - from which he took frequent intermissions. He always had something to “tend to” it seemed.
Tarabosatsu had given them a week to retrieve Enma, and they’d already exhausted four days. Hachiman needed time to learn the Shikisokuzekūjissen. Now that she had, they only had three days left to bring Enma’s head.
Success was definitely a must - Kamatari’s life depended on it.
“Hey, Four?”
“Y-Yes, Enja-jaku?” Replied the masked one, scratchy voice still grating.
“How old you think Tarabosatsu is?”
”She predates the k-k-kingdom. S-She was one of its o-original residents.”
”Huh. Interesting.”
For but a moment their surroundings became washed in darkness, all things - the throne, the palace, space itself eradicated without trace.
Then as reality returned, Hachiman appeared, sitting upon the throne with her right leg resting across her left thigh.
“Three days remain” she started, her voice low and tinged with a new edge. “Shall we proceed with killing Emma?”
Enjaku chuckled as she arrived.
“Oooh~! She’s dark and broody now! Very fitting, nice, nice…”
He rose from his spot on the steps, dusting himself off and turning around fully to face Hachiman.
”Yeah. Dad found where Enma’s at currently.”
She wasn’t going to like this.
”And you’re still waiting for responses before sharing information to give it an exaggerated sense of foreboding and urgency.”
She looked down upon him from her seat, her eyes not revealing if that was merely a joke or not.
“Go on, where’s he at?”
”You and Keshin’s old pad. Land of Frost.”
“Unsurprising.”
She stood from the throne then walked down the marble stairs and past Enjaku, her steps echoing.
“If there are no objection, let us go and not keep him waiting.”